ã€ŠMonarch of Evernightã€‹


 Volume 1 - 1: Crimson Colored Night

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 1: Crimson Colored Night

    The Evernight Continent was usually shrouded in twilight. This was especially true during the dark season when the upper continent¡¯s orbit blocked out the sunlight, resulting in only a few hours of daytime.

    Tonight, the star, Gemini-¦Á, had shifted to a low orbit. It was a night where the seldomly seen moon was visible.

    An enormous, round moon filled nearly half the sky, seemingly ready to crash down at any moment. Even ordinary people without powers could clearly see the enormous basins and imposing mountain ranges on the moon¡¯s surface.

    Yet the people who had not fallen asleep were anxious.

    The moon was actually scarlet, and the moonlight, which cascaded down onto the ground like chiffon, spread across the uneven and ruggednd like a living animal. Stretches of dark silhouettes were saturated a rich red, causing them to resemble numerous colossal scars and wounds. Above, the cold sheen of metal even asionally flickered.

    The howling of wolves and roaring of unknown beasts asionally traveled over from afar, echoing back and forth filling the area with an air of savagery.

    In the legends of the Evernight Continent, the Crimson Moon was considered an ill omen. Furthermore, it was a very rare urrence, but whenever it appeared, suffering and chaos would soon follow. Whenever the moon became thoroughly saturated with the color of blood, the great monarchs of the Dark World would open the doors to cmity, unleashing violence and disaster onto thend below.

    These legends were not without basis. Under the blood colored moonlight, all living creatures would indeed involuntarily be even more violent, bloodthirsty, and prone to fighting.

    Under the scarlet curtain of the night, a small ck dot suddenly appeared in the horizon. It slowly moved horizontally across the sky, growing in size with each passing moment as it flew ever so closer. Surprisingly, it was actually a floating airship which was thousands of meters long!

    The airship looked extremely worn out. Its enormous aerostatic balloon was riddled with patches, its metalponents werepletely stained with rust, and many of its interconnecting joints stuck out, causing any observers to wonder whether or not it would suddenly snap.

    As though confirming their worries, the airship suddenly jolted a few times; numerousponents even crumbled and fell, of which included arge metalponent reaching over ten meters in size.

    It plunged toward the ground, causing an explosive rumble on impact.

    The airship began to struggle with difficulty in midair as all of the copper tubings lined up along the outside of the ship began to vibrate. Large puffs of steam also soon started spraying out from within the ship¡¯s rear mechanical cabin. The sound of rusty parts creaking could be heard as the eight groups of propellers situated on top of the ship¡¯s hull began to madly spin. Only then did the ship¡¯s body somehow manage to stabilize.

    Several tens of thick cables hung disheveled from the bottom of the airship, carrying a huge cargo bay which was just as rusted and stained as the ship itself. Through the loosely shut cabin door, one could see that the cargo bay was filled to the brim with garbage.

    Like an enormous, drowsy beast, the old, corroded airship arduously moved though thest length of its course before finally arriving at its destination. On the ground several hundred meters below shockinglyy an extremely vast airship cemetery!

    At that moment, tens of thousands of people flocked out from their respective hiding ces; they had long since discarded their fear of the scarlet moon. Instead, they began waving their hands at the floating airship as they shouted words of celebration!

    Even though they lived on thisnd which had been almost forgotten by the Empire and were the insects of the lowest rung in the entire world, they still struggled and tried to survive through each day.

    Thisnd was the burial ground of those once splendid colossi. Moreover, as the scrapped airships discarded by the upperyer continents generally carriedrge amounts of trash with them, as time passed, this burial ground had turned into a junkyard which contained all kinds of things. The survival of these people who resided within this airship burial ground waspletely reliant on the garbage tossed down from the upper continents.

    If no airships transported garbage for a long period of time, arge number of the people here would starve to death. To them, the upper continent¡¯s trash was their entire livelihood.

    As for tomorrow¡­ to them, tomorrow was too luxurious of a phrase. In this ce, no one would bother thinking about tomorrow.

    The airship which had finally reached its preset coordinates painfully moaned as, one by one, the propellers came to a stop. At this time, the ship¡¯s enormous body fiercely jolted and then began to bounce up and down midair, losing several dozen meters in elevation. Afterwards, the ship¡¯s outer shell near the left-frontal side split apart, releasing a small-sized airship.

    The small airship looked to be much cleaner on the surface. It flew around the junkyard once and then turned around and ascended, slowly flying toward the distant horizon.

    Meanwhile, now that the airship had lost its propulsion, it started to vibrate non-stop. All of a sudden, it tilted askew and slowly fell to the ground below!

    Falling ever faster, it finally crashed into the ground and broke into pieces amidst the explosive rumble. A sea of garbage, waste material, and metalponent scattered in all directions, calling down a rain of trash from the airship cemetery¡¯s skies.

    The carnival had begun!

    Shouting and shrieking, the dwellers charged toward the wreckage. Some even ran on all fours like wild beasts.

    From time to time, enormous metal parts would rain down from above. Many who just happened to be where the partsnded were unable to dodge in time, ending up thoroughly crushed into lumps of meat by the several tonponents. However, theirpanions beside them ignored the dangers and still charged forth as though their lives depended on it, scrambling to start searching for garbage just a moment sooner.

    There were men, women, and even the elderly and children, but age and sex had no meaning in this ce; each group differed ording to body size and strength. That was the only standard by which territory was allocated in the cemetery.

    Of those who were rushing to the airship¡¯s remains the strongest and most robust of men were at the forefront. Behind them, it was the weaker men and strong women, then the weaker women, and the very back consisted of the young and elderly.

    Just like that, with the fallen airship as the center, the peopleposed various concentric circles. Between eachyer therey a formless yet uncrossable boundary.

    On the outermost edge of the various concentric circles was the area where small children moved about. Hundreds of children unceasingly rummaged through the trash in this area, searching for almost non-existent foodstuffs.

    Within them, there was a thin and small boy who was also searching with great effort.

    He was approximately seven or eight years old, and his little face was so ckened that his original appearance couldn¡¯t be made out. The clothes on his body should¡¯ve originally been an adult¡¯s shirt, and it was just like a robe wrapped up on him. Moreover, the shirt was already tattered beyond recognition, now simply a fewrger rags wrapped around his body in strips.

    He exerted all his strength digging apart the ice cold trash with his hands covered in cuts. Some cuts were even turning into ulcers. However, it was as though he could not feel pain as he pushed apart therge, indistinguishable pile of trash in front of him with all his might.

    It has already been three days since he hadst eaten. If he could not find anything to eat today, then he definitely wouldn¡¯tst until the next time an airship arrives.

    But no matter how hard the little boy tried, he found nothing.

    This region had already been rummaged through countless times by others, and only then was it left aside for these children who were younger than ten. These children were the weakest beings in this garbage field. When the strong ended unable to find food, their hungry gazes would¡­ fall on the elderly and children.

    This was the abandonednd, the airship cemetery. The people here only wished to live on and were already no different from wild beasts. Even strong beasts lived with more dignity than them!

    The thirst for survival pushed the boy on. He unceasingly searched, and many of his previous wounds tore up once again due to using excessive strength as his blood leaked out; however, he waspletely unaware.

    Another wave of garbage fell from the skies. Within this wave, a rtivelyrge trash bag fell beside the boy.

    The bag¡¯s outeryer broke, and a wax paper bag rolled out amidst various useless garbage, firmly grasping all of the boy¡¯s gaze in an instant. That wax paper bag actually had grease seeping from it!

    He suddenly pounced over with the agility of a feral cat, tightly grasping the bag within his hands. He didn¡¯t open it at all to confirm the contents inside and instead hid it at once within his clothes. At the same time, he looked around with extreme caution, then cautiously and prudently crawled toward the outer edges of the junkyard.

    Competition, robbery, and even murder also existed amongst these children! The degree of cruelty was by no means inferiorpared to the world of adults.

    The little boy was very petite and was ssified as rtively weaker amongst those within this area of the junkyard. If others discovered that he found edible things and wished to keep it to himself by the strong, bigger kids, then being viciously beaten up was the most favorable oue.

    Quite fortunately, the boy evaded being detected by all the older children and sessfully escaped from this area. He seemed to possess an inherent keen sense and was always one step ahead in avoiding those older kids who were even more terrifying than vicious beasts.

    After leaving the airship remains far behind, the boy madly ran without rest until reaching the backside of another mountain of trash and made his way into a empty iron barrel.

    This ce was his little nest, his shelter against the elements and hardships. In his mind, this small space, just over one square meter was the utopia of life.

    He carefully took out the wax paper bag and held his breath. With an facial expression full of faith, as if a praying pilgrim, he slowly opened it.

    It was actually a piece of bread inside the bag! A piece of bread that had only been bitten into once!

    The boy knew at first nce that this thing was called bread. He had never seen a piece of food so intact, yet hepletely couldn¡¯t recall where and when he learned about such a thing like bread.

    Actually, that was just an ordinary bread roll. Even the lowest peasants on the upper continent might toss it away after one bite, just like this piece on the young boy¡¯s hands. Yet in this junkyard, it could be worth a few lives.

    Moving a little closer to it, he could smell the faint scent belonging to cereal grains. The little boy felt that all the wounds and pain on his body had disappeared without a trace. He very carefully held up this piece of bread, finding it difficult to believe that he could actually find such a treasure.

    Was this a dream?

    A drop of blood seeped out from the wound on his hand and rolled off onto the bread. The boy involuntarily cried out and hastily wiped his hands on his body with force, drying up all of the blood and sweat. When he turned around and looked at this piece of bread while weeping, he felt so horrible as though the sacred object in his heart had been defiled.

    All of a sudden, the boy¡¯s stomach started growling at this moment. It expressed his desire with acute pains as though it was cramping up. So, he pulled off the chunk of bread that was stained with blood, rallied up all of his determination, and was just about to put it in his mouth.

    But his hands froze midair.

    Just outside of the iron barrel, at some point in time, a little girl had appeared.

    She appeared to be only four or five, and streaks of ash and dirt covered her little face, entirely drowning out her original skin color. However, those clear and distinct features hinted at the immature form of a girl who would absolutely be gorgeous in the future. Her pair of twinklingrge eyes were exceptionally beautiful and flowing with spirit as they fixedly stared at the bread within the boy¡¯s hands, unable to turn away at all.

    The young boy sat up with a jolt while his left hand securely grasped an iron rod that seemed to have been freshly sharpened. This was the most instinctual response of the people who lived within the junkyard; when one¡¯s food was seen by another, it was often a fight to the death.

    The little girl did not run away, however. Both of her eyes were stilled glued onto the bread,pletely unmoving.

    The young boy slowly put down the iron rod in his hand. Hesitating, he made up his mind after a great deal of time. He slowly tore the bread into two halves and passed one to the little girl.

    The boy¡¯s movements were very slow, and his hand was also shaking while sweat was pouring down his head. His stomach and all the wounds on his body voiced their dissent with the most intense pangs of pain imaginable.

    However, the bread still ended up in the little girl¡¯s hands in the end.

    The little girl seemed to not dare believe her own eyes. She grasped the bread tightly at once and heavily rubbed her eyes. Only then did she confirm that she wasn¡¯t dreaming.

    She immediately stuffed the bread into her mouth with all her might. The half that was even a size bigger than her fist actually vanished into that tiny mouth in just a few bites, perhaps no more than three seconds!

    The little girl finished eating the bread and licked the crumbs on her hands clean. Only then did she lift her eyes and focus her gaze on the young boy¡¯s face for the first time. After looking at him attentively for a moment, she then ran away almost seeming like she took flight.

    At this moment, the little boy didn¡¯t know what he was feeling within his heart.. Even more so, he had no idea why he did such a thing and could only wearily sit back down. Perhaps it was due to those pure and clear eyes that touched a certain emotion deep down within the depths of his heart?

    But, what is this strange so-called emotion thing? The little boy leaned on the barrel¡¯s walls, carefully ripped off a fingernail sized piece of bread and put it into his mouth. He did not swallow it right away but instead kept it in his mouth, feeling the sweet taste of grains with the tip of his tongue.

    Just at this time, the soft and immature voice of a girl suddenly came from outside of his little nest, ¡°He has tasty food on him! You promised to give half to me!¡±

    The boy¡¯s heart instantly sunk to the depths of despair. He saw several older children standing outside.

 Volume 1 - 2: Standing in Silence

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 2: Standing in Silence

    Unsurprisingly, the young boy was dragged out of his little shelter. The remaining half of the bread was not spared, either, and was put in the hands of the strongest of the older kids. All of the older kids were over ten years old, with the leader being already twelve.

    The leader deeply breathed in the aroma of the bread. Without hesitation, he ripped off arge chunk and stuffed it into his mouth, swallowing it all at once The other kids swallowed in their envy.

    A mouthful of bread could not calm the older kid, instead making his eyes bloodshot from fury.

    ¡°You actually dared to hide food?! What about the other half? Where did you hide it? Not going to talk? Beat him up!¡±

    The young boy was sent to the ground from one kick. Encircling him, a crowd of older kids beat on him with their full strength. The little boy was rolling back and forth as he was beaten into a tattered cloth sack.

    Panic emerged on the little girl¡¯s face as she stealthly shifted two steps back. She knew that if the boy said that he gave the other half of the bread to her, she would most likely be beaten to death right there.

    It was as though the boy¡¯s lips were welded shut. He did not speak a word or utter a single moan, but instead bore the beatings silently.

    Finally, the older kids got tired of beating him and the beating came to a halt. They searched the boy¡¯s little den, finding nothing as well.

    ¡°Looks like he ate the other half!¡± an older kid said with both envy and hatred.

    ¡°Cut open his belly! Maybe it can still be found!¡± a tanned, skinny kid shouted viciously.

    The leader brutally kicked the little boy, yelling loudly, ¡°Where did the other half go?! If you ate it, then you can go to hell!¡±

    The little girl¡¯s face went ghastly pale in an instant.

    Yet, contrary to her expectations, the boy did not speak and instead struggled to stand.

    The boy¡¯s mouth moved as if to say something, but no one was able to hear him. The older kids involuntarily edged closer, wanting to hear what he was saying.

    Suddenly, the boy¡¯s left fist flew upward, viciously smashing into an older kid¡¯s face!

    The older kid screamed miserably, staggering backwards while covering his blood-covered face. The boy had secretly grabbed a piece of metal while he was rolling on the ground and getting beaten. It had opened a violent gash on the older kid¡¯s face, its sharp edge sticking out from between the boy¡¯s fingers.

    ¡°Beat him! Beat him to death!¡± the injured kid screamed madly, covering his face.

    The boy faced them head-on, fighting with everything he had, yet he was quickly knocked down once more. Clenching his teeth tightly, he rolled into a ball to protect his vitals. He never begged for mercy, nor did he utter a groan.

    The older kids eventually got tired of beating him, and their fists slowed. The older wounded kid still wanted vengeance, however, and yanked the boy up from the ground in a single motion. Just as the older kid was about to speak, the boy suddenly leapt up with energy that seemed toe out of nowhere, headbutting the older kid¡¯s already injured face!

    The older kid¡¯s nose broke instantly.

    He shrieked, again covering his face. The other kids looked at the boy and actually felt a sense of dread welling up from the bottom of their hearts. They had to admit that even they wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand such injuries. They didn¡¯t know what kind of strength supported the boy standing before them!

    This time, no order was necessary. They swarmed the boy and knocked him down, viciously beating him again. When they grew tired, the boy unexpectedly moved a little, unsteadily rising to his feet once more.

    This was an extremely unyielding child. Even if he were going to die, he would do so standing.

    ¡°L-let¡¯s kill him!¡± another kid suggested, his voice even trembling somewhat. If the boy wasn¡¯t killed, he felt that he¡¯d never be able to sleep easy.

    No one followed his suggestion, but they still struck the boy down. The older kids, however were much easier on him this time around. They were instinctively afraid and were also bing exhausted. Their harvest for today was puny, which meant that their stamina was also limited. If not for their desire to vent the irritation caused by the Crimson Moon, perhaps they would¡¯ve left right after snatching the bread.

    As the older kids stopped one by one, their bodies extremely sore from the act of beating the boy, a tiny figure suddenly appeared by their side.

    It was the little girl. She made her way through the crowd, struggling to carry a rock that was quiterge from her perspective.

    All of the older kids looked at her in surprise. Her small, beautiful face brimmed with insanity and determination as she struggled to lift the stone high above her head. Then, she smashed it down at the boy¡¯s head!

    With a bang, the boy finally stopped moving. A pool of blood spread out from beneath his head.

    Gasps came from all around the girl. The older kids instinctively shuffled back a few steps, moving away from the little girl they could knock over with a single kick.

    The little girl ran to the stone that had rolled to the side and strained to lift it up. The stone was already stained with blood, which smeared all over the little girl¡¯s face and body. When her tiny figure staggered over to the boy, even the leader of the older kids felt a chill in his heart.

    Then a breeze suddenly drifted through the junkyard, sweeping up paper scraps and dust. The already cold night strangely became icy as everyone who was still searching through the junkyard for food abruptly shuddered.

    They were unaware that an invisible force field had already covered the entire junkyard.

    After the chill had passed, a vast majority of the oblivious junkyard denizens immediately went back to searching through the piles of garbage. A few people had felt as if something jumped a few times in their body but it was such weak sensation that it just seemed like an illusion. The sensation went away quickly, so they did not think much of it and continued searching for food in order to survive the day.

    In the meantime, a few just stood there and stared at their hands in astonishment. At some point, their hands had begun to emit a faint light that was exceptionally eye-catching under the curtain of night. Furthermore, it wasn¡¯t just their hands¡ªtheir entire bodies had begun to shine as a mysterious new power emerged from within them.

    From a bird¡¯s eye view, the shining people in the vast airship graveyard resembled a gxy that had descended.

    The little girl¡¯s body also glowed, and her strength increased significantly. The emergence of the light did not change the girl¡¯s actions however, and she quickly walked to the boy¡¯s side, smashing the stone at his head again!

    All of the older children were waiting for the moment the boy would be mutted. Some were anxious, ncing to the side because they subconsciously did not want to witness such an act.

    Right at that moment, light suddenly blossomed from the boy¡¯s body. A pir of red light had emerged as well, surging up to over a dozen meters in height. In the night sky, it was a sight that was extremely hard to miss! Several rings of light emerged around the pir and moved along a mysterious route.

    The heavy stone smashed into the radiant light, bouncing away as if obstructed by a formless power. Such an anomaly shocked all of the older children who jumped in confusion.

    A boat that was over a dozen meters long floated through the night sky, sliding across the lower half of the enormous crimson full moon..

    The boat was built in an old-fashioned style. There was a mast, a cabin, a deck¡ªeverything was there. The entire body of the boat was painted blue-gray, and a bronze sculpture of a ring buddhist warrior was sculpted at the ship¡¯s bow. The warrior¡¯s face was full of might, and it held a staff with both hands.

    A pair of wings were mounted on both sides of the flying ship, which also had propellers installed. The speed of the propellers varied. Some were slow and some were fast, working to adjust the ship¡¯s orientation. The ship didn¡¯t have an air sac, and no other propulsion systems could be seen. It was unclear just how it was able to stay afloat.

    The airship¡¯s body was smooth and elegant. At a nce, it didn¡¯t seem to be very extravagant, but whether it was the joining of the mast to the deck or the engravings on the railing and sides of the boat, everything was done with extremely fine and precise workmanship. It was a modest kind of extravagance.

    At this moment, inside the airship, a silver haired man stood beside the window, overlooking the airship junkyard below.

    He didn¡¯t look too old, and actually seemed to be in his prime. His gaze was deep and clear, and his chin was an unswerving yet graceful curvature. He wore a ck uniform with an upturned cor, which was the standard style of the Empire¡¯s military uniform. However, it did not have any insignia of military rank. Only two rows of silver buttons embossed with a ming longsword showed his exceptional status.

    The silver haired man simply stood there and his capability was naturally disyed; sharp and keen like an unsheathed sword.

    There was also man in his fifties nearby sitting in the room. He was square-headed and hadrge ears, a kind, good-natured face, and a midsection that was already growing wider. He was staring intently at the go board before him as thest white piece of warm, high-grade jade could notnd onto the board no matter what.

    The situation on the board was already near the endgame phase. White¡¯s pieces, in the shape of arge oriental dragon, were painfully struggling to survive.

    After a long period of thought, the man finally let out a long sigh and threw the piece onto the board in defeat.

    ¡°Brother Xitang. It¡¯s been seven years, yet your skill in go is still as amazing as before!¡± The plump, middle-aged man stood up and walked up to the window to stand side by side with the silver haired man and look downward.

    Through the ship¡¯s window, one could see that every part of this enormous airship junkyard, which covered nearly a hundred square kilometers, glimmered with faint lights that resembled stars.

    Therge middle-aged man, however, wasn¡¯t very impressed with the sight. ¡°Brother Xitang, you really ought to change this habit of yours. While the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery is certainly outstanding in the way it awakens and guides an individual¡¯s potential in origin power, there¡¯s no need to use it on the entire junkyard, right? Unless you already have more origin power than what you know what to do with¡­? If that¡¯s the case, why don¡¯t you give me a direct bestowal, let me also get a pot of your gravy!¡±

    With a faint smile, Lin Xitang said, ¡°Brother Tuohai, you are still as straightforward as always. Look at all the people below. All of them possess the potential to cultivate origin power, you know.¡±

    Yet Gu Tuohai did not agree. ¡°So what? People with potential are a dime a dozen. You specifically came to this damned ce to find me, then took a huge detour instead of directly returning to the capital. It can¡¯t be that you just want me to witness your mastery of the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery, can it?¡±

    Lin Xitang chuckled, and pointed toward the outside through the window. ¡°I¡¯m not that bored. Look there. If we consider the ratio of people who possess the potential to cultivate, the people of this airship junkyard are already no less than the civilian ss of the Empire. You also know that, when the Empire moved to the upper continent, all of those that moved with it were the houses that possessed the potential to cultivate. Yet, after eight hundred years passed, the ratio of the Empire¡¯s civilians who possess the potential to cultivate are even lower than that of the people in this junkyard. It seems as though the people of the Empire have lived their days in luxury for too long.¡±

    ¡°That may not be the case!¡± Gu Tuohai shook his head. ¡°Having potential is one thing, and the degree to which an individual may cultivate is another. The houses that followed the Empire to the upper continent all had special gifts and talent in a certain aspect. Once they are able to awaken their cultivation potential, they would be able to advance to rank three or four at the very least. Meanwhile, the people belowck innate talent and are also twisted at heart. Cultivating to the first rank would already be their limit.¡±

    ¡°Yet it is more likely to awaken one¡¯s potential in the depths of despair, making more with potential appear,¡± Lin Xitang said leisurely. ¡°That is an undeniable truth.¡±

    Gu Tuohai snorted loudly. ¡°This is that natural selection thing of yours again! It¡¯s been so many years now, yet you still have yet to see it proven!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m right, so what need is there to prove it? Look at the starry lights below. Those are the lights of our Empire¡¯s bright heritage and the future hope of humankind. In the past, the ancestor of my house, the house of Lin, also set out from a ce like this. After cutting down countless dark races in these hundred years, umting merit, and earning achievements, they went from the lowest level of the abandonednd to being considered nobility. Of this generation, I, Lin Xitang, have been entrusted with a heavy burden by his Majesty. Naturally, I should strive toplete my task to the best of my ability until the day I die! As long as it¡¯s beneficial to the Empire, I will act without exception! I don¡¯t mind a tiny bit of criticism.¡±

    Gu Tuohai stomped his feet and huffed with rage. ¡°That¡¯s a tiny bit of criticism? I knew I couldn¡¯t get through to a stubborn guy like you! Haaah. I, Gu Tuohai, must have momentarily gone crazy when I promised you ten more years of service to the Empire. In any case, I¡¯m only going this time in order to handle some matters that I ought to take care of. Don¡¯t count on me shouldering some great duty. Also, there better not be a shortage of good alcohol or beautiful women!¡±

    Seeing Lin Xitang merely smile and remain quiet, Gu Tuohai couldn¡¯t help but be slightly irritated. Pointing outside the window, he raised his voice slightly, ¡°You see starlight, but I see people in a horrendous state of livelihood! If it weren¡¯t for the Empire abandoning the Evernight Continent in the past, how would this ce have be the abandonednd? Just look! How can anyone with actual aptitude even show up in this unfortunate ce? If there is, then I¡¯d rather believe that I¡¯ve seen a f*cking ghost!¡±

    Suddenly, right in the direction of his pointing finger, a thin pir of red light appeared!

    Even though the light was weak, it was extremely dazzling within the numerous starlike glimmers. Even the splendor of the blood moon that covered both the sky and earth could not obscure it.

    Gu Tuohai was instantly dumbfounded as he mumbled, ¡°C-could it be that I really saw a ghost?¡±

 Volume 1 - 3: The Big Shotâ€™s Decision

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 3: The Big Shot¡¯s Decision

    The wondrous abilities of Lin Xitang¡¯s Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery were unfathomably boundless. It could awaken an individual¡¯s cultivation potential as one of its effects. Truly outstanding natural talent would often produce unusual phenomenons under its effects.

    These unusual phenomena were split into five grades. For example, the faint glows from the junkyard were merely of the lowest grade, representing that they only had the potential to develop their origin strength. On the other hand, a first grade talent would emit pirs of light of various colors. On top of that, strange phantasms would orbit the pirs likes around the sun, hinting at a person that would be revered by all. Furthermore, the phantasms that appeared also represented the future path of the individual¡¯s natural talent. A second grade talent would only have pirs of light and no phantasms, a third grade talent would have a single zing light that resembled a roaring me, and a fourth grade talent would have just a bright light without any such phenomena.

    There were rumors that, above the first grade, super grade talent existed. Those that possessed it would truly be great geniuses of overflowing talent, and the phenomena that would ur could be vivid representations of rolling hills and roaring rivers, or possibly lifelike images of mythical beasts and birds.

    Under the cover of darkness, the pir of light was red and belonged to the lowest rating of first grade talent. In spite of this, among the Empire¡¯s countless cultivators, a first grade talent was one in a hundred thousand. The appearance of a first grade talent was well worth the Empire¡¯s careful nurturing so that it would be a future pir of support for the military.

    This red pir of light was like a p to the face that made Gu Tuohai¡¯s face tingle.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look!¡± Without waiting for the airship to change course, Lin Xitang stepped out of the cabin and leaped from the airship, falling from an altitude several hundred meters high.

    Ten-odd fully armored bodyguards rushed to follow suit, leaping from the airship in pursuit of Lin Xitang. Inparison, Gu Tuohai pped the window blinds in frustration, but ultimately followed them down.

    The sight of the sudden change on the little boy had clearly startled the older children, but the little girl had only been disoriented for a moment. After discovering that her strength had significantly increased, she bounded toward an evenrger rock and strained to drag it over.

    The boy was in a daze. With a groan, he turned over.

    Suddenly there was a pair of thick suede military boots beside him.

    The boots themselves didn¡¯t actually touch the ground, instead floating a few centimeters in the air above it. An invisible forcefield quietly spread, pushing all the dust, dirt, and rubbish into the distance.

    The startled girl stopped in her tracks, staring at the silver haired man that had appeared without warning. Opening herrge, innocent eyes, wearing an equally harmless, childlike expression, she quickly threw away the rock that she had in her hands.

    Although she hadn¡¯t noticed, light was shining from her body through her clothes. The sweat which had originally soaked her palms hadpletely evaporated. Yet the silver haired man didn¡¯t even so much as nce at her out of the corner of his eye.

    Lin Xitang frowned as he looked at the scars and injuries all over the boy. The boy was clearly more injured than he had first assessed as some of the injuries seemed to reach his vitals. With a wave of his hand, a fog of light appeared in the air. A rain of green droplets fell from it and onto the boy, soaking into his body.

    These green raindrops contained an immense power, and the boy¡¯s injuries healed at a clearly visible rate. He groaned, slowly opening his eyes as he regained consciousness.

    The first thing that the little boy saw and registered was the silver haired man¡¯s stern, determined face.

    The boy didn¡¯t understand what was happening, but he instinctively refused to grovel lying on the floor, and once again struggled to stand. Looking around him, he saw the older children and immediately remembered what had happened, his expression changing in an instant.

    Lin Xitang followed the boy¡¯s gaze, looking at the older children surrounding them and the remains of a paper bag on the ground. He instantly understood why the boy was injured to such a degree. This was, after all, a thing that happened in junkyards so often that it couldn¡¯t be any moremon.

    Lin Xitang refocused himself, then crouched down, extending his hand to the boy as he said gently, ¡°Come, give me your hand. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    But the little boy recoiled a little, and with great difficulty, he mustered his courage.

    ¡°Qian¡­ Qianye,¡± he said softly. His small hands reached out, but stopped halfway. He didn¡¯t dare to reach any further.

    His tiny hands were horribly dirty, all covered in grime. Although his wounds had been nourished by the rain of light and weren¡¯t bleeding anymore, the crusted bloodstains were still there.

    In any case, he didn¡¯t dare to put his hands on therge spotless hands of the silver haired man. Yet at this moment, in the eyes of little Qianye, the big hands that were held out in front of him were the only source of warmth in the world.

    Lin Xitang smiled and encouraged him, ¡°It¡¯s fine, give me your hand.¡±

    Gu Tuohai flew down at this point. Upon seeing that Qianye had been injured, the usual kind expression he gave others was somewhat angry. He couldn¡¯t help but give a deep snort, coldly looking over the surrounding kids.

    The crowd of slowly-gathering children had terrified expressions on their faces, but the ten-odd bodyguards had already locked down every single path through this area. They didn¡¯t dare to try fleeing.

    Lin Xitang leaned over a little, extending his hand and waiting patiently. Under Lin Xitang¡¯s bright gaze, Qianye finally found his courage and ced his hands into the warm, dry, and strong hands of Lin Xitang.

    Lin Xitang lightly grasped the hands that were half the size of his own, closing his eyes and quietly feeling them.

    Gu Tuohai looked at Qianye, his brow suddenly furrowing as if he had thought of something.

    Lin Xitang sighed and opened his eyes. He gave Qianye a once over, reached out his hand to pull away the scraps of cloth on the little boy, and his eyes were instantly captivated.

    There was an enormous scar on Qianye¡¯s bare chest, one that ran from half an inch below his heart all the way to his belly button. Just looking at this ugly, protruding scar, Lin Xitang knew that it had originally been a terrifying injury that tore Qianye¡¯s insides open!

    But Qianye was still so young. How in the world had he survived?

    Momentarily startled, Lin Xitang regained hisposure, saying, ¡°Brother Tuohai, you¡¯re far more skilled in medicine than I am. Help me examine him.¡±

    Gu Tuohai silently walked up to Qianye, not caring about the dirt at all, and he stretched out his hands to carefully examine Qianye. Qianye felt that everywhere Gu Tuohai¡¯s hands went was like having red-hot needles stabbed into his body, but he clenched his teeth and forced himself to not make a sound.

    Gu Tuohai¡¯s eyes shed with momentary shock, and he praised Qianye, saying, ¡°So tender of age, and yet so daring. Interesting!¡±

    He stood up and spoke to Lin Xitang. ¡°This child would originally be considered a top-tier talent, but he¡¯s been so heavily injured that it¡¯s ruined his physique. Aside from that, I also suspect that his body might have even contained a piece of crystallized origin power.¡±

    Lin Xitang immediately thought of a forbidden phrase¡ªorigin power theft! He narrowed his eyes a little, and pretended to not understand. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is¡­¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s just a suspicion. Even you know that sort of thing is a major taboo. His injuries have already been healed for a decent number of years, so he must have been younger than the age of three when he was injured. Yet, as you can now see, his foundation has been heavily damaged. Even if his cultivation potential is greater than that of anyone here, he isn¡¯t a first grade talent anymore,¡± Gu Tuohai said gravely.

    Qianye¡¯s old injury was extremely serious, yet he was still able to release a red light pir. This signified that his original talent was so great that it might have even been a super grade, but with his current state, it would be a stretch to even list him as a fourth grade.

    A fourth grade talent would only be slightly stronger than an ordinary person. For Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai, who were high-ranking officers in the Empire¡¯s military, it was practically worthless. On top of that, Qianye¡¯s giant scar was a hidden danger, and whether he¡¯d survive the tough training was something they couldn¡¯t be sure of.

    Gu Tuohai sighed, feeling great sympathy for the boy.

    Lin Xitang looked at little Qianye, who stared back at him. Perhaps the warmth in Lin Xitang¡¯s palm hadn¡¯tpletely dissipated, but the little boy¡¯s eyes held a glimmer of hope that not even he had noticed.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s heart trembled slightly, and he gently said, ¡°Meeting here should be considered a kind of fate. Tell you what¡ªI¡¯ll take you away from here, and you¡¯ll decide for yourself where to go next.¡±

    He took out a few smooth jade tablets, and with a quick rub of his hand, he engraved words onto them. He held them with the engraved side facing downward, then handed them to Qianye to choose from.

    Qianye hesitated a little, then reached for the jade tablet in the middle. There were two words on it, but he didn¡¯t recognize them.

    Gu Tuohai looked and then sighed, shaking his head.

    ¡°Yellow Spring,¡± Lin Xitang softly read the words to Qianye before taking the jade tablet back. He patted the boy¡¯s head lightly and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your surname?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t have a surname. My name is Qianye.¡±

    Lin Xitang nodded as he spoke gently. ¡°Alright. If you make it out of that ce alive, then you may use ¡®Lin,¡¯ my surname!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand what Lin Xitang was saying and could only continue to listen in ignorance.

    Lin Xitang didn¡¯t need him to understand at the moment. He turned to instruct his subordinates. ¡°Take him back to ¡®Green Bird,¡¯ wash him, clean his wounds, change his clothes, and feed him.¡±

    Having finished with instructing them, Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai slowly began to rise and elerated away, flying toward the airship stationed in the sky.

    The older children had waited on the sidelines for a very long time, watching everything. Although they didn¡¯tpletely understand what the adults were saying, the talk of being washed, fed, and clothed¡­ they heard these unbelievably irresistible phrases loud and clear.

    Seeing the guards about to take Qianye away, the head of all the older kids charged over, shrieking, ¡°Take me! Take me along! I also want to bathe and eat!¡±

    He tried to hug the thighs of the guards and reached out to Qianye, attempting to pull him out of their embrace.

    The injured leader pulled roughly at Qianye¡¯s legs, crying out, ¡°That should be my position! Who do you think you are? Everyone, get over here and beat this mongrel to death! He actually dared to headbutt me just now! All of the food up there should be mine!¡±

    The leader was even more vicious than he had previously been, intentionally wing at Qianye¡¯s injuries. Surviving in the junkyard only had one rule: if you killed someone, you would get everything they had.

    Resembling mountains, the well-built guards didn¡¯t even move and let the leader of the older kids continue raising a ruckus. Seeing that, the little girl quietly began to move over.

    Only when the leader tried to pull at Qianye so hard that his face was starting to contort with pain did the guard captain coldly say, ¡°That¡¯s enough. Even Mr. Tuohai would have nothing to say about this.¡±

    The moment the guard captain spoke, viciousness shed across the nk face of the guard that was carrying Qianye. With a single kick, he brutally punted the older child dozens of meters into the air.

    This one foot contained a dark, brutal power, and as the leader of the older kids flew into the air, he suddenly exploded into a bloody mist!

    The other guard merely smiled as he stepped forward, stretching out his leg. He mmed his foot down onto the ground, saying, ¡°A pile of puny rats actually dare to disturb the business of Marshal Lin!¡±

    The ground rippled outward from where he¡¯d mmed his foot down, rapidly spreading. The group of children were thrown into the air by the force of the wave, violently spurting blood. Their bones cracked loudly as they distorted into unrecognizable shapes.

    The wave also rushed right past the captain and the other guards, but they didn¡¯t move so much an inch. All of them seemed to have weathered it without being affected.

    Yet, miraculously, the little girl also wasn¡¯t hit by the wave. When the captain had spoken, the rest of the older children had been dazed, and some had even listened to the leader and stupidly charged Qianye, the girl had turned a run for her life without looking back.

    It was in this way that she barely managed to escape the wave, miraculously surviving.

    Seeing that the little girl had actually managed to escape, the guard¡¯s face grew red for a moment. With a loud snort, he lifted his foot to m it down again! He had only been using three tenths of his power. However, the captain suddenly reached out and grabbed the guard¡¯s shoulder with his hand, preventing him from mming his foot down.

    The captain seemed to be listening to something in his ear, and then he nodded, not moving an inch as he stared at Qianye with hisrge eyes. He then brought out his service pistol and put little Qianye¡¯s hands on the trigger.

    The captain steadied the gun as he aimed it directly at the little girl¡¯s chest. He said to Qianye, ¡°She¡¯s already tried to kill you multiple times. Come, pull the trigger. Use some force and then¡­. Bang! She¡¯s dead!¡±

    With the entirety of his small hands, Qianye held the trigger tightly. He stared at the silhouette of the little girl stumbling and fleeing for her life knowing that, as long as he pulled the trigger, she would definitely sprout blood.

    He waspletely calm as his shiny ck eyes watched her, but he shook his head in the end and let go of the trigger.

    On the airship, Gu Tuohai was all smiles as he said, ¡°Just as I expected, haha! Lin old man, it is so rare for you to lose! Come,e, if you¡¯re daring enough to bet, you¡¯re daring enough to admit defeat, so hand over that ¡®Aqua Tobo¡¯ of yours! It¡¯s mine now!¡±

    Lin Xitang still wore a faint smile on his face. Since the very start, the depths of his eyes were as calm as still water. They were so clear and brilliant that they seemed to reflect all the sights of the world, yet contained nothing.

    The guards took Qianye back to the airship. It turned, rose, and vanished into the skyline, merging with the light of the blood moon.

    As for this particr junkyard and the little girl that was still fleeing for her life¡­ They were forgotten just like that, the same way this continent had been abandoned.

 Volume 1 - 4: Welcome to Hell

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 4: Wee to Hell

    Time flew, and soon enough, a month had already passed.

    Outside a perfectly ordinary valley, a bassy roar suddenly sounded out as arge, heavy military truck spewed thick clouds of ck smoke, thundering past. The roads outside the valley itself were unpaved, and in every direction, natural trenches littered the endless ins. But to the giant, man-sized tires of the truck, they weren¡¯t even a hindrance.

    The truck rushed toward the valley entrance and then all of a sudden hit the brakes. Its giant, beast-like body shook violently and swerved to the side, etching a crescent-shaped scar before finallying to a rest. In the vehicle¡¯s enginepartment, a cacophony of noises could be heard, and while therge exhaust pipes stopped belching ck smoke, the valves spurted out arge cloud of steam.

    As the driver-side door opened, a thirty or so year old man stared, and then, with a single jump, he leaped off the two meter high drivers seat, cing the boy that had been in his arms on the ground.

    The little boy had clear and pretty eyes, and his soft, ck hair was stered to his forehead, wet with sweat. His face was pale, and he wore an expression that looked like he was holding back the contents of his stomach, evidently having been battered by the manic driving. He shook, bracing himself, and wrapped his ck cloak around him tighter, blocking the whistling, frigid winds.

    At the entrance to the valley stood a man with only one eye.

    In that piercing, frigid wind, he bared his chest with his hands tucked neatly behind his back, legs shoulder-width apart. This was one of the things the army drilled in first, and it made this man look particrly imposing.

    He alone blocked the entirety of the road toward the valley.

    The middle-aged soldier carried Qianye, only stopping a few meters before the one-eyed man. He then stopped, saying, ¡°Long Hai, you haven¡¯t changed.¡±

    Long Hai grinned, revealing a mouth full of silver and gold teeth. ¡°Shi Yan, you¡¯re three minuteste.¡±

    ¡°We met with a team from one of the dark races along the way, and for the sake of exterminating them, we were dyed a little,¡± replied Shi Yan.

    Long Haiughed coldly. ¡°A single dark team can make youte? It looks like your strength hasn¡¯t improved at all over all these years! Have you been the dog of the Lin House for too long that you¡¯ve even thrown away your capability?¡±

    These words didn¡¯t anger Shi Yan in the slightest, and he only ndly said, ¡°Marshal Lin is one of the cornerstones of our Empire. For me to be his personal assistant already satisfies me plenty. Things like this, there¡¯s no way you¡¯d understand.¡±

    Long Hai snorted and didn¡¯t argue further with Shi Yan. He turned his eyes to Qianye, saying, ¡°So this is the kid that the higher-ups have been talking about? Why, he looks just like a little girl! Is he even going to be useful?¡±

    Shi Yanughed. ¡°Since he¡¯s going to be under your tutge, if you don¡¯t like him, who can stop you from sorting him out?¡±

    Long Hai gave another huff. ¡°You should know that here, regardless of their identity or background, all are treated equally.¡±

    ¡°On that point, I¡¯m naturally aware.¡±

    ¡°Then stop wasting time, let hime over!¡±

    Shi Yan squatted down in front of Qianye, and his stony face squeezed out a whisper of a smile while patting Qianye¡¯s head. ¡°Go on, follow Instructor Long. Remember, number one, no matter what they ask of you, do it immediately! Number two, is that I hope that after a few years I will be able to watch youe out alive.¡±

    Although Qianye was a little taken aback, he heard the gravity in the man¡¯s words and nodded his head gravely.

    Shi Yan smiled. On the journey in, he had already greatly warmed up to this little fellow.

    Qianye was a quiet child most of the time, but he possessed an incredible grit to the point of stubborness; once he promised something, he would definitely achieve it.

    Seeing this, a hint of surprise emerged on Long Hai¡¯s face. ¡°For the twenty years I¡¯ve known you, I¡¯ve never seen you smile so many times!¡±

    When he stood back up, Shi Yan¡¯s face had resumed its stony, unfeeling look, and he said, ¡°How could I ever smile when I look at you?¡±

    Immediately following those words, some of the veins above Long Hai¡¯s temples popped out momentarily.

    A short whileter, the heavy transport truck roared away, and Qianye followed Long Hai, walking toward the valley. The mountain roads were rocky and winding, and after nearly two hours, it still felt like there wasn¡¯t an end in sight.

    Qianye looked to either side and suddenly spotted a row of words written inrge, bloody letters: WELCOME TO HELL!

    Qianye couldn¡¯t read all of the words, but his eyes were seemingly drawn to it, unable to look away. He kept walking, turning his head all the way until he couldn¡¯t see that line anymore. Although he could no longer see it, deeply impressed in his young heart was the image of every stroke and letter dripping with blood!

    Time passed, and the sky gradually darkened. The valley was like the mouth of a giant beast that awaited Qianye.

    It was onlyter in the wee hours of the night that Qianye realized that he hadnded himself in a ce that was worse than hell, the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    The hands of the clock moved toward midnight. Normally, at this time of night, many would be entering dreand, but for the children of the Yellow Springs Training Camp, this was merely their first day in hell.

    In a bitter, cold great hall, Qianye and a hundred or so children of simr age to him were herded together, carefully listening to Long Hai¡¯s lecture.

    Long Hai paced himself back and forth in front of these children, asionally stopping; his terrifying gaze would then sweep across them. ¡°In here, you only need to remember three things. One, is absolute obedience. Two, is absolute obedience, and three, is still absolute obedience! Here, orders will only be given once, and so will your chances to obey! Now, everyone line up with your backs against the wall, and you are not to move nor speak before new orders have been given!¡±

    The crowd of children messily pushed past one another, and all of them lined up against the wall, not waiting for the next order.

    Long Hai sped his hands behind him, strode out of the great hall, and then, with a loud m, locked the steel door.

    The first ten minutes, everyone in the great hall was quiet. But after another ten minutes, some of the more active children couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer.

    A little boy next to Qianye looked at him and whispered to him, ¡°I¡¯m Liu Kai, and my family runs a business in Jianzhang Province. I¡¯ve heard that this ce is very terrifying, so let¡¯s be friends! My father says that banding together makes it easier to survive than alone.¡±

    But at that moment, all Qianye was thinking of was Shi Yan¡¯s parting message: He must obey Long Hai.

    And Long Hai had just said that they weren¡¯t to move, nor talk.

    Seeing that Qianye had no response, Liu Kai next to him refused to give up, ¡° Oi! Nobody¡¯s looking at us! At least tell me your name?¡±

    Upon seeing Qianye standing there like a statue, not even twitching his fingers, Liu Kai muttered something or another under his breath helplessly.

    Half an hour went by, and a few of the children began to whisper to one another while others were swaying left and right, stretching out their aching legs.

    One corner of the great hall suddenly became noisy. Some of the children had begun to argue for some reason, which then rapidly devolved into fighting one another, noisily arguing without rest.

    The disturbance had already be so huge, and yet, no instructors hade out to stop them. Hence, the children became even more rxed. Having fought one round, several of the fighting children separated and returned back to their original positions. At this point, more of the children began to chat and move, and the great hall gradually became noisy.

    As the clock struck one, the steel door suddenly opened with Long Hai walking in. Behind him was a team of vicious and ferocious-looking men, every one of which was holding a whip.

    The temperature in the hall immediately plummeted, and the faces of all those children who had previously been having fun and were cheerful turned pale, even starting to shiver.

    Long Hai¡¯s eye swept across all of them as he nodded. ¡°Good! Very good! Some of you were fighting, some were talking. I was originally worried that I hadn¡¯t left a deep enough impression on all of you, but now that I see it, my worries were extraneous!¡±

    Long Hai¡¯s face suddenly darkened, and he pointed to the children who had been fighting. ¡°Catch them, and show the rest what happens when they disobey orders!¡±

    This sounded a little odd, and many of the children were at a loss, but some of the smarter children immediately understood what was going on and were almost paralyzed on the floor by the even greater terror that was now welling up within them.

    The six children who were fighting were thrown to the center of the hall like little chicks, lined up in a row.

    Long Hai promptly revealed a ferocious smile. ¡°Here, disobeying orders will only result in one thing¡­ death!¡±

    One of the men behind him leveled a strange rifle-like object and aimed it directly at one of the children. The gun¡¯s barrel was sorge that it could fit a child¡¯s fist inside it!

    The gun suddenly shot out a wide beam of red light, and the sound reverberated throughout the great hall, almost deafening everyone!

    As the red light shed, that boy¡¯s upper body had entirely vanished; only his legs still remained on the ground! Fresh blood spurted everywhere in excess of ten meters, even sttering onto the opposite wall.

    The man revealed a bloodthirsty and cruel smile, and moving the barrel, he aimed it at the next child.

    That child whose face was initially unruly was now full of panic as he shouted out, ¡°No! I don¡¯t want to die, my uncle is one of the Empire¡¯s generals! He¡­¡±

    The gun exploded once more, and cut the remainder of his sentence short.

    ¡°Empire General? Hehe, even if it were the Empire Marshal¡¯s son, as long as he entered here, the consequence of not obeying orders would be the same!¡± the man said coldly eximed.

    The guns continued fire, and after six shots had gone by, the center of the great hall had already been painted red in blood and eviscerated flesh.

    At this point, Long Hai said, ¡°Now, all of you who opened your mouths just now, step out now, remove your clothes, and then go prone! Your luck is good today, just threeshes is considered the whole of your punishment. However, if anyone wants to continue to lie to me, then you will end up like those six little bastards!¡±

    The children looked at one another, and many of them trembled as they walked to the center of the great hall, stripped, and then honestly proned down. The ones who had been left standing at the wall were not more than twenty.

    ¡°Is there really nobody else?¡± Long Hai asked again.

    Two of the children originally standing by the wall walked out, shaking.

    Long Hai nodded. ¡°The two of you, fiveshes each!¡±

    The two children¡¯s face went pale, but it was toote for regret.

    Long Hai suddenly stretched out his hands and pointed at four children who were standing by the wall, his voice frigid, ¡°You four actually dare to lie to me, then go to hell.¡±

    The four crying children were tossed into the center of the great hall, and then four ear-shattering gunshots resounded once again.

    Just like this, in the first night that they spent at the Yellow Springs Training Camp, Qianye already clearly understood what the consequence of viting orders would be. In that same night, this new batch of students had already been shaved off by a tenth.

    At three in the morning, Qianye and the other children were together, driven into arge room.

    In it were rows of bunk beds, and each child quietly picked a bed to lie on, upon which they immediately slept. Nobody said a single word, and nobody cried.

    Qianye habituallyid down like he always did, but he sprung up from the sudden shooting paining from his back.

    In the darkness, the cries of the children¡¯s pain could constantly be heard, but evidently, everyone was trying to keep as quiet as possible.

    Qianye flipped about and carefully climbed onto the bed, trying to prevent himself from touching the tender wound on his back.

    Qianye had also been whipped once.

    And the fifteen, just like him, who had strictly followed the orders, were given a special treatment: They were only whipped once each.

 Volume 1 - 5: Evernight and Daybreak

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 5: Evernight and Daybreak

    At that moment, Qianye was immensely exhausted in both body and mind, and in the blink of an eye he fell into a deep slumber.

    But after only three hours, Qianye was awoken by the piercing sound of the rm. He instantly remembered Long Hai¡¯s orders. He immediately scrambled out of his bed, leaped over to grab his clothes and put them on as fast as he possibly could. Naturally, it was unavoidable that the whip wound on his back would be touched, causing him to inhale sharply through his teeth, steeling himself against the pain.

    The children had to wake up and assemble in less than five minutes. Thest three to arrive would receive three extrashes.

    Numbly, Qianye stood in the ranks, and began running along the mountain trail, numbly following orders. After he finished running for five kilometers and finally returned to the start, he really became numb.

    Thanks to his day-to-day struggle in the junkyard, Qianye performed exceptionally well in this running drill. He was the tenth to make it back.

    Next was an hour of strength training. Anyone who was unable toplete the training would beshed. Unfortunately, the petite and thin Qianye took ashing.

    This was only the beginning. Of all the uing training, the leather whip would leave the deepest impression in the children¡¯s minds.

    After the strength training did breakfast time finally arrive.

    Breakfast was the best feature of the entire training camp. Not only did it have a great variety of food, the amount was also unlimited. It was all you could eat without any restrictions, except for time. Breakfast was thirty minutes. It was almost extravagantly long, so no one ever exceeded the time limit.

    The experiences of the past day had already taught these children that exceeding the set time limit would be turned intoshes.

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp hosted a number of children from esteemed and powerful families, but the majority weremoner children selected from various regions. There were also a few who were orphans with simr experiences as Qianye. Seeing such a ptial first meal, most of those who were used to year-long struggles lost control and ate as though their life was on the line, fearing that there wouldn¡¯t be another chance.

    However, Qianye ate cautiously to the point of being slightly more full than usual and stopped there. In the junkyard, he had watched on many asions as someone found arge bag of food, and then died from eating too much.

    Breakfast time was over. When the bell rang, the children rushed toward the gate like the tide. At this moment, an ident urred. A little girl suddenly fell to the ground, then rolled and rumbled in pain, screaming and shrieking endlessly. A short whileter, she stopped moving.

    She had overeaten, to the point of losing her life.

    This breakfast, and this little girl, taught moderation to the children who survived.

    After breakfast was training again. The entire day was various kinds of training, and all of them were rted to strength and endurance.

    Every single time he reached the halfway point for a training drill, Qianye would feel that he could not continue on. However, the stubborness and willpower he had since childhood supported him, forcing his tiny body to follow the motions one by one in an unfeeling state,pleting the training task. His days in the junkyard had taught him that even in times of utmost despair, as long as he forged on with tightly clenched teeth, tomorrow would alwayse.

    When he finallyid back down onto his bed, Qianye didn¡¯t even know how he had survived the whole day. This time he didn¡¯t hurt himself and slept on his stomach, while his tender back showed traces of the threeshes he received.

    Qianye immediately passed out nearly at the moment he got onto his bed. He dreamt that night; his dreams were filled with the whistle of the whipshing through the air.

    At six in the morning, the shrieking rm woke Qianye from his dreams. He leaped down from the bed with a single movement, then dressed himself entirely by instinct and dashed out of the barracks. Throughout the entire course of events, his eyes had never even fully opened.

    Exiting the barracks, the bright sunshine stung Qianye¡¯s eyes and caused him to squint. He suddenly recalled that right now ought to be the dark season. Why would there be sunlight at six in the morning?

    Only in the next moment did Qianye realize that he was already no longer in the junkyard, and hade to the middleyer continent where the Empire stood¡ªQin. The sunlight here was rarely blocked by the other upper continents, so naturally there would be sunlight at six o¡¯clock.

    Qianye was dumbstruck, but hesitated for less than the blink of an eye before rushing to his position and standing straight as a spear.

    Once again, a new day had begun.

    The leather whip in the instructor¡¯s hands remained Qianye¡¯s most profound memory of that day. Again, he wasshed once for failing toplete the required number of drills in the specified time.

    The experiences of the other children differed little from Qianye¡¯s. Only the strongest few did not get punished, while the weakest suffered fiveshes and fell to the ground in the end, unable to get up with his own strength. He was dragged out of the training grounds right away. Qianye never saw that child ever again.

    During the night of the third day, the instructors brought a huge barrel of a ck colored balm-like substance and forced the children to smear it on theirsh wounds. The balm was even more painful than theshes themselves upon application. However, after half a night of unbearable pain, thesh wounds on Qianye¡¯s body were almostpletely healed.

    Just like this, days flew by. Every single night Qianye would dream, and all of the dreams would be rted to being thrashed by the whip.

    Only a monthter, did Qianye finally see the first day without whipping. And during that night, Qianye suddenly counted thepanions who begun training in the same term as him. He realized with shock that there were only around sixty or seventy people left around him. Of the originally over a hundred children, thirty had already disappeared within a month.

    What was next was still endless strength and endurance training, as well as unceasing thrashing of the whip.

    After the first bloody day, Long Hai no longer immediately executed any children for infinitesimal matters. Only actions that directly vited prohibitions would be met with execution. But even so, after an entire three months since Qianye entered the training camp, only sixty were left of hispanions; nearly half were gone. The vanished children were mostly eliminated by the cruel training.

    However, Qianye¡¯s body had strengthened a great deal after three months. Compared to when he first entered, he was an entirely different person.

    The first day after three months, Qianye and hispanions were brought to a multistory building, and were given a special ss.

    The one who taught the ss was a tall and beautiful woman, approximately twenty seven or twenty eight years old. The uniform struggled to contain her plump bosom.

    Striding briskly onto the podium, she wrote therge words ¡°Essence of the World¡± on the ckboard. Reading it out loud first, she then said, ¡°I know that most of you here don¡¯t recognize these words, but that¡¯s okay. You have a month of time to study; I will issue teaching materials to you in a moment, and properly teach you how to read in excess of your training. Examination will take ce in one month. Now, let me tell you about the essence of the world we live in.¡±

    The essence of the world was origin power.

    ording to the beautiful teacher, Zhang Jing, the root and source that supported the entire world was precisely origin power.

    Origin power was not uniform. It was divided into two different characteristics; origin power that inclined toward the light was referred to as Daybreak origin power, while the dark-leaning was Darkness origin power.

    All living things adhered to a side of origin energy to survive, and thereby were naturally categorized into the two factions of Daybreak and Evernight. Even different races of the same faction would differ in their degree of inclination toward either side of Daybreak and Evernight.

    Humans were situated at the side of Daybreak, while the various dark races that enved the humans belonged to the side of Evernight. Their power, and even their lives all existed by adhering to Darkness origin power. The dark races used to be iparably powerful and wereposed of many branches. Among them, vampires, werewolves, demonkin and arachne were all mighty races whose names spread far and wide.

    But humans were a strange race. Even though the vast majority were inclined toward the side of Daybreak, there were also many who affiliated with Evernight, so much so that there were those who devoted their entire lives for Evernight even after awakening Daybreak origin power. This was unimaginable to the dark races who could only be considered adult after passing through the baptism of Darkness origin power, but it was not a rare urrence for humans.

    It was said that between Evernight and Daybreak, there still existed origin power in its most pure and unadulterated form. However, rarely could anyone sense the origin power of the root, let alone cultivate it. In this world, there weren¡¯t any races corresponding to the root origin power either.

    Origin power and cultivation¡­

    Listening to here, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but clench his right hand into a fist, as though wanting to catch thest remaining hint of warmth. In that restless night of the Crimson Moon, thatrge and powerful hand was like a faint wisp of light within in the darkness.

    Zhang Jing pped the podium desk, and the smooth metal surface split apart from the middle. Amidst the faint sound of machinery turning, an odd object made of countless metal wires, rods and cogs of various shapes and sizes rose up, and unfolded one by one in suspension. This 3D model was the world map.

    The entire world was dynamic. Cogs turning, metal wires pulling, theponents representing continent and celestial bodies were slowly moving along their orbits.

    Strange and unfamiliar terms popped out one after another from Zhang Jing¡¯s mouth. There were a total of twenty-seven continents that humans had already explored in this world. They were not unmoving in the void; instead, they slowly moved without any pause ording to a profound track. Above these continents, there existed two suns, while several enormous celestial bodies were around them. It was said that these celestial bodies were the moons that could be seen at nighttime. ording to the difference in orbits, the moon that one saw every night might not always be the same.

    Including Qianye, most of the children were unable to make heads or tails out of what they heard, and could only try to learn them the dumb way, memorizing every word she spoke. At the same time, they stared fixedly at that model with its many wires, the model soplex that they became dizzy just from looking at it, hoping that they could memorize enough of it in the shortest amount of time possible.

    Only the few children who hade from great and powerful families seemed to have been aware of this knowledge already, and thus appeared unperturbed amidst the turmoil.

    ¡°The sun¡¯s rays will be blocked by the upper continents, so the lower down the continents, the less sunlight they receive. Yet again, every single continent¡¯s origin power¡¯s attribute is different; some are of the Daybreak side, while some are of the Evernight side. Continents with a clearly defined origin power attribute are the natural habitats of the various races. There are also some continents with indistinct attributes of origin power, and these continents are the focal points of conflict between the two factions.¡± Zhang Jing¡¯s voice was very pleasant to the ears, and her exnation was also simple and easy to understand. If not for that, most children wouldn¡¯t have understood anything at all.

    She pointed at the group of continents at the lowest ofyers, ¡°Such as this one, which has the longest night time of all continents. Although there are also four distinct seasons on this continent, most simply divide the year ording to the interval during which it receives direct sunlight, resulting in the light season and dark season. In a year, three months are the light season, and the rest are the dark season. Thus, the battle for survival on this continent is exceptionally nasty. However, it is thend from which all of humanity originated. The Empire also rose from there, even though it is not important at all to the current Empire¡¯s domain. This continent, we call it the Evernight Continent, or as an alias, the abandonednd.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s entire body suddenly shook. There seemed to be some tepid thing that wanted to flow from his eyes. This Evernight Continent was the ce he had lived in for as long as he could remember. Actually, there seemed to be someone who had lived together with him, but he had already forgotten when that person had left and never appeared ever again.

    Unwittingly, ss had already reached its end.

    Zhang Jing retracted the model back into the podium, and then spoke, ¡°We will meet one monthter. The topic of the next lesson is the War of Daybreak. This is the war during which mankind truly made their stand. It was a war of destiny, and also the war that founded the Empire.¡±

 Volume 1 - 6: Daybreak of the Empire

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 6: Daybreak of the Empire

    Zhang Jing was gone. Qianye had new early learning material in his hands when he left the ssroom. He needed to memorize one thousand words every day for the next month to be able to pass Zhang Jing¡¯s examination. The price of failure was ten entireshes!

    It was only now that Qianye understood that whips were the only hobby shared by every instructor in the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    However, their subsequent training sessions did not slow down simply because the kids needed to learn how to recognize words. The duration and amount of training did not change in the least.

    Upon returning to the barracks at midnight, Qianye was so tired that he felt like his bones would fall apart. He fell asleep the moment he climbed onto the bed. Only when he was woken up by the shrill bell the following morning did he remember that he had not memorized even a single word!

    Obviously, there were plenty of kids who were like Qianye. Therefore, the night after they finished the next day¡¯s training, most of the kids forced themselves to stay awake and did everything they could to memorize the iprehensible words.

    After forcing himself to memorize his fiftieth word, he eventually could no longer stand it and copsed on the bed. Then, he fell asleep.

    Time passed just like that, and in the blink of an eye, a month¡¯s time was swiftly gone.

    Zhang Jing¡¯s second ss finally arrived, and the exam was set before the ss started. During the long hour and a half, Qianye wrote down a total of one thousand and five hundred words. This was his total after a month of effort.

    Qianye¡¯s total was ranked fifth out of all the kids. The first four kids were children of aristocratic families and had learned to read and understand words since they were small. Without a doubt, Qianye sat in first ce out of all of the illiterate kids. After him were three other children of aristocratic families who had been studying since they were young.

    A total of eleven people failed Zhang Jing¡¯s examination.

    ¡°It is now time for you to pay the price for underestimating my ss!¡± Gently saying this, the beautiful woman actually raised a whip of her own ord and cracked it right at the kids who had failed to pass the exam. The strength she used was even slightly stronger than Long Hai¡¯s!

    Tenshes was an incredibly severe punishment. Two kids were actually whipped to death right before Qianye¡¯s eyes!

    It was then that Qianye knew this beautiful teacher was even more ruthless and terrifying than Long Hai!

    This exam made Qianye and all the other children realize that reading and understanding words were just as important as training one¡¯s physique.

    Zhang Jing called in two stalwart men and had them drag the two motionless children out of the room. Then, without a change in expression, she wrote down four big words¡ª¡°The War of Daybreak.¡±

    Zhang Jing became unusually grave and solemn as she wrote these four words. Even her voice became tinged with seriousness. ¡°It has already been twelve hundred years since the War of Daybreak¡­¡±

    The War of Daybreak happened at the lowest point of the Evernight Continent. It was also the very first ce that the human race dwelled and reproduced, growing stronger with each passing day.

    During the War of Daybreak, the human race used every power in their possession¡ªit was the final struggle of Daybreak origin power, burning ck stones, steam gushing with power, rumbling firearms, and enormous rough machinery against Darkness origin power!

    During this great, decisive battle of fate that continued on and off for more than a hundred years, the human race that had awakened their origin power paid a terrible price and was left with only one tenth of their original poption. However, they ultimately defeated the dark races and forever freed themselves from a fate of very, subservience, and being treated as livestock. They drove the dark races out of the Evernight Domain and built Qin, the very first empire with the human race as masters.

    In the history of mankind, this decisive, fateful battle was known as the War of Daybreak. This was because, at the end of this war, the humans who had been living in Evernight finally saw daybreak for the first time. The very first origin power that the humans awakened was established under Daybreak, and with this war as the dividing line, the two great factions of Evernight and Daybreak were officially formed.

    The War of Daybreak was not the end, but the beginning. In the past twelve hundred years, the human race gradually attacked and upied four new continents, the lowestyer of the world to the middleyer of the world. They also began to look up at the upper continents. While the great Qin Empire officially brought a majority of the distinguished families with them, migrating to the new continent, more human nations also started to form one by one.

    The War of Daybreak urred on the Evernight Continent, but since its natural environment was too poor and its resources were extremely scarce, it ultimately became a huge, trash-filled world that was once again overtaken by the relentless dark race.

    Qianye suddenly shivered at this point. For as long as he could remember, he had never left the junkyard. However, he would hear the strong adults boasting about the various features of the dark races every so often. It wasn¡¯t a legend after all. It was true, bloody darkness.

    Yet Zhang Jing¡¯s tone and expression made him feel even colder when she spoke of them. It was a kind of calmness thatcked anypassion.

    Indeed, during thest twelve hundred years, the dark races and the human race never stopped warring with each other. Battles happened on every continent and every region where their borders converged. Thousands of years had passed. Hatred and bloodshed was everywhere in abundance. The Evernight Domain was not unique among these battlefields. In fact, it was one of the most overlooked battlefields of all.

    When the ss finished, Qianye felt that his heart was heavy with something inexplicable that had not been there before. The rest of the kids had the same general feeling as him. They were still young and did not yet understand the weight of history. When they left the ssroom, the kids immediately ran toward the training grounds like they¡¯d grown wings. They would suffer another threeshes if they werete again.

    Life returned to its normal pattern once more.

    Before anyone realized it, half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye¡¯s physique had grown tremendously. He grew a full ten centimeters in just half a year. Other than the strict, yet scientific training, the training camp¡¯s meals were also an important factor.

    The food that the kids ate was very nutritious. Some of the food had even been taken directly from the dark races. Furthermore, a small amount of special medicine was put into their soup everyday. It could quickly activate the potential of their bodies.

    Qianye felt that the days were repeating, as if things would never change. The only thing that changed was the number ofpanions around him.

    When Qianye and the other kids did not add up to fifty, they were met with a new group ofpanions. The age of the new arrivals varied, and they totaled up to fifty or so people. The only thing they shared inmon with Qianye was their constitution, which was more or less the same.

    Another half a year passed, and once again only fifty of Qianye¡¯spanions remained. They were then met with yet another new batch ofpanions. It was at this time that Qianye learned that he and the hundred people around him were considered apany. Every time they lost half their number, they would be reinforced with neers to make a total of one hundred strong. The concept behind this reinforcement was that their strengths were simr.

    Once Qianye had spent a full year in the training camp, every child was suddenly summoned to the drill grounds, awaiting their orders in an organized formation.

    As he waited, even if such trivial actions might earn him a number ofshes, Qianye had the strong urge to look at his surroundings.

    Swiftly and stealthily, he nced to his left and right, then turned his head just as quickly while the instructor was looking away before assuming the normal upright position once more. It was a simple, trivial action, but it was enough to make his heart beat wildly.

    This was because Qianye suddenly realized that, out of everyone present, the faces he recognized did not even reach a total of thirty! More than half of the first one hundred children had forever left this world.

    It was only then that Qianye finally understood the true meaning behind the words in front of the valley entrance¡ªWELCOME TO HELL.

    Long Hai appeared in front of the children and swept a cold nce over them. His lone eye seemed to have be even fiercer, but every kid courageously met his gaze without fear. These kids had already developed courageous¡ªor, rather, numb¡ªhearts after a full year of hellish training.

    Long Hai was very satisfied as he said, ¡°Very good! After the trash was swept away, the ones that remain finally look adequate. However¡­¡±

    After a very long pause, Long Hai let out a meaningful smile. ¡°The good news is that you have all passed the first test, and will be cultivated seriously. You will no longer be punished for trivial matters. Nothing has changed about you disobeying orders, of course. The bad news is that you will realize that the true training has only just begun!¡±

    Long Hai walked back and forth in front of the group, his rumbling voice sting the children¡¯s ears non-stop. ¡°In the next few years, you will begin your true cultivation! The cultivation of origin power! You will learn the most direct and effective way to kill a person. You will have the chance to kill any kind of the dark races with your own hands. Of course, there is a very high chance that you might be killed by them as well, so pray hard, my littlerades! Lastly, I can tell you now that out of all the people standing here, no more than a quarter of lucky birds will be able to leave this ce alive.¡±

    Thest sentence was considerably dire, but Qianye did not let it affect his heart. He had learned not to worry about things out of his control.

    No matter how slim his chance was, Qianye would do everything in his power to fight for it as long as it existed. Without this tenacity and concentration, the younger him who had been grievously injured at the junkyard would¡¯ve long ago be soil.

    Long Hai waved his big hand, and severalrge men walked over and passed new learning materials into the hands of every kid.

    Therge words, ¡°Combatant Form,¡± were written on the cover of this textbook. The writing was strong, every stroke sharp like a de! Qianye actually felt a hint of pain in his eyes when he stared at them.

    This was a cultivation form! This was the key that divided themon and the powerful. As he held this Combatant Form, Qianye¡¯s young heart suddenly felt that his fate would be changed by this small, thin book!

    The kids were led into the ssroom. The person who walked onto the stage and was responsible for teaching the Combatant Form was none other than Zhang Jing. Extraordinary strength was hidden under her beautiful outward appearance. In fact, Qianye had already noticed some time ago that Long Hai would never walk too closely to Zhang Jing. This distance was about five meters, and now he understood that the distance meant fear.

    Zhang Jing pushed her sses upward. The swell of her chest intensely rose and fell because of this small movement.

    ¡°This is the Combatant Form. This is the cultivation form exclusively prepared for cannon fodder!¡±

    Qianye was very surprised to hear her evaluation.

    Although living in this training camp for the past year was even more brutal than the junkyard, it could more or less be considered a normal society. Qianye had picked up somemon sense during extremely limited interactions with various students and naturally saw that the training camp had invested a significant sum of resources on them.

    The elimination rate of Yellow Springs was extremely high. It was rumored that only one out of a hundred people could walk out of this ce alive. This meant that the resources spent on the ny nine people that were eliminated were, in fact, wasted. Would they seriously give them a cultivation form meant for cannon fodder after spending so much to raise them?

    Plenty of people shared the same thoughts as Qianye.

    Zhang Jing did not miss the changes in expression of any of the children. She immediatelyughed coldly. ¡°Do not think that cannon fodder is a derogatory term! In reality, countless people would not qualify to be cannon fodder even if they wanted to! It is only after you survive this ce and walk out of here in one piece that you can be considered adequate cannon fodder! You will need to cultivate aplete origin power tide in three months and ignite an origin power node in a year! If you fail¡­¡±

    Zhang Jing suddenly licked her lips and said gently, ¡°You will have to be punished¡­¡±

 Volume 1 - 7: The Cannon Fodder Special

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 7: The Cannon Fodder Special

    When Zhang Jing wasn¡¯t smiling, she looked as dignified as a nobledy from history books. With an animated expression, however, she had an indescribable sense of charm and seductiveness.

    At this moment, her voice and movements were incredibly appealing, causing some of the older children to begin breathing heavily, yet therge thugs responsible for odd jobs wore fearful expressions instead. Even Long Hai¡¯s expression had be strange.

    Qianye recalled the twopanions she had beaten to death because they failed her examination. He also felt a chill from the bottom of his heart.

    Zhang Jing then exined the theory behind and cultivation of origin power, as well as how to begin learning the Combatant Form.

    There were nine great origin nodes in the human body. Three of these nodes were located inside the lower abdomen, chest, and forehead, while the remaining six nodes were located in both arms, legs, and knees. Origin nodes were the most important part of storing and deriving origin power.

    Since all of human history consisted of war, the current, mostmonly used power ranking was incredibly militarized. After a person ignited their first origin node, they would officially join the ranks of Fighters and be a rank one Fighter. Every new ignition after that counted as advancing one rank.

    After igniting all nine nodes, the Fighter would have the opportunity to assail their first great bottleneck, and sessfully essing all the nodes would result in the formation of an origin vortex. This was a breakthrough to a whole new level! A person at this level would have the power to face a member of the dark races head on, and be considered a true elite. They would be called a Champion, a pir of strength, as soon as they stepped onto the battlefield.

    Since the Combatant Form was the basic cultivation art of the imperial army, its style matched its name in that it was extremely harsh and powerful. Its greatest aspect was the elerated rate in which it could be cultivated. As long as the first node had been sessfully ignited, the origin power inside one¡¯s body would rush forth like a tidal wave, ovepping one wave after another like a continuous tide to crash against the origin node again and again.

    Compared to the secret arts of other noble families, the Combatant Form allowed a person to quickly progress through the early stages of cultivation. The cultivator might even be able to break through the limitations of their original potential. However, its w was also very obvious. The power of the origin tide was so strong that it would damage the cultivator¡¯s body. The more an individual cultivated the Combatant Form, the worse the damage would be.

    As a result, no one had ever stepped into the Champion rank with just the Combatant Form. If they wished to progress further, they needed to switch to another cultivation art during theter stages of their cultivation. This was exactly why the Combatant Form was known as the art exclusively meant for cannon fodder.

    Yet it was just as Zhang Jing said earlier. Regardless of status, anyone who cultivated the Combatant Form had their own unavoidable reason for doing so. Most of these people would not live past rank nine anyway, so what was the point in worrying about it?

    If there truly were someone who had the talent to break through to rank nine and be a Champion, this person would naturally have infinite opportunities. They would be invited to join a person¡¯s force no matter where they went. Such people did not need to worry about the resources required to rise through the ranks in theter stages of cultivation.

    Now that Qianye thought about it, he and his group had trained their bodies in all sorts of ways during their first year in the training camp. Only a strong, healthy body could endure the vicious, powerful Combatant Form.

    From this day onward, two additional hours of cultivation were added to Qianye¡¯s daily timetable¡ªone in the evening and one at night. However, the amount of physique training and mastery of knowledge or skill had not decreased in the slightest. After hearing about the new arrangements, the faces of the children who had survived the past year of bloody training lost allposure, appearing depressed.

    In the evening, this group of students was led to a small valley not far from the camp.

    Steaming hot springs were at the center of the valley. Dozens of metallic pipes were embedded into one end of the hot springs, while the other end connected with the other pipes in a serpentine manner.

    These huge, metallic pipes, which were more than a meter wide in diameter, sprawled across the entire valley like a spider¡¯s web. Ten meter tall machines of unknown function stood between these pipes. These machines did not have protective exteriors, and even the smallest cog exposed to the outside was more than a meter in size. They were held together by dense clusters of transmission belts and metallic chains.

    Rows of metallic longhouses were constructed around these machines. The outer walls of these longhouses were a glistening yellow. They looked like they wore a copper skin, showing no trace of any rust.

    The kids were split into several groups, with ten people entering a metallic longhouse at a time. The interior of each longhouse was separated into several isted rooms. These rooms were their cultivation rooms.

    The cultivation rooms were considerably small and narrow, and their walls were surprisingly thick. The inside of the rooms were filled with copper rust. The floor of each room consisted of copper barbed wire, through the gaps of which one could see a bottomless, pitch ck hole.

    Following orders, Qianye entered a small room. The room was empty, devoid of furniture. Only a small leather-wrapped cab was in the corner beside the door.

    Qianye removed his shirt and long pants before stuffing them into the cab. After some recollection, he then crossed his legs and sat upright, just as the instructor had demonstrated earlier. Almost immediately after he sat down, the door to the room was opened from the outside.

    A dark-skinned, bare-chested ve walked in and opened a copper door in the wall. He set a log of dark, heavy-looking wood on fire and tossed it into the opening.

    From beginning to end, the ck ve said nothing. Furthermore, hepletely shut the door to the room when he left.

    After the harsh ring of a bell, the cultivation room shook slightly. Rumbles of machinery resounded faintly from outside. A whileter, arge amount of boiling steam gushed through the four walls and the ceiling, swiftly spreading throughout the room.

    A wisp of smoke suddenly seeped in from the copper door in the wall, which was about half a person tall. The long, drawn out smoke could be seen clearly within the room filled with steam. As it gradually dispersed, merging with the steam, the room was filled with a strange fragrance.

    It was somewhat suffocating to sit inside of such a small room where the humidity had skyrocketed. Qianye instinctively inhaled deeply, and he suddenly felt energetic. He could actually feel something fervently stirring in the surrounding air. It was simr to the blue raindrop that had sshed on him on the night of the Crimson Moon, yet it was different.

    It was origin power resonance!

    Qianye was overjoyed as he hurriedly calmed his mind and thought about the Combatant Form¡¯s mind incantation. As expected, it was as if something had awakened from its slumber within his body. The origin power in the air grew even more lively, and it gradually began to enter his body as if attracted by an invisible force.

    Two hours quickly passed, and the clear ring of a bell suddenly resounded throughout the valley, waking all of the children from their meditation.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes and felt unfathomable regret inside of his heart.

    He had managed to condense a substantial amount of origin power in this evening alone. It might be considered incredibly small, barely discernable, but it was enough to make Qianye go wild with joy. ording to the depictions in the Combatant Form, being able to condense origin power into an actual shape on the first day meant that the cultivator¡¯s talents were extraordinary. It meant that they could hope to cultivate to the level of high ranking Fighters, or rank seven and above.

    The incense inside of the copper door had finished burning. There was no longer any fragrance spilling from it. Although the room was still filled with steam, Qianye¡¯s awareness of the origin power gradually grew dull and hazy.

    The ss was over.

    The rumbling of machinery suddenly resounded within the room. The walls began to shake, and a terrifying vacuum came from the barbed wire floor. The steam that filled the room was gone in an instant. Then, amidst the creaking of gears and hinges, the bulky copper door of the cultivation room slowly lifted.

    Unconcerned about the fact that his undershirt was still wet, Qianye put on his clothes as fast as he could before exiting the cultivation room, running toward the specified area and properly standing in formation.

    Long Hai appeared once more, wearing a cruel, calcting smile as he said slowly, ¡°I believe that all of you have just experienced the benefits of ¡®Vermillion Countenance Blood¡¯ during that lesson.

    ¡°I think you should all know that a piece this small¡­¡± He gesticted the size of an index finger and grinned, his gold and silver teeth gleaming coldly. ¡°¡­is worth more than a dozen human lives!¡±

    Qianye knew that the log had not been an ordinary object from the start, but he hadn¡¯t thought it would be that valuable.

    That being said, the value of ¡°more than a dozen human lives¡± depended on the quality of said lives. A dozen or so kids like Qianye, who had grown up in the junkyard, might not be worth even a single silver coin. Before he met Lin Xitang, Qianye had seen a total of two copper coins. One of them had even been missing a corner. He had never seen a silver coin before in his life.

    Long Hai paused for a moment before suddenly raising his voice, roaring, ¡°From now on, you will no longer enjoy such luxuries! From this week onward, every drill subject will be marked ording to their performance, and there will be a test the week afterward! Those who rank in the lower half will not be given any ¡®Vermillion Countenance Blood,¡¯ while the upper half will get double the ¡®Vermillion Countenance Blood.¡¯ I would congratte you if you could make it into the top ten, because you would be rewarded with a third portion of ¡®Vermillion Countenance Blood!¡¯¡±

    The faces of the kids changed. They looked at theirpanions warily.

    Several gazes swept across Qianye and quicklynded on other people. Qianye was unremarkable, and his rank during the previous training sessions had always been low.

    The first week passed very quickly, and at the end of the week, Qianye was in the seventy fifth ce. This meant that he would miss out on an entire week of ¡°Vermillion Countenance Blood.¡±

    The night that the results were announced, Qianye could not sleep.

    He began contemting all of his drill subjects. The Combatant Form did not need to be ranked at the moment, and Qianye was always able to rank among the best during the knowledge sses taught by Zhang Jing. The majority of the subjects, however, were still physical. Qianye was slightly behind in every single one of them.

    Qianyey on his back and quietly stared at the ceiling above his head. He gently touched the giant scar on his chest. The malnutrition he had suffered due to many years of life in the junkyard had almost beenpletely fixed by the meals of the training camp, but this scar was the reason why his constitution was far weaker than that of a normal kid¡¯s.

    Qianye could currently understand some of the things that Gu Tuohai had said before. This scar left with him with hidden hardship. Every time he performed strenuous training, his scar would pain him, lowering his endurance and strength. It was only because Qianye had a will that was far more tenacious than most, and because he put in a lot more effort and sweat, that he was barely able to keep up with training.

    Now, however, the new rule was obviously going to wash out half of their group. There was a massive difference between cultivating with Vermillion Countenance Blood and without Vermillion Countenance Blood. If the difference continued to umte like this, then the distance between the first and second halves of the group would only grow further and further apart.

    Qianye had thought about a lot of things by the time he finally fell asleep. Surrender was the only thing that hadn¡¯t crossed his mind. As long as he endured, he would see tomorrow. The small light that shone through the darkness would not always remain out of reach.

    Qianye would ovee his disadvantage bit by bit. He would fight with his life to obtain every point in every subject!

    That week, Qianye trained with everything he had, and his ranking rose as a result. However, it was only by one ce.

    Another week passed and Qianye managed to overtake the hurdle of 70th ce, rising to 69th ce. However, during the third week, Qianye overdid it and fell sick. His ranking immediately slipped to 93rd.

    Starting from the fourth week, perhaps because the goddess of fate had seen Qianye¡¯s struggle and hard work, the knowledge-based sses suddenly increased in quantity.

 Volume 1 - 8: Red Spider Lily

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 8: Red Spider Lily

    From that week onward, a tall, wiry, man that seemed gloomy yet ordinary reced Zhang Jing on the stage. Big men brought a few heavy, rectangr-shaped metallic boxes into the room. After they were opened, the kids discovered that there were actually several hundred types of firearms within!

    ¡°You can call me Shadow,¡± the man said coldly. That single line was the end of his introduction.

    Immediately afterward, Shadow walked to a weapon box and took out two handguns, the models of which looked nearly the same. He raised them, showing them to the kids.

    Up close, there were some differences between the two handguns. One of the guns had a barrel that was polished, as bright and smooth as a mirror, whereas the other gun had a barrel that was covered in all sorts of patterns.

    ¡°This is a model from the famous Eagle series, the signature weapon of the Empire¡¯s Imperial Frontier Army. It is renowned for its impressive firepower.¡± While the man spoke, he pointed directly at a wall of the ssroom and pulled the trigger of the gun that was as smooth as a mirror.

    A loud bang caused a ringing sound to buzz in everyone¡¯s ears, and a deep hole the size of a bowl appeared on the sturdy wall. The damaged frame and foundation were now visible.

    Qianye was immediately shocked by its power! If it could do this much damage to a wall, then it would probably be able to open a huge hole in the human body with a single shot. If it struck hands or feet, that one shot wouldpletely destroy them.

    ¡°Is this powerful? Of course not!¡± Shadow¡¯s cold voice rang out.

    The other handgun glowed, the patterns on it suddenly lighting up. There was the sound of a mming hammer and a massive object piercing through the air as the muzzle of the gun discharged a green light at the wall. A sudden crash resounded!

    A tremendous st of air mixed with countless shrapnel struck the kids, preventing them from lifting their heads.

    When Qianye lowered his arms that had been protecting his head, he was shocked to discover a huge hole in the limestone and metal frame of the thick wall! The outside scenery was visible through the hole!

    Qianye hadn¡¯t realized that this ball of green light would be so powerful!

    The man waved the still glowing handgun, saying, ¡°This is a firearm powered with origin power. Its power is unrivaled bymon firearms. Just this low grade origin gun has enough firepower to equal a cannon. It was exactly because we had these origin firearms that we were able to beat back those abominable dark race bastards during the War of Daybreak,ying the foundation of the Empire as it exists today!¡±

    Shadow then gave a detailed exnation of the theory behind origin firearms.

    Origin firearms and traditional firearms might be simr in appearance, but the theories behind them werepletely different. The mechanism used to load gunpowder and bullets was reced with an energypression device. The user needed to inject their own origin power and condense it into origin bullets before being able to fire.

    While the ammunition capacity of the energy device and firearm materials differed, the firepower of origin firearms obviously differed by a significant amount as well. Some origin firearms were even imbued with powerful special abilities, and only those types of guns were qualified to be counted in the ranks of legendary guns.

    There were also guns that stood out among the legendary guns.

    There were ten Grand Magnums in the world, and every one of them wielded unparalleled power. Any of the ten Grand Magnums had the ability to turn an entire continent upside down!

    For hundreds of thousands of years, there had been countless open and secret conflicts over the ten Grand Magnums, and only god knew how many supreme individuals of peerless talent had died for them. Even then, people continued to relentlessly struggle for them, like an unruly crowd on a wild goose chase.

    Three out of the ten Grand Magnums were currently in the human race¡¯s possession, five had fallen into the possession of the dark races, and two were unounted for.

    From this distribution of the ten Grand Magnums, one could see that the power of the world of elites had been split into three factions: Daybreak, Evernight, and Neutral.

    From the beginning of the training camp to the present, this was possibly the most that the ss of children had paid attention. Even the children of distinguished families werepletely fascinated by the lecture.

    Shadow reached out with his hand to open a teaching board, and revealed a stereogram of an ancient, but beautiful handgun.

    It was an old, flintlock-style handgun. Its hammer stood vertically behind the barrel of the gun, it was silver white in color, and it was shaped like a ceremonial scepter. The barrel and handle of the gun were covered in gold and were engraved withplex patterns of beautiful flowers. An eye-catching, sanguine flower was on the body of the gun, and its petals spread in every direction like tendrils.

    Shadow subconsciously straightened his body and wore an extremely solemn expression on his face. In fact, obvious fanaticism leaked from his face as he enunciated, ¡°This is one of the ten Grand Magnums currently in possession of the human race. Red Spider Lily, also known as the Other Shore Flower, is also the first Grand Magnum that the Empire ever owned.¡±

    Qianye quietly repeated the name, ¡°Red Spider Lily,¡± several times in his heart. He felt that there was an indescribable sense of mystery and beauty to this name, so he etched it deeply inside of his heart.

    A child worked up the courage and asked, ¡°D-does it also have a special ability?¡±

    ¡°Great question!¡± At this moment, Shadow waspletely excited. With a face full of fanaticism he said, ¡°ording to the oral legends of the human race, the Red Spider Lily grows on the shore of the Nether River in the Void Abyss. Every time a life vanishes from the world, a small flower blooms on that river¡¯s shore. The Red Spider Lily is capable of igniting the world¡¯s origin power and lighting the star path to the Nether River. That is the ultimate skill known as the ¡®Forgotten River!¡¯¡±

    From that week onward, there were three more sses rted to origin firearms in Qianye¡¯s schedule. Respectively, they were energy fluid mechanics, gun dismantling and maintenance, and marksmanship.

    Qianye¡¯s results sat solidly in the top five of these three sses. This boosted his ranking considerably, enabling him to enter the top fifty in one go. When the results were announced on the weekend, he was in 49th ce.

    49th ce and 51st ce were only two numbers apart, yet the difference between them was like the difference between heaven and hell. Qianye already knew that every rank after 50th fell under the disqualification zone. Those who were disqualified from the training camp would only be met with one fate¡ªdeath.

    Monday quickly arrived, and Qianye was incredibly excited when he stepped into the cultivation room. As expected, the ck ve ced two portions of Vermillion Countenance Blood inside of the incense burner!

    With senses that had grown ten times sharper, Qianye once again experienced the resonation of origin power as if it were a symphony. Using he circted the Combatant Form, the origin power inside Qianye¡¯s body began to surge, and each shocking tide seemedrger than the next! Without the Vermillion Countenance Blood, his origin power would have already subsided due to theck of subsequent strength.

    Qianye¡¯s senses and the process of deriving origin power were extremely slow without the assistance of this special incense. He would have only been able to umte them bit by bit, guiding them to fuel the next tide only after umting enough force.

    However, with two portions of Vermillion Countenance Blood, the rate at which Qianye absorbed origin power was greatly increased. Origin power poured into his body endlessly, causing the origin tides to be taller and taller.

    Once the origin tide finally reached its peak, Qianye heard an uproar of tidal echoes. Then, following the current, the origin power just¡­ faded.

    His first origin tide was finallyplete!

    Before the first wave of origin tide fadedpletely, it ran into a new wave of emerging origin power, then began a new origin tide. This second tide was even taller and stronger than the first. Just when it was a hair¡¯s breadth from reaching its peak, it ultimately receded due to theck of origin power.

    Dong! A long, drawn out bell jolted Qianye awake. The time for this session of cultivation had run out.

    The most difficult part of the Combatant Form was the formation of the first origin tide. After that, the formation of the second and third tides would be much faster. When the origin tide surged, it also created a powerful vacuum that pulled even more origin power from the surroundings.

    If it weren¡¯t for the assistance of the two portions of Vermillion Countenance Blood, Qianye would have needed at least another two weeks to form his first origin tide. If that were the case, there was no telling if he would have been able to cultivate nine origin tides within the three month limit that Zhang Jing had set for them.

    In the next few weeks, Qianye¡¯s cultivation went incredibly well. With only one month of Zhang Jing¡¯s three month time limit remaining, Qianye was already capable of summoning five origin tides. The cultivation rate of the Combatant Form got progressively faster. Qianye estimated that he would need only another half a month topletely form his first nine origin tides.

    Most of the time, everyone was busy doing their own thing inside of the training camp, but rumors and news leak every so often. Just as they entered the third month of cultivating the Combatant Form, a kid beside Qianye had cultivated nine origin tides! It was said that the most talented fellow in this group of kids, out of all of the Yellow Springs Training Camp, had already begun attempting to ignite his first origin node!

    That boy, who was called Xu Lang, was said to have been born in an influential family of the Empire¡ªand he even had first grade talent!

    When he heard this news, Qianye¡¯s small heart could not help but feel bitter. For as long as he could remember, the wound on his chest had been there. Furthermore, life in the training camp constantly reminded him of his scar¡¯s existence. If it weren¡¯t for his scar, he would have also had first grade talent.

    Every time Combatant Form was activated, and origin power surged and raged violently, the energy would be unusually sluggish upon reaching his scarred region. Therefore, Qianye had to umte even more origin power before being able to summon aplete origin tide.

    Qianye did not know who had left him this scar. He hadn¡¯t even been three years old when he was injured!

    This was fate. Qianye had no choice but to ept it.

    Training still continued, and during the third month there was yet another new knowledge-based ss. This time, it was the theory of machines.

    This was an all-inclusive course. Not only did it have mathematics and physics, it also included many other kinds of knowledge. Only then would they be able to understand the workings of the gigantic machines that people relied on to change the world.

    The first generation of machines were powered by steam engines that relied on ck stones as fuel. After being minimized sessfully, the first generation of steam machines continued to operate in every corner of the continent. It had a lot of strong points, such as stability, great power, and so on. Its strongest point, however, was its low cost.

    It was cheap to manufacture and cheap to repair. In a ce where ck stones were everywhere, and steel reserves were plentiful, steam machines would still be the most preferred choice in most situations even if another hundred thousand years passed.

    This new knowledge ss quickly boosted Qianye¡¯s ranking. He even made it into top twenty, with the hope of gunning for top ten.

    In March, the exam arrived. Qianye had cultivated his origin tide two weeks ago, so there was obviously no doubt about his sess. Three students in the same group as Qianye failed to meet the requirements. They were whipped by Zhang Jing as a result, suffering grievous injuries before someone was called to drag them away.

    No one had died for three months. It had been so long that the kids had nearly forgotten that this was the Yellow Springs Training Camp¡ª the training camp famed throughout all of the reserves of the imperial army for its overwhelmingly cruel process of natural selection!

    When April arrived, there was yet another new coursebat.

    From this moment onward, their easy life of cultivation had ended. Most of the time, thebat sses started with the instructor¡¯s teachings, then ended with the students practicing against one another.

    All of the first week, most people went to bed with bloody noses and swollen faces. Qianye¡¯s injuries, however, were exceptionally severe.

    When the students practiced, they would attack with all of their might,cking any thought of holding back. Out of all the students in the top rankings, Qianye had the weakest physique. He naturally received special attention for it.

    If they were able to beat Qianye enough that he would be unable to climb out of his bed, they would naturally have one less person topete against for the Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    This was the Yellow Springs Training Camp, not apassionate noble academy.

    When the rankings were announced during the weekend, Qianye¡¯s ranking had fallen all the way down to 48th, just barely managing to stay in the top fifty.

    After the children looked through the rankings, it was time to go to sleep.

    Qianye had barely entered the barracks before the door behind him suddenly closed. A few dark shadows then rushed over and gripped him tightly. A hand locked tightly around his neck, preventing him from breathing or speaking.

    This was thebat technique they had just started learning. It was now used on Qianye in the blink of an eye.

    __________

    alyschu: Ceremonial scepter (ruyi)

 Volume 1 - 9: Night Raid

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 9: Night Raid

    The people surrounding Qianye were a few older children. They had joined this ss from anotherpany, and they often walked around together.

    The tall child with a full hair of curls approached Qianye and examined him with the eye of a predator examining its prey.

    This child was called Chen Lei. His character was both bold and brutal. The results of his physical subjects were ranked among the top ten, but his knowledge subjects were always a sore spot. As a result, his overall ranking had been overtaken by Qianye not long ago.

    Chen Lei walked forward until their noses were almost touching.

    He lowered his voice and said ruthlessly, ¡°Listen! From now on, you will do poorly in your knowledge subjects! The Vermillion Countenance Blood ispletely wasted on a useless piece of garbage like you. If you dare to disobey, then I will have my people beat you to death in everybat ss. Furthermore, we will give you another round of beating every day before you sleep. Today¡¯s will be the first!¡±

    Before he had finished speaking, Chen Lei had already punched into Qianye¡¯s stomach!

    This punch was extremely brutal, and he had used almost all the strength in his body!

    Qianye¡¯s stomach immediately bunched up, and the terrible urge to vomit filled his chest. His throat, however, waspletely blocked. He couldn¡¯t vomit at all. Qianye¡¯s choked face instantly turned a deep purple!

    Chen Lei took out some tape and pped it onto Qianye¡¯s mouth. Then he said, ¡°Alright, now he can¡¯t scream! Beat him hard!¡±

    Qianye was instantly pummeled to the ground as the group of seven or eight began kicking him from every direction. There was a ss called Biological Structure that was paired with thebat ss, and the first thing that had been exined was the structure of the human body. The children who had learned about this were incredibly ruthless, and every one of their attacks were aimed at spots that could damage Qianye¡¯s internal organs. However, they avoided ces that could be seen clearly, such as the head and face.

    If Qianye allowed this to continue, he would suffer permanent damage to his body and be unable to endure the high intensity training. He would be a corpse in less than a few days. Chen Lei and the others weren¡¯t just thinking of giving Qianye a lesson¡ªthey were nning to just murder this junkyard eyesore!

    The other kids inside the barracks watched coldly. No one stood up to stop them, and no one reported it to the guards or instructors outside the room. There were several kids who were even stronger than Chen Lei. Gloom and wariness currently filled their eyes when they looked at him.

    In the training camp, private brawls were forbidden outside of thebat field. However, most people were well aware of why Chen Lei had chosen Qianye as his target. Qianye was an orphan that had been born on the Empire¡¯s poorest of trash. From the moment they began their knowledge sses, the information of the students started to spread, intentionally or otherwise. Anyone who paid attention would know the background and identity of another.

    Chen Lei had finally established a dangerous precedent. Every kid began to reevaluate their rtionships and status.

    Qianye felt as if he had returned to the junkyard and was being beaten by a bunch of older children once more. Since he was unwilling to bow his head, he had been frequently beaten in the past.

    He protected his vitals as best he could and waited for his chance. Intense pain continuously exploded in his body, but the more pain that Qianye felt, the calmer he became.

    ¡°Calm down! Calm down! Only show your anger when necessary. When the timees, express all of it in an even calmer fashion!¡± the instructor¡¯s roars resonated in Qianye¡¯s mind.

    It was at this moment that Qianye felt the punishment on his body lessen quite a bit. The kids thought that it was about time to stop since they were afraid that the injuries they caused might be too obvious.

    ¡°You will have every opportunity to kill each other in the future, but that time is not now! I will kill anyone who dares to fight and kill among themselves!¡± These were Long Hai¡¯s original words. Only god knew how many times they had been repeated throughout their stay in the camp.

    Chen Lei also thought that it was enough, and with a wave of his hand, he said, ¡°Alright! How dare a bastard who was born in a junkyard try topete with us¡­¡±

    Yet, before he could finish, Qianye suddenly sprang up from the ground and rammed into an older kid¡¯s chest. His right hand instantly gripped the kid¡¯s genitals!

    All of the kids froze. The kid whose genitals had been caught didn¡¯t dare to move a muscle.

    Qianye used his left hand to tear the ster from his mouth. His movements were slow, and anyone could see that even standing was a difficult task for him.

    With the ster torn, everyone was waiting for Qianye¡¯s next move. Ruthlessness appeared on Chen Lei¡¯s face once more, and he began to signal to hispanions with his eyes that, the second Qianye called the guards over, they would point at him unanimously and use him of starting the fight! Without any solid evidence, both parties would be punished ording to the training camp¡¯s rules.

    Qianye continued to look calmly at Chen Lei. His eyes were clear, and there was neither anger, nor hatred, nor¡­ anything at all. He simply stared at Chen Lei icily without any expression on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to cry out,¡± Qianye said, almost inaudible.

    Chen Lei felt a chill from the bottom of his heart. This was the first time that he had felt true fear.

    Qianye¡¯s right hand began to slowly tighten into a fist!

    The youthful face of the older kid whose genitals were caught suddenly turned deathly pale. His mouth was opened so wide that it could fit a goose egg! There was only the sound of breathinging from his lips, but anyone could see that it would turn into a blood curdling scream in the next moment!

    Every child in the room instantly came to a realization! The person who cried out first would be punished the worst because they would have clearly broken the rule of silence after lights out! In this training camp, crying for help required a payment of blood!

    The older kid knew the consequences of crying out first, which was why he held it in as best he could, but Qianye¡¯s hand continued to tighten around his genitals without mercy. It was as if he was simply gripping a lump of cloth in his hand.

    The older child suddenly understood that Qianye really would crush his balls! This junkyard bastard, who had grown up to look as pretty as a girl, was actually aplete lunatic down to his bones!

    ¡°AHHHH!!!¡± The bloodcurdling scream resounded throughout the entire training camp.

    Intense pain and fear made the older kid break instantly, screaming at the top of his lungs. He no longer had any energy to resist or attack Qianye¡ªevery bit of his senses were flooded by an imaginable sense of pain.

    The bloodcurdling scream abruptly stopped, and the older kid fainted from the pain. Only then did Qianye release his grip and allow him to fall to the ground.

    The door to the barracks was kicked open with a bang.

    The guard who charged in frowned at the scene before his face immediately became sinister. He removed the whip at his waist and began to look at the boys and girls inside the room maliciously.

    Long Hai, who was only wearing a pair of leather pants, walked in three minutester and nced at the scene. When he saw the blood pouring from Qianye¡¯s nose and mouth, but the boy was still stubbornly on his feet, he frowned instinctively andshed a flying whip in his direction. With a crack, Qianye was immediately struck to the ground.

    This whip blew away all the resistance left within Qianye¡¯s body. Hey on the ground, utterly paralyzed and unable summon any strength. The whip was extremely painful, but the origin power imbued in the whip had also cleared the congested blood within Qianye¡¯s body and made him feel much better.

    A stalwart man walked to the older kid who had fainted, crouched down, and examined his body for a moment. Then he removed his pants to have a look before shrugging. ¡°They¡¯re crushed.¡±

    Long Hai looked slightly surprised, then nodded. ¡°Drag him awayter then.¡±

    Then Long Hai began to gently p the whip against his palm, asking, ¡°Now, who will tell me what happened just now?¡±

    Chen Lei¡¯s head was half bowed, but his gaze coldly swept across the other kids from the corner of his eyes. Brutality shone in his eyes, and the threat behind them did not need to be said.

    Suddenly, there was a loud pping noise as Long Hai¡¯s long whip struck Chen Lei¡¯s back like a venomous dragon, sending him to the ground. This time, his whip was far harsher than when it had struck Qianye, instantly shredding Chen Lei¡¯s clothes and splitting his flesh. The pain was unspeakable. Luckily, he hadn¡¯t lost his senses, gritting his teeth until he nearly passed out. He did not dare to utter a sound.

    ¡°How dare you y such petty tricks in front of me? Are you trying to die?¡± Long Hai smiled cruelly, but he did not whip him a second time.

    Not all of the kids were afraid of Chen Lei. Two kids who were stronger than him immediately exined what had just happened inside the room. Other than Chen Lei, the face of every older kid who had beaten Qianye was deathly pale.

    Long Hai kicked the older kid who had been severely injured by Qianye and coldly said, ¡°So that¡¯s what happened! You mean to say that, not only did this unlucky bastard fail to bully his victim, he was even thrashed within an inch of his life? What absolute garbage! We don¡¯t need garbage in our training camp. Drag him away!¡±

    Later on, the punishment that the kids underwent adhered to in Long Hai¡¯s style of cruelty. Aside from Chen Lei, every older kid who ganged up on and beat Qianye was strung up on the field and whipped a total of ten times. These tenshes were enough to bring them within an inch of losing their lives, but tomorrow¡¯s training would not diminish in the slightest.

    This also meant that there was no way they could rank above fifty in the next one or two weeks. Furthermore, they had to think of a way to ovee their injuries so that they wouldn¡¯t be crippled by the others duringbat sses.

    It was probable that a huge majority of those who ganged up on Qianye would soon be disqualified.

    Chen Lei stood in a daze within the barracks while bloodcurdling screams continuously rang throughout the camp. He could not believe that Long Hai actually had not punished him more than that onesh that ached all the way to his bones. It was only when Long Hai led the guards away that he finally confirmed that the matter was over.

    Qianye slowly got up from the ground, still a little shaky on his feet. The remaining force of Long Hai¡¯s whip was still affecting his body, causing him to feel weak, but his internal organs had also recovered slightly thanks to it.

    Chen Lei suddenly walked in front of Qianye and yanked him by the cor, saying ruthlessly, ¡°This isn¡¯t over!¡±

    Qianye looked at him calmly and replied, ¡°This is not over. Either you kill me now or, from now onward, you keep one eye open when you sleep. Who knows? Maybe one day you¡¯ll be just like that unlucky bastard.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s tone and expression were extremely natural. He looked as if he were just making conversation on a normal day. However, after the terrifying silence ran its course, every kid in the room truly felt a sense of ruthlessness and peril.

    When they thought about the older kid¡¯s recent downfall, all the boys subconsciously mped their legs together.

    Chen Lei¡¯s expression changed rapidly. He had no intention of having his balls busted on some unknown day while he was dreaming. Even if Qianye were beaten to deathter on, it would be toote. Should he just kill him right now and be done with it?

    This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and in the end, Chen Lei could not make up his mind about whether or not he should take Qianye down with him. The burningsh mark across his back seemed to grow even more painful.

    The matter seemed to be over, and no one else dared to provoke Qianye. They all had the feeling that they would be faced with an endless nightmare if they could not take out Qianye immediately.

    With that, a month peacefully passed, and Qianye managed to stabilize his ranking in the top fifty. This was also thanks to the older kids under Chen Lei falling to the bottom of the rankings.

    With the assistance of the Vermillion Countenance Blood, Qianye¡¯s cultivation speed began to rapidly increase. The force of his origin tide grew stronger and stronger, and it was already beginning to resemble the shape of a stormy wave.

    Qianye could already feel the existence of his origin node in his lower abdomen.

 Volume 1 - 10: Waiting is Unnecessary

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 10: Waiting is Unnecessary

    Qianye felt an extraordinary space in his abdominal area. Origin power faintly surged inside of it, as if it were a fledgling butterfly trying to break out of its cocoon. Only by breaking through the invisible barrier wrapped around that space could he ignite this node and allow the origin power inside and outside his body to merge together.

    Each cultivation art had a different process of breaking through said barrier. Most of them were on the gentle side, slowly grinding the barrier down thinner and thinner. The barrier would eventually be broken, and the origin power would naturally merge.

    Some arts were more violent and forceful, attracting the inner and outer tides into repeatedly crashing into the barrier. The Combatant Form was one such example. It was an art that would make the origin tides be wild and potent, and the force it created wasparable to first-ss cultivation arts. However, it would also damage the body¡¯s internal organs in the process of breaking the barrier.

    Qianye was able to quickly activate his firstplete origin tide. Today his objective was to attempt an assault on his node barrier.

    He carefully directed the surging origin power to rush toward the node in his lower abdomen. Waves of origin power slowly adjusted their angle and crashed into the node barrier.

    The node barrier resembled a tall dam that firmly kept the origin tides away.

    Qianye slowly grew absorbed in the task, and even the strange fragrance of the Vermillion Countenance Blood had vanished from his senses. He felt as if he had be one with the origin tides, surging tall and powerfully crashing against the barrier before falling apart and transforming into a myriad of origin power droplets. It was as if he were actually the tides themselves.

    The next wave, however, would only be taller, and its force would be even stronger than before. Each impact and each recoil of the origin power caused Qianye¡¯s body to shake slightly.

    During the process in which the origin tides in Qianye¡¯s body crashed against the node barrier, the origin power that resonated in the outside world constantly replenished Qianye¡¯s origin power. In this way, Qianye¡¯s origin power gradually increased.

    It was unknown how many times this tedious cycle repeated, and when a cycle of origin tides finished, before the surging origin power couldpletely subside, a new wave suddenly appeared!

    Qianye was both shocked and overjoyed. He hurried to concentrate and guide this wave to crash against the node barrier. When the tide crashed into the barrier, Qianye¡¯s ears buzzed and became filled with the sounds of roaring water. His body involuntarily shuddered at the impact, and he was nearly thrown from where he sat.

    This was the first wave of the second cycle of the origin tides. It was imbued with the surplus force of the first cycle of origin tides, and its impact was already proportionate to the fourth or fifth wave of the first cycle.

    This was the first sign of sess. As Qianye umted more origin power, the second, third, and fourth cycles of origin tides would naturally form as well. As more origin tides formed, the more powerful the tides became, and the more impact they would have against the node barrier.

    It was said that the time to activate the abdominal node would be after the third cycle of origin tides¡¯ formation.

    When the bell rang, Qianye tidied himself as he usually did and swiftly left the cultivation room. This time, he had achieved a breakthrough in his assignment, and there were a dozen or so other children who had cultivated alongside him also looking happy with their own sesses.

    But Qianye didn¡¯t feel very happy. His progress could be considered quick, but he could only be ranked among the top one third in this ss. Almost half a year had passed, and it was said that, in some other sses, someone had already ignited their first origin node.

    As usual, the children fell into formation in the valley¡¯s empty ground. For some reason, Chen Lei stood beside Qianye.

    When everyone ran to the training field under the instructor¡¯smand, Chen Lei approached Qianye and lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯ve started cultivating my third cycle of origin tides. Once I ignite my origin node, you better watch out!¡±

    Qianye kept looking forward as if he hadn¡¯t heard anything.

    Thebat and Biological Structure sses came next.

    Qianye¡¯s opponent during thebat ss was an average kid. Neither side had a rtionship or grudge with the other, so the result of thebat was ordinary. Then came Biological Structure.

    This time, however, the instructor was a thin, bald, and wrinkled old man that looked unfamiliar. He had a pair of murky gray eyes, and when they swept across Qianye, he felt as if his entire being was being seen through. Qianye immediately shivered.

    The old man¡¯s eyes had already swept past Qianye at first. Then his eyes twitched, and he turned back to look at Qianye once more.

    There was aboratory workbench in front of every student, and a rectangr thing covered in white cloth sat on top of it.

    The old man cleared his throat, and his voice was as coarse and raspy as a crow¡¯s cry. ¡°Hello, kids! From today onward, I will make you into true monsters! I believe that none of you will be willing to remember my name, but after the next half year, this name will apany you for a very, very long time. My name is Sheeeeeeeeeeeen Tu!¡±

    Shen Tu then exined how his ss worked. It was very simple. They needed toplete their task within the allotted period of time, and no one was allowed to vomit.

    ¡°Alright! I would like you to now pull away the white cloth in front of you and this up!¡± Shen Tu raised an object that resembled a thin hook.

    Qianye took a step forward and lifted the white cloth on top of theboratory workbench. He was immediately caught by surprise!

    Beneath the white cloth was an icy cold corpse! However, the corpse had a familiar face. Qianye remembered that this was a kid who had entered the training camp with him!

    The corpse before him was clearly well preserved. Even though almost a year had passed, it had no rot and was still in perfect condition.

    At the corner of theboratory workbench was a tray filled with dozens of oddly shaped tools. Like the tool that Shen Tu was holding, one of them was a hook.

    There was also a corpse on stage. Shen Tu plunged the hook into the corpse¡¯s chest and pulled it upward. Then he used a sharp, small knife to cut through the thinyer of the corpse¡¯s skin.

    Seeing this familiar face, Qianye was deeply conflicted and just couldn¡¯t find it within himself to act. Just like Qianye, arge majority of the children appeared to be both terrified and at a loss. A small minority of the children, however, began to do as Shen Tu said. Some of them even wore cruel, sinister smiles on their faces.

    Suddenly, a guard began to loudly count down from ten.

    Shock went through the children. It was the human countdown that they knew extremely well! They knew that anyone who failed to act by the end of the countdown would be punished, and there was no telling if Shen Tu¡¯s punishment would be even more brutal than Zhang Jing¡¯s!

    Everyone, including Qianye, hurriedly grabbed the tool and began dissecting the body as Shen Tu taught them.

    Qianye had just finished the set procedure when he heard a crye from next to him. A girl had cried out and begun to desperately vomit on the ground.

    Shen Tu stopped what he was doing and quietly stared at the little girl who was vomiting violently. Every kid in the ssroom was watching her as well, and silence reigned for a time.

    When the little girl was finished vomiting and crying, Shen Tu said with an unfathomable tenderness, ¡°Take her away and clean her up.¡±

    Two merciless guards lifted the little girl like a chick, and no matter how much she cried or struggled, they took her away.

    The ss continued, and the children continued to study Shen Tu¡¯s knowledge in silence.

    The only sound that resounded in the ssroom was the old man¡¯s raspy voice.

    A weekter, Shen Tu appeared in front of the children once more. It was still a ss on dissection. The old man nned to finish his human physiology lecture in vital areas and weak points in three sses.

    When Qianye lifted the white cloth in front of him, he suddenly took a step back. The corpse on his bench was none other than the little girl¡¯s!

    Qianye immediately understood what Shen Tu had meant one week ago when he said ¡°clean her up¡±. It was at this moment that he felt Shen Tu¡¯s eyes firmly lock onto him.

    Qianye did not raise his head. His hands did not shake even once as he lifted a plier and a thin de to begin the set procedures.

    Qianye did not remember how he went through this ss. In fact, he did not even remember how he went through the day. It was suddenly night already, and he wasying on his bed.

    Light snores were already beginning to reverberate in the barracks. Most of the kids had entered dreand, but Qianye just couldn¡¯t fall asleep no matter how he tried.

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp really was hell. Qianye did not know how much longer he would be able to endure this, but he knew that, even if he did, something inside him was eventually going to change.

    It had been quite some time since Qianye had thought about the vague shadow in the beginning of his memories. He had originally thought that he would¡¯ve forgotten it by this point, but it suddenly resurfaced in his mind. He realized that some beliefs would eventually be lost no matter how hard one tried.

    Shi Yan¡¯s stiff face was the second thing to appear, and it was trying very hard to smile. It was as if someone was saying, e out alive,¡± in his ears. Qianye fell into a trance, unsure if the voice belonged to Shi Yan or that person.

    Qianye closed his eyes, and when he opened them once more, he waspletely awake. Someone was waiting for him. Someone had given him a promise. Now he fully understood the meaning behind the surname ¡°Lin¡±. Everything could only be realized after he walked out of this hell.

    In this hell, chances only came once. He would lose them if he did not take them. He could not wait here.

    Qianye suddenly jumped down from his bed and silentlynded on the ground. He then used the stealth technique he had learned from thebat ss to make his way to Chen Lei¡¯s bed. He did not seem to have alerted anyone along the way.

    Chen Lei was not sleeping well, and his face was covered in anxiety. It was unknown what he was dreaming of.

    Qianye¡¯s slowly, but resolutely, stretched a hand toward his throat.

    It was at this moment that the child on the bed beside Chen Lei suddenly turned around, opened his eyes, and saw Qianye¡¯s movement.

    Qianye turned around to look him in the eye, and the child immediately trembled. The child hurriedly turned back and continued to sleep, pretending to have seen nothing.

    All hesitation was gone from Qianye¡¯s left hand as it fell around Chen Lei¡¯s throat quick as lightning, wrapping around it as he punched his other hand with full force right into Chen Lei¡¯s ribs!

    A dull thud resounded in the barracks, and most of the children were immediately woken up from their sleep. Some of them even jumped from their beds instinctively.

    The pounding noises resounded repeatedly.

    Chen Lei¡¯s eyes were bulging out of his sockets, and his face was already flushed a dark purple. His tongue stuck entirely out of his mouth. He furiously scratched and wed at Qianye¡¯s hands. Some missed, but those thatnded struck with tremendous force.

    However, Qianye¡¯s hand waspletely immobile as if it were made from iron. It was as if he couldn¡¯t feel any pain. Meanwhile, his right hand repeatedly smashed into Chen Lei¡¯s stomach and ribs in a steady rhythm.

    This scene resembled the one in which Chen Lei instructed hispanions to beat Qianye up. Their performances, however, werepletely different from each other. Chen Lei was clearly out of his wits, and his counter attacks were inplete disorder. It could only be seen as a panicked struggle at best.

    The few strongest children in the ss inwardly shook their heads after they saw Chen Lei¡¯s performance. They no longer paid attention to him.

    However, they looked at Qianye with caution and fear.

    Qianye had been continuously beating Chen Lei from the start, but his breathing, and even his expression, had basically never changed. It was as if he were currently doing something that was utterly inconsequential, and every dull thud was like a blow to the heart of every child.

    Chen Lei finally stopped moving, his body spasming out of pure reflex.

    Qianye stopped beating him and returned to his bed. He nonchntly pulled the nket over his head and returned to sleep.

    A whileter, Chen Lei suddenly jumped off of his bed and stumbled toward the window, shrieking, ¡°Instructor! Instructor! Someone is trying to kill me, save me!¡±

 Volume 1 - 11: This Isâ€¦ a Friend?

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 11: This Is¡­ a Friend?

    With a bang, the door to the room was kicked open yet again as Long Hai entered with furrowed brows. He asked coldly, ¡°Who¡¯s screaming?¡±

    Chen Leiboriously ran toward Long Hai like a terrified little beast.

    Disgust momentarily appeared in Long Hai¡¯s face as he whipped Chen Lei viciously.

    ¡°Trash!¡± he scolded before using his feet to turn Chen Lei¡¯s body, which had fallen to the ground.

    Chen Lei¡¯s clothes had already been ripped, but his face was uninjured. Only the purplish ck choke marks were abnormal.

    Long Hai wasn¡¯t interested at all. He simply asked loudly, ¡°Who did it?¡±

    Qianye stood up from his bed and calmly said, ¡°Me.¡±

    Long Hai narrowed his eyes, sizing Qianye before speaking. ¡°Good, kid, you have guts! Men! Bring him out for tenshes and hang him up until tomorrow!¡±

    Qianye did not resist. He did not even show a hint of fear as he followed the guards out.

    After a short while, the familiar sound of a whip striking flesh could be heard from the window. With everysh, the dark memories of the children surfaced, causing them to have ufortable expressions.

    However, nothing apanied the sounds of whippinging from outside.

    There wasn¡¯t a scream nor a muffled cry. Not a sound could be heard. It was as if the guards were whipping a block of wood.

    Even after Long Hai left, Chen Lei was still on the ground, incapable of standing. Long Hai¡¯s whip was not at all light, and adding Chen Lei¡¯s previous injuries, it would be impossible for him to recover in a month.

    The gazes of the surrounding children were full of mockery and disdain. Everyone now knew that the weak, skinny Qianye was the truly vicious one. Chen Lei had wanted to assert himself, but he made a grave mistake in choosing the wrong victim.

    ¡°Go to sleep!¡± the strongest child in the ss said wisely.

    At the dawn of the next day, Qianye, who had been hung for the entire night, was taken down. He was so weak that he couldn¡¯t even stand properly, but even so, he struggled toplete the morning run. After most of the childrenpleted three rounds, he was still on his first. Yet he managed toplete his morning training by sacrificing his breakfast period.

    When night came, Qianye had only managed to finish half of his daily training, and it was certain that his rank would fall. The entire ss, however, seemed to have collectively forgotten that fact. Not a single child mentioned it.

    That was because every child that received tenshes would all stay in bed for the following few days. Every move they made would agitate their wounds, causing intense pain. None had acted like Qianye had.

    As it waste, and every child was currently in their own bed.

    Chen Lei, however, was kneeling in front of Qianye, hugging Qianye¡¯s thigh as he cried for mercy.

    ncing at Chen Lei, Qianye pushed him away before slowly climbing into his own bed to sleep.

    Every other child but Chen Lei was asleep. He sat on the ground, clenching and unclenching his fists, his face full of uncertainty.

    Qianye had endured a whipping while Chen Lei had suffered internal wounds. Killing Qianye now would be easy, but he feared the punishment that would follow. Yet there was another fear deep in his heart, one he wasn¡¯t willing to admit¡ªthe fear of losing to the current Qianye.

    As expected, Qianye¡¯s rank dropped by half that week. What was unexpected, however, was that as he was walking to his cultivating room one day, the child who was ranked number one in the ss approached him and gave him a portion of Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    ¡°I have four portions of this, but I don¡¯t need that much,¡± he had said.

    As rank one, this child had received a lot of benefits.

    Qianye looked at him with surprise. After thinking for a while, he unabashedly took it before extending his hand out as he spoke. ¡°My name is Qianye.¡±

    The boy smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Song Zining.¡±

    Their hands touched as they got acquainted with the other once more, even though they had long ago known each other¡¯s names.

    That week, Song Zining gave Qianye a portion of Vermillion Countenance Blood every day until Qianye made it back to the upper half of the rankings, regaining his right to receive Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    Other than that, Song Zining and Qianye did not interact much. They did not even speak more than a few sentences to each other.

    Upon reaching the tenth month, Qianye finallypleted his third cycle of origin tides and used his full power to attack the node barrier. Song Zining had already ignited his origin node two months ago.

    Qianye noticed that the third cycle of origin tides had a strength that was an entire magnitude stronger than the first cycle. There was intense pain with every crash of the tides. In ordance with this development, the pain would rival that of getting whipped once he reached the tenth cycle. At that point, whether or not the children would be able to endure it was a mystery.

    It was no wonder that so few cultivated higher levels of the Combatant Form. Not only was it harmful to one¡¯s body, the pain that it invoked was not something just anyone could withstand. However, to Qianye, there was another annoyance. Whenever the origin tides spread to his chest, his old wound would ache.

    In the eleventh month, Qianye broke through the barrier!

    The moment that the barrier was broken, his origin power entered his node like a flood. The node itself seemed to have powers of attraction, increasing the speed of the origin power that entered. It absorbed as if it were swallowing it.

    After it reached the utmost limit, a light that resembled candlelight dancing in the wind appeared in the depths of the node. This was the sign of an ignited node.

    The current Qianye had be a rank one Fighter. He was no longer a typicalmoner.

    Once the instructors confirmed that Qianye¡¯s node was indeed ignited, he received another benefit in his assigned resources. It was a dark brown pill that was said to be useful for recovering from internal injuries, medicine that would help in the cultivation of the Combatant Form.

    In the next month, Qianye slowed down his cultivation speed as instructed. Instead, he controlled the movements of his origin tides to clean, nourish, and temper his first node, easing the synthesis of the two types of origin power in his body.

    However, his origin power continued to steadily increase, and Qianye¡¯s body was growing proportionate to that. Despite not having reached the age of ten, he was already capable of lifting fifty kilograms with one hand.

    After Qianye, other children also ignited their nodes. By Zhang Jing¡¯s one year deadline, there was a total sixty children who had lit their nodes, leaving only three who hadn¡¯t. After the examination, Qianye never saw them again.

    Just like that, a second year in the Yellow Springs Training Camp had quietly passed. In the third year, the size of Qianye¡¯s ss increased by one hundred children once more.

    In the third year, Qianye became ten years old.

    From this year onward, he began to attack the second origin node in his chest. This node was very important among the nine origin nodes, the other important one being the node in the forehead. Within many cultivation arts, this was called the Aura Sea, and it directly determined how far one would be able to cultivate their origin power in the future.

    After nourishing the first node, Qianye calmly began to tackle the second.

    The surging origin power slowly became a tide as it rushed toward the node in his chest. However, the moment it approached his wound, an intense pain washed over him!

    This kind of pain had exceeded the limit of what humans could endure! Qianye fell to the ground with a cry, experiencing a seizure while blood spurted from his mouth. He fainted.

    Hearing his shout, the guards immediately entered his cultivating room. After being shocked by the state he was in, they carried him away.

    Some timeter, Qianyey naked in the ssroom for Biological Structure. He was on the metal workbench on stage. There was no clinic of any sort in the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    Only Zhang Jing and Long Hai were present. Shadow was left outside the room to prevent others from entering.

    Before the stage, Shen Tu moved very calmly, like how he did in his sses, using all kinds of equipment to open three small holes in Qianye¡¯s scar.

    The old man stopped moving after a while, then started to slowly pack up his equipment. He did not look at the unconscious Qianye, instead turning to Zhang Jing and Long Hai. ¡°Having been his instructor for so long, you two must have noticed¡­¡±

    Long Hai wore a strange expression.

    Zhang Jing revealed a charming smile and spoke absentmindedly, ¡°Isn¡¯t it origin power theft?¡±

    Long Hai¡¯s face became ugly while the sides of Shen Tu¡¯s mouth twitched. Even the smile on Zhang Jing¡¯s face was unnatural.

    At this moment, the door to the ss opened as a person walked in withrge strides. Behind that person was Shadow. ¡°That¡¯s correct. It is indeed origin power theft.¡±

    The few people in the room turned around in surprise, only to be shocked even more when they saw who had entered.

    ¡°Director Sun!¡±

    A somewhat short, middle-aged man with a kind face had walked in. His face was square and looked very ordinary, a face that could easily be forgotten. This was Director Sun Ni of the Yellow Springs Training Camp. He wore an old, faded military uniform without a single badge indicating his rank.

    Sun Ni walked to Qianye and reached out to touch his scar, light appearing in his hands. After a while, he sighed. ¡°As expected! This child¡­ what a pity.¡±

    Zhang Jing noticed something. ¡°This is the child Marshal Lin sent. Is there a problem?¡±

    ¡°What do all of you think?¡± Director Sun replied with a question.

    Since Long Hai was the one that brought him here, he spoke first. ¡°Although he was sent by Marshal Lin, the man did not leave any special instructions. He did not even ask us to preserve his life. I heard that he is an orphan Marshal Lin picked up on a whim. If there are any discrepancies regarding his past¡­¡±

    Shen Tu¡¯s hoarse voice went a tone deeper, carrying a dark feel. ¡°The only ones capable of doing this kind of thing are those petty families, but why would they leave a survivor? It¡¯s rather strange.¡±

    Sun Niughed mysteriously before speaking slowly, ¡°I know this. In fact, others also know this. Or, to state it more clearly, those who need to know¡­ already know about it.¡±

 Volume 1 - 12: The Cost of the Past

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 12: The Cost of the Past

    Hearing Sun Ni¡¯s words, Zhang Jing immediately rxed. Shrugging, she said, ¡°That¡¯s a game of the higher ups. It shouldn¡¯t concern us, should it?¡±

    Shadow did not speak. He simply nodded.

    Sun Ni¡¯s gaze came to rest on Qianye¡¯s body. ¡°It concerns us, but only a little bit. We don¡¯t need to concern ourselves with why this child survived. At this moment, we just have to worry about what to do with him. Give him the typical training in ordance with regtions. If he wants to survive, he can only rely on himself. Even if he does survive, it won¡¯t concern our Yellow Springs.¡±

    After a moment of silence, Sun Ni continued, ¡°No matter what, we will treat the origin power theft as nothing. Regardless of who did it, it doesn¡¯t concern our Yellow Springs. If that person wants to cause us trouble, we have nothing to fear! There is no need to worry about this matter. This is the chief¡¯s wish.¡±

    At that moment, Zhang Jing¡¯s absentminded expression turned into one of shock. Everyone else was shocked as well. She asked, ¡°The chief is back?¡±

    Sun Ni did not reply, but slightly nodded his head.

    The instructors that were present revealed excited expressions. Even Long Hai smiled childishly.

    Director Sun walked around Qianye and said, ¡°Well, giving him a bit of care right now is fine. He probably would not survive this otherwise. The timing is quite unfortunate¡­ him dying now would make the Yellow Springs Training Camp seem afraid of those families! Mn, I¡¯ve already inspected his body. The Combatant Form¡¯s method of assailing the Aura Sea node needs some tweaking. Zhang Jing, when this kid wakes up, exin it to him like this!¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Sun Ni nodded, then turned to leave.

    The instructors nced at each other, and Shen Tu started treating Qianye.

    At this moment, a hint of pity appeared in Zhang Jing¡¯s eyes as she gazed at Qianye. This was actually an extremely talented child whose talent resulted in him being targeted by the taboo act of origin power theft!

    It was a pity that it was toote. Even the most talented of individuals would be mediocre after having their origin power stolen and would only amount to a normal cultivator.

    When Qianye woke up, he immediately noticed that the scenery he saw was familiar. He was on the metal stage of the ssroom for Biological Structure. His heart immediately thumped. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that his body was still numb, he would have identally fallen from the stage because of this.

    He immediately felt a hot sensation in his chest, and throbs of pain would wash over him asionally.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake? Come down on your own!¡±

    Turning around, he saw Zhang Jing currently had her back toward him. Her upper bodyy across one of theboratory workbenches as she constantly wrote something. The curve of her back extremely attractive.

    After wiggling his fingers, Qianye barely managed to sit up and then get off of the stage. The moment his feetnded on the ground, however, his body went limp as he copsed to the ground.

    The sound of surprise escaped from Zhang Jing¡¯s lipsin sudden realization. ¡°I forgot that you still have anesthesia in your body.¡±

    After walking over, Zhang Jing helped Qianye up and ced him onto a chair before passing him a piece of paper. She said, ¡°Memorize this right now and ask me about anything you¡¯re unsure of. You can only read this here¡ªbringing it outside is not allowed.¡±

    Zhang Jing¡¯s unexpected kindness did not make Qianyefortable. On the contrary, he felt uneasy. She was definitely not as gentle as she currently seemed to be. She was a vicious woman that even Long Hai avoided.

    An form was described on the paper. In just a moment, Qianye understood what it was. This was an edited version of the Combatant Form that talked about the assailing the Aura Sea node.

    ¡°From today onward, use this cultivation method until you¡¯ve ignited your Aura Sea node. However, there may be some pain in the process. If there are other ufortable repercussions, you find me in my living quarters. I will instruct the guards to grant you entry.¡±

    Zhang Jing left the room after speaking, leaving Qianye by himself to memorize the form.

    Qianye finished memorizing it half an hourter. He then followed Zhang Jing¡¯s instructions to rip the form into shreds before cing it on the table and leaving.

    Zhang Jing¡¯s living quarters were not far from the camp. As he passed through the forest, Qianye noticed Song Zining resting against a tree and looking up at the sky.

    Following his eyes, Qianye looked up as well, but it was just the normal blue sky above them. Clouds were speckled across it, but nothing else present, not even a bird.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Qianye asked curiously.

    ¡°The great way and the future,¡± was Song Zining¡¯s surprising answer.

    Qianye knew what the word, ¡°future,¡± meant, but he did not know what Song Zining meant by ¡°great way¡±.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Song Zining nonchntly asked before Qianye could reply.

    After some hesitation, Qianye replied, ¡°An instructor said that there¡¯s something wrong with my original cultivation method and helped me edit it.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly became rather nervous as he asked, ¡°Which instructor?¡°

    ¡°Zhang Jing.¡°

    ¡°Then it¡¯s fine!¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression rxed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everyone has different dispositions, and using a specific cultivation method might not suit some people. A method would naturally be tweaked if there were any problems with it. Zhang Jing is not simple, but if she¡¯s the one teaching you about cultivation, it will be nothing but beneficial. However¡­¡±

    Seeing that Song Zining wanted to say something, but for some reason couldn¡¯t, Qianye hurriedly asked, ¡°However what?¡±

    Song Zining did not reply. He just looked Qianye up and down with interest before saying, ¡°Nothing. You¡¯ll find out eventually. Hehe!¡±

    Heughed rather strangely before leaving, ignoring Qianye.

    Watching Song Zining¡¯s departing figure, Qianye was full of suspicion. Song Zining wouldn¡¯t havee all the way here just to look at whatever great way and future in the sky. Perhaps he was worried about something and came here to wait for Qianye?

    Despite being able to secure the top position for a few months, the children behind Song Zining were hot on his tail. Cultivation periods were extremely precious here. Without hard work, one would easily be left behind. In the hearts of the children, the things that were most important to them were time and the Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    Because of this, Qianye engraved the image of Song Zining¡¯s back deep into his heart.

    Some things were better left unsaid. When the time came, one would naturally understand.

    This was the first time in these past few months that they spoken so much with each other. Qianye had never before heard of many things that Song Zining talked about. It seemed that this child¡¯s identity was not as simple as his introduction.

    Checking the time, Qianye noticed that there were only ten minutes left before the next lesson. Therefore, he quickened his pace and rushed to the small valley ahead.

    Once the fragrance of the Vermillion Countenance Blood surrounded him, Qianye entered a state of meditation and started cultivating. This time, he slowly led the origin tides ording to the new form, slowly inching toward the Aura Sea node in his chest.

    However, the moment that the origin tides entered the scarred area, it was as if they had entered a road made from mud¡ªevery movement was difficult and arduous. The movement of the origin power in the area of his wound was like having a iron brush rub his scar raw. The intense pain almost caused Qianye to faint once more.

    The newly edited Combatant Form definitely reduced the pain that Qianye felt, allowing him to stay conscious.

    Animosity and determination permeated Qianye¡¯s bones as he gritted his teeth and endured the pain without making a sound. He quickly noticed that not only was there intense paining from his injury, the movement speed of the origin power had also slowed, decreasing the strength of his origin power. He could only try to umte a denser amount origin power to match his usual attacking strength.

    However, heavier movement meant even more pain.

    Qianye could only bear it as he tried to ignore the senses of his body. The pain was something that normal humans wouldn¡¯t be able to endure, and after only half an hour passed, Qianye could no longer hold on. He depleted all his strength.

    This cultivation session did reap some rewards, however. His origin power did increase, just at an incredibly slow speed. Darkness appeared in Qianye¡¯s heart as he rubbed the scar on his chest. He did not know who left such a scar on him, but it had been affecting his fate and his life up to this point, dragging him through the mud and into the abyss!

    The children had a short amount of free time at night. This was the time to learn something or train. This was the little bit of freedom that the children were given, which they could use to control the development of their future.

    Qianye chose to go to Zhang Jing. The guards who had received her instructions did not stop him.

    Zhang Jing lived by herself in her courtyard. The buildings here were different from the ones in the camp, where the only materials were green stone and gold. The entire courtyard had a retro imperial style. The main building was a corniced two story building with an elegant theme.

    Just by looking around, one could tell that Zhang Jing was different from the other instructors. Long Hai and the others lived in an apartment building with an exterior that resembled a steel box.

    Just as Qianye raised his hand to gently knock the copper lion ring on the door, Zhang Jing¡¯s voice could be heard. ¡°Just enter. The door isn¡¯t locked.¡±

    Walking through the courtyard and into the house, Qianye carefully avoided anything and everything.

    Zhang Jing was not in the living room. Instead, she was in the bedroom where the sounds of rushing water could be heard. She was taking a bath.

    Qianye did not feel annoyed at all, and he simply stood there. He had already learned patience and obedience in these past few years. Before he was given an order, staying still was the best choice.

    After a while, Zhang Jing walked out from the room with only a bathrobe covering her. ncing at Qianye, she sank into her sofa.

    Her bathrobe seemed to be rather small. It was also short¡ªtoo short to cover her extremely long, snow white legs. Her ample chest, which was restrained by the robe, threatened to spill out at any moment.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, those long legs seemed very attractive. Their every movement was like a light shing in front of his eyes.

    Children who grew up during wars and in the countryside matured very quickly. Before the empire had been created, humankind continuously produced soldiers for war, constantly lowering the age of marriage. For the survival of mankind, the human body adapted to mature faster and faster, and now even fourteen to fifteen year olds could create a family.

    Ten year old Qianye was not considered that young. Furthermore, these children had cultivated the Combatant Form, which was oriented toward explosive growth, since they were young, and it yed a role in changing their bodies. The Biological Structure ss had also given them a very detailed exnation regarding the human body.

    Zhang Jing, however, did not seem to realize that Qianye was no longer an innocent child, and carelessly stretched her back. This made her legs straighten, almost revealing something that shouldn¡¯t be seen.

    As if his heart had been smashed by a hammer, Qianye saw stars in his vision and his mind felt a little dizzy. It was as if the entire world had be different¡­ but did the world change, or did he?

    ¡°Little Qianye, what are you here for?¡± Zhang Jing askedzily.

    Qianye did not dare to look at her too much and quickly asked about the problems he came across while cultivating. He couldn¡¯t tell if the pain he felt during cultivation was normal or abnormal.

    Bing somewhat serious, she gestured to Qianye with her hands. ¡°Come closer.¡±

 Volume 1 - 13: Coming of Age Ceremony

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 13: Coming of Age Ceremony

    Walking to the sofa, Qianye came close enough for Zhang Jing to reach him.

    Reaching both of her hands out, she continuously massaged Qianye¡¯s body as threads of origin power entered, testing the reactions of every part of his body.

    This sensation was indescribable. It was a mixture of pain and numbness, an ufortable feeling that was worse than being whipped.

    Qianye could only shift his attention. Standing as straight as a pen, not moving at all. Instead, his gaze roamed about, looking at everything, and it somehow swept over Zhang Jing¡¯s chest, causing him to flinch involuntarily.

    Zhang Jing¡¯s chest stretched her bathrobe to the limit. From Qianye¡¯s perspective, her movements made dots of red flit past his line of sight.

    This was a sight that Qianye had never seen before. He did not really understand what was in front of him, but he still couldn¡¯t control the sensations that her snow white chest aroused.

    After a while, Zhang Jing said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve checked your status. It seems that your node is much more injured than I thought it would be, but it¡¯s notpletely hopeless. Don¡¯t rush when you cultivate. Start by getting used to the eptable range of pain. You will need at least fifty percent more origin power to ignite this node than other people.¡±

    Zhang Jing only let him leave after a detailed exnation of the important points.

    When he returned to his room, Qianye could not fall asleep. Zhang Jing¡¯s bountiful, snow white chest kept swaying in front of his eyes. From this night onward, Qianye was aware of the differences between men and women. Not just the differences he learned from Biological Structure ss either. They weren¡¯t just statistics or images.

    However, the next day¡¯s pain of cultivating immediately erased the fascinating thoughts of Qianye¡¯s virgin mind.

    Qianye desperately withstood the barrages of intense pain, and because of that, there were times where he almost fainted. The suffering he felt was beyond that which a human could withstand. If a normal human were to experience it, they would probably die of pain, but Qianye, as a rank one Fighter, endured it.

    After suffering, Qianye no longer dared to charge in. Carefully controlling his origin tides, he attacked ces that were within his limit.

    This cultivation session was particrly torturous, and when the chime sounded, Qianye could not believe that he had endured only two hours of cultivating. This session gave him a depressing discovery. He could feel that he would need two hundred percent more origin power to ignite this node, not just fifty!

    Even though this could umte more origin power, the cultivation speed of two origin nodes would always exceeded that of one. His cultivation speed was immediately reduced, dropping from the top of the ss to ranking in the lower middle.

    There were no shortcuts to cultivation, however, and after learning of this, Qianye epted his reality and calmed his mind. He was no longer in a hurry.

    He would only require more time to reach rank two. There were countless humans who couldn¡¯t even reach it. ording to the standards of the Yellow Springs Training Camp, the lowest requirement to graduate was the second rank, so he had the chance to escape this hell.

    Therefore, Qianye continued training both his body and mind as usual.

    Perhaps because he rid himself of thoughts about sess or failure, or perhaps it was because of his concentration, Qianye¡¯s training results became better. After what seemed to be an eternity of painful suffering, Qianye¡¯s origin power was much stronger and tyrannicalpared to normal people¡¯s. In that very manner, he barely managed to keep up with pace of thebat sses.

    After half a year, Qianye¡¯s grouppleted their foundation in unarmedbat; next would be weapon training. They learned about various ded weapons of all sizes and shapes.

    From this day onward, the children began to sustain numerous injuries on their person. The remaining children were all rank one Fighters who not only possessed powerful bodies but also attacks that contained origin power, which greatly added to their power. A random stab from one of them was no joke. Thanks to their strength, many of them suffered in battles, but because of that, they also learned to create defenses with origin power.

    Only at this point did Qianye get to show off his extraordinary might. Against the children who wanted to start trouble with him, Qianye would exchange blows with them equally. The stabs and punches he received seemed to be nothing to him. As if his sensation of pain had disappeared, his counterattacks were ruthlessly precise. However, the injuries of those who received his de were not justrge.

    One of the big children that had exchanged a dozen stabs with Qianye eventually fell, apanied by his painful screaming, but Qianye simply stood before him steadily, blood drenching his body. The hand that held his weapon did not even tremble. The pain from this fight was iparable to the pain he suffered everyday during cultivation; it was nothing at all.

    And after that, no one dared to look for trouble with Qianye anymore inbat ss.

    This was mainly due to the fact that Qianye¡¯s opponent was a bigger kid ranked fifth in terms ofbat power. In both strength and skill, he scored better than Qianye, but in a real battle, he lost. Furthermore, in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, the children here learned to prioritize results above all else.

    When Qianye was eleven, the children finallypleted the human biology course, and in return, old man Shen Tu brought them a strange body, a corpse belonging to arge spider, a whole meter in size!

    Only after a long time did Qianye know that this was not a normal spider, but a powerful branch of the dark races, the man-faced arachne. The creature before them was just the lowest ss arachne that hadn¡¯t formed its human appearance or appendages yet; therefore, it was called a cave spider.

    From that day onward, the children came into contact with all kinds of dark races. After a year, other than the most mysterious and strongest demonkin, they had witnessed every known dark race on the dissection table, including the human-like vampire and werewolves.

    At that point, the children had all matured into young men and women. But despite that, they still lived together in the same quarters; they even changed and washed in the same ce. Of course, the differences in the two sexes could clearly be seen, and some of the early maturing boys would bother the girls. However, they did not do anything else as that was prohibited in the camp.

    Qianye started thinking more and more about the things he had seen in Zhang Jing¡¯s room.

    When he turned twelve, the Yellow Springs Training Camp held a special event, theing of age ceremony.

    On the day of the ceremony, the girls and boys were gathered in arge hall to eat a meal full of aphrodisiacs.

    In the next moment, Qianye could feel his consciousness be blurry as his body became hot. His breathing seemed to carry fire with it as strange thoughts appeared in his mind. He quickly noticed that he couldn¡¯t even think properly and started yielding to his instincts.

    And at that moment, numerous naked men and women came into the hall and went to the children. In the blink of an eye, the entire hall became a world of carnal desire.

    Zhang Jing and Long Hai simply looked on expressionlessly as they patrolled, asionally punishing someone. They werepletely apathetic to the world of flesh before them. However, some of the weaker instructors and many of the senior guards participated in this banquet. Today, these young girls were their tenure benefits.

    Though, the instructors and guards did control themselves and did not dare to overindulge. They could use this special day for enjoyment, but they weren¡¯t allowed to break the girls. The moment someone lost control, the long whips in Zhang Jing and Long Hai¡¯s hands would make sure that they¡¯d immediately regret it.

    And from this day onward, the prohibition of bodily contact between the two sexes was lifted. For the weaker females, this was the start of hell.

    The purpose of the Yellow Springs Training Camp was to eliminate any weakness in the people who walked out from it. Their bodies could be the weakness for females, but it could also be their weapon.

    A few girls silently disappeared and did not participate in this banquet. Thanks to the influence of their family, they evaded this ceremony.

    Theing of age ceremonysted the entire night. Qianye and the others only fell asleep after exerting themselves before waking up at noon of the next day. Only then did the effects of the aphrodisiacs in Qianye¡¯s body disappear.

    What happened yesterday was like a dream, and while he couldn¡¯t clearly remember the details, he knew what happened.

    After theing of age ceremony, Qianye¡¯s life went back to usual. He continued training, learning and practicingbat techniques as usual. He even used the theory of machines he learned in machinery ss to apply maintenance and make creations from all sorts of basic machinery parts.

    The biggest changes in ss happened to the females; many of them sought malepanions. Only the powerful and the girls who avoided the ceremony managed to maintain their solitary life.

    Song Zining, who was forever in first ce, managed to monopolize two beautiful girls with no one daring to say otherwise, even the two girls themselves.

    Life in the the Yellow Springs Training Camp was like that. One needed to win before they could say anything.

    Qianye remained by himself. It was as if he was trapped in his own little world, unaffected by the events that urred outside. Because of the hellish pain of his cultivation, he was permanently trapped in suffering. Qianye tempered an iparably strong will for himself, but this also caused him to be disinterested in everything that happened outside of cultivation.

    To him, quickly lighting his Aura Sea node and the day he broke away from this hell was the most important thing. He could only obtain the things he wanted after getting out of this isted mountain valley.

    Today, Qianye had just returned to his room to see Song Zining leaning against the door as he watched the sky, yet again looking at his great way and future.

    Nodding his head at him, Qianye was just about to enter the room before Song Zining suddenly called out, ¡°Qianye, wait a moment.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± He didn¡¯t know what was going on.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Something good. It¡¯ll let you grow up faster.¡±

    ncing at a group of students passing by, he suddenly pointed at a rather beautiful girl and spoke, ¡°Uh. Yes, you! Fang Minghui,e here!¡±

    The girl did not know what was going on and ran over without any objections, arriving before Song Zining and Qianye.

    ncing up and down, Song Zining straightforwardly spoke, ¡°Tonight, sleep with Qianye, and continue to do so from today onward!¡±

 Volume 1 - 14: To Fight or Not to Fight

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 14: To Fight or Not to Fight

    Fang Minghui was instantly shocked. Before she could speak, a boy ran over and quickly said, ¡°No! She¡¯s mine!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s face darkened as he said coldly, ¡°The hell are you? You dare fight me for women?¡±

    That boy¡¯s face instantly turned pale as he stammered, ¡°B-but you already have two women.¡±

    ¡°Two isn¡¯t enough,¡± Song Zining coldly replied.

    This statement left the boy speechless. Looking at Qianye indignantly, he slowly retreated.

    That boy was in a group with a few of his friends. When he had run over, the others chose to stand still and watch.

    One of the taller youths walked over and said with a deep voice, ¡°Song Zining, you¡¯re going overboard. The few of us have always respected and indulged you. However, you cannot monopolize all the goods for yourself. Even more, I won¡¯t let you bully my brother!¡±

    Qianye recognized this fellow as Wu Jin. He ranked behind Song Zining; however, the difference between their scores wasn¡¯t much.

    Song Zining ignored the hidden threat in Wu Jin¡¯s words andughed coldly, ¡°I just bullied your brother, so what?¡±

    Killing intent radiated from Wu Jin as he narrowed his eyes and slowly said, ¡°There isn¡¯t much of a difference between us, and now that I think about it, it¡¯s been a while since I fought you seriously!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re too afraid to fight me, not that I was avoiding a match with you.¡± Song Ziningughed coldly as he straightened his body, his knife-sharp killing intent soaring through the air!

    Exercising his joints, Song Ziningughed coldly. ¡°Wu Jin, you shouldn¡¯t be so dumb as to believe in the stupid rankings? How about this? We¡¯ll go to thebat hall for a fight right now, and this time, I won¡¯t show any mercy. After this match, you can f*ck off with your shitty second ce!¡±

    Facing Song Zining¡¯s challenge, Wu Jin¡¯s facial expression became uncertain. With a snort, he turned and left.

    While facing Wu Jing¡¯s back, Song Zining leisurely said, ¡°Wu Jin, if you want to join forces with other people, do it quicker. I will ignite my second node in two more months!¡±

    Rank two Fighter!

    Wu Jin¡¯s body trembled as he turned to look at Song Zining with an expression of disbelief before leaving in a hurry, his previous aurapletely gone.

    The surrounding children were simrly shocked as their respect for him grew. Fang Minghui immediately changed her view of Song Zining and obediently walked to his side, speaking lightly, ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever Brother Song wants me to, apanying anyone is fine.¡±

    Pointing at Fang Minghui, Song Zining spoke to Qianye, ¡°Qianye, she¡¯s something you deserve. In this ce, if you don¡¯t im things that are rightfully yours, people will start to doubt and test you. Showing off a bit of your strength would reduce the amount of hassle you have to deal with.¡±

    Qianye originally wanted to decline but he was stopped by Song Zining¡¯s resolute gaze. He then had no choice but to let Fang Minghui follow him.

    After returning to his bed, Qianye thought back to the incident earlier.

    What Song Zining wanted to tell Qianye was that strength was everything. Without strength, against someone like Song Zining, one could only retreat and relent or be beaten to death.

    Even the second ranked Wu Jin was humiliated and had to retreat when he faced against Song Zining. As for Fang Minghui, such a low ranking girl would follow any man without much care.

    Qianye felt like he had understood what Song Zining was trying to convey.

    Fang Minghui stealthily climbed up onto Qianye¡¯s bed, but the Combatant Form had tormented Qianye for an entire day, so he waspletely disinterested in her. He only stroked her soft waist without doing anything else before quickly falling asleep.

    For the following period of time, Fang Minghui followed Qianye around, and despite never touching her, Qianye did not have her leave. Among his batch of students, Qianye was ranked in front, staying around tenth ce.

    This was thanks to his extraordinary performance in every lesson, especially in some of the knowledge based sses like firearms and machinery, his performance being close to perfection. As for physical sses, he suffered slightly, but in sses where they had to do actualbat, he managed to stay around twentieth ce thanks to his extraordinary viciousness.

    Song Zining was right. With Qianye¡¯sbined rank, he indeed had the right to set his sights on a femalepanion. However, he never looked for one. Therefore, this was seen by others as a sign of guilt due to hisck of strength.

    Life in the training camp was never boring.

    One day, during machinery ss, Qianye had used simple equipment to create a highly precise cartridge after ten failures. He was extremely satisfied with his own work. A single cartridge was very easy to make, but creating a high precision cartridge without meticulous equipment was difficult. One needed certain level of strength and control to aplish such a feat.

    This was a core maintenance skill in battle. With this ability, Qianye could repair broken firearms and other equipment in battle. Its significance was self-evident.

    As Qianye was admiring his own work, a young girl¡¯s voice suddenly appeared next to him, ¡°How amazing!¡±

    Turning his head, Qianye saw a young girl next to him currently looking at the cartridge in his hands.

    Her appearance could only be described as ordinary, but she had quite a good figure and was already over 1.7 meters tall. This girl named Mimi was one of the few girls in ss who did not need to rely on someone else. Her ranking was even higher than Qianye¡¯s at a stable rank six.

    ¡°I was just lucky.¡± Qianye casually tossed the cartridge aside.

    Picking it up, Mimi carefully inspected it before speaking to Qianye, ¡°I¡¯m rather interested in you. With you in a team, the team would not have to worry about broken firearms in battle or insufficient bullets.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that much better in maintenance than you.¡± He remembered that Mimi¡¯s scores regarding firearms were not too low from his.

    ¡°There can never be too much of such abilities! I can tell you¡¯re not interested in that Fang Minghui, so why not be partners with me?¡± Mimi straightforwardly invited him.

    Qianye furrowed his brows. ¡°Partners? In that aspect?¡±

    ¡°No, in battle.¡± Mimi suddenly moved closer to Qianye as she whispered, ¡°You seem to be disinterested in women, and I am conveniently disinterested in men. Our battle stylespliment each other, and our partnership will be verypatible. In the future, we can join battles as a team!¡±

    Qianye was rather moved at this suggestion, and nodded as he said, ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    In the next few months, Qianye and Mimi grew closer together, the time they spent with each other gradually increasing. On the other hand, Fang Minghui was rudely chased away by Mimi.

    Song Zining did not have any opinion on this. Rather, he only wanted Qianye to have a female partner. Whoever it was was not important. And Mimi was obviously stronger than Fang Minghui.

    In this period of time, Mimi and Qianye battled regrly against each other inbat ss. Mimi¡¯s fighting style was like an expert¡¯s, her defense smooth and steady while her attacks were unpredictable. Herbat capabilities were stronger than Qianye¡¯s. Song Zining had privately mentioned that Mimi seemed to have had already set her foundation for fighting before entering the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    Qianye naturally did not use a berserker¡¯s style of fighting against her, so as a result, he lost more matches. But battling with Mimi in this way for so long allowed hisbat skills to rapidly increase.

    Just like that, toward the middle of the year, the children weed their first survival exam that was truly significant.

    The students of all ten sses were thrown into a vast, primitive mountainous region along with hundreds of various dark race warriors.

    The students needed to think of a way to survive in this vast andplicated mountain area for ten days, and within that time, their enemies not only included the various dark races but also the other students, which they had to be on guard against. It was because in this exam, killing students and any dark race warrior yielded the same amount of points.

    The exam itself was extremely simple. One would instantly pass by killing one dark race warrior or student, and furthermore, the top ten killers would receive additional bonus rewards.

    If one didn¡¯t have the ability to kill, they would have to hide well. When there were only six hundred students left or when ten days had passed, the exam would end.

    Each student was allocated a single normal dagger, the only weapon they were allowed in this exam.

    When dusk came, a whistle as sharp as an owl¡¯s cry was heard, signaling the start of the examination.

    Qianye entered the forest quickly and hid himself, onlying out when night fell to carefully move forward.

    Hiding himself in the dark, Qianye moved very patiently while he observed his surroundings. His actions were extremely slow and he did not create a single sound. The knowledge he obtained from his field survival ss were being put to good use. Qianye meticulously moved in a stealthy manner, asionally changing his movements ording to the terrain.

    After passing arge tree, Qianye suddenly stopped in its shadow. About ten meters away, two students suddenly appeared and started fighting intensely the moment they met. In just a few minutes, the result was determined. In the blink of an eye, one of the youths copsed and died after receiving consecutive stabs!

    Despite winning, the youth still did not seem as though he hadpletely vented his anger. Only after stabbing the corpse on the ground several more times did he pull off the special whistle from the waist of the corpse. He proceeded to curse loudly after inspecting the marks on it.

    The surviving youth had a few de wounds on his body as well. After taking care of his wounds in a simple manner and stopping the bleeding, he took out his whistle and prepared to blow it. This whistle was specially made such that upon blowing it with origin power, the sound it produced would be able travel several kilometers. After hearing the sound, the instructors patrolling the examination grounds would rush over instantly and verify the results of the battle. Then, they would take the one who passed the exam out of the examination grounds.

    The whistle was already ced in his mouth, but he no longer had any energy to blow it. At his throat, the tip of a dagger suddenly appeared.

    The youth turned around in shock, but was no longer able to speak. He could only point at Mimi who appeared from deep within the forest as he slowly fell.

    Walking over to the youth¡¯s corpse, Mimi pulled out her dagger and searched the two corpses, taking their daggers and whistles. These whistles were all specially made andbelled with the identification number of the participating students.

    When the exam ended, their rankings would be determined by the number of whistles each person held. For those that lost their whistles, even if they survived, they would be ranked at the bottom.

    Inserting the daggers in the leather sheaths at her waist, Mimi suddenly sensed something, looked up and stared in Qianye¡¯s direction, bellowing, ¡°Who¡¯s there! Come out!¡±

 Volume 1 - 15: First Time

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 15: First Time

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Mimi¡¯s senses to be so sharp. Due to the agitation he felt after just watching her kill someone that abruptly, he slightly moved the hand he had on a brush. This created a faint sound, unexpectedly causing him to be noticed.

    ¡°It¡¯s me, Qianye.¡± He walked out from his hiding spot.

    Qianye felt rather lucky to be able to meet Mimi so early in the examination. Meeting a teammate he could trust in a ce where enemies were in every direction was extremely beneficial.

    Seeing that it was Qianye, Mimi¡¯s face rxed. ¡°So it¡¯s you! You scared me. How about it? Want to team up?¡±

    This was what Qianye wanted. He nodded. ¡°Alright!¡±

    ¡°Take this.¡± Mimi threw a whistle at Qianye.

    epting it, Qianye said, ¡°You¡¯re pretty lucky. Let¡¯s go back now!¡±

    Mimi immediately shook her head. ¡°No, we can¡¯t. There¡¯s two of us now. We can use this advantage to kill others and split the rewards. We have the chance to enter the top ten.¡±

    Qianye hesitated, but he eventually agreed.

    Even as a two-man team, there were still risks. In fact, it wasn¡¯t much better than the risk of moving alone.

    The other students could¡¯ve also form teams. Furthermore, true warriors of the dark races were all very strong. They weren¡¯t forces that immature girls and boys could easily fight. ording to the descriptions of the dark races that the instructors provided, even Qianye and Mimi working together might not be able to win against a strong dark race warrior.

    Looking Mimi up and down, Qianye noticed three whistles hanging from her waist!

    Not counting her own whistle, this meant that she had actually managed to kill three people within the short amount of time that had passed since the exam started!

    One of the whistles on her waist swayed with her movements, revealing the number behind it. Qianye¡¯s mind trembled. He felt like he had seen this number somewhere before.

    Mimi suddenly shed a hand sign to Qianye as he thought, signalling for them to move forward with him in the lead.

    Crouching down, Qianye slowly moved through the forest. Mimi followed behind him, asionally ncing behind them, as if she was singlemindedly covering their rear.

    After walking a few steps forward, lighting suddenly struck through the fog in his mind! He remembered where he had seen this number!

    That whistle belonged to a powerful youth in their ss whose ranking was close to Qianye¡¯s.

    That youth was also close to Mimi, and it was rumored that they even had an intimate rtionship. He had also originally hated Qianye at one time because of Mimi.

    However, since Qianye had Song Zining¡¯s open protection along with his own vicious reputation which made him hard to mess with, he didn¡¯t dare to voice his anger toward Qianye¡¯s rtionship with Mimi. In any case, Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in Mimi¡¯s affairs because they didn¡¯t actually have a romantic rtionship nor nned to have it develop in that way.

    Yet that youth¡¯s whistle was currently at Mimi¡¯s waist!

    At that instant, Qianye came to a vague understanding, and a chill struck his heart!

    Without further thinking, Qianye immediately leaped forward with all his might!

    Behind him, a sound of surprise came from Mimi, followed by an attack flying toward his waist. No matter how fast Qianye was, his waist still went cold, which was then followed by fiery pain!

    Rolling forward, Qianye hid behind arge tree before standing. He had to dodge Mimi¡¯s multiple attacks while escaping, but even so, two wounds appeared on his body.

    After looking down at the wound on his body, he looked back to Mimi and asked coldly, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°To pass and for the rewards.¡±

    Gently pulling at her messy hair, Mimiughed coldly. ¡°Why would I willingly get close to a few of you if not to destroy all of your wariness? F*ck, I even had to sleep with a few of those idiots! Thankfully you¡¯re not like a man at all, and didn¡¯t ask for that from me. However, you¡¯re more wary than I expected. Yet you¡¯re still injured, huh? In that case, you¡¯re doomed!¡±

    ¡°I thought that teaming up would be more beneficial,¡± Qianye said, brows furrowed.

    Mimiughed coldly. ¡°Beneficial? No matter profitable it is, would splitting the rewards with another person help me enter the top ten? It might make sense if you were Song Zining, but the current you? What are you supposed to be? Without Song Zining, you wouldn¡¯t even be standing here like this.¡±

    Qianye weighed the dagger in his hand as his gaze went aze. He spoke, ¡°I understand now. Come at me if you want to kill me!¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m not going to be polite!¡±

    Like a panther, Mimi pounced and instantly engaged in battle with Qianye.

    The two of them had fought many times inbat ss so Mimi originally felt that she was extremely familiar with Qianye¡¯s fighting style. However, in the moment that they exchanged their first blows, she suddenly felt that Qianye¡¯s style changed immensely, no longer the smooth counterattacks from before. Instead, it was bold and decisive, filled with extremely sharp attacks!

    Qianye abandoned defending his body and aimed for a sh where both sides would be injured. Mimi instantlynded three stabs on his body, but Qianye had simrly struck her twice! The both of them were injured in their arms.

    When they exchanged blows once more, both of them used the Combatant Form¡¯s fierce origin power, but Mimi involuntarily trembled from the pain in the injury on her arm.

    In that moment, Qianye shouted as the origin power in his body surged, causing an iparably mighty force to appear from the dagger!

    Mimi¡¯s entire body trembled, and her hands went soft. It was an immediate tiebreaker! Qianye¡¯s dagger flew, instantly opening arge wound in her shoulder and revealing her tragically white bones.

    ¡°Y-you¡ª!¡± Mimi held her wound, both furious and shocked.

    Qianye also had wounds on his arms that were even deeper than Mimi¡¯s. However, whether it was his strength or attacks, they werepletely unaffected. It was as if his injuries did not exist. Mimi started to doubt that Qianye could feel pain!

    Contrary to her doubts, Qianye knew what pain was. However,pared to the constant torment of the Combatant Form when he was cultivating, these bodily wounds were nothing.

    With her shoulder damaged, Mimi could no longer raise her left arm.

    She watched as Qianye walked closer step by step. The originally delicate face that she had originally belittled waspletely cold and calm. Mimi began to cry and shrieked, ¡°No, don¡¯t kill me! I don¡¯t want to die! Let me go!¡±

    As if in extreme shock, she cried as she suddenly turned to leave. Her appearance was extremely wretched as she ran with her backpletely exposed. It seemed as though she had already broken down before the frightening face of death.

    Clenching and unclenching his five fingers, Qianye tightly gripped his dagger and circted his origin power, throwing it with all of his strength!

    The dagger released the dim misty red radiance of origin power. Amid the sharp whistle of the de cutting through the air like a shooting star, the handle of the dagger stopped right before the back of Mimi¡¯s heart!

    Mimi stopped abruptly and looked back in shock. She hadn¡¯t believed that Qianye would kill her, even when she was at death¡¯s doorstep.

    Although Mimi had seemed to have been in a panic, she had actually been slowly charging her origin power to the limit. At that point, she would have been able to make an explosive escape. She had believed that, with this secret explosive short distance movement skill, no one in the Yellow Springs Training Camp would be able to catch up to her. Yet, at thest moment, Qianye¡¯s dagger came.

    At that moment, a soft sigh appeared deep within Qianye¡¯s heart. The sigh was then quickly sealed with ice in its deepest corner. This was his first time killing something with his own hands.

    Gathering the whistles, he quickly entered the forest. His surroundings were already filled with sounds of movement. Someone had obviously heard the sounds of battle and wereing to take advantage of the situation.

    The night in the dark forest was long, and Qianye encountered two powerful opponents. After two painful fights, he painstakingly used his berserker method to kill them. This helped him collect nine whistles from them in total, so it was obvious how powerful they were.

    After killing Mimi and the other two, one after another, Qianye suffered many injuries that he could no longer endure. This forced him to find a spot to hide in among the trees and wait for the next opponent. Although his injuries were severe and his origin power was close to running out, after some thinking, he chose to not use the whistles to leave.

    The nature of the origin power that Qianye painstakingly cultivated was much more tyrannical than others so he had the energy for onest strike; and this final blow could rival a rank two Fighter! As long as he wasn¡¯t seen by his opponent, he would have the ability to end them with one blow.

    Since he had already endured to this point, Qianye wanted to hold on until the end¡ªnot only to increase his score, but to improve himself for the harsher environment of a battlefield. If he failed to see this exam to its end, he would easily die in the future. Qianye¡¯s heart slowly calmed down as he stopped moving, trying to save everyst bit of his energy.

    Yet, a while after he hid himself, three sharp whistles echoed throughout the mountain area. This signaled the end of the examination!

    Qianye was shocked. It was over? Not even a night had passed, and it actually ended?

    This meant that, in a single night, almost half of the thousand students had died.

    Looking at the whistles hanging on his waist, which numbered over a dozen, his originally dark feelings changed into numbness. Grabbing one of the whistles, he blew it forcefully, and an instructor immediately appeared before him. Following the instructor, Qianye slowly left the examination grounds.

    Qianye knew that he had left something on these grounds. In this kind of a world, and in this kind of an environment, things that one expected tost forever would always be slowly changed.

    On the morning of the second day, the results were announced. Unexpectedly, Qianye saw his name in tenth ce! One needed to keep in mind that the participation count was over a thousand!

    Other than Song Zining, who was ranked seventh, no one else in his ss had entered the top ten. Tenth ce also meant that Qianye was entitled to obtain the special rewards, and the prizes of the training camp were known to be generous enough to cause envy. Qianye, who was normally calm, could not help but feel anticipation for the prizes the moment he saw his rank.

    It was unknown when Song Zining had appeared beside Qianye, but he suddenly patted him on the shoulder andughed. ¡°Not bad! There¡¯ll probably be a break tonight. Why don¡¯t we celebrate together?¡±

    Qianye was at a loss. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°With women and drinks, of course! I¡¯ll introduce two annoying fellows to you as well.¡± Song Zining spoke in an old-fashioned manner, as if he had experienced the money-wasting establishments on the upper continent of the Empire.

    Qianye could not help but roll his eyes. Song Zining had clearly entered the Yellow Springs Training Camp in the same year that Qianye did. It was just that they hadn¡¯t been together during the first few years. The year that they arrived, Qianye was seven and Song Zining was eight. Could he have been so gifted that he was able to enter those ces at the age of eight?

    As expected, they were given their first break in several years that night.

    Song Zining and Qianye, along with two other youths that rushed over from another ss, brought food from the dining hall and alcohol from god knows where to a mountain slope with good scenery. It was there that they lit a campfire and had a pic. The two other children also had formidable backgrounds, and were simrly ranked in the top ten.

    Though there were only four of them, they were apanied by seven or eight girls. The alcohol was surprisingly decent, all of which were considerably aged spirits.

    Just a small sip sent Qianye into a coughing fit. His face was instantly dyed red as his body swayed.

    Seeing how weak he was, Song Zining and the two other youthsughed loudly, taking advantage of the situation and convincing him to drink more.

    Qianye felt that every mouthful was like a clump of fire in his stomach. His consciousness blurred and strange thoughts appeared in his mind. His courage also seemed to suddenly swell up. It was so big that he himself found it hard to believe howrge it had be. He wouldter recall promising a lot of impressive things when he was drinking.

    It must be known that Qianye was originally an extremely daring child. At this moment, however, it was like he did not have a single fear. For example, he seemed to have promised that whoever who fell unconscious first would have to wear a skirt and dance in front of everyone.

 Volume 1 - 16: Long Enough to Become Desperate

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 16: Long Enough to Be Desperate

    Yet¡­ where would the skirte from? Qianye tried his best to solve this problem. He shook his head forcefully, then noticed the girls around them and understood where the skirt woulde from.

    This was how being drunk felt? It felt pretty good! The more he thought, the more he became excited.

    Song Zining and the two other youths seemed to be speaking about something. They would asionally turn to ask Qianye a few questions. However, Qianye¡¯s consciousness was floating and he could never hear them clearly. Even if he did hear them, he wouldn¡¯t have been able toprehend what they were saying.

    In spite of that, Qianye still could understand the gist of it. These three incessantly buzzing houseflies were asking him to drink, and drink, and drink! They also said that, since Qianye was drunk, he had to ept his loss, change, and dance. Then he wouldn¡¯t have to drink anymore.

    Song Zining gave Qianye an evil smile as he pulled a girl closer and started to undo her skirt. The girlughed happily without shying away. She even shook her hips to allow the skirt to fall faster.

    Except Qianye did not think that he was drunk.

    ¡°I can still drink! Here, cheers!¡± He raised his wine cup as he spoke boldly, pouring its contents down his throat before taking another cup.

    Since he challenged them, Song Zining and the other two did not want to look weak and also started drinking.

    Dazed, Qianye looked into the night sky and felt as though the moon had moved very quickly. It had just been in the sky to his left, yet it had rushed over to the right side?

    The night seemed to be quiet, as it should be.

    In this quiet night, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but yawn. He currently felt like sleeping. Hey down as he had that thought, and his headnded on a lump of softness, making him feel extremelyfortable.

    In the next moment, sweat poured off of him as he shot back up!

    This night was not supposed to be quiet! A while ago, there had been a group of people drinking and making noise! Why was it suddenly so silent?!

    Qianye looked around and was stunned to see a pile of people in which Song Zining, young men, and young women were sleeping soundly.

    After a long period of confusion, Qianye understood. They were all drunk.

    At this drinking party, Qianye had beaten three powerful opponents by himself. After releasing all of his sweat, he was nowpletely sober.

    Yet being sober this early wasn¡¯t a good thing. Upon seeing this messy scene, Qianye felt a headacheing on. He didn¡¯t know what to do next. Dragging these ten or so dead pigs back would not be easy.

    At that moment, a gentle voice came from behind him, ¡°This ce seems rather lively!¡±

    Hearing this voice, Qianye¡¯s natural instincts caused him to jump up immediately. Standing as straight as a pen, he greeted loudly, ¡°Good evening, Instructor!¡±

    Zhang Jing walked out from the forest, looked at the countless empty bottles of alcohol littered on the ground, then looked at Qianye. She smiled faintly. ¡°Did you do this?¡±

    ¡°This is¡ªno¡­¡± Qianye did not know how to answer, but at this moment, he felt as though the atmosphere was rather strange. Zhang Jing¡¯s gaze was particrly bright, and the air seemed to carry the scent of danger.

    Zhang Jing sized Qianye up multiple times, then sighed as the bright light in her eyes faded.

    Waving her hand, she said in a somewhat lonely tone, ¡°Go back first. Don¡¯t worry about things here. Go and report to Instructor Shadow tomorrow morning. He will give you a week¡¯s worth of private lessons as a reward for your results in this exam.¡±

    Qianye was both shocked and ted. Not only was Shadow a firearm specialist, he was also an expert sniper. Being privately taught for a week was invaluable.

    Returning to his room, the spirits that filled his belly took effect and he quickly fell asleep.

    When morning came, Qianye was awakened by amotion in the field. Not knowing what was going on, he went over to investigate before shockingly finding out that Song Zining and the two other youths were tied to the pirs, threeshes decorating each of theirpletely naked bodies.

    The three of them were all fearsome figures who had ranked in the top ten for the midyear exam, They were also rumored to be from powerful families. Not only were they punished together, they were hung like naked pigs for people to watch! For the children from poorer backgrounds, this was not small news. The bare buttocks of these three powerful individuals was not a sight they would normally have a chance to see!

    The reason why Song Zining and the others looked so miserable was another piece of news that shocked everyone.

    It was said that Song Zining had a three on one drinkingpetition with someone and still lostpletely. This also happened to be seen by Zhang Jing in passing. This demoness of an instructor felt that these three made her lose face, so not only did she whip them thrice, she wanted them to be publicly humiliated for an entire day.

    This event was only a small incident in the training camp, but since then, Song Zining no longer agreed to drink with Qianye. He would always stay a good distance away from him if alcohol was ever mentioned.

    This was a matter of regret for Qianye. He truly enjoyed the tipsy sensations he experienced that night, but without Song Zining, the penniless Qianye could not afford to drink even the cheapest kind of alcohol.

    In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

    Song Zining managed to ignite his second origin node and directly went to take the graduation exam. After sessfully passing the exam, as was expected, he left the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    At that point, Qianye was still struggling with his origin tides in the cultivation room. He only learned about it after ss, and at the same time, he received a wooden box from Zhang Jing that contained four neat pieces of Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    Xu Lang had already graduated a year before that.

    Qianye was still painstakingly assailing the barrier of his Aura Sea node. He was now capable of withstanding the impact of twelve origin power tides, but amongst the children of the training camp, his speed was in the lower middle tier.

    After rounds of elimination, the remaining children were outstanding in talent and temperament. Most of the children were capable of stimting more than fifteen origin tides, but as the number of tides increased, the pain proportionately increased as well. Therefore, the number of children who could truly withstand the impact of fifteen cycles of origin tides did not even reach ten.

    The more origin tides there were, the stronger the impacts would be, allowing more of the origin power in the surroundings to be absorbed. The corresponding harm and pain to the body, however, would also increase exponentially.

    The Combatant Form relied on the cultivator¡¯s willpower and physical strength. Neither could becking.

    In the imperial army, the extent to which one was able to withstand origin tide cycles was used for rankings. Seven or eight normally signified cowards, ten and above were eptable, and fifteen and above were something to boast about. If one passed twenty, they would be able to act as they pleased in the army.

    When Song Zining graduated, it was said that he was able to withstand seventeen origin tides. A few people in the ss were currently able to withstand fifteen origin tides. They were also extremely close to igniting their second origin node. In the top ten ranking forbined results, Qianye was the weakest in origin tide endurance.

    However, no one knew how painful the origin tides were for Qianye. The pain his twelfth origin tide brought him wasparable to the neenth cycle for normal cultivators!

    After half a year, nine children graduated.

    Qianye cultivated extremely slowly. He had barely managed to endure his fifteenth origin tide up to now, but he was still far from igniting his second node.

    New students were added to the sses, and more than half the children were younger than Qianye. Qianye had been the youngest when he first entered the training camp, and now he was one of the older ones.

    The additional students were all capable of withstanding the fifteenth origin tide. They started from the same ce as Qianye, but the speed of their improvement left him in the dust. This was because Qianye needed three times more origin power than normal to achieve the same goal.

    As he got to further stages, his cultivating speed became slower. Qianye noticed that, not only did he have to withstand even more excruciating pain because of his old injury, his Aura Sea node¡¯s barrier was much sturdier than that of a regr cultivator.

    With three times the origin power, if the impact of the fifteenth origin tide urred in another person¡¯s body, one attack would be enough to nearly topple the node barrier. Yet in Qianye¡¯s body, the turbulent origin tides seemed to be striking a mountain. The barrier did not even move!

    In this situation, even Zhang Jing did not know what to do. The only thing she could do was have Qianye slowly umte his origin power and let nature take its course, allowing the node to ignite naturally.

    Just like that, when Qianye could finally endure the impact of the seventeenth origin tide, his node barrier finally showed signs of loosening. At that point, Qianye was already fifteen years old, bing one of the oldest in his ss.

    This was the highest ranked ss. The students that entered were all rank one Fighters that were able to withstand the impact of the fifteenth origin tide. They usually took only a few months to ignite their node, and a bit more time to stabilize it, before taking part in the graduation exam.

    The graduation exam of the Yellow Springs Training Camp only had one task¡ªhunt a Crystal Lizard in the great valley of the rear mountains. As long as these lizards, which were over ten meters long, were mature, they would have the strength of a rank two Fighter.

    Despite the fact that every surviving student of the Yellow Springs Training Camp was a one-in-a-hundred kind of talent and had survived the cruelest training, killing a Crystal Lizard with a single dagger was still incredibly difficult. It was said that the death rate of students would always rise to fifteen percent whenever they conducted a graduation exam.

    It was said that every person who qualified for the graduation exams was strong enough to be apanymander in the imperial army. This fact showed how shocking a death rate of fifteen percent was.

    However, even though Qianye had the battle capabilities, he currently couldn¡¯t ignite his second node and therefore did not qualify to participate in the graduation exam. Rules were rules in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, and they wouldn¡¯t change for anyone or anything.

    In this period of time, Qianye did benefit. He had earned full marks in every lesson other than the ones regarding origin power cultivation.

    Yet origin power was the core of everything. Without origin power, scores were nothing.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye would soon be sixteen. On the night before his birthday, Qianye did not go to sleep. Instead, he left the barracks alone and went to a quiet ce to sit under the moonlight.

    ¡°Already sixteen,¡± Qianye thought silently. Then he remembered the life changing encounter in the junkyard.

    Qianye didn¡¯t actually know his real birthday. Even his age was something that Gu Tuohai had used a secret art to estimate. Therefore, Lin Xitang had used the day that he collected Qianye from the junkyard as Qianye¡¯s birthday.

    Even now, Qianye still deeply remembered the warmth of that big, firm hand. His world originally had only darkness and cold. It was that very hand that brought the first ray of light into his life.

    At that moment, Qianye was like a young bird that had just escaped from its shell. He secretly saw Lin Xitang as his father, but he had never told anyone that.

    Sitting silently, Qianye gathered his thoughts and started cultivating. On this special night, he was willing to do anything to try and withstand the eighteenth origin tide. If he seeded, he would soon ignite his node, but if he failed, it would be impossible for Qianye to recover from the devastation of the recoil. He might even die from his body exploding right then and there.

    Qianye had been stuck at his second origin node for too long¡ªso long that he had be desperate.

 Volume 1 - 17: Graduation

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 17: Graduation

    The imperial army had an unwritten rule. Those who became a rank two Fighter before the age of eighteen could join the special forces, but only those who became a rank two Fighter before seventeen would be epted by the absolute best of the special units, not to mention that this was just the minimum threshold. There were many more criteria to be met before they would be chosen by the most elite imperial forces.

    Qianye was already sixteen.

    Igniting his nodes, stabilizing his powers, and preparing for the graduation exam all needed time. If he became a rank two Fighter only when he was about to turn seventeen, then it would probably be incredibly difficult for Qianye to obtain eligibility for the special corps.

    The graduates of the Yellow Springs Training Camp would almost always serve with the imperial army for several years before nning their own futures. From the moment he entered the training camp, Qianye had already made up his mind to not only walk out of this ce alive, but also enter at least a first ss special forces group if not the best.

    Qianye felt that this was the only way he would not humiliate the surname that was soon to be his¡ªLin.

    Qianye did notck talent, but his chronic wound had nearly destroyed everything he had! In this world of war and turmoil, no one cared for the process and instead focused solely on the results.

    Qianye was already sixteen, yet he still had not managed to break through to rank two. This was his result, and tonight, he would change it!

    Under the moonlight, Qianye¡¯s origin power began to flow and rippled into waves which struggled towards his scars, attacking the node barriers.

    Tide after tide of origin power formed continuously, and waves after waves of inhuman pain rushed over him just the same. But Qianye had already cleared his mind as he waited quietly for the results.

    The seventeenth tide of origin power surged by, and the eighteenth tide of origin power had finally arrived!

    Qianye¡¯s face was deathly pale, and rivulets of sweat ran down his body like raindrops. His body shuddered non-stop under the extreme pain and powerfully rebounding origin power. Each and every wave of origin power caused Qianye to feel as if he had died and reborn!

    The first to ninth wave took only the blink of an eye, and when the ninth wave mmed into the node barrier¡ªwith a crisp, cracking sound, the originally indestructible barrier finally fractured under the incredibly powerful impacts of origin power. The barrier¡¯s days were numbered!

    The waves gradually subsided as his origin power returned to tranquility. When Qianye finally rxed, his vision instantly turned ck as he fainted.

    When Qianye woke up again, two days had passed.

    He opened his eyes and saw the familiar surroundings of the ssroom. He wasying on an ice-cold metal tform. Apparently Shen Tu had saved his life once more.

    ¡°Insane! Absolutely insane!¡± This old man who had never given life credit actually scolded Qianye.

    Shen Tu¡¯s medical skills were truly impressive. Qianye had forcefully endured eighteen tides of origin power, causing damage all throughout his internal organs. But he still managed to treat his injuries without leaving behind anytent damage whatsoever. No matter how badly Shen Tu scolded him, the only thing Qianye felt for him right now was gratitude.

    With eighteen tides of origin power as his foundation, Qianye finally managed to ignite his node a monthter and became a rank two Fighter.

    After bing a rank two Fighter, most people would awaken an ability rted to origin power. Some lucky fellows would even be able to choose between several abilities. Qianye, whose talents were amazing in the first ce was given such a choice. He could choose Heavy Caliber, Origin Leap or Double Shot as his ability.

    Qianye didn¡¯t waste time thinking, and chose Heavy Caliber straight away.

    Heavy Caliber was a verymon ability, and was applied specifically on origin firearms. When activated, he would be able to dish out a much more powerful shot than usual. The increase in power was around fifty percent.

    After Qianye ignited his second origin node, he discovered that the origin power it generated was unusually monstrous and incredibly difficult to control. In this situation, Heavy Caliber¡ªan ability that emphasized only power¡ªwas most suited for him.

    After yet another two months of meticulous preparation, Qianye applied for the training camp¡¯s graduation exam. He walked towards the great valley, equipped with the most basicbat dagger and a strange rifle.

    This was an origin rifle. It might be of the simplest and most basic model, but it was still an origin rifle!

    The training camp would issue every student a single dagger for the graduation exam. They were not allowed to bring any other equipment with them. However, equipment handmade by the students themselves was an exception.

    Qianye¡¯s perfect scores during the knowledge sses had finally proved their worth. He had actually managed to hand-make an origin rifle from the most basic materials, even if it was the simplest and most basic origin rifle which couldpress and hold only one origin bullet.

    And so, Qianye became the first student to carry an origin rifle to the graduation exam in thirty years.

    Crystal Lizards were tough enemies, but that was only for students wielding a simple dagger. Hundreds of meters away, Qianye filled the origin rifle with energy, aimed, activated Heavy Caliber and fired.

    A zing red light shot out of the muzzle and blew off a small portion of the Crystal Lizard¡¯s head!

    It really was this easy. There was no rule that said that they could not use an origin firearm as long as they were able to build it. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s shot was incredibly powerful. With the enhancement from Heavy Caliber, it was already equivalent to a strike from a rank three Fighter.

    On the third month after his sixteenth birthday, Qianye graduated from the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    The news of Qianye¡¯s graduation spread quickly. A few dayster, Shi Yan drove a heavy truck to the valley entrance.

    In a sh, Qianye had spent a total of nine years in the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    Qianye was already 1.85 meters tall and not much shorterpared to people who were overly stalwart like Shi Yan. He was not as muscr and defined as Shi Yan, but he definitely did not give off an impression of weakness either. His figure was slender and his proportions were bnced. Every line on his body was filled with tension.

    Shi Yan looked just like usual. It was just that his eyebrows and corners had added a few wrinkles, causing people to abruptly realize the mercilessness of time.

    When he saw Qianye, Shi Yan¡¯s wooden face abruptly added a few colors. He lifted his hand as if to pat his head out of habit, before switching to a heavy punch at Qianye¡¯s chest. He praised, ¡°Good boy! You finally came out alive! Come, let me have a good look at you!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s facial features were clean and pure. He was still incredibly handsome, but the fact that he took a blow from Shi Yan and did not shake even a little caused him to feel even happier. He forced the blunt lines on his stone-carved face into a smile.

    Shi Yan greeted Qianye once and jumped straight into the truck¡¯s driver seat. This soldier who rarely smiled more than a couple of times per year had a soft spot for this kind of rough heavy-styled truck.

    Immediately after Qianye got in, Shi Yan started driving.

    In the driver¡¯s seat, Shi Yan said, ¡°Marshal Lin was extremely happy to hear that you¡¯ve graduated. He asked me toe receive you immediately. Unfortunately, he was assigned to the Western Frontier recently and cannot leave his post. I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be able to see him in a short while.¡±

    ¡°Did something happen at the Western Frontier?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Two provinces rebelled, demanding independence. It¡¯s nothing big, just slightly troublesome to deal with. Those rebels are incredibly cunning. They often hide inside the homes of civilians to conceal their identities.¡±

    ¡°Rebels?¡± This was the first time Qianye heard this term.

    Shi Yan said disgustedly, ¡°They¡¯re just a bunch of ignorant idiots! The Empire has been using everything it has against the dark races, and not only do they refuse to contribute to the frontlines, they even cause non-stop trouble behind our backs. They want to overturn the Empire¡¯s rule? Heh, since it was founded, the Empire has been standing for twelve hundred years. Now it spans over three hundred provinces and four continents. How could it possibly be overturned by these fools?¡±

    Qianye listened to him quietly. If two provinces alone were enough to drag Lin Xitang down to the Western Frontier, then naturally the rebels weren¡¯t as helpless as Shi Yan had described.

    Shi Yan drove quietly for a while before speaking again in a slightly heavier tone. ¡°The rebels are a handful. Like I said earlier, they often hide next to ordinary people. Since the people of those provinces are so ignorant, there are plenty of people who are willing to protect them at the cost of their friends and families. Marshal Lin cannoty a hand on them at the moment, and so those fools think that their scheme has seeded. Hmph! What a bunch of fools. In truth, they know nothing at all! The reason Marshal Lin has not used scorched earth tactics to sweep them out is because he isn¡¯t willing to harm the civilians. That¡¯s why the war has been dyed.¡±

    At this point, Shi Yan came to a long pause before he let out a heavy sigh. ¡°Such days will notst much longer. If there is still no progress in the future, then Marshal Lin will soon be switched out and reced by a general from another faction. It doesn¡¯t matter who that general may be, but when that happens those two provinces will definitely bleed rivers of blood!¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt heavy. If even someone like Shi Yan would describe it so terribly, then exactly how many people were going to die?

    Qianye had murdered before in the Yellow Spring Training Camp. He had walked past the line where he would treat life as something of value. But inparison to these famous imperial generals, well, there was noparison to be made at all. Even if he became a top ss killer in the future, even if he totaled up all the people and beings of the dark races he killed in his entire life, it might not match up to these generals¡¯ single, weightlessmand.

    The heavy truck drove swiftly.

    ¡°Qianye!¡± Shi Yan suddenly said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow is the day the imperial army begins its recruitment. I will take you there to participate in the assessment. Perform well. Two each of all five elite imperial corps will be present there as examiners. If you perform well, then there may be a chance for you to join them!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best!¡±

    Suddenly, Shi Yan sighed and said, ¡°I hope you can join the elite corps and be a famous imperial general in the future! Marshal Lin has too many enemies within the army.¡±

    When he heard this, Qianye¡¯s heart abruptly sank.

    Shi Yan took out an item from his chest and passed it to Qianye. He said, ¡°This is Marshal Lin¡¯s gift to you.¡±

    When Qianye epted it and took a look, he discovered that it was a special letter folded in the shape of a square. There were dark patterns on the surface of the paper, and when the letter was unfolded the three words ¡®Lin Qianye¡¯ was written powerfully inside it. However, the corners of the paper was a little torn, the creases appeared to have some years behind them, and the ink was a little faint.

    ¡°Marshal Lin wrote this nine years ago.¡± Shi Yan seemed to know what Qianye was thinking about.

    ¡°Nine years ago?¡± Qianye said in disbelief. Wasn¡¯t that when he first entered the Yellow Springs Training Camp?

    ¡°When Marshal Lin asked me to send you to the Yellow Springs, he had said that you would definitely return alive.¡± Shi Yan smiled and answered.

    The heavy truck continued to zoom on the road before arriving at an airship base by midnight. Coincidentally, there was a transport airship that had just entered the port, so Shi Yan drove them and the car together into the airship.

    After the airship had done a simple resupply, it began turning back during thetter half of the night.

    Their destination, was Xiangyang.

    This was thergest military industrial city on the Qin Continent, and ranked at number three out of every city within the borders of the Empire.

 Volume 1 - 18: First Match

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 18: First Match

    The airship began to noticeably descend in altitude. It would soon arrive at its destination.

    A ray of morning sunlight traveled through the window and shined onto Qianye¡¯s face. He had actually woken up a long time ago. Nimbly jumping out of the pilot¡¯s cabin, he walked to the ship¡¯s window and looked out.

    In his eyes were the sloped ground and the city of steel that submerged the horizon, seeming as though it would flip upside down at any time.

    A tall tower, positioned in the heart of the city, was the most eye-catching feature of the view. The entire structure was colored a dazzling silvery-white, as though it were the summit of a tall mountain. A cloud of white colored steam spewed from the tower¡¯s peak. The foundation of the tall tower was iparably massive, covering three or four city blocks.

    That was the first time Qianye saw the heart of all human cities, the Perpetual Dynamo Tower. The cheapest ck stones, the most inexpensive steel, but what they constructed was the miracle-like Perpetual Dynamo Tower that operated non-stop around the clock, supplying energy for the entire city to run on.

    The freight ship flew slowly across the city¡¯s south-west side, as the number of vessels in the airspace ahead slowly increased. Their styles varied greatly, and there was actually several lightweight boat styled ships, with exquisite andplicated relief sculpture on their bows.

    As expected, there were too many airships applying for port entry, and they were forced to wait in line. The freight ship started hovering in the sky. From the pilot¡¯s foulnguage and grumbles, Qianye learned that other than public transportation vessels and freight ships, many private airships hade today. Each and every family insignia on the many ships was a symbol of monstrous authority and wealth.

    Xiangyang was one of the usual recruitment grounds for the Empire¡¯s Ministry of Military Affairs. Every year, thousands upon thousands of youths would flood in from all directions. The attendance this year was unusually great, and there was nock of upper ss youths either. This was because two colossi had appeared on the list of recruiters: Broken Winged Angel and Red Scorpion.

    The great Qin Empire emphasized military merits. Even for young kinsman of grand households and influential ns, gaining achievements in the military was still a shortcut to sess. To be able to enter the special corps was almost equal to having one¡¯s fame skyrocket.

    Broken Winged Angel and Red Scorpion had always ranked within the top five among the hundreds of special units in the Empire. It was precisely their recruitment which spurred many grand households and ns into action, unsparingly sending their most outstanding youths here from distantnds to participate in the evaluations.

    Because the airship Qianye rode on belonged to the military, it obtained a port entrance that was rtively far ahead. Only after he descended, did he feel the grand asion of the recruitment day.

    The airship base ought to be only one of the many traffic nodes, yet it was unexpectedly filled with streams of people of various colors in the early morning. Most were youths around twenty or so years old, each and every one of them brimming with confidence, vitality and hope. Outside the base, various types of ground transportation were already lined up like a long dragon.

    Shi Yan started up the heavy truck, and whizzed out of the military thoroughfare. Even among the numerous vehicles, it stood out,rger than the rest. Xiangyang was the third highest ranking military industrial city in the entire Empire. Not only was half of the city under military control, military dedicated thoroughfares were set up in both the ground roads and airways.

    Qianye stared out the window on the entire ride there, his eyes bedazzled. The route they traveled was through the Military Affairs Zone. Compared to the Yellow Springs Training Camp that cared only about practicality and not aesthetics, the buildings on both sides of the roads had more of a decorative feeling, yet still retained an air of dignity.

    The recruitment camp was at the end of the road. The registration line was so long that it had already gone past the arched gate, and one could see it from a long ways away.

    Within the morous crowd, Shi Yan spoke to the registrar officer in a loud voice, ¡°I request to directly enter the reexamination area!¡±

    He shed his ID, took Qianye straight into the camp, handled the registration process for him, and then passed an engraved bronze identification te to Qianye. The words ¡°Lin Qianye¡± were stamped onto the te by machines.

    Looking at the character ¡°Lin¡± on the te, Qianye had an indescribable feeling in his heart. For the first time since birth, he felt that he had a ce he belonged. Not only was the character ¡°Lin¡± engraved on the te, it was also engraved in his heart.

    Next, Qianye was brought to the inner camp by a military personnel. The inner camp was the examination area, where even Shi Yan could not enter.

    Only after walking into the inner camp, did Qianye discover that it was much bigger than it appeared from the outside.

    Several thousand youths who had already passed the first selection of basic constitution were arranged into various barracks. Tomorrow was when the official test would begin. Today, they would rest in order to perform at their best.

    Many youths came by car or even public transportation vessels. These public transportation tools were all driven by the power of ck stones and steam; noise and unsteadiness were their shared characteristics. Such a journey like this was extremely hard on their stamina, and naturally would affect their performance on the exam.

    Regarding examinations of the military, the Empire had always been very fair and almost never gave special treatment to children of aristocratic families.

    This was also the foundation that the Empire was built on. Otherwise, if a useless young master took troops to the field, that would be a disaster. The dark races killed regardless of one¡¯s identity and status.

    There were a total of three subjects in the recruitment exam. They were origin power,bat skills, and firearm handling.

    After the examinees finished dinner, they were chased back to the dorms to sleep. Qianye was already ustomed to following orders, so he went on his bed fell into a deep slumber soon after the lights went out. However, some of the other examinees in the dorm were excited while others were nervous, none of them being able to sleep at all. Two youths who came from the same faraway city simply began chatting quietly.

    Unaware of how much time had passed, Qianye who was already soundly asleep suddenly felt his heart jump and instantly opened his eyes. There were no movements on the surface of his body, but all his muscles were already taut, with him ready to burst out and kill at any time. His eyelids also only opened a crack, discreetly observing his surroundings.

    Right at this moment, Qianye was shocked to discover that at some point, a middle-aged man¡¯s face had appeared at the room¡¯s small window and was looking expressionlessly at the sleeping youths.

    But other than Qianye, no one actually took notice of this middle-aged man! One of the examinees had clearly looked past the window, but it was as though he saw nothing at all.

    That middle-aged man suddenly looked toward Qianye for a bit, then turned around and left.

    Only until he vanished did Qianye finally recover from the shock. But this time, he couldn¡¯t fall back asleep no matter what.

    Momentster, a nondescript middle-aged man left the dorm building and walked into another. After he went through all the dorms, most of the names on the thick list of names in his hands had an X marked on the side, while only a minority had numbers marked varying from one to nine.

    However, an asterisk was marked beside Qianye¡¯s name. In that thick stack of lists, only fourteen names had an asterisk marked on the side.

    Qianye did not know that he had unwittingly passed the first trial.

    In the morning of the second day, an ear-piercing rm woke the examinees from their dreams. Qianye rushed out of the barracks along with the stream of people, and stood in formation on the drilling grounds. Here, the examinees were split into three groups, and respectively underwent different exams.

    Qianye¡¯s group would participate first in the shooting exam of origin firearms.

    The origin guns given to examinees were all specially made for the exam; their power was greatly lowered, and their origin power consumption was also lessened, so that even a rank one Fighter could shoot six or seven shots consecutively. This was the only way that they couldplete all the exam subjects. If standard origin firearms were used, the most basic rank one firearms would make it difficult for even Qianye¡¯s rich origin power to finish all the shooting subjects.

    After inspecting the origin gun, Qianye and the nine other examinees stood before the shooting line together. Ten fixed targets rose up from a hundred meters away, all of them in the figure of man-faced arachnes.

    While familiarizing themselves with the weapon and awaiting the order to shoot, a young man to Qianye¡¯s left looked at him, suddenly grabbed his own trousers¡¯ crotch, whistled and said, ¡°Kid, ever yed with a gun before?¡±

    Together with the passes he was making with his eyes, this was an extremely vulgar double entendre.

    Qianye looked at him, and said with indifference, ¡°Never yed, but I¡¯ve crushed a few to bursting before. Want to try?¡±

    That young man instantly bellyughed in an exaggerated manner, ¡°Oh man, I am so scared! Kid, do you know who I am, to dare speak to me like this?¡±

    ¡°No matter who you are, not a single point will be added to your score, yeah?¡± Qianye answered with a question, unperturbed.

    That young man instantly flushed red and spoke angrily, ¡°Pretty arrogant, kid! But don¡¯t make irresponsible remarks, the Empire¡¯s aristocrat families aren¡¯t that shameless yet, to the point of meddling in this kind of examination! Since your daddy here thinks you¡¯re an eyesore, of course I will beat you with perfection and skill!¡±

    ¡°Beat me? You have no chance.¡± Qianye was still indifferent to the point that it could drive one crazy from anger.

    That young man¡¯s expression instantly sunk, ¡°How about a bet then?¡±

    Qianye lifted his brows, ¡°Bet on what? I¡¯m not interested if it¡¯s too trivial!¡±

    The young man ripped the ne around his neck off, and dangled it in front of Qianye. The ne was silver, with a thumb sized square te at the end. An eagle¡¯s head was engraved on it.

    The young man said, ¡°We¡¯ll bet this on the results of this exam! If I lose, this thing¡¯s yours!¡±

    Qianye reached out his hand, curiously twirled that small te in his hands and asked, ¡°How do you use this thing?¡± Seeing his manner of expression, he had clearly considered the ne to be something already in his pocket.

    That young man was right away ticked off quite a bit, as he sneered, ¡°You really think that you¡¯re going to win?¡±

    Qianye earnestly nodded, ¡°Naturally,¡± Then he added on, ¡°How do you use this thing?¡±

    The young man was so pissed that the gums of his teeth itched, and spoke in anger, ¡°This is my keepsake! With this thing, you can make one request to my family. As long as it¡¯s within my authority, you can ask for anything you want!¡±

    At this time, other examinees also noticed their dispute and looked over one by one. They all noticed the eagle head on the square te, and instantly their faces changed color. Clearly, they had recognized that insignia.

    ¡°It¡¯s actually someone from the Wei family!¡±

    Hearing the murmurs of the surrounding people, the young man instantly pulled himself together, perking up his chin flippantly like a little rooster.

    But Qianye didn¡¯t react like he expected, and only let out an ¡°oh¡±. Instead, now there was suspicion in his gaze as he sized up the young man. The hidden meaning was too explicit: Just looking at that birdbrained manner of yours, how big can that so-called authority be?

    That young man was once again maddened as he shouted loudly, ¡°Bet or not?¡±

    Qianye finally nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll bet.¡±

    The young man also said no more. Instead, he picked up his origin gun and silently waited for the exam to begin.

    The examination began. After a whistle, all ten of the examinees raised up their origin gun and began to aim earnestly.

    The uracy of the majority of these origin guns wasn¡¯t that great. Hitting a target over one hundred meters away was easy, but hitting the bullseye would be hard. The bullseye region was one hundred points, but it was only the size of a fingernail. If the shotnded outside of the bullseye it would at most receive eighty points. The various kinds of targets were all scored like this.

    Not long after, the sound of gunfire echoed. A stream of thin red light hit the target as the metal target swayed. A small hole was opened near the mid-top of the target that was one person tall in height. This shot was quite powerful, but its uracy wasn¡¯t that great and could only be counted as barely on the target.

    ¡°Twenty points!¡± an examiner reported the score with a loud voice, while another examiner recorded the score.

    The sound of gunshots rang in order. All eight people had hit the target, but even the highest was merely 50 points. In the blink of the eye, the only ones who hadn¡¯t shot was only Qianye and that young man.

    The young man had aimed for a long time, while Qianye had kept on staring at him from the side. Under Qianye¡¯s gaze, the young man couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat restless. The moment he pulled the trigger, he instantly cursed loudly in his heart!

 Volume 1 - 19: Secret Art: Thousand Mountains

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 19: Secret Art: Thousand Mountains

    The young man¡¯s shot also went through the target, leaving a hole about the size of an egg. The shot was a little far from the bullseye, somewhat worse than his usual performance, but the training gun he normally used had a sight equipped.

    ¡°Seventy points!¡± the examiner reported the score on the target as usual.

    The young man was a little disappointed, but still felt some pride soon after. After all, this was the best score so far.

    ¡°It¡¯s your turn!¡± he said viciously while staring at Qianye.

    Qianye smiled faintly. He raised the origin gun, charged it, and aimed at the same time, effortlessly firing the shot.

    The red origin bullet shot toward the target, yet the point of impact was obviously kind of off. It looked like it would be worth around fifty points at most.

    The young man¡¯s expression became full of joy, but smile on his face froze immediately afterward.

    With a boom, the red origin bullet exploded on the target, actually shattering more than half of it! The bullseye naturally wasn¡¯t spared.

    ¡°One hundred points!¡± Hearing the voice of the examiner report the score, the young man was instantly awestruck.

    He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°That works too?¡±

    Of course that worked.

    Moving targets were up next. Qianye still shot casually, and even through the origin bullet was somewhat off the mark, it still shattered the entire target. Qianye still ended up with a full points for that round.

    In the following exams for close range and long range shooting, as well as action shooting and speed shooting, Qianye shattered the targets with every single shot. He naturally received full points each time.

    The young man had long ago be unable to smile.

    He already discovered that Qianye¡¯s ability to get a full score definitely wasn¡¯t a fluke. Everything else aside, even if he used the same amount of strength as when he sucked on his mother¡¯s breasts, he was only able create a slightlyrger hole than other people with the crappy gun provided for the exam. In the meantime, Qianye was able to blow up the targets with the exact same gun. The difference between them was a matter of origin power!

    After the exam was over, the young man candidly ced the ne into Qianye¡¯s hands. ¡°I am Wei Potian! My Wei family is somewhat famous in the Far East Province. If youter have time to go there, you can make a request to my Wei family.¡±

    Qianye gagged a little when he heard this courageous, domineering name. If he hadn¡¯t forgotten everything he learned back in the literacy ss with Zhang Jing, then the young man¡¯s identification te clearly had Wei Qiyang written on it.

    The young man saw Qianye¡¯s expression and immediately patted his chest in a bold manner, loudly saying, ¡°Potian is a name I gave myself. How is it? Not bad, right? Have you been dazzled by my overbearing style? In the future, I, Wei Potian, will be a man capable of shattering the heavens with one punch!¡±

    Qianye epted the ne. His impression toward Wei Potian changed slightly. Even though his behavior was little brutish and nothing like an aristocratic heir, at least he was a man who kept his word. His name was also kind of dumb, but other than that, there weren¡¯t too many shorings.

    On the way to the next examination ground, Qianye finally asked Wei Potian a question he had been holding back for a while, ¡°Why did you cause trouble for me now? Did you do that because of my status?¡±

    Wei Potian immediately scoffed at that statement. ¡°Status? Commoner? Hah! I ain¡¯t one of those dumbasses who thinks they were born noble. After all,moners who can set foot in this ce are all talented people. The only reason why I caused trouble for you was your face!¡±

    Qianye touched his face, and as ifing to some sort of realization, said, ¡°My face? Oh, I understand now. I look simr to an enemy of yours, right?¡±

    Wei Potian immediately shook his head. ¡°Of course not! I just hate pretty boys! Looking at that face of yours gives me the urge to smash a fist onto it! How can you be even prettier than my woman!¡±

    Hearing this, Qianye felt his hands itch. He also felt the urge to smash his fist onto something¡ªlike the nose of a certain man who wanted to shatter the heavens.

    Wei Potian suddenly smirked and said in a low voice, ¡°Why don¡¯t we have another bet? It¡¯ll be on the results of the next examination. How about it? The stakes are the same as before¡ªif you lose, you¡¯ll return the ne to me!¡±

    Qianye looked at him and said, ¡°You seem to only have one ne.¡±

    Wei Potian raised his wrist. ¡°I still have this!¡±

    There was a chain bracelet on his wrist. Its material was exactly the same as the ne¡¯s, and an engraved te also hung from it.

    Qianye¡¯s brow furrowed slightly. ¡°Why do I feel like this thing isn¡¯t actually that useful. Just look at the birdbr-er, I mean, just look at you. Do you really have any authority in your family?¡±

    Qianye almost said ¡°birdbrain¡±, but having let that much of it slip, Wei Potian obviously knew what he was originally going to say.

    Due to Qianye¡¯s tant skepticism, Wei Potian¡¯s expression had long since turned ashen.. He angrily said, ¡°During the next round of the exam, I will take back the ne no matter what, so you don¡¯t need to worry about what kind of authority I have!¡±

    The next exam was for meleebat.

    The rules ofbat were very simple. They were one on one duels. One could challenge anyone they wanted, but were unable to refuse challenges from others. No matter how many times one lost, the exam would be considered over as long as a total of five matches were won. The exam rankings would then be decided by win rate.

    The enormous drill ground was divided into over a hundred arenas. Inside every arena was a captain who served as judge.

    Wei Potian stood in front of Qianye the moment he walked into the arena, cracking his knuckles andughing with malicious intentions.

    ¡°Hey, Lin! It¡¯s not toote for you to surrender now so you don¡¯t get miserably beatenter!¡± Wei Potian had returned to his conceited way of speaking.

    A faint smile emerged on Qianye¡¯s face. ¡°But it¡¯s toote for you to surrender.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression instantly darkened as he sneered, ¡°Then I can only beat you to the point that your head will be swollen like a pig¡¯s! You better not cry and use me of bullying you with my family¡¯s status when that happens!¡±

    Wei Potian spread his feet. His arms moved slowly, as if he were carrying arge ball. The aura around him suddenly changed, origin power surging as it became iparably heavy and grim. It was as though a mountain range had risen before Qianye!

    ¡°Let me show you what a secretbat art truly is! Wei n Secret Art: Thousand Mountains!¡± From Wei Potian¡¯s voice, all the way down to his aura, everything about him hadpletely changed. The air surrounding him was boundless, heavy, and calm, as if he had suddenly be another person.

    Qianye immediately felt an invisible pressure assault his face.

    Surprisingly enough, things like secretbat arts really existed! When he was in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, Long Hai mentioned that some grand aristocratic households and sects had secretbat arts that used origin power as their foundation. They were usually profound, hard to fathom, and mighty.

    However, the Yellow Springs Training Camp had never taught any meleebat arts with formal systems. Long Hai only taught and exined the basic principles of meleebat, the vitals of a live body, and the most efficient method of reducing the injuries that one sustained while increasing the enemy¡¯s.

    This was the first time that Qianye had faced an actual meleebat art! He was kind of nervous, but was even more excited! It was an excitement that thirsted for fierce battles!

    Wei Potian gestured toward Qianye with a beckoning finger. ¡°Come! Your daddy will let you strike first! If I strike, you wouldn¡¯t get the chance!¡±

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp had taught Qianye many things, but it hadn¡¯t taught him courtesy and etiquette. Without hesitation, before Wei Potian¡¯s speech even finished, he suddenly took a step forward and threw a ferocious roundhouse kick at Wei Potian!

    This kick was as fast as lightning, and a faint crackling sound actually echoed through the air!

    The moment that Qianye raised his leg, Wei Potian made a sound in surprise, the color of his face immediately changing! His reaction speed was also top-notch, and he instantly changed his hand form and lowered his waist, bringing his arms downward to block Qianye¡¯s roundhouse kick!

    With a muffled bang, Qianye¡¯s roundhouse kick actually forced Wei Potian several meters away! The air was still echoing with crackling sounds as though beans were being stir-fried. That was the result of the sh between their origin power.

    Qianye let out a hum of approval. His opponent was quick to react, and their defense was also very impable and refined. However, the power that Qianye felt after the sh was extremely low¡ªfar from what he had expected.

    This kick was originally just him feeling Wei Potian out and merely used eighty percent of his strength, yet it had actually knocked Wei Potian away!

    One needed to understand that more than half of the students at the Yellow Springs Training Camp could take this roundhouse kick with no trouble at all.

    Seeing that Wei Potian¡¯s surprise didn¡¯t seem fake, Qianye moved without thinking. His right leg flew up like lighting, and another roundhouse kick whipped toward Wei Potian. This time, Qianye used his full strength!

    Hearing the faint crackling sound caused by origin power, Wei Potian¡¯s expression changed greatly as he let out a yelp. A dimyer of yellow earthy light appeared around his entire body. His arms protecting his body, he smashed his body into Qianye¡¯s roundhouse kick, attacking to defend. At that moment, he had no other choice. If he didn¡¯t try to fight it with an offensive momentum, he would definitely be kicked away once more, directly forcing him out of the arena.

    Another muffled bang resembling dense thunder rang out. Wei Potian actually didn¡¯t move backward! This wasn¡¯t a good thing, however, because he had no way to back off and dispel Qianye¡¯s extremely heavy roundhouse kick.

    Barely suppressing a mouthful of blood churning in his chest, Wie Potian felt shocked and unlucky. The power of this roundhouse kick was already at the level of a rank three Fighter¡¯s! If Qianye had reached rank three before reaching seventeen years old, what was the point of taking the exam here? He should have been directly recruited by the few top-rated corps.

    Just as Wei Potianpleted that singleint in his mind, Qianye had already pounced over. Punches, kicks, knee strikes, and elbow strikes rained down on him like a storm. Every single attack struck at the various vital points, and was extremely heavy!

    Wei Potian was like a small raft in a storm. Barely enduring seven or eight strikes, his defense waspletely demolished by Qianye. The defensive posture of his arms was broken and his torso was fully exposed. With one hand, Qianye pushed Wei Potian¡¯s arms aside, and lightly struck his abdomen.

    This strike was certainly light by Qianye¡¯s standards since he had already held back half his power. However, Wei Potian¡¯s abdomen was unexpectedly soft, and Qianye¡¯s entire fist pushed into it. If Qianye had really used his full power, this punch might¡¯ve obliterated all of Wei Potian¡¯s internal organs.

    Qianye was also extremely surprised. The Aura Sea, where the origin power vortex gathered, was in the abdomen. Qianye knew that the strength of his origin power was far denser and heavier than that of ordinary people¡¯s and held back as a result. He never expected that one punch would be enough.

    If his punch struck the students of the training camp, it would only affect them slightly at most. Qianye had actually prepared seven to eight kinds of follow-up attacks that could beat Wei Potian to the ground without crippling him, yet they currently seemed unnecessary.

    Wei Potian, an expert who possessed Wei n¡¯s secretbat art, Thousand Mountains, seemed to have already been done in by a single punch.

    Qianye suddenly retreated several meters, distancing himself from Wei Potian.

    Wei Potian¡¯s face was pale and ashen as his trembling finger pointed at Qianye. With an expression of disbelief, he struggled to say, ¡°That works too?¡±

    Then he knelt to the ground and vomited.

    ___________

    (OverTheRanbow: Potian = ÆÆÌì lit. shatter the heavens)

 Volume 1 - 20: Sweeping Through

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 20: Sweeping Through

    Qianye naturally won that round.

    The captain acting as the judge dered Qianye¡¯s victory, his gaze toward Qianye containing slight admiration.

    Wei Potian had nearly copsed after he finished vomiting and was carried down by hispanions.

    Not long after, Qianye encountered a new opponent who was a second rank Fighter. The moment he dashed up, Qianye unleashed a flurry of attacks like a storm, beating his opponent and giving him no chance to retaliate. This one seemed even weaker than Wei Potian, and Qianye kicked him out of the ring before even a minute had passed.

    After that, opponents came up one after another, then went down one after another. Qianye acquired five consecutive victories in the blink of an eye.

    From the reactions and whispers of the spectating examinees, he could tell that many who came to participate in the exam were consideredbat experts. Another that had fought Qianye surprisingly knew a secretbat art as well.

    However, the moment that this guy went up, Qianye immediately traded three punches with him and thoroughly beat his opponent¡¯s unstoppable momentum into a turtle defense. In just a minute, thisbat expert was knocked out.

    If the kid hadn¡¯t shouted the name of the secretbat art immediately after getting on stage, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have thought he also had a secretbat art.

    Yet from start to finish, Qianye wasn¡¯t able to witness how the secret fist art called ¡°Flowing Fire Metal Melting Myriad Break¡± looked.

    After a few rounds, Qianye discovered that these so-called experts were unexpectedly weak to the point of being unable to withstand a single blow. Inparison, Wei Potian could be considered the strongest out of all of them, as Qianye actually had to use some strength to put him down. However, since Wei Potian had been the first in line, Qianye ended up holding back most of his power afterward. Ultimately, no lives were lost.

    After fighting for five rounds, Qianye felt that he had just warmed up, his desire to fight burning in his chest. He looked at his surroundings awaiting the appearance of the next opponent.

    However, in response to his waiting, what came was not an opponent, but an angry roar from the judge. ¡°You¡¯ve already passed! Don¡¯t take up space, go stay on the sidelines!¡±

    Only then did Qianye realize that he had already won five times in a row.

    This exam felt like child¡¯s y to Qianye. Compared tobat training where every strike was solid and possibly fatal, the difference was like heaven and earth.

    Qianye left the arena. All of the examinees who had seen him fight held intense fear in their eyes.

    Qianye¡¯s strikes seemed ordinary at first, just fast, fierce, and urate. Thebat techniques he asionally used were only crude moves that any close-quartersbat beginner would know. Qianye was especially talented at taking advantage of mistakes. With even the slightest of openings, he could turn that into a huge advantage and seize victory.

    However, including the examiners, the expressions of the few experts in the crowd changed. They clearly understood that thebat techniques Qianye used were for killing on the battlefield!

    These kinds ofbat techniques had no tricks or finesse. They only sought to take the opponent¡¯s life in the simplest and most direct manner. This kind ofbat technique was so straightforward, simple, and barbaric that it was toughest to deal with.

    Who was this person? Where did hee from?

    Some examiners already had a few answers in mind. One of them was the Yellow Springs Training Camp. There were also several other mysterious ces that were not inferior to it.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know this yet, but he had already received a new nickname among the examinees. They called him Maniac. Qianye, a youth that looked delicate to the point of being somewhat frail, would actually fight like a maniac upon stepping into the arena.

    Qianye was the quickest to finish thebat exam. He needed to wait for the entire batch of examinees to finish before participating in thest exam with them as a group.

    Qianye walked to the rest area beside the arena and sat down in a random ce, slowly sipping from a cup of water. Not long afterward, examinees came to the rest area one by one. They all felt intense fear when they saw Qianye. All of them kept their distance from him despite not having nned it beforehand.

    After a few more minutes, Wei Potian walked over and sat down beside Qianye.

    ¡°You managed to pass?¡± Qianye looked at him and asked, slightly curious.

    Wei Potian stared at him with his eyes wide and angrily said, ¡°What do you mean by ¡®managed to¡¯?! Do you not see who I, Wei Potian, am?! Think about the might of my Wei n¡¯s secret art, Thousand Mountains. How could it possibly be unable to deal with such a trivial asion? Thousand Mountains is namely¡ª¡±

    One could tell that these lines had been spoken many times before as a boast, pouring out in an instant, but Wei Potian suddenly stopped speaking. His mouth was agape, his tongue was tied, and his expression froze in an unsightly manner.

    In the arena, Wei Potian was recently beaten to the point of being unable to retaliate. He had even vomited on the scene. The more that he boasted about the might of Thousand Mountains, the more face he would lose.

    As hisplexion went pale, Wei Potian suddenly remembered the ne and bracelet that he lost to Qianye. Just one look at this face said that his authority among his family was probably quite high.

    Staring at Qianye, Wei Potian didn¡¯t really know what to say, yet he couldn¡¯t swallow that stuffiness in his chest either. He immediately grunted, ¡°You aren¡¯t that amazing! I-if¡­¡±

    The rest of the sentence was supposed to be, ¡®If we fought again, then so-and-so will happen.¡¯ However, only after half of the sentence came out of his mouth did Wei Potian realize that, no matter how many times they fought, the result would probably be the same. As long as a person couldn¡¯t suppress Qianye in terms of origin power, hisbat style simply couldn¡¯t be countered.

    After choking back his words for so long, almost to the point of puking out a mouthful of blood, Wei Potian finally spat out, ¡°God dammit!¡±

    As for who he was cursing¡­ only he knew.

    Wei Potian went silent, but that didn¡¯t mean that Qianye had to stay silent.

    Qianye turned his head and said, ¡°Hey, Brother Wei.¡±

    Wei Potian instantly felt goosebumps as his entire body bolted upright, as straight as a pen. Shifting some distance sideways, he moved away from Qianye.

    Predictably, Qianye asked, ¡°Are you going to bet on the third round? I think that the belt you have on you is quite interesting.¡±

    In that instant, Wei Potian almost felt like he wanted to die. His mouth opened, but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn¡¯t roar out that heroic and grandiose ¡°I¡¯m in!¡±

    Fortunately, all of thebat exams for this group wereplete. An examiner hurriedly came and ordered all the examinees to gather and head to the cultivation camp in order to carry out thest phase of the exam.

    Thest examination tested the richness of one¡¯s origin power and whether or not one possessed special abilities.

    The content of this exam was very simple. Examinees would cultivate inside the cultivation room for two hours and trigger their special ability as much as possible. All aspects of the performance within the cultivation period would be observed and recorded to give aprehensive evaluation.

    Qianye entered the cultivation room, took his seat, then remembered that there was a special rule in this exam. Those who had already cultivated the Combatant Form did not need to test for special abilities and only needed to show how many cycles of origin tides they could endure.

    The standard for the Empire¡¯s regional corps enlistment was seven cycles, the standard for regr corps was ten cycles, normal special forces needed fifteen, and elite special forces required seventeen. As for the top-notch elite corps, the minimum standard for enlistment was twenty cycles!

    However, these were only the basic prerequisites to join the few great special corps. Even if one could endure twenty cycles of origin tides, that didn¡¯t mean they could immediately join these distinguished divisions. The scores of the two other subjects would also be considered, and sometimes one would even have to pass extra tests.

    No one knew that,pared to ordinary people, twenty cycles of origin tides was apletely different struggle for Qianye.

    But Qianye didn¡¯t have any more time. He was already nearly seventeen¡ªthis was his only chance at joining these top-notch special corps. Calming his mind andpletely rxing his body, he finally began to gather his origin power.

    The origin power in Qianye¡¯s body slowly began to rush forth like waves. Converging into a tide, they flooded toward his right hand¡¯s origin power node.

    Wave after wave of origin power formed without stopping. Nine waves were considered aplete cycle of origin tides. When the first round of origin tides ebbed, the cultivation room¡¯s origin power resonated and turned the cogwheel. In a dial outside of the cultivation room, the number changed from a zero to a one ordingly.

    Origin tides constantly rippled as Qianye¡¯s body shook harder and harder. Hisplexion was ghastly pale as cold sweat continuously flooded from all over his body. Yet his face was still calm to the point that it was hard to believe.

    The number outside of the cultivation room constantly jumped upward, from seventeen, to eighteen, then neen.

    The most crucial moment finally arrived! The twentieth cycle of origin tides was a flood that erupted into the skies, sweeping everything away! The enormous bacsh made Qianye¡¯s entirely body flush red as thin strings of blood seeped from his nostrils, eyes, and ears without stopping.

    On just the seventh wave, Qianye was already unable to endure as even his internal organs were beginning to leak blood. He had never tried twenty entire cycles of origin tides before. Continuing this pattern, the origin power bacsh wouldpletely shatter his heart by the ninth wave!

    ¡°AH!!!¡±

    When that happened, the person who passed the test would be dead. What was the point of that? Yet¡­ to give up aftering this far¡­

    In an instant, Qianye had a sudden epiphany and immediately guided the origin tide along a different route that would pass through the scarred area in his chest. Compared to other regions, this was still a swamp for origin power. When the violent origin tide passed through it, the impact was immediately subdued somewhat. However, the result of this was pain that was infinitely more intense than ever before.

    Qianye¡¯s vision went ck, and he almost passed out!

    Violently gritting his teeth, Qin Lie prepared to pass out and continued to gather the ninth wave!

    A desperate roar came from the cultivation room. The counter outside shook a few times, then finally flipped from a ck neen to reveal a scarlet twenty!

    An examiner frowned slightly as he pushed open the gate to Qianye¡¯s cultivation room, asking, ¡°Are you okay? Still conscious?¡±

    Leaning against the wall, Qianye no longer had the strength to stand. All of the clothes on his body were drenched, and his chest area was stained with blood It was a horrible sight.

    Seeing this, the examiner¡¯s brow furrowed even deeper. Just as he was about to mark the notebook in his hands, Qianye suddenly raised his head, and with a feeble voice, he said, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    The examiner looked at Qianye suspiciously. How could such a state be considered fine? However, this wasn¡¯t something he should care about. As long as the examinee was still conscious afterpletely cultivating the Combatant Form, the score would be valid and they would pass the exam.

    The examiner recorded the number twenty, then turned around and immediately left. Qianye stayed there for another ten whole minutes before barely walking out of the cultivation room.

    The examinees who had finished participating in all the exams were brought back to the barracks. Injured examinees received free medical treatment. The Empire¡¯s military also boasted great sess in the medical field. As long as injuries were not too serious, everything could be healed. The damage done to Qianye¡¯s internal organs were actually very serious, so he ended up soaking in a special bodily rejuvenation liquid, recovering nearly all of his wounds.

    A special meeting was held in a conference room within the main building of the barracks as Qianye soundly slept in the rejuvenation liquid.

 Volume 1 - 21: The Definition of Genius

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 21: The Definition of Genius

    Everything about the conference room was simplistic in style, like a typical, brand new military camp. Even the walls were made out of raw, uncovered limestone and bare metal frames.

    The only decoration was a hand-drawn map of the Empire¡¯s territory that took up an entire wall, seemingly in an art style from at least one thousand years ago. Back then, the False Valley Star was still in the belt at the highestyer of the world, but over seven hundred years ago, it derailed from orbit and fell, bringing hell to the two upperyer continents. In spite of that, the remains that floated through the void became the most abundant source of precious ore for mankind.

    The conference room¡¯s windows and doors were wide open, but that didn¡¯t do much. The entire room was filled with smoke. Most of the ten-odd soldiers that sat around a long conference table were puffing out smoke while arguing from time to time. Most of them were very young, yet their military ranks were all very high¡ªeven the lowest were lieutenant colonels or colonels at the very least.

    Even a brigadier general sat in the main seat of the conference table! However, this young brigadier general¡¯s features were handsome and gentle, and didn¡¯t look older than thirty from any angle.

    Over one hundred profiles of examinees wereid out on the conference table. They were currently being passed around by the officers, different marks on the cover of each one. Sometimes two officers would even fight over a profile until their faces turned red.

    These officers were representatives of the various special forces responsible for this round of enlistment, and these examinee profiles were all specifically chosen ording to the established standards. Examinees whose profiles were not here had already been disqualified from joining the special forces.

    Although the conference room seemed chaotic, there was actually an imperceptible order. Two people at the end of the long conference table viewed all of the profiles first before they were passed down to others that followed.

    The young brigadier general sat at one end of the table, while a soldier with a sturdy build and sharp, square features, appearing to be around thirty-five or thirty-six years old, was at the other end.

    At this very moment, there was a profile ced at both ends of the table. Each of them was stamped with a special insignia. One insignia was a headless angel with broken wings, while the other was a vivid, life-like red scorpion.

    The young brigadier general held another profile. It was Qianye¡¯s. After looking at it for a bit, he tossed it onto the table apathetically and said with disdain, ¡°Almost seventeen and only able to endure twenty origin tides with his life on the line. We of Broken Winged Angel have no interest in the kind of junk that barely passed!¡±

    Upon hearing this, the other officers immediately looked at Qianye¡¯s profile, their eyes lighting up. That was twenty cycles of origin tides! It needed to be understood that people who Broken Winged Angel had no interest in could be considered trump cards in other special forces.

    Right when this profile fell onto the table,rge hands already reached over impatiently. The fight to determine where Qianye would belong was about to begin.

    However, at this moment, a modest, yet exceptionally dense origin power enveloped Qianye¡¯s profile. The middle-aged soldier who sat at the other end of the table grabbed at thin air, and Qianye¡¯s profile immediately slid across the long table on its own, arriving right in front of him.

    The middle-aged soldier¡¯srge hands pped onto Qianye¡¯s profile with a bang. ¡°We of Red Scorpion will be taking this person!¡±

    Numerous sighs echoed within the conference room.

    Yet that young brigadier general just sneered, ¡°It¡¯s so surprising that the renowned Red Scorpion would actually want such garbage nowadays! No wonder Red Scorpion could only rank 3rd in three consecutive militarypetitions.¡±

    That middle-aged soldier did not get angry, and instead spoke in an indifferent tone, ¡°Red Scorpion wants warriors who can y enemies for the empire, not experts who just make up empty statistics.¡±

    Standing up in a sh, the brigadier general angrily asked, ¡°What are you trying to say?!¡±

    The middle-aged soldier calmly said, ¡°The Empire¡¯s military achievement rankings have already exined what I¡¯m trying to say.¡±

    In the military rankings of the Empire, Red Scorpion had firmly thrust Broken Winged Angel, who ced 2nd ce in three consecutivepetitions, below them. The dazzling military achievements were obviously earned with piles upon piles of bones belonging to Red Scorpion soldiers.

    The brigadier general was extremely furious, hisplexion going pale. He then let out a heavy snort and picked up that profile that had already been stamped with an insignia. Firmly disying it, he sternly said, ¡°Look here! Wei Qiyang, born of an aristocratic family of long tradition and secretbat arts profound and refined. This is what a genuinely strong expert of the future is! What part isn¡¯t better than the garbage in your hands!¡±

    The middle-aged soldier chuckled. ¡°Then why have I heard that he seems to have lost to the garbage in the arena?¡±

    The brigadier general snorted disdainfully. ¡°That¡¯s just because Wei Qiyang doesn¡¯t havebat experience. The potential of that garbage of yours has already been fully unearthed by the Yellow Springs Training Camp. What potential improvement is there? Hmph. He¡¯s just a little bastard that was picked up from a junkyard. Even if your Red Scorpion wants to curry favor with Lin Xitang, there¡¯s no need to pay such a price!¡±

    The expression of the middle-aged soldier became somber as he coldly said, ¡°You better show some respect for Marshal Lin!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t fear him!¡± The brigadier general was not the slightest bit polite as he knocked on the conference table. ¡°How about having them fight after a year? Let¡¯s see if that garbage can beat the person chosen by us, Broken Winged Angel!¡±

    The middle-aged soldier responded without hesitation, ¡°Fine by me! What are the stakes?¡±

    The brigadier general leaned forward as he revealed a fake, exaggerated smile. ¡°How about a grade six origin gun?¡±

    Upon hearing the words ¡°Grade six origin gun,¡± all of the officers immediately gasped! A grade six origin gun was the type of weapon that only the vice corpmanders of regr special corps were allowed to possess!

    The middle-aged soldier took a deep breath as he slowly nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m in!¡±

    ¡°I await your gun!¡± The brigadier general guffawed as he strutted out of the conference room, his voice echoing from outside. ¡°This entire round of examinations is filled with utter garbage!¡±

    It was already noon of the second day by the time Qianye awoke.

    A female military nurse who was beautiful, but had an expression as stiff as a rock in a tundra walked into the recovery room, threw Qianye¡¯s clothes over by the handful, and dumped a torrent of words onto Qianye¡¯s head like a waterfall.

    ¡°Put your clothes on as fast as possible and disappear in three minutes! Many people are still waiting in line outside! Why haven¡¯t you started putting on your pants yet? How long do you n on dangling that thing in front of me? You think it¡¯s big? If it doesn¡¯t disappear from my sight within thirty seconds, I will cut it off, soak it in formalin, and put it on my desk as a decoration!¡±

    Although Qianye had already seen a lot in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, he was stillpletely defeated by this demon on earth. Putting on his clothes faster than he ever had in his life, he escaped in a hurry.

    When Qianye fled from the hospital, he suddenly had a bizarre thought. Why hadn¡¯t he asked that beautiful demon for her contact information?

    The moment that Qianye thought that, he startled himself. He wasn¡¯t certain whether or not he had stayed in the training camp too long. Having left so suddenly, even his mental processes were currently somewhat off.

    Just when Qianye walked out from the inner barracks, he saw Shi Yan, who had been waiting for him all along.

    Seeing Qianye, the man who was normally as silent as a rock grinned as heughed, then pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Nicely done, kid!¡±

    Qianye instantly felt confused.

    Shi Yan pped himself in the head. ¡°Ah! Look how forgetful I¡¯ve be! You got epted by Red Scorpion!¡±

    ¡°Red Scorpion?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t immediately realize what that meant. He carefully recalled the names of the special corps that were recruiting this time around. There didn¡¯t seem to be any lower or mid ranked corps named Red Scorpion, and there also weren¡¯t any upper ranked corps with that name.

    Suddenly, Qianye¡¯s heart throbbed intensely, moving to the extent that he kind of stuttered, ¡°Y-you¡¯re talking about that Red Scorpion?¡±

    ¡°Exactly! That Red Scorpion. The Red Scorpion Corps that has always ranked in the Empire¡¯s top five!¡±

    Qianye held his breath. An immense amount of joy had entirely overwhelmed him! He never expected that he would be able to join either of the two top-notch elite corps, Broken Winged Angel or Red Scorpion. His performance in the origin power test couldn¡¯t be considered all that great, after all. Twenty cycles of origin tide was just the minimum prerequisite.

    ¡°You will need to check in at Red Scorpion¡¯s headquarters three days from now. The time frame¡¯s a little tight, but that should be enough for one night of preparation. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you out to drink!¡±

    Shi Yan was excited to the point that he seemed like a different person than normal, immediately dragging Qianye out of the camp. Just as the two were taking a few steps out of the exit, Wei Potian came out of nowhere and blocked Qianye¡¯s way.

    Qianye sized Wei Potian up from head to toe with a somewhat strange expression and suddenly asked, ¡°Do you like getting beaten up?¡±

    Wei Potian was trying to look cool by crossing his arms over his chest, and his expression immediately became astonishing when he heard what Qianye said. He even felt the urge to puke blood. Qianye¡¯s expression, however, was entirely serious, and he did not seem like he was ridiculing or teasing Wei Potian.

    Even though they have only met very briefly, Wei Potian had roughly figured out Qianye¡¯s temperament. Qianye clearly had actual suspicions about that, and was especially blunt about them.

    That was what really drove Wei Potian mad!

    ¡°Lin Qianye! I¡¯ve been chosen by Broken Winged Angel. At this examination, I¡¯m the only one who joined Broken Winged Angel!¡± Wei Potian boasted.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°And? Do you want to go another round? From my perspective, you just like to get beaten up.¡±

    The color of Wei Potian¡¯s face was green at times and red at others as he spoke angrily, ¡°If you have what it takes, let¡¯s change the way in which wepete! Come,e,e¡­ true men are also heroes of liquor. Tonight, let¡¯spete over how much we can drink. How about it? Do you dare?¡±

    ¡°What else do you have to lose?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t impressed.

    His voice one octave higher than it usually was, Wei Potian shouted, ¡°If I lose, I¡¯ll immediately undo my belt!¡±

    Once these words were spoken, the entire area around them suddenly went quiet! The movement of the bustling crowd seemed to be a beat slower as everyone focused all kinds of odd looks onto Wei Potian.

    A few men with brawny bodies and masculine faces became interested in Wei Potian, their gazes full of lust A few young men with fair skin even threw sultry nces at Wei Potian.

    Qianye was momentarily speechless. Thanks to Wei Potian, he had also be the center of attention.

    The corner of Shi Yan¡¯s mouth twitched slightly. The number of times that his expression had changed today was probably greater than it had in the past year. His gaze fell onto the insignia on Wei Potian¡¯s belt buckle, and he instantly recognized it as the insignia of the direct line of Far East Wei n. He also discovered that Qianye had something on his neck that he didn¡¯t have before¡ªa ne with an eagle¡¯s head inscribed on the te.

    Connecting this with the bet that Wei Potian had proposed, Shi Yan vaguely understood the sequence of events.

    The Wei n was arge aristocratic family with a long history and tradition. They came from the far east, having intermarried with the Jadestone Wang n for generations. Their forces and influence permeated two provinces. The Wei family was neither close to nor distant from Lin Xitang. There weren¡¯t many friendly ties, nor were there any grievances. Concerning this kind of rich and powerful family, even if one were unable to be allies with them, they should at the very least avoid bing their enemy.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here first!¡± Shi Yan promptly dragged Qianye away, rapidly leaving the scene that had such a strange atmosphere.

    Once night fell, Shi Yan took Qianye to a bar in the city. Not long after they sat down, Wei Potian suddenly appeared without being invited.

    He brutishly sat facing Qianye, pping the table forcefully and shouting, ¡°Lin Qianye! Did you think that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find you if you hid here? My Wei family has quite a few people in the city of Xiangyang.¡±

    ¡°Just what exactly are you trying to do?¡±

 Volume 1 - 22: Trip through the Skies

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 22: Trip through the Skies

    ¡°Seeing who can drink more, of course!¡±

    Wei Potian pped his hands with a very confident air about him.

    Busy footsteps came from the stairs as a dozen beautiful girls approached in a single file, every one of them embracing a bottle of strong liquor. Just by looking at that exquisite packaging, one could tell that they were all high-grade stuff.

    Wei Potian took two bottles and just broke both of them at the neck. Passing one to Qianye, he said, ¡°Down half a bottle first! How about it? Do you dare?¡±

    Qianye took the bottle, his expression looking extremelyplicated.

    He silently poured half a bottle into his ss, then began to slowly purse his lips.

    However, in front of Wei Potian was a wide bowl. Throwing back his head, the bowl of liquor already went down to his stomach. Half a bottle would be gone if he drank another bowl. Qianye had merely taken a few sips up to this point, which was at most the amount of a shot ss.

    ¡°Oh well, I¡¯ll drink this bottle first. You can go slowly, there¡¯s no need to hurry. I can wait!¡± Wei Potian said in a grand manner. Throwing back his head a second time and then a third, the first bottle of liquor was gone just like that.

    Qianye had finally finished two cups by then. However, this face was already flushed, and even his vision became somewhat blurry. If he drank a little more, he would definitely slide underneath the table.

    Wei Potian finally felt ecstatic!

    Although he couldn¡¯t beat this kid in the arena, drinking him under the table was the same thing, wasn¡¯t it? Wei Potian did not feel as if he were consoling himself as he thought this.

    Qianye drank slowly, even supporting himself with both elbows against the table. Holding the ss, he had begun to teeter on the verge of copse. Yet he remained on the edge until he had drunk the entire bottle ss by ss.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got guts!¡± Wei Potian eximed in praise, then wickedly looked at the strong liquor being warmed by the embrace of the beautiful girls.

    After a short time, another empty bottle appeared before Wei Potian while Qianye was still drinking slowly, wobbling like usual.

    At this moment, Wei Potian¡¯s eyes were already getting kind of nk, and his speech had also begun to slowly be incoherent. However, Wei Potian immediately smashed open another two bottles of aged liquor when he saw that Qianye had finished drinking. He took the lead, throwing back his head repeatedly and downing a bottle without pause.

    In the meantime, Qianye was the same as always, seeming like he would fall away from the table at any second. Many meddlesome people were currently in the bar, standing around them in a circle to spectate. As they watched Qianye, their initial gazes that had been full of mockery became strange.

    The liquor they were drinking was tequ that had been distilled in the extremely cold province of in West. Its strength could be ranked amongst the top three of the Empire¡¯s famous alcoholic drinks. It would usually be mixed into cocktails, and even if someone were to drink them inly, it wouldn¡¯t be in such enormous quantities. Men who could stomach tworge bottles and still remain upright were definitely a rare sight.

    Sitting at the table an hourter, Qianye nkly looked at the empty liquor bottles that were scattered across it, then looked at Wei Potian and Shi Yan who were unconscious on top of it. Qianye couldn¡¯t recall when they had fallen.

    This was especially the case for Shi Yan. How did he get knocked out? This drinkingpetition had nothing to do with him!

    Qianye rubbed his forehead and slowly began to recall what had happened. Although Qianye didn¡¯t know when, Wei Potian, whose head was already muddled from drinking, suddenly taunted Shi Yan.

    In reality, Shi Yan also had a fiery temper and naturally wouldn¡¯t be polite to Wei Potian, joining the fray without hesitation. The one on one match suddenly became a war between three kingdoms, and then Wei Potian and Shi Yan were both defeated by Qianye.

    Qianye was currently on the verge of copse. However, it was only the edge, so no one knew just how close he was to actual copse.

    After recalling the sequence of events, Qianye helplessly forced a smile. What was he going to do with these dead, pig-like men? In the end, Qianye had no choice but to grab one with either hand as he teetered toward the hotel. He actually managed to miraculously return to his room without messing up.

    Qianye booked another room and tossed the two men onto the bed, ruthlessly flipping them off before finally wobbling to his own room. Falling onto his bed, he fell soundly asleep.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t slept for long when he sat straight up on his bed, looking nkly at the surroundings. His head hurt quite a bit¡ªthe feeling of being hungover hadn¡¯t entirely passed yet.

    The time had just passed five o¡¯clock, yet the sky wasn¡¯t even starting to brighten. However, at the training camp, this was already the time to get up and start the day¡¯s training. The repetitious lifestyle had already formed an instinctual reaction in Qianye¡¯s body.

    Qianye got up and showered, but he suddenly didn¡¯t know what he should do.

    He would asionally feel this way ever since he graduated from the Yellow Springs Training Camp. The schedule that was originally filled to the limit and the pressure to survive that had existed at every moment had suddenly vanished. Large stretches of free time were now his to do as he pleased, yet it just felt unfamiliar to Qianye.

    He silently practiced somebat techniques for a while, as the ray of dawn shone into his room.

    Shi Yan finally appeared at noon. When this soldier who didn¡¯t know how to smile saw Qianye, his face became a rarely seen red.

    As for Wei Potian, he had secretly disappeared long ago. What face did he have toe meet Qianye? However, he did keep his promise and left his belt, adding on a note that indicated his unwillingness to give up. There were only fourrge words on the note¡ªWe¡¯ll battle again someday!

    Oh, there was also a huge exmation mark!

    Qianye didn¡¯t really take this note to heart as he balled it up and tossed it into a trashcan. Whenever Qianye remembered why Wei Potian provoked him the first time, he would feel the urge to beat him up some more.

    However, after Shi Yan exined the Wei family¡¯s background, Qianye thought about it. He then packed the ne, the bracelet, and the belt, and had someone send them to where Wei Potian lived. There was also a note inside with eightrge words on it¡ªThree debts to pay before we battle again.

    After lunch, Shi Yan sent Qianye back into the inner barracks and handed him over to the middle-aged soldier.

    The middle-aged soldier sized up Qianye up from head to toe, then smiled and extended his hand. ¡°Wee to Red Scorpion, rookie!¡±

    Qianye reached out and shook hands with him. This hand was wide and firm. It was warm, yet had the stability of the earth. It felt very simr to Lin Xitang¡¯s hand.

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand what the term ¡°rookie¡± meant, but he could feel a sense of affection from the words of this middle-aged soldier.

    The middle-aged soldier looked at Shi Yan and said, ¡°Brother Shi, it feels like it¡¯s been ten years since west met.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only been nine years and eleven months.¡±

    The middle-aged soldier of Red Scorpion didn¡¯t mince words with Shi Yan and said, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you at Marshal Lin¡¯s side guarding him?¡±

    ¡°As a matter of fact, I¡¯m here for this little fellow. I couldn¡¯t help but run the errand myself. If it were someone else, I wouldn¡¯t feel good about it.¡±

    ¡°Are his circumstances special?¡± The middle-aged soldier raised his brows.

    ¡°A little bit. You¡¯ll understand once you see this. Qianye, let Colonel Wei see your wound.¡±

    Qianye undid the clothing near his chest as he was told, momentarily revealing his enormous scar.

    The corner of middle-aged Colonel¡¯s eyes twitched, ayer of murderous intent already emerging on his face. He grunted heavily.

    ¡°Now do you understand why I had toe personally? However, this child is exceptional. You won¡¯t be disappointed.¡±

    The time to part ways arrived in a sh. These two, who graduated from the same military academy in the same year, were busy with military affairs and had only met three times after graduating nearly twenty years ago. After parting ways this time, both of them knew that there was no telling when they¡¯d meet again.

    The next time they met, perhaps they would see remnants of the deceased covered by the Empire¡¯s g. This was the fate of soldiers. Yet they did not hug, nor did they shake hands. Instead, they saluted each other, then immediately turned around and left.

    This was the epitome of the military. It was not the slightest bit sloppy or slow . Even a camaraderie as vast as the ocean and as deep as the abyss would only be ced at the bottom of their hearts.

    After Shi Yan left, the middle-aged soldier said to Qianye, ¡°My name is Wei Lishi.¡±

    ¡°Colonel Wei!¡± Although it wasn¡¯t perfect enough, Qianye gave him a military salute.

    Wei Lishi took Qianye onto an airship and flew in the direction of Red Scorpion¡¯s headquarters. This time around, Wei Lishi had also chosen two others aside from Qianye. One was male while the other was female, and they were more or less the same age as Qianye¡¯s.

    This airship was very different from the aerostatic airships that Qianye had seen before. Instead of an enormous egg-shaped steam balloon floating above it, arge stretch of film resembling the wing of a bat was supported by a metal frame.

    All of the joints on the outer shell of the airship¡¯sponents were painted a striking red, and there were no other features. The mechanical cabin was in the rear section like usual, but there were twelve groups of cross-shaped propellers. Large puffs of steam flooding from numerous dense pipelines were the only things that remained the same between the two types of airships.

    The interior of the cabin was very spacious, and the floor was covered in shock and sound canceling tapestry. The back of the seats were facing the sides of the ship, and would probably fit around twenty people ording to a visual estimate. In the middle of the cabin was a row of shelves used to store weapons and backpacks, while the leftover space was enough for unhindered movement or even closebat. Using such a battleship that could carry two squads to ferry four people, Red Scorpion was definitely impressive and wealthy.

    Wei Lishi properly sat in a seat and fastened the seat belt while Qianye and the others also followed his example.

    At this moment, the door leading to the front cabin opened as arge bald head stuck out and said in a rough voice, ¡°Sit tight, young¡¯uns! We¡¯re in a rush!¡±

    Deafening as always, a powerful rumbling soon began to reverberate through the cabin¡¯s walls. The cabin also started to shake violently, then suddenly soared into the air as if it had been grabbed by arge hand.

    Qianye and the others were pressed tightly into their chairs, the feeling of sharp ascension almost made their hearts jump out of their throats. The difort was indescribable. After the ascension finally passed with great ordeal, Qianye looked through the cabin windows and shockingly discovered that clumps of white clouds were floating by!

    In such a short time, they were already piercing through the clouds!

    Qianye¡¯s experience in riding airships was limited to the light-boat styled ¡°Green Bird¡± and military freighters. Not much needed to be said of Green Bird. As its name suggested, Green Bird¡¯s gliding and descending capabilities were as natural as moving clouds and flowing water. Even though a freighter was noisy and rough, it needed a long buffering period to both gain and lose altitude.

    The speed of this Red Scorpion airship practically overturned the principle of steam propulsion. Qianye recalled that there was another energy source above ck stone steam called ck crystal. However, Yellow Springs didn¡¯t teach anything about it because it was currently the highest ranked power source¡ªthe Empire¡¯s strategic resource.

    Qianye had not even recovered from the stunning sight in front of him before the airship suddenly began to shake violently. Qianye saw the propellers outside the window begin to abruptly elerate, and he soon couldn¡¯t see the des at all. Then, as if it were being violently kicked by someone, the entire airship flew into the distance with a bang.

    For the first time, Qianye got a taste of being on a lone boat in a storm.

    The bald captain¡¯s voice echoed from the copper pipes without stopping.

    ¡°Sit tight! We¡¯re going to elerate!

    ¡°This cross-wind is breathtaking! How is it? Does rolling around feel good?

    ¡°Aha! That¡¯s a thundercloud up ahead, let¡¯s go straight through it! Y¡¯all can see the lightning up close!

    ¡°What kind of bald eagle is that? Damn, that¡¯s really huge! Let¡¯s try running into it!¡±

 Volume 1 - 23: Rookie Mission

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 23: Rookie Mission

    Qianye felt his stomach was violently turning, and the other two youths clearly weren¡¯t much better off either. Just like that, the three finally couldn¡¯t handle it anymore, and half an hour after takeoff they vomited all over the ce.

    Around evening, the airship passed by the Great Yellowstone Gorge andnded at near the Red Scorpion headquarters that was located near the northern side of the Qin Continent. However, the three little rookies weren¡¯t fortunate enough to immediately see the mysterious Red Scorpion headquarters.

    They received their first rookie mission before even exiting the ship: Cleaning. They were to clean the entirety of the transportation cabin, as well as the inside, outside, above, and below the airship. The goal was to make everything spotless.

    Only after beginning to work did Qianye find out that cleaning was by no means any easier than meleebat.

    Forget about the vomit in the cabin, the hardest things to handle were the many-years old grease staining the motor cabin and the airship¡¯s inner and outer walls. Even though the three rookies were given detergent exclusively meant for cleaning old grease, arge bucket of water was needed for every little spot.

    Just like that, the three carried water back and forth and cleaned. After a night, only the smaller half of the tiny, twenty meter long airship had been cleaned.

    The various zones of the airship were strictly divided into three days of workload. Until the mission waspleted, there would be no food nor sleep.

    As a result, upon arriving at Red Scorpion, the three little rookies spent the first three days hungry, exhausted and sleepy. After struggling to clean the airship, they couldn¡¯t even smell the heavy scent of grease on their bodies. All three fell asleep the moment that they returned to their dorm room, not caring about taking a bath or eating.

    In these three days, Qianye disyed unwavering patience and meticulousness, refusing to overlook any little corner. Time and time again, he would wipe clean even a tiny speck of grease, and his cleaning and maintenance of the airship¡¯s motor and transmission was also wless.

    This was because of the firearm maintenance he had learned in the past. Using the approach of meticulous weapon care to maintain that enormous fellow, even the bald captain that was known for being picky was praising his results non-stop.

    Meanwhile, the performance of the other two rookies was eptable for half of the first day, but the negligence was obvious after that. When they saw that Qianye was so unswervingly serious, they left the dirtiest ces that were the most difficult to clean for Qianye, intentional or otherwise. Even though it looked as though the three did about the same amount of cleaning, Qianye had actually done more than those two added together.

    Qianye did not mind these small losses. In the Yellows Springs Training Camp, he had learned to carry out the instructor¡¯s orders to the letter. ¡°To the letter¡± didn¡¯t just refer to the literal meaning, it even included the intent behind the instructor¡¯s orders.

    In the dictionary of the Yellow Springs Training Camp, there were no such expressions like ¡°taking the easy way out.¡±

    When the other two rookies saw that Qianye was like that, they were happy to take advantage of the situation and pushed even more work onto Qianye. They were both prodigies in their respective families, blessed by the heavens. Furthermore, they had passed the one in ten thousand examination and joined Red Scorpion. Their prospects could be considered boundless. Young people like them could bear the pain of wounds and bloodshed, but when had they done such dirty and tiring work?

    When the three rookies were sleeping soundly, five people were holding a meeting in a small conference room at Red Scorpion headquarters. Surprisingly, the bald captain was one of them.

    The bald captain swiftly wrote scores on three forms and passed them to the others.

    After the soldiers looked at them and passed them around, the form arrived in Wei Lishi¡¯s hands. He nced at it and said to the bald captain, ¡°Although I figured this would be the case, isn¡¯t the disparity in scores a little too great?¡±

    ¡°I scored them centimeter by centimeter, you know! ¡®Scorpion Tail¡¯ is like my own child! Not even a speck of change would escape my eyes. Those two young¡¯uns are a hundred years too early to y these little tricks on me! The other young¡¯un, Qianye, isn¡¯t bad. He¡¯s very smart and a steadfast worker. I like him!¡±

    Seeing that the bald captain was so insistent, Wei Lishi nodded and signed his name on the form. He then told the other three soldiers, ¡°Well, that¡¯s the result of the test. You lot decide amongst yourselves!¡±

    ¡°Qianye,¡± One of them spoke first.

    Another one immediately protested, ¡°No! You guys chose firstst year. It¡¯s our turn this year!¡±

    The third one spoke in a casual tone. ¡°That¡¯s not how it goes, is it? Your squadron already used up this year¡¯s priority privilegest year. Could it be that you n to use up next year¡¯s too? ¡°

    Only after arguing for a long time did they eventually finish divvying up the three rookies. In the end, the soldier with the big mustache had to promise a great deal of personalpensation before he could sessfully acquire Qianye

    The total amount of points in the initial test was one hundred. Qianye alone received sixty five points, while the other two only got thirty five points altogether.

    There were many uses for points in Red Scorpion. These points were used for promotions in military rank, allocating resources, or even choosing missions. The initial test gave arge amount of points in total. After this, it would be very rare to encounter these kinds of high-point missions as a rookie.

    Of course, Qianye and the others didn¡¯t know this yet. Those two little fellows thought that they were smart and didn¡¯t leave any traces, but it was as the bald captain said¡ªthese petty tricks didn¡¯t fool anyone. In front of those big-shots, acting clever was the same as destroying one¡¯s future prospects.

    On the second day, Qianye was woken up first thing in the morning by the sound of someone roughly pounding on the door.

    ¡°Wake up already, rookie! How long you n to keep on sleeping?!¡±

    Qianye jumped off the bed in a sh and rushed to open the door. An army officer with a big mustache on his face was standing at the door. He had a muscr physique, and was extremely tall¡ªat least two meters and thirty or so centimeters in height! Qianye¡¯s slender frame seemed as petite as a doll when standing before him.

    The mustached man inhaled deeply through his nose as he said with a frown, ¡°Go wash up, get rid of that stench of engine oil on you! You have¡ª¡±

    He looked at the watch, and said, ¡°You have a whole five minutes! Wash yourself clean from head to toe! I¡¯ll be waiting here!¡±

    All of the officer¡¯s words were roared.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Qianye carefully asked.

    ¡°I am surnamed Nan. Everyone calls me Nan Batian!¡±

    Qianye felt d¨¦j¨¤ vu upon hearing another mighty, domineering name, but it was instantly drowned out by the deafening roars that followed.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to know my original name! From now on, you will be a member of my Tiger Scorpion Battalion. Go shower, rookie! Now!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Qianye immediately gave a military salute, then he rushed into the bathroom as though he were flying.

    Qianye only used three minutes to wash himself clean, then rushed out and changed into a new uniform.

    This uniform took pure-ck, the base color of the great Qin Empire¡¯s military, for its own use. However, the cors andpels were decorated with red strings, and there was a scorpion design on the upper part of the sleeves

    The body of the scorpion was entirely ck and red, while the stinger was an rming scarlet. It was the red scorpion that could be seen in every continent, a tiny thing only as big as a person¡¯s palm, yet it was one of the most venomous creatures onnd. An ordinary adult stung by the red scorpion would die by poison in only a dozen seconds.

    Seeing that Qianye came out, Nan Batian turned and left without pause. The length of his steps were more than one and a half that of normal people, and Qianye had to jog for two steps to catch up.

    ¡°There are many things to do today! Come with me to get your equipment first, then I¡¯ll take you to a room of your own. Tiger Scorpion Battalion has its own barracks, so there¡¯s no need for you to live in this damned ce anymore. After that I¡¯ll take you to several important ces in the camp. That way, you¡¯ll know where you can go to repair your gun, get good stuff cheap, or even take some private missions if they don¡¯t interfere withbat missions. However, private missions will have to wait until you¡¯re no longer a rookie. Don¡¯t even think about it now!¡±

    Qianye was already used to the way Nan Batian talked by now, and one by one he memorized the essential pieces of information by heart.

    Soon enough, Nan Batian took Qianye out of the temporary barracks, and they walked into the encampment of Red Scorpion¡¯s official headquarters.

    Stepping through an enormous, thirty meter tall, one and a half meter thick metal gate, Qianye felt as though his heart was being heavily smashed by a hammer. He was so amazed by the scenery before him that he couldn¡¯t speak. Even though he had already seen a bird¡¯s-eye view of the military-industrial city of Xiangyang, he was still astonished by this enormous war machine.

    One kilometer away, the building that served as Red Scorpion¡¯s headquarters was six hundred meters tall and stood straight up like the mast of a ship. The red paint on the outer walls was already full of rust, revealing the metallic base color underneath. However, this did not affect the magnificent, intimidating air of this enormous building in the slightest, and instead gave it a solemn, historical feel.

    Several bat-wing styled airships were ascending from the headquarters, swiftly flying off in different directions.

    Meanwhile, a monstrous airship with an aerostatic balloon over several hundred meters long on top of it slowly emerged on the horizon!

    Many airships were ascending from and descending to a colossal airship base on its right hand side. There were smaller flying boats, mid torge sized airships, and even two warships that were over a hundred meters long. Parked on the other side of the base were seven old-fashioned airships that could only fly using aerostatic balloons.

    Parked in rows beside the base were various kinds of caterpir tanks. They could be counted into the hundreds! The number of heavy-duty trucks there were simrly abundant.

    Qianye had seen the pictures and models of these basic military armaments in ss, but only after seeing the real thing did he experience the impact of that unparalleled view.

    The left side was functional buildings of various sizes, Qianye even saw a factory that could hold an giant-sized airship among them.

    Hundred meter tall factories, the roofs of which were arched, were currently opened to the side, revealing the mast of a mid-sized airship and the top half of the ship¡¯s body. Workers were crawling on top of it like ants. Steel shavings flowed down from the enormous metal surface, gleaming with red mes. Intense work was clearly being done.

    A distance further down, stretches of energy facilities were connected to each other.

    They were a group of buildings in the shape of the Perpetual Dynamo Tower. More than ten gigantic chimneys that were attached to each other in a row resembled the Tree of Kunlun that connected heaven and earth. The ck smoke that was being continuously produced gathered into a massive cloud of smoke that covered half the sky.

    Even looking from afar, one could imagine how tempestuous the energying along from the pipelines was to be able to keep the enormous Red Scorpion headquarters going.

    Taking Qianye along, Nan Batian walked toward the parking lot and jumped on a small jeep that had its door open, and driving toward an arms depot to the left. Without a vehicle, doing things in such a massive base definitely wouldn¡¯t be very easy.

    In the lobby of the arms depot, Nan Batian roared, ¡°This is a rookie of our Tiger Scorpion Battalion! Give me a set of standard equipment and sniper gear!¡±

    After a short moment, a huge backpack and a ck briefcase were thrown directly out of a window. No one spoke or showed their faces in the process.

    Nan Batian caught the two things, each with one hand, and roared, ¡°Thanks!¡±

    He then turned to Qianye and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Onward to Tiger Scorpion¡¯s barracks!¡±

    Tiger Scorpion¡¯s barracks was at the north-eastern side of headquarters, and beside it was Blood Scorpion¡¯s barracks.

    Just by looking at the appearance of either barracks, Qianye already felt that Tiger Scorpion¡¯s situation didn¡¯t seem very good. Aside from being half the size of Red Scorpion¡¯s barracks, all of the vehicles parked outside of Tiger Scorpion¡¯s barracks were kind of old andpletely iparable to the brand new vehicles of Blood Scorpion. In addition, Tiger Scorpion¡¯s barracks seemed deste and not as busy as Blood Scorpion¡¯s.

    Nan Batian scratched his head and said in a somewhat awkward manner, ¡°Um, let me put it this way. I do admit that I¡¯m not as good at leading as those Blood Scorpion guys. They often move as a whole battalion to make big business deals. As time went on, Tiger Scorpion¡¯s funding became somewhat¡­ tight. Mn, yeah, that¡¯s how it is.¡±

 Volume 1 - 24: Preparing for Battle

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 24: Preparing for Battle

    At this point, Qianye came to understand Red Scorpion¡¯s methods.

    Every soldier had individual points, and each battalion had their own points. Missions could bepleted for points, and those points were used to trade for all sorts of equipment and materials. Red Scorpion Corps¡¯ headquarters was mainly responsible for preparing the most basic materials. To gather anything else, each battalion had to think of their own methods.

    Despite being in Red Scorpion Corps together, the differences between each battalion could be enormous, just like they were between Tiger Scorpion and Blood Scorpion. This wasn¡¯t just apetition between quality of soldiers, even the abilities ofmanders werepared.

    Red Scorpion¡¯s methods were very popr in the Empire, and many forces, especially special forces, liked to use this method of management.

    Nan Batian brought Qianye into the Tiger Scorpion encampment, led him to his room, and said, ¡°This is where you will be staying. We don¡¯t have a lot of people here, so it¡¯s very spacious. If you need anything, go find Old Bai, the logistics manager. Have a good night¡¯s rest, for tomorrow is the start of your life as an army rookie!¡±

    ¡°Rookie.¡± Qianye chanted that word inwardly. He now knew what it meant.

    Rookies were special existences in Red Scorpion Corps.

    Although every corps would have new rookie soldiers, Red Scorpion was different. In Red Scorpion, young, newly recruited soldiers were considered rookies for their first two years. Only after two years would they be promoted to a Young Scorpion. Only then did they truly be a member of Red Scorpion and earn the right to independently take missions.

    After Young Scorpion came ck Scorpion, Red Scorpion, then Scorpion King.

    Rookies did not have status in Red Scorpion since they were just rookies. Older soldiers treated rookies as people to lecture and scold, but the position of rookie was also unique.

    There was an unwritten rule in the Red Scorpion Corps that, if there was life threatening danger on the battleground, rookies would be the first leave, followed by the older soldiers, and the officers would be thest to leave. In any situation, the lives of the rookies were the first priority. Fresh blood had been used to establish this rule. In the history of Red Scorpion Corps, there was an instance in which, out of a hundred man troop that was killed, two rookies managed to escape.

    From the second day, just as Nan Batian said, Qianye experienced how different army life was for a rookie.

    In the next few months, Qianye only had a small amount of missions. The rest of his time was spent training. His first priority was to continue cultivating the Combatant Form. Other than that, he needed to pass ten different sses, including learning how to drive almost all of the ground and air vehicles of the Empire.

    Aside from that, there was also special equipment training. Qianye learned many secret things about the Empire, ranging from politics and economics, to things that had been cut from history.

    Take the Yellow Springs Training Camp as an example.

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp¡¯s supporter from the shadows was the Empire¡¯s Ministry of Military Affairs. It and three other training camps¡ªSilent Flower, Swordrain Springs, and Great Way Range¡ªwere the secret, secure training grounds of the Empire. However,pared to the three other training camps, the Yellow Springs Training Camp was far superior than the other three in both scale and sess. Even in the eyes of the Empire, against those deep, family-based organizations, it steadily remained in the top three.

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp was an extremely special existence. Its approach waspletely different from the normal military academies in that it put maximum effort into nurturing top tier killers who could survive under extreme conditions.

    From the very beginning, many higher ups of the Empire believed that the method of awakening origin power could only show its true potential in life or death situations, sessfully allowing one to be stronger.

    During the era when the dark races ruled the world, the number of races that were subjugated and enved were in the hundreds. The human race was able to break free because they constantly walked the line between life and death, allowing their power to constantly awaken as they led generations on the path of strength and prosperity.

    They believed that the lower levels of the Empire, especially themon folk, currently lived too peacefully and would lose their drive to improve as a result, decreasing the poption and weakening the strength of their abilities. Even the Great Qin Empire would eventually fall to ruin because of that.

    To remain glorious, explore, and expand, humanity had to survive in a crisis and improve in times of life or death!

    This was the opinion of upper levels of the Empire, and it was especially popr at higher levels of the army. The Yellow Springs Training Camp was like a gathering of these type of people. The training camp kept every student in the shadow of death, making them struggle to survive, and allowing their potential to shine in the process.

    Despite the high death and elimination rates in the Yellow Springs Training Camp and the objections from superiors, the students it nurtured were undeniably top tier talents.

    Their true strength was far beyond numbers on paper. A single graduate from the Yellow Springs Training Camp could effortlessly take three to five soldiers from the Empire¡¯s army. Additionally, underplicated and extreme environments, the strength of the graduates of the Yellow Springs Training Camp could be even more terrifying.

    It was said that, in a certainbat exam, three Yellow Springs Training Camp graduates banded together topletely wipe out a mountain fortified by an imperial army!!

    After that incident, the funds that the Yellow Springs Training Camp received increased five times over, and their yearly recruitment numbers of a thousand shot up to twenty thousand.

    Furthermore, every twenty to thirty years, a shocking talent would appear in the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Such a person could change an entire influential force! As long as such a person appeared, the Yellow Springs Training Camp was able to ignore all criticism, and four such people have appeared in the past hundred years!

    As a result, not only did the Yellow Springs Training Camp to exist, it also stayed strong. In the Empire, their faction was called the Ironblood Eagle Faction.

    In the beginning, most recruits of the Yellow Springs Training Camp weremon folk and orphans picked out from anywhere. However, after one sess, many influential families started sending the children of their branches here.

    Compared to themon folk and orphans, the children of powerful families had foundational supplements that increased their rates of sess, and once they graduated, they received a status that far surpassed the one they were born into. Inspired by the sessful graduates, many children from the branches of families started volunteering to enter the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    In the past three hundred years, the fame of the Yellow Springs Training Camp increased without end, getting even members of powerful families who had high positions to send children of their direct line there, to be a pir of the family after intense training.

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp made the appropriate adjustments to give those children a certain amount of care. This was mainly done to preserve their lives and have the girls to avoid attending theing-of-age ceremony.

    On a battlefield against the dark races, status didn¡¯t matter. With the conditions and natural resources from their families, many children awaken their origin power to form the front lines of the army. Authority and responsibility were always equal.

    After tacking on that they experienced life in the Yellow Springs Training Camp on their resume, the lives of these children were destined to go up. Regardless of whether they were seeking future prospects in the Empire or returning home, it would be smooth sailing.

    Qianye did not expect that the Yellow Springs Training Camp he had spent a full nine years in had such aplicated and deep background. He also did not expect the scale of its background to be sorge.

    Only the hundred people from his ss were by his side when he was there. Other than a few big exams where students were required to kill each other, he had rarely met students from another ss. Even the hundred students that were with him would diminish, replenish, then diminish again. The number of familiar faces in Qianye¡¯s memories was no more than fifteen.

    That night, Qianyey on his bed as his fingers fiddled with hisst portion of Vermillion Countenance Blood. He knew that this precious medicine was most effective during the foundation stage of origin power. Once a person ignited their origin node, the effectiveness would slowly decline. This was one of the few possessions he took from the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    After that, Qianye started to learn the system behind the Empire. Only aftering here did he understand that even the rookies of the Red Scorpion Corps possessed great authority.

    In the Empire, where hierarchy was extremelyplicated, the authority of Red Scorpion soldiers was higher than that of lesser nobles of the Empire.

    Just like that, the first few months in Red Scorpion were spent learning and training. Qianye scheduled a fifteen minute break every day and only spent four hours on sleeping. However, even as he slept, he spent half of that time soaking in bodily rejuvenation liquid to recover and strengthen his body. The medicine was one of the resources that the army provided to its elite corps soldiers.

    The era of Vermillion Countenance Blood was over.

    Only then did Qianye realize the true scale of Red Scorpion.

    Including a thousand or so rookies, there were ten thousand official members in the Red Scorpion Corps. The annual rookie elimination rate was around twenty percent. Elimination here obviously did not mean death, but reassignment to another corps. Yet even soldiers that were eliminated from Red Scorpion would be top level members of another corps.

    And behind these ten thousand Red Scorpion soldiers were twenty thousand logistical and support staff!

    This was why the Red Scorpion headquarters felt just like a small city to Qianye.

    After a few months, Qianye finally started to earn some authority and slowly lost the inexperience of a rookie. During this period of learning, Qianye¡¯s meticulousness, concentration, and patience received recognition. Some officials even saw all of it as borderline madness. Qianye could spend a few days focusing on a single thing without being distracted at all.

    In return, Qianye received full marks on almost every subject. The only thing that hindered him was the cultivation speed of his origin power. On the rookie rankings, Qianye constantly remained around tenth ce.

    After the semester was over for the rookies, Nan Batian appeared in front of Qianye once again.

    This person that resembled a giant started taking personal responsibility for Qianye¡¯sbat ability and physical training, sessfully branding him Tiger Scorpion¡¯s symbol. Qianye¡¯s body became sturdier. If his delicate, beautiful face was excluded, he was definitely a strong, powerful soldier.

    It was in this way that Qianye, on his fourth month as a member of Red Scorpion, weed the first mission that he would remember for a long time.

 Volume 1 - 25: Blood Thrall

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 25: Blood Thrall

    The mission was located on another lower continent, and its details were very simple. There was a small city controlled by vampires. Next to it was a secret research center that belonged to the Empire. After two unsessful attempts to conquer the city, the mission was assigned to Red Scorpion.

    Red Scorpion mobilized a fullpany totaling one hundred ck Scorpion soldiers led by three Red Scorpions. This included Qianye and fifty other rookies.

    Over ten thousand local soldiers cooperating with Red Scorpion were gathered in the countryside of the small city. This was the first real battle for the rookies, who had been excited from the very beginning.

    Qianye traveled in an inteary ranked airship that could travel between the continents for five full days, reaching the target area.

    Qianye followed the group and jumped from the floating airship to enter their heavy duty trucks, heading toward the location of their mission.

    The mission was unbelievably simple: separate into three groups, directly attack the city, and kill anyone who resisted. Then¡­ nothing. That was it.

    The entire fleet of trucks moved quickly, their wheels violently ttening the ground as they advanced like a group of frenzied galloping horses.

    Qianye sat in the truck hugging his origin power gun. As the truck drove along, it bounced up and down by at least a meter, causing his body to sway slightly. The current him was so used to riding ck stone steam-powered vehicles that he could drive them for small trips.

    Unlike the other rookies, Qianye did not check his gun over and over again. Instead, he started going over his memories about vampires.

    The vampire race was one of the main dark races, but were nicknamed bloodsuckers by the human race. Real vampires were extremely simr to humans in outward appearance. All were abnormally beautiful or handsome, with appearances enticing to humans.

    They had long lifespans and great power. In theory, upon reaching the rank of duke, vampires could live for more than a thousand years. They could even choose to slumber for a considerable time, slowing the rate at which their life force decreased. It was said that, hidden in the deeper parts of vampire territory, there were terrifying existences that had slept for over ten thousand years!

    Vampires were unusually dangerous. Along with their formidable intelligence, they possessed mighty power and abnormal speed.

    Origin guns were created topensate for theck of origin power in humans, but the method of creating them waster stolen by the dark races. This allowed them to invent luxurious, beautiful guns that were sold to wealthier human gunners for exorbitant prices.

    Lastly, vampires had a unique method of inheritance. They could either procreate with the opposite gender or go through a process called ¡°Embrace ¡°, in which they would inject their origin blood essence into the bodies of humans, turning them into a vampire. At the same time, human blood was a delicacy to vampires.

    Therefore, vampires and humans understood each other the most. In the beginning, when the dark races upied the entire world, vampires were mainly the ones who reared humans. Large amounts of humans were bred to provide blood for vampires. In their eyes, humans were equivalent to pigs or sheep.

    In both the Yellow Springs Training Camp and Red Scorpion, Qianye had killed vampires. However, those had not been true vampire warriors, and there had only been a few of them as well. They had been bound by origin power and were only allowed to move around in the examination grounds.

    This time was different. This time, they were in a true battle with the vampires.

    As the heavy trucks moved, the veterans in the vehicles gave every rookie three specially made origin bullets of pure silver.

    These origin bullets were physical bullets that could be inserted in the barrel of an origin gun. Empty bullets could be industrially manufactured or made by hand, but only soldiers that were rank three and above could inject them with origin power to finish the production of a physical origin bullet.

    These three silver bullets were especially effective against vampires. Since these rookies were only rank two Fighters, they were only given three of these bullets. Even if they were given a hundred of them, each rookie would still only be able to shoot an origin gun three times.

    Each of the rookies loaded the rifles in their hands with the silver bullets and waited for the battle to begin.

    The heavy duty trucks charged directly at the small city that was two hundred meters away! Coming to a rumbling halt, the trucks arranged themselves in a serpentine formation, creating a barricade and a bunker.

    Traditional gunpowder firearms shot at the trucks from the city walls, but the metal bullets were not enough to prate the meter thick steel tes. The ck Scorpion veterans started to retaliate, and origin bullets started flying toward the city and exploding along the city walls.

    In the blink of an eye, the gunfire from the walls was suppressed and the rookies immediately jumped from the truck, quickly following the veterans and making their way toward the city.

    The battle was much simpler than expected. The Red Scorpion squad leader would charge in front, and with just a glimpse of a vampire warrior, a silver bullet would follow.

    The bullets of the Red Scorpion squad leader were not wasted, only targeting higher ranked vampires warriors while leaving the normal vampires to the others. The ck Scorpion soldiers would then go through another round of picking, killing off most of the vampires, and only leaving a few for the rookies to try.

    Qianye raised his hand and his origin rifle jolted. He had always earned full marks in his target practical exams, and this was no exception. The silver origin bullet shot out and pierced a hole in a vampire¡¯s forehead. White smoke immediately emerged from the wound as the surrounding flesh and blood turned ck as though it were burned.

    This vampire went stiff and stopped moving as two bloody flowers bloomed on his body. Two rookies could not control themselves and shot the already dead vampire. This obviously yielded no points for them.

    Qianye¡¯s shooting speed was fast and steady. He immediately changed his position and shot again, shooting the head of a vampire that had just popped up on a roof. Then, in the next few seconds, Qianye shot his gun again, causing another vampire to fall while screaming.

    Among the rookies, Qianye¡¯s performance was the most eye-catching, killing off three vampire warriors with three bullets. His performance even rivaled that of the ck Scorpion veterans!

    Having entered a real battle, Qianye deeply noticed how different it was from the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    The nine years of cruel training that kept him on the line between life and death had allowed hisbat reaction to be an instinctive part of his body. Under any circumstances, Qianye would always react correctly and use the optimal timing to retaliate.

    The goal of the Yellow Springs Training Camp was to create the best killers, so its battle style aimed for one shot kills. As long as Qianye had a chance to retaliate, the enemy was almost bound for certain death.

    Therefore, on the battlefield, Qianye started showing his skills. His performance in battle significantly exceeded his statistics on paper. Not only could he suppress many of the rookies, he even performed better than many of the ck Scorpion veterans!

    This was the true brilliance of a Yellow Springs Training Camp graduate!

    The vampire warriors in the city amounted to a hundred. It was a small scale infiltration. The local army originally numbered in the tens of thousands, but after two attacks, casualties rose to almost ten thousand without any sess.

    However, after the intervention of the Red Scorpion Corps, the tide was turned and the line of battle was pushed back. This allowed them to recapture important areas of the city and kill most of the vampires without letting a single one escape.

    This battle helped Qianye understand why there were only ten thousand soldiers in Red Scorpion Corps while other ces required up to two hundred thousand support soldiers. Apany of Red Scorpions rivaled the strength of over ten thousand soldiers of the Empire¡¯s official army, and whenpared with the local forces, the difference was even more significant.

    The Empire was always pragmatic, even to the point of cruelty. Strength was the deciding factor behind a corps¡¯ support. This was another kind of fairness where strength was crucial. Numbers weren¡¯t even considered.

    After reconquering the small city, a sight that surprised Qianye appeared.

    A thousand or so people emerged from a fewrge buildings and insanely charged toward the Empire¡¯s soldiers and the Red Scorpion soldiers. All of the people they could see had dull gazes, pure white teeth, and dark purple lips. These people hadpletely lost their minds, bing wild beasts that could only perceive fresh blood and meat!

    The Red Scorpion soldiers seemed to have expected this and started to put away their origin guns, swapping them for gunpowder firearms. In that moment, all kinds of machine guns, automatic rifles, and even cannons started firing, creating a storm of metal aimed at the madmen!

    Many of the people that were charging wore almostpletely intact uniforms of the Empire¡¯s local forces. They were shockingly the soldiers that had lost and were captured inside the city during the assault a few days ago!

    Many of the local soldiers that followed Red Scorpion Corps into the city stopped in shock, but the Red Scorpion soldiers continued the cold massacre!

    ¡°No, stop! That¡¯s my brother!¡± a young local soldier started yelling as he charged toward a Red Scorpion squad leader, his arms spread wide to stop him from shooting.

    The leader simply turned his body, however, causing the soldier to fall as he reloaded his gun and shot the soldier charging at him like a mad beast.

    ¡°You killed my brother! I¡­I¡¯ll kill you!¡± the young soldier shouted angrily as he pointed his gun toward that Red Scorpion squad leader.

    A cold light shed in the leader¡¯s eyes as he immediately pulled out his handgun, blowing half of the soldier¡¯s head off!

    The Red Scorpion squad leader examined the surrounding local soldiers, coldly asking, ¡°Are any more of you nning on revolting?¡±

    All of the local soldiers immediately denied, fear evident on their faces.

    ¡°Then hurry up and attack! These guys are no longer human, they¡¯re blood thralls!¡± the Red Scorpion squad leader shouted as he raised the machine gun in his hands, aiming its metal barrel at them.

    Under the threat of the Red Scorpion squad leader¡¯s gun, the local soldiers finally raised their weapons while trembling and started attacking. The number of local soldiers was ten timesrger than that of Red Scorpion¡¯s, and once they started shooting, it became an impressive sight. In a blink of the eye, the group of rabid people who only knew to attack were shot down.

    Only then did the Red Scorpion squad leader nod in satisfaction as he raised his right fist, shouting, ¡°Attention! Begin moving independently and kill everyone in this city! I repeat, kill everyone! Kill the young, the old, and the women!¡±

    This order stunned Qianye. In his heart, killing men and soldiers was right and proper, but why would they need to harm the elderly, the young, and the women?

    However, in both Red Scorpion and the Yellow Springs Training Camp, obedience was the first rule.

    Carrying his origin rifle on his back, Qianye picked up a spare automatic rifle and headed to the alleys to search.

    Just as he turned a corner, a boy suddenly ran out from a door in the corner in front of him.

 Volume 1 - 26: Cleanly Purged

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 26: Cleanly Purged

    He looked to be only around eleven or twelve years old, wearing well-made, luxurious clothes and seemed to be a child from a rather well-off family.

    Noticing Qianye with the turn of his head, the boy was stunned.

    The moment the boy hade into his sights, Qianye had already aimed his gun at his head.

    Despite the fact that gunpowder firearms werecking inparison to origin firearms, it could still heavily injure a vampire at such close range if it was shot three consecutive times. However, Qianye suddenly felt that the trigger was extremely heavy and couldn¡¯t press it for some time.

    This should be a normal human¡­ Qianye couldn¡¯t help but think.

    Against a child whose arms were thinner than an inch of steel, was a kill on sight necessary? Even though it was an order.

    The boy suddenly lifted his arms toward Qianye, as if seeking protection. His left cheek was rather dirty and stained with hints of blood. On this messy battlefield, such a sight was extremelymon.

    Qianye¡¯s fingers rxed as the barrel of his gun lowered slightly, away from the boy¡¯s forehead.

    And at that moment, the boy suddenly pounced toward Qianye, his speedpletely surpassing human limits! Opening his mouth, he revealed his abnormally drooling teeth as his vision locked onto Qianyes artery. His eyes instantly became bloodshot, and even revealed a red light which made him look iparably ferocious.

    The barrel of Qianye¡¯s gun rose immediately, aiming yet again at the center of the boy¡¯s brows. In an instant, everything around him seemed to have slowed down as Qianye¡¯s finger slowly pressed into the trigger.

    However, arge leg appeared from the side, kicking the boy away, sending him flying into a wall dozens of meters away! With a dull sound, the boy¡¯s body stuck to the wall. All the bones in his body had been thoroughly broken, causing his body to crumble which left a trail of blood on the wall.

    ¡°Rookie! What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± the Red Scorpion squad leader appeared from the side of the alleway, ring at Qianye as he shouted.

    ¡°No, nothing, I just¡­wanted to see what it could do,¡± Qianye said rather guiltily.

    ¡°That¡¯s a blood thrall! They only have the instincts of wild beasts. There¡¯s nothing special about their abilities, there¡¯s nothing to see. Kiddo, contain your curiosity, these things are much more dangerous than you imagine them to be! If you¡¯re bitten and their saliva flows into your bloodstream, you better kill yourself, or I¡¯ll personally lodge a bullet in your brain!¡±

    The sternness in the Red Scorpion squad leader¡¯s voice showed that he was not joking at all.

    Qianye agreed with him and continued to search. During his journey, he killed over ten blood thralls and a bloodsucker that had hidden itself. These blood thralls were all newly created, with the basic appearance of humans with clean clothes.

    However, every blood thrall was like a wild beast; they would attack when they saw Qianye, their thirst for flesh and blood oveing their logic. Among the blood thralls were the elderly, women, and even three or four-year-old blood thralls. But no matter what they were originally, they were all wild beasts without reason.

    As Qianye killed, he silently kept count, as if doing this would distract him from wondering if these blood thralls still had some humanity left in them.

    Blood thralls were the byproduct of having their blood sucked by a vampire or simply the result of a bite. It was different from Embrace. As there was no exchange of blood with the vampires, blood thralls would not be a new vampire.

    The mind of a blood thrall would be eroded by the venom of the bloodsucker, changing them into half of a vampire and half of a beast. After that, they would inherit the thirst for flesh and blood, and the mentality of fearing and obeying true vampires.

    Even now, humans were still helpless against vampire venom. Once bitten by a bloodsucker, a human¡¯s brain would bepletely ruined by the venom, causing them to lose their minds and turning them into a blood thrall. This change was irreversible. Even the vampires themselves couldn¡¯t reverse it.

    The worst thing was the blood thralls also had the same poison, and furthermore, it was even stronger than the one true vampires had. Once a blood thrall bites someone, they would be a blood thrall as well. Therefore, in only a few days, the number of blood thralls in this small city was innumerable.

    Within the various dark races, blood thralls were the lowest of lifeforms. They weren¡¯t even counted as cannon fodder. Due to their short lifespans, they were treated as inferior food sources and were asionally used as food for raising enormous warbeasts.

    Whether it was in Daybreak or Evernight, the fate of blood thralls were iparably tragic. They couldn¡¯t be changed and were beyond help.

    The treatment of blood thralls in the Great Qin Empire, as well as the other human countries, was surprisingly united: Any blood thrall or poisoned human were to be executed.

    Therefore, in the dark races, even though vampires were not the strongest or the most in number, they were seen as the biggest threat to humanity. The reason was simple. This was the rtionship between predator and prey; they were natural enemies

    The battle in the city gradually reached its end as all of the bloodsuckers and blood thralls were cleanly purged. Corpses filled the city as blood flowed slowly on the streets. With every step of Qianye¡¯s military boots, a sshing sound could be heard.

    ¡°Everyone in the city listen up,e out and gather at the central za! You have ten minutes. I repeat, you have ten minutes. Those who can¡¯t get here on time will be treated as blood thralls and killed immediately when we find you!¡±

    The noise created by the speaker on the truck reverberated throughout the small city. In a few minutes, a few people walked out from their houses, trembling as they gathered at the central za.

    Qianye walked along the road as well, but he was suddenly stopped by a ck Scorpion veteran.

    ¡°Rookie,e with me, it¡¯s time for ss!¡±

    ss? Qianye felt suspicious as he turned and followed the veteran to the central za.

    There were already hundreds of people gathered at the central za. They appeared uneasy, but from their expressions, it was obvious that they still retained their sanity. Among them were a few soldiers who carefully hid their injuries. But if even Qianye could tell that they were injured, it was impossible for the veterans of the Red Scorpion Corps to be fooled.

    The soldiers and rookies of the Red Scorpion Corps all gathered in the za area, surrounding the entire space.

    The veteran that had led Qianye turned and spoke, ¡°There will be people trying to escapeter, just blow off their heads! Got it?¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    At this moment, a Red Scorpion Corps leader spoke to the instructor responsible for conducting the local army, ¡°Instruct your men to search the city, leave no stone unturned! You have¡­ twenty minutes!¡±

    That instructor was shocked by the twenty minute time limit, but he immediately jumped into action and loudly called for his team, instructing them to promptly start searching the city as fast as they possibly could.

    In a few moments, random gunshots rang in the city apanied by the asional scream. Some people had hid in their homes, but upon being found, they were immediately killed.

    The twenty minute time period seemed exceptionally long. Gradually, the entire city became silent, absent of gunshots or screams.

    At that moment, a Red Scorpion squad leader lifted his right hand and pointed toward the za before dragging his thumb across his neck.

    Qianye heart thumped; this was an order to kill!

    Qianye raised his gun without any expression, but he did not press the trigger. Not only Qianye, many of the rookies¡¯ faces also changed into an ugly expression, while the ck Scorpion soldiers surveyed the people around with cold eyes.

    They were still normal humans!

    Qianye and many other rookies all thought so.

    ¡°Captain! They don¡¯t look like blood thralls!¡± a rookie finally shouted.

    The Red Scorpion squad leader replied coldly, ¡°There are a few blood thralls in there while the rest are unconfirmed. They might be infected and they might not be infected. The standard procedure would be to throw all of them into the ck mines and have them mine until they die! We don¡¯t have that much time and there aren¡¯t any new special ck mines recently. Killing them is the best option. Understand, rookie?¡±

    The rookie shook his head forcefully as he pointed at the normal humans, shouting, ¡°They don¡¯t have a single injury on them! How could they be blood thralls!¡±

    The Red Scorpion squad leader replied, ¡°Not only can the venom infect through blood, as long as there has been contact, there is a chance of infection. Even though it¡¯s just a small chance, we still can¡¯t take the risk. Without regtions, given enough time, a single blood thrall is enough to take over an entire city! I won¡¯t and can¡¯t take responsibility for this, much less you! Alright, the consequences of doubting me in public are ten days of confinement, and temporary suspension of membership qualifications until you¡¯ve killed a hundred blood thralls!¡±

    That rookie¡¯s face instantly paled.

    This punishment was equivalent to expulsion from the Red Scorpion Corps. Even if he were to join again, it would be hard for anyone to value him. The positions in the Red Scorpions were fixed and precious. Once his position was avable, there would be countless families aiming for this position.

    The Red Scorpion squad leader¡¯s gaze swept across the present rookies and sternly bellowed, ¡°Rookies! This is war! A war that has been going on for several thousand of years! There is only kill or be killed between us and the dark race mongrels. Any sort ofpromise would be equal to betrayal! Therefore, throw away thoseughable feelings of sympathy and follow your orders. Kill every enemy you see. This is the rule of the imperial army! Now, rookies, raise your guns and shoot!¡±

    Every single rookies¡¯ gun was spurting fire, and Qianye also instinctively squeezed his trigger. His muscles were tense, thanks to the recoil of his gunpowder automated rifle causing his hand to move as bullets spewed from the gun¡¯s mouth, ripping apart the people in front of him.

    In the blink of an eye, the magazine of eighty bullets was emptied. Recing the magazine, Qianye continued shooting. After each rookie had emptied two magazines, there was no one left standing in the za.

    Once the gunshots had stopped for a while, the divisionmander of the local army sprinted over. Looking at the sight in the za, the muscles on his face twitched as beads of sweat rolled down. Moving over to the Red Scorpion squad leader, he softly asked the next line of action.

    ¡°There¡¯s still people hiding in the city, your underlings seem to have closed one eye toward them.¡±

    The words of the Red Scorpion squad leader instantly caused the divisionmander to break out in cold sweat as he hurriedly spoke, ¡°Give me another twenty minutes, no! Ten minutes! I will dig out everyst one here! I guarantee it!¡±

    The Red Scorpion squad leader nced at the fresh blood flowing on the floor before shaking his head, ¡°No need. The entire city has already been infected and is not fit for human habitation anymore. Therefore, I¡¯ll destroy it.¡±

    ¡°Des¡­ destroy?¡± The divisionmander was stunned. It wasn¡¯t a big city. Despite that it was still a sizable fortune, and it was going to be destroyed just like that?

    The Red Scorpion squad leader nodded and spoke slowly, ¡°That¡¯s right, destroy! This is the consequence of associating with vampires.

    The divisionmander continued to sweat as he nodded nonstop, ¡°Yes, I understand! Destroy, destroy immediately!¡±

    With a roar of the engine, the personal carrier slowly left the battlefield.

    Qianye turned back to look and saw fire everywhere with explosions ringing in his ears. The small city was already a sea of fire, and a littleter, it would be ruins and history. Such an act of destroying cities was not rare in the Empire.

    Someone patted Qianye on the back. When he turned around, he saw the veteran sitting beside him.

 Volume 1 - 27: The Empireâ€™s Twin Paragons

    Chapter 27: The Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen such things many times before. The first time I ¡®attended ss,¡¯ I performed even worse than you. Back then, I even vomited, and was mocked because of that for a long time,¡± spoke the veteran.

    Qianye could feel the veteran¡¯s good will and that he truly cared, as he smiled somewhat feebly.

    The veteran pointed at the massive me, and spoke in a heavy tone, ¡°No one is to me for this. Everyone died only because of the vampires. Did you know that I personally had to shoot my older brother through the heart? All because he was bitten by a bloodsucker! I vowed that from that day on, I would never retire before killing off all the wretched ck-blood bastards in this world! Even if I am to die of old age, I will die of old age on the battlefield!¡±

    The inside of the personnel carrier was silent. All the rookies were overwhelmed by the story, while it also evoked the old memories of many veterans. Every single one of them had a story to tell regarding blood thralls.

    The burning city slowly vanished beyond the horizon, and yet, the raging mes remained inside Qianye¡¯s heart.

    After returning to the base, Qianye received a piece of good news and a piece of bad news.

    The bad news was that Lin Xitang had just passed the Qin Continent two days ago, making a detour to the imperial capital to report his duties. When his vice officer was making contact with the Red Scorpion¡¯s headquarters, Qianye was already on the battlefield.

    The good news was that Qianye received his first family letter, if a letter from Wei Potian could even be counted as one. The envelope was made of dowling paper, while the stencils were actually pressed, thin strings of dark gold. Looking at it carefully, one could tell that it was the design of a headless, winged angel.

    Nan Batian snorted out of his nose when he saw it. ¡°Those bunch of cunts, their things are just utterly superficial.¡±

    From the envelope, Qianye poured a silver-made, empty bullet, his expression instantly bing somewhat ambiguous.

    He only found out that this thing was personally made by Wei Potian after opening the letter inside. To be more precise, the shell itself was manufactured; the array inside it, used topress origin power, however, was the first work Wei Potian had sessfully engraved, and he immediately used it to show off.

    These days, Wei Potian didn¡¯t fritter away his time either, working at Broken Winged Angel. He had broken through to be a rank three Fighter. Furthermore, due to possessing secret family arts, he very quickly grasped the ability of origin engraving, and could make physical origin bullets with his own hands now. In the letter, Wei Potian did not forget to send out challenges, but he was also vexed about how to repay his debt, three times no less!

    Qianye scruffed the letter and envelope into a ball and tossed it into the trashcan. He threw the shell high up into the air, silver light streaking across the sky, and with a parabolic trajectory, itnded back in his hand.

    There was still half a year until the military¡¯s greatpetition.

    Over the next few months, Qianye continuously applied for missions, rushing about on various battlefields at almost all times. He rose up like aet, and his style on the battlefield was renowned for being extremely cool-headed and merciless as he ughtered his enemies.

    The dark races¡¯ forces who were felled by Qianye quickly increased, and his aplishments in battle also soared until he finally reached the top, overwhelming countless brilliant prodigies in the Red Scorpion rookies, as well as the various youths of aristocratic families!

    Qianye seemed to be a born warrior, while also an assassin. He performed amazingly in group coordinated battles, but would be even more dangerous when going at it alone. He could find things to exploit in almost any environment, constantly giving him the edge in battle.

    After Qianye single-handedly killed a vampire warrior equivalent to a fourth rank Fighter, the part of his battle instinct that inclined toward being an assassin seemed to have awakened. From then on, wherever Qianye appeared, the dark race warriors¡¯ casualty rate would soar.

    Regarding this change in Qianye¡¯s behavior, Nan Batian felt both joy and worry. He had no choice but to order Qianye to go on less missions. It was because Qianye wasn¡¯t seventeen yet; he still had broader future prospects. At this stage, Nan Batian believed that Qianye needed more time to cultivate origin power and that was the correct path to bing the strongest.

    With regard to the orders of Tiger Scorpion¡¯s battalionmander, naturally, Qianye obeyed without question.

    Just like that, within this circle of newbies and rookies, Qianye¡¯s name began to spread. It was said that he had already drew the attention of a few vice corpsmanders.

    In the eyes of many, Qianye was like a newly born star that was slowly rising and, in the future, would definitely blossom with splendid light throughout the Empire¡¯s military world. His name had already been put on observation lists of some grand aristocratic families. Some families had even discussed about whether or not they should put him in their scope of solicitation.

    A magnificent path was currently beingid out before Qianye!

    The only regret Qianye had in his heart was that he wasn¡¯t able to meet with Lin Xitang even now. During the numerous missions, Qianye slowly familiarized himself with the military that used to only exist in the form of information to him; only then did he slowly and seriously realize the weight behind that spoken name ¡°Marshal Lin.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s family background was not very outstanding. The Lin House had been in the army for generations, but most were mid to low ranking officers. Even his father¡¯s generation was merely a hereditary viscount. Under the Empire¡¯s feudal nobility system of Duke-Marquis-Count-Viscount-Baron, they merely brushed the outer circle of society¡¯s upper echelons.

    The help that such a family gave to Lin Xitang was no more than a starting foundation. After taking off, he had been on his own.

    In nearly thirty years of army life, Lin Xitang had fought several hundreds of battles of various scales and had only rarely met defeat. Even when faced against the strongest dark races, his losses were so wless that even the Ministry of Military Affairs could not find any way to nitpick.

    However, not only did Lin Xitang possess talent in the field of military affairs, he was even more talented in handling regional government and political affairs. At the same time, because he cultivated the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery, he also unearthed countless talents for the Empire. All in all, Lin Xitang could even be considered as an all-around talent.

    Just like that, by amassing merit and achievements, he was promoted to Marshal after just reaching the age of forty, bing the youngest of the Empire¡¯s ten marshals. Joining names with Zhang Boqian, who was of the same age, they became known as the Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons!

    Zhang Boqian, however, was another type of person. He and Lin Xitang were of two extremes in almost every aspect. Zhang Boqian was born from a true grand household. His forefather apanied the Founding Emperor in erecting the country, and had been bestowed the title of Duke of Green Sun.

    Now, the Zhang House sat steady in the top position of the Empire¡¯s four grand households. The Green Sun Zhang House had four branches, and the patriarch of each family was a hereditary duke. The entire n was aplished in both schr and martial fields, and their grandeur was second to none but the imperial family.

    Zhang Boqian was a once in a blue moon prodigy in terms of military campaigns. Even Lin Xitang had no way to match him in this aspect. At the same time, Zhang Boqian himself was also one of the numerable powerful experts of the empire, his martial arts unparalleled in the world. This man¡¯s style was bloodthirsty and ruthless, not matching with his name at all. Even the dark races trembled at the amount of blood he had stained his hands with.

    However, Zhang Boqian was aplete wreck at politics and governmental affairs. He hated trouble the most, and his way to solve trouble was to kill. He often spoke this line, ¡°If all the troublesome people were killed, wouldn¡¯t there no longer be any trouble?¡±

    Even though Qianye found out about Lin Xitang¡¯s celebrated figure, the most distinct impression in Qianye¡¯s heart was still thatrge, warm, and firm hand.

    However, Lin Xitang had been pinned down at the Western Frontier from start to finish. It was said that the rebel army¡¯s actions were quite hefty this time, and to people¡¯s surprise, it was difficult to make any progress even after he went to personally takemand.

    Moreover, rumor had it that several generals of the Empire¡¯s Ministry of Military Affairs had begun to stir, wanting to rece Lin Xitang themselves. Lin Xitang had already been called back to the imperial capital twice to debrief his duties. Both times the situation was turned around, but no one knew how the next time would y out.

    The most recent news that Qianye had heard was that Northwest General Zhao Weihuang had already begun mobilizing his Fire Beacon Corps which shook the Western Continent with its fame.

    Qianye was faintly worried for Lin Xitang, but he was also curious as to just how those rebels were likely to actually be able to go against the Empire for several hundred years.

    Only after he joined Red Scorpion did he thoroughly realize just what kind of monstrous existence the Empire was! With Red Scorpion¡¯s might, to one¡¯s surprise, even forcing itself into the top three of the rankings was somewhat troublesome. Following this thought, it could be seen just how monumental the entire Empire¡¯s military might was!

    Perhaps the god of destiny had always been looking at Qianye; right after he became curious, a small mission fell upon Qianye.

    It was indeed a small mission. Red Scorpion only mobilized five ck scorpion-ranked veterans plus the rookie Qianye, not even enlisting the militia. Because it was not an intercontinental mission, the one responsible for this domestic flight was once again that bald captain.

    Before the airship¡¯s departure, the bald captain and the tentative squad leader responsible for conducting the operation verified the mission¡¯s details. The bald captain¡¯s chubby face instantly darkened as he spoke coldly, ¡°Those old farts always do shit like this! Rebels? Who are they trying to fool?¡±

    The tentative squad leader shrugged. ¡°What can we do? Since the other side¡¯s background was substantial to the point of mobilizing us, there¡¯s no longer any margins of change regarding this matter. It¡¯s an errand regardless, let¡¯s just go and return as fast as possible!¡±

    The bald captain suddenly raised his head and nced toward Qianye, grumbling, ¡°A rookie will grow up one day, it¡¯s not a bad idea to let him participate! He needs to clearly see for himself the truth behind what¡¯s bright and tidy.¡±

    Qianye became somewhat befuddled by their conversation, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel even more curious about the mission¡¯s contents. This was probably not a simple mission.

    The airship took off to the skies, and same as always, they flew with the style of a wild horse off the leash. However, it was only natural that Qianye wouldn¡¯t vomit as he did before. Like the other veterans, he peacefully sat on a chair and rested his mind. Later on, he even let out the faint noise of being soundly asleep.

    To preserve and rest one¡¯s spirit as much as possible before battle wasmon sense that every single Red Scorpion soldier knew.

    This flightsted three days, and when they finally arrived at the mission site, it was night time.

    This ce was a border province of the Qin Continent, an extremely deste location. However, this province contained severalrge aristocratic family¡¯s territories, and not even half of thend was directly subordinate to the Empire. The political situation of the province was iparablyplex.

    There was a small town in the mountainous zone. Because it was located right beside a gem mine, most of the townsfolk were miners. The mission this time was near this small town; it was said that a rebel army had assaulted this ce and caused extremely severe casualties.

    The rebel army was extremely shrewd. They hid deep inside the mountains where there were hardly any traces of human activity, even kidnapping the fiancee of a local viscount. This lord was helpless against the rebel army, and only then did they present themselves to the Empire, which mobilized a small Red Scorpion squad to resolve the matter.

    The airship flew to the airspace above the town and slowly descended, then came to a halt at around thirty meters off the ground. The veterans opened the cabin door and straightforwardly leaped down, falling several dozen meters, andnded steadily.

    Meanwhile, Qianye held onto a cable and plummeted down. At around ten meters from the ground, he pulled the cable rope with force, stopped the downward momentum, and thennded after letting go.

    Over a thousand private soldiers were already garrisoned inside the town. A military officer galloped over on a horse while whipping it and couldn¡¯t help but be baffled for a bit when he saw thended Red Scorpion soldiers. ¡°That¡¯s everyone?¡±

    The squad leader frowned as he spoke coldly, ¡°No matter how great the number, trash will always remain trash!¡±

    The officer was very young, seemingly not much older than twenty, his face full of arrogance.

    The Red Scorpion squad leader¡¯s words immediately made the officer fly into a rage, shouting, ¡°Who are you calling trash? Do you know who I am? A mere soldier actually fucking dares to hoot around here!¡±

    As he spoke, the officer actually swung the horse whip straight at the squad leader¡¯s head!

    Qianye unholstered his gunpowder-based automatic rifle without uttering a sound, unlocking the safety. He didn¡¯t pay the officer any heed, and focused his attention on the noble¡¯s private military.

    Including the baldy, only seven people came from Red Scorpion. If they shed with the local private military of over a thousand strong, killing them all would prove to be quite troublesome.

    OverTheRanbow: Zhang Boqian¡¯s name has the meaning of ¡°humbleness¡±

 Volume 1 - 28: Death Quota

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 28 ¨C Death Quota

    The Red Scorpion squad leader caught the horse whip in one motion. With a light tug, that young officer was already dragged down from the horse, heavily smashing into the ground. The few close guards of the young officer were shocked as they pulled out their guns in a fuss, and from what it looked like, they were actually about to shoot.

    Bang bang bang! The sounds of gunfire echoed, the tempo of each shot clear and distinct.

    Such clean and efficient burst fire naturally couldn¡¯t havee from the hands of these private military men who hadn¡¯t ignited even a single origin node. Before Qianye even acted, a veteran had already pulled the trigger. One shot for each person. He shot all of the five reckless guards dead.

    ¡°You lot wish to rebel?¡± The squad leader coolly swept his gaze through the private army who were gathering from all directions.

    Those private soldiers looked at each other in dismay, yet their hands didn¡¯t stop loading their guns. There was actually some hint of a desire to attack in their eyes, making Qianye very much puzzled by it.

    Someone who could use origin power could be considered as creatures of an entirely different worldpared to the people who hadn¡¯t ignited their origin nodes. This wasn¡¯t a difference that a higher quantity of people could make up, just like how a hundredmbs wouldn¡¯t be able to kill a lion. The difference between these private military men and Red Scorpion soldiers was even greater than the difference betweenmbs and lions; where did they get the courage and confidence to challenge the Red Scorpion Corps?

    Could it be that this mission was actually a trap?

    Qianye seemed to have realized something as he immediately pulled out the origin rifle from his back and begun to charge it with origin power, instantly forming an origin bullet within the gun barrel. Against strong experts behind the scenes, only an origin gun would have any threat.

    The young man on the ground almost fainted from getting the air smashed out of his lungs. Recuperating with difficulty, he let out a blood-curdling scream the moment he raised his head. He stared with his eyes wide open as the Red Scorpion squad leader expressionlessly lowered the gun¡¯s muzzle at him, pulling the trigger.

    Gunshots roared as all four limbs of the young man were shot, cking out on the spot.

    Only now did a middle-aged man run out of the crowd as he wiped his forehead full of sweat with a terrified expression on his face. Repeatedly brown-nosing and bowing, he said, ¡°I¡¯m the mayor in charge of this small town, also the former butler of my respected lord. Milord had instructed me toe here to greet your lordships, and also to report some information to your lordships.¡±

    The squad leader sized him up from head to toe and then said, ¡°Speak!¡±

    The middle-aged man smiled tteringly as he took out a portrait from his pocket. Passing it over, he said, ¡°This woman is milord¡¯s fiancee, she was kidnapped by the rebels. We ask your lordships to please bring her back, by any means, not harming her as much as possible. Milord said that other than the already paid military expenditure, he has also prepared a generous number of gifts as thanks!¡±

    The squad leader took the portrait and looked at it.

    It was an incredibly distinct portrait sketch of an extremely beautiful girl. Her two eyes naturally carried a faint charm, awfully captivating and mesmerizing. She looked to be around sixteen or seventeen, yet the clothes she wore were ordinary, simr of the localmoner¡¯s style.

    The squad leader passed the portrait around for everyone to see, then put it away in his own pocket. He then spoke to that middle-aged man, ¡°I got it. Do you have anyst words?¡±

    The middle-aged man was greatly appalled as he cried out involuntarily, ¡°Wh-whatst words! My lordship, might you be jesting?¡±

    The squad leader spoke coolly, ¡°I never jest! I don¡¯t know who this young man is, and don¡¯t know what grievances there are between you people either, for you to want to borrow the hands of our Red Scorpion Corps to eliminate him. I have not the slightest interest in the politics between you nobles, but since you people wish to exploit the Red Scorpion, then you have to pay the corresponding price! Getting rid of you is merely a warning to that master of yours. The de called Red Scorpion is too sharp, it¡¯s not something he can afford to y with! Overstepping his bounds, he should be careful that he doesn¡¯t get his own head sliced off!¡±

    The squad leader pulled out his pistol right after his words fell and, without any pause, aimed at the middle-aged man¡¯s forehead and pulled the trigger!

    A bloody hole instantly appeared between that middle-aged man¡¯s eyebrows. With a shocked face, he slowly fell down.

    Qianye knitted his brows as he asked a veteran beside him in a low voice, ¡°Is this okay?¡±

    The veteran spoke, not giving a damn, ¡°It¡¯s fine! We¡¯ve got a death quota for every operation!¡±

    ¡°Death quota?¡± It was actually the first time Qianye had heard of this phrase.

    ¡°Which is to say when we mobilize, we can ¡®identally harm¡¯ some locals. To be precise, nobles,¡± the veteran exined.

    Qianye took in a deep breath, not knowing how to react for a moment.

    At this time, the private military¡¯s imposing manner hadpletely vanished. Some even began to slowly retreat. Soon after, a few officers who were originally hidden in the crowd began to shout out orders, maintaining the ranks.

    The squad leader sneered at them, ¡°Red Scorpion will do this mission alone, there¡¯s no need for your cooperation. I don¡¯t want to get shot in the back when the timees.¡±

    The officers in the crowd remained silent. Whoever dared to open their mouth would be courting death.

    The Red Scorpion squad very quickly disappeared into the vast mountainous forest. The tracks that the rebels left behind were abnormally obvious, so even rookies like Qianye wouldn¡¯t lose them. Just like that, the Red Scorpion squad directly pounced upon the rebel¡¯s base, trapping all of the rebels inside the camp.

    The rebel¡¯s camp was established on top of a mountain peak, with three sides surrounded by cliffs and only one side had a path for entrance and exit.

    This ce was extremely well hidden. Short shrubs and wild grass as high as one¡¯s chest covered the natural path. If not for someone who had gone through recently and didn¡¯t understand how to erase their tracks, it would¡¯ve indeed been very hard to find. However, the shorings of this kind of topology were also very obvious, which was that no one could escape once the path was blocked by Red Scorpion.

    There were about over a hundred people in the camp, and all of them rushed out after hearing the noise. However, when they saw the Red Scorpion soldiers who slowly pressed closer, their faces were instantly full of despair.

    ¡°So this is the rebel army?¡± When seeing these people, Qianye couldn¡¯t help feeling skeptical.

    Out of these hundred-odd people, half were the elderly, frail, women, and children. Their clothes tattered, every one of them was thin to the point that their bones were visible. Most of the weapons they carried were primitive gunpowder firearms, even to the extent of using cast-iron des and swords. Before seeing them, Qianye had always thought that iron was only used to cast everyday utility tools. He thought that the metal used to forge weapons should at least be made of copper alloy.

    Qianye noticed three warriors who had ignited their origin nodes, but all of them only had ignited one node. One couldn¡¯t even find a single origin gun in the entire encampment.

    Could such a rank of troops really be the rebels? Those rebel armies that could tenaciously hinder Lin Xitang in the Western Frontier to the extent of being unable to resolve the situation?

    To say that this was a camp of refugees would be more fitting.

    Nheless, the squad leader seemed to have already anticipated that this was the case. Stepping forward, he took the portrait out of his pocket and waved, ¡°Where is this woman? It would be best if you came out on your own!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me! What are you going to do?¡± A young woman squeezed herself out of the crowd as she stared at the squad leader in anger.

    The squad leader took out his notes and read the mission instructions, ¡°Mn, your father was the owner of the mine here, and it is said that he secretly supported a rank of rebel troops financially. Also, ording to the lord here, you are his fiancee?¡±

    The girl was furious as she shouted, ¡°He¡¯s talking bull! There¡¯s nothing between him and me. Only that I was identally seen by him, and he forced me to follow him! I wasn¡¯t willing, so he caused the death of my father and my real fiance, and then said that our family were rebels! Since my great-grandfather¡¯s times, our family has served in the Empire¡¯s military, and our kinsmen sacrificed themselves on the battlefield in every generation. Could it be that we disyed absolute loyalty and dedication to the Empire only just to end up like this?¡±

    The squad leader was expressionless, as he spoke in an indifferent manner, ¡°Perhaps the truth is really as you speak, and perhaps not. However, since we are already here, you should already know that the nature and oue of this matter cannot be changed.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that a mere viscount can already single-handedly blind the truth in the Empire?¡± the girl shouted with grief and indignation.

    The squad leader was still calm, the words he spoke were iparably grim, ¡°At least on this sole issue, yes.¡±

    Despair emerged on the girl¡¯s face. She slowly calmed down, and asked, ¡°Then what would you like to do now, kill us all?¡±

    For the first time, the squad leader fell into deep thought. His gaze swept through the people in the camp; the elderly, women, and children were clearly the servants and residents under the girl¡¯s family.

    He thought for a bit, then said, ¡°ording to the mission¡¯s requirements, you shoulde back with me, but I personally do not suggest you do so. Of course, if you are able to endure and persevere, and feel that there might be a chance to gain vengeance and reversing the oue, you can also try that.¡±

    The girl naturally knew what would happen to her if she went back with the squad leader. Hence, she spoke without hesitation, ¡°I won¡¯t let that pig touch a finger of mine even if I die!¡±

    The squad leader nodded as he tossed over a finger-sized bottle. ¡°Very well, then end your own life. Drink this, you will die without feeling any pain.¡±

    He also pointed at the two others who had ignited their origin nodes, ¡°You must die too. As for the others here, I¡¯ll regard it as I saw nothing.¡±

    After a moment, three corpses were set before Qianye.

    ¡°Carry them, let¡¯s go. Mission¡¯splete!¡± the squad leader spoke.

    Qianye threw one of the corpses on his shoulder and followed the squad in silence, returning along the path they came.

    The mission this time waspleted with exceptional ease, so much so that there wasn¡¯t even a real battle. However, the mood in the crew was very solemn, including the squad leader. No veterans were talking either.

    After returning to the town and passing the three corpses to the local private military, Red Scorpion¡¯s airship took off into the air, returning to headquarters.

    On the airship, Qianye looked to the skies outside through the ship¡¯s window. It was unknown what he was thinking. The bald captain also seemed to have lost his vigor. ¡°Scorpion Tail¡± was flying with incredible stability as though it was an entirely different airship.

    At this time, the squad leader who was sitting on the side suddenly spoke, ¡°Rookie, did you see? This is the reality. That was all we could do. You will understand in the future that politics aren¡¯t the domain for the likes of us. As soldiers, we are nothing more than a de in the Empire¡¯s hands. Wherever we are told to pierce, there we will stab. As for whether it¡¯s right or wrong, that is not something we should care about.¡±

    Qianye let out a long breath of air, but his mood was still downcast. The so-called politics really wasn¡¯t a domain that could be solved with weapons and force.

    Even in this insignificant corner of the Empire¡¯s border, Qianye was able to experience the muddiness of politics. That man far away at the Western Frontier who was quelling the entire game board by himself, just how much heavier was his burden?

    After returning to the Red Scorpion, Qianye immediately applied for missions.

    Only in face-to-face confrontations against the dark races was Qianye able to find the worth of his own existence. Compared to something like politics, battling and ughtering the dark races were much simpler.

    However, the application this time was dyed by an entire week before he received a response. Qianye was transferred to participate in an important mission.

    This was an important missionbeled first ss inside Red Scorpion. In one of the cities of the Empire¡¯s Western Frontier, a secret base of dark races was discovered.

    Because of that, the Red Scorpion¡¯s deployment was a rare luxury; Colonel Wei Lishi personally lead the troops, mobilizing the entire thirty Red Scorpions and two hundred ck Scorpions, while Qianye was the only rookie in the ranks. This arrangement wasn¡¯t unusual by any means. As the number one within the rookies, Qianye¡¯s military aplishments could already prevail against many ck Scorpion ranked veterans.

    The mission site was right next to the two provinces that Lin Xitang was overseeing. Qianye had already heard the rumors that some rebels were colluding in secret with dark races. This mission could perhaps indirectly provide assistance to Lin Xitang.

 Volume 1 - 29: Trap

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 29: Trap

    Over two hundred soldiers separately rode tworge inteary airships as they headed for the mission site.

    It had been a while since Qianye felt the minor excitement of heading to battle. One could already tell its level of difficulty by just looking at the supplies distributed for the mission. It was said that there would be more than one Champion ranked expert in that base!

    Regarding just physical origin bullets, they had already issued ten per person. Moreover, they weren¡¯t made of ordinary silver; they were made of mithril specially treated with Daybreak origin power. Whether it be daggers or bays, they were all switched to special weapons that were ted with ayer of mithril. These were all genuine, high-grade goods!

    At the same time, all of the warriors in the expedition changed into the specially made Red Scorpion battle armor.

    The insides of these sets of armor were inscribed with special origin arrays, and would form an origin power barrier when activated with origin power. Over a short period of time, the barrier would massively decrease the effectiveness of iing dark origin power. Usually, this kind of armor was only distributed to officers who at least possessed the rank of Red Scorpion, but every mobilized warrior received one this time around, even Qianye.

    The airship would fly for five days straight before finally arriving at the Western Frontier.

    After the airship took off, Wei Lishi¡¯s voice immediately echoed out in the personnel cabins via copper pipes, ¡°The mission this time was personally signed and issued by Marshal Lin Xitang. The fact that the dark race base was precisely a stronghold supporting the rebels has already been confirmed. Our mission is to destroy the base at all costs, without letting even a single warrior of the dark races escape!¡±

    All of the warriors involuntarily held their breaths!

    To them, Lin Xitang was too powerful of a name; his life itself was already a lengthy legend! Yet to Red Scorpion, his existence had even more of a special significance.

    It was because of arge, decisive battle between the Empire and the dark races ten years ago. Red Scorpion was one of the main corps on the battlefront. However, they were met with an unprecedented and utter defeat.

    The Empire¡¯s reinforcements were held up in the void by a rarely seen astronomical phenomenon, the ¡°Chaotic Streams of Light,¡± which appeared only once every hundred years. Yet the North Prefecture Corps led by Lin Xitang circumvented the starpath of death, and miraculously appeared at the battlefield¡¯s strategic site, unwaveringly withstanding the assault of the dark race¡¯s main army which allowed the Empire¡¯s main army of over one hundred thousand strong to swiftly escape without issue.

    If not for the miraculous appearance of Lin Xitang on that campaign, the name Red Scorpion Corps might have already been erased from the Empire¡¯s army list. Unexpectedly, the mission this time was actually personally signed for by the very same Lin Xitang. It was an unparalleled honor to every single Red Scorpion warrior who could participate in the mission!

    Wei Lishi¡¯s voice turned downcast, ¡°I believe that you too understand how difficult the mission is this time. Including me, everyone should be prepared to die in battle. Red Scorpion fears nothing. For the Empire! For Marshal Lin!¡±

    None of the warriors acted overly impassioned and merely repeated in deep voices while wearing solemn expressions, ¡°Red Scorpion fears nothing. For the Empire! For Marshal Lin!¡±

    The two inteary airships flew several tens of thousands of kilometers across the vast mountains andnds, and finally arrived at the Empire¡¯s Western Frontier. When they appeared outside the target city, it was alreadyte into the night.

    Nighttime was when the dark races were most active, and normally, humans would avoid fighting against them, but in this mission, the timing of the surprise assault was chosen to happen during the deepest time of the night, when the power of the dark races was at its strongest.

    Precisely because no one would expect the Empire tounch a surprise attack with this kind of timing, the element of surprise could be achieved. This was the reason why Red Scorpion was chosen. It was because among the five great elite corps of the empire, Red Scorpion was most adept at nocturnal battles.

    The airship flew to the airspace above the city, and one after another, the Red Scorpion warriors directly leapt off,nding inside the city. They autonomously split into a dozen squads, scouting and moving forward separately.

    The night was deep as a round full moon hung upon the curtains of the sky, pouring its dismal, pale gray moonlight onto the ground below. The city was silent without light nor people, as though it was a dead city without a soul in sight.

    Qianye walked down the street, looking at the surroundings with great caution. Yet, the restlessness in his heart only grew increasingly stronger.

    ording to the Empire¡¯s informationwork, everything was operating normally inside this city, since it even maintained ordinary dealings with the surrounding cities. However, when personally here, inside the city, even a true rookie could tell that there was definitely something abnormal about this ce.

    No human-dwelling city would be so deathly still. Moreover, this city was too clean, as though someone were cleaning it every single day. There was no trash nor dust on the streets. It was clean to the point that it simply seemed that there was no one living here.

    On the empty street, the sound of Qianye¡¯s footsteps echoed incessantly, and to his surprise, the echoes weren¡¯t dying down in the least. Qianye slightly knitted his brows as he slowed his steps. As a result, the sound of footsteps disappeared. However, the other veterans on the same squad didn¡¯t mind the sound at all, their pace still steady and solid.

    By now, all of the warriors knew that the dark races must have already noticed them, and that wanting to attack by surprise was already meaningless, but an entire thirty Red Scorpion ranked soldiers were mobilized this time. Moreover, they were led by Colonel Wei Lishi. That was already enough to fight without reserve, even if they were to confront the dark races directly.

    Qianye became more nervous as time progressed. He lightly pulled the bolt of the gun, pressing a mithril bullet into the chamber. This mithril bullet could send a dark race warrior below rank four straight into heaven with one shot. Qianye no longer intended to hold back. He nned on giving the dark races a lightning-fast strike the moment he saw them!

    The streets were still deathly silent. Unwittingly, mist had begun to form, and the entire city was shrouded by a hazy fog in the blink of an eye. Through the dense fog, it seemed as though all of the buildings had be alive, twisting their bodies and maliciously staring at the few hundred Scorpions invading their territory.

    As Qianye passed by an intersection, he suddenly felt as if something was moving in the alleyway.

    Immediately retreating two steps, he looked once again toward the alleyway. This nce caused Qianye¡¯s eyes to instantly open wide!

    It was not known when the dense and crowded ck shadows had appeared in the alley, because those shadows were currently walking toward them without a sound!

    ¡°Dark races!¡± Qianye shouted loudly while pulling the trigger at the same time without hesitation. Arge chunk of origin power inside his body instantly vanished, while the mithril bullet shot into the alley carrying a blinding white light!

    In an instant, the entire alleyway was lit up by a radiance of silver. This kind of silver light was very damaging to the dark races, especially the dark races with strong night vision. If they identally looked straight at the silver light, it might even instantly burn their eyes out!

    The silver light poured down, and a wave of blood-curdling screeches immediately sounded out in the alley. Countless dark races crouched down, covering their faces in pain. The frontmost shadow was directly sted away by the mithril bullet as its body abruptly ignited with light-silver origin power mes!

    This type of silver me was extremely tenacious, and would violently burn the moment it touched any darkness origin power. In the blink of an eye, the silver mes had already spread to over a dozen ck silhouettes, enveloping all of them in a scorching infernal.

    The aplishment of this shot was unbelievably bountiful, but Qianye¡¯s hair was almost standing straight up on his scalp. There were too many, far too many of the dark races! The dense crowd squeezed inside the entire alleyway were all warriors of the dark races. Moreover, there were still countless silhouettes at the end of the alley. It was simply impossible to tell just how many enemies there were!

    Qianye yelled loudly, quickly retreating and gaining distance while, at the same time, he pressed another mithril bullet into the chamber. As expected, several strokes of shadows suddenly flew out from the alley and pounced at Qianye like lightning! These were the true dark race warriors; those that were squeezing along in the dense crowd were merely cannon fodder used for impediment and exhausting ammunition.

    Qianye incessantly retreated at a quick pace, then suddenly came to a halt, raising his gun and firing it at the same time. Silver light sprayed out from the muzzle as a dark race warrior who was pouncing over in midair instantly was sted away, flying backward as he screeched miserably from being burned, having already been enveloped by the silver mes before evennding.

    There was already no time left for Qianye to press the third bullet into the chamber, but there were still two dark race warriors throwing themselves at him!

    At this time, two consecutive rumbles echoed out from behind Qianye. Silver light flew right past Qianye¡¯s body, sending the two dark race warriors flying away.

    Qianye turned his head around, and saw two veterans signaling with their hands, telling him to go hide in the back with such intensity that it seemed as though their lives depended on it. No matter how prodigal Qianye was, he was still a rookie. The power of a rank two fighter was an incorrigible disadvantage, and could notpared to these ck Scorpion veterans who were rank five or six in the slightest.

    Only after retreating behind the veterans was Qianye finally able to take a breather. He looked around, and found that everywhere he looked was filled with soaring mes as well as silver tracks of origin bullets streaking across the air.

    Battle erupted in an instant, and the entire city became a battlefield. The Red Scorpion Corps that had originally believed they brought in superior military strength were instantly submerged by countless dark warriors, being broken up into several dozen positions. Crisis was imminent.

    Qianye gasped for air with everything he had. Consecutively shooting two rounds of mithril bullet had used up a major portion of his origin power, so right now, he was like a fish that was thrown offshore, his entire lungs feeling as though they were on fire.

    ¡°How could this be! Something¡¯s off here!¡± a voice in Qianye¡¯s heart screamed with all his might, but his brain seemed to have stagnated for the moment, rendering him unable to think any deeper about just what it was that seemed off.

    The battle turned white-hot in the blink of an eye.The light of origin power and fire illuminated the city as though it was daytime.

    In the city, several dozen indomitable auras soared to the skies like enormous pirs of smoke. Those were genuine, strong beings who possessed powerful darkness origin power. Meanwhile, the Red Scorpion ranked warriors also released their power, shing head to head with those mighty opponents.

    In a block faraway, rumbles suddenly echoed out incessantly as buildings copsed one after another. In an instant, the entire block was leveled! From that direction, Wei Lishi¡¯s deafening shout sounded out.

    Light surged on the colonel¡¯s body as he suddenly soared over a hundred meters high, straight up into the night sky. Four sinisterly shaped silhouettes followed right behind him and pounced up. The two sides began to fiercely battle in midair!

    Qianye saw enemies everywhere, as far as the eye could reach. From the alleyways to the buildings and from the houses to the roofs, innumerable people whose faces wore the expression of madness rushed out without stop.

    Theplexion of those people¡¯s faces were purple, and aura of darkness encircling their bodies as they threw themselves at the warriors of the Red Scorpion Corps without any regard for their lives. Those were the cannon fodder of dark races, humans who were encroached and assimted by darkness origin power! True dark race warriors would often hide among the cannon fodder, grasping at opportunities to swiftly strike.

    The guns of every single Red Scorpion warrior were erupting with mes, sshing out a screen of metal bullets as fast as possible. The cannon fodder was struck downyer byyer, but more cannon fodder would simply flood out from all directions. Their numbers were endless!

    In a sh, Qianye had already emptied all of his magazines. In this kind of environment, his origin gun had also lost its use. Qianye immediately tossed away his automatic rifle, put the origin gun on his back, and then pulled out the mithril ted dagger and spike bay.

    In the surroundings, many veterans had already begun fighting with the dark races in closebat.

    A Red Scorpion squad leader shouted loudly, ¡°It¡¯s a trap!¡±

    ¡°All units retreat, retreat immediately!¡±

    ¡°All Red Scorpion ranked soldiers stay behind and cover the retreat!¡±

 Volume 1 - 30: Contamination

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 30: Contamination

    However, everyone was surrounded right now, and there was simply no way out at this moment.

    Qianye only felt that there were enemies everywhere. It seemed like if he swung out blindly, he would be able to chop down some cannon fodder. After continuously piercing down over a dozen, he was finally caught off guard and was pressed down to the ground by a ck shadow who suddenly swooped over. That ck shadow bit into Qianye¡¯s neck right away, and the sharp pain almost tore apart Qianye¡¯s consciousness!

    A sudden gunshot echoed beside Qianye¡¯s ears, while the head of the vampire warrior who pressed Qianye¡¯s down exploded into a mist of blood. Right after, arge hand pulled Qianye¡¯s up.

    ¡°Are you alright, rookie?¡± This was a Red Scorpion ranked squad leader.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m fine!¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what he should say. The wound on his neck was still fiercely burning with pain. However, the vampire warrior¡¯s blood and brain matter covered half of his body, which also concealed the wound on the side of his neck.

    In the far skies, two airships that floated in the air were also being constantly attacked by several dozens of fluttering ck dots as they plummeted toward the ground crumbling and covered in mes.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sunk, but that Red Scorpion dragged Qianye and rushed with big strides toward the exterior of the city without any dy. Perhaps because the strong experts were all concentrated at the inner circle, the obstruction they faced in the outer encirclement was way too light inparison. They broke throughyers uponyers of resistance, only stopping after they had reached the outer perimeter of the city.

    The Red Scorpion pointed in the direction where the airship crashed down, speaking in a loud voice, ¡°There are still escape vessels there! As long as you can get yourself into the escape vessel, you¡¯ll be able to escape, got it!? Rookie?¡±

    ¡°Understood, sir!¡± Qianye replied with the loudest voice he could muster.

    The Red Scorpion squad leader patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder in satisfaction, ¡°Excellent! Now go rookie, I¡¯ll cover you!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    The Red Scorpion squad leader interrupted Qianye¡¯s words straight away, ¡°Escape from this ce! This is an order! Live on! This is also an order! Find the culprit behind the scenes, and avenge us! Go rookie, now!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s mind was totally nk as the habit of unconditionally following orders caused him to involuntarily bolt toward the airship crash site.

    The Red Scorpion squad leader turned around and walked toward the city. From the far end of the avenue before him, countless dark race warriors flooded out from several intersections, converging into a terrifying ck tide and dived at him!

    Before the rolling tide of ckness, the Red Scorpion squad leader¡¯s figure appeared insignificantly small. However, his steps were strong and powerful, and stamping a deep footprint on the stone ground with every step, he dashed toward the tidal wave of dark races!

    The ck tide submerged the Red Scorpion squad leader in an instant. Suddenly, it stopped, and actually slowly moved back right afterward! The ck tide formed by countless dark warriors were actually being slowly pushed back by the Red Scorpion squad leader alone!

    A ray of light suddenly shot out from within the ck tidal wave, and soon after, more and more rays of light shot out. Those silver pirs of light rocketed toward the skies, and the dark races who were illuminated by the pirs were all screaming in extreme pain. The bodies of some had even begun to melt!

    Then, an explosion that shook both heaven and earth took ce! Several hundred dark race warriors were sted up into the skies, and the street intersection immediately became devoid of anything, while the silhouette of the Red Scorpion squad leader had forever disappeared.

    By now, Qianye had already found the escape vessel on the crashed airship and pulled open the cabin door. Those terrifying experts who could strike down airships had already turned back into the cities, engaging in battle. No one noticed that a tiny little rookie had slipped through the.

    Before squeezing into the escape vessel, Qianye turned his head around and took a look, just in time to witness that world-shaking explosion! Such a blinding light was as though a star was burning and falling down, to the extent that it scorched Qianye¡¯s eyes with pain.

    That custom made missile was incredibly powerful and was supposed to be used for annihting the dark race¡¯s base. Every Red Scorpion squad leader carried one, but no one had expected that they would be utilized this way in the end.

    This explosion was as though a starting signal; violent explosions began to light up the city without end. Streets and blocks were being destroyed inrge tracts; no dark race warriors nearby had any chance of survival. However, the sound of each explosion meant the eternal disappearance of another Red Scorpion ranked soldier. In the entire Red Scorpion Corps, there were only over a hundred Red Scorpions in total. Of those, a whole third of them had already been lost in just this one campaign.

    Qianye forcefully shut the cabin door, forcing himself not to look at the scenery in the city. Smashing the control panel with his fist, he activated the escape vessel. The escape vessel that was merely five meters in length acutely shook and broke away from the mothership, quickly ascending into the skies before zooming away at full speed!

    Qianye finally let out a breath of relief, then immediately felt that his entire body was extremely parched and hot, his head also dizzy and faint. Finally, unable to brace himself, he passed out. The inside of the metal cabin was silent, only the faint clicking sound of the machinery running echoed as the cabin flew toward the preset drop off coordinates.

    Not knowing how long had passed, Qianye finally regained consciousness. He slowly opened his eye, yet he didn¡¯t have any conceptual understanding of the scenery in his view.

    Only after another long period of time did Qianye finally process what he was seeing. He was looking at the night sky.

    Countless stars were hanging from the curtain of night. An oblique, waning moon suspended in the far horizon, as the deste moonlight illuminated the earth. Qianye barely moved his head after looking from side to side; he sat up struggling.

    He now realized that he was currently on a small hill. There were no traces of human or dark race activity. This ce was just a primitive mountainous zone.

    Qianye slowly began to recall the great battle the other day, but he had no memory of the time after starting up the escape vessel and leaving the battlefield. As to whatever happened between then and now, he couldn¡¯t remember anything at all.

    Qianye suddenly felt his body was painfully hot, and his throat was unusually parched as though he hadn¡¯t drunk a single drop of water in days. However, it also felt as though ordinary water wouldn¡¯t be able to satiate this unfathomable thirst.

    Qianye looked around him, then suddenly saw the corpse of an elk on the ground not far away. However, the elk¡¯s body was exceptionally dry, as though all of its blood were sucked dry by a vampire.

    Bloodsucker!

    As if an arc of electricity had shed through Qianye¡¯s mind, he immediately raised his hand and felt his neck! Only now did he remember that in the final moments of that battle did a vampire warrior pounce onto him and bit his neck!

    Qianye¡¯s fingers suddenly touched upon two circle shaped wounds. They were very deep, and the surrounding areas were as hot as fire, yet there was no sense of being touched at all when stroked. Even though it wasn¡¯t directly seen, Qianye instantly sketched out the wound¡¯s shape in his mind!

    That was a wound left by vampiric fangs!

    He did not dare to believe this verdict. Hands trembling, he pulled out the army knife on his waist and used the smooth silver-ted surface as a mirror. This time, Qianye saw two deep holes from the mirror. Qianye had seen these kind of wounds too many times in the past. Every single human who had been bitten by vampires would have a simr injury.

    Qianye suddenly felt weak as all of the strength drained out of his body. He seemed to have heard the crisp sound of something cracking; the world had entirely shattered at this moment of time.

    He was bitten by a vampire, and his body had been contaminated by the blood of darkness. Not long after, he would be a blood thrall, a blood thrall who only possessed instincts, who forever thirsts for fresh blood and flesh!

    Qianye could no longer remember how many blood thralls had died under his hands, but he had never thought that he would be a blood thrall one day.

    Qianye once again confirmed the condition of the wound. This time, even thest wisp of him hoping for a miracle had vanished. He stood up, staggeringly walked up to the elk corpse, and inspected it. This elk died from its blood being sucked dry, but from its wound, it ought to have been bitten by human teeth as there was no trace of vampiric fangs.

    It was now confirmed. The person who killed this elk was Qianye himself, and then he sucked the elk¡¯s blood dry under an irrational state. Qianye must have only regained consciousness because of the elk¡¯s blood replenishment.

    Qianye let out a sigh, and slowly set the army knife beside his own neck. This was a ceremony of Red Scorpion warriors. Every single Red Scorpion warrior had prepared themselves; once they were bitten by vampires, they would end their life before losing their reason. They wouldn¡¯t allow themselves to be the lowly blood thralls controlled by vampires even if they were to die.

    The silver knife touched the skin of the wound, and a searing pain suddenly erupted. Moreover, the ce where it met flesh gave off a wisp of green smoke with a sizzling sound, charring a small part of his skin as well. From this reaction, Qianye understood that the dark blood had already flowed through his entire body, and there was no longer any possibility of turning back into an ordinary human.

    Qianye closed his eyes and was about to exert force. In just one stroke, his neck would be cut open, ending the fate which was destined to be a tragedy.

    But before pressing the de down, a question suddenly shed in Qianye¡¯s mind: Why was he still rational?

    After being bitten by vampires, some ordinary people would lose their rationality in as short as a dozen or so minutes while others would take up to a day or two, bing a blood thrall who only possessed bestial instincts. Other than fresh blood and flesh, as well as higher vampire¡¯s orders, nothing else would enter the blood thrall¡¯s mind. This process waspletely irreversible.

    Since Qianye had hunted down an elk on instinct under the condition of having lost his reason, then he shouldn¡¯t have recovered his rationality by any means.

    This question was like a ray of sunlight that shone down amid the extreme darkness, bringing a wisp of hope to Qianye who was in the depths of despair.

    Qianye slowly lowered his army knife.

    He would never give up easily. As long as the moment of true despair hadn¡¯t arrived, he would strive for a chance to live. Qianye didn¡¯t understand why he could still keep his consciousness, but as long as he had not lost his reasoning entirely, he would strive his hardest to live for another day.

    Of course, if he were on the verge of bing a blood thrall, Qianye would unhesitatingly end his life.

    Qianye searched the surroundings and saw that the escape vessel had crashed over a kilometer away. He walked to the escape vessel, and found the backup origin gun, a bag of clothing, rations, and water, as well as a re gun. He held up the re gun, its muzzle facing toward the skies. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he suddenly froze!

    The re shot would explode high in the air and discharge a unique origin power fluctuation, which could activate the rm device of nearby ministry of military branches, thus letting the military grasp the approximate direction of the personnel requesting help to rescue them. But the problem was that when the Empire¡¯s soldiers arrive, how should Qianye exin his identity?

    A rookie of Red Scorpion Corps? No, he was no longer a warrior of the Empire. His current identity was a blood thrall! A blood thrall who would be swiftly burned to death at the first moment of discovery!

    Even if Qianye had umted a lot of military achievements and had his sanity, the best treatment he would get would be him being thrown into a ck stone mine pit without daylight for the remainder of his years. He would work there for the remainder of his life and trade the ores he dug up for pitifully small portions of food until the day he died and turned into a pile of bones.

    The zing mes of that nameless small city back then had caused Qianye to understand; the Empire had no such thing as pity or mercy toward blood thralls at all. Once his identity as a blood thrall was discovered, only a dead end would be waiting for him, no matter what.

    About reporting to the superiors that this mission was simply a trap, it waspletely impossible. How could the big shots of the Empire¡¯s ministry of military possibly believe a blood thrall¡¯s words?

    Also, even if Qianye were still a normal human, how could the culprit behind the scenes who mobilized Red Scorpion using Lin Xitang¡¯s personal order and set a trap which wiped out one-third of Red Scorpion Corps¡¯ backbone, possibly be shaken by a mere rookie?

    Just like what the Red Scorpion squad leader had said before, regarding certain specific matters, some people and some forces could indeed single-handedly conceal the truth from all!

 Volume 1 - 31: Falling into Darkness

    Volume 1 ¨C Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 31: Falling into Darkness

    But if that¡¯s the case, didn¡¯t that mean that all those veterans, those Red Scorpion squad leaders who detonated the bombs they carried, and Colonel Wei Lishi who brought him into the Red Scorpion, all died in vain?

    No! They absolutely can¡¯t be allowed to vanish without a trace like this!

    Qianye tightly gritted his teeth.

    If he wished to take vengeance for these Red Scorpions, there were only two options avable. One was to rise to the upper echelons of the Empire, attain more power than the culprit behind the scenes, then reveal the truth and im justice for the Red Scorpion soldiers who fell in battle. But Qianye had now be a blood thrall already; he didn¡¯t even know if he could make it through the day, and it was not at all possible for him to return to human society.

    However, there was still another way! Which was to try to survive and think of ways to gain powerful martial might. When he be strong enough, then he would be able to put the names of those culprits on a headhunting list!

    Qianye hid the important equipment well and walked away from the mountainous region wearing a civilian¡¯s jacket, carrying only a dagger. He wanted to find human settlements, ask about the situation around here, and see if he could gather any intel on the outside world.

    The pre-set return flight coordinates of the escape vessel should have been Red Scorpion headquarters, but it might have been affected when the mothership was damaged and broke the star map. Right now the location of the currentnding site was unknown. There was no way to tell the precise location just by looking at the surrounding primitivendscape that had not yet been developed.

    However, a dayter, Qianye once again returned to this ce. Several gunshot wounds that weren¡¯t there before had appeared on his body, and one of them was arge stretch of charred residue on his arm. That was the vestige from being scorched by a silver bullet, and even now it was still ceaselessly oozing with yellow colored pus.

    Stupor and despondency were written all over Qianye¡¯s face.

    When he went to the city to gather information, he ended up smelling the never-experienced-before sweet scent of fresh blood the moment he saw crowds of people. The thirst for blood deep within his body red up then and there, and Qianye, who waspletely unprepared, immediately gave off a dense blood aura.

    This ce was on the border of the Empire, and dark races often roamed about around here. As a result, the city defense troops were also extremely vignt. A patrolling squad immediately recognized the vampiric aura on Qianye.

    In an instant, almost everyone in Qianye¡¯s line of sight became his enemies.

    By the time Qianye escaped from the crowd, he was already riddled with wounds. Even though he got away and returned to the mountains by using nighttime as cover, Qianye knew that he couldn¡¯t remain in this ce.

    This was indeed the Qin Continent, thend where Red Scorpion headquarters and Yellow Springs Training Camp were situated. However, this was definitely not good news to the current Qianye.

    A vast majority of the Qin Continent was under the Empire¡¯s control, only a small portion of the area was still in the hands of dark races. As long as Qianye¡¯s identity as a blood thrall was exposed, people wouldn¡¯t give him any chance to exin or defend himself at all.

    Thinking back, Qianye was also like that when he was still at Red Scorpion. The first reaction after seeing a blood thrall would be to immediately shoot it dead. Just like how the Red Scorpion squad leader taught him, no one could bear the consequences of treating it lightly.

    These grievances umted between the two races over a thousand years of war. Now, only differences in standpoints were left, and it was no longer the question of right or wrong.

    Qianye slowly slid down with his back against a tree, sitting down. His brain waspletely nk. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain from the side of his ribs, as though it was licked by the tongue of a zing fire.

    Qianye jumped up, and a small object fell out of his inner clothing, tumbling down to the ground. A glint of silver light flickered. It was an empty bullet shell made of silver. He had forgotten long ago when he had tossed it into his pocket, carrying it till now. Only after it touched Qianye¡¯s skin through the damaged part of the clothing was he reminded of its existence.

    The craftsmanship of this little piece of work was actually very crude. The factory polished outer shell could still pass, but the origin array inside had many deficiencies and could only reach fifty percent energypression efficacy. But it was precisely a mere silver bullet like this that gave Qianye searing pain when making contact with his body, reminding him of his current plight in such a fashion.

    Qianye¡¯s army boots suddenly stomped onto it, as he twisted his heels with force, deeply screwing it into the ground. Then he kicked up soil from the surroundings, ttening this small hole. Soon after, it had became indiscernible.

    Qianye stood in silence for a while, taking onest look at the scenery of the mountains andnd. Picking up his backpack, wrapping himself in a cloak, and pulling down the hood, he quietly left this mountainous region.

    At this moment in time, a province in the Empire¡¯s middleyer continent had just bade farewell to several days of rainy weather. The afternoon¡¯s cloudy sky opened up a small crevice, as the light of the sun poured down.

    The waves on the river¡¯s surface gleamed in the sunlight while the wind chimes hanging from a waterside balcony jingled with sound. The chimes resembled a one-legged mystical bird that stood straight like a crane; it was the n insignia of the Hignd Song family, which stood in thest ce of the Empire¡¯s four Grand Households.

    All the buildings in this area were built with wood and stone. The faint glimmer reflected by the high terraces, pavilions, upturned eaves, and zed ss flowed as though it was blending into one with the jade colored water surface. Everything was filled with the nostalgic presence of bygone eras, entirely different from the architectural style of Empire¡¯s major city buildings which consisted of limestone and metal.

    The ssical style was prevalent in the upper echelons of the Empire, while the enormous resources they possessed were also sufficient enough to keep these delicate, fine, and seemingly frail facilities in operation.

    On the waterside, attached to the balcony was a spacious study room. There weren¡¯t too many furnishings, and a desk was ced below the wide window. There, Song Zining sat upright; in front of him was a stack of documents that had already been processed. Only an unimportant postal newspaper of the Empire remained.

    It was simply impossible to tell from Song Zining¡¯s calm and gentle expression that the visitor he was waiting for was alreadyte by five minutes. In his daily schedule, the time allotted for every assignment and business were timed in blocks of fifteen minutes, keeping the habit developed in the Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    Song Zining nced at the newspaper before him and finally flipped it open in slight boredom. He normally would never waste time reading something like this that almost everyone had a piece in hand.

    A name jumped into his view, ¡°Lin Qianye¡±.

    Song Zining paused for a few seconds, then flipped back to the front page as the paper produced a light whooshing sound. There was a newsletter hidden in the inconspicuous corner; Red Scorpion Corps suffered defeat in a mission, losing one-third of their Red Scorpion ranked soldiers. While the inner page was the list of casualties, Lin Qianye¡¯s name was also shockingly on the list.

    At that moment, knocking sounds came from the door to the room, as the house servant outside announced the guest¡¯s name in a small voice.

    Song Zining quietly folded the newspaper, putting it on top of the pile of finished documents. He then stood up, revealing a smile that was impossible to nitpick at in terms of etiquette at the visiting madame.

    Meanwhile, in Broken Winged Angel¡¯s headquarters, Wei Potian was currently sleeping soundly on the dorm bed, his posture like a spread out octopus. The past seven days of special concentrated drilling had tormented him a great deal. But all that toil had value; he sessfully rose above others in this round of new recruits and obtained the privilege to fight for the Broken Winged Angel in the great militarypetition.

    As to the second letter he had mailed out before his confined training, it was silently waiting inside the return mail box at Red Scorpion headquarters. This letter that no longer had a recipient would be sent out together with the next batch of official documents, traverse through three continents and return to the sender¡¯s hands.

    A dayter, in a remote corner of the Qin Continent, a team of the Empire¡¯s soldiers discovered the crashed vessel and also discovered the ce where Qianye had woken up.

    The leading officer possessed keen eyes, as unswerving tenacity was written all over his weather-beaten face. He surveyed the scene closely, and only spoke after an hour had passed, ¡°He is still sane. This isn¡¯t a blood thrall, but a newly born vampire. Though his tracks are lost now.¡±

    ¡°A newborn vampire isn¡¯t really that big of a deal, right?¡± said another officer..

    ¡°True that. Let¡¯s report this matter to our superiors, our mission ends here. This airship belongs to the Military. I certainly don¡¯t want to stick my nose into the Military¡¯s business.¡±

    The other officers also expressed their approval one after another. The Empire¡¯s Ministry of Military Affairs was an iparably massive beast of war. The number of factions under it were like the number of trees in a forest, the rtionships between them tangled and messy. The regional guards and regr army were two entire different systems. Many regr army corps often liked to draft the regional guards as cannon fodder when going to battle. Thus, even though the rtions between the two parties wasn¡¯t to the point of being unable to co-exist, it wasn¡¯t much better than that, either.

    A crashed escape vessel and an escaped newborn vampire; this couldn¡¯t even be considered as a tiny little bubble in the vast ocean called the Empire. No one was willing to bother spending effort on this matter. Thus, in an obscure, tacit coordination, this trivial matter vanished in the Empire¡¯s enormous bureaucratic body just like that.

    Several dayster, a lonely figure appeared in a zone bordering the Empire and the dark races. He looked ahead and saw a small town emerging from the far horizon. Beside the town, there actually parked an old but considerablyrge airship.

    This figure was Qianye. He was able to determine at first nce that this airship was an inteary airship that could traverse between continents.

    Looks like this ce was it.

    This town wasn¡¯t annotated on the map, and there was no data about it anywhere in the Empire¡¯s official records, either. However, it indeed existed. This was a gray zone, the boundary between the Evernight and Daybreak.

    Within this small town, dark races and humans could coexist together, and the prerequisite was to have enough money and strength to protect themselves.

    Qianye walked toward the small town inrge strides, and a fatty with a massive body blocked him at the town¡¯s gate.

    ¡°Little guy, what are you here for?¡±

    Qianye nced at the fatty. Even this gatekeeper fatty had the power of a third rank!

    Qianye¡¯s heart quivered as he changed his evaluation of this ce, then said, ¡°I¡¯m looking for Grayfeather.¡±

    ¡°Grayfeather? That¡¯s our boss you know! What do you need from him?¡± The fatty acted slightly more proper.

    ¡°I need a ticket.¡±

    ¡°Where to?¡±

    ¡°The Evernight Continent.¡±

    ¡°Aha!¡± The fatty let out a weird yelp. ¡°People who want to go there are all madmen, you know! You couldn¡¯t have done something horribly major, right? Alright, you don¡¯t need to answer my question, I was just curious. Boss Grayfeather had said before, we should be polite to anyone who wants to go to the Evernight Continent. Though, there really are people willing to buy such an expensive ticket, just to smuggle themselves into that hellish ce?¡±

    The fatty shifted his enormous body as he chattered on, walking toward the town¡¯s interior. Qianye followed behind him, entering the town silently.

    Half a dayter, the enormous and ancient airship took off strenuously, and took an entire day before finally managing to exit the continent and enter the void. Qianye sat beside the window, looking at the Empire¡¯s continent that was slowly bing distant through the muddled ss. Few dayster, a new continent appeared through the ship¡¯s window.

    That was the Evernight Continent, the ce where Qianye grew up.

    Evernight; in this abandonednd, all who lived here were creatures entirely forgotten by fate.

    Qianye chose it to be his homestead. He would continue his battle against destiny here; perhaps he will suppress the dark blood¡¯s erosion, or perhaps he would be devoured by the dark blood in the end. No matter the conclusion, the Evernight Continent would be the stage where the curtain fell.

    The Evernight Continent was indeed a hellish ce, but only this ce could amodate a blood thrall who retained his sanity.

    The world beneath the airship was still a stretch of dull gray without any light from the skies. It was just like Qianye¡¯s current frame of mind. He already could no longer choose Daybreak, but neither did he want to sumb to Evernight. He could only live and crawl amid the grayness between Evernight and Daybreak, awaiting the verdict of fate.

    End of Volume One.

 Volume 2 - 1: Small Townâ€™s Lighthouse

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 1: Small Town¡¯s Lighthouse

    Although it had been twelve hundred years since the end of the War of Daybreak, grudges were ever increasing, every minute, every second, everywhere.

    During the past twelve hundred years hundred years, the dark races and humans had never stopped fighting, and bloody conflict was always raging on in every inch of contested spaces.

    Although the Evernight Domain was already an abandonednd of the Empire, as the dark races returned, this continent instead became full of battlefields everywhere. Moreover, the situation was incrediblyplex.

    Humans and the dark races were engaged in a struggle to the death. In addition to that, there were still internal conflicts that arose within the ranks of both sides. Furthermore, perhaps because the orbit of this abandonednd was too far from the sun, even terrifying extraterritorial monstrosities would asionally appear.

    It was as if the only meaning of life¡¯s existence here was struggle and war.

    The fire of battle engulfed everything, and on the gray colored of the Evernight Continent, the least valuable was life itself.

    At this moment, on a deste in, a squad of around seven to eight was lined up in a row, walking quickly. Their clothes were incredibly messy and disorganized, entirely made of scrap cloth and leather haphazardly sewn together. Some of them even iid several rust-stained tes of metal over their vitals, considering it as armor.

    All of them were carrying huge rucksacks. These were the mostmonly seen people on the Evernight Continent: scavengers. They use their lives as the gambling stake, braving the deste ins and the depths of the ruins, in search of things that might just worth a little something. Their rucksacks held everything they possessed.

    In front of this small party, a faint silhouette of a small town had emerged, and they all subconsciously stepped up their pace .

    The most striking structure of the town was a single tall lighthouse. It was a structure that almost made entirely of welded metal tes, with several bulky pipes running up its external walls.

    From afar it was easy to see the fire burning on the top of the lighthouse. Hence this ce was named Lighthouse Town. At this moment, the lighthouse suddenly released an enormous amount of steam, as enormous cogs exposed by the damaged areas of the shell begun to strenuously turn, slowly winding up the bell striker, then mming it onto the old-fashioned bronze bell, reverberating out a prolonged and rich sound of the bell.

    DONG! DONG! DONG!

    The sound of the bell traveled far, and those scavengers stepped up their pace even more.

    One of the burly men looked up to the sky and said, ¡°It¡¯s only three o¡¯clock and the sky is about to turn totally dark already, this is just too damn much!¡±

    Yet, the old man walking at the very front of the group replied somewhat nonchntly, ¡°Aren¡¯t dark seasons all like this?¡±

    The burly man once again looked to the sky. Several huge shadows blocked out the sunlight, making the surroundings as dark as nightfall when it was only three o¡¯ clock.

    He spat out with force, and said with half envy half jealousy, ¡°If only I could live up there for a few days, even dying ten years earlier would be fine with me!¡±

    ¡°Stop dreaming, ol¡¯ Bucktooth Six! That¡¯s a ce only big shots can go, don¡¯t count on it during this lifetime of yours. Just collect garbage as you should here!¡± said another scavenger.

    Before Old Bucktooth Six¡¯s temper erupted, another valve also opened from the other side of the faraway lighthouse, spurting forth a tremendous amount of steam. In an instant, the entirety of the lighthouse¡¯s mid section and above waspletely enveloped by the white fog. The me on top became murky, and a sharp and drawn out steam whistle suddenly sounded, pricking at people¡¯s hearts and making it throb.

    ¡°They¡¯re closing the gates this early?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that baldy ying at?¡±

    The scavengers panicked right away. Speeding up their pace even further, they dashed their way toward the town. Fortunately, they were fast enough and rushed through the gates in time.

    The exhaust vents at either sides of the city gate towers were currently belching ck smoke, the huge gears and winches began to turn with creaking noises. With that, the thick foundry-iron gate lowered slowly, and apanied by an earth-shaking noise, it smashed into the steel slot, firmly sealing off the small town.

    The scavengers were all heavily winded from running, and one of them stood on the street, heaving great gasps of air as he held his knees with both hands. Immediately after, he raised his head and yelled at the gate tower, ¡°Why are you closing the gates so early? We were nearly trapped outside!¡±

    From the tower, a greasy, shining bald head with ferocious features popped out.

    He pointed toward the sky, and bellowed with no hint of courtesy, ¡°I¡¯ve long since told you guys that the outside has been incredibly unsafe recently! Look at the color of the moon up there! If you guys want to throw your lives away for the sake of a few copper, then dying serves you right!¡±

    In the sky was an enormous round moon, and the moon¡¯s edges were already a shade of dark red like blood. Given a couple more days, it would turn into a blood colored full moon.

    In the nights of the Crimson Moon, all of the living beings in the wastnd would be restless and incredibly aggressive. Legend has it that everytime the moon turned blood red there would be a disaster happening somewhere, and only after enough blood has been spilled would the gods of disaster leave in satisfaction.

    The scavengers were cursing, but these mad dogs of the wastnd as a matter of fact really didn¡¯t dare to do anything to the baldy in the tower. He was the town¡¯s only guard, and furthermore, as a rank one Fighter, beating a team of mad dogs like them was as easy as lifting a hand. Thus, the scavengers could only grumble as they slowly walk toward the the small town¡¯s interior.

    There was a bar in the town, which was also the only bar in the town, and there was even a few guestrooms behind it. It was where the scavengers were headed to, and it was also the only little piece of heaven that could bring them happiness and women.

    For the sake of conserving energy, the town practically didn¡¯t have any lighting. Thus, under the night sky, the misty dim glow of the bar¡¯s signboard was even more eye-catching, even though only the single syble ¡°Li¡± was lit on it.

    That signboard was originally a piece of the bearings taken apart from the bottom of the cabin, and the bar owner, by some unknown means, inscribed the words onto it and even rubbed on some powder of Luminous Stones. Though, after weathering and rain, it would always gradually fade.

    The townsfolk all knew that the bar¡¯s name was called ¡°Red Spider Lily,¡± but nobody knew the meaning behind these three wordsbined together as a phrase. Plus, among these several thousand people, there weren¡¯t even five that were educated enough to recognize all the words on the sign.

    In the bar, thentern lights were dim, the tables and chairs were very worn out, and the entirety of the walls were covered with various graffiti. To one¡¯s surprise, there was a strange sense of aesthetic charm to it.

    The bar counter was made of riveted steel tes, but it gave an impression of being fashionably rustic. All of the bar¡¯s materials could be found in the wastnd. In reality, the abandonednds¡¯ most worthless items were scrap steel and metals; they were everywhere in the wastnd¡¯s rubbish heaps, and the airship cemeteries were just mountains of metal.

    The smell of cheap alcohol, tobo, and the stink of sweat permeated the bar. Several dolled-up women even emanated the stinging smell of perfume, making anyone who smelled it all thoroughly nauseous.

    Behind the countertop was a young man of a thin, tall build, whose skin tone was somewhat sickly pale.

    The young wore an old, worn out jacket and long pants, and his long ck hair was tied into a ponytail behind him. His face was beautiful, extremely beautiful. Moreover, it gave off an excessive sense of youthfulness, and at first nce, it was that kind of bashful but endearing look of a next-door-neighbor boy.

    He stood behind the countertop, quietly watching the ten-odd guests who were clearly venting their stress and desires.

    Just going by appearances, nobody would have thought that this young man would be this bar¡¯s owner. He was barely, no, he clearly wasn¡¯t even eighteen.

    At this point, the bar¡¯s half-height doors were pushed open, and that troop of scavengers who had just entered the city flooded in. The moment they entered, the bar immediately quieted down a few notches, and many people were watching these scavengers warily.

    In the wastnd, scavengers didn¡¯t have a good reputation; they went by many names: vultures, dposers, mad dogs, etc¡­

    The scavengers were always treading the line between life and death and had practically no sense of shame or trustworthiness to speak of, being capable of doing anything. Many scavengers had their own little cliques and secretmunication methods. If any outsider rashly got close to this bunch, they might bitten to the point where not even their bones would remain.

    Although this little town called Lighthouse Town was mostly reliant on therge numbers of scavengers for wealth, but the town¡¯s original inhabitants didn¡¯t wee the scavengers, and would never truly ept them.

    Where there were scavengers, trouble would follow. In the wastnd, the word, ¡°trouble,¡± would often mean that a bunch of people would lose their lives; otherwise, why would they call it ¡°trouble¡±?

    This particr troop of scavengers weren¡¯t first-time customers of the Red Spider Lily. They found a ce to sit and then started to loudly call out their preferred beverages. The young man behind the counter turned and retrieved several bottles of liquor, after which he began to mix a cocktail with a well-practiced hand.

    The stainless steel cocktail shaker danced under his slender fingers as if it had its own soul.

    Right at this moment, a scavenger with a big knife scar on his face walked over,leaning heavily on the counter, and with a strong nasal voice, he hollered, ¡°I heard that this bar has some red something lily that¡¯s got a good kick! Gimme a big ss of that!¡±

    The young man didn¡¯t even twitch, and just said, ¡°One imperial silver.¡±

    ¡°Hoh?!¡± The scavenger called out exaggeratedly, ¡°Did my ears fail me? One imperial silver!! Am I drinking virgin¡¯s blood? Alright, since I¡¯m here, I gotta try it and see if your drink is as good as you say it is! Kid, your daddy here don¡¯t have any silver, but I¡¯ll use this to settle the cost if you¡¯re willing to take it!¡±

    And with a bam, the scavenger pulled out a flintlock pistol and pped it down onto the countertop.

    The gun was loaded with gunpowder and a bullet, ready to fire at any time. The handle was wrapped heavily in metal, in addition to being stained ck in a few ces with dried blood, along with other stains that couldn¡¯t be identified. This heavy flintlock evidently wasn¡¯t just for firing a bullet; its handle was also a weapon, and one couldn¡¯t say if the club end or the barrel end had been used more.

    The bar suddenly quieted down, and everyone¡¯s eyes were on the scavenger and the young man.

    The young man had already finished mixing the cocktail, and carefully pouring the drinks, he put his hands on the countertop, looked at the flintlock, and mildly said, ¡°Since you¡¯re dining here, I¡¯ll count it as half a silver. You sure you want to use that as your coteral?¡±

    The corners of the scavenger¡¯s eyes twitched, and he slowly leaned forward toward the young man, until the two almost were nose-to-nose. He said, ¡°So what¡¯ll happen if I don¡¯t pay?¡±

    The young man didn¡¯t move an inch and said in that same old peaceful voice, ¡°Then I¡¯ll st open your head.¡±

    The scavenger looked the young dead in the eyes. In those deep ck eyes, there wasn¡¯t even the slightest sign of wavering, just like two bottomlesskes. The scavenger looked down at the young man¡¯s hands. They were a pair of hands so clean that it was odd,pletely without calluses, and unbelievably smooth skin. Completely devoid of any signs of having done cultivation or hardbor.

    The young man¡¯s hands were on top of the counter. It was an awkward position that was far from everything. Even if the young man had hidden a weapon under the counter, it didn¡¯t look like he would reach it in time.

    The young man¡¯s rough shirt was only buttoned with two buttons, revealing a giant ugly scar across his chest, which waspletely out of sync with the rest of his appearance.

    The scavenger¡¯s eyes twitched continuously. For some reason, the chill in his heart kept getting stronger by the moment, and sweat suddenly rolled down his body. This was the danger instinct of a mad dog who had survived in the wastnd.

 Volume 2 - 2: Burning Youth

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 2: Burning Youth

    The scavengerughed awkwardly and withdrew his gun. Then he took out a few copper coins and ced them on the bar, pushing them in front of the young man and saying, ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m just joking! It¡¯s just a joke! This is all I have. Just give me an order of whatever you like, as long as it can make me drunk!¡±

    Suddenly, the bar regained its liveliness. Many of the patrons sighed regretfully, thinking that they missed out on a good show.

    Bucktooth Six, the strongest and fiercest of the scavengersughed loudly and said, ¡°Knifescar Feng, I¡¯ve said it long ago, look at you, to even dare try causing trouble with your loathsome self!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s obvious he¡¯s a neer at first nce.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, this guy¡¯s pretty smart! Too bad we don¡¯t get to see a good show. It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯vest saw bloodshed here. Sigh!¡±

    ¡°Oh, those who dared to cause trouble in front of Qianye are all dead, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    The patrons discussed enthusiastically among themselves. Since there was nothing to see, their topics quickly turned to women and boasting about their own capabilities.

    Behind the bar, Qianye¡¯s expression was as cool as ever. He epted the few copper coins from Knifescar Feng and exchanged them for a huge ss of spirit. He delivered it to the scavenger¡¯s table together with the cocktails he mixed earlier on a ridiculouslyrge tray.

    After Qianye returned to the bar, Knifescar Feng nced once more with lingering fear at the bar before lowering his voice and whispering, ¡±Who is this kid? I¡¯ve never been this¡­ scared even when I was facing werewolves and blood thralls!¡±

    ¡°His name¡¯s Qianye. He moved to Lighthouse Town half a year ago, and after he arrived he opened this bar. Do you understand?¡± The old man among the scavengers added, ¡°Of course, his drinks are really good.¡±

    Knifescar Feng wore a look of sudden realization.

    Someone who could run a bar peacefully for half a year in a ce where blood was shed daily couldn¡¯t be ordinary.

    Strength could not be judged by appearance alone. It was rumored that pure-blooded vampires looked so weak they might be blown away by a slight breeze, but in fact they were the real monsters. It was also rumored that they could kill a dozen men of the imperial expeditionary force with a single finger! And this was considering the fact that any member of the imperial expeditionary force¡ªeven a cook¡ªcould take out dozens of scavengers like them.

    Behind the bar, Qianye stood like a statue, not moving a single muscle. No one knew if he was in a stupor or deep in thought. This was his iconic posture. When there was no need for him to work, Qianye would be a part of the bar¡¯s background.

    Arge caliber Kohler pistolid inside the drawer beneath the bar. This big guy was well made and ssically designed, able to fit seven bullets and produced by the giant ckstone Heavy Industries of the Empire¡¯s military industry. Among handguns, it was called the ¡°little steel cannon.¡± Its power waspletely iparable to a scavenger¡¯s outdated firearm.

    During the first few days of the Red Spider Lily¡¯s opening, this Kohler pistol had blown six people¡¯s brains out. After that, no one dared toe looking for trouble¡ªat least not in this town.

    The noise in the bar grew louder and louder, and the patrons grew more animated as the night drew on. asionally, the screams of angry women could be heard.

    However, as long as a couple of copper coins were pushed down their bras, these women would immediately switch from anger to joy instead. Add a few more and they would twist their waists vigorously and sit on the men¡¯s thighs, allowing them to grab and grope as much as they wanted. Anything further, however, would depend on both parties¡¯ will and price.

    There were guest rooms in the Red Spider Lily, but they were rarely used. Checking into a room was an incredible luxury. If it could be taken care of in a grasnd why go into a room? Most scavengers thought this way.

    Qianye continued to look on coolly. It was as if everything was happening far, far away from him.

    These women had nothing to do with him whatsoever; they had simply borrowed his ce to attract some business. With them around, the patrons would drink more and act like a crowd of rutting pigs.

    There was already a scavenger who charged out of the side door impatiently, carrying a woman in his arms. The door hadn¡¯t even finished closing when there was a sound as if something heavy had crashed to the ground, followed by a man¡¯s panting and a woman¡¯s exaggerated squeal.

    Scavengers who had just returned to the city all had some money in their pockets. A life in constant fear for one¡¯s livelihood caused the townspeople to be more generous with their spending, which was why they were also weed by the womenfolk. Of course, that was only while they still had copper coins in their pockets.

    The atmosphere inside the bar ignited instantly.

    Qianye became busy as orders came flying in one after another. However, his movements were practiced and steady. It was as if the various cocktails were produced on an assembly line. Every request was followed to the letter without a single error or omission. He was as precise as a machine.

    It was at this moment when yet another woman walked into the bar. She wore a short jacket over a ck corset that confined her full breasts. Her lower body was wrapped within the canvas trousersmonly seen among adventurers thatpletely exposed her thin but powerful waist and lower abdomen. There was a ck scorpion tattooed on her lower abdomen, adding a wild sense of attractiveness to her youthful and energetic figure.

    If someone was to speak of the greatest difference between her and the other women inside the bar, it would be her youthfulness that seemed like it would rise to the surface at any moment. Every inch of her was filled with the fresh scent of after rain grass. In addition, her lips were as red as mes, and in this dim and decadent ce, it was a dash of the brightest color.

    The moment she stepped into the bar, she immediately became the focus of every man.

    ¡°Hey girl! How much for a single night!¡± a scavenger who just arrived at Lighthouse Town cried out.

    ¡°An imperial silver coin.¡± The woman¡¯s answer was as direct as the scavenger¡¯s question. She walked straight to the bar and sat down without consultation.

    The neers¡¯ expression fell when they heard the price. This was an imperial silver coin she was asking for! They had to roam the wilderness for two months before they could earn an imperial silver coin.

    That being said, the woman projected a wild and youthful aura from her entire body. It was as if every bit of her skin was glowing, setting all the men¡¯s hearts on fire. The moment she walked in, all the other women in the bar began to look like molted old hens.

    ¡°You¡¯re not telling me your ass is made of origin alloy, are you?¡± someone began to express his displeasure, but he was immediately held back by the friends beside him.

    ¡°That¡¯s Min¡¯er. She¡¯s hot, but her thorns are just as many! Don¡¯t provoke her if you don¡¯t have business with her!¡± that friend said in a low tone.

    Min¡¯er tapped the bar and said, ¡°Give me anything. It just needs to be strong enough.¡±

    Qianye quietly mixed a big ss of spirit, fished out a small silver pot from around his waist, and poured a single drop of liquid from that pot into the ss before pushing it in front of Min¡¯er. Arge portion of the patrons¡¯ greedy gazes were immediately diverted onto the ss in front of Min¡¯er.

    That small silver pot was the bar¡¯s signature form. No one knew what was contained inside, but even the poorest spirit would immediately be fragrant and aromatic. A tiny sip was enough to cause anyone to forget all troubles.

    No matter what Min¡¯er ordered, she would always get a drop of that something added to her drink. It could be considered unique treatment that she alone enjoyed.

    She seemed unsatisfied and extended her hand again, asking, ¡°Do you have a cigar? The special kind.¡±

    Qianye fished out yet again a handmade cigar from below the bar. A striking red line was drawn across its surface.

    Min¡¯er immediately snatched it from Qianye¡¯s hands, lit it up, sucked in a deep mouthful, and held her breath. A very, very long timeter, to the point she could hold it no longer, she finally puffed out a mouthful of smoke carrying within it a special fragrance. An unnatural bright red color immediately appeared on her face.

    Many people in the bar stretched out their necks and sucked hard at the spreading smoke.

    The cigar was very short, and she only took three pulls before it had burned to its end.

    Min¡¯er stared a little regretfully at the extinguished cigar stub before saying, ¡°Give me another one!¡±

    But Qianye did not move this time. ¡°Only one smoke every three days is allowed. Otherwise you will die very quickly.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve lived enough of this life anyway!¡± Min¡¯er said a little self-despairingly, but no matter what she said, she did not get her second special cigar. At the end of it, Qianyepletely ignored her.

    Min¡¯er shifted her gaze onto Qianye¡¯s face before speaking with a hint of a smile, ¡°Little Ye, did you know? There were a few times when I really wanted to cut up that face of yours! I dislike seeing anything that¡¯s prettier than I am!¡±

    Qianye pulled the corner of his mouth just a bit to indicate that he had smiled.

    Min¡¯er raised her hands as if surrendering before staring at Qianye, saying, ¡°Alright, I don¡¯t want to smoke anymore. I assume you¡¯ll treat me then?¡±

    But Qianye waspletely dead to her expectant gaze, because treating her would involve other things as well. In this abandonednd where profit was king and friendship was shit, there was no such thing as a free meal. If Qianye treated her this time, then naturally she would repay him with her own body.

    Hearing no response from Qianye whatsoever, Min¡¯er smashed the bar angrily before raising her voice, ¡°Is there anyone who¡¯s willing to pay my tab tonight?¡±

    There were many people who couldn¡¯t help but swallow their saliva, and there were many greedy and lustful gazes that swam non-stop across Min¡¯er¡¯s body. However, not a single person answered her. It was an imperial silver coin! Unless they¡¯d truly gone mad, they would never spend such a huge amount on a woman¡¯s body.

    Finally, arge, one-eyed man at least two meters tall walked over, licked his lips, and pped an imperial silver coin heavily on the bar and roared, ¡°Allow me!¡±

    Min¡¯er snorted and said, ¡°I told you that I don¡¯t like you. You¡¯re out of the question!¡±

    But the one-eyed man did not grow mad. He simply chuckled a few times before returning to his seat.

    Min¡¯er flicked his silver coin to draw an arc in the air before falling towards his head. The man grabbed the silver coin and yelled, ¡°You¡¯ll fall in love in me eventually!¡±

    ¡°In your next life!¡± Min¡¯er answered loudly.

    Min¡¯er took out several dozen copper coins and pped them on the bar. Then, with a sweep of the hand, the copper coins flew into the air in a row and fell into Qianye¡¯s shirt pocket as if they¡¯d grown a pair of eyes. Her trick was beautiful, and it immediately drew a round of cheers in the bar.

    What if those copper coins were flying knives?

    The scavenger who thought to sleep with her earlier withdrew his head. This girl was a thorned rose.

    ¡°I want a room!¡± Min¡¯er said.

    ¡°The third room is empty.¡± Qianye passed her a key along with a few short words.

    Min¡¯er¡¯s slim fingers hooked around the key ring and spun it. She then stared at Qianye with an incinerating gaze before saying with a faint smile, ¡°I¡¯m not locking the door tonight. Come in if you dare!¡±

    ¡°But I will lock the door,¡± Qianye said.

    A curse tumbled out of Min¡¯er¡¯s mouth as she smashed the bar, vexed. However, the moment her fist fell down, the entire bar shook!

    Everyone in the bar lifted their heads and looked about in a daze. A hidden glint shed across Qianye¡¯s eyes, but it vanished immediately.

    Outside, the bald sheriff suddenly let out an unnaturally high-pitched scream, ¡°Wait! I¡¯m opening the gate now! I¡¯m opening the gate now!¡±

    Before the sheriff could finish his words, an earthshaking explosion went off outside the bar, its shockwave shattering every window in the Red Spider Lily. The spray of broken ss fell on many people¡¯s heads, and there were a few unlucky fellows who were cut by them¡ªhowever, no one wasining, and everyone was staring outside in great fear.

    Heavy footsteps resounded inside the small town. It was the sound of military boots stepping against the ground.

 Volume 2 - 3: Expeditionary Forces

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 3: Expeditionary Forces

    A squad of ck d soldiers walked in,ing from the same direction as the town¡¯s outskirts. They numbered only a dozen or so, but everyst one of them reeked of the thick stench of blood. Their armbands were emzoned with the image of a firearm crossed with a bloodstained bay. It was the insignia of the imperial expeditionary army!

    The little town¡¯s main gate was entirely destroyed. Outside, broken pipes futily spewed steam into the air. The few buildings around the gate were also sted apart by the explosion¡¯s shockwave. Meanwhile, the bald sheriff softly moaned, half his body buried under the debris.

    It was exactly because the town gate stood in the way of the imperial expeditionary army that they decided to blow it away altogether.

    There were also dozens of people following unsteadily behind the soldiers of the expeditionary army. They were a mass of bruises, with their hands tied with iron wires and chained together into a single line. The rusty iron dug deep into their flesh even as they bled. The moment they showed any sign of slowing, they would be immediately whipped by the expeditionary soldiers beside them.

    In the darkness, the Red Spider Lily¡¯s glowing signboard and broken windows were extraordinarily striking in the dim light. Due to that, this squad of imperial soldiers switched directions and approached the bar.

    Two tall soldiers entered the bar first and surveyed their surroundings.

    Their gazes were as sharp as eagles, and no one in the entire bar dared match eyes with them. With the firepower of their automatic rifles they held, it wouldn¡¯t even take them more than a minute to turn everyone inside the bar into corpses.

    One soldier pointed at Qianye and said coldly, ¡°Prepare food for twenty men. Quickly!¡±

    ¡°You dirty pigs, clean the tables and get your asses outside! Now!¡± yelled the other soldier as he pointed his rifle at the scavengers.

    With cating smiles, the scavengers wiped the tables clean with lightning speed before escaping the bar. Another group of people consciously moved away from the best tables inside the bar and hid in a corner. The imperial forces didn¡¯t tell them to leave, so none of them dared to step outside.

    A tall officer slowly walked into the bar. When he passed through the doorframe, he even lowered his head.

    He had a pair of thick, straight eyebrows, and his eyes were like the Evernight Domain¡¯s most savage and devious nighthawks while his predatory gaze swept across every man and woman inside the bar. Then, he chose a table at the center and sat down.

    Sounds of scolding and beating came from outside. Then, dozens of people were driven in by the expeditionary forces and forced to pack themselves into a corner.

    The officer nced at the people inside the bar before announcing in a deep and raspy voice, ¡°Look at them! These are the people who were tainted by the blood of darkness. The only fate that awaits them is that of the lightless ck mines! They will mine until their deaths, until the ck blood awakens and turns them into monsters who thirst only for fresh meat and blood before they are executed by the guards. Open your eyes and look well! All who fall to Evernight shall face this exact fate!¡±

    Fear appeared in everyone¡¯s eyes.

    These captured people all shared amon title: blood thrall. Anyone who was bitten by a bloodsucker would be corrupted by the blood of darkness and transformed into a beast without sanity. They would thirst for blood and flesh when it was time to eat, and they would madly attack any targets under a superior¡¯s order until they perished inbat.

    Most blood thralls were executed if found anywhere under the Empire¡¯s rule. A small number of people who hadn¡¯t yet transformed would be sent to the ck mines to work until their deaths.

    Pure blooded vampires were very rarely seen, but blood thralls were also highly dangerous lifeforms. There was an extremely high chance that anyone who got bitten or scratched by a blood thrall¡ªor even got just a little too close to them¡ªwould be tainted by the blood of darkness. The original guests and women of the bar pressed into each other and shivered together, doing their very best to stay as far away as possible from those blood thralls.

    It was at this moment a middle-aged man suddenly charged out of the captured group of blood thralls, falling to his knees and crying loudly, ¡°I am not a blood thrall. I am not tainted by the blood of darkness!¡±

    A slightly twisted, grim smile appeared on the officer¡¯s face. He said, ¡°I know.¡±

    The middle-aged man froze and lifted his head in shock, unable to believe his ears. But what greeted him was a actually pitch ck muzzle!

    There was a loud bang. Every bottle and ss in the bar vibrated. The middle-aged man continued to kneel, but his head had already beenpletely blown away. Blood and brain matter sprayed all over the floor.

    The officer blew the blue smoke off his muzzle and said to the headless corpse, ¡°I know that you¡¯re not a blood thrall, but harboring blood thralls is just the same.¡±

    A soldier took a step forward and asked, ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Liu, should we deal with both his sons as well?¡±

    The officer swept a nce at the group of blood thralls. The two pale-faced young men standing there were the middle-aged man¡¯s sons. They shrank backward, trying to hide behind another person¡¯s back.

    The officer called Liu pointed at them and said, ¡°Come on you two. Take this corpse outside and toss it to the dogs, thene back and wash the floor! I hate the stench of blood.¡±

    Trembling in fear, the two young men obediently lifted their father¡¯s corpse and carried it outside. Everyone knew that if they resisted, the imperial expeditionary army had hundreds of ways to make them wish they were dead.

    Just as the officer surnamed Liu and the imperial soldiers¡¯ eyes were attracted to this side, someone among the blood thralls suddenly made a bid to escape. He charged toward the bar¡¯s back door, screaming, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go to the ck mines!¡±

    The officer let out yet another grim smile before unholstering an odd-shaped rifle from his back and aiming at the back of the running blood thrall. His movements might appear slow, but was it was in fact pretty quick. When the blue patterns on the rifle lit up, the blood thrall had just managed to run halfway down the hall.

    It was at this moment Qianye walked out from the back door while carrying a food tray.

    In this instant, Qianye, the blood thrall, and the officer¡¯s muzzle joined to form a straight line!

    The officer saw Qianye, but he still pulled the trigger as the corner of his lips pulled a bit!

    Out of the rifle¡¯s muzzle shot not a bullet, but a ball of red light!

    Suddenly, a gaping hole was sted through the center of the blood thrall¡¯s body. Amid the foaming blood and scattered bits of flesh, the red light¡¯s unspent energy continued to travel forward and pierced through two more walls before it finally exhausted itself and disappeared. The red light was unusually powerful and was easily a match for arge caliber cannon!

    Qianye¡¯s body was not sted to pieces. He wasn¡¯t even hurt. Right now, his body was weirdly arched forty five degrees sideways, and both his legs were stuck to the ground as if nailed down. He simply avoided the officer¡¯s firing trajectory.

    Tak. With a soft ssh, a drop of blood fell from the sky onto Qianye¡¯s face, blooming into a small flower of blood. It was unusually striking on the background of his pale white skin.

    Qianye¡¯s breathing suddenly grew heavier, and a glint of dark red shed deep behind his pupils. However, the abnormalitysted only an instant, and as if pulled by invisible strings, Qianye¡¯s body stood up straight once more. Not a drop of alcohol even spilled on the tray.

    Thump. It was only then that the blood thrall¡¯s body crashed onto the ground. A hand stretching forward with everything it had fell with a plop mere centimeters away from Qianye¡¯s feet.

    The pupils of the officer surnamed Liu shrunk, and he suddenly smiled, saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t think I would meet a true expert with awakened origin energy in such a tiny ce! This is certainly a surprise!¡±

    Qianye said in a low tone, ¡°Just scraping about.¡±

    The officer¡¯s eyes were as sharp as des. He stared closely at Qianye and asked, ¡°You¡¯re not eighteen yet, are you?¡±

    ¡°A little over seventeen,¡± Qianye answered.

    The officer circled Qianye a few times and said, ¡°You ignited an origin node at just the age of seventeen. Your talent is pretty impressive! You have origin energy, and at such a young age. You should have a bright future ahead of you, and yet you¡¯ve hid yourself at such a small ce. Things ain¡¯t as simple as they seem, are they?¡±

    QIanye kept quiet and did not answer.

    The officer took out a metallic namete imprinted with the expeditionary army¡¯s logo and tossed it into Qianye¡¯s tray. ¡°My name is Liu Jiang,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are or what you¡¯ve done. If you¡¯re willing, you can take this namete and seek out Lieutenant Colonel Chu Xiong at the expeditionary army¡¯s fortress. He¡¯s beencking some manpower theretely. As long as you¡¯ve joined the imperial expeditionary army, no matter what you did in the past, even if it¡¯s something like killing a noble in the upper continents, it is nothing. Do you understand?¡±

    Qianye bowed slightly and said, ¡°Thank you!¡± For many people, this was a recruitment opportunity that they could only dream of, but Qianye barely reacted to it.

    Liu Jiang could see that Qianye wasn¡¯t too interested in joining the expeditionary army. He was not of the mind to force the issue either, so he returned to his seat and sat down. Qianye put arge ss of spirit and a te of bacon and potatoes in front of him.

    The officer lifted the ss, sniffed, and his eyes lit up. ¡°Good liquor! I seriously didn¡¯t think I would run into such an amazing drink in this small ce. If Chu Xiong knew about your culinary skills he would ept you for sure.¡± However, he then put down his ss and said, ¡°Alright, now give me a ss of water. I never drink on a mission.¡±

    And so, Qianye withdrew the ss of spirit and gave Liu Jiang a ss of water instead.

    These were the Empire¡¯s expeditionary forces stationed on the Evernight Continent. On one hand, they were cruel and tyrannical, fierce and overbearing, ughtering people like flies. On the other, the several million strong expeditionary forces were the central pir that stood against the dark races. It was because of their existence that human collectives such as Lighthouse Town were not attacked by huge swarms of dark races.

    Qianye put out all the trays of food, and the imperial soldiers chowed down without saying a single word. The entire bar suddenly turned quiet. Everyone felt that the atmosphere was oppressive and unbearable, but no one dared to move, much less leave the ce.

    The imperial soldiers were just halfway through their meals when the bar¡¯s entrance suddenly opened without a sound. Two men d in ck windbreakers walked in.

    There was not a speck of dust to be seen on their bodies, and they were so clean and tidy that they appeared incredibly jarring with the wilderness around them. Even more bizarre was that no one noticed their arrival when they appeared.

    The moment they entered the bar, the duo swept their gazes everywhere. Every time they saw something their eyebrows would wrinkle just a little tighter. It was as if there was nothing in the ce that could satisfy them, including the imperial forces inside.

    When Liu Jiang saw the symbol on the corner of the windbreakers, his expression changed as he stood up immediately. But just as he was about to say something, one of the ck d man said coldly, ¡°Did I tell you to stand up?¡±

    Liu Jiang turned furious, but the instant their eyes met, he let out a dull snort and fell back into his seat as if dealt a heavy blow. His face immediately turned pale white, evident that he had suffered quite the injury.

    The man snorted and said with contempt, ¡°Bunch of trash. No wonder you could only stand guard at this godforsaken ce. If the Empire really had to rely on you to deal with the dark races, we would¡¯ve been destroyed a long time ago.¡±

    Liu Jiang¡¯s mouth twitched as he wiped away the blood seeping out of his mouth and raised a hand to stop his soldiers from moving. With a raspy voice, he asked, ¡°Why have youe to this forsakennd, sir?¡±

    The other person said coldly, ¡°You are not qualified to know! Another word and I¡¯ll have you all ughtered!¡±

    The blue vein on Liu Jiang¡¯s neck throbbed non-stop, and his hand edged a little closer to the origin rifle behind his back. But still he stopped himself wisely.

    When they saw this, the two men wrapped in ck windbreakers grew even more disdainful.

    It was at this moment when an old voice rang from outside the door, ¡°Miss, this ce is unclean. Not only are there blood thralls inside, there are also some dregs of the expeditionary forces. Maybe it¡¯s better if you don¡¯t go in?¡±

 Volume 2 - 4: Other Shore Flower

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 4: Other Shore Flower

    ¡°The expeditionary forces, huh¡­ it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m just going in to take a look.¡± A clean and clear voice followed right after. It was incredibly soft and melodious, much like the sound of a crystalline wind chime after being shaken by a soft breeze during a summer afternoon.

    ¡°If you insist, then give this old servant some time to clean out all the expeditionary forces and blood thralls inside this ce before youe in.¡±

    ¡°No! I¡¯m just taking a look, there¡¯s no need to kill so many people!¡±

    ¡°¡­Alright.¡±

    The bar¡¯s door disintegrated soundlessly, and the temperature inside the room dropped by dozens of degrees. Everyone, including the soldiers of the expeditionary forces, now found themselves losing the ability to move. Their eyes were the only thing that could move about.

    A girl walked into the bar.

    Her figure was slightly thin and petite, and her slim, ck cloak entuated her small face and stunning looks to appear as if there were a soft glow around it. Her skin was like porcin of the highest quality. She had big round eyes that were both elegant and pure. It was a pair of eyes that did not seem to belong in this chaotic, bloody, and filthy world at all.

    When she walked into the bar, it was as if all of Red Spider Lily had suddenly turned into a human paradise that was no longer cold nor filthy. All of the changes were brought forth by the mysterious young girl as she seemed to have the incredible power to cleanse one¡¯s soul.

    She appeared immeasurably powerful, yet she also seemed to be iparably feeble. It was as if a breeze on the wastnd were enough to topple her over, shattering her to pieces. The instant they saw her, the crowd actually felt an indescribable sense of heartache. It was as if this pure and delicate girl could perish at any moment.

    Her gaze slowly swept across every person and every corner of the bar, not leaving out even the slightest detail. When she gazed upon Qianye, her eyes brightened slightly and exuded a hint of pleasant surprise. However, it quickly faded in the next moment, after which she let out a soft sigh.

    She said softly, ¡°I thought that a ce called Red Spider Lily would be more or less different from others¡­ Sigh! Maybe I thought too much. Let us leave, Uncle Wang.¡±

    Heeding the young girl¡¯s call, an old man with silvery white hair quietly appeared beside her. In truth, he had been standing beside the young girl all this time. It was just that everyone had subconsciously overlooked his existence.

    The old man nced at Qianye and said to the girl, ¡°This is but a normal bar, it shelters evil and hides filth just like every other. He may have stumbled upon this term by coincidence, but knew nothing at all about its true meaning.¡±

    The young girl pulled at her cloak and sighed softly. ¡°Perhaps! Still, it is a small, pleasant surprise to see such a term in this abandonednd.¡±

    Uncle Wang let out a smile. ¡°It is rare of you to show joy, my young miss. Why don¡¯t we share with him a bit of your joy then. A lucky boy he is, hoho.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, he is a lucky fellow!¡± the young girl said softly.

    The young girl left the bar, whereas the old man took out a small, ck velvet sack and put it down on the bar. He said Qianye with a meaningful tone, ¡°Since you have made the young miss happy, you deserve a reward no matter what you shoulder. This is yours.¡±

    It was only after the old man had left that the people inside the bar regained their ability to do anything. However, they continued to stay still, even forgetting to move or speak. Their experience of immobility and muteness earlier was like a nightmare, and that young girl was the only brightness within it.

    Qianye¡¯s face was pale as his hand pressed onto the ck velvet sack the old man had left behind. After a very long time, he finally opened it and took a nce.

    It was an entire sack of imperial gold coins!

    These dozens of imperial gold coins signified such tremendous wealth that it would drive anyone in the wastnd insane.

    In thiswlessnd, three silver coins were enough to buy a person¡¯s life, and five silver coins could make nearly any woman lift their skirts willingly. But an imperial gold coin¡­ that could be exchanged for a total sum of one hundred silver coins. The imperial gold coin itself could not be spent, because there was nothing in thisnd that was worth even a single such coin.

    The gold coin did not dazzle Qianye, however. Instead, his gaze was tightly locked onto the crystalline box, half buried within the sack of gold coins. The crystalline box was only three fingers wide, and its surface was etched with a rose-like flower of exquisite craftsmanship. Through the cover of the box, he could see that there were three silver bullets inside of it.

    The heads of these three bullets were all made of transparent crystal. Silvery white liquid flowed inside it, and the same rose-like flower as before was etched on the silvery casting of the shell.

    These non-standard silver bullets were obviously origin bullets privately created by one of the great imperial families. Their damaging effects on the dark races were extraordinary, and they were especially lethal against vampires.

    But Qianye¡¯s expression had turned as pale as paper when he saw the three bullets. Cold sweat abruptly poured out of his pores and drenched his entire clothing.

    Many people inside the bar were curious about the contents of the ck velvet sack, poking their heads out to get a good look. Looks of avarice appeared on many people¡¯s faces, but none of them actually dared to get their heads any closer to get a good look. Curiosity and greed might make a lot of people fearless and mad, but in the face of absolute strength, humans would properly hide these emotions behind their masks.

    Meanwhile, the imperial soldiers put down the food that they¡¯d only eaten half of and quietly fell into formation, escorting the blood thralls away from the bar.

    An imperial soldier walked in along the bar and said coldly, ¡°Boy, your luck is great, but what did that old¡­¡±

    He was about to say ¡°What did that old man give you just now, show it to us?¡±, but he was only halfway through before Liu Jiang interrupted him.

    The lieutenant colonel had actuallyid an imperial gold coin on the bar!

    He said solemnly, ¡°This is for the meal. Your luck truly is pretty impressive to be able to win a personage¡¯s favor. But if you change your mind, you can alwayse to the expeditionary army¡¯s fortress. Remember my name, I am Liu Jiang. You can seek out either Chu Xiong or me.¡±

    Deep in thought, Qianye slowly answered, ¡°Thank you. I will¡­ consider it.¡±

    Liu Jiang nodded and gave him an ¡°I¡¯m leaving!¡± greeting before escorting the expeditionary forces away from the bar.

    At the town gate, the bald sheriff had already crawled out of the ruins. His entire face was smeared in blood, but he did not wipe it away. Instead, he simply sat on top of a huge rock and gazed at the sky, murmuring to himself, ¡°I knew that it wasn¡¯t peaceful as ofte, I knew it¡­¡±

    By then, It was already night, and the huge, round moon hanging in the sky was as red as blood!

    Qianye closed the bar early and exempted everyone from their tabs of that night. The people were frightened, and they also wished to return to their homes sooner than they did normally to rest and get over their shock.

    Among the people, the central topic of discussion was still the amount of money inside the small sack. Moreover, many people were also discussing what exactly ¡°Red Spider Lily¡± truly meant. However, not many people in this town were even literate, so no matter how vivid their imaginations were, it was a fruitless effort.

    Within the bar, Qianye looked at the flower inside the crystalline bullet box and did not move for a very long time. The flower wasn¡¯t actually a rose, but rather a legendary flower called the Red Spider Lily.

    In legends, it was said that the Red Spider Lily, also known as the Other Shore Flower, only grew in the depths of Nether River, guiding souls to the other side of the shore.

    Night gradually deepened, and the town slowly quieted down as the people began to enter their dreands one after another. The bald sheriff himself had also returned to his home and drank himself silly with half a catty of lousy strong spirits. Then he fell asleep, snoring loudly.

    The town¡¯s huge gate was still in shambles. It would take more than a few days to repair it. In fact, the only thing the town walls could defend against now were normal beasts and blood thralls.

    But they would not have to worry about this tonight. The expeditionary forces had obviously made a massive sweep around the area, and hopefully, things would be peaceful for at least half a month or so.

    In the eyes of the more powerful scavengers, pioneers, and adventurers, an intact Lighthouse Town was no different from a Lighthouse Town without any defenses at all, not to mention that the expeditionary forces and the regr soldiers could easily eradicate this ce from the face of the continent. However, those were not things the bald sheriff needed to think about. The sheriff could always look at the bright side when it came to things that exceeded his capabilities. Even if he couldn¡¯t do so, he still didn¡¯t have the ability to change it.

    Qianye had also fallen asleep. Through the haze of dreams, he suddenly found himself located at a quiet and dead neighborhood.

    There were no lights and no people. His lonely footsteps were the only thing that resonated across the empty streets. There was a huge blood moon in the sky that had taken up a small portion of the night sky.

    He instinctively felt that a huge crisis was approaching him, but he could not find any weapon on his body nor in his surroundings. In his haste, he rushed to the roadside and attempted to pull an iron pipe stuck in the ground, but just as he gripped the pipe, countless blood thralls suddenly leaped out of the surrounding darkness and pounced toward him while howling!

    Qianye felt that his body was all of sudden impossibly heavy, and every movement he made was several times slower than normal. He was not in time to defend himself at all before a blood thrall pushed him to the ground and bit his neck. Its sharp teeth sank deep into his aorta!

    Qianye abruptly sat up from the ground!

    He panted for a long time before finally recognizing that he was inside his own room. What happened just now was but a nightmare.

    But the nightmare was too realistic and clear. The feeling of the bloodsucking fangs sinking into his neck felt just like the real thing. It was realistic to the point that even though Qianye knew that it was just a dream, he could not hold himself back from touching his neck.

    The skin in that area was smooth. Only by pressing one¡¯s finger onto it would one realize that there were two faint bumps in the area. It was the wound left behind by the vampire.

    Qianye¡¯s chest heaved rapidly, and sweat covered his entire body.

    He did noty on a bed, and instead had himself wrapped up in a nket and curled up in a corner. This was a habit he had developed on the Evernight Continent to avoid being ambushed by enemies while he was asleep. Moreover, he could even surprise his ambushers from this position and kill them before they could react.

    Qianye stood up and felt a wave of weakness and dizziness, nearly stumbling back onto the ground. He pulled himself together and arrived at the cab beside the wall. He then picked up the ck velvet sack again and took the crystalline bullet box from inside it. After a moment of hesitation, he finally opened the box.

    Under the weak light, the bulletheads of all three silver bullets emanated an extremely beautiful, faint glow. The moment the crystalline box was open, a rich wave of origin power immediately rushed to his face.

    Qianye whispered quietly to himself, ¡°As expected, they are¡­ all origin bullets.¡±

    He reached out to touch the silver origin bullets. His fingertip had only just touched one of the bullets before a small part of his finger immediately burned off, letting out a soft sizzling sound. Inside the bullethead, the origin power that was condensed into a liquid also began vibrating intensely as if it could explode at any moment.

    Qianye immediately withdrew his hand, and the silver origin bullet¡¯s reaction slowly receded since he no longer touched it. He knew that these three bullets were no ordinary silver origin bullets. They were Mithril Bullets of Exorcism, tailor-made against vampires, and judging from the resonation and intensity of the origin power, the creator of these three bullets was definitely no ordinary elite.

    As Qianye looked at his hands, his left hand glowed with faint divine light, whereas his right was entangled with thick blood energy.

    The girl¡¯s eyes had the terrifying power of seeing through all falsehoods, and the Uncle Wang beside her was an even more terrifying elite. The origin power he held was well controlled, and he was one of the most powerful experts Qianye had ever seen.

    The fact that the man left the box of specially crafted Mithril Bullets of Exorcism within the sack of imperial gold coins obviously meant that he had already seen through Qianye¡¯s secret. It was just that he did not expose him for what he was because his bar was called Red Spider Lily.

    However, just what else could be so special about the Red Spider Lily other than the fact that it was the most famous gun in the empire? What other secrets did it hold that the old man who had nned to cleanse everyone in the bar earlier would let go of Qianye, a person who was potentially tainted by the ck blood just like that?

 Volume 2 - 5: Peaceful Life

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 5: Peaceful Life

    Qianye had another doubt in his mind. He could not feel the slightest bit of origin power from the girl¡¯s body, so either she did not cultivate any origin power at all, or she was powerful to the extent where Qianye was incapable of detecting any origin power from her whatsoever.

    Thetter was obviously impossible. Even an elite at Uncle Wang¡¯s level could hardly conceal their own origin power, so it just wasn¡¯t possible that such a young girl would have an even greater power than him.

    But it was also very strange to assume that she was the former. The true aristocratic families of the Empire would neverck resources, and if any child among their families had even a speck of talent, they would bepletely unearthed and nurtured for their own purposes. It was rumored that some aristocratic families even had secret arts that could almost be considered to defy against the natural order itself. So even if she had no origin talent at all, as long as her family was willing to invest huge sums of resources, then they could create an extraordinary talent out of nowhere just the same.

    Obviously, it was impossible that this girl wouldn¡¯t have any talent at all. So the fact that she appeared to have no origin power at all became very strange. There must be something that he wasn¡¯t seeing just yet.

    Moreover, Qianye also sensed the hint of a familiar scent on the girl.

    Suddenly, Qianyeughed derisively at himself. What did this girl¡¯s predicament have anything to do with him? Even if the girl did run into some kind of problem, if it was something that could not even be solved by the huge family behind her, then how could a lowly blood thrall like him, who struggled to live between rubbish and ferocious beasts, possibly help her?

    Any sack of that kind of tip tossed out casually by a servant of the girl¡¯s would be enough for him to live for several lifetimes in this wastnd, not to mention that his lingering intimidation was sufficient to frighten thewless expeditionary army from robbing him. On the contrary, they were even showing him good will.

    But this was all meaningless. Perhaps not far away in the future the dark blood in him would break outpletely, and he would turn into a corpse in thisndfill and be dinner to scavengers and wild dogs.

    Qianye covered up the crystalline box again, cutting off the origin aura of the Mithril Bullets of Exorcism. If he continued to expose these three extremely precious Mithril Bullets of Exorcism in the open, then the origin power inside them would leak out continuously over the next few days before dissipating entirely. These three bullets would then be normal mithril bullets. This was why all physical bullets infused with origin power needed to be stored in special containers.

    This crystalline box was a top grade container on its own, capable of isting nearly all origin power. It could preserve origin power bullets for up to an entire year! This box alone was worth a few hundred imperial gold coins. The origin bullet boxes distributed by the Red Scorpion Corps could only preserve origin power bullets for a month. Moreover, the power of the origin bullets would diminish continuously during the one month period.

    The instition process of origin power into the bullets was done by at least a rank three cultivator. As usual, these bullets required the use of an origin power gun. However, since the bullets were difficult to preserve, and its instition process would greatly drag down one¡¯s cultivation speed, the Red Scorpion¡¯s soldiers would only begin instilling origin power into their bullets before battle. There was almost no market at all for these type of bullets.

    Qianye put the Mithril Bullets of Exorcism back into the ck, velvet sack and returned it to the shelf. Due to the dark blood inside his body, he instinctively wanted to move away from the three mithril bullets. Right now, the weakness brought by the nightmare was slowly fading, and his senses had regained their acuteness once more. He immediately heard some strange noises through the walls next to his room.

    It was the voice of a man and woman, f*cking each other while moaning as the bed creaked. The adjacent room was the Red Spider Lily¡¯s guest room, so the second Qianye heard the noises, he knew that the big bed soldered with angle iron was in danger of copsing from the intense shaking at any moment.

    The woman was crying at the top of her lungs. The man should be that big one-eyed man. It seemed like he was trying to squeeze out the full worth of his coin. Meanwhile, there were also some faint noises from the other side of the room. It was the sound of a person tossing and turning in her bed mixed with some suggestive moaning in between.

    Ming¡¯er was inside that room. She was the sole upant, and she seemed to be doing a certain something.

    Qianye simply pretended that he heard nothing, looking left and right to search for something to keep his hands busy.

    But only a moment had passed before a series of banging noises came from Ming¡¯er¡¯s room. She was smashing her fists furiously against the wall of Qianye¡¯s bedroom. Getting no response from Qianye after smashing for a while, she eventually grew quiet, perhaps out of exhaustion.

    Although the night was still deep, Qianye couldn¡¯t sleep. Heposed himself and sat still on top of his bed, his mind gradually sinking into his own body as he began cultivating the ¡°Combatant Form.¡±

    Right now, under Qianye¡¯s guidance, the origin power inside his body was pounding against the origin node in his right hand like a tidal wave. The origin power inside his body had distinct edges, and every impact would bring Qianye pain that was much like being torn apart.

    After suffering twenty full cycles of origin tides, Qianye finally withdrew his origin power and guided it back to the two nodes around his chest and abdominal area. Once he was done, Qianye promptly copsed onto his bed, and it took him a long time before he finally regained a bit of his energy.

    Qianye struggled down the bed, feeling pain as if every inch of his flesh and nerves were on fire. He looked at the rm clock. He had cultivated for three hours, and it was already three in the morning. However, there was still the continuous sound of poundinging from next door. It seemed that the one-eyed brutish man had made up his mind to recoup his losses, and Qianye wondered which woman was unlucky enough to be caught by him.

    After he finished cultivating the Combatant Form, the intercourse next door could no longer affect Qianye in any way. He took off his sweat-drenched clothes and wiped his body with a towel drenched in cold water.

    Qianye had grown yet another few centimeters. He appeared lean when he was wearing a coat, but when his clothes were taken off, one would discover that his entire body was bnced, muscr, and full of power. His lines were as thick and tough as steel threads without any trace of b whatsoever. The scar on his chest was now nearly half a meter long, looking like a giant centipede upying the center of his body.

    Every time he ignited the Aura Sea node, Qianye would discover that the origin power cultivated from this particr node was unusually violent and difficult to control. If Qianye¡¯s origin power could be described as a sharp war de, then inparison to the origin power of the other soldiers, theirs were not even unsheathed yet.

    This special origin power gave Qianye¡¯sbat technique extraordinary strength and killing power. But inparison, the pain and damage it caused to his body were also a lot more severe than other people¡¯s. Although the Combatant Form could be cultivated all the way up to rank nine, at this rate, Qianye would probably implode and perish by the time he cultivated it to rank six.

    Qianye touched his left arm. There was also a scar here that was square-shaped and about the size of a palm. This was a scar Qianye had branded himself with since there used to be a tattoo in this same location. The tattoo was a scarlet scorpion with a needle-like tail. It was also the insignia of the Red Scorpion Corps.

    The Empire had tens of millions of soldiers, and even at its max, the Red Scorpion Corps did not exceed ten thousand people. Although Qianye had entered the Red Scorpion Corps by the lowest standard and in the eyes of an outsider he was nothing more than a lucky kid, in truth, the injury on his chest caused the origin power Qianye cultivated to be a lot more violent than the normal Combatant Form. The pain and impact he suffered at the fourteenth cycle of the origin tide was already the equivalent of some other soldiers¡¯ twentieth cycle.

    Among the Red Scorpion and several other elite corps, there was a title called ¡°Soldier King¡± that was granted only to those who could endure thirty cycles of origin tides. Currently, it was a rarity for even one new Soldier King to appear per year in the entire Empire. Traditionally, the Red Scorpion¡¯smander and deputymander position could only be held by a Soldier King.

    Once, Qianye thought that if he had the chance to be a Soldier King if his origin power wasn¡¯t so violent.

    Unfortunately, ifs were only ifs, and they could never be a reality. The Empire¡¯s rankings were strict and harsh, and although it might be cruel, it was also the fairest. The army only looked at results and not the process. Thirty cycles was thew, and thew demanded not a cycle less. Whether a person¡¯s origin power was as violent as fire or as gentle as water, they must endure thirty cycles of origin tides to truly be considered a Soldier King.

    Qianye abruptly let out a deep sigh amid the darkness. It was all in the past. The Red Scorpion Corps was now forever history, just like the tattoo that he had burned away with a branding iron. All of the honor, the martial power, the status, and therades rted to the scorpion had been buried inside his heart. What remained was only a scar.

    Ever since that fateful night, Qianye knew that he could never live a normal person¡¯s life any longer.

    Perhaps the one concern he had left was Lin Xitang¡¯s fate, but the lower continent and the middle-and-upper continents were twopletely different worlds. He could hear no news from the higher continents at all. Sometimes Qianye could onlyfort himself by thinking that if something big truly happened to a great person like Lin Xitang, then the news should make its way even to such a small and secluded ce like this town. Therefore no news also equaled the greatest news.

    When Qianye first arrived on the Evernight Continent, he had drifted aimlessly until he finally arrived at Lighthouse Town. For whatever reason, he found the town pleasing and decided to settle down in this ce. Moreover, he used thest few silver coins in his pockets to open this bar that was known as the Red Spider Lily.

    The locals of this town were both cunning and guileless. They quickly epted Qianye¡¯s existence, because the drinks here were pretty great.

    As long as Qianye¡¯s alcohol remained the same, then no one would care about his identity. Even if Qianye were a bona fide bloodsucker, they would turn a blind eye to him.

    Qianye walked in front of the wall. There was a steel te embedded in the wall that was so polished that it was shining. This was his mirror.

    The person in the mirror seemed a little distant even to him. For the past year, Qianye¡¯s skin turned whiter and whiter, and his eyes and facial outline had also be more gentle and delicate. Although his strength had constantly been increasing, the muscles that were so big that they were somewhat ridiculous before his transformation were now withdrawn like origin alloy threads, thin but extremely durable.

    It was at this moment when knocking noises suddenly came from outside his wall. Then, he heard the bald sheriff shouting through manyyers of obstacles with his uniquely powerful windpipe, saying, ¡°Qianye,e out and help me fix the town gate! And you too, Cyclops! I know you¡¯re in there! I hope you haven¡¯t squeezed yourself too much tonight that you can¡¯t even move these steel pipes!¡±

    Cyclops¡¯ voice came reluctantly from next door, ¡°I ain¡¯t finished yet!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯te out then I¡¯ll st yer balls right off!¡± The bald sheriff¡¯s threats were as direct and efficient as usual.

    Qianye swiftly put on his clothes and walked to the living hall. He nced at the main entrance of his bar where a door should be. It waspletely bare without even a door hinge to be seen. Still, installing a steel door would be much easier than fixing the motor driven town gate.

    Cyclops also walked out of the corridor behind Qianye while grumbling. His upper body was bare, and there were dozens of w marks at the front and back of his body. Some of them were so deep that blood could be seen!

    When Qianye saw the blood droplets on Cyclops¡¯ body, hisrynx suddenly turned a little in his throat. The intense thirst that abruptly came out of nowhere nearly caused a moan to escape his lips.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Qianye?¡± Cyclops asked him a little strangely.

    Qianye managed a strained smile and said, ¡°Nothing, just envying you.¡±

    Cyclops chuckled and rubbed his head a little in embarassment, saying, ¡°If you¡¯re willing, that bitch Ming¡¯er wouldn¡¯t take a penny from you at all! I really don¡¯t get why you keep turning her down.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to offer her,¡± Qianye answered as if he didn¡¯t hear him at all.

    ¡°You should give it a try. She really wouldn¡¯t take a penny from you!¡±

    The bald sheriff cut them both off, ¡°Alright, cut the bullshit ande help me out already! I have no intention for us to live in a town with no gates when the dark season starts. Once the gate is fixed, you two lucky fellows don¡¯t have to pay any taxes for the month.¡±

    The sheriff¡¯s surname was Zhang. He had a shiny shaved head, and his belly was so huge that he could keep a calf inside. Other than the fact that he was a person who handled matters fairly, he mainly relied on his rank one Fighter strength and massively powerful shotgun to hold his position as the sheriff of Lighthouse Town.

    Cyclops and Qianye followed the sheriff to the warehouse. A momentter, the duo lifted a bundle of steel pipes and walked together to the town gate. By now the sheriff had already cleaned out the ruin, and after greeting them once, the trio arrived at the blown up gate.

    chinachu Notice:

    I know I stated that I was going to China with mommychu to visit grannychu and was hoping to return sometime June or so, but mommychu struck again, pushing our flight to June 1st. My trip to China is also now extended from June to the middle of July. Due to this trip, the nned double daily month releases for MEN will now be even more dyed. They WILL stille out after my trip though! Any regr chapters for every one of our series will still being out when I¡¯m there (MEN 7, ATG 7, SR *TBD by Patreon*). I will try my best to get them out ording to schedule, but if any chapters are missed due to chinachu problems, all of them will be made up when I get home.

    I know some people do not read the chapter posts in their haste to read the chapter so I¡¯ll be leaving this message at the bottom of each chapter as a reminder!

 Volume 2 - 6: The Path of Darkness

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 6: The Path of Darkness

    The sheriff alone was in charge of one side, while Qianye and Cyclops were in charge of the other. The three of them, with a mighty shout as they simultaneously exerted themselves, was able to lift up the gate weighing an entire ton, pushing it towards the gate tower.

    Although Cyclops had never activated his origin nodes, he also had been cultivating all along and wasn¡¯t far from activating the first origin node. Furthermore, his innate skill was Strength Enhancement. Qianye, on the other hand, steadily disyed the power of a rank one fighter, not going any higher or lesser.

    A seventeen-year old rank one fighter would at most attract people¡¯s envy for a bit, but a seventeen-year old rank two fighter would bepletely different. How could someone with the qualifications to join the Empire¡¯s special forcese here to open a small bar in such a barren ce?

    At eight in the morning, the three of them were already exhausted, but only a small part of the repairs to the city¡¯s gates were done. In order to assemble the generator that had an entire half its structure fallen apart, they would need to order parts fromrge cities.

    The new parts would take at least a week to arrive. Despite bald sheriff¡¯s deep worries, there was no choice for him but to continue living a life steeped in anxiety for another week.

    At this time, the upper continents had long since been lit with the light of day. However, in the dark season of the Evernight Continent, several orbits of the upper continents just happened to converge above the Evernight Continent, blocking out the sun.

    In a single day, only from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon would there be daylight on the Evernight Continent. The rest of the time, it was night.

    The round, crimson-colored moon still hung there in the night sky. ording to the legends of the Evernight Continent, as long as the crimson moon appeared, so would a disaster. When the blood colored moon was in the sky, the power of all of the dark races would increase, and the primal beasts in the wilds would also be more violent and ferocious.

    Looking at the blood moon in the sky, Qianye suddenly felt blood energy stirring all over his body, his senses bing incredibly sharp. What grew most of all was his sense of smell, which suddenly became hundreds of thousands of times more sensitive. He could almost smell the scent of all of the people in town. That scorching hot smell of fresh blood was almost driving him insane!

    Qianye parted from the sheriff and swiftly returned to the bar, closing the door tightly, after which he copsed head-first on the floor, howling out like a wild beast, rolling everywhere across the floor.

    The thirst for fresh blood was an torture almost impossible to bear, and this feeling of pain and emptiness was even worse than that of the ¡®Euphoria¡¯ drug withdrawal acting up. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Qianye had already trained up the willpower matching that of a Red Scorpion Soldier King when cultivating the Combatant Form, he would already have sumbed to his thirst for blood long ago, bing a true blood thrall.

    As Qianyey there on the cold floor, he bit on a towel with his mouth in order to not let himself scream out loud. He held onto some steel railing that was welded to the wall with one hand, and used the other to repeatedly m down upon the floor!

    Dong! Dong! Dong!

    The muffled thumps propagated out from the bar, and the entirety of the Red Spider Lily shook were slightly trembling with the sound. At this time, there were no guests in the bar, and the sound echoed across the empty halls.

    A few scavengers happened to pass by, but hearing this strange, dull thudding, all of their expressions changed, and they all changed their walking routes, staying far away from the Red Spider Lily, as if this bar imprisoned a demonkin within.

    A whole hour passed before Qianye finally managed to crawl back up. Staggering to the cab, he took out a blood bag from within, and carefully squeezed a few drops of fresh blood into his mouth. He then instantly sealed back the bag, and returned it to its resting ce with enormous willpower.

    After the few drops of blood entered his mouth, Qianye immediately broke into a sweat as though copsing from exhaustion, continuously gasping for air while leaning onto the wall..

    Nowadays, only by drink a few drops of fresh blood could he restrain the instinctual bloodthirst in his body. At first, Qianye could simply power his way through his bloodthirst without relying on anything, but starting from three months ago, he would need to taste a single drop of fresh blood to control his thirst. Now, Qianye needed close to a spoonful of fresh blood to deceive his body, and let the thirst abate.

    The blood of animals was already gradually losing effect, while fresh human blood became ever more enticing. Continuing off of this trend, Qianye estimated that he could at best persevere for another year. Although the resistance he had been putting up all these days could already be considered a miracle, his future was still as dark as ever, without a single ray of light.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon the cab again, this time not on the blood bag, but rather the military knife that the blood bag sat on top of. It was the Red Scorpion¡¯s standard multi-purpose army knife, and its silver-ting had already been utterly worn out. Qianye had left it there previsely for the time when he could no longer restrain his instinctive thirst for blood, so he could use it to end his own life.

    Beside the blood bag, there was still that bag of ck silk.

    Qianyeughed self-deprecatingly as at least he had an additional option for suicide now. The Mithril Bullet of Exorcism would have a sure-kill effect even against a vampire noble, much less a half-blood thrall like him. As long as Qianye swallowed a single Mithril Bullet of Exorcism, all of his internal organs would be burnt into charcoal, while his outward appearance would look to be unscathed.

    At least I can die in a more beautiful manner, Qianye thought.

    This was another change to his body after being contaminated by the blood of darkness; he hade to intrinsically like beautiful things.

    But just like how he hadn¡¯t immediatelymitted suicide at the start, Qianye would never give up so long as the veryst moment hasn¡¯te.

    He walked to the generator room behind the bar, and fed a few shovelfuls of ck stones to that metal beast half the size of the bar itself. This way the steam boiler would be able tobust for an entire day, not only providing the necessary power for the entire bar, but also maintaining the temperature of the wine cer. The alcohols that Qianye was making needed to ferment for ten days at a temperature of sixty degrees celsius to achieve its greatest effect.

    Although the town did have a public ck-rock steam tower, there was no way it would support such luxurious usage. Thus, the Red Spider Lily, along with a limited few households in the town had their own independent power facilities.

    Ten o¡¯clock in the morning as the sky had just begun to brighten, the doors of the bar were pushed open, and a man covered in tattoos walked in.

    Seeing Qianye, he walked over and enthusiastically patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Brother, you¡¯ve got a gamble again! Sir Zhao sent me to find you. This time it¡¯s a bit further away, so you need depart a little earlier. As per usual, I¡¯ll watch the shop for you, so you go on over now!¡±

    Qianye nodded and took down a bottle of strong liquor from the shelf, stuffing it into the muscled man¡¯s arms. ¡°As per usual, this is yours.¡±

    The manughed as his mouth formed a wide grin, and he gave Qianye a heavy fistbump to the chest.

    Soon after, Qianye arrived at a forest ofrge factory buildings in the town¡¯s north-eastern corner. This ce was once an machineryponent manufacturer of quite the scale after the War of Daybreak, and it was said that they also made military-use products. However, as the Empire¡¯s upper ss citizens moved to the upper continents which had better living conditions, the factories here were thereupon abandoned.

    Now, the factory houses had be the ce where Sir Zhao and his underlings upied.

    Sir Zhao was very young, not even thirty years old. He was incredibly handsome, and had the cleanliness and elegance that none of the indigenous wastnders had. Rumors had it that he was the illegitimate son of one of the Empire¡¯s great families, and that he had treked to the Evernight Continent for a certain reason. All of the residents refers to him as Sir Zhao, while his real name was unknown to everyone.

    In the Empire, Zhao was a very special surname. The Zhao family was a thousand-year-old, influential aristocratic family. The Zhao ancestor had participated in the War of Daybreak, and was one of the seven great nation-founding Marshals. Up until this day, the power of the Zhao family had only risen; along with the Zhang, the Bai, and the Song families, they were ranked as the Empire¡¯s four Grand Households. Their rank under no one but the Zhang house.

    This was exactly why rumors couldn¡¯t be trusted. Even if this Sir Zhao had the slightest rtions with any of the Zhao family¡¯s branches, it would be impossible for him to be reduced to the extent ofing to a destitute little town in the Evernight Continent to make a living by collecting protection fees.

    Though, Sir Zhao did indeed have some real strength. As a rank one Fighter, it was more than enough to rule over those ten-odd hooligans. However, his ambitions didn¡¯t seem to be restricted to the zone of Lighthouse Town, and recently, he had frequent correspondences with the factions from the surrounding small towns.

    Where there was contact, there would be conflict, and gambling on fights was very popr among the various factions as a way to resolve conflicts; it was even considered one of the milder methods. After all, if the various powers actually openly fought one another, heavy casualties would be unavoidable. The loser would of course be doomed to perish, but if the victor paid too much of a price, they would also eventually be devoured by other powers.

    Seeing Qianye arrive, Sir Zhao was immediately all smiles, hugging Qianye by the shoulder as he spoke affectionately, ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived! Brother, the stakes are huge this time, you absolutely can¡¯t lose! If we win, I¡¯ll pay for Min¡¯er to properly apany you for three nights. If you feel that she alone is not enough, then you may pick any of the women around me other than my dear Yun!¡±

    ¡°Still Virtual Combat?¡± Qianye questioned.

    ¡°Of course! You¡¯re the champion of the arena, you know!¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s drop the talk of women. As thepensation this time, I still want those few kinds of medicine.¡±

    ¡°No problem! However, the next merchant caravan will only arrive in ckflow City after ten days from now. I estimate that it¡¯ll be half a month before you get them. If you win this time, I¡¯ll buy you double!¡±

    ¡°One bottle is enough.¡±

    Sir Zhao patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder andughed. ¡°Matters that I, Sir Zhao, have promised will never be withdrawn. Double! That¡¯s that! The fight this time is very important to me, so winning it is all you need to do.¡±

    At this moment, the low, heavy roar of engines resonated as two heavy-duty off-road trucks stopped outside the factory floor. Sir Zhao pulled Qianye along and boarded one of the vehicles along with two others who had sinister faces and were shrouded with murderous intent, as the other twenty hired thugs boarded the other vehicle.

    These were two steam-powered old-style trucks. Since they were very durable, hardy, and easy to maintain, they were more popr than origin power-based vehicles in the Evernight Continent. Their only shoring was that they were slow, and that the noise and odor they exuded simply weren¡¯t tolerable at all to those of the upper ss.

    The two trucks traveled at the tortoise pace of thirty kilometers per hour for an entire four hours. To one¡¯s surprise, no malfunctions happened during it, which could be considered a small miracle. By now, the silhouette of arge city had alreadye into sight. It wasn¡¯t a small ce like Lighthouse Town with a mere few thousand inhabitants; rather, it was the City of ckflow with a poption of well over a hundred thousand people.

    Looking from afar, ckflow City¡¯s ten-meter tall walls were far more magnificent than those of the Lighthouse Town. The exposed limestone revealed the twisted looking metal frame. Every few hundred meters was a mounted cannon, as well as two ballistae.

    When dealing with the dark races and some ferocious beasts ofrge body sizes, these old-fashioned ballistae had more way power than the cannons. Hence, they were very well-received on the Evernight Continent. The mechanical devices powered by steam and driven by gears and chains also allowed the ballista reset its position with greater ease, greatly improving its practicality.

    ckflow City also had a few smokestacks that reached a full hundred meters, continuously spewing out clouds of ck smoke. Those was the city¡¯s core power facility, the Perpetual Dynamo Towers.

    Naturally, the most eye-catching of them all was of course the eternally-lit lighthouse. This wasn¡¯t like Lighthouse Town¡¯s mere toy that stood at twenty meters tall; this was a colossus which reached a height of one hundred and fifty meters. Other than acting as the most obviousndmark within the enormous span of space around it, it was also needed to prevent the airships traveling to ckflow City from mistakenly traveling into the energy sector, and colliding with the smokestacks.

    Compared to Lighthouse Vige, ckflow City was practically a giant beast armed to the teeth.

    The two trucks heavily heaved as they drove ckflow City. Sir Zhao was indeed a little famous in the surrounding area, to not even have to pay the city¡¯s entrance fees.

    chinachu Notice:

    I know I stated that I was going to China with mommychu to visit grannychu and was hoping to return sometime June or so, but mommychu struck again, pushing our flight to June 1st. My trip to China is also now extended from June to the middle of July. Due to this trip, the nned double daily month releases for MEN will now be even more dyed. They WILL stille out after my trip though! Any regr chapters for every one of our series will still being out when I¡¯m there (MEN 7, ATG 7, SR *TBD by Patreon*). I will try my best to get them out ording to schedule, but if any chapters are missed due to chinachu problems, all of them will be made up when I get home.

    I know some people do not read the chapter posts in their haste to read the chapter so I¡¯ll be leaving this message at the bottom of each chapter as a reminder!

 Volume 2 - 7: Virtual Combat

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 7: Virtual Combat

    Once the truck entered the city, it made a beeline towards the eastern district where arge abandoned factory was located. It was the ideal ce for conducting any kind of shady business and was also where the ckflow City¡¯s underground arena was located. This was also where most of the disputes among the ten or so towns and viges surrounding ckflow City was settled by force.

    The one pulling the strings behind this underground arena was rumored to be one of the big shots in the imperial expeditionary army. Within the sphere of the Evernight Continent¡¯s imperial forces, the expeditionary forces were peerless, massive ancient creatures and the real emperor of thesends, which was why no one dared to act recklessly here in the underground battleground.

    The abandoned factories in ckflow City were each over ten meters in height and took up several square kilometers. Five blocks ofrge factories were lined up neatly, broad and imposing. These enormous creatures that were built using steel alloy and concrete had weathered the mes of war countless times, yet still stood steadfast. Purely looking at the scale of these factories, the Empire¡¯s former golden days of industrialization could be seen.

    However, after humanity¡¯s research in origin power and the development of the technique to refine ck crystals from the ck stones, thisbination of ck stones and steam that represented the first generation of power generation gradually stopped advancing and never had another scientific breakthrough.

    The second generation of energy technology that imitates the energy of origin power via the release of ck crystal energy was termed Origin-based Kics. However, this kind of technology was limited in many environments, especially so in the lower continents far away from the sun and itsary belt. As the currently highest grade of propulsive power in the Empire, it was as a matter of course included in the ranks of strategic resources and was extremely strictly regted.

    Of course, the true hindrance for utilizing ck crystal technology was still the cost.

    Installing the equipment to generate origin power was too expensive; the amount it took to obtain a set of engine tanks was enough to buy an entire Lighthouse Town. Even though Evernight as a whole was not worth much whether it was in terms ofnd or human lives, a small town was still nothing to sneeze at. Also, these were essentially contraband items, and once they left the upper continent, the price would increase a few times over.

    Qianye wrapped his windbreaker tightly around himself and followed Sir Zhao and his party into the underground arena. He was responsible for the virtual fight, where it was a test ofbat skill, and not meant to be bloody. If it were the usual fight, it would have been enough with just a virtual battle. However, this was a show with huge bets ced, and there was a need to add a couple more bloody scenes to the fight.

    Dressed formally, Sir Zhao walked to the left side of the arena as he pleased, and sat in the middle of a sofa ced there. He lit a cigar, and with his eyes half-closed, regarded the opponent on the opposite side.

    Opposite him sat a middle-aged man. His densely tattooed arms were exposed, wearing an expression of dark ruthlessness. Thepels of his robe were left open, revealing a chest full of scars.

    The arena was estimated to have a few hundred seats, and it was almost full.

    There were still a couple of box seats above, with the clearest view of the battlegrounds below. The box seats were installed with one-way ss where the people inside could see the outside, but not the other way around. These box seats were reserved for the dignitaries, and it was said that the owner of the underground arena would asionally drop by to watch the battles. However, only the high-level battles would draw in a big shot like him in. A fight like this between viges on the other hand would not.

    Once it was time, a bell rang in the battleground below, and three judges silently entered the stage. They were expressionless, emanating a murderous aura that would not dissipate, and they were all rank two Fighters! These judges were also in charge of maintaining order.

    The central figure carried a special gun at his waist, and the origin power patterned on the gun could be seen clearly. With the origin power gun in his hand, the judges would have a guarantee on their authority.

    Qianye cast a sweeping nce at the three judges before lowering his gaze, standing behind Sir Zhao silently. Based on Qianye¡¯s evaluation, those three judges had the ability to cleanly finish off the people from both sides.

    On the premise that Qianye did not make a move, of course.

    At this time, a judge announced loudly, ¡°The battle begins.¡±

    Sir Zhao exhaled a ring of smoke before revealing a wicked smile, saying, ¡°Tiger Yan, since you dared to make such a huge bet, how about seeing some blood first?¡±

    Tiger Yan suddenlyughed, raucous and deafening, before he mmed one hand into his thigh. ¡°Some blood? That¡¯s great! I love to see blood! Don¡¯t be peeing in your pantster, Zhao! For those who dare to challenge me, Tiger Yan, daddy here will hack off your limbs and throw you into a shithole, and have you screaming for a few days before you croak!¡±

    Sir Zhao exhaled smoke again, leisurely saying, ¡°Many want me dead, it¡¯s just a pity that I¡¯m still well and alive, yet those guys have vanished off the face of the earth. Oh, who knows, it may not be long before you too vanish mysteriously. Who¡¯s to say?¡±

    Tiger Yan continued to sneer maliciously, the scars on his chest trembling and twisting as he said, ¡°Fine! I¡¯d like to see if you can make me disappear! Which of you is going down first to chop off this Zhao kid¡¯s ws?¡±

    The two burly men behind Tiger Yan slowly got up and walked down to the arena. Their steps were steady, their faces were expressionless, and their hands were covered in calluses. One look and it was evident that they were mass murderers, savages with hearts of stone.

    Seeing the two, Qianye¡¯s heart sank a little. These two individuals obviously had the aura and bloodlust of soldiers, and it was likely that they were the elite veterans of the imperial expeditionary forces.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze immediately locked onto the person behind Tiger Yan before lowering it.

    He was an ordinary looking man of about thirty years of age, with shaved, bristly hair. Other than his gaze that was sharper than a knife, he did not appear to have any other unique points. However, Qianye noticed that he was only sitting on half of the stool, his waist upright, legs slightly apart with hands on his knees, and as steady as a rock, a posture obviously belonging to a skilled person in the army.

    He seemed to have sensed Qianye¡¯s gaze and lifted his eyes to nce at Qianye, but he did not notice anything. Under the torment of the blood of darkness, Qianye underwent a considerably huge change from his temperament to his appearance. He currently appeared like a delicate man, without a trace of bloodlust and cold ruthlessness belonging to an elite member of the Red Scorpion Corps.

    Sir Zhao looked at the two burly men in the arena below, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly. His hand hovered in the air before he signaled to the arena and said, ¡°Dice them!¡±

    Twobatants who traveled in the same truck as Qianye stood up, entered the arena, picked an opponent, and began facing off.

    When the bell rang three times, all four pulled out their weapons at the same time and lunged at their opponent!

    The bloody battle permitted the use of daggers, gloves, and any other short knife weaponry. On Sir Zhao¡¯s side, one used a sawtooth dagger while the other wielded a set of double daggers. The two people on Tiger Yan¡¯s side both used military style triangr bays.

    All four were rank one Fighters who far surpassed an average person whether it was in terms of power or speed, and the instant they engaged in battle, blood would start sttering in all directions!

    Thebatant with the double daggers wielded them as swiftly as the wind, and inflicted over ten wounds on his opponent in the blink of an eye. However, the burly man protected his vitals and charged forward, ruthlessly plunging the bay into his opponent¡¯s heart. The tip of the bay emerged from his back!

    A killing strike!

    This was clearly the military style. Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat, then calmed down.

    It was fortunate that the other opponent of Sir Zhao¡¯s subordinate was not particrly skilled. He seized the moment when his opponent daringly lunged, throwing his dagger and cleanly severing off the man¡¯s arm. Then, with movements as swift as the wind, he twisted and broke the opponents four limbs before snapping the burly man¡¯s neck and winning the round.

    This man was actually an expert at unarmedbat, yet he did not show his skill. Conversely, he wielded a dagger on the stage, misleading his opponent who actually lunged at him to fight in close quarterbat which cost him dearly. It could be seen that this subordinate of Sir Zhao was extremely ruthless and cunning.

    The corner of both Tiger Yan and Sir Zhao¡¯s eyes twitched. Skilled fighters were not easy to find, and to attract one was costly. With both sides currently suffering a loss, it was naturally a pain beyond description.

    Tiger Yan snorted and said, ¡°Surnamed Zhao, count yourself lucky! Now it¡¯s one on one, so the winner will be decided by virtualbat!¡±

    Sir Zhao appeared a lot more rxed as he smiled and said, ¡°You obviously know I have a skilled one here, yet you still have the guts to use virtualbat to decide the oue? I think you¡¯ve grown old and muddled, so just hand over your territory!¡±

    Tiger Yan nced at Qianye and sneered maliciously, ¡°You taking me for a kid? You¡¯re not the only one with someone skilled virtualbat! Instructor Liu, teach that whelp a lesson!¡±

    The ordinary looking man stood and walked to one end of the arena. His steps were steady, his movements minimal and refined, and the distance of each step was aligned with his shoulders, yet another typical trait of the Empire¡¯s military style.

    ¡°Could it really be the army¡¯sbat instructor? I wonder which corps of the expeditionary army he¡¯s from,¡± Qianye thought silently. He removed his long coat, walked to the other end of the arena. and stood on a round stage.

    Two workers activated the power switch, and instantaneously, an enormous power shortage dimmed the whole arena¡¯s lights before gradually returning to normal.

    A fluorescent jade green screen slowly rose from the stage below Qianye¡¯s feet, enclosing him. Once the fluorescent screen lifted, a fighterposed of green rays of light also appeared in the middle of the battleground at the same time. Since the man was also standing on a stage opposite him, the arena simrly had another virtual fighter.

    This virtualbat system was a product built by the Empire using origin power generation technology. It was able to fully capture the movements of the participants on stage and synchronize them with the virtual fighters. The entire physical statistics of bothbatants were identical to their virtual fighters.

    The earliest design of the virtualbat system was originally intended to research lethal battle techniques. Should these kinds of skills be put to use during real battles, it would kill or at least maim upon contact, which conversely prevented any effective research. Also, with apletely identical virtual fighter in terms of physical statistics and the ability to create an entirely fair environment for both parties, it served as a tform to train and polish battle skills.

    The virtualbat system had existed for five hundred years and has since trained countless highly skilled experts for the empire. To this day, it has been spread across thend, to every corner under the human rule, where even ckflow City had a set, though a basic version. It was said that the highest quality virtualbat system could even have simtions beyond military battles.

    Due to the extensive use of the virtualbat system, the dark races managed to snatch the blueprints despite paying a high price for it four hundred years ago and began to build a virtualbat system that suited them. Once again, both races stood at the same starting line.

    Qianye clenched his fists, and the virtual fighter on stage also clenched his fists at the same time. Both virtual fighters approached closer, striking a punch at each other. Qianye felt the reverberation of the origin power¡¯s force field feedback, and his heart lurched slightly. Opposite him, the man simrly sported a solemn face as he regarded Qianye.

    The exchange of blows was a routine verification of the virtualbat system. Qianye gestured to the judge with his hand, indicating that his system was functioning normally and that they could start.

    The two virtual fighters began to slowly circle each other as if it were a real battle. During his time in the Red Scorpion Corps, Qianye familiarized himself with the virtualbat system until it was ingrained in his bones. If his opponent were truly an instructor of the expeditionary forces, even if he were a retired basic military instructor, he would notck experience with the virtualbat system.

    The two circled each other probingly, and suddenly, both lunged at each other viciously at the same time!

    Instructor Liu¡¯s movements were minimal and direct, his strikes bold andrge. Whether it was a punch or a kick, they were infused with the intent to cause damage, solely relying on speed and strength to obtain victory without any petty tricks.

    This was also the militarybat style, appearing simplistic, but realizing its extreme difficulty in handling during battle. This Instructor Liu¡¯s style was as steady as a mountain, and he had a wealth of experience in battle, with few openings between his transitions in advancing and retreating. Even if there were any minute openings, it waspensated by the virtualbat system¡¯s feedbackg, making it hard to take advantage of.

    Most of the audience present knew a little about battle techniques, and they could immediately see something interesting brewing, leading to loud cheers.

    In the box seats, someone started to seriously take note of this battle.

    chinachu Notice:

    I know I stated that I was going to China with mommychu to visit grannychu and was hoping to return sometime June or so, but mommychu struck again, pushing our flight to June 1st. My trip to China is also now extended from June to the middle of July. Due to this trip, the nned double daily month releases for MEN will now be even more dyed. They WILL stille out after my trip though! Any regr chapters for every one of our series will still being out when I¡¯m there (MEN 7, ATG 7, SR *TBD by Patreon*). I will try my best to get them out ording to schedule, but if any chapters are missed due to chinachu problems, all of them will be made up when I get home.

    I know some people do not read the chapter posts in their haste to read the chapter so I¡¯ll be leaving this message at the bottom of each chapter as a reminder!

 Volume 2 - 8: Real Military Poise

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 8: Real Military Poise

    In this chaotic time and ce, almost all of those who held seats of power had ughtered their way out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood relying on their own abilities. On this abandoned continent, there was no room of survival whatsoever for those ipetent wealthy hedonistic youths.

    Once Instructor Liu moved, the dignitaries that were watching the fight were instantly hooked. This was a killing technique from the battlefield!

    Compared to him, those two bloody fights earlier were just mere street brawls, all brawn with no brains. Inparison, the techniques of the assassins were highly deadly, but werecking in confrontational ability. They werepletely unable to demonstrate them on the stage.

    But Qianye was of a different style. He was extremely agile, constantly changing positions around Instructor Liu so quickly that it made others dizzy. But out of ten of his moves, about seven or eight of them were feints. Added to the fact that Qianye¡¯s silhouette possessed such beauty, they couldn¡¯t help but wonder which family his particr brand of martial arts hade from. It was so mesmerizing that not to mention those powers, but even the audience couldn¡¯t help but think of it as being an extremely flowery disy of martial arts.

    Instructor Liu¡¯s fighting style should, by right, have been the most adept at curbing Qianye¡¯s insubstantial fighting style, but what the audience couldn¡¯t have predicted was that the two of them were extremely evenly matched in strength. The battle turned into a stalemate.

    Although it was a virtualbat system, his strength was theplete strength of a rank one Fighter. As Instructor Liu fought, his forehead gradually wet with sweat.

    Qianye could be said to have a hundred ws, but every single time Instructor Liu tried to catch one of these, he would inexplicably fail. Once or twice could be written off as coincidence, but this many times, if he still hadn¡¯t realized that something was wrong, then he wouldn¡¯t have been fit to be called ¡°instructor.¡±

    Instructor Liu¡¯s face darkened, Qianye was evidently an expert that was worth his full effort to deal with. Suddenly blowing a long whistle, his face became iparably calm, and his breathing slowed, as if he was preparing for a long, drawn-out fight.

    Instructor Liu¡¯s solemnity made the audience mor with excitement as he seriously assessed Qianye.

    In a box seat, a certain big shot quietly said, ¡°There¡¯s more to Qianye than it seems.¡±

    A youth that was sitting in another box seat heard it and turned tough. ¡°Are you afraid that Liu Zifan would lose? He¡¯s the currentbat instructor on active duty, you know?¡±

    ¡°An identity doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡±

    The youth yfully pondered, looking at Qianye, and then said, ¡°I favor Liu Zifan, to the contrary. Want to make a bet with us?¡±

    That big shot whose face was obscured entirely in the shadow mulled it over, and then nodded. ¡°Alright.¡±

    The youth gave a smirk. ¡°A small bet is boring. How about this, let¡¯s make the stakes one hundred imperial gold coins?¡±

    ¡°Just as you said, a small bet is boring. Other than one hundred imperial gold coins, I want that ¡®ckfang¡¯ you¡¯ve got, how about that?¡±

    Killing intent shed through the youth¡¯s eyes, and then slowly faded. He said ndly, ¡°If you¡¯re willing to bet your ¡®Igniter¡¯ as well, then I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s that, then.¡±

    The two box seats quieted down, the two sides no longer talking as they concentrated on observing the battle.

    The battle had already gone on for fifteen minutes but neither side looked like they were winning. Both parties¡¯ foreheads were sweating, but their movements were just as they were earlier, and it looked like they could continue fighting like this for an hour or two without an issue.

    After activating the first origin node, the condition of one¡¯s body would see a massive increase and their physical strength would far outstripmoners¡¯. In one prolonged battle, a rank one Fighter could often consecutively ughter several dozenmon soldiers and still have enough energy left to continue battling.

    Liu Zifan still had that clean and practiced military style, while Qianye was still as shy as ever, just that he had started to reduce the number of silly leaping actions.

    The audience¡¯s cheering had subsided, but nobody had lost their patience.

    This was practically an exhibition match in fighting technique and many people were secretly trying to figure out and learn the fighting techniques of the two, with some sess. Even the little tricks that Qianye was using would have great value in a real fight.

    But Tiger Yan was somewhat unsettled. He suddenly turned around, saying something to his subordinate, and that subordinate immediately left, returning a short whileter with a woman in hand.

    The woman was young and pretty, and she possessed a certain wildness of character. Even in ckflow City she was considered one of the greatest beauties. Her face was pale after being forcibly pulled into the area and then to Tiger Yan¡¯s side.

    Tiger Yan suddenly raised his voice, calling out, ¡°Kid! You¡¯re called Qianye, right? Take a good look at this woman! She seems rted to you!¡±

    Qianye turned to look, and was struck dumb for an instant. Min¡¯er was right beside Tiger Yan. She didn¡¯t usually leave Lighthouse Town, so how was she here?

    But in this moment of distraction, Qianye¡¯s movements slowed a tiny bit, and Liu Zifan instantly grasped the opportunity, sweeping his leg across Qianye¡¯s thighs. Qianye staggered and Liu Zifan instantly grasped at the chance to unleash a flurry of vicious attacks. Qianye took a series of punches, and the two of them separated.

    A few slightly red regions began to show on Qianye¡¯s virtual body, and that was a sign of damage. If the damage reached the point where it was fully red, then it would be rendered unusable. If it was the brain, the chest, or the lower half of the body that was red, then it would be judged to be an instant loss.

    Sir Zhao¡¯s face became extremely ugly. Standing up abruptly, he called out, ¡°Tiger Yan, are you this shameless? You want to y dirty?¡±

    Tiger Yanughed, spreading his hands. ¡°But I didn¡¯t force that kid to lose! Qianye, did you hear that? Fight brutally, fight to the death! Fight! Haha!¡±

    As heughed, Tiger Yan stood up, and pulling out a short de, he stuck it into Min¡¯er¡¯s cor, and forcefully pulled down! With a ripping noise, Min¡¯er¡¯s blouse had beenpletely torn open. Tiger Yan pulled off her blouse with a tug, letting her entire upper body be exposed.

    Min¡¯er hugged herself, covering as much as she could, but she was pped instead.

    ¡°Who let you cover up? You¡¯re just a whore. Since you¡¯ve already taken the cash, why are you still pretending to be some f*cking innocent? Put your hands down!¡± Tiger Yan yelled in anger.

    Min¡¯er¡¯s face was pale and half of her face rapidly swelled, blood flowing out of the corner of her mouth. Shaking, she put down her hands, letting the entire audience look at her body willfully.

    From the arena came the sound of several dull exchanges of blows, and Qianye¡¯s virtual warrior body had two areas that were on the verge of beingpletely red. The edge of Qianye¡¯s actual body¡¯s mouth had also swollen, and begun to bleed. The feedback of the force field was, after all, the force of a true rank one Fighter.

    Seeing this, Tiger Yan gave a maniacal smile, poking the knife into Min¡¯er¡¯s beltline, hoarsely calling out, ¡°You guys want to see something exciting? This whore ain¡¯t cheap, she¡¯s a silver a night!¡±

    That price was expensive even for ckflow City. Min¡¯er had an extraordinary figure, andmanded an equally extraordinary price. Already, many members of the audience was catcalling and hooting, and wolf-whistling as well.

    Sir Zhao¡¯s face went livid. After giving Min¡¯er a death re, he turned to Tiger Yan. ¡°Good, very good! I¡¯ll concede your ruthlessness. After this, you¡¯d better watch out!¡±

    Tiger Yan gave Sir Zhao the middle finger,ughing maniacally. ¡°After losing this round, what right would you even have to contest me? If I don¡¯t exterminate you, it¡¯ll already be magnanimous!¡±

    In the box seat, that youth gave a faint smile. ¡°Tiger Yan¡¯s really shameless! So, if you feel that it¡¯s really unfair, then I¡¯ll get someone to take the girl away, and have them re-fight this, how about that?¡±

    The man coolly replied, ¡°It¡¯s alright. If a single woman could sway his heart, then he wouldn¡¯t be worth me cing such a heavy bet on.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then we¡¯ll continue watching.¡± The youth quietly sat back down.

    In the arena, Qianye easily dodged Instructor Liu¡¯s pounce, and as the two side swapped positions, he suddenly looked at Tiger Yan. ¡°So, I heard you ced a really big bet.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice was incredibly calm, piercing through the raucous crowd to enter Tiger Yan¡¯s ear, causing him to feel a mysterious chill in his heart.

    Tiger Yan immediate jumped up, and he yelled. ¡°So what!? Daddy here can afford to lose it!¡±

    The corner of Qianye¡¯s mouth twitched upwards into something that could be said to be a smile. ¡°Is that so? Then lose!¡±

    In the arena, Qianye suddenly retreated, and then shifting from extremely quick movements, he instantly stilled!

    Liu Zifan¡¯s heart suddenly gave off an intense warning sign, the feeling of being stared at by a hungry wolf! Under the influence of his opponent¡¯s killing intent, he couldn¡¯t hold back his own intent any further, and with a wild roar, he pounced ferociously toward Qianye!

    Qianye gave off an equally low growl, and drawing power from his core, he, for the first time, didn¡¯t dodge, instead meeting his opponent head on! The two of them collided without a shred of flowery tricks and their attacks smashed toward each other like a storm!

    With the sound of a boom, the whole audience stood up, and even the youth in the box seat was shocked into silence, involuntarily standing up and rushing forward to the windowsill to watch the battle.

    At this very moment, Qianye and Liu Zifan were tightly glued together, and both sides¡¯ attacks were exactly the same, with exactly the same style. Punches, knee strikes, elbow smashes, every single one of them was executed with lethal force, seeking the other¡¯s life!

    What Qianye was using was exactly the same as Liu Zifan¡¯s military martial art, but every strike he threw was faster, and in a few strikes, he destroyed Liu Zifan¡¯s posture, smashing into his range, and his left elbow smashed three times into Liu Zifan¡¯s chest like lightning!

    Thud, thud, thud!

    The sound of the three strikes was almostpletely blended into a single long boom.

    Qianye¡¯s first strike had already caused Liu Zifan¡¯s chest to bepletely red, the second caused his torso to bepletely red, and the third elbow strikepletely blew apart Liu Zifan¡¯s virtual fighter!

    The youth in the box seat pped both his hands on the windowsill, involuntarily crying out, ¡°What an impressive militarybat art! This kid¡¯s an expert!¡±

    Even he had lost his cool. The audience,paratively, was even more shocked, nowpletely silent. But after this instant of silence, they burst into a roar that echoed across the whole arena, eximing out one after another!

    In the circr control tform, Liu Zifan¡¯s face flushed with red, and he suddenly spurted out arge mouthful of blood! Although he had the ability of a rank two Fighter, the force of the feedback was still equal to the full strength of a rank one Fighter. He took three hits in a row to the chest. Even if he were physically stronger, he still could not take such an attack. Therefore, he was grievously injured on the spot.

    Qianye remained calm. Even his gaze was steady without a single ripple, except when he looked at the fresh blood on the arena, which would cause an imperceptible bloody light to sh in the depths of his eyes.

    At this point, he let down both of his arms, both legs still slightly apart, maintaining the exact same military posture as Liu Zifan. Turning to face Tiger Yan, he mildly said, ¡°Did you enjoy losing?¡±

    Tiger Yan was momentarily stunned,pletely unable to respond.

    This time¡¯s failure to him was simply too costly. Merely to invite Liu Zifan to the arena, the amount he¡¯d paid and the contacts he¡¯d mobilized were almost as costly as the bet itself.

    Tiger Yan had lost a whole five years¡¯ worth of ie! After this loss, he was already unable to maintain his position in his old haunt in Dongxin Town. Without an exit strategy, Sir Zhao¡¯s men would soone knocking on his door. Even if Sir Zhao didn¡¯t, there would naturally be other ambitious powers who were looking to make a move.

    In those two box seats that were side by side, the man who was constantly in the shadowsughed. ¡°It seems that my eyes aren¡¯t bad!¡±

    chinachu Notice:

    I know I stated that I was going to China with mommychu to visit grannychu and was hoping to return sometime June or so, but mommychu struck again, pushing our flight to June 1st. My trip to China is also now extended from June to the middle of July. Due to this trip, the nned double daily month releases for MEN will now be even more dyed. They WILL stille out after my trip though! Any regr chapters for every one of our series will still being out when I¡¯m there (MEN 7, ATG 7, SR *TBD by Patreon*). I will try my best to get them out ording to schedule, but if any chapters are missed due to chinachu problems, all of them will be made up when I get home.

    I know some people do not read the chapter posts in their haste to read the chapter so I¡¯ll be leaving this message at the bottom of each chapter as a reminder!

 Volume 2 - 9: The Lamplight under the Cover of Night

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 9: The Lamplight under the Cover of Night

    The young man gritted his teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t fret! It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t bear to lose something miniscule like this! ¡°ckfang¡± will be delivered to you tomorrow, and I¡¯ll even throw in five specially-made origin bullets!¡±

    ¡°Thanks a lot, then.¡± The man left the box seat right after saying this, silently exiting the ce.

    The young man stood in front of the window and looked at Qianye, his gaze growing colder by the second.

    Liu Zifan had also walked down the stage.

    Wiping off the bloodstains on his mouth, he walked right up to Qianye, not bothering to disguise the naked killing intent in his eyes as he spoke coldly, ¡°What impressive militarybat techniques. I never thought that you¡¯d actually be a true expert. Someone like you, selling his life for a mere hooligan is indeed surprising. However, kid, today¡¯s event isn¡¯t over yet. How about a round of real bloody fight?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyebrows crooked up a little. ¡°Sore about losing?¡±

    Liu Zifan¡¯s anger surged and he called out in a low voice. ¡°Virtual battles are but child¡¯s y! Completely different from that of a life-and-death battle! Why, you scared? Or are you saying you¡¯re a pretty boy that can¡¯t stand the sight of blood?¡±

    Faced with such naked provocation, he didn¡¯t expect that Qianye would suddenly smile, saying, ¡°Indeed, I can¡¯t stand the sight of blood.¡±

    Having spoken, Qianye walked to Sir Zhao¡¯s side, his eyes slightly drooping downwards, ignoring Liu Zifan.

    While Sir Zhao gestured towards Min¡¯er, ¡°Come here.¡±

    Min¡¯er bit her lip as she spoke in a low voice, ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°You are from Lighthouse Town so you¡¯re one of mine. Come!¡± Sir Zhao mildly said.

    Just as Min¡¯er was about to leave, a knife suddenly appeared at her neck, and the hand that held it was one of Tiger Yan¡¯s hired thugs.

    Sir Zhao red at that thug and coldly said, ¡°I will count to three. If you don¡¯t put that de down, then don¡¯t think about leaving here alive!¡±

    That thug¡¯s face turned ashen and white, and finally set down the knife with trembling hands after shivering for a while. Tiger Yan¡¯s days of power were evidently over, and what awaited him if he continued following Tiger Yan would only be a dead end.

    Sir Zhao smiled. ¡°Not bad, you¡¯re rather smart, and obedient too. I like smart and obedient people. Come here, from now on, you are part of my gang!¡±

    That thug immediately ran over, repeatedly bowing, ¡°Thank you, Sir Zhao!¡±

    Min¡¯er hesitated for a moment, then walked over as well.

    Sir Zhao threw her a piece of clothing. ¡°I like to be thorough in everything I do. Even if they make a mistake, as long as they¡¯re one of my people and are willing to return, then they¡¯ll still be one of mine. I, Zhao, will never abandon any of my brothers! Come, let¡¯s go home!¡±

    But Liu Zifan walked over, blocking Qianye¡¯s way with his arm while speaking in a overcast voice, ¡°Want to leave? Don¡¯t dream about it! Speak your origins clearly! No one¡¯s allowed to y me like this!¡±

    Sir Zhao wrinkled his brows. ¡°Instructor Liu ¡­¡±

    Sir Zhao was still in the middle of his sentence, but Liu Zifan interrupted him with nary a bit of respect, ¡°F*ck off! This is a matter of the expeditionary army, who do you think you are, trying to butt in?¡±

    Sir Zhao¡¯s face paled and turned green. He, at the very most, was only the gang leader of a small town, and in ckflow City, he could merely be considered a second-rate. How could he contend with the colossus of expeditionary army? Liu Zifan, despite being a military instructor with no real power, was still someone he couldn¡¯t afford to offend.

    This wasn¡¯t saying anything about how much face Liu Zifan personally had, but rather it involved the dignity of the expeditionary army. Every officer of the expeditionary army acted without any qualms out here. If it were not for the fact that Qianye¡¯s skill in the military martial arts were so excellent, so much so that the possibility of him having learnt it stealthily by chance without permission was absolutely nil, which evidently showed that he was rted to the Empire¡¯s military, Liu Zifan even had the thought to directly shoot him dead.

    Qianye looked at Liu Zifan, then smiled, saying, ¡°You really intend to push this matter?¡±

    Liu Zifan¡¯s face sunk, and he coldly replied, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°What I mean is, if this matter really blows up to the point that we go to themander of the expeditionary army, of course nothing good will await us. However, do you really think that you¡¯ll end up any better than I would?¡±

    Liu Zifan¡¯s eyes narrowed, and heughed coldly. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you are saying!¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll make myself clearer! You¡¯ve already lost in a virtual battle, but instead you¡¯re being such a sore loser in front of so many people, even daring to say that a virtual battle is just a child¡¯s game! Even if the dignity of the expeditionary army hasn¡¯t beenpletely tarnished by you, would all of the big shots in the army who gained their fame via virtualbat let you off? The Empire¡¯s military has always ced great emphasis on its dignity, so if word of this kind of matter make their way to the senior official¡¯s ears, how will you be dealt with? From what I see, you¡¯ll most likely be directly thrown into the barracks of cannon fodders!¡±

    Liu Zifan expression fluctuated in an exaggerated manner, and, with a hmph, spoke slowly, ¡°You indeed understand the expeditionary army very well. I¡¯m even more curious about you now.¡±

    Qianye replied without much feelings in his tone, ¡°It seems that you¡¯re far too free, no wonder yourbat techniques are so subpar. Curiosity kills the cat, you know.¡±

    After he finished speaking, Qianye no longer minded Liu Zifan, and pushing Sir Zhao from the back, they walked out together.

    ¡°Qianye, will it be alright?¡± Sir Zhao¡¯s voice was full of concern.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    They had just walked out of the underground arena, when suddenly a youth walked over from the side, mildly asking, ¡°Your name¡¯s Qianye? What¡¯s your surname?¡±

    ¡°I have no surname,¡± answered Qianye.

    His body intuitively tensed up when the the youth approached within ten meters of him. This was a reaction against formidable opponents. This youth¡¯s strength was unexpectedly great, and was definitely not just a simple rank two Fighter.

    The youth smiled. ¡°I am Qi Yue. You¡¯re pretty good. Even I was fooled and lost a big sum because of that, and I am not amused by it. In ckflow City, if I, Qi Yue, am not in a good mood, then someone¡¯s day is about to be very unfortunate. However, you are different! You can be my follower, then I¡¯ll be in a good mood.¡±

    Qianye frowned a little, ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ consider it.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but don¡¯t take too long. I don¡¯t have much of a patience.¡± Qi Yue didn¡¯t keep nagging either, and turned to leave right away.

    Sir Zhao¡¯s face went dark, and then he sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I got you involved. You should seriously consider his suggestion, I heard¡­ this Sir Qi, although he¡¯s hard to get along with, he¡¯s rather good to his own subordinates. If you follow him, you might even get an origin firearm.¡±

    ¡°Leave that for the future, let¡¯s go back for now. I¡¯d rather not trek over a hundred kilometers on foot,¡± said Qianye.

    Sir Zhao patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, and boarded the vehicle first. Right after, the two vehicles started on their return journey roaring with noise.

    When Qianye returned to the Red Spider Lily, it was already nine in the evening. Once he got back to the bar, he immediately rushed into the bedroom, pouring out a pill from the medicine bottle and immediately swallowed it. Then, his face began to flush with a strange shade of captivating redness.

    That was a type of nerve rxant, which could help ease the various kinds of suffering caused by addictions to drugs. Qianye used it to ease the pain caused by the resurgence of the blood of darkness, as it also had some effect on that.

    However, this medicine could only relieve the symptoms and not the cause. The symptoms when the blood of darkness red up still grew increasingly severe. Furthermore, such medicine was very hard to obtain; in order to obtain some, Sir Zhao even had to rely on his connections.

    Once the feeling of thirst subsided, Qianye shook the medicine bottle, and the loose rattling sound inside indicated that there were only a few pills left. This implied that before Sir Zhao could get the new batch of medicine in, he would have to entirely rely on himself to resist against the blood of darkness for an entire week.

    Qianye let out a long breath, sat down cross-legged, then began to cultivate the Combatant Form again. The pain of origin tides during cultivation could also let him temporarily forget the thirst for blood.

    The wastnd at night was not at all peaceful, and the blood-colored full moon still hung high in the sky, painting the whole wastnd in a rich, dark red. This time around, the Crimson Moon hadsted an especially long time, but the people were already numb to it. Whether the gate of darkness opens or not, before the wilted thumb of death pressed onto one¡¯s neck, life had to go on as usual.

    In the wastnd, several wandering wolves of the night seemed to have felt something, their ears shot up as they growled uneasily. Suddenly, they all turned about and swiftly fled far away.

    Under the curtain of night, a ck silhouette flitted across the wastnds like the wind.

    It was a slim and graceful figure, and behind her, were ten-odd ck shadows in hot pursuit. As they sped through, they split apart in a fan formation to nk her, clearly intent on surrounding her.

    One party was chasing and the other was running. Under the light of the blood moon, if there was someone of Champion rank strength around, they would be able to see that there were threads of dark red ripples linking the two parties.

    The silhouette at the front suddenly stopped and then turned around to pounce!

    The eerie moonlight illuminated an incredibly beautiful woman, her pale, white face giving her an air of mystery. Her pupils suddenly turned as clear as a red ruby, and each reflected one of her pursuers¡¯ silhouettes!

    Those two pursuers suddenly froze where they were,pletely unable to move!

    The young woman swept past them like a sh of lightning, and with a wave of her hands, she cut apart their throats with ease. Blood immediately began to spray out for several meters like a fountain!

    She looked at another two of her pursuers. As their silhouettes were fully captured within her eyes, the two of them were, just as before, fully immobilized, fixed where they were. With that, their throats were shed open.

    ¡°Shit! It¡¯s the night of the Blood Moon now, she¡¯s too strong!¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t her match right now!¡±

    ¡°Retreat first, not like she can escape anyway.¡±

    The pursuers slowed down, and one of them who seemed to be their leader called out, ¡°Nighteye! You¡¯ve already been struck by our Blood Shackles, it¡¯s impossible for you to get away! Give up ande back with us, then you might at least have the chance to defend yourself in front of the elders!¡±

    The woman named Nighteye coldlyughed, ¡°Want me to just give up? Dream on! Even if I did want to exin myself in front of the Elders, that would be after I kill you, and those behind you!¡±

    That leader didn¡¯t get angry. ¡°With the Blood Shackles, both your and our powers have all been suppressed below rank five. We¡¯re already in the area of influence of the humans, so if you continue on, you should already know the consequences! By tomorrow, Lord Wilde will have made it here, then you won¡¯t have a chance either.¡±

    Nighteye scoffed, coldly saying, ¡°That¡¯ll have to wait until Wilde is here.¡±

    That leader seemed to have made up his mind before he spoke in a low voice, ¡°Lady Nighteye, those who are pursuing you are not limited to us, there are also¡­ other sacred blood races.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze frosted, and her killing intent surged as she said frigidly, ¡°You guys actually allied with those dirty feral wolves?¡±

    The leader did not deny it and sighed, before he spoke ¡°You should know what the consequences will be once you¡¯ve been discovered by them. Those werewolves are not under our control. How about you juste back with us?¡±

    Nighteye coldlyughed. ¡°I will neverpromise with anyone who would work together with werewolf. If you still won¡¯t leave, then I won¡¯t hold back anymore!¡±

    The lead gritted his teeth, and with a wave of his hand, he signalled to them. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    The ten-odd pursuers that were fortunate enough to still be alive slowly retreated backwards, with their faces toward Nighteye, and melted away into the darkness.

    Nighteye stood there for a while, before finally turning to leave. She began to run at full speed, and just like a ck bolt of lightning, she flitted across thend, far into the distance.

    Within night¡¯s vast darkness, a glimmer of light of a lighthouse suddenly emerged.

 Volume 2 - 10: An Uninvited Guest

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 10: An Uninvited Guest

    Although it was several dozens of kilometers away, the light was still reflected in Nighteye¡¯s eyes. She hesitated for a moment before turning to sprint toward the direction of the light.

    After ten-odd minutes, Nighteye was already outside of Lighthouse Town.

    The gate of the little town still hadn¡¯t been repaired yet, but even if it had been, that mere five-meter wall was but air in front of her. With a mere light leap upward, she had already silentlynded on top of the ten-meter gate tower.

    The bald sheriff was sitting just a several meters away, hugging his wine jug and rifle while napping. He reeked of alcohol, evidently having had too much to drink, and waspletely unaware of Nighteye. Then again, even if he hadn¡¯t touched a single drop, and had been on high alert, there was still no way for him to have discovered Nighteye¡¯s existence.

    Nighteye swept her gaze across the little town, streams of light passing through her eyes. In her vision, the blood and vital energy of every single person in town showed themselves. To her, the fresh blood of these people was all precious tonics that could elerate the healing of her wounds. However, the town didn¡¯t contain anyone with high quality blood, greatly disappointing her.

    However, Nighteye rxed her furrowed brows right away. High quality blood also meant an equally powerful expert with great vitality, and in her current state, she was no match for those true experts.

    Nighteye suddenly spotted Qianye¡¯s bar. Only a syble ¡°Li¡± on the signboard was emitting a faint light, even fainter than it had been in its earlier days, but the darkness was no impediment to Nighteye at all.

    ¡°Red Spider Lily? There¡¯s actually someone in such deste region that knows of the Red Spider Lily?¡± Nighteye was a little taken aback.

    With a single leap, she flew through the air for several dozen meters like a swallow before beginning to fall. After another leap, she was already at the bar¡¯s door.

    The door was utched. When Qianye returned, his blood of darkness had red up, and while hurriedly searching for the medication, he had forgotten to lock the door.

    Nighteye was equally curious about the bar. Gently pushing open the door, she walked into the bar¡¯s lounge, her eyes sweeping across the surroundings. Under those two unfathomably deep pupils, there were no secrets to speak of. She could even see that underneath the flooring tiles in the center of the lounge, there was rectangr shaped cavity with a long briefcase hidden inside.

    She wasn¡¯t particrly interested in the contents of the box. In a hellish deserted the ce, there couldn¡¯t possibly be any sort of precious or unusual treasures. Rather, she held no small amount of interest in the owner of the bar; not just anyone would know of the Red Spider Lily, or of the special meaning it held. To write out these words without even a single misspelling was a little too impossible to be the product of pure luck.

    Nighteye walked toward the back of the bar. But before she¡¯d even made a few steps, her vision suddenly darkened, and a wave of irresistible dizziness suddenly struck her!

    ¡°What a powerful Blood Shackle! Damn¡­¡± Nighteye had no time to respond, and swayed as she passed out, falling onto the floor.

    Qianye was in the middle of cultivation in the bedroom. Once again, he withstood the twentieth wave of origin tides, and just as he was contemting whether or not he should try for the twenty-first wave, he suddenly heard a dull ¡°thud¡± from the lounge outside, as if some heavy object had dropped onto the ground.

    ¡°A thief?¡± Qianye was mildly puzzled.

    All of the thieves in the town were Sir Zhao¡¯s subordinates, and who among them would be so stupid as to actually steal from him? A foreign wanderer was even more impossible as they would only go to the residential areas, not to a special ce like a bar or inn. After all, on the Evernight Continent, a special ce equalled a dangerous ce.

    Qianye stood up quietly, reaching out to grab a military knife as he slowly headed outside. His movements were gentle but steady, his footstepspletely silent, his breathing slowed to an extreme degree, and even his heart rate decelerated, all to lower the chance of him being detected.

    When he walked into the hall, the door that had been recently repaired not too long ago was left ajar with just a crack, and other than that there were no other anomalies, except that there was a woman on the floor.

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush to approach her, but rather made a small patrol around the doors and windows. After making sure that there wasn¡¯t anyone waiting outside in ambush, he flitted across the entrance like a ghost. He didn¡¯t close the door, but during this action, he had alreadyid a thin, silk wire across two protruding nails by the door, and had hung up a small grenade at the same time.

    If anyone else chose to rush in, they would have to break this silk thread, and get a taste of hundreds of little metal pellets sting out.

    Having installed his warning and defense trap, Qianye finally walked another circle around the woman. He then approached from her inferior side, and gently nudged her calves.

    She didn¡¯t react at all.

    Qianye then lightly poked her calves with his knife, and her body reacted instinctively, jerking away with a low moan, after which she immediately became motionless again. Only then did Qianye slightly slowly lower his guard. Her reactions were very normal, and evidently, she¡¯d truly passed out and was not merely ying dead.

    Of course, he wasn¡¯t discounting the possibility that she was one of those true experts that would be able to fool even an experienced hunter like Qianye. However, he had seen the dark races y dead on many asions, and he knew that their intellect and power were basically positively corrted. Generally, those that could pull off such a high-level acting technique wouldn¡¯t need to y any tricks with Qianye, and could just directly pounce over and pinch him dead.

    The Red Scorpions were one of the trump cards of the Empire¡¯s troops, but that didn¡¯t mean that they were omnipotent. Many of the dark races¡¯ physical abilities were even stronger than those of ck Scorpion level warriors, much less an immature rookie at the bottom of the Red Scorpion like Qianye. In a one-on-one duel, a human¡¯s naturally weaker body would be at arge disadvantage.

    After Qianye finished probing, did he finally begin to carefully size up this woman.

    She had rtively short, ck hair, and even as shey curled up on the ground, he could tell that she was tall, had long legs, and that her figure was well-proportioned with not a hint of excess fat anywhere.

    Although this kind of body didn¡¯t seem very strong, the explosive power was incredibly scary. In concert with flexibility, coordination and high speed, such a soldier would be the most difficult type to deal with on the battlefield. The corpsmander as well as the vice corpsmander of the Red Scorpions all had such bodily figures, and Qianye himself was also leaning toward this route.

    She was clothed in the jet-ck field military uniform, in the style of the ordinary field army of Empire. On her feet were a pair of knee-high military boots. There was very little observable weapons on her; she wasn¡¯t carrying any guns, and there only a short knife and a small leather purse on her waist.

    Qianye carefully pulled out the knife at her waist, and then rapidly stepped back several meters. Upon seeing that she didn¡¯t react at all, did he finally began to inspect the weapon.

    This was an very ordinary multipurpose knife with a sawtooth on its back. However, it was made of a very special material; seemingly made from the bones from a certain creature, its entire body was without a single scrap of metal in it. The short de was very heavy, more than ten kilograms, almost giving it the weight of a small war axe.

    Qianye tested its edge, and it was incredibly sharp, no less sharper than the Red Scorpion¡¯s issued knife. Furthermore, since it was a de of bone, it could avoid being detected by many security systems. Though this short knife was so heavy that it would undoubtedly affect how agile it could be, inbat when short weapons meet, it perhaps could have a benefit of cause the opponent to misjudge.

    Qianye thrusted the knife into the floor, yet a blood-colored light faintly shed on the knife, as the entire knife immediately sank into the floor right up to the handle!

    Qianye was instantly shocked! The floor of the bar was made of solid limestone, and beneath that wasn¡¯t the usual grille that the rest of the citizens used. That was to say, it wasn¡¯t hollow, and it was flush against the solid foundation. He hadn¡¯t used much force at all, and yet, the short knife had buried itself up to the handle. Could it be that this was actually an origin power weapon?

    However, no matter how Qianye used his origin power to probe it and incite it afterward, the de gave no response at all.

    Qianye took the purse she had on her waist, and opened it for a look. In it, there were seven edged thorns, clearly weapons made for throwing. The thorns were made of that same unknown, bone-like material, the three edges of the thorn slightly rifled at an angle. If they were thrown at high speed, they should rotate by themselves, giving the weapon a high level of precision.

    From the thorns, Qianye could smell a slight hint of bitter almonds, whereupon he felt a chill crawling up his back, and his actions became ever more gentle and careful. That smell very possibly meant several terrifying venoms, and if he identally cut himself, he knew that he probably wouldn¡¯tst a few minutes. The Combatant Form didn¡¯t provide any ability to heal nor resist against poisons.

    There was a small divider inside the pouch, stuck together with several neatly-cut, blood-colored crystals that looked like they had fresh blood flowing inside of them as they emanated a faint smell of blood.

    Qianye took the crystal out for a round of closer inspection, but couldn¡¯t tell what was inside. Even after searching through his own memories, he couldn¡¯t find a single mention of it, but it seemed that just by looking at the flowing red inside of the crystal, the blood of darkness within Qianye¡¯s body actually began roiling.

    Qianye was slightly startled, and hurriedly put back the crystal, sealing the bag back. This purse too seemed like it was made of an unordinary material. Once it was closed, the smell of blood waspletely confined, without a single bit leaking out.

    Qianye crouched next to her, and with his fingers, he gently patted her entire body down once, making sure that she didn¡¯t have any hidden weapons. He then finally let out a sigh of relief, and flipped her over.

    Once he saw her face, Qianye suddenly felt his own heart tensing up, as though it had skipped a beat.

    Her face was so wonderfully perfect that it seemed extraneous to use anynguage to describe it. Once it appeared, Qianye¡¯s eyes and mind were wholly upied by it, as if this perfect face was the only thing that existed in all of being.

    The dark races had no shortage of stunning people. Even the mysterious and powerful demonkin had many staggering beauties, not to mention the vampires. Regardless of gender, the majority of the powerful among of the dark races were stunning existences that could sway cities.

    There were human schrs that had tried to exin this phenomenon; they believed that within the same world, the aesthetic sense of powerful intelligent races would always lean toward the same. As to the cause of that, it would be the world¡¯s essential nature of origin power.

    However, setting aside whether or not the theory held merit, the reality caused by this phenomenon was that both humans and the dark races had the tendencies of capturing the other side as ves. Especially those who were beautiful in appearance and those who held great strength; they could be sold for astronomicallyrge sums, as they could greatly satisfy one¡¯s lust of conquest.

    Qianye tried to remain calm, but when he looked at her once more, his mind suddenly trembled. She hadn¡¯t even opened her eyes, but Qianye already felt like he had already seen her unfathomably profound and infinitely deep pupils; it was as though that his entire body, mind, and soul were about to be sucked within by those pair of ck pupils, forever sinking and fallen within the darkness!

    Qianye was shocked, and subconsciously dodged backwards, his back heavily colliding with the wall. Only then, did he finally breath heavily inrge gasps of air like someone who had almost drowned. After that, he was covered by cold sweat all over.

    Just now, he had almost failed to distinguish whether or not it was an illusion or reality.

    Even while she was unconscious, she could already draw in Qianye¡¯s consciousness, almost causing him to treat illusion as reality, so what would happen if she awoke?

    Qianye forced himself to calm down, and carefully recalled the sensation he had just felt, suddenly realizing that there was also the primal instinct of attraction within. Her features were as perfect as Qianye could dream of. Actually, no, they even exceeded his dreams, therefore making him feel such a strong impact. However, what was a beauty that even exceeded his wildest dreams? Did such a thing exist?

    Qianye realized that it might have been another possibility, and that was Mind Captivation!

 Volume 2 - 11: Eyes of the Night

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 11: Eyes of the Night

    Whether it be the Yellow Springs Training Camp that Qianye attended as a child growing into a young man, or Red Scorpion, both had a standard ss of training to resist captivation.

    Such training was exceptionally cruel, as it trained from both mental and physical aspects. Theing of age ceremony in the Yellow Springs Training Camp was a beginning, but not the end, and its objective was to raise killing machines with no weaknesses at heart.

    Yet, prodigies who have greater potential than others would have even more rigorous demands ced upon them by the instructors, and the intensity of the training would increase as well. After too much of these kind of experiences, many of them would turn into freaks.

    Qianye had always thirsted for great power as fast as possible, so in the Red Scorpions, he had always applied for the highest limit of all kinds of trainings that he could endure. This ss was no different. Due to that, although he couldn¡¯t be considered a freak, in theter sessions he had often approached the brink of crumbling. It was still Nan Batian that had directly used his authority to cancel the rest of Qianye¡¯s sses.

    But Qianye never once regretted the enormous price that he paid in his training, especially since mind captivation was a killing technique of many dark races. Anyone whose willpower wasn¡¯t strong enough would end up dead when going against those dark race experts with strong mind powers.

    And what he looked up to was the world of the strong with people at Lin Xitang¡¯s level. Qianye was absolutely unwilling to stop halfway through.

    In one of the final tests in the Red Scorpions, Qianye could already resist the psychic control and seduction of those with Champion-level mind control and captivation for a short time. No matter how he looked at her, this girl couldn¡¯t be at the Champion level, which is to say that she shouldn¡¯t have been able to captivate Qianye at all.

    Shouldn¡¯t have, emphasis on should. In this world, there were too many things that shouldn¡¯t have happened but still did.

    Looking at it purely results-wise, Qianye had indeed been captivated just now, and to a fairly deep degree at that. Deep level captivation like this would often leave behind some difficult-to-perceive hidden concerns.

    Just what exactly is going on?

    Qianye¡¯s mood was very much in a mess at the moment; this strange woman was making him unusually irritated and uneasy, yet she was clearly still merely unconscious.

    It was to the point that Qianye didn¡¯t even dare to look at her, terrified that he could be captivated by her. That¡¯s right, it was captivation, how else would he be able to exin it? Qianye¡¯s frustration towards this was different from the frustration he held against when his thirst for blood red up. It was like the entire world was revolving wildly around him, and he wished very anxiously to have something to grab onto.

    Remain calm! When Qianye was undergoing captivation resistance training, the first thing that the Red Scorpion instructors taught Qianye was to remain steadfast. No matter what he saw or felt, he had to remain calm. If he couldn¡¯t keep himself steady with his own strength, then he should try to brace himself with something else.

    Qianye began to consider what he had on hand. Against this kind of terrifying woman, it wouldn¡¯t bode well if no preparation was made.

    A smoke? Or maybe alcohol?

    Both didn¡¯t seem good enough, the power was too weak. Even those special products with stimnts added wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    This woman, while in a state of unconsciousness, could already influence Qianye like so and and cause him to instinctively feel extreme danger within the chaos. Perhaps it was such alertness against danger that stopped Qianye from entirely sinking into confusion.

    The more he didn¡¯t understand, it meant the greater the danger she was.

    Qianye steeled himself, and suddenly took out a syringe hidden pocket from behind the bar top, stabbing it into his arm and pushing down the plunger fully. He then silently waited the three minutes for the medicine to take itsplete effect.

    This was a standard issue tranquilizer of the Red Scorpion, its effect was simple and unrefined. It would cause someone who took it to thoroughly calm down in a short amount of time, turning them into an iron-hearted butcher. This kind of tranquilizer also could effectively resist mind impact as well as a series of influences and attacks from mind power. It could also be used to treat the psychological problems that would arise from excessive killing. Unfortunately, this was thest of his stockpile.

    As the sedative took effect, it was as though an barrier had been added onto Qianye¡¯s mind, and he no longer dreaded external influences. He walked up to the girl once again, and quietly looked at her face. This time around it was indeed a lot better than thest; although her tightly-shut eyes still had that deadly attraction, it no longer had that feeling of nearly falling into an abyss.

    But what Qianye didn¡¯t expect was, even under the calmest circumstances, he still felt that her features were of his ideal. He somehow felt that he had seen her somewhere, yet couldn¡¯t remember where at all. Unless it was really only in his dreams?

    However, Qianye could finally resist the effects of those eyes and spend more time looking at her face with an examining gaze. She had short, somewhat messy hair, and together with her well-defined, absolutely stunning features, she carried a natural ice-coldness and pride. Moreover, under thatyer of frost was deadly captivation.

    Her face was a sickly white, and her skin was as exquisite as the most delicate jade. But as he looked, Qianye suddenly found that there was a very abnormal red flush along her neck. So he reached out and touched it, and instantly felt an astonishingly high temperature, almost scalding his hand. But as he ced his hands upon it for a while longer, he felt a coldness from his fingertips as if he was touching an ice block.

    Qianye was shocked. That sickly pale skin as well as that greatly fluctuating body temperature were exactly the initial symptoms of a blood thrall! He sniffed, and indeed, there was an extremely faint smell of fresh blood. He immediately examined her entire body again and saw that there were two small rips on the sleeve of the field army uniform, along with a little bloodstain.

    Qianye tore her field army uniform and the bodysuit beneath, revealing her entire arm. As expected, there were two deep and round holes on the upper arm area. Those were the tooth marks left after being bitten by vampiric fangs!

    Seeing these tooth marks, Qianye suddenly felt heartstrings tugging, and felt a powerlessness as though he was suffocating.

    Such youngdy, was already a blood thrall?

    How much longer could she persevere? Seven days? Three days? Or maybe¡­ one day?

    After frequentlying into contact with the dark races, Qianye already knew that being bitten actually wasn¡¯t a sure sign of contamination. Normal people would be in danger even just from touching a blood thrall. It was because they had no origin power, hence they were especially susceptible to being invaded by dark energy. For the strong, some wounds with blood aren¡¯t very much fatal.

    But being stabbed deep into the blood vessels by vampiric fangs was an exception; unless one could receive the Embrace of higher ranked vampires and formally be a vampire, they wouldn¡¯t be able to shake off the inevitable destiny of bing a blood thrall. People like Qianye who could resist the invasion of the blood of darkness up until now could be said as very few.

    Perhaps those rumored aristocratic family¡¯s secret arts really had effects, and maybe there were others who could endure, but the Empire¡¯s policy about blood thralls had always been the same; terminate on sight, with nary a hint ofpassion. Ever since that year where a prince of the Empire who had been infected with the blood of darkness was executed, this policy had never had a single exception norpromise.

    If it had been half a year earlier, Qianye would have killed her without any hesitation or dy, no matter how he was captivated by her supernatural power. In the Empire¡¯s eyes, death was a form of release to a blood thrall. Even if he didn¡¯t have a merciless heart, Qianye still wouldn¡¯t have wanted to watch her turn into a mindless blood thirsty monster.

    But now, without him noticing, Qianye¡¯s feelings had long since changed. He himself was a very good example that, testifying that as long as one persisted, a miracle really could happen.

    Qianye gave it some thought, and then cut open his own wrist and ced the cut next to her mouth. As expected, she reacted towards that pulsing fresh blood, and after sniffing it, she instinctively drank all of the blood that flowed beside her mouth.

    After being bitten by a vampire, the thirst for fresh blood was almost irresistible. At the same time, fresh blood was also a vampire¡¯s miracle drug. No matter how deep the wound, as long as vampires had enough fresh blood, they would recover.

    She kept drinking the fresh blood, and her pallid face rapidly gained a healthier shade. When the blood near Qianye¡¯s wound dried, her breathing clearly quickened, and her face looked immeasurably pained, instinctively lifting her head and searching for blood. Qianye once again cut open his wrist and let the fresh blood seep out.

    Qianye even had an immature conjecture; perhaps his suppression of the blood of darkness was due to his blood having some sort of antibody or something. Feeding her more of his blood might just be able to dy the activation of the blood of darkness within her body.

    As the wound dried for the second time, Qianye had already begun to feel his entire body turning cold. His face was more so ghastly pale while his vision was starting to blur, a clear sign of too much blood loss. The good thing was that she finally wasn¡¯t suffering any longer, as her expression looked far more rxed.

    When some color returned to that girl¡¯s face, she suddenly released an even more irresistibly lethal force of attraction, and even after Qianye had taken the tranquilizer, he could still feel his heart jump at every little move she made.

    Finally, the girl slowly opened her eyes, and sat up.

    She didn¡¯t panic and didn¡¯t overreact either, just calmly turning her head to survey the surroundings as if she had just woken up in her own home. The girl¡¯srge eyes were filled with innocence and vacantness, but Qianye knew that her act was definitely a facade.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    She didn¡¯t reply but lowered her head to look down at her exposed arm, and then she reached out her hand to her lips and rubbed her lips gently, tasting the fresh blood on the tip of her tongue. Finally, she looked at Qianye she asked, ¡°It¡¯s you who saved me?¡±

    Her voice was gentle and a little overcast, and paired with those somewhat unfocused gaze, it had another unique feel to it.

    ¡°I guess, but that¡¯s not important. Your current state is very troublesome¡­¡± Qianye squirmed a little over his words, unsure of how he should break it to her.

    The fact that she was going to be a blood thrall was too cruel, and she was evidently quite young, maybe the same age as Qianye, or even a little younger. Could she handle such a cruel blow?

    ¡°Troublesome? You mean¡­ I¡¯ve be a blood thrall?¡± She was far calmer than Qianye imagined her to be, and was also very knowledgeable.

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    Her eyes finally gained an expression as she looked at Qianye seriously. ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t you kill me right now, and not save me?¡±

    Qianye smiled bitterly. ¡°A blood thrall is not entirely without hope, perhaps you still have enough time. My advice is, you can¡­ head west. There lies the territory of the dark races, as well as some vampire activity. If you are lucky enough before you lose your wits, you might meet an upper-ss vampire and receive the Embrace, then you may live on¡­ as a vampire.¡±

    The girl¡¯s expression turned somewhat baffled, as she asked with interest, ¡°Aren¡¯t you human? You¡¯d actually suggest that I go be a vampire? Doesn¡¯t that increase another enemy of humanity?¡±

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve met you in this state, of course I had to save you. As for the future¡­ If, I¡¯m saying if, we ever have the chance to meet on the battlefield, I will personally kill you!¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was calm.

    She looked at Qianye¡¯s wrist, intentionally or otherwise, ¡°You¡¯re really a strange guy! Saving me just for the sake of killing me in the future? And you¡¯d even let our your blood for me to drink¡­ you¡¯re pretty knowledgeable about blood thralls.¡±

    Qianye took out a bandage, and while he bound his wounds, he spoke, ¡°Everyone knows about blood thralls well, especially in this god forsaken ce! Here, almost everyone had experienced rtives or friends who turned into a blood thrall.¡±

    She went silent for a moment, and then stood up, holding out her hand to Qianye. ¡°I understand now. My name is¡­ Nighteye.¡±

    As she stood up, an imposing aura red.

 Volume 2 - 12: The Final Hunt

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 12: The Final Hunt

    Qianye reached out toward her hand and shook it, and felt that her hand was still as cold as ice like before, ¡°Your name is rather strange, but also a good sounding one. I am Qianye, and as for my surname¡­ I¡¯ve forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Forgetting even your surname, heh.¡± Nighteyeughed, but didn¡¯t pursue the matter.

    This could be called a formal introduction between the two.

    Nighteye looked around, and her sight especially paused for an instant on the stringed hand-grenade trap at the door. ¡°As you can see, someone is pursuing me. If you can, give me something to eat, better if you have drugs, stimnts or anything are fine. Other than that, I need my weapons.¡±

    ¡°ÎÒÕâÀïÇ¡ºÃÊ²Ã´¶¼ÓÐ¡£¡±Ç§Ò¹µÄ¸Ð¾õÓÐÐ©¹Å¹Ö¡£

    ¡°Coincidentally, I happen to have all of that.¡± Qianye felt a little strange.

    Nighteye¡¯s attitude was very natural and graceful, but it seemed like she knew everything he had on hand. This feeling of being seen through made him very unnerved.

    A whileter, Nighteye was seated with Qianye in the bar¡¯s kitchen, earnestly devouring the tableful of food.

    In the infertile Evernight Continent, high-calorie food was incredibly precious. The few basins of beef on the table were two months worth of Qianye¡¯s of food stock.

    Although that mysterious girl and old man had left him a few dozen imperial gold coins, in thiswless abandonednd, these things weren¡¯t so easy to spend. Even if nobody dared to snatch it from him for the moment, he couldn¡¯t use it to purchase things directly, and could only find underground markets to exchange them.

    Because silver was effective against vampires, it was also one of the strategic resources of the Empire. Hence, the so-called silver coins was really only a name with very little silver inside of it, as they were primarily made of a metal called nickel. When the Empire was first setting up its currency system back then, it did use cast-silver, which also had the usage to see if people were infected by the blood of darkness. But as time passed, the amount of silver used in the silver coins decreased.

    As for now, Qianye only needed to use a little bit of technique to shorten contact with the silver pieces to an extreme, and hence not be affected by it. If he could, he would rather only have taken several hundred silver pieces instead, which would have saved him a lot of trouble.

    Other than food, there were also tworge cups of strong liquor on the table. Qianye then took out the little hip sk, and carefully poured its contents into the liquor ss. This time, it wasn¡¯t just one droplet, but rather, he poured nearly half of the sk into each cup.

    Nighteye¡¯s eyes shed, and she picked up the cup, sniffing it. ¡°The Empire Elite Corps¡¯ specialbat stimnt? Oh, it¡¯s not pure stimnt, but all of the key ingredients are in it. I heard that this stuff can make a person¡¯s strength increase greatly for a short period of time, turning them into a killing machine. You made this? How did you know its formtion?¡±

    Qianye was secretly shocked at Nighteye¡¯s depth of knowledge, but of course, he couldn¡¯t tell her about his experiences in the past, so he only spoke vaguely, ¡°Someone in my line of work always has their means. Getting such a form isn¡¯t particrly difficult, just a mere few silver pieces. However, collecting the medicinal ingredients is the hard part. Just by chance, several of the key ingredients could be found nearby, so I made some. Although it isn¡¯t as strong as the original, itsts longer, as its effects can keep up for several hours. Besides, it also has the ability to suppress the thirst caused by the blood of darkness.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s eyes lit up, and she grabbed the steel hip sk. ¡°Good stuff! Can you give me the rest of it?¡±

    Qianye, without a single change in expression, took back his sk from her hands, saying, ¡°I need it too, plus I only have this much left in reserve. Ah, right, who exactly is hunting you down?¡±

    Nighteye cut the beef as she nonchntly spoke. ¡°I am a certain organization¡¯s hunter, specialized in hunting down dark races and then collecting the bounty from the Empire. Right now, I¡¯m being pursued by a group of vampires.¡±

    At first, Qianye merely crooked an eyebrow. In this abandonednd, the status of a bounty hunter was slightly higher than scavengers, but not by much either. After hearing the final line, though, he couldn¡¯t hold it in, ¡°Vampires?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice suddenly had an almost imperceptible tremble in it.

    ¡°They¡¯re not blood thralls, they¡¯re true vampire warriors. And among them, there¡¯s even one who has aristocratic rank!¡±

    Qianye suddenly went quiet.

    He finished the food on the te in front of him, stood up again to serve up all of the remaining meat in therge pot onto the te, and then continued to busy himself with the food.

    Nighteye looked at him. ¡°I¡¯m about to continue my escape and battle, so I need a lot of energy. Why are you eating so hurriedly? This far exceeds your usual food intake, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qianye mildly said, ¡°I¡¯m going to fight along with youter. I will send you to the dark race-controlled border region to the west.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s face gained an undisguised shade of shock. ¡°You¡¯re going to fight with me? Don¡¯t joke, those who¡¯re pursuing me are real vampires, you know. With such weakbat strength, are you going just to send yourself to the grave? Let¡¯s see¡­ you¡¯re not even a rank three Fighter, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart jumped. Under her eyes, it seemed that any kind of secret was impossible to keep. But he persevered. ¡°I have my ways of dealing with vampires.¡±

    Nighteye furrowed her brows. ¡°But if I am with you, I will be bogged down! I have no interest in moving with a weakling! You¡¯d best stay here, if I make it out, I¡¯ll definitely send you your remuneration!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t like Nighteye¡¯s tone at all; it was the kind of scorn and belittling of the weak by the strong, so obvious and deep to the bone. Even though Nighteye was doing it out of goodwill, this kind of attitude made him exceptionally ufortable. Moreover, Qianye had other ns, so he directly ignored Nighteye¡¯s attitude and opinion of refusal.

    ¡°We¡¯ll advance ording to the path, staying at a distance from one another. We¡¯ll move independently, and won¡¯t interfere with each other.¡± Qianye creased his eyebrows as well.

    Nighteye spoke out. ¡°If you do that, aren¡¯t you just bing my bait?¡±

    Qianyeughed as he spoke. ¡°Even if I am a bait, those bloodsuckers need to make sure they can swallow the it down!¡±

    Nighteye took a deep look at Qianye, and then the vacant look in her eyes disappeared, finally revealing the haughtiness and iciness hidden behind her gaze, ¡°It seems you¡¯re very confident in yourself. But in my eyes, this kind of confidence is no different from foolishness! In the eyes of an upper ss vampire, merely a rank two Fighter is but an ant that they could squish with the slightest bit of effort. If you truly wish toe along, then so be it. I can only tell you, that the current you following me will merely guarantee your death.¡±

    ¡°People have foretold my death since long ago, but not only have I lived, but I¡¯ve lived very well.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice also grew increasingly cold.

    Nighteye creased her eyebrows. ¡°If you¡¯re trying to earn back your dignity and face in front of me, and trying to woo me in this way, then you honestly don¡¯t have to. Because the weak have no dignity to speak of at all, and I will never be moved by the weak. Don¡¯t die a dog¡¯s death. This is my final advice I¡¯m giving you, seeing as you saved me.¡±

    Qianye knocked on the table, ¡°I do not have an ounce of interest toward you, I merely want to destroy those damnable bloodsuckers!¡±

    ¡°Then do whatever you want.¡±

    Just like this, their conversation ended rather unpleasantly, and the two of them finished off the table full of food in silence. Qianye thenid out a paper map on the table and sketched out a westward route.

    This was a meandering path with twists and turns, and the journey took them past two valleys, past a mountain peak, a vast stretch of forest, and then past an abandoned industrial area as well as the skeleton of an interster battleship¡¯s wreckage.

    ¡°This is the route to the west.¡±

    ¡°Why soplicated?¡± Nighteye couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°Theplexity of the route will help us to end those bloodsucking bastards who are following you,¡± said Qianye, and he dotted one of the mountains on the map. ¡°Our final destination is here. There should be a secret vampire gathering ground here, and there were sightings of a high-level vampire here. From their insignia and their methods, they should be the ones who people call the ¡®Neos¡¯ Among the vampires, their way of actions are rtively moderate, and perhaps you¡¯ll have a chance to be employed by them, and be one of theirs.¡±

    The look that Nighteye gave Qianye finally had a hint of excitement. ¡°You even know about the ¡®Neos¡¯, it seems that you don¡¯t have a simple past, either! You can¡¯t have always been the little keeper of this bar, can you?¡±

    ¡°These informations are no secret, many in the Empire know about it.¡±

    ¡°But there aren¡¯t many who are able to find the vampires¡¯ secret gathering spot without being discovered. A rank two Fighter that can do so is more so one of its kind.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not important. What is important, is that you perhaps will be able to receive The Embrace, and continue to live on. If you be one of the ¡®Neos¡¯, then the chances are that we¡¯ll have less opportunities to meet on the battlefield.¡±

    As he finished, Qianye tapped the map sharply and said, ¡°Remember the route. I¡¯m going to burn the map in a moment.¡±

    He looked at the time. ¡°We leave in twenty minutes!¡±

    Suddenly, it was as if Qianye had returned to the time when he was in the Red Scorpion, unwaveringly cutting the enemies down.

    While Nighteye looked at the map Qianye had brought out, as well as his choice of route, and even him pointing out the vampires¡¯ secret gathering ground, she finally began to feel curious about Qianye.

    Could it be that this little fellow who was so weak that it was pitiful, actually be able to do something?

    Time passed quickly, and when the 3 A.M. bell rung, the bar¡¯s back door was discreetly opened. Nighteye left alone, quickly vanishing into the night.

    Nighteye would leave ten minutes before Qianye. And as to who would be whose bait, it would depend on what happens then.

    Nighteye gradually revealed her arrogant character,pletely unwilling to move with Qianye. Meanwhile, Qianye too had many secrets that he didn¡¯t want her to see either, hence they had this weird, one in front and one in the back kind of lone hunter movement pattern.

    In the wilderness, this was one of the ssic tactics of the Red Scorpions. Two experts with a tacit cooperation could do in a dozen of dark race warriors of simr strength over the course of several days of mobile warfare.

    Qianye waited until Nighteye had left and dug open the floorboard in the center of the hall, revealing a stone b with a ring handle on it. Pulling open the stone board, he took out an approximately one meter long dark red briefcase from within.

    cing the briefcase on the floor, Qianye carefully input the pin code, and after hearing the light click, he finally rxed his expression and opened the box.

    Within the case were shockingly the main parts of an origin rifle and its various essories!

    The rifle¡¯s body was bulky and rather clumsy. On it, many origin power circuitry were inscribed and masked with a special ck paint. This special ck paint could mask the light that shone from these circuitry when they were active, yet not affecting the origin power circuit beneath it from absorbing free-moving origin power from the environment. Just this coating alone was worth more than the cost of an entire traditional high-uracy sniper rifle.

    Qianye retrieved the gun and with abnormally well-practiced hands, he soon assembled a field rifle that was almost half as tall as his body. This gun was entirely coated ck, and various essories needed were all there. It¡¯s craftsmanship was extremely exquisite. Just sitting there quietly, it faintly exuded a murderous aura.

    Qianye had always wanted to take revenge for his Red Scorpion teammates for that fateful night, but now that the blood of darkness was bing hard to control, he knew that he was running out of time. A year was too optimistic; he at most had a few more months.

    So now, Qianye only hoped that before he fell to the darkness forever, he could take a few more bloodsuckers down with him.

 Volume 2 - 13: One Hit Kill

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 13: One Hit Kill

    Qianye bnced the assembled rifle and quickly got a good feel for it. It was not an average origin gun, but rather, it was constructed by the Red Scorpion Corps, a custom-made Red Scorpion gun. It was standard equipment for Red Scorpion soldiers.

    The model came from the Empire¡¯s Firebird Group, its speciality being high precision and power. Its origin power conversion rate was almost fifty percent, making it belong to high-grade standard origin guns. However, the Scorpion Needle Custom that the Red Scorpion Corps had constructed had gone through redesign and adjustment in major areas, which increased its uracy and power at the cost of decreasing its speed.

    This suited Red Scorpion¡¯s style: Only move when it¡¯s a one hit kill.

    Qianye lightly held the gun¡¯s grip, feeling as if he were meeting an old friend again. Even when he was in need of money the most during his escape, he didn¡¯t sell a single piece of the gun. After settling down in Lighthouse Vige, Qianye buried it deep down below the lobby of the bar. It had been a long time since hest saw it.

    Now, it was time to use this Scorpion Needle again.

    As a former Red Scorpion, Qianye¡¯s target wasn¡¯t average vampires, but the titled, high-ranking vampire.

    Qianye carried his Scorpion Needle on his back, and took out his Kohler Pistol to attach a silencer. Then, he left the bar and followed the path he and Nighteye had decided on beforehand.

    Soon after, a few vampire soldierspletely covered in ck robes appeared outside Lighthouse Vige.

    One of them sniffed the air, and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Nighteye already left this ce. She is heading west. Quickly, inform Sir Wilde. We will give chase.¡±

    A vampire soldier standing to his side said, ¡°To the west? I remember there was a meeting ce for a new gang there. She doesn¡¯t want to go to the new gang¡¯s territory, does she? If this is the case, then this is another thing the Council can use to attack us.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to worry about that kind of stuff. There will naturally be grand figures who will worry in our ce! What we need to do is capture Nighteye and bring her back. If we lose her, however, that will be our responsibility.¡±

    The vampire soldiers began to move westward at a rapid pace. They separated into a huge fan-shaped formation, creating arge without any holes, and headed in the direction Nighteye ran.

    Their running speed was extremely fast, even faster than werewolves in the wilderness. In addition, they were able to maintain this running speed for an entire day and night without rest. This was a vampire soldier. Their race had extremely high talent and were naturally powerful, thus being natural enemies to humans.

    At the top of arge tree in the distance, Qianye was holding his tactical scope and looked out over the wastnd under the shroud of night. The scope had a strange, pale-red field of view. Inside the lens, one could see the rapidly moving outlines of raging mes.

    This was a multi-purpose tactical scope that Red Scorpions were equipped with. It had a mechanism that specifically targeted vampires and werewolves. When this mechanism was equipped, it could detect vampires¡¯ unique blood power, making them appear in Qianye¡¯s field of view as the red outlines he had seen before.

    Qianye quietly counted the number of enemies, ¡°One, two ¡­ nine in total! Alright, they reallymitted a lot of resources to this. The woman who calls herself Nighteye doesn¡¯t seem to be as simple as she imed! Hunter? Hmph!¡±

    He nced at the wilderness again, and cautiously changed his scope to werewolf vision, but couldn¡¯t find any other suspicious signs.

    Amongst the nine vampire soldiers, he did not see any signs of the titled vampire, which meant that these soldiers were only the vanguard. The main force still remained behind them. Their means of chasing Nighteye was reflected simrly. They did not impatiently chase after her, but separated and slowly began surrounding her position while remaining within tracking range.

    This was exactly what Qianye wanted. He had already prepared to fight these scattered, dark-blooded creatures. Qianye put away his tactical scope and jumped down therge tree, disappearing into the boundless night.

    Under the night sky, a vampire soldier cautiously walked into a valley. The valley wasn¡¯t big, but its terrain wasplex. Spread throughout the valley were bramble bushes and not a small number of caves. Many scavengers made this area their temporary dwelling.

    When scavengers camped out, they would habitually create small traps in their surroundings, but when they leave, they often do not clear out their traps. After many years, this valley had be filled with danger at every step, being very difficult to pass through.

    Scavengers had an understanding of each other, so they could to see through signs of traps others hadid down. This standard vampire soldier, on the other hand, did not have such an ability. Soon after he entered the valley, he had already been soaked by foul-smelling water and acid, and was injured on his calf by another trap.

    He was extremely furious.

    A small injury like this did not actually hinder a vampire¡¯s strong body, but the acid and foul-smelling water made him feel extremely disgusted. Every vampire was born with an obsession over cleanliness! However, he had to thoroughly search this valley, because this was the best ce for someone to hide. If Nighteye was hiding there and he did not find her, then he could only look forward to the severest of punishments.

    That was why the vampire soldier continued searching despite hisints.

    The vampire thought that if he could find a scavenger, that would be great. He definitely wouldn¡¯t suck the dirty blood from someone who had been wandering through garbage, but he would spend time torturing these cunning humans!

    While walking, the vampire soldier suddenly came into contact with a thin, ck string. Before he had time to move his foot back, the string broke!

    The vampire soldier wrinkled his brows, vigntly scanning his surroundings. He waited for the trap to spring. As long as he noticed them, traps made by scavengers would definitely not ovee him.

    However, the moment he opened his eyes to survey thendscape, a silvery me sprang up a few meters away. In that moment, it released a piercing light!

    Seeing such strong light in pitch ck darkness of the night, the vampire soldier who naturally had strong night vision screamed and covered his eyes!

    He was very experienced in battle, and after receiving this sudden attack, he didn¡¯t even think before he immediately rolled to the side to leave his original spot.

    However, when he stood up and prepared to open his eyes to look around, his back chilled. A sharp de pierced through his back, stabbing deeply into his heart!

    When the sharp de entered his body, the vampire soldier suddenly felt a burning pain inside his chest. He even smelled incineration within his own breath. In that moment, a thought shed inside his mind, ¡°There is silver on the knife!¡±

    He struggled, but it was futile. He could not even moan lightly, because a powerful hand was gripping his throat.

    The vampire soldier finally understood that he had met a strong opponent. Maybe it was that most hateful vampire hunter. Only those with deep understanding of vampires would be able to urately tear through his heart in one strike and prevent the opposition from even calling for help by clutching his throat. Many humans without experience would cover the vampire¡¯s mouth, then fall to a bite. Even if they killed the vampire in the end, they would still be a blood thrall.

    This vampire soldier struggled for a few moments, then copsed onto the floor, to never move again.

    Like a ghost, Qianye appeared from behind him, quietly pulling out his military knife. He then stabbed the body a few more times. He flipped the vampire soldier over and pried open his mouth. There were twoplete vampire fangs, a symbol of official members. Any mature vampire would have the strength of at least a rank two Fighter.

    Qianye used his knife to pry out the two fangs and threw them in his backpack. Many institutions in the Empire bought these fangs for a high price as a reward for killing vampires. One official vampire soldier¡¯s fangs were worth one imperial gold.

    Qianye searched the vampire again and put everything of value inside his bag. He didn¡¯t touch anything else. Weapons used by vampires usually had blood scents that were designed to be tracked, and without suitable methods and tools, destroying the tracking system was very difficult. If one was greedy and took a weapon, then that would essentially be giving all of the vampire¡¯srades a clear target.

    After using a few minutes to get rid of his tracks, Qianye scurried through the valley in a loop and took out his remaining tin foil bags. These bags were able to create strong shes of light, making them weapons that could be used to defend against vampires and their extraordinary night vision.

    After fulfilling his tasks, Qianye left the valley. In just half an hour, he had already run twenty kilometers and found a hidden cave to conceal himself.

    Qianye put on his military gloves and carefully took a bag of liquid silver from his backpack. He forcefully resisted the eruption of his blood and dipped his saber into the liquid for a few moments. He then let it dry and returned it to its sheath, and just like this, he finished preparing for his next battle.

    After this, Qianye closed his eyes and began resting. He was soaked in cold sweat afterpleting just a few of these simple tasks.

    In the distance, Nighteye stopped sneaking around. Her left pupil became blood-colored. In her field of view, she saw a chainposed of seventeen pale links of blood energy, connecting her body to something in the distance.

    These were Blood Shackles, a secret art possessed only by pure bloods. With multiple vampires cooperating, the Blood Shackles could connect to their target, but it would suppress both sides¡¯ power level.

    The more Blood Shackles there were, the more effective the suppression was. However, both sides experienced this power of suppression, and everyone was heavily restrained. The side that owned the Blood Shackles could use them to suppress a genuine expert by sacrificing a lot of cannon fodder.

    In addition, after being locked down by Blood Shackles, there was no real way to escape them. The Blood Shackles would inform both parties of their enemy¡¯s location at all times, so unless one killed all the shackled enemies, one would never be able to escape.

    At this moment, Nighteye felt her entire body lighten up a little. A blood chain broke and faded, indicating that an enemy soldier had been killed.

    Nighteye looked in the direction of the chain¡¯s path. ¡°He actually killed one? Is this good luck?¡±

    To her, Qianye was truly too weak. It was equivalent to a vampire soldier that had just risen from the newborn rank. Humans were truly so weak.

    However, humans were extremely cunning and too good at reproducing. It had been told that during the War of Daybreak, an uncountable number of dark race heroes had suffered at the hands of humanity¡¯s Human Wave Tactics.

    The vampires on the other side of the Blood Shackles were definitely not low rank soldiers. Within the imperial army, rank six Fighters were already Lieutenant Colonels, capable of leading close to a thousand Fighters, but although each of these vampires originally had power equivalent to a rank five or rank six human Fighter, they were suppressed to mere rank two Fighters after being locked by the Blood Shackles.

    From Nighteye¡¯s point of view, these advanced soldiers died to a mere rank two Fighter. They likely died with evesting regret. However, she stopped thinking about this. To her, the fate of those soldiers was not worth spending more time thinking about.

    Nighteye continued to sprint forward under the night sky, quickly covering long distances.

 Volume 2 - 14: Place of the Decisive Battle

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 14: ce of the Decisive Battle

    Inside another valley, Qianyeid hidden inside the underbrush, looking through the gaps of the des of grass at the advancing vampire warrior that was searching not far away. The vampire warrior snapped a thin thread with his foot, activated the mechanism as the tin foil bag suddenly exploded. Immediately, a bright silver me began to burn.

    This vampire soldier had slightly faster reaction time than the previous. Right when the light shed, he had already turned around and closed his eyes so that they were not harmed too badly. Moreover, he had quickly backed away before opening his eyes and starting to search for any enemies in hiding.

    Yet, Qianye did not give him an opportunity to recover. The moment the vampire soldier began backing away, Qianye had jumped up and threw a tin foil bag. When the vampire soldier opened his eyes, he saw the tin foil bag a few meters in front of him and Qianye pulling a thin string with his hands. Another sh of light illuminated in front of the vampire soldier¡¯s face!

    The vampire soldier ultimately suffered. He screamed with pain, and instinctively covered his eyes.

    Qianye pulled out his Kohler pistol, clutching it tightly with his two hands. He emptied the seven bullets within his magazine at once despite the massive recoil, which he recovered his aim in time for every following bullet.

    Every bulletnded on either one of the vampire soldier¡¯s hands or his face, but not one was able to prate the hands that were still covering his eyes. Two bullets were embedded in his chin bone, but were not able to prate through bone either.

    Qianye felt his heart chill. What a tough body!

    At this distance, guns that used gunpowder had no way of prating the body of an high rank vampire soldier. That also implied only ck Scorpion veterans were able to fight one! If Qianye met an advanced vampire soldier in a direct confrontation, he definitely would not have any chance at victory.

    However, from the strength of his darkness origin power and his reaction time in battle, Qianye could tell that this vampire truly had the strength of a rank two Fighter. Could it be that he had some sort of special innate aptitude? Qianye¡¯s thoughts shifted quickly, his hands pulling the trigger for thest time without any hesitation.

    The vampire soldier had been forced back by the barrage of bullets, which caused him to continuously scream even louder. The bullets were all coated in silver. Once they entered his body, they immediately began corroding his flesh. However, Qianye knew that his bullets were only cheap, silver-coated bullets. Silver-coated bullets could only exacerbate the injuries and would not reach the point of lethality, but real silver bullets were controlled by the army, so he had no way of getting them.

    Qianye dove forward and passed the vampire soldier¡¯s front in a sh. Like a ghost, he then circled around to the soldier¡¯s back and stabbed him with a knife smeared with liquid silver. The knife cut through the heart in one jab before Qianye speedily retreated.

    The vampire soldier let out a mournful cry, struggled for a moment, and then fell over atst.

    Qianye finally released his breath as deep-seated fatigue overwhelmed him. This battle took only a short while, but it exhausted almost half of his origin power. He had used every strategy and trick he knew, consecutively setting traps for his opponents before finally deciding the result of this battle.

    However, the cries of this vampire soldier had already spread far and wide. The other vampires were definitely alerted and increased their vignce. To ambush one again so soon would be much more difficult.

    Qianye continued searching the body and found a gold badge inside the vampire soldier¡¯s pocket. On it was a symbol of a crescent moon and a scepter, but Qianye had never seen this symbol before. It might perhaps be some ancient family¡¯s insignia.

    Qianye pocketed the badge and then simrly took some of the crystal currency generally usable in dark races that the vampire had brought along with him.

    Lastly, Qianye pried out the vampire¡¯s fangs.

    This time, he examined them carefully. This pair of fangs was slightly longer than those of low rank vampire soldiers that he had fought before. It also had a finer texture and a higher transparency. The openings for sucking blood and injecting venom were also slightly wider. The umtion of these minor differences confirmed that the vampire wasn¡¯t an ordinary, but an high ranked vampire soldier.

    However, as to why a high ranked vampire soldier had experienced a sudden drop in power, a drop from rank six to rank two, must have other reasons. Perhaps, it have had to do with their pursuit of Nighteye.

    Qianye pondered for a moment, then decided not to erase his traces and only adjusted a couple of things and before quietly leaving.

    Having lost two high ranked soldiers, the titled vampire definitely wouldn¡¯t easily let the killer escape. Thus, these traces could give clues to that vampire big shot and throw him off in analyzing Qianye¡¯s battle strength.

    Within the traces also remained some of Qianye¡¯s scent, which any keen vampire could use to easily track him. This was Qianye¡¯s goal. His true target was the boss of those vampires!

    Far away, Nighteye was slightly surprised. Another piece of her Blood Shackles had snapped. She now felt that maybe she should raise her opinion of the little guy known as Qianye. Even though his strength was pretty damn weak, he was obviously extremely cunning. Just the ability to consecutively kill two elite vampire soldiers gave him the qualifications to be ced on par with experienced vampire hunters.

    About half an hour after Qianye left, a handsome young man was standing inside the valley. He frowned as he looked at the vampire soldier¡¯s body. Behind him stood four other vampire soldiers who were all slightly trembling at this moment.

    This man was dressed in a tuxedo. His slim body, coattail, bowtie, and linen blouse, not a single detail wasn¡¯t perfect. He looked as if he was about to attend a banquet. Under the light of the blood moon, his boots seemed especially dazzling.

    He turned around to face a middle-aged vampire soldier, coldly smiling as he said, ¡°So these are the elite soldiers you trained? They weren¡¯t able to chase down Nighteye, and two were killed by a weak human instead! From what I see, our house¡¯s dignity has utterly been lost by you lot!¡±

    The vampire soldier spoke in a low voice, ¡°Sir Wilde, their strength had been suppressed by the Blood Shackles.¡±

    Wilde pointed toward the body¡¯s wound on the backside, where the heart should have been, and sneered, ¡°Even if they were suppressed, their strengths would¡¯ve still been rank two! You see this wound? That human also merely had the strength of a rank two. Don¡¯t tell me the elite soldiers you trained for a few decades couldn¡¯t even defeat a human of the same rank! Are you guys trying to say that the kid who opened a small bar in that little town is actually a soldier from the Broken Wings Angel or something? Or perhaps from one of the other elite corps? Such as the Swords of Radiance, the Red Scorpion, or the Arms of War?¡±

    Under this barrage of remarks, the few vampire soldiers were unable to respond at all.

    Wilde coldlyughed for a while, then finally said, ¡°This guy must die! However, I don¡¯t have any confidence in relying on you. I will finish him myself!¡±

    The captain of the soldiers was shocked, and hurriedly dissuaded him, ¡°Sir! You still need to deal with Nighteye!¡±

    Wilde arrogantly said, ¡°That¡¯s not a problem, there¡¯s no way for her to escape. Even if she and that guy were waiting for me together, do you actually think that a rank two human can affect the battle situation between me and her?¡±

    Wilde scanned the four vampire soldiers and wanted to say something, but suddenly looked westward. He gradually revealed a twisted smile as he said, ¡°Ah, look what information the wonderful scent of sacred blood had brought us! It is truly unbelievable. That noble and prouddy Nighteye is actuallying in this direction. Does she want to join hands with that brat? Join hands with a rank two human?¡±

    Wilde especially emphasized phrase ¡°rank two¡±.

    The vampire captain summoned up the courage to say, ¡°Sir, please be careful!¡±

    ¡°Be careful?¡± Wilde¡¯s smile gradually became ferocious. ¡°Even if I don¡¯t catch Nighteye, there¡¯s no way for her to escape. There are still some unlikable, big dogs that will arrive soon. This area is their paradise!¡±

    ¡°Werewolves? Then Lady Nighteye¡­¡±

    Wilde coldly interrupted the captain, ¡°My orders were to bring Nighteye back, but they didn¡¯t specify whether she had to be dead or alive!¡±

    Wilde didn¡¯t n on acting alongside the four soldiers. He believed that these guys who were suppressed down two rank two would only hold him back. Despite being a chain on the Blood Shackles, he still had the strength of a rank five soldier, and was well-matched against Nighteye.

    During his battle with Nighteye, there was no ce for a rank two insect to interfere. However, he had no problem with killing this insect before he fought Nighteye. This would make him joyful whereas Nighteye, not so much.

    Just thinking of that little insectying in a pool of blood and moaning already gave Wilde uncontroble pleasure.

    However, Wilde very quickly found this chase to be unpleasant, very unpleasant.

    Wilde followed the scent and chased after it until he stopped in front of an enormous warship skeleton, his expression bing extremely ugly.

    The enormous skeleton of warship was over one hundred meters in height and one thousand meters in length. It was a Colossus-model main force warship of humans after the War of Daybreak. Now that it had fallen here, it was entirely like the ruins of a small city.

    This tiny insect was obviously very cunning, or he would have never chosen this ce to hide himself.

    Seeing the filthy environment and smelling the pungent scent of metal and other materials that had lingered through all these years without fully dissipating, Wilde rubbed his tormented nose and made a bitter smile as he made his way inside a propulsion pipeline.

    This Colossus-model warship truly deserved its name. A person could even stoop and walk through its propulsion pipelines.

    Wilde bent over and walked through the enormous propulsion tube for a long time before finallying out on the other side. What he then discovered, was that it was only a piece of fabric from a shirt that lead him here. However, this scent was much fresher than before, so that little punk couldn¡¯t have left more than twenty minutes ago.

    Wilde immediately chased this trail. He was so fast that one would almost be unable to see him. He looked like a mirage traversing the wastnd.

    A momentter, Wilde suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression bing even grimmer. He was able to feel that Qianye was hiding just in front of him. It seemed that this was the ce where the little rascal had chosen as grounds of their final battle. Although, in Wilde¡¯s eyes, the correct phrasing would be a chosen burial ground.

    Nighteye also arrived at the other side of the battle ground. She and Wilde were both able to feel each other¡¯s presence, but at this moment, her expression was not much better than his.

    Qianye¡¯s choice of location for the final battle, wasrgest ruin and junkyard near Lighthouse Town.

    The smell was immensely putrid. Besides the various types of garbage, there were also a few abandoned factories, while gigantic airships skeletons scattered all over the ce. This area used to be the graveyard for airships before the Empire withdrew from the region, and a few hundred years, it had gradually umted into a mountain range made of garbage of variouspositions.

    To high vampires who had mysophobia from birth, while also having an extremely sharp sense of smell, this ce was worse than hell.

    Wilde¡¯s expression was extremely ugly, but there was no way he could give up on killing Qianye. Two high ranked vampire soldiers had already died in his hands, so as their leader, Wilde had the responsibility to expunge this embarrassment.

    ¡°Insect, you better hide well! You¡¯d better not let me find you!¡± Wilde murmured, finally stepping into the junkyard.

 Volume 2 - 15: Werewolvesâ€™ First Appearance

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 15: Werewolves¡¯ First Appearance

    At this moment, Qianye was hiding behind an abandoned airship. Only half of the main cabin remained and the perimeter of the tear had iparably sharp, metal edges. All different kinds of trash were hung upon the edges, flowing with the wind like fluttering banners. They blocked the line of sight.

    At this moment, Qianye was looking through a hole that had once been a window. He had very carefully hidden his entire body behind the metal wall. Even his eyes couldn¡¯t be seen directly. From outside of the hole, only the ck lenses of binocrs could be seen.

    Within his field of view, Wilde¡¯s body emitted a dark red, but the color was faint, suggesting that the amount of dark origin power that was leaking was actually very little. This was a sign of a true high-ranking vampire. Vampires who were true experts were able to withdraw their bloody aura and origin power. They could never be urately analyzed by a mere Tactical Scope.

    It seemed like this was the titled vampire Nighteye was talking about. Qianye closely observed Wilde¡¯s movements, not missing even the smallest of details.

    ording to Qianye¡¯s experience, high ranking vampires and vampire soldiers were two different organisms. Any titled vampire, even the lowest ranking calvary, will be at least rank seven and was definitely not someone Qianye was able to contend with. Even though the enemy had been lured into the garbage dump because he underestimated him, Qianye knew that he only had one chance.

    He had to kill him in one strike!

    Qianye only had a chance because the enemy would never think that a rank two human would have strong killing weapons such as the Scorpion Needle and the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism.

    Qianye saw Wilde blindly searching and even turning his back facing him multiple times, but he still never fired. High-ranking vampires all had extremely fast reaction time, and Wilde had just entered the garbage dump, so he was still on high alert. It was not the best time to strike yet.

    Back in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, Qianye had already learned of patience and for someone with no future like him, killing the high-ranking vampire who was in front of him at that moment was the most meaningful thing in his life.

    Inside the garbage dump, Wilde already considered his augmented sense of smell a burden. Tracks had been cut off there, so he could only rely on his attraction to blood and life force, his experience, and his eyes to search for his opponent.

    However, within such an enormous garbage dump, there was all kinds of junk lying around everywhere he looked. How could it be easy to find someone hiding intentionally using such a primitive method?

    While Wilde was wandering around, he suddenly stopped and looked toward the top of a broken warship. On the tilted gangway raised high in the air appeared a slim figure.

    ¡°Nighteye? You would actually alsoe in a ce like this!¡± Wilde seemed very surprised.

    He knew that Nighteye¡¯s identity was special. Someone like her would definitely not enter such a filthy ce. He never would have thought that not only did she enter, she even had the intention to fight him here.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t Ie?¡± Nighteye coldly said.

    Wilde suddenly took off his well-ironed uniform, and dropped it on the ground. He then smiled and said, ¡°Since even you are not disgusted by this dump, there¡¯s no reason for me to be either! However, is this little insect of a human that important to you?¡±

    After he finished speaking, Wilde pulled out a flexible sword that vibrated as it straightened. His entire person then rose into the air and charged toward Nighteye.

    Nighteye pulled out her dagger and dropped down ten meters, but in the middle of the air, she suddenly changed direction by kicking the airship and charged in Wilde¡¯s direction!

    The two people turned into shadows and fought with movements as fast as lightning. Every single second, each person struck out numerous times, but barely a sound of weapons shing rang out.

    Qianye observed the battle of these two and looked at Nighteye with his binocrs.

    Within the vampire scanner, Nighteye virtually did not have any red light about her and barely looked any different from how she did normally. Qianye wrinkled his brows. Usually, this would have confirmed her identity as a human, but he still had an inexplicable feeling that something was off.

    Qianye had fought against vampires in dozens of battles and knew theirbat styles by heart. Vampires fought by utilizing their power, speed, and battle techniques. Their inhuman speed and power that didn¡¯t seem to belong to their body type were the essential differences between their and humans¡¯bat styles. Based solely on the scene of battle, it seemed to be clear that two high-ranking vampires were fighting, but Nighteye¡¯s body emitted no signs of dark origin power.

    After identifying Nighteye as a human, yet seeing her vampire-likebat style, Qianye had a weird feeling that he couldn¡¯t exin.

    Qianye quietly retreated into the airship¡¯s engine room. The room was mostly intact, so hopefully, some of its shielding capabilities remained. He took out his Scorpion Needle and used his crystal cartridge box to fill the magazine. He put a single Mithril Bullet of Exorcism inside the gun chamber.

    He waited a few seconds, but everything was normal. The Mithril Bullet of Exorcism did not fluctuate due to the effects of his blood of darkness. The Scorpion Needle¡¯s production was of the highest quality. It was entirely airtight, and free of any leakage.

    Qianye had an imperceptible smile on his face. He could still use exorcism weapons without any problems. That really was good news. Then he clutched the grip of the gun and slowly infused it with his origin power.

    The gun¡¯s body lit up with a myriad of dark red lines where origin power passed through as Qianye¡¯s consciousness followed along. At this moment, his origin power stimted eachponent of the origin array as it followed the path inside the Scorpion Needle. It created a film of special energy that wrapped around the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism.

    This was an ability Qianye acquired when he became a rank two Fighter: Heavy Caliber.

    Heavy Caliber was the mostmon ability used by snipers, but it was still highly useful. The film¡¯s energy would increase the damage of the bullet when it was fired and burst open. Whenbined with the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism, he was definitely able to heavily injure any vampire below the rank of Viscount. It was an instant kill if it hit a vital point!

    This was the present Qianye had prepared for Wilde!

    Qianye carefully inspected his entire body to confirm that there was nothing that could hinder him before quietly moving through the airship to leave through the other exit. He immediately removed ayer of garbage and slowly peeked his head over.

    In front of him, Wilde and Nighteye were fighting to the death.

    This was a very suitable spot. The moment Qianye entered the garbage dump, he had noticed its advantageous position. The most important benefit was the thickyer of rotting organic material which was basically a natural barrier against vampires. Even a Count would never be able to detect his presence within the garbage mound.

    As for the stench and filth, Qianye did not care at all. Since the beginning of his memories, he had been inside a garbage dump. If it weren¡¯t for such a huge garbage dump and the upper continents regrly dumping their garbage, he would have never found enough food to survive.

    Within the protection of the garbage, the barrel of his Scorpion Needle slightly peered out. Right when the very tip was exposed, it stopped moving and froze. It then slowly pointed downward, toward an empty field, after which Qianye began patiently waiting.

    Wilde and Nighteye suddenly separated, each staring at the other. The two were injured at the same time. Wilde was injured on his thigh, with a spike bay embedded far enough into the flesh that it reached the bone. Nighteye also received an injury on her left shoulder. There was arge wound, deep enough to reveal her bones.

    Wilde suddenlyughed, his expression very exaggerated. ¡°You can¡¯t escape now! With the scent of your blood on you, you will be captured by soldiers of the Dark Nightmare Tribe no matter where you run to!¡±

    Nighteye coldly said, ¡°You actually colluded with those disgusting dogs! You have thrown away the glory of our race!¡±

    ¡°What do you know? Once I pull your father out of his position, I¡¯ll see how long you¡¯ll be able to keep everyone beneath you!¡±

    Nighteye wanted to say something, but then her expression drastically changed. Bursts of howling rang out from outside the garbage dump, and then a few ck werewolf fighters appeared on top of an abandoned airship.

    Qianye was one hundred meters away and couldn¡¯t hear what Nighteye and Wilde were talking about. However, once he saw the high ranking vampire give what seemed like instructions to the ck werewolves, his face couldn¡¯t help but change!

    Werewolves!

    This was another main race within the dark races. Their strength was barely weaker than that of vampires. However, the two races had been enemies for numerous generations throughout history. Sometimes their hatred for each other was even stronger than their hatred of humans. Thus, seeing a vampire and a group of werewolves virtually cooperating with each other made for a very abnormal scene.

    This further confirmed that Nighteye¡¯s identity wasn¡¯t simple. It was important enough that werewolves and vampires would cooperate to take her down.

    A few ck werewolves with giant bodies appeared. They were all official fighters recognized within their race, and were also rank two Fighters. One of the werewolves wasrger than the others. The distance between his head and tail was four meters, he was almost two meters tall, and he didn¡¯t look much different from a lion. This was an elite soldier within the werewolf race that approximately had the strength of a rank five human Fighter.

    At this time, more than ten vampire soldiers finally appeared from outside the garbage dump and reached them. Even though these soldiers were only rank two, victory belonged to the side with the numerical advantage. They had filled in all the empty areas that the werewolves could not cover,pletely sealing off any route of escape for Nighteye.

    The situation instantly became iparably dangerous. In the face of this kind of strength, the only prospect was death. No matter how fast Nighteye was, it would still be very difficult for her to escape this encirclement. Aside from that, she was injured. Dripping blood served as tracks for werewolves. In the wilderness, werewolves were the best hunters, even tougher than vampires.

    Qianye had never expected this to happen. From the way it seemed, all of the nearby high-ranking dark races had appeared. It was important to note that this ce was still within the imperial expeditionary army¡¯s control! When so many high-ranking dark race warriors appeared, the imperial expeditionary army would definitely react fiercely. It was likely that the army wouldpletely cleanse the area.

    Wherever the expeditionary army had passed through, the area could be described, without exaggeration, aspletely devoid of life. This was true even for humans.

    Within cities where dark races had appeared, the expeditionary army would always begin arge-scale search for blood thralls. Amongst the captured blood thralls, true ones who were truly infected sometimes did not even amount to half. The rest were people that had a possibility of being infected or people that had hidden blood thralls away. Some people were even captured under the name of a blood thrall solely because an officer of the expeditionary army didn¡¯t like them.

    Once the main force of the expeditionary army was mobilized, half of Lighthouse Town would definitely be destroyed.

    However, Lighthouse Town¡¯s future was not something Qianye could care about. With his blood of darkness erupting ever more frequently, controlling it became more and more difficult. Qianye had already made preparations. The moment he could no longer resist his bloodthirst and was on the verge of beginning indiscriminate killing to drink blood, that would be thest moment of his life.

    This was another reason for why Qianye wanted toe with Nighteye when he heard there would be a high-ranking vampire. In his eyes, there could be nothing of more worth than him trading his life, which could already end at any moment, to kill a high-ranking vampire.

    Sacrificing a rank two Fighter to kill a high-ranking vampire of at least seven was something anymander would do without hesitation.

    Qianye lightly moved his gun barrel, and patiently locked his eyes down onto Wilde.

 Volume 2 - 16: Death by Explosion

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 16: Death by Explosion

    Qianye felt that this vampire noble was somewhat strange. Although he only disyed power around the rank four or five, hisbat skills and reactions were far greater than that of a high-ranking vampire soldier.

    Thinking back to the two vampire warriors he had personally in earlier, Qianye faintly felt that this high-ranked vampire might have the same circumstances, and could not understand the reason as to why his strength was suppressed. The enemy should be a Blood Esquire or maybe even a rank eight Knight.

    However, Qianye continued to wait for when Wilde would rx.

    Seeing that the situation had been decided, Wilde was finally relieved and smiled, saying, ¡°Miss Nighteye, the end result is now certain, and even if you want to run, it is impossible for you to! If you are willing to submit and then advise your father to cease resisting, the viscount would be very happy. He might even be willing to grant you a pretty good position. Perhaps bing the wife of a viscount would be suitable for you? However¡­¡±

    Wilde¡¯s face suddenly sank and he said coldly, ¡°However, if you do not cooperate, then sending your corpse back to your father is just as suitable. Furthermore, at that time, I cannot guarantee what you will look like. As you know, our ck-furred friends utterly hate vampires, and they are capable of anything. Even if you be a corpse, there is no escape from the treatment awaiting you! I think our friends don¡¯t mind if you are dead or alive. You can also try waiting for reinforcements, for example, that rank two brat¡­¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s fingertips trembled slightly, obviously due to her extreme anger. She looked away, her face filled with a look of contempt, not even willing to say one more word to Wilde.

    Her gaze swept the surroundings, looking for any chance to escape. However, the ck werewolf fighters and vampire warriors had blocked all paths of escape. Under the suppression of the Blood Shackles, she had no chance of running past those ferocious, four-legged bastards.

    Wilde looked at Nighteye with satisfaction, and his gaze began to brazenly wander up and down her whole body. Even by vampire standards, Nighteye possessed a city-toppling charm. Moreover, she possessed a natural charm ability; it was no wonder that even a cold, bloodthirsty, and exuberantly ambitious important figure such as the viscount would be moved by her to the point of disregarding the future risk of revenge and instead sought to personally obtain her.

    ¡°It would be best if she resisted until the end. That way, perhaps I may have the chance to try tasting her¡­¡± Wilde stroked his jaw while lost in thought.

    At that moment, the sharp howl of a wolf woke Wilde from his daydream! He immediately felt his scalp fry, and his survival instincts continuously screamed of life-threatening danger, making him extremely frantic.

    Wilde instinctively turned his head to look in the direction the dangerous attack came from, his body already beginning to make evasive maneuvers.

    From the corner of his eyes, a dazzling, silver sh ceaselessly grewrger.

    It was a silver sh!

    The thing vampires hated the most was silver, and a silver sh within the darkness often implied the worst thing possible. The instant Wilde saw the silver, he instinctively rushed forward, not even having the time to think about where this attack came from.

    In that moment, Wilde felt as if a sledgehammer had ruthlessly mmed into his leg, making his whole body fly away while he immediately lost all feeling in his right leg.

    Qianye, who was buried withinyers of garbage, looked through his tactical scope and watched as the silver sh exploded into a bundle of mes and Wilde¡¯s right leg soared away from his body. That body part emitted a hissing sound and quickly diffused into ck smoke. Wilde himself tumbled through the air after having been knocked into the sky by the impact.

    It wasn¡¯t that the shot was off target, it was just that Wilde¡¯s reaction time was just too fast. He somehow optimally dodged in an impossible time frame and avoided fatally injuring his vitals. Just based on this degree of battle skill, he had to be at least a Knight.

    Additionally, the power of the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism was far beyond Qianye¡¯s imagination. If this gun with the addition of the power of Heavy Caliber had hit Wilde¡¯s body, it would have immediately taken his life.

    Qianye did not look back in regret. He quickly pressed the second Mithril Bullet of Exorcism into the gun, during which his eyes never left the tactical scope. Right when he finished reloading, his sights were already set on Wilde¡¯snding location. These extreme ammo loading, aiming, and shooting skills were tempered during all of Qianye¡¯s endlessly ruthless training.

    The moment when Wilde fell to the ground, the second Mithril Bullet of Exorcism whistled out and turned into a silver light, smashing into his chest.

    Wilde had no strength left to dodge the bullet, and he pitifully screamed and shouted as arge hole immediately opened in his chest.

    Wilde emitted dying screams, his mournful voice piercing the night sky as it spread far and wide.

    Qianye observed for an entire minute, and only after determining that not even being soaked in the legendary Vampire Progenitor Blood Pool could save Wilde¡¯s life did he move the muzzle away and point it in the direction of a werewolf.

    During the process of observing and moving the gun, he put the third Mithril Bullet of Exorcism into the bullet chamber and then began to madly hasten the origin tide, regardless of the severe pain sweeping through his chest area as he injected thest of his origin power into the Scorpion Needle.

    Because the Combatant Form overwhelmed other arts, it became the main practiced art of the lower end of the Empire¡¯s army. Other than being able to rapidly increase one¡¯s strength in the initial stages, it was also faster than the other arts at charging an origin gun. Under these kinds of situations, saving even one second could determine life or death.

    Although this unforeseen event was sudden and unexpected, after firing two consecutive shots, Qianye had also exposed his own location. Vampire warriors quickly rushed toward his hiding spot, momentarily making a hole within the encirclement around Nighteye.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t immediately seize the chance to escape, instead clenching her teeth and moving behind one of the vampire warriors like a specter, ruthlessly stabbing a dagger into his heart. At the same time, two spiked bays flew out from her hands, shooting into the body of a werewolf who hade to benefit from others¡¯ disputes. The extremely potent toxin on the spiked bays immediately reacted. The giant werewolf rushed out for ten more meters, uttered a sad final wail, and then fell to the ground.

    The werewolf leader let out a long howl in extreme anger. Reacting to this, all the werewolves turned toward Nighteye, while the chief itself charged toward Qianye. In its mind, Qianye was a much bigger threat than Nighteye.

    The power of the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism made every member of the dark races tremble with fear!

    Qianye watched the rapidly approaching werewolf leader, yet did not fire. When werewolves ran in their wolf forms, their instinctive reactions were even faster than those of vampires, making itpletely possible for them to change directions and dodge in the moment it would take him to pull the trigger. Not only that, but the restorative capabilities of the werewolves¡¯ bodies weren¡¯t any worse than the vampires¡¯. If his shot did not hit their vitals, they would be able to restore themselves after a period of time.

    ¡°Come on then! Damn bastard! A life for a life, there¡¯s still more to earn!¡± Qianye contemted this in his heart as his eyes that stared in the werewolf leader¡¯s direction were cold and steady.

    Having eliminated Wilde, Qianye had already found his meaning in life. Right now, he found that if he was able to im the head of one more rank five werewolf, then his entire life would¡¯ve been worth it!

    This was how a soldier calcted!

    The werewolf leader had already arrived within ten meters of Qianye. He then jumped up, changed into human form in mid air, and dove at Qianye!

    Now is the time!

    The moment Qianye had been waiting for was the werewolf¡¯s leaping strike!

    His upper body suddenly leaned back, and he lifted the muzzle while pulling the trigger! With this opportunity, the angle was precise, as if it had been rehearsed in advance.

    The Mithril Bullet of Exorcism drew a beautiful and dazzling streak of silver in the night sky, instantly burying its way into the werewolf leader¡¯s chest!

    Immediately, arge piece of silver light flew out from the werewolf leader¡¯s back, leaving a terrifying wound about the size of arge bowl! The silver light was like a fountain sprinkling into the air, with little droplets refracting light and bizarre colors.

    The werewolf leader still fell onto the designated position, fiercely swinging down with its w. The Scorpion Needle flew out from Qianye¡¯s hand, but the heavy blow exploded on his chest without obstruction! But this blow did not cut open that frail human like the werewolf had anticipated. It only made him fly far away!

    The werewolf leader let out the indignant roar of an injured beast and once again jumped toward Qianye to chase him, but it only ran for a few meters before uttering a whine and copsing to the ground. When the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism passed through its body, it had already burned all its internal organs. No matter how tenacious its vitality was, it was unable to resist the true strength and the destructive power that came from a true expert of the human race.

    Qianye fell down dozens of meters away and lost consciousness after spitting some blood out of his mouth.

    On the other battlefield, Nighteye¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t all that good either. She had finally in all of the vampire warriors, removing the Blood Shackles from her body, but her body currently sustained dozens of wounds. Her left calf was twisted in an unnatural way, and her leg bones were all broken from being bitten by a werewolf.

    However, there were four werewolves still around her!

    Nighteye gritted her teeth, and the intense pain covered her forehead with cold sweat. Her bays had all been used up, and the only weapon she had left was the dagger made of special material. She looked in the direction of Qianye and finally grimaced, turning toward the outside and fleeing.

    Qianye was only a rank two Fighter, so getting hit by the werewolf leader only meant that he was doomed for certain death.

    .

    This group of werewolves was unexpectedly strong, and even though Nighteye had removed the Blood Shackles, restoring her strength still required time. Nighteye had originally wanted to take Qianye¡¯s corpse away, because if she left him here, he would be dinner for of the hateful werewolves. However, at this moment, she could no longer look after him.

    The four werewolves chased after Nighteye unhurriedly as they were not that worried that she would stall for time. With those kinds of heavy injuries, she wouldpletely run out of stamina before she could recover a couple of levels of her strength. That was the hunting instinct of the werewolves.

    Nighteye had just exited the garbage dump when, suddenly, an indistinct shadow pounced out from the side, ruthlessly throwing her to the ground.

    A shadow wolf!

    They were the cruelest and most cunning assassins among werewolves. It had long since arrived but had been lying in wait all the way up until now.

    Nighteye¡¯s face shed with despair and then suddenly became fierce. Her pupils surged with a sanguine hue, and an invisible attack shot out from the depths of her eyes ruthlessly smashing into the shadow wolf¡¯s brain!

    The shadow wolf let out a wail, and it froze for a moment. Nighteye took advantage of this chance and used the dagger to pierce into the shadow wolf¡¯s lower abdomen!

    The shadow wolf roared, and its w knocked away Nighteye¡¯s dagger. It then bit her arm, and with a loud crack, it broke both her arms.

    After waiting for Nighteye to lose the ability to resist, and waiting for her to fall into aa, he gradually changed forms, transforming into a young man that was teeming with a wild aura. He nced at the wound on his abdomen, seemed to be extremely furious, and hatefully kicked at Nighteye with his leg.

    ¡°Enough! If she dies, her value may not be as great.¡± An old man with over ten werewolves following behind him stepped out from the darkness.

    The shadow wolf pointed at Nighteye angrily. ¡°But there is no way this cold-blooded woman would yield! Not only that, she also murdered so many of our fellow werewolves!¡±

    ¡°Those are the things Viscount Duke has to consider, it has nothing to do with us. We need to deliver a living Nighteye to him, and she must not be missing any important parts or else it won¡¯t count aspleting the transaction,¡± the old man said slowly.

    The shadow wolf¡¯s chest rose and fell and as he red at Nighteye. He spat a mouthful of saliva toward her.

    However, what was strange was that after the mouthful of saliva flew halfway, it hung suspended in the air and slowly began to revolve.

 Volume 2 - 17: Primo

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 17: Primo

    Seeing this strange scene, all of the werewolves went on full alert and watched the surroundings. The fur of all the ones who stayed in wolf-form under this tremendously rming feeling rose!

    At this moment, the wind suddenly was no more. The night also seemed to be especially quiet, and the darkness seemed to have weight, fiercely pressing down on the werewolves.

    Right when it seemed that the whole world went silent, the sound of footsteps broke out. Every step seemed to crush the hearts and souls of all life.

    Two people walked out from the cover of the dark night.

    One was a tall and thin old man. He had a head full of snow white hair, his face was especially square and long, and the corners of his eyes drooped down. It was a face that strongly resembled that of the Apennine Colossus, capable of impressioning others with a single nce. None of his white hairs were stained, and the end of the locks on both sides of his cheeks curled into luxurious rolls.

    At the same time, the other one was a petite youngdy. She had an exceptionally pleasant, small face. Beside her pale white skin, her blood-red lips were particrly dazzling. The youngdy had her hair tied up into a long ponytail, and the cor of her ck cloak stood straight up, revealing a blood-red pattern along the edge, tender and beautiful, but also strange.

    The white-haired old man softly said, ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect that so many of these wild dogs would gather in this kind of small ce, no wonder we could smell the stench from so far away.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, some extremely interesting things are happening here, it seems that we have some primitive n¡¯s internal conflict?¡± the youngdy said.

    The white-haired old man raised his head, took a deep breath, and said, ¡°Oh, guess what I scented? It¡¯s the smell of the highest quality of mithril. It¡¯s dangerous, but ah, it brings the beauty of death. Not only that, but the one who refined seems to actually be a real opponent deserving of respect. Haha, there is actually so much going on in a small ce like this, it¡¯s so unexpected! Could it be that this is the call of fate?¡±

    The youngdy¡¯s eyes swept over the werewolves while she wore a face full of disgust and said, ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the smell on these wild dogs being too strong, I would also be able to smell the scent of mithril.¡±

    Hearing the youngdy¡¯s ruthless insult, the werewolves let out an angry growl one after another, but an imminent feeling of danger stopped them from advancing.

    The old werewolf man¡¯ gripped a wooden staff, stepped forward two steps, and shouted in a low voice, ¡°Where are you from? This is the territory of the Dark Nightmare Tribe!¡±

    The white-haired old man said with a smile, ¡°Dark Nightmare, what is that? As for where we came from, this is not something you need to know. For an old wolf that is about to die, you shouldn¡¯t have such strong curiosity. Curiosity, that¡¯s something that should only belong to the young and the upper races.¡±

    The youngdy¡¯s gaze fell upon Nighteye¡¯s body, and she eximed in surprise, ¡°What is that? What beautiful blood!¡±

    The white-haired old man stared nkly, and slowly walked toward Nighteye. With every step forward, the werewolves would whimper and retreat back a few steps. The fear induced by the great difference in rank caused them to have no intention of resisting.

    The white-haired old man arrived at Nighteye¡¯s side, reached his hand out, dipped it into her blood, and put it into his mouth to taste it. His facial expression began to fluctuate uncontrobly.

    He suddenly backed up a few steps, and an exaggerated smile lit up his face as he forcefully waved his hands to express his joy. ¡°Th-this is the taste of the progenitor¡¯s blood! She has actually awakened the progenitor bloodline, she¡­ she is a primo!

    ¡°The duke will be interested in her,¡± the youngdy said.

    The white-haired old man pondered deeply, ¡°That¡¯s right! However, the scent of her blood is somewhat familiar. Let me think, whose territory is close to here¡­ being too old really is no good, always forgetting things¡­ Ah! I just recalled, the closest to here is Count us. This little girl¡¯s blood has us¡¯ scent, she probably is his pure blood descendant!¡±

    ¡°us?¡± The youngdy¡¯s eyes held doubt.

    The white-haired old man spread his arms open. ¡°An old fellow, said to have an ancient heritage. However, he was obsessed with searching for the secret to the ck Monarch¡¯s treasure, and he can¡¯t even control that small piece of territory he has. I¡¯ve heard that the a few of his subordinate viscounts are seeking to overthrow him. It seems this was the reason for the internal conflict.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like he¡¯s a useless bastard. I have no interest in us, but the smell of these wild dogs is about to kill me.¡±

    ¡°Then clean it up, you should be the one to do it,¡± said the old man with a smile.

    ¡°Why is it always me!¡±

    The youngdyined, but did not refuse. Her pupils suddenly turned an extreme red, like two shining rubies. Her lips opened and closed non-stop as if she were chanting something, but no sound came out.

    What she emitted was high frequency sounds that the human ear could not hear. She was just singing a tune, but in the ears of the werewolves, it was no different from the summons of a death god!

    All the werewolves promptly piteously cried out in pain, and one after another fell to the ground, rolling around as if their lives depended on it!

    The werewolves with rtively low strength did not evenst more than ten seconds before their heads burst. Soon after, the heads of the higher-ranking werewolves also started exploding, one by one. It was extremely bizarre and scary!

    Looking at this bloody scene, the youngdy still continued to sing as an apparently excited yet cruel smile appeared on her doll-like face. At this moment, she was like the messenger of death, and all who heard her voice were fated to be condemned to the country of eternal silence!

    The Shadow Wolf persisted for thirty seconds and then finally fell as well. He held his head in his hands and rolled around. It hurt so much that he actually wanted to smash his head into the bulkhead of an airship. Deep, sunken pits were indented into the bulkheads welded by steel, yet his head was actually fine.

    However, the youngdy suddenly raised her pitch, and the Shadow Wolf finally let out a long, pitiful howl. With a bang, his head exploded into a haze of blood.

    Only the werewolf elder continued to persist. Hepletely relied on his cane to support his body, and pointed to the youngdy in horror and grief. ¡°You¡­You are Nana¡­¡±

    ¡°Bingo!¡± The youngdy showed a sweet smile, reached out, and snapped her finger. The werewolf elder¡¯s head exploded in response.

    The white-haired old man took out a snow-white handkerchief, covered his nose, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that this will only make the scent of those wild dogs increase and spread through air?¡±

    ¡°Doing this will make you move faster.¡± The youngdy lifted her delicate, small hands and also covered her nose.

    The white-haired old man inspected Nighteye¡¯s injuries, frowned, and said, ¡°She is badly hurt, I need some fresh blood to ease her condition, this way we can promptly rush back.¡±

    ¡°The nearest ce seems to be a human vige, but it¡¯s still quite some distance away.¡±

    ¡°No, there¡¯s not enough time. Fortunately, there is a person right here, I already noticed his scent.¡± Saying that, the white-haired old man stood up, and only took two steps before disappearing in the depths of the garbage dump. The next moment, he once again stepped out of the darkness, carrying Qianye in his hand.

    ¡°This is really a valiant and cunning human. He actually hasn¡¯t died yet. Otherwise, the blood would not be fresh,¡± the white-haired old man said while smiling.

    He pulled a heavy metal te out from Qianye¡¯s chest. The metal te was alreadypletely warped, and on it were multiple deep w marks, shallowly passing through to the other side.

    Before Qianye faced the werewolf leader , he had padded his clothes with this three centimeter thick origin alloy te. Otherwise, he would have been cut open long ago. However, the impact of the werewolf leader¡¯s attack still broke all of the ribs in Qianye¡¯s chest, so he would die not long after.

    The old man threw Qianye next to Nighteye, tore open his upper garments, and then reached his hand out and pierced Qianye¡¯s neck. Fresh blood immediately rushed out.

    Nighteye suddenly had a reaction, as all vampires have an instinctive reaction toward fresh blood. She turned and stood up, and her eyes finally opened, but her pupils were vacant of the color of blood. Two vampire fangs gradually stretched out of her mouth.

    She instantly pounced to Qianye¡¯s side, using her fangs to bite his neck while sucking his blood in with big gulps. Not only did the hot blood quench her hunger and thirst, it even rapidly alleviated the pain in her entire body.

    Seeing Nighteye¡¯s perfect posture while drinking blood, the white-haired old man couldn¡¯t help but praise, ¡°As expected of the primo who awakened the progenitor bloodline! Aside from her pupils having enhanced abilities, she can even perfectly mask her vampiric characteristics. This ability can only be possessed by descendants from the thirteen ancestral ns of that year. Exactly which ancestor could she have inherited it from? I have to carefully think about this¡­¡±

    Nana watched from the side, her chest constantly moving up and down and her breathing bing more and more rapid. She didn¡¯t even hear what the old man said.

    She suddenly grabbed Qianye¡¯s right hand, and bit the artery of his wrist!

    The praise and sighs from the white-haired old man abruptly stopped, and he looked at Nana, stunned.

    Nana fiercely sucked a couple big gulps of blood before suddenly screeching. She forcefully threw down Qianye¡¯s hand, backed up a couple steps, and looked at Qianye with aplicated expression.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± the old man asked gravely. He rarely saw Nana act like this.

    Nana looked a little at a loss and said, ¡°His blood is sweet, but that is about it. I don¡¯t know why, but the instant I smelled the scent of his blood, I became unable to suppress my urges. I want¡­ to give him the Embrace!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The white-haired old man was genuinely shocked this time. After he confirmed that Nana was serious, he sighed and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s already toote. His blood has already been consecrated by this child. She is a primo, and although her rank is really low at this moment, whether it be you or me, we will be unable to suppress her blood energy. Other than her, nobody can turn this human into a vampire again. However, although she can wake up right now, she won¡¯t be able toplete the Embrace in her condition right now.¡±

    Nana still looked somewhat at a loss, continuing to lick the remaining blood off her lips.

    The white-haired old man picked Nighteye up and said, ¡°It¡¯s time to go. Any further dy and it will be toote for her to soak in the blood pool.¡±

    Nana left with the old man, asionally looking back and taking a glimpse of thepletely unmoving Qianye. Although she wasn¡¯t willing, she still departed in the end.

    Bing a blood thrall was a road with no return. Humans were helpless in the face of this crisis, and vampires simrly were not able to do anything about it.

    The night finally quieted, as if nothing had ever happened. However, if an insider were to have seen the white-haired old man and the young girl appear, it would definitely cause an enormousmotion.

    With the strength of Marquis Julio and Nana, evenpared to the upper continent¡¯s vampires, they could be said to be ughter gods.

    After an unknown period of time had passed, Qianye felt within a haze that someone was dragging him away, and he could vaguely hear voices.

    ¡°This guy¡¯s finally dead.¡±

    ¡°Yes, hurry and throw it into the zing Canyon. I for one do not wish to stay there longer than needed.¡±

    ¡°Me neither.¡±

 Volume 2 - 18: Abnormal Changes

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 18: Abnormal Changes

    The name of this ce, zing Canyon, seemed very familiar.

    Qianye searched his memories for a quite a while before finally remembering where he had heard of this name.

    zing Canyon wasn¡¯t very far from the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Many Crystal Lizards inhabited the canyon, and these six-legged crawlers could grow up to five meters in length and were genuine monsters. The crystals on their body were one of the key ingredients for making origin guns.

    The graduation requirement for the Yellow Springs Training Camp had been to hunt a Crystal Lizard and collect its crystal. To normal students who were only given a dagger, killing a huge rank two lizard was easier said than done. The graduation exam was also one of the Yellow Springs Training Camp¡¯s hurdles with huge death rate.

    On the other hand, Crystal Lizards were carnivorous, so zing Canyon was the training camp¡¯s best ce to dispose of all different kinds of bodies.

    Once he remembered zing Canyon, Qianye suddenly stiffened and instantly shouted as loud as he could, ¡°No! I haven¡¯t died yet, I¡¯m still alive! Let me down!¡±

    He suddenly sat up and found that it had actually been a dream. Even after this many years, he would wake up from a nightmare every night. Sometimes he wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell if it was reality or just his imagination.

    Qianye scanned his surroundings, realizing that it was still deep in the night and that he was still at the garbage dump. A bone-thin wild dog was biting his feet, straining to drag him away.

    Qianye grabbed a random piece of scrap metal and forcefully threw it. The scrapnded right on the wild dog¡¯s nose, causing it to whine and escape with its tail between its legs.

    Qianye moved a little, feeling only pain throughout his body. His chest was especially sensitive to movement; every time he moved even the slightest bit, he felt pain in his chest like it was splitting apart. He first inspected injuries throughout his body and discovered that his left shoulder was broken. More than half of his ribs were broken, and his body had a lot of various injuries.

    Unexpectedly, his injuries were much lighter than he had thought. The broken bones had automatically grafted together and had miraculously begun growing back. His open wounds no longer bled, and many small cuts had already closed.

    Within his body, Qianye felt a vigorous life force flowing rapidly. Other than his bones not havingpletely healed, his body was already in a condition healthy beyond belief. In addition, his thirst for blood that had sprung up halfway through the previous battle had virtually disappeared already.

    Qianye suddenly felt two deep wounds on his neck, his expression instantly stiffening.

    How did he get bit by a vampire again?

    However, he immediately calmed down once more. What was the difference between getting bit once or getting bit twice? He had been tainted for a long time. However, a smell from his fingertip made Qianye¡¯s heart drop again.

    It had a light, pleasant fragrance and seemed very familiar. It was Nighteye¡¯s fragrance!

    From this, all of his questions were answered. Nighteye was not only a vampire, but a vampire of extraordinarily high rank.

    Nighteye¡¯s special ability was actually able to hide all of the unique traits of a vampire. She looked no different from humans and even had normal body temperature.

    Whether Qianye directly searched her body or observed her battle techniques, he had never been able to identify her as an actual vampire from her responses. This ability really brought unusual thoughts to one¡¯s head.

    He had actually cooperated with a high-ranking vampire to kill a vampire noble and an elite werewolf? Qianye¡¯s thoughts were unusuallyplex at this moment. He didn¡¯t know whether he should be happy or regretful.

    Nighteye was the first partner he had cooperated with since arriving at the Evernight Continent. When Nighteye had returned to the garbage dump in thest battle, Qianye¡¯s heart had thumped vigorously and he had even been extremely emotional. Before Qianye was struck away, he had seen Nighteye in a highly dangerous situation, being surrounded by werewolves and vampires.

    Even though he had confirmed that Nighteye was a vampire, Qianye could not bring himself to hate her. There was no other reason for that but her action of resolutely returning to help him fight enemies that were too strong for them to beat.

    ¡°Since she was able to suck his blood, she should have been survived, right?¡± Qianye thought.

    Icy-cold wind blew past, bringing a constant rotten smell. Qianye shook his head, clearing his mind of these messy thoughts. He suddenly felt that his wrist had something unusual on it. He lifted it up to see and there were actually two teeth marks!

    Qianye wrinkled his brows as he reached over and wiped it with his other hand. A sweet aroma wafted from his fingertips. However, no matter how sweet-smelling it was, it couldn¡¯t change the fact that another vampire had left this mark from sucking his blood.

    It was actually, Blood Banquet? This phrase popped into Qianye¡¯s head.

    Blood Banquet was a particr ritual performed by vampires.

    In reality, true vampires would never randomly choose to bite people. During battle, they had arger thirst for blood because they wanted to recover their strength and injuries, just like how humans used various military stimnts to boost theirbat ability.

    Normal vampires viewed ingesting blood as a sacred thing, as their way ofmunicating with their ancestors. It was their private time to inherit more blood power.

    Blood Banquet was equivalent to humans¡¯ social interactions in salons. It represented intimacy between the participants, amicability in their rtionship, and trust between them. As for the main dish in a Blood Banquet, the human must fulfill the vampire¡¯s desire for delicious food. The human¡¯s blood must taste exquisite, and the human must also be strong or have a special identity.

    Qianye suddenly raised his head, looking at the blood-red moon, and smiled as he spoke to himself, ¡°I actually have qualifications to be the main dish in a Blood Banquet!¡±

    Being the main dish wasn¡¯t too weird. The weird thing was that he had actually lived through it.

    He silently stood for a moment, before beginning to carefully survey his surroundings. Qianye had trained this skill for many years, which had allowed him to avoid many hidden attacks on the battlefield and survive in dangerous situations.

    Not far from himy many werewolves¡¯ bodies. Amongst them was one with extremely long limbs. That unique characteristic actually belonged to a Shadow Wolf!

    These werewolves had an obvious difference in strengthpared to those Qianye had initially seen. Nevertheless, they all died there, and not even one skull remained intact. The blood-stained dirt, the broken bones, and the melted matter of brains revealed the cause of their death.

    Another point of suspicion was that a few werewolves were already in a shriveled state, evidently devoid of any blood. This was definitely not amon sight. Everyone knew that vampires never drank the blood of werewolves, although not because of the taste, but because of their beliefs.

    In addition, the remaining smell of blood actually gave Qianye a familiar feeling. He walked to the werewolves¡¯ bodies, knelt down, and carefully observed them. The werewolves¡¯ arteries had been bitten open, but what remained weren¡¯t the holes left by vampire fangs, but rather the marks of a human¡¯s bite.

    Qianye immediately realized that he had sucked the werewolves¡¯ blood dry himself.

    No wonder he did not feel any bloodthirst even though it had been so long. His bloodthirst had already been activated while he was unconscious. This was the first time Qianye had ever drank so much blood since the ident. Even though the matter hadn¡¯t been an issue this time, Qianye thought he would probably no longer be able to suppress his blood of darkness soon. Maybe the next time his bloodthirst took control would he hisst.

    At this thought, Qianye unconsciously reached for his Red Scorpion Army knife, but felt nothing but air. It was only at this moment that he remembered that all of his gear should have fallen down when he was struck in the air by the elite werewolf.

    Qianye nned to look for his army knife. When preparing for the moment of ending his own life, he still wished to use his army knife from Red Scorpion.

    At this moment, his eyes fell on the cane in the tight grip of a werewolf¡¯s body. On the tip of the cane was an Eternal Sundial. Qianye automatically converted the time given on the dial¡¯s calendar and became startled. Three days? He had only been unconscious for three days, no wonder the blood moon had yet to fade.

    Qianye suddenly realized that after waking up, his body felt like it had some abnormalities. He first reached over and dialed the Eternal Sundial, confirming that it had not been broken. After this, he used a simple inner vision technique to view the condition of his body.

    As suspected, everything was abnormal.

    With the passage of only three days, the blood moon had not yet ended, but Qianye did not have the unbearable, scorching feeling that came with each reaction of his blood of darkness. If the reason that his bones had started reconnecting, his organs were already half healed, and his external injuries had virtually finished healing was that he had sucked enough blood, then that all showed that the blood had increased his rate of recovery to an extremely abnormal level.

    Qianye thought for a moment that he had basically be a blood thrall, but his conscious stayed clear and his thinking remained normal.

    Qianye immediately found a hidden area, and sat cross-legged to propel his origin power. He ran theplete Army Healing Chant to inspect his body internally.

    The force of origin power in his body had already met with the boundary of rank three. A clear outline of the origin node in his right hand appeared. Its barrier could be broken through at any time. Once the barrier of this level was broken through, the origin node on the right hand would ignite and one would truly reach the level of a rank three Fighter.

    However, at that moment, along with the movement of the origin power within his body actually flowed condensed strands of dark red power. This was blood energy generated from blood of darkness.

    Originally, the blood of darkness in Qianye¡¯s body was not controlled at all as it randomly flowed within his meridians, breaking down and assimting the surrounding flesh and blood. Wherever it flowed past, it would bring bursts of burning pain, and once the heat umted to a certain point, it would burn severely enough to cause one¡¯s consciousness to gradually slip away and be reced with an iparable thirst for fresh flesh and blood. Qianye had fought such conditions off for almost a year, and could not be more clear on the destructive force of these strands of power.

    However, at that moment, that cluster of blood energy that bordered on pitch-ck still circted, but without any feeling of difort. If he wasn¡¯t observing himself internally, Qianye almost would have felt that it was power from his own body. Two additional unique colors actually appeared on the almost pitch-ck blood energy. One was a faint purple within the deep red color, and the other actually was a strand of pale gold.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness moved slightly, stopping his Combatant Form. The force of his origin power gradually slowed and the blood of darkness actually became simrly peaceful. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel that it was unbelievable. He tried to control and propel the blood energy. A momentter, his entire body trembled as the blood energy wildly entered his heart, and then slowly flowed out. In the end, it even condensed into two mysterious runes, and some information instantly flowed into Qianye¡¯s mind.

    Vampiric body type.

    Eye ability: Dark Vision.

    The two runes actually belonged to two vampiric powers.

    Vampires¡¯ bodies automatically moved their blood energy to continuously fortify themselves, increasing their rate of recovery. In addition, after having fed on arge amount of blood, the body¡¯s rate of recovery would once again increase. This was yet another advantage that belonged only to vampires.

    Eye Ability: Dark Vision was a power that many vampires were born with. The ability to see during the night was more effective than human night vision devices.

    Qianye was baffled as he observed the changes within his body, but no matter how he used his inner vision technique, he couldn¡¯t find anything else. Within his blood flowed twopletely separate streaks of bnced power, the white streak belonged to Daybreak origin power, and the dark red mix of three colors was blood energy, a type of Darkness origin power. The two streaks of origin power with opposing attributes co-habited the blood in peace, as if it werepletely natural.

    However, Qianye at least knew one thing. If the blood of darkness no longer created that corrosive heat, then he would no longer have any thirst for blood and flesh. Maybe it also meant that he would be able to keep his consciousness and sanity forever? The two additional powers also made Qianye full of hope.

    Fate finally revealed a hint of a pleasant smile to Qianye!

 Volume 2 - 19: A Startling Transformation

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 19: A Startling Transformation

    Qianye circled around the garbage dump and discovered that his Scorpion Needles were thoroughly damaged, essentially turning into a pile of scrap parts. He separated these parts and carefully buried them in different corners of the garbage dump.

    The Scorpion Needles were weapons manufactured by the Red Scorpions and were one of a kind. Not even a single part could be casually exposed, or it would attract an endless stream of trouble.

    Then it was dealing with the werewolves¡¯ corpses, especially those that had marks of a human bite on their bodies.

    However, Qianye was a little puzzled. The werewolf n highly valuedmunity spirit, and would never allow a nsman¡¯s corpse to be exposed to the wilderness in such a way so easily. Yet with so many werewolves dead in this area and no sign of any new werewolvesing to im the bodies, it was clear that this area had someplications.

    Qianye finally found two spike bays used by Nighteye and then washed a dagger used by a vampire warrior. These were all the weapons he had to protect himself with now. The small parts he had originally brought along, and even the Red Scorpion army knife were lost somewhere.

    It was deep into the night, and the wind blowing across the wilderness was still icy cold. It could be that there was finally a possibility of the proverbial sharp longsword that was suspended above his head disappearing. As Qianye lifted his head to gaze at the blood-red moon upying nearly half of the sky, he did not feel even a tinge of bloodthirst. He even felt that the dark red color seemed a little faded, that perhaps the scarlet nights would be over after a couple of days.

    Dawn finally arrived.

    However, though it temporarily removed the danger posed by the blood of darkness, Qianye still needed to remain on guard and avoid the imperial army, the grand households, and the aristocratic families. They had numerous strong people, and heaven knew who would discover that half of his blood was the blood of darkness flowing in his body.

    Qianye had to return to Lighthouse Town first. A quick count revealed that he had not shown his face for about five days, but in a chaotic ce like the Evernight Continent, a person¡¯s disappearance would not cause anymotion.

    After running for a few hours, Lighthouse Town appeared in within Qianye¡¯s vision. The small town seemed unchanged, but Qianye felt it was a little too quiet. Dawn was approaching, and although the horizon was still pitch ck, the sky overhead had begun to brighten, glowing softly. At this time, the scavengers should have been awake and getting the equipment for their journeys ready.

    Qianye did not directly approach therge, unrepaired door that was equivalent to a wide open space, but detoured to the side, slowly approaching the city walls.

    From Qianye¡¯s position, he could see the bald sheriff sitting on the city gate¡¯s tower, his cap over his face, as if taking a nap. This was a demonstration of how the sheriff had to stand watch the whole night until the city gates were repaired. Although the sheriff constantly appeared drowsy and sleepy, Qianye knew that it was a facade. If he got too close at night, then even with his ability to move stealthily, he would still rouse the sheriff¡¯s attention.

    Qianye chose a ce that was rtively far from the sheriff and lightly jumped,nding noiselessly on the city walls. Qianye felt the obvious strengthening in his jumping ability with this leap, as he would have directly leaped over the less than five meter wall if he had not controlled it well. He was just about to enter the town, when he suddenly sensed that the sheriff¡¯s sleeping position seemed unnatural. This should be a very ufortable position to be in for a long period of time.

    Qianye bent low, practically pasting himself onto the city wall as he inched closer. From a distance, he could smell the thick scent of blood. His night vision ability allowed him to clearly see the coagted blood stains on the sheriff¡¯s chest, along with the already dried blood that had turned ck, seamlessly blending into his ck uniform.

    The sheriff was dead, and sitting on the city wall was merely a corpse.

    Qianye¡¯s heart pumped wildly for a moment before he crouched lower, hiding in the shadows.

    Although the sheriff was just an official of the lowest rank, he was still a representative of thew in the Empire. His presence signified that thisnd stillpletely belonged to the Empire. Even if a foreigner came along who was stronger than the sheriff, he would still not casually kill thetter. Killing the sheriff was equivalent to challenging the dignity of the Empire, and the imperial expeditionary forces were stationed not far from this ce.

    Qianye nced towards the town and inhaled deeply, immediately discovering that his awareness and perception of human blood had sharpened. The good news was the smell of human flesh and blood did indeed not arouse any symptoms of thirst or hunger in him.

    However, Qianye did not have the time to celebrate, as he sensed that the total blood vitality within the town had been reduced to less than half!

    Qianye jumped down from the city walls and first circled around a few familiar households belonging tomoners, confirming that the people sleeping inside were the original owners, before he slinked to his Red Spider Lily bar that was not too far off.

    The bar was in a mess; the door that was installed a few days ago was now tilted to one side, not a single window was left intact, and all furniture inside was left in a pile of shattered pieces, with some even sporting ghastly bloodstains.

    However, from the direction of the bedroom, rhythmic breathing could be heard that was so loud that it even travelled through the corridor and resounded in the hall.

    Qianye did not head straight over, but detoured and entered via the backdoor, then silently walked into the living quarters. There was no movement from the two guest rooms nking the sides, meaning that the sound came from his own bedroom.

    A young man hugging a hunting gun was leaning against the sofa, deep asleep. This fellow was obviously the appointed sentry to stay behind and wait for Qianye to appear.

    However, since Qianye had not returned after multiple days, this fellow who stayed behind dropped his vignce and started to bezy. But then again, nothing much was to be expected from local ruffians like these.

    Qianye used his dagger to lightly pat the man¡¯s face.

    The young man was instantly awakened, and as he was obviously grouchy from being jerked awake from his deep sleep, he started spouting a string of curses before he truly saw who was before him.

    Qianye smashed a fist into the young man¡¯s stomach, causing him to immediately arch like a shrimp, lodging the remaining curses in his throat. Qianye then forced his face into the sofa, immovably, and viciously kneed his ribs a few times in session, only finally stopping when he heard a couple of bones breaking.

    Once Qianye let go, the young man wanted to howl, but the chilliness of the dagger at his throat had him swallowing back any screams.

    ¡°What happened here? Who sent you here? If your answer doesn¡¯t satisfy me, I¡¯ll cut off your fingers one by one,¡± Qianye said icily.

    When the young man clearly saw it was Qianye, he immediately capitted and hastened to reply, ¡°I¡¯m working for Tiger Yan. The expeditionary forces sent two squads to Lighthouse Town the other day to hunt for blood thralls. We followed them here¡­¡±

    ¡°Continue.¡± Qianye applied more pressure on the dagger, and drew a thin line of blood on his neck.

    The young man, having seemingly sensed killing intent beneath Qianye¡¯s calm eyes, immediately shuddered and quickly said, ¡°Sir Qi of ckflow City is unhappy with you and Sir Zhao. He lost a lot of money because of both of you, and also a high grade origin gun, so he thought of a way and had the expeditionary forces mobilize two squads under the guise of hunting for blood thralls, but in reality, it was to¡­ to kill you and Sir Zhao off.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart tightened. He clearly understood what hunting for blood thralls meant to the people of Lighthouse Town.

    ¡°Then, how about those people who have disappeared?¡±

    ¡°Most of them have been killed, and some taken away by the expeditionary forces.¡±

    ¡°How about Tiger Yan? Where is he?¡± Qianye questioned.

    The young man trembled and said, ¡°He¡¯s with Sir Zhao.¡±

    Qianye nodded and slowly withdrew his dagger, saying, ¡°Since you were honest, I¡¯ll give you a chance and spare your life. Leave this ce immediately, and scram as far as you can!¡±

    ¡°Y-yes! Thank you!¡± The young man nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice.

    Qianye turned to leave, and just as he crossed the door, he suddenly flicked a spike bay from his hand. The spike shot through the air like lightning, and impaled the ruffian¡¯s throat in the blink of an eye!

    The young ruffian stared at Qianye, stunned. The hunting gun in his hand had been aimed at Qianye¡¯s back, but it was a pity he no longer had the strength to pull the trigger.

    Qianye walked back and retrieved the hunting gun from the ruffian to examine it.

    It was a long flintlock gun, but it could use locally produced bullets. As it was crudely made, its precision and power could not be guaranteed beyond ten meters, but it was still considered a rather powerful weapon for killing at close range, at least better than a dagger. Qianye rummaged through the ruffian¡¯s clothes and found ten bullets before tossing the corpse on the floor. He then took onest look at his bar.

    The bar was a mess, where each tile of the limestone flooring had been pried away, and every valuable item had been piged. The Red Spider Lily which had apanied him in the darkest stages of his life had gone up in smoke, just like that.

    When leaving the bar, Qianye was not furious, but conversely felt calm, even a little excited.

    Based on the training in the Red Scorpion Corps, this was the best condition to be in before battle.

    Qianye made a beeline for Sir Zhao¡¯s abandoned factory headquarters. It was said that over thest couple of days after Tiger Yan took over control of Lighthouse Town, Sir Zhao had been staying in there.

    Daylight still had not broken over the horizon, and the blocks of tall factories ahead casted particrly sinister silhouettes, not unlike a creature which could devour humans at anytime. Among them, only one block of factories had been renovated by Sir Zhao, making it habitable. The rest were in ruins.

    The exterior of this block of factories bore obvious battle scars, with empty shells scattered everywhere.

    Qianye picked up one of the shells to examine, and his heart sank slightly.

    This shell belonged to an assault rifle made by the imperial expeditionary forces, and although it was an antique, a retired rifle from ten years ago, it was still more powerful than any ordinarily manufactured weapon.

    Since the other party managed to obtain and utilize a number of weapons manufactured by the military, it was more or less a hopeless case for Sir Zhao.

    The factory doors were ajar, but Qianye did not enter through them. Instead, he backed up a couple of steps, then ran and leaped, using the momentum to scale over the outer wall. In the blink of an eye, he was at the top of the factory.

    Tiger Yan did not station any men here, allowing Qianye to smoothly pass through the top floor¡¯s exit and enter the inner section of the factory.

    The inner section of the factory had three levels constructed against the wall, while the rest remained as the original hall. Inside, there was a huge generator inside, but it had long be scrap metal.

    Qianye remembered that the top floor was Sir Zhao¡¯s original living quarters and the middle floor housed the bodyguards and his organization¡¯s elders, while the lowest floor was for his group of followers.

    Qianye descended from the top level, and naturally found himself at the third floor. He silently walked to Sir Zhao¡¯s bedroom, and immediately smelled the thick scent of blood which had gone stale.

    Qianye hesitated for a moment, then lightly pushed the door open and peered in.

    Sir Zhao was on the floor, his body full of wounds, and a section of his lower leg was missing. In his final moments, he had struggled towards the cupboard on the wall, leaving a horrifying trail of bloodstains on the floor. There was a bullet hole blown into the middle of his forehead between his brows, yet his expression showed a slight smile of satisfaction.

    Qianye was neither grieving nor delighted as he entered the room and crouched next to Prince Zhao.

 Volume 2 - 20: Brothers

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 20: Brothers

    Qianye slowly grasped the hand Sir Zhao had extended. Two fingers had been lopped off, and yet, he did not loosen his vice-like grip on something in his palm. From the gap of his missing fingers, it could be seen that it was a standard, approved medicine bottle, itsbel clearly indicating its contents as an ordinary drug for mental rxation.

    To anyone knowledgeable who saw it, this medicine bottle would not have been worth more than a couple of silver coins to them. This could have been the reason the killer gave up on the bottle.

    However, Qianye knew what the medicine was used for.

    This was the medicine Sir Zhao had bought on behalf of Qianye. It was used to soothe the symptoms whenever his blood of darkness acted up. The dispatching of goods had been dyed on the supplier¡¯s end, and it was never delivered to Qianye.

    However, it never urred to Qianye that even at death¡¯s door, even with his legs hacked off, Sir Zhao had never once forgotten about the bottle of medicine.

    It was almost as if Qianye saw Sir Zhao standing up, handing over the bottle as he proudly stated, ¡°What I, Zhao, have promised, will be delivered upon!¡±

    The medicine was in his hands, but Qianye no longer needed it.

    Qianye had fought for Sir Zhao for some time. Each time he participated in a wagered battle, all he reaped was a silver coin, while a bottle of medicine could be earned through three battles. Since a virtual battle was a disy of technical skill, the remuneration was higher than a bloody battle.

    In this abandonednd, people who did not fear death were everywhere, but few of those actually knew how to do battle.

    This was the reality of the abandonednd. People constantly used their bodies as betting chips, but the reward for putting their lives on the line was not even worth a piece of bread thrown away by the upper continent¡¯s Grand Households.

    In the Evernight Continent that had now or order to speak of, someone who kept his promises like Sir Zhao was unique. On the surface, Qianye was hired on an ad-hoc basis, but in reality, Sir Zhao privately saw him as a brother. This was the reason Qianye had always been willing to work with him, and even had protected him behind the scenes a couple of times.

    With Sir Zhao around, other powers in the region would not dare enter Lighthouse Town, and the people in the town could at least live a life with a small degree of order.

    Sir Zhao, the officer, and Qianye represented the ck, white, and gray areas of the order maintained in Lighthouse Town respectively. Within the area subjected under ckflow City¡¯s jurisdiction, Lighthouse Town was just a tinynd of happiness, which was why the number of people living there was increasing. Even the rag-and-bone men would hurry over to spend the night there if the distance allowed it.

    However, all their efforts had been futile in the face of an enormous organization like the expeditionary army, as everything had been crushed with just a twitch of their pinky finger.

    Qianye inhaled deeply as he felt the presence of blood energy slowly bubbling up in his chest! He was powerless against the expeditionary forces, but he could etch a deep and eternal lesson into those aplices and theirckeys!

    Qianye said softly, ¡°Sir Zhao, give it to me, I have received my reward.¡±

    In a seemingly miraculous manner, Sir Zhao¡¯s tightened fist unexpectedly loosened.

    Qianye pocketed the medicine bottle, and nced carefully around the room.

    It had also beenpletely piged, with both ps of the weapon cab gone, and its contents empty. This was within Qianye¡¯s expectations, and he did not care for these ordinary firearms.

    He left Sir Zhao¡¯s room, and silently moved along the corridor.

    While passing by one of the rooms, Qianye stopped briefly and retrieved the hunting gun from his back.

    Voices travelled from the room, and one of them belonged to Tiger Yan.

    ¡°This time, it¡¯s all thanks to Sir Qi¡¯s assistance that I¡¯m able to sit in this position. Whatever requests Sir Qi has from today onwards, I, Tiger Yan, will brave through fire and water to ensure it¡¯s fulfilled!¡±

    Another rather wretchedly effeminate voice uttered, ¡°This guy named Zhao and the other fellow called Qianye or something have no sense of appreciation, to have refused face when given! Are they taking our sire¡¯s words as something casually thrown around? Hmph! What Sir Zhao, he¡¯s just a local ruffian ringleader, yet he still dares to title himself as a sire.¡±

    Tiger Yan, who simrly was a local ruffian, joined in on theughter, though there was a note of embarrassment in it.

    That condescending voice continued, ¡°You people, to rely on and serve our sire as an underling is a fortune that many would never receive even if they cultivated their whole lives! So long as it¡¯s our sire, even a casually tossed bone would be enough to sustain you for several years! However, should you have any ideas that you aren¡¯t supposed to have, hehe, excuse the unpleasantries, but the oue of this Zhao today will be your tomorrow!¡±

    Tiger Yan hurriedly replied, ¡°I won¡¯t, I won¡¯t! I will definitely serve the sir with all my heart! Lord Wang, it¡¯s gettingte, why not take a rest? If there¡¯s any woman you fancy in the vige, I will have someone bring her over to you!¡±

    Lord Wang sighed and said, ¡°In this ce, only Min¡¯er has some standard. It¡¯s just a pity¡­

    ¡°She bit our sire. Sir ordered that she must suffer for her sin for a full seven days before she is allowed to die, and today is already the fifth night. She¡¯s no longer in any humanly state, so let¡¯s just get a recement.¡±

    The other person hesitated for a while before replying, ¡°Alright.¡±

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s icy voice floated in from outside the room, ¡°There¡¯s no need for a recement.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Who is outside?¡±

    The room burst into a state of pandemonium.

    Qianye¡¯s substantial enhancement of obtaining a vampire¡¯s physique was currently manifested in the form of his sharpened perception. Purely by listening to the chaotic footsteps, he could decipher the situation in the room in his mind as if he were looking at it with his eyes.

    A bodyguard lunged towards the door, which was almost brainlessly courageous.

    Qianye pressed the hunting gun against the door and opened fire!

    Arge hole was sted through the flimsy wooden door, and at point-nk range, the bodyguard was blown back by the enormous force, his chest and abdomen a haze of blood and flesh.

    Qianye kicked the door down, and without looking, he fired into the room once more. Half of the room was pelted withpacted iron pellets in a matter of mere seconds, and the room was filled with cries of anguish.

    A huge, burly man leaped out from behind Lord Wang. He was over two meters in height and it seemed like even his skull was filled with muscle. With a height a little over 2.2 meters, Qianye appeared like a child before him.

    There were over ten bloody spots on the burly man¡¯s face and body, injuries caused by the iron pellets. However, it was obvious that the locally manufactured double-barrelled hunting gun was not effective against him.

    The burly man bellowed, strode over, and slugged a fist that was almost bigger than Qianye¡¯s head, aiming for his face.

    Qianye did not even attempt to dodge, but simrly threw out a punch and ruthlessly met the burly man¡¯s fist!

    As the sound of bones cracking echoed, the burly man¡¯s fist obviously contorted, and even his arm was twisted to the side. For such a simple, yet brutal exchange of fists, Qianye was actually dominating and crushing his opponent!

    Qianye kicked out, his seemingly frail body carrying an explosive strength which sent the burly man flying. The burly man crashed through two walls, making them reverberate as he slumped to the ground, never to get up again.

    Qianye dusted his hands and smiled mildly. ¡°Tiger Yan, we meet again. As for this gentleman, you name is Wang?¡±

    Lord Wang, as Tiger Yan had addressed, was a half bald, middle-aged man with arge, cumbersome beer belly. However, it would be a mistake if one were to look down on him purely because of his appearance. Even a fellow like him wielded the power of a rank one Fighter.

    ¡°Qianye! You¡¯re still not dead?¡± Tiger Yan eximed, subconsciously pressing closer to the wall.

    Mr. Wang, on the other hand, was calm. He had raised a table to deal with the barrage of iron pellets and appeared none the worse for wear.

    He asked leisurely, ¡°You are Qianye? Your reputation precedes you. Our Sir Qi is interested in you. I thought you had escaped or were dead, which was why I ¡®cleaned up¡¯ this ce a little and got rid of some eyesores. Since you¡¯re back, I shall make the decision to give you another chance. Why don¡¯t youe back with me to work for our sire? You¡¯re very young and talented, and it¡¯s only under Sir Qi that you can shine. Otherwise, you¡¯ll be just like the rest of that scum in the wilderness, doing anything just for a scrap in order to get by. Upon your death, you¡¯ll be dinner for the wild dogs! Is that the kind of life you seek?¡±

    Mr. Wang manipted his effeminate voice to speak softly and mildly, lending him a persuasive edge.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like some of the people working under you, though. For example, these guys here.¡± Qianye pointed at Tiger Yan.

    At Qianye¡¯s reply, Mr. Wang unexpectedly sighed in relief. ¡°If you are willing to work for us, then he is naturally useless. You may deal with him as you please and all his governing territories will be yours, how¡¯s that? This matter will be decided by me!¡±

    ¡°No! No! Lord Wang, this will not do!¡± Tiger Yan jumped in shock, having not expected this oue at all.

    Following that, Tiger Yan appeared to be in a state of extreme fright and he suddenly produced a handgun, ruthlessly aiming the gun at Qianye and pulling the trigger as heughed cruelly. ¡°Go and die, brat!¡±

    The resulting shot and smoke obfuscated everything, and once Tiger Yan had emptied the cartridge, he saw that Qianye was still standing in his original position, not a single hair out of ce.

    The corner of Mr. Wang¡¯s eye twitched incessantly. He had seen it clearly from the side. Each time Tiger Yan pulled the trigger, Qianye¡¯s body twisted strangely, coincidentally avoiding the trajectory of the bullet. He had only seen this kind of technique from highly skilled soldiers in the army, and this was an important reason why firearms were no match against origin power users.

    The cartridge was empty, yet Tiger Yan desperately pressed away at the trigger. The repeated clicking of the empty gun resounded, like a clock ticking down to his death.

    The continuous, enormous disturbances in the room had finally caught the attention of people stationed a distance away, and hurried footsteps echoed from the bottom floor, drawing nearer to the room.

    Qianye extended a leg and kicked at a gun that originally belonged to a bodyguard, which thennded into his grasp. He then shot several times into the wall partitioning the room and corridor.

    The room partitions were made from nks and iron sheets, but were fragile when faced with a gun. As if they had eyes, the bullets pierced through the thin walls into the bodies of the people outside. Those who were hit let out anguished cries and flipped over from the railing,nding heavily on the ground.

    For ordinary people, falling from a height of three stories would result in some fractures and broken bones, and in the unfortunate case where they snapped one of their neck bones, it would be instant death.

    Qianye had opened fire five times and shot five people, leaving only one bullet in his gun.

    Without even looking back, he slung the gun over his left shoulder and the bullet was fired urately into Mr. Wang¡¯s left shoulder. This caused thetter to howl in pain and loosen his grip, dropping an especially heavy handgun onto the ground.

 Volume 2 - 21: One of Them

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 21: One of Them

    Using the chaos that had erupted a moment ago, Mr. Wang lifted his gun faster than he ever had before, but before he could even point the gun at Qianye, Qianye had already shot down the five people outside and had lodged a bullet in his arm.

    This definitely shouldn¡¯t have happened! Not mentioning his speed in shooting a gun, with Mr. Wang¡¯s power as rank one Fighter, weapons that used gunpowder should never have been able to seal his movements. However, Qianye had shot directly into a crucial area between his joints, making it so that he couldn¡¯t lift up his arm in the slightest.

    Mr. Wang became surprised and afraid. Clutching his arm, he said weakly, ¡°You definitely can¡¯t be a normal person! You¡­ who are you?¡±

    The speed and uracy of Qianye¡¯s gunmanship was the best that Mr. Wang had ever witnessed. In addition, the moment Qianye had entered after breaking through the door, he hadn¡¯t made any unnecessary movements, even when he spoke. This was the most authentic military style, definitely not something an ordinary troop could train in.

    Even though the reports imed that Qianye was only a rank one Fighter, Mr. Wang realized at that moment that something must be wrong. With the speed, strength, terrifying uracy, and judgment that Qianye had disyed, even most rank three Fighters would lose to him in a real battle.

    Why would an expert like this hide in such a rural area in Lighthouse Town and open a small, run-down bar?

    Qianye looked as if he hadn¡¯t seen Tiger Yan and Mr. Wang trying to break through the wall to escape. He picked up a clip and refilled it with bullets when the muzzle suddenly let out sparks. He had fired two bullets at Tiger Yan¡¯s knees. Tiger Yan had already reached the stairs, but let out a blood-curdling scream as he fell to the ground.

    After this, Qianye leaned over the railing and shot four times, this time to strike Mr. Wang who had directly jumped one story down over the railing and was now running as fast as he could. Mr. Wang also let out a loud scream after both of his arms and legs had been struck. He fell backward.

    Qianye looked at the roughly constructed gun in his hand and shook his head with some helplessness. Every one of the four bullets he had shot was not able to break Mr. Wang¡¯s bones. At most, they would leave mere flesh wounds. As a rank one Fighter, Mr. Wang definitely had a chance to resist.

    Once the first origin node was ignited, each of a cultivator¡¯s physical attributes would experience drastic growth, all of them increasing by about half. Afterwards, physical attributes continued to increase with each rise in rank. When facing high-rank soldiers like that, firearms that used gunpowder would be increasinglycking in power, and then eventually leave the stage altogether.

    Qianye easily jumped down from the third story and picked up another clip. He unhurriedly reced his current clip then walked in front of Mr. Wang. ¡°I forgot to tell you just now, but I really dislike you.¡±

    Qianye lifted his pistol and aimed it at Mr. Wang¡¯s forehead. A sh of cunning light passed through Mr. Wang¡¯s eyes, but his face held a terrified expression. Right then, however, Qianye suddenly smiled, slightly shifting the muzzle.

    Mr. Wang¡¯s expression changed drastically, this time filled with genuine terror. With a broken voice he screamed, ¡°No! Don¡¯t kill me! We can discuss, we can discuss anything!¡±

    Mr. Wang called out while holding up his arm to protect his head, forgetting any attempt to cover himself up. With the physical strength of a rank one Fighter, his bones definitely couldn¡¯t be prated by Qianye¡¯s gun, so he still had a chance to fake his death. However, after Qianye moved the muzzle, the gun was actually pointed at his eyes!

    Not mentioning rank one, even the eyes of a rank seven Fighter would not be able to take a bullet. Thus, Mr. Wang immediately knew that his tricks definitely didn¡¯t deceive Qianye.

    Qianye spoke without emotion, ¡°Too bad, I just heard something I should not have.¡±

    Bang!

    Gunfire sounded, and this one shot struck Mr. Wang in the crotch. This area simrly couldn¡¯t take a bullet.

    Mr. Wang shrieked, both of his hands holding his lower half.

    Seeing that no matter how he dodged, the muzzle of Qianye¡¯s gun steadfastly pointed towards his eyes, Mr. Wang cried out in fear, ¡°You can¡¯t kill me! I am Qi Yue¡¯s uncle. If you kill me, the Qi family will definitely not let you off! No matter how strong you are, you will never escape the grasp of the imperial expeditionary army!¡±

    ¡°The Qi family, huh¡­¡± Qianye seemed to ponder. He suddenly shed his gun as gunfire sounded. He shot down a few people that had been hiding behind a wall and some that had snuck over.

    In the gun still remained one final bullet.

    Qianye once again lifted his gun and pointed it at Mr. Wang, speaking emotionlessly, ¡°I will have my vengeance on Qi Yue as well. You will just go first. Rx, he will follow you.¡±

    This time, Mr. Wang was truly startled, ¡°Y-you want to kill our prince? You¡¯re crazy, definitely crazy! Do you know who he is? You think he¡¯s only the Qi family¡¯s sire? He¡­¡±

    Bang!

    A gunshot sounded as a bloody rose blossomed from his eye socket. Everything he wanted to say would never reach the light of day. His expression ckened as he fell down slowly.

    Qianye turned and looked at Tiger Yan who had half his body stuck on the third floor.

    Tiger Yan was already scared dumb. He had shrunk into a corner and his sweat poured down like rain. Half of the reason was because he was afraid, and the other half was because of the extreme pain he was forced to endure. He did not have the kind of strength Mr. Wang had, so his bones were much weaker. Qianye¡¯s two bullets had already shattered his knees.

    He looked despairingly at Qianye, knowing that the opposing party would never let him go. At that moment, he did not know just how remorseful he was. If he could turn back time, then even if he were threatened to be beaten to death, he would never try to seize Lighthouse Town again because that way, he wouldn¡¯t have ever provoked this ughter god.

    Tiger Yan asked himself this question because he was at death¡¯s door and because he had never seen someone as terrifying as Qianye. Qianye¡¯s strength might not have been the strongest that he had ever seen, but his calm and peaceful demeanor while killing sparked a chill in people¡¯s hearts. Tiger Yan had heard that only a few of the most mysterious elite armies within the Empire could produce a monster that only lived to kill.

    At this moment, Tiger Yan didn¡¯t know that his guess was actually quite close to the truth. Amongst the Empire¡¯s special forces that numbered over one hundred, Red Scorpion had always remained number three.

    Seeing Tiger Yan in such a condition, Qianye lost interest in torturing him any further.

    ¡°Where is Min¡¯er?¡±

    ¡°She is locked on the first floor. It¡¯s the room furthest to the back,¡± Tiger Yan replied honestly.

    Qianye nodded his head, then walked over and slid his dagger through Tiger Yan¡¯s neck, ending his life.

    Qianye went back to the room he was in before, picked up the pistol Mr. Wang dropped, and inspected it.

    This was the first model of origin guns in the Light of Daybreak series, an artifact designed before the War of Daybreak. Its efficiency of origin power conversion was only 10%. Its length was over half a meter. In terms of size, it was better to call the pistol a portable version of an assault rifle.

    Pistols from the Light of Daybreak series were only still used and circted because they were cheap enough, had simple structure, and were easy to maintain. The Red Scorpion Custom was worth tens of thousands of these Light of Daybreak guns.

    No matter how old the Light of Daybreak series became or how low its efficiency was, it still was an origin gun. At close range, its power wasparable to high caliber rifles. A Fighter with an origin gun and a Fighter without were onpletely different levels when it came tobat power.

    This Light of Daybreak gun was maintained well, obviously highly valued by Mr. Wang. This satisfied Qianye, so he held it in his left hand as his right picked up a double-barreled shotgun. Then he walked out the room.

    When he stepped outside the door, he was met with a rain of bullets.

    Qianye somersaulted in the air as the barrage passed by, then immediately crossed over the railing, dropping to the ground.

    Two gunmen hiding behind arge, broken machine in the northwest section of the hall were dumbfounded at watching this happen. This guy directly jumped from the third floor down to the ground and actually didn¡¯t suffer any injury. Afternding steadily, he didn¡¯t even hesitate before he lifted his gun and aimed it at them!

    The two gunmen hurriedly shrinked back and took pieces of scrap metal to protect themselves. Their reactions were definitely appropriate and speedy, but Qianye had already pulled the trigger of his Light of Daybreak gun!

    An origin power bullet that released orange light shot out from the gun. This bullet had a heavy tip that increased its power and split open a two centimeter thick steel te. It tore through half of both gunmen¡¯s bodies as scrap metal and pieces of flesh and blood filled the sky, flying through the air before scattering on the floor.

    Qianye had foreseen this conclusion. If an origin gun didn¡¯t even have this kind of power, why would people rely on it to fight back against the dark races? They would just use swords to fight each other instead. In addition, the attribute of Qianye¡¯s origin power was particrly explosive, so the origin power bullets that had been shot were a lot stronger than average ones.

    As Qianye¡¯s origin power continuously poured into the Light of Daybreak gun, a new origin power bullet slowly formed within the gun¡¯s barrel. With Qianye¡¯s skill in controlling origin power, he was able to fire the Light of Daybreak gun three sessive times. Mr. Wang, on the other hand, could only fire one bullet as he was only a rank one Fighter.

    Qianye waited until the new bullet was formed, then headed towards the room at the end of the hall. Theckeys Tiger Yan had brought there weren¡¯t much. After Qianye killed more than ten of them, the remaining ones saw the situation had turned sour and eventually scattered and escaped.

    Thest room did not have a lock. When Qianye opened the door and entered, he was met with the thick scent of blood and a rancid smell.

    On the wall was a woman who was chained up. Her entire body was full of cuts of different sizes andpletely covered in filth. The cuts had long since formed pus and actually had maggots crawling in and out.

    The woman¡¯s head was hung down, but that vaguely lingering youthful body was probably Min¡¯er. However, after looking at her wounds, Qianye already knew that she could no longer be saved.

    Hearing the sound, Min¡¯er struggled to lift her head. Two lines of blood flowed from her tightly shut eyes. Only then did Qianye find out that both of her eyes had been dug out.

    Qianye¡¯s hands suddenly began trembling. If he had seen this earlier, he definitely would not have let Tiger Yan and Mr. Wang die so easily! In Red Scorpion Army, he had learned no less than fifty cruel torture methods. Even dark races could not resist that kind of pain.

    As though she had sensed something, Min¡¯er asked while listening attentively, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s me, Qianye.¡±

    Min¡¯er exposed a joyous smile and said, ¡°You came! Then the people outside¡­¡±

    ¡°Tiger Yan and Mr. Wang have all died. Next will be Qi Yue. He will never escape.¡± Qianye spoke calmly, as if making small talk on a random afternoon while discussing business and drinking tea.

    Min¡¯er smiled and said, ¡°You know, after they killed Sir Zhao, Qi Yue asked me to sleep with him. I agreed and really gave my all. Then, when he let his guard down, I bit down hard. It was so enjoyable! When I swung my head, he gave a loud shout, even louder than he did during sex!¡±

    Sheughed heartily, then lowered her voice and let out a sigh before speaking again, ¡°Too bad, all of you origin power cultivators are all monsters. He was too sturdy. I couldn¡¯t even bite through him. I used all of my strength, but still couldn¡¯tpletely break it off. Instead, a few of my teeth were pulled out. I really lost out on this one.¡±

    Qianye quietly listened, then sighed before speaking. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to try so hard for Sir Zhao. You should live well. As for vengeance, I alone am enough.¡±

    Min¡¯er lightly sighed. ¡°This is different! I know, I¡¯m not a very respectable girl, but Sir Zhao called me one of them¡­¡±

    Her face suddenly blossomed with sunlight and said, ¡°Since I¡¯m one of them, then I have to keep up appearances for them, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Qianye, can you do me a favor? I want to wash my face and rinse my body. I want to die clean.¡±

 Volume 2 - 22: Fighter King

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 22: Fighter King

    She was calm, even when mentioning her looming death. Qianye could never have imagined that this unruly young woman who sometimes even sold her body to get by would have such a strong side to her.

    Qianye yanked her chains free andid her down before finding a pail of water to pour over her, washing away the filth, pus, and blood. Lastly, he acquired a rag from the adjoining cell, and cleaned and bandaged her. He then carried her in his arms.

    Min¡¯er sighed softly, saying, ¡°Qianye, I have a question I always wanted to ask you.¡±

    ¡°Ask away.¡±

    ¡°Why have you never touched me? Even though I didn¡¯t want your money?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ I¡¯m afraid I¡¯d lose control and drink your blood, turning you into a blood thrall.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a vampire?!¡±

    ¡°Not¡­ Fully.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it, but it was just because of such a reason! As long as you don¡¯t hate me, I feel relieved. Is this considered a secret between the two of us¡­¡± Min¡¯er was ted, but her voice grew increasingly weak.

    ¡°Yes, this is only known to the two of us,¡± Qianye said.

    However, Min¡¯er could no longer hear his reply.

    Shortly after, Qianye arranged Sir Zhao and Min¡¯er¡¯s bodies on a pile of ck stones in an empty, abandoned plot ofnd behind the factory. He ignited the ck stones and watched as the mes gradually engulfed their bodies. As for Sir Zhao¡¯s men, their bodies were nowhere to be found.

    In the incandescence of the firelight, Qianye turned to leave, vanishing into the wilderness under apletely brightened sky.

    From this moment on, he no longer had any friends in Lighthouse Town.

    One dayter, Qianye arrived at the outskirts of ckflow City.

    He did not enter the city hastily, but stayed in the airship graveyard outside the city. ckflow City could not bepared to Lighthouse Town as there were imperial expeditionary forces stationed here for the long term. Besides that, Qi Yue himself was a rank two Fighter surrounded by rank four bodyguards. It would be no easy task to assassinate such a man.

    Qianye had to wait patiently until his opponent let down his guard and exposed his weaknesses. He believed that once Qi Yue received news of Tiger Yan and Mr. Wang¡¯s death, thetter would be nervous for a while, but would rx after a couple of days. Qianye did not leave many wounds, and Qi Yue would therefore conclude he was just a rank one Fighter. No matter how strong a rank one Fighter was, there were still limitations.

    The airship graveyard served as a rtively good hideout. The ancient remains of the airships no longer had any value, and only scavengers woulde to try their luck.

    Qianye positioned himself to be hidden from view, then started quietly cultivating the Combatant Form.

    The activation of his third origin node was imminent. Once he became a rank three Fighter, his power would increase exponentially. So long as he did note across the rank six instructor of the imperial expeditionary army in ckflow City, his experiences from the Yellow Springs Training Camp and the Red Scorpion Corps made sure that he would at least be able to make an escape from any opponent, even if he could not defeat them.

    The cycle of origin tides formed by the Combatant Form began to surge against the barrier of the node, but Qianye realized that the pain caused when it passed through his chest region was much less intense than it had been before. This was clearly the effect of the vampire physique. Ever since he obtained this physique, the blood energy within him had constantly been changing Qianye¡¯s body, strengthening his body qualitatively and allowing him to withstand the waves of the origin tide for a longer period of time.

    At this point, the pain caused by the origin tide had been lessened to just slightly above an ordinary person¡¯s threshold, and Qianye easily leapt to the twentieth cycle, with the origin tide continuously surging higher, reaching heights he had never before been able to attain.

    Twenty one, twenty two¡­

    With every cycle, the power of the following origin tide intensified. Qianye¡¯s origin power was richer and more condensed than normal, and he produced an origin tide that surged more forcefullypared to a normal human¡¯s. After twenty cycles of multiplication, the force of the origin tide was equivalent to a tempest brewing in the sea!

    The barrier of the third origin node blinked continuously, and it suddenly trembled as if it were on the verge of copse. However, the umtion of origin tides was not a good thing.If it had been any other person, the recoil of the origin tide would have sttered their organs by now, but Qianye¡¯s vampiric, strengthened physique could withstand it.

    At the twenty sixth cycle of origin tide, Qianye¡¯s internal organs began to show signs of minute injuries. However, with the self-healing ability of the vampiric physique, Qianye felt he could endure another cycle of surging tides.

    The twenty seventh cycle!

    The barrier of the origin node started to show signs of cracking!

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s internal organs had begun bleeding, but he endured the agony and carefully adjusted his condition.

    ¡°I should be able to endure another wave.¡± He silently monitored his vital internal organs, and directed the Combatant Form to continue another cycle.

    Qianye¡¯s inner origin power was like a tide, with wave after wave surging forth, flowing along the meridian of his right arm towards the origin node in his palm. When the origin power crashed into the barrier, the bacshing wave delivered a shocking impact to his meridians and internal organs. It then joined with the origin power gushing from the Aura Sea meridian in his torso, once again rushing towards the barrier!

    With every cycle of ebb and flow, Qianye would suffer numerous internal injuries of a small magnitude.

    At the halfway point of the twenty eighth cycle, Qianye suddenly jolted when he discovered there was a thin cut on his heart!

    The heart was the most important organ for the human race in the cultivation of origin energy, and it was vital to protect the heart during the channeling of the Combatant Form. Once the organ received damage, it meant the training was too intense and should be stopped immediately for rest.

    Qianye mentally sighed and was just about to give up, when suddenly, the blood energy in his body bubbled forth. The tri-colored dark blood that had remained dormant until Qianye nearly forgot about its existence was now converging upon his heart and rapidly forming a thin blood barrier!

    At this time, a new origin tide had just crashed, but the recoil to his heart waspletely blocked off by the blood barrier. The blood barrier warped for a moment but quickly reassumed its original position, looking strangely tensile.

    Qianye was initially shocked, but this shock soon faded to be reced with joy. With this, he could now withstand many more origin energy tides, and he could channel the Combatant Form to much greater heights!

    He calmed down and testingly directed the blood energy. The process was as smooth as molding his own origin power, and soon,yers of barriers ensconced his heart and other vital organs. However, Qianye¡¯s current blood energy was still weak, so theyers protecting the organs other than his heart were noticeably thinner.

    The twenty ninth cycle of origin tides urred smoothly. The origin powerid dormant for a moment before it slowly started to surge, churning a fresh wave.

    Qianye¡¯s heart turned cold the instant he realized that the thirtieth cycle of origin tides was essentially different from the previous tides. When the first wave started to churn, Qianye knew that something was wrong!

    It was merely the first wave, yet its surge was already much stronger than the ninth wave of the previous tide! He now knew why it was not easy to attain the title of Fighter King, which could endure thirty origin tides.

    However, Qianye was no longer thinking that much. The origin power in his body resembled waves, crashing into the barrier repeatedly. He was like a small boat in the face of a raging storm, desperately struggling for survival.

    At the third wave, all blood barriers protecting his internal organs started to show signs of tearing. At the sixth wave, other than the blood barrier surrounding his heart, all others had been torn apart. At the seventh wave, even the blood barrier protecting his heart started to tremble violently! At the eighth wave, the blood barrier finally shattered, and Qianyepletely lost all protection. He was exposed, at the mercy of the origin tide!

    Immediately, Qianye¡¯s ruthless disposition came into effect. He forcefully gnashed his teeth as he madly punched his fist down on his chest! It was a secret method to stimte one¡¯s potential, and could help the user temporarily raise their physical strength by arge margin. However, the consequences of this method were very severe, seeing as it could even shorten the user¡¯s lifespan.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t give it much thought in order toplete the thirtieth cycle of origin tides. He was ruthless to others, and even more so to himself. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to live up to now if it weren¡¯t for this mentality.

    With his power temporarily stimted, Qianye somehow managed to withstand the impact of thest wave. Blood sprayed out from his mouth, but his heart was brimming with joy. He had finally strided past the great barrier of the thirtieth tide, and stepped into the level of a Fighter King!

    He was now powerful enough to be ranked among the strongest people in the Empire¡¯s army which constituted of tens of millions of officers and soldiers!

    Qianye¡¯s current strength was still insignificant, but his future potential was unlimited now that he had reached the level of a Fighter King. It would be very hard to find anyone who could cultivate their origin power at the same pace as him.

    The barrier around the node of his right hand had been smashed into pieces by the impact of thest wave, allowing the origin power to gush into it bit by bit and slowly fill it up. Now, Qianye only needed to constantly provide the origin node with warmth and nourishment and let it strengthen until itpletely filled up to its capacity. After this, he could try tackling the fourth node.

    With the node of his right hand activated, he finally obtained the ability to pour origin power into physical origin bullets.

    He had already prepared exactly what was required to do this, a crystal-tipped, empty origin bullet made from alloy. Within the bullet, there was a bit of silver, something that was mainly used to deal with dark races besides vampires. Naturally, this kind of origin bullet was quite valuable, but it paled inparison to the might and manufacturing costs of the Bullet of Exorcism.

    Although this was true, the bullet was still quite valuable. Qianye had only barely managed to retain it despite keeping it buried outside Lighthouse Town, hoping that no one would find it and take it away.

    He spent the night resting his body, and then gradually recovered his origin power over the course of a whole day before starting to fill the empty origin bullet. Like a bottomless hole, the bullet continuously absorbed Qianye¡¯s origin power until half his body¡¯s reserves were exhausted. Soon, a glimmer shed across the tip of the bullet, indicating that it had beenpletely filled.

    After being filled up with origin power, an indistinct fog appeared inside the initially transparent bullet tip. The origin power formed by the Combatant Form should be faint yellow in color, but inside the origin bullet was a dark red string of blood, moving back and forth as though it had a life of its own.

    The string of blood was actually a fragment of the blood energy inside Qianye¡¯s body. However, for some inexplicable reason, a little bit of his blood energy had flowed into the origin bullet as he was filling it up with origin power.

    Qianye felt slight hesitation when looking at the unusual urrence. He had no idea what kind of extraordinary result he would get from mixing blood energy into the contents of the bullet, but that would need to wait until the time of its use. However, given the bullet¡¯s base statistics, Qianye was sure of one thing. The bullet¡¯s might was definitely not diminished by arge margin.

    The might of a physical bullet filled with origin power was even greater than that of a bullet of concentrated origin power. To understand the force of a physical bullet such as this, it would be best topare it to Heavy Caliber. It boasted superiority over normal origin bullets as it was one and a half times more powerful and only consumed half of the origin power to fire. This meant that the more physical bullets one possessed, the more augmented origin bullets one would have in their arsenal, and the greater one¡¯s strength would be during battle.

    This origin bullet was none other than the killing move Qianye had prepared to deal with Qi Yue.

    By the time Qianye hadpletely finished filling the origin bullet, the sun had risen high in the sky. Hey down on the ground to rest, awaiting the arrival of night once again.

 Volume 2 - 23: Dark Transaction

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 23: Dark Transaction

    Just as the clock struck three, the sky started to darken.

    As the remaining sunlight was blocked by an upper continent, Qianye woke up and ate before checking the condition of his body. He was surprised yet again, the injured organs were mostly healed. It seemed that a vampire¡¯s regenerative power was very strong.

    Because of this, the Combatant Form Qianye practiced lost its biggest obstacle, allowing him to improve upon himself greatly. A Fighter King¡¯s thirty cycles was evidently not even his limit!

    Qianye checked the Light of Daybreak onest time beforeing out of hiding and running toward ckflow City.

    As of this moment, the gates of ckflow City were still open. It was in ordance to the habits of the upper continents, only upon midnight would the city doors close, while they opened strictly at six in the morning.

    ckflow City was not afraid of the ambushesid by the dark races. It was and of humans, with a dozen surrounding satellite guard viges and thousands of expeditionary soldiers stationed in the city. The distance between the city and the army was only a few hundred kilometers, so ckflow City simply mimicked the Empire¡¯s habits and did not think much of the dark races.

    At this moment, Qianye already had a thick beard and a head full of yellowish hair, resembling a young scavenger. After paying fifty copper coins, he smoothly entered the city.

    Like a true scavenger, Qianye found the cheapest hotel he could find to stay in and started monitoring Qi Yue¡¯s movements.

    The Qi family was a prominent family within ckflow City, the main figure being Qi Yue¡¯s father, a lieutenant quartermaster of the military school of the expeditionary army, which was a position equivalent to a lieutenant colonel. At the same time, Qi Yue¡¯s uncle was the financial minister of ckflow City.

    With such a background, the Qi family was ranked in the top five of ckflow City, rivalling a second rate family in the upper continent¡¯s Empire. Of course, the Qi family in ckflow City was only a distant, small segment of the main n.

    Qianye¡¯s information regarding the Qi family was veryplete.

    Qi Yue was a rank two Fighter cultivating the techniques imparted by his family, which enhanced his mental and physical defense, butcked in offense. Qi Yue¡¯s hobby was collecting origin guns. He had collected a few exquisite pieces, but with his ability as a rank two Fighter, he couldn¡¯t disy the true power of most of them. Mr. Wang, who had died by Qianye¡¯s hands was indeed the uncle of Qi Yue, and also the director of the Qi family¡¯s business.

    After Mr. Wang¡¯s death, Qi Yue became much more prudent, bringing at least two guards with him everywhere. However, Qianye noticed that there was only ever a rank three guard at his side, while a rank four guard never appeared.

    After three days of observation, Qianye could not find any opportunity to attack. However, Qianye was very patient. For a mission, Qianye had onceid on the ground for a full week without moving. This bit of waiting was nothing to him.

    At midnight of the fourth day, Qianye suddenly noticed a cargo truck leaving the Qi family mansion, heading towards the city gates. This was an ordinary truck used to transport food, but Qianye smelled something different as it drove past. The cargo was apanied by the pungent smell of fresh blood.

    There was someone inside! And this scent of blood that Qianye had specifically remembered proved that Qi Yue was there.

    Qianye stayed motionless as he waited for the truck to move away beforeing out of hiding, using the darkness of the night to conceal himself as he tracked the truck.

    The truck reached the originally closed gates, but after the passengers spoke with the guards, the steam engines operating the gates rumbled once again, causing the thick, steel city gate to open. The truck exited the city, disappearing into the night.

    Qianye watched as the truck left. He did not leave through the city gates, but instead chose to climb over an unmanned portion of the city wall, chasing after the truck. In the wastnd, Qianye¡¯s vision was unobstructed, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about losing sight of the truck.

    The truck drove about a hundred kilometers before stopping before an obsolete power station.

    Qi Yue jumped out from the cargo truck along with two other men, as if waiting for something. One of them seemed to be a guard, while the other was an elder who appeared to be only a rank one. In a ce like the wastnds, such strength was barely enough for self preservation.

    Qianye hid a kilometer away and silently observed.

    Despite it being night time, Qianye could still clearly see, his ability even stronger than a pair of good night vision goggles. The newborn night vision ability was much stronger than he expected it to be. As of today, Qianye would not need binocrs anymore within five hundred meters.

    Only after about an hour did three shadows appear in the darkness of the night, moving towards them like ghosts.

    Qi Yue signaled with his hands and the elder next to him walked to the truck, lifting a case from the truck before walking behind Qi Yue. Qi Yue¡¯s guard unhesitantly rose his origin gun, aiming at the three men heading their way.

    Qianye suddenly felt a faint ripple of blood energying from the three of them. They were vampires!

    Qianye was shocked, he hadn¡¯t expected that Qi Yue¡¯s purpose in sneakily exiting from the city was to meet with vampires! Qi Yue was the young master of the Qi family, and it was rumored that Mr. Wang had another secret identity. His appearance here was nothing simple.

    Qianye didn¡¯t hesitate anymore. He immediately started to stealthily sneak towards them at a slow pace, hoping to catch their conversation.

    He was surprisingly sessful. Under the cover of the terrain and the night, he moved fifty meters closer before stopping.

    He was an expert in stealth to begin with, and now that he had the physique of a vampire and possessed their trait of having cold blood, his body heat could be reduced even lower, annulling the temperature sensory ability of the vampires. On the other hand, he could also control his body¡¯s blood energy by using his origin power to shroud it, preventing it from spilling into the atmosphere, and annulling the humans¡¯ equipment for detecting vampires as well.

    The three vampires showed no fear despite being at gunpoint.

    The leader of the group spoke with a croaky, old voice, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you think this shitty gun can threaten us? Don¡¯t forget, if we were topare origin weapon mastery, us sacred bloods would be much better.¡±

    Qi Yueughed, ¡°It¡¯s just another added precaution. Even if this gun is no good, it¡¯s loaded with a mithril bullet inside. I paid a great price to obtain it, and as long as it isn¡¯t an emergency, I couldn¡¯t bear to use it.¡±

    The three vampires members trembled, now even taking a step back.

    The leader of the three was enraged. ¡°You actually prepared a mithril bullet! Are you insulting me?¡±

    Confronted by three powerful vampires, Qi Yue was not flustered in the slightest, speaking steadily, ¡°No! It¡¯s the opposite, I treat this transaction very sincerely. This bullet is the proof of my sincerity. I hope this transaction can pass smoothly, and I hope even more that our future transactions can simrly pass smoothly. If my actions have offended you, I believe the benefits of our transactions are more than enough as repayment.¡±

    The attitudes of the three vampires eased after they heard this.

    The leader signaled with his hands for thepanion behind him to take out a suitcase and to stand beside him. This suitcase was the stereotypical style of vampires, ck in color with polished, matte lines and bronze decorated corners. Its workmanship was intricate, just the materials and workmanship were rare. To contain something with such a case, its value would not be small.

    With a signal of his hands, the elderly person behind Qi Yue walked forward with a practical and simple box in his embrace. His two arms carried the case straight, and every step he took was full of caution, as if he was afraid of shaking it even slightly.

    ¡°This case has a special precautionary feature. Once it is activated, it must be kept steady, and after three hours, it will automatically unlock. Within this period of time, if it moves by five degrees, it would¡­ bang!¡± Qi Yue¡¯s hands gestured an explosion.

    The leader nced at Qi Yue and coldly spoke, ¡°You¡¯re indeed very careful.¡±

    Qi Yue smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t have a choice. Against a powerful rank four vampire, there¡¯s no such thing as being overly cautious. Like I said, my goal is to sessfullyplete this transaction.¡±

    That old vampire snorted, but he could do nothing. As long as he took this special case, he would not be able to escape the mithril bullet. And to prevent any idents within the next three hours, he would need to leave immediately, as anything could happen on the wastnds.

    Qi Yue¡¯s nspletely crushed the vampires¡¯ thoughts of stealing.

    Despite this being the first to a series of transactions, in most vampires¡¯ eyes, humans were still the ves and food they had since a thousand years ago. Whether theyplied with the agreements or not, it solely depended on their mood.

    Before arriving, this old vampire had indeed prepared to kill and then steal the goods. As for trading, he could simply just find another person. Humans were great in number and there were others than the Qi family in ckflow City.

    The old vampire took the skin case and carefully checked it over before passing it to hispanion. With a heavy snort, he turned and left.

    Only after the three vampires left did Qi Yue sigh, and suddenly perspired an entire body¡¯s worth of sweat.

    The stress from confronting a rank four vampire warrior was abnormally great, and he knew from experience that if one traded with a dark race warrior, one needed to be prepared for death. Behind every gold coin traded was great value and risk.

    However, after taking the suitcase into his hands, Qi Yue revealed a hearty gaze. After carefully opening and ncing into the case, he closed it with satisfaction. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll try and get back by dawn.¡±

    The three of them entered the truck and headed back.

    As the three vampires moved through the night like ghosts, the elderly leader suddenly stopped! The vampire behind him, holding onto the briefcase, could barely stop in time and almost stumbled into his back. This caused quite amotion, scaring both of them.

    ¡°Be careful! There¡¯s an enemy, you two protect the case!¡± the old vampire hurriedly instructed.

    And at this moment, something circr was suddenly hurled towards them from the darkness.

 Volume 2 - 24: Chase

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 24: Chase

    A red glow flickered in the old vampire¡¯s eyes, which activated his night vision. He immediately recognized that the projectileing their way was a grenademonly used in the army. This kind of crude weapon relied on metal shards and explosions to kill, just barely enough against a rank one Fighter, but of limited efficiency against a real rank two vampire.

    However, this grenade was a huge annoyance to them. The ripples of its explosion could possibly trigger the switch inside the suitcase, ruining their transaction.

    In such an emergency, the old vampire bellowed and took a step forward, protecting his two underlings behind him.

    He was already a high rank four vampire warrior, so the shards of this grenade could at most cause some superficial wounds.

    ¡°A pity for this shirt, it¡¯s made by a master!¡± the old vampire thought as the grenade exploded.

    However, the grenade didn¡¯t explode as he thought it would. The iron sheet covering the tip suddenly came off, shooting off a small ball of tin paper, revealing a silver re in the old vampire¡¯s eyes!

    The surprisingly bright light blinded the three vampires momentarily, and as the grenade flew, Qianye jumped out of hiding and kneeled on the ground, holding the Light of Daybreak steadily while aiming at the old vampire. As the silver light appeared, Qianye closed his eyes and aimed with his memory, shooting his infused origin bullet!

    Between them was a distance no more than thirty meters, so this shot was unavoidable. With a pained cry, a bundle of faint yellow light exploded on the old man¡¯s chest. Not only did this ruin his clothing, it also opened a bloody, fist-sized hole in his chest. His entire body was sent flying by the collision, causing him to hit the two underlings behind.

    The two vampire youths did not react slowly. With the old member to block the bright light, it was weakened considerably, only stopping them momentarily. One charged forward to support the elder as the other turned and ran with the case in his arms. However, to keep the case steady when running, he was forced to keep his speed down.

    Qianye rushed forward with the aura of a charging horse, closing the distance to ten meters as he rushed forward, aiming a spike bay at the old vampire.

    The vampire youth was the descendant of the elder, and in this time of emergency, he immediately moved in front of the elder. Before he could raise his right arm to block, the spike bay had already plunged into his chest, and with almost no obstruction, it appeared from his back and stabbed into the elder¡¯s right shoulder.

    That vampire youth had a face full of shock. He hadn¡¯t expected the power of the bay to be so great that it was actually capable of stabbing through his body!

    Qianye did not stop at all. He charged through thest ten meters between them, aiming to eliminate the strongest enemy before the vampire elder regained his sight and mobility.

    That young vampire cried out as he pounced towards Qianye, grabbing onto the hand swinging towards him as he started to wrestle with him.

    Most bodies of vampire youths didn¡¯t seem to be very fit, but they actually contained abnormal and enormous strength. A human rank three Fighter may not even win against a rank two vampire in a fight.

    Qianye suddenly bellowed as his strength busted forth from his entire body, easily suppressing the resistance of the young vampire as he stabbed the dagger in his right hand into the young vampire¡¯s shoulder. The silver-coated dagger immediately started burning the young vampire¡¯s blood and flesh, releasingrge amounts of smoke. The young vampire immediately cried out in pain as his right hand lost strength, releasing Qianye¡¯s right hand.

    Qianye did not let go of this opportunity and immediately raised the huge Light of Daybreak, harshly mming the gun barrel into the young vampire¡¯s face. To Qianye¡¯s satisfaction, the face was always weak, no matter the race.

    Just this blow fractured his nose and one of his cheekbones. Qianye then threw the partially unconscious vampire to the side.

    When Qianye charged in front of the vampire elder, he shockingly noticed that his strongest opponent had already lost his ability to fight, andid on the ground, dying. In only a little while, the injury on his chest had increased from fist to bowl-sized. One could also see it corroding with the naked eye, releasing dark blood nonstop.

    Seeing this sight, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. This was the result from that one shot?

    Distance had yed a role as well. If he had used the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism, it would have undoubtedly killed the vampire elder in one shot. Even if it were a mithril bullet two ranks weaker than its target, it would suffice to create an injury that would be difficult to heal in a short time.

    However, this was an origin bullet Qianye had infused personally. It did not contain any exorcism effects and should only have one third of the threat a mithril bullet would posses, and even though Qianye¡¯s origin power was especially mighty, it should only amount to half.

    Furthermore, the higher rank a vampire was, the lower the threat of the bullet. Facing the fearsome regenerative abilities of vampires, any injury that failed to kill was merely a superficial wound, and even silver poisoning would not pose a continuous threat to a vampire. If it weren¡¯t for this, it would be a great hazard, even to a rank four vampire warrior.

    This was why Qianye would rather fight them head-on and supplement an extra stab. However, looking at the vampire elder¡¯s wounds, it was obvious that his condition was worse than what a mithril bullet would cause; just one shot had forced him to the brink of death.

    Qianye remembered the mysterious blood energy that he had mixed in as he was infusing his bullet. Was this because of that?

    Qianye was only shocked for a short moment before he moved on from these two dying vampires.

    He charged into the night, chasing after the escaping vampire. Qianye did not immediately get into close quarters, but after gauging the distance, he raised his Light of Daybreak yet again, kneeling as he aimed and shot, all within one breath.

    Light of Daybreak was already filled to the brim with origin power, condensing a new origin bullet. With a pull of the trigger, a bright light was ejected from the gun¡¯s barrel, hitting that young vampire¡¯s heart from behind!

    The vampire cried out but actually did not copse, running a few steps forward. At that moment, Qianye¡¯s voice suddenly appeared next to his ear, ¡°You can rest.¡±

    A silver-coated dagger pierced deeply into his heart, allowing for the briefcase to steadily drop into Qianye¡¯s hands.

    Qianye simply checked the case once and noticed theplexity of the lock. This wasn¡¯t something he could unlock. It seemed that he could only wait.

    However, he still had other unfinished business. It was Sir Qi, of course.

    He turned and sprinted towards ckflow City, stopping only momentarily to find a hidden spot to hide the briefcase.

    The truck was stuck at a ce seventy kilometers away from ckflow City. Qi Yue stood with the old man at the side of the road, while the guardy under the car, changing between a few tools in his hands as if examining something.

    After a while, his head popped out. ¡°Young master, this is a problem in the transmission line! There¡¯s a crack there, and all the steam has escaped, it¡¯s no wonder it doesn¡¯t move.¡±

    Qi Yue furrowed his brows. ¡°Was it sabotaged by someone?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s unlikely, it seems like it was scratched by a rock on the road.¡±

    ¡°Fuck! Those damned quartermasters! Couldn¡¯t they have been less selfish!¡± After cursing, Qi Yue seemed to feel better as he asked again, ¡°How long does it take to repair?¡±

    ¡°This is a small problem. Twenty minutes is enough, at most thirty.¡±

    Hearing this, Qi Yue decided on waiting for the truck to be repaired.

    This ce was still quite far from ckflow City. Walking would take two hours as well as a lot of energy, while waiting for the truck to be fixed and then driving back would also take two hours.

    However, Qi Yue was still rather depressed. This mission was very important and the truck had been picked out carefully.. This model was supposed to be very good in tough wilnds, so he didn¡¯t expect there to be a problem in just one trip.

    Despite this, his overall mood was still not bad. He hadpleted an extremely important transaction that would not only increase his family position when he got back, but would also please that influential fellow.

    That man was the top superior of his father. After establishing this rtionship andpleting training at the expeditionary army, he could surpass his father in the future. If he were lucky, he could possibly even climb a few levels and move to the upper continents.

    Thinking about the future possibilities, Qi Yue did not feel upset anymore.

    The guard had started repairing the truck after having moved some tools.

    As Qianye moved closer under the cover of night, he saw exactly what he expected, the best result he could have.

    The bottom of the truck¡¯s transmission line was ruined by him. Such a little trick was nothing thanks to his background as a Red Scorpion; it was natural and seemed unlikely to be man made. What Qianye worried the most about was Qi Yue leaving the truck and walking back to the city, which would make him more troublesome to chase down and kill.

    Luckily, Qi Yue was azy man just as described, and he had indeed chosen to wait for the the truck to be repaired.

    Light of Daybreak was already recharged with origin power. This was thest origin bullet Qianye could fire tonight. Holding his breath, he patiently approached Qi Yue.

    A hundred meters, ny meters¡­ all the way to thirty meters, Qianye still went unnoticed.

    ¡°Young master! The truck has been repaired!¡± the guard shouted as he climbed from underneath the truck.

    Qianye immediately threw the grenade in his hands towards when he saw Qi Yue and the elder turned to the guard He then aimed his Light of Daybreak at the guard and pulled the trigger.

    Seeing a ck item flying their way, Qi Yue and the elder¡¯s faces changed as he shouted ¡°Grenade!¡± before the both of them leaped to the sides.

    As they retreated, both stared at where the grenadended. The body of a Fighter would always be stronger than a mortal¡¯s, so this old method of using grenades was useful against normal people only. As such, if Qi Yue were to retreat five meters, he would at most suffer from superficial wounds without affecting hisbat abilities.

    The grenadended and then rebounded up, shooting a ball of tin foil before bing a bright light.

    Without any chance of retaliation, the vision of both Qi Yue and the old man turned white as everything disappeared. The special sh grenade was useful against vampires, but at night, it could also be used against humans. This unexpected ploy was hard to counter.

    Qianye shot hisst origin bullet straight into the guard¡¯s face, blowing up the guard¡¯s face as he swung his Light of Daybreak.

    The ten kilogram, old-style gun changed into a weapon in the air. It directly collided with the head of the blinded old man, causing blood to spill from his face, as he fell to the ground.

    After that, Qianye moved in front of Qi Yue as though he were a ghost.

    Only at this moment could Qi Yue forcefully open his eyes. They were red, swollen, and tearing up. Qianye¡¯s fist heavilynded onto his abdomen, causing his body to curl up as he vomited, spilling undigested food mixed with sour water onto the ground

    Qianyended yet another fist on Qi Yue¡¯s back. It was as though raging horses stampeded on him, smashing him to the ground. Qianye kicked Qi Yue in his face, using his full strength to send him flying along with his spilling blood and a dozen of teeth that also shot out.

    With the enormous strength that seemed unfitting for Qianye¡¯s body shape, only three attacks hadpletely destroyed Qi Yue¡¯s ability to retaliate, causing this rank two Fighter to copse on the ground, groaning.

    Qianye slowly walked toward Qi Yue, squatted down, and patted his face. ¡°Sir Qi, we meet again.¡±

 Volume 2 - 25: Breaking Part of a Promise

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 25: Breaking Part of a Promise

    Qi Yue hadn¡¯tpletely lost consciousness yet, and he painstakingly opened his swollen eyes, speaking blurrily after a while, ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me, Qianye. You must have a deep impression of me, or else you wouldn¡¯t have created such amotion, utilizing the expeditionary army to attempt to kill me at Lighthouse Town.¡±

    A venomous expression appeared in his face as he spoke viciously, ¡°I should¡¯ve just killed you at the underground arena!¡±

    Qianyeughed, ¡°It is indeed a pity, but you don¡¯t have a chance anymore now.¡±

    Only now did Qi Yue seem more clear headed. He stared at Qianye and suddenly revealed an extremely terrified expression as he stuttered, ¡°You¡­you¡¯re actually a rank three Fighter!¡±

    ¡°You have good eyes, but it¡¯s toote now.¡±

    Qi Yue¡¯s expression was extremelyplicated with hate, regret, and envy.

    Qianye reached rank three at a very young age, making him a rare talent even in the expeditionary army. Qi Yue was twenty three himself, but he would need another year of cultivation andrge amounts of medicinal items to reach rank three.

    ¡°I should¡¯ve guessed that you were not rank one when you usedbat skills from the army.¡± Qi Yue sighed deeply.

    A person such as Qianye would be extremely useful as an underling. If Qianye would rece the troops of Sir Zhao, he wouldn¡¯t reject money and better conditions.

    Qi Yue¡¯s status was ten times better than Sir Zhao¡¯s, and he could offer much better conditions. With only some patience and skill, how could Qianye reject him?

    In the Evernight Continent, strength was everything.

    However, was not toote yet.

    Qi Yue fought to sit up and asked, ¡°Are you here because of Sir Zhao?¡±

    ¡°And Min¡¯er.¡±

    ¡°Min¡¯er¡­ that prostitute?¡± mentioning Min¡¯er, Qi Yue couldn¡¯t help but grit his teeth.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Have you forgotten that she was willing to sleep with Tiger Yan for a bit of money and almost made you lose your fight!¡±

    Qianye spoke calmly, ¡°I haven¡¯t, but that is a thing of the past, and now, like Sir Zhao, she is also my friend.¡±

    ¡°Friend? Haha!¡± Qi Yueughed loudly, causing blood to flow out of his mouth which made him look exceptionally terrifying. He ridiculed, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to hear such an ancient word! In this era, in this ce, is there really such a thing as a friend?¡±

    Qianye thought of another group of people, Colonel Wei Lishi, the leader of the Red Scorpions, and those ck Scorpion veterans. In that bloody night, the leader of the Red Scorpions pushed the entire dark wave back in exchange for Qianye¡¯s chance to escape.

    That was a miracle with the price of a life.

    Qianye sighed softly. ¡°There isn¡¯t such a word in your dictionary, but that doesn¡¯t mean it doesn¡¯t exist. At least I have friends, and Sir Zhao and Min¡¯er are like that.¡±

    Qi Yue stoppedughing madly and spoke in a serious tone, ¡°Alright, I respect your decision. If possible, I hope that you can think of me as a friend in the future. Follow me, how about that? I have another identity, and its iparable to the current Qi family. I am very certain of your ability, so as long as you follow me, you will be able to get anything you want! The way I, Qi Yue, treat my underlings, is known in ckflow City, you can ask around.¡±

    Qianye stared at Qi Yue¡¯s face and suddenlyughed. ¡°Tempting indeed, if it was someone else, they would have most likely been swayed. However, I wasn¡¯t intending on finding a backer when I was talking to you.¡±

    Qi Yue suddenly shuddered.

    This was his first time closely inspecting Qianye¡¯s face. The crude camouge was still present, but his exquisite features were still visible. This smile had the familiarity of a neighborhood boy, yet Qi Yue¡¯s instincts could sense danger.

    He suddenly felt as though he couldn¡¯t see through Qianye. Qianye was incredibly young, yet his fighting ability and decision-making were contradictory to that. He was trained and vicious, killing with one blow, and he gave himself and his opponent no chance of any hesitation. Not knowing why, Qi Yue suddenly remembered themon, yet extremely fatal red scorpion.

    Qianye pointed toward the briefcase brought by the vampires and spoke, ¡°Open it, and I will give you a pleasant death. If not, I¡¯ll send you back alive. I have some great things on hand, and I have a bit to spare.¡±

    ¡°Go back¡­alive?¡± This seemed to be the better choice, yet Qi Yue¡¯s body started trembling uncontrobly. Sure enough, he heard the answer he expected right from Qianye¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Of course, you¡¯ll still die, roughly in about seven days. In these seven days, you will experience all kinds of suffering, your perception of pain will be exceptionally sensitive, so that even taking off a shirt will give you intense agony. However, the wounds on your body can be treated.¡±

    Thest sentence was the most hurtful part.

    Qi Yue knew what method Qianye was talking about.

    It was a poison extracted from the body of a vampire, said to be only in the hands of the mysterious officers of the Empire¡¯s elite army. It destroyed the brain and the nerves, causing damage that couldst forever, yet wasn¡¯t irreversible. To recover, one neededrge amounts of precious medicinal items and a high ranking Champion to unblock the meridians of the entire body to exert the medicinal effects.

    This kind of expenditure was a burden even to the prestigious families of the upper continent, and with the strength and rtions of ckflow City¡¯s Qi Family, it would be impossible even if they went bankrupt.

    Qianye stared at Qi Yue¡¯s expression and spoke indifferently, ¡°It seems that I won¡¯t have to exin.¡±

    Sending Qi Yue back would give him both hope and immense pain, as he could only await his death. This was the true torture. The Empire regrly used such methods against military betrayals, and the higher ups of rebel organizations.

    Qi Yue trembled as he pointed at Qianye. ¡°You! You came from that kind of ce!?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°You finally guessed it, very smart. A pity that it¡¯s toote.¡±

    Only now did Qi Yue truly feel regret. Those from the elite armies were all monsters in the shape of men; they could not be measured with the ranking system and were nightmares to irk.

    ¡°Y-you cannot kill me! My real father is Sir Wu Zhengnan, he is an active duty senior of the Empire¡¯s expeditionary army! If you kill me, he will definitely avenge me!¡±

    Qianye continued smiling. ¡°I¡¯ve heard this sentence countless times, can¡¯t you say something different?¡±

    ¡°I can give you money! I can give you women! Provided that I have it, I can give you anything as long as you let me go! How about that? Don¡¯t kill me¡­¡± Qi Yue became more and more incoherent. In the face of death, he copsed mentally and started bawling.

    He suddenly crawled to the briefcase and quickly unlocked it, and with a ¡®kacha¡¯ sound, it snapped open.

    ¡°Look, I opened it! Don¡¯t kill me, I beg¡­¡±

    Qi Yue suddenly stopped speaking, and his vision became blurry as he stared at Qianye, the life force in his body sapping away. The spike bay in Qianye¡¯s hands had pierced through his throat, and the remaining poison on the de numbed Qi Yue¡¯s nerves, forcing him immobile as he felt the blood drain out of him.

    ¡°Very well. I said already that as long as you open the briefcase, I¡¯ll let you die pleasantly.¡±

    However, Qianye suddenly gathered his strength and viciously smashed his fist against Qi Yue¡¯s face, instantly smashing his face inwards.

    Qi Yue fell to the ground facing the sky as his limbs jerked in the face of death.

    ¡°Sorry, I broke part of my promise.¡± Qianye spoke slightly apologetic towards Qi Yue¡¯s body.

    Taking out a ring and a brooch from his pocket, Qianye ced it on Sir Qi¡¯s chest. These were the belongings of both Min¡¯er and Sir Zhao, a small ritual.

    Qianye hoped that they would be able to see this on the other end of theher river, to see the true killer¡¯s end.

    As for the soldiers present that day, they were simply following orders, a tool of murder for the higher-ups. Qianye did not n on taking care of them.

    Qianye opened the briefcase, and his pupils immediately dted!

    Inside was a ck gun with an additional auxiliary barrel at the side at half a meter long. It was simr to the Light of Daybreak in appearance, but the method of creation was different like night and day. This gun was luxurious and smooth, and it even had a golden rose designed on the body.

    This was the type of origin gun typically used by the vampires!

    After the method of creation for origin guns was leaked to the dark race, the intelligent ones amongst them soon created versions which harnessed dark origin power.

    However, the origin guns had gray areas, just like Evernight and Daybreak did. The dark races¡¯ origin guns were notpletely unusable for humans, but it was just that their strength was reduced, and special abilities would be locked.

    It was strange. Despite the bad blood between the vampires and the humans, the vampires¡¯ origin guns were the mostpatible with humans amongst the many creations of the various dark races, and with just a few adjustments, the loss of efficiency could be reduced. Furthermore, with theirvish workmanship, these guns were popr amongst the upper society of the Empire.

    Many wealthy people used products of vampires, forcing even the creations of the human race to fall behind. On top of that, in this briefcase was a rare, high-quality origin gun. Simply the dazzling tactical essory made it apparent.

    Qianye picked up this gun and gently inserted a bit of origin power, and as a result, the origin force speedily gathered together within the gun, creating an origin bullet in a blink of an eye!

    Qianye was pleasantly surprised. This was a rapid fire gun, which style was originally not suited for Qianye who pursued pure strength. However, triggering the origin power within the gun was unexpectedly easy, without any of the rough sensations he had when he used Evernight origin guns.

    Qianye immediately thought that his three-colored blood energy could be the reason for this.

    After testing for a bit, Qianye obtained the statistics of this gun. Its darkness origin power conversion rate was forty percent. With Qianye¡¯s rank three origin power and blood energy, he could fire five shots, with each shot containing a force four times stronger than a shot from the Light of Daybreak.

    If this gun were to be in another person¡¯s hand, the threat would be two ranks lower than normal. However, Qianye had the power of the blood of darkness and could bring out its true potential, although it was not to the extent that it would overpower the Scorpion Needle Custom.

    On the gun was engraved: Flowing Golden Rose. This was probably the name of the gun. Not only was the writing flowery, there was also golden powder decorating it. This was indeed the style of the vampires.

    The value of the intricate origin guns of vampires did noty only in their strength. If he were to fight with weapons, Qianye would rather use the Scorpion Needle Custom, even though it couldn¡¯t use blood energy. Still, this origin gun was two times stronger than the standard. No member of the upper ss would attend an evening party with a rifle at their back and vampire origin guns were a nice decoration to their status.

    However, despite Qianye¡¯s fancy for beautiful things, he only yed for a bit before cing Flowing Gold Rose back into its case. He still had many things to do, and first of all, he needed to clean up the battlefield before continuing his n.

 Volume 2 - 26: Happening

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 26: Happening

    Qianye jumped onto the truck, carefully searched inside and outside, confirmed that he eliminated all traces of himself, and then collected one origin gun from the guards and Qi Yue.

    The gun Qi Yue had on him was pistol-type origin gun. The model name was Ho, the quality was good, and since it could achieve a conversation rate of 30 percent, it could already be considered a rank two firearm. The guard division merely had second-hand assault rifles retired from the expeditionary armies; however, they were still products of thest century, and although they were old-fashioned, they could still barely be considered rank one.

    The Empire and the dark races¡¯ used the same standards to ss origin firearms. If it has at least a 20% conversion rate, it was a rank one firearm, and then every increase of 10% would increase the rank by one. If the Red Scorpions¡¯ Scorpion Needle Custom was considered rank four, the Flowing Gold Rose Standard that Qianye obtained should be considered rank three. As for the first antique Light of Daybreak model, it wasn¡¯t popr in this day and age and couldn¡¯t even be considered rank one.

    Qianye searched and picked up the mithril bullet from the guard¡¯s body too. This little fellow was a deadly weapon against the dark races. He opened the sealed box and gave it a look. The thick aura of mithril emanating from the bullets continued to cause him some difort as usual.

    That being said, the battle against the vampires just now showed Qianye a new possibility. If he could control the power of blood inside his body and inject it into an origin bullet, he might not need to rely purely on silver to fight vampires. Judging from the effects the rank four vampire elder had suffered, he could practically one shot a vampire warrior of the same rank if he were to use Heavy Caliber and his blood energy. He should be able to heavily injure a vampire warrior one or two ranks higher than him if he hit a vital spot too.

    Qianye still didn¡¯t understand what was going on with his body, but was the most pragmatic of soldiers. He would use all avable methods to attack his enemy and cared only about the results, not the means.

    Other than these pieces of equipment, Qianye had also found a dozen or so imperial gold coins. These coins were a sizable amount of wealth considering Qi Yue¡¯s status and identity.

    Qianye pulled off the guard¡¯s tactical backpack and threw out anything that he didn¡¯t need. The only thing he kept inside the backpack was a precision tool used to maintain firearms. Then, he tossed the vampire¡¯s Flowing Gold Rose and all tactical essories into the backpack. He took apart the guard¡¯s assault rifle and packed it into the bag too.

    He carried only an intact Light of Daybreak and Ho with him. With that he began to turn back. Soon, Qianye found the case he had hidden earlier. He sat beside the case and cultivated for a while. Some timeter he heard a crisp ringing sound from the leather suitcase¡¯s timer lock. His rm set for three hours had gone off.

    Qianye pressed the leather suitcase¡¯s switch softly, and the case opened automatically to reveal some goods wrapped in manyyers of nnel. A small origin level was attached on top of the object. One end of the blue wire was connected to a timer, whereas the red wire stretched all the way to the case¡¯s cover.

    The suitcase was actually filled to the brim with stic explosives. The number of explosives inside the suitcase was enough to st the goods and the case holder to smithereens.

    Qianye carefully took apart the level, timer, and automatic detonator. Then, he pulled away the nnel to reveal the goods inside and immediately inhaled sharply. Anger gradually surfaced on his face.

    The suitcase contained four neatly ced ck crystalline objects. Every one of these ck crystalline objects was as big as a palm and about a centimeter thick.

    ck crystals!

    Qianye had no idea that Qi Yue had used ck crystals to trade for origin guns with the vampires until now!

    The ck crystals inside the case was a standard cutbeled at middle grade purity. Not only that. It wasn¡¯t your average propent but a manufacturing grade ck crystal! Qianye knew that one of a ck crystal¡¯s important functions was to create thepressed energy chamber of an origin firearm.

    If these ck crystals were to be used in the creation of a grade three origin firearm, it could produce two of them. It would also take two ck crystals to create a grade four origin firearm.

    It would appear that the power behind Qi Yue had a steady source of ck crystals. That was why they thought of conducting long term business with the vampires.

    If thatplete set of Flowing Gold Rose from earlier were to be auctioned at the middle or upper continents, its functionality and artistic value were worth 20 standard ck crystals. They would earn four times the profit. It was no wonder they were willing to risk so much to trade with the vampires. If this trade were set up properly, then the gold coins woulde pouring in.

    However, what angered Qianye was the fact that these ck crystals could be turned into eight Flowing Gold Roses if they were to fall into the vampire¡¯s hands! If they didn¡¯t care for quality, then they could create ten normal grade three origin guns in total! Excluding other expenses, he could say that the vampires had made more than 300% profit from this deal too.

    Vampires had always been humankind¡¯s greatest enemy out of all the dark races. This was because humans are literally one of their main dishes to this day. On the continents deep into Evernight Continent where the dark races reigned supreme, there were countless humans who were penned up like livestock to supply the vampires with blood.

    The grudge that hadsted for tens of milleniums could no longer be defused by any means. Only the death of either party could settle this grudge once and for all.

    However, the Qi Family was actually selling tactical resources like these to the vampires in secret despite their history. There was no other way to describe this but as supplying the enemy! Imperialws stated that sharing ties with the dark races was a grave crime. If such crimes were to be brought to light, even the lightest punishment would result in a life sentence. It wouldn¡¯te as a shock at all if the Qi Family were to be annihted for what they were doing right now.

    However, Qianye¡¯s short service in the Red Scorpions told him that things weren¡¯t as simple as they seemed. Evernight Continent was far away from the empire¡¯s territory, and on thisnd the imperial expeditionary forces reigned supreme. The Qi Family was supported by none other than the imperial expeditionary forces themselves, and if Qi Yue wasn¡¯t lying, he was in fact the son of an active divisionmander.

    Regardless of whether there was an even bigger mastermind behind the trade Qianye had just foiled, these two higher ties alone meant that Qianye should worry more about the hunt that was most definitelying his way before he could even consider bringing the Qi Family to justice. Moreover, the hunt would likelye in the form of a proper arrest under the expeditionary force¡¯s name.

    Qianye thought for a little before he decided to alter his original ns. He put away the crystals and carried the suitcase back to the ce where he fought against the vampires. Luckily for him, there were no signs of any outsiders passing through the scene at all.

    He swiftly checked the perimeter before aligning the three vampire corpses in one row. He reset the timer detonator on the suitcase and ced it on the corpses. Then, he turned around and left the scene.

    A few minutester, Qianye heard a loud boom from behind him. The mes of the explosion surged at least several dozen meters into the sky. This proved that the explosives were powerful enough to st the vampires¡¯ corpses into smithereens. It would be difficult for anyone to discover the true cause of deaths.

    Qianye checked his direction and decided against returning to ckflow City. Instead, he walked northward. He could reach Boulderstone Region, the domain of the 3rd Division expeditionary forces from there.

    Unlikely the rtively calm ckflow City, Boulderstone Region was the frontline that stood against the dark races. There were countless forces, mercenaries, hunters, and all kinds of big and small organizations in that ce. The state of affairs of Boulderstone Region was far moreplex than in ckflow City, and the expeditionary force¡¯s hold over that ce was far weaker than in ckflow City.

    Qianye began plotting his future once more when he reached Boulderstone Region.

    Less than two hundred kilometers away from ckflow City, Brigadier General Wu Zhengnan woke up at 5 a.m. sharp in Cloud Sail City. He walked into his office when the huge chiming clock struck 6. He had never altered this habit for the past thirty years or so he spent in the army.

    As usual, the sky was pitch ck. It would be another five hours before sunlight would spill from the edges of the middle and upper continents. However, the drill grounds were as bright as daylight thanks to the illumination of several hundred burning gasmps. Numerous troops had alreadye out to perform their morning exercises. Shouts rose and fell in session as the drilling grounds became filled with a ferocious atmosphere.

    Brigadier General Wu Zhengnan wasn¡¯t tall, but his figure was as solid as iron. His thick eyebrows looked like a pair of unsheathed des, and although his eyes were of different sizes, it didn¡¯t affect the sharp gleam that spilled out of his narrow eyelids in the slightest.

    He stood at the window and watched the soldiers training spiritedly on the drilling grounds. He nodded in satisfaction before he returned to his office and picked up thetest imperial ry news, reading it.

    Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s face darkened as he looked a little displeased at the interruption. He yelled in a low tone, ¡°Come in!¡±

    The time between 6 to 7 a.m. was the time he spent leafing through thetest information and pondering about the empire¡¯s political situation. Disturbances were strictly forbidden unless it was an important matter.

    The door opened softly as a rather attractive female aide walked into the room and said, ¡°General, Director Qi said he needs you for something.¡±

    Qi Sicheng was the 7th Division¡¯s logistics director. His work was passable, and his greed was ignorable. He had never caused any problems for Wu Zhengnan.

    Even more important was the fact that he had an extremely attractive wife. It had been more than twenty years, but she had never failed to please Wu Zhengnan. She had never passed his mind, and the woman had even birthed him a son in secret during this time. Qi Sicheng himself pretended that he knew nothing about this.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s voice softened a little as he said, ¡°Let him in.¡±

    Qi Sicheng was approaching his sixties, but he looked like he was at his early forties. Moreover, he was tall, handsome, and exuded the charm of a mature middle aged man. However, Qi Sicheng acted like amb who saw a tiger when he stood before the average-sized Wu Zhengnan. Not only did he stoop and smile apologetically often, he always gave off a cowering appearance before Wu Zhengnan.

    However, it was exactly this attitude that Wu Zhengnan liked about him. On the surface though, he still wore a genial smile on his face and said, ¡°Old Qi,e over and have a seat. It¡¯s not like there are any outsiders in this room right now.¡±

    However, Qi Sicheng stood as straight as a nk and said seriously, ¡°General, we¡¯re in an army right now. There are clear ranks within the army, and we absolutely mustn¡¯t disturb this order!¡±

    Wu Zhengnan sighed and said, ¡°Old Qi, you are as old-fashioned as ever. How many times have I told you to rx a little when there¡¯s no one around! Sigh, alright, something must¡¯ve happened since you¡¯ve came to me at this time. Tell me!¡±

    Qi Sicheng lowered his voice and said, ¡°The tradest night went awry. Qi Yue and his subordinates all died outside the city.¡±

    ¡°What!¡± Wu Zhengnan rose to his feet in an instant with an ashen face. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Didn¡¯t we set up everything properly? Did those vampires go back on their word?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the work of those cold blooded monsters. My men found the remains of three dead vampires nearby, and they¡¯ve also found the pieces of that suitcase. However, the goods we traded are all gone.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s anger swiftly subsided. He calmed himself down and said, ¡°So you mean that someone had set their eyes on this trade of ours?¡±

    Qi Sicheng said slowly, ¡°That possibility is slim. This is our very first trade, and it is just an attempt to get a feel of things and set up a deal. The things that were traded aren¡¯t that valuable, and we¡¯ve kept a tight lid over this matter. The goods passed through several hands only, and none of them knew about the whole trade. I¡¯ve interrogated them all one by one and found no problems with them. Therefore, I believe the biggest possibility is that someone happened to pass by our meet up point and tried to rob the goods.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s face was dark. He asked coldly, ¡°Did you find any clues?¡±

 Volume 2 - 27: Great Escape

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 27: Great Escape

    ¡°No. The scene is extremely clean, and no clues were left behind. The culprit must be a pro.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan paced around the room as his killing intent leaked and caused the temperature inside the office to drop rapidly.

    He suddenly stood still in front of the window and looked at the soldiers who were still training at the drilling grounds and said coldly, ¡°Just because your men couldn¡¯t find anything doesn¡¯t mean that there are no clues to be found. You can ignore this matter. I will ask Dark de to take over!¡±

    Qi Sicheng¡¯s facial muscles twitched. Dark de was anything but a happy term.

    Wu Zhengnan thought for a moment and added, ¡°Go check if Qi Yue had recently done some things and offended someone. The trade may have been found out by ident because someone set their sights on him.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡± Qi Sicheng was secretly impressed. Wu Zhengnan might be tough and forthright on the outside, but he was in fact apetitive and ruthless person. The reason he was able to maintain his position for so many years was because his work was watertight.

    When Qi Sicheng left, Wu Zhengnan pressed a button beneath the corner of the office table. Momentster, a monstrous-looking person walked into the room.

    This man was almost two meters tall, but he was unusually and had extraordinarily long limbs. His skin was pale white, and his eyebrows and hair were a faded yellow so faint that it was nearly indiscernible. Moreover, this person had a bizarre pair of vertical, amber-colored pupils. It looked like the eyes of some sort of reptile.

    The man asked immediately after he passed through the door, ¡°Who are we killing this time, general?¡±

    ¡°Qi Yue is dead. Find his killer and bring them back to me alive if possible. If it¡¯s inconvenient then a dead body is fine too. My only request is that they must die a painful death! Do whatever you want besides that one requirement. You don¡¯t have to worry about their status either!¡± Wu Zhengnan said fiercely.

    Surprisingly, he was able to be forthright with his emotions in front of this person.

    The strange man was startled for a moment before he said, ¡°So the young master is dead! Alright, how many men can you afford me?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan waved a hand and said, ¡°You may mobilize the Dark des however you like!¡±

    The strange man stretched out his long, scarlet tongue and actually licked his own nose with it. Then he smiled sinisterly and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There¡¯s no way this person is escaping Yu Renyan¡¯s grasp no matter who he is.¡±

    ¡°Go! I await your good news.¡±

    Yu Renyan retreated from Wu Zhengnan¡¯s office. When he passed by the female aide, he suddenly twisted his upper body at a bizarre angle and nearly pressed himself to the woman¡¯s face. Then, he licked the woman¡¯s neck strongly with his long tongue!

    Caught off guard, the female aide instantly lost all color on her face. However, she immediately recovered and stood as straight as she possibly could. However, she dared not cry out or even show signs that she wanted to avoid him.

    Yu Renyan let out a taperingugh, casting her a sideway nce before striding away from the ce.

    Half a dayter, Yu Renyan brought a dozen or so people to where Qi Yue was murdered for a careful investigation. Qi Sicheng¡¯s subordinates had already searched through this ce multiple times already, and their investigation yielded no additional results.

    Then, they headed towards the vampires¡¯ remains.

    Yu Renyan suddenly crouched and picked up a body part from the ground. He yed around with the body part and inspected it closely before he picked up a broken strand of hair from the body part.

    Suddenly, he stretched out his tongue and swallowed the strand just like that. After tasting it carefully for a very long time, he said, ¡°This is the murderer¡¯s hair. I have memorized his scent.¡±

    Yu Renyan revealed a cruel smile. There was nothing more he loved to hunt than living prey.

    The traces that murderer had left behind were surprisingly few. It was obvious that he was a pro. However, it was exactly because he was a pro that it was fun to kill him. He tossed the body part high up into the air as his mouth suddenly became unusually huge. He actually swallowed it in a single gulp. Then, he picked up another body part while looking like he wanted more. He actually looked like he enjoyed the ¡°taste¡± of these body parts a lot.

    However, Yu Renyan didn¡¯t simply consume the new body part. Instead, he carefully tasted it, even as his facial expression grew odder and odder. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and vomited everything he just swallowed.

    The vomiting became uncontroble the moment he started. In the end, Yu Renyan eveny on the ground and vomited until he almost fainted!

    The Dark des garbedpletely in ck robes might have gotten used to Yu Renyan¡¯s strange actions a long time ago, but they had never seen him like this before.

    They looked at each other in dismay. Yu Renyan looked like he had eaten something bad, but the fact was no one had ever seen Yu Renyan suffering from a stomach ache before. He literally thrived on rotten meat like a real vulture. However, no one dared to ask Yu Renyan a thing before he spoke up first.

    Yu Renyan continued to vomit until even his gastric juices and bile werepletely gone before he finally copsed on the ground and panted heavily.

    While panting, he suddenly began tough neurotically and muttered to himself, ¡°Interesting! How interesting! This poison specifically targets the ck blood, but I don¡¯t even have a clue what it is! Not bad. This is what makes for an interesting hunt! Follow me, you all!¡±

    He suddenly bounced up to the air and flipped before hended on all fours. Then, he moved swiftly like arge insect with his face almost pressing on the ground. He sniffed the ground non-stop with his nose and ran all the way to the north.

    The Dark de warriors knew that Yu Renyan had already found a scent to follow. They silently followed behind him.

    These people were elites who were seldomly seen even among the expeditionary forces, and Yu Renyan was their leader. Yu Renyan had the chance to enter a top ten special corps in the past, but he ultimately chose the expeditionary forces because the Evernight Continent was the only ce he couldpletely let loose and do whatever he pleased.

    Far, far away, Qianye still had no idea that a group of cruel, vicious, and cunning wolves was tailing behind him.

    He had been moving at a uniform speed of forty kilometers an hour, and he had ran non-stop for nearly ten hours. This was an escape method that employed extreme running over long periods of time to swiftly depart a scene and shake off any potential pursuers. There were no tricks to this method. It was a battle where both partiespete to see who had the better counter tracking abilities, stamina, and willpower.

    In the past, Qianye only needed to run four hours non-stop to achieve his objective of moving into another region. The Red Scorpion¡¯s lowest eptable standard for extreme running was to run one hundred and twenty kilometers within three hours. Now that Qianye¡¯s origin power had ascended to rank three, and his constitution was that of a vampire¡¯s, his endurance had soared by leaps and bounds. That was why Qianye decided that he might as well push his endurance to its limits. Ten hourster, he officially stepped into Boulderstone Region¡¯s territory.

    Qianye stopped to rest for an hour at the border before continuing forward.

    High up in the air, a bald eagle flew by and trained its sharp gaze onto the lone figure running on the wastnd. The figure ran continuously and never changed his speed.

    The eagle hesitated, but it ultimately decided that man¡¯s actions were overly bizarre, and that he gave it the strangest shivers for some reason. Therefore, it let out a long cry before changing direction and flying off. It gave up on this obvious prey.

    A dayter, Yu Renyan also appeared at Boulderstone Region¡¯s border.

    By now his face looked even paler than before. His face and body werepletely covered in dust, and his hair was about as disheveled as it could be. It was obvious that he was greatly exhausted from the pursuit, and because he identally ate the vampire body part that was tainted by Qianye¡¯s blood energy, he would vomit or shit from time to time. This caused him to lose much of his strength.

    Yu Renyan had also discovered that his opponent had actually employed extreme running to get away from his pursuers during the chase. He couldn¡¯t help but feel worried. He was a true master in field tracking, and he knew that he was more than half a day behind his opponent to begin with. If his opponent sessfully put too much distance between the two of them, then he might lose track of thempletely.

    This was an absolutely uneptable defeat.

    Yu Renyan had no choice but to employ the stupidest but most effective method of them all, a full speed pursuit. However, things hadn¡¯t gone well for him from the start; his opponent had ran and ran as if his stamina had no limit!

    At the fifth hour, Yu Renyan finally couldn¡¯t keep it up any longer. He had to rest for a consecutive three hours before he could continue pursuing his opponent.

    When he reached the border of the Boulderstone Region, only three Dark de warriors were still with him. The rest of them had all fallen behind.

    Yu Renyan finally discovered his opponent¡¯s resting spot. He wasn¡¯t sure whether to be happy or worried of his discovery. He was happy because the miniscule traces he found meant that he hadn¡¯t strayed off the right path and that his opponent was ultimately human. He was also worried because this fellow had disyed endurance far beyond that of amon human being. Even the monsters of those elite corps could only do so much.

    In the end, Yu Renyan decided not to continue the pursuit any further and rested at the ce where Qianye had set up camp.

    He discovered that the more than half a day distance between him and his opponent had already been extended to a full day. This also meant that there was no way he could catch up to his opponent¡¯s speed. Moreover, his opponent was obviously a pro and left very few traces behind to track. After a day¡¯s time, his scent had became so thin that it wouldn¡¯t take long before the final trace of it would be lost entirely. Moreover, the moment his opponent entered any one of the four great cities of Boulderstone Region, he would immediately disappear like a drop of water inside the sea.

    Rather than pointlessly wasting his stamina, Yu Renyan decided that he might as well recover his strength and n for the future.

    This didn¡¯t mean that Yu Renyan was going to give up, however. On the contrary, the difficulty his opponent had presented made him so excited that he felt like was spending every second on high. In fact, he nearly moaned a couple of times as a result.

    Yu Renyan decided to hunt down his enemy until the end! There seriously weren¡¯t many opponents that deserved a tracking and assassination expert like him on this rundown continent.

    When Qianye walked past the gates of a small town, he looked just like a young mercenary.

    He enjoyed a fulfilling meal at the most overcrowded restaurant in town and took a swig at the most jam packed bar he could find. After squeezing a girl¡¯s round buttocks in passing, he slipped into the toilets and left quietly through the bar¡¯s side door a momentter.

    When he walked out of the town once more, he had transformed into a middle-aged uncle with a short mustache.

    Qianye was certain that anyone who could have still been pursuing him would have lost his tracks after his twirl in that small town. He continued to run without pausing even a single time, and three days and three nightster, he finally arrived at Dark Blood City at the border of Boulderstone Region.

    The city was huge. It had four great Perpetual Dynamo Towers at the four corners of the city. Its foundation was covered in steam machines that were as big as hills. Overall, it had an extremely lousy design as gigantic hanging pipelines and cables were built all over the people¡¯s heads. They stretched like spider webs across every corner of the city and provided heat and energy to its defense facilities.

    The city¡¯s absolutely chaotic power system design looked impossible to sabotage unless someone were to tten the entire city. Perhaps this was the original intention of the designer?

    Dark Blood City was situated at the first line where humans and the dark races shed against each other. It was the most important supply base for the expeditionary forces, hunters, and pioneers.

    This city¡¯s order was just as chaotic as its hanging pipelines. Even the expeditionary forces held the highest level of authority here only in name. All sorts of crimes were being carried out in this city, and many people would die in the process but no one paid attention to them at all.

    This ce was an adventurer¡¯s paradise, and a fugitive¡¯s heaven. However, it was hell for the weak.

    Almost a thousand years ago, the human race and the vampires had fought a great battle here. Both sides had sent a couple million soldiers, and it ultimately ended with 11 million dead humans in exchange for the lives of 6 million vampire warriors, pushing the eight-month war in favor of the humans.

    It was only after the battle was over that the humans finally built a fortress city at this ce. The blood on both sides seeped into the ground and dyed several thousand kilometers of soil in red. The color didn¡¯t fade even after hundreds of years. That was why this city was named Dark Blood City.

    This was also the ce Qianye had chosen to stay in.

    This was the first time Qianye had arrived at Dark Blood City. He couldn¡¯t help but be stunned to the core when he stared at the grandiose city walls that were thirty meters tall and gigantic city buildings that were a dozen or so stories high!

 Volume 2 - 28: Prosperous and Thriving

    Chapter 28: Prosperous and Thriving

    The ability to build such a stronghold was prime evidence of the Empire¡¯s prosperity. No wonder humans ultimately escaped their very after killing descendants of the dark races and fighting their way to freedom throughout the Evernight Continent.

    The Empire was established over a thousand years ago. It was born in the glory of innumerable powerful soldiers, like a rainbow illuminating a road to the stars. They tore through the endless darkness that bound human history and carved out new space for humans to live.

    The twenty-third emperor of the Empire once said full of pride: ¡°If our world does not have sunlight, then we will construct a sun!¡± He was the only human expert to have reached the deepest parts of the dark races¡¯ upper continent, though he ultimately disappeared into history along with the derailment of the False Valley Star.

    Even though the Empire was currently in control of four continents and had be more defensive, no longer invading, there were still plenty of talented individuals.

    The two pirs of the Empire, Lin Xitang and Zhang Boqian, controlled the overall situation in the imperial court. One did so from the inside, while the other did it from the outside. One controlled politics while the other controlled the military. Within the military, eight Marshals guarded the Empire in all directions. There were four Heavenly Kings who were the strongest in the human race, but they did not interfere with daily matters. They were existences like the Ocean Stabilizing Needle (1), standing in opposition to the lords of the dark races. Every one of their names was legendary and worthy of looking up to!

    Currently, it was already past midnight. A great number of people was walking through the gate of therge, old city. A cool breeze blew through the air, its breath was unlike the destion of the wastnd as it brought along a vigorous and proud spirit.

    Something was pounding inside Qianye¡¯s chest. It wasn¡¯t a thirst for blood and flesh, but rather the boiling of blood that had been suppressed for a long time.

    upying his entire vision was the legendary Gate of Eternity!

    Unless humans were having their final battle against the dark races, the gates of the city would never close. No matter who, as long as they were able to take out a silver coin to pay toll, they could enter the city whenever they wanted. Even if a guard knew that the person was a member of the dark races under their disguise, they would still let them in as long as they paid toll.

    This arrogant tradition originated in the year 700 from the mayor of Darkblood City, Peng Huaiyuan.

    That brigadier of the Empire was born from the wilderness and lived for the army. He had experienced an innumerable amount of bothrge and small battles. At the time, Darkblood City had been invaded by an alliance between demonkin and werewolves. All of the generals chose to close the gates and guard the city, but Peng Huaiyuan instead pounded the table and yelled: ¡°Today, I will open all four gates and see just who dares to fight!¡±

    Peng Huaiyuan did as he had promised and opened the gates. He personally led three hundred deathsworn to charge into enemy soldiers and killed the chiefmander of the alliance. He then cut down the enemy¡¯s g in one go! Twenty thousand dark race soldiers were defeated and retreated quickly.

    After this battle, Peng Huaiyuan had suffered heavy injuries and was not treated, so he died seven dayster in the mayor¡¯s mansion.

    When the emperor of that era heard about what had happened, he personally wrote: ¡°Who dares to block enemies on horses with only a knife, only my General Peng!¡±(2)

    From then on, Peng Huaiyuan was well-known throughout the Empire.

    No one in the military was unaware of General Peng, so Qianye naturally was familiar with him as well. Peng Huaiyuan wasn¡¯t actually extremely strong and couldn¡¯t be considered top level within the military. He was barely even a first-rate existence. However, in this battle, his courage to fight despite the massive numbers of the enemy forces earned him the respect of every soldier.

    Darkblood City rarely closed its gates, but the dark races were still unable to do anything to it. In history, the city had only fallen three times, but had been quickly recovered by the Empire each time. During each counterattack, it wasn¡¯t just the imperial expeditionary army taking action. Hunters, lonewolves, adventurers, and even rebel forces that had never been fully destroyed in thest hundreds of years were uncontrolled, but they still supported the effort to retake the city.

    After Qianye had heard about the Gate of Eternity in history lessons with the Red Scorpions, he always wanted to see it when he had the chance. It was said that every stone that made up the tower was engraved with many names. These were brave spirits that had been sacrificed within thest thousand years for the creation, prosperity, and existence of this city.

    However, the shadow of death was gradually dissipating. In the battle against Tiger Yan and Qi Yue, Qianye virtually did not feel any bloodthirst. After the battle at the garbage dump, the sliver of light and hope he was shown had gradually gotten bigger. Thus, the persistence of youth, and the courage of a soldier that he had previously suppressed in his heart began slowly lifting their heads again until they were ignited by the deal between Qi Yue and vampires.

    Thus, Qianye gave up his previous goal of finding a small town and living a quiet life. He had once lost everything, even the source of his pride, the surname Lin. He was also burdened with the Red Scorpion captain¡¯sst order that was almost impossible. Now, he saw the opportunity to start anew so how could he not go all out!

    Within this legendary, yet real city full of chaos and evil, the most valuable things anyone could ask for were freedom and opportunity.

    There was no order, but also no power. In this ce, power reigned supreme, but was also another form of justice. In Darkblood City, anyone could make quite a name for oneself as long as they had talent, diligence, and a little bit of luck.

    Maybe Qianye still wasn¡¯t very clear on how to uncover the faraway upper continents¡¯ plot, but he knew that his first step must be to return, to return to the people that once left him filled with dread.

    Qianye prepared simply and turned himself into an average scavenger. He then blended into the crowd and entered Darkblood City. When paying a silver coin as gate toll, he had originally been afraid that taking out a silver coin as a scavenger would bring about a lot of attention, but instead, he found the guards were toozy to even nce at him. Their faces wore an ¡°already knew you were disguised¡± expression.

    At this time, behind Qianye approached a crowd of beggars. Each person casually paid their silver and flocked into the city. This being his first time at the city, Qianye was stunned.

    In Lighthouse Town, beggars were beggars. They barely even had a few copper coins. They werepletely unlike these beggars, whose pockets even glittered when they pulled out some money.

    From the look of this, people who left the city to run errands would have all different types of disguises. No wonder the guards didn¡¯t react at all to these weird urrences.

    Qianye entered Darkblood City and gathered some information before staying in a small hotel in the slums of the Southern Bank District.

    This location was very convenient. Its surroundings had everything. A bar, a mercenary guild, and twoparativelyrge gangs were scattered in this district. Walking two streets over towards the center of the city would be the famous ck Copper Street, a street full of weaponry.

    Qianye researched maps of the city inside his room then decided to first dispose of the contraband he had.

    Ho was Qi Yue¡¯s personal gun, so it was best to get rid of it. Light of Daybreak and that rank one origin gun were too weak, so Qianye didn¡¯t really value them. Flowing Gold Rose, however, was definitely good stuff, but its extravagant adornments made it more suitable to be sold for money. If he identally scratched the patterns on the gun in the middle of battle, its price would immediately drop to a third of what it was. That would be wasting meaninglessly.

    As for the ck crystals, he couldn¡¯t sell those since those things had many problems. Usually, items in underground trades with vampires would not leave any traces, but there were only a few forces in the entire Empire that could smoothly circte these manufactured ck crystals. Qianye couldn¡¯t tell, but that didn¡¯t mean the traders couldn¡¯t. He only feared alerting the people behind the scenes.

    Before leaving, Qianye decided to change his appearance again. In a city with every kind of person and arge poption, constantly changing details in one¡¯s appearance was a very practical trick. One did not need to modify a lot. Slightly altering brow shape, eye shape, adding facial hair or changing hairstyles would make someone feel as if major changes had happened.

    Qianye took out a small bag of disguise supplies, stood in front of a mirror, then began concentrating on changing his appearance. The first thing he needed to do was alter his eyebrows and eyes. He felt his eyebrows weren¡¯t dense enough, so he carefully made a few marks. The style of his entire face instantly changed.

    Now that his eyebrows were adorned, like two longswords, his entire face became more heroic, changing him into a valiant¡­ beauty.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t satisfied with thest noun, so he washed his eyebrows and made new marks. These new marks were much softer and his entire person became strangely charming, and very¡­ beautiful.

    After Qianye tried a few more times, his face turned ck.

    He had discovered something terrible. If he had aplete makeover, then there wouldn¡¯t be too many problems, but if he wanted to just change a few details to influence other people¡¯s judgement, he would end up with many strange results. In other words, the effect was simr to that of a woman¡¯s makeup, to be more beautiful, and it was to the point that his gender was no longer clear.

    This was an effect that many women chased in their dreams, but Qianye was frustrated by it instead. He punched the mirror and furiously spoke, ¡°Son of a bitch! Why would it change like this!¡± He almost wanted to return and take the disguising course again.

    Qianye¡¯s look truly did change drastically. It was even very different from when he had initially entered Lighthouse Town. He originally had a delicate look and had taken up the masculine style of the Tiger Scorpion. He was considered a handsome youth. However, after being contaminated by the blood of darkness, his body had be stronger and stronger, but instead looked thinner and frailer.

    When Qianye just entered Lighthouse Vige, he had been harassed frequently because of his appearance. Later, he had harshly taught a few blind guys a lesson to finally end the trouble. However, he had never thought that one day, his appearance would be so beautiful after just a few adjustments!

    Now, even if he stood in front of his formerrades in Red Scorpion, there would probably be very few that could recognize Qianye.

    ¡°Whatever, this isn¡¯t bad. There won¡¯t be anyone that could recognize me right? Goddamn, if worstes to worst, I¡¯ll just dress as a woman!¡± Qianye consoled himself as he took out wigs and other disguise equipment, deciding that he wouldn¡¯t bezy andpletely change his look.

    At this time, Yu Renyan and a few Dark de warriors also appeared at the gates of Darkblood City. Since he no longer needed to track odors and traces, this specialist would naturally treat himself well. He took his gun and gold, and hitchhiked. This time, the distance between him and Qianye had been shortened to only two hours.

    Yu Renyan wore a hooded cloak often seen on lone adventurers, only revealing his two eyes.

    He looked at the stream of people in the street, and suddenlyughed coldly. He harshly muttered to himself, ¡°No matter how your appearance changes, I will be able find you. When I find people, I never look at their face!¡±

    Yu Renyan waved his hand. The Dark de warriors who had disguised themselves as average adventurers and hunters scattered around the city and concealed themselves to wait for further orders. In contrast, Yu Renyan calmly walked towards the middle of the city and looked for a ce to stay.

    The prey this time was extraordinarily cunning. Yu Renyan had already prepared for a long stay. Such an amusing game definitely could not be passed up. Between predators and prey, what decided victory or defeat wasn¡¯t power, but patience.

    Yu Renyan selected Darkblood City purely from intuition. Even though there were no longer any tracks for him to follow, he had identified the other party had been heading in the direction of this city. The car he had hitchhiked on had been on its way to ship goods to this city, so he felt that fate was truly guiding him in this direction.

    Qianye walked out of the small hotel,pletely unaware that his pursuers were so close.

    At the moment, he had on a standard adventurer¡¯s garb, a beard on his face, and a ponytail with the tips of the hair dyed brown. On his shoulders was an old broken backpack. He calmly stepped into ck Copper Street and nced at each shop.

    _________

    (1)The Ocean Stabilizing Needle is the original form of the cudgel used by Sun Wukong (Monkey King). It was in the possession of the Dragon King of the East Sea until Sun Wukong came and took it. This might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_Jingu_Bang.

    (2) A famous quote Chairman Mao said in honor of a general named Peng Dehuai.

 Volume 2 - 29: Encountering an Expert

    Chapter 29: Encountering an Expert

    After reaching an indistinctive, small shop, Qianye stopped walking and lifted his head to read the signboard, ¡°A1 Firearms.¡±

    When Qianye was with the Red Scorpions, he had heard of a chain weapon store in the Empire called ¡°A1 Firearms¡±, which was famous for manufacturing high-grade origin guns. However, based on the furnishing and disy, this ¡°A1 Firearms¡± was obviously unrted to the chain store in the Empire. Maybe the shopkeeper had heard of this name and copied it onto his signboard.

    Qianye walked in.

    The store wasn¡¯trge. All different types of firearms were hanging from the walls on both sides,pletely filling them. Their appearances were dazzling, each one glittering. They all looked valiant.

    However, Qianye was experienced. After ncing at them just once, he could see that most of them were roughly constructed and could only serve to assist the user. Some of them might not have been able to even create an origin bullet. In this aspect, even Light of Daybreak was many times better than them.

    However, Qianye did not lose hope. This was the standard that small shops had in Darkblood City. If one wanted better guns, then one would have to go to an imperially licensed weapons store or buy one from an auction.

    Only, the licensed weapons stores all had backing of the expeditionary army, so Qianye did not want to go there without a good reason. As for auctions, even if a chaotic city such as this auctioned good items, one without sufficient strength may not even have the ability to stay alive after buying such item.

    Inside the disy case were two actual origin guns. Too bad they still couldn¡¯t evenpare to Light of Daybreak. In other words, they couldn¡¯t even be counted as grade one guns.

    Behind the disy case sat a half-bald, skinny old man with far-sighted sses on. He was focused on wiping gun parts and wore an expression of indifference.

    Qianye walked in front of the disy case and knocked on it.

    The old man didn¡¯t even raise his head and said, ¡°The stuff is already in front of you, look at it yourself!¡±

    ¡°Take out the real goods and let me see them. Don¡¯t try to use this trash to trick me.¡± Qianye said with a slightlyzy tone.

    The old man finally nced at Qianye over his sses, and in a moment, a shing light appeared in his previously turbid eyes. Qianye was momentarily stunned, but when he concentrated on the old man, he discovered that the initial turbidity was an illusion.

    The old man finally spoke, his voice calm, ¡°What type do you want, sniper rifles, pistols, assault rifles, or something else?¡±

    Qianye finally felt somewhat pleasantly surprised. He had long heard that Darkblood City had many hidden experts, and that many inconspicuous, small stores might have high-quality ck market wares, but he never expected that the first small store he entered would have such a rich supply.

    This luck was too good wasn¡¯t it? Qianye couldn¡¯t resist before asking, ¡°What grade?¡±

    If he were able to gather a set of grade ones, that would be pretty good. This was Qianye¡¯s expectation.

    He never would have thought that the old man would roll his eyes, re at him and say with slight disdain, ¡°Of course they¡¯re grade twos. If you want something better, I do have them, but you¡¯d have to wait for little.¡±

    Grade two! Qianye was no longer just somewhat pleasantly surprised.

    In reality, with his power as a rank three fighter, rank two and rank three firearms were all very fitting, but using a rank four Scorpion Needle was very taxing. If his origin power hadn¡¯t been especially dense and vigorous, then he really would have been unable to keep up.

    ¡°Great! Take out the stuff and let me see them! Take out an assault rifle and a sawed-off shotgun first. A pistol is fine as well, but its power needs to be strong. Firing speed and range aren¡¯t very important.¡± Qianye stated his requirements.

    The old man didn¡¯t move, and only pushed down his sses. He looked towards Qianye and inspected him, then said, ¡°Simple, direct, explosive, has a military style. Not simple huh, boy!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart chilled a little. Even though his appearance had changed, certain things that were embedded in his bones would never change. As soon as one saw him take action, whether it be a long or short distance battle,ing up with this conclusion wouldn¡¯t be weird. However, this old man could judge urately based just on his selection of weapons. This meant that his understanding of origin power and origin guns had already reached the level of a master. An equipment master in the Red Scorpion Corps only had a simr level.

    Qianye was filled with respect.

    The old man let out a light smile while saying, ¡°Go close the door.¡±

    Qianye obeyed and closed the door, his hope rising quickly.

    The old man slowly stood up and walked to the back. A momentter, he returned with a canvas bag that had begun to lose its color from overwashing, and ced it on the disy case. Judging from the size of the bag, it should be a rifle-type origin gun.

    Qianye opened the canvas bag and took out an origin gun that already had its butt removed. With one look, he identified it as an ¡°assault¡± type rifle.

    This model was standard equipment for the imperial expeditionary army, a rank two origin gun. Because it was a standard rifle, it had the general characteristics of a military gun: stable, powerful, easy to maintain, and not easy to damage. Rtively speaking, Qianye still preferred various types of military guns.

    The assault rifle seemed to have been maintained pretty well. It was sixty percent new, very satisfactory for Qianye. Although the gun couldn¡¯t be counted as a hugely lucky grab, it was still a very good choice. Many people used weapons from the imperial expeditionary army within Darkblood City. Many quartermasters within the army would report half-new guns as trash and then take them out to secretly sell them. This had already bemonce.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it! Do you have a pistol or a shotgun?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Do you have money?¡± The old man responded with a question.

    Qianye was stunned for a moment, then asked, ¡°How much does this assault rifle cost?¡±

    ¡°One hundred imperial gold coins.¡± The old man gave the price emotionlessly.

    Quite frankly, Qianye was genuinely surprised by this price.

    Inside the army, apletely new, second rank origin gun would never sell for over 100 gold. An assault rifle was very average within the grade twos and usually sold for around 90 gold. Something like this sixty percent new rifle would sell for a maximum of 50 gold. Qianye hadn¡¯t foreseen that the old man would directly price it at a new gun¡¯s pricing.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, the old man did not ridicule him, but spoke lightly, ¡°Brat, you¡¯ve nevere to ck Copper Street have you? If you want this kind of stuff, you obviously can¡¯t get it from a random source. If you want, you can ask the other shops, doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    Qianye thought carefully. What the old man said did make sense. While on a mission, he once came in contact with a store that sold guns on the ck market, and the prices werepletely different from prices in army.

    It was just that if prices were this high, then Qianye¡¯s original npletely fell through. He clenched his teeth and asked, ¡°Do you ept guns?¡±

    A momentter, the transaction was made.

    Qianye sold Ho, a rank one rifle, and Light of Daybreak, and then added on another 10 gold to finally exchange for this assault rifle. To bnce out the trade, the old man gave him three nk origin bullets that could be filled with origin power.

    Qianye packed up the items. The rucksack holding the assault rifle was very satisfactory. It was half new, but most importantly, it was constructed of a semi-hard material. Thus, it didn¡¯t reveal the shape of what was inside, taking into ount what adventurers might need.

    The closed shop door was opened again. Qianye saw a youth who still had blemishes on his forehead standing outside analyzing the shop¡¯s signboard.

    He was very young, about as old as Qianye. He was dressed like a hunter and actually had the strength of a rank one Fighter.

    Seeing Qianye walk out, the youth walked through the door.

    Qianye only walked out a few steps then suddenly heard the faint sound of the old man¡¯s voice, ¡°Simple, direct, explosive, has a military style. Not bad huh, boy!¡±

    Not knowing why, Qianye suddenly felt his heart drop.

    He quickly returned to the hotel and opened the rucksack. He took out the assault rifle,pletely took it apart and inspected it closely. When he opened the inside, Qianye almost scolded out loud.

    Many of the smaller parts within the origin gun had been eroded quite heavily. Only the exterior pieces looked polished and well-maintained, so the entire thing seemed much newer.

    This rifle wasn¡¯t sixty percent new at all, but was only forty percent new! There were even a few smallerponents that had to be reced due to their serious damages.

    The only thing that slightly soothed Qianye was that all parts rted to the origin power array were somewhat well maintained at around fifty percent new. In addition, the core parts had indications of having been adjusted and optimized. Overall, the power should be stronger than it originally was. After testing, Qianye found that the origin power conversion rate was around 33%, which wasn¡¯t bad at all.

    However, regardless of what anyone said, this rifle definitely wasn¡¯t worth 100 gold. Even by ck market prices, selling it for 60 gold was already very high.

    That old man wasn¡¯t a firearms master, but an acting master. From the very beginning, he had built an image of an expert who couldn¡¯t be seen through and had used a phrase about military style to finish him.

    Qianye coincidentally came from the army, so after being stunned, he was inclined to trust the old man¡¯s seemingly deepments. If it weren¡¯t for his good hearing, overhearing what the old man said to the youth, he never would have known that ¡°military style¡± was used to tter people.

    Hunters, adventurers and mercenaries probably liked to hear ¡°military style¡± used to praise them the more rookie they were. Qianye was unlucky and was coincidentally tricked.

    Darkblood City truly did have many hidden experts. No one really knew how many experts there were, but obviously, there were a lot more con artists.

    When Qianye looked back, there really had been a moment where he suspected that this shop had some hidden rtionship with the ¡°A1 Firearms¡± chain from the Empire¡¯s upper continents. When he thought of that moment, he could onlyugh bitterly.

    As for going back to A1 Firearms to rescind this transaction, Qianye didn¡¯t even think about it. Even though the old man¡¯s store was small, every con artist rooted in ck Copper Street wasn¡¯t simple. As a loner from the outside, Qianye couldn¡¯t fight these local bullies and could only sigh in defeat.

    Qianye inspected the loose parts that filled the table and shook his head with hopelessness.

    These cheating methods that gave the gun its new look were actually very well researched. Even if Qianye had opened the barrel at the ce and looked it over, he would have only seen the rtively new parts in the interior. He would only discover the problem after taking out each of the parts and inspecting them.

    These methods could already be considered high-leveled. Making these efforts to create new guns would probably be almost just as lucrative. Thus, Qianye became calm but also found his situation extremely humorous, thinking that being tricked like this wasn¡¯t too unjust.

    These days, nothing was easy. People still had to put in a lot of effort.

    Qianye slowly reconstructed the assault rifle, and then left to find a parts shop that sold tools and base material.

    After returning to his room, he began adjusting the assault rifle again and began treating its surface to age. An hourter, the assault rifle that had originally had a polished look became rusty junk, belonging to the kind that should have long been thrown into a garbage dump.

    Qianye took out the small parts that had problems, lined up his repair tools, and used two whole hours to fix the repairable parts. He had to go out and buy recements for two irreparable parts.

    When Qianye finished this entire process, it was already past dinnertime. However, after this assault rifle was fixed, its overall level recovered. It was now at least fifty percent new and could be used for a while.

    Looking at the assault rifle, Qianye was quite satisfied. He then took out the nk origin bullets to examine them.

    There was sudden knocking on the door. A hotel maid¡¯s voice sounded outside the door, ¡°Handsome boy, do you need service?¡±

    Qianye immediately opened the door and said, ¡°Yes!¡±

 Volume 2 - 30: Abnormality of the Black Blood

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 30: Abnormality of the ck Blood

    The maid was about thirty years old and maintained some of the beauty of her youth. Her figure was full and well-developed.

    When she heard Qianye¡¯s simple and direct words, she immediately put on the smile she thought was most charming and began pushing her way into her room. Her ample breasts were almost touching Qianye¡¯s arms as she said sweetly, ¡°Handsome, I can give you a fifty percent discount this time. You¡¯ll only need to pay fifty copper coins!¡±

    Qianye froze and hastily stopped the maid who was just as stalwart as he was, ¡°No, what I meant is to get me something to eat! I want a portion enough for three men! I haven¡¯t eaten for an entire day!¡±

    Finished, Qianye passed over a silver coin and said, ¡°The remaining change is yours.¡±

    The maid¡¯s smile froze as she looked at the silver coin, and then at Qianye. Her expression turned a little grudgeful, ¡°I will bring your meal immediately, but what about after the meal? With this silver coin, you can do anything!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I just need the food, that is all!¡± Qianye had a feeling that he was no match for the sturdy, seductive and grudgeful maid.

    The maid grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand and stuffed both the silver coin and his hand into her chest. Only then did she sway her butt and walk away.

    A momentter, she delivered him a whole tray of food and tried to force her way into the room once more. Qianye had to expend quite a lot of effort before finally being able to shut the aggrieved maid outside the door.

    This hotel¡¯s dinner was pretty tasty. After sweeping through the food, Qianye began cultivating the Combatant Form. With the vampire¡¯s blood as his support, the bottleneck and damage created by the excessively powerful origin tides of the Combatant Form no longer existed. Qianye was even looking forward to seeing what kind of scenery awaited him when he broke through to the ninth level.

    As the Combatant Form ran through his body, origin power began to pour out of his three nodes to form a tide. Until the third node waspletely nurtured, the origin tide would continuously pour into thispletely new node.

    When looking into his own body, he could see that this newly formed origin node was extremely dim, with a barely formed contour. Meanwhile, the two nodes at his chest and abdominal areas were shining brightly, and the one at Aura Sea point on his chest in particr looked like a tiny sun. It was brimming with threads of origin power amidst light and darkness.

    Suddenly, Qianye found that the impact of the origin tide was a lot weaker than usual. The original power of the ninth wave of a tide had been decreased by about one third.

    Did something wrong happen to his cultivation form?

    He concentrated on inspecting the entire process of the formation, eruption and flow of the origin tide, and finally discovered that not all of the new tides that gushed out of the three nodes were able to merge with the main origin tide. A portion of them seemed to have been trapped and entangled by the tricolored blood aura inside his body before merging into one.

    This discovery shocked Qianye. Could the ck blood devour origin power?

    It had been a long time since his ck blood had given him any trouble. Even after running through the wastnd at his top speed for three days and three nights straight, and entering arge city filled with blood energy, the blood thirst hadn¡¯t gue him, which caused Qianye to feel more and more assured over time. But what¡¯s with this all of a sudden?

    Qianye fell silent for a moment, and in the end, he decided to finish today¡¯s drills.

    Twenty rounds of origin tides passed, and Qianye stood up to move his body around a little. He then practiced the military¡¯sbat art for a full hour, right where he had been standing. These basic movements could effectively train his strength, bnce and flexibility. The whole cultivation process could only be consideredplete after he finished practicing thebat arts. If this was the Red Scorpion Corps¡¯ base, he would have to drench himself in muscle restoration liquid or go to the doctor for a superficial examination in case there were any injuries incurred during the cultivation.

    Just like that, Qianye allowed his train of thoughts to wander as much as possible until the end of the cultivation session. Only then did he he withdraw himself and began pondering the problem he had discovered.

    The ck blood was still flowing quietly inside his arteries, and although it was dormant on the surface, every time an origin tide ran through, a trace of the energy would be absorbed by the ck blood. Moreover, this process waspletely out of Qianye¡¯s control. After origin power was intercepted by the ck blood, the impact Qianye suffered from an origin tide would be greatly reduced to the point where it was just a little stronger than a normal cultivator¡¯s.

    This process wasn¡¯t obvious during the first tide, but when all twenty tides were done, Qianye discovered that the blood energy had grown a little more abundant. As of now, one could say that all it affected was his cultivation speed, and he could not detect any other abnormalities besides this. However, Qianye was worried that he would truly turn into a vampire as the ck blood grew stronger.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t able toe to a conclusion even when the day broke.

    This unpleasant episode did not affect Qianye¡¯s new life too much. He carried on with his usual pragmatic style and increased the intensity of his cultivation to resist the decrease in his cultivation speed.

    For the next few days, Qianye would bury himself in his room and cultivate all day. Every day, he would inform the maid to bring his three meals into the room. This was also the simplest and most effective way of throwing off his pursuers after arriving at a new ce.

    Seven days passed in the blink of an eye, and during this time, Qianye finally learned how to control his blood energy while filling an origin bullet. Surprisingly, the three empty origin bullets the old man from A1 Firearms had gifted him were the real deal, but the bullet case matched the old man¡¯s style alright. A buyer would only notice the case¡¯s weight discrepancy when they held it in their hands. It was still a fake.

    Qianye took out a nk origin bullet and began pouring origin power into it. A dozen or so minutester, the bullethead was filled with a dense, vapor-like origin power. A wisp of blood energy could also be seen floating inside. Now, he could skillfully choose whether to inject blood energy into an origin bullet or not.

    Qianye opened a box and ced the origin bullet inside it. However, without a sealing effect, the origin bullet would lose most of its effects in around three days. He suddenly recalled the crystalline box that the old man called Uncle Wang had left behind. It seemed that it was gone after Red Spider Lily had been destroyed. However, this thought stayed in Qianye¡¯s mind for only a fraction of a second before it sank back into the depths of his mind like many of his other memories.

    After tidying up all his stuff, Qianye was finally ready to go out for a walk and inquire about his surroundings. Since he was nning to stay inside this city for a long term, he would have to think of a way to earn money. The prices in Darkblood City made not just a little town, but even a ce like ckflow City seem like apletely different country. If ckflow City used copper coins as their standard unit of measure, then Darkblood City used silver coins.

    Before heading out, Qianye disguised his appearance as usual. After many frustrating failures, he had finally figured out a bit of the knack of disguising oneself, and that was to dye his skin as dim and dark as possible. This way, it wouldn¡¯t be too obvious that he was in disguise, but he would still appear different on the surface.

    What Qianye didn¡¯t know was that Yu Renyan had passed through the inn¡¯s doorsteps twice while he was cultivating hard on the inside. Seven days had passed, and Yu Renyan hadbed through the entirety of Darkblood City by his own ns. However, he could not find a trace of his target at all.

    This failure caused Yu Renyan to return to his lodging to ponder the matter.

    A momentter, he called over a Dark de subordinate and ordered him to deliver a letter to Wu Zhengnan as soon as possible. The letter stated that Yu Renyan had found some clues regarding the killer, but that the killer was unusually crafty. He would require more time.

    As for how much time he needed, Yu Renyan used a single word to convey his meaning: indefinite. At the end of the letter, Yu Renyan questioned if the mission should be continued.

    A dayter, Wu Zhengnan¡¯s reply came, and there was only a single statement written down: ¡°Continue until it¡¯s done.¡±

    Yu Renyan immediately understood Wu Zhengnan¡¯s determination. However, he had his own working style and method, and after leisurely taking a spin on the outside, he returned to his lodging with a huge amount of items.

    An hourter, Yu Renyan had turned himself into a tall and thin blond. He even changed his eye color. This great leader of the Dark de then bought a small house with a separate courtyard within the city before registering himself as a mercenary at the Mercenary Guild under a fake name. After that, he went to Home of Hunters and registered himself for a Hunter¡¯s qualification and actually went out of the city to hunt just like that.

    Yu Renyan obviously treated this mission as a convenient holiday.

    When Yu Renyan left Darkblood City, Qianye just happened to walk out of the inn.

    First, he found a random armor shop and bought himself a set of leather hunting armor. This type of leather armor was extremely suitable for hunting at the countryside and was both light and flexible. Its defensive properties were measurable as well. After Qianye put on the leather armor, he finally showed a little bit of the wildness and strength that belonged to a man.

    During the afternoon, Qianye randomly chose a restaurant and went up the second floor. He chose a seat near the window and sat down.

    Using the rare moment of daylight, he ate as he observed the people who walked back and forth the street in order to familiarize himself with some of the city¡¯s habits. When he was done eating, Qianye took out a few advertisement materials and began reading.

    These were all advertising pamphlets of the Mercenary Association, Adventurers Alliance and Home of Hunters. Finally, Qianye¡¯s eyes fell onto Home of Hunters.

    Being a hunter who preys on dark races was the only job that was suited for him. As for Mercenary Association and Adventurers Alliance, their mercenerial qualities caused Qianye to give them up.

    The former was discarded because Qianye did not wish to work under any noble as a hired thug. Trouble woulde to him constantly if his standpoint was too well defined. Thetter was discarded because an adventurer usually needed to possess some professional skills such as machinery maintenance. Qianye¡¯s scores in machinery sses had always been quite good, but he had no interest in polishing gears everyday in front of a work bench. Let someone else do this kind of meticulous work, Qianye was more interested in exploding heads of the dark races.

    After leaving the restaurant, Qianye looked at his map and searched ordingly, going through many twists and turns before finally entering a dark alley and arriving at a three story building.

    There was a board on the building with the words ¡®Home of Hunters¡¯ written on it. Qianye read it a couple of times before finally confirming that this was the ce he was looking for.

    The building was just too decrepit, and looked like it could copse any time. Looking at the huge crack at the front wall, it would appear that the building¡¯s supervisor had no intentions of maintaining it. With one nce through the crack, one could even see the metallic frame, whichponents were obviously of questionable quality.

    The door was open. After a moment of hesitation, Qianye ultimately decided to walk inside. His experience at A1 Firearms had seriously left a shadow in his mind. Home of Hunters should be a famous hunting organization with branches littered everywhere on the Evernight Continent, and yet, this particr building looked like some other hunter organization that had stolen their name.

    After entering through the door, there was a small living hall with two tables and a couple of chairs decorating its interior. There were three big men sittingzily around a table with huge sses of alcohol ced at its center.

    At the end of the hall was a counter with a wizened old man who was reading something intently with a pair of presbyopic sses. His half-bald head was unusually bright beneath the light of the gasmp.

    The second Qianye saw this baldy, his heart immediately jumped. He did not need too good a memory to recall it. This shape, this luster, this definition, there was absolutely no mistake! It was the bald old man from A1 Firearms!

 Volume 2 - 31: Home of Hunters

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 31: Home of Hunters

    Qianye immediately felt as if a parade of mammoths had just trampled over his heart. He didn¡¯t know what to say. Wasn¡¯t that old man a gun seller? Why had he suddenlye to Home of Hunters?

    Qianye decided to leave then and there. As for iming justice, it was something that never even crossed his mind. The idea of iming justice from a local boss who opened a weapons store at a ce like Darkblood City was as stupid as it gets. Plus, he hadn¡¯t been fooled too badly overall. If that Ambusher was fixed, it would still be worth around fifty gold coins.

    However, Qianye had only just turned around when the old man at the counter suddenly lifted his head and stared at him.

    Qianye shuddered and immediately became frozen in ce. One of his feet stayed suspended in the air and couldnd on the ground no longer!

    Of course, Qianye¡¯s movements weren¡¯t restricted in anyway, but at this moment, forget his weapons, he didn¡¯t dare to move even a toe. The de-like aura behind him hadpletely locked him down, and any movement might invite a fatal attack that was akin to a thunderstorm.

    If he focused his mind, calmed his breathing, waited for his opponent to act and sought out an opening on his opponent¡¯s aura, then he might just yet have a slight chance of survival. This was thebat instinct he had honed through countless life-and-death battles since he was seven years old.

    The deadlocksted for a few second before the sharp aura suddenly disappeared. It was only then that Qianye put his foot on the ground and slowly turned around.

    All three big men within the hall looked towards Qianye with praise in their eyes.

    Meanwhile, the old man stood up and said, ¡°Little guy, judging from your expression just now, you must have gone to A1 Firearms before.¡±

    Staring at the old man, Qianye finally noticed some slight differences.

    The old man at the gun shop looked like a enigmatic expert, but he had slightly more wrinkles than the old man before him. Moreover, now that he thought back, there were glimpses of cunning shing though the other old man¡¯s eyes, whereas this old man only had a small scar on his face. Although it was incredibly unremarkable, this little difference was very eye-catching to someone like Qianye, who was trained to recognize people¡¯s faces.

    The old man then said, ¡°The boss at A1 Firearms is my twin brother. He¡¯s called A1, and I¡¯m called A2. Everyone here calls me Old 2.¡±

    Qianye thought that his face must look very colorful right now. He wasn¡¯t sure what to say.

    ¡°Do you want to be a hunter?¡± Old 2 asked.

    ¡°¡­ Yes.¡± Qianye answered. He thought that this Old 2 didn¡¯t look like a cheat, but his experience at A1 Firearms kept rewinding itself in his head.

    There were no swindlers who looked like a swindler.

    Old 2 lowered his head and fiddled inside the counter for a moment. He then took out a hexagonal bronze token and tossed it to him, ¡°You¡¯ve passed the test. You are now a hunter, a one star hunter.¡±

    Qianye subconsciously epted the bronze token and asked a little nkly, ¡°Test?¡±

    ¡°Yep. I looked at you once just now, didn¡¯t I? That was the test. Your performance was pretty good, so you are now a member of Home of Hunters. Keep that thing well. It is your token and your Hunter¡¯s qualification ID.¡± Old 2 continued to speak indifferently.

    Qianye looked at the bronze token in his hand. The item was polished until it was shining, but it was obvious that it had been around for some time, and even time could not conceal its rough craftsmanship. Forget that the star at the center was of uneven height, even the shape itself was crooked and distorted. It looked like a mold done by a child.

    ¡°Alright. As a¡­ one star hunter, what exactly can I do?¡± Qianye finally epted reality. If he did not need to submit an entry feeter on, then he would not mind participating in this Home of Hunters.

    While he was thinking this, Old 2 said, ¡°Please submit a full season¡¯s fee first. It costs a gold coin every month.¡±

    Old 2 had said it indifferently, but Qianye¡¯s heartbeat suddenly spiked.

    ¡°What will be my rights then?¡±

    Old 2 pointed at a worn out book hung on the wall and said, ¡°It¡¯s all written down there.¡±

    Qianye opened the book and saw that there were many rules written inside. The book might be worn out, but the writing was clean and elegant. Every word seemed to emanate an unspeakable energy that shook Qianye¡¯s mind, and he had to channel the origin power in his body before being able to stand firmly again.

    The rules were actually pretty simple. The amount of fee a hunter submitted was the main determinant of their star rank, whereas star ranks determined what kind of rights a hunter possessed.

    A hunter¡¯s main rights included the right to sell the proof of having killed a dark race warrior in exchange for a bounty. Moreover, they could also buy some special armors and weapons from Home of Hunters as well as some special ingredients. If the items provided by Home of Hunters were not up to satisfaction, the Home of Hunters could represent the hunter and contact certain craftsmen to tailor make them.

    The bounty alone was worth the member fee. Of course, this was assuming that the hunter could hunt a sufficient amount of dark race warriors in the first ce. Star ranks determined the upper limit of the bounties as well. For example, a one star hunter could acquire a total bounty of 10 gold coins per month, whereas a two star hunter could acquire 20 gold coins. Every increase in star rank would double the upper limit.

    However, right now, Qianye¡¯s eyes were filled with the amazing power hidden inside those words!

    It took him quite a bit of effort to calm down and ask, ¡°Can I see what kind of weapons and armor can be exchanged?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Little Mi, take him to the one star warehouse to have a look.¡±

    A quick-witted young man came out of nowhere and snapped a finger at Qianye, saying, ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Qianye followed the youth to a underground room and entered a storeroom.

    Although this was just the warehouse for one star hunters, it contained an extremely rich amount of equipment. Qianye even saw the standard issue weapon of the imperial main corps on the upper continent, the Hellfire Origin Power Machine Gun! This was a grade three gun, and every single one that was there, was new!

    However, this gun was stamped with a four-star mark, indicating that it was avable for purchase only to a four star hunter. He wasn¡¯t sure how it made its way to this storeroom. Besides that, there were all sorts of full sets of tactical armor, multifunction military knives, all-terrain sight and so on. This was literally a small scale arsenal.

    After having seen this warehouse, Qianye finally dispelled all of his doubts and followed the youth back to the hall. He obediently paid the membership fee.

    After the procedure wasplete, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°If there are hunters who n to join but cannot pay the fee, what do you do?¡±

    ¡°They can hold payment. However, every month, a gold coin of interest will be charged.¡± Old 2 said lightly.

    Qianye was surprised yet again. The season membership fee cost three gold coins in total, and a hunter who owed them would have to pay an extra gold coin of interest every month. This interest rate sure was scary.

    As if noticing Qianye¡¯s thoughts, a big guy interrupted, ¡°If they could not earn enough money to pay the membership fee, then they might as well not be a hunter and just raise their kids back home!¡±

    The big guy¡¯s words did make sense.

    That being said, Qianye did not wish to pay the fee so easily. He took out a small bag and dumped six vampire fangs from it. He had gotten these vampire fangs from the bloodsuckers that had traded with Qi Yue.

    Qianye pushed the vampire fangs in front of Old 2 and asked, ¡°These things can be used to exchange for bounty, right?¡±

    ording to the Home of Hunter¡¯s exchange form, a normal vampire warrior¡¯s fang could be exchanged for one gold coin. This also meant that a hunter must kill at least one vampire of the lowest ranking per month to be able to qualify as a hunter in Home of Hunters.

    After seeing this rule, Qianye understood why the Home of Hunters appeared so deserted. At the very least, one must be a rank two Fighter. This threshold was actually pretty high, almost as high as the Red Scorpion¡¯s requirements for new recruits. Obviously, it wasn¡¯t as if a rank one Fighter could not be a hunter, but it was just a lot more difficult for them.

    These six fangs should be worth more than the membership fee, Qianye thought.

    Old 2 suddenly let out a surprised ¡®eh¡¯ and picked up a fang. After examining it thoroughly, he said, ¡°If I am not mistaken, this fang was probably taken from an official member of the Niederhill Family. This vampire family has raised a Count before, and it would be a problem if they developed a sufficient amount of descendants. Therefore, they are even more threatening than the usual rank four vampire, so this pair of fangs alone is worth ten gold coins.¡±

    Qianye did not think that the old vampire he killed had such a prominent background. Originally, he had thought that a rank four vampire would be worth four gold coins at best. However, judging from his words, the bounty for this pair of fangs was now more than double his expectations.

    Old 2 fiddled through his counter once more and took out ten gold coins and a handaxe. He pushed them to Qianye and said, ¡°You¡¯ve reached the upper limit of your bounty for this month, and I cannot give you more than that. However, I feel that this axe is rather suited for you. Just ept it as my personal gift.¡±

    Qianye took the handaxe and weighted it in his hand. He then examined it closely.

    The axe was incredibly small. It was only half a meter long, and the axehead itself was only about the size of a palm. It was heavy. Qianye wasn¡¯t sure what it was made of, but it most definitely wasn¡¯t metallic. He then tried a few ways of probing and detection, but was unable to draw any reaction from it. It would definitely be useful to have an axe that could not be detected by instruments or abilities during a field battle.

    Qianye lightly swung it once, and it felt as smooth as an extension of his own hand. Then, he suddenly shed the air with it several times, and when the axe¡¯s de cut through the air, it actually let out a faint and shrill howl!

    Delight appeared on Qianye¡¯s face. This handaxe was a lot more handy than his dagger. This was a weapon that truly suited him. As usual, it would appear that hisbat style leaned towards the simple and direct.

    He put the handaxe into his leather bag and hung it around his waist. Qianye then said, ¡°This axe is great, I like it a lot. I shall be going out to hunt now, then.¡±

    Old 2 narrowed his eyes and looked like he would doze off right away. He nodded slightly to indicate that he had heard Qianye, and bid him goodbye. It was as if the sharp glint that had shed through his eyes when he saw the handaxe¡¯s orbit never existed at all.

    After Qianye had left, a big guy said, ¡°That little fellow¡¯s pretty good. He has potential.¡±

    But the other person said coldly, ¡°I dislike him. He has the stench of an imperial dog on him.¡±

    The third person shrugged and said, ¡°There is a difference between dogs as well. This little guy obviously came from a group of top ss dogs.¡±

    ¡°A top ss dog is still a dog!¡± The second person said again.

    Old 2 pulled out an old-style pocket watch from somewhere and checked the time. He then said slowly, ¡°This little guy is pretty suited for that mission though.¡±

    ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°Miss Qiqi¡¯s.¡±

    The three big men suddenly shivered. When they looked at Qianye¡¯s back again, their eyes were filled with a little bit of pity.

 Volume 2 - 32: An Unpleasant Episode

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 32: An Unpleasant Episode

    When he left the Home of Hunters, the sky was already turning dark.

    After entering a random bar and drinking two sses of alcohol, Qianye learned from a maid which houses were on sale.

    An hourter, Qianye had finished signing his first amodation in Darkblood City.

    The house had a courtyard and a second floor, but its price was only five gold coins. The reason it was so cheap was because it was one wall away from the slum. The slum was the concentration camp of all evil, filth, and chaos, so one might figure that that house would be visited by several thieves almost every night.

    No one would want to stay at such a ce. They would move away as soon as possible.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of trouble, however. He had gone out to buy plenty of parts, and set up many traps outside the corners of the courtyard, the building¡¯s doors and the windows. These seemingly simple gadgets were actually pretty useful in that they would not easily kill someone, but still were more than capable of dealing pain. After he was finished setting up the traps, Qianye painted these words on the outer wall: Beware! Traps inside.

    Once he was finished, Qianye locked the front door and set out to hunt in the wastnds.

    The fastest path to the front gate of the city was to go right through the slums. Qianye ignored the idling men and women¡¯s hostile gazes and walked directly into an alley that was so narrow that one almost had to turn sideways to go through.

    The alley was crooked and filled with all sorts of rubbish, causing the already narrow alley to be even more jam-packed and ufortable to walk through. Some ces were so packed that it was almost impossible to find a spot to step on. The ground was filled with trash and dirty water.

    Kids whose faces were so dirty that it was impossible to see their features were ying and chasing each other from alley to alley.

    The sides of the alleyway were formed by shacks so short that even a middle-sized man had to bow their heads to enter. There were women standing at the entrance, beckoning incessantly at any passersby. As long as one paid ten copper coins, they would sleep with them for the night.

    Not only did these sceneries not disgust Qianye, it made him reminiscent about the past. The ce he had lived and grown up in was even worse than this ce. There were no streets in the airship graveyard, and every step on the ground eithernded on metallic parts or lumps. People would squeeze themselves into all sizes of abandoned cabins and even tubes to live in.

    The kids there never thought of ying. Due to theck of food, they would normally move less and preserve their strength. The only reason they would fight was for food.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, these narrow and dark alleys had at least the very basics ofw to govern them. The kids running around represented the energy of this ce.

    At the end of the narrow and dark alley was an empty square. There were seven or eight roads that all converged to this ce. After taking a little bit of time to identify his direction, he headed towards the tallest and widest road of them all. At almost every alley entrance, there were two or three original inhabitants of the ce gathered together. When they saw a stranger passing by, they gazed at him while harboring malicious intentions.

    Qianye did not look sideways nor did he intentionally avoid their gazes. His full leather armor, the assault rifle at his back and the short axe at his waist all showed clearly that he was not one to be provoked.

    However, when he was passing through an alley entrance, a thin and small boy suddenly charged out and ran right at him like a cannon. Of course, Qianye wouldn¡¯t let him run into him, so with an easy sidestep, he dodged out of the way.

    The boy missed and fell face first onto the ground. When he struggled to get up, he suddenly sniffed extra hard with his unusuallyrge nose and abruptly screamed, ¡°A vampire¡¯s origin gun! I smell it! I smell it!¡±

    The entire slum boiled up when they heard his cry!

    A vampire¡¯s origin gun was worth an unimaginable fortune. Anyone who obtained it would be able to change their fates!

    Qianye was a little surprised by this. The little boy¡¯s nose was incredibly keen, to be able to smell the Flowing Gold Rose wrapped deep inside his backpack. Moreover, the fact that he didn¡¯t point out the moremon wealth such as gold coins and the like meant that he wasn¡¯t just spouting nonsense. It would seem that there were plenty of talented people even in the slums, although most of their talents were fated to be buried forever.

    Many shabbily dressed people gradually surrounded Qianye. They were all holding primitive weapons such as wooden sticks and kitchen knives.

    Qianye was helpless. A situation like this usually ended with blood being shed. He unslung the assault rifle from his shoulder and pulled the gun bolt lightly, pointing the ck muzzle at the crowd.

    ¡°Anyone whoes forward will die! Now, get out of the way!¡± Qianye yelled.

    However, his words were unable to intimidate these people at all. Not only did the mob not back down, after looking each other in the eyes, they even tightened the encirclement further. Their breathings were heavy, and their eyes were slowly turning red. They stared at Qianye¡¯s backpack with lust and greed in their eyes.

    A man that was as thin as bones suddenly acted as to leap toward Qianye. However, as if Qianye could see behind him, he abruptly pointed the muzzle directly at the man¡¯s forehead the very moment he moved.

    The man froze, but when he saw that Qianye hadn¡¯t opened fire, he began lowering his body like a wild dog and even let out a provocative, low growl.

    Qianye knew that he had screwed things up.

    But perhaps it was because the reminiscent feelings hadn¡¯tpletely faded away, or because the metallic tang of rot in the air was too familiar to him, but Qianye¡¯s curling finger never pulled past the point of no return.

    Ambusher¡¯s power was not only enough to blow this mad man¡¯s head apart, the shockwave was also enough to knock the people at the side away and blow off the shack at the front of the alley.

    Seeing that Qianye did not open fire all this time, the man¡¯s courage abruptly grew tenfold as he leaped into the air without any hesitation and bit towards Qianye¡¯s throat!

    After hesitating for a moment, Qianye ultimately let out a sigh on the inside, and let go of the trigger. Instead, he grabbed the gun vertically and was ready to knock the guy out with the handle. With his abilities as a rank three Fighter, he could even forcefully push his way out of this ce if he wanted to.

    It was at this moment that a gunshot suddenly rang from the side. The head of the man in front of Qianye suddenly exploded and covered Qianye in blood and brain matter!

    It was a scene only possible when someone was shot with arge caliber bullet!

    Qianye abruptly turned his head and saw that a woman wearing tight suit had appeared on the rooftop beside him out of nowhere. She held what was obviously a modified rifle, and right now, the unusuallyrge muzzle was still fuming with white smoke.

    She slightly turned her muzzle and pointed at the boy with the unusuallyrge nose, smiling coldly, ¡°Go to hell, little bastard!¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Qianye¡¯s voice rang together with the gunshot.

    The powerful recoil caused the woman¡¯s full body to fall backwards by a bit as the boy¡¯s head and upper body were shot to pieces.

    The mob immediately fell into panic as some of them began to turn around and run away. However, there were even more of them who turned vicious and charged towards Qianye while yelling. There were countless hands aiming for Qianye¡¯s backpack, and short knives made from scrap metal stabbing towards his lower back.

    These mobs were as fragile as paper, and yet, their attacks were vicious and cruel. Moreover, they did not care about their own lives at all.

    Qianye sighed, and with a backhand motion, he caught two knives perfectly within his hands. The two mobsters did everything they could to pull their weapons back or pushed them towards Qianye, but the des did not move an inch, as if they were melded into Qianye¡¯s hand.

    However, it was during this moment that a metallic lump emitting green smoke was suddenly thrown in his direction. It was a grenade!

    Qianye swore loudly in his heart, but left without a choice. He leaped over a two story tall shack,nded on the other side of the street andy himself on the ground immediately.

    When the explosion happened, the two mobsters were the first to be blown up into the sky along with a few broken limbs. The shockwave destroyed the surrounding shacks and caused countless wooden bits and random objects to sweep past Qianye¡¯s back, drawing pain on his skin.

    This was an high-power, offensive hand grenade! Qianye immediately came to the conclusion from the unexpected shockwave. This was a powerful gadget often used to deal with low level dark races, and even official vampire warriors would be hurt by the st!

    If Qianye had thought that it was a normal grenade and had not dodged to the best of his abilities, then he would¡¯ve been hurt rather badly by this indiscriminate attack.

    He cursed at the woman¡¯s ruthlessness on the inside. She actually used a weapon that was only allowed on battlefields directly in the city!

    More than a dozen mobsters were instantly killed by the explosion. The rest of the people were finally frightened by the firepower and escaped frantically.

    Themotion urred at a faraway street, and a few fully-armed expeditionary soldiers rushed to the st site.

    When they saw the woman standing on top of the roof, they immediately froze and turned respectful. They asked, ¡°Miss Yingnan, may we know what¡¯s going on? You seemed to have used a weapon that¡¯s disallowed inside the city.¡±

    The young womanughed coldly and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. There were some fellows here who were nning to rob one of our Home of Hunter member, so I took a couple of them out so they¡¯d grow a memory. As for that offensive hand grenade, it fell to the ground by ident and has nothing to do with me.¡±

    The leader of the expeditionary soldiers, wearing a corporal badge on his shoulder, actually nodded and told hispanions, ¡°The situation has been rified. Someone hid a grenade in this ce, and the grenade identally exploded. Alright, we will leave now!¡±

    The few expeditionary soldiers actually turned tail and left. It was as if they hadn¡¯t seen the dozen or so corpses on the floor at all.

    Qianye only kept quiet when he saw this scene. He had encountered the death toll a couple of times when he was at Red Scorpion, but that was only used for the local nobles. He had often heard about the scene before him from a few veteran soldiers who served in regr army, but this was the first time he had experienced it himself.

    It was at this moment that the young girl jumped off the roof andnded in front of Qianye, examining him from head to toe before showing him something on her palm, ¡°Come with me! We¡¯ll find a ce a get a drink.¡±

    A whileter, Qianye and the woman sat down inside a bar.

    The reason Qianye had followed her was because she had shown him a four star hunter badge. The status of a four star hunter could only be obtained by umting a certain amount of merit and a rank four strength.

    It was only now that Qianye had the chance to examine her closely.

    She was a young girl, about twenty years old. She was d in an armor with matching tones of dark brown and dark gray. The armor¡¯s base material was probably some kind of vicious beast¡¯s skin, and the vital spots of the armor were forged from steel. The armor was of course several times stronger than the one Qianye was wearing, and it fit the girl unusually well. It was obviously either tailor made or modified.

    She had a soldierly and wild face that was extremely beautiful. She had a tiny scar on her forehead that not only didn¡¯t damage her looks, but even gave her a wild charm when she turned her head and lifted the corner of her eyes.

    The girl was extremely tall, being only slightly shorter than Qianye. Her figure was extraordinarily sexy, and it was as if they contained energy and strength that would overflow at any moment. She had dark brown hair, which she had tied back into a ponytail.

    She leaned forward, seemingly not noticing at all that her chest was pressing against the table.

    The girl then knocked the table in a bold manner that only an experienced and knowledgeable veteran would have, and said to Qianye, ¡°I am Yu Yingnan. You can call me Yingnan, or better, Sister Nan¡­ But kid, are you seriously going to drink this swill that¡¯s so thin that it may as well be in water?¡±

 Volume 2 - 33: Hunters

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 33: Hunters

    What Qianye wanted was arge pint of light beer, yet in front of Yu Yingnan was two wholerge porcins of self-distilled cereal liquor. Like its name, this kind of liquor was brewed using cereal grains. The vor was ordinary, but the alcohol was extremely strong.

    Without allowing Qianye to exin a thing, Yu Yingnan directly poured arge cup of grain-distilled liquor to the brim and pushed it in front of him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t drink strong liquor.¡± Qianye said guilelessly.

    ¡°What kind of man can¡¯t drink!¡± She was not pleased.

    ¡°I can¡¯t find a reason to drink with you.¡±

    Yu Yingnan stared nkly for a moment, ¡°Why¡­?¡± She looked at Qianye¡¯s face that almost had no expression, then said with realization, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you think that those human scum shouldn¡¯t be killed?¡±

    ¡°Assault grenades are weapons to be used when facing real enemies.¡± Qianye said unfeelingly.

    Yu Yingnan snorted as she sneered, ¡°To those scums of the earth, is there a difference? You probably felt like you have what it takes to walk out that ce, but what if it was someone else? Have you thought about the result of that? Just yesterday, two foreign women identally entered there. Do you know how their corpses were like when they were found?! Those kind of scum, f*cking killing them ten times over isn¡¯t even too much! It¡¯s killing in any case, what¡¯s the difference in weapons?¡±

    ¡°But there were children among them¡­¡±

    ¡°That little vermin was the most important character! He would be responsible to find things of value, then decide whether or not to take the risk and kill the owner!¡±

    Qianye opened his mouth, and discovered he could not rebute.

    ¡°Come! Down a ss first, little man! I really can¡¯t understand what weird thoughts are in your head, it isn¡¯t like a hunter at all! A rookie like you, if you really went up on the battlefield, you wouldn¡¯t even how you died. Empty the ss first! Don¡¯t be sheepish like a girl!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ grew up in a ce like this.¡± Qianye suddenly wanted to exin a little.

    Somewhat astonished, Yu Yingnan gave him a look, then immediately said, ¡°Then I understand. Looks like you aren¡¯t a wimp. Come, empty this ss, consider it my apologies!¡±

    The two shot sses heavily touched, then Qianye stared nkly at the ss in his hand.

    What kind of shot ss is this, this was clearly a ss for water!

    But with a lift of the head, Yu Yingnan drank therge ss of strong liquor down to thest drop.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was a little bitter. Frowning, he took quite a while before slowly drinking the entire ss by small mouthfuls. After drinking, he breathed out a mouthful of strong alcoholic smell as ayer of redness instantly emerged from his face.

    Another ss filled to the brim slid over on the table, steadily stopping before Qianye.

    This time, Qianye almost couldn¡¯t find it in him to speak anymore. Just as he raised the ss, Yu Yingnan already heavily bumped it, ¡°Cheers!¡±

    She raised her head, and another ss went down her stomach.

    Qianye still divided it into several mouthfuls before finishing the liquor. His face was already totally flushed.

    Just after these two rounds, a bottle of cereal liquor was already emptied. Yu Yingnan¡¯s attitude in pouring alcohol was like drinking water. In the blink of an eye, two rounds were done again. The second bottle of liquor also met the bottom.

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s gaze toward Qianye finally softened a little, as she said, ¡°Though a little timid, the amount you can drink can still be considered a man. Shopkeeper! Two more bottles for mouth rinsing!¡±

    ¡°Mouth rinsing?!¡± Qianye heard a terrifying phrase, and instantly began to cough.

    Yu Yingnan waved her right hand, ¡°Only two bottles, what else could it be other than rinsing the mouth? Oh, moistening the throat?¡±

    Whether it be mouth rinsing or throat moistening, there wasn¡¯t much of a difference.

    The keeper of the bar carried two bottles of cereal liquor as he jogged over to deliver them.

    Qianye and Yu Yingnan¡¯s table had already attracted the gazes of the entire bar. However, this girl seemed to be very familiar to the people here. Amongst a crowd of half-drunk people, there were ppers, cheerers and hecklers, but there was just no challengers.

    After mouth rinsing it was throat moistening, and after moistening the throat it was time for mouth rinsing again.

    Just like that, the bottles piled up beside the two¡¯s feet increasingly grew in number.

    The more Yu Yingnan looked at Qianye, the more likable she found him to be, as she was already getting all brotherly with him. She also felt other than his disguising skills being a little bad, his skin being too fair, his frame not robust enough, his rank not high enough, his way of doing things not ruthless enough, and his imposing aura not very much imposing¡­ he could be very much considered a man, as there weren¡¯t any other faults.

    Qianye naturally didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry at that. He didn¡¯t know what else left of him could still be considered good points after excluding all those things she had said.

    Since he couldn¡¯t even butt in with words, Qianye could only cup his hands around the shot ss that was as big as a water ss and slowly drink the strong liquor in gulps.

    Every time he finished a cup, Yu Yingnan would immediately fill one up for him, then heavily bump his ss again. She would finish the cup in one go, then watch as Qianye sluggishly deal with his cup of liquor.

    Qianye looked as though he could copse at any time starting from the first cup. Drinking past half the night, over ten bottles of liquor gone, he still seemed as though he could facent at any moment.

    Qianye slowly finished this cup of liquor, then heavily set the cup onto the table. He waited for Yu Yingnan to fill it to the brim for him again, but after a while, the cup was still empty. Qianye finally raised his head, and only then did he find that Yu Yingnan had already fell under the table.

    After staring nkly for a long time, he finally realized that this outspoken huntress was already drunk to the point of having passed out.

    The barkeeper jogged over again, looked at Yu Yingnan first, then gave Qianye a thumbs up as he spoke in a quiet voice: ¡°Amazing! You are actually the first one who could put her out one on one. Ah, anyway, sorry to bother you, this humble bar is closing now, so could you pay the bill?¡±

    Qianye looked at the humongous number on the tab, only then did he find out just how much they had drank.

    For theck of a better option, he took out three gold and paid the bill, then walked over and supported Yu Yingnan up. Her posture when leaning on Qianye was still so gant, while also being extraordinarily heavy. Just that set of armor was probably more than fifty kilograms in weight.

    The barkeeper eagerly and attentively gave directions to where Yu Yingnan lived, then smiled as he made eyes at him. The expression on his face was so excessively obscene. In the end, he even wanted to market a strong drug that will ¡°definitely make her unable to get out of the bed the next morning¡± to Qianye.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry as he hastily refused the barkeeper¡¯s ¡°goodwill.¡± If he really were to have done something to this four star huntress, she would definitely break Qianye¡¯s legs after waking up. Then, the one who wouldn¡¯t be able to get out of bed would be Qianye.

    Qianye carried the huntress on his shoulder, and made his way to a small building ording to the address given by the barkeeper.

    The door to the building wasn¡¯t locked at all, and the few simple traps inside was no problems for Qianye either. He cautiously avoided the rm traps from the door to the hallway, went up to the bedroom on the third floor, and threw Yu Yingnan onto the bed. Only then did he finally let out a breath of relief.

    Qianye took a look of the room; the arrangement here gave ample evidence that this girl was simply a violent savage. One side of the wall hung full of guns, while the other was full of various kinds of knives and des. Within the cupboard that seemed like a bookcase, there were a lot of various odd body parts of the dark races. These were all the proof of her battle records. Ordinary men would probably immediately retreat to a respectful distance after seeing these.

    At this time, Qianye finally begun to feel the after effects of drinking an entire night of strong liquor. His mouth was dry and his tongue was burning. Finding some cold water on the table, and not minding whether or not the water was fresh or not, he drank several cups full before finally feeling a little better.

    He threw himself into the sofa, slowly rxed as he felt more and more tipsy, then also fell asleep.

    While in a muddle-headed state, Qianye suddenly felt an obscure dangering. He once again appeared in that empty street block devoid of people. However, this time it was not blood thralls, but rather Yu Yingnan who had walked out from the dark alley! Her expression was ice cold, as she raised the pistol, aiming at Qianye¡¯s forehead.

    Qianye was immensely shocked and wanted to tell her to stop, but he couldn¡¯t make any sound no matter what!

    Yu Yingnan pressed down her finger, pulling the trigger while wearing a callous expression.

    The instant before she pulled the trigger, Qianye suddenly sprung up from the ground and tackled into her torso, grabbing her arm and then tossed her out with a shoulder throw!

    However, right when Yu Yingnan¡¯s feet was about to leave the ground, she suddenly twisted her body and tossed Qianye with overwhelming power instead!

    Amidst the world turning around him, Qianye instantly woke up, and realized that he was currently speeding toward the wall. The battle instincts built upon many years of experience did its job here, as he extended all four of his limbs and pressed against the wall at the same time, nimbly shredding the momentum. Then, his entire person shrunk down and hung onto the corner between the ceiling and the wall, as he looked at the situation from the wall.

    Yu Yingnan was standing in the room, still keeping the posture of throwing as she looked at him with a dumbfounded face.

    This time, it was reality and not a dream.

    Yu Yingnan retracted her posture as she said in a somewhat awkward manner, ¡°Um¡­ I really didn¡¯t mean to do that, I just wanted to put a nket on you. I didn¡¯t expect that you would suddenly¡­ then I¡­ Thankfully you were quite amazing, it¡¯s good that you aren¡¯t hurt.¡±

    Qianye slid down along the wall, as he spoke with a bitter smile, ¡°Not your fault. It¡¯s because I often have nightmares. I just had another one just now, so that¡¯s why I reacted instinctively.¡±

    Yu Yingnan nodded, ¡°In any case, your perception is really amazing, to actually be able to feel meing close when asleep. Looks like you are qualified to move about alone in the wilderness.¡±

    Qianye looked at the time. It was already five in the morning. This time was also when the hunters begin moving out.

    Yu Yingnan suddenly felt a little embarrassed as she scratched her head, ¡°Um, I became a little out of it yesterday night. I really didn¡¯t expect your capacity for alcohol to be so great! What did you used to do?¡±

    ¡°Bar owner.¡± Qianye¡¯s reply instantly made Yu Yingnan¡¯s smile stiffen.

    Momentarily after, the two ate breakfast as they talked about actual business.

    Yu Yingnan heard that a newbie had joined the Home of Hunters, moreover, with high praises from Old 2. It just happened that she had a very problematic mission on hand and didn¡¯t have enough people. Thus, she came to look for Qianye and coincidentally saw that scene at the slums. Qianye¡¯s soft attitude caused her to unable to hold back and watch, so she dealt with those violent mobs with her usual rough style.

    After that, she proposed to go drink. She originally nned to ruthlessly knock Qianye out with alcohol to give this little one star hunter a lesson to be learned. She didn¡¯t expect to suffer such an unexpected defeat, to actually meet a bar owner as an opponent!

    Yu Yingnan who rarely met a match in drinking was finally put down, and got carried home by Qianye.

    But this also made Yu Yingnan have a whole new level of respect for Qianye. ording to her, people with a good capacity for alcohol wouldn¡¯t have too bad of a moral standing either.

    Though Qianye really can¡¯t bring himself to agree to this theory of hers, he wisely chose not to debate with this alcoholic, and instead begun to ask about the mission this time.

    It turned out that Yu Yingnan received information about a werewolf¡¯s secretir in a valley about three hundred kilometers away from Darkblood City. An ancient totem existed in that ce, and rumor said that the totem had the terrifying power to raise the cultivation speed of werewolves. Such a thing always had a very high priority on the purchase order of the Empire¡¯s research facility, as it could be used to research the origin power of darkness.

    Yu Yingnan nned to get this thing, but felt that her current force alone was still not enough.

    She had already preliminarily formed a team, including a four star hunter and two three star hunters. After that, she could no longer find any suitable personnel. Anyone who could enter her eyes were all doing missions and she didn¡¯t feel any of the free ones worthy. In the end, she really had no choice but to look for a newbie like Qianye, all because of those praising words from Old 2.

    Qianye didn¡¯t expect Old 2¡¯s praise to be viewed so importantly by others. After all, four star hunters weren¡¯t just anyckey on the street. At the very least, thirty or forty members of the dark races had lost their lives on Yu Yingnan¡¯s hands, and possibly including many rank four heavy weights. Ever her putting that much faith in Old 2 meant that Old 2 was definitely no simple man.

    ¡°You sit here and wait, I¡¯ll go take a shower.¡±

    Yu Yingnan stripped down to her underwear right in front of Qianye, revealing her sensual body that was as graceful as a cheetah, and walked into the bathroom.

 Volume 2 - 34: Mission

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 34: Mission

    Qianye had gotten a little grasp on the huntress¡¯ personality now. Clearly, she possessed abundant hunting experience, and was used to battlefield life with no qualms between genders, which was why she was so unreserved. On the wastnds, when walking between the fine line of life and death, the distance between hunters were much closer than that ofmon folk.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze passed by a few scars on her body and could almost right away tell what lifeforms had caused them just by looking at the scar¡¯s shape.

    The two continued chatting through the bathroom¡¯s door, and Qianyergely learnt the basic situation of this mission.

    Aplete werewolf tribe included the three rankings of alpha wolf, elders, and ordinary warriors. Some tribes would even have special kinds such as shadow wolves, needle wolves, battle wolves, or mad wolves.

    The strengths of werewolves near the Boulderstone Region were rtively average. An alpha wolf was normally around rank five or six, and elders were only slightly weaker than that. As to the special kinds like shadow wolves, they would need to be judged based on some circumstances. However, situations where a powerful being existed that could shake the ecological homeostasis was very rare; because if that was the case, the dark races would undergo a turmoil within themselves first in order to re-allocate the sphere of power for the passing of their legacy to future generations. An traditional werewolf tribe would have around one hundred adult warriors, since their predatory region wouldn¡¯t keep up with more than that.

    With the power of Yu Yingnan¡¯s small squad, it was simply impossible to frontally rattle the werewolf tribe. However, the goal of her mission this time wasn¡¯t to entirely annihte the werewolf tribe in the first ce. It was tounch a surprise attack and snatch treasures. Yu Yingnan had acquired a type of origin power drug through some means by spending quite a bit of money. It could heavily damage werewolf¡¯s sense of smell and cause theirbat power to substantially drop in a short time.

    In the huntress¡¯s ns, this kind of drug was perfect for the sealed off environment like the wolf¡¯s nest. It was estimated that the effect couldst around half an hour or so. The hunters would have tounch a surprise attack at the wolf nest in less than half an hour of time, snatch over the totem, and escape at full speed. After avoiding being hunted down by the werewolves when returning, it would be considered a sess.

    However, the entire battle n from the start to end gave Qianye a very unsettled feeling. From how he saw it, every chain of the n were full of variables, especially thest one. To escape a few dozen werewolves who recovered their power, who were chasing them down with full force was way more difficult than one could ever imagine.

    Qianye spoke his concerns, but Yu Yingnan answered taking no mind at all, ¡°Alright already! Which operation doesn¡¯t have idents? It¡¯ll be fine as long as we prepare adequately. Rx, I¡¯ve roped Yang Tian in this time, he¡¯s a professional at dealing with thoserge gray dogs. We are going to meet this afternoon, and make the final decision on preparatory work as well as division ofbor. Come with me, and meet the otherpatriots, so you¡¯d have an idea of them.¡±

    Qianye was stumped. From the start to end, he seemed to have never said he agreed to join, but Yu Yingnan considered him agreed to join as a matter of course. To put it tly, the two¡¯s rtionship merely consisted of drinking together yesterday, moreover, she was the one who got put down by Qianye.

    After eating lunch, Yu Yingnan took Qianye to a weapons shop on ck Copper Street, pushed open the door and walked in.

    The shopkeeper was a middle aged man whose face was covered with sideburns. After seeing Yu Yingnan and Qianye, he pointed at the backroom, ¡°All waiting inside.¡±

    After walking into the door, it actually was a stairway instead of a backroom. A helix staircase lead all the way down into the basement. The space inside was unexpectedly spacious and the gasmps were very bright. There were many partitioned rooms as well as various kinds of steel rails and machinery; it was actually a small sized workshop.

    Yu Yingnan took Qianye to a room closest to the stairway, and from the appliances, it was a weaponry processing workshop.

    Four workbenches were ce in a row along the wall of the workshops, and on top of them were full ofponents as well as some semi-finished articles. One of the workbench even had a basin of crystal kernels. After those kernels were polished, they would be the important bullet head of a nk origin bullet.

    In the room¡¯s corner, shelves were stacked all the way to the ceiling and unprocessed steel strips were piled up on top of them.

    Various models of firearms hung all over the walls that hadrge stretches of loose ster and there were even two design diagrams nailed onto the wall.

    Qianye took a look at the design diagram, and a few parameters that were intentionally circled out in ck jumped into his view. To his surprise, he found out that they were actually standards of rank two origin guns.

    He could not help but fix his faze onto it and looked over the entirety of the design ns. As expected, it was a self-designed origin gun that had barely reached rank two standards. To go as far as to surpassing the expeditionary army¡¯s standard weapons shocked Qianye a bit. However, workshop-made guns were usually unreliable in terms of quality and mass production so Qianye still preferred the military¡¯s standard-make weapon.

    Three people had already arrived in the workshop. Two were sitting, while a young man with tanned skin was busy processingponents at the workbench. When Yu Yingnan and Qianye entered, all of their gazes fell onto Qianye. There were curious ones,plementing ones, but there were also hostile ones.

    Yu Yingnan did a simple introduction to both sides.

    Yang Tian was like her, a four star hunter. He was over forty years old and looked to be a honest and sincere middle-aged man. He reached out and shook Qianye¡¯s hands, as he smiled, ¡°It¡¯s actually the first time I¡¯ve seen someone who could put Yingnan down on the liquor table! Wee!¡±

    As for the other two, one was named Jesse, and the other Li Lunzhe.

    Jesse never left the workbench. Other than giving Qianye a nce when he came in, Jesse went back to being immersed in messing with the parts in his hands. Even when greeting Qianye and answering Yu Yingnan¡¯s questions, his gaze had never left theponents in his hands. One could tell that this was a technical madman.

    Li Lunzhe was very young, around his mid-twenties or so, but his strength had actually also reached rank four, the same rank as Yu Yingnan and Yang Tian.

    Carrying a faint arrogance, he reluctantly shook hands with Qianye. Not greeting Qianye, he instead turned his head and spoke to Yu Yingnan, ¡°Sis Nan, this kid looks quite green, does he have battle experience? How about a little test?¡±

    Yang Tian who was on the side spoke, ¡°No need, people who Yingnan had chosen won¡¯t be bad. Also, this is someone acknowledged by Old 2.¡±

    Hearing that Old 2 had also gave his words before, Li Lunzhe mumbled and no longer said anything else. However, his hostility toward Qianye was still clear as day and he was not hiding it in the slightest.

    Then, everyone discussed about their respective duties and details in the operation n.

    The hunters would move separately first and then converge at the arranged location outside of the valley, so as to hide their intent of raiding from being noticed by werewolves. Jesse would be responsible for the escape route, Qianye would mobilize with Yingnan and had the responsibility of taking the totem away the moment they get their hands onto it. The others would cover his retreat in the meanwhile. They did not deploy any hardbat mission for Qianye. All he needed to do was to use his advantage in speed and sessfully take the totem back.

    After done negotiating the n, Yu Yingnan knocked on the table, ¡°Now it¡¯s the old rules. Equipment goods as well as handing in the operation¡¯s deposit, Qianye¡¯s share is on me!¡±

    Qianye had wanted to pay his deposit himself, but seeing that the other three all took five gold coins out, he could only stay silent. After paying the tab yesterday night, he only had one gold and several silver on him.

    The only ie since Qianye came to Darkblood City was the ten gold bounty traded in at the Home of Hunters. The expenses of settling down, buying equipment and supplementary supplies exceeded his expectations. This was also the reason why he didn¡¯t reject to join in on this operation even though he felt somewhat uneasy about it.

    To Yu Yingnan¡¯s decision, Yang Tian and Jesse didn¡¯t raise any objections, while Li Lunzhe¡¯s hostility toward Qianye had be more intense.

    Everyone dispersed very quickly, and agreed to meet at the arranged location after three days.

    When leaving the shop, Yu Yingnan patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Youe with me, we will be leaving again at night.¡± From start to end, Qianye never had the choice to object to her ns.

    Just after the two traveled two street blocks, Yu Yingnan suddenly stopped in her tracks.

    This was a street not too wide nor narrow, and was rtively clean. Most of the buildings on the side were single storied with the asional two story buildings. Other than residential buildings, most of the others were various types of grocery stores.

    It was three or four in the afternoon and the sky has begun to darken. Gasmps lit on one by one, and it happened to be the peak time for hunters to return to the city. This ce should¡¯ve also been the busiest at this time, but at this moment it was dead silent. Even a person¡¯s shadow could not be seen in the streets and alleyways.

    All of the doors and windows were tightly shut, as though the entire street had closed down for the evening without notice. The muddle light of gasmps shone on the lonely signboard, appearing even more hazy and powerless in the natural light that has yet fully vanished.

    Yu Yingnan looked at the surroundings, and suddenly sneered, ¡°Since you¡¯vee already, why still goof around and hide?

    A freakish sounding voice suddenly floated out from behind the two, ¡°Of course it¡¯s because we¡¯re worried that you would get scared after seeing us, then suddenly making a run for it!¡±

    As the old door axle made a creaking sound, a thin and shriveled looking man walked out from the house behind them.

    Then, many doors on the side of the street opened one by one. A few dozen people walked out and surrounded Yu Yingnan and Qianye. Most of these people possessed a power of a rank one Fighter, while that freakishly sounding man was shockingly a rank three Fighter.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze swept through them, then discovered that there was a venomous snake tattoo on the bare arms of every one of them. He could already tell that they ought to be gang members of a gang called Sky Snake Gang.

    Sky Snake Gang could be said as the third biggest gang in Darkblood, possessing quite the power. This street block just happened to be their territory.

    Qianye quickly sized up the surrounding environment. The buildings on this street actually couldn¡¯t cause any obstruction, and even if there were still ambush inside the rooms, there was no possibility of them stopping Yu Yingnan and Qianye if their strengths were about as high as those out here right now.

    Yu Yingnan raised her brows and said, ¡°Tree Snake, no need to y these little tricks on me. Don¡¯t beat around the bush, what is it this time? If it¡¯s obviously a trap, then of course I will leave right away, then take my time and settle it with you lotter.

    Tree Snake took his time and spoke leisurely, ¡°Leave? You no longer want your business in the city?¡±

    Yu Yingnan didn¡¯t get angry either, and just spoke indifferently, ¡°Yeah, but your Sky Snake Gang¡¯s people, especially you, shouldn¡¯t think about leaving the city from now on either. If you are going out, then prepare your own funeral arrangement first!¡±

    The expression on Tree Snake¡¯s face changed as his momentum instantly died down by a few notches. They did indeed have the power in numbers. Everyone of them possessed somebat power, not needing to back off against anyone in the city.

    But the wastnd was an entirely different world. Unless they formrge parties to travel every time, then they definitely won¡¯t be the match of a veteran hunter like Yu Yingnan. If Yu Yingnan was determined to go at it, and keep watch everyday outside of the city, then not many of Sky Snake Gang¡¯s members would really dare to go out. At least, they wouldn¡¯t dare to get too far from the city.

    Qianye instantly gained a whole new level of respect toward Yu Yingnan. He had thought this was a woman whose brains were filled with violence and muscles. But when he thought about it again, it really was true that no four star hunters were easy to deal with, no matter their personality and behavior.

    Tree Snake put his smile away, ¡°Alright, Yu Yingnan, you win! Now then, what are you going to do with that debt you owe our boss? If you want to keep dying and not pay it back, that¡¯s actually fine too. Our boss said that he¡¯ll go speak to the Old 2 when the timees, and not a single copper of interest and fines will be spared!¡±

 Volume 2 - 35: Snakes

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 35: Snakes

    Yun Yingnan¡¯s expression was ugly. She said, ¡°I¡¯ll return the money after I¡¯m done with this mission!¡±

    Tree Snake sneered, ¡°Done with your mission? Who knows when you¡¯ll be done with your mission? Plus, you said the same thing twice earlier. And the results? Not only did you fail to clear up your debt, it grew even bigger than it was before. Miss Yingnan, with your missionpletion rate, do you think you can trust yourself to pay back your debt at the end of your mission had you been in my position?¡±

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s face grew uglier and uglier. Her right hand was clenched into a fist, and she looked like she was about to lose control.

    But not only was Tree Snake unafraid, he even moved his face closer and pointed at himself, saying, ¡°C¡¯mon, hit me! Hit me hard! Hit right here and make sure you kill me when you do hit! For goodness sake please don¡¯t hold anything back at all!¡±

    There was a loud bang, and the ground beneath Yu Yingnan¡¯s feet suddenly cracked under pressure. This was because she failed to control some of her origin power from spreading. But despite the fact that Tree Snake had obviously made up his mind to bully her shamelessly until the end, she couldn¡¯t punch him no matter how much she wanted to.

    She inhaled deeply as her chest moved up and down. She barely managed to restrain her emotions before she yelled, ¡°What the hell do you want then?¡±

    Tree Snake made an inviting gesture and said, ¡°What do we want? That¡¯s up to the boss to decide! Follow me.¡±

    Momentster, Yu Yingnan and Qianye walked into a big house a street away.

    The first floor¡¯s living hall was decorated luxuriously. A calligraphy writing was hung on one side of the wall, and andscape drawing was hung on the other. There was also a row of heavy firearms hung inside the building, and the three styles lookedpletely ipatible with one another when gathered in one ce.

    Several dozens of fearsome-looking men suddenly surged into the living hall and stood still beside the walls. Then, they opened their eyes wide and stared angrily at Yu Yingnan and Qianye with impressive vigor. However, Qianye merely cast these small fries who were rank one Fighters at best a sweeping nce before ignoring thempletely. Instead, he put his attention on the screen painted with a beauty lying drunkenly beside ake at the left side of the building.

    When everyone was done assuming their positions inside the living hall, a bare chested man finally walked out from behind the screen.

    The man was a full head taller than Qianye, and a giant twin-winged python was tattooed all around his upper body. The head of the python sat at the center of his chest.

    He was the boss of Sky Snake Gang, and his name was Sky Snake. No one actually remembered what his real name was.

    Sky Snake threw his gigantic body directly onto the center of the sofa andughed, saying, ¡°Yingnan, it¡¯s quite difficult to find you, you know!¡±

    Yu Yingnan said coldly, ¡°Cut the nonsense and get straight to the point! Stop wasting my time!¡±

    Sky Snake pped his own thigh once heavily and pointed at Yu Yingnan, saying, ¡°Very good, I like that frank attitude of yours! In that case I won¡¯t mince words with you. Do you know how much money you owe me right now? I doubt you¡¯ve ever calcted it properly yourself, have you? Green Snake, bring over the bill and show it to her!¡±

    A woman with long curly hair wearing a mini skirt walked over while twisting her round butt. She passed a bill to Yu Yingnan.

    In reality, her looks were iparable to Yu Yingnan¡¯s. However, her advantagey on her huge breast, long legs, and short mini skirt. She immediately knocked a certain four star hunter out of the limelight and attracted most of the men¡¯s attention inside the living hall. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t help himself from casting her a few nces.

    Yu Yingnan immediately noticed his gaze and she shot him a fierce re. Then, she snatched the bill from Green Snake¡¯s hand and gave it a sweeping nce. She immediately cried out, ¡°It can¡¯t be this much!¡±

    Sky Snake finallyughed to his heart¡¯s content when he saw Yu Yingnan¡¯s reaction to the bill. He said leisurely, ¡°This bill clearly outlined everything you owed in detail. I¡¯ve always worked fairly, and I will never swindle another person! If you don¡¯t believe me, you can find someone else to help you calcte it properly!¡±

    Yu Yingnan looked reluctant. Qianye only needed to look at her once to know that this extremely masculine friend of his wasn¡¯t too good with numbers. Therefore, he said, ¡°Let me have a look.¡±

    Yu Yingnan hesitated for a moment before passing the bill to Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s life skill ss had included basic calction, and the bill before him was in fact quite simple. He only needed to check through a small portion of the bill carefully to figure out that the bill was probably proper and not tampered with.

    Although the total amount owed had reached a shocking amount of 500 gold coins, only one third of it fell under interest and fines. Yu Yingnan had owed this sum of money for half a year, and in this chaotic city, there was no denying that that the annual interest of this debt was on the low side considering that it hadn¡¯t exceeded 100%.

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Qianye ultimately said, ¡°This bill looks fine, if you did borrow a sum of 300 gold coins or so.¡±

    This time Yu Yingnan fellpletely silent. A momentter, she red at Sky Snake and said heavily, ¡°What do you want? Say it.¡±

    Sky Snake pped his thigh again and chuckled, ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t really want anything actually. You see, we¡¯ve known each other for such a long time, so there¡¯s no way I¡¯d force you to pay if you really can¡¯t afford it, right? How about this: why don¡¯t I go find Old 2 and¡­¡±

    Before Sky Snake could even finish, Yu Yingnan immediately yelled out fiercely, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡±

    ¡°Then I can¡¯t do anything about it. Unless¡­¡± Sky Snake leaned against the sofa again and looked yfully at Yu Yingnan. He snapped his fingers once, and Tree Snake jogged over and passed over another paper to Yu Yingnan.

    Sky Snake waved a hand and said impassionedly, ¡°It¡¯s very simple! If you sign this contract, then your debt will be gone in one stroke!¡±

    Yu Yingnan cast a nce at the paper and felt her eyebrows furrow immediately. She said in a chilly voice, ¡°A death arena?¡±

    ¡°Exactly! If you participate in the death arena on our behalf and either win five matches or fight ten matches in a row, then your debt would be struck offpletely! What do you say?¡± Sky Snake stared at Yu Yingnan with bright eyes. There was undeniably lust in his eyes, but the light of greed was even greater.

    ¡°This appearance fee seems a little high. You¡¯re telling me that I can clear my debt this simply?¡± Yu Yingnan sneered.

    Sky Snakeughed loudly and said, ¡°Oh no, this appearance fee isn¡¯t high at all. Sure, for another rank four Fighter this price is at least three times their worth, but you are different, Yu Yingnan! If you are willing to participate in the death arena, I can guarantee that the seats would be filled to capacity every time.¡±

    He paused for a moment and worked hard to put on a kind smile despite his fiendish looks, ¡°If you¡¯re still worried, I can even ask your opponents to sign a minimum guarantee use. This means that they cannot kill or disable you even if they win, or they would have to cough up arge sum of money. What do you think?¡±

    His offer sounded unbelievably good, but in reality that was not the case. Qianye knew a little about death arenas. It was a bloody battle held publicly inside Darkblood City. The challengers were not restricted to just humans, and sometimes there would be battle between humans and foreign races. Sometimes, there would even be battles between ferocious beasts.

    A beautiful female challenger and especially someone as reputable as Yu Yingnan was extremely favored by the audiences. This was because the battle had no set rules, and any methods were allowed inside the arena. If the female challenger wasn¡¯t good enough, then the fight would often turn into a public show of humiliation.

    In order to maintain the people¡¯s interest, the organizers would often change things up a little inside the blood soaked arena. Every once in a while, the organizers would throw in a few beautiful female challengers to push the arena¡¯s atmosphere towards a greater climax.

    If Yu Yingnan were to attend the death arena, then there was a chance an ¡°aftershow¡± might happen during the match. Of course the audiences were going to flock to the arena. It was only normal that the tickets would be prized at four to five times its usual prize.

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s face changed colors constantly. Suddenly, she clenched her teeth and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll sign it!¡±

    Just when Sky Snake was about to shout in joy at the unexpected good news, Qianye suddenly said, ¡°Wait!¡±

    When everyone¡¯s gazes were focused onto him, Qianye waved the bill in his hand and said, ¡°There are still seven days until this bill is due, right?¡±

    Sky Snake said disdainfully, ¡°So what? You¡¯re not telling me that she could gather this sum of money, orplete a big mission that will pay a sum like this in a such short time, aren¡¯t you? I¡¯ve already inquired about the mission you¡¯vepletely recently, and the total payout of that mission is only a hundred or so gold coins. Or are you saying that a small fry like you is going to repay the sum she owed?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Seven days isn¡¯t too much, but it should be enough to sell off a couple of things.¡±

    While saying this, he opened his backpack and took out the Flowing Gold Rose. Slowly, he ced it in front of Sky Snake.

    ¡°Cancel her debt in full, and this gun will belong to you. Or if you so wish, I can sell this myself and return 500 gold coins to youter. Now choose!¡± Qianye said indifferently.

    Sky Snake¡¯s expression changed greatly as he picked up the Flowing Gold Rose and gave it a close examination. Then, he carefully tested its origin power conversion rate before finally putting the gun back onto the table with great care. He let out a breath and said, ¡°This is a grade three origin gun! It is the fine handiwork of the vampire race too!¡±

    ¡°You definitely have an eye for things, that¡¯s for sure. So what do you think of my previous suggestion?¡±

    Yu Yingnan grabbed Qianye¡¯s arm immediately and said hastily, ¡°Qianye! You can¡¯t¡­¡±

    Qianye patted her hand and motioned for her to keep quiet. Then, he looked back at Sky Snake once more.

    If this Flowing Gold Rose were to be sold on the empire¡¯s upper continent, its price could easily reach a thousand gold coins. In fact, it could reach an auction price of 600 gold coins even at a ce like Darkblood City. It was more than enough to cancel out Yu Yingnan¡¯s debt.

    Sky Snake pondered for a moment before his expression suddenly changed when he recalled something. Then, he revealed a somewhat sinister smile and said, ¡°This gun is a little interesting. But does it truly belong to you? I think I remember a friend who seem to have lost something just like this.¡±

    Qianye retorted rudely, ¡°Is your friend a vampire?¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t really angry when he heard Sky Snake¡¯s obviously malicious tone. He knew from the beginning that the Flowing Gold Rose would bring trouble the moment it was revealed, but it wasn¡¯t like he had any other choice. Considering Yu Yingnan¡¯s temperament, she would¡¯ve signed that piece of contract under that circumstances. She was an excellent hunter, but that didn¡¯t mean that she could be an excellent diator. Moreover, the top champions of the death arena were all at rank five minimum.

    Sky Snake pped his table once and yelled angrily, ¡°What the fuck do you mean by that! You¡¯re too green to be using me falsely!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve snatched this gun from a vampire on the wastnd. That¡¯s why I asked you that question.¡± Qianye looked into Sky Snake¡¯s eyes and said that softly. It was as if he didn¡¯t know that Sky Snake Gang would immediately be uprooted by the expeditionary forces the second they were confirmed that they were in cahoots with the vampires.

    Sky Snake let out a snort before sneering at him, ¡°And why should I believe your words? In my opinion, you must¡¯ve stolen this gun from somewhere else! How about you leave this gun with me until I confirmed that it wasn¡¯t stolen from my friend. Then we¡¯ll talk about repaying her debtter.¡±

    While saying this, Sky Snake leaned forwards and clutched the Flowing Gold Rose firmly on the table. However, his expression suddenly turned apprehensive when he felt two cold, sudden killing intent pressing down on his body. His movements stopped midway just like that.

    Sky Snake slowly raised his head and looked at Qianye with a bit of surprise. It was only natural that Yu Yingnan would carry a thick aura of death around her since she was a rank four fighter with a lot of years of experience as a hunter.

    But what surprised Sky Snake was that the other killing intent had actually came from Qianye. This big boy that he nearly overlooked earlier actually carried an aura of death that was much thicker than even Yu Yingnan¡¯s! Sky Snake could even smell a wet scent that felt like a blood waterfall pouring down from above his head.

    ¡°Is this the level of trustworthiness Sky Snake Gang has?¡± Qianye asked coldly.

    ¡°Trustworthiness?¡± Sky Snake wanted tough when he heard this word, but he actually found the urge vanishing when he stared back at the little fellow¡¯s calm, almost serious gaze.

    But he was ultimately a rank five expert. His face immediately darkened as he replied coldly, ¡°I am Sky Snake, and my name is trust itself! As for you, you are just a kid whose hair isn¡¯t even fully grown yet! How dare a mere one star hunter talk about trustworthiness with me!¡±

    Yu Yingnan had already taken down the assault rifle behind her back by this point and said angrily, ¡°Sky Snake! Don¡¯t you push it too far!¡±

    Qianye sighed quietly on the inside. He understood that Yu Yingnan¡¯s words had screwed up the potential deal instead.

 Volume 2 - 36: Boiling Blood

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 36: Boiling Blood

    Sure enough, Sky Snakeughed. He settled himself, his entire body rxing. He spread his arms, exposing his unprotected chest.

    ¡°Shoot! Shoot! It¡¯s best if you kill me! If you kill me, then your little guys will be happy!¡±

    Yu Yingnan bit down on her lower lip so hard that it turned white, but her fingers froze in midair, unable to press down on the trigger. After her mind-numbing anger subsided, she realized that if she pulled the trigger, severe consequences would ur. Besides, a trifling gun that used gunpowder had no way of killing Sky Snake in one hit.

    A hand reached over, steadily but forcefully lowering Yu Yingnan¡¯s gun.

    Qianye seemed as if he couldn¡¯t see that Sky Snake¡¯s underlings had already taken out their weapons and only looked at Sky Snake. He said, ¡°Since you use your name to protect your reputation, you wouldn¡¯t prevent us from leaving at this moment, right?¡±

    Sky Snake narrowed his eyes and stared at Qianye for a little, thenughed loudly, ¡°Why would I do that! My best customer, you guys cane and leave whenever you wish! You¡¯re wee to return at any time!¡±

    Qianye nodded his head and then said to Yu Yingnan, ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s leave this ce.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± Yu Yingnan still wanted to say something, but Qianye half supported and half clutched her right shoulder that was controlling the gun and walked out.

    Yu Yingnan felt an irresistible, strong force clutching her right shoulder. Any struggle would be futile, so she could only follow Qianye as they walked. She did not even think of questioning why Qianye could restrict her with just the power of a rank three Fighter.

    In the eyes of Sky Snake¡¯s gang, on the other hand, it seemed that Yu Yingnan followed Qianye of her own will. They all felt indescribably weird since they had never heard of anyone who could persuade this hot-tempered female hunter.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Sky snake called out to stop them.

    Yu Yingnan instantly turned around and stared at Sky Snake, her eyes full of fury. In contrast, Qianye half turned around with a questioning look on his face, He did it so naturally that it seemed like nothing had happened.

    Sky Snake looked at Qianye thoughtfully, pondered, and then said, ¡°How about this, I¡¯ll give Old 2 some face. I¡¯ll void any interest she has and I¡¯ll give her two more months to pay back her original debt. It¡¯ll be fine if she returns her original loan within two months.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Yu Yingnan couldn¡¯t contain her anger, but Qianye nodded towards Sky Snake, and then dragged her outside.

    After leaving the headquarters of the Sky Snake Gang and reaching the street, Yu Yingnan suddenly howled in frustration and heavily punched a tree on the roadside!

    ¡°Why did you stop me?¡± Yu Yingnan shouted at Qianye.

    ¡°Because you weren¡¯t ready to fight to the death, and we can¡¯t beat them.¡± Qianye calmly responded.

    ¡°How do you know I wasn¡¯t ready to fight to the death?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t answer and only silently looked at her. Under his gaze, Yu Yingnan¡¯s fury began to subside. She then ultimately punched the tree again and said, ¡°If it was just me¡­¡±

    ¡°Maybe a good idea would be to find a ce to sit down and listen to your story.¡±

    A momentter, the two people returned to Yu Yingnan¡¯s house.

    She found a few bottles of liquor that she had hidden, and directly gulped it down from the bottle without using a cup. After two bottlescked even a drop of alcohol, her excited mood finally started to slowly but surely return to normal.

    Yu Yingnan stared at the bottle of liquor she was swinging around in her fingers and said, ¡°You probably want to know why I have such arge debt, right?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t aplicated story.

    A year ago, during a mission, she had been met with an enormous tragedy. Her small team was annihted, with her as the sole survivor. Yu Yingnan believed that she was to me for bringing them to such a tragic end. Thus, in the next half year, she had found everyte team members¡¯ family and sent them to rtively safe cities along with enough money for these families to live.

    The children of these team members that still needed to go to school, including Yu Yingnan¡¯s own younger brother, were still living in Darkblood City, receiving basicbat training.

    In this manner, Yu Yingnan had not only spent all of her savings, but also incurred a massive debt with Sky Snake. If she chose to turnpletely hostile, she was worried that Sky Snake would hurt the families of her fallenrades, and maybe even their children.

    If the Sky Snake Gang intended to force her into a dead end, then she would not be afraid and would fight them to the death. However, it was still just money business. She truly did not have the resolve to fight them over this. She could only endure.

    This bit of money was barely even worth considering for powerful families, but in a ce like Darkblood City, it was enough to force people into their graves.

    After saying this, she forcefully buried her face in her two hands, and said with a whimper, ¡°Sorry, I dragged you into this. Don¡¯t worry, I will return the money for that gun!¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t important, but won¡¯t you let Old 2 know of this?¡±

    ¡°Because Old 2 had already helped me many times. I already owe him so much, but if he knew of this, he would still pay off this debt for me. Truthfully, Old 2 has already used a lot of resources on me.¡± Yu Yingnan couldn¡¯t say anything else and could only forcefully pull on her hair.

    This was a hunter¡¯s pride. It sounded ridiculous, but she would rather enter the death arena than rely on Second Elder again.

    Qianye also poured himself a cup of alcohol, but only held it in his hands. He stared at the slightly yellow alcohol and asked thoughtfully, ¡°Hunters shouldn¡¯t be afraid of the Sky Snake Gang right? You¡¯re a four star hunter, so why are you still being bullied this obviously?¡±

    Yu Yingnan let out a long sight before exining, ¡°Hunters and mercenaries are different. We have more freedom, but in exchange, Home of Hunters will remain neutral in this kind of conflict. In reality, many hunters want to me to die horribly. In any case, I really do owe Sky Snake money and I can¡¯t even pay it back, so Old 2 doesn¡¯t have a way to use Home of Hunters to suppress Sky Snake. Sky Snake used to be very rule abiding, but I never thought he¡¯d act this way today.¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°I already had expected that.¡± The logic was very simple. When the benefits and the opposing assets were no longer bnced, rules were bound to be discarded.

    Yu Yingnan was surprised, ¡°Then, do you have a way to take back your origin gun?¡±

    ¡°He still ultimately voided your interest and gave you another two months. The gun could be considered to have been exchanged for two hundred gold coins. We didn¡¯t lose out so badly.¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°This is ¡®not losing out so badly¡¯?¡±

    Qianye wagged his finger at her and didn¡¯t let her continue speaking. He then said, ¡°Considering my current background and strength, to sell it without any trouble would be pretty difficult. That¡¯s why we can just let it end here.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Yu Yingnan pounded on the table.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the strength, so I can¡¯t keep Flowing Gold Rose. Isn¡¯t that just the rule of Darkblood City?¡± Qianye calmly said. He was even more clear on this concept than Yu Yingnan. In addition, if he had not taken out the Flowing Gold Rose, they would have had no way of leaving Sky Snake¡¯s control.

    However, his tone suddenly changed, bing indifferent yet containing a hidden chill, ¡°However, I really love this rule. When I have enough strength, I will naturally make Sky Snake return what he owes hundredfold!¡±

    Yu Yingnan looked up, and stared at Qianye as if knowing him for the first time.

    Qianye now had his original look, delicate and almost exquisite. When he spoke, his expression was indifferent, but his words had a bloody will that could shatter all obstacles.

    Yu Yingnan suddenly found that the boy in front of her became extremely foreign, as if the rookie one star hunter that couldn¡¯t fire into a mob had never existed.

    ¡°Now, we should probably finish our mission before we speak of this again.¡± Qianye nced at her as he voiced his opinion.

    Yu Yingnan regained some energy and then quietly adjusted her equipment before giving Qianye a case. Qianye opened it and saw three lined up origin bullets with her aura. He didn¡¯t decline and put the case in his backpack.

    At three o¡¯clock at night, Yu Yingnan and Qianye left Darkblood City one after the other, and then split up, taking different paths to reach their destination.

    When he entered the wastnd, Qianye took out his Ambusher and steadily ran toward his destination. He chose to run northwest at forty kilometers per hour as his limit.

    A number of hourster, the werewolves that had been chasing Qianye for an hour already had decided to give up. Qianye¡¯s speed and endurance surprised them. He seemed to have boundless endurance as he crossed the wastnd.

    In the middle of running, Qianye suddenly shook, and became alert for no apparent reason.

    He was on a foothill with mild slopes. The majority of the foliage there were vines and shrubs that had spikes, and the only other structures were scattered ruins drowned within the foliage. Maybe one hundred years ago it had been a small town inhabited by humans, but only a few crumbled walls remained.

    Qianye sprinted as he neared the the ruins. At the same time, he vigntly searched for signs of movement in all directions. Suddenly, he saw a small, floating shadow, far in the distant sky.

    The person wasn¡¯t very big, and his entire body was wrapped in a ck cloak, hiding the structure of his body.

    At this time, they had a few kilometers between them, so Qianye could only barely see mysterious person¡¯s outline. It probably was a humanoid organism. However, when Qianye saw the mysterious person, this person almost instantly reacted and turned his head to look at Qianye.

    Qianye was aghast and closed his eyes as fast as he could. His body curled up and rolled on the ground, almost falling into a natural hole under two stones at the side of the ruins. He simultaneously began using several military secret arts to hold his breath, stop his heart, and enter a death-like state.

    He just finished entering this state when an enormous consciousness swept past the area, right over his body!

    The consciousness was extremely cold. From this instant, Qianye could only feel a ck sun gradually rise in front of his eyes.

    He almost couldn¡¯t feel fear, he could only feel mes that were darker than the abyss, slowly being dragged across the entire world by the ck sun.

    Qianye desperately pushed his consciousness into his third, already extinguished, origin node, wildly trying to remain awake. He had an ominous feeling that the moment he he rxed his consciousness, it would be absorbed by the ck sun, falling into an eternal night.

    After who knew how long, the icy consciousness retreated like floodwater. The ck sun¡¯s mes also gradually left Qianye. However, at this moment, the blood of darkness that had been sleeping in his body for a long time suddenly began to act up. It almost instantly boiled over!

 Volume 2 - 37: Assaulting the Werewolvesâ€™ Hideout

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 37: Assaulting the Werewolves¡¯ Hideout

    Qianye waspletely shaken, but at this moment, his heart was no longer beating. The army¡¯s turtle breath technique could be used to conceal oneself in extreme conditions, and to fake one¡¯s death in dangerous situations. Once it was used, one would lose any ability to move or protect oneself for the next half hour.

    The moment that Qianye saw the man in the ck robe, he judged based on his years of fighting experience that the man was an enemy he had no way of resisting, so he had decisively activated this secret art. As expected, the man had almost destroyed his firm will that had been tempered through numerous battles and seas of blood. Such power could almost bepared to Dark Monarchs!

    Unexpectedly, he had just avoided tragedy, but the blood of darkness within his body actually started acting unusually at this moment. However, Qianye was powerless.

    His consciousness had only just cleared up, and it seemed to bepletely separated from his body. He could only stare coldly from the side as the blood of darkness raged like boiling water.

    Qianye suddenly found that the raging blood wasn¡¯t actually pure. Within the flowing dark blood were innumerable hair-thin blood strands that pursued and entangled each other as they were embroiled in fiercebat!

    The main, dark-red blood energy had an obvious advantage of numbers. The pale-gold and strange, purple blood energies were eye catching, but were very low in number. However, in just a moment, the tides turned. The dark-red blood energy was continuously minced, gradually weakening until only a few strands remained. In contrast, the pale-gold blood energy did not change at all, while the strange, purple blood energy gained an entire extra ring after destroying the numerous strands of dark blood energy.

    The blood stopped raging just as suddenly as it started. When Qianye regained his consciousness, everything had already ended. His limbs were all able to move, his entire body was covered with syrup-like sweat, and he was thoroughly soaked, from his clothing to his hair, as if he had been immersed in a pool.

    The ck blood within his veins had already lightened up, with many strands of blood energy slowly moving without showing any signs of excitation. Origin power flowed out from the three origin nodes, returning to fill his limbs and bones.

    Qianye slowly recovered his ability to move, inspecting if his military secret art or his raging blood left hidden damage. His body seemed normal for the moment. At the same time, he began pondering the encounter he had just had.

    The strength of that ck-robed man could be described as deep as hell. Why would an expert who could influence the situation of the entire continent suddenly appear in the surroundings of a small city like Darkblood City, and actually stop there? There must have been something here that attracted this major figure of the dark races. However, no matter the reason, Qianye had no qualifications to participate in such a battle.

    As for the ck blood within his body, he still had no way to control it. Qianye emptied an origin bullet, and then refilled it with a strand of blood energy following the origin power, giving this tangible bullet Qianye¡¯s unique mark.

    Qianye stared at the transparent bullet for a while, and then threw the little thing back in its case. The recent few strange changes in his ck blood made Qianye numb. Thus, he decided that as long as it didn¡¯t interfere with fighting, he wouldn¡¯t care!

    At this moment, the wastnd had already be extremely dangerous. Qianye had be even more careful after recovering, no longer running at his limit as he pleased. He cautiously proceeded, barely making it to the gathering ce before the time limit.

    Yu Yingnan, Yang Tian, and the others all had arrived. They were waiting for just Qianye.

    Upon seeing Qianye, Li Lunzhe let out a loud snort and smiled coldly as he said, ¡°Running for three days to travel this bit of distance, your speed is truly fast!¡±

    Qianye wrinkled his brows, his expression immediately bing heavy.

    Without waiting for Qianye to act, Yu Yingnan¡¯s cold voice rang out, ¡°Qianye arrived before the arranged time, is there a problem?¡±

    Li Lunzhe was stricken, immediately revealing an indignant expression, angrily saying, ¡°Sister Nan! What are you trying to imply, we all got here a long time ago, and everyone here waited for him for over half a day! The time limit is only the bottom line. If no unexpected idents ur, all should arrive as early as possible. This is an unwritten agreement between hunters. Was I wrong to reprimand him? Sister Nan, have you fallen for this pretty boy here?¡±

    A crash sounded. No one thought Yu Yingnan would suddenly pull out her pistol and point it right at Li Lunzhe¡¯s forehead!

    Yu Yingnan spoke one word at a time, emphasizing each one, ¡°Who I like is up to me! It¡¯s none of your business!¡±

    The crowd was stunned, not at all having expected such a strong reaction, especially since her expression showed no signs of joking around.

    Yang Tian saw that things were getting out of head, so he immediately pushed Yu Yingnan¡¯s gun to the side and advised, ¡°Yingnan! Right now, we¡¯re all teammates, there¡¯s no need to act like this.¡±

    Yang Tian then spoke to Li Lunzhe, ¡°Qianye is our teammate now as well, and he just became a hunter. He is probably not clear on many rules, so it¡¯s unnecessary to pick at the details. Other than that, be careful when you speak.¡±

    Yang Tian was a veteran hunter and had always had high prestige, so when he chose to mediate in this dispute, Li Lunzhe stopped bickering. He raised both of his arms, and retreated two steps, indicating his concession. However, after seeing those obstinate and unruly eyes, and that resentful smile, anyone would know that this problem was a long way from finished.

    Yu Yingnan snorted and ignored Li Lunzhe, taking the lead in heading out. Yang Tian and Zha Xi followed behind her.

    Li Lunzhe purposefully slowed down to wait for Qianye to catch up before he whispered, ¡°Boy, this hasn¡¯t finished yet. In the future, you better be careful when you leave the city, you better not let me see you!¡±

    Qianye nced at him, lightly responding, ¡°In such a hurry to die?¡±

    Li Lunzhe suddenly stopped walking, his eyes emitting killing intent. He spoke in anger, ¡°Die? From just you? A one star hunter?¡±

    ¡°Idiot.¡± Qianye left onement and stopped listening to Li Lunzhe. He left to catch up to Yu Yingnan.

    At this time, Yu Yingnan was concealed at a cliff, looking into the valley that Yang Tian had already snuck into.

    At the valley floor was a cave with a few gray wolves that seemed to be guarding the entrance, and were dozing off.

    Yang Tian did not disappoint his name as a werewolf expert. He had already snuck within thirty meters of the cave entrance, yet the gray wolves still had no response.

    Yang Tian suddenly stood up, tossing a few grenades into the cave entrance. He then pulled out his pistol as fast as lightning and shot continuously. Surrounded by the sounds of gunfire, the few gray wolf guards didn¡¯t even have a chance to stand up. All of them had been shot through the head, whimpering as they fell.

    Yang Tian had thrown in smoke grenades mixed with origin power agents. Pale-yellow smoke sprayed out of the cave immediately.

    ¡°Attack!¡± Yu Yingnan shouted quickly, immediately leaping down from the cliff. This was a hundred meter tall cliff!

    Midway, she threw out a hook and hooked it to the edge of the cliff. She then borrowed the force of her fall to swing to the valley floor. When her feet touched the ground, she barely paused to cushion her fall, instead running toward the cave inrge strides, simultaneously firing her gun. She was able to shoot down a werewolf that had suddenly appeared.

    Li Lunzhe leapt down as well andtched his hook onto the edge of the cliff to slow his fall, just like Yu Yingnan did. Unlike Yu Yingnan, he was not able to use only one hook, he was forced to use three before reaching the valley floor.

    However, Li Lunzhe had only been halfway before seeing a figure, lightly floating over his head, heading toward the valley floor. That was Qianye. He was actually faster than him!

    Li Lunzhe was stunned for a moment, and couldn¡¯t resist lifting his head to look at the cliff, whereupon he found there were no additional tools. How was able to get down, he actually hadn¡¯t used any tools!

    Qianye had already followed Yu Yingnan in charging the cave before Li Lunzhe finally regained his senses and hastily followed up.

    Only Zha Xi remained behind them. He needed to enter the valley through a pull. When he reached the valley floor, the others had already entered the cave. He did not follow them in and instead beganying down various traps.

    In the werewolf hideout, Qianye followed closely behind Yu Yingnan. After passing through many twists and turns, five different tunnels appeared in front of them.

    A few vicious werewolves ran out of one of the tunnels. Yu Yingnan ran towards it, directly blocking that tunnel then pointed at another, shouting, ¡°Qianye! Run that way and look for ways to find the totem. I will try my best to keep the werewolves away!¡±

    Yang Tian threw a few grenades which instantly emitted a huge wave of pale-yellow gas into the tunnel Yu Yingnan pointed at, and then turned and charged into a nearby tunnel.

    Inside the pale-yellow fog, werewolves whimpered in pain one after another. Many weaker ones even began rolling around on the ground. The smoke had an extremely pungent smell, which was equivalent to a deadly poison to werewolves that had sensitive noses.

    Qianye charged into the tunnel indicated by Yu Yingnan, bending over as he snuck forward. When he left the werewolves¡¯ line of sight, he suddenly changed his posture, and his speed doubled! At bends with a slope and no sharp rocks or obstacles, Qianye virtually did not reduce his speed at all, and directly ran on the walls of the cave!

    After passing a tunnel entrance, two werewolves suddenly charged out, but Qianye¡¯s abrupt increase in speed caused them both to miss. The werewolves chased closely without giving up, but the distance between them and Qianye still became longer and longer.

    The two werewolves both widened their eyes, staring unbelievably at Qianye in the distance! They were actually unable to run as fast as Qianye in their own cave!

    Qianye ran faster and faster, sneaking through like wind. However, in front of him appeared a gigantic werewolf, its body taking up virtually half of the tunnel. It was on all fours, and its head was raised, roaring fiercely at Qianye.

    A vicious expression shed across Qianye¡¯s face before he simrly roared deeply and actually collided into the werewolf!

    A muffled thud sounded. It was actually the werewolf that had been struck flying! It roared again. but before it even reached the ground it, a fist began to erge within his field of view.

    With a snap, Qianyepletely crushed the giant wolf¡¯s nose.

    Qianye held onto the wolf¡¯s hind legs and brandished it at the werewolves chasing from behind. The two werewolves roared angrily, dodged the body, and dove toward Qianye from his left and right.

    However, in just this brief moment, Qianye¡¯s Ambusher had already locked onto the werewolf on the left. A gunshot sounded as a origin bullet boosted by Heavy Caliber sted the wolf into the air. The werewolf¡¯s chest became a mutted mess of flesh and blood.

    Afterwards, Qianye threw down his Ambusher and grabbed the other werewolf¡¯s front ws. The two of them began wrestling.

    The werewolf roared at Qianye, suddenly opening his mouth and biting towards Qianye!

    However, his mouth only closed halfway before it suddenly howled a painful cry directed at the sky.

    Qianye¡¯s hands had used force, so the werewolf¡¯s ws broke amidst sounds of shattering! The werewolf was at least twice the size of Qianye, and their race was known for their strength, but it had actually been crushed by Qianye in this contest of brute strength.

    Qianye¡¯s hands extended outwards, mping down on the werewolf¡¯s lips. He roared again, forcefully ripping them out.

    The werewolf immediately fell into a crumbling state as it fell onto the ground, its four limbs convulsing.

    At this time, the other werewolf struggled to stand up. Having seen all of this happen, its eyes revealed deep terror. Qianye steadily walked towards this werewolf. It suddenly roared and actually turned around to flee!

    Qianye suddenly sped up, following it like he was its shadow. He then directly dove onto the wolf¡¯s back, his hands extending forward to hug the werewolf¡¯s head. He forcefully twisted!

    Amidst a cracking sound, the werewolf¡¯s neck broke with a snap.

 Volume 2 - 38: Success

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 38: Sess

    With a light, overhead flip, Qianyended on the ground ten meters away as he stared coldly at the werewolf that was struggling madly where it stood in hopes of dealing one final blow before dying. However, its nervous system had beenpletely damaged, and it stumbled and swayed sideways with every move it made. It couldn¡¯t hit Qianye at all, and after struggling for a moment, it copsed on the ground and no longer got up.

    Qianye slowly walked back and picked up his Ambusher. He then continued to walk deeper into the cave, but he only took a few steps beforeing to an abrupt stop and shuddering. He suddenly recalled that that wasn¡¯t his usual style ofbat at all!

    He tore apart flesh and blood with his own, bare hands just now! This was obviously the preferred method of ughtering werewolves to an elite vampire!

    Qianye suddenly shuddered from the bottom of his soul.

    At this moment, Qianye felt an unprecedented level of panic. He found it a little difficult whether to identify himself as a human or a vampire. If he had to be a vampire one day, then he would rather just end his life right now.

    He hadn¡¯t been this afraid even when he was tainted by the ck blood and at the edge of death.

    This had nothing to do with interest. It was a matter of faith.

    After pausing for a moment, Qianye continued going deeper into the werewolf cave. Regardless of whether he would transform into a true vampire, he had to finish this mission first.

    The were more and more dead ends ahead. The cave was like a maze. However, Qianye¡¯s charge was as lightning fast as ever, neither hesitant nor slowed at all. He had participated in almost ten operations to annihte werewolves back at the Red Scorpions, so he was most familiar with theyout of such caves. He could identify the right route with just a little clue to aid him.

    He had taken out a few more werewolves along the way.

    When he saw these humanoid lifeforms baring their fur and disying theirbat form, Qianye still could not help but charge forward and tear them apart with his bare hands. After a couple of times of the same method, he gave up resisting andpletely obeyed hisbat instincts to end the battle in the swiftest and most effective way possible.

    By now, Qianye noticed that Yu Yingnan¡¯s information on this wolf den was a little inurate. The n¡¯s warriors were a little stronger than initially estimated. If he was dyed for even a moment, it would no longer be an ambush but rather a suicide attempt.

    Suddenly, Qianye charged into a hall.

    This ce was wider than any of the caves he passed through earlier. There was an altar at the center of the hall, and there was a wooden totem entangled with heavy, ck energy ced above it.

    Several old werewolves surrounded the altar.

    Right now, the hall was filled with faint-yellow mist. It was the origin drug spread through the tunnels or air vents. Although the mist was a lot thinner and spread out than before, its effect obviously hadn¡¯t faded just yet. Several elder werewolves were sneezing continuously through the mist, looking rather diforted by it. However, they did not n on leaving the ce at all.

    Qianye¡¯s sudden appearance in the hall caused all four werewolf elders to turn their heads in surprise. The two fastest among them had already acted, and pounced at him. However, the faint-yellow mist disrupted their movements and generated just a little unnecessary movement in their breathing.

    When it was a matter of life and death, the tiniest bit of a mistake could be fatal.

    Maintaining his high speed, Qianye calmly leaped into the air, drawing a light arc across half the room beforending close enough to be extremely dangerous to the elder werewolves beside him. He had switched his form in midair, and when hended, he was already in a half-crouching posture, lifting Ambusher evenly and pulling the trigger.

    An origin bullet made by Qianye himself escaped the chamber and ripped a werewolf elder¡¯s head to shreds.

    Qianye pushed his origin power madly, causing Ambusher¡¯s gun chamber to shine with a yellow light that almost prated the metallic gunbarrel itself. It was a sign of the gun¡¯s origin array being pushed to its limit. A second origin bullet escaped the chamber, and a yellow light, mingled with a single wisp of red, struck heavily onto the charging werewolf elder¡¯s left shoulder and chest area..

    Although he still had an origin bullet in his gun, it was already toote to fire it. The third werewolf elder had already pounced to above Qianye¡¯s head. Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of his current inferior positioning at all as he pushed the ground with his left hand andunched himself into the air, ramming at full force into the werewolf elder as they fell some distance away.

    While still in the air, Qianye shot out the spike bay he got from Nighteye and plunged it into the fourth werewolf elder.

    At first, the werewolf elder who had been shot by an imaginary origin bullet and the one struck by the spike simply shrugged off the minor injury. One of them had even activated their wolf-shapebat form. However, they had charged only a few steps before they abruptly copsed on the floor and spasmed non-stop. They were actually incapable of climbing onto their feet.

    Qianye calmed down greatly. It seemed that the blood energy inside his handmade origin bullet was especially harmful to the werewolves. This was great news considering that the poison on Nighteye¡¯s spike was especially effective against werewolves as well. It was only unfortunate that after this one usage, the poison on the thorn was more or less gone.

    This time, it was the werewolf elder who had been sent flying by Qianye who shook its head and swiftly recovered from its stunned state. It let out a couple of low growls and bared its fangs, charging at Qianye¡¯s once more.

    Qianye grabbed his Ambusher and swiftly filled it with energy. Then, he calmly fired off hisst origin bullet.

    The werewolf elder¡¯s sharp ws were just about to strike Qianye¡¯s temples when the origin bullet hit its stomach and instantly sent it flying backwards.

    The shot was not fatal, but it was enough to immobilize it for a moment.

    Qianye pulled the gun bolt. He had used up all of the origin bullets he had handmade, so he reloaded with Yu Yingnan¡¯s origin bullets. However, instead of securing the kill on the werewolf elder, he grabbed the totem and escaped immediately.

    The werewolf elders howled on the top of their lungs and looked extremely saddened. However, Qianye had no sympathy for their feelings as he swiftly withdrew from the path he came from. When he heard rapid footsteps following behind him, he turned a corner and threw two hand grenades mixed with origin drugs behind him.

    Faint-yellow mist immediately covered the passage behind Qianye, and since it was twice the number it was twice as effective. The werewolves who heard themotion and chased after him realised the trap only after the turned the corner, and since they couldn¡¯t halt in time, they ran head-first into the mist. They immediately let out extremely pained howls as they rolled all over the ground. The agent was simply too destructive against a werewolf¡¯s nose especially in such a narrow environment.

    Right now, outside the wolf den, at the three fork road closest to the road leading outside, Yu Yingnan, Yang Tian and Li Lunzhe were fighting back to back against the werewolves that continuously charged out of the cave.

    There were more than a dozen werewolf bodies padding their feet already, and although they seemed to be fighting well, they¡¯d expended all of their physical and origin bullets. Whatever remained of their origin power was now used to fight in close quarters, and they¡¯d all switched to close quarter weapons as well.

    Yu Yingnan wore a glove with sharp needles on it, and her knee and elbow armor were installed with sharp needles as well. Herbat style was open and pure brute force. Meanwhile, Yang Tianxun held a short dagger in his hand, and hisbat style was very careful and meticulous. However, every time he charged, blood would spill from a werewolf¡¯s body. Li Lunzhe¡¯sbat style could only be considered average.

    ¡°Smoke grenade!¡± Yu Yingnan roared loudly. Her technique was the most brutal and forceful of them all, and since she held back most of the werewolves by herself, the greatest pressure was on her.

    Yang Tianxun swiftly tossed out a smoke grenade before yelling, ¡°This is thest one!¡±

    ¡°God dammit! We can¡¯t hold out for much longer. Why is that Qianye not out yet?¡± Li Lunzhe couldn¡¯t help but cry out.

    ¡°He had just gotten in, and judging from the info we got, he probably hasn¡¯t reached the altar hall yet! It will take at least another ten or so minutes before he finishes exploring the wolf den andes out. We must hold on for another ten minutes, or he¡¯ll be dead for sure!¡± Yang Tianxun answered.

    He was the werewolf expert among them, but his directbat abilities were a little weak.

    ¡°Ten minutes! It¡¯ll be a miracle if we can hold out for another five!¡± Li Lunzhe roared.

    ¡°We must wait for Qianye¡¯s return! Even if we are to fight to our deaths, we must wait for him to arrive!¡± Yu Yingnan¡¯s forceful attitude ended the argument.

    A light of ruthless determination shed across Li Lunzhe¡¯s eyes. He vented all of his frustrations onto the werewolf before him, but he couldn¡¯t help but look at Yu Yingnan¡¯s vitals from the corner of his eye.

    Li Lunzhe suddenly exploded and stabbed repeatedly into a werewolf¡¯s chest while roaring madly! Blood spilled over his entire head, and amidst the werewolf¡¯s dying howls, Li Lunzhe¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot as he chanted repeatedly in his heart, where no one could hear, ¡°If I can¡¯t get you, then no one else will!¡±

    Li Lunzhe let go of the werewolf¡¯s body and leaped to his feet. Suddenly, he stumbled on his feet and copsed in Yu Yingnan¡¯s direction.

    Yu Yingnan noticed Li Lunzhe¡¯s abnormal condition and hastily retreated backwards to support him with her back. She asked anxiously, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I-¡± Li Lunzhe panted as if he had been hurt, but his hand clenched the knife in his hands tightly!

    It was at this moment that Qianye ran out of the wolf den like the wind. Without pausing for even a millisecond, he charged towars the exit and cried loudly, ¡°I got the totem! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    His voice rumbled and resonated far through the cave walls.

    Yang Tian eximed, ¡°This quick? He shouldn¡¯t have even reached the altar hall yet!¡±

    Right now, Qianye charged right to the exit and did not bother fighting with the werewolves who attempted to block him at all. With his running speed and brute force, he knocked the gray-skinned fellows directly out of the way and charged out of the wolf den in an instant!

    Qianye flipped in midair and threw hisst smoke grenade down at the cave entrance.

    Amidst the spreading smoke, a few pursuing werewolves copsed and rolled out of the cave as Qianye fired continuously with his origin rifle, and with three origin bullets and one mithril bullet, he took out four werewolves. While running sideways, Qianye then refilled his Ambusher with origin power and fired another two shots.

    This time, he had ran out of luck, as he was unable to push blood energy into the origin bullets. Naturally, the power of a normal origin bullet was a lot weaker, but it was still enough to hurt thest werewolf.

    Qianye tossed the Ambusher¡¯s strap over his shoulders and charged towards thisst werewolf like the wind or thunder. He had already taken out his handaxe while he was charging midway.

    When the hurt werewolf finally put on abat stance, Qianye had already rammed into it with his entire body. The werewolf stumbled backwards like a small hill that was ran over by a giant rock, and its head split apart as thebat axe fell right into its head!

    When he killed this werewolf, Qianye felt so tired that all he wanted was to copse on the ground and sleep. He knew that this was a sign that he had used too much strength, and he immediately took out a syringe from his pocket, pulled off the casing, and stabbed it into his neck, pressing all of the medicine into his body.

    As the medicine dripped into his body, a fiery warmth swiftly spread through his entire body as he immediately regained his spirit. The syringe was a military-use stimnt. Of course, he had made it himself, and the effects of the stimnt wouldst for half an hour, just enough to help Qianye escape his current predicament. However, after the duration was over, he would feel the aftereffects and fall into a weakened state.

    When Qianye converged with Yu Yingnan and the others, they immediately charged out of the valley, following the tracks they¡¯d set up along the valley. Werewolves repeatedly charged out of the wolf den behind them, and chased after them.

 Volume 2 - 39: Hidden Danger

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 39: Hidden Danger

    A devastating gunshot suddenly resounded above the mountain cliff. Zha Xi had set up an old-styled,rge caliber machine gun, and was currently shooting every metallic bullet at its disposal at the werewolves. The werewolves who had just charged out of the cave were immediately staggered by the gunfire, their bodies blossoming with blood continuously.

    However, werewolves had thick skin and flesh, and it was very difficult for a heavy machine gun to actually shatter their bones and deal fatal damage at this range. At best, the werewolves suffered some flesh wounds. Topletely kill them,origin gun or direct close-quarterbat skills were necessary.

    However, Zha Xi simply wanted to hinder the werewolves for a moment so that hispanions could exit the valley smoothly. Four boxes of bullets were fired off in the blink of an eye as the heavy machine gun¡¯s barrel turned bright red and was usable no longer. Meanwhile, Yu Yingnan¡¯s group had already charged out of the valley and was running towards the agreed gathering spot.

    His job done, Zha Xi threw down the heavy machine gun and ran madly along the retreat path he¡¯d prepared earlier.

    Even more werewolves charged out of the cave as their angry howls rang continuously. However, as Zha Xi¡¯s traps were triggered one after another, explosions began to resound again and again inside the valley, sting the werewolves that charged out into aplete mess.

    Very soon, the entire hunter squad assembled at the gathering spot. The werewolves¡¯ howls and the sound of their paws cutting through air closed in on them in an instant.

    Zha Xi immediately pushed out a small, four-wheel truck, and poured ck crystal powder into its ignition chamber. The propulsion meter immediately rose madly, and the truck began to rumble, driving off shakily toward Darkblood City.

    Zha Xi drove while Qianye and the others climbed to the back of the truck. Li Lunzhe took out a rank two origin gun and aimed behind the car, while Yu Yingnan and Yang Tian were busy dealing with their wounds. Meanwhile, Qianye was rushing to channel the Combatant Form and recovering as much origin power as possible.

    Li Lunzhe¡¯s face was expressionless, but his eyes were extremely dark. He had almost done it back at the wolf cave. If it hadn¡¯t been for Qianye¡¯s sudden cry, he would¡¯ve plunged the knife into Yu Yingnan¡¯s lower back, and dealt simrly with the defenseless Yang Tian. Then, he would run off on his own.

    If that had happened, the severely injured Yu Yingnan and Yang Tian definitely wouldn¡¯t have been any match to the werewolves, and it would have been very easy for Li Lunzhe to kill the tech nerd Zha Xi after having escaped from the wolf cave.

    However, he had hesitated for a moment when Qianye had snatched the totem with surprising speed, so he lost his chance to follow up with his ns.

    A few dark shadows appeared at the end of his vision. They were the werewolves chasing after them. The four wheel drive rolling at forty kilometers per hour was akin to a crawling tortoise in the werewolves¡¯ eyes, and they swiftly shortened the distance between them. Li Lunzhe calmed himself down and paid full attention to the foremost werewolf that chased them. It was only when the werewolf had shortened the distance to less than a hundred meters that he pulled the trigger!

    A blue light shot out of the barrel and struck the werewolf¡¯s head dead on. The werewolf flipped a couple of times in midair before crashing heavily onto the ground. It was after he saw the blood stter and organs scatter that Li Lunzhe finally felt that his evil desires were quelled a little.

    Two more origin guns poked out from his left and right side. They were also aimed at the chasing werewolves. They were Qianye and Yang Tian¡¯s. The two had recovered a bit of origin power, and barely had enough strength to fire just one more shot.

    Gunfire rang as two werewolves flew backwards in response, and drew a bloody line in mid-air before mming heavily onto the ground.

    Half of the six pursuing werewolves were killed just like that. The remaining werewolves immediately slowed down and dared not get close to the truck any longer. They simply gave chase, staying out of the range of the origin guns as they waited for their group to reach them.

    The two sides quickly approached the ce where Qianye had met the mysterious, ck-robed person.

    Amotion suddenly broke out among the werewolves as many of them suddenly paused their footsteps and looked warily towards their surroundings. They continuously let out whines of fear, and some of the pursuing werewolves even felt the hair stand up at the back of their necks.

    More and more werewolves slowed down their footsteps and began to whisper amongst each other. There were a few werewolves of exceptional size that sniffed hard at the night air before suddenly turning around and running with their tails between their legs at top speed. The rest of the werewolves followed after them, and soon, all of the werewolves were gone.

    The sudden retreat of the werewolves caused Yu Yingnan and the group to look at each other in confusion. Not understanding what just happened, they could only be on their maximum guard. There weren¡¯t many dangers on the wastnd that could cause a werewolf to backpedal.

    Qianye guessed that the phenomenon might have something to do with the mysterious, ck-robed person, but he didn¡¯t think that it was a good idea to announce this matter.

    The quintet¡¯stter journey was eventless, and they actually managed to return to Darkblood City safely. The mission was submitted very soon, and the totem was said to have impressed the expeditionary army¡¯s specialist in the imperial research center quite a bit. Therefore, their original reward of one hundred gold coins had been doubled to two hundred gold coins.

    This good news caused every member of the team to grow spirited. Most hunters were poor, and unlike fixed mercenaries, they did not receive basic equipment distribution, and had to use most of their ie to upgrade their equipment and weapons. Without sufficient strength, it was only a matter of time before they perished on the wastnd.

    Since Qianye had defied expectations and performed excellently during the mission, he had acquired forty gold coins. This ratio was obviously more than the usual distribution. Although Li Lunzhe¡¯s face turned darker, he said nothing this time. After the rewards were distributed, he hastily left the ce.

    Yang Tian and Zha Xi also bid their goodbyes one after another, leaving Yu Yingnan and Qianye at the Home of Hunters.

    ¡°You wanna get a drink?¡± Yu Yingnan asked.

    Qianye shook his head and said, ¡°Nah, I¡¯m going back to rest for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯lle look for you in two days.¡±

    This time, Qianye did not turn her down and nodded.

    After returning to his amodation, Qianye first checked the ce thoroughly. Other than a few blood droplets on the walls and rooftop corner, he did not find any signs of infiltration. It would seem that those sneaky fellows finally learned their lesson and avoided this dangerous little building after having suffered dearly from the traps.

    Qianye shut the door and immediately charged madly into the kitchen. He took out everything that was edible and began to eat like his life depended on it. Hepletely devoured all of his reserve food and continued eating until his stomach was swelling ufortably before finally stopping.

    The saturation diluted Qianye¡¯s desire for blood.

    The hunger had begun during thetter half of the mission, after he charged out of the wolf cave. Perhaps it had been he had nearlypletely exhausted his origin power and stamina, but when the blood of werewolves sttered about, Qianye once again felt the hunger for fresh blood. However, unlike before, when his hunger burned at his rationality, his mind had been absolutely clear. The sttering blood simply emanated a delicious scent and energy that tempted him to taste it.

    Qianye pressed down on his head and smiled bitterly. He had a faint idea what was going on already. For a vampire, sucking blood was a shortcut to quick recovery and recuperation. After he acquired the physique of a vampire, he had inherited even this basic talent of the species. After he injected the military stimnt, he had been able to suppress the hunger easily, and he did not experience the kind of hunger that corroded and burned his entire body either.

    Qianye did not spend too much time tangling himself in this matter. After taking a bath, he decided to head to Home of Hunters to see what equipment he could purchase. Great strength was a safeguard against one¡¯s mortality, especially now that he had quite a lot of trouble on his shoulders.

    As usual, Old 2 was sitting behind the counter, reading a book. It was only when Qianye walked into the hall that he raised his eyelids a little to nce at him once before setting his sight back onto the page.

    Home of Hunters was rather crowded today, and the two tables in the hall were almostpletely filled with people. Seven or eight hunters had taken up seats, causing the already small space to immediately feel congested.

    The hunters were chatting about recent events and exchanged information that they had acquired during their adventures. However, a simrity Qianye heard amongst the different topics, was that the dark races had been unusually irritated and violent as ofte. Even the normally gentler creatures were attacking adventurers rather frequently, causing a non-stop stream of casualties of adventurers, hunters and mercenaries alike.

    Qianye acutely sensed that the hunters were all a little anxious.

    Qianye walked to the counter and asked, ¡°Old 2, when can I be a two star hunter?¡±

    Old 2 answered without even raising his head, ¡°When you umte a bounty of a hundred gold coins, then you¡¯ll be able to ascend in rank. Right now, you can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯d like to see what I can buy.¡±

    Old 2 nodded and summoned Little Mi to lead Qianye to the warehouse. It was still the same warehouse he was led to thest time, but somehow, the same array of equipment was nowpletely different in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    After having fought with the style of a vampire back inside the werewolf cave, Qianye discovered that he was suddenly in love with it.

    Normally, a human was weaker in terms of strength than most dark race warriors despite being of the same rank. Werewolves were a species well known for their strength, and when they went up against a human, their instinct was to rely on their strength to beat them. However, when they encountered Qianye who had an even greater strength than them, they had been defeated exceptionally quickly.

    Qianye had already been known for his strength back at the Red Scorpions, and although his physique didn¡¯t seem particrly impressive, his strength had been improved upon further when he acquired the physique of a vampire. Right now, he wasparable to a rank five Fighter, and his advantage in close-quartersbat due to his great strength was indisputable.

    Usually, Qianye would ce his attention on origin guns and their relevant mods when choosing his weapons, but this time, the array of closebat weapons had attracted his eyes. Qianye picked up one piece of armor after another, and tested them over and over before cing them back to their rack. Finally, he picked up an armguard and yed with it repeatedly.

    This metallic armguard was to be equipped on his forearm. It had good defense, and it had a weight that would turn it into a terrifying blunt weapon when swung. Moreover, it had a standard card groove on the surface that could be installed with military knives, thorns and simr weapons. There was also a small-scale origin array attached to its armguard. If injected with origin power, it could turn into a shield and block the shots of an average, rank one origin gun.

    Qianye was very satisfied with this armguard. Its only weakness was that it weighed ten kilograms, but this bit of weight could bepletely overlooked with Qianye¡¯s current strength.

    The armguard wasbeled with two stars, indicating that it was an equipment that only a two star hunter could exchange for. If Qianye wished to exchange it before he ascended to rank two, he would have to pay an additional 20% of its original cost. Besides the armguard, Qianye also picked a few tes of armor, made from the outer shell of a cave spider. He would install them on the vital spots of his armor. This was a cheap and effective way of upgrading his armor.

    These items alone cost more than thirty gold coins. The most expensive part was naturally the origin power-propelled armguard.

    After walking out of the warehouse, Qianye walked to the counter again and asked, ¡°Can I request someone to modify some of my equipment?¡±

    Old 2 finally put his book down reluctantly and walked to an independent workshop at the side, beckoning Qianye toe in. He closed the door tight.

    What Qianye took out was Flowing Gold Rose¡¯s tactical mods. This included a scope, a storage device that could enhance st power, and a silencer.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to have these parts modified so they can be used on the ¡®Ambusher¡¯ rifle.¡±

    Old 2 picked up these parts and examined them closely, saying, ¡°These are all standard mods of vampires. The workmanship is pretty good. They are all originally part of the Flowing Gold Rose¡¯s set, right?¡±

    ¡°You already knew about it?¡±

 Volume 2 - 40: Conflict

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 40: Conflict

    ¡°Of course, there are very few things in this city that I do not know, especially when they¡¯re rted to us hunters.¡±

    While ying with the scope, Old 2 continued, ¡°The value of these things far exceed their actual function. It is a waste to use them for modding, so how about this. You can use them to exchange for some equipment in the Hunter Association¡¯s warehouse. Mm, I can offer you an assault rifle tactical essory. What do you think?¡±

    Naturally, Qianye agreed. Artistic value waspletely useless to him, he only needed a killing weapon.

    Old 2 put the essory away and led Qianye to the warehouse. He took down a suitcase from a rack and passed it to Qianye.

    When Qianye opened the suitcase for a look, he was very satisfied with the oue. It was an assault rifle tactical essory, specifically designed for the Empire¡¯s main corps. Although it was only a grade two arms configuration, its overall design and function was no weaker than a random set of rank three essories. Qianye loved this uniform style of tactical essory the most. He could skip the familiarizing process entirely, and directly use it.

    Old 2 then passed over a bullet box containing ten nk origin bullets and said, ¡°The thing inside this suitcase is still not worth the essories you gave me, so I¡¯m gifting you something extra.¡±

    This was exactly what Qianye needed urgently. He had used up all of his stock during the werewolf mission.

    Old 2 suddenly asked, ¡°How do you n to deal with Sky Snake?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression darkened a little immediately, but he quickly recovered and said in an indifferent tone, ¡°Nothing for now. We will see when I ascend once more.¡±

    Old 2 heard the trace of killing intent from Qianye¡¯s calm tone and tapped the rack once, saying, ¡°Sky Snake is not a normal rank five Fighter. He is not an easy foe to beat. As the representative of Home of Hunters in Darkblood City, I cannot interfere directly with the conflict between a hunter and the Sky Snake Gang.¡±

    Qianye was currently assembling a few tactical essories into a small folding grip with great skill. He said without raising his head, ¡°I know that.¡±

    ¡°If you have any other needs in the future, you cane and see me as well. For example, I can borrow you some money or equipment. Of course, this will be done in my name and within a reasonable margin, unless you can prove yourself worthy of an investment. As you know, I do not control the entire Home of Hunters.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s hands paused in midair for a moment before abruptly disassembling the small folding grip into its original parts once more with lightning speed. Only then did he lift his head to look at Old 2 and said, ¡°I heard that you would not normally interfere with such things.¡±

    No emotion could be seen on Old 2¡¯s weathered face. He said, ¡°The Sky Snake Gang has gone too far this time. If Yingnan truly had gone to the death arena, then our Home of Hunters would have lost all our face.¡±

    ¡°But she still owes Sky Snake a huge sum of money. This will not end here.¡± Qianye frowned.

    Old 2 shook his head and said, ¡°This, I cannot help her. She is too headstrong, and she cannot stand bowing her head to anyone. She is a good hunter, but she is not a good leader. You should know this very well, since you¡¯ve gone on a mission with her. If I help her any more, I will only be pushing her further and further down the wrong path.

    Qianye simply nodded and did not make any additionalments.

    Although their mission had beenpleted sessfully, it was built of many irreplicable factors. Qianye had already noticed that Yu Yingnan¡¯s tactical preparation and information gathering skills werecking prior to the operation. If she hadn¡¯t recruited Qianye at thest minute, it was predictable that this operation would¡¯ve ended in terrible defeat.

    Even now, Yu Yingnan probably still hadn¡¯t realized that Qianye was far more familiar with werewolves than that so-called werewolf expert Yang Tian, and that his strength far exceeded amon one star hunter. In fact, he was stronger than anyone within the squad, including Yu Yingnan herself. Had it been anyone else who entered the wolf den, there was no way they could have severely injured four werewolf elders, and even obtain the totem in the end.

    In reality, Yu Yingnan was just not suitable for this kind ofrge scale missions that required the cooperation of many people. She was more suitable to be an independent hunter.

    While Qianye safely put away all of the equipment, Old 2 spoke again, ¡°You must be careful. Sky Snake may very welle back to you for more trouble. He dislikes the prosperity of anyone who can threaten him.¡±

    ¡°I will be careful. Although, I think he is the one who should take greater care.¡± Qianye revealed an icy cold smile.

    Old 2 did not say anything. After exiting the warehouse, he returned behind the counter and continued to pay full attention to his book.

    Qianye left Home of Hunters and found a shop selling all kinds of drug ingredients. With his few remaining gold coins, he purchased a couple of drug ingredients and a set of purifying tools. These drug ingredients would be used to mix a special medicine that would be a fragrant synthetic perfume when diluted, but was a poor man¡¯s version of military use strengthening stimnt when concentrated.

    While carrying his items, Qianye exited the drug store and turned around a corner of the street. Then, a group of noisy youths came from the front and immediately jammed the already narrow street.

    At the center of the group was a young man in high spirits, talking nonstop about his experience of killing an official vampire warrior. The people around him met his expectations and praised him, causing him tough even more jubntly than before.

    These people had snakes tattooed onto their exposed skin, so Qianye immediately knew that they were Sky Snake Gang¡¯s people. He frowned once, turned aside, and gave way.

    While the crowd passed by Qianye, the young man at the center subconsciously nced at Qianye once. Then, his eyes lit up, ¡°Wait a second, I know you. You¡¯re that little hunter who took the Flowing Gold Rose that day! You may look a little different now, but there¡¯s no way you can fool me with such petty tricks!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell on the young man¡¯s waist. There was a holster of exquisite workmanship there, and judging from its shape and the exposed gun handle, the holstered gun should be that Flowing Gold Rose.

    It would seem the young man was of unusual status. Not just anyone could equip themselves with a Flowing Gold Rose. Even on the middle and upper continents, possessing this gun would not be a disgrace, even to a small aristocratic family.

    The young man pushed the crowd aside and walked in front of Qianye. He stretched his hand out and said, ¡°Give it to me!¡±

    Qianye frowned and asked, ¡°Give what?¡±

    The young manughed coldly and said, ¡°Do you seriously think this stupid act will work! Alright, I¡¯ll treat you like a real idiot then! Give me the Flowing Gold Rose¡¯s essories! This gun must havee together with a full specialized set of tactical essories, now don¡¯t you tell me you don¡¯t have them!¡±

    Qianye frowned even harder and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The young man lifted his head andughed in an exaggerated fashion. He turned around and spoke to the Sky Snake Gang group behind him, ¡°Me? Hey guys, he¡¯s asking who I am! Haha!¡± This immediately drew a cheer from his men.

    After a moment of wildughter, he approached Qianye and harshly poked him at the chest, forcing his words through the gaps of his teeth, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you who I am! Sky Snake is my father! Do you know who I am now?!¡±

    ¡°Got it. However, I do not have the Flowing Gold Rose¡¯s essories.¡± Qianye said calmly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t?¡± The young man looked startled for a moment before his expression changed into one of slight fluster and exasperation, ¡°You don¡¯t have it?! Do you think I¡¯m stupid? Flowing Gold Roses have always been released as a set. When have you ever seen a Flowing Gold Rose without essories! I¡¯m telling you, pass me the essories like a good boy or I¡¯ll have no choice but to break your goddamn knees today! If you refuse to give them up¡­¡±

    His expression chilled as he said, ¡°I see that you¡¯re a handsome-looking fellow, and I just happen to have some brothers who enjoy men. I¡¯ll have them f*ck your asshole right here before feeding you to the dogs!¡±

    When he heard this threat, Qianye suddenly smiled like theing spring. His already handsome and delicate features appeared even younger as his obsidian-like eyes curved into crescents that even looked a little innocent. When he had first arrived at Lighthouse Town and had been harassed by some hoodlums, Qianye had worn the exact same smile.

    It was at this moment that a dry and skinny-looking fellow closed in on the young man and whispered something beside his ears. The young man¡¯s eyes immediately lit up as he examined Qianye from head to toe, saying, ¡°I hear you¡¯ve just finished a very high-ranking mission and got quite a lot gold coins! If you don¡¯t have the essories, then I¡¯ll give you face and let you treat me to some food!¡±

    The young man¡¯s exaggerated, wildughter turned obscene, and he raised a hand to lift Qianye¡¯s chin. This time, however, he did not get what he wished for. His hand had only stretched halfway across the air before it was caught by Qianye, unable to move even an inch further!

    The young man struggled hard a couple of times, but to his dismay, he discovered that his hand couldn¡¯t move an inch at all! The smile that hadn¡¯t yet faded becamepletely frozen on his face as he roared at Qianye, ¡°What are you doing? Let go of me!¡±

    He nced meaningfully at both corners of his eyes before yelling suddenly, ¡°Cripple him!¡± Two Sky Snake hoodlums then approached Qianye from the left and right side before stabbing two knives at Qianye¡¯s ribs!

    Qianye¡¯s expression chilled as he abruptly exerted force into his left hand, causing the young man¡¯s wrist to let out a resounding crack! Only then did Qianye release the young man as he backed away a step, just avoiding the two knives that stabbed in his direction.

    Qianye suddenly stretched out both arms at once and grabbed the two wrists urately. With a twist and a push, the two knives then immediately changed directions and stabbed into the attackers¡¯ stomachs, all the way to the hilt!

    The young man froze and actually forgot about the intense pain on his wrist as he eximed uncontrobly, ¡°You dare kill someone from our Sky Snake Gang?!¡±

    He abruptly fell back and yelled simultaneously toward his left and right side, ¡°Get him together! Slice this brat to bits!¡±

    A few Sky Snake Gang hoodlums pulled out their knives and daggers, while another few took out their guns and aimed at Qianye from the periphery. The moment they found an opportunity, they would immediately shoot him!

    Meanwhile, Qianye was standing steadily on his feet. While pulling out his own gun, he took some very small footsteps to dodge all of the bullets and des striking toward him.

    Qianye¡¯s gun then roared, and in an instant, the eight bullets inside the magazine were discharged consecutively. After these eight sessive bangs, eight Sky Snake Gang hoodlums fell down in order, either taking a shot in their heads or through their hearts. Everyone who was shot was killed instantly.

    All that happened while Qianye was using a Kohler no less. Although this traditional handgun was just a firearm, its close range power was considerable. It was just perfect for these people who weren¡¯t even rank one Fighters.

    When the young man saw that more than half of his underlings had been killed, he immediately drew a cold breath! Before he could react, Qianye stretched his legs and flicked a handgun dropped by the Sky Snake hoodlums into his hand. Another series of gunshots then followed, and now, no one beside the young man was still standing.

    Qianye walked towards the young man and waved the gun once, saying indifferently, ¡°There¡¯s one more bullet left.¡±

    ¡°If you kill me, my father will never forgive you! We can still talk this out-¡± The young man appeared to be in panic as he stepped backwards again and again.

    Suddenly, he let out an odd cry and swung a leg right at Qianye¡¯s crotch!

    This kick was actually crackling with a soft popping sound of origin power. Its power was obvious!

 Volume 2 - 41: Do Battle

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 41: Do Battle

    Qianye did not attempt to avoid the blow. He took a step forward with his left leg and lifted his right knee, mming it directly into the young man¡¯s sweeping foot! There was a crack and a bloodcurdling scream. The young man¡¯s leg was bent at an unnatural angle, his ankle obviously broken.

    The young man could no longer stand on his feet as he crashed on his back. He red at Qianye. It was only now that he felt true fear!

    Qianye¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change too much. In the end, even his spring-like smile wasn¡¯tpletely withdrawn yet. It was as if taking a dozen lives was nothing to him at all.

    The young man finally understood that in the eyes of this man who was so beautiful that he even appeared a little fragile, his strength as a rank two Fighter meant that he was an ant that could be crushed at any moment. Qianye¡¯s true strength was definitely not as it seemed to the surface!

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill me, don¡¯t kill me! My father is Sky Snake!¡± At this time, sobs could be heard behind the young man¡¯s words. He shifted his body backward repeatedly, trying to stay away from this devil of a man.

    ¡°I know that your father is Sky Snake.¡± Qianye said indifferently.

    Calmly, he pushed the final bullet into the chamber and aimed it at the young man¡¯s other, unhurt foot. He then said, ¡°I won¡¯t kill you. Go back and tell Sky Snake that I will y with him until the end if he dares to provoke me again! As for you, if you show up in front of me again, you will not be as lucky you are today. Let this shot will be a lesson for you and Sky Snake today.¡±

    While speaking, Qianye pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out of the chamber with a bang and mmed into the young man¡¯s knee. Although Sky Snake¡¯s son was a rank two Fighter, the heavy duty bullet still came very close to shattering his knee.

    Qianye threw the emptied gun down onto the young man¡¯s face before unholstering the Flowing Gold Rose from his waist. He said, ¡°You are not worthy of this gun, and neither is Sky Snake!¡±

    Qianye turned around and left.

    It was only a long time after his figure had disappeared that the young man dared to let out a bloodcurdling scream, ¡°Someone! Someone save me!¡±

    Momentster, at the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters, Sky Snake mmed the wooden tea table with his palm, and instantly broke it into several pieces! His face was so dark and heavy that one could almost wringe water from it. His face twitched non-stop as he stared at the dozen or so corpsesid in a row on the hall floor.

    Right now, Sky Snake¡¯s precious and only son was receiving treatment from a doctor at the back of the room. He had one arm and one leg crushed by Qianye, and he nearlypletely lost a knee as well. However, these were still not the worst of his injuries. His son had suffered such a terrible shock that he had gone a little insane at the end of everything. At times, he would suddenly let out shocked screams as if Qianye were standing right in front of him.

    Even if he could fully treat his external injuries, his son could never reach Sky Snake¡¯s current level any longer. Originally, Sky Snake had been hoping that he could inherit the Sky Snake Gang.

    While brimming with murderous intent, Sky Snake slowly stood up and yelled, ¡°Summon the men! We shall go to Home of Hunters!¡±

    An hourter, several hundreds of leather-adorned men gathered at Home of Hunter¡¯s doorsteps, and filled the entire street. Every man¡¯s elbows were tattooed with all kinds of snakes.

    Sky Snake led several dozen of his trusted subordinates and strode into Home of Hunters.

    A few hunters had initially been seated in the hall. Right now, they had all stood up in doubt and surprise as they watched Sky Snake aggressively step into the hall.

    ¡°This is none of your business! Sit down now, or I¡¯ll assume that you¡¯re trying to provoke me.¡± Sky Snake said coldly.

    These hunters were all Fighters of rank two or so. Their faces paled instantly, and they sat back down on their seats. Sky Snake was a rank five Fighter, and the difference between their strength could not be more obvious. He wasn¡¯t someone they could resist at all.

    Old 2 was the only one still seated primly behind the counter. He had only raised his head for a nce when Sky Snake led his men into the hall. He had then turned his gaze back to his book.

    BANG! Sky Snake¡¯s palm mmed down heavily on the counter.

    However, this p did not shatter the entire counter as he had expected it to. There were only a few cracks spreading out where he had struck.

    When Sky Snake struck downwards, Old 2 had put his hand on the counter as well, and protected it with an immense amount of origin power. His origin power had shed fiercely against Sky Snake¡¯s.

    Still, a few cracks had appeared on the counter, so it was obvious that Sky Snake¡¯s origin power was slightly greater than Old 2¡¯s.

    Sky Snake¡¯s face was incredibly ugly as he said in a cold tone, ¡°Old 2, are you going to start a full scale war against my Sky Snake Gang for that one star hunter?¡±

    Old 2 lifted his presbyopic sses and said seriously, looking through the lenses that were slightly worn out, ¡°Are you talking about Qianye? The grudge between you two has nothing to do with me or Home of Hunters. However, if you try to break the counter I make a living with, and the table that I eat my food on at the very second youe in, what else do you think I should do? When that happens, I have to fight even if I don¡¯t want to, don¡¯t I?¡±

    Sky Snake said in a chilly voice, ¡°This counter isn¡¯t broken yet, but my son already is! If Home of Hunters ns to defend that little brat, then yes, this war must start! On top of that, let¡¯s not forget that my Sky Snake Gang lost a dozen or so lives as well!¡±

    Old 2¡¯s eyebrows wrinkled as he said slowly, ¡°Sky Snake, do not forget that Home of Hunters exists not only in Darkblood City, but also the on upper continents of the Empire as well. Try not to do something stupid, even if you think I am not worth giving face to.¡±

    Sky Snakeughed coldly and said, ¡°Of course, the Sky Snake Gang cannot bepared to the entire Home of Hunters. However, I¡¯ve never heard that Home of Hunters would break their own rules and interfere with matters they shouldn¡¯t either.¡±

    ¡°There are exception to rules, especially when our counter were to be smashed by someone.¡±

    However, Sky Snake did not even frown at his veiled threat and said, ¡°So we¡¯re doing this the hard way, then?¡±

    Before Old 2 could answer, Qianye¡¯s voice rang from the side, ¡°So what if we do this the hard way?¡±

    Sky Snake abruptly turned around and stared at Qianye like a hawk. Heughed coldly and said, ¡°Good! Very good! I have never seen someone who dares provoke our Sky Snake Gang in the face! Do you think I¡¯m easy to pick on?¡±

    Qianye¡¯sugh was equally cold, ¡°If someone tries to kill me but is so weak that they got killed by me instead, what else is there to be discussed about? Or do you think that I should just sit on my ass and die? Sky Snake, do you think I¡¯m easy to pick on?¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly as he uttered coldly, ¡°You are merely a rank three small fry. So what if I pick on you? When I saw youst time, you did seem to have some talent in you, but if I kill you now, then no matter how good your talents are, it will be worth nothing at all!¡±

    Qianyeughed disdainfully, ¡°You want to kill me?¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s pupils shrank, and he suddenly smiled, saying, ¡°Do you want to give it a try right now then?¡±

    Old 2 stood up at this point and said solemnly, ¡°Sky Snake, must you take a life at my ce?¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do now, Old 2? Even if you¡¯re willing to make sacrifices, do not forget that he is not the only hunter in Home of Hunters.¡± Sky Snake¡¯s face was unpleasant, and his tone was already veiled with a threat.

    Old 2 was unmoved by his words as he said indifferently, ¡°You¡¯ve already crossed the line when you brought so many men into my ce. Therefore, no one is allowed to fight here today, or they will have me as an enemy. After tonight, no matter what happens between you and Qianye, it will no longer be my business.¡±

    Sky Snake raised his eyebrows and was about to say something. But in the end, he held himself back, nodded powerfully, and answered coldly, ¡°Alright! I will give you face today, but this will be thest time! From tomorrow morning onwards, I wille and settle my business with this kid. However, I will remind you, Old 2, you have a lot of hunters, and not all of them are strong. You better wish that they will have a safe journey when they go on their missions from now on. If I run into any hunters in or outside the city, maybe I¡¯ll share my kindness and ¡®help¡¯ them along the way!¡±

    Sky Snake nced at the hunters inside the hall once before beckoning at his men. They then left Home of Hunters swaggeringly.

    The rank two hunters all wore ugly expressions on their faces. If they ran into Sky Snake or his elite subordinates when they were out on a mission, they might not even have the chance to escape. Being a hunter was an extremely dangerous upation in the first ce, and now that the Sky Snake Gang had appeared out of nowhere and became their enemy, it meant that their death ratio would be a lot higher than it had been before. Therefore, there were a lot of Hunters who were staring at Qianye with extremely unfriendly eyes.

    ¡°He¡¯s just a freshman. He has no idea of the the immensity of heaven and earth! If he wants to fight the Sky Snake Gang to the death that¡¯s his own business! Don¡¯t drag us into his mess!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°A person like this better watch his back when he goes on a mission in the future. A man that¡¯s too arrogant can only die faster!¡±

    The hunters began conversing with one another as their grudge grew bigger and their words turned uglier.

    Qianye did not say anything. He simply swept a nce at them once.

    Those hunters suddenly choked on their words. Their numbers were greater, and Qianye was only one level higher than they were. Supposedly, they had nothing to be afraid of against Qianye. However, when Qianye had nced at them, they all shivered at once and were unable to continue talking any longer. They looked into each other¡¯s eyes and saw the shock and fear inside them. Because of this, they didn¡¯t dare to stay behind any longer, and left Home of Hunters while muttering beneath their breaths.

    Qianye arrived in front of the counter and said to Old 2, ¡°Do you have any alcohol? I would like to drink a bit.¡±

    Old 2 took out a cup and fished out a palm-sized purple sand wine jar. He then filled a small half of the cup and pushed it to Qianye.

    Qianye grabbed the cup and drank it in one gulp. After holding his breath for a moment, he finally said, ¡°Great wine! It¡¯s still a little weaker than the one I make myself though.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about military use stimnts?¡± Old 2 obviously knew a lot more than he seemed to.

    ¡°That stuff is a little harmful to the body though. It must be taken sparingly.¡±

    Old 2 poured Qianye yet another cup of alcohol, saying, ¡°Looks like you got quite the trouble with Sky Snake.¡±

    ¡°That is true! His son just tried to rob me.¡±

    ¡°It is very much like that young man¡¯s style to do so. He does have some smarts, though. He knows what kind of person he can afford to provoke.¡±

    Qianye let out a mouthful of wine vapor and smiled, ¡°Unfortunately for him, his luck wasn¡¯t good enough. That¡¯s why he found me. I am exactly the kind of person he should not have provoked.¡±

    Old 2 looked at Qianye deeply and said, ¡°You have great confidence in yourself.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I simply believe that I cannot let them act however they like.¡±

    ¡°What do you need me to do?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already done enough for me.¡±

    ¡°You may need more weaponry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll get them from Sky Snake.¡±

    Qianye set down the empty cup on the counter and headed outside just like that.

    At the entrance to the hall, there was a big guy leaning against the door. It was one of the three people Qianye had run into when he first visited Home of Hunters.

    When he saw Qianye, he suddenly spat on the ground and said, ¡°I hate the smell of dogs with the Empire¡¯s stench on them. However, those trash from the Sky Snake Gang disgust me even more! The entire street outside is filled with their eyes right now. If you aren¡¯t careful enough, I may have to take care of your corpse tomorrow morning.¡±

    Qianye paused his footsteps and said, ¡°If you enjoy carrying corpses on your back, then congrattions, there will be plenty of Sky Snake Gang henchmen who¡¯ll be your customers by the morrow. I may not like you, but thank you regardless.¡±

    The big guy nodded and opened the way. He walked toward the counter and said to Old 2, ¡°Old 2, I¡¯m here to submit a mission!¡±

    It was only when Qianye had exited the front door that the big guy said, ¡°That little guy might actually be able to do a little something. Maybe he¡¯s worth raising.¡±

    Old 2 simply shrugged and said nothing.

    When Qianye left Home of Hunters, he unhurriedly entered a dark alley by his side.

    The vagrants roaming around Home of Hunters immediately followed him from a suitable distance. The second Qianye entered the alleyway, he instantly sped up and charged to the end of the alley like a typhoon. He then turned to the left with a quick dash and step.

    The people following him couldn¡¯t be bothered to conceal themselves any longer and charged madly towards the street where Qianye disappeared. However, when they reached the crossroad, Qianye was long gone.

    A momentter, Qianye suddenly appeared at Yu Yingnan¡¯s doorsteps. However, before he could lift a hand and knock on the door, it suddenly opened to reveal a fully-armed Yu Yingnan walking out full of killing intent, carrying an extremely powerful, double barrel shotgun in one hand.

    Qianye suddenly leaped forward and pushed Yu Yingnan into the room. Then, he kicked the door shut.

 Volume 2 - 42: Kill Order

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 42: Kill Order

    ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± When Yu Yingnan saw Qianye, she was immediately ovee with joy and surprise.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Qianye looked at her attire and asked.

    Yu Yingnan gritted her teeth and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to fight those Sky Snake Gang bastards!¡±

    Qianye smiled helplessly and said, ¡°You will only be throwing your life away.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of death.¡± Yu Yingnan said coldly.

    ¡°But we all wish that you¡¯ll live nicely.¡±

    When she heard this, Yu Yingnan suddenly felt an indescribable sense of nervousness. She actually couldn¡¯t look straight at Qianye and averted her gaze to the side.

    Qianye grabbed over the shotgun in her hands and gave it a look. He then said, ¡°This shotgun looks pretty powerful. It¡¯s great. If you don¡¯t mind it, please lend it to me for a few days.¡±

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±

    Yu Yingnan only just finished half her sentence when Qianye sealed her mouth with a finger.

    ¡°This is my war, and I can I do anything I want because I have no bonds to tie me down, but you¡¯re different! Yourpanions and family are still waiting for you to protect and care for them. If you die, what would happen to yourpanions? Your younger brother?¡± When he was done, Qianye forcefully took off the bag holding the shotgun bullets and tossed it over his own shoulder. He then turned around and headed outside.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Yu Yingnan stopped Qianye and took out a bullet box, pushing it into his hands, ¡°There are three origin bullets here. This is all I have, but I will find someone to provide you support immediately.¡±

    ¡°I prefer to act alone. Plus, it¡¯s actually better for me if you don¡¯t do anything. Thank you for this!¡± Qianye waved the origin bullet box and stepped into the night.

    While staring at Qianye¡¯s back, Yu Yingnan felt lost for the first time in her life.

    She didn¡¯t know if she should charge out and help him, or listen to his words and do nothing. She herself knew that Sky Snake had definitely sent out a great number of men to monitor her movements. Perhaps this was what Qianye had meant earlier.

    Qianye began to run slowly under the night sky. He ran through the streets, the alleys, and even the low shacks. Finally, he suddenly changed his directions and sped up, leaving behind Sky Snake Gang¡¯s eyes once more as he returned to his own house. He then had a good night¡¯s sleep.

    Perhaps the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s people did not consider at all that Qianye would actually dare to return home, but they did not even send a single person to check out his own house, allowing Qianye to sleep through the whole night.

    When the rm clock¡¯s hand pointed towards six, a noisy ringing sound woke Qianye from his sleep. Qianye looked at the time and was greatly surprised that he had actually been able to get a good night¡¯s sleep, without any disturbance at all. Right now, he was like a lone wolf that waspletely rested and was capable of hunting several days and nights in a row.

    He briefly tidied up his room and even had the leisure to put a mustache on his face before he slipped through the window, leading to a narrow passage between the kitchen and the walls.

    Right when Qianye exited the window, the front door got kicked in by someone. A person said in a shrill voice, ¡°Check inside! Do not let that little bastard leave!¡±

    Qianye shook his head at the cry that came toote and leaped over the walls, vanishing into Darkblood City¡¯s lightless morning.

    Darkblood City was a giant ce with streets circting around the four Perpetual Dynamo Towers. Its skies were covered in messy pipes and wires, and its streets were asplicated as a maze. In the west and north areas were the residences of the expeditionary forces and nobles, so they could still be considered clean and tidy. On the other hand, the east and south areas, with a slum in their midst, were filled with gangs and all kinds of people.

    Even if the Sky Snake Gang had over ten thousand of members and controlled one third of the south area¡¯s streets, they would still not be able to act however they wished in such an environment. After they¡¯d retreated from Home of Huntersst night, they had spread out and stationed their spies on all city gates and major streets. Sky Snake paid no heed to Qianye¡¯s resistance at all. However, hunters were good at hiding their tracks, and if their carelessness led to Qianye sneaking out of city without them noticing, they would have to spend several times the effort to find him again.

    A momentter, at a dark and decrepit bar, Qianye sat at a corner, with his facepletely hidden in the shadows.

    Bottom-level inhabitants loved these kinds of small bars the most. It might be small, but it had everything it should have, such as booze and women. More importantly, the price was low.

    By spending only several dozens of copper coins, they could get arge cup of home brew rice wine and sit for an entire day. The jobless men who were idle during the day loved to gather at this ce and boast to other people to pass time. They would also check around to see if they could get a job the next day in passing. Therefore, this was also the gathering spot of many news and rumors. Most news was spread swiftly through ces like these.

    The air was filled with the smell of cheap cigarettes, perfumes, freshly cooked food and all sorts of other weird scents. It was also morous. Qianye shut his eyes and slowly channeled the Combatant Form in patience.

    When dusk arrived once more, Qianye¡¯s ears caught the news he needed.

    ¡°Hey! Did you guys know that something huge is going on! The Sky Snake Gang has issued a kill order on a one star hunter named Qianye! If anyone can get his head, they¡¯ll be rewarded one hundred gold coins! If anyone can provide urate information about his tracks, they could get ten gold coins as well!¡±

    ¡°Oh my god, one hundred gold coins!¡±

    This number caused the entire bar to boil up. It was a sum that exceeded the limit of most of the people¡¯s imaginations here. Almost no one here knew how they would spend such a huge sum of money if they did acquire it, so someone at the side of the bar began to scheme and plot on another¡¯s behalf. However, the guy who suggested the ideas did not actually know how to spend such a huge sum of money either, so the conversation quickly turned into an argument between both sides. For a sack of gold coins that they¡¯d never gotten, the duo began to fight it out in the bar.

    Amidst the chaos, Qianye quietly squeezed his way out of the bar. He raised his head and looked at the moonless, starry night sky. A hint of a smile seemed to appear on his lips.

    Kill order? Qianye was waiting exactly for this.

    It was obvious that the Sky Snake Gang had be a little anxious after losing his trail for an entire day. However, they were also very sure that Qianye had not exited the city, so the reason they gave out such a high bounty was to stop him from staying idle inside the city.

    However, this kill order brought an entirely different kind of meaning for Qianye. It meant that he now had a strong reason to lose himself in battle.

    On its own, the Sky Snake Gang was not worth the caution he was disying. There was no way Sky Snake could¡¯ve made his gang the third biggest organization in all of Darkblood City, so that meant that there must be someone who was supporting him from the shadows. Old 2 might be able to force Sky Snake out of Home of Hunters, but he might not be able to stop the important people behind him.

    However, the war was now limited to only Qianye and the Sky Snake Gang.

    Qianye began to walk aimlessly inside the maze-like alleys.

    When he passed through a small street, a group of Sky Snake Gang henchmen just happened toe through from the sidene. Qianye immediately halted his footsteps and waited patiently. Those people immediately froze on the spot, and when they saw Qianye¡¯s face clearly, they almost couldn¡¯t believe their eyes!

    ¡°Is that him?¡± A person asked tentatively.

    The guy who looked like the group¡¯s leader yelled loudly, ¡°Of course it¡¯s him! What are you guys waiting for, go as one and cut him to death!¡±

    A few people pulled out their knives and daggers and rushed towards Qianye while roaring!

    There were two loud bangs, and two henchmen fell backwards while looking badly mutted. At close range, a shotgun¡¯s terrifying power was almost unstoppable.

    Qianye¡¯s figure shed once, and he avoided the iing shes while dropping the two shotgun shells into his palm. He then calmly refilled the shotgun chamber as agilely as a little bird. The second he finished reloading, the barrel spat out two long me tongues that sted yet another two people into fiery deaths.

    Qianye calmly opened the gun bolt, ejected the shells, reloaded the bullets and resumed his stance once more. He then aimed at thest two Sky Snake Gang members.

    Under the threat of the gun barrel, the two Sky Snake Gang members shook all over like leaves in the wind. Suddenly, they fell on their knees in front of Qianye and cried for mercy.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s not so easy to earn the gold coins, now is it?¡±

    The Sky Snake gang members stared at each other, unsure how to answer his question. They did have some smarts in their brain, and they knew that a wrong answer on this kind of question might result in immediate death.

    Qianye slowly holstered his shotgun and said, ¡°Take a message back to your gang. From this day onwards, i will kill any Sky Snake Gang member who dares to patrol the streets! Now get out!¡±

    The two Sky Snake Gang members immediately ran off like chickens.

    Darkblood City was bustling with activity even at night. Some businesses that couldn¡¯t see daylight would only have life in them during this time. There was always a way to find a channel of ie in this city that never sleeps.

    Later on, Qianye continued to stroll about, and encountered several more Sky Snake Gang groups. His mustache disguise didn¡¯t actually change his appearance by much at all, so he was recognized almost every time.

    The next night, Sky Snake Gang¡¯s members showed Qianye how crazily far they were willing to go for the bounty of a hundred gold coins. Qianye also let them know just how much a different a Red Scorpion soldier was from a normal human being.

    Gunshots asionally resounded in the dark streets. The messy and disorderly shots belonged to the Sky Snake Gang, whereas the steady and low rumbles belonged to Qianye. The shotgun had a unique timber that sounded like a heavy drum beat, beating again and again at the gang members¡¯ hearts. Every time it beat, it would take away a life.

    Before he knew it, Qianye had arrived at ck Copper Street once again.

    Not far away, the luminous powder on the shop sign of A1 Firearms was glowing dark green.

    Qianye pushed the door and entered. The old man, A1, continued to wipe his gun parts behind the counter, without even bothering to lift his head.

    Qianye leaned against the counter and lit up a cigarette. He said, ¡°I¡¯m back.¡±

    When the old man lifted his head and saw Qianye, his expression immediately changed, instantly destroying his usual image of a mysterious elite.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you now, but I absolutely do not ept return goods after they are sold!¡± the old man said fiercely.

    Qianye passed over a cigarette and said, ¡°I should be calling you Old 1?¡±

    Old 1 sniffed the fumes breathed out by Qianye and looked slightly surprised, saying, ¡°This is mixed with military use stimnt? Let me see. Oh my god, these are the goods of an elite corps! I can¡¯t believe you actually acquired something like this!¡±

    Old 1 immediately lit up the cigarette and breathed in deeply. He held his breath, and a long whileter, a flush appeared on his face before he sighed, ¡°What a good taste! I haven¡¯t had something like this for a long time.¡±

    Qianye did not say anything. He simply pushed the whole pack of cigarettes in front of Old 1.

    Old 1 hesitated for a moment before keeping the cigarette pack in the end, saying, ¡°I¡¯m not epting return goods after I sold them no matter what!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m having a good time using this Ambusher. I have no ns of returning it.¡±

 Volume 2 - 43: Exiting the City

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 43: Exiting the City

    It was only then that Old 1 let out a sigh of relief, ¡°I heard that Old 2 recently recruited a little guy who had great potential, but was also very prone to getting into trouble. Not too long ago, the Sky Snake Gang even issued a kill order on said little guy. That¡¯s you, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Trouble? I simply felt that there was no need to hold back. Not to an unworthy Sky Snake Gang at least!¡±

    Old 1 looked Qianye up and down once before saying, ¡°You talk big, but your strength iscking, so what¡¯s the use? You can¡¯t beat Sky Snake, and there are at least a few rank four elites within Sky Snake Gang.

    ¡°Should I not fight, then? Just because I¡¯m not strong enough?¡± Qianye countered.

    Old 1 sighed, ¡°When I was younger, my thoughts were the same as yours. But it is only now that I understand that not fighting is the smartest measure when you¡¯re weak.¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Then I¡¯d rather not be smart.¡±

    Old 1 shook his head, ¡°Tell me what you want.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something I would like to sell you.¡±

    Qianye took out the Flowing Gold Rose, put it on the counter, and pushed it to Old 1.

    Old 1 immediately stood up and cried out involuntarily, ¡°A Flowing Gold Rose!¡±

    He took out a magnifying ss and examined every detail of the Flowing Gold Rose bit by bit. It was only until a long timeter that he said, ¡°There is no mistake! This is a Flowing Gold Rose handmade by the Niederhill Family themselves. This Flowing Gold Rose is the premium of the premium of its series.¡±

    Old 1 raised his head and looked at Qianye, saying, ¡°I heard that the Sky Snake Gang has lost a Flowing Gold Rose. Therefore, this is not the best time to sell it.¡±

    Behind the smoke, there was a faint smile on Qianye¡¯s slightly blurry face, ¡°Ever since met Old 2, I knew that you must have a channel to sell this off, Old 1.¡±

    Old 1 nodded and said, ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong there, but it¡¯s just a little troublesome. Still, the Flowing Gold Rose is worth this bit of trouble. However, you understand that it cannot possibly sell for too much due to the current circumstances, don¡¯t you? What do you want?¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment and said, ¡°I need a grade three handgun or shotgun, a powerful one. The shooting speed and range can be ignored. Also, I¡¯d like some origin bullets. Both nks and filled are fine.¡±

    In reality, this deal was practically exchanging the Flowing Gold Rose for a standard origin gun of the same rank. On the upper continents, the Flowing Gold Rose could easily be traded for three premium, rank three origin guns.

    Old 1 put away the Flowing Gold Rose and went to the back room. A momentter, he walked out and put a handgun holster and a bullet box in front of Qianye.

    ¡°This is Butcher 3. It¡¯s been revamped once, but it has an essory attached to its origin array, so its killing power has increased slightly. This is a box of nk origin bullets. There are ten bullets inside.¡±

    Qianye raised the Butcher handgun and gave it a rough inspection. This was a revolver-type handgun, but its cylinder could only fit four origin bullets. Its caliber was unusually big, and the entire gun was forty centimeters long. The barrel was so huge it could literally fit a young kid¡¯s fist. It looked to wield immeasurable killing power, so it was no wonder that it was named Butcher.

    The Butcher series were a rather famous handgun-type origin gun series. This was a handgun that was built purely for power, and the energy level a grade three Butcher could unleash was as high as that of arge caliber firearm cannon. Wielding this was literally like wielding a small, steel cannon. A single shot could easily pierce through an armored vehicle¡¯s defenses.

    The gun was about seventy percent new, and judging from the polishing marks inside the gun, the one who had modified it was an expert. The modification caused the gun¡¯s power to be enhanced by ten percent.

    Qianye was very satisfied with this Butcher. He immediately put it back into its dedicated holster and hung it at his waist.

    ¡°You had better leave Darkblood City immediately.¡± Old 1 said.

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving right now.¡± Qianye said, ¡°Although it doesn¡¯t make a difference to me to be inside or outside the city.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t left A1 Firearms too long before he saw a few Sky Snake Gang henchmen walking his way from the opposite side of the street. These people no longer appeared to be leisurely strolling around the ce. They were holding their guns in their hands, and had their fingers ced on the trigger, looking like they were facing a terrible enemy. At the same time, Qianye could feel a few people swiftly approaching from behind him, seemingly nning to surround him from both sides.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t hidden his tracks, so the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s men had immediately discovered him.

    ¡°It¡¯s that bastard!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him get away!¡±

    The Sky Snake gang henchmen sessively raised their guns and pulled out their knives before charging toward Qianye from the opposite side of the street, screaming at the top of their lungs. From behind him, there were also the sounds of sharp weapons cutting through the air.

    Robbery was not allowed on ck Copper Street. This was an unwritten rule that everyone obeyed, lest they should be viewed as enemies by every shop owner on the street. Those who had dared to break this rule in the past all turned to corpses and were dumped in the drains, to be discovered by other people.

    Although the shops at ck Copper Street were all small businesses, they were stores that sold arms.

    Qianye knew this rule very well, which was exactly why he stood in ce without moving and simply grabbed his small axe with his right hand.

    The two groups of people charged forward madly, and they looked like they were about to catch Qianye between them. It would only take another two or three steps before the person charging at the front could pierce his back with the tip of his knife.

    It was at this moment that Qianye moved and fiercely rammed into the crowd in front of him, sending two men flying backward to where they came from. Then, a cold gleam shed as his axe shed in a t arc and swept through three people¡¯s waists!

    In that instant, Qianye had already charged ten meters away. He then paused his footsteps before slowly turning around.

    There were two thumps, and the two henchmen knocked away by Qianye crashed onto the ground. They twitched and struggled, but could never climb to their feet again. Meanwhile, the other three people sped their waists and slowly fell to the ground as well. Blood swiftly spread out all over the floor.

    The three henchmen charging towards Qianye from behind stopped in their tracks. They stared in shock at Qianye and found that they were unable to take a step further. If Qianye could take out the five people at the front in an instant, then wouldn¡¯t the three of them just be throwing away their lives too if they charged at him? Suddenly, the group let out screams, turned around, and ran away!

    Qianye picked up a machete at random and threw it out forcefully! The de let out a whistle and flew like lightning before instantly sinking into the back of a henchman¡¯s heart!

    The other two henchmen ran even faster and disappeared to the end of ck Copper Street in the blink of an eye. If Qianye had really wanted to kill them, these two fellows could not have escaped. However, Qianye could not be bothered to chase after them. With swift steps, he left ck Copper Street and headed toward at a dense group of buildings before climbing up the web-like pipes covering the sky.

    During thetter half of the night, Qianye appeared at the city gate without any warning, and shed past a Sky Snake Gang sentry post. He then strutted across the magnificent building and left.

    There were plenty of Sky Snake Gang members who did not sleep well that night. They kept feeling ill at ease and would wake up from time to time.

    After sleeping through more than half the night, not only did Sky Snake not feel recovered, he felt even more tired than before. Naturally, Sky Snake was in an extremely bad mood at this time. His precious son was still lying on the bed, and there was no telling if he could be healed entirely.

    Qianye had acted ruthlessly. His shot had nearlypletely shattered the young man¡¯s knee.

    It was very difficult to heal such an injury, and the metallic shards trapped inside his bones had to be operated on several times before they could be cleaned out entirely. This was not something the doctors of this city could do well. On top of that, if he did not want any seque, his son could only be sent to the expeditionary army¡¯s headquarters or even the upper continent for treatment.

    The moment he thought of the huge fee he might have to pay to treat his son, Sky Snake felt both irritated and uneasy.

    If his son hadn¡¯t been somewhat talented and if he had not reached the rank three threshold at a young age, if his son hadn¡¯t had the potential to ascend to rank five, then Sky Snake had nned to give up on him entirely and raise a few more sons. However, a rank five son wasn¡¯t something that one could get just because they wanted to. Sky Snake had been nning to have his rank five son inherit his position in the future, which was why he absolutely loathed Qianye right now.

    In Sky Snake¡¯s eyes, not only did this clueless brat not feel grateful for having allowed him to leave the Sky Snake Gang alive back then, he even hurt his son with such a vile method, and publically went up against him at the Home of Hunters. Qianye was someone that he had to kill no matter what!

    Under the torture of his anger and his worries, Sky Snake had almost slipped to the edge of insomnia. Every time he felt a little sober, he would hear faint footsteps constantly running around, as well as the asional mor of people outside his room.

    ¡°This bunch of rubbish! They can¡¯t do anything right!¡± Sky Snake yelled inside his heart.

    However, not only did the noise outside not quiet down as he expected it to, it even grew louder and more disorderly.

    Sky Snake was finally sleep unable to sleep any longer as he abruptly sat up and let out an explosive yell fueled by origin power, ¡°What the f*ck are you guys talking about so noisily?!¡±

    The noise outside vanished instantly.

    With a dark face, Sky Snake put on his clothes and exited the room. His eyes swept across the guards outside like lightning, causing them to shiver and turn pale immediately as they straightened their posture.

    Sky Snake walked to the circr stairs and looked down at the hall beneath him. It was the ce where the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s higher-ups gathered and talked about business.

    Right now, the hall was filled with people, and even the people who weren¡¯t on duty today had appeared. They looked sleepy, and they were obviously just called up from their beds.

    From the top, Sky Snake swept a cold, electric nce across the crowd before yelling angrily, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Everyone subconsciously shivered at Sky Snake¡¯s anger. When Sky Snake was angry, there was no one who would not fear him.

    Finally, someone stood out and said, ¡°Chief, we have a lot of casualties tonight.¡±

    ¡°How many is a lot?¡± Sky Snake was almost roaring at the top of his lungs at this point.

    ¡°A-a hundred and thirty people.¡± the person finally reported the number under pressure.

    Sky Snake was just as surprised as his people when he heard this sudden number. He immediately calmed down and asked, ¡°Who did this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that kid, Qianye.¡±

    Bang! Sky Snake crushed the stair¡¯s handrail in one punch. He then directly jumped down from the second floor, causing the entire hall to shudder once.

    Sky Snake swept a nce across some of hispetent subordinates and asked in a low tone, ¡°Since we lost so many people, where is that Qianye¡¯s corpse?¡±

    No one answered him. Sky Snake¡¯s face darkened even further.

    The heavy number made everyone realize that Sky Snake Gang had absolutely provoked a dangerous opponent with true mettle in him. Qianye¡¯s rank might not be high, but the fact that he could kill so many Sky Snake Gang members in a single night meant that he was absolutely not an ordinary person. Even Sky Snake had to admit that he had not been able to kill so many people this quickly and efficiently when he was at rank three.

    There was absolutely no way he could leave this brat alive!

    Sky Snake calmed down and asked, ¡°Where is he now?¡±

    ¡°Someone saw him going outside the city.¡±

    ¡°Saw him?¡± A murderous look shed across Sky Snake¡¯s eyes.

    The answerer immediately thought ¡®shit¡¯ in his head before remedying his words, ¡°Someone outside the gang saw him.¡±

    Sky Snake had issued a kill order on Qianye, so if his men saw Qianye, the only course of action they should take was to kill him. If they saw him, but did not act, then they were disobeying his orders. Of course, the reason the normal gang members did not act must have been because they were afraid of Qianye, but their fear was meaningless in front of the gang¡¯s orders.

    Seeing that the man had remedied his mistake quickly, Sky Snake did not pursue the matter. He turned back and walked to the sofa at the center of the room. He sat down and began to ponder.

    A momentter, Sky Snake said slowly, ¡°ck Wolf, Flying Bird, the two of you will lead thew enforcement hall¡¯s kill squad to go out of the city and capture that kid.¡±

    A dark-skinned man took a step forwards after his name was called. He only nodded and said nothing in reply.

    Flying Bird was a bright and clean young man who had all this time been ying with a flying knife that was as thin as a cicada¡¯s¡¯ wing. When he heard Sky Snake¡¯s order, he frowned and said, ¡°That bastard is just a rank three small fry. Do I really need to act together with ck Wolf?¡±

    ¡°That kid is very cunning, and his methods are not normal. Do not be careless, Flying Bird!¡±

    Hearing Sky Snake¡¯s words, Flying Bird shrugged and said nothing.

    ¡°Is there anything at Yu Yingnan¡¯s side?¡± Sky Snake asked.

 Volume 2 - 44: Passerby

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 44: Passerby

    ¡°She went to a few weapon shops and bought quite a lot of ammo. It sums up to about all of her dividend from herst mission, but that¡¯s about it. There haven¡¯t been any unusual movements otherwise.¡±

    Sky Snake pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Dispatch some more men and watch her closely! You go too, Luo Xiong. If she shows any signs of interfering, you must dy her and keep her inside the city!¡±

    Sky Snake was profoundly wary of this female hunter as well. He had even sent one of his four elite subordinates, Luo Xiong to handle her.

    A heated gleam shed across Flying Bird¡¯s eyes as he suddenly said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me watch her! I like this job!¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s face darkened, and he yelled, ¡°No! We cannot touch her yet, or that Old 2 will fight us as if his life depends on it!¡±

    Flying Bird licked his lips and let out a cruel smile, saying, ¡°That old fool is only rank five. I seriously do not understand what you¡¯re so wary about! He has destroyed so many of our good deals already. In my opinion, we should¡¯ve killed him a long time ago!¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s face was dark as he said slowly, ¡°Eventually we will do just that, but it doesn¡¯t have to be now. Old Liao, how did themunication with the hunters go?¡±

    Old Liao was a lean, old man, whose thin and long eyes always reminded people of a poisonous snake. He said unhurriedly, ¡°It went very well! I found a person whom you most definitely will be interested in.¡±

    Old Liao called someone from outside the hall, and a man covered in a mantle from head to toe entered the hall and stood in front of Sky Snake. He unveiled his hood to reveal a young and handsome face.

    Even in front of Sky Snake, the man did not appear to be flustered or cowered in the slightest. He said calmly, ¡°I am Li Lunzhe. A rank three hunter with rank four origin power.¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s eyes lit up, and he stood up on the spot and said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of you! You are one of the strongest hunters of the younger generation! Tell me, what do you want?¡±

    Li Lunzhe forced out a few words through the gaps of his teeth, ¡°I can help you hunt down Qianye. The condition is that you will pass Yu Yingnan to me after the deed is done!¡±

    Flying Bird immediately let out a heavy snort at the side.

    While staring at Li Lunzhe, Sky Snake suddenly smiled and said, ¡°I cannot promise you this.¡±

    Li Lunzhe¡¯s expression immediately changed.

    After staring at him for a moment, Sky Snake finally said, ¡°However, I can promise you that after that brat is dead and II capture Yu Yingnan, I¡¯ll let you enjoy her for three days.¡±

    Li Lunzhe clenched his teeth and said, ¡°Alright, it¡¯s a deal then!¡¯

    ¡°Old Liao, give him a few men as well.¡±

    ¡°No need. I work alone.¡± Li Lunzhe said coldly.

    ¡°Good! This isn¡¯t bad!¡± Sky Snake smiled. In the wilderness, the optimal candidate to hunt down a hunter is, of course, still a hunter.

    Momentster, ck Wolf, Flying Bird and Li Lunzhe departed one after another. Right now, It was still earlier than the average get up time, so it was naturally even further away from daybreak.

    Sky Snake paced back and forth inside the hall. Despite carefully thinking all of his arrangements through from beginning to the end, he could not find any omissions to remedy or any errors to correct. However, for some reason, there was an uneasiness inside his heart that just wouldn¡¯t go away.

    Old Liao had been observing Sky Snake¡¯s bodynguage for a long time, and it was at this moment he said, ¡°Chief, one might say that we¡¯re using a sledgehammer on a nut, striking down on that little brat like a thunderbolt.¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s expression loosened a little as he nodded in agreement. Qianye was incredibly young, and he was only a rank three Fighter. In order to deal with a little brat, he had sent out three rank four experts in a row, two of which were not your average rank four Fighters, and members of his four elite subordinates no less. No matter how powerful that brat was, there was no way he could be more experienced than the veterans who had fought a hundred battles in their lives.

    As Old Liao said this was most definitely a thunderous strike. One might even say that the measures taken were overblown.

    Sky Snake returned to his bedroom upstairs to sleep just a while longer. This night¡¯s sleep was even more tiring than not sleeping at all, and his headache was pounding like a hammer. After he lied down on the bed, Sky Snake quickly became very drowsy, but because he was gued by thousands of thoughts that came in session, he just wasn¡¯t able to fall into a deep slumber.

    Right now, outside Darkblood City, Qianye had already found a mountain cave that was leeward of the wind, and had built a bonfire for himself. He sat in front of the bonfire, and the hind legs of a wild boar were just about to be fully roasted. me tongues licked at the grease and caused soft hissing sounds. Thin smoke rose in spirals and assailed the nostrils with an exotic aroma.

    Suddenly, footsteps rang from outside the cave, and a tall, young man crawled into the cave just like that.

    ¡°Smells good!¡± he said the second he came in.

    Qianye continued to turn the roasting boar leg and nced at the neer without batting an eyelid. Naturally, the fact that he dared to light a bonfire at this ce meant that he wasn¡¯t utterly defenseless. He could guarantee that no one could see any light or smell any odor from outside the cave.

    However, he had heard the young man¡¯s footsteps only after he had walked all the way to the cave entrance. This meant that none of the traps or mechanisms he had set up nearby had worked, and that even his footsteps were likely revealed intentionally by the young man after he had gotten close to Qianye.

    The young man took two steps and reached the bonfire, sitting down at the location opposite of Qianye. He appeared to be very graceful and content while he stretched his two long legs.

    ¡°I¡¯m William, Von William.¡± He introduced himself without the slightest shyness.

    The young man had a narrow forehead, high cheekbones, and golden hair. It was a face in the style of a ssic viking. His facial features were incredibly handsome, and his gray-blue eyes gave off a very focused and sincere feeling when he was looking someone in the eye. The smile on his face never seemed to wear off, and his short mustache added a mature charm to his young looks.

    Qianye lowered his gaze and painted the roasting boar leg with condiments onest time while saying, ¡°You can call me Qianye. Your name is a little strange. You are not from the Empire, are you?¡±

    William smiled and said, ¡°Ie from a very small country to the west of the Empire, and I have settled and studied at the Empire since a young age. My foster father at the Empire is named Von, so my surname took after his.¡±

    A gleam shed across Qianye¡¯s eyes, and he said, ¡°You are from the upper continent?¡±

    William raised his eyebrows with slight astonishment, ¡°You are very perceptive, my friend. That is right, I dide from the upper continent.¡±

    Qianye no longer said anything and took the fully-roasted wild boar leg down from the bonfire. He cut the leg in half and passed half of it to William. William was overjoyed by the gift, and without bothering with pleasantries he immediately epted it and chowed down.

    While watching him eat, Qianye¡¯s fingers trembled indiscernibly for just an instant. William¡¯s ears moved slightly, but he continued to eat happily without raising his head.

    Qianye no longer looked at him. He put another boar leg onto the fire and sprinkled condiments and alcohol on it. He began roasting again.

    Both men had quite the appetite, and like a tornado, they quickly gobbled down the two wild boar legs that added up to a fifty whole kilograms.

    William patted his belly with a fulfilled look on his face, smiling, ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten myself this full for several months!¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t easy to find food in the wastnd.¡± Qianye expressed his agreement.

    ¡°Oh no, foodes by easy, but tasty food isn¡¯t easy to find. You don¡¯t mind if I rest here for a night, do you?¡± William asked while smiling.

    Qianye opened his arms and said, ¡°Of course not. Please help yourself. I am about to sleep myself.¡±

    William put his backpack down on the floor to use it as a pillow, cing it at the side of the bonfire that was near the cave entrance. He then lied down on the floor and instantly fell into a deep slumber.

    Qianye stared at the leaping mes and zoned out for a bit. He then shifted backward and leaned half his body on the cave wall. He closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, slowly revolved a mind incantation, and entered a state of hypnagogia.

    This was a state between wakefulness and deep slumber. It was a sleeping art used specifically by the special forces of the army. It was suited for resting at the battlefield or in a dangerous environment, enabling the user to regain wakefulness at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The night was very quiet. There were only the asional crackling sounds of the bonfire.

    The silence was unnatural. During the night, the wastnd belonged to nocturnal beasts and low-ranking dark races. Travellers who dared to pass the night here would have to be prepared to face at least one or two surprise attacks. However, it had been unusually peaceful this night, and even the usual howls and roars almost never sounded.

    At five am sharp, William suddenly opened his eyes and let out a yawn, saying, ¡°What a good night¡¯s sleep!¡±

    The second William moved, Qianye immediately opened his eyes.

    William stood up, stretched his limbs and moved his body for a bit. He then let out a brilliant, sunlit smile and said, ¡°Thank you for the reception!¡±

    ¡°I did nothing.¡± Qianye shrugged and said.

    William crouched closer and patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°Alright, I should be leaving. Should the asion arise, we shall meet each other again in the future! Speaking of which, I saw a few people along the road who seemed to being after you. Be careful!¡±

    ¡°I will!¡± Qianye¡¯s cloak-wrapped body continued to lean against the cave wall. He merely lifted his head slightly in response.

    William¡¯s eyes nced once at Qianye, while his mouth formed a deep, meaningful smile. He then raised his backpack and waved his hands, walking out of the mountain cave and never turning back.

    Qianye did not move from his spot until he could no longer hear William¡¯s footsteps. It was only then he let out a soft sigh and suddenly felt cold sweat pouring all over his body!

    Qianye touched the spot on his shoulder where William had patted him, and put his hand in front of his nose, inhaling deeply. He immediately smelled an indiscernible, hot aura that could not be anything but dark origin power. Judging from its attribute, it probably came from a werewolf¡¯s territory.

    The young man who called himself William had immeasurable power. Qianye knew that William was suspicious from the second he stepped into the mountain cave, but he hadn¡¯t been able to discern anything until the veryst moment when he intentionally left behind that strand of aura. This meant that William was so much more powerful than him that they were not at the same level at all.

    Aside from that, Qianye had also noticed a corner of a tattoo etched on William¡¯s neck while he was eating the wild boar leg.

    It was a majestic and precipitous mountain peak. Both the shape and angles perfectly matched with that one image etched deeply inside Qianye¡¯s memory. The tattoo wasn¡¯t just any normal tattoo, but rather a totem that represented both faith and power.

    The Summit of Peaks was an incredibly powerful and mysterious werewolf tribe in the upper continent. It was said that every one of their members was a terrifying existences who sat at the top of the food chain.

    Why would a member of the Summit of Peaks suddenly appear near Darkblood City? When he rted this appearance with that of the mysterious, ck-robed person who had appeared suddenly that day, Qianye had a vague feeling that a gigantic storm was forming on this boulder-fillednd, and that if he was careless and became sucked into it, he would most definitely die a horrible death.

    It was only when William had truly left that Qianye finally became assured that he had escaped a disaster. If this William held any ill intentions toward him at all, he could easily tear Qianye to shreds with a single blow. No tricks or techniques were of any use before absolute power.

    Before he left, William had said that some people were following Qianye. These were probably the men Sky Snake had sent over, so Sky Snake¡¯s reactions were within his predictions at least.

    Qianye extinguished the mes and made some small arrangements inside the cave. He then withdrew a part of the traps outside the cave before leaving the ce.

    Half a dayter, a group of men dressed as adventurers appeared in front of the cave entrance. The leader of the group was none other than ck Wolf. He was a tracking expert of the wastnd, and he had actually managed to trace Qianye all the way to this cave.

 Volume 2 - 45: Lone Wolf

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 45: Lone Wolf

    ck Wolf carefully approached the cave entrance before taking a strong whiff. After observing the traces on the ground for a moment, he said, ¡°He left. You two, go in and take a look.¡±

    The two people chosen by ck Wolf crawled into the mountain cave. Not long after, their shouts rang out, ¡°He passed the night here!¡±

    They hadn¡¯t finished speaking before a terrific explosion urred inside the cave. The shockwave even sted one of the two people directly out of the cave!

    ¡°Dammit!¡± ck Wolf immediately bent downwards and covered his head, but he was also sted several meters away from where he stood by the shockwave, falling sideways due to shaky footing.

    ck Wolf turned over and hopped onto his feet, feeling impossibly upset with himself. The people he had sent into the cave were both experts in tracking and surviving in the wilderness, but why did they still fail to avoid the trap? With his twopanions dead and him left alone, the tracking would be incredibly difficult.

    ck Wolf hadn¡¯t even managed to stand firmly before a streak of light shed from the corner of his eyes. The sight immediately spooked him out of his mind. It was the light of an origin bullet!

    The shot was very sudden, and it came from only a hundred meters away. There was no way for ck Wolf to avoid it no matter what he did, so he did the only thing he could do and barely shifted his vitals out of the way.

    While letting out a bloodcurdling scream, ck Wolf was sent flying backwards by the shot, while his arms blocking in front of his chest became aplete, bloody mess. ck Wolf exerted every strength in his body to flip over in midair so that his feet wouldnd on the ground, but before his feet had even touched the ground, yet another light shed from within his field of vision. It was yet another origin bullet shot!

    ck Wolf¡¯s brain immediately turned nk, leaving behind only a single train of thought: How many people were there? What kind of shooting speed was this?! How could a single man possibly make all these shots?

    No matter what ck Wolf was thinking at that moment, the origin bullet still struck the same spot on his chest as before. This time, ck Wolf¡¯s defensive origin power waspletely blown away as his arms flew into the air.

    Right before ck Wolf crashed onto the ground, he finally saw Qianye¡¯s shooting position.

    Qianye was hiding right in the midst of a messy rock formation a hundred or so meters away. The rock formation there was craggy, but it did not have a high nt nor many foliages. The nts were so scattered that even the slightest movement would expose one¡¯s position. It was not a good ce to hide in the first ce, which was why ck Wolf hadn¡¯t paid it any special attention while inspecting the environment. Meanwhile, Qianye had buried himself beneath ayer of soil and did not move from the beginning until the end. That was how he had managed to fool ck Wolf, sessfullyunching his abrupt ambush.

    Qianye tossed the emptied Ambusher on the ground and leaped forth from his hiding spot like a hunting lone wolf. He charged towards the remaining Sky Snake henchmen at top speed! While running, Butcher and his hand knife were gripped in his left and right hand respectively.

    Bang! Butcher opened fire when Qianye was ten meters away from the group. The discharged origin bullet blew a Sky Snake Gang henchman backward into the air.

    When Qianye dashed past the final ten meters like lightning, he dove into the still confused crowd that was trying to seek out its enemy, and his war axe shed with a cold gleam, instantly dropping two people to the ground. Then, Butcher spun in the air as Qianye gripped its barrel and mmed the steel iid right into a third person¡¯s head!

    A rank one Fighter from the Sky Snake Gang stood slightly further away from the battlefield, and was currently holding his origin gun upward, trying his best to lock onto Qianye. The patterns on his gun lit up one after another, and it looked like it would finish charging any moment.

    Qianye suddenly let out a low roar and rammed toward the Fighter. The dozen or so meters of distance was covered in the blink of an eye, while every Sky Snake Gang henchman in the way was bashed so hard that they flew to the sides!

    Amidst the sounds of bones breaking, the rank one Fighter¡¯s chest immediately caved in. In face of Qianye¡¯s tremendous strength that could rival a rank five Fighter, he was instantly beaten into a state of near death. In one swoop, Qianye grabbed the rifle that was just about to be fully charged, and tossed it out with a backhand motion. The gun¡¯snding spot happened to be exactly where another Sky Snake Gang henchman was standing.

    That henchman was also a rank one Fighter, and he had barely stumbled out of Qianye¡¯s pouncing charge just a moment ago. He wasn¡¯t even standing fully on his feet, yet when he saw the origin gun spinning and flying in his direction, he subconsciously grabbed it. He then experienced a sudden realization as he stared at the erratic, flickering light on the gun¡¯s body and felt his expression twist greatly!

    There was a bang, and the origin gun that had forcefully been interrupted in mid-charge exploded abruptly, covering Sky Snake Fighter¡¯s face in blood. The man then fell backward and copsed.

    Qianye panted intensely while inspecting his surroundings. There was no longer anyone who was still standing around him.

    Qianye slowly made his way in front of ck Wolf and looked at him with a bowed head, asking, ¡°Are you ck Wolf?¡±

    ck Wolf had taken two origin bullets in a row and had lost both of his arms. He did not even have the strength to sit up as he asked weakly, ¡°You recognize me?¡±

    ¡°You are one of the four elites of the Sky Snake Gang. Since you and I are at war now, it is only natural that I investigate every one of your backgrounds.¡±

    ck Wolf said with difficulty, ¡°You¡­ are not a normal hunter! Just who¡­ are you?¡±

    ¡°My identity is not important. Do you have anyst words?¡±

    A grieved look appeared on ck Wolf¡¯s face as he said, ¡°If possible, I wish to die¡­ by an origin gun. That is where I truly belong.¡±

    Qianye lifted Butcher and slowly revolved the Combatant Form. As the origin array on the gun¡¯s body slowly lit up, a soft, lustrous light appeared on its gigantic muzzle.

    Qianye pointed the gun at ck Wolf¡¯s heart before pulling the trigger. With a bang, the yellow beam pierced ck Wolf¡¯s chest, and a meter high blood fountain sprung forth!

    Qianye briefly swept through the battlefield and took away only ck Wolf¡¯s grade two origin gun and everyone¡¯s gold coins. After walking to a hill several hundred meters away to the east andying down some arrangements, he then gradually merged with the surrounding environment once again.

    Half an hourter, another group of Sky Snake Gang henchmen showed up, and this time, their leader was Flying Bird. When he saw that the cave entrance was littered with bodies, his face distorted greatly as he charged directly towards the scene.

    However, when Flying Bird saw ck Wolf¡¯s body, he skidded to a sudden stop and simultaneously raised his hand. The Sky Snake Gang henchmen immediately paused their footsteps before spreading out and finding their ce in a battle formation. They instantly entered a state ofbat readiness.

    Flying Bird stood ten meters away from ck Wolf¡¯s body and did not take a single step closer. After a moment of surveying the traces left behind on the battlefield, he urately deduced the position ck Wolf was sted away from the first time. Then, after observing and calctingly quietly for another moment, he looked to where Qianye had first fired his shot.

    Flying Bird slightly bent his body like an agile cat, and walked toward Qianye¡¯s former sniping position with erratic movement speed. Naturally, there was nothing to be found in the location, and not only was the pit Qianye had used to hide himself reburied once more, there were even a few rocksid on top of it.

    Flying Bird¡¯s gazended on the small patch of grass that was posed awkwardly between two of the rocks. He then raised his head and followed Qianye¡¯s sniping trajectory before scanning through the entire craggy rock formation once more.

    In the afternoon, the wind on the wastnd had started to grow stronger again.The nts in the open space were all swaying slightly, following the wind¡¯s direction, but the little patch of grass between the two rocks was forcefully positioned to bent sideways. It would seem that this had been Qianye¡¯s first hiding spot, but he had wiped his traces after the deed was done.

    Flying Bird took two steps forward and crouched down to check the fake markings Qianye had left behind. An excellent hunter would be able to deduce their opponent¡¯s habits through these little clues, and gain a key advantage during their next encounter with the enemy.

    However, he had only just bent his waist when he abruptly bounced up from the ground as if he had been bitten by something! Only, it was already toote. From the corner of his eyes, Flying Bird caught a ball of light shooting toward him, and it was only then the boom of a gunshot entered his ears!

    The light exploded, and Flying Bird was tossed backwards like a ragged sack. He did a flip in midair and barelynded on the ground, but his left arm was lowered bonelessly beside his body and could never be raised again. The entire arm was a bloody mess.

    Several hundred meters away on a gradual slope, Qianye stood up from his hiding spot and as he stared Flying Bird, he made a neck-cutting motion at him from afar. He then turned around and climbed away.

    With a deathly pale face, Flying Bird slowly stood up straight. The Sky Snake Gang henchmen wanted to chase after Qianye, but they were stopped by Flying Bird.

    Qianye had obviously exhausted his origin power and no longer had the strength to devour them all in one gulp. That was why he chose to retreat after hurting Flying Bird in one shot. However, if the group had chased after Qianye without Flying Bird to hold the lines, then they would only be picked off one by one by Qianye using mobile warfare.

    Flying Bird wrapped his wounds and surveyed every trace of the battlefield including inside the cave before finally climbing up the mountain ridge and looking at the direction Qianye had gone off to. His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty madness, but there was profound wariness behind them as well.

    As Qianye ran, he would at times pay attention to his back. Seeing that Flying Bird did not chase after him, he felt a chill in his heart as he knew that he was facing a very difficult opponent. However, he had broken Flying Bird¡¯s arm with his shot, and there was no way he could heal it without a week¡¯s time. If Flying Bird refused to return and would persist in chasing after him, then hisbat power would be greatly affected.

    After running continuously for several dozens of kilometers, Qianye finally decreased his speed and proceeded forward carefully. By now, he had broken away from Darkblood City¡¯s control, and asionally, there would be dark races operating around the area. Just as the human race would hunt down the dark races, the dark races would also capture those of the human race. The differencey in that the majority of the dark races saw humans as food, especially humans who cultivated the extraordinary origin power. These types of humans were a rare treat to certain races.

    While proceeding forward, Qianye looked for a hiding spot and finally settled on a hidden mountain cave by a low cliff overgrown with bushes. He crawled inside and disguised the cave entrance. It was only then that he finally rxed.

    Qianye took out a map and inspected it for a bit. He then plotted the route to take by the morrow and marked several notable locations. Finally, he reviewed his work from beginning to the end once more.

    If the injured Flying Bird continued toe after Qianye, following the tracks he left behind, then he would get a profound experience of the difficulties of the wastnd. Once both sides had exhausted a majority of their stamina, Qianye nned to give Flying Bird a deeply impressive battle encounter. The rtionship between prey and its predator was never fixed on the wastnd.

    After finishing his preparatory work, Qianye began cultivating the Combatant Form. He could now endure up to twenty-five cycles of origin tides every time he nurtured his nodes. In the foreseeable future, he had the hope of cultivating using a Fighter King¡¯s level of origin tides.

    Qianye was somewhat looking forward to that future. The sheer power behind the impact of a thirty cycle origin tide could destroy almost any barrier beneath a Champion¡¯s level of cultivation. That was to say, no bottlenecks existed for Fighter Kings before they reached rank nine. Although the blood energy inside Qianye¡¯s body would devour a small portion of his origin power during the nurturing process, his origin power was alreadypact and immense in the first ce. This bit of loss would only drag him down to a normal cultivator¡¯s level.

    While Qianye was cultivating, the blood energy inside his body acted on its own. The gold and purple blood energies became active once again as they respectively killed and devoured many strands of normal, dark red blood energy. Their activities were growing more and more frequent, to the point that they had almost be a constant interlude between every nurturement of the nodes. At this point, Qianye practically ignored them most of the time and simply treated it as part of the cultivation process.

    When he was done cultivating, Qianye began performing maintenance on his guns, and instilled a new origin bullet. Once all thebat preparations wereplete, he closed his eyes and fell half asleep, quietly awaiting daybreak.

    The night was as noisy as ever. Sometimes there would be long, drawn-out wolf howls, and sometimes there would be beast roars. There were also the booms and rumbling howls of gunshots. In this deep and dark, and seemingly eternal night sky, the human race, dark races and feral beasts ughtered each other in order to w out and of living.

    Ambusher and Butcher were right by his hands, and the war axe was within arm¡¯s reach as well. Qianye could feel icy and firm metal with his fingertips at any moment. His frame of mind was very stable too. As long as he could fight, as long as he was still alive, he would never give up.

    Qianye gradually entered dreand.

    He didn¡¯t know how much time had passed, but he suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a forest. His surroundings were dark, and there was nothing to be seen, but he could feelyer uponyer of killing intent piercing his exposed skin like a sea of needles, causing wave after wave of goosebumps to tremor through his body.

    Suddenly, a rustling sound appeared from behind some shrubs, and Qianye immediately lowered his body like a wild hunting beast. He held his breath and closely watched the direction where the sound hade from.

 Volume 2 - 46: The Hunt

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 46: The Hunt

    A girl suddenly burrowed out from a shrub. Her features were ordinary, but her figure was slim and graceful, and she had two twisted braids draped over her chest. The moment she lifted her head, she saw Qianye and was momentarily startled into jumping. However, after she saw Qianye clearly, color returned to her face, and she called out, ¡°Qianye!¡±

    ¡°Mimi!¡± The name instantly sprung from Qianye¡¯s heart.

    At this point, Qianye was holding a simple and crude dagger that had an incredibly sharp edge. The grooves of the de were decorated, but it was the only usable weapon he had. He was a youth, in the midst of a life-and-death examination. The rules were simple but cruel, one had to kill one of the other examinees to pass the test.

    Mimi hesitated, and then walked towards Qianye. There was fog all around them,ing from an unknown ce. As Mimi¡¯s footsteps headed toward him under the cool light of the moon, they created ripples in the fog as if it were water.

    She spoke softly, ¡°I¡¯m very scared! Will you kill me?¡±

    ¡°Never!¡± Qianye was resolute.

    After hearing Qianye¡¯s reply, Mimi let go of a breath, and quickly walked over to Qianye and spoke quietly, ¡°Let¡¯s deal with the others together, then our chances of passing will be greater.¡±

    Qianye was still hesitating, when he suddenly felt a sh of coldness at his hip! Many years of brutalbat training caused him to immediately fall forward, and roll away a few times, creating distance from the secret assant. Qianye turned around to look, but only saw that the girl¡¯s hand and dagger were stained with fresh blood!

    Qianye was angry and confused, and as he grasped at the wound by his waist, he called out to her, ¡°Why!?¡±

    The girl¡¯s face was expressionless, and her voice mechanical. ¡°Because I want to pass the exam, because I want to get rewarded!¡±

    Facing the girl who was pursuing him closely, Qianye could only rapidly retreat. Blood rapidly hemorrhaged from between his fingers as he was unable to keep it down with pressure.

    Mimi viciously pounced at him, mercilessly stabbing away with her dagger, going so fast that her strikes left afterimages. Every single sh aimed at his vitals. Qianye¡¯s heart cooled and he grasped his dagger tightly. He suddenly ignored all of the knife thrusts aimed at him, and wholly focused on stabbing Mimi¡¯s heart!

    This one stab struck air, and then all the fog was suddenly violently blown away. Qianye found himself on top of a lonely cliff that stretched all the way up into the sky. A a few thousand fathoms below him, he could see little ck lines snaking along in arge valley. From those lines that looked like little rows of ants, he could clearly make out instructors Long Hai, Zhang Jing, Yin Yin, Shen Tu and the others.

    There was another man on top of the high cliff. He was dressed in schr¡¯s clothing with broad sleeves, the traditional dress code of the upper echelon aristocrats of the Empire. He stood one step away from the very edge of the cliff, his clothes pping in a breeze as if he was about to ride the winds.

    Song Zining turned around, and his smile was still warm like jade. ¡°Qianye, you see, that is my great way.¡±

    At this time, all of the images suddenly twisted, and the entire world followed suit, cracking, and shattering into infinite pieces. Qianye was jolted away, but the image of the dream was still deeply imprinted on his mind. It was iprehensible.

    From outside the cave came the extremely faint sounds of movement, almost indiscernible against the howling of the night winds of the wastnd. It was this that had woken Qianye. The resonator underneath him, which had been covered with a cloth, had vibrated with the passing of some living thing. However, the sound was a little distant, and there was still some distance to go before they arrived.

    Qianye quietly walked out of the cave, and climbed up the slope, heading toward the skeletal remains of the top of a crashed airship, carefully peering into the distance. Nights in the wastnd were both quiet and disquiet. A small blip in the corner of his sight aroused his attention. It was a slow-moving body that looked like some sort of strange, little creature as it relentlessly made use of the topography to close in.

    Qianye immediately recognized it as a hunter, and on top of that, a hunter whose skills in camouge were remarkable. He had practically melded into the environment surrounding him. If there was one thing could be considered a failings, it was that this particr hunter was still a little anxious. Because it was now in the deepest of night, just before dawn, most of the wildlife would be incredibly exhausted. In contrary, he was moving a little fast. Hence, with Qianye¡¯s night vision, it was as if he were advancing very obviously.

    In the wastnd, meeting a stranger was always fraught with danger. Even the hunters themselves were divided over whether they should be cautious of the legitimacy of another hunter¡¯s identity. The vast majority of hunters liked to move independently. Not only for the sake of personal freedom, but also because they were all afraid of being stabbed in the back. Even if there was a mission that necessitated arge group, there would be very few hunters who would let aplete stranger join in. A captain like Yu Yingnan was considered a rare find.

    This was why Qianye was actually on high alert after determining that this was a hunter. Looking at the other party¡¯s trail as they headed forward, killing intent emerged on Qianye¡¯s face.

    The movements of that hunter followed an iparably familiar route. In fact, it was the exact route where Qianye had left markings the night before. Originally, it was supposed to be for Fei Niao. But as it seemed now, this solo hunter was clearly also pursuing Qianye.

    Qianye quietly climbed up the skeleton of the airship, and snuck toward the appointed position.

    A whileter, that single hunter had already found to the cave where Qianye had previously sheltered himself. It would seem that his tracking skills were incredibly good. The hunter¡¯s movements became even more careful as he quietly moved into the cave, not making a single sound.

    At this instant, a rock thaty by the hunter¡¯s leg suddenly let out a crisp ¡°pa¡± noise. He immediately stopped.

    This was a little trap meant for early warning, and with Qianye¡¯s expert camouging skills, he had even managed to fool this experienced hunter. However, he hadn¡¯t exactly lost out, either. If he could see through all of the setups, he would have discovered that a semi-circr web of information protected the center of the cave, and that there was only a three or four meter distance between each trap.

    From the cave came Qianye¡¯s voice, ¡°Who goes there?¡±

    The hunter¡¯s body trembled once, and he then made a snap decision to stand up, speaking out with a very normal voice, ¡°It¡¯s me, Li Lunzhe. We once went on a mission together. Is that you, Qianye?¡±

    The voice of Qianye inside of the cave rxed a little. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you. What brings you here?¡±

    ¡°I was out on a mission, and just happened toe by. I spotted some of the markings you left behind, so I came to take a look. Right, Qianye, I could use your help on this mission, and we could discuss how to split the reward¡­¡± As Li Lunzhe spoke, he put down the barrel of the origin gun that he was holding, and walked lightly into the cave.

    At this instant, Li Lunzhe waved his left hand that had been hanging by his waist, and three grenades flew into the cave!

    The cave lit up with a sudden sh of light. The light even spread several metres out of the cave, and after an ear-shattering boom, the ground shook, and a thick cloud of smoke slowly spilled out.

    A sh grenade, a stun grenade, and a tear-gas grenade. Under the attack of all threebined, it didn¡¯t matter how many people were waiting in ambush inside the cave, they would temporarily be disarmed.

    Li Lunzhe pounced like a leopard, his origin gun¡¯s channels lighting up fully,pletely charged. He didn¡¯t even look, and instantly shot towards the cave! Another three grenades then appeared in his hands!

    This one shot wasn¡¯t meant to hit something, it was merely a form of suppressive fire. If Qianye had really managed to bear through the initial assault, and wanted to retaliate, then he would crash into this one shot. Li Lunzhe¡¯s assault was a perfect cycle, extremely vicious and unforgiving, and designed to smash an opponent in a single stroke. It already had a little bit of the style of Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    Three more grenades were tossed into the cave, but it was as if Li Lunzhe had suddenly been struck by a heavy hammer, involuntarily blown away. He could only watch as his right shoulder departed his body, flying into the air.

    What happened? Li Lunzhe was both shocked and angry, and then everything went ck.

    Qianye stood up from outside of the cave, and after putting down the Butcher which barrel was still warm, he dragged the unconscious Li Lunzhe into the cave. As a grade three firearm, Butcher¡¯s power was four times that of an ordinary grade one firearm, and with the Heavy Caliber modifications made to it on top of having fired from such a short distance, one shot had heavily injured the rank four Fighter Li Lunzhe.

    A whileter, Qianye finished cleaning up the remaining signs of battle outside, and returned to the cave. He took out the little copper wine sk and drank a sip. He then spit it all out and sprayed it all over Li Lunzhe¡¯s amputated arm, making him howl in pain as he instantly came to.

    Li Lunzhe struggled, and howled again. His ankles and wrists had all been punctured and nailed to the wall of the cave. With every bit of movement, he was immediately wracked with wave after wave of heart-rending pain.

    ¡°It looks like the mission you took was rted to me.¡± Qianye spoke carefreely.

    ¡°You¡­.. how did you¡­.¡± Li Lunzhe hadn¡¯t even finished his sentence before he saw Qianye pointing his thumbs towards the left side of the cave. Unexpectedly, there was a copper pipe, and its opening had clearly been modified. It was split into seven or eight little gaps that opened outwards, and the other end of the pipe was deeply embedded into the wall, going somewhere.

    Li Lunzhe was hit by a sudden revtion: Qianye had used this copper pipe to carry his voice, letting him think that he was still in the cave.

    Li Lunzhe¡¯s face sank. ¡°I¡¯ve lost an arm, and even if I get it back, mybat ability will suffer greatly. On top of that, I can¡¯t even afford the fee to get it done. I doubt you will let me off, but don¡¯t expect to get anything out of my mouth. Just kill me quickly!¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I don¡¯t intend to let you off, but I¡¯m in no rush to kill you either. I think you¡¯ll be spilling the beans very, very soon.¡±

    Right in front of Li Lunzhe, Qianye took out a small leather pouch from his bag and opened it, revealing a full row of precision tools. Among them were various curved needles, hooks, as well as other strangely-shaped little scalpels and the like. The pouch with tools included various metals, so these were clearly not some industrial products, but rather things that were hand-made.

    Li Lunzhe¡¯s face became deathly pale as he instantly recognized what they were.

    Those were torture tools! Aplete set of torture tools!

    These types of torture tools were intricate andplex, and the more of them there were, the more effective they were. The number of tools that Qianye had taken out was well into the tens, and from the looks of it, they were all self-made. This clearly indicated that he was definitely an expert in torture and interrogation!

    Qianye looked at Li Lunzhe with a little bit of regret. ¡°I was preparing to use these on the Sky Snake Gang, but unexpectedly, I¡¯ll have to use it on you first.

    In the blink of an eye, Li Lunzhe¡¯s pitiful howling echoed throughout the cave.

    Li Lunzhe had still underestimated Qianye. Qianye¡¯s level of attainment in torture and interrogation had already broken past the level of a mere expert, heading straight into the level of a master!

    The Yellow Springs Training Camp had a specialized course in interrogation. One half of it was dedicated to improving the students¡¯ ability to resist torture and interrogation, while the other half taught them specialized skills and various techniques for interrogating and torturing others. Actually, for the better part of this course, the instructors were performing the different forms of cruel torture on the students. As a result, he himself had repeatedly experienced it, so he knew each and every technique¡¯s varying strengths and weaknesses. Of course, this training would also let them improve their willpower and ability to resist pain.

    When this particr course had first started, the ss had been a horrific mess. Many students fainted on the spot, were forcefully woken, and were then tortured to the point of fainting again. A yearter, in contrary, the ss waspletely silent, and with the exception of the asional person softly groaning, there wasn¡¯t a single person who fainted. There were even others who would gaily hold light conversations while suffering the cruel torture. Hence, every single graduate of the Yellow Springs Training Camp was an expert in torture and interrogation.

    After entering the Red Scorpions, Qianye hade into contact with the elite corp¡¯s interrogation techniques, and his ability had improved yet again.

    Li Lunzhested a mere three minutes, and then he spilled it all.

    Qianye constantly changed his angle of interrogation, repeatedly questioning him until he was sure that was he had gotten was the truth. In the end, he sighed. ¡°Sister Nan is actually pretty nice to you, but you don¡¯t suit her.¡±

    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, she would have been mine! If I can¡¯t have her, nobody can!¡± Li Lunzhe suddenly had an outbreak of hysteria, and kept calling him names as if his life depended on it.

    Qianye shook his head, squarely aiming the Butcher at Li Lunzhe¡¯s forehead. ¡°Seeing that as you¡¯re a fellow Fighter, I will let you die from an origin gun.¡±

    A boom echoed out from the cave.

 Volume 2 - 47: Goodbye, Rookie

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 47: Goodbye, Rookie

    Qianye walked out of the mountain cave, his bags saddled with several dozens of kilograms more weight than before. This included a grade two origin gun, five physical origin bullets, several dozens of gold coins, as well as some survival gear and food for the wilderness.

    About a day after Qianye had left the cave, Flying Bird and his subordinates arrived. At this point, Flying Bird had already been run rather ragged, his clothes grimy and torn in a few ces.

    The Sky Snake Gang henchmen were all equally winded and exhausted, and those that could still keep up numbered Flying Bird only six, everyone else had been left behind. At this point, these Sky Snake Gang henchmen had long since lost that same swaggering arrogance they had when they had just left the city.

    When Flying Bird saw Li Lunzhe¡¯s corpse in the cave, his face turned incredibly ugly. Although he was incredibly arrogant and stubborn, he was no fool. He knew very well that this person was one of the strongest of the young generation from Home of Hunters. Furthermore, it was in a wilderness like this that a hunter could unleash his greatest ability. Out here, even Flying Bird couldn¡¯t guarantee that he would be able to kill Li Lunzhe in a one on one.

    But now, Li Lunzhe was dead, and had died in such a terrible manner.

    Flying Bird crouched, and ignoring his own mysophobia, he personally stripped all of Li Lunzhe¡¯s clothes, and carefully inspected every single wound. The more he looked, the paler Flying Bird¡¯s face got. This was an abnormally professional and incredibly exquisite torture technique! Looking at the result, Flying Bird knew that if it had been him there and then, he might not have evensted one minute. In fact, the more twisted and perverse the killer, the more fragile their mental states were.

    If hended in Qianye¡¯s hands, the best solution would be to kill himself.

    The image of ck Wolf¡¯s corpse flitted across Flying Bird¡¯s mind, and he slowly stood up. ¡°Withdraw! We¡¯re returning to the city!¡±

    All of the Sky Snake Gang henchmen let loose a collective breath, and immediately followed Flying Bird, leaving in a hurry. Seeing that this was an enemy that they could only keep pursuing, and yet never actually catch, as well as the terrifying manner by which so many of their fellows on the road had died, these Sky Snake Gang henchmen, who would act brazenly without a care in Darkblood City, had already gotten a taste of true fear.

    Was Qianye really only rank three? That was the question floating at the top of everyone¡¯s minds.

    At this point, Qianye was standing at the peak of a mountain several dozens of kilometers away, observing his surroundings. He peered from his hiding hole. ¡°That Flying Bird should havemenced the return trip by now, shouldn¡¯t he? As long as he isn¡¯tpletely stupid or insane.¡±

    Qianye unfurled his map, whereupon several locations were already marked down. These were all prime locations for an ambush, forming a thick defensive line between Flying Bird and the road back to Dark Blood City.

    By now, Flying Bird had lost the wind in his sails. He had found Qianye¡¯s hiding spot an hour ahead of his predictions, so he was still pretty capable, however, since he had pursued Qianye across the wastnd for several days and nights without rest, Flying Bird had expended a lot of his energy. Hence Qianye¡¯s intent of killing him on the way back.

    Killing off ck Wolf and Flying Bird would make the Sky Snake Gang lose two of its four so-called experts, an immensely heavy blow for Sky Snake.

    However, as Qianye was choosing his ambush spots, he suddenly had a kind of feeling and looked toward the far horizon.

    The dark season of the Evernight Continent was also termed the horizon days. The night skies would be dark and empty, and the star clouds surrounding the world were especially far away. In this especially cid and deste sky, a star suddenly red with brightness.

    Even as the starlight grew brighter, transforming the faint glow intoplete illumination, each twinkle seemed to make it grow another ring. With Qianye¡¯s night vision, that starlight looked as if it were rapidly moving, and even approaching him. An instantter, a small, bat-winged airship came into his sight. The airship was on fire.

    It swayed from side to side unsteadily as its altitude constantly decreased. Finally diving toward the ground, it crashed on the other side of the mountain, immediately burst into a haze of fire.

    Qianye was momentarily shocked. This airship¡¯s design was so unique, he definitely couldn¡¯t ever forget it! It was a lifeboat used only by the Red Scorpion Corps! Long ago, he too had flown one of these to escape certain death.

    He didn¡¯t expect that he would see it here once again. Qianye had already noticed that the airship being on fire was not due to mechanical malfunction. It had evidentlye under external assault, and if even the lifeboats had been attacked, the state of the Red Scorpions¡¯ mission could be easily imagined. However, given the strength of the Red Scorpions, it wasn¡¯t even possible for the entirety of the Boulderstone Region to oppose them, much less Darkblood City.

    Qianye¡¯s heart chilled, remembering that mysterious ck-robed man, and William from the Summit of Peaks. If they had run into either of those two, they would have been powerless to resist, even if there was a Red Scorpion captainmanding the troops. Unless the Red Scorpion Corps dispatched an expert on the level of a vice corpmander or higher, they wouldn¡¯t stand a chance.

    Qianye hesitated a moment, and then grit his teeth, continuing to rush toward the crash site of the lifeboat. Even though he feared that he might directly face a monstrously strong existence like William, Qianye still decided to take the risk. Although he had not spent very long time as a Red Scorpion, the Red Scorpion Corps had given Qianye many things. One one of them was something calledrades-in-arms!

    As for Flying Bird, Qianye could no longer be bothered with such small fry.

    Qianye carefully hurried forward as he kept his body extremely low, making use of the surroundings to constantly mask his approach on the crash site. He rapidly scaled the opposing peak, and then carefully peered out, looking ahead.

    The lifeboat had crashed in the middle of the mountain, and waspletely swallowed by the raging mes. In addition, there were ten-odd teams of vampire warriors forming an encirclement, currently besieging the lifeboat.

    Suddenly, a beam of red light came from the rubble beside the lifeboat, instantly blowing away a vampire warrior. At this, the rest of the vampires began to speed up, traversing over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye as they rushed into the rubble, tussling with a tall, broad-shouldered Red Scorpion soldier.

    That Red Scorpion soldier had long since been heavily injured, and seven-or-eight vampire warriors had him surrounded, enclosing him like a pack of wolves around a majestic lion.

    As Qianye watched the battle, the Red Scorpion soldier¡¯s movements suddenly slowed, and the surrounding vampire warriors were all greatly delighted, immediately pouncing at him!

    In his heart, Qianye was howling!

    He too hade from the Red Scorpion Corps, so he naturally knew what that soldier was up to. However, it was already toote to stop him at this point.

    As a beam of piercing, silver light emerged from that pile ofbatants, all of the vampire warriors pitifully sped at their faces, staggering backwards. Following that, a ring of me expanded rapidly with that Red Scorpion soldier as its epicenter, and the st wave sent all the vampire warriors flying. However, the mes adhered to them, burning endlessly. Those vampire warriors were screaming from the burning pain, but even after continuously rolling over, they couldn¡¯t extinguish the mes.

    The zing mes were suffused with little threads of silver. On top of that, these were mes that had been infused with Daybreak origin power, which was of great lethality to the dark races. This type of origin power grenade had immense power, but was equally expensive, usually only issued to captain-level soldiers.

    In the center of that st, that Red Scorpion soldier was thoroughly evaporated. He had burned through four of the origin power grenades in one go, and left nothing of himself behind.

    That only left five vampire warriors. They had been the furthest away at that time, and hadn¡¯t had time to pounce on him. However, even though they had, with great luck, scraped out of it alive, they had been scared stiff, and didn¡¯t dare to approach the epicenter of the explosions, even though that Red Scorpion soldier had been vaporized by the st.

    Just at this moment, a loud roar suddenly sounded from not too far away, and a shining origin bullet tore through the sky, sting away one vampire warrior.

    The remaining vampire warriors immediately split up and pulled out of their disced assault formation, charging toward the origin of the gunshots, a low shrubbery.

    The origin gun boomed again, but this time round, the aim was just slightly off, and the origin bullet brushed past the body of a vampire warrior. That fellow squealed out, and in that instant of dy, was almost swept away by the remnants of the origin power wave. However, it was only a case of being bowled over, and given that vampire warriors had strong bodies, these kinds of injuries werepletely ineffective at affecting theirbat prowess.

    Indeed, that vampire warrior followed hispanions in continuing their attack, while another two vampires drew origin guns of their own, aiming squarely at those bushes and began to shoot. As the explosions rang out, a tiny, lithe figure leapt out of the shrubs, and then continued to frog-leap, dodging the vampires¡¯ marksmanship somewhat wretchedly.

    Qianye cried out in pity in his heart. That person in the shrubs was evidently some rookie, and to miss at a hundred meter¡¯s distance could only be called being too nervous. Because of the extraordinary speed of vampires, much less low-grade vampire warriors, one would only have enough distance to shoot twice.

    Despite not being a Red Scorpion anymore, Qianye felt that it would be an act ofpassion to protect this obvious greenhorn.

    Qianye¡¯s finger depressed the trigger smoothly. The moment the origin bullet left the barrel, he would immediately shift the muzzle,pletely ignoring the results of his initial shot.

    One vampire warrior that had been lining up his shot was suddenly struck in the lower back, and was sent flying! This sudden, pinpointed attack left the vampire warriors¡¯ formation to be thrown into disarray, and even as they were searching for their enemy, Qianye¡¯s second shot had left the barrel, striking the other vampire warrior holding an origin gun.

    Thest two vampire warriors gave up chasing the rookie, and both came pouncing at Qianye. They had already detected that this assant was deadlier by far.

    Qianye stood up from where he had been sitting, and pulled out his hand-axe, weing the opponents¡¯ charge! Going up against two rank three vampire warriors, Qianye waspletely unperturbed, and with a few sharp cleaves, heid them out in pieces on the floor.

    Not far away, the little rookie¡¯s reactions were still considered fast. She had scrambled up the slope, levelling an origin gun, but before she could finish charging it, all of the opponents had beenid t.

    It was a young girl that had just reached maturity. Her body hadn¡¯t even finished growing, and her pretty little face still filled with a childish air, herrge eyes drowning with panic.

    Qianye looked around, and seeing that there weren¡¯t any other vampires, gestured toward that little rookie. ¡°Come with me, we¡¯ve got to leave immediately!¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯ve still got to collect Captain Xia¡¯s remains¡­¡± cried the little rookie in a soft and weak voice.

    ¡°We¡¯re out of time! Leave, now!¡± Qianye didn¡¯t speak any further, and stepping forward in two strides, gripped the rookie¡¯s cor, forcibly dragging her away.

    The little rookie turned to look back, her tears flowing uncontrobly as she was dragged along by Qianye on that hectic escape.

    Qianye roared at her, ¡°No crying, rookie! Start route running, two hours straight! Follow me!¡±

    The little rookie jumped in shock. For a moment, she felt like she heard a Red Scorpionmander give her an order. She instinctively slung her origin gun behind her, adjusted herself, and hurriedly followed Qianye. Only after running for some distance did she start to have a few murky thoughts. Why did this young man that suddenly appeared talk and act so much like a Red Scorpion?

    However, she never managed to find a chance to voice her heart¡¯s concerns. Qianye brought her along on a meandering route, ducking through theplex mountain passes, and constantly scaling mountains. Although the route run wasn¡¯t especially fast like during an exercise, these hilly conditions made for an increased energy expenditure.

    The little rookie ran until she saw white from exhaustion, huffing and puffing. How could she have the energy to speak? As it went on, even her eyes zed over, and she barely managed to hold on and keep up with Qianye, even with the strength she had gained by the Red Scorpion training regime.

    What the little rookie didn¡¯t know was that a short time after they had left, anotherrge group of vampire warriors had shown up near the lifeboat crash site. As that team of high-ranked warriors chased them, they were taken for a trip up and down the mountains and valleys by Qianye. After having given chase for a good hour and having crossed two rivers back-to-back, the group was finally shaken off.

    Qianye ran for two entire hours before finally stopping. ¡°You may rest now, rookie! You have thirty minutes.¡±

    The rookie immediately copsed onto the ground, barely managing to grab her water bottle. She drank tworge gulps and then managed to recap the bottle with extreme effort.

    ¡°You may use stimnts, we still need to continue on, this time for an hour.¡±

    Hearing Qianye¡¯s words, the little rookie¡¯s face almost copsed.

 Volume 2 - 48: Intercepting Murder

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 48: Intercepting Murder

    Qianye, on the other hand, was merely a little out of breath. He didn¡¯t drink any water, nor did he use any stimnts. He only needed a few minutes of rest in order to recover to his previous state. The rookie¡¯s eyes narrowed to slits watching him.

    If she wasn¡¯t mistaken, Qianye had only ignited three origin nodes That was to say, he had rank three origin power just like her. However, the physicality that Qianye exhibited was just too terrifying, capable of matching that of a Red Scorpion captain. Furthermore, the cleaving strikes he had made while facing the vampire warriors were so ferocious that they far exceeded those of many ck Scorpion veterans.

    Qianye sat quietly, waiting for the half hour to pass. He actually did have more questions, but in the end, he found that he couldn¡¯t bring himself to say a word.

    At this time, he took a serious look at this little rookie.

    She was a sweet young thing. Her small, heart-shaped face held two round eyes that glistened like gems and had a faint air of innocence.

    This young girl actually had rank three origin power just like Qianye. It seemed like her talent for cultivation was umon, and she was probably one of those who had skipped past the evaluations and directly enlisted into the Red Scorpions. The technique that she had used to charge the origin gun was clearly not the military standard. Although it lost out on speed, the strength disyed by those two shots was clearly more than sufficient, which most likely meant that it was some family¡¯s high level secret technique.

    She was not weak, but sheckedbat experience. That Red Scorpion captain had clearly sacrificed himself to suppress the vampires and give her a chance to escape, but this rookie had not been able to control herself and, evidently went back to exact her vengeance. However, after taking down only one vampire warrior, the vampires reacted and counterattacked. She then lost her cool and missed her second shot.

    If Qianye hadn¡¯t been there, she would long have since be a prisoner of the vampires. Evenmitting suicide would have been a pipe dream.

    Qianye watched this little rookie, and sighed from the bottom of his heart. It wasn¡¯t too long ago that he, too, was just a rookie, itching to shake off his probationary period and formally be one of the Red Scorpions. The future had been so beautiful, but that one fateful battle had forever changed the course of his destiny, and those of many others with it.

    After the thirty minutes passed, Qianye stood up and expressionlessly called out, ¡°One hour ultra running, keep up!¡±

    Qianye dashed out ahead, and then the rookie immediately jumped up, running after Qianye into the distance.

    This time around, Qianye ran in a ruler-straight line, without any intent whatsoever of covering his tracks. Just like that, one ex-rookie of the Red Scorpions and one current rookie ran off toward the horizon, right through the broad wastnd.

    As they ran, Qianye suddenly said, ¡°Turn around and look!¡±

    As the rookie turned her head at those words, her gaze swept the horizon, and she suddenly saw the silhouettes of several vampire warriors appear at the mountaintop where they had been resting before. She immediately got scared, her legs suddenly moving a lot faster.

    Qianye, on the other hand, didn¡¯t elerate at all, only continuing on with that unhurried, constant pace as he ran, not even bothering to turn around to look.

    ¡°What if¡­ they¡­ make it to us?¡± said the rookie breathlessly.

    ¡°They will never make it to us, they¡¯ve already been exhausted,¡± replied Qianye tly.

    The little rookie was still a little doubtful, especially since the opponents were only a few kilometers away. After running a while, she couldn¡¯t help but look back once more, and yet, those vampire warriors were still standing on top of the mountain, not pursuing them. The little rookie¡¯s heart rxed a bit, and the figure of Qianye¡¯s back grewrger in her heart.

    On the mountaintop behind them, a vampire elder watched with a face like steel as Qianye and the rookie escaped through the wastnd, nary a hint of blood on his lips. The bloodsuckers next to him all had their cloaks wrapped tightly around them as they silently watched the two humans daringly crossing the wastnd.

    Several vampires had given up the chase, especially since they had already exhausted all of their physical strength by giving pursuit all the way from the battlefield.

    ¡°Lord, shall we pursue?¡± suggested a rather young vampire. His voice was severelycking in self-confidence.

    The vampire elder shook his head. ¡°By the time we catch up to them, we¡¯ll already be well into the traditionally human-heldnds. The human expeditionary army is still rather troublesome.¡±

    The vampire warriors watched as Qianye went on his way, turning around one by one before disappearing behind the lee of the mountain.

    The hour passed, and when the rookie turned around, the vampires¡¯ silhouettes were already gone, and only then did she let out a breath.

    Qianye stopped, pointing toward the front. ¡°If you continue on this way, Darkblood City is a mere hundred kilometres away. In the city, there¡¯s a garrison of the imperial expeditionary army, and once you sh your identity, they should be able to give you the necessary help to return.¡±

    The little rookie nodded, and thinking about how she was able to return to the Red Scorpions safely after that gruelling escape from danger, her face immediately regained a little of its color. However, when she thought of the Red Scorpion captain that had died in battle, her little mouth drooped, and she started to look as if she was about to cry.

    Qianye¡¯s face sank a little. ¡°Suck up those tears, rookie! Any true self-respecting Red Scorpion is forged in the fires of a hundred near-death experiences, and you may be weak the first time you take to the field, but if you continue being weak from the second time on, then that ispletely unforgivable! So, get your ass to Darkblood City this instant and find the expeditionary army! Then report back to the Red Scorpions! You have four hours, rookie!¡±

    The little rookie instinctively puffed up her chest, and shouted, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Qianye nodded, and then pointed forward. The rookie immediately began to run. Running a hundred kilometers in only four hours, she would still need to maintain the same pace as she had during the ultra running. However, after running a few steps, she turned back and watched as Qianye still stood there on the ins, getting further and further away.

    Was he not going to go back with her?

    Qianye waved to her, and then turned, walking the way that they¡¯de.

    The rookie suddenly had a thought.

    ¡ªHe was going to find trouble with those vampires and avenge the Red Scorpion captain!

    But this young man had nothing to do with the Red Scorpions, so why would he do that? She couldn¡¯t understand no matter how she looked at it, but her feet were still instinctively running, and her pace waspletely unaffected.

    Before long, she would be able to return to the Red Scorpions. This time around, she was determined to properly train herself, to temper herself inbat. Once shepleted her probationary period, she would return to find him.

    Suddenly, a serious problem popped into the rookie¡¯s muddled little head.

    She had no idea what his name was!

    The rookie stopped in shock, and when she turned back to look, Qianye had long since disappeared from the horizon.

    She stood there nkly, at a loss.

    Qianye was currently advancing, and the wastnd¡¯s ravines seemed to have no effect whatsoever on his traversal. He was even picking up his pace as he went. Without the rookie as a burden, Qianye¡¯s excellent physique andbat capabilities were finally able to show themselves.

    One hourter, Qianye was climbing the summit of a small mountain, coldly looking at the vampire elder and his subordinate warriors still halfway down the mountain. From his high vantage point, he didn¡¯t bother at all to hide his tracks, shoving two silver-infused origin bullets into the barrel of the origin gun. He then lifted the barrel.

    The vampire elder sucked in a breath of cold air. He was a rank five vampire warrior and all those under him were rank three warriors. This particr force should logically be able topletely smash Qianye, but for some reason or another, when Qianye pointed his origin gun toward him, that elder felt a wave of uncontroble terror!

    This particr elder hade from a rather famous vampire n known for having an extremely strong instinct for danger. Although he was not in his best condition right now, his rank five power should¡¯ve kept him from recoiling so badly at the sight of two mithril bullets. As long as they didn¡¯t hit him anywhere vital, he waspletely confident in being able to recover from wounds caused by these bullets.

    The elder didn¡¯t move, so his subordinates were even more afraid to move; the mithril bullets werepletely lethal to them. Although they could tear him to shreds the moment he fired, the unlucky soul that got hit first would definitely die.

    Qianye calmly took aim, and then actually chose to walk toward the crowd of vampire warriors one step at a time!

    A ludicrous thought sprang up in the vampire elder¡¯s heart.

    This human intended to fight them head-on?

    Out of all the battles that he¡¯d fought,rge or small, a good thirty percent had been against humans, and even then, he¡¯d never seen something so ridiculous. This was practically suicide!

    The vampire elder already had no time to think any further. With a cry, he braced himself and charged at Qianye. As the vampire with the highest rank, he was the leader. He had no reason and no way to avoid confronting Qianye, a mere rank three soldier.

    However, when Qianye pointed the gun at him, the vampire elder suddenly felt immense danger screaming at him. He saw Qianye¡¯s mouth suddenly curl into a small smile, the smile of a hunter watching his prey walk into a trap!

    With a boom, Qianye¡¯s gun spit out a beam of origin power, and a physical bullet came whistling out! The vampire elder howled, blocking with his arms crossed in front of him, his blood energy roiling as it formed a dark-red blood shield in front of him!

    After smashing through the blood shield, the origin bullet¡¯s power weakened by half, but it still bore deep into the elder¡¯s arm and created a gaping wound in which bone could be seen. The mithril immediately charred the wound ck.

    The elder immediately determined that these injuries were well within eptable parameters. He pointed at Qianye and yelled, ¡°Kill him!¡±

    The vampire warriors immediately surrounded Qianye, but he suddenly pulled out the Butcher and fired it twice in a row, blowing two of them away. The Butcher¡¯s power was extremely effective at close range and lived up to its tyrannical name. Those two vampire warriors struck the ground hard and remained there, motionless.

    When they tumbled through the air, a bloody mist spread from them. The smell of fresh, slightly cold blood mixed with that of burning gunpowder to create a distinct aroma of life, like that of grass after rainfall. Qianye pulled out his hand-axe, and as he stared straight at the vampire warriors encircling him, his heart suddenly leaped with great excitement, making him feel as if he were trembling!

    Qianye was bursting with a thirst for battle, the most intense battle!

    All of the vampire warriors pulled out their swords in perfect synchronization, ayer of thin bloody light covering every de. They clearly weren¡¯t some ragtag warriors from some small family, but the militarized guards of arge n. To take the greatest advantage of their superior speed, power, and other natural talents unique to their kind, these warriors preferred traditional dark race weapons over origin guns.

    In an instant, Qianye had beenpletely surrounded, but he didn¡¯t have even an iota of fear. He violently stomped at the ground, sending a shockwave spreading out in front of him. Borrowing its momentum, he shot forward like a cannonball and collided with one of the vampire warriors!

 Volume 2 - 49: Small Victory

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 49: Small Victory

    The sh between Qianye and the vampire warrior was extremely fierce. It was as if the two of them had been glued together!

    Qianye¡¯s left bracer had mped down onto the vampire warrior¡¯s longsword, already dented and deformed by the impact. The edge of the sword had instead cut into the vampire. Qianye roared again, using his whole body to shove that vampire warrior, sending him staggering backward!

    This severely shocked all of the vampire warriors, and theirbined-assault strategy, which had originally been tightly-knit, copsed.

    They found it utterly inconceivable for a vampire to take on a human of the same rank in a straightforward sh and lose!

    Qianye had been waiting for the exact moment their formation fell apart like it did just now. He immediately struck the vampire warrior in front of him, sending him flying for several dozen paces. At the same time, his hand-axe struck out like lightning. Failing to defend himself with his sword in time, the vampire warrior was cleaved through with a single stroke from his shoulder through his chest.

    Without pausing, Qianye stretched out his left foot in another direction and whirled about, throwing the vampire warrior that had been charging at him from behind into the air. That vampire smashed directly into another vampire that had been rushing at Qianye from the side, and the dull thud of flesh striking flesh resounding through the air.

    By the time the two of them separated from each other, Qianye jumped into the air, firmlynding while the vampire warriors all copsed where they stood, one after another.

    The vampire elder¡¯s eyebrows furrowed tighter and tighter as he watched Qianye. This human was thin, but the tremendous power that he exerted far exceeded even elite vampire warriors! Additionally, he was incredibly vicious and merciless to enemies, often reaping a life with a single stroke.

    The vampire elder didn¡¯t want to lose any more of his subordinates. He pulled out his own sword and activated his blood energy. The de of his sword slowly became translucent and began releasing a roiling red glow- as it began to quietly shriek.

    He gestured for his subordinates to shift into a defensive formation and then began to walk toward Qianye. However, the moment he took a step, he suddenly felt waves of weakness wash over him. As if his body had suddenly been pierced full of holes, his pulsating blood energy instantly drained away. His hands became weak to the point that he couldn¡¯t even wield his sword, and it fell to the ground with a bang!

    The vampire elder was in for a huge surprise. When he looked down, his face went extremely pale in silent shock!

    With the strong constitution of a vampire, the wound on his arm should have clotted long ago. Not only had it not yet clotted, it was bleeding even more profusely than before. The wound throbbed, constantly leaking bloody dark purple pus. The muscles surrounding it were visibly rotting and falling away!

    A vampire¡¯s blood was normally bright red and filled with an potent life force, but the bloody dark purple liquid that flowed from the wound was filled with the stench of death and decay.

    As soon as he smelled it, the elder fell into a daze. He instantly understood what was going on and weakly cried, ¡°Poison! Deadly poison!¡±

    The vampire elder shook uncontrobly and then fell over head-first, unable to stand any longer.

    Disbelief filled the vampire warriors encircling Qianye. Some of them wanted to leave the formation to go over check on the elder, while the rest of them shifted into defensive positions, panicking over whether or not they should attack him.

    In the middle of their confusion, Qianye pushed forward and seized every opening, exploding with all his strength and killing two in a sh.

    The battle was over in the blink of an eye. Qianye hadpletely butchered through the entire team of vampire warriors. Since they were putting their lives on the line, these vampire warriors were also quite difficult to deal with.

    Wounds covered Qianye¡¯s body, constantly seeping with blood and steam. The flesh and blood around them were charred ck.

    The longswords of this group of vampires were engraved with origin power arrays. Darkness origin power could be channeled into their des and used to harm their enemies. Qianye¡¯s injuries were a direct result of this Darkness origin power. Qianye knew from experience that these injuries were the most troublesome kind. If he didn¡¯t clear himself of Darkness origin power, then the wounds would never heal. Furthermore, the longer that Darkness origin power remained in his body, the worse his injuries would get.

    The wounds hurt like mad, but this kind of pain stimted Qianye¡¯s nerves instead, making him more and more excited. Qianye just felt like all of the blood in his body was about to boil over. Excitement and an intense thirst blended together, giving him a feeling of insanity.

    The corpses of the vampire warriors were strewn across the ground, blood still flowing from them. Thick blood energy rose into the air, shrouding Qianye¡¯s nose. Qianye subconsciously took a deep breath of it and instantly knew that things had gone wrong!

    The smell of the fresh blood agitated his consciousness, and all of the blood energy in his body began to boil!

    The intense thirst instantly overwhelmed all of Qianye¡¯s senses, and when he could no longer hold his breath, he took in another breath of the blood-tinged air. It was as if he were a man dying of thirst that had just drunk a mouthful of sweet, sweet water or a man who had never touched a woman and was now embracing the love of his life. That instant of satisfaction and euphoria made Qianye release a soft moan.

    Qianye pounced onto the corpse of a vampire warrior and opened his mouth wide, prepared to bite down on its neck!

    All of a sudden, deep within Qianye¡¯s consciousness, a voice began to continuously cry out in an attempt to stop him. This voice was very weak, but abnormally stubborn, and neither the hunger nor the euphoria were able topletely drown it out.

    At this precise moment, the scent of corrosion wafted into Qianye¡¯s nose, immediately ruining his appetite. Qianye raised his head to see that the vampire elder had stood up at some point. He brandished his sword in both hands, about to chop downward at Qianye!

    Qianye sprang up without a word and mmed directly into the vampire elder, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him high into the air!

    Blood energy, both purple and gold, boiled up inside of Qianye. Like a fish leaping out of water, blood rushed to his head, increasing his physical strength by yet another level.

    In the world where only one thinyer of Daybreak origin power was left untouched, the silhouette of a ck sun faintly appeared from the void. It looked like it would break through the screen of Daybreak at any moment. Yet the two origin powers continued to resonate, engulfing every corner with bloody chill and tyranny.

    He exerted his left hand without hesitation, crushing the spine of the vampire elder to pieces! He slowly released his grip and watched the vampire elder¡¯s corpse fall to the ground The feelings that had been roiling inside of him were finally released, and he gradually calmed down.

    This vampire¡¯s body gave off an increasingly rotten smell. Qianye knelt to the ground and flipped the body over, examining the injuries on the arm. At this point the wound had already decayed thoroughly, revealing the white bone underneath it. The elder¡¯s skin had taken on an abnormal purple-green pallor, and ck blood constantly leaked from his mouth.

    The vampire elder had been too careless in relying on his body¡¯s own resilience to endure against Qianye¡¯s origin bullets. However, there was a thread of blood energy, each one of the origin bullets that Qianye manufactured, which was highly effective against dark races. This was especially the case for vampires since they had turned their blood into a form of cultivation. The effects were even more pronounced.

    Qianye suppressed his thirst for blood and began to inspect the battlefield. The thick blood energy still gave off an intense aroma, and for Qianye, it was just like being in front of a feast but being unable to eat. After that werewolf totem mission, Qianye had already realized that his own vampire nature allowed him to suck blood to recover. In spite of this, he still refrained from sucking blood regardless of its source.

    All of the longswords that the vampire warriors had used were high quality products. The des had been carved with origin power arrays that were specifically designed for the use of Darkness origin power. If Daybreak origin power were channeled into one of the swords, it would experience a loss in power, but if put up for sale on the ck market, it would still sell for a lot more than a normal weapon.

    These longswords would at least fetch ten gold pieces each, but in the heat of battle, more than half of them had been damaged by the tremendous force of each sh. Only two remained intact.

    As for the longsword that the elder used, it was ornate and even more finely-crafted than the others, the absolute best of the best. Qianye tested the sword, and when he channeled origin power mixed with blood energy into it, the de¡¯s edge shed with a thick bloody aura! This sword was surprisingly even stronger in his hands than the elder¡¯s.

    Yet when Qianye weighed the de in his hand, he felt that the sword was simply too light and immediately disliked it. He returned it to its sheath, and continued to search the elder¡¯s body, finding a grade two origin power handgun and a fine leather pouch containing several crystal coins. The elder¡¯s body even had a leather breastte, another masterwork with an origin power array carved into it.

    Qianye naturally wasn¡¯t above taking these sorts of spoils, and he rapidly stripped them from the elder. As for the vampire warriors whose armor didn¡¯t have origin power arrays, Qianye wasn¡¯t as keen.

    Overall, Qianye ended up plundering six origin guns. The elder¡¯s was grade two and the rest were grade one. Aside from that, he also got around fifty crystal coins, the elder¡¯s set of armor, and three origin power longsword. Upon stripping the vampires of their fangs, he finished cleaning out the battlefield.

    Qianye looked at his backpack, which was fit to burst. This was his first time experiencing the pleasures of just how much loot that killing others and taking their property yielded. When he was still with the Red Scorpions, spoils of war would be processed by headquarters, and soldiers would be given points ording to how well they did in battle. Back then, various types of training and cultivation materials require vast amounts of points, so Qianye was almost always poor. Most of the points he earned went to the improvement of his strength.

    Now Qianye could exchange all of this loot for resources, specifically precious medicines that could increase the speed of his origin power cultivation. Although his cultivation of the Combatant Form was already rather fast and had reached the Fighter King rank, he also needed to cultivate origin power for more than just one reason. He cultivated to gather Daybreak origin power, but he also cultivated origin power to serve as food for his blood energy.

    Blood energy had caused earth-shattering changes within Qianye. A vampire¡¯s night vision and physique all extremely useful, and a stronger body also helped Qianye cultivate the Combatant Form even faster.

    Since blood energy had already be a part of his body, Qianye could only acknowledge it.

    After quickly cleaning up the battlefield, Qianye looked at the crash site of the Red Scorpion airship, suppressing his surging feelings. The little rookie was the sole survivor, lucky to escape from the squad that the vampire elder had brought along. There were definitely more powerful members of the dark races active nearby.

    Qianye originally wanted to take revenge against this small vampire squad on behalf of the Red Scorpion soldier, and with a little luck, he had managed to eliminate all of his enemies in spite of the serious injuries he sustained. This allowed him to cool his head a little. After all, missions the Red Scorpions undertook never had easy opponents, and this was all he could do with his current strength.

    Qianye scanned the battlefield onest time. Then he turned to leave, running into the wastnd.

    Not long after he left, around ten vampire warriors began appearing atop the cliff.

 Volume 2 - 50: Eagleshot

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 50: Eagleshot

    The vampire leading the new group of vampires was a middle aged man. He wore a long ck windbreaker, the cor and sleeves of which were embroidered with the picture of a sanguine multiflora rose. His face was unusually pale, and his red eyes were as bright and pure as rubies.

    He was a higher rank vampire!

    He looked at the vampire corpses on the ground and dashed forward. After his figure flickered a few times, he appeared beside the corpse of the vampire elder. He immediately noticed that the fangs of all the vampire warriors had extracted and taken away. He let out a heavy snort, and the grass surrounding him strangely ttened against the ground before standing straight again.

    He inhaled deeply, identifying the scent that had yet topletely fade from the air. He then stared at the direction Qianye had gone, doubt shing across his face. ¡°How strange! Why do I smell the scent of a higher vampire? This scent¡­ this scent¡­¡±

    Just when he was about to pursue it, multiple mes suddenly shed on the distant horizon. A momentter, the sound of rolling thunder resounded faintly behind him.

    A ck airship with a red outline descended to the ground, fire billowing from its bulk. Several enormous battleships with sinister appearances pursued it closely, firing silvery-white light toward the falling airship over and over.

    The airship in the front was obviously vampire-made, and the bloody multiflora rose emblem on that ship¡¯s hull was identical to the one on this vampire¡¯s clothes. His expression immediately changed, and a harsh buzzing noise that grew increasingly shrill resounded from off on the distance.

    Blood roiled within the middle-aged vampire¡¯s pupils as he angrily said, ¡°Those despicable humans! All they know how to do is rely on their numbers for victory! Hmph!¡±

    A vampire girl beside him said, ¡°Lord Count, that¡¯s the signal for an emergency gathering. We need to make it there within the allotted time!¡±

    The middle-aged man snorted again. He cast one final reluctant nce in the direction that Qianye had fled before rushing toward the sound of the buzzing. The ten or so vampire warriors gathered around him, and all of them suddenly disappeared.

    Qianye was currently running madly through the wastnd without bothering to conceal his tracks. An extremely powerful consciousness had just swept across his body twice and locked onto him firmly. Considering how powerful it was, Qianye knew that he had encountered an enemy he absolutely couldn¡¯t face, so he did the only thing he could do and ran away as fast as he could.

    The owner of that consciousness had thankfully retreated. Either they weren¡¯t interested in someone as weak as Qianye or something had suddenly urred. They never showed up again after that. However, Qianye didn¡¯t dare stop and ran more than several hundred kilometers at full speed until he reached territory controlled by the imperial expeditionary army. Only then did he finally let out a sigh of relief.

    After a brief rest, Qianye hurried toward Darkblood City. Something big seemed to be going on in the wastnd recently, and stronger experts of the dark races kept popping up one after another. Even the Empire¡¯s Red Scorpion Corps appeared in this region. A huge storm was slowly starting to form, and the wastnd was no longer a suitable ce for the hunters to operate.

    Leaving Boulderstone Region also wasn¡¯t a good choice at the moment. All public transport airships had probably been halted by now, and danger lurked throughout thend. Qianye nned to stay inside of Darkblood City for the time being and cultivate his origin power. He wondered if that cute, confused little rookie had gotten back safely.

    Although a storm was brewing on the wastnd, all four gates of Darkblood City boldly remained open. However, Qianye knew that it made no difference whether the city gates were opened or closed wherever those terrifying stronger experts of the dark races were concerned.

    When Qianye finished cleaning his attire and prepared to enter the city, he happened to run into arge group of expeditionary forces making their way in as well.

    This seemingly endless group was nearly ten thousand strong, and the main body of the army was surrounded and protected by hundreds of tanks. A man stood on amand car with his hands behind his back and looking tall and dignified. He was a major general and held the g of the imperial army aloft. Although his hair was already graying, his body was surrounded with a thick murderous aura that seemed as if it could be solid. It was obvious that he was a fearsome man who reaped lives as though they were grass.

    It seemed like the expeditionary forces had finally reacted to the situation in the wastnd and greatly increased the garrison of Darkblood City. Qianye waited for a full half hour and waited until all of the expeditionary forces had gone inside. Only then did he slip into the city.

    Now that the military power of the expeditionary forces had abruptly doubled, the bnce of power in the city was immediately broken. All forces carefully curbed their respective activities to the point where almost all of the hooligans ofrge gangs were missing from the streets.

    Naturally, Qianye didn¡¯t return to his own house. He avoided the Southern Bank District and found a new hotel near the slums of the Eastern Lake District to settle down. Then he headed toward ck Copper Street. The moment he entered A1¡¯s Firearms, he locked the door.

    Old man A1 was examining a fragment of metal in his hand using multipurpose sses. He looked up the moment he heard activity and saw that his guest was none other than Qianye. His expression immediately turned a little ugly as he eximed, ¡°You again?¡±

    This time Qianye made aplete disguise, altering not only his looks but also his clothes so that his build looked different than it normally did, yet the old man still recognized him at first nce.

    By now Qianye had figured out that this old man was no simple character. His impression of him hadn¡¯t improved though, and he just wasn¡¯t able to treat him with respect.

    Qianye leaned against the counter and lit a cigar, saying, ¡°What, you¡¯re turning down a business?¡±

    ¡°Sky Snake can¡¯t wait to tear you apart! Not only did you kill ck Wolf and many of his henchmen, you also scared Flying Bird right back to his nest. I¡¯ve never heard of that kid being afraid of anyone. If the kill order isn¡¯t fulfilled, that Sky Snake¡¯s reputation will plummet. That¡¯s why he has increased your bounty tenfold. Did you know that your head is worth a thousand imperial gold coins right now? Sky Snake also said that anyone who trades with you is a sworn enemy Sky Snake Gang, so why would I do business with you?¡±

    After listening to the old man¡¯s long rant, Qianye indifferently answered, ¡°I have a vampire weapon in my possession.¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression changed instantly. ¡°Show it to me. Show me everything!¡±

    A smile blossomed on the Old 1¡¯s wizened face. It was so bright that it left Qianye utterly and hopelessly speechless. He quietly opened his backpack and put five grade one origin guns and two origin longswords on top of the counter.

    A single look at them made the old man shudder. ¡°Those are standard-issue handguns of the Bloody Multiflora Rose family, and these two longswords are also standard weaponry of a corps! Did you take out a Bloody Rose squadron?!¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t important.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t n on revealing too much to the old man because his insight was just too good. He was wary of someone who could find so many clues with just his eyes. If Old 1 were to hear any other bits of pieces from Qianye¡¯s mouth, then he could very well discover something about him that he shouldn¡¯t know.

    Old 1posed himself and picked up an origin gun, examining it carefully. He muttered, ¡°This handiwork, there¡¯s no mistake. It is from a Bloody Rose corp. Mn, there¡¯s also a seal here¡­ this is a piece that was made three years ago.¡±

    Old 1¡¯s fingers suddenly came alive and took the origin gun apart in an instant. Then he put all of its pieces back together again in just a couple of seconds. This series of movements was so quick that even Qianye had a hard time following it. He grew even more wary of Old 1.

    Old 1 put down the origin gun in his hands and looked at Qianye deeply. He said, ¡°A leader of a Bloody Multiflora Rose squadron is usually a rank five warrior at the very least. He should have been equipped with a grade two origin gun and an origin sword. Are you not going to sell them?¡±

    Qianye raised both his eyebrows. Although he was already prepared for this question, he was still secretly surprised by how well-learned Old 1 was. He indifferently answered, ¡°I won¡¯t be able to get a good price if I sell it to you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the only one willing to take your goods. If you try selling it to any other store, Sky Snake woulde to see you in just a couple of minutes,¡± Old 1 said in a cold, menacing manner.

    Qianye paid no heed to Old 1¡¯s unfriendly tone. ¡°I can wait a bit longer before selling them, or I could even use them myself. Besides, something could happen to Sky Snaketer on. This world changes very quickly, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Old 1 frowned and suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯ll buy them from you at twenty percent the market price of the upper continent!¡±

    ¡°Thirty percent,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Twenty five percent! But for the next three months you¡¯ll be giving me a bottle of alcohol and three packs of cigars, the ones with the special ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Twenty seven percent, and I¡¯ll give you fifty milliliters of that special stimnt, the kind used by the main corps.¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡±

    Only then did Qianye take out the grade two origin gun and the origin sword that belonged to the vampires, as well as some misceneous things he scavenged from the bodies of other soldiers. He put all of them on the counter, then took out two bags and poured hundreds of gold coins and crystal coins out onto the counter as well.

    At this point, the total value of all the items piled atop the counter approached a thousand imperial gold coins. Qianye pushed them forward and stared at Old 1 closely, saying, ¡°I want an Eagleshot!¡±

    The corner of Old 1¡¯s eyes twitched as he slowly said, ¡°These aren¡¯t enough for an Eagleshot.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find a way. I only want one that¡¯s eighty percent new.¡±

    ¡°Fifty percent!¡±

    ¡°Impossible. It has to at least be seventy percent new. Eagleshots can¡¯t be too old.¡±

    Old 1 lightly tapped the counter with his finger and said, ¡°I see that you¡¯re a pro, little fellow! I¡¯m actually starting to feel curious about you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not important. It¡¯s not as important as business, at least.¡±

    ¡°How did you know that I could get you an Eagleshot?¡±

    ¡°Intuition.¡±

    Old 1 chuckled. A whileter, he finally said, ¡°Come here for your goods in three days.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t say anything else. He left the half full pack of cigars on the counter and exited A1 Firearms just like that.

    Eagleshot was standard long range sniper rifle of the imperial main corps. It was a grade four origin gun. A gun of this grade would normally only be distributed to middle-ranking officers. Although expeditionary forces were also considered part of the main army, the covertrge-scale expansion of their own forces meant that only high-ranking officers could obtain an Eagleshot.

    Although standard weapons of the expeditionary forces kept on flooding into the ck market through all sorts of channels, grade four origin weapons, and especially the incredibly powerful long-range sniper rifles, were still very rare. One reason for that was a limitation on the source, and another reason was, among the people who could use them, most weren¡¯t snipers.

    Long-range sniper rifles were different from normal origin guns. They needed be new enough to maintain a decent level of precision. Any sniper rifle that was less than sixty percent new would experience a sheer decrease in precision, not to mention the fact that parts for guns in the same grade as an Eagleshot were almost impossible to obtain, let alone rece with homemade products.

    Qianye didn¡¯t really expect Old 1 to actually be able to give him what he wanted in the beginning. If he couldn¡¯t get an Eagleshot, he thought that a grade three Probe would barely be able to fulfill his needs. To his surprise, however, this swindling old man actually possessed various trade channels that not only allow him to process all of the vampire weapons that Qianye had brought him, but also enabled him to get his hands on a seventy percent new Eagleshot.

    Qianye spent the next three days cultivating and switched to a new disguise. Then he went to A1 Firearms.

    Old 1 tossed a ragged canvas bag straight at him. The bag looked to bergely stained with lubricating oil. Qianye opened the bag for a look. It was full of all kinds of gun parts.

    A few other customers were inside of the shop, and Qianye casually took a part out to carefully examine it.

 Volume 2 - 51: Sniping

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 51: Sniping

    The few customers inside the shop immediately noticed the clear signs of wear of the parts with just a nce and lost interest. They looked at Qianye, their gazes tinged with disdain.

    A young soldier examined the origin guns on the counter and immediately said, ¡°Shit, what kind of shitty store is this? There isn¡¯t even a grade two gun here!¡±

    Old 1¡¯s face immediately darkened and pointed at the ragged canvas bag in front of Qianye. ¡°I have better things than grade two guns!¡±

    The few soldiers that were perusing the shop looked between the canvas bag and the worn down parts in Qianye¡¯s hands. They startedughing and assuming that poverty had driven the old man insane.

    After those people left, a cold smile appeared at the corner of Qianye¡¯s mouth.

    These parts were actually almost brand new, Old 1 had simply used a special method to make them look old. This body of the Eagleshot was seventy percent new, and a few of its important parts were eighty percent new. Just these few parts alone would bring the Eagleshot¡¯s precision to a new level.

    The soldiers that had just left probably wouldn¡¯t see an Eagleshot their entire lives, so of course they wouldn¡¯t recognize these special parts. Inparison, Qianye had learned to use all of the standard guns of the Empire, how to maintain them, as well as the way their internal structure worked. Qianye¡¯s camp had included almost every gun below grade five in its curriculum, so even if the Scorpion Needle in the hands of a Red Scorpion soldier were destroyed, they would be able to pick up any dark race gun and use them immediately.

    Qianye inspected theponents of the Eagleshot one by one. As he did, Old 1¡¯s became stranger and stranger.

    After Qianye ced thestponent into his bag and closed it up, Old 1 finally couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Are you not going to assemble it and try it yourself?¡±

    ¡°All the parts are here, so there¡¯s no need for me to assemble it.¡± Qianye threw the canvas bag over his back and carried it.

    Old 1¡¯s eyes held a glimmer of light as he carefully said, ¡°The number of those who have seen an Eagleshot is already quite small. Those who understand how their internal structure works are even fewer in number.¡±

    ¡°People who can make an Eagleshot are also very rare, right?¡±

    Both men, young and old, stared at each other for a while, and then Qianye left.

    Returning to the small hotel he was staying at, Qianye ordered some food and ate it. Then he changed his appearance once more and began assembling the Eagleshot.

    Soon enough, Qianye held a two-meter-long sniper rifle in his hands.

    Qianye channeled a bit of his origin power into the gun, but its dark body did not shine with even a hint of reflected light. In spite of this, he could feel origin power surging within the energy-condensingponent. Only when one stared at the muzzle of the gun could they see a bundle of green light in the barrel. Not even the tiniest hint of light leaked from it. This was truly a lethal weapon! Qianye was very satisfied with it.

    The night was dark, yet Darkblood City was still very lively. In this city, people sought fun and thrills at any time. Soldiers, hunters, and adventurers walked the line between life and death at every moment of every day, not knowing if they would live to tomorrow. These people loved to let themselves go.

    In this city, expeditionary soldiers had statuses that weren¡¯t much higher than those of hunters. Despite the fearsome power of the expeditionary army, the military era was already over. The major corps were now on their own, and factions existed everywhere,

    Qianye used a cloth to cover the Eagleshot and carried it on his back before leaving the hotel. He quickly blended into the night of Darkblood City, bing one of the millions of people moving about.

    After a moment, Qianye arrived beside the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s courtyard. He silently circled around the courtyard and climbed up the side of arge building. This building had twenty floors and looked dirty and ck, obviously suffering from neglect. Countless families were stuffed inside of this building, each of the small apartments cramped with seven to eight people.

    Rubbish was littered everywhere in the building alongside filthy water and misceneous items. Qianye climbed the stairs, kicking a rotting corpse into an unconscious drunkard before he reaching the top floor. Qianye looked through a broken window into a room, looking for a suitable vantage point before breaking in.

    This was a small room that had two military-style beds taking up most of the space within. Inside were four people, two women and two men. The moment that Qianye barged in, one couple was asleep in a bed. The other two were hugging each other in the other, intensely doing the deed. When the man saw Qianye, shock filled him and he released the woman, trembling.

    Under the threat of a ck gun muzzle, the four of them obediently let Qianye tie them up before he squatted in a corner. The two nearly naked women squirmed, trying to rub against Qianye¡¯s thigh.

    However, Qianye only felt repulsed by their bodies. He waspletely indifferent to these bodies that hadn¡¯t been washed in months. He pushed the Eagleshot against their snow white yet saggy chests and pushed them away. As if the long metal rod that was the Eagleshot¡¯s barrel weren¡¯t the type of rod they were seeking, the women shivered and retreated to the side, obediently staying still.

    The thick scent of sex lingered in the room, wafting through the air and mixing with a stench that came from years without sunlight and a few other strange, unrecognizable smells.

    Qianye, however, was extremely satisfied with this ce. Such a thick stenchpletely hid his own scent. Therefore, even if the enemy found this ce, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it to track him, eliminating one possible clue.

    Qianye pushed open the only window that wasn¡¯t nailed with wooden nks and looked outside. The main building of the Sky Snake Gang was in sight and in range, just like he thought. Qianye removed a few wooden nks, making space for surveince and shooting before taking out the Eagleshot, situating the huge, lethal weapon in the window frame.

    Qianye moved a chair over and sat in front of the window, patiently waiting.

    Sky Snake was currently enjoying himself outside, but he would definitely return to the main buildingter on in the night.

    Qianye sat about a thousand meters away from the main door of the main building. This distance was longer than the range of many origin guns, and was even close to the limit of the powerful Eagleshot origin sniper rifle. Perhaps the Daybreak Pulsating Cannon

    or simr origin guns couldunch a precise attack from such a long distance. These were weapons that were capable of causing widespread casualties throughout the battlefield. Not even the Empire¡¯s main army normally had a reason to use such weapons, so it was impossible to find guns of that caliber in all of Darkblood City.

    Sky Snake would never imagine being attacked from such a distance.

    After two hours, Qianye finally saw a procession of small cars return to the Sky Snake Gang. Sky Snake emerged from one of the cars. He seemed to be quite tired as he stretchedzily.

    Qianye had already aimed the gun steadily at Sky Snake, origin power instantly filling all of the origin powerpartment. Qianye held his breath, and with a calm heart, he pulled the trigger.

    The Eagleshot suddenly trembled with a loud resounding bang that filled the entire building, pushing Qianye and his chair a meter backward! A dark red origin power bullet drew a line through the night sky as it flew at Sky Snake.

    Sky Snake was dumbfounded. Even with his many years of fighting experience, he had only been able to barelye to his senses. Origin power surged through his body as a pale green shield of energy condensed and enveloped him.

    The origin power bullet shattered Sky Snake¡¯s shield with a bang and sent his huge body flying backward. Origin power scattered through the air, descending from the sky like shimmering red fireworks. Sky Snake flew a few meters, crashed into a wall, and slid to the ground.

    Although he teetered between life and death, he could still move. He rolled to the side and crawled toward the door of the main building, hiding where Qianye couldn¡¯t shoot him. The moment he entered the building, Sky Snake got to his knees. He suddenly vomited arge amount of blood, spraying it a few meters!

    Sky Snake¡¯s body swayed, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

    The Eagleshot wasn¡¯t called ¡°Sniper King¡± for nothing. Even at the limit of its range, it did enough damage to heavily injure Sky Snake, a rank five warrior who focused on body strengthening. Despite being a grade four sniper gun, its damage far surpassed that of weapons of the same grade. ording to the records of the Empire, Eagleshot¡¯s power level was twelve while the power level of normal rank four guns was only eight.

    Qianye could only barely use an Eagleshot. Just one shot had already used up half of his origin power. It only consumed half because his origin power was thicker and more potent than that of cultivators of the same rank. A normal rank three soldier could never use an Eagleshot. Not even rank four soldiers were meant to use it. The Eagleshot was a weapon designed for rank four soldiers that specialized in sniping.

    Qianye already knew that one shot was not enough to kill Sky Snake. Even without seeing the results, he immediately stood up and put away the gun. He dismantled the still hot Eagleshot into two pieces and wrapped it up. He then took out a small vial of stimnts and drank it, instantly energizing himself. This counteracted of the effects of overusing his origin power.

    Qianye began walking out of the room and suddenly saw the four people tied up in a corner. He instinctively thought that the best method to cover his tracks was to start a fire and kill these people. Yet Qianye furrowed his brow in hesitation.

    In the end, Qianye shook his head and dispelled the thought. These four were normal citizens. They couldn¡¯t see through his disguise, and if he left them alive, they wouldn¡¯t be able to provide any useful clues. Sky Snake wouldn¡¯t be able to find him with what they knew.

    Qianye took out his dagger and cut these people free from their bindings. He spoke in a deep, calm voice, saying, ¡°The more you know, the faster you die, so quickly forget everything you just saw.¡±

    Finishing what he had to say, Qianye walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. After leaving, he sighed in relief. He knew that if there we too much at risk, he would have killed them. However, he still considered citizens as different from soldiers.

    Qianye walked down the dark cramped staircase unhurriedly. There weren¡¯t very many doors in the building that were open. The huge bang that had resounded throughout the building hadn¡¯t caused any particr reaction. It seemed like these people already learned a harsh truth of reality.

    ¡ªUnless an omen came knocking on their door, it didn¡¯t exist.

    As he turned another corner in the staircase, a youngdy rushing up the stairs nearly bumped into him!

    In that instant, Qianye and the youngdy both twisted their bodies at the same time, narrowly missing each other.

    Both of them immediately realized just how much of a threat the other one was!

    A dark red light shone from the depths of Qianye¡¯s eyes. His dark vision enabled, he grabbed the dagger at his waist. The youngdy suddenly bowed, extending her fingers.

 Volume 2 - 52: Night of Devilry

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 52: Night of Devilry

    The duo confronted each other for a few seconds before simultaneously taking a strong sniff, catching the scent of the other party¡¯s blood energy.

    ¡°Which family do you belong to? Why are you here?¡± the young girl asked in a low tone.

    ¡°That¡¯s my question too,¡± Qianye answered.

    The young girl¡¯s eyes red with bloody light. She said, ¡°You¡¯re not nning to interrupt my meal, are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just about to leave. I have to say that your taste is pretty terrible, though!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business!¡± The young girl bared her bloodsucking fangs.

    Qianye slowly backed away and turned a corner. He then descended to the floor below with slow, steady footsteps.

    Murderous intent shed across the vampire girl¡¯s eyes several times, but after listening to Qianye¡¯s steady footsteps, she remembered the tiny red hint of light that had shone in his eyes. After a moment of hesitation, she ultimately decided to give up on him and continued to run up stairs inplete silence.

    Qianye exhaled only after he had exited the building. He hastily channeled the Combatant Form to cover up the blood energy he had just summoned.

    Every moment that he spent here increased the likelihood of his true identity being exposed. The moment he noticed the girl¡¯s blood energy, he immediately activated his night vision and attempted to call forth the blood energy within his body. The results were unbelievably good, causing the girl to immediately mistake him for a vampire.

    Qianye decided to toss this brief episode to the back of his mind and walked faster. He ran toward the next nned target.

    When Qianye passed by an alleyway, he brushed past yet another tall, thin, and strange-looking person. Both parties stiffened and put some distance between each other.

    Qianye didn¡¯t pause and continued to hurry along his way.

    The man with long arms and long legs stood for a while as he watched Qianye¡¯s departing figure. He frowned as if he were thinking about something. Suddenly, he muttered to himself, ¡°That guy¡¯s carrying an Eagleshot on his back! Strange. Could he be a soldier from another expeditionary force corps?¡±

    He shrugged and spat on the ground with a little bit of disgust. He said to himself, ¡°Those expeditionary force scumbags are the worst! But why did that guy feel so familiar?¡±

    This strange man was none other than Yu Renyan. He really had turned his trip to Darkblood City into a personal holiday. After having single-handedly hunted down some dark race warriors, he even participated in a mercenary group¡¯s campaign to exterminate some arachne along the way because he hadn¡¯t beenpletely satisfied yet. Only when the situation in the wastnd became tense did he finally consider returning to the city.

    Although the two had crossed paths, Yu Renyan hadn¡¯t immediately recognized Qianye due hisplete transformation, both inside and out. Moreover, Qianye was carrying an Eagleshot, a weapon that not just anyone in the expeditionary army could use. Even if Yu Renyan had decided to interact with Qianye, he might not have necessarily been able to harm someone capable of using an Eagleshot.

    He stood still for a moment, unable to shake the feeling that something was amiss. In the end, he couldn¡¯t think of anything and had no choice but to leave. However, just as he went around the street corner, Yu Renyan saw a big man quickly walking ahead of him. He immediately cried out, ¡°Stop!¡±

    The big man heard his cry and stopped, then slowly turned around. He looked at Yu Renyan with a sinister smile and asked, ¡°Do you want to die?¡±

    Yu Renyan cracked his knuckles and sinisterly retorted, ¡°Right back at you! I can smell the stench of a gray-skinned doging from your body!¡±

    The big man leaned forward slightly and coldly said, ¡°You¡¯re a little hunter. So what? If you think I¡¯m like the other werewolves, then you¡¯ll be dead wrong!¡±

    ¡°It just so happens that I¡¯m a little different from other hunters as well.¡±

    As he said this, Yu Renyan pressed forward, heading straight for the big man.

    The battle ended just as quickly as it began!

    Almost half the street was reduced to ruins before the two figures separated from each other, flying in a particr direction. They vanished into the night in the blink of an eye, leaving the whole district in confusion.

    Not far away, Qianye had been walking toward a small, five-story building when the battle caught his attention. He turned to look toward the source of the noise caught sight of a figure vanishing into an alley at high speed.

    The figure¡¯s wind-like speed, as well as the origin power it radiated, caused Qianye¡¯s heartbeat to quicken a little. He immediately told himself to calm down. The more normal a person acted on a dangerous night like this one, the safer they were.

    The situation in Darkblood City was extremely strange right now. He had no idea how many dark races had slipped into the city nor why they were allowed to run rampant with virtually no restraint.

    However, Qianye knew that this situation wouldn¡¯tst long. There was no way the expeditionary forces would tolerate a situation like this. Before long, they would seek out and kill all the dark races in the city with an iron fist. However, a manhunt like that often killed far more innocents than dark races. When a city became devoid of order, the first ones to suffer were always the defenseless civilians.

    Qianye gathered his wits and took a moment to examine this small building.

    The building before him obviously wasn¡¯t like the slums he had been in earlier. It had rows of windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, freshly painted walls, and severalrge metallic pipes fixed onto the outer walls for transporting fuel, steam, and hot water. A burly guard sat by entrance hall, and the building even had a parking lot in front of it.

    Anyone who stayed here could already be considered middle to upper ss citizens of Darkblood City.

    Qianye walked straight toward the entrance, causing the guard to immediately stand. His fat, two-meter-tall bulk blocked his path.. ¡°Hey, who¡¯re you looking for, kid? This isn¡¯t a ce where you can just go for a stroll.¡±

    The guard tapped his palm with a malicious look on his face as he red at Qianye¡¯s adventurer clothing. However, his movements abruptly came to a stop when Qianye punched him right in the stomach!

    Qianye¡¯s entire forearm sunk into the guard¡¯s abdomen. The bodyguard¡¯s eyes bulged as all the color vanished from his face in an instant, but returned just as quickly.

    After receiving Qianye¡¯s punch, the guard slowly bent forward and copsed onto the ground. Qianye then threw a knifehand strike to the back of his neck to knock the him out.

    Qianye dragged him into the guard room and closed the door in passing. He then ran up the stairs and reached the fifth floor in the blink of an eye. There were only two families on this floor, and Qianye stopped right in front of arge door to the left and knocked.

    A momentter, a small window on the door opened to reveal a shrewd, wizened face. The man looked warily at Qianye and asked, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±

    As he finished his question, the man¡¯s face immediately twisted in shock. From the other side of the window, the pitch ck muzzle of a gun was pointed right at his face. The muzzle of the gun was extraordinarily huge, and just a nce revealed how shockingly powerful it was. Moreover, the man could see origin power shing inside the muzzle, scaring him out of his wits. His iron door was paper in front of a gun like this!

    ¡°Open the door!¡± Qianye said indifferently.

    However, before the man could do anything, Qianye put his left hand on the window and exerted his strength. The wrenching of metal scraped through the air as all of the iron door tore from its hinges and away from the wall!

    A slit opened in the door of the other family on this floor, revealing the plump face of a middle-aged woman. When she looked outside, her initial face of fury immediately turned into one of shock and horror. Her thick, scarlet lips opened so wide that they could fit around arge pipe.

    The woman immediately shut the window tight with a loud bang and turned off all her lights. Then a heavy crash rang out, which was followed by dead silence.

    Qianye didn¡¯t care if the woman had actually tripped on her feet and knocked herself out, or if she was just pretending to be unconscious. He walked into the room of the now defenseless middle-aged man who was forced to retreat in the face of Butcher¡¯s muzzle step by step until he fell onto his sofa.

    Qianye dragged a chair over and sat in front of the man he was threatening. He then calmly said, ¡°Mr. Liao?¡±

    The man looked pale as he hastily answered, ¡°T-that¡¯s me! Let¡¯s talk this out, my friend. I have some influence within the Sky Snake Gang, you just need to tell me what you want! Anything can be done as long as it is within my capabilities!¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly and said, ¡°My request is pretty simple. If I remember correctly, you and the Sky Snake Gang ced a bounty on my head of one thousand gold coins!¡±

    Mr. Liao jumped to his feet in shock and eximed, ¡°You¡¯re Qianye! H-how dare youe back to Darkblood City?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all. I¡¯ve also prepared a lot of gifts for Sky Snake, and you, Mr. Liao, are one of them.¡±

    ¡°I¡ª¡±

    Mr. Liao wanted to say something else, but Qianye didn¡¯t let him speak any further. He rotated Butcher¡¯s drum magazine and pulled the trigger. An origin bullet erupted from its barrel and easily prated Mr. Liao¡¯s body, leaving a gaping hole in his abdomen.

    Mr. Liao looked down and stared at the terrifying empty hole in his body and cried out in confusion.The man frantically attempted cover the wound with his hands, but he only managed to raise them halfway before copsing on the sofa, never to move again.

    Qianye stood up and heard snoring inside of the room. They most likely came from Mr. Liao¡¯s family. His profile mentioned that he had a wife, two concubines, and several children. However, Qianye didn¡¯t n to take more lives this time, so he turned around and left.

    Mr. Liao¡¯s death would deal a terrible blow to the Sky Snake Gang. His careful nning was half the reason why it had been able to reach its current state.

    Sky Snake¡¯s strength could be ranked among top-tier rank five Fighters, but his special ability was defensive and not offensive. It wasn¡¯t even ranked amongst the strongest thugs in Darkblood City. It was thanks to Mr. Liao that Sky Snake had been able to operate in the midst of the city¡¯s various forces and even build a rtionship with the expeditionary forces.

    Taking out ck Wolf and Mr. Liao was tantamount to pulling out two of Sky Snake¡¯s poisonous fangs. Sky Snake still had three great experts, but Flying Bird was probably scared out of its wits, while the other two experts needed to consider their future after finding out that even Sky Snake himself had been severely injured. After all, the Sky Snake Gang was not the only gang in Darkblood City.

    Qianye¡¯s operation tonight ended with only good results. He got ready to return, rest up, and tend to the wounds on his body. He would knock on the doors of the Sky Snake gang in two days.

    When Qianye returned to his little hotel, he copsed on the bed and fell asleep right away. He had consumed quite a bit of origin power today and felt dead tired.

    In a small building with a garden in another part of the city, Yu Renyan stood inside a bathroom and poured a bucket of icy water over his head. There were three lengthycerations across his body that ran so deep that they nearly disemboweled him.

    When the icy water washed across his wounds, his face twitched in pain. However, the bits of flesh and dried blood stuck inside of them were washed out.

    Yu Renyan took out a bottle of ck medicine, pressed it to his wounds, pushed down as if it were a plunger.

    Light blue mes actually burst from the mouth of the bottle! The mes only licked Yu Renyan¡¯s wounds once, but the pain was so terrible that he copsed to the floor, writhing. It took a while him to finally get the inhuman pain under control, and even then, he had beenpletely covered in sweat in the meantime. His eyes shone with hatred, madness, and a bit of excitement as he breathed heavily.

    That big man was extremely powerful. Not only was he rank six just like Yu Renyan, hisbat skills weren¡¯t the slightest bit weaker either. Both parties had been injured in that brief sh. Yu Renyan was horribly wounded, but that big man probably didn¡¯t fare much better than him.

    After the pain passed, Yu Renyan put on his clothes and walked out of the bathroom. He called a rather attractive young woman over.

    ¡°Send an inquiry to headquarters and ask them what¡¯s going on around Darkblood City,¡± he told her. ¡°Ask why there are so many dark race bastards inside the city all of a sudden.¡±

 Volume 2 - 53: Distance

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 53: Distance

    The woman said she would send the inquiry then immediately tried to leave. She obviously didn¡¯t want to be near Yu Renyan for even a second longer.

    ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Yu Renyan stopped her.

    The young woman immediately began trembling all over, but she didn¡¯t dare to show any of her emotions. She forced a smile onto her face and turned to him.

    Yu Renyan suddenly shook his head and said, ¡°Never mind. Just leave.¡±

    After the youngdy left, Yu Renyan sat in his round-backed armchair and thought to himself. Ever since he returned, he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that he had forgotten something extremely important. In light of that, he decided that he might as well calm down and recall everything that had happened and everywhere he went in between entering the city and returning to his amodation.

    All of a sudden, he pped his thigh, and his pupils took on a deadly vertical shape once more! He finally remembered the feeling he got from the young man that brushed past him while carrying an Eagleshot on his back!

    That young man had been dressed as an adventurer and had reeked of a stench that could onlye from the slums. However, that pungent stench had hidden a sweet scent that was almost faint enough to miss. The familiarity that Yu Renyan felt hade from the memory of the rotten flesh he tasted earlier! There was no mistaking the taste of origin power!

    That young man was the person who had killed Qi Yue, the son of Brigadier General Wu Zhengnan! Although Yu Renyan sensed that something was amiss at the time, that big werewolf that had been strutting through the streets so fearlessly had distracted him so much that he actually overlooked this feeling.

    Yu Renyan didn¡¯t expect to miss his primary target just because of a moment of negligence!

    He shot to his feet, and then slowly sat back down in his chair. A contemtive smile appeared on his face.

    When he thought about the footwork the young man had used to quickly retreat from him and the Eagleshot on the young man¡¯s back, Yu Renyan couldn¡¯t help but feel that the game had be even more interesting than before. Eagleshot wasn¡¯t something that anyone could just pick up and use properly, yet the various traces of origin explosions he saw where Qi Yue had been killed made it clear that the culprit had yet to exceed rank four. A fighter either rank three or below being able to use an Eagleshot clearly deviated frommon sense.

    Yu Renyan took out a map of Darkblood City, and checked the area where he met that young man. His finger traced several streets before tapping the part of the mapbeled ck Copper Street. He then stretched his thumb and forefinger apart to measure the distance between the Southern Bank District and the Eastern Lake District.

    Since he had personally encountered the person, it didn¡¯t matter if his opponent altered his looks or changed his clothing. As long as he carefullybed through each and every area, he would eventually meet him in this storm-ridden city once more.

    Yu Renyan wasn¡¯t worried at all. He had a feeling that the chase and the battle, both of which would happen before the mystery was unraveled, would be exceptionally interesting. This young man possessed rank three or rank four level origin power, knowledge of military martial arts, long-range sniping skills, and an Eagleshot. Yu Renyan had no idea how Wu Zhengnan would react if he learned about all of this.

    Within the small hotel, Qianye finally woke up from a deep sleep. He asked for a basin of hot water and inspected the bandages he had applied only three days ago. However, after he peeled off theyers of gauze and got ready to change the dressing, Qianye was surprised to find that most of his wounds had already closed up. The Darkness origin power that had been stuck in his wounds disappeared god knows when, and his recovery speed was way faster than he initially expected!

    A bit of Darkness origin power still remained in the biggest, deepest wound he had suffered around his left ribs. When he washed the wound and put the new gauze in ce, Qianye finally figured out what was going on.

    Almost all of his blood energies had gathered at the wounded area. Even the purple blood energy was among them. These blood energies surrounded the Darkness origin power and constantly consumed it, absorbing each bite of power into themselves. It was obvious that, for the past three days, every wound he suffered had been purified in this way.

    The most troublesome part of his injuries had actually been resolved just like that!

    The speed at which the purple blood energy consumed the Darkness origin power was faster than the speed of all seven other blood energiesbined. It had consumed more than half of this particr ball of Darkness origin power before slowing down. It swam back to the vampire constitution rune, slow andzy, and sank deep within it. The purple blood energy had obviously grown bigger, and it continuously spread wisps of blood that were even thinner than a hair into the vampiric constitution rune.

    The rune began to grow and transform into a new, moreplicated rune. During this process, every blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body began to boil as his heart throbbed intensely. The speed of his blood flow increased by several folds!

    Qianye¡¯s origin power began move to his heart on its own. His heart absorbed it and spat out wisps of bright blood that flowed to every corner of his body in the blink of an eye.

    As this special blood circted throughout his body, Qianye felt as if tens of thousands of ants hade alive inside his body and were crawling around. It felt itchy, painful, and unfathomably ufortable. His entire body swayed, and he felt like it hadpletely disconnected from his central nervous system. The only thing that still functioned properly was his brain. In the end, he copsed onto his bed.

    Inside Qianye¡¯s body, the metabolism of even the tiniest cell was activated and increased to the maximum. His blood, muscles, and bones were continuously growing and transforming. It was a very profound sensation. It felt as if the entire world hade alive, and that even the tiniest air or dust particle had be a world of its own, capable of giving birth, growing, aging, and dying.

    Qianye¡¯s heart felt extremely anxious as if he stood at the edge of an extremely tall cliffside. Although he couldn¡¯t tell what was once again going wrong at the moment, the changes in his body were probably rted to his origin power.

    Qianye had no idea how humans of Daybreak origin power deteriorated in Evernight until the day he fought the squad of Bloody Multiflora Rose warriors. That time, he thought that the ck sun was going to break through the barrier inside of him and emerge.. He was subconsciously afraid of that happening from that point onward. However, the only thing he could do now was the grit his teeth and try to stay conscious as if doing so would preserve the light inside of his body.

    The origin power inside of Qianye¡¯s body swiftly dried up. His heart absorbed all of it in the blink of an eye!

    It was only then that his heart stopped producing more special blood. However, the growth and transformation urring inside of Qianye had gone on for a full day before graduallying to a stop.

    Only when the entire process was over was Qianye able to climb out of the bed. He nted his bare feet on the icy cold stone floor and looked at himself. On the surface, it seemed as though nothing was wrong, but he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something strange had happened to his body. He felt as if his central nervous system had be extremely detached from his body, and that he couldn¡¯t actually move as he wanted.

    Qianye walked toward the mirror beside the cab, but he lost his bnce and stumbled. He grabbed the back of a chair, and the welded bars of iron that made up the back of that chair actually twisted with a metallic groan!

    Qianye was immediately startled. He stared at his hands and looked a bit dazed. He suddenly grabbed the chair, casually rubbed it few times, and the chair instantly turned into a pile of scrap iron.

    What kind of strength was this?

    Prior to this transformation, Qianye¡¯s strength had already beenparable to that of a rank Five fighter but now he could overwhelm even a strength and stamina-based fighter like Sky Snake without even using his origin power!

    The rune was still a vampiric constitution rune. It had just be a more advanced version.

    Qianye took out his dagger and left a cut on his arm. When he stabbed the knife into his skin, he felt like he was cutting a specially treated hide. It took quite a bit of strength to cut through his own skin. Qianye put a bit more strength into the action and sank the tip of the knife into his skin. He left behind a finger length wound on his arm that was a centimeter deep.

    The second the wound appeared, the muscles around it flexed on their own and left behind nothing more than a few drops of blood. The blood energies inside of Qianye then stirred and gathered around the wound, making it close a momentter and sending tingles through his body. The wound already started to recover, and judging from its speed, it would take only a night topletely heal.

    Although surprised, Qianye memorized the relevant data. He grew increasingly wary about future battles against high-ranking vampires.

    He put down his dagger and moved his limbs where he stood, performing a few basic movements of military martial arts. As he grew more familiar with his own body, the loss of bnce that afflicted him slowly faded away as well.

    Qianye walked in front of a mirror and stared at himself. Thankfully, he still looked like a human. Other than the fact that his figure had be more lithe and his skin had be more exquisite, neither his appearance nor his physique had changed too much. He practically couldn¡¯t see any of his pores.

    Qianye¡¯s face immediately darkened and he kicked the full length mirror, making it flip around.

    He looked up and stared at a mechanical clock on the wall. There were still three hours before midnight, so he still had time to get something to eat. When Qianye opened his makeup pack, he angrily pushed things like fake mustaches and wrinkles to one side and only used dye to make his skin look an unhealthy yellowish-ck.

    For the next three hours, Qianye went to four different restaurants, eating enough for five men until he finally felt his churning organs calm down a little.

    Ever since his vampiric constitution became an advanced ability, Qianye¡¯s entire body began screaming with hunger. Energy deficiency was amon affliction that urred after each advancement. However, without stimnts to replenish energy, Qianye had no choice but to rely on normal food to restore his strength. That was why the dozens of portions of food meant for adults had vanished into a stomach that seemed like a ckhole.

    Qianye finally managed to satisfy his stomach before time he nned to start the operation, and he then disappeared into Darkblood City like a ghost in the night.

    Inside the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters, Sky Snake finally awoke from hisa. He had barely moved before he felt an unbearable pain in the left side of his body. Fortunately, his arms and legs still had feeling in them, and that made him feel a lot better.

    ¡°Where is everyone?!¡± Sky Snake yelled, and the family doctor and his trusted servants immediately entered the room. He waved away the probing hands of the doctor and grimly said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to die yet. Summon everyone now.¡±

    By the time Sky Snake managed to walk to the dining hall with some support, every high-level member of the Sky Snake Gang had already shown up. A rich variety ofte-night snacks filled the huge round dining table, but there were several empty seats at the table. It actually made the scene look a little cold and deste.

    A blue vein appeared on Sky Snake¡¯s forehead and pulsed a few times. Then, without batting an eyelid, he asked, ¡°Where is Mr. Liao?¡±

    A Sky Snake Gang elder looked left and right. When he saw that no one was going to speak up and answer, he forced himself to take the initiative and said, ¡°Mr. Liao is dead. He was shot in his homest night. By an origin gun.¡±

    ¡°What kind?¡± Sky Snake asked coldly.

    ¡°From the traces we found at the scene of his death, we believe that it might have been a Butcher.¡±

    Sky Snake¡¯s pupils suddenly shrank. This immediately ruled out the possibility that an idiot thief had broken into Mr. Liao¡¯s house to rob him. No one capable of using a Butcher would bother with such unclean, strenuous, and unrewarding work. This could only mean that the attacker was gunning for Sky Snake.

    Sky Snake swept his eyes across the table and gravely asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Ho?¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces with each other. In the end, the same elder forced himself to say, ¡°Ho dered that he was leaving the Sky Snake Gang. He joined the Earth me Association.¡±

    Sky Snake mmed his palm against the dining table, making all the dishes on it shake violently! He identally used too much force and put strain onto his wound, his face momentarily twisting in pain.

    Ho was one of the four great experts in the Sky Snake Gang. His departure at this time was a severe blow to the entire Sky Snake Gang. However, the Earth me Association was the biggest gang in all of Darkblood City, and their president was a rank six expert. There was no way Sky Snake could afford to offend the Earth me Association, so he could only swallow the bitter taste of Ho abandoning him.

    Sky Snake stood up and asked, ¡°Have you figured out where the sniper shot from? Bring me to there. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The round table, which was made of decent phoebe zhennan wood, resounded with a soft crackling sound, then copsed into a pile of wooden debris. All of the food fell to the floor, but Sky Snake didn¡¯t even blink as he left the room first.

    A momentter, Sky Snake stood where Qianye had sniped him from. He walked to the window, pulled a chair over, and sat down, imitating Qianye¡¯s posture and looking outside the window. From this position, Sky Snake could see the front of the building that the Sky Snake Gang used as its headquarters. All of it.. The angle that Qianye had chosen was impable.

    Sky Snake turned around and sternly stared at his band of underlings. He could see how they avoided his gaze, none of them daring to look him in the eye. Even the usually arrogant and obstinate Flying Bird was doing his best to lower his head and stare at the area in front of his toes.

    Everyone knew that the angle was perfect.

    The real question here was distance.

 Volume 2 - 54: Old Acquaintances

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 54: Old Acquaintances

    The Sky Snake Gang had been operating in Darkblood City for many years, so they had naturally taken care of any possible threats that lurked around their headquarters. All high vantage points nearby that snipers could use were under their control.

    However, the sniping range they had in mind was based on the Dawn Handheld Cannon produced by the Empire¡¯s ckstone Heavy Industries. This weapon was essentially the most powerful personal weapon any force in Darkblood City could possess. The Sky Snake Gang was only guarded against gang wars. Regardless of how powerful any adventurers, mercenaries, or hunters were, they weren¡¯t a concern. Darkblood City had its own rules, and any trouble that grew too big would attract military intervention.

    But now Sky Snake had been sniped from an impossible location. It was twice the distance that they had prepared for.

    Just what kind of weapon enabled its wielder to shoot Sky Snake from such a distance and severely wound him? Unlike the bullet fired from a normal sniper rifle, the power and uracy of an origin bullet greatly decreased as the distance of the shot increased.

    Most of the people present had started out as a gangster. They were born in the slums and grew up in the streets. For all the ups and downs in their life and the rank they managed to cultivate to this day, the weapons most familiar to them were choppers and daggers. Sniper rifles were a luxury they¡¯d never had a chance to touch.

    In fact, most of them only carried guns because it made them look impressive. There were countless crooks and honest folk inside Darkblood City, and ck Copper Street definitely wasn¡¯t the only ce that forbid shooting. Although no one would say that having a military-style firearm didn¡¯t make them look cool, powerful homemade guns weren¡¯t bad either. As for guns with a range of a thousand meters, these Sky Snake Gang underlings had never heard of them before, much less seen one with their own eyes.

    There was also another question: Just what kind of person could fire a shot like this?

    The answer to this question was actually pretty simple. It was an answer that most people had already figured out.

    Only special marksmen that the Empire had spent staggering amounts of resources to nurture would be able to shoot and hit their targets from such a distance!

    A marksman like this had to be a junior-ranking officer at the very least!

    While it certainly was possible for someone at the lowest rung of society to cultivate on their own and achieve unbelievable results in the domain of origin power,bat, or assassination through hard work and talent, one thing they most likely could never be was a super long-range sniper.

    Sky Snake finally understood why everyone wore such strange looks on their faces. He also understood why Ho had chosen to leave Sky Snake Gang at this time.

    Qianye, the hairless kid that didn¡¯t even look like an adult, that little hunter who was robbed of the Flowing Gold Rose, the one that Sky Snake had issued a kill order for, might actually be an expert sniper of the imperial corps! There was no way that a person like this would pop out of nowhere in a dominion as strict as the Empire. He had to have a huge military presence backing him.

    Bitterness filled Sky Snake¡¯s mouth, and an even more unfathomable emotion filled his heart. It felt like a unique kind of hatred.

    This hatred was directed toward Qianye and a certain VIP who implied that they wanted to see Yu Yingnan in the death arena. Sky Snake wouldn¡¯t have encountered Qianye if he hadn¡¯t needed to force Yu Yingnan into the arena. He wouldn¡¯t have robbed Qianye if the boy had revealed even a hint of his military background.

    All of a sudden, Sky Snake recalled something he had almost forgotten. He had heard bits and pieces about the background of the Yu Family, which was why he thought that he wouldn¡¯t have to worry very much about the Home of Hunters as long as he yed by the rules. However, why had Qianye, someone who possibly had a military background, suddenly shown up now?

    Even with his rather simple brain, Sky Snake felt a chill rise up his spine as he thought about this. Regardless of whether or not someone was using him like a tool, he was doubtlessly in danger right now.

    The Empire had fought the dark races head on for over a thousand years. One could say that a huge amount of talents were produced in the Empire every day, and that any one of them could annihte a group like the Sky Snake Gang. An expert sniper like Qianye was even scarier. He only needed a sniper rifle in his hands to be able to create a thousand-meter radius kill zone around him!

    Sky Snake could already imagine his future from this point forward. He would have to be alert at all times, unable to go outside and reveal his himself, or even appear in front of a window. He wouldn¡¯t even be able to sleep in a room with windows! If he had to live like this, then what about everyone else? Even if Qianye could only fire a single shot everyday, who could possibly guess who his next target might be?

    Cold sweat poured down Flying Bird¡¯s head. He silently took two steps to the side and removed himself from his spot in front of the window without batting an eyelid. He clearly remembered how Qianye told him that he would never let him get away with what he did.

    Upon the fearful expressions of his subordinates, Sky Snake suddenly felt disheartened and grimly said, ¡°There¡¯s no point holding your thoughts back at a time like this. Speak!¡±

    Everyone exchanged looks before pushing Elder Yuan out into the open to speak for them again, like he had back at headquarters.

    ¡°Chief, there is no way our Sky Snake Gang can fight against the imperial corps,¡± he said. ¡°N-not unless that VIP supporting you is willing to speak for us.¡±

    Everyone knew that Elder Yuan¡¯sst line was aplete waste of breath.

    Sky Snake smiled bitterly and slowly said, ¡°Cancel the kill order and tell everyone toy low for now. Once morning arrives, I will personally head out and meet Old 2. That¡¯s all for now. Dismissed!¡±

    The upper level of the Sky Snake Gang left in silence, leaving only Sky Snake and Elder Yuan behind. Elder Yuan¡¯s strength was average and he was only a rank two fighter. However, he was one of the brothers who started out with Sky Snake and built their current gang. This was why he wasn¡¯t too afraid to speak before Sky Snake.

    Sky Snake looked at him and sighed. ¡°We¡¯ve gotten old.¡±

    Elder Yuan was startled by this sudden statement. He immediately said, ¡°No, we¡¯re not! Once we¡¯ve passed this obstacle, the Sky Snake Gang will continue to grow and prosper!¡±

    Upon hearing this, Sky Snake¡¯s face gradually became cheerful. He grinned and said, ¡°That¡¯s right! This is just a small obstacle! If we were able to build such arge base back then with just the few of us, we will definitely be able to rise again!¡±

    The two brothers left the room one after the other. but when Sky Snake stared at Elder Yuan¡¯s back, a faint killing intent appeared in his eyes. It was true that a VIP¡¯s words were quite useful, but they weren¡¯t free. If Sky Snake didn¡¯t want to be tossed away and used as a scapegoat, then he needed to do something to prove his worth.

    Qianye followed the path he nned beforehand and approached the headquarters of the Sky Snake Gang. All of a sudden, he saw a figure in the distance and realized that it was Ho. Qianye had yet to find out that Ho had left the Sky Snake Gang. Even if he had, it wouldn¡¯t have stopped Qianye from killing him.

    Qianye turned around and entered an alleyway without batting an eye. He observed Ho . Ho looked as if something were troubling him and was moving fast. He quickly left the Southern Bank District and entered a wide road. However, the crowd around both he and Qianye was growing thinner.

    This was the slums, one of the threewless areas that served as a junction between the Southern Bank District and the Eastern Lake District. It was also a prosperous underground ck market. In the past, this ce produced at least a dozen or so corpses every night, but because a storm had begun to envelop the wastnd of Boulderstone Region, expeditionary forces had tightened security within the city. This was the reason why this ce looked a little deserted today.

    Through the gap between two buildings, Qianye watched Ho walk toward a street that led to the Eastern Lake District. He walked forward and was about to turn onto an intersection ahead of him to reach on the same path as Ho in less than fifty meters.

    However, after taking only two steps forward, Qianye came to an abrupt stop. He smoothly straightened his posture so he reached his full height and ced a hand on the wall to his left. He nimbly leaped into the air andnded on the roof of a house,ying t against it and instantly bing one with the night..

    Several young men outfitted like mercenaries suddenly emerged from a bar not far away. They were so drunk that they couldn¡¯t even walk straight.

    These youths were singing out of tune and roaring bold, ambitious words that would make peopleugh. They raised the bottle in their hands every so often, chuggingrge gulps of alcohol.

    Qianye saw a person in this group that was familiar. Although he was bigger and sturdier than he used to be, and his face waspletely different, Qianye still recognized him at first nce. The mercenary that was contributing to themotion the most was none other than Wei Potian.

    Back at Xiangyang, Wei Potian was the genius who was given the highest recognition and selected by the Broken Winged Angels. His talent and potential was as extraordinary as he seemed, and it didn¡¯t take long for him to reach rank three. In fact, he looked like he had already ignited his fourth node.

    Seeing Wei Potian staggering and running into apanion and then seizing the opportunity to grab thatpanion¡¯s shoulders and wrestle with him, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but recall that militarypetition that he had been fated to win. He also recalled the three promises that Wei Potian made after losing to him in a match, as well as Wei Potian¡¯s personally-made silver bullet that Qianye had stomped into the ground.

    Normal silver could no longer harm Qianye. All these memories felt as if they were from another lifetime, but Qianye could no longer show himself. He reckoned that he had probably been listed as a killed-in-action in the Empire¡¯s profiles long ago.

    Ever since Qianye had rescued that Red Scorpion rookies, he noticed that the Evernight Continent was one of the ces that elite corps were sent to carry out missions. There were many times in which he had wondered whether or not he would eventually meet his formerrades, but he never imagined that he would encounter Wei Potian in Darkblood City.

    Wei Potian was a member of an aristocratic family, so the up-anding youth of an elite corps naturally wouldn¡¯t appear here for no reason. In fact, the steps of Wei Potian and the other youths seemed unusually steady even though they looked heavily intoxicated. All of them possessed robust origin power, and not a single one of them was a weakling. On average, they were rank four Fighters, not to mention the fact that Broken Winged Angel soldiers were utterly dominant in a fight against an adventurer or mercenary of equal rank.

    Qianye didn¡¯t move and simply watched the group of youths pretending to be drunks fooling around in the street. Broked Winged Angels obviously wouldn¡¯t appear in Darkblood City out of nowhere and even put on disguises just to go on a vacation.

    They hadn¡¯t taken more than a few steps when a faint white mist suddenly appeared in front of this group of youths,pletely cutting off the path forward. Wei Potian and thepanion continued to yell loudly and pretend to be drunk, but the rest of them had already noticed the changes in their environment. They straightened their postures and took defensive stances.

    A tall, thin man slowly emerged from the mist. He wore a metal mask on his face and wielded a shocking two-meter-long sword. The de of the sword was covered in a ck aura so dense that it might as well have been solid!

    The moment he appeared, a nigh invincible aura enveloped the area! ck mes rose around the man¡¯s body and climbed several meters into the air!

    By then, even the thickheaded Wei Potian noticed that something was amiss. He stared wide-eyed at the mysterious man.

    The man stood in front of the group of youths and let out low, hoarseughter.

    ¡°Oh, you little Broken Winged Angels,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re bold¡­ but your luck is quite bad.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face was ugly. The aura that pressed down on him from above caused the color to drain from his face and made his bones to crack loudly. The rest of the young soldiers fared even worse than him, one of which had already started bleeding from his nose.

    The mist didn¡¯t interfere with Qianye¡¯s night vision. He stared at the scene from afar and felt extremely shocked.

    The manifestation of origin power! This mysterious man was actually a Champion rank expert!

 Volume 2 - 55: Encounter

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 55: Encounter

    Ignoring the fact that Wei Potian and his men were only rank four on average, even if they were all rank seven or eight, they would still be nothing in the face of an expert of this level.

    A series of rapid footsteps suddenly echoed from a nearby street. Soon enough, a group of expeditionary troops burst out into the open. The military officer at the front of that group immediately cried out in surprise when he saw the mysterious man burning with ck mes. ¡°A member of the dark races!¡±

    The rest of the expeditionary soldiers didn¡¯t need their officer to tell them what do do. They raised their guns and aimed them at the mysterious man. Meanwhile, the officer himself drew his origin gun and frantically injected origin power into it to shorten the charging process as much as possible.

    The masked man let out a heavy sigh. His smooth, metal mask actually transformed into a look of great pity as the sword in his hand seemed to flicker through the air. Not even Qianye could say for sure if that unusually long sword had actually moved. A faint ck line had been drawn in the air. It appeared to move slow, but it was actually moving extremely fast. It swept through the waists of all the expeditionary soldiers!

    In that moment, every expeditionary soldier stopped moving. The officer looked down at himself and saw his arms falling away from his body. His origin gun had been cut in half and his upper body fell below his waist!

    A dozen or so expeditionary soldiers instantly lost their lives! The cuts on their bodies were all smooth like mirrors and as ck as charcoal. No bits of flesh or drops of blood burst from the wounds.

    The masked man turned his gaze to the group of Broken Winged Angel youths once again. He suddenly let out a soft chuckle and asked, ¡°Are you fishing for someone? Well¡­ you definitely got a fish, but it seems that I¡¯m so big that all your bait will go to waste. So long, little fellows!¡±

    His sword flickered once more, and yet another ck line flew toward the Broken Winged Angel rookies!

    That very instant, all the rookies felt the threat of death. However, under the tremendous pressure the masked man exuded since the beginning, they couldn¡¯t even draw their weapons.

    At that critical moment, Wei Potian suddenly let out a booming roar.

    ¡°Thousand Mountains!¡± He cried, his aura surging into the air and actually pushing back the masked man¡¯s pressure!

    Wei Potian took a great step forward and stood right in front of hispanions. He then crossed his arms so they were in front of his head and chest, and a brownish-yellow origin power enveloped his entire body. He was actually nning to block the blow head on!

    Thousand Mountains was undoubtedly secret art among the imperial aristocratic families because Wei Potian, despite only being rank four, was able to emit his origin power outside his body. In spite of this, he still had absolutely no chance of blocking the masked man¡¯s ck sword aura. If a Wei Family senior expert stood in his ce, they might¡¯ve stood a chance.

    However, with Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains in the way, hispanions behind him now had a tiny hope of surviving. With luck, one or two of them might be able to escape the deadly sword aura. By this point, two of the Broken Winged Angel rookies were finally able to move. Instead of trying to escape first, they grabbed at the military-issue guns and swords in the holsters and sheaths at their waists.

    The man let out a soft exmation of admiration that seemed to be directed at Wei Potian. Even his mask turned into a smiling face. The sword in his hand flickered once more, and the ck sword aura flying toward the Broken Winged Angel rookies contracted and expanded as it descended upon Wei Potian¡¯s head like a venomous dragon!

    Death loomed over Wei Potian, making his short hair stand on end, yet he let out a mad roar that caused the light of origin power around him to shine even brighter. The masked man had obviously manipted his sword aura to give him a gap through which he could escape, but Wei Potian simply refused to move out of the way!

    The ck sword aura instantly sped up and shed down at Wei Potian!

    A soft crack resounded through the air.

    A tinum-gloved hand appeared out of nowhere and caught that sword aura!

    The hand tightened around the ck sword aura and twisted, crushing the mysterious man¡¯s attack just like that! A tall soldier with a posture that was ramrod straight appeared before Wei Potian and the others.

    The man had a handsome face with soft features. White patterns adorned his ck uniform, which was obviously the uniform of the Broken Winged Angels. He wore epaulets on his shoulders, both of which were adorned with olive leaves surrounding five tinum stars.

    Far off in the distance shock filled, Qianye yet again. The man was a major general of the imperial corps, a Broken Winged Angel major general no less! But he looked like he had yet to even reach his thirties.

    This young major general wore a pair of tinum gloves, and his head was lush with long tinum hair. In fact, even his pupils were tinum! It was impossible to forget such extraordinary features after seeing them for the first time.

    Qianye clearly remembered that this man was none other than the military officer responsible for recruiting new blood for the Broken Winged Angels back at Xiangyang. However, he had only been a brigadier general back then. Qianye hadn¡¯t thought that he would be a major general so soon. The speed at which he rose through the ranks of the military was so fast that, even in the Empire¡¯s capital where strength was valued above all else, it was rare. In an elite corp like the Broken Winged Angels, the ability tomand was just the second most important factor. A soldier¡¯s military rank was mainly determined by a person¡¯s own strength.

    Every general of the Empire was, at the very least, a Champion rank expert.

    The mysterious masked man sheathed his sword and somehow floated a huge distance backward even though he hadn¡¯t moved his feet at all.

    ¡°Bai Longjia!¡± he eximed in a low tone.

    Bai Longjia crossed his arms in front of his chest, rubbing them together slightly. The sound of metal against metal actually resounded from the movement. He stared at the masked man standing opposite from him and sneered, ¡°A human-faced arachne trying to kill a group of rookies? Your actions shame the spider queen herself!¡±

    The masked man snorted and suddenly said, ¡°Bai Longjia, don¡¯t think that I have no idea what you¡¯re nning. You¡¯re just using those little kids to lure me out into the open, aren¡¯t you? Do you really think I¡¯m as stupid as you humans?¡±

    Bai Longjia¡¯s expression changed as he suddenly looked to his right. Layers of white mist had suddenly risen in that direction, and a handsomerge-bodied golden-haired man walked out of it. The ground trembled with every step he took!

    It was William!

    Qianye¡¯s heartbeat skipped a beat at the sudden realization.

    He had known that William was no ordinary person from the beginning, but it was only now that he understood that this formidable man from the Summit of Peaks was a true Champion rank expert! It appeared that, during the night he met William in the wastnd, he truly had crossed the line between life and death and returned.

    A harsh glimmer of light erupted from Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes as he stared closely at the golden-haired man walking toward him. Emphasizing every single word, he eximed, ¡°The Summit of Peaks! Are you William?¡±

    William¡¯s face cracked into a bright, sunny smile, and his bluish-gray eyes looked translucent, as if flowing with light under the night sky. His voice resounded through the air, its deep timber seemingly resonating with the pulse of the world.

    ¡°It is I. I heard that the Bai Family produced quite the impressive group of youths this generation and that you, Bai Longjia, are among them. This is the perfect opportunity for me ascertain if that is true! That being said, it would be nice if I could check out your sister¡¯s abilities too.¡±

    A vacant look reced the sharpness in Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes. His voice lost all hint of emotion as he gradually lowered his voice until it became monotone, robotically saying, ¡°If my sister were here, not a single one of you foolish clowns would be able to leave here alive, let alone make such utterly irrational boasts!¡±

    A serious expression spread across William¡¯s face when he saw Bai Longjia¡¯s appearance. He stopped mid-stride and said, ¡°I¡¯d only find out after fighting her, right?¡±

    Bai Longjia apathetically said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to go through me first!¡±

    He turned around and yelled, ¡°Potian, take them away to the camp of the expeditionary army.¡±

    Wei Potian hesitated for a second, but ultimately shouted, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± he yelled to the youths behind him. ¡°We must not be a burden to the general!¡±

    The youths ran away at full speed.

    Bai Longjia took a step to the side, and his figure suddenly appeared about a dozen of meters away from where he stood earlier. He now stood in the middle of the street, barring the path of both William and the human-faced arachne. He slowly spread his arms apart, and a pair of pristine white wings suddenly extended from his back. They pped up and down in a lifelike manner.

    William inhaled deeply as the figure of a giant golden wolf several meters tall suddenly appeared behind him! Like a night wolf praising the moon, he let out a long howl then charged at Bai Longjia with boundless might!

    Bai Longjia pped his hands together and pushed them outward from his chest. William unleashed a punch and he met it head on. When fist struck palm, the entire district seemed to shake from the resulting shockwave and several tall buildings suddenly rumbled and copsed around them. Countless bloodcurdling screams resounded from the crumbling buildings and the subsequent ruins.

    Bai Longjia staggered backward a few long steps and abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood. Every time his feet hit the limestone-paved street, it cracked under pressure and caved in to create multiple deep pits. William didn¡¯t fare much better, having flown horizontally backward like a cannonball. Although he ultimately managed to steady himself after flipping through the air a couple of times, the giant golden wolf shadow behind him became distorted. A momentter, it disappeared.

    However, several lines of ck sword aura had flown toward Bai Longjia under the cover of the night sky. The moment they struck his wings, white feathers scattered everywhere and a fountain of blood erupted from his body! Although the wings were obviously an illusion conjured from origin power, Bai Longjia¡¯s body reflected any damage they took.

    Bai Longjia let out a fierce roar and spread his arms. Countless illusory, tinum palms instantly filled the area and crushed the lines of ck sword aura near him. The human-faced arachne groaned softly as blood sprayed out of the air hole in his mask.

    Even though he was facing two opponents at the same level as him, Bai Longjia stood in the middle of the street, tall and proud. He didn¡¯t take another step backward..

    The human-faced arachne suddenly sneered at him. ¡°Did you really think those little fellows would be able to escape? I already prepared a grand weing party for them!¡±

    The moment he heard this, Bai Longjia¡¯s expression finally cracked.

    Just then, while William had backed off, he happened to head toward the rooftop that Qianye was hiding on. The distance between them shrank to a few hundred meters in an instant. By this point, William had enough time to regte his breathing and resummon the illusory golden wolf.

    Yet, all of a sudden, William turned around looked at Qianye¡¯s hiding spot.

    Caught by surprise, Qianye closed his eyes just before his enemy could see him. Heypletely t on the roof, not moving a muscle, but at the same time, he carefully channeled the Combatant Form and exposed a tiny bit of his origin power. He was gambling on William being too caught up in a Champion rank battle to divert his attention to an insignificant rank three small fry.

    As expected, William didn¡¯t pay him any further attention after an initial sweeping nce. After that, Qianye slowly backed away and slid down the rooftop, then vanished into the night.

    Meanwhile, Wei Potian ran down a long street at top speed. He suddenly came to a stop and raised his right hand to stop the young rookies following closely behind him. He examined the empty street before him cautiously.

    The street was unusually quiet. Half the buildings on both sides of the street were empty to begin with, and now there wasn¡¯t even the slightest bit of light in them. Only a few streetmps bathed the quiet street with yellow light. This scene looked unfathomably cold and deste.

    Before any of the Broken Winged Angel soldiers knew it, a shroud of thin gray mist slowly spread across the street. ck figures walked out of the mist one after another and surrounded the group of greenhorns.

    A young man emerged from amidst the many ck figures. He had a pale handsome face, and with just a nce, it was obvious that he was a high ranking vampire. The young vampire wore an evil smile on his face as he pointed at Wei Potian and said, ¡°Today¡¯s bait shall be mine!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s heart immediately sank. All of the enemies that had shown up were at least rank three vampire warriors, and this higher vampire was actually rank six. This force was definitely enough to swallow them whole.

    The Broken Winged Angels were definitely elites, but the dark races had elites of their own. The descendants of those reputable ns were just as good as they were.

    Although Wei Potian¡¯s heart was heavy, he showed no fear on his face. He sneered at the vampire and eximed, ¡°Yours? Aren¡¯t you afraid that we¡¯ll break your canine teeth?¡±

    The young vampire¡¯s face darkened as he stared closely at Wei Potian. Suddenly, his expression changed into an eerie smile that sent chills down Wei Potian¡¯s spine.

    ¡°I suddenly feel as though giving you the Embrace isn¡¯t a bad choice,¡± he said excitedly. ¡°You¡¯ll listen to my orders from now on, okay?¡±

 Volume 2 - 56: Reunion

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 56: Reunion

    Wei Potian¡¯s face darkened. He stomped at the ground, his aura naturally bing as solid as a mountain.

    He turned around and yelled, ¡°We¡¯ll fight these bloodsucking son of a bitches with all we¡¯ve got, brothers!¡±

    After saying this, Wei Potian let out an angry roar. pulled out his bay, and pounced at the higher vampire! He attacked the vampire without bothering to protect himself. It was almost as if he had gone mad. All he cared about was stabbing that vampire a couple of times with his bay!

    This immediately startled the young vampire. Wei Potian¡¯s bay glittered with silver light! The thick sheen of silver that covered the bay was obviously the luster of exorcism mithril!

    No vampire in the world want to be stabbed by a mithril bay. Although this young vampire¡¯s rank was absolutely superior to Wei Potian¡¯s, his opponent¡¯s unpredictable charge forced him to dodge again and again.

    The rest of the Broken Winged Angel rookies were well-versed in firearms and wasted no time in charging their origin power handguns, firing them into the vampires. They then pulled out their own bays and screamed as they pounced toward the vampire warriors surrounding them.

    Every single one of them attacked like a crazed tiger with bloodshot eyes. However, their aggression wasn¡¯t what the vampires had feared the most. What really scared them was the fact that all one of their bays gleamed with mithril light!

    That higher vampire nearly groaned when he saw this. He had no idea when the humans had be so rich that they could equip any one of their men with mithril bays of exorcism! If the humans could arm themselves to this degree, then there wouldn¡¯t be any vampires left to take part in the war between Evernight and Daybreak as it raged on. As he thought, humans were a treacherous and loathsome race. He couldn¡¯t believe that even such a shoddy trap could have a surprise!

    The young vampire thought that all of this was part of the trap, but he didn¡¯t know that it was the Broken Winged Angels who were rich and not the human race.

    Almost every soldier that the Broken Winged Angel recruited was a descendant of an aristocratic family. Other than the standard loadout afforded by their corp, all of them had their own personal equipment as well. The standard equipment that the Empire provided for their elite corps might seem like top-tier equipment in the eyes of amon soldier, but they were just outdated trash in the eyes of many Broken Winged Angels. This was why they prepared better equipment for themselves.

    In terms of excellent equipment, the Broken Winged Angels were undoubtedly the number one corp in the entire army.

    However, the difference in strength between two parties wasn¡¯t something that could be made up for with just a couple of mithril bays. Every Broken Winged Angel rookie was injured in the blink of an eye, and even Wei Potian suffered a deep cut to his chest!

    Although these rookies managed to take down five to six vampire warriors in apletely one-sided battle, making themselves proud, the gap in strength between the two parties only continued to grow bigger and bigger.

    It looked like that this little team of Broken Winged Angel rookies would be annihted very, very soon!

    Wei Potian had already been knocked away by the young vampire three times. The origin powered light of Thousand Mountains around his body had already faded quite a bit.

    He could already tell that this young vampire was an official Blood Esquire at the very least. If that weren¡¯t the case, his attacks wouldn¡¯t be strong enough to threaten the integrity of his Thousand Mountains defense with just three hits. With the current gap in strength between them, as soon as Thousand Mountains was destroyed, he would definitely be ughtered like a helplessmb.

    Wei Potian panted heavily like a furious bull. He squatted to the ground, assuming a martial arts stance, and watched his opponent closely. He made up his mind to forsake any kind of defense during the next attack. He would put a hole in that vampire¡¯s body with his mithril bay even if he instantly died from a counter attack!

    In reality, that young Blood Esquire felt just as gloomy as Wei Potian did. He couldn¡¯t believe that he wasn¡¯t able to break through a rank four rookie¡¯s origin power defense even though he had thrown three heavy strikes at it. If this news spread back to his n, he would be apleteughing stock. The rest of the Broken Winged Angel rookies that his subordinates were dealing with were already on theirst legs. If he couldn¡¯t take this troublesome brat out before his subordinates defeated their opponents, where could he find a hole to hide in?

    The Blood Esquire no longer charged at Wei Potian. Instead, he stayed where he was and conjured a bloody shield in front of his chest with his right arm. His left arm burned up with a wisp of bloody light that grew brighter and brighter over time. His smile became increasingly strange as he sent a sidelong re at Wei Potian who stood several steps away from him.

    It was obvious that this would be an earth-shattering attack once it fully charged!

    Lying in wait within a shadow, Qianye finally found his chance. Steadily, strongly, he pulled the trigger of his Eagleshot!

    The Eagleshot rumbled like a brewing thunderstorm as origin power erupted from it, illuminating half of that small street. The tremendous recoil pushed Qianye a full meter backward. The physical origin bullet, however, cut through the air at an unavoidable speed and shot toward the power-gathering Blood Esquire.

    The blood energy within the bullet head seemed to sense something as it began to wildly writhe back and forth!

    A terrifying red light abruptly shed before Wei Potian¡¯s eyes. The shockwave of the resulting explosion caused him to stagger backward.

    If the shockwave of the explosion was powerful enough to knock Wei Potian, in his Thousand Mountains state, several steps backwards, then the Blood Esquire at the dead center of the origin power explosion was sted at least a dozen meters back!

    The Blood Esquire didn¡¯t only possess tremendous speed, but also unparalleled reaction time. In an instant, he protected his head and chest area by crossing his arms before them, and when the impact happened his feet dug and drew a pair of deep ditches on the ground. The arm shield he created with his blood energy had dissipated the instant his origin power shed against Qianye¡¯s.

    The Blood Esquire¡¯s arms were covered in blood and had been wounded by the impact to the point where his bones were visible. His clothes had been destroyed, leaving behind only a few tattered shreds of them on his body. The Eagleshot hadpletely destroyed the vampire¡¯s upper-body armor as well.

    Two hundred meters was a distance in which Eagleshot could unleash its full might!

    Qianye inwardly proimed a word of pity. The Blood Esquire was obviously at rank seven, and although he hadn¡¯t trained his body like Sky Snake had, the huge difference in rank meant that the shot had only been able to seriously wound him. He hoped that the vampire enjoyed the extra substance in the origin bullet though.

    The Blood Esquire lowered his arms and turned his scarlet eyes to where Qianye was hiding, staring at him intensely. He didn¡¯t need to order his well-trained elite vampire warriors to do anything. They automatically abandoned the Broken Winged Angel rookies who were on theirst legs and pounced in the direction that the origin bullet came from. A long period of war against humans had thought them that they always needed to deal with enemy snipers as quickly as possible!

    Shooting Eagleshot had been so loud that Qianye knew there was no way he could hide himself any longer. Pouring such arge amount of origin power into the shot had left him in a weakened state. He didn¡¯t even have the time to recover before he was forced to grab his hand axe and leap to his feet, preparing himself for close quartersbat.

    However, the vampire warriors moved faster than Qianye had predicted. A ck shadow dashed forward like lightning and mmed into Qianye. The two men crashed down to the street, wrestling each other on the ground..

    Qianye¡¯s attacker was a rank four vampire warrior. A dark blue rimmed his scarlet pupils, making him look exceptionally bloodthirsty and cold. He had seized the upper hand while they wrestled and put himself above Qianye. Choking Qianye with one hand, he thrust his other hand straight at Qianye¡¯s chest!

    A rank four blood vampire possessed strengthparable to that of a rank five human Fighter. Qianye felt as if a steel cor were tightening around his throat, keeping him from drawing air into his lungs. He couldn¡¯t use his right hand or the hand axe it gripped because he was lying in an awkward, twisted position. All he could do was grab the vampire warrior¡¯s wrist with his left arm and prevent him from plunging a scarlet dagger with ck and golden patterns into his chest.

    This quickly became a contest of strength between the two fighters.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t breath at all. His neck was being choked to the point where even blood could barely flow to his head. His face turned purple from the suffocation. However, after the confusion caused by the initial ambush passed, Qianye sensed that the vampire warrior¡¯s strength had weakened more than he expected.

    Both parties were stuck in a deadlock!

    All of a sudden, Qianye¡¯s heart pounded and his ck blood boiled. All seven blood energies within his heart emerged and rushed toward different parts of his body!

    The muscles on Qianye¡¯s neck suddenly bulged, and his neck instantly became half a size thicker than it originally was. This change was so huge that it actually forced the vampire warrior¡¯s fingers apart!

    The vampire warrior was shocked. His left hand was shaking, and every muscle in his arm was trembling. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn¡¯t force his fingers even a millimeter deeper into Qianye¡¯s flesh! He almost couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. How could a human, a rank three human, possibly possess such tremendous strength?

    Qianye inhaled deeply. The sensation of being able to breathe again was absolutely magical as he felt every cell in his body screaming in joy.

    Qianye suddenly put strength into his left hand, and the vampire warrior let out a bloodcurdling scream as his wrist cracked under the pressure. His fingers went limp and the dagger fell to the ground. Qianye exerted his strength once more and tossed the vampire warrior away from him. Then, he swiftly grabbed the fallen dagger and plunged it straight into his opponent¡¯s heart!

    Qianye tossed the dagger away and plunged a stimnt syringe into his thigh. The Combatant Form swiftly circted throughout his body as a turbulent tide of origin power soothed his tired veins. But that was all the time he had to recover. A rush of wind could be heard behind him, and another vampire warrior pounced at him once more.

    Qianye immediately curled up into a ball and rolled to the side. Only when he was out of the vampire warrior¡¯s pouncing range did Qianye jump to his feet. Then, instead of retreating, he let out a short yell, turned around, and strode toward the vampire warrior instead. With all the strength he had in his body, he leaped at the vampire warrior that had yet to switch his posture! A dull bang immediately resounded through the air, and the vampire warrior flew backward like a cannon ball. After hitting the ground, he couldn¡¯t climb to his feet no matter how he struggled.

    Qianye lightly sprang up from the ground and dodged two daggers swiping at him. He suffered a cut to his right shoulder, but swallowed a dull groan of pain, moving as if he hadn¡¯t been wounded at all.

    When the two vampire warriors had that had swiped him missed their first attack, they immediately switched positions and continued to attack Qianye from his left and right nks.

    Qianye pressed his limbs inward to make himself smaller and jumped at the vampire on the right. His hand axe instantly cut across his opponent¡¯s chest a dozen times, drenching both men in blood.

    However, Qianye also felt a cold chill and a sudden pain in his back. The other vampire had left a long wound on his body. Qianye silently turned around and swung his hand axe to block the other vampire warrior¡¯s second strike then immediately tossed a bag of liquid at the his face!

    As soon as the liquid hit the vampire warrior, his exposed skin bubbled and swiftly turned ck! The pain was so great that he rolled on the ground screaming and covering his face, unable to concern himself with Qianye any longer. The leather bag held the liquid silver that Qianye coated his des with. Of course, the vampire couldn¡¯t withstand it being thrown into his face.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had taken out the first four vampire warriors who came after him. However, more than a dozen meters away, another six ck shadows were rushing toward him at an unbelievable speed. The Blood Esquire that had been severely wounded by his Eagleshot had shaken off Wei Potian and was furiously charging at him as well.

    More than half of the vampires who were surrounding the Broken Winged Angel rookies had been drawn to Qianye!

    Wei Potian had originally run back to hispanions. However, when he saw their rescuer battling the vampires, he couldn¡¯t help but burn with emotion and charged toward him.

    Qianye immediately shouted at Wei Potian. ¡°Run! Run back to the expeditionary force headquarters and bring someone to save me!¡±

    Just then, Wei Potian finally saw Qianye¡¯s face. The sight left him shocked to the point of disbelief. He threw all caution to the wind, roaring as brown origin power covered his entire body. He charged two of the vampires with as much force as he could muster, knocking them away.

    Wei Potian stumbled to Qianye¡¯s side and grabbed his arm. He was panting so heavily that his voice was a little shaky as he eximed, ¡°Little Ye!¡±

    But without warning, the world turned upside down as a powerful and unstoppable force suddenly erupted from Qianye¡¯s hand. Wei Potianpletely lost his center of gravity, and by the time he felt his ass hit the ground painfully, he had already been thrown extremely far away.

    Qianye had kicked Wei Potian right back to the Broken Winged Angel rookies.

    ¡°F*ck off, rookie!¡± he yelled angrily. ¡°Don¡¯t drag me down!¡±

 Volume 2 - 57: Soul of the Imperial Army

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 57: Soul of the Imperial Army

    Wei Potian turned his head to look back. Most of the Broken Winged Angel rookies were hurt. Although the vampires had spared only four warriors to deal with them, the situation was stillpletely one-sided. One of hispanions had already copsed, and it was unknown if he was dead or alive. All of them, including himself, had used a stimnt for this battle. He was currently the only one who possessed a tiny shred ofbat strength while the rest of the Broken Winged Angel rookies were struggling to break through the vampire encirclement.

    Wei Potian clenched his fists tightly and roared like a wounded animal. He rushed over to force back the vampire warriors who were still attacking hispanions before hoisting the unconscious rookie onto his back. Then he ran toward the expeditionary army¡¯s camp. All of the Broken Winged Angel rookies shot Qianyeplicated nces before following closely behind Wei Potian and escaping the battlefield.

    After attracting the attention of most of the vampire warriors, Qianye no longer traded his enemies blow for blow. Instead, he changed from his forceful style to a more nimble one by constantly moving and changing his position, relying on his speed and agility to avoid several close interceptions that would¡¯ve led to more bloodshed. Despite having exchanged several blows already, both parties didn¡¯t actuallye into contact with each other for a time. Thissted until a vampire warrior lost his patience and charged at Qianye with no semnce of skill whatsoever. A dull thud could be heard, and the vampire warrior was knocked back several steps while Qianye was thrown in a certain direction.

    However, some vampire warriors immediately noticed that something was amiss. Upon hitting the ground, Qianye had actually rolled right into an alleyway. The vampire warriors that failed to notice anything strange immediately roared angrily and chased Qianye into the dark alley like a pack of wolves.

    The Blood Esquire also started moving toward Qianye with a sinister smile on his face, but a sudden dizzy spell nearly caused him to slip and fall to the ground. He looked down at his wound in shock and finally realized that it was overflowing with the rotten stench of ck blood!

    The Blood Esquire immediately turned pale as he circted his blood energy with all his might. He barely managed to suppress the poison in his wound and temporarily stop it from getting worse. He didn¡¯t dare to dy any longer, however. He needed to retreat and attend to his wound immediately.

    The human was so hurt that, for thetter half of the battle, he didn¡¯t dare to fight them directly. Moreover, he was currently being pursued by ten vampire warriors. The Blood Esquire thought that the human who foiled their trap was definitely going to die, so he threw onest hateful re at the alleyway before leaving. He swiftly vanished into the night.

    Qianye panted rapidly. His wounds burned, and his body screamed with fatigue. He was following a map in his mind, and the battleground he had chosen to make his final stand in wasn¡¯t far ahead of him. However, he had almost depleted all of his blood energy and origin power during the short but intense battle that had just urred.

    Qianye stepped forward, jumped, and turned his body sideways in midair, firing a shot with his Butcher as he ran. The footsteps of the vampire warriors chasing him slowed down slightly, but he knew that his actions would only continue to enrage them and get them to chase him relentlessly. This was exactly what he wanted. His n was to stall these vampires long enough for Wei Potian and hispanions to escape to the headquarters of the expeditionary army. Maybe they might even be able to find some reinforcements ande to his aid in time.

    Qianye smiled bitterly at this thought.

    Timely reinforcements? That was clearly a thought borne of delusion.

    A tall tower that reached into the clouds appeared in front of Qianye. Countless dark gray metallic pipes of all shapes and sizes connected to every part of that tower. A set of gears that took up an entire floor for themselves could be seen every few meters, each one being the height of an adult human. They fitted precisely into one another, and even the tiniest gear was as big as an elephant¡¯s foot. This was the colossus steam machine called the ¡°Arm of the Colossus.¡± Darkblood City once used it to build the walls of the city. Since then, this giant machine hadin dormant for many years, and multiple parts of it were covered in rust.

    This was where Qianye had decided to make hisst stand. Its terrain wasplicated enough that it would get in the way of his pursuers trying to surround him. However, Qianye knew that, even if he managed to use the remainder of his strength to kill a few more vampire warriors, there was no way he would be able to survive until Wei Potian returned.

    In reality, Qianye foresaw this oue the second he fired his Eagleshot. He couldn¡¯t exin why he had pulled the trigger, condemning himself to save Wei Potian and some Broken Winged Angel rookies that he didn¡¯t know at all.

    Perhaps he had been affected by Bai Longjia, or maybe he still couldn¡¯t forget the figure of the Red Scorpion leader in his heart. When standing on the great battlefield and fighting against the dark races, it seemed as though a person¡¯s beliefs would change without them realizing it.

    Qianye hated originally Bai Longjia with all his being. That man was arrogant, rude, and only cared about background and talent. In short, Bai Longjia was the epitome all the ws that a descendant of an aristocratic family normally possessed. Other than his strength, Qianye found almost no reason to like Bai Longjia at all.

    To this day, Qianye still hadn¡¯t forgotten thement that Bai Longjia had personally written on his file.

    ¡ªThe only thing thates out of andfill is trash.

    But while Bai Longjia possessed all these ws, they didn¡¯t stop him from singlehandedly holding back two powerful opponents as strong as himself to let the Broken Winged Angel rookies escape. They didn¡¯t stop him from standing strong and fighting to the end without ever surrendering. This one look at his back was enough to make Qianye forget all of his unhappiness from before.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, Wei Potian and those youths were all just rookies right now, but it was these rookies that might be the Empire¡¯s backbone in the future! And since they were only rookies, it was naturally the task of a veteran like Qianye to repel their enemies just like back when that Red Scorpion leader had forced the ck tide to retreat with his own flesh and blood!

    When Eagleshot boomed, Qianye had already forgotten that he was no longer an imperial soldier, or that he was in reality just a rookie himself.

    By now, Qianye had reached the bottom of the tower. He crouched and jumped up its limestone foundation, repeatedly grabbing the horizontal bars to pull himself up until he reached the first floor. He pressed his back against arge gear and inspected his Butcher with a lowered head. There was onest physical bullet inside its chamber. Meanwhile, the vampire warriors sped up and charged toward him from the alley down below.

    Suddenly, Qianye sensed something and immediately jumped away from his original spot. It was only after he hid behind the half-cover of a metallic disc that he dared to look upward.

    There was anky figure standing at the corner of the tform above him. His limbs were so long that the sight of them was almost impossible to forget.

    Qianye remembered this guy. He had brushed past him during an earlier night, and had seen his brief but intense sh with that big werewolf. This guy was a rank six expert, and a thick stench of blood was emanated from his body. His pale-colored eyes never failed to instill the image of a strong and cunning beast in one¡¯s mind.

    Qiante was confident in his ability to fight against a dark race warrior or a wild beast, but this man was one of the few beings to instill unparalleled vignce in his mind. The most dangerous enemy of man was man himself.

    ¡°You¡¯re Qianye, right?¡± that man asked.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank slightly as he answered, ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°My name is Yu Renyan. I havee specifically for that matter at ckflow City.¡±

    Qianye was slightly surprised by his answer. He calmed his heart and slowed his breathing, doing his best to recover his worn body to the best possible fighting condition. Although he was currently inferior to Yu Renyan in every aspect, he wasn¡¯t someone who was resigned to his own fate.

    Yu Renyan let a short de slip out of his sleeve to fall into his left hand. He then took an old-fashioned, double-barreled origin handgun from his waist and pressed a hidden button. Another de appeared beneath the gun barrel.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank further. He only needed to look at the weapon to know that this man¡¯sbat style was simr to his. To Qianye, this kind of enemy was the hardest type to deal with, not to mention that there was still a group of vampire warriors following from behind.

    A vampire warrior charged out of the dark alley. The moment he saw Qianye, he immediately charged toward him at top speed, wearing a sinister smile on his face. With a single leap, hended onto the limestone foundation, but just as he was about to climb further, he sensed that the situation wasn¡¯t right. Because Yu Renyan wasn¡¯t trying to hide his presence, the stench of rotten flesh that permeated from his body was incredibly thick, causing the vampire to immediately detect his presence with a sense of rm. It was like the scene of a wild animal encountering another vicious beast.

    The vampire warriors appeared one after another as they slowly approached the duo.

    Yu Renyan didn¡¯t wait for Qianye to speak up again. Instead, he turned his body sideways and opened up the path, saying, ¡°I should kill you immediately, but that order will have to change considering how many ck-blooded bastards there are in this ce. I¡¯ll deal with these bloodsucking zombies first and then deal with you! Come on, we¡¯ll go to the roof and kill them all. You kill three, I¡¯ll take on the other seven.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly before nodding, ¡°That¡¯s very fair!¡± He dashed past Yu Renyan before leaping upward, rushing straight towards the top of the tower.

    Yu Renyan confronted the vampire warriors before slowly backing away and also retreating all the way to the roof of the tower.

    An intense battle erupted the moment the vampire warriors charged up the roof!

    Qianye waved his hand axe and shed at his enemies like he was imitating raindrops. He made no attempts to defend himself at all and decapitated the three vampire warriors in the blink of an eye. When he turned around to look at the other corner of the roof, he happened to witness Yu Renyan pressing down on thest vampire warrior and cutting open his throat.

    As he thought, this Yu Renyan was an expert. He had in seven vampire warriors singlehandedly, but had barely fallen behind on Qianye. This wasn¡¯t just a difference in rank, but also because Yu Renyan¡¯sbat skills hardly fell behind on Qianye¡¯s despite not being a member of the Yellow Springs or the Red Scorpions.

    Qianye leaned against a metallic tank, trying his best to even maintain a standing position. He felt like fire was ring both in and outside his body, and both his blood energy and origin power werepletely depleted. A dozen or so wounds had been to his body during the brief exchange just now, and even the slightest movement resulted in heart-wrenching pain that seemed to stifle even his breathing. He hadpletely lost all feeling in his left arm. In fact, he wasn¡¯t even sure if his left arm was still in ce.

    Yu Renyan was also hurt, but he hadn¡¯t suffered too many wounds. They were just flesh wounds that weren¡¯t deep either.

    ¡°It¡¯s our turn now.¡± Qianye said.

    He could not longer grip the hand axe. His right hand was holding a short de he had snatched from a vampire warrior.

    Yu Renyan looked Qianye up and down once before saying, ¡°You¡¯re the one who did that thing to Qi Yue, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye was just about to admit it when Yu Renyan waved his hand and stopped him from talking further.

    ¡°Actually, don¡¯t tell me anything. I¡¯ll be put in a difficult position if you did. Although I hate the army¡¯s style a lot, I am still a soldier myself.¡±

    Yu Renyan put away his weapon and looked at his own wounds, saying, ¡°I saw your battle just now. I¡¯m hurt myself, and I am no longer capable of killing you, so let¡¯s forget about fighting today. However, know that I won¡¯t show any mercy if I run into you again, so memorize my face, and pray, little guy. Pray that I will never find you again!¡±

    When he was done speaking, Yu Renyan walked to the edge of the roof. As he passed Qianye, he suddenly said, ¡°The blood of these guys is still warm, you should drink it now or you won¡¯t survive the night.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes abruptly widened as he came face to face with Yu Renyan. However, knowing that he could no longer conceal his blood energy now that he was severely hurt, he immediately calmed down.

    When Yu Renyan saw the stubborn light in Qianye¡¯s eyes, his vertical pupils suddenly alternated between ck and white as he rolled his eyes. He revealed a hint of understanding that was overwhelmed by cynicism, ¡°It is not wrong to hold fast to a belief, but sometimes it can be inconvenient to do so.¡±

    Right now, a red mist was flooding Qianye¡¯s eyes, and his vision was starting to blur. He was still pondering the meaning behind Yu Renyan¡¯s words when he suddenly heard the windy sound of something flying towards him. However, there wasn¡¯t nearly enough strength in his body to dodge, and he was knocked over by the heavy object. Qianye felt warm liquid drenching his entire head and body, as the sweet scent of blood energy enveloped him like a web.

    Yu Renyan¡¯s voice sounded like it came from far in the distance, ¡°Back in the days on the battlefield, I ate even myrades¡¯ bodies to be able to live and kill a couple more werewolves.¡±

 Volume 2 - 58: Standpoint

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 58: Standpoint

    Blood that boiled with energy entered Qianye¡¯s stomach, making the blood energies in his body wake up. They happily rushed toward the immense Darkness origin power, consuming and converting it into their own. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s heart began to beat intensely, as if it had been injected with a potent stimnt. The activity within his body immediately skyrocketed by leaps and bounds, continuously converting the vampire warrior¡¯s blood into his own energy.

    When Qianye could move again, blood no longer flowed from the wound in the vampire warrior¡¯s corpse. Ity across him, holding him down, so he pushed it away and slowly got to his feet. He surveyed his surroundings. The rooftop was quiet. Yu Renyan had long since disappeared.

    The rest of Darkblood City sat below him. Smallmotions continued in areas where the intensebat from earlier had unfolded. Survivors had been inside the buildings that were affected by the fighting. The rest of the streets, however, were unusually quiet. It was as if the destruction that urred so close to them had never taken ce. In these troubled times, all of the citizens of Darkblood City were well aware of an unwritten rule.

    ¡ªAs long as the roof hadn¡¯t fallen on their heads, it was best not to poke their heads out of their homes.

    Qianye quietly observed the half-awake city in front of him. He could clearly feel the wounds in his body quickly recovering. The tides of Daybreak origin power inside of him gradually grew stronger as well.

    Qianye softly exhaled and leaped from the roof, gentlynding on another building around a dozen meters away. Then he slipped into the vast, shadowy night.

    Ten minutester, Wei Potian showed up in the streets, radiating a murderous aura.

    Dozens of expeditionary army officers followed behind him. Every one of them was at least rank three or above, and their group also had rank four officers apanying them. However, the only thing that Wei Potian saw the moment he stepped out onto the street was a battlefield inplete disorder. The actual battle had ended a long time ago.

    Wei Potian¡¯s face was as cold as still water, and his fists were clenched so tightly that his bones cracked. He could never have imagined that the person that suddenly charged out and stopped arge majority of vampires in their tracks was actually Qianye.

    Back when he sent Qianye a second letter, it was returned to him. An icy-cold obituary followed it. Wei Potianter attempted to use his family¡¯s informationwork to make some inquiries about what happened, and although that particr battle report was sealed under a grade zero secret archive, he still managed to learn something. For example, he discovered that almost none of the Red Scorpion soldiers left intact corpses, This was the same for Lin Qianye, who had only left behind the core of an identity tag. It was said that Lin Xitang had ultimately taken that tag away.

    When he recalled the scene in which Qianye shouted for him to escape, Wei Potian felt the blood in his chest boil over.

    ¡°This bastard¡­¡± Wei Potian couldn¡¯t keep himself from swearing.

    ¡°What did you say, sir?¡± A major of the expeditionary army asked.

    Wei Potian suddenly exploded and roared angrily at the major. ¡°What I said just now has nothing to do with you! I want you to search! Search the surrounding area immediately! I want every vampire¡¯s corpse! I want to see that man alive! Do you hear me, you trash!¡±

    The major¡¯s face turned green, but Wei Potian didn¡¯t n to give him any face or any way to leave the spotlight. He continued to raise his voice and roar at every soldier of the expeditionary army present. ¡°What are you pieces of trash doing standing here and waiting? Go find that man for me right now! I¡¯m telling you the truth. If anything happens to him I¡¯ll go find someone to f*cking delete your numbers and then send all of you cowardly, hiding scum to the ck mines where you¡¯ll mine until you die! Even if your motherse begging for mercy, no one will be able to save you! You hear me?!

    ¡°If any of you don¡¯t like this,e right at me! Your daddy¡¯s name is Wei Potian, and he is totally abusing his power! What can you do about it?!¡± Wei Potian beat his chest and spat saliva right into the faces of the expeditionary army¡¯s officers.

    The officers kept quiet and endured the humiliation. No one dared to say a single word. After all, it was their retreat and avoidance of battle that nearly led to Wei Potian, a rookie of the Broken Winged Angels, being surrounded by vampires and almost killed.

    None of these young masters hadmon backgrounds, and the boy in front them was Marquis Bowang¡¯s esteemed son! If these youths really had died in Darkblood City, the soldiers of the expeditionary army would definitely be inviting the anger and vengeance of several influential families. Those families would use the Empire¡¯s harshws to throw every defender in Darkblood City into a cannon fodder camp before exhausting all of them into battle.

    No one would stand up and speak up for them throughout that entire process. After all, why would anyone with any actual backgrounde to the Evernight Continent and work as a city defender?

    When the officers of the expeditionary army scattered and prepared to scour the battlefield, a freezing voice rang out from the sky above them. ¡°Alright, Potian, send them away! Seeing their faces ruins my mood.¡±

    Bai Longjia slowly descended from the sky tond next to Wei Potian. When the expeditionary army officers saw Bai Longjia¡¯s Major General insignia, they immediately became frightened out of their wits. After a series of skewed military salutes, they vanished from sight.

    However, Wei Potian¡¯s anger had yet to subside. He said, ¡°These scumbags knew that dark races were showing up inside the city, yet they refused to leave their camps. When I asked them to send troops, they came up with all sorts of excuses to turn me down even after I showed them the token of the Broken Winged Angels! If I hadn¡¯t told them who I was, those bastards wouldn¡¯t havee with me!¡±

    Bai Longjia indifferently said, ¡°If you want to vent, just take direct action and execute every soldier of the expeditionary army in this camp. If it¡¯s only a thousand lives or so, such a small matter can still be kept under control. You don¡¯t have to sneak up to them while they¡¯re searching the area¡­ that¡¯s way too inefficient.¡±

    ¡°Eh? There¡¯s no need to execute the whole camp!¡± Wei Potian jumped in surprise. He knew that General Bai was a ruthless man that took lives like reaping wheat, one that would achieve goals with any bloody method. He really was capable of such a thing.

    However, when he turned around, Wei Potian reluctantly said, ¡°I still really want to kill a few of those bastards! They¡¯re just so damn pathetic!¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re referring to those people from just now, just take their lives personally,¡± Bai Longjia said. ¡°This is when you would use your death quota.¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head and felt a little hesitation in his mind. It was one thing to kill someone on the battlefield, and it was another to just take their lives like this. Although Wei Potian absolutely hated those procrastinating bastards that just refused to send out their troops, he felt as if his hands were tied when it came to just kill them this way. That being said, if any harm came to Little Ye, then he was definitely going to crush them with his own hands!

    All of a sudden, Bai Longjia began to cough intensely. Two lines of blood trickled from his nostrils.

    ¡°Are you okay, General Bai?¡± Wei Potian hurriedly asked.

    Bai Longjia¡¯s battle had already exceeded Wei Potian¡¯s understanding, so he wasn¡¯t sure how Bai Longjia¡¯s strengthpared to William¡¯s and the masked arachne¡¯s. He only knew that they were very powerful.

    After Bai Longjia¡¯s coughing fit passed, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the traces of blood from his nose, casually saying, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Those two may be very strong, but they are mistaken about one thing. I am not as weak as they think I am!¡±

    Wei Potian clicked his tongue in secret. This General Bai seemed to be improving everyday. His strength was truly immeasurable. It was no wonder that he was able to be a Major General before the age of thirty.

    ¡°I heard that someone risked their life to save you. Tell me what happened.¡±

    Wei Potian, not putting much thought into the situation, immediately told Bai Longjia what happened. This included his conjecture about Qianye¡¯s identity.

    ¡°Qianye? Lin Qianye? Hm. He¡¯s still alive?¡± Bai Longjia still remembered this name. He had personally written an extremely severement in his profile back then.

    Of course, in his mind, Bai Longjia did not think of thatment as humiliating. Even if Qianye could be considered Lin Xintang¡¯s adopted son, he did not yet qualify to be humiliated by Bai Longjia. The fact that he was willing to personally write ament on his profile meant that he already saw Qianye in a good light.

    But the moment Bai Longjia said this, even Wei Potian, with his usually slow wit, noticed that something was wrong. He immediately attempted to correct the mistake and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s possible that I¡¯m just mistaken! That must be the case!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Bai Longjia simply nced at Wei Potian indifferently to make him feel as if he had fallen into a house of ice and couldn¡¯t even say a word.

    Bai Longjia strolled through the street.

    His figure appeared at irregr intervals. Sometimes he would stay at the same spot after taking several steps, and sometimes he would appear around a dozen meters away with another step. After watching him for a moment, Wei Potian began to feel dizzy and unfathomably ufortable. He staggered suddenly, losing his bnce and copsing to the ground.

    Bai Longjia chuckled and said, ¡°Who told you to watch my movements? Do you really think you can observe them at your current level? I¡¯m teaching you a small lesson now to let you know that you¡¯ll encounter many simr things in the future. Plenty of individuals among the dark races wield powerful abilities, and some can influence their opponent¡¯s senses to hurt them. You¡¯re still weak, so the best way to deal with this kind of situation is to maintain your Thousand Mountains.¡±

    Wei Potian climbed to his feet, but waves of nausea still lingered as if he were seasick. When he heard Bai Longjia¡¯s advice, he felt a bit awkward as he said, ¡°But Thousand Mountains consumes way too much origin power! Even as I am now, I can only maintain it for five minutes at most. How will that be enough if I¡¯m on the battlefield?¡±

    ¡°Then increase your origin power,¡± Bai Longjia replied nonchntly. ¡°That is the true root of our strength!¡±

    Bai Longjia turned eastward, and then he looked to the west. A momentter, he arrived at the spot where Qianye first set up the ambush, the ce he had sniped the enemy from. Bai Longjia crouched to the ground and punch some dirt between his fingers. Then stood up again and walked through the alleyway with a few steps, appearing next to the Arm of the Colossus. Bai Longjia turned his head upward and examined it. Then he slowly rose into the air and vanished into the intersecting metal pipes.

    Wei Potian rushed over like mad, running all the way from the streets to the Arm of the Colossus, finally managing to find Bai Longjia at the roof of the tower.

    The corpses of a few vampire warriorsy in front of Bai Longjia. He was looking at his own hand, a few drops of blood staining the fingertips of his tinum glove. Bai Longjia stared at the scarlet bloodstains with icy-cold eyes, an unusually serious expression on his face.

    ¡°General?¡± Wei Potian suddenly felt a bit cold and couldn¡¯t help but shiver.

    This was Bai Longjia¡¯s killing intent!

    Bai Longjia turned around and showed the blood on his fingertips to Wei Potian, indifferently saying, ¡°This is Lin Qianye¡¯s blood. I smell blood energying from it.¡±

    ¡°Qianye? Blood energy? Like a vampire!?¡± Wei Potian was instantly dumbfounded. He felt as if someone had poured a bucket of freezing water over of his head, the chill piercing through his body from top to bottom. He couldn¡¯t believe it that all of this was real, but this was the only reason that could exin why Qianye hadn¡¯t returned to Red Scorpion or reported in even though he was still alive.

    Plenty of people in the Empire fell to the Evernight Continent for all kinds of reasons, and bing a vampire was a major cause. Just tonight, that high ranking Blood Esquire had attempted to turn Wei Potian into a vampire as well.

    After the first wave of shock passed, Wei Potian immediately thought of another matter! It couldn¡¯t have been long since Qianye left. There was no way he would be able to escape Bai Longjia!

    ¡°General!¡± Wei Potian immediately roared as he charged in front of Bai Longjia, with his short hair standing on end. However, under Bai Longjia¡¯s icy cold gaze, he wasn¡¯t able to say anything for some time.

    Among the Broken Winged Angels, Bai Longjia possessed an especially prestigious status. No low-ranking officers dared to oppose him, let alone a rookie like Wei Potian. Although Bai Longjia looked upon Wei Potian rather highly, Wei Potian not enjoy any sort of special treatment. In fact, he went through even harsher training.

    ¡°What do you want? You better think clearly before saying anything.¡± Bai Longjia¡¯s tone was as indifferent as before, but Wei Potian could sense the unmistakable feeling of killing intent behind his words!

    Wei Potian gritted his teeth and cried, ¡°Little Ye saved us! I don¡¯t care what he has be, I only know that he just saved our lives! Even if he was turned into a vampire, he is still fighting against the vampires!¡±

    Bai Longjia just stared at Wei Potian.

 Volume 2 - 59: Bloom of the Other Shore Flower

    Volume 2 ¨C Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 59: Bloom of the Other Shore Flower

    Wei Potian knew that this reasoning could not hold its ground at all. No matter what Qianye did, it could not change the fact that he had transformed into a vampire. The Empire¡¯s response to dark races was always to kill first, talkter. A faction¡¯s standpoint was everything, and this stance was the result of thousands of years of bloodshed.

    The Empire allowed for no dark races to live in its territory. This was dying wish of both the founder and the Heavenly Emperor, and it was the oath every emperor would make during their ession ceremony.

    It was at this point that Wei potian thought of something even more grave. Qianye belonged to the Red Scorpions, so his scope of authority was extremely great. If someone like him submitted himself to the Evernight faction, then the amount of damage it could cause was extremely massive. Because of this, the Empire would spare no costs to hunt him down from the second they learned that Qianye was alive, regardless of whether he truly had joined the dark races or not. Perhaps the people who would be sent after him woulde from the Red Scorpions themselves!

    In the end, Wei Potian raised his head and firmly met Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes! However, when he was just about to speak up, Bai Longjia raised his hand and stopped him from speaking.

    Bai Longjia flicked his finger, making the drops of blood on his fingertip scatter into the dark night. The killing intent surrounding his body dissipatedpletely, and he said, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that Lin Qianye killed in action? The Empire¡¯s officers would notmit an error, so you must¡¯ve been mistaken tonight.¡±

    Wei Potian almost couldn¡¯t believe his own ears!

    For a moment, he was torn between feeling shocked and joyous. Leaping to his feet, he wasn¡¯t sure what to say and onlyughed dumbly before repeating, ¡°It must be my eyes, it must be my eyes!¡±

    Bai Longjia shook his head and said helplessly, ¡°How did a hero like Marquis Wei raise a son like you? Sigh!¡±

    Wei Potian simply continued tough dumbly. Unwilling to give up, he then continued to survey his surroundings.

    Bai Longjia smiled thinly and said, ¡°Rx, he¡¯s still alive.¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head and hummed in acknowledgement. Judging from the veiled meaning behind Bai Longjia¡¯s words, he could tell that Qianye¡¯s life was not in danger for now. However, he suddenly thought of something and his face darkened, ¡°Marshal Lin¡­¡±

    When he said the two words, he sounded a little like he was gnashing his teeth.

    Bai Longjia lifted an eyebrow. He knew that after Wei Potian had be the champion of the big military rookiepetition, and officially became the noble son of the Far East Wei Family¡¯s Marquis Bowang, he had used his family¡¯s authority to investigate Lin Qianye¡¯s background. Seeing Wei Potian¡¯s current reaction, could it be that he had heard some rumors? Although the Wei Family appeared to be living in seclusion in recent years and hadn¡¯t produced another Marshal, their influence within the army could not be underestimated. To think that they had been able to uncover some clues even about a matter that was concealed like this one.

    That being said, the Bai Family and Lin Xitang had never gotten along in the first ce and did not even find it worthwhile to go through the effort of keeping appearances. Bai Longjia did not wish to see the neutral Wei Family be inclined to the other faction, so it definitely saved him some breath now that the son of the Wei Family, Wei Potian, had this reaction to today¡¯s encounter.

    Thus, he responded indifferently and said, ¡°No matter what stories you hear, they will all be rumors until you have the authority to prove them.¡±

    ¡°Authority?¡± Wei Potian was startled for a bit as he repeated the word Bai Longjia emphasized.

    ¡°Authority. Just like how your death quota allowed you to kill those junior officers, I am not denied the freedom of executing their superiors or even their whole camp. This¡­ is authority.¡± Bai Longjia¡¯s tone was normal, just like how he used to teach Wei Potian martial arts.

    Wei Potian stood there nkly for a moment before he hurriedly chased after Bai Longjia. The duo walked far along the street.

    From deep in the twilight that hadn¡¯t yet lost its thin veil of mist, Wei Potian¡¯s voice rang, ¡°General Bai! In my opinion, there is no one more beautiful than you in all of the Broken Winged Angels! Not even a woman!¡±

    A loud bang could be heard. Bai Longjia seemed to have run into something.

    The man abruptly spoke in an angry voice. ¡°Wei Potian, you ignorant, ipetent fool! When you get back, you better learn how to tter someone properly!¡±

    Wei Potian seemed to be surprised by his reaction as he foolishly answered, ¡°Don¡¯t they say that the best tteryes from the heart? I really do think so, you know! If you would look at that certain someone, he looked just like a woman! I haven¡¯t been able to stand that guy since long ago¡­¡±

    The certain someone he mentioned was Bai Longjia¡¯s arch enemy within the Broken Winged Angel.

    After hearing Wei Potian¡¯s words, Bai Longjia wasn¡¯t able toe up with a retort for a long time. In the end he simply said, ¡°Goddamn it!¡±

    No one knew who exactly he was swearing at.

    That being said, he had unwittingly epted Wei Potian¡¯s ttery.

    When they approached the expeditionary army¡¯s camp, Wei Potian withdrew his flippant attitude and took on a murderous appearance. He asked, ¡°Should we teach these expeditionary army pieces of trash a lesson, General?¡±

    Bai Longjia looked at the connected camps in the distance that were shrouded in twilight., He nonchntly said, ¡°We can¡¯t actually me them, really. The order to cooperate that they received did not state our identities, and there was a rumor that an important character of the Evernight faction was going to enter Darkblood City tonight. The expeditionary army was obviously frightened by the news.¡±

    ¡°Important character?¡±

    ¡°A member of the Evernight Council.¡±

    Wei Potian immediately sucked in a cold breath! The Evernight Council was the dark world¡¯s highest governing body. Every council member was a terrifying existence that could shake the world with their power and affect a faction¡¯s state of affairs with their activities alone. Why would such an important charactere to such a remote, deste ce like Darkblood City?

    Seemingly guessing Wei Potian¡¯s questions, Bai Longjia immediately answered, ¡°The reason for his appearance isn¡¯t something you should know about. Knowing too much won¡¯t benefit you in any way.¡±

    Since this was the case, Wei Potian could kind of understand why the expeditionary army had acted the way they had. If a member of the Evernight Council really did show up, then holing up in their camps was a good decision. An important character in the dark world, one second only to Monarchs, would not attack human civilians without reason.

    This council member had to have a reason foring here and would naturally leave after their business was finished. However, if the expeditionary army provoked them, they probably wouldn¡¯t mind ughtering several tens of thousands of people along the way.

    However, understanding the reasoning behind the expeditionary army¡¯s actions was one thing. Forgiving their cowardly conduct, on the other hand, was not something Wei Potian could do. Surprisingly enough, Bai Longjia did not seem surprised or angry, which starkly contrasted his usual over-the-top style.

    Unable to keep his thoughts to himself, Wei Potian immediately asked why they were so cowardly.

    Bai Longjia calmly said, ¡°You and I are soldiers, but the people in the expeditionary army are not. To them, this is only a job. For a job, they can tolerate earning less money and putting in more effort, but sacrificing their lives is not something they would be willing to do even if it were asked of them.¡±

    Wei Potian could not understand this, but he didn¡¯t ask any other questions and simply memorized Bai Longjia¡¯s words by heart. However, despite his slow wit, he finally remembered the gravity of the situation and nearly jumped where he stood. ¡°Does that mean this council member is arriving tonight? What should we do?¡±

    Bai Longjia looked at Wei Potian with a slight smile on his face and said, ¡°Now you remember? Rx. No matter what happens, you will not be in line to fight an Evernight council member for your life.¡±

    Somewhat embarrassed, Wei Potian replied, ¡°There wouldn¡¯t be any point point even if I wanted to!¡±

    Bai Longjia looked up at the deep, dark sky and said, ¡°Do not worry. Naturally, someone will ¡®wee¡¯ that council member.¡±

    Wei Potian noticed Bai Longjia¡¯s unusual expression. He couldn¡¯t help but try to guess what kind of person could make the general wear such a rapt expression. That being said, someone with the qualifications to face off against an Evernight council member had to be powerful enough to shake the world.

    Yet no matter how much Wei Potian wracked his brain about this, he never would have guessed that this person was a delicate young girl that looked as though she couldn¡¯t even withstand an nightly breeze.

    She stood just outside Darkblood City, prepared to wee the member of the Evernight Council. She wore a long dress, her flowing hair dancing in the wind.

    Under the night sky, she looked so pure that even her skin seemed to glow with gentle light. At the same time, she was also so delicate and thin that even the slightest breeze could make her furrow her brow a bit.

    She had a unique temperament, a quality that belonged to no one but her.

    In this cold, rough, dreary world, this girl resembled a Dutchman¡¯s pipe, a flower that bloomed quietly in the night. However, this blooming appearance made her all the more hair-raising, as if she could pass away any moment.

    Where she stood, the world was ck and white. She was the only bit of white left in a now ck world. Only her lips retained their color in this world, a thin vermillion that seemed to be formed from all of the world¡¯s sadness. Every movement of her lips tugged at the softest spot in one¡¯s heart, triggering heartache.

    She was a girl that could not be forgotten.

    She was the girl that had shown up at Qianye¡¯s Red Spider Lily bar.

    At this moment, an old man dressed in ck floated in the sky opposite her. He had a chiseled face, and the corners of his mouth sagged heavily. He also had a pair of gray eyes resembled two great doors that led to hell, seemingly capable of drawing a person¡¯s soul into them at any moment.

    He stared closely at the young girl, and wherever his gaze went, a bubble of light that surrounded the young girl would constantly ripple.

    The old man finally seemed a bit astonished as he spoke up, his voice resembling the sound of jade stones scraping against one another.

    ¡°You are¡­?¡±

    ¡°Zhao Ruoxi.¡± The girl¡¯s voice had a dreamy, unreal quality to it.

    Everything about her existence seemed liable to shatter at the slightest touch, like a fragile bubble.

    The corner of the old man¡¯s eyes sagged even further as he slowly said, ¡°I am Ge Shitu. If you dared to wait for me here, then you should know who I am. Let me pass. Once I have confirmed some news, I will leave immediately.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but this is as far as you go,¡± Zhao Ruxi said.

    All of a sudden, the old man¡¯s ck robes billowed out behind him, all the wind of the wastnd abruptly gathered from every direction as if it had gained a mind of its own. High-pitched whistling echoed far, near, high, and low as an enormous whirlwind that spanned dozens of meters slowly took shape around the two.

    Ge Shitu spread his arms as if he were going to hug the girl from afar. As if reciting a chant, he whispered, ¡°Come then, girl. Show me what it is that can stop me at my tracks!¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

    In that moment, a gun suddenly appeared in Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hands!

    That gun was an antique flintlock pistol. Beautiful,plex gilded patterns covered its barrel and handle. The girl¡¯s finger slowly pressed against the ruyi-shaped hammer, her dazzling skin no less attractive than mithril. However, the most eye-catching object on the gun was a scarlet flower that was carved into it. Silky petals stretched from it, blooming with a potent life force. It didn¡¯t look like a carving at all.

    Ge Shitu¡¯s eyes flew wide open! As a member of the Evernight Council, he obviously wouldn¡¯t fail to recognize this gun. It was one of the ten famous guns that the Empire controlled, the Red Spider Lily, the Other Shore Flower that only blooms on the shores of the Nether River!

    ¡°You! You¡¯re this generation¡¯s master of the Red Spider Lily! So the Empire actually has another person capable of wielding it!¡±

    Ge Shitu was immeasurably shocked. Red Spider Lily was famously difficult to tame. Although this gun had been under the Empire¡¯s control for thousands of years, it spent most of that time masterless and sealed away. He never would have thought that this gun would appear before him on this night, let alone in the hands of a delicate girl that looked as pure and fragile as a bubble.

    At the same time, Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s small hands gripped the body of the gun as she used every bit of her strength to pull the trigger!

    A wisp of indistinct light burst from the Red Spider Lily¡¯s muzzle. It was so faint that it seemed like the me of a candle in the wind. It would actually be quite difficult to notice if one wasn¡¯t specifically looking for it.

    However, the space around Ge Shitu abruptly changed. Shrill howls of the wind which tore at one¡¯s eardrums disappeared before he knew it. The night sky, which had regained its calm, actually dense enough to look solid. It got to the point where it began to ripple like water.

    Intense fear suddenly surfaced within Ge Shitu¡¯s heart. This was no longer a night sky, but the waters of the Nether River! As expected, Other Shore Flowers as red as blood began to quietly bloom amidst the ripples one after another. They silently shook, guiding lingering souls home.

    Ge Shitu wanted to dodge out of the way, but he realized that he had beenpletely immobilized!

    A bullet nearly as transparent as crystal glided through the night sky, shooting toward the Nether River.

    ¡°No!¡± he cried as the bullet struck the Nether River, the Other Shore Flowers shaking like dancers. The solidified scenery began to crack like a shattered mirror!

    Ge Shitu was also part of this scenery and shattered along with it!

    He shattered into dozens of pieces, abruptly warping and curling in on himself like a ball of blurry ck smoke. Then it coalesced into a human shape once more. However, once it did, Ge Shitu¡¯s face was pale and he abruptly spat out a huge mouthful of blood.

    Then, without another word, he turned around and left.

    His figure blinked across space as he fled into the distance. Every time it did, a bright sh and a ck halo would shine.

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯splexion was as pale as ever, and even her lips, which were a faint vermillion, were nearly translucent now. It was as if she were in a faded world where only the colors ck and white existed.

    She slowly closed her eyes and fell backward. Her small body resembled a petal floating toward the Evernight Continent amidst a rain of Other Shore Flowers that went on as far as the eye could see.

    Uncle Wang silently appeared out of nowhere and caught the near weightless Zhao Ruoxi, instantly traveling far into the distance with her in his arms.

    Having yet to fadepletely, the whirlwind¡¯s sobs lingered in the air of the wastnd. The final Red Spider Lily rustled and fell through the void like a lost spark amidst the stars. The water of the Nether River was the only thing that continued to babble as if it were singing a song.

    End of Volume 2

 Volume 3 - 1: A New Day

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 1: A New Day

    A long steam whistle resounded above Darkblood City, announcing theing of a new day. Although the night had already passed, dawn still struggled just below the horizon. Dawn did not appear during the dark season of the Evernight Continent.

    Amidst the gray light of day, Qianye waspletely wrapped in an earthy yellow adventurer¡¯s cloak. He stood atop steam pipes a dozen or so meters above ground level overlooking the nowpletely awake Darkblood City.

    It seemed like the city only needed a single night to recover from its wounds. Other than the usually unending flow of humans moving below the tall buildings being slightly sparser than usual, everywhere else was as orderly and calm as ever. Everyone had begun their seemingly familiar yet slightly different day, once again doing what they were supposed to. The smell of merriment, desire, and indulgence permeated every block.

    It was as ifst night was just an unusually realistic nightmare. Qianye wasn¡¯tpletely ustomed to the scene before him.

    The only thing that remained was the damage that the intense fighting had left throughout the city. Ruins silentlyy as a testament to everything that had happened. The battlefield where Bai Longjia, William, and the human-faced arachne shed had experienced the worst damage. Not a single intact house could be found in that entire block, and the single-story house Qianye first hid in had also been reduced to a pile of rubble. If one looked at everything from a distance and judged the ways in which the buildings had fallen, they would be able to see where origin power had shed intensely, where explosions had urred, and the way in which the fighting surged.

    It seemed as though small-scale battles had also happened in several other parts of the city. However,pared to the experience that Qianye had gone through, excluding the repairs that would need to be done on the street¡¯s surface, the amount of blood that had been shed in the smaller encounters could probably bepletely worn away with just a slightlyrger amount of passing footsteps.

    There were many people who spontaneously gathered at the ruins and cleared out the bodies, dumping them outside the city.

    On one hand, they cleared out the bodies to prevent epidemics from urring. Dark races had all sorts of highly dangerous diseases inside of them, and all of them could spread through rotting corpses. On the other, they were also aiming for the spoils of the dead. This was an unwritten rule in the Evernight Continent.

    ¡ªWhoever cleared out a body that no one imed would own its belongings as well.

    This unwritten rule was the exact reason why the ruins were cleared out unusually quickly. The men quietly and tacitly split the rewards between themselves via an unspokennguage. The scene was not chaotic. Plenty of rank one Fighters who even joined in on the cleaning. A rank one Fighter was much stronger than a normal person, and three to five of them could lift a thick metal frame the size of a man¡¯s torso.

    There were also a few neatly dressed people standing at the outskirts of the block that had nearly been ttened. They took out all kinds of strange folders, easels, and clipboards, writing and drawing things on paper non-stop. All of these people were representatives ofrge localpanies or financial groups. After the ruins were cleared out, thend would need to be rebuilt. When that happened, it would be yet another piece of business worth a pretty penny. Thankfully, thend wasn¡¯t under anyone¡¯s jurisdiction and intersected with very fewworks. This madeying down infrastructure and dealing with reparations easier.

    This was the Evernight Continent. This was Darkblood City. It was like an ugly monster that no one cared about, abandoned in a terrible environment, but was somehow full of vitality. Even when it was hurt, it would work hard and rely on its own life force to recover. After all, no one would lend it a hand.

    Qianye turned his eyes to the northern block of the city. Beyond the random assortment of buildings with rooftops of varying colors sat arge cluster of greenish gray buildings that made up the expeditionary army¡¯s camp. Qianye smiled silently, the wrinkles on his meticulous disguise seemingly creasing even further. He didn¡¯t think that someone as thick as a steam pipe like Wei Potian would actually be able to recognize him. Unfortunately, it seemed like the day where Qianye collected the favors that Wei Potian promised him would nevere.

    After observing for a while, Qianye discovered that the amount of expeditionary forces inside the city seemed to be less than he imagined, and the patrols did not look as if they reflected the remainder of that number either. He found a quiet, secluded corner on the ground to jump to,nded, and leisurely walked to a nearby ruin. Then he casually chatted up a few people who had just finished cleaning out a section of ruins and were now taking a break. It was only then he found out that the expeditionary army¡¯s reinforcements from earlier had left first thing in the morning. In fact, they had left without a sound.

    Was their departure rted tost night¡¯s huge battle? Was there a conclusion? As he thought about this, Qianye asked a few more random questions.

    However, the chatty uncle replied casually.

    ¡°Who cares about what happenedst night? If they died, they were just unlucky. That¡¯s all.¡±

    Only when Qianye thought about it carefully did he understand the helplessness and eptance behind this answer.

    A battle at the level of the one that urredst night was already far beyond the influence of a normal person. In fact, it was far beyond the ability of someone at Qianye¡¯s level as well. When important characters like Bai Longjia, William, and those of even higher rank appeared, normal people could do nothing but quietly wait for the judgment of fate.

    Important characters normally weren¡¯t interested in dealing with ants like them, but if they were unfortunate and got dragged into the fray, then there was no possibility of escape. Therefore, nothing was more important to them than living as best they could. Thinking too deeply about things they could not change would simply add to their troubles.

    Darkblood City was the same. It had already regained its vitality the day after a night¡¯s suffering. Perhaps this was the tenacity that the human race possessed, the one that finally helped them escape a destiny of being livestock. Qianye felt as if he were seeing a side of the Evernight Continent he hadn¡¯t known before.

    Today¡¯s weather was unexpectedly bright and beautiful. The sun had escaped the snare of the upper continent to shine sunlight onto Darkblood City. As if hurrying to not miss the few sunlit hours of the day, more and more residents surged out of their homes and began their daily activities.

    Qianye walked into the Home of Hunters. Old 2 seemed to be feeling pretty good as he sunbathed in the courtyard. There was a purple sand wine jar and a few small dishes on a table next to him.

    When Old 2 saw Qianye, he beckoned for him toe closer and said, ¡°Come! Drink for a bit and listen to the ramblings of this old man, will you? Just think of it as respecting your elders!¡±

    Qianye nodded silently and sat at the other side of the table.

    As he watched Qianye pour a cup of wine for him, Old 2 suddenly fished out a ttened silver pot and said, ¡°Add a little bit of this. It¡¯s just as good as the one you brew.¡±

    Qianye immediately took the pot and poured some of its intense, aromatic liquid into his cup. Then he took a huge mouthful of the drink, held it in his mouth for a moment, then swallowed and said, ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t seem to notice that Old 2 had been paying attention to his reactions from beginning to the end. Only now did Old 2¡¯s expression soften slightly.

    ¡°You participated inst night¡¯s battle, didn¡¯t you?¡± Old 2 suddenly asked.

    After pondering for a moment, Qianye suddenly came to realization. An expert would obviously be able to distinguish the unique sound of an Eagleshot¡¯s fully powered shot fromst night, and the amount of Eagleshots in all of Darkblood City could probably be counted on one hand.

    Old 2 did not wait for an answer from Qianye and just smiled, saying, ¡°Old 1 told me that you recently sold quite a bit of good stuff to him, especially those vampire warrior fangs. The vampires that those fangs belonged to were no ordinary vampires. You also bought a very impressive item.¡±

    ¡°I have a little bit of experience when ites to dealing with vampires.¡±

    Old 2 nodded and sighed. Then he said, ¡°You are still young, and I am already old. I have experienced dozens of cities and seen countless wars and ughter. To me, the world has solidified. There is no longer any possibility of change. You are different. To you, every day is a new day filled with possibilities and new hope. This is the difference between a young man and an old one.¡±

    Qianye listened quietly. The weight of time and the force of change filled Old 2¡¯s voice, but he couldn¡¯t really understand the meaning of the words he said.

    ¡°Do you know what themon theme of every war ever since the War of Daybreak has been?¡±

    This sudden question kind of surprised Qianye. To him, the answer was so clear that it didn¡¯t need to be discussed so seriously. The theme of every war was ughter, to kill the enemy in the fastest, most direct, and most effective way. That was war.

    Yet Old 2¡¯s answer was something that Qianye had never considered before.

    ¡°Themon theme of every war¡­ is sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°Sacrifice?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t really understand. Every war had its sacrifices, and it was as rote as the passage of time.

    ¡°Not just the sacrifice of life, but also the sacrifice of change. Some people sacrifice their time. Some people sacrifice their lives. Some people sacrifice their fates. People have their entire lives changed by war, just like this city. On the surface it appears to be full of merriment and prosperity, but if you sat here for for a long time, day after day, you would notice a lot less familiar faces and a lot more new ones.¡±

    Qianye suddenly recalledrades from the past.

    The death of every one of hisrades added to the responsibility that weighed upon Qianye¡¯s heart. As he currently was, Qianye needed to fight the dark races to the death the moment he saw them. That had long since been engraved into him. Qianye would have to kill god knows how many warriors of the dark races just to avenge pastrades alone. If he were still in Red Scorpion, there would have been a day he would be a responsibility and burden of hisrade¡¯s as well.

    It was at this moment that Old 2 said, ¡°In reality, humans aren¡¯t the only ones making sacrifices. The dark races make sacrifices as well.¡±

    This was a view that Qianye had never heard in his life. From the moment he could learn things, the education he had been given was about how the dark races were cold, cruel, and saw humans as their food. Every member of the dark race was the epitome of filth, rot, and blood. In short, nothing good was ever associated with the dark races.

    Did the dark races even deserve a word as noble as sacrifice?

    However, Old 2 did not continue the topic. He finished the wine in his cup and said, ¡°The world is not just Daybreak and Evernight. There is a wide area between them that contains other colors beside gray. If you try harder to look at other colors, you may even see a rainbow. Dont¡¯ pull the trigger lightly. That is not a good habit. It will make you to miss out on many, many things.¡±

    At that moment, a hunter came in to turn in a mission. Old 2 got up and entered the house, but thest thing he said left Qianye thinking for a very long time. Qianye still couldn¡¯t really understand it. From his perspective, the world was bothplicated and simple. Dark races needing to be killed on sight was one of the simplest kinds of truth.

    When Old 2 left, he also left behind news that was neither good nor bad. Sky Snake had sent word. He wished to make peace with Qianye. This oue wasn¡¯t too surprising, since the shot fired by the Eagleshot from a distance of a thousand of meters must¡¯ve made a deep impression on him. Unfortunately, making peace was not a part of Qianye¡¯s original n. Since the opponent had passed the initiative to him, he could take some time to consider it.

    By this point, the sky had already begun to grow dark. During the Evernight Continent¡¯s dark seasons, daylight was always scarce. After Qianye left the Home of Hunters, he wandered through the streets. When he lifted his head, he suddenly found himself standing at Yu Yingnan¡¯s doorstep.

    Qianye did not know how he made his way here. The purple sand jar from earlier had held rice wine. The one that Old 2 personally brewed was considerably sweeter than the one sold on the market. Adding the extra substance from the silver pot, drinking it was like drinking a ball of fire that didn¡¯t burn yet had dyed, incredibly potent aftereffects. Right now Qianye felt a little dizzy, and a part of his mind had be slower. In spite of that, some of his instincts had be faster and more direct.

    Qianye pushed open the tightly shut brown door before him. In his mind, Yu Yingnan¡¯s house was never locked.

    The alcohol had made him a bit rash and bold. Of course, the more important factor was that he had never sensed danger here.

    But tonight was obviously different.

    A bare foot suddenly flew out of the darkness, sweeping toward Qianye¡¯s face.

 Volume 3 - 2: A Dazed Present

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 2: A Dazed Present

    The shape of this right leg was very beautiful, but if one looked directly at the strong lines on the long lower leg poised for a strike, one would realize this leg definitely wouldn¡¯t be easy to take on!

    Qianye instinctively raised his arms and grabbed the ankle in front of him. A muffled thud rang out as his entire body lifted from the ground, shaken by the force of the kick.

    ¡°Slightly weaker than a vampire soldier,¡± Qianye thought.

    The force of this kick was weaker than Qianye predicted. Although he had been taken by surprise, it seemed easy to fight against.

    Qianye gathered the origin power in his body and suddenly wrenched his body downward, immediately dropping to the ground steadily. Pushing all of the his momentum to the ground, he yanked his left hand into his torso, using an overwhelming strength to instantly pull his opponent toward him. Although that person was resisting, they werepletely suppressed in terms of power.

    Qianye suddenly cried out in surprise. Years of battle experience allowed him to sense an origin gun being aimed at him. The sound of a physical bullet being loaded followed soon after.

    Qianye tugged at the ankle in his hands, causing the other person to momentarily lose their bnce. Then he dove onto his opponent, and using the weight of Mount Tai, he held them down. The origin gun left their grasp and flew outward, wind brushing past Qianye¡¯s ear as it slid along the wooden floor until it collided with the wall at the other end of the room.

    Qianye was extremely satisfied with the speed and timing of his dive. He had simply grabbed onto the opponent¡¯s leg, wrenched it downward when they were in the middling of charging their origin gun, then dove onto them to prevent further close quartersbat.

    Qianye reached out his left hand and urately grabbed onto both of his opponent¡¯s wrists, holding them tightly. Then they wrestled briefly until he overpowered them and pinned their arms high above their head. Then he finally exhaled and lifted his upper body.

    A sh of light from outside the window illuminated the room for a moment.

    In that moment, both the person on top and the person on bottom were dumbfounded.

    The person that had been overpowered by Qianye was Yu Yingnan. The only problem was, she seemed to have just left the bath and only had a towel wrapped around her. As of now, after fierce struggle, the towel had long since flown to a corner on the other side of the room.

    Qianye looked downward, taking Yu Yingnan in from head to toe with just a nce.

    After years of constant exercise, her body was strong andpact like a leopard, her full, yet no brawny figure seemingly full of explosive power. Other than that, her chest was truly something to be proud of. A curious smell permeated the room as well. It wasn¡¯t as obvious before, but a soft waxy scent could be detected. It waspletely different from the aroma of fresh wine, but it did smell like rice wine. This huntress had obviously been enjoying herself.

    Shock instantly filled Qianye, sweat immediately trickling from his forehead. The hazy, drunken feeling influencing him suddenly disappeared, and he immediately woke from his daze.

    After Yu Yingnan stared at him for a second, her tense body actually rxed as she asked, ¡°Qianye?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me!¡± Qianye immediately let go of his left hand, freeing Yu Yingnan¡¯s arms. However, he dumbly remained in his position, as if he didn¡¯t know what to do next.

    Yu Yingnan sighed in exasperation, pped Qianye¡¯s face, and said, ¡°Get off! How long are you going to stare!¡±

    Qianye jumped up and immediately moved to the sofa, obediently sitting down.

    Yu Yingnan was actually quite forgiving in that she had only pped him. She gracefully stood up as if nothing had happened then bent her supple waist to pick up her clothes that had fallen on the ground. She put her underwear on in front of Qianye, then her pants, her corset, andstly her tactical jacket.

    Once finished, Yu Yingnan pulled up a chair and sat in front of Qianye who was still dazed. She pped his face again, saying, ¡°Speak! What happened just now?¡±

    ¡°That¡­ um¡­ it¡¯s like this.¡±

    A minuteter, Yu Yingnan looked at Qianye with a strange expression on her face, finally unable resist asking, ¡°You said you drank too much just now?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Qianye answered honestly.

    ¡°Just a jug of rice wine?¡±

    ¡°Two cups. Old 2 drank the rest.¡± Qianye was extremely honest.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that stuff as light as water?¡±

    Qianye thought for a moment, then sincerely said, ¡°It actually has a little kick.¡±

    ¡°So you drank too much?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Watching Qianye methodically answering her questions, Yu Yingnan truly did not know whether tough or cry.

    She stood up, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag from it. She had no idea how to describe her muddled emotions. Thest time theypeted in over how well they could handle alcohol, Qianye didn¡¯t fall even after ten to twenty bottles of hard liquor. Now he actually got drunk after just two cups of rice wine? Was he hallucinating in his drunken stupor, or did the alcohol make him courageous?

    When faced with Qianye¡¯s clumsy excuse, one that was unbearable to even try disprove, she could only violently spit out a curse.

    Qianye stood up and said, ¡°Shall I go?¡±

    Yu Yingnan stopped him. ¡°Wait! What did you want to talk to me about?¡±

    ¡°I just drank too much came over in a daze.¡±

    Yu Yingnan seemed to freeze for a second, then she took another drag of her cigarette. She inhaled the smoke a bit too deeply, and after violently coughing a few times, she waved at Qianye forcefully. ¡°Okay! If you don¡¯t have any problems then just leave!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Qianye was very obedient.

    ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Yu Yingnan called for him to stop.

    Qianye turned around, his obsidian-like eyes shing like bright beautiful lights in the dark room. Yu Yingnan opened her mouth, but forgot why she stopped him. Maybe there was something never she wanted him to stop for.

    It was Yu Yingnan¡¯s turn to scratch her head. She suddenly rushed into her storage room. One could hear loud ttering noises and even the sound of racks crashing to the floor. Then Yu Yingnan rushed back out, a huge bag in her hand. It was filled with a variety of field rations, such as longsting canned food among other things.

    Yu Yingnan pressed the bag into Qianye¡¯s arms, saying, ¡°Take this with you and eat it as you will!¡±

    Qianye walked out the door hugging a bag that weighed at dozens of kilograms at the very least, his mindpletely nk.

    Yu Yingnan shouted at him from behind. ¡°When there¡¯s a new mission, I¡¯lle find you!¡±

    Qianye nodded and headed out.

    Yu Yingnan mmed the door shut, then leaned against the door. She began to pant frantically, as if she had just fought in a major war. After she calmed down, Yu Yingnan stressed to herself.

    ¡°Why did I talk so much today?

    ¡°Should I say less next time?

    Wouldn¡¯t that make things strange?

    ¡°I should just act the way I did in the past.

    ¡°How did I act in the past? Crap, I must have drank too much.¡±

    Her conversation with herself echoed throughout the room like this. After going through it once, she looped back to her initial problem and started all over again.

    Qianye returned to his room in the small hotel. He had just changed rooms. After closing the door to his room and shutting out the noise from the corridor, he sighed in relief. He felt exhausted.

    He was just like a child who had done something wrong and adults had caught him in the act. Even though he and Yu Yingnan had only gone on one mission together, her fierce, tyrannical style ofmanding was very simr to that of Qianye¡¯s formermanding officers and had unwittingly aroused his long-time habit of obeying orders.

    The only difference was that she wasn¡¯t very good atmanding. Hermands mostly consisted of simple orders like ¡°charge¡± and ¡°attack together.¡± Such ability was light-years away from even Nan Batian who Qianye considered barely adept atmanding.

    Qianye opened the bag and smiled bitterly when he saw cans that had piled into a small mountain. It seemed like Yu Yingnan had given him at least half of her rations.

    Qianye still couldn¡¯t understand why she gave him a bunch of cans and not other things. For example, empty origin bullets, a decent sword, or other items like that would have all been good presents. Why did it have to be a bunch of cans?

    Maybe it was a coincidence that Qianye actually needed arge amount of food. His power grew every day, so his appetite grew every day as well. After that night, Qianye discovered that sucking blood, especially the blood of strong vampires, recovered his energy. In fact it would make his blood energy stronger. If he didn¡¯t suck blood, he would need to eat enormous portions of food in order to satisfy his body¡¯s needs.

    However, no matter how much he ate, it still wouldn¡¯t strengthen his blood energy. Until now, it seemed as if the only way to strengthen it would be for the origin tides inside of him to naturally feed the blood energy..

    Qianye pulled out his army knife and pried one can open after another, eating whatever was inside. As he ate tremendous amounts of food, the injuries he received when fighting the vampires began to heal even faster.

    At the same time, Yu Yingnan, who had been pacing around her room in a daze, suddenly rushed into her storage. Once she opened the door and saw the fallen rack that was missing half of her rations, she was instantly stunned.

    ¡°Oh my god! I actually gave him a bunch of cans! What is that¡­¡± Yu Yingnan moaned and sat down on the floor.

    Afterward that, Qianye no longer left his room to find information. Since the Broken Winged Angels and the expeditionary army hadn¡¯t made any movements, this could mean that Wei Potian hadn¡¯t been able to identify him. Or maybe they stopped looking because of some other reason. For Qianye as he currently was, this was the best possible oue.

    Even though the problem with Qi Yue had been traced to Darkblood City, Qianye still didn¡¯t want to leave unless he had to. He felt this city was a suitable ce for him to live since he could find most of the things he needed, the gates never closed, and the crowd could hide the aura of his ck blood. In addition to that, the high grade products avable for high ranked hunters in the Home of Hunters had enough appeal.

    Qianye stayed in his hotel room for one day and one night without leaving, waiting for his injuries to heal. His vampiric constitution had finished its advancement, and the subtle changes taking ce inside of it came to an end. Qianye analyzed his power in a simple way and estimated that he had the ability to oppose rank six Fighters like Yu Renyan. In terms of power, he would probably just be at a disadvantage. He would no longer be unable to fight back.

    It was time to resolve the issue with Sky Snake.

    Qianye did not trust the head of the Sky Snake Gang at all. Yu Yingnan once said that Sky Snake used to abide by the rules when making deals, but in reality, a Flowing Gold Rose was enough to make him abandon his principles. This kind of person would only be convinced by profit and driven by power.

    Furthermore, Sky Snake wanted to make peace, but he did not offer any terms. Qianye didn¡¯t feel any sincerity from him because there was only one term that Sky Snake could immediately bring up¡ªYu Yingnan¡¯s debt.

    However, even if Sky Snake were truly sincere about making peace, Qianye still would never ept it.

    Qianye organized his equipment. He dismantled his Eagleshot into three parts and put them into his bag, then put an origin bullet he personally infused with origin power into Butcher¡¯s magazine. Old 2 had reminded him that an Eagleshot wasn¡¯t suitable for cities. However, Qianye did not want to leave the Eagleshot in his room. Security guards of small hotels like these were not much different from the trash that seeped in from everywhere.

    The time was nearly ripe. Qianye prepared to go to the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters that night. He felt that the best way to negotiate with Sky Snake was by pointing the Butcher at his head.

    By nightfall, Darkblood City became lively again. Under the dim streetlights, one could see women leaning againstmp posts to attract business. They wore heavy makeup and gaudy clothing. Under the faint light, they actually exuded a bit of charm. Of course, during the day and without makeup, they would definitely turn into another lifeform.

    Qianye walked through the street like an average, low-level person. The women on both sides of the street constantly threw seductive looks at him, enthusiastically calling for his attention. At times, men would see a woman that suited their tastes, so they would embrace each other and find an extremely cheap small hotel for a one night stand.

    Qianye suddenly discovered that Darkblood City had interesting patterns that were more direct than Lighthouse Town¡¯s. Although lustful men and women could get a room in Lighthouse Town, most of them chose to do the deed in the grass.

    This was truly an amazing thought. Qianye didn¡¯t know how it had even popped into his head.

    Qianye left this lively, lustful street and turned into a dark, dirty, quiet alleyway. He was more used to this kind of environment.

    However, aside from Qianye, there were obviously other people who were also well suited to this environment.

    At the corner of the street more than ten steps ahead of Qianye, a shadow suddenly dropped from the wall with a thud. When looking at it more closely, a person with long arms and legs was slowly walking out to block Qianye¡¯s way.

 Volume 3 - 3: Fighting in Close Combat

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 3: Fighting in Close Combat

    ¡°Looks like you didn¡¯t keep what I said in mind,¡± Yu Renyan said slowly. ¡°I told you¡­ the next time we met, I would kill you.¡±

    Qianye wrinkled his brow, slowly taking off his bag and smoothly throwing it to the side. He then put his assault rifle at his feet and firmly stood up before speaking to Yu Renyan. ¡°I never thought you would be this impatient.¡±

    ¡°I was just passing by. However, since we¡¯ve encountered each other, there¡¯s no way to pretend I never saw you. Therefore, this is fate. Do you want a few minutes to write a will?¡±

    ¡°Will has never been in my dictionary. Maybe you¡¯ll use it.¡± Qianye then pulled out his army knife from the sheath strapped behind his waist. The de shed with silver light. The liquid silver he had used against the vampires a few nights ago had not been depleted.

    Yu Renyan looked at the de and exposed a smile that made one¡¯s hair stand on end.

    ¡°Using this de¡­ you¡¯re not afraid of hurting yourself?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Thanks for the reminder.¡± Qianye took out a pair of tactical gloves, put them on, then gripped his sword.

    ¡°If you¡¯re willing to return with me¡ª¡±

    Qianye immediately interrupted, ¡°Not a chance!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t rmend that either. Now then, let¡¯s fight!¡± Yu Renyan shook his arms and two slim handleless knives slid out of his sleeves and into his hands.

    Qianye took a deep breath, retreating half a step. His left foot hit the ground with a thump and the entire alleyway seemed to shake. Beneath Qianye¡¯s foot, cracks filled the ground and constantly spreading further and further.

    Yu Renyan¡¯s eyes shed with surprise, acquiring a new understanding of Qianye¡¯s level of origin power. He quickly dodged and dove forward, attempting to gain initiative. His hands smashed down heavily and shed with cold light, stabbing at the side of Qianye¡¯s neck.

    After Qianye¡¯s step struck the ground, he didn¡¯t move from his spot. Instead, he lifted his right arm to block the strike, then used the army knife in his right hand to stab at Yu Renyan faster than lightning.

    This was a method that would cause both sides to suffer. Yu Renyan¡¯s tall figure suddenly bent at an unthinkable angle, almost as if he had no bones in his body. He retreated a meters outward with just one step and let Qianye¡¯s counter pass. Rather than pursue him, Qianye stood at his original spot and calmly waited.

    Yu Renyan stopped for a moment, then rushed forward like lightning, retreating then attacking.

    With rapid movements, the two drew close and then separated over and over. Yu Renyan¡¯s movements were extremely swift and uncanny. His long limbs made him seem like a giant spider. His attacks naturally had a range advantage.

    In contrast, Qianye¡¯s legs were slightly spread apart, one in front of the other, giving him a steady stance. He seemed to be waiting for his opponent to exhaust himself, and did not take initiative to attack. However, when Yu Renyan dove forward, he countered with attacks that would heavily injure both sides.

    The two would sometimes fight each other head on, but now they were mostly evenly matched. This was an even greater shock to Yu Renyan.

    Yu Renyan suddenly flew in circles around Qianye like wind, his knives dancing in his palms. One could only see the reflection of a figure in the pointed des, striking a target like a sky full of butterflies. In the blink of an eye, dozens of wounds of varying sizes appeared on Qianye¡¯s body! The more Yu Renyan fought, the more excited he became, subconsciously letting out harsh cries.

    In contrast, Qianye was silent and had no expression on his face. It was as if his body hadn¡¯t been wounded. He kept a consistent rhythm with his counterattacks, striking quickly, urately, and viciously each time and using no extraneous movements. This was the culmination of his training. Fighting only focused on being faster, more urate, and more vicious. When one was able to do so, losing would be a difficult task.

    As long as graduates of the Yellow Springs Training Camp had yet to fall, it was possible for them to kill their opponent in one strike.

    Yu Renyan struck Qianye ten times in a row, but Qianye only shed twice. One of Qianye¡¯s strikes pierced Yu Renyan¡¯s abdomen, and the other almost cut off his left hand.

    The fight in the alleyway drew the attention of many people. A few mercenaries came close to the alleyway¡¯s entrance to watch and saw Yu Renyan and Qianye in the middle of a fierce battle. Theyughed and pointed, clearly somewhat drunk.

    Yu Reynyan¡¯s pupils took on their dangerous vertical shape once more, and he suddenly left Qianye. He rushed into the mercenaries¡¯ midst as quick as wind, his des shing like a tornado. One could see a light expanding and shrinking, sucking all of the mercenaries into it!

    Huge amounts of blood, broken bits of flesh, and amputated limbs flew out of the tornado. In the time it took to take a single breath, Yu Renyan actually killed all of those mercenaries!

    Everyone on the street was shocked and quickly fled. Two rank two Fighters had been among those mercenaries, but they were cut apart in the blink of an eye! If Yu Renyan didn¡¯t like the way someone looked, who could stop him?

    Yu Renyan had cut a few people to pieces, so his mood improved. He flicked pieces of flesh from his knives, turned around, and walked toward Qianye again. Qianye took out the Butcher with his left hand.

    ¡°Is a gun even useful in this kind of battle?¡± Yu Renyan grinned coldly.

    Yet, soon enough, he was no longer able to smile. Qianye didn¡¯t actually fire at this distance, and the two of them engaged in close quartersbat again. When the battle grew intense, Qianye moved his wrist, and the Butcher roared, spitting out a sh of yellow light. The light struck Yu Renyan¡¯s thigh and him slow down by thirty percent.

    Yu Renyan was also skilled at using guns in close quarters, but this battle made him learn that he actually could notpare to Qianye. Qianye controlled the origin gun perfectly. He could swing or stab with it, and every time he was about to fire it, he would suddenly withdraw his origin power.

    Qianye was like an extremely tough spring. The stronger the pressure, the stronger he would rebound. In addition to that, their difference inbat skill had finally begun to slowly reveal itself.

    Qianye always stayed calm and steady. No matter how many wounds he suffered, his fighting power remained the same. Whenever Yu Renyan suffered injuries, his movements would begin to deteriorate. This shown in his legs and arms the most.

    ¡°Do you not even feel pain?¡± Yu Renyan couldn¡¯t resist from shouting.

    ¡°I only act as if this body isn¡¯t mine,¡± Qianye responded curtly. He suddenly unleashed a backhand strike, almost clipping the tip of Yu Renyan¡¯s nose. Yu Renyan was already in the middle changing his position, but it still almost struck him.

    ¡°You¡¯re insane! You lunatic!¡± Yu Renyan knew exactly how many wounds Qianye had suffered, so he couldn¡¯t resistmenting.

    ¡°Thanks for the praise,¡± Qianye responded sincerely. Then he suddenly bent forward and picked up his assault rifle. Using it like a steel rod, he almost hit Yu Renyan in the back of his head.

    Yu Renyan and Qianye exchanged two more wounds. Yu Renyan quickly backed off and widened the distance between them. He lowered his head and looked at his abdomen. It held tworge knife wounds, one of which had gone deep body and cut his intestines. Yu Renyan sucked in a deep breath and flexed the muscles in his abdomen, temporarily closing the wounds.

    He stared at Qianye deeply and said, ¡°You won¡¯t be this lucky next time.¡±

    ¡°There will be a next time?¡± Qianye furrowed his brow as he spoke.

    ¡°Of course! This is amand, and I am a soldier.¡± The moment he finished saying this, Yu Renyan turned around and left..

    Qianye still stood in the same ce. He did not move as he watched Yu Renyan leave.

    Upon leaving the alleyway, Yu Renyan withdrew his hands and his knives went back into their sleeves. Two new army knives appeared in his hands, dancing between his fingers as if they were living creatures.

    As the knives moved, they shed with intense silver light. They were mithril weapons! If he had used these against Qianye in their fight, then Qianye¡¯s vampiric body definitely would not have been able tost so long.

    Simrly, if Qianye shook or twisted his knife when he stabbed into Yu Renyan¡¯s abdomen, it would have torn through half of Yu Renyan¡¯s intestines. The wound Yu Renyan had received from that quick stab was not considered a heavy injury to a rank six Fighter like him.

    It was almost as if the two of them shared a certain kind of understanding. Even though it was a deathmatch, both sides still held back. However, no one could tell how their next encounter would turn out. Since Qianye favored ultra-long-range sniping, and Yu Renyan favored tracking and ambushing, they should never have engaged in close quartersbat.

    It was just as Yu Renyan said. He was a soldier. He had been given amand. Qianye used to be a soldier and thus was able to understand the weight of that.

    Qianye calmly stood where he was for a moment, flexing his muscles topress all of the wounds on his body, then picked up his bag and assault rifle and slowly walked out of the alleyway.

    When he emerged, a mercenary suddenly reached out and stopped Qianye, shouting, ¡°Stop right there!¡±

    Qianye turned to look at him and saw a number of mercenaries gathered at the alleyway¡¯s entrance. Off in the distance, ten to twenty mercenaries with simr equipment were hurrying over. The one that stopped him was a rank three Fighter.

    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Qianye responded coldly.

    ¡°Speak! Does the guy who killed a few of us have anything to do with you?¡± the mercenary shouted. Seeing the number of people with him increase, he grew bolder. In any case, Qianye only seemed to have ignited three of his nodes, making them the same rank.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. After seeing Yu Renyan fight like that, these mercenaries were actually still bold enough to try and cause him trouble? Rank six Fighters like Yu Renyan could be Lieutenant Colonels of the expeditionary army at the very least. Just this kind of background alone was enough to crush these mercenaries to death.

    However, after seeing the appearances of these mercenaries, Qianye suddenly understood the situation. They were staring at Qianye¡¯s assault rifle and Butcher, each and every one of them burning with greedy gazes.

    Qianye suddenly took out the Butcher, turned it around, and held it out, saying, ¡°I think that guy used this gun.¡±

    The mercenary never thought Qianye would give in so easily. He extended his hand to take the gun and said, ¡°I¡¯ll first take this and examine it! We, the White Bear Mercenary Group, trample¡ª¡±

    The mercenary didn¡¯t finish his sentence and wasn¡¯t able to touch the Butcher.

    Qianye flicked his wrist, and the Butcher¡¯s steel grip viciously struck the mercenary¡¯s face!

    The crisp sound of bones breaking echoed through the air as half the mercenary¡¯s face caved inward. He fell down face up without uttering a sound.

    The Butcher spun in Qianye¡¯s hands, its barrel reorienting toward the crowd of mercenaries.

    Qianye coldly said, ¡°Does anyone else want toe forward?¡±

    The mercenaries in the sights of the clearly loaded Butcher wore hopeless expressions. At a distance of just a few meters, the Butcher¡¯s power was enough to rip all of them to pieces one by one. In any case, their team leader, who was a rank three Fighter, had actually been struck down in a single hit, and nobody even knew if he was alive or not. What could they, as rank one and rank two Fighters, do?

    However, since they had an absolute advantage in numbers, they refused to give up. They slowly surrounded Qianye, blocking his escape routes. The Butcher was powerful, but it could not be fired consecutively. Once it was fired once, it would basically be useless and no different from a blunt weapon.

    The rank three Butcher, the rank two assault rifle, and the bulging bag on Qianye¡¯s back had already filled the minds of these mercenaries. They were mercenaries in the city. After leaving the city, they could also be robbers or bandits depending on the situation. However, if they carried a rank three origin gun, they could also be robbers while inside the city.

    But what these mercenaries didn¡¯t know was, that in that moment, Qianye¡¯s heart was beating extremely fast. It had already beat over three hundred times in a minute! The intense throbbing caused Qianye¡¯s mouth to heat up and be dry. His mood intensified, as if there were a beast within his body roaring with all of its might, wanting to break free from its imprisonment and return to the world.

    The blood and body parts of the mercenaries that Yu Renyan had sliced to piecesy nearby. Thick blood energy swirled around Qianye¡¯s nostrils like a beautiful woman teasing a sex-starved pervert. Qianye¡¯s breathing grew a bit heavier and his fingers trembled imperceptibly. These were extremely small changes, but students of the Yellow Springs Training Camp that had known Qianye for a long time would know how hard it was to make him lose even this much of hisposure before a battle.

    Qianye looked at these mercenaries as if they were a herd ofmbs. He was extremely hungry. His throat wasn¡¯t the only thing experiencing scorching pain, he could feel it throughout every inch of his body. Qianye felt the urge to pin these people down and suck out all of their blood.

    ¡ªHe wanted to show them true pain and hopelessness!

 Volume 3 - 4: The Beginning of Trouble

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 4: The Beginning of Trouble

    The mercenaries didn¡¯t actually perceive any signs of death. Qianye¡¯s hand, which held the gun, shook slightly. In the eyes of the mercenaries, this was an indication of fear. Many of them began to pull out knives, and others took out their origin guns.

    The surrounding mercenaries slowly closed in on Qianye like a herd of sheep trying to kill a lion.

    Qianye suddenly raised his hands and pointed the Butcher at the strongest mercenary! In the next moment, the Butcher roared and the mercenary¡¯s head immediately became a bloody mist. His headless body hadn¡¯t even moved its arms up to its chest yet, and the origin power that had just been gathered immediately dispersed.

    A few drops of blood sttered on Qianye¡¯s face, and a drop actually flew into his mouth. After having held back for so long, that sweet vor nearly caused Qianye to moan.

    The Butcher¡¯s power did not scare these mercenaries. Instead, they thought they saw an opportunity! They howled like wild beasts and rushed Qianye, three or four knives stabbing at Qianye at the same time!

    Qianye turned his body slightly to dodge strikes to his vitals. Only one of the knives slid across his back. The mercenary that struck with that knife felt as if he had scratched a thick piece of animal hide. He couldn¡¯t even cut past the surface. The knife slid to the side, leaving a shallow wound.

    Qianye¡¯s own knife moved rhythmically, neither fast nor slow. With three swooping sounds, he struck three mercenaries.

    Qianye was already attacking based on instinct. All three strikes hit vital areas, so all three mercenaries couldn¡¯t get back up.

    Qianye continued to attack instead of retreat, charging into the crowd of mercenaries. He stuck close to a mercenary, then instantly separated from them, repeatedly stabbing with his knife. Each stab made a mercenary copse.

    Most of nearly twenty mercenaries copsed in a few brief moments. The remaining mercenaries were barely able to react before screaming and running away.

    Qianye didn¡¯t chase after them, and through great force of will, turned to leave without looking at the flesh in front of him.

    He quietly returned to the hotel he was staying in and walked to his room. Qianye¡¯s steps were now quite shaky, and he ran into a number of people on his way. These people smelled the thick smell of blood on Qianye and became too afraid to say anything. They quickly let him pass by them.

    A short, crude door finally appeared in front of him. Qianye almost took the entire thing down before walking inside. When he stepped inside, he mmed the door and immediately dove into the bag that Yu Yingnan had given him.

    Qianye opened cans one after another. He fervently dumped the contents inside his mouth. It didn¡¯t matter if they were actual meals or not. By the time he emptied all of the cans, Qianye could barely suppress his intense hunger. He stumbled and fell onto his bed. He felt extremely tired and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

    ¡­¡­

    When Qianye fell asleep, Yu Yingnan was sitting in her room, rigid and stiff. She had barely eaten the entire day. She wasn¡¯t hungry and didn¡¯t seem to be thirsty. Her thoughts were sluggish, and she had no idea what she was thinking.

    At this time, Yu Yingnan suddenly heard movement outside her house and instantly jumped off of her sofa.

    ¡°Did Qianyee back?¡± she thought unconsciously.

    However, Yu Yingnan¡¯s thoughts stopped short. She didn¡¯t understand why she thought Qianye woulde back.

    The door opened, but the person who entered wasn¡¯t Qianye.

    It was Sky Snake.

    Yu Yingnan immediately woke from her delusions and reached for her gun at her waist. However, her hand stopped mid-movement. Sky Snake was already pointing his gun at her forehead.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t want to meet in this way, Miss Yingnan. However, there doesn¡¯t seem to be a better way.¡±

    Sky Snake approached Yu Yingnan step by step. Since she had a gun to her head, she was forced to move backward. She continued to retreat until her back hit a wall. Only then did she finally stop.

    The pistol slowly moved down from Yu Yingnan¡¯s head, over her cheek, and eventually stopped below her chin. An enormous force forced her to lift her head.

    ¡°What do you intend to do?¡± Yu Yingnan asked coldly, without much fear.

    Sky Snake lowered his head to look at her, then reached out and softly caressed her face. Then he suddenly pinched her breast and said, ¡°I wanted to see how big your charms were!¡±

    Yu Yingnan showed no sign of embarrassment and continued to speak coldly. ¡°Using this method?¡±

    Sky Snake forcefully yanked his hand downward. He tore off her corset and tossed it aside, immediately exposing her firm, plump breasts.

    All of a sudden, Yu Yingnan lifted her leg, viciously striking at Sky Snake¡¯s crotch with her knee. However, Sky Snake seemed to have predicted this. He pushed his legs together, holding her thigh firmly between them. At the same time, he struck Yu Yingnan in her abdomen.

    At that moment, all of her organs shifted, and thest of her origin power was crushed. She couldn¡¯t even breath.

    Sky Snake grabbed Yu Yingnan by her hair and lifted her up, saying, ¡°Miss Yingnan, your best option is to cooperate. You will suffer less that way. I am somewhat interested in you, but now isn¡¯t the time for that. I might think of you when I destroy that little bastard Qianye! You better not force me to hurt you right now.¡±

    Yu Yingnan immediately understood Sky Snake¡¯s intent. ¡°You want to kill Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Kill? Of course not! Killing would be mercy. I want to y around with him for a while. Maybe I¡¯ll think about killing him after that.¡±

    Sky Snake swung his hand, forcefully striking the back of Yu Yingnan¡¯s neck and knocking her out. He then wrapped her in a cloak and put her over his shoulder. Upon leaving, Sky Snake threw an insignia of the Sky Snake Gang onto the torn corset on the floor.

    ¡­¡­

    The injuries that Yu Renyan gave Qianye weren¡¯t particrly serious, but there were a lot of them, so it was difficult for him to recover. Qianye rested for an entire day and night to restore a little bit of his strength. When he woke up, he changed his appearance like he always did and left the hotel to look for a bar to sit in and find information.

    Qianye immediately discovered a piece of brand new information. Sky Snake was spreading the fact that the Sky Snake Gang was looking for him. ording to the information, Sky Snake also had an important person.

    Qianye left the bar and immediately ran to Yu Yingnan¡¯s house. In all of Darkblood City, only this female hunter had a close rtionship with Qianye. He didn¡¯t think that Sky Snake had the ability to capture Old 1 or Old 2.

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s ce was never locked. When Qianye opened the door and entered, he unexpectedly found someone sitting in the living room. It was Old 2.

    ¡°Sky Snake currently has Yingnan,¡± Second Elder said, pointing at the table.

    A torn corset and an insignia of the Sky Snake Gangy atop it. Qianye recognized the corset as the one that Yu Yingnan often wore, but he still picked it up and smelled it. The clothing indeed carried Yu Yingnan¡¯s scent, and not much time had passed.

    Sky Snake had left both the corset and the insignia for Qianye.

    Qianye put the corset down, his face covered with ayer of frost. He looked at Old 2 and asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that Sky Snake wanted to make peace with me?¡±

    Old 2 wore a sour expression. ¡°Looks like that was never his intention.¡±

    Qianye calmed down and asked, ¡°What do you suggest?¡±

    Second Elder coughed deeply before saying, ¡°This kind of thing¡­ maybe you¡¯re the expert on it.¡±

    Qianye coldly said, ¡°I do have my way of resolving this, but I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the correct way.¡±

    ¡°Considering Yingnan¡¯s temper, it doesn¡¯t matter what you do. She¡¯ll be happy if you just kill Sky Snake.¡±

    Qianye nodded and said, ¡°I know. However¡­ I need a few things.¡±

    ¡°As long as the storehouse has it, you can take it.¡±

    Qianye left the Home of Hunters a momentter, heading through the backdoor and disappearing into the night of Darkblood City. Old 2 left as well and went to a hotel near the expeditionary army¡¯s camp.

    A man with a formidable beard sat at the bar by himself, quietly drinking alcohol. He seemed frustrated.

    Old 2 sat beside him.

    ¡°It¡¯s rare to see you here, Old 2.¡±

    Old 2 ordered some alcohol. When it arrived, he slowly sipped it as he said, ¡°Even you, Chu Xiong, cane here. Why can¡¯t I?¡±

    Chu Xiongughed in self-deprecation and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with meing here? When that important character arrives, I¡¯ll still be afraid of showing my face and end up hiding in the camp! Sometimes I just really want vent my frustration!¡±

    ¡°Even if you dide, you would just die!¡±

    Chu Xiong chugged his entire cup of liquor and said, ¡°That would still be better than not fighting at all!¡±

    ¡°I heard that the higher-ups sent someone who could send that important character back?¡±

    Chu Xiong shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯m don¡¯t know much about that. I only know that the Broken Winged Angels sent a major general. He wasn¡¯t some below-average personnel from the expeditionary army. However, that major general definitely can¡¯t handle that person.¡±

    Old 2 sighed again and spoke in an ancient manner unique to the elderly. ¡°Ah, looks like the peace that was put in the ce will leave soon.¡±

    ¡°Why? Didn¡¯t that guy leave?¡± The moment he said this, however, Chu Xiong immediately understood. Even though the important character from the Evernight Council left, Darkblood City would be the center of the conflict. People woulde constantly flock here in the future and try to find the secret that important character came for.

    For a time, the two drank alcohol in frustration. Chu Xiong then said, ¡°You suddenly came here to drink. Something must have happened. Tell me what you want me to do.¡±

    ¡°For the next two days, the city won¡¯t be very calm. I hope you can turn a blind eye to some things. It would be even better if you could cover them up.¡± Old 2 calmly revealed his intentions.

    Chu Xiong slightly furrowed his brow. ¡°What things?¡±

    ¡°Things rted to the Sky Snake Gang.¡±

    Chu Xiong¡¯s brow tightened further. ¡°That could be a bit of a problem. Although not everyone is willing to speak for him, Sky Snake has more than one connection in the expeditionary army. Even if I¡¯m not staying here for very long, I still don¡¯t want to offend a bunch of scoundrels.¡±

    ¡°You would be able to consider the favor fromst time as repaid.¡±

    Chu Xiong seemed a bit surprised. ¡°You¡¯re using it on this? Great! Since you say so, I understand. In Darkblood City, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone who really wants to confront me, but I won¡¯t know what they do in the dark.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be enough as long as the expeditionary army doesn¡¯t take action.¡±

    ¡°I know I shouldn¡¯t ask, but who is it that you¡¯re willing to pay such a huge price for? Could it be that new rising Hunter? Are you nning on raising him to be your sessor?¡±

    Old 2 took another sip of alcohol and leisurely said, ¡°Of course not! It¡¯s for Yingnan. You¡¯ve seen her before. I¡¯ve always treated her like a daughter, and this time Sky Snake has overstepped his boundaries.¡±

    Chu Xiong ordered another cup of liquor and drained all of it. Then he stood up and said, ¡°I still owe you a favor. I¡¯ll just put in a little extra effort and clean up future trouble that the Sky Snake Gang could cause. If Sky Snake doesn¡¯t die tonight, I¡¯ll kill him myself. However, Qiqi¡¯s mission¡­ you need to help me soon. I can¡¯t keep this up much longer. No matter who it is, just find someone who¡¯s pretty good and send him over. Okay? Then it¡¯s decided. Also, the alcohol is on you this time.¡±

    After saying that, this man who seemed a bit under the weather walked out of the broken down bar withrge strides. The bartender behind the bar, who also looked like the years were taking a toll on him, gave Old 2 a sympathetic look and shrugged. It wasn¡¯t just this time. As long as Old 2 was present, Chu Xiong never paid the bill. He truly did not have much money. His pockets were devoid of even a single silver coin.

    It was already deep into the night when the faint sound of gunfire seemed to ring out in the distance. This sound seemed a bit strange, quite deep, but also crisp. It sounded like the thump of a bass drum striking people in directly in their hearts.

 Volume 3 - 5: The Night of Annihilation

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 5: The Night of Annihtion

    Most of the people in the bar continued to drink and chat as if they hadn¡¯t heard anything. They didn¡¯t care at all. Even the soldiers and officers that wore their expeditionary army uniforms didn¡¯t react. In this city, what day would they not hear gunfire?

    A small number of people slightly furrowed their brows because they could tell that the gunfire came from a high caliber sniper rifle. Although they could tell from the sound that it was a normal gun, even in the army, very few people used sniper rifles. Regardless of which corps they were in, snipers in the expeditionary army had very high statuses. No one in Darkblood City would be bold enough to offend them.

    Under the cover of night, Qianye pulled the bolt of his gun and put a bullet asrge as a missile into the gun¡¯s chamber. Then he adjusted his position and once again locked onto the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters.

    His tactical scope slowly swept across the building¡¯s rooftop, doors, and windows one by one. Then Qianye locked onto a man pressed up against a corner of the outer wall. He was obviously so afraid that he didn¡¯t dare to even peek at the surroundings, simply trying his hardest to hide himself. However, he wasn¡¯t aware that his position didn¡¯t do much against someone at a high vantage point and exposed nearly half of his body.

    Qianye calmly pulled the trigger. Momentster, he watched through his scope as a human-shaped hole suddenly appear in the wall. Each of the Sky Snake Gang members that had been hiding behind it were virtually split into two pieces!

    All of the Sky Snake Gang was already a mess. Everyone in the courtyard was desperately running into the building, looking for things nearby that they could hide behind. None of them wanted to look for the sniper that had fired the bullet.

    Qianye pulled the bolt of the gun again and exchanged the spent casing for another bullet without any sign of panic. Then he stood up and carried his gun away, jumping from one building to another like a ghost under the night sky. He quickly found a new position, and after another gunshot rang out, a Sky Snake member hiding behind a window on the third floor of the headquarters lost his arm and half of his shoulder.

    Qianye¡¯s current sniper rifle was not much smaller than the Eagleshot. ¡°Repelling Wind¡± had a formidable size and was a gunpowder weapon, but its enormous 15mm barrel guaranteed its power. This terrifying sniper rifle could be used to shoot airships from low altitudes. It was the peak of traditional gun development.

    As a gunpowder weapon, it had an advantage that origin guns could not rece; range and ammunition. As long as a sniper was skilled enough, a Repelling Wind could kill a target at two thousand meters away. Inparison, the Eagleshot¡¯s maximum range was one thousand meters. In theory, the gunpowder weapons would be able to fire as many times as the number of bullets there were. This was another advantage the Eagleshot couldn¡¯t match. As he was now, Qianye could only fire his Eagleshot once.

    However, the recoil of this abnormal sniper rifle was shocking, so only those with physiques equivalent to that of a rank one Fighter could use them. Qianye was a little depressed that his Repelling Wind was one of the original models. He couldn¡¯t find a more powerful, higher-ranked version in the storehouse of the Home of Hunters. The Red Scorpions once ordered a type of 25mm caliber gunpowder sniper rifle for veteran ck Scorpion soldiers. It was extremely powerful, almost on par with rank three origin rifles. However, only rank five Fighters could use them. The recoil of just one shot would immediately shatter the hearts of people with slightly weaker bodies.

    At this moment, Qianye was like a lone wolf hiding in the shadows that was patiently running circles around its prey. Whenever given an opportunity, he would viciously pounce and ruthlessly tear off a piece of flesh.

    Gunshots continued to resound through the air, each one signifying the fall of a member of the Sky Snake Gang Chaos reigned throughout the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters. Even the outer walls did provide a feeling of security.

    With every gunshot, a shout rang out clearly to all of the Sky Snake Gang.

    ¡°Release her!¡±

    If Sky Snake didn¡¯t let Yu Yingnan go, Qianye might actually kill all the members of the Sky Snake Gang tonight, one by one.

    Some gang members already couldn¡¯t handle the immense pressure of death flying past each of their heads. They formed crowds to charge out of the headquarters, as if searching for Qianye¡¯s location, but all of them left without returning. Only a few of them died to Qianye¡¯s gunfire. The vast majority sprinted down the streets No matter how one looked at it, they were taking this opportunity to flee.

    Flying Bird hid in a blind spot behind the wall, panting over and over. His originally handsome face twisting constantly, making it hard to tell whether he was excited or afraid. Of the entire Sky Snake Gang, aside from Sky Snake himself, he was that only one of the four experts that remained.. After the debacle in the wastnd, Ho quietly left the Sky Snake Gang.

    A gang member ran into the room and saw Flying Bird. He was stunned at first, then became ted. ¡°Brother Flying Bird! This is terrible! The sniper outside is too skilled, our brothers are being pressured so hard that all of us are too afraid to even show our heads. If this continues, we¡¯ll be trapped until we die! You should go out personally and take care of that arrogant guy!¡±

    Flying Bird had a faint smile on his face as he said, ¡°Me? Go out personally?¡±

    The gang member had yet to realize what was wrong and even said, ¡°Yes! Of course, if it¡¯s you¡­¡±

    Halfway through his sentence, astonishment filled that gang member. He suddenly realized that Flying Bird¡¯s gun was pointed at his head! Origin power shed from the gun¡¯s muzzle, and the gang member¡¯s head immediately exploded into a bloody mist.

    Flying Birdughed hysterically and slowly stood up. As he did, an enormous puddle of blood became visible in the ce he had been sitting. Blood constantly flowed from his waist.

    Flying Bird had also suffered from being sniped. The bullet had traveled over a thousand bullets without any warning. The moment it did, Flying Bird had been moving rapidly. That bullet was shockingly urate. If he hadn¡¯t listened to his gut in the instant that disaster was about to strike or moved desperately, the shot would¡¯ve hit his spine. Even then, the bullet had still opened an enormous wound in his waist.

    He managed to once again brush past death!

    Flying Bird had essentially gone insane trying to escape in every direction. He struggled greatly until he found a position that was safe for the time being. From the moment he began hiding here, his pulse had never dropped below two hundred beats per minute!

    This was his first time being so intensely afraid of death. Every time he murdered his opponent, seeing the pain and fear on their face gave Flying Bird such tion, a pleasure that was nearly more enjoyable than sex. But today, in this moment, he finally discovered how overwhelmingly terrifying death was. It was as if the entire world were being swallowed by a beast, and all he could do was run nonstop even though he couldn¡¯t actually see any light in the distance.

    He definitely did not want to confront Qianye!

    In the top floor of the headquarters, Sky Snake¡¯s expression was dark as he stood at the center of an enormous, extravagant room. He would carefully approach the window every so often, hiding behind the curtains and looking outward. Sky Snake¡¯s movements were extremely cautious even though this kind of gunpowder weapon wasn¡¯t much of a threat to him. However, each time a gunshot rang out, his heartbeat would increase and he would subconsciously imagine himself being struck by the Eagleshot.

    Sky Snake strode to the door of the room, opened it, and shouted, ¡°Is there any news from the expeditionary army?¡±

    Weeping could be heard from the gang members outside as they answered, ¡°No, nothing! We haven¡¯t even seen a patrol. It¡¯s been nearly an hour!¡±

    Sky Snake mmed the door shut with a loud bang.

    One entire hour!

    The expeditionary army¡¯s city defense department had more patrols in the eastern and southern areas of the city than the western and northern areas. However, it would still send at least one patrol every half an hour. Ignoring where the normal patrols went, this fight had been going on for almost an hour and the gunshots had long since caused a greatmotion. Even though the expeditionary army¡¯s camp was in the northern area of the city, unless they were all deaf, the powerful officers of the army had to have heard everything!

    Gunshots filled the air outside. Gang members were shooting blindly; only the heavens knew what they were firing at. Unbeknownst to them, the weapon in Qianye¡¯s hands was almost powerful enough to surpass standard sniper rifles of the expeditionary army. Neither patrols of the expeditionary army nor the variousw enforcement of the city had shown up yet. This was definitely abnormal.

    This only meant one thing: the expeditionary army had decided to keep out of any business that happened tonight.

    Another bang rang out. Sky Snake had shattered a vase this time. He viciously swore over and over, cursing every member of the expeditionary army that he had paid off every month.

    ¡°What, you can be scared too?¡± Yu Yingnan smiled coldly.

    She sat in a chair, hands and legs tied to chair¡¯s back and legs. She still wore her tactical jacket, which barely held in her bountiful chest.

    Sky Snake strode over to her, raised his hand, and repeatedly pped Yu Yingnan across the face, causing her to fall to the floor along with the chair!

    Half of Yu Yingnan¡¯s face immediately began swelling up, and she spat out a lot of blood.

    Sky Snake pulled her hair, lifting from the floor, chair and all, back to an upright sitting position. Then he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°You had better not anger me, or else I¡¯ll fuck you right now! Then I¡¯ll find a people to take turns on you!¡±

    ¡°If you are interested in dead bodies, then do it. However, I can tell you that you would only die in an even worse way.¡± Yu Yingnan didn¡¯t care about Sky Snake¡¯s threat at all.

    Sky Snake squinted his eyes and coldly said, ¡°I can hold back right now, but don¡¯t force me! Forcing me wouldn¡¯t be good for anyone. Even if you became a dead body, I still wouldn¡¯t let you go!¡±

    Sky Snake took out a needle, tore off its packaging, and stabbed it into Yu Yingnan¡¯s upper arm, injecting her with all of the transparent liquid inside of it. This drug suppressed origin power and was essentially for imprisoning experts that could use origin power.

    Yu Yingnan calmed down as well, no longer purposefully angered Sky Snake. She calmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time. Qianye and I haven¡¯t known each other very long. You think a person like him would care about your threats just for a woman who he barely knows? Listen to the gunshots outside and you¡¯ll known just how much his heart values me.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Sky Snake raved, striking her across the face again! This time, the blow was exceptionally heavy. Yu Yingnan smiled coldly and spat out a mouthful of blood along with half a tooth. She closed her eyes, no longer paying any attention to Sky Snake.

    The gunfire outside was dense like heavy rain. Sky Snake Gang members outside were still shooting blindly. They couldn¡¯t find Qianye¡¯s exact position, so they stopped worrying about about Darkblood City¡¯sws and sometimes shot at the homes of civilians by mistake. Fortunately, when the fight began, most of the civilians on this street fled at the first opportunity. Stray bullets only destroyed buildings that had no one in them.

    Then, in the midst of the smoke that looked like a curtain of rain, gunshots thundered from a sniper rifle continuously. Every time the sound went off, a gang member fell. In the blink of an eye, gang members understood that peeking out to shoot would mean death. Thus, the tempest of gunfire immediately stopped.

    At this moment, someone opened the door to the room. Elder Yuan, a veteran Sky Snake gang member walked in. He nced at Yu Yingnan and then said to Sky Snake, ¡°Third brother! Let¡¯s stop fighting and let this woman go! Killing her would only bring a lot of trouble, and that guy has yet to show any signs of weakness. He¡¯s just been killing our guys! Do you really want the Sky Snake Gang to be annihted?¡±

    Sky Snake grinned ferociously. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that he truly doesn¡¯t care about this woman! I will bring her to the rooftop right now. If he still shoots, I¡¯ll cut her limbs off!¡±

    Elder Yuan was shocked, shouting, ¡°You¡¯re crazy! Doing this would kill all of us! I don¡¯t think no longer think you can properly lead this gang!¡±

    All of a sudden, Sky Snake pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into Elder Yuan¡¯s chest!

    Elder Yuan was stunned. His hand shook as he pointed at Sky Snake and said, ¡°You¡¯re¡­ killing me? I always thought of you as¡­ a brother.¡±

    Sky Snake wrenched the dagger out of Elder Yuan¡¯s body and stabbed him again. He stabbed Elder Yuan in a frenzy, gnashing his teeth and saying, ¡°I grew tired of you a long fucking time ago! Brother? What kind of brother are you? What rank two trash is worthy of calling himself my brother? You always thought of yourself as my brother¡­ Fuck your mother! When did you think of me as the leader of this gang? Do I need your approval to do whatever I want? Go down there and find those brothers of yours!¡±

    Sky Snake yelled as his dagger rose and fell. Blood continuously sttered over his body and his face, making his ferocious expression look like an evil spirit. He stabbed Elder Yuan one hundred times in row. Only then did he finally feel satisfied and get up from the body that had almost broken apart from the stabbing.

    He used his dagger to cut the belts that tied Yu Yingnan to the chair. He held her in his arms and partially dragged her toward the rooftop. Yu Yingnan didn¡¯t make a sound. Having lost her origin power, she had no way to resist Sky Snake¡¯s strength.

    At that moment, the gunfire from the sniper rifle disappeared. However, the Sky Snake Gang members were making noises that sounded like they were sucking in cold air.

    Sky Snake¡¯s expression darkened, and rushed to a window in the hallway to look outside. He saw Qianye carrying an enormous sniper rifle.

    He was actually walking into the courtyard of the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters, right through the front door!

 Volume 3 - 6: Eliminate from the Roots

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 6: Eliminate from the Roots

    A Sky Snake hoodlum suddenly let out a weird yelp as he jumped out from his hiding spot, raising his assault rifle at Qianye. But before he even pulled the trigger, Qianye had already aimed and fired at him holding a gun in one hand.

    With a loud bang, this Sky Snake hoodlum¡¯s body were directly sted into two halves!

    Meanwhile, when using a sniper rifle as a pistol, Qianye¡¯s body had merely swayed a little bit!

    Such power!

    Sky Snake¡¯s temples pulsated, and only felt pain in his throat as though he had swallowed sand. What he saw was the enormous power Qianye had disyed, which was even above he himself! But Qianye clearly only ignited three nodes!

    Qianye¡¯s move didn¡¯t just shock Sky Snake, it also startled the other hoodlums. Flying Bird who was hiding behind the window almost had no strength left to stand up, his heart was beating so fast that he was about to copse. Most often, the crueler a person was, the more they were afraid of death.

    Until Qianye leisurely pressed in new bullets for the sniper rifle, did Flying Bird finally came back to himself, wondering why didn¡¯t he fire while Qianye was reloading.

    Actually, at this point, ones who dared to fire were all killed by Qianye.

    ¡°Sky Snake,e out! Don¡¯t let your underlings throw away their lives anymore.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was very calm, yet rumbled through the entire headquarters like a roll of thunder. This also showed his plentiful and vigorous origin power from another aspect.

    Sky Snake held Yu Yingnan in a sp, and walked out from the front door of the building, only stopping when nearing thirty meters from Qianye. Sky Snake held his gun at Yu Yingnan¡¯s head and shouted, ¡°Put down your gun! Or else, I will blow her head into pieces!¡±

    Qianyeughed mockingly, and spoke slowly, ¡°Sky Snake, I think you should pull down your pants, and check whether or not you are still a fucking man!¡±

    ¡°Put! Down! The! Gun!¡± Sky Snake said gritting his teeth.

    ¡°Put down the gun?¡± Qianye shrugged, as he suddenly raised the sniper and blew a Sky Snake hoodlum who unwittingly reached out from their hiding spot into mince meat.

    Sky Snake¡¯s face was startlingly ashen.

    Qianye slow and deliberately loaded bullets into the sniper, then raise it and killed another Sky Snake hoodlum who wanted to cheese him. The bullet shot by that hoodlum flew to god knows where under shock and fear.

    Qianye raised his head, and spoke in a cold tone, ¡°I just won¡¯t let it down, so what can you do? Want to threaten me with a woman like that? Are you that much of a fool?¡±

    Sky Snake suddenlyughed, ¡°Kid, you are still too inexperienced, and are too deliberate! This instead revealed your bottom line. This time, if you don¡¯t put down your weapon, I will fire immediately! Would you like to bet on it?¡±

    ¡°Of which aspect do you think I even fancy her?¡± Qianye asked calmly.

    ¡°I care not about that! I just want to ask, would you like to bet on it!¡± Sky Snake¡¯s face became more and more sinister.

    Qianye shrugged, ¡°Alright, you win. But you only won just a little but. I¡¯ll give you a chance, a chance to fight with me like a man. Let her go, I¡¯ll properly fight with you, right here, how about it!¡±

    As he spoke, Qianye threw away the Repelling Wind, and also took down the Eagleshot from his back and tossed it aside. Now, only a Butcher is left on his entire body.

    Sky Snake had always been staring at the two snipers on Qianye. And when Repelling Wind and Eagleshot both fell onto the floor, he suddenly smiled sinisterly and roared, ¡°Die!¡±

    Sky Snake raised his gun and aimed and Qianye in a sh! While at the same time, Qianye also moved, pulling out the Butcher in his waist and pointed it at Sky Snake in the same way!

    However, Sky Snake acted first and had already judged that he would shoot a step faster than Qianye, and that Qianye would be heavily injured, if not dead when directly taking a rank three origin gun¡¯s st at this range!

    Qianye¡¯s expression was calm as always, the hand holding the gun not trembling in the slightest. Drawing and aiming flowed smoothly together as though a stream of water.

    Sky Snake¡¯s gunshot indeed sounded first. The origin round flew out of the chamber and instantly sted onto Qianye¡¯s chest. The enormous energy of impact pushed Qianye flying backwards. Shockingly, Qianye¡¯s shooting posture actually didn¡¯t change in the slightest. Right leg supporting onto the ground, his left knee bent slightly as his entire person slid backward in a straight line like he was on ice, while the Butcher¡¯s muzzle still steadily pointed at Sky Snake!

    The sound of the two gunshot almost rang out simultaneously. What the Butcher shot out was a origin energy bullet with vividly red colored light swirling around it. The origin bullet enhanced with the ability Heavy Caliber sted onto Sky Snake, causing him helplessly to fly backwards. Yu Yingnan was also brought down to the ground. Her reaction was extremely quick and agile, and with a roll she took her distance away from Sky Snake as much as possible.

    Sky Snake and Qianye were heavily wounded at the same time!

    The Butcher¡¯s power was extraordinary, and together with the Heavy Caliber¡¯s enhancement, one shot had nearly shattered all of Sky Snake¡¯s ribs! This shot far surpassed Sky Snake¡¯s expectations. He originally thought that it wasn¡¯t a big problem to tank a rank three origin gun, but the power of this shot had already reached the level of rank four!

    Qianye¡¯s origin power¡¯s denseness and richness far surpassed fighters of the same rank, and the power when using origin guns was also increased by it. If one cultivated the Combatant Form to over twenty rounds, the attack power would equal to those of first rate arts.

    Sky Snake struggled with all his might, wanting to get up. He still could move, which meant he still could fight. He didn¡¯t believe that Qianye¡¯s constitution was also as valiant as his specifically trained body. That shot he fired also hit Qianye spot on, not any weaker than expected!

    However, just as Sky Snake sat up, Qianye¡¯s military boots had already appeared before him. That still scorching hot muzzle of the Butcher was already fixed at his head.

    Sky Snake became dumbstruck, as he spoke with a hoarse voice, ¡°How could you possibly have recovered faster than me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nothing impossible.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Sky Snake stared fixedly at Qianye¡¯s mangled chest. He could indeed see that two or three ribs were broken, butpared to Sky Snake¡¯s injuries, this could entirely be counted as a small wound, basically having no effect onbat.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got no interest in answering questions asked by a dead man.¡±

    The Butcher shifted down by some, and suddenly sted between Sky Snake¡¯s legs, turning that area into mush!

    ¡°Now I know that you aren¡¯t a man even without you taking off your pants.¡± Qianye spoke coldly.

    Sky Snake already could no longer talk back, and could only roll around and struggle on the ground. Qianye suddenly bowed down to pick up Repelling Wind, and raised the barrel before even standing straight again, pulling the trigger at the darkness.

    From that direction, a miserable scream resounded instantly. A young man fell onto the ground with the scream, as half of his thigh disappeared.

    Sky Snake suddenly woke up from acute pain, as shock and anger mixed together, ¡°My son!¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I still remember him.¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes were terrifyingly bright, and the color in the depth of his iris begun to change irregrly, a profound red color emerging from time to time.

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t kill him!¡± Sky Snake shouted while enduring pain.

    ¡°Not possible.¡± Qianye raised the sniper, loaded a bullet with a click, then pulled back the bolt.

    ¡°Someonee, do this bastard in!¡± Sky Snake shouted loudly, his shout filled with rage!

    But the entire headquarters was silent, and no one responded, as though all surviving Sky Snake hoodlums disappeared. Most likely, they didn¡¯t disappear, but rather ran away while there¡¯s the chance, or found some ce and hid. No one was willing to reveal their head for Qianye¡¯s sniper.

    Sky Snake looked around, unresigned. He felt that ought to still have many loyal subordinates, why couldn¡¯t he even find a single one of them now?

    Qianye¡¯s sniper slowly shifted, then spout out a sh of me. The body of Sky Snake¡¯s son suddenly sprung up from the ground, then erupted an enormous blood stter in midair.

    ¡°You¡­. I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Sky Snake roared and actually stood up suddenly with a strength from an unknown source before pouncing at Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon the side of his neck, as his adam¡¯s apple violently rolled, and he very much wanted to bite onto it. Sky Snake¡¯s blood was brimming with rich origin power, and was full of vitality in his sense of smell. Such an appeal was not much different from a drug¡¯s appeal to a drug addict, and required a very powerful will to restrain one self.

    A slight sound suddenly came from the side; that was Yu Yingnan shifting her position. After escaping Sky Snake¡¯s suppression, she had always been very alert and kept her distance, in order to avoid being held under duress again.

    This small sound magnified several times as it fell into Qianye¡¯s ears, as though a morning bell ringing in his heart. Qianye raised the Butcher, with a clear and steady pace, he pressed the muzzle onto Sky Snake¡¯s face as he pounced over. The moment he pulled the trigger, he closed his eyes.

    The Butcher shook violently, andrge sheets of warm and fresh blood immediately sshed onto Qianye¡¯s face and body. Even though he tried so hard not to look, that presence full of energy kept lingering, causing Qianye to involuntarily stick out his tongue and licked a drop of blood. Instantly, all of the blood energy within his body stirred up, as even that always unperturbed golden blood energy swam out from the runes.

    Qianye suddenly had an intensely strong intuition that came from who knows where, that if he sucked Sky Snake¡¯s blood dry right now, his power of blood would move a step foward. This was a hard to resist enticement. Qianye suddenly found himself to be wavering.

    A voice incessantly resounded in his mind, ¡°This is merely a way to acquire power. You aren¡¯t controlled by any higher vampires, and still have the consciousness of a human. You can only do the things you want to do after bing powerful enough, isn¡¯t that right?¡±

    For that instant, Qianye even thought about whether or not he should slightlypromise a little next time and maybe suck a little bit of blood.

    ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s voice pulled Qianye out from his own world.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Yu Yingnan walked over as she asked with concern and care.

    Qianye opened his eyes, carelessly wiped the blood that covered his entire head and face, then immediately revealed a smile, ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a little tired.¡±

    ¡°Your injuries¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a small injury, let¡¯s leave this ce first.¡±

    Yu Yingnan also knew that themotion caused tonight was too great. They had to leave as soon as possible. She leaned over and searched Sky Snake¡¯s body, found two origin pistols and a origin short de. Just as she was about to tidy up other spoils of war, Qianye suddenly frowned as his gaze swept through the deep curtain of the night and spoke in alert, ¡°Don¡¯t you think this ce is too quiet?¡±

    Yu Yingnan froze for a bit, then said, ¡°Sky Snake died, his subordinates probably went into hiding, right?¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath in; he was especially sensitive to blood tonight, while the smell of blood both inside and outside of the Sky Snake headquarters was so dense that it was almost congealing. He immediately shook his head, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t kill that many people! There¡¯s someone else here! Let¡¯s leave this ce first!¡±

    Yu Yingnan didn¡¯t oppose him, gave up cleaning the battlefield and hurriedly left with Qianye.

    Sky Snake Gang had many years of umtions, and definitely had abundant collections in its headquarters. If nothing else, just the weapons and ammunition in the armory was already quite the wealth. However, Qianye felt a deep, unfading unease, as though someone terrifying was moving around nearby.

    Though he had rescued Yu Yingnan, she still couldn¡¯t use origin power and he himself suffered injuries that weren¡¯t that light. It was best to leave as soon as possible.

    Qianye and Yu Yingnan disappeared within the night one behind the next.

    In a dark valley behind the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s headquarters, sluggish footsteps resounded. A thin and long silhouette unhurriedly walked within the lightless alleyway. His arms so long that they neared his knees was a sign that could not be more obvious. This person was precisely Yu Renyan. He was holding a foot in one hand, dragging a human body behind him.

    The person being dragged clearly had lost control of his body and was sliding little by little on the ground like a tattered cloth sack. His body and face was full of scrapes and bruises, his originally handsome and young face was full of fear. It was Flying Bird. However, he couldn¡¯t even curl even a single finger, and the only thing that he was able to move were his eyelids as he was dragged into the darkness in despair.

    Yu Yingnan brought Qianye back to her ce and immediately wanted to check his injuries. Qianye wasn¡¯t able to decline and before long, she had pressed him onto her bed and began to slowly tend to his injuries.

    After clearly seeing Qianye¡¯s injuries, Yu Yingnan couldn¡¯t help but stare nkly. What surprised her wasn¡¯t that Qianye¡¯s wounds were too serious. They were too light. Those wounds had already all stopped bleeding, and shallower wounds had alreadypletely closed. Yu Yingnan saw with her own eyes that he tanked Sky Snake¡¯s rank three origin gun¡¯s direct frontal attack, so how could he have only sustained so little injuries?

    Qianye suddenly closed his eyes, ¡°Um, Sister Nan, you can go take a change of clothes first. My injuries are not serious.¡±

 Volume 3 - 7: The Soon Departing

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 7: The Soon Departing

    Only when Yu Yingnan lowered her head to look did she finally realize that she was still wearing a tactical jacket with nothing inside. When moving with this short jacket, the scenery of her chest was in full view from Qianye¡¯s angle.

    Yu Yingnan spoke, not minding it in the least, ¡°Not like you haven¡¯t seen it before. If I get injured when going into missionster, I¡¯ll probably get seen even more by you. What¡¯s the big deal about that?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how he was suppose to answer her. He could only stiffen his body and let her do what she wanted.

    Yu Yingnan finally let out a relieved breath after she finished connecting and setting all of Qianye¡¯s broken ribs, cleaning and bandaging all his external wounds. When she saw her own hands full of blood, she nned to just wipe it on her clothes without taking extra trouble.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Qianye grasped Yu Yingnan¡¯s hand at once, and forcefully dragged her into the bathroom.

    Qianye¡¯s strength was extraordinarily great to the point that no resistance could be put up against it. Forget about her origin power not having fully recovered, even if Yu Yingnan was in her best condition, she wouldn¡¯t be able to go against it. She followed staggeringly, her mind in a panic with a twinge of fear. She only thought, ¡°C-could it be that he likes¡­ to do that.. In this kind of ce?¡±

    As she thought that, Yu Yingnan suddenly felt that her entire body went soft, and the little bit of strength she recovered had gone elsewhere.

    Qianye dragged her into the bathroom, opened the water valve and pressed her hands below the water stream, beginning to clean the bloodstains on it. Qianye¡¯s gestures were meticulous and deft while also very diligent and careful, not even missing the crevices under the nail. This was his techniques of wound treatment.

    Yu Yingnan was shocked at first, but she slowly became calm and gentle afterwards. She silently looked at Qianye¡¯s long hair that flowed down the side of his ears. Under the dim light, there seemed to be streams of light flowing on its surface.

    After all of the blood stains were cleaned off, Qianye finally let out a breath of relief. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be going. I still need to go tidy some things up.¡±

    ¡°Now that Sky Snake is dead, do you want toe live with me? It¡¯ll be goo- ah, I mean so we can look after each other!¡±

    This wasn¡¯t supposed to be a great matter to Yu Yingnan and it wasn¡¯t like other hunters haven¡¯t temporarily lived at her ce before. However, this time, she was stuttering a little.

    Qianye thought for a bit and nodded, ¡°Okay, but I¡¯ll probably be leaving this ce after some time.¡±

    Yu Yingnan wanted to ask where he wanted to go, but as her words was about to escape her mouth, it suddenly became, ¡°Alright, you go pack up. I also need to go to Old 2 for a bit.¡±

    After Qianye left, she started nkly for a long time before finally changing and hurrying toward the Home of Hunters.

    Home of Hunters was very quiet at night. Old 2 was still sitting behind the counter, wearing a old-fashioned sses and flipping through a book.

    Seeing Yu Yingnan pushing open the door anding in, Old 2 said, ¡°You came a littleter than I thought you would. It¡¯s about time now, shut the gate for me!¡±

    Yu Yingnan raised her leg and heavily kicked the gate closed, then sat onto the counter and knocked, ¡°Got alcohol?¡±

    Old 2 took out a urn of traditional distilled spirit, ¡°Only have this.¡±

    Yu Yingnan knitted her brows, ¡°I can¡¯t get used to drinking this, but it¡¯s fine, as long as here¡¯s alcohol.¡±

    Old 2 passed over a ss. Yu Yingnan filled it to the brim and directly downed the entire thing. Then, her face suddenly entirely flushed red as she began to cough violently.

    Old 2 sighed, and shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s like this again.¡±

    ¡°I always forget how fierce this thing is, but it¡¯s fine. More satisfying this way!¡±

    Old 2 gave a look at Yu Yingnan through the top of his presbyopia sses, and asked, ¡°What, got the worse of it this time around?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Yu Yingnan self-mockinglyughed as she spoke till here, ¡°Men don¡¯t fancy ones like me.¡±

    Old 2 soundlesslyughed, ¡°As long as you are fine, even though losing out isn¡¯t that big of a deal. But you don¡¯t seem to be in a good mood?¡±

    Yu Yingnan scratched her hair with force, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on either. It¡¯s just very messy, super messy, I can¡¯t think clearly about anything at all. Ah!!¡±

    ¡°A cigarette?¡± Old 2 very timely passed over one.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± Yu Yingnan lit it right away and took a deep smoke, only spouting out the leftover smoke after a long time had passed. As expected, she felt much better.

    ¡°Qianye perhaps will leave this ce very soon. This city no longer suits him anymore.¡±

    Hearing Old 2¡¯s words, Yu Yingnan¡¯s hand trembled as a piece of burning ash fell onto her hands, immediately burning up a tiny blister.

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s brows knitted. She wiped away the ash without batting an eyelid. ¡°Oh, I see. He¡¯ll have to leave sooner orter after all. Maybe after a while, I¡¯ll leave this ce too.¡±

    ¡°Even though he still needs to leave, there¡¯s a mission that he might be able to do on the way.¡±

    ¡°What mission?¡± Yu Yingnan¡¯s eyes brightened. If there was a mission, then one could roughly grasp a hunter¡¯s whereabouts and movements. They would also have to return to Darkblood City to turn in the mission and receivepensation.

    ¡°It¡¯s that mission put up by Miss Qiqi. We can¡¯t drag it on any longer.¡±

    Yu Yingnan instantly revealed an expression that was both astonished and disgusted, ¡°Qiqi? I despise that woman!¡±

    ¡°But other than Qianye, we don¡¯t have any other fitting candidates. Before this, I could still push it back, but I can¡¯t now. Perhaps Qianye will listen to your words, how about you urge him on?¡±

    Yu Yingnan suddenly leaned over as she stared at Old 2¡¯s face, emphasizing word by word, ¡°I. Really. Despise. That woman!¡±

    Yet Old 2 just smiled. ¡°But none of us can afford to offend her, is that not so?¡±

    ¡°Let me think about it!¡± Yu Yingnan¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t sincere at all.

    Old 2 seemed to be speaking to himself, ¡°The city seemed to be very quiet tonight.¡±

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s movement froze, thought for a bit then said, ¡°No wonder why the expeditionary army didn¡¯t appear from start to finish. So if was done by you, Old Man. This favor doesn¡¯t seem small!¡±

    ¡°Howrge or small matters not, as long as it¡¯s enough.¡±

    Yu Yingnan jumped down from the counter, as she spoke without hesitation, ¡°Alright! Leave this matter to me.¡±

    She walked to the gate inrge strides, but just as she was about to push open the door and leave, she suddenly stopped, looking as though she was about to copse.

    ¡°What wrong?¡± Old 2 was shocked.

    Yu Yingnan tightly grasped the pit of her heart, strongly enduring the strange pain that had never appeared before. She took a heavy breath in, didn¡¯t turn back, and said in a tone as calm as still water, ¡°Old man, I have a feeling, that the rest of my lifetime, seemed to have gotten jipped by you.¡±

    Qianye returned to the small hotel and packed up before heading to Yu Yingnan¡¯s residence right away. As to the house he had originally, he didn¡¯t even bother wanting to go check up on it. He reckoned whether or not even the frame of the house would be left from being wrecked by the Sky Snake Gang¡¯s people.

    The residence¡¯s door was still the same as how it looked. This fierce and bold huntress actually was quite good looking. She was young and had the aptitude. However, even if she just sat there, her domineering air still leaked out naturally. If she spoke or even move in the slightest, her presence would be even more overbearing, like that of burly men.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know when, or rather, how many dayster Yu Yingnan would return. She had set up some traps in both the surrounding area and near the windows and door, but they are at most able to guard against some unskilled thieves. Of course, unskilled in Qianye¡¯s eyes were actually above the level of three star hunters. In the few prominent gangs of Darkblood City, that would be at least a leader in the mid-level or above.

    Qianye tossed his equipments to an empty room, and really didn¡¯t feel very safe after thinking about it. Mainly it was because this rank four Eagleshot was too expensive. The sales price as a whole had already reached over a thousand gold coins. Even if a small part was lost, it would be a hard to recover loss.

    Thus, after hesitating for a bit, even though he felt it would arouse suspicion of looking down on Yu Yingnan, he still disguised the ce where he stored equipments, and also set two traps. One of the traps was warning, and the other was to cause injury. With Yu Yingnan¡¯s level, she ought to be able to discover both, and either avoid or remove them.

    However, Qianye forgot about this; he thought that Yu Yingnan ¡°ought¡± be able to discover the two traps he set, but in actuality, this carefree huntress would often mess up in things that tests her meticulousness and patience that she ¡°ought¡± to do well in.

    After setting up everything, Qianye left in satisfaction and walked into the night. Even though his thirst toward blood energy had calmed down for now, he still felt some restlessness in his heart. Thus, he nned to take look around, and look at this city he was soon about to say farewell to in detail.

    Darkblood City¡¯s night was always very bustling, after all, most of the time of this city in the entire day was night time. When passing by a tavern with an extremely lively atmosphere. Qianye saw the men and women willfully expressing their desire through the window, and suddenly reminisced about that Red Spider Lily he had in the Lighthouse town.

    He walked into the bar by himself. The burly man at the gate took a nce at the Butcher in Qianye¡¯s waist, as his face instantly changed into a ttering and favor currying expression that was difficult to put into words. He lead Qianye and pushed a path through the dance floor, and escorted Qianye to an empty table.

    The position of this table was very good. To be still empty at such a crowded and bustling moment, Qianye naturally understand the rules. He took his wallet and dumped two silver coins into the man¡¯s hands, ¡°This is yours. Also, bring two bottles here for me.¡±

    That burly man happily left and Qianye put up his wallet. After waiting for a moment, tworge bottles of strong alcoholic drinks was put on his table. Two silver coins bounced on Qianye¡¯s fingertips, and flew up in an exceptionally agile manner, then fell precisely into the waitress¡¯s deep cleavage. This move was extremely beautiful, and roused cheers from the surroundings. All the more, some people who were watching Qianye with ill will also took back their unnecessary thoughts and moved their gazes away to somewhere else.

    One who could y silver coins so well, could y with knives just as well.

    A woman with heavy make-up squeezed by Qianye¡¯s side, and spoke in a coy and sweet voice, ¡°May I sit here?¡±

    ¡°You may not!¡± Qianye spoke indifferently.

    This woman had sprayed on some very heavy perfume, but what Qianye smelt from his nose was a rotten putridness. By now, Qianye was extremely sensitive to the smell of blood energy within lifeforms. The scent of this woman¡¯s blood made him feel disgusted.

    The beautiful woman was quite furious. She snorted loudly, then turned and walked away.

    Qianye wouldn¡¯t bother to pay any mind to her. In such a chaotic ce, that Butcher in his waist was enough to keep the boldest scoundrel sober and awake. Qianye reminisced about the time in the Lighthouse Town as he watched the desired filled men and women around him.

    At that time, people also divulged the most primal desire without any apprehension like this in the Red Spider Lily, or even more direct and unrestrained. Sometimes, men and women who couldn¡¯t suppress their desire would dash out the door and directly begin doing it. But here however,, they would at least hide in the bathroom.

    Unknowingly, the cup in Qianye¡¯s hand emptied and an entire cup of strong liquor had gone down his stomach. Qianye immediately felt that slightly drunken feeling once again. His thoughts seemed to have slowly floated up, and begun to twirl and cruise.

    Qianye suddenly felt that there didn¡¯t seem to be anything that he should not do, and also felt that there was nothing that he could not do, either.

    He heavily lowered the cup onto the table.

    At this time, the empty cup filled up by itself again. Qianye raised his head and looked, and saw that a young girl had unwittingly appeared beside the table. She was meager, and couldn¡¯t be said as pretty, but her face was very clean. Her age seemed even a little bit younger than Qianye, and she was pouring drink for him.

    Qianye¡¯s nose twitched. He suddenly pulled the girl into his arms, closed in to the side of her neck, and took a deep whiff.

 Volume 3 - 8: Neverending Encounter of Fate

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 8: Neverending Encounter of Fate

    As expected, the girl¡¯s scent carried a little bit of fragrance within a light freshness, as though the herbal aroma of pine wood being evaporated under the sun¡¯s rays. Qianye liked it very much.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know why, but he just said it, ¡°Take a seat!¡±

    The girl seemed to be in a little panic, but neither refused nor struggled, and only turned his head away, looking at the bar counter.

    The man who was mixing drinks behind the counter gave the girl a fierce stare, nodded with power, then turned his head and hinted toward the drink bottle beside his hand.

    Qianye took all of these in his eyes. He could understand what was going on here without needing to think very much at all.

    ¡°Another bottle,¡± said Qianye. A silver coin flew out of his fingertips, and fell onto the drink bottle on the bar counter in a parab. The coin then spun itself on the mouth of the bottle, stirring up a wheel of silver colored light.

    The muscle of the bar owner¡¯s cheek instantly twitched a few times. This trick didn¡¯t only require technique, but also needed very rich origin power to achieve.

    He turned around and took out a strong bottle of alcohol, opened it up, then tossed it. The bottle passed through the crowd while tumbling, and steadily fell onto Qianye¡¯s table with a thump. In the entire process, the alcohol in the bottle didn¡¯t even spill out. This trick was quite good too, but was no match to Qianye¡¯s.

    Somewhat stiff, the girl still tried hard to reveal a smile before she sat down. At first, she poured the drink for Qianye, then drank together with Qianye, and in the end, she softened her body and slowly leaning onto Qianye¡¯s body. In the bar, everything was so natural. The morous noises made people involuntarily lean against each other, else they wouldn¡¯t be able to hear what the other person was talking about.

    Qianye entered an odd tipsy mode starting from the first cup. This feel made him feel extremelyfortable. His tightened up nervespletely rxed themselves. The dull and vexed feeling at the start vanished like snow in a sunny spring day. The girl¡¯s body that pressed against him was very hot, and he could feel the vigorous sticity with every touch of their skin. Her scent more so made Qianye veryfortable. Slowly, it seemed that every breath he took was filled with refreshing aroma.

    Naturally, desire began to surface.

    Qianye felt that anything he said and did seemed to follow the will of his heart. Such as this line. ¡°Want toe with me?¡±

    Ethanol sure was something magical.

    It was unknown what the girl was thinking about as she suddenly blushed, then nodded indiscernibly.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dawdle either, and took the girl out of the bar right away. However, he didn¡¯t notice that two pairs of eyes were staring at him the whole time. Qianye as he was half-drunk would ignore many things, and only his instinct was still clear, maintaining his senses toward danger and killing intent.

    Beside a small table in the corner, sat Yu Yingnan and Old 2.

    There was a few fresh wounds on Yu Yingnan¡¯s face. That was the masterpiece caused by the two traps Qianye had set up. The huntress was inexplicably in a bad mood in the first ce, and naturally her mood became even worse now because of that. Thus, she ran back and dragged Old 2 out to drink giving no leeway.

    Perhaps this was the so-called unspeakable fate. They just happened to walked into the same bar, and saw Qianye. Yu Yingnan didn¡¯t go and greet him, because there was another unfamiliar young girl on the table. That girl who was a little shy through her docileness was even leaning close onto Qianye.

    Old 2 wanted to leave, but Yu Yingnan dragged onto him with force and sat down at a remote corner.

    Qianye didn¡¯t take any superfluous actions, and only smothered himself in alcohol, asionally staring nkly at the surroundings. Yu Yingnan even felt that Qianye¡¯s gaze had turned toward her side a few times, but his expression didn¡¯t change the slightest, and only passed without noticing.

    In the end, she saw Qianye standing up and leaving, taking the girl with him. They passed through the crowded and morous hall. The young man¡¯s slender and tall physique was actually full of power, his left arm raised up and slightly split open the crowd, while that delicate small silhouette full of youthfulness tightly grasped onto the young man¡¯s arm, as though it was her only ce to rely on. Very soon, the two figures nestled together disappeared within the dimly lit street. The night was still long.

    Yu Yingnan emptied the full cup of strong liquor in one go, silently filled it up again then poured it down her throat again without wasting a single drop. When she was about to pour a third cup for herself, Old 2 pressed her hands down.

    ¡°That, is what men are.¡± She was unexpectedly calm.

    ¡°That¡¯s nothing much.¡± Old 2 said, then took that cup away from Yu Yingnan, pouring it into his own mouth. Satisfiedly sighing, he said, ¡°Not bad tasting.¡±

    After a cup of strong liquor, Old 2¡¯s mood also brightened up a lot, ¡°Men, you know, will all asionally be impulsive, especially when they drink too much. When he sobers up tomorrow, he definitely won¡¯t fancy that little girl anymore. Tsk tsk, she¡¯s neither got the chest or ass, what¡¯s so fun about that!¡±

    ¡°You are saying that Qianye drank too much?¡±

    ¡°Clearly so! Just look at him.¡±

    Yu Yingnan smiled. Within her smile, there was a bit of mockery and bitterness. To say that just these few bottles could get Qianye drunk, she wouldn¡¯t believe it no matter what.

    Yu Yingnan took back the empty ss from Old 2¡¯s hand, then filled a smaller half of a ss for herself and slowly sipped on it, as she watched various women who were swinging their waist and bottom with all their might.

    Qianye was willing to take Sky Snake¡¯s gunshot with his body in order to save her, but never thought about tempting her to bed.

    ¡°As expected, no man want a woman like me¡­¡±

    Naturally, Qianye didn¡¯t go to Yu Yingnan¡¯s ce, and instead returned to that small house of his following his instincts. The inside was unexpectedly clean. The sight of it being a mess didn¡¯t appear, and even the bed was very well made.

    With a swing of his arm, the girl lightly fell like a feather, while also conveniently dragging him down. Her skin carried some ashen color within the whiteness,cking the color of blood. However, it carried the tightness and smoothness just right for her youthful age, and felt as though he was caressing a bundle of silk when touching.

    The split second of satisfaction and rxation made Qianye feel iparably delighted. Especially the satisfaction that came from nothing, which stimted him to into being haziness! That joyfulness could bepared to the deliciousness of blood when his energy was exhausted!

    Qianye closed his eyes tightly, and guided his actions only with his instincts. It was as though the entire world and stars were spinning. From beginning to end, the pinewood like fragrance filled all of his senses the entire time, while the girl¡¯s light moans, were just like a soft song, sometimes high, sometimes low.

    Delight was like the tides of origin power, swelling up round after round, and finally reached the time to break through the limits! When happiness that surpassed imagination was about to m down like a raging tide, thest remainder of Qianye¡¯s consciousness was also buried under.

    From between his teeth, there suddenly flowed in a tepid, sweet and pleasant fluid, mixed together with the hint of the girl¡¯s sweet fragrance!

    Qianye suddenly opened his eyes!

    He was actually biting onto the side of the girl¡¯s neck, a wisp of blood was entering his mouth. Qianye was greatly rmed, and abruptly bounced up from the girl¡¯s body.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Qianye pressed down the girl who was also frightened and panicked like him as he looked at the wound by the side of her neck. Thankfully, the wound was very shallow. Only some skin on the surface was broken, and the arteries wasn¡¯t affected. Moreover, after Qianye woke up in shock, he instinctively held in his blood energy right away, and the blood of darkness didn¡¯t get the chance to contaminate her yet.

    Cold sweat ran down Qianye¡¯s entire body as he secretly yelled lucky in his heart. He immediately got down from the bed, took out his collection of medical goods and treated the girl¡¯s wound, then wrapped it for her.

    In the entire process, the girl only wrapped her arms around herself, trembling, letting Qianye do whatever he wanted.

    During the process of treating her wounds, after thinking back on everything that happened tonight, he really didn¡¯t know what to say. However, since it had already happened, then it no longer mattered anymore. Besides, the girl¡¯s fragrance did attract him greatly. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t contaminate her. Otherwise, if Qianye¡¯s blood energy entered her body, he wouldn¡¯t know if it would be considered the Embrace, or pure and simple contamination.

    Qianye took over the girl¡¯s clothes and wrapped her in, as he asked gently, ¡°Were you startled?¡±

    Only hearing Qianye¡¯s gentle voice, did the girl dare to raise his head. She stared fixedly at Qianye. In that instant, she even revealed a bit of infatuation. Qianye¡¯s face and disposition without disguise, was as dazzling as the stars up in the skies amongst the lower echelons of Darkblood City.

    The girl silently put on her clothes.

    Qianye walked to the table, then came back to the bed, holding a money pouch in his hands. He leaned it to the side and poured out several dozen silver coins into his palm with a bunch of clinks, then handed it before the girl. ¡°It¡¯s for you.¡±

    The girl was greatly shocked, and her body instead withdrew backwards. She muttered, ¡°T-too much.¡±

    A bar girl spending a night with guests ordinarily would just be one silver coin. A few very popr girls would collect two from frequent guests. These that Qianye gave was more than ten times than the normal price.

    Qianye grabbed over the girl¡¯s hand and opened it. Releasing his grip, the silver coins fell into her palm like a jingle of bells. He said with a smilee, ¡°Take it, you deserved it.¡±

    ¡°Also, I like your scent very much.¡± Qianye added on.

    The girl subconsciously held tightly onto the silver coins, as her little face still had on the expression mixed with rxation and lingering fear.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Qianye.

    ¡°I¡­ I actually thought you were a bloodsucker. You scared me just now.¡± The girl lightly patted her chest as she let out a breath of air. Since Qianye grabbed such arge handful of silver for her, naturally he wouldn¡¯t be a bloodsucker.

    Themon folk¡¯s understanding of the dark races were actually quite limited. Some were exaggerated, such as possibly being infected just by getting close to a blood thrall. While, some were ignorant, such as vampires not being able to touch silver. In fact, silver was a type of poison for vampire constitutions, and since it was a poison, there naturally exist poison resistance or ways to relieve the poison. When Qianye¡¯s vampire constitution ranked up, as long as no open wounds made contact with silver, he no longer feared ordinary silver. That was even more the case for the imperial silver coins that contained very little silver.

    Qianye smiled, and no longer dragged this topic on. Instead, he asked, ¡°This is the first time you apanied a guest out?¡±

    The girl¡¯s face instantly flushed red. She only nodded very slightly after a while. ¡°I do need money, but it¡¯s also because¡­ it¡¯s you.¡±

    Qianye thought for a bit, shook the money pouch, and a gold coin rolled out from the innermost part. He directly pressed the gold coin at the girl, ¡°This is yours now. If not necessary in the future, don¡¯t apany guests out anymore.¡±

    Yet, the girl tightened her fist, not taking the gold coin. Instead, she raised up her head and stared straight at Qianye. Mustering up her courage, she asked, ¡°Then will youe to find me again?¡±

    Qianye smiled, ¡°I will leave this ce very soon and may not ever return again.¡±

    The girl lowered her head as she spoke in a light voice, ¡°Then, I don¡¯t want the gold coin. These are enough. I won¡¯t ever go to the bar again. I can probably find a job like a hotel attendant.¡±

    Qianye stuffed the gold coin into the girl¡¯s hand and said, ¡°If you are willing, then you can help me clean this building when you have time in the future. Count this gold coin as yourpensation for hiring you for a year. If I don¡¯te back after a year, then there¡¯s no need to clean it anymore. You can deal with this ce however you want.¡±

    ¡°Will you die in battle?¡±

    The girl asked a question out of Qianye¡¯s expectations.

    Qianye thought about it seriously, then spoke gently, ¡°I am a warrior. Battling with the dark races is the responsibility of every single human warrior. As a warrior, dying on the grounds of battle is an inherent fate, I cannot escape it either.¡±

    The girl suddenly embraced Qianye and kissed onto his lips. Then, she said, ¡°I can¡¯t do much, but if¡­ if you are still willing toe to visit Darkblood City again, this ce will definitely be clean!¡±

    As she finished speaking, the girl ran out and disappeared within the curtain of the night.

    Qianye silently sat for a few minutes, then remembered something. Taking up his gun, he also left following the girl.

 Volume 3 - 9: Just a Passing Traveller

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 9: Just a Passing Traveller

    As expected, the girl was stopped by the brutes outside the street.

    ¡°You got quite a lot of profit today didn¡¯t you, little whore? What else are you waiting for then? Show us! We¡¯re not asking for extras; just half of what you¡¯ve got.¡± a brutish man with thick, exposed chest hair said with an evil grin.

    ¡°This girl looked pretty good. Should we have a good time with her?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! The night is still young!¡±

    While lively chatting to each other all at once, the men began to get all touchy with her. The girl sucked in a deep breath and was just about to scream. However, arge hand stretched over and covered her mouthpletely.

    The girl struggled, fought and kicked with all her might, but how could she possibly resist these strong men with her thin and weak body?

    It was at this moment Qianye¡¯s voice rang from the end of the road, ¡°Take your hands off her!¡±

    The men were caught by surprise, but when they saw Qianye standing alone on the street they immediately grew bold.

    A fat and burly looking big man yelled in a stern voice, ¡°F*ck off! Mind your own business. Do you want to f*cking die or something?¡±

    Bang! What answered him was the rumbling echo of a gunshot!

    The big man fell on his back with nk eyes and an extra bloody hole in his forehead.

    It was only now the group of men began to panic. Some tried to run away while others immediately reached for the weapon behind their backs. There was also one particr person who viciously gripped the girl in his hand and twisted her right arm around so that she would face towards Qianye. He wanted to use her as a hostage.

    Qianye¡¯s muzzle shot out me tongues continuously, and in the blink of an eye he had emptied an entire magazine. The person who was holding the girl had the most bullet holes in him, and he fell to the ground along with the other two people who were reaching for their gun and chopper beside him.

    The two brutes who had already ran behind the cover of a shop¡¯s vertical shop sign by the roadside were pretty bold. The moment they saw that Qianye had used up all his bullets, they immediately poked out their heads and raised their guns, aiming at Qianye and shooting at him continuously!

    However, Qianye¡¯s figure shed repeatedly as the bullets whistled past his body. Not a single bullet could hit him!

    Right now Qianye had already reloaded a new magazine as the gunshots rang once more. In the end, the two brutes fell to the ground in response to the gunshots, but they were only shot at all four limbs and was howling and letting out blood curdling screeches because of it.

    Qianye walked in front of the duo, and with a shake of the arm dropped the empty magazine right now their spasming bodies. Then, he pushed another new magazine into his body and aimed at their heads.

    It was at this moment a few men charged out of the small alley by the side. When the leader of the group saw this scene he yelled, ¡°Wait!¡±

    Qianye heard, but did not respond to his cry as his fingers pulled the trigger without hesitation. Two bangster, thest two brutes had their heads popped, and it was only then he turned around and said indifferently, ¡°Wait what?¡±

    The leading big man grew furious as he yelled, ¡°Who are you? How dare you kill the people of the Earth me Association. Even if you¡¯re looking tomit suicide there¡¯s no need to rush it!¡±

    ¡°Your people tried to touch my woman. Even if you¡¯re looking tomit suicide there¡¯s no need to rush it, is it?¡± Qianye unhurriedly threw the words right back at him. Then, he carelessly took two broad steps and blocked right between the girl and the people who showed up.

    ¡°Little bastard¡­¡±

    The brutish man looked like a mini boss of the Earth me Association, and he had the strength of a rank one Fighter. But the profanity had just left his mouth when he suddenly saw Qianye right in front of him and unsheathing Butcher!

    Butcher did not go boom, however. Holding Butcher in reverse, Qianye directly smashed its steel gilded handle directly into the man¡¯s mouth. Seven or eight teeth immediately sprayed into the open.

    The brute was immediately struck by terrible pain. With shaking hands, he tried to cover his wounded mouth, but his hands lightened as the pistol he couldn¡¯t quite grippletely entered Qianye¡¯s hands once more.

    The gunpowder based pistol made a twirl around Qianye¡¯s forefinger once before it was caught firmly in his grip. Then, he pulled the trigger repeatedly and shot all of the men who emerged following the brute. Right after,the barrel that was still scorching hot was stuck right into the bruten¡¯s mouth.

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re Earth me Association or whatever. If you dare touch my woman again, I¡¯ll pull out your very roots! I just eliminated Sky Snake Gang, so do not provoke me!¡±

    The brute nodded like his life depended on it, but he did not to move too much in fear that he would cause the handgun to misfire. It was only until Qianye had gradually withdrew his gun that he finally let out a breath of relief. His eyes revealed a trace of rejoicement and hatred.

    Suddenly, Qianye¡¯s wrist moved as the handgun boomed repeatedly, pouring all the bullets in the extended magazine into the man¡¯s body. The terrific impulse sted his sturdy body backwards on the spot as a dozen or some blood stter blossomed in midair.

    Seeing the brutish man¡¯s unwilling but now lifeless eyes, Qianye said indifferently, ¡°I suddenly changed my mind.¡±

    When Qianye tossed the gun in his hand on the brute¡¯s body, the girl was still standing and trembling a couple dozen meters away from him. She carefully avoided the floor of corpses, but did not take the opportunity to escape. Qianye did not walk towards her. He simply raised a hand, waved, and vanished into the night.

    The girl stared at Qianye¡¯s departing figure and did not move for very long time. It was only until her pained eyes could no longer see anything that she suddenly turned around and ran to the other end of the darkness.

    From the beginning to the end, Qianye neither asked for her name, nor told her his own. The sensitive and smart girl knew that he might never step foot in this city ever again in the future. Even if he dide back, the only intersection they would share was tonight, a night filled with desire and gunpowder.

    For the girl, this was a night that was both beautiful anddened with grief like a drama. She had stood on the stage, but only as a traveller who passed by in a hurry.

    Qianye returned to Yu Yingnan¡¯s home. As usual, this ce wasn¡¯t locked, and the traps were just the same. However, when he walked to the entrance of the first floor¡¯s guest room, Qianye discovered in slight embarrassment that the two traps heid down had been activated.

    The marks left behind by the traps indicated clearly that someone had activated the warning trap and leaped away in surprise. Then, they unluckily entered right into the zone of the second trap and suffered the full blow of its might. The gunpowder Qianye installed into this little trap wasn¡¯t huge, and the shrapnels he set up weren¡¯t many either. It could just take out a rank two Fighter. If it was a rank four fighter, then at best it would deal an average amount of injury.

    The room¡¯s floor was sshed with a few drops of dry blood. Qianye bent over slightly and sensed a familiar smell. The blood belonged to Yu Yingnan.

    Qianye knew that Yu Yingnan was upstairs right now. The entire floor was filled with the thick smell of alcohol, so it would seem that she drank quite a bit tonight. Perhaps it was because of the alcohol, but the smell of her blood was unusually rich and her heartbeat was unusually quick too. Qianye involuntarily sucked in a deep breath. Yu Yingnan¡¯s blood smelled very sweet and was filled with energy and vitality. It was like a hot milk mixed with half a ss of sugar. To Qianye, this smell was more attractive than others.

    However, after seeing the blood of the floor, Qianye very sensibly chose not to disturb Yu Yingnan. This female hunter wasn¡¯t just your normal kind of shrewish, but extremelypetitive as well. Now that she had fallen for a series of traps in her own home, god knows how she was going to take it out on the culprit of her misfortune.

    Qianye softly and quietly tidied up the vestiges left behind in his room before tossing himself on his bed. Then, he let out afortable breath.

    With Yu Yingnan here, Qianye experienced a strange sense of security that enabled him topletely rx. This was something he normally would not experience when he was alone. In a daze, he fell into a deep sleep.

    Before Qianye waspletely flooded by sleepiness, he seemed to hear some activity in the kitchen. However, he did not sense any killing intent or hostility, so he just left it be. Back at Lighthouse Town, Qianye would often leave two portions of food at the kitchen specifically for other people to steal them. However, the bars of all towns were special ces, so normally a tramp would not steal food from such ces unless they were so starved they had no other choice.

    For an instant, Qianye felt as if he had returned to a familiar and safe home, so he allowed himself to sink into the depths of consciousness. In reality, he had never possessed such a tranquility or warmth in his memorized life.

    When Qianye¡¯s consciousness hadpletely subsided, the gold blood aura in his body quietly swam out of the rune and swam along his blood vessels. Every blood aura in his body holed themselves in Qianye¡¯s heart and did not dare to reveal themselves at all. Although the purple blood aura was muchrger than the gold aura, it had entrenched itself in the rune of vampire constitution and looked to be highly wary and in preparation to face a terrible enemy.

    The gold blood aura was as thin and weak as ever even though the amount of normal blood aura it consumed was no less than the purple blood aura at all. However, it did not appear to have changed in the least, whereas the purple blood aura had obviously evolved once and even triggered the vampire constitution to be a rank up ability.

    Right now, the gold blood aura was circling around the vampire constitution rune a few times and eying the purple blood aura inside covetously. It even attempted to prate the rune a few times, but a purple light screen lit up outside the ability rune and bounced the gold blood aura away.

    After attempting twice to break in without any results, the gold blood aura seemed to have lost interest in the purple blood aura and swam towards the heart instead. After circling around the heart twice swiftly, it suddenly stuck right in it and wrapped around a normal blood aura in the blink of an eye. Then, it bounced out of the heart once more.

    The normal blood aura struggled with everything it had, but it waspletely useless. It was consumed by the gold blood aura that looked much thinner and weaker than it was bite after bite and melted into nothingness in the blink of an eye. Feeling unsatisfied yet, it entered the heart yet again and pulled out another normal blood aura, crushing it and devouring it in just a few bites. Just like that it ate five normal blood auras in a go, but still it wasn¡¯t satisfied. It circled around the heart one more time, but in the end it did not harm thest two normal blood aura and swam back into the rune of Eye Ability: Night Vision. Then, it stayed there and did not move.

    In a sh, the surface of the gold blood aura began to circte with light from time to time. It seemed to be on the verge of a transformation.

    In his dreams, Qianye instinctively felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. He felt as if he was buried deep beneath the water and suffocating as if there was an entire sea bearing down on him. However, no matter how hard he struggled, he could not free himself from this dream.

    In the kitchen, Yu Yingnan was leaning against the kitchen table and carrying a bottle of strong alcohol in one hand. She took a fierce gulp of the drink before spitting out a mouthful of alcoholic breath. She was feeling vexed and restless, and the cab surface that was as smooth as a mirror reflected her entire person on the opposite side.

    Yu Yingnan looked left and right at herself on the opposite side. No matter how she looked at it, she thought that she looked quite pretty. At the very least, she looked much better than that little bitch in that bar. She was taller than her, prettier than her, had longer legs than her and¡­ which side of your momma¡¯s breast isn¡¯t three or four times bigger than hers? If she had any breasts at all to begin with.

    Yu Yingnan lifted a middle finger ferociously at her opposite self!

    And then she was intimidated by her own aggressiveness.

    Yu Yingnan smiled bitterly and began drinking again. Although she had already drunk a lot of alcohol, she still didn¡¯t think that it was enough. At the least, she was drunk enough to do whatever she wanted to without any qualms.

    How could that possibly be considered drunk?

    So she continued to pour alcohol into her mouth resolutely. Before that tiny hope and courage at the bottom of her heart disappeared, she would at least make herself half drunk.

    The first bottle emptied, and the second soon followed. Thankfully, she had enough stock and could fish out a third. When this bottle had turned empty as well, she finally felt that her drunkenness was about right. At the least, if a dozen of vampires and werewolves were to show up before her right now, she had no problems taking a chopper and fight for her life.

    When she thought up to this point, the woman in the mirror began to leak aggressiveness involuntarily again.

    She tossed her tactical jacket on the ground and unbuckled her belt. However, the fingers that could¡¯ve twirled abat knife effortlessly suddenly turned extremely stiff. She kept feeling that she could not go that extra mile. At her current drunkenness state, she felt that she could at best passively ept everything that would happen, and apparently she was still quite far away from taking the initiative on her own.

    Yu Yingnan quite literally abhorred her own weakness. This female hunter lit up a loaded cigarette and took in a deep breath. Then, she revealed a sinister smile that was employed when facing the dark races and pulled out herbat knife, cutting off her own belt resolutely!

    The defensive animal skin pants fell to the floor, revealing the ck tactical skin tight boxers. There was also a secretpartment at the side that hid a finger length jagged de.

    While recalling the data she crammed into her brain at thest moment, she waved herbat knife and cut off most of the tight skin underwear, remolding it into a somewhat sexy little underwear.

    The woman in the mirror now had a little sexiness in her, if she wasn¡¯t holding a cigarette in one hand and a knife in the other while looking way too imposing.

    ¡°This is about it!¡± Yu Yingnan talked to herself before tossing down her cigarette and her knife. Then, she wobbled her way to Qianye¡¯s bedroom and barged in with a kick to the door.

 Volume 3 - 10: Spring Also Comes For Masculine Women

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 10: Spring Also Comes For Masculine Women

    Qianye¡¯s was still in deep slumber. He was currently fighting and struggling against the suffocating feeling in his dreams, and his subconsciousness continued to feel like they were submerged in a deep sea. The world above the water seemed impossible to reach.

    However, in Yu Yingnan¡¯s opinion there was no way Qianye hadn¡¯t woken up yet after she had caused so much noise. She thought that he must be pretending to be asleep, and that he demanded for her to take a step further on her own.

    ¡°F*ck! I have to do it myself?¡±

    Yu Yingnan mumbled vaguely to herself before tossing herself right next to Qianye¡¯s body, lying on her back. She could hear her own heart thumping like a gong. She looked at the man lying next to her, thought for a moment and took him into her arms. She put him right on top of her.

    Qianye¡¯s seemingly thin figure was in fact extraordinarily heavy, so heavy that Yu Yingnan¡¯s breath hade to a momentary pause. However, a content and fulfilling feeling followed immediately after the feeling of weight. She stretched out her arms and hugged the body that felt like silk wrapped steel. Her wildly beating heart calmed down just a little.

    It was only then Qianye finally opened his eyes and looked at her in astonishment. He was obviously confused by the situation before him.

    ¡°Sure! Keep up that act! It¡¯s not like I care or anything!¡± Yu Yingnan itched to beat up Qianye.

    Still, she forced herself to wear the gentlest smile she could on her face. But when she saw that Qianye wasn¡¯t in the mood at all, she knew that her efforts had all been wasted.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qianye stretched out and touched Yu Yingnan¡¯s forehead. She was burning from head to toe, but it didn¡¯t feel like a fever. She probably had too much of a drink. The air inside the little guest room seemed to turn wet with the thick scent of alcohol and milk.

    His response was a heavy blow. Yu Yingnan¡¯s hot temper was finally ignited.

    She decided that she might as well discard all the pretentious poses and expressions as grabbed Qianye¡¯s thin but firm waist tightly. Then, she said through gritted teeth, ¡°I want a man tonight. Will you join me?¡±

    Qianye was stumped for words. It was only when Yu Yingnan had repeated a second time that he finally understood her meaning.

    The meaning behind her words couldn¡¯t be any more clearer. It was something anyone who hadn¡¯tpletely lost touch with his masculine side would be able to understand. It was just that it sounded unbelievably strangeing out of Yu Yingnan¡¯s mouth. Qianye never thought that he would live to hear such a thing from this mighty and domineering female hunter.

    He stared closely at Yu Yingnan, examining her for the first time as a man would to a woman. If he were to ignore her expression and manner, then he had to admit that she was a good looking woman. Her countenance alone made her a beautiful woman, not to mention that she also had an amazing body.

    Now that they were touching each other tightly without a millimeter of space between them, Qianye noticed yet again the shocking flexibility of the body beneath him. Every one of her curves felt like they could send him springing into the air.

    Qianye had already noticed how deadly this body was thest time he identally pressed down on her. It was no wonder that she managed to achieve rank four at such a young age. And now, Qianye finally realized that this was a female¡¯s body, and a sexy and attractive one too.

    Moreover, her scent was as fragrant as ever. Her milky, sweet scent that was filled with energy was extremely attractive to Qianye, who had for the past two days became unusually thirsty for some reason.

    But all these thoughts weren¡¯t important. What was important right now was that tonight¡¯s matter had advanced to a stage that he couldn¡¯t back down. If he didn¡¯t do a little something in this situation then it was obvious that the two of them would part asplete strangers after tonight.

    Yu Yingnan kissed Qianye a little clumsily on the lips. She hadn¡¯t controlled her strength properly, so when she knocked into him it actually felt a little painful. However, the act was like a match that instantly ignited Qianye¡¯s male instincts. It took only a few simple tears before Yu Yingnan was madepletely defenseless.

    The intimate touch of naked flesh caused the temperature to rise non-stop. It was as if the air around them had turned into mes. Qianye probed her bottom area a couple of times before moving forward strongly, entering a warmth that wished to be dominated since a while ago!

    An even greater pleasure assaulted his senses. His instincts swelled and pushed his reason swiftly out of the way. Every exchange of air felt like they were on fire. Qianye paused the fencing of tongue and lips temporarily and moved his head sideways, rubbing into her flesh twice. He found the source he was looking for on her white neck, and he rubbed his white teeth gently across her skin. He could feel a strong and lively pulsation beneath it.

    The gold colored blood energy that had been dormant all this time suddenly moved and erupted into a desire for blood like never before. Qianye¡¯s thirst immediately multiplied, and he felt like sinking his teeth into her flesh immediately!

    ¡°No!¡± Qianye was shocked. Suddenly, he awoke from his intoxicated state and recognized with incredibly rity that the person before him was Yu Yingnan and not any other stranger.

    He immediately suppressed the bloodthirst with the willpower he trained over many years of resisting pain. However, Qianye also knew very well that just suppressing the waves that attacked his reason again and again wouldn¡¯t be enough. It would take some small techniques to trick his body sessfully.

    And so he licked Yu Yingnan¡¯s nape strongly and sucked the thick fragrance of blood into his throat. It immediately satisfied Qianye for a bit and caused him to grow even more excited. Meanwhile, Yu Yingnan was caught off guard by the attack and cried out in shock. From the way she subconsciously hugged Qianye tightly, it was obvious that she was unusually sensitive there.

    Her entire body was tensed up, and it caused Qianye¡¯s pleasure to go up by folds. He ignored everything and began riding her strongly. Every time he pounded wantonly into her depths, her beautiful body would convulse involuntarily and let out a sharp scream!

    Yu Yingnan grabbed onto Qianye¡¯s back strongly, and her fingernails dug deep into his muscles. However, she failed to leave any scratch marks on his body. Meanwhile, the man who controlled everything grew so forceful that it becamepletely one-sided. He made her capable of nothing but screaming on top of her lungs.

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s screamssted for a couple of hours straight. A neighbor couldn¡¯t stand the noise and tried to smash the door in protest, but took an explosive trap to the face instead.

    Once the explosion was over, everyone in the area decided that it wasn¡¯t worth the trouble to criticize them. And so they went away and sought out their own woman, someone else¡¯s woman, or a man instead. In short, they went to do whatever they needed to do.

    When Yu Yingnan crawled into the bathroom, turned on the shower and began washing herself, she saw an incredibly satisfied, and incredibly womanly face on the mirror. She touched her neck and bit her bottom lips, and she thought that she looked incredibly attractive like this. Qianye was so naughty; he must¡¯ve realized that her neck was her weakness and attacked that ce non-stop for the whole night. He almost drove her insane.

    Her wish was fulfilled, and she was even dreaming a little about the future. When her dream went into somece happy, she broke into a grin and couldn¡¯t help herself from pointing a middle finger at the mirror.

    Then, the dream was gone.

    Yu Yingnan stared nkly at her masculine self that had manifested once more in the mirror before sighing heavily to herself. She recalled her original decision and knew that that future she dreamed of was the real dream. It was time to return to reality now that her wish was fulfilled, and so she transformed back to that wanton and brash female hunter she was once more.

    Qianye was still fast asleep when she was done bathing. He looked very tired and quite obviously weakened. She supposed that he had exhausted himself too much as ofte. Of course, a different man wouldn¡¯t have fared much better than him had they been in an intense intercourse thatsted several hours long.

    Qianye was frowning even in his dreams as if he encountered something troubling that couldn¡¯t be solved easily. Yu Yingnan gently stretched out and smoothed out the entangled lines on his forehead. Then, she watched his face closely.

    This was the first time she noticed how pretty the man was. In Yu Yingnan¡¯s memory, her deepest impression of Qianye was his inexperience when they met each other the first time, and the moment Qianye blocked Sky Snake¡¯s shot for her without blinking an eye. These impressions had actually blurred her memory of Qianye¡¯s looks.

    That he looked pretty wasn¡¯t a bad thing, she thought. She leaned over and snuck a kiss on Qianye¡¯s cheeks, before putting a slip of paper beside him. Then, she packed her luggage and left during the night.

    When Qianye opened his eyes once more, there was sunlight shining through the windows. The arms of mechanical clock was just about to approach twelve in the noon.

    I slept that long?

    Qianye was a little surprised as he sat up on the bed. He saw the paper slip next to him, picked it up and gave it a nce. Yu Yingnan¡¯s handwriting was present on the paper, and although it was a little like chicken scratch every stroke on the paper was extremely powerful. It was her style alright.

    ¡°Qianye, I¡¯m going to get a mission for you. It¡¯s very suitable for you, and we¡¯ll talk about the details once I get backter. Don¡¯t go far for the next few days and wait for me!¡±

    Yu Yingnan didn¡¯t exin exactly what this mission was, but Qianye believed that she would never harm him, so there was no harm in waiting for a couple more days. While the unpredictable Yu Renyan was a small trouble that might show itself if he continued to stay inside Darkblood City, Qianye didn¡¯t think that he would necessarily lose to him even if he couldn¡¯t win.

    Qianye crawled out of his bed and took a look at the kitchen. Then, he swept through nearly all of his supplies and only managed to get himself half full. Qianye felt unusually weak and quick to hunger, and when he prepared to set out to replenish his food supplies he realized that he only had several dozens of silver coins with him now. He had given hisst gold coin to that unknown girl.

    Guess I have to find a way to earn money again, Qianye thought helplessly.

    It was at this moment Old 2¡¯s voice rang from outside, ¡°Is Qianye around?¡±

    Old 2 was standing outside the entrance hall when Qianye opened the guest room¡¯s door. Once the two of them were seated, Old 2 passed a bill to Qianye and said, ¡°These are the things you told me to look for earlier. Take a look yourself.¡±

    When Qianye epted the bill and gave it a nce, he was slightly startled on the inside. The first part of the bill was a medicine developed by the Empire that could be used to quicken the cultivation of origin power. It was very effective on all cultivators who hadn¡¯t reached hampion rank, and it could be seen as the advanced version of the Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    The second part of the bill was all equipment. It included a set of light armor and a tactical scope. The armor was based on the Empire main corps¡¯ standard armor, but with reduced weight and a redesign of its external appearance. This was amon process when arms were traded in the ck market. Individually, the tactical scope could be used as a telescope. It could also be equipped on sniper rifles and other standard weapons.

    What was amazing was that this tactical scope was actually an origin equipment! A special origin array had been imbued into its interior. A total of four visual fields was avable to its user once origin power was injected into the scope. Moreover, it had two additional detection modes for arachne and demonkin other than vampire and werewolf. It might not sound much, but the addition of two detection modes meant that the scope¡¯s origin formation was many times moreplicated than it originally was. That was why this tactical scope was priced at a shocking eight hundred gold coins!

    Of course, its materials and development cost weren¡¯t that expensive, but there weren¡¯t many people at all who could acquire an equipment that was assigned only to elite corps even in the Empire and deliver it to the Evernight Continent. That was why this type of equipment had always been priceless on Evernight Continent, the prices on the upper continents could only be used as a reference. The value of a scope that could detect all types of dark races couldn¡¯t be measured by gold on Evernight Continent.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Old 2, with his knowledge of the ck market prices of Darkblood City, Qianye believed that this scope would be priced more than a thousand gold coins.

    Of course, the price of the other items on this bill wasn¡¯t cheap as well. That standard armor was priced at two hundred gold coins, and the medicine was priced at fifty gold coins per syringe. It would be wrong to think that the medicine was expensive because it was extraordinarily helpful in breaking through the barriers of a node. The problem was that an entire syringe had to be used up every day to achieve saturation just like the Vermillion Countenance Blood.

    Qianye put down the bill with a wry smile and said, ¡°They are what I need, but¡­¡±

    Back when Qianye had inquired Old 2 about the prices, he hadn¡¯t thought of acquiring Eagleshot at the time. But now that he had bought Eagleshot, he could afford none of the items on the list.

    Old 2 withdrew the bill and circled most of the items on it including the armor, the scope and half of the medicines. He said, ¡°I¡¯ve already booked these for you already. They will arrive in a month¡¯s time.¡±

    Qianye was shocked as he immediately said, ¡°Wait¡­¡± Forget all of them, he couldn¡¯t even afford any one item on this bill.

    Old 2 seemed to know what Qianye was going to say and interrupted him, saying, ¡°I know you don¡¯t have the money right now, but you will have them very soon. There is a mission which deposit will pay for all of these items with spare, should you choose to ept it.¡±

    ¡°A mission?¡± Qianye instinctively felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right about all this.

 Volume 3 - 11: Returning to Old Haunts

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 11: Returning to Old Haunts

    ¡°Yes, there is a mission that suits you very well. Yingnan has already gone out to negotiate with the other party. In my opinion it will most likely work out, so all you need to do is to wait for the news.¡±

    ¡°What kind of mission?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    Qianye frowned. He disliked Old 2¡¯s secretive attitude. He said, ¡°But why should I ept this mission?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re suited for it. Plus, why leave money on the table? It¡¯s a huge sum of money; the kind of reward that not even top grade hunter missions will get.¡± Old 2 waved the list in his hand and continued, ¡°Furthermore, this is good work that gains you many things in one move. The things on this list are very suitable for your current condition. You will be able to obtain huge improvements in a short time, whereas I will be able to prove the Home of Hunters¡¯ strength by consuming this shipment of goods. I will then be qualified to order more from this channel in the future. Those meds especially can attract top rank hunters six stars and above for the Home of Hunters. Also¡­ this mission, is good for Yingnan.¡±

    Qianye frowned. It was only until a momentter that he finally nodded and said, ¡°Alright, I will agree to take up this mission. But how long is this mission going to take?¡±

    ¡°Half a year maybe. Could be even longer than that.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Now things sounded a little more reasonable. If someone said that a mission that could earn someone several thousand gold coins at once only had a time requirement of one month, then it was either a racket or a trap. There was no way a mere two star hunter like him could receive such a mission anyway.

    After sending Old 2 away, Qianye got ready to cultivate seriously in the house for several days. His body felt a little strange and was unusually weak for some reason.

    During the same night, Old 2 sent his men to bring a total of five meds to Qianye. The material of the medicinal box that encapsted the medicine was special, and the interior of the box was inscribed with an origin array to ensure that the medicine¡¯s power would not be lost. Once the medicinal box had been opened, all syringes must be used up within a week or they would lose their effects.

    Qianye had purchased some food stocks, and after re-inspecting the outer courtyard and indoors of Yu Yingnan¡¯s house,ying down the traps and preparing everything, he then opened the medicinal box and took out a syringe. He injected it into his upper arm and began cultivating the Combatant Form.

    The medicine quickly worked, and Qianye could visibly feel that his reaction toward origin power had be much more acute. It had also became easier to absorb origin power from the three nodes. The medicine itself would discharge origin power within the arteries and veins, and not only could this power cause the origin tides to be much more livelier and turbulent, it could even be absorbed directly into the wave itself.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power was already much more robust than another Fighter of the same rank. After opening up the most difficult aura sea node, it would not longer be as difficult to activate other nodes. However, he still needed almost twice as much origin power to break through the barrier sessfully.

    Under the medicine¡¯s effects, the cycles of origin tides was more turbulent, more powerful, and easier to form than before. In the blink of an eye, he had already reached the twentieth cycle. When Qianye counted down to thest number, he suddenly noticed that it was unusually easy and quick to reach twenty cycles tonight.

    He paid brief attention to the internal condition of his body, and it was only then he realized that there were only two normal blood energies that were intercepting the origin power non-stop. Originally, there were a total of seven blood energies that intercepted the power, whereas the two special gold and purple blood energies weren¡¯t moving at all. Qianye suddenly had the absurd notion that the two blood energies had a mind of their own, and that they had decided to leave these two normal blood energies behind as seeds because there were too few normal blood energies at the moment.

    Another moment passed, and his heart shuddered and released yet a newborn normal blood Qi. By now the origin tide was about to hit thirty cycles.

    Qianye¡¯s constitution was now iparable to before, and the toughness of his innards and his body were growing in spades. The shockwave and pain caused by thirty cycles of origin tide was now almost the same as it was during the twentieth cycle. Qianye gritted his teeth and smoothly went past the great mark of soldier king. He no longer injured his innards like the first time.

    Under the double effects of the medicine and his greatly improved constitution, Qianye attacked all the way up to the thirty third cycle of origin tide during this cultivation process before he finally could hold on no longer and withdrew the art, resting.

    Now, Qianye had attested with his own body why the heroes in the empire were graded by the number of origin tide cycles they could endure. At the thirtieth cycle, the cultivation efficiency of a soldier king was twice as much as a twentieth cycle greenhorn of an elite corps. After passing through the thirtieth cycle, every additional cycle one could endure would increase the efficiency of one¡¯s cultivation by about ten percent.

    The average art emphasised on steady progress and well preparation. The further one cultivated, the more they were affected by their innate gift. Those with slightly weaker potential would find themselves running into bottlenecks everywhere and be unable to take even a single step forwards. On the other hand, the Combatant Form was the direct opposite. From the very beginning the Combatant Form was a fierce martial art form that forged ahead vigorously, and its increase in efficiency did not slow even after the thirtieth cycle. There were almost no bottlenecks at all for anyone beneath champion rank.

    If the Combatant Form could be considered a first-ss art form in terms of its speed ofpletion pre-twentieth cycle, then post-thirty fifth cycle the speed of its ascension could probably be matched by only very, very few secret arts in the entire empire. It was just that most people could not endure over twenty cycles at all before they were killed by the rebound shockwave of the origin tides.

    Right now, Qianye¡¯s blood Qi was still at an unusually weakened state. When a total of seven blood energies had been regenerated, they would protect his innards on their own ord. When that happened, he might be able to attempt the thirty fifth cycle of origin tide. In that case, his cultivation speed would not be much weaker than a Fighter King even if the origin power he cultivated were to be consumed by the blood energies.

    After he had ended this round of cultivation, Qianye was given a pleasant surprise in the form of the vaguely emerged barrier at the origin node in his left hand. Obviously, this meant that his origin power savings was about to reach a critical mass. What would follow after this was the process of continuous umtion and barrier battering. It would not be long before he ignites his fourth node.

    And so, Qianye spent the next few days cooped up in the house. As long as his body could take it, he would constantly put himself in a state of cultivation. Every syringe¡¯s effectssted a whole day, so he absolutely must not waste them.

    Several thousand kilometers away from Darkblood City, Yu Yingnan was walking down a military use air vessel. The airship base had strong militaristic style, and civilian use freight ships were all cooped up at a corner at the northeast corner. A majority of the region was covered in rising andnding airships, running cars, and all kinds of corp insignias that dazzled the eyes.

    Yu Yingnan stood at the same spot for several minutes. She wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with the myriad of military insignias, and she could easily name without thought more than half of the corps they were attached to urately. However, she quickly moved her gaze away and walked towards a military depot near the base¡¯s entrance.

    She passed a metallic namete to a sentinel and said, ¡°I¡¯d like to see Miss Qiqi.¡±

    After the sentinel had inspected the origin engravings on the namete, his expression immediately turned respectful as he saluted Yu Yingnan, saying, ¡°Please wait for a moment. I need to report this to themanding officer.¡±

    Yu Yingnan nodded and said, ¡°Never mind, I can wait.¡±

    The sentinel immediately ran into the military depot like the wind. A momentter, a light off-road vehicle was driven out of the military depot. There was a captain in the driving seat, and he beamed at Yu Yingnan from ear to ear and said, ¡°Please follow me. Miss Qiqi is already waiting for you.¡±

    Yu Yingnan jumped into the off-road vehicle¡¯s back seat and looked outside the window wordlessly. The captain plugged in a g at the head of the car, then started the engine and sped away. The wind blew open the g to reveal the striking symbol of a standard gold-colored soaring serpent.

    This was the military insignia of the Empire¡¯s main corps. The car they were riding on plugged in with this g would possess grade two military privileges, and on the Evernight Continent grade two privileges meant that they could ignore traffic rules in most cities.

    As expected, the captain drove the off-road vehicle so fast that it felt like it would take off the ground. Although it had already entered the city center, he still drove like he was charging on the battlefield. Wherever the off-road vehicle went there was chaos and passersby barely dodging out of the way. Because of this, there were even several car idents caused by cars yielding the way.

    The expressions of the people looking at the off-road vehicle were one of anger, but not daring to take any actual action against it. Even though some had suffered light injuries, they could only treat it as bad luck. On the Evernight Continent, the firearm and bloody bay military insignia of the expeditionary forces alone allowed the soldiers to run amuck, much less the main corps of the Empire.

    Yu Yingnan looked outside the window. It was the same familiar scenes as ever, and most of the shops even looked exactly the same as they were before; when she had just stepped on the Evernight Continent and arrived at this city for the first time a few years ago.

    This Xichang City was less than three hundred kilometers away from Weiyang, the empire¡¯s biggest city on the Evernight Continent. It would take only a few hours to reach by airship, and a day at best by long-distance bus.

    Weiyang City had a transcontinental airship base that led to the Empire¡¯s nativend, the Qin Continent, whereas in Xichang City, there was another small-sized airship station other than the military base Yu Yingnan just arrived at that provided transcontinental airship service as well. Weiyang was controlled by the Empire, and Xichang and a few other simr cities were controlled by upper level aristocratic families. The biggest power in this ce wasn¡¯t the military, but the big aristocratic families.

    In fact, Qianye had alsonded on the small-sized airship station at Xichang City the first time he arrived at the Evernight Continent. As long as there were gains to be made, these aristocratic families were capable of overlooking many things. The airship Qianye came on was obviously used for illegal immigration, but as long as the port tax was paid, not even their passengers would be interrogated.

    There were only too many such things happening within the aristocratic families¡¯ power of influence. The area directly controlled by the Empire was not as bad, as there were many things that required at least some semnce of credibility. But in these aristocratic families¡¯ domains, even this bit of show was unnecessary.

    The off-road vehicle barged along the entire way. It was obvious that he had even veered slightly off course. The captain seemed to enjoy this unbridled feeling by a lot, so he was purposely trying to drag out the process just a bit longer. In the end though, the off-road vehicle ultimately stopped in front of a vast side courtyard at the suburbs.

    The buildingplex before her eyes had many tall buildings, and were sprawled with spiraling corridors and kiosks. It was obvious that this was the private courtyard of a certain aristocratic family, but surprisingly the two rows of soldiers standing guard in and outside the entrance were all imperial soldiers. In fact, looking at the color of their uniform and their insignia, they were not members of the expeditionary forces, but the Empire¡¯s main corps.

    The captain jumped down the driving seat, walked to the back row to open the door solicitously for Yu Yingnan, and sent her up the entrance¡¯s stairs. A smart-looking middle ranking officer weed her with a smile and said, ¡°Miss Qiqi has been waiting for a long time.¡±

    This side courtyard was employed the mostmon courtyardyout on the upper continents. The door building, the pce, the flower walls and the moon gates were all arranged systematically to the central axis. However, perhaps it was because the Evernight Continentcked sunlight, but there were almost no trees among the decorative nts of this courtyard. Many of them were shrubberies. This actually constructed a unique, masculine style of beauty instead.

    Yu Yingnan followed the middle ranking officer, and before long they had left the main building of the central axis and turned into a series of corridors and kiosks. Knowing that her destination was right in front of her, she couldn¡¯t help the slight tenseness in her heart. Immediately after, the scenery before her grew more and more winding and serene, exquisite and elegant.

    Suddenly, she saw that there were more than ten imperial soldiers standing straight at the two sides of the corridor ahead of her. They shared almost the same height and they all looked handsome and tall. Although their individual strength wasn¡¯t anything impressive, their looks did stand out as first grade. This was the ssic Qiqi style of things. Yu Yingnan wasn¡¯t sure if she should be angry or humored by this, but her tension faded away to faint sadness instead.

    The middle ranking officer leading the way suddenly stopped. Before them, there was a moon gate covered full in wisteria. Looking at the furthest distance, behind the openwork of spirit screens was a lotus pond no much smaller than an actualke. Above the water, long bridges could be vaguely seen leading towards two waterside pavilions connected by short corridors.

    The middle ranking officer with a gentle smile stopped here and refused to take another step further. He simply said that Miss Qiqi was waiting inside.

 Volume 3 - 12: Condition

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 12: Condition

    Yu Yingnan stepped through the wisteria door, the end of her nose catching a wisp of lingering fragrance. The world inside and outside the door seemed separate. It was warm and wet inside the garden, and even the sky was much brighter. as if they were in the light season.

    Beside the water, there were a few girls dressed in button court dress and wore their hairs in traditional buns chasing and fooling around with each other, and every interaction would contain some ambiguous or explicit movements. A pair of girls with the same countenance were even hugging and kissing each other passionately as if there were no one else around them.

    Yu Yingnan slowly walked up the railless bridge. The fields of lotus nearly climbed up her legs, and they were actually all rare thousand-petals lotuses. With yellow and pink being the two main colors, the lotuses were just at full bloom. Countlessyers of petals opened outward like the manyyers of an aristocraticdy¡¯s skirt.

    The secrets of the magnificent view thatpletely wentpletely againstmon sensey beneath the water. Thin copper pipes that were as dense as woven websy between the unnatural roots and stalks of the lotuses. Hot water flowed within the pipes and emitted steam non-stop from its few air holes, maintaining therge pond¡¯s temperature at the temperature of light season. Meanwhile, the four corners of the garden were aligned with a light belt of ck crystals, filling smokeless light and warmth throughout the entire garden.

    This was the peak of luxurious design from an aristocratic family.

    At the end of the bridge was thergest waterside pavilion of the ce. There was a long chair within the pavilion where a person halfid. She was d in full imperial uniform, and looking at her rank, she was actually a lieutenant colonel!

    When she heard footsteps, the military personnel on the deck chair turned aroundzily to reveal an exquisite face. She spoke, ¡°Yu Yingnan. I could hardly believe my own ears when I heard that you were looking for me! I couldn¡¯t believe there is a day when you wille to me at your own ord.¡±

    Yu Yingnan said coldly, ¡°Yin Qiqi, if there is even the slightest possibility, then I wish that I will never meet you again!¡±

    ¡°Just call me Qiqi. I prefer this way of addressing better.¡± the female lieutenant colonel stood up from her deck chair.

    The woman was very tall; slightly taller than even Yu Yingnan. She had a short haircut, with the hair end dyed in dazzling gold color. She had a pair of thick and straight eyebrows and a pair of thick lips. Beneath the arrogant look, there were also unignorable sexiness and beauty.

    Qiqi was very young. If she took off her military uniform, then she would be one hundred percent a nobledy. However, not only did her military uniform entuated her outstanding figure and shocking astonishing long legs, it also gave her some peculiar dangerous charm.

    Qiqi walked right in front of Yu Yingnan and stared her in the eye, smiling, ¡°I believe you! Therefore, you may leave whenever I look unpleasant in your eyes, and I will simply assume that you¡¯ve never shown up. As for that mission, I wasn¡¯t really that anxious to begin with. However, if you really want to discuss a certain something with me seriously, then you will have to get used to being¡­ tolerant, with some of my habits!¡±

    While saying this, Qiqi stretched out a hand and gradually lifted Yu Yingnan¡¯s chin. Moreover, she pushed her chin higher and higher while staring into Yu Yingnan¡¯s eyes during the whole process, licking her own lips softly.

    Yu Yingnan did not move, but she said coldly, ¡°You¡¯ve about to reach the limits of my tolerance.¡±

    Qiqi put down her hand and turned to Yu Yingnan¡¯s side, blowing into her ears softly while speaking with a tone that was full of smiles, ¡°About, means that I haven¡¯t reached it, have I? I am very curious. Just where do your limit lies? I heard that everyone¡¯s true bottom line was in fact much lower than they thought it will be!¡±

    There was a loud p. Qiqi¡¯s hand had pped heavily onto Yu Yingnan¡¯s butt!

    ¡°You wish to die!!¡± Fire shot out of Yu Yingnan¡¯s eyes as she caught Qiqi¡¯s neck with one hand!

    Qiqi did not attempt to put up any resistance at all. She did not even use her origin power and simply allowed Yu Yingnan¡¯s fingers to tighten around her neck. Her face immediately became flushed in purple color.

    Yu Yingnan was greatly startled. Without activating her origin power, Qiqi was no different from a normal human. If she put a little bit more strength into her hand then she might actually break her fragile neck bones. In the end, being pped in the butt was not really a big issue. The reason she was triggered so easily was because of the old grudge they shared in the past.

    Yu Yingnan had no choice but to let go in anger.

    Qiqi pulled out a military knife from her waist and used the side of the de as a mirror. She got a reflection of her own neck and found several distinct finger marks on her snow white skin.

    ¡°How heavy handed. I guess you truly do hate me.¡± while speaking, Qiqi patted Yu Yingnan¡¯s face slowly with her military knife.

    Then, Qiqi¡¯s hand slipped down Yu Yingnan¡¯s chest andnded on her chest. Gently, she undid the first button.

    Yu Yingnan caught her wrist in one grip!

    Qiqi said smilingly, ¡°Think about the mission, think about the family, and think about¡­ that matter?¡±

    Yu Yingnan turned pale as her body shook almost unnoticeably, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t push me any further.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s hand descended firmly and undid the second button. Then, she said slowly, ¡°I am not forcing you. Since the start, I have only given you a choice; a choice that could properly settle that matter. If you are unwilling, then naturally I can¡¯t do anything as well, isn¡¯t that so? That being said, the severity of that matter depends on whose hands it falls into. I happen to know that the current person in charge of that matter, Lord Sun hated your Yu Family to the bones. Therefore, no matter how long the case drags on, it will not be brought to a close.¡±

    The hand gripping around Qiqi¡¯s hand grew weaker and weaker, and Yu Yingnan watched as Qiqi moved on to the third button and undid it firmly. The moment this button was undone, her deep cleavage became revealed as Qiqi stretched out her long fingers and slowly pushed into the center of her cleavage.

    Suddenly, Yu Yingnan said, ¡°You should know the cause of that matter.¡±

    ¡°But assaulting and killing an officer is always a major crime no matter what the reason. As long as the crucial evidences are still present, your elder brother will never dare to return to the upper continent. Your family will not escape its shadow either.¡±

    ¡°He said that he likes this ce. This is the only ce where he can truly let himself go and do certain things without going against his own nature.¡±

    Qiqiughed loudly and pulled down Yu Yingnan¡¯s bra at one fell swoop, saying, ¡°Do you seriously believe that kind of nonsense?¡±

    Yu Yingnan hugged her chest with both arms, refusing to let Qiqi take another step no matter what. Qiqi did not try to force her way either and tossed herself back onto the deck chair. The girls frolicking in the other waterside pavilion immediately ran over and presented her with tea and fruits. When they looked at Yu Yingnan, their eyes were filled with jealousy and hatred, especially when they were looking at her chest.

    Qiqi lifted a finger and said, ¡°One,pletely that mission of mine, or Old 2 will have no need to hang around Darkblood City any longer. He may not seek shelter in any cityrger than that either. I will also kick that fellow Chu Xiong into the cannon fodder camp. Don¡¯t you think that I don¡¯t know what he did using my name!¡±

    Yu Yingnan said angrily, ¡°Come at me if you dare! What¡¯s there to be proud about bullying other people?¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes abruptly turned cold as she looked up and swept a nce across her once, saying, ¡°Yu Yingnan, you think too highly of yourself! You alone could not have traded for so many things.¡±

    She stretched out another two fingers, ¡°Two, I will settle your brother¡¯s matter for you, and henceforth he will be able to return to the ranks of the main corps. Your small family will no longer be oppressed, and the three years red tape can be cancelled as well. In exchange, you will belong to me from now. You may do whatever you want in normal times, but when I want you, you wille at my beck and call!¡±

    Qiqi tossed a fruit into her mouth and said, ¡°These are all of the conditions. If you agree, then you will ept it. If you don¡¯t, then you may leave immediately. I guarantee that you will not be impeded. You are not at the level where I must obtain you by force yet.¡±

    Yu Yingnan stared nkly at nothing for a very long time. Then, she said, ¡°I¡­ promise you. But only after the conditions have all been fulfilled. Let us talk about that mission first.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s expression immediately brightened. She tossed away the half eaten pear and jumped on her feet immediately, saying cheerfully, ¡°Now this is what I¡¯m talking about! You littlended gentry always think that you¡¯re different frommoners, but you finally get it now, don¡¯t you? In the eyes of a true aristocratic family, we can control you however we want to just the same! It just takes a little bit more effort than usual. But that¡¯s where the fun lies, isn¡¯t it? Hahahaha!¡±

    Yu Yingnan kept quiet. She knew Qiqi very well, and this woman had always been this domineering and insolent.

    Although the Yin Family could notpare to the four grand households, they still ranked among the top three ranks of the aristocratic families. Qiqi was quite favored by her elders and patriarchs, so she was used to doing whatever she wanted to and enjoyed overwhelming another through power the most. To borrow her own words, ¡°So what if I bullied you? I¡¯m born higher than you after all.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of that mission, the fact that you actually came to me personally meant that you have a candidate that you¡¯re fairly confident in. You know me very well, and you know my tastes. So, where is this person? How about letting me have a look first?¡± Qiqi said with rtive interest.

    Yu Yingnan took out a paper from her pocket and passed it over.

    It was a simple sketch, and although not much ink was applied it was an incredibly lifelike picture. Whoever drew it managed to outline Qianye¡¯s form in both body and spirit.

    Qiqi immediately blew a whistle and grabbed it over to have a good look. She praised, ¡°Very good, very good! This is exactly the kind of person I want! Haha,pared to him my subordinates are practically a bunch of trash! What is hisbat power, and how is his potential?¡±

    ¡°Right now he is at rank three. He is very talented inbat.¡±

    ¡°Rank three is a bit low, but never mind. I have nock of money anyway. Even if I am to build him with drugs, I can build him all the way up to rank five! At rank five he will be more or less passable, and I will not lose face too much if I bring him out. Alright, that it¡¯s settled. Bring him back to me so I can have a look at him first. If there aren¡¯t too many problems, then it will be him!¡±

    ¡°Wait a second.¡± Yu Yingnan pulled Qianye¡¯s portrait back from Qiqi¡¯s hands and said, ¡°I have a few conditions. If you cannot fulfill them, then there is absolutely no chance that he will ept this mission.¡±

    ¡°Well, speak. Does he want money, resource, or something else?¡± Qiqi said unconcernedly.

    ¡°Number one, you cannot force him to do things, especially in that regard. Number two, you must do everything in your power to protect him once if he is met with danger. No matter what that reason may be; even if it is the four grand households themselves who want to attack him, you must protect him once!¡±

    Qiqi pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you actually didn¡¯t request this for yourself. Something¡¯s not right here! You can¡¯t have fallen in love with this guy, have you?¡±

    ¡°It is none of your business!¡±

    Qiqi let out a smile of clear understanding and said, ¡°I can agree to both conditions. However, the second condition must wait until after the mission. As for the first one¡­ I can agree not to use force, but I cannot guarantee that I won¡¯t seduce him.¡±

    Qiqi moved closer until she was right beside Yu Yingnan¡¯s ears. Suddenly, she stretched out her tongue and licked her earlobe with the tip once and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am absolutely going to have sex with him.¡±

    Yu Yingnan shuddered once and took two steps to the side.

    Qiqi let out a burst of ostentatiousughter before speaking to Yu Yingnan, ¡°How does it feel? Your beloved man is about to climb on bed with me. You want really to kill me, do you not?¡±

    Yu Yingnan said word by word, ¡°You should know that I really wanted to kill you since many years ago.¡±

    ¡°Thene right over and kill me! Why haven¡¯t you?¡± Qiqi mocked her mercilessly and said, ¡°Afraid that your small family would perish if you killed me, aren¡¯t you? Hmph, on one hand, younded gentry view yourself higher than the heavens, but on the other you act like you¡¯re bound hand and foot, fearing this and that, iparable even to the poor and humblemoners! When all is said and done, be it you or that Gu Liyu, both if you are no different from a guys who bully the weak and fear the strong. What¡¯s the f*cking point of having people like you?¡±

    Yu Yingnan did not know how she left the Yin family¡¯s courtyard. She did not know how she sat on a airship either.

    When she left, her mind was aplete nk, and yet for some reason she was unusually calm as well. After she had made the decision to let go, the pain wasn¡¯t as heartbreaking as she had imagined. Right now she had just lost interest in everything, that¡¯s all. However, perhaps Qiqi would be Qianye¡¯s ideal dwelling. At the very least, he would be able to earn more money.

    Inside Yu Yingnan¡¯s small house at Darkblood City, Qianye had already finished absorbing the medicinal power of thest syringe and was circting the Combatant Form with all his power to batter against the fourth origin node. Right now, the blood energies inside his body had returned to seven, and these blood energies had transformed into thin bloo membranes that wrapped around his organs entirely, resisting against the rebound impact of the origin tides.

    In the blink of an eye, he had gone through the thirtieth cycle, and Qianye still felt as if he had plenty of strength left in him. Not daring to ck off, he repeatedly drew the origin tide to impact against the origin barrier in his left hand.

    When the thirty third cycle had passed, the barrier began to totter on the verge of copse. Without any pause whatsoever, Qianye continued to draw new origin tides towards it!

    When the thirty fourth cycle of the origin tides reached its peak, the node barrier finally shattered with a loud rumble!

 Volume 3 - 13: Blood Feast

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 13: Blood Feast

    Inside Qianye¡¯s body, a scorching sun gradually rose as the world became filled with light for a period of time! Daybreak origin power gushed out continuously from the four nodes and flowed to every limb and bone inside his body, replenishing the origin power that was consumed.

    The blood energy seemed not too used to an environment overly abundant with Daybreak origin power, and they all fell off his innards and reformed into seven blood energies, heading towards his heart. But it was at this moment the gold blood energy suddenly jumped out and caught a normal blood energy, instantly consuming it entirely.

    As if it wasn¡¯t satiated yet, it pulled out the normal blood energies that had hidden themselves back into his heart one by one and devoured them until there were only two left. Only then it gradually swam its way back into the ability rune. A change finally came over it, and it was obviously a lot bigger than before. Once it returned into the rune, the gold blood energy immediately curled into a ball and ultimately condensed itself into a gold colored cocoon, motionless.

    Qianye ended his cultivation and gradually opened his eyes. A dark colored light of blood seemed to sh across the dim, dark room.

    He was finally now a rank four Fighter.

    Not only would the physical qualities of a rank four Fighter continue to improve vastly in all aspects, when his realm had stabilized, he might even awaken a new ability. As for what this ability might be, it would depend on said person¡¯s innate gift.

    Qianye moved his body slightly, and he could feel very clear that some miniscule changes were happening inside his body yet again. Strength quietly flourished from every corner of his body non-stop, and the unprecedented feeling of power also gave Qianye an unprecedented level of confidence.

    If he were to encounter Yu Renyan again, Qianye was confident that he would be able to obtain victory in a direct battle. However, if his opponent was only thinking to escape, then he probably would not be able to keep him from doing so.

    Being a rank four Fighter also gave him a most straightforward benefit, and that was he could use Eagleshot twice in a battle now. However, after firing two shots he would basically fall into a state of origin power exhaustion, so he would only be able to continue fighting with origin power after injecting himself with a stimnt.

    The rate of his cultivation was faster than Qianye¡¯s own imagination. The consumption of a set of medicines was already enough to activate his fourth origin node. It was no wonder that there were countless young elites within the aristocratic families. Other than the first two nodes, which had to be cultivated fully on their own as a mean to build a firm foundation, the nodes afterward could literally be built by borrowing the power of medicines until all of their innate gifts and potentials had been unearthedpletely.

    In the eyes of aristocratic families, the question of innate talent was measured by whether a person could break through the pass of a Champion.

    However, the higher the rank the medicines corresponded to, the higher their price became too. Basically, every increase in rank meant that its price would be doubled. Never mind the ascension from rank four to rank five, the price of the medicine that were required to ascend from rank five to rank six easily began with a base price of one hundred thousand gold coins. Even for a great aristocratic family, this was not a small number.

    Yu Yingnan hadn¡¯t returned yet, and the details of that mysterious mission were unknown either. However, since Qianye had already used up the medicines worth three hundred gold coins beforehand, he had to ept the mission now no matter what its content might be. Otherwise, where would he earn so much money to pay them? Higher ie woulde only with greater strength. Money begets resources, and only then greater strength woulde.

    For the next few days, Qianye was going to continue cultivating and stabilzse his current realm properly. At the same time, he nned to nurture his blood energies up to a total of seven once more. Obviously, a decrease of the number of normal blood energy also meant the reduction of defenses around his innards. With only two blood energies around, Qianye would hit his limit right after he pushed himself beyond the thirty third cycle of origin tide, and not the thirty fourth. It might seem like just a cycle¡¯s difference, but his cultivation speed would drop by a whole ten percent.

    The Yu Renyan Qianye was concerned about wasn¡¯t in the city right now. After he had recovered from his wounds, he once again left behind the Dark de warriors who were searching blindly throughout every city and entered a high grade hunter mission. Right now, he was already at a wastnd several hundred kilometers away from Darkblood City.

    This was the edge of the human¡¯s area of control, which was why there were oftenrge sizes of dark races operating around this area. The human race¡¯s main method of control over thesends was to send the expeditionary forces¡¯ main troops over to perform irregr armed patrols. Besides that, the other method was to have the army set up bounties and rely on mercenaries and hunters to clean out the dark forces within the area.

    Yu Renyan was fully d in survival gear, and the short mantle and mask he wore covered a huge portion of his face. He looked just like a veteran hunter. There were also five other people around him, and even the weakest among them was a five star veteran hunter, joining together to form a small, powerful squad.

    The squad was currently moving into battle formation and entering a settlement to perform a search. There were about a few hundred people living in this settlement, and it was one of the ces they had nned to stop by earlier.

    It was now evening, and the sky had darkened a long time ago. Dim light still prated some of the buildings of the settlement, but the entire ce was dead quiet with not a bit of sound to be heard anywhere. The hunter squad stood at the only entrance leading into the vige, but not even the hunting wolfdogs gave any reactions at all.

    Yu Renyan suddenly made a stop hand gesture and pulled down his mask. Sniffing the air twice strongly with hisrge nose, he then stopped bothering to disguise his tracks and ran straight to the center of the vige. He paused for a moment on top of the stairs, before extending a hand and slowly pushed open the main door.

    The hunters walked into the hall one after another. Then, they stood still in silence.

    This was supposed to be the meeting hall of the entire settlement, but now it was aplete mess. The remains of several young boys and girls were ced on top of the long table that could fit thirty people in the form of dishes. Only their heads were intact. Their faces were frozen in the pain and fear they experienced prior to their deaths. Their bodies had already been more or less picked clean.

    The walls were nailed full of human bodies like specimens, and there were even more bodies cluttered at sixes and sevens on the floor. The floor, the walls and even the ceiling of the entire hall was painted with a condensedyer of fresh blood, and half eaten limbs and innards were tossed all over the ce. A row of stakes were evenid out at the depths of the hall, and every one of them were pierced with a human being!

    The people of the entire settlement were all here.

    Suddenly, a rustling noise rang inside the hall as one fist-sized spider after another crawled out of the bodies. They turned their heads all at once towards the hunters while bloody redpound eyes red, their mouthparts opening and closing repeatedly.

    ¡°Servspiders of arachnes.¡± a veteran hunter said in a heavy voice.

    ¡°There were at least five or six vampires, or they could not have put up a blood feast this size.¡±

    ¡°They had just left not long ago. It should not be more than a day.¡±

    Yu Renyan pulled out his handgun and sted the new born servspiders crawling towards him into smithereens before saying hideously, ¡°We¡¯ll chase them and kill them all!¡±

    The rest of the hunters had no objections to that. No one could suppress the fury in the hearts after witnessing this sight.

    Gunshots erupted inside the hall. The six hunters formed a circle formation by sticking their backs against one another. The weapons in their hands spat out me tongues continuously as they blew apart the innumerable servspiders that were charging towards them.

    In the hands of these high ranking hunters, even the rapid fire of an automatic rifle was no different from burst fires to them. Not a single bullet missed, and the hundreds of servspiders in the hall were swept clean in the blink of an eye.

    A rank six hunter with half white beard took out a square-shaped molotov cocktail and was nning to toss it out. However, his hand was pressed down by Yu Renyan.

    ¡°Keep it. It will do good to have the others see this so that they will not forget the past thousand years of history and the wars of countless casualties.¡± Yu Renyan said.

    A blood feast like this was rare especially within the human race¡¯s area of control. The moment they appeared, the imperial expeditionary forces would view immediately it as a major provocation. No matter what the authorities had in mind at the time, they would usually be inclined to take revenge. It could be said that a blood feast within the human¡¯s domain usually equaled the starting sign of a new round of racial war.

    Yu Renyan¡¯s words were filled with deep meaning, and the other hunters were looking pensive as well. On the Evernight Continent, there was a portion of the human race who utilized the special geography of the abandonednd to perform transactions with the dark races in secrets. This was almost an open secret already. Even some people at the internal division of the imperial expeditionary forces had once suggested obscurely if they should coexist with a portion of the dark races.

    However, how could thousands of years of blood possibly be wiped clean by a light word of ¡°coexist¡±?

    ¡°These ck blooded bastards aren¡¯t weak.¡± a hunter said slowly.

    ¡°We¡¯re not weak either! What, you¡¯re scared?¡± another hunter in the prime of his youth bit back.

    The previous hunter grew angry, ¡°Scared? You weren¡¯t even born yet when I started killing those ck blooded bastards!¡±

    An old hunter said, ¡°Let¡¯s listen to Little Yu¡¯s opinion. He is more experienced than either of us.¡±

    This was not a praise, but acknowledgement. Yu Renyan had cooperated with them a couple of times, and he had won every squad member¡¯s respect with his strength and results to show.

    Yu Renyan¡¯s voice was a little raspy, ¡°A thing like this cannot be endured. We chase them, and take out these bastards!¡±

    The elderly hunter immediately said, ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s kill those bastards! Who cares how strong they are!¡±

    The hunter squad left behind some marks outside the settlement and charged into the boundless wastnd.

    The marks left behind by the squad of dark races were few, but the thick stench of blood and the stink that was unique to arachne were distinct signs in the eyes of these veteran hunters, not to mention that they had a tracking master like Yu Renyan in the group too. He chewed a small piece of servspider meat and memorized the scent of the two arachne who had participated in the blood feast just like that.

    A day and a nightter, a base belonging to the dark races appeared in the hunters¡¯ field of view. The final tracks of the squad of dark races who had created the blood feast yesterday stopped there.

    The hunters spread out and quietly approached. Then, a few gunshots boomed as the few dark race warriors roaming and patrolling at the edge of the base copsed in response.

    Every hunter felt their hearts tighten. They were simply doing harassment shots, but they did not think that they would have seeded this easily. If the patrollers were high ranking warriors of the dark races, then they would be lucky if they even get half of them during the first round of ambush. At best, the ambush would grievously wound their opponents. However, not only did the ambush went off perfectly without any misses, the enemies had all died in a single shot. This meant that the patrollers were not warriors at all. They were all cannon fodders!

    Yu Renyan was the first to react as he abruptly stood up from his hiding spot and let out a shrill howl of warning. This was the tradition of a hunter squad, an expression to mean that he was willing to cover his squad¡¯s retreat. The rest of the hunter stayed motionlessly in their hiding spots and did not escape in a panic. On the wastnd, leaving one¡¯s back to the dark races meant death.

    Flickering shadows surged out of the opposing base, as a dozen or so high ranking warriors formed by arachne and vampires spread out and pushed outwards in a wing formation. They obviously nned to capture the attacking hunters in one go.

    Then, another four vampires walked out of the base¡¯s main entrance. They were all tall and wore arrogant and cruel expressions on their faces. The armor they were draped in were almost excessively gorgeous, and all of the same style. They were obviously of the same n.

    Yu Renyan and the hunters¡¯ hearts abruptly sank! Blood Esquires, and four of them no less!

    An anointed Blood Esquire was at least rank seven in power. asionally there would be rank six Blood Esquires, and those kinds of esquires must be incredibly young and the publically recognized geniuses of a big n. Contrary to expectations, they were in fact even harder to deal with than rank sevens. Yu Renyan was confident that he could take out a Blood Esquire one on one in directbat, but he would definitely perish if he tried to fight one versus two instead.

    With their squad¡¯s strength, they would lose just going up against three Blood Esquires. Against four, without the loss of a few lives it would be very difficult to even escape, not to mention that there were still several dozens of high ranking warriors watching them covetously by the sidelines. These were not normal cannon fodders.

    It was at this moment another two people walked out of the base. One of them was a tall, thin and handsome looking young man. The center of his forehead was an impressive vertical pupil! This was a demonkin; an incredibly rare demonkin. The fact that he had grown out his third eye signified that he had already broken through his limits and reached the level of Champion!

    Beside the demonkin, there also stood a girl whose appearance lookedpletely like a human.

    She was incredibly beautiful, and she had a pair of big eyes and thick and ck long hair that flowed down her shoulders like silks. She wore a nk and innocent expression on her exquisite face. She was a little thin and weak, and she stood barefooted on the ground. Her white skirt was dirty, and the edge of her skirt had already frayed into threads a long time ago. She looked to be about twelve or thirty years old, and there were plenty of unhealed wounds on her hands and legs.

    The girl was actually dragging a square-headed, thick-backed butcher knife over one meter long in her little hand! If swung around in a full circle, this big weapon about a dozen or so kilograms could split open a lion¡¯s head with the weight of a downward smash alone!

 Volume 3 - 14: Little Girl

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 14: Little Girl

    The demonkin¡¯s hands were bundled up inside his sleeves thick with danglingces of silk, as he spoke to the little girl beside him, ¡°Your idea is pretty good. There actually are fishes who took the bait after we held a blood feast. Although it cannot be considered luxuriant, it works as an appetite before wine sipping. After this battle is over, I will give you a reward. An ample amount of reward.¡±

    The little girl pursed her pink lips and swept her big, ck eyes across the the hunters standing on the opposite side and the dark warriors. Then, she nodded strongly.

    A Blood Esquire said respectfully to the demonkin, ¡°What should we do now, Lord Masefield?¡±

    The demonkin youth¡¯s face darkened, ¡°What should we do? Kill them all of course! But I can warn you that this battle is not easy as you think. Even if someone were to escape, I will not dip my hands into this fight. Small fries who are not even at the level of champions yet do not deserve the intervention of a member of the ancient and noble Masefield Family!¡±

    Yu Renyan¡¯s expression was heavy as he slowly took off his short cape and tossed it on the ground. Then, he discarded the survival equipment bag behind his back and said, ¡°Don¡¯t hold yourself back. Use everything in your power. If you do not have a trump card, then think of a way to take someone down with you. Trust me, dying in battle here would be a far luckier fate than to fall into their hands alive!¡±

    The dark warriors began to approach them. Yu Renyan bent his body slightly before he broke off into a run, charging head on into a Blood Esquire. Naturally, the Blood Esquire would not turn down the challenge of a low ranking human. He too began to speed up and charge as well.

    Both people increased their speed to the max and solidly rammed into one another!

    The dull noise of bodies ramming against one another was like a toothache. Be it the Blood Esquire or Yu Renyan, they both looked to be technique oriented warriors. The foolhardy sh of strength between the two sides was truly surprising. Therefore, it looked more like an ident than a premeditated affair. However, while the sh was beyond the Blood Esquire¡¯s expectation, it was a deliberate move by Yu Renyan.

    The duo separated staggeringly. A hole had appeared in Yu Renyan¡¯s stomach, and even his wriggling intestines were exposed! However, that Blood Esquire continued to stand tall a dozen or so meters away looking just as vigorous as ever.

    Yu Renyan smiled coldly while stretching out a right hand. Suddenly, he was holding a heart in his palm. It was a vampire¡¯s heart!

    Yu Renyan let out a frightening smile at the dark warriors and stuffed the heart into his own mouth. After chewing it for a couple of times, he swallowed the heart down his throat right away. When his mouth opened it was as if his lower jaw did not exist at all just like a snake¡¯s mouth. It seemed like it was capable of swallowing anything no matter how big it might be.

    The fact that they had lost apanion upon first contact surprised and enraged the other Blood Esquires. The immediately charged forwards without any more reservations. A bloody battle was about to erupt in an instant!

    After a couple of bangs from origin guns, they entered meleebat in an instant.

    The intense battle did notst for long before a ring silver light lit up on the battlefield. However, the demonkin youth observing the battle stared right into the silver light with utter carelessness, whereas the Blood Esquires¡¯ eyes all became covered in ayer of blood energy, obstructing the silver light¡¯s corrosion. Meanwhile, the dark warriors were starting to adjust the positions of their joint attack to avoid the brunt. While this kind of shbang was effective against low ranking vampire warriors, vampires at the Blood Esquire level already had plenty of defensive measures against it.

    What followed after the silver light was an intense explosion. The youngest hunter had triggered all the explosives on his body beforehand, and the silver explosive fragments that burst forth took a couple of dark warriors to death with him and damaged a Blood Esquire who failed to dodge out of the way in time.

    The oldest hunter suddenly relinquished the defenses over his body and leaped onto that Blood Esquire who hadn¡¯t managed to stand still yet. Then, another loud explosion followed!

    After the explosion was over, the duo¡¯s shadows were no longer present at the center of the explosion.

    As if sharing a mutual understanding with each other, the remaining three hunters suddenly did everything in their power to attack a Blood Esquire together, while Yu Renyan dyed thest Blood Esquire by trading wounds blow after blow with him. When the surrounding dark warriors noticed that sensed that the situation was not too encouraging, they no longer cared about their superior¡¯s honor or the threat of explosives and swarmed the hunters while attacking all at once.

    Masefield frowned and said in a low voice, ¡°A bunch of trash! You go help them. Let¡¯s treat this as a small¡­ cheat.¡±

    The little girl walked towards the battlefield while carrying the butcher knife. Her little body dragged the square de that looked not much shorter than her, and it looked like it would fall off her hands at any moment. A long, deep mark was left on the ground where she dragged the de behind her back.

    The Blood Esquire who was surrounded was the highest ranking out of the four, and he actually calmed down during the dangerous moment. Every block and dodge he made were perfectly steady, and his defenses were extremely firm. Meanwhile, the dark warriors at the perimeternded attacks onto the three hunters nonstop and adding new wounds on their bodies. It was at this moment a hunter let out an oddughter and reached out for the grenade at his waist!

    A slight breeze seemed to pass by, and the hunter¡¯sughter abruptly came to a stop!

    Before they knew it, the little girl had appeared behind his back. The butcher knife was lifted as light as air in the air, and as it was swung horizontally in an arc she lightly cut off his right arm and his elbow at the same time! The hunter¡¯s elbow fell and rolled a couple of times on the ground along with the trapped grenade, but the grenade did not explode. The young girl had cleverly broke off the detonator with vibration at the same time she cut off his arm.

    While the hunter was still in shock, several dark race warriors immediately shed at him randomly with their des and killed him.

    After she had dealt the blow, the little girl did not even wait for the results to happen before retreating out of the fray. There was not the slightest hesitation in her at all, forbidding the remaining two hunters from grabbing onto any opportunity of a counter attack.

    Yu Renyan¡¯s faint colored pupils shrank, and suddenly, with a de wound as the cost, he pulled away from his opponent and shed behind the little girl in an instant, stabbing the short knife in his hand right into the back of her heart.

    The little girl obviously had her back towards Yu Renyan, but as if she had seen his attack with her own eyes, she suddenly leaped powerfully to the side and avoided the attack. She happened tond right beside a dark warrior as she extended a hand and pulled at the other party¡¯s battle robes. When the other party lowered his head to look at her in surprise, she abruptly gave him a push.

    The dark warrior was nearly pushed to the ground despite his level of strength. He stumbled for a couple of steps and happened to block right in front of Yu Renyan¡¯s forward path, forcefully interrupting his sudden charge skill. However, the dark warrior paid a price as well as Yu Renyan¡¯s mithril knife plunged into his chest and twisted his heart into pieces.

    The little girl had already made her way out from behind the dark warrior¡¯s back, and once again the butcher knife floated into the air as if it had no weight at all. With a horizontal sh, it drew a huge wound across Yu Renyan¡¯s leg.

    Yu Renyan let out a dull groan, and finally he withdrew his scorn and focused in preparation for her next attack. This girl might only be at rank three, but herbat style was extremely strange. Every one of her attack angles were unexpected, and the might behind each attack were unusually huge.

    However, the little girl did not continue the attack. Instead, without stopping her charge she ran far away and right towards the other two hunters¡¯ battlefield.

    The square butcher knife flew out of her hand in midair, rotating and slicing towards the back of a hunter¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Yu Renyan cried out loudly.

    A hunter lifted his head in amazement, whereas the other hunter made up his mind and triggered all of the explosives on his bodies at once.

    The intense explosions sted the dark warriors until they were aplete mess. The Blood Esquire flew backwards as blood instantly drenched half of his body. For a time, he actually failed to climb onto his feet.

    However, the little girl had switched directions and escaped the second she tossed out the square butcher knife. Right now she had ran far enough that she was only flipped around once by the shockwave and added some scratch wounds to her body. She quickly climbed onto her feet and ran without any pause towards the demonkin youth.

    At this point, the hunter squad had been annihted. The sacrifices of thest three hunters did not bring much damage to the enemy either. Naturally, this was the work of the little girl.

    Yu Renyan immediately made the snap decision to turn around and escape.

    The Blood Esquire who was hurt the slightest let out a fierce howl before throwing out a half meter long square thorn abruptly! Like lightning, the square thorn pierced through Yu Renyan¡¯s back before exiting his front chest, the surplus force carrying with it a long string of blood droplets and finally dropping to the ground dozens or so meters away.

    Yu Renyan let out a dull groan, but rather than slowing down he became even faster, and in the blink of an eye he had already escaped the battlefield and ran towards the depths of the wastnd. The Blood Esquire¡¯s expression was extremely ugly. He never imagined that this human¡¯s body was so strong that he could escape even after suffering such a severe injury. He gauged his own abilities. Even though a vampire was known for their speed, it did not look like he could catch up to Yu Renyan no matter what.

    The Blood Esquire turned around to look at the demonkin youth, but before he could even ask for help the demonkin youth already said coldly, ¡°I¡¯ve said before that a worm like this is not worthy of my hand. Can¡¯t you catch up to him?¡±

    When Masefield said this, there was obvious killing intent behind his words. The Blood Esquire trembled all over and forced himself to say, ¡°No, I can! I¡¯ll chase after him right now.¡±

    Suddenly, Masefield raised his hands and waved lightly. A barely discernible ck thread wrapped twice around the Blood Esquire¡¯s neck like a living thing before it disappeared.

    The Blood Esquire¡¯s expression instantly froze, and his head suddenly separated from his body and fell on the floor. The wound on the neck was unusually bright and clean, and the flesh and tissue had actually all crystallized at once, leaving behind not a drop of blood.

    Masefield looked at Blood Esquire¡¯s head on the floor and said with slightly fed up tone, ¡°You can¡¯t catch up to him, and I hate it when people lie in front of me!¡±

    The surviving dark warriors all trembled with fear.

    The demonkin youth rubbed the little girl¡¯s hair and said, ¡°You did well! You can always give me a pleasant surprise that exceeds your supposedbat power. On this point, you are much better than those idiots. Follow me well. You will enjoy ample amount of rewards.¡±

    He swept another nce at the dark warriors and instructed, ¡°Sweep the battlefield and ce a few cannon fodders at the perimeter just like before. Now that the little worm has escaped, it should not be long before a true big fish will take the hook. I will be waiting right here for them! Now, the game has truly begun.¡±

    It was as if all the humans in the few big cities in the Boulderstone Region, including those Champion level personages were just big fishes that could be cooked at any moment in the eyes of this young Masefield.

    A new day had arrived. As usual, Qianye cultivated and stabilized his own realm. After three days of rest, the normal blood energies had returned to seven in total, and the gold blood energy had turned into a cocoon and was currently hibernating in silence. The normal blood energies had finally escaped the fate of being devoured. Inparison, the purple blood energy was much more gentler. It would consume at most two or three normal blood energies before it was full, and even its digestion took up to several days.

    However, after the afternoon the house door was knocked as a hunter yelled from outside the entrance, ¡°Is Qianye around? Old 2 needs you for something urgent. He needs you to go to the Home of Hunters once!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ming right down!¡± After Qianye had changed his clothes, he hastily followed the hunter back to the Home of Hunters!¡±

    A light off road vehicle was parked at the entrance of Home of Hunters. Old 2 was already on the car. When he saw Qianye, he beckoned him and said, ¡°Come up! I¡¯m bringing you to see a person. He should be someone you know.¡±

    ¡°Is it rted to that mission?¡± Qianye was a little confused.

    Old 2 said heavily, ¡°No, it is rted to another matter. A very¡­ unfortunate matter.¡±

    When the off road vehicle made its way to Dark Blood City¡¯s military hospital, Qianye never imagined that the person he would be seeing was Yu Renyan.

    Right now, the man who could be said to be a formidable enemy was lying face up on an operating table with eyes staring emptily at the ceiling. The doctor pulled over a white sheet to cover up his body, and shook his head at the peopleing inside. Bloodstain spread continuously over the sheet, and it swiftly turned into a purple ck color.

    ¡°This is Yu Renyan, the Dark de special opsmander of the imperial expeditionary force sent from ckflow City. Right now, his other identity is a five star hunter. For the past time, he had killed a lot of dark blooded bastards, but something went wrong with this current operation. Our few best hunters were all dead, and he was the only one who managed to escape and return. During thatst battle, he had exhausted all of his life force, and he was not for this world much longer.¡±

    Once he was finished, Old 2 sighed and said to Qianye, ¡°He said he recognized you, and that he wishes to see you before his death no matter what. Go and have a chat!¡±

    Old 2 and the rest left the sick ward. Qianye walked beside the operating table and looked at the opponent whom he had once fought a desperate battle against.

    Yu Renyan rolled his eyes and saw Qianye. He let out a strained smile and opened his mouth slightly. Qianye immediately went closer, for it was the only way to hear what he wanted to say clearly.

    ¡°Qi Yue¡¯s true father is.. The expeditionary forces¡¯ military counselor Changwu¡­ Zhengnan. They had been trading secretly with the dark races all this time, and not just weapons but humans¡­ as well¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart trembled slightly,

    Yu Renyan¡¯s breathing suddenly turned rapid. It was obvious that he was about to reach the end of his life. His eyes began to turnx as he said disjointedly, ¡°Watch out¡­ a little girl! Help me take care of¡­ her. This is great. I can finally die on the¡­ battlefield¡­¡±

 Volume 3 - 15: Blood for Blood

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 15: Blood for Blood

    There were many things that Qianye did not understand. Yu Renyan did not say clearly who the little girl was, nor did he ever said who that person he wanted him to take care of was. It was only during hisst sentence that Qianye heard the inner voice of a warrior.

    Every true imperial soldier had made up their minds not to return alive when they stepped onto the battlefield.

    The great Qin Empire built its nation on martial power, andmanded a staunch military style. There might be other members of the human race who had sessfully built their nations in the world for the past thousand or so years, but in terms of casualty ratio of high ranking officers, the Empire was far beyond other countries.

    At this moment where no one could see, Qianye straightened his spine and gave the now deceased Yu Renyan a military salute.

    This was a true warrior; a warrior who passed away on the battlefield. Perhaps he might have all sorts of shorings, but his merits of resistance against the dark races was enough to wash away everything.

    Qianye walked out of the sick ward and told the doctor, ¡°He has passed.¡±

    The doctor nodded and brought a few assistants with him to deal with Yu Renyan¡¯s body.

    Qianye and Old 2 stood at the corridor and waited quietly. If the ckflow military could not get here in time, then the Home of Hunters would step forth to handle the funeral arrangements.

    ¡°What kind of mission did he undergo? Why are the casualties so serious?¡± Qianye asked.

    Old 2 sighed and said, ¡°They saw a blood feast at a settlement at the borders. That¡¯s why they couldn¡¯t restrained themselves and chased into the area controlled by the dark races, falling for an ambush. That is a whole squad of high ranking hunters! In the end Yu Renyan was the only one who managed to escape home. Apparently, there were four Blood Esquires and a demonkin Champion among the enemy.¡±

    ¡°Blood feast!¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes immediately overflowed with killing intent.

    Back at Red Scorpion, Qianye had been present at more than one blood feast, and every time he saw one, he would deeply shaken by the bitter sight. It was the instinctive sorrow any normal living being would feel when they saw a member of their own tortured and ughtered in cruel fashion.

    Even within the internal division of the dark races themselves, the holding of blood feasts was extremely controversial. Only a minor faction had insisted on preserving their progenitor¡¯s tradition and organized blood feasts. This portion of the dark races were the irreconcble enemies of mankind.

    The Empire¡¯s principle dictated that the culprit of every blood feast must be hunted down to the very end. Even if they did fail to track down the murderer, or they temporarily did not have the qualifications to hunt them down, the Empire wouldmit mass murder within the same region and repay blood with blood.

    This was the Empire¡¯s usual style of force. Although the dark races had exploited this persistence andid down traps many times in the past, the Empire¡¯s upper level never changed their beliefs. The Empire was willing to ept even if they had to pay a heavy price for revenge.

    In the past, an empire marshal once said this, ¡°Rationality and utility means nothing before bloody vengeance.¡±

    It was exactly because of blood feasts that this marshal had led his troops and fought a number of great battles against the dark races despite unfavorable conditions. It was only after paying a terrible price that he finally managed to obtain victory. Although more than half of the younger generation of his family who followed him to battle perished in the battlefield, and he himself was attacked non stop by his political enemies because of this matter, there was never again a blood feast held within the war zones he was in charge of protecting after the war and for the rest of his life.

    Qianye sucked in a deep breath and said to Old 2, ¡°I¡¯m going out for a few days. Let¡¯s set aside that mission for now until Ie back.¡±

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill a few ck blooded bastards!¡±

    Old 2 was rmed, ¡°You¡¯re crazy! There is a demonkin Champion over there! You¡¯re just going to throw your life away!¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Of course I¡¯m not going to throw my life away at that ce. However, there are still plenty of ck blooded bastards at other ces. It is the natural duty of every imperial soldier to repay blood with blood in the face of such hatred!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re an imperial soldier!¡± Old 2 said while looking like he was having a headache.

    It was only then Qianye realized his slip and immediately changed the subject, ¡°This is unrted to being an imperial soldier or not. Those hunters are not soldiers either, but they still chased the dark races all the way to their territory, didn¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°They are a whole squad, while you¡­¡±

    When Old 2 saw Qianye¡¯s expression, he did not speak anything further. He simply let out a deep sigh and said, ¡°That panoramic scope has arrived. Come with me and grab it before you head out. Maybe this way you¡¯ll be able to live just a bit longer.¡±

    Qianye nodded and said, ¡°Rx, I won¡¯t be reckless. Only those who are still living can take out more ck blooded bastards in the future!¡±

    It was at this moment Yu Renyan¡¯s body was pushed out of the operating room. His expression was very calm and looked just like he had fallen asleep.

    As his body was being pushed away, Qianye stared quietly at him and bid goodbye from the bottom of his heart, ¡°Goodbye, my friend.¡±

    This man had not spoken more than a few line of words with Qianye, but they did fight an intense battle with each other. It was their shared characteristics of hatred towards the dark races and identity as imperial soldiers that made them grew close to each other. In Qianye¡¯s heart, this man was already his own friend.

    An hourter, Qianye carried Eagleshot and a full set of survival equipment on his back before leaving Darkblood City, heading towards the area where the dark races operated. The direction Qianye chose was directly opposite to where Yu Renyan¡¯s squad had been ambushed. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t seek out the demonkin Champion rashly and throw away his own life, but beneath the level of Champions, even the high ranking dark race warriors with noble titles were on Qianye¡¯s kill list.

    Be it for retaliating against the blood feast, or taking revenge for his friend, Qianye walked duty bound towards the darkness ruled territory. Even if he could not don an imperial uniform ever again, he would never forget his pride and duty as a soldier.

    Qianye ran several hundreds of kilometers for a day and a night. He then slowed down his speed and began prate deep into the lines carefully. This was already an area controlled by the dark races, and sometimes even established patrol teams would appear. These were the regr warriors of the dark races, and they werepletely different from the disorganized soldiers usually killed on human territory.

    Qianye continued to go deeper into the area, and relying on thetest panoramic scope he was able to sessfully avoid several waves of patrol and sneak into a nearby dark race settlement.

    He was lucky that it was a vampire¡¯s settlement.

    The entire settlement was in fact an ancient castle and its subsidiary manor. This was the ssic and traditionalyout of a vampire. The main body of the building was in the shape of a column, and there were narrow and long windows only after seven or eight feet above the ground. The walls crawling with thorny vines, and it was already impossible to see how manyyers of vines were entangled around the walls after many years of time. The most characteristic trait of the building was the three cone shaped towers. The outer walls, the top and the corridor railings were aligned with many standing extraordinarily shaped statues, entuating the gorgeousness and eeriness of the entire ancient castle.

    Qianye quietly pushed the physical origin bullet he handmade into Eagleshot and observed the settlement with his scope for an extended period of time.

    The ancient castle was alit be it day or night. asionally, shadows could be seen passing by the long windows. This was a small family, and there were about a dozen or so official vampires. The head of the family was an old, knight level vampire with a head of silver hair. He was both graceful and dignified. Meanwhile, his nsmen included a Blood Esquire and ten warriors that hadn¡¯t reached high rank yet. The rest were normal vampires. There were also a few pure blooded descendants that weren¡¯t grown up yet.

    There were rows of low single story houses at the manor behind the ancient castle. Several hundred humans lived inside them. These people worked at the manor¡¯s cronds during the day, and they were responsible for raising livestocks as well. When it was night, and the vampires were ready for their ¡°holymunion,¡± they were the livestock who provided the main course.

    These human basically would not die, though. They would be bled in rotation for the enjoyment of the vampires.

    When Qianye saw up to this point, he knew that this family belonged to the moderate faction of the vampires, alsomonly referred to as the ¡°Neos.¡± Normally, they would not suck blood directly and treat it as beverages instead. This way, the humans who supplied the blood would not be polluted by the ck blood and thus could be used repeatedly.

    However, no matter the moderate faction or the progenitor faction, they were all vampires and thus, Qianye¡¯s killing target. However, this vampire ancient castle was by itself a small fortress. Naturally, Qianye could not mount a frontal attack on his own, so he was waiting patiently for a chance to arrive.

    Finally, when it was veryte at night during the second day, the family¡¯s patriarch took several warriors with him and left the ancient castle. He was getting ready to attend a feast at another settlement. This knight climbed up a four wheeled carriage under the escort of his guards. The exterior of the van was wrapped in deep blue velvet. The family¡¯s gorgeous crest were sewn into both sides of the carriage.

    When the old knight was rxing his entire body and sitting down on thefortable long chair, Qianye pulled down the trigger!

    Eagleshot¡¯s crisp timber broke the night¡¯s silence. The origin bullet that escaped the chamber was wrapped in the ability beam of Heavy Caliber, while its interior was swimming with a wisp of blood energy. The timing of this shot was just right, and the distance was less than three hundred meters. The blood knight was halfway into taking a sitting position, and his guards had already spread out away from him. It was impossible to evade or block the shot now.

    There was a loud bang, and the door and half of the carriage shattered apart as the knight was sted into the air by a ring ball of origin power. Half of his body was a bloody mess, and the scene of the explosion immediately fell into chaos. The frightened horses did their utmost to struggle free from their bridles, and the guards hurriedly jumped towards the knight and used their bodies to form a shield, afraid that another attack would soon follow.

    Qianye pushed a second handmade origin bullet into his gun, and this time the muzzle slightly deviated to aim six hundred meters away at the castle gate. There, a young blood esquire was running madly out of the gate. Because the ambush had been abrupt, he was dressed in x shirt and riding breeches. He held a thin, long saber in his hands, and he hadn¡¯t even managed to put on his armor.

    Eagleshot jumped intensely once more, and the origin bullet cut through the sky with silver light to st right at the Blood Esquire. The Blood Esquire waspletely caught by surprise, and he actually froze as he stared nkly at the silver light flying towards him! He could never imagine that the silver light was be aimed at him from such a far distance.

    What kind of origin gun could shoot up to seven hundred meters away?

    No one could answer his question. The Blood Esquire only managed to put on a defensive stance before he was ruthlessly sted away by the origin bullet. After the bullet was imbued with the ability of Heavy Caliber, the one shot had damaged the Blood Esquire into a state of near death.

    Qianye took out a military use stimnt and plunged into strongly into his neck. While enduring the scorching pain, he swiftly injected the medicinal fluid into his body. This model number of stimnt was specialized forbat. Other than quickening the recovery rate of origin power, it could also add up to about twenty percent of strength and reactionary speed temporarily.

    Immediately after, he jumped up from his hiding spot and half knelt on the ground. Holding a firearm typerge caliber sniper with one hand, he pushed in five arch-shaped magazines and began firing in bursts. Every time he fired, a vampire guard would fall to the ground.

    Qianye¡¯s shooting skills were extremely urate, and he was using therge caliber sniper like a handgun. The gunshots almost connected together to form a single boom. The might of a sniper like this was the equivalent of a rank two origin gun, and it was incredibly powerful against vampire warriors below rank three. It could also hurt a vampire beneath rank five.

    When the remaining vampires warriors saw that Qianye had been using a gun all this time, they immediately spread out, sped up, ran evasively and pounced towards Qianye like a ghost. The human sniper was dead the moment they got close to them!

 Volume 3 - 16: Blood Poison

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 16: Blood Poison

    The distance between both sides instantly drew close. Suddenly, Qianye bounced off the ground like a leopard and with a smooth jump, charged right into the bosom of a rank three vampire, smashing a fist right into his face!

    After the punch, the vampire warrior¡¯s facial bones instantly caved in. Then, carried off by the tremendous force to his head, the vampire¡¯s body floated forwards for a second before flying backwards along his head.

    With a bang, the ground beneath Qianye¡¯s feet suddenly depressed before he shot forward like a cannonball. He met another rank five vampire, also the leader of the guard head on and smashed his fist into his face again while ignoring the short knife stabbing towards him!

    The short knife pierced into Qianye¡¯s chest, but its progress was unusually slow. It was as if the de had pierced a pile of hard leather instead. In the end, the de was even stuck between Qianye¡¯s ribs. The guard leader¡¯s reactions weren¡¯t slow either, as he raised his left arm and barely defended himself from Qianye¡¯s punch. However, his entire person was thrown backwards by the harsh punch, and his arm bones let out creaking groans in response.

    After ascending to rank four, Qianye, who was doubly enhanced by origin power and a vampire¡¯s constitution now possessed an extreme tough body. He could overwhelm any normal rank six fighters and rank five vampire warriors now.

    Qianye grabbed the guard leaders¡¯ knife arm and prevented him from escaping. At the same time, his right fist and elbow smashed towards the guard leader full in the face like a storm, with every hit as heavy as a smashing hammer and as a great axe opening up a mountain!

    In two punches, Qianye broke the leader¡¯s arms and with an elbow, crushed the blood energy protecting his body. Then, he stepped towards the side and used his body as a weapon, leaning heavily onto the vampire guard leader¡¯s body!

    The guard leader flew backwards in an explosive bang that sounded like muffled thunder, his body twisted into many odd shapes. Just now, Qianye had used an extreme amount of force andplement it with his origin power to create a hidden force that was as heavy as a mountain, shattering every bone in the guard leader¡¯s body!

    There a soft piercing noise, and another knife had stabbed into Qianye¡¯s back. The short knife pierced through his armor and entered his muscles with difficulty before finally stopping just barely on his bones.

    As if he could feel the sharp de that had entered his flesh and blood, Qianye moved his hand backwards and grabbed the vampire warrior¡¯s neck, tightening his fingers and breaking his neck bone in an instant. Although a vampire¡¯s tough constitution meant that he might not necessarily die from such a wound, at the very least he would lose the ability to continue fighting.

    Qianye swung his arm and blocked yet another vampire¡¯s short knife before throwing out a straight punch. It struck him right at the bottom of the chin as the warrior fell backwards amidst a scalp numbing sound of breaking bones.

    Qianye was like a lion weaving through a group of wolves. His fists were as swift as lightning and as heavy as mountains. There was actually not a single person among this group of vampire warriors who could take a direct hit from him!

    In the blink of an eye, there were no longer any enemies around Qianye. There was only the blood knight climbing to his feet with difficulty not far away beside the remains of the carriage. However, the blood knight¡¯s feet were wobbly, and he wasn¡¯t even able to stand quite steadily on his feet. He stared with a face full of shock at his own injuries. Although the mutted mess that was half of his body could not be considered a fatal wound, ck blood was pouring nonstop from his injuries. It was filled with the stench of rot and death.

    The blood knight was both shocked and furious. He did his utmost to summon the power of his blood, and finally he just managed to suppress and eliminate the unusual blood energy that almost felt like poison, but wasn¡¯t quite the same that invaded into his body. However, his injuries had also worsened a lot more times because of it. Arge majority of his blood energy had been exhausted, and he became dispirited and listless in an instant.

    Qianye strode with broad steps towards the knight and grabbed towards him. The blood knight swung his own arm and met Qianye¡¯s hand with extreme fury. Their palms met each other, and they began topete strength. Suddenly, the ground beneath both parties¡¯ feet caved inward in a dull noise. A shallow pit several meters wide had appeared!

    Both sides¡¯ strength matched each other equally, and for a time they were at a stalemate. However, the blood knight¡¯s injured left arm grew weaker and weaker, and soon it looked like it would not be able to endure. Suddenly, he let out an animalistic snarl as blood energy rolled over and over in his eyes. Red light actually shone amidst the dark night as a pair of long, bloodsucking fangs appeared at the corners of his lips. He bit down fiercely towards Qianye!

    Qianye did not retreat in the slightest. He simply inclined his head and allowed the blood knight¡¯s fangs to bite into his shoulders. The moment the vampire¡¯s fangs entered his body, Qianye could feel two wisps of ck, blood poison seeping into his own blood. However, his own blood of darkness immediately had a strong reaction.

    Purple blood energy had practically burst out of his ability rune and pounced right at the invading blood poison. They were devouredpletely after just a single face-off. That wasn¡¯t all. With a twist, it immediately split out a thin wisp of purple energy that followed along the path the blood poison hade in and ultimately entered the blood knight¡¯s fangs and into his body.

    The blood knight¡¯s eyes suddenly turned round as he tried to push Qianye away with all his might with a look of extreme fright. He was no longer able to let out any meaningful sybles from his throat, and could only yell incoherently.

    Naturally, Qianye would not let go like this. He continued to wrestle against the blood knight, and was slowly gaining the advantage as well. However, when the purple blood energy flowed up against the stream, dense red mist rose into his eyes. As if he was drawn to the action, Qianye suddenly bit towards the blood knight¡¯s neck!

    Blood filled with origin power surged into his mouth like floodwater. Qianye instinctively took a huge gulp, and with every mouthful he felt that every blood energy inside his body was boiling up in joy. This was the blood of a rank eight vampire, and the power of his blood energy was far richer than Qianye¡¯s. The Darkness origin power contained in every mouthful of blood was the equivalent of the total origin power Qianye possessed right now.

    However, Qianye had only swallowed two or three gulps before he inhaled a mouthful of stinking, rotten blood. He almost vomited on the spot. He spat out all of the rotten blood before pushing the powerless blood knight away.

    The appearance of this higher blood knight was withered. It was as if he had aged a dozen or so years in a short time. Right now, the blood knight hadpletely lost his life. Originally, the blood power of a rank eight knight was definitely not as little as this. However, previously he had suffered from the blood poison contained inside Qianye¡¯s origin bullet, and it took nearly half of his entire bloody energy just cleansing his body of this toxin. Then, he directly sucked in a mouthful of blood that contained the purple blood energy, causing arge majority of his blood to rot and die in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye noticed that his blood right now was extremely poisonous to vampires. He couldn¡¯t help but feel curious about the origin of the purple blood energy. Perhaps the gold blood energy would give him an even bigger pleasant surprise when it broke out of its cocoon.

    Qianye swiftly circled the battlefield once and sent all the vampire warriors on their dying gasps to hell. Right now, there were only a few normal vampires left in the ancient castle of this family.

    He picked up a long sword and wiped off the vampiric aura on it. He took out a leather bag and poured some silver liquid on its edge. Then, he walked towards the two bronze door at the front that was now no longer protected.

    A red re suddenly rose into the air from the peak of the ancient castle before exploding. Qianye¡¯s ears moved once, already capturing a sharp pitch that could not be heard by human ears. This was a warning signal, and it wouldn¡¯t be long before the vampire patrol teams would notice it and arrive.

    Qianye did not fear the patrol teams. He strode into the ancient castle, and he saw the remaining nsmen of this family all gathering at the great hall and watching him in silence.

    There was a vampire even older than the blood knight sitting on the sofa at the middle of the hall. There were a few more old men standing behind the sofa, and a few children gathered beneath the old man¡¯s knees.

    If he didn¡¯t know that this was a vampire¡¯s base, if these people¡¯s pupils were not all blood red, he would¡¯ve thought that he had walked into the living hall of a human noble.

    The hall was incredibly quiet. The sound of silver fluid dripping from the tip of the de and onto the ground sounded like gongs in their hearts.

    Qianye slowly walked towards the old man at the center. The old man¡¯s face looked like it was carved from wilted wood. He matched eyes with Qianye without any expression before saying slowly, ¡°Human, you are very bold.¡±

    Qianye let out a thin smile. He did not have the interest to converse with him, and so he raised his de and pointed it at the old man¡¯s throat.

    ¡°Grandpa, is he tonight¡¯s dinner? He looks really tasty!¡±

    A young girl¡¯s voice came from the side, and Qianye immediately felt pain on his thigh right after. He looked down, and saw a little vampire girl who looked to be only four to five years old biting fiercely at his thigh, her two little fangs half entering his flesh. He could see two wisps of blood threads swimming into her mouth through the half translucent fangs that had a luster like ivory.

    tion appeared on the old man¡¯s face as heughed sinisterly and said, ¡°You are finished, human! Even if you killed us, you will not escape transforming into a blood thrall!¡±

    Qianye simply kept his head low and continued to look at the little vampire girl. When he heard this, he said indifferently, ¡°Is that so? This little girl is a pure blooded vampire. Her ability to hide herself is pretty good as well. When she grows up, maybe she can be yet another knight. How unfortunate¡­ Don¡¯t be so hasty, little girl. Drink a little slowly, or you might get sick.¡±

    When Qianye¡¯s blood had flowed out, the purple blood energy inside his body had awakened once more and leaped out of the ability rune. Just like before, it delivered a wisp of blood energy into the little girl.

    The little girl suddenly turned stupefied while she was sucking at Qianye¡¯s blood. While letting out cries of exmation, she copsed on the ground and curled herself into a ball. Her body swiftly turned swift as purple ck blood flowed out of her mouth.

    As if he had seen the most terrifying scene in the world, the old man abruptly jumped to his feet and cried out involuntarily, ¡°Sacred blood! The higher sacred blood! You are absolutely not a human being! Why!¡±

    ¡°This is the sacred blood?¡± Qianye smiled thinly at an inappropriate moment, and it was unclear if his tone was a deration or doubt. He said softly, ¡°But I still feel that I¡¯m a human being¡­¡± while speaking, he de shook and stabbed straight into the old vampire¡¯s heart.

    The sword moistened with silver fluid danced continuously, lightly piercing many aging or newborn vampire hearts. After some brief screams, the hall quieted once more.

    Qianye swiftly walked around the ancient castle once while holding his long sword. When he walked into the disy room upstairs, he saw many oil paintings and a pair of short guns embedded into the wall.

    This was a pair of vampire style origin gun. The pair of gold guns were so polished it was glowing. It obviously had some history to it, and as something that was ced so preciously at the most eye-catching ce in the disy room meant that the pair of short guns must have some extraordinary meaning and value.

    The rest of the oil paintings and decorations were all extremely valuable luxury goods in the human world. However, Qianye neither had the time nor the strength to carry so many things, so he simply took down the pair of short origin guns that were obviously relics and a bag of crystal coins on the wide study table before leaving the ancient castle.

    When he stepped into the courtyard, with the gate very close to him, Qianye hesitated for a moment before turning around and walking towards the manor at the back.

    The unnaturalmotion inside the ancient castle had alerted the humans here. They walked out of the house and stood at the entrance of the manor, looking toward the ancient castle. Most of the people¡¯s faces were vacant and numb. It was as if there was an invisible red line at the gate of the manor, and no one had overstepped their boundaries.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, none of these people were blood thralls who were polluted by the ck blood. There were just dozens of people who looked weak and overly pale. It would seem that they had been bled out just recently.

    For a vampire, being able to suck in warm blood directly from their prey was one kind of entertainment, and it had a distinctive vor from drinking slightly cool blood from a ss. That was an ability granted to them by the progenitor. However, the people whose blood was sucked would quickly turn into blood thralls, and they could no longer be used after their blood was sucked once or twice. On the other hand, bleeding them out periodically ensured that they could be used long term, just like how humans raised their dairy cows.

    Qianye said, ¡°Ie from the great Qin Empire. Anyone who wishes to go back with me,e out!¡±

    These human livestocks looked at each other. Some of these people wore struggling looks, but arge majority of them simply stood with a numb look on their faces.

 Volume 3 - 17: Player

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 17: yer

    Qianye raised his voice and repeated, ¡°Is there anyone who wants to go back to the Empire with me? There may be hazards along the way, but I have killed all of the vampires inside the ancient castle. You may not necessarily be able to live even if you stay behind. I give you only three minutes to consider!¡±

    ¡°I want to return to the Empire!¡± a girl suddenly ran out of the crowd.

    ¡°What are you doing,e back!¡± the young man beside the girl tried to pull her, but the girl threw him a backhanded p before running towards Qianye again.

    Bitter resentment appeared on the young man¡¯s face, and he abruptly pounced towards the girl. However, a blur happened before his eyes, and he mmed into something and fell back two steps dizzily as if he had run into a mountain.

    Qianye had appeared before the young man before anyone noticed, and he was staring coldly at him. It was he whom the young man had run into just now.

    ¡°Are you asking for death?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was both soft and icy cold.

    The young man stared straight into Qianye¡¯s emotionless eyes, and with a burst of courage that came from god knows where he suddenly yelled, ¡°She is my fiance! The lords of the Sacred Family had promised to give her to me after exercising her virgin rite. You cannot take her away from me!¡±

    Qianye drooped his eyes slightly before raising it immediately. He smiled and said softly, ¡°Sacred Family?¡±

    The young man said loudly, ¡°If we perform well, the lords of the Sacred Family would pick out one of us and give the Embrace, changing us into one of them every once in a while!¡±

    Qianye had no wish to listen any longer. He swung his arm and gave him a p! The p hit the young man so hard that he flew out while rotating in midair. Moreover, he spat out a mouthful of blood foams and several broken teeth.

    The young man did have some courage in him, and throwing all caution to the wind he yelled, ¡°Even if you all followed him, you would not be able to escape the Sacred Family¡¯s chase! And what if you did reach the Empire! We are born and raised in the Sacred Family. Do you think that the great Qin will let you off? They will only treat us as blood thralls and kill us all! Ah!!¡±

    The young man let out a long, bloodcurdling scream. In fact, Qianye had already walked over and snapped all four of his limbs with his foot before saying, ¡°It will be too easy to kill a guy like you right away. Wait until your Sacred Family lords arrive, let¡¯s see how they will treat a handicapped livestock!¡±

    It was only now the young man thought of the potential consequences he might have to face. In an instant, he trembled all over and shouted at Qianye while twisting his body, ¡°You devil! I will haunt you even if I die!¡±

    Qianye no longer paid any attention to the young man and asked one more time. This time, there were almost a hundred people who were willing to follow Qianye back to the empire.

    ¡°This journey will be very difficult. We must proceed at top speed, and we will not slow for anyone who was left behind. Those who are not confident that they canplete the whole journey, you may withdraw now.¡±

    All those who stood out no longer wished to stay behind, so Qianye led these one hundred or so human beings who were kept like animals on the journey back home.

    There were still a few carriages inside the ancient castle, and they were all taken away by Qianye. These carriages were used to allow the fleeing humans to rest in turns. And so, the fleeing group had run nearly two hundred kilometers in a day and a night.

    At this point, all of the horses had worked themselves to death, and nearly half of the people in the group were eternally left behind on the road. Some had worked themselves to death, and some had fallen behind the group. However, their conclusions were the same. Normal humans who were left alone in an area controlled by the dark races shared a fate that was not much different from consumable animals¡¯.

    No matter how many people had lost steam and fallen behind the group, Qianye did not slow down in the slightest. Meanwhile, everyone did their utmost to follow the group in silence. No oneined, and no one groaned. They continued until they no longer had the energy to continue forwards.

    Just when they were about to leave the region controlled by the dark races, Qianye suddenly paused his footsteps and said to the very first girl who stood out, ¡°Lead them and keep running along this direction. You must not slow down no matter what. Get it?¡±

    The girl nodded strongly before asking, ¡°What about you?¡±

    Qianye nced once at the iing road and said, ¡°There is a team of ck blooded bastards who had caught up to us. I¡¯ll deal with them first before meeting up with you allter.¡±

    The fleeing group continued onwards, whereas Qianye turned back and weed the dark race patrols who had tracked them to this point.

    Saving these kept people was just the secondary objective. Qianye¡¯s true objective was to lure out another patrol team. The patrol team had chased them for several hours and traversed hundreds of kilometers. Right now be it their stamina or their alertness were at a low point, so this was the perfect opportunity to act.

    This was a cruel revenge towards the blood feast. How could ughtering a few random dark racespare to taking out a settlement and a regr patrol team?

    Qianye did not wait more than half an hour before a dozen or so running dark warriors had appeared in his scope. The leader was actually a Blood Esquire, which was also the type of prey Qianye loved the most. After an entire day¡¯s time, Qianye had injected yet another physical origin bullet. It was just the gift to this Blood Esquire.

    Eagleshot¡¯s loud bang shattered the night¡¯s silence. As if struck by an invisible hammer, the Blood Esquire flew backwards into the air horizontally. Qianye immediately pulled out his short knife and rushed forwards into a sudden assault. His figure drew many afterimages as he brazenly pounced towards this team of dark warriors.

    Blood immediately dyed the night red!

    A whileter, Qianye left the battlefield while carrying an entire body of deep and shallow wounds and a rank three vampire origin gun. Behind his back, everyone in the patrol team had been turned into corpses piled into andscape. Every vampire had their throats and limb arteries cut out prior or after their deaths. This was a human¡¯s revenge towards the blood feast.

    While Qianye was infiltrating the dark races¡¯ territory, the expeditionary forces¡¯ military camp had weed yet another important personage that they were both in awe and afraid of, Bai Longjia.

    The second Bai Longjia got off the airship, he immediately said to the expeditionary forcemanding officer who arrived to wee him and said, ¡°General Yang, I heard that a blood feast has appeared at this ce. Let¡¯s go, bring me to the location.¡±

    Although both men were major generals, and Bai Longjia¡¯s rank was even the superficial kind since he did notmand an army directly like the expeditionary force¡¯s major general. Judging from their attitudes, Bai Longjia actually looked more like the other major general¡¯s direct superior.

    ¡°General Bai, this seems¡­¡±

    Bai Longjia cut off the expeditionary force¡¯s major general coldly before he could even finish, ¡°There is no seem! Bring me to the scene, now! If you are unwilling to go, then I will have another person lead me. But you will not need to lead ever again from this point onwards as well!¡±

    The major general of the expeditionary forces immediately piled on a face full of smiles and said, ¡°No, no, I will arrange this immediately! Please wait for several minutes.¡±

    ¡°Right. Call Mayor Luo and General Du along as well.¡±

    Major General Yang immediately looked a little hesitant, ¡°Those two have been quite busy as ofte¡­¡±

    But Bai Longjia did not appear open to his exnation at all, ¡°I will see then on the airship half an hourter!¡±

    Darkblood City¡¯s Mayor Luo Jianyi, and the expeditionary force¡¯s dispatched generals Yang and Du, were the three Champion rank elites of the human race in Darkblood City. This allocation prominently showed Darkblood City¡¯s status, since another city of the same scale would enjoy the protection of only one Champion.

    General Yang¡¯s smile froze as he immediately called over his aide and yelled, ¡°No matter what you do, call the mayor and General Du over immediately! They must arrive within half an hour! Say that this is the order of General Bai, you hear me?¡±

    Bai Longjia looked at him once before saying calmly, ¡°It¡¯s no use trying to push the matter on my head. If it is just the impeachment of three generals of the forgottennd, I can still take it.¡±

    With a head of gray hair, Major General Yang was almost sixty years old already. But at this moment, he was bowing and bending and scraping in front of Bai Longjia, who was half his age while forcing a smile on his face, ¡°How would I possibly dare! However, if I don¡¯t use your title then those two will note over. My face isn¡¯t that worthy.¡±

    Bai Longjia nodded nomittally before he walked back to the airship directly. He leaned against the back of a chair and began to close his eyes and recuperate. Meanwhile, Major General Yang was dumped outside the airship.

    His actions obviously meant that he treated Major General Yang as just a simple orderly. The officers and soldiers of the expeditionary forces all wore odd looks on their faces, but Major General Yang appeared just like normal and had not taken any offense of the humiliation at all. He looked rather much like a person who had turned the other cheek.

    On the night the Evernight Council member Ge Shitu had visited Darkblood City, it was he who advocated to hold fast like a turtle. As a result, he identally offended Bai Longjia big time. Now was the perfect opportunity to atone for his crime.

    They might both be major generals who shared nearly the samebat power, but Bai Longjia was an influential figure of the Bai Family, one of the four grand households the Bai Family, and a member of the Broken Winged Angel. His future could be said to be limitless. Meanwhile, the expeditionary force was just a member in the quota of the empire¡¯s main corps, and the garrison stationed at Darkblood City was just a second rated corps even in the expeditionary forces. Both parties might share the same military rank, but their statuses were as far apart as heaven and earth.

    The army had only allocated two generals to Darkblood City because of its special circumstances, great profits to be gained and bncing of forces. Usually, both general Yang and Du did not follow a line ofmand, and each one of them owned a territory of their own and bowed to no one. So if General Yang were to send his aide to summon General Du, it would be courteous already if General Du had not kicked his aide out on the spot.

    But Bai Longjia was different. A child of a great household like him acted without restraint, and sometimes they evencked a sense of propriety. If they really pissed him off, a high official supervisor mighte down from the Empire after he went back. Who among the generals who were stationed at the borders could truly withstand an actual detailed investigation?

    It hadn¡¯t even been twenty minutes when Mayor Luo and General Du arrived. Bai Longjia did not waste words with them as he directly ordered the airship to head to the settlement where the blood feast had happened.

    An hourter, the airship slowlynded outside the settlement. Bai Longjia had already taken the lead and walked into the settlement while the three government officials followed behind him. He stepped into the meeting hall.

    The hall was preserved just as it was that day. It had already been a few days since the blood feast, and most of the corpses were at the advanced stage of putrefaction. The thick stench of dead bodies were everywhere. However, the cruelty and bloodiness of the blood feast when it was held could still be identified.

    Be it Mayor Luo, General Yang or General Du, they were all frowning on the inside. They found the thick stench of corpses a little difficult to bear. Meanwhile, Bai Longjia stood quietly as if he hadn¡¯t smelled anything. His eyes slowly swept across the interior of the hall.

    After a full dozen of minutes or so, Bai Longjia finally said, ¡°I heard that a demonkin Champion hadid down this trap in order to hook a few big fishes? You three truly are cautious and resourceful for not falling into this trap!¡±

    His words did not sound like praise no matter how one were to judge it. The three Champions might be furious and ashamed on the inside, but nothing could be gleaned from their faces. There was only shame on their faces.

    Bai Longjia ced his hands behind his back and stood up facing towards the scene of the blood feast. He said indifferently, ¡°Since the other party has already prepared such a spectacle, it wouldn¡¯t be right to not give a show of support! I suppose I shall attend once and see if this demonkin truly is as powerful as the legend says!¡±

    ¡°You cannot!¡±

    ¡°Please rethink this, General Bai!¡±

    The three champions of Darkblood City were greatly rmed at the same time, and hastily acted to dissuade him. Bai Longjia¡¯s identity was nothing to be trifled with, and he was the future central pir of the Bai Family. If he were to be killed in action due to retaliating against the blood feast, this would implicate every higher up in Darkblood City. They would not escape at least the usation ofck of effort, and if the important personages of the Bai Family were to push buttons from the back, then a discharge and an investigation were definitely on the light side of the punishment. The cmity would most likely reach their friends and family as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you want to throw away your own life, but don¡¯t drag us down with you!¡± The trio looked at each other and shared the same thoughts at a rare moment.

    A demonkin Champion was not the same from a normal Champion. They were called the sons of darkness, and wieldedbat strength that far exceeded their peers. They could not be measured by in ranking at all. It was just like Bai Longjia capable of taking out any two out of three major generals currently present despite being a major general himself.

    Bai Longjia let out a heavy snort upon seeing the looks on their faces. He said coldly, ¡°Look at how much you were frightened by a mere demonkin! Hmph, the demonkin ns to reel in some fishes, but there¡¯s no telling if he¡¯ll reel me, the big fish, in or be dragged into the water instead!¡±

    ¡°But this is obviously a trap. It truly isn¡¯t smart to barge into one forcefully!¡± Luo Jianyi hastily stopped Bai Longjia seeing that he was about to leave.

    Bai Longjia suddenly let out a heavy sigh and said, ¡°Perhaps the three of you have stayed on the Evernight Continent for so long that the history of the Empire has faded from your memories. Since ancient times, most of the blood feasts held by the dark races were obvious traps. However, the Empire would always respond brazenly towards every blood feast appearance, killing the culprit or repay in blood no matter what the cost! Do you think that the many famous generals andmanders of the empire were all idiots for the past hundred and thousand years? Do you think that they could not see through even a little trap like this?¡±

    ¡°The forefather of our Empire, Di Yun once said, those who infringe upon the people of our great Qin will be in no matter the distance! This is the true essence of the iron fist response of ourmanders!¡±

    Bai Longjia¡¯s statement was powerful and resonating, with every word sounding like a p of thunder, causing the trio¡¯s faces to change color from shock. However, how could the major figures stationed at the borders for so many years that they had almost cultivated themselves into slippery, old officials be persuaded by a few simple lines? They were all nodding their heads and saying yeses, but no one shifted a foot. At the same time, they were even shooting signals with their eyes and nning to stop Bai Longjia.

    It was at this moment an unenthusiastic voice rang beside everyone¡¯s ears, ¡°Well said!¡±

    This voice came without any warning, and it sounded just like it was whispered beside the ear. However, there were obviously no one else within dozens of meters of the surrounding!

    The three champions of Darkblood City all turned round in shock, looking everywhere for the person who uttered these words. A huge change had also passed by Bai Longjia¡¯s face, since this voice was so familiar to him that he almost felt like trembling!

 Volume 3 - 18: Collapse by Force

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 18: Copse by Force

    A white dressed woman suddenlynded in front of the crowd. She was floating several meters above the four people¡¯s head, but no one detected her arrival at all including Bai Longjia!

    This was a woman with insipid features. Her age was indistinguishable, and she wore the ssic attire of a noblewoman of the upper level of the Empire. Her buttoned jacket, girdle and sleeves were spacious, they were unusually simple and neat. The silk belt tied around her waist was strung with a penannr jade pendant. This was the only ornament she wore on herself. Her long hair was casually tied up with silk bands and left hanging down behind her back.

    Her looks could be considered delicate and pretty, although an ovepping scar on her left cheek damaged her beauty a little. Besides that, she did not have any other features that could leave an impression in the mind. She appeared to be very normal, extremely normal, so normal that she would immediately be swept away the second she entered a crowd.

    Luo Jianyi, General Yang, and General Du did not recognize this woman, but it did not prevent them from knowing how formidable she was. No matter who she might be, the fact that she could appear soundlessly above their heads meant that to her, killing them was just a matter of exerting very little effort.

    When Bai Longjia saw her, hisplexion changed involuntarily once more. He cried out, ¡°Sis!¡±

    ¡°I heard that there is a demonkinying down a blood feast and fishing. I just happened to pass through here, so I came over to have a look.¡± the woman said insipidly. Her voice and looks were just as normal, and did not have qualities that could be specifically memorized.

    Bai Longjia said hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s just a mere demonkin, I alone am enough! You do not need to attend to this personally, do you sis?¡±

    ¡°And you think you¡¯re not a fish?¡±

    ¡°Even if I¡¯m a fish, I¡¯m a big fish okay!¡±

    Bai Longjia wanted to argue further, but the woman made a silencing gesture and said insipidly, ¡°A big fish is still a fish.¡±

    Bai Longjia knew that this was her telling him to stop arguing, with no objections permitted. His face was swollen with redness, wanting to argue further on the subject that ¡°a big fish wasn¡¯t fish¡± from the bottom of his heart . But he had known very well since a young age that it was suicide to actually do so.

    The woman circled around the hall once, her feet never stepping on the ground from the beginning to the end.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be seeing that fisherman.¡± her figure shed once she said this. Although she appeared to be strolling softly, she had vanished to the end corners of the wastnd in the blink of an eye.

    The three champions of Darkblood City only dared to exhale after she had left.

    Major General Yang asked carefully, ¡°General Bai, she, is she truly that person?¡±

    Bai Longjia said in a bad mood, ¡°You don¡¯t say! I only have one elder sister, so who else is she but her?¡±

    The three Champions actually broke out in a shiver spontaneously after acquiring Bai Longjia¡¯s confirmation. Bai Longjia also turned listless as he waved his hands and said, ¡°Let¡¯s head back!¡±

    Although her judgment in terms ofbat strength made Bai Longjia extremely displeased, he also knew that she was never mistaken in this regard. It was exactly because of this reason that Bai Longjia grew even more downcast.

    A momentter, the airship slowly rose into the air and returned to Darkblood City.

    Inside the dark territory, the young Masefield was sitting right at the courtyard and swaying the goblet in his hand somewhat in boredom. There was wine in the goblet, and it was as red as blood.

    He looked towards the big, round moon in the sky and seemingly soliloquizing or confessing what was on his mind, ¡°The big fish should be arriving soon, shouldn¡¯t he? The human Bai Longjia is not far away from here, and I heard that he had a little bit of skill. If he was the one who came, then killing him should give me enough reputation. Those guys would remember my name, and I would no longer be called a Masefield. As I thought, an overly illustrious surname is a burden.¡±

    While soliloquizing softly, Masefield tried to take a mouthful. However, he saw that the red wine in his cup was actually rippling.

    He was startled for a moment, and immediately after he felt the earth beneath him starting to shake rhythmically. It was as if an unbelievably huge ancient beast was slowing walking this way.

    An indescribable feeling abruptly rose up his heart, causing even his hair to stand up on its end. The eye at the center of Masefield¡¯s forehead abruptly opened. It was a strange eye that waspletely pitch ck without any whites or pupils at all!

    When his third eye had opened, a ck aura rose from behind Masefield¡¯s back and straight to the sky. It transformed into a sinister-looking giant head of a beast that rotated in a circle once before staring fixedly at a certain direction, letting out low growls continuously.

    The head of the giant beast that had transformed from the ck energy alone was a dozen or so meters long. It was shaped like a fierce tiger, but its two extremely long fangs were features of a giant ancient beast that had vanished into the legends.

    Panic suddenly fleeted across Masefield¡¯s face. He hadn¡¯t even seen the enemy¡¯s shadow, and his innate gift, the giant totem beast was already forced out by the opponent¡¯s aura?

    Who exactly hade?!

    He could no longer maintain his cool as he leaped up from the ground, his figure flickering before appearing on the sky away from the base. He looked towards the furthest end of the horizon. A white dressed woman had entered his view, and she was walking step by step towards him from the wastnd. The earth shuddered matched her footsteps exactly.

    Masefield was unable to believe no matter what that the shaking of the entire earth was caused by this woman.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Masefield shouted loudly. He had suddenly recalled a name from the bottom of his mind, which was why his voice had a slight quiver in it. But that person shouldn¡¯t show up here!

    The woman looked like she was out on a stroll, but every time she took a step her figure would flicker and appear hundreds of meters away from where she was before. In the blink of an eye, she had appeared in front of Masefield.

    She nced at the totem giant beast in the air once before saying word by word, ¡°Everpeace Bai n, Bai Aotu!¡±

    ¡°How can it possibly be you!¡± the young Masefield cried out involuntarily in surprise before forcing himself to be calm and said, ¡°I am the great¡­¡±

    ¡°So much nonsense!¡±

    Bai Aotu appeared right in front of Masefield in a single step. She punched straight towards his chest!

    The second her fist was unleashed, the entire world seemed to distort at this very instant!

    Masefield pushed out both palms in unison and forcefully blocked Bai Aotu¡¯s one punch.

    The world suddenly transformed from distortion into absolute silence. Incessant rumbling sounds rang from behind Masefield, and every building in the base actually copsed row after row as if they had been ran over by an invisible wave. Smoke and dust rose and covered half of the sky!

    What was strange was that there were no other sounds at alling from the ruins. It was as if the dozens or so high ranking warriors and hundreds of civilians of the dark races did not exist at all. In the blink of an eye, the base that could fit almost a thousand men were ttened to the ground, and there was only one half copsed building still standing at the farthest end.

    If someone were to look down from the sky, they would see the ruins was spread out in the shape of a fan-shaped brush mark. This dark race base had been wiped from the surface of the earth.

    This was the might of Bai Aotu¡¯s one punch!

    At the height of the punch, Masefield continued to maintain his defensive posture and did not move in the slightest. The punch that had ttened the entire base with its aftershock alone actually failed to push him back even a centimeter.

    When the rumbling noises hadpletely subsided, only then one could hear the young demonkin murmur softly, ¡°I am the great Masefield¡­¡±

    Bai Aotu withdrew her fist and patted his head softly, saying, ¡°If you¡¯re just a kid, then don¡¯t try to mimic your elders and fish in the deep waters.¡±

    Once she said this, she turned around and left, vanishing into the depths of the night in the blink of an eye. When she left, the aura which seemed to illustrate that she was the only person to exist in the entire world hadpletely faded away. She had turned back into that normal woman that would be forgotten after a single nce.

    ¡°I am the great Masefield¡­¡± the young demonkin continued to murmur again and again like a gramophone with a stuck record.

    His body nted forwards slowly and finally fell. The instant he touched the ground, the young demonkin¡¯s body suddenly shattered and turned into fine, white dust, scattering along with the wind. A demonkin Champion vanished from the world just like that, and no one remembered his name even until the very end. The only imprints he had left in this world seemed to be that incredibly illustrious surname.

    He simply wanted to pull up a big fish, but he did not think that the one who bit the hook would a great white shark.

    At the bottom of the only remaining ruin of the base, the bricks at a particr spot suddenly rolled off to reveal a little girl inside. Her white skirt was so dirty that no color could be seen, her hands and body were covered in scratch marks all over, and her face waspletely covered in ster as well. However, her eyes were as clear as ever without the slightest trace of panic in them.

    With difficulty, she climbed to the top of the brick pile and looked everywhere. She was the only living person in the entire ruin. Every dark race warrior and civilian had scattered into dust under the one punch¡¯s might. She had run with all her might to the furthest end and hid at an underground wine cer before Bai Aotu had threw out her punch. It was only then she managed to avoid certain death.

    The little girl picked a direction and walked away from the ruins. Her posture was strained, and she limped as blood flowed down her left leg. She bowed her head to look at her leg wound before pulling out the wood chip that had pierce into her thighs forcefully. Then, she tore a corner of her skirt and wrapped her wounds before standing up once more.

    However, she took only a step before freezing suddenly. Then, she slowly turned around.

    Bai Aotu was standing not far away and looking quietly at her.

    Bai Aotu was cocking her head slightly and seemingly thinking about something. Then, she asked, ¡°Human?¡±

    The little girl nodded.

    ¡°Your innate talent is just average, but you have an instinctive intuition for danger. To think that you can avoid my punch in advance. How rare.¡± Bai Aotu¡¯s tone was as t as ever. No meaning could be discerned from her voice.

    The girl hesitated for a moment before moving closer to Bai Aotu. Shakily, she stretched out her arms and said with a slightly rough voice, ¡°Take me away.¡±

    Bai Aotu looked at the little girl¡¯s big, round eyes and said slowly, ¡°If you want to leave with me, then you will have to be the sharpest de in the Bai Family. Will you?¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes were as clear as water, and she answered without any hesitation, ¡°I will.¡± then, she lowered her voice and murmured softly, ¡°As long¡­ as I can live.¡±

    ¡°What are you called?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a name.¡±

    After staring at the little girl¡¯s eyes for a very, very long time, Bai Aotu finally stretched out a hand and grabbed the little hand that was still bleeding before her. Bai Aotu let out the trace of a rare smile before turning around and moving away, leading the little girl towards human territory.

    The one big and one small girl walked further and further away into the wastnd and merged into one with the night.

    In the dark nation, the rtive and far opposition of Darkblood City was ck Glory Gemini City.

    Gemini City wasposed of both Wolf City and Blood Castle. They were separated at the center by a tower as tall as the city walls, a battlement and a hiding soldier wall. The architectural style of the two city districts werepletely different. Only the southern end of the public area was administered jointly, and any dark race could visit this ce freely. It was also Gemini City¡¯s business district.

    Wolf City was mainly popted by werewolves, and was controlled by four great tribes. The mayor was a mad wolf named Kohl Moya. Meanwhile, Blood Castle was formed by many big and small vampire families led by a Count named Weald. Due to the feud between werewolves and vampires, no vampires could be seen inside Wolf City, and naturally no werewolves in Blood Castle.

    The responsibility of Gemini City¡¯s mayor was assumed by Moya and Weald in rotation every three years. Moya and Weald were the supreme ruler of the territory several hundred kilometers around Gemini City.

    Right now, Mayor Count Weald was at the final year of his term. However, the vampire count was in an extremely bad mood as ofte. It seemed like nothing was going satisfactorily for him. No, the situation could no longer be described with just satisfactory any longer. Things had never been as bad as it was now for thest several hundred years of his long life.

    The count paced back and forth inside the study, and from time to time his eyes would sweep across the few pages of reports on the study table. Every time he reread the pages, his feelings would worsen further. In the end, after he finally could take it no longer and let out a howl that shook the entire castle, the count picked up an entire book rack and smashed it heavily at the wall on the opposite side. Only then he finally vented some of the resentment in his chest.

    Several vampires were kneeling in front of the study¡¯s entrance. Every time the count saw them, his anger would rise without reason!

    ¡°Can¡¯t do anything right, don¡¯t know anything! Why do I still need you all then!¡±

 Volume 3 - 19: Outpost

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 19: Outpost

    The count¡¯s roar caused every vampire to shiver with cold. This was the instinctive fear of an inferior towards their superior.

    Moreover, the count¡¯s temper had never been too good. Every time he was this irritated and in rage, it would take tearing several living bodies apart with his own hands to calm him down. Most of the time it was the human captives who got torn up, but sometimes there were unfortunate vampires who became his sacrifice as well.

    Supposedly, Weald¡¯s strength was slightly above Moya¡¯s, and thus the vampire¡¯s status should be slightly stronger in Gemini City. However, not long ago the Evernight Council member Ge Shitu had suddenly graced Gemini City with his presence, and after resting for a short period, he was about head to the human¡¯s Darkblood City to handle a certain important matter.

    However, for whatever reason the council member¡¯s whereabouts were leaked, and as a result he was intercepted by a human elite outside Darkblood City. It was said that the famed gun Red Spider Lily had found a new master after several hundreds of years. Heavily injured by the Nether River Flower¡¯s mysterious abilities, Ge Shitu had no choice but to retreat in a panic.

    The council members of the Evernight Council were important figures that even Weald had to look up to with all his might. At first he thought that this was a once in a blue moon opportunity to curry favor with a council member, but he did not imagine that such a big slip-up would ur. After Ge Shitu came back he was extremely furious, and heid down the order for a strict investigation to find out the leaker before leaving abruptly. From this, Weald knew that his image in this council member¡¯s heart had fallen to the lowest depths.

    The fallout of this incident wasn¡¯t over yet when Luke Masefield showed up.

    This young Masefield was extremely arrogant, and he did not give either Weald or Moya any face at all. Weald could only endure it because he was absolutely iparable to this young demonkin be it in terms of strength or status.

    Weald heard that the young demonkind hadid down the bait for a big fish by implementing a blood feast. The experienced vampire count instinctively thought that it was improper, but he was powerless to stop it. However, he knew very well about the human empire¡¯s principal of cruel revenge towards a blood feast.

    Originally, the count hoped that the young demonkin would possess a strength equal to his arrogance and be able to defend himself from the human¡¯s revenge. But he did not imagine that the human¡¯s counter attack would arrive so swiftly and so fiercely that the demonkind and his entire base was wiped off the map entirely!

    When he received this news, Weald immediately understood the severity of the problem. The young demonkin¡¯s first name wasn¡¯t important; what was important was that hisst name was Masefield! A Masefield had actually died in his domain and during his term of office!

    Weald could not help but feel a severe case of headache. He seriously had no idea how he was going to exin this oue to that family that was as gigantic as Evernight¡¯s mountain range. He couldn¡¯t say that the young Masefield had diedpletely due to his own idiocy and arrogance, could he?

    Thest report that came was the final straw that threw Wealdpletely into a fit of rage.

    The document was thrown right at a vampire baron¡¯s face with a loud pop!

    ¡°Not only did a human hunter killed Benjamin and his n right in front of your eyes, he even saved several dozens of human cattle in the process! And not only did he led those ordinary people without a shred of origin power in them back to human domain, he even took out an entire patrol team? Is this the army you people train? Is this the army I spent thousands of crystal coins every year?¡±

    ¡°It was one hunter! One! What rank can he possibly be at? Seven? Eight? Don¡¯t tell me that there¡¯s a Champion rank hunter!¡± Weald roared angrily while waving his arms, ¡°Investigate him! Dig out everything and anything about this presumptuous bastard! After that, bring his head to me no matter what method you have to use and what price you have to pay! Go contact our friends; their existence is for such an asion. I want to see his head in a month¡¯s time, you hear me?!¡±

    Right now at this moment, Count Weald¡¯s roar was the only sound resonating throughout the entire castle.

    Qianye did not yet know that his activities had caused a reaction that was so huge that it was on equal footing with Masefield¡¯s death. In fact, judging from the level of fury, he even seemed to be more sessful.

    After all, the person who could wipe out Masefield and his base along with him was absolutely no ordinary human elite. Weald knew that he would only die faster if he tried to take revenge since he wasn¡¯t even a match for the young Masefield. However, how dare a human hunter¡ªa thing that wasn¡¯t much more noble than a reptile¡ªdaremit atrocities on Gemini City¡¯s domain? This was not to mention that Benjamin was no ordinary vampire knight.

    Following Weald¡¯s fury, the tremendous force belonging to Gemini City began to move. The pieces buried among the humans were also used to investigate the hunter¡¯s origin at full force.

    Arge web had been spread out, and it was enclosing Qianye from all directions.

    Right now, Qianye was facing a new problem. The several dozens of human beings he saved were stopped at the expeditionary forces¡¯ outpost.

    ¡°Who are you people!¡± when the outpost guards asked this in a loud voice, these people who had never been to the great Qin Empire were at a loss. Some of them admitted honestly that they were originally ves penned up by the vampires, and that they had just been rescued before escaping to this ce.

    The expeditionary force sentinel¡¯splexion immediately changed. After backing off a few steps in secret, he suddenly cried out in a loud voice, ¡°Alert!¡±

    Instantly, the rm was sounded, and there was amotion at the military camp beside the outpost. In less than three minutes, hundreds of soldiers ran out and surrounded the several dozens of survivors at the center.

    When Qianye arrived, he just happened to encounter this sight.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Qianye yelled loudly before rushing to the scene. He then asked the captain responsible for this outpost, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Qianye might be a hunter, but he was already at rank four. That expeditionary force captain was only at rank two, so he forced himself to give Qianye a brief exnation because of his rank.

    The second Qianye heard his exnation, he knew that his worries had be true. It was obvious that this captain viewed these people as blood thralls, or at least potential blood thralls. ording to the expeditionary forces¡¯ regtions, even if these people were executed as blood thralls on the spot, they would be isted as potential suspects, and by istion it meant throwing them into the ck mines until the observation period was over. The problem was that the observation period usuallysted a lifetime.

    Imperial soldiers were given a lot of decision power when deciding whether a person was a blood thrall. This was especially true among the expeditionary forces, where the extent of their authorities could more or less be simplified into one line, ¡°I say you are, and so you are.¡±

    ¡°They are not blood thralls!¡± Qianye attempted to argue.

    The captain had already lost his patience. He smiled coldly and said, ¡°It¡¯s not up to you to decide!¡±

    ¡°It is true that they had been penned up by vampires before, it was all bloodletting only. They have never been bitten!¡±

    The captain continued to smiled coldly, ¡°Who knows?¡±

    Qianye forced down his anger and said, ¡°You¡¯re saying that I saved them from the vampires and led them over hundreds of kilometers, only to have them all killed as blood thralls?¡±

    ¡°Young man, you did the right thing!¡± a voice came from behind Qianye. It was a gloomy and cold-looking major, and he appeared to be the outpost¡¯s highest ranking officer.

    ¡°However, I only mean the part where you got them away from the vampires. There is no need at all for you to bring them over such a long distance; that is you putting yourself in unnecessary danger. All you need to do is to kill them. Leaving such people alive would only increase the vampire¡¯s strength.¡±

    ¡°They are humans as well!¡± Qianye said word by word.

    The major looked at Qianye for a moment before shrugging. Then, he swept a nce across the numb or trembling survivors before suddenly focusing onto the girl. After examining her closely for a moment, he let out the hint of a meaningful smile before pointing at her and saying, ¡°You! Come over!¡±

    The girl walked out with slight anxiety.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look like a blood thrall. Go stand there at the side!¡±

    The girl grew more and more anxious. She could almost imagine what kind of experience she would go throughter. Sometimes, when guests arrived at the vampire manor, they would be selected from the group just like this. Then again, it didn¡¯t seem muchpared to staying alive. After ncing once hesitatingly at Qianye, she walked towards the location the major had pointed her at.

    The major randomly selected a few more women to stand beside the girl before taking out a cigarette, lighting it up, swayed his way in front of Qianye and poking the cigarette hard at his shoulder des and said, ¡°There, kid! You saw what I did. I¡¯ve given you enough face by letting a portion of this people go! Now, you can disappear!¡±

    ¡°What about the rest?¡±

    ¡°Them? Of course they had to be isted and inspected. If they are confirmed not to be blood thralls, then there will be further arrangementster.¡±

    Qianye knew very well what he meant by istion and inspection. He immediately said coldly, ¡°Let them pass. I will think of a way to arrange them.¡±

    ¡°You? Arrange them?¡± the major looked at Qianye like he was staring at an idiot, ¡°Who the hell are you to make arrangements for them? Can you handle the responsibility if there is even one blood thrall among this people? If it wasn¡¯t because you have some skill I wouldn¡¯t even waste so much breath with you! Who the hell do you think you are! A crap hunter is no different from a wild dog in my eyes!¡±

    Killing intent flowed out of Qianye¡¯s eyes, and the major yielded nothing. He took two steps forwards until he and Qianye were almost pressed together. He unleashed his origin aura while holding nothing back. He was also a rank four expert.

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°You better put away your army riffraff methods!¡±

    The major suddenlyughed loudly, ¡°Who are you? Are you a noble? Are you a son of a bitch of those aristocratic families who doesn¡¯t even know how to fart, or are you my boss? You¡¯re nothing! Why should I listen to you! I¡¯m telling you that on this ce, my word is thew! cky!¡±

    A fat-faced staff sergeant responded to hismand and struck a middle-aged man to the ground fiercely with the butt of his gun. Then, he pulled the trigger and poured an entire magazine of bullets, shooting until the ground was scattered and the air was foul. The middle-aged man was so scared his face was pale. Hey on the ground and did not dare to move a muscle.

    The major beckoned the staff sergeant with a finger while biting his cigarette and looking at Qianye¡¯s eyes, saying, ¡°The next round of shooting will be so urate you¡¯d be surprised. Get me a few other.¡±

    The staff sergeant wore a nasty grin as he searched for his next victim among the crowd. Very soon, he spotted a handsome-looking young man and smashed his face his the butt of his gun. Then he said, ¡°Your daddy here hates pretty-looking ones the most!¡±

    The major waited expectantly for the blood curdling scream that was about to ensue, but suddenly, a fist swiftly grew bigger right before his eyes. Then, as if he was struck by an giant ancient beast, he flew backwards involuntarily.

    Qianye sent the major flying with a punch before grabbing onto his ankle and swinging him heavily on the ground. In the end, he stepped right on his stomach!

    Although the major possessed the tough body of a rank four, he felt as if he was ran over by a fully loaded heavy truck just now and nearly passed out. Just when he had finally recovered, a thick and ice-cold was plunged mercilessly into his mouth and right to his throat!

    The burning cigarette was pressed deep into his throat and was extinguished against its will.

    The major finally understood the situation before him. Qianye was holding an extraordinarily long origin gun and holding its barrel inside his mouth. He immediately noticed at first nce that it was the astonishingly famous sniper rifle Eagleshot!

    Forget Eagleshot, any firearm sniper rifle that was fired in someone¡¯s mouth would kill the person no matter how tough their body was.

    All the guards at expeditionary force outpost were stunned for a time. The ruthless and invincible major in their hearts was actually knocked out in a single blow. This did not look like a fight between identical ranks at all; even a rank five could not have crushed a rank four so thoroughly.

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°That bit rank of yours means nothing to me!¡±

    The major could only let out muffled sounds. The eyes of some expeditionary force soldiers were finally filled in fear. They did not recognize Eagleshot, but they did notice that the gun looked like a sniper rifle. A professional of sniper rifles like Qianye had always been the scariest hunter to face. Of course, there was no way he could provoke the giant that was the expeditionary force, but the senior officers would have no interest in investigating to the end if grass-root soldiers were to be assassinated on the way back home of a certain night.

    Qianye slowly withdrew Eagleshot¡¯s gun barrel and said, ¡°Let them go!¡±

    The major smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Impossible! If we let them through just like this, the moment the higher ups know about this, every one of the brothers here will be sent into the cannon fodder camp. They must be isted and inspected! You should know this since you can use Eagleshot.¡± right now the major was only thinking that his bad luck had caught up to him. When he recognized Eagleshot, he already knew that he had provoked the wrong person. While it was true that the adventurers, hunters and mercenaries on the wastnd were worth nothing, but god knows about people who used such identities as cover.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Then what do you say we should do?¡±

 Volume 3 - 20: Unsolved Problem

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 20: Unsolved Problem

    The major raised both arms in surrender before smiling bitterly, saying, ¡°I will try my best to greet around and let them have a normal inspection. The observation period will be a month, and if there truly aren¡¯t any infected people then we¡¯ll release them. If you still cannot ept this, then you may as well kill me.¡±

    A normal inspection meant a more reasonable survival rate. Qianye sighed on the inside and withdrew his foot from the major. Then, he holstered Eagleshot back to the holster and showed his back.

    ¡°That is all. I will pay attention to the results.¡± once he was finished, Qianye turned around and left.

    The major climbed up to his feet and twisted his head strongly. Then, he suddenly shouted at Qianye¡¯s back, ¡°Hey kid! Don¡¯tmit such folly in the future, get it!¡±

    Qianye left without ever turning his head around as if he hadn¡¯t heard his call.

    The major spat out a blood stained spit and swore, ¡°What a goddamn monster!¡±

    As for whether he wasmenting on Qianye¡¯s strength or his behavior, it was unknown.

    Qianye walked very quickly, and it didn¡¯t take long before his surroundings were all wastnds once more. However, right now at this moment, the major¡¯s words were still resonating in his heart.

    Right now, it really would seem that saving the human cattles who were penned up by the vampires was an arduous and thankless folly tomit. It wasn¡¯t to say that these people should not be rescued, but simply a matter of the Empire¡¯s current system and their principle of choosing to kill an innocent over letting a blood thrall go free.

    This system and principle was the product of millenniums of cruel war, and the countless bodies of pioneers and almighties. One might say even that right and wrong could not be judged based on the circumstances at the time. If something must be said, then the fact that the Empire continued to exist to this day and was just as strong as ever was proof of its righteousness.

    Even if Qianye had a different opinion on this matter, he was only one person. There was no way he could go up against the entire system, not to mention that he had not a clue what he could do to prevent this. At the very least, there was no way he could actually kill the expeditionary forces¡¯ major and outpost guards for the dozens of human cattles right now. Now that would be a foolish action of biting the hand that feeds. No matter how questionable the expeditionary forces might be, they were still the human¡¯s final defense line against the dark races on the Evernight Continent.

    The major¡¯s final suggestion was the most tolerant proposal he could give in the current circumstances. Moreover, when Qianye thought deeper into the matter, he realized that this wasn¡¯t the end of the case. Even after the dozens of humans were safely released from custody, their situation still would not be much better.

    The Empire possessed four continents and more than three hundred provinces. However, the resources they possessed were never enough whenpared to the Empire¡¯s massive poption and the threat of power enemies.

    On the empire¡¯s domain, there were several billions of poor people at the lowest rung of society struggling on the line of life and death every day. Inparison, these human cattles absolutely did not qualify for better treatment unless they could prove their own worth.

    However, this was easier said than done. Some of these people were captured and thus had memories of human nations. Perhaps they had a chance at merging back into society once more. However, those who were born and raised in the dark territories were a different question. If there were no one to guide them, then it was unknown whether they could get used to life in human society.

    This was the first time in his life Qianye encountered a problem which he would not have considered in the past, and that was dealing with the aftermath of war. But he did not know where the answery either.

    After returning to Darkblood City, Qianye headed to A1¡¯s Firearms first.

    Old 1 raised his head and nced expressionlessly at Qianye once, saying, ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    ¡°I have something good to give you.¡± while speaking, Qianye tossed a satchel onto the counter.

    Old 1 snorted before standing up slowly. He said, ¡°Something good? More like some trouble! One day these old bones are gonna die by your hands¡ª¡±

    Old 1¡¯s voice came to an abrupt stop before he could finish.

    The buckle of the satchel was broken and loose, revealing the antique handguns of the vampire kept inside it. Old 1 suddenly took off his spectacles and wiped it clean carefully before fishing out a pair of snow white gloves to put onto his hands. Only then he held his breath and gently drew out the two handguns and ced them on a piece of white cloth.

    ¡°Go close the door!¡± Old 1 said without turning his head.

    Qianye locked the shop entrance as he said. Some amount of expectations immediately grew inside his heart. If that grade three Flowing Gold Rosest time could be sold for five hundred gold coins already, then these two antique handguns that formed pairs and were rank four origin guns should be worth at least two or three thousand gold coins, shouldn¡¯t they?

    If that was the case, then the goods on Old 2¡¯s list would not be a problem any longer.

    Of course, Qianye was still willing to ept that mysterious mission if it wasn¡¯t too troublesome. Although it might not be as simple as it appeared¡ªotherwise Old 2 would not have racked his brains and came to his doorsteps¡ªbut based on his trust on Yu Yingnan, Qianye still thought that there was no harm at giving it a try.

    While Old 1 wiped the handguns with leather nnel, his thumb carefully traced every decorative design on the guns. An R was etched onto the handle of one handgun, whereas a flowery W was on the other.

    After Old 1 ced the two handguns side by side, he said to Qianye, ¡°Take these handguns back with you. I cannot ept them.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t? Why?¡± Qianye was stunned for a time.

    Old 1 pointed at the two alphabets on the gun¡¯s body and said, ¡°If I am not mistaken, you must have taken these from some vampire noble¡¯s collection room. While these pair of abbreviated alphabets may mean a lot of things, if it appears on a pair of Origin guns then it can only mean one name: Ross Weald. He is an extremely famous vampire noble. These two guns were his when he was younger. They are called the ¡°Twin Flowers.¡± The reason they became famous was because Ross had challenged and killed the former Darkblood City Champion rank mayor when he was just a Baron, which is the equivalent of our human rank nine Fighter. This is the pair of handguns that had dealt the final blow.¡±

    ¡°Then it should be even more valuable, isn¡¯t it?¡± Qianye asked in puzzlement.

    Old 1 shook his head and said, ¡°The problem is that this Ross Weald isn¡¯t dead yet. In fact, his life is going swimmingly and he is a Marquis already. His territory is at the wide west of Darkblood City, and this pair of handguns is probably a gift by him to a certain descendant of his. No matter how you¡¯ve acquired these guns, it is the equivalent of a loud p on Marquis Ross¡¯ face. There is no way he will take this lying down. Therefore, I cannot ept this, and so is everyone else in the entire Boulderstone Region and its surrounding areas.¡±

    At this point, Old 1 looked meaningfully at Qianye before saying, ¡°You know, the borders of Darkness and Daybreak is in fact the gray area we speak of. Gray means the coexistence of both ck and white. Therefore, if the dark races are nning a little something, they have many ways and many humans who are willing to serve under them.¡±

    Qianye was a little stunned. Ever since the incident at ckflow City, ever since he learned about the underground munitions of Darkblood City¡¯s ck market, he already noticed that there might be a lot more secret deals going on between the human race and dark races he could imagine. But before Old 1 had pointed this out so bluntly for him, he would not have imagined that a vampire marquis would have such powerful influence in a human controlled area.

    Amidst shock, Qianye also felt anger rising involuntarily to his head. In reality, this was not above reason. If the activemander of the expeditionary forces could trade in secret with the dark races, then what¡¯s so strange about other families and forces doing the same thing?

    Qianye sucked in a deep breath and withdrew the pair of handguns, ¡°In that case, not only could I not sell these things, I would even be chased and hunted by the vampires?¡±

    ¡°It would appear so.¡±

    But Old 1 had immediately hinted obscurely to Qianye that, while he could not sell off Ross¡¯ twin guns in Darkblood City, it did not mean that he could not sell it in the upper continents. It didn¡¯t take much thinking before Qianye understood his unspoken words. A vampire marquis who could kill a human Champion when he was still a Baron was an important figure, but that was only on this territory. Ultimately, it was still a question of strength. The hands of this Marquis Ross had not yet stretched to the upper continents.

    Other than the ¡°Twin Flowers¡± that he could not unload at the moment, Qianye¡¯s spoils also included a bag of crystal coins and a grade three origin gun that belonged to a Blood Esquire of a patrol team. Therefore, in the end an additional one hundred or so imperial gold coins was traded into his pockets, so it could be considered a small profit.

    After he was done tidying his equipment, Qianye that sought out Old 2 to make his report. A momentter, the duo found a quiet shop near the Home of Hunters and sat down. They ate as they chat.

    Old 2 listened to Qianye¡¯s adventure from beginning to the end, and his expression changed from respect, heaviness, and finally a bitter smile of helplessness.

    Qianye¡¯s own expression was surprisingly calm as he said, ¡°What, even you think that I¡¯ve caused a huge trouble?¡±

    ¡°The one you killed is probably the descendant of Ross Weald, and the fact that he can develop a small, independent family meant that he was at least the direct bloodline of Ross Weald within five generations. What do you say? I know that you are never afraid to fight the dark races head on, but the fatal blow oftenes from behind one¡¯s back.¡±

    Qianye smiled slightly and said, ¡°I¡¯m not easy pickings either. If there are any people who are willing to throw their lives away from the dark races, then I don¡¯t mind adding a few more human lives to my score. I will kill as many as theye!¡±

    ¡°You are only at rank four!¡± Old 2 said sincerely and earnestly. In reality, it was because Qianye was only rank four that he was in so much trouble right now. If he was at rank eight, nine, or even Champion, then he would be facing a lot less backstabbers. After all, before one betrays, they had to at least know who they¡¯re trying to betray!

    Qianye only smiled and made noments about his rank.

    Old 2 said sternly, ¡°We can talk about your mission now. Tomorrow, Miss Qiqi will send her men over and give you a final interview. If you pass the interview, then you will set out on the same day. However, I doubt it¡¯ll be a problem for you to pass it.¡±

    ¡°Miss Qiqi?¡± it was a name that Qianye waspletely unfamiliar with.

    ¡°Yin Qiqi, is one of the core sessors of this generation¡¯s Drinking Horse Yin n. The Yin family is an aristocratic family of the upper three ranks. Even in the entire empire, and they are the first ss influential n on the Qin Continent. Therefore, you more or less get the idea of Miss Qiqi¡¯s status, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Naturally, Qianye understood this very well. The nobility ranks of the empire was extremelyplicated. There were four grand households, seventy two aristocratic families, and thousands ofndowning households. In general, they had used the same nine rank system when the nation was founded. Among the upper three ranks, the four households Zhang, Zhao, Bai and Song were indisputable leaders. There were also some super aristocratic families that weren¡¯t too far behind them. Although the rankings of the upper, middle and lower three ranks would often fluctuate, illustrious aristocratic families such as the Drinking Horse Yin n, Far East Wei n, and Jadestone Wang n had never fallen off the upper three ranks.

    The most direct observation of this system was the page of special caption in every mission intel back when Qianye was still serving under the Red Scorpion, stating the exceptions to the local death quota. Generally, those of middle and upper three ranks would fall under this exception.

    If Yin Qiqi was core sessor to such an aristocratic family of the upper three ranks, if they were to discuss her status in terms of the empire¡¯s aristocracy sequence, then she was god knows how many times higher than people such as Darkblood City¡¯s mayor or the expeditionary forces¡¯ major general.

    Something puzzled Qianye, however. What kind of mission was an honored daughter of an illustrious status trying toplete that needed the help of a lowly hunter?

    Old 2 said, Your mission is to act as Miss Qiqi¡¯s adviser, aide, soldier, and assassin during the time she is on the Evernight Continent, and if necessary, her lover.¡±

    The mouthful of water Qianye just drank was nearly spat onto Old 2¡¯s face when he heard this, ¡°Lover?!¡±

    Old 2 rolled his eyes at him, ¡°Of course it¡¯s not real!¡±

 Volume 3 - 21: Successor Examination

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 21: Sessor Examination

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Qianye let out a sigh of relief. He did not think that this Miss Qiqi would becking in lovers. With such an illustrious status as hers, no matter how she looked like, even if she looked like a sow there would still be a whole bunch of handsome and capable men orbiting around her.

    However, Qianye frowned again and said, ¡°Why does it sound like I have to do everything? Doesn¡¯t that mean that I don¡¯t actually have to do anything at all?¡±

    ¡°That is so. You will do whatever Miss Qiqi requests you to do, and you will do it well. As for the reason, you will know after you¡¯ve passed tomorrow¡¯s interview. If she has no requests, then you simply need to stay by her side.¡±

    Qianye continued to frown. He had a feeling that this was an obviously troublesome mission where he did not have sufficient reason to turn down. In the end though, he agreed. A bit of potential trouble was nothingpared to the rich reward.

    A night passed just like that. The next day morning, Qianye was taken by Old 2 to the highest ss hotel in the city. They went right up to the top floor.

    The price of this hotel wasn¡¯t cheap, and the entire top floor had already been booked. It was likely that the expense of the booking would cost several gold coins per day. This gave Qianye, who was still calcting his mission rewards by silver coins not long ago an indescribable feeling. Although both parties were standing on the same floor, they were like creatures from two different worlds.

    Qianye sat in the wide living room for forty minutes straight before a series of crisp footsteps finally rang from outside the hall. A middle-aged woman stepped inside.

    This was a woman who took very good care of her appearance, although her countenance revealed a bit of her age. She wore a wide gown with big sleeves, and her long hair was divided at the center and rolled into a lean bun hanging behind her head. The ornaments from the tip of her hair to her clothes and shoes were perfectly in order andpletely unblemished. However, even though her long face was perfectly expressionless, one could feel the extreme unkindness and pickiness radiating from her.

    ¡°You are Qianye? Stand up!¡±

    Qianye stood up inpliance and looked at the woman with full wariness. This woman dressed in retro clothing was a rank seven expert!

    Right now it wasn¡¯t too difficult for Qianye to deal with rank six Fighters, but it was definitely not a sure thing if it was a rank seven Fighter. Moreover, big aristocratic families would often cultivate one, or even many kinds of secret martial arts that granted thembat power that was far beyond another expert of the same rank.

    Back at Xiangyang¡¯s soldier recruitment point, Qianye did not think highly of those aristocratic secret arts. However, having watched the battle of the Broken Winged Angels¡¯ recruits, Qianye finally noticed that as one¡¯s rank increases, the secret arts would gradually grow in power as well. For example, Wei Potian¡¯s secret art ¡°Thousand Mountains¡± could instantly increase his defense rapidly, turning him into a hard-shelled tortoise that could not be moved. Therefore, he now viewed these aristocratic experts with additional caution.

    The girl circled around Qianye twice with her eyebrows that had alreadypletely locked together as one, ¡°You¡¯re actually not rank three but rank four. Mm, this is slightly better than what was expected, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that you are still useless. I doubt you understand at all how lucky you are, and how much others have paid so that you can stand here. Never mind, it is none of my business anyway. Now, remove your makeup.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment before heading to the toilet for several minutes and wiping away the little disguises on his facepletely. He then stood before the woman once more.

    The woman¡¯s eyebrows immediately soothed, and her gaze became a lot gentler after the removal of his makeup. She nodded and said, ¡°Good, very good! You are very suitable! Go back and tidy up your things. You have two hours. You can throw away anything that isn¡¯t too important. Over there at the Miss¡¯ ce, you can get anything you want!¡±

    Wait a moment¡­¡±

    ¡°Go tidy up your things, now! Throw away everything that is unnecessary! Money is not a problem.¡±

    Qianye opened his mouth, finally understanding that there was no possibility ofmunication with this domineering woman at all. He could only bid her goodbye and walked off the floor.

    Old 2 was waiting at the entrance, his anxiety overflowing to his speech as he immediately asked Qianye upon seeing him, ¡°How is it?¡±

    Qianye spread his arms wide and said, ¡°She told me to tidy up my things and gave me only two hours.¡±

    Old 2 immediately let out a sigh of relief.

    Qianye was a little curious, ¡°Is this mission really this important to you?¡±

    A faint bitter smile of helplessness floated on Old 2¡¯s face, ¡°A single line from an important figure like Miss Qiqi can affect many people¡¯s futures. At the very least, if she is happy with the results of this mission right now, then the fates of two families can be changed. So you tell me if this mission important or not? Of course, you will bepensated for this mission with arge sum of money and the resources needed to increase your strength. Thetter may not even be purchasable with money in Darkblood City, so you can say that the benefits at least stand equal with the drawbacks.¡±

    Qianye could hear the helplessness in Old 2¡¯s tone.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Yingnan? Why haven¡¯t I seen here back?¡±

    ¡°She has already left.¡±

    Qianye was startled, ¡°Left? Where to?¡±

    ¡°Her family troubles have already been resolved. Therefore, she can return to her family and not stay here and continue as a hunter. She said that she will not be bidding you goodbye. As for the items inside her house, you can take away whatever you want. I¡¯ll keep the rest on her behalf.¡±

    Qianye felt a slight sense of mncholy he could not describe, and he asked, ¡°Does her family have something to do with this mission?¡±

    Old 2 sighed and said, ¡°There is some rtion, but¡­ not too much. Miss Qiqi had always wanted to help her, but was turned down every time. Yingnan is sometimes a very stubborn kid.¡±

    Old 2 pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Work well, for your own sake and Yingnan¡¯s!¡±

    Qianye nodded in silence.

    Two hourster, an airship rose into the air and flew far away with Qianye in it.

    On a grave at the outskirts of Darkblood City, a few big men were lifting an unusually huge coffin and slowly suspending it into the grave pit. The coffin was not covered up yet, and Yu Renyany quietly inside with a peaceful expression that made him looked like he was asleep.

    Yu Yingnan stood beside the grave pit and watched the coffin enter the ground in silence. While standing beside her and sighing, Old 2 asked, ¡°Do you really not want to reconsider?¡±

    ¡°Brother has long said that he wishes to be buried at the ce he perishes inbat. Back then, my brother had killed those bastards and hid here at this forgottennd only because he wanted to save me from the officers¡¯ humiliation. Now that he has left forever, I will aplish his dream on his behalf. My brother¡¯s biggest yearning was to be an imperial general andmand the army to take out those ck blooded bastards. Therefore, I will return to the Qin Continent and join the imperial army.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°I have already made up my mind!¡±

    It was at this moment Yu Yingnan suddenly looked towards the sky as if she had sensed something.

    Several airships floated above the west city district of Darkblood City. Looking at their channels, some werending and some were taking off. The most gorgeous airship of them all was a rare barracks airship. Its white sail was drawn up on its mast, and the head of a green piebald could be vaguely seen. The airship was slowing turning to the wind and flying farther and farther away. It was none other than the Yin Family¡¯s private airship.

    Yu Yingnan finally withdrew her gaze when the airship had vanished from the horizon. Suddenly, she untied her ponytail and gripped her long hair with one hand and pulling out her military knife with the other. With a swing, she cut off her full head of long hair and tossed it casually into the air.

    The wind blew away the cut strands of hair and carried them towards the far sky.

    The wrinkles on Old 2¡¯s face deepened even further. With a heavy sigh, he said, ¡°I did not know that you and Qianye are in that kind of rtionship already.¡±

    Yu Yingnan smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s not that kind of rtionship. I know that he doesn¡¯t like me, so there is nothing to regret about parting ways. Back when I went to Qiqi to rmend him to her, I¡¯ve already made up my mind to give up. Old 2, you should know that someone like Qiqi would never let him go the second she sees Qianye. Perhaps Qiqi is more suitable for Qianye!¡±

    The coffin had been covered up, and the big men began to fill the pit with soil. A momentter, a new grave had appeared on this graveyard. The gravestone waspletely nk, and there wasn¡¯t even a name on it. This was also Yu Yingnan¡¯s intentions. What should be remembered would be remembered. What would be forgotten would be forgotten no matter how many words were engraved on the gravestone.

    Yu Yingnan walked to Old 2 and hugged him, saying, ¡°Old 2, I¡¯m leaving. Thank you for taking care of me for such a long time. Take good care of yourself. You must see me be a general no matter what. When that day happens, I¡¯lle back and drink with you again!¡±

    Old 2 sighed deeply as his eyes wetted involuntarily. Slowly, he said, ¡°Yingnan, I will grant you this parting word: Live!¡±

    Yu Yingnan smiled and nodded strongly.

    She took a few steps back, carried her backpack and walked towards the public airship base.

    The short haired figure looked vigorous, and also deste beneath the evening sky.

    While sitting on the airship and watching the ground flying backwards outside the window, Qianye suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart as if he had lost something. However, this feeling was very thin and faint, just like the breeze that was about to arrive during the light season.

    It was at this moment the middle aged woman Auntie Lan passed two pieces of paper to Qianye and said, ¡°This is the essentials of your mission. Also, memorize this person. You may encounter him in the future while you are performing a mission. If he is in your way of business, don¡¯t go easy on him. You can do whatever you want as long as it is not murder.¡±

    Qianye epted the papers and gave it a look. As it turned out, the main mission was to assist Yin Qiqi inpleting the examination to be the core sessor of the family. The content of Qiqi¡¯s examination was to battle against the dark races on the Evernight Continent, and her military aplishments would be her results in this examination. In addition, obtaining precious resources and some important information granted additional points.

    This was a verymon aristocratic examination content. Qianye had once participated a simr mission back when he was with the Red Scorpions. A certain important figure had secretly mobilized a small Red Scorpion squad in order to assist his son in obtaining a better examination result.

    There was the portrait of a young and handsome man on another paper. Although the portrait was a simple ck and white sketch, one could still see the high spirits and extraordinary confidence on the person. He had to be a very talented youth. Beside the portrait, there was a record of this person¡¯s resume written in small letters. As Qianye read through them carefully, his expression gradually turned serious.

    Gu Liyu was born in andowning household. With the full support of his family, he pursued his studies in the empire¡¯s high military academy and graduated among the top ten several yearster. Later on, he joined the corps ¡°Arms of War¡± and served for five years, aplishing outstanding military merits again and again. Last year, he retired from ¡°Arms of War¡± and had joined the empire¡¯s military division. He was now a lieutenant colonel staff officer.

    This resume could be rated very impressive. Although his individualbat result might notpare to Qianye, and the elite corps ¡°Arms of War¡± had always been suppressed by ¡°Red Scorpion¡± despite ranking among the top five, the direction Gu Liyu was striving for was very obviouslymand and not military force. However, his individual strength wasn¡¯t weak either. He was rank seven, and he was only twenty nine years old.

    For a child of andowning household, a promotion rate like this was absolutely something to be proud of. After all, the medicines that aids in cultivation were extremely expensive, and they were absolutely not something andowning household that was often slightly wealthier than a poor family could afford. Their family arts probably wasn¡¯t anything impressive either. If one wished to avoid the Combatant Form because of its exceedingly high wear and tear rate, they could only rely on uncertain opportunities such as joining under an aristocratic family or bing an apprentice of a great teacher.

    ¡°Who is this person?¡±

    ¡°He is the Miss¡¯ fiance.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t sure whether tough or cry. His opponent was a rank seven expert, and this three ranks of difference was nothing to beughed at. A person who could enter an elite corps, transfer and hold an office within the military division absolutely could not bepared to an average rank seven Fighter even if he might not have practiced a secret art.

    Moreover, this Gu Liyu was Qiqi¡¯s fiance, and he looked like quite the talented youth. Just what on earth was that Qiqi nning? Did she hire Qianye toplete her family¡¯s examination, or to cope with her fiance?

    If it was toplete her family¡¯s examination, then just how big of an effect a rank four two star hunter could have on the battlefield? There was no way they knew about Qianye¡¯s true strength. From the moment they met until now, they appeared to pay no attention to his strength either. If it was to cope with her fiance, then why didn¡¯t then find someone stronger then?

    Qianye thought that he smelled the scent of a conspiracy.

 Volume 3 - 22: Qiqiâ€™s Orders

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 22: Qiqi¡¯s Orders

    The airship flew steadily and swiftly, ultimatelynding at the airship base Yu Yingnan had stepped foot onto not long ago. There, a jeep with the same standard military g of a gold colored soaring serpent at the front of the vehicle was already waiting for Qianye and Auntie Lan. Just like before, the jeep charged wildly across the streets before it stopped in front of the Yin Family¡¯s secondary residence. The same handsome lieutenant colonel stood waiting at the steps before the entrance, and Auntie Lan disappeared after she entered the door.

    Qianye followed the lieutenant colonel into the deeper parts of the courtyard. This was actually the first time he saw such a massive retro-inspired buildingplex. The local nobles he encountered when he was performing missions for the Red Scorpions also liked to pretend that they were a culture lover, but most of them only built a main building or two using wood and stone to express their artistic mood. After all, limestone and metal constructed buildings were the only buildings tough enough to survive this hostile era.

    There were plenty of buildings, halls, and terraces along the winding journey. At first Qianye¡¯s attention was absorbed by the sceneries, but when he started observing the terrain instinctively he quickly discovered that there weren¡¯t many blind spots avable for hiding in this ce. In andscape garden where buildingplexes and lush greeneries intersected with each other, this oue was obviously the result of careful architectural design.

    Next, he noticed that the main power source of this secondary residence wasn¡¯t ck stone steam. The perpetual dynamo tower wasn¡¯t huge, and it was also situated a little too far away from the central buildings. From the shape of parts of the individual facilities, Qianye deduced that the power source of the core areas were all ck crystals, and this was just a secondary residence owned by the Yin Family on the Evernight Continent. One could see just how powerful and wealthy the Empire¡¯s upper ss families were.

    In the end, the lieutenant colonel led Qianye into an independent courtyard. The main structure ran along the entire southern side of the residence, and when they stepped inside Qianye was surprised to find no partitions within this huge space at all. This entire building was a study with traditional style furnishings and decor. A dozen or so bookshelves took up half the space inside the building, and there was a study table ced near the window. A pen rack hung with a row of writing brushes sat on top of it. There was also an inkstone and a few special writing papers set on the other side of the table.

    Qianye had never seen such a show of extravagance in his whole life. Only a genuine aristocratic family would preserve such a tradition. He looked around him, and a calligraphy work hung on the wall suddenly attracted his attention.

    It was a single word, ¡°Decisive.¡±

    The ink of these letters prated the paper, forceful but exquisite. Every stroke that made up the words were seeping with murderous spirit. Qianye might not understand calligraphy, but that didn¡¯t stop him from picking up the smell of blood from assaulting his nostrils.

    While watching, a voice suddenly rang from behind Qianye, ¡°What do you think of this word?¡±

    Qianye turned around to find a valiant and formidable-looking beauty standing at the entrance of the study.

    She was almost as tall as Qianye was. She had eyebrows like swords, and long, narrow eyes that reminded one of a phoenix. When they moved upwards they gave off an intimidating pressure, but when they curled slightly her entire expression exuded such indescribable charm that she almost looked like apletely different person. She was very young, about twenty years old of age, but the lieutenant colonel uniform she wore seriously caught Qianye off guard.

    The woman¡¯s eyes lit up the second Qianye had turned around to face her. She whistled once without the slightest scruple and said, ¡°You¡¯re Qianye, right? You look amazing. I am very satisfied with your looks! My name is Yin Qiqi.¡±

    Qianye bowed slightly in politeness and said, ¡°Miss Qiqi.¡±

    Qiqi frowned slightly and asked, ¡°You haven¡¯t learn any aristocratic etiquette, have you?¡±

    Qianye said honestly, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qiqi waved her hand once and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll find you some of the best teachers in this regard tomorrow, and you should be fine in a couple of days time. I believe that Auntie Lan had briefed you about the mission, but those family exams and stuff really aren¡¯t all that important. You only need to remember one rule, and that is to do anything I tell you to do. Beyond that, you may act as you wish if there are no orders. My enemies are aplenty, so you only need to remember this word if you encounter anyone who¡¯ll affect my exam results from hereon!¡±

    Qiqi pointed at the calligraphy work with the word ¡°Decisive¡± on the wall as she said this.

    Qianye was startled by her words. It seemed a little inconsistent with Auntie Lan¡¯s talk earlier.

    This sessor exam should¡¯ve been top priority for Qiqi as the oue wouldrgely affect the family elders¡¯ decision to choose their next patriarch. Justst year, the Yin Family had finally confirmed four potential candidates after ten full years of education and filtering. Qiqi was one of them. The content of the exam was very broad, and the ways they were allowed to deal with it were just as free. Every candidate were given five hundred imperial main corps and five hundred thousand gold coins worth of supplies and resources. With these as their foundation, they were required to contribute to the Empire as much as possible.

    Yin Qiqi had chosen toe to the Evernight Continent and battle against the dark races. Military merits gave out the highest points in this sessor¡¯s exam, and it was the kind of merit that was the least disputed. She possessed the strongest individual martial strength out of all the candidates within the family, and her family possessed a certain level of influence within the military as well. Her choice was supposed to be very wise as it enabled her to bring out her strengths in full.

    The problem was that Qiqi was here on the Evernight Continent for several months already, but she spent them all on chasing girls or eating, drinking and making merry. The few times she set out iming that she was heading to exterminate the dark races were more aptly described as tours to experience the local customs and conditions of the forgottennd. In short, she did nothing that was of any use for the exam. She hadn¡¯t even put her five hundred warriors to much use, and when she did use them she cast them out of her mind the second she threw them to the frontlines. Of course she hadn¡¯t utilized her resources to build her private army and advisors.

    In fact, Qianye was actually the first helper she officially recruited on the Evernight Continent.

    It was no wonder that this situation made all of Yin Qiqi¡¯s supporters feel a little worried, including the Auntie Lan who had gone to Darkblood City to interview Qianye. This was because the exam onlysted a year.

    Now that Qianye had heard Qiqi¡¯s strange orders with his own ears, he finally understood why Auntie Lan had looked like she wanted to say something a couple of times on the airship, and why she looked like she wanted to cover up something but couldn¡¯t find the words to do so. He couldn¡¯t determine if a conspiracy was present in this mission just yet, but this young miss¡¯ nonlinear thinking seriously wasn¡¯t something the average person could understand and execute.

    ¡°Your basic remuneration is one hundred gold coins per month, and there would be special rewards based on your actual merits. I guarantee that you¡¯ll love these special rewards,¡± At this point Qiqi was very walking close to Qianye, and showing no signs of stopping her approach.

    Qianye was very unused to have a stranger walking into his private space, and just as he was thinking whether it would be rude to dodge out of the way, Qiqi had leaned her body forwards until the tip of her nose was almost touching Qianye. Her warm breath touched Qianye¡¯s face as she said, ¡°You¡¯ll be training on etiquette and familiarizing yourself with the environment this week. The mission will officially begin once the week is over. It¡¯s decided then!¡±

    Qianye finally couldn¡¯t endure it any longer and moved his body sideways, relinquishing the front. Yin Qiqi resumed a straight standing posture and instructed nonchntly, ¡°Now, show me your strength.¡±

    Qianye slowly summoned his origin power and unleashed his aura.

    Yin Qiqi¡¯s eyes lit up yet again, and she grabbed his body a couple of times without the slightest care for politeness. For some reason, Qianye kept feeling that the young miss¡¯ examination of his body strength and origin power density was just taking advantage of him.

    ¡°You¡¯re rank four already, that¡¯s not what I heard earlier. Did you climb up a rank recently?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°Very good! Rank four is a critical stage, because it means that you¡¯ve transformed from a useless pretty boy to a slightly more useful pretty boy. Someone will lead you to your lodging. Let¡¯s leave it at this for now!¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t sure how he should respond to this bizarrement, so he simply kept his face expressionless.

    Qiqi left the study whileughing loudly. Two tall, handsome and sunny looking imperial second lieutenants walked in right after she went out and led Qianye to his lodging.

    To his surprise, he was actually given an entire courtyard to himself. Not only did it have an individual garden and pond, it also had all the necessary facilities such as a bedroom, a living hall, a study and even an armament room and a cultivation room. This was literally the first time he lived in such a luxurious environment.

    Qianye put down his luggage and went through the room one by one.

    The bedroom had a luxury bathroom of its own, and the living hall was bright, spacious, and decorated with reputable and aged works of calligraphy, art and decor. Qianye didn¡¯t recognize anyone of these things, but he only needed to look at the quality of the metal used to frame the artworks and the origin gemstones embedded in them to know that each one was extremely valuable.

    He then sauntered into the study and sat in front of the traditional study table. He carelessly pulled the drawer open and was immediately stunned speechless by the object inside.

    The drawer was actually hiding a pocket-sized grade three origin handgun! The carvings on the gun¡¯s body was exquisite and ornate, and the gun was actually wrapped inside a perfectly intact deep sea oyster shell. A thicket of inked bamboo was engraved on the handgun, and its light blue patterns glowed faintly with light. The handgun¡¯s origin array might actually be cheaper than its exterior decorations.

    There were even three nk origin bullets ced next to the handgun. It was obviously a self-defense weapon prepared for the study¡¯s master. The fact that a grade three origin gun and a self-defense weapon that might never see any use in its life was still equipped with physical bullets made Qianye recognize yet again just how deep the pockets of an aristocratic family were. It was a kind of wealth that made its presence known silently through countless such details.

    It didn¡¯t take long before the lieutenant colonel who weed Qianye walked into the courtyard and introduced himself with a smile, ¡°My name is Ji Yuanjia, you may call me Yuanjia. I will be briefing you in detail about the mission that you will be performing in the future.¡±

    Once the duo had sat down in the living room, Ji Yuanjia immediately passed over a set of documents to Qianye and said, ¡°While the mission is in effect, you will be Miss Qiqi¡¯s special assistant and aide with the rank of captain. Here, please have a look over your letter of appointment.¡±

    Qianye epted the letter of appointment. The words, ¡®Captain of the Imperial 17th Field Corps¡¯ was written on it. Naturally, the ability to distinguish the authenticity of a letter of appointment hadn¡¯t escape his grasp. He could see that the paper, the patterns and the stamp were all real, but the line where the name should be imprinted were handwritten instead. He could even see that the ink had just dried.

    Ji Yuanjia seemed to know what Qianye was thinking and said, ¡°Rx, this letter of appointment is definitely genuine and valid, and all of the relevant documents have already been dealt with. You may use the military¡¯s standard equipment anytime you want. I would suggest that you use the Yin Family¡¯s grade four private equipment though. You would have more choices, and the quality¡¯s better too.¡±

    Of course Qianye knew that the appointment of military officers normally required the letter to be in full imprint, but pre-battle appointments were amon urrence. As long as the person who issued this document had the authority, and theplete files were submitted in in time, handwritten signatures were absolutely valid. Still, the 17th Corps was a standing army among the imperial main corps, and he didn¡¯t think that this Miss Qiqi would possess a quota like this. It was a scope of power slightly bigger than what he imagined.

    Qianye flipped through the attachments at the back and found that all the necessary documents were present as expected. Even his resume had been written in full. He didn¡¯t fail to check his false identity in time before Lieutenant Colonel Ji passed over another thick handbook and said, ¡°This is the Yin Family¡¯s private army equipment catalogue. You may choose what you want from this book. The budget is one thousand gold coins.¡±

    Finally, Lieutenant Colonel Ji ced an armband on the table and said, ¡°The 131th Independent Battle Company shall be ced under your fullmand. This battlepany is built based on the imperial main corps¡¯ reinforcedpany. I hope that this is to your liking.¡±

    A reinforcedpany not only enjoyed greater numbers of personnel and equipment allocation, but also higher ranking military officers too. A squad leader would already be a rank one Fighter, and an assistantpanymander¡¯s rank would go up on that basis. Apanymander would most definitely be a rank three Fighter. A reinforcedpany¡¯sbat strength could almost rival a standard battalion.

    Did they really throw a reinforcedpany and a hundred and fifty soldiers to myp just like that?

    Still, the brick of authority that abruptlynded on his head hadn¡¯t knocked Qianye dizzy. No matter how bizarre this mission might be, it was still a mission to him.

    Qianye closed the document and asked seriously, ¡°What is my security clearance?¡±

    Lieutenant Colonel Ji was slightly caught off guard by this question, and when he looked at Qianye again his eyes had became a lot more serious. He said, ¡°You will have the same clearance as I do. There are basically no secrets in Xichang City and the human-controlled areas in the surroundings that are hidden from you. However, the secrets involving the Yin Family and a few other aristocratic families and above are not included in your security clearance.¡±

 Volume 3 - 23: Beautiful Bait

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 23: Beautiful Bait

    Qianye nodded his head and said, ¡°That will be enough. I need information regarding the distribution of the surrounding dark race cities and strongholds, as well as all major events regarding the dark races within the year.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re more professional than I thought,¡± Lieutenant Colonel Ji said sincerely.

    After he had sent off Ji Yuanjia, another major walked into the ce and ced a suitcase on the table, saying, ¡°These are your allocated supplies. Please, check them!¡±

    Qianye opened the suitcase after he signed the papers. He saw a row of ten medicinal syringes aligned neatly inside the suitcase, and thebel ¡°Type Four Origin Power Booster¡± was pasted on them. These were all cultivation medicine for rank four Fighters!

    The crest ¡°Made by Dawn Empire¡± was located beneath the cover. Dawn Empire was a big yer on the same level as ckstone Heavy Industries in the arms industry. The origin power boosters produced by thispany were high grade products almost never caught up to demand. Even the main corps could only get a small amount of supplies, and it would take an elite corps like the Red Scorpion to enjoy an unlimited amount of supplies. But even then they had to make the exchange with military merits.

    For a greenhorn like Qianye, it would take an entire year of hard work before he could umte enough points to exchange a box of medicine like this, and that was assuming that he didn¡¯t use them on other equipment.

    Qianye fell silent for a moment before he spoke to the major, ¡°Please inform Miss Qiqi that I am very grateful for this.¡±

    The major smiled and said, ¡°She will hear your words in full.¡±

    The etiquette teacher would only arrive by the morrow, so Qianye nned to spend all of his remaining time on cultivation. Every bit of growth counted before he officially began the mission.

    The fact that Qiqi had given him so much before the mission even began was beyond Qianye¡¯s imaginations already, but he knew that there were no such thing as a free lunch in this world. The higher his pay, the more dangerous his mission would be, even if he couldn¡¯t yet determine where the danger woulde from. After all, hiring a hunter and giving him so many resources seemed unnecessary if they were just looking to win military merits from the dark races.

    Qianye closed the main door, picked up the medicines and entered the cultivation room.

    Inside the biggest waterside pavilion of the back garden, Yin Qiqi was lyingzily on her back and feeling a little sleepy as she stretched her long legs. Two maids were massaging her legs while Ji Yuanjia reported his conversation with Qianye to her. He especially emphasized on Qianye¡¯s reactions when they spoke.

    ¡°Transfer the fullmand of the 131th Company over to him now!¡± Yin Qiqi looked just as absentminded as ever.

    ¡°But we still don¡¯t know much about him. Should we observe him for a little longer?¡± Ji Yuanjia advised her tactfully.

    Yin Qiqi covered her mouth and let out a yawn, ¡°We don¡¯t need to know him. Yu Yingnan already does. His rank is weak, but his strength is eptable. His background is clean, and he doesn¡¯t belong to any forces. Yu Yingnan also mentioned that Qianye was a person who would do his best once he epted his pay. Oh, right, he¡¯s also pretty damn handsome, so what else can we ask for?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s eyebrows twitched, and he fixed his gaze at the tip of his feet and pretended that he hadn¡¯t heard thest line.

    ¡°A reinforcedpany is nothing, so let him y with it all he wants. Who knows, he might even give me a pleasant surprise!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia smiled and continued to persuade with a mild tone, ¡°But Miss, you only have the military strength of a reinforced battalion, and you¡¯ve just given away one third of that power.¡±

    Qiqi saidzily, ¡°They¡¯re cannon fodder. What can they do for me even if I have twice that number? Gu Liyu will be using his connections and delivering us a squadron¡¯s Arms of War soon. Of course, they¡¯ll have a different name.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s smile immediately turned a little unnatural when he heard Gu Liyu¡¯s name. However, since Qiqi wasn¡¯t looking at him he immediately concealed his loss of self control and spoke as if he meant it from the bottom of his heart, ¡°The situation will be much better if we could have a squadron¡¯s Arms of War.¡±

    There was no doubt that fifty Arms of War soldiers would be very useful, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to secure a victory in apetition at the level of the Yin Family¡¯s sessor examination. That was why Ji Yuanjia had taken care to remind her out of public and private reasons.

    The way he expressed his concerns were very subtle, but Qiqi had figured his underlying meaning immediately. She smiled faintly and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine, Gu Liyu is just an intermediary. He could sell his entire family and he still wouldn¡¯t have enough money to hire a squadron¡¯s Arms of War.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia immediately smiled in agreement and said, ¡°An averagendowning household isn¡¯t all that better than a poor family. You are still the most important factor in this trade, or the Arms of War wouldn¡¯t have epted this mission even if Lieutenant Colonel Gu did have the money.¡±

    Qiqi smiled and said, ¡°I do have to spend a little brain power and pay a tiny price to defeat those overly ambitious, but extremelycking siblings of mine. The Arms of War is just the preliminary preparations. You will know what my real trump card is some timeter. For now, do your best to cooperate with Little Qianye and let him y as he pleases. This pretty little thing may be more than just an obvious bait. I have this this feeling that he will attract more than just attention for us. It may very well be a pleasant surprise.¡±

    ¡°I will arrange everything.¡±

    Qiqi waved him away, and Ji Yuanjia left the room just like that.

    Inside the cultivation room, Qianye had injected the medicine into his body and waited quietly for it to take effect. Right now, he had tossed that bizarre mission to the back of his mind and pondered about another critically important question instead. He was thinking that Qiqi had too many experts around her.

    The young miss hadn¡¯t concealed her origin power, and it was very obvious that she had ignited seven origin nodes. This also meant that she was a genuine lieutenant colonel through and through. Moreover, her aides were all either majors or lieutenant colonels, and they obviously possessed the strength to match their military ranks too.

    As for that Auntie Lan, he couldn¡¯t figure out her strength at all. This meant that they were at least three ranks apart, and that she might very well be a rank eight expert. Moreover, this was just the strength Yin Qiqi had disyed on the surface. If he were to consider the strength she had concealed, a Champion rank expert might not be so farfetched a possibility.

    Ever since Qianye had ascended to rank four, the ck blood inside his body had sunk intoplete hibernation and appeared as if it hadpletely merged in one with his bloodline. They were so undetectable that he could touch a mithril object and trigger no response whatsoever as long as it didn¡¯t draw blood. But still, this wasn¡¯t a permanent solution. It was unlikely that he could continue hiding the presence of his blood power if he was heavily injured. What should he do if that happens?

    Qianye didn¡¯t know that Qiqi possessed such tremendous authority before he had epted this mission, but he was no longer at a point where he could breach the agreement. One of the reasons he couldn¡¯t do so was because of the astronomically expensive supplies Yin Qiqi had given him, and the other reason was Old 2 hint to him before that Miss Qiqi had the fates of two families¡¯ gripped within her palm. One of them was Yu Yingnan¡¯s family.

    For now, he could only improvise every step of the way. It wasn¡¯t an impossible task. He was a hunter and a long range sniper, so he could request for a solobat position.

    The medicine started to take effect, and Qianye immediately drove away the stray thoughts in his mind. He began perceiving the strength of the origin power derived from the medicine.

    The ten type four medicines were the standard dosage necessary for a cultivator to climb up a rank. They were enough to push an average cultivator from the early stage of rank four to the peak, so that they might attempt to activate the fifth origin node. But for Qianye, these ten medicines were just enough to replenish a small half of his origin power. He was still a long distance away from taking on the rank five barrier.

    The rich presence of origin power also caused the blood energies to be restless. The normal blood energies all came out of his heart and began intercepting and devouring origin power to grow fuller than before. Ever since the gold blood energy had gone into slumber, these normal blood energies had not only returned to their original number of seven, but also became even bigger and stronger than they were before. Moreover, Qianye also sensed the hint of an odd pulse inside his heart. It would appear that new blood energies might be born very soon.

    It was at this moment the small cocoon that the gold blood energy had transformed into suddenly shook as if it was attracted by the full normal blood energies. It was as if something was about to break through the walls of the cocoon and break out in the next moment.

    The little gold cocoon was covered in cracks in the blink of an eye. It looked like it would shatter at any second.

    Suddenly, the normal blood energies forgot all about capturing origin power and escaped into his heart like frightenedmbs. The purple blood energy had just captured a normal blood energy and was about devour it, when it seemed to notice the little gold cocoon¡¯s changes and actually let go. It swiftly swam back into the rune of advanced vampire constitution and curled into a ball, head high andbat ready.

    A small hole finally appeared on the little gold cocoon, and an unusually tiny gold blood energy got out of the cocoon and swam everywhere as it liked. It didn¡¯t look like it had changed much other than its shrunken size. However, when it swam so fast that it left behind an aftershadow, Qianye realized that it had a new dark gold colored thread on its body.

    The gold blood energy instantly circled around the advanced vampire constitution rune a dozen or so times before it finally gave up as if it couldn¡¯t find a gap in the purple blood energy¡¯s defense and returned to its own rune. Then, it began consuming the fragments of the little gold cocoon.

    When it was done eating the fragments, the gold blood energy dashed into his heart like a bolt of golden lightning and dragged out a normal blood energy that was at least a dozen or so times bigger than it was, devouring it. The normal blood energy vanished entirely in just the blink of an eye, but the gold blood energy apparently found the normal blood energy insufficient to fill even the gap of its teeth as it dove into his heart like a starving tiger once more, dragging the normal blood energies out into the open and consuming them. The seven normal blood energies was quickly consumed to just two, but unlikest time the gold blood energy wasn¡¯t content to stop here. It actually dragged the sixth normal blood energy out of his heart and devoured it in a few gulps.

    Now that he had a couple of prior experiences to refer to, Qianye immediately thought that the situation was bad. If he allowed the gold blood energy to devour further, wouldn¡¯t he lose all of his normal blood energies?

    He had no idea what kind of consequences would arise once the bnce between the three types of blood energies was destroyed. Even if there were no consequences, the normal blood energies needed time to regrow its numbers, and his innards would absolutely not be able to sustain the impact of thirty Combat Form cycles or above without the blood energies¡¯ protection.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Qianye was extremely anxious when he saw the gold blood energy charging into his heart once more. He consciously sent it an order to stop and circted his origin power to build a blue glowing origin barrier outside his heart too.

    The gold blood energy bumped into the barrier lightly, and a huge hole appeared on the barrier Qianye had created with all his might. It charged past the barrier and into his heart. But it was at this moment the gold blood energy abruptly stopped as if it had sensed Qianye¡¯s will. Although half its body had already slipped into his heart, it reluctantly released thest, pitiful normal blood energy and swam back into his veins.

    Qianye immediately let out a sigh of relief and felt a vague sense of happiness at the same time. For the longest time, the blood energies had operated autonomously whether or not he was in the middle of a cultivation or battle. This was the first time he had sessfully transmitted his will to the blood energies, and obtained a limited amount of obedience and response too. Perhaps this meant that he might be able to control his blood power one day and needn¡¯t worry about the infection and influence of darkness.

    The gold blood energy didn¡¯t grow idle despite being thwarted by Qianye. It went back to the purple blood energy and circled around it a dozen or so times in hunger. The purple blood energy simply hid inside the rune in full defense and raised its tip like a ferocious giant python that was expressing its fighting will. Finally, the gold blood energy gave up resentfully and returned to the rune of Eye Ability: Dark Vision, entrenching itself inside.

    Starry light started dispersing from the gold blood energy and melting into the ability rune, causing its lines to ovep, expand and be even moreplicated. In the end, an independent, small rune detached itself from the bigger rune and floated beside the Eye Ability rune. The two runes were independent, but also closely connected to each other. The smaller rune was like a small room that was built next to the main building.

    The new rune gave Qianye a new ability called ¡°Concealed Bloodline¡±. It hid his blood power and pushed the origin power sequence he refracted to the gray area between Daybreak and Evernight.

    Simply put, it was no longer possible to detect the ability user¡¯s origin attribute through normal means after this ability was activated. In Qianye¡¯s case, the Combatant Form was of the Daybreak attribute, so if he were to activate this ability and the Combatant Form at the same time, he would be able to conceal the presence of his blood powerpletely. It would stay effective even if he was injured inbat.

    Suddenly, Qianye recalled Nighteye.

 Volume 3 - 24: The First Order

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 24: The First Order

    Qianye had rich experience fighting against vampires, but even when Nighteye was unconscious he wasn¡¯t able to discover her true identity. It was probably the effects of this ability.

    In this case, it would seem that the gold blood energy inside Qianye¡¯s body hade from Nighteye. The purple blood energy probably came from another higher vampire of a powerful bloodline, judging from its indistinct ability to contend against the gold blood energy.

    However, Nighteye¡¯s ability was just too terrifying. If the descendants she developed could all inherit simr abilities, then it wouldn¡¯t take long before an unknown number of vampires would conceal themselves among the human race while they were stillpletely clueless. The more extraordinary her ability was, the less he could afford to let her slip if they encountered each other on the battlefield in the future.

    The bronze clock in the cultivation room suddenly let out a gentle and melodious sound that seemed to seep into the origin tide and be a part of the wave itself. It awakened Qianye from his cultivation in a very natural manner.

    The bronze clock was made from a special metal called the ¡°cryless copper¡±. Its sound could be transmitted through origin energy waves, and it could remind cultivators without rming them. This type of metal was found in only in silver minerals, and from this one could see just how precious they were. Back at Yellow Spring, the entire cultivation valley had only one cryless copper clock, but this ce actually allocated one for its guest room.

    But this wasn¡¯t the reminder time Qianye had set, so it meant that he had a guest. After changing his clothes, he walked out of the cultivation room and found that Ji Yuanjia was already waiting for him in the living hall.

    ¡°Captain Qian, I¡¯m here to pass on Miss Qiqi¡¯s first mission. Tomorrow night, you will apany her and attend the casten¡¯s dinner feast.¡±

    When Qianye heard the way Ji Yuanjia had addressed him, he turned just a bit embarrassed.

    The identity file the Yin Family had prepared for him actually made Qian his surname and Ye his name directly. He was born in amon¡¯s family at a province far down the imperial southern border. He had arrived at the Evernight Continent following the business group his parents had worked in since a very young age, and he waster left stranded on this forgottennd. In the end, he became a hunter. This was truly a clean background and the perfect resume that matched the recruitment requirements of the main corps very well.

    By now Ji Yuanjia had slightly gotten used to Qianye¡¯s habitual silence as he continued, ¡°You will attend as her assistant and male partner. In order to ensure the sess of the night feast, you will be trained in etiquette tomorrow for the entire day. Therefore, please do not arrange any important cultivation training during this time.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I got it.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia smiled and said suddenly, ¡°This mission is a good opportunity. Grasp it well, and you may enjoy a huge additional reward. I really do envy you!¡±

    Qianye was distracted for a moment, and he asked, ¡°Additional rewards?¡±

    ¡°This is a great chance, isn¡¯t it? We know this is just an act, but an act can be real if it is maintained for a long time. This is true for anyone.¡± Ji Yuanjia said meaningfully.

    Qianye understood his meaning. This guy was actually encouraging Qianye to make pretense into reality by getting off with Qiqi!

    Qianye really could not understand the purpose behind Ji Yuanjia¡¯s actions. He had not known him more than a day, and he was probably a core subordinate under Qiqi¡¯smand, wasn¡¯t he?

    Ji Yuanjia seemed to have guessed Qianye¡¯s thoughts as he smiled and said, ¡°I simply do not want to see a guy with an ulterior motive manipting the Miss for his own purposes. Alright, that¡¯s it for now. You will understand in the future.¡±

    After Ji Yuanjia had left, Qianye found himself growing more and more puzzled.

    After meeting the famous Miss Qiqi for the first time, Qianye had already guessed that his so-called mission was actually a scheme to set him up as a shiny target while they handled someone else in the dark. As for why she had to go through the Home of Hunters, it might be because she thought that someone Yu Yingnan and Old 2 rmended would be reliable. After all, it sounded like the examination for the Yin Family¡¯s sessor had entered a critical stage. If the enemies¡¯ spies were to seize the opportunity and sneak in, then even their best strategy would be spoiled.

    Earlier, Qianye did not think that the reason Qiqi and Ji Yuanjia gave him a term as attractive as themand of the 131¡¯s independent battlepany was to express their trust towards him. On the contrary, it might very well be a way to sound him out. Regardless, this did not affect Qianye¡¯s intentions toplete this mission. His response was very simple. When there was an order he would perform it to the letter, and when there were no orders he would go onto the battlefield, regardless whether or not thispany could really be his left and right arms.

    But Ji Yuanjia¡¯s earlier wordspletely confounded Qianye. He thought that it was only natural that the people Qiqi were up against were the other candidates, but it couldn¡¯t be that her fiance was on the list as well, could it? Family marriages were often alliances between forces, so shouldn¡¯t they share the same interest? The world of big aristocratic families truly was iprehensible.

    For the entire morning of the next day, Qianye spent his time by training himself in all kinds of intensive etiquette training.

    It was only by learning through his own body that he understood just howplicated and strict the Empire¡¯s etiquette after over a thousand years of time, and this was only because theycked the time for the full course and could only select the portion rted to feast socializing and hasten through them. Starting with standing posture alone, special attention was given to one¡¯s standing angle and range. Qianye could only be thankful that his memory wasn¡¯t bad and that he had a good military standing posture in the past.

    The evening was reserved for tailors, makeup artists and hair stylists. They had been working overtime sincest night to create his formal attire, and now they needed to make final adjustments based on its overall shape and design.

    The hair stylist was a skinny and shriveled man nearing the age of fifty years old. However, his bearing and movements were unspeakably girlish, and he wore a massive bluish gold ring on his little finger. He gripped a pair of silver scissors that scissored non-stop in his hand, and his slightly neurotic behavior caused worry for the location of the scissors.

    Right now he was gripping a handful of Qianye¡¯s ck half-long hair and struggling painfully toe to a decision, ¡°Should it be cut into short hair to better match Miss Qiqi, or should it be preserved topose a strong contrast against the Miss¡¯ short hair?¡±

    The master stylist struggled internally for a full forty minutes, and no one could continue working if he did not arrive at a decision. Hair style was an extremely important link in the process that was only second to clothing design. An integral design starting from the strand of hair above one¡¯s head down to the color of one¡¯s shoce of their feet must be made so that a big aristocratic family¡¯s wealth and exquisite refinement could be disyed. How else could they stood out from thosendowning households otherwise?

    Qianye was fiddled with so much that he was almost numb to it. Instinctively, he thought that these staffs were there to torment him. Otherwise, why had he not experienced such hellish design principles from Wei Potian?

    The master stylist finally made up his mind, and a moment of crazy bustlingter, they finally settled the final particr before the final deadline: the angle of a brooch.

    As Qianye stood in front of the full body mirror, the only thing he felt was that this formal attire was absolutely unsuited forbat. Although the main contrasting hues of ck and gold, standing cors and epaulette of the outfit were extremely simr to imperial military uniform, it was excessively tight around the waist and sleeves and had gem buttons that knocked on the wrists. It made him feel like a bird that had fallen into a spider¡¯s nest, resulting in greatly restricted movements.

    Qianye moved his right shoulder in slight difort as he watched the mboyant and proud look on the master stylist¡¯s face from the mirror. He said nothing. Obviously, one¡¯s ability to move did not fall under this master¡¯s consideration whose first priorities were art and visual impact.

    ¡°Time¡¯s up!¡± the maid¡¯s urging voice came from outside the door.

    The fan-shaped square were already parked with a dozen or so cars, and the silver convertible car at the center was impressively powered by ck crystals! From inside the car, Qiqi waved towards Qianye. Her attire did not appear too garish since it was an imperial military uniform, except that it was now adorned with many obviously valuable ornaments.

    There was only one row of seating at the back of the car, and after looking at the car left and right he had no choice but to sit beside Qiqi. He was used to the wide space of a seam driven heavy truck, andpared to that this car was overly narrow and cramped. He would touch Qiqi¡¯s arm the moment he stretched his own body.

    Qiqi habitually stretched a hand to lift Qianye¡¯s chin, ¡°My little belle, I didn¡¯t think you would look this handsome after you¡¯re all dressed up.¡±

    Qianye moved his head aside and dodged the miss¡¯ ws without batting an eyelid. He said, ¡°I have your etiquette teachers and stylists to thank.¡±

    However, Qiqi was the type of person who absolutely refused to let matters drop if she failed to take advantage of another person. Therefore, her hand fell onto Qianye¡¯s palm in passing, and she groped it fiercely several times before finally smiling, ¡°There¡¯s no need to be anxious. The reason I¡¯m bringing you tonight is to show you off. You do not need to do anything, and you do not even need to dance or socialize. If you like it, the food of the feast are pretty good. You showing up at the feast is the objective. With your current appearance, I believe you will be able to attract a lot of enmities and rm quite a few important figures.¡±

    Qianye said nothing. In reality, Qiqi¡¯s words pretty much verified his guesses about this mission earlier.

    However, his doubts had only increased rather than decreased. Would the important figures of aristocratic families really judge a person¡¯s threat level by their appearance alone? Even if that was Qiqi¡¯s evaluation standard, Qianye did not think that the experts around her had collectively experienced dementia either. Otherwise, there was no way Qiqi could have reached the final stage as a candidate of the Yin Family¡¯s sessor.

    The mayor¡¯s mansion was brightly lit. Melodious music resonated everywhere within the vast and grandiose main building. There were a lot of van-style carriages driven by all sorts ofnd walking strange beasts, but Qiqi¡¯s ck crystal car was unique and unmatched. Even on imperialnd, cars powered by ck crystals were extreme luxuries.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze quickly swept around the square once, and he came to the conclusion that Drinking Horse Yin n¡¯s status might be the highest out of every in tonight¡¯s feast.

    The car parked right in front of the main building¡¯s entrance as Ji Yuanjia jumped down the driver¡¯s seat and opened the car door behind. And so Qiqi and Qianye walked out under everyone¡¯s gazes.

    A wave of discussion immediately started from their surroundings.

    ¡°Miss Qiqi is here!¡±

    ¡°Who is that young man? How is he sitting in the same car as Miss Qiqi?¡±

    ¡°How handsome! And he¡¯s a captain too!¡±

    ¡°He can¡¯t be Miss Qiqi¡¯s new¡­ that¡­ right?¡±

    ¡°He looks very unfamiliar. Which family has sent their young children to her again?¡±

    A tall and powerful middle-aged man walked out of the crowded entrance and arrived in front of Qiqi. After they had given each other a light embrace, heughed loudly and said, ¡°My niece Qiqi is just as beautiful as ever!¡±

    Qiqi smiled lightly and answered, ¡°You are just as spirited as ever too, uncle!¡±

    Qianye had seen this middle-aged man¡¯s profile before. He was the mayor of Xichang City, Yuan Zeyu. He was no normal Champion, and he was also the patriarch of a branch family. He shared a close rtionship with the main branch of the Yin family, and although his surname wasn¡¯t Yin, his blood ties were much stronger than most other branch families.

    It was because of thisyer of rtionship that his family had arrived at the Evernight Continent to defend the strategic location Xichang City. Compared to Yuan Zeyu, the mayor of Darkblood City was just a second rate character.

    Yuan Zeyu¡¯s gaze thennded on Qianye¡¯s body, and as a gleam passed through his eyes, it was as if all of Qianye¡¯s secrets were to be exposed under his gaze, like lightning piercing through fog!

 Volume 3 - 25: Attracting Hatred

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 25: Attracting Hatred

    This was the second time Qianye faced a Champion rank elite directly. While William only caused him rm, but gave off no clues for him to cling onto, Yuan Zeyu¡¯s casual gaze had some sort of prative power that seemed to expose even the fine details of his innards in full.

    Qianye bowed slightly and performed a salute. Then, he withdrew his gaze and did not move.

    When he walked down the car, he was showered with attention by many eyes. Therefore to be safe, he had already activated the concealment ability in his bloodline beforehand. The multi colored blood energies in his body also seemed to sense the danger of a terrible enemy and scurried back into his heart; this included the ability rune. Right now, Daybreak origin power filled the insides of Qianye¡¯s body, covering his heart in ayer of faint, gold light. At a nce, it looked like a fifth ignited origin node.

    Yuan Zeyu nodded and said with slight praise, ¡°An impressive young man. His foundation is extremely solid, and this is something rarely seen. He is¡­?¡±

    Qiqi smiled faintly and held onto Qianye¡¯s arm, going so far as to press half her body on him before saying, ¡°This is Qianye. He is my new assistant and aide.¡±

    A hint of oddness appeared on Yuan Zeyu¡¯s face, but it faded immediately as he smiled, ¡°Thene in! Since you are already here, the dinner feast can start now. There are a lot of people who purposely came over from otherrge cities to catch a glimpse of my Niece Qiqi¡¯s peerless beauty!¡±

    With all smiles, Qiqi released Qianye¡¯s arm and gifted him a smile of unknown meaning. Then, she gracefully walked beside Yaun Zeyu and entered the hall of the feast together at the front. For tonight¡¯s feast, Yuan Zeyu would be the master, and Qiqi the main guest.

    Meanwhile, Qianye fell back a few steps and moved himself to the center of the crowd who had escorted Yuan Zeyu¡¯s exit earlier. While he was pondering the meaning behind Yuan Zeyu¡¯s odd smile, he immediately sensed the abnormality around him. There were now a lot more killing intent and hostility in the gazes that befell on him.

    Alright, perhaps this was the meaning behind Qiqi¡¯s smile. Qianye still had not figured out how Qiqi had done it, but he had to admit that the Miss¡¯ first stage of tonight¡¯s mission, which was to attract hatred, had beenpleted smoothly.

    Qianye did not know that Yin Qiqi¡¯s action of holding onto Qianye intimately and introducing him at a socializing feast that was specifically held for Qiqi in the presence of her family elder was in fact, a covert deration that Qianye was her official lover. Therefore, Qianye had immediately became the target of many youths around him.

    The main banquet hall was just as grand as the mayor¡¯s mansion. The frame and structure of the building were all metal beneath the decors of stone and wood. The several thousand square meter wide banquet hall was twenty meters tall, and right now it waspletely alit in splendid lights. Several musician groups were performing a rxing and lively music at the veranda at the two sides. Long tables were ced at two sides of the banquet hall, and the top of the tables were filled with dazzling lineups of all kinds of exquisite food. Several dozens of waiters went back and forth to add wine for the guests or serve up meals on tes.

    The buffet style feast originated from the dark races, and it was a custom especially loved by vampires. Later on, this free and casual way of dining were gradually epted by the aristocratic families of the Empire and became popr. By now, it had be the unofficial but mainstream way of setting up feasts for grand asions.

    When Qiqi arrived, the feast officially began. Qiqi and Yuan Zeyu went up the second floor. There was a small hall here that enabled one to look through the guardrail and watch most of the corners at the bottom floor. There was no one who stood on this floor who wasn¡¯t a person of true, prominent status.

    Naturally, Qianye wasn¡¯t qualified to walk up the second floor as an assistant and aide. Therefore, he could only hang out at the main hall. Very soon, people began to walk up and talk to him. In the blink of an eye, a circle of people had surrounded Qianye.

    Since Qiqi had set tonight¡¯s mission as a show off, Qianye decided to fully disy the results of his intensive training during the morning. Therefore, he had maintained a graceful bearing and socialized with the people who came to talk with him without being overly friendly or estranged, or servile or overbearing.

    A whileter, these people began to notice that everything Qianye said was useless. He had not revealed even a single bit of useful information. Despite talking for half the day, he had not even said which family he might belong to or how he came to know Qiqi. Because of this, the people who were either curious of Qianye¡¯s identity or came to talk with him bearing ill intentions actually felt that he was mysterious instead.

    After all, even talking bullshit was a kind of skill. In fact, it was a skill that both nobles and politicians must have.

    People began to guess that this enviable kid might actuallye from an aristocratic family. Otherwise, how could he possibly use such techniques so skillfully? Then, their whispering discussions began to shift towards a different direction. The situation of Qiqi¡¯s engagement was open to public, so did this mean that the engagement would be canceled, or did she simply add another new lover?

    Such colorful rumors had always been the most weed topic in feasts, but the friends and families of rted parties might not enjoy it as much. Very soon, theplexion of several people among the crowd changed.

    At the second floor, Qiqi and Yuan Zeyu waved the waiters away and appeared to be talking casually about anything under the sun.

    After chatting about some important activities of the main Yin Family of the month, Yuan Zeyu changed the subject and said tactfully, ¡°This ce is not as safe as it appears. It seems that some people have arrived.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes had been trained on Qianye all this time. When she heard the mayor¡¯s words, she said absentmindedly, ¡°So what? What could those three rubbish possibly stir?¡±

    Yuan Zeyu frowned and said, ¡°You should still be careful. The interests involved in this matter is too huge, and there are many people who wish to stick a leg in it. Anything that happens to you, or any mishaps that befall the results of your examinations are nothing to beughed at.¡±

    Qiqi continued to say faintly, ¡°Rx, uncle Yuan. Be it experts, the army, equipment or military aplishments, is it not simply a matter of spending money?¡±

    This was Qiqi¡¯s usual view, but as a Champion rank expert Yuan Zeyu found it a little unpleasant to the ear. He could not restrain himself from saying, ¡°Experts are not so easy to buy.¡±

    ¡°That is simply because the price wasn¡¯t good enough.¡± Qiqi said with a smile.

    Yuan Zeyu knew very well about Qiqi¡¯s temper and behavior, and he did not wish to continue further down this topic. Therefore, he turned his gaze to Qianye at the bottom and asked, ¡°Who is this young man?¡±

    Qiqi said a littlezily, ¡°My lover.¡±

    Yuan Zeyu could not help but feel surprised, ¡°He really is your lover?¡±

    ¡°Would I joke about something like this?¡±

    ¡°How do you n to exin this to the n? You have an engagement with you. If you act this bombastically, wouldn¡¯t you be throwing all of Gu Famliy¡¯s face away?¡±

    Qiqi smiled coldly, ¡°Like a smallndowning household would have much face to throw! If he finds this embarrassing then he can cancel the engagement! I¡¯ll be waiting for it!¡±

    The mayor¡¯s eyebrows locked even deeper, ¡°If this happens, your reputation¡­¡±

    ¡°As long as I have strength and money, who cares about reputation?¡±

    Suddenly, a pure, cold voice cut in from the side, ¡°Money cannot buy everything!¡±

    Qiqi slowly turned her head and saw a tall, young girl at the entrance leading to the corridor of the small hall that was empty moments earlier. She was very beautiful, and her pure, cool, and proud temperament made her stand out among many other noble girls. Even when standing beside Qiqi, she was not inferior in any aspect.

    This was the shared opinion of the majority of the young nobles. In reality, Qiqi was slightly superior be it in terms of her appearance or figure, but since she was overbearing and very dissolute, the hot blooded, proud and high spirited youths would subconsciously rate her a tad lower than she really was.

    Qiqi let out a ruminating smile and said, ¡°Ye Mn, this line should note out of your mouth.¡±

    This girl¡¯s attire was very meaningful. The style of her clothes was also retro, but it was in the color of andowning household. Her upper dress was skin tight, and lower dress was an ovepping skirt with powdery jade color and muslin patterns. However, the fabric of the clothing was extraordinary andpletely in dark patterns. It would only reflect faint, crystalline blue lines when she moved. It was a dress that was both low-key and luxurious at the same time. This wasn¡¯t a dress that a normalndowning household could afford.

    From the fact she dared to walk up the second floor instead of cowering before Qiqi, and actually provoked her while the mayor of Xichang City was right next to Qiqi obviously meant that this girl¡¯s status was not ordinary as well.

    The girl said coldly, ¡°Yin Qiqi, you wouldn¡¯t think that every will fawn over you and obey your words just because the Yin Family is behind you, would you?¡±

    Qiqi shrugged and said smilingly, ¡°Of course not! This is especially true for a genius girl like you; a genius girl who had an engagement with the Song Family. Landowning households, right?!¡±

    Anger shed across Ye Mn¡¯s face, ¡°What does this have to do withndowning households?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really, but when someone clings onto their engagement and refuses to let go, then there it has a lot to do with it, especially, for a certain genius girl.¡± Qiqi emphasized heavily on the word ¡°genius¡±.

    The pure, cool and proud temperament of Ye Mn waspletely swept away as a blush appeared on her pale white face. However, the blush was obviously not due to embarrassment as she suppressed her anger and said coldly, ¡°You better rify what you just said. What do you mean clinging onto an engagement and refusing to let go? The engagement between Zining and I had been determined a long time ago, and it¡¯s not like I want it.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want it then just cancel it!¡± Qiqi smiled with curved eyebrows, instantly exuding an astounding amount of charm.

    Ye Mn finally couldn¡¯t endure it any longer as she cried, ¡°Yin Qiqi! You¡­¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s face darkened. Her smile fadedpletely as she said coldly, ¡°Who do you think you are to call my name? Who gave you the permission to walk up this floor! Ye Mn, as long as you haven¡¯t married into the Song Family, you are still just andowning noble! If you¡¯ve forgotten thews of the Empire, then I wouldn¡¯t mind sending you to a military police prison to reflect on your actions for several days and remind you the price of offending an upper rank aristocratic family!¡±

    Ye Mn pointed a finger and shook in anger. She was so angry she couldn¡¯t even speak, ¡°You¡­¡± her eyes swept across Yuan Zeyu sitting calmly at the side. The mayor of Xichang city was wearing a benevolent look on his face and was even smiling at the scene. It was as if he was merely watching a scene two kids bickering with each other.

    In the end, Ye Mn said hatefully, ¡°The Yin Family could not cover the whole sky with a hand just yet. Your identity cannot protect your pride forever!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to marry into the Song Family first before you can say that!¡± Qiqi said rudely.

    In just a few minutes, the beautiful girl who had transformed from a cier into a volcano stomped her foot on the ground and left.

    Yuan Zeyu simply shook his head and let out a sigh.

    Qiqi simply smiled without concern and said, ¡°Did she really think that I can¡¯t do anything without relying on the Yin Family? Still, I suppose she¡¯s smart enough to see the signs. If she said anything else I would¡¯ve done something.¡±

    Yuan Zeyu opened his mouth, but wasn¡¯t sure what to say.

    Both the surname of Ye and Gu originated from the Yue Continent. The branches of the son of first wife where Ye Mn and Gu Liyu was in especially had a good rtionship with each other for generations. Their friendship was as good as family, and they were cousins of their mother¡¯s side no less. The blood ties they shared were thick. Now that Qiqi had openly brought over her lover and paraded him ostentatiously in such an official setting no less, naturally, Ye Mn who had always disliked Qiqi would find the chance to attack her.

    Yuan Zeyu also wiped himself a handful of sweat when he watched the duo bickering with each other earlier. In reality, Qiqi was almost at the limits of her patience just now, and if Ye Mn had spoken any further especially on the topic on lovers, Qiqi would have thrown a p right across her face. When that happened, a myriad of big and small troubles would havee incessantly.

    Ye Mn might be born under andowning household, but she shared an engagement with the seventh young master of the Song Family. When she married into the Song Family in the future, her status would be different. Rumors said that Song Zining was rather satisfied with his fiance, and Ye Mn had already officially begun to participate in some of his private activities. Moreover, Song Zining had acted both in the open and in the dark very indulgently towards her.

    Even if Yin Qiqi¡¯s mother was also born in the Song Family, Song Zining was this generation¡¯s sessor of the Song household. Even if his ranking was only around the middle, he was heavily favored by the great forefather of the Song Family. His status was alsoparable to Yin Qiqi, who had not obtained the position of patriarch just yet. Moreover, even far away at the Evernight Continent Yuan Zeyu had heard that Yin Qiqi and Song Zining shared an old grudge with each other.

    The affairs between these juniors were practically a tangled skein. For someone like Yuan Zeyu who was used to battling a thousand enemies alone on the battlefield, he just felt helpless and clueless as to how to mediate such matters. In any case, the best course of action for someone his status would be not to get involved.

    It was at this moment Qiqi¡¯s gazended on Qianye once more, and she said indifferently, ¡°Uncle Yuan, this kid is great in many ways, but unfortunately his temperament is just a little soft. If only he is more like me¡­¡±

    She hadn¡¯t finished saying this when a change suddenly urred downstairs. Qianye had actually thrown a fierce punch right into the face of a young noble, causing his opponent to fly several dozen meters away before mming hard onto the wall. The noble slowly slid down the wall and actually failed to get up on his feet for a time.

 Volume 3 - 26: Extra Reward

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 26: Extra Reward

    The unforeseen event came suddenly, and shocked everyone present!

    Qiqi was also temporarily startled, puzzled as to what was going on.

    She heard Qianye speaking with a cold and apathetic voice, ¡°I am amoner, and I am only at rank four. So what? Didn¡¯t you want to teach this bastard of a slum a lesson? Then stand up and continue!¡±

    The young man¡¯s limbs twitched as he struggled several times in attempt to climb to his feet. In the end, he copsed on the ground and fainted.

    The empire had very strong martial custom, and a duel in a feast was nothing to be surprised at. After the surprise, the initial cheers came mostly from girls. The glittering looks they threw at Qianye were both hot and bold. On the other hand, most of the young noblemen wore unhappy looks on their faces. The hatred born from Qiqi holding his arm hadn¡¯t yet faded, and now that they heard that Qianye was actually just amoner, most of them felt as if they had been offended.

    Qianye raised his right arm. The restrictive formal wear was a major hindrance, so he decided to just pull off the gemstone cuff links and undid his upper garment. Then, he swept a nce across the young man and his few otherpanions and said coldly, ¡°Who else wille forward?¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes glistened with extraordinary splendor as she put on the appearance of someone awaiting a good show. Yuan Zeyu shook his head and said nothing.

    The few youths froze where they stood and looked worriedly at their fallenpanion and Qianye. For a moment, they weren¡¯t sure how they should deal with this situation. Theirpanion, who had been taken out in one punch was a rank five Fighter, and not only was he the highest ranking fighter among them, he also had the highest martial force. They could not understand at all why theirpanion had been defeated this quickly, but they at least knew that they would only be useless even if they had gone up stage.

    It was at this moment a furious voice rang from the southern side of the crowd inside the hall. A young noble man cried out, ¡°This is not the ce where a mere rank four Fighter like you to act imprudently and arrogantly! Miss Qiqi should understand if I teach you a lesson!¡±

    Qianye raised his eyes and looked towards that direction. Then he said in a straightforward manner, ¡°Thene!¡±

    The youth was absolutely furious, and he took a great step forwards. Suddenly, a hand pressed down on his shoulder, and he could not longer move at all. When he turned back to look, he was stunned, ¡°Cousin?¡±

    A slightly older noble young man sharing about a third of this youth¡¯s appearance appeared beside him. Thetter first nodded his head at Qianye before he turned around to scold the youth coldly, ¡°You sure are all grown up now. A rank six versus a rank four? Hmph! Are you trying to throw away all of the Shen Family¡¯s face?¡± once done, he added strength to his hand and dragged the impulsive noble youth back into the crowd.

    On the second floor, Qiqi blew a whistle and said, ¡°Shen Rongan is truly a fox! His younger cousin may be rank six, but if he truly went on the field he may not necessarily be able to beat my little Qianye!¡±

    Yuan Zeyu nodded slowly and said, ¡°The little fellow you bring has extraordinary strength, and his origin power is condensed to a point that is rarely seen. Themon rank six Fighter really isn¡¯t his match if they were even a little careless.¡±

    Downstairs, the hall hadpletely fallen into awkward silence.

    Shen Rongan¡¯s act of pulling his cousin away had poured a cold bucket of water on many hot blooded and eager noble youths¡¯ heads.

    Most of the people who were qualified to participate in the mayor¡¯s feast were not idiots. Qianye¡¯s punch earlier was fierce and violent, taking out even a rank five Fighter in a single strike. Moreover, the guy on the floor wasn¡¯t the kind of rubbish who only had origin power and nothing else. Here in this ce where prestigious houses gather, who would dare cause trouble without a bit of confidence in their own skills?

    Rank five Fighters no longer dared to take part, whereas rank six Fighters would lose face regardless if they win or lose.

    Qiqi said smilingly, ¡°Uncle Yuan, sorry for messing up your feast. I¡¯ll make amends some other day!¡± she said this, but her face was filled with jubnce as she stared at the young man by the wall being carried up by hispanions.

    Yuan Zeyu smiled bitterly. He had also noticed that the person whom Qianye took out was Ye Mn¡¯s cousin. Thank goodness Ye Mn had walked off furiously due to Qiqi, or another conflict would most certainly arise and make the situation difficult to mop up.

    A momentter, Qiqi left the feast along with Qianye ahead of time. After they sat into the silver car, Qiqi immediately asked about the cause and effect with great cheer.

    In reality, the situation was very simple. Ye Mn¡¯s cousin brother had suddenly appeared when the crowd were unable to inquire any substantive information from Qianye. He had asked Qianye immediately if he was amoner, obviously having obtained this information from a certain channel.

    To Qianye, he could choose not to reveal his personal information, but he did not n to lie for it either. Therefore, he had admitted this honestly.

    Then, Ye Mn¡¯s cousin immediately taunted Qianye and said that he was just a poor man born in the slums, capable of relying on his face to earn a living and nothing else. He said that god knows how many medicines he ate under Qiqi¡¯s expenses to have grown to rank four.

    Qianye felt no need to waste words with such a person. He simply asked coldly, ¡°You think you¡¯re very strong, don¡¯t you?¡±

    The young man, a rank five Fighter answered with a cold smile, ¡°Of course! What, you want to fight?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Then, Qianye breathed, gathered his strength, punched out as heavy as a mountain and as fast as lightning. He knocked out the young man with a single punch. If Qianye hadn¡¯t withdrawn his strength at a suitable time, if Qianye had aimed at a vital spot, this one punch could¡¯ve beaten his victim into a near death state.

    Qianye¡¯s exnation was very simple, but Qiqi obviously hadn¡¯t heard enough yet, ¡°Is that all? That can¡¯t be all! You¡¯ve fought in a dinner feast! What else did he say?¡±

    Qianye smiled bitterly, ¡°He said¡­ that I am a bastard of the slums.¡±

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Qiqi was a little puzzled. It was just amon swear phrase, so why had Qianye reacted so strongly towards it?

    After a moment of silence, Qianye said, ¡°I grew up in thendfill. I never knew who my parents were.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s smile was immediately withdrawn. Then, it slowly spread out once more like a blooming spring flower as she said with a smile that was not like a smile, ¡°Never mind. You have made me very happy tonight, so you will have a reward. Close your eyes!¡±

    Qianye closed his eyes in puzzlement. A whiff of fragrance entered his nose, and he felt a soft and wet touch on his left cheek. He was given a kiss!

    This little interlude during their return journey was quickly put at the back of Qianye¡¯s mind. He was no longer surprised by this Miss of extraordinary behavior, hobby, and even sexual orientation no matter what she did.

    A Miss of her status had obtained everything too easily, so people like her often had strange entricities in the pursuit of excitement. However, Qianye did not think that her private hobbies have anything to do with him. What he needed to do was toplete his mission well and be worthy of the generous reward he received.

    Qianye spent four days toplete the basic training of etiquette in advance. Since Qiqi had not given him any new orders, he then split his everyday time table into two major categories, cultivation and battlefield analysis.

    During theter days, Qianye spent all of the medicines, but found himself still a distance away from officially breaking through to rank five. During this time, Qianye had only seen Qiqi once. She had suddenly asked him whether he needed more medicine, either because she noticed that he had not ignited a new origin node despite using a sufficient amount of medicine or randomly bringing up a topic. However, Qianye turned her down because he did not wish to receive too many things that he should not have received.

    During the time beyond cultivation, Qianye continuously read up on a bunch of intel and quickly formed a rough understanding of the surrounding area of Xichang City.

    Near noon today, Ji Yuanjia arrived at Qianye¡¯s dwelling and invited him to have lunch together.

    Qianye was just thinking of understanding the contents of Qiqi¡¯s examination mission better since he was already nning on going to the battlefield. Therefore, he dly agreed to the situation and followed Ji Yuanjia to the restaurant ¡°Copper Peacock Terrace¡±.

    This was a retro building of impressive grandeur. The terrace was around thirty meters tall, and there were five floors on top of it. The window corners and door rails were iid with brass strips, and it shone brightly during the brightest moment of the sun, afternoon.

    The two sides of the tall terrace were wide and fit for the descent of small-sized airships. Beneath the terrace, the river water was stored into the sky pool at the top floor through secret channels before sprayed from the side walls up to the sky, forcefully recreating the magnificent view of a showering waterfall. It was said that the cooks and many food ingredients of this restaurant were transported from the upper continent, and its prices were even more expensive than at the upper continent.

    After parking the keep, Ji Yuanjia led Qianye towards the entrance while smiling, ¡°Here, you can find the true quality of the upper continent. Of course, that includes the prices as well. Therefore, please don¡¯t eat all you want, or I will not be able to foot the bill.¡±

    Qianye smiled slightly and felt a bit more good will towards Ji Yuanjia. He enjoyed interacting with people who speak frankly.

    The duo chose a table near the window where the flowing waterfall was right in front of them. Since the soundproofing of this ce was well designed, they could only hear a faint rumbling sound that seemed toe from far, far away. It both created an artistic conception and did not interrupt the guests from conversing with each other.

    After the waiter had presented them with the menu, a casual flip told Qianye exactly how expensive this ce was. Even the cheapest meal at this ce cost at least a gold coin, and the expensive ones rose straight up to three figures. That was to say a single big meal would cost a lieutenant colonel more than half a year of sry.

    Qianye only selected two of the cheapest dishes before putting down the menu. On the other hand, Ji Yuanjia was in fact a lot more generous than he said himself to be, ordering three or four specialty dishes into the mix. This meal would definitely eat up a month of his sry.

    After the food were put on the table, Qianye experienced what the so-called upper continent quality meant. The amount of food on each dish were so few that it was unimaginable, but they were also so exquisite that it was unimaginable.

    The main dish was actually a fish, but it was made into the shape of a dragon¡¯s head. Meanwhile, the dish te were decorated with thousand miles of cloud sea. This was an absolutely genuine hand drawn cloud sea painting of ink art style. Even a person who knew nothing about art like Qianye could see that itsposition and brushwork were extraordinary. Based on this alone, he could tell that the person who decorated this dish te was an artist of great attainment.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Ji Yuanjia asked with a smile.

    ¡°I think that the decoration on this te is more expensive than the meal itself.¡± Qianye said honestly.

    Ji Yuanjiaughed and said, ¡°I thought the same as you at the beginning, but it was onlyter that I find out that the meal is actually slightly more expensive.¡±

    As Qianye looked at the dishes that looked like paintings and calligraphies, he smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Now I know I can¡¯t eat to my heart¡¯s content. This bit of food can¡¯t even fill my bottom.¡±

    Ji Yuanjiaughed even more jubntly as he said, ¡°To people like us,ing here is just for the experience. The experience of having eaten is more important than how the food actually tastes. At the very least, we would not be ridiculed in the future for being ignorant.¡±

    ¡°Why would be ridiculed?¡± Qianye was a little puzzled.

    Ji Yuanjia said with slight self-depreciation, ¡°It¡¯s because Ie from a poor and humble family, whereas you are amoner. Although a family like mine is slightly better thanmoners, in the eyes ofndowning households, we are all the same. To thosendowning households, the way they evaluate a person is very simple: There is up, and there is down. Those up there needs to be curried favor with, and those down there could notpete with them. Therefore, in their eyes there is no difference between a poor and humble family and amoner, because we are both iparable tondowning households.¡±

    This was a powerful logic that gave Qianye the feeling of having his horizons widened.

    ¡°Do you know why i invite you here for lunch?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because that punch of your during that day¡¯s feast was too f*cking beautiful!¡± even the usually gentled and cultivated Ji Yuanjia had broken into a rare curse.

    ¡°Did that person share a grudge with you?¡± Qianye asked in puzzlement.

    Ji Yuanjia exhaled heavily before saying, ¡°It¡¯s not at the level of a grudge. You¡¯ll understand in the future just how disgusting those people are. Come, let us drink first!¡±

    The two served each other wine, and they quickly finished a bottle of alcohol. Qianye¡¯s face was slightly reddened, and his movements were obviously a little sluggish. Meanwhile, a flush of redness had also appeared on Ji Yuanjia¡¯s face. It would appear that his capacity for drinks wasn¡¯t very good.

    Ji Yuanjia shook the emptied wine bottle before calling out, ¡°Give me two more!¡±

    The waiter quickly served them their wine. The rice wine of this ce really was pretty good, and even rarer was the fact that they were not expensive. A gold coin a bottle at this ce was a ridiculously fair price.

    ¡°Qianye, did you have a girl?¡± Ji Yuanjia suddenly asked.

    ¡°No, why?¡± Qianye asked with a little bit of confusion.

    ¡°Ah, nothing. I¡¯m just asking.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia botched the subject with a random excuse. At first, he had wanted to introduce a few good young girls to Qianye. As Qiqi¡¯s true aide, naturally he knew that Qianye¡¯s lover identity was fake.

    But just as he was about to say it, he suddenly recalled seeing that unusually prominent lip mark on Qianye¡¯s cheek when he got off the car. It was a faint blue color that was slightly heavier on the purple side, and it was a special color that Qiqi loved the most. There was no way Ji Yuanjia could have missed it.

    When he thought up to this point, Ji Yuanjia could not help but feel a twinge of pain and twisting feelings in his heart. He then immediately suppressed this tiny bit of discontent and tossed it along with that lip mark into a corner at the bottom of his heart.

    However, this revtion also cleared up his mind a little. Although it was possible that Qiqi had simply found a temporary, fresh toy that she would toss away after a while, before the novelty had faded from her mind, there was no way Ji Yuanjia would do something as stupid as introducing girls to Qianye.

    Qianye looked with slight puzzlement at Ji Yuanjia, who had suddenly grown absent-minded.

    ¡°Qianye, Qiqi is the kind of woman that deserve the biggest cherishment. If you even have the slightest bit of chance, you should do everything in your power to win her over. Do you get what I mean?¡± this time, Ji Yuanjia¡¯s words were unusually frank.

    Qianye frowned slightly and said, ¡°This is just a mission to me, plus the status quo between her and me is just too far apart. There is no possibility between the two of us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re someone who cares for the status quo?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±Qianye smiled.

    Ji Yuanjia shrugged. If Qianye truly minded the status quo, he would not have punched right into that noble brat¡¯s face during the dinner feast. That being said, for many people marriages that were too good to be true was an impassable hurdle. He himself was just the same.

    ¡°Aha! Guess who I found? Isn¡¯t this Miss Qiqi¡¯s new pet?¡± said an entric voice that came from the side.

 Volume 3 - 27: Duel

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 27: Duel

    Ji Yuanjia and Qianye turned their heads together and looked to where the voice hade from. They saw a few young men walking their way up the stairs.

    The youth clothed in blue wore a blue martial uniform that was so gorgeous it was excessive. He was the one who voiced the taunt just now. Meanwhile, Qianye also spotted the young man whom he had knocked out in a single blow from the people who showed up one after another behind him.

    There were both males and females in this young group. They were escorting a cool and proud young girl like stars adorning a moon. She wore a light purple shirt of the Han style and a skirt with unusual hem shaped like many foldedyers of triangles. They looked like inverted double petals of lilies. She had an extremely beautiful face, but the tip of her brow to the corner of her eyes were filled with a cold detachment that rejected all men and women.

    Ji Yuanjia frowned and lowered his voice. He swiftly told Qianye, ¡°Watch out, that woman at the center is Ye Mn. She¡¯s the fiance of Song Zining, the seventh young master of the Song Family.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face turned a little odd, ¡°Song Zining? Which Song Family?¡±

    Since Ji Yuanjia¡¯s attention was put on the neers, he did not notice the abnormality on Qianye¡¯s face. He simply said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s the Song Family of the four grand households!¡±

    These noble youths had already walked in front of their table and came to a stop. The positions they assumed seemed careless, but in reality they had vaguely sealed off all of their retreat path. Qianye greatly disliked having so many people invading his private space as he put on an obvious frown.

    The blue clothed young man nced at the dishes on the table and let out a ridiculing smile, ¡°Yo! And here I was wondering how amoner and a man from a poor family could afford to eat at such ce, but in reality they are just ordering the cheapest stuff! Brother Muhai, I¡¯m sure that a pot of your tea leaves is worth more than this, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Ye Muhai was the guy who was knocked out by Qianye at the dinner feast in a single punch. Right now he was ring at Qianye with eyes that could almost shoot fire out of them, and upon hearing the blue clothed young man¡¯s words he immediately let out a snort and said, ¡°Even if these are the cheapest dishes, they probably cost more than a month of Lieutenant Colonel Ji¡¯s sry, don¡¯t they? So it¡¯s either Lieutenant Colonel Ji taking more bribes than usual, or Captain Qian getting quite the sum of rewards. You must have pleasured Miss Qiqi quite well recently, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye¡¯splexion immediately darkened.

    By now Ji Yuanjia had already risen to his feet and eximed coldly, ¡°You are ndering an active officer of the Empire. Bring out the evidence, or you wille with me and exin things to the military supervision team!¡± he paused for a moment before his expression turned even colder than before, ¡°Also, anyone who dares to nder Miss Qiqi again had better consider the consequences carefully. I will pass on every word back to the Miss.¡±

    The group of youths fell silent for a moment. They did not think that ndering an imperial officer born from a poor family was anything worthy of consideration, but it was a different matter if their target was Yin Qiqi.

    These people were all born ofndowning households. Forget about them, even their own families would not dare to offend Qiqi in normal circumstances. The fact that Qiqi had reached the final stage of the Drinking Horse Yin n¡¯s sessor examination meant that the resources and authority she controlled far exceeded any otherndowning household family¡¯s.

    It was at this moment Ye Mn said coldly, ¡°You can tell Yin Qiqi that I said that she is not all that extraordinary! As for today¡¯s matter, this is gossip at best. These people are all my friends, so touching them then it will be the same as touching me!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia immediately choked on his own words.

    Ye Mn already had her good reputation as a genius girl before she was an adult, but since she was born in andowning household, Ji Yuanjia, who had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the imperial main corps before he was thirty years old wasn¡¯t really too far behind her. However, the thing that caused other people to flinch before Ye Mn¡¯s presence was her other status. Offending the girl of andowning household was nothing, but offending the fiance of the seventh young master of the Song grand household was a different matter. If the Song grand household took it as a slight, forget lieutenant colonel, Ji Yuanjia would not be able to endure the consequences even if he was a major general.

    Ye Mn snorted coldly at Ji Yuanjia¡¯s expression. She said disdainfully, ¡°You guys are nothing the moment you leave the Yin Family¡¯s influence!¡±

    The group of youths immediately grew lively and let out disdainfulughters.

    The blue clothed youth swaggered his way towards Qianye and pped right onto the table, causing the wine cups before him to be crushed into piles of powder. Then, he stared at Qianye andughed coldly, saying, ¡°How dare youpete with Big Brother Gu with that tiny ability of yours! I¡¯m going to break your doggy legs and scratch that pretty face of yours sooner orter! I¡¯ll let you know that amoner should keep to your role and not dream of those things that aren¡¯t fated to be yours!¡±

    Qianye actually rxed upon seeing this slight. One could discern neither joy nor anger from his face as he measured the blue clothed young man in front of him and confirmed that he was also a rank five Fighter. This group of youths could be considered a bunch of good seeds. Unlike grand households, andowning household did not possess a sea-like amount of resources, so every person who was nurtured with all of the family¡¯s powers was a genius.

    Qianye took the opening to nce at Ye Mn as well. This quiet, elegant and arrogant girl that was like an ice mountain was almost at the same age as Qiqi, but the fact that her seventh node was actually glowing faintly was a sign that she was about to undergo a breakthrough very soon. One could say that she was overflowing with talent.

    Seeing that Qianye was unmoved and that he had even looked away from him, the blue clothed young man¡¯s expression changed slightly before yelling without a trace of politeness at all, ¡°What are you looking at? Do you want to die, peasant?! Look any longer and I¡¯ll dig out your eyes! At best Qiqi would pay you some money and have you leave, don¡¯t even think that she would ever defend you on your behalf! You are just a ything!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia took a step and cut in between the blue clothed youth and Qianye. He had already sensed that this coincidental encounter was not as simple as it appeared. These people were obviously aiming at Qianye, and judging from the fact that Qianye had been easily provoked into a challenge at the dinner feast that night, the opponent was obviously trying to restart another fight by provoking him again and again.

    The blue clothed youthughed in a strange tone, ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Ji, are you trying to teach me a lesson for disrespecting an officer?¡±

    With an absolutely dark face, Ji Yuanjia spat out a single word, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Suddenly, a cold snort rang crisply from the opposite side. Ye Mn¡¯s beautiful eyes were like a pair of snowballs that locked onto Ji Yuanjia firmly.

    A red clothed young man walked out from behind her and walked in front of Ji Yuanjia with a mocking smile. He touched Ji Yuanjia¡¯s shoulder badge with his hand and cried out exaggeratedly, ¡°A lieutenant colonel, is it? I¡¯m scared, I¡¯m so scared! Hahaha, that being said, you cannot mete out private punishment in the military, officer, so you better show me a warrant first before you try anything! But unfortunately, the person to investigate and grant a capture warrant seems to be my father. So why don¡¯t you tell me if he will sign a warrant to capture his own son?¡±

    The rest of the youthsughed and jeered rowdily all at once.

    The imperial army had a rigid structure, and disrespecting an officer was an extremely severe criminal charge. However, these youths were all ced under the expeditionary forces, and they were not of the same number as Ji Yuanjia¡¯s seventh corps. If Ji Yuanjia attempted to harm them without direct jurisdictive power, he would be used of misconduct. In Xichang City where the expeditionary forces had the upper hand, any minor disputes would absolutely be overlooked through the excuse of long investigation process.

    The blue clothed young man folded his arms and red at Qianye with the corner of his eyes and sneered at him, ¡°Alright, I withdraw my previous words. Perhaps Lieutenant Colonel Ji had only epted a bit of protection fee.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯splexion was ashen. Suddenly, he sucked in a deep breath as origin power began to circte throughout his entire body.

    It was at this moment Qianye patted Ji Yuanjia on the shoulder and said indifferently, ¡°Don¡¯t. With your status, you will only be honoring them by attacking them.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia was startled. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t know how severe the consequences might be after he raised a hand against them, but he seriously could not swallow his anger.

    Qianye let out an icy cold smile, ¡°But I¡¯m different! Since these high and mighty young masters ofndowning households are all of higher ranks and status than me, I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t turn down the challenge of a peasant, will they?¡± his gaze swept across the blue clothed young man who was looking pleased at himself and into the crowd, ¡°Say Mister Ye Muhai, has the injury on your face recovered already?¡±

    Ye Muhai¡¯s face immediately alternated between shades of green and white continuously, unable to say even a single word at all. On the other hand, a dark and fierce emotion flowed out of the blue clothed young man¡¯s expression after he was aghast at being ignored.

    While Ye Muhai kept saying that he wasn¡¯t prepared back the day he was knocked out by Qianye in a single punch, he knew very well that he was absolutely not Qianye¡¯s match deep inside, even if they were to fight each other once more. The strength and speed behind that punch had far exceeded his absolute limits!

    Therefore, how would he dare to answer Qianye¡¯s provocative call? If he answered it, then he would have to duel him in battle. But if he lost again under public scrutiny, how could he possibly salvage his reputation? He would be the butt of jokes among the circle of nobles from this day onward no matter how much time had passed.

    Ye Muhai could only console himself that this scene differed from their n and thus, he was in the right for not epting the challenge. However, he ultimately did not dare to raise his head and look at Ye Mn¡¯s face. Right now, his fear inspiring cousin must be wearing an extremely ugly expression on her face, and her opinion of him must have fallen to the lowest point as well.

    Many of the customers who were having their meals at this floor were rmed by themotion. The people who could dine at Copper Peacock Terrace were all reputable figures of Xichang City, and they were most familiar with Ye Mn, Ji Yuanjia, and the rest of the noble youths. Therefore, more and more onlookers began to gather around them.

    It was at this moment the blue clothed young man walked out into the open. Contrary to the arrogance and impudence he had disyed earlier, the young man said with pretentious calm, ¡°I am Lu Shenjiang. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to know you at the dinner feast, so I am sure that you will not turn down my chance to make up for this regret, will you?¡±

    The moment ji Yuanjia heard the blue clothed young man announcing his family name, he immediately recalled his identity.

    Lu Shenjiang might not look much older than Qianye, but in reality he was approaching thirty years old. His origin power was at the peak of rank five, and it was said that the reason he hadn¡¯t made a breakthrough all this time was rted to the secret art he cultivated passed down by his family. A person¡¯s origin power must ascend in rank simultaneously with theirbat skills so that they couldbine to make the greatest power. Therefore, hisbat power was absolutely not just at the level of rank five.

    The Lu Family might be andowning household, but their legacy had exceeded seven hundred years. It was said that their ancestors had once entered the ranks of aristocratic families, and it was only for the past hundreds years or so that they were met with declination. However, the secret art andbat skills of the Lu Family was worthy of being put at the same level as an aristocratic family.

    He truly was the perfect candidate to cause trouble. If their opponent had sent out a rank six into battle, Ji Yuanjia would have turned down the challenge directly on Qianye¡¯s behalf. With slight worry, he told Qianye softly about his opponent¡¯s identity.

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Got it.¡±

    The empire was warlike, and the important figures often enjoyed arranging a couple of fights to liven things up while they ate. Just like songs and dances, fights were just as weed as an entertainment event. Therefore, there was a readily avable fighting ring on top of ¡°Copper Peacock Terrace¡± beside the airshipnding zone.

    Before Qianye entered the ring, Ji Yuanjia told him with worry, ¡°You must be careful! These people hade prepared because of that person.¡±

    An indiscernible cold light shed across Qianye¡¯s eyes as he said, ¡°I know how I should deal with this.¡±

    Gu Liyu¡¯s shadow was obviously behind this matter, therefore the situation had be both simple andplicated.

    A momentter, Qianye and Lu Shenjiang had stepped into the ring and stood opposite of each other. Their surroundings were already filled with standing audiences, and among them there were quite a few familiar important figures of Xichang City.

    Lu Shenjiang sucked in a deep breath as a sheen of gold light surfaced around his arms. As he spread his arms, he actually looked like arge roc spreading its wings!

    The onlookers were immediately rmed by this. Not only did the fact that Lu Shenjiang¡¯s origin power had disyed unusual phenomenons despite him being lower than Champion rank meant that hisbat skills had reached a higher level, thebat skill he cultivated itself could also be ranked among the nine grades.

    Lu Shenjiang yelled, ¡°Secret Art: Fist of the Gold-winged Bird King!¡±

    His aura grew stronger and stronger as the gold light around his arms also grew brighter. He actually managed to form the fledgling appearance of a pair of wings. It was only when his aura had risen to its limits that Lu Shenjiang let out a long howl and abruptly pounced towards Qianye. With his hands curved into ws, hooking both arms at Qianye¡¯s shoulders like a pair of sharp hooks!

    But just as he was at mid-pounce, Qianye suddenly let out a low roar and stomped his right foot on the ground, causing the entire fighting ring to shake once!

    Qianye¡¯s figure abruptly disappeared, leaving behind only a big hole where he once stood. A fist became reflected in Lu Shenjiang¡¯s pupils, passing through the gaps of his ws and growingrger andrger before his eyes! The ferocious origin power that surged towards his face sparkled and rumbled deafeningly!

    Lu Shenjiang¡¯s heart nearly stopped beating. Right now only one thought upied his mind, ¡°So fast! And so heavy!¡±

    He did have some real abilities of his own, so although he was intimidated by this earth-shattering punch, his well tempered body acted instinctively and caused his arms to withdraw unto itself, crossing before his head and chest to forcefully endure Qianye¡¯s blow!

    There was a dull bang and the tiniest sound of breaking bones. Qianye swayed backwards and retreated a step, but Lu Shenjiang¡¯s fate was far worse as he skidded ten meters backwards by the single punch!

    Startled cries had filled the fighting ring already.

    Lu Shenjiang could only see gold stars flying everywhere before his eyes, and feel the air in his chest doing backflips repeatedly. He was infinitely thankful that he had instinctively chose to defend himself, or that punch would havended on his heart even if he did prate Qianye¡¯s shoulders.

    While shocked and furious, Lu Shenjiang finally realized for the first time how Ye Muhai had felt at the time. When the punch hadnded on him, it literally felt like an entire mountain peak was crashing down on his head. Even though hisbat power was at least twenty percent stronger than Ye Muhai¡¯s, he still found the blow indefensible at all.

    However, Qianye did not n on giving him time to reflect on his mistakes. He was already striding forwards after quelling the rebound force for a brief moment. Right now, the origin power in his body was rising higher and higher as cycle after cycle of tides pped against the shore. When the tides had reached a total of nine levels, Qianye had already ran into melee range and swept ashing kick at the still recovering Lu Shenjiang.

    Qianye¡¯s leg be covered in faint yellow light in midway, and the sounds of explosive origin power crackled clearly in everyone¡¯s ears. The Combatant Form! The military¡¯sbat arts! How could it possibly be this powerful?

    How would Lu Shenjiang dare receive such a kick? Unable to care for his own image any longer, he rolled on the ground and barely avoided the blow, but before he could stand still and affirm his defenses, Qianye chased after him like a shadow and swung his foot down on Lu Shenjiang¡¯s head like a giant axe or longsword!

    There was another dull smack. Lu Shenjiang had raised his arms above his head and forcefully endured Qianye¡¯s kick. However, he literally became shorter after enduring the heavy blow. As it turned out, Qianye had literally kicked him into the ground.

    Expressionlessly, Qianye withdrew his left leg and raised his right leg instead. While sped in surging origin power, his leg swung fiercely at Lu Shenjiang once more. This time the gold light around Lu Shenjiang¡¯s body waspletely destroyed as he fell backwards and even spat blood in midair.

    Stomp stomp stomp! Like a giant beast, Qianye tread thend inrge steps and chased after Lu Shenjiang mercilessly.

    The entire fighting ring had fallen into silence.

    The Combatant Form was both harsh and forceful. As the tidesyered upon one another, it became more and more unstoppable the long it was used. Right now Qianye¡¯s aura had obviously reached itspletion, and he was like ten thousand mounted soldiers riding straight into the heart of the enemy. If Lu Shenjiang were to suffer yet another blow, he almost definitely wouldn¡¯t survive.

    Suddenly, a faint purple figure shed in front of him and chopped at Qianye!

    It was Ye Mn!

 Volume 3 - 28: Strike of a Fighter King

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 28: Strike of a Fighter King

    The angle of this strike was incredibly tricky. She was actually able to cut towards the point three inches below his ribs while Qianye was running in high speed.

    The surrounding audience could only hear a thin and sharp sound of a palm breaking through the air. The sound did not appear all that shocking to other people, but the ears of the charging Qianye were filled with an extremely shrill whistle that threatened to tear his ear drums apart. The air had reached him before the technique could, and it was as biting as a sharp de that poked at Qianye¡¯s skin until it hurts.

    Ye Mn¡¯s origin power was as cold as ice, and it was far more dense and immense than Lu Shenjiang¡¯s. If Qianye still persisted on his charge, then her palm de would cut into the vital spot beneath his ribs.

    Suddenly, Qianye came to a rapid stop without any prior signs whatsoever. While twisting his waist and legs, he bent his body at the same time to just barely avoid the path of the palm de. Then, he countered with a strike to Ye Mn¡¯s elbow.

    Both opponents exchanged a blow fiercely with each other! Then, they immediately parted and took two steps in retreat.

    Neither side were able to utilize their full force during the sh. Qianye¡¯s Combatant Form had to switch directions mid rampage so the origin tides only managed to strike its target with its sides. Ye Mn¡¯s palm de had reached the end of its offense and was struck by Qianye at an unmaneuverable spot. She had only managed to dish out half of her full strength.

    Qianye¡¯s face was so dark one could squeeze water from it. While staring at Ye Mn, he said coldly, ¡°You interfered even in a life or death duel. Do you have no sense of shame at all?¡± His Combatant Form continued to press on one tide after the other, crushing the wisps of needle-like frost energy that had invaded in his body. In the blink of an eye, it had reached the ninth cycle once more.

    Ye Mn stood on the field proudly. The hem of her ovepping skirt hadn¡¯t yetpletely subsided due to the surging ripples of origin power. It spun and flew like flower petals in full bloom. She said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m doing this for your sake. I doubt you can assume the responsibility of hurting a noble.¡±

    Qianye actually smiled at the height of his anger, ¡°As we are in a life or death duel, I will not hurt my opponent! I will only kill them!¡±

    Ye Mn¡¯s face was as frigid as ice. She said, ¡°There is a limit to my patience! Do not challenge my bottom line!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression suddenly turned calm as he said indifferently, ¡°My patience has a limit as well. Since you¡¯re entered the field, then you shall continue the battle on his behalf!¡±

    Right after he said this, and without waiting for Ye Mn to speak, Qianye appeared in front of her in a single step and threw out yet another simple punch right at her chest!

    Ye Mn¡¯s expression changed on the spot.

    The straight punch. This was the first basic movement taught in the militarybat arts. In Qianye¡¯s hands, the straight punch was perfectly average without any sort of variations or special effects. It was just fast, heavy, and straightforward!

    Ye Mn suddenly discovered that the manybat skills she prided herself in had utterly lost their effects in front of this one punch. There was no other way to neutralize this punch other than blocking it head on.

    Naturally, there was no way she would sh against Qianye head on. Qianye¡¯s frantic power left a deep impression in Ye Mn¡¯s mind, and she had failed to gain any shred of advantage at all despite preparing herself for the earlier ambush and forcing Qianye to switch techniques midway to meet her head on. Now that Qianye¡¯s aura had attained fullpletion, the result of another head on sh was self-evident.

    Ye Mn pushed at the ground with the tip of her toes and floated backwards in abrupt retreat.

    A faint, cold smile appeared around the corners of Qianye¡¯s lips as the Combatant Form climbed to the peak of a new cycle of tide. He chased after Ye Mn withrge steps and attacked her with a vertical palm sh.

    This was the second basic movement in the militarybat arts, the knife hand. The strike looked so imposing, as though it could cut apart a mountain, granting it greater might just because of this. But if someone were to ce close attention to the shape of Qianye¡¯s hand, they would notice that the joints of his second and third fingers were slightly curled into a nearly indiscernible arc. This way, he could instantly clench his hand into a fist the second he struck the target and erupt immeasurable power.

    Ye Mn¡¯s expression was ugly as she pushed the ground again with the tip of her foot, drawing a graceful arc in midair and dodging sideways. Just as before, she did not dare to take the blow head on.

    Suddenly, Qianye let out a long howl and quickened his movements. Like a tidal wave, his offense surged towards Ye Mn.

    Qianye had been using militarybat arts from the beginning to the end. Almost everyone present here had learned this before, so they could see with absolute rity every single attacking movement he made. However, like a small boat trapped amidst perilous waves, not only did Ye Mn failed to rise above the waves, as she drifted along the flow, her dodges only became more and more of a struggle. She actually could not find an opportunity to counterattack under Qianye¡¯s offense.

    The entire arena was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. As Qianye¡¯s attacks grew heavier and heavier, it was no longer a question whether Ye Mn would be defeated. It was at the level where a single misstep for her side and a single solid strike would result in grievous injuries.

    With a heavy expression, Ji Yuanjia took a few steps into the fighting ring. The position he assumed blocked the group of youths from interfering, but in reality he was preparing himself to save Ye Mn. He absolutely could not allow the fiance of the seventh young master of the Song grand household be heavily injured by Qianye¡¯s hands. Otherwise, forget Qiqi, even the Drinking Horse Yin n was willing to defend him. They might not necessarily be able to save his life.

    Ye Mn was losing even faster than everyone else thought.

    Her surrounding space was sealed off by Qianye¡¯s immeasurably heavy fist strikes. Finally, she could dodge no longer and had to sh once with Qianye in full. When the two figures ran into each other, Ye Mn immediately let out a dull groan as her face turnedpletely pale. She stumbled backwards in retreat. However, Qianye had no intention of withdrawing at all. He strode forwards and widened the five fingers of his right palm. Then, he pped downwards right on top of her head!

    The second this palm strike fell downwards, it was actually apanied by a thunder-like noise. Right now, the origin tides inside Qianye¡¯s body had reached the thirtieth cycle!

    At a critical moment, an icy blue light shed across Ye Mn¡¯s body, and as if she was lifted into the air by a big, invisible hand, her figure instantly shifted horizontally backwards for a couple of meters, barely enabling her to avoid Qianye¡¯s attack.

    Qianye¡¯s palm strike reached the end of its offense and mmed heavily into the ground. His entire forearm had sunk into the ground built from limestone! Then, the limestone within a ten meter radius all cracked as bits of stones scattered into the air. Some of the stone bits struck Ye Mn¡¯s face, drawing thin scratches of blood.

    The strike of a Fighter King was as mighty as the abyss!

    Ye Mn seized the momentary gap to retreat to the edge of the fighting ring. Her face was deathly pale.

    Qianye knew that he had already lost his chance. Therefore, he gradually stood up and said indifferently, ¡°Your secretbat arts is pretty good. But you will not have this chance next time.¡± It was only now that he finally conducted the origin tides to subside gradually. He also cleared out the frost aura that were as thin as ox hair swimming inside his veins. Thebat art Ye Mn practiced was pretty extraordinary, and every time he exchanged solid blows with her the frost aura would unavoidably seep into his body.

    Ye Mn¡¯s face was stillpletely pale white. As she stared at the terrifying mark left behind by Qianye¡¯s palm strike in disbelief, she said angrily, ¡°You¡¯re actually trying to kill me?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°This is a life or death duel. What do you think?¡±

    Ye Mn choked before following up with a stern voice, ¡°Do you know that the Song grand household would absolutely not forgive you if you hurt me?¡±

    Qianye suddenly smiled and said softly, ¡°You are not a member of the Song Family just yet. Tell me again when you have actually married into the Song Family!¡±

    The color of embarrassment shed across Ye Mn¡¯s face, and she immediately beckoned herpanions and said fiercely, ¡°He attempted to kill me. Capture him! We shall surrender him to the mayor after we have interrogated the truth out of him!¡±

    The few noble youths walked into the open, but their movements were slightly sluggish. Having watched that absolutely hair-raising duel, none of them dared to rush up alone against Qianye no matter how much they wished to perform.

    ¡°Enough!¡± Ji Yuanjia let out a cold yell before taking two steps forward to block their paths. He said heavily, ¡°Do not think that Miss Qiqi would be afraid to take out all of you just because you¡¯ve managed to cling onto Ye Mn¡¯s thighs!¡±

    ¡°She dares?!¡± Ye Mn cried out.

    Ji Yuanjia turned around to look at her, ¡°Miss Ye, even if you married into the Song Family in the future, you are still not their matron. You are not worthy to speak such things.¡±

    Ye Mn finally lost her reservation and stared angrily at Ji Yuanjia with eyes full of resentment. She raised her right palm slightly, and it emanated with a cold and frigid power. However, Ji Yuanjia simply looked at her just like that with calm eyes.

    In the end, Ye Mn did not act against him. She simply let out a heavy snort and regained her cool pride.

    Unlike Qianye who had appeared suddenly out of nowhere, Ji Yuanji boasted an extremely prestigious resume despite his humble beginnings. He had graduated from the famous sword arts military school ¡°Swordrain Springs¡±, and had once taken third ce in the military¡¯s rookiepetition.

    Although anyone with a discerning eye would know that Ji Yuanjia had been recruited by the Drinking Horse Yin Family, the empire main corps lieutenant colonel badge on his shoulder was solidly built from a foundation of military achievements. If they were to kill someone like him without any reason at all, forget the Yin Family, his fellowrades would not have let matters drop easily.

    By now Qianye had already dispelled all of the frost energy inside his body and was slowly walking over from the center of the ring.

    After staring at Ye Mn for a moment, he suddenly let out a smile that was as pure as the boy that was his neighbor back at Red Spider Lily. Then he averted his gaze and swept a nce across the surrounding noble youths, saying, ¡°I¡¯m just a peasant. If I am push to the brink, then I can only end things in blood and death. Oh noblemen and women, if I may ask, how long can you guard yourself against me? A month? A year? Or ten years?¡±

    Every youth¡¯s face, including Ye Mn¡¯s, were ugly to the extreme. They knew that he wasn¡¯t just throwing around empty threats just from Qianye¡¯s ruthless attitude toward Lu Shenjiang and Ye Mn just now.

    After Qianye and Ji Yuanjia had left, Ye Muhai finally spat out heavily and cursed, ¡°What a peasant!¡±

    But he did not realize that he was already covered in cold sweat.

    Just when Qianye was about to make it out of the main entrance, a shout suddenly rang out from behind him, ¡°Wait there!¡±

    When Qianye turned around, he saw Lu Shenjiang rushing towards him. And so he stood still and asked, ¡°You want another fight?¡±

    ¡°Of course! But not now! I admit that I am not your match right now.¡± Lu Shenjiang said naturally and without restraint.

    Qianye raised an eyebrow and asked, ¡°What do you want then?¡±

    Lu Shenjiang stretched out a finger and said, ¡°Half a year! Let us fight again half a yearter. So, what do you think? I refuse to believe that I can¡¯t take out amoner like you!¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Even if I were to give you another ten and a half years, you will still be a coward who kneels before me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too cocky too soon! It¡¯s decided then. Do you dare, or not?¡± Lu Shenjiang said through gritted teeth. He stretched out a hand and looked like he would p Qianye¡¯s hand in promise.

    As Qianye stared into the other¡¯s eyes, he let out that pure smile of his once more and stretched out his hand just the same.

    Just as the two hands were about to grip each other, Qianye¡¯s palm suddenly turned around to detain Lu Shenjiang¡¯s wrist joints tightly like five hooks!

    There was a translucent sh, and a crystalline needle that was almost invisible abruptly appeared between Lu Shenjiang¡¯s fingers.

    Beside Qianye, Ji Yuanjia¡¯s expression changed greatly. His military achievements all came from the battlefield, so there was no way he wouldn¡¯t recognize the material of that crystalline needle. It was obviously a vampire made product. Not even god would believe it if he were to say that there were nothing fatal on the needle.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qianye continued to smile, but there was obvious killing intent at the bottom of his eyes.

    Lu Shenjiang felt cold all over. Suddenly, he cried out loudly, ¡°Help, the peasant is about to kill a noble!¡±

    His cries turned into blood curdling screams midway. Qianye exerted strength into his hand, and he broke Lu Shenjiang¡¯s defenses directly and crushed his wrist bonespletely.

    Many eyes turned towards their direction.

    Light purple dress danced on top of the hundred step staircase. Ye Mn and the others were rushing towards the main entrance.

    Ji Yuanjia sucked in a deep breath and lowered his right arm. There was a soft ng, and a small sword that was only one sixth of a meter long appeared in his palm. It glinted with a cold light. He eyes swept across the crowd as he said sternly, ¡°This is the business of the imperial seventeenth corps. Mind your own business!¡±

    The familiar faces that had appeared in Copper Peacock Terrace at the fighting ring immediately showed the signs of retreat. The seventeenth corps was one of the Empire¡¯s main corps. If Ji Yuanjia truly decided to throw caution to the wind, unless they fought each other and decided life or death on the spot, these natives of the Evernight Continent actually would not have the courage to harm him.

    Even if Ji Yuanjia were to be punished by martialwter, the seventeenth corps would take out all of thendowning households who were involved in order to protect the main corps¡¯ reputation.

    Qianye moved beside Lu Shenjiang¡¯s ears and said softly, ¡°Is it Gu Liyu, or Marquis Ross?¡±

    At this moment, Lu Shenjiang still kept a tight lip and snorted coldly, ¡°Those who know less live longer.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± Qianye¡¯s hand rxed slightly, and he dropped Lu Shenjiang to the ground with a simple hook using the back of his feet. Then, he stepped onto Lu Shenjiang¡¯s knee and exerted his strength. Lu Shenjiang¡¯s knee was crushed just like then amidst breaking noises.

    Seeing that Qianye¡¯s foot was going tond on his other leg, Lu Shenjiang finally screamed out in fear, ¡°Don¡¯t! I¡¯ll speak! I¡¯ll speak everything!¡±

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Qianye¡¯s question was simple and straightforward.

    ¡°Both! There is both Gu Liyu and Marquis Ross. They both wish to see you dead! Can you let me go now?¡± Lu Shenjiang¡¯s voice was very loud under nearly suffocating pain and panic. Many people had heard his words.

    Qianye withdrew his right leg slowly before saying indifferently, ¡°Alright. I can let you go once. But there isn¡¯t going to be a second time, get it?¡±

    ¡°Get it! I get it!¡± Lu Shenjiang nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Qianye beckoned Ji Yaunjia and looked like he was about to leave. But just as he had taken two steps away, Qianye suddenly turned around and pointed the revolver of the Twin Flowers right at Lu Shenjiang¡¯s forehead!

 Volume 3 - 29: Returning to the Battlefield

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 29: Returning to the Battlefield

    At this moment, the surrounding had suddenly fallen into a deathly silence. Time seemed to have be frozen, and everyone¡¯s faces were riddled in shock. It was as if their very thoughts hade to a pause, and they were unable toprehend at all what was about to happen.

    The ancient and graceful patterns on ¡°Twin Flowers¡± lit up, drawing the outline of a demonically beautiful double petal flower. Its inneryer was as clean white as snow, and its outeryer was as scarlet red as blood. A misty light of origin power appeared from the muzzle, followed by the slow exit of an origin bullet flying towards Lu Shenjiang¡¯s forehead. It caused the inconsble terror on his face to be frozen forever.

    A red and white flower bloomed before everyone¡¯s eyes just like that.

    ¡°Now we really should be going.¡± Qianye withdrew his gun and beckoned Ji Yuanjia casually. Then, he turned around and left.

    Even Ji Yuanjia was eximing in slight disbelief, ¡°You, you really killed him?¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°He should¡¯ve died twice. I never joke around when ites to something like this.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia sucked in a deep breath and nodded. As he followed Qianye and began to walk towards outside, he maintained half a shoulder¡¯s distance behind Qianye intentionally or otherwise. The small sword that was only one sixth of a meter sang softly as it flowed with a misty green color.

    When he walked out of the doorstep, Ji Yuanjia turned around and met Ye Mn¡¯s gaze with extreme calmness. Thetter was standing high above the stairs and had regained her cool and proud appearance. However, her beautiful and unblemished face seemed to have turned into a slightly dull and lifeless mask. Immediately after, Ji Yuanjia strode away with wide steps, while Qianye never looked back even a single time.

    The youths who had just ran over were all as frozen as ice as they stared at Qianye and Ji Yuanjia¡¯s departing figure. It was only when the jeep the duo rode on hadpletely vanished from view that someone screamed loudly.

    Ye Mn said in a cold voice, ¡°How dare a peasant kill andowning household noble in public! I must get justice for this murder!¡±

    The group ofndowning household youths all echoed in agreement, but the majority of them could not control the pale look on their faces. Ji Yuanjia had put on an unexpected firm disy of force, and a stance that suggested that he would participate in battle if necessary. In reality, his actions had already foretold this incident¡¯s oue.

    Simr conflicts were happening at every corner of the city, and the most forceful and most effective method was to kill the other party on the spot. You say you n to get ¡°justice¡± through the official procedures? This thing could take up to several years and not necessarily produce a result. In the end, in the eyes of the important figures,ndowning households, humble families ormoners were not all that different from each other. Exceptions had always been far and few.

    On the way back, Ji Yuanjia suddenly said on the car, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia sighed, ¡°No, I have to say this! At the time, I really did not have the courage to stand up.¡± If he hadn¡¯t felt wariness and tolerance towards Ye Mn from the beginning, Qianye would not have been forced up the fighting ring. The enemy hade at them with careful consideration over their ranks, martial arts, and equipment. If Qianye¡¯sbat strength hadn¡¯t exceeded everyone¡¯s situation, then the person who might¡¯ve been hurt grievously or even killed on the fighting ring would be Qianye.

    Qianye patted his shoulder and smiled, ¡°I have courage, because I have nothing at all. You are different. You still have your family.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia let out a long sigh and said hatefully, ¡°Those damnablendowning households!¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly and said, ¡°That¡¯s all there is to them.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia recalled something and asked, ¡°What¡¯s that about a Marquis?¡±

    ¡°Oh nothing, it¡¯s just the vampire marquis Ross. I killed one of his descendants and robbed him off the guns that was said to belong to him when he became famous. There¡¯s no way this news can be concealed, so I know that he would send someone toe after me. I just didn¡¯t think that it would be so soon, and through the hands of thesendowning nobles no less.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia immediately sucked in a cold breath, ¡°Marquis Ross! Curse it, that¡¯s an old monster that has lived almost a thousand years! Still, his main territory is at Darkblood City, and he is some distance away from this ce. What do you n to do now? Will you think of a way to sell those two guns?¡±

    Qianye said leisurely, ¡°No, I n to use this pair of guns for myself. It felt pretty good when I used them just now. They may be a little old, but they are still very serviceable.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia said in shock, ¡°You¡¯ve gone crazy! This is a public taunt! A public taunt against a vampire marquis!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been as clear-headed as I am now.¡± Qianye answered.

    Ji Yuanjia was dumbfounded. If Qianye were to do this in a different battlefield then it was nothing big, since no matter how strong that vampire marquis was he would not dare to charge into the human¡¯s faction to kill Qianye. Plus, at Marquis Ross¡¯s level, something like this was but a small matter.

    However, this was the Evernight Continent. This was the ce where the human race and dark races permeated into one another and be entangled in countless strings. No one could say exactly how many deals existed between the expeditionary forces and the dark races, and how deep the waters were. As long as Marquis Ross issued a high enough bounty, then there would be people who would want to cut off Qianye¡¯s head just like that Lu Shenjiang.

    ¡°What do you n to do now?¡±

    I¡¯m going to go to the frontline and familiarise with 131. Then I would start fighting against the dark races. It¡¯s about time Miss Qiqi gather some points for her exam, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia frowned and said, ¡°The war here is more frequent than over at the Boulderstone Region, and the dark races¡¯bat strength is stronger as well.¡±

    ¡°It is better to face a powerful enemy upfront than watching out for a knife behind my back at every moment.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Your thinking is still too¡­ naive. It¡¯s not like you¡¯d be immune to entrapment just because you are at the frontlines.¡± he paused for a moment before saying directly, ¡°Your rank is still too low, and you will be facing many powerful dark races at apany level battlefront. They will not meet you in a fair duel or something either. Originally, Miss Qiqi was nning to send you to the frontline after you¡¯ve reached rank five.¡±

    Qianye suddenly smiled and said, ¡°Actually, killing is different from dueling. An enemy you can¡¯t beat may not necessarily be unkible.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia gave it a moment¡¯s thought before exhaling and said, ¡°Alright. Just watch out for yourself whatever you do. Scout more before you act and prepare a retreat route. Also, it will be best if you contact me before you conduct any big operations. I may be able to get you some reinforcements.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Miss Qiqi bring over a corp of regr troops only? Now that you¡¯ve passed even an elitepany to me, what else do you have to support me?¡±

    ¡°The seventeenth corps is just the regr force the Yin Family set up for a uniform arrangement. I am responsible for the recruitment of Miss Qiqi¡¯s private troops, and now they number almost a thousand people. Their training has never stopped either. Their foundations are good, and they can be sent to the battlefield after a bit more training in cooperation.¡±

    Qianye nodded, ¡°Alright, I will remember this. If there really is a need, I will definitelye and look for you.

    When he returned to the Yin Family¡¯s courtyard, Qianye began tidying his luggage and equipment. The 131 elitepany¡¯s camp was at a small town several hundreds of kilometers away. That area was the true frontline of the resistance against the dark races.

    While Qianye was busying himself inside the room, Qiqi had entered right into his bedroom without even bothering to notify him. She looked at Qianye¡¯s half tidied equipment and said, ¡°Going out to the battlefield so soon?¡±

    ¡°The sooner I¡¯m there, the sooner I can get familiarize myself with the environment.¡±

    While picking up the vampire pistols and ying with them, Qiqi said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard about today¡¯s matter. You did well. It is very much to my liking! If there is one thing I have to criticize about, it will be that you failed to kill Ye Mn.¡± She raised the twin guns and made an aiming posture at a vampire in a war painting before saying, ¡°That woman is even more disgusting than that treacherous and deceitful bastard Song Zining!¡±

    Qianye choked as he began to recall if the Song Zining at Yellow Spring had anything to do with those two adjectives. Then he realized that he had be absent-minded and said immediately, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t killing her bring you trouble?¡±

    Qiqi said carelessly, ¡°It is only a bit of trouble. In actuality, my troubles cannot get worse than it already is now. If you kill her, grand household Song would naturally get a new fiance for Song Zining. They just have to pursue the matter for the sake of their own reputation.¡±

    Qianye said honestly, ¡°Ye Mn¡¯s secret arts is very useful. Although I won, I may not necessarily be able to kill her.¡±

    Qiqi red at him from the corner of her eyes, obviously amused by Qianye¡¯s overly honest answer, ¡°These two guns are pretty good. Why don¡¯t you gift them to me?¡±

    Qianye shook his head and said, ¡°No, I going to use them myself.¡±

    ¡°Tsk tsk! You are openly taunting a marquis, you know! He may it beneath him to deal with you himself, but his descendants will definitelye after you!¡±

    ¡°Then let theme!¡±

    Qiqi put down the twin pistols and said, ¡°You are even crazier than I imagine. Alright, do not die. Otherwise, where am I to find such a beautiful little lover?¡±

    The next day, Qiqi sent out her private airship directly to take Qianye to his destination. Ji Yuanjia apanied him.

    On board the airship, Qianye finally asked the question that had been guing him for two days, ¡°Why would grand household aristocratic families like the Yin Family and Song Family attempt to connect by marriage withndowning households?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this¡­¡±

    In order to absorb talents and preserve the vitality of the family¡¯s bloodline, grand households would select a specific group from every generation of youths to marry with thendowning households. Be it man or woman, the oue of this marriage was the merging of andowning household into a grand household aristocratic family. This also meant that Gu Liyu and Ye Mn would be a member of the Yin Family and Song Family in the future.

    Only the most excellent group of young talents of thendowning households would obtain such an opportunity. Just by entering the gate of an aristocratic family alone, their families would be taken care as well. This was also andowning household¡¯s opportunity to advance. For a grand household aristocratic family, this was a chance to absorb the most talented youths of thendowning households into their own families and maintain their overall status. It was also atent method to suppress the growth of thendowning households.

    Yin Qiqi and Song Zining had been chosen to marry with nobles ofndowning households by their families since a very young age. Normally speaking, the age between six to eight was the period where the children of aristocratic families began to cultivate their origin power. They would go through a series of potential tests, background check and kin rtion filtering before the selection was confirmed. Naturally, the targets chosen as marriage partners were people at the fringe of the direct line of descent.

    However, Yin Qiqi and Song Zining were the few exceptions to the rule. Not only did their individual strength grow stronger and stronger after they became an adult, their status within the family also grew more important with each passing day. That was why both Gu Liyu and Ye Mn paid so much importance to the engagement and was willing to pay any price to ensure that the engagement would go through.

    Suddenly, a problem popped into Qianye¡¯s head. The result of the potential tests of the aristocratic family members¡ªespecially those at the top level¡ªshould be pretty conclusive, so why had such a huge deviation urred? Plus, there should be plenty of chances to correct this between the period of children to adulthood. He had just asked this question when he saw Ji Yuanjia¡¯s expression. He understood immediately what it meant.

    There were probably many people within the Song and Yin Family who wished to see through this engagement due to a variety of reasons. Yin Qiqi might be extremely dissatisfied with her family¡¯s arrangement, but she could not force the Yin Family to withdraw the engagement either. Therefore, she could only force Gu Liyun to give up on his own. It was just that her methods were truly a little dumbfounding.

    It was only now Qianye finally understood the entire ins and outs. However, it didn¡¯t matter whether he knew this earlier orter. From the moment he participated in this mission, he was fated to offend Gu Liyu to the death. It was just that Qianye¡¯s style of doing his best in every task caused the effects of certain matters to exceed the expectations of the originator of the problem, Yin Qiqi, and her aides.

    Several hourster, the airship slowly descended at Zhongying Town. This was a small town with several thousand people of poption, and their main livelihood depended on a nearby ck stone mine. Most of the townspeople worked at the mines.

 Volume 3 - 30: Going to War

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 30: Going to War

    Although Zhongying Town wasn¡¯t veryrge, but this was a key point of the border defences. Hence, the defensive emcements of the ce were remarkablyplete, and it would normally have a garrison standing guard made of the expeditionary army on the order of thousands. The 131st reinforcedpany as well as severalpanies in reserve from other designations were also based here, training, supplying, and organizing their troops, ready to move off at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Ji Yuanjia apanied Qianye into the army camp, and once he was done with the take over procedures, he left on the airship.

    Even the 131st reinforcedpany had its own independent camp, and at this point every soldier from thepany was gathered in the parade square, being inspected by thepanymander, Captain Bao Zhengcheng, who was apanying Qianye in the inspection.

    Among the seventy units present, the reinforcedpany was equivalent to the special forces within the units, and both their military strength and equipment were overwhelmingly above those of a normal unit, and they were often rebellious.

    What Qianye looked at now was such a unit. One hundred fifty men stood crookedly, not a single one of them ramrod straight. A few of the more talented officers were even sending unfriendly gazes towards Qianye, openly and brazenly evaluating from head to toe.

    Had Qianye been escorted over by Ji Yuanjia, and been directly greeted by him before he left, they might not have been so quick to challenge him. Ji Yuanjia had originally risen from the seventeenth corps as an infantry officer, and attained his stripes by umting military merits, and his name carried more weight than Miss Qiqi¡¯s among these soldiers.

    While standing to one side was Bao Zhengcheng smiling innocently, as if nothing had been seen. He was round but heavy-set, and he towered over Qianye by nearly a full head, and at first nce he resembled a standing grizzly bear. A normal reinforcedpany was usually headed by a rank three Fighter, but the rank four Bao Zhengcheng hadmitted a crime, and was hence punished to be thepanymander of this reinforcedpany.

    Faced with this simr-looking initial inspection, Qianye suddenly had a nostalgic feeling. It was only that at that time, he was still a rookie, and at most he could only observe the ck Scorpion veterans being rowdy from the sides.

    Qianye smiled, and his obsidian-like eyes shined. ¡°Captain Bao, your men are really quite an interesting bunch!¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng opened his mouth wide, as he sped his hands together,ughing. ¡°They¡¯re but rabble that only know how to wage war, and nothing else!¡±

    ¡°I would think that merely being able to fight wouldn¡¯t be enough, given that the firstw of the Empire¡¯s military is being able to follow orders.¡±

    ¡°Themander¡¯s order, they¡¯ll definitely follow for sure.¡± Bao Zhengcheng immediately patted his chest reassuringly.

    Qianye waved his hand. ¡°Very well, dismiss them.¡±

    Not a single man moved, and some of the warriors were even shocked back into their normal military postures. When they heard those words about the Empire¡¯s militaryw, they had already begun to rub their hands together in glee, ready to let this new officer in front of them understand what they understood by militaryw, but instead, he had just so weakly ended it. Was this maiden-looking little kid really so soft?

    Qianye¡¯s gaze swept across Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s muscr body, and suddenly asked, ¡°Before you all assembled, you were doing physical training, no?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then how about the two of us do a demonstration for them?¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng started, and going with the flow, smiled. ¡°Sure! It¡¯s rare to see Sir willing to demonstrate.¡±

    The basic training for power was to wrestle, and among the officers, they obviously wouldn¡¯t get down and dirty wrestling one another heavily, and the traditional way was with an arm wrestle.

    As the men moved the limestone stage over, Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s men snuck over to him. ¡°Head, are you really going to contest him¡­¡± The man made a hand sign towards Qianye. ¡°This time around, there isn¡¯t even anyone willing to open bets for it.¡±

    Evidently, the warriors had all piled up in the front to watch the match, no longer raucous and rowdy like during their normal matches.

    Bao Zhengcheng chided them. ¡°The new officer¡¯s watching, all of you straighten up!¡± Then he watched as Qianye curiously observed the various training equipmentid out upon the training grounds, and his face darkened.

    Qianye¡¯s military uniform wasn¡¯t made to standard measures, but was instead handmade by Qiqi, even as she forced him into it, and it was especially form-fitting. Actually, Qianye wasn¡¯t too short, and had tall proportions and broad shoulders, but his waist was thinner, and it was obvious that he was slightly slender. Looking at Qianye¡¯s small frame, Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s heart was a little glum, and he could only be happy that the opponent hadn¡¯t asked to body-wrestle him, because if he lost, he¡¯d have lost all of his dignity.

    The stage was quickly prepared, and Qianye along with Bao Zhengcheng each took a side, and as the two¡¯s hands met, some of the surrounding soldiers were already unable to contain their smiles, and some of the nonmissioned officers were already starting to make funny faces at Bao Zhengcheng.

    Compared to Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s bear-like arms, Qianye¡¯s arm wasn¡¯t even half as thick, and it could be called slender. The result of this evident contest of strength had never been in doubt to the soldiers, and instead the topic of the talk had changed to whether Qianye¡¯s little arm would be twisted off, or to topics about whether they were being too hard on him, etc.

    A single copper coin was tossed into the air, and as itnded with a clear ting, Qianye and Bao Zhengcheng began to put their backs into it.

    ¡°Hey, hey, hey!!¡± Bao Zhengcheng roared thrice, and released his power thrice.

    But beyond anyone¡¯s expectations, Qianye¡¯s arm was seemingly made of steel, not budging an inch. Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s face had already flushed fully red, and he took a deep breath. And then, with a roar like a wild animal, his muscles bulged, and the tendons popped, his arm thickening, evidently putting out his maximum power!

    This sort of force, even if applied to a solid steel beam, would have bent it in half!

    But Qianye¡¯s arm still remainedpletely stationary!

    Bao Zhengcheng knew in his heart that things were going south, and suddenly, from the hand came an enormously huge and unstoppable force, that immediately crumbled his defenses, and mmed his arm viciously onto the limestone stage with a single swing!

    And this evidently wasn¡¯t over. With a boom, the remaining force that hadn¡¯t dissipated, mmed directly into the stage itself, and the meter thick limestone b was actually smashed into a pile of rubble. Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s body had lost its bnce, and he toppled over, falling heavily onto his back, his limbs pointing up towards the sky.

    Qianye gave a slight smile as he pulled up Bao Zhengcheng. ¡°Sorry about that.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng looked at Qianye as if he was looking at a monster a few times. ¡°What power!¡±

    The two of them were both rank four Fighters, but Qianye had used his origin power topete against his pure power, and not only had hepletely won, but he had also proven his point¡ªthat he wasn¡¯t some pansy sent over by somerge family to gain military achievements, and that his power was absolutely capable of shouldering his rank as amissioned officer.

    In the Empire¡¯s army, especially for those on the front line, the strong were to be revered!

    Bao Zhengcheng turned around to yell at all of the soldiers that were standing there mutely. ¡°All of you, fall in, at attention! Take a good look at your new senior officer!¡±

    Watching the soldiers standing erect in front of him, Qianye knew that he had already taken the first step to being epted by this rowdy bunch of soldiers. As to being themanding officer, that had to be gained through achievement.

    Two dayster, Qianye immediately had the entirepany move out, to sortie into the border and engage in field battle. Within two weeks, Qianye¡¯s unit had run into the patrol units of the dark races three times, and each time, they had wiped them out.

    In every battle, the strongest warriors of the patrol teams had been personally hunted and killed by Qianye himself.

    It was at this point that the soldiers realized that their new officer was in fact an ultra-long-ranged sniper. Hence, some of the more hard-headed nonmissioned officers¡¯ attitudes softened towards him, and no matter what they thought of this officer that¡¯d been parachuted in, a sniper was a supernatural existence within any army group.

    Along their route, Qianye let the units that had battled thrice rest, while he brought the rest of them along personally to survey the area, and discovered a team of vampires that had been sent to investigate the missing patrol teams.

    Up until now, all of the encounters had beenmanded by both he and Bao Zhengcheng, and Qianye was simply cooperating with this unfamiliar group. This time around, it was his first solomand, and since the vampires¡¯ investigative team would definitely haveid down traps and ambushes, he immediately took out one of the Blood Esquires, and then led his men to take down another, wiping out this investigative team that had thrice the power of a normal patrol team.

    At this point, Qianye knew that it was time to throw in the towel, and hence he had thepany move back to base first, while he alone prepared an ambush, biding his time.

    One full day and nightter, Qianye had indeed managed to encounter the reinforcement force from the dark races.

    This was a team with an extraordinary amount of power, made up of a full team of fifty warriors, and even the worst of them was rank two! Leading this bunch was an rank eight Blood Knight, and he was apanied by a fullplement of six Blood Esquires.

    This squad of full warriors¡¯ power had already far exceeded that of the 131st, and if Qianye hadn¡¯t let them retreat early, it would have been very possible that they would have gotten caught from behind. A normal soldier¡¯s speed and endurance, was no match for that of a rank two Fighter.

    This team was entirely made of vampires, and all of them were wearing ck-and-red capes, quietly advancing. Although they looked as if they weren¡¯t moving much, their speed had already far exceeded the full run of a normal person.

    As they passed by a withered tree, the Blood Knight in the front suddenly stopped, and then signalled to the rest. The whole troop immediately stopped.

    This Blood Knight lifted his mask, revealing a stern, but weathered face with silver hair. He walked to the tree, and sniffed strongly. Suddenly raising his head, he looked towards one of the branches that was stained with a little bit of blood. Although the blood had long since dried, but it still retained its brilliant crimson shade, evidently highly suspicious.

    That was the blood essence of an upper ss vampire!

    The Knight¡¯s face churned a little, and his eyes lit with a deep anger. He suddenly turned around, and shouted at the vampire warriors behind him. ¡°Pick up the pace! We¡¯ll chase them down, and kill off all of those brazen humans!¡±

    Even as his shout was still echoing, the Knight suddenly felt a sharp tug in his chest, and at the feeling of danger, he lunged forward.

    A whistling origin bullet missed his vital organs, and struck him in his leg. The enormous momentum of the bullet caused him to roll several times before he fell to the floor.

    Without waiting for orders, three of the Blood Esquires rushed over, and immediately began to shield him, while the other three ran towards the fleeing silhouette in the distance at full speed. Damned human snipers! The dark races hated to see these soldiers the most on the battlefield.

    The Knight struggled to his feet, and then furiously roared. ¡°Chase him! I want him alive!¡±

    But he suddenly felt a dizziness, and nearly fainted over. This Blood Knight was seriously shocked, and he hurriedly looked towards his wounds, discovering that the injury was rapidly decaying and dposing at an rming rate. There was also some strange force constantly attempting to invade his body.

    The Knight at this point was shocked beyond measure, and he furiously circted his blood energy, forcibly suppressing the strange force that was destroying the parts of him around the wound, and trying to infiltrate deeper, but in the blink of an eye, the wound on his leg had already reached so far that his bone was exposed.

    ¡°Back to the blood pool, hurry!¡± The Knight was panicked with both shock and anger as he called out orders to his men.

    In the distance, the heart of Qianye, who was on the run, was full of regrets.

 Volume 3 - 31: Minor Billows

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 31: Minor Billows

    The perception of a higher vampire was just too sharp. The moment Qianye pulled the trigger, the Knight had already reacted to it and made an evasive action. He had already taken the risk to approach close to five hundred meters away from it, but he still wasn¡¯t able to snipe the Blood Knight.

    Qianye ran without pause. The three Blood Esquires chasing after him did not share the same speed, and they slowly pulled apart from each other.

    The closest Blood Esquire had already reached several dozen meters away behind Qianye. There were even thorns whistling past Qianye¡¯s head and sides.

    Qianye had been listening to the air all this time while running. Through every miniscule sound transmitted by the wind, he deduced what was going on behind him and finally found the opportunity that he had been waiting for.

    There was a several meters wide gorge on the ground ahead of him. Qianye sped up for the run-up and leaped into the air, but he suddenly turned around in midair beforending steadily on his feet in a half kneeling posture. A pair of retro style pistol appeared in his hands.

    Bang bang! Two origin bullets shot out from both gun barrels and mmed into the closest Blood Esquire!

    The Blood Esquire had been very cautious along the way, but how could he have known that his opponent would choose to ambush him at a roadblock? Caught off guard, he did not even manage to put up a defensive posture.

    The Blood Esquire screamed as he flew backwards. The armor before his chest had been destroyed in one go. His chest and stomach was a bloody mess, and wisps of invisible, tiny blood energy was seeping into his body and destroying everything wantonly.

    Right now, the patterns on ¡°Twin Flowers¡± had beenpletely lit up. The light of the origin power drew a pair of demonic flowers on both arms. The illusion hadn¡¯t dimmed yet as the flowers actually shook under the wind of the wilderness before joining together to form a pair of Hippeastrum. Only then did the illusion finally faded away.

    The two Blood Esquires who fell behind let out an exmation in unison, ¡°That¡¯s Marquis Ross¡¯ gun! So it has fallen into his hands!¡±

    They immediately discovered right after that their injuredpanion hadn¡¯t climbed on his feet yet. When they approached him and took a look, they finally realized that the Blood Esquire had actually fallen into near death. The damage he suffered was far more serious than they had imagined, and his wounds were emitting with a putrid stench. His flesh and blood was ckening and dying by the droves, and his blood power had already neared the edge of destruction.

    The two Blood Esquires were shocked by the sight. This was the first time they saw a blood poison that was even more terrifying than humankind¡¯s mithril, not to mention that Marquis Ross¡¯ ¡°Twin Flowers¡± were just as deadly as the legends said they were. Suddenly, they no longer dared to pursue Qianye, and they could only watch him running further and further away before vanishing towards the horizon.

    Qianye, who was giving himself an injection of stimnt was running wildly on the ground. It was only now that he felt a little upset that he might have used the Twin Flowers a little too early.

    Qiqi was very interested in these twin pistols, and when she saw that Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to transfer ownership of the guns to her, she had purposely dragged him and Ji Yuanjia to test it out at the shooting range. It already took more effort than usual for a human to use a vampire¡¯s weapon, and even at the full power of two rank seven experts Twin Flowers had only shot out the result of a normal grade four origin gun. A weapon like this was considered a rare and fine piece of work among other vampire weapons, and it was considered pretty amazing already if a human could use a normal grade four vampire gun and fire a grade three shot. Therefore, everyone had simply treated this pair of pistols as a relic of minor historical value.

    But who would have expected that the pistols would unleash such striking special effects after it was powered by Qianye in full force? After this shot, Qianye knew that he and the 131th Company was probably going to be famous now.

    When the 131 reinforcedpany¡¯s battle report was sent to the backline, the first of the results appeared on the record of Qiqi¡¯s sessor examination.

    Qiqi tossed her legs directly on the table despite sitting inside a meeting room and facing a room of lieutenant colonels and majors. After she had finished reading the documents in her hand meticulously, she tossed it directly on the table and asked, ¡°Do you guys believe this?¡±

    Some of the officers inside the room were frowning, whereas some were expressionless. No one gave her an opinion.

    The document had recorded the 131th reinforcedpany¡¯s battle result under Qianye¡¯smand for the past half a month or so. The record included severely wounding a Blood Knight, killing six Blood Esquires and the warriors of other dark races of the same rank. The number of dark race regr troops beneath rank six were close to a hundred.

    Forget a reinforcedpany, even a regr corps would find it somewhat difficult to get such a result.

    After observing his colleagues¡¯ reactions, Ji Yuanjia took the lead and said, ¡°The formerpanymander of the 131th Company, Captain Bao Zhengcheng had added his signature of confirmation as well. Captain Bao has an upright character, and he has never have a bad record in this regard. The correctness of a battle result that has gone through his hands should be fine.¡±

    ¡°Then how did a normal reinforcedpany achieve such a battle result? If every reinforcedpany could achieve such a sess, then wouldn¡¯t I be able to tten the entire Evernight Continent if I pull a corp over?¡± Qiqi asked.

    The military officers present including Ji Yuanjia could not quite understand how it was achieved.

    It was at this moment a major said, ¡°There¡¯s no point making empty guesses. Why don¡¯t we request 131th Company themselves to submit a detailed battle report?¡±

    Qiqi nodded and said, ¡°Alright, then it¡¯s been decided!¡±

    It was at this moment the meeting room was pushed open, and abat staff officer had swiftly made his way into the room. He ced a document of intel before Qiqi and whispered a few lines into her ears.

    Qiqi opened the intel and gave it a quick browse. Then, she passed the document to Ji Yuanjia, ¡°The dark races had been very active as ofte, and there were signs ofrge scale troops being moved around. Watch your own backs whenever youe and go. Also, notify the troops at the frontline to withdraw the battle lines as much as possible and emphasise on defense. Let¡¯s make clear the enemy¡¯s intentions before we decide on anything. I will also request the expeditionary forces to investigate as quickly as possible what on earth those dark races are nning to do.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia read through the intel several times before saying, ¡°There are greater mobilization of the dark races at the area surrounding the 131th Company. I believe that there is a need to remind Captain Qian to be more cautious with his recent activities. I believe he should be told not to act reckless so as to avoid falling into the dark races¡¯ trap.¡±

    Qiqi waved a hand carelessly and said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do it that way.¡±

    For the next period of time, the military officers began to n out their military tactics on the table. The troops directly subordinate to Miss Qiqi, their supports and their allied troops had finally began preparations of war recently. Previously, they had alreadypleted the gathering of intel on thendscape of the battlefield, and they were discussing and analysing the dark races¡¯ next move ording to the weekly military intel and the diagrams of thetest changes of the dark race troops¡¯ deployments.

    However, Qiqi was ultimately an outsider to this battlefield. There was a limit to the length of her defense line, and the troops that she could control directly were few. Therefore, the source of her information came mainly from the military, and she had almost no personal channels at all. Therefore, there were a lot less cross referencing materials they could use for the analysis. At Xichang City, the expeditionary forces was still the indisputable main strength of the army.

    Ji Yuanjia did not participate into the discussion. He was still looking at thetest deployment of the dark races¡¯ military forces while frowning, ¡°Miss, the 131th Company may encounter powerful enemies.¡±

    Qiqi saidzily, ¡°A battlefield at this level cannot be too powerful. How about this, we¡¯ll appropriate a batch of equipment at the level of special forces to them. Things should be fine then. No matter how strong the enemy is, I can bury them in money all the same!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia smiled a little awkwardly before following up with a careful question, ¡°Miss, thebat power of the 131th Company in itself is limited. Should we move our other twopany¡¯s position slightly forwards manned by me or Old Xiao himself, so that we will be able to provide support in time in case of any problems?¡±

    Qiqi let out a yawn and waved his suggestion away, saying, ¡°There¡¯s no need. Let my little lover do whatever he wants. How can he earn his manliness without going through the roasting of war otherwise? We still have some time now anyway. Let us see what other pleasant surprises he can give us.¡±

    She raised her head and looked towards the officers who were still conducting dry runs and waved her hands, ¡°All right, time to disperse. No matter what the dark races are nning to do, it can only be a big battle is all. You guys may as well go get the weapons ready. The efficiency of this rural ce is sometimes terrible poor.¡±

    The officers all stood up, saluted and got out of the room in session.

    Ji Yuanjia was thest one to head out. After he was finished tidying the intel and materials on the table, he raised his head and discovered that Qiqi was still sitting at the same spot. After a momentary daze, he said, ¡°Miss?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to break through to the eighth node after this Profound Heaven Spring Hunt, won¡¯t you?¡± When Qiqi did not smile, her face looked especially dignified and calm. It was vastly different from her usual appearance.

    Ji Yuanjia answered with a simple ¡®yes¡¯.

    ¡°You know, I have always held quite the high expectations of you. With the right arts and sufficient medicines, you may be able to break through to Champion rank in three years.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia lowered his eyes and listened quietly.

    ¡°As for those two things, the Yin Family has already promised them to you.¡± Qiqi stood up and walked towards the door.

    It was only until Qiqi¡¯s footsteps hadpletely disappeared that Ji Yuanjia finally lifted his head. He stared at the half closed door and the empty corridor. The Yin Family? Yes, it was only the Yin Family.

    Right now, inside the filing room, the relevant materials had already been sent over for preservation. The young female second lieutenant had epted the files, she carefully locked the door behind her and swiftly took out a letter of a different specification and copied down the meeting report with the pen and paper she had prepared a long time ago. A few hourster, these two items had been sandwiched between the briefcase of a colleague and carried away.

    Not long after, this meeting report had been ced before the table of a young man.

    He had a masculine and handsome face, coupled with a tall body of near perfect proportions. His ck hair was a little messy, but it added a few points of charm to his appearance. Otherwise, he would have appeared overly dignified.

    He finished reading the meeting report with quick reading speed. Then, he paid very close attention to the lone letter. When his eyes fell on the word ¡°little lover¡±, the fire that rose in his eyes nearly burned the thin paper into dust.

    Blue veins popped from the back of his hand, and he abruptly rolled the paper into a ball, ready to tear it apart there and then. However, he controlled himself forcefully at thest moment and slowly opened the letter bit by bit, ttening and wiping away every crease gently and meticulously as if he was treating the face of a lover.

    He took out an unremarkable folder from his drawer and put the meeting report and the letter inside. There were plenty of simr papers inside the file. There were meeting records, handwritten intel, and edited newspapers. Regardless of the content, they were all rted to Qiqi and her scandals.

    The letter that had been creased was ced at the topmost part of the file. Then, he penned down the number ¡°11¡± at the corner of the letter before putting away the folder.

    He walked in front of the window and stared quietly towards outside, pondering.

    The building was a very small officer hostel that was only several dozen of square meters wide. It could not fit more than a cupboard, table and chair. This was the hostel of a second lieutenant. The man did not wear any army rank on his clothes, but judging from the seven origin nodes vaguely emanating from his body he could not be any ordinary second lieutenant.

    The window of the hostel was facing towards a drill ground. Squads of expeditionary forces soldiers were performingbat training on it. Further away were the tall walls and main entrance of the military camp. There were soldiers on top of two sentry towers watching warily towards the endless wilderness at the distance.

    This was a military depot. It was garrisoned by an entire expeditionary force brigade, and it was more than a hundred kilometers away from Xichang City. It was the fulcrum of the defense of Xichang City, and it was also the hub that supported the frontlines and cirction of supplies. Every supply, intel, and personnel that were transferred to the frontlines would reach this ce before being spread out to all directions.

    It was at this moment the main entrance of the military depot forged of ck metal slowly slide towards both sides. A squad of heavy trucks protected by several armored vehicles slowly drove into the depot. Two of the heavy trucks were marked with the Yin Family¡¯s symbol.

    The man stared at the two heavy trucks as a hint of doubt shed across his eyes.

 Volume 3 - 32: Undercurrent

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 32: Undercurrent

    It didn¡¯t take long before the door was knocked, and a young and beautiful short haired female first lieutenant walked in while carrying a stack of documents.

    ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Gu, this is thetest summary of intelligence on the dark races¡¯ activities, the distribution of each forces of our defense line, and the information we¡¯re about to send to the 131th Company.¡±

    The man looked at her once. He said with a voice full of dignity, but not without a trace of gentleness, ¡°Don¡¯t call me lieutenant colonel here, and don¡¯t call me by my name either.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Lie¡­ Oh no, sir.¡± the female first lieutenant immediately corrected herself.

    The man first opened the summary of intelligence. It was a map covering a wide domain. The map wasbeled with thetest dark races¡¯munities, armed force distribution and mobilisation. Only a grade one expeditionary force unit could¡¯ve collected and summarize a war zone level of information like this regrly.

    Although this distribution map still had many ws and defects in this man¡¯s eyes¡ªsuch as arge amount of unclear data,ck of rank quantization, databeled with dates indicating that it had not been updated for a very long time¡ªit was still far better than not having anything at all. At the very least, it enabled the troops in this domain to have an eagle¡¯s eyes view on the battlefield. They were no longer just overlooking the small amount ofnd before their eyes.

    The man simply gave it a sweeping nce before saying, ¡°The dark races have be a lot more active as ofte, I see. Why is it?¡±

    The female first lieutenant said, ¡°ording to the information from above, it seems that clues about the ck Monarch¡¯s treasure has appeared around this area. Therefore, it has attracted many elites of the dark races.¡±

    ¡°The ck Monarch¡¯s treasure?¡± the man broke intoughter and shook his head, saying, ¡°This legend has appeared for over a hundred years, and at least a dozen or so so called most important clues have been discovered, but no one has ever found this so called treasure, have they? I can¡¯t believe these ck bloods haven¡¯t given up yet!¡±

    The female lieutenant said, ¡°Anyone would be tempted by the wealth left behind by a Dark Monarch. Even if the clue may be fake, there would still be a lot of people who would want toe and take a look. They are idle anyway. It is also rumored that the reason that Evernight council member had suddenly shown up at Darkblood Cityst time was because of this.¡±

    The man opened the 131th Company¡¯s document bag. The first thing they took out was an armaments list of items. When he saw the obviously excessive amount of equipment, he simply raised an eyebrow and casually tossed it to the side. Then he opened the rank information that was about to be delivered to the 131th Company and said, ¡°That¡¯s true. Those dark races doesn¡¯t really know how to build, so they spent most of their attention on conflicts and growing stronger¡­¡±

    His voice suddenly cut short.

    The female first lieutenant raised her head strangely, and she saw that the muscles on his face were twitching constantly and hisplexion was shrouded in green since a while ago. He stared at the information in his hands like he would burn a hole in it.

    She was surprised, and took a furtive nce at the paper. She was immediately shocked by the scope of the mapprised, the densebels and amount of data on it.

    Even if she could not see the words clearly, she knew by experience that this was information only an advisor level battle unit could obtain. It was absolutely not something that should¡¯ve appeared in the tiny document bag of an independent reinforcedpany.

    ording to the Empire¡¯sws, this was an extremely severe case of leaked secrets. The military officer directly responsible for this leaking would be executed, and all rted personnel would be implicated as well. Even the lightest punishment would be a military discharge.

    Surprise took the female first lieutenant first. Then she let out a sigh with a dim expression.

    This was the abandonednd of the Empire. The first impression the expeditionary forces gave to the people was that their military discipline was a mess. This was the only ce where all kinds of exnations and sentences were born out of strictws. As long as the inspection officer wasn¡¯t rmed, then anything could happen in this ce.

    There was no doubt that Miss Qiqi had incited this information to appear in the 131th Company¡¯s document bag, and a child of an aristocratic family who bore the nominal title of cooperative defense like Qiqi was someone whom even the generals of the expeditionary forces weren¡¯t willing to offend. In the end, Qiqi was only going to stay on the Evernight Continent for a year. If the general¡¯s interests weren¡¯t harmed in the slightest, then why was there a need to make her unhappy?

    What should they do now? Use this information to report her?

    Her own downfall immediately appeared in the first lieutenant¡¯s mind. At worst, Qiqi would toss out an unimportant officer a scapegoat, and she who had dared to speak up would definitely be implicated by some random incidents, tossed into a cell and be met with all kinds of torture. Perhaps her own family would be implicated as well.

    The man began to take in deep breaths, working hard to suppress his anger. He knew Qiqi very, very well. From the day the engagement had been confirmed, he had begun to collect every information that was rted to Qiqi.

    A full ten years passed. She had grown up from a girl into a woman, and she had changed from an unremarkable second daughter of a direct line of a descent into someone who had reached the final stage of the Yin Family¡¯s sessor selection examination. During these years, he had only met Qiqi at the Yin Family¡¯s formal settings for a couple of times, but he might know Qiqi better than even herself.

    Gifting equipment was a small thing, but when she had even thought of information then the whole thing became different. Qiqi was the kind of person who absolutely abhorred troubles. She never paid attention to finer details, and she enjoyed doing things the simple and direct way the most. Her most liked quotes were, ¡°anything that can be solved with money isn¡¯t a thing¡± and ¡°naturally there will be someone who would handle a small thing like this¡±.

    But now, one could see from this information Qiqi¡¯s concern for the 131th Company. Naturally, this was also concern for the newly appointed officer of the 131th Company, Qianye!

    She had never paid this much attention to her previous ¡°lovers¡± who quite literally amounted to several dozens of people.

    A series of changes urred on the female lieutenant¡¯s face, and she suddenly hugged the man from behind and said gently, ¡°Don¡¯t be this way, Liyu. Calm down for a bit! Didn¡¯t this happen quite a bit in the past too?¡±

    This man was none other than Qiqi¡¯s fianc¨¦ in name, Gu Liyu. Surprisingly, he was not present in the military division and had instead secretly came to the Evernight Continent and hidden himself in this military depot.

    The expeditionary force was like a big mish mash containing all kinds of people and all kinds of forces. Be it aristocratic families or noble households, civil or military officers, almost everyone had a foot stuck in this ce. There were often cases where unit numbers had appeared and disappeared out of nowhere. Even the expeditionary forcemander-in-chief himself could not say for certain exactly how many troops his subordinates had.

    However, this was also not a big deal. The expeditionary force was just one army out of many in the Empire and themander-in-chief was an advisor. He only needed to ensure that the number of generals were correct. At best, he would take into consideration several military officers of special identities.

    It was only easy for someone of Gu Liyu¡¯s past and current status in the army to take advantage of such a chaotic situation and mess around in a mere military depot.

    Gu Liyu finally calmed down and bit down on his teeth, saying, ¡°It¡¯s a little different this time!¡±

    The female first lieutenant hesitated for a moment, but did not dare to ask.

    But Gu Liyu had given out the answer on his own, ¡°Ji Yuanjia¡¯s reaction is different from before too.¡± he seemed to dislike this name as he continued after a pause, ¡°No matter how loyal he is, he is just a dog.¡±

    The female first lieutenant did not dare to speak in the slightest. But Gu Liyu had suddenly turned around and lifted her into the air, pressing her down directly on the office table, pulling up her skirt and pressing himself right on her.

    What followed after was a ferocious, storm like wave of attacks!

    The female first lieutenant covered her mouth with one hand with everything she got, while hugging his firm and powerful shoulder with the other.

    Gu Liyu raised his head and looked up to the ceiling. While ravaging the gentle and obedient female body beneath his own, he growled in a low tone like an animal, ¡°You just wait! Qiqi! No matter what you do, don¡¯t even think you can force me to break of the engagement! We will absolutely get married! I will await the night of the grand wedding!¡±

    After the near deranged exercise, he copsed on the female first lieutenant as if he had suddenly lost all the energy inside his body. Meanwhile, the beautiful, short haired female first lieutenant did not have the strength to move even a finger. She would only twitch asionally and let out weak moans.

    A momentter, Gu Liyu stood up and carried the female first lieutenant onto the army bed. After he wiped her sweat drenched face, he returned to the study table and spread out the 131th Company¡¯s rank information. Then, he took out a nk military use map and beganbeling the dark races¡¯ bases and movement arrowheads of each forces.

    He was obviously familiar to this type of work and worked as quick as lightning. In less than half an hour, the nk military use map had already been covered full of data and turned into an advisor rank distribution map.

    After thinking for a bit, Gu Liyu added a few words to the top left corner of the map where ¡°strategic guidance¡± was: standardbat readiness. What was written on the original information was: pull back the defense lines. After verifying everything once from top to bottom, he folded the paper properly and put it into the 131th Company¡¯s information bag.

    By now, the female first lieutenant had already gotten back on her feet and tidied her clothes.

    Gu Liyu passed the altered document bag back to her and said, ¡°Deliver this to the 131th Company. Hmph, I hope that brat isn¡¯t so stupid that he couldn¡¯t even understand this level of information.¡±

    Aplicated expression shed across the female first lieutenant¡¯s eyes as she said softly, ¡°The formerpanymander Bao Zhengcheng and former NCOs are all there. Even if that brat named Qian did not understand military affairs, the others would see this information as well. I believe that they will move ording to your arrangements.¡±

    ¡°That will be the best. It will be an achievement if they don¡¯t die this time! A mere rank four Fighter, humph!¡± Gu Liyu nodded as his face eased up a little.

    The female first lieutenant finally could not hold back any longer and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be too angry now, okay? I was really scared just now.¡±

    Gu Liyu hugged her and sighed, saying softly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Little Wei, I cared too much. When I¡¯ve sessfully obtained Qiqi, I will arrange you a good life. Trust me!¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± Ye Muwei promised gently and agreeably, but she let out a deep sigh at the bottom of her heart. Then, she raised her hand and yearningly traced the man¡¯s handsome countenance, feeling her heart throbbing at the dignified lines that were rxing bit by bit to her touch.

    When he returned to the camp, Qianye gave the entirepany three days of holiday. He himself had stayed inside the army camp to cultivate the Combatant Form and maintain his guns and equipment. He was also reflecting on the battles for the past time.

    Switchingmanders just before a battle was a great dread to any army, which was why Qianye had utilized Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s former team in this mobile operation be it in terms of setting the battle strategy or on fieldmand. He had only chosen a battle position for himself. This was the authority an excellent long ranged sniper should possess in a corp.

    The 131th Company was a team with rich battle experiences. Qianye had learned many things from Bao Chengzheng and the NCOs. It felt like the continuation of his experience in the Red Scorpions. Back when he was just a rookie he had only fought battles as an individual unit and cooperative unit in group battles. If everything had proceeded normally back then, he should have obtained the power tomand NCOs.

    This day afternoon, two heavy trucks drove into the 131th Company¡¯s camp. Qianye was wiping Marquis Ross¡¯ two pistols in his room when he heard a knocking noise on his door. Then Bao Chengzheng walked in while beaming with happiness.

    When Qianye saw that he was this happy, he smiled and asked, ¡°Is there good news?¡±

 Volume 3 - 33: Attack

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 33: Attack

    ¡°Of course there¡¯s good news! Miss Qiqi had supplied us a batch of good stuff! You¡¯ll understand once youe out and take a look!¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah? Then I should give it a look.¡± Qianye stood up and followed Bao Zhengcheng outside.

    After the previous battle, Qianye had used his own performance to subdue this group of strong and proud soldiers. Bao Zhengcheng had also be truerades with him.

    Bao Zhengcheng had to admit that this Qianye who was nearly twenty years old younger than him seemed born for the battlefield. While his tactical and ability tomand could not be judged just yet, Qianye¡¯s individual prowess and battlefield reactionspletely qualified him to be the core of a battle group. Moreover, an excellent sniper had the ability to alter a battle situation singlehandedly and thus, could not be reced.

    Right now, a dozen or so soldiers were moving many boxes of equipment down from the trucks. Qianye did not even need to open the boxes. A nce at the numbers on the inscribed signboards was enough to cause a jump at the corner of his eyebrows.

    ¡°One hundred grade one sets, sixty grade two sets, and ten grade three sets of the imperial single unitbat armor ¡®Iron Shield¡¯, one box of origin grenades, five hundred nk origin bullets, a set of origin machine gun ¡®Tempest¡¯ and three sets of multi barreled cannon ¡®Vulcan¡¯! Heh! This time we can fight to our heart¡¯s content!¡± Bao Zhengcheng rubbed his hands excitedly while speaking.

    The imperial single unitbat armor ¡°Iron Shield¡± was the elite soldier equipment of the Empire¡¯s main corps. This also meant that it wasn¡¯t something that was normally seen in a list of allocation. The normal allocation rate of such equipment was 10% for a normalpany, and 20% for a specialpany. Increased allocation would only happen in a national war graderge scale military campaign.

    This time, not only did Qiqi provided them with one ¡°Iron Shield¡± armor each, they even had reserves. Just what kind of expenditure was this?

    ¡°Tempest¡± was an origin heavy machine gun. Although it was only a grade two firearm, its unique optimized functionality was its firepower which wasparable right up to a rank four firearm. However, its consumption was just as shocking, and even a rank four Fighter with a solid foundation like Bao Zhengcheng could only fire continuously for a full minute up to a hundred or so bullets before he would use up all of his origin power. This firearm used prefabricated physical origin bullets too. The amount of expenditure was literally astronomical!

    Half of the ammo on the car was prepared for ¡°Vulcan¡±. These three big guys had massive firepower, and their ammo consumption was just as terrifying. If they did not use it sparingly, they could fire almost a thousandrge caliber bullets in a minute.

    These two trucks of munition supplies could almostpare to a special corps already. Even if were convert them to money it would not go lower than thirty thousand imperial gold coins. When Qianye calcted this number in his mind, he was momentarily dumbfounded as he recalled Qiqi¡¯s and Auntie Lan¡¯s catchphrases on nock of money. He could not help but understand just a little deeper about the style of aristocratic families.

    Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s face was full of smiles as he fondly picked up ¡°Tempest¡¯s¡± tactical essories and equipped it testily onto the weapon, saying excitedly, ¡°This precious little baby is something that only special corps can own. We¡¯ve gotta do something big this time!¡±

    Qianye also smiled, ¡°The intel from the expeditionary forces¡¯ general war zone headquarters should have arrived too. Let¡¯s give it a good look.¡±

    A momentter, Qianye took out the military use map from the document bag inside thebat room and was startled immediately.

    Bao Zhengcheng also froze for a second before saying, ¡°Isn¡¯t this advisor rank intel?¡± afraid that Qianye might not understand the grading system, he pointed out a fewbels and gave a brief exnation.

    Qianye immediately understood that this was Qiqi¡¯s handiwork.

    Ji Yuanjia had mentioned in his letter that Qiqi¡¯s troops on the Evernight Continent would beunching arge scale military operation soon. This also meant that the results of the martial roll of the Yin Family¡¯s sessor exam was about to be apparent. If there was a military campaign grade ops, it would not be difficult for someone of Qiqi¡¯s identity to obtain the support of the expeditionary force military advisor grade intel. After that, she directly bent thew for herself and delivered the information to him. He believed that she would definitely send him a copy in passing if she acquired a military advisor grade one intel as well.

    Bao Zhengcheng immediately figured out the ins and outs too and let out a meaningful chuckle immediately. He purposely cast a nce at Qianye with all sorts of underlying meanings behind his eyes.

    Qianye simply pretended that he had seen nothing and continued to researched the map busily.

    By now, thepany¡¯s advisor and NCOs had arrived upon the summons. They had gathered together and began selecting their operations pathings and attack targets.

    The battlefield advisor that was allocated to the 131th Company might have been part of the seventeenth corps, but he had spent nearly half of his active service in thebat unit of cooperative defense on the Evernight Continent. He might not know the battle zone around Xichang City like the back of his hand, but he was still very familiar with it.

    After brushing his fingers across the map for a bit, and discussing a few lines with the NCOs, he pointed at a dark race base and said, ¡°Sir, how about we take this base out?¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng pped his thigh and said, ¡°Of course! That¡¯ll be our target.¡±

    That was also one of the two reserve targets in Qianye¡¯s mind after he looked over the map. He agreed on the spot and nodded, ¡°Send down the notice to mobilize our troops tomorrow and depart the day after. We will research our route of march again tomorrow afternoon.¡±

    Two dayster, the 131th Company left behind only a toon to garrison the camp before Qianye led and departed with the entirepany, approaching towards their target. Not long after he made his way, the intel had been ced at Gu Liyu¡¯s desk.

    Gu Liyu¡¯s face was covered in sneers as he watched thepany¡¯s nned ambush direction.

    He had left out two traps on his redrawn military intelligence map. Anyone who analyzed this map would choose that ce as a first choice attack target unless the choice was made by aplete amateur who knew nothing about military affairs and made a random selection while closing his eyes. However, he also believed that with the quality of 131th Company¡¯s original staff, especially an honest and just veteran soldier who lost his major rank because of a single line like Bao Zhengcheng would absolutely not obey his superior¡¯s blindmands.

    However, in the real military intelligence map, there were several dark races troops that were currently mobilizing towards that direction. Even if the 131th Company had sessfully taken out a base, they would still fell right into the pockets of the dark races¡¯ main army. It would not be as easy to escape from them.

    The route of march Qianye selected wasplicated and circuitous. The ces they trekked were almost all mountains and ruins. They marched for a full seven days over several hundred of kilometers before they finally closed in on their target.

    No oneined, however. On the contrary, they were extremely impressed with Qianye. He had personally scouted the path himself, and every time they brushed past the dark races¡¯ patrols without ever being discovered. Be it the vampires, werewolves or arachne, Qianye knew about their habits like the back of his hand. Although the situation had looked utmost perilous several times, the danger always passed by them leaving behind more fright than harm.

    By now everyone knew that Qianye¡¯s former upation was a hunter in the Boulderstone Region. However, the expeditionary forces would probably have to consider recruiting new soldiers from the Home of Hunters if every hunter was as great as Qianye. Of course, this was impossible!

    While resting, an NCO who was very close to Bao Zhengcheng happened to talk about this as a conversation starter. Bao Zhengcheng let out a simpleugh and pointed at him, saying, ¡°A person whose rank isn¡¯t high andcking inmanding experience, but is capable of fighting in every position. Where do you think such a person woulde from?¡±

    The NCO wore a look of realization on his face, ¡°Oh, he¡¯s someone like lieutenant colonel Ji¡­¡± Ji Yuanjia was a figure among the top five back when he was an officer in the seventeenth corps. It was rumored that he was even qualified to enter the Empire¡¯s elite corps, but his quota was reced by an aristocratic child due to his humble background. However, Ji Yuanjia had also entered a special corps before. It was onlyter that he was transferred and promoted to a ranked officer in the seventeenth corps.

    Bao Zhengcheng continued to chuckle. Among the middle and lower rank officers in the seventeenth corps, he could also be considered a member that was close to the Drinking Horse Yin Family. His military registry was guaranteed by none other than the Yin Family themselves, and he had seen many sights of aristocratic families recruiting talents from the army. At first, he was surprised by Qianye¡¯s overly beautiful appearance, thinking that this time Miss Qiqi with her reputation might have gone a little overboard this time, but he did not think that it was he whose eyes were mistaken.

    Just like this, this troop finally neared the dark races¡¯ base during the early morning of the eighth day.

    Right now dawn was not far away, and this was the most tiring moment for the dark races since they were about to fall asleep.

    Of course, there were not glimmers of dawn during the dark seasons of the abandonednd. The sky god knew how many kilometers up above might have been bathed in sunlight, but the earth was still eternally dark.

    The vige-like base was quiet, and there were two ck wolves crouching in front of the entrancezily and letting outrge yawns asionally. This was all of the guards of the base.

    Hiding on a hill several hundred meters away, Qianye observed with the quad directional binocrs for a moment before making a hand gesture to Bao Zhengcheng. This intrepid, brawny man licked his lips and slowly crawled towards the base while carrying the origin machine gun ¡°Tempest¡± on his back. His huge, bear-like physique was unexpectedly agile, and he made almost no sound at all during the way. Behind him, several hundreds of soldiers were clutching the ground closely just the same and slowly approaching the base.

    The two ck wolves seemed to have sensed something and suddenly stood up on their feet. Then, they raised their heads towards the sky and got ready to howl.

    Dull gunshots tore apart the silence of the dawn. The two ck wolves¡¯ heads burst open and their bodies fell backwards, mming heavily onto the base¡¯s wall. ck wolves like these that could not transform to human form could not even be considered regr soldiers among the werewolves. Large caliber sniper rifles were fatal for them.

    The two snipers swiftly changed bullets and readjusted their aims.

    Meanwhile, Bao Zhengcheng leaped up from the ground and charged towards the base¡¯s main entrance withrge steps. The soldiers of the 131th Company also followed suit and began forming up for a charge.

    The rm inside the base rang madly, followed by chaos. Figures rushed up the city¡¯s walls.

    The gunshots of sniper rifles rang continuously, and blood blossomed above the walls in response. Caught off guard, the dark race soldiers were shot off the walls. There were only less than one third of dark soldiers who sessfully returned fire, but their aims were unpleasant to speak of. Humans were still the more talented race when it came to shooting.

    When Bao Zhengcheng was fifty meters away from the main entrance, he swung out two origin grenades from hisrge hand, powerfully and urately!

    The terrific explosion nearly pushed therge door to the floor. The dozen or so dark race soldiers who were attempting to shut the stone cast door were all turned into corpses.

    The few NCOs who were following closely behind Bao Zhengcheng and charging also tossed out their origin grenades. Explosions rippled inside the base, apanied by waves of bloodcurdling screams.

    Themon soldiers surged to the main entrance while Bao Zhengcheng led a few rank two Fighters and leaped right up the defense walls. They risked the scattered and increasingly poor aims of bullet rains falling from the wall and swept out the remaining enemies.

    Just as the information hadbeled, this base did not have any heavy defense weapon and was most suitable to take down by apany scale troops.

    Suddenly, arge ck shadow flew out amidst the powdered smoke of battle! The dark figure that covered only half the wall had shrouded almost all the human soldiers with its shadow.

    It was a dark race near three meters tall.

    The lower half of its body had the eight ws of a spider. The leg hair of every bottom limb were shaped in the standard size of a narrow shaped dagger, shing with sharp, cold gleams. The upper half of its body was shaped like a human, and it was gripping a four meter steel spear in both its arms! It charged right up to the walls and prated a rank two Fighter who failed to get away in time in one spear, lifting him high up into the air and letting out a threatening roar at Bao Zhengcheng!

    It was a rank six arachne!

 Volume 3 - 34: Retreat

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 34: Retreat

    Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s expression was stern. He directly plunged a syringe of stimnt into his thigh before lifting Tempest horizontally and filling it with power. Even if this arachne was two ranks higher than him, he believed that it would still suffer dearly in the hands of the ¡°Tempest¡±.

    The arachne let out an earthshaking howl before moving its eight long limbs, pouncing toward Bao Zhengcheng like the wind!

    It was at this moment a gunshot that sounded like a boom of thunder suddenly cracked on the battlefield! The unique, clear and melodious mor was familiar to the soldiers since some time ago. It was Eagleshot, and there was only one Eagleshot in the entire 131th Company!

    The arachne¡¯srge body suddenly tilted as arge mist of blood suddenly blossomed from its upper body. Its entire left arm and half a shoulder had vanishedpletely! It let out a long, bloodcurdling scream of pain and lost its bncepletely, falling and crashing right down from the city walls.

    Naturally, Bao Zhengcheng would not let go of such an opportunity. He charged to the edge of the defense walls as ¡°Tempest¡± began to roar, spraying fifty or so origin bullets into the arachne and poking it full of holes.

    The arachne could not climb to its feet any longer, but its sharp limbs were still swinging around with all its might, digging up all of the stones and soils that was within its reach. Fragments flew everywhere, and even the foot of the wall had a huge hole in it. Its was so tenacious it was scary.

    Before he knew it, Qianye had already arrived beside Bao Zhengcheng. He pushed down the ¡°Tempest¡± in his hands and took out an origin grenade. With a light toss, he tossed the grenade onto the arachne¡¯s body.

    ¡°Dammit!¡± Bao Zhengcheng only managed to yell once before jumping down the wall along with Qianye and falling down on the ground. Qianye¡¯s origin power was exceptionally condensed, and the might of a grenade powered by him would be increased by a full thirty percent.

    An earthshaking explosion happened behind their backs, and the entire defense wall copsed like a crumbling stack of toy building blocks, revealing an arachne about the size of a small house. This powerful creature had finallypletely stilled.

    The rank six arachne was the base¡¯s leader. Once it was taken out, the rest of the matter became much simpler. An hourter, the dark race base formed by the werewolves and the arachne were basically cleared out. The 131th Company had only used ten minutes to sweep through the battlefield, obtain proofs of battle and a bit of the most important trophies before dressing up their troops and left in a hurry.

    The surprise attack part of a gueri format field mobile warfare in an area controlled by the dark races was not the most important part of the process. As long as the information was sufficiently urate andplemented with the proper battle group, the chances of sess would be extremely huge. The key here was how to avoid the patrols prior tobat to avoid the surprise attack turning into a forced attack or worse, bing surrounded instead. The other matter was how to smoothly retreat post battle.

    The fact that the entire base was taken out was absolutely going to enrage the dark racemander of this area. The battle group would be met with powerful pursuing troops and the encirclement by various dark races forces in the surrounding area that received the news along the way. The operations could be considered aplete sess as long as they sessfully escaped to a human controlled area.

    Therefore, the 131th Company did not n to fight more than necessary at all and fully carried out the tactical thinking of hit and run. They were here to earn military achievements and not money anyway. Considering that Qiqi spent well over several tens of thousands of gold coins on munitions, she most likely would not think much of the trophies of a single base.

    Not far away down south was the mountain area. Qianye led his troops on a brisk run for two hours before they finally made it to the mountain area. He then ordered for an hour¡¯s rest while he himself continued to scout forwards to see if their prenned retreat route was safe or not.

    The fact that they managed to escape to the mountain area without any resistance meant that their return trip had seeded in half. Qianye could be considered a professional level expert when it came to exploitingplex terrain advantage.

    Right now, he was using all sorts of terrain as cover while bending his body and moving like a ghost. However, the further ahead he went, the more serious his expression became. An indescribable sense of danger was growing stronger and stronger.

    Qianye suddenly paused his footsteps, raised his head up to the sky and sniffed strongly.

    A faint stench was transmitted by the night¡¯s wind.

    Every hair on Qianye¡¯s body stood on their end. This was the unique smell of the arachne race! He suddenly sped up and charged up the mountain peak. Then, hey down on the ground and poked up bit by bit to avoid casting a sudden shadow on the ground. Then, he carefully looked towards the other side of the mountain.

    Inside the mountain valley, a troop of dark races were silently marching to the front. This troop was led by a couple of man shaped arachne with its main forceprising of several hundreds of giant sword spiders. The troop was like a ck tide that almost merged into one with the night¡¯s colors and was surging forwards along the mountain valley.

    Qianye immediately sucked in a cold breath! Sword spiders were the regr soldiers of the arachne tribe. The two meter tall giant spider moved like the wind with two frontal limbs that were as sharp as swords and possessed strength the equivalent of a human rank one Fighter. Thebat strength of this troop was already enough to forcefully devour the 131th Company.

    Doubt rose in Qianye¡¯s heart. Was there another battle nearby? Otherwise, why would there be such an arachne troop marching in secret? The scale of this force was way bigger than the usual patrol team.

    However, this was not what he needed to think about right now. The important thing was that their scouts would discover the resting 131th Company if this arachne troop were to continue forward!

    Qianye quietly retreated before running back to the camp at top speed. The moment he arrived he immediatelyy down the order, ¡°All troops shall end their rest and depart immediately!¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng stood up and asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to clean up the traces?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°There¡¯s no time! Use stimnts if there¡¯s anyone who couldn¡¯t catch upter!¡±

    Three minutester, the 131th Company had formed a long line and broke into a risk run under the night sky with Qianye in the lead. The arachne troops was right outside the two mountain ridges. When Qianye ran to the location he had memorized earlier, the entire squad gathered over andy quietly in hiding. When the two troops brushed past each other precariously, they immediately reorganized themselves and escaped at top speed.

    Bao Zhengcheng ran beside Qianye and asked in shock, ¡°Why was there suddenly a troop of arachne sword spiders?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps there is an oversight in the intel, or the enemy has made somest minute adjustments. This isn¡¯t umon. Lead thepany, I¡¯m going to go to the front and take a look!¡±

    Once he was finished, Qianye that moved up and down several times and climbed up a mountain ridge. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the night. Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s face was grim. His instincts forged by long years of warfare made him felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. Thankfully, Qianye was more familiar in mountain warfare than even the most veteran scout in the squad. He also had better stamina and was able to endure such a high intensity night reconnaissance. Otherwise, they would¡¯ve ran into that arachne troop a long time ago.

    Just as he was thinking about this, Qianye had appeared from the night once more to exim in a low tone, ¡°All troops to the left!¡±

    The entire squad make a big turn, jumped over short hill and ran briskly along the other side of the valley. Bao Zhengcheng finally found an opportunity to ask him, ¡°What¡¯s at the front?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face could not be seen clearly under the night sky. Only these soft words floated into his ears, ¡°Werewolves. There are four full tribes of werewolves.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s expression immediately turned extremely ugly. Werewolves were the king of the mountains, and if they were caught by the werewolves where they had a military advantage, then the entire 131th Company¡ªincluding the two of them who were rank four fighters¡ªwould not escape this ce alive.

    Qianye led the team over the squad over another mountain ridge before they ran briskly along the valley ground once more. By now there one soldier after another had exhausted their stamina, so the Fighter rank NCOs would carry a man on their backs each, grit their teeths and continue running madly behind the troop.

    Two hourster, the edge of the mountain was within sight. However, due to the several huge turns they had made in midway, they were quite far away from the prenned exit.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Bao Zhengcheng could almost say for certain that something was wrong. Here in this area, they had ran into two arachne and two werewolves troops in just half a night!

    Qianye pointed towards the distance and said, ¡°There is one of the fulcrums of our border defense line. If we rush there at top speed, we may yet have a sliver of a chance of survival.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng let out a long, drawn out breath before saying, ¡°I know that ce, but if we escape there then we will have to give up on the wounded and exhausted.¡±

    He finally used the word ¡°escape¡±. Although the 131th Company had managed to avoid all encounters safely relying on Qianye¡¯s expertise, they did not have time to wipe out the traces of their march at all. Considering that thebat strength of the dark races in this area was this dense already, the chances that they would not be discovered was absolutely minimal. Perhaps there was already a troop chasing behind their tail right now.

    ¡°Let me make the order!¡± Qianye walked towards the squad that¡¯s taking a short rest.

    It was at this moment Bao Zhengcheng¡¯srge hands stretched out to block Qianye. He said solemnly, ¡°No! Let me make this order!¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng walked before the soldiers and swept a nce across every tired face. He said slowly, ¡°We have to march swiftly for another forty kilometers before we can return to the closest base from here. Now, who among you are willing to cover our retreat?¡±

    The soldiers fell silent for a moment. No one spoke up. They were all experienced veterans, and they had all discovered that the situation was bad during their hastened march. Then, all wounded soldiers walked out on their own ord, followed by the soldiers who hadpletely exhausted their stamina to stand together as one.

    Bao Zengcheng¡¯s mouth trembled as he watched the dozens of soldiers with red eyes. He abruptly turned around and yelled, ¡°Leave behind all grenades to our brothers! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Once he was finished, he no longer looked back and became the first to break into a mad run. The rest of the soldiers who could still run looked deeply at their brethrens before leaving with Bao Zhengcheng as well.

    However, Qianye did not move as he watched the soldiers who stayed behind. He said, ¡°I will walk to the end of your journeys with you!¡±

    Amando unit with and without a sniper waspletely different.

    A momentter, rumbling noises began to ring continuously from within the mountains. Gunpowder rose and spread over the entire valley, and the detonation of the origin grenades nearly brightened the whole ck night sky!

    On the wastnd, the soldiers of the 131th Company were all running madly with lowered heads. They did not need to look to know that there was arade gripping an origin grenade tightly and charging towards the enemy behind every explosion.

    Bao Zhengcheng finally led the soldiers of the 131th Company and arrived at the small town called Earth Castle. There were only fifty four remaining soldiers who managed to reach here with him. It wasn¡¯t even half the original number when they first departed.

    Most of the casualties came from the ones who left behind to cover their retreat.

    The small town had about a thousand or so human poption and a five hundred men strong expeditionary forces garrison. Since the town was near the frontlines, Earth Castle¡¯s defense structures were extremely well built. Most of the buildings inside the town were built from thick and heavy stones. The small alleys were tightly arranged, and most of them were incredibly narrow. These alleys were built for urban warfare since the giant spiders of the arachne race would not be able to squeeze into these two meters wide alleys, and a transformed high rank werewolf would find the narrow space restrictive as well.

    Bao Zhengcheng climbed up a watchtower and looked towards the distant mountain area. His heart had already sunk all the way to the bottom. It was incredibly unusual for so many dark races troops to mobilize at the night. However, ording to thetest intel they obtained, this region was supposed to be an empty area!

    Now that he thought back to it, thest two dark races troops they encountered were only twenty minutes away between marches. This was practically a sign that the enemy was mobilizing their collective army. Did the military division of the Xichang City battlefield seriously not know about this situation?!

    A cloud of darkness slowly enveloped this middle-aged man¡¯s heart.

    It was only until the next daybreak that a figure appeared on the horizon and ran towards Earth Castle.

 Volume 3 - 35: Assault

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 35: Assault

    ¡°It¡¯s Officer Qian! Open the door, quickly!¡± a sentinel of the 131th Company yelled loudly.

    His voice spread far away, and the soldiers resting in tents nted along the wall as temporary camp crawled out of their beds and rushed towards the wall.

    Qianye¡¯s footsteps weren¡¯t too quick. He ran at a fixed speed on the wastnd before stopping in front of the small town¡¯s entrance. He raised his head for a look before waving his hands to stop the sentinels from opening the door. Then, he leaped up onto the wall. The small town¡¯sposite steel door only opened up a slit before the wire rope of the gear rolled back along the strip and closed the door once more.

    Bao Zhengcheng was already standing beside the town¡¯s door. The heads of tworge human-shaped arachne were tossed down from the wall andnded beside his feet. Qianye then jumped down and said simply, ¡°I¡¯m back.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng nodded strongly before striding over and giving Qianye a heavy hug.

    Suspicious glitters were already forming in the eyes of the man who was as brawny as a bristling bear. He rubbed his eyes in a fluster and muttered a swear, ¡°Dammit! Tonight¡¯s mountain wind sure is strong!¡± Then, he scratched his head in attempt to conceal his embarrassment, ¡°Boss, what are we going to do now? Do we retreat or do we fight here?¡±

    Qianye smiled bitterly before saying, ¡°It¡¯s impossible to retreat now. Earth Castle has already been surrounded. We can only defend here to the end and await reinforcements.¡±

    ¡°Surrounded?¡± the face of an expeditionary force battalionmander changed greatly. His feet were obviously a little shaky.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve seen more than five hundred dark race regr soldiers and several thousand cannon fodders along the way. What¡¯s wrong, major? Are you nning to retreat?¡± Qianye asked without batting an eyelid.

    Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s thick eyebrows twisted together as he subconsciously reached for the pistol around his waist. If the size of the dark race forces Qianye saw alone had reached this level of scale, then this so-called retreat would be in fact to leave behind the majority of the men to cover their retreat. Only the officers of ranking lieutenant and above would have a chance to escape. Right now this battalionmander was the highest ranking officer of the scene. If he chose to escape right away, then the entire town would fall into disorder before they even started fighting.

    The battalionmander¡¯s face alternated between colors of green and white. A momentter, he finally let out a bitter smile and said, ¡°If we retreat now only death awaits. Let us defend and hope that we can hold out until reinforcement arrives. Those masters at the back though, sigh!¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng pped him once heavily on the shoulder before saying, ¡°Ignore those masters at the back. Go summon anyone who can pick up a gun first! If we guard this ce then there is still hope, or we are all going to die.¡±

    The battalionmander nodded and left in a hurry.

    Bao Zhengcheng approached the serious-looking Qianye and asked, ¡°Boss, are there really that many ck blooded bastards out there?¡±

    Qianye let out a somewhat bitter smile and said, ¡°It will only be more than what I said.¡±

    A cold gleam shed across Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s eyes as he said seriously, ¡°From this scale, we can basically confirm that the dark races¡¯ collective army is on the move. If Xichang City really had not realized this at all, then the second Earth Castle¡¯s defenses fall we are going to lose at least a hundred or so kilometers of defense line.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°No matter how f*cked up the imperial military intelligence office is, I don¡¯t think they would make such a mistake.¡±

    The duo looked into each other¡¯s eyes, and Bao Zhengcheng suddenly said, ¡°It¡¯s not Miss Qiqi.¡±

    Qianye was startled slightly.

    ¡°She would not use us as cannon fodders to gain military aplishments. Miss Qiqi may appear to be bad tempered, but she is not this kind of person.¡±

    Qianye looked at Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s sincere expression and did not know if he should nod or not.

    For an instant, he did harbor such doubts before. It would be a joke if they were to say that expeditionary forces knew nothing about the mobilization of the dark races¡¯ collective army at all. However, if battles were to be expected in the near future, then all frontline battle groups should have been notified that the defense line would be shrunk. Only those who were predefined as cannon fodders would be an exception, and these people would knowingly or unknowingly sound the first shot of the battle and be expended fully on the battlefield.

    Cannon fodder tactic was something neither the humans nor the dark races could avoid.

    But if it wasn¡¯t Qiqi, then there was a problem with that military advisor grade intelligence map. The map was sent together with the munitions, and the seal on the goods were intact. Although the goods were transported using the expeditionary forces¡¯ transportation channel, it was the Yin Family¡¯s officers who escorted them. So just who was it that were able to tamper with the goods right in front of the expeditionary forces and the Yin Family¡¯s eyes?

    Qianye suddenly smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s not important who did it. Our first priority is to survive this battle. As long as we return alive, we will know the truth eventually.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng nodded. After a moment of silence, he suddenly cried out, ¡°Boss!¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°If we really can¡¯t hold out any longer, then you should evacuate first! We will help you pin down the enemy troops!¡± Bao Zhengcheng thought for a moment before saying clumsily, ¡°Who knows, maybe those rubbish back at Xichang City really didn¡¯t know that the collective army here had been mobilized. Someone has to go back and report to them.¡±

    Qianye ignored Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s clumsy excuse and frowned silently. He had never considered even a trace of this possibility in this regard. In the Red Scorpion, the rules dictated that the officers should be the ones to cover their subordinates¡¯ retreat.

    Bao Zhengcheng grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulders and shook him once strongly. He eximed in a solemn tone, ¡°Boss! Get back alive! If, I¡¯m just saying if, but if there¡¯s really someone behind all this¡­¡±

    His identity as a soldier kept him from saying more, but Qianye understood his unsaid words. Staring at the bloodshot eyes of this bear-like man, Qianye ultimately nodded very, very slowly. This tiny bit of movement was in fact, harder to execute than enduring thirty five cycles of origin tides.

    In less than an hour, a shrill rm was sounded above the small town. Qianye and Bao Zhengcheng climbed up the defense walls and looked outside.

    At the faraway horizon, a line of ck tide slowly but surely surged towards their direction. It was the army of the dark races!

    ¡°Boss, remember¡ª¡±

    Qianye interrupted him and said firmly, ¡°That wille after the fight!¡±

    The dark races¡¯ army slowly approached Earth Castle as it surrounded the town from all directions.

    In the camp, the battalionmander had already propped up a weapon that looked like an anti-air machine gun. With a crisp pop, he fired a ball of colorful origin fireworks several dozens meters into the air. The light stayed in the air and did not dissipate, ¡°Motherf*cker, I wonder how many sentry posts those dark blooded bastards left us!¡± the battalionmander swore while wiping the sweat on his head.

    People began jumped out one after another from three or four sentry posts disguised asrge wood within a dozen or so kilometers of radius. This was the first time many sentinels had seen the beacon fireworks report such a big amount of enemies. However, the second the exited their sentry posts, they immediately discovered that they were heavily surrounded already. Only the sentry post at the furthest end had a gap, and the sentinels over there began running towards the back at top speed.

    A group of vampires noticed these few sentinels, and so they sent a small team of vampire soldiers to stop them. The main force was still advancing towards Earth Castle.

    Half an hourter, a Blood Esquire ran back like the wind and knelt before a vampire elder, saying, ¡°My baron, your subordinate is powerless. He has let a human escape.¡±

    ¡°Escape?¡± killing intent abruptly burst out of the vampire baron¡¯s bloody red eyes as he howled, ¡°If you can¡¯t even catch a few insects then why do I still need you?¡±

    Cold sweat rolled down the Blood Esquire¡¯s neck as he knelt on the ground. He did not dare toin at all that he and the sentinels¡¯ starting spot were almost twenty kilometers apart.

    The old baron finally withdrew his anger as he said coldly, ¡°When we begin the assault, you will be the first to charge in!¡±

    ¡°Yes! My liege!¡± the blood esquire promised before he finally dared to stand up.

    Several thousands of dark race soldiers approached the small city, and the unusuallyrge and sinister figures that were mixed within their ranks put so much pressure on the expeditionary forces defending on the walls that they almost suffocated. Normally, they could scarcely find high rank soldiers, but now dozens of them had appeared all at once!

    Although the enemy had only approached them from three directions and left them a door at the back, any soldiers with a shred ofmon sense would know that they absolutely could not abandon the city and escape unless there was no other choice. If they stayed cooped up inside the city then they might yet have the slightest chance at survival, but if they escaped to the wastnd then there was no way they could outrun the dark races.

    Further back, there were even more dark races who were biding their time. This first wave of attack was just a probe. If the defenders performed poorly, then they could turn this probing attack into an all out attack at any moment.

    As the dark races approached, the atmosphere slowly turned oppressive. It was like the calm before the storm.

    Suddenly, a few res were shot into the air from the small town, showering the battlefield with a blue and white light. The second the res had gone up, the high rank soldiers of the dark races had either closed their eyes or summoned a ck fog and a red light to shield their eyes from the re. Many of the cannon fodders did not have this ability, so waves of confusion were evoked when the re of the res had pierced their eyes.

    The powerful human-shaped arachne, werewolves and vampires summoned their natural might to suppress the confusion. Some had even killed off several cannon fodders that hadpletely lost their consciousness before the confusion was finally suppressed.

    It was at this moment a sound that was like muffled thunder broke through the silence of the night. A ball of light lit up on the high spot of a sentry tower above the walls, drawing a clear trajectory of firing line through the gray white sky and falling right onto a high rank werewolf¡¯s body!

    This stalwart three meters tall werewolf was struck backwards by the shot, the blood fountain and bits of innards before his chest spraying several meters tall into the air! Even with the werewolf¡¯s terrifying regeneration ability, he was unable to climb to his feet any longer. There was a terrifying, empty hole in his chest revealing innards that had nearly been torn and burned awaypletely.

    Eagleshot!

    Eagleshot¡¯s rumble drew the curtains of the big battle.

    The dark race soldiers surged towards the small town like tide waters. There were giant spiders, all sorts of wargs and several thousands of blood thralls among them.

    Unhurriedly, Qianye loaded yet another origin bullet into Eagleshot and aimed at a human-shaped arachne three hundred meters away this time. As Eagleshot rumbled, a huge hole instantly appeared on this rank five arachne¡¯s body. The upper half of its body had nearly been broken in half by the shot!

    During the time it took for Eagleshot to rumble twice, the dark races had already surged beneath the walls and began climbing.

    Therge spiders could climb directly up the defense walls, whereas the wargs could utilize the force of a full run to leap up the wall¡¯s body, jump vertically for a few times and get up to the ten meter tall wall.

    The blood thralls were the only ones who were powerless to scale the walls. Therefore, they pushed many longdders onto the walls and climbed their way up through the paths opened by the arachne, wargs, and high ranking soldiers.

    Suddenly, there was a rumble, and Qianye felt that the bottom of his feet and the entire defense walls were shaking intensely inside the sentry tower. He poked out his head and saw several high ranking werewolves controlling a weapon that looked like a short barrel cannon. As dark origin power shed from the cannon, a metallic artillery shell would be shot out and strike fiercely on the town¡¯s door.

    The power of this origin siege cannon was fairly strong. It was a heavy weapon that was rtivelymonly seen in siege warfare. Qianye frowned. The enemy was a part of the collective army. Otherwise, it was all gueri warfare if it was normal war preparations. Who in their right minds would bring such a heavy guy out their doorsteps?

 Volume 3 - 36: Bloody Battle

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 36: Bloody Battle

    Naturally, Qianye would not allow them to break through the entrance this easily. He put down Eagleshot, grabbed arge caliber sniper rifle he picked from the arsenal at the side and aimed it at the werewolves controlling the short barrel cannon. He pulled down the trigger repeatedly and fired five bullets out of the magazine with his fastest speed.

    Blood blossomed from the werewolves¡¯ bodies as they wailed. The siege cannon lost control and let out yet another rumble. But the slightly reddened long barrel had turned more than ny degrees and fired off target this time, throwing off several dozen of blood thralls beside it instead. However, all of the high rank werewolves except one climbed back on their feet after rolling on the ground several times.

    Qianye inwardly shook his head. A werewolf¡¯s life force and defense was ridiculous. When they reached rank five, arge caliber sniper rifle like this would only deal moderate damage to these creatures as long as they weren¡¯t hit at a vital spot.

    Qianye switched a new magazine and began yet another round of quick shooting. This time, he aimed everything on a single werewolf and finally killed it.

    It was at this moment the sentry tower shook even fiercer than before, looking like it would copse at any moment. The dark race soldiers that were gushing up the walls had discovered this sniper¡¯s nest and was attempting to break into it. Those who were rash had even begun taking apart the building directly.

    Suddenly, rm bells rang in Qianye¡¯s heart. He nced outside and just happened to see several round-shaped objects engraved withplicated patterns on their surface flying toward him!

    They were vampire¡¯s grenades!

    A vampire¡¯s grenade was driven by dark origin power, and although they were about the same size as a human¡¯s grenade, its power was the equivalent of an artillery shell. Moreover, with the dark races¡¯ strength, they could easily be thrown hundreds of meters away towards its intended target.

    Qianye had identified the objects at first nce. He immediately grabbed Eagleshot and jumped through the window directly to the bottom of a hiding soldier wall. He found a corner and curled himself into a ball!

    The rumbling noises were endless, and it was as if only smoke and explosions were left in Qianye¡¯s entire world. He could not hear a second kind of sound from his ears. Bricks and sters fell non-stop, and there were quite a lot of debri that had fallen on his head.

    Finally, the rumbling noises were over. When Qianye raised his head to take a look, he discovered that half of the ceiling had vanished to reveal the gray, lightless sky above. The upper floor of the sentry tower had beenpletely wiped away, and the dead bodies of the dark race cannon foddersy at its surroundings. Not only had this explosion destroyed half the sentry tower and its connecting defense walls, its shockwave had taken out quite a lot of dark race soldiers who attempted to make their way in as well.

    However, the dark races did not care for the death of cannon fodders.

    There weren¡¯t many human soldiers left on the defense walls. Most of the surviving soldiers had been forced to evacuate into the defensive fortifications inside the town. The cannon fodders were climbing up the defense walls endlessly, and several high ranking soldiers were yelling outmands. Some had even grabbed some slow moving cannon fodders and tossed them right into the other side of the wall.

    Inside the sentry tower¡¯s ruins, Qianye suddenly stood up and held Vulcan, the multi barreled cannon, and pulled down the trigger!

    Vulcan¡¯s barrel swiveled and sprayed countless bullets towards a werewolf twenty meters away like a storm. At close range, blood continuously blossomed from the rank five werewolf¡¯s body, sting it backwards step by step until it finally copsed on its back!

    Qianye did not stop there. The roaring Vulcan was like a swinging whip of metal and fire that swept down droves of dark race soldiers.

    In the blink of an eye, the five hundred bullets in Vulcan¡¯s bullet box had beenpletely shot clean. There was not a single living dark race being thirty meters before Qianye.

    Qianye had just let out a sigh of relief when a dark shadow charged over like lightning and pushed him to the ground! It was a rank five vampire soldier.

    The duo rolled and fought on the ground for a moment before Qianye suddenly threw a jab right beside the vampire¡¯s mouth. The vampire instinctively bit down on his hand, sinking his fangs deeply into Qianye¡¯s flesh. However, before he could enjoy the pleasant surprise, Qianye¡¯s flesh suddenly became as tough as steel. He pulled back his hand fiercely and actually pulled the vampire fangs right out of his mouth!

    The pain nearly knocked out the vampire soldierpletely. Qianye immediately jumped onto his feet and took out a pistol. He plunged the barrel directly into the vampire soldier¡¯s bleeding mouth and pulled the trigger!

    There was a dull, wet sound, and Qianye¡¯s face and chest became covered in blood.

    He stood up and looked around. He jumped into the town before the next wave of dark race soldiers could surround him.

    Qianye moved swiftly between the buildings of the small alleys and attacked asionally to kill many werewolves and arachne. On the battlefield of arge scale muddled warfare, the werewolves and arachne who had thick skin and flesh and incredible strength were much more threatening than the vampires. It was only when the battle had escted to a higher level that vampires would thene above the two races.

    That was why Qianye¡¯s main killing targets were werewolves and arachne.

    There were gunshots, explosions, fire and bloodcurdling screams everywhere. The entire town had turned into a battlefield. Qianye had forgotten about the time, and his fighting instinct was the only thing that remained with him.

    Suddenly, several low rank werewolves rushed by at the front. Qianye instinctively grabbed for something on his body, but did not find anything. He did not know where he had tossed Eagleshot to, and his assault rifle was gone too. All of his firearms were out of ammo, and the bag holding the grenades was absolutely empty. His two pistols were still around his waists, but they might as well not be there. Qianye¡¯s origin power was almost full depleted, and even if there was a physical origin bullet inside the pistols, he no longer had the strength to activate them.

    Qianye felt so tired he could die. If he wasn¡¯t controlling himself with all his might, he even felt like copsing on the ground just like that. This was the result of excessive usage of origin power and stimnts.

    Suddenly, he found something inside his pants pocket and took it out for a look. It was actually a stimnt syringe. Unable to worry if repeated usage would cause problems for his body at the moment, he immediately plunged it into his arm and injected everything inside. The feeling of sleepiness faded away quite a bit as expected.

    Suddenly, Qianye heard an unusual noise from the house beside him. A human was screaming. He immediately broke through the door and charged inside. There were sttered flesh, blood and bodies everywhere in the house. Some were human bodies, and some were the dark races¡¯. Several werewolves were forcing an expeditionary force soldier to the corner of a wall.

    It looked like a young boy who had just reached adulthood. The military clothes on his body appeared overly huge. Hisplexion was pale, and he was swinging the dagger in his hand wildly in attempt to protect himself.

    Qianye let out a low roar and attempted to charge inside. However, a werewolf abruptly charged him and knocked him over. Man and wolf rolled on the floor continuously and fought in melee. By now Qianye was so exhausted that he actually wasn¡¯t able to break free from the rank two werewolf for a moment.

    The werewolf bit fiercely into Qianye¡¯s shoulders. Its sharp fangs tore apart the specially made military uniform that was as tough as leather armor, piercing into his flesh. However, Qianye¡¯s body was actually even stronger than leather armor, and no matter how the werewolf shook its head it wasn¡¯t able to tear down a piece of flesh.

    It was at this moment Qianye heard a scream. He turned around to look and find the young expeditionary force soldier had been pushed to the floor by the three werewolves. His flesh was being torn bit by bit and swallowed into the werewolf¡¯s stomach. However, the young boy hadn¡¯t died just yet, and the intense pain prevented him from even falling into unconsciousness. He could only scream at the top of his lungs and endure the pain of being torn alive.

    The color of blood rose in Qianye¡¯s eyes. It wasn¡¯t just the reflection of the young boy¡¯s flesh and blood!

    Qianye suddenly raised his head and bit fiercely into the werewolf¡¯s throat! Large volumes of blood rolled into his stomach, instantly causing all of the blood energy inside his body to boil up, surging joyfully like toppling mountains and overturning seas. Even the purple and gold blood energies had swam out of the ability runes to join in on the devouring.

    Qianye¡¯s strength abruptly increased, and with a flip he pushed the werewolf beneath him and kept him from moving. Meanwhile, the werewolf suddenly lost more than half of its blood as if there was a leak in its body.

    By now, the three werewolves had finished eating the young boy and stood up in satisfaction. Suddenly, they felt that something was wrong and turned around abruptly. They saw Qianye looking coldly at them.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes became as red as blood in an instant!

    Momentster, Qianye finally walked out of the room. He looked as if he had been drenched in blood from head to toe. Even his ck hair had turned dark red in color. The vampire long sword he held in his hands were still dripping with blood continuously. However, this also made the bright red color of his pupils less remarkable.

    Suddenly, a group of blood thralls surged out from the alley on the opposite side. When they saw Qianye, they suddenly retreated and escaped from another alley while whining. A high ranking vampire soldier ran over and looked doubtfully at Qianye, yelling, ¡°Which family do you belong to? Why have I never seen you?¡±

    Faint killing intent shed past Qianye¡¯s pupils as he pped the pistols around his waists and said, ¡°I am a descendant of Marquis Ross.¡±

    ¡°Marqius Ross! But the Marquis did not participate in this battle this time!¡± the vampire was immediately caught by surprise. Then he saw clearly the shape of the pistol and said in shock, ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    He did not finish his sentence. This little bit of time was enough for Qianye toe close to him and prate his stomach with the long sword! Qianye even grabbed the writhing and struggling vampire soldier¡¯s neck and dragged him into an abandoned housing by the side before biting him right at the neck!

    This rank four vampire soldier was so shocked he could faint, but as the essence of his blood slowly flowed out of his body, the light and bright red color of his eyes faded. When Qianye released his hands, the vampire soldier had be as dry as a corpse.

    Qianye did not head out immediately. He calmly damaged the body with a sharp de before sitting at a corner of the house and shut both his eyes. He quietly awaited his stamina to recover.

    After he had absorbed the werewolves and vampire¡¯s blood, Qianye¡¯s body had entered a state of blood boil. His recovery speed had increased tremendously, and it wouldn¡¯t take him more than half an hour before he would recover his stamina and a small portion of origin power. He would be able to use an origin gun then. The only tiny w of blood boil was that he would not be able to control his blood energy and filled it into origin bullets.

    Suddenly there was a bang, and the door on the other side of the building was blown open. It was Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s stalwart figure that had appeared. He stumbled into the room and did not even notice who was inside the house. He rolled on the ground beside the wall on the spot and gripped his short de tightly, putting on abat posture.

    A rank six Blood Esquire appeared at the entrance of the house. He was wearing the ssic cold smile of a vampire, walking slowly with his head high. The longsword in his hand was glowing with bloody light.

    However, his smile was frozen the second he went through the door. Qianye¡¯s pistols were already aimed at him!

    The Blood Esquire screamed. He never imagined that there was still one more person inside the house! He didn¡¯t sense him at all!

    The pistol shot was incredibly soft like the sound of blooming flowers.

    Inparison, the Blood Esquire¡¯s flying momentum was extremely shocking. He crashed through the door and mmed into the wall so hard that it cracked. The armor before his chest and his stomach had been stedpletely into smithereens. The twin pistols were tossed directly on the ground, leaving behind only two beautiful and demonic looking twin flowers blooming on one stalk in the air.

    Qianye had long since pounced forward like a demon. While holding the sword with both hands, he plunged the weapon right through the Blood Esquire¡¯s chest and prated his heart!

    The Blood Esquire struggled with all his might. His extraordinary vitality gave him strength to retaliate. Qianye¡¯s stomach and chest were punched and kneed repeatedly, but Qianye used every strength in his body to hold onto the hilt and nailed the Blood Esquire firmly on the floor.

    Every time the Blood Esquirended a punch, the soft sound of cracking bones would resound. Intense pain flushed Qianye¡¯s nerves, but the pain waspletely within his limits since he had gone through the tempering of the Combatant Form. If he allowed the Blood Esquire to climb to his feet, then both Bao Zhengcheng and him would die to the Blood Esquire¡¯s dying retaliation.

    It was at this moment the sound of gunshots rang repeatedly. Somehow Bao Zhengcheng had fished out a pistol from who knew where, and he had pressed the muzzle almost at zero range to the Blood Esquire¡¯s face and shot every bullet inside the chamber. It utterly devastated that pale and eerie face.

    The Blood Esquire twitched a couple of times before he went motionless.

 Volume 3 - 37: Collapse

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 37: Copse

    Qianye released his hands andy down directly beside the Blood Esquire¡¯s corpse, panting heavily. Bao Zhengcheng also fell to the ground and panted just as heavily. The man was hurt all over, and a particr sword wound behind his back was so deep one could already see his bones.

    If a few cannon fodders were toe in right now, they might be able to kill them all just like that.

    After panting for a moment, Bao Zhengcheng asked, ¡°Boss, are your eyes hurt?¡± His voice was filled with worry. In this circumstances, there was almost no chance that a soldier with an injured eye would be able to live through the next battle.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s just a small wound. It¡¯ll recover soon.¡± Qianye continued to keep his eyes shut.

    Inside the domain controlled by humans, a military jeep was traveling slowly. The light in the seemingly endless forest was so dim that one could not differentiate either day or night. It was as if countless monsters were hidden inside.

    The road was craggy and uneven. When the jeep¡¯s wheel rolled over the floor covered in thick fallen leaves that was like a carpet, it felt as if it would slip at any moment. The four front lights of the jeep were allpletely turned on. The bright white light was trained to the front.

    This jeep was the best target in this dark environment. However, the sinister looking cannon on top of the jeep¡¯s roof reminded the man or beast spying from the darkness constantly that this big metallic fellow was absolutely not to be trifled with!

    A dark shadow suddenly charged out from beside the road and blocked the jeep. He waved his hands strongly and shouted, ¡°Stop! Stop!¡±

    The jeep abruptly came to a stop.

    The man pulled open the jeep¡¯s door and jumped directly to the front passenger seat. While panting heavily, he said, ¡°I¡¯m a sergeant of the 325th Battalion! Send me to the 60th division headquarters, quickly! Earth Castle has been surrounded by the dark races. We need reinforcements!¡±

    The jeep started and continued forwards.

    The sergeant finally rxed andy limply on the seat. It was only now he saw clearly that he and the driver were the only ones in the jeep. The driver was a young and beautiful short haired female lieutenant.

    ¡°First Lieutenant Ye Muwei?¡± the sergeant was both shocked and overjoyed. There weren¡¯t many pretty girls on the battlefield. First Lieutenant Ye was both beautiful and capable, and although it hasn¡¯t been more than several months since she reported herself to this warzone, she had be many soldiers¡¯ dream lover.

    ¡°You know me?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Who wouldn¡¯t recognize a great beauty like you?¡±

    Ye Muwei smiled slightly and said, ¡°You know me. That¡¯s even better then. Isn¡¯t the 325th Battalion subordinate to the 55th Division? Why do you want to go the 60th Division?¡±

    ¡°The dark races had mobilized the entire collective army! The path to the 55th Division is already blocked off.¡±

    ¡°I see. Did anyone else escape?¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m the only one left.¡± the sergeant wore a downcast expression and looked outside the window. But when he saw what was outside, he almost jumped on his seat. He cried out, ¡°No! This isn¡¯t the direction to the DHQ. You¡ª¡±

    The sergeant turned his head, and it was only now he found the ck hole of a muzzle pointed at his forehead.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the direction to the DHQ in the first ce. This is the direction of your grave.¡±

    Before she finished her sentence, Ye Muwei had already pulled down the trigger. The car window was immediately sttered with blood.

    During evening, the jeep appeared at an intermediary transportation depot. Normally, there would only be a small troop of sentries garrisoned in the brightly lit depot. Now, it was parked with a heavy convoy. A momentter, Ye Muwei sneakily got up the backside of a truck.

    Gu Liyu was the only one inside. He was leaning against the back of a chair and resting quietly. After he finished listening to her report, Gu Liyu said, ¡°So the 131st Company did choose here to make their breakthrough.¡±

    Ye Muwei asked in puzzlement, ¡°If this were normal times the patrol of the 55th Division would¡¯ve realized that something was wrong a long time ago. But the battle over there had started sincest night, there¡¯s no way they had the time to worry for Earth Castle. With Earth Castle¡¯s meager strength, they absolutely could not hold out the night. But why do you still need me to intercept the messengers?¡±

    Gu Liyu smiled and said, ¡°Because I prefer to be absolutely safe.¡±

    ¡°But Qiqi would still have new lovers!¡±

    Gu Liyu¡¯s smile immediately became somewhat unnatural. Slowly, he said, ¡°This person is different. He¡¯s a threat.¡±

    Ye Muwei stopped talking. Most of the people Gu Liyu thought as a threat had slept eternally in their graves.

    Gu Liyu swept Ye Muwei into hisp and touched her hair softly. A whileter, he finally said, ¡°It¡¯s not all for this insignificant fellow. The chief of dispatch of this battle is in fact the Yin Family¡¯s Old 17. He wanted to protect the 58th Division¡¯s strength and deplete the 55th Division¡¯s strength for a bit. I am just following his wishes and achieving a small wish of my own in the meantime.¡±

    Ye Muwei felt a cold chill climbing up her back. It was only now she abruptly understood Gu Liyu¡¯s nning, killing two birds with one stone.

    Yin 17 was one of the elders under Qiqi¡¯s family branch, whereas the 58th and 55th Divisions were the mainbat forces of Xichang City¡¯s war zone this time. The 60th Division was their reserve force. A battalion Qiqi had brought with her was put under the 58th Division, so Yin 17¡¯s thoughts were easily understandable. He was just reducing the risk his Miss was about to face. As for why he specifically made the request to deplete the 55th Division¡¯s strength, there must be other internal reasons.

    The 58th and 55th Division shared a proportional rtionship with each other. If one side faced heavier pressure, they would suffer more casualties whereas the other part was the opposite.

    Therefore, Gu Liyu had used false intel and baited the 131st Company to enter the dark races¡¯ collective army mobilization zone at that point of time and location, causing the 55th Division¡¯s defense zone to enterbat earlier than expected. He also requested her to intercept any messengers who might have made their way out to prevent the 60th Company from receiving the news and intervening in advance. A single night¡¯s difference was enough to achieve many objectives.

    A thousand things could happen in an instant on the battlefield. Perhaps Gu Liyu¡¯s n was not limited to what she saw, or he would not have hidden his own identity and arrived to the Evernight Continent personally. However, Ye Muwei was not interested in knowing more. In the hearts of these important people, military merits, sess, and the overall situation was what they truly needed to consider. Casualties and sacrifices were just numbers. It did not matter at all which military number had more units, and which troops had less.

    Ye Muwei only knew that the entire battle would absolutely head toward the direction Gu Liyu hoped to see. Even if the matter was discovered by Qiqiter, this was the decision of a Yin Family elder. What could she say?

    Ye Muwei suddenly had a strange thought. When the surviving soldiers of Earth Castlested past tonight and weed daybreak, but then discovered that the reinforcements that they were hoping for did not arrive at all, what would they think? It was at this moment she heard Gu Liyu calling her name, and so she replied softly.

    ¡°Tomorrow afternoonter, we will head to the 60th Division.¡±

    ¡°We will go there to mobilize the army. I¡¯m here this time with the temporary authority to conscript an expeditionary force troop. Earth Castle as a defense node cannot be lost. We will get it back from the dark races.¡± Gu Liyu¡¯s voice slowly turned faint, ¡°After this battle, I will be able to ascend to the rank of colonel.¡±

    Ye Muwei did not say anything. She pressed herself before Gu Liyu¡¯s chest and found afortable position. Meanwhile, his hands was rubbing her cheeks softly. The intoxicating warmth drove all thoughts out of her mind.

    On this war torn continent, she only wanted now.

    Right now, Earth Castle was slowly turning quiet. The sounds of fighting, guns, and cannon shots slowly faded as the surviving dark race soldiers retreated out of the town. The first battle had ended just like that.

    Momentster, Qianye and Bao Zhengcheng lent each other an arm, struggled to stand up and walked out of the house. What they saw was devastation, ruins, bodies, and fire everywhere. Earth Castle was already destroyed.

    One hurt soldier after another came out of their hiding spots. The officers began attempting to gather the soldiers, and Bao Zhengcheng also leaped out and beckoned loudly for any surviving brother.

    While standing amidst the ruins, Qianye suddenly felt as if everything was a little unreal. His mind was also a little dazed. He opened his eyes a little, and he found the blood red color in his vision had faded quite a bit.

    There was a military knife that was somewhat intact standing amidst the ruins. Qianye picked it up and raised the broadside of the de, staring at his own eyes. Through the reflection of the slightly blurry metallic surface, there was now only a little blood color left in Qianye¡¯s pupils. No one would notice it unless they paid close attention.

    However, when Qianye stared at the face reflected by the narrow de, he felt that it was both familiar and strange. A little dazed, he lifted his head and watched as one tired or painfully groaning soldier after another walk by him.

    Everyone else was nearingplete exhaustion, but Qianye¡¯s condition was unusually good. Although he still had wounds on his body, it was no longer affecting his movements by much. Most of his broken bones had begun connecting themselves together, so even the bone fixing process could be saved. If he could get some good rest in, then he would recover in full in just a few days.

    By now the effects of the blood boil had gradually faded, and his additional strength and vitality were slowly returning to their normal level. Qianye once again felt tired. This was the fatigue brought by the double effects of excessive usage of stimnts and blood boil.

    It was at this moment the expeditionary force soldiers walked by while dragging a few werewolf corpses.

    Those corpses were different from the other dead werewolves in that they werepletely dry and wilted like a mummy. The expeditionary force soldiers were arguing what on earth caused the corpses to turn out this way. Some people believed that it was the vampires who had be so hungry that they could not restrain themselves, whereas the other person retorted loudly saying that vampires would rather starve to death than suck a werewolf¡¯s corpse. The duo argued along the way and slowly walked far away.

    However, when Qianye saw the few impressively broken bodies, he already knew where they found them. On the battlefield, bloodsucking was an iparable recovery method. Perhaps even the majority of the vampire¡¯s kin did not have such amazing recovery abilities.

    If he hadn¡¯t triggered the blood boil effect by sucking blood, then he would have been torn apart and eaten alive by the werewolves already, just like that expeditionary force youth. He would not be able to kill that Blood Esquire and save Bao Zhengcheng either.

    Qianye could only feel that his heart was empty while standing amidst the ruins. The pir of belief he had held since he was young had utterly copsed at this point.

    He had always hated and rejected the vampires, and bore the courage and ferocity to choose death over bing a blood thrall. However, he had now used the vampire¡¯s unique talent, bloodsucking with full rity of mind.

    So what was he now?

    ¡°Boss! You¡¯re still alive! Thank goodness!¡±

    A familiar voice dragged Qianye back to reality. A 131st Company soldier was running over excitedly. He was hugging the ridiculously long Eagleshot in his arms. It was obvious that the soldiers had discovered the weapon while sweeping through the battlefield, and they immediately realized who the owner of the rifle was. Right now Qianye was almost worshipped like a god in their hearts. Not anyone could exceed their rank to snipe high ranking dark race creatures with just the strength of rank four.

    Qianye epted Eagleshot and stared at the smile on this blood and soot covered face. Suddenly, he felt as if the entire world had be real once more.

    He returned him a calm smile and said, ¡°Thank you.¡± then, he looked around and pointed at an empty ground, saying, ¡°Call our brothers to gather at that spot. Tell them to look for food and ammo as well.¡±

    ¡°No problem, boss!¡± as if suddenly finding strength in his body, the young soldier broke into a slow run and went far away.

    When Qianye leaned against a broken wall that was now only as tall as his waist, Bao Zhengcheng walked over with the expeditionary force battalionmander. They sat at the opposite side of him.

    The battalionmander was also covered in blood and the vestiges of battle. Therge majority of his head was wrapped in bandages, and there were two obviously teeth marks on his throat as well!

    When he saw Qianye¡¯s expression, the battalionmander smiled bitterly and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been bitten by a vampire, but it¡¯s nothing now. I won¡¯t live past the day I be a blood thrall. With our numbers, we can hold out a wave of attack at best.¡±

 Volume 3 - 38: Long Night

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 38: Long Night

    ¡°Is there enough medicine?¡± Qianye asked while passing over a cigarette.

    The battalionmander took a deep breath and felt just a little more spirited, ¡°We do have some meds, but at best it won¡¯tst more than a day, and we have to regte it strictly as well. Why did these motherf*cking ck blooded bastards suddenly grow so many?¡±

    Not far away, the sounds of noises and cries suddenly rang. The trio¡¯s gazes were attracted. A young civilian were pulling at an expeditionary force soldier with great agitation, yelling, ¡°I need meds! Give me meds! My woman is about to die!¡±

    Behind him, a young woman was half leaning against a wall and holding her neck. Blood was gushing out constantly from the gaps of her fingers.

    The expeditionary force soldier looked at her once before shaking his head, saying, ¡°She¡¯s gone. There aren¡¯t much meds now, so we must use it sparingly.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s about to die. What are we even saving it for?¡± the man grew more and more agitated.

    The expeditionary force soldier¡¯s face turned cold as he said, ¡°There are a lot of injured brothers who did not have meds. They could only hold it in even while in pain! If I give this to you, what will our dying brothers use?¡±

    The man suddenly snatched the expeditionary force soldier¡¯s gun and pointed it at his head, roaring, ¡°I don¡¯t care! Give me the meds! Or I¡¯ll blow your head apart!¡±

    There was the sound of a gunshot, and the man¡¯s head suddenly blew apart. The body slowly copsed onto the floor. An expeditionary force first lieutenant walked over with the handgun in his hands still smoking. He picked up the rifle and pushed it into the other soldier¡¯sp, saying coldly, ¡°Remember, anyone who takes your gun on a battlefield is your enemy! No one will save you next time!¡±

    He stretched out a hand and patted the young soldier¡¯s shoulders. Then he said, ¡°I hope you can live through tonight, greenhorn.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng, Qianye, and the battalionmander withdrew their gazes. The atmosphere had gotten slightly heavier once more. The scene earlier was very helpless, but it was also very realistic. Everyone had met something like this more than once. On the battlefield, the military stood above all. This was the ironw of the imperial army.

    Qianye asked, ¡°When will the reinforcements arrive?¡±

    The battalionmander sighed and said, ¡°Looking at the direction where these ck blooded bastardse from, there¡¯s probably been a battle at the DHQ too. The beacon I¡¯ve sent out ordered them to go to the 60th Division to ask for reinforcements. If theds are lucky, then reinforcements will arrive by tomorrow morning. If the reinforcements are special forces made up of all Fighter rank soldiers, then they may even arrive earlier than expected. But that is all.¡±

    Tomorrow morning meant that there was still a long night to pass.

    Qianye thought quietly for a moment before saying to the battalionmander, ¡°Have your men help me find two vampire closebat weapons. Anything is fine. I want something high grade, and the heavier the better.¡±

    The battalionmander immediately called over an orderly andid down the order. A momentter, three weapons were delivered over. Two of the three weapons were grade three vampire origin longswords. One of these longswords were none other than the sword of that Blood Esquire. The third weapon however, was a giant axe that waspletely ck. It was obvious at first nce that it was incredibly heavy!

    Qianye reached out and picked up the giant axe. After weighing it in his hands, he looked extremely satisfied with its weight.

    The corner of Bao Zhengcheng and the battalionmander¡¯s eyes twitched. This giant axe was one hundred and fifty kilograms! Even a rank four Fighter specialized in evolved strength talent would have trouble swinging this thing, much less using it for battle!

    Bao Zhengcheng could still remember this giant axe. Its former master was a rank six human-shaped arachne. He had exhausted all of his origin power before he finally sted it down with Tempest. However, a dozen or so soldiers had also been cut in half by the giant axe in order to cover for him.

    Qianye attempted to inject origin power into the axe, and an origin formation lit up on the axe¡¯s de. A dark red cloud appeared on the weapon. It was just a grade two origin weapon, but due to its weight and length, its might in a mixed battle was far beyond a vampire¡¯s grade three longsword.

    Qianye then picked up the Blood Esquire¡¯s sword and said, ¡°I want the axe and this sword. I¡¯m going to cultivate now. Any origin power we recover is necessary. I hope we can survive this night.¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng and the battalionmander nced at each other. They both found a ce for themselves and began resting and cultivating.

    Although the night was harsh, it wasn¡¯t all bad news. The battle had exhausted nearly all of the dark races¡¯ cannon fodders, and the next battle would be exhausting their regr soldiers. Not a single race among the dark races had as big a poption or as great the number of fighters as humans. If they began to lose the numbers of their regr soldiers en masse, then anymander would find themselves hurting for the loss.

    Earth Castle fell into temporary silence.

    Qianye inspected his own body and discovered that there were now two additional normal blood energies curled inside his heart in surprise. Meanwhile, there was still arge amount of blood energies surging inside his blood vessels like a sea in turmoil. The gold and purple blood energies were like fish in water, devouring arge amount of blood energy wherever they went.

    However, his Daybreak origin power looked like a beach after a tide had subsided. He had recovered only a single, thinyer, and he obviously had to rely on channeling the Combatant Form to replenish his strength.

    Before he started cultivating, Qianye finally decided on his new ability: urate Shooting. This ability would allow him to greatly increase the speed at which he thinks during that instant he was shooting. He would be able to lock down his opponent¡¯s vital spots more easily and fire a more powerful shot.

    Ascending to rank four meant that he would get a new ability. Originally, Qianye was hesitating between a gun type or closebat type ability and thus did not make the ultimate decision. However, he had made up his mind now.

    Eagleshot¡¯s long range snipe, coupled with the two abilities Heavy Caliber and urate Shooting, and special origin physical bulletsbined to make an extremely terrifying burst of power. It was the key to Qianye surpassing his rank and assassinating high rank dark races. The key to victory for the next battley on whether he could kill the enemy¡¯s highest ranking soldier whomanded every node of the battlefield.

    After choosing his ability, Qianye began cultivating the Combatant Form and awaited the new horn of battle to be resounded.

    Right now inside the tent of the dark allied army outside the city, a vampire baron was walking back and forth with a greenplexion.

    Two Blood Esquires were kneeling inside the tent, and the few werewolves and arachne standing at the side appeared incredibly anxious as well. The baron was the chief ofmand of this allied army and the strongest person in the group. He was just one step away from breaking through to the Champion rank.

    The baron suddenly erupted and swept away every item on the table. He roared angrily, ¡°Trash! All trash! All of the cannon fodders are dead, and we didn¡¯t even manage to take down such a small ce! How the hell am I going to tell this to the higher ups?!¡±

    The Blood Esquire wasn¡¯t able to say anything at all under the natural suppression. It was at this moment a tall werewolf said, ¡°The firepower of this base¡¯s garrison is unnaturally powerful! Your intel is wed! Moreover, I suspect that there is an elite hiding inside the town that¡¯s not weaker than us!¡±

    Disgust shed across the vampire baron¡¯s face as he said angrily, ¡°How could my race¡¯s intel possibly be wed? The strongest soldiers they have there are only at rank five. Have you seen any enemies above rank five while they were attacking the city? Fools!¡±

    The werewolf let out a threatening low roar without any fear at all, ¡°What wasn¡¯t seen doesn¡¯t mean that it doesn¡¯t exist! I heard Eagleshot¡¯s sound! My race has suffered a terrible loss of warriors because of Eagleshot! Old fool, have you ever heard a human below rank six using Eagleshot? I see that your castle is so humid that your wooden head has rotted!¡±

    The baron was absolutely furious. Blood appeared on his eyes as he let out a low howl and revealed two pairs of long, bloodsucking fangs. The werewolves¡¯ rank might notpare to the baron¡¯s, but they had all bent their bodies and put on a battle stance. They were obviously not afraid to fight at all.

    It was at this moment two arachne opened their mouths and said, ¡°I would only be happy if you all wish to duel each other, but this is not the time! If we failed toplete our mission, no one would be able to justify themselves to their higher ups. There was already an ident in this battle in the first ce. The cunning humans have invaded our war zone in advance. We shouldn¡¯t be stopped in this bloody ce either. Baron Mike, I suggest that you watch your tone. The Green Horse Tribe and us are not your subordinates. We worked with you only because we respect your strength. If you are unwilling, we can part ways and attack the city on our own at worst.¡±

    The other arachne said coldly, ¡°Both of our races lost many high ranking warriors, but you vampires didn¡¯t lose much. This isn¡¯t quite eptable, is it? Is there another reason?¡±

    The baron¡¯s scarlet eyes narrowed as he asked coldly, ¡°What reason?¡±

    The arachne choked and stopped talking.

    It was at this moment the werewolf leader said, ¡°I needpensation. Give both of our races thirty origin grenades, and we will cut today¡¯s losses off the book.¡±

    The baron¡¯s cheeks immediately twitched. A whileter, he finally said through gritted teeth, ¡°Fine!¡±

    A vampire¡¯s origin grenade was far more powerful than a human¡¯s, but every one of these grenades were handmade and the amount of artisans with this level of skill were few, which resulted in low production. Even within the dark races, it wasn¡¯t a luxury that a normal army could afford at all.

    The baron¡¯s eyes swept over everyone in the tent before he asked, ¡°Who will be leading tonight¡¯s attack?¡±

    The tent suddenly fell silent. No one answered.

    For whatever reason, an elite who could use Eagleshot had suddenly shown up in the human¡¯s defense node. This person was a great threat to anyone below rank seven, and an unlucky rank six soldier might even be killed in a single shot. Moreover, that person had opened fire more than one time in that battle. Even if after considering the effects of the stimnt, the enemy was at least a rank six soldier.

    No one was willing to face Eagleshot¡¯s attacks while the situation was chaotic. The only choice left was the baron who was one step away from bing a Champion.

    Seeing that every gaze had been focused onto himself, the baron¡¯s expression darkened as he said coldly, ¡°If I went on the battlefield, what are you going to do if those human special force troops show up?¡±

    The arachne and werewolves fell quiet after matching each other¡¯s eyes once.

    It had almost been a day since the battle had been sounded at Dongling Mountain Areast night. The entire mountain had been turned into a battlefield, and the situation was incrediblyplex. The human race¡¯s 55th Division closest to them was already pushing toward them from the open battlefield one hundred kilometers away. The 58th Division on the other side had also begun to mobilize their men. This allied army was supposed to head another thirty kilometers to their original battle positions, but now they were stalled here for some unfathomable reason. Thetest news frommand imed that several human special forces made up of Fighterspletely had vanished from the deep regions of Dongling Mountain Area. Even the Wind Wolf Tribe had not been able to track their whereabouts and operation areas.

    When the baron saw their expressions, he let out a snort and pointed at an arachne and a werewolf. He said, ¡°Both of you will head into battle tonight! I willy down the defense line at the perimeter. The warning zone of the human¡¯s defenses is just a day of march away, so their reinforcements should arrive by tomorrow morning. I may not necessarily be able hold them back. The two of you have better take care of all troubles by tonight!¡±

    The arachne and werewolf looked at each other before they exited in silence. The baron stayed inside the tent alone and was lost in thought as he stared at the map on the wall. His eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper. A vampire soldier brought in a ss of fresh blood and put it on the table. Then, he went out without a sound. However, the baron simply stared at the map and had even forgotten to taste his delicious drink.

    His eyes fell neither on Earth Castle nor the direction of the human race¡¯s reinforcements. He was looking at the other two dark race armies with eyes that were full of wariness and seriousness. The baron picked up a pen and made a few bright red marks on the map. It was a threat level that only he understood.

    From the markings, it appeared that the threat of the human reinforcements was far paler than the other two dark race troops.

    It was deep at night at the Yin Family¡¯s other courtyard outside Xichang City.

    Qiqi spared out a letter in front of her and read it twice in a row. Then, she called someone into the room.

    A beautiful girl hastily ran in, then out.

    A momentter, Ji Yuanjia walked over with swift steps. He was obviously resting already and not wearing a military uniform. He was wearing a narrow-sleeved, right ovepping cored long robe.

    Before he could stand still, Qiqi immediately mmed him with a question, ¡°Why would Qianye go to the mountain area at Earth Castle?¡±

 Volume 3 - 39: Chaotic Night

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 39: Chaotic Night

    The Seventeenth Corps¡¯ joint defense camp beneath Qiqi had moved to the expeditionary force¡¯s 58th Division defense zone yesterday, whereas her self-recruited private army had reached the 58th Division defense zone today. While thebat strength of this private army was slightly lousier than the expeditionary force¡¯s regr troops, they could sufficiently serve as a reserve force and defend the secondary defense line. With their addition, the 58th Division defense zone¡¯s strength had massively increased.

    Military officers like them were required to return to their respective squads by tomorrow morning. For the past two days Ji Yuanjia had been handling military affairs, and he had long since memorized the map of the Dongling Mountain Area. When he heard Qiqi¡¯s inquiry, he had reacted almost instantly and felt a huge changeing over his face.

    The expeditionary force¡¯s 58th Division and 55th Division¡¯s defense lines were arrayed in the shape of a crescent along the edge of the Dongling Mountain Area from north to south. The head and tail of the defense line stretched over three hundred kilometers. Earth Castle was the southernmost border defense node, and the 131st Company was garrisoned near the 58th Division slightly north of the center of the battlefield. Leaving aside what the 131st Company was doing having travelled such a far distance down south, that mountain area was already a battlefield sincest night!

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s eyes abruptly sank when he looked into Qiqi¡¯s eyes. Right now the pair of beautiful eyes were usually glowing with health and vigor to the point of condescending had be so serene and depthless it was as if they had lost all the emotions in them.

    ¡°Gu Liyu hase to Evernight.¡± Qiqi wasn¡¯t asking. It was an affirmative sentence.

    Ji Yuanjia opened his mouth, but could not let out a sound. It was true. During that night at the feast at the casten¡¯s mansion, he had seen Gu Liyu at the parking lot. At the time, there was another person beside Gu Liyu, namely Yin Family¡¯s Old 17 and the great elder of Jingan Hall. Meanwhile, Qiqi was one of the direct line of descent of Yin Family and the sessor candidate under Jingan Hall.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t put you in a difficult situation before Uncle 17.¡± Qiqi¡¯s tone was so courteous that it was strange to Ji Yuanjia. Then she said, ¡°Give me the military¡¯s troop deployment writ.¡±

    The air inside the study suddenly turned heavy. It was as if the streams flowing across gradual slopes had suddenly stagnated and turned sticky. It wasn¡¯t Ji Yuanjia¡¯s imagination. Before he knew it, there were two elderly people standing beside the window and at the door. They were both maintaining the same posture where their sleeves were tucked in and their eyes were half open. They didn¡¯t look like they were looking at him, but the truth was every bit of origin power inside Ji Yuanjia¡¯s body hadpletely froze up. He wasn¡¯t able to urge them even a millimeter.

    Ji Yuanjia closed his eyes and revealed a bitter smile on his face. Qiqi¡¯s birth mother, thetedy of Jingan Hall had left behind these two people for Qiqi. Just like Auntie Lan, they obeyed no one but Qiqi.

    Two hourster, an airship rose into the air from the Yin Family¡¯s side courtyard, meeting the wind and drawing a curved orbit in the air as it flew towards the south.

    The few courtyards to the east of the side courtyard were brightly lit at this point. They were military officer residences, and among them the biggest Wind Hearing Pavilion was normally used as an office.

    Ji Yuanjia stood in front of wide meeting table and read the letter Qiqi left behind with a bowed head. The letter was in fact a hand drawn map withbels around some parts of the mountainous area near Earth Castle at the southern region of Dongling Mountain Area. The location marked with a star on the map was where the 131st Company¡¯s tracks were found.

    Qiqi did not exin to him the source of the information, nor did she say exactly what she discovered. But the way she acted meant that something must have happened to Qianye, and the fact she immediately rted the incident with Gu Liyu meant that the situation must be very serious already.

    There were shadows pacing back and forth repeatedly outside the meeting room, but since they chose not toe in Ji Yuanjia pretended that he did not see them. Someone had already noticed that Miss Qiqi had taken off suddenly on an airship without bringing a single officer with her. An uneasy atmosphere was quietly spreading to the surroundings.

    Suddenly, there was a series of rapid footsteps. A lieutenant colonel charged in, ¡°Ji Yuanjia, why have you sealed off the archives room!¡±

    Several file holders were put on top of the meeting table. The 131st Company¡¯s files were among them too. Ji Yuanjia had just sent some men to bring them over, but instead of the usual people he had dispatched the private guards Qiqi recruited instead. The way they collected the dossier was to charge straight into the archives room and lock up the officers on and off duties inside.

    Ji Yuanjia said indifferently, ¡°Good timing. Why have you not presented the 131st Company¡¯s report from eight days ago?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel walked to the table and extended a hand to grab the file holders while saying, ¡°What could there be in a regr report? Aren¡¯t those usually filed away directly?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia pressed a hand softly on the file holders, ¡°How about my private letter then? Did you file that away directly as well?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel was startled for a moment before he said, ¡°What private letter? Ji Yuanjia, I¡¯m the one who¡¯s responsible for military intelligence. On what authority are you interfering with my business? You and I share the same rank, and your surname is not Yin!¡±

    Suddenly, Ji Yuanjia let out a smile. It was true that the guy standing before him was Yin. He might be an extremely distant coteral rtive, but he was still a Yin.

    There was a loud bang. The sound spread very far away on this rather fretful night, surprising the military officers who were already disturbed in the first ce. They stared somewhat nkly at the meeting room which doors and windows had beenpletely blown away by the shockwave. A figure crashed out of the meeting room andnded straight into the courtyard. Meanwhile, countless dazzling thin threads fell like the rain from the air, sshing against the limestone ground and leaving behind many notches that looked like sword auras.

    They might both be lieutenant colonels, but the result of the sh showed that this guy couldn¡¯t even handle a hit from Ji Yuanjia!

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s voice rang from inside the room, sounding both gentle and steady, ¡°Please get some early rest, everyone. We will be departing to the camp and returning to the squad by tomorrow¡¯s daybreak.¡±

    Right now though, he was thinking about another person and a specific line of spoken words.

    ¡°I promised Yu Yingnan to protect him once no matter what kind of danger he was in.¡±

    ¡°Ji Yuanjia, you are just a Yin Family dog. How dare you raise your hand and hit me? You just wait, the Yin Family won¡¯t let you off easy!¡± the lieutenant colonel could not climb to his feet, but his expression was still as fierce as before. His gaze on Ji Yuanjia suggested that he couldn¡¯t wait to tear him to pieces.

    Ji Yuanjia collected all of the rted intel within the battle zone and put them into a single bag. He walked out of the door and arrived beside that lieutenant colonel. There was a sh of sword, and the lieutenant colonel named Yin suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream. An ear had flown into the air!

    Ji Yuanjia said indifferently, ¡°What you say counts for nothing in the Yin Family. What that person behind you says counts for nothing either.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia left hurriedly after leaving behind these words. The lieutenant colonel clutched his wound and shuddered all over as blood flowed continuously between the gaps of his finger. The fear in his heart far surpassed the pain on his physical body. He just realized that Ji Yuanjia would kill him without hesitation if he were to say even one more word.

    It was only now that he realized that the usually gentle Ji Yuanjia was a wolf when he bared his fangs.

    Thetter half of the night at Earth Castle was just as restless.

    The second wave of assault had begun. The roadblocks had burned into massive mes, and res cut through the night sky asionally to shower brief moments of light to the battlefield beneath. The sounds of gunshots weren¡¯t dense, and in fact there were more sounds of melees and bloodcurdling screams. The dark races had lost several thousands of cannon fodders, but the human soldiers and civilians had lost huge numbers as well. Therefore, the number of people thrown into this battle from both side werergely decreased, but the level of desperation was even greater than before.

    The sound of Eagleshot was as stunning as ever. It was like a sudden p of thunder in a summer day, but there was also an indescribable sense of clear resonance that spread it far, far away. There was no one among the experts of the dark races who wouldn¡¯t recognize Eagleshot¡¯s unique timbre.

    The moment Eagleshot boomed, it meant that a certain high rank soldier had copsed on the battlefield. Those who could use Eagleshot basically wouldn¡¯t miss.

    Eagleshot had rang twice in tonight¡¯s battle, and a rank six arachne and a rank six werewolf had copsed with severe injuries. Since the arachne was overly huge and could not hide itself in time, it took another three origin bullet shots and countless physical bullets. In the end, it passed away unwillingly.

    The problem now was: Would Eagleshot ring again?

    Right now, Qianye was utilizing the dim light of night to traverse amidst the ruins. His night vision was not in anyway weaker to the dark races at all, and the longsword in his hands had had been satiated with blood all this time. Two werewolves were chasing relentlessly behind him, following Qianye all the way into a small abandoned courtyard.

    There were no roads left in this ce, but Qianye had not leaped over the wall and left as they¡¯d expected. Instead, he tossed down the longsword in his hands, crouched down on a bush and picked up a sinister-looking giant double-handed axe!

    Blood sprayed into the air within the courtyard, apanied by the whines of two werewolves.

    A momentter, Qianye walked out of the courtyard while holding the giant bloodstained axe. A human-shaped arachne appeared on the opposite side of the street.

    The second the arachne saw the giant axe in Qianye¡¯s hands, its humongous body suddenly started to tremble. It actually turned around and ran away!

    There was no way it could forget that the giant axe had belonged to a famous warrior among his race. However, that arachne warrior had died in the first battle.

    An arachne who could swing a giant axe like this was very scary. A human who could swing it was even scarier!

    The arachne¡¯s movement were extremely clumsy as it tried to move its humongous body through the narrow passage. Qianye caught up from behind in the blink of an eye as the giant axe whistled downwards and cut open its nk entirely! The arachne struggled at its deathbed as it terrible screams resounded throughout the entire small town.

    Qianye roamed throughout the entire town like a lone wolf. He used whatever weapon he saw and hunted down the enemy¡¯s high ranking dark race warriors repeatedly. His body had never exited the state of blood boil, and his body was still full of blood. In order to fight continuously Qianye had cut open several werewolves¡¯ throats, sucked their blood dry and tossed the bodies casually to the side.

    The night was unusually long, and the dark races were so many that it was as if he could never kill them all. No matter which direction he went he would be met with countless enemies. Meanwhile, the number of people who were still capable of moving and fighting grew fewer and fewer.

    Suddenly, an unusually thick and strong ck furred werewolf appeared in Qianye¡¯s vision!

    Qianye retreated at top speed before turning a corner and leaping right into an empty house. He stretched a hand beneath the table and took out Eagleshot. Then, he knelt on the ground and pointed the barrel at the door. The second that rank six ck wolf appeared, Eagleshot would give it a frontal assault.

    However, the werewolf hadn¡¯t shown up in Qianye¡¯s vision. This made him very surprised.

    A tall and sturdy figure shed past the door, and Bao Zhengcheng charged into the room. The second he saw Qianye, he immediately cried out with great joy, ¡°Boss! We can¡¯t hold out for much longer. Leave quickly! Charge out from the south side. We still have a dozen or so brothers with us, and we will send you away together!¡±

    ¡°Not a chance!¡±

    ¡°If you die here, how are we suppose to exin things to Miss Qiqi?¡±

    ¡°There is nothing between the two of us!¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng said urgently, ¡°Boss! We can¡¯t all die in this ce. Someone has to go back and notify the army!¡±

    Qianye tossed an assault rifle to Bao Zhengcheng and said, ¡°The magazine¡¯s full. Hold out for just a little longer. Those ck blooded bastards are about to break too!¡±

    Bao Zhengcheng and Qianye matched eyes for a moment. Their gazes nearly caused sparks to shoot out of the space between their eyes. In the end, he realized that Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to break out of the siege, and he angrily smashed a fist against the wall until the entire thing wobbled once. Then, he turned his head and charged out of the building. Qianye put down Eagleshot once more and randomly picked up a longsword from the ground. He went out of the door.

    Meanwhile, a small, unexpected confusion was happening on the other side of the battlefield.

    Inside a courtyard, the mournful and angry wolf howls were so shrill that it nearly tore apart the air. A group of werewolves and a few vampire warriors were standing on opposing sides in battle postures. Both parties were letting threatening howls and low growls non-stop as the situation looked poised to erupt at the slightest trigger.

    There were two werewolf corpses put at the center of a courtyard. Their bodies had beenpletely sucked dry of blood.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way a member of our kind did this. There¡¯s no way!¡± The leader of the vampire warriors said loudly.

    The werewolves all roared restlessly, ¡°Who else but you would suck blood?!¡±

    The vampire warrior said arrogantly, ¡°We will never suck your filthy, dirty blood even if we were to starve to death!¡±

    This was supposedly a verymon dialogue between the two great races, but on the battlefield and especially when there were still two werewolves lying dead on the ground, the vampire warrior¡¯s words became the fuse that caused the situation to go out of control.

    A werewolf failed to restrain himself and suddenly pounced towards the leader of the vampire warriors. The vampire warrior was already at rank five, and his aged face only meant that he had an unbelievable stove of battle experience. He whipped out his longsword as quick as lightning with a cruel, sinister smile on his face, piercing the heart of the werewolf who was still his ally just a few minutes ago!

    A civil war broke out and swiftly spread across the battlefield. By the time the ck wolf arrived, both parties had left behind several corpses already.

    A Blood Esquire swung his two-handed broadsword and nearly cut the werewolf warrior before him in half in a single strike!

    The ck wolf was absolutely furious as the color of blood instantly rose to his eyes. He charged across the battlefield like a ck storm and instantly dropped the Blood Esquire to the ground, tearing and biting at him fiercely!

    When Qianye and Bao Zhengcheng roamed halfway across the town and met up once more, they discovered that the pressure they endured had lightened considerably even though the roars on the battlefield were as loud as ever. Momentster, the dark race warriors that covered nearly the entire city suddenly faded away like tide water.

 Volume 3 - 40: Reinforcements

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 40: Reinforcements

    Bao Zhengcheng practically couldn¡¯t believe his own eyes! Were they going to make it past the night just like that? He was suddenly struck with excitement. If they could pass this night, that meant that reinforcements would be nearly here!

    In the past two battles, they had managed to cause the allied forces of the dark races to suffer massive losses, especially towards their high-value warriors. Faced with such a weakened force, the expeditionary army only needed to send forth a single regiment to rout them.

    ¡°We won!¡±

    ¡°Reinforcements! The reinforcements are almost here!¡±

    Scattered cheering came from every corner of the ruins, and the remaining soldiers came out one after another, and began to congregate as well as restore themand hierarchy. This was necessary for their survival.

    Once the soldiers had fully regrouped, Qianye found that less than two hundred of them were still capable of fighting. The campmandant had long since died, and here and now among the officers, only he was of rank. Qianye hence took on the mantle ofmand. With Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s help, he regrouped the variousbat units, and arranged for their defensive positions, finally having them rest and recuperate and to wait it out.

    As time passed second by second, the gray sky began to slowly brighten, and all of the soldiers were filled with hope, anxiously awaiting the sound of gunfire from outside. As the first ray of sunlight fell upon the little town, it was already ten in the morning. But the gloom that had settled on everyone¡¯s hearts got even heavier. The entirety of the outside waspletely quiet.

    From the camp of the dark races¡¯ allied force would asionallye some misceneous noises, followed by a howling mountain wind, and it made the little town feel even colder and quieter.

    Had the humans¡¯ defensive lines really been thoroughly destroyed? Had they destroyed more than their defensive point, just thirty kilometers deeper in, there was a human gathering point, and Earth Castle housed the houses of many soldiers.

    Whereas Qianye and Bao Zhengcheng¡¯s hearts were weighed down by another heavy rock¡ªthat fake military intelligence. Just who had brought that? Were they from the 131st, or the entire defensive camp?

    In the afternoon, on the wastnd, a light jeep was currently rushing towards the station of the 60th Division. The driver was Ye Muwei, and sitting shotgun was Gu Liyu.

    Gu Liyu lowered his head to look at the sundial that was fuelled by origin power in his palm, his face impassive. He didn¡¯t say a single word, and yet, it was precisely this that caused Ye Muwei to feel even more nervous, elerating the jeep.

    In front of them, the base of the 60th Division had begun to appear on the horizon.

    After showing their IDs, the all-terrain jeep smoothly entered through the front gates. But once they entered the camp, Gu Liyu¡¯s face changed. The entire base was empty, and of the prepared materiel, the armored cars, the tanks, etc. more than half was missing. Worse still, the soldiers had seemingly vanished. This entire campground was only guarded by a single battalion.

    Gu Liyu grabbed hold of an officer that was close by, and almost roared into his ear. ¡°What is all this! Where¡¯re the forces! Where have they all gone?¡±

    That particr officer had nearly been suffocated to death, and almost reached for his gun. It was only then that Gu Liyu noticed that he had put too much force into his hands, and rapidly calmed down, stated his ID, and requested to see the highest-ranking officer that was still on base.

    An instantter, a colonel came running over to exin the whole story to Gu Liyu.

    After hearing him, Gu Liyu spoke with a far milder tone. ¡°So what you¡¯re telling me is, Miss Qiqi used her authority as someone from the Ministry of Military Affairs, and directly moved the entirety of the 60th Division?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly it, sir.¡± The colonel¡¯s face was ingratiating, and although his experience and military rank were greater than this young officer, but he didn¡¯t dare to offend anyone from the Ministry of Military Affairs. Readily filling in the details, Miss Qiqi hade in the dead of night, requested for the entirety of the 60th Division to mobilize, and to move out before noon. Among them, the high-level officers and the special forces teams followed Miss Qiqi to leave half an hour earlier.

    Gu Liyu had already fully recovered himself at this point, and only dully said, ¡°but I had already given the orders previously, to request for the 60th Division.¡± To not obey the militaryws of the Empire was a major offense for the units.

    The colonel continuedughing nervously, and seemed to be on the urge of bowing for forgiveness. ¡°But Miss Qiqi hade personally, and we werepletely unable to refuse her.¡±

    Ye Muwei at this point cut in very inappropriately. ¡°What did Miss want to move the 60th Division for?¡±

    Nobody answered.

    The colonel¡¯s head was in a muddle, but Gu Liyu knew full well that it was. At this instant, his mind turned towards another thought, saluting the former Jing Hall Madam who had passed away fifteen years, but never ever let the influence and power that she had brought out of the Song family fall into the hands of the Yin. It was still firmly concentrated within the hands of Yin Qiqi.

    The sun moved through the sky, and then, as it went behind the edge of an overhead continent, the sky began to gradually darken. As it dimmed, other than just the survivors within the fort, it also cast a shade over the mood of themander of the allied forces.

    Baron Mike was impatiently pacing back and forth in ce, and his overflowing anger had no outlets. This whole day, he had not even stopped for even an hour. Although the mutiny had been suppressed for now, the dark clouds were almost going to squeeze the allied forces¡¯ base until it popped, and nobody could say if the next moment was going to explode into even more chaos.

    In the middle of the tent, were several werewolf bodies, and one look would tell anyone that they had been drainedpletely of blood. All of the werewolves were staring daggers at the baron. That ck-haired werewolf was even more irate, and he even growled in a low tone.

    The ck-haired werewolf¡¯s body was covered in wounds, most of them caused by vampire longswords. In the brawl, he alone had suppressed two Blood Esquires, and had almost taken the life of one of them.

    Baron Mike¡¯s head hurt, but he knew what he had to say. ¡°I trust that this was definitely not the work of my warriors! Because we would never¡ª¡±

    He instinctively and habitually almost blurted it, that the high and mighty noble vampires would never suck the blood of the dirty werewolves, but as the words reached his mouth, he immediately and alertly swallowed his words. If he had said them, then these violent werewolves would definitely directly pounce him, regardless of how much the difference in power was between the two parties, or they would not have taken this much time to pacify the entirety of the allied forces.

    No matter how much Baron Mike hated the werewolves, he still couldn¡¯t go overboard. Not only because they were still fighting against the humans, but even more because further along this path, the werewolves and the vampires both had a Champion rank expert each in charge. Worse still, the werewolves¡¯ overall strength was a shade higher.

    As he thought about it, Baron Mike gradually regted his tone. ¡°I will definitely get to the bottom of this! But first, we need to take Earth Castle.¡±

    ¡°Investigate? Sure, but the time?¡± The werewolves refused to let the matter go.

    Baron Mike forcibly held in his anger. ¡°Once the battle ends I¡¯ll immediately look into it, and will return you a satisfactory reply within a month.¡±

    The werewolves looked at one another, and then slowly nodded.

    Baron Mike ordered his men to carry away the bodies of the werewolves, and then, spreading the map, began to plot their next assault.

    At this point, amotion came from outside the tent.

    The baron furrowed his eyebrows as he yelled angrily. ¡°What are you all thering about!?¡±

    His angry roar was infused with origin power, and the sound of his voice swept the camp, causing some of the weaker warriors to be shocked dizzy. The baron was already iparably frustrated, and directly demonstrated his power, showing off in front of the werewolves.

    But from outside the tent came an icily silky voice. ¡°Oh lord baron, is this the way you wee us?¡±

    When he heard the voice, Mike suddenly chilled, and he cried out involuntarily. ¡°Surrey!¡±

    A tall, thin, middle-aged man walked into the tent, and he gave a small smile. ¡°My dear Mike, it¡¯s nice to see that you still remember my voice.¡±

    His face was pale white, with a meticulously-cut little moustache, and eyes the color of fresh blood, it was clear that he had already moved against someone before he stepped into the tent.

    Mike¡¯s pale face turned a little green as he stared Surrey dead in the face. ¡°Lord viscount, I recall that you were assigned to a different area¡­?¡±

    Surrey¡¯s smile didn¡¯t budge. ¡°I hear that your progress here had been very unsessful and you lost quite a number of high level warriors, so I came to see if there was anything I could help with!¡±

    ¡°I am enough to handle it! I¡¯ll not have lord viscount trouble over me!¡± Mike immediately rejected him.

    Surrey stroked his mustache. ¡°Why are you in such a hurry to refuse? Actually, I¡¯m not here of my own ord, but merely as the herald for the princess.¡±

    Mike¡¯s heart immediately began to pound, as he hurriedly asked, ¡°Princess? Which princess?¡±

    Among the vampires, ¡°princess¡± held a special meaning. Only those who were directly rted to the grand princes who were appointed as his sessors, or those who had awakened the progenitor¡¯s blood within them, could be termed princes or princesses.

    Surrey smiled but didn¡¯t answer, instead choosing to listen to what was going on outside. He walked toward the tent entrance, fixed his expression, and then bowed deeply, presenting a very respectful wee.

    Mike¡¯s eyelids jumped. Someone who could cause Surrey to ingratiate himself thus far, must definitely not be offended. As the highest-inmand here, if he didn¡¯t wee her, then he would be the next to get punished. Mike couldn¡¯t even be bothered to curse at Surrey who had wasted his time, and immediately rushed out of the tent as he watched a team of vampires walk into the campgrounds.

    This team of vampires were all extraordinarily beautiful, wearing dark red-hemmed cloaks and uniforms of deep ck that all sported a single blood colored Datura flower.

    Looking over, Mike knew that this team of vampires¡¯ strength was extraordinary, and the average member was a Knight level, and besides Surrey, there were even another two Champions!

    But what shocked Mike wasn¡¯t that they had great strength, but rather, that Datura flower symbol. That represented an ancient family, and an extraordinary surname, as well as an iparable strength and influence within the dark world.

    That was the symbol of the Monroes, and besides the current Grand Prince Fred Monroe, it was said that another two ancient grand princes slept within their family vaults.

    This team¡¯s movements were deceptively slow, and in an instant, they were before Mike. Not even paying attention to Mike, they lightly walked into the military tent. A young girl walked out from among the group, and directly sat on where Mike originally sat.

    Mike rushed into the tent, both in shock and fear, as he sneakily took a look at the girl who was sitting there peacefully. Even among the standards of the vampires, she was perfect aside from those ck eyes and ck hair which rarely appeared on a vampire.

    Seeing such unique characteristics, as well as that faintly golden Datura flower, Mike immediately thought of one person, and hurriedly rushed forward to pay his respects. ¡°Princess Nighteye, why has your honored selfe here?¡±

    Nighteye spoke lightly. ¡°I heard that the situation here wasn¡¯t too good, so I came to take a look.¡±

    Mike was stunned. ¡°The capture of Earth Castle is indeed a little slow, but one more final attack should be enough. There¡¯s just been a little ident.¡±

    Nighteye suddenly pointed towards the werewolves who were inside the tent. ¡°You, get out!¡±

    The werewolves were stunned, but instantly turned to anger, as they growled. ¡°Or what?¡±

    Nighteye turned to face them directly, as she singled out a single werewolf from among them, and two images began to twist and distort as if being reflected in a rippling pond.

    Two werewolves inside the tent suddenly let out long wails, as their body began to emit a dense cacophony of bone-breaking noises. Their bodies had involuntarily turned into wolves, but their bodies were evidently being twisted and changed out of shape, as they tumbled to the ground heavily, unable to get up.

    Nighteye then turned slowly towards the other two werewolves. They were shocked out of their skin, and ran straight out of the tent, not even caring for the corpses of theirpanions.

    With a light wave of her hand, Nighteye¡¯s two Monroe guards threw the two wolf corpses outside of the tent.

    Only when there were no werewolves within fifty paces of the tent, did Nighteye¡¯s mood finally improve.

    Surrey took this time to step forward as he spoke to Mike. ¡°Her Highness¡¯ trip here, is not merely for the sake of something as insignificant as Earth Castle. We will be staying here a night, to help you block off one wave of attacks from the humans.¡±

    ¡°An attack? Which unit? The 55th Division should still be fighting, no? And the 58th is a long way away from here,¡± Mike asked in a panic. Unless this time the humans still wanted to engage in an air battle, or they couldn¡¯t be thinking of using the airships for transport.

    ¡°It¡¯s the 60th Division.¡±

    Mike was instantly bowled over. He didn¡¯t know why the 60th Division would suddenly leave their defense area and move toward here, but the words of Her Highness were never wrong, or why would she even bother wasting her timeing to the sticks?

    Although the expeditionary forces¡¯bat strength was a mixed bad, thebat strength of the forces that were stationed on the border weren¡¯t weak either. Even if Mike wasn¡¯t harmed, an entire division from the expeditionary force could singlehandedly swallow the entirety of his men.

    On the wastnd, an innumerable amount of transport vehicles was carrying the men of the 60th Division, driving towards Earth Castle. At the front of this convoy was a single convoy made of light jeeps that had long since left the rest of the convoy behind.

    The light jeeps were filled with only rank two or higher Fighters and almost the entirety of the highermand of the 60th Division. The engines of the convoy roared, and their headlights lit up the ce into the color of snow, and it looked iparably arrogant and savage against the dim twilight of the evening, as if they were protesting against the darkness.

    In the middle vehicle, Qiqi was busy yawning, staring at the outside in boredom.

    At this point, the convoy suddenly stopped. Qiqi furrowed her eyebrows. ¡°Why have we suddenly stopped?¡±

    ¡°Miss, I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t go any further, you¡¯d beste take a look.¡±

 Volume 3 - 41: Close Combat

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 41: Close Combat

    Qiqi jumped off the jeep and walked to the front of the convoy. Peering with the borrowed snowy bright light of themp, she could see nine silhouettes further ahead in the wastnd, lined up in a neat row, blocking the advance of the entirety of the convoy.

    They were all wearing the traditional pitch-ck of the vampires, wearing their high cors and pale, beautiful faces, that set off their dignity and charm. Each of them also had a blood colored Datura flower that almost stabbed into the eyes of all of the 60th Division¡¯smanders, and it suddenly seemed as if the entirety of the wastnd was incredibly dangerous.

    The roaring winds swept across the wastnd with a howl, and the short hair of the youngdy in the line fluttered. She had ck hair and eyes, rarely seen amongst the vampires¡ªbut from where she stood, she was the most respected among the nine, and on her cor, was a pale gold Datura flower.

    There were only nine vampires standing there in a row on the ins, but their oppressive aura was a mountain that suffocated anyone who looked at them! They were facing the entirety of the 60th Division¡¯s elite, nearly four hundred Fighter ranked soldiers, as well as two Champion ranked experts. But just by standing there, those vampires caused the 60th Division¡¯s soldiers to all feel fear.

    A burly veteran walked to beside Qiqi, and spoke in a low voice. ¡°Miss, that¡¯s the Golden Datura!¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    The veteran¡¯s face was a little bitter as he exined. ¡°The Golden Datura is a sign that can only be worn by those who are direct blood rtions of Grand Prince Monroe or those who are of sufficient status. That is to say, not even considering if we could win this battle, but if we were to kill her, from now on we¡¯d have to face a vampire grand prince¡¯s unending vengeance!¡±

    Qiqi nodded as if it was nothing. ¡°And so?¡±

    The veteran was lost for words with which to continue. He evidently couldn¡¯t say that this kind of enemy was far beyond their little expeditionary army to handle. He carefully ventured. ¡°Miss, should we reschedule the move?¡±

    Qiqi stared pointedly towards the girl that they faced, and their gazes were like daggers, having crossed swords god-knows-how-many times in the air between them. Qiqi didn¡¯t even turn back to reply. ¡°Why, is the 60th Division trying to escape without fighting?¡±

    This burly veteran was the 60th Division¡¯s brigadier general, and he¡¯d already figured out that the opposing vampires were here to just block their way, and they weren¡¯t really looking for a fight either. Under these circumstances, the best course of action was indeed to retreat, and then rapidly report the presence of a high-ranking member of the Monroe n, and let the Ministry of Military Affairs take over. If they were to fight, even before considering victory or defeat, if the scion of the Yin n were to get injured or get into an incident, the consequences might well be several hundred times greater than just losing.

    But it looked as if Miss Qiqi wasn¡¯t going to take that exnation. The brigadier general¡¯s face became even more exasperated as he spoke quietly. ¡°It¡¯s not that we¡¯re running without a fight, but just that picking another time would be better. We¡¯re not prepared.¡±

    ¡°You can retreat now, but you won¡¯t need to worry about the vengeance of the vampire grand prince. You can just worry about the vengeance of our Yin n.¡±

    Although Qiqi spoke in a carefree tone, the old man¡¯s face had a bitter smile. No matter how deep the enmity with the dark races, they could solve them on the battlefield, whereas offending the Yin n, could result in theplete destruction of one¡¯s family.

    The 60th Division¡¯s elite all dismounted from their vehicles. Forming themselves into a battle formation behind the divisionmander, they confronted the Monroe vampires.

    It was only at this point, that the statuesque vampires began to move. Among them, Nighteye raised her hand, and Surrey who was on her right stepped forward, speaking with a silky-smooth feminine voice, ¡°Return now, and we¡¯ll spare your lives today.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t particrly loud, but across the hundred-meter distance, everyone heard him clearly.

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes crept upwards slightly, and while this would usually bring out a certain amount of coy charm, but now, it had the severity of an arrow being nocked onto a bow.

    Nighteye¡¯s eyebrows twitched slightly upwards, and her unfocused-looking eyes suddenly became clear, and reflected the image of Qiqi!

    Qiqi suddenly felt a pair of giant invisible hands grasping her, and an enormous force that felt as if it was going to grind all of her bones to dust! A boom sounded around her, and with a surge of sea blue and milky-white light, as if the sky itself hadnded onto the ground, her suffocated face, flushed with red, gently loosened.

    Nighteye¡¯s beautiful face very slightly revealed a cold smile, and the dim light swimming in her ck eyes became even deeper. Surrey and the other vampire that was nearest to her had terrified expressions on their faces as they each backed a few steps away, instinctively bending over. If it weren¡¯t for the atmosphere and where they were, they looked as if they were bowing deeply to her.

    At this point, the waves of light around Qiqi became incredibly messy, as if it would copse at any moment!

    An old man with long, droopy eyebrows that followed the curvature of his eyes suddenly stepped forward, reaching out his hand as he chopped the air in front of her! With a bang, the old man¡¯s hand suddenly ignited with a ferocious inferno, and it was only with this that the invisible power that was strangling Qiqi broke.

    The old man looked at Nighteye, his gaze sharp as daggers. But Nighteye was still as calm as still water, without a single hint of the effects of having her power rebound on her, as what he expected. The old man¡¯s expression immediately turned grim, and after taking a deep look at Nighteye, he returned to Qiqi¡¯s side.

    Qiqi violently coughed, and pointing a finger towards Nighteye, she called out. ¡°BOMB HER!¡±

    Several siege engine cars raised their mortars, and with a loud boom, the massive shells drew a parab in the air, urately smashing towards Nighteye in the center.

    The vampires on Nighteye¡¯s left and right all grunted with exertion. With raised hands, they gripped the air and all of the mortar rounds stopped in midair, before blowing themselves up!

    Nighteye finally opened her mouth for a single sentence. ¡°Kill them.¡±

    The eight Monroe vampires all had different expressions; some with worry, some with manic delight, some with bloodlust, and some with insanity. They suddenly moved, and with streaks of afterimages after them, they crossed the hundred-odd meter distance in an instant, and rushed directly into the midst of the formations of the 60th Division, causing blood to spurt up into the sky!

    The two Champions of the 60th Division blocked Viscount Surrey, while two of the old men behind Qiqi suddenly exploded forth with an astounding strength, blocking the other, older Viscount.

    But Nighteye turned around and left, disappearing into the wastnd in the blink of an eye.

    Qiqi¡¯s side had four Champions, and she had only brought two, but Nighteye seemed to bepletely unworried about the way the battle was going.

    In Earth Castle, a new battle was about to begin.

    The battle was going horrifically, and several fortunate men from the expeditionary army were already spent arrows; their origin powers had been depleted, their physical strength sapped to nothing, but they still charged in howling, fighting against the dark warriors who were far beyond them in strength in this bloody battle. asionally, one would hear the dull boom of an explosion, and that was the sound of the expeditionary army blowing themselves up with the hand grenades, taking their enemies with them unto death!

    Qianye was still burrowing through the trash heap like a ghost, and a rank five vampire warrior suddenly appeared in front of him. The vampire saw Qianye, and upon seeing the Twin Flowers in his hand, his eyes went blood red, and he roared in fury. ¡°So the one that dared to challenge Marquis Ross was you!¡±

    ¡°And so?¡± Qianye smiled coldly. The Twin Flower emitted a unique chord that bloomed in the heart of the vampire warrior.

    The vampire warrior had already aimed his gun at Qianye, but his movements were too slow. He hadn¡¯t charged up the gun enough to trigger it and never got a chance after that.

    Outside of Earth Castle, Baron Mike was in a panic, pacing back and forth in the tent.

    All of the vampire warriors were all holding themselves in a dead silence, not a single one daring to make a sound. One of the poor saps had identally angered the baron, bing the target of his ire and got all of his blood instantly sucked dry. But instead of calming down, the baron had be even more panicked after that.

    The baron was still waiting for the sound of the Eagleshot. When the gunfire started, it meant that a high level warrior was now a corpse. But now that the Eagleshot was silent, it gave him even more pressure. Who knew when the Eagleshot would suddenly boom, and who it would be aimed at.

    The baron himself wasn¡¯t that afraid of the Eagleshot, and taking a shot wouldn¡¯t kill him, but once he thought of it shooting the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism, Mike¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but pale.

    Her Highness Nighteye had already left along with her bodyguards to block off the 60th Division. Just before she¡¯d left, her orders were to quickly take Earth Castle, and then to regroup, so as to prevent the human special forces teams from engaging in guerri warfare here in the Dongling Mountain Area.

    But now, the battle inside Earth Castle still hadn¡¯t subsided! The baron just couldn¡¯t understand how this could be. With that little garrison, with so little battle power, how could the battle have dragged on up till now? These humans, their vitality was stubborn to the point of being a werewolf, and their resilience was as terrible as that of the arachne! Even now, they still hadn¡¯t taken a single prisoner of war.

    This tiny little Earth Castle defence point had already caused the baron to invest a full two-thirds of his forces. This was an unimaginable loss for him! He could already imagine that even if he could take Earth Castle, what awaited him would only be shouting and punishment.

    And there was that person! It was definitely because of that person! That arrogant human!

    The blood roaring inside of him made Mike really tempted to rush into Earth Castle himself, but a strange premonition of danger kept him at bay. Mike had the nagging feeling that there was an expert nearby that was just waiting for the opportunity to kill him. This was the innate talent of his n, and it had saved his life numerous times. Hence, the baron held a deep trust towards his instincts.

    Even for him, he absolutely wanted to avoid taking a hit from the Eagleshot at close range.

    Suddenly, from outside the tent came Nighteye¡¯s voice. ¡°Your current expression, is rather unsuited to that of being a baron.¡±

    Mike panicked. ¡°Your Highness! You¡¯ve returned?¡±

    Nighteye walked into the tent withrge strides, and sat herself down on the baron¡¯svish high-backed chair. Several vampires followed her into the tent, all of them emanating strong dark origin power. These vampires were all wearing a castle insignia on their chests, and even though they weren¡¯t movers and shakers of the dark world unlike the Datura flower, they were a big name as well.

    That was the insignia of Marquis Ross, and around the insignia was a red band, signifying that they were his direct descendants.

    Nighteye quietly contemted Mike, and in her eyes his image was already being reflected. The baron didn¡¯t dare at all to even lift his head as he shivered.

    It was a long time before Nighteye spoke up mildly. ¡°It was only after the marquis¡¯ descendants found me, that I knew that not only had the human hunters killed one of his descendants, and snatched away the marquis¡¯ famous Twin Flower, but that that hunter had then used the Twin Flowers in battle. Do you know what that means?¡±

    Mike shivered even more violently, and he spoke quaveringly. ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Is this human in Earth Castle?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you not say this earlier?¡±

    ¡°I, too, only knew of it just now.¡±

    In Nighteyes¡¯ eyes, the silhouette of the baron gradually vanished, and her icy-cold killing intent gradually receded. Mike nearly copsed there on the floor, and if he could, he would long have imitated the other vampire warriors around him and crept away on his knees.

    She spoke cidly. ¡°On ount of your many years of merit, I¡¯ll let it go this time. I will personally see to this. Capture that arrogant human, and see how capable he is, to be using Ross¡¯ Twin Flowers to battle.¡±

    Nighteye stood and left the tent with Marquis Ross¡¯ descendants behind her. They gradually elerated, and in an instant, they had sped past the battlefield, entering Earth Castle.

    Qianye was currently pulling out his longsword from the body of a vampire warrior. He suddenly stopped himself, and gazed in a particr direction. A series of palpitations that he had never experienced suddenly wrapped his body!

    Qianye dropped his sword. Pulling out the Twin Flowers, he started up the Combatant Form with unprecedented speed, not even sparing a thought for his internal organs that were being deeply savaged by the overwhelming origin power as it rushed past, causing deep injuries. The inscriptions on Twin Flower began to light, and in an instant, it was as if two very different flowers had blossomed in the air.

    Qianye aimed his gun towards a space that was seemingly empty and then slowly retreated.

    Just at this moment, a silhouette seemingly shrouded in ck fire walked into the street!

 Volume 3 - 42: The Escape

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 42: The Escape

    In that instant, Qianye suddenly felt an uncountable amount of little lightning shes. The world lost its color as an infinite darkness swallowed everything. In this world, Qianye could only see that fiery ck blurry silhouette, as well as a pair of fathomless eyes!

    Qianye saw himself in those eyes!

    He suddenly felt as if his body wasn¡¯t under his control. Every bone, every muscle, and even every blood vessel was seemingly being controlled by an invisible forcefield, twisting, tearing, disintegrating. That feeling of imminent death had never felt this real.

    He couldn¡¯t hear anything, and he couldn¡¯t say anything. The previously boiling blood energy suddenly quieted and stopped moving, as if he were dead. Even the golden blood energy could only offer a weak resistance as it was unable to even move out of its own rune.

    But Qianye didn¡¯t give up, and with the relentless determination he¡¯d forged over his ten years of hard training, he forced his fingers down, trying to operate the trigger. He could feel his own finger moving, but it was extremely slow, and it was unknown how long it would be before he could cause the Twin Flowers to fire.

    At this instant, Nighteye was standing in the middle of the street. Several high level Ross nsmen were waiting on her. They, who were high and mighty, all lowered their heads in respect and servility beside Nighteye.

    On the road over, they had left ten-odd corpses, some of the expeditionary army, some of the dark races. All of the corpses were twisted beyond recognition, as if they had been mashed in the hands of a giant. They had all been mysteriously murdered by a flick of Nighteye¡¯s eyes as they blocked her way for some reason or another.

    This mysterious and powerful force had already caused all of the Ross nsmen to bend their knees in servitude to her. In front of an iparable pureblood, status had already lost much of its meaning.

    Nighteye¡¯s eyes were filled with a lifelike image of Qianye¡¯s silhouette. Regardless of the char of battle on his face, or the grime of smoke and blood on his face, and even though his structure was different from that time, but Nighteye could see past the falsehoods. Her eyes which could see through the illusions instantly recognized him.

    ¡°It¡¯s him?¡±

    The memories began to jump into her mind one after the other, and it was clear, as if they had just happened. Nighteye suddenly realized that she could remember every little detail, and she was once again sitting on the floor tiles of the Red Spider Lily, her tongue still rolling with the taste of fresh blood.

    ¡°A blood thrall is not entirely without hope¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to fight along with youter¡­¡±

    ¡°The Neos¡­ perhaps you¡¯ll have a chance receive the Embrace¡­.¡±

    ¡°the chances are that we¡¯ll have less opportunities to meet on the battlefield¡­¡±

    In those ck eyes that were so deep that they could seemingly swallow the world, the image of Qianye suddenly shattered, and then faded away.

    Qianye could feel the sudden pressure on his body releasing, and without a single hesitation, he pulled the trigger through. His entire person was lifted off his feet, and like a sh of lightning, he flew backwards!

    The Twin Flowers boomed out at the same time, and the previously-frozen demon flower split in two, its unique gunshot sound like a flower spitting breaking the suffocating silence of the night.

    When she saw the light shining from the barrel of the gun, Nighteye finally remembered the other line of what Qianye had said: ¡°If we ever have the chance to meet on the battlefield, I will personally kill you!¡±

    She only had a little hesitation, and her breastte had already been smashed to smithereens by the origin power. The raging origin power tore into her flesh as two enormous flowers of blood bloomed in the air.

    Nighteye was thrown back like a falling leaf, helplessly tossed about in the air. For some reason, her heart was a nk white. She had even forgotten to move her blood energy to protect herself.

    Qianye fell to the ground and he raised his head, finally seeing clearly Nighteye who was being thrown backwards, the two flowers of blood drawing his attention like no other.

    ¡°It¡¯s her?!¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s appearance was practically unchanged, and even by the strict standards of the vampires¡¯ aesthetic sense, she was nearly perfect.

    Qianyepletely didn¡¯t expect to meet her here, much less be shot directly in the chest by the twin shots that he hadunched! With that terrifying power that she had just demonstrated, even if she wasn¡¯t a Champion, she was well on the verge of being one. If that was the case, forget even dodging the ¡°Twin Flowers¡±, even if she¡¯d forcefully blocked it, she¡¯d have been fine.

    But why had she not dodged, nor had she even blocked!?

    ¡°Your Highness!¡±

    The Ross n vampires were thrown into a panic, and arge number of them rushed towards Nighteye, while the rest came pouncing for Qianye.

    Qianye instinctively turned to flee.

    This one shot had drained him of all his strength, and the well of his origin power had already dried up, facing those vampire nobles who were at least at the strength of Esquires, he was surely doomed, and worse still, Qianye absolutely refused to let himself be captured alive by the dark races.

    The vampires behind him moved like the bitter wind, their speed not an iota below Qianye¡¯s. Hepletely didn¡¯t dare to even turn, and could only rush onwards at full speed, in an instant running out of the Earth Castle, diagonally running towards the mountains.

    Behind Qianye, ten-odd vampire nobles formed themselves into a line formation, dogging him. The two sides were gradually drawing closer inch by tiny inch, and at this rate, Qianye would be caught before he reached the hills.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare to look back, much less retaliate, and only focused entirely on running for the hills. These vampires werepletely different from any that he had met previously, and they were the elite of the elite, and even if he himself had some of the vampires¡¯ characteristics, their differences in constitution were clear.

    At this time, the earth suddenly began to quake gently. As if the whole mountain region was recovering its life, its hibernating heart slowly beginning to pulse again.

    From the shadow of the rightmost of the rugged peaks, a giant wolf emerged. It had snow white fur, and a gold mane around its neck gave it an extreme majesty. The giant wolf stood at the summit, and suddenly arced its head up, howling out with a noise that carried right through the clouds!

    The curtains of night were beginning to droop down, and it was the night that the Gemini stars were the closest. The giant, pale moon upied half of the sky.

    With this iparably severe roar, the moon actually began to pulse in harmony with the earth. The soft moonlight beginning to congeal, dding the giant wolf. Whereupon the snow-white fur of the wolf began to glow under the light of the moon, scattering a dim glow upon the surroundings, its golden mane glittering like the sun!

    The faces of the vampire nobles who had been urgently chasing Qianye all soured, and they all stopped, forming a tight battle formation, giving death res to the giant wolf on the summit.

    After the giant wolf had finished howling, he finally seemed to notice that there were intruders, and raising his hackles, a golden sunray shot out, cutting through the dimness of the night. Its gray-blue eyes had already been focused on the vampires downhill.

    These Ross n vampires hade in high and mighty, but now it was as if they were being faced by their natural predator, not even daring to try to escape. Their tight formation wasn¡¯t in preparation of ughter, but was for the sake of defense, and even then, they were only barely holding on under the oppressive might that the wolf had projected at them. Those gray-blue eyes were unbearably heavy in their focus, and it felt as if the entire mountain range was expressing its displeasure.

    The giant wolf stared them down, and almost as if it had lost interest, it turned to leave. The moonlight cascaded like a waterfall, and seemingly forming anding in front of the wolf, the wolf walked onto it, and just like that, it walked away into the skies, leaving no mark of its presence.

    It was only after the giant wolf had left for a long while, that the Ross n vampires were able to let out a sigh of relief. All of them were heaving with exertion, and they were all extremely sluggish, as if they had just participated in arge battle. They looked toward the distance, and that human had long since disappeared into the mountain range, impossible to trace.

    The baron that headed the troupe had an extremely ugly expression. He hesitated for a long while. ¡°Let¡¯s return!¡±

    The ten-odd vampire nobles followed behind him and were suddenly gone.

    In Mike¡¯s tent, Nighteye was sitting in the high-backed chair, her eyes staring pointedly at a seam on the tent room, seemingly deep in thought. She changed her clothes, and her face was pallid, but other than that, she was seemingly unharmed.

    Mike stood at one side, hesitating to speak. He hade in to make a report, but seeing Nighteye deep in her own thoughts, he didn¡¯t care to interrupt her.

    At this point, the Ross n vampire nobles walked in, and the head baron amongst them bowed deeply, paying his respects to Nighteye. ¡°Your Highness, we are ipetent, and we failed to chase down that human.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s eyes stirred a little, as she asked mildly. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°There was an incident on the road.¡± The baron exined the situation of meeting with the giant wolf.

    Nighteye furrowed her eyebrows, speaking lightly. ¡°Isn¡¯t that William? What¡¯s he doing, appearing here?¡±

    She turned to look at Mike. ¡°What¡¯s the situation with Earth Castle? Are there still humans alive?¡±

    ¡°There are at most only a few tens of little worms still hiding inside, but to flush them all out will take a little more time.¡± Mike hade to report this. The battle for Earth Castle was more or less over but they had to remove all traces of humans and send out search parties to scour the trash heaps.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to spend that time. Regroup your troops, encircle the ce, and stop them escaping,¡± Nighteye continued, ¡°We¡¯ll wait for the human reinforcements to arrive.¡±

    Baron Mike was falling over himself to agree. He too felt that this idea wasn¡¯t too bad. Having a few humans as bait would be far more effective than just the trash heap it was. From a geographical perspective, if they couldn¡¯t take all of the battlefield within a hundred kilometers of this ce, then holding this defense point was meaningless, and the humans would eventually take it back.

    Qianye continued to scamper along his route, and after running for a long. unknown period of time, the origin power in his body suddenly stopped, and he copsed to the ground, only able to pant heavily.

    After waiting a while, and seeing no vampires appear, Qianye finally confirmed that he had managed to shake off pursuit. But as to why those vampires had given up the goose, he couldn¡¯t understand at all. He only remembered that there was a giant wolf that had suddenly appeared on top of the rugged mountain on his right, and then those vampire nobles had just stopped.

    Qianye had instinctively seized the opportunity to flee with all his might, and hepletely didn¡¯t bother thinking about whether the threat in front was more terrifying than the vampire nobles behind him. The lucky thing was that that strange giant wolf had seemingly rushed toward the vampires and not blocked him at all.

    After a while, Qianye managed to recover a little of his bodily strength with great difficulty, and it was then that he managed to slowly inch his way upright. Looking at the time, he gave up on returning to Earth Castle. With that many vampire nobles appearing, Earth Castle¡¯s troops were definitely going to be unable to hold on. He feared that the battle had long since ended, and that if he went back he would only be throwing himself into their hands.

    At this time, a wild boar dashed out of the woods, and seeing Qianye, its eyes went red, and viciously rushed towards him. No matter how weak he¡¯d gotten, there was no way that Qianye would be unable to deal with one ordinary wild boar. With a few strokes, he had toppled the boar, cut its tendons, and was drinking its warm blood in huge gulps.

    As the blood entered his stomach, it slightly agitated his blood boil state. The blood of a wild beast didn¡¯t contain much origin power so the recovery speed was not as high nor as violent as that of a werewolf or a vampire expert¡¯s blood, but it was significantly quicker than waiting for his own endurance to return.

    Qianye took stock of the equipment on him, and realized that other than the Twin Flowers and a single vampire longsword, all of the other items he¡¯d had were all back at the Earth Castle.

    He leaned on arge tree to rest, quietly waiting for his body to recover. But the moment he closed his eyes, the images of hisrades in the 131st would float in front of him, as he relived their final moments. Although they were undisciplinable, as long as they were on the battlefield, they were all true iron-blooded warriors who daringly rushed into the enemy¡¯s formations with their own bodies, using grenades to take the enemy with them even in their dying breath!

    But this entire battle had been more than just that. Although considering the dark races¡¯ forces that had emergedter from Earth Castle, they had, by circumstance, stopped one of the assault waves of forces that would have prated the borders, and this sacrifice could well be said to have its own value.

    And so, if they hadn¡¯t had Qianye¡¯s amazing ability for guerri warfare and extreme sniping skills, the 131st might well have all died in the mountainous regions. Even if they had failed, they had failed mysteriously. A military movement of such a scale from the dark races, that had even contained so much cannon fodder, could definitely not have left practically no traces of their movements, and it was impossible that the division level intelligence wouldn¡¯t have noticed this.

    To die in battle was not scary. After all, which soldier of the Empire hadn¡¯t already made preparations every time they stepped onto a battlefield? But Qianye couldn¡¯t ept that this was how hisrades had died. For some reason, he thought more and more frequently of the Red Scorpions¡¯st mission brief.

    Qianye gently opened his eyes. Feeling the blood energy and origin power that was well and alive in his body, he slowly stood up. He didn¡¯t know that a pair of gray-blue eyes were watching him as he left the mountain area.

    ¡°Using old Ross¡¯ Twin Flowers to hurt the princess of the Monroe n, this is simply too interesting. My dear friend, you must definitely live on a while longer, this will make life¡­ far more interesting!¡±

 Volume 3 - 43: Destroying the Evidence

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 43: Destroying the Evidence

    Two dayster, Qianye appeared at the headquarters of the 131st Company.

    The gates were surprisingly without guards. Qianye furrowed his eyebrows and then saw the hurrying and busied soldiers of the expeditionary army on the drill grounds.

    ¡°Officer Qian!¡± The person running towards him was the second lieutenant in charge of guarding the camp, and besides seeing the shock and happiness on his face, what showed even more was his surprise.

    ¡°Who¡¯re they?¡± Qianye nodded to him, and without asking much of the lieutenant, he pointed towards the expeditionary army.

    ¡°They are the military police of the third army of the expeditionary army. They say that the war is over, and that they¡¯vee to tally our records.¡± The lieutenant¡¯s face was filled withplex emotions and looked pained, clearly itching to speak out further.

    The area covered by the Third Expeditionary Army included Xichang City, and the seventeen battalions that Qiqi had brought with her were all under the banner of the 58th Division of the Third Army.

    The battle had ended? Tallying the score? Uncountable numbers of thoughts were swirling in Qianye¡¯s heart, and he didn¡¯t move at all, standing stock still. ¡°Tell me what exactly happened, from the top.¡±

    It turned out that after Qianye and Bao Zhengcheng had led them out, the headquarters had been quiet. After reporting the movements of thepany, new instructions hadn¡¯te from Miss Qiqi¡¯s end.

    The lieutenant had first felt that something was off five days after the troop had left. Since the entirety of Zhongying Town had been ced on its highest alert, the other mechanizedpanies had all packed their camps and left, not even leaving a defensive force behind, clearly the sign that someone in higher HQ had moved them. He had sent out a report, but the reply told him to hold his position, and await orders.

    Passing several days like this, the lieutenant finally managed to inquire into the state of the battle from the guards of Zhongying Town, and he almost copsed at the news. The 55th and 58th Companies had actually fought in the Dongling Mountain Area! Wasn¡¯t that exactly where the 131st Company had gone to conduct their mission!? He immediately sent men to rush over to the Yin n¡¯s home overnight, and it turned out that even before the dispatched courier had made it back, the 3rd Army¡¯s military police had made it there first.

    At this point, the lieutenant had an expression of both pain and despair. ¡°They said that in battle, the 131st Company, had set up forward camp and won a huge victory, and already umted enough merit to enter the files. But what¡¯s this, those guy are practically treating us like criminals!¡±

    Qianye quietly listened to him, and when the lieutenant mentioned the words ¡°victory¡± and ¡°forward camp¡±, his face darkened, and his downturned eyes shed with a hint of killing intent.

    The lieutenant only knew that much.

    When the military police arrived, the soldiers of the 131st who had been left to defend the ce had been continually monitored by them, and they couldn¡¯t even leave through the front gates of the camp, and the Yin n¡¯s courtyards were alsopletely quiet. But the lieutenant was of a good background, and was a close friend of one of the lesser families. Hence, those that tailed him around were not only rather polite, but also privately revealed to him the victory that they¡¯d won, coaxing him to bear with it temporarily.

    As Qianye listened, he pointed out the discrepancy. ¡°Since the military police hade to assess the results, what do we need to bear with?¡± Looking over, there was indeed a one of the expeditionary army¡¯s staff officers and some of their line officers staring at them like hawks.

    The lieutenant¡¯s face turned grim as he spoke, his voice brimming with discontent. ¡°Those buggers seem to have taken the wrong medicine, they¡¯re practically insane! One whole squadron rushing in like that, separating us all, interrogating us for a day and a night.¡± Evidently, this round of interrogations had made them incredibly dissatisfied.

    It was at this point that Qianye realized where that particr bruise, that hadn¡¯t healed, on the lieutenant¡¯s chin, hade from. Smiling coldly in his heart, he knew that they weren¡¯t insane, and as the lieutenant was one of Pu Yangshen¡¯s nsmen, they didn¡¯t dare to let him die.

    ¡°Our brothers are still inside being questioned?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Some of them have been in there for nearly twenty four hours now.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    He started to stride towards the barracks. The few expeditionary army officers on the drill grounds looked at each other, and didn¡¯t dare to approach.

    In front of the barracks was a group of the expeditionary army¡¯s soldiers, idly chatting, and asionallyughing.

    In front of them, the doors to the barracks had been barred from the outside, and from the window one could see that in every room there was one of the warriors of the 131st Company, their arms shackled by origin power handcuffs. One of them was actually tied to a chair, his face swollen.

    Qianye immediately walked out in front of this crowd of Expeditionary Army soldiers, spitting out each word individually. ¡°I am thepanymander of the 131st Company. Release all my men immediately! Now!¡±

    A second lieutenant that looked like a mountain of a man stepped out from the group, and he towered over Qianye, smiling coldly. ¡°Sir, we are doing our duty, and we can¡¯t just release people just because you say so!¡±

    Qianye looked at him once before speaking mildly. ¡°I have no interest in the rank and file! Call out your senior officer!¡±

    With a squeak, the side door of the barracks swung open, and out walked a major from the expeditionary army.

    The major¡¯s shirt buttons weren¡¯t even fully buttoned up, and he leaned against the doorframe, lit a cigarette, and deeply inhaled. ¡°I¡¯m their superior officer. Why¡¯d you call me out? I was in the middle of carrying out my duties! Don¡¯t even mention if you¡¯re just theirpanymander, even if you were themander of the whole brigade, I wouldn¡¯t budge! Don¡¯t you know who I am? Let me tell you honestly, your daddy here is¡­¡±

    He didn¡¯t even finish, and Qianye had already nted a leg onto his stomach, coldly saying, ¡°You¡¯re full of shit!¡±

    The major flew backwards, and mmed right through twoyers of walls, flying out the other end of the barracks!

    The expeditionary army soldiers were all taken for a shock. They were the people from the military police, and within the Third Army, they were always those who lorded it over others. When had they ever had to take the short end of the stick?

    The fat ck major bellowed out as he charged over, rushing onward face-to-face with his fist. This was what he was used to doing, mming his bear-paw-like hands over his opponents¡¯ faces, and only then could he be satisfied.

    But his vision exploded into stars as the beautiful engravings of the Twin Flowers shed before his eyes and his face suddenly felt as if an elephant had viciously kicked him. Stars danced in his vision while he spat out something like seven or eight teeth from his mouth.

    Qianye had turned the stock of the Twin Flowers into a weapon and almost smashed the fat face of the ck major into putty. If Marquis Ross knew that his beloved gun from that time had been used so roughly, against such enemies of poor character, who knew if he¡¯d get angry enough to kill all the way into the human cities.

    Qianye put his foot forward. This time around, he exerted himself, throwing the ck major that weighed nearly two hundred kilograms high into the sky well over the barracks. With a dull thud, the majornded heavily on the other side. Although he couldn¡¯t be seen, they could tell just how badly he¡¯dnded just by the noise.

    Qianye ignored the rest of the expeditionary army forces, walking lightly through the hole he¡¯d punched in the wall to the side of the major.

    The major was still struggling on the ground, but no matter how he tried, he couldn¡¯t get up. He was a rank four Fighter too, but with one kick from Qianye, all his defenses had been smashed, and he might not even have the power to battle.

    ¡°You dare attack me? Good, good. I¡¯ll immediately let you know what the consequences will be! Your dad¡­¡±

    The howls of the major suddenly stopped because the left barrel of the Twin Flowers was squarely aimed at his crotch!

    This gun was evidently a high-grade good even at first nce, but no matter what grade it was, even if it was the ungraded Light of Daybreak, or even a gunpowder gun, the crotch of the major wouldn¡¯t be able to take a blow.

    A bang rang out, the sound echoing about the camp.

    Following it closely was the pitiful wails of the major drowning out all other sounds.

    ¡°What the f*ck are you going on about, your balls are still there!¡±

    The major howled quite a few times before he finally stopped. He suddenly felt waves of coolness between his pant legs, and although there was the tender pain of a burn, but there wasn¡¯t the crippling agony that he expected. Lifting his head to see, he only saw that there was a massive hole between his legs, and the crotch of his pants had vaporized. As to the bits about his crotch, there was definitely going to be some burns, but it was far from sttered.

    Qianye told him coldly, ¡°The matters of the seventeenth corps are far beyond your jurisdiction! Now take your men and scram! If I ever see you again, I will not be so polite!¡±

    The major looked at the deep pit between his legs on the ground, then at the gun that Qianye was carrying, and didn¡¯t dare to speak another line. Scrambling to his feet, not even bothering to change his pants, he ran for the drill grounds, hurriedly gathering his squadron. With the greatest haste, he took his men and fled the camp.

    The lieutenant and some of the officers that had gotten free hurriedly rescued the soldiers that had been locked up, while Qianye walked one round around the camp.

    As expected, although the armskote and the ammo depot had been opened, they weren¡¯t missing anything. It just that the filing rooms were a mess. The storage cabs had all been raided and papers were scattered all over the floor. Qianye didn¡¯t need to guess to know that given the majority of the documents had been taken and that false military information would of course also have been taken.

    The lieutenant had already settled matters outside ande to the secret filing room. Seeing Qianye standing stock still in the messy room, he spoke out. ¡°When the military police came, some of them went into the secret filing room, and they had taken away arge number of the files that very same night .¡± He paused a moment, but couldn¡¯t hold it in. ¡°Boss, did something happen?¡±

    It turned out that that particr expeditionary army officer who had helped the lieutenant had also misled him. It was at this point that the lieutenant finally realized the full scale of the battle, where the 131st had been defending, the terrible results of that battle, and their losses. Although they weren¡¯tcking in military power, their whole organizational structure had been scattered, and only a handful had survived. Hence, the military police were so daring in their mistreatment, as they knew for sure that the 131st was sure to meet with restructuring.

    But once Qianye saw the state of the secret filing room, he knew that these were just superficial excuses. There was a backstage actor, who had used the Third Army¡¯s internal department toe and destroy the evidence, that fake military intel. The two reports that had been filed by the 131st, had likely been destroyed on its journey out.

    But Qianye saw the panic on the lieutenant¡¯s face and wasn¡¯t ready to reveal it all. This situation was getting more and moreplex, and the defending force didn¡¯t know anything, so dragging them into this was meaningless.

    But the news that the lieutenant brought to him made Qianye involuntarily inhale sharply, and his heart rate sped up. The 131st had a handful of survivors? Thinking about it, he told the lieutenant, ¡°I¡¯ll write a report, and you send someone to hand it to Miss Qiqi.

    In the Yin n vi, within the Wind Hearing Pavilion, there was a tension in the air as every officer that went in and out was in a hurry.

    Ji Yuanjia put down the documents in his hand, as he gripped his nose bridge gently, massaging his exhaustion away. The boardroom table in front of him had been transformed into a giant office desk, stuffed with various documents and cases. Although the battle was over, what followed was an even more important job.

    A major pushed open the door and entered, carrying another report.

    Ji Yuanjia nodded his head as he took the report, but realized that both the major¡¯s manner of speaking and facial expression was odd. He looked down to see the sealed document in front of him was from the 131st Company, and couldn¡¯t help but be taken aback.

    The major asked, ¡°Captain Qian has returned to the camp at Zhongying Town. Should we immediately send an airship to receive him?¡±

    The report was brief and Ji Yuanjia had quickly finished all of it. ¡°No, I¡¯ll head down there personally,¡± He paused, ¡°and get Wind Tiger to prepare two teams of men to go down there with me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The major walked out, and it was only then that he realized that his palms were slick with sweat.

    Wind Tiger was the name of Miss Qiqi¡¯s private corps, and they managed various things, including the protection of the Yin n property. Indeed, whenever one of the important members went out, they would be protected by them.

 Volume 3 - 44: Crossing Swords

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 44: Crossing Swords

    The base of the 131st Company was remarkably empty. The barracks that could hold two hundred soldiers were now only upied by just ten-odd of them, and the air of despair and grief for their fallenrades hung heavily over the survivors¡¯ heads.

    Qianye didn¡¯t confirm if the lieutenant had heard of the battle report for the 131st from the expeditionary army so he tacitly allowed the man to use this method tofort the men. They were different from Qianye, and regardless of whether the 131st Company still existed, these soldiers would eventually have to return to the seventeenth corps. The truth of the matter, was not their burden to bear.

    When he had made this decision, Qianye suddenly felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, and he recalled a time long ago, after the Red Scorpions had justpleted the mission to eliminate a bunch of turncoats, the team leader had told them a simr conclusion. But for some reason, this time, Qianye was a little reluctant to think of the Red Scorpions, and with that, he turned his thoughts away, choosing to enter secluded cultivation.

    Maybe it was because he had taken too much fresh blood at Earth Castle, but even though the gold and purple blood energy had been consuming and absorbing this external blood these past two days, the blood energy inside of him still didn¡¯t manage to fully settle. And ever since the blood energies that was ensconced in his heart grew from seven to nine, it had remained dormant for a long time.

    As Qianye turned to examine his inner self carefully, he discovered that the blood energy had had a new transformation, and swimming out of his heart was not the nine streaks he expected, but only a single, much thicker streak of blood energy.

    Qianye paused for quite a while before assuming that perhaps this was an advancement in his blood power. It strongly resembled that of the human martial arts¡ªnine tiers to a level, nine cycles to a revolution, nine stages to a realm. Perhaps blood power was like this as well, and once the nine normal blood energies grew to a certain stage, they would coalesce into a single, greater blood energy. Previously, the normal blood energy was being constantly devoured by the gold and purple blood energies, and it could never reach nine, and hence never advance.

    But, the thing was that as the gold and purple blood energies advanced in power, they would bring along a corresponding unique power. However, this advancement in the normal blood energy had not brought any significant changes, and Qianye only felt that his internal organs, especially his heart, were vaguely itchy, just like a wound in the final stage of recovery. He thought that it might still bring some qualitative improvements to his body, but overall, it was still far less than the rune power of the vampires¡¯ natural constitution. Qianye thought that the differences in the bloodlines of the various vampire ns, might well originate from this.

    Once he had settled the blood energy within himself, Qianye began to cultivate the Combatant Form. He had already noticed that maybe, due to perhaps the aftereffects of sucking too much blood, or theck of closure on thisplex chain of events, that this time around his heart was disturbed, and his mood was unsettled. Hence, he had taken extra time to settle himself before inciting the origin power tides.

    As the origin tide rushed past its thirtieth cycle, Qianye still felt as if he had strength left to give, and his body was still full with the blood energy. His innards, particrly his heart, seemingly strengthened once over, bing yet stronger, and no matter how the origin tides battered at them, they were seemingly unharmed.

    Thirty first, thirty second, and soon it was at the thirty fifth cycle, and the shock to Qianye¡¯s organs felt like only the thirtieth wave. It was only when the thirty sixth cycle came roaring, did his internal organs finally begin to present signs of damage. At this point, Qianye moved his mind, and pulled the wave towards his fifth origin node, only for the barrier around it to copse at the touch, easily igniting the origin node.

    This time, his breakthrough was so incredibly easy that even Qianye himself felt a little taken aback.

    Periapsis Day was at an end, and it was also the one night in which Gemini-¦Á was closest to the Eternal Night Continent. Qianyeid down in the empty field, his arms tucked behind his head as he watched the moon that took up half of the sky with its light, as if he could just reach out to grasp it.

    He had suddenly broken through to rank five, and instead of slowly grinding down and steadily igniting that origin node, indescribable frustrations beginning to roil inside of his chest. It was the first time where he didn¡¯t want to continue training. He only wanted to maintain an inner peace inside of his mind, keeping it a pure white, as if it was only then that could he calm down.

    In the distance, there was the sound of a tire squealing, and it stopped right outside of the 131st Company¡¯s base. Once again, the night was silent, and there was no sound from themanding officer inside of the guardhouse, nor were there troopsing over to report, as if that sound had merely been an illusion.

    Qianye suddenly set himself upright as he turned to look. Ji Yuanjia walked out from the shadow of the building.

    He looked at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯ve hit rank five?¡±

    This was clearly not a normal way to start a conversation, but Qianye¡¯s frustration simmered down. ¡°Yes.¡±

    It was as if the ten-odd days hadn¡¯t existed, and the two of them were just peacefully making small talk.

    Ji Yuanjia smiled. ¡°Wanna have a go at it?¡± He seemed to be in the mood. His right arm slightly sagged, and a half foot long shortswordnded in his palm. Its origin power arrays lit up, lighting up the night like water reflecting the moon.

    Qianye and Ji Yuanjia had battled each other before in the simtors in the Yin n¡¯s vi, and Ji Yuanjia had suppressed his origin power to the limit of rank four, the two of them battling it out with each other using only the military¡¯s techniques, and it was a misnomer to call it apetition, more like an exhibition match.

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s battle style hadn¡¯t left much of an impression on Qianye, his maneuverspletely orthodox, a very careful, technical style, as if they had been replicated off of a textbook. The only thing that caused Qianye to go on alert was that this textbook style had actually fended off the vast majority of his attacks.

    Qianye patted himself, only finding the army knife at his hips. Pulling it out, he held it out in front of himself.

    ¡°Ziing!¡± As if a piece of jade was being struck, the sword whistled out from Ji Yuanjia, and the de was already an indistinct blur, the shimmer turning into a thousand specks of light as it softly fell like rain.

    Qianye took a big step forward. The Combatant Form instantly rushed past nine stages as he executed a straightforward punch. Within his body, the origin power swirled, superimposing one wave onto another, and just as the edge of his fist was about to contact the sheeting rain of sword light, the Combatant Form, like a sudden wave, rolled over into the second set of nine tiers.

    The two of them went all out right from the first blow.

    At this point Ji Yuanjia¡¯s sword hadn¡¯t yet made contact. The sword intent folded itself into a giant, invisible, covering the skies as it crashed down from above, and the sound of the sword sharpened to a million points, like the noise of a rainstorm. Qianye suddenly acutely felt that not only was that sword incredibly threatening, even the space around it screamed a warning in his head.

    Qianye took action decisively. Refusing to back down, his fist drew an arc, as if a battlefield of soldiers had miraculously risen, given up their center and rushed toward their right nk before attacking once more. And at this point the Combatant Form had rushed out well over twenty times, and the collected origin power hummed with a thunderous crash, as though a Fighter King was about to strike.

    A thunderous boom echoed, and masked the sound of the rain.

    The two men made contact, and then staggered back several steps before recovering their footing.

    Ji Yuanjia reached to wipe away a thin trail of blood from the corner of his mouth, and smiled. ¡°The strike of the Fighter King blows away a thousand men. Once it strikes, it is truly hard to shake.¡±

    Qianye looked towards his right rib, where his uniform had been sliced open neatly. He mulled it a moment. ¡°I lost.¡±

    Had Ji Yuanjia truly meant him harm, that one sword stroke would have bled him. Furthermore, when he had reinforced his Combatant Form to the twenty-sixth stage, it had been brought to a stop abruptly by Ji Yuanjia. It was just that Ji Yuanjia was almost breaking through to rank eight, while Qianye had only reached rank five today. That nearly three rank gap had almost been crossed and Ji Yuanjia had nearly had the worse for it. A Fighter King¡¯s power was indeed indisputable.

    ¡°All those n secret techniques can be broadly split into secret arts andbat techniques. Secret arts deal with the development and the cultivation of origin power, whereas thebat techniques cover all the variations ofbat.¡±

    Qianye quietly listened on. This was an unknown territory for him.

    ¡°For example, Ye Mn¡¯s secret art is called ¡®Deep Frost¡¯. If one was struck by her origin power, that bitter cold energy would infiltrate the body like tiny needles, incredibly hard to resist,¡± Ji Yuanjia smiled, ¡°she was previously too loving of herself, refusing to take even a tiny injury, and so she let you finish the Fighter King¡¯s stance. If she hadn¡¯t run away from fighting you directly, and taken you head on, it would have been hard to say who would have won.¡±

    Qianye knew that Ji Yuanjia was right and that he had been a fool about his own strength back then. He hadn¡¯t immediately cleared out the invading frost energy and had already started to numb in painter on. Had Ye Mn not been defeated so quickly, that frost energy would have caused him an enormous amount of trouble.

    How Ji Yuanjia had defeated him pointed out the weakness in the Combatant Form, which was the time needed to build the origin tides to the thirtieth cycle. Of course, it was not just anyone that could use this method to break Qianye¡¯sbatant form. If he was another rank higher, Ji Yuanjia would not have dared to collide head-on with him like this.

    What followed was a short silence.

    ¡°Captain Bao Zhengcheng is still alive, but his injuries are severe, and the medical support on the Eternal Night Continent cannot save him. We¡¯ve already sent him up to a higher continent. The good thing is that after treatment, his abilities won¡¯t be damaged, and when he returns to the Seventeenth Corps, he can resume hismand. Other than that, three more have survived. I¡¯m afraid that after treatment they will have to retire, but there is a hefty discharge fund.¡±

    Qianye continued to listen quietly, his eyes watching Ji Yuanjia slowly turning icy cold.

    Ji Yuanjia was seemingly unaware of this. ¡°The 131st Company, as the frontline for this battle, has achieved great merits in the defense of Earth Castle. Hence, the deceased will not only get double the usualpensation, but the families of those who were NCOs and higher will also be allowed a single pass for the military school.¡±

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°This is the final decision made?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia spoke. ¡°This is the result of the military department¡¯s report.¡±

    ¡°It seems like you already know what happened, but you don¡¯t intend to tell me?¡±

    ¡°Whether I tell you or not, will depend on Miss Qiqi¡¯s decision.¡±

    Qianye furrowed his eyebrows. Without waiting for him to say a word, Ji Yuanjia retorted mildly. ¡°Four days ago, the Miss knew that you and the 131st had appeared in the Dongling Mountain Area near Earth Castle, and forcibly moved the 60th Division overnight in a bid to reach there quickly.¡±

    Qianye could not help but be stunned at the news. Calcting the times internally, he noticed that it was on that very night that he had been encircled.

    ¡°But on the path to Earth Castle, they ran into some of the higher-ranking vampires of the Monroe n, and the losses were great. The Miss was also injured.¡±

    The Monroes were an earth-shatteringly famous n within the dark world. They were the first of thirteen vampire ns, and in the past several thousand years, they always had a Grand Prince. Their insignia was the legendary flower of terror, the Datura flower.

    Qianye¡¯s mind suddenly shed to the pale gold Datura flower on Nighteye¡¯spel that time, and his feelings were thrown into disarray. Up until now, all he had been seeing were these little puzzle pieces individually, and only as time went by was he able to slowly piece together an image. But instead of easing the frustration and confusion he felt, they only intensified them.

    ¡°So, even if you wish to stop this designated mission, you should go and see the Miss to exin yourself in person.¡±

 Volume 3 - 45: Return

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 45: Return

    This time, Qianye stayed taciturn for a longer period of time.

    A letter addressed to Qiqi had been attached to the report Qianye delivered, requesting the termination of thismissioned task. Previously, he had believed all along that this was a case of a youngdy of an aristocratic family dissatisfied with her marriage, hence this game with her elders out of spite. Since ample revenge had been served, he didn¡¯t mind being treated as the clear target; after all, which task for hunters didn¡¯te with danger?

    However, Qianye never thought the games of aristocratic families and prominent ns could actually use an independentpany from the whole standing army as a mere pawn. If it wasn¡¯t for Old 2 and Yu Yingnan serving as his guarantors when he received the mission, he simply might not have returned to this camp. He had even thought, maybe he¡¯d never be able to know who the main culprit was, and whether it was one person or a group of people.

    Qianye didn¡¯t like this kind of game, one that could treat an entire reinforcedpany of brave men as cannon fodder.

    But the information Ji Yuanjia broughtpletely exceeded Qianye¡¯s expectations. He was certainly aware forcefully requisitioning troops would result in disastrous losses; Qiqi must also be clear about this, so why did she do it?

    Qianye snapped out of his reverie and looked at Ji Yuanjia, thetter not expressing even a hint of impatience. The half-foot shortsword, bright as the autumn waters, circled about his palm like a halo of time.

    ¡°When do we leave?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have other business, pack up your things and leave with me right now!¡±

    Even though it meant setting off through the night, Qianye didn¡¯t have any objection. The two, one in front and one in back, passed through the military drill grounds and walked towards the brightly-lit barracks.

    At the outskirts of the training grounds, Qianye paused. More than ten burly men with foreign appearances, each sturdy in stature and steady in gait, stood in the open space; one could tell at a nce that these were experts. These people didn¡¯t appear like soldiers from the army. Rather, only looking at the assortment of unique equipment each person wore, they appeared more like mercenaries.

    Qianye suddenly asked, ¡°If I don¡¯t agree to go with you, what¡¯ll happen?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia only smiled.

    Qianye inhaled deeply, and said somewhat mockingly, ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Ji, I couldn¡¯t tell, but you really are thorough.¡± At this time, Qianye finally realized why Ji Yuanjia had sought him out to fight the instant he had entered. Half of Qianye¡¯s strength could be considered long-range sniping; if he had a gun at hand, the situation would undoubtedly be much more troublesome. Though Ji Yuanjia could suppress him in closebat right now, if long distance was also considered perhaps he wouldn¡¯t be able to leave him behind easily.

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s smile was as gentle as ever. He replied without batting an eyelid, ¡°I only hope to do everything well for Miss Qiqi, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to say anything else, and opened the door to his room. He also didn¡¯t have much to pack, so not long after, the party of people left just as silently as they had entered.

    At a great town in the Qin Continent named Caged Sun Cityandwalking beast ran across an empty street inside the city before stopping in front of the main entrance of a grand residence. This residence had been constructedpletely in ordance to the old style with red walls and blue tiles, vermillion eaves and flying beasts. A striking horizontal tablet was aligned on the door, and the words ¡®Yin Residence¡¯ was written on it. The tablet was signed by none other than the former emperor himself.

    The rider immediately entered the residence through a corner gate, and handed an entire bag of express mail to the butler. Just a momentter, an urgent mail was ced inside the study.

    A middle-aged person, apanied by an elderly man, strolled along a winding corridor.

    The middle-aged man had squared facial features, and projected an aura of dignity. He stroked the short beard on his chin, and said slowly, ¡°Mister Shui Yun, this child Qiqi is indeed talented. Only, her temperament and conduct are trulycking; how can one be at ease? The sessor exam is such an important matter, yet she only treats it as child¡¯s y. The results of the other three are neck-and-neck, but her? Until now, it¡¯s still zero!¡±

    The old man smiled. ¡°The Third Miss only likes to fool around a bit. Ah, young people, it¡¯s not like it¡¯s something really serious. The miss had always been independent since young, and when have you ever seen her fail toplete a task in the end? In my opinion, the reason she hadn¡¯t acted hastily is because she is confident in her chances. A true general is capable of enduring any pressure without faltering inposure!¡±

    The middle-aged man snorted and said, ¡°A true general? I think she¡¯s just fooling around. Look at Peace Hall¡¯s Yin Xu; he¡¯s almost at five hundred points already!¡±

    The old man called Mister Shui Yun, however, didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°Five hundred points? That¡¯s nothing more than ten thousand insignificant cannon fodder, or no more than about a hundred rank five or six Fighters. You can easily umte a score like that in one big battle.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a bunch of children. Where would you find a big battle like that?!¡±

    Mister Shui Yun sighed. ¡°Tianhang, you mustn¡¯t underestimate the children of now. The fact that Third Miss had chosen Evernight Continent meant that she must have a n since a long time ago. After all, that continent is a ce of great conflict! Plus, who else but Qiqi could inherit Esteemed Father¡¯s Moonlight Flowing Cloud Art?¡±

    Yin Tianhang snorted, and said, ¡°A patriarch¡¯s position isn¡¯t something that can be secured by origin power alone!¡±

    Shui Yun stroked his beard and smiled, ¡°But it is also difficult to convince masses without strong origin power, is it not?¡±

    The two men spoke as they walked, and entered the study in the blink of an eye.

    Yin Tianhang saw the report on the table. After opening it to read, he immediately yelped in surprise.

    He looked through it another two times before he finally passed it to Mister Shui Yun, saying, ¡°Well this is strange!¡±

    Mister Shui Yun also looked very surprised when he looked through the report, ¡°The Third Miss had broke through the roof of the military aplishments ranking in just a month? This is unbelievable, let me take another look¡­ Hmm, these one thousand points had came in in just ten days¡¯ time, and they all came from a division level battle. The points umted from a defense node at Earth Castle alone was almost five hundred points. Tsk tsk, it must¡¯ve been a bloodbath! But even with such results, they had lost only an expeditionary force battalion and a reinforcedpany of the Seventeenth Corps? Tianxing, have these numbers been verified?¡±

    Yin Tianhang chuckled. ¡°This is the dark race¡¯s internal casualty report, how could it be inurate?¡±

    Mister Shui Yun smiled while he stroked his beard, ¡°We all know how strong an expeditionary force battalion is. This reinforcedpany beneath the Third Miss is truly astounding. It would seem that she had managed to gather some talented people again,¡± As he continued to read downwards, he said with a bit of surprise, ¡°The special intel bonus point is over one hundred points? The third miss actually encountered the Monroe¡¯s princess guards! The Summit of Peaks¡¯ tracks were discovered on the battlefield too? This is too dangerous. The 60th Division¡¯s temporary deployment¡­¡±

    Yin Tianhang, however, couldn¡¯t conceal his delight, ¡°Which great general of the empire didn¡¯t walk over from atop the tips of swords? This is a good thing. This is great news; Qiqi now has some real experiences under her belt! The matter of the 60th Division really isn¡¯t much. Seeing as they fought to such sess, who in the army can have anything to say about this?¡±

    Mister Shui Yun nodded and asked with a hint of worry, ¡°Evernight Continent had been pretty stormytely, and the situation at Xichang City seems a little chaotic. Should we summon her home now that she had umted one thousand points and finished first in the military aplishments ranking?¡±

    ¡°The Profound Heaven Summer Hunt is about to start immediately. Qiqi will be heading there in a few days¡¯ time.¡±

    Mister Shui Yun recalled another matter, ¡°Brother Tianxing, about Qiqi¡¯s marriage¡­¡±

    ¡°Anything but that!¡± Yin Tianxing¡¯s smile was immediately withdrawn as he turned him down immediately, ¡°The Yin Family had survived a thousand generations together with the empire itself. How could a major event like marriage be treated as child¡¯s y! Since we decided upon Qiqi that year, it isn¡¯t something we can change.¡±

    He eased a little, and continued, ¡°Moreover, the situation at Reverence Hall right now is fairly good. Old 17 maymand the military power right now, but it is only a matter of time before he retires. If Qiqi¡¯s Moonlight Flowing Cloud Art reaches the level of great attainment, she may be able to seed him as the general. However, her temperament is unsuited formand and strategy. Liyu, on the other hand, is good at stratagem and watertight tactics. He is an excellent choice inplementing Qiqi¡¯s abilities.¡±

    Mister Shui Yun said, ¡°A leader doesn¡¯t need to do everything personally. In this one battle alone, she had umted enough merits to match another person¡¯s half a year of achievements, so we know that she is capable of recognizing and using talents In my opinion, her achievements won¡¯t stop at just Reverence Ha.¡±

    Yin Tianxing waved a hand and said, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem even if Qiqi did be the patriarch in the future. Liyu is a good kid. As long as we help improve his family¡¯s status, is there any doubt that he would do his best to serve the Yin Family?¡±

    Mister Shui Yun replied slowly, ¡°On the contrary, I¡¯ve actually heard of a few different assessments.¡±

    Yin Tianhang raised his eyebrows, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s hear it.¡±

    An airship descended beside a Yin Family courtyard, precisely at twilight¡¯s deepest time.

    Qianye looked at the long stretch of pavilions and buildings beneath his feet, shaded by a beautiful expanse of flowers and trees. Before his eyes, however, a narrow alley through the Earth Pce appeared, revealing ck smoke and the copsed roofs of houses. These two scenes ovepped, giving off a feeling of a previous era.

    Once exiting the airship, someone immediately head over to whisper in Ji Yuanjia¡¯s ear.

    Ji Yuanjia turned to Qianye, and said, ¡°The Miss is currently at the back garden; I¡¯ll bring you there directly.¡±

    Qianye was currently assessing his surroundings. He had already noticed the guard around other courtyards had been strengthened. At the corners of passages, burly men, armed to the teeth, would sh by constantly. After hearing what was said, he couldn¡¯t help but stare nkly, ¡°At this time?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia let out a bitter smile, ¡°The Miss has been like this for thest two days, unable to fall asleep until deep into the night.¡±

    ¡°She, are her injuries serious?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia shook his head, and replied, ¡°You will understand once you see her.¡±

    Qianye followed behind Ji Yuanjia in a haste, passing through many twists and turns of a long corridor. Qianye had never been to this region of courtyards. The surrounding structures grew more and more sparse, and the vegetation became more and more lush. The winding alley, if viewed during the day, must be extremely beautiful and elegant, but submerged in the dim light of the night it only appeared somewhat cold and deste.

    Up ahead, a moon gate crawling with wisteria appeared.

    Ji Yuanjia stopped, and said quietly, ¡°You should enter by yourself.¡±

    Qianye looked up. A wall with engraved hollowsy past the door. The pale moonlight sprinkled down, as if it had entirely scattered into dense mist, rendering the scenery insidepletely unclear.

    Qianye walked through the entrance. A gust of moist warmth blew over, the mist still as dense as before, seemingly bringing about a lingering delicate fragrance. He realized only now that an enormous lotus pondy in front of him, and a single long bridge led to the pavilion atop the water.

    The star, Gemini-¦Á, hung precisely at its lowest position on the curtain of night, massively suspended atop the inclined eaves of the pavilion. The water surface was a reflection of the full moon; at a nce, the entire space seemed to spread over the surface, and the fields of lotus flowers looked just as if they had grown on the moon.

    Qiqi was sitting on the ground of the water pavilion while wearing a wide-sleeved robe. Her head rested upon her knees as she gazed at the water surface calmly. Under the universal presence of the moonlight, her figure actually seemed somewhat bleak and lonely.

    Qianye slowly walked behind her, and called out, ¡°Miss Qiqi.¡±

    Qiqi didn¡¯t turn around, and said with a light sigh, ¡°Uncle Li died, right in front of me. He¡¯s someone who watched me grow up, I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d leave just like that.¡±

    Qianye listened silently.

    ¡°Uncle Li was a Champion rank expert since a long time ago. If he hadn¡¯t stayed in the Yin Family, he would¡¯ve earned both fame and fortune in the army or anywhere else. However, he stayed with me, took care of me and protected me all these years. If it wasn¡¯t to protect me, he wouldn¡¯t have¡­¡±

 Volume 3 - 46: The Last Mission (long chapter)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 46: The Last Mission (long chapter)

    Qiqi stopped speaking abruptly. Qianye opened his mouth, but realized he didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    One sitting, one standing, the two remained silent for a long time.

    Qiqi moved, stretching her body over the low railing of the pavilion, and extended her hand to stir up the pond water. The iparably massive moon reflection rippled gradually, before slowly forming billows spanning the entire pond. For a moment, thousands of moons swayed beneath their feet. Rays of interwoven blue-white origin energy appeared on Qiqi¡¯s hand, coiling along her arm like a cloud diffusing in the air.

    At this moment, Qianye saw the side of her face. Gem-like specks on the corners of her charming eyes glistened, as if fragments of stars were falling.

    ¡°Seeing that you¡¯re alright, I¡¯m very happy. Rest early!¡± Qiqi said. ¡°I¡¯ll find you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± Qianye agreed, and turned to leave. Right as he reached the shore, he turned his head to look back. Still, only the silhouette of Qiqi¡¯s back could be seen. Rays of origin energy continued to expand, spinning and circling around her body like clouds.

    Qianye walked through the wisteria-covered gateway, and saw Ji Yuanjia, who was leaning against a pir with his arms crossed, gazing at a shrub in a trance.

    Qianye walked in front of him, and said frankly, ¡°It was after I received a fake intelligence report that I chose to attack a dark race stronghold in the Dongling Mountain Area. The beginning proceeded without a hitch; only, when we were retreating, we came across the mass mobilization of that region¡¯s collective army. We were discovered midway, so in the end we could only choose to break through the mountain pass near Earth Castle.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia didn¡¯t reveal a very surprised expression, and said, ¡°If that person hadn¡¯t underestimated your strength that much, the 131st Company shouldn¡¯t have been able to escape from within the mountains. At that time, the battle at Dongling was just on the verge of breaking out, and several squadrons of special forces were making their way into the war zone. Comparatively, the 131st Company and the elite corps are a littlecking, so you bunch would certainly be the first to be discovered.¡±

    ¡°The Third Expeditionary Army seizing the majority of the records from the 131st Company encampment; was that also incited by that man?¡±

    Ji Yuanjiaughed silently, and said, ¡°In this round directed against you, that man didn¡¯t need to do apletely thorough job of everything. Only, he didn¡¯t want to leave any direct evidence, so as to avoid shedding all pretense of cordiality with the Miss. His work has been arranged and interwoven throughout all military affairs; even dealing with the aftermath was taken into ount. In the official report, the 131st Company was fabricated into a vanguard squadron. You should know that it¡¯s impossible for a reinforcedpany from the Seventeenth Corps to be casually killed off as cannon fodder. Rather than writing you off as a premature attack, it would be better to just pick up a first-ss military achievement and reminisce the soldiers that fell in battle. Plus, to the bigwigs of the military, so long as there is some definitive military aplishment, where a reinforcedpany is supposed to be ced in battle is something that can be neglectedpletely.¡±

    He paused for a moment, and continued with a cold smile, ¡°Perhaps you¡¯re still unaware. The Seventeenth Corps under Miss¡¯mand defending the camp and participating in this battle was originally a portion of the Miss¡¯ grand sessor exam. So, as long as the final military point count can reach the target, even the elders of the Yin Family won¡¯t investigate the specifics. Even if there was any suspicious activity, most of it will just pass along like this.¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a moment, then asked, ¡°In other words, without evidence, we can¡¯t hold that man ountable for anything?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia replied gently, yet with an undertone of chilliness, ¡°Yes, we can¡¯t hold him ountable. However, his reach won¡¯t be able to extend this far in the future.¡±

    Qianye detected a hint of blood from Ji Yuanjia¡¯s words. He had also discovered that everything had beenid out by an expert, and that things didn¡¯t hinge solely on a fake intelligence report: the time the 131st Company delivered their battle report, none of the orderlies sent by the captain that had stayed behind ever gave a response; it was clear this situation wasn¡¯t the work of just one man. Thinking also of the present increase in defensive measures and recement of guards in the Yin Family¡¯s side courtyard, it looked like everything around Qiqi had beenpletely consolidated, and the people that had colluded with that person all must not have had good endings.

    ¡°Who is he?¡± Qianye finally asked the question.

    Ji Yuanjia looked at him, and replied, ¡°You must¡¯ve already guessed, right? Only, right now isn¡¯t the time.¡±

    Qianye frowned, but before waiting for him to respond, Ji Yuanjia continued directly, ¡°He¡¯s Miss Qiqi¡¯s fianc¨¦, and, while this status is still effective, anyone who kills him while inevitably be chased down by the Yin Family until their heads are imed. Besides, you can¡¯t kill him. Gu Liyu spends most of his time in the Empire¡¯s ministry; that isn¡¯t somece one can just enter to assassinate someone, and even if he left the upper continents locking onto his whereabouts his difficult. Even if it were me, I¡¯d only have a seventy percent chance of defeating him in open battle; killing him, however, I¡¯d only have a thirty percent chance.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°In this world, there¡¯s nothing that ispletely impossible.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia replied, ¡°Indeed, weapons aren¡¯t the only means to kill someone.¡±

    Qianye was slightly stunned. Seeing Ji Yuanjia¡¯s expression, he suddenly understood his implication, ¡°You¡­¡±

    In an exceedingly calm manner, Ji Yuanji continued, ¡°Before, I had the wrong idea. Once, I hoped she wouldn¡¯t change, that she would continue to follow her heart and recklessly unt, and be capable of retaining her conscience forever. However, if one can¡¯t seize the greatest power, no matter what kind of desire it is, it¡¯ll still be nothing more than an extravagant hope. Thus, I will follow Miss Qiqi¡¯s wishes, and be the sharpest sword in her hands.¡±

    Even after returning to his residence, Qianye continued to ponder Ji Yuanjia¡¯sst words.

    In the end, the conflict and dispute between Qiqi and Gu Liyu was really just an internal power struggle. Only, it had implicated the entire family¡¯s great sessor exam. Between the different members of Qiqi¡¯s family branch, there were both mutual and unshared interests, leading to this situation of checks and bnces.

    Though Qianye hadn¡¯t had much contact with Ji Yuanjia, he could faintly sense that Ji Yuanjia wasn¡¯t the kind of person to be drawn into power struggles; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have taken one step back after another facing Ye Mn that time. However, today, he had clearly established his position on the matter.

    Ji Yuanjia had locked onto his own path, but what about Qianye? After this mission ended, where would his next destination be?

    The afternoon of the second day, Qiqi sent someone to call Qianye over to the study.

    When Qianye arrived, Qiqi was in front of the long desk writing what seemed to match the writing, ¡°kill decisively¡±, which hung on the wall.

    Hearing Qianye enter, she tossed her brush into the brush washer and let out a bright smile. An infinite number of charming expressions could be picked out from those eyes akin to that of a phoenix; the grief and frailty he had seen yesterday seemed only like the moon¡¯s reflection in water, gone without a trace once the sun rose.

    Qiqi walked in front of Qianye, gave his shoulder a forthright pat, and said, ¡°This time, you helped me obtain quite a few military points. You really surprise me.¡±

    ¡°Military points?¡± Those days, Qianye had only engrossed himself in killing the enemy, to the point where his consciousness had be almost totally numb. Where would he have the effort to tally up how many enemies he had actually killed?

    Qiqi counted her fingers off to herself, and said, ¡°Killed 5 rank six soldiers, 23 rank five soldiers, over a hundred soldiers rank four and under, and over three thousand cannon fodder. Do you think this level of military sess is something that can be achieved with only the 131st Company and an expeditionary army battalion?¡±

    Qianye was silent for a moment. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t be any clearer about what the military strength of the expeditionary army and reinforcedpany was. Under normal circumstances, being able to reach half their military sess would already be considered pretty good.

    ¡°This number couldn¡¯t be urate, right?¡± Qianye was a little doubtful.

    ¡°This casualty number was totaled up by the opposing dark allied armies. Tell me, is it urate?¡±

    Qianye nked a bit, immediately understanding the implication behind these words. Only now did he realize he had underestimated the abilities of the aristocratic families and the empire. The dark races had infiltrated the Empire, so how could the Empire not have conducted their own infiltrations? Perhaps due to the nature of the dark races, infiltrations might even be deeper.

    ¡°These high level soldiers, the majority were killed by you, right?¡±

    Facing this question, Qianye was unsure how to respond. Thinking carefully now, it did seem like arge half of the dark soldiers rank four and above had been killed by him. Only, this kind of military sess was too astonishing for a rank four Fighter. Even though Qianye could be considered an extreme long-range sniper that had the assistance of a squadron, it was still way too high.

    However, Qiqi must utterly understand the strength of the 131st Company under hermand to have asked such a question. Qianye braced himself, and said, ¡°With an Eagleshot and a sufficient amount of physical origin bullets, that should be about right. Moreover, right now, I¡¯m already rank five.¡±

    Qiqi stared at Qianye, till his heart became itchy with fright.

    She suddenly blossomed intoughter, and leaned next to Qianye. Practically touching his ear, she whispered, ¡°Even using Eagleshot can¡¯t reach this level of military sess; you¡¯re still hiding something from me!¡±

    Her soft and delicate breath unceasingly blew into Qianye¡¯s ear, causing his hairs to stand on end. Besides bringing about a tough body, a vampire physique also made one¡¯s sensory perception much more keen. Right now, Qianye¡¯s ear was feeling an unspeakable level of difort, and the numb, itchy feeling seemingly permeated every drop of blood in his body.

    Yun Che leaned back, pulling apart some distance.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Qiqi shouted, then asked again, ¡°What exactly are you hiding from me?¡±

    ¡°No¡­ thing!¡±

    ¡°Nothing? Truly nothing? Absolutely nothing?¡± Qiqi asked three times in session.

    Qianye finally couldn¡¯t bear anymore. He shed back several meters, and said, ¡°What could there be!¡±

    Qiqi curled her somewhat disheveled hair, and said with a shrug, ¡°I know those who choose to get by in the Evernight Continent all have their own secrets, but that¡¯s not of any concern. You leaving for battle this time, your body must have received a lot of wear and tear. I¡¯ll have Old Due give you a checkup; sometimes, if some small injuries aren¡¯t treated promptly, they¡¯ll affect your cultivation progresster.¡±

    Qiqi pped lightly. A side door opened, and a short, wizened old man, his face filled with anxiety, walked into the room and in front of Qianye.

    Qianye nked for a moment. Looking at Qiqi¡¯s deeply concerned expression, he wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Old Du was a Champion rank expert, and perhaps not just not any ordinary Champion. With him personally inspecting, could Qianye still hide his body¡¯s secrets?

    However, at this time it was impossible to stop halfway and decline; otherwise, it would be clear evidence of a guilty conscience. Thus, Qianye only had to concentrate on evening his breaths and act as if nothing was happening, while at the same time activating the Concealed Bloodline ability, concealing all the blood in his heart even deeper. Now, Qianye could only hope this ability was as powerful as he expected it to be.

    Old Du coughed, and a bead of light lit on the fingertips of his leftnd. With a flick of his fingers, the five spheres of light flew out and began revolving around Qianye¡¯s body. The beads of light vibrated continuously, emitting a sound akin to the buzzing of a bee, and the origin energy within Qianye¡¯s body began to resonate.

    In the blink of an eye, the five origin nodes in Qianye¡¯s body illuminated, one after another, blossoming into light under the influence of the light beads¡¯ strength. Qianye¡¯s body seemed as though it had be transparent, and his origin nodes and origin energy flow all appeared clearly.

    Origin energy seemed like dense mist, and origin nodes looked like brilliant stars. Even Qianye himself was struck in awe by this sight.

    Qianye immediately noticed both Old Du and Qiqi were staring fixedly at his chest. He nced down, and discovered the node in front of his chest was zing extremely brilliantly, almost as if it were the sun in the sky! Countless faint halos of light surrounded this sun, turning in ordance with some profound and mysterious orbit.

    Only after looking for a long time, Old Du let out a long breath of air and said, ¡°Miss, please be at ease. His body doesn¡¯t have any hidden injuries.¡±

    Qiqi, still starting at Qianye¡¯s chest, asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t this the semnce of a Fighter King?¡±

    Old Du shook his head, and said, ¡°It appears like it but it actually isn¡¯t, yet there also isn¡¯t much difference. If he wants to ignite this origin node of his, the difficulty is at least tenfold what others might face! Heh! It¡¯s truly hard to believe he was actually able to crash through this crisis. Now that this barrier has been passed, it¡¯s smooth sailing from here on out. Until at least rank nine, he won¡¯t encounter any insurmountable barriers.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes lit with an extraordinary splendor as she asked, ¡°Then what about the barrier from forming a vortex with energy?¡±

    Old Du gave a wry smile, then said, ¡°Miss, now you¡¯re making it too difficult for this old man. If you want to appraise innate ability at the Champion rank and above, only the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery and a few other ancient techniques would be able to aplish it.¡±

    Qiqi was greatly disappointed, and replied, ¡°Where do I even begin looking for someone that knows the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery?¡±

    She nced at Qianye for a moment. Seeming to have made a firm decision, she pat his shoulder forcefully and said, ¡°How about this. Once I return, I¡¯ll coax Esteemed Father till he¡¯s happy, then I¡¯ll ask him to introduce me Great Marshal Lin Xitang. I can seize that opportunity and bring you with me, and ask him to apprise your innate ability.¡±

    Qianye was shocked, immediately thinking of Marshal Lin¡¯s bustling military affairs; how could he do this kind of thing for the child of an aristocratic family? If Qiqi really did this, she¡¯d most likely end up with a nose full of dust.

    Qiqi looked to Old Du again and asked, ¡°Doesn¡¯t his origin energy seem much deeper than that of others?¡±

    Old Du sighed and said, ¡°Why stop at much deeper? It¡¯s more than double! Moreover, his origin energy is as stable as a mountain and his foundation is iparably sturdy; it really is a rare sight to behold. Only, he cultivates the Combatant Form, and there aren¡¯t any indications that he¡¯s cultivated any secret battle techniques. This is actually something you should n for early.¡±

    Qiqi was suddenly interested, ¡°Combatant Form? Hey, how many origin tide cycles can you withstand?¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment, then said, ¡°Thirty cycles.¡±

    Qiqi was greatly disappointed again, ¡°Only thirty cycles? Then you¡¯re just an ordinary Fighter King, nothing more and nothing less. I¡¯d thought you would¡¯ve been able to pull at least some thirty seven or eight cycles!¡±

    Qianye heard this, and decided to keep his silence.

    Even Old Du couldn¡¯t bear listening to this kind of talk from Qiqi anymore. He coughed a few times, and said, ¡°Miss, the Combatant Form is the first-ss art for advancing origin energy for those under the Champion rank. Twenty cycles is sufficient to rise into the elite forces; thirty cycles and above means the potential to contend for position of vice corpsmander in the army. As for forty cycles and above, so long as one doesn¡¯t die, sooner orter one will be a mighty, earth-shaking general. If you cast your eye about the entire empire, those that could cultivate to above fifty cycles in past years are really only Great Marshal Zhang Boqian, King Wuwei, and very few others.¡±

    Qiqi hurriedly followed, ¡°Alright alright! I understand. Next time I won¡¯t look down on the Combatant Form, okay? Please don¡¯t say anymore, I¡¯ve heard this tens of times already.¡±

    Old Du shook his head helplessly, and said, ¡°Naturally, it¡¯s best that Miss can think this way. However, you must know, though the Combatant Form is simple and easy to cultivate, there¡¯s much reason behind it being poprized within the army¡­¡±

    Qiqi grabbed Qianye with one hand and pulled him out of the room, unwilling to hear Old Du dawdle any longer.

    Qianye was dragged by Qiqi all the way to the garden before they stopped. He exhaled surreptitiously. The Concealed Bloodline ability was indeed tough; Old Du¡¯s technique just now was evidently a probing technique specializing in blood vessels and physique, yet he still didn¡¯t discover the dark race blood within his body. It looked like if he tread carefully in the future, any expert below the rank of general or duke would find it hard to discover and expose his secret.

    Qiqi said, ¡°Old Du is always like this. The moment he sees someone sessfully cultivate the Combatant Form, he bes abnormally excited and always starts dawdling endlessly. It¡¯s not that I look down on the Combatant Form; it is said the Combatant Form was created by the Great Ancestor, and is something a Martial Ancestor once cultivated. However, no matter how good it is, once one cultivates to the ninth rank, the energy of the tides will be so great it¡¯s incapable of increasing any further, and one¡¯s body will copse. This isn¡¯t some joke. No matter who it is, sooner orter everyone must switch arts; even Great Marshal Boqian isn¡¯t an exception.¡±

    Speaking to this point, Qiqi moved sideways andtched onto Qianye¡¯s shoulder like they were good brothers. ¡°However, you¡¯re actually able to cultivate to thirty cycles. Not bad, brat! You¡¯re actually a Fighter King! Why would a guy like you hide in that rural Darkblood City as a hunter? Is it because you have some story? Come, let me hear it! Which family¡¯s youngdy did you get pregnant, that you had to hide in some rural and deste ce to avoid disaster?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether he shouldugh or cry. Sometimes, Qiqi¡¯s reasoning was truly far-fetched, making it hard for anyone to withstand.

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes and brow suddenly curved even more, her phoenix eyes turning as charming as a fox as she said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk about your next mission! I¡¯m just about to return to the Qin Continent to participate in the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. This time, the ranking I get from the event will be counted into my points for the sessor exam, so your mission is to apany me in the spring hunt, and protect me well!¡±

    Profound Heaven Spring Hunt? That sounded like hunting. As for ¡°protecting¡±, Qianye directly neglected the Miss¡¯ tendency to use all sorts of improper wording. But when he discovered what Qiqi meant by protectingter, he couldn¡¯t help but have the feeling that he¡¯d been swindled.

    He hesitated for a moment, then remembered he¡¯d never asked whether she had received his letter.

    Qiqi appeared to have noticed Qianye¡¯s hesitation, and said with a smile, ¡°As an additional reward for this mission, why don¡¯t I pick out a suitable Yin Family secret battle technique for you? It¡¯s about time you reced that Combatant Form of yours.¡± Her eyes and brow filled with cajolery.

    Qianye raised his head to see Qiqi¡¯s smile; it was especially bright and beautiful under the afternoon sunlight,pletely unlike the bleakness underneath the moonlight in the water pavilion. His mind couldn¡¯t help but tremble a bit and his heart skipped a beat before he replied, ¡°This is thest mission in your exam, right? Alright, I¡¯ll definitely give it my best.¡±

    That night, Qiqi sent someone to deliver Qianye¡¯s newly fitted equipment, so everything was sent to his little courtyard; a thick pile of materials for the spring hunt was also delivered to him along with everything else. On the very top, there was a copy of a long attendance list.

    Qianye carelessly flipped to a page, and an iparably familiar name cropped out: Song Zining.

 Volume 3 - 47: Profound Heaven Spring Hunt

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 47: Profound Heaven Spring Hunt

    The spring hunt was a traditional social activity for the empire¡¯s nobility, held to show how the Great Qin was founded through martial might and that the nation¡¯s roots were never forgotten. Because hosts, participants, and hunting sites were all different, the event was separated into many divisions.

    The Profound Heaven Spring Hunt Qiqi was about to attend was of the lowest rank, directed solely at aristocrats of the younger generation rank seven and under, including their attendants, who also couldn¡¯t exceed rank seven.

    The spring hunts established specifically for those rank seven and under also included Imperial Garden and Northern Sea, two other grand hunting events. Of these, Northern Sea and Profound Heaven were of the same level, while the Imperial Garden was hosted by the imperial household. Its standards were the highest: the core sessors of the four grand households would all be present, and every aristocratic family would send its direct line of descendants to participate; as forndowning households, besides specific astonishingly talented individuals that received invitations, no one had the qualifications to attend.

    The threshold for the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt wasn¡¯t that high. This time, two grand households marked the very beginning of the attendance list, followed by the Swallow Cloud Zhao and Hignd Song n, seventeen or eighteen lower-middle aristocratic families, and several hundredndowning households.

    Qianye stared at Song Zining¡¯s name for a while, but a wave of irritation suddenly assaulted him. He knew the residual effects of the bloodline promotion had shown up again. After the nine normal blood energies hadbined into one, they became so much stronger that even the golden or purple blood energies were unable to devour them. As a result, they periodically fell into waves of anxiety that actually affected Qianye¡¯s feelings indirectly as well.

    He exhaled lightly, put down the materials, and walked into the quiet room next door to start cultivating the Combatant Form. More origin energy could not only sustain his regr bloodline, it could also faintly restrain the chaotic bloodline movement within his body and allow his blood boil state to be more easily controble.

    Two dayster, a flying goose-level airship that could traverse the continent lifted off from Xichang City, slowly leaving the Evernight Continent behind and entering the boundless void. The airship looked like a multi-story boat, and the main building, reaching up to seven stories, wasposed primarily of blue jade and decorated with auspicious beasts, filled with a hint of ancient appeal.

    At this time, the atmosphere in the top floor of the multi-story boat was tense. Qianye stood in front of the window, appearing to be looking outside, but he wore a gloomy expression and his face was filled with anger. Two young girls dressed in light jackets and draped dresses stood, trembling in fear, in front of him. One held a tray with both hands.

    Sitting on a long couch on the other side, Qiqi smiled like a blossoming flower. She was wearing an imperial nobledy¡¯s traditional garb: wide sleeves, silk girdle, and a gorgeous ck ornament with blue embellishments. If her sitting posture was a little moreposed, she would be the perfect model of a noble woman. However, she reclined against an armrest without the least bit of bearing, her right hand propping her chin up as she sized Qianye up and down.

    ¡°You agreed to protect me!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t agree to wear this kind of thing.¡± Qianye shot a nce at the tray in the young girl¡¯s hand loathingly. That was a set of clothing identical to the clothes and jewelry Qiqi had on. They were women¡¯s clothes!

    Qiqi replied smilingly, ¡°Look here, I had intentionally picked this type of traditional dress. The feature that separates between male and female version is the side at which the sleeves are unbuttoned. The male version has unbuttoned left sleeve, and the female version has unbuttoned right sleeve! It¡¯s not noticeable unless someone pays it close attention. Come on, you only need to wear this for the first day! Once we¡¯ve settled down you don¡¯t need to meet anymore outsiders!¡±

    As it turned out, ording to the rules of the spring hunt, though Qiqi was bringing was bringing many attendants and bodyguards with her, only nine people could form a group after entering the hunting grounds; any people in excess could serve as logistics or hunt alone.

    The spring huntsted a month, of which fifteen days were spent entering deep into the hunting grounds. Qiqi was the first daughter of an aristocratic family, so she certainly couldn¡¯t just mingle about with a crowd of big men. In terms of etiquette, she needed at least one femalepanion to eat and sleep with. As for what Qiqi had reported to the attendance list, that femalepanion was precisely Qianye.

    Qianye was deeply skeptical of this kind of questionable etiquette.

    Qiqi lobbied determinedly, ¡°Look, Aunt Lan is rank eight so she can¡¯t take part in the hunt. These girls are all only rank two or three; entering the core area of the hunting grounds just means sending them to their deaths. You agreed to protect me!¡±

    These days, the effects of Qianye¡¯s overconsumption of blood still hadn¡¯t disappearedpletely, so he felt particrly fidgety and impatient. At this time, he didn¡¯t want to argue with Qiqi anymore, so he turned and walked to the door.

    Qiqi jumped up and grabbed ahold of him, ¡°It¡¯s not like I can be in a tent with other people! If you were to sleep together with me, without mentioning anything else, just my family¡¯s old grandpa would hack you to pieces.¡±

    Qianye retorted: ¡°Me changing into women¡¯s clothes doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll really be a woman. Us sleeping in one tent, how could your family¡¯s old grandpa just not know about it then?¡±

    ¡°Of course he¡¯d know. That¡¯s not a big deal.¡±

    ¡°But you just said he would hack me to pieces.¡±

    Qiqi replied, ¡°He only cares about the Yin Family¡¯s principles and conduct. As long as what¡¯s in the materials and the person that appears in front of everyone is female, then he¡¯ll also act like he doesn¡¯t know.¡±

    Qianye simply didn¡¯t know how to respond. He had also seen the damned materials. Qian Xiaoye! Could it be Qiqi actually thought adding a ¡°xiao¡± character in the middle of his name would make it sound feminine?

    Just like that, the airship slowly sailed through the path of stars above the sky while Qianye was fuming. It reached the middle part of the strategic town Jinzhong at Qin Continent and slowly descended.

    The Profound Heaven Spring Hunt was organized by the regional general and governor of the ce, Duke Wei, and the hunting field was set at the Profound Heaven Mountain Range to the west of Jinzhong. It was said that the ley lines of this mountain region was extraordinary, and that it contained huge deposits of precious minerals. The flow of origin power in this ce was extremely chaotic, which was why all kinds of fearsome beasts and rare or unusual nts appeared in the area. Moreover, Duke Wei would even throw in a bunch of dark race warriors into the hunting field simply to add to the difficulty of the spring hunt.

    The Empire¡¯s spring hunts, regardless of its rank or standard, all emphasized actualbat with real swords and guns. The Western Frontier Spring Hunt, meant for those above rank seven and under Champion rank, involved directly facing other tribes and rebel armies in small-scale military campaigns.

    The Spring Hunt Main Camp had been set up in Duke Wei¡¯s side courtyard at the base of the Profound Heaven Foothills. It was called a side courtyard, but its scale was equivalent to that of a small city. Although over ten aristocratic families and over one hundredndowning households participated every time, even with the addition of attendants and guards that numbered over ten thousand, the side courtyard could easily make amodations for everyone.

    Qiqi led Qianye and a group of attendants and guards at Jinzhong City¡¯s airship base, then switched onto a mini airship and headed towards the Spring Hunt Main Camp. As a core character in the Yin Family¡¯s young generation, Qiqi already had dealings with the children of many aristocratic families; when she had arrived at the Main Camp, there were actually already over ten young aristocrats that had specificallye to the airship base to wee her.

    Qiqi was originally an existence that received the most focus in crowds, but when Qianye appeared behind her, he received countless fiery gazes in just a split second.

    In the end, he put on the same wide-sleeved clothing as Qiqi¡¯s and draped down his half-length ck hair. His face didn¡¯t even need too much makeup. All he did was dressing up the corner of his brows for a bit so that the features that were a little too sharp were mellowed down. The end result was an intoxicating countenance.

    Qianye and Qiqi were almost sharing the same height. Qiqi was feeling especially good today, so her phoenix eyes were curled into exceptionally lovely crescents. However, Qianye¡¯s eyes were incredibly icy. It was as if she was gathering killing intent just by standing there. These young aristocrats was intoxicated by the beautiful sight for a time when they saw the two twin-like girls.

    Anger surged from Qianye¡¯s chest for being looked at with such eyes. The impulse to explode on the spot nudged him.

    Qiqi was pretty good at dealing with such a scene, and she chatted and joked around with both familiar and unfamiliar aristocrats. It wasn¡¯t until the carriage sent from Duke Wei¡¯s side residence had arrived, and Qianye followed Qiqi up the carriage before mming the door hard to cut off the young aristocrats passionate gazes that he said coldly, ¡°I dislike this identity.¡±

    Qiqi immediately said in appeasement, ¡°We¡¯re just showing your face in public at the beginning. It¡¯ll be over after tonight¡¯s feast!¡±

    The carriage moved swiftly along the road and entered the courtyard assigned to the Yin family. It was a big ce with multiple entries at the front and at the back. Not only was it decorated with fake hills, ponds and gardens, there was even a small pool of hot spring at the back. The environment was unspeakably beautiful, quiet and in good taste. The outer courtyard had several rows of single story houses that could fit over hundreds of personal attendants and bodyguards, but Qianye didn¡¯t have an amodation to himself since he was Qiqi¡¯s ¡°femalepanion¡±. He was assigned to live at the room outside the master bedroom.

    Normally, the spring hunt participants would rest for an entire day at the side residence to relieve the fatigue of their long journey. The next day morning, a number of personal attendants and bodyguards would depart to their forward bases at the inner region of Profound Heaven Mountain Range and set up amodations and logistics. The masters themselves leading the team would only depart after everything was done.

    That was why the Duke Wei had invited all participants to a dinner feast, starting off the spring hunt with it.

    Night fell, and the biggest Martial Hall of the side residence was as bright as day. Maids were going back and forth, excellent wine were pouring like spring water, and tasty food filled the tables endlessly until they resembled small hills. The young talents of many aristocratic families were gathered at one ce. Most of the men were dressed in imperial uniform or martial uniform, while the nobledies were dressed in dresses with wide sleeves and ribbons around their waists. When they moved, they looked slim, graceful, charming, gentle, and as beautiful as flowers.

    Even among this many handsome men and prettydies, Qiqi and Qianye were still the focus of many people¡¯s gazes. The duo were dressed in identical attires, but their qualities they exuded were totally different from each other. They were exceptionally eye-catching when they walked between the crowd.

    Qianye followed closely behind Qiqi. He neither averted his eyes nor said a word. The various stares of passion or jealousy were making him really, really ufortable. The core bulk of the hunting team was limited to nine people only, which was why almost all families had chosen rank six and rank seven specialists topose their team. Inparison to those people, Qianye was only at rank five. It made him look especially conspicuous.

    The fact that Miss Qiqi took both men and women to her bed was known far and wide, and so some of these whispering discussions had criticized Qiqi for discovering another new ything and bringing her to the hunting field without any sense of decorum whatsoever. These young aristocrats were not interested in Qianye¡¯s strength in the slightest, however. In private, they talked about his unique ¡°quality¡±, a special quality inside the iciness that was mixed with a strong presence of killing intent. It made them feel so unbelievably excited to the point of trembling.

    Qianye was staring with infinite gloominess at the tip of his feet while listening to Qiqi talking with a few familiar faces from the same province from the topic of tea parties to horse racing, when a dragged out announcement of guests resounded from the main entrance, ¡°Song Zining, seventh young master of the Song Household is here!¡±

    The noisy hall turned silent, and almost everyone¡¯s gazes were trained at the main entrance. A refined and handsome aristocrat apanied by a group of people young men and women entered the dining hall.

    The young man was dressed in light green colored, ancient style wide sleeves clothing. He looked charmingly graceful, and as gentle as jade. The smile he wore constantly in his eyes made everyone felt like they were bathed in spring wind.

    He wore no ornaments whatsoever on his attire, and the only thing that hinted vaguely of luxury was a row of jade buttons on his buttoned jacket. The natural blood jades that looked like they were entangled in smoke were great mediums of origin power and was worth ten thousand gold coins each. An entire set of blood jades with the around the same size and quality like what Song Zining was wearing was practically priceless. The Song Household was the one family had initially started out as a family of traders, and their conduct was the most gentle and friendly out of all four grand households. However, they were also the richest of all four grand households because of it.

    Qianye immediately recognized that this seventh Song young master was his schoolmate back at the Yellow Springs Training Camp after a brief moment of surprise. But although Song Zining¡¯s appearance hadn¡¯t changed much after he became an adult, his temperament now waspletely different from before.

    The surrounding people were all talking quietly about this new talent of the Song household who had risen to fame like aet in the sky. Song Zining¡¯s conduct was extremely low key, and it wasn¡¯t until the Song household had announced the sessor candidate name list that he suddenly appeared in everyone¡¯s eyes. Even the aristocratic families participating in the spring hunt today didn¡¯t have much info on him.

    The second Song Zining had entered the hall, the crowd immediately surged forwards and greeted him warmly. Some people had even used the tiny bit of rtionship they shared with the Song family several hundred years ago as an excuse to get familiar with him.

    Song Zining¡¯s smile was as pleasant as a soft wind during spring; a little warm and intoxicating. Some nobledies were starting to look at him with adoration in their eyes. While walking, he answered to everyone politely and concisely without missing a single person. However, those who observed him closely would notice that there were subtle differences of familiarity. Aristocrats were obviously given more attention thannded gentry, and those people who families were ced near the top and were close to the Song household were granted more of his time and attention.

    These little details sorely tested an aristocrat¡¯s socializing ability. Song Zining showed not only perfect etiquette, but also apleteck of hesitation as he responded fluently to the horde of people in the blink of an eye. It fully disyed his wealth of knowledge and talent as an essential descendant of the Song household, and his performance prompted many seniors at the scene to make imaginary nods in their minds.

    ¡°I hate that guy a lot!¡± Qiqi whispered beside Qianye¡¯s ears. She seemed to know about the puzzlement inside his mind and added, ¡°It¡¯s because I hate the woman beside him a lot.¡±

    It was only then Qianye noticed that Song Zining was followed a several girls behind his back. Among them was Ye Mn. The girls asionally talked with Song Zining with friendly expressions that seemed to hint that their rtionships were umon. The richly dressed Ye Mn stood out among all of them as she followed closely behind Song Zining with a cold and arrogant expression on her face. She never even graced thended gentry and minor aristocrats around her with the corner of her eyes.

    Song Zining saw Qiqi from afar, and he immediately walked towards her with a smile on his face. He strode until he was before Qiqi, but suddenly, his gaze moved past her and stopped right at Qianye¡¯s face. The gentle smile that looked like it would never change suddenly froze just like that.

 Volume 3 - 48: Dinner Feast (long chapter)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 48: Dinner Feast (long chapter)

    Qianye had his head half lowered and his backpletely tensed up in a straight posture. He pretended that everything and everyone around him didn¡¯t exist.

    He was an adolescent back when he had parted ways with Song Zining, and now his height and physique were different from before. Even if he retained a third of his former appearance, he was currently in the guise of a woman. Adding that to the fundamentalistic changes brought by a vampire¡¯s constitution, Qianye simply refused to believe that Song Zining could recognize him at first nce.

    However, Qiqi¡¯s smile had stiffened for a little. Her expression immediately took a turn for the chilly.

    The Song household¡¯s seventh young master never had too good a reputation when it came to women, and there were plenty of rumors about his loose rtionship and womanizing out there. It was already very rude of him to stare nkly at her femalepanion, and worse, Qiqi had been Song Zining¡¯s cousin for more than twenty years. She absolutely didn¡¯t believe that this habitually pretentious bastard would really lose hisposure over a woman. It was obvious that he was doing it to embarrass her.

    It was at this moment a softughter rang from beside them. Ye Mn walked two steps and stood beside Song Zining. Then, she held his sleeves and said in a brisk tone, ¡°What a pretty little thing she is. No wonder my Zining would forget his manners for a second,¡± Although she was praising Qianye, her eyes were staring at Qiqi, ¡°You could pamper such a bright and brilliant little flower in a warm andfortable house, and it still would be a disservice to a beauty like her. You sure aren¡¯t afraid to bring her out here to the open and show her off, Qiqi.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s face immediately turned dark, for the underlying meaning behind Ye Mn¡¯s words was exceptionally insidious. She was literally a hair¡¯s breadth away from using Qiqi of bringing her pet lover to the public. The surrounding people grew excited the moment they noticed that the atmosphere wasn¡¯t right. They were all waiting with bated breath for a good show to happen.

    Although the Yin Family and Song Family were connected by marriage, and Qiqi¡¯s mother was a member of the Song Family herself, the fact that Yin Qiqi and Song Zining didn¡¯t get along well with each other was an open secret. Qiqi never failed to express her disgust towards Song Zining non-stop every time they attended the same setting. However, Song Zining never lost his manners and treated her politely and cordially, even if all the responses he got were mock and ridicule.

    Qiqi was not the kind of person who would just suffer an insult to the face by Ye Mn quietly. She cast a chilly, sideway nce at Ye Mn before saying indifferently, ¡°Since when did a mere woman ofnded gentry have the right to speak first? Have your family taught you no manners at all, peasant?¡±

    Ye Mn¡¯s grip on Song Zining¡¯s sleeve tightened, and her delicate and beautiful face immediately became distorted with anger. It would appear that Qiqi¡¯s tongue was in no way duller than hers. Ye Mn¡¯s background had always been a matter of great taboo to herself, but Qiqi was the type of person who rubbed salt into the part that hurt the most. She made sure that she stepped on Ye Mn¡¯s greatest grievance and regret every time.

    It was only then Song Zining finally recovered himself and stopped Ye Mn from continuing the argument with a raised hand.

    Ye Mn wore a wronged look on her face. When she stared at Song Zining, her usual coolness and arrogance faded into nothingness like melting snow. With a bit of childishness, she said softly to Song Zining, ¡°Zining, she¡­ she humiliated me¡­¡±

    Song Zining looked at her once with eyes that looked as gentle as spring water, and Ye Mn immediately fell silent. One tantrum was fine, but two tantrums meant shecked a sense of propriety. She wasn¡¯t a person who wouldmit such a mistake.

    It was only then Song Zining finally turned to Qiqi and nodded, ¡°Long time no see, Qiqi. How have you been?¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s charming little pair of phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and the shadow of a smile sprung to her lips, ¡°I heard that you¡¯ve gotten busy againtely, seventh cousin. I am sure you¡¯re not as bored as I am while I was staying at that backwater ce called the Evernight Continent. Thankfully though, Xiaoye is by my side,¡± She turned sideways a little and lifted a clump of hair from Qianye¡¯s shoulder, twirling it twice between her fingers.

    ¡°Xiaoye?¡± Song Zining looked slightly startled.

    But Qiqi was looking at Ye Mn beside him. Although Ye Mn did her best to maintain an expressionless face, the burning fury in her eyes couldn¡¯t be suppressed no matter what.

    Qiqi first raised her eyebrows in pretentious ignorance for a second. Then, she put on a look of realization and beganughing, ¡°No, no, it¡¯s not what you think. The ¡®Xiao¡¯ in Xiaoye¡¯s name mean ¡®daybreak¡¯, and the ¡®Ye¡¯ means ¡®evernight¡¯,¡± Upon saying this, Qiqi turned to look at Ye Mn in jubnt mood. Ye Mn¡¯s fury had only worsened upon hearing her exnation. By now she was certain that the reason Qiqi gave her pet lover the name ¡°Ye (evernight)¡± was because it sounded the same as her own surname ¡°Ye (Leaf)¡±. She did it to humiliate her.

    Qiqi blinked her eyes once before she suddenly threw some oil into the frying pan, ¡°Seventh cousin, I can give you Xiaoye if you truly like her! I haven¡¯t used her, you know!¡±

    The second she said this, Qianye immediately sensed the intensity and the number of stares on his person had multiplied by a thousand. He could no longer control his killing intent from leaking out of his body.

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but stare at Qianye a little absent mindedly once more. Qianye continued to stand as stiffly as a pir, and his eyes never looked up once at Song Zining. In reality, he was feeling so irritated that he itched to kick Song Zining in the stomach this instant. Although Qianye was aware that Song Zining didn¡¯t deserve his anger, there was no doubt that this whole thing had started because of him.

    Ye Mn finally could hold herself back no longer. She said coldly, ¡°Miss Qiqi, shouldn¡¯t you show at least some respect to Zining? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re disappointing Lord Tianxing like this?¡±

    Qiqi cast a nce at her and said, ¡°My cousin and I are just talking about family matters, so why are you interrupting our conversation? Lord Tianxing, you say? Are you implying that seventh cousin is so certain that he would win the n lord¡¯s seat that he will speak only in Lord Tianxing¡¯s presence?¡±

    Ye Mn was immediately covered in cold sweat the second Qiqi said this! In fact, most of the listeners who were having a great time watching the verbal sparring unfold turned pale to the point where some members ofnded gentry and small aristocratic families immediately began retreating towards the distance. The conflict for the seat of n lord was not only something they absolutely couldn¡¯t get involved in, it wasn¡¯t even something they could be privy to.

    Ye Mn¡¯s face was deathly pale as great hatred swelled inside her heart. She never imagined that Qiqi would catch a single line and forcefully swing it towards such a dangerous subject.

    Although the Song household¡¯s overall style appeared unusually gentlepared to others, there were no such thing as an amiable war of sessors within all aristocratic families. Its fierceness was not far behind a war of religion, and the level of cruelty and ruthlessness involved needed not be said.

    The fact that Song Zining even managed to squeeze himself among the ranks of sessors was already surprising enough already, and he had never expressed any sort of desire towards the seat of n lord within his family. If he was pushed into that whirlpool because of Ye Mn¡¯s one line, Song Zining¡¯s family might decide to cancel the engagement immediately. That would be an absolute disaster for Ye Mn.

    Ye Mn clenched her fists and pressed her fingernails deep into her own palm, using the pain to quicken the speed of her thoughts. She said solemnly, ¡°Zining had never thought of such a thing. On the other hand, you seemed to be absolutely certain of the Yin Family¡¯s sessor examination, Qiqi, and this spring hunt happens to be the key to your victory. You¡¯d best perform well.¡±

    However, Qiqi gave her a look that was reserved only for idiots before she smiled faintly, ¡°What¡¯s so difficult about a sessor examination? I only need to put a bit of effort to win this whole thing, so why would I care so much about it?¡± The Yin Family¡¯s situation was different from the Song household. Qiqi was now one of the top four sessor candidates and there was no longer any point in feigning indifference at thest stage of the sessor exam.

    Ye Mn clenched her teeth in secret when another idea passed through her mind. She said, ¡°But I thought that someone screwed up huge during the exam and caused the expeditionary forces to suffer tremendous losses. It was a hot topic that many people had heard of!¡±

    Qiqi said nonchntly, ¡°Yeah, the vampires are so bored as ofte that even the descendants of their grand princes are screwing around the remote and deste lower continent for god knows what. I led my army on a surprise attack one time and the elite guard of the Monroe n just happened to show up and stop me. This incident did grow pretty big, but in my opinion it still wasn¡¯t big enough. I¡¯m going to investigate to the end and find out exactly who it was who sold our intel to the vampires. Even if that person happened to be the wife of a household descendant, there¡¯s no way she¡¯s going to escape the Yin Family¡¯s grasp! Don¡¯t you think so too, Miss Ye?¡±

    Ye Mn¡¯s face turned cold, ¡°What do you mean by that? You¡¯d best make it clear!¡±

    Qiqi cast a nce at her and said indifferently, ¡°Make it clear to you? You don¡¯t deserve to hear it!¡± Her words were a merciless p to Ye Mn¡¯s face.

    Qianye, who was pretending to be a pir all this time felt his mind click when he heard this. He could sense that Ye Mn¡¯s heartbeat and blood flow had quickened a little when Qiqi said this. It would appear that the fighting and scheming involved behind the battle of Earth Castle was moreplicated than he imagined, and Ji Yuanjia hadn¡¯t told him everything.

    A bit of killing intent made its way to Qianye¡¯s heart, but Song Zining¡¯s gaze suddenly fell on him once more, causing him toe very close from erupting into a litany of curses. He could only keep his head bowed resolutely.

    ¡°Qiqi, who else would you look up to when the Yin Family is under your control, if your behavior and conduct is this overbearing already?¡± Ye Mn said through gritted teeth.

    Qiqi replied coldly, ¡°No matter what bes of the Yin Family in the future, they will never let a tiny Ye family climb on top of their heads!¡±

    At this point, this corner of the Martial Hall had bepletely silent. The aristocratic families who didn¡¯t dare to get themselves involved earlier had already made their excuses and left, and those who boldly stayed behind to watch the show didn¡¯t even dare to utter a singlement right now. No one had imagined that the two women would draw daggers at each other and tear off all pretences so quickly in the blink of an eye.

    The lost look in Song Zining¡¯s eyes suddenly became reced by an intimidating light, and he was just about to say something when a dragged out announcement rang from the entrance, ¡°Zhao Junhong, the second young master of the Zhao household is here!¡±

    The sharpness in Song Zining¡¯s expression instantly faded away into the usual, spring-like smile he wore. He said, ¡°Junhong doesn¡¯t show up often. We should go and wee him, third cousin.¡±

    Qiqi nodded in agreement walked side by side with Song Zining toward the entrance. By now Ye Mn had calmed herself down, and she nonchntly took two steps backwards and chased Song Zining¡¯s back. However, every time she threw an asional nce at Qiqi, they were filled with hatred and disdain.

    A group of young aristocrats walked up the stairs slowly with a group of revering followers around them. This man looked to be about twenty four to twenty five years old, and he was so handsome that even Song Zining was a shade palerpared to him. He had short, light colored hair and a pair of ck pupils tinged with a bit of purple.

    The moment he showed up, the crowd immediately wagged their tongues spiritedly amongst each other.

    ¡°It actually is the second Zhao young master! He¡¯s as handsome as the rumors say.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve long since heard that all Zhao household descendants were either pretty or handsome. Their good looks are known throughout the whole world. Also, Zhao Junhong was one of the four most outstanding young masters of the young generation!¡±

    A dreamy looking person asked upon hearing this, ¡°I wonder if Sir Junhong has a wife already?¡±

    The person beside him immediatelyughed mockingly, ¡°You think your family is worthy to build a connection with the Zhao household? Stop daydreaming already!¡±

    That person immediately turned red with embarrassment. He replied indignantly, ¡°Nothing¡¯s impossible. All grand households have the tradition of marrying members ofnded gentry into their midst, and I happen to have have a young daughter who¡¯s born smart and peerlessly beautiful. How can you say for sure that Sir Junhong wouldn¡¯t fancy her?¡±

    Another person patted his shoulder kindly and spoke in a regretful tone, ¡°Out of the four grand households, the Zhao household is the only household that never epted anynded gentry into their midst by marriage. They are the proudest of all men and women, and their ability to produce outstanding descendants every generation kept their fame running strong for a thousand years unfailingly. That¡¯s why they have the right to make such a im.¡±

    That person immediately hung his head in silence and dejection.

    Zhao Junhong paused for a brief moment when he passed through the door and took in everything that was happening inside the hall. His subordinates needed no instructions to start blocking off all the people who attempted to gather around him. The man himself walked towards Song Zining and Qiqi on his own ord, and he opened his arms and gave Song Zining a hug, smiling, ¡°Zining, it¡¯s been a long time since the hunting beneath the dam. You¡¯ve gotten stronger since then.¡±

    Song Zining smiled, ¡°I¡¯m still a bit weakerpared to you, Brother Junhong.¡±

    Zhao Junhong shook his head and mocked himself, ¡°It¡¯s a power I earned through meds, Zining. It is not worthy of praise at all! Unlike me, every step of your progress is built firmly without a shred of outside help.¡±

    Song Zining sighed, ¡°You praised me too highly, Brother Junhong. There¡¯s no one who doesn¡¯t know that all four young masters of the Zhao Family are fated to be Champions. Whether or not you used meds doesn¡¯t make a difference at all.¡±

    ¡°That ¡®four young masters¡¯ title is but a joke title. I am sorry to admit that my talents are the worst out of all my brothers.¡±

    Song Zining immediately replied, ¡°Of course not, you¡¯re being too humble, Brother Junhong. If even you consider your talents poor then you won¡¯t find more than a handful of people in this world who would dare call themselves talented.¡±

    The duo just kept exchanging praises to no end.

    Qiqi rolled her eyes once at the side and yelled, ¡°Alright, enough! Are you guys done yet? Keep this up any longer and the sun¡¯s going to rise!¡±

    Zhao Junhong and Song Zining showed no look of regret of whatsoever. They exchanged a smile with each other before they finally stopped the cycle of self humbling and praising others.

    Zhao Junhong greeted Qiqi with a smile and asked, ¡°Long time no see, Qiqi. You¡¯ve gotten even more beautiful than before. I heard that you ran into a little trouble in the lower continent? Is there anything I can do in your service?¡±

    Qiqi immediately looked like a headache had assaulted her and shook her head immediately, ¡°There¡¯s no need! I totally can do this on my own!¡±

    After that, the trio began talking about their families, their friends, the social events they participated and the ns of the future. Slowly, the arrogance ingrained into Zhao Junhong¡¯s bones began to show. Not once he cast a nce to anyone else but Zining, Qiqi and a few other people.

    Suddenly, a series of drumbeat resounded as a middle aged man who projected natural dignity and power walked out from behind a screen while surrounded by his people. He was dressed in the colors of an imperial uniform, and his index and middle finger were adorned with two huge jadeite ornamental rings. The character ¡°Wei¡± was engraved onto the surface of the ring.

    This man was Duke Wei and the organizer of this spring hunt.

    Duke Wei swept his gaze across the entire hall, and Qianye actually felt like he was brushed by lightning when he looked by! He immediately understood that Duke Wei was a most terrifying opponent.

    Qianye immediately withdrew his thoughts and maintained a steady level of energy and blood. He urged the blood energies and ability runes that had long since hid themselves into his heart to hide even deeper, afraid that Duke Wei would figure out his secret. Thankfully, Duke Wei¡¯s gaze had swept past Qianye quickly and without pause just like everyone else. It was only then he let out a sigh of relief.

    It was at this moment a maid carried over a ss of wine, to which Duke Wei held in his hand before announcing loudly, ¡°Everyone here are the future pirs who will support the empire. I am old already, and the infinite way of stars and vast world will eventually be yours. However, the race of the ck blood is as strong as ever, and we need your strength to safeguard the Empire. May the dark races be utterly eradicated from this world one day! Long live the Empire!¡±

    Everyone raised their sses at the same time and cried out in unison, ¡°Long live the Empire!¡±

    When the dinner feast was over, Qianye followed Qiqi to the courtyard before he hesitated in front of Qiqi¡¯s bedroom. But Qiqi pulled him right into her own room and shut the door.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a bath, and you should to! Once you¡¯re done go get some early rest.¡±

    Qiqi pointed at a door at the right side of the entrance hall. After that, she walked inside and went away to take a shower on her own ord. She seemed to be worrying about something and had lost the mood to tease Qianye.

    Qianye also let out a sigh of relief. To his surprise, the master bedroom and the hallway outside had their own independent bathroom and changing room.

    Tonight¡¯s dinner feast was seriously tiring. Qianye went to his bed immediately after he took a shower and fell into deep sleep. Before he sankpletely into his dreams, he was suddenly assaulted by a sense of palpitation that came out of nowhere. It was as if something bad was about to happen.

    To the east and opposite side of the Yin Family¡¯s courtyard where there was a limestone road and two sparse rows of flowers and trees serving as a line of boundary, there was an even bigger courtyard where the Song household was amodated.

    The study inside the courtyard was as bright as day. Song Zining was holding a brush and drawing on a piece of paper. The female portrait he was drawing was roughly done. His movements were unhurried, but his wrist moved like it had an independent will behind it. The thickness, modtion, transition and shade of the brush strokes were ever changing, and the ink drawing came to life in great detail. It was as if the drawn person was about toe out of the painting.

    It was a drawing method thatbined both meticulous brush technique and freehand style. The woman¡¯s posture and attire was drawn strongly and boldly, and although she was holding herself in the simplest standing posture, her presence was shockingly fierce to the point where one could almost feel a biting killing intent prating from the paper. On the other hand, the woman¡¯s face was drawn with thin, mild strokes. It made even the tiny frown between her eyebrows look incredibly lifelike. As it turned out, the woman in the portrait actually looked a little like a crossdressed Qianye.

    Song Zining stood tall as he held his brush. His lips were pursed into a sharp curve. His expression was solemn, and the gentle and modest quality he usually carried himself with werepletely gone. Right now, he looked like an ancient soldier of gods who had drank the blood of countless enemies, and just as dangerous as the biting killing intent prating from the portrait.

    Suddenly, he shook his head and tossed the iplete drawing to a side. He spread out a new piece of nk paper and began drawing once more. It was the same female portrait with the same attire and posture, but the expression and features of the woman¡¯s face differed slightly from the earlier portrait. At first nce, it still looked simr to a crossdressed Qianye.

    There were five or six such discarded sketches on the other side of the table. Every paper was drawn with a woman with slightly differing facial features. Everyone of these women looked slightly simr to Qianye, where the only differences between themy at the eyes, lips and other facial features. If Qianye himself had seen these portraits, he would definitely be shocked to find that the altered features were all ces where he had put on makeup to soften the sharp angles of his face.

    A cold, intimidating light suddenly shed past Song Zining¡¯s eyes, and the sharp aura brimming from his body instantly vanished.

    A person knocked on the study¡¯s door softly, but Song Zining looked like he hadn¡¯t heard it at all. He continued to stare at the drawing paper and hold his brush in silence.

    The door was pushed open gently, and Ye Mn walked into the room. She was holding a tray of teapot and teacups. There was also a stewing mug on top of it. She put the items at the furthest corner of the wide study table before moving behind Song Zining softly and quietly. Then, she watched him draw quietly.

    Suddenly, Song Zining identally made an excessively strong stroke, leaving behind a rather thick ink mark on the paper. He let out a sigh and tossed the wasted sketch to a side.

    It was at this moment Ye Mn¡¯s gentle voice rang, ¡°Zining, do you like this Xiaoye very much?¡±

 Volume 3 - 49: Camp Raid

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 49: Camp Raid

    Song Zining spread open another piece of drawing paper, held his brush and gathered his concentration. Ye Mn smartly kept quiet as she watched him finish and discard yet another drawing.

    Song Zining put down his pen and walked to the table. Ye Mn hurriedly poured him a new cup of tea, to which Song Zining epted before saying gently, ¡°She¡¯s one of Qiqi¡¯s.¡±

    Ye Mn¡¯s hands tightened beneath her sleeves, but her expression didn¡¯t change when she spoke, ¡°Speaking of Qiqi, she is way too disrespectful of you. She iscking in even the smallest of courtesies! I heard that her mother has stood by the second young master¡¯s side¡­¡±

    ¡°Mn,¡± Song Zining expressed a nonmittal hum. As usual, he never expresses a clear standpoint on this subject.

    ¡°Zining, my older cousin Gu Liyu of the Gu Family has ran into a little problemtely. Do you think you can help him? I believe that he¡¯ll be very useful to us in the future if we can win him to our side.¡±

    ¡°Mn,¡± Song Zining nodded without even asking a single question.

    Ye Mn didn¡¯t think that the biggest objective of her visit tonight would be aplished this easily and was surprised for a second. That being said, it shouldn¡¯t be that surprising considering that Song Zining had given her plenty of ess for the past year without asking much questions at all. It was obvious that he trusted her. She herself aware that she had splendidly performed the few tasks the Song household had entrusted to her. She believed that she was deserving of this level of trust.

    But before Ye Mn could get a chance to feel happy about this, she noticed that Song Zining¡¯s gaze had returned to the person inside the portrait. Her face stiffened. Then, she worked hard to rx her facial muscles as she walked to the table and began collecting the discarded sketches, speaking softly, ¡°That Xiaoye must be a lowborn if she is willing to attach herself to Qiqi this way. It¡¯s not really a choice¡­¡±

    Suddenly, Song Zining spoke up, ¡°Of course she had followed Qiqi out of her own choice.¡±

    Ye Mn felt a skip in her heartbeat, but still she maintained her facade and picked up the tidied papers, ¡°Rest early, Zining.¡±

    ¡°Mn.¡±

    Ye Mn gently closed the door of the study before walking to a secluded corner. Then, she suddenly gritted her teeth and tore the two drawing papers into pieces. Choice? Since when did the seventh young master of the Song Household care about a woman¡¯s choice?

    The maid next to her was caught off guard by her actions. She hastily looked around them to make sure that no one was passing by before she crouched onto the ground and picked up all of the torn paper bits. She advised her in a very soft voice, ¡°Miss, it¡¯s just another woman that the young master fancies for the novelty. It¡¯ll pass.¡±

    Ye Mn said coldly, ¡°We don¡¯t even know who that bitch is yet! Qiqi is obviously toying with Song Zining. How should I put this? Zining is too softhearted when family is involved,¡± By now she had recovered herposure, and she left the ce with her maid nonchntly.

    A momentter, Ye Mn¡¯s maid sneakily went out to the outer courtyard. The Song household bodyguards were not the only one who were staying here. There were somended gentry who had attached themselves to the Song household living here as well.

    Song Zining had only brought with him a guard of fifty soldiers and twenty or so personal attendants. As a result, there were several unupied houses at the outer courtyard big enough to fit a hundred people. Therefore, these gentry did all they could to stay at the courtyard. They didn¡¯t care even if they had to stay inside a single room with six or seven other people; they only needed to stay there for one night anyway. The important thing was that they could dere that they had stayed inside the Song household¡¯s courtyard after they returned from the spring hunt. It was a matter of great honor.

    The maid walked into thest room of the eastern area where only three people lived inside. They were all young gentry of foreign surname who had came to stay in this house by asking Ye Mn directly, or asked for an introduction from the Ye family¡¯s elder. It was obvious that the treatment they received were much better than the other dependents.

    Moreover, this room was rtively bigger because it was situated at the highest floor of the house, and it had an extra window that made the room look brighter and more spacious. The room became avable because Ye Mn had forcefully adjusted the Song bodyguards¡¯ amodation arrangements.

    The maid hadn¡¯t stayed for too long. The paper she was holding in her hand had vanished, however.

    The trio surrounded the portrait and was absorbed in a discussion.

    ¡°This is a very troublesome matter. That Xiaoye is Qiqi¡¯s femalepanion and bodyguard, right?¡±

    Another person sneered disdainfully, ¡°What bodyguard? Everyone knows what she¡¯s really there for. We¡¯re all rank six or seven already, and we¡¯ve earned our ranks by war on the battlefield! Capturing this rank five girl will be a piece of cake!¡±

    The third person pondered for a moment, ¡°It¡¯s not safe! Qiqi would kill us if she finds out! The Song household may not even help us if that happens.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re always so cowardly! Risk and reward are two sides of the same coin. If this was easy the Song household would¡¯ve done it themselves, wouldn¡¯t they? We absolutely cannot let such a great opportunity go by. We¡¯re simply fitting the young master¡¯s fancy, that¡¯s all!¡±

    The third person spoke up again, ¡°Alright then! We cannot act now, of course. Every family has a courtyard to themselves, but they are too close to the main building. We will wait until everyone has entered the mountains and set up their camps. The mobilization and arrangements of personnel would definitely be a mess then. We¡¯ll hide ourselves nearby and wait until that girl is alone, or we could just lure her out in the open, knock her out in a single punch and carry her away with her face covered! As long as we act carefully, we shouldn¡¯t leave any traces behind. This matter cannot wait. We shall act by tomorrow night!¡±

    ¡°Heh! Do you think we should tie the girl up first before we deliver her to the young master, or strip her naked and stuff her directly into the young master¡¯s bed sheets?¡±

    ¡°Tsk! Are you blinded by lust or something? Do you seriously think the young master would ept any woman you¡¯ve stripped with your hands?¡±

    ¡°Hehe! I¡¯m just saying it! Plus, that girl looks really hot, you know! My heart itches just looking at her!¡±

    The volume inside the room went down, interrupted only by odd suppressedughters once in a while.

    A momentter, Song Zining weed two personal attendants in his own study.

    The short but sturdy personal attendant called Song Jing reported the maid¡¯s visit to the front yard before he asked with a little bit of concern, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be difficult to justify things to that Yin family miss if they did seed?¡±

    The corner of Song Zining¡¯s mouth curled, and Song Jing immediately shut his own mouth. He couldn¡¯t help butin on the inside that the young master was pampering his future wife a little too much though.

    Song Zining cast yet another nce at the female portrait on the study table. What did Ye Mn mean by this action? There were plenty of ways to get a woman, but she had chosen the crudest method of them all. There was no way she wouldn¡¯t know that the Song household¡¯s reputation would suffer if this incident was revealed. The only way this could be averted was if the person she kidnapped was questionable to begin with, and thus could be used as a solid leverage against Qiqi if she were to fall in Ye Mn¡¯s hands.

    The thin but tough young man called Song Ge next to Song Jing reported to him another matter, ¡°Young master, I¡¯ve acquired Miss Qiqi¡¯s name list from Duke Wei¡¯s residence. That femalepanion of hers is called Qian Xiaoye. She¡¯s a rank five Fighter in a long-range battle position.¡±

    There were at least ten thousand people participating in the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt, so only the data of the members of the families were provided. Naturally, the bodyguards, attendants, concubines and maids were not included in the data. The only reason Qianye was even put on record was because he was one of the nine chosen members in the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team. The data avable on him was simplistic at best.

    Song Zining frowned and muttered softly to himself, ¡°How could this be?¡±

    The two personal attendants exchanged puzzled nces with each other. Song Ge injected another line into the conversation carefully, ¡°Miss Ye seems to be trying to obtain this name list through Captain Qiu too.¡±

    ¡°Dy her. Give her the name list after the spring hunt begins,¡± Then, Song Zining asked, ¡°When was thest time she met Qiqi?¡±

    Song Ge thought for a moment before answering, ¡°Miss Ye had gone to the lower continent a month ago. She had probably encountered Miss Qiqi during Mayor Yuan Zeyu¡¯s dinner feast at Xichang City. As for exactly what happened, I need a little bit of time to investigate it.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Investigate it along with this Qian Xiaoye.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s one of Miss Qiqi¡¯s people. Investigating into her background may rm Miss Qiqi.¡±

    Song Zining said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Let them know about it.¡±

    The next day early in the morning, some teams were already departing towards the inner region of Profound Heaven Mountain Range from Duke Wei¡¯s side residence. The great families had scouted the addresses of the camp since a long time ago, but they only started setting up camp a day before the spring hunt begins for realism and excitement purposes.

    The empire was a nation who experienced war for a thousand years. They demanded realisticbat even in an event like this spring hunt.

    In order to guarantee gains, the hunting zones of aristocratic families and households were kept separate as much as possible just like the actual war zones. The reward and cing of the spring hunt came second to family honor and glory, not to mention that anynded gentry who managed to wow everyone with their performance would be able to rise to the top immediately. Some of thesended gentry were attached to a certain aristocratic family, while others acted independently.

    The Yin Family¡¯s chosen campsite was at a gradual slope at the center of a mountain. It faced towards a valley and a couple of streams, and it was suitably distanced from the mountain range and the forest. It was also not too far away from Duke Wei¡¯s side residence and could be considered an excellent spot.

    The camp was set up in a way that resembled an army camp. Three wooden houses were set up in a triangle at the center of the camp. They were Qiqi¡¯s residence, and possessed the functionality of tacticalmand, kitchen and armory. Four rows of terraced houses made up the four sides of the camp. They functioned not only as the bodyguards and attendants¡¯ residences, but also as defensive structures.

    Ji Yuanjia had came ahead of time to set up camp. Arge majority of the camp had already beenpletely set up, and the only buildings that were done yet were the two half-built tool sheds side by side behind the terraced houses at the northeastern side. There were plenty of things to do when setting up camp, and it was alreadyte afternoon when Qiqi and the rest of her men arrived. When they were more or less done setting up everything, night had long since covered thend.

    Three shadows approached the camp slowly from inside the forest. Their figures were indistinct, and their presences werepletely concealed. It was obvious that they were all experts in covert action. They made their way to a spot not far away from the camp and hid themselves there, carefully observing the activities before them.

    asionally, there would be people busy entering and exiting the camp¡¯s terraced houses, but they were all just servants and attendants. A group of three bodyguards patrolled back and forth around the area, and there were two such groups at the perimeter of the camp. It wasn¡¯t a concentrated watch, but the patrols¡¯ pathing was adjusted so that the main building was perfectly protected. The trio couldn¡¯t help but feel that their task had be a little tricky.

    It didn¡¯t take long before they saw the target of their expedition, Xiaoye!

    Xiaoye had walked out of the main building, and it would appear that she was living together with Qiqi. If this really was the case, then they would probably have to return empty headed today. No matter how good they were at hunting in the wild, they didn¡¯t think that they were skilful enough to intrude the heart of the Yin Family¡¯s campsite.

    They quickly noticed that things had taken a turn for the better however, however. Xiaoye appeared to be busy with something and actually hadn¡¯t called out to any bodyguard or attendant to help her. Instead, she carried arge box on her own and headed to the back of the northeastern terraced houses. The trio adjusted their position and continued their observation. There, they could see two independent tool sheds. One of the tool sheds was built already, but the other one was still missing a roof.

    Xiaoye paced back and forth a couple of times and carried a fewrge boxes into the tool shed. Then, the light inside the tool shed lit up. She actually stayed inside and didn¡¯te out. The trio looked at each other, and they all saw the light of excitement in each other¡¯s eyes. This girl was such apassionate person! She was delivering herself right into theirps!

    That corner of the camp wasn¡¯tpleted yet, and it would appear that no one was staying nearby. The patrolling bodyguards would be missing for almost half an hour before they showed up here again, and it was enough for them to do their work. Right now, what they needed to do was to wait patiently for an opportunity to show up. After that, it was simply a matter of ambushing the girl, grabbing her, and running right away.

    The trio slipped to a spot nearby the building, and they could see Xiaoye¡¯s moving shadow clearly from the window. They waited until the patrolling bodyguards had passed by. Just when they were about to intrude into the camp, they suddenly heard the vague sound of human soundsing from the forest behind them. They were immediately startled. There were no one in that direction, and it was the retreat path they had chosen earlier. So why was there suddenly someone in that area?

    Thankfully, the human sounds gradually faded into nothingness. It was only then the trio rxed once more.

    However, it didn¡¯t take long before the human sounds appeared once more, and this time they were even closer thanst time. It vaguely sounded like someone talking. The group of people came closer, but gradually went away again. It looked like they were moving in arge circle either scouting or searching for something.

    When the human sounds inside the forest vanished once more, one of the trio ground their teeth and said, ¡°We can¡¯t wait any longer. Let¡¯s move now!¡±

    And so the trio leaped out of their hiding spots, climbed across the low wooden fences like ghosts and made their ways towards the small wooden house from a blind spot of the camp. They put a hand each on the door and window of the house, and a small burst of origin power instantly destroyed the bolt of the door. Then, they charged into the house at the same time.

    Qianye was dressed in a ck colored long dress that was almost in the same style as the one he wore during the Martial Hall dinner feast. It was just that the dark embroideries on the clothing was changed from blue to gold color. Therge sleeves was to make moving around easier, and the ribbons of the clothing were pulled up and tied together. Qianye was currently standing in front of a long table that had one third of its space dominated by arge amount of gun and crossbow parts. He looked up and stared at the three intruders who had suddenly entered his room in slight astonishment.

    The trio was dressed in nocturnal light armor, and their faces were hidden behind pieces of cloth. It was obvious that they harbored ill intentions at first nce. What really surprised Qianye however, was that they consisted of one rank seven fighter and two rank six fighters. Did they seriously just intrude the Yin Family¡¯s campsite with this little bit of strength?

    In the trio¡¯s eyes, Xiaoye looked overwhelmed by shock and was at her wit¡¯s end. However, a beauty¡¯s a beauty, and the more afraid she looked the more endearing¡ªor should they say, ravishable¡ªshe appeared.

    The trio thought that force might be unnecessary if this pretty little girl was so easily frightened easily, and so one of them said, ¡°Look, the seventh Song young master has had his eyes on you, so consider today your lucky day! If youe with us obediently and serve the seventh young master well, you may even get a chance to be his concubine. That¡¯s far better than following a woman with no status like Qiqi, am I right? The Song family is a grand household after all!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t tell what expression he was wearing right now, ¡°The seventh Song young master has his eyes on me?¡±

    The trio immediately thought that their invitation was working. In their eyes, Qianye¡¯s expression were tranted as fear and joy, although any expression a pretty little thing wore was pleasing to look at regardless. None of them noticed that the beauty¡¯s tone was a little low, rough, and unlike the sweet and mellow timber of the average girl.

    ¡°Of course! He even drew a lot of your portraits! Soe already, just don¡¯t forget about us brothers after you¡¯ve gotten rich, yeah?¡±

    Another person said, ¡°Yeah! A beauty like you can melt people¡¯s bones with just your eyes, you know? Why would you waste it on being a personal bodyguard?¡±

    The third person of the group took out a rope and a clean, white hand towel. He said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯ll have to put this on just in case.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t describe his current feelings right now, so he simply cracked his fingers and forced a single line from between his teeth, ¡°Song Zining should just die already.¡±

    A bad feeling suddenly assaulted the trio!

    It was night. Human voices rang from the forest where the trio was in earlier again, and suddenly a group of nine people broke into the open. They were all carrying a truck load of equipment, and they looked like they had just been through a war. Their faces looked tired, and their hairs were disheveled. Even the robes were scratched so much that the armor they were wearing underneath were showing.

    The leader of the group was tall, huge, and very awe inspiring. His clothes weren¡¯t damaged, although he was currently enveloped in a faint brown yellow light.

    The Wei Family¡¯s secret art Thousand Mountains was famed far and away, but this man had used it to open a path through the forest and to protect his clothes instead. God knows how manyshes the Wei Family¡¯s olddy was going to throw at his direction if she ever learned about this.

    This youth was none other than Wei Qiyang; the guy who called himself the fancy title Potian (heaven shatterer). When he saw the camp not far away from his position and the huge g with the ¡°Yin¡± character pping above the sky, he couldn¡¯t help butugh loudly, ¡°I¡¯ve finally found it. God damn that took more than half the night!¡±

 Volume 3 - 50: Guests

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 50: Guests

    Wei Potian¡¯s face immediately darkened as he turned around and said angrily, ¡°You useless bastards are the ones who wasted so much of my time on detours! We¡¯ve walked more than half the night away and you¡¯re telling me that we¡¯ve covered only thirty kilometers of distance? Then why the hell do I still keep you with me?!¡±

    The group of people¡ªall of them his personal bodyguards¡ªimmediately agreed with his usation. Of course, no one had the courage to tell young master Wei that he was the one who wanted to experience realbat and headed straight into the dense mountain forest instead of taking the main road. Worse, since he was leading the group the whole night, they had walked over a hundred kilometers in circles inside the forest until now.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and find Qiqi! It¡¯s been a long while since I saw that girl. I am absolutely going to beat her this time and show you all my manly power!¡±

    The Wei Family crowd immediately let out cheers of encouragement and support, injecting Wei Potian¡¯s ego with immense pride and high spirits. No one who apanied young master Wei along this spring hunt were idiots, and no one bothered to mull over the underlying meaning behind Wei Potian¡¯s earlier words either: he had never beaten Qiqi even once.

    The group moved forwards swiftly and arrived at Qiqi¡¯s camp in the blink of an eye. They roared and was about to climb past the fences and charge inside regardless of the fact they were at the back of Qiqi¡¯s camp right now.

    Wei Potian suddenly paused his footsteps and stared at a wooden house at the right side corner of the camp. He said solemnly, ¡°Wait. I sense killing intent inside!¡±

    Some of Wei Potian¡¯s subordinates had greater origin power than him, but they hadn¡¯t detected anything strange as he had imed. Right now Wei Potian was no longer a Broken Winged Angel rookie, and he had quite a bit of battlefield experience under his belt. It was also said that he had learned quite a lot of secret arts. Although his so-called ¡°mountain marching secret technique¡± in the woods earlier had them all half doubting his words, they cooperated all the same and feigned the appearance of full vignce.

    But Wei Potian didn¡¯t notice anything unusual from his subordinates. When he saw that the small wooden house waspletely silent, he immediately sneered out loud and strode towards it.

    Who did they think they could fool¡ªespecially not him, the big man Wei Potian¡ªwith such obvious killing intent?

    There was a sudden bang just as he had shortened the distance between him and the small wooden house to a dozen or steps. Then, a ck thing flew straight towards Wei Potian¡¯s direction.

    Wei Potian caught by surprise, and he hastily small jumped out of the way.

    It was only when that thing had copsed onto the ground that Wei Potian finally noticed that it was in fact, a man. This person waspletely d in nocturnal light armor, and his face was hidden behind a veil of ck cloth. It was obvious that he was no friendly at first nce. However, this suspicious man groaned after he crashed onto the ground and wasn¡¯t able to climb to his feet at all. The bizarre scene caused Wei Potian to hesitate because he had never seen someone feign injury to bait his enemy, not with real, actual injuries at least.

    There was another whoosh, and a second ck dressed man flew out of the wooden house, followed quickly by a third. This third and final person was kicked out of the house, because Wei Potian saw the hem of a skirt and a leg d in army boots shing before his eyes.

    The third person suffered the worst kick of them all, but the distance he flew was also the shortest. The scene where the man hit the ground in a straight line three meters away from the door caused Wei Potian¡¯s eyelid to twitch in rm. There was more to the kick than met the eye, as it focused on instantaneous origin power burst that left no room for the opponent to cancel the force while they were flying backwards. Naturally, the amount of damage dealt was pretty considerable.

    The kick was so powerful, and the scene of the man flying backwards had happened so close to him that Wei Potian himself felt a vague sense of pain around his stomach.

    A murderous, beautiful woman jumped out of the wooden house, nearly skipping her entire way towards the fallen trio before she started kicking the shit out of all of them. The ponytail behind her head danced cheerfully in the air every time the woman sent a flying kick at the trio, and the sound of military boots striking painfully against flesh caused everyone to tremble inwardly.

    By now Wei Potian had already noticed that the three men on lying on the ground were all rank six or seven experts, but it did nothing to change the fact that they were thrashed so horribly that even their mothers wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize them. He made a quick measure in his mind and figured that not even he might be able to beat up these goons exactly as he wished.

    Moreover, Wei Potian¡¯s learned insight from Broken Winged Angels also informed him that this woman was absolutely not just kicking randomly or aimlessly. Every point she struck was a point that could cause the biggest amount of pain. However, no matter how heavy the blows were, they were absolutely not fatal. This also meant that these people weren¡¯t going to die from these wounds, but they were absolutely going to be half dead.

    Regardless of origin power, anyone who learned how to beat up someone to this level were no one to be trifled with.

    Wei Potian¡¯s teeth ache a little at the sight, and he sneakily retreated a few step backwards. It was only now the beautiful woman looked up and pped her thunder-like gaze onto Wei Potian¡¯s face.

    ¡°I, uh¡­ I¡¯m Wei Potian. I¡¯m here to find Miss Qiqi,¡± Before the other party could begin to ask questions, Wei Potian suddenly discarded all of his earlier aggressiveness and reported his true name obediently on his own ord, forgetting even to use the resounding name of Potian.

    Themotion was so huge that the entire camp was in an uproar. Ji Yuanjia and the Yin family guard captain was the first to arrive while the patrol team ran over from the other side of the camp with all their might. They were toote, though. The three intruders had already been beaten so blue and ck they the only thing they could do was groan.

    Soon, Qiqi herself showed up with quick footsteps as she stared first at the three copsed masked men, then at Wei Potian¡¯s group. The sight immediately drew a little surprise from her, ¡°What¡¯s going on, Xiaoye?¡±

    Qianye said through gritted teeth, ¡°Ask them yourself! I¡¯m heading inside first,¡± He turned around and attempted to head into the room after he said this.

    Qiqi cried out from behind him, ¡°This guy here is Marquis Bowang¡¯s son of the Far East Wei n. He¡¯s the one I said I was waiting for, soe out quickly!¡±

    Qianye nodded and entered the wooden house. Then, he mmed the wooden door with a broken chain with a loud bang. It was obvious that his anger hadn¡¯t subsided much at all.

    Qiqi cast a nce at the trio on the floor, and she immediately figured out who they were from their attire. She pointed at the trio and instructed, ¡°Beat them! Break their legs first and ask them what the hell they¡¯re trying to do hereter!¡±

    The tough and stocky-looking bodyguards answered loudly to her calls and was about to walk over to drag the trio away.

    However, the trio had been beaten so badly that their heads were spinning and their courage deted like a balloon. They immediately cried out in a high pitch, ¡°Stop! We¡¯ll tell you everything! Everything!¡±

    Qiqi was caught off guard too. At first, she thought that anyone who dared to assault the Yin family camp at night had to be some tough fellows who wouldn¡¯t confess to anything unless she used some special methods. However, these people were going to confess before she even started beating them.

    That being said, she wasn¡¯t a slow person. She immediately, ¡°I can¡¯t hear you! Drag them down and beat them for an hour before you listen to their confessions!¡±

    The bodyguards immediately pounced on the three unlucky fellows and dragged them away.

    Qiqi cast a calm nce at Wei Potian and said, ¡°Excuse me, it¡¯s my mistake for not training my men well enough that they would allow these three stupid thieves slip into our camp. But look at you, Potian. Did you run into mountain bandits or something along the way?¡±

    Wei Potian and his group did look rather miserable. But he was not a man who gave ground easily, and so he pumped up his chest and said loudly, ¡°Of course not! I just spent a little too much time on the way here and had to rush over a little urgently.¡±

    Qiqi asked curiously, ¡°How long did you walk?¡±

    ¡°Eight, no, six¡­ three hours,¡± Wei Potian nearly blurted out the truth.

    But Qiqi was even more bewildered by his answer, ¡°The spring hunt camp is only tens of kilometers away from this ce, and you¡¯re telling me that you took three hours to walk here? Only a ghost would believe you!¡±

    Wei Potian waved his hand in a grandiose fashion and eximed, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not talk about such trivial things. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯vest met you, we¡¯ve got to fight once and settle our score, yeah? Don¡¯t you cry if you lose this time!¡±

    His subordinates exchanged nces and hidden pushes with each other, but no one dared to remind young master Wei that it was alreadyte into the night and not exactly the best timing to duel in martial arts.

    But Qiqi didn¡¯t mind his untimely offer. She broke into a soft giggle and said, ¡°Yo, someone forgot their own surname after spending for a couple of days in the Broken Winged Angels I see! Sure, why would I turn down a voluntary sandbag? Come in and have a seat first, I¡¯ll send someone to clean up the training field while we chat.¡±

    Wei Potian followed Qiqi into the main building¡¯s living hall and began chatting with her. Despite their appearances, the duo actually shared the same interests and was able to chat quite happily with one another.

    It was at this moment Qianye walked into the hall, pulled over a stool and sat behind Qiqi. Qiqi looked at him with a bit of surprise because the dark look on his face was so deep that she could almost see literal mes of fury bursting from his body.

    Qiqi felt a tiny twinge of guilty conscience. She had used the excuse of weing a friend on her first day and used both the carrot and the stick to force Qianye into wearing this set of clothes. But she never would expect that Wei Potian, who was supposed to meet them around the evening would arrive thiste.

    Right now Qianye was feeling incredibly gloomy. Never in his mind did he imagine that the aristocratic son Qiqi said to have butted into the spring hunt halfway and was missing from the name list would be Wei Potian!

    Qianye sat quietly in the living hall as upright as a statue. His eyes were lowered and staring at the spot just one step away from his feet, but the killing intent that brimming inside his body seemed to cause the very temperature of the living room to fall by several degrees.

    It was at this moment the Yin family guard captain walked in and cast a nce at Wei Potian, hesitating.

    Qiqi immediately said, ¡°Speak. Potian is not a stranger.¡±

    And so the guard captain said, ¡°Miss, those three men had confessed everything.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s eyebrows immediately shot up, ¡°Why so fast? Didn¡¯t I tell you to beat them for an hour before listening to their confession?¡±

    The guard captain hurriedly said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re still being thrashed right this moment! It¡¯s just that they wouldn¡¯t stop screaming and crying to confess everything they know, and we could not stop them from doing just that. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here to report to you what we¡¯ve learned.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s face finally rxed a little, ¡°What did they say?¡±

    The guard captain made sure that his face waspletely and utterly under control before he started, ¡°They said that the seventh Song young master wouldn¡¯t stop drawing Miss Xiaoye¡¯s portrait, so they wanted to slip in and kidnap Qian Xiaoye for their young master and curry favor to him.¡±

    Qiqi immediately took on an extremely weird expression that seemed to suggest that she was holding something back with all her might. She turned around to look at Qianye before continuing, ¡°You¡¯re saying that Song Zining fancies Xiaoye?¡±

    ¡°This seems to be the case ording to their oral confession. I¡¯ve personally verified this multiple times beforeing over.¡±

    Wei Potian was also shocked, ¡°Song Zining? Is hecking in woman? What on earth was he thinking sending someone to the Yin family¡¯s camp to kidnap this¡­ urk!¡±

    Qianye suddenly looked up and cast him a calm nce. The sharp killing intent inside his eyes shut Wei Potian up immediately.

    Qiqi couldn¡¯t help but open her eyes in surprise when she saw their respective expressions. Suddenly, she started giggling, ¡°Potian, you¡¯ve never been this obedient even before the olddy. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve fallen in love with this Xiaoye too?¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Wei Potian hurriedly waved his hands, nearly jumping to his feet like a cat whose tail was stepped. However, he immediately realized that his words could be misunderstood and worked to repair it, ¡°It is true that Miss Xiaoye is extraordinarily beautiful, and her killing intent¡­ ah¡­¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s voice was silenced again by Qianye¡¯s fearsome re.

    Qiqi covered her mouth with her hand. She seriously didn¡¯t dare to break intoughter considering Qianye¡¯s current expression, but Wei Potian¡¯s rare look of cowardice was just too funny.

    It was at this moment Ji Yuanjia walked in and informed that the training field had been readied. Qiqi immediately stood up and stretched herself once. She extended her right hand and summoned misty interweaving blue and white origin power that snaked onto her arm. She then cast a malicious nce at Wei Potian, ¡°My little boy, I know you¡¯re already rank six, and your sister me is still at rank seven. But it should still be enough to teach you a lesson!¡±

 Volume 3 - 51: The Promise Back Then

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 51: The Promise Back Then

    Once he saw the origin power aura Qiqi emitted, Wei Potian immediately felt the approaching danger. He had risen two ranks in a short amount of time, so he felt he could put up a fight, but he never expected Qiqi¡¯s Moonwater Flowing Cloud Art to advance so quickly as well. However, he had already run his mouth, so how could he back off under the gaze of many subordinates? He could only harden his head and follow Qiqi outside and enter the prepared arena.

    Once he entered the arena, Wei Potian¡¯s manner immediately changed. He roared powerfully, ¡°Thousand Mountains!¡±

    An earthen yellow light shone throughout his body. After it covered him entirely, Wei Potian¡¯s aura became heavy, and actually had a sense of mountainous majesty and power.

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes lit up as she praised, ¡°You¡¯ve truly advanced at a godlike speed! Your Thousand Mountains already has some shape. I¡¯m notpletely certain that I will win anymore.¡±

    She said she wasn¡¯t certain, but her attack definitely did not slow down. With one step, she crossed to Wei Potian¡¯s side and lightly tapped on the yellow light barrier. A pale blue patch of light spread out like a ripple in water. Wherever it passed, the yellow light barrier from Thousand Mountains rippled.

    Qiqi¡¯s tap looked unusually soft, but Wei Potian¡¯s mountainous manner actually became slightly unsteady. His body shook. Before he was able to adjust, Qiqi circled lightly around him numerous times. It was like a cloud of fog rising up and even though the mountains were extremely tall, they would still gradually be covered up.

    It was the first time Qianye saw Qiqi fight. Qiqi attacked extremely quickly and her steps were light. The moonwater concept was not discernible within her Moonwater Flowing Cloud Art, but there was a hint of ever changing flowing clouds. Even though her attack seemed light andcked strength, each palm caused Thousand Mountains to shake unsteadily. It was important to note that Wei Potian had once blocked a strike from a Blood Esquire with just rank four origin power at Darkblood City, so Qiqi¡¯s palm definitely produced enormous strength.

    Wei Potian now began to fight back. His attack was slow and his footwork was simple. It looked as if he was striking all over the ce. This was a clever technique that appeared clumsy. After using it, he immediately stabilized the situation. Even though he continued to sway unsteadily from Qiqi¡¯s attacks, his stance had never copsed.

    Since Qianyest fought with Li Yuanjia, he found that inparison with the Combatant Form¡¯s cultivating speed, those secret martial arts¡¯ power weren¡¯t visible. However, when they progressed further, their potential became limitless. Especially when each secret art¡¯s specialty was used. Both sides wouldn¡¯t justpare in the depth of their origin power, maniption of origin power and elemental weaknesses also became important.

    It was simr to the twopeting right now. Qiqi¡¯s attack power wasn¡¯t weak, but she relied more on changing tactics to catch the opponent off guard. If she was against someone with simr strength, she could easily reach an advantageous position and swiftly achieve victory. However, Wei Potian countered Qiqi¡¯s method of fighting. His Thousand Mountains was thick like a turtle shell and wouldn¡¯t easily break apart. His fist was simple and primitive, but held the strength of mountains, so being struck once would be burdensome. Wei Potian was able to remain unfazed no matter how many times he was hit, but if his opponent was struck once, then they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to pick themselves up.

    The two immediately entered into a stalemate. Neither one could take down the other.

    Now, Qiqi could only hope that Wei Potian did not have enough origin power and could not handle the extremely draining Thousand Mountains. She had never thought that after Wei Potian reached rank six, his origin power wouldst more than two times longer. He didn¡¯t even breathe heavily after fighting this long. Evidently, it wasn¡¯t very easy to deplete all of his power.

    Qiqi suddenly jumped away and said, ¡°I¡¯m not fighting anymore! Never being able to break your turtle shell is really boring.¡±

    Wei Potian chuckled and said proudly, ¡°Now you know the power of the Wei n¡¯s secret art right? This secret art is called Thousand Mountains, and just as the name implies, its defense is as thick as mountains¡­¡±

    ¡°Stop! I¡¯ve already heard this hundreds of times!¡± Qiqi immediately interrupted him, or else, Wei Potian could go on for the entire day.

    Qiqi looked around and waved towards the side of the arena as she said, ¡°Xiaoye, Come over and give it a shot!¡±

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t joke around! This guy is only rank five, as a stately lieutenant colonel in the Empire, how could I bully¡­¡±

    Wei Potian wanted to continue and dere that even though he had unparalleled courage, he would never bully weak members of the Empire, but Qianye had already begun to walk towards the arena.

    Qiqiughed as she said, ¡°We don¡¯t even know who the bully is. Do you want to bet on this match? What will you bet?!¡±

    Wei Potian did not have the time to speak before he felt the opposing party¡¯s killing intent soar into the sky, as if he had entered a battlefield and an enormous army would approach in the next moment, so he could only think of quickly escaping and could not bring out his fighting spirit!

    These thoughts frightened Wei Potian himself. He had been met with life or death situations against the dark races more than once, but he had never felt fear! He suddenly regained hisposure. These were signs of beingpletely suppressed in terms of momentum and in a real battle, that would be extremely dangerous! It was good that Bai Longjia had once taught him that no matter what disadvantageous situation he was met with, they all had the same solution and that would be for him to use Thousand Mountains first.

    Thus, Wei Potian did not think much more and like piercing thunder, briefly shouted, ¡°Thousand Mountains!¡±

    Yellow light appeared, steady like a mountain.

    However, Qianye had already began picking up speed and ran over withrge strides. By the time he was at the middle of the arena, there were already thunderous sounds and a straight in punch came hurtling towards the center.

    Wei Potian did not have any other choice at that moment. Raging momentum barreled over, so if he had the intention to avoid battling, he would have never be a soldier. He immediately met the punch with a simple one of his own thrown straight at Qianye!

    The two punches struck fiercely at each other! It resembled spring thunder as sounds of thunder rolled without interruption in the arena. Even the ground shook in its wake!

    Wei Potian¡¯s entire body violently jolted as Thousand Mountains¡¯ light shield rippled and shed. The Thousand Mountains that remained immovable from nearly one hundred of Qiqi¡¯s attacks already began shaking!

    Qianye took another step forward and raised his elbow, jabbing at his opponent¡¯s chest!

    Wei Potian let out a strange cry,pletely unable to strike back. He crossed his arms to protect his head and chest, no longer caring about his face and movingpletely to turtle defense.

    Thunder continued as Qianye¡¯s elbow struck time after time on Thousand Mountain¡¯s light barrier. It was another three consecutive strikes, each one stronger than thest. The second strike already made the barrier violently ripple, so the third strike directly broke through Thousand Mountains!

    Wei Potian screamed before falling backward and heavily hitting the ground. He wanted to pick himself up, but his body suddenly stiffened, no longer able to move because Qianye¡¯s boots pressed upon his throat. When such a vital point was threatened, not mentioning Thousand Mountains, even Ten Thousand Mountains would be useless.

    Wei Potian only felt his throat dry up and his entire body be ice cold. He felt that his opponent truly had the intention to stamp down with their foot.

    Qiqi suddenly rushed over, pushed Qianye back and shouted, ¡°Move over, move over, I got this! I got this!¡± The youngdy virtually jumped on Wei Potian¡¯s body and stomped viciously on it, causing him to cry out continuously.

    The audience immediately went silent. Everyone in Wei Potian¡¯s party turned away and looked around in every direction, pretending they did not see anything. This kind of thing actually hadn¡¯t just happened once. When Wei Potian had challenged Qiqi in the past, he also resorted to every means possible to win, so every time after losing, he would always receive a heavy beating from Qiqi.

    Qiqi jumped around as she excitedly shouted, ¡°Using that turtle shell all the time! Did you think I couldn¡¯t shatter it? I might not be able to, but other people can! Keep using your secret art, where is Thousand Mountains? Where did Thousand Mountains go?¡±

    Qiqi viciously stomped down a few dozen times before she feltforted throughout her body. She covered her mouth as sheughed and said, ¡°Now that feels good!¡±

    She grabbed Qianye who had been standing quietly to the side and asked, ¡°How about you, how do you feel?¡±

    ¡°Very good!¡± Qianye said without expression.

    Wei Potian was still copsed on the ground. Even though he had tough skin and thick flesh, after Qianye broke through his Thousand Mountains, his Origin Power copsed and while he could not conjure up his defense, Qiqi stomped on him. The youngdy stepped on his crotch both intentionally and unintentionally, causing him to suck in a breath of cold air. However, Wei Potian did not disappoint his tough skin and thick flesh name. After his precious treasure had been stepped on, he actually picked himself up as if nothing had happened within half a minute.

    Wei Potian scratched his messy hair and hobbled over to Qianye. He took out something and put it in Qianye¡¯s hands before speaking with great pride, ¡°I lost. This is the wager.¡±

    Qianye expressionlessly raised it up to have a look. It was a silver ne with a thumb-sized square te hanging from the end. An eagle¡¯s head was carved on its surface.

    Qiqi said with surprise, ¡°Hey hey, I brought up the bet!¡±

    Wei Potian rolled his eyes, ¡°The wager obviously goes to whoever won the fight. As the third miss of the Yin Family, you¡¯re actually not embarrassed to steal your subordinate¡¯s things.¡±

    After being bombarded by Wei Potian¡¯s suddenly clever talking, Qiqi¡¯s eyes narrowed in suspicion and stared at the chain without any indication of what she was thinking.

    Wei Potian told Qianye, ¡°This is my keepsake. With that, as long as it¡¯s within my power, I can grant you three favors. It can be any favor.¡±

    Qiqi was stunned. She could obviously tell this was Wei Potian¡¯s personal keepsake. She unconsciously opened her mouth and looked at Wei Potian who had a serious expression on his face. She didn¡¯t know what to say, so she turned to look at Qianye. Thetter¡¯s expression let her immediately decide not to say anything.

    At that moment, one of Wei Potian¡¯s personal guards recovered from their daze and leaned to an imposing and calm young man nearby and quietly said, ¡°Brother Huai, young master doesn¡¯t actually think that person truly is a chick, right?¡±

    The beauty had refined and delicate features that were unclear in gender. They also wore old fashioned clothing, so when they did not speak or move, it truly was difficult to tell what their gender was. However, in thatst battle, their movements were powerful and violent, with a manner that could easily sweep through thousands, so how could there be any femininity?

    The young man answered calmly, ¡°If Lady Qiqi said he is, then he is.¡± Then he looked up towards the other guy and said, ¡°In a little while, after this is done, the responsibility of exining that to the young master will fall to you.¡± The personal guard¡¯s face immediately scrunched up, showing an extremely unsightly expression.

    Qianye lowered his head and looked at the ne withplex emotions. Wei Potian¡¯s words actually already revealed that he had recognized him. It was just that after thinking about how he had once won these three promises, he would think about Shi Yan who had taken him to take the test and Lin Xitang who had once ced high hopes on him.

    Wei Potian was still speaking sincerely at the side, ¡°If you meet with trouble, you have to find me!¡±

    Qiqi finally couldn¡¯t resist any longer and shouted, ¡°Wei Potian, you¡¯re trying to poach my subordinate right in front of me?¡±

    Wei Potian turned around and pulled Qiqi to the side, then used a purposefully lowered, but still ringing voice and said, ¡°Come, let¡¯s talk about business! The spring hunt will start tomorrow, so we should discuss it thoroughly!¡±

    Qiqi nced at the unchanged dark expression on Qianye¡¯s face and immediately decided to change the topic. She reached over and put a hand on Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder, asking, ¡°What is your goal this time?¡±

 Volume 3 - 52: How Could I Be Satisfied With Just Top Three?

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 52: How Could I Be Satisfied With Just Top Three?

    Wei Potian immediately regained high spirits and proudly said, ¡°Grandmother gave me a death order; that I must be within the top three. However, as a lieutenant colonel of the imperial army, how could I, Wei Potian, be satisfied with just top three? A man¡¯s achievement is as grand as his heart!¡±

    Qiqi scornfully responded, ¡°With Zhao Junhong, Song Zining, and I at thispetition, it would be a miracle if you could take top three! Speak more practically!¡±

    She didn¡¯t believe the great madam of the Wei Family would ever give such a death order. The most she could have done was encourage him to ce higher. If Wei Potian hadn¡¯t randomly broken through to rank six, the Wei Family wouldn¡¯t even have let him participate in the spring hunt. The spring hunt and actual battle did not have much difference; many people died each year. Even though core descendants were protected, there was nothing in life that had no ws.

    Wei Potian had been exposed, so he immediately embarrassedly said, ¡°This¡­ doesn¡¯t have to be discussed so thoroughly! Actually this time, I just wanted toe talk to you, can you, hehe¡­ if I¡¯m only fourth, can you give up a rank for me? Anyway, for you, the points within your test wouldn¡¯t vary much from just a couple of ranks.¡±

    Even though Qianye had been engrossed in his own thoughts and did not pay much attention to their conversation, when he heard this, he almost could not believe his ears. Tonight, he finally saw this disy of absent integrity from a man who imed he would shatter the skies with one fist.

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes shed. She heavily pped Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°What did your n¡¯s great madam promise you that made you so excited?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ nothing much.¡±

    ¡°No matter what it is, I want half! Otherwise, there¡¯s no need to discuss any further. If you want to make top three, it¡¯ll only be a dream!¡± Qiqi spoke resolutely.

    Wei Potian¡¯s showed a pained expression, ¡°¡­If you want half then you can have it, sigh!¡±

    Qiqi affectionately held Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°This is what good sisters look like!¡±

    Wei Potian became furious, ¡°Who¡¯s sisters with you?¡±

    ¡°No need to say anything else! Not mentioning sisters, as long as you give me half of what you get, we¡¯ll be best friends!¡± Qiqi heavily pped Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder, sneaking in some origin power, forcing him to the ground with one p.

    Wei Potian almostpletely sunk to the ground, but he didn¡¯t react slowly and jumped up when he struck the ground. He was about to voice his anger when Qiqi pulled him into the living room to discuss how they would split the rewards.

    Originally the Profound Heaven and Northern Sea spring hunts would have many participating descendants fromndowning households. It was the time for grand and aristocratic households to search for new members and for descendants ofndowning households to increase their status.

    Based on tradition, the Zhao and Song household came to Profound Heaven and the Zhang and Bai household went to Northern Sea. For each family, as long as their name was represented, it didn¡¯t matter who came. That was why rumors say that the reason Song Zining of the Song household was able toe to Profound Heaven over so many of his cousins was not because he was strong, but because he was more handsome and thus received the favor of the Song household¡¯s old patriarch.

    In contrast, children sent from aristocratic families would have higher statuses. For example, Qiqi from the Yin Family had already entered the final stage for sessor examination. No matter if she gained the control of the family in the future, she would at least have an important elder position. The young master from the Wei Family came this time because firstly, Wei Potian was still young, so he would ce near the bottom if he went to the Imperial Garden, and secondly, he would be practicing his ability to independently take charge and begin creating his own team.

    In other words, for grand households, the rewards from cing in the spring hunt were not very important. They mostly valued expanding the power of the family and the opportunity to find talents. Thus, every family would have its own goal.

    The great madam of Wei Family did not actually give Wei Potian a target to ce, but he was courageous, so before the spring hunt began, his ambition had already shot through the roof. He gave himself a goal to make third ce and strove for first.

    Making top three would be better than the estimated cing for Wei Potian who was at rank six. If he were able to achieve such ranking, then he would receive significant benefits from the love and indulgence of the Wei Family¡¯s great madam.

    Qiqi had a servant get Wei Potian a hot towel to wipe his face while she leisurely spoke, ¡°Potian, taking half of your gains isn¡¯t actually taking advantage of you. You know how the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt is today. Nangong Wanyun and Kong Yanian both came and none of them hold back anything. To ce top three, I¡¯ve heard that their families already paid a steep price. In addition, they¡¯re both now at rank seven, so you probably can¡¯t take either of them, right?¡±

    Wei Potianughed coldly and proudly said, ¡°That might not be true! Even if I really can¡¯t defeat them, I might not lose. General Bai said this before, unless it is a supreme secret art, rank sevens shouldn¡¯t even think about breaking through my Thousand Mountains.¡±

    Qiqi began tough, ¡°Was the lesson Xiaoye gave you not enough?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ how is this the same!¡± Wei Potian was at a loss for words,pletely unable to argue.

    Qiqi waved her hand and said, ¡°You don¡¯t know Zhao household and Song household¡¯s goal yet right?¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°I came a bitte, so I haven¡¯t had the chance to find out!¡±

    At another courtyard¡¯s dinner party, Zhao Junhong said one sentence in an off handed manner in front of a crowd of youths, ¡°I am the lowest achieving of the four brothers, but since I came, then I should at least take first ce.¡±

    After the dinner party, Yu Mn asked Song Zining what his goal was for the spring hunt. Song Zining spoke mildly, ¡°I have not thought about taking first, taking top three would be good enough.¡±

    From this, Zhao and Song household virtually took two of the top three rankings. With the status of these two households, unless they had extreme confidence, how would they make such a im?

    After that,petition for third would be intense. In reality, spring hunts had always been this way. They begin light and peacefully, but the further along they were, the more violent they became. Thest stage usually became open rivalry fought through hidden means, with each side holding nothing back.

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t seem too stupid and wanted to ally with Qiqi, but the issue was that other families likely also had secret alliances, so the situation still seemed grim.

    However, the surrounding low level hunting grounds of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range had been split very clearly. Only after entering a certain depth in the forest would theye across each other. Each family would change from hunting topeting for power. The Wei Family was thest one scheduled, so the area where they start from was very far from the two major households and upper rank families and to cooperate, they would have to wait until at least the second half of the spring hunt. After concluding their negotiation, Wei Potian did not stay any longer and left right away.

    After Wei Potian left, Qiqi couldn¡¯t hold back her curiosity and immediately took the ne from Qianye to study. Then she put it back on Qianye¡¯s neck and clucked her tongue before she said, ¡°Take good care of it. It is very useful. He¡¯s the heir now, so he amount of resources he can mobilize and his scope of authority is even greater than mine. But wasn¡¯t this guy¡¯s solicitation a little weird?¡±

    Qiqi evidently did not depend on Qianye who had been temperamental all night to respond to her. Then, she suddenly thought of something and asked, ¡°Those three people, what do you n on doing?¡±

    Qianye exposed cold intent and said, ¡°Cripple them, to give Song Zining a warning.¡±

    Qiqi nodded with a smile and said, ¡°Let¡¯s do that!¡±

    Even though it was alreadyte into the night, other than the Yin Family¡¯s camp, it was busy high in sky. If one¡¯s eye was good enough, one would be able to see several enormous airships slowly passing by towards the depths of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range. These airships were all holding soldiers of the dark races and many of these captive dark races would be ced into the Profound Heaven Mountain Range to be hunted by participants of the spring hunt.

    Every year there would be a few dark race soldiers who sessfully escaped into the depths of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range and avoided being hunted. Then they would live for years and slowly grow stronger. This was a major random factor in the spring hunt and it was there for a reason. If the youths went onto the battlefield, the dark races there would not go by their rules and only send soldiers with just the right amount of power for them to ughter. How to escape from a higher ranked enemy was also a necessary lesson to survive.

    On one of the airships, the captain was looking down from a window. His eyes had inhuman vision sharper than hawks. He saw the campground below and even saw the Yin character on a g.

    He had an evil smile as he rubbed the pocket on his uniform. In it was a card with an origin array code that could open a safe in a certain imperial bank. That safe would already be filled with ten thousand imperial gold coins.

    The captain stopped looking down and walked towards the bottom of the ship. The soldier from Duke Wei¡¯s private army guarding at the door of the ship respectfully saluted.

    The captain returned the salutation and said, ¡°I need to go down and see them again and make sure there¡¯s no problem. You have to know that these ck blood bastards have never been peaceful before.¡±

    The soldier from Duke Wei¡¯s private army opened the path and the captain walked down the stairs. The bottom deck waspletely sealed by metal alloy, separating into independent cages that contained all kinds of dark race soldiers. These were all captive dark races from major battles. After a selection process, they all were below rank seven and did not have any extremely strong abilities, very suitable for Profound Heaven Spring Hunt.

    In the dark, pairs of eyes exposed murderous gleams, staring at the captain.

    A few werewolves roared deeply and grabbed at the small crystal embedded in their chest.

    The captain stopped in front of them and said, ¡°If you guys have the guts to take out those things, then you¡¯ll die for sure! Looks like I¡¯ll need to give you guys something more memorable or else you guys will treat my words like wind!¡±

    The captain forcefully pped a button on the outside of the cell and a violent rush of Daybreak origin power sprung up inside the cell, burning many werewolves until they could not stop screaming and fell to the ground. The violent gleams in the eyes of the dark race members immediately weakened significantly and many actually revealed fear.

    The captain walked to the deepest part of the bottom deck. There was a cell here with just one vampire who seemed decadent and malnutritioned. He was sitting peacefully with his head down. He did not move even when the captain walked over.

    The captain took out a whip with spikes all over it and pointed at the vampire before shouting, ¡°You! Stand up and let me see you!¡±

    The vampire obediently stood up and slowly walked to the front of the cell.

    The captain used his body as cover and quietly opened the hand holding the whip. The center of his palm had the three characters ¡°Yin Qiqi¡± and a simple portrait of Qiqi that was well imitated and lifelike.

    The vampire¡¯s eyes shed and nodded almost imperceptibly.

    The captain¡¯s hands rubbed past each other and the words and picture at the center of his palm disappeared. He said with a gruff voice, ¡°Okay, just go back to sitting! Don¡¯t try anything or else I¡¯ll show you what¡¯sing!¡±

    The captain left the bottom deck,shing out with his whip along the way, and then shut the door heavily and locked it from the outside.

    Amander from Duke Wei¡¯s private army was patrolling this area right then and asked, ¡°How is it down there?¡±

    The captain shrugged and said, ¡°Not bad, this batch of ck bloods are pretty docile.¡±

    Themander released a breath and said, ¡°It¡¯s great there¡¯s no problem! In just another hour this goddamn mission will be finished.¡±

    The airship flew towards the depths of the mountains in the night. Not many knew that a rank eight Blood Knight had mixed into the cells and had not been weakened at all.

 Volume 3 - 53: Start

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 53: Start

    On the next day evening, Qiqi¡¯s team stopped at a hillside and made camp.

    This ce was already deep within the Profound Heaven Mountain Range, and only nine members of the Yin Family hunting team were left within the camp. The rest had split up into several squads. One squad would carry supplies with them and head toward the agreed spot to set up a supply dump, whereas another squad would head to thendowning households¡¯ hunting area and enter the hunting grounds as independent participants.

    The rest of the aristocratic families also had nearly the same arrangements: middle troops, logistics, and scouts. It was just like a small scale military expedition.

    Qianye was tidying up his equipment inside his own tent. He had lost his original Eagleshot, but it was a minor issue to Yin Qiqi. The new Eagleshot Qianye had gotten was an enhanced version retweaked and remodeled by the hands of an expert.

    Its origin array had two modes it could switch between. One of the modes cut the normal shooting power by half and reduced it shooting range to six hundred meters. This mode was good for conserving origin power and improving its long term use ability. There were plenty of targets who couldn¡¯t withstand a hit from Eagleshot at all, so those extra power was wasted.

    The other mode enhanced Eagleshot¡¯s shooting range, and its maximum shooting range was increased up to a thousand and two hundred meters. Lastly, the origin array added inside the rifle was of a higher level. It utilized many designs that only a grade five origin gun would use, and thus it was capable of holding even greater berserk origin power. To Qianye who had already reached rank five, this enhanced Eagleshot would only be more powerful in his hands than before.

    Ji Yuanjia¡¯s voice came from outside the tent. He walked inside and saw Qianye equipping an omnidirectional sight onto Eagleshot, and so he asked, ¡°Are you departing tonight?¡±

    Qianye nodded. This was his own request to Qiqi. He was going to leave the main team and operate on his own. Only then would he be able to bring out his abilities to fight in mountains, snipe from a super far range and great mobility to their maximum effectiveness.

    Ji Yuanjia sat down on the opposite side of Qianye and put a box holding military stimnts onto the table and said, ¡°In that case you¡¯ll have to watch your own back. Before the main team arrives at the ck circle, it is best if you avoid entering the other families¡¯ hunting areas by ident.¡±

    The rules of the spring hunt dictated that entering another family¡¯s hunting area was the equivalent of invading another country¡¯s war zone. Whoever did this would immediately draw the other party¡¯s attacks, and while wild beasts could hardly pose a threat to Qianye with his firing range, it was a different matter entirely if he was chased by other hunting teams. The bodyguards who were selected into the hunting teams by aristocratic families were generally at rank six or rank seven, and their strength were absolutely iparable to an average fighter of the same rank. For example, Ji Yuanjia was definitely not the only person who could ignite his eighth node at any time, but had forcefully suppressed his ascension so he could participate in the spring hunt.

    The ck circle represented the highest danger zone, and the zone where dark race soldiers showed up. From this point onwards, every family¡¯s hunting area wouldrgely ovep with one another. Not only would conflicts to snatch prey from each other happen frequently in this ce, tactics such as wounding and even killing unimportant team members, cutting off supplies from the back etc would happen as well. This was the final zone Qianye and Qiqi¡¯s hunting team had agreed to meet at.

    Qianye smiled and gave his word of promise, ¡°I will be careful.¡±

    He had walked out from Yellow Spring Training Camp¡¯s examination alive. He was wary enough of his own kind.

    ¡°I received news that the seventh young master of Song was investigating your background and identity for the past two days.¡± Ji Yuanjia said again.

    Qianye¡¯s hands to a pause as he abruptly looked up to Ji Yuanjia. He saw that the man was also frowning.

    ¡°The Song Household¡¯s hunting area is only one Zhao Family away from us. We will probably cross paths with each other the moment we enter the grade six zones. You absolutely must be careful.¡±

    It was obvious that Ji Yuanjia thought that the matter might have further repercussions.

    The file attached to the back of the Seventeenth Corps¡¯ captain letter of appointment was fake to begin with. After Qianye had escaped from the the fatal ambush Gu Liyuid for him, Ji Yuanjia had guessed some of Qianye¡¯s secrets even though he said nothing about them. Later on, he supplemented Qianye¡¯s credentials to include the province where he was born etc, but there was no telling if they¡¯d made a mistake somewhere in his credentials, especially if someone were to investigate him to the end.

    Plus, the matter of Qian Xiaoye¡± was supposed to be superficial work used to fool the Yin Family elders in the first ce. It was a gamble on themon sense of unrted ordinary people who would either pay no attention at all to one of Qiqi¡¯s many new darlings, or choose not to disclose even if they did notice something amiss. After all, this wasn¡¯t a matter of Qiqi¡¯s reputation alone. Even if the Yin Family might deal with the matter in private once it was over, they still would not be happy to make a matter like this public. Unfortunately, not even Qiqi herself had expected that a variable like Song Zining would be drawn to the matter.

    Regardless of how the outside world criticized the seventh young master of the Song household, he was absolutely not as genial and harmless as he showed himself to be.

    Qianye sent the man away after he had briefly discussed the matter with Ji Yuanjia. Then, he continued to tidy his equipment by choosing his closebat equipment. Twin Flowers was an excellent weapon already, and Qianye took an additional origin power crossbow for himself. While the crossbow was only slightly more than half a meter long, its power wasparable to a rank three gun within thirty meters of range, and it was a fine work to use when assassinating lives soundlessly.

    His backpack became filled with another fifty crossbow bolts, arge caliber firearms sniper rifle, and one hundred sniper bullets. He didn¡¯t bring much of other outdoor equipment with him, and even the food he carried was enough for two days only.

    After night time had arrived, Qianye left the Yin Family camp and headed towards the deeper regions of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range. There were all kinds of wild beasts in this great mountain that spanned over several thousands of kilometers. Sometimes, there would even be some ferocious foreign beasts moving about the area.

    After a day and a night of sleepless march, Qianye figured that he had shaken off the aristocratic family teams by a huge distance. There shouldn¡¯t be many lone hunters who could travel as deeply as he did as well.

    He climbed up a mountain peak and began getting a firm grasp of his surroundings. After he had madebels on his map, he hid a portion of his ammunition and equipment and turned this ce into a mini supply dump. Then, he began to explore the area horizontally.

    Suddenly, a series of urgent hoof sounds rang inside the forest. A two meter tall Armored Bull charged out of the forest towards Qianye with its head lowered. This monster shared about the same size as a wild bull, but it was d from its forehead to the back in tough armor. The unusually tough ones would even growrge bone thorns on their body. The tough armor on its body was a premium material to create armor of main corps.

    Normally, a rank four or five Fighter would be hardpressed to deal with an Armored Bull like this. However, Armored Bulls were amonly seen species in the deep regions of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range.

    Qianye retreated to avoid a direct confrontation before he gathered his strength and charged forward. He curled up and rammed fiercely into the Armored Bull, and he actually knocked the giant beast off bnce, causing it to copse sideways.

    With a bang, Twin Flowers sted a huge hole at the soft spot beneath the Armored Bull¡¯s neck. The Armored Bull copsed and stopped moving after writhing for a few times.

    A tiny light flew out of the corpse¡¯ body and flew straight up to the sky. It was intercepted by an airship circling at high altitude and shot towards the far distance as an origin power light beam. The light beam was then intercepted again by the origin array of another airship, strengthened and shot towards the distance once more.

    After several rys, the transmission was finally delivered to a grand hall inside Duke Wei¡¯s side residence.

    There was a giant-sized origin formation setup inside the grand hall empowered by several hundreds ck crystals. The origin formation shone and drew a hologram table of ranking in the air. The ranking list was a name list of all of the great aristocratic families and independentndowning households. Moreover, the names rolled up and down constantly as the rankings kept changing.

    When the tiny light shot out of the Armored Bull¡¯s corpse had finally been delivered to the origin formation, the number behind the Drinking Horse Yin n¡¯s name jumped up by twenty five points. The Yin Family¡¯s ranking had increased by one ce and jumped up to the thirty-seventh spot because of this.

    An Armored Bull was considered a rank five wild beast. Killing it would give the killer the square of five points. The higher a prey¡¯s ranking was, the more points its killer gets. Moreover, killing a dark race warrior would multiply the points obtained once more.

    Right now, Duke Wei was standing at the grand hall and looking upward at the ranking list. He couldn¡¯t help but nod in satisfaction, stroke his beard and smile faintly as he watched the nimbly fluctuating ranking list. During every yearly summer hunt, he would personally execute the Countless Wonders Art and nt a mark in every living being within the Profound Heaven hunting ground. That was how this swift and fair score ranking list was made.

    Whoever killed the prey would be attributed a certain amount of points. There was no fairer calction than this. Anyone who wanted to rig thepetition would have to fool Duke Wei and the power he wielded first, but then again, how many people were there in the world were capable of doing this? This was not to mention that an expert at that level wouldn¡¯t be senseless enough to do such a thing. Moreover, the summer hunt was the equivalent of an extremely grand social event of the empire¡¯s upper ss. Cheating in the summer hunt would result in a scandal of extreme proportions.

    Although the preparation took an entire month¡¯s time, the second Countless Wonders Art was executed, it could envelop a radius of several thousands kilometers at once. From this one could see just now unfathomably powerful Duke Wei was. Of course, there was no way Duke Wei¡¯s supporters would let go of such an opportunity, and words of tter immediately rolled like tidal waves towards him.

    Duke Wei smiled contentedly. The crowd¡¯s skill in ttering was impressive, hitting just the right spot with every line. Moreover, the Countless Wonders Art was one of the rarest ancient arts in the world, and it was equally famous as Marshal Lin Xitang¡¯s Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery. Therefore, one could not say that the crowd¡¯s tteries were overly ridiculous.

    Right now, most of the names at the top of the ranking belonged tondowning households. This was a normal urrence during the first two days of the hunt because the real aristocratic families were progressing towards the deep regions of Heaven Profound Mountain Range and hadn¡¯t officially begun hunting just yet. Normally, the lone members ofndowning households wouldn¡¯t travel as deep into the mountains. Contrary to the aristocratic families, their main hunting areas were the outskirts of the zone, which was why they had already begun hunting for points already. The first few days were also the best opportunity forndowning household members to present themselves.

    Duke Wei just happened to see the Yin Family¡¯s points increasing by twenty five points at once. He immediately smiled faintly, ¡°Yin Family¡¯s Qiqi is a pretty amazing child. I¡¯m surprised to see that she has charged that deep into the mountains already. It would appear that she has quite the confidence to seed this year!¡±

    Someone immediately echoed his words, ¡°It is said that Yin Qiqi has already taken the lead in the great examination to select the Yin Family¡¯s sessor. Moreover, she was the only person to have mastered the Moonwater Flowing Cloud Art before reaching Champion rank. It would appear that her chances of victory is quite big this time.¡±

    Another person said, ¡°I heard that Qiqi had a wedding engagement with andowning household member since a long time ago. That will be a shame if she really did be the Yin Family¡¯s next generation patriarch.¡±

    Duke Wei nodded slowly and said, ¡°That is true.¡±

    Someone immediately tried to figure out Duke Wei¡¯s intentions and said, ¡°Actually, it is not a bad idea to inform the Yin Family to turn down this wedding engagement, or have another girl rece Yin Qiqi directly. Qiqi¡¯s appearance and martial arts are all top ss. If she does control the Yin Family in the future, she will be a good match for lord duke¡¯s young master.¡±

    Duke Wei stroked his beard and said nothing. He was obviously moved by the suggestion.

    If Yin Qiqi were to be patriarch, then his son would in effect be a member of the Yin Family instead. However, the Yin Family was an upper rank aristocratic family, so it wouldn¡¯t be a smear to his family¡¯s reputation. Moreover, the marriage between a patriarch and the first son of Duke Wei was different from your usual family marriage. The two families of different surnames would be incredibly close with each other.

    The biggest determinant that decided the gap between grand households for an aristocratic family like the Yin Family was theck of top level martial strength. This was especially obvious for the past twenty years with Lin Xitang being the only aristocratic son to ascend as the empire¡¯s new marshal. Duke Wei happened to be person who could fill in the nk of top level martial strength within the Yin Family. The marriage would be an act that benefited both parties.

    While pondering, the Yin Family¡¯s points jumped yet again. This time, it was thirty-six points. The Yin Family progressed by two ces because of this and jumped to the thirty-fourth spot.

    Duke Wei was slightly surprised by this and said, ¡°Has Qiqi run that deep into the mountains already?¡±

 Volume 3 - 54: Stealing Prey

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 54: Stealing Prey

    Duke Wei had once walked through the entire hunting area in order to execute the Countless Wonders Art so he naturally knew which area the rank six wild beasts were at.

    Going by the normal progression, Qiqi and her team should be arriving at that location by tomorrow. However, the march had now been brought forward by a full dozen or so hours. This was not normal. While it was bad for an army to bete to the battlefield, reaching too early wasn¡¯t good news either. It would disrupt the entire army¡¯s formation and logistic support.

    Immediately, someone frowned and said, ¡°Is she packed lightly, or is her team consistpletely of speed-based units? This march seems to be a little reckless.¡±

    Every aristocratic family was allowed only nine people per team. These nine were the only ones whose kills would be counted into the score. The rest of the subordinates were split into two types. The first type was logistics and supplies. This particr unit had strict routes to follow and were restricted to designated points; they were the equivalent of hubs in an army. The transport of supplies between the designated points and the hunting team must bepleted by the hunting team themselves. The second type was independent subordinates that were participating in the hunt. In reality their role was the equivalent of a scout, and they were responsible for delivering information on the other hunting teams¡¯ location, manpower, battle situation and so on. This unit would only start to show its strength after the summer hunt had progressed into the ck circle, and hunting teams were fighting for merits within the same area from one another.

    From this one could see that the nine-man hunting team must not only have great offensive power, but also be capable of functions such as transporting supplies, scouting for information and so on. Therefore, theposition of this team became incredibly important. Normally speaking, a team should have a bnced distribution of professions and be able to resupply themselves continuously and meticulously, while knowing battle situation in the surrounding area of their side¡¯s hunting zone at the same time. Only then would a team be able to survive until the end of the fifteen days long hunting warfare.

    The spring hunt also tested an aristocratic young generation¡¯s overall ability to n and manage.

    During the middle andtter half of the spring hunt, the event would evolve into direct conflict between each families. While the core members of each family would receive protection¡ªfor example, Qiqi and Zhao Junhong wouldn¡¯t kill each other no matter how great the conflict between them¡ªthe same couldn¡¯t be said for the other members of the hunting team. It wasmon for members of the hunting squad to be booted from the spring hunt due to grievous wounds. Even if someone was killed, it was simply a matter ofpensation for losses.

    Therefore, the real interesting and exciting part of the spring hunt was the the middle andtter stage. If Qiqi were to advance prematurely during the early stage, and the distribution of profession of her team was overly unconventional, she would most definitelyck the power to follow upter. What was the use of gaining just half a day¡¯s time?

    However, while Yin Qiqi might have ventured too deeply into the battlefield, the most eye catching team on the list was the Zhao household. The crowd had just finishedmenting about the Yin Family hunting team¡¯s position when they noticed the Swallow Clouds Zhao n rising through the rankings, quickly assuming the number one spot and staying there steadily.

    Some people were disapproving of this and said slowly, ¡°It would seem that the second child of the Zhao Family is impetuous. He iscking in the bearing of a great general!¡±

    But another person countered, ¡°Zhao Junhong is one of the four young masters of the Zhao Family. He may be proud and arrogant, but that doesn¡¯t mean he is without ability. In the entire empire, just how many youth of this generation do you think could match up to him? His method is forceful, square, and honest. He definitely has the bearing of a king.¡±

    Another personughed and said, ¡°Nonsense. The Zhao Family has always been condescending to everyone. Where would you find the distinction you speak of? This Zhao Junhong and his father is literally two peas in a pod.¡±

    When he heard up to this point, even Duke Wei himself could not help but smile a little.

    It was true that Zhao Junhong had his father¡¯s style. The Zhao household¡¯s bloodline was special, and geniuses oftene forth inrge numbers within the family in sessive generations. This also nurtured a proud and aloof behavior in them, which was why the Zhao Family often stood alone among other aristocratic families. They had more vassal forces than allies.

    It was the deep region of Profound Heaven Mountain Range, and Qianye was just standing beside a giant-sized ck tiger. He frowned and looked at the fresh w marks on his right shoulder.

    The tiger¡¯s ws had nearly prated his shoulder armor, and theyer of ck gold threads sandwiched between the folds of the armor had been cut open already. The Yin Family hunter¡¯s uniform he wore was a standardized warrior¡¯s uniform with reinforced armor around the shoulder, chest, stomach and other vital spots. Otherwise, he would most likely be injured already.

    This ck tiger was extremely dangerous. It was a rank six wild beast, and it was among the most dangerous preys in this summer hunt. Qianye had chosen to fight it in close quarters twice in order to figure out his prey¡¯s strength at the fastest possible speed. However, he didn¡¯t know that the beast would possess not only great offensive power but intelligence as well. In the end, Qianye had to use Twin Flowers to finally take it down.

    With the ck tiger¡¯s appearance, Qianye knew that he had entered the high level zone. This was also his nned zone to perform his hunt.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in a hurry to start sweeping forbat merits right away. Instead, he scoured for a few types of herbs between the stones of of the forest and captured a poisonous Silverback Snaketer on. He squeezed out its poison and mixed it together with the herb juice. In the end, it became a pile of herb soil that Qianye plunged his crossbow bolts all in to soak overnight. This way, his crossbow bolts had all be poisonous arrows that would kill instantly.

    Poison was forbidden among the weapons brought into the summer hunt, but the case such as Qianye¡¯s where he gathered the materials and prepared a poison on the spot didn¡¯t fall within the same category. He was ready to use this poison arrows to deal with severalrge-sized rank seven prey such as the Feathered Earth Dragon, the Giant Tusk Elephant, the Forest Boa, and so on.

    The next day passed by without anything out of the ordinary. Qianye had only hunted a couple of rank five prey and left no traces behind. After operating around this area for a time, he was now very familiar with its terrain, nt cover and some wild animals¡¯ behaviors. He was fully utilizing his strength in long distance sniping and no longer put himself into danger.

    He counted the time and figured that the aristocratic family teams had probably arrived in this area as well. Qianye was going to observe their mode of conduct before confirming countermeasures to continue hunting in this area or venture deeper into the woods. If he were to go deeper, he would reach the edge of the ck circle where dark race warriors would appear.

    Right now, at Duke Wei¡¯s ce, the number one spot of the ranking list was still dominated steadily by the Zhao Family. The Song household slowly ascended to the top ten, and the Wei Family was actually just at the 9th spot. Meanwhile, the Yin Family had just entered the top te and was several thousand behinds behind the Zhao Family.

    Another day passed, and the ranking list remained in general what they¡¯d expected it to be. There were exceptions, however. The Yin Family¡¯s ranking was unexpectedly low, and their point gain was a little odd considering the zone they predicted the Yin Family to be in from the prey they hunted right now.

    Duke Wei immediately sent out his personal guards to find out what Yin Qiqi was really doing, but the news that they delivered back left everyone dumbfounded. It was said that Miss Qiqi had been busy tasting all kinds of barbecued meat after hunting several preys as if she wasn¡¯t participating in a summer hunt but a pic. However, this wouldn¡¯t the first time she did something like this. After all, she had fooled around for several months even when she waspeting to stay on her family¡¯s sessor examination¡¯s martial ranking list. It was perfectly normal for her to screw around for several days during the summer hunt.

    The third day quickly arrived, and suddenly there was a long cry in the deep regions of Profound Heaven Mountain Range. Even the ground had started to rumble faintly. A seven meters tall giant tusk elephant ran past as if it had gone insane, and it ran into huge tree along the way. Themotion it caused was massive.

    Behind the giant elephant, Qianye was following its trail from afar. He maintained a safe distance behind the giant elephant and followed it patiently from afar.

    If someone were to pay close attention to the elephant, they would notice that the back of the giant elephant¡¯s ears were nailed with two crossbow bolts. The poison was already causing the giant beast to go insane. Qianye was very confident in the toxin he created. The faster the giant elephant ran, the faster it was going to die. The poison would kill it in another fifteen minutes.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t worried that the poison wouldn¡¯t kill the giant elephant, but he did have to worry about its deathbed attack. That was why he no longer approached it and simply followed its trail from afar. He had already grasped therge caliber firearm sniper rifle in his hands, ready to end the giant elephant when it was nearing its death. While the gun was rtively powerful, it was not enough against the thick skinned giant elephant. It wouldn¡¯t be able to deal a fatal blow, so he could only shoot it multiple times at its vital spot at close range.

    While running, Qianye suddenly felt a shiver and looked towards the other side of the hill. There, a team of people were running towards this direction. At the center of the team was that aristocrat Zhao Junhong.

    They too saw the running giant elephant. Zhao Junhong extended a hand, and his subordinate immediately passed over an origin gun shaped like an old style firearm that waspletely silver in color. Zhao Junhong took aim, and the patterns on the silver gun began to light up.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Qianye cried out.

    The giant elephant had gone mad since a long time ago, and it didn¡¯t notice that a group of people had appeared right before it at all. It simply kept its head low and ran wildly. Zhao Junhong took aim calmly and ignored Qianye¡¯s cries. He pulled the trigger steadily!

    The silver gun resounded with a clear and melodious bang, and its muzzle spat out silver origin mes.

    The giant elephant suddenly let out a terrible cry. Looking from afar, it was as if the elephant had charged head first into a silver ball of light. When it charged out of the light ball, half of its head had beenpletely destroyed. Its gigantic body charged another dozens or so meters due to momentum before finally copsing.

    The gun wasn¡¯t loud, but it was incredibly powerful. Its power had even exceeded Qianye¡¯s enhanced Eagleshotpletely. It would appear that this gun was most definitely at grade five, and it was a special gun that was enhanced and modified by a grand master no less.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was very ugly when he saw a tiny light flying into the air from the giant elephant¡¯s corpse. He had taken more than half of this giant elephant¡¯s life, but Zhao Junhong had taken the final shot in the end.

    Qianye said heavily, ¡°This giant elephant was my prey!¡±

    Zhao Junhong paid him no heed at all as he walked towards the giant elephant¡¯s corpse without leave, ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that ims are made by mouth.¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°It was already going mad from poison and would die in no time. Don¡¯t tell me that the second young master of the Zhao Family is so petty that he would steal even this bit of prey?¡±

    Zhao Junhong said uncaringly, ¡°Steal? What steal? I saw it, and so it is mine.¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Heh, is that so. Thank you for your guidance then.

    Qianye turned around and walked away after hearing this. He knew that there was no reason to talk with a person like Zhao Junhong. There was no reason in the gulf that was their status either.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Zhao Junhong called after Qianye.

    Qianye never turned around, but suddenly he sensed an incredible danger! He immediatelyy down on the ground like lightning, and a burning stream of fire blew past his back right after. It was the trajectory of an origin bullet!

    Qianye exerted strength into his four limbs and bounced forwards like a cannonball before moving horizontally several meters suddenly after hended on the ground. The series of bizarre tactical movements enabled him to dodge yet another origin bullet. Then, Qianye eschewed his flexibility and ran full force in a straight line, instantly putting him out of the origin gun¡¯s shooting range.

    A Zhao household bodyguard stood on the spot in astonishment. The light of origin array hadn¡¯tpletely faded from his muzzle yet.

    He was well versed in guns to begin with, but he didn¡¯t think that his ambush wouldpletely miss his target. The first time Qianye dodged out of the way it was as if he had eyes behind his back. If he were to say that Qianye had just gotten lucky, then thetter dodges he made were almost perfect. In the end, Qianye actually forgo his flexibility and escaped at top speed, causing him to make a misjudgment and didn¡¯t fire a third time.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s face darkened as he let out a snort and scolded, ¡°Trash!¡± he didn¡¯t mind his subordinate ambushing his enemies and wounding them, but it was just in shameful that he missed his shot and allowed Qianye to escape.

    Qianye had already vanished deep into the forest by this point. The bodyguard asked hesitantly, ¡°Young master, should we give chase?¡±

 Volume 3 - 55: Retaliation

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 55: Retaliation

    Zhao Junhong grew even more furious as he countered, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    The other bodyguard at the side hurriedly came out to smooth things over and said, ¡°That guy¡¯s rank may not be high, but his reactions are incredible. He should be a veteran very experienced in mountainbat. It will probably be a waste of time even if we attempt to chase him down. This subordinate believe that it is best if we focus on hunting for points.¡±

    Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t answer immediately. Instead, he recalled the guy¡¯s reactions after he was ambushed. Now that he was thinking carefully, he realized that his opponent¡¯s dodging movements were bizarre and unpredictable, decision-making in a crisis was incredibly urate, and chosenbat tactics were just right for the situation. Even Zhao Junhong himself couldn¡¯t say with certainty that he could lock down his opponent. An opponent like this would be incredibly hard to deal with in aplex and mountainous forest terrain like this. Little bits of difference between ranks weren¡¯t very relevant here.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression turned much uglier when he thought up to this point. However, he swiftly recovered and asked, ¡°Which family does that guy belong to?¡±

    A bodyguard said, ¡°Judging from his clothes, he¡¯s a member of the Yin Family hunting team.¡± He hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°However, this subordinate seems to recall this face during Duke Wei¡¯s dinner feast. Er, I think it was Miss Qiqi¡¯s femalepanion at the time?¡± He himself was confused when he voiced this. That guy just now was absolutely not a woman.

    Zhao Junhong thought for a moment but came up with nothing. He did remember seeing a girl wearing the same clothes as Qiqi during that dinner feast, but he hadn¡¯t paid attention to the other party¡¯s looks at all.

    Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t help but sneer, ¡°That Qiqi! God knows what the hell she¡¯s ying at again!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving forward.¡± Zhao Junhong quickly tossed the matter to the back of his mind. He threw the silver origin gun back to the bodyguard. A mere rank five Fighter was beneath his notice. If his opponent was smart, then he would avoid his hunting zone by miles. At any rate, only the direct descendants of those aristocratic families were in his list of unkibles, and these people numbered only twenty or so. That guy had run into his shooting range himself for no reason, so if he was killed then would be that.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s hunting team spread out widely, leaving behind only two bodyguards by his side. The entire team progressed forwards in an S formation. They nned to hunt down every prey in their way.

    Gunshots rang from time to time as armored bulls, ck tigers, earth dragons, and thorny berserk bears fell in response as the Zhao household¡¯s points also ascended swiftly, pulling further and further away from their rivals. The Zhao household truly deserved to be called a top-ss household. Their equipment was excellent, and every member in the team was using physical origin bullets. This way, they could greatly decrease the amount of origin power spent and increase the longevity of theirbat power.

    Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream broke out after the crack of an origin gun! Before long, another crack followed and ended the scream.

    The moment Zhao Junhong raised his eyebrows, the bodyguard beside him immediately ran towards the direction where the bloodcurdling scream came from. Momentster, he rushed back and said, ¡°A¡¯Jiang found andowning household member acting suspiciously around the area, so he shot and killed him.¡±

    Zhao Junhong let out an ¡®oh¡¯ of understanding and said, ¡°Tell him to clean up the body properly and leave no traces behind. This is just a spring hunt. If we kill too many people, the Zhao household¡¯s reputation may be affected.¡±

    ¡°Got it! A¡¯Jiang is already cleaning up the body. He will be done very soon.¡±

    Zhao Junhong nodded and continued forwards. He pointed at a hill facing the water and said, ¡°We will be camping and resting there today. Let¡¯s head forwards a little more.¡±

    A bodyguard immediately ran out to scout out the location Zhao Junhong had pointed andy down the camp while the rest continued onward. There was still some time before the sky would darken, and they decided to eliminate all of the wild beasts and fierce animals that were tens of kilometers or so around the camp before returning to rest.

    Within a dense forest, the bodyguard named A¡¯Jiang was humming a small tune and kicking a badly damaged corpse into a pit that was had just been dug. At the same time, he scattered quite a bit of drug powder that could attract wild animals. It wouldn¡¯t take long before those wild dogs and wolves that fed on rotten meat would show up and gobble up the corpse to the bone. When that happened, there would be no proof left to show who the killer was.

    How dare andowning household guy not run after seeing him. He totally deserved to die! A¡¯Jiang thought happily to himself.

    He exhaled deeply and rxed. Suddenly, he sensed something and abruptly turned his head! A wild dog crawled out of the forest and stared at the powder-covered corpse while salivating.

    A¡¯Jiang immediately broke into a smile, and said, ¡°Damn, these things sure do appear quickly. It gave me a fright.¡±

    Not far away, Qianye watched his smiling face through his sight and pulled the trigger.

    Eagleshot shook intensely, but this time it was clutched steadily in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    The instant Eagleshot rumbled, A¡¯Jiang immediately broke into a look of shock and tried to dodge out of the way with all his might. A rank seven expert like him already possessed an incredibly astute amount of intuition, so he would instinctively react to dodge out of the way when a gun was aimed and fired at him.

    However, this time Qianye was way too close to him. The two of them were only two hundred meters apart. It was just the right distance for Eagleshot to unleash all of its power.

    A¡¯Jiang barely managed to twist his body sideways before dark red mes burst forth in front of his chest. His armor instantly shattered, and his chest and stomach area immediately became mangled beyond recognition! He let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell on his back, but he hadn¡¯t lost his mobility because of the wound. He was actually able to forcefully endure the pain, flip, and roll on his back before dodging behind a tree.

    By now Qianye was swiftly approaching towards A¡¯Jiang as he leapt into the air and passed by A¡¯Jiang from the side. In his hands, an origin crossbow shed as a steel core arrow surged forwards and prated A¡¯Jiang¡¯s back under the push of both the crossbow¡¯s origin array and bowstring.

    However, only a third of the arrow entered A¡¯Jiang¡¯s body, and even though it entered the flesh, it went only several centimeters deep. Qianye cried out in pity inwardly. The Zhao household really was pretty astounding. The battle armor worn by this bodyguard was actually two full grades tougher than the Yin Family¡¯s standard warrior uniform. No wonder Eagleshot¡¯s full-powered shot could only deal a moderate amount of damage to his enemy.

    A¡¯Jiang also knew that he was in a life-and-death crisis. Suddenly, he grit his teeth, pulled out a syringe, and injected its contentspletely into his thigh. Then, he let out a mad howl and escaped towards the deeper regions of the forest. His speed had actually increased instead of decreasing.

    Qianye shook his head and withdrew Eagleshot and his crossbow. This was the first time he faced a household bodyguard, and they were just as powerful as he expected them to be. Qianye knew that he was lucky this time, since he had concealed himself two hundred meters away before all of this. Otherwise, he might have to spend a huge amount of effort to get close to his enemy undetected judging from his enemy¡¯s reaction before and after he was shot.

    That being said, after being affected by the mixed nt and snake poison Qianye had created and suffering such a grievous injury, he would be useless in this spring hunt even if he was alive. Every hunting team could only have nine members, and they were not allowed to substitute in new members after being forced out of the event midway.

    Qianye swiftly departed and slow-jogged inside the forest towards the camping spot Zhao Junhong had designated. Those two shots to his back hadpletely ignited his anger, and for the past few days Qianye had been engulfed in raging irritation and frustration after he ran into Song Zining and Wei Potian back-to-back. This was just the right moment to vent his depression onto this second Zhao young master .

    Zhao Junhong heard another gunshot from afar and frowned, ¡°Eagleshot? We haven¡¯t equipped ourselves with Eagleshot, have we?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯sing from A¡¯Jiang¡¯s direction. It¡¯s possible that it was the doing of another boldndowning household guy. The rest of the aristocratic families have seen A¡¯Jiang and should know that you are hunting around this area. They would not approach us. Don¡¯t worry, A¡¯Jiang will take care of it.¡±

    Zhao Junhong nodded and cast a nce towards the front. The zone before his eyes was a pine tree forest. Its terrain wasplicated, but it also had wide, open field areas. He could already sense the remnants of Darkness origin power in that ce.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s mouth curled into a smile, and he said, ¡°Finally, we¡¯ve found those ck-blooded bastards. Let¡¯s head over and take a look!¡±

    Every bodyguard including Zhao Junhong himself had entered into a state of alertness. Dark race warriors weren¡¯t wild beasts; they were a lot more dangerous than that. Moreover, a few high-ranking dark race warriors would appear every year during the Profound Heaven Mountain Range spring hunt.

    On the other side of the Zhao household hunting zone was the Song household. Song Zining¡¯s clothes were light and long-sleeved, and he walked at his leisure as if he was on an outing. Even now, he hadn¡¯t entered the zone where rank six wild beasts lurked. Beside him, Ye Mn was anxious, but she couldn¡¯t express the emotion outwardly.

    For this spring hunt, Song Zining had passed the team¡¯smand power to Ye Mn, and he himself had only brought a personal subordinate with him. The rest of the task such as selection of personnel, teamposition, and mobilization were all left under Ye Mn¡¯s power. Therefore, Ye Mn really wanted to perform well in this spring hunt. The better the Song household¡¯s results were, the greater her merit would be. However, while everyone had listened to her instructions, Song Zining was the only person she couldn¡¯tmand.

    This was the first time Song Zining hade to the Profound Heaven Mountain Range. The spring of this mountain area was full of life, and not only was this ce covered in lush nts and wildflowers as luxuriant as paddy fields, it also had all kinds of small animals besides the expected wild beasts. He seemed to have treated this spring hunt as a trip to collect cultural materials, and every day he would leisurely walk through mountains andnds, pausing to look at beautiful sceneries or praise every rare animal they came by. When they were camped and the sky had turned dark, he would hold up a light and either draw or write on his papers. The amount of pen, ink ,and paper he brought alone required a bodyguard to carry.

    Ye Mn was anxious on the inside, but she didn¡¯t dare to hurry Song Zining. Although she had hunted along her surroundings while they marched, she was bogged down by two factors: one, she had to leave behind an adequate amount of bodyguards to Song Zining; and two, this area was low-ranked and thus didn¡¯t possess any prey that was worth high points in the first ce. So, despite her efforts, the Song household¡¯s result still dropped a spot during these two days.

    However, Song Zining consoled her and said that the Song household¡¯s strength would gradually appear once they entered the rank six area. There shouldn¡¯t be any problems maintaining a top three spot in the end of the spring hunt. Even if they weren¡¯t among the top three, being in the top five was also eptable.

    Ye Mn smiled and nodded in agreement. Once she had walked out of Song Zining¡¯s camp, she gathered the bodyguards and instructed coldly, ¡°The surroundings of this camp might not be safe. You will split into two groups and take turns to patrol and clean out every prey in the area. We must not disturb the young master¡¯s rest, do you understand?¡±

    Of course the Song household bodyguards understood. She was telling them to hunt overnight and replenish the loss in marks caused by Song Zining¡¯s leisurely activities.

    Ye Mn herself was armed to the teeth as she walked into the night behind the camp. It was only when there was no one around her that she suddenly erupted and cut down a Saber-toothed Wild Boar. Then, she shed and hacked at the boar madly to the point where it was almost indistinguishable from meat paste!

    It was only after she vented that the anger within her chest subsided just a little. She mumbled to herself hatefully, ¡°Fifth ce is eptable? Hehehe, hahaha!¡±

    Since the Song household¡¯s ancestor was prejudiced, the bodyguards given to Song Zining were all between middle to top rank. They were not weaker than Zhao Junhong¡¯s men. With such strength in their team, the only downside was that someone in the Zhao household would most likely gossip behind their backs. If she¡¯d only obtained the third spot, then she would be lucky if her performance review turned out to meet expectations. If they really dropped to the fifth, then the criticism behind her back would surge towards her from all directions. The Song household¡¯s ancestor¡¯s evaluation of her would definitely fall off by a lot as well.

    It was only when it was almost daylight that Ye Mn carried her weary and sweaty body back to the camp. She slept the moment she hit the ground. There were only two hours left before the scheduled departure time, and she had to catch every moment to rest. There was still a day of hunting today.

    The light in Song Zining¡¯s camp had also been lit for the entire night.

    This seventh young master had stared at the nk papersid before his table for an entire night, and it was only during daybreak that he moved his brush and drew nine portraits in one go.

    On the left side was Qianye without his makeup. The rest of the portraits however, described a young boy slowly growing into a teenager. In the end, an underripe, childish-looking but also handsome man stood tall in the portrait. However, the leftmost and rightmost portraits only resembled one another to a small degree.

    ¡°What on earth happened?¡±

    Song Zining extended a hand andy it on the paper. A sh of origin powerter, a half transparent mist swept across the table. The drawing paper hadpletely vanished, leaving behind only a pile of thin, gray dust.

 Volume 3 - 56: Hunting Expedition

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 56: Hunting Expedition

    Song Zining looked up straight at the originmp hanging beneath the roof of the tent. The ring light seemed to have no effect on his eyes at all. A tiny, stubborn figure seemed to appear within its bright yellow halo. It was Qianye.

    After leaving the Yellow Spring Training Cramp, Song Zining never saw Qianye again. He didn¡¯t think that the next time he heard of Lin Qianye would be from Red Scorpion¡¯s casualty report!

    Back then Song Zining hadn¡¯t returned to his family for long, and he was also embroiled in the treacherous dispute of sessors at that moment. He was too busy looking out for himself at that moment and only had the spare energy to inquire about the past more than half a yearter. However, he discovered that the iron curtains behind the scenes were as thick as an eternal night that would never see the light of dawn.

    However, it was during this time Song Zining saw the person beside Qiqi. Even though his height and body shape was alreadypletely different, even if his countenance and temperament were only somewhat simr, he felt as if Qianye was standing right in front of him.

    Still, something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    The ancient secret art Song Zining practiced could peer right into the essence of all things. The portrait he drew were calctions to deduce Qianye¡¯s true appearance after his makeup was removed, and the appearance after he grew up. However, he had obtained a specious conclusion instead. Of all the connection between these two person, half of it conclusively proved that they were the same person, but the other half also conclusively proved that they were not the same person.

    Last night, Song Zining¡¯s personal subordinate had delivered him that person¡¯s background data. Qian Xiaoye, also known as Qianye was born in South Jiang Hundred Market Province. His parents weremoners who worked as peddlers, and they had arrived at the Evernight Continent twelve years ago. Both of them were killed during an assault on a human settlement, and Qianye was adopted by a military officer and a hunter in session. Later on, he joined the hunter¡¯s guild and was recruited by the Yin Family during a mission announcement.

    All of these data seemed reasonable, fair, and perfectly clean. However, in Song Zining¡¯s eyes it was so reasonable that it was abnormal.

    The sun was almost up. In the upper continents, the four seasons rotated in session with clearly defined moments of day and night. A hint of sunrise was already showing from a peak at the horizon. Song Zining, who hadn¡¯t slept for the entire night, walked out of his tent and stretched his body. He could see that Ye Mn was sleeping with her clothes on in the tent next door. Even her hair was a little disheveled. It was obvious that she had tired herself quite badlyst night.

    Song Zining wore a mysterious smile on his face when she saw her. However, there was no smile in his eyes at all.

    At a different direction, beastial roars and a man¡¯s roar that was even louder than a beast¡¯s asionally resounded from the forest.

    Right now Wei Potian was roaring as loudly as dry thunder as he battled against a Steel Armored Brown Bear. This was a big fellow of at least thousands kilograms of weight. Not even a rank five Fighter could take a single p from this beast head on. Right now Wei Potian¡¯s body was enveloped in yellow light as he wielded Thousand Mountains and shed in close quarters against this rank seven brown bear.

    Bits of dazzling light would sh from his fist every time he punched. His punches were as heavy as mountains, beating down on the thick skinned brown bear so hard that it roared madly in response. Wei Potian himself felt blood rushing to his head as he suddenly let out a roar and pounced towards the bear. He gripped the bear¡¯s head with a pair of steely arms and tightened harder and harder.

    The brown bear struggled at its deathbed, pping and scratching at Wei Potian¡¯s body with all his might. Thousand Mountains¡¯ light flickered under the attack, and the Wei Family¡¯s refined battle armor were cut apartyer afteryer as well. In the end, many deep and shallow bloody wounds were left on Wei Potian¡¯s body!

    There were rank seven experts among the Wei Family bodyguards, but they had no choice but to stand at the perimeter and watch the battle. They felt as anxious as if they were on fire, but they didn¡¯t dare to aid Wei Potian recklessly. Previously, they had already suffered a tongueshing for trying to interfere, and now the one man and one beast¡¯s battle had reached a critical point. They absolute didn¡¯t dare to distract Wei Potian from his battle. This was the Wei Family son¡¯s heroic battle.

    Wei Potian let out let out an earthshaking roar, and his hands tightened twice around the brown bear¡¯s neck. Its neck broke under his arms, and finally the ferocious beast slowly copsed to the ground.

    Wei Potian relinquished his grip and felt impossibly satisfied on the inside. He let out a few dumbughs and was just about to take a pose to disy the masculine might of an empire middle ranking officer when he identally pulled his wounds and felt pain shooting all over his body! He couldn¡¯t help but let out a piteous cry!

    The bodyguards hurriedly rushed forwards andy Wei Potian on the ground. The medics gave him treatment, and the water feeders fed him water. It was a busy mess. When Thousand Mountains faded the son of Wei began screaming like he had walked into a ughterhouse. The wounds weren¡¯t severe, but they were sufficiently painful that he suffered terribly even though his skin was as thick as the brown bear¡¯s.

    After this battle, Wei Potian would have to rest for at least a day or two. The Wei Family had just surfed their way into third ce, and after this battle their ranking would definitely fall off by a lot. However, this wasn¡¯t something that he needed to pay attention to at the moment.

    By now, Qiqi had also entered the rank six zone already. No matter how negligent she was with her duties, she was still a bit faster than Song Zining. Her teammatesplemented each other well, and her supplies were ample. It was aposition that was good at disying strength during thete stages. Therefore, there were still plenty of people who thought well of Qiqi¡¯s chances behind the scenes.

    And so, a day passed just like that.

    Speaking of which, Zhao Junhong¡¯s feelings was unexpectedly the worst out of all hunting teams despite leading way ahead in points.

    By now A¡¯Jiang was already unconscious inside the camp. After he struggled his way back into the camp, he had copsed instantly the second he rxed.

    While there were people who were well versed in battlefield first aid among Zhao Junhong¡¯s bodyguards, they didn¡¯t have any good ways to deal with Qianye¡¯s specialposite toxin. The general use antidote had temporarily preserved A¡¯Jiang¡¯s life, but it wasn¡¯t possible toplete clean his body of toxin and restore his strength in a day or two. They werecking the professional tools necessary for the treatment on the battlefield too.

    Zhao Junhong frowned and asked after listening to the report, ¡°So he cannot participate in the huntingter?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he must be sent back immediately. If he cannot be treated properly in three days, his life will be in danger.¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s face grew darker and darker. He nodded and said, ¡°Take him back to the base and return immediately. Arrange someone in the base to deliver him to Duke Wei¡¯s side house. He will be cured once he¡¯s sent there.¡±

    His bodyguard responded in acknowledgement and went to arrange the matter.

    Zhao Junhong exhaled deeply, but his feelings were exceptionally horrid. With A¡¯Jiang gone, not only this meant that his hunting team would permanently lose a manpower in his team, the bodyguard responsible for delivering A¡¯Jiang back to the base would take a minimum of two days to return. The efficiency of his hunting would fall off again during this two days.

    Zhao Junhong wasn¡¯t worried about the other aristocratic families. In his eyes, Song Zining and Yin Qiqi were the only ones worth paying attention too. He had not paid heed to either Nangong Wanyun or Kong Yanian.

    The reason for this was because he couldn¡¯t see through Song Zining at all, and the strength of the Song household bodyguards sent to aid him could be said to be overqualified for someone of Song Zining¡¯s ranking within his family. Meanwhile, Yin Qiqi¡¯s individual martial strength had improved at a tremendous rate for the past two years, and since she was participating in the sessor exam, her hunting team was all made up of direct line of descent. She was not like he or Song Zining. While they possessed personal subordinates among the family bodyguards they brought with them, not all of them were on their side. This little bit of difference might cause a problem during the final stage where it was a free-for-all.

    However, right now the situation was only slightly worrisome since it would probably be difficult to gain too big of a point lead with their current circumstances. Right now it was way too early to say that someone might threaten the Zhao household¡¯s position.

    Although it was deep in the night, gunshots and the sounds of explosions still asionally rang within Profound Heaven Mountain Range. Plenty of people¡ªespecially thendowning household members operating at the outskirts¡ªwere hurrying to harvest as many prey as they could. There was a finite number of prey beneath rank five, and a huge majority of them were expected be harvested fully in just a few days time. When that happened, they would have to risk entering the high rank zone where no one could say for sure what they might encounter. Therefore, the results of the first few days became exceptionally important.

    Right now Qianye was lying on top of arge tree branch and chewing at a leaf. He was looking up at the giant, round moon that had taken up a small part of the night sky. It was said that there was a world on the moon too, but it was unknown who exactly had actually been there before.

    Right now, Qianye¡¯s heart was still burning with unrelenting mes. It had never subsided, and he couldn¡¯t even sleep in peace until this me had been extinguished. He was thinking about ways to deal with Zhao Junhong, outlining many methods before refuting them all. Even if Zhao Junhong had temporarily lost two of its subordinates, he still possessed top ss strength. He wasn¡¯t someone whom he could resist alone.

    Qianye closed his eyes and worked hard to feel the night wind of the Qin Continent that waspletely different from Evernight Continent¡¯s. It was slightly warm and filled with the clear and vast smell or grass and trees. asionally, the stench of wild beasts were mingled in the air, a reminder to all people that this lively world wasn¡¯t as harmless as it seemed.

    He slowly recalled his findings bit by bit after tracking and observing Zhao Junhong for more than half a day. Suddenly, a detail that he nearly missed appeared to him and cut across the proverbial night sky like lightning!

    Qianye immediately jumped to his feet and began travelling swiftly under the night sky, observing the surrounding terrain. His movements were as quick as a ghost, and a single leap took him a dozen or so meters away in an instant. He passed through the forest like a ghost. This way, Qianye used only a single night¡¯s time to tread through all the areas that other people might take three or four days to cover on foot.

    In the early morning, Zhao Junhong woke up from his dreams, washed himself, and ate breakfast before starting yet a new day of hunting.

    Qianye was sitting amidst a pile of rubble at the mountain peak, overlooking the entire valley from above. Almost a thousand meters away, Zhao Junhong¡¯s group was slowly walking towards his direction. His bodyguards were spread out far apart with ten meters of distance between each other. They were walking forwards along the valley. This ce was the nest of a group of earth dragons, and they were worth a lot of points.

    Qianye withdrew all of his aura and had even d himself in camouge. He looked no different from the other rocks in the pile of rubble at all if someone were to look over from afar.

    Suddenly, a roar that was like a thunderp shattered the silence of the valley, followed by rumblings on the ground. A rank seven earth dragon rushed out of its nest and pounced straight at Zhao Junhong while leading several rank five and six earth dragons behind him. This type of earth dragon was shaped like lizards, but was several hundred times bigger than the original. Its body was over a dozen or so meters long. Its movements were as swift as the wind, and its strength was formidable. The scale covering its body was also incredibly tough.

    Zhao Junhong calmly raised his guns and half crouched on the ground. It was only when the earth dragon had entered a hundred meters of radius that the muzzle abruptly shed with silver light!

    The earth dragon suddenly let out a pained cry. Its upper jaw had almost beenpletely blown away by a single shot! The intense pain triggered its wild impulse as it continued to charge madly towards Zhao Junhong. However, the silver gun shot twice more in a row, opening a hole each at its forehead and its back!

    Qianye calcted Zhao Junhong¡¯s shooting range, speed and origin power strength inwardly. As expected, that terrifyingly powerful silver gun was a fully automatic origin gun.

    By now, the bodyguards were also shooting at the earth dragons. The smaller earth dragons were shot repeatedly. Two rank five earth dragons had copsed on the spot, but the rank six or seven earth dragons had incredible vitality. They turned tail and ran without ever slowing down at all.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s face was a little pale after he had opened fire three times in a row. In just a moment of inhtion, that rank seven earth dragon on the verge of death had already escaped more than a hundred meters away. That was beyond Zhao Junhong¡¯s absolute shooting range already, and so he broke after the beast. With his swift movements, it wouldn¡¯t take too long before he caught up with it.

    However, Zhao Junhong had just taken his first steps when he suddenly heard a rumble from afar that sounded like a thunder in summer! It was the timber of Eagleshot!

    In Zhao Junhong¡¯s vision, a dark red light traveled with impossible speed from almost a thousand meters away to hit the sides of the escaping earth dragon, destroying the remaining half of its head!

 Volume 3 - 57: Reverse Hunt

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 57: Reverse Hunt

    A bit of light flew out of the corpse and headed straight up to the sky. Momentster, the Yin Family¡¯s points at the ranking list at Duke Wei¡¯s side house jumped up a great degree and entered the top twenty.

    Duke Wei happened to be enjoying tea right now, and when he saw the change in the ranking list he nodded and said, ¡°That girl¡¯s finally willing to do some real work.¡±

    However, the manager beside him moved closer with an odd look on his face and whispered, ¡°I just received news that Miss Qiqi is still asleep at this time.¡±

    Duke Wei nearly spat out the tea in his mouth. He turned to look at the time, and the gold-ted clock hand was already pointing at nine o¡¯clock. How was she still sleeping at such a time? This was a spring hunt, not a spring outing!

    Duke Wei¡¯s face darkened as he said, ¡°What¡¯s with this point then?¡±

    ¡°Sir Duke, the Yin Family hunting team is missing a bodyguard in their main team right now. This bodyguard had ventured deep into the zone above rank six. This may be his achievement.¡±

    When Duke Wei heard that it was a bodyguard who did it, he instantly lost interest, waved a hand, and said nothing any longer.

    Right now, Zhao Junhong had paused his footsteps and cast a nce at the direction where the origin bullet hade from. He forced a line out of the gaps of his teeth, ¡°It¡¯s that guy!¡±

    Qianye decided that he might as well show up. He propped Eagleshot in position, loaded a bullet, umted power and took aim all in one go. He calmly headshotted a severely wounded rank six earth dragon. Then, he withdrew his gun, stood up and walked away.

    Zhao Junhong was extremely furious, and he could no longer be bothered by the remaining earth dragons. He yelled out in a stern voice, ¡°Chase him! Kill him!¡±

    Several bodyguards immediately charged towards the top of the mountain at full speed. In the blink of an eye, they had already traversed over a thousand meters of distance. However, the fastest guy who had just stood on top of the mountain suddenly let out a surprised cry! That was because Qianye was kneeling just two hundred meters away, moving his muzzle slightly and aiming at him!

    The bodyguard¡¯s reaction was definitely swift. In a nce, he determined the trajectory of Qianye¡¯s muzzle movements and immediately sidestepped to the right side. However, to his surprise he felt something odd where his footnded, and this time he could no longer afford another reaction in time. A terrific explosion suddenly happened beneath his feet, and a tremendous energy threw him into the air.

    While the bodyguard was spinning in midair, a thought shed across his mind, ¡°Shit!¡±

    Eagleshot rang once more, and this time the dark red origin bullet appeared extraordinarily thick and huge. A bloody red light erupted from the bodyguard¡¯s body. Under the multiplicative effects of Heavy Caliber and urate Shooting, his chest armor shattered upon impact and an arm flew away from his torso. Meanwhile, the bodyguard himself was sted a dozen or so meters into the air before he rolled down the hill.

    The rest of the bodyguards were about to reach the mountain peak as well. They were immediately met with a terrific explosion to which theyy down and avoided immediately. Meanwhile, Qianye had already leaped to his feet and swiftly retreated into the forest. He calmly left far away from the scene.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s face was ashen. He never imagined that a mere bodyguard would dare go up against him! Although this wasn¡¯t against the rules, and every family were definitely going to fight each other in a battle royale once thete stage of the spring hunt began, things totally shouldn¡¯t have turned out this way!

    In the mind of the Zhao household¡¯s second young master, that battle royale should be the battle and standoff between hunting teams, and those few who had the qualification to challenge him shouldn¡¯t number more than a few people in the entire hunting field. This rank five guy shouldn¡¯t show up in this list at all!

    What diforted him the most was that they failed to kill or capture him even after they had been offended so. Right now Zhao Junhong felt as if he had been pped right in front of a crowd!

    However, there was no way such an embarrassing matter could be covered up. Zhao Junhong knew that every aristocratic family¡¯s hunting team was followed by a concealed expert nearby. One one hand, their purpose was to observe the process of the spring hunt and prevent any possible cheating. On the other, they could appear and protect them from harm when it was necessary. If core descendants like Zhao Junhong, Song Zining, Wei Potian, and Yin Qiqi were to encounter an ident, then not even Duke Wei could justify thingspletely. Therefore, the whole process must have been seen by someone already.

    Zhao Junhong slowly climbed up the mountain peak Qianye had hidden himself in earlier.

    A bodyguard next to him advised, ¡°Young master, it may be prudent to be more careful. That guy is extraordinarily cunning. There may be more traps.¡±

    ¡°Hmph! This ce had been blown apart once already; where on earth would you find a trap? He has to be escaping now while he still can, or are you suggesting that he stayed back tomit suicide?¡±

    Zhao Junhong hadn¡¯t finished when a red light suddenly shed across his vision! Qianye actually hadn¡¯t left, and he fired a shot from about a thousand meters away!

    Zhao Junhon¡¯s reactions were incredibly swift, and he instantlyy down amidst the rubble. The bodyguard immediately jumped above Zhao Junhong and used his body as a shield.

    The shot wasn¡¯t aimed at them but arge rock at the side. The giant rock abruptly burst apart in an earthshaking explosion and sprayedrge amounts of smelly, corrosive liquid everywhere!

    The might of these poisonous liquid was very average. It could only corrode normal cloth and do nothing to the Zhao household¡¯s refined battle armor at all. However, the second it came into contact with air it immediately emitted an impossibly vile stench. Its ability to disgust someone was top ss. After that moment of surprise, the bodyguard didn¡¯t dare to stand up immediately. He was afraid that there might be other traps set up on this mountain peak.

    Zhao Junhong nearly fainted from anger while he was pressed down amidst flying dust and his nostrils filled with a repulsive stench. He yelled angrily, ¡°Let me up! Bunch of garbage!¡±

    Several bodyguards beneath the hill ran over madly and began searching around the area. Someone said, ¡°Young master, please allow me to inspect the surrounding area first. That guy may still be around the area¡­¡±

    The bodyguard had just said this when he heard several gunshots ringing from afar. It was the sound of arge caliber firearm sniper rifle.

    At first, Zhao Junhong was a little puzzled. The might of this kind of sniper rifle was too weak, and there was no way it could shoot through their battle armor from this range. So what was it used for? Suddenly, a thought shed across his mind. He immediately recalled the dying earth dragons!

    Zhao Junhong abruptly pushed away his bodyguards, leaped up arge rock and looked towards the valley. As expected, three rank five earth dragonsy dead at the edge of the nests as thest bit of light flew towards the airship in the air. There was no need for doubt. Those points absolutely didn¡¯t belong to the Zhao household.

    Zhao Junhong nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

    The Zhao household bodyguards had discovered this earth dragon nest and spent more than half a day toy down all the necessary preparations. However, Qianye had taken advantage of his range and killed all of the earth dragons. They could do nothing but watch as the hundreds or so points slipped out of their grasps. Moreover, his loss would only benefit the enemy. This one battle alone caused the point gap between the Zhao household and the Yin Family to shrink by three to four hundred points.

    ¡°That damnable guy!¡± Zhao Junhong suddenly grabbed the cor of one of the bodyguards beside him and said angrily, ¡°Chase him down! I don¡¯t care what methods you use, just find him and kill him! I want to see his head by tomorrow this time!¡±

    The bodyguard¡¯s expression straightened as he said solemnly, ¡°Yes, young master!¡±

    This bodyguard observed the surroundings, confirmed the location Qianyest opened fire and chased towards that direction. His specialty was none other than mountain warfare and he was the one who did most of the exploration work of the earth dragon¡¯s nest. Therefore, he was already very familiar with the surrounding terrain. That reckless guy was only at rank five. The fact that he fired Eagleshot three times in a row was already an unbelievable feat. Right now he should be at a weakened state, so as long as he sought out his tracks and kept his eyes firmly at the opponent¡¯s escape route, it was only a matter of time before the guy fell into his hands.

    Zhao Junhong had obviously figured this out too, which was why he had ordered the bodyguard to chase after him. He stood at the same spot without moving or rxing his features before asking suddenly, ¡°What is that guy called?¡±

    The bodyguard thought for a moment before answering, ¡°I think his surname is Qian, Qian Xiaoye. There is only one person who¡¯s rank five in the Yin Family hunting team.¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression darkened again. The Yin Family? Not a single upper rank aristocratic family such as the Zhang household and the Song household had rank five bodyguards in them!

    The bodyguard tracking after Qianye¡¯s footsteps ran unhurriedly in the forest. He knew very well that patience was an incredibly important element in dealing with a warrior with high outdoor mobility like Qianye. His biggest advantage right now was his immense origin power. Therefore, he had to fully bring out his advantage.

    After chasing for half an hour, the bodyguard suddenly caught a strange object from the corner of his eyes. He immediately ran towards it and discovered the corpses of four rank five wild beasts beneath some wilted branches. This corpse was as dry as a mummy, and all the blood inside had been sucked away.

    Vampires! The bodyguard felt a shiver in his heart. He recalled that this ce was already connected to the outer zone of the ck circle. It would seem that there were vampires operating around the area.

    However, Zhao Junhong was protected by bodyguards, and the man himself was the number one expert in the hunting team. He himself was extremely experienced when it came to dealing with vampires, so he wasn¡¯t afraid of them at all even in a mountainous terrain that was clearly advantageous to the dark race.

    He continued to chase Qianye. Half an hour passed, and he realized that Qianye¡¯s tracks were growing clearer and clearer. It was obvious that his opponent¡¯s origin power was about to bepletely depleted, and it was very difficult for him to eliminate his tracks already. As expected, the bodyguard ran up a high spot and just happened to find Qianye passing through a ravine a thousand meters or so away. Qianye turned around and immediately discovered the bodyguard behind him. He immediately moved faster and vanished into the gorge.

    The bodyguard immediately sped up. He didn¡¯t pass through the canyon and instead climbed up a ridge from the sides. When he stood up on a high spot, to his surprise a rather spacious tall slope greeted him. There were clusters of greeneries up here and several dozens of naturally formed stone pirs as well. Qianye had disappeared since a long time ago.

    However, the bodyguard didn¡¯t believe that Qianye could escape beyond his vision so quickly. Even if he entered the forest halfway, he had to have left behind some tracks. He narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze across every suspicious corner. Suddenly, he saw an extraordinary ck dot in between a clump of wild grass that was above a man¡¯s waist.

    The ck dot abruptly blossomed with bloody light before he could take a closer nce! Next, the bodyguard was sted backwards involuntarily as if he had been struck by a hammer. His ears was filled with the sound of rumbling, and the sensation was indescribably unpleasant.

    The bodyguard only had one thought in his mind, ¡°How could he still use Eagleshot?¡±

    Qianyey on the same spot and didn¡¯t give chase. Instead, he loaded another origin bullet into Eagleshot and buffed it with the ability Heavy Caliber steadily. At the same time, he activated urate Shooting and pointed it steadily at where the bodyguard¡¯s body had fallen.

    Qianye knew that the bodyguard would most likely think that he couldn¡¯t use Eagleshot any longer. Therefore, the wisest choice his opponent could pick was to use a stimnt, jump to his feet and immediately run to safety before treating his wounds.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imbued his first shot with any special abilities, so the bodyguard was probably just moderately hurt. A rank seven Fighter protected by abat houshold¡¯s battle armor had defensive power that was not far behind a rank six earth dragon.

    As expected, the bodyguard immediately jumped from the ground in his sight and just happened to pass through the center of the cross-shaped frontsight. Qianye¡¯s fingers had already pushed the trigger to the critical point beforehand, so a soft push was all that was needed for Eagleshot to let out a thunder-like boom as the origin power struck the back of the bodyguard¡¯s heart firmly!

    Several pieces of broken armor bounced into the air, and the bodyguard was sted away after he let out a bloodcurdling scream. He was very tenacious, and was capable of escaping even in this situation. The body that was copsing towards the front abruptly jumped to its feet again and instantly vanished into the forest¡¯s depths.

    It was only now Qianye sensed the emptiness in his body. He stood up from his hiding spot and walked towards the dense forest too.

    As for that bodyguard, he had taken two Eagleshot hits and thest shot was even imbued with two abilities. Even if he wasn¡¯t dead he would be grievously injured already. Even if he could survive and return to the Zhao household camp, it would take him a very long time to recuperate. At the very least, he had no choice but to quit this spring hunt.

 Volume 3 - 58: Yes, Iâ€™m Bullying You for Having a Shorter Range

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 58: Yes, I¡¯m Bullying You for Having a Shorter Range

    A momentter, Qianye hunted a Forest Boa in the thick forest. Then, he let out its blood and swallowed every drop. This was amonly seen survival technique when one didn¡¯t have food with them. Even if the powerful observers hidden in the surroundings had seen this, they wouldn¡¯t suspect that he possessed the a vampire¡¯s ability.

    Qianye drained the forest boa¡¯s blood, rested for a moment and slunk towards the direction of the Zhao household¡¯s hunting team once more.

    By now the sky was approaching the night, and the Zhao household had already set up camp to rest and reorganize. After the afternoon¡¯s chaotic battle, Zhao Junhong had already lost all mood to continue his hunt. He appeared to be incredibly irritated as he walked back and forth inside his tent.

    At first, Zhao Junhong was fully confident in this spring hunt. He wasn¡¯t even paying too much attention to their point acquisition because the event wasn¡¯t all that challenging. He was more curious to know about Song Zining and Yin Qiqi¡¯s family secret arts.

    However, the spring hunt was already turning into a disaster for him before it started for long, and the cause of all this was Qian Xiaoye, an insignificant rank five bodyguard! He didn¡¯t know why, but he suddenly felt less confident in the bodyguard¡¯s chances to hunt down Qianye. It was just his intuition, and in reality it counted for nothing.

    Suddenly, a bang broke through the air!

    Zhao Junhong almost jumped on his feet. It was Eagleshot again!

    A bodyguard taking water by the riverside let out a bloodcurdling scream as bloody light blossomed from his body. His entire body was sent flying by the impact before hended heavily on the ground. Lucky for him, he was able to find a spot to hide after a rolling a couple of times on the ground. Therefore he was hurt, but the wounds were not so serious that it was categorized as grievous or fatal.

    On a hill a thousand meters or so away, Qianye appeared and waved a hand at Zhao Junhong. Then, he turned around and vanished from sight.

    It took a long time before Zhao Junhong finally reacted with a howl, ¡°Let¡¯s fight sniper with sniper! Someone get out there and kill that guy!¡±

    To his surprise, no one answered him despite his howl. It was only then Zhao Junhong recalled that the farthest shooting range his team possessed was three hundred meters, and no one among them carried a sniper type origin gun.

    Zhao Junhong felt only immeasurable irritation as he waved his arm strongly and yelled, ¡°We sleep for the night!¡±

    However, they were destined not to have a good night¡¯s rest, for Qianye would fire once or twice at the tents with his firearm sniper. Maybe Zhao Junhong was just unusually unlucky, but a flying shrapnel from the shot managed to cut his finger. Although it was an insignificant small wound, the injury only made Zhao Junhong angrier.

    A new day finally arrived, and Zhao Junhong continued the hunt with a dark expression on his face. He had already made up his mind to hunt Qianye down personally if he dared to show his face again! As for the loss of reputation he would incur for hunting this extremely daring guy personally, what else did he have to lose after all this?

    Zhao Junhong and the remaining bodyguards formed a counter-sniper formation and continued onwards.

    Eagleshot rang once more, and this time it was fired from the maximum range of 1200 meters away. Its target wasn¡¯t a man but a rank seven werewolf that had already been struck to the brink of death. As he watched the tiny light float towards high altitude, Zhao Junhong let out an angry roar that resounded throughout the entire mountain range. He chased at top speed in the direction where Qianye¡¯s shot came from!

    The chasested for more than half a day, and in the end Zhao Junhong wasn¡¯t even sure if he was treading the right path. At any rate he was no longer able to find any traces of Qianye at all, and none of his bodyguards were able to catch up to him either.

    Since Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t chase down Qianye, he vented his anger onto the surrounding prey instead. By now they were already inside the highly dangerous ck circle of the hunting field. Here in this zone, dark warriors were beginning to show up in droves. They were not mindless wild beasts, so naturally they would group up and not act alone. They readied themselves to hunt down the humans of the spring hunt in reverse and fight for the opportunity to live.

    This was the dangers of the spring hunt. When the dark races appeared in droves, the lonendowning household warrior would be hardpressed to resist against them. That was why most of them very smartly roamed the rank six zone of the wild beasts, but didn¡¯t dare to enter the ck circle. They wouldn¡¯t lose too much points hunting just rank six beasts alone, but they would face far fewer danger than had they been hunting inside the ck circle. Lone hunters wouldn¡¯t enter the ck circle so deeply at all without a special reason. The ck circle was the aristocratic families¡¯ personal domain. It was here battle results and family honor began to differ greatly.

    Zhao Junhong was no ordinary hunter. When five dark race warriors appeared before him, he opened fire at the first moment and caused silver light to spit twice from his gun¡¯s muzzle, sting away the upper torso of two werewolves in an instant. Then, the second young master of Zhao withdrew his gun and took out a de, striding toward the remaining three warriors!

    It was a bloody battle!

    In the blink of an eye, the three werewolves were hurt all over. Zhao Junhong himself had suffered a few scratch wounds, and among them two had prated the back of his battle armor and left behind long, bloody wounds.

    Just when Zhao Junhong was about to finish off these three werewolves, Eagleshot¡¯s sound broke through the air again!

    A werewolf suddenly flew away and startled Zhao Junhong. When he finally came to, the second werewolf was also sted into the distance!

    Zhao Junhong finally came to realization and immediately swung his de to kill thest werewolf.

    Five rank six werewolves added up to make a total of three hundred or so points. They were basically all killed by Zhao Junhong, and hisbat strength was worthy of his title as one of the four Zhao household¡¯s young masters. However, if one were to look at the points, they would notice that a small half of the total points had been robbed by Qianye. This caused Zhao Junhong to feel like a huge rock was sitting inside his chest. It was an indescribably ufortable feeling.

    He strode forwards and roared out loudly at the empty mountains and thick forests before him, ¡°Qian Xiaoye! Show your face! I, Zhao Junhong, am standing right here! Do you dare stand up and fight like a man? Or do you only know how to use Eagleshot? Then shoot, shoot at me!¡±

    However, the only thing that greeted him from the mountains was silence. Zhao Junhong¡¯s roar was the only thing resounding throughout the mountains.

    There were also two werewolves lying beside Qianye, but he hadn¡¯t taken their blood. That was because he had been sensing vaguely that he was being watched all this time. It was very normal to drink a beast¡¯s blood, but it was a different story if he drank a werewolf¡¯s blood.

    Qianye¡¯s face darkened when he heard the bloody name ¡°Qian Xiaoye¡±. Then he ignored it and calmly injected himself with a stimnt. After he had regained a small amount of origin power, he then sat cross legged on the ground and actually began cultivating.

    The core aristocratic descendants in this spring hunt were given special protection. This was a red line clearly stated inside the rules.

    With the strength he had observed from the second young master of the Zhao household, there was no telling how effective his shots might be if he shot him directly at anywhere that wasn¡¯t his head. Plus, if Qianye really did show killing intent towards Zhao Junhong, the powerful observers Duke Wei had arranged would definitely interfere in the battle. This was the rules of the game known as the spring hunt.

    Zhao Junhong himself felt awkward after shouting madly for a while. Then, he began walking aimless along the mountain ridge. Suddenly his pupils shrank, and he saw Qianye walking openly a thousand or so meters away on a parallel mountain route, moving forward together with him.

    Qianye had shown clearly that he was nning to move and retreat together with Zhao Junhong. As long as prey shows up, he would rely on Eagleshot¡¯s great power, super long range, and his own peerlessly exquisite sniping skills to interfere with their hunt. Moreover, past results proved that there was a high probability that he was going to seed in robbing Zhao Junhong of his prey.

    Qianye¡¯s battle tactic was incredibly clear: Yes, I¡¯m bullying you for having a shorter range!

    For a time, Zhao Junhong actually wasn¡¯t sure what to do. He couldn¡¯t catch up to the guy, and he couldn¡¯t kill the prey before Qianye did either. Most importantly, he couldn¡¯t run and escape from this bastard who just wouldn¡¯t go away because he was Zhao¡¯s second young master.

    Furthermore, even if he did forget about his identity and escape, there was a high likelihood he wouldn¡¯t be able to shake off Qianye. In fact, he might even be criticized by others, saying that Zhao¡¯s second young master, a rank seven Fighter had fled after he was beaten by a rank Five fighter. How could he possibly stand tall after that?

    From this day onward, the people paying attention to the spring hunt ranking list began to notice something amiss.

    First, the unusually ferocious Wei Family had suddenly experienced a depression and fell off the ranking list repeatedly before being surpassed by the Kong and Nangong Family. It was said that the son of Wei had entered into battle alone and took down a rank seven armored brown bear by himself at the cost of quite the injury himself. He had no choice but to lie inside the camp in rest for these two days.

    Theposition of Wei Potian¡¯s team was incredibly extreme, and they even had just onebat strategy, and that was for Wei Potian to hold the frontline with Thousand Mountains while his bodyguards went full throttle from the back. This attack mode was simple and highly effective, but Wei Potian had gone overboard and suffered a great injury. As a result, his team with a deformed distribution of offensive and defensive power immediately exposed its weaknesses.

    Although Wei Potian¡¯s actions very much fitted his style of only using his brain once in a certain matter, there weren¡¯t actually that many people whoughed at his expense. In fact, important figures like Duke Wei were rather impressed by him. The fact that Wei Potian was able to kill a rank seven steel armored brown bear bare handed with his rank six strength meant that Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains was quite masterful already.

    Wei n Secret Art: Thousand Mountains was in fact an art that could only be cultivated properly by those above Champion rank. However, Wei Potian had cultivated the first level of Thousand Mountains at the same time as the moment he ignited his first origin node at the beginning. For the past few years he had also been improving at a tremendous rate and proving his talent and potential. This was especially obvious when Wei Potian had not only ascended two ranks in session during thest half a year, but showed no signs of foundation instability at all. In fact, the umtion of his aura had even given Thousand Mountains some realism. One could even see the faintest hope of a future marshal from this young man.

    Aspared to Wei Potian, Nangong Wanyun and Kong Yanian could only be rated as average despite their good performance for someone of their strength and background.

    The Song household had been hovering very ndly between the fifth and sixth spot. It would appear that Song Zining was as frivolous as rumored; his interest lying more in random knowledge than politics or martial arts.

    Yin Family¡¯s Yin Qiqi continued to neglect her proper duties, go on scenic tours, and enjoy big barbecue banquets. However their points rose steadily, and not only had they made it to top ten, their momentum didn¡¯t look like it would slow anytime soon.

    The most surprising household of them all was actually the Zhao household. Since the fourth day, the Zhao household¡¯s kills had been falling off in a straight line, and it was only getting worse day by day. If they were to look at a day¡¯s total points alone, then the Zhao household had quite literally fallen out of top five. If they hadn¡¯t umted too big of an advantage at the beginning, then the Zhao household would¡¯ve lost its first spot a long time ago.

    Just like that, the Zhao household¡¯s points grew fewer and fewer. From the seventh day onward, they didn¡¯t even manage to obtain one quarter of their original score. After all, they were now at thetter half of the spring hunt, and all aristocratic families had entered the dark races¡¯ activity zone. Their points should be soaring and not the other way around. Therefore, on the seventh day, the Zhao household finally gave up their first spot and became reced by the Nangong Family.

    The instant the ranks had changed, Duke Wei¡¯s side courtyard boiled up inmotion. Everyone was discussing heatedly with each other over this oue. Something must have happened to cause the Zhao household to lose their ranking this swiftly.

    Therefore, a super long range sniper of the Yin Family hunting team fell under everyone¡¯s scrutiny. Moreover, the resume Ji Yuanjia had purposely leaked to the seventh young master of the Song household had also been obtained and remarked upon by the crowd from start to end. Of course, everyone who participated in that dinner feast that day had unanimously overlooked the sh in the pan that was Yin Qiqi¡¯s femalepanion.

 Volume 3 - 59: Danger (1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 59: Danger (1)

    In their eyes, Qianye was just amoner who relied on a bit of military and hunter skills to earn a living in the lower continent, and by chance climbed on the big tree called the Yin Family while he was out on a mission. This was supposed to be a story about an extremely average person being lucky enough to be recognized by an aristocratic family.

    However, when Qianye snatched half of the Zhao household¡¯s prey with Eagleshot¡¯s super long firing range on his lonesome and was still able to survive to this day, the angle of discussion took a different turn. Now, the people were talking how insightful Qiqi was to be able to unveil such talent from a ce like the Evernight Continent.

    To be frank, the discovery of Qianye was more luck than skill from anyone¡¯s part. However, the Empire had always cared for the result and not the process, so luck was considered a part of strength as well.

    When the crowd learned of the conflict between Qianye and Zhao Junhong, they couldn¡¯t help but smile in amusement. Most of them wereughing at Zhao Junhong¡¯s mismatched teamposition and hisck of a member with long firing range. However, this wasn¡¯t really a mistake. After all, who would¡¯ve thought that the Yin Family would bring a sniper who could shoot from a kilometer¡¯s range away with them? A super long range sniper could only disy their full abilities on a battlefield. It was not that the aristocratic families didn¡¯t have such talents; most of them just weren¡¯t used as bodyguards.

    Although the spring hunt imitated real warfare, it ultimately wasn¡¯t a real battlefield. They only had nine people in a hunting team. Even if there was a hunting team good enough to enter into the final free-for-all stage without a scratch, they still wouldn¡¯t fit a super long range sniper into their team for the sake of extraordinary results. After all, snipers would always be the first target of focus fire due to the incredible threat they presented no matter where the battlefield was.

    The aristocratic hunting teams deep within Profound Heaven Mountain Range received thetest news as their supply personnel showed up. Suddenly, every team made a move except the Zhao household.

    By now, Zhao Junhong was no longer mad as he looked at Qianye standing faraway on top of a mountain.

    He only had three bodyguards left now. Three of his men were disqualified due to severe injuries, and another two were still recuperating inside the temporary campsite and unusable for a day or two. Zhao Junhong had never given any weapon beneath grade five any proper attention until the day a staple army weapon had forced into the embarrassing state he was in. There was no way he was going to admit that Eagleshot¡¯s wielder was the reason why it was so powerful.

    Zhao Junhong no longer chased after Qianye, and Qianye no longer attacked his bodyguards either. Both parties seemed to havee to a tacit understanding. However, Zhao Junhong was the only one who understood just how helpless and bitter this ¡°tacit understanding¡± tasted. Qianye was openly snatching their prey.

    Zhao Junhong thought that Qianye wouldn¡¯t be able to snatch too many points since they were a four-man team while Qianye was alone, but that was yet another mistake he made. When it came to prey snatching, four guns with less than 200 meters of firing range were iparable to one Eagleshot with 1200 meters firing range. Qianye¡¯s shooting ability also exceeded his imagination: Eagleshot¡¯s timber kept resonating within the mountains from time to time.

    Tonight, many teams including the lone walkers ofndowning households were talking about the same topic.

    ¡°What? We¡¯re the number one team already?¡± Nangong Wanyun couldn¡¯t quite believe her ears. While the First Miss of Yishui Nangong Family appeared sweet and gentle on the outside¡ªshe had even purposely wear a skirt while she was resting¡ªthe fact that she carried her team to where they were was a testament that her abilities were in no way inferior to men.

    Nangong Wanyun pondered for a moment before saying resolutely, ¡°We will slow down our pace. From tomorrow onward, we will put emphasis to our defenses andy traps around our camp. Make sure that our supply lines are guarded as well!¡±

    A stalwart young man standing beside her said thoughtfully, ¡°Sis, you mean¡­ the Kong Family?¡±

    ¡°Yes! There¡¯s no way that Kong Yanian is satisfied with being second to us. However, he doesn¡¯t have the courage to dere war against us directly either. This person loves stabbing people behind the back the most, so he is most likely nning to attack our supply team.¡±

    The young man frowned, ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that we¡¯ll have to watch out for him everyday? What if he doesn¡¯t show up? Isn¡¯t it the same as surrendering the first ce?¡±

    Nangong Wanyun was also a little troubled by this. She said, ¡°Do you have a better way then?¡±

    The young man suddenly said, ¡°We should attack his supply first whether or not he attacks ours! At the very least we would be even, wouldn¡¯t we?¡±

    Nangong Wanyun¡¯s eyes lit up as she praised him, ¡°Very well! There¡¯s no time to lose. Let¡¯s follow them closely and attack them the second we find out where their supply base is! Mm, the Yin Family is also not far away from us. Maybe we can consider taking out their base as well.¡±

    ¡°This might work! Right now, Yin Family¡¯s sniper is holding down the Zhao household with all he got¡ª¡±

    Nangong Wanyun was abruptly startled at his words, and she said hastily, ¡°No, forget it, let¡¯s not provoke the Yin Family for now!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± the young man was puzzled.

    Nangong Wanyun shot him a re and said, ¡°It¡¯s simple! If that Qian guy could hold down the Zhao household alone, wouldn¡¯t he be able to do the same to us with greater ease? What if Qiqi tells him to attack us? What should we do then?

    The young man abruptly understood her meaning. Suddenly, a sh of inspiration passed his mind as he said, ¡°What if we push him to another family? For example the Wei¡ª oh, they¡¯re too far away. The Song household is next to the Zhao household, correct?¡±

    Nangong Wanyun frowned, ¡°This is a good idea, but how are we going to execute this? That Qiqi never ys by the rules; maybe we can use this somehow¡­¡±

    Somewhere else in the forest, there was another temporary campsite made up of several tents. A gloomy-faced young man was holding a map and looking at it closely beneath a camp.

    This young man was Kong Family¡¯s Kong Yanian. Kong Yanian had always been a well known figure among the younger generation of the Kong Family. He was resourceful and decisive, and he only had one wpared to someone like Wei Potian, and that was the fact that his cultivation talent was average.

    Due to this one w, he had to participate in the spring hunt at the Profound Heaven Mountain Range while his second elder brother participated in the spring hunt at Imperial Garden. His brother was a guy who was all brawn and no brain just like Wei Potian, but although his talent was slightly weaker than the son of Wei, it was a lot greater than Kong Yanian¡¯s.

    The map before Kong Yanian wasbeled with thetest activity area of every aristocratic family. There were also a few arrows marking thendowning household descendants that were subordinate to the Kong Family.

    Beside him, a person made a suggestion and said, ¡°Young master, this is a great opportunity. Should we attack Nangong Wanyun¡¯s rear? Let¡¯s see how she¡¯s going to endure thest few days without any supplies!¡±

    Kong Yanian shook his head and said slowly, ¡°Do you think the likes of Nangong Family could hold onto the first spot? We don¡¯t need to act; there are plenty of people who would do our work for us. But don¡¯t you think this Qian Xiaoye is pretty interesting?¡±

    The subordinate asked in confusion, ¡°Are you thinking of recruiting him, young master? He is a part of the Yin Family, though. It may not be an easy task.¡±

    Kong Yanian snorted and said, ¡°Do you seriously think a mere rank five small fry is worthy of our attention? I mean that we should kill him!¡±

    ¡°Kill him? But why?¡±

    ¡°Considering how badly the Zhao household is screwed over by him, I¡¯m sure that Zhao Junhong must hate his guts. If we take him out, wouldn¡¯t we be able to make Second Young Master Zhao owe us a favor?¡±

    The subordinate was still a little puzzled, ¡°But wouldn¡¯t the Zhao household grab the number one spot once more?¡±

    ¡°Let them. There¡¯s no way we, the Kong Family possibly obtain the number one spot under normal circumstances anyway. What¡¯s the point of being greedy over something that isn¡¯t ours to begin with?¡±

    The subordinate came to sudden realization.

    Kong Yanian waved his hands and said, ¡°You are well versed in long range sniping too, so take two men with you and drop some hints to thosendowning household descendants. Find a way to kill that kid; at the very least you should chase him away from the Zhao household. The rest of you will stay with me. Our own points are pretty important as well. There¡¯s no reason to let go of a top three spot if we can get it.¡±

    ¡°The young master is wise!¡± the subordinate immediately chose two bodyguards who were good at tracking and ambushing before making his way towards the Zhao household¡¯s hunting area.

    There were plenty of people within the aristocratic family¡¯s camps who were thinking about the same thing as Kong Yanian, and that was to take out that lone super long ranged sniper. Of course, not all of them were looking to curry favor with Zhao Junhong. They simply thought that Qianye would stop considering that the Zhao household had already been humiliated pretty badly. Any further actions might affect the two families¡¯ rtionship.

    However, that sniper wouldn¡¯t stay idle after he left the Zhao household, would he? What if he set his eyes on another target? While his profile stated that he was only at rank five, his sniping and mountain hunting skills was obviously extraordinary. Otherwise, the Zhao household would¡¯ve dealt with him already.

    The aristocratic family hadn¡¯t brought many snipers with them, and no one had a firing range of one kilometer. The moment their snipers were sniped on the battlefield, the Zhao household¡¯s conundrum would repeat itself on them. Furthermore, thete stage of the spring hunt was a battle between hunting teams. Every family would use all kinds of methods to strike at the enemy members who represented a high threat level. They were simply acting in advance now because he was alone.

    Zhao Junhong tidied his equipment as he sat inside the temporary camp. He was also listening to his bodyguard reporting about thetest news from all parties at the same time.

    Zhao Junhong was cold and expressionless when the bodyguard reported about finding other hunting teams acting strangely, crossing their own hunting zones and heading towards their direction. When he heard that somendowning household lone walkers were gathering towards their direction as well, he finally spoke with an extremely disdainful tone, ¡°Shameless vultures.¡±

    The bodyguard didn¡¯t dare to speak any longer when he saw that Zhao Junhong wasn¡¯t brightened up by the news. He retreated from the camp.

    Inside the Song household¡¯s camp, Ye Mn couldn¡¯t restrain the anger burning in her eyes as she watched the intel ced on top of the table. How could she not know who this Qian Xiaoye was? When she saw the Yin Family hunting teams¡¯ data a few days ago, she immediately understood what Yin Qiqi was ying at. That man had attempted to kill her back then, causing her to wake up in cold sweat for the next few days after that incident!

    Unfortunately, she knew very well that she could never reveal this from her own mouth be it for the sake of the Gu Family, or the rtionship between the Yin and Song household. Besides that, she never did figure out how to break the truth about that evildoer to Song Zining properly. However, Qianye¡¯s foolish provocation of the Zhao household had given her the perfect opportunity.

    Ye Mn arranged her expression outside the maintain before walking inside softly and quietly. She spread out the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team¡¯s profiles and the relevant intel before Song Zining.

    Song Zining stared at Ye Mn¡¯s difficult expression in astonishment. When he took the data and gave it a look, his expression slowly changed over time. His normally gentle expression had turned into one of great fury. No man could withstand being made a fool like this.

    Ye Mn gently hugged Song Zining from behind and spoke with her best calm but slightly indignant voice, ¡°Zining, this is a good opportunity to take out this Yin Family sniper.¡±

    She could feel Song Zining¡¯s body freezing suddenly at her suggestion. Therefore, she softened her voice even more and said, ¡°Look, this is a good opportunity to gain several things in one go. A super long range sniper is too big of a threat towards our point umtion, so this is the best timing to eliminate this threat while he hasn¡¯t regrouped with the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team just yet. Otherwise, it would cost us more during thete stage of the spring hunt.¡±

    Ye Mn continued when she saw that Song Zining was silent, ¡°Also, we can take him out as a gesture of goodwill towards Zhao¡¯s second young master.¡±

    It was only now Song Zining seemed to react a little and asked, ¡°Why?¡±

 Volume 3 - 60: Danger (2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 60: Danger (2)

    Ye Mn said gently, ¡°The Zhao Family has always been an arrogant bunch. Although our two families could be considered close to each other, we are not nearly as close as the Bai Family and Zhang Family were. Zhao Junhong is one of the four young masters of Zhao and a core member of the younger generation. If we aid him during his time of need now, naturally he would feel grateful for our assistance. If we can befriend Zhao Junhong, then we will grow closer to the Zhao household too.¡±

    Song Zining frowned and said, ¡°But Zhao Junhong is not outstanding among the four young masters. The Zhao members of this generation with the highest chance to reach the top is Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi. Oh, there is also Zhao Yuying from the Zhao¡¯s branch.¡±

    Ye Mn sighed a little helplessly and said, ¡°Zining, Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi almost care nothing for outsiders. Even your brother was given the cold shoulderst time. All things must be done one step at a time; Zhao Junhong is their second brother after all.¡±

    Ye Mn didn¡¯t notice the sh of ridicule passing through Song Zining¡¯s lowered eyes. Gesture of goodwill? Before one makes a gesture of goodwill to another, they must first figure out their preferences. Zhao Junhong was an arrogant man who called himself big hearted and dignified. This was not the way to curry favor from him.

    ¡°Fine. Lead the men and take Song Ge with you.¡± Song Zining said with a wane look on his face, ¡°There is a small portion of the forest map that I haven¡¯t finished yet. This will be an opportunity toplete my work.¡±

    Ye Mn was surprised by this. Then, her mind spun quickly in contemtion. This isn¡¯t a bad oue. If Zining led the team, then he might do something unexpected if he runs into that guy a second time, or yield if he runs into Qiqi. Song Ge is Song Zining¡¯s personal subordinate. The aristocrats know him better they know me. His presence would be sufficient to show our standpoint.

    Once Ye Mn was done calcting, she replied with an obedient hum of agreement and was about to head out and call someone. Suddenly, Song Zining stopped her in her tracks.

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes were as gentle and bright as spring waters. Suddenly, he pulled her strongly and caused Ye Mn to fall into his left. Then, a warm breath enveloped her ears and neck. ¡°Lan, it¡¯s still early, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Ye Mn was extremely reluctant, but in the end she allowed Song Zining to disrobe her.

    The curtains and door of the tent folded down on their own ord, and a moan rang from inside the tent in the blink of an eye!

    For whatever reason, the seventh young master was especially fierce today. Today, Ye Mn still tried to control her voice. However, her control slowly slipped the longer the activitysted. In the end, she was literally screaming on her lungs. Still, the seventh young master didn¡¯t n to release her. Instead, he attacked her further and made Ye Mn begged him for mercy. This scene repeated god knows how many times before the activity finally ended.

    When Ye Mn walked out of Song Zining¡¯s camp, she was as white as a paper and breathing weakly. Her thighs caved after she took two steps forward, and she nearly copsed on her feet there and then. The Song household bodyguards had spread out a long time ago and pretended that they saw and heard nothing.

    Ye Mn took a few huge gulps of water before gritting her teeth and stood up after a moment¡¯s rest. She said raspily, ¡°Gather the equipment and get ready to head out!¡±

    A Song Household bodyguard walked over and asked softly, ¡°Miss, do you want to rest for a while longer?¡±

    ¡°No need! We will depart immediately!¡± Ye Mn said coldly. A momentter, she took five bodyguards with her and left. She left two of the best bodyguards behind to guard the camp.

    After Ye Mn left, Song Zining slowly made his way out of the camp. His eyes were cold as he stared at the crowd running along the mountain ridge. After standing there and doing nothing for a moment, he called over the two bodyguards, set up his table and spread out his brush, ink and paper on top of it. A moment of pondermentter, an ink forest painting slowly appeared on the paper.

    Song Zining appeared extraordinarily pleased with the painting he had drawn. He said softly, ¡°Qianye, is it really you?¡±

    Song Zining let out a sigh before he raised his brush in concentration once more. He slowly added a few brush strokes onto the paper, and soon a couple of dead leaves that looked like they would fall any second appeared in the painting. Suddenly, the painting that was supposed to depict a calm and peaceful night beneath the moon in the mountains began trembling with the spirit of cold autumn!

    It was afternoon, and the sun felt delightful on one¡¯s backs. However, the sky suddenly turned gray white as if a fog had enveloped it.

    The two bodyguards inside the camp suddenly shook and copsed slowly on the ground. Their breathing was as steady and long as ever, looking like they were unconscious or asleep. Song Zining dragged them into the camp before calmly changing into a gray colored warriors uniformmonly seen amongndowning noble households. He also wore a mantle with a facepiece that blocked the wind. Then, he walked to the edge of the camp and vanished as if he had merged into the fog that appeared suddenly just like that.

    The painting was still pressed down by the ink b on top of the table at the center of the camp. However, the painting moved on its own despite the fact that no wind was present, and at first nce the fallen leaves inside the painting actually looked like they hade to life. They danced amidst the autumn wind, but they never fell onto the ground.

    The ancient secret art, Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art: ¡°There are three thousand paths, but the mortal world forbids; hence, the gates of enlightenment exist in flying leaves and drifting flowers.¡±

    It was said that the person who sessfully cultivated this art would be be able to predict the future, or obscure another¡¯s eyes with one leaf. It had been several hundreds of years since anyone had sessfully cultivated this art in the Song household.

    The Yin Family¡¯s hunting team looked as rxed as ever. Right now, Qiqi and her bodyguards were sitting around a barbecue stand and filling the camp with the wonderful fragrance of meat. Not far away, Ji Yuanjia walked out of a forest with a bodyguard behind him and wore a slightly serious expression on his face.

    When Qiqi saw his return, she passed over arge te to him and asked in puzzlement, ¡°What¡¯s the asion?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia epted the te, but set it aside and said, ¡°Miss, let¡¯s tell Qianye toe back. If we keep this up we will really offend the Zhao household.¡±

    ¡°Let him y all he wants if he likes it there! The Zhao household isn¡¯t that petty.¡± Qiqi cared nothing for this news at all. She continued to cut the roasted meat and delivered them one by one into her mouth, ¡°They must have offended Qianye to make him set his eyes on them. Otherwise, there¡¯s no way he would act the way he did with his temperament. This is just a game, and Qianye hasn¡¯t broken any rules. There¡¯s nothing Zhao Junhong can do or say about this.¡±

    Ji Yuanjia smiled bitterly, ¡°No matter what happened in the past, the second young master of Zhao did lose half his bodyguards, so whatever retribution that is due has been repaid already. Qianye¡¯s advantage lies on his super long range sniping. However, he would be in big trouble if he was stopped.¡±

    Qiqi suddenly turned nk for a moment before she abruptly stood up, ¡°I was wondering why those families had suddenly started to cross their borders. Those bloody vultures!¡±

    At the side, a bodyguard hastily passed thetest intel on all hunting teams¡¯ location to Ji Yuanjia. He gave it a cursory nce and said urgently, ¡°I noticed somendowning nobles passing through our hunting zones too.¡± Ji Yuanjia was already feeling a vague hint of worry when he was patrolling the edges this morning. However, he didn¡¯t think that thesendowning nobles would be a threat with his understanding of Qianye¡¯s strength. However, it was a different matter if the aristocratic hunting teams got involved in this.

    Another bodyguard ran into the camp and whispered a few lines beside Qiqi¡¯s ears. Qiqi¡¯s expression changed as she gritted her teeth and uttered, ¡°The Song household hade over too! That bitch Ye Mn!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia turned pale upon hearing this. It was at least a question whether the hunting teams of small aristocratic families could put down Qianye even if they did manage to cut him off. However, the Song household was not the same. Their battle strength was absolutely not something Qianye could resist against.

    The more precarious the situation was, the calmer Qiqi became. She waved a hand and said, ¡°Go gather the equipment first.¡± when the bodyguards had all begun to move, she pondered on the same spot for a while before saying, ¡°Yuanjia, you and Old Xiao will lead a team each to the edge of our hunting zone. If you see anyone¡ªwhether or not they¡¯re crossing our borders or just passing by¡ªget them out of our sight, especially those led by the Kong Family!¡±

    She then pointed at a bodyguard who already gotten himself ready and said, ¡°You will rush to the Wei Family¡¯s hunting zone at top speed and tell this to the son of Wei!¡±

    Finally, Qiqi said, ¡°I will go in from the center!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia said in shock, ¡°Miss, are you going to go straight into the Zhao household¡¯s hunting zone?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am!¡± the fastest path to Qianye was to pass through the Zhao household¡¯s hunting zone. However, it was possible that she might sh directly against the Zhao household too.

    ¡°But¡ª¡± Ji Yuanjia didn¡¯t need to say anything. The bodyguards already voiced their objections first before he could.

    Qiqi shrugged and said, ¡°I¡¯m on the list. What are you guys afraid of? Besides, none of you can catch up to my speed, can you?¡± Every core disciple of the aristocratic families were assigned a personal expert by Duke Wei. Even if the hunting team were to split up, the observer would only follow Qiqi.

    Once the arrangements were done, Qiqi carried an extraordinarily huge origin gun from inside the camp. The muzzle of the gun was big enough to fit a kid¡¯s fist. After putting this sinisterly huge gun behind her back, she hastily ran into the forest.

    On the other side of the forest, Wei Potian¡¯s roar rang from time to time, ¡°Faster, god dammit, what the hell are you guys dilly dallying about? If we¡¯re toote I¡¯ll personally break your bloody legs!¡±

    Wei Potian ran wildly at the front of his team. Low hanging branches were broken and flowers were trampled on wherever he went. Behind him, the Wei Family bodyguards filed into a single line as they chased after his back. Some people were already starting to fall behind. There were only three personal subordinates or so who were still able to follow him closely without breaking a sweat.

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t give a shit about this, however. He simply focused on running full force to the Zhao household¡¯s hunting zone. Right now, the Yin Family¡¯s bodyguard was still on his way to deliver their notice, but when he made it to the Wei Family¡¯s camp it was long since empty.

    Wei Potian¡¯s head could only turn one way, and he was a simple man for most of the time. But sometimes he could be very sharp too, and in this particr asion, the second he saw thetest intel report, he immediately let out a loud cry, jumped to his feet, and ran to the Zhao Household¡¯s hunting zone without even bothering to bring any weapons or supplies with him at all. There was only one thought that filled his mind, and that was the potential sight of Qianye¡¯s corpse if he failed to make it to his side in time!

    However, since the Wei Family¡¯s hunting zone was actually the farthest from the Zhao household¡¯s, it felt as if the road ahead of them would never end. Suddenly, Wei Potian let out a roar of absolute frustration, and he actually threw his origin gun to the side and took off all of his heavy battle armor. He then ran forward madly while wearing only his undershirts.

    Naturally, his bodyguards were shocked by this turn of events as they cried out in haste while tidying his dropped equipment, ¡°Sire! You mustn¡¯t be reckless!¡±

    Wei Potian said impatiently, ¡°I am the son of Wei. Which blind bastard would dare try to kill me?¡±

    The bodyguards directed appealing gazes at Wei Huai, the second person whom the group seemed to sought for leadership other than Wei Potian. He was also one of the few personal subordinates who could catch up with Wei Potian while not appearing fatigued. The reserved but resolute young man could only give them a helpless smile as he followed the son of Wei closely while sending out a few simple orders for the bodyguards to split into different groups.

    Qianye continued to chase after Zhao Junhong, but it had been a while since hest snatched points from him. Right now, he was also hesitating whether he should stop and leave now. After all, the Zhao household had suffered a considerable point less for the past few days, and it seemed pointless to keep the charade up any longer. Moreover, he couldn¡¯t shake off a diforting premonition that seemed to hang over his head for no particr reason.

    Qianye cast a deep nce at Zhao Junhong from afar before turning around and left.

    Zhao Junhong watched Qianye passing through a field or purple flowers and vanishing into the sparse forest from the mountain ridge. He said indifferently, ¡°He¡¯s a crafty one, I see. However, it is probably toote now!¡±

    He spoke to a bodyguard beside him, ¡°Follow him. You don¡¯t need to do anything, but if that guy is about to die, bring him back to me. I want him alive, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Rx, young master.¡± the bodyguard let out a sinister, wolfish smile and chased after Qianye.

    It was at this moment a bodyguard ran over from the foot of the mountain and whispered a few lines into Zhao Junhong¡¯s ears.

    For the first time, Zhao Junhong wore a look of surprise on his face. ¡°The Song household?¡±

 Volume 3 - 61: Encirclement and Annihilation (1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 61: Encirclement and Annihtion (1)

    Qianye was passing through the forest when he suddenly came to a stop and surveyed his surroundings.

    Night had descended. The dense forest was almost pitch ck in color. The treetops of the forest were too thick for moonlight to prate, allowing only a few silvery pirs of light to illuminate the grassy ground. Cold and stillness filled every corner of his surroundings, blotting out even the sounds of animals and insects. It was so quiet it was a little scary.

    Qianye picked up the faint scent of danger, but he wasn¡¯t sure where it came from. Was it a powerful dark race? Or was it the Zhao household summoning its allies to its aid? In this area, both were very real possibilities to contend with.

    The Zhao household bodyguard who was following behind him all the way was acting extremely strangely as well. Although Qianye had attempted to turn back and chase down his opponent a couple of times, the bodyguard had very uncharacteristically avoided any sort of conflict. Instead, he took a circuitous route and move far, far away from Qianye, waiting until Qianye had continued on his way again before he continued to follow him unhurriedly. All of his actions made Qianye feel more and more wary.

    Qianye put away Eagleshot and grabbed Twin Flowers in his hands instead. They were the better weapon for closebatpared to Eagleshot in this type of environment. Then, he inserted two military knives into the Twin Flowers¡¯ slots, bent his body, and sprinted towards the edge of the Zhao household¡¯s territory.

    Qianye charged out of the forest and ran towards a pile of rocks not far away. Right now an extreme premonition of danger was assaulting his senses like sharp de cutting against his skin, and it made him toss all notions of observation or misdirection behind his head and focus on running as quickly as possible with all his might.

    He had just ran a hundred meters when weak light suddenly entered his vision. It was the light of an origin bullet just six to seven hundred meters away from him! It was the best possible range for sniping!

    There was a rumble, and all sounds vanished except a strange, deep hiss that resounded sharply in his ears. Every blood energy¡ªeven the gold and purple colored blood energy¡ªhad burst out of his heart or departed the ability runes, circting wildly throughout his entire body.

    Touched by the hands of death, the power of Qianye¡¯s vampire vision was brought out in full. Time suddenly slowed, and he turned his head slowly while the color of blood appeared from his pupils. The world covered by gathering darkness abruptly brightened, and the origin bullet flying towards him suddenly looked crystal clear in his vision.

    When the origin bullet had flown halfway across the ground, there was yet another sh from another direction. There was actually more than one sniper in this ce!

    Qianye didn¡¯t keep his gaze transfixed at the two origin bullets flying slowly towards him. Instead, he took the opportunity to scan his surroundings while the slowdown of time was still in effect. He spotted several odd sceneries that were none other than people getting up on their feet!

    Qianye was done calcting the trajectory of the iing bullets when a wave of exhaustion suddenly came over him. Then, he exited the state of time slowdown just like that.

    Suddenly, he took a horizontal step and twisted his body sideways, and the two powerful origin bullets slipped past his body with millimeters to spare! One of the origin bullet left behind a trail that licked his left arm like a tongue of me, leaving behind a ck scorch mark on his fighter uniform. But that was all. It wasn¡¯t able to prate the defensive web inside the clothing at all.

    Ye Mn, one of the snipers who fired the shot, felt her mouth open wide. She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes at all! Her opponent had actually dodged not one, but two origin bullets at this distance with just a simple maneuver! This ability should only exist on a Champion!

    It took her an entire second before she finally recovered from her shock and epted the reality before her. However, this one second was all Qianye needed to grab Eagleshot and fire a shot at her without even looking at her direction. Then, he utilized Eagleshot¡¯s powerful recoil to fly backwards before he continued to run away.

    Ye Mn felt like she had ran into a ghost yet again. The origin bullet had traversed several hundred meters of distance only to fly dead center between her brows.

    Qianye had opened fire without taking aim, and it was very much a running shot that wasmonly seen when firing a handgun. However, his aim was still impable even when applied to a near two meter long sniper rifle like Eagleshot!

    Because Ye Mn was stunned for a second, she wasn¡¯t in time to take any evasive action. However, she was quick enough to crouch on the ground and summon a shroud of faint, white frost from her body. At the same time, she tossed out the origin gun she froze right at the origin bullet flying towards her.

    There was a boom, and Ye Mn¡¯s grade five origin gun shattered into pieces along with many ice bits. However, Qianye¡¯s origin bullet was also knocked off course as a result.

    ¡°Chase him!¡± Ye Mn gritted her teeth and yelled.

    The Song household bodyguards hiding in the surroundings immediately ran towards the direction Qianye had escaped to. Ye Mn herself had snatched a sniper rifle from a bodyguard and took a shortcut straight towards where Qianye was heading.

    Qianye continuously increased his speed as he made all sorts of unpredictable evasive movements based on the terrain he was on. During this period, origin bullets would roar past his body from time to time. He only needed to cover another one hundred meters or so distance before he would reach a craggy terrain. He would have more cover once he reached there.

    Qianye moved faster and faster as time went on, but it was at this moment three figures suddenly stood up from the edge of the craggy terrain! They were bodyguards from the Kong Family!

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank, but he only grew even more bold and dauntless at a critical moment! The blood energies inside his body were boiling, and his Daybreak origin power had rippled to existence to. Cycles circted inside his body as tides pped against the shore. Layers uponyers of power were patiently umted for that one moment of eruption that would shatter stones and pierce clouds.

    A clear and melodious long hiss suddenly cut through the night sky, and Qianye¡¯s speed abruptly increased even further. He almost looked like a faint shadow beneath the moon as he charged towards the enemy that was blocking his way. Qianye rammed into him forcefully without changing his actions at all!

    There was a dull noise of impact, and the rank six bodyguard who stood ready for him was actually knocked a dozen or so meters into the air before he started falling! The bodyguard was already vomiting blood when he was in midair, and every bone inside his body had crumbled during the process!

    That was how Qianye broke through the strongest part of the encirclement and continued to run ahead. The other Kong Family bodyguard was quick as he lifted his hand and opened fire at Qianye. Qianye immediately summoned a screen of origin light behind his back and took the blow in full. The armor behind his back shattered into several pieces and sent fragments flying all over the ce.

    But thanks to the origin powered shot, Qianye sped up again and swiftly escaped the Kong Family bodyguards¡¯ shooting range. However, Qianye¡¯s expression suddenly changed as a mouthful of blood suddenly poured out of his lips!

    Qianye actually looked better after he vomited the blood. His blood energies were boiling during that critical moment of life and death just now, and now they moved to his every whim just like his Daybreak origin power. The hidden ability of his bloodline had erupted automatically almost at the same time as when he was struck by the bullet, and the heart¡¯s blood he had spat out after suffering the injury didn¡¯t contain any actual presence of blood power at all.

    While Qianye continued to run at top speed, the armor around his waists suddenly cracked to reveal many long cuts. They were wounds left behind by the Kong Family bodyguard he sent flying to the air, but in return Qianye also gained a new backpack in his possession. He had pulled it off the Kong Family bodyguard during the instant they came into contact with each other.

    Qianye passed through the craggy terrain and charged head first into a forest popted by deciduous trees. At this point he didn¡¯t have too many directions he could choose to escape to, and he could only run swiftly into the deeper regions of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range.

    The temporary escape from his plight didn¡¯t improve Qianye¡¯s feelings. On the contrary, his heart was only growing heavier and heavier because he could imagine exactly what was going to happen next after the closebat he went through earlier.

    If two households had joined in on the intercepting troops, it was only natural that more households would join in on the party. It didn¡¯t matter whether or not they were allies summoned by the Zhao household or opponents who wished to weaken the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team. What mattered was that they had obviously joined hands to kill him. They had the advantage in numbers, equipment and strength, and they didn¡¯t need to pursue him doggedly. All they needed to do was to track him down, chase him towards a certain direction and draw in the big web of encirclement when the time was right. Eventually, they would be able to corner their prey and force him into a dead end.

    Very soon, Qianye was going to face unprecedented danger. If a long range sniper had their activity area reduced, they would lose their mobility and be no different from a normal warrior. Moreover, every bodyguard in those households and aristocratic families were at a higher rank than him.

    Right now, Qianye¡¯s mind was incredibly calm. After he had escaped the most dangerous area, he maintained an even running speed while observing the surrounding terrain at the same time and selecting the battlefields he wished to fight on. Even now, he never thought that someone woulde and save him. Only one thought dominated his mind, and that was to drag a sufficient number of people with him to death if he were to die in this battle!

    Qianye quickly chose a region where mountains and valleys intersected each other. Cragged rocks and caves were everywhere, and greeneries were overgrown. Moreover, there were groups of horned wolves living in the area. They were an intimidating power that no one could ignore, especially when these wild beasts who were rank six on average were grouped together.

    Behind and around Qianye, the number of pursuers quickly exceeded twenty even as more and more lone wolves fromndowning households had caught the news and came over close by.

    An aristocratic bodyguard was running through the forest when suddenly, a pitch ck thread suddenly wrapped around his neck and pulled him into the air.

    The bodyguard¡¯s eyes bulged as his legs kicked futilely in struggle. Air entered and exited his mouth roughly, but he wasn¡¯t able to let out any sound at all. The thread dug deep into his neck and pulled him all the way to the treetop. There, a slim and handsome man dressed in ck clothes stood as he stared at his victim with blood red pupils that were full of smiles!

    The bodyguard looked he could faint from shock. He never imagined that he would run into a higher bloodsucker at this ce! However, the Blood Knight had already pounced forwards and bit him right at the throat!

    A momentter, the Blood Knight put on the bodyguard¡¯s clothes and inspected all of the bodyguard¡¯s gear. Then, he shrugged his shoulders and said to himself, ¡°I can¡¯t believe a mere bodyguard could possess such amazing equipment. These human aristocratic families sure do possess a great wealth of resources; they¡¯re almost as rich as our Sacred Blood n!¡±

    The Blood Knight discarded the bodyguard who had turned into a dried corpse deep inside the treetop. Then, he jumped down from the tree and chased leisurely in the direction Qianye had escaped to. After so many days of hiding and observations, andbining all his findings with the intel he obtained earlier, he had more or less figured out how this spring hunt was done. As long as he continued to follow that human who was being chased down by his kin, he would most likely find the target he was seeking.

    Right now, Qianye was sitting on a lush treetop himself as he slowly smoothened his breathing and carelessly stopping the blood that was dripping from his waist. Then, he bandaged the wound tightly and tidied his equipment for a bit, equipping both Twin Flowers and Eagleshot with physical origin bullets. Once he was done, he took out some food from the Kong Family bodyguard¡¯s backpack and began to eat slowly.

    Qianyey against the tree trunk and closed his eyes slightly, but Ye Mn¡¯s face appeared before his eyes instead of the usual darkness. During the instant he had counterattacked with Eagleshot, his attacker¡¯s face had became clear thanks to his night vision. The first group of people who intercepted him were also dressed in Song household clothes.

    Qianye¡¯s heart twitched once strongly as if it was gripped by an invisible hand.

    He exhaled softly and calmly recalled the strength of the pursuers he had already exchanged ¡°greetings¡± with and pondered on how to deal with them in the next encounter. However, the biggest threat of them all was actually Song Zining.

    Qianye clearly remembered Song Zining¡¯s splendid record and conduct. To him, there was no one more dangerous than this peer of his who knew very well what his fighting style was. However, Qianye¡¯s instinct had not yed its part this time and failed to capture any signs of Song Zining around him.

    The greatest threat was one that couldn¡¯t be detected. The de of death might very well emerge from darkness in the next moment.

    The Song household¡¯s hunting team had already shown up. So where are you, Zining?

 Volume 3 - 62: Encirclement and Annihilation (2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 62: Encirclement and Annihtion (2)

    A soft noise rang from nearby at this moment, and Qianye immediately withdrew all of his presence. Through the gaps between the leaves, he could see a lonendowning household warrior carefully moving forwards.

    He was just passing through the tree Qianye was at when his footsteps came to a sudden stop. A drop of water had nearly brushed past the tip of his nose before sttering into tiny bits at the tip of his boot. Thendowning household warrior frowned before he bent downwards and wiped a finger across his boot. He lifted the finger and gave it a close nce.

    His fingertip was stained with bright red blood.

    The warrior silently tightened his grip around his gun and poured origin power into it. Then, he slowly looked up to the tree. It was at this moment a rush of wind appeared from behind his head!

    Naturally, thendowning household warrior had his reasons to dare step into this area. He was a rank six expert, and he had a lot of experience fighting at the frontlines. He immediately counter attacked with an elbow strike without any hesitation at all!

    There was a dull impact, and thendowning household warrior felt as if he had rammed his elbow into a piece of dead wood, his origin power scatteringpletely. Although his hit hadnded solidly, he wasn¡¯t able to deal any damage to his opponent at all.

    What kind of defense is this? Thendowning household warrior was both shocked and terrified. The thought had just crossed his mind when a handnded onto his shoulder, and Qianye plunged his knife straight into the warrior¡¯s ribs with his right hand. The violent origin power of a thirty cycle Combatant Form seeped through the de, and an impact of peerless intensity crushed both the warrior¡¯s origin power defenses and internal organs around the depletely!

    ¡°Thirty cycle Combatant Form! You¡¯re a Fighter King!?¡± Thisndowning household warrior had survived real battlefields, and he was obviously knowledgeable and experienced enough to recognize the Combatant Form. His voice was steeped in shock and fear!

    As andowning household member who had to survive on his own, he knew very well what a Fighter King represented. No wonder his opponent was able to cause so much trouble to the Zhao Household even though he was just rank five! But it was now toote for regrets. He didn¡¯t hope to survive this encounter. Instead, he counterattacked with all his might, hoping to severely injure his opponent before he died. He summoned all of his remaining origin power and swung his elbow right into Qianye¡¯s waist!

    Bang! Bang! Bang! The sounds of dull impact resounded throughout the forest, but Qianye wasn¡¯t moved by his strikes at all. It was as if the body that was being pounded by the elbow wasn¡¯t even his. He simply summoned cycle after cycle of origin tide and poured them fiercely into thisndowning household member¡¯s body.

    Thendowning household warrior¡¯s counterattack gradually turned weak. Although the only obvious injury on his body was the de in his ribs, in reality every organ inside his body had been crushed into a pulp. Qianye¡¯s own army knife couldn¡¯t endure the thirty cycle Combatant Form and shattered into iron bits inside the warrior¡¯s body.

    Qianye¡¯s hand suddenly slipped away from thendowning household warrior¡¯s shoulder and cut a wound across his neck artery. Blood filled with the rich scent of origin power immediately sprayed several meters across the ground! Qianye closed his eyes, inhaled deeply before pushing the warrior¡¯s body onto the ground.

    Suddenly, Qianye recalled what Yu Renyan once told him and broke into an involuntary smile. It might be inconvenient to hold fast to a belief, but in arge majority of situations it wasn¡¯t worth breaking them either.

    Qianye calmed down his breathing for a bit before he began searching through thendowning household member¡¯s body. He took out every stimnt and origin bullet he possessed, and to his surprise found two origin hand grenades in the process.

    Qianye made some arrangements around the body before he left the scene, running into a nearby forest.

    About ten minutester, two aristocratic family bodyguards showed up on the scene. They were greatly surprised to find the body on the ground. One person stood guard as the other ran to the body and inspected it. When the bodyguard flipped over the body, he immediately let out an exmation of surprise, ¡°Wu Youhong!¡±

    It was obvious that they knew each other, and were on pretty friendly terms too. The bodyguard immediately carried the body and attempted to say something. But before he could do so, a strong light suddenly shed before his eyes as a sense of danger rose from his heart. Then, he knew no longer knew anything.

    The might of two origin hand grenades detonating at the same time was extremely terrifying, and it wasn¡¯t something that a rank six warrior could endure at all. Even the bodyguard who was standing guard ten meters away from the site was thrown far away by the explosion¡¯s shockwave. The bodyguard standing at the center of the explosion was gone entirely.

    Right now, Qianye was running across an empty field within the forest. Although his path was blocked by two Song household bodyguards, he chose to charge toward them instead of making a retreat. The two bodyguards who were holding their origin guns evenly looked extremely anxious as their muzzle chased after Qianye¡¯s figure repeatedly.

    Qianye¡¯s movements were unpredictable in both direction and speed. He was always able to escape the Song Household bodyguards¡¯ aim with tiny movements and swiftly shorten the distance between the two of them.

    The two bodyguards were sweating like they were caught in a downpour before they knew it. They were both snipers, and they were well versed in counter-sniper techniques. But Qianye¡¯s performance had far exceeded his current rank¡ªin fact, his level of skill shouldn¡¯t exist in anyone beneath Champion rank at all.

    Both parties were stuck in the confrontation. The bodyguards knew that there existed an extremely short interval between pulling the trigger and shooting the origin power. Although they had more or less a lock on Qianye¡¯s movements, it was still enough time for Qianye to avoid being hit at a vital spot. But at the same time, their bodies woulde to an instantaneous halt when they were firing their guns, and they had no doubt that Qianye would seize the opening and fire Twin Flowers into their bodies. They weren¡¯t beneath admitting that they were incapable of achieving Qianye¡¯s dodging speed at all.

    Ye Mn had just ran over from behind the bodyguards, and her face was just as pale as theirs. She felt like she was facing an injured wolf, and everyone knew that an injured wolf was at its deadliest.

    She suddenly screamed, ¡°Fire!¡±

    The two Song Household bodyguards subconsciously pulled the trigger, and they immediately cursed loudly inside their heads!

    Two balls of bloody light erupted from Qianye¡¯s body, but none of them had hit his vital spots. Qianye was tossed backwards by the powerful shots, but his posture was extraordinarily steady. He pointed Twin Flowers steadily at one bodyguard each and fired them at the same time!

    Pfft. There was a sound that sounded like flowers spilling their pistil, and beautiful patterns immediately crawled across Twin Flower¡¯s demonic exterior. They shuddered and bloomed in the dark of the night.

    The faces of both bodyguards immediately erupted with blood colored origin light at the same time! They copsed on their backs, clutched their faces and screamed horribly to themselves. The pain was so terrible that they rolled across the ground with all their might. Blood and fluid kept pouring from between their fingers, and it was obvious that their faces had been crushed by the shot.

    Ye Mn lifted her sniper rifle horizontally and fired a shot. A mist of blood immediately erupted from Qianye¡¯s body again to reveal a huge hole at the back of his shoulder. The golden threads woven between the uniform curled up lifelessly in scorched ck color to reveal bloody flesh bits and white bones! Ye Mn clenched her teeth abruptly before tossing her sniper rifle and pulling out a handgun. She pounced toward Qianye¡¯snding spot.

    Right now, Ye Mn¡¯s heart was filled with fear. It was only after she had gone on the battlefield that she realized just how dangerous, how much, much more dangerous this man was than on the arena. She only knew that Qianye might be her eternal nightmare if she were to allow him to live past this day.

    Right now, Ye Mn could remember clearly every word Qianye said back at Xichang City¡¯s Copper Peacock Terrace, ¡°How long can you guard yourself against me? A month? A year? Or ten years?¡± She finally realized that her opponent had meant every word. Thismoner was not afraid to offend even Zhao Junhong past the line, and her status as the fiance of the Song Household¡¯s seventh young master couldn¡¯t protect her one bit.

    Ye Mn only had one thought in her mind, and that was to kill this dangerous man right here and now even at the cost of the Song Household high rank bodyguards¡¯ lives and the family¡¯s beration!

    She reached the thirty meter mark away from Qianye and entered the best shooting range for a handgun, but saw that Qianye had picked taken down Eagleshot before she knew it. He raised the rifle horizontally with one hand and aimed its muzzle at her. His somewhat thin and even pretty looking arm wobbled not one bit and looked as steady as a rock!

    Ye Mn¡¯s mouth opened wide as she let out a scream. Before she could dodge out of the way, a blood colored light erupted at her stomach and threw her back towards the distance.

    Qianye himself was pushed backwards by Eagleshot¡¯s powerful recoil as he skidded across the ground. The wound at his back rubbed against the rough ground and left a bloody trail behind him. Although his constitution was as tough as a vampire¡¯s, the consequences of firing Eagleshot one handed was the sounds of breaking bones around his wrist and elbow area. Right now, terrible pain screamed from his entire right arm if he even moved it a little.

    Qianye jumped to his feet, tossed down Eagleshot and pounced towards Ye Mn. While Eagleshot was powerful, without any ability enhancement it would injure Ye Mn severely at best. Qianye knew that the shot wouldn¡¯t kill her, and he had no idea if he could survive the next period of time. He had already made up his mind to kill this insidious woman with everything he got.

    As expected, Ye Mn was actually crawling to her feet already after just spitting a mouthful of blood and shaking her head once while groaning. Her outer clothing hadpletely shattered, and the armor she wore beneath her clothing was revealed. It was a ck soft armor that looked like a skin tight suit, and her vital spots were covered by several pieces of dark brown armor too. It was obvious that the armor was reinforced.

    Right now, the reinforced armor pieces had long been sted into pieces by the shot. While most of the armor pieces had fallen apart, there were only a few holes in the ck suit beneath them. The snow white skin of Ye Mn¡¯s chest was revealed, and it actually wasn¡¯t cracked at all! This armor had some serious defensive power.

    Qianye immediately felt a terrible headache when he saw her suit of armor. He estimated from his experience that this armor of Ye Mn¡¯s was just a tad weakerpared to Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains! Qianye immediately tossed away the knife in his hand. The regr army knife couldn¡¯t withstand his violent origin power at all, It would probably shatter before it even cut open the armor.

    Qianye leaped into the air andnded heavily on Ye Mn¡¯s body, mming her heavily back onto the ground. Ye Mn groaned as blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth once more. Qianye immediately stretched out to choke her, but she immediately blocked his attempt with her own hands.

    Qianye¡¯s right hand couldn¡¯t exert strength properly right now. Although he managed to push down both of Ye Mn¡¯s hands with his left, it wasn¡¯t easy to kill her in one go since she was struggling with all she had.

    Ye Mn twisted her body with all her might, erupting into a burst of movement from time to time in attempt to flip Qianye off her. Her closebat skills actually weren¡¯t bad at all, but Qianye¡¯sbat skill and strength was far beyond hers. Qianye pushed his body between her two legs, spread open his own and held her tightly. All of her movements were suppressed at once as his left hand continued to inch bit by bit towards her throat.

    Ye Mn panted heavily as fear and entreatment flowed out of her eyes. Her chest heaved heavily, and the fullness he sensed proved that she was in no way inferior to Yu Yingnan in this aspect. The damaged armor caused her breasts to appear slightly, and she even moved so that Qianye could see more of them. She was obviously hoping that Qianye could feel even a shred of pittance towards beauty and let her live.

    However, Qianye¡¯s eyes werepletely filled with an expressionless coldness. It was as if he couldn¡¯t see the view before him at all.

    The stalematested for several minutes straight.

    A near indiscernible gaze suddenly swept across the area andnded on them both. However, it moved away after a moment¡¯s time. No one showed up to stop the battle. It was obvious that Ye Mn wasn¡¯t qualified to enter the safe list yet.

    Qianye¡¯s heart suddenly turnedpletely cold, however. He hadn¡¯t sensed any observers around him while he was hunted earlier. Did this mean that those aristocratic family young leaders had gotten close to him?

 Volume 3 - 63: No Longer Alone (1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 63: No Longer Alone (1)

    Qianye let out a dull grunt as a trace of blood flowed down the corner of his lips. He quickened the cirction of Combatant Form, ignored the tiny wounds that were starting to appear on his internal organs and pushed the fierce tides over thirty cycles again in the blink of an eye!

    Ye Mn, with her rank six origin power and her ¡®Deep Frost¡¯ ability that enabled her to prate her enemy¡¯s blood, waspletely suppressed. In fact, her origin powers were barely holding out against the violent charges of Qianye¡¯s origin power.

    Qianye continued to gather strength in his left arm. All that was left was the final step.

    It was at this moment a figure charged out of the forest like lightning and mmed into Qianye¡¯s side, sending them both flying for a short distance.

    It was a Song Family bodyguard who heard the gunshot over this direction and finally arrived at a critical moment, saving Ye Mn¡¯s life. But although he could save Ye Mn, he couldn¡¯t save himself.

    Qianye suddenly grabbed the hand he used to hold his gun with both arms, exerted strength and slowly twisted the origin handgun around to face the bodyguard¡¯s be instead.

    The rank seven bodyguard almost couldn¡¯t believe his eyes! Although Qianye was just a rank five Fighter, the origin power surging from his body was unbelievably powerful and as fierce as violent tides. His origin barrier wavered under the tides¡¯ impact before they ultimately shattered in a boom. Qianye¡¯s origin power instantly rushed into his body and charged wantonly towards all direction, grievously wounding him.

    The bodyguard was shocked beyond belief. He cried out, ¡°A Fighter King! No, not just a¡­¡±

    His screams came to an abrupt stop. Qianye¡¯s physical strength far exceeded the bodyguard¡¯s, and the bodyguard had just lost the support of his origin power. The handgun was finally turned aroundpletely. Then, he pulled the trigger with his finger pressed against the bodyguard¡¯s!

    At such a close range, the explosion of the origin power knocked both parties away from the center of the impact. The bodyguard¡¯s neck was nearly shot off his torso, and there was no chance that he was surviving the wound.

    Qianye struggled to his feet, but noticed that Ye Mn had ran at least a hundred meters away from him before she vanished into the forest in the blink of an eye. This bodyguard had saved her life, but not only did she not work together with him to attack him, she didn¡¯t even dare to look back and check out the battle situation. She had actually ran away immediately and allowed even a golden opportunity to escape her grasp. It would appear that she truly had been scared out of her witspletely.

    Qianye shook his head and felt a little regret for not being able to kill Ye Mn. He picked up Twin Flowers and Eagleshot before he walked staggeringly into the thick forest. He saw two other Song Family bodyguards running over a certain direction, but for some reason they didn¡¯t charge him and simply stood at the sides far, far away. One of them had even shifted his position imperceptibly and opened the way for him.

    But Qianye couldn¡¯t afford the concentration to mull over this right now. He had pushed the Combatant Form over thirty cycles many times in a very short amount of time, and tiny cracks were appearing all over his internal organs. He himself couldn¡¯t remember how he survived the next hour.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness was a little fuzzy during this period. He only remembered fighting, running away, fighting again, and running away again. The cycle felt like it would go on forever.

    He couldn¡¯t remember how many people were wounded or killed by his hands either. There werendowning household soldiers, and there were aristocratic bodyguards. The only regret he had at this moment was that none of the masters of the aristocratic families had shown up to face him. Song Zining himself hadn¡¯t shown up all this time.

    Qianye tossed his body beneath arge tree and panted heavily. Every time he breathed, he felt as if a ball of mes were rolling up and down his trachea. His body fared even worse, making him feel like he had submerged his entire body intova. There wasn¡¯t a single ce that didn¡¯t burn with pain.

    He no longer looked at his wounds. His power of regeneration was still there, and his wounds never bled out too much. However, he hadpletely exhausted every bit of Daybreak origin power inside his body, and Concealed Bloodline could no longer conceal the presence of the blood energies. However, it was still disying its effects through another form by evaporating all of the blood energy from the blood dripping out of his wound before they fell on the ground.

    Qianye smiled wryly. What was the point? It was true that the gold blood energy¡¯s concealment ability was unbelievably powerful, but he was also about to die soon. What was the point then in wasting energy to hide the fact that he was a half vampire at this stage?

    The gold blood energy suddenly fell silent as if it could sense Qianye¡¯s very thoughts. Then, the purple blood energy and all other blood energies inside Qianye¡¯s body fell silent too and flowed motionless inside his veins like normal blood.

    Without the support of blood boil, Qianye abruptly copsed on the ground as if every bit of his strength had been sapped clean from his body. He was so tired that all he wanted to do was to fall into a deep slumber.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Zining? Why hasn¡¯t he shown up yet? Isn¡¯t this the best chance he got to kill me? Oh right, he doesn¡¯t need to act himself. I am soon¡­ about to die,¡± Qianye¡¯s consciousness had already started to turn fuzzy. White light shed before his eyes again and again.

    A sudden wave of unspeakable loneliness suddenly assaulted him during his final moments. For so many years, he had spent his life alone with no other. Even if he couldn¡¯t deny that there were a few people who approached him in the past, they were always gone in the blink of an eye.

    The figure who had protected him from the rain back when he was young at the refuse never returned after he turned away and left. He remembered Marshal Lin, the person who held his hand and gave him. He remembered the Red Scorpion officers, Young Master Zhao of the forgottennds, Yu Renyan and more. They were tiny glimmers in his life that weren¡¯t all that brilliant, but they illuminated his futureless world all the same.

    And now, everything was finallying to an end.

    ¡°If there is a next life waiting beyond the Nether River, I should try not to be alone again¡­¡±

    In his daze, he felt as if something was approaching near him. Then, a sharp object suddenly plunged into his thighs, followed by a pain that seemed to tear at his body.

    Qianye turned around and wrestled against that thing above him. His consciousness was still fuzzy, and his reactions werepletely a product of his instinct. His body wouldn¡¯t stop hurting, and he wouldn¡¯t stop retaliating against his assant too. He used his nails, his teeth, his head; he used everything that was avable to him.

    An unknown amount of time passed, and suddenly Qianye felt that his mouth was filled with a sweet and refreshing taste. It was blood! He immediately started inhaling and swallowing the blood as greedily as a man who had just returned from the desert.

    Hot blood entered his stomach, injecting vigor back into his spirit immediately. Slowly his consciousness returned, and his eyes became clear once more. He then noticed that he was lying on top of an adult Horned Wolf, biting its throat and sucking blood fiercely from the wound. However, the wound beneath his teeth was dry, and all the blood in the beast¡¯s body was sucked dry already.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t quite believe what had happened as he stared at the rank six Horned Wolf beneath him. He had apparently fought against this beast while he was about to die just now. When he looked down at his body and saw the various wounds left behind by the Horned Wolf¡¯s teeth and ws, he finally believed that he had taken out this fierce beastpletely out of instinct.

    But a long time had passed. Where were his pursuers and the aristocratic family bodyguards? They should¡¯ve caught up to him by now.

    Footsteps rang from inside the forest. A man dressed as an aristocratic family bodyguard walked out into the open.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils shrank immediately when he saw this person. Although this man was wearing an aristocratic family bodyguard uniform, he hadn¡¯t worn any makeup at all. His pale white face, green eye shadows and blood red pupils were all clear signs that he was a vampire. Moreover, this man didn¡¯t do anything to conceal his presence. Qianye could feel as extremely rich and pure power of blood emanating from his body!

    Only a higher vampire with an aristocratic rank could possess such pure blood energy.

    Qianye stared at him and asked, ¡°Why has a Blood Knight appeared during this spring hunt?¡±

    The man was obviously surprised by the first sentence that came out of Qianye¡¯s mouth. However, he immediately followed up with apletely careless shrug and answered, ¡°There is always a surprise, isn¡¯t there? If the surprise from one thousand and two hundred years ago hadn¡¯t happened, the Great Qin Empire wouldn¡¯t have existed today.¡±

    He approached Qianye as he spoke. He was now close enough for Qianye to see that he was dragging a corpse each with both hands. Judging from the color of their uniforms, they were likely the Kong Family¡¯s bodyguards.

    The Blood Knight tossed the two bodyguards to Qianye¡¯s feet, ¡°They¡¯re the ones you¡¯re waiting for, aren¡¯t they? Unfortunately, they¡¯ve all turned into corpses now.¡±

    Right now, Qianye didn¡¯t even have the strength to stand up. He cast a simple nce at the two corpses before asking, ¡°There were more than two people who were chasing after me, weren¡¯t there?¡±

    The Blood Knight smiled, ¡°Of course. I don¡¯t know why, but they suddenly started fighting amongst themselves.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re fighting amongst themselves?¡± This surprised Qianye a little. The vampire was telling the truth though; he could hear the vague, distant sounds of gunshots if he were to pay attention to listening. The extremely rapid gunshots didn¡¯t sound like a hunt at all. It sounded like a small scale warfare had erupted.

    But Qianye was hardly in a position to care about other matters, much less something that was happening so far away from him. He stared at the vampire and asked, ¡°You couldn¡¯t possibly have shown up to save me, can you?¡±

    The male vampire¡¯s smile was incredibly sincere. He bent his body towards Qianye in a greeting salute before saying, ¡°My name is Danny Hatton. At first, the reason I came here was to assassinate a woman in this spring hunt field and fulfill a mission with a very lucrative reward. This woman is named Yin Qiqi. But guess what I saw while I was exploring this ce? The Twin Flowers!¡±

    He raised both arms and singsonged in an exaggerated tone, ¡°Twin Flowers, the weapon that made the venerable Marquis Ross famous and the sacred object that was passed down among his descendants generation after generation! If they are in your possession, then I can imagine even with my no-so-intelligent mind that you are the human Marquis Ross had ordered to kill, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°It is I.¡±

    ¡°Then I am right. I am forever respectful towards a person who can bring me the noble blood of Marquis Ross.¡±

    Qianye asked curiously, ¡°But you¡¯re a pure blooded vampire. Don¡¯t tell me you can ept the Embrace a second time?¡±

    Danny shook a finger and answered, ¡°No, of course not! It would appear that you don¡¯t understand the nobility of Evernight too well. Although Marquis Ross cannot give me the Embrace, he can grant me his sacred blood. The Marquis¡¯ blood is strong. If I am able to endure during the adaptation period, then the Marquis¡¯ blood shall ovee my original bloodline and turn me into a half descendant. Do you understand now?¡±

    Qianye nodded, ¡°Thank you for your exnation. So, are you going to kill me now?¡±

    ¡°Kill you? Of course not!¡± Danny raised his eyebrows and shook his finger yet again, ¡°You are far more useful alive than dead. The reward I could get from my mission isn¡¯t too far behind Marquis Ross¡¯ bloodline, you know, so of course I cannot abandon it just like that. As long as you¡¯re alive, I will be able to lure Yin Qiqi out into the open.¡±

    Qianye looked thoughtful, ¡°Who on earth is trying to kill Qiqi?¡±

    Danny sighed exaggeratedly, ¡°Who else? Who else but her own brothers and sisters would hate her so much? In this regard, the nobility of Evernight and the aristocratic families of the Empire are very simr to each other. Perhaps this is what civilization and progress means?¡±

    Qianye slowly carved a few symbols at the root of the tree trunk with his hands behind his back. It was a code used by the Yin Family. If Yin Qiqi or Ji Yuanjia were to find these symbols, they would know what Danny Hatton had spoken to him earlier.

    Danny finally arrived in front of Qianye as he picked up Qianye¡¯s Eagleshot and gave it a brief look. He then tossed the weapon on the ground before bending downwards to pull Qianye. Then, he walked towards a hilltop not far away from them. He dragged Qianye across the ground all the way, and made no attempts to hide their tracks whatsoever. Any hunter with even a bit of experience would be able to find the tracks he left behind.

 Volume 3 - 64: No Longer Alone (2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 64: No Longer Alone (2)

    Two troops were at a standstill atop a gradual slope not far away.

    On one side, there was Kong Yanian, the Kong family nsmen, the Song Household¡¯s nsmen, a few minor aristocratic families¡¯ bodyguards and a dozen or sondowning household soldiers. Meanwhile, the other troop numbered only around four people, but they were also the more imposing out of the two troops.

    Surprisingly, the person standing directly opposite of Kong Yanian was Wei Potian. Right now he cut a sorry figure, clothes tattered to the point that even his underwear was showing. Wei There were countless scratch marks on Wei Potian¡¯s bronze colored skin, and considering that he wielded the secret art Thousand Mountains the appearance of these wounds were shocking to say the least.

    Wei Potian was only followed by three bodyguards, and Wei Huai was the only one who still steady andposed. The other two bodyguards looked deathly pale and not much better than Wei Potian himself. Moreover, their weak breathings indicated that they had ran out of origin power. They probably didn¡¯t have muchbat strength left in them either.

    Wei Potian was the only person in the party who still looked fierce and energetic. Right now he had traded all of his usual frivolousness and exaggerated manners for a frosty look that actually gave him a bit of powerful dignity, yelling, ¡°Have you grown a pair, Kong Yanian? How dare you block my path!¡±

    The look on Kong Yanian¡¯s face could only be ugly in face of such rudeness. However, he didn¡¯t wish to lose the demeanor the member of a great family should possess and worked hard to maintain an elegant manner, ¡°Brother Wei, don¡¯t you think that your words are a little inappropriate? The Huaiyang Kong n and the Far East Wei n shared no old grudges with each other, and we have always stayed away from each other¡¯s businesses too. So why are you asking me to move out of your way so forcefully like it¡¯s natural? Maybe we can talk this over?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face darkened, ¡°Who do you think has the time to talk things over with you? I won¡¯t mince words with you, Kong Yanian; it¡¯s none of my business if you choose to lick Zhao Junhong¡¯s asshole, but it¡¯s a different story altogether when you piss me off in the process! I¡¯m only telling this once, and there is no room for negotiation on this matter: Get your ass out of this area right now!¡±

    Kong Yanian couldn¡¯t maintain a polite appearance no matter how sophisticated he was. His expression darkened, and he started, ¡°Brother Wei -¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly let out a loud noise and shouted angrily, ¡°Who the hell¡¯s your brother? Maybe your elder brother can call me that, but you are absolutely not the likes of those who can address me as brother Wei! Have some shame and get out of the way!¡±

    Kong Yanian¡¯s eyes twitched, and for a time he was so angry he couldn¡¯t say anything. He was used to posing as a cultured person who could win battles by strategy from a thousand miles away. Wei Potian¡¯s bitch-like swearing was seriously not a style he was used to.

    It was at this moment andowning household soldier stood up and advised, ¡°Sirs, don¡¯t you think it isn¡¯t worth arguing like this over a mere bodyguard in the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team? How about you shake hands and apologize to each other for my sake and¡ª¡±

    Before he could finish, a strong wind suddenly blew towards his face, prompting the shocked soldier to back hastily out of the way. He had his own good reflexes to thank, or he would¡¯ve suffered a powerful p to the face from Wei Potian¡¯s direction!

    Wei Potian spat on the ground and said coldly, ¡°Who the hell are you? What right do you have to order me? If I did act for your sake, are you sure you can bear the consequences?¡±

    Thendowning household warrior¡¯s face alternated between colors of blue and red, but he didn¡¯t dare speak up any longer.

    Wei Potian swept his nce across everyndowning household soldier present on the scene and turned around to look at his three bodyguards, ¡°Memorize these bastards and see if there¡¯s anyone else who dares affront me. I¡¯ll pay their families a visit and kick their assester!¡±

    Everyndowning household soldier wore extremely ugly expressions on their faces upon hearing this. Although they were very willing to curry favor with the Kong family and Zhao household, the price of an uncertain reward was an absolute grudge with the Wei Family. This was not a profitable trade no matter how you looked at it.

    Plenty ofndowning household soldiers made up their minds to stay out of this mess on the spot. This affair had turned into a conflict between grand households and aristocratic families, and it was no ce for small fries like them to stay.

    Wei Potian turned to look at Kong Yanian again as he spoke word by word, ¡°Today, I, Wei Potian will take Little Ye away from this ce even if I have to throw my life away! If anything happens to him, Kong Yanian, then I shall be your sworn enemy! You had better think this through properly! No matter how fragrant Zhao Junhong¡¯s ass is, he is not the young master of the Zhao household, and he never will be! Moreover, I, Wei Potian, am not an easy man to provoke and get away with!¡±

    Kong Yanian¡¯s anger suddenly subsided by a lot. He began to think in silence with a serious expression on his face. At this point, it was impossible not to realize that that Yin family bodyguard named Qian Xiaoye shared a rtionship with Wei Potian, and the connection tying them together was absolutely not just a simple alliance between two hunting teams. Otherwise, there was no way Wei Potian would¡¯ve disyed such relentless determination.

    Kong Yanian had always enjoyed trickery, and people like him often didn¡¯t have a firm standpoint in any matter unless their fundamental interests were threatened. After realizing that Wei Potian was serious, the urge to retreat had immediately assaulted Kong Yanian. However, he was currently at a difficult position where everyone was watching him, and he didn¡¯t want to give up on this rare opportunity to sell Wei Potian a favor either. However, he wasn¡¯t able to think of any good way to achieve both goals despite a moment of deep thought.

    It was at this moment Ye Mn walked out from behind two Song household bodyguards and confronted Wei Potian. She had already changed into a new set of clothes and tidied her appearance. She had also regained her usual icy and arrogant look.

    She took a few step forwards and spoke coldly at Wei Mn, ¡°Young Master Wei, there are still rules that the Far East Wei n no matter how mighty you are, aren¡¯t there? Don¡¯t take an inch to then want a mile. I can tell you right now that that kid is going to die today no matter what! Or are you going to fight against the entire Song household for him?¡±

    Wei Potian cast a nce at her before he burst into loudughter. Then, he spat again and again on the ground while yelling, ¡°You think you can represent the Song household? You bitch?¡±

    Ye Mn turned indignant, ¡°I am Song Zining¡¯s fiance! How dare you bully me so?¡±

    Wei Potian spat on the ground again and sneered, ¡°And that¡¯s all you are, a fiance. Song Zining must have gone blind or something tond his eyes on the likes of you!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Ye Mn finally couldn¡¯t hold it any longer as she called to the bodyguards behind her, ¡°Get him and restrain him for now! We¡¯ll ask Song Zining to deal with the Wei familyter!¡±

    The two Song family bodyguards answered her summons loudly, but they never moved and stood at the same spot like they were nailed to the ground. Wei Potian was conferred the young master of Wei Family by Marquis Bowang himself. In terms of rank Wei Potian was in fact the highest ranking person out of all the participants of this summer hunt. Even Zhao Junhong was beneath him.

    Wei Potian suddenly broke into an evil grin and strode towards Ye Mn.

    Ye Mn was caught off guard and took an involuntary step backwards. She forced herself to be calm and asked, ¡°W-what do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±

    Wei Potian moved closer until his face was right in front of hers. Then, he spoke in a chilly voice that only the two of them could hear, ¡°Do you really think you¡¯re something? If I choose to marry Song Ziyan, then forget a fiance, I can force the Song household to divorce you even if you did marry into the Song household! When that happens, I¡¯ll be sure to ughter your entire family to thest!¡±

    Ye Mn¡¯s face changed dramatically. She even started shivering slightly at Wei Potian¡¯s threats.

    Although Wei Potian¡¯s threat sounded a little absurd, it was absolutely not empty words. Song Ziyan was the third daughter of the Song household, and she had always been the matriarch¡¯s favorite granddaughter. If Wei Potian really were to put forth a request to marry her, the higher ups of the Song household would definitely ept the proposal dly. The Wei Family had always maintained a neutral stance among the four grand households, so any inclination they disyed was a huge matter to the entire Empire. If that happens then forget the insignificant Ye Family; even ten Ye families would be sacrificed easily for the sake of the marriage.

    Ye Mn absolutely refused to believe that the Wei Family would allow Wei Potian to make such an important decision so carelessly, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that the ten thousand-to-one chance that Wei Potian would marry Song Ziyan was going to totally consign her family and her to eternal damnation.

    For a time, the opposing side had all fallen into silent. But when Wei Potian saw that those people were neither leaving nor letting him through, he immediately felt angry. He grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and turned his fist around a couple of times. He was also looking to his left and right side. It was apparent that he was going to act in the next moment.

    Suddenly, a series of rapid footsteps suddenly rang from the shortcut beside them, and Ji Yuanjia and a couple of Yin Family bodyguards showed up while covered in smoke and blood.

    Wei Potian recognized Ji Yuanjia. Startled by his appearance, he asked the man, ¡°Why have youe? Where¡¯s your crazy girl Qiqi?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia said, ¡°The Miss has gone away to support Qianye personally. I happened to run into the Kong Family¡¯s supply troop while I was returning from the borders, so I took all all three of their supply bases along the way.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Kong Yanian¡¯s expression changed dramatically as he yelled, ¡°But I¡¯ve assigned my men to guard them beforehand! How did you¡ª¡±

    Ji Yuanjia said expressionlessly, ¡°You did, and they¡¯re all dead now. Sir Kong, if you don¡¯t return soon and order a new batch of supplies, you¡¯re going to run out of ammunition and food pretty soon. If that happens, don¡¯t me me for making you drop out of the top ten.¡±

    ¡°You! Well done, I say, well done!¡± Kong Yanian was furious, and he was at a loss of words for a time.

    Happened to, he said! Along the way, he said! Kong Yanian was sure that Ji Yuanjia had made a beeline for his bases. Other than the supply troop that was already there in the first ce, he had even sent two of his bodyguards to his biggest supply hub. Originally, he was nning to set a trap and take out those people who might try to surprise attack his supply bases, but he never thought that Yin Qiqi and the entire Yin hunting team would turn out in full strength. Ji Yuanjia himself was a fearsome person who left not even a single person alive.

    How could Wei Potian not figure out the ins and outs he saw how ugly Kong Yanian¡¯s expression was? He couldn¡¯t help but burst into loudughter and pat Ji Yuanjia¡¯s shoulder while doing so, ¡°At first I thought that you¡¯re a little sissy, but as it turns out you¡¯re a real man who deserves my friendship! Well done, my friend, you are a real man! When this fight is over I¡¯ll treat you to a drink!¡±

    Ji Yuanjia smiled, ¡°Thank you for your praise, Young Master Wei. I¡¯ll be sure to carry you back home once we¡¯re done drinking.¡±

    Wei Potian let out a strange cry and looked Ji Yuanjia up and down, ¡°You are pretty boastful just like that Qiqi!¡±

    He looked at the weapons Ji Juanjia and his men were carrying and grabbed over arge weapon, ¡°This baby is looking good!¡±

    While saying this, Wei Potian immediately plugged the superrge caliber heavy machine gun on the ground and aimed its muzzle at Kong Yanian and his people.

    Kong Yanian was immediately caught off guard! Although a heavy machine gun couldn¡¯t pose a real threat to cultivators at his level, they were still going to suffer some minor injuries if they were shot at such a close range.

    ¡°Brother Wei¡ª¡±

    Wei Potian pulled the trigger before Kong Yanian could finish!

    Danny Hatton tossed Qianye on the ground after he arrived at a small hill with a rtively wide field of view.

    Qianye struggled a little and leaned against a rock at the side, breathing heavily and erratically from this one simple movement. He might not even be able to sit steadily if he wasn¡¯t leaning against something.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s best if you just kill me and leave, Danny. Yin Qiqi will not show up.¡±

    Danny Hatton smiled and shook his head, ¡°From what I learned, she seems to treat you quite favorably! You¡¯re her little lover after all!¡±

    Qianye revealed a mocking smile, ¡°I can only say that your source of intel is pretty bad. Have you not investigated exactly how many ¡®little lovers¡¯ the third miss of the Yin Family has?¡±

    Danny was startled. It was something that he had never thought before.

    He paced back on forth across the ground with a frown, hesitating. It was true that the bounty on Yin Qiqi¡¯s head was lucrative, but if she didn¡¯t show up then the risk of staying at this ce was too great. Champion rank experts were said to be observing this spring hunting field at every moment. Although his employer gave his word that the expert following Yin Qiqi wouldn¡¯t interfere with his assassination attempt, who could say that his ims were one hundred percent true?

    Danny was certain that he could escape with his life intact under a Champion rank expert¡¯s pursuit, but it it wasn¡¯t one hundred percent guaranteed either. It was exactly because he could no longer hide in the dark and ambush his prey calmly that prompted him to take the risk of showing and making contact with Qianye. Qianye¡¯s words did move him a little, but his greed in his heart continued to burn as brightly as ever.

    Qianye shifted his body once as if he was trying to move into a morefortable position. His movement immediately caused the wound between his stomach and his chest to tear open once more. Blood immediately flowed out of his wound, but this time the blood looked extremely vibrant. It was as if a gentle light was circting inside it, and the blood was so red that it was almost purple.

    Danny abruptly turned around and stared closely at Qianye. His blood colored eyes werepletely overwhelmed by madness.

    It was at this moment the rapid noise of an automatic heavy machine gun rang from a faraway forest.

 Volume 3 - 65: No Longer Alone (3)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 65: No Longer Alone (3)

    The heavy machine gun spat fire non stop as a clip of hundreds of bullets were consumed quickly. Bullet shells were scattered everywhere!

    The group of bodyguards andnded gentry were in a turmoil as they scattered all over the ce. In reality, heavy machine gun bullets were not a problem for these rank six or seven experts, but since their leader, the Song Household and the Kong Family hadn¡¯t retaliated, so all they could do was to dodge out of the way.

    There were almost no one on Young Master Wei¡¯s side who could fight at all, and so Wei Potian became a huge thorn in their side that could neither be underestimated nor overestimated. If they overdid their retaliation the observers would certainly interfere with their battle, but it wasn¡¯t like the very aggressive-looking Young Master Wei would appreciate the gesture even if they gave him the slip. No one wanted to take a thrashing for free.

    This might not be the exit he wanted, but it wasn¡¯t like Kong Yanian had any other choice. He immediately snorted and activated his origin barrier, blocking all of the iing shots while backing away. In the end, he turned around and left the scene. Kong Yanian didn¡¯t forget to shoot Ji Yuanjia a fierce re before he left.

    Ji Yuanjia simply smiled at him calmly while the one and a half foot shortsword in his hand sang softly with unstable origin power. The sight made Kong Yanianment a little about the fact that Ji Yuanjia wasn¡¯t his.

    Thetter hunt of the spring hunt was going to cause Kong Yanian a big headache, however. He only had three bodyguards beside him, and his supply lines werepletely destroyed. Considering how far they were from their forward base, going back now to grab supplies was no different from giving up more than half of the final stage of the spring hunt.

    While Kong Yanian was leaving in a hurry, a fierce thought suddenly passed through his mind: If I can¡¯t get my supplies in time then I¡¯ll snatch them from the other families! The other aristocratic families have plenty of supply depots!

    Although Wei Potian fired an entire box of bullets and didn¡¯t even severely injure a single person, he was still infinitely pleased by Kong Yanian¡¯s retreat and the scattering of that pretentious woman Ye Mn.

    He tossed the heavy machine gun on the ground and pulled out a knife from Ji Yuanjia¡¯s waist. Then, he pointed at the Wei and Yin Family bodyguards and dered, ¡°Watch those guys and chase them out of this region. If you find anyone who¡¯s only pretending to obey, jot down their names so I can find them over once this spring hunt is over!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Wei, you¡­¡± Ji Yuanjia couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly and press a hand to his temples at how openly Wei Potian was practicing the art of bullying.

    Wei Potian waved a hand impatiently, ¡°Alright, that¡¯s that!¡±

    Once he was done, he strode into the deeper regions of the Profound Heaven Mountain Range with a de in hand. From the back, Wei Potian¡¯s footsteps looked solid and heavy. No one could deny that Wei Potian¡¯s presence currently felt as tall as a mountain and as deep askewater. The special spirit of a chosen one was also growing slowly inside the man. But there was a problem: his clothes were tattered and torn. Normally this could be considered a proof of masculinity, but not when half his shining white butt was out in the open. It annihted whatever bearing he might have had otherwise.

    Ji Yuanjia opened his mouth, but ultimately decided that it would be best if he had kept his mouth shut. Wei Potian might bore a grudge against him if he spoke the honest truth. Both the Yin and Wei Family bodyguards exchanged wordless nces with each other, and even Wei Huai let out a soft cough before he moved his gaze away resolutely. It was obvious that no one here were idiots.

    Ji Yuanjia pondered for a brief moment, ¡°Young Master Wei is not a simple man it seems!¡±

    Although it might have looked like Wei Potian was held back by the other parties and had to waste a lot of breath before he could finally extricate himself, he had in fact stopped all pursuers from going after Qianye. One might call his methods tyrannical and bullying, but no one could deny that he had made his stance absolutely clear and forced everyone to forego this joint human hunting. As long as he was present, anyone who didn¡¯t wish to make aplete enemy out of Wei Potian would have to give up on chasing Qianye. This method was far better than an all out brawl because Wei Potian¡¯s cumtive strength was a littleckingpared to the enemy¡¯s.

    Deep inside the forest, Qiqi ran forwards swiftly while her short hair danced across the air.

    It was at this moment Nangong Wanyun appeared from the forest before her with her men, smiling, ¡°Where are you heading, sister?¡±

    However, her smile had frozen immediately because Qiqi had took down the savage-looking gun behind her back and fired a ball of origin power the size of a basin straight at Nangong Wanyun¡¯s group without a word!

    Nangong Wanyun screamed and fell on the ground immediately! There was no way she was blocking such a huge origin bullet! In fact, that wasn¡¯t a bullet at all; it was obviously an artillery shell!

    The fierce explosion blew her several meters away from where she fell down. When Nangong Wanyun climbed up to her feet once more, Qiqi had already passed through the center of the explosion by force and went away.

    Nangong Wanyun looked uncertainly at Qiqi¡¯s back.

    A bodyguard asked, ¡°Are we chasing her, miss?¡±

    Nangong Wanyun ground her teeth and uttered, ¡°Forget it! This woman has gone insane. It¡¯s best if we don¡¯t provoke her! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    And so the Nangong Family switched a direction and readied themselves to head back to their own hunting zone, hunting for more points.

    On the small hill, Danny Hatton let out a low growl as his fangs extended on their own ord. His gaze waspletely absorbed by Qianye¡¯s seeping blood, and he couldn¡¯t look away. He then inhaled deeply as if he would absorb every particle of clear, sweet blood in the air into his lungs.

    Qianye didn¡¯t seem to notice anything unusual. He seemed so tired that he couldn¡¯t even raise his hand. He didn¡¯t think to stop the flow of blood either as redness poured continuously out of his wounds.

    Danny possessed extraordinary willpower, and he somehow preserved some shreds of his sanity even in this asion. He spoke softly, ¡°Perhaps it is a great idea to turn you into a blood thrall! In fact, why don¡¯t I give you the Embrace? Maybe I could create an extraordinarily powerful descendant like this.¡±

    Qianye broke into involuntaryughter, ¡°You want to give me the Embrace? Marquis Ross would kill you.¡±

    Danny forced himself to look away from the blood seeping out of Qianye¡¯s wounds and stretched a hand towards Qianye. He said, ¡°Marquis Ross may turn you into his descendant himself. This may be your only chance to live.¡±

    Qianye smiled helplessly, ¡°It¡¯s not like I can resist, can I?¡±

    ¡°It seems so.¡±

    Danny crouched on one knee next to Qianye and leaned forwards. He pushed away Qianye¡¯s tattered shirt cor to reveal a part of his neck. He inhaled deeply and got ready to bite Qianye.

    However, a small wind suddenly arose and brushed across one¡¯s skin as gently and as warmly as the touch of a lover. Leaves were raining from the sky as they danced around like the twirling skirts of dancers in a grand festival.

    A shiver passed Qianye¡¯s heart suddenly. This hill was filled with shrubberies and some distance away from the forest. It was also the season of spring right now, not autumn. So where had these dead leavese from?

    Every bit of Danny¡¯s attention was absorbed by Qianye¡¯s body right now, so he didn¡¯t pay much attention to the anomalies happening around him at all. All he wanted to do right now was to taste the little morsel that existed only in his dreams.

    However, a dead leaf just happened to float past his eyes.

    Danny subconsciously stretched out his hand in attempt to push the annoying leaf away, but he realized after he waved his hand that the dead leaf was still flying ording to its original orbit. It was actually an illusion!

    A jolt of shock passed through Danny¡¯s mind, and it was immediately followed by a coldness in his heart and a sense of numbness that swiftly spread across his entire body. In just a breath¡¯s moment, an unprecedented level of coldness and darkness flooded over his entire consciousness and took away hisst strength.

    ¡°It¡¯s you,¡± Qianye looked at the figure slowly appearing behind Danny.

    Dead leaves continued to fall infinitely from the sky. At this point, faint colored petals that were almost fully white in color had joined in the party as they swayed and swam along warm and gentle breezes. The man looked like he had walked out of a sea of falling flower petals.

    ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± Song Zining smiled and pulled out his longsword slowly from behind the Blood Knight¡¯s back.

    ¡°I guess this isn¡¯t a bad ending. It¡¯s better if I die in your hands than that vampire¡¯s,¡± Qianye said calmly.

    The atmosphere froze for a single instant.

    Then, Song Zining shook his head and let out an involuntaryugh. Not a pause could be found in his sword pulling movement, and the technique he used was extremely unusual. He twirled the weapon as he pulled it out of the vampire¡¯s body, and one could see many tiny origin light bubbling around the de of the weapon, causing tiny blooms of blood to erupt.

    No flesh or blood were scattered during the process, and everything touched by the edge of the de were turned into fine, gray white powder. When the longsword waspletely pulled out, the Blood Knight¡¯s heart and blood vessels had already been utterly destroyed by the circr motions. Song Zining picked up Danny Hatton¡¯s corpse and tossed it aside.

    Dead leaves and flower petals continued to fly around the duo. Some of them touched Song Zining¡¯s sharp, cold weapon and caused the blood marks and gray white powder to disappear bit by bit. It was as if an invisible hand was wiping all traces from the sword until the origin sword looked as clean as new. Then, Song Zining tossed it casually aside as well.

    He raised his hands, and the dead leaves and flower petals flying above Qianye flickered erratically for a moment. They slowly dissolved into half transparent mist before descending and entering Qianye¡¯s skin.

    The burning pain that made Qianye feel like he was submerged inva immediately faded by a lot. He looked up curiously at the flying petals and leaves and tried to catch a flower petal from the air. However, it passed right through his palm and continued to fall towards the ground, vanishing. However, a new petal would appear anew somewhere in the air.

    ¡°So this is your ability. It¡¯s very impressive.¡±

    When a cultivator reached Champion rank and above, they could materialize their own origin power and blur the line between illusion and reality. But Song Zining was only at rank seven, and he was able to materialize his origin power within a radius of three meters or so. Every leaf and every petal flying before his eyes signified a meticulous change in origin power down to the smallest detail. The only thing Qianye had seen thatpared to Song Zining¡¯s power was Ji Yuanjia¡¯s sword technique. The lieutenant colonel also possessed simr space sealing ability, but it was limited to the area where his de had already passed through.

    Song Zining cocked his head slightly and looked down at Qianye with the same warm and gentle smile on his face, ¡°This is the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. It¡¯s just some illusions and simplistic smokescreens though,¡± His gazended on the deepest wound between Qianye¡¯s chest and abdomen. The thin mist formed from a ball of origin power had almost sankpletely into Qianye¡¯s skin.

    Song Zining suddenly looked startled, ¡°Your wounds look a little strange. Do you mind if I check it out a little?¡±

    Qianye smiled wryly and answered simply, ¡°Sure.¡±

    He noticed that something was wrong too. After Song Zining¡¯s origin power had entered his body, the blood energies huddled quietly inside his heart had suddenly scuttled about restlessly. Even the gold blood energy¡¯s barrier had wobbled once. However, Qianye was feeling so tired right now that he couldn¡¯t care to struggle or conceal his secret at all. If he hadn¡¯t spent his remaining blood energy powers toy a trap to snare Danny Hatton, he wouldn¡¯t have been so exhausted that he couldn¡¯t even sit straight while leaning against a rock.

    Song Zining touched a bit of blood from Qianye¡¯s wound, and a couple of dead leaves gathered over and transformed into a mini origin tornado around his fingertip. His expression changed slightly, ¡°Blood power! Are you a vampire? But that¡¯s not right either¡­¡±

    ¡°I was bitten, but I wasn¡¯t given the Embrace. Somehow I¡¯m not a blood thrall either. I¡¯m not sure myself how I transformed into the way I am now,¡± Qianye said honestly.

    Song Zining nodded. The kind look on his face that seemed like it would never change slowly faded as he wrinkled it into a pondering frown. A momentter, he let out a sigh as the ghost of a smile passed through his lips, ¡°Qianye, Qianye. You are just as much of a trouble ma as you are before.¡±

 Volume 3 - 66: Friends

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 66: Friends

    Song Zining took out a masterfully crafted crystal box. The box had fourpartments, and half of the box¡¯s contents were already empty. There was a dead leaf each inside the remaining twopartments of the box, and the bottom of the cover was inscribed with two rows of tiny text: a leaf heralds theing of autumn; a leaf hides the bigger picture.

    He took out a dead leaf and dripped a few drops of Qianye¡¯s blood on it. The moment he let go, the dead leaf actually soared to the sky instead of falling to the ground, riding the wind up into the air before it scattered into thousands of light dots that fell like the rain!

    Qianye felt as if the world was knocked by something in the unseen world amidst the dazzling light show. When he looked to his surroundings once more, he felt as if the entire world had be different altogether. It was as if a great terror and awe existed behind its dream-like beauty; it was as if a true corner of the world was finally unveiled.

    The rain of light came and went as quickly as a meteor. Its brilliancested for only an instant before it subsided into nothingness. Qianye¡¯s blood evaporated into dense mists that ultimately condensed into three types of blood energies: dark red, purple, and shadow with only a bit of gold in it.

    Song Zining¡¯s face suddenly turned pale as his aura swiftly declined from its earlier state. He now looked a lot more weaker than before. He stared at the normal dark red energy, grabbed, and kneaded it in his own hand. The blood energy suddenly began struggling with all its might, doing its best to split up several tendrils to its surroundings. But it was all for naught, and it vanished into nothingness in the end. The purple blood energy also seemed to have sense something as it vanished almost at the exact same time.

    Song Zining said thoughtfully, ¡°Look, that dark red blood energy is the source of the blood power. It is also the standard by which we use to determine if someone is a vampire. Normally it should have taken the shape of a n¡¯s symbol, which helps us identify the vampire¡¯s roots,¡± He flicked his fingers once, and the illusion of a dark red blood energy struggling madly appeared out of nowhere once more. This time, its split tendrils entangled and merged with each other to form the symbol of a castle beneath a moon.

    Qianye exhaled and felt cold sweat drenching the entirety of his back. It was only now he realized just how lucky he was to slip past the inspection of Qiqi¡¯s subordinate, the Champion rank Elder Du with ease.

    Song Zining was still staring at thatst golden shadow, ¡°You were not Embraced, but you still possess blood power. The reason no one had found your secret all this time is thanks to this little thing here¡­ What is this? Is it a blood energy or an ability?¡± He extended a hand and poked at the shadow once. The gold blood energy dissipated in response and turned back into innumerable light dots that floated in the air, unfading.

    Qianye answered with a wry smile on his face, ¡°It¡¯s probably blood energy, I think?¡±

    By now Song Zining had thought through the entire matter, and he told Qianye, ¡°Whatever it is, the important thing is that it¡¯s effective. It is only a matter of time before everyone notices that you¡¯re different from the average person. The fact that Yin Qiqi could bring you along to the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt meant that the Yin Family had probably put you through a talent inspection process, but since your constitution is abnormal the normal method is ineffective. For now, we can safely deduce that you have nothing to be worried unless you are scanned by the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery or several other secret arts possessed by the imperial family.¡±

    ¡°However, you¡¯ve drawn too much attention during this spring hunt. Therefore, rather than endure the probes and inquiries that are sure toe, you may as well take initiative and show them something they can see,¡± Song Zining¡¯s hand passed through the air. The golden light dots continue to bob up and down in the air, ¡°Take a look. This is the answer you may present them with. If we keep this in the open, there is a high chance that they will assume that it is some sort of talent ability.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up. This might actually be a better solution than Concealed Bloodline. People were only going to pay extra attention to him if they couldn¡¯t find out his secret, so he might as well show them something they could see, ¡°So what talent ability is simr to this?¡±

    Song Zining suddenly snickered, ¡°If even you have no know idea what this talent ability is, then your reactions after you were found out would be realistic, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. Song Zining obviously had a n in mind already, but he wasn¡¯t nning to tell him about it. His current expression was serious damaging the gentle and cultivated appearance of an aristocratic descendant he carried himself with though. It did match up with Qianye¡¯s memories of his ssmate while they were training at Yellow Spring.

    Suddenly, the dead leaves that were falling infinitely around them were disturbed. There were two or three spots of the illusion where the leaves had flown up to the air and formed tiny turbulences instead.

    Song Zining straightened his expression and said, ¡°Your saviors are going to show up immediately,¡± He knelt down beside Qianye and examined the wound between his chest and abdomen closely. Then, he said, ¡°Your constitution has changed quite a lot. It is to the point where your old wound looks much faded. Remember: you mustn¡¯t tell anyone that this is an old wound.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly at his words. He opened his mouth, but wasn¡¯t sure which one of the plethora of question he had to ask first.

    Song Zining cast a nce at the silver ne Qianye wore around his neck and said indifferently, ¡°Marquis Bowang¡¯s son of the Far East Wei n is absolutely not an idiot. I¡¯ll have to take my leave.¡±

    Having said that, Song Zining got up, turned away and walked away from the scene. When he stepped out of the illusion¡¯s zone, his figure suddenly blurred and disappeared.

    The sky of falling leaves and petals abruptly halted, vanishing into nothingness as if they never existed. Qianye¡¯s mind was thrown into chaos by Song Zining final two lines as countless memories fight their way to surface onto Qianye¡¯s consciousness.

    It was at this moment a loud noise of argument rang from the forest not far away. One of the female voices sounded extremely familiar to his ears. It sounded like Qiqi.

    Neither side had traded more than a few lines before a loud explosion suddenly erupted, followed by a huge fireball that slowly rose into the air. Dozens of trees copsed from the explosion, and one particr figure was pushed out of the forest by the explosion¡¯s shockwave. They copsed to the ground and moved no longer.

    The person was an aristocratic family bodyguard who was half scorched ck. It was obvious that the signs bode ill for this person considering they hadn¡¯t moved at all after hitting the ground. The arguing voices had vanishedpletely as well.

    Qiqi walked out of the forest with a frigid look on her face. She was carrying an origin gun that was as tall as her and with a gun barrel that was so huge that the weapon might as well be renamed a hand cannon.

    The bodyguard¡¯s corpse was blocking Qiqi¡¯s way, so she sent it flying with a single kick.

    Qiqi saw Qianye half lying on the hill the moment she walked out of the forest. She finally gave him a smile and asked, ¡°Are you dead yet?¡±

    Qianye looked at her and smiled wryly, ¡°Almost there.¡±

    Qiqi sighed, ¡°No one told you to be a show off! I really wasn¡¯t nning to get number one in this spring hunt, you know.¡±

    Qianye shook his head, ¡°No, I did it for myself. The Zhao household tried to kill me, and I was only retaliating in kind. The points were a side benefit.¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s smile immediately became frozen. She then waved her terrifying looking origin gun and pretended to be angry, ¡°You have no idea how to talk pretty! I should¡¯ve stayed away and left you to your own device! Hmm, I wonder if I should shoot you right now? There¡¯s no way to cure this frustration otherwise!¡±

    A series of rapid footsteps resounded again from the forest before Qianye could answer her. Someone was swiftly approaching towards them.

    An apprehensive look fleeted across Qiqi¡¯s face, and she instantly turned around, knelt down and fired a shot right at the direction of the voice!

    A ball of fire escaped the gun barrel and flew straight into the forest. It immediately transformed into a fearsome explosion that knocked over all the trees that were in its way. A ghastly wail immediately rang from the center of the explosion, but even more shocking was the fact that the sight of a person covered in mes charging out despite bearing the full brunt of the shot.

    Earthen yellow origin light flickered repeatedly before it finally extinguished the mes around this person, but not beforerge patches of smoke traces and scorch marks were left on the body. He let out a furious yell the moment he saw Qiqi, ¡°What the hell are you trying to do, Yin Qiqi? Are you asking for a fight?¡±

    Qiqi covered her mouth in great surprise and embarrassment. The person who showed up was actually Wei Potian.

    ¡°What are you here for?¡± Qiqi calmed down. She hadpletely forgotten that she had sent a notice to the Wei¡¯s camp.

    Wei Potian answered without a second thought, ¡°I¡¯m here to¡­ rescue Qianye, of course! Who know what¡¯s going on in that air head of yours?¡±

    Qiqi looked at Qianye before she turned back to look at Wei Potian once more. At this point it was impossible not to notice how abnormal Wei Potian was acting, ¡°You guys knew each other before?¡±

    Wei Potian said smoothly without revealing anything on his face, ¡°We¡¯ve drank together once in the past and built a small friendship.¡±

    Qiqi continued to ask curiously, ¡°Small friendship? What kind of small friendship could make you this anxious?¡±

    The follow up question irritated Wei Potian, and his expression immediately darkened, ¡°What are you talking about at this time! Are you using Qianye as a target, Qiqi? What else did you do during this spring hunt except barbeques and spring outings? If you aren¡¯t going to work seriously then stop holding up mine. If the Yin Family doesn¡¯t want Qianye then give him to me instead!¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s expression changed before she turned around to look at Qianye. For once, she actually held back and said, ¡°You! Hah¡­ Wei Potian, I won¡¯t bicker with you today, but I will remember this. I¡¯ll teach you the proper way to speak to me once this spring hunt is over.¡±

    After that, Qiqi ignored Wei Potian and walked straight towards Qianye. Wei Potian scratched his head, finally realizing that the situation might be a little different from what he had initially imagined in his head. Apparently, Qiqi herself had broken through many obstacles before she made it this ce. He hadn¡¯t seen her use that big gun of hers for a very long time already.

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t sure what to say, so he could only follow behind Qiqi and walk towards Qianye.

    Qiqi strode all the way up to Qianye and let out a snort. She said coolly, ¡°Hmph! You¡¯re the one who caused all these troubles, but I¡¯m the one who has to receive a scolding on your behalf, huh? Get up on your feet and stop ying dead; it won¡¯t save you from what¡¯s toe!¡±

    While saying this, Qiqi grabbed onto Qianye¡¯s arm and attempted to lift him to his feet. However, she had just exerted a little strength when her movements came to a sudden halt. She cast a nce at Qianye¡¯s body and felt her breathing grew a little heavier than before.

    Qianye smiled helplessly, ¡°I¡¯m not ying dead. I¡¯m really about to die soon.¡±

    Without a word, Qiqi knelt down on one knee and ced a hand on Qianye¡¯s chest. She poured origin power fiercely into Qianye¡¯s body until his pale white face finally regained some color, and his breathing steadied. At this point Qiqi¡¯s face was white, and her nose was covered in sweat.

    Wei Potian could do nothing but walk anxiously in circles at the side. His Thousand Mountains waspletely useless when it came to treating wounds, but the Yin Family¡¯s Moonlight Flowing Cloud Art had the ability to heal others.

    Suddenly, he felt a blur before his eyes, and Qiqi¡¯s huge origin gun fell from right above his head.

    ¡°Grab my gun!¡± Qiqi said loudly.

    Wei Potian subconsciously grabbed the weapon before he finally reacted to the situation and rolled his eyes, ¡°Why should I listen to a woman?¡±

    Qiqi lifted Qianye up to her back and shot a re at Wei Potian. She said angrily, ¡°Another word and I¡¯ll beat you half dead ten times when we get back!¡±

    Qiqi led at the front of the group while Wei Potian followed behind her with her weapon. As a result Wei Potian looked just like ackey, and the man was extremely dissatisfied with his current image. He mumbled, ¡°You can¡¯t break through my Thousand Mountains now!¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll ask Qianye to shatter your turtle shell before I hit you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s unfair!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the man who imed that you will shatter the sky? Are you that cowardly that you won¡¯t ept a girl¡¯s challenge?¡±

    Wei Potian opened his mouth and wanted very much to retort with a, ¡°are you even a girl, Qiqi?¡± remark. But in the end, he forced himself to swallow the words.

 Volume 3 - 67: Confusion

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 67: Confusion

    Qianye¡¯s wounds were aplenty, and he waspletely covered in blood stain, soot, and soil. But although his blood had seeped into Qiqi¡¯s clothes, she didn¡¯t look like she minded it at all.

    Wei Potian plodded behind Qiqi. There were a few times he almost asked Qiqi to let him carry Qianye instead, but he ultimately decided against the impulse. His instinct told him that Qiqi wouldn¡¯t agree to make a switch even if he asked.

    There were some people who followed and spied on them while they were passing through mountain forests and valleys, but they never showed their faces probably because they knew that they had lost theirst chance now that the Wei and Yin Family had joined forces. These pursuers all went away one after another.

    Qiqi had just stepped out of a dense forest when she suddenly came to a halt and looked murderous.

    Wei Potian was running behind Qiqi, and he nearly ran into her because he didn¡¯t think that she woulde to a sudden stop. When he looked up, he immediately red at his opponents but withdrew the anger that fleeted across his face in an instant. He strode in front of Qiqi and Qianye with a solemn expression on his face, and summoned earthen yellow origin power around his body.

    Song Zining, dressed in light clothing and wide sleeves and looking carefree, was standing calmly at the open space in front of the forest. Ye Mn and two Song household bodyguards were standing behind him.

    Just when both sides were about to sh with each other, a clear and melodious crack rang suddenly from the forest beside them. The gunshot was as melodious as the shing sounds of metal and stone, and its reverberation remained for a very long time. Almost everyone present was very familiar with this unique gunshot. Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly, and he struggled out of Qiqi¡¯s hold and got off her back despite her insistence.

    Zhao Junhong slowly walked out of the forest while he wiped his famous Silver Winged Fantasy with a pure white handkerchief. His footsteps looked slow, but he had arrived at the median line between the two parties in two steps.

    Zhao Junhong happened to stand at a position where he was facing the Song household directly. He looked up at Song Zining, but said nothing to him. The atmosphere was still and a little strange.

    Song Zining continued to smile earnestly before he spoke in a sudden, ¡°What a coincidence to meet you all here! Well, go on with your business, I¡¯ll be changing directions,¡± He actually did turn around and walk down another direction after he said this. Ye Mn and the two Song household bodyguards exchanged nces with each other before they quickly chased after Song Zining.

    Zhao Junhong stared at Song Zining¡¯s back until the man had vanishedpletely. Then, he turned around and cast a nce at the still wary Qiqi and Wei Potian. He said indifferently, ¡°Rx. I¡¯m just here to say a few things with him.¡±

    Qianye forced himself to stand up straight and stared quietly at Zhao Junhong.

    Zhao Junhong holstered Silver Winged Fantasy behind his back and looked at Qianye, saying, ¡°You are the first person ever to force me into such a difficult situation, but you are too hurt right now. I¡¯ll give you some time to recover, so let uspete again properly after that!¡±

    Qianye was rather surprised by his words. He immediately smiled and asked, ¡°Compete what? Do you want me to switch to a gun with a shorter range and fight you that way?¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s face looked a little stiff as he let out a cough, ¡°I¡¯m not good in sniping in the first ce, but sure, we canpete in sniping! Hmph! The Zhao family also has a master who excels in sniping. We¡¯ll be able topete properly once I¡¯ve trained under him for half a year.¡±

    Qianye was caught off guard by his honesty. He never imagined that this second young master of the Zhao household would admit his weakness so frankly to the point where it no longer felt right to mock him. And so Qianye asked, ¡°What do you wish topete then?¡±

    Zhao Junhong answered, ¡°A fighting tournament follows after the spring hunt, and it is no virtualbat. So? Do you dare participate in the battle?¡±

    Qianye smiled, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡±

    It was at this moment Qiqi interrupted the conversation, ¡°You¡¯re rank seven and Xiaoye is only rank five, Zhao Junhong. I can¡¯t believe you could even ask a question like this. How about I get a Champion to fight you then?¡±

    Zhao Junhong shot Qiqi a cold look, ¡°Do I look like the person who¡¯ll take advantage of him this way? I won¡¯t go over rank five during the fight. If you don¡¯t like this then get up the stage yourself, Yin Qiqi. I¡¯ll teach you a proper lesson about the Zhao n¡¯s secret arts!¡±

    At this point Qianye couldn¡¯t quite maintain his standing posture, so he half-leaned onto Qiqi¡¯s shoulders and smiled weakly, ¡°There¡¯s no need for us to fight if you¡¯re just going to lower your origin powers to rank five. I have no interest in battles where I¡¯m certain to win.¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s face darkened as he said in a chilly voice, ¡°That¡¯s a bold im to make. I really hope that you¡¯re as powerful as you im to be!¡± After that, he turned and left abruptly without even bidding them goodbye.

    Qianye shook his head, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that the second Zhao young master is such a person.¡±

    Qiqi said, ¡°Everyone in the Zhao family is¡­¡± Her words came to a sudden halt as if she couldn¡¯t find the right adjective to use. In the end, she gritted her teeth and uttered, ¡°At any rate Zhao Junhong is much better than that vile Song Zining!¡±

    Whatever words that Qianye had meant to say were cut off by her exmation, and when he saw that Wei Potian was also nodding repeatedly in agreement he immediately thought better of saying anything at all.

    Deep inside the forest, Ye Mn ran swiftly behind Song Zining. However, she was unreconciled with the oue of this manhunt no matter how much she tried to get over it, and so she pulled Song Zining¡¯s sleeve and asked in a soft voice, ¡°Why did we leave earlier, Zining?¡±

    Song Zining answered indifferently, ¡°Brother Junhong doesn¡¯t want us there, so of course we have to show him some respect.¡±

    Ye Mn said anxiously, ¡°Zining! That Qianye now bears a grudge against the Song Family. If we don¡¯t kill him now, he¡¯ll be a constant thorn in our side!¡± She wasn¡¯t stupid. Even she could see that Zhao Junhong wasn¡¯t there to kill anyone at all.

    Ye Mn was feeling a sense of panic that she herself wasn¡¯t willing to admit, and Wei Potian¡¯s threat had cast a dark shadow in her mind. She didn¡¯t know why that rude and rashmoner was protected by so many people, but her instinct informed her that her troubles would only grow bigger the better he lived.

    A gleam shed across Song Zining¡¯s eyes, and he replied with a voice that revealed none of his emotions, ¡°Rx. There are still a few days before the spring hunt ends.¡±

    ¡°Mm,¡± Ye Mn did her best to answer him with the most gentle and obedient expression she could muster. All she could do right now was to hold onto Song Zining tightly.

    It was evening, at Qiqi finally managed to carry Qianye back to the Wei Family campsite. The bodyguard who specialized in battlefield healthcare had to use more than half the night to treat all of Qianye¡¯s wounds.

    Since the Wei Family bodyguards had all gathered at the Yin Family¡¯s campsite, they decided that they might as well borrow the Yin Family¡¯s tools and resources and built a temporary campsite nearby. During this period, Wei Potian circled around Qianye¡¯s camp countless times hoping to get a word in with Qianye.

    But since Qiqi was unable to pry out his past with Qianye no matter what she tried, she kept butting into their conversation whenever the duo made contact and gave them no opportunities to talk alone whatsoever. It pissed Wei Potian off so much that he seriously wanted to fight Qiqi again.

    Qianye closed his eyes in rest and ignored the two of them. As a matter of fact, he wasn¡¯t ready to reminisce with Wei Potian himself. Back in the Evernight Continent, he could never shake off the feeling that he would never be able toe in touch with his former social circle. But after running into one old friend after the other, he suddenly discovered that that was a persistent anxiety deep inside his heart. He didn¡¯t know what would happen if he were to uncover the lid on his past.

    The spring hunt returned to its normal track after that day. All aristocratic and household teams had made their way into the most dangerous zone of the hunting field, the ck circle. They were beginning to hunt down dark race warriors, and the points on the scoreboard began to grow by leaps and bounds.

    But because Qianye had caused the strongest Zhao, Song, Kong and a few other families to lose more than half of their bodyguards to death or injuries, the small aristocratic families that hadn¡¯t gotten themselves involved in Qianye¡¯s manhunt actually started to rise tremendously in both points and ranks. Some were even starting to take over more prominent aristocratic families.

    This normal outlook didn¡¯tst long, however. It all started because of the conflict between the Song and Yin Family.

    Although Qianye was severely wounded, Qiqi hadn¡¯t sent him away. If the Yin family¡¯s hunting team was willing to carry a burden with them, naturally the other teams had no objections to offer. This was because the camp must be guarded when a heavily wounded personnel was present. Considering that everything inside the ck circle¡ªbe it the rank six or seven beasts or the dark races¡ªwere all deadly threats, the decision could only impact the hunting team¡¯s performance.

    During the evening, two days after Qianye was lying in rest inside the camp, he could finally get up and move around. He chose a sniper rifle with a six hundred meter firing range and was putting together and maintaining itsponents one by one when an extremely sharp noise suddenly rang outside his tent.

    It was the sound of a sharp weapon cutting through air, and it sounded so fearsome that it was as if an entire army was charging into their camp. Before Qianye could even jump to his feet, the tent above his head was blown away amidst a loud bang. A powerful air current borne of an origin power explosion had blown everything away.

    There was a soft noise, and countless water droplets joined together to form a curtain of rain in front of Qianye. Itpletely isted the mes that threatened to engulf him. Ji Yuanjia¡¯s short sword shed against a bronze colored, square edged and t headed spear about three meters long countless times in the blink of an eye before the duo finally separated from each other. Blood was dripping off Ji Yuanjia¡¯s sword hand.

    The spear was actually clutched in Song Zining¡¯s hand!

    ¡°Song Zining! What are you doing!¡± Qiqi¡¯s voice came from afar and gotten near in an instant. The Yin Family hunting team that had gone out a long time ago had just happened to return at this precise moment.

    By now Song Zining was already retreating at high speed, and he instantly made his way out of the Yin Family¡¯s camping zone and returned to Ye Mn and the Song household bodyguards. It was only then he said innocently, ¡°As you can see, this is a camp raid.¡±

    Qiqi looked absolutely furious. Camp raids were within the rules of the spring hunt, but she just couldn¡¯t swallow this attack no matter what.

    Song Zining continued, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that you would leave Ji Yuanjia behind though. You sure aren¡¯t afraid that it¡¯ll affect your performance,¡± Ji Yuanjia was more or less the strongest expert in the entire Yin Family hunting team, so of course his absence on the field would impact their performance.

    Qiqi immediately realized that the Song household had came for Qianye. If the person she left behind was even a tad weaker, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to block Song Zining¡¯s spear attacks at all. She shot an angry re at Song Zining before she caught a glimpse of Ye Mn¡¯s expression. She couldn¡¯t help but feel that her smile was full of malice.

    ¡°You dare harm my men, Song Zining?!¡±

    Song Zining smiled and said nothing.

    Qiqi suddenly calmed down and said in a chilly voice, ¡°Seventh cousin, great grandmother doesn¡¯t favor you only, you know.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly looked to his left. Wei Potian and two bodyguards were rushing their way from behind the trees. It was obvious that the Wei Family just several hundred meters away from the Yin Family campsite was alerted by themotion as well, and so he said nothing and retreated with a smile on his face.

    Qianye was experiencing a massive headache right now. He knew Song Zining well enough to know that he was angering Qiqi on purpose, but he couldn¡¯t figure out the reasoning behind it.

    Ji Yuanjia noticed that Qianye had been standing without doing anything for a long time, and that his expression looked different from norm. Therefore, he asked with a bit of worry, ¡°Are your wounds doing well, Qianye?¡±

    Qianye shook his head and nced at Ji Yuanjia¡¯s bloodied right hand.

    Ji Yuanjia smiled. ¡°It¡¯s just a scratch.¡±

    As expected, there was only a faint scratch on his arm after he rolled up his sleeve and showed it to Qianye. There wasn¡¯t even a need to bandage it; the wound would naturally closed up after the bleeding was stopped. He exined, ¡°The technique used by the seventh Song young master is a Song household¡¯s famousbat technique called the ¡®Fueled Fire Spear¡¯. ¡®Fire burns one fuel, and spreads to another, and so it is ceaseless and unending¡¯. Unless the fighter is able to suppress the user of this techniquepletely, they will be hit no matter what.¡±

    Two Yin Family bodyguards walked in and began helping him tidying his camp and his floor of scattered items. Ji Yuanjia was just about to return to his own tent when Qiqi came over in a sudden after sending Wei Potian away.

    She stared nkly at Qianye¡¯s busy back and asked in a soft voice, ¡°Yuanjia, was I wrong about Qianye?¡±

    Ji Yuanjia was quiet. It was a while before he answered her gently, ¡°This was your decision from the moment you sent out that mission, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s ¡°lover¡± hadn¡¯t started with Qianye. There were a lot of people who left the stage due to all sorts of reasons or even injuries. Qianye was to be used as an obvious pawn to begin with, so right and wrong never came into the equation to begin with. Them making an enemy out of Song Zining during this spring hunt was in fact just an amusing ident.

    A lost, girlish look appeared on Qiqi¡¯s face.

    Ji Yuanjia said softly, ¡°Miss, you never told Qianye why you mobilized the 60th Division to save him, have you?¡±

    When Qiqi had asked for the troop deployment writ from Jia Yuanjia back then, what he told him was that she had a promise with Yu Yingnan to protect Qianye once no matter what kind of danger he was in. But after that, she never told Qianye about the promise. It was as if that reason never existed in the first ce.

 Volume 3 - 68: The Curtain Drops

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 68: The Curtain Drops

    Qiqi looked even more lost than she was before. It was true that she had thought of Yu Yingnan when she made the decision to march toward the Dongling Mountain Area, but it was fury at being manipted and controlled that drove her more. In the end though, be it dead or alive, she didn¡¯t find Qianye at Earth Castle.

    That night, when she returned to the Yin Family¡¯s side residence and looked towards the shore from the waterside pavilions, she saw Qianye walking out of the thick mist like he had returned from another world. Therefore, she only told him the thing she wanted to tell him the most: Seeing that you¡¯re alright, I¡¯m very happy.

    But before Qiqi could figure out a reason, something happened yet again. On the same night Wei Potian charged into the Song Household¡¯s camp, and one could see misty blue light and starlike brilliance striking against each other and illuminating the hill forest underneath the moon from the other side of a mountain ridge that wasn¡¯t too tall. Both Wei Potian and Song Zining¡¯s observers had to show up before they finally managed to pull the duo apart.

    Qiqi sat under the sky, hugged her knees close and ced her head at the top. While staring at the origin lights flickering on and off on the other side of the mountain, she sighed softly, ¡°To think that Potian¡¯s Sky Shattering Bright Fist is starting to look a little shapely in such a short time frame. I guess that we all need to work harder.¡±

    Wei Potian had already shown her the ¡°bright¡± part of his fist technique ten days ago when he sparred against her. Tonight, it would seem that he had at least achieved the ability to manifest his origin powers judging from the sparkling starlight that was illuminating the night¡¯s sky, even if the ¡°sky shattering¡± part of his fist technique was still missing.

    Qianye was currently sleeping like a pig inside the tent. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t notice themotion outside, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of powerlessness when he heard that Wei Potian had actually mounted a raid on the Song household¡¯s camp. In the end, he decided to ignore everything and get a good night¡¯s rest. When his wounds were fully healed, he would have more strength to punch or kick a certain someone!

    Surprisingly, a healthy, active and pleased Young Master Wei showed up at the Yin Family¡¯s camp during the next day. In fact, Ye Mn who was inside Song Zining¡¯s tent at the time was the one to suffer a moderate amount of injury. Everyone had to admit that the secret art ¡°Thousand Mountains¡± was truly impressive.

    Qiqi had only two words to describe her feelings, and that was ¡°hell yes!¡±. Qianye had nothing to say.

    After the messy fight between the Song, Wei, and Yin Family, no one knew which family would be the next target. A series of conflicts, probes and attackster, internal strife became the first of everyone¡¯s priority once more. The situation ultimately evolved into a civil war.

    Song Zining never suffered a loss again after that one time his camp was intruded by Wei Potian. Despite the chaotic situation that embroiled every family, he was able work his way around like a fish that had returned to the water. He paid little attention to hunting and simply focused on wandering around the fringes of the hunting ground and raiding anyone who gave him the opportunity to do so. He cared nothing about the identities of the ambushed.

    Luck seemed to be standing on Song Zining¡¯s side, because he was always able to attack his opponents at their most careless moments, or strike at their weakest link seemingly without conscious. Even Kong Yanian was severely injured by him.

    Speaking of which, the year had been unlucky for Kong Yanian. He had been resting inside his tent during the sneak attack, and after the Song household¡¯s hunting team had sneaked close to the tents, they chose not to attack the campsite directly like they used to and instead threw a few origin hand grenades inside! Three out of four of the hand grenades just happened to fall around Kong Yanian¡¯s tent. One of them had even rolled inside.

    Never in his wildest dreams did Kong Yanian imagine that disaster would quite literallynd on hisp one day. He immediately charged out of the other side of the tent when he saw the rolling grenade, but that also meant he bumped head first into the center of explosion of the other three grenades and suffered heavy injuries as a result. The coincidence was so that not even the observer managed to save Kong Yanian in time.

    Kong Yanian could onlyment his bad luck when he investigated the matter in detailter on. After all, Song Zining had neither shown his face nor thrown the hand grenades himself. He had simply instructed his bodyguards to throw a few grenades; who could¡¯ve known that the security of the Kong Family¡¯s campsite was so shoddy?

    To borrow the words of an elderly man beside Duke Wei, the act was the equivalent of firing a hand cannon at the Empire¡¯s Endless Pce and actually hitting it. It was practically inconceivable.

    After Qianye had recovered enough to move around, he joined the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team and continued to hunt for points. Although he couldn¡¯t fight in melee just yet, using his sniper rifle was no longer a burden to him. As it turned out, the Yin Family was currently be the strongest and most well supplied hunting team of the spring hunt, so their points simply skyrocketed past the rest of the aristocratic families and entered top five in no time at all.

    When Wei Potian noticed that his position in the ranking list was somewhat precarious, he immediately made a huge fuss in great panic. He immediately sought out Qiqi and begged her with excessively good manners and submissive postures to fulfill the promise of their alliance.

    In the end, Qiqi gave him Ji Yuanjia and two bodyguards to speed up the umtion of his points. Ji Yuanjia and his men would first beat their preys half dead before chasing them to the young master of Wei so that he could mete out the fatal blow. This was practically undisguised cheating, but since none of the observers were willing to enforce the rules they simply closed their eyes at his rascally actions. The matter was left unsettled just like that.

    And so, the most important phase of the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt finally drawn its curtains after a few sensational days.

    The first ce of the spring hunt was ultimately dominated by the Zhao household once more. With only his Silver Winged Fantasy by his side, Zhao Junhong had gone straight into the deepest depths of Profound Heaven Mountain alone and pushed the Zhao household to the top almost singlehandedly by force. The amount of dark races he killed that were rank six and above were as many as sixteen.

    Song Zining¡¯s side was the most lively of them all. He had attacked nearly half the aristocratic families that were present in the spring hunt, and almost all them were crippled after one sneak attack. However, the Song household only sat at fifth ce despite his morous aplishments. It wasn¡¯t actually a surprise because humans don¡¯t have points; only prey did. The Song household ultimately had to bear taking only the fifth spot.

    No one dared to ridicule the Song household because of their ranking, however. The aristocratic families who were paid a ¡°visit¡± during the spring hunt were entirely silent, and the ones who escaped their notice inwardly thanked their good fortunes. What Song Zining disyed through a series of bedazzling offenses was in fact his astounding military talent. Every big shot who were watching the spring hunt including Duke Wei were pleasantly surprised by his skills.

    House Wei sat at the second ce of the spring hunt. The biggest reason he was able to take up the spot was because powerful contenders such as the Nangong Family and Kong Family were unable to mount a proper follow up. Qiqi¡¯s assistance was also a huge factor too. Ji Yuanjia once again proved himself to be a rare talent whose ability to snatch prey or attack his enemies were all outstanding.

    The Yin Family¡¯s points had risen steadily and ultimately ended at third ce.

    The Nangong Family sat at the fourth ce. Nangong Wanyun lost half her men in one go after she was ambushed by Song Zining, and she was attacked by both Qiqi and Wei Potianter on. That was why she failed to get any points at all during the final two days of the spring hunt.

    The Profound Heaven Spring Hunt of the Empire¡¯s calendar year 2331 was destined to stand out in the history books.

    The number of fatalities and serious injuries that had happened during the spring hunt was unusually high this time. Even the core descendants on the protected list had suffered a moderate amount of injuries. This year¡¯s spring hunt was definitely the most chaotic spring hunt to date where the rankings fluctuated massively like they were on a roller coaster.

    The participants were given three days of rest after the realbat on the hunting grounds had ended. For this year¡¯s Profound Heaven Spring Hunt participants, this period of rest and recuperation were especially necessary.

    Qianye followed the Yin Family¡¯s hunting team back to the town-like spring hunt main camp and returned to the side residence distributed to the Yin Family. Nominally speaking, he was staying in the room just outside Qiqi¡¯s master bedroom, but in reality a bodyguard¡¯s single room at the inner courtyard had been prepared for him.

    Qiqi became busy with work. The spring hunt was an important social event in the Empire, and the aristocratic descendants who had fought each other in a civil war earlier seemed to have tossed the bloodiness of the hunting field to the back of their minds, and startedworking with each other once more. Maybe it was because she had a tonne of serious businesses to deal with, but Qiqi never asked Qianye to dress in the same traditional clothing as her and meet people since then.

    There was a lush ancient tree about several several hundreds years old at the back garden that Qianye really liked. It had a gigantic canopy that covered almost one quarter of the garden. Qianye would often climb to the top of the tree and looked at the sky, and once he sat down he wouldn¡¯t move away until at least half the day had passed.

    There was a time Qiqi had came over to ask him what he was looking at after she was finished with her work. Qianye pointed at the sky and said, ¡°I¡¯m looking at the sky.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so nice about the sky?¡± Qiqi was very puzzled.

    Qianye smiled, ¡°The sky on the Evernight Continent isn¡¯t like this. The sunlight there isn¡¯t as warm or persistent as here either.¡±

    Qiqi looked at him strangely and asked, ¡°You aren¡¯t nning to be a poet, are you?¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly and said, ¡°A futureless job like that doesn¡¯t suit me at all!¡±

    Qiqi ced a hand on Qianye¡¯s shoulder and advised him in a very manly manner, ¡°Beauty, your smile is very udylike, you know?¡±

    Qianye replied softly, ¡°How should I smile then? Like this?¡± He suddenly gave her a smile that was as pure as crystal, but didn¡¯t appear feminine at all. At first nce, he actually looked younger and gave off the impression of a friendly neighbor¡¯s body.

    The massive change in his temperament caught Qiqipletely off guard, and while she was stunned Qianye suddenly extended a hand, held her neck and moved his lips towards hers!

    Qiqi screamed, ¡°What are you doing?!¡± She subconsciously tried to push Qianye away.

    But the second Qianye put strength into his arm, Qiqi immediately felt like a huge animal had knocked into her back. Her body fell involuntarily into Qianye¡¯s arms!

    She feltpletely powerless as she watched Qianye¡¯s face approaching closer and closer. In panic, the only thing she seemed capable of doing was to close her eyes and wait quietly for that moment to arrive. But although she could feel Qianye¡¯s warm breath on her skin, the soft touch that she imagined didn¡¯t arrive.

    Qiqi¡¯s small mouth was suddenly flicked once by Qianye¡¯s fingers. Then, she heard himugh, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t make a joke like this if you can¡¯t take it, you know?¡±

    Qiqi opened her eyes, and noticed that Qianye¡¯s beautiful face was very, very close to her own. If he leaned even a little bit forwards, the two of them would be kissing each other already. However, this damnable bastard simply maintained the short distance between them, and Qiqi could sense that there was something wrong with her posture.

    What is wrong, exactly?

    She immediately discovered the problemter: she had actually pursed her lips unconsciously! What was she doing; she couldn¡¯t possibly be looking forward to it, could she?

    Qiqi suddenly grew angry and pushed Qianye away strongly. She said coldly, ¡°Let¡¯s see if you¡¯re really up for the challenge then! Your sleeping ce tonight is my room!¡±

    Qianye smiled and replied, ¡°Make it some other time. There¡¯s something that I need to think tonight.¡±

    ¡°Think what?¡± Qiqi looked a little curious.

    ¡°About the future, and how to beat Zhao Junhong.¡±

    Qiqi fell silent for a moment before asking, ¡°Are you really nning to beat him?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    Qiqi looked at Qianye seriously before she said slowly, ¡°I think you¡¯ve changed.¡±

    Qianye exhaled deeply, ¡°Maybe a little.¡±

    ¡°And why¡¯s that?¡±

    Qianye smiled carelessly and said, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I took a walk around death¡¯s door again. It made me think about a lot of things that I didn¡¯t think through.¡±

    Qiqi was silent for another moment before she finally asked, ¡°Did you think that I wouldn¡¯t show up and save you?¡±

    Qianye nodded, and then shook his head. He answered honestly, ¡°I never thought about it.¡±

    You mean you never thought that I woulde, or you never held any hope in the first ce?

    Suddenly, a sense of loss began to spread in Qiqi¡¯s heart once more.

 Volume 3 - 69: Venus Dawn

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 69: Venus Dawn

    Qiqi recalled Ji Yuanjia¡¯s question. Why hadn¡¯t she told him about it? But then again, why should she?

    Yu Yingnan had already returned to the army without a hitch, and she was climbing towards her future step by step. Qianye was just a passing traveller to her¡ªthat was what Qiqi told herself at least.

    Qiqi still didn¡¯t realize that Wei Potian was the one she pressured constantly to tell on the rtionship between him and Qianye, never Qianye himself. It was a subconscious act made to avoid a certain potential oue. Qianye would leave no matter what answer he gave her. After all, a person of the lower continent had neither a past nor a future¡ªthey lived in the present, and the present alone.

    When Qianye saw that she was starting to daydream, he rubbed her head and smiled, ¡°You came to me afterwards, didn¡¯t you? So why think so hard on this?¡±

    Qiqi pped Qianye¡¯s hand away and said angrily, ¡°Are you petting a puppy or something?¡± Qiqi was startled by her own words the moment she said this. She really wished she kick Qianye off the tree when she saw the smile he failed to hold in.

    Qiqi worked to calm herself and quickly returned to normal. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk business, shall we? Duke Wei¡¯s steward wishes to see you, and he¡¯ll be arriving right away. Go get yourself ready.¡±

    ¡°Why does he wishes to see me?¡± Qianye frowned. The fact that Duke Wei¡¯s steward had asked to meet a rank five aristocratic bodyguard like him obviously meant trouble.

    ¡°Duke Wei would always summon those who performed extraordinarily well after the spring hunt and give them additional reward. Going by past experiences, most of the chosen candidates arended gentry.¡±

    Qianye understood Qiqi¡¯s meaning immediately. The spring hunt¡¯s purpose was to maintain the Empire¡¯s militaristic style and unearth new talents. As an organizer of the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt, Duke Wei had the fairest reasons and convenience the make contact with those he fancied. Even if he couldn¡¯t recruit them all as his subordinates at the end of the contact, it wasn¡¯t a losing trade in giving a bit of benefits in exchange for a good name. However, the members of hunting teams were all subordinates of aristocratic families, so his target of kindness was naturally those ofndowning households.

    ¡°The rewards are normally either equipment or medicines. That¡¯s why they need to inspect the user¡¯s bloodline talents and origin power; they need to make sure that the rewards are suitable for the rewarded,¡± Qiqi shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s what they say, at least. It¡¯s really just an excuse to check out their targets¡¯ potential and secret technique.¡±

    A cultivator¡¯s origin talents, art and secret technique were all very private things. A misjudgment of the enemy¡¯s secret art inbat might result in death, which was why no one was willing to be inspected from head to toe without good reason. Just the same, the chances that an aristocratic family would use a person of dubious origin lessened the closer the employed position was to the central administration. Therefore, a suitable reward was a good reason to appease the inspected cultivator.

    Qianye suddenly smiled, ¡°I know. It¡¯s just like the inspection Elder Du did that day,¡± Now that he think of it, the only thing Song Zining had talked to him about on the day they met again after a long period of separation was his physical condition. It was obvious that Song Zining was familiar with the aristocratic families¡¯ methods, and he had predicted the kind of trouble Qianye would face after the hunt had ended. A bit of warmth rose in Qianye¡¯s heart when he remembered this.

    Qiqi suddenly felt a bit of guilty conscience as she stared at Qianye¡¯s eyes, as ck and bright as obsidian. Although she was worried that Qianye would suffer some invisible damage after that bloody battle, but it was part of the n from the beginning. The medical check up was also a bloodline talent inspection.

    Qianye looked at Qiqi and said carelessly, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go change my outfit and head over right away.¡±

    A momentter, Qianye followed Qiqi into the main hall and saw a wizened old man sitting on the first seat. His appearance was thin, his skin color was sallow, and there seemed to be no flesh at all between his skin and his bones. He looked as thin as a dried corpse. Elder Du, the old man who had inspected Qianye¡¯s body back at the Yin Family¡¯s side residence was apanying next to him.

    ¡°This is Steward Wen,¡± Qiqi introduced.

    Qianye saluted him neither obsequiously nor superciliously, ¡°Steward Wen!¡±

    Steward Wen nodded slightly and spoke in a high pitch, ¡°I heard that this child is born amoner, but his etiquette looks pretty well formed. You have done well, Qiqi.¡±

    Qiqi smiled, ¡°I spent quite a lot of money on those teachers, you know!¡±

    Steward Wen squeezed out an extremely ugly smile and said, ¡°The Yin Family is one of the best even among the upper rank aristocratic family, and you have the huge tree that is the Song household to lean on. Why would you mind such little expenditure?¡±

    Qiqi winked once at Elder Du before sitting down naturally on the right side of the hall. Then, she revealed a charming smile and said, ¡°That¡¯s nice of you to say, steward, but I am just a little leaf taking refuge under the Song household¡¯s luxuriant foliage. It is also thanks to my father and uncles¡¯ toiling efforts that the Drinking Horse Yin n¡¯s reputation remains strong. I am just a junior who¡¯s chasing after my seniors¡¯ footsteps and broadening my horizons. Are you feeling well, Steward Wen? I have some specialty product of the Evernight Continent right here that I can part with. Just think of it as a local, backwater prescription that isn¡¯t worth much except its novelty.¡±

    Elder Du immediately passed over a palm-sized box to Steward Wen.

    Steward Wen lowered his eyelids and opened a tiny slit with his finger. When he looked into the box through the slit, he saw an entire densely packed row of ck crystals of the highest quality. There was no way this was Evernight Continent¡¯s specialty product.

    His eyelids jumped once, and he closed the box cover without revealing anything on his face. When he ced a big, withered hand on top of the small box, it immediately vanished without a trace.

    Steward Wen revealed a faint smile that was impossible to discern unless someone was paying close attention, ¡°Thank you for your gift, Miss Qiqi. My body really is getting worse year by year, and I cannot stop coughing every time it rains. I¡¯m not sure how many years I have left to serve Duke Wei.¡±

    At the side, Elder Du stroked his beard and smiled, ¡°But I notice that your powers have be even more consummate than before, Brother Wen. You¡¯re probably going to climb to greater heights in a few years¡¯ time at most, aren¡¯t you? I guess I¡¯m going to be left behind even further after that.¡±

    Steward Wen waved his hand once and sighed, ¡°At our age, even a single step forward can be as difficult as climbing the heaven itself. I will tell you that I have shedded the thought of growing stronger. Alright, Duke Wei¡¯s men are waiting for my news, so let us hurry up this kid¡¯s inspection!¡± He looked at Qianye and beckoned him closer, ¡°Your surname is Qian, is it? Come closer.¡±

    Qianye walked forward and stopped three steps before Steward Wen.

    Steward Wen flicked his crooked left fingers continuously and fired out wisps of invisible cold energy that like he was shooting needles all across Qianye¡¯s body. Not only did Qianye¡¯s Daybreak origin power began billowing in resonance, even the tricolored blood energies hidden inside his heart started to grow restless, so much so that even Bloodline Concealment was starting to lose control.

    But Qianye was unusually calm. He had thought up a n while he was changing his clothes, and now was the time to put it into implementation. As expected, the gold blood energy responded to his thoughts like it was an extension of his arm and swam out of the rune it was entrenched in. Then, it swam out and circled around the heartzily in patrol.

    The second the gold blood energy showed up, every other blood energy immediately stop their restlessness in obedience. Even the purple blood energyid quietly in its ability rune like it was facing a dangerous enemy.

    When Steward Wen was done firing the first round of finger force, but saw no change in Qianye¡¯s appearance at all, he couldn¡¯t help but look moved as he nodded, ¡°How rare to find a child whose origin power foundation is so firm! No wonder you could surpass the difference between rank and defeat your opponents.¡±

    Steward Wen¡¯s left fingers glowed with dim blue light, and this time the finger force he fired glowed a little blue as they prated every part of Qianye¡¯s body like thin needles. These manifested origin auras of immeasurable chilliness and sharpness appeared to have gained a physical form of their own as they easily prated Qianye¡¯s body and swam up and down his veins.

    This time Qianye couldn¡¯t control his origin power, and as a soft boom that sounded like thunder crackled beside his ears, every ounce of origin power he possessed erupted like a tsunami at once!

    The gold blood energy waspletely unaffected despite the violent tides as it maintained a constant orbit around Qianye¡¯s heart. The only time it broke its orbit temporarily was when Steward Wen¡¯s blue yin energy flowed near. It would pounce at the energy immediately and consumed it in a few bites as if it was some delicious food, just like how it devoured the normal blood energies in the norm.

    Right now, Qianye¡¯s eyes were shut tight as he shook all over. He glowed faintly with origin power as bits of golden dots flickered amidst what seemed like a thin mist of dark red.

    Steward Wen¡¯s expression was serious, and he actually leaned forward subconsciously as if he was about to take off from his seat. His gaze waspletely locked onto the golden dots, while Elder Du thought hard and deep until something surfaced from his memory and shocked him greatly.

    Steward Wen fired off another round of finger force before he suddenly withdrew his hand and let out a long sigh.

    Qianye let out a muffled groan as the origin light around him slowly disappeared. Two trails of blood flowed down his nostrils, however.

    Steward Wen looked at Qianye and pointed at the chair beneath his seat. He said with unusual kindness, ¡°Sit there and rest for a while. My art does hurt a little, but most people recover in just a night¡¯s time. You have a special constitution, so you¡¯ll recover in just a few hours.¡±

    Qianye nodded slightly and sat down at the side.

    Elder Du stroked his beard in ponderment before he finally asked in a serious tone, ¡°Brother Wen, if I am not mistaken just now, that light is¡­¡±

    Steward Wen nodded, ¡°You are correct. It is one of the three greatest Daybreak powers to ever exist called the Venus Dawn!¡±

    The glimmer of dawn brings light to the world. When Venus appears, all things shall bathe in light.

    Elder Du looked emotionally moved all of a sudden before a wave of pity took over his expression. He sighed, ¡°You¡ªhah, what a pity! What a pity it is!¡±

    Both Qiqi and Qianye looked astonished. The word ¡°greatest¡± had exined their reactions already. None of them had expected this oue.

    Qiqi¡¯s eyes burned with curiosity as she stared straight at Qianye. If Steward Wen wasn¡¯t present right now, she might have unveiled her true form and went over to tease Qianye already. Qianye¡¯s surprise was a little different. When he recalled Song Zining¡¯s expression at the time, he knew that that fellow must have known about the phenomenon of Venus Dawn. He never knew that Song Zining would be so bold as to let him fake having this top grade talent.

    Qianye had been paying attention to Steward Wen all this time, and he noticed that the corner of the steward¡¯s eyes never strayed away from him even though he wasn¡¯t looking at him directly. Qianye himself couldn¡¯t help his surprise when he heard that his talent was of the greatest kind, even though he guessed that letting the gold blood energy loose would result in a simr phenomenon.

    Steward Wen said slowly, ¡°Not necessarily! This child may have exceeded the best age to forge his foundation, but it is still possible for him to ascend to Champion rank if he switched over to a suitable cultivation art and is supplemented with sufficient rare medicines.¡±

    It was all empty talk, however. Even if the Yin Family was wealthy enough to not becking in such medicines, no one knew what kind of art it would take to fill up the hole that was missing the best timing to cultivate a legendary grade talent like the Venus Dawn.

    Steward Wen stood up. ¡°It¡¯s gettingte, and we¡¯ve seen all that is to be seen, so I shall be leaving. The maker of origin formations, Master, Lu is waiting for me!¡±

    Qiqi and Elder Du immediately got up and sent off Steward Wen rather respectfully.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t stood up. In fact, he had stayed immobile on the chair ever since he sat down. He looked like he hadn¡¯t recovered from the invasion of the origin yin energy yet. Steward Wen paid his loss of manners no mind, and even patted his shoulder with unusual friendliness before he exited the door.

    It was only when their backs hadpletely vanished from the entrance that Qianye¡¯s facepletely darkened and a wisp of fierce killing intent shed past his eyes.

 Volume 3 - 70: Perverted Thief

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 70: Perverted Thief

    Perhaps even Steward Wen never anticipated that Qianye¡¯s physique was even more extraordinary than he had imagined. In the time Steward Wen and Elder Du used to exchange a few words, Qianye used both the melting of the Daybreak origin power and ingesting power of the gold colored blood energy to eliminate almost all the yin needle energy in the body.

    Thus, Qianye¡¯s abnormal heart reaction was undoubtedly revealed.

    The yin energy Steward Wen used to execute the talent appraisal all flowed along the bloodstream, like water mixed with hot oil in a pot, stimting the talent origin power being tested. His origin power had attributes of yin, therefore it would cause the body to be irritated. However, the amount of yin energypared to the origin power being detected was no more than a drop in the ocean. After a moment, it would naturally melt away.

    However, among the released energy directed by Steward Wen, there was a stream that didn¡¯t enter the blood vessels, but instead silently pierced into Qianye¡¯s heart!

    Qianye originally would not have discovered that there was this kind of disaster existing, but his heart was currently the fortress for concealing the vampire bloodline, normal blood energies and purple blood energy were hidden in there. After these strands of yin origin power rashly stormed in, almost like mistakenly roaming into a group of shark¡¯s territory, it tempted the blood energies to float up strand by strand from the deep waters to the water¡¯s surface.

    It was the sudden and unexpected agitation of the blood energy that let Qianye discover that his heart had gained this type of uninvited guest. He had a hard time believing that this mistake might be a coincidence. No matter what kind of identification art, they were all only aimed at bloodline and origin nodes. It was absolutely impossible to enter the heart or internal organs. Otherwise, it was unknown how many people would¡¯ve been identally injured due to Steward Wen¡¯s strong and murderous yin origin power.

    Moreover, the gold blood energy still was patrolling outside his heart yet it had not swallowed the yin energy within the blood vessels. If it wasn¡¯t intentional, that strand of yin energy definitely would not have coincidently entered into the heart.

    Qianye¡¯s right hand slowly tightened its grip on the chair¡¯s armrest. He thought over it for a long time and decided to risk it. He couldn¡¯t let this strand of yin energy stay in his heart at this point, who knew when it would erupt and damage his life force.

    As such, that strand of cold yin energy that was currently finding a ce to hide in his heart suddenly felt extreme danger and began fleeing in every direction. But the blood energies that had lost its suppression was like a shark that smelled blood and rapidly surrounded it.

    That yin energy suddenly covered itself with ayer of purple intent, but the purple blood energy that was the first to arrive pounced, tearing it into two pieces! All the blood energies boiled, flocked together, and in the blink of an eye, shredded the cold yin energy, cleanly devouring it.

    Although the purple blood energy had consumed thergest section, it still seemed that it wasn¡¯t satisfied. It turned around and pounced yet again, onto an ordinary stream of blood energy. However, this time the ordinary blood energy did not wait helplessly for death. An especially thick and solid stream of ordinary blood energy charged in from the side, instantly colliding with the purple blood energy. The two blood energies entangled and actually got into a fight within Qianye¡¯s heart!

    Qianye¡¯splexion was pale white. Cold sweat rolled down his face and he finally let out an uncontroble dull groan as he fell off the chair, then produced a loud sound after heavily knocking over the sandalwood chair.

    The Yin Family bodyguards outside the office in the corridor heard a strange sound and came in to check. They couldn¡¯t help but be shocked before promptly rushing in to support him.

    At that moment, the oue of the battle within Qianye¡¯s heart was decided. The battle advanced like how it did in the past; the thickest strand of ordinary blood energy still was not able to resist the purple blood energy and was almost strangled to death. The purple blood energy also sustained some damage, barely managing to swallow the thinnest stream of ordinary blood energy. It gave up afterwards and withdrew back to its rune.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, just need to sit for a moment!¡± Qianye said weakly. The Yin Family bodyguards supported him to sit at the side and then lifted the copsed chair.

    At that moment, Qiqi finished sending off Steward Wen and came back. Ji Yuanjia, who had been hurriedly called over by the Yin Family bodyguards had also just arrived. When the two saw Qianye¡¯s pale paper-like face and weak breathing, which looked like a result of sustaining heavy injuries, they were shocked.

    Qiqi grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand, intending to transfer origin power, and hastily asked, ¡°Are you okay? Didn¡¯t he say there was only supposed to be a small injury?¡±

    Qianye shook his head and pushed away Qiqi¡¯s hand. ¡°It¡¯s all right now.¡±

    He raised his head and looked at Ji Yuanjia.

    Ji Yuanjia understood, sent off the two bodyguards, and then walked to the door to give a couple of instructions. After making sure there would be no one approaching and eavesdropping in on the conversation in the office, he came back.

    ¡°Steward Wen left a trace of yin energy in my heart.¡± Qianye immediately said.

    Qiqi was taken aback. ¡°Why?¡±

    The importance of the heart was without a doubt. Injuries in this kind of ce would either cause instant death or damage one¡¯s life force, causing them to slowly pass away. This was especially the case for the single-elimination open tournament that would start the day after tomorrow. If that stream of dark energy within Qianye broke out while he was inbat, he would perhaps die without knowing the reason why.

    Qiqi collected andposed herself, after asking about the details of that stream of cold yin energy, a shadow flit across her face, and said, ¡°It does sound like Steward Wen¡¯s ultimate skill, Pr Yin Needle. But why would he do something like this?¡±

    Theplexion of the three people in the office were all bad, there were too many idents during this Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. First it was the rank eight vampire Knight, then it was Duke Wei¡¯s main steward, who knew what else could be next? As for the situation with Steward Wen, it was a lot more serious than the vampire Knight. Not just any ordinary person was able to order one about, who exactly was behind him? What was his motive?

    Qianye suddenly asked, ¡°Among the people I killed during the spring hunt, were there any n members of Steward Wen, any friends or rtives?¡±

    This was indeed among one of the more likely reasons. Steward Wen was an attendant who had the trust of Duke Wei. If this kind of figure could be bribed and furthermore directly plot against and dispose of the participants of the sprint hunt, it would simply be the greatest scandal of the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Therefore, a personal grudge was more likely.

    If it was only prompted by profits, not only would the man behind the scenes have to pull out something of great interest that would tempt Steward Wen, he would have also needed the rank and position to be able to speak with Steward Wen. Whose family would have such moves?

    ¡°It might also be the Zhou n or the Song n.¡± Qiqi facial expression turned cold. ¡°The middle and lower ss wouldn¡¯t even be within Steward Wen¡¯s gaze. As for the upper ss, Kong Yanian had bodyguards who died to your hand, but paying such a huge price to kill you just because of this? Only if he is insane.¡±

    Every year there was a spring hunt and every year there were people who would die. Every family would lose bodyguards, but using personal connections with Steward Wen to kill a family¡¯s bodyguard just for this kind of loss¡­ not many people would believe it even if someone said it out loud.

    Inside the office, Qiqi paced around and after a moment said, ¡°No, perhaps it was one of my brother or sisters that did this?¡± This situationpletelyckedmon sense. At the very end, Qiqi still could note up with a verdict and could only instruct Qianye to go back and rest well.

    After dinner, the entire side residence was immersed in a rxed and eased atmosphere. The sound of music, dancing, and singing could be heard from the courtyards of the aristocratic families and the fragrance of wine mixed together with the scent of flowers, convened together in various small social banquets, and permeated through the entire ce.

    Under the cover of the night, an indistinct figure quietly approached the Yin Family courtyard from an enclosure next to the forest path. He chose a secluded corner, and jumped in with one leap.

    The ce he entered was precisely the inner courtyard. Tonight Qiqi had been invited to attend a banquet and since the owner wasn¡¯t here, there weren¡¯t many people left behind in the quiet inner courtyard. Only a group of guards was left patrolling back and forth in the night.

    The shadow swiftly walked a circle around the inner courtyard, not rming anybody. Speaking of which, there was a period of time where the shadow almost brushed past the Yin Family bodyguard¡¯s night patrol and was merely a couple meters distance away. Even if the garden was shady and there wasn¡¯t much light, but for six or seven expects to go so far as to say they were not able to see clearly¡­ they had to be turning a blind eye to this shadow.

    The night wind blew gently and asionally there were dead leaves that floated down. Once those bodyguard¡¯s gaze crossed the ce where that man was standing, a dead leaf would float across and would coincidently block their line of sight. Just like that, those bodyguards on night patrol were clueless and directly passed by.

    Finally, the shadow faced towards the wall of houses where Qiqi¡¯s entourage slept and walked there. Thest room was exactly where Qianye lived and that man wordlessly went and stood in front of the window.

    At this moment, there was a group of people outside the Yin Family courtyard and the tall, young man in the middle was Wei Potian. Of course the guards at the entrance recognized him, and hastily respectfully told him that Miss Qiqi was attending the banquet hosted by the Xiangbo Family¡¯s third young master.

    Wei Potian waved hisrge hands. ¡°No problem, I am here to look for Qianye.¡±

    The Yin Family bodyguard immediately pointed him towards the inner courtyard. Wei Potian nodded his head, but refused their good will to lead him there, and instructed the rest of his guards to stay in the outer court and rest.

    Alone, Wei Potian stepped towards the inner courtyard¡¯s entrance and turned around a screen wall. The row of houses on the left was the residence of Qiqi¡¯s entourage. This area was particrly quiet, as more than half of them went with Qiqi to attend the banquet. The room at the very end that revealed a pale yellowmplight should be Qianye¡¯s living quarter.

    He couldn¡¯t help but quicken his pace. However, a flower suddenly bloomed in front of his face. His vision seemed to be blurry, and the scenery became indiscernible. Wei Potian made a surprised sound and rubbed his eyes, but it seemed like there was nothing abnormal. He suddenly felt like something was odd, but for a short while he couldn¡¯t say what was wrong. Perhaps it was the light being too bright or too dark to the extent that his vision was vague or unclear?

    Wei Potian¡¯s body had always responded faster than his brain and the moment shes flickered around his body, he subconsciously rushed to activate Thousand Mountains! Earthen yellow light burst forth and shot out and in the deep night it was especially bright.

    In the instant Thousand Mountains was activated, the dead leaves originally floating in front of Wei Potian¡¯s eyes were immediately blown apart and smashed to pieces by a gust of wind, and then reverted back to nothingness. This suddenly enlightened Wei Potian who always looked in hindsight, ¡°Damn it! I was just saying how something didn¡¯t feel right! In this season, where did all these sted dead leavese from!¡±

    At that moment, the scenery in front cleared up and Wei Potian immediately noticed that there was a person currently looking inside the house from outside the window of Qianye¡¯s room, and he was not a stranger to this person¡¯s figure.

    Song Zining?!

    In the past, Wei Potian had no rtions with Song Zining. As descendants of the Empire¡¯s upper echelons, he could only say they were only acquainted with each other. Other than this seventh son of the Song Family¡¯s reputation with regards to women being not particrly good, his behavior was cultured and refined. He had money and power, and was not at all disagreeable. Although Song Zining and Qiqi¡¯s rtionship was poor, but Wei Potian was not stupid. He knew that most of them had reasons to the Song Family¡¯s internal strife, so he had no prejudice towards him.

    Who would have imagined that in his first time Profound Heaven Spring Hunt, there was the incident with Song Zining¡¯s underlings attempting to kidnap ¡°Xiaoye¡±, and then it was the Song Family¡¯s hunting team trying to hunt and kill Qianye in the hunting grounds. Wei Potian¡¯s evaluation of the Song Family¡¯s seventh son immediately fell to its lowest.

    Although he managed to sessfully rob a camp, injure Ye Mn with a punch, and could be considered to have calmed down a little, seeing Song Zining unexpectedly appearing here at this moment made Young Master Wei immediately think of the expression ¡°hiding evil intentions¡±!

    Thud thud thud! Wei Potian immediately took off inrge strides, directly rushed over!

    ¡°There¡¯s a perverted thief!¡±

 Volume 3 - 71: Disaster of the Past

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 71: Disaster of the Past

    Song Zining was shocked. He did not expect Yin Family to have someone able to find him before the secret art had been broken. After he saw it was Wei Potian, he figured it out and said, ¡°Wait.¡±

    However, the second half of his sentence was stopped by Wei Potian¡¯s punch. Young Master Wei smiled viciously and roared, ¡°Wait your mother! Go down!¡±

    Song Zining wrinkled his brows, extended his arm, and pressed toward the iing fist while his entire body backed up evenly. His secret art was still active, so within a circumference of about one meter, it was like a different world. Leaves scattered and flowers floated in the air like a day in autumn. Young Master Wei¡¯s extremely loud and destructive movements were restricted to this domain, not at all leaked to the outside.

    Wei Potian¡¯s fist had been sealed, so when he discovered the irregrities of the surroundings, there was no way he could not realize that Song Zining did not want to alert others. He coldly smiled and said, ¡°As a perverted thief, what¡¯s the point in hiding?¡±

    Song Zining had been called a perverted thief twice consecutively, so his expression deepened, ¡°Young Master Wei.¡±

    Wei Potian excitedly shouted in a deep voice, punched out, and the origin power¡¯s light shed like stars before saying, ¡°Do I know you? Once you¡¯re on the ground we¡¯ll talk!¡±

    Song Zining finally understood. This guy often acted stupidly, but had bouts of cleverness now wanted to pretend not to recognize him and catch him as if he were a thief.

    At this moment, the ce where the two fought had leaves falling through the air like rain, almostpletely obscuring their vision. Wei Potian thought he had enteredte autumn typhoon for a moment. His fives were restricted by the thick autumn torrents. His punches all felt like they were traveling through mud. Only in ces covered by Thousand Mountains¡¯ light would he regain his agility.

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but adjust his neck. ¡°God dammit, even thieves are this strong these days! Can it be that I, Great Master Wei, will lose tonight?¡±

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t suppress his anger after hearing this. He was focusing on two different things. He needed to fight Wei Potian and make sure no sound travel to the outside at the same time. He seemed to have the advantage, but it became more and more difficult. Wei Potian¡¯s fist was extremely heavy. Even though it didn¡¯t seem like abilities like Thousand Mountains would be able to prate his secret art, receiving one strike would still cause his blood and energy to churn. After being whittled down for so long, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able tost much longer.

    Song Zining narrowed his eyes and coldly said, ¡°Young Master Wei, do you really want to keep stirring up trouble?¡±

    Wei Potianughed aloud, ¡°Surrender obediently!¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t say anything. His figure was originally constantly moving amidst falling leaves. Now, his movements were no longer visible. At one moment, he would appear here and the next, he would be hidden somewhere else. In ces where he stopped, there would always be a leaf that lit up. The leaves¡¯ outlines shed, as if they suddenly acquired substance.

    Cold wind began to stir, its chill extremely piercing, as the leaves seemed to fall from invisible branches and sway as flew toward Wei Potian. These falling leaves seemed to be flying in the wind, but their speed was astonishing. They reached Thousand Mountains¡¯ light barrier in the blink of an eye.

    Wei Potian immediately became alert and roared as he pushed Thousand Mountains as hard as he could. Within the origin power¡¯s light around his body, a faint silhouette of a mountain range actually appeared.

    Suddenly, what sounded like sharp metal edges scraping against metal surfaces range out. The leaves that had stuck to Thousand Mountains slid down without any energy and created scalp numbing sharp grating noises. Three or four ck streaks appeared on the earthen yellow light barrier. Even though the barrier hadn¡¯t been prated, these marks actually didn¡¯t immediately disappear!

    Song Zining¡¯s silhouette shed a few more times and even more leaves began to fly. Wei Potian was horrified and shouted out, ¡°Perverted thief! Don¡¯t!¡±

    With a boom, an extremely strong wind from a fist flew through the middle of the two. Suddenly the entire area became clean and empty.

    The two people turned their heads at the same time. The door of the room beside them had opened without their knowledge. Qianye stood there calmly looking at them, his expression extremely strange. Sounds of people and footsteps traveled through the entrance of the inner courtyard.

    When Song Zining used all of his strength to fight Wei Potian, he did not have any remaining strength to control the surroundings of their battlefield. Because of this, Young Master Wei¡¯s long and wretched scream resounded through other Yin family¡¯s courtyards.

    Wei Potian scratched his head, pointed at Song Zining, as righteouly said, ¡°Xiaoye, this pervert was peeping outside your room!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression immediately darkened. His right fist moved a little, extremely close to beating him up.

    Ji Yuanjia was the first to arrive. When he identified the people standing there and heard what Wei Potian said, he almost wanted to cover his eyes. Did Young Master Wei not think that after saying something like that, the one who wanted to beat him up the most wouldn¡¯t be the Song seventh young master, but Qianye, who had been forced to reveal himself as Miss Qiqi¡¯s ¡°femalepanion¡±?

    Qianye suppressed his fury and turned his head toward Song Zining.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression at this moment became peaceful like in the past. Within the calm, there was some hostility, like the way he was back in Yellow Springs. He nodded toward Qianye without saying anything, then turned and left without a word. When he flipped over the walls, he coldly left one sentence, ¡°Young Master Wei, I look forward to seeing you on the arena.¡±

    Wei Potian said with immense pride, ¡°If you want to then we¡¯ll meet! Who¡¯s scared of you?¡± He then turned around and waved his hand at Ji Yuanjia and the Wei and Yin Family guards, saying, ¡°There¡¯s no problem anymore. You guys can go y somewhere else. I¡¯m looking for Xiaoye¡­ uh, to practicebat. There¡¯s apetition tomorrow!¡±

    Young Master Wei¡¯smandment once again caused the Wei and Yin Family guards to be busy in the middle of the night. Once the outdoor arena had been prepared, Wei Potian made everyone leave and said he did not want people watching him while he practiced his secret arts.

    Once everyone had left, a confused Qianye looked suspiciously at Wei Potian, who was acting mysteriously. He asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Wei Potian proudly said, ¡°To prevent people from listening in, especially those sneaky people who know how to hide themselves!¡±

    Qianye looked at his surroundings and couldn¡¯t help but admit that the ce Wei Potian selected was good. The arena was huge, the surroundings were entirely in sight, and as long as someone approached close by, they would be able to see clearly. They truly did not have to be afraid of eavesdroppers here.

    However, when Wei Potian said sneaky, Qianye thought of the awkward scene just now. He saw everything very clearly. Some of the Wei and Yin guards that hade afterwards had evidently heard some rumors, so when Wei Potian said pervert, they immediately gazed at Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes shed and he said, ¡°Since you said you wanted to practicebat, thene, let¡¯s first fight a match!¡±

    Wei Potian had always confronted all challenges so he responded with no hesitation, ¡°Okay!¡±

    Right after he finished speaking, a fist rushed towards him and thunderous sounds of air ripping apart rang in his ear. It was another three strikes that broke through his defenses!

    A momentter, Young Master Wei groaned as he climbed up from the ground. Qianye shook his right sleeve, finally feeling much better.

    Wei Potian looked at Qianye who was standing there with a small smile, suddenly became excited. He ran over withrge strides and gave him a bear hug, ¡°Xiaoye! I originally thought you had already died! I didn¡¯t think you would be alive, it¡¯s truly fortunate!¡±

    Qianye smiled and pped his shoulder heavily, saying, ¡°I never thought we¡¯d be able to meet again either!¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly suppressed his voice and said, ¡°Have you already turned into a vampire?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat, ¡°I was injured by a vampire and thought I would be a blood thrall, but for some unknown reason, the blood poison never broke out.¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly said, ¡°It should be due to your unique natural talent!¡± He then followed with an exnation, ¡°I heard that Duke Wei¡¯s main steward analyzed your talent. I was afraid that old man saw through you, so I came to see your situation.¡±

    Qianye was a bit moved, ¡°I don¡¯t know what is is either. Either way, the blood poison seems to have disappeared by itself.¡±

    Wei Potian cracked a smile and said, ¡°That¡¯s good! That¡¯s good! I thought you had already turned into a vampire. That day at Darkblood City, General Bai personally said your blood had the aura of blood power.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat, ¡°Bai Longjia?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s him. However, General Bai is a pretty good guy. That time, he said you had long been on the list of dead, so there¡¯s no need to pursue any further.¡±

    Cold sweat immediately ran down Qianye¡¯s back.

    Wei Potian suddenly said with a serious expression, ¡°Qianye, I have something else I have to tell you!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart beated violently. He seemed to have guessed something. He felt both expectant and wanting to flee.

    Wei Potian solemnly told him, ¡°Even if you don¡¯t have problems with the blood of darkness right now, don¡¯t return to the Red Scorpion for now.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s mind rung with an explosion, and even felt his ears ring. He asked dryly, ¡°Can I ask why¡­¡±

    ¡°That year after you ran into problems, I only saw a simple obituary, so I wanted to know more information.¡± Wei Potian slowly clenched his fist, as if reliving the incredulity he felt when he initially heard the bad news. ¡°However, the weird thing was that the battle couldn¡¯t be found in the imperial army reports. Even if it belonged to high grade secret files, there would be abel. After a few months, even the obituaries couldn¡¯t be found anymore. Red Scorpion Corps lost a third of its Red Scorpion rank soldiers. In the Broken Winged Angels they would be the four wing rank. With such high casualties, how can there be no information? There wasn¡¯t even a proper military funeral rite!¡±

    Qianye only felt an invisible hand clutching his throat. He was forced to breathe deeply.

    Wei Potian said, ¡°At that time, I talked to a lot of people, but this battle seemed to have disappeared from their memories. Even people inside the Red Scorpion Corps don¡¯t bring it up.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what he felt in his heart. The battle he experienced truly did have strong indications of conspiracy. Now it seemed even darker. At least not many people in the entire Empire can make the Red Scorpion Corps swallow this without a word.

    Wei Potian quietly said, ¡°After I got the position of heir, I received more power. Then I heard something else¡­¡± He said this, hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°I only heard this and have no way to verify if it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Say it.¡± Qianye slowly calmed down.

    ¡°That battle¡¯s firstmand came from Marshal Lin¡¯s office. After it happened, Marshal Lin sent people to the Red Scorpion Corps and took away all material rting to the incident. Files for the battle became zero grade secret files and to get into the zero grade archives for Marshals,¡± Wei Potian bitterly smiled, ¡°even if I am able to be a Marshal some day, it would still not be easy to acquire. Thus, Xiaoye, don¡¯t go back.¡±

    Qianye remained silent and ignored Wei Potian attempting to change the subject with hisst sentence, ¡°You¡¯re saying that Marshal Li Xitang nned this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very likely.¡±

    Before Wei Potian finished speaking, Qianye interrupted him, ¡°That¡¯s definitely impossible!¡±

 Volume 3 - 72: The First Match

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 72: The First Match

    ¡°Marshal Xitang isn¡¯t this kind of person! He would never use that many Red Scorpions as sacrifices no matter what!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was serious, his usual frivolitypletely gone. He looked at Qianye¡¯s emotional but immovable expression, and only pat his shoulders without speaking.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was at aplete loss and had an apprehension he did not want to face. In his memories, Lin Xitang was definitely not someone who would betray his subordinates for his own benefit. If he was truly able to act so ruthlessly, he would have never been dragged into the sludge of mutiny in the Western Frontier.

    Qianye could not believe that man would do something like this! It was Lin Xitang who pulled him out of the garbage dump. Qianye gained not only a new life, but a goal in life. Qianye struggled and strived all so that he could one day stand in front of that man and let him know that he did not let him down.

    Even during the most unbearable period after being infected by the blood of darkness, Qianye held onto every thread of hope to continue living, because he did not want to easily give up the life he was given by that man. But if, if Wei Potian¡¯s conjecture had even some possibility, then his struggle and perseverance would be meaningless!

    Wei Potian tightly held Qianye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Xiaoye, forget this, you can¡¯t go back anymore!¡±

    Qianye never thought the crude and blunt Wei Potian would say something like this, and unconsciously froze. His thoughts became slow and messy. After a moment, he asked, ¡°I¡¯m the only one who returned from that battle right?¡±

    ¡°Truthfully, in the eyes of the Empire, you died long ago.¡±

    That night, Qianye waspletely unable to fall asleep. In the end, he got up and cultivated instead, familiarizing himself with the state of the golden blood energy inside his body. Since Steward Wen believed his body¡¯s unique traits came from that of Daybreak, he would fully take advantage of this misconception.

    Early the next day, the one on one tournament took ce at the arena in Duke Wei¡¯s side courtyard deep in the mountain. The enormous arena had been split into ten sections, so duels could take ce simultaneously.

    Hundreds of people took ce in thepetition and the majority were descendants ofndowning households. The first three rounds were elimination and robin round style, all scheduled to take ce in one day. In other words, every person who advances would have to defeat multiple otherpetitors. Descendants of aristocratic households like Qiqi would begin fighting the day after, during the fourth round. Zhao Junhong and Song Zining would enter in the fifth round and be able to choose the opponent they face.

    Unlike the hunting groundpetition where the focus was forming teams with aristocratic households, one on one tournaments were where descendants ofndowning households could truly make their name. Not mentioning other benefits, the highest reward in this tournament was a fifth grade origin firearm customized for the winner. That might have been the strongest weapon andowning household could obtain!

    With the phrase customize, it was no longer limited to just the grade of the origin firearm. In the hands of people with special talents, a fifth grade gun that could properly make use of the talent¡¯s power could ultimately produce power greater than average sixth grade origin firearms.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s iconic Silver Winged Fantasy was likely a customized fifth grade gun. As one of the four young masters of the Zhao Family¡¯s young generation, he also only used a customized fifth grade gun. That truly showed how enticing the tournament¡¯s reward was.

    Other than the generous rewards the tournament offered, this was also good chance for descendants ofndowning households to raise their status. Duke Wei and other special guests would observe the duels. This was an even better chance to demonstrate an individual¡¯s talent andbat ability. Without exception, participants who performed with distinction would be eagerly scouted by aristocratic households. Thus, every descendant ofndowning households would attach great importance to the tournament and give it their every effort.

    Qianye felt a high spirited atmosphere once he reached the arena. On one side of the arena, participants formed an enormous line and were picking up their number tag. The order of duels in the first three rounds werepletely decided by lottery. Two strong fighters might meet each other in the very first round. This kind of thing happened in spring hunts every year.

    Duke Wei never went through any effort to prevent this situation from happening. In the Empire¡¯s eyes, luck was also apart of one¡¯s ability. In order to have the will to strive for the top, one must have the courage to crush every opponent one meets.

    Qianye took a spot in line and slowly moved forward. Then he received his number tag, number 163.

    An enormous screen rose up on one side of the arena. On it were all of the stages. Soon, pairs of numbers began to appear for stage, a list of duels that were about to begin.

    Qianye found his number on it and walked towards the twentieth stage.

    A bald robust man stood in front of Qianye. He had a thick beard and a pair of mysterious blue eyes. His burly frame seemed twice the size of Qianye¡¯s and his arms were thicker than Qianye¡¯s thighs.

    The man exposed a malicious smile and scanned over Qianye. He said, ¡°Little guy who uses guns, I¡¯ve heard of you. They say you used an Eagleshot and crippled Second Young Master Zhao¡¯s team? This is truly shocking, but this is an arena. We will use fists to decide this battle and you can¡¯t use your guns.¡±

    The man stretched out his hands, causing his hands to crackle continuously. Then, he began to jog around Qianye, speaking as he moved, ¡°I have always despised snipers, very very much! Do you know why? Because I think those guys are cowards and only have enough courage to hide in the darkest corners, using bullets from a far distance to take care of their opponent. They only need the power to move their fingers. Each of them is skinny like a monkey, or looks like a girl! Yes, just like you!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes looked down, his legs spread slightly to shoulder width. This was the most fundamental stance in militarybat. He didn¡¯t move, as he did not hear what the man said.

    ¡°Kid, when the duel begins in a little, I¡¯ll use one fist to crush your beautiful face! You better admit defeat quickly, or else I won¡¯t be able to hold back!¡±

    Qianye still calmly stood there, like a statue.

    At this moment, deep horns destely sounded above the arena in waves. This signified the beginning of the duels.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes opened. His aura grew stronger and stronger, surging like waves and raging tides in a moment¡¯s time!

    The bald man had already readied himself to strike, but at this moment he was suddenly stunned with his mouth hanging wide open. His hand actually also stagnated in midair! An enormous wave of origin energy that covered the sun and the skies seemed to have appeared and was immovably copsing toward him!

    The man quickly recovered his senses with his bountiful experience and realized he had actually been awed by his opponent¡¯s aura! He released a strange cry and his fist sped up, smashing towards Qianye.

    However, the man had lost initiative and in order to break through Qianye¡¯s aura, the punch was struck too hastily. It had more than enough strength and ferocity, but it lost versatility. He saw that Qianye¡¯s stance was abat art from the army and had already readied himself to take a hit through a hole in his defense as well as think about the next attack he will change to.

    However, Qianye let out a deep breath, circted his power and actually struck out with a punch that was identical, meeting steadily with the man¡¯s fist!

    The man¡¯s face suddenly seemed like a kaleidoscope, innumerable expression surfacing at the same time. It was impossible to tell whether they were of fear or joy. Suddenly, his arm released sounds of snapping, twisting grotesquely.

    The result of meeting fists head on was actually the crippling of the burly man¡¯s arm!

    Qianye bounded upwards and heavily kicked the man¡¯s stomach! This kick caused the man to fly into the air, but still strangely stuck to Qianye¡¯s boot and did not actually immediately fly out of the arena.

    Anyone with experience immediately knew Qianye¡¯s kick was too strong and extremely quick in both its strike and return. He did not leave any room for his opponent to borrow the force to retreat and could only forcefully endure the power of the kick.

    Qianye moved his leg back into its original position. The man seemed to stop midair for a moment before he finally fell to the ground with a thump. His face pressed against the ground, releasing muffled sounds as more than ten teeth lied in the middle of a bloody pool.

    ¡°My bad, you were slow to admit defeat, so I couldn¡¯t hold back.¡± Qianye lightly said.

    The man could only released huffs of pain. After the beginning of the duel, he had been crushed like twigs almost instantly, when did he have time to speak?

    Two guards belonging to Duke Wei¡¯s private army carried the man out.

    Qianye looked at the arenas around him and most of the battles were still in full swing.

    Most of the descendants ofndowning households who dared topete in this tournament had extraordinary strength. Thus, battles with well-matched strengths were high in number. Blood began to appear in many arenas and two people even died. Inparison, the man who fell to Qianye actually had light injuries. Only, he lost in an ugly manner, so after leaving, he would probably beughed at for a long time.

    Qianye walked toward the side of the arenas, wanting to find a ce to rest before a flew ps suddenly rang beside him. Someone praised, ¡°You fought pretty well!¡±

    He looked up and saw Zhao Junhong, unaware of how long he had been there.

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Thank you Second Young Master Zhao for the praise.¡±

    Zhao Junhong continued as if he hadn¡¯t heard the sarcasm in Qianye¡¯s voice, ¡°It¡¯s only interesting like this. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t even be able to reach me. I¡¯ll wait for you in the final battle. If you win, then my reward for the spring hunt will be yours.¡±

    Qianye smiled again, this time with some more sincerity. ¡°Then thank you Second Young Master Zhao, for your generosity.¡±

    Zhao Junhong lightly said, ¡°When you have the ability to meet me, then we can continue this talk.¡±

    Waves and waves of fighters walked onto the arenas, and left whether they won or lost. Some people became eternal corpses on the the arenas. Every path up the socialdder wasn¡¯t any more benevolent than the bloody fights in ckflow City of the Evernight Continent.

    Finally, all duels of the first round were finished. Qianye saw his second opponent, a girl from andowning household with rather pleasant features. She stood in front of Qianye, her beautiful eyes full of hope. They seemed to speak as they stared towards Qianye.

    ¡°You¡¯re very good-looking!¡± She suddenly said.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Qianye lightly answered.

    ¡°I am Xie Yumiao, go easy on me okay?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s cold response caused her eyes to turn red immediately as if she was just thoroughly wronged. She stood there timidly and lowered her head to adjust the edges of her shirt. She looked less like apetitor and more like a girl that had been shielded and protected all of her life.

    The horn sounded once again. Qianye¡¯s aura expanded, turning into billowing ocean waves. He reached Xie Yumiao in just a few steps and punched toward her chest.

    Xie Yumiao seemed as if she had just received a great scare and actually did not dodge at all. Instead, she puffed out her massive chest, inviting Qianye¡¯s fist. Her movement almost caused her shockingly full chest to bepletely pushed out of her clothes. It even caused the blood of two descendants ofndowning households who were spectating the match to pump harder as their faces turnedpletely red.

 Volume 3 - 73: Those Days of the Past

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 73: Those Days of the Past

    Qianye let out a low shout. Not only did he not withdraw his attack, his fist abruptly sped up and struck Xie Yumiao at her chest like thunder!

    His strike was absolutely beyond the girl¡¯s expectations. She never imagined that the young man with a beautiful face would attack her so mercilessly. It was toote too dodge, so she tried to raise her arms to block it, but before they even moved to position Qianye¡¯s punch had already struck her in the chest. Qianye¡¯s origin power was like a violent tide that destroyed her defenses instantly, surging into her body.

    Xue Yumiao immediately flew backwards until she crashed outside the ring. Then, she vomited a mouthful of blood andy there in exhaustion, unable to climb to her feet anymore. Two soft ngs resounded as a pair of des as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing fell out of her sleeves.

    One could say that Qianye had won his match with exceptional ease. Judging from the unusual shape of her weapon, Xie Yumiao probably had a secretbat technique thatplemented it well. The fact that she was able to get through her first fight without any injuries also meant that she must be pretty strong. However, she was taken down before she was able to execute anything at all, so the match was practically a free win for Qianye.

    But although Qianye might have won his match, he was showered with plenty of strange looks either. After all, not everyone could make the attack as ruthlessly as he did.

    The third round began, and this time Qianye encountered an average looking young man. He was a rank sixndowning household fighter who requested to use weapons immediately after they entered the ring. He held an imperial standard military de in his hand.

    Qianye nodded and pulled out an identical de from his waist.

    The moment the battle began, the duo pounced forwards at the same time and intersected each other!

    Slight surprise rose in Qianye¡¯s mind when he looked down and saw a long wound on the outer side of his left arm. He was injured already in one simple exchange! But the edge of Qianye¡¯s de was also dripping with blood. The young man¡¯s upper outer garment was split apart by a hole one sixth of a meter long, and a wound was inflicted between his chest and stomach.

    Qianye frowned slightly. The wound on his arm wasn¡¯t very deep, but he felt almost no pain except a bit of numbness. This unusual reaction rmed him greatly, and he immediately circted his origin power around the wound once. Unsurprisingly, he discovered that some miniscule foreign origin power had clung to the wound and reduced its ability to self-regenerate. They were extremely difficult to remove from his body.

    It was a special origin power simr to Ye Mn¡¯s Deep Frost and Steward Wen¡¯s Pr Yin Needle!

    He was a powerful enemy!

    The duo charged forwards at the same time again and shed a second time. This time bothbatants fought in close quarters where deadly fists were intermingled with sharp des. The fightsted for an intense moment before they abruptly split away and stared closely at each other. They both knew that they had met a powerful enemy.

    Qianye suffered a few extra wounds on his body even though he had done his best to minimize the surface area of his wounds using all sorts of techniques. It didn¡¯t matter too much, because the young man¡¯s special origin power had prevented all of his wounds from recovering naturally. The young man wasn¡¯t faring much better, however: he suffered only one less woundpared to Qianye.

    One round of exchange was enough for Qianye to realize that thisndowning household young man had incredibly adaptivebat experience. His fighting style was very much like the one Qianye was taught at the Yellow Springs and Red Scorpions in that it was simple, effective, andpletelycking in unnecessary movements. When the ssic murder art was paired with an origin power that affected one¡¯s ability to heal, they created an extremely dangerous opponent!

    The duo walked circles around each other for a few times before they shed against each other once more! This time bothbatants dueled speed and dished out several shes at each other the second they met.

    The fight that ensuedter was apetition ofbat techniques. Sometimes the ring would resound incessantly with the sound of shing des, but sometimes not a ring was heard even after tens of exchanges had passed.

    Thendowning household young man possessed incrediblebat instincts, and he knew some little tricks that only a veteran of the battlefield would know. He saw through every one of Qianye¡¯s attempts to bait him into a trap, but the young man failed to do the exact same thing to Qianye as well.

    When the next round began, bothbatants came to the undiscussed but unanimous decision to trade wounds with each other.

    Their movements became even more simple and vicious than before. Every time they attacked, they would inflict wounds on each other¡¯s body. This was a battle of attrition to see who wouldst until the end.

    A few roundster, thendowning household young man discovered in shock that Qianye was losing blood at an extremely slow rate even though he had inflicted many wounds on Qianye¡¯s body. Inparison, blood would gush out of his own wounds every time he used too much origin power.

    This shouldn¡¯t have happened! The reason thendowning household young man was unafraid to fight a battle of attrition was because he knew that his origin power would negatively affect his opponent¡¯s recovery. However, Qianye¡¯s constitution was apparently special in a way that rendered his origin power almostpletely useless.

    When the distance was widened, it became nearly impossible to fill up the gap between the two of them. Another roundter, thendowning household young man finally wobbled and copsed to the ground, passing outpletely.

    Qianye himself was breathing quite rapidly and incessantly. Every wound on his body was currently numb and painful because thendowning household young man¡¯s origin power was still wreaking havoc in them.

    Although Qianye had caught onto every possible opportunity to dispel some of these origin powers duringbat, no such room existed during thetter half of the match. Therefore, he had no choice but endure them forcefully. He even made sure to suppress his blood energies and keep them from swimming out of his heart and devouring these origin powers for fear that one of the onlooker might notice something amiss. Thankfully, he ultimately managed to hold out to the end of the battle.

    Qianye slowly walked to the edge of the ring after breathing out slowly. When a hand was stretched over to help him, the face that entered his eyes was Song Zining¡¯s sunny smile. Zhao Junhong was also standing two steps away from them and looking at him.

    Song Zining¡¯s hand stopped in midair halfway. There were so many wounds on Qianye¡¯s body that he was a little unsure where to start.

    He carefully avoided the longest wound on the outer side of Qianye¡¯s arm and held his elbow, saying, ¡°Thank goodness this is your final match today,¡± His eyes focused, and he noticed the foreign origin powers wreaking havoc in Qianye¡¯s wounds. He shook his head, waved his hands above the wound, and crushed the persistent origin power to bits.

    Qianye immediately felt a lot better and gave him a wry smile, ¡°There aren¡¯t many people out there who¡¯re as good as he is. I¡¯m just unlucky to be the one to run into him.¡±

    Song Zining smiled faintly, ¡°He¡¯s the one who¡¯s unlucky to run into you! He could¡¯ve entered to the sixth round at minimum if he hadn¡¯t run into you,¡± Aristocratic descendants joined the fray starting the fourth round, and most of them possessed rank six or seven origin power. However, thatndowning household young man had special origin power and greatbat technique. He should have been able to get through two rounds before his fighting style became familiar to all other contestants.

    Qianye nodded and expressed his agreement. As expected, sleeping tigers and hidden dragons did exist in this spring hunt. He didn¡¯t imagine that a young man who had beenpletely unremarkable during the early stage of the spring hunt would possess such amazingbat strength. With his level of talent and strength, the young man could have qualified as a member of the Empire¡¯s top ten elite corps. He wondered why he was still a free agent today.

    Suddenly, a cry came from Qianye¡¯s side. He saw Qiqi passing through the crowd hurriedly while followed by a Yin Family bodyguard who was skilled in battlefield treatment.

    Qiqi looked incredibly surprised when she saw Song Zining supporting Qianye with his hand. She wasn¡¯t surprised that Song Zining would show here since she had heard of his unfitting wall climbing act after returning from the feast. In fact, she even saw the gift box Song Zining had sent someone to deliver as an apology to Qianye. It was just that she told her men to throw it back to Song Zining¡¯sp.

    But by the time she was done it was already thetter half of the night, and although Qiqi didn¡¯t need to participate in any battles today, Qianye had three consecutive rounds to fight through. That was why this young miss had broke her habit and actually restrained herself for once from charging into his room and shooting questions at him. She never thought that she would witness today¡¯s sight.

    Knowing that Qianye was the kind of person who wouldn¡¯t mince words even before Zhao Junhong, she knew that there was no way Song Zining¡¯s status would have any effect on him. That was why she found the sight of Song Zining supporting him, and Qianye not resisting at all so strange. Was he so hurt that he couldn¡¯t move again? Qiqi rushed towards Qianye, grabbed him and examined him closely. Thankfully, his injuries weren¡¯t as bad as she imagined, although the sheer number and appearance of these wounds were pretty scary.

    Qiqi snorted, ¡°Who told you to be a show-off? Did you forget that you still have a match to fight tomorrow?¡± Behind her, the Yin Family bodyguard had alreadyid down his backpack before rushing forwards to treat his injuries.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t look disturbed even though he was forced out of the way by Qiqi. He simply stood by in observation while speaking mildly, ¡°It¡¯s okay, most of his wounds are superficial. I have some body restoration liquid at my ce that will heal Xiaoye fully once he soaks in it for an hour.¡±

    Qiqi cast Song Zining a suspicious nce before she turned back to Qianye, ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re thinking, so just pass me the liquid and let me do the work!¡±

    When Qianye saw Qiqi¡¯s expression, he finally realized what he overlooked earlier. On the surface, his rtionship with the Song Household should be pretty bad, especially since he had made a sworn enemy out of Ye Mn. But Qianye was never good at disguising himself, so the only thing he could do after discovering this mistake was to look straight at the ground and feignplete ignorance.

    Song Zining smiled, ¡°Do you have a container at your side?¡±

    The question caught Qiqi off guard. It was only now she recalled that the body restoration liquid needed a special container to be held in, or it would lose its medicinal substances inside really quickly and be useless before the treatment could end. This equipment was prettyplicated to install though, so the Song Household must have prepared it when they reached their side residence.

    There weren¡¯t many families who would carry such an item that took up so much space and was usable for only a couple of times outdoors, but the Song Household paid no mind to the cost of transportation and human maintenance because they were wealthy. The aristocratic descendants had the right to borrow an equipment like this from Duke Wei if it was necessary, but naturally that list of special privileges didn¡¯t include Qianye.

    Qiqi looked at Qianye again before she stared at Song Zining. She asked doubtfully, ¡°You didn¡¯t really think it was real, did you?¡±

    Song Zining smiled and said nothing. He already noticed that Qianye¡¯s face was turning ck even though he had his head lowered, and this wasn¡¯t the right time to tease Qiqi even if he felt like it. All things were bad when done in excess, and straying too far away from his true nature meant a higher chance of making mistakes. Qiqi might be absolutely terrible when it came to dealing with rtionships, but she was pretty shrewd in everything else. She wouldn¡¯t have arrived at this point of the Yin Family¡¯s sessor examination if it were otherwise.

    The bugle horn rang, signalling the end of the third round. Most people were injured as the remaining sixty fourbatants entered into the next round. The winner of this fourth round would get two hundred imperial gold coins as reward, and this prize money would only increase for every round they won. This prize money was of great help to manyndowning household descendants.

    The Song Household¡¯s side residence was even bigger than the Yin Family¡¯s courtyard. The main building of the inner courtyard was a small two-story building, and there was a small crescent-shapedke behind the building. An appeal ofplexity and visibility was created despite the small space.

    Although Qianye had arrived at the Song Household¡¯s side residence, he didn¡¯t actually bath in that body restoration liquid. His recovery ability was so strong that it wasn¡¯t inferior to bathing inside the body restoration liquid at this level of injury. Once he dealt with the foreign origin power inside his wounds and bandaged them using high quality medicines, he was starting to recover at a tremendous rate. He was actually more worried someone might notice his abnormal recovery speed, so the body restoration liquid was an excellent excuse for it.

    Qianye was currently seated at the second floor balcony facing theke as he watched Song Zining brewing tea with practiced motions. This was the first time he saw aplicated but leisurely recreational activity of the noble kind. None of Qiqi¡¯s hobby except calligraphy writing appeared to be of the traditional noble kind.

    When Song Zining was done dividing the tea cups, he lifted one in his hand and said, ¡°This tea shall be our wine tonight!¡±

    Qianye suddenly broke into a smile. He was recalling the one and only time he had a drinkingpetition with his fellow mates of the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Song Zining absolutely refused to drink wine with him since. It would appear that he still wasn¡¯t willing to drink wine with him after they reunited after so many years.

    Song Zining obviously recalled something to as he let out a sigh, ¡°Did you lose to Qiqi in a drinkingpetition, Qianye? I can¡¯t believe I finally got to see you in a skirt!¡±

    Qianye was immediately indignant as he retorted, ¡°I did not! And it¡¯s still better than some guy who got himself stripped naked!¡±

    Both men looked distracted for a second before they matched eyes with each other. Then, theyughed out loud at the same time, flushing clean the strangeness and distance that came between them due to years of separation as if they never existed in the first ce.

    No youth share the same memories even if they shared the same past, and their deepest memories would often differ in interesting ways. It was a memory that belonged to them alone; a time that would never repeat again.

 Volume 3 - 74: Bringing Up Old Stories

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 74: Bringing Up Old Stories

    The mountain breeze of spring was growing warmer as they brushed softly across the water while carrying a faint scent of flowers.

    Qianye twirled the eggshell porcin cup in his hand as he bathed under the afternoon sunlight. This delicate little thing was pretty, exquisite, and as bright as ss just like the decor and sceneries around him. They were beautiful, but they werepletely at odds with his kind of world.

    Song Zining poured a new cup of tea for Qianye and asked, ¡°I heard that Duke Wei¡¯s steward had personally sought you outst night to inspect your talents. Did everything go smoothly?¡±

    Qianye nodded, ¡°Steward Wen said that it¡¯s Venus Dawn,¡± He paused for a moment before giving Song Zining a look that showed that he wasn¡¯t sure whether tough or cry, ¡°Is this the idea you came up with that time? Venus Dawn is one of the top three greatest Daybreak origin talent, you know!¡±

    His friend sitting on the opposite side shedded his usual mask of kindness for one that was slightly more mischievous and unrestrained. He said nonchntly, ¡°You singlehandedly snatch a huge amount of points from Zhao Junhong with just one Eagleshot, and even break free from that deadly encirclement. It would be stranger if you didn¡¯t possess a top ss talent.¡±

    Qianye frowned, ¡°But Steward Wen couldn¡¯t have wanted to kill me because of this talent, can he?¡±

    Song Zining abruptly sat up straight and asked seriously, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Qianye exined the ins and outs of the assassination attempt and told him several possibilities that both he and Qiqi had discussed and came up with. Song Zining went through several particrs again and again until he was sure that Steward Wen hadn¡¯t seen the old wound in front of Qianye¡¯s chest. After that, he fell into deep thought.

    It was at this moment Qianye recalled a detail he hadn¡¯t told Qiqi and asked in puzzlement, ¡°The hidden force Steward Wen left behind seemed to contain a trace of Darkness origin power. But I must have been mistaken, right? How could a close attendant of Duke Wei¡¯s possibly be affiliated with the dark races?¡±

    ¡°No Champion¡¯s path is like the others. A Champion¡¯s bloodline and origin power would often be extremelyplicated due to all kinds of secret arts and strokes of luck. Therefore, it is one thing for one¡¯s origin power to possess darkness elements, and another to fall into darkness.¡±

    A cog turned inside Qianye¡¯s head. Did this mean that he could search for a way to use his blood powers once he reached Champion rank?

    By now Song Zining was done thinking as he said slowly, ¡°Steward Wen is an entric person. Personally, I don¡¯t think he tried to kill you out of personal grudge. Even a king can be moved by certain benefits, so I think that there¡¯s a higher likelihood that the danger came from Qiqi¡¯s side.¡±

    ¡°Are Qiqi¡¯s brothers and sisters really that capable?¡±

    Song Zining suddenly smiled, ¡°Perhaps they really chose the Song Household route.¡±

    Qianye was caught by surprise, but Song Zining didn¡¯t look like he was joking.

    ¡°Qiqi mother¡¯s family may be just a coteral line of the Song Household, their overall strength is among the better. But because none of their descendants were selected as sessor candidates of the Song Household, they chose to form an alliance with my second brother,¡± Song Zining smiled, ¡°If Qiqi really did be the Yin Family¡¯s matriarch, it would break more than just the family bnce. Therefore, her enemies aren¡¯t just the Yin Family sessor candidates alone; there are people inside the Song Household who didn¡¯t wish to see her crowned as the matriarch as well.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood a little about what was going on after he mulled over Song Zining¡¯s exnation. He immediately recalled something and asked, ¡°I heard that your rtionship with Qiqi isn¡¯t too good. Is it because of a simr reason?¡±

    Song Zining blinked at Qianye once before saying something that surprised him greatly, ¡°Not too good? We¡¯re practically enemies now that the spring hunt is over!¡±

    Qianye was immediately astonished, ¡°Ah?¡±

    Song Zining smiled softly, ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that Ye Mn isn¡¯t around? She¡¯s gone back to the Song Family two days ago to receive her punishment.¡±

    To Qianye¡¯s great surprise, his good friend seemed to be taking joy in Ye Mn¡¯s misfortune. From his perspective, Song Zining was extremely indulgent of Ye Mn to the point of spoiling her. That was why he was feeling a headache over the past few days on how to resolve the near deadlock that was his rtionship with Ye Mn after he and Song Zining had became acquainted again.

    ¡°Your Miss Qiqi wrote a letter ofint about me right after the spring hunt had ended,¡± Song Zining knew that Qianye wasn¡¯t very familiar with theplicated rtions between aristocratic families, and so he exined, ¡°My paternal great grandmother is her maternal great grandmother, and Qiqi¡¯s status is quite special. Therefore, my grandmother cannot discriminate too much no matter how much she loves me, especially consider her mother¡¯s family and her ally may say something in support of Qiqi.¡±

    Song Zining said cheerfully, ¡°Moreover, I have only obtained fifth ce during this spring hunt and lost half of our high rank bodyguards. Ye Mn is themander of the hunting team, so naturally she was summoned for punishment because she acted on her own initiative,¡± He smiled, ¡°I can imagine that I¡¯ll also be admonished by the elders once I got back. As for whether I¡¯ll be penalized officially by the family, that depends on the amount of effort Qiqi spent toin about me to the Song Household.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t sure how to react hearing what sounded like quite the serious matter being exined in such an easygoing fashion by Zining. He smiled wryly, ¡°I may not know what¡¯s going on in your family, but a demerit would probably affect your sessor¡¯s exam, right?¡± If that really was the case, then Song Zining wasn¡¯t kidding when he said that he and Qiqi were now enemies. Just look at what was going on in the Yin Family while the Yin Family¡¯s sessor exam was happening; it was practically an irreconcble war.

    But against his expectations Song Ziningughed, ¡°It¡¯s not really as serious as you think. How could someone like me swimming at the middle position possibly have the hope of bing the patriarch? At worst, the demerit will cost me a rank or two.¡±

    Qianye frowned, ¡°But¡­ why did you indulge Ye Mn? Wouldn¡¯t her actions affect your reputation?¡±

    Song Zining propped his hand with one arm while brushing the teacup with the words ¡°every cloud has a silver lining¡± and answered carelessly, ¡°It turned out well, didn¡¯t it? Look, this is a case where even I may suffer a demerit as a result, so you can just imagine how much worse that Ye Mn¡¯s punishment will be; grandma¡¯s displeasure notwithstanding. No matter how much the Song Household may value face and reputation, there¡¯s no way they could ept this engagement if someone like Qiqi were to step up to voice herint another one or two times, right?¡±

    Qianye was both astonished and speechless as he stared at his smiling good friend. He didn¡¯t know that Song Zining was also looking to cancel his engagement.

    The seventh Song young master¡¯s style waspletely different from Qiqi¡¯s. Qiqi tried her damndest to ruin her own reputation, but Gu Liyu was obvious a persevering man. Even Qianye could see that there was no chance Qiqi could force Gu Liyu to cancel the engagement on his own. On the other hand, Song Zining indulged Ye Mn and allowed her to do whatever she wanted, so much so that she slowly forgot herself and eventually got into trouble. He was only the ¡°innocent¡± victim whose reputation was spoiled only because of his fiance. If this situation were to happen a few more times, then no one could convince the Song Household elders to ept the engagement against their will to protect the family¡¯s reputation.

    Song Zining smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve gotten into a tiny squabble with Qiqi only because I can¡¯t be bothered to get involved in the sessors conflict of two families. Even if you were to serve the Yin Family from now on, you and I won¡¯t be shing directly, so you don¡¯t need to worry about it too much.¡±

    Qianye shook his head and said, ¡°I was hired by Qiqi through the Hunter¡¯s Association, and there¡¯s all there is to it. This spring hunt is my final mission.¡±

    Song Zining pondered for a moment before answering, ¡°That will be the best decision. The Yin Family forger who did your resume is a real pro, so it is enough to fool everyone for now. But if you stayed by Qiqi¡¯s side at an important position, then they will investigate your background thoroughly until the truth spills out.¡±

    Song Zining paused for a second as an obvious look of hesitation passed through his features. A whileter, he looked up to stare at Qianye, ¡°Do you know the story behind the wound on your chest?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly. The huge scar that stretched from beneath his heart to his belly button was a nightmare thatsted for nearly the entirety of his life in the Yellow Springs. Even if he got used to the torture-like pain eventually, it still impeded his cultivation speed persistently. Even now, Qianye had no idea who had left behind such a terrible wound on his body, and why.

    Song Zining sighed once and asked softly, ¡°Did Marshal Lin tell you about this?¡¯

    A wave of fluster suddenly came over Qianye, and he took in a deep breath before answering, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Marshal Lin after I graduated,¡± He then added, ¡°Marshal Lin had gone to the Western Frontier to quell a rebellion at the time. It sounds like that the battlefield situation over there had not improved despite all this time.¡±

    After listening to his answer quietly, Song Zining asked again, ¡°Did Marshal Lin send someone to inform you about it?¡±

    Qianye was silent.

    Song Zining said, ¡°That is the mark of origin power theft. This means that you were born with a talent that¡¯s first ss and above, and perhaps there might even be a fully formed origin crystal where your wound was since you were born. Most people have to remove the blocks over their nine origin nodes, concentrate their power into a vortex and reach Champion rank before they could create a crystal. Origin power theft is a taboo in the Empire, and most people wouldn¡¯t even speak of these words. All those who had the ability to do such things are very important people who stands at the summit.¡±

    Qianye listened quietly to Song Zining¡¯s exnations. Although Song Zining had spoken very slowly and with clear pronunciation, it took him a very long time before he finally understood the meaning behind his words. Qianye looked up and stared into the depths of Song Zining¡¯s eyes, asking, ¡°Who are they?¡±

    Song Zining leaned across the table and held Qianye¡¯s shoulder. Then, he answered softly, ¡°The imperial family, the four households, and the few apex experts of the Empire.¡±

    What followed after his after was dead silence.

    Qianye satpletely still until a soft pop could be heard. The cup in his hand shattered as thin, sharp fragments bit into his palm. Blood dripped fiercely from his flesh.

    Song Zining stared at him before he suddenly said, ¡°The young master of Marquis Bowang told everyone that you are a former childhoodpanion of his. Unlike most, the Wei Family raise their younger generation by sending them away on a ten year long away journey to hone themselves. Therefore, it is a passable exnation. I know that it¡¯s a lie, however. If we are to look at the time, you and Wei Qiyang had probably entered the army during the same year. However, he is a member of the Broken Winged Angel, and it is known that the Red Scorpion and the Broken Winged Angels are rivals within the army.¡±

    Qianye gave him a wry smile. He finally learned where the great young master had picked up that street ruffian habits of his. He briefly exined how he came to meet Wei Potian.

    A hint of understanding passed through Song Zining¡¯s eyes, ¡°Then he must¡¯ve told you about that battle you fought in the Red Scorpions too.¡±

    Qianye sucked in a deep breath before saying with difficulty, ¡°Is it connected to Marshal Lin?¡±

    Song Zining nodded, ¡°All clues starts and ends at Marshal Lin. Even the files of all the soldiers who were killed in action were sealed by the Marshal Office. If I hadn¡¯t identally seen your name in the obituary and thought of investigating it, I wouldn¡¯t even know that you were once a member of the Red Scorpion after a few monthster.¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Qianye interrupted Song Zining¡¯s words, ¡°I will not believe in any assumptions easily without sure proof.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s hand on Qianye¡¯s grew heavier for a second. He said calmly, ¡°If you wish to ask about this before Marshal Lin one day, then you must live, Qianye.¡±

    The sunrise and sunset of the Qin Continent continued along its eternal orbit as usual. The only difference there was was that the mountain breeze was warmer, as if signalling the beginning of early summer.

    The one on one tournament started next day at the proving ground on time. Qianye¡¯s fourth round opponent was the son of a small aristocratic family. This guy left a bit of impression in Qianye¡¯s mind; he seemed to be the tenth ce fighter of the spring hunt.

 Volume 3 - 75: Art of Murder

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 75: Art of Murder

    When that aristocratic descendant saw Qianye, he said with a cold, arrogant and disdainful tone, ¡°My name is Liu Yuqing. Remember this well, for I am the master who will restore the Liu Family and the man who will defeat you.¡±

    Qianye shrugged, feeling that he could save the banter in this particr asion. Qianye vaguely remembered that this person¡¯s family was the direct line of descent of the Fantang Liu n. Considering his family¡¯s strength, it was admirable that he managed to enter among the top ten of the spring hunt. Perhaps it was this sess that had bolstered Liu Yuqing¡¯s confidence.

    Liu Yuqing took a horse stance and assumed the starting gesture of a secretbat technique. His body immediately glowed with origin power as a faint pir of light stretching several meters long appeared above his head.

    This secretbat technique was called the One Line Heaven, and it was a little famous among the aristocratic families. It wasn¡¯t hard to understand where Liu Yuqing¡¯s arrogance came from considering that he was able to cultivate the technique to this level at such a young age.

    But Qianye shook his head on the inside when he saw his rigorous and meticulous starting gesture. It would seem that Liu Yuqing was the kind of cultivator who possessed good talent and worked hard in cultivation and training within the family, but had no battlefield experience at all. Hisbat experience basically amounted to everything he experienced in virtualbat, and at best some real life sparring.

    There were plenty of aristocratic families who raised their younger descendants this way. Although the Empire had never stopped warring since its foundation one thousand and two hundred years ago, those living within the borders and especially the big provinces had enjoyed peace for a very long time. The sayings of ¡°fueling war with warfare¡± and ¡°the tempering of one¡¯s will through blood and fire¡± were just an ideology. In reality, plenty of people who possessed the talent but not the luck would perish in the cruel environment that was the battlefield before they ever amounted into anything. It was why many aristocratic families didn¡¯t advocate this method of cultivation and self improvement.

    Rank five was normally the dividing line for all those who were beneath Champion rank. The average younger descendant would be sent into the army as junior officers only after they had cultivated to rank five and possessed the basic ability to protect themselves. At rank five, they wouldn¡¯t be sacrificed casually as cannon fodders, and they would be able to umte experience bit by bit through the many battles a regr army would face. The people who trod on this path could grow stronger and ascend to a higher position just the same, and most importantly they would learn how tomand an army in process. Although their martial power would progress slower than those who had started off with the Combatant Form at first, the strengths of their secretbat techniques would be more and more obvious down the line.

    The tides of Daybreak energy started to rise and fall inside Qianye¡¯s body as he assumed a careless stance. He had long since decided to end the first battle as soon as he could because he had to preserve his strength for thetter battles toe. There would be another three consecutive matches today, and the aristocratic descendants would be participating in the fight starting today. His low rank was a weak point of his, and it would only get worse the further hested in this one on one tournament.

    To Liu Yuqing however, Qianye¡¯s casual standing posture was a bright contrast to his own serious stance. His face took on an ugly expression, and he red firmly at Qianye while obviously thinking that his pride as a warrior had been insulted by Qianye.

    When the bugle horn resounded, Liu Yuqing shot towards Qianye like a straight arrow. The light pir above his head split into half and stretched from his arms all the way to his fists. He plunged two sharp and ferocious origin auras that looked like two sharp des right towards Qianye¡¯s chest.

    Qianye stood where he was and didn¡¯t move a muscle, but he showed no intentions to defend himself against the attack either. Suddenly, he leaned backwards and extended his right hand with lightning speed. Two tiny beams of origin power appeared from his index and middle finger and went straight for Liu Yuqing¡¯s eyes!

    It was an attempt to trade wounds right from the beginning! In this case, Qianye would suffer some internal injuries around his chest and stomach area, but Liu Yuqing¡¯s eyes would suffer terrible damage in exchange! Qianye wouldn¡¯t die from damage to his internal organs no matter how severe they might be, but Yuqing would either suffer from seque or lose his eyesight permanently if he was struck in the eyes!

    Shocked, Liu Yuqing had no choice but to withdraw his fists and protect himself. Qianye smiled, rushed forward, and unleashed a tide of earth shattering attacks that seemed toe from every direction at once! Every punch and kick he threw were incredibly forceful, and they were always aimed at his opponent¡¯s vital spots. It was a vicious, all out offense that spared no energy.

    Liu Yuqing managed to seize some openings and attack Qianye¡¯s vitals a few times, but Qianye simply continued his full offense without any regard for his own safety at all! One could call this a trade of wounds, or they could call it a death match as well. Liu Yuqing had never met such a person in his life, so he was quickly overwhelmed by the attacks to the point where he could only defend himself.

    At the grandstand, an old man suddenly snorteded and spoke up in displeasure, ¡°The way that No.163 fights is just shameless! How could he use an out of trend fighting style like that in the spring hunt ceremony? Yuqing is taken advantage of only because he cares too much about proprietary!¡±

    Although the old man was qualified to sit at the grandstand, his seat was near to the edge and quite far away from the main seat that was Duke Wei¡¯s. He was the current patriarch of the Fantang Liu n, and his seat was a direct reflection of the n¡¯s status among other aristocratic families. With the Liu Family¡¯s strength and status, it was impossible for them to participate in the Imperial Garden Spring Hunt. That was why the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt was their best chance to show off their abilities.

    Seated not far away from the old man, a nobledy with a plump, smooth face dressed in a graceful and luxurious attire smiled faintly, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. The technique No.163 is using right now is one that truly decides the tides of a battlefield. In a war where a single exchange may decide life or death, who would take their precious time to trade blows with you slowly? Yuqing is a good kid, but his realbat experience is a littlecking. He already exposed his own weakness after encountering an opponent who is only slightly better than him. What the point of training perfectly on his lonesome, if this is all it amounted to?¡±

    The Liu Family patriarch¡¯s face darkened as he let out a snort, ¡°Yuqing is a talented boy with a great future, so of course we must nurture him with the utmost care. We are not so desperate as thended gentry or the poor and humble, that we would send him to dangerous grounds just to stake his life over an illusory chance of sess!¡±

    The nobledy smiled softly, ¡°That makes sense. Yuqing definitely can grow into his full potential slowly. I fear that Miss Xin¡¯er cannot wait that long, however. I heard that she is going to choose her husband from this term¡¯s talented youths.¡±

    The Liu Family patriarch¡¯s face darkened even further, and he fellpletely silent after letting out one final snort.

    Xin¡¯er was Duke Wei¡¯s second granddaughter, and she was rather loved by all her seniors. The news that Duke Wei was going to choose a husband for her during this term¡¯s spring hunt had spread since a long while ago, and there were many aristocratic family descendants and youngndowning household descendants of higher stature who were looking forward to this opportunity very much. But even if this noble daughter turned out to bepletely uncritical, there was simply no way she was marrying a husband who got stumped at the fourth round of the one on one tournament.

    On the proving ground, Liu Yuqing was finally showing his solid foundations little by little. The fact that he hadn¡¯t been taken down by Qianye yet even at this stage proved just how tenacious he was. However, there was no way he was overturning his defeat before the vastly experienced Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s attacks grew fiercer and denser over time. Suddenly, he let out a huge cry and threw three rapid punches at Liu Yuqing in a row, throwing him out of the ring immediately!

    Liu Yuqing didn¡¯t realize that he had stepped outside of the ring until he saw Qianye removing his stance and backing away. By then, he had already lost, ¡°You!¡± He pointed a finger at Qianye in fury, but didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°I¡¯ve won,¡± Qianye said calmly.

    ¡°That cannot be called a victory!¡± Liu Yuqin replied angrily. Qianye had practically forced him to step out of bounds with a round of rapid punches, so of course he was unwilling to ept his defeat.

    By now, Duke Wei¡¯s personal guard who was supervising the battle had walked over and warned them in a chilly tone, ¡°Withdraw immediately after the battle is done!¡±

    Liu Yuqing could only swallow his emotions no matter how reluctant he was to ept it. He red at Qianye with so much hatred that it looked like he could tear Qianye into pieces and swallow him whole with his gaze alone.

    Qianye simply smiled before turning away. The reason Qianye was able to send Liu Yuqing out of the ring was because he had thrown all three of his attacks on Liu Yuqing¡¯s defending left arm. If he had chosen to attack any other parts of Yuqing¡¯s body instead, the boy would¡¯ve suffered at least a minor injury considering that Qianye had pushed his Combatant Form over twenty cycles already. Liu Yuqing didn¡¯t realize that Qianye had shown him mercy because of hisck of experience.

    Qianye saw Zhao Junhong again just as he reached the edge of the ring.

    Zhao Junhong suddenly said, ¡°Yourbat technique isn¡¯t suited for arena matches.¡±

    By now Qianye had figured out the second Zhao young master¡¯s temperament a little, and he also noticed that this arrogant n descendant was zealously passionate about martial techniques. Therefore, he made an amiable reply, ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve not learned any secret martial technique in my life. Also, the military¡¯sbat technique and Combatant Form are for killing and not for show.¡±

    Zhao Junhong nodded and wore a pondering look on his face. In the past, he had looked down on all weapons that were beneath rank five. The army¡¯s standard issue guns especially were no different from scrap iron to his eyes. However, that opinion had changed on the day Qianye injured his bodyguard with an Eagleshot.

    It was no secret that the Combatant Form had a fatal w that prevented most of its cultivators from ascending to the Champion rank, and the army¡¯sbat technique was no different from street fighting technique in Zhao Junhong¡¯s eyes. However, for some reason Qianye was able to turn both of them into remarkable things like magic. It overturned nearly everything he knew.

    The fifth round quickly arrived, and the remaining participants were split into two big groups. The Zhao and Song Household made their first appearance in the tournament, with Zhao Junhong and Song Zining being put in different groups to avoid an early encounter. Both Zhao Junhong and Song Zining originally had the special right to choose the opponents they wanted to fight, but they waived it because they didn¡¯t want to be criticized as bullying the weak. Therefore, the groups were quickly divided after a very brief discussion. The order would be decided by drawing lots as usual.

    Qianye broke into an involuntary smile when he looked at the groups. Zhao Junhong wasn¡¯t in the group he was in, so this meant that he must climb to the top of his group to be able to encounter Zhao Junhong in a battle. This also meant that he must beat Song Zining first to be able to do so.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were focused onto the proving grounds where the Song and Zhao participants were fighting. Zhao Junhong disyed incredible might by sending his opponent flying out of the arena in one kick, while Song Zining fought a standard duel thatsted for almost ten minutes before he won by a small margin.

    Meanwhile, Qianye finally met a powerful opponent. It was Nangong Wanyun.

    Nangong Wanyun had the sweet temper of a traditional aristocraticdy. After standing on the opposite side of Qianye, she smiled, ¡°Can you show me a little mercy?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Qianye answered.

    Nangon Wanyun smiled in reply, ¡°You sure have no idea how to appreciate a girl. I¡¯m not asking you to throw the fight; I just want you to avoid hitting the face. Is that okay?¡±

    Qianye mulled over the suggestion seriously before answering, ¡°I¡¯ll try my best!¡±

    ¡°Then I shall thank you first,¡± Nangong Wanyun spread open her arms and attracted mist to her fingertips. Then, she pushed out her palms evenly like she was doing a palm strike. A couple of colorless origin power immediately flew out of the mist and towards Qianye¡¯s vital spots. They sounded just like a sharp weapon cutting through the air.

    Qianye let out a low cry as a dark red glow covered his body. He strode forwards and moved slightly out of the way only from the attacks that were aimed at his weakest spots such as the eyes and the throat etc. He ignored everything else and shortened the distance between himself and Nangong Wanyun instantly, throwing a devastating punch from above!

    Nangong Wanyun¡¯s expression changed drastically as she dodged out of the way. She cried out, ¡°You promised not to hit the face!¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t ambush you too, right?¡± Qianye turned around and threw another thunderous punch towards Nangong Wanyun¡¯s center.

 Volume 3 - 76: A Promise of Battle

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 76: A Promise of Battle

    His fist was covered inyers of dark red origin power, and the air crackled loudly as it sped towards to Nangong Wanyun!

    Nangong Wanyun¡¯s expression changed immediately. The force behind the punch alone was more than enough to dissuade her from blocking it head on! She had no choice but to dash away in retreat.

    Qianye caught up to Nangong Wanyun swiftly and threw a horizontal kick. The attack also crackled like lightning just like before. This time Nangong Wanyun had no ce to retreat, so she clenched her teeth and threw her own leg at Qianye¡¯s!

    A dull bang resounded, and bothbatants retreated and turned pale at the same time.

    Surprisingly, Nangong Wanyun¡¯s origin power was the forceful type just like Qianye despite her delicate appearance. The sh resulted in a draw where no clear victor could be seen. Qianye felt as if he had kicked into an alloy te of equal hardness, and the rebound was ufortable for him too.

    But this bit of rebound was nothingpared to the dangers of a battlefield so Qianye charged once more towards Nangong Wanyun while looking like he was barely affected by the sh earlier. Fists, legs, shoulders and elbows; it was as if every part of his body had turned into a weapon.

    Nangong Wanyun abruptly realized that all of herbat techniques had be useless. The only thing she could do against such a violent disy of strength and speed was to match them head on.

    The exchange of blows actuallysted for ten minutes or so before Nangong Wanyun abruptly vomited blood because her origin power couldn¡¯t keep up any further. Her stances abruptly rxed, and Qianye immediately seized the opportunity to move into herp and lean forwards!

    Nangong Wanyun immediately flew backwards and crashed outside of the ring.

    Qianye didn¡¯t move from his original spot. An odd flush passed through Qianye¡¯s face as he also spat out a mouth of blood.

    Nangong Wanyun looked extremely depressed when she climbed to her feet. She only managed to use her secretbat technique once at the beginning, before Qianye took over and forced a melee with his offense for almost the entirety of the battle. Despite being two ranks ahead of Qianye, she was knocked out of the ring all the same.

    But after Nangong Wanyun got up to her feet, she noticed that Qianye had also spat out a mouth of blood. It was obvious that his victory hadn¡¯t came as easy as it seemed. She immediately felt a lot better as she pushed the disheveled locks of her hair behind her ears and resumed the elegant outlook of an aristocraticdy. She even greeted Qianye once before she finally left the grounds.

    Qianye slowly walked to the edge of the proving ground and sat down. He quietly rested as he waited for the next battle to begin.

    Five roundster, sixteen participants were all that remained in the one on one tournament as the finals table appeared on therge disy beside the proving grounds. It was only now that the wealth of the aristocratic ss had bared its advantage. Two thirds of the sixteen remaining participants were aristocratic descendants, while the rest were a mix ofndowning households, humble families, andmoners.

    The sixth round was the final round of the day, and it was one of the easier matches Qianye had encountered so far. The aristocratic descendant he faced had encountered two equals during the previous two rounds and barely won them. However, the cost of his victory were severe injuries, and in just a few exchanges Qianye had forced him to block a heavy punch after the match began. In the end, the added injury forced the aristocratic descendant to forfeit the match.

    There were plenty of people who noticed Qianye¡¯s sessful promotion in the tournament. Duke Wei knew what talent Qianye possessed, so he nodded slightly but didn¡¯t look particrly moved in any way.

    His advisor immediately noticed his reaction and joked, ¡°It¡¯s surprising that that No.163 is able toe this far with just rank five origin power. He must have a special talent of his own. Maybe we should pick him up and raise him into something worthwhile?¡±

    Duke Wei stroked his beard and replied, ¡°It is rumored that Venus Dawn¡¯s greatest characteristic is its ability to win from a position of weakness, and it would appear that its reputation is well justified. He could¡¯ve gone further if the Combatant Form is not the only art he cultivates.¡±

    The advisor immediately understood that Duke Wei had probably noticed this young man since a while ago, seeing that he had investigated even his talent already. He immediately said, ¡°Your insight has always been impable, sir duke!¡±

    But Duke Wei shook his head and said, ¡°This talent ispletely wasted on a forgottennd like the Evernight Continent, however, not to mention that his origin power is only twice as dense as the normal standard.¡±

    The advisor mulled over Duke Wei¡¯s words and felt that Duke Wei wasn¡¯t looking to recruit Qianye. Therefore, he changed a topic and said, ¡°There are other interesting and talented youths in this spring hunt too. Setting aside those beneath the level ofnded gentry, I feel like there are a few aristocratic sirs who may be fit to be Miss Xin¡¯er¡¯s partner.¡±

    Duke Wei simply said, ¡°We¡¯ll see. There are still three rounds left in the match, is is not? Xin¡¯er is still pretty young, so there is still plenty of time before a decision must be made.¡±

    The advisor immediately understood that Duke Wei hadn¡¯te to a conclusion yet, so he turned quiet and waited for every battle happening on the proving grounds to end.

    The afternoon of the Yin Family¡¯s back garden was exceptionally tranquil.

    Qianye sat inside the lush canopy and raised his right hand before his eyes. Sunlight spilled through the gaps of the leaves and cast many motley light dots on his palm. He suddenly looked up and towards his right, and a figure slowly appeared as a few dead leaves floated down from the branches amidst rustling mountain breezes.

    Song Zining sought out a wide tree branch and sat down casually. He was holding a drum-shaped silver pot and pouring out a clear, fragrant stream of liquid. It was tea again, however.

    Qianye epted the teacup Song Zining passed over to him and broke into an involuntary smile, ¡°Are you seriously not going to drink any wine? I noticed that Qiqi is quite busy for the past two days. Don¡¯t you need to participate in any social events at all?¡±

    ¡°Someone will evaluate and recruit thendowning households,¡± Song Zining said heedlessly, ¡°I have an uing match, you know!¡±

    Qianye shrugged. Song Zining¡¯s excuse was just too lousy; even Qiqi had gone through the first six rounds without a hitch.

    Song Zining rested his head on his hands and said in a carefree manner, ¡°Zhao Junhong told me that he won¡¯t go over rank five origin power when he meets you in battle.¡±

    Qianye asked curiously, ¡°Why did he bring that up all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°He wanted to be put in the same group as you are.¡±

    Qianye immediately epted the answer. It would appear that Zhao Junhong was dead set on fighting against him, and he was so worried that he wouldn¡¯tst until the end of the tournament that he was even going to use his special privilege to set up an encounter. Still, Zhao Junhong¡¯s concerns weren¡¯t out of ce. Having witnessed Song Zining¡¯s secret art and fiery spear technique, even he didn¡¯t dare im that he could beat Zining for sure.

    But Qianye threw another question in puzzlement, ¡°So why hasn¡¯t it been changed that way?¡±

    Song Zining said cheerfully, ¡°That¡¯s because I have a promise of battle with Young Master Wei too!¡±

    Suddenly, Qianye felt that his friend¡¯s smile was full of malice.

    After that, Song Zining diverted Qianye¡¯s attention by talking about his review and discussion with Zhao Junhong regarding Qianye¡¯s performance during the earlier matches. Both Song Zining and Zhao Junhong were extraordinarily gifted household nobles who managed to achieve small mastery in Champion rank secret techniques while they were still at Fighter rank. Naturally, their insights were better than others and hit the nail on the head every time.

    Qianye paid very close attention to the review because he had noticed his own weakness after encountering various secretbat techniques during this Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Thebat technique that was pounded into his body on the frontlines, the military¡¯sbat art and the vast origin power he acquired through cultivating the Combatant Form had allowed Qianye to maintain a considerable advantage over his opponents of the same rank. However, hisck of secretbat techniques that generated or overcame interaction between attributes, and fine control over origin power greatly restricted the types ofbat techniques he could employ in battle.

    Zhao Junhong once told him that hisbat technique was unsuited for arena battles. That was because Qianye only had one tactic from the beginning to the end, and that was to ovee technique with greater strength in a spurt of energy; defeating everything through sheer power. The biggest problem with this technique was that it required the cultivator to go all out with no retreat to fall back to. Moreover, the cultivator would suffer huge rebounds if their momentum was disrupted during the process.

    When Qianye encountered that youngndowning household descendant during the third round, he literally had no choice but to risk his wellbeing to defeat his enemy. Even earlier before that, Ji Yuanjia had cancelled his Combatant Form during battle. Although Qianye had learned from his lesson and notmitted such a mistake since, it also resulted in Qianye not being able to use a single Fighter King¡¯s strike throughout the entire tournament. On the one hand, he was leaving himself a trump card that he might useter. On the other hand, it was also his only trump card. If he hit his opponent, then he was invincible, but if he missed, then he might lose the initiative entirely.

    The next day morning, while standing on the gigantic proving ground and staring at the match table on the screen, Qianye suddenly recalled that Song Zining and Wei Potian were fighting today.

    However, Qianye soon found himself unable to spare the effort to wonder about their battle because his own turned out to be a difficult fight. Qianye¡¯s seventh round opponent was andowning household warrior, and everyone who made it this far were true experts.

    The battlested for almost an hour. It was only when bothbatants had nearly exhausted all of their origin power that Qianye finally seized a tiny opening to heavily injure his opponent in one go and win the match.

    It was only when he was done fighting that Qianye realized he wasn¡¯t thest person to end his fight.

    A series of thunderous roars apanied by the familiar brown yellow shes of Thousand Mountains happened on the other side of the proving ground. Brilliance sparks of starlight would also erupt in midair on asion as Wei Potian roared and chased after his opponent relentlessly. His opponent was none other than Song Zining!

    The bizarre but beautiful sceneries that appeared when Song Zining used the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art didn¡¯t appear, but his movements were just as erratic and unpredictable. He fleeted here and there like gravity had no hold over him, and he would¡¯ve looked as ghost-like as the night he appeared, if it wasn¡¯t for the afterimages that revealed his passages of movement.

    Wei Potian¡¯s attacks were fierce and heavy. The asional powerful ones could even make sound like a sharp de tearing through the air, revealing just how fast and forceful his punches were. However, Song Zining was always able to avoid his strikes by the slimmest of margins, foiling Wei Potian¡¯s attempts tond even one solid blow.

    Ten full minutester, Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains flickered a few times before vanishingpletely, a sign that he had exhausted all of his origin power reserves. He himself was so tired that he almost copsed from exhaustion. He panted like a dog and sweated like it was raining while supporting his arms on both knees.

    A few steps away, Song Zining¡¯s figure vanished before appearing behind Wei Potian. Then, he toppled Young Master Wei with a gentle push and even sent him sliding forward across the floor until half his body had exited the boundary.

    Naturally, Song Zining had won the match.

    Just like that, he had been decided as Qianye¡¯s semi final opponent.

    Song Zining was obviously feeling so good that true jubnce was actually spilling from his seemingly eternally kind smile. It made Qianye feel a chill behind his back as he recalled the unlucky bastards who were thrashed by Song Zining back at Yellow Springs Training Camp.

    Although Qianye had only seen the end of the battle between Song Zining and Wei Potian, he knew very well that Song Zining¡¯s tactic countered his and Wei Potian¡¯s direct and forceful stylepletely.

    It was nothing to be afraid of, however. Qianye¡¯s battle thirst gradually rose in his heart: now that he thought about it, it had been many years since he fought his friend!

    The bugle horn that signaled the start of a battle began, and Qianye pushed his Combatant Form over two cycles and eighteen tiers in the shortest time possible.Then, he strode towards Song Zining and punched out with a low cry!

    Song Zining pressed his palms forwards while enveloped in a misty blue light, and the duo exchanged a dozen or so blows in just the blink of an eye. Bothbatants were extremely familiar with each other¡¯s closebat technique, and years of separation had actually done nothing to dent their memory at all. They weren¡¯t able tond even a solid blow on each other despite tens of rounds of exchanges!

 Volume 3 - 77: Uncertain Temperature

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 77: Uncertain Temperature

    Qianye¡¯s Combatant Form had already exceeded twenty five cycles, and every move he made were apanied by faint noises of tides, wind, and thunder. The dark red origin glow on his fists grew brighter and brighter, and it merged together with the blue light around Song Zining¡¯s hand. Their upper bodies suddenly shook. Although their attacks hadn¡¯t connected with each other, their discharged origin power did!

    A hint of surprise passed through Song Zining¡¯s eyes, and it quickly turned into that of a smile. Qianye himself didn¡¯t notice anything strange from the sh of origin power, however. He only thought that Song Zining¡¯s origin power was nowpletely different from before. Song Zining¡¯s origin power was now flexible, strong and unpredictable, while Qianye¡¯s was the same since the day he cultivated the Combatant Form: fierce, brave, distinct and sharp!

    The personages of importance on the grandstand had a good eye for things. They noticed the sh that might¡¯ve slipped through another person¡¯s attention.

    Count Huayang, the person seated at the second lower left side of Duke Wei eximed in surprise, ¡°Did my eyes deceive me just now? Anyone who can liberate their origin power before rank seven is considered a genius already, but did these two just do it without using any secretbat techniques at all?¡±

    Beside him, Count Changping said, ¡°The seventh son of the Song¡¯s direct line of descent is one thing, but the guy he¡¯s fighting is just amoner, isn¡¯t he¡­¡± Before he could finish, the battle situation changed drastically all of a sudden.

    Qianye¡¯s fist and Song Zining¡¯s palm finally connected solidly for the first time since the battle began! A boomter, the dark red origin power and the blue origin power abruptly exploded into a ball of ring white sh as the duo flew backwards from the impact.

    Qianye had just stood still when he saw Song Zining smiling at him and raising his hands for no particr reason. His puzzlementsted until the moment Duke Wei¡¯s guards entered the ring, and Qianye finally realized that Song Zining had surrendered the match.

    Everyone present at the scene were shocked by this turn of events!

    Qianye asked in astonishment, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Song Zining put a hand to his chest and frowned slightly, ¡°I fought too long against that barbaric bull and suffered some internal injuries just now. I feel like it¡¯s worsened after I shed against your forceful origin power, so I really don¡¯t think I could fight you any longer like this.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t say anything for a time. Good luck couldn¡¯t even begin to describe his situation considering that his sixth round opponent had also surrendered due to heavy injuries! That being said, his previous opponent couldn¡¯t even stand properly by the time he left the ring, but Song Zining looked nothing like that at all.

    Even Duke Wei himself had sent envoy to learn about the reason, and Song Zining gave him the same exnation. And so Qianye won a puzzling match just like that.

    Every VIP who was present at the grandstand was absolutely dumbfounded by Song Zining¡¯s im. Out of all the battles that had happened during the seventh round, Song Zining and Wei Potian¡¯s battle was the one that drew the most attention. They saw clearly that Song Zining and Wei Potian hadn¡¯t collided even once against each other.

    The Far East Wei n¡¯s secretbat techniques Thousand Mountains and Sky Shattering Bright Fist was famous for their great power and consequently rate of consumption. That was how Song Zining managed to wear Wei Potian down to begin with. At the time, they were even praising Song Zining for his sound choice of tactic. Did Thousand Mountains have a counter attribute that they didn¡¯t know about?

    There was an unfamiliar looking old man sitting very close to the right side of Duke Wei, and today was the first day he showed up to spectate the match. Judging from his seat, he was probably of venerated stature, which was probably why the frowning words spilling out of his mouth were pretty blunt, ¡°Is this unambitious person really the seventh son of Song¡¯s direct line of descent? What internal injuries, I think he just wants to avoid fighting against the Zhao Family¡¯s second son!¡±

    But Duke Wei stroked his beard and pondered aloud, ¡°I heard that the reason Song Zining was selected as a sessor is because he sessfully cultivated the ancient secret art, Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. Am I right?¡±

    Marquis Yiguang nodded, but still he looked unhappy, ¡°It has been several hundred years since anyone managed to cultivate this secret art within the Song Household. In the empire¡¯s history, the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was said to be an art that stands at the same height as Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery. But I never thought that the Song Household descendant who sessfully cultivated this lost art would be of such temperament.¡±

    Duke Wei simply smiled and said nothing in reply. Marquis Yiguang might be old, but his temper was only hotter than when he was younger. Now he understood why Marquis Yiguang had came all the way here to participate in this small Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. It sounded like that he was gunning for Song Zining.

    Count Huayang threw in his ownment as he listened to their conversation, ¡°I heard that Song Zining doesn¡¯t go out at all in the past. It¡¯s a reason why we have so little information on him.¡±

    Marquis Yiguang¡¯s answer didn¡¯t exceed his expectation, ¡°He spent all his time at the Way Manor until he grew into full adulthood. It is the ce where the senior noble of the Song Household spends her retiring days. Forget outsiders like us, not everyone within the Song Household itself had the right to pay the olddy their respects.¡±

    The senior noble of the Song Household was also Song Zining¡¯s great grandmother, also known as Duchess An. She was the only duchess in the entire Qin Empire who didn¡¯t share her husband¡¯s title as she had earned her title through her own strength.

    While they were conversing with each other, the other match happening on the other side of the proving grounds had ended as well. Zhao Junhong had defeated Yin Qiqi. The second Zhao young master really was one of the top contenders of the young generation; the fact that he managed to surmount all difficulties to stand on the finals was clear proof of his strength. Moreover, every one of his battles were won cleanly without any stalemates to speak of whatsoever.

    Inparison, Qianye¡¯s battle results were extremely controversial. His sixth and semifinal match victory were practically given to him, so much so it was almost as if the heaven had decided to cut him a little break. Even if the second ce contestant wouldn¡¯t enjoy the reward of having a gun built to their own preferences, the total value of the prize money and equipment still amounted to several thousand gold coins.

    The one on one tournament ended here today, and the finals would take ce by the morrow.

    There were no matches that existed without a gambling scene around them, and this was even truer for arge scale event like the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt where the sheer number of bodyguards, attendants and servants alone as over ten thousand people. But when the semifinals results were up, what should¡¯ve been the hottest betting pool of the gambling scene waspletely deserted. This was because the disparity of strength between the two finalists was just too wide.

    It was only until evening that the gamblers finally grew a little interested. Someone had started an option and betted a thousand or so gold coins on Qianye¡¯s victory. As a result, a lot of people began betting against Qianye until the odds reached a shocking number of 30/1. This meant that the gamblers had to bet at least dozens of gold coins if they wished to win a single gold coin. Still, there were plenty of people who were willing to bet on a sure win setup like this and earn some pocket change.

    With a precedent set, a series of small betting pools followed and breathed some life into the gambling scene despite the odds leaningpletely in favor of Zhao Junhong. For example, there were betting pools on how long it would take for Zhao Junhong to win, with all sorts of odds set up just between minute one to minute thirty. The gamblers could also bet if Zhao Junhong would win within single digit minutes or double digit minutes. There were even bets on what kind of method Zhao Junhong would win the match with such as a punch, a kick, a secret technique and so on. Of course, the odds for each method were different as well.

    There were even some people who lived in dreands cing bets on victory by headbutt. Of course, the odds of this particr method was exceptionally high because everyone knew just how much the descendants of the Zhao Household cared about grace and appearance. Hell could freeze over before Zhao Junhong used a headbutt in his life. Although the bets involved very small sum of gold coins, the scene was lively and the bets were pretty interesting. The people couldn¡¯t help but praise the skills of this new banker.

    Qianye waspletely unconcerned about the noises from the outside world. He spent his entire afternoon cultivating in silence in the cultivation room, pushing the Combatant Form to the thirty fifth cycle and checking how his body was doing under this level of stress. While it was possible for him to reach thirty fifth cycle while cultivating, the same couldn¡¯t be said inbat. The Combatant Form was too fierce and intense, and it damaged one¡¯s internal organs when circting inside the veins. If he were to liberate his origin power from his body, the damage would only be higher.

    Right now, his limit was what Qianye was trying to find. If he didn¡¯t push himself that far, he might not be able to beat Zhao Junhong with the thirtieth cycle strike of a Fighter King even if his opponent did obey his promise and suppress his origin power to rank five. A rank five secretbat technique and a rank five standard technique were twopletely different things. It was like the difference between a continental airship and a starfaring airship.

    Suddenly, Qianye¡¯s body shook a little as the gold blood energy orbiting outside his heart suddenly leaped out and pecked away a wisp of origin power from the Daybreak origin tide like a heron. Qianye was extremely surprised by its actions, and he couldn¡¯t help but scan it for a little. He discovered that the wisp of Daybreak origin power pecked away by the gold blood energy was exceptionally pure and well refined. It was obviously the essence of the thirty fifth cycle origin tides that appeared after repeated refinement.

    In the past, only the normal blood energies would consume Daybreak origin power to erge themselves, while the gold blood energy consumed normal blood energies only. In fact, Qianye even thought that this urrence was just the blood powers¡¯ rules of ascension until now. When he recalled that the gold blood energy had consumed Director Wen¡¯s cold aura too, a strange thought suddenly appeared in his mind. Was the gold blood energy actually a picky eater? Was that why it ignored normal origin powers and consumed the special ones only?

    The thought amused Qianye a little. By now he hadpleted today¡¯s training and allowed his origin tide to slowly subside.

    When Qianye returned to his own room, a Yin Family servant delivered to him a gift box and an unusual looking letter. When he opened the letter, he saw the lively picture of a scenery at summer night and a short written invitation to a banquet on the fine writing paper. Thest image on the paper was a simple map that showed where the banquet would be held.

    Although Qianye didn¡¯t recognize the handwriting, the words¡¯ structure and ir gave off a familiar feeling for some reason. Qianye turned over the envelope and saw Song Zining¡¯s signature. For the past few days, Song Zining had tried to send a couple of things over to his ce, but Qianye saw none of them because Qiqi had told her servants to throw them all away.

    Qianye looked at the simple map on the letter once more. The location of the meeting was outside the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt Camp, near the passage of the back mountain. A moment of thoughtter, he greeted the guard on duty once and went out of the Yin Family¡¯s side residence.

    Right now, Qiqi was standing alone at the crown of the ancient tree at the back garden. She watched Qianye walking out of the side residence¡¯s main entrance, vanishing behind the walls and greeneries for an instant before appearing at the little path filled with cape jasmines to the west of the side residence. He then took a turn and headed towards west. It was the direction of the outskirts.

    Qiqi¡¯s ck eyes looked exceptionally calm. It wasn¡¯t like she never heard the people talking behind her back about the possibility that Song Zining might possess an unusual taste, or that he was purposely stealing her people because they were now on bad terms. Qianye never said anything about those things, however. He never even asked about them.

    Qiqi didn¡¯t know what the hell Song Zining was nning, but she knew very well what Qianye¡¯s attitude meant. His attitude was exactly the same as hers when she dealt with the same thing in the past, and that was total andplete indifference.

    Night arrived as the mountain breeze of spring grew softer and softer. The sun baked fragrance of flowers hadn¡¯tpletely faded, and they filled her with copious amount of warmth. Qiqi walked into the canopy and sat down on Qianye¡¯s usual spot. Slowly, she curled herself into a little ball.

 Volume 3 - 78: Finals

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 78: Finals

    When he arrived at his destination, Qianye finally realized that the spring night scenery Song Zining had drawn in the letter wasn¡¯t a product of his imagination. It was the actually a copy of the scenery right before his eyes.

    Spring is a season of even slopes, gradual earth, tall grasses and flying nightingales. Scattered wildflowers adorned the ground here and there, and the origin powerednterns hovering in mid air looked like migrating stars at first nce. These light sources alone were the products of great expenditure, for the origin powerednterns themselves were pretty expensive, not to mention the amount of resources it took to keep them floating indefinitely in mid air.

    The banquet was held in the way of the first men¡¯s tradition where every person was given a seat of their own. There were at least hundreds of seats spread out on the wide space as maids and servants travelled back and forth like water streams while holding dishes and tablewares on their hands. Female dancers and singers twirled to the entertainment of all as cotton fabric floated like clouds.

    The Empire¡¯s nobility was currently engulfed in a trend to revive the ancient ways, and Qianye had witnessed many such events ever since he epted Qiqi¡¯s mission. However, he was suddenly struck by a strange feeling that this banquet happening just several steps away from him was so unreal that it might as well have been held in apletely different world.

    The people of the lower continents struggled hard everyday just so that they could secure tomorrow¡¯s food, while the amount of resources spent in a single banquet at the upper continents could probably keep an entire town alive for a time. If this was so, then what was even the point of the forgottennd¡¯s existence?

    There were two master seats because tonight¡¯s banquet was co-hosted by the Zhao and Song Household.

    In fact, the purpose of this banquet was to identify and recruit potential talents. It was why most of the people who were invited to the banquet came fromndowning households. Every person who earned a seat in this asion hadn¡¯t made it here with their surname, but true strength. Naturally, those who were fortunate enough to be invited did their best to show off their abilities, and the stream of people around Zhao Junhong and Song Zining¡¯s seats seemed like they would never end. Sometimes, the performers would evenpete martial arts with each other. Of course, they were different from arena battles in that the goal was to express their strengths, not fight each other to their deaths.

    Song Zining looked up, and he happened to see Qianye pausing at the edge of the grounds some distance away. In fact, he looked like he was about to turn around and leave. Song Zining immediately ordered two Song attendants to stop Qianye and invite him over.

    ¡°Qianye!¡± Song Zining called out to him before saying smilingly, ¡°I didn¡¯t think that Qiqi would let youe.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly sighed as if in great regret before Qianye could say anything, ¡°Speaking of which, Qiqi and Nangong Wanyun were holding a joint banquet over their side too. Now that is a banquet filled with nobledies. You¡¯ve missed out on a great show, Qianye!¡± While saying this, Song Zining turned around to look at the banquet grounds before pointing at a certain girl, ¡°That female dancer dressed in red has one helluva flexible body. You can take her back to your roomter if you want.¡±

    This time Qianye didn¡¯t want to say anything at all. It would seem that his good friend¡¯s bad taste hadn¡¯t improved with time in the slightest.

    In the end, Song Zining pulled Qianye over to his seat. By now, the chatting session was about to end as the people returned to their seats to enjoy delicious wine, delicacies, and the two rows of female dancers whose flying skirts looked like blooming flowers. Meanwhile, Zhao Junhong was drinking alone at the seat beside theirs.

    Qianye recalled the banquet held by Duke Wei at the Martial Hall during the first day of the spring hunt. At the time, Zhao Junhong had conversed to no one except Song Zining, Qiqi, and a few other people. No one else drew even a cursory nce from him. Therefore, Qianye was surprised to see him attending a banquet where he would be seated among members of thended gentry.

    When Qianye asked Song Zining about this, his friend couldn¡¯t help but smile, ¡°The Zhao Household may be arrogant, but it¡¯s not like they¡¯re stupid. Every aristocratic family including the imperial family itself needs someone they can use. In fact, the reason they treat people based on their backgrounds is because people of good backgrounds are simply of better talent and resources on average. Of course, I understand that this distinction is obviously biased, but in the case where everyone is a stranger to everyone, this yardstick is effective more often than not.¡±

    Qianye thought over it for a moment and nodded in agreement.

    The reason those families of high prestige had came to exist almost at the same time as when the great Qin Empire was founded was because their ancestors were among the firsts to awaken their origin talent. Although neither the dark races nor the human race had managed to figure out the rules behind all origin powers to this day, and they were unable to effectively control the inheritance of power and the awakening of talent either, it wasmonly epted that the continuation of one¡¯s bloodline was one of the major ways to sess. Therefore, it was only natural that the wealth umted by these aristocratic families for over one thousand and two hundred years were used to benefit only their own line of descent. Fairness wasn¡¯t something to consider in this regard.

    In fact, the true injusticey not in the starting line, but in the amount of room for growth. It waspletely pointless toin that different starting lines had resulted in different heights of achievements because the natural evolution of human itself waspletely diverse. Unlike vampires, humans didn¡¯t possess the ability to create blood thralls whose rank and strength they could control. The only way to deal with thisw of nature was to change or ept it.

    ¡°That being said, background is but the first cornerstone of one¡¯s life. You must possess an ability first before you can earn the respect of others,¡± Song Zining smiled, ¡°A temperament like Zhao Junhong¡¯s isn¡¯t all that bad. At the very least, the peace and quiet he enjoys is greater than most other people. There are only two kinds of people for whom he cares in his life: the kind who shares his level of status, and the kind who shares his level of strength.¡±

    ¡°If you put in that way, then I must say that I am looking forward to tomorrow¡¯s battle,¡± Qianye cast a nce at Song Zining before saying, ¡°Actually, I wanted to fight you first even more.¡±

    Song Zining winked once before saying, ¡°There is always a chance to do so in the future. I¡¯d prefer if our battle is not treated as an item out of an animal taming program, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Suddenly, his good friend¡¯s smile was full of malice once more. When Qianye recalled Wei Potian¡¯s limp figure, he could almost say with absolute certainty now that Song Zining had done it on purpose. There was no other exnation as to why he didn¡¯t just send Wei Potian out of the ring immediately when he was about to run out of origin power otherwise.

    ¡°Qianye, where will you be headed to after the spring hunt is over?¡±

    Qianye had been thinking about this question ever since he decided that this Profound Heaven Spring Hunt would be his final mission for Qiqi. In fact, this question had been guing him ever since he left Lighthouse Town. Qianye was painfully aware that he was just a passing traveler without a goal even when he was at Darkblood City.

    But now, Qianye had already made up his mind. He said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll be returning to the Evernight Continent to kill someone.¡±

    Song Zining smiled, ¡°That shouldn¡¯t take too long, should it?¡±

    ¡°He is a Champion. It¡¯ll probably take a very long time.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile immediately went away, ¡°Why do you have an enemy like this? Is it rted to your past?¡± He knew very well what a Champion on Evernight Continent meant. While a Champion might just be a foreign delegate or a family general an aristocratic family, a Champion at Evernight Continent was at least a high-ranking military officer who supervises an entirend!

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡± Qianye said indifferently, ¡°The few true friends I ever had on the Evernight Continent were killed directly or indirectly by his and his son¡¯s hands. Also, he trades ck crystals with the dark races.¡±

    Song Zining fell silent for a moment before he asked slowly, ¡°Who is he?¡±

    ¡°He is the brigadier general and the head captain of the Expeditionary Force¡¯s Seventh Division, Wu Zhengnan.¡±

    On the day of the finals, the number of spectators who came to watch the battle were even greater than before. The grandstands especially were full to brim.

    When Qianye entered the field, Zhao Junhong was already waiting for him. His arms were folded, and his eyes were slightly closed. He seemed to be resting in meditation. Suddenly, Zhao Junhong opened his eyes and set his gaze on Qianye like lightning. He said coolly, ¡°I hope you won¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    Qianye gave him a simple answer, ¡°I will do my best.¡±

    The horn signalling the final battle of the tournament was long and bleak.

    Faint, silvery light surfaced from Zhao Junhong¡¯s body, and he abruptly took a step forwards at pointed at Qianye¡¯s be!

    Although his movements looked weak and gentle, Qianye knew that from the sudden burst of strength and density of the silver light on Zhao Junhong¡¯s fingertips that the attack was no weaker than the strike of an origin weapon!

    Qianye let out a low cry and threw an utterly in punch at Zhao Junhong¡¯s fingertip. He was actually going to sh head on against Zhao Junhong right from the start of the battle!

    Zhao Junhong was prepared for Qianye¡¯s fierce and forceful fighting style since a long time ago. He immediately stretched wide all ten of his fingers, turned his wrists, and grabbed onto Qianye¡¯s fist. Then, he pulled and tossed Qianye into the air. By now the dark red origin power on Qianye¡¯s fist and the silver origin power on Zhao Junhong¡¯s hands hadpletely intermingled with one another, but surprisingly no origin explosion came from the contact.

    Qianye swiftly counteracted the throw with his own hands and moved horizontally across the air across Zhao Junhong¡¯s head using the borrowed strength,nding on the other side of the ground. His dodge was ingenious because he barely dodged three consecutive strikes from Zhao Junhong by moving his body several times while he was flying through the air. The three silver beams had practically brushed past him without an inch to spare.

    Qianye immediately kicked out sideways at Zhao Junhong¡¯s waist the second hended on the ground, but Zhao Junhong merely caught it with his arms and sent Qianye backing away several meters with a simple push. Naturally, Qianye¡¯s follow up kick missed its target as a result.

    The twobatants had traded blows like lightning in just a single exchange, and both the attack and defense executed were absolutely brilliant. When the duo separated, thunderous apuse from the spectators broke out and shook the very ground.

    Even Duke Wei was nodding slightly andmenting, ¡°Not bad.¡±

    Apprehension gripped Qianye after the exchange was done. It was only after he fought Zhao Junhong in melee that he realized just how powerful the man was. The Zhao second young master possessed such outstanding closebat technique that he didn¡¯t feel like one of those house flowers at all. Moreover, his origin power was most likely of the attribute that countered the Combatant Form, because the exchange of palms and finger strikes earlier made no sound at all.

    Zhao Junhong was also looking seriously at Qianye. The silver glow enveloping his body grew brighter and brighter as he said, ¡°You really are pretty impressive.¡±

    A ray of silver light suddenly lit up from between Zhao Junhong¡¯s brows as if he suddenly grew a third eye. He suddenly moved like he was gliding across the water surface, showing up before Qianye instantly and pointing at him once more. This time however, his fingertip was quite far away from Qianye. The silvery light gathering before his fingertip abruptly brightened and fired out a solid line of silver right at Qianye¡¯s chest.

    Someone cried out from the grandstand, ¡°It¡¯s the Silver Sword Finger!¡±

    The Silver Sword Finger was one of the more reputable secretbat techniques practiced by the members of the Zhao Household. It was built on the concept that one¡¯s origin power was condensed into a solid form that was as sharp and unbreakable as an actual de. This was a Champion rank secret technique, but not only had Zhao Junhong mastered the basics, he actually managed to form the origin de too. He truly deserved to be called a genius!

    Qianye immediately felt that a huge threat was headed his way. The faint line of silver actually made him feel like an origin bullet was headed his way! Without any hesitation, Qianye let out a low cry and punched out again straight at the silver line of origin power!

    The Combatant Form cycled swiftly inside Qianye¡¯s body, ovepping one another and reaching nearly the thirtieth cycle in the blink of an eye. Fierce origin power poured out of his fist and mmed fiercely into the silver line!

    The front part of the silver line crumbled, but didn¡¯t disappear. Instead, it split into dozens of slimmer silver threads and prated into Qianye¡¯s origin power, wanting to climb all the way into the roots!

    Qianye¡¯s origin power rose and fall like tidewaters, and a wave of origin power abruptly rose and gushed out his his fist again before the initial tide had even subsided. Like a wall, it blocked and scattered the rain of silver threads.

    Meanwhile, Zhao Junhong himself had let out a clear roar and caused the scattering silver threads to turn back suddenly. They twisted against Qianye¡¯s origin power and attempted to cut a path through the tides. However, Qianye¡¯s origin power was just as tenacious, unfading even when it was broken down piece by piece. In fact, it was resurging at the center and attempting to break towards Zhao Junhong once more.

    Their origin powers becamepletely mingled in the blink of an eye, shing and fighting against each other at every level.

 Volume 3 - 79: Victory

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 79: Victory

    Qianye¡¯s fist was only a few centimeters away from Zhao Junhong¡¯s finger, but neither of them were able to push an inch forward. They could only persist in confrontation this way.

    A ball of light was suspended between the finger and the first. If someone were to look at it closely, they would discover that the dark red light ball that looked like it was made of mist was in fact countless tiny origin explosions and undting silver lines.

    The spectators around the proving grounds were long since engulfed in a hubbub of cries, praises and discussions. Even the VIPs on the grandstand were letting out gasps of surprise or wearing looks of astonishment on their faces as they whispered to one another.

    Yesterday¡¯s sh of origin power between Qianye and Song Zining had already attracted Duke Wei, the marquises, and the counts¡¯ attention to begin with, but today bothbatants had clearly manifested their origin power in physical form! Even more impressive was the fact that one of them was only rank seven and the other rank five. Unfortunately, it also meant that they could only witness their origin power in primal form, and not talent.

    The hubbub urring at the proving grounds slowly subsided. shes of origin power were absolutely treacherous no matter the form because not even the slightest room forpromise existed there. It was a holistic sh of amount and attribute of origin power, art, control, and willpower. No falsities existed in a sh like this. Moreover, this sh was a lot more dangerous than norm because both parties had recklessly manifested their origin powers before they reached champion rank.

    Duke Wei said, ¡°Wen, please attend to the battle and make sure that neither of them are in danger. I can do without Zhao Weihuang kicking down my doors.¡±

    ¡°Understood,¡± Steward Wen leaped off the tform and flew into the fray, suspending himself above the proving grounds.

    Qianye and Zhao Junhong had long since forgotten everything around them except each other. All of their concentration were focused onto the shing and exploding ball of origin power between them.

    The Combatant Form was in fact at a severe disadvantage whenpared to the secretbat technique Silver Sword Finger. This was because origin power discharge was not advisable for cultivators of the Combatant Form unless they had reached Champion rank, much less manifesting it and using it in a forceful sh against another origin power. When Qianye pushed the Combatant Form over twenty fifth cycle, he abruptly realized that the pressure set on his physical body had increased tremendously. Moreover, his Daybreak origin power possessed no special attributes whatsoever, marking it significantly different from Zhao Junhong¡¯s de like Silver Sword Finger. Again and again his origin power was twisted and crushed by Zhao Junhong¡¯s silver sword beams, and the only thing he could do was to increase the strength and size of his origin power to match it. As a result, the effort sapped away much of his strength.

    In the end Qianye only had one usable tactic, and that was to utilize the Combatant Form¡¯s tremendous pressure and end the fight as swiftly as possible. If he couldn¡¯t destroy Zhao Junhong¡¯s defense in one go, then his defeat was all but destined. His mind made up, Qianye pushed the Combatant Form higher and attacked his opponent again and again with tidal-like origin power!

    But Zhao Junhong¡¯s silver sword beams were of incredible pliability and toughness. Again and again the silver threads were blown apart by Qianye¡¯s origin tides and scattered to all direction, but again and again they recollected themselves and charged back into the fray in a sh.

    The origin power in Qianye¡¯s body surged violently as the tides piled up oneyer after another. In the blink of an eye, and he exceeded the thirtieth cycle in the blink of an eye. When the origin tides poured out of his fist once more, the sound of tidal waves actually began resounding around it like thunder!

    Zhao Junhong abruptly felt a great increase in pressure, and some of the blown threads were starting to slip out of his control. In fact, a thread or two was actually blown away by Qianye¡¯s origin power. He cast a nce at Qianye while looking a little moved.

    Fighter King?

    The Combatant Form might be worth nothing in Zhao Junhong¡¯s eyes, but a Combatant Form cultivator who had reached the level of Fighter King was apletely different story. It was no wonder that Qianye was able to beat opponents beyond his rank since the might of a Fighter King was equal to that of a low rank aristocratic family secretbat technique.

    However, the Combatant Form had a fatal w just like Qianye¡¯ fighting style. It was true that the origin tides got more and more overpowering as they piled up one after another, but it was at the cost of sustainability. If Zhao Junhong could hold a couple of cycles and wait until the moment Qianye ran out of origin power, then Qianye would fall and be annihted in entirety.

    To Qianye¡¯s surprise, Zhao Junhong was still able to speak despite the thunderous sh, ¡°Truly, truly impressive! But it¡¯s my turn to show you what Overflowing Silver is!¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s origin nodes starting from the one at his chest began to lit up one after another. From afar, they looked just like the brilliant radiance of silver crystals.

    A total of five origin nodes were alit on Zhao Junhong¡¯s body!

    Qianye stared at Zhao Junhong. Zhao Junhong had surprised him by holding fast to his promise even in this situation.

    On the grandstand, Count Huayang¡¯s face was full of praise. He said, ¡°I did not realize that the second son of Zhao had cultivated silver sword auras inside his origin nodes too. There is no denying his talents, but it is his diligence that truly impresses me.¡±

    Beside him, Count Changping also said, ¡°It really is impressive. Despite possessing such talents, he held himself back from ascending quickly just to catch up with the rest of his brothers. He made sure that hisbat techniques and origin power are growing in sync and built an unbelievably firm foundation for himself. With this level of foundation and willpower, his path to Champion will definitely be smooth sailing.¡±

    Duke Wei pondered, ¡°I heard that Zhao Junhong is not the most outstanding descendant of his generation within the family, is he?¡±

    Count Changping nodded, ¡°Yi, Hong, Su, and Du. There is no denying that Zhao Junhong is just average among the four sons of the Zhao Family. Of course, the most outstanding one of them all is the son who participated in the Imperial Garden Spring Hunt, Zhao Jundu.¡±

    Count Huayang said, ¡°I have seen the fourth son of the Zhao Household before, and there is no denying that his talents are absolutely extraordinary. If the Zhao Family didn¡¯t have Zhao Ruoxi too, he would¡¯ve borne the light of the Zhao Household all by himself. There are few people who could be mentioned as his equal even within the four households.¡±

    Duke Wei pondered, ¡°Zhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi! Heh, the Zhao Family is going to be amazing in ten years time!¡±

    But this was as far as the discussion went, because the topic was so dangerous that not even the two Counts were willing to continue the conversation. When silence returned to the grandstand once more, everyone switched their attentions back to the proving grounds.

    Five origin nodes were now alit on Zhao Junhong¡¯s body, and wisps of de-sharp silver origin power were gathering inside them. Then, five silver sword beams erupted from them and flew straight towards Qianye!

    The five sword beams suddenly changed directions halfway and flew into the origin light ball that existed between their fist and finger. The moment they stabbed into the ball of light, the near silent origin explosion suddenly let out the clear ring of a sword.

    The pressure on Qianye¡¯s hand suddenly weakened, and there was a stifling difort that felt like a wrong exertion of strength pressed down on his chest. The wall of waves that sat before his fists should¡¯ve been immeasurably solid, but it was now melting away nonstop like snow. The new sword beams that joined the fray easily destroyed Qianye¡¯s origin power and earned the silver threads room to grow more and more solid. Not only were they not scattered away like before, they were even showing signs of knitting into a.

    Although Qianye didn¡¯t understand what the unusual appearance of the silver threads meant, he did notice that Zhao Junhong¡¯s defense was growing harder and harder to break through. It was like a reef that remained motionless despite beingpped repeatedly by giant waves, so much so that Qianye¡¯s origin power was even starting to roll back to him.

    But there was a saying that goes like: when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Qianye was such a person himself, so he immediately steeled his determination and let out a low cry. He pushed the Combatant Form over yet another cycle and caused the origin tides to grow a lot more turbulent and powerful than before.

    Thirty one, thirty two. The Combanta Form was pushed to the thirty fifth cycle in the blink of an eye!

    By now the dark red origin power surging around Qianye was starting to look a little like a sea with no horizon. It was as if the ovepping tides of origin power would never end. When the thunderous tides subsided into near silence, an earthshaking power abruptly surged at Zhao Junhong!

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s breath caught in his throat the instant the origin tides were pushed to the thirty fifth cycle. He felt as if a tidal wave as tall as the sky was about to fall right on top of his head!

    Zhao Junhong swiftly calmed himself down and faced his predicament with a serious look on his face. By now, he already realized that Qianye¡¯s Combatant Form must have exceeded the thirtieth cycle already. As he had oncemented about Qianye¡¯s fighting style before Song Zining, the tactic of overwhelming skill with strength was unparalleled. The only thing the defender could do in this situation was to endure and wait because the charge of a thousand troops couldn¡¯t be stopped the moment it was unleashed. It was either the death of my enemy, or the death of myself.

    Zhao Junhong abruptly urged out more strength and fired another volley of silver sword aura from his origin nodes. They formed into a web of swords and kept Qianye¡¯s rampant origin tides at bay.

    Shock overcame the proving grounds again, and this time even some of the people on the grandstand had gotten onto their feet. At this point every man and woman who were defeated by Zhao Junhong during the earlier matches including Qiqi herself were utterly convinced by his strength. It was only now they realized that Zhao Junhong hadn¡¯t used his full strength at all, and there were no flukes behind any of his victories.

    But Qianye had no distracting thoughts in his mind. He urged the Combatant Form to run even faster and held nothing back, pouring out all of his origin power to form a gigantic tide of unprecedented size.

    It was the thirty sixth cycle of the Combatant Form!

    But before Qianye could unleash it upon Zhao Junhong, he abruptly hit the bottom of the barrel. He just needed onest shred of power toplete this final tide, but had nothing left to spare inside him.

    It was at this moment the normal blood energy inside his heart and the purple blood energy suddenly injected strength into the gold blood energy that was orbiting around his heart all this time. Once done, every blood energy shrank to less than half their size and became incredibly weakened, submerging back into Qianye¡¯s heart.

    The gold blood energy shook faster and faster, almost resonating with the Daybreak origin power in Qianye at the end. It abruptly shattered into sparks of golden light and leaped into the final tide.

    shing golden sparks abruptly appeared within the dark red origin light that surrounded Qianye like a veil of thin mist. His dark red origin light grew brighter and brighter until they looked like the multicolored sunlight of dawn!

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s silver web crumbled, and his silver threads were scattered everywhere beyond his control. The only thing he could sense was a curtain of bright red light that looked like it would devour in the next instant. Zhao Junhong activated his sixth origin node almost unconsciously, painting it in crystalline silver light as a new silver sword beam came into existence.

    However, the tide that had enveloped Zhao Junhong¡¯s entire world disintegrated the sword beam without any difficulties and surged straight towards him.

    Steward Wen was already flying down from the sky to block the gigantic origin tide the moment he noticed the golden sparks. But despite his swift reactions, the two contestants were so close to each other that he couldn¡¯t stop the initial waves from entering Zhao Junhong¡¯s body in time. Zhao Junhong immediately let out a dull groan and flew backward, crashing heavily outside the boundary of the ring.

    Qianye stared quietly at Steward Wen and did his best to withdraw the subsiding but still fearsome origin tides. Although the multicolored light was starting to fade, the golden sparks continue to sh erratically around him.

    Silence took over the proving grounds for an instant, but thunderous cries shattered it right after! Even the VIPs on the grandstand had temporarily forgotten their reservation and cried out, ¡°Venus Dawn! It¡¯s Venus Dawn!¡±

    Despite knowing that Qianye possessed Venus Dawn from the beginning, Duke Wei still couldn¡¯t help but be moved by the sight of it.

    Legend said that Venus Dawn was the closest origin attribute to Daybreak barring none. It strength came from its near absolute purity, and there were almost no special origin power that countered it at all. The only origin power that was simr to it was the Evernight Dark of Evernight.

    Venus Dawn and Evernight Dark represented the pinnacle of Daybreak and Evernight. One was infinite light, and the other was eternal darkness. Their qualities might differ, but their strength was equal.

    The fact that Qianye possessed the origin power of Venus Dawn made his fair victory over Zhao Junhong a lot easier to swallow. Moreover, the VIPs also noticed that Zhao Junhong had only activated his sixth origin node at thest moment. This meant that five silver sword auras in five of his origin nodes weren¡¯t his true limit, and that he had been suppressing his power all this time to fight Qianye on equal rank.

    Count Huayang was the first to p in praise, ¡°If Zhao Weihuang¡¯s son can maintain his fair, honest and dignified way of life, he will definitely grow to be a great person in the future.¡±

 Volume 3 - 80: Signs of Change

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 80: Signs of Change

    Right now, the name Qian Xiaoye was disyed as the victor on the virtual disy. The uproar that had overwhelmed the entire proving grounds hadn¡¯t subsided just yet.

    Qianye turned around to look at Zhao Junhong outside the ring. The man tried to climb up to his feet, but fell a second time before he could stand up properly. His personal attendants were already pushing open a path through the crowd and running towards him. That being said, Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t look like he was heavily injured, and he was probably just temporarily out of strength because his origin defense was broken apart earlier. Of course, if Steward Wen hadn¡¯t blocked the follow up and allowed Zhao Junhong to suffer the brunt of aplete origin tidal strike instead, there was no telling what might happen next.

    Qianye finally let out a sigh of relief upon learning that Zhao Junhong was well. Then his vision turned ck, and he copsed to the ground and fainted just like that.

    This turn of event surprised even Steward Wen, and he tried to walk towards Qianye after the momentary surprise had passed.

    Qiqi immediately jumped into the ring and ran full speed towards Qianye, holding him in her arms before Director Wen could do so. The Yin Family bodyguard who was well versed in battlefield medical care appeared right after and gave Qianye a swift but thorough medical inspection.

    By now Zhao Junhong was already helped onto his feet, and when he saw Yin Qiqi¡¯s movements he couldn¡¯t help but feel that she was guarding against Steward Wen for some reason. His eyebrows jumped once almost indiscernibly before he whispered something quiet to one of his personal attendants.

    The attendant nodded and immediately ran into the proving grounds. This attendant of Zhao Junhong¡¯s was a professional doctor, and his skills were a lot more holistic than the Yin bodyguard, whose focus of study was in treating external wounds. After exining his intentions to Qiqi and obtaining her nodding permission, he waited until she moved out of the way before he checked on Qianye¡¯s condition.

    ¡°He¡¯s okay, he simply used too much origin power and cked out because of it. He¡¯ll be fine after resting for a few days.¡±

    Steward Wen nodded and allowed Qiqi, the Yin Family attendant and the Zhao Family attendant to carry Qianye away.

    By now Duke Wei was standing up on the grandstand and spreading his voice to every corner of the area using origin power. He briefly talked on a few things, encouraged everyone to do better in the future and dered the end of the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt just like that.

    This term¡¯s Profound Heaven Spring Hunt was filled with surprises starting from the hunt all the way to the one on one tournament. A rank fivemoner level bodyguard had beaten hispetition and became the new star of the tournament. No matter how lucky his progress was, or big of a fluke his finals victory had been, there was no denying that he was the one who imed the final victory.

    That being said, the person who truly shone during this spring hunt was the supposedly averagely talented second son of the Zhao Household. If even this level of talent and strength were considered average only, then they couldn¡¯t imagine just how amazing the current young generation of the Zhao Household really were. The dukes, marquises and counts with keen perception thought they caught the signs of a storm brewing at the recently peaceful imperial court once more.

    When Qianye talked about this with Song Zining, Song Ziningughed at those people instead.

    Most people in the world loved following the herd, so they thought that Zhao Junhong was average andmon the moment they heard the rumors. However, they never once thought exactly what standards Zhao Junhong was judged with to have obtained this review. They never wondered what kind of review they themselves would get if they were judged by the same standards.

    Ultimately, this was as far as the horizons of a countryside local wealthyndlord spanned. Short sightedness didn¡¯t stop these people from using their miniscule bit of experience to point out the great economic trends of a province or even an entire country, however.

    Those were all the things that happened on the surface. Beneath the surface, the mysterious banker who appeared prior to the finals was the biggest winner of this term¡¯s Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. That was because this banker had invested more than a thousand gold coins, attracting many gamblers to follow with the trend and bet against it.

    A thousand gold coins were enough to purchase a regr rank five origin gun at the upper continents, so this banker could be called a true hero already for spending this much money on a temporary gambling scene between attendants, bodyguards and servants. However, not only did this person bet such a huge sum of money on a rank five contestant who won his quarterfinals and semifinals match almost for free because they bore wounds from their previous battles, he actually won the bet too! This person had won more than thirty thousand gold coins just from the main betting pool alone!

    Naturally, the gambling scene that happened right at the spring hunt¡¯s great camp didn¡¯t escape Duke Wei¡¯s attention. When his attendants told him about the extraordinary oue of the betting pools as a jokest night, he immediately instructed his men to investigate this mysterious banker.

    The person who entered his vision was a rank seven bodyguard named Song Ge in the Song Household. This bodyguard possessed extremely holistic abilities, and his martial strength was at the peak of rank seven. None of these details were important however, what was important was the fact that a bodyguard couldn¡¯t possibly produce a sum of more than a thousand gold coins in one go. Therefore, the true mastermind behind this incident was pretty obvious. Did Song Zining did all this?

    Duke Wei recalled the extraordinary attention Marquis Yiguang paid to Song Zining and the strange concession he made during the semifinals of the one on one tournament. He refused to believe that this oue was the result of a coincidence no matter what.

    But when Duke Wei requested his subordinates to collect more intel, they witnessed the conflict between the Song and the Yin Family in the process. It was only then he learned that this Qian Xiaoye had directly caused Song Zining and Yin Qiqi turning hostile against each other. However, Duke Wei was not someone who would be fooled by the veil of male-female rtionship cast over this matter. He had heard of the internal conflicts between the Song Family and the Yin Family before this, and it was obvious to him that both sides were using Qian Xiaoye as a pawn to make their ns.

    The final oue of this finals caused Duke Wei to return to his study and look through the intel his subordinates had collected once more. He was thinking of one thing only, and that was whether the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art that no one had sessfully cultivated for several hundred years really was the equal to the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery as imed in legends. If the answer was yes, then it was a more terrifying news than the tale of a so-called average Zhao Household descendant outshining all other outstanding aristocratic descendants.

    The fact that Song Zining gave a pawn such unusual treatment and betted so much money on him in secret meant that he must have noticed his potential since a long while ago. There was no way it was the result of a whim, or the happenstance of courage and luck.

    At this point, Duke Wei could guess a little of Marquis Yiguang¡¯s attentions. If the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art really was as amazing as the legend says, then Song Zining¡¯s value was practically immeasurable. Anyone who had him would be able to unearth and bring new talents to their own cause without end.

    A perfect example already existed within the empire: Lin Xitang.

    Not only did Lin Xitang possess extraordinary power, he was the only person in an aristocratic family to be promoted as a marshal with his great mastery of the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery. Moreover, he had countless disciples within the army and across all over the Empire, and no talent who came into his sights ever went by unearthed. The amount of capable and brave personnel hemanded were endless, and the Lin Family¡¯s power grew by leaps as bounds as a result. In just twenty years¡¯ time, the Lin Family grew from a small and mediocre aristocratic family into an upper rank family.

    If another person like Lin Xitang were to appear in the Empire, but was the son of a grand household instead, the shape of the imperial court might be changed yet again!

    Duke Wei pondered for a moment before flicking a small, bronze bell on his table. A momentter, a schrly looking middle aged man walked into the study and asked, ¡°Do you need me, my duke?¡±

    ¡°Please have a seat, Teacher Ji. We will speak after you test the new tea leaves I¡¯ve just gotten,¡± Duke Wei spoke pleasantly before this middle aged man. Whatever bearing he used to carry himself with as the duke waspletely gone.

    Teacher Ji swallowed a mouthful of hot tea before closing his eyes in quiet reflection. Finally, he sighed, ¡°What amazing tea!¡±

    ¡°I have half a kilo of tea leaves right now. I¡¯ll send someone to pack it and deliver it to your ce, Teacher Ji.¡±

    Teacher Ji smiled, ¡°Thank you very much for your kindness, my duke. Now, it is only right that I serve you once in repayment of the amazing tea you served me, is it not? May I ask what you have summoned me for, my duke?¡±

    Duke Wei said, ¡°I would like to hear about your view about this entire spring hunt.¡±

    Teacher Ji answered with a smile, ¡°Someone in your service would automatically select and recruit the talents that exist within thended gentry and humble born, so you¡¯re probably inquiring about the descendants of those families, aren¡¯t you? Of course, I don¡¯t need to tell you about Zhao Junhong. Song Zining and Wei Qiyang are pretty interesting characters too.¡±

    Duke Wei looked a little surprised, ¡°It is true that I can¡¯t quite see through the seventh son of the Song Family, and he is the one I wish to consult your intelligence about. But Wei Qiyang? Heh, the Far East Wei n is famous for their unusual education methods, and there is no doubt that Wei Qiyang possesses extraordinary talent. However, he¡¯s also a rude, impetuous, and unreasonable youth who carries himself like themonfolk. I would never imagine that he would turn out like this. Isn¡¯t the Wei Family afraid that he would eventually cause some huge troubles if he keeps this up?¡±

    Teacher Ji seemed to know that Duke Wei would think this way from the start, and so he immediately assumed a serious expression and said, ¡°Wei Qiyang is an extraordinarily talented kid who might grow into a marshal in the future. This is something everyone knew since the day the Wei Family bestowed him the title of heir. I noticed that a lot of people started to look down on the Wei Family because of their heir¡¯s temperament, but they didn¡¯t realize that Wei Qiyang¡¯s behavior and conduct perfectly matches the mental state demanded by the secret art Thousand Mountains. Wei Qiyang goes where his heart leads him to, and if his cultivation could keep up then it is only a matter of time before he grow into a true Chosen One! The fact that his talent and his mental stateplements each other well may mean that there is still room for growth left in him.¡±

    Teacher Ji paused for a moment before saying, ¡°Duke Wei, please remember that victory by strength is aw.¡±

    Duke Wei¡¯s expression immediately changed upon hearing this. There was exactly one such person who carried himself without any scruples and did whatever he felt like. He was a man who crushes through all obstacles by force, and was restrained by almost no one in the entire Empire. His name was Zhao Boqian, and he was a marshal of the Empire. The only person to ever make Zhao Boqian feel impotent was Lin Xitang with his wless schemes and his ability to identify a key moment with the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery.

    Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons shared the same emperor, and although they belonged to different factions they appeared amiable on the surface, they never went fully hostile against each other. That being said, they had crossed swords in private, and Zhao Boqian was the one who suffered small losses in many of their secret shes. This oue was rted to their natural temperaments. Zhao Boqian was not good at employing schemes and trickery, and most of his aides were fierce generals who were better off storming the battlefields than ying the court. None of his men were Lin Xitang¡¯s match.

    That being said, if the twin paragons were to bring their conflict onto a battlefield, then Zhao Boqian would be the one favored to win.

    Duke Wei pondered for a long time before asking, ¡°The Wei Family¡¯s current heir really possesses this much potential?¡±

    ¡°The Far East Wei n has always stood out from the other aristocratic families, and they are only growing more and more low key as ofte. But the fact that they dare dere their heir this early and aim as far as a marshal¡¯s seat proved just how far-reaching the game they¡¯re ying at. Wei Qiyang may one day attain your level of height, my duke.¡±

    Duke Wei nodded slowly, ¡°If you say so, then I suppose that the Wei Family is worth my friendship. In fact, why don¡¯t¡ª¡±

    Teacher Ji obviously knew what Duke Wei was going to say, and he cut him off without any fear of trespassing the line at all and said, ¡°Make friends, yes; but make bets as big as the one you¡¯re suggesting? I¡¯m afraid not, my duke. Neither your daughter nor your granddaughter is worthy of being the partner of the Wei Family¡¯s future patriarch.¡±

    Duke Wei smiled wryly in response. Teacher Ji was a blunt man to say the least, but he was also one of the few people who was willing to speak the truth before him. Duke Wei struck gold when he was young, and he obtained status and prestige just when he hit his middle age. His life had always been smooth sailing, and his seat was only getting higher and higher. However, the higher he climbed, the fewer the amount of truths he was able to hear. That was why Duke Wei respected and treated Teacher Ji so courteously all this time.

    Duke Wei immediately asked the next question, ¡°What about Song Zining. I have some of his intel with me, but I wasn¡¯t able to make sense despite studying it for a long time.¡±

 Volume 3 - 81: Reward

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 81: Reward

    Teacher Ji listened to Duke Wei¡¯s question and looked through the documents seriously, ¡°That is exactly why I¡¯ve mentioned both Song Zining and Marqius Bowang¡¯s heir on the same note!¡±

    Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang came to Duke Wei¡¯s mind, followed by Wei Qiyang and Song Zining. He then recalled that his subordinates once told him that Wei Qiyang and Song Zining¡¯s rtionship seemed a little awkward due to Yin Qiqi. Finally, he went through the Song, Wei, and Yin Family¡¯s rtionship and the stance they assumed at the imperial court. He couldn¡¯t help but gasp in his mind at the end of all this despite his dignity as a duke.

    By now Teacher Ji had looked through all of Song Zining¡¯s documents, and he said, ¡°Song Zining¡¯s fortune runs in a strange way that even I can¡¯t quite see through. He was either born with an unusual talent, or he cultivated a kind of secret art that obscures it, or both. The Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art is the reason he became the sessor candidate of the Song Household, and it is probably also why his fortune is obscure.¡±

    ¡°Marquis Yiguang had purposely came to see him, but he seems to be dissatisfied with his temperament.¡±

    Teacher Ji sneered, ¡°Song Zining may be young, but he has sessfully cultivated a secret art, has he not? Of course it¡¯s not easy to see through someone like that. You should¡¯ve noticed it too, Duke Wei; Song Zining never employed his full strength from the start to the end. In fact, he showed only a glimpse of his skills in two aspects: battlefieldmand, and gambling.¡±

    Duke Wei pondered for a moment before nodding, ¡°What meaning do you see from his actions, teacher?¡±

    This time Teacher Ji spent some time to organize his thoughts before saying, ¡°I heard that the Song Household¡¯s direct line of descent has always had great difficulty in producing a son due to the characteristics of their bloodline. But even then, they never failed to hold onto their authority and suppressed their coteral rtivespletely.¡±

    Duke Wei nodded slightly. This wasn¡¯t really a secret between the households and aristocratic families.

    Teacher Ji sighed, ¡°Song Zining is a son of the direct line of descent himself, but you only need to look at the family¡¯s decision to engage him with andowning household to know that his status in the Song Household must be extremely awkward. Speaking of which, I have a suggestion that I¡¯d like to make. If you really have ns for Song Zining, Duke Wei, may I suggest that you mull over the requirements of the marriage carefully? For example, splitting the family may not be a bad idea!¡±

    Duke Wei¡¯s face changed the moment he heard this. Silence took over the study for a moment.

    Splitting a family was a matter of great importance to all families. If a grand household like the Song Family wished to do the same, they even had to report to the imperial family first before they could do anything. Song Zining was a son of the direct line of descent to begin with, and if he really was capable enough to split away from the family and establish his own, the new family¡¯s status would definitely stand above their coteral rtives¡¯. It would be a difficult path to tread, but it was also one of great profit.

    Duke Wei said slowly, ¡°It is a pity that Song Zining is already engaged.¡±

    Teacher Ji smiled and said nothing, bowing his head a taking another sip of tea. Duke Wei was obviously enticed by the suggestion, and hisment shouldn¡¯t be taken seriously. After all, what was a marriage with andowning household if he really could garner such profits? The suggestion wasn¡¯t unbeneficial to the Song Household either. Long term wise, it is true that the branch that was split from the direct line of descent of the family maye to threaten the main family in the future. However, if Song Zining grew powerful enough to be a household head in the next twenty years or so, then splitting the family may be the lowest price to pay to reduce the internal friction within the Song Household to a minimum.

    Duke Wei switched to another topic, ¡°You haven¡¯t mentioned that Qian Xiaoye, teacher. His performance in both actualbat and the tournament was excellent, and he possesses a top rate talent like Venus Dawn too.¡±

    Teacher Ji smiled, ¡°Are you testing your student, Duke Wei? There are three reasons why this child shouldn¡¯t be used. One, it is true that he has great talent, but it has also beenpletely depleted by the Combatant Form already. The fact that he is a Fighter King and possesses twice the amount of origin powerpared to a normal person prove that his room to grow has beenpletely spent. Also, his Venus Dawn is Venus first, followed by infinite dawn and not a the first ray of dawn first, followed by Venus¡¯ appearance. From the fact that his Venus Dawn hasn¡¯t reached the true state of Venus Dawn, we know that he no longer has any chance of improving further. At best, he would be a Champion and no further.¡±

    Duke Wei nodded repeatedly and thoughtfully at Teacher Ji¡¯sments.

    ¡°Two, the rumors that he is born in the abandonednds is likely true considering his behavior and conduct. It gave him a wild and reckless personality that is difficult to tame. Not only had he offended someone like Zhao Junhong, he even triggered a conflict between the Yin and Song Family. No matter what those two families are nning, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he is the trigger who started it all. A person like this may be a good de, but you are notcking in des at your current position. What youck are hands that can wield such des well.¡±

    After that, Teacher Ji broke into augh and said, ¡°As for three, well he¡¯s a Yin Family subordinate right now, and the juniors of the Yin and Song Family are in conflict with each other because of him. Surely you aren¡¯t going to lower your stature interfere with the childish game of juniors, are you?¡±

    Duke Weiughed the same as cupped his hands, ¡°You are very right, Teacher. Thank you very much for your teachings.¡±

    An entire day and night passed before Qianye finally woke up, and the moment he did the feeling of having exhausted his origin power hit him so hard that the look on his face changed. He felt as if there were countless insects gnawing at every part of his nerves and internal organs. Itchiness, numbness, and aches filled every part of his body with indescribable pain, not to mention that there was the empty feeling that made him felt like he would fall through the ground at any moment.

    The repercussions of forcing the Combatant Form to go over thirty-six cycles and unleashing the origin tides were extremely obvious. Tiny wounds could be found everywhere inside his body, although thankfully his internal organs hadn¡¯t been damaged beyond reparation. He was lucky that he got the best oue out of a bad situation.

    Every blood energy inside his body was in an extremely fragile state. Even the gold blood energy had shrunk to half its original size, while the normal and purple blood energy were as thin as hair. They hid inside the deepest part of his heart and moved not a millimeter. The gold blood energy seemed to have gotten used to acting independently as it orbited his heart, but even it was listless and slow.

    After he was done inspecting his body, Qianye exhaled a sigh of relief and slowly sat up.

    ¡°Are you awake?¡± The maid lying her head on his bed was dozing off until Qianye¡¯s movements woke her up from her sleep. She cried out towards outside with an overjoyed expression, ¡°Captain Qian has awakened! Inform the Miss quickly!¡±

    The maid helped Qianye to sit up on his bed before carrying over the food she had prepared and kept hot since a long time ago so he could fill his stomach.

    A whileter, Qiqi rushed into the room.

    Her eyes lit up instantly the moment she saw Qianye. She climbed onto his bed without any restraint and brushed a hand across his face once, praising, ¡°Well done! You make me so proud. I never knew your Venus Dawn is so powerful that it could beat even Zhao Junhong¡¯s Silver Sword Finger!¡±

    Qianye gave her a wry smile and answered honestly, ¡°I would¡¯ve lost if he hadn¡¯t kept his promise and kept his origin power at rank five.¡±

    ¡°But of course! Zhao isn¡¯t a kid anymore, how embarrassing would it be if he took advantage of you like this?¡± Qiqi said matter-of-factly.

    But Qianye knew what his ¡°Venus Dawn¡± was no Venus Dawn at all. One might say that his origin power shared no simrities to Venus Dawn except for the golden sparks at the end. The real power that defeated Zhao Junhong was the mad tide of the thirty-sixth cycle of the Combatant Form.

    Cold sweat appeared behind Qianye¡¯s back when he recalled the final strike of the decisive match once more. If the gold blood energy hadn¡¯t entered the origin tide, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to reach the thirty-sixth cycle of the Combatant Form at all. If that really happened, the backfire of the origin tide alone would¡¯ve been enough to seriously wound him. But why was the gold blood energy able to increase his control over Daybreak origin power?

    Qiqi pped Qianye¡¯s back once heavily before asking, ¡°What are you thinking again? Why do you look like you¡¯ve gotten a little stupid after you caught some internal damage?¡±

    Qianye was amused by the way she asked her question. He answered, ¡°This so-called victory is a total fluke. If he was able to block my final strike, I would¡¯ve been severely wounded by my own power without him lifting a finger. The reality is I¡¯m not strong enough to beat him for real right now.¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯sbat strength was holistic, and he had no obvious weakness in any department. It was obvious that he wished to fight Qianye at his strongest domain after witnessing Qianye¡¯s fighting style, which was why they had engaged in melee from the start before transiting almost immediately to a battle of origin power. Moreover, the characteristics of Zhao Junhong¡¯s secretbat technique made it clear that he had the range of a short weapon despite not wielding not any weapons in a hand-to-handbat. This enabled him to use even an even greaterbination ofbat tactics.

    Qiqi shrugged, ¡°You¡¯re just too honest. You won, so why dwell on it so much?¡± To Qiqi, the rules of the game were set and agreed upon by both parties, so there was nothing to dispute about a victory like this.

    She pointed at a pile of objects carried in by the maid behind her, ¡°Let¡¯s have a look at your prize, shall we?¡±

    Qiqi grabbed over a crystal box and a medal, saying, ¡°Zhao Junhong left this morning, and this is his gift to you for beating him. This medal is the prize for second ce. You can use this to grab your prize from Duke Wei¡¯s warehouse. This box here contains the medicine Zhao Junhong delivered over. Since his medicine is better than mine, I applied more than half of them on you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face immediately changed when he saw the crystalline box. It was a transparent box about three fingers wide, and it was small enough to be hidpletely inside one¡¯s fist. A flower that looked like a rose was engraved on the box¡¯s surface, and the workmanship was absolutely stunning. Once upon a time, he possessed an identical box that contained three Mithril Bullets of Exorcism.

    Qiqi didn¡¯t notice the odd look on Qianye¡¯s face because his head was half lowered. She turned around and grabbed over a normal box this time, ¡°This is the additional prize Steward Wen gave you for the talent inspection that day. It is supposedly some origin medicine that¡¯s specifically targeted at your condition, but I didn¡¯t dare to use it on you. Although I¡¯ve asked someone to verify that it¡¯s safe for use, it¡¯s still better to be safe than sorry.¡±

    Qianye picked up the crystalline box. A wide little bottle was currently fixed inside the box, and it contained half of something that looked like blue mist. He touched the box gently and stared carefully at every detail,paring the box before his eyes and the one in his memory, ¡°Is this the Zhao Household¡¯s symbol?¡±

    Qiqi shook her head and answered, ¡°The Swallow Cloud Zhao n¡¯s family symbol is a swallow cloud armored horse. Maybe it¡¯s something his family prepared for him initially?¡± Noticing that Qianye was paying extra attention to the box, she couldn¡¯t help but gave it a careful look before eximing, ¡°Red Spider Lily?¡±

    Qianye leaned over and grabbed a different medal from the tray the maid was holding, ¡°Is this my prize for winning the tournament?¡±

    Qiqi¡¯s attention was diverted by his question, ¡°Yeah, I have to say that your rewards this time is pretty sizable. Guns, equipment, essories, anything. As mentioned here, you can choose whatever,¡± Qiqi dropped a thick stack of documents into Qianye¡¯sp.

    Qianye flipped through the documents briefly. They were origin gun manufacturing ns of about hundreds ofbinations. There were also hundreds of tactical essories and all kinds of origin equipment in the documents. It would take at least half a day to look through these documents.

    ¡°Tell me your choices as soon as you can. It¡¯s best if you can wrap up tonight!¡± Qiqi said in a bustling manner.

    Qianye looked at the color of the sky and was surprised by his discovery. It was already night time, ¡°Isn¡¯t this a little too hurried?¡±

    Qiqi waved a hand in response, ¡°I¡¯m about to be bored to death in this hellhole. You will deal with these ns tonight and send them to Duke Wei¡¯s workshop tomorrow morning!¡±

    Qianye was just about to say something when he suddenly heard some noise outside the door. The noise was growing louder and louder. It sounded like someone was fighting with origin power.

 Volume 3 - 82: Discussion (part 1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 82: Discussion (part 1)

    Qianye¡¯s room was thest one in the terraced building, so themotion shouldn¡¯t have reached his doors even if there were minor conflicts between the Yin family¡¯s staff and guards.

    Qiqi¡¯s eyebrows rose after hearing the ruckus outside. She jumped out of bed and swiftly rushed out. Her voice rang out almost immediately afterwards, ¡°What do you two think you¡¯re doing in my camp!? Two grown men causing such a ruckus in the dead of night! Don¡¯t you feel you¡¯ve chosen the wrong ce for an open battle?¡± 1

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help rubbing his temples after hearing Qiqi¡¯s voice.

    Meanwhile, the area outside his room was suffused with origin energy. Even Qiqi didn¡¯t dare to rush hastily into the midst of the shing blue and yellow lights. There wasn¡¯t a soul in their immediate vicinity, but one could see moving silhouettes around the distant path leading toward the inner courtyard entrance. Judging from their uniforms, it seemed that the guards of the Song, Wei and Yin families were all present but apparently none dared to wade into these troubled waters.

    The twobatants had turned a deaf ear to everything going on around them. Song Zining¡¯s palm pushed forth to sh against Wei Potian¡¯s fist. The impact resulted in a loud rumble that forced the both of them back. Song Zining¡¯s voice was cold and firm as he said, ¡°Wei, was our fight in the arena not enough for you?¡±

    These words increased Wei Potian¡¯s agitation and caused his eyes to suddenly turn red. The other day, he had lost with unprecedented misery in the arena. In the past, he would still be able to return a few fierce blows even when he fought against people like Qiqi whose skills were able to restrain him. This shameless Song Zining, however, did nothing but dodge throughout the entirety of the battle. As the fight progressed, Wei Potian truly began to hope Song Zining would deal him a ruthless blow¡ªit would¡¯ve been the better oue even if his Thousand Mountains was broken¡ªbut Song Zining kept dragging on until in the end, he copsed like a dead dog! This battle made Wei Potian feel like an absolute idiot!

    With a deep roar, Wei Potian expanded the Thousand Mountains¡¯ radiance to form the silhouette of a mountain range. Hisbat strategy had also changed substantially. He kept true to his own pace and threw out simple punches left and right, no longer trying to chase after Song Zining¡¯s elusive figure. His attacks even looked somewhat clumsy at a nce, seemingly missing every strike and wouldnd quite far from Song Zining¡¯s figure at times.

    However, Song Zining had surprisingly lost the advantageous position he possessed back in the arena. He was soon forced into a direct sh which sent bothbatants staggering a few steps backward. Wei Potian was rtively unscathed from this exchange. Song Zining, on the other hand, was left with his blood and qi churning wildly. Even he couldn¡¯te out unscathed after forcefully receiving the Sky Shattering Bright Fist delivered during the Thousand Mountains state.

    Song Zining frowned. This was the third time he had exchanged open blows with Wei Potian, and thetter¡¯s improvement each time was nothing short of rapid. Apparently, the Wei n had dispatched their scion to the spring hunt in order to nurture his talents in battle along with an expert to tutor him after each fight. That was how he learned such a restraining move.

    Suddenly, scattered fallen leaves rained down as Song Zining extended his hands and circted his secret technique. Sure enough, Wei Potian¡¯s movements were impeded as if he was walking through a swamp. His attacks, however, still maintained their rhythm¡ªhe now had his own strategy and was no longer being led by the nose.

    Song Zining lost his patience after exchanging blows for several rounds. The ruthlessness within his furious eyes intensified as a stream of falling leaves suddenly appeared like unsheathed des. A cold and somber intent rapidly inundated the atmosphere.

    Qiqi¡¯s expression slightly changed the moment she saw Qianye who had just walked out of his room. She hauled him over and shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll fling Little Ye in if you two don¡¯t stop!¡±

    Wei Potian was shocked. He immediately withdrew his fist, knowing nothing was out of the question for this crazyss. Song Zining¡¯s imposing figure was surrounded by fallen leaves rapidly rotating around him like thin des, flickering with a cold and sharp radiance. Only after a while did he disperse them with a flick of his sleeve whereupon they vanished entirely.

    Qiqi extended her hand to touch Qianye¡¯s face as she spoke in an almost disappointed tone, ¡°I knew these words would be effective!¡±

    Qianye quickly reacted this time and moved away as soon as she raised her hand. ¡°Qiqi, what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Qiqi immediately recovered her usual demeanor. She chuckled and replied mischievously, ¡°I meant it literally of course!¡±

    Without waiting for a reply, she proceeded to dismiss her maids and waved toward Wei Potian and Song Zining. ¡°I know you two came to visit Little Ye so I¡¯ll give you some space!¡±

    Qiqi suddenly turned back midway and called out, ¡°Little Ye, remember toe to my room tonight after sending off the two young masters!¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± Qianye asked grumpily. He was quite upset at Qiqi whose only aim was to create more trouble.

    ¡°To sleep together, of course!¡± Qiqiughed in a voice so loud that likely everyone in thepound had heard her.

    After closing the door, Wei Potian immediately nced at Qianye with a naughty expression and asked excitedly, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me what Qiqi said just now is the truth?¡±

    ¡°What truth?¡±

    ¡°About sleeping together, of course!¡±

    ¡°We have indeed slept together before. What of it?¡± Qianye appeared puzzled.

    Wei Potian unexpectedly pped his thighs and cried out, ¡°You¡¯ve really slept with her?!¡±

    Qianye red at him and inquired suspiciously, ¡°What are you so excited about?¡±

    Wei Potianughed mischievously, ¡°That woman, Qiqi, always bullied me since we were young, and I¡¯ve had to endure all this time because I couldn¡¯t beat her. The elders said that, because I¡¯m two years her junior, I would need to wait until I reach the champion rank before I can suppress her. I have broken through recently and might not need to wait that long though. Who would¡¯ve thought you were able to conquer that violent woman right away? It¡¯s naturally quite satisfying!¡±

    Qianye was bbergasted after hearing the Wei family¡¯s heir speaking such vulgar words and even bragging about himself as if it was all right and proper. He replied curtly, ¡°She¡¯s not my woman. She¡¯s my boss!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve even slept with her. Why are you denying that she¡¯s your woman?¡±

    ¡°We only slept together. Sleep! Understand?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Sleep?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°You meant literally?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense, what else!?¡±

    Wei Potian appeared greatly disappointed. ¡°Are you even a ma¡­ urgh¡­.¡± The Wei scion at least managed to stop himself from uttering thest word after sensing the abrupt murderous intent.

    ¡°Idiot.¡± A muffled yet delightfulugh came through at this point. Song Zining had long since taken a seat, poured himself a cup of tea and was watching the edic y¡¯ the whole time beforementing just at the right moment.

    Wei Potian suddenly turned around and only then did he notice a third person in the room. Song Zining spoke indifferently without waiting for the former¡¯s angry retort, ¡°Qianye, I¡¯ve managed to obtain some useful information that might prove useful to you since you¡¯ve already made up your mind to return to the Evernight Continent.¡±

    Wei Potian forgot about bickering with Song Zining after hearing this. ¡°Little Ye, you¡¯re going back to the Evernight Continent!?¡±

    Song Zining cut in, ¡°Qianye has an enemy there that he needs to take care of.¡±

    ¡°An enemy? I¡¯ll ughter whoever dares to bully you!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s nothing much¡ªonly a brigadier-general of the expeditionary army.¡±

    ¡°A mere brigadier-general isn¡¯t enough to enter my eyes! Your daddy can crush him with a single finger. It¡¯ll be as easy as squishing an ant!¡± Wei Potian thumped his chest and met Qianye¡¯s doubtful gaze. ¡°The expeditionary army brigadier-generals are onlyte stage champions, and I have more than enough people who can ughter him.¡±

    These words sounded logical. It wouldn¡¯t be difficult for an aristocratic family to kill a brigadier-general if one were to solelypare martial capacity. This was especially true for scions like Song Zining and Wei Potian who had already grasped a certain level of authority within their n and had no shortage of champion level guards at their side.

    Song Zining merely chuckled. ¡°Indeed, a mere brigadier-general of the expeditionary army is nothing before Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir. The Far East Wei n has enough talented personnel to take over that garrison area.¡± He added after some thought, ¡°It¡¯s only a rank three garrison.¡±

    At this point, Qianye had finally discovered that something fishy was going on. He grasped Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder and stopped him from speaking before replying firmly, ¡°Ning, I know it¡¯s going to be a difficult task. There¡¯s also no need to aplish it immediately. I¡¯ll naturally find a way to finish him off after I be a champion. I don¡¯t wish to drag the both of you into this!¡±

    The room became momentarily silent. They knew, from Qianye¡¯s words, that he nned to perform the assassination himself.

    Wei Potian pped the table and said, ¡°I¡¯m indeed not capable enough to eliminate a divisionmander. Why don¡¯t you and I just rush into his office and kill him directly?¡±

    Not knowing whether tough or cry, Qianye patted Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder and replied, ¡°At our current level, we¡¯ll die without a doubt if we rushed to Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ce.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, don¡¯t be too serious about life and death. Just kill when you¡¯re dissatisfied! So what if we throw our lives away?¡± Wei Potian¡¯s temper had surfaced.

    ¡°Nothing will happen if I throw mine away, but the Wei n won¡¯t let me off so easily if you do. It¡¯s settled, we¡¯ll stop talking about this matter here!¡±

    Wei Potian immediately recovered hisposure. He now understood that there was a reason why Song Zining had brought this matter up in his presence. He nced at Song Zining, who returned the gaze with a frustratingly enigmatic expression, before turning towards Qianye. ¡°Little Ye, why did you have to find this useless person to discuss matters?!¡±

    Wei Potian was bing increasingly indignant. It was as if his image as a pampered young master couldn¡¯t be washed away since they first met during the recruitment many years ago.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­¡± Qianye wanted to say that he had just mentioned it casually because Song Zining had asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s naturally because I¡¯m more dependable,¡± Song Zining interrupted.

    This time, Wei Potian didn¡¯t blow his top. He thoughtfully stared at Song Zining before saying, ¡°Little Ye, it seems you¡¯ve known him since long ago?¡± He followed up with another question without waiting for an answer, ¡°Is that divisionmander a fieldmander or a dispatchmander? What did he do?¡±

    Song Zining slowly gave them all the information he had gathered in the recent days with Wei Potian interrupting with a few questions every now and then. Qianye finally understood why Song Zining wanted to drag Wei Potian into this matter all along. It appeared that toppling Wu Zhengnan involved a great deal of work.

    The empire¡¯s policy towards the expeditionary army was akin to breeding. They were tasked to establish a defensive border within a certain perimeter while being granted only half the suppliespared to the regr army. The empire cared little about the methods utilized by the expeditionary army in order to aplish this. As far as the Ministry of Military Affairs was concerned, this was within the scope of their normal duties.

    Only when the Ministry issuedmands for special operations like a major battle with the dark races or when certain other corps happened to be dispatched to the Evernight Continent would they receive some attention. Sometimes, they would even receive extra funds or supplies.

    1. The word Ò°‘ð, literally meaning battle in the wilds, is also used to describe outdoor sex.

 Volume 3 - 83: Discussion (part 2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 83: Discussion (part 2)

    The expeditionary army adopts a simr administrative model to govern their various subordinate forces. Divisionsprise the most basic strategic units and were divided into field divisions and dispatch divisions. The field divisions were in charge of defending the battlefront like the 55th and 58th divisions who fought against the dark races in the battle of Earth Castle. Dispatch divisions, on the other hand, were tasked with the defense of fortified cities like ckflow City and Darkblood City. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s 7th division belonged to thetter type.

    The humans and dark races of the Evernight Continent fought frequently and changes in territory were rathermon. The gain or loss of some viges wouldn¡¯t affect the overall situation. The cities, however, served as cornerstones of the human race¡¯s defensive perimeter. Unlike the territories in the vast wilderness, they were crucial for the transport of supplies and the distribution of stationed troops.

    Therefore, if they wanted to eliminate Wu Zhengnan, they would have to find a way to take over the 7th division¡¯s defensive duties and prevent the area from falling into the hands of the dark race. This wasn¡¯t simply to avoid negative consequences. Every human was duty-bound to avoid harming the safety and interests of the empire, regardless of the infighting. Only this way, in addition to Wu Zhengnan¡¯s involvement in the smuggling of strategic resources and the pressure from the aristocratic families, would the higher-ups of the Expeditionary Army be willing to turn a blind eye.

    Additionally, ck crystals are strategic resources tightly controlled by the empire. The fact Wu Zhengnan was capable of smuggling them proved that a profitable organization had already formed behind him. If they failed to uproot the whole smuggling chain, another agent would appear after they got rid of Wu Zhengnan¡ªinevitable retaliation and repercussions would soon follow.

    Qianyeughed wryly after hearing all of this. ¡°Killing Wu Zhengnan is no different from dissolving the 7th division since nearly half the troops were recruited by him through various means. Doesn¡¯t it mean that the 7th division is already half his personal army?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°The case is indeed quite troublesome but not entirely impossible. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s smuggling of humans and ck crystals is something the imperial military absolutely wouldn¡¯t tolerate. There shouldn¡¯t be anyone willing to speak up for him as long as we can take care of the matters regarding defense.¡±

    Qianye frowned in silence. It would be impossible for him to defend a whole city even if he advanced to be a champion.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the matters regarding the ck crystals. There are subtle differences even among crystals of the same cut and size. Professionals are able to discern the differences between the crystals produced from different ore veins, thus, every piece of ck crystal can be traced to their source after some appraisal. We can then follow the clues to find their channel of distribution. I¡¯ve been involved in the industry for a few years now and have some contacts. We¡¯ll first suppress the people behind Wu Zhengnan to avoid a counterattack.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. Song Zining¡¯s words made it seem simple, but he knew it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to deal with the powers associated with the massive profits brought by the ck crystals. The risk was self-evident. ¡°In the end, this is my personal matter. How can I let you expose yourselves to such danger?¡±

    At this time, Wei Potian pped his thighs. ¡°This daddy doesn¡¯t believe he can¡¯t destroy a tiny divisionmander!¡± He straightened his posture, cast a sidelong nce at Song Zining, then said, ¡°Little Ye, you should know that I¡¯m the heir of Marquis Bowang! The amount of resources I can mobilize is only second to my grandmother and the n head. But the n head is my father, so his authority is also mine! Rest assured, I¡¯ll definitely think of a way to deal with that coward. I¡¯m going to have to return home anyway. Just wait for the good news!¡±

    Wei Potian then got up, said his farewells, and walked out heroically. It almost seemed as if he would go and drag Wu Zhengnan down overnight.

    Qianye was astonished by Wei Potian¡¯s sudden words, but the highly enthusiastic Wei n heir could no longer be dissuaded as he swaggered out on his own. After closing the door, a troubled Qianye asked, ¡°Why did you do that?¡± He had naturally seen through the fact that Song Zining¡¯s words had hidden implications. Thetter had grasped Wei Potian¡¯s character and effectively manipted him.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°I know you won¡¯t give up on this matter, so it¡¯s better I find some other methods instead of letting you take this risk. Besides, killing Wu Zhengnan really isn¡¯t a big deal. The difficult part is dealing with the aftermath. Neither of us can aplish this on our own, but it¡¯s possible if all three of us work together.¡±

    Qianye was never good with words and was momentarily at a loss for what to say.

    Song Zining smiled faintly as if he had seen through Qianye¡¯s troubles. ¡°This fellow, Wei Potian, likes to brag and is inflexible when handling matters, but he¡¯s anything but dumb. He¡¯ll find a way to get things done since he has given his word. Regardless of whether he throws a tantrum or acts coy, as long as he¡¯s able to mobilize his family¡¯s connections in the army, Wu Zhengnan will get his just deserts. As for the price, his father is the regional lord who rules over an entire province and has nock of money or resources. You don¡¯t need to help him conserve the wealth of his family.¡±

    Qianye forced a smile. ¡°Zining, Potian isn¡¯t such a bad person.¡± He was puzzled about the increasing hostility between the two.

    Song Zining only shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the door. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving tomorrow. You should return to Evernight Continent first. I¡¯ll also head over before long. I¡¯ll find a way to get in touch with you when I arrive.¡± He paused for a bit when he passed by Qianye and said, ¡°Qianye, stop worrying about other people¡¯s matters while shouldering your own in solitude. Friends are there to be used.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly and replied, ¡°You take care too.¡±

    Song Zining winked. ¡°That settles things. It¡¯s gettingte and Miss Qiqi is waiting for you to sleep with her!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression suddenly turned dark. His touched mood from just now hadpletely disappeared. Song Zining onlyughed out loud and left swiftly.

    After seeing the two off, Qianye sat down to go through the list of firearms and equipment provided by the Duke Wei Residence. He only explored the documents rted to origin firearms, tactical essories, and melee weapons because the contents were simply too expansive and he had already formed a general idea of what he wanted.

    The upper limit of the custom-made grade 5 gun was 3000 gold coins. Its design options required the user to first choose a primary attribute such as power, range, or special abilities before having a master craftsman perform the fine adjustments ording to the user¡¯s actual attributes. Every modification had a corresponding price list attached to it. Even among origin arrays, the prices would differ between different gun types. For instance, it would cost several times more if one wished to extend the range of a pistol by 10 meters than it would a sniper rifle.

    Qianye, however, put away the documents after obtaining a general understanding of the various design options. He then took up the list of tactical essories and browsed through the whole catalogue. He was satisfied by the contents as they were all exceptional grade six essories.

    The other document was a list of melee weapons, most of them at the fourth grade. Grade four melee weapons usually cost more than normal grade six firearms as they were far more demanding in terms of material quality. After all, the standards of human-built weapons were still far below that of the dark races.

    This also reflected the different directions in which the humans and dark races had developed. The Great Qin Empire focused on origin firearms that could be adequately utilized by low ranking warriors. Naturally, this was also influenced by demographics. In contrast, the dark races traditionally worshipped the strong and most of them enjoyed killing with des. In addition, the role of ordinary origin firearms would diminish greatly as they reached higher ranks.

    Not so surprisingly, Qianye found several weapons produced by the dark races within the list of melee weapons. There was no shortage of quality items among them, and even a grade five weapon appeared in the list. However, the weapons produced by the dark races required darkness energy to draw out their full potential. In the hands of a human, a grade five weapon would only be able to unleash power equal to a grade four weapon at best.

    Someone suddenly knocked on Qianye¡¯s door. Qiqi¡¯s maid smiled charmingly and said, ¡°Miss Qiqi instructed me toe over and take a look. She asks that you go to her room immediately when you¡¯re done here.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought, collected the documents, and proceeded to follow the maid toward the main building.

    The lights in the external study were still on at this time. Qiqi¡¯s voice came through from inside, ¡°Lock the door ande over.¡±

    Lock the door? However, Qianye knew, from his experience, that it was useless to voice his objections and might lead to even more flirtatious remarks.

    Qiqi was dressed in an old-fashioned robe tied at the waist by a silk belt, entuating her elegant figure.

    She was leaningzily on the chair. The moment Qianye entered, her gaze was immediately drawn to his hand. ¡°You¡¯ve finished selecting the items?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°The prizes amount to a total value of 5000 gold coins and I¡¯m allowed to choose two items. I chose the ¡®Resounding Strike¡¯ and ¡®Radiant Edge¡¯.¡±

    Qiqi was somewhat surprised as it was obvious that they were pre-made armaments. ¡°I thought you would choose a custom-made grade five origin gun.¡±

    ¡°I already have the ¡®Twin Flowers¡¯ and the burden from using a grade five gun is still too great at my current level. I don¡¯t want to be exhausted after firing a couple of times in battle.¡± Qianye paused slightly before adding, ¡°Additionally, the uniqueness of a custom-made weapon lies in the origin array. We should be wary of the items from the duke¡¯s residence after what happened with Steward Wen.¡±

    Qiqi nodded. ¡°Indeed. It¡¯s quite troublesome to ascertain whether or not the origin power array has been tampered with. The pre-made items would be rtively safer. Speaking of origin power, won¡¯t you be ranking up in the future? You¡¯ll be able to fully utilize the might of a grade five weapon by the time you¡¯re at rank seven. You can also get a premade rank five gun instead if you don¡¯t want it custom-made.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°The future is distant and uncertain. It¡¯s best to raise my current strength first.¡±

    Qiqi went silent for a while before saying, ¡°Perhaps it''s just my misconception, but I feel that you¡¯re oddly uneasy for some reason.¡±

    Qianye was indeed feeling somewhat odd after seeing Qiqi talking to him seriously.

    Qiqi took the documents and spoke while flipping through them, ¡°The ¡®Resounding Strike¡¯ is a grade six tactical essory and the ¡®Radiant Edge¡¯ is a blood race dagger. What a peculiar style, do you n to continue working as a hunter?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    Qiqi replied without raising her head, ¡°Actually, you now have the opportunity to learn some skills regarding troop training and tactics. The value of amanding officer is higher than an expert who ughters foes in the battlefield.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I remember we had a deal that this will be myst mission under yourmand.¡±

    The smile Qiqi had been maintaining until now suddenly froze. She kept her eyes on the documents without looking up. ¡°Do you¡­ do you not n to reconsider it?¡±

 Volume 3 - 84: One Night

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 84: One Night

    Qianye gazed at Qiqi in silence but didn¡¯t reply.

    As Qiqi¡¯s gaze shifted to the tall and vigorous figure, she couldn¡¯t help but recall the first time she met this exceedingly handsome youth within the study of the Yin family external residence. Back then, despite carrying himself with a seemingly battle-hardened sharpness, he was a bashful and amiable child. When was it that she had lost control of her emotions? Or could it be that the initial sense of control was just an illusion?

    Qiqi raised her head to reveal her face. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s not talk about such unhappy matters anymore! What do you want the ¡®Resounding Strike¡¯ for? This thing is supposed to be attached to arge caliber origin gun and can¡¯t be used on the Twin Flowers.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that the Yin family owes me an Eagleshot?¡±

    The spirit in Qiqi¡¯s eyes dimmed as she stared nkly at Qianye. She let out a sigh after a while and said unenthusiastically, ¡°I understand. You¡¯re determined to leave. I¡­ I won¡¯t say anything more. Just go to sleep!¡±

    She stood up and headed towards the bedroom before giving him an undeclinablemand, ¡°Come here and apany me. This is my final order!¡± Her serious tone of voice was overbearing and willful.

    Qianye apanied Qiqi into the bedroom and prepared to spend the night on the couch. He didn¡¯t expect Qiqi to suddenly pat the bed with a faint smile. ¡°Come here!¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled. He threw a probing nce at her before taking off his shirt and climbing onto her bed.

    Contrary to expectations, his actions shocked Qiqi a fair bit as she shrunk towards a corner and made space for him. Qiqi stole a nce at the unperturbed Qianye and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Howe you¡¯ve be so bold? Could it be that you¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s smile abruptly disappeared as he turned around to touch her hair. ¡°Why not? What should I be afraid of?¡±

    Qiqi was petrified and, for a moment, felt rather muddled. Even if Qianye hadn¡¯t realized it when he epted the mission, he should¡¯ve already discovered that he was a pawn for attracting hostility in public.

    In truth, the effectiveness of Qianye¡¯s mission had far exceeded Qiqi¡¯s expectations. Perhaps because Gu Liyu had always found it easy to handle Qiqi¡¯s previous provocations, this time, he had actually stirred up a whole series of problems in his desperation. Although everything seemed to have been quietly settled, how could a matter involving so many conspiracies not leave any traces?

    Moreover, in many aspects, proof actually wasn¡¯t an absolute necessity to act. This applies to the personying down the trap and simrly holds true for the person disarming it. Thus in the end, although Qiqi couldn¡¯t do anything to Gu Liyu, everyone in collusion with him behind the scenes were thoroughly rooted out by Li Yuanjia. He could¡¯ve done much more than this if he didn¡¯t have to consider the interests of the Yin family as a whole.

    Li Yuanjia was originally promoted from 17th corps due to his umted aplishments. With his ability and finesse, he was already well qualified to be a leading officer of the Yin family¡¯s forces. His position within the Yin family was self-evident. This would spare Qiqi a great deal of impediment from both Gu Liyu and others within the n if, one day, she wished to develop further with the 17th corps as a foundation.

    However, the direct cause of this matter, Qianye, was still well and alive. He would surely be a target for Gu Liyu and the other Yin family candidates in the future, for honor even if not for vengeance. What else did he have to fear under such circumstances?

    Qiqi was speechless for some time. As if speaking to herself or trying to exin something, she said, ¡°I have considered every method possible but have found no way to escape this marriage. An aristocratic family like the Yin family will put reputation and trust above all else. Actively canceling this marriage would be worse than death for my father. The only way was to force Gu Liyu to withdraw. That¡¯s why I sought these ¡®lovers¡¯ one after another, but unfortunately, none of them were of any use. Unless I¡­¡±

    Qiqi suddenly trembled, ovee by an uncertain emotion. It wasn¡¯t quite fear of what was to follow but a vague sense of mixed anticipation.

    ¡°He won¡¯t withdraw from this marriage even if you really did sleep with numerous men.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was transmitted from above Qiqi¡¯s head. His breath was naturally warm since they were so close to each other, yet it actually caused Qiqi to shiver momentarily.

    Qianye rubbed Qiqi¡¯s hair and switched off the lights, plunging the entire bedroom into a suppressive and stifling darkness. His clear voice resonated coldly within the silent room. ¡°Go to sleep. I¡¯ve told you before not to y with fire.¡±

    After a long while, their breathing calmed down and it seemed they were about to fall asleep. At this time, however, Qiqi suddenly spoke. Her voice was so soft that one could easily think she was talking in her sleep, permeated by a hint of weakness one would never witness during the daytime.

    ¡°I know you hate me. You feel unsafe, knowing that you might suffer a stab from the back at any time. But it¡¯s the same for me. I¡¯ve never truly felt safe since my mother passed away¡­ You won¡¯t understand how it feels when all your brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts are nning to kill you at the earliest opportunity. I¡¯ve done many weird things and I know how everyone looks at me. But this is the only way for me to avoid thinking of all those things¡­¡± Qiqi¡¯s voice revealed a small part of her pain.

    Qianye listened in silence. The conflict within the Yin family had been going on for a long time. Perhaps it had already begun when the marriage with the Song n branch took ce 20 years ago or even earlier. One had to pay the price to borrow another¡¯s authority. It was vastly unreasonable to marry someone else¡¯s daughter and then marry off the granddaughter to andowning household.

    Qianyecked experience regarding the aristocratic families but he wasn¡¯t stupid. Furthermore, with Song Zining¡¯s character, he would never do something meaningless. Thetter had gone to great lengths to conceal his identity when he saved Qianye during the hunt but had approached him openlyter on. Aside from acting to escape his own marriage, he also seemed to be sending Qiqi a certain warning message.

    Thinking back on it, Qiqi no longer asked him to apany her to social activities since then.

    The contest for the Yin family heir had already reached the stage where everyone had their daggers drawn. They were even willing to shoulder the price and risk of interfering with the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. This goes to show how desperate the mastermind behind all of this was. Comparing an aristocratic scion like Qiqi to someone like Qianye who had grown up in the garbage dump, it could only be said that both of them had their own misfortunes and frustrations.

    ¡°I don¡¯t hate you at all,¡± Qianye replied calmly, ¡°you¡¯ve done more for me than necessary. For instance, the matter with the 60th division and your assistance during the spring hunt.¡±

    Qiqi let out a faint chuckle. It sounded rather peculiar for just a moment but seemed to have returned to normal as one paid attention to it. ¡°But to you, this is just a deal with somewhat better conditions...¡±

    It was merely a business transaction from the very beginning. To this, Qianye didn¡¯t reply anymore.

    Qiqi edged closer to him in the dark and snuggled up into his arms. She moved around a bit until she found afortable posture before curling up like a startled kitten.

    Qianye would have never imagined that there would be such a side to this usually fierydy. Perhaps this was her true self hidden beneath the wanton and unrestrained personality.

    Qianye extended his arms and embraced her. Neither did Qiqi move nor speak.

    The two fell asleep nestled against one another, each feeling warmth, dependence and safety from the other¡¯s body.

    Tomorrow... all of this woulde to an end

    The vast world was illuminated by the distant starlight. Among the numerous continents and millions upon millions of living beings, the two were less remarkable than two grains of sand within the ocean. After parting, there was no telling when these grains of sand would meet again as they drift along the currents.

    This parting was, perhaps, eternal.

    Qianye left Qiqi¡¯s bedroom early next morning, but including the maid, many people within the courtyard already knew he had spent the night in Qiqi¡¯s room. The maids also noticed that two people had slept on the bed when they went in to tidy up the room. Before long, the news had spread to many other people.

    Noon. Qianye received the prize from the spring hunt. Apart from the ¡®Resounding Strike¡¯ and ¡®Radiant Edge¡¯, he chose to withdraw the remaining credit in gold coins. He didn¡¯t select any medicinal items. The curious attendant who delivered the items asked him why he had chosen a blood race dagger.

    Qianye honestly told him that it was because the weapon was convenient to carry and easy to sell in the lower continents. This caused the attendant''s expression to turn quite odd; likely no one had ever spoken so frankly of their intentions to sell the prize.

    That afternoon, Qiqi and the Yin family entourage finally left the Duke¡¯s courtyard. After several days of airship flight, the darkness outside of the windows lightened and the silhouette of the Evernight Continent once again appeared within Qianye¡¯s vision.

    Qianye began to sort out his luggage after returning to the Yin family courtyard. Apart from the various weapons, he didn¡¯t have a lot of other items. However, he couldn¡¯t leave just yet because the Eagleshot Qiqi had custom ordered for him hadn¡¯t arrived.

    Qiqi didn¡¯te to see Qianye in the several days that followed. He also didn¡¯t leave the room. Every day, he would either cultivate or work to integrate thebat experience he had obtained during the spring hunt. He had witnessed several confrontations between the secret technique users of aristocratic families and had learnt certain tricks regarding the better control of origin power which he had never understood before. Even though hecked a secret technique, several principles were interconnected.

    Apart from his battle with Zhao Junhong, Qianye had actually received the greatest enlightenment from the three battles between Song Zining and Wei Potian. Thetter¡¯s fists were simple, straightforward and unyielding, not unlike the militarybat techniques driven by thebatant form. But the technique he had used in the end to lockdown space made Qianye recall his battle with Ye Mn. Back then, he had also inadvertently sealed her escape route with swift fist strikes.

    Qianye had learnt about the advantages of secret techniques during his discussion with Song Zining. Apart from possessing special properties, secret techniques could also affect a certain area after breaking through to the champion rank, just like the terrifying istion ability afforded by the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. Then, if his spection was correct, couldn¡¯t the Combatant Form also be used as abat skill?

    Four dayster, Qianye was greeted by a brand new Eagleshot as he walked out of the virtualbat system.

    This Eagleshot was also a modified item of excellent quality. Its attack power was 20 percent greater than the original, and its range had been extended by 200 meters. Two high-level artisans of the Yin family also arrived to install the ¡®Resounding Strike¡¯ on the Eagleshot. The little essory was only the size of a fingernail and appeared lustrous and crystalline.

    After installing the ¡®Resounding Strike¡¯, the Eagleshot¡¯s attack power increased by another 20 percent. This was a sixth grade tactical essory and was actually an origin array. Its valuey in the fact that it could be reinstalled as long as the essory itself wasn¡¯t damaged and would only expire after three instations.

    After receiving the Eagleshot that night, Qianye checked its various parameters and was greatly satisfied. This new weapon¡¯s attack power was 18, which also meant that the power of a single shot was equal to the sum of 18 grade one origin firearms. This kind of attack power had already reached the level of grade 5 sniper rifles, but the origin power expenditure remained at the former level.

    With Qianye¡¯s current origin power, he could shoot five or six times in a single battle without absorbing blood. Relying on his ¡°Heavy Caliber¡± and ¡°urate Shooting¡± abilities as well as special origin bullets, Qianye was confident that he could inflict a fair bit of damage on rank six dark race warriors. Add that to the 1200 meter coverage of the Eagleshot, Qianye could already control the flow of a local battle in minor campaigns.

    Qianye nced at the corner of the room. The moonlight flooding through the window washed over his luggage, dying the ash green backpack an eerie scarlet. It was another night of the scarlet moon. This exceptional phenomenon distinctly reminded the people that they were in the abandonednd of Evernight.

    At this time, there was a sudden knock on the door as Li Yuanjia¡¯s voice came through, ¡°Qianye, can Ie in?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

 Volume 3 - 85: A Storm Approaches

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 85: A Storm Approaches

    Li Yuanjia walked into the room and saw the various weapon parts scattered on the table. His gaze then fell on the strikingly long barrel. ¡°It appears your Eagleshot is thetest custom-made version.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I also had the Resounding Strike installed.¡±

    ¡°Resounding Strike?¡± Li Yuanjia recalled what it was after some thought. He fished out the barrel from among theponents and examined it closely before injecting some origin power into it. The arrays lit up in a sequence to form the outline of a small crystalline disc the size of a fingernail. ¡°Great stuff!¡±

    Li Yuanjia normally came across as a typical soldier. His secret technique focused on the sword, but he was quite fond of various firearms. Unfortunately, his talents didn¡¯t epass long range sniping.

    Qianye was ying around with the half meter long ¡®Radiant Edge¡¯. It was a unique looking grade 5 origin power weapon only slightly longer than the empire¡¯s standard issue military daggers. Its sharp tip was decorated with a number of reverse serrations which brought out a hint of fierceness amidst its elegance. It was indeed the blood race¡¯s style. Qianye tossed the dagger to Li Yuanjia after noticing the intense curiosity in thetter¡¯s eyes.

    The sword sank slightly afternding in Li Yuanjia¡¯s hand. This ordinary looking fe actually weighed over a dozen kilograms! A swing of such a heavy de would surely disy much more power than its size would suggest.

    Li Yuanjia smiled. ¡°It really does suit your fighting style.¡± He had experienced the extent of Qianye¡¯s pure strength before. He retrieved the dark scabbard decorated with dark red patterns and sheathed the Radiant Edge before turning to Qianye. ¡°Are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay? The Yin family can provide you with the resources to advance to the champion rank. You already possess sufficient talent and aptitude.¡± Li Yuanjia¡¯s eyes swept over the table full of Eagleshot parts and continued, ¡°The most important point is that your strength and specialty can only be fully disyed within the army. One man¡¯s strength is limited. Only the army can stand as the pir of defense against the dark races.¡±

    Qianye raised his head to meet Li Yuanjia¡¯s gaze and inwardly sighed. This man, with his insight, had already discovered that Qianye¡¯s fighting style originated from the army. It wasn¡¯t too difficult to see that his greatest wish was to kill off as many from the dark race as possible. They might have actually be truerades had they made their acquaintance in another setting.

    ¡°I still feel that being a hunter is more suitable for me. It allows me ample freedom without the need to consider too many things.¡±

    Li Yuanjia¡¯s expression dimmed. ¡°If only I had been more attentive during the Earth Castle incident¡­¡±

    Qianye shook his head and interrupted, ¡°That¡¯s not your fault.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t Miss Qiqi¡¯s fault either.¡±

    Qianye looked at Li Yuanjia with eyes like glistening obsidian and said coldly, ¡°She¡¯s indeed not to me. This is all part of the Yin family¡¯s general situation. But that¡¯s really not my problem.¡±

    Li Yuanjia momentarily froze beforeughing wryly. He understood this discussion had reached a dead end. He had already talked to Qianye about this matter several times, however, it was destined to be fruitless as their original standpoints were vastly different. No matter how contradictory Qiqi and Gu Liyu was in private, the Yin family was a unified entity with regards to external affairs. Gu Liyu¡¯s value to the Yin Family was, of course, greater than a battlepany. The status quo might be broken in the future, but for now, it was impossible.

    Qianye eased his tone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Yuanjia. The Yin family doesn¡¯t suit me. I hope to do the things that I¡¯m certain about¡ªthings I truly want to do.¡±

    Li Yuanjia once again discerned the powerful determination from Qianye¡¯s calm voice. He became silent for a moment and said, ¡°Take care after leaving. Many people have noticed you during the spring hunt. The Song family¡¯s seventh young master not only inquired about your background from us but also dispatched agents for further investigation.¡±

    This was something he couldn¡¯t exin, so he could only nod in acknowledgement.

    Li Yuanjia momentarily hesitated before saying, ¡°Miss Qiqi¡¯s rtionship with the Song family¡¯s seventh young master has reached quite an adverse state after the spring hunt. The two families sent people to mediate this matter. He proposed that the young miss gift you to him as an apology.¡±

    Qianye almost dropped theponents in his hand and was at a sudden loss for what kind of expression he should wear. He had already heard from Song Zining about how Qiqi had reported him to the Song n. Hence, he understood how ambiguously Li Yuanjia had worded the first half of the message to hide the fact that he had been used as a target once again. But this condition for making amends reminded him of something else. Could it be that Qiqi was trying to protect him when she stopped dragging him to social activities?

    Li Yuanjia also felt it to be somewhat absurd. However, he had always felt that this Song Zining was an extremely dangerous person. Additionally, Ye Mn had already formed a deep animosity towards Qianye. He gave it some thought and added, ¡°You have to be careful. Thebat power of Song family¡¯s seventh young master is absolutely not how it seems on the surface. I¡¯m not his match, and even the Zhao family¡¯s second young master might not necessarily win against him.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Li Yuanjia¡¯s voice suddenly became gloomy. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯re pushing the young miss towards that man by leaving like this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong. The only thing that can push her over is Song family¡¯s benefit.¡±

    Li Yuanjia was stunned speechless for a while. ¡°When do you n to leave?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow, after saying my farewells to Miss Qiqi.¡±

    ¡°No need. The young miss has already left.¡±

    ¡°Has she returned to the upper continent?¡± Qianye was somewhat surprised.

    ¡°Young miss has gone to the frontlines. Her desire is that you should seek her out if you intend to stay. Otherwise, there¡¯s no need to say goodbye.¡±

    For a moment, Qianye was inflicted by a multitude ofplex emotions. He had recently seen apletely different side of Qiqi. Her exceptional talents, influence, and resources allowed her to lead a generally smooth sailing life. As such, she also possessed all the quirksmon to aristocratic families such as indolence and egocentricity. But the most adverse aspect of her life involved her blood rtives¡ªshe was as helpless as a child in the face of these problems. This stark contrast was likely the cause of her rather extreme temperament.

    Perhaps Qianye wouldn¡¯t havee to realize the darkest and most chaotic facet of the aristocracy if his job wasn¡¯t to act as cannon fodder. He might have even followed his earlier notion of searching for a foothold under the protection of a major power¡ªto develop there until he was strong enough to find his own past.

    But there were no ¡°ifs¡± in this world. Qianye could understand the things that had happened but that didn¡¯t mean he could ept them.

    Li Yuanjia produced a jade document box and ced it on the table. ¡°The young miss asked me to give this to you. This is your final reward forpleting this mission.¡±

    ¡°Is this a secret art?¡± Qianye picked up the box. Three ancient words were carved upon the jade cover: Nurturing Rain Art.

    ¡°This is a secret art of the Yin family that can elerate the body¡¯s recovery and heal moderate injuries. It can also be used for the regr cultivation of origin power. What the Nurturing Rain Artcks in cultivation rate, it makes up with the ability to heal internal injuries during cultivation. It¡¯s a highly suitable recement for the Combatant Form.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Please thank Miss Qiqi for me.¡±

    Li Yuanjia seemed as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he shook his head and left after saying farewell.

    The next day. Dawn over the Evernight Continent almost seemed like dusk. A military truck left the Yin family courtyard with Qianye on board. The iparably vast arch of the Darkblood City came into view after a long journey.

    The city was still as bustling with activity just like before. Qianye arrived at noon to see the surging stream of people who hade out to enjoy a stroll in the clear weather. Qianye felt the city had be even more poptedpared to when he left.

    Old Two, who was sitting behind the counter, was somewhat startled when Qianye walked into the Home of Hunters. The book in his hand dropped to the floor with a flop.

    Qianye nonchntly walked up to the counter and put down his giant backpack before knocking on the counter. ¡°Old Two, I¡¯m back.¡±

    Old Two slid over a small sk of liquor. ¡°This is all that¡¯s left, but it probably can¡¯tpare to the good stuff you mix yourself.¡±

    Qianye opened the sk and finished the contents in a fewrge gulps before exhaling in satisfaction. ¡°Not bad! This is true liquor. I don¡¯t want to taste any more stimnts. I¡¯ve used so much these days that even my tongue has gone numb.¡±

    ¡°Have you finished your mission?¡± Old Two inquired.

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Qianye seemed quite rxed but the experienced Old Two saw a tinge of mncholy in the depths of his eyes. Thetter didn¡¯t pursue this matter. Themissioning party would soon notify them since the mission had already been aplished.

    ¡°Any good missions these days?¡± Qianye ced both elbows on the counter, his countenance tinged with a shade of pink. His alcohol tolerance had always been like this. His face would turn red no matter how little he drank.

    Old Two shook his head. ¡°Nothing interesting at the moment. It¡¯s been quite chaotic outside the city. The dark race poption in the area has increased abnormally while their whereabouts have been rather difficult to pinpoint. Nowadays, there¡¯s no longer a safe zone to speak of, and many hunters have retreated back into the city. The wilderness is simply too dangerous. No one dares to stray too far from the city unless they possessed the ability to fight a small dark race squad.¡±

    ¡°Why are there so many from the dark races here?¡±

    ¡°Do you mean¡­¡±

    ¡°I meant Xichang. The dark race forces have suddenly increased severalfold over there. We¡¯ve already fought several battles against the dark races within the war zone. The military strength of several field divisions would be mobilized each time.¡±

    Old Two¡¯s pupils lit up as he whispered, ¡°This is quite unusual.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°It''s rare for the dark races to mobilize on such arge scale. The battlefront between here and Xichang spans well over a few thousand kilometers. Simr activity has been reported in between and even further out. I¡¯ve heard of such news more than once in my lifetime. Looking back at the history of Evernight Continent, this either signifies something big is about to happen or an all-out war is imminent.¡±

    Qianye, however, didn¡¯t seem nervous at all. He smiled and said, ¡°It sounds as if things won¡¯t be boring for quite a while.¡±

    Old Two wrylyughed, ¡°Boring? You¡¯re indeed a madman!¡±

    ¡°Perhaps!¡± Qianyeughed, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you increase my hunter rank by now?¡±

    Old Two red at him when Qianye spoke of his rank. ¡°Young man, why are you so impatient? I¡¯ve always been fair and impartial. I only look at aplishments and rank. You certainly have enough aplishments, but your rank is still far from sufficient. Wait, wait! You¡¯re rank¡­ rank¡­¡±

    Old two was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re already rank five?!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Old Two stared at him as if he was staring at a monster. He clearly remembered that Qianye had just reached rank four when he left. Soon afterwards, he spoke delightedly, ¡°You¡¯re a true monster! Very well, take this and don¡¯t lose it!¡±

    Saying this, Old Two brought over a hunter¡¯s badge with five stars carved on it. However, the five-star hunter badge wasn¡¯t any better than the four-star one¡ªit was still crude and made of inferior materials. It was evident that this cheap item was quite a sloppy piece of work.

    Qianye said excitedly, ¡°I want to buy some information.¡±

 Volume 3 - 86: Foreboding Winds

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 86: Foreboding Winds

    Old Two fumbled about within the drawer and pped the list of five-star hunter equipment down in front of Qianye. He slightly slid his spectacles down the bridge of his nose and looked over the frame when he heard Qianye speak of buying information. ¡°Rted to?¡±

    ¡°The Seventh Division of ckflow City.¡±

    Old Two¡¯s eyes turned sharp. He immediately pushed the spectacles back in ce and said slowly, ¡°You¡¯re asking for some dangerous stuff.¡±

    Qianye browsed through the contents of the list which contained almost 100 pieces of equipment. He had just recently upgraded his gear. The equipment offered here, while considered quite good for hunters, had little use for him. In the end, he selected a set of tight-fitting light armor and some nk origin bullets.

    Qianye ced the list in front of Old Two afterpleting the selection and replied with a smile, ¡°Danger? How so? I just want some ordinary information.¡±

    Old Two replied pensively, ¡°Wu Zhengnan was promoted to major general justst month. What¡¯s more important is that even if Wu Zhengnan isn¡¯t the most troublesome among the many divisionmanders of the Expeditionary Army, he¡¯s certainly ranked within the top three. Although he¡¯s surnamed Wu¡ªthe same surname as the Weiyang¡¯s Wu n¡ªit¡¯smon knowledge that he was of civilian origins. It¡¯s unnecessary to exin his temperament and methods when you consider how he managed to rise into such a position. The seventh division is almost like his personal army. The whole region around ckflow City and the four rivers military base is like an independent nation. In fact, even the expeditionary army headquarters can hardly exert any influence.¡±

    After that, Old Two paused for a moment and squeezed out a faint smile of ridicule on his skinny and wrinkled countenance. ¡°That¡¯s all... if what you wanted is only ordinary information.¡±

    Qianye looked up and saw Old Two¡¯s gaze piercing through from behind the spectacles. The two looked at each other for a moment before Qianyeughed, ¡°Very well, what I want are his recent trade movements.¡±

    ¡°One hundred gold coins for every piece of news.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brow twitched. A hundred gold coin per piece of information was quite steeppared to the market price, however, they both knew what Qianye wanted wasn¡¯t information about on-the-table trade like supplies and weapons. Obviously, what he wanted was information regarding their underground trade. But 100 gold coins was the price of two origin power guns¡ªeven the rewards from four-star missions wouldn¡¯t necessarily reach this amount.

    Qianye spoke slowly, ¡°Old Two¡­¡±

    Old Two waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯s useless no matter what you say. This price is already at a 50 percent discount out of consideration for your status as a five-star hunter. You just had to go and choose none other than Wu Zhengnan. In order to collect this information, I¡¯d have to be prepared to lose all my assets in the ckflow City Region. Do you still think it''s expensive?¡± Old Two withdrew his probing gaze and adopted a resolute stance.

    Qianye refrained from speaking further and asked directly, ¡°How long will it take?¡±

    ¡°Five days, I estimate. It¡¯s difficult to mobilize since the world outside is not peaceful.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll go and find a ce to stay for the time being or perhaps I¡¯ll take a walk outside the city.

    ¡°Yingnan¡¯s room is still unupied. You can stay there if you wish.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought and replied, ¡°That¡¯s fine too.¡±

    Old Two watched Qianye¡¯s figure disappear through the door of the Home of Hunters before adjusting his spectacles. He was pondering, ¡°Did I make a mistake? Whose child is this?¡± He had long since known that Qianye¡¯s origins were definitely problematic. But then again, who in this abandonednd was free from unspeakable secrets?

    Whenever Wu Zhengnan was mentioned, he couldn¡¯t help but recall Yu Renyan who lost his life at Darkblood City. Back then, he was quite surprised that the two were acquainted. Yu Renyan was the captain of the Dark de Warriors, a special force under Wu Zhengnan¡¯smand. How exactly were they rted?

    Old Two picked up the sk Qianye was drinking and gave it a shake¡ªthere wasn¡¯t even a single drop left. Hence, he threw it back onto the table and began to write in his mission record book. He was already too old to meddle with these things. In any case, Yingnan had already left for the upper continent and wouldn¡¯t be returning anytime soon. The Home of Hunters was only a ce for epting and dispatching missions. What themissioner wanted to do wasn¡¯t his business.

    Qianye walked along the familiar yet somewhat alien streets. He recalled his little room as he walked past the South Bank District and that little girl who was as pure as the grass after the rain. He had returned even before a year had passed, however, Qianye had no intention to go over regardless of whether she was still there or not.

    His conversation with Old Two was still echoing within his mind. When he told Song Zining that he would return to the Evernight Continent, he hadn¡¯t given much thought about what he would do next. Qianye¡¯s had originally believed that getting rid of the ringleader was the only effective method. There was, of course, no way for him to kill a champion at his current stage. However, not only would he continue to grow and develop, but he also possessed the patience to wait until the time was ripe.

    He soon realized, however, that things weren¡¯t as simple as he thought. It seemed killing Wu Zhengnan would hardly be of any significance if his ultimate goal was to stop the human and ck crystal trafficking. Another representative would simply fill this gap as long as thework of profit and trade channels remained intact. Today, Old Two had also hinted that the military zone was almost like an independent nation¡ªnot even the expeditionary army headquarters could control them¡ªsomething of this scale was absolutely not built upon Wu Zhengnan¡¯s benefits alone.

    He soon reached the end of this winding street. Some feelings of reminiscence surfaced as he nced at the familiar door.

    Yu Yingnan¡¯s residence had been maintained in its previous state. Nothing had changed even after such a long time had passed. The fact that it actually hadn¡¯t been cleared out by thieves meant someone had been looking after it in secret. Merely, a thickyer of dust had settled due to the long period of disuse, prompting Qianye to do some cleaning in order to clear out some sleeping space.

    Qianye duly set upyer uponyer of traps within the room and stowed away his luggage. It could be said that he had finally settled in. He ran over to ck Copper Street quite a few times and returned with quite a few bags of ammunition and variousponents with which he filled the warehouse and storage rooms. Origin weapons weren¡¯t the only option in battle¡ªtheir role in battle was confined by the limited number of times they could be used. It was sometimes more efficient to use gunpowder weapons when fighting against cannon fodders and low-level warriors.

    Qianye ate something after finishing his preparations and waited in silence until the midnight bell started ringing.

    He faced the mirror and changed his appearance. Putting on a heavy trench coat and hiding the Twin Flowers and Radiant Edge inside, he left the house and vanished into the night.

    An hourter, Qianye appeared within a gloomy alley of the Northern District. There was a small rundown tavern without a signboard at the end of this alley. A number of muscr men sat idly in front of its doors, sweeping their violent eyes over all the passersby.

    Qianye walked straight toward the tavern. One of the muscr men sitting beside the door suddenly extended his hand to block his path.

    ¡°Not just anyone can enter. You have to buy a ticket first!¡±

    Qianye extended his hand and shed something at him before inquiring indifferently, ¡°Is this ticket sufficient?¡±

    When the burly man saw the item in Qianye¡¯s hand, his expression immediately straightened up. He jumped to his feet and said respectfully, ¡°Please enter! I hope you find what you want inside.¡±

    ¡°I also hope I won¡¯t be disappointed.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice, at the moment, was somewhat deep and hoarse, sounding as if he was older.

    After Qianye entered the tavern, the other ferocious-looking men crowded around the burly man. ¡°Who is that person?¡±

    The burly man¡¯s eyes swept over them before replying coldly, ¡°This isn¡¯t for you lot to know! Ask less about such things if you want to live longer!¡±

    Behind the mottled single-leaf door was an area more spacious than one would expect. The walls were made of in undecorated limestone and so was the floor, which was meticulously polished to a glossy smoothness. The style was simple and clean.

    The atmosphere could be considered quite peaceful for a tavern. A dozen customers sat scattered in different areas, asionally speaking to each other in hushed tones as if they were discussing something. Some sat alone with their heads lowered, drinking away their sorrow without even sparing a nce at their surroundings.

    However, as Qianye entered, the whole tavern became silent and all eyes fell on him. He understood their gazes¡ªthey were on guard after seeing an unfamiliar face.

    Any establishment with a rtively fixed social circle would react the same way toward outsiders. It was rather odd, however, to see such a reaction in a tavern that does business as soon as its doors opened each day. As such, Qianye was able to confirm that he hade to the right ce.

    A in-looking old man greeted Qianye from behind the counter, ¡°What would you like to drink?¡±

    ¡°Three sses of in water.¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression changed slightly as he replied with a nod, ¡°Certainly. But you¡¯ll have to wait here for a while. Find a seat first!¡±

    ¡°This bar is good enough,¡± Qianye replied as he walked toward the old man.

    As Qianye walked past a certain table, a short and wretched man suddenly approached him. Thetter proceeded to sniff at him before screaming, ¡°Aha, guess what I smell? The stink of a bloodsucking vampire! As pure as an entire piece of ck crystal!¡±

    The temperature within the whole tavern seemed to have dropped as everyone¡¯s hands moved to their weapons.

    Qianye halted his steps. He nced over at the man and replied indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s no use keeping such a worthless nose!¡±

    Origin power suddenly erupted from Qianye¡¯s body before everyone¡¯s eyes. A scarlet haze lined with specks of golden light rushed swiftly toward that person.

    However, the small wretched man sensed things differently¡ªwhat he perceived was an oddly alluring fragrance. His subconsciousness urged him to take a deep breath, and soon, he had inhaled all the golden grains of light.

    During thetter part of this process, the man¡¯s face was full of terror and spite. He had probably already discovered that these golden specks were fatal, however, he couldn¡¯t resist their temptation and continued to breathe in deeply. He clutched his throat and tried to scream but no sound came out.

    The man¡¯srge nose immediately turned ck and rotted away, leaving a terrifying cavity in its ce! At this point, the wretched man fell on his back and passed out.

    The whole tavern was ovee by silence, broken only by a couple of astonished gasps¡ªtheir gaze toward Qianye was full of fear.

    The peculiar fragrance only existed within the short and wretched man¡¯s senses. What the others saw was the radiant origin power flowing out from Qianye¡¯s body. Releasing origin power and killing formlessly, such abilities belonged to warriors at the champion rank and above.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze swept through the vicinity as he spoke nonchntly, ¡°Who else can¡¯t control themselves?¡±

 Volume 3 - 87: Forbidden Deals

    Volume 3 - The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 87: Forbidden Deals

    This time, the tavernpletely quieted down as everyone hurriedly avoided meeting Qianye¡¯s gaze¡ªthey lowered their heads and resumed drinking.

    The old man behind the bar said with a wryugh, ¡°Oi, brat, did you have to be so ruthless? His nose is pretty useful.¡±

    Qianye sat down in front of the counter and replied calmly, ¡°But his brain seems useless.¡±

    ¡°Did youe here only to provoke people?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change in the slightest. ¡°I came here to do business. However, if someone decides to provoke me, the only thing he¡¯ll get is an oue like that man¡¯s nose.¡± He squinted his eyes and replied in a tone which could be interpreted in multiple ways, ¡°I have little interest in the grievances between those hairy bastards and vampires as long as they don¡¯t get in my way.¡±

    The lines on the old man¡¯s face almost seemed to be crammed together. He mumbled something to himself and proceeded to hand Qianye a ss of wine but didn¡¯t continue on this topic.

    Qianye received the ss and took a small sip. The spirit burned quite a bit and seemed to be a mixture of several vors¡ªthe result was an ineffable sensation. It lingered momentarily at the tip of the tongue before filling his mouth with a peculiar sweetness.

    Qianye lifted the ss, swirled it around and observed as the crystal clear liquor draw ripples upon its sides. Apletely transparent liquid was actually able to break down into numerous different vors after entering the mouth. He silently gazed at the ss in which the blurry figures of most of the guests within the tavern was reflected.

    This tavern was more dangerous than it would seem on the surface. After that wretched man cried out, more than half of the people including the old man had actually responded with darkness energy!

    These people had either fallen entirely to the dark side or were closely rted to the dark races. Of course, there was another type¡ªthe blood hunters. These people made a living hunting the dark race. They wouldn¡¯t hesitate to embrace the darkness origin power in order to obtain greater strength.

    Such a ce actually existed within Darkblood City, and it seemed to have been here for quite some time.

    Qianye had always heard of such ces, but this was the first time he had been to one. It was, in fact, a gathering ce for the Darkblood City¡¯s underground powers. It was a grey area wherein many things one would have trouble finding in the Daybreak or Evernight factions could be found.

    It also served as a trading hub between the humans and dark races.

    This wasn¡¯t the only one of its kind within Darkblood City¡ªsome operated at an evenrger scale and handled much more transactions. However, the city, the expeditionary army, and even the empire could only turn a blind eye to these and simr establishments.

    On one hand, the amount of trade going through these channels was rather limited, with arge portion of it being information. Some belonged to the dark races, while the others to humans, but the dark races seemed to leak rtively more information. Consequently, these establishments eventually became important sources of information for the human race. On the other hand, certain important tactical resources could be acquired through these channels. However, the amount of such resources flowing out was quite limited under the empire¡¯s iron grip.

    The dark races simrly requiredrge amounts of tactical resources such as ck crystal, red crystal iron, and ck crystal iron. Naturally, the more they could obtain, the better. If they couldn¡¯t obtain such resources from these semi-public sources, they would pursue a different path¡ªWu Zhengnan for instance. This was also the reason why the upper echelons of the empire wouldn¡¯t tolerate such forbidden deals. These transactions were absolutely shrouded in darkness, and the amount of ck crystals leaked through such channels was virtually uncontroble¡ªeverything was driven purely by profit. Quantitative changes would be qualitative changes as time went on.

    Qianye swirled the ss and thoroughly destroyed the vague reflections upon it. He raised his head and drank a huge mouthful, letting the fiery alcohol burn all the way into his heart and lungs. Only at this time did the golden blood energy revolving around his heart show some signs of calming down.

    The others here would never know that the wretched man had indeed spoken the truth. The golden blood energy had reacted quite intensely the moment Qianye stepped into this ce. As the man approached Qianye, it frantically swam out along his veins and began to release traces of origin power.

    Qianye had activated his daybreak origin power and released the scarlet origin radiance purely for concealment purposes. The golden specks the wretched man had inhaled were part of the golden blood energy¡¯s aura. Even Qianye hadn¡¯t expected that this uncontroble golden blood energy was actually so poisonous to people with dark origin power. Even a tiny bit of aura was instinctively able to break down flesh and rob the victim¡¯s energy.

    The moment the golden blood energy came into contact with the man¡¯s origin power, Qianye sensed some information via origin power feedback. In the end, he somewhat realized why the both of them reacted so strongly to each other¡ªthe wretched man¡¯s darkness origin power attribute actually fell within the werewolf category.

    The old man behind the counter appeared to have sensed something just as Qianye finished his drink. The former raised his head and said, ¡°The person you¡¯re waiting for has arrived. Go in, he¡¯s right behind that door.¡±

    Qianye followed the old man¡¯s directions and entered an unremarkable door beside the counter. He walked in for quite some distance and found a little room at the end of the corridor with no doors. Within it sat a thin middle-aged man¡ªhis countenance was dignified with a noticeable shadow between his brows.

    Qianye walked in without waiting for an invitation and sat down from across the middle-aged man. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting to actually see someone with demonkin blood. How do I address you?¡±

    ¡°Jorgen. You can also call me ckowl. This name is more widely known.¡±

    ¡°Mr. ckowl, I heard you can provide me with the necessary assistance?¡±

    ¡°That depends on what you need. Allow me to see your token before we continue onto the¡­ finer details.¡± ckowl extended his hands. ¡°One can never be too careful in this line of work, you know. Else I would¡¯ve died countless times already.¡±

    Qianye removed the simple jade ring from his middle finger, ced it on the table and pushed it toward ckowl.

    Jorgen cautiously picked up the item and injected a strand of origin power. Two lines as thin as gossamer lit up on the inner surface of the ring while an image appeared on its surface¡ªthe head of an eagle holding crossed swords within its mouth. Jorgen¡¯s tone of voice rxed as he pushed the ring back toward Qianye. ¡°It is indeed the highest grade executive token of the Far East Wei n. Very well, I understand. I¡¯ll provide you with all the assistance I can within the scope of my abilities.

    Qianye calmly ced the ring back on his finger. Wei Potian had sent someone to deliver it before he left the Qin Continent, along with information describing several such locations including this tavern. Only now did Qianye realize that the Wei n had sufficient influence here even if the trading hub didn¡¯t belong to them.

    ¡°I want to investigate some transactions and deals with the dark races,¡± Qianye said.

    Qianye¡¯s words made Jorgen rather nervous. He moved his crossed fingers and asked, ¡°With whom? What type of transactions?¡±

    ¡°ckflow City, seventh expeditionary division. Forbidden deals.¡±

    ¡°Forbidden deals!¡± Jorgen faintly drew in his breath and replied slowly, ¡°You should be clear about the kind of people behind these forbidden deals. Do you really want to continue?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qianye¡¯s tone was calm but resolute and decisive.

    ¡°What a coincidence. It so happens that I know about the most recent one.¡± Jorgen brought out a paper and started drawing on it with great swiftness. Very soon, the outline of a map appeared. A certain ce on it was marked, and a date was written beside it. He passed it to Qianye and allowed him to look. He then proceeded to ignite the paper and watch as it burned to ashes.

    Qianye had already memorized all the details. He fished out a piece of ck crystal, handed it to Jorgen who ced it unceremoniously into his pocket, then said, ¡°I wish you good luck.¡±

    Under Jorgen¡¯s instructions, Qianye left through the rear door and disappeared into the night.

    Qianye passed the following couple of days in rtive peace. He fully upied himself with cultivation and seldom left the house until the day he received news from the Home of Hunters.

    Jorgen had provided him with the time and precise location of the deal. The information from the Home of Hunters was rtively vague and inconsequential, however, it allowed Qianye to understand parts of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s past.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s seventh division had been trading with the dark races for many years now. Qi Yue¡¯s transaction which Qianye stumbled upon certainly wasn¡¯t the beginning¡ªthey were merely opening up a new channel of trade. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s main business wasn¡¯t dealing with goods of great importance to the human race nor was he trading equipment or information. He was trading in luxury products of blood race origin. Luxury goods brought Wu Zhengnan and his allies much greater profits despite having no actual effect on thebat strength of the human race.

    Qianyepared the two pieces of information and confirmed that the information regarding their next forbidden deal was, in fact, true. The location wasn¡¯t too far from ckflow city, which was only about 200 miles out.

    Qianye thought about it for a while and decided to personally head over to observe the contents of their transaction.

    Wei Potian had made an appointment with Qianye. He would bring his men over to the Evernight Continent within a month¡¯s time and drag Wu Zhengnan down from his position as a divisionmander. Naturally, there was no need for the Wei n heir to worry about how this goal would be met. The Wei n would allocate certain strategists proficient in such operations, and there would also be people to draft the whole n for him. Wei Potian only needed to give a symbolic nod.

    As a result, it was Qianye who was still undecided about how he should support the Wei n¡¯s operation. One thing, however, was certain¡ªthey needed proof of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s forbidden deals. In fact, the more the better. That way, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to think about escaping persecution for misconduct.

    Qianye boarded an airship headed toward ckflow City the following morning. He arrived in the afternoon and left for the wilderness while carrying arge backpack.

    mor rose within ckflow City not long after he left. A whole team of fully armed soldiers rushed to the city gates to interrogate the sentries butter left angrily after failing to obtain any concrete information.

    Qi Sicheng sat within his study with an ugly expression as he listened to the soldiers¡¯ reports. He flew into a terrible rage the moment he heard that they failed to capture anyone. He drove them out of the room with a torrent of abuses.

    After the study regained its calm, Qi Sicheng stared at the unfurled map on his desk and muttered to himself for some time. The tip-off he had received was rather vague¡ªnot being able to capture the person was also within expectations.

    ¡°Who could be so interested in our transactions? But not just anyone can afford to get involved with such things. Be Careful or you¡¯ll break your meddling hands!¡±

 Volume 3 - 88: Trading Camp

    Volume 3 - The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 88: Trading Camp

    Qianye ran through the wilderness¡ªhis target was a human settlement about 200 kilometers out. Looking at the map, he noticed the ce was simr to a sentry post. At most, onepany of troops would be stationed there to serve as sentinels and perform initial defensive measures.

    However, a merepany would be useless in a true skirmish with the dark races. As such, forward assignments like these had always been considered a dangerous undertaking. Those posted here were either guilty of serious charges or those who had badly offended people they shouldn¡¯t.

    That was also why such camps were mostly overlooked by the expeditionary army¡ªno news meant good news.

    One had to admit that the seventh division using such an ignored location as a camouge for the trade with the dark races was a great way to pull the wool over people¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye wanted to head over and observe this outpost. It has been reported that a certain ¡°merchant caravan¡± was stopping over here.

    After leaving the city, Qianye moved ording to the ways of the hunter¡ªhe withdrew his aura and advanced under the cover of the terrain, doing his best to leave as little traces as possible. It was at this moment that an indistinct rumble appeared in the air. A certain airship had appeared from the direction of ckflow City and was flying in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    Qianye lifted his head and, observing the angle of its secondary wings and propeller speed, calcted its approximate bearing. ¡°How unrestrained! They even dispatched an airship.¡±

    He climbed atop arge tree and decided to rest while waiting for the airship to pass. The airship wasn¡¯trge and was of a rather old model. Such antique models have long since been superseded by newer ones in the upper continent but were rare and valuable assets here in Evernight.

    These airships would exhaustrge amounts of fuel every time they were mobilized, equally expensive to use and maintain. Unless the situation was urgent, they wouldn¡¯t normally be used for the transportation of troops in small-scaled skirmishes. The Red Scorpion Corps frequently used them for aerial surveince but Qianye was quite certain these defensive divisions wouldn¡¯t invest a lot of resources for this purpose.

    Hence, the target of this airship was rather obvious.

    Qianye rested for 10 minutes while he waited for the airship to fly past before resuming his journey.

    The outline of the camp finally appeared over the horizon just as darkness fell. It was a group of buildings scattered throughout the top of a small hill, almost as big as a small vige with enough space for about a thousand people. It was certainly bigger than the usual camps which housed around 200.

    It was definitely unnatural for such arge settlement to be located where the dark race army could appear at any given moment. Qianye slightly frowned¡ªthe scene before him was sufficient proof that the trade has been going on safe and sound for quite some time already. The ¡°merchant caravans¡± also seemed to be on quite arge scale, and the products being traded were of great quantity and volume.

    Qianye felt quite concerned. Uprooting such a well-developed operation wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Wei Potian shouldn¡¯t have much trouble since he had the whole Wei n behind him¡ªat the worse case scenario, he would fail to remove Wu Zhengnan from his position. Song Zining, on the other hand, had gone to deal with the dark crystal suppliers backing Wu Zhengnan. Matters involving actual profits were bound to be incredibly dangerous.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and proceeded to approach the outpost under the cover of the night and geography. Night time battles were usually his forte but since this ce was a base of operations for trading with the dark races, there were arge number of them here. In addition, because many among the dark races possessed night vision abilities, he wasn¡¯t at a particr advantage in this endeavor.

    Qianye became even more vignt after seeing a wide field just outside the vige perimeter and a tower standing dozens of meters tall. It was a simple airshipnding pad. It seemed they had been dispatching airships regrly for these forbidden transactions. One could easily guess how important this ce was.

    Such arge camp couldn¡¯t have been built overnight¡ªthis also meant that it couldn¡¯t be torn down within a short time. Qianye didn¡¯t even need to go in to investigate. He only needed to return with this information and wait for the empire to perform a surprise inspection. They would surely be able to capture quite a lot of evidence.

    Qianye, however, still decided to go in to take a look since he had already arrived. He wanted to personally confirm the contents of this trade. He wouldn¡¯t mind dealing the bastards inside a heavy blow should the opportunity present itself.

    He suddenly noticed some special sentinels within the camp after closing in. He smelled a peculiar fishy odor. It was the smell of wolves and they certainly weren¡¯t typical military canines. Later on, he saw the animals patrolling the vige streets. The gigantic wargs raised by the werewolves served as natural guardsmen and were so much better than the average sentry.

    Qianye came prepared, though. He produced some white powder and sprinkled it all over his body before continuing his advance in the darkness. This special medicinal powder caused the wargs to feel imperceptible difort, encouraging them to avoid the source of the odor without agitating them.

    Arriving under the walls, he found that they were made of logs and merely four meters tall. Watchtowers were located at the four corners, quite a distance from one another. He could clearly see some of the guards dozing off within them.

    Thex security truly didn¡¯t match the importance of the camp. Qianye became increasingly cautious. He didn¡¯t believe this ce would have enjoyed many years of peace¡ªthey had merely kept everything under wraps.

    A red light shed within his eyes, seemingly illuminating the sable night in his vision. Following which, he immediately discovered something unusual. Several sheets of silver-white spiderwebs covered the whole wall and the area around its base. It would¡¯ve been quite difficult to notice them without prior knowledge.

    These weren¡¯t normal spider webs¡ªeach and every strand were linked together to form a gigantic web. It was likely that a number of mordoran hunting spidersy waiting in deep pits within the camp walls. These calf-sized spiders were sentinels raised by the Arachne. These spider webs were akin to an extension of their antennae. Not even the slightest change would be able to escape their senses.

    Qianye squinted his eyes. That even wargs and mordoran hunting spiders had appeared meant this vige was hiding an unspeakable secret. After all, even some dark race military bases had only this much security.

    Although these mordoran hunting spiders would pose a threat to most hunters, Qianye was anything but helpless against them. He casually grabbed a handful ofmon bugs and threw them onto the spider webs.

    These palm-sized beetles and moths were exceptionally vigorous. They struggled continuously and tore at the spider webs, however, these spider webs were stickier and stronger than normal webs. The more they struggled, the more entangled they became.

    Several wooden stakes shot through the air while the bugs were struggling, nailing them to the wooden wall.

    With resulting noises, several fist-sized ash-grey spiderlings appeared from their hiding ces and swarmed toward their prey. They swiftly silenced the resistance from their helpless quarry and repaired the webs before returning to whence they came.

    This was the greatest weakness of the mordoran hunting spider¡¯s webwork¡ªtheir intelligence was simply too low. They only reacted to living creatures but failed to notice the wooden stakes sticking into the wall.

    Qianye appeared once again through the night. He ran with swift but silent footsteps and leapt toward the wall,nding urately on the wooden stakes. With that, he crossed over the wall and silently entered the vige.

    It wasn¡¯t yet deep into the night but the whole vige was silent. The empty streets were virtually devoid of human activity and the buildings were sparsely lit.

    Qianye stood within the shadows and took a deep breath. At this time, blood energy whirled around his body and withdrew into his heart. The golden blood energy had be progressively independent since the spring hunt. It would silently resonate when he mobilized it together with his daybreak origin power. The Venus Dawn formed from the overflow of origin power was also gradually bing better developed, however, it would sometimes lose control when the external darkness origin power was too dense as if it wanted to swallow the person whole.

    Qianye shook his head and pushed these concerns to one corner. Relying on the reaction of his blood energy, he had already sensed the intense odor of werewolves and arachne in the air. Furthermore, their numbers weren¡¯t few. Only the vampires were missing but that didn¡¯te as much of a surprise after some thought. There existed a ten-thousand-year-old feud between werewolves and the vampires. They definitely wouldn¡¯t be seen working with each other unless absolutely essential.

    The sound of footsteps and indistinct conversations came through from the alley behind him. Qianye took a few steps back in silence and entered the blind angle of a winding path. He stood close to the wall within the shadows, activated the energy hidden within his vessels, and used a secret military technique to contain his aura.

    Five people emerged from within the adjacent alley and walked past the street where Qianye was hiding. Their conversation was transmitted to Qianye¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Goddammit, wolves and spiders everywhere! How annoying!¡±

    ¡°Pipe down! Have you forgotten how Old Li lost his life? These bastards don¡¯t care who you are. They¡¯ll find a way to eat you the moment they find a suitable excuse.¡±

    ¡°Sigh, Captain Zhou certainly won¡¯t protect us if a mishap urs. He would only tell us to endure it.¡±

    A somewhat older voice spoke, ¡°Stopining and just bear it for one more night. You know full well about the rewards we¡¯ll get after this deal is concluded. Which well paying deal doesn¡¯t involve a great deal of risk?¡±

    ¡°We only need to conclude this deal. Don¡¯t let any idents ur.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been so many years now. When have we had any mistakes?¡±

    ¡°Enough about this. We¡¯ll force Captain Zhou to treat everyone to a round of alcohol as long as we can pass the night in peace andplete this big transaction.¡±

    The group gradually walked away, chatting all the while.

    It seemed the dark race had stationed quite a number of troops in this vige for the uing transaction. From the previous blood energy reaction and the presence of obvious dark race style arrangements in several ces across the vige, Qianye judged that there might be well over a dozen werewolves and four or five arachne. Although few in number, these Arachne could deploy various giant spiders in battle. There should be over a dozen giant spiders within those two web-covered buildings.

    Such a lineup was sufficient to form a standard dark race patrol unit. The value of the goods must be extraordinary since they required such power to guard a transaction. The humans had closed their doors rather early precisely because so many from the dark race were present within the vige.

    Nighttime was the domain of the dark race. The security of this tiny vige wasn¡¯t a problem, however, to the humans participating in this transaction, the threat they faced came precisely from these werewolves and arachne who came to trade with them. One might suddenly disappear while walking out at night¡ªquite a few of such incidences had apparently urred before¡ªthat was likely the reason why humans would band into groups when walking at night.

    Now the question was, what were they trading?

 Volume 3 - 89: Hijack (Part 1)

    Volume 3 - The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 89: Hijack (Part 1)

    Qianye stealthily climbed onto a rooftop. A blood-red hue suddenly emerged in the depths of his pupils as he observed the surroundings.

    The abrupt howl broke the silence of this small vige. Arge werewolf soon appeared in the distance and charged toward where Qianye had been previously standing. Qianye, however, had already disappeared into the night, leaving the werewolf howling in confusion.

    Several werewolves appeared while an arachne climbed onto a roof. Thisrge arachne upied half the roof¡ªthe house creaked and moaned under its weight¡ªit seemed as if it coulde down at any moment. A man and a woman ran out from the house in panic amidst astonished cries.

    One of the werewolves pounced toward the street with a growl, pinning the woman beneath its body as it opened its wide jaws.

    A low voice was transmitted from one side, ¡°If you bite down, I can¡¯t guarantee the gun in my hand won¡¯t identally go off.¡±

    The werewolf raised its head¡ªits greedy eyes stared at the middle-aged man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Thetter¡¯s appearance was ordinary with the exception of a long scar on his face as his only notable characteristic.

    The werewolf let out a threatening howl, but the middle-aged man seemed rtively unaffected. His finger was gradually adding more force on the trigger. The weapon in his hand was a rank three origin gun. Itsrge, modified muzzle indicated that it was a weapon which leaned heavily toward firepower.

    Another werewolf walked over, dragged itsrade away from the woman, and then said to the middle-aged man, ¡°Captain Zhou, are you trying to renege on this transaction?¡±

    The Captain surnamed Zhou replied, ¡°The deal doesn¡¯t include the lives of my subordinates. You gave me your word that a repeat of yesterday¡¯s incident won¡¯t ur. Or perhaps you can¡¯t even handle your own men?¡±

    The werewolf leader let out an angry roar. ¡°You¡¯re insulting Bernt the Brave! I can raze this camp to the ground as long as I will it!¡±

    Captain Zhou was seemingly unthreatened and replied with a coldugh, ¡°You can try! Although my men and I may die here, I promise you that the chances of your group returning alive is not greater than one third. As for you, Bernt the Brave, I wonder if you¡¯ll return as a hero or an idiot after you destroy a trade channel that¡¯s been established for well over a decade.¡±

    Bernt was immediately incensed¡ªhe furiously roared but restrained himself in the end. He didn¡¯t dare charge in because he knew Captain Zhou wasn¡¯t exaggerating.

    The arachne came down from atop the building and said, ¡°We came toplete this transaction and not to mess things up. Bernt, why did your subordinate suddenly jump out and cause amotion?¡±

    Bernt turned toward the werewolf from earlier. Thetter replied, ¡°I smelled one of those damned vampires just now!¡±

    Bernt turned to re at Captain Zhou. ¡°Are you hiding those from the vampire race here?¡±

    Captain Zhou replied, ¡°Are you lot trying to invent more problems? You¡¯ve checked every corner of this ce when you arrived. If there truly are vampires hiding here, why did you discover it only now?¡±

    The arachne also shook his head. ¡°Bernt, handle your subordinates well! This is a horrible excuse! Besides, they can¡¯t do anything even if they really are hiding here. So, stop your empty threats. I still want to take a rest. Additionally, there are things among this batch of goods that Marquis Ross personally requested. That bad-tempered sire will have your head if you foil this deal!¡±

    The werewolves howled in dissatisfaction but eventually withdrew. Captain Zhou also left after letting out a sigh of relief.

    Qianye was silently observing themotion nearby. He turned into a small alley and headed toward the other side of the camp.

    He had sensed arge number of human blood energy reactions there. The density had far surpassed that of normal residents. There were actually hundreds of them albeit with much weaker blood energy reactions.

    A vague possibility came to his mind.

    He sped up his footsteps and soon arrived before a peculiar camp separate from the vige. From the features of the buildings sticking out, he immediately discerned that the interior was likely a barracks. Security was tight with several sword spiders standing guard near the door. The walls were of the same height as the vige¡¯s. Qianye chose a rtively deserted corner and, climbing to the top of the wall, observed the interior of the camp.

    Numerous long buildings stood within the campgrounds. Their windows had been nailed shut while the doors were tightly guarded by several wargs. Two werewolves stood in the center talking amongst themselves.

    Qianye immediately understood what this camp was for¡ªthis was a ve pen, a ce to hold the numerous ves for trade. Every long building could hold over a hundred humans. The crowded human blood energy he had sensed came from this ce. Such a camp could hold nearly a thousand ves at its peak, a staggering number to speak of.

    The goods for this trade was now clear¡ªhumans, real live humans.

    Qianye had heard from Yu Renyan that Wu Zhengnan¡¯s trade with the dark races included humans. However, this was his first time witnessing such a spectacle. Some of these people would be food, while the rest would be forced intobor or used as breeding machines.

    Perhaps the deal included other contents, but these humans were obviously the most important merchandise.

    Qianye stealthily withdrew from the vige and found a ce in the wilderness from which he could directly observe the vige gates. He tightly pulled his cloak over his head while recalling the regional topography, defenses, and troop distribution of the various races in the vige.

    The arachne leader was rank seven. There were three more rank five arachne and werewolves, while the rest were all below rank five. Such a group was anything but weak, however, this wasn¡¯t the first time Qianye had fought a dark race patrol squad. To him, eradicating them wasn¡¯t an impossible endeavor as long as he had sufficient range and geographical advantage.

    Qianye selected a few potential areas for an ambush and yed out the scenario in his head for a couple of times before turning in.

    Dawn. The vige gates opened, allowing passage to a convoy which gradually drove toward the north. The containers on these cargo trucks had been modified, allowing one to see the numerous human figures through the iron bars.

    Qianye¡¯s judgement was correct. It was indeed a ve convoy. These cargo trucks were surprisingly advanced in terms of horsepower and auxiliary equipment, evenparable to the equipment issued to the main imperial corps.

    This convoy cast an entirely new light on the value of this transaction. In the past, the dark race would have the ves walk after capturing them¡ªrarely would they ever transport them by car. Additionally, the dark race warriors were ustomed to moving through the wilderness. They probably wouldn¡¯t take kindly to these constantly jolting tin cans which reeked of fuel.

    For this trade, however, cargo trucks had been arranged for all the humans. Apparently, the dark race had attached a great deal of importance to this batch of merchandise. They weren¡¯t willing to lose even a single one of them along the way.

    This strengthened Qianye¡¯s resolve to prevent the dark race from obtaining them!

    The convoy was still slowly moving through the rugged terrain. Qianye, on the other hand, was already running through the wilderness and had soon arrived at the predetermined ambush points before long. It was a valley with numerous towering stone pirs. The ground was uneven, and the path was barely enough for a single car to pass.

    The valley was permeated by a faint yet peculiar fishy smell, and there wasn¡¯t a sign of life amidst the deathly stillness. It was because of these characteristics that Qianye was confident that the convoy would pass through here. He had already distinctly picked up the scent of an arachne. It was a great disaster for the small beasts and insects wherever an arachne passed. This path was highly likely to be the one taken by the dark races on their way to the vige and was naturally their path back.

    The location was already quite close to the dark race borders, but the dark race had no concept about repairing roads, or at least the lower level dark race didn¡¯t. It has been said that the high ranking dark race members had already developed a greatly advanced culture and had built various loftyndmarks that were supposedly even more majestic than the Great Qin Empire¡¯s trans-century projects. It was as if the higher level dark race members and the lower level ones were living inpletely different ages.

    Qianye selected a hiding ce,id down a few traps, and patiently waited for the convoy¡¯s arrival.

    An hourter, rumbling sounds began to ring out within the valley as arge cargo vehicle appeared in Qianye¡¯s vision. The one behind the steering wheel was a werewolf while two arachne were cramped into the rear seat. They could only prop a few of their limbs outside because theirrge bodies weren¡¯t able to fit entirely into thepartment. The sword spiders and wargs roamed at either side of the convoy. These less intelligent cannon fodder preferred running through the wilds than being crammed into these tin cans.

    Qianye raised his Eagleshot and locked the crosshairs onto the target. The arachne with eye-catching white stripes on its abdomen was the leader of this trade procession and the only rank seven monster. Half the battle would be won so long as it was killed.

    The foremost cargo truck suddenly spat outrge clouds of ck smoke and came to a halt. The agitated werewolves from the cars behind jumped down and growled menacingly as they nced at the surroundings.

    ¡°Bernt! What is it this time?¡± the arachne impatiently shouted.

    The tall werewolf roared in reply, ¡°The scent of vampires is in the air and it¡¯s extremely fresh. You know there shouldn¡¯t be vampires in this area!¡±

    The arachne shivered slightly. ¡°Hold on, I¡¯lle down to take a look.¡± Moving itsrge body took some effort, almost as if it was trying to pull its bulging abdomen out of the car.

    This action became the cause of its death.

    A red light shed in the distance. Sensing great danger, the arachne let out a screech and hacked away at the car with its limbs. This action didn¡¯t merely break apart the vehicle but also hacked the other arachne seating beside him. The rank five fellow waspletely split open from the waist up and immediately lost the ability to fight.

    But even that didn¡¯t allow the first arachne to escape harm. The iing bullet was clearly reflected upon the center of its abdomen. The projectile wasn¡¯t merely emitting a hazy origin light but was also surrounded by a band of radiance! The origin power within this bullet had stirred an external reaction. The more colorful it was, the more terrifying the might behind it.

    A bloody mist burst out of the arachne¡¯s abdomen and its bulky body was flung back from the momentum.

 Volume 3 - 90: Hijack (Part 2)

    Volume 3 - The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 90: Hijack (Part 2)

    A defect immediately appeared on the eye-catching white stripes of the arachne¡¯s abdomen. Arge hole had appeared from which yellowish fluids sprayed out like a gush of rain.

    Such an injury was indeed serious but not to the point where it would threaten its life. The arachne possessed tenacious vitality and could regenerate even if its entire abdomen was cut off. However, Qianye¡¯s physical bullet just now was instilled with his blood energy which, after entering the wound, immediately began to gorge itself on the abundant darkness origin power.

    Qianye calmly ran to another position.

    The machine gun on the cargo truck spewed out mes as it swept randomly, spraying bullets through the air like rain. This scene caused Qianye to shrug his shoulders¡ªit was meaningless to fire from such a range. Barring the vampires, there were few among the dark races who could snipe from a range exceeding 500 meters, and these werewolves and arachne were no exception. This granted Qianye a home-field advantage.

    Qianye arrived at the next vantage point and aimed his Eagleshot at the arachne climbing out of the other cargo truck. At a range of less than 500 meters, thetter¡¯srge body was like an easy target. Killing this arachne would leave Bernt the Brave as the only rank five warrior of their group.

    There were, however, arge number of lower ranked werewolves remaining, and the wargs and swordspiders could also prove to be quite troublesome. But the battleground was rather secluded and there shouldn¡¯t be any passersby in the short term. There was sufficient space for Qianye to slowly chip away at these scattered troops.

    As expected, that arachne also fell under Qianye¡¯s gun¡ªthe Eagleshot¡¯s firepower could be discerned from the former¡¯s fate. Its whole abdomen had disappeared, leaving the upper body barely alive but likely not for long, judging from the way it was squirming weakly.

    Next up was Bernt.

    The tall werewolf had finally realized that holding their position would make them easy targets. He stood on top of the car and let out a long howl while beating his chest. He then crouched down, arched his body, and leapt toward Qianye¡¯s position at lightning speed.

    All the werewolves were dauntlessly following behind him. To them, a distance of a few hundred meters could be crossed within the blink of an eye. The werewolves shuttled left and right, advancing in a zig-zag fashion. It almost seemed as if these movements had little effect on their speed.

    Human snipers had always been a great threat to the dark races because, due to racial characteristics, none of them were proficient in the use of origin guns. The only exception was the vampire race. However, the dark races had long since developed their own ways of dealing with human snipers.

    The werewolves relied on their sprinting speed and evasion abilities to engage in a direct attack. The arachne would spit out spiderwebs toward the sniper¡¯s rtive position and slowly seal off thetter¡¯s escape routes, eventually turning them into swordspider food.

    But this time, the werewolves weren¡¯t facing an ordinary human sniper.

    Qianye locked onto Bernt with rtive ease and pulled the trigger on this gigantic brown-furred werewolf. The origin power bullet whizzed out once again, its destination was to Bernt¡¯s left. The werewolf shifted to the side to evade but found himself colliding with the iing bullet.

    Half of Bernt¡¯s body vanished, sending what remained of his injured body tumbling through the air for quite the distance before crashing onto the ground. Although the unyielding werewolf was struggling and his cries were still vigorous, the injuries he had sustained were apparently unsalvageable.

    The remaining werewolves didn¡¯t cower after losing their leader. Only when they reached a point within 100 meters did Qianye put down his Eagleshot and, drawing the Twin Flowers, aimed rather casually.

    Two more werewolves fell in a puddle of blood as the illusory flower blossomed mid-air. Every shot from the Twin Flowers at full power was lethal to these rank four werewolves.

    After two shots, ten werewolves had already surrounded Qianye, and there were even more wargs and swordspiders rushing over behind him.

    Cruelty and carnivorous craving appeared within their eyes. To them, a captured human sniper was a delicacy with abundant origin power. Human snipers were notoriously weak in melee regardless of their rank. The werewolves didn¡¯t notice the gaze with which their supposed prey was looking at them¡ªit was the gaze of a hunter.

    Qianye calmly returned the Twin Flowers to their holsters and drew the Radiant Edge, into which he poured a mixture of origin and blood energy. The patterns on the vampire dagger lit up once again. This time, however, its radiance bore the dense color of blood which lingered on its edge and emanated a deste aura.

    A strong gale carrying the stench of blood arose from behind Qianye as he lowered his body and spun around, swinging his sword arm to attack. The brilliance of the Radiant Edge instantly intensified as it drew a bloody arc in the air.

    A werewolf rushed past Qianye¡¯s side. However, it didn¡¯tnd safely afterward and instead rolled away as if it had lost control. On the way, its head dropped off, followed by a front paw, then another¡ªthe cut edges were iparably bright and clean.

    Qianye looked down at the de in his hand in surprise. He had felt very little resistance from the sh just now even though he had cleanly cut through the wolf''s head and ws. How sharp!

    As a dark race champion level weapon, this kind of grade five melee weapon would only be able to reveal its true might in the hands of vampire viscounts. Qianye didn¡¯t expect his blood energy to unleash the weapon¡¯s true power.

    The battle immediately became much easier after drawing the Radiant Edge¡ªevery sh sent werewolf bodies flying. Their crude leather armor and supposedly sturdy ws became as brittle as paper before this grade five dagger.

    Fallen werewolves were soon strewn across the battleground. A swordspider appeared before the fervent Qianye who, with a sh of his dagger, cut off its two front limbs before stabbing at its disproportionately small brain. Only after all of this did he remember that he wasn¡¯t here on a hunting mission and had no need to bring back these dark race body parts.

    The two fortunate werewolves who had survived the fight had already lost the courage to fight. They slowly edged back and suddenly turned to flee.

    Qianye didn¡¯t pursue them and only muttered, ¡°A bunch of idiots who think they can benefit from this trade! Look at yourselves!¡± Qianye¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t loud but the werewolves, with their sharp senses, certainly heard him loud and clear.

    Qianye had released traces of his blood energy while he was investigating the trading camp in order to add ayer of disguise. A brilliant idea came to his mind when he saw the definite suspicion and fury in their eyes while brandishing the Radiant Edge. Thus, he added thest few words in order to strengthen his misdirection. As for how the two surviving werewolves would report this matter or what kind of disturbance it would create, none of those was the target of his concern.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t expect much from an instigation of this level¡ªit wasn¡¯t his forte to begin with¡ªhe quite preferred to meet enemies in open battle.

    Cleaning up the wargs and swordspiders was only a matter of time. He also sent the dying arachne on their way. After cleaning up the battlefield, he was finally able to inspect the merchandise.

    He approached the storagepartment on one of the cargo trucks and crushed the lock on it¡ªwhat he saw inside stunned him immediately.

    There were over a dozen people within the rectangrpartment, young men and women to be precise. One could sense the superior vitality within them although they were downcast and listless. Qianye even saw a few prisoners who had been restrained with special handcuffs. Could these origin shackles mean they were fighters who had awakened their origin power!?

    ¡°Come down and line up beside the car. Don¡¯t move about randomly. Did I make myself clear!?¡±

    The voice with which he issued orders wasn''t particrly loud and his tone was calm, but it was still able topel the people''s obediencepletely. They jumped down from thepartment one by one and swiftly fell into formation beside the car. The speed was almostparable to that of the regr army.

    A certain ufortable premonition rose in his heart. He frowned and stopped a rather well-built man and tore thetter¡¯s sleeve off from his shoulder, revealing a tattoo depicting a bay, a helmet, and a poisonous snake.

    Qianye was no stranger to his pattern. He whispered, ¡°The 65th division?¡±

    The man forced a smile and replied, ¡°I used to be. But now¡­ as you can see, I¡¯m just a merchandise.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He went on to open up all the other storagepartments and had everyonee down. Apart from two cars which contained 8 to 12 years old children, the rest were all good-looking men and women below 30.

    What surprised Qianye was that he found some rather familiar faces among these people¡ªthe people he had saved from vampire territory. They had actually appeared once again on a truck bound for the dark race territory.

    ¡°How did thise about?¡± Qianye inquired.

    The youth apparently remembered Qianye. He bitterlyughed amidst his surprise. ¡°Sessfully passing the quarantine wasn¡¯t enough. We didn¡¯t know anything else besides growing nts and could only find some odd jobs to do. Gradually, many of us could no longer hold on. It was at this time that some gangs found us. They told us that a ranch on the outskirts was recruiting skilled individuals. However, they captured us all once we were out of the city.¡±

    This kind of situation wasn¡¯t too surprising. Many among the massive low socioeconomic poption had no fixed ie. The most important thing they had to do every day was to earn the next meal. These peopleprised a major source for the ve trade. Many people would mysteriously disappear each year, but the city administration would mostly turn a blind eye as this lessened a fair bit of potential trouble for them.

    That youth continued, ¡°It¡¯s said that a certain vampire marquis asked for us by name. We were to be the main dish for a blood feast of vengeance.¡±

    ¡°Marquis Ross?¡±

    The youth replied, ¡°That is indeed his name. I heard the werewolves mention this matter many times.¡±

 Volume 3 - 91: Seedlings

    Volume 3 - The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 91: Seedlings

    Qianye nodded. As it turned out, the merchandise Marquis Ross requested by name was them.

    Qianye only discovered the Twin Flower¡¯s significant origins after meeting Lu Shenjiang at the Copper Peacock Terrace.

    The blood esquire he had killed was actually a descendant of Marquis Ross and was apparently one of his favorites despite the former¡¯s mediocre strength. The marquis had even granted him the famous pair of guns which had apanied him on his rise to fame. However, not only did Qianye attack the esquire¡¯s estate, but he also snatched the Twin Flowers and brought over a dozen of their ¡°livestock¡± back into human territory. This was a great humiliation to the marquis.

    But the bounty on Qianye¡¯s head had failed¡ªLu Shenjiang¡¯s fate caused many people to have second thoughts. After all, staying alive was more important no matter how generous the rewards were. They also had their reputation to consider. It was one thing to run some errands for the vampires in secret, but quite another to be exposed in public.

    The local nobility of the Evernight Continent found it even more difficult to track Qianye down after he left for the Great Qin Empire to participate in the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. How would they dare to get involved with the upper continent?

    In his frustration, Marquis Ross shifted the mes of his anger onto the livestock Qianye had rescued back then. He expended arge amount of money in order to track them down and buy them back into dark race territory. The marquis had to let people know that anyone who betrayed him would face a terrible fate.

    The sharp Radiant Edge effortlessly destroyed the shackles on the prisoners¡¯ hands. Qianye first selected the few fighters from among them and released them from their bindings, tasking them with freeing the others in turn. He even checked their physical conditions in passing and found them to be in surprisingly good condition. There weren¡¯t many wounds on them and they were even free from troublesome internal injuries. This proved that their captors, be it humans or dark races, hadn¡¯t abused them.

    At this point, Qianye suddenly remembered a certain term¡ª¡°seedlings¡±. They were to bring new blood to the humans living in dark race territory. No wonder this batch of people were of superior quality. These people normally wouldn¡¯t be tortured or forced intobor, while some might even receive basic living conditions. However, their future wasn¡¯t any different from livestock used to mate and rear offspring.

    This batch of humans was quite young. The dozen or so who were close to thirty were either first rank fighters or possessed special skills in certain areas. At this time, good looks was also an advantage¡ªan important advantage. The vampires¡¯ inclination to aesthetics almost bordered on prejudice.

    Qianye found that many of these people were soldiers. A portion of them was from the Imperial Regr Army who had been dispatched to the Evernight Continent to serve penal military service for various reasons.

    It would be quite difficult to round up such a group of humans in the Evernight Continent. God knows how much effort Wu Zhengnan had secretly invested into this.

    Qianye looked at the people who were helping each other unlock their shackles and decided to change his original n. At first, he didn¡¯t want to rm the trading settlement and nned to use it as evidence against Wu Zhengnan. As for these people, he had nned to let them scatter and escape¡ªthey would have a chance to survive as long as they reached human territory.

    He knew, from previous experience, that snatching these people from the hands of the dark race and bringing them back into the city would only invite trouble. The expeditionary army might, once again, use quarantine inspections as an excuse to iste them. What happened after that would be totally out of his control. Even if they passed the inspections, what then? These ¡°livestock¡± could hardly blend into human society. It wouldn¡¯t be so easy for the others either¡ªjobs were scarce within the cities of Evernight Continent. Without a job or background, they would definitely be expendable sooner orter, just like the batch of people Qianye had saved before.

    These people were exceptionally quiet and obedient, perhaps even numb and mechanical because they knew there was no future for them at all.

    Qianye suddenly realized that although he had no way to give them a future at present, other people might be able to¡ªat least the Wei and Song families could. Although their roots were in the upper continent, like all the other aristocratic families, their ns owned industries of various sizes here. And all these industries required human resources.

    Most importantly, these people, including the children, weren¡¯t useless. The innate quality of these hand-picked seedlings was basically guaranteed. In truth, the aristocracy would have many uses for them. Over half of them could serve as qualified n soldiers after some basic training. The 100-odd children were all in their growth phase, the perfect time toy down a good foundation and nurture their loyalty.

    All this meant that they could potentially provide for themselves. This was their true pir of support.

    Qianye decided to test it out at once. He would take these people along. Their destination¡ªthe Broken River City which was about 200 kilometers from ckflow City. There was a Wei n branch within the city which might, perhaps, be able to provide a true home for these people.

    But if they wanted to leave ckflow City¡¯s jurisdiction and head toward Broken River City, they would have a long journey ahead of them. Disregarding the perils of this adventure, the ck stone fuel supply they had on board was already insufficient. There was, however, arge depot of ck stones not far from where they were¡ªthe settlement used by the seventh division for trading.

    Qianye was prepared to attack that outpost. Losing a piece of evidence to use against Wu Zhengnan wasn¡¯t as importantpared to the lives of hundreds of people.

    He scanned the orderly formation of the people and said calmly, ¡°We cannot remain here for long. I n to bring you all to Broken River City but there isn¡¯t enough fuel for the cars. We¡¯ll have to head to the ve camp first to¡­ requisition some things.¡±

    None of them made a sound. Qianye nodded and said, ¡°Those who can drive the cargo trucks, step forward!¡±

    Unexpectedly, dozens of people stood forward. Next up were those who could use various types of weapons¡ªeven more stepped forward. Qianye distributed the weapons they had found on the cargo trucks and the dark race corpses to these people. He then assigned all the rank one fighters into a simple squad and allocated them to each truck.

    Qianye instructed indifferently, ¡°Your duties are to protect the other people.¡±

    The soldier from the 65th division suddenly asked, ¡°Are you going to fight alone?¡± As a soldier, he easily understood the meaning behind Qianye¡¯s orders. The incredulity was evident in his voice.

    Qianye only turned his head slightly and smiled before jumping onto the first truck. He instructed the convoy to head directly toward the settlement. There were approximately one hundred soldiers stationed there, and among them, almost one third were fighters who had awakened their origin power. Captain Zhou himself was at rank five. However, this kind of lineup was hardly an obstacle for Qianye.

    The sentry tower was the first to notice the abnormality when the convoy appeared within the vige¡¯s field of vision. The rms sounded, sending the camp into a state of confusion. Captain Zhou immediately appeared on the vige wall apanied by an increasing number of soldiers.

    Qianye halted the convoy 500 meters away from the vige and advanced alone, stopping at a point 100 meters from the wall.

    It waspletely silent atop the vige wall¡ªall eyes were on the lone Qianye, but for some reason, they felt a sense of profound dread instead of superiority.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Captain Zhou shouted from afar.

    ¡°The one who killed the whole dark race convoy alone.¡± Qianye¡¯s reply was simple and direct.

    Many gasps were heard atop the vige wall. They were very clear about the strength of the dark race convoy. Everyone had to keep quiet out of fear during the few days they had stopped over at the camp. The werewolves had even found an excuse to devour one of the soldiers. But now, the lone youth standing outside the vige was iming to have actually killed off the whole convoy!

    ¡°Why should I believe you?¡± Captain Zhou shouted with a frown on his face.

    ¡°You need not believe me. You only need to surrender. That way, fewer people will die.¡±

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Captain Zhou swore hoarsely. He then raised his voice and shouted, ¡°You want to make me surrender with just a few words? With you alone? Forget about it!¡±

    Qianye replied coldly, ¡°You bow and scrape before the dark races but dare to fight against me? I don¡¯t understand where your courage stems from. Perhaps it¡¯s because I¡¯m a human, someone of the same familiar species?¡±

    Captain Zhou¡¯s frown intensified as he quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind. In truth, he had already realized that things weren¡¯t looking good the moment he saw the familiar convoy behind Qianye. The merchandise was worth tens of thousands of gold coins. The dark races would never yield submissively.

    Qianye suddenly raised his Eagleshot and shouted, ¡°Look, what do you think this is? Resistance is futile. Or perhaps you think I don¡¯t dare to kill? Only death awaits if you don¡¯t surrender!¡±

    Captain Zhou felt his heart thump after seeing the two-meter-long weapon. The enemy was an incredible sniper! Now he knew the fate of the dark race caravan. The range and power of the Eagleshot were too deadly. It could kill anyone within the settlement, including himself, in one shot.

    Surrender or escape? Captain Zhou was puzzled as to where this brat had suddenly popped up from. However, there were simply too many secrets within this camp that he couldn¡¯t let people know. It wouldn¡¯t be as simple as death if things were exposed. He suddenly took out a sk of alcohol and took a hard swig before shouting, ¡°Charge! Charge toward him! We can kill him as long as we reach him!¡±

    Following Captain Zhou¡¯s roar, the soldiers within the vige hurriedly jumped down from the wall and rushed toward Qianye! They covered the hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye shook his head and inwardly sighed. At the same time, the mes of fury raged within his heart. He couldn¡¯t understand their way of thinking. Why couldn¡¯t they show such courage when facing the dark races? On the contrary, they were so courageous when facing him, the person who killed those dark race warriors alone.

    Qianye lifted the Eagleshot. He ignored those charging madly at him and locked onto Captain Zhou who was standing on the vige wall.

    Captain Zhou sensed mortal danger. He let out an odd cry and turned around to jump down into the vige, but s, it was toote! As the Eagleshot rumbled, the origin bullet directly shot through the wooden wall and struck his body with great uracy.

    Captain Zhou watched as the lower half of his body vanished into the origin power explosion. It was uncertain what was going through his mind at that moment¡ªwas it regret or was it something else?

    Qianye¡¯s body suddenly lit up with small origin power eruptions. He staggered back a couple of steps from the impact of the origin power bullets which struck him head-on.

 Volume 3 - 92: Safe Arrival

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 92: Safe Arrival

    Qianye lowered his head to inspect his body. He found his armor torn in many ces with blood seeping out of the wounds caused by the origin guns. However, the damage these grade one origin guns could inflict on the current Qianye was rather limited. Gunpowder weapons couldn¡¯t even prate his defenses and only left a smoky scent on him.

    The ve-trading soldiers charging at Qianye were momentarily stunned after seeing him unfazed after taking several hits. They had witnessed such scenes before with powerful dark race warriors, but the one before them was a human¡ªa sniper no less.

    Qianye creased his brows and said slowly, ¡°It really is a little bit painful!¡± His cold gaze swept over the soldiers whose faces were surging with murderous intent. ¡°Perseverance can, of course, be considered a good moral characteristic.¡±

    With that, he suddenly rushed into their midst¡ªtwo illusory flowers bloomed on the battlefield¡ªthe distinct rumble of the Twin Flowers reverberated through the air. Not only did the tremendous force tear apart its primary target, but the radiating energy also flung the nearby people into the air. These rank one fighters were iparably weak before a rank four origin gun.

    Qianye drew the Radiant Edge after firing twice and proceeded to illuminate the air with streaks of blood color light. The vers fell one after another, and the remaining soldiers went berserk in their desperation. Many were determined to tear off Qianye¡¯s flesh even on their deathbeds.

    Qianye¡¯s physique and strength far surpassed these soldiers even without activating his origin power. He weaved throughout the battlefield and was virtually unstoppable. The more he killed, the more he found it difficult to restrain his anger. Why couldn¡¯t they direct such valiance toward fighting the dark races instead of using it against someone of the same race!?

    Qianye suddenly let out a long howl. Origin power rushed into the Radiant Edge, and apanying it into the de was his evolved blood energy! The dagger erupted with a scarlet radiance. These human soldiers were simply too weak before the de capable of cutting open swordspiders and werewolves. Oftentimes, they were cut into two merely after brushing past the overflowing origin power radiance!

    Gunshots suddenly rang out beside Qianye. Among them was the rumble of origin guns and an even greater number of gunpowder weapons. Fresh blood burst out from the bodies of the ver soldiers rushing toward Qianye in waves.

    Qianye turned around to check¡ªthe people who should¡¯ve been hiding behind the cars had climbed onto the roof and were firing continuously from an advantageous elevation.

    Many of them used to be outstanding soldiers who possessed almost consummate shooting skills. Those without guns picked up swords and staves, while the rest without any weapon at all simply picked up stones from the ground before charging toward the battlefield!

    The vers began to retaliate. Several ves copsed as a series of gunshots rang out. However, this caused the remaining ves to charge even faster and their cries to grow even louder! Their surging murderous intent caused the ver soldiers a great deal of rm.

    Only a few dozen soldiers from the vige remained by the time the battle ended. This meant that over half of them had fallen. A squad with such a casualty ratio could be considered one with martial spirit, even by imperial army standards. The problem was that this squad wasn¡¯t even part of the army. Only a small part of them were on the seventh division¡¯s official records, while the others were privately groomed guards. Theirbat targets weren¡¯t dark race members but instead, humans.

    Qianye never understood why these people could erupt with such fighting spirit against their own race.

    Nevertheless, the battle had ended. The gap between their strength and Qianye¡¯s was already toorge topensate with numbers. Fortunately, in the end, their fighting spirit crumbled in the face of blood and carnage, else the only option would be to bathe the vige in blood. Qianye could easily aplish this but he certainly wouldn¡¯t enjoy it.

    They found arge amount of supplies within the settlement as expected. In addition to the two warehouses full of ck stones, there were several dozen industrial-use ck crystals, a warehouse full of metal ingots, andrge amounts of grain and cured meat. They found sufficient weapons and armors to outfit the hundreds of seedlings. There were also quite a lot of vehicleponents and some spare trucks. All of these things were carried away by Qianye as spoils of war.

    The captives who had surrendered were all crammed into a cargopartment after being disarmed. It was quite fitting to lock these prisoners in a vehicle used to transport ves.

    The convoy drove toward Broken River City that very night. The fatigue brought by the entire night of jolting intensified as even some of the trucks broke down. Fortunately, there were actually some seedlings who were familiar with mechanical repair. Add that to theponents and tools obtained from the settlement, all the trucks were able to resume their advance in the end.

    Qianye had no intention to stop and rest. He arranged for the drivers to take turns at the wheel. Everyone else was to remain within the passengerpartment to preserve energy. It was imperative that they leave the seventh division¡¯s domain as soon as possible. They could only be considered safe after getting in touch with the representatives of the Wei n base at Broken River City.

    Hurried footsteps rang out within the seventh division headquarters in the dead of the night. A staff officer rushed past the drill grounds and was headed toward Wu Zhengnan¡¯s residence at full speed.

    A gloomy Wu Zhengnan appeared in the parlor, still dressed in pajamas. Despite his usual fondness for the officer, his re at the moment seemed to say that thetter better have a good exnation or else he would be punished severely.

    ¡°General, the convoy has encountered an ident.¡±

    The staff officer¡¯s word caused Wu Zhengnan to jump up from the sofa. He grabbed the former¡¯s cor and roared, ¡°Which convoy!?¡± Wu Zhengnan¡¯s voice was actually trembling slightly even though he was a champion level expert.

    The officer¡¯s reply shattered Wu Zhengnan¡¯s final bit of hope. ¡°The one with which wepleted the transaction yesterday. The goods being transported were seedlings.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan released his grip and fell onto the sofa. He let out a heavy breath and asked, ¡°Those kinds of seedlings?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    Actually, the two instances of confirmation werepletely unnecessary¡ªWu Zhengnan couldn¡¯t be clearer¡ªthere was only one convoy transporting seedlings within half a month. He had deliberately refrained from scheduling other transactions during this period in order to avoid unnecessaryplications to this important deal.

    ¡°Where are the seedlings now? Have they been handed over to the dark race?¡±

    ¡°The transaction had already been concluded at that time but the werewolves and arachne were ambushed before they had gotten far. The escorts were almostpletely wiped out, and it was said that only two werewolves managed to escape. The seedlings were all lost.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan asked solemnly, ¡°Where are those seedlings? Have you found them?¡±

    ¡°They returned to the camp under the leadership of a young man where a battle ensued.¡±

    ¡°Battle? Don¡¯t tell me we lost!?¡±

    The staff officer¡¯s face was pale but he summoned up the courage and said, ¡°We¡­ indeed lost. Captain Zhou fell in battle along with most of the soldiers. The rest were taken captive with the exception of a few who had hidden themselves. The young man leading them seemed to be in a hurry. He took everything he could and left.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s expression was exceedingly somber. ¡°A young man? Any distinctive traits?¡±

    ¡°We only know that he wields an Eagleshot.¡±

    ¡°A sniper? A sniper can actually crush all the troops in the settlement!?¡± Wu Zhengnan roared in absolute fury. He stood up and grabbed the officer¡¯s cor and howled, ¡°Do you know how much time I had to invest in order to find so many seedlings? Do you know how much this failure will cost us? 50 f*cking thousand gold coins! 50,000 whole imperial gold coins!¡±

    The colossal amount caused the staff officer to go dizzy, but even more dizzying was Wu Zhengnan¡¯s hand. The bones on his neck were emitting cracking sounds under thetter¡¯s grip.

    Wu Zhengnan tossed the officer onto the sofa with a humph. ¡°There aren¡¯t a lot of people in this region who can use an Eagleshot. Go and investigate¡ªI¡¯ll give you a week¡¯s time to find out his identity. And what¡¯s the use of keeping those cowards who don¡¯t even have the courage to fight the enemy?¡±

    The staff officer replied, ¡°Rest assured, General. I know what to do now.¡±

    The staff officer hurriedly excused himself after seeing Wu Zhengnan wave his hand in response. Wu Zhengnan paced back and forth in the living room with a solemn expression. It waste at night but he had already lost any and all sleepiness.

    Dawn arrived once more. Broken River City was already visible in the distance. The journey was rather uneventful albeit exhausting. They ran into a beast pack twice but encountered neither dark races nor humans. Qianye instructed the convoy to stop near the hills on the city outskirts. There was a forest nearby from which they could gather materials for a temporary camp. Qianye headed toward Broken River City after allocating their duties.

    Broken River City had a poption numbering in the tens of thousands¡ªit couldn¡¯tpare to Darkblood City but was more or less equal to ckflow City in scale. The city, along with an area of over 100 square kilometers around it, fell under the jurisdiction of the 10th division.

    Geographically, Broken River City was closer to the interior of human territory, while ckflow City was located near the front lines. Consequently, Broken River City was much more prosperous inparison. Its perpetual dynamo tower at the city center was somewhatrger, and the public facilities appeared to be more orderly.

    Qianye brought out his hunter¡¯s association badge and entered the city after paying the entry fees. Hepared the map data in his mind to the streets at present and soon found the ce without much effort. It was a rather majestic looking building standing a whole seven stories tall. The decoration was new and didn¡¯t look like the old buildings of the Evernight Continent at all. This great building felt like a giant among dwarves in Broken River City.

    Qianye stood before the metallic doors and looked up at the fourrge words: Far East Heavy Industries. The four words were vigorous, powerful, and exuded an especially murderous aura. Every stroke possessed the sharpness of an unsheathed de.

    Far East Heavy Industries. This was one of the Wei n¡¯s primary industries which was, much like those of the other aristocratic families, engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of products ranging from machinery to weapons and ammunition. From what Qianye understood about the aristocratic families, it seemed they were all on a trend to manufacture everything by themselves in order to avoid being controlled by others. This was especially true for the sessive generations of the Wei n serving as regional lords.

    Far East Heavy Industries was a gigantic entity to the Broken River City. Its imposing manner was evidenced by this building which easily upied half a block. Despite all this, it could only be considered second-rate in the upper continent because this wasn¡¯t the Wei n¡¯s specialty.

    Two guards walked over after seeing Qianye stand before the door for some time. They sized up his hunter attire and shouted, ¡°What are you looking at!? This isn¡¯t a ce you cane to. Scram!¡±

 Volume 3 - 93: Settling In

    Volume 3 Chapter 93: Settling In

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 93: Settling In

    Aristocratic family branches were some of the most formidable powers in the Evernight Continent, second only to the expeditionary army. Most of them were quite haughty and overbearing, even going as far as to look down on the mayor and the local troops.

    Qianye was in no mood to bother with such people. He produced the jade ring and said indifferently, ¡°This is the insignia of an inspection executive. Please have the person in chargee out.¡± Although the crossed swords weren¡¯t visible because the ring hadn¡¯t been injected with origin power, the engraved eagle head of the Wei n could be seen clearly.

    A guard replied coldly, ¡°We have never received such a notice. Who knows where you got that item from? Don¡¯t you dare act ostentatiously in Wei n territory¡­¡±

    Before he could finish speaking, another guard swiftly moved to cover his mouth. Thetter then bowed to Qianye and said, ¡°Please wait for a moment. I¡¯ll go and get the manager this instant. We¡¯re not qualified to identify which superior this token belongs to.¡±

    Qianye nodded calmly. An aristocratic family like the Far East Wei n could be considered to have strict principles and managed their n members and servants quite stringently. In truth, one could roughly estimate the n¡¯s circumstances by looking at the performance of their basic staff. They weren¡¯t too far from decline if they couldn¡¯t even control their servants.

    The guard darted into the building and hurriedly returned in thepany of a man in his prime years. The man¡¯s eyebrows twitched when he saw the simple jade ring in Qianye¡¯s hands. Inspection executives were the highest ranking among the Wei n¡¯s external executive officers and were several ranks superior to a mere manager of a tiny Broken River City branch. Their arrival often meant that they had major business to take care of¡ªhowe they hadn¡¯t heard anything at all?

    The man introduced himself as Wei Cheng, a deputy manager of the Far East Heavy Industries¡¯ Broken River City branch. He was currently the person in charge since the manager had gone to the upper continentst month to verify ounts.

    Wei Cheng respectfully invited Qianye into the hall before receiving the ring for inspection. ¡°Sire, you look rather unfamiliar to me. I wonder what official business you have ining down this time?¡±

    Qianye had been observing Wei Cheng for some time. This person appeared to be respectful, but in truth, he was quite shrewd. His words were rather probing, and he was likely a difficult person to deal with.

    Qianye smiled after hearing Wei Cheng¡¯s inquiry. ¡°Wei Huyang granted me the inspection executive token in order to facilitate everyday matters. I should be able to requisition resources to a certain extent should the need arise.¡± He removed the silver ne and ced it on the table.

    Wei Cheng was greatly astonished. Wei Huyang was the taboo name of Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir. Although he, too, was surnamed Wei, the distance between them was simply too great. Normally, it was likely that the heir would never set foot into such a small city.

    Wei Cheng withdrew all his thoughts at this point and returned the ring to Qianye. He then took the ne in both hands and injected a strand of origin power into the eagle head pendant. Immediately afterwards, the array lit up and a singleyer feathered crest appeared on the eagle head, the symbol of the marquis¡¯ heir.

    ¡°Indeed, this is a token of the heir! May I ask what instructions do you have, sire?

    ¡°I have a batch of people who need to be settled down. Do you have any camps outside the city?¡±

    Wei Cheng replied hurriedly, ¡°You have an entourage outside the city? Allow me to dispatch someone to wee them into the city. Although Broken River City is small, I¡¯m sure we can sort out a few courtyards and settle them down appropriately.¡±

    Qianye shook his head and replied, ¡°No need to enter the city. It¡¯s best if we can arrange for them outside since I brought quite a number of people. I¡¯ll also require clothes, beddings, and food for them.¡±

    ¡°How many people are there in sire¡¯s entourage?¡±

    ¡°700, more or less.¡±

    Wei Cheng was shocked out of his wits, but this time, he seemed to have no intention of probing into the heart of this matter. He pondered for a moment before bringing out a map and pointing to a certain location. ¡°What do you think of this? There¡¯s a mine owned by the Wei family about 20 kilometers east of the city. We might be able to fit everyone into the adjacent vige albeit with some minor difort in living conditions. Most of the buildings there are empty because the mine isn¡¯t operational during this season.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good enough. Let¡¯s just go with this.¡± Qianye observed the map in detail and habitually memorized the local topography and roads.

    Wei Cheng immediately got to work¡ªhe summoned the staff in charge of various resources one after another and assigned them their relevant tasks in front of Qianye, appropriately arranging for the basic needs of all 700 people. He even took security into consideration and instructed the weapons warehouse to issue a batch of firearms and ammunition. Although they were only gunpowder weapons, it was sufficient to deal with normal situations.

    Being able to mobilize such arge amount of resources was an indication of the Wei n¡¯s wealth, but Wei Cheng himself was quite capable to be able to arrange everything appropriately in a short amount of time.

    Qianye was relieved atst after helping these people settle in. He also had Wei Cheng notify Wei Potian of his situation by mail.

    Along the way to Broken River City, Qianye had made the decision to prevent these people from entering the city. The value of these seedlings was extraordinary¡ªthe ckflow City¡¯s defensive perimeter alone wouldn¡¯t be able to gather such an amount of quality merchandise. He suspected that the other expeditionary divisions might have a hand in this.

    Broken River City fell under the 10th division¡¯s jurisdiction. The Far East Heavy Industries, on the other hand, was like a tradingpany. Despite possessing a good number of elite private soldiers, they couldn¡¯t bepared with the expeditionary army in terms of pure strength. As such, he might be walking right into a trap if he brought these seedlings into the city without due caution. Even if the 10th division wasn¡¯t involved in this matter, there was no telling how these adjacent divisions would collude with one another. They would only be truly safe after meeting up with Wei Potian.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stay for long in Broken River City. He left at dawn the next day and disappeared into the wilderness.

    The prisoners they had captured were all handed over to Wei Cheng who promised to deal with them cleanly. Thetter followed conventional methods¡ªmost of them were sent to remote mines to work, while a small group of undisciplined ones was transferred to ve traders. Seeing Qianye show little interest regarding this matter, Wei Cheng refrained from going into the details.

    At this time, Qianye was working on another matter. He spent three days alone in the wilderness, retracing the path along with which they had escaped to Broken River City. Anyone following their trail, be it the dark races or other people, would likely run into Qianye¡¯s ambush. He returned to Broken River City only after confirming that no one was on their tracks.

    The Far East Heavy Industries upied a total of six mines, four of which produced ck stones, while the other two produced metallic ore. The group Qianye had saved was settled down in a vige beside one of the ck stone mines. After being told of their identity and origins, Wei Cheng dispatched an additional 100 soldiers to ¡°protect¡± them. In truth, he just wanted to keep a closer watch on these seedlings lest some of them try to escape while Qianye wasn¡¯t around.

    Except being unable to leave the mine, their daily lives were arranged in perfect order. The men, women, and children all had their residences while the soldiers formed a separate group.

    The miners¡¯ residences were all in the mining area. This vige was used to provide residence for the foremen and their families during the mining season. It wasn¡¯t veryrge and the avable living space was only slightly better than the ve camp. Wei Cheng dispatched several batches ofborers to fell trees and build more houses the next day, and before long, the small vige had expanded by almost twofold.

    Everything within the vige was already on the right track by the time Qianye returned.

    At this time, he unexpectedly came across a familiar face on the vige streets¡ªSong Zining.

    The Song n¡¯s Seventh Young Master was together with the children, his expression as gentle as spring water. They were all gathered around him in a circle with raised heads, listening attentively to what he was saying.

    Qianye hurried over and called out, ¡°Zining!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s warm smile became even brighter when he looked up and saw Qianye walking over. He bent down, said something to the children and had them all disperse before weing Qianye with a hug. ¡°I thought I was quick enough in handling matters, but I would have never expected you to act even faster.¡±

    After hearing Song Zining¡¯s words, Qianye understood that the former had gotten a general idea regarding Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ck crystal suppliers.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help butugh while exining the current circumstances. He didn¡¯t n to take action at first but changed his mind after finding out that the products being traded were people.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. There are too many variables involved in such matters. We should act as fast as we can. I just hope Wei Potian doesn¡¯t dawdle.¡±

    Qianye nced at the surroundings. ¡°Let¡¯s go into my room first.¡±

    The house Wei Cheng had arranged for Qianye was naturally the best in town. However, the vige itself was simple and crude¡ªeven the best building here wasn¡¯t anything impressive.

    Song Zining walked around the house and clicked his tongue. ¡°A stately Far East Wei n arranged such a ce for their heir¡¯s friend? This treatment is no different from the mine foreman.¡±

    However, Song Zining hadn¡¯te alone. The moment he gave the order, several dozen maids, servants, and guards entered in single file. They cleaned the simple house and arranged everything systematically in the blink of an eye. Song Zining had also brought along two chefs who had already gone into the temporary kitchen to prepare their meal.

    After seeing Song Zining¡¯s show of extravagance, Qianye began to understand why the former was willing to set up camp on the outskirts instead of entering the city. It seemed the facilities in his camp might be even better than those in the city.

    Qianye helplessly shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. I chose this ce instead of heading into the city to avoid unnecessary trouble.

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Not entering the city was the correct choice. The people from the 10th division can still y dumb if you¡¯re outside the city, but that wouldn¡¯t be the case if you swaggered in with so many people. By that time, they couldn¡¯t y dumb even if they wanted to.¡±

    At this point, Song Zining nced at Qianye and said, ¡°Such arge number of good seedlings... The value of this transaction should be in the tens of thousands. The seventh division alone wouldn¡¯t be able to muster up such a capital. Perhaps the nearby divisions are also involved. You really hurt Wu Zhengnan this time.¡±

    Qianye replied apologetically, ¡°Zining, it seems the implications are getting deeper and deeper. I¡¯m sorry to drag you into this.¡±

    It was merely an idea back when Qianye decided to deal with Wu Zhengnan. In truth, he wasn¡¯t certain how he would go about realizing it. Only when he began to take gradual steps toward it with the help of his friends did he realize that it was a maelstrom involving many factors. It seemed as if every string he pulled out was connected to a wholework. Of course, Qianye didn¡¯t have the slightest fear for himself. What worried him most was his friends.

    Song Ziningughed out loud and replied nonchntly, ¡°No matter how troublesome he is, he¡¯s just an expeditionary army divisionmander of civilian origins. Killing him is much easier than killing Gu Liyu.¡±

 Volume 3 - 94: Knowledge Is All About Details

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 94: Knowledge Is All About Details

    Qianye was somewhat startled but soon realized that Song Zining must have already known about the incident he had encountered while staying with the Yin family. In truth, the way he viewed these things had gradually changed since the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. He shook his head and replied, ¡°These things are rted to the Yin family¡¯s internal affairs. Only Qiqi can resolve them.¡±

    Besides, Gu Liyu normally stayed at the Imperial Military Department and his whereabouts would be highly confidential even if he did leave for a mission. There was nothing Qianye could do unless the former took the risk to appear before him. However, he had already left the Yin family and was nowpletely unrted to that pond of murky water.

    Song Zining seemed to have understood Qianye¡¯s unspoken notion. His eyes faintly shed as he swiftly changed the subject toward inquiring about how he had intercepted Wu Zhengnan¡¯s merchandise.

    ¡°I have unexpectedly received news of this transaction, bute to think of it, it was rather strange. There actually weren¡¯t any proper defensive measures despite the scale of this trade, not to mention the dark race escort was only about the size of a single patrol unit. I seeded only because of this.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be telling everyone that the value of this transaction was extraordinary if they suddenly increased security? You said the recipients of this transaction were the werewolves and arachne. How could the vampires not be interested in such arge batch of high-quality seedlings? There¡¯s little meaning in increasing the number of guards if news of this transaction was leaked. They would never be able to walk out of vampire territory. Aren¡¯t the goods desired by Marquis Ross also within this batch? It¡¯s not as if he can¡¯t y dirty among themselves.¡±

    Qianye also began to understand andter said, ¡°I¡¯ve saved these people but know of no good way to help them settle down. Staying here on the long term isn¡¯t quite feasible.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re actually worrying about what to do with a batch of superior seedlings!¡± Song Ziningughed until his brows turned crescent. However, after seeing Qianye still puzzled, he muttered to himself for a moment and said, ¡°Just have them stay here for the meantime. I¡¯ll dispatch some people over to help you manage things once we finish dealing with Wu Zhengnan.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly blinked while saying this and proceeded to smile mischievously. ¡°I have already prepared some presents for you, but I¡¯ve changed my mind after seeing these people. I¡¯ll bring you a different gift next time we meet.¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt a bad premonition toward this ¡°gift¡± after seeing his good friend¡¯s expression. ¡°Zining, why did you suddenlye over to this ce?¡±

    ¡°What else other than for your case? I¡¯ve already found clues about the ck crystal channels and I came here to confirm some things.¡±

    Qianye felt somewhat apologetic. ¡°Don¡¯t let my matters dy your own business.¡±

    But Song Zining only replied with a smile, ¡°This is my business now.¡±

    The two slept in the same room that night and reminisced about past events from the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Qianye was astounded to discover that so many amusing things had happened during that period of hellish training.

    Memories were indeed fascinating¡ªsometimes the hardships would be washed away, leaving only warm-hearted recollections; but sometimes, all happiness would be erased, leaving only pallid ugliness.

    Song Zining stayed in the vige for two days to make sure matters were running smoothly. Wei Potian¡¯s messenger arrived during this period with a reply stating his time of arrival. Only after that did Song Zining leave hurriedly along with his entourage.

    In the following days, Qianye arranged the seedlings into various groups. Not all of them had nowhere to go, but almost all of them were unwilling to leave and expressed their desire to follow Qianye.

    However, Qianye soon discovered that managing people was quite a troublesome task, especially when they were in the hundreds.

    Wei Cheng came to the vige to meet Qianye this morning and respectfully ced a list on the table. Qianye looked through it and found a long and detailed list. Most of the items on it were trivial¡ªfood, clothing, equipment, weapons, house and road maintenance, so on and so forth¡ªmore than a hundred of them.

    These detailed items meant only one thing, money.

    Wei Cheng didn¡¯t ask Qianye forpensation but had delivered this list for Qianye to look over. The meaning was clear¡ªit was to let Qianye know how much had been spent on these people. Discounting other costs for now, the daily necessities alone came down to ten gold coins a day. If there were other requirements, physical training or weapons, and ammunition, for instance, the cost would increase several fold or even tens of times.

    Qianye put down the list and asked, ¡°How much resources can the heir allocate?¡±

    ¡°The amount made avable to the heir is different for each region. We¡¯re at the lowest grade seven region and thus we can only provide 500 gold coins¡¯ worth of supplies. A county town would be able to supply 1000 gold coins, while the upper continent cities would be able to mobilize up to 5000 gold coins¡¯ worth of resources.¡±

    Wei Cheng¡¯s attitude was respectful throughout their interaction but Qianye knew this shrewd manager wouldn¡¯t amodate at all once the predetermined limit was reached. Qianye had already used over 300 gold coins on these seedlings up till now. Arge portion of it was used to buy the necessary weapons and tools.

    Qianye had obtained a significant amount of ores and tools from Wu Zhengnan¡¯s trading camp while the dozen cargo trucks also constituted a small fortune. He thought about it for some time and then brought Wei Cheng toward the temporary storage room. There were several sealed chests stacked here, all of which were goods to be shipped to the dark races along with the seedlings.

    Qianye extended his hand and, with a single tug, tore the lid off from one of the sealed chests to reveal the fist-sized pieces of red ore within.

    Wei Cheng was astonished after seeing the contents of the chest. He produced an optical instrument from his coat pocket and proceeded to inspect the ore. These origin stones were decorated with beautiful cloud patterns and had several minute crystals embedded in them.

    Wei Cheng exhaled deeply. ¡°Indeed, these are indeed crude red crystal iron ore and of good quality too. Each chest could easily sell for over a hundred gold coins. But red crystal iron ore is the raw material for producing origin arrays. How did you obtain such arge amount?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply.

    Wei Cheng pped his forehead. ¡°Ah! I¡¯m so silly! I shouldn¡¯t have inquired so carelessly about your matters! Please don¡¯t take this to heart!¡±

    ¡°150 gold coins for each chest, will you buy them?¡±

    Wei Cheng nodded continuously. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll buy! I¡¯ll buy as many as you have!¡±

    Qianye nodded and replied, ¡°I have 20 chests here.¡±

    Wei Cheng was so excited that his face was almost red. ¡°Since you look after me so much, I, Wei Cheng, am not someone who doesn¡¯t appreciate kindness. Let me tell you honestly, your asking price is indeed a tad too cheap. So, for such arge amount, I intend to set it at 3300 gold coins in total! What do you think of it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Qianye simply nodded. ¡°But don¡¯t pay me the whole amount in coins. Convert the surplus into weapons, equipment, medicine, and food.¡±

    ¡°No problem! I¡¯ll have people prepare everything right away. You¡¯ll see a list this afternoon. We can prepare everything within a week as long as it isn¡¯t too difficult to procure. You can also receive a 10% discount on everything since you have the inspection executive insignia.¡±

    Qianye felt relieved after finalizing the details of the trade with Wei Cheng. He knew red crystal iron was the primary raw material for inscribing origin arrays and that it could be used to produce origin guns below grade three and melee weapons below grade two. The ore within a single chest was sufficient to produce 10 origin guns, meaning Wu Zhengnan had sold an equivalent of 200 origin guns to the dark races.

    Qianye¡¯s quotation on the red crystal iron ore was indeed somewhat cheap. Each chest of ore could be worth over 200 gold if sold to the Qin Continent, or close to 300 gold if sold to the dark races. However, it wasn¡¯t easy to sell such arge amount of thorny and illegally obtained goods.

    He could only rely on the Wei n¡¯s Far East Heavy Industries¡ªonly they dare ept goods of dubious origins without the slightest scruple¡ªthis was also out of consideration for the token in Qianye¡¯s hand.

    Wei Cheng¡¯s attitude toward Qianye in the following days became excessively enthusiastic after receiving such a big profit. He would visit the vige almost every day to call upon thetter. It just so happened that Qianye also had uses for him¡ªmanaging the basic needs of these 700 people, nning ahead, preventing conflicts and unexpected circumstances¡ªeverything was extremely tedious and convoluted. However, knowledge could be found hidden within details. Qianye, on the contrary, had learned many things from Wei Cheng during this time.

    While Qianye was busy with countless trifles, Song Zining had already changed his appearance and was now amonly dressed young man. He hade, with two servants, to Shanyin County, located in the hintends of the Evernight Continent.

    A whole 30,000 expeditionary troops were garrisoned in Shanyin County. Normally, there shouldn¡¯t be so many troops stationed here since it wasn¡¯t located close to human territory borders. The reason for having three times the standard number of soldiers here was that this ce was thergest and most famous ck crystal production zone in the Evernight Continent.

    It was already quite dark and the world would bepletely engulfed by night in another half hour. Song Zining was strolling along a narrow street within the county town. The county town was very lively, but this particr street was unduly silent for some reason.

    The end of this street appeared before Song Zining and to one side of it was arge mansion. Quite a few thugs had gathered at the end of this street and were chatting awayzily amongst themselves.

    Song Zining¡¯s footsteps reverberated along the silent street and soon attracted the attention of these idle thugs. They stood up one after another and walked slowly toward Song Zining, their cold eyes gradually turning bloodthirsty.

    Song Zining continued toward the mansion as if he didn¡¯t see them at all. The thugs nced at each other and moved forward to intercept him. ¡°Perhaps you¡¯vee to the wrong ce. Head somewhere else if you¡¯re just taking a stroll!¡±

    ¡°This should be the ce. I¡¯m precisely here to meet Chen Guangyu,¡± Song Zining replied with a smile.

    The bewildered thugs sized up Song Zining and asked hesitantly, ¡°You¡¯re looking for Master Chen? But howe we¡¯ve never seen you before?¡±

    Song Zining nced at them with a smile. ¡°That means Chen Guangyu is here. Oh, is it autumn already?¡±

    ¡°What autumn?¡±

    The thugs were puzzled by Song Zining¡¯s words¡ªthe people from the Evernight Continent weren¡¯t as meticulous as those from the upper continent¡ªthere were only the light and dark seasons here. Sensing something odd, one of them immediately looked up in time to see countless leaves falling ever so gently...

 Volume 3 - 95: Under-the-Counter Deals

    Volume 3 Chapter 95: Under-the-Counter Deals

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 85: Under-the-Counter Deals

    ¡°What¡¯s this!?¡± the thug cried out in rm under the murky illumination. There were very few broad-leaved trees in the Evernight Continent and even less within the city. Where could they witness such a scene of colorful falling leaves? The thug was absolutely startled and subconsciously reached out to grab one of them only to find his hand pass right through as if it was an illusion.

    The confused thug actually saw his fingers dropping off before he could realize what was happening! The pain had yet to reach him at that moment. He was pondering whether this was origin power if not an illusion. Suddenly, he looked up as if he had remembered something and saw countless leaves falling still. Following which, boundless pain engulfed his senses and pushed him intoplete darkness.

    Falling leaves rustled down like rain. A garish blood-colored flower would bloom whenever a leafnded on someone. These thugs only had enough time to let out a short cry of misery before falling onto floor one after the other.

    Fresh blood began to flow within this silent street.

    Song Zining continued onwards. The sound of water would ring out whenever his heels struck the ground. It almost seemed as if he was walking on waves, but it was, instead, blood beneath his feet.

    Song Zining finally arrived before the mansion¡¯s scarlet doors, swung the door knocker, and proceeded to wait in silence.

    A momentter, the main doors opened a bit from which the impatient countenance of an old servant emerged. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you lot to settle things on your own!?¡±

    Song Zining was smiling just as before. ¡°I believe no one has ever told me that before. Besides, I¡¯m here to visit Chen Guangyu tonight.¡±

    The servant shouted, ¡°Do you think my master is someone you can meet anytime you want!?¡± He peeked outwards as if he was searching for something but his expression changed after finding no signs of activity. He swiftly turned around with the intention of crying out.

    Song Zining only chuckled. It was at this time that a single leaf suddenly appeared mid-air and swept past the servant¡¯s throat. The old man grasped his neck and stared fixedly at Song Zining but was already unable to utter a single word.

    With that, Song Zining walked through the main hall and arrived at the study after passing through two patterned doors. No sooner had the two servants looked up at the intruder than they fell clutching their throats. Over a dozen corpsesy haphazardly along the path¡ªsome were servants and others were guards¡ªall of them had their throats slit by a seemingly sharp object.

    Song Zining calmly pushed the door open and entered.

    An elderly man within the study said without looking up, ¡°Didn¡¯t I order you lot not to disturb me!?¡±

    ¡°But I really must disturb you for a while.¡± Song Zining maintained his mild behavior throughout the exchange.

    The old man was astonished after hearing an unfamiliar voice. ¡°You! Who are you!?¡±

    Song Zining walked to the old man¡¯s desk and sat down nonchntly. ¡°One whoes with a deal.¡±

    ¡°How did you get in? Guards!¡±

    The elderly man called out loudly but received no reply. The whole mansion was deathly silent as if there wasn¡¯t a soul. The man¡¯s expression immediately changed.

    Only then did Song Zining smile and say, ¡°All who cane to your aid are dead while the remainder can do little even if they arrive. Hence, I suggest you don¡¯t need to let them know, unless, of course, you think it''s a good idea for those women and children toe out.¡±

    The elderly man¡¯s expression was dismal. The veins on his forearms quickly became visible as he gripped the armrest tightly. He swiftly calmed himself and sat straight before replying in a gloomy voice, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about your deal.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll recognize this?¡± With that, Song Zining produced an item which he ced on the table.

    The elderly man¡¯s eyes suddenly went wide as a trace of extreme terror shed within! His fingers briefly touched the item in his hand but abruptly withdrew as if he was burnt. Even his voice was trembling as he said, ¡°You¡­ where did you get this?¡±

    What Song Zining had ced on the table was a standard measure industrial-use ck crystal, asrge as one¡¯s palm and one centimeter thick. This was one of the crystals Qi Yue had traded with the vampires back then.

    All ck crystals looked the same to the untrained eye¡ªthe cuts of the industrial use ck crystals would berger, while origin energy ck crystals would be smaller and of increased purity. However, every crystal was different to those who truly knew the ropes. There were minute differences in each of them, from the internal patterns to the energy fluctuations in their depths. A master appraiser would be able to determine the ore vein from which a particr ck crystal was produced or even narrow it down to a certain mining site.

    ¡°This ck crystal should¡¯ve leaked out from the Chen n mines, am I right?¡±

    Beads of sweat hung on Chen Guangyu¡¯s forehead. ¡°Yes¡­ yes, how did this happen? Everyone knows our mines only produce a small amount of ck crystals.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel this ck crystal is somewhat special?¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice was very gentle¡ªso gentle that it felt like a devil¡¯s whisper.

    The elderly man¡¯s posture straightened even more and his vigor seemed to have increased. However, his actions seemed to betray his guilty conscience under the current circumstances.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s so special about this crystal,¡± Chen Guangyu replied slowly.

    Song Zining chuckled. ¡°Oh, I actually have a story to tell you. This ck crystal was reimed from vampire hands¡ªit so happens that the vampires were trading with some humans.¡±

    Chen Guangyu calmed down. Leaning back on the chair, heughed coldly. ¡°What does that have to do with me? We, the Chens, are only responsible for extraction and processing. The ores are then sold. How can we control what the buyer does with them afterward?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°It is indeed so!¡±

    Chen Guangyu was momentarily startled¡ªhe hadn¡¯t expected Song Zining to be so reasonable. But thetter continued, ¡°I only need to ask the buyer about the details to confirm whether or not your Chen n is involved in this matter.¡±

    Chen Guangyu¡¯s expression changed slightly but then he began tough coldly. ¡°Young man, these people are all big-shots. They¡¯re not as easy to bully as I am. Feel free to try if you think you can do it!¡±

    Song Zining yed down the man¡¯s words. ¡°You¡¯re also an inw of the Huaiyang Wu n and not necessarily someone to be pushed around. Themander of a third-rate defensive division can¡¯t be considered much of a heavyweight either. You¡¯d best turn around and take a look.¡±

    Chen Guangyu¡¯s heart began to beat wildly after having his background and connections thoroughly revealed by Song Zining. He turned around as he was told, and only then did he discover the two people who had been standing behind him all along!

    The two middle-aged men were expressionless, and the contours of their faces were as hard as nails. More importantly, they were releasing their origin power aura without reservation. Chen Guangyu perceived vortices of dazzling origin power radiance slowly revolving behind them.

    Two champions!

    Chen Guangyu forgot to breathe for a moment as he turned his head back with great difficulty to face this youth whose disposition was as mild as jade. Thetter¡¯s unchanging smile, at this moment, felt iparably artificial, sinister and bloodthirsty.

    Regardless of his own ability, someone who could order two champions around indeed had no need to fear an expeditionary army divisionmander. Additionally, this youth clearly knew of his close rtionship with the Huaiyang Wu family and yet he had killed everyone within the courtyard. Such domineering methods indicated his deep background.

    Song Zining spoke indifferently, ¡°Do you understand now? I have absolutely no need for any proof nor do I need anyone to confirm the truth of matters. If I say that you¡¯re involved in trading with the vampires, then that is the truth. As for how you go about proving your innocence, that¡¯s your business.¡±

    Chen Guangyu seemed to have aged a decade and responded decrepitly, ¡°I understand. How do I address the young master? Please don¡¯t hesitate to state yourmands. I¡¯ll fulfill them to the utmost of my abilities.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surnamed Song.¡±

    Chen Guangyu was overwhelmed. ¡°Song, as in¡­ the Song n?¡±

    Song Zining tossed a pouch of coins onto the table along with two papers. ¡°Here¡¯s an airship receipt which can be used to travel to the Qin or any other continent under imperial rule. As long as you hurry toward Xichang City, you and your family can safely depart aboard an interster vessel no matter what happens here. The money within the pouch is for travel expenses. Naturally, you can also take whatever you can from this mansion.¡± He moved the thicker document toward Chen Guangyu and said, ¡°You need only to sign this document before you go.¡±

    Chen Guangyu¡¯s countenance turned pale after ncing through the contents. His voice trembled as he said, ¡°You want all of the Chen n mines?¡±

    ¡°There are only three in total and one of them is outrageously small.¡±

    Chen Guangyu inhaled deeply. ¡°Young man, don¡¯t you feel this is going overboard?¡±

    Song Zining smiled faintly. ¡°I feel I¡¯m extremely lenient. Look, I even arranged your trip, paid for your travel expenses, and allowed you to take away part of your fortune. It¡¯s also fine if you don¡¯t want to sign. By the time the higher upse to investigate this forbidden deal, you¡¯ll have to pay with the lives of your whole family in addition to these mines!¡± He paused momentarily and continued, ¡°Perhaps, more than just your family will be dragged into this.¡±

    Chen Guangyu drew a cold breath as he nced at Song Zining. He suddenlyughed bitterly and replied, ¡°Good, good, very good! I admit defeat this time!¡± With that, he grabbed the contract, signed his name, and proceeded to put down his personal seal before tossing it back to Song Zining.

    Song Zining inspected the signature and origin power seal before folding the contract and putting it back into his pocket. This process caused Chen Guangyu¡¯s brows to twitch uncontrobly¡ªthe other party had apparentlye prepared. They were even familiar with his signature and personal seal.

    Song Zining was still speaking amiably, ¡°You have one day to pack up. I¡¯ll send someone to take over the mines at this time tomorrow. I expect everything to be ready.¡±

    Song Zining got up after saying this but nced back suddenly as he approached the door. ¡°If I were you, I¡¯d avoid entertaining thoughts like admitting a loss this time and making aebackter on. You¡¯d do well to hide as far away from here as possible, lest I suddenly change my mind.¡±

    Chen Guangyu fell limply onto the chair after Song Zining left. Cold sweat had drenched bothyers of his clothing. At present, he had lost all notions of revenge.

    Regardless of whether the young man was from the Song n, his ability to mobilize champions and his direct and efficient methods fully disyed his might. He was vicious and merciless but didn¡¯t neglect to leave a lifeline for the other party, preventing them from burning the boats. Besides, the threat in his words was very clear¡ªhe would unravel Chen Guangyu thoroughly if thetter dared to act rashly.

    Chen Guangyu shuddered at the thought of this. That young man was right in that his top priority should be to cover his tracks. He suddenly turned around as if he had remembered something but found that the two champions had left just as silently as they had appeared.

 Volume 3 - 96: Suspicions

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 96: Suspicions

    Song Zining arrived in a certain courtyard in the southern part of the city after leaving the Chen mansion. This was his temporary residence. Its original owner was from a distant branch of one of Song¡¯s subsidiary ns. The house wasn¡¯t veryrge but quite functional and was built in the ssical style of Evernight architecture. The building¡¯s well-nned defenses, in case of emergencies, couldpare to those of a small castle.

    The two champions were already waiting inside by the time Song Zining walked into the side hall. He had someone bring out two boxes sealed with origin power and gifted one to each of them. ¡°This matter wouldn¡¯t have gone so smoothly without the two of you. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please give my regards to ninth uncle upon your return.¡±

    The two experts hurriedly stood up and the older person said, ¡°We¡¯re delighted to have the opportunity to help the seventh young master. Lord Nine has already reminded us to do our utmost in this matter. We¡¯re all from the Song n. There¡¯s no need for the young master to be so courteous.¡±

    The two wanted to refuse the gifts.

    But Song Zining said resolutely, ¡°It¡¯s merely a small gift. I¡¯m only paying due respect and it has nothing to do with identities. This is a necessary gesture to maintain the prestige of our guest officers. Even though I¡¯m from the direct line, how can I casually order about true experts like yourselves? Ninth Uncle thinks highly of and is willing to look after me. He also wishes for the two of you to treat me as a friend. Only then can we manage matters well.¡±

    The two experts felt at ease after hearing such words and stopped trying to refuse the gifts. They opened the sealed boxes upon returning to their rooms and found, to their great satisfaction, a piece of origin energy ck crystal within.

    The two had their duties in the Evernight Continent. Coming to Shanyang County was just a small detour. A mere three days¡¯ dyted them a piece of ck crystal. Such a quick and easy bonus wasn¡¯t amon urrence even at the champion level. They rarely had any contact with Song Zining in the past, but they found, in their few days of interaction, that the seventh young master was amiable, courteous, and sincere. The other young masters and mistresses seemed rtively narrow-mindedpared to him.

    These days, Qianye was busy training the seedlings. These meticulously selected people possessed good talent, constitution, andprehension. Things almost seemed quite presentable after only a few days of training. Additionally, there were quite a few among the children with the potential to be fighters.

    He was quite surprised after witnessing their progress even though he had expected as much. They would be able to form a squad 500 strong if they could maintain this training intensity. Their numbers were almost equivalent to a battalion and might not be at all inferior to the Imperial Army if they were properly equipped. If in time, more of them were to ignite their origin nodes to be fighters, their collective strength would even surpass the regr army.

    The training in the drill grounds had begun even before dawn. Groups of young boys and girls were running under the dusky illumination of a few originmps, undergoing their basic endurance training. The group of fighters was gathered on the other side of the drill grounds training their strength with various equipment.

    It was at this time that Wei Cheng¡¯s hurried figure appeared. Qianye¡¯s expression changed involuntarily after seeing the former¡¯s unusually early arrival.

    Wei Cheng approached Qianye and whispered, ¡°Young Master Qian, several suspicious figures were recently spotted in the vicinity. We just captured one of themst night.¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly. ¡°Have you found out his origin?¡±

    ¡°The problem lies therein. He¡¯s someone from the seventh division; the type with official records.¡±

    Qianye nced at the seemingly worried Wei Cheng¡ªhe had told thetter that these people were seedlings and also entrusted the handling of red crystal ores to him but he had never exposed the precise origin of these goods. But Qianye didn¡¯t intend to hide anything because he felt that, with Wei Cheng¡¯s perceptiveness, he should¡¯ve long since found out. That being said, his current worried expression seemed to be somewhatte.

    Qianye didn¡¯t intend to beat around the bush and asked directly, ¡°Will they attack the Far East Heavy Industries?¡±

    Wei Cheng¡¯s expression changed slightly and replied, ¡°They certainly wouldn¡¯t attack openly but there are indeed many ways to do things in secret. A group of convicts ¡®coincidentally¡¯ attacking the Wei n mines for instance. No one can me them for such a thing.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I need weapons; arge number of them.¡±

    Wei Cheng¡¯s expression momentarily turned ugly. ¡°Although the seventh division¡¯s defensive region is some distance away from Broken River City, the expeditionary divisions from the same theatre have good rtionships with each other. In truth, before there¡¯s any enemy movement, we should take this opportunity to¡­¡±

    Qianye squinted his eyes as he nced at Wei Cheng. He understood what thetter was implying¡ªhe wasn¡¯t willing to thoroughly offend the expeditionary army for Qianye. Although quite powerful, the Wei n¡¯s strength was still concentrated in the upper continent. The strength of this tiny Broken River City branch is far from beingparable to the expeditionary army. Once conflict breaks out, the ones to suffer first would surely be the Far East Heavy Industries.

    If Wei Cheng hadn¡¯t epted the red crystal ores without hesitation or if Wei Potian hadn¡¯t dispatched a messenger, Qianye could understand that this manager didn¡¯t dare make such a big decision on his own. But for someone who dared take in stolen goods and already knew Wei Potian would be arriving soon, his attitude was rather odd.

    Qianye was now quite suspicious and had no intention of giving this old fox the opportunity to evade his end of the bargain. ¡°Please deliver the equipment you owe me right away. Don¡¯t tell me you have insufficient reserves in the warehouse!¡±

    Wei Cheng¡¯s smile grew increasingly helpless. ¡°Young master, isn¡¯t this making things difficult for me?¡±

    ¡°Even if I don¡¯t, you¡¯ll be med all the same when the Wei n heir arrives. I can¡¯t take all of these people out into the wilderness¡ªthat¡¯ll be no different than sending them to their deaths. I want to see the equipment tonight. You must deliver the things I¡¯ve already paid for!¡± Qianye stopped paying attention to Wei Cheng after saying these cold words and went back to training the young warriors.

    Wei Cheng left helplessly after wishing the young master to take care.

    Gazing at Wei Cheng¡¯s receding figure, Qianye called one of the warriors over and gave him some instructions. This person used to be a hunter and was proficient in tailing people. Qianye told him to follow Wei Cheng from a distance and see whether he returned to the city or went somewhere else.

    Thinking back, Wei Cheng¡¯s attitude was quite zealous after receiving the red crystal ore but hadter stalled on delivering the full amount of equipment until this very day. Now, he even wanted to drive Qianye and the seedlings out of this stronghold-like vige. This was rather unjustified.

    At this moment, the seventh division headquarters was covered in proverbial dark clouds that could turn into a downpour any minute. Wu Zhengnan stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the map on the wall without saying a word. There were half a dozen people within the meeting room, all of them were Wu Zhengnan¡¯s trusted aides. All the core members of the seventh division had gathered here.

    No one spoke. It almost seemed as if one could hear people¡¯s heartbeats amidst the deathly silence.

    Finally, Wu Zhengnan slowly asked, ¡°Any news from the mines?¡±

    A colonel replied, ¡°Yes, sir. They refused to deliver thetest batch of goods using numerous doubtful excuses no matter how we urge them. The old bastard Chen Guangyu has hidden himself somewhere and hasn¡¯t been heard of since.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan suddenly asked, ¡°Where are his family members? Have you seen them?¡±

    The colonel was momentarily startled; following which, his expression turned quite ugly. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen them either. Not even one of them. An adjacent mine is being managed by his cousin, but he doesn¡¯t know where they went either.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan nodded. ¡°This means something has happened to the Chen n mines. Either Chen Guangyu has been captured or he has escaped.¡±

    The person in charge of this matter, Qi Sicheng, said, ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be possible. That old man has some background and also has some rtionship with General Lu of the expeditionary army. Otherwise, how could he get his hands on three whole mines in Shanyang County?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan said gloomily, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m saying this matter isn¡¯t simple. Someone has their eyes on us.¡±

    Qi Sicheng was quite puzzled. ¡°This is the Evernight Continent. Who would dare suppress our expeditionary army directly?¡±

    Wu Zhangnanughed and pointed upwards which caused Qi Sicheng to immediately stop talking.

    Another colonel was dissatisfied. ¡°So what if it¡¯s an aristocratic family from above? It¡¯s probably not that easy to touch the expeditionary arm, right? How could the dignitaries of the military department allow them to do as they please? If that really is the case, who will be willing to risk their lives for the empire in the future?

    Wu Zhengnan replied calmly, ¡°It¡¯s toote to be talking about these things. What do you make of the news delivered by the 15th division?¡±

    The 15th division was a field division¡ªtheir position and defensive line were located between ckflow City and Broken River City. The seventh division naturally couldn¡¯t march its army into the neighboring division¡¯s area and wantonly conduct an open search. The officer in charge had already dispatched a small number of scouts while secretly contacting the divisions they had good rtions with. Now, it was precisely the 15th division that had sent a reply.

    ¡°We¡¯ve received confirmation that the seedlings are hiding in one of Far East Heavy Industries¡¯ mining sites. The young man who robbed our goods is surnamed Qian and is also at the mine. The 15th division received this news from within the Far East Heavy Industries. Division Commander Zhang stated that he can dispatch a regiment but he wants a 10% share increase in all future transactions. Not only does he have to pay a ¡®toll¡¯ because the mine lies within the 10th division¡¯s defensive region, but also because this matter involves the Far East Wei n.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s expression became quite ugly at this point as 10% was naturally not a small number.

    Wu Zhengnan gloomily paced around before saying, ¡°Agree to it! But you have to tell the man surnamed Zhang that he has to settle this efficiently within a single day. Additionally¡­ tell him not to leave any survivors!¡±

    Qi Sicheng was shocked and said hurriedly, ¡°General, those seedlings are worth quite a lot of money!¡±

    ¡°Losing all investment is better than giving others something they can use against us, sending us to our miserable deaths. Let¡¯s just do it like this!¡±

    Qi Sicheng didn¡¯t dare dissuade but his expression was visibly pained. 50 of those seedlings could be considered his personal investment. He had thrown in quite a bit of the Qi family¡¯s wealth into this.

    There were also quite a few people with simr expressions within the meeting room.

    Wu Zhengnan muttered to himself for a moment before adding, ¡°The way that man surnamed Zhang does things isn¡¯t quite reassuring. Let¡¯s send one of our own regiments over¡ªsend the first regiment!¡±

    The first regiment was the strongest among Wu Zhengnan¡¯s troops. It consisted of over 2000 soldiers despite being called a regiment in practice. They were well outfitted and wasn¡¯t at all inferior to the imperial army regiments. Dispatching thisbat unit proved that Wu Zhengnan was determined to erase these seedlings along with anyone rted to this transaction.

    Qi Sicheng was also a meticulous person. After the pain from his loss had subsided, he recalled the abrupt and coincidental disappearance of Cheng Guangyu and his family. Suddenly, he felt a dense shadow fall upon his heart.

    The officer in charge of mobilizing the first regiment came running back almost as soon as he left. ¡°General, things don¡¯t look good! A group of people has arrived outside the city iming to be from the Wei n. They¡¯ve locked down the city gates, forbidding anyone from leaving the city. Our brethren have gotten into a conflict with them and a dozen or so were wounded.¡±

 Volume 3 - 97: Barricade

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 97: Barricade

    ¡°Wei n?¡± Speak of the devil!

    The staff officer reported, ¡°Those iming to be from the Far East Wei n say they¡¯re here to seal off the city and await their heir¡¯s arrival.¡±

    The heir!?

    ording to imperial nobility ssifications, only the sessor to the title of marquis and above may be addressed as such. Even if the people present couldn¡¯t recall the tremendouslyplicated aristocratic system, they knew a marquis was definitely the core of a high ranking aristocratic family. This wasmon knowledge! This also meant that the person arriving was from the main branch of the Far East Wei n¡ªthis changed the very nature of this matter¡ªeven the dignitaries of the expeditionary army would have to give the Wei n some face.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s expression turned extremely ugly. ¡°Have you confirmed it?¡±

    ¡°It should be true. There¡¯s also a squad from the Broken Winged Angels among them. Our brothers no longer dared take action after seeing them.¡±

    ¡°Could it be that our city gates have all been sealed?¡± Wu Zhengnan inquired.

    ¡°The Wei n men are stationed at all four gates.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan suddenly asked, ¡°The airships have returned, right? Two airships can hold one battalion. Sicheng, you and Old Zhao will lead two battalions from the first regiment and meet up with the 15th division¡¯s men at the Far East Heavy Industries¡¯ mines. You must kill that brat and all the seedlings no matter what happens here. Leave none alive! Do I make myself clear?¡±

    Qi Sicheng and another sinister looking colonel stood up to ept the order before leaving.

    Only then did Wu Zhengnan nce at all his aides within the meeting room and speak in a dull voice, ¡°Let¡¯s go and see what the people from the Wei n n to do.¡±

    An officer suddenly whispered into Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ear, ¡°General, we¡¯re still holding over a hundred seedlings in one of the barracks. Do you think¡­¡±

    Wu Zhengnan waved his hand without any change in expression. ¡°Deal with all of them!¡±

    The officer shivered slightly before hurriedlyplying.

    Wu Zhengnan said indifferently, ¡°Don¡¯t feel distressed about this. We need to be alive to use all the money. We can earn back the fortune after we ovee the challenge before us.¡±

    However, the expressions of the numerous officers didn¡¯t improve much. The Far East Wei n¡¯s heir making a personal appearance indicated that this matter wouldn¡¯t be settled so easily.

    A faint trace of malice appeared on Wu Zhengnan¡¯s face as he watched the two old airships take off and fly in the direction of Broken River City. He then boarded a jeep and drove toward the city gates.

    The two parties were in a confrontation.

    A dozen military trucks were parked right across the gates, forming a temporary barricade which effectively blocked the path out of the city. The 100-odd soldiers who had arrived with this convoy were facing off against hundreds of expeditionary army troops from the city and even more were on their way.

    Although it seemed like a confrontation with an obvious disparity in numbers, the party that had the upper hand was, in fact, the smaller one. Many from among the expeditionary army appeared apprehensive. They would nce into the distance from time to time and then look back into the city repeatedly.

    The cargo trucks outside the city weren¡¯t those old models from the expeditionary army system. Even the mud and dirt umted from the long track couldn¡¯t hide the exquisite craftsmanship of the dark ck and streamlined metallic hood. The expeditionary army¡¯s old model trucks, on the other hand, hadrge pipelines running along their sides. Due to theck of proper maintenance, most of them were rather rusty with areas where the paint had peeled off.

    The cars seemed to be from two different eras judging merely by their external appearance. Their gs and emblems also represented very different things. There were two types of gs among the cars forming the barricade. One of them was a depiction of an angel with a sword looking downwards, its wings dripping with blood, while the other was the Far East Wei n¡¯s eagle head emblem. Perhaps the ordinary soldiers were unfamiliar with the emblems of the aristocratic families, but the fierce veterans were all too familiar with them.

    The mere presence of these gs was sufficient to cause the expeditionary army soldiers to hesitate.

    Amotion rose from within the city as a convoy of jeeps rushed toward the barricade. Wu Zhengnan jumped down from the vehicle and shouted hoarsely, ¡°I¡¯m Wu Zhengnan of the seventh division. Who¡¯s the person in charge here,e out and meet me!¡±

    A Broken Winged Angel lieutenant colonel walked out and stood before Wu Zhengnan. The difference in rank didn¡¯t garner any extra respect from the former¡ªunconcealed arrogance was written all across his face.

    ¡°Where is the Wei n heir? Wasn¡¯t it said that he¡¯sing?¡±

    The Broken Winged Angel Lieutenant replied coldly, ¡°The heir of Marquis Bowang is still at the expeditionary army headquarters and will arrive in approximately one day. Anything you have to say will have to wait until his arrival!¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s expression sank. ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± It wasn¡¯t quite evident on his face, but he was shaken deep down. Marquis Bowang was the head of the Wei n!

    ¡°No other meaning. We¡¯re sealing the city and that¡¯s it.¡± The Broken Winged Angel wasn¡¯t quite courteous with his choice of words.

    ¡°What if I want to leave?¡±

    ¡°The heirmanded us not to let anyone enter or leave. It appears you¡¯re not an exception either.¡± The implication behind the lieutenant''s words was that Wei Potian had instructed them not to let Wu Zhengnan escape by any means.

    ¡°The Far East Wei n¡¯s influence hasn¡¯t extended quite as far as the expeditionary army, has it?¡±

    ¡°Maybe the Far East Wei Can can¡¯t, but the Broken Winged Angels certainly can,¡± the lieutenant replied arrogantly.

    Wu Zhengnan nodded. ¡°Very well. Then I¡¯ll wait for the Wei n heir¡¯s arrival within the city. Forgive myck of hospitality since you¡¯re here to blockade us.¡±

    With that, Wu Zhengnan jumped into the jeep and actually turned back into the city. This surprised the Broken Winged Angel lieutenant. He hadn¡¯t expected this notoriously bad-tempered divisionmander to actually be able to endure it.

    But that wasn¡¯t exactly a bad thing either. He turned around and shouted, ¡°Alright! Line up! We camp here!

    Wu Zhengnan waspletely silent within the vehicle. His aide-de-camp said lightly, ¡°General, do we need to make certain preparations?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Wu Zhengnan closed his eyes to restore hisposure.

    He was able to stay calm at this point but the aide was quite anxious.

    Wu Zhengnan suddenly asked, ¡°There should be quite a few prisoners in the southern prison, right?

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The aide calcted in his mind and replied, ¡°Over 400 prisoners remain.¡±

    ¡°Kill them all.¡± Wu Zhengnan¡¯s tone was dull.

    The aide-de-camp shivered once again and ground his teeth. ¡°Rest assured, general. I¡¯ll deal with this matter today.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t be in a hurry to get off the car. I have a list in my office. After this, take the list and mobilize my personal guards to kill each and everyone one of them. Leave no survivors but don¡¯t cause a ruckus, understand?

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    The jeep swiftly advanced toward the division headquarters but left soon after arriving. This time, it was followed by several military trucks as it drove toward the south of the city, surging with murderous intent.

    Wu Zhengnan stood gazing at the drill grounds from the french window in his office. The entire city could be seen not far in the distance. He had watched this scenery for many years now. It was merely a fort at first, but it had slowly grown block by block from a small vige into the medium-sized city it was today.

    He cherished the memory of this process and thus hadn¡¯t changed his office all this time. He even went so far as to avoid reconstructing this office building just so he could preserve this viewpletely. For a person of his status, the office building appeared rather shabby, however, sitting here watching the city develop bit by bit under the short-lived sunlight was his most satisfying pastime.

    Wu Zhengnan cared little whether the city¡¯s foundation was built on fresh blood or bones. To him, the weak were stepping stones, while the strong were handrails to help him climb higher.

    Food was scarce in the predominantly dark Evernight Continent. Meanwhile, humans possessed powerful reproductive capabilities and the growing poption was a big headache to any ruler. Wu Zhengnan himself was struggling to keep all these people fed. Some generals chose to import food and grain from the empire or other upper continents, while others opted to search for a third and better option¡ªsell the surplus poption to the dark races. It made little difference whether the buyers were werewolves or vampires.

    Noon. It was supposed to be one of the rare times of the day where the sun was at its brightest, however, the sky today was covered in dark clouds and was almost as dark as nightfall. This stifled Wu Zhengnan greatly. He had ovee many dangerous situations before, but he had little confidence in surviving this tribtion safely.

    ¡°I refuse to believe General Xiao will let them do as they please!¡±

    Xiao Lingshi was Wu Zhengnan¡¯s only hope at the moment. Xiao Lingshi had already reached the rank of lieutenant general before the age of fifty and upied the post of deputymander-in-chief of the expeditionary army. He was also the only one among the expeditionary army¡¯s higher-ups born in the Evernight Continent. By imperial standards, Xiao Lingshi¡¯s upbringing could be considered rather humble which, strictly speaking, was somewhat of an understatement.

    Xiao Lingshi had always firmly defended the interests of the expeditionary army, sometimes directly opposing the upper continent nobility in the process. On one hand, this caused the higher ups of the empire to view him as a troublemaker, while on the other, he won the love and respect of all his peers.

    The Far East Wei n and the Broken Winged Angels arriving tyrannically and immediately barricading the city seemed as if they were targeting the seventh division alone, but to Xiao Lingshi, this was an intolerable insult. Even the heir of Marquis Bowang wouldn¡¯t be able to do as he pleased as long as Xiao Lingshi kept the other party in check. Perhaps Wu Zhengnan might be able to ovee this difficult situation after all.

    In truth, Wu Zhengnan was still unclear as to when he had offended such arge entity as the Far East Wei n. This incident happened too abruptly¡ªnot to mention his allies, even his contacts within the expeditionary army headquarters hadn¡¯t sent so much as a hint. The whole matter felt rather ominous.

    Wu Zhengnan went through all possible scenarios in his mind. Did the Wei n want to do away with him after taking a fancy to ckflow City and the region around the Four Rivers Military Base? It wasn¡¯t as if such things had never happened before throughout the history of the expeditionary army. On second thought, however, it didn¡¯t seem like that either. Wu Zhengnan remembered that the Wei n marquis was the regional lord of the entire Far East Province. What could they possibly want from a mere third rate defensive region of the Evernight Continent¡ªone that was so close to the front lines too?

    If one were to investigate thoroughly, every expeditionary army divisionmander had vulnerable points which could be used against them. The most crucial evidence was still those seedlings taken away by that brat surnamed Qian. That was the business that had truly crossed over the military¡¯s red line. Dead men tell no tales¡ªas long as they were silenced, with Xiao Lingshi around, he would receive a light punishment or a public reprimand at most even if other small problems were discovered. However, if those seedlings were to survive, they would serve as an irrefutable evidence¡ªnot only would Xiao Lingshi have a hard time defending him at that point, but many other things might also be implicated.

    Wu Zhengnan regained much of his calm at the thought of this. How could one of his most elite battalions along with a whole regiment from the 15th division fail to deal with a few hundred people? Besides, the manager who had dealings with the 15th division had reportedly withheld arge batch of weapons and ammunition from them. It was likely that only half of those people would be outfitted at most.

    Wu Zhengnan had be quite calm at this point and was now waiting for the arrival of the marquis¡¯ heir.

    Evening, Far East Heavy Industries mining vige. The hunter whom Qianye had tasked with tailing Wei Cheng had just returned. After listening to the report, Qianye pondered about the situation for quite some time.

    The hunter had tailed Wei Cheng with great patience. He didn¡¯t leave after seeing Wei Cheng enter the Far East Heavy Industries Headquarters because he had sensed some unusual signs of activity. It seemed as if they were shipping things, but it also didn¡¯t look like they were preparing the goods for Qianye. He got his answer in the afternoon¡ªWei Cheng left Broken River City along with two cargo trucks and was headed toward the southwest. The hunter saw women and kids in hispany.

    There was no doubt that something was up with this Wei Cheng. The most important thing was to decide what to do next.

    Qianye nodded and gave themand, ¡°Go and bring over the two guard captains of the Far East Heavy Industries.¡±

 Volume 3 - 98: Struggle Behind the Scenes

    Chapter 98: Struggle Behind the Scenes

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 98: Struggle Behind the Scenes

    Assigned to each of the Far East Industries¡¯ mines was a single squad consisting of over thirty guards. Wei Cheng had transferred an additional squad over after Qianye brought these seedlings to the vige.

    The two guard captains were both in their thirties and had the strength of a rank four veteran fighter. After arriving at Qianye¡¯s small house, they entered the study which also served as the guest room. There, they encountered Qianye¡¯s pondering figure as well as a table with a map before him.

    The two nced at each other as a vague sense of uneasiness came over them. As the people in charge of the mine¡¯s defenses, they were much more familiar with the local situation inparison to Qianye. Although they had long since discovered the unusual changes outside the vige, they were still unsure of the enemy¡¯s identity. This ce, however, was the Evernight Continent, and fights could ur at any time or ce¡ªthe enemy wouldn¡¯t necessarily be limited to the dark races.

    After asking them to sit, Qianye bluntly told the two about Wei Cheng¡¯s visit as well as his discoveries after thetter was trailed.

    The expressions of the two guard captains changed drastically.

    Of the two, the guard captain who was simrly surnamed Wei began to curse on the spot, ¡°Dammit! That traitorous bastard!¡±

    The other, somewhat older captain was moreposed. He pointed toward a few locations on the map and said, ¡°Young Master Qian, if Wei Cheng has left Broken River City for the southwest, he¡¯s most likely heading for the 15th division.¡±

    The representatives of the aristocratic families usually maintained close rtionships with the expeditionary army, but Wei Cheng¡¯s actions this time indicated that he wasn¡¯t quite innocent. The only thing worth rejoicing over was the fact that the Broken River City¡¯s 10th division wasn¡¯t involved. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about a whole division attacking them in full strength. The 7th and 15th divisions would more or less have to exercise some restraint if they wanted tounch a cross-region assault.

    Qianye warned, ¡°From this point onwards, there¡¯s a chance that we¡¯ll encounter a fierce attack at any moment.¡±

    The two guard captains wore somewhat bitter expressions. ¡°Could it really be¡­ the expeditionary army?¡± The Far East Heavy Industries naturally wasn¡¯t an entity to be trifled with. All their guard squads wereprised of fighters and were definitely stronger than the expeditionary army¡¯s reinforcedbat units. However, it was still impossible for them to contend against a division within the expeditionary army¡¯s territory.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Such arge number of people would be vulnerable out in the wilderness¡ªleaving here means certain death. However, a small group of people might have a chance. You¡¯re all people from the Far East Heavy Industries. As long as you enter Broken River City, you should be safe from overt attacks.¡±

    The captain surnamed Wei replied, ¡°Young Master Qian, what are you saying? How can we face the heir in the future if we just abandon you and flee? This would be tantamount to betraying the n!¡±

    Although the two weren¡¯t familiar with the inside story, as management grade guard captains, they were present when Wei Potian¡¯s messenger transmitted his message. The messenger had already confirmed that Qianye¡¯s business had to be considered a n affair and had also stressed that thetter¡¯s authority was equal to that of an inspection executive.

    The other guard captain also spoke, ¡°It¡¯s certainly toote to leave now. Furthermore, since it¡¯s the 15th division ying tricks behind the scenes, there¡¯s no telling what stance the 10th division will take. Broken River City wouldn¡¯t necessarily be safer. We can only do our best to defend until the heir arrives tomorrow evening.¡±

    The captain surnamed Wei continued, ¡°Even the expeditionary army can¡¯t be allowed to bully the Wei n like this! The Wei n had fostered us for so many years! There will be people to take care of our matters even if we die here. Rest assured, young master, we¡¯ll fight to the death!¡±

    The captain surnamed He only nodded with silent resolution.

    Qianye sighed somewhat emotionally. In the beginning, he didn¡¯t n to have the two guard captains stay because he was worried about the expeditionary army¡¯s influence on them. He thought it would be better to have them leave rather than keep a potential threat nearby. Additionally, Qianye didn¡¯t want his friend to suffer grievous losses in order to help him.

    It was only on this day that Qianye was able to witness the true strength of the aristocratic families. Although traitors like Wei Cheng were present, there were even more loyal warriors such as the two guard captains before him¡ªthey were willing toy down their lives for the n¡¯s honor and interests. This was only one of Wei n¡¯s lower ranking branches¡ªjust how powerful would they be as an entire n?

    The three proceeded to discuss defense strategies. They decided to immediately reinforce the defensive perimeter by dispatching scouts and sentries toward the exterior. Fortunately, there was an abundance of heavy machinery within the mine behind them that could be used to build roadblocks and barricades. Due to Wei Cheng¡¯s betrayal, the situation of the surrounding mining zones had be unclear and their original channels ofmunication may have beenpromised. The two guard captains thus selected a few quick-witted veterans and tasked them with finding a way to report their current situation via the Wei n channels in adjacent regions.

    At this time, Wei Potian had juste out of the expeditionary army¡¯s administrative headquarters.

    He was positively beaming. ¡°Everyone said Xiao Lingshi is difficult to deal with and tends to protect his subordinates¡¯ shorings, but today, I found that the rumors aren¡¯t true at all!¡±

    The people around him replied almost simultaneously, ¡°This is, of course, due to the heir¡¯s wisdom and might!¡±

    Wei Potianughed loudly and scolded them with a smile, ¡°You lot should stop with the boot-licking! This daddy here clearly knows what he¡¯s capable of. But, it seems my ability in handling affairs has indeed made some progress recently. With Xiao Lingshi¡¯s matter proceeding smoothly, the old ancestor should be able to justify things on his end.¡±

    Wei Potian was over the moon as the people around him continued to shower him with praises. ¡°Let¡¯s go fes! This daddy wants to see what kind of shady business the expeditionary army is involved in! I¡¯ll take you all along to broaden your horizons along the way and also let you meet my good brother whom I¡¯d met back in the day! We¡¯ll arrive there tomorrow evening.¡±

    The retinue walked out of the administrative stronghold and headed toward the airshipnding pad, where the Wei n airship from the upper continent was already waiting.

    Wei Potian hade to call upon Xiao Lingshi because a certain n elder had told him that he would have to go past thetter if he wanted to touch anyone from the expeditionary army.The Wei n heir didn¡¯t have any strategy or n beforeing here¡ªhe was prepared to get into a huge argument and use force if necessary.

    However, he found that this expeditionary army general was extremely amiable. After listening to what Wei Potian had to say, Xiao Lingshi immediately stated that forbidden deals with the dark races absolutely couldn¡¯t be tolerated and that he wouldn¡¯t help such a person even though he was protective of his subordinates. He told Wei Potian to investigate this matter without any hesitation, and that he would provide as much help as he could within his power.

    Wei Potian, apart from being greatly surprised, was naturally quite satisfied. With that, he contentedly walked out from the administrative stronghold and headed toward the seventh division to trouble Wu Zhengnan.

    Wei Potian was full of confidence this time but he wasn¡¯t acting arbitrarily. Even if he wasn¡¯t adept at military affairs, there were people in the Wei n who were talented in such matters. After all, the Wei n ruled over an entire province and possessed a certain amount of influence in the empire. The Wei n had long since dispatched people to investigate Wu Zhengnan thoroughly. Only then did they set out on this task.

    Even before Wei Potian had set out, someone had long since handed him a thick stack of charges against Wu Zhengnan. The Wei n heir thus arrived confidently in the Evernight Continent with this evidence in hand. On one hand, he would be able to help Qianye a great deal, while on the other, he would be able to show off his abilities and prove that he was so much better than that useless Song Zining!

    Song Zining¡¯s figure appeared behind a certain window of the administrative stronghold. He stared at Wei Potian¡¯s receding figure and said softly, ¡°Idiot!¡±

    A middle-aged man d in a general¡¯s uniform stood beside Song Zining. The two stars on his epaulet indicated that he was a Lieutenant General. He was of a strong build and possessed an iparably sharp and imposing manner, almost like an unsheathed de.

    He was also following Wei Potian¡¯s shadow when he heard Song Zining¡¯s unceremonious evaluation. The general couldn¡¯t help chuckling but ultimately didn¡¯tment. The Wei n¡¯s heir was quite interesting. With Xiao Lingshi¡¯s background and experience, he looked down on these wild and arrogant aristocratic scions the most. But for some reason, he just couldn¡¯te to hate this Wei n heir whose actions, words and bearing quite resembled a fool.

    Xiao Lingshi turned toward Song Zining. This Song n descendant who appeared extremely graceful and amiable at first nce was also wearing a meaningful expression at the moment. What made him somewhat upset was that the core descendants of two different aristocratic ns had set their eyes on one of his subordinate divisionmanders.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°General Xiao, you don¡¯t need to pay that fool any attention. Let¡¯s continue with our discussion.¡±

    Xiao Lingshi nodded and returned to the sofa. Song Zining sat across from him and produced a certain document which he ced before the former. ¡°Here¡¯s half of the rights to all three of the Chen n¡¯s mines. Please check them.¡±

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t hold back.¡± Xiao Lingshi received the contract and checked it in detail.

    Song Zining sat calmly and patiently. People in a high position such as Xiao Lingshi normally wouldn¡¯t need to personally attend to such matters as there would be relevant personnel to help him sort things out. Song Zineng was partially surprised to see thetter¡¯s devotion and couldn¡¯t help but raise his evaluation of this lieutenant general of humble origins.

    This man worked with due diligence despite his high authority and was flexible enough to lower his stance at important junctures. These qualities probably allowed Xiao Lingshi to ascend from his humble origins to his current high position.

    After reading through the whole contract twice, Xiao Lingshi put the document back onto the table and spoke with great satisfaction, ¡°I¡¯m greatly reassured by Seventh Young Master¡¯s meticulousness in handling affairs. There¡¯s no problem with this contract. Let us proceed ordingly. I¡¯ll send someone to your residence with my insignia to sign the contract.¡±

    Song Zining nodded in agreement. This was the right thing to do¡ªXiao Lingshi wouldn¡¯t put too many properties under his direct name. These things didn¡¯t pose a problem for those of aristocratic origins as they had various sources and channels at their disposal. However, for those of humble origins, such properties were potential evidence that could be used against them.

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°General Xiao, as I said before, this is just the beginning. There will be many profits to share in the Shanyin County or perhaps even in the whole Evernight Continent. After we unroot Wu Zhengnan, all of his trade channels will fall into my hands. At that time, you¡¯ll see even greater returns from this trade route. Those divisionsmanders colluding with Wu Zhengnan will also continue earning the same profits as long as they don¡¯t cause intentional trouble for me. The amount of earnings definitely won¡¯t decrease despite the inevitable reduction of their percent shares.¡±

    Xiao Lingshi nodded. ¡°This will be for the best. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be hard for me to settle things if too many people are opposed.¡± He thought for a while and added, ¡°Since seventh young master came prepared, you must know about the Huaiyang Wu n. Have you considered whether or not they¡¯ll voice their opinion?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes shed. Xiao Lingshi¡¯s tone was calm and seemingly without anyplicated meanings behind them. Everyone knew Wu Zhengnang¡¯s surname Wu had nothing to do with the Huaiyang Wu n¡­ at least on the surface.

    The only person rted to the Huaiyang Wu n in this whole business was the supplier, Chen Guangyu of the Chen n, who could be considered a faraway inw rtive of the Huaiyang Wu n. However, Xiao Lingshi wouldn¡¯t be so kind as to remind Song Zining about this just to facilitate the cleanup¡ªthe former definitely had other ns since he had mentioned this matter.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°If General Xiao has other ideas, we can consider them regardless of whether the Wu n voices their opinion or not.¡±

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 Volume 3 - 99: Besieged

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 99: Besieged

    Xiao Lingshi stood up to retrieve a map which he then unfurled onto the table. The distribution of all human-controlled ore mines was recorded upon it in impressive detail.

    He pointed toward the ratherrge-scale mines and said, ¡°These locations all belong to the Huaiyang Wu n. They used to be content with their lot. Even though they had some minor deals going on under the table, they were always harmless on the surface.¡±

    Song Zining listened attentively, knowing there would be a continuation to this introduction. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s seedlings came from god knows how many channels, with some arriving from his allies whose benefits were closely rted to him, while others changing several hands on the way. Most aristocratic families preferred clean business and weren¡¯t too keen on earning money from a pot of hot oil.

    ¡°Perhaps they were motivated after seeing the people around them earn substantially by trading with the dark races, however, their choice of goods is rather problematic.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re trading humans and ck crystal iron.

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes turned narrow. ¡°ck crystal iron?¡±

    ck crystal iron ranked above red crystal iron and was the raw material used to produce grade four origin firearms. The patterns within the origin array were made from this material. Inparison to red crystal iron, the value of ck crystal iron as a strategic resource was miles ahead.

    Song Zining immediately grasped the pivotal point. ¡°The Wu n mines produce ck crystal iron?¡±

    Xiao Lingshi nodded and replied, ¡°They¡¯ve been trying to keep this a secret all this time. However, while investigating recent transactions, my men discovered a batch of ck crystal iron of unknown origins. My two appraisers believe that the ck crystal iron was produced from the Wu n mining area.¡±

    Song Zining muttered to himself, ¡°The Huaiyang Wu n, although only a third-rate force, is still an aristocratic family.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where things get tricky.¡±

    Xiao Lingshi¡¯s tone sounded as if he was just chatting casually but Song Zining knew that this was the key point of today¡¯s conversation. Their continued cooperation would depend on whether or not he could ept this matter. The benefits he had offered before, including the business regarding Wu Zhengnan, was only enough to have Xiao Lingshi ¡°not get involved¡±. Money alone wasn¡¯t enough if he wanted to have thetter slightly lean toward him in the case of a slip-up.

    Xiao Lingshi had already established himself in the Evernight Continent, but when all was said and done, he was still amoner of humble origins. The difference in identities would be magnified as soon as he left the continent¡ªthe reason why he ced this opportunity before Song Zining. In the end, family background was Xiao Lingshi¡¯s only weakness. He had almost nothing to fear apart from this.

    ¡°Do you have any more information?¡±

    ¡°Please wait a moment.¡±

    Xiao Lingshi left for a while and returned with a thick stack of files, all of which contained information rted to the Wu n mining area.

    It was Song Zining¡¯s turn to go over documents in detail while Xiao Lingshi waited at one side. This lieutenant general of humble origins didn¡¯t show the slightest trace of impatience¡ªit seemed as if he could sit idly for the whole day. Meanwhile, Song Zining read page after page, as if he had no idea a lieutenant general was waiting beside him.

    Song Zining finished reading only after a whole hour had passed. He rearranged all the files and then proceeded to mumble to himself while tapping on the table with his fingers. ¡°There¡¯s some room for maniption because these mines all belong to the third branch of the Wu n.¡±

    Xiao Lingshi nodded without saying anything.

    Song Zining continued, ¡°I have some people on the Qin Continent. Although it¡¯ll be difficult for them to suppress the third branch of the Wu n, they can definitely hold them up for a period of time. We can intercept the Wu n¡¯s caravan and upy their mines while they¡¯re too busy to attend to matters. We won¡¯t need to worry about them denying their crimes as long as we can find the evidence to use against them. If at that time, we¡¯re willing to return one-third of the mining rights, the third branch of the Wu n will have no other choice but to obey. I¡¯m quite certain they¡¯ll have a clear view of things regarding their unspeakable rtionship with Wu Zhengnan.¡±

    Xiao Lingshiughed, ¡°Why would the stately Song n have any difficulty dealing with a mere third branch of the Wu n?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°The Song n can deal with the Wu n as easily as smashing ants. Why would they have any difficulty? The reason for this difficulty is precisely because it¡¯s not the Song n but I, Song Zining, who¡¯s dealing with the Wu n¡¯s third branch.¡±

    There was a huge difference between whether or not one borrowed the Song n¡¯s power.

    Xiao Lingshi was finally moved and stared deeply into Song Zining¡¯s eyes. ¡°It is I who had made the wrong assumptions.¡± A solemn glow shed across the depths of his eyes. Could it be that this low-profile seventh young master of the Song n only relied on his own strength from establishing contact to making ns on how to deal with Wu Zhengnan? Xiao Lingshi wasn¡¯t disappointed after discovering that he couldn¡¯t borrow the Song n¡¯s power. On the contrary, he looked forward to things even more.

    Song Zining smiled indifferently and didn¡¯t continue with this topic. ¡°The most crucial point is, what will we do if we raid the Wu n¡¯s mines and caravan but find no traces of ck crystal iron?¡±

    ¡°What do you think we should do then?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°It should be fine as long as we don¡¯t let them find out our identities. If they do find out, we just need to prevent them from speaking¡­ ever again. However, I need more manpower to be able to do these things in the Evernight Continent. General Xiao, I¡¯m sure you have such personnel under yourmand?¡±

    Xiao Lingshi naturally understood Song Zining¡¯s notion. ¡°I do have some men. Their loyalty isn¡¯t a problem, and they can be considered to have some ability. None of their names can be found in any imperial record. Does the seventh young master intend to go personally on this hijacking business?¡±

    Song Ziningughed lightly, ¡°I naturally have to oversee such a big matter in person. Only then will I be at ease.¡±

    Xiao Lingshi replied, ¡°It¡¯s said that privileged young masters should avoid sitting under overhanging eaves. The seventh young master¡¯s wellbeing is of great value. Are you certain you wish to wade into danger personally?¡±

    ¡°If by privileged you¡¯re referring to those distinguished n and family names, they¡¯re helpful early on but will turn into one¡¯s shacklester in life. It¡¯s better to depend on your own two hands to fight for what you want and shoulder all sess and failure alone. Wouldn¡¯t such a life be freer than struggling for family favors?¡±

    Xiao Lingshi became momentarily silent before letting out a soft sigh. ¡°The seventh young master¡¯s aspirations are indeed broad. I am ashamed. All I¡¯ve been thinking of after reaching this position is how to preserve my predecessors¡¯ aplishments. Heh, heh, it seems the impulsiveness of youth has been worn away.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°General Xiao always considers the long term and is vignt in times of peace. You¡¯ll definitely move further onwards in the future.¡±

    Xiao Lingshiughed, ¡°Then I shall borrow the seventh young master¡¯s auspicious words.¡±

    Song Zining left after chatting for a while longer and settling the details of their uing operation.

    Song Zining saw an airship rise up over the distant horizon as he walked out of the administrative stronghold. The Far East Wei n¡¯s insignia was visible even across such a distance. He wondered what Wei Potian had been dawdling over all this time as he gazed at the airship but soon turned away with a sneer.

    Wei Potian was currently holding a feast on the airship with arge group of followers. He was slightly tipsy, and his uninhibited heart was full of joy and noble aspirations, feeling as if he was the greatest person under the heavens.

    Even those experienced characters following Wei Potian felt baffled by today¡¯s course of events¡ªXiao Lingshi wasn¡¯t known as ¡°ck-faced Xiao¡± for nothing. But as it happened, thetter immediately agreed to Wei Potian¡¯s requests without the slightest hesitation.

    These people knew there was definitely more to this than meets the eye but none of them were able to make a definite guess. Perhaps Wei Potian was the only one among the whole group who believed that Xiao Lingshi was convinced by his grandeur. His grandiose confidence was flourishing more than ever.

    Naturally, Wei Potian wouldn¡¯t admit Song Zining¡¯s role in this matter even if he knew that it was thetter who had used half of the Chen n mining rights as a door knocker followed by a series of follow-up deals in order to make Xiao Lingshi abandon Wu Zhengnanpletely.

    At this time, neither Song Zining nor Wei Potian knew of the two armies silently surrounding Qianye and the seedlings he had saved. They were waiting for nightfall tounch their attack.

    Such cross-region troop movements naturally couldn¡¯t escape Xiao Lingshi¡¯s notice but this lieutenant general of humble origins had no intention of stopping them, and neither did he inform Wei Potian nor Song Zining. He believed it to be the best oue if these seedlings were to disappearpletely. These people would only be potential thorns in the expeditionary army¡¯s side if they survived. As for the aftermath, the seventh division was already done for but he would have the aplice 15th division cough up more of its profits.

    After concluding matters at the administrative stronghold, Song Zining dispatched a few subordinates to visit Qianye and inform him of recent developments. He himself went to another city with a few trusted aides where an important matter awaited his personal attention.

    The twilight gradually began to recede. Qianye stood on the sentry tower of this small vige and gazed into the distance. The horizon was enshrouded in a fuzzy mist. The time was two o¡¯clock, and the Evernight Continent was nearing nightfall. Fortunately, the bright full moon was already high in the sky. Under the lunar illumination, even humans with good vision were able to see a few hundred meters away.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils grew faintly red as he activated his night vision ability. The Evernight Continent appeared undisguised within his vision¡ªall secrets became inly visible. Qianye noticed, at the extremes of his vision, the minute differences between the dust clouds and the usual nocturnal mist. These were the dust and smoke produced by the movement of military trucks.

    Arge-scale unit was moving toward them and would arrive before the vige walls in less than an hour.

    The two guard captains of the Far East Heavy Industries stood to Qianye¡¯s left. To his right was a young man and woman. They weren¡¯t much older than Qianye and were likely to be in their twenties. Both of them were rank one fighters¡ªthe man was handsome while thedy was quiet and elegant¡ªthey were quality goods that could be sold to the vampires for a good price.

    They were half-siblings. The young man was called Wu Shiqing, and thedy Wu Shiying. They were originally born to a declinedndowning household butter ventured to the Evernight Continent in search of future prospects. But no sooner had they arrived than they were captured by Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ve hunters to be sold to the vampire as seedlings.

    Under Qianye¡¯smand, they were goods no longer. The two siblings were able to exhibit their outstanding abilities during the few days of training, prompting Qianye to promote them and task them with temporary leadership over a batch of soldiers.

    The two rank four guard captains tried hard to peer into the distant night but could see nothing apart from the hazy darkness. However, Qianye¡¯s expression was solemn¡ªhe already knew what was likely toe from that direction. It was just that they were too far for him to see with naked eyes.

    At this time, Wu Shiqing suddenly whispered, ¡°So many people areing from that side!¡±

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 Volume 3 - 100: Fierce Battle (Part 1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 100: Fierce Battle (Part 1)

    The convoy was still several kilometers away by the time twilight began to deepen and mists rolled in. It was impossible to see them without any special abilities. An idea shed through Qianye¡¯s mind as he shot a sidelong nce at Wu Shiqing. Normal night vision abilities would never be able to see so far.

    Wu Shiqing said with some uneasiness, ¡°Young Master, I-I have some special perception abilities. Mainly night vision and the ability to see some things others cannot.¡±

    Qianye had already expected him to possess powerful night vision, but it seemed that Wu Shiqing was able to see other things too. This meant that he possessed aplex perception ability. This surpassed the level of a mere outstanding talent. Even if this man could only reach rank five, he could still be a lethal sniper when equipped with an Eagleshot. Wu Shiying, on the other hand, hadn¡¯t developed any obvious special ability, but her development was worth looking forward to just based on her training speed.

    The guard captain surnamed Wei was somewhat restless. ¡°Young Master Qian, how many of them are there?¡±

    ¡°A lot! I¡¯m guessing a whole regiment. Ah, two airships justnded over there. From their size, they should be carrying a whole battalion,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Almost two thousand enemies?¡± The two guards¡¯ expressions turned rather ugly. Although mentally prepared, they had never expected that the expeditionary army would go all out like this. Such arge movement would be impossible to hide afterward. This meant the other party was determined to win at all costs¡ªthe following day and night were destined to not be easy.

    Even if the Far East Heavy Industries guardsmen were quite confident about fighting the expeditionary army, the difference in numbers was simply too great. While there was quite arge number of people under Qianye¡¯smand, less than half of them were battle-ready, not to mention they had been trained for only so many days. In the guards¡¯ eyes, this group of 400 people would likely equal apany at most, and they weren¡¯t even properly outfitted.

    The captain surnamed Wei said, ¡°We have insufficient weapons and ammunition.¡±

    The captain surnamed He sighed rather calmly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, we have no choice but to fight.¡±

    The expeditionary army soldiers were alighting in quick session when they were joined by the battalion that hade by airship. There was only a short period of confusion while the two groups merged and organized themselves before they quickly restored proper order. From this, one could see just how well-trained these troops were.

    Seeing Qianye wave his hand, a soldier behind him released a long re from his bugle. The deep rm reverberated through the vige, causing everyone to turn solemn as they tightly grasped the weapons in their hands.

    Qianye brought out arge bore gunpowder sniper rifle and tossed it to Wu Shiqing. ¡°I¡¯ll hand this to you. You may operate independently during the uing battle. Remember, kill only officers at the rank of captain and below. Forget about those above the rank of major. Shiying, you¡¯ll be in charge of supporting and protecting your brother.¡±

    Wu Shiqing received the shockingly heavy sniper rifle and therge bag of bullets Qianye had tossed over. However, he wasn¡¯t quite satisfied as he stubbornly said, ¡°I want an origin gun!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ll be drained after a couple of shots with your origin power capacity. This is a battleground; it¡¯s no ce for you to y hero! Remember, don¡¯t attack those at the rank of major and above. It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t even attack captains. Just focus on killing first and second lieutenants.¡±

    Gunpowder weapons posed little threat to the captains who were usually rank four or rank five experts. However, they were still quite damaging against rank two or rank three fighters. The expeditionary army¡¯s chain ofmand would suffer greatly if arge number of mid to low tier officers were killed.

    At this time, Wu Shiying stepped forth, her expression a mixture of nervousness and resolution. ¡°Please¡­ Please give me an origin gun! I-I can fire more shots than the others.¡±

    Qianye asked with augh, ¡°How many shots can you fire?¡±

    Wu Shiying became even more tense and rushed out her next words, stumbling upon them in her hurry. ¡°I can fire five, no, six shots from a grade one origin gun!¡±

    Even the two guard captains were visibly intrigued by her words. Not even all rank two fighters could fire six shots, whereas Wu Shiying obviously possessed only one origin node fluctuation.

    Qianye was immediately fascinated. Honestly speaking, this number didn¡¯t differ too much from his own. Gazing at this girl whose back had tensed up into a straight line, he softened his tone and said, ¡°It seems that you also have some special talents. Can you tell me about it?¡±

    Wu Shiying answered softly, ¡°I seem to be able to control the flow of origin power, thus reducing the energy consumption while firing origin guns. Additionally, my origin power also appears to be slightly more abundantpared to others.¡±

    Qianye nodded. As it turned out, Wu Shiying¡¯s abilities were origin power maniption and increased origin power capacity. Although they didn¡¯t sound too impressive at a nce, she would be able to suppress all her peers by virtue of the increased origin power capacity alone.

    These siblings were nothing short of geniuses.

    An idea shed through Qianye¡¯s mind as he nced at the two. ¡°Do you two know why I decided to make our stand here?¡±

    Wu Shiqing and Wu Shiying seemed to be at a loss. This military matter wasn¡¯t something they could understand.

    ¡°That¡¯s because the surrounding area is strategically indefensible. Additionally, natural enemies like wild beasts will be tempted to attack us if we be weakened. Therefore, even if we want to run, we¡¯ll still have to take advantage of the immediate topography to destroy our pursuers before having any real chance at escaping. Not that we¡¯ll need to do so. Our reinforcements will arrive tomorrow night, so we just need to hold out until then.¡±

    What Qianye didn¡¯t tell them was that this battle would greatly reduce the number of seedlings as well. Only the strongest would survive, and they would beparable to treasured swords removed from the furnace¡ªthey would grow sharper and sharper with every calcination.

    ¡°Can we really defeat them?¡± the guard captain surnamed Wei mumbled. He didn¡¯t seem too confident despite not fearing death.

    Qianyeughed but didn¡¯t reply. Since the expeditionary army had actually mobilized a whole regiment, there had to be at least two rank six experts among them. The two guard captains had never considered retaliation because not only was their side inferior in equipment and weaponry, but they only had Qianye as a rank five expert. Holding their current position was already quite difficult.

    The defenses within the small vige had long since been deployed, and now all they had to do was wait for the enemy assault.

    The expeditionary army¡¯s soldiers didn¡¯t even bother to change their military uniforms¡ªthey just tore off their designation numbers. Such a careless disguise indicated their determination to eliminate the other party to thest man.

    The expeditionary army fell into formation outside the vige and brought out some small cannons from the cargo trucks, preparing to deliver a bombardment. Soon, a number of explosions rang out as several cannons erupted with mes, sending shells raining into the vige. Cannon bombardment was a rather primitive method but an effective one nheless. It was especially lethal against ordinary soldiers who didn¡¯t cultivate origin power.

    The trajectory of those cannon shells was exceptionally clear to Qianye. He suddenly grabbed the sniper rifle from Wu Shiqing and fired into the air as if he was shooting with an assault rifle.

    The rumble of the sniper rifle almost drowned out the sound of the exploding shells. An eye-catching light blossomed in the air as a cannon shell was sted apart in mid-air.

    Such a scene wasmon in battles involving high ranking soldiers, but the expeditionary army regiment rarely had an opportunity to witness such an impressive spectacle, not to mention the seedlings behind Qianye.

    Qianye fired off four more continuous shots almost without aiming, emptying a five bullet cartridge immediately. Four balls of me erupted in the night sky, showering the vicinity in waves of heat¡ªa wave of deathly silence washed over everyone within the vige and beyond.

    Momentster, world-shaking cheers rang out from the vige! Qianye nodded. They would only be able to fight if morale was high enough! After all, the expeditionary army was an undefiable monster to normal people, let alone to those here who had once been ves.

    The expeditionary army kept on firing while the vanguard pushed towards the vige. The machine guns in charge of suppressive fire were shooting out tongues of me, sending streams of bullets whistling through the air. Miserable screams would ring out from time to time as the hail of bulletsnded in the vige.

    However, the effects of the bombardment weren¡¯t particrly good. Most of the nonbat seedlings had retreated into the mines, while the other soldiers were spread across the whole vige. In addition, it was obvious that the expeditionary army had mobilized in a hurry, seeing as how they didn¡¯t have the time to prepare heavy artillery. Hence, Qianye wasn''t worried about them. The real battle would begin only when the expeditionary army advanced into the vige. The deciding factor of the battle was still going to be the showdown between experts.

    A machine gun atop the vige wall suddenly opened fire, mowing down a batch of expeditionary army soldiers. However, origin power erupted amidst the enemy troops, and a dazzling origin bullet whistled over the battlefield. It shot through the machine gun¡¯s steel tes with rtive ease and tore the gunner into two.

    Soon after, whistles rang out through the sky as several artillery shells rained down upon the machine gun, pulverizing it along with the assistant and reserve gunner.

    Qianye sighed inwardly. These people had received too little training. Apart from the ten-odd soldiers from the regr army, most of the other mercenaries, hunters, and adventurers had little to no experience with group battles. The gunner just now lost his cool under the immense pressure and started firing too early,promising his position. He could¡¯ve avoided the concentrated cannon fire if he had waited until the expedition army reached the city walls and the frontlines of both parties drew closer.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze swept over the expeditionary army, memorizing the position of the first lieutenant who had fired just now. Qianye was waiting patiently for a few of the big fish to get hooked. The moment his Eagleshot started rumbling, those lieutenant colonels were sure to hole up as far back as possible.

    That was why he couldn¡¯t give them the opportunity to run away once he started shooting.

    The cannons gradually stopped rumbling once the expeditionary army reached the walls, and their eruptions were reced by the sounds of guns and explosions in every direction¡ªthe battle had finally begun. Several agile figures leapt out from within the expeditionary army ranks and swiftly jumped onto the vige wall which stood several meters tall.

    These people moved like the wind and didn¡¯t seem like humans at all. It could even be said that they possessed the agility of wild beasts. Several of Qianye¡¯s soldiers would fall whenever the agile soldiers jumped onto the wall. Only the guardsmen from the Far East Heavy Industries were able to obstruct them, albeit barely. A certain burly, bald man waspletely unfazed even after being struck by tens of bullets and revealed a nasty grin as he twisted a soldier¡¯s neck.

    This was a fighter. His kind was almost unbeatable when facing ordinary soldiers.

    The sounds of sniper rifles rang out across the battlefield. The burly man froze momentarily in a defensive posture, but he waspletely unharmed. A second lieutenant beside him fell back and copsed. This somewhat puzzled the fourth rank fighter¡ªhe scratched his head, wondering what was going on.

    The sniper rang out once again, eliminating another second lieutenant some distance away from the burly man but leaving him still unharmed.

    This obviously roused the muscr man¡¯s wrath. He scanned his surroundings for the damned sniper and soon noticed a youth heading toward him within his field of vision. The odd thing was that this youth passed through areas of intense fighting with rtive ease and soon arrived before him without the slightest hindrance.

 Volume 3 - 101: Fierce Battle (Part 2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 101: Fierce Battle (Part 2)

    The bald and burly man couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. Qianye had already arrived, drawn his Radiant Edge and shed down before the former¡¯s muscle-filled brain could react!

    Qianye felt his hand grow lighter as the mixture of blood energy and origin power rushed into theplex patterns on the dagger. A faint sanguineous glow emerged from the de, rendering the cold sharp edge almost ethereal.

    The burly man nced carelessly at the small pitiful deing towards him. The Radiant Edge, with its fine and exquisite vampire designs, was a mere dagger in his eyes. Besides, a human wielding such a weapon meant that he didn¡¯t have anything better to use. Dense origin power radiance erupted from his body as he swung a heavily armored arm toward the de to block it.

    However, the faint de light cut right through his arm and continued onwards as if there was no obstruction whatsoever. The burly man¡¯s upper body suddenly felt lighter as half his arm flew off into the distance. At that point, Qianye switched his stance¡ªthe sh turned into a stab and pierced deep into the man¡¯s abdomen!

    Everything happened so quickly that the burly man almost didn¡¯t feel anything. He came to a sudden realization as if something had exploded in his mind¡ªthat de was so sharp that he didn¡¯t feel pain from losing his arm!

    The man let out a blood-curdling roar as he came to realize the fact that he had suffered two strikes in quick session. Apart from the weapon¡¯s extreme sharpness, there was also a great gap in strength between them. He moved to smash Qianye with his intact left arm since survival was already quite unlikely!

    The oppressive strike whistled through the air with the momentum of a falling mountain!

    Qianye raised his hand dexterously to repel the iing attack. His foot sank as the ground underneath was split apart, but his seemingly frail body was iparably sturdy¡ªthe hand blocking the blow didn¡¯t even waver in the slightest.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power erupted from the Radiant Edge and swiftly shattered the opponent''s internal organs. He then retreated calmly. The burly man¡¯s eyes bulged out as he stared fixedly at the figure before his eyes. He failed to utter even an unwilling growl as hisrge body slowly toppled over.

    The 15th division¡¯s assault battalionmander had fallen in battle!

    Morale fell to an all-time low among the expeditionary army soldiers who had witnessed this scene. The vige¡¯s resistance, on the other hand, greatly intensified. Qianye jumped down from the wall and began to wander through the vige, killing only fighters along the way. None of them, whether they were rank one or rank four, could stand against Qianye¡¯s Radiant Edge.

    Sniper shots rumbled continuously over the battlefield. Qianye had assigned a total of five snipers but the timbre of Wu Shiqing¡¯srge caliber sniper rifle was especially prominent. His firing frequency was rather stable¡ªbasically one shot every 10 seconds, with not a single shot missing its target. This young man was already bing quite calm and steady after oveing the initial confusion.

    Wu Shiqing didn¡¯t change his sniping position at all. His vision and firing range was able to cover the whole vige from atop the bell tower at its center. However, that also made the bell tower a priority target. The expeditionary army continuously charged toward his position, but 10-odd corpses alreadyy dead within and around the bell tower. Among them, the few lieutenants had all died to origin gunfire¡ªthe sister, Wu Shiying¡¯s deep origin power capacity was finally proving itself on the battlefield.

    Qianye sensed something moments after killing a lieutenant and his support team. He immediately turned around and saw that a lieutenant colonel had already climbed atop the vige wall. He had deployed a gigantic sniper rifle under the protection of dozens of soldiers, its ck muzzle aimed towards the bell tower.

    It was an Eagleshot¡ªthe sniper weapon in the lieutenant colonel¡¯s hand was actually an Eagleshot!

    The Radiant Edge in Qianye¡¯s hand shed out amidst numerous hazy ripples as he swept past the nearby expeditionary army soldiers. Ignoring the several copsing enemies, he scuttled onto a small slope with a few leaps. He retrieved the Eagleshot from his back and aimed it toward that lieutenant colonel.

    Those capable of using an Eagleshot were brave veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles¡ªthe lieutenant colonel sensed extreme danger at almost the same time¡ªhe turned around in rm to see Qianye and his Eagleshot hundreds of meters away.

    The most unbelievable part was that the other party was aiming the weapon in a standing position.

    The Eagleshot¡¯s extraordinary firepower and range meant that not all snipers were capable of wielding it. Its costs included greater origin power consumption, recoil, and strict requirements in control. One would only be courting death by firing from a standing position unless he was at least rank eight¡ªthe recoil would swallow the reckless gunman.

    The lieutenant colonel refused to believe that the other party would fire under such circumstances. He could definitely finish off the sniper on the bell tower first before evading the attack from behind. However, the intuition he had fostered from his many years in the battlefield and his cautious nature convinced him to abandon this notion. The lieutenant colonel jumped up and moved swiftly behind two of his supporting soldiers.

    He then heard the unique sound of the Eagleshot! The sound was like rolling thunder before a summer rain.

    This person really dared to shoot while standing? The lieutenant colonel was shocked. He didn¡¯t have time to be pleased with his foresight, nor did he have the time to look down upon the gunman whose arm was probably crippled. He only saw the two expeditionary army soldiers in front of him being torn to shreds as a sparkling origin bullet pierced their body with unimpaired momentum and struck him squarely in the chest!

    Within moments, the lieutenant colonel¡¯s body was flung backwards and fell slowly to the ground after losing all consciousness. Neither the defensive power from his military uniform nor his origin power was of any use. While mid-air, he saw that the young man was still standing nonchntly at his previous position¡ªthetter even raised the Eagleshot and fired two more times!

    The dark red origin bullets whistled through the air. Within the lieutenant colonel¡¯s erging pupils, this young man¡¯s figure slid backwards several meters as if he was gliding across ake surface. He then nonchntly hung the Eagleshot on his back and moved onto another battle.

    How did this happen!?

    A ball of dark red mes was ignited in the air as the lieutenant colonel¡¯s body burst into pieces and eventually scattered onto the ash-ckened ground. His heart was filled with hatred toward his superiors and intel department the moment before his death. A rank five warrior with an Eagleshot? Not even rank eight veterans would necessarily be able to fire while standing.

    Qianye¡¯s vision swept through the entire battlefield once more but was disappointed to find that no other lieutenant colonels had appeared. Now that the Eagleshot has been fired, they probably wouldn¡¯t dare to show up anymore and would likely order the soldiers forward to exhaust Qianye¡¯s origin power.

    The battle in the vige had be white-hot. Tides of expeditionary army soldiers were pushing forward and people were killing each other at every corner. Wu Shiqing could no longer snipe and was now fighting alongside his sister. They stationed themselves near the stairs and were relying on the advantageous terrain to keep the charging soldiers pinned down. Otherwise, these two exhausted rank one fighters would be surrounded and killed within moments.

    Casualties had begun to appear among the Far East Heavy Industries guardsmen and many among Qianye¡¯s seedlings were also dead or injured. These briefly trained and poorly equipped young men and women were, after all, not a match for these old veterans. It would take more than just passion and courage to ovee these battle-hardened wolves.

    Qianye suddenly discovered that hisbat strategy wasn¡¯t quite right. He had been wandering around the battlefield and had killed dozens of fighters¡ªhis battles were nothing short of stunning. But while it was true that the enemybat strength had begun to decline due to the heavy casualties among junior officers, both sides were in no condition to take notice of the subtle shift in power. The vige defenses would have probably copsed by the time Qianye¡¯s victories began to impact the battle significantly.

    Qianye produced his only origin power grenade, activated it and tossed it out! The grenade flew over a hundred meters and exploded right above a group of assembling expeditionary army soldiers. The devastating origin power storm and terrifying shockwave immediately took the lives of that entire group. This gigantic explosion drowned out all the other sounds throughout the battlefield!

    The lieutenant colonel who was observing the battle from afar was drenched in cold sweat. He had never expected the enemy to actually have a vampire origin power grenade! If the lieutenants were to hastily join the battle and encounter such a weapon, they would be gravely injured even if they survived. Now, it seemed that this frightening weapon had been used up against a few dozen worthless soldiers and a few fighters.

    But what was the other party trying to achieve with such a puzzling method?

    The residual shockwaves from the explosion raged amidst the inferno. Qianye dashed right through the mes and pounced at the major leading the battalion on the other side of the za. This major hadn¡¯t even recovered from the shock of the vampire origin grenade when he saw Qianye arrive before him.

    The major wasn¡¯t alone¡ªthere were over a dozen guards surrounding him. Qianye was still rushing toward him through the rain of bullets but suddenly changed his stance at one point, leaping into the air instead!

    The major¡¯s line of sight followed Qianye upwards and found two pistols aimed directly at him. Following which, two illusory flowers bloomed in the air. The major¡¯s origin power defenses were shattered by the tremendous force as blood spurted out of his face and chest.

    Qianye dissolved the recoil from the twin flowers with a twist of his body andnded back on the ground.

    The wide za became deathly silent. There was but a single enemy, and yet all the lucky survivors of the expeditionary army felt apprehensive. First, the whole squad fell under the vampire grenade, and then the assant had rushed through a shower of bullets with iparable momentum to kill their battalionmander. How could these ordinary soldiers not be afraid?

    Qianye returned the Twin Flowers to their holsters and kicked a specialized assault-unit hatchet into the air. The alloy hatchet dulynded in his right hand while his left hand retrieved the Radiant Edge. With a hatchet in the right and a de in the left, he strode toward the expeditionary army soldiers in front of him.

    His every step caused the remaining soldiers to edge back until they had exited the block. No one actually dared to charge at him! The heavy metal axe that could sh open an arachne¡¯s armor in the hands of a lieutenant seemed as light as a feather in Qianye¡¯s hands. They had no doubt that whoever charged in first would be cut into two.

    Reinforcements continuously arrived from the distance, gathering into a hundred strong group within moments. However, their advantage in numbers couldn¡¯t grant these soldiers any increased confidence¡ªthe soldiers who had lost theirmander were continuously forced back by Qianye. Each of his solemn footsteps resounded within their hearts and smashed apart the fragile thing called courage.

    A captain who had hurried over after receiving news of the situation rushed out of the crowd while shouting outmands. However, Qianye¡¯s hatchet had already swept past his neck before he could even swing his. A head flew high into the air, apanied by a fountain of fresh blood which sprayed onto the faces and bodies of the nearby soldiers.

    The expeditionary army¡¯s morale finally copsed. The disorderly crowd of soldiers collided with their own battlefront as they turned to run. The vige wasn¡¯t very big, and as such, a partial copse soon affected the battle as a whole. The experienced Far East Heavy Industries guardsmen immediately mounted a counteroffensive. Under theirmand, the young men and women all rushed out of the fort and attacked the enemy from every corner.

    The deste sound of a bugle finally resounded from the expeditionary army. That was the signal for retreat¡ªan indication that the assault had failed.

 Volume 3 - 102: Fierce Battle (Part 3)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 102: Fierce Battle (Part 3)

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let the expeditionary army retreat in peace. The officers couldn¡¯t stop his pursuit and continuous attacks despite doing their best to keep the retreating soldiers in formation. Fighters fell one after another under his relentless assault. At this time, Qianye was like a wolf stalking his prey¡ªhe bit offrge chunks from time to time, causing the expeditionary army¡¯s wounds to gradually expand.

    Qianye tailed them out of the vige and only gave up when he felt several snipers lock onto him.

    Thick smoke surged from the unextinguished mes and wreckage. The two guard captains were drenched in blood as they came over to meet him. It was unknown whether the blood was theirs or the enemies¡¯. However, their spirits were obviously higher than before the battle began, and raging mes could be seen burning in the depths of their eyes. Their gazes toward Qianye were also different from before.

    Qianye was quite clear as to what their gazes embodied. It was respect for an expert and could even be considered worship. Qianye could be said to have won the two guard captains¡¯ respect from this point onwards.

    An idea shed through Qianye¡¯s heart¡ªit was as if the sudden realization tore through the dense mist like a bolt of lightning¡ªhe was no longer a lone wolf but amander who needed to lead the whole battlefield!

    Qianye¡¯s strategy wasn¡¯t wrong in terms of maximizing personal aplishments. Snipers were independent units who, under normal circumstances, could only exert their full potential when they were free to choose their own position. But amander was different¡ªhe needed to let all his subordinates see him, trust him, and let them know that themander would always be with them.

    The situation here was different from when he was in the 131stpany. Thetter was a seasoned squad¡ªBao Zhengcheng and his officers all served as sturdy nodes ofmand on the battlefield. Such a coordination was built over the countless battles in which they risked their lives together. Qianye¡¯s hurriedly assembled squad, on the other hand, had no such cooperation and neither had they umted much confidence. That was especially why they required a strongmander.

    The person most qualified for such a position was Wei Potian. Qianye had seen his fighting style back at Darkblood City and also during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. His imposing attitude and the way he fought at the head of his troops to storm the enemy directly were qualities suited for open confrontations on the battlefield. One merely needed to look at his reputation and position in the Broken Winged Angels to see that his style was suitable for leading troops.

    But Qianye had learnt only killing methods during the Yellow Springs Training Camp and his time with the Red Scorpions. Maintaining morale became the single most important factor in order to win an outnumbered battle without the aid of steep fortifications and geographical advantage. That meant he had to copse the enemy head-on.

    That was the difference between a soldier and a general. This age belonged to the strong and only the strong reigned supreme!

    Qianye appeared on the battlefield with an indomitable attitude from the moment he tossed out that vampire grenade. Anyone who dared challenge him, from second lieutenants to lieutenant colonels, were all killed! This dealt a huge blow to the expeditionary army¡¯s morale while lifting their own at the same time.

    Finally, the expeditionary army¡¯s first assault was thus repelled.

    In addition to the two guard captains, the fighters from among the seedlings had also gathered before Qianye. They were previously tasked with leading their own small groups during the organization phase. After going through the previous battle, all of them had be the core of their respective squads. Some of the more experienced veterans were already beginning to reorganize their members as soon as the battle ended.

    Qianye didn¡¯t say too much and only gave out simple instructions. ¡°Perform a casualty check and reorganize the defenses. Remember to distribute weapons and equipment to everyone now that we have sufficient armaments.

    After everyone hurriedly dispersed to attend to their duties, Qianye climbed to the badly damaged watchtower alone and gazed at the distant expeditionary army. They had retreated for over a thousand meters and were reorganizing their troops. It was obvious that the enemymander was apprehensive of Qianye¡¯s Eagleshot and had all the troops retreat well outside its range before marshaling the soldiers.

    Qianye¡¯s sight was fixed upon a certain lieutenant colonel standing in front of the troop formation. In truth, his Eagleshot could definitely reach thetter. It was just that, due to the great distance, the officer would likely have enough time to evade.

    ¡°Sir, you¡¯ve been wounded.¡± It was a young and tender voice full of obvious nervousness.

    Qianye turned around to see a young seedling girl. The dust and blood on her face couldn¡¯t conceal her delicate and beautiful features.

    Following the little girl¡¯s gaze, Qianye looked down to find arge bloodstain around his waist. There was a badly mangled wound that was still bleeding.

    Qianye himself couldn¡¯t recall when he had been wounded. Perhaps it was when he had run through the hail of bullets to fight against the assault squad that had gathered in the za, or perhaps he was sniped while pursuing the retreating expeditionary army. He secretly activated his blood energy and discovered a strand of cold origin power lingering around the wound, preventing it from healing.

    The one who had shot Qianye apparently possessed a special ability. This kind of rare cold attribute origin power was quite useful in battle. That soldier would likely be an expert given enough time to develop. But unfortunately, he had encountered Qianye. Qianye had clearlymitted him to memory despite not knowing the exact person¡ªeach and everyone who had attacked him with origin power were destined to be on his list of martial aplishments.

    This was war.

    Outside the vige. The lieutenant colonel¡¯s expression was solemn, and the seventh division¡¯s battalionmander beside him wasn¡¯t looking any better.

    The seventh divisionmander suddenly spoke, ¡°I¡¯ll lead the charge during the next battle!¡±

    The lieutenant colonel shook his head. ¡°Our division¡¯s assault battalionmander, my vice regimentalmander, and another battalionmander all died within the vige. Do you think you¡¯ll fare any better if you go?¡±

    The battalionmander roared, ¡°At least I don¡¯t fear death!¡±

    The lieutenant colonel replied coldly, ¡°No one here fears death! But the sacrifice must be effective! What good will charging in do apart from serving as the brat¡¯s target? Will it win us the battle?¡±

    The battalionmander¡¯s face turned blue and white. He couldn¡¯t help but sneer, ¡°Indeed, no one fears death, but I wonder whose men was it that ran away just now.¡±

    The regimentmander snorted but didn¡¯t retort. The men in question were naturally the soldiers under hismand.

    The battalionmander checked the time and turned rather anxious. ¡°When do we attack?¡±

    ¡°We rest for until dawn at least. The troops are in no condition to fight at the moment.¡±

    ¡°But we of the seventh division can¡¯t wait any longer! We must eliminate these seedlings before dusk tomorrow!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your problem.¡±

    The battalionmander couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and started shouting, ¡°Don¡¯t think the 15th division will be unaffected if the seventh division gets in trouble. Don¡¯t forget that all of us are in this together.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s expression became as gloomy as ck stone as he stared fixedly at the seventh division¡¯s battalionmander. Only after some time did he turn toward his aide and barked, ¡°Go, go and request reinforcements from the divisionmander! I need true reinforcements!¡±

    The orderly jumped onto the jeep and drove away as if he was flying. Their distance from the 15th division was no more than 10 kilometers¡ªreinforcements would flock toward them by noon the following day. As for how the local 10th division would react, that was a matter for the generals to ponder on.

    No sooner had the seventh division¡¯s battalionmander recovered hisposure than the 15th divisionmander said coldly, ¡°Why did your seventh division only send one battalion? Don¡¯t forget that once this matter is disclosed, our 15th division will only suffer to a certain extent, while the seventh division will be pushed to the forefront as the mastermind behind everything!¡±

    The battalionmander¡¯s expression turned unsightly once again.

    The lieutenant colonel didn¡¯t say much more than that. He believed that the battalionmander would understand the meaning behind his words. He then called the vicemander over and began to go over the casualty reports.

    The expeditionary army had abandoned nearly 400 corpses during the first assault. Their casualty rate was over one fifth. Although he trusted Qianye¡¯s side to fare just as badly, the present casualty rate had far surpassed his expectations. Furthermore, they weren¡¯t even able to capture the vige.

    The vicemander major hurriedly entered and whispered, ¡°Commander, things don¡¯t look good. Our officer casualty rates are too high. Some of our brethren are refusing to fight.¡±

    ¡°How many did we lose?¡± the lieutenantmander asked begrudgingly.

    ¡°Over 50 lieutenants have died!¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± The lieutenant colonel could no longer keep his calm. He exchanged a few words with the major before turning to sneer at the seventh division¡¯s battalionmander. ¡°This is the rank five soldier from your reports!? Have you ever seen a goddamn rank-five soldier kill so many lieutenants!?¡±

    By the end, the lieutenant colonel was already shouting at the top of his lungs with spittle flying onto the face of the seventh division¡¯s battalionmander. The battalionmander couldn¡¯t find anything to say¡ªhe could onlyugh bitterly without even having the chance to wipe off the spittle on his face.

    In the vige, Qianye only applied basic treatment to his wounds before he was up and about, checking the situation of the vige defenses. The total casualties among the seedlings and guardsmenbined for a little over 100, well within the eptable range. After experiencing the previous life and death battle, Qianye could no longer see fear within their young eyes but instead saw courage and worship.

    A general who appears in the most dangerous ces and charges toward the most powerful enemies will inevitably gain the love and respect of his soldiers.

    Gazing at the young warriors who had gathered around him, Qianye calmly said, ¡°Persevere for a while longer. We only need to ovee the next assault because reinforcements will arrive tomorrow evening. This is the Far East Wei n¡¯s domain. A mere expeditionary army divisionmander is nothing before an upper-rank aristocratic family of the empire.¡±

    The surroundings became momentarily silent following which the seedlings began to cheer, their exhaustion and pain seemingly swept away. The expeditionary army, to them, was an insurmountable giant entity, the rulers of the Evernight Continent. They might not fear death, but their futures lookedpletely barren¡ªeven if they won this time, what about the next?

    No one had told them before what this vige was. Perhaps many among them didn¡¯t even know the Far East Wei n, but the words "upper-rank aristocratic family of the empire" couldn¡¯t be clearer. They signified an existence that could contend against the colossus that was the expeditionary army. It also implied that their futures weren¡¯t so hopeless as long as they survived!

    The battleground was always full of unexpected surprises¡ªwhat they saw arrive wasn¡¯t Wei Potian¡¯s reinforcements but instead the 15th division¡¯s reserves.

    This time, the 15th division had dispatched a whole regiment. Sending out two regiments across areas within a short period of time was already their limit. At Broken River City, 20 kilometers from them, the 10th division continued to maintain their silence.

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 Volume 3 - 103: Reinforcements

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 103: Reinforcements

    The expressions of the two Far East Heavy Industries guard captains turned rather ugly as they observed the dense mass of expeditionary army troops in the distance. However, they were still able tough.

    The guard captain surnamed He swore, ¡°Damn it! They¡¯re really investing quite a lot! This daddy¡¯s never experienced such arge battle!¡±

    The guard captain surnamed Wei spoke solemnly, ¡°Young Master Qian, we¡¯ll hold them down here. You should find a way to break through the siege and escape! Tell the heir what transpired here, and the main family will surely avenge us.¡±

    Qianye gazed outwards for a moment before saying, ¡°Rest assured, they can¡¯t stop me!¡±

    The two guard captains immediately replied, ¡°That¡¯s great! Now our brethren can let loose!¡±

    The battle was especially arduous andsted from noon until before dusk. It even made Qianye feel as if he had returned to Earth Castle. However, the expeditionary army¡¯sbat strength was greater than the dark race cannon fodder while Qianye¡¯s subordinates this time, though greater in number, weren¡¯t more powerful than the reinforcedpany back then.

    The only difference this time was Qianye and his Eagleshot.

    A lieutenant would fall every time the Eagleshot rumbled. This scared the expeditionary army officers witless. The two lieutenant colonels didn¡¯t dare enter the vige at all. With the officers hesitant to do battle, troop morale also began to decline. Not only was the battle long and unfavorable, but they were also being made to fight a civil war of unclear reasons. The expeditionary army¡¯s offensive as a whole was ovee by an inexplicable sluggishness.

    As the fierce battle raged on until nightfall, even Qianye, with his advanced vampire constitution and recovery, was feeling simrly exhausted, and his origin power had virtually dried up.

    A soldier suddenly ran out from within an alley. His whole body was soaked in blood with terror written all over his young face. His footsteps were unsteady and his expression distracted. He didn¡¯t seem to know that his innards had already spilled out.

    The soldier copsed before Qianye. This unfortunate young man had just recently escaped the fate of bing a seedling or livestock. He had only experienced freedom for a few short days before reaching the end of his life here.

    A few expeditionary army warriors rushed out from the alley in pursuit and, after seeing Qianye, pounced upon him amidst loud cries.

    Qianye took two steps forward and, like a ghost, passed through themrgely unhindered.

    The few expeditionary army soldiers suddenly came to a halt mid-charge. They looked down to see the baffling new wounds on their body before gradually copsing.

    A few more strands of bloodstained Qianye¡¯s Radiant Edge. Afterwards, these rolling blood drops umted toward the edge of the de and dripped off, restoring the de¡¯s spotless luster.

    Qianye then leapt onto a broken part of the vige wall. At this moment, his heart felt extremely heavy¡ªthe stifling sensation increased slightly with every young seedling who fell before him.

    Qianye¡¯s body suffused with cold murderous intent. He didn¡¯t bother to hide himself¡ªhe stood straight and tall on high ground and gazed at the battlefield outside of the vige. The two expeditionary army lieutenant colonels, on the other hand, were both hiding at the back, not daring to reveal themselves at all. It seemed even they were scared silly by Qinaye¡¯s killing methods.

    Up until now, three lieutenant colonels from the coalition of two regiments and one battalion had already died in Qianye¡¯s hand. The two fortunate lieutenant colonels had long since realized that the Eagleshot in Qianye¡¯s hands was exceptionally powerful¡ªthey simply couldn¡¯t block that one shot. Hence, they weren¡¯t willing to throw their lives away.

    Qianye suddenly sensed a gust of wind from behind him! He instinctively drew the Radiant Edge and calmly turned around.

    Abat hatchet brushed past Qianye¡¯s left shoulder and struck the ground. It was a burly man with a full beard. His designation number had been torn off, but the flower on his cor indicating his position as a major was particrly eye-catching. He stared fixedly at Qianye and opened his mouth as if to say something. However, a red line had already been drawn across his neck from which fresh blood gushed out like a waterfall and sshed onto Qianye¡¯s face.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dodge at all. Only the boiling fresh blood of his enemies could extinguish the mes in his chest!

    The hot blood, abundant in origin power, was a great enticement to the current weakened Qianye. He had to do his utmost to prevent himself from swallowing the blood near the corner of his mouth.

    All of Qianye¡¯s blood energy began to roll and rage as the fresh scent of boiling blood rushed into his nose. He had involuntarily entered a state of blood-boil but his blood energy wasn¡¯t being replenished with fresh blood. This caused the churning to grow increasingly violent¡ªeven the usuallyzy golden blood energy from around his heart was starting to be restless.

    A light golden radiance suddenly erupted from Qianye¡¯s body with a hint of purple within. This was due to an involuntary outflow of his gold and purple blood energies. They began to absorb the blood energy and origin power immediately aftering into contact with fresh blood, ultimately channeling them back into the body.

    This kind of minimal replenishment, while not as fast as directly ingesting blood, was still a form of replenishment. Fortunately, no one noticed the faint blood energy leaking from Qianye¡¯s body since the scent of gunpowder and blood could be found everywhere on the battlefield.

    Qianye naturally realized the minute changes in his body. He smiled ruefully before charging toward a nearby enemy squad with the Radiant Edge in hand.

    The Eagleshot rumbled once again momentster, felling a violent second lieutenant. The two lieutenant colonels outside the vige were secretly rejoicing. They thought the other party had run out of origin power since they hadn¡¯t heard the Eagleshot for some time. But now, it seemed fortunate that they hadn¡¯t charged out hastily. Just how many times has the enemy fired the Eagleshot?

    As dusk fell, the expeditionary army forces were forced to pull back from the vige once more due to the heavy losses and low morale.

    Qianye sat alone within a half-copsed house, surrounded by over a dozen expeditionary army corpses. He closed his eyes, undisguised exhaustion was written all over his face. The purple gold glow on his body was covered up by bloodstains.

    The blood energy within Qianye¡¯s body was still feasting on the fresh blood. The countless drops of blood in the vicinity converged on him as if they were alive and gradually disappeared.

    ¡°Sir! The enemy is retreating!¡± Wu Shiqing shouted as he rushed in.

    Qianye calmly replied without opening his eyes, ¡°I know.¡±

    Only then did Wu Shiqing notice the corpses scattered throughout the house. His voice immediately stopped and hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°We¡­ eh¡­ how long do we have to hold out, sir? We might not be able to ovee the next wave.¡±

    ¡°Those who can¡¯t hold on will die. Only those who can will survive.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Wu Shiqing wanted to say something but was hesitating.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°They will definitelye.¡±

    After saying this, Qianye realized he wasn¡¯t actuallyforting Wu Shiqing¡ªhe actually firmly believed that Wei Potian would arrive¡ªthetter¡¯s eventual arrival was a certainty, but when did he start having so much confidence in him? Such confidence certainly wouldn¡¯t be misced if the appointment was with Song Zining. As for this Wei n young master...

    Qianye broke intoughter. He slowly stood up and flexed his body. His limbs felt heavy and there wasn¡¯t a single ce on his body that wasn¡¯t hurting. The burning sensation of pain was being transmitted from his many wounds and his movements had turned sluggish like an old man. His blood energy had cleared out most of the external destructive origin power from the wounds. His regenerative abilities were starting to circte anew, but the seque of his previous blood boil made him clumsy and awkward.

    Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power was on the brink of exhaustion and only began to umte gradually after the blood boil ended. Qianye tried using the Nurturing Rain Art after he had regained some origin power. He hadn¡¯t cultivated this secret art since obtaining it because he simply didn¡¯t need healing with the blood energy protecting his organs.

    But the moment Qianye circted the Nurturing Rain Art, he felt the origin tides wash over him. It wasparable to the mist rising from theke¡¯s surface on a sunny day. He felt his surroundings be moist as if a fine drizzle of rain was showering down upon him. The foreign origin powers stubbornly clinging to his wounds were dissolved in quick session. Its effectiveness was not at all inferior to that of the blood energy.

    The wounds had be much cleaner by the time Qianye had used up what little origin power he had recovered. It seemed another cirction of the Nurturing Rain Art would clear thempletely, leaving only simple flesh wounds.

    Qianye¡¯s spirits rose as he walked out of the room. It was then that he suddenly heard a faint rumbling in the distance. It wasn¡¯t thunder¡ªit was the sound of engines!

    The sound wasn¡¯t unfamiliar at all. It seemed another airship had arrived. His heart tensed up as he jumped onto what remained of a roof and retrieved his Eagleshot. Qianye certainly didn¡¯t have enough remaining power to fire the Eagleshot. However, if it really was an airship carrying enemy reinforcements, he would have no choice but to ingest blood to recover origin power and see if he could shoot it down.

    The atmosphere of the vige abruptly became stifled. Many of them who had heard the sound raised their heads and gazed toward the flickering lights on the distant horizon. Judging from its direction, the airship had obviously arrived from the direction of Broken River City.

    The airship was still far away but the assault on the ground was already imminent. The expeditionary army was ready tounch another assault after an hour or reorganization. Dozens of high output origin lights were installed onto the roof of the cargo trucks and aimed at the vige. Over a thousand expeditionary army soldiers, arranged in a loose formation, began to push into the vige from all directions.

    Sniper shots rumbled from atop the tall framework which used be the vige tower, extinguishing the searchlights with every shot. Qianye raised his brows; Wu Shiqing had surprised him yet again. With the battle going on until now, a rank one fighter like him should¡¯ve beenpletely exhausted long ago. Unexpectedly, he can still perform with such stability.

    But the dense crowd of charging expeditionary army soldiers invoked a persistent heaviness in Qianye¡¯s heart. Over half of his men had already died and they likely wouldn¡¯t be able to push the enemy back this time. The vige likely wouldn¡¯t even survive the first wave if he broke through the encirclement to escape.

    It was at this time that the whirl of engines in the air became especially prominent. mes rushed out from the rear of that distant airship as it abruptly raised its speed and arrived over the battlefield within moments.

    This was an especially fierce-looking airship. Under the illumination of the mes from the ground, one could see that the ship was actually armored. This wasn¡¯t the average military airshipsmonly seen in the Evernight Continent¡ªit was an imperial army battle airship!

    The battle airship opened its hull armor to reveal numerousrge pitch-ck cannons. The artillery spewed out dazzling mes amidst a rumble which almost drowned out the whole battlefield. Following which, several giant fireballs surged up from the ground.

    Numerous expeditionary army cargo trucks were struck by the aerial cannon fire and exploded violently, sending all the nearby troops flying!

    A Far East Heavy Industries guardsman suddenly roared, ¡°Look! It¡¯s the Wei n insignia! Reinforcements! Our reinforcements have arrived!¡±

    The expeditionary army forces on the ground were thrown into confusion. The lucky survivors of the initial explosion began to flee in panic. It was unknown whether they were brave or had broken down from the pressure, some soldiers began to fire madly at the airship with their rifles and machine guns. However, it was impossible to hit such a distant target without using a sniper rifle at grade three or above. The only managed to produce a shower of stray bullets.

    After seeing the Wei n insignia on the airship, the two lieutenant colonels immediately disappeared into the night.

 Volume 3 - 104: Bloodline Seedlings

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 104: Bloodline Seedlings

    An explosive roar rang out from atop the airship, ¡°Scram! Let me do it!¡±

    Wei Potian shoved the cannoneer away, took his seat, and aimed at a fleeing lieutenant colonel. The previous cannoneer had fired twice but failed to strike the target, causing Wei Potian to be quite dissatisfied. Wei Potian had his eyes on that bastard since the beginning¡ªhow could he let him get away?

    However, Wei Potian¡¯s shot missed the target by an even greater margin. At this time, the battlefield on the ground had turned into a raging inferno which greatly distorted one¡¯s vision. That lieutenant colonel had vanished in the blink of an eye, causing Wei Potian to curse in rage while pping his thighs.

    The battle airship was basically an invincible entity on such a battlefield since not even the Eagleshot could pierce through its thick armor. It hovered in the air with its numerous cannons still firing continuously at the expeditionary army below¡ªit was apletely one-sided massacre.

    There were fleeing expeditionary army soldiers everywhere. Wei Potian grabbed one of his aides and shouted, ¡°Capture all of them in one go. Don¡¯t let even a single one of them escape, you hear me?!¡±

    The aideughed ruefully. ¡°Young master, we only have 100 men. We still need to leave some to guard the airship.¡±

    Wei Potian let out a loud ¡°humph¡±. His burning rage gradually receded as he watched the battlefield below. He naturally knew it wasn¡¯t quite possible to capture a thousand fleeing soldiers in the wilderness with a mere 100 men. ¡°Then capture a few of them alive, target the officers!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    With Wei Potian¡¯s order, the battle airship rapidly descended. Each of the Wei n elite guards grabbed onto a rope and jumped off as the ship reached a height of 100 meters from the ground. Afternding, they rolled to one side in order to disperse the force of impact before rising up to pursue the routed soldiers.

    Qianye stood on the wall and signaled for the troops to reassemble. At this moment, the soldiers under hismand were allpletely exhausted and already had no strength cooperate with the pursuit. Those who recklessly chased might even be killed instead.

    The battle airship slowed down its descent and finally came to a stop 50 meters from the ground. Wei Potian jumped out directly and smashed onto the ground with a thump¡ªeven the vige walls seemed to tremble due to the deafening sound¡ªonly a yellow light was seen shing through the dust cloud as Wei Potian nonchntly stood up and strode toward Qianye.

    Suddenly, everyone in and around the vige was impressed by Wei Potian¡¯s iparably fierce entrance. The only exception was Qianye whose taut nerves finally rxed after one whole day and night. He almost wanted tough out loud because, with his eyesight, he naturally saw Wei Potian¡¯s face turn unnaturally pale. 50 meters was, after all, a bit too high for any fighter without flying capabilities.

    From afar, Wei Potian cried out, ¡°Qianye, are you alright!?¡±

    Qianye jumped off the vige wall and replied, ¡°Even you are alright, so how can anything happen to me?¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly felt he was caught in the act, but his face only turned red for an instant. He then proceeded to takerge strides toward Qianye as if nothing was wrong. He sized thetter up and clicked his tongue. ¡°Look at your expression and all those wounds on your body! You¡¯re still saying you¡¯re alright?¡±

    ¡°None of this would happen if you arrived one day earlier.¡±

    Wei Potian immediately scratched his messy hair and said, ¡°How could I know this would happen? Arriving on time is... umm¡­ the right thing to do.¡± He felt somewhat guilty because, in truth, he was almost two hourste.

    Qianye¡¯s indifferent expression suddenly eased up like the spring snow under the sun as heughed. ¡°I was only able to hold out until now because I knew you¡¯de!¡±

    ¡°A good brother indeed!¡± Wei Potian pounced forward and gave Qianye a bear hug.

    A Wei n guard appeared from the shadows and said, ¡°Young master. We¡¯ve captured a few of them alive. Do you want to take a look?¡±

    Killing intent surfaced on Wei Potian¡¯s face. ¡°Good! I want to see who¡¯s so bold as to touch this daddy¡¯s brother!¡±

    Momentster, ten-odd junior officers were dragged before Wei Potian. However, the highest ranked among them was only a captain.

    The rank and number of prisoners didn¡¯t quite meet Wei Potian¡¯s expectations. He was immediately enraged. ¡°So few!? Where are those lieutenant colonels? Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s no senior officer among the several regiments! Could it be that you lot can¡¯t even win against an expeditionary army senior officer?¡±

    The guard smiled bitterly and replied, ¡°I interrogated them just now and found out that the officer casualty rate was exceptionally high. More than two-thirds of the senior officers were either wounded or dead. As such, we are already quite fortunate to be able to capture these people.¡±

    ¡°Two-thirds!¡± The number shocked Wei Potian. From his battle experience, he knew that such a casualty rate meant that the other party possessed suppressive single-target firepower.

    The guard stole a nce at Qianye with great reverence in his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s said that most of them lost their lives to young master¡¯s friend here.¡±

    Wei Potian turned to Qianye and let out an odd cry. ¡°Brat, you¡¯re so capable! You¡¯re even more awesome than I am!¡±

    Qianye only shot him a sidelong nce with an expression that seemed to say: ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal for me to be more awesome?¡±

    Qianye smiled and listened on in silence. With this normally pampered Wei n young master around, he would unconsciously be more rxed even while standing on a bloody battlefield.

    Wei Potian walked toward the prisoners after he finished boasting, the smile on his face vanishingpletely. The captives were all pressed to the ground in a row.

    Wei Potian walked from left to right and then back before stopping in front of a cruel-looking captain with a full beard.

    This officer was quite headstrong. He spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm without waiting for Wei Potian to speak. ¡°This is the expeditionary army¡¯s territory and I¡¯m an expeditionary army officer on active duty! Brat, I don¡¯t care whether you¡¯re from the Wei n or any other great family, this daddy will give you some advice¡ªstop messing around in the Evernight Continent. This is no ce for kids to y house!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression appeared calm with his arms crossed. He listened seriously and nodded. ¡°You have a point there,¡± following which, he growled, ¡°someone, execute this bastard!¡±

    A guard immediately came up from one side, drew his pistol and aimed it against the captain¡¯s temple. He pulled the trigger after seeing Wei Potian¡¯s confirmatory nod. The captain¡¯s brains exploded with a loud bang, fluid and fresh blood sttering onto the nearby captives. The prisoners became momentarily restless but soon became deathly still.

    Wei Potian was still expressionless as he took one step toward the side. He now stood in front of the adjacent first lieutenant.

    The first lieutenant immediately blurted out, ¡°I¡¯ll talk! I¡¯ll tell you everything!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested!¡± Wei Potian said coldly. He made a gesture and walked toward the next person.

    A Wei n guard walked up and shot that first lieutenant in the head.

    Wei Potian passed over several prisoners this time and stopped before a young second lieutenant. He stared at thetter for some time before speaking slowly, ¡°The expeditionary army¡¯s ranks are nothing in my eyes. They can only be used to scare kids.¡±

    The young second lieutenant turned pale. He gritted his teeth and was trembling, afraid of making any unnecessary sounds lest he invites a mortal disaster.

    Only then did Wei Potian ask, ¡°You, tell me what¡¯s going on.¡±

    The second lieutenant revealed everything he knew. In truth, there were many secrets which he had no ess to. The real reason behind this cross-boundary assault on a mine under the 10th division¡¯s jurisdiction certainly wouldn¡¯t be revealed to a second lieutenant. The only useful information he could offer was his unit number and sequence, the time of mobilization, and the surface pretext for this operation.

    Wei Potian nodded and then pointed toward a certain officer who was shooting warning nces at that second lieutenant and said indifferently, ¡°I don¡¯t like this person. Kill him.¡±

    A Wei n guard stepped forth and fired without the slightest hesitation.

    With this, all the expeditionary army officers turnedpletely silent out of fear. No one else dared to y small tricks anymore.

    Qianye was observing from one side. This was the first time he had seen Wei Potian¡¯s decisive and cold-hearted aspect. The casual, easy-going and sincere man within his memories didn¡¯t just distinguish himself in terms of talent but was also well nurtured in the art of statecraft.

    After dealing with the captives, the Wei n guards who were in charge of capturing the fleeing soldiers began to return in session. Wei Potian then assigned his guards to help with cleaning up the battlefield and aiding the injured. He himself dragged Qianye to inspect the whole area. Even the apanying Wei n elder was quite surprised after seeing the surviving seedlings, especially Wu Shiqing and Wu Shiying.

    The elder waited until the group had left the seedlings¡¯ residence before saying, ¡°These aren¡¯t ordinary seedlings! It¡¯s no wonder Wu Zhengnan would stake it all in one throw. He won¡¯t allow these seedlings to live on no matter what.¡±

    Wei Potian asked curiously, ¡°There are different types of seedlings?¡±

    The Wei n elder exined, ¡°Young master, there are over a dozen rank one fighters among these seedlings. That aside, unless my old eyes are blurred, the glow of their origin powers are different. It¡¯s clear that they all possess different abilities. Since they were selected as seedlings, this meant that these abilities were produced naturally after igniting their origin nodes and not an attribute change brought about by learning a secret technique. In other words, they are all bloodline seedlings!¡±

    ¡°Bloodline seedlings? So many?¡± Wei Potian had begun to understand after listening up to this point. He turned to Qianye and exined briefly. He knew that thetter might not understand the rtionship between these seedlings and the underlying profundities of origin power.

    The degree of innate talent wasn¡¯t important for these so-called bloodline seedlings. The dark races had many ways to strengthen their reproduction and reduce their development time. They would then filter out and umte countless such samples to gradually strengthen their bloodline abilities. Perhaps after several hundred years, they would be able to produce apletely new subspecies with special abilities.

    That was precisely why these bloodline seedlings were worth so much more than normal seedlings. Mere ves simply couldn¡¯tpare with them. A convoy carrying a couple of bloodline seedlings could be considered to be doing arge business. It was truly rare to see over a dozen young bloodline seedlings appear in a single transaction.

    The Wei n elder said, ¡°These seedlings aren¡¯t easy to obtain. It¡¯s impossible for Wu Zhengnan to round them all up within a single region. To be able to form a caravan of this scale, it¡¯s likely that many divisionmanders are involved. If this was really the case, then the value of the goods which the dark races traded to Wu Zhengnan was simply too low. In my opinion, they should have other secret agreements.¡±

    Wei Potian immediately shouted, ¡°Investigate! Dig up every secret for me!¡±

    ¡°Young master, this¡­¡± The elder nced at Qianye and paused his words.

 Volume 3 - 105: Silent Contest (Part 1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 105: Silent Contest (Part 1)

    Wei Potian pulled a long face. ¡°Qianye is my brother. There¡¯s nothing we can¡¯t discuss in front of him.¡±

    Thereupon, the elder said, ¡°The scope of implications regarding this matter appears rather wide and probably isn¡¯t limited to just a few divisions. There¡¯s likely a powerhouse acting as a mediator. Although our Far East Wei n isn¡¯t afraid of trouble, we still have to show General Xiao Lingshi some respect in the Evernight Continent. Toppling a few offending divisionmanders is fine, but it¡¯s not appropriate for us to start a war.¡±

    After saying this, without even waiting for Wei Potian¡¯s reply, he turned toward Qianye, bowed and said respectfully, ¡°What does Young Master Qian think of this?¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected the elderly man to suddenly skip over Wei Potian and ask for his opinion. However, he felt it was natural after some thought¡ªthis matter had indeed arisen from him. While the Wei n might also obtain some benefits from this, the gains were barely passablepared to the resources invested.

    Waging a war in the Evernight Continent was definitely past the Wei n¡¯s bottom line. This wasn¡¯t an issue of whether or not the Wei n could contest against the expeditionary army in court and in military strength, but a consideration of whether the regional lord could interfere with the deep-seated military affairs of the Evernight Continent. This Wei n elder¡¯s words were rather clear¡ªhe wished to prevent the heir from expanding this matter for Qianye¡¯s sake lest it ultimately goes out of hand.

    Qianye immediately replied, ¡°Potian, the matter between me and Wu Zhengnan is a personal grudge, and I don¡¯t want to create more problems. Everything originated from him. He was at the core of the forbidden deals with the dark races. I think we should just focus on the mastermind here.¡±

    Wei Potian shot him a nce and voiced his agreement. He then turned around to find the captive expeditionary army officers gathered at the base of the vige wall near the gate. He immediately raised his voice in anger. ¡°But I¡¯m absolutely infuriated everytime I see these bastards. I really want to kill them all!¡±

    The Wei n elder intervened, ¡°Young master, they¡¯re only following orders. It¡¯s fine to kill since we¡¯ve already captured them, but there are many outsiders around¡­¡±

    His voice was quite soft and only Wei Potian could hear it clearly. The elder¡¯s opinion was that killing captives privately wasn¡¯t a big deal, but it would more or less affect the Wei n¡¯s reputation with so many witnesses. Qianye wasn¡¯t considered an outsider but these bloodline seedlings and Far East Heavy Industries guardsmen were a different matter altogether.

    Wei Potian exhaled deeply and replied, ¡°Very well! Let¡¯s deal with themter.¡±

    There was much to do regarding funeral arrangements in addition to cleaning the vige and tending to the wounded. Defensive measures, on the other hand, weren¡¯t a problem¡ªWei Potian had immediately dispatched someone to Broken River City with a letter as soon as he arrived. The 10th division would inevitably be held responsible if the heir of Marquis Bowang and a lieutenant colonel of the Broken Winged Angels was attacked in this defensive region. Hence, they could no longer feign ignorance. Those captive officers from the 15th division had all been returned to their division headquarters. The only thing left was to wait for the 15th division to give the Wei n a satisfactory exnation.

    The next day, Wei Potian dragged Qianye onto the airship and flew directly toward ckflow City. The Wei n heir¡¯s movements this time was extremely fast with absolutely no dy during the journey. Afternding outside the city in the afternoon, Wei Potian immediately charged right into the city after marshaling the Broken Winged Angels and Wei n soldiers.

    The expeditionary army guards had likely received orders beforehand, seeing as how no one dared to obstruct these fiends. The dozen military trucks sped straight toward the seventh division headquarters where they stopped across the main gates. The soldiers then alighted in session and proceeded to blockade the entrance.

    Wei Potian jumped off from the driver¡¯spartment and sized up the unimpressive building before him. ¡°This is the seventh division headquarters!? Doesn¡¯t look the part!¡±

    An aide beside him replied, ¡°Young Master, this is indeed the ce. At least ording to the map. Look, it¡¯s also written on the signboard!¡±

    Wei Potian finally found a sign that said ¡°expeditionary army seventh division¡± but he was still half suspicious. This seventh division headquarters looked like a space-upying courtyard with a few old and unadorned office buildings within. This headquarters was somewhat historic and hadn¡¯t changed at all for nearly a decade.

    Wei Potian, who was used to seeing the awe-inspiring and majestic division headquarters of the empire, felt as if he hade to a skirmisher barracks in the countryside. But on second thoughts, wasn¡¯t the expeditionary army just a ragtag band of countryside stragglers?

    As Wei Potian tookrge strides toward their main gate, the guards shouted reflexively, ¡°Who dares barge into the division headquarters!? We¡¯ll fulfill whoever is courting death!¡±

    The Wei n men didn¡¯t make a move but the Broken Winged Angel troops didn¡¯t have such a good temper¡ªmany of them had their hands on the weapons at their waist, ready to kill all those guards at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Qianye stood with the Wei n guards and let out a soft sigh. He couldn¡¯t be clearer about the ¡°death quota¡± granted to elite corps such as the Broken Winged Angels. Killing these ordinary soldiers wouldn¡¯t even count against their death quota which was used for those above the level of junior officers andndowning nobles.

    At this time, a major dashed out from within the courtyard and hurriedly cried out, ¡°Lower your weapons, all of you! Lower your weapons!¡± The guards dropped their guns unwillingly but continued to re at the other party¡ªthey knew these visitors hade with ill intentions.

    The major, identifying the leader at a nce, arrived before Wei Potian and said solemnly, ¡°You must be the heir of Marquis Bowang, Young Master Huyang. Wei n heir, I wonder when our expeditionary army had offended the Wei n? Not only did you barricade our city, but now you¡¯re blocking our seventh division headquarters! You¡¯re also a man of the empire. You must know that blocking a military-use road is tantamount to interfering with military affairs. I shouldn¡¯t have to remind you what punishment that warrants ording to imperialw.¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t bother to reply. The lieutenant colonel from the Broken Winged Angels who hade to stand behind Wei Potian was also silent. It seemed the two had no intention of speaking with this major.

    The major ground his teeth and shouted, ¡°All of you, what¡¯s the meaning of this? The expeditionary army guards the wilderness for the empire, risking sweat and blood while receiving insufficient supplies! That aside, why do our brothers who return from fighting against the dark races have to suffer such humiliation? We¡¯re also men of the empire with imperial spirit. We will report this to the Department of Military Affairs no matter how big your origins are! I refuse to believe we can¡¯t argue logically. Why can¡¯t our brothers receive fair treatment even after bleeding themselves dry?¡±

    The major¡¯s vehement words resonated with the already furious guardsmen.

    Wei Potian waited expressionlessly until the major had finished his words before speaking indifferently, ¡°Do you seriously think you¡¯re the only ones who¡¯ve fought against the dark races, the only ones who¡¯ve bled? I rather think you guys put in much more effort into fighting our own race.¡±

    The Broken Winged Angel lieutenant colonel also spoke slowly, ¡°You want to take this to the Department of Military Affairs? Very good! Brother Zhang, it¡¯s your turn!¡±

    A man in his thirties responded¡ªhe and several other unidentified men had silently joined Wei Potian¡¯s group after his arrival. This man surnamed Zhang seemed like an ordinary civil staff and even appeared somewhat frail.

    He arrived before the major and shed him a certain insignia before putting it away. He then calmly said, ¡°Go and tell Wu Zhengnan that he has five minutes. We¡¯re leaving if he doesn¡¯t arrive in five minutes. Furthermore, everyone here will go with me if you dare to repeat those words one more time.¡±

    The major¡¯s eyes widened after seeing the insignia. He began to tremble uncontrobly as he suddenly turned and rushed toward the interior at full speed. This man surnamed Zhang calmly produced an exquisite origin power sundial. He then set the time and lightly closed his eyes to wait in aposed manner.

    Qianye happened to see a corner of the insignia during that instant. Although he didn¡¯t see the whole picture, the unique shape and color were well known to all imperials¡ªit was the insignia of the Imperial Military Police.

    The involvement of the military police was an indication that this matter had already entered an official persecution procedure. The expeditionary army could no longer cover things up regardless of their wishes. It seemed the Wei n had indeede well-prepared.

    Wu Zhengnan appeared from within the division headquarters building at four minutes and 50 seconds. His figure flickered continuously and crossed the hundred meter za within moments to appear before the crowd.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s gaze swept over the crowd, pausing ever so slightly on Wei Potian and the Broken Winged Angel lieutenant colonel before saying calmly, ¡°Even the military police prosecutor has arrived. It seems this little divisionmander has really rmed the higher ups. Since you¡¯ve all arrived, pleasee in. I would suggest, however, the leaders to keep their men in check. My subordinates might not necessarily be able to hold back if someone dies.¡±

    The Broken Winged Angel lieutenant colonel sneered. ¡°Things like this won¡¯t happen if you hade out earlier. Why should we care about them when you yourself don¡¯t even care about their lives.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan shot a nce at the lieutenant colonel andughed. ¡°You¡¯re still quite young. I might not be your match after another 6 years.¡±

    The startled lieutenant colonel¡¯s expression turned quite ugly.

    The whole group became silent. None of them spoke as they followed Wu Zhengnan toward the tallest office building at the center. More and more expeditionary army soldiers poured out from the barracks on each side and were ring fiercely at Wei Potian andpany. It seemed as if they would charge toward them at any moment.

    The atmosphere around this 100-meter distance was exceptionally heavy as if a pack of wolves was waiting, ready to pounce on them and tear them apart at a moment¡¯s notice. The breathing of some of the Wei n guards had already be unstable, a clear sign of fear. The soldiers from the Broken Winged Angels were able to disy their extraordinary qualities at this time¡ªthey were all calm andpletely without any fluctuation despite being younger as a whole.

    However, nothing happened until the group reached the floor where the meeting room was situated. It seemed Wu Zhengnan had only brought out those expeditionary army soldiers to intimidate them.

    Qianye frowned after hearing the few Wei n guards discuss this in whispers¡ªhe didn¡¯t believe Wu Zhengnan would do something so meaningless. Given a good opportunity, Wu Zhengnan would definitely give the order to attack and finish them off within the division headquarters.

    That part of the road, in truth, wasn¡¯t that peaceful.

    However, the entire squad of Broken Winged Angels in addition to Prosecutor Zhang and his powerful military police subordinates likely made Wu Zhengnan feel that he didn¡¯t have a chance. That was why he didn¡¯t take action.

    The officers all walked into the meeting room. Qianye followed the Wei n guard captain into the room and silently took his seat at a back row corner. At that moment, he looked up after feeling a sudden sharp gazending upon him, only to find Wu Zhengnan looking straight at him. Qianye¡¯s age and rank were particrly eye-catching among the officers and high-level guardsmen who were rank six or seven.

    ¡°This one is Zhang Youheng, the active prosecutor colonel of the military police headquarters. These are the relevant documents for the current prosecution.¡± Saying this, Zhang Youheng produced a document and gently pushed it forward. The document slid across the long table and stopped urately in front of Wu Zhengnan.

    Wu Zhengnan read through the papers in detail and examined the seals of the Imperial Army and Military Police. He then nodded, signed his name on the document, and handed it over to his aide, indicating him to put it away.

    This action caused the tense atmosphere within the meeting room to rx slightly.

    epting the official document meant that Wu Zhengnan was willing to ept the Imperial Military Department¡¯s restrictions and had no n to revolt. There had been precedents of such cases before¡ªan expeditionary army divisionmander had once revolted when the Department of Military Affairs dispatched agents to investigate him. He not only killed the investigation team but also fled to the side of the dark races along with most of the division¡¯s troops.

 Volume 3 - 106: Silent Contest (Part 2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 106: Silent Contest (Part 2)

    The arrogant Broken Winged Angel Corps and Wei n elite guards became increasingly silent after Wu Zhengnan¡¯s appearance. Thetter wasn¡¯t doing anything deliberately, but his every movement brought about an immense amount of invisible pressure.

    Only at this point did the young aristocrat Wei Potian realize that those who could stand firmly in Evernight Continent indeed possessed the corresponding capability¡ªindividualbat ability was exactly one part of it. He understood that they had indeed taken this matter too simply.

    The more experienced Zhang Youheng, on the other hand, was virtually unaffected. He calmly produced a pile of documents and said, ¡°General Wu, we¡¯ve received no small amount of usations against you, the details of which are all recorded here. Do you need me to read it out loud?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan calmly replied, ¡°Go ahead. Let¡¯s hear what they say.¡±

    Zhang Youheng read everything out loud with an unchanging t tone. It took him a full ten minutes to finish the usations despite reading only the concise gist of things.

    Qianye felt it to be quite odd after listening to these usations¡ªZhang Youheng had listed as much as ten vitions of militaryw, but even Qianye, who had only served the army for less than a year, could understand that most of them were of the dispensable type. For instance, misreporting vacancies, embezzling military supplies, failing to fully exert himself during a certain battle orte reinforcements, etc.

    These uses were indeed written in ck and white within the imperial militaryw, but most of them wouldn¡¯t be thoroughly investigated unless they led to grave consequences. These usations weremon urrences among the lower level troops. Take te reinforcements¡± for instance¡ªnot to mention the self-managed armies of the Evernight Continent, even those from the upper continent were often full of conflicts and contradictions. Incidences like half a day¡¯s dy in delivering reinforcements weren''t considered a matter of great significance. Besides, it was difficult to prove whether the dy was intentional as the process could easily be influenced by the weather and geography.

    Yet, Wu Zhengnan¡¯s actions that had truly trampled upon the empire¡¯s red line such as trading strategic resources and bloodline seedlings weren¡¯t included in Zhang Youheng¡¯s list.

    Although thebined punishment he would receive from the dozen petty offenses wasn¡¯t too far off from the two major crimes, Qianye still felt that it was rather absurd that they had foregone pursuing the true crimes and was instead punishing him for some unremarkable misconducts.

    After reciting everything, Zhang Youheng said in a cold and mechanical voice, ¡°General Wu, that concludes theplete list of usations. Do you have any objections? Pleasee back with us to the Department of Military Affairs for investigation if you have no other arrangements.¡±

    At this moment, the expressions of the 7th division officers became much more rxed and so did the hostile atmosphere. Yet, Wu Zhengnan didn¡¯t look at anyone¡ªhis gaze was fixed on the meeting table, his fingers tapping silently upon it. He only came to moments after he heard Zhang Youheng¡¯s words.

    ¡°To the Department of Military Affairs is it¡­¡± Wu Zhengnan smiled. ¡°Who else here will be investigated?¡±

    Zhang Youheng opened another document and calmly read out ten names¡ªall of them were junior officers below the level of lieutenant colonel. Not even a single active regimentalmander was included.

    The 7th division officers were all relieved after the names were announced. It seemed the investigation was targeting Wu Zhengnan personally. As for the few insignificant staff officers, who would care about them? It would be, on the contrary, abnormal for someone of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s status to not have any co-defendants.

    Wu Zhengnan was still quite calm. ¡°Have the charges been confirmed?¡±

    Zhang Youheng put away the documents and replied with an impartial expression, ¡°Not yet, these are all usations. The proper procedures will be followed, and you¡¯ll have one chance to defend yourself.¡±

    ¡°Public or private?¡±

    ¡°Public.¡± Zhang Youheng¡¯s reply caused everyone else in the 7th division to breath a sigh of relief. Even Wu Zhengnan himself revealed a somewhat rxed expression.

    Qianye, who was sitting at thest row, squinted his eyes as he took in the expressions of everyone in the room. Wei Potian, on the other hand, had almost jumped up near the meeting table but was swiftly restrained by the Wei n elder beside him. Fortunately, he had also grown calmer in the recent years and actually didn¡¯t flip out.

    Zhang Youheng stood up. ¡°General Wu, please see to the necessary arrangements of ckflow City. You may assign a temporarymander, but the city defenses will be temporarily handed over to the Broken Winged Angels. You, yourself, will rendezvous with me at the airshipnding pad outside ckflow City¡¯s east gate. The destination will be the expeditionary army headquarters. You will bring along all of the previously listed personnel. Additionally, you may bring one squad of guards. That is all.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan stood up and saw Zhang Youheng¡¯s party out of the meeting room. He stood at the door and bid everyone farewell with an exceptionally sincere smile.

    Wei Potian wore a long face¡ªhe wanted to smash Wu Zhengnan¡¯s old face into a pulp, but he wasn¡¯t dumb. He naturally knew that his fist would likely receive more damage than thetter¡¯s face.

    Zhang Youheng didn¡¯t say another word and hurriedly left the division headquarters building. He then got onto a jeep and left along with his subordinates. He didn¡¯t apany Wei Potian.

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was visibly upset. He jumped into his own jeep and banged the door shut before shouting at that Wei n elder, ¡°What the f*ck is the meaning of this!? This wasn¡¯t what we agreed on!¡±

    Qianye took his seat beside wei Potian and was, on the contrary, quite calm. He had already vaguely guessed the outline of this matter¡ªthe situation at present seemed as if they had started out strong only to reach a weak finish. Wu Zhengnan had seemingly been used of a dozen or so misconducts but hadn¡¯t been convicted at all. Additionally, he still had one chance to defend himself. Situations like this, before reaching the end, could develop into many other problems.

    The location of this so-called public defense was at the expeditionary army headquarters, which meant that the expeditionary army higher-ups could intervene with the investigation. Those minor usations such as unauthorized mobilization and the wasting of resources could easily be insignificant if, at that time, a certain expeditionary army dignitary was willing to step out and say a few words for him. He might even be able to avoid a direct punishment in the end.

    Zhang Youheng¡¯s appointment three days from now was actually giving Wu Zhengnan the time to clean up some loose ends. During this buffer period, thetter could clean up some of the more difficult usations. When the timees, the relevant offenses would be left undetermined due to ack of evidence.

    Confronting Wei Potian¡¯s mes of fury, the Wei n elder replied steadily, ¡°Young master, this is, in fact, the oue of your original negotiation. Have you forgotten?¡±

    Wei Potian carefully thought back¡ªit seemed there was a mention of such a n back then. It was also the easiest and most reliable n. But Zhang Youheng spoke quite ambiguously and didn¡¯t say anything definitely, presenting only a general idea of the scope of his arrangements.

    But, recalling this made Wei Potian even more furious. ¡°He did say something like that but he didn¡¯t say every item would be dealt with in the simplest manner! If things were going to end this way, why did I need to negotiate with him!?¡±

    ¡°Young Master, this is the best method. As long as Wu Zhengnan epts the investigation and leave the 7th division, everything will be much easier to deal with. If he can make the expeditionary army higher-ups acquit him, we can also have the Broken Winged Angel and Imperial Military convict him.¡±

    At this point, the Wei n elder paused momentarily then said, ¡°Additionally, whether we directly execute this divisionmander or force him to rebel, this matter has far surpassed the scope of your authority. If we really do this, you¡¯ll likely be ced under greater restrictions by your father in the future.¡±

    ¡°Let him restrict me! This daddy can¡¯t have Wu Zhengnan worm his way out of this!¡±

    The Wei n elder gestured with his hands. ¡°Young Master, there will be ample time for thatter as long as Wu Zhengnan is no longer a divisionmander.¡±

    Wei Potian seemed as if he wanted to say something but Qianye ced a hand on the former¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Potian, that¡¯s enough. It¡¯s already quite difficult to reach this oue.¡±

    Qianye had already understood the meaning behind the Wei n¡¯s background arrangements. Their aim all along was merely to drag Wu Zhengnan down with these usations. They couldn¡¯t care less about a solitary champion who had lost his identity as an expeditionary army major general.

    This was quite a circuitous method¡ªit could even be considered ruthless¡ªbut it was also a method that would minimize repercussions from all sides. The effect was quite obvious from the reactions of the 7th division officers. Since they all knew that the persecution was targeting only Wu Zhengnan, almost none of them would be willing to join him in a rebellion.

    Simrly, those trivial usationsbined would still result in a serious punishment. By omitting the forbidden deals, they could avoid implicating the other divisions and dragging certain powerhouses into this matter. Otherwise, even if they did pin the whole forbidden deal on Wu Zhengnan alone, the expeditionary army higher ups would still be punished for their negligence in their management.

    Qianye sighed inwardly after recalling how Song Zining had told him that he was also dealing with certain matters on that side. He only began to truly understand the significance of Song Zining¡¯s actions behind the scenes¡ªhe was acting to pull the carpet out from under Wu Zhengnan. Thetter definitely wouldn''t be able to escape his crimes. The higher ups of the expeditionary army definitely wouldn¡¯t voice their opinion if the verdict was to dismiss and not to execute a major general divisionmander. Song Zining had likely foreseen the current situation¡ªthe political maneuvers of the aristocracy were sometimes shockingly simr.

    After figuring out the cause and effect, Qianye suddenly felt even more tired than going through a great battle. Although his experiences today made him feel rather stifled in the chest, he still felt a lingering warmth within his heart. Even though the result of this whole matter was likely to be barely passable, he was no longer fighting alone this time.

    Wei Potian¡¯s anger still hadn¡¯t subsided. ¡°But this bastard colluded with the 15th division to kill you!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time they wanted to kill me. Am I not fine right now?¡±

    Wei Potian only mumbled a few indistinct words, most likely something about how he would let Wu Zhengnan have it, before calming down.

    Wu Zhengnan returned to his office after the group took their leave. He stood before the window and gazed at the city which he had built almost single-handedly.

    There was a light knock on the office door.

    ¡°Enter.¡± Wu Zhengnan¡¯s voice was calm and collected. There was only one person who would dare to visit him at such a time.

    It was indeed Qi Sicheng who walked in. He arrived at Wu Zhengnan¡¯s back with hasty footsteps before speaking joyfully, ¡°General, this oue seems quite good!¡±

    Wu Zhengnan revealed a spurious smile, ¡°Do borate.¡±

 Volume 3 - 107: Visitor (Part 1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 107: Visitor (Part 1)

    Qi Sicheng made a throat-slitting gesture and whispered, ¡°I¡¯ve cleaned up most of the matters here. Those who know too much are now eternally silent. Given enough time, I¡¯m even quite confident in shutting up General Ji¡¯s group regarding that big matter.

    Wu Zhengnan asked withoutmenting, ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So, you can go to the Department of Military Affairs at ease and wrangle with them until everything¡¯s been made clear. Things have been cleaned up quite well on our side so when the timees, there¡¯ll be no valid testimonies. This will also make it easier for the expeditionary army bigshots to help you. You¡¯ll definitely be able to walk out of the headquarters safe and sound. It¡¯s obvious from this matter that the imperial army has no intentions to make things difficult for the expeditionary army.¡±

    Wu Zhengnanughed, ¡°Yes, indeed. The expeditionary army is, after all, the empire¡¯s barrier in the Evernight Continent. Furthermore, I heard the recent situation isn¡¯t so peaceful.¡±

    ¡°Not being peaceful is a good thing! Those lords will only remember about our benefits when there¡¯s no peace.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan waved his hand. ¡°That¡¯s enough Old Qi, no need to speak further. I know what to do. You should continue to tie up the necessary loose ends. If those lordse down again, don¡¯t let them see anything they shouldn¡¯t. From now on, you may mobilize all of the 7th division¡¯s personnel and resources at your discretion.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll arrange everything well.¡±

    Qi Sicheng was about to leave after seeing Wu Zhengnan nod, however, thetter suddenly asked, ¡°What¡¯s the situation over at the old street?¡±

    Qi Sicheng¡¯s steps halted as he thought for a moment. ¡°No activity.¡±

    The old street was where most of ckflow City¡¯s crooks gathered. Wu Zhengnan possessed a long-standing personal channel there. Even Qi Sicheng wasn''t privy to the details of the operation as he only managed the transfer of certain things between the two parties. He had absolutely no idea where the channel was connected to. However, the old street has been rather silent as ofte which, in and of itself, could be considered good news during this period of unrest.

    Wu Zhengnan nodded once again and didn¡¯t speak any further. Hence, Qi Sicheng left at that point.

    Qi Sicheng¡¯s steps halted as he reached the end of the hallway. He shot a backward nce as a vague strand of malice appeared within the depths of his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely let those lords see the things they ¡®should¡¯ see.¡±

    Back in the office, Wu Zhengnan was still gazing at the city. No activity¡ªwas that man nning to save his own skin? Everything will be clear on the morrow. He only had to wait one more day.

    He suddenlyughed. Although the sound was very soft, it contained a tinge of madness. ¡°Will I really be safe even if I¡¯m able to walk out of the Department of Military Affairs? At that time, there¡¯s no telling into whose hands the 7th division will fall. It won¡¯t be me in any case. What an ending¡­ heh, heh, heh, heh.¡±

    In ckflow City, the Wei n and Broken Winged Angels had rented out half a block. Qianye found an independent room nearby because he didn¡¯t want toe into frequent contact with the Broken Winged Angels. Additionally, the evolution of the blood energy in his body was bing increasingly odd. Although he didn¡¯t need to avoid Wei Potian himself, there were Wei n champions around him. Therefore, it was more convenient for him to live alone. He even returned the attendants Wei Potian had sent to him.

    A Wei n guard came to deliver a certain list that evening. It was news from the vige¡ªwritten upon it was the recent developments regarding the numerous seedlings and the loot they had obtained from the battle.

    These young men possessed good constitution. With the Wei n¡¯s medicine and emergency treatment, most of them were able to make aplete recovery. After calctions, the true death toll of this battle was less than 200. Additionally, the 100-odd underage boys and girls werepletely unharmed. This number was much better than Qianye¡¯s expectations.

    After cleaning up the battlefield, the weapons and equipment they had obtained from the expeditionary army could outfit at least half a regiment. The 15th division also reacted quite swiftly and had already proposed apensation. They nned to hand over a small town with a poption of thousands in addition to a ck stone mine and a smaller iron mine which produced a small amount of red crystal iron. Additionally, they promised to assist with security for one year. This also meant that as long as the 15th division existed, the small town would be extremely safe for the following year.

    These were rather generous and sincere conditions. Obviously, the 15th division had already sensed something out of the ordinary. Thepensation was initially offered to the Wei n but Wei Potian heroically waved his hand and transferred it to Qianye.

    Additionally, the guard also brought another piece of news¡ªthe 15th division had handed over Wei Cheng and his family. As for thetter¡¯s fate, the guard didn¡¯t borate in detail. However, the aristocratic families had always punished traitorous family members with the utmost severity and cruelty. Not only was Wei Cheng likely to be executed, his family might not escape death either. It would depend on the results of Wei n¡¯s investigations whether or not his friends and rtives would be involved.

    The seedlings were still living in the Far East Heavy Industries mines for now. As Qianye still had no idea how to make arrangements for them at the moment, he decided to wait until Wu Zhengnan¡¯s business had been concluded before making further ns. Without cleaning up this matter first, those young people would likely be in danger the moment they left the Wei n¡¯s area of influence. It wasn¡¯t just for silencing them¡ªthe dark races would simrly show great interest in them. The allure of a dozen bloodline seedlings was difficult for even a dark race count to refuse.

    Qianye immediately entered a quiet room to cultivate after the Wei n guard took his leave.

    Although he hadn¡¯t directly ingested blood in this battle, the purple gold blood energy had automatically passed outward to absorb the blood power staining his body. This kind of absorption was quite slowpared to direct extraction, but it could, over time, umte a fairly impressive amount. Qianye could only utilize the powerful origin power surge ofbatant form while urging the blood energy to protect his innards in order to consume the vast amounts of blood energy within his body.

    Half the night quickly passed by the moment he started cultivating. Now that he had sufficient blood energy defenses, Qianye¡¯s Combatant Form was able to sessfully circte to the 35th cycle without much damage to his body. At this rate, he would be able to attack the sixth origin power node in under two months.

    It was already past midnight by the time his cultivation ended. Qianye stood up to stretch his body and found that it still felt rather bloated. It was as if he was swelling with origin power but he knew it was but a misperception¡ªthis actually indicated that there was too much blood power in his body.

    However, the dark red ordinary blood energy was already satiated and was no longer absorbing blood power. All of them had retreated into his heart to hibernate. Qianye felt an inexplicable premonition that a second advanced blood energy woulde into being within a few days.

    Qianye was gradually bing quite ustomed to the coexistence of these blood energies. From time to time, he was able to control them, but at other times, they would act on their own. The only thing worth rejoicing so far was that the blood energies weren¡¯t able to control him at all. This was the present situation regardless of Qianye¡¯s willingness.

    The deep night was very tranquil. ckflow City, with its usually abundant nighttime activity, was exceptionally quiet for some reason. Perhaps the citizens had sensed the abnormality and instinctively reduced their outdoor activities.

    Qianye walked toward the window and gazed at the sky. The starry sky was blocked byrge patches of darkness. In truth, they weren¡¯t formed from the darkness of the night but from the shadows cast down by the upper continents. One would only be able to notice the difference after witnessing the sky of the upper continents.

    This was Qianye¡¯s favorite night time activity during the spring hunt¡ªto sit down and gaze at the starry sky in a rtively deserted location. In this world, being able to see a sky full of stars was also an indication of one¡¯s status. Even after returning to Evernight, Qianye would still habitually look up at the night sky, and whenever he did, he would be reminded of the brilliant river of stars in the upper continent.

    The night was still young. Qianye didn¡¯t feel any sleepiness perhaps because of the overly abundant blood energy. He simply spread out his tools on the long table and began to maintain his weapons¡ªfirst the Eagleshot, then the Twin Flowers.

    However, Qianye sensed something odd while wiping the pair of famous pistols that had brought him a fair amount of trouble. The pistols possessed powerful firepower but, as his blood energy advanced, he began to feel more and more that something wasn¡¯t quite right when he used them. It was a kind of obscure sluggishness as if he was using it the wrong way.

    Theoretically, there shouldn¡¯t be any essential difference between human and vampire firearms. The method of activation for both involved the injection of origin power¡ªone would be able to fire the gun as long as he could activate the origin array.

    But Qianye somehow felt he hadn¡¯t been using the correct activation method or otherwise it might be a defect in the two pistols themselves. He studied them repeatedly and tried using different blood energies on their own for activation. The more progress he made, the more he realized that something was possibly missing in the Twin Flowers¡ªit was perhaps a certain special part, a certain type of special darkness origin power, or maybe it required a vampire bloodline as medium.

    Qianye shook his head as he put down the Twin Flowers and picked up the Radiant Edge. When the blood power was at its thickest on the battlefield, he had asionally been able to rapidly extend the de to one meter in length. As it turned out, this was the true might of a champion level weapon. The extended de tip was simr to a materialization of external origin power and possessed simr destructive powers, a weapon highly effective for group fights.

    He wiped the Radiant Edge¡ªthe veined patterns on the weapon were exquisite, smooth and even finer than hair. One could almost feel the origin power splitting into tens of thousands of strands as it flowed gently within. It was truly difficult to imagine how the vampire craftsmen were able to produce such fine patterns.

    The following two days were quite peaceful. Nobody disturbed Qianye¡¯s little house apart from the Wei n guards who hade over to deliver some supplies. Qianye continued to cultivate the Combatant Form and had finally used up the blood power in this body.

    It was already midnight by the time he emerged from the quiet room once again.

    Qianye was somewhat startled after suddenly hearing a soft yet sharp whistle¡ªthis was the rm he had deployed in the yard. It would produce a soft yet prative sound after sensing an intruder.

    The whistle resounded repeatedly and regrly. By the sound of it, it seemed as if many people were rushing into the courtyard. The regr activation interval indicated that it was a well-disciplined military squad, however, Qianye frowned because he couldn¡¯t sense their aura. With his current ability, only those at the rank of champion or higher would be able topletely avoid detection.

    Grabbing the nearby Radiant Edge, Qianye stepped out calmly and opened the door. There was indeed someone in the courtyard¡ªit was, to be precise, a very familiar person.

 Volume 3 - 108: Visitor (Part 2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 108: Visitor (Part 2)

    A certain graceful figure slowly appeared from the shadow at the base of the wall. Two fallen leaves that were rotating in the air ruptured like soap bubbles and vanishedpletely.

    Qianye forced out a helpless smile as he resheathed the Radiant Edge. ¡°Zining, how did you find me here? And please stop ying with my intruder rm. That sound isn¡¯t veryfortable to hear.¡±

    Song Zining stood there rather engrossed. His right hand waved to and fro as he controlled a hazy mass of glowing azure origin power, shifting it from top to bottom along the wall. The intruder rm installed in the area would emit a sharp whistle whenever his hand waved past. It sounded, to Qianye, as if several people were jumping into the courtyard.

    Song Zining withdrew his hand and smiled at Qianye. ¡°It¡¯s simple. I knew you¡¯d be with Wei Potian these days. I can easily find you after finding him. That muscle-brained idiot doesn¡¯t know anything about hiding his tracks. It¡¯s almost as if he wants the whole world to know he¡¯s here.¡±

    Qianye felt a headache after listening to Song Zining¡¯s malicious evaluation of Wei Potian. ¡°Zining¡­¡± The two had been quite upset with each other over various misunderstandings since the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Even after things were made clear, the tension between them failed to ease and, on the contrary, seemed to be intensifying. Song Zining had always acted the part of a typical aristocratic scion in public¡ªhe was cultured, refined, and borate¡ªbut would change utterly andpletely at the mere mention of Wei Potian.

    Song Zining retorted, ¡°Did I say something wrong? He allowed you to fall into a dangerous situation in Wei n¡¯s territory. Humph! The expeditionary army actually dared to dispatch two regiments tounch a cross-region attack on their property, and the local garrison decided to turn a blind eye. The Wei family has truly lost the prestige of us upper-rank aristocratic families. As expected, it''s better if they stay quietly in their Far East Province and don¡¯te out.¡±

    At this moment, Qianye understood that Song Zining had already found out about what happened at the Far East Heavy Industries mines. ¡°The cause of this incident is still me.¡± He smiled ruefully after seeing Song Zining still somewhat angry. ¡°Zining, when you first met him, you said the heir of Marquis Bowang isn¡¯t a fool.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°I was telling you to be on your guard against him. Don¡¯t think everyone who looks foolish is a good person. Furthermore, what does his not being a fool have to do with his idiotic actions?¡±

    Qianye finally understood that he had no way to convince Song Zining regarding this matter. Instead, he seemed to be pouring oil over fire the more he talked about this. At that point, he invited Song Zining into the house and asked, ¡°I guess matters on your side have been progressing quite well, seeing as how you came to call on me sote at night.¡±

    Song Zining stepped into the room and swept his gaze over the simple furnishings within. He then nced back at Qianye¡¯s somewhat difficult expression and decided not to express his negative views on the living conditions. ¡°Things have gone without a hitch on my side. I¡¯ll go into the detailster. Do you still remember that I said I¡¯m going to obtain some important merchandise? This is the present I prepared for you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Qianye asked curiously. Anything mentioned so seriously by Song Zining had to be rather unique.

    Song Zining lightly pped thrice. His actions were gentle and almost didn¡¯t use any force, but the sharp and clear sound of his ps was transmitted quite far. After it, Qianye heard the rm in the courtyard ring twice, and two people covered in ck cloaks walked into the room in the blink of an eye.

    The aura of the two mysterious characters wasn¡¯t very powerful, probably at rank three to five.

    Song Zining pointed towards them and said, ¡°This is the present I prepared for you. Why haven¡¯t you two taken off your hoods yet?¡±

    The two lifted their hoods as instructed, revealing two identical faces that were exquisitely beautiful. They were actually a pair of twins¡ªyoung, beautiful, and as clean as clear springs.

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°How are they? Not bad, right?! They¡¯re already at rank four at only 16 years old. They were trained stringently since a young age in a variety of skills, from assassinations and battle to statecraft. They know a bit of everything. Such first-rate goods are extremely limited even in the whole empire. I rushed over as soon as I received the news and bought the two with great difficulty.

    ¡°You bought them?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. These elite ves are handpicked by the Hidden Spring Merchant Group since a young age, going through long periods of training and numerous selections. You¡¯ve perhaps heard of the Hidden Spring, one of the higher ranked trade conglomerates. Their underground ve trade is quiterge, and they¡¯re famous for training ves for various applications. They recently held an auction in Evernight Continent which is where I bought them.¡±

    Song Zining pointed towards Qianye and said to the two girls, ¡°He¡¯s your master from now on. Go and greet your new master.¡±

    The two girls stepped forward gracefully and prostrated themselves on the floor, drawing out their bodies in supple and elegant lines from neck to waist.

    ¡°I¡¯m called Lil¡¯ Seven,¡± said the girl on the left.

    ¡°And I¡¯m Lil¡¯ Nine,¡± said the girl on the right.

    Song Zining proceeded to exin about their odd names. ¡°They joined Hidden Spring as nameless infants. Every batch would be differentiated by their numbers. This is both a tradition and a trademark of Hidden Spring. You can name them if you care or you can just use their numbers; it really doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile deepened at this point as he blinked his eyes and said, ¡°The two of them should be quite¡­ useful. Do you want to try it now? Haha!¡±

    ¡°...¡± Qianye was absolutely dumbfounded at this point. Song Zining still had the habit of gifting himdies, just like when they were back at the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Could this be a means of socializingmon to all aristocratic scions? One had to admit that such a habit would certainly be quite well-received among the empire¡¯s nobility.

    Qianye thought about it for a second and then said firmly, ¡°Zining, you know I have a whole heap of unsolvable problems. It¡¯s truly not a good time to add more people to my side.¡±

    ¡°The two of them are quite capable. Not only will they not be a burden, on the contrary, they¡¯ll be of assistance to you. The Hidden Spring¡¯s training methods tend to overdraft one¡¯s potential, but with their talents, they may still reach rank seven,¡± Song Zining said with a smile while patting Qianye¡¯s shoulder.

    Qianye suddenly felt a sharp pain on his shoulder¡ªa thin needle had pierced into his body, following which, a cold sensation spread out from the point of contact. He jumped up in shock and instinctively moved to the wall in the blink of an eye. At this time, the threads of cold sensation had already melted into his flowing blood.

    Song Zining ced the slender syringe on the table andughed. ¡°Qianye, your awareness is trulycking. Also, shouldn¡¯t you be retaliating after being ambushed?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry after hearing this. ¡°Are you regretting that I didn¡¯t stab you?¡±

    Song Ziningughed as he picked up the syringe and shook it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. This drug is just to add a certain element to your blood and has no other effect on living beings. However, it¡¯s a necessary drug for them. They¡¯ll be restless and anxious if they don¡¯t get to drink your blood within half a year. They¡¯ll then live suffering from thirst and cravings until they gopletely mad.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°Is this the Hidden Spring¡¯s method to control them?¡± He understood the principles behind this method¡ªthere were also simr drug interrogation techniques within the army.

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Yes. A specific type of drug is assigned to every type of elite ve. Additionally, the drug for every batch is different and there¡¯s only one dose of each. It¡¯s impossible to duplicate.¡±

    Finally, Song Zining shrugged and said, ¡°Now they won¡¯t live past a year if you don¡¯t take them along.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Is this really necessary?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Of course it is! Otherwise, how would you be willing to ept them?¡± Song Zining turned towards the two girls and said, ¡°You two go back first. Come back tomorrow with the things I prepared for your master.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Seven and Lil¡¯ Nine bowed, put on their hoods, and withdrew silently. They returned the same way they came, by jumping over the wall.

    Song Zining beckoned with his hands after he looked up to see Qianye still keeping his distance. ¡°Now let¡¯s discuss proper business.¡±

    He took out an unremarkable wooden document box and ced it on the table. ¡°This is an ancient cultivation scroll from my family. It¡¯s said to have existed since the Battle of Destiny. The Song n didn¡¯t even exist at the time.¡±

    Qianye returned to his seat across Song Zining and was just about to take the scroll to flip through when he was startled by Song Zining¡¯s words. His hand froze midway. The ancient arts of the aristocratic families were, without exception, n-defining treasures. Never were they known to be divulged to an outsider.

    Song Zining opened the box nonchntly to reveal a volume made of three pieces of jade strung together. The surface of the jades had dimmed due to the passage of time. He removed one of them and stroked it lightly, immediately revealing a reserved and mellow brilliance from within. It was evident, just from the jade¡¯s quality, that it was a priceless item.

    Song Zining ced the jade booklet before Qianye and said with a chuckle, ¡°This is the genuine item. You can throw away the useless Nurturing Rain Art from the Yin family.¡±

    Qianye was stunned¡ªa n elder would always make a separate copy when aristocratic families passed arts to outsiders. The Nurturing Rain Art he¡¯d obtained from the Yin family was also simrly copied. If they gave him the original, what would the Song n descendants do when they wanted to learn the art?

    Song Zining seemed to have figured out Qianye¡¯s misgivings. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ve already ced a few counterfeit items in the family storehouse.¡±

    ¡°Counterfeits¡­¡± Qianye felt a corner of his forehead twitch and couldn¡¯t help but rub it with his hand. Each of Song Zining¡¯s words and actions tonight had left him absolutely speechless.

    Song Zining actually dared to just take out such a valuable item, a genuine copy of his family¡¯s secret art, and rece it with a counterfeit¡ªhis way of thinking was truly baffling. It might not end with him simply being expelled from the n if things came to light. The more serious offenders would have their origin power destroyed and banished for penal servitude. Furthermore, based on his words, it seemed that he was bestowing this secret art upon an outsider without the family¡¯s consent. It was inevitable that the recipient, Qianye, would also be chased down and killed by the Song n.

    Song Zining, however, yed down the whole thing. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there are over ten such ancient scrolls and all of them are there collecting a thousand years worth of dust on the innermost shelves. No one has ever cultivated this art sessfully. It¡¯s only there because it was left behind by the ancestor. It¡¯s already been an eternity since anyone had gone to flip through them, much less was dumb enough to cultivate them.¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt somewhat odd. What did he mean by dumb enough to cultivate these ancient scrolls? Before he had time to think further, he heard Song Zining¡¯s eager words, ¡°That¡¯s why, Qianye, you must cultivate this art earnestly and do it quickly.¡±

    Qianye almost began to sweat after hearing this. How was he supposed to sessfully cultivate an art that no one from the Song n had managed to in a thousand years? Song Zining had always been extremely meticulous with his methods, but this time, he¡¯d acted rather presumptuously and without regard for consequences. ¡°Zining, this kind of¡­¡±

    Song Zining interrupted Qianye¡¯s words and proceeded to brag delightedly, ¡°You have no idea how difficult it was to persuade that elder from the depository. I¡¯d nned this single-mindedly for quite some time before I was able to catch him in bed with his new mistress. This woman was the concubine of the Marquis of Xiangcheng, not someone he could easily deal with. You don¡¯t know how brilliant his expression was when he jumped up from his bed!¡±

    Qianye onlyughed helplessly. ¡°This¡­ won¡¯t this be a problem?¡± None of the elders from the aristocratic ns were simple, even those with a different surname. Yet, the one who had schemed against this elder was actually the concubine of a marquis¡ªSong Zining was practically ying with fire.

    Song Zining said indifferently, ¡°Why should it be? I¡¯m only asking him to do some small things despite having him at my mercy. Furthermore, I even remunerated him ording to the market price instead of extorting him. Oh right, I¡¯m actually nning to buy thatdy from the Marquis of Xiangcheng and gift her to this elder. That should make him work for me with increased loyalty.¡±

    A peculiar thought shed through Qianye¡¯s mind¡ªSong Zining seemed amiable but was, in fact, unyielding and decisive. He was never one to exin his methods, much less brag about such shameful tricks. However, Qianye wasn¡¯t familiar with the strategies of the aristocracy at all. After listening for a long time, he finally said, ¡°By all means, be careful.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s sitting posture became even more rxed. He rested his head on his hand and saidzily, ¡°One has to seek fortune amidst danger. This time, for instance, I cut off Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ck crystal supply. I¡¯ve seized a good portion of the industry behind him and temporarily crippled half of the remaining channels. All of those trade routes will fall into my hands after he¡¯s been officially overthrown.¡±

    Qianye frowned involuntarily. It sounded like Song Zining intended to inherit these channels. As someone who had a vendetta against the dark races, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a spell of difort even if it was only ordinary trade. Furthermore, their reason for toppling Wu Zhengnan wasn¡¯t for seizing his trade routes, was it? However, Qianye didn¡¯t inquire further on ount of his trust towards Song Zining. In truth, he failed to notice that he was actually evading the issue out of instinct.

    Song Zining observed Qianye¡¯s expression attentively and then continued, ¡°You have no idea how big the profits here are. These resources are all wasted in the hands of someone like Wu Zhengnan. If the profits weren¡¯t big enough, how would I be able to trade for such authority and thus seize so many industries and routes? This can¡¯t be done even with the Song n¡¯s name.¡±

    Even someone as oblivious to trickery and tactics as Qianye was able to discern that something was wrong with the meaning behind his words. He looked up doubtfully and saw Song Zining gazing at him. At this moment, his warm, smiling face resembled a mask like never before. There were no fluctuations in the depths of his eyes and not even a strand of warmth.

    ¡°Qianye, aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll be the next Wu Zhengnan?¡±

    The suspicion within Qianye¡¯s obsidian eyes gradually faded away when their eyes met. He didn¡¯t reply immediately but instead brought up another matter. ¡°What would you have done if my blood power had condensed into a vampire n¡¯s insignia during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt?

    Song Zining¡¯s expression froze.

 Volume 3 - 109: Visitor (Part 3)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 109: Visitor (Part 3)

    Song Zining recovered his calm attitude in the blink of an eye and seemed to have no hesitation when he said, ¡°A vampire progeny cannot disobey its progenitor¡¯s will. This isn¡¯t aparison of power but a naturalw. If you were truly given the embrace¡­¡±¡ªhis calm tone bordered on cruelty¡ª¡°then the Qianye I know would no longer exist.¡±

    Qianye revealed a smile, one that was as clear and limpid as crystal. ¡°That¡¯s why I believe you.¡± Even Song Zining, with his swift reaction, was momentarily startled before he understood the meaning behind these words. This was Qianye¡¯s reply to his question.

    After some thought, Qianye continued, ¡°I¡¯m somewhat proficient with hunting and assassinations. You cane to me if you have things you need handled.¡±

    Song Zining was partially surprised. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t like filthy and shady businesses.¡±

    Qianye shook his head and replied, ¡°There¡¯s no room to discuss whether I like it or not. Red Scorpion also had its fair share of such things back then. For aplishing missions, I presume.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t really good with words. He paused here to think before saying, ¡°While handling matters, one shouldn¡¯t lose his conscience to the point of forgetting his original goal. The methods used actually aren¡¯t that important.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly raised his voice. ¡°I like these words! We should really let that fool Wei Potian hear them! The only thing he knows is to charge in head-first with the Thousand Mountains. How is that different from a wild boar?!¡±

    The previous solemn and somewhat strained atmosphere was immediately swept away. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but want to rub his temples as he followed Song Zining¡¯s gaze towards the door.

    A sudden sneering voice came from the courtyard. ¡°So what if I¡¯m a wild boar? It¡¯s still better than being a perverted skirt-chaser! You can¡¯t even break through my Thousand Mountains with that empty rank seven strength of yours. Weren¡¯t you chased around everywhere like a stray dog?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression sunk as he walked towards Wei Potian with a re. ¡°What did youe here for in the dead of the night? Shouldn¡¯t you be hiding in a hole cultivating your turtle shell?¡±

    Wei Potian let out a cold snort. ¡°When Ie over is none of your business! I¡¯m here precisely because I¡¯m worried that a certain spineless pervert is roaming about in the dead of the night, engaging in shameful and shady business. Although Little Ye isn¡¯t afraid, you might bother him and worsen his mood.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s re was a sharp as a de. ¡°Admiring beauty akin to blossoms is an inherent quality of men. A wild boar like you naturally wouldn¡¯t understand. I do wonder who spineless one really is? Who was the one beaten until he copsed onto all fours like a dying pig gasping for air?¡±

    Wei Potianughed loudly. ¡°How is that being beaten? It was obviously me tiring myself out. You sure like to blow your own trumpet! I¡¯ll naturally pay you back for everything many times over in the future.¡±

    Song Zining said softly, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not a bad idea to beat you up. No need to wait until the future.¡±

    Wei Potian squinted. ¡°I feel the same way! Let me tell you, true men are fearless in the face of battle. The stronger the enemy, the bolder one should be. Your daddy here won¡¯t shrink back even if I can¡¯t win. As for you, you don¡¯t even dare to admit your pervertedness. What admiring flowers? Ptui!¡±

    Qianye could no longer stay silent. ¡°You two, stop shouting about killing and fighting whenever you meet! Shouldn¡¯t we at least get proper business done first?¡±

    Wei Potian grinned. ¡°There¡¯s no proper business. I only came over to visit you.¡±

    Song Zining stood up. ¡°The same goes for me. Well, it¡¯s time to leave now that there¡¯s nothing to do.¡±

    The two walked closer to each other once they reached the courtyard.

    ¡°I think there¡¯s a small and seemingly deserted alleyway nearby.¡±

    ¡°I also happen to have the same intention!¡±

    The two mumbling men thus left alongside each other.

    Qianye shook his head helplessly as he watched their receding figures. The room suddenly became much quieter after all the liveliness was gone. Qianye was momentarily having a hard time deciding what to do when his gaze fell upon the box and jade booklets on the table.

    He reached for the box and unexpectedly felt his hands sink¡ªit was even heavier than an alloy of the same size. He was astonished. After some detailed observation, he found that it was made of an unknown type of wood. Although the patterns on its surface were natural and showed no signs of being carved by hand, they constituted a certain array which isted the interior from all external origin powers. This prevented people from probing into the item within. It was highly probable that the box itself was an antique dating back to before the War of Daybreak.

    Qianye extracted the palm-sized jade booklet from within. The jade was slightly yellowed and exuded an aura of primitive simplicity. He injected a small amount of origin power to gradually reveal four ancient characters on the jade tablet: ¡°Song n Ancient Scroll¡±

    The name was truly, uh, special. Qianye suddenly discovered a small word in a corner below the words ¡°Song n Ancient Scroll¡± that said ¡°Part One¡±. Ovee by an abrupt and surreal sensation, he flipped open the other two tablets. They were, as expected, parts two and three.

    These three tablets were the Song n Ancient Scroll parts one, two, and three.

    It had to be said that Qianye¡¯s understanding of secret arts was impacted quite a bit. The aristocratic secret arts he¡¯d seen before¡ªranging from the Thousand Mountains, the Moonwater Flowing Cloud Art to the Silver Sword Finger and the Sky Shattering Bright Fist¡ªall had metaphorical names that left deep impressions and disyed their essence.

    Qianye reorganized his thoughts and flipped open the second page of the first booklet where numerous words appeared in response to his origin power. It was indeed a cultivation method, but it was recorded in ancient humannguage¡ªevery word was iparably abstruse andplicated.

    Learning ancientnguage was apulsory and basic knowledge for the scions of aristocratic families. It¡¯s said that many imperial edicts were still being issued in thisnguage in order to express veneration. Qianye, on the other hand, was still at a stage where he could barely recognize some of the words individually and waspletely unable to make heads or tails of them when they were strung together.

    Qianye smiled ruefully. Flipping casually through a few pages, he unexpectedly discovered a cultivation techniquepletely different from the ones he normally saw¡ªit was evidently speaking of how to absorb darkness origin power! He couldn¡¯t have misinterpreted this no matter how lousy his ancientnguage skills were. The words undoubtedly referred to a darkness origin power cultivation method.

    This issue was more than just shocking. Since the humans awoke to origin power, they¡¯d caused the daybreak attribute of this world to shine ever so brilliantly. Thousands of years of history proved that humans were inherently daybreak lifeforms. Although some had fallen to the Evernight Continent for various reasons, none of them were known to reach the apex. This went to show that darkness origin power wasn¡¯t suited for the human race at all.

    In truth, some unpublicized studies from the empire proved that those who were able to easily switch to darkness origin power cultivation usually possessed dark race blood. Pure-blooded humans would require aplete transformation like the vampire race¡¯s embrace in order for the darkness origin power topletely swallow their natural daybreak origin power.

    Having read up to this point, Qianye finally understood why no one from the Song n had cultivated these three ancient scrolls since their founding, or even studied them.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t yet put down the ancient scroll when he saw Song Zining and Wei Potian return one after another. The two of them had been fine when they left but returned looking utterly miserable.

    Song Zining had it somewhat better¡ªonly some creases could be seen on the hem of his clothes. He would be no different from his normal, peaceful self if not for therge bruise around his right eye.

    Wei Potian was in a fairly miserable state. One of his eyes was so swollen that only a single line remained, and a corner of his lips was torn. His tattered clothes were no different from a beggar¡¯s with several sole marks on them, while the exposed parts of his skin were all bruised.

    Qianye suddenly felt blue veins pop up on the corner of his forehead as his head began to throb. ¡°You two¡­ could it be that you guys went to fight?¡±

    Wei Potianughed loudly. ¡°No, why would we fight? We were just exchanging pointers, yes, only pointers! That alleyway wasn¡¯t half bad. We fought for so long yet no one came. I¡¯ve finally loosened my tendons and bones. How satisfying!¡±

    Song Zining was still mild and tranquil. ¡°It¡¯s indeed satisfying, but my legs are tired from all the stomping.¡±

    Wei Potian said with augh, ¡°It¡¯s no big deal for a man to suffer some setbacks. Contrariwise, it seems a certain pervert isn¡¯t so invincible after all! That smash was quite the satisfying blow. So what if this daddy gets stomped on a few times in exchange? It¡¯s doesn¡¯t hurt much anyway!¡±

    ¡°Enough, enough, you two are really¡­¡± Qianye sighed as he brought out a first-aid bag from the cab and opened it on the table. An aristocratic family¡¯s heir and a sessor candidate of one of the four great ns actually went to brawl in an alleyway like local ruffians and came back bruised and battered. This was the second time Qianye¡¯s understanding of things was challenged this evening, right after the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    Wei Potian waved hisrge hand and said heroically, ¡°I¡¯ve already taken some medicine. These small injuries will heal in no time!¡±

    Song Zining said ambiguously from the side, ¡°My Song family¡¯s medicine is known as the best among the four great ns. It¡¯s a pity to use it on a wild boar.¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly let out a cold snort and grabbed the medicine box Qianye had offered him. ¡°What¡¯s this? It seems quite familiar.¡±

    It was a three-inch-long crystal box with a beautiful blood-colored flower carved upon it. It was half-filled with a misty blue substance. This was the drug Zhao Junhong had given Qianye, the only valuable medicine in his possession.

    ¡°The red spider lily, isn¡¯t this Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s item?¡± Wei Potian scratched his head, obviously unable to put two and two together.

    ¡°Zhao? Zhao Ruoxi?¡± Qianye thought about this name and replied slowly, ¡°This was, indeed, given to me by the second young master of the Zhao n.¡±

    The unconcerned Wei Potian stuffed the box back into Qianye¡¯s hands. ¡°Zhao Ruoxi is Zhao Junhong¡¯s sister. This medicine is good stuff, you should keep it.¡±

    A peculiar feeling suddenly emerged within Qianye. He turned around and discovered Song Zining gazing at him thoughtfully.

    Without waiting for Qianye to think more on it, Wei Potian opened the document box on the table where the activated words on the jade tablet hadn¡¯t quite faded. ¡°What¡¯s this? Judging from the style, it looks like a Song n item.¡±

    The odd expression on Song Zining¡¯s face suddenly disappeared, and he said proudly, ¡°It seems you do have good eyesight. This is an ancient scroll from the Song n¡¯s depository I found for Qianye.¡±

    The amazement on Wei Potian¡¯s face abruptly turned into disdain. He casually lifted the jade booklet¡ªthe words on the cover were beginning to fade but were still legible¡ªhe stared nkly for a while, then said, ¡°This thing¡­ is actually called the Song n Ancient Scroll? And it¡¯s the first part? Could it be that there¡¯s a part two and three? Haha, haha, Song Seven, Brother Zining, oh please! You should put some thought into it even if you want to y a prank on Qianye. Is there a fake item more obvious than this? Ahahaha!¡±

    Song Zining replied furiously, ¡°You ignorant fool, open your eyes wide and look carefully at the material of this ancient scroll! I¡¯ll buy it at any price if you can find a simr item!¡±

    Wei Potian flipped the jade tablet over disapprovingly and sneered while pointing at a certain passage inside. ¡°You¡¯re still trying to say it isn¡¯t fake! What the hell is with this passage instructing the reader to cultivate darkness origin energy? Why don¡¯t you try cultivating darkness origin power? I¡¯ll write my name backwards if you don¡¯t burst a few origin power nodes!¡±

    Qianye also had simr misgivings and couldn¡¯t help but turn his gaze towards Song Zining.

    Seeing that Qianye also had some doubts, Song Zining red at Wei Potian and replied grimly, ¡°Qianye, the Song n Ancient Scroll can only be cultivated by those awakened to the Venus Dawn. I once asked a great master to perform some calctions and found that you are only fated for these three volumes among the Song n¡¯s ancient scrolls. That great master''s art isn¡¯t, at all, inferior to the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mastery.¡±

    Qianye was amazed¡ªso this was the actual reason? He naturally knew what this so-called Venus Dawn was, and so did Song Zining. Could it be that he believed that Qianye could sessfully cultivate the ancient scroll with the fake Venus Dawn? Wasn¡¯t this jest a bit too overboard?

    Wei Potian interrupted with a sneer, ¡°Stop trying to deceive people. A master whose art isn¡¯t below the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mastery? Heh heh. If the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mastery was so simple, how could Lin Xitang stand alongside Ba Qian as one of the twin pirs of the empire? ording to you, we should probably add that great master of yours in and call them the three heroes.¡±

    Song Zining became furious. ¡°Wei Potian, you¡¯re disrespecting the great master!¡±

    Wo Potian immediately jumped up. ¡°So what if I¡¯m not respectful? Why should I be afraid of you?¡±

    Qianye turned towards the door after seeing them about to start another awful ruckus, whereupon his expression turned as solemn as water, revealing a frosty killing intent.

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 Volume 3 - 110: Visitor (Part 4)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 110: Visitor (Part 4)

    Song Zining turned around and looked toward the exterior at almost the same time. Wei Potian, on the other hand, appeared rather puzzled and only peered out after seeing that the expressions of the other two had turned solemn.

    It was unknown when an extra person had appeared within therge and empty courtyard. He possessed a moderate build and his robust figure appeared as if it was carved from stone. He merely stood there but his grave and imposing manner pervaded the air, suppressing everyone until it was difficult to breathe.

    Qianye slowly stood up and met that person¡¯s iing gaze. He suddenly felt as if a beam of white light was striking toward him like a bolt of lightning. His whole field of vision momentarily distorted.

    He, however, forcibly withstood this moment of blindness. He stood straight as he eximed with a serious voice, ¡°Wu Zhengnan!¡±

    ¡°If I didn¡¯t remember wrong, we only met for the first time the day before yesterday, but it seems you¡¯ve been concerned about me for quite some time.¡± Wu Zhengnan¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t as overbearing as his demeanor. His words were spoken calmly as if he was actively chatting with a friend.

    Wu Zhengnan advanced in slow strides and no loud sound could be heard from his every step. However, the courtyard was trembling as if a whole mountain was encroaching upon it.

    He only halted his steps when he reached the eaves of the porch. Light poured out of the open door and illuminated the visitor. One could see Wu Zhengnan still wearing the expeditionary army¡¯s major general uniform, but the military rank insignias on his cuffs, cor and shoulders have been removed.

    Wu Zhengnan was only supposed to be investigated and not dismissed¡ªafter seeing him appear wearing a uniform with no insignia, the corner of Song Zining¡¯s eyes twitched ever so slightly while Qianye also felt a vague sense of unease.

    Wei Potian, on the other hand, had no such thoughts. He suddenly stood up and shouted, ¡°What are you here for!?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan replied with a smile, ¡°The Wei n heir still has that fiery temper. In truth, I only came to see little friend Qianye. I didn¡¯t expect the heir to also be here.¡±

    At this point, Wu Zhengnan turned toward Song Zining and spoke with a questioning tone, ¡°And you are?¡±

    ¡°Hignd Song n, I¡¯m seventh.¡± Song Zining¡¯s reply was very simple, but those who could announce their name like this could only be main branch scions of considerable identity. The branch lineages would have to state their branch name.

    The uneasiness within Qianye¡¯s heart grew stronger. He understood Song Zining very well¡ªhim throwing out the Song n name directly indicated that they were in a position where it had be absolutely necessary.

    Wu Zhengnan was startled ever so slightly. He then proceeded to nod in greeting. ¡°So it¡¯s the seventh young master.¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly shouted, ¡°Wu Zhengnan! How did youe in here? What happened to my men outside?¡±

    ¡°The men outside?¡± Wu Zhengnan¡¯s smile suddenly became fleeting. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any living people outside, only a few corpses.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression immediately sunk as he said coldly, ¡°That means you¡¯ve killed them? What nerve! Where¡¯s Elder Chen?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s gaze suddenly fell on Wu Zhengnan¡¯s left hand which was hanging to his side at an unnatural angle¡ªit looked like an artificial arm was attached to the body¡ªa drop of blood slowly trickled down from his sleeve and dripped onto the floor.

    The blood pool on the ground gradually increased in size and became palm-sized in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye finally discovered something he had overlooked. Under the suppression of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s powerful vigor which almost seemed to be able to stir up space, he had failed to notice the dense stench of blood in the air.

    Such a density couldn¡¯t be umted by killing just one or two people. Qianye had only smelt such a concentrated stench of blood on battlefields involving thousands. But now such a bloody aura was being emitted continuously from under Wu Zhengnan¡¯s uniform as if his body waspletely stained with fresh blood.

    Qianye suddenly looked up at the dark night sky. At this time, the whole block was unusually quiet¡ªnot even the slightest background noise could be heard, and even the night winds seemed to have stopped flowing.

    Wu Zhengnan sighed. ¡°Wei n heir is really dull. How could you reveal something like this? Now it¡¯s no longer interesting! I don¡¯t know any Elder Chen, but I did pick up something outside that might perhaps be of interest to you.¡±

    With that, Wu Zhengnan raised his right hand and casually tossed a ck object toward Wei Potian.

    Wei Potian subconsciously caught it. He was immediately enraged after seeing what it was and cried out involuntarily, ¡°Elder Chen!¡±

    It was, shockingly, a human head. Its facial features resembled the external elder who had been apanying Wei Potian on this excursion. He was also a champion level expert, but unexpectedly, he had silently died in Wu Zhengnan¡¯s hands.

    Wei Potian¡¯s anger disappeared all of a sudden. He calmed down and spoke with a harsh tone, ¡°General Wu, although it wasn¡¯t my idea, I have already left you a way out, but you suddenly killed our Wei n¡¯s elder. Did you think those expeditionary army dignitaries will cover for you till the end?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan attentively gazed at Wei Potian and found thetter to bepletely unaffected by his suppressive might. This wasn¡¯t a forced and artificial calmness but true fearlessness which he couldn¡¯t help but praise. ¡°The Wei n heir is indeed a giant among men. Sigh, my son wouldn¡¯t have died so early if only he had half your talents.¡±

    With that Wu Zhengnan turned to Qianye. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, that useless brat should¡¯ve died in your hands.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°He was actively courting death. He should¡¯ve known he would lose his life the moment he annihted the whole of my friend¡¯s family.¡±

    Wu Zhengnanughed loudly and said repeatedly, ¡°So it¡¯s like that. Good, good, good! It seems my son should indeed be killed! Well done!¡±

    Wei Potian frowned. ¡°General Wu! What is the meaning of this? You have a way out before you, are you not willing to go?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan sneered. ¡°A way out? Even if I walk out of the Department of Military Affairs alive, the 7th division should already have another owner, right? This division, thisnd, this city, and this military base¡­ I¡¯ve spent half my life operating this ce! What meaning is there in being alive if I lose them all!? Just like this military uniform I¡¯m wearing, can you still call this a military uniform after removing all the military insignia?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan continued, ¡°Originally, I only wanted to see this person of astonishing talents who was able to kill my son, escape the pursuit of my assassins and, in the end, rob an entire caravan of mine. I hadn¡¯t expected the Wei n heir and Song n young master to be here. Quite unexpected!¡±

    ¡°You also killed everyone in this street block,¡± Qianye said calmly. It seemed as if mes were dancing within his eyes amidst restrained fury.

    Wu Zhengnan was visibly surprised by Qianye¡¯s keen senses. He raised his brows and said, ¡°It seems my useless son died for a reason. You are all young and heroic. It¡¯s only proper that you have people to apany you in death.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart slowly sank. Only a short while had passed between his friends¡¯ return from the alleyway and Wu Zhengnan¡¯s appearance, yet thetter had actually killed all of the residents in this block along with Wei Potian¡¯s personal guards and the elder during this time. This kind of strength proved that he was more than just an ordinary champion.

    Wei Potian, on the other hand,ughed loudly instead. ¡°If you kill me, your whole n can forget about surviving!¡±

    Wu Zhengnan replied calmly, ¡°Since I¡¯ve already killed people from your Wei n, one more doesn¡¯t make a difference. Evernight is a vast ce. It won¡¯t be so easy even if the four great ns want to find me, not to mention your Wei n. As for family, heh, heh, how can there be whole eggs under an overturned nest. They should be resigned to their fate.

    Song Zining suddenly spoke, ¡°It¡¯s quite grand of you to bury the whole Huaiyang Wu n along with you.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s expression finally changed. However, his expression was somewhat odd. It didn¡¯t quite resemble fear, but neither was itplete anger.

    Song Zining continued without waiting for him to say anything, ¡°General Wu, you also seemed to have paid quite dearly in order to kill the Wei n champion if I¡¯m not mistaken. You probably won¡¯tst very long suppressing your wounds with a secret art.¡±

    The radiance within Wu Zhengnan¡¯s eyes intensified as he stared fixedly at Song Zining like a vicious beast choosing his prey in the dark night. ¡°Young Master Song truly has a good eyesight. But even if I¡¯m wounded, do you three juniors really think you¡¯re a match for me?¡±

    The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy and stagnant during the short three steps he took from the hallway to the room door. It was as if an invisible gigantic beast was encroaching upon them.

    Song Zining, however, wasn¡¯t quite affected. He revealed a gentle and refined smile as azure light shed across his body. His whole person suddenly flickered for a moment, however, that was just an illusion¡ªthe truth was that the distorted air around his body had affected visual perception.

    ¡°But it seems this matter ispletely unrted to me. So can I leave?¡± Song Zining shrugged and said innocently.

    Wu Zhengnan hadn¡¯t expected Song Zining to say something like this. He hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°If Young Master Song wishes to leave, please do so immediately! I can¡¯t promise I won¡¯t change my mind if you dy any longer.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s figure suddenly flickered and disappeared, leaving only a few afterimages where he stood.

    Wu Zhengnan stared at the ce where the final afterimage disappeared and frowned. After which, his gaze swept back toward Qianye and Wei Potian. He had long since figured out that Song Zining was the most difficult among the three¡ªthetter¡¯s unfathomable secret art had exceeded his expectations. Since he had let one of them go, it was imperative for him to end this battle quickly.

    Qianye had already whispered to Wei Potian when Song Zining expressed his n to leave. ¡°You leave too!¡±

    Wu Zhengnan was a major general. A major general, even if he was only from the expeditionary army, wouldn¡¯t just be ate stage champion. This also meant that the three of them were at least three ranks lower than him. Under the suppression of such a difference in rank, they might not be able to receive a few blows from Wu Zhengnan, even if thetter was badly wounded. But as long as Qianye could block the enemy for a moment, the others could run away¡ªthis was especially true for Song Zining and Wei Potian who had personal guards¡ªthey would be safe as long as they could return to their garrison.

    At this time, he couldn¡¯t be clearer on what to choose.

    Wei Potian, on the other hand, said calmly, ¡°What are you scared of? At worst, this daddy will repay you with this life.¡±

    Qianye wanted to say more but Song Zining¡¯s figure had already disappeared at this point. Wu Zhengnanughed out loud. ¡°It¡¯s already quitete. Allow me to aplish your wishes!¡± A bright jade glow emerged on his right palm and swatted down with earth-shattering momentum!

    Qianye and Wei Potian felt the space before them freeze even while the palm winds were some distance away. A tremendous and peerless force was pushing toward them, almost causing their breathing to stagnate.

    Wei Potian tookrge strides toward the courtyard. He roared wildly like a thunderp as a zing yellow radiance surged even brighter than the glow of his origin power¡ªthe ¡°Thousand Mountains¡± had been activated at full power! However, this yellow gleam dimmed swiftly under the assault of the jade green light. He was like a flickering me amidst the violent squall, about to be extinguished at any time.

    Qianye suddenly appeared diagonally behind Wei Potian and reached out to support thetter¡¯s back and waist. The ¡°Thousand Mountains¡±, at this time, was wavering and about to copse. Qianye pushed out with a supple force and sent the unsuspecting Wei Potian flying to one side.

    Qianye took one step and withstood the iing attack in Wei Potian¡¯s previous position. He faced the jade green glow which had arrived within arm¡¯s reach. It was at this time that Qianye clenched his jaws¡ªhis full attention was gathered on the origin power tide within his body as thebatant form rushed past the 28th cycle. This was already his current fastest speed.

    At this moment, he only heard the sound of the tide and soft thunder rumbling from afar.

    Qianye¡¯s fist struck out toward the jade glow which seemed as if it could swallow everything. His heart was exceptionally calm¡ªthis matter had arisen from him, and quite rightly, it should also end with him.

 Volume 3 - 111: Fatal Attack

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 111: Fatal Attack

    Thebatant form tides rose from level-ground like the unyielding willpower of this verdant world¡ªit persistently gathered forth time and time again after being cut apart countless times.

    Suddenly, the world stood still as if time had stopped for a moment. Following which, the jade glow was swept back with a speed faster than when it came. Apanied by an iparably harsh sound, Wu Zhengnan let out a muffled groan and staggered back several steps. The arm hanging vertically to his side was now bleeding even more profusely.

    A gigantic bodhi leaf had appeared between Qianye and Wu Zhengnan. The distinctwork of veins on the leaves that were as fine as muslin shattered into tiny fragments before fading into nothingness.

    Song Zining¡¯s figure materialized soon afterwards, arriving nonchntly with an unconstrained demeanor. As he stood before Qianye and spread his hands, falling leaves began to rustle down. Each leaf was like a fully unsheathed de that was rotating slowly and emanating a frosty murderous intent.

    Wei Potian, who was almost thrown out of the courtyard by Qianye, had just regained his footing when he saw this scene, which caused his pupils to almost pop out of their sockets. Why were they locked in such a long battle during their earlier fight if Song Zining really had such strength?

    Astonishment shed across Wu Zhengnan¡¯s eyes as he gazed at the tiny specks of lingering light. ¡°You actually have such an extraordinary treasure. What is your position in the Song family?¡± But then he shook his head and grinned. ¡°How many of such treasures can you take out? You can die together with them since you refuse to take the way out.¡±

    Song Zining smiled lightly. ¡°Could it be that the general is a bit disappointed after failing to shift the me to the Huaiyang Wu n?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s expression changed.

    Song Zining revealed a spurious smile. ¡°That¡¯s really¡­ a pity. It almost seems as if you¡¯ve been abandoned once again?¡± While talking, he gestured to Qianye and then swept out with his palm. Tens of thousands of leaves were sted toward Wu Zhengnan with irresistible momentum as if they were swept forth by a storm.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s attention was affected after hearing Song Zining¡¯s words. It seemed as if thetter was exceedingly familiar with his most intimate secrets.

    He couldn¡¯t help but erupt in fury after looking up to find the origin power light sting towards him. ¡°Junior, you dare to deceive me!¡±

    Wu Zhengnan tookrge strides toward Song Zining and struck out with a simple blow. The point of his fist erupted with a lingering half meter wide jade-green light and whistled through the air like a de. Champion level origin power attacks usually reached ten meters or more in diameter, but Wu Zhengnan¡¯s was stronger and more concentrated. His strike was only half a meter wide which indicated just how concentrated and powerful his attack was.

    The whirlwind carrying the numerous leaf des came into contact with the glow of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s fist. However, no matter how many leaves there were, all of them were ground to pieces after entering the range of the jade-green light. They couldn¡¯t block the shing momentum of this single fist and were only able to shave off a few corners of the jade-green radiance.

    Song Zining swiftly stepped back but his faintly discernible figure was forced to materialize at a dangerous position¡ªattacks from a champion rank expert were able to affect the space in a vicinity. Wu Zhengnan had exerted full power behind this blow and naturally wouldn¡¯t let the former escape unscathed.

    He sneered and shifted the trajectory of his fist, causing the strike to sweep toward Song Zining. He had already sensed someone was ambushing him from behind but he didn¡¯t have the slightest intention to change his offensive stance¡ªthe other two brats might not even be able to break through the defense around his body. In Wu Zhengnan¡¯s eyes, only Song Zining posed a true threat. He had to kill this person first at all costs.

    Qianye and Song Zining had fought side by side countless times during their time in the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Hence, Qianye immediately understood thetter¡¯s hand gesture and intention. Wu Zhengnan was simply too powerful¡ªnone of them would be able to receive a direct blow¡ªhence, there was only one method, and that was to attack instead of defending. They had to attack actively and find an opportunity to take advantage of.

    The patterns on Qianye¡¯s Radiant Edge lit up immediately. The surging dark red glow of bloodpletely enshrouded the de¡¯s edge. Those beautiful andplex origin power patterns were exceptionally distinct tonight, floating within the bloody glow like a cryptic totem.

    Qianye stabbed toward Wu Zhengnan¡¯s lower back.

    But at this moment, Wu Zhengnan suddenly sensed an imminent and serious threating from the back. His instincts, honed over many years in battle, allowed him to react instantly by drawing in one side of his abdomen. However, he still felt a burning pain despite taking an evasive step¡ªa wound had appeared where he was sliced through.

    Qianye withdrew the Radiant Edge and retreated. He was crying out in his mind what a pity it was. Champion rank experts were indeed extraordinary in that their senses were astonishingly keen. Wu Zhengnan obviously had the intention to endure the blow with his physical defenses at first while Qianye also withheld his de until he was well in position. Only then did he inject origin power, drew the Radiant Edge and shed forth as swiftly as possible.

    Wu Zhengnan had unexpectedly evaded an attack Qianye hadunched with full force and one which he believed would definitely connect.

    Wu Zhengnan clearly saw the weapon that had wounded him. He sneered. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡± The former was also a man who made prompt decisions. After discovering that the weapon in Qianye¡¯s hand was capable of breaking through his defenses, he immediately shook off Song Zining¡ªhe switched from fist to palm and shot out a beam of jade-green origin power toward Qianye.

    Qianye immediately dived toward the side, curled into a ball and rolled twice before quickly shooting up once again.

    Wu Zhengnan only smiled coldly when he saw the series of shy evasive maneuvers carried out by Qianye. He strode out and pushed out with his palm. Simple tricks were virtually ineffective against champion rank warriors¡ªthey could wound the enemy as long as they were within the range of their origin power.

    However, numerous falling leaves appeared out of nowhere to interfere with Wu Zhengnan¡¯s vision. Normally, such an obstruction wouldn¡¯t affect his attack but he felt his hand suddenly grow heavy as a fist struck his right shoulder. This attack did little to reduce the force behind the palm strike. It was only able to change the trajectory ever so slightly.

    Although it was just a subtle deviation, Qianye had already taken advantage of his opportunity to escape the range of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s palm wind.

    Wu Zhengnan couldn¡¯t help but feel greatly frustrated after missing narrowly one time after another. Origin power began to rush forth like a wild hurricane with a wave of hisrge hand. The upper floor of the small house was swept up with a loud boom and transformed into rustling debris¡ªonly a few sturdy metallic frames were left in ce, albeit bent out of shape.

    Wei Potian let out a muffled groan as he was flung toward the back. The ridges and peaks projected by the Thousand Mountains began to break and copse in sequence. The earthen yellow radiance had been thoroughly extinguished. The attack had directly broken through Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains, causing him to turn as pale as a sheet before copsing onto the ground. He was momentarily powerless to even stand up.

    Previously, Wei Potian was observing Song Zining and Qianye¡¯s joint attack from the side¡ªhecked the tacit understanding the other two had developed over long periods of cooperation and his strength was too weakpared to Wu Zhengnan. He would only be a burden if he charged in recklessly. Later on, he was able to find an opening to join the battle but Wu Zhengnan¡¯s counterattack proved rather unpleasant.

    But Wei Potian''s strike wasn¡¯tpletely ineffective. Wu Zhengnan wasn¡¯t too concerned when he was struck, but now he began to feel a hint of pain being transmitted from his fingertips after he released the origin power palm strike. He focused his gaze therein and found that some parts of his skin on the back of his hand had begun to split apart. There were tiny specks of remnant origin power flickering brightly like the stars and causing a numb sensation to creep up onto the back of his hand.

    Jade-green radiance flooded out as Wu Zhengnan swung his hands,pletely dissolving the remnant origin power. He then revealed a sinister smile and said, ¡°Well done! The Wei n heir¡¯s secret arts are indeed extraordinary.¡± Qianye wounding him was due to the sharpness of his de, Wei Potian, on the other hand, was actually able to wound the hand from which he was shooting out origin power.

    ¡°This is truly a waste of time!¡± Wu Zhengnan suddenly stomped down with such force that the whole courtyard began to shake. His body seemed as if it was covered in jade-green me arrows as he charged toward Song Zining.

    There was no longer any space for maneuver at this distance and speed.

    With a shift of his right hand, an oblong crystalline object appeared in Song Zining¡¯s grasp. He flicked his wrist to extend the item to twice its previous length¡ªthe tip of this weapon shed with a cold gleam. Judging from the shape, this was a short spear. Song Zining maintained his standing position but his aura waspletely unmasked. This was the cold killing intent which belonged to a Yellow Spring graduate, the aura of someone who had survived through seas of blood and mountains of corpses.

    At the same time, Qianye, who was standing in one corner of the courtyard, let out a low growl. He charged forth with the same movement as Wu Zhengnan and, unexpectedly, with a speed that wasn¡¯t slower than thetter. It even seemed as if he would arrive first despite thete initiation.

    Wu Zhengnanughed maliciously and released origin power from his body which condensed into a jade-green light akin to the point of a sharp arrow!

    A loud ¡°boom¡± resounded with a lingering sound akin to the march of a powerful army. Clusters of mes enshrouded in cold jade-green radiance shot through the air to sh against the enemy before they were eventually extinguished.

    Song Zining crashed into a broken wall before he was able to halt his receding steps, his pale face almost bing transparent.

    Qianye and Wu Zhengnan crashed into each other in the courtyard and weren¡¯t able separate immediately after the exchange. Even Wu Zhengnan hadn¡¯t expected that such a powerful force would be transmitted toward him from the side. Even though he was facing Song Zining to the front, it shouldn¡¯t have been possible for him to lose out to Qianye in a collision of origin power. It was obvious that the other party¡¯s physical strength and power were astonishing.

    Qianye had precisely crashed into Wu Zhengnan¡¯s left where his crippled left arm had formed a gap in his defenses. However, Wu Zhengan let out a cold snort as he shifted his center of gravity and closed in toward Qianye, effectively interrupting the sh of the Radiant Edge.

    The body of a champion level expert was a sharp weapon in and of itself¡ªWu Zhengnan stood mighty and unmoving¡ªQianye, on the other hand, felt as if he had been sted away by a giant hammer and almost tumbled away. Qianye abruptly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood which drenched Wu Zhengnan¡¯s head and face. Afterwards, he staggered back several steps before he was able to dissolve the iing force.

    Wu Zhengnan smelled a bizarre and sweet fragrance during the short moment his vision was blocked by the bloody mist.

    Qianye stood with the Radiant Edge firmly in his grasp. Itsplex patterns lit up once again, but this time, the glow emerging from it was actually purple.

    Wu Zhengnan suddenly felt his heart throb violently for a couple of times as the fragrance lingering around his nose intensified. This was undoubtedly the sign of an anomaly, but as it happened, he couldn¡¯t sense anything out of the ordinary at all.

    Wu Zhengnan nced around the ruins of this small courtyard and suddenly said, ¡°If you give up right now, I might give you all a clean death!¡±

    Qianye nced around and found Song Zining leaning on a broken wall, unable to move his body. Wei Potian¡¯s expression, on the other hand, had recovered somewhat, but his legs had gone limp and were in no position to stand.

    Qianye said in a heavy tone, ¡°I don¡¯t have a habit of surrendering.¡± With that, the Radiant Edge transforming into a purple radiance as he brandished his de and sallied forth.

    A me pir of alternating ck and red erupted as soon as the purple and jade-green lights came together! The ze immediately surged over ten-odd meters high and almostpletely purged the iing de light! Wu Zhengnan¡¯s major general uniform was burning brightly at the center of this ming pir but he himself was evidently unaffected.

    Qianye was astonished¡ªhe immediately withdrew his de and fell back. The blood energy within his body suddenly began to churn and rage, immediately reaching a state of blood boil.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s naked body gradually became visible. While not very tall, the man was definitely well built. His muscr body seemed as if it was formed of twisted steel wires. Many small and uneven dark patches could be seen all over his body. Upon closer inspection, one would find that all of them were scales.

 Volume 3 - 112: End of the Road

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 112: End of the Road

    Wei Potian suddenly shouted, ¡°Wu Zhengnan, you¡¯ve actually fallen to evernight!¡±

    This was precisely an indication of gradual demonization. One possibility was that Wu Zhengnan had long since fallen under the control of darkness origin power and was only using certain methods to deceive everyone. Another possibility was that the darkness origin power had be dominant because of the secret art he had used to suppress his grievous wounds. In any case, this signified only one thing¡ªhe had already fallen to evernight.

    Wu Zhengnan¡¯s resentment gushed out as he said in fury, ¡°Would I need to seek a method of survival from the dark side if the Combatant Form hadn¡¯t damaged my foundation? You nobles have always cultivated your secret arts since childhood. How would you know the hardship of seeking a high-level cultivation art just so we could live on?¡±

    He paused momentarily before pointing at Qianye with a sneer. ¡°He¡¯s also cultivating the Combatant Form. Do you really think a rank five fighter king is a good thing? The faster your progress, the shorter your life will be! You¡¯ll feel the constant pain from various hidden injuries within three years and die before the age of 30.¡±

    Wei Potian was flush with annoyance. He opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t find the words to say.

    Qianye spoke unhurriedly, ¡°Can¡¯t you apply for a cultivation form once you¡¯ve umted enough merit within the army?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan seemed to have calmed down a little as he nced at Qianye. He sneered, ¡°You should be from the army too and probably know well that you¡¯d have to line up for such special resources. Back then, they said my rank and achievements weren¡¯t enough, but I might¡¯ve barely passed if I was of thendowning ss. Qianye, your fate hereafter won¡¯t necessarily be any better than mine. Either you be a noble family¡¯s dog in exchange for a low-grade cultivation art or bet ten years of your life and see if you can umte enough merit before you die.¡±

    Qianye was silent. He could imagine Wu Zhengnan¡¯s despair when he was denied that day. Rank and status were strictly observed in imperial society. The distribution of almost every type of resources would be somehow rted to one¡¯s family background. The imperial army could already be considered quite fair¡ªwhether it was a promotion or applying for equipment, everything was dependent on one¡¯s strength and aplishments. Switching from the Combatant Form, however, was an exception.

    It didn¡¯t just involve a copied cultivation art. It included aplete set of medicines for repairing the body¡¯s internal injuries. They were not only extremely expensive but also the raw materials were quite difficult to obtain. The avability every year was thus extremely limited. As a result, family background inevitably became rted to the qualifications for the distribution of such special resources. That was also why the Combatant Form was considered a cannon fodder¡¯s art.

    Wu Zhengnan let out a muffledugh. ¡°Tell me, how can I serve such an empire loyally?¡±

    Qianye shook his head and replied in a resolute tone, ¡°None of these things justify your fall to evernight and the harm you brought to your own race.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan was momentarily startled before he began tough madly, ¡°You¡¯re truly an obstinate brat. Then have a taste of darkness origin power. It¡¯ll melt away your flesh and blood little by little until nothing is left of you but bones! This pain isn¡¯t much worse than the internal injuries brought about by the Combatant Form.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan punched out from the distance. A zing mist of alternating red and ck shot toward Qianye and engulfed him. Its speed was so fast that it left no room for evasion.

    ¡°Little Ye!¡± Wei Potian seemed to have gained strength from god knows where and stood up violently. His body was once again covered by ayer of earthen yellow light. The light screen of the Thousand Mountains, however, was extremely dim like a candle flickering in the wind. He probably wouldn¡¯tst long even if he wasn¡¯t attacked.

    Wu Zhengnan squinted his eyes and snorted coldly, ¡°You overestimate yourself!¡±

    He waved an extended hand to shoot out a misty ze toward Wei Potian. The cluster of scarlet mist-like mes was viscous and thick. It stuck on firmly as soon as it came into contact with the Thousand Mountains and began to emit sizzling corrosive sounds.

    The glow of the Thousand Mountains waspletely nibbled away by the mes in the blink of an eye. A couple of remnant clustersnded on Wei Potian, eroding his high-grade armor to form a huge hole before sticking onto his skin and muscles. His skin was rapidly charred despite his origin power working continuously to resist.

    Wei Potian was actually quite unyielding¡ªhe stood upright and endured the pain without so much as a groan. His clenched fist seemed to be flickering with specks of starlight.

    Wu Zhengnan snorted as a sinister expression appeared on his face. He once again swung a fist toward Wei Potian while shouting, ¡°I¡¯ll help you since you want to die so badly!¡±

    ck and red origin power emerged from Wu Zhengnan¡¯s strike to form a meter long me whip whichshed down at Wei Potian. Wei Potian roared and fearlessly brandished his own fist to receive the blow, but how could he block such an attack when he could barely stand?

    A thin beam of azure light suddenly shone through the air. A single green leaf disappeared from the tip of Song Zining¡¯s finger and appeared in empty space¡ªit split the dark red origin power mes in half and swept toward Wu Zhengnan with its remaining momentum.

    Wu Zhengnan cried out loudly and staggered back a couple of steps. He doubtfully nced down at his own body and saw that a thin stream of blood had appeared on his abdomen. The wound rapidly split open to be a terrifying wound, an injury that had almost ripped his chest.

    Song Zining also spat out a mouthful of fresh blood as the green leaf-shaped pendant on his neck rapidly lost its color and turned a coarse grey.

    Wu Zhengnan looked at his own wound and turned toward Song zining. ¡°You actually have that many protective methods. Even I might not necessarily be able to capture you if Ie across you again. Why are you so intent on throwing away your life?¡±

    Song Ziningughed indifferently. ¡°You won¡¯t understand.¡±

    Wu Zhengnan said with a deep voice, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. In any case, I won¡¯t need to know after I kill you all.¡±

    It was at this time that Qianye, who was struck down by the dark red mes, suddenly groaned and mbered up. The remnant viscous mes on his body were originally about to die out but they suddenly red up once again as if they were stimted by something. Large patches of flesh were scorched and smoldered wherever the mes passed.

    However, Qianye¡¯s situation was extremely bizarre. Fresh blood gushed out continuously from his wounds as he moved to stand up, the dense vitality therein was absolutely astonishing.

    If one were to look closely, the blood flowing out from Qianye seemed to be alive. They didn¡¯t drip to the ground but were climbing and flowing autonomously. They would immediately extend toward wherever the misty mes were, rapidly extinguishing them amidst sizzling white fumes. Clusters of grantion tissue grew out at a visible rate and closed the wounds within the blink of an eye, leaving only sheets of pale scars. Streaks of gold and purple would sh past from time to time within the blood swarming toward those bone-deep wounds.

    For unknown reasons, an intense sense of uneasiness and rm suddenly filled Wu Zhengnan¡¯s heart after seeing the current Qianye¡ªit was as if he had met a natural predator. His expression sunk as he inhaled deeply. Only a long uneven scar was left of the wound on his abdomen. He slowly raised his right palm on which the ck and red origin me mist appeared once again.

    Qianye raised the Twin Flowers, and following which, the patterns on the guns lit up in session. Scarlet origin power radiance emerged from his arms mixed with specks of floating golden light.

    The blood boil energy within his body waspletely emptied in order to resist Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ming mist. The dark red blood energy and purple blood energy had crawled into his heart, listless and dispirited. Only the golden blood energy remained barely usable. During this life and death crisis, the golden blood energy once again resonated with what little remained of Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin energy as they rushed into the Twin Flowers.

    Qianye suddenly sighed heavily. ¡°Wu Zhengnan, you paid such a high price but only managed to obtain this kind of lowest grade vampire bloodline?¡±

    Wu Zhengnan was startled. He didn¡¯t understand why Qianye said these words but the sense of danger lingering in his heart was magnified by hundreds of times. His instincts were screaming for him to take immediate action, and as such, he struck out with a loud roar!

    Qianye¡¯s fingers steadily pressed down on the trigger. Following which, two crisp bangs were heard as if something had just shattered.

    The twin-colored flowers that bloomed in the sky swayed just as before but apletely new origin array had appeared on the gun frame. A mist formed by the interweaving of the countless specks of golden light draped a cloak of sunlight over the illusory flowers.

    The origin power bullets that materialized within the Twin Flowers¡¯ barrels were also light golden in color. They were like an inconspicuous ray of light shining through the window and falling onto a corner of the room. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s ck and red me mist, however, melted away immediately aftering into contact with the flowers. It was akin to spring water breaking through the ice.

    The light golden origin power bullets weren¡¯t weakened or dyed in the least after breaking through the ming mist. In fact, they immediately bombarded Wu Zhengnan¡¯s body!

    The golden light rapidly expanded and covered the greater half of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s body. He let out an indescribable cry as if he had experienced the most profound pain on earth. His steel-like body struggled and twisted continuously, but his originally sturdy flesh was like wax before the mes¡ªit rapidly melted, pieces of it broke off, and even the bones were being eroded at the same time.

    Wu Zhengnan copsed in the blink of an eye and was broken down into a puddle of indescribable substance.

    ¡°Is it over?¡± This was Qianye¡¯sst conscious thoughts. He knew nothing from there on out.

    Therge ruined courtyard suddenly became silent.

    Wei Potian indeed possessed thick flesh and skin. He was the first to mber up after a few moments of gasping for breath and made his way toward the puddle formed from Wu Zhengnan. It seemed like molten wax but clear outlines of certain organs and bones could be seen within. Even a daring person like him couldn¡¯t help but feel his hair stand on end after witnessing such a bizarre scene.

    mes suddenly streaked past Wei Potian while he was staring absentmindedly andnded right on Wu Zhengnan¡¯s remains. The spark ignited to form a violent me the very moment it came into contact with its target. The ze shot up tens of meters in height!

    Wei Potian was caught off guard and almost had his brows singed¡ªhe swiftly stepped back and turned back to find that Song Zining had stood up. Thetter was holding the crystalline short spear in hand with ming sparks still lingering in the air.

    The Song n secret art, Fueled Fire Spear, was capable of shooting out virtually inextinguishable origin power mes. The especially mmable remains were incinerated into ck dregs within the blink of an eye.

    Wei Potian was shocked and immediately became enraged. ¡°What the hell are you doing!? This is proof! This is proof that Wu Zhengnan has rebelled!¡±

    Song Zining spat out yet another mouthful of blood but his expression seemed to have recovered a little. He couldn¡¯t be bothered to address Wei Potian. He walked toward Qianye with swift steps and knelt on one knee. A hazy azure radiance shed on his hands as origin power washed down on Qianye¡¯s wound-riddled body like a misty rain.

    Thin streams of blood were still crawling aimlessly over the surface of Qianye¡¯s body. They immediately shrunk back like living creatures once they came into contact with Song Zining¡¯s origin power mist. Those remaining bone-deep wounds wiggled slightly and started to close up.

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression changed many times before he finally calmed down and stood there observing in silence. Song Zining only raised his head after washing away all the blood on his body. ¡°Now you can call for help. Please also inform my guard squad on the way.¡±

 Volume 3 - 113: The Aftermath Headache

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 113: The Aftermath Headache

    The sky outside the window was still quite dark when Qianye woke up. However, there were already sounds of activity¡ªlight but hurried footsteps could be heard along with people speaking softly from time to time¡ªthis was the dawn of Evernight Continent.

    Qianye propped himself up into a sitting position and felt his whole body was still feeble and weak. He looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar room. It wasn¡¯t very big and the furnishings were simple but tidy. However, the sheets, mattresses and even the utensils on the table were fairly refined. They looked nothing like the practical style of Evernight Continent.

    Qianye first examined his own body and found that all of his wounds had been treated and bandaged. There were countless internal injuries but most of them had begun to heal. There were many ces on his body where the medicine hadn¡¯t been fully absorbed; someone had obviously applied it for him while he was unconscious.

    His blood energy had be especially well-behaved. The purple and ordinary blood energies were hiding in the depths of his heart and almost seemed nonexistent without thorough probing. The dispirited golden blood energy was hovering lethargically around his heart and refused to budge.

    That attack from the twin flowers had consumed too much energy and had almost exceeded his tolerance. In the end, he felt as if the gun was assimting his origin power and blood energy instead of him injecting them into the gun¡¯s origin array.

    At this time, a sensation of extreme hunger was transmitted from Qianye¡¯s abdomen. He felt a mild throbbing pain from hispletely empty stomach. Thus, he got off the bed and opened the door.

    In the outer room, he saw two girls sitting back to back and dozing off on a small couch by the window. Two identical and elegant faces turned around at the same time when they heard the sound of the opening door. Both of them eximed in joy, ¡°Young Master, you¡¯re awake! This is truly wonderful!¡±

    Qianye was momentarily startled before he identified the two as Seven and Nine.

    ¡°Young Master Song and Young Master Wei visited many times. We¡¯ll inform them immediately.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I need something to eat first.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already been prepared in the kitchen.¡±

    One of the two sisters went to prepare the food and deliver the message, while the other stayed back to prepare a set of clothes for Qianye to change into.

    Qianye still couldn¡¯t tell between the pair of flowers. After asking, he found out that the one who had stayed behind was the younger sister, Lil¡¯ Nine. He wasn¡¯t quite ustomed to being so close with another person, but presently, he found out that this girl was agile and quick-witted. Her movements were very gentle, avoiding any of his sore wounds. It was apparent that she had received meticulous training.

    Qianye chatted briefly with Lil¡¯ Nine and found out that this ce was located in the alley behind Song Zining¡¯s temporary residence in ckflow City. Qianye¡¯s belongings had all been moved here. The greater part of his previous house was already uninhabitable. Furthermore, it had been sealed off for investigation as it was the scene of the battle.

    Investigation? Lil¡¯ Nine didn¡¯t know much about it but Qianye already had a premonition¡ªhe frowned involuntarily¡ªkilling an active expeditionary army divisionmander obviously involved a lot of follow-up matters. The one to bear the brunt of this pressure would be Wei Potian. It was also unclear if Song Zining¡¯s background business arrangements would still take effect.

    Lil¡¯ Seven returned with arge steaming pot while they were talking. Unexpectedly, her slim and graceful figure actually possessed such strength. The contents of the pot, consisted mainly of meat, flooded the ce with its fragrance. Qianye sat down and finished five servings in one go before he felt satisfied.

    It seemed the training these girls received at the Hidden Spring Merchant Group was indeed quite effective. They not only prepared sufficient amount of food but also set up Qianye¡¯s personal belongings, which they had collected for him, in an orderly fashion. This was especially true for the firearms and other equipment¡ªall of them were packed quite expertly.

    Wei Potian appeared while Qianye was inspecting his belongings. He was actually the first to arrive despite living in another street block.

    He hurriedly walked into the room and sat down at the table. After seeing a basin of rice evenrger than a pot, he unceremoniously ordered Lil¡¯ Seven who had just seen him in, ¡°Give me one serving too!¡±

    With that, he grabbed the cup beside Qianye and finished it in one gulp. He then said in a surprised tone, ¡°Howe its water?¡±

    Qianye had just walked out from the interior. ¡°Why can¡¯t it be water?¡±

    Wei Potian turned around and shouted, ¡°Bring me a couple bottles of wine!¡±

    Lil¡¯ Seven and Lil¡¯ Nine who were walking towards the door shot a questioning nce at Qianye. There was actually no shortage of wine and food since the Wei n and Song n had delivered a fair amount of supplies recently. It was just that the Wei n heir¡¯s expression was somewhat frightening. Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine quickly left to prepare after seeing Qianye nod and wave his hand.

    Qianye looked at Wei Potian and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? In a bad mood?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve a whole load of crap to deal with! It¡¯ll be odd if I¡¯m in a good mood!¡±

    Wei Potian began to unleash a torrent ofints. By the time Wei Potian had wolfed down his second basin, Qianye had more or less begun to understand the things that had transpired while he was unconscious.

    The first problem originated from Wu Zhengnan¡¯s death. This expeditionary army divisionmander¡¯s remains had been burnt to a crisp by Song Zining¡¯s origin power mes. Nothing could be gleaned from those ashes. This indicated that Wu Zhengnan¡¯s fall to evernight could no longer be proved.

    Military police prosecutor Zhang Youheng maintained a strictly professional attitude and refused to pass judgement in the absence of direct evidence. He merely recorded Wei Potian¡¯s statement to bring back to the department of military affairs.

    At this point, Wei Potian smacked the table angrily and cursed, ¡°This man surnamed Zhang epted so much money from my Wei n but used this kind of method when the situation became critical! Damn his grandmother! What an ass!¡±

    Wei n dispatched two family elders from nearby regions the day after Wei Potian was attacked. The elders were also distressed by the present situation. In any case, failing to bring forth direct evidence of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s fall to evernight meant that Wei Potian had murdered a major general of the expeditionary army in their territory. There would certainly be repercussions from the expeditionary army higher-ups regardless of the reason.

    That military police prosecutor anticipated these troublesome matters. That was why he had decisively extricated himself and let the Wei n face the expeditionary army headquarters directly. Wei Potian and the personnel he had brought this time were insufficient to cate the expeditionary army higher-ups. Hence, he had no choice but to request help from his family.

    At the thought of this, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but feel a bad headache. Compared to this matter, losing an external elder and a few guards seemed rtively small. He would at most receive a superficial scolding upon his return.

    Finally, the 7th division and ckflow City were in shambles.

    The 7th division hadrgely be Wu Zhengnan¡¯s personal army throughout the years due to the expeditionary army¡¯s particr methods. Wei Potian absolutely wouldn¡¯t dare to put the soldiers to full use even if they expressedpliance after Wu Zhegnan¡¯s death. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have left the city¡¯s defenses to the Broken Winged Angels.

    The actual situation wasn¡¯t too far off from his predictions¡ªthe 7th division copsed on the spot after news of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s death was disseminated. A small part of the soldiers stationed in the Four Rivers Military Base deserted their posts. These people escaped with their weapons. As one could easily imagine, there would likely be many more robbers and bandits in the Trinity River County thereafter.

    The ones staying behind were also a cause for worry. Several instances of group conflicts had arisen within the ckflow City barracks. Two of them were quite serious enough to force the Wei n guards to open fire and kill a couple of the instigating leaders. In the end, it was the Broken Winged Angels who had appeared to quell the scene.

    It would be a great undertaking to reorganize the whole of the 7th division, not that different from forming a new division. Wei Potian wasn¡¯t afraid of charging into battle but he had absolutely no interest regarding management, training, logistics, and supply. He would feel distressed just by thinking about it.

    To pour oil on fire, Song Ziningpletely vanished after saying that Qianye was stable. Even most of his n guards had been left behind with no idea where he had gone. Watching over the unconscious Qianye and dealing with all these chaotic matters, Wei Potian felt that he was facing this terrible mess alone.

    Qianyeforted Wei Potian after listening to all of hisints. ¡°These are all trivial duties. It¡¯s not a big deal. Why don¡¯t you just list them out one by one and deal with them in order? Is there anything I can help?¡±

    Wei Potian shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ve been wounded badly this time. It¡¯s better you rest well and recuperate. Evernight Continent won¡¯t be peaceful in the future.¡±

    Qianye was shocked. He recalled the news he had heard at the Hunter¡¯s Association in Darkblood City. ¡°Are we looking at a war?¡±

    Wei Potian nodded and replied solemnly, ¡°That¡¯s right. The dark races are drafting soldiers on arge scale. The situation here has be so strained that even the higher-ups of the empire are rmed. It¡¯s said that the Bai and Zhao ns have begun to move their men towards Evernight, just in case.¡±

    Two of the four great ns had begun to move. This indicated that the situation was abnormally serious.

    Wei Potian said dejectedly, ¡°What¡¯s worse is that, ording to the army distribution map, this Trinity River County is also at the van. So I¡¯m left with very limited time to reorganize the 7th division. I¡¯d be lucky to have one month of adjustment time.¡±

    Qianye stood up and found a map of the Trinity River County as he listened to Wei Potian summarize the military intelligence released by the Imperial Army bulletin and the information he had obtained himself.

    In the end, Wei Potian sighed and said to Qianye, ¡°I¡¯ll leave first. There¡¯s a multitude of things I need to see to. Sigh, an originally good matter had turned into this mess. That damned Wu Zhengnan! I fail to understand what got into him. It¡¯s a relief that your wounds left no seque. Otherwise, this daddy will dig up and massacre his whole n!¡±

    Qianye continued pondering in front of the Trinity River County Map long after Wei Potian left. At noon, it was said Song Zining, who had disappeared for quite a few days, had finally appeared.

    The seventh young master of the song n was in a good mood and appeared quite wellpared to the overworked Wei n heir. As he entered, his eyes fell on the map of the Trinity River County spread over the table.

    ¡°Why are you suddenly looking at this?¡± Song Zining asked.

    Qianye drew two lines on the map and said, ¡°This morning, Wei Potian said that the dark race side is probably going to make a move. Judging from the enemy troop movements, the pressure on the Trinity River County is pretty big and ckflow City happens to be the most important and protruding defensive node on this battlefront. It might be broken through at any time if war breaks out.¡±

    Song Zining nodded and said, ¡°I also heard simr news. The movement this time is quiterge. Even the Bai and Zhao ns have moved out. Previously, our Song n only has a few auxiliary industries in Evernight Continent. However, they¡¯re recently amassing a private army in preparation to join the war here at a moment¡¯s notice.¡±

    ¡°Just what had happened? Could it be that we¡¯re going to fight an all-out war?¡±

 Volume 3 - 114: General Principles

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 114: General Principles

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°Who knows? Those dark races have all kinds of odd reasons. There¡¯s really no way to guess how their brains work. It¡¯s not like there wasn¡¯t any precedent of them initiating a war just because favorable conditions that year had left them with an excess of cannon fodder.¡±

    Qianye was still contemting before the map. ¡°It¡¯s said that the appearance of that Evernight Council member is rted to the Dark Monarch¡¯s treasure.¡±

    This kind of situation was actually even worse than an all-out war because thetter had to follow a certain sequence. Because most regions in Evernight Continent were limited in resources, the scale of war as a whole could be controlled unless one party was determined enough to breach the other¡¯s core region. Many factors could be predicted such as the consumption of cannon fodder, the participation of experts, and the pressure upon the various regions.

    As for matters regarding treasures¡ªthe human race would perhapsugh them off as utter nonsense, but the dark races have an almost zealous adoration for these almighty figures lost in history. This news might attract extremely powerful experts. There was no way to predict the movements of these dark race experts. They might turn everything in their wake into uninhabitable wastnds. Civilians were mere bugs to them.

    Song Zining said casually, ¡°The dark race experts live too long and often do senseless things.¡±

    He extended his hand and drew a circle around ckflow City and the Four Rivers Military Base. ¡°That chap, Wei Potian, is in deep trouble now. I thought he had already arranged everything since he decided to take down Wu Zhengnan so quickly but apparently, that wasn¡¯t the case. With only a few months left to reorganize the 7th division, it wouldn¡¯t be possible to reestablish its military power even if he invested hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Heh, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be receiving a torrent of abuses from his family.¡±

    Qianye smiled ruefully after seeing Song Zining¡¯s attitude of Schadenfreude. ¡°You incinerated Wu Zhengnan¡¯s remains to prevent my anomalous blood energy from being discovered, right? In the end, things wouldn¡¯t be so troublesome if not for me.¡±

    Song Zining raised his eyebrows. ¡°What does that have to do with you? That Wei Potian is the idiot. You don¡¯t need to worry about the Expeditionary Army Headquarters since I¡¯ve long since negotiated with Xiao Lingshi. The reactions from their higher-ups are just a formality since, after all, they need to give the other divisionmanders an exnation. However, it¡¯s his problem if he can¡¯t handle the 7th division¡¯s affairs.¡±

    Qianye felt something was off after recalling Wei Potian¡¯s rants from earlier that morning. ¡°You haven¡¯t told Wei Potian about the true situation at the Expeditionary Army Headquarters, right?¡±

    Song Zining replied as if it was natural, ¡°Those are my connections. Why should I tell him? Let him feel anxious for a while. In any case, the Wei n will send some big shots over sooner orter to help him clean up the situation. It¡¯s all fine as long as the Expeditionary Army doesn¡¯t summon you as a witness.¡±

    Song Zining shrugged and said, ¡°Stop talking about that fool. What¡¯s the use of a wild boar if his skin isn¡¯t thick enough? What do you intend to do now? Do you want to follow me back to the upper continent?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s ears automatically filtered out Song Zining¡¯s harsh words as he pointed to ckflow City on the map with a serious expression. ¡°I want to build a mercenary group here. On one hand, it¡¯s to find a ce for these seedlings, while on the other, it¡¯ll help me realize my wish of joining the war against the dark races. One man¡¯s strength is simply too flimsy.¡±

    Song Zining looked at Qianye for a while and said with augh, ¡°How will you arrange equipment, logistics, and personnel? Let¡¯s hear your n.¡±

    Qianye listed everything he had been pondering on that morning. The training he had received in the past was targeted at individual elite soldiers. He had only considered a general outline of the other aspects apart from soldier training.

    However, Qianye could be considered to have some resources in his hand. Just the 400 seedlings were already equal to a medium-scaled corps. Things should be more or less good enough after developing the basic officer structure and hiring a few free mercenaries. The seized expeditionary army equipment on the seedlings could probably be used for quite a while at least.

    The most difficult part was the logistics. Although Qianye had a small town and mine to his name, they were both taken over from the 15th division. These assets couldn¡¯t be counted as a source of stable ie because the cost and output still weren¡¯t quite clear.

    Mercenary groups usually have two main sources of ie. One was toplete various missions for remuneration, while the other was to kill dark race members and bring their body parts to exchange for rewards at certain imperial agencies. The empire had to issue huge amounts of reward every year for this purpose. It was precisely this money that had provided for countless hunters, adventurers, and mercenaries. This colossal number was umted upon the corpses of countless dark race members.

    Qianye¡¯s idea was to receive an assignment from the newly organized 7th division to assist its defense. The mercenary group¡¯s initial scale would be sufficient to garrison a few outposts or guard a small town.

    At this point, Song Zining lightly shook his head andughed, ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s not a bad idea. You''re certainly not suited to join the imperial army system with your condition. It¡¯s not a bad choice to establish a force in the periphery.¡±

    However, Song Zining didn¡¯t quite approve of Qianye¡¯s intention to buy military equipment and sell the produced minerals through the Far East Heavy Industries. He immediately criticized the unreliability of the Far East Heavy Industry¡¯s Broken River Branch. However, Song Zining provided Qianye with two secret trade channels after he finishedining. One of them was his private business, the Ningyuan Group. Additionally, he also assigned a number of high-grade smiths to the area around ckflow City. His business in Evernight Continent saw a substantial expansion this time, and there was an emergent need to establish a branch office for management.

    By the time a certain phase of their negotiation had reached a conclusion, Qianye had already added several details to the program document before him.

    Song Zining suddenly remembered. ¡°Qianye, you haven¡¯t let the two girls drink your blood have you?¡±

    Qianye was momentarily startled before he realized Song Zining was referring to Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine. He wanted to say something but thetter had already walked to the door and admitted the girls who had previously excused themselves when Qianye and Song Zining began their discussions.

    Song Ziningughed when he saw Qianye¡¯s expression. ¡°It¡¯s been a week since they left Hidden Spring. Their first episode of withdrawal is about to begin. You can leave them to die if you really don¡¯t want them.¡± With that, he grabbed their wrists at lightning speed and injected a stream of origin power.

    Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine¡¯s breathing soon turned distressed. The twin girls werepletely identical in stature andplexion. Their appearances were beautiful and their figures elegant. It almost seemed as if gentleness and docility was ingrained in their personalities, sufficient to cause everyone¡¯s imagination to run wild.

    They clearly heard Song Zining¡¯s words. Their bright eyes became slightly red under thebined effects of the drug and the terror. Following which, a mistyyer rapidly covered their eyes flowing like dazzling autumn ripples.

    Qianye could only smile ruefully as he slit open his wrist and drip some of his blood into the two cups of wine Song Zining had poured for him. He intentionally restricted the blood energy within his body lest his blood taint other people.

    Qianye only felt relieved when he saw no signs of contamination after the two girls finished the bloody wine and settled their addiction.

    Following which, he recalled a problem he had been pondering for quite some time and that was how dark blood infected their victims? From his experience, the blood energy and not all of his blood yed a key role in this. Did this mean that vampires might not necessarily infect their human prey as long as the blood energy was kept in check?

    Song Zining was smiling rather meaningfully. ¡°It¡¯s time for me to leave. Enjoy the two little beauties, don¡¯t let them go to waste.¡±

    After Qianye saw Song Zining off and returned to his room, he found that the twins had actually crept into his bed obediently. It was evident from how they were stealing nces at him with embarrassed expressions that they had really taken Song Zining¡¯s words seriously.

    Qianye truly didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. The injuries he had sustained from the battle with Wu Zhengnan hadn¡¯t healed and he couldn¡¯t even cultivate the Combatant Form because it was too vigorous. He simply had no way to ept the ¡°fortune¡± which had fallen into hisp. And the two girls seemed to have been frightened by Song Zining¡¯s words. To them, the only fate that awaits abandoned ves was death. As such, the two girls seemed as if they wanted Qianye to truly ¡°ept¡± them as soon as possible.

    Qianye had to expend some effort to convince the two girls to leave. He retrieved the Song n Ancient Scroll from the headboard and prepared to continue cultivating it. The parts rted to cultivating darkness origin power wasn¡¯t a problem for Qianye. On the contrary, it had cleared away some of the doubts he had about his coexistence with the blood energy. For instance, blood energy was basically a manifestation of darkness origin energy. This was also true for his blood power.

    It was just that the profundity and obscurity of ancientnguage were interfering with hisprehension quite a bit. Qianye casually flipped through the jade booklet and finally returned to the jade tablet describing the general principles. The previously activated words were beginning to fade away. It was this passage that was giving Qianye trouble¡ªthe words described therein had far surpassed hisprehension.

    In the very beginning of the world, there were was no sun, moon, and stars. There were no mountains, rivers, and continents. There was only chaos. Onlyter when the heaven and earth first blossomed did the sun, the moon and the starse into being along with myriad living things and the cycle of life and death. Cultivation is returning to the chaos from before the heaven and earth came into being. This method was the extreme of all great daos.

    Conventionally, the general principles was the most concise expression of any cultivation art and was also its ultimate direction.

    However, Qianye had never heard of anything regarding the time before the formation of the heaven and earth. Humans were only ves of the dark races before the War of Daybreak¡ªthe dark races naturally wouldn¡¯t allow livestock to record their history¡ªconsequently, everything was only passed down through word of mouth.

    As for how the differentyered world was formed and whether or not the two suns,ary ring and the dozen-odd continents floating in the lower strata appeared at the same time with life, these things werews decided by nature. They existed naturally and no one had ever questioned or studied them.

    The words on the jade tablet began to dim down as Qianye vacantly pondered on the words written on the general principles and recalled the far-reaching sky he had seen on the Qin Continent. And thus, he once again injected a strand of origin power.

    Suddenly, he felt heat at his fingertips. He felt as if something unknown had crashed into him, and in his consciousness, the whole world began to shake.

    Darkness soon engulfed everything. At that time, a faint sound rang out from an unknown direction and Qianye couldn¡¯t tell whether it was the sound of the wind or tides. Only when a thin beam of colorless radiance pierced through the world did Qianye reach a discovery¡ªthis was the sound of the sun¡¯s first rays breaking through the dark night.

    The eye of daybreak gently opened in the depths of evernight, instantly causing the world to rotate. Half light, half dark¡­ they embraced each other tolerantly. The boundary was iparably distinct.

    Qianye woke up from the mystical world without prior indication just as when he had entered. His fingertip was still feeling slightly warm. He looked down and found that the greater part of the jade tablet containing the general principles had already shattered. What remained of the ancient jade was disintegrating into specks of lustrous light and merging into his finger.

 Volume 3 - 115: Uninvited Guest

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 115: Uninvited Guest

    There was always a short calm before the storm.

    Song Zining was still on the constant move and Wei Potian had buried himself in a mountain of work.

    Before Wu Zhengnan¡¯s case had been thoroughly concluded, Wei Potian would be in charge of the city, its apanying military base, several small towns, and a poption numbering in the hundreds of thousands. In addition, these ces might be hiding an unknown number of people who hated him deeply.

    As for Qianye, apart from polishing the details of his n to establish a mercenary group and setting up a few initial jobs, he mostly spent his time in cultivation. Song Zining revealed an ¡°as expected¡± expression when he was informed of the fate of the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    Only then did Qianye understand why those famous ns had a very limited number of inheritors to these secretbat techniques. It wasn¡¯t only to maintain their position by suppressing the descendants, but also because it was a matter of distributing a limited resource.

    For instance, the ¡°Nurturing Rain Art¡± he had obtained from the Yin family didn¡¯t include the general principles and only contained a bottle of specially formted primer drug. The drug would temporarily transform a small part of his origin power and use it to introduce the ¡°Nurturing Rain Art¡±. This also meant that Qianye couldn¡¯t spread the art even without the Yin family monitoring him.

    The reason why it was so difficult to practice these secret techniques was because these middle and upper-grade arts passed down from thousands of years ago were extremely difficult to copy. This was especially true for the general principles part¡ªthe chance of sessfully copying it was low enough to make one¡¯s hair stand on end. Hence after fumbling about for a long time, people eventually developed this cultivation system of using a primer toplement the art. Thebatant form was an exception. That was also why it had be an art targeted at the masses.

    Thus, even those aristocratic scions had very limited opportunity to practice with the true copy of an art. And those outstanding chosen ones, if they couldplete the introduction naturally without the help of medicine, would garner the attention of the masses as a genius. An example was Wei Potian who had sessfully introduced the Thousand Mountains at the same time he ignited his first origin power node. It was no wonder he became a person expected to rise to the rank of a marshal.

    Fortunately, those like the Song n Ancient Scroll which required the general principle to disintegrate before a sessful introduction was quite rare. Otherwise, the distribution of cultivation resources would be even more intense.

    Qianye suddenly recalled the few words ofmentation he had heard from Lin Xitang. Humans were able to naturally awaken their talents and powers before the thousand years of war. Unexpectedly, cultivation had actually be increasingly dependent on medicines. His heart trembled slightly¡ªhe felt that the words about the beginning of the heaven and earth within the Song n Ancient Scroll might not be ramblings of a madman after all.¡±

    In any case, Qianye¡¯s life continued ording to routine. His primary cultivation was still the Combatant Form. That was because the arts recorded in the Song n Ancient Scroll were mostly rted to the movement and control of origin power. Additionally, he wasn¡¯t quite familiar with many of the descriptions regarding the channels, vessels, and qi flow. Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out which part of the body they were referring to.

    However, he wasn¡¯t discouraged and would set aside some time every day to test them out. As expected, many of them werepletely unresponsive. Only a few techniques were able to activate his daybreak origin power. After practicing a few times, he didn¡¯t feel any changes in his origin power attributes. It was just that his origin power would be slightly more condensed after each cycle.

    Today, as he was convincing the two girls to leave his room after cultivating, the loud rumble of an engine was transmitted from beyond the courtyard. A jeep stopped in front of his gates, from which alighted a man in his forties. His appearance was average without any special characteristics, a man who would easily blend into the crowd within the blink of an eye. However, Qianye immediately became cautious after seeing him.

    This man, whose age was nearing familiarity with heaven¡¯s decree [1], likely wasn¡¯t of high rank. However, his movements revealed some traces of solemnity amidst lightheartedness. His footsteps appeared fast and light but the center of gravity was exceptionally stable. Qianye was very familiar with such people¡ªthey were veterans with incredibly abundantbat experience and would pose a great threat on the battlefield. As crafty as a fox and as cruel as a wolf, the degree of danger they posed was grossly disproportionate to their ranks.

    The middle-aged man spoke a few words to Lil¡¯ Seven who had stopped him for inquiry and continued walking toward the main building. He halted before the steps and saluted Qianye. ¡°This lowly one is called Song Hu, originally one of Young Master Zining¡¯s followers. He has instructed me to follow Young Master Qian for a duration of one year and assist you with the various jobs rted to the mercenary group.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Zining?¡± Qianye was momentarily stunned. He then invited Song Hu into the house.

    Song Hu stood respectfully and wouldn¡¯t hear of sitting down. After Qianye was seated, he politely presented a box and a letter to him before lowering himself into an adjacent seat.

    Qianye was paying attention to and sizing up this person. He wore in warrior¡¯s clothes, and the design was quite familiar too. It seemed to be the Song n guards¡¯ apparel with all insignias removed.

    He was carrying an old-fashioned and oblong suitcase, which he didn¡¯t put down even while seated. His sitting posture appeared rather ufortable and seemed as if he was in a horse stance [2]. However, Qianye knew that this posture was extremely suited for dealing with emergent crises. He could easily switch to abat position with minimal obstruction.

    ¡°What else did Zining instruct you?¡± Qianye received the box and letter but didn¡¯t open them immediately.

    Song Hu replied, ¡°Seventh Young Master said this lowly one¡¯s sry is 200 gold coins per annum and the cost of all equipment will be covered by Young Master Qian.¡±

    Qianye was immediately ovee by an indescribable feeling as he waited quietly for Song Hu to continue.

    As expected, Song Hu added, ¡°Seventh Young Master instructed me to ry a message. He said that since you¡¯re ying this mercenary game just to help that wild boar, he¡¯s already acting quite fairly by not foiling things. He asked me to tell you that he absolutely refuses to invest both money and effort for this.¡±

    Qianye was momentarily at a loss whether tough or cry. This Song Hu was indeed a talented person. Although he had ryed the two messages with a wooden expression, he was still able to perfectly deliver the meaning behind Song Zining¡¯s words. This man was definitely not as unrefined as he seemed on the surface.

    Qianye knew Song Zining had already seen through his intentions as soon as he heard about the n to establish a mercenary group. Qianye didn¡¯t expand further on this subject and only exined to Song Hu a summary of his recent ns along with the details regarding the training of personnel.

    Song Hu listened attentively before going straight for the main topic. ¡°Young Master Qian, since you n to base the mercenary group in ckflow City, we have to find a base of operations first and foremost. This lowly one will take a few days to go about the city and select a suitable location for our headquarters. However, this lowly one may be so bold as to ask, how much funds have you prepared?¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought and replied, ¡°Little over 1000, give or take.¡±

    Song Hu was somewhat surprised. ¡°This lowly one originally thought you nned to establish a medium-sized mercenary group with over a hundred members. Was it a small-scaled mercenary band instead?¡±

    ¡°In truth, I have close to¡­ four hundred people, plus 100-odd children who can join the battlefield in five years¡¯ time.¡± Seeing Song Hu¡¯s somewhat odd expression, Qianye added with augh, ¡°They are already fully equipped.¡±

    Song Hu¡¯s expression was still a bit strange. However, noticing that his behavior almost seemed discourteous, he let out a dry cough and said, ¡°Since it is so, we¡¯ll still need about 500 gold coins per month to maintain the group¡¯s fighting power at an optimum level, discounting the need to upgrade equipment and supplies.¡±

    Qianye onlyughed because he knew this number wouldn¡¯t stop here. Song Hu¡¯s equipment and remuneration for instance¡ªsince the price set by Song Zining is 200 gold coins, his full set of equipment likely wouldn¡¯t cost any less.

    And as for those seedlings¡ªdid he need to pay them? In the beginning, these people would likely recall how Qianye had saved their lives and serve him without expecting any remuneration. But some of them would surely nurture a different opinion with the passage of time. There would also be some who would want to lead their own lives. Some of them would definitely hold a grudge if Qianye was unable to pay them.

    No matter when or where, the heart was the most difficult thing to control.

    After seeing that Qianye had no other instructions for him, Song Hu expressed his desire to go into the city right away. Qianye called over Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine to have them arrange a guest room for Song Hu. Qianye sat down at his usual ce to ponder in silence after the room had once again regained its calm. This was also something he had recently been thinking about whenever he had the time.

    ording to Song Hu, he would require sufficient funds for the mercenary group to function normally. Qianye was merely supporting these people right now so the problem wasn¡¯t quite evident, but once they officially start joining battles, they might run out of supplies within two months.

    In the end, everything came down to money. It could be said that this was an issue of resources. When Qianye was alone, just by relying on his ability to hunt dark race members, he didn¡¯t have to worry about food and shelter no matter how bad the situation was.

    In truth, it was not that he had no way. He could take charge of an area¡¯s defense and receive remuneration from the expeditionary army. He could also hunt high-level dark race warriors in the wilderness on his own¡ªthe rewards from this would allow the mercenary group to continue operating, albeit with some difficulty.

    However, if this duty were to expand to a town, a city, a province or even a whole country, what would he do?

    Qianye shook his head and decided to stop thinking about the questions he had no ability to answer at the moment. He opened Song Zining¡¯s letter and found, to his surprise, only three words ¡°Wei Bainian¡±. This was obviously the name of a person?

    While Qianye was pondering how to solve the problem he had initiated, Wei Potian was under great stress from the thorny problems that had fallen into his hands.

    Now, whenever he sat on the chair which originally belonged to Wu Zhengnan, Wei Potian felt as if he had fallen into a swamp with no shores. Documents were always piled into mountains on therge desk in front of him. It seemed impossible to trim down this small hill even though he put great effort into reading through them.

    Whenever he finished working on 10 documents, 11 more would be ced onto the table. Wei Potian had brought many aides but none of them were idle. He required people to implement the content of these documents, otherwise, they would only be worthless pieces of paper.

    It was during this period where the majority were tranquil and a small number of people were distressed that a seemingly inconspicuous airshipnded outside of ckflow City, and from which alighted a group of simrly inconspicuous people.

    Today, like any other day, Wei Potian was buried behind a pile of documents. Within this Wei n heir¡¯s limited lifetime, these few days were probably one of his most terrifying experiences. It had even far surpassed the period he had undergone Bai Longjia¡¯s special training.

    After hearing a knock on the door, Wei Potian immediately roared furiously, ¡°More?! Can¡¯t you deliver them all in one batch?¡±

    The door opened on its own as a voice which had always caused Wei Potian to be scared witless was transmitted from behind, ¡°Oh Huyang, you¡¯re about to be promoted to colonel very soon. Howe you still can¡¯t keep your calm?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s hand trembled as he heard this voice, causing him to smudge the greater part of the document he had just signed.

    [1] Confucius''s own ount of his gradual progress and attainments. 1. The Master said, "At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. 2. "At thirty, I stood firm. 3. "At forty, I had no doubts. 4. "At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. 5. "At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. 6. "At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right."

    [2] A martial arts stance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_stance

 Volume 3 - 116: Elder Generation

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 116: Elder Generation

    Standing in the doorway was a soldierly man in his prime. Noticeably taller than Wei Potian and d in an undecorated traditional Chinese robe, this man projected a natural aura of dignity and power. This was obviously a person who had upied an eminent position for a long time.

    Wei Potian immediately jumped up and greeted respectfully, ¡°Father, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    The person was indeed Wei Dongming, the current master of the Far East Wei n, the Marquis of Bowang and Wei Potian¡¯s father. He was definitely one of the few people in this world Wei Potian was greatly afraid of.

    Wei Dongming walked around the office and nced at the surroundings. In the end, he swept through the pile of documents on the desk and nodded. ¡°Things seem to be in proper order! It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve told you more than once since you were young that you need to calm down when you encounter major events. You have to keep your calm no matter what kind of situation you¡¯re in¡­¡±

    Wei Potian hurriedly interrupted, knowing his father wouldn¡¯t stop once he starts lecturing, ¡°Dad, what kind of major event brought you all the way to Evernight Continent?¡±

    Wei Dongming red at Wei Potian. ¡°What other major business apart from yours would have meing personally?¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head with a forcedugh before approaching his father. ¡°Dad, you see how I¡¯m handling the work here. Not too shabby, right? In the end, I still obtained two cities for our n, although they¡¯re a little bit poor¡­¡±

    ¡°Only a little bit poor!?¡± Wei Dongming red at his son incisively.

    Wei Potian replied embarrassedly, ¡°We did pay a small price, but there are also some gains!¡±

    Wei Dongming snorted. ¡°Huyang, don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t understand what it means to be a regional lord of the Far East Wei n. Not to mention the loss of your personal guards and Elder Chen, how much can the Wei n even profit from a third-rate defensive region in an abandonednd?

    Wei Potian scratched his head hard, at a loss about what to say.

    The Wei n¡¯s highest feudal rank was only a Marquis, but that was lord of a whole region. Speaking disrespectfully, the Marquis was almost like an emperor within the Far East Province. As for ckflow City, not only was it located at the frontlines of Evernight Continent, but it was also in the expeditionary army¡¯s domain. Everyone will think the Wei n had overextended its scope of influence. Furthermore, the investment required to maintain this territory would be significant because battles could break out anytime in Evernight Continent.

    In truth, even someone as slow as Wei Potian hade to realize this logic after several days of managing governmental affairs.

    Wei Dongming¡¯s tone suddenly changed just as Wei Potian began preparing himself to receive a harsh scolding with his head lowered. ¡°But, for better or worse, you did indeed obtain a territory with two cities. We did pay a certain price for this, but when had pioneering the expansion of a new region ever been easy? Especially when you¡¯re bearding the lion in his den. As a whole, your results seem to be direct and efficient with no loose ends lying around. This isn¡¯t easy to achieve.¡±

    Wei Potian was pleasantly surprised. His father, the Marquis of Bowang, was the prime example of a strict father and very sparing with his praises. This was a rare reward for him.

    Wei Dongming walked toward the window with his hands behind his back and gazed at the panoramic view of ckflow City. ¡°You managed this business quite aptly and were still able to concentrate on governmental affairs afterwards. Although you¡¯re not as calm as I¡¯d like, at least you didn¡¯t lose your diligence. Oh Huyang, you¡¯ve finally grown up.¡±

    Wei Potian wasughing dumbly at this point, not knowing how to reply. Marquis Wei was a solemn man who governed his subordinates strictly. He was especially demanding toward this son for whom he had high hopes. He had rarely, if ever, given such a lengthy evaluation and encouragement.

    Wei Dongming casually flipped through a certain document on the table and eximed in surprise, ¡°The crimes listed on this paper, while few in number, are all crucial and closely interrted points. This document alone had firmly certified all of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s crimes and caused those expeditionary army higher-ups to fall silent. This Qi Sicheng is indeed a capable person!¡±

    Wei Potian looked over and said, ¡°This chap was in charge of logistics under Wu Zhengnan. He¡¯s naturally able to capture all the vital points since almost all transactions pass through him.¡± He added with a sneer, ¡°This man surnamed Qi is only thinking about extricating himself by piling all the me on Wu Zhengnan.¡±

    Wei Dongming didn¡¯tment. ¡°Where is this person now?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s already¡­ under protection.¡±

    ¡°What kind of protection?¡±

    Wei Potianughed out loud. ¡°Where it¡¯s truly safe, in the deepestyers of the dark dungeon.¡±

    Wei Dongming nodded and replied, ¡°You¡¯ve indeed grown up.¡±

    Wei Potian felt anything but reassured after hearing this evaluation. His intuition had always been urate.

    As expected, Wei Dongming continued, ¡°I¡¯m half-relieved now that you are capable of taking charge alone. However, you¡¯recking a final step here. You¡¯ll need someone who can oversee this region if you truly want to im this theater. Even in the Wei n, there aren¡¯t many people both qualified and avable to take up this post. Your uncle Bainian happens to be one of them. I¡¯ve brought him along this time, but it¡¯s up to you whether you can persuade him or not.¡±

    Wei Dongming said after some pause, ¡°You¡¯re no longer young. It¡¯s just that your character needs some tampering. It¡¯ll be better if you¡¯re calmer. I¡¯ve consulted the ancestor. You¡¯lle back with me to settle your marriage affairs after things here are settled!¡±

    ¡°What¡­ what¡­ marriage!?¡± Wei Potian waspletely gobsmacked.

    Wei Dongmingughed, ¡°There¡¯s no shortage of outstanding youngdies among friendly nobility who are quite suitable for you. The old ancestor has seen a few of them and was fairly fond of them. You can choose one of them when you return.¡±

    Wei Potian was dumbfounded and couldn¡¯t utter a single clear word. ¡°I¡­ this¡­ isn¡¯t it too early?¡±

    Wei Dongming patted Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder andughed loudly, ¡°It isn¡¯t! Others at your age already have more than one children! Your twentieth birthday will arrive in two months¡¯ time. Men are supposed to take up true responsibility after theiring of age ceremony. The old ancestor intends to make it a grand spectacle. At that time, many nobledies will attend. You mustn''t squander this opportunity.

    ¡°You daddy here is quite open-minded in this regard, see? You still have the opportunity to choose your bride. Back then, I had to marry whoever the n deemed fit.¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t quite register how he had seen his father to his lodgings. He only remembered to ask when Wei Dongming and his entourage had been settled in. ¡°Where is Uncle Bainian?¡± It seemed whether or not he could get Wei Bainian to stay at ckflow City was his final test. There was a de waiting whether he extended or withdrew his neck. It would be better to finish things quickly.

    Wei Dongming¡¯s smile became more amiable after seeing his son was still able to recall proper business at this time. ¡°You have a friend here in the city, right? Bainian went over to see him and, in passing, invited him to have dinner with us. I wish to meet your friend too.¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly quivered after hearing these words. His expression rapidly changed as his muddle-headednesspletely vanished.

    Although Wei Bainian wasn¡¯t famous and usually kept a low profile within the family, Wei Potian knew the former was one of his father¡¯s most trusted brothers. It already surprised him greatly that such a person had been chosen as a candidate to oversee the seventh division¡¯s defensive region. Why would he go and see Qianye immediately after arriving in ckflow City? There really was no reason for an elder to visit a junior, even if Qianye was his good friend.

    Wei Dongming acted as if he didn¡¯t notice Wei Potian¡¯s expression and said, ¡°Oh yes, I also brought Shiqing along. The old ancestor seems to have sent you a trunk load of items. You should go and take a look right now.¡± Shiqing was Wei Potian¡¯s maid who had followed him since childhood.

    Wei Potian suppressed the distress in his heart and responded respectfully before excusing himself. He paused slightly at the courtyard gates but decided to follow his father¡¯s advice and return to his room to visit Shiqing. At the same time, he could inquire about the situation back home. Qianye should have already met Wei Bainian by now. Those from the older generation possessed keen eyesight¡ªthings might actually worsen if he was too crude.

    While Wei Potian was feeling restless and apprehensive, Qianye still hadn¡¯t encountered Wei Bainian. He was out to see the future headquarters of their mercenary group.

    Song Hu was indeed a talented person. He had already found arge empty area in the city¡¯s west side within an afternoon¡¯s time. This ce was an abandoned factory¡ªits majestic framework was still intact and could amodate people after some cleaning and partitioning. The space upied by the factory was fairlyrge and could still house the mercenary group even if it grew to thousands of members.

    Right now, there were only homeless refugees living here. Song Hu had already gone to the government hall to handle the necessary procedures. He had paid a token price of 50 gold coins to obtain the rights to use this factory zone for 50 years.

    Qianye had just reached the street when he gazed forward after sensing something. A small group of guards with no insignias on their uniforms had gathered at the courtyard gates. However, all of them were silent, calm, and imposing. The positions they had taken formed a practiced group attack formation.

    Song Hu¡¯s grip on his suitcase tightened. Although he was still walking, his footsteps had obviously slowed down as his direction of advancement deviated ever so slightly.

    Qianye didn¡¯t show any changes¡ªhe maintained his natural calm and continued walking at his usual pace. With that, they passed by those guards and only came to a stop after entering the wide-open gates. A person stood within the courtyard with his back facing them and only turned around when he heard sounds of movement.

    This was a tall and lean man whose age was difficult to discern from his facial features. He appeared quite young at first nce, but after some observation, one would discover traces of time upon his countenance. He was d in archaic apparel and exuded a noble and schrly temperament. One could immediately tell that he was born to a well-known family.

    ¡°I¡¯m Wei Bainian. You must be Young Master Huyang¡¯s friend, Young Master Qian right?

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly after hearing this name. He had already guessed that this was an elder from Wei Potian¡¯s n when he received Song Zining¡¯s letter, but he didn¡¯t expect to meet Wei Bainian in person.

    At this point, Song Hu approached Qianye and whispered a few words.

    Qianye nodded and performed a rather formal salutation toward Wei Bainian. ¡°So it¡¯s Potian¡¯s sixth uncle.¡±

    Song Hu¡¯s introduction was short but sufficient to express the person before them was extraordinary. Wei Bainian wasn¡¯t even 50 years of age but had already served over 30 years in the Imperial Army. He had joined the army as a soldier despite being a direct descendant of the Wei n¡¯s main branch and was eventually promoted to the rank of general by umting merits. The empire had faced constant threat throughout the years but god knows how much blood was on the hands of those who had survived more than ten years in service.

    Wei Bainian had long since taken in the odd expression on Qianye¡¯s face and was, at the moment, paying attention to Song Hu. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect anyone here to know a nameless person like myself.¡±

    Qianye still wasn¡¯t clear about the purpose of this visit even after Wei Bainian left. Unskilled as he was in the ways of the world, Qianye still understood it was impossible for Wei Potian¡¯s elder to visit his residence just to invite him to dinner.

 Volume 3 - 117: Lobbyist (Part 1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 117: Lobbyist (Part 1)

    In truth, Qianye still wasn¡¯t clear as to what Wei Potian¡¯s two elders were nning even after their dinner together. The meal was a family dinner through and through. The dishes were sumptuous and involved no overlyplicated table etiquette. They simply ate as an ordinary family would. There was only Wei Dongming, Wei Bainian, Wei Potian and a single advisor who seemed to be of significant position within the Wei family.

    Wei Potian was exceptionally well-behaved today as most of Marquis Wei¡¯s words were to lecture him. Wei Bainian and the advisor both seemed to be cultured gentlemen¡ªthe topic of their livening conversations mostly involved the customs of variousnds and the hobbies of the nobility of which Qianye had merely heard of. Qianye was inherentlycking with regards to social intercourse. The odd part was that they didn¡¯t inquire about Qianye¡¯s origins either.

    Wei Potian insisted on sending him back when Qianye excused himself and proceeded to jump into the jeep¡¯s driver seat. Qianye noticed Wei Potian¡¯s expression seemed somewhat gloomy as if he wanted toin about his sufferings.

    The jeep rumbled as it fled swiftly¡ªit almost seemed as if it was about to fly. Qianye¡¯s residence was in the adjacent street block but Wei Potian drove in the opposite direction, taking a long detour. Despite that, it didn¡¯t take them much longer than the normal route to arrive at the small courtyard. Apparently, driving at such a speed was the only way to improve his mood a little.

    Wei Dongming and Wei Bainian stood gazing at the jeep rushing through the streets. The advisor had already excused himself and no maids were left in the room. Only the two brothers were left in intimate discussion.

    Wei Bainian spoke first, ¡°I¡¯ve already observed the scene. Wu Zhengnan¡¯s remains were ignited by origin mes, but his friend doesn¡¯t have such an origin power attribute.¡± He paused momentarily before adding, ¡°The expeditionary army headquarters aren¡¯t without skilled personnel. It¡¯s impossible for them to not discover this point. However, I heard that it was Huyang who had appeared to deal with them from beginning to the end. They didn¡¯t even ask if there were any other survivors who can testify.¡±

    Although Marquis Wei hade to Evernight Continent in secret, he was, nheless, an extremely prominent target. That was why he rarely left his residence after returning from Wei Potian¡¯s office. Wei Bainian would check up on whatever the former wanted to see.

    At this point, Wei Dongming replied indifferently, ¡°Even ck-faced Xiao¡¯s attitude seemed to be more bark and less bite. When did he be so amiable? I refuse to believe this Marquis of Bowang has that much prestige.¡±

    ¡°Do you mean someone had already paved the way on the expeditionary army¡¯s side for Huyang to overthrow Wu Zhengnan? And our Wei n had no hand in it?¡±

    Wei Dongyang nodded. ¡°It¡¯s quite likely. But whether or not Huyang knows is uncertain.¡± Heughed coldly. ¡°Why otherwise would Zhang Youheng be in such a hurry to wash his hands of this matter? He wouldn¡¯t extricate himself so directly if he knew of the expeditionary army headquarters¡¯ ambiguous attitude.¡°

    Wei Bainian frowned. ¡°This man is really too pragmatic.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. He¡¯s not from the Zhang n despite his surname. It¡¯s better for him to be more cautious. We¡¯ll just have to use him less in the future.¡± Wei Dongming didn¡¯t really mind the military police prosecutor¡¯s withdrawal but instead asked, ¡°What do you think of Huyang¡¯s friend?¡±

    ¡°A good de, but one that¡¯ll be hard to control.¡±

    Wei Dongming was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°There¡¯s someone behind him.¡±

    Wei Bainian also expressed agreement. Qianye didn¡¯t seem like a person who could scheme and aplish the feat of cating Xiao Lingshi.

    At this time, Wei Potian was rushing into Qianye¡¯s courtyard. He shouted at Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine as if he was the master, ¡°Bring wine!¡±

    Qianye shot a nce at him before entering the house. He then received the two cups of strong wine from Lil¡¯ Seven and put a drop of his custom stimnt into each of them.

    Wei Potian snatched a whole bottle and finished half of it in one swig. Only then did he m the bottle onto the table and said angrily, ¡°Tell me why that bastard won¡¯t stay despite the many benefits I¡¯ve offered him? Damn his grandmother! Isn¡¯t this making it difficult for me on purpose?

    ¡°Which bastard?¡±

    ¡°Who else but my sixth uncle? In order to take up the position of divisionmander, one needs to be a champion in addition to being proficient in military affairs. He¡¯s likely the only one in the n who can make time for this.¡± At this point, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help being depressed.

    He had gone to see Wei Bainian as soon as thetter returned, striking while the iron was hot. However, he was respectfully seen off before half an hour had passed. Apparently, the negotiation wasn¡¯t sessful. This Wei n young master certainly wouldn¡¯t suffer such bulsh*t if he had a second choice.

    Qianye¡¯s felt a slight jolt to his mind. As it turned out, Wei Bainian was the Wei n¡¯s candidate for taking over the 7th division¡¯s defensive region. But judging from how Marquis Wei worked, there should be another purpose.

    It was likely that the Wei n had intended this operation against Wu Zhengnan to be a practical experience for the heir. That was why they had set up only the general n and required Wei Potian to work out the details. After passing through many knocks and bumps along the way, it was his final test to find a suitable candidate and reorganize the 7th division.

    However, even an outside such as Qianye was able to see that it was quite the overkill to assign someone of Wei Bainian¡¯s talents to Evernight Continent. It seemed the Marquis Wei¡¯s real intention was to make Wei Potian back out after seeing the difficulties and give up on this small region sooner. However, it also wasn¡¯t bad if Wei Potian could persuade Wei Bainian to stay because that would give the Wei n an additional base of operations in Evernight Continent, albeit one of little value.

    At this time, Qianye began to recall the item Song Zining had given him and the contents of the conversation between Wei Bainian and the advisor at the dinner table. He suddenly began to grasp the meaning behind all this.

    ¡°Why is he refusing to take up the position of the 7th divisionmander?¡±

    ¡°How should I know?! Heaven knows what¡¯s going on in his mind. Why would he need to travel all the way here if he has no intention to stay?¡± Wei Potian drank inrge gulps whileining and soon a whole bottle had entered his stomach.

    Wei Potian kept on talking continuously for almost an hour. The effects of the wine had appeared and he could no longer stand straight. Hence, he summoned the guards who hade to find him with a loud cry and staggered away in theirpany. Wei Potian¡¯sints were mostly focused on the management of trivial matters which he must¡¯ve been holding in for quite some time. It was just that today was a good opportunity to vent.

    Qianye mostly listened in silence during the whole process. As the heir of Marquis Bowang and the future leader of his n, Wei Potian would encounter these things sooner orter. They would only be moreplex than the management of a mere ckflow City¡ªWei Potian was obviously aware of this¡ªhe only needed someone to listen to his rants.

    After Wei Potian left, Qianye returned to his bedroom and gazed contemtively at the wooden box near his bed. He could already confirm that the item within it was prepared for Wei Bainian. Qianye thought for a while before heughed, shaking his head. Could this be considered ¡°adapting to other party¡¯s tastes¡±?

    The night peacefully passed by. Qianye, being someone quick to take action, called upon Wei Bainian early next morning.

    Qianye went silent for a moment when Wei Bainian inquired the purpose of his visit. Recognizing that he wasn¡¯t quite proficient in lobbying people with lengthy words, Qianye decided to get straight to the point. ¡°General Wei should be the single best candidate for the 7th divisionmander¡¯s position. I wonder why you refuse to ept?¡±

    Wei Bainian replied with a question of his own, ¡°Then why do you think I should ept this position?¡±

    Qianye was momentarily speechless as he discovered how difficult it was to answer this question.

    Qianye shook his head after the words ¡°future prospects¡± escaped his mouth. With Wei Bainian¡¯s qualifications and background, he could easily obtain a divisionmander¡¯s position in any of the regr corps. The future prospects there were much better than in the second-rate expeditionary army.

    Qianye gave it some thought before asking, ¡°I wonder if General Wei has ns to climb higher in rank?¡±

    It was easiest to breakthrough amidst life and death struggles. This was the creed of all experts of the Great Qin Empire. Most champions had cut their way through paths full of thorns and thistles. It was likely that the war zone in which ckflow City was located would encounter a battle with the dark races. It was also likely to attract those who sought to increase their strength.

    However, Wei Bainianughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°I¡¯m very clear about my aptitude. I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s no longer possible for me to improve. That being the case, I would rather pass my days peacefully and let my family be at ease."

    This had effectively blocked Qianye¡¯s intended words. If Wei Bainian had really reached a bottleneck like he said and could no longer breakthrough, the focus of his considerations would likely be a stable lifestyle¡ªthis wasmon sense. This was especially true for descendants of aristocratic families. With so many things burdening their minds like their parents, children, and subordinates, one simply couldn¡¯t exclude the possibility that they had lost their spirit. This might be the background reason why he was the only champion avable to lead an army.

    The guest room immediately became silent. Wei Bainian¡¯s expression was quite calm and showed no traces of impatience.

    ¡°But there are tens of thousands of people living in the two cities of this defensive region.¡±

    Wei Bainian broke out inughter. ¡°The tens of thousands of Evernight citizens aren¡¯t more important than the people of my Far East Province. I can serve anywhere and still serve the same purpose.¡± His words could be considered quite polite. For many of the aristocracy, their native citizens were naturally more important than the people from this abandonednd.

    Qianye produced a wooden box and ced it on the table. ¡°Then, what about considering this item as remuneration?¡±

    Wei Bainian¡¯s eyes shed slightly as he let out a chuckle. ¡°You must already know that Young Master Huyang has already offered me many things.¡±

    Wei Bainian had already noticed the uneasiness in Qianye¡¯s actions and the awkwardness of his words as he handled the item. It was obvious that this was the first time he had engaged in such business. However, he didn¡¯t expose thetter and only took the box and yed around with it in his hands. He didn¡¯t open it in a hurry but instead sized up Qianye with great interest.

    Qianye also replied quite calmly. ¡°Potian didn¡¯t tell me about the details but did indeed say that he had offered you very good terms but you didn¡¯t agree to it.¡±

    ¡°That makes me somewhat curious what young master has brought for me.¡± Wei Bainian smiled as he unlocked the jade fastener. The box was pushed open a crack to reveal the corner of a smaller and more exquisite box. From this angle, one could see a light golden seal on its cover.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s expression suddenly changed after his gaze fell upon this seal. His chest began to undte rapidly and the hand that was holding onto the box casually trembled a little bit. He couldn¡¯t help but close the box and ce it back on the table.

    He raised his head and looked toward Qianye with a rueful smile. ¡°I truly lost myposure! It¡¯s actually such an item!¡±

    Wei Bainian inhaled deeply before opening the wooden box once again. It was uncoveredpletely to reveal a small and exquisite ckcquer box. On its surface was a striking insignia overflowing with great antiquity. Every stroke exuded the aura of vicissitudes.

    Qianye was only able to barely recognize the word forming this insignia because he had read the description of this item. It was the ancient character ¡°Ji¡±.

 Volume 3 - 118: Lobbyist (Part 2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 118: Lobbyist (Part 2)

    Wei Baininan gently and cautiously removed the ckcquer box and ced it on a piece of brocade. A light yellow glow surged from his palms and gradually spread out to form a one square meter light shield which enclosed the box within.

    Wei Bainian exined, ¡°One mustn¡¯t allow the item inside contact with moisture or light in order to preserve it well. That¡¯s why an origin power barrier is necessary when appreciating it. I hope the young master will excuse my behavior.¡±

    Qianye momentarily scanned the barrier and found that it had indeed isted the interior from outside influences. He couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly shaken¡ªa champion level expert¡¯s attacks were more or less able to affect an area. Wei Bainian being able to conjure such a barrier obviously meant that he was able to control origin power at will.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s full attention was concentrated on the little box before him and didn¡¯t mind Qianye¡¯s observations at all. It seemed, from the former¡¯s solemn expression, that he was conducting an extremely important business as he gently pushed the lid open.

    There was a jade frame within the box with faint origin power lights flickering asionally at each corner. This was evidently an origin power array. A bright yellow piece of brocade sat upon the jade frame, and properly ced at its center was a small half-used block of ink. Three slim words were visible on the remaining half: ¡°Handmade by Ji¡±.

    Wei Bainian leant over with bated breath and approached the ink block. His eyes didn¡¯t deviate in the slightest as he observed the item detail.

    Qianye had long since known that it was a block of ink and that it had extraordinary origins and value. However, he felt rather odd after seeing the actual goods¡ªit was actually a half-used item? But after seeing Wei Bainian¡¯s seriousness and excitement, Qianye intelligently swallowed any doubts he had back into the depths of his heart.

    Wei Bainian straightened his back only after a long time. He only dared exhale a long sigh of relief after properly closing the lid. ¡°A smoky ink of the highest quality! It¡¯s actually an item used by King Ji back in the day! I have never expected such a treasure to appear before my eyes! Do you know the merits of this piece of ink?¡±

    Qianye only smiled without replying. He had already read the item¡¯s introduction but decided that it was unwise to make a disy before an expert such as Wei Bainian.

    Wei Bainian himself didn¡¯t seem to have the intention to wait for Qianye¡¯s reply. His question was only to act as an introduction for the lengthy and unceasing discussion that was to follow. ¡°The patterns on this smoky ink form the thousand miles mountains and rivers pattern. It should be one of the thirty pieces handmade by King Ji himself. Its benefits lie in¡­¡±

    Wei Bonian spoke for the greater half of an hour from which Qianye only understood that this King Ji belonged to the imperial lineage. He was a great expert from the previous dynasty widely known for his painting and calligraphy. The handcrafted ink and pen were only things he produced for fun?¡ªa minor path. However, even this half-used piece of ink was worth tens of thousands of gold coins. Disregarding the price, the important thing was that one might not necessarily be able to buy it even if he had the money. All of King Ji¡¯s equipment and ink had long since been collected by the imperial family and nobility. How could it have the opportunity to appear in the outside world?

    Qianye listened quietly and attentively despite being puzzled at heart. Even if it was a rare item belonging to a great expert from the previous dynasty, how was it able to make a person like Wei Bainian change so uncharacteristically?

    To Qianye, ink was still ink. The numerous patterns were showy, but they were not substantial. It would prove no use whatsoever on the battlefield. Urgent military reports could be written in a few lines as simple and concise messages were the most effective. As for the yin-yang bnce, the color and flourish of the strokes¡ªnone of these had any significance.

    Such items could only be enjoyed by those born of distinguished families like Wei Bainian.

    Wei Bainian only let the matter drop after he had talked to his heart¡¯s content. At this time, his gaze toward Qianye was no longer the same. He said with a smile, ¡°Young Master Qian is indeed a kindred spirit.¡±

    Qianye felt sweat dripping down his back. ¡°I¡¯m actually not very knowledgeable¡­¡±

    Wei Bainian waved his hands and said, ¡°Young Master Qian, why the need for such modesty? Taking this item out is already a sufficient disy of your thoughtfulness! Many young men have probably never even heard of this unique treasure.¡±

    Qianye felt extremely guilty after being praised like this and felt his facial expression turn somewhat rigid. Wei Bainian, on the other hand, could no longer be controlled as he started talking in great delight¡ªhe began to discuss his opinions and preferences regarding the various painting and calligraphy experts throughout the history of the Great Qin Empire. This time, the conversation wasn¡¯t just limited to King Ji and involvedmenting on almost every expert of various dynasties.

    It was obvious that this Wei Bainian was an arts and calligraphy nut. He was actually able to talk until lunchtime even without Qianye talking actively. Even then, his spirits hadn¡¯t diminished¡ªhe personally prepared a meal consisting of four dishes and a bottle of good wine, inviting Qianye to drink with him.

    Fortunately, Wei Bainian didn¡¯t continue discussing art during lunch but instead talked about past battles with the dark races. The topic of discussion had finally returned to Qianye¡¯s field of expertise. The experiences of a champion were naturally extremely valuable, but Qianye also possessed a degree of unconventional knowledge, allowing the two to hold an enjoyable conversation.

    However, Qianye¡¯s heart sank slightly as he noticed a small detail. The wooden box was still ced on the tea table and Wei Bainian didn¡¯t seem to have the intention of putting it away.

    Wei Bainian followed Qianye¡¯s gaze and suddenly asked with a faint smile, ¡°What do you intend to do from now on if I don¡¯t ept this divisionmander¡¯s position?¡±

    Qianye sighed inwardly. He had correctly implemented the strategy of ¡°catering to one¡¯s interests¡±, but as a champion, Wei Bainian wasn¡¯t one to be moved by material objects. From this, it could be seen that Wei Bainian had only followed Marquis Wei for a visit to Evernight Continent. He was likely here only to posture for a bit and bring Wei Potian back. As for this third-rate defensive region, the Wei n didn¡¯t care that much.

    Wei Bainian hadn¡¯t blocked off the possibility, but being unproficient in persuasion, Qianye no longer knew how to move Wei Bainian. He could only continue guessing the oue and cater to the other party¡¯s interests, waiting for that slim chance which might or might note.

    Qianye suddenly felt this wasn¡¯t his nature. He had nothing much to contribute to a conversation rted to art and calligraphy nor did he possess the authority toment on the man¡¯s hobby. Wei Bainian, on the other hand, had his own answer and standpoint. Qianye raised his head, his gaze clear and calm. ¡°I¡¯ll still establish a mercenary band and strive to guard ckflow City.¡±

    Wei Bainian smiled faintly. ¡°What are you going to guard it with? With just a few hundred seedlings?¡± His voice contained a hint of ridicule but with no evil intentions, like an old veteran confronting a rookie who didn¡¯t know the immensity of the heaven and earth.

    Qianye didn¡¯t mind Wei Beinian¡¯s tone at all and only replied, ¡°I¡¯ll know whether it¡¯s possible only after I try. This is a city with tens of thousands of people. Regardless of whether it¡¯s easy to defend, I can¡¯t let the dark races easily obtain it. I don¡¯t believe I can change the ending of this battle, but I''ll at least properly fulfill my responsibility since this matter originated from me.¡±

    Wei Bainian¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°You¡­ n to die together with ckflow City?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Ah, of course not. I¡¯ll fight until it¡¯s no longer possible to do so and then break through the encirclement. Only by living can I kill more enemies. Only by living will I continue to grow stronger. Then one day, I¡¯ll return and take back everything I lost from the hands of the dark races.¡±

    ¡°Uninfluenced by the honor, disgrace, gains or losses of a single city,nd or moment while possessing a broad view of the distant mountains and rivers. Fighting when one should and retreating as the situation demands¡ªthis is the true way of a general!¡± Qianye was shocked as Wei Bainian broke into praises.

    Wei Bainian patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s see what kind of ending this battle will bring!¡±

    Qianye was only able to react after a while. ¡°Has General Wei decided to stay?¡±

    ¡°In any case, there are battlefields everywhere. It makes little difference whether I fight here or there. It¡¯s said that the situation here is no small matter and has already rmed many major characters. I do want to see what kind of surprises there will be.¡±

    After that, Wei Bainian picked up the wooden box containing the half-used cloud ink and put it away carefully. ¡°Although this little thing alone isn¡¯t enough to make me change my mind, things certainly wouldn¡¯t have worked out without it. Since you were so considerate as to find such a thing, I¡¯ll not forego the modesty and ept it!¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Qianye finally heaved a sigh of relief. epting the item meant that Wei Bainian had officially agreed to the matter.

    Qianye walked slowly along the streets of ckflow City aftering out of Wei Bainian¡¯s residence. He didn¡¯t enter the alleyways but instead followed the main street of that block, observing everything along the way.

    This ce was simr to Darkblood City¡ªthe poption had obviously risen as the situation in the wilderness became increasingly tense. The recent effects of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s matter hadn¡¯tpletely faded and the atmosphere was still somewhat tense whenever armed warriors passed by. However, the ordinary citizens were forgetful¡ªto them, the city administration was just an abstraction¡ªit mattered little who was in power as long order was kept and the taxes remained the same.

    The tension in the wilderness had more or less affected the city. The shoddy taverns had be even more crowded. There were already drunkards staggering on the roads even though it was only two o¡¯clock and the sun hadn¡¯tpletely set.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, however, such mor still didn¡¯t feel like the ambiance before a true battle. The civilians all knew that the Trinity River County where ckflow City was located and Boulder Region wherein lies the nearby Darkblood City were all likely to be embroiled in battle. However, the majority had no experience with true battle.

    Bloody conflicts were happening all the time in Evernight Continent, but thisnd abandoned by the Qin Empire was also a barren ce to the dark races of the upper continents. Here, resources were scarce and life was hard¡ªthose so-called battles were merely offensive campaigns. The gains from fighting an all-out war on Evernight Continent might not even cover the costs involved. Therefore, the true frontlines between the dark races and the empire were still located in other continents.

    What was a true battle?

    Qianye had only indirectly experienced such a battle once during his short military career. Back then, he was a rookie who didn¡¯t even have the qualifications to step into a true battle. He was assigned as a guard to a military base close to the front lines. That base was used as a final stop for the major characters joining the battle to reorganize their troops. Leaving it meant they had truly entered the van of the battlefield.

    During a short week, Qianye had seen three whole batches of 17 champions assemble there and enter the battlefield. In the end, less than one-third of them returned. And that base was only one of the many such locations.

    Through such means, Qianye was first acquainted with the cruelty of the war against the dark races. This was a process every rookie had to go through.

    In truth, Qianye had also sensed that both Wei Potian and Song Zining¡¯s true attitudes toward the imminent battle were grave and serious. He had also sensed a simr feeling from Wei Bainian¡¯s words just now.

    Qianye was lost in thought as he gazed at the stream of people shuttling back and forth. How much of this lively yet orderly street scene would remain after the chaos has passed?

    If war was a furnace, then geniuses were ores. Countless ores would be tossed into it but only a few of them would be refined into true gold¡ªmost others would be dregs to be discarded and eventually forgotten.

 Volume 3 - 119: Parting (Part 1)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 119: Parting (Part 1)

    The days that followed were rather tranquil.

    Now that the headquarters of the mercenary band had been selected, the seedlings from the Far East Heavy Industry¡¯s mining zone were split up into batches and began to move toward ckflow City. From the renovation work to the batch migration of the seedlings and the necessary logistics and supplies, everything was managed by Song Hu alone. He was so busy it seemed as if he was about to start flying. Qianye simply sent Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine over to assist him.

    The statecraft which the twins had learnt at the trade group was finally able to shine. Additionally, the girls were patient, careful, and hardworking. Within a couple of days, they were already able to take charge of a sector and be a helping force to Song Hu.

    Qianye only needed to listen to the reports once every night while leaving all other matters to them. He himself spent most of his time cultivating in an isted room. He had already decided that he would go out into the wilderness to hunt once the mercenary band had been settled in. This wasn¡¯t only for the reward with which to keep the mercenary band running but also to personally observe the surrounding topography. The best safeguard out in the wilderness was one¡¯s own strength.

    At this time, Wei Potian was still toiling away amidst the mountains of documents when Marquis Wei, whose recent whereabouts were unknown, walked in silently. When Wei Dongming saw Wei Potian¡¯s writings weren¡¯t the slightest bit disarrayed despite the grimace on his face, the former nodded inwardly in satisfaction.

    Wei Potian got up hurriedly and asked, ¡°Dad, howe you¡¯re back so soon?¡±

    Wei Dongming was apparently in a good mood as he scolded with augh, ¡°Your old man has a multitude of important businesses to attend to. How will I have the time to waste in this tiny ce? But after visiting the surrounding ces, I found that the general situation still seems rather peaceful. This indicates that your management has been quite effective.

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was the picture of bitterness. ¡°These trivial matters are more annoying than a war!¡±

    Wei Dongming restored his usual expression and began to lecture, ¡°You¡¯re to be the master of a n in the future. How can you keep thinking about fighting and killing all day!? We can only take our time to transfer this defensive area back to the expeditionary army since your uncle Bainian isn¡¯t willing to ept the divisionmander¡¯s position. Naturally, we can¡¯t return it to them for free. We¡¯ll have to make them bleed for it.¡±

    At this point, Wei Dongming¡¯s expression eased up and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already instructed people to arrange the trip. Leave with me in a few days. The old ancestor misses you and you should also meet thosedies in advance. Choose someone you like and let your daddy hold a grandson soon.

    Unexpectedly, Wei Potian replied, ¡°Sixth uncle has agreed to stay.¡±

    Wei Dongming was shocked. ¡°What!? Bainian ns to stay!?¡±

    Wei Potian shrugged. ¡°Yes, I have no idea what changed his mind either. Two days ago, he wouldn¡¯t agree no matter what I said, but yesterday, he suddenly came to tell me that he has decided to stay. He has already gone to visit the remote sentry posts today.¡±

    Wei Dongming seemed as if he couldn¡¯t believe things. ¡°This is impossible! He obviously said¡­¡±

    Wei Dongming immediately stopped talking at this point, but Wei Potian had alreadye to realize what had transpired. He red at his father with eyes full of ill will.

    Wei Dongming no longer showed excessive surprise by the time he met Wei Bainian. This cousin of his was always casual and simple. Naturally, Wei Dongming wasn¡¯t opposed since thetter was interested in Evernight Continent and also gained an item that he loved. It was just that the Wei n¡¯sposition in the area would have to be readjusted.

    The two brothers had many years of experience regarding such matters. Wei Bainian briefly stated the necessary resources, manpower, and present arrangements. Wei Dongming listened to all of them and authorized the n verbally. This matter could be considered settled after recording them upon his return to the n.

    Only afterwards did Wei Dongming mention the fruits of his recent activity. ¡°I already know the person working in the background. It¡¯s the seventh son of the Song n, Song Zining.¡±

    Since Wei Potian didn¡¯t mention it himself, Marquis Wei naturally wouldn¡¯t openly ask his son¡¯s aides. A servant shouldn¡¯t have two masters, regardless of the reason. The expeditionary army and Xiao Lingshi¡¯s side definitely wouldn¡¯t divulge this information.

    However, it was impossible to erase all traces after doing something. As long as one traced along the gigantic channel of profit behind Wu Zhengnan, he would be able to find certain clues within the changes.

    Wei Bainian was startled. Song Zining¡¯s name wasn¡¯t prominent and he had barely ever heard of it. Suddenly, he recalled some of the traces at the scene of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s death and immediately realized something. ¡°That¡¯s it. That means the origin power mes at the scene likely came from the Song n¡¯s technique, ¡®Fueled Fire Spear¡¯.¡± With that, he involuntarily frowned. ¡°Song n? Hmm¡­¡±

    The Far East Wei n had always maintained a neutral position when dealing with the four great ns and weren¡¯t particrly close with any of them. After Wei Potian joined the Broken Winged Angels, he was ced under Bai Longjia of the Bai n. This kind of rtionship arising from organizational structure, however, couldn¡¯t represent their standpoint. Wei Potian choosing to work together with the Song n¡¯s seventh son in handling this half-official, half-private business rted to Wu Zhengnan, on the other hand, meant something else entirely.

    Wei Dongming continued, ¡°Shiqing told me just now that Huyang has returned the heir¡¯s token and had asked her to revoke all external authorizations.¡± External authorization of the core Wei n member tokens had to be registered at the main n to be effective. Their utilization wasn¡¯t an exception either. The two brothers both knew that the heir¡¯s token Wei Potian had given to Qianye hadn¡¯t actually been exchanged for resources.¡±

    Wei Bainian was somewhat stunned. At first, he was suspicious whether someone was secretly trying to influence the heir through Qianye, but this news came as quite the surprise. Why would he let go of such a good opportunity if he had other intentions?

    Wei Dongming said indifferently, ¡°We¡¯ll let this matter end here. Since Huyang considers this his personal affair, then we have no need to probe too deeply. He¡¯s no longer a child and he should know what he¡¯s doing.¡±

    Wei Bainian nodded. He had no objection toward his elder brother¡¯s decision. What the Wei n required was a leader and not a puppet who does another¡¯s bidding. Even parents couldn¡¯t keep their children underplete control. The road ahead, after all, had to be walked alone.

    The way Wei Bainian led his troops was swift and decisive, a stark contrast from his refined appearance. He had made a tour of the whole defensive region within three days and, in passing, even settled certain disputes with the two adjacent divisions. In truth, he was the one who had incited his subordinates to provoke the other party over small matters and cause these so-called ¡°disputes¡±. Afterwards, he used this as an excuse to rapidly suppress the other two divisions and bring the two nearby strategic points under his control.

    Qianye¡¯s mercenary band also received their firstmission from Wei Bainian.

    The mercenary band would take over the defense of two small towns surrounding ckflow City. The remuneration for the defense of each town was 300 gold coins. This would barely cover the basic expenses of the corps, but it was far from enough if they wanted to expand. The only true way out was to wait for the defense budget to rise after the war, or exchange military service gained from fighting against the dark races for rewards.

    Night time, it was once again time for Song Hu to deliver a report to Qianye.

    Song Hu had organized the mercenary band into five squads of 100 men. He had selected four experienced soldiers from the seedlings and distributed them as leaders among two groups. Lil¡¯ Seven and Lil¡¯ Nine would each lead a group while the final one would be led by Song Hu himself.

    Next up was the renovation, training, and other trivial matters of which Qianye was only told the gist. The only thing that required his attention was the issue of expenditure. Resources were the only thing the leader needed to consider¡ªother trifling matters could be left to appropriate personnel.

    Afterwards, Song Hu mentioned the defensive duties of the war zone they had been assigned to. Qianye only signed an agreement with Wei Bainian, but Song Hu was the one who had managed the actual transfer arrangements with the 7th Division Headquarters. Normally, one would require a day or two to formte a concrete defense strategy since the defense map was received only this afternoon.

    Qianye saw the map of the warzone Song Hu had spread out and was slightly shaken. Of the two towns designated to him, one was Lighthouse Town in which he had stayed for half a year, while the other was an adjacent town less than ten kilometers away.

    Song Hu¡¯s expression was somewhat grave. ¡°Young Master, how is your rtionship with the Wei n?¡±

    Qianye looked up. ¡°Is this important?¡±

    Song Hu pointed to the map and exined everything at once.

    These two towns were in bad shape. Lighthouse Town hadn¡¯t quite recovered from that ransacking during which Young Master Zhao¡¯s forces werepletely uprooted by the expeditionary army. There were little over a thousand residents left in the whole town.

    ck y Town was in a slightly better condition, but its location was protruding toward the dark race region even more than Lighthouse Town. It was the area closest to the border in the whole of the Trinity River County and only a few scattered human settlements remained further out. ck y Town bordered the ck y Swamp¡ªthe environment there was barren and adverse. The residents there were mostly scavengers and people who risked their lives to gather medicine in ck y Swamp.

    ¡°Please look at this ce.¡± Song Hu pointed to a certain point at the center of ck y Swamp and drew a line all the way to a dark race city 300 kilometers away.

    ¡°This is Spiderweb City, mostly inhibited by arachne, werewolves, and possibly a small number of demonkin. In therge-scale battles of the past, they would asionally traverse the ck y Swamp and attack ckflow City. The swamp¡¯s natural environment couldn¡¯t hinder the arachne and the werewolves could ride on the arachne to pass through the swamp.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but raise his head to nce at Song Hu. ¡°You¡¯ve led troops into battle before in this region?¡± It had only been a couple of hours since Song Hu had obtained the map of this defensive region but he had already grasped the environment so clearly.

    Song Hu replied, ¡°Of course I haven¡¯t. However, since you¡¯ve decided to work out of ckflow City, I naturally have to collect some information.¡± This also meant that Song Hu had been paying attention to the surrounding trends of ckflow City since he arrived at Qianye¡¯s side.

    No, Song Hu¡¯s focus of attention wasn¡¯t just limited to the 7th division¡¯s war zone. There was a distance of over 300 kilometers between here and Spiderweb City. This area had surpassed the defensive scope of a single division, even by Evernight standards.

    Seeing this, Qianye said, ¡°It seems you won¡¯t have any problem working as a division chief of staff.¡±

    Song Hu yed down the praise. ¡°I served as a division level chief of staff in the imperial army¡¯s 10th corps ten years ago. I wasted my days there until I was wounded. The injury caused me to drop two ranks whereupon I retired from the army since I could no longer retain my original position. Since then, I¡¯ve been scraping by at the Song n.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat moved. The 10th corps belonged to the main force of the imperial army. The quality of officers there werepletely different from those in the expeditionary army. He hadn¡¯t expected Song Zining to send someone of such caliber.

    Song Huter added, ¡°The dark races from Spiderweb City won¡¯t go through the trouble of crossing the swamp if there¡¯s no war. Our mission, in that case, remains fairly simple. However, a war is inevitable this time, and as such, it¡¯s almost certain that a great dark race army will emerge from the swamp! Young Master, who would believe it¡¯s a coincidence that General Wei had assigned us to such towns?¡±

 Volume 3 - 120: Parting (Part 2)

    Volume 3 ¨C The ce Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 120: Parting (Part 2)

    After some thought, Qianye said indifferently, ¡°These towns it is then.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Song Hu gave up protesting after he saw Qianye¡¯s expression and said helplessly, ¡°then I¡¯ll formte a defensive strategy.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a while after Song Hu left and let out a somber sigh. Even though the current 7th division couldn¡¯t be consideredpletely disorganized, it was still far from being a cohesive organization. Wei Bainian hadn¡¯t even brought hisplete personal guard. Granted that he had the Wei n¡¯s support, it wasn¡¯t quite possible for the n to transport troops and resources across several continents.

    The young and hot-blooded Wei Potian had made a ruthless move after seeing several conflicts arise in ckflow City following Wu Zhengnan¡¯s death. He captured all of thetter¡¯s rtives and aides, and as a result, several veterans no longer dared to show themselves and escaped to the nearby territories. The 7th division, in its present state, might need to recruit arge number of troops in order to reestablish its organizational structure.

    As such, not to mention two small towns, even ckflow City might be in danger should the dark race army descend upon them.

    That very night, Song Hu once again exined the defensive duties of the mercenary band to another person.

    Song Zining, who had just returned after leaving for several days, couldn¡¯t help butugh after hearing Qianye¡¯s response. ¡°In truth, there¡¯s also another possibility. It could also be that those two towns are merely being used as sentry posts and not strategic points to defend to the death. The line of defense would be shifted inwards once the dark race military strength reaches a certain scale.¡±

    Song Hu, on the other hand, appeared quitefortable and not the least uneasy. With his ability, he had naturally thought of this possibility. It was just that he had chosen to speak selectively.

    Song Zining added, ¡°Uncle Hu, you really don¡¯t need to do things too deliberately. My friend¡¯s a simple person but he¡¯s by no means naive. Sometimes, vague and roundabout methods don¡¯t work too well on him. I¡¯ll have to trouble you during this one-year duration. From here on out, you no longer need to report things from that side.

    ¡°As youmand.¡±

    This was Wei Potian¡¯sst night in Evernight Continent. He dragged Qianye out and, after going around the streets of ckflow City, came to a noisy and inconspicuous little tavern. He had nned for them to get drunk here.

    Both Qianye and Wei Potian drank silently in the beginning. First two bottles each, then four went into their stomachs.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was somewhat hazy. He had been in that state since he finished his second cup all the way until he finished his second bottle. Wei Potian¡¯s alcohol capacity tonight was exceptionally good¡ªhis eyes were as clear as the stars and didn¡¯t show the slightest sign of intoxication.

    Wei Potian suddenly let out a long sigh and said in a dreary tone, ¡°Little Ye, tell me, why are there so many things in this world that can¡¯t be handled ording to one¡¯s wishes?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re¡­ not the same as us. You¡¯re an heir. Naturally, there are things you have little control over.¡±

    ¡°Dammit, then what¡¯s good about being an heir?¡± Wei Potian was somewhat vexed. He banged the table lightly as he emptied the ss in his hand.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it good? You can do whatever you want if you¡¯re alone. Whether you do well or not is your own business. But you, on the other hand, have to rise to this challenge for the people by your side and for the whole Wei n. You have to perform well until the day you take over the position of n head and thereafter carry the Wei n forward. You should be even clearer than me about the meaning behind the title of heir. With great poweres great responsibility.¡±

    Wei Potian began to ponder deeply as he muttered, ¡°Does that mean the more resources I control, the more I can do the things I want?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not wrong. How could we have removed Wu Zhengnan if you weren''t the heir? He would probably still be sitting properly in themander¡¯s seat.¡±

    Wei Potian nodded. ¡°I understand now. It¡¯s simr to what General Bai Longjia said! The night you saved me at Darkblood City, General Bai Longjia said that every statement is a lie unless one has the power to prove it. With my authority at that time, I could only ughter those cowards ranked major and below but now I can deal with the field officers.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled. A bright trace shed through his hazy eyes, but ultimately, he didn¡¯t reply.

    Wei Potian became spirited. He patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder heroically and said, ¡°Very well! I¡¯ll work well in this position and be the head of the Wei n. The Marquis of Bowang isn¡¯t the end of the road. This daddy here still wants to be an imperial marshal!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Good ambition.¡±

    ¡°How about you? What ns do you have? Sigh, if not for your condition, you can just go back with me to the Qin Continent. You can easily be a field officer in any of the main army¡¯s corps!¡± At this point, Wei Potian suddenly realized his tongue had slipped and immediately stopped talking. He hadn¡¯t brought up this matter since Song Zining incinerated Wu Zhengnan¡¯s remains that night.

    Qianye was unconcerned about this. He emptied his cup and said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m doing fine right now.¡±

    Wei Potian habitually scratched his head and said, ¡°You say that but it¡¯s going to be troublesome for you. With your character¡­¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°I¡¯m not one to reason patiently with someone whoes looking for trouble. You should be worrying more about yourself!¡±

    Wei Potian looked deeply at Qianye and slowly said, ¡°You¡¯ve changed.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Back in that vige, when I saw that the people rushing up were all from the expeditionary army¡ªthat they were all humans¡ªmy way of thinking changed in many ways.¡±

    Wei Potian became much more rxed on the spot as he proceeded to fill their empty sses. He said with a smile, ¡°I was worried you¡¯ll suffer losses in the future but I feel relieved after hearing your words!¡±

    Qianye emptied another ss before ncing at Wei Potian. ¡°You of all people are saying that to me!?¡±

    ¡°Unlike you, I¡¯m not that¡­,¡± Wei Potian had to think quite hard for a suitable word, ¡°inflexible!¡±

    Toward this evaluation, Qianye opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t utter a word.

    Wei Potian added, ¡°I was taught, as a child, that the Wei nes first and your daddy herees second. If anyone blocks my way, whoever that is and however he ims to have a righteous cause, I should kick him away, and better yet, stomp on the damn person a few times!¡±

    ¡°How straightforward!¡± Qianye was somewhat stunned. He had never expected an aristocratic family to train their heir like so.

    ¡°Of course, they didn¡¯t say it so tantly but that¡¯s the meaning I got after figuring things out.¡± At this point, Wei Potian moved to refill his ss only to find that the battle was, once again, empty.

    Looking at the rowdy crowd around them, the worn-out surroundings and the empty bottle, Wei Potian suddenly felt sad for some reason. ¡°Little Ye, I don¡¯t know when we¡¯ll meet again after this parting. But I reckon it¡¯s no longer possible to find another brother like you. You and I have our own ideals, but this world is too damned chaotic! Only by grasping the whole realm in our hands can we make it operate ording to our thoughts. That¡¯s why Little Ye, let¡¯s work hard together and stand at the apex of this world. Let¡¯s grasp all the continents in our hands!¡±

    ¡°What grand aspirations!¡± Qianye broke into aughter.

    ¡°The heart is only big enough when it can amodate the whole world!¡± The Wei n heir¡¯s heroic spirit was still surging toward the skies.

    Qianye didn¡¯t say anything, however, a certain me was gradually ignited in his eyes. The ss of strong wine in his hands seemingly turned into a fiery stream which flowed into the throat and fell into the abyss where it rose up again as raging mes!

    By the time they left the small tavern, it was already deep in the night and the moon was hanging high in the sky.

    ckflow City was still bustling with activity¡ªmercenaries, adventurers, and hunters were busy spendingrge amounts money they had risked their lives to earn on women and alcohol. There was no heartache at all.

    During this period of imminent crisis, no one could be certain they would live to see theing dawn.

    War was drawing near. The news had long since been circted among the upper sses, but basic sses also have their way of finding out certain clues. For instance, they witnessed many wealthy people evacuating one after another, weapons and foods prices rising continuously, andrge batches of soldiers being mobilized. Additionally, those violent aristocratic scions who liked to throw their weight about seemed to have disappeared.

    Evernight was at the bottom of the whole empire. Those at the bottom of Evernight neither had the ability nor the opportunity to leave this ce. They could only stay here and leave their fates to the heavens.

    Both Qianye and Wei Potian turned silent after seeing the city being permeated by an atmosphere of final merriment.

    Finally, Wei Potian said softly, ¡°I¡¯m leaving now.¡±

    ¡°Take care.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget our promise just now!¡±

    Wei Potian grinned and broke into aughter after seeing Qianye¡¯s nod. ¡°It¡¯s settled then. You have to survive for our reunion! Be careful or you¡¯ll be crawling under my Thousand Mountains next time we meet!¡±

    Qianye was never one to shrink back from such a challenge. He sneered. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem for me to smash your turtle shell no matter how many times we meet! I told you, just worry about yourself!¡±

    With that, Qianye faintly released his origin power aura. Six origin power nodes lit up within Wei Potian¡¯s wide eyes and almost blinded him!

    ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re already rank six!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Merely an ident.¡±

    ¡°But, you actually reached rank six just like that!?¡± Wei Potian scratched his head intensively. He simply couldn¡¯t imagine the oue of fighting with Qianye. But afterwards, he smiled happily and said, ¡°That¡¯s quite good. At least I can go with my mind at ease. If any of those bastardse to provoke you before reaching rank eight or nine, they¡¯ll be in for a big surprise.¡±

    Wei Potian opened his arms and gave Qianye a big hug before preparing to leave.

    He had just turned around but, sensing something, he suddenly lifted his head and looked toward the side.

    It was unknown when Song Zining had appeared on the roof of a nearby building. His footing was quite stable despite standing on the ridge. It was at this moment that the thick clouds moved away in the sky, allowing the clear and cold moonlight to shower down onto his body. It seemingly enshrouded him in a clearyer of light or a faint cloaking of rising mist.

    This dignified and picturesque scene appeared extremely offensive in Wei Potian¡¯s eyes. He immediately red at Song Zining¡ªhadn¡¯t this skirt-chaser already gone back to the upper continents? Why would he appear at this time? And he was standing up so high in a coquettish manner with no fear of falling and breaking his neck!

    Song Zining waved at Qianye with a smile, but by the time his gaze turned toward Wei Potian, the smile had already transformed into a sneer. His mouth opened slightly¡ªit was obvious, from its movement and shape, that he was saying what he frequently said to Wei Potian: ¡°Idiot.¡±

    Wei Potian was much more straightforward. He spat toward Song Zining since he couldn¡¯t be bothered to talk with thetter.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t hang around for very long and soon turned around to leave, his figure gradually disappearing under the moonlight. It was also time for Wei Potian to say his farewell. He only waved his hand since everything he needed to say had already been said. He didn¡¯t care where the governor''s residence was and simply picked the direction opposite of where Song Zining was heading. One went east and another headed west¡ªshowing clearly that they absolutely weren¡¯t willing to walk the same path.

    Qianye gazed at his two friends¡¯ behavior and began tough involuntarily. He knew Wei Potian would leave Evernight sooner orter. This abandonednd was not where the Wei n heir belonged. Song Zining¡¯s appearance was a surprise. The Song seventh young master¡¯s movements had always been a mystery. Last time, when he said that he would be leaving to patch up the identity the Yin family had given Qianye, it was already considered a farewell. Unexpectedly, he hadn¡¯t left Evernight yet.

    Within the blink of an eye, Only Qianye was left standing at his original spot.

    The wind suddenly kicked up that night and the chill within cut like a knife.

    In the depths of the night, with this unremarkable ckflow City as the origin, three people set out on their different paths to explore the worlds they each belonged to.

    Perhaps they would return to this familiar ce after many years, but by the time they meet once more, they might have be characters who could lift up a part of the sky. Maybe some of them would forever remain on the path and only offer his friends fond memories to recall...

    This was a world that belonged to an era of war. Every parting could be eternal. Worries and concerns were a form of luxury because most of the people were often powerless to change anything.

 Volume 4 - 1: Old Friend

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 1: Old Friend

    Night was the eternal theme of Evernight Continent.

    The whole vast and barren continent was enveloped by the endless night and shadows, leaving only a brief gap for sunlight.

    Within the several deep gazes cast upon the many, or perhaps even all continents, Evernight was akin to a shadow at the very edge of their fields of vision¡ªit was simply not worth investing any attention. The changing of a mere expeditionary army divisionmander from this dark corner region wasn¡¯t even worth appearing as an article on the Imperial Bulletin. The establishment of a tiny mercenary corps was paid even less attention.

    Over this greatnd hidden within the shadows, there crawled a vast and profound darkness. It crossed over thends beneath, sketched in many shades of grey and eroding all that was bright.

    Even the daytime sky was simrly murky on the eve of this tempest.

    An airship was flying along the denseyers of clouds near the Evernight border. It was swaying due to the asional gusts of strong wind and would, at times, suddenly veer dozens of meters off course. The airship¡¯s metallic framework creaked and moaned in the strong gale. Some parts of it were obviously twisted and seemed as if they would break at any moment.

    This definitely wasn¡¯t a suitable day to fly an airship. The strong wind still wasn¡¯t its greatest enemy¡ªthe shes of lightning jumping within the pitch ckyer of clouds were the true danger. This intercontinental ster airship would undoubtedly fall burning to the ground once it was struck by lightning.

    A tall and sturdy captain was personally steering the ship at the bridge. His head was drenched in sweat as he stared fixedly at the front. However, all he could see were dark clouds and lightning arcs. The the sound of whistling wind filled everyone¡¯s ears like the cry of a gigantic beast.

    Two origin powermps lit up at the top of the airship. These powerful lights that could illuminate a whole drill ground on the surface seemed particrly dismal at the moment. It could only prate a small portion of the clouds to shine upon the host of hair-raising lightning serpents. Beyond that was a seemingly endless and tempestuous inferno.

    The bridge door was suddenly knocked opened as a pale youth rushed in and cried, ¡°We can¡¯t keep flying. The power furnace is at its limits and the support frame has started to distort. Land,nd quickly! We¡¯ll fall apart if we keep flying!¡±

    ¡°What did you say!?¡± the captain roared. However, his cry was akin to the buzzing of a fly amidst the wind and thunder.

    The young man rushed over to the captain and almost shouted into his ears, ¡°I said, the airship is about to fall apart! We have tond immediately!¡±

    The captain hollered, ¡°Impossible! That man will tear us apart if wend now!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± The youth wanted to say something, but in the end, he only cursed resentfully, ¡°Lunatics! All of you are madmen!¡±

    He left the bridge and no longer demanded that the shipnd. It seemed his fear towards ¡°that person¡± was still far greater than the wind and lightning.

    The airship was like a leaf upon the stormy sea. It strove to move forward through the raging waves although t might be crushed at any moment.

    Two rows of warriors sat with their backs to the walls within the innerpartment. Their strength was astonishing¡ªall of them were at rank seven and above¡ªbut their expressions weren¡¯t looking good at the moment. They could only tie themselves tightly to their seats amidst the intense jolting to avoid being thrown out identally. Crashing into something within the cabin was a small matter, but people being flung out of the cabin door, or even the side windows, wasn¡¯t unprecedented.

    There were three people who were actually able to move unhindered within the rather spacious cabin. The group of warriors gazed at them with eyes full of reverence. The soldiers knew full well how terrifying these people were as they could not only move about unaffected but also engage inbat training in an environment where they could be suddenly jolted hundreds of meters in any direction.

    A soldierly young man stood to one side of the cabin door, the stars on his shoulder especially eye-catching. As the youngest general of the Broken Winged Angels, Bai Longjia had always been the center of attention wherever he went. However, at this moment, he was no different from the average bystander.

    The stars here were the twodies, one younger and the other older, at the center of the cabin.

    The woman always dressed in light-colored ancient clothing appeared ordinary at a nce. However, her sharpness could wound anyone who nced at her for a moment longer. She was the woman who could make the arrogant and incisive Bai Longjia as obedient as a kitten, Bai Aotu.

    Opposite of her was a young girl whoserge eyes flickered with an innocent radiance. She appeared only 12 or 13, but her child-like countenance could already be termed stunningly beautiful. With a short knife in her hand, she was encircling Bai Aotu whileunching a flurry of continuous attacks.

    The airship was still shaking fiercely and the little girl staggered and swayed. However, she did not fall no matter how unsteady her gait was and would even grasp the opportunity at every turn tounch fatal attacks at Bai Aotu. She was like a cunning and ruthless viper¡ªno matter how badly beaten she was, she could still deliver a fatal bite the moment the enemy became careless.

    Bai Longjia, who was looking from the side, rubbed his face. He was unwilling to admit the cool sensation which came from his palms. This wasn¡¯t a difort brought about by the rocking airship but an involuntary chill which arose within his heart after seeing the little girl¡¯s training.

    He had long since realized that, if it was him in the ring, any carelessness or hesitation would have resulted in several shes on his body. This little girl was able tounch dreadful counterattacks no matter how disadvantageous her situation was.

    Thess had only ignited five origin power nodes and couldn¡¯t be considered very talented. Even this level was only achieved after Bai Aotu had used no small amount of medicines on her. But sometimes, rank and and origin power strength wasn¡¯t everything. Her powerfulbat instincts were evident whenpared to those rank six or seven soldiers who could only tie themselves to their seats.

    Furthermore, this little girl still seemed quite young. Although Bai Longjia knew that her true age was somewhat older than how she appeared, her tested bone age was only about 15 years old. 15 years of age¡ªeven if one were to train since birth, it would be impossible to reach her current state.

    It seemed there really were geniuses in this world. Even the Bai n¡¯s next-generation military leader, Bai Longjia, couldn¡¯t help but think so.

    This little girl was an inherentbat genius. It almost seemed as if she was born proficient both in her judgement and intuition toward danger. At the thought of this, Bai Longjia even felt somewhat jealous. The only pity was that although she possessed great talent in one aspect, there were defects in the other¡ªher gift in origin power cultivation was mediocre¡ªshe had no chance of bing a champion even ifrge amounts of medicine were used.

    Thess¡¯s origin power was limited while the expenditure during battles in such an adverse environment was especially great. She had alreadye close to copse within moments.

    Bai Aotu evaded her stab and said, ¡°That¡¯s enough. We¡¯ll stop today¡¯s training here. Go rest and recover.¡±

    The little girl saluted Bai Aotu in all seriousness, ran toward a corner of the cabin and proceeded to consume her rations. She appeared to be concentrating on the food as if she was tasting the most delicious food on earth. In truth, what she had in her hand was only a military ration made frompressed meat, vegetables, and grain. Both its texture and taste were far from the word delicious.

    Bai Aotu stood leaning on the cabin wall with her eyes closed and began to recuperate. Bai Longjia walked to her side and nced at the little girl before saying, ¡°Sis, don¡¯t you feel that we might not necessarily be able to keep Kong Zhao?¡±

    Bai Aotu didn¡¯t bother to open her eyes and just replied indifferently, ¡°Kong Zhao is a double-edged de. She¡¯s very powerful when used properly, but if not, she might bring you harm. What? Have you no confidence in yourself?¡±

    Bai Longjiaughed ruefully. ¡°Kong Zhao is simply a monster. I really wouldn¡¯t be so confident if not for her mediocre talents in origin power cultivation.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that Kong Zhao is now surnamed Bai. Her name will gradually be known starting from the moment we let her into this battle. She¡¯ll always be surnamed Bai whatever feats she performs.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ could it be that you feel the Bai n¡¯s name will have any binding effect?¡± At this point, Bai Longjia hesitated for a moment before asking, ¡°Sis, how much confidence do you have in suppressing her in the future?¡±

    Bai Aotu sank into a rare moment of silence before replying, ¡°Half.¡±

    The airship was still moving with great difficulty, bouncing up and down like a pond-side frog hopping to evade the rain. Miraculously, it hadn¡¯t crashed and was still pushing toward the distance in the wind and lightning.

    Silence still reigned over ckflow City. Themotion brought about by Wu Zhengnan¡¯s case hadpletely disappeared. Even the dark races active outside the city had lessened greatly. However, to some people, this wasn¡¯t a good sign. The dark races would only withdraw their forces before the eruption of a great battle.

    Hence, the upper and basic sses within the city were split into two different groups. The upper sses were all anxious¡ªthose who could leave had already left¡ªthe others bound here by their duties were all nervous and restless. The basic sses, on the other hand, weed this rare period of rxation, enjoying life¡¯s pleasures to their heart¡¯s content. Their expectations weren¡¯t high; some lousy wine would allow them to get by for a couple of days.

    As the captain of a newly established mercenary band, Qianye could now be considered as someone of status in ckflow City, albeit barely. It had to be said that Wei Potian did possess the keen senses befitting of an aristocratic scion¡ªas mboyant as he usually was, he didn¡¯t make his rtionship with Qianye known. This spared thetter from inheriting the resentment of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s old subordinates.

    Thus, as the leader of a mercenary corps with only a few hundred members, Qianye was only a third-rate character within a city with many such powers. No one paid much attention to him apart from simr small characters.

    Wei Bainian removed the current barracks¡ªthe reconstructed encampment of the 7th division was also at the four rivers base of Cloudsail City. There used to be a troop strength of two regiments stationed year-round in ckflow City, however, these soldiers were the first to be affected by the confusion after Wu Zhengnan¡¯s death. Now, only an empty frame was left of the two regiments and the remaining soldiers numbered less than 300.

    There were recruitment posters all over ckflow and over a dozen recruitment centers had been established throughout the city. All recruits would receive a silver coin upon enlisting. Wei Bainian hoped to mass recruit soldiers this way, however, those recruited through such methods were naturally not very useful. Theirbat strength wasn¡¯t any better than Qianye¡¯s newly established mercenary corps.

    Qianye had been standing near a recruitment station close to the north gate for a while, observing his surroundings. He was dressed in an ordinary hunter¡¯s attire and had arge field backpack on his back.

    Qianye had originally nned to go out of the city to observe the situation in the wilderness. Unexpectedly, he felt as if someone was watching him as he left the courtyard at dawn. He immediately became vignt¡ªhow could he be targeted so soon? Could it be a local of ckflow City or one of Wu Zhengnan¡¯s former subordinates?

    But soon afterwards, Qianye crossed out these two suspicions.

 Volume 4 - 2: Old Friend (Part 2)

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 2: Old Friend (Part 2)

    With a great war looming over the horizon, the local tyrants probably wouldn¡¯t act so inexperienced even if they wanted to disy their authority to a rising power. Furthermore, Wei Bainian would have the city under tight control during such a time of unrest. Anymotion would be strictly investigated afterwards.

    Qianye didn¡¯t speed up and shake off the person tailing him but instead circled about from the north gate to the south. On one hand, he wanted to observe the situation within the city, while on the other, he wanted to observe the surveint¡¯s reaction.

    The sensation of being monitored persistently remained, and it was obvious that the surveint was a well-trained individual. Qianye was finally able to confirm that the other party was not only quite professional but was also unworried of being noticed¡ªthis came as quite the surprise. He raised his head to nce at the sky and proceeded to circle around the city gates before calmly heading toward the city¡¯s east. After patiently following Qianye as he roamed freely around the city, it was about time for this surveint to show up.

    Qianye deviated from the streets and headed toward a secluded wastnd, maintaining a steady speed. As expected, there was some movement behind him.

    No sooner than the sound of a rapidly approaching engine reverberated when a jeep rushed out from behind him within the blink of an eye. The car drifted horizontally amidst the sound of screeching brakes beforeing to a halt in Qianye¡¯s way.

    Qianye paused his steps and silently observed the jeep that had just blocked his way.

    There were no insignias on the car but the tall frame and the six usuallyrge tires were the symbols of a hunting hound. As one of thergest manufacturers of various types of off-road vehicles, ¡°hunting hound¡± was one of the most important suppliers of the imperial army. This particr kind of high-grade merchandise would hardly appear in the expeditionary army.

    A handsome young soldier jumped down from the ¡°hunting hound¡±, his tall stature almost perfectly proportioned while his ck hair was somewhat messy due to the high-speed driving. He appeared gentle at a nce, but the sharpness from the corner of his eyes could hardly be disguised. He wasn¡¯t wearing any military rank insignias, but his uniform was quite different from that of the expeditionary army¡¯s¡ªit was the uniform of an imperial army field officer.

    Qianye gazed pensively at the young soldier before him. He knew who this person was even without taking note of all those details because he had long since memorized thetter¡¯s profile.

    The young man¡¯s steps were nimble but steady¡ªhis strength obviously wasn¡¯t weak. He continued walking and only stopped after reaching a distance of ten meters from Qianye, whereupon he said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m Gu Liyu from the imperial military. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of me and should be able to recognize my appearance.¡±

    Qianye calmly replied, ¡°You should recognize me even more.¡±

    Even Gu Liyu¡¯s sophisticated and handsome countenance couldn¡¯t help but twitch slightly. He suddenlyughed and said, ¡°You can be considered quite wise to have left Qiqi of your own ord.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change after hearing these words. He only nced at Gu Liyu without the slightest ripple in his serene obsidian eyes.

    Gu Liyu was rather surprised as he came to face Qianye¡¯s limpid gaze. ¡°I heard you¡¯ve run over to this ce to set up a mercenary corps aftertching onto Wei n¡¯s legs. That¡¯s why I came to visit in passing and see what Qiqi¡¯s ex-ything can aplish.¡±

    Qianye still didn¡¯t bat an eyelid. ¡°So how does it feel?¡±

    ¡°Not bad, it¡¯s in fairly good shape!¡± Gu Liyu pped and expressed his praise with a raised voice. Following which, he lowered his voice and said with a certain overtone, ¡°However, war will break out soon and you¡¯d better be careful. Otherwise, your whole corps might be wiped out. It¡¯ll be quite troublesome if, at that time, your beautiful twins and those bloodline seedlings fall into dark race hands!¡±

    At this point in the conversation, Gu Liyu revealed a malicious expression and said while grinding his teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t think that I can¡¯t kill you just because you¡¯vetched onto the Wei n¡¯s legs!¡±

    There was no obvious expression on Qianye¡¯s face. He only sighed and asked calmly, ¡°The soldiers from the 131stpany shouldn¡¯t have died like that. Don¡¯t you ever lose sleep over this?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s their fate!¡± Gu Liyuughed loudly.

    ¡°This matter won¡¯t end here!¡± Qianye suddenly grinned. His smile was always as clear as crystal and contained a hint of innocence like that of a boy-next-door, just like when he had killed his first victim at Lighthouse Town.

    Gu Liyu slowly leaned forward and said with an exaggerated smile, ¡°So what if it won¡¯t end? Proof! Do you have any proof? You don¡¯t! Don¡¯t forget, I¡¯m a staff officer from the imperial army and also of andowning ss. Either of my identities are ten times superior to yours. You won¡¯t be able to deal with the consequences if you were to kill me in such a city under so many eyes! Even Qiqi doesn¡¯t dare to do anything to me. What can you even do?¡±

    Gu Liyu¡¯s twisted smile suddenly froze after seeing Qianye draw his twin flowers and aim them at him. The beautiful and bizarre patterns on the gun¡¯s body began to light up in sequence!

    ¡°You¡­ what are you doing!?¡± Gu Liyu was finally rmed as his feet involuntarily edged back. He even seemed to have forgotten that he was one rank higher than Qianye.

    Qianye muttered word by word, ¡°Killing you!¡±

    The twin flowers rumbled at the same time and the gunshot reverberated throughout the sky above ckflow City. Gu Liyu, who had fled over ten meters away, let out a miserable cry. The light blue origin power shield on his body was immediately shattered and fresh blood spurted out in all directions. His left arm immediately fell limp and almost fell off his body.

    The image of the twin flowers blooming before Qianye didn¡¯t seem as eye-catchingpared to the blossom of those warm sanguineous petals.

    Gu Liyu fled at full speed as he let out a ruthless cry, ¡°Just you wait! I¡¯ll repay you 100 times over for this injury.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank as he leapt onto a rooftop over ten meters high and gave chase. This man¡¯s strength was indeed impressive. The twin flowers were actually unable to kill him even at such a close distance and only broke an arm.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with exuberant killing intent. Since Gu Liyu was so kind as to appear before him, how could he let go of such an opportunity? There was no way Qianye would let him leave the city alive. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t know where to find thetter¡¯s whereabouts.

    The wound seemed to have little effect on Gu Liyu¡¯s movements. He was still as agile as a bird as he leapt up and glided over ten meters away beforending. He shed across the rooftops like a wisp of smoke and soon arrived at the base of the city walls. Gu Liyu reached the top of the city wall with a single jump, grabbed onto it and leapt over it like a feather. With that, he immediately left the city.

    Qianye pursued closely and refused to let go. However, he couldn¡¯t close the gap between them even with his speed. It seemed Gu Liyu was proficient in physical arts. His speed would probably be far above Qianye¡¯s if not for the wound.

    Qianye also reached the base of the city wall within the blink of an eye. He simrly leapt up to climb over the city wall but he felt intense danger just as his body rose into the air. Qianye reacted instantly by kicking the wall and shifting his ascending trajectory backwards.

    With a loud boom, a meter wide hole appeared on the wall in front of him. The spattering pieces of rock struck Qianye¡¯s face and body, causing him a certain degree of pain and numbness.

    Qianye turned back to see a female officer standing up on a rooftop a few hundred meters away. She had a long and easily recognizable sniper rifle in her hand, an Eagleshot.

    Qianye nced at her deeply and etched the other party¡¯s appearance deep in his heart. He then extended his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture at her from a distance.

    The female officer went slightly pale as she clearly understood the meaning behind this gesture. Whoever she was, Qianye would kill her on sight as soon as he saw her again, just as he did with Gu Liyu. She originally wasn¡¯t someone so easily intimidated, but she felt a biting chill under the clear and distant gaze of this young man. It was as if great danger would descend upon her across the many street blocks.

    Qianye continued rushing toward the wall and borrowed the momentum to leap over the ckflow City¡¯s moderately tall walls.

    The battle seemed to have ended within the time it took for a spark to fly off the flint. Only then did somemotion arise within ckflow City but there was still no signs of any expeditionary army patrol.

    Those old veterans were very experienced. How could they not know who was fighting after hearing the unique timbre of high-grade origin guns like the Twin Flowers and Eagleshot? They weren¡¯t tired of living just yet and wouldn¡¯t rush out so quickly. They would wait for the situation to clear up and for the killing parties to leave before showing up to check the damage.

    Qianye stood on the city wall and, gazing into the distance, saw Gu Liyu run hurriedly into the wilderness. Gu Liyu had already fled over 500 meters away during the moment¡¯s dy brought about by thatdy.

    Qianye breathed in deeply and leapt off the wall in pursuit. Gu Liyu¡¯s speed was even faster than Qianye¡¯s by a small margin out in the wilderness. However, Qianye didn¡¯t have the slightest intention of giving up¡ªhe would press on until one of them was exhausted.

    The two men, one fleeing and the other chasing, ran dozens of kilometers before the gap between them grew to a thousand meters. At this moment, Gu Liyu had no chance to make use of the topography to shake off the pursuit. He could only keep running in a straight line and depend on his speed to arduously expand the gap between them.

    Gu Liyu, who was running at the front, suddenly produced a syringe which he stabbed into his wounded arm. He let out a roar akin to a wild beast as the needle went in, but his slightly weakened aura stabilized and soon gradually increased. His footsteps became increasingly firm and strong as he raised his speed once again.

    Qianye was rmed. Despite having a vampire constitution and a lingering aura, he had always been superior to same ranking warriors. But Gu Liyu was obviously no ordinary rank-seven fighter either or perhaps he was only one step away from reaching rank eight. Even after chasing all this way, he hadn¡¯t gained the slightest advantage.

    Judging from Gu Liyu¡¯s reaction after the injection, it should be a top gradepositebat medicine. It possessed thebined effects of a stimnt and a nutrient, stimting one¡¯s potential. Within the span of a day, the drug would greatly raise the user¡¯s stamina and even temporarily raise their origin power by a rank. This type of drug was extremely expensive and could only be obtained through exchanging military merit. A single syringe was worth a rank five origin gun.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Gu Liyu to have such an item. This was a potential life-saving weapon on the battlefield. He was originally hoping Gu Liyu would turn around to fight it out with him after his strength increased. Unexpectedly, the other party had absolutely no such intention. Qianye could only shake his head after seeing the distance between them growing gradually. However, he still kept on chasing without giving up.

    1500 meters, 2000 meters¡­ One hour, two hours...

    After five hours, Gu Liyu had be a small dot in Qianye¡¯s field of vision and a continuous mountain ridge began to appear in front. Thendscape Gu Liyu could make use of could be found everywhere once he entered the mountainous region.

    Momentster, Qianye climbed onto a mountain peak and observed his surroundings.

    The mountains were boundless under the night sky. Where would he even find Gu Liyu¡¯s shadow? However, it couldn¡¯t be considered a disappointing oue since it was already expected.

 Volume 4 - 3: Harvest (Part 1)

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 3: Harvest (Part 1)

    Qianye felt that it was rather unfortunate. With Gu Liyu¡¯s character, there likely wouldn¡¯t be such a good opportunity in the future.

    Originally, he wouldn¡¯t be able to trace Gu Liyu¡¯s whereabouts even if he had the intention to. However, perhaps due to prolonged repression or maybe to conduct some nasty scheme, the other party actually appeared directly before him. It was just that, hereafter, Gu Liyu probably would never reveal himself anymore unless he was sure of killing Qianye.

    However, Qianye also gave Gu Liyu a big surprise.

    Gu Liyu had never expected that Qianye would bepletely uninterested in the purpose of his arrival. Thetter had absolutely no fear of his identity and actually opened fire right there in the city. The price of a single arm could be considered quite high.

    Gazing at the vast mountains, Qianye suddenly raised his twin flowers and fired!

    The dark red origin bullet rocketed toward the sky and pierced through the profound darkness of the night¡ªit was extraordinarily eye-catching. The immensely loud gunshot echoed throughout the valleys and spread into the distance.

    Qianye believed Gu Liyu would hear and understand the meaning of this gunshot.

    Irreconcble.

    Qianye was in no hurry to return to the city after giving up his pursuit. He studied the surrounding in detail and found a hiding ce to recover while cultivating.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power had almost been exhausted after maintaining his maximum speed until now. He didn¡¯t use a stimnt all this time because, in truth, he more or less hoped that Gu Liyu would rely on his one rank superiority in origin power to turn back and counterattack. At that time, Qianye would be able to give him an unforgettable surprise. However, Gu Liyu¡¯s overcautious nature wrecked Qianye¡¯s little trap.

    At this moment, a pale Gu Liyu appeared before a well-disguised cave dozens of kilometers away. The cave was equipped like a small supply station¡ªthere were military-use mattresses, some food, and necessary medical supplies. Gu Liyu found two packs of preserved blood packs and proceeded to replenish the significant amount of blood he had lost. Only then did the color on his face returned with difficulty.

    Gu Liyu immediately jumped up and drew his dagger after hearing some footsteps outside of the cave. He moved quietly to one side of the cave and waited while holding his breath.

    The person outside didn¡¯t walk in but called out first, ¡°Liyu, are you there? It¡¯s me!¡±

    Gu Liyu lowered his dagger only after confirming that it was Ye Muwei¡¯s voice. He said weakly, ¡°Come in!¡±

    Ye Muwei squeezed into the cave and immediately saw Gu Liyu¡¯s limp left arm. He had already performed a simple operation, however, the color of the back of his hand extending outside his sleeve and the insensible swaying angle made it obvious that the injury was no different from a traumatic amputation.

    Ye Muwei¡¯s voice immediately began to tremble. ¡°Liyu, your hand¡­¡±

    Gu Liyu recovered some of his normal calm at this point and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I don¡¯t have to depend on martial power to make a living. At worst, I¡¯ll have to expend some military merit to have it reattached.¡±

    Ye Muwei¡¯s face turned even paler because this meant that his left arm had truly been crippled. However, she nodded and forced out a faint smile. In truth, both of them knew that such a fundamental injury would inflict heavy losses to a person¡¯s martial capabilities even if it was perfectly reattached.

    In the extremely warlike empire, one had to be backed by great individual strength even in a post like a staff officer which leaned toward civil work. Otherwise, how could one convince those arrogant soldiers and valiant officers to obey?

    Ye Muwei went over to dress Gu Liyu¡¯s wound anew and felt somewhat relieved only after seeing his situation stabilize.

    She would grind her teeth until they crackled whenever she recalled the culprit. ¡°Liyu, let¡¯s issue an arrest warrant when we get back! He dares injure a staff officer of the imperial army. No one can protect him from this crime!¡±

    Gu Liyu¡¯s expression was extremely sinister and replied only after some pause, ¡°No, don¡¯t report this matter. Just say¡­ that we were attacked by a dark race patrol and that I sustained an injury inbat.¡±

    Ye Muwei was shocked. ¡°Why!? Wouldn¡¯t that be letting that brat off too easily?!¡±

    Gu Liyu gazed at the flickering mes and replied slowly, ¡°We would have to exin the whole process of this conflict if we report this matter. If wepletely fabricate the cause of this incident, there will inevitably be too many loose ends which others can use to attack us. With my current identity and position, the dispatched military police enforcer will definitely be below champion rank. Even if Yin Qiqi and the Wei n people can¡¯t protect him, it isn¡¯t difficult for them to leak the news. What do you think the consequences will be if we fail to kill him and allow him to escape into the wilderness?¡±

    Ye Muwei shivered after some thought.

    Qianye was a wolf, the most dangerous hunter in the wilderness. His perseverance and patience had been sufficiently proven during the spring hunt. Additionally, it was confirmed, with Zhao Junhong, that the former waspletely unaffected by the other party¡¯s identity. He would be an extremely terrifying killer once he loses all the restraints binding him, someone who would wait for 10, 20 or even 30 years as long as he could kill his target in the end.

    Yin Qiqi and the Wei n would certainly be happy to supply him with various things during this process such as information and equipment which would only serve to sharpen his fangs.

    Gu Liyu said gloomily, ¡°Right now, Qianye has just established a mercenary corps. This will serve as reins to bind him and we¡¯ll at least know where he is with such a rope tied around him. How will we sleep soundly at night hereafter once he¡¯s unbound?¡±

    Ye Muwei nodded.

    Gu Liyu leaned on the stone wall and closed his eyes. ¡°I was too careless this time, but this will never happen again. Let that brat live for a while longer. I¡¯ll definitely send people to find him if he doesn¡¯t die to the dark races during this war.¡±

    Ye Muwei finally revealed a sincere smile. ¡°I believe you. I¡¯ve always and will always stand beside you!¡±

    A faint trace of arrogance appeared on Gu Liyu¡¯s face. In truth, he had always been the one to leave his peers in the dust and with the gap growing only wider and wider. Gu Liyu had never paid attention to anyone apart from a number of geniuses from the aristocratic families. Martial strength was quite important, but upon reaching high ces, one would find that it wasn¡¯t everything.

    At the thought of this, Gu Liyu said, ¡°It¡¯s gettingte, let¡¯s rest. We¡¯ll have to return to camp tomorrow. With the war near at hand, the old man from the Yin family wishes me to perform to some extent. I still have toplete my arrangements for him. Humph, Qianye, if not for this war¡­¡±

    Qianye had justpleted his cultivation as Gu Liyu and Ye Muwei began to rest. He slowly stood up and had just taken a single step when he staggered back. His legs were numb and aching as if countless ants were crawling through his bones.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t rmed but was instead delighted because the sixth origin node was in his knees. The ignition of the origin node in the knees would strengthen all the other parts of the body. This effect was especially pronounced in the legs. This kind of tingling sensation meant that the skeletal muscles on his legs were growing anew and such an intensity indicated that it was aplete transformation. After the stabilization of his current condition, his leg strength would be raised by arge margin and his speed would also increase.

    The only thing unfortunate was that such a change would require time¡ªa more thorough transformation would be more time-consuming. Gu Liyu wouldn¡¯t have escaped so easily if such an upgrade had arrived just a few days sooner.

    At the thought of this, Qianye shook his head¡ªno wonder even Li Yuanjia, with his explosive sword arts, said he only had a 30 percent chance of killing Gu Liyu. It seemed Qianye¡¯s chances of killing thetter was still quite small even after obtaining an overwhelming advantage in speed. In a fight between experts, it was easy to decide the oue of the battle but difficult to kill one another. This bes more evident at higher levels.

    Qianye slowed down his steps and ran back to ckflow City at a jogging pace, lest he strains his legs too much. He arrived at the city close to dawn.

    At this time, ckglow City was ovee by a tense atmosphere. The expeditionary army guards on the city walls had increased quite a bit. Gazing at the tardy expeditionary army, Qianye only hoped that they would be able to move promptly when the battle with the dark races began.

    It wasn¡¯t yet time for the city gates to open, but the captain on duty happened to be a Wei n guard. Both sides greeted one another before Qianye directly leapt up, took a couple of steps on the city wall and crossed into the city.

    Qianye first went to the ce where he encountered Gu Liyu. The abandoned grounds werepletely empty and silent as if nothing had ever happened before. He turned into a small road¡ªthis ce was already quite close to the mercenary corps headquarters¡ªthe newly installed gates woulde into view after taking two turns.

    Gazing from a distance, the whole headquarters was still fast asleep and only the lights in Song Hu¡¯s room were lit. Qianye approached the half-open door without rming the guards and silently walked in.

    Song Hu was standing in front of the map and seemingly pondering about something.

    Qianye arrived beside him and asked, ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    It was just about the same time Qianye spoke that Song Hu discovered an extra person in the room. This shocked him greatly. He instinctively flipped his hand and performed a horizontal swing. A dagger with a cold gleam surprisingly appeared in his hand as he shed toward Qianye¡¯s throat.

    Qianye raised his hand to block and urately caught Song Hu¡¯s wrist. Song Hu immediately felt as if his wrists were cuffed by an alloyed hoop¡ªhe couldn¡¯t move a single inch no matter how much force he exerted. The violent origin power rushing out from him seemed to have crashed into a sturdy and unshakeable wall.

    Song Hu¡¯s tense nerves only rxed after seeing clearly that it was Qianye.

    Qianye let go with a faint smile.

    Song Hu moved his stiff and rapidly swelling wrists which had several new fingerprints upon them. Although inevident on the surface, his heart was ovee with shock. During the short contest just now, Song Hu had been unable to sense the origin power difference between him and Qianye at all.

    Both of them were currently at rank six. Song Hu¡¯s was due to a level drop, and as such, he was much more knowledgeable about these few levels than the average person. He knew it hadn¡¯t been long since Qianye reached rank six and he had also sensed, during their sh, that thetter¡¯s origin power was only slightly stronger than average. However, Song Hu waspletely defeated during the confrontation of origin power¡ªit was like an ocean wave crashing into a dike¡ªif the origin power of an ordinary person was a shield, then Qianye¡¯s was like a wall.

    ¡°So this is the power of the Venus Dawn? The reputation is indeed justified!¡± There was finally some reverence within Song Hu¡¯s tone.

    Qianye didn¡¯tment on this and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the situation here after I left?¡±

    Song Hu shrugged and said, ¡°Fairly tranquil just as before. Right now, all the junior leader positions of the city guard are upied by the Wei n¡¯s people. They certainly won¡¯te to us looking for trouble, but you can¡¯t expect them to provoke those experts either.¡±

    Qianye nced silently at Song Hu. Two days ago, thetter was stillining before him about the mission assigned by the Wei n. But now it seemed he had gotten over it?

    ¡°However, we did reap some rewards¡ªI drove that jeep back. Tsk, tsk, a hunting hound car. This is first-rate stuff even on the Qin Continent. I¡¯d advise you not to use such a thing. Selling it for money would also solve our current desperation.¡±

    Qianye raised his eyebrows. Following which, he broke into aughter and praised, ¡°Not bad. You act quite fast.¡±

 Volume 4 - 4: Harvest (Part 2)

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 4: Harvest (Part 2)

    ¡°Naturally! But anyone who knows their stuff won¡¯t dare touch such vehicles used by the imperial military.¡± Song Huughed mischievously.

    ¡°You dare go back and collect their things despite knowing they¡¯re from the military? You must think I don¡¯t have enough trouble on my hands.¡± Qianye revealed a spurious smile.

    A certain radiance shed passed the depth of Song Hu¡¯s eyes as he replied with a chuckle, ¡°These troubles won¡¯t mean much after you gain money, guns, men, and influence. Besides, you weren¡¯t even worried about offending the Zhao n during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Why would you be concerned with a mere couple of bandits from the military department? These people who don¡¯t seem to know the immensity of heaven and earth rely on their family background to act wantonly but have no matching strength. I¡¯ve seen too many of them.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s gaze became somewhat attentive. ¡°How do we handle this car. Will anyone ept it?¡±

    ¡°Of course they will. How could they not? The underground channels only recognize the goods and not the person. Who cares where it came from as long as it¡¯s good stuff? Besides, finding someone to do some modifications on it isn¡¯t difficult either.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well then. I¡¯ll leave this matter to you. I n to go out further and take a look at the situation around ck y Swamp.¡±

    Qianye had originally wanted to go out of the city and familiarize himself with the situation of the surrounding areas but changed his mind after encountering Gu Liyu. He had a strong premonition that the war with the dark races was imminent and that he no longer had the time to explore the wilderness in leisure.

    Additionally, the mercenary corps was already fully prepared¡ªits only bottleneck was theck of money. In order to halt the dark race¡¯s advance through the ck y swamp with their current strength, they would have to rely on an advantage in numbers and firepower. Currently, the mercenary corps was still outfitted with standard equipment. Whether they wanted to bring out some heavy firepower or increase their ammunition reserves, gold coins were necessary for everything.

    Hence. Qianye decided to head toward the ck y Swamp directly. On one hand, he would scout out the area in preparation for the imminent battle, and on the other, he could kill the local dark race members, more or less reducing the pressure of their future defensive duties.

    Song Hu very quickly noticed Qianye¡¯s sudden change in itinerary. He thought for a moment and said, ¡°That¡¯s also good. With the war being imminent, the dark races will definitely dispatch no small amount of advance guards. If you can remove a good number of them, the enemy might even shrink back from the difficulties and change their course. But Young Master, don¡¯t force yourself. Your safety is the most important.¡± With that, he pointed at the map and patiently exined the situation around ck y Swamp once more.

    Song Hu called out to Qianye just as he was about to leave and brought him toward the bungalow behind the drill grounds that was being used as a storehouse. He pulled open one of the iron doors with some force and revealed a bold-looking motorcycle.

    The bike¡¯s seat was half a grown man¡¯s height above the ground and over three meters in length. It was like a graceful yet dangerous cheetah on all fours. With its beautiful flowing lines, sturdy metallic texture and brimming tension, it made one feel as if it would leap up from the shadows and pounce towards its prey.

    ¡°Where did thise from?¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes shed as he asked. There were very few single-seater vehicles in Evernight Continent sincerge trucks were the mainstream.

    ¡°It¡¯s a second-hand merchandise I exchanged after selling that hunting hound. But this baby isn¡¯t cheap at all, especially since it only eats processed energy sources.¡±

    The paintwork was ck. At the moment, a certain mechanic was applying a coat of non-reflective lead grey paint to the originally eye-catching silver exhaust pipe while another was installing a weapons rack.

    Judging from the worn bullet hole-shaped rims and the dented anterior suspension, it was definitely a second-hand item. However, all twin turbine motorcycles were equipped with origin array engines and those things had to be handcrafted. As a result, none of them were cheap goods.

    Qianye felt somewhat excited¡ªit took less than 20 hours from when Song Hu disposed of the goods to the time of purchase. This goes to show just how capable Song Zining¡¯s secret trade channel was.

    ¡°The modifications will require some time but it should be usable by the time you return from ck y Swamp.¡±

    Qianye went around the motorcycle a few times. He had always been fond of machines since his time with the Red Scorpions, but his contact with such things was greatly reduced aftering to Evernight Continent. He had the momentary urge to drag it out for a spin but came to after hearing Song Hu¡¯s words. He then just patted the leather seat somewhat regretfully.

    The two hadn¡¯t walked out of the storehouse when they suddenly heard the rumble of engines through the ceiling. The vibration shook the whole row of buildings constantly.

    Qianye and Song Hu nced at each other and walked out swiftly. They found, upon arriving at the drill grounds, that a huge shadow had appeared in the sky. They nced up and spied an airship hovering at low altitude, dozens of meters above them. The ck cannon ports on its sides and the thick protective armor indicated that it was a military use gunnery airship.

    Some Wei n guards were hurriedly walking towards them from the direction of the main gates on the other side of the drill grounds. They were being led by a tall personal guard whom Qianye recognized as the elder usually apanying Wei Potian.

    The Wei n personal guard walked over and greeted Qianye with a salute. Then pointing toward the sky, he shouted loudly through the deafening roar, ¡°This is the present the heir left for you before he left! We hope you like it!¡±

    Qianye was startled for a moment. ¡°Present!? You mean this Gunnery Airship?¡±

    ¡°Correct!¡± the Wei n guard replied proudly.

    ¡°But there should also be a captain and some gunners, right?¡±

    ¡°Everything has been arranged. We only flew it over to show you, and we will park it at the airbase immediately afterwards.¡±

    Following which, the Wei n guard waved his hand toward the air whereupon the airship proceeded to turn slowly, ascend and fly toward the ckflow City air base.

    The Wei n guard didn¡¯t stay for long. He left in a hurry, leaving Qianye and Song Hu standing at their original spot.

    There was no delight on Qianye¡¯s face but Song Hu beside him smiled rather insincerely and said, ¡°Congrattions, Young Master!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s regained hisposure and asked, ¡°What are you congratting me for?¡±

    ¡°For the addition of a new weapon of course! Additionally, Young Master will have to strive to earn more money from now on.¡±

    Qianye let out a long breath with seemingly no intention of continuing on Song Hu¡¯s topic. Having risen from an elite imperial corps and thus possessing a wide knowledge of various military armaments, he naturally knew these airships were toys that would burn through money.

    This gunnery airship left by Wei Potian could be considered his personal property, and as such, it was quite small. The total crew capacity, including the bridge, wouldn¡¯t exceed 30 men and there were only two multipurpose gun ports. But an airship was an airship no matter how small it was¡ªits routine maintenance, fuel and ammunition requirements, as well as the remuneration for the professional gunmen and captain, would add up to a significant expenditure.

    As far as he could recall, the total expenditure from various categories for such a military use gunnery airship should be at least 500 to 600 gold coins. This also meant that thisrge fellow would consume even more money than the operation of a whole mercenary corps, and this still didn¡¯t include recing worn parts.

    It could only be said that military-grade airships were indeed effective weapons in Evernight Continent, but its use to Qianye wasn¡¯t significant. If he could,ter on, expand the mercenary corps to the thousands and independently defend ckflow City, then owning an airship would be adding wings to the tiger.

    In the end, Qianye could onlyugh ruefully. He had no idea how to evaluate today¡¯s harvests.

    That chap Wei Potian seemed smart on some asions, but sometimes he was sloppy enough to bring one betweenughter and tears.

    Qianye immediately packed up his weapons without dy. He put them all on a light off-road vehicle and drove out of the city.

    The ck y Swamp consisted of several deep swamps which covered a wide area. In addition to slimes, there were poisonous bugs, various wild beasts, and hook-scaled alligators, all of which were deadly threats to humans. Only high ranking warriors would be able to traverse these swamps.

    However, the dark races had various methods to evade these dangers. The demonkin and vampires could emit their dark aura to expel lower-ranked dangerous lifeforms, including those from the swamp. There was a subspecies of the arachne servspiders called the swampspiders. Only the werewolves were unable to adapt to the wend environment but they could ride upon the swampspiders to pass through the swamp.

    Hence, the ck y Swamp formed an almost unteral passage between the humans and the dark races. The dark race army could pass through to assault human territory, but the human army could hardly prate the swamp tounch an attack.

    It was already evening by the time Qianye drove into ck y area, and darkness was already encroaching upon Evernight Continent. Jolting all the way, he drove through a seemingly trailless forest¡ªording to the map, the town was right on the other side of this grove.

    But gazing from a distance, he noticed ck y Town was rather dark. There were almost no lights except for a few hazy yellowish flickers. One would easily mistake it for phosphorescence in the wilderness.

    Qianye stopped and used his night vision to observe the small town but found nothing out of the ordinary. It must¡¯ve been that ck y Town had entered abat-ready status in advance and implemented a curfew¡ªnothing could be said against that.

    ck y Town was the most peripheral town in this war zone and a strategic location close to the ck y Swamp. Hence, there was an outpost here that couldn¡¯t be considered small with over 100 expeditionary troops stationed here year long. Although they fell under ckflow City¡¯s jurisdiction, they were actually situated in a rather marginal area of the seventh division. Not only were they not influenced by Wu Zhengnan¡¯s incident, but they were also quite cordial toward Qianye¡¯s visit.

    After having his authorization documents confirmed, he entered ck y Town together with a few garrison officers. Mercenary corps, ording to convention, would gain the highestmand authority after taking over the defensive duty of locations at town-grade and below. In other words, these soldiers would fall under Qianye¡¯smand from now on. Additionally, Qianye¡¯s rank six fighter strength was far superior to everyone at present. Hence, the officers¡¯ attitudes toward Qianye even bordered on ttery.

    Qianye didn¡¯t head toward the mayor¡¯s house immediately. Instead, he parked the car to one side of the town¡¯s main street and strolled around the ce.

    The town walls were five meters high and were quite sturdy. Apparently, this ce had always been a strategic location for many years. The poption here wasrger than Lighthouse Town while its area was only half of thetter. The houses in the small town were densely packed together, and the streets were abnormally narrow. Only the two main streets, one horizontal and one vertical, could allow Qianye¡¯s jeep to barely pass through.

    After walking into the town, Qianye discovered that the low hanging light sources were still working¡ªthe depressing and lifeless lights illuminated the streets. Although one was spared from total darkness, it was certainly quite ufortable. At the same time, the air was suffused by an inexplicable odor so dense that it was nauseating. The smell here was even stronger and more pungent than the scent of decay from the swamp outside of town.

    There were scavengers lying haphazardly in every street, alley and vacant space. They loudly snored whileying on the ground and upied all of the already cramped passages. There was hardly any space left to step on.

    Qianye frowned at this scene. Judging from what he saw, there might be a thousand such scavengers and wanderers. This was a significant numberpared to the registered residents of the town.

 Volume 4 - 5: Shadow

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 5: Shadow

    It was at this time that a fat middle-aged man hurried over with a jog. He stopped right in front of Qianye, bent over and began to pant. ¡°Are you the corps captain? This lowly one is called Hu Wei, the current mayor of ck y Town. We hope Sir Qianye will take care of us from now on!¡±

    Qianye sized up Hu Wei and was a somewhat surprised¡ªthis fatty was a rank two fighter.

    After checking the situation of ck y Town, Qianye had already discovered that it waspletely different from Lighthouse Town. The little town he had once lived in couldn¡¯tpare to this town at all both in terms of importance and danger. That being said, Hu Wei being able to firmly upy the mayor¡¯s position meant that he was either stronger than his rank or that he had some background. However, if he really did have some background, why didn¡¯t he find a more stable livelihood instead ofing to court death here?

    Qianye pointed to the wanderers lying all over the ce and asked, ¡°Mayor, what¡¯s this all about?¡±

    Hu Weiughed. ¡°Sire, this town is yours from now on, so please don¡¯t call me mayor again. You should just call me Hu Wei or, as long as you don¡¯t mind, Little Hu.¡±

    Qianye nced at the fatty¡¯s wrinkled face, from which it was difficult to judge whether or not he was 40 years old, and frowned. ¡°What¡¯s with these people?¡±

    Hu Wei swept his gaze over the wanderers strewn across the ground and replied, ¡°They¡¯re scavengers who rely on collecting medicinal nts and natural resources from the swamp to make a living. However, only a few of them are true herb gatherers, the others are all trying their luck at the risk of their lives.¡±

    Picking herbs was a skilled upation. Otherwise, not only would there be a risk of mistaking simr herbs but also some herbs might be powerful poisons when put together despite being harmless on their own. However, this was a job involving little interest and high returns as the herbs were worth much more than the metal scraps that could be found everywhere on Evernight Continent. As such, the crowd still goes on this wild goose chase.

    Qianye was standing at the entrance of a certain alley. Looking around, there were at least 20 to 30 people lying within it. The wanderers who were originally asleep sat up in session after hearing their voice. With beast-like eyes, they stared at Qianye and the fat mayor who was pointing at them.

    Qianye suddenly saw a shadow walk past the other end of the alley!

    It was an ordinary looking adventurer whose true features werepletely hidden under a dark-colored cloak. Qianye, however, felt an inexplicable sensation after seeing this person¡¯s gait and posture. It almost seemed as if the person wasn¡¯t walking on level ground but was instead floating on a water surface.

    ¡°Hold it!¡± Qianye rushed into the alley but the lying wanderers were too densely packed. He could hardly find any space to step on.

    For some reason, the wanderers all began to move after seeing Qianye rush over¡ªsome of them deliberately raised their legs to cause more obstruction while others even tried to grab Qianye directly. One could tell from the greed burning within their eyes that Qianye would be robbed clean of his belongings were he pushed to the ground.

    How could Qianye allow himself to be obstructed by these ordinary people? He leapt up and arrived at the rooftop after a few swift steps on the surrounding walls. He then proceeded to chase in the direction of the adventurer''s shadow.

    However, this effort caused a minor dy. Qianye gazed down at rows upon rows of rooftops but just couldn¡¯t find traces of that shadow. The illumination from the gloomy light sources covered but a few dozen square meters under which the wanderers lying out in the open were deep in sleep. The undisturbed part of the small town was stillpletely tranquil.

    Qianye¡¯s heart somewhat sank¡ªsuch speed and poise was superior to his own and not at all inferior to Gu Liyu. Qianye swept through the whole town once again with his gaze but jumped down after finding nothing odd.

    ¡°Sire Qian, that person just now¡­ is he your friend?¡± Hu Wei enquired.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s a vampire, and a high ranking one at that.¡±

    Hu Wei¡¯s fat face immediately turned pale. He let out a sharp cry in astonishment but immediately suppressed his voice afterwards. ¡°High ranking vampire!? How high?¡±

    ¡°At least a knight.¡±

    The reply nearly caused Hu Wei to ckout. He asked with a trembling voice, ¡°Kn-knight! Why would a knighte here? There¡¯s nothing in such a small ce!¡±

    ¡°Having humans is enough,¡± a certain expeditionary army officer standing beside them interrupted.

    ¡°Impossible! The town poption is indeed high, but how could the vampires fancy such people?¡± Hu Wei almost cried out once again. However, he knew such things couldn¡¯t be spoken out loud and kept his voice in check.

    Qianye shot an astonished nce at Hu Wei. How did the mayor of such a remote towne to know such things?

    The empire¡¯s propaganda regarding vampires was as simple as it was extreme. One could see, from how the ordinary citizens were afraid of being infected just by staying close to blood thralls, that the empire had no intention of spreading knowledge in this respect. Even Qianye had no authority to know these secrets during his time in the elite corps.

    Only after he had taken blood for himself did Qianye realize that the attraction fresh blood had for vampiresy in the origin power content. This was especially true for high ranking vampires¡ªonly blood containing sufficient origin power would be able to induce their appetite. As for these wanderers without so much as a shred of origin power, even if someone were to wash them clean and put them before the vampires, thetter might not be too willing.

    Hu Wei red at the wanderers in the alley, rushed over and sent one of them tumbling with a kick. He shouted loudly while kicking madly, ¡°You lot dare block the sire¡¯s path! Are your dog eyes all blind!? If not for you all, sire would have caught that vampire by now! If this daddy doesn¡¯t beat you ck and blue, you¡¯ll really think ck y Town is yours!¡±

    With that, seemingly unsatisfied with mere kicking, he brought out a whip and began to thrash the tramps mindlessly. He beat them until they were crawling on the ground and letting out miserable howls. Soon, there was no one left within that small alley.

    These tramps were greatly apprehensive of Hu Wei¡ªthey didn¡¯t dare to resist in the least and only ran away.

    ¡°These lowly people need to be beaten almost every day!¡± Hu Wei said angrily. The whip just now swung wildly. He had indeed put quite a lot of force behind it.

    Qianye didn¡¯tment on this. He went on to tour the town and check out various ces before following Hu Wei back to his residence.

    The mayor¡¯s residence was at the very center of the town. It was a small but sturdy three-storeyed stone building. The windows were small and narrow, making the house seem like a miniature castle.

    After entering the small house, Qianye discovered that the parlor was on the second floor and Hu Wei¡¯s room was on the third. The first floor consisted of the kitchen and the residences of the expeditionary army officers garrisoned here. As such, Hu Wei¡¯s personal space, within this small building, wasn¡¯t toorge.

    Qianye sat down within a pathetically small guest room on the third floor after touring the building from top to bottom. One could almost touch the room walls by standing and extending the arms. It seemed quite cramped with just three or four people sitting here.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen your family members?¡±

    Hu Weiughed ruefully, ¡°How can I build a family in such a damnable ce? Who knows when those dark-blooded bastards will rush out from the Dark y Swamp? It¡¯s highly unlikely that we can hold this ce when the timees. Only death awaits if we can¡¯t escape.¡±

    He paused for a moment before continuing in a soft voice, ¡°Actually I have kids, but I ced them in the care of their aunt in Red Pine City¡­¡± His tone became gentler with a tinge of fatherly affection.

    Qianye chatted with Hu Wei for a while and learned of the environment and history of ck y Town. Hu Wei seemed to have recalled something mid-conversation and almost jumped up. ¡°There¡¯s still a high ranking vampire in town!¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°So what?¡±

    Hu Wei immediately stopped speaking. He realized why Qianye hadn¡¯t ordered a town-wide search back then and the expeditionary army officer beside him showed no signs of movement. In aplex environment like ck y Town, a vampire knight could easily conceal his tracks or escape into the swamp. The only way to deal with such an enemy was toy down a trap and wait for him to jump in.

    The meaning behind Qianye¡¯s words was that there shouldn¡¯t be anything worth a vampire knight¡¯s attention in ck y Town... unless Hu Wei was hiding something.

    Hu Wei began to sweat immediately after understanding this and hurriedly stated that he was innocent. He then broke into a thoughtful frown while mumbling, ¡°What good stuff do I have that could be worth a vampire knighting in person?¡±

    Qianye saw that Hu Wei likely wasn¡¯t acting¡ªhe wasn¡¯t really expecting to discover clues so easily. ¡°Let it be if nothinges to mind. It¡¯ll be for the best if the vampire¡¯s appearance is just a coincidence. My soldiers will arrive in two days to take over defensive duties. There¡¯ll be roughly 200 men, so please prepare in advance.¡±

    Hu Wei immediately discarded his restless concerns and rubbed his hands in delight. ¡°Please rest assured, sire, I¡¯ll definitely wait upon them properly.¡±

    Qianye shot an odd nce at Hu Wei and smiled spuriously. ¡°Are you hoping that much for my men to arrive?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s question had some other implications. It wasmon knowledge that the imperial military had always been somewhat wanting in discipline, and the expeditionary army was especially notorious in this regard. They would do whatever they wanted in the name of hunting blood thralls. Qianye had witnessed this more than once and had also personally experienced it. The sole reason mercenary corps were less unruly was because they didn¡¯t have enough authority and strength¡ªthe difference between mercenaries and bandits weren¡¯t that distinct out in the wilderness.

    Elite corps like Red Scorpion that Qianye used to be in, on the contrary, wasn¡¯t too inclined to disturb people. This wasn¡¯t because of firm discipline but rather because they were too well supplied. The ordinary citizens¡¯ measly possessions couldn¡¯t enter the discerning eyes of these elite corps masters.

    Hence, as one of the lowest-leveled bureaucrats of the empire, Hu Wei should¡¯ve been more inclined to remain at a respectful distance. The mostmon situation was that the mayor would maintain his own armed force, and they usually weren¡¯t too weak either. Only this way would he possess the qualifications to share loot with the expeditionary army.

    Hu Wei smiled ruefully. ¡°The fact that even a vampire knight has appeared clearly means that war isn¡¯t too far off. Besides, thisnd of mine is dirt poor. I let the expeditionary army masters take whatever they want as long as they help defend this town. Precisely because of this, there are fewer and fewer masters willing toe over. But, sire, how did you discover that high ranking vampire?¡±

    ¡°Experience,¡± Qianye replied simply.

    In truth, that high ranking vampire was probably too confident that there wouldn¡¯t be any experts in this small settlement who could discover him and made no effort at all to contain his aura. The dense fresh blood power had caused the gold and purple blood energies within Qianye¡¯s body to react, thereby allowing him to see through the other party¡¯s movements.

    Qianye had no intention to rest. After instructing Hu Wei to prepare some dried rations for him, Qianye collected his equipment and left the town alone. He was prepared to head into the ck y Swamp that very night.

 Volume 4 - 6: Trap

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 6: Trap

    Outside of town and toward the swamp was a shockinglyrge cemetery filled with broken gravestones as far as the eye could see. Grave mounds without headstones were even greater in number. It was unknown how many graves there were in this cemetery, but at the very least, there should be tens of thousands.

    This cemetery had existed for at least hundreds of years. No one knew when such a tradition started in ck y Town¡ªno matter who died in the vicinity, the townsmen would spontaneously dig a grave here for him. Deceased townsmen were also buried here. A spectacr burial ground was thus formed over time.

    The little mounds rising and falling endlessly on the barrenndscape stood as a cold testament to the desperate war the humans had been fighting against the environment and the dark races for hundreds of years.

    Qianye observed thend before him for a moment before passing through the cemetery and toward the ck y Swamp.

    ck y swamp was covered with a faintyer of gray mist under the night sky. Even Qianye, with his night vision, couldn¡¯t see past a few dozen meters.The odd stench, seemingly a mixture of hundreds of nauseating odors, became increasingly evident the closer he got to the swamp. The stink was too much for the creatures from outside of the swamp to bear. Additionally, it would also cause their sense of smell to lose effectiveness.

    There were no obvious boundaries around the swamp. Most of the areas resembled ordinary muddy terrain covered by a thinyer of grass-like vegetation. Those weren¡¯t ordinary wild grass but contained a mixture of mosses and ferns growing together. The exterior was smooth and luxuriant, but it wasn¡¯t solid ground underneath. Some of them were hiding extremely deep mires. An ordinary person would be unable to climb out after falling in and would be swallowed alive by the Dark y Swamp.

    This kind of marsnd terrain posed little trouble for Qianye. His military boots struck the muddy ground as he strode forth, his steps steady and fast. The moment he felt the ground beneath him suddenly turn soft, his whole body would immediately be as light as a feather and he would¡¯ve stepped over before the mud could even spread onto his shoes.

    Qianye had received special training in this respect. He had also learnt from Hu Wei how to distinguish whether there was a mire beneath by looking at the type of vegetation. Even so, he was unable to evade every time despite his good eyesight. Sometimes, he would know whether it was solid ground beneath his feet only after stepping on it. This goes to show how adverse the topography was. Only those with the strength and adaptability of a rank five fighter or above would be able topensate for some misjudgements and maintain free movement under such circumstances.

    Qianye kept on going for a while but then he suddenly stopped, drew the multipurpose military knife from his waist, and scooped out a ck vine from within the marsh. He cut off a part from the vine and found that the liquid oozing out from the cut end was actually viscous and scarlet in color.

    This blood vine, a local specialty of the ck y Swamp, was also an importantponent in many medicines. Its most famous auxiliary property was that it waspatible with many types of stimnts and would greatly increase the drug effects after addition. Basically, all stimnt prescriptions from the elite corps contained blood vine as an ingredient.

    It was also one of the reasons why many wanderers and herb gatherers were attracted to the ck y Swamp. A segment of blood vine like the one in Qianye¡¯s hand would sell for several gold coins in ckflow City. This was a life-changing fortune for many scavengers.

    The blood vine didn¡¯t get its name from its dark red sap but because too many people had paid with their lives in order to pick it.

    An odd buzz rang out within the darkness. The lingering sound gradually closed in as finger-sized flying bugs appeared one after another and began to fly around Qianye, attracted over by the scent of the blood vine segment in Qianye¡¯s hands. They seemed like flying ants that had been magnified many times over. Their mouths looked especially fierce and the poisonous needles on their tails were constantly moving in and out.

    These weremon flying insects, but in the marsnd environment, they had grown muchrger than their rtives of the same species. At the same time, their poison had also grown more lethal. The blood vine would release its characteristic smell once it came into contact with air and would attract all the flying insects in the vicinity.

    Seasoned herb gatherers would handle the blood vines under the water and pack it in special herb bags to control the spread of its scent as much as they could.

    At this time, Qianye raised his hand slightly, whereupon a strand of blood energy mixed together with origin power was sent out of his finger. The movements of the flying insect swarm were suddenly disturbed as if they had encountered a dangerous beast. Their instinctive fear warned them not to approach although the blood vine¡¯s scent was alluring.

    However, danger couldn¡¯t stop these flying insects. Ripples suddenly began to appear in a pool of muddy water beside Qianye. Suddenly, a ck shadow shot out like an arrow from underneath the muddy waters. There was absolutely no prior indication and the movement was as swift as a sh of lightning. Add to that the close distance, Qianye simply had no time to evade. He only felt pain on his leg before the affected area immediately went numb and lost all sensation.

    It was a half-meter long serpentine animal that had pounced from under the water. There was an iparably sharp horn growing On its head. It had, with a single strike, pierced through the metallic mesh in Qianye¡¯s military boots and directly bit into his leg.

    Horned snakes were another type of danger which apanied blood vines. If the flying insects signified lethal danger, then the appearance of the horned snake was equal to death itself. Its horn was hollow inside and served as an organ to suck blood. Furthermore, the horned snake¡¯s venom was lethal. Currently, there were no effective antidotes apart from special anti-venom serum used by the military. Once poisoned, the victim could only rely on his physical constitution and origin power to resist.

    His vampire constitution afforded Qianye a natural resistance to poison. The numbness brought about by the horned snake¡¯s venom stopped its ascension after reaching his knees. His life was apparently not in danger but he was still somewhat affected. This goes to show how strong the poison was. No wonder Hu Wei said people who went to the ck y Swamp were trying their luck at the risk of their lives.

    Qianye stayed abnormally still. Sensation gradually returned to the wound on his leg as the horned snake began to suck blood. He could feel his blood flowing out continuously as the horned snake¡¯s now bulging gray abdomen grew bigger and bigger.

    Qianye released the suppression on his blood energy after he reckoned the horned snake had its fill. A strand of ordinary blood energy immediately rushed out from his heart, deftly found its way into the outflowing blood, and was sent out along with a strand of Qianye¡¯s aura.

    The horned snake suddenly shot away from Qianye¡¯s leg. It began to writhe, flutter, and struggle continuously in the muddy water. It then turned rigid within moments andy half-submerged on the water surface, never to move again.

    To the snake, that strand of blood energy was an extreme poison that couldn¡¯t be resisted.

    Qianye stowed the blood vine away and walked around the ce as he erased most of the traces he had left behind. However, a detailed observation would reveal that the clean up wasn¡¯t quite thorough¡ªcertain intermittent traces and clues could be found in unremarkable corners. Qianye didn¡¯t touch that horned snake and left it lying where it was.

    Qianye checked the scene once more before he felt satisfied and headed toward the depths of the swamp. But this time, his footsteps were much heavier and he had to free himself from the mire quite often, leaving no small amount of traces.

    At this moment, Qianye was in a state of high alert despite his usual expression. He had activated his concealed bloodline and was keeping the blood energy within his body in careful control.

    His intuition told him that the blood knight he had encountered in ck y Town hadn¡¯t left and had even followed him into the marsh. Qianye wasn¡¯t able to ascertain the traces of being followed despite having gone around for so long. However, that faint sensation of lingering danger hadn¡¯t dispersed since the very beginning.

    This was the reaction of the blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body to the fresh blood power of the blood knight. Although the other party had withdrawn his aurater on and Qianye could no longer sense his exact location, that kind of feeling lingered on. As long as the sensation didn¡¯t disappearpletely, it remained a possibility that the blood knight was prowling in the vicinity.

    Qianye thought of a bold n after he was ambushed by the horned snake. He had no idea if this kind of strategy would be of any use against that high-ranking vampire. A vampire who dared enter deep into human territory and still not leave after being discovered was evidently an experienced veteran. Such an enemy wouldn¡¯t fall for a trap easily. However, Qianye wasn¡¯t impatient in the least. The marsh was extremely vast¡ªhe would have ample time and opportunityter on.

    Not long after Qianye left, part of the scenery at one corner of the marsh began to distort as a shadow seemingly materialized out of thin air. His whole body was enveloped in a dark-colored cloak with vague dark red lights where his eyes were supposed to be. He knelt down to observe the water surface.

    He saw an indistinct footprint from his current angle. Shallow footprints usually disappeared quickly due to the undercurrents of this seemingly peaceful marsh. The fact that this footprint remained indicated that step taken was especially heavy.

    The blood knight didn¡¯t look forward but turned back toward the direction from which the footprints came. As he rose up, his whole figure became warped, indistinct, and somewhat drifting before heading weightlessly toward the direction where Qianye hade from.

    Momentster, the shadow found the ce where Qianye had dug out the blood vine and also saw the horned snake floating rigidly on the water surface. The horned snake was a tyrant of the marsh, and as such, despite its death, no marsnd creature would dare approach this ce for some time.

    The blood knight walked toward the horned snake. But when he was only a few meters from the target, his body shook as he lurched to a stop.

    He slowly removed the hood over his silver hair to reveal a noble and dignified countenance. The deep downward curve at the corner of his mouth and his falcon-like eyes allowed one to feel the coldness and cruelty within his heart. But at this moment, his facial features actually became twisted as he let out a vague growl from his throat. Even his fangs had emerged from the corners of his lips.

    He was staring fixedly at a low lying bush. The shrub¡¯s trunk was twisted and full of spikes with sparse dark green leaves growing on top of it.

    The blood knight took deep continuous breaths and, allowing his sense of smell to guide him, slowly approached the bush. In the end, he found his target on the surface of a leaf¡ªa drop of dried blood.

    Although the blood had already dried out, there was still a strand of sweet fragrance lingering on it. Just how wonderful would the scent have been in its fresh and active state?

    The blood knight approached the drop of blood and inhaled deeply. He then held his breath and, closing his eyes, revealed an intoxicated expression.

 Volume 4 - 7: Enticement

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 7: Enticement

    The blood knight sobered up from his intoxicated state momentster and resumed his calm demeanor. He began to observe the surroundings, trying to judge the origin of this blood drop before heading toward the dead horned snake in the end.

    The pensive blood knight hurriedly walked to the snake carcass, picked it up, and inspected it in detail. As expected, he saw traces of blood on the snake¡¯s horn as well as its bulging abdomen. Apparently, it had eaten not long ago. This finding made the vampire especially delighted.

    The blood knight hurriedly drew his dagger and cut open the snake¡¯s abdomen. As expected, it was full of blood! It was fairly fresh and even slightly warm. He immediately poured all the blood into his mouth but wasn''t quite satisfied. In the end, he simply ate the snake whole and spat out its horn.

    After enjoying this rare delicacy, a satisfied expression appeared on the blood knight¡¯s cold countenance. He raised his head and gazed toward the direction in which Qianye had left. His eyes hadpletely changed into a scarlet color, infused with dense blood energy.

    This human, as frail as a speck of dust, was someone he had even deemed too troublesome to kill because there was no clean water here to wash his hands afterward. But now, it was different¡ªhow far could a prey run after being bitten by a horned snake?

    The blood knight put on his hood once again and slowly faded into the mist as he hurriedly chased after Qianye.

    He traveled swiftly and covered several kilometers in the blink of an eye. But contrary to his expectations, he hadn¡¯t caught up to the human. The traces left behind by the other party seemed, as before, like a person on the verge of a gradual death after being wounded. He couldn¡¯t even hide his tracks very well.

    Doubt flitted across the blood knight¡¯s mind. The horned snake¡¯s venom was highly toxic¡ªeven high ranking vampires would need to use fresh blood power to dispel the poison or else they would be in mortal danger. Only powerful demonkin would be able to ignore its venom. But how was a mere human able to hold out for so long? Could it be that he was a true herbalist?

    The blood knight suddenly let out a miserable shriek and fell head first into the marsh! At this time, he was being tormented by an inexplicable agony from within his abdomen. It felt as if countless bugs were biting at his internal organs! What made him panic was that the blood energy within his body began to boil uncontrobly, locked in an intense battle with a certain blood energy that had suddenly appeared along with the onset of the pain. It seemed the two sides were struggling to take control of his body.

    The blood knight grasped at where his heart was and opened his mouth wide, but he didn¡¯t even have the strength to cry out due to the intense pain. The shock in his heart was indescribable¡ªthese signs clearly indicated a battle between two bloodlines for control over the body. This would happen only when a vampire was injected with the essence blood of a supreme bloodline.

    The blood knight knew that his blood lineage couldn¡¯t be considered glorious, but it was at least a leading middle-grade bloodline. But he was actually being suppressed by an external bloodline without its originator nearby and was even at a disadvantage in this struggle. This meant that the bloodline that had entered his body had to be at least a genuine supreme bloodline!

    Such powerful supreme bloodlines could be counted on one¡¯s fingers even among the whole vampire race. The blood knight truly couldn¡¯t recall when he was bitten by a pure-blooded vampire.

    Additionally, the damned bloodline conflict had actually red up at such a time!

    It was as if the blood knight¡¯s mind was struck by lightning¡ªhe immediately recalled that horned snake and the deliciously fresh blood within. Suddenly, his whole body went ice-cold!

    A trap! This was the blood knight¡¯s first thought. However, he immediately rejected the notion himself.

    The blood knight absolutely refused to believe the person he had been tailing was of the same race with a powerful bloodline. Oftentimes, the suppression of bloodline superiority was stronger than that of personal ranking among the vampires¡ªif the other party was indeed a descendant of those few ns, he only needed to reveal his identity and the blood knight would surely concede provided that they had no prior enmity. He simply couldn¡¯t imagine the reason forying down such a trap.

    The other possibility was that he had encountered a man-made fresh blood ¡°receptacle¡±! At the thought of this, the blood knight¡¯s greed surfaced once again and let go of the thoughts he just had about fleeing.

    Simrly, fresh blood from a vampire of a supreme lineage was extremely precious to humans. With this fresh blood,plemented by certain rituals, they could secretly engineer a new vampire race.

    Although the humans and the dark races were irreconcble on the surface, humans had always yearned for the dark races¡¯ lifespan, especially the vampire race¡¯s. There were bound to be certain major characters who were afraid of death, for fear of losing their power and influence. They would, at the end of their lives, use various unscrupulous methods to continue living, and bing a vampire was, of course, one of those methods.

    It would be an unexpectedly wonderful meal for the blood knight if that young man who had drifted to this abandonednd for unknown reasons was indeed a fresh blood receptacle being raised for such a purpose.

    The blood knight¡¯s abdomen was still in agony as if it was being twisted. The entangling external blood energy flowed throughout his body with every pulse of his blood vessel, bringing with it a simr soul-wrenching pain to every part of his body. The extreme pain made him lose his usual calm¡ªhe was now alternating between rity and fuzziness.

    It was during his absent-minded state that the blood knight saw a figure appear before him. It was the human he had been tailing.

    Qianye stopped several meters away from the blood knight and didn¡¯t approach him. The vampire race¡¯s vitality was exceptionally strong. A counterattack on the verge of death was usually fatal. Even in the elite corps, there was nock of precedents where people were counterattacked and killed by dying vampires.

    Qianye drew his military knife and tossed it with force. The blood knight whose nerves had been paralyzed by the intense pain let out a low growl. He forcefully shifted himself but was barely able to move his vitals out of danger as the military knife pierced into his thigh with a pfft.

    The blood knight was furious. He struggled to pull out the dagger and forced himself to produce a strand of blood energy before throwing it back at Qianye. However, his hand twitched at thest moment and hence lost his aim¡ªthe projectile only brushed past Qianye¡¯s side.

    Qianyeughed coldly as he approached the blood knight. However, a cold gleam suddenly shed across the blood knight¡¯s eyes. An exquisite pistol appeared in his hand as he abruptly sat up and aimed the weapon at Qianye!

    The blood knight was injured with such a clumsy weapon by an insignificant human whom he didn¡¯t even ce in his eyes. This made him so angry that he was momentarily extricated from the intense pain and actually became sober in an instant. His gun hand was extremely stable¡ªheughed coldly and was just about to say something when he suddenly saw Qianye take a sidestep, moving several meters away and escaping the pistol¡¯s aim!

    This the motion and speed had far surpassed the blood knight¡¯s expectations. At this moment, a sense of extreme danger gripped his nerves. He produced an origin power grenade, but he couldn¡¯t toss it immediately because they were already too close and the st would likely injure himself. He only wanted to intimidate this human of odd origins and grasp the opportunity to counterattack during thetter¡¯s retreat.

    However, the blood knight saw a dagger appear in Qianye¡¯s hands. Its appearance was extremely refined and elegant, a ssical vampire style weapon. Its decorative patterns began to light up like a living being under the activation of origin power.

    The blood knight had already been surprised more times during this short period than several past yearsbined. That dagger looked like the legendary Radiant Edge, the favorite weapon of a certain marquis that had reportedly fallen into human hands.

    Afterwards, the blood knight saw the human sh out from where he stood. The distance between them was at least a couple of meters. He wanted tough¡ªwas this human scared silly? The Radiant Edge was indeed a champion level weapon, however, a human certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to exert its full power, not to mention a mere rank six pawn.

    The blood knight stopped thinking too much. He pulled the finger he had on the trigger with the weapon aimed at Qianye¡¯s thighs. There were simply too many secrets on this human¡ªjust his fresh blood containing the aura of a supreme bloodline was enough reason for the blood knight to take a small risk and attempt to capture the former alive.

    However, the blood knight¡¯s finger wasn¡¯t able to pull the trigger to its firing position in the end. In his erging pupils, he saw the Radiant Edge¡¯s patterns all lighting up as a dazzling light suddenly erupted from the dark red blood energy¡ªa scarlet de radiance was shot toward him!

    Impossible! How could a rank six human produce de radiance!?

    As Qianye¡¯s de shed out, a de radiance emerged and rapidly grew to over a meter before sweeping past the blood knight¡¯s throat. Following which, a silver-haired head flew into the air!

    Apparently, the blood knight¡¯s fresh blood power was in chaos. The blood shield he had congealed gave way upon contact and was easily cut through by the Radiant Edge. Even the inherently sturdy vampire body was easily cut apart like paper.

    Qianye swiftly rushed out and kicked the blood knight¡¯s hand holding the grenade. He then flicked it with the tip of his toes and sent the grenade flying far into the distance.

    A mass of surging mes appeared apanied by a loud rumble. The raging mes rose up tens of meters into the air and were extinguished only a whileter. Even though he was dozens of meters away, the violent shockwaves still sent Qianye flying. He only regained his footing after being flung over ten meters away.

    Qianye crawled up from the mud and only dared to approach the center of the explosion after the energy fluctuations in the area died down. There was now a huge pit over a dozen meters in diameter where the origin grenade exploded, and some crystalline granules had even appeared at its base.

    Qianye was shocked¡ªthis grenade appeared ordinary, but its power had far surpassed his imagination. Were he at the center of this explosion, he would be blown to smithereens even if he had a more powerful vampire constitution. No wonder the blood knight held it in his hands without throwing it. It was fortunate that Qianye noticed this small detail and didn¡¯t try to take the grenade out of greed after killing the blood knight.

    Judging from its might, this was actually a champion level grenade! Even ordinary vampire grenades were extremely precious.Champion level ones were even rarer, so such an extent that this was the first time Qianye had personally witnessed its might.

    Qianye gazed toward the headless corpse of the blood knight that had been flung to another side by the shockwaves from the explosion and couldn¡¯t help but feel some curiosity toward his true identity.

    Someone who could carry a champion level origin grenade definitely wasn¡¯t of simple origins. And the reason for such a character appearing in the marsnd was even more thought-provoking.

    Qianye arrived beside the blood knight¡¯s corpse and noticed that the blood flowing out from his wounds had already turned dark and putrid, apanied by a somewhat scorched odor. Conceivably, the blood, flesh, and internal organs of this blood knight had been corroded and burnt to a certain degree.

    Witnessing this scene, Qianye understood that him being able to kill such a vampire expert was apparently because the trap he hadid down previously had taken effect. However, this blood knight actually didn¡¯t show any external abnormalities while he was alive. The corrosion only appeared when his fresh blood power was no longer able to suppress the toxin after his death. This indicated just how strong he was, but unfortunately, he didn¡¯t get the chance to exert even one-tenth of that power.

    Qianye began to search the blood knight¡¯s body, and momentster, even he was shocked at the bountiful harvest.

 Volume 4 - 8: Diary

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 8 - Diary

    The blood knight¡¯s equipment was geared toward stealth and ambush. He carried two small firearms¡ªone of them was the high power pistol which ultimately failed to fire, while the other was a suppressed handgun. This was an extremely rare special effect.

    Both of them were grade-four origin guns with a special insignia engraved on the grip. It was the symbol of a vampire smith, indicating the creator of the weapon. Only high ranking smiths possessed the qualifications to leave symbols on their wares. For instance, these special pistols with the smith¡¯s symbol on them were inferior, neither in might nor value, to ordinary grade five origin guns.

    Additionally, Qianye found a longsword and a dagger on the blood knight¡¯s body. The longsword was grade three. A melee weapon at this grade was equal to a rank four origin gun, so it was nothing much. But the dagger was actually grade four! This was rather umon because grade four melee weapons would usually be in the hands of a champion rank expert, and normally only vampire viscounts would be able to use them.

    The internal armor the blood knight was wearing under his disguise was also a good item. It was unknown which giant beast skin it was made from, but there were a whole three origin power arrays sewn into it. Qianye activated it and found that two of them were used to increase defense while the third actually caused vision to warp around the wearer within a certain time frame, achieving a semi-invisible state.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be curious about this blood knight¡¯s identity. He began to flip through thetter¡¯s backpack and the exquisite little tool bag within his pocket.

    His backpack mostly contained various supplies and equipment required for outdoors travel. There was also a notebook and over a dozen blood crystals. These items were important supplies for high ranking vampires and were a solidification of fresh origin power-rich blood. Ordinary vampires would never be able to get their hands on such blood crystals. They could only suck blood to replenish their energy and fresh blood power.

    Within the tool bag, Qianye found a crystal disk wrapped up in a soft beast skin. This sky blue item, the size of a palm and as thick as a finger, appeared to be the remnant of a certain equipment. There were undecipherable lines engraved upon it somewhat resembling enchantments.

    Qianye didn¡¯t recognize the words on the crystal remnant but they appeared to belong to a certain ancientnguage called runespeak.

    Runespeak was an ancientnguage passed among the dark races. Its history was much more distant than the human race¡¯s ancientnguages. Reportedly, runespeak was a type ofnguage containing mysterious powers¡ªthe characters themselves could form structuralponents of many types of origin arrays. Every character of true runespeak could be considered aplete origin array. ording to their representative origin power, they were further ssified into dark runespeak, daybreak runespeak, and neutral runespeak.

    Qianye naturally couldn¡¯t tell which attribute the runespeak on the crystal disk remnant belonged to. However, any object in dark race hands rted to runespeak was probably an antique handed down since ancient times. He had only ever seen one item with runespeak on it, and that was in the Red Scorpion¡¯s disy room. It was a cane carved from a single piece of ck crystal with a ring of runespeak at its crown.

    Back in the day, that cane belonged to a powerful demonkin wizard who had killed countless imperial soldiers. Later on, all the Red Scorpion leaders of the time simultaneously took action and ambushed him. After paying a heavy price of near annihtion, they finally killed this high ranking member of the Evernight Council. They brought back his cane as a trophy and ced it in the disy room.

    Today, a remnant crystal disk with runespeak carved on it actually appeared in the hands of a blood knight.

    Qianye picked up the notebook and observed his surroundings once more before flipping it open. The ck y Swamp was, as before, pervaded by an obscure and dangerous silence. The lingering aura from the death of the horned snake and the blood knight exerted a deterrent effect on the creatures of the marsh in the area, saturating the air with a deathly stillness.

    Qianye began to tread through the blood knight¡¯s notes¡ªupon the pliable and waterproof papers were decorated cursive words penned in a special dark green ink. Every stroke carried elegance andplexity, portraying the characteristics of the vampire race.

    Fortunately, it was a diary and the words within were quite simple and direct. It was written mainly in present-daymonnguage of the dark race and there weren¡¯t any particrly abstruse words apart from a few vampire-specific terms. Hence, Qianye was able to understand most of the vocabry.

    The notebook recorded this high-ranking vampire¡¯s adventures of the past few years. His tracks were quite broad, having tread across several continents. Qianye found some interesting contents in one of the pages.

    ¡°I, Deryl Kus, a baron of the grand and ancient Kus family actually received a conscription order!? My goodness, it¡¯s Evernight Continent, the gathering ce of those lowly bloodlines! Why was I so unlucky as to return at such a time? Had I known beforehand, I would¡¯ve postponed the journey for three more months. The scenery in Azure Gold Continent is still extremely enchanting.¡±

    Qianye checked the date and discovered that the diary entry was written nine months ago. Could this mean that the dark races had already been nning thisrge-scale war since over half a year ago? And it was on Evernight Continent?

    But Qianye hadn¡¯t heard of any war of simr scale in Evernight Continent during the past period. At least there were no wars that warranted a blood race conscription order from the upper continents. That left only one possibility¡ªthis blood knight was conscripted for the imminent battle¡ªthis was a total war!

    The conscription order was issued at least nine months earlier. Considering the time spent in secret nning, perhaps the major characters of the dark race had already been working out a strategy since nine months ago.

    Just what was it that had attracted the vampires that they were willing to pay such a great price to start a war on this barren Evernight Continent? The reasons for a war couldn¡¯t be anything else but resources, territory, and poption, etc.

    Was it for territory?

    It waspletely meaningless. The Great Qin Empire wasn¡¯t very ambitious regarding territories on Evernight Continent. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have abandoned it after upying the Qin Continent. Although for some reason, they established the expeditionary armyter on and still maintained a certain range of power in Evernight Continent, thetter wasrgely ignored both in terms of equipment and strategic supplies.

    Was it for the poption?

    The humans living and multiplying on Evernight Continent were the lowest rung of human society, struggling on the fine line between life and death. Most of them would never awaken origin power in their lifetime. Most of the fastidious pure-blooded vampires wouldn¡¯t be interested in drawing such poor man¡¯s blood unless they were in extreme hunger. The grime and odor on these people were sufficient to destroy any and all appetite.

    These people were even inferior to the humans raised by the dark races. What use could they serve even if they were captured inrge numbers?

    But Qianye being unable to find a reason didn¡¯t mean the dark races were stupid. In truth, most of those old geezers from the Evernight Council had lived for thousands of years and had experienced too many things during their long life. Due to their experience and strength, they make virtually no mistakes. The foolish things they sometimes did were out of boredom.

    Qianye withdrew his thoughts and continued flipping through the book. Although he had guessed, from the spoils of war, that this blood knight was one of extraordinary origins, he never expected him to actually be a baron from the upper continent who had been conscripted here.

    Very soon, Qianye found another interesting entry.

    ¡°I have to admit that I¡¯m now somewhat interested in this conscription order. ording to Mills, it seems the war this time has something to do with a treasure left behind by the ck Monarch. This guy has never been reliable but I admit I¡¯m inclined to believe him this time. As to why I am, I can only say that it¡¯s the intuition granted to me by the primogenitor. This fellow, Mills, has made so many mistakes. He¡¯s got to get it right at least once, right?¡±

    ck Monarch? Qianye wasn''t at all familiar with this major historical character of the dark races. However, someone who could use such a name was possibly a great dark monarch, and even the items left behind by the weakest of great dark monarchs would interest a marshal of the empire.

    From there on, Qianye slowed down his browsing speed and, as expected, saw many shocking contents.

    ¡°ck Monarch? Which ck Monarch? Those frightening and repulsive old geezers of the council want to cover up all history. But that won¡¯t pose a problem for me¡ªI, Deryl Kus, may only be a baron, but at the same time, I¡¯m also a great schr and adventurer!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one monarch who matches the conditions in the most recent thousand years of history¡ªthe second generation vampire progenitor, the terrifying ck Winged Monarch Andruil!

    ¡°He disappeared not long after the War of Daybreak and his fate was unknown. There was no exnation all this time for his disappearance. I personally believe that a better solution is to investigate the world outside of the 27 continents. After all, the vampire progenitors have a natural advantage in this respect¡­ it seems I¡¯ve gone off-topic?¡±

    The sudden disappearance of a second generation vampire progenitor? Qianye silently memorized the name Andruil. He hoped to collect some information rted to the ck Winged Monarch should the opportunity present itself. But at present, he needed to survive this war first.

    The remaining diary entries were all rted to Deryl¡¯s activities after arriving in Evernight Continent. The requirements of the dark race conscription order were quite rxed. It was evident from this that they had no specific target to plunder. As a baron and also as an expert in stealth and ambush, Deryl basically possessedplete freedom of action as long as he entered his designated war zone when the conflict began.

    The length of this section wasn¡¯t short either¡ªDeryl was someone who just couldn¡¯t stay idle. He had spent almost half a year¡¯s time exploring various ces in Evernight Continent. However, he hadn¡¯t taken part in any proper battles. ording to his own ounts, he only set about killing people after his identity was seen through.

    He had only raided a human settlement once in a state of intense starvation on his return from a dangerous exploration tripsting over ten days without blood.

    As for the results of the raid, he only yed it down with a few words, ¡°Even the blood of seemingly young girls and tender children tasted iparably coarse. As expected, this continent is only suited for the lower species of inferior bloodlines to live. Additionally, one should always wash the food before every meal. This is especially required in Evernight Continent.¡±

    The corner of Qianye¡¯s eyes twitched slightly as he read on. This was the true rtionship between humans and the dark races. This adventure-obsessed Deryl could already be considered quite mild, although his mild behavior stemmed from his pride and his contempt for the human race as a whole.

    Among his adventures in Evernight Continent, there were mentions of certain mysterious ces even someone like Deryl was temporarily unable to enter¡ªTwilight Woods, Pr Fissure, Noctilucent Ridge, etc. Qianye was intrigued by these names which he had never even heard of before. He had long since known that this continent he had been staying in for the longest was extremely vast. However, he had never known just how vast it was. Perhaps he could go everywhere to take a look after growing stronger in the future.

    Suddenly, a certain passage attracted Qianye¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Today, I found an extremely ancient document. Its contents are truly astonishing! Who would¡¯ve imagined Andruil had actually been living secretly in Evernight Continent for decades!? No one actually knew that the great ck Winged Monarch hade to Evernight Continent! Perhaps this was the truth those Evernight Council geezers had been concealing at all costs! Some among them are, in fact, characters from Andruil¡¯s era. I absolutely refuse to believe that they¡¯re not aware that Andruil came to Evernight Continent and even lived here for so long.

    ¡°Ha! This is truly a good day! I finally found evidence of Andruil¡¯s former movements! Perhaps I might be able to discover something from this.

    ¡°A whole week of effort wasn¡¯t wasted! I simply can¡¯t believe what I found! A remnant disk with runespeak engravings! Even though two-thirds of it is missing, judging from its unique style, this must be a key. The key to opening the ck Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure! Perhaps I should keep this item. It is most appropriate for a vampire to inherit the treasure of a vampire progenitor.

    ¡°I¡¯ve finally obtained new rewards after two months. I found my target in an indescribably small human town across this foul-smelling marsh¡ªan old man on his deathbed whose ancestor had once waited upon Andruil. That was naturally during the time the ck Winged Monarch had stayed in Evernight. I only needed a few tricks to get all the relevant information. His ancestors did indeed leave words for his descendants, telling them to bring the remnant disk to the Forgotten Mountain Range on the ming Beacon Continent. There will be a gift for them therein as a reward for his 30 years of loyal service.

    ¡°The problem right now is this damned conscription order. I have to wait till the war is over before I can go to ming Beacon Continent!¡±

    There was only a single entry on thest page.

    ¡°A young human had actually seen through my disguise? This is interesting. Perhaps I should make him my descendant.¡±

    Here, the diary came to an end.

 Volume 4 - 9: Scouting

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 9: Scouting

    Qianye closed the baron¡¯s diary and reviewed the important points in his mind. After confirming that he had memorized them all, he set it ame. He watched everyst fragment of the notebook turn to ash before stirring it into the muddy water.

    The few unique trinkets in Deryl¡¯s backpack were left in ce. Qianye sank all those things, along with the corpse, into a deep pond hundreds of meters away from the scene.

    In this way, all traces of the baron would be naturally erased in a couple of days and no one would ever be able to track what had happened. Baron Deryl Kus would hereafter be marked as missing on the vampire name list. This kind of situation wasn¡¯t a rare urrence. It was the same for that ck Winged Monarch Andruil whose whereabouts were a mystery to this very day.

    Qianye carefully stowed the runespeak fragment. He wasn¡¯t sure if the information he had obtained from the baron¡¯s diary was true, or if this seemingly solemn runespeak fragment was indeed part of a key. Even the humans had heard much about the dark races¡¯ fondness for treasure hunting¡ªthere would be many rumors of mixed authenticity every year. Some clues appeared genuine at first nce, only to find that it was a prank of unknown origins after following up on it till the end.

    However, the implications of this matter were simply too great. Especially since the dark races¡¯ reasons for starting a war this time included something that seemed rather ridiculous to a human. Qianye weighed this matter over and over again but felt it best not to reveal this information to anyone. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t discuss this with anyone either. Treasures can turn into unexpected cmities at any time.

    However, the spoils of war currently ced before Qianye were, as a matter of fact, quite significant. The two pistols were both high-grade smith-signed merchandise that would auction for at least 3000 gold coins in the empire. Those noble scions interested in firearms had enough time and energy to research the source of the smith¡¯s signature. If they were found to be prestigious names, the prices could soar to 5000 or even higher.

    However, these huge profits could only be imagined. Since Qianye had to conceal Baron Deryl¡¯s fate, he could only process these items as stolen property of unknown origin. Even going through Song Zining¡¯s channel, it would already be quite fortunate if he could get rid of them for 2000 each.

    Presently, Qianye certainly wouldn¡¯t invite more trouble for himself, drawing from his experience with the Twin Flowers.

    A premium grade four dagger could be easily carried on many asions. Add that to the refined and sophisticated style of the vampires, it would certainly be a well-received merchandise. Demand for a longsword would be narrower but it wasn¡¯t impossible to sell. As for that grade three armor, there was probably no market for it.

    The core price of an armor was rted to its origin array, but vampire origin arrays were, without a doubt, best activated with fresh blood power. Activation using other darkness type origin powers would reduce their effectiveness. The reduction for daybreak origin power was even greater. Although it wasn¡¯t quite useful for other people, it posed no obstacle for Qianye. As such, the item was imed for his personal use.

    Qianye calcted the value of the origin guns and des, finding them to be barely passable. The money would be sufficient for his ¡°Dark me Mercenary Corps¡± to develop for half a year. It was enough to develop and not just for basic operation.

    The other fortune left behind by Baron Deryl was a detailed map of the ck y Swamp. Marked upon it were three safe routes through the swamp. These routes were, of course, due to the efforts of the arachne. Giant swampspiders were the hegemons of the marsnds. It was precisely because they opened up the paths that the dark races were able to pass through the ck y swamp and nk the human defense line.

    However, the environment within the marsnds was adverse, especially the stench. It was harmful to all creatures¡ªnone could endure it apart from the vampires and demonkin. Even someone fond of exploring mysterious ces like Baron Deryl wouldn¡¯t appear in such a ce if not for the temptation of the ck Monarch¡¯s treasure.

    This roadmap changed Qianye¡¯s mind about merely familiarizing himself with the swamp. The hundreds of kilometers of marsnd would serve as sufficient operation space for him. He thus decided to enter the hintends, not only to verify the map but also to see if he could ambush the dark races.

    During thetter half of the night, Qianye was attacked countless times on his journey toward the depths of the marsh. Most of them came from local marsnd creatures.

    There would be flying insects wherever there were bloodvines with the asional appearance of horned snakes. Presently, Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t get bitten again¡ªhe simply swatted them with the Radiant Edge and fragmented their organs. Well-preserved horned snakeskin, galldder, horn, and poison nds could be sold for good money. A single horned snake was worth up to dozens of gold coins.

    Before half the night had passed, Qianye had already dug up over a dozen bloodvines and caught three horned snakes. This could be considered quite a helpful harvest, but nothing couldpare to killing a high ranking vampire in terms of quick money.

    However, the vampire was actually a baron. If not for him being too careless and falling into Qianye¡¯s trap, the one being hunted down after entering the depths of the marsh would probably be thetter. Since Deryl had the intention to turn him into a descendant, there was no telling when he would take action.

    Qianye was attacked by a group of alligators as he continued toward of the depths of the marsh. The horde retreated only after Qianye killed several giant alligators in session. Afterwards, he encountered a type of palm-sized killer fish that could pierce through normal armor with a single bite.

    Spiders the size of basins, meter-long leeches, and unknown giant bugs began to appear with increasing frequency.

    The skin of marsh alligators, the roe of killer fish, and the silk of spiders could be sold for a decent amount of money. Qianye began to realize why there were so many scavengers and herbalists in ck y Town. The bloodvines and other materials in his backpack were enough topletely change the lives of dozens of scavengers.

    These scavengers had followed the rumors here with dreams of good fortune falling upon them. Perhaps they might find a bloodvine with no horned snake in the vicinity or find a follicle of killer fish roe. It was just that reality was always cruel and good fortune was hard toe by¡ªdanger was the eternal theme of thisnd.

    Scavengers who die in the marsh every year numbered in the thousands while those that truly struck rich were fewer than few. However, it was precisely because the achievements of these few lucky people were spoken of so repeatedly that others began to ept this as the normal pattern. The thousands who lost their lives were thoroughly forgotten by the greed in men¡¯s heart.

    The graveyard outside of ck y Town stood as a silent testament. Buried within were those whose remains could be found, while most scavengers who died in the marsh were left with neither corpse nor bone.

    The people¡¯s attitude toward fortune had always beenparable to deceived lovers¡ªthey sought but a moment¡¯s intense pleasure and never the price of long-term perseverance. They speak as if affection was no longer pure when affected by various factors, but then how was an irresponsible romance any better?

    As Qianye advanced further, he saw dozens of lofty ck stone pirs towering over the center of a low-lying region. The soil in the center was smooth and dry, but the area surrounding the ck pirs was littered with hundreds of holes of various sizes.

    Qianye suddenly shivered after seeing this group of pirs. He immediately withdrew his aura and observed for a moment, slowly approaching the ce only after making sure there was nothing peculiar in the vicinity.

    The air suddenly turned dry in an area of ten meters around the stone pirs. The ground was also several centimeters higher than the surrounding area. Qianye arrived beside a certain pit where he began to pinch and observe the soil. There were darkened ck shells within the soil.

    This certified that these pits were dug by the arachne servspiders for resting. The eggshells came from their eggs¡ªthe newly hatched baby spiders would be new servspiders while eggs with no opportunity to develop would be eaten, supplying other servspiders with nutrition.

    There were traces of a camp at the center of the pirs. From the marks left behind, one could tell that thest batch to stop over probably consisted of arachne and werewolves.

    This group of stone pirs was a campsite the dark race had set up within the marsh for the armies marching through the swamp to rest. The design of these stone pirs was extremely clever, and together, they formed a natural origin array. This was a method humans hadn¡¯t been able to unravel to this very day. They could operate for several years on a small number of ck crystals, providing the dark race army with afortable and dry camp.

    Qianye didn¡¯t touch anything and only observed the traces within the camp in detail. His tightly creased brow rxed slightly after finding that this camp hadn¡¯t been used for a long time. This was thest decently-scaled ce where they could camp before exiting the swamp.

    Qianye recalled the markings on the baron¡¯s swamp map, checked his bearings and made his way toward another camp.

    If not for this map, Qianye would have never imagined that the dark race had actually constructed as many as five camps within ck y Swamp and was nning to build one more. This was a prelude to the marching of a great army through the swamp. Judging from the scale of these camps, Qianye realized that the few men he had in hand were certainly not enough to hold ck y Town.

    The path through the swamp became increasingly difficult to traverse. The surface of the mire was also weaker. Qianye now had to move with extreme caution despite his reaction speed and ability. He had already encountered several instances where he almost fell in. He had to observe the flora along his path in detail in order to decide whether the path was solid ground.

    Due to his cautiousness, Qianye didn¡¯t advance along the road opened up by the dark races and instead moved along its periphery. In this way, he would be able to discover them immediately if a dark race squad were to pass by while hiding his own tracks.

    Qianye didn¡¯t discover any signs of a marching dark race army until he arrived at the second camp. However, he suddenly felt a peculiar sense of danger just as he was about to leave the second camp. He reacted instantly by hiding in the muddy water¡ªhis whole body sunk gracefully but swiftly, leaving only two eyes above water level.

    The originally calm water surface began to ripple. Soon afterwards, Qianye heard fine rustling sounds as arge group of basin-sized dark grey spiders passed by over ten meters away. Their movement speed was rather fast, their long legs shifting rapidly as if they were gliding over the water.

    These dark grey spiders were the descendants of the giant swampspiders. They were, of course, not as frightening as the giant swampspiders, but had the advantage in numbers and their adaptability to the marsh terrain. Additionally, they were quite sensitive to their surroundings and especially proficient in capturing moving images.

    Wherever the spiders passed by, the local creatures of the swamp would hide just like Qianye¡ªnone dared to show their presence. The movement of these escaping creatures served to conceal Qianye¡¯s sinking movement. Qianyey motionless like a rock after sinking into the water. As expected, the horde of grey swampspiders swarmed passed by without sensing anything out of the ordinary.

 Volume 4 - 10: Beating the Bush to Startle the Snake

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 10: Beating the Bush to Startle the Snake

    A formal squad of arachne would definitely follow the grey swampspiders. Qianye closed his eyes and sank deeper¡ªwater gradually covered his hair without forming so much as a ripple.

    The swamp began to shake as a number of giant shadows emerged from the distant mist. They were a type of arachne servspider known as giant swampspiders. These giant spiders possessed astonishing build, growing as tall as three meters and possessing a bulky abdomen that almost looked like a boat.

    These giant spiders moved with a nimbleness that was out of proportion to theirrge bodies. It wasn¡¯t too excessive to say that they moved like the wind. Even Qianye would not be able to flee from a giant swampspider within the marsnds¡ªthe only choice might be to stand and duel¡ªthere was simply no way to outrun a pursuing giant swampspider in such an environment.

    There were probably half a dozen of them. Their heavy footsteps meant that they were transporting a couple of werewolves on their backs, forming a small butplete werewolf squad. Following at the very end were two arachne bringing up the rear.

    This squad soon rushed past Qianye and, judging from their direction, they were headed toward the camp.

    Qianye gradually surfaced after the group had past and the shaking of the swamp disappeared. Judging from the scale, it was an advance scouting party and their strength was one level greater than an ordinary patrol squad.

    Qianye pondered for a while and, once again, went through topography around the camp in his mind. He decided to take them down!

    Although it was said that beating the bush would startle the snake, it made little difference to the situation at hand. The dark races would never abandon their n of transporting troops through the swamp, regardless of whether the humans had discovered traces of their movement. If he could force the dark races to change their route by killing arge part of their scouting party, that would be, on the contrary, just what he wanted.

    Qianye found a dry high ground where he sat down to rest and wait in silence. He stood up only three hourster and moved stealthily toward the second campsite. The only ones truly difficult to deal with in the scouting party were the rank seven arachne and a werewolf captain of the same rank. However, Qianye was confident he could badly wound one of them in an ambush.

    Simple tents had been raised in the campsite. The tworgest ones were for the two arachne, while the smaller ones were upied by the werewolves. Some of the lycanthropes simplyy down on the dry ground and began to snore loudly.

    Most of the arachne and werewolves had begun to rest. The march through the swamp was extremely arduous, leaving both races utterly exhausted. It was a total torment for the violent and restless werewolves to liepletely still on the swampspiders¡¯ bodies and suffer the long period of jolting. On the other hand, the werewolves¡¯ heavy bodies were a burden to the swampspiders.

    Qianye hid for another half an hour, watching as the giant swampspiders also fell asleep outside the stone pirs. Most of the grey swampspiders had crawled onto dry ground and only a few of them were left moving restlessly.

    The arachne didn¡¯t especially leave any sentinels. Their warning mechanism mainly relied on the sharp perception of the numerous small spiders. Such a system would normally be superior to the so-called sentinels, but their effects were greatly diminished in the current marsnd environment.

    The arachne and werewolf captains weren''t quite concerned because their current location within the swamp was quite central and very few humans would be able to traverse this deep. These campsites had beenpletely safe for the past several years and had never been raided by humans before. Besides, it would take at least a detachment of human soldiers tounch an attack against them. The noise from such a number of people approaching would wake even the sleepiest of spiders.

    Amidst the silence, Qianye gradually rose from the muddy waters and inched toward the camp.

    The grey swampspiders only began to sense him when he was 50 meters away from the destination. The somewhat restless spiders collided with one another as they mbered and scanned the dark swamp repeatedly, however, the dense mist and the unique scent of the marsnd upied all their senses, rendering them unable to judge the source of this unease.

    Qianye stopped concealing himself and rushed into the center of the camp within the blink of an eye!

    Despite the swampy terrain, Qianye was like an arrow let loose from a bow the moment he raised his speed. No sooner had the few grey swampspiders in the periphery let out a warning cry than Qianye rushed into their midst.

    His forward rushing posture abruptly dropped down in tandem with the descent of the pure and refined origin power within. Following which, a powerful stomp fell on the camp ground¡ªenergy from over 25 cycles ofbatant form surged out from his body.

    The firm ground suddenly caved in under Qianye¡¯s foot as spiders of various sizes within a ten-meter radius were tossed into the air and flung away by the energy shockwave which followed relentlessly.

    Qianye once again rushed out like a cannon shell and crashed into a giant swampspider who had just mbered up. Only a dull thud was heard before the spider was knocked back to the ground with an ear-piercing snap. It seemed some of its limbs were broken. Following which, itsrge body slid several meters and fell into the water. The way was now open!

    Qianye had reached the center of the camp within moments.

    The whole campsite erupted!

    All the swampspiders mbered up and let out threatening hisses. But these slow-reacting creatures were gazing toward the exterior where Qianye¡¯s initial attack had caused arge pit. This served only to interfere with the judgment of the other arachne and werewolves within the circle.

    Qianye stood at the center of the camp with his Twin Flowers aimed at thergest tent, waiting patiently for his prey to appear.

    As the rank seven arachne emerged, tearing the tent open and letting out furious roars, the first thing he saw was the two illusory flowers blossoming in the air.

    Amidst the resounding explosion, a bloody mist immediately erupted from the arachne¡¯s humanoid face as half its brain was blown apart! The distance was simply too close¡ªso close that Qianye didn¡¯t even need to aim urately. The two pistols bombarded the arachne¡¯s head with full force. The weakest and most vital part of the enemy was struck by the beautiful and almost illusory origin power radiance of the twin flowers, turning it into a heap of bloody flesh.

    Despite losing its brain, the arachne¡¯s body didn¡¯t turn rigid immediately due to its strong vitality. The headless body, dragging half the tent along, charged forward madly. Its sharp limbs suddenly pierced through a werewolf who had just climbed out of a nearby tent and easily punched a hole through the unfortunate fellow¡¯s chest.

    The werewolf captain was an extremely strong ck wolf. He had torn through the tent¡¯s roof and jumped out immediately only to witness this scene y out before him. Both shocked and infuriated, he roared, ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing? Are you courting death!?¡±

    But the arachne leader could no longer respond to the wolf¡¯s words with half its brain missing. The uncontroble spider charged directly into the werewolves¡¯ camp area. Under the iling of its eight limbs, a certain werewolf who was sleeping outdoors failed to escape and was cut into pieces. The werewolf captain could no longer say anything as he let out a roar and pounced forward to save his subordinates.

    Qianye changed positions several times amidst the chaos and made use of the certain blind spots to arrive near a smaller tent, waiting for the rank five arachne to appear.

    He holstered the Twin Flowers and drew the Radiant Edge. A scarlet glow began to emerge on the de¡¯s edge!

    A brilliant red de radiance suddenly illuminated the campgrounds when the second arachne emerged. The spider let out a blood-curdling scream as its chest and abdomen werepletely separated!

    After finishing off the two arachne, all the servspiders were thrown into chaos. From the giant swampspiders to the small grey spiders, all of them were going around in circles¡ªtheypletely had no idea as to where the enemy was.

    Meanwhile, the out-of-control arachne leader had diedpletely. Its gigantic body fell in a pile beside a half-smashed stone pir. Consequently, the nearby spiders immediately got into a conflict with the violent werewolves survivors.

    Qianye calmly fell back and then turned around to exert his strength¡ªhe shed past a giant swampspider¡¯s strike and, with a flicker of his de, split open thetter¡¯s abdomen. The giant spider immediately fell to the ground and stopped moving as blood gradually seeped out, dying the muddy waters a sanguineous red. Covered by itsrge body, Qianye¡¯s figure disappeared noiselessly into the mists of the ck y Swamp.

    The camp had fallen intoplete disorder. The servspiders, with their limited intelligence, began to reveal their fierce nature after escaping the constraint of the arachne leaders. The bloody stench continuously agitated the nerves of the werewolves and arachne. This made them increasingly violent¡ªthe conflict expanded to a bloody battle in the blink of an eye.

    A giant swampspider had fiercely pinned a werewolf to the ground. It opened its mandibles and was about to bite down when it suddenly raised its head and let out a miserable hiss. The werewolf captain had already pounced onto its body and pierced his glowing ws deep into the spider¡¯s back shell. Then, with a powerful lifting motion, he split open the whole of the victim¡¯s back.

    This slightly alleviated the violent werewolf captain¡¯s bloodthirst. He let out a roar, hoping to reassemble his subordinates. The chaos was partly stopped under the loud voice suffused with suppressive might.

    However, the werewolf captain suddenly felt an intense sense of danger. He immediately leapt off the giant swampspider¡¯s back, but it was already toote. The twin flowers rumbled once again¡ªthe origin power bullets erupted with a mass of dazzling light upon the captain¡¯s body, turning his whole back into a mess of flesh and gore!

    This shot wasn¡¯t quite lethal, but it drastically reduced the werewolf captain¡¯sbat capabilities. There was no longer any suspense in the following battle after thest rank seven opponent was badly wounded.

    The werewolves¡¯ heavy bodies were ill-suited for marsndbat. Additionally, the giant swampspiders, unweakened within the swamp, had lost their masters and turned into indiscriminate enemies. Just like that, Qianye roamed the area around the camp and continuously killed the werewolves who, unable to restrain themselves, rushed into the swamp to fight him. In the end, half of those dozen-odd werewolves were devoured by the bottomless mire.

    After patiently disposing of the swampspiders of various sizes, the whole camp area became silent once again.

    The spoils of war weren¡¯t exactly abundant. Werewolf armor and ws were of no use to humans, and the same went for arachne battle armors. Fortunately, the arachne also used origin guns¡ªQianye found a grade four origin gun within a tattered tent.

    There were good rank three items among the looted melee weapons. Unfortunately, the heavy battle-axes favored by the arachne easily weighed a couple of hundreds of kilograms. Qianye didn¡¯t want to carry such a huge load all the way back. The two origin grenades, however, were a good harvest. Although they weren¡¯t as powerful as the ones used by vampires, they were still much better than human grenades.

    Qianye went around the campsite and cleared away traces of himself before setting out once again toward a different camp. In the following days, he encountered two more scouting parties of the same size, both of which he easily eliminated.

 Volume 4 - 11: Before the War

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 11: Before the War

    Several dayster, Qianye encountered arger patrol squad in one of the campsites on the other side of ck y Swamp. This time, he had to engage in an arduous battle before he was able to kill all the arachne and pursue the fleeing werewolves through the night.

    However, some special members of that squad cast a shadow over Qianye¡¯s heart. He swiftly ended the ambush and retreated swiftly without even erasing his traces.

    The additional extra members were the monitor lizard packbeasts who could move through the swamp unimpeded. Theserge amphibians were over a dozen meters in length and possessed inexhaustible stamina. Their carry capacity was also several times greater than that of giant swampspiders.

    Qianye went through the items being carried on the packbeast and found that the securely sealed trunks were full of various armaments, ammo, medicines and war rations. One of those trunks even had 12 whole vampire grenades in them.

    Judging by sight, those packbeasts were carrying several tons each. Ten-odd packbeasts meant that there were dozens of tons of supplies. The dark race army had little pressure regarding supplies because their food sources were quite abundant and they were adept at drawing on local resources, humans for instance.

    The several dozen tons of military supplies were being escorted by a reinforced patrol squad. Simply from these details, one could predict the scale of the dark race army about to move through the ck y Swamp.

    This was an army of thousands!

    Thousands of formal warriors and not cannon fodder used to make up the numbers.

    Formal dark race warriors had always been stronger than human soldiers. The dark race forces that took part in the battle of Earth Castle consisted mostly of cannon fodder. There were no more than a hundred formal dark race warriors and yet they had wiped out an elite reinforcedpany of the empire along with a whole battalion of regr expeditionary army soldiers.

    If the scale of the dark race forces being mobilized was indeed asrge as Qianye had predicted, not to mention ck y Town, even the whole ckflow City region would be in grave danger.

    Qianye was no longer in the mood to continue hunting. His top priority now was to report this new intelligence. The thousands of dark race warriors would, no doubt, be led by a champion. This estimate still hadn¡¯t taken into ount themonly allocated cannon fodder, usually several times that of the formal troop count. Equipment was still the deciding factor in many battles regardless of numbers¡ªQianye only brought along the crate of vampire grenades and burnt the remaining supplies he couldn¡¯t carry before rushing back at full speed.

    Qianye returned to ck y Town after three days. The first batch of 100 soldiers from his Dark me Mercenary Corps, led by Lil¡¯ Seven, had already been settled in. Song Hu, on the other hand, would arrive in a few days with ammo and supplies.

    Lil¡¯ Seven, upon seeing Qianye, was momentarily shocked by the bag-shaped object behind him. ¡°Master, what is this?¡±

    The threerge outdoor backpacks tied together was almost as tall as Qianye and fully twice as wide. Even Qianye felt rather strained carrying this load. He unloaded the straps on his shoulders and replied, ¡°This is the harvest from my trip to the swamp. Find someone to do inventory.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Seven immediately called over a number of warriors proficient in misceneous duties. The girls immediately screamed as a pile of arachne heads rolled out from the bulging first package!

    Lil¡¯ Seven was still quite calm. After the screaming subsided, she instructed the soldiers to pile up the arachne heads to one side. Despite their frightening aesthetics, these things were proof of military service, each of them worth over a dozen imperial gold coins in reward.

    Next up was a number of randomly knotted packs. What fell out from the opened corner were several ears with blood clotted at their cut ends. Judging from the shape and fur, they obviously belonged to werewolves. There were at least half a dozen ears with signature earrings, indicating their status as high ranking werewolf warriors.

    This time, the cleanup crew was mentally prepared. They didn¡¯t scream although their hands trembled and almost reflexively tossed the small packs away.

    In addition to this were the armaments¡ªten rank three origin guns, half a dozen origin power weapons and over ten pieces of armor. The numbers were great, but most dark race weapons required darkness origin power to disy their full might. As such, their value on the market was decided by whether they had any artistic or aesthetic value. Arachne and werewolf gear usually wouldn¡¯t fetch a decent price.

    Lil¡¯ Seven¡¯s face was full of delight as she made an inventory of the items. These things would gain them thousands of gold coins after selling and exchanging aplishments. The amount was sufficient for many months of the mercenary corps¡¯ basic operations.

    Qianye¡¯s mood, on the other hand, was quite heavy. He went in to immediately write a letter after putting down the items. He recorded, in detail, everything he had seen and heard these days within the great swamp. He then dispatched a group of soldiers to head towards the Four Rivers Military Base at top speed and hand this report to Wei Bainian.

    At this time, Hu Wei hurriedly arrived in response to the urgent summons. Qianye didn¡¯t exin much and only ordered him to make immediate preparations to evacuate all the townspeople.

    Hu Wei was shocked out of his wits. Aplete evacuation meant that the situation had reached the worst stage. He didn¡¯t even ask if Qianye had obtained the 7th division¡¯smand before saying that he would make immediate arrangements and left without even remembering to say goodbye.

    Song Hu arrived at ck y Town two dayster with the supplies. After hearing Qianye recount the situation, he immediately sent people back to ckflow City to collect trucks because only with enough trucks would they be able to ship more people and food back to ckflow City. Song Hu¡¯s instructions behind Qianye¡¯s back was¡ªbuy if you can, rent if you must, and rob if all else fails.

    But the most difficult part of all this was that there wasn¡¯t any news at all from the expeditionary army¡¯s side. The messenger Qianye dispatched returned along with a supply team from the mercenary corps. He brought the news to the 7th division headquarters but Wei Bainian had no message for him to bring back.

    Fortunately, they still had some time. The marsnd terrain was truly adverse¡ªpassing through the swamp would take the dark race army over ten days considering their size and marching speed. Previously, Qianye had destroyed most of their camping grounds. They wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid a dy even if they had immediately dispatched repair teams after receiving news of it.

    News finally arrived from the expeditionary army after a week.

    Qianye thought his eyes had gone blurry after seeing the motorcade outside ck y Town. The snaking convoy stretched as far as the eye could see andpletely blocked off the only highway outside of the town. Just the troop transportation trucks numbered close to a hundred and there were dozens of others carrying supplies. Qianye even saw ten truck-drawn heavy cannons!

    The army was close to three thousand strong and consisted of almost two regiments in structure. With the 7th division¡¯s current condition, it seemed all avable troops had arrived here, barring the garrisons in the two cities and the essential frontline forces.

    Wei Bainian jumped down from the jeep and immediately broke into a frown due to the stench assaulting his senses.

    Qianye directly jumped down from the town wall after seeing Wei Bainian. He approached thetter and asked in surprise, ¡°General Wei, howe you¡¯vee in person?¡±

    Wei Bainian replied, ¡°I saw your letter. It¡¯s absolutely impossible for you to block a dark race army consisting of thousands of regr warriors. So, I shifted the 7th division¡¯s main force here. We¡¯ll give those dark blooded sons of b*tches a ruthless surprise at the exit! Campsites are limited in the great swamp, so they can onlye out in batches. We¡¯ll conveniently destroy them one by one. Such opportunities don¡¯te often!¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled, but after some consideration, he couldn¡¯t help but admit it made sense.

    However still had some concerns. ¡°What about the primary defensive line?¡±

    Wei Bainian replied, ¡°We¡¯ll just have to let the current forces hold on. With such arge forceing through the ck swamp, it¡¯s likely that the attacks on the other defensive lines will be mere diversions forces made up mainly of cannon fodder. They¡¯ll have a hard time, but it¡¯s not impossible to defend.¡±

    Qianye was still somewhat worried, ¡°What if the troop strength over there exceeds our estimations?¡±

    If the main battlefield was broken through, even ckflow City might be lost and half the theater would be crushed. What meaning would there be even if they repelled the assault from the ck y Marsh?

    Wei Bainian Calmly replied, ¡°I flipped through the war records of this defensive region. The Trinity River County had always been a barren location. There are no natural resources here, and neither is there any important strategic value. Furthermore, ckflow City is considered to be at a lower intermediate grade in Trinity River County.¡± He nced at Qianye and smiled. ¡°Despite being one of the most troublesome characters in the expeditionary army, Wu Zhengnan¡¯s 7th division had always remained a third-rate defensive region.¡±

    Qianye inwardly sighed¡ªit seemed the Wei n had indeed investigated Wu Zhengnan thoroughly. Hister increase in power mostly relied on illegal trade. He was only in charge of holding the city on the actual battlefield.

    ¡°Think about it. This ce has neither resources nor tactical value. Why would the dark race mobilize arge army toward such a ce? Additionally, if the main defense line really can¡¯t be held, it holds little meaning even if I dispatch a massive force over there.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood. If the dark race had also invested arge army on the main battlefield, they would be an enormous military force after their rendezvous with the army emerging from the swamp, a force the 7th division had absolutely no way to stop. At that time, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to hold ckflow City unless the expeditionary army¡¯s strategy department deployed additional troops to this area.

    Wei Bainian called out to Qianye and the two entered the town together, giving thetter a simple exnation of his thoughts along the way.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s strategy in this war was very clear¡ªhe would deploy all of the main forces here at ck y Town and defeat this army first, taking advantage of the fact that the dark race forces had no choice but to yield to the geography and split up their forces. In this way, he would win a decisive advantage during the uing war.

    This was an extremely bold strategy.

    As he walked into the conference room in the mayor¡¯s residence, Wei Bainian finally couldn¡¯t resistining, ¡°Howe this ce stinks so much?¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°This is the ck y Swamp¡¯s characteristic stench, a mixture of hundreds of odors. However, that¡¯s not a bad thing because it cripples the werewolves¡¯ and vampires¡¯ sharp sense of smell. Although the arachne are able to adapt better, their senses also decline within the ck marsh.¡±

    Wei Bainian broke into aughter and patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Now I suddenly feel this smell is quite good!¡±

    The dark race held too great a racial advantage in terms of night vision and perception. Interfering with their sense of smell would weaken a part of their fighting capacity.

    Wei Bainian produced a military map and spread it open on the table. He then pointed to a few ces for Qianye to see. This map, densely packed withndmarks and symbols, was actually the 7th division¡¯splete defensive map!

    Wei Bainian said, ¡°From now on, this ce will be the weakest link in the defensive line. After the battle here, you can choose one or more ces there to defend. This will increase your rewards by 30% over the standard rate.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyebrows were raised slightly as he checked the map in detail. After the battle here? Was this withdrawing defenses or changing defenses?

    Wei Bainianughed and added, ¡°There¡¯s much work to do. You can decide if you¡¯re interested. This ce used to be a small mine and there¡¯s still some production. Right now, it¡¯s being upied by the previous 7th division¡¯s deserters and I don¡¯t have the extra manpower to deal with them. The area will be ced under your authority hereafter if you can take them down. I¡¯ll not care about anything else as long as you pay a 30% tax.¡±

 Volume 4 - 12: Evacuation

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 12: Evacuation

    Qianye was moved. He observed the map and found some simple numbers beside the mine¡¯s symbol, exining its yield. If he could take this ce in addition to those mines Wei Potian had gifted him before, he would gain a regr profit of thousands of gold coins each year. This would be sufficient to expand Dark me to a thousand-man scale or he could maintain a 500-man scale but with equipment and remuneration equal to that of the regr imperial army.

    ¡°However, this mine isn¡¯t so easy to im. There should be over a thousand men in there, led by a colonel of the previous 7th division. Additionally, the location is quite close to the 15th division¡¯s defensive area, closer than the distance they offered aspensation back then.¡±

    Qianye nodded gently but showed no changes in his expression. ¡°Is the colonel rank seven or eight?¡±

    Wei Bainian replied, ¡°Seven. However, that man is a veteran with eight years of service. Achieving the rank of colonel and the eight years of service in the expeditionary army signifies that hisbat experience is definitely abundant.¡±

    Qianye nodded and replied calmly, ¡°It won¡¯t be a big problem if that¡¯s the case.¡±

    A smile shed through Wei Bainian¡¯s eyes as he asked, ¡°The 15th division¡­¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°They promised not to get involved again if I remembered correctly. The one-year agreement still hasn¡¯t expired. If their lessonst time didn¡¯t leave a deep enough impression, then I don¡¯t mind repeating it.¡±

    Wei Bainian nodded with a smile. ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll help you hold off the pressure from other areas.¡±

    After reaching an agreement about the mine, Wei Bainian had someone bring over the local map of the region surrounding ck y Swamp. Hepared it to the map drawn by Qianye and began to study how to deploy the line of defense.

    A mor was heard outside of the window at this time. There were sounds of quarrel, cries, curses, and even a few gunshots.

    Qianye walked to the narrow window and nced outside only to witness arge batch of expeditionary army soldiers driving away the scavengers and tramps living on the streets.

    Hu Wei stood on high ground, shouting hysterically, ¡°I¡¯ll give you 30 minutes to get out of town! We¡¯ve already prepared a camp for you there! Listen up, you have only 30 minutes! Only a whipping awaits if any of you appear in front of this daddy after 30 minutes! Anyone who dares remain in town after an hour will be executed on the spot! Don¡¯t test my patience!¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly, but soon his expression became calm. Driving away the scavengers wasn¡¯t just to make space for Wei Bainian¡¯s army. Many defensive measures had to be built immediately. There was simply no ce for wanderers on the battlefield.

    The scavengers mbered up rather slowly. Some remained lying in their original ces, unwilling to move until the expeditionary army¡¯s whips arrived. Some scavengers got into a sh with the expeditionary army for some reason and became increasingly agitated. They suddenly pushed a soldier down on the ground and began to rob him of his gun and de.

    After seeing this, Hu Wei immediately jumped down with unexpected agility, snatched a gun from the hands of an expeditionary army soldier, and pulled the trigger repeatedly without any hesitation. His aim was surprisingly good, and although it was only a gunpowder weapon, every bullet struck a vital area as he shot those scavengers one by one.

    The boiling red blood and fresh corpses extinguished the dangerous mes within the scavengers¡¯ eyes.

    One of Wei Bainian¡¯s personal guards also arrived near the window and suddenly asked, ¡°There are passable soldiers among these people. Why not distribute some weapons and assign them to a defensive squad?¡±

    This person was a someone who had apanied Wei Bainian here from the upper continent. He was now wearing the rank of an expeditionary army lieutenant colonel, but his every movement exuded the demeanor of a ssical regr army soldier, likely one with a long military service record.

    Qianye exhaled lightly and replied, ¡°This is Evernight. These people are scavengers with absolutely no sense of belonging,¡± he paused momentarily before continuing, ¡°much like hyenas in the wilderness. The moment they discover that you¡¯re not intimidating enough, they¡¯ll turn to bite you at any given time, and obviously, the dark races are more frightening than us humans.¡±

    The guard turned silent after catching on to Qianye¡¯s meaning, but he probably couldn¡¯tprehend everything immediately.

    One would only be able to truly understand the meaning of this abandonednd after living in it for a certain period. Those abandoned by the empire had, naturally, also abandoned the empire¡¯s hopes and beliefs.

    The days that followed passed by in bustle and tension. Wei Bainian¡¯s great army deployed itself with ck y Town at its heart and constructed an uninterrupted battlefront whichpletely blocked off the dark races¡¯ marsnd exit. The army also dispatched scouts deeper into the marsh, relieving Qianye of this duty.

    Wei Bainian handed part of the defensive line deployment to his assistant afterpleting the overall tactical n. He himself entered an isted room to cultivate. As a divisionmander, he would need to face the dark race champion when the great battle began. It could be considered the most perilous duty.

    Qianye also delegated the matters regarding the mercenary corps to Song Hu while he made an all-out effort toward cultivation. He finally emerged from the isted room after cultivating several days with neither sleep nor rest. Just now, he was struck by a sudden sensation¡ªit felt as if a giant dark tidal wave was sweeping in from the southwest, which was also the direction of ck y Swamp. Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power was continuously being purified and condensed since he started cultivating the Song n Ancient Scroll. Although his current origin power capacity wasn¡¯t two or three times that of his peers, its strength was found to be increasing in repeated tests. At the same time, his perception toward danger was also bing much sharper.

    Qianye entered the bathroom and showered. He then nced at his legs in the full-body mirror¡ªhis legs had been tingling for almost a month since he ignited his sixth origin power node. Although it didn¡¯t affect his movements, the deep-seated sensation was still quite ufortable.

    This physical constitution in the area was being strengthened continuously. Before igniting this origin power node and barring that special ce on his chest, Qianye had never experienced such a protracted remodeling. But the longer this process went on, the stronger his body would be uponpletion.

    Right now, the modification process had beenpleted¡ªQianye felt every inch of his legs filled with an explosive energy. He walked to the corner of the room whereiny the two barbells he usually used for strength training.

    They were items used for training his arm strength. For others, barbells weighing hundreds of kilograms were normally used for training the entire body¡¯s strength.

    An idea lit up in Qianye¡¯s mind as he gazed at the pair of barbells. He extended his foot and lightly flicked it, sending a barbell flying into the air with a swoosh. It stopped right before touching the ceiling and proceeded to fall back down.

    Qianye extended his right leg and caught the descending barbell. The heavy item stopped steadily in the air while Qianye¡¯s leg only sunk slightly. This deviation, only as wide as a finger, definitely wouldn¡¯t be noticed without careful observation.

    After muttering to himself for a moment, he lightly flicked his extended right leg and raised the barbell slightly before switching to his left leg. This time, his left leg caught the barbell without the slightest movement. It seemed the active origin power node was in his left knee, resulting in a slightly greater strength on that side.

    Qianye slowly lowered his left leg and lightly kicked the barbell back into ce.

    This kind of strength had far surpassed Qianye¡¯s imagination, so much that he still wasn¡¯t quite ustomed to the sudden increase in strength. It seemed a period of targeted training and some realbat experience would be required before he couldpletely control and adapt to this new body.

    Qianye examined himself once again in front of the mirror and suddenly felt the man in the mirror was somewhat unfamiliar. Humans had always been inferior to the dark races in terms of physique and strength¡ªQianye had long since gotten used to long range kills and a close quarter fighting style which involved speed and technique.

    His physical strength right now, however, was sufficient topletely suppress a vampire of the same level. He held an advantage in many aspects even whenpared to werewolves of the same level. However, Qianye wasn¡¯t quite sure where this strength came from.

    Now wasn¡¯t the time to look into these things. First, he had to face this imminent war.

    Qianye called over the mercenary band¡¯s smiths after exiting the cultivation room and had them check the werewolf and arachne armors he had previously brought back.

    The armors of the werewolves and arachne were extremely crude and not one bit aesthetically pleasing but the materials were, in fact, top notch. The armors Qianye brought back were all cast from ck iron alloy by demonkin or vampire smiths, stronger than even the highest grade steel alloy produced by humans.

    These armors almost had no style to speak of and appeared likerge pieces of raw material at first nce. With only minor modifications, one would be able to produce armor suitable for the human body type. Werewolf armor could be remodeled into leg armor, while arachne armor, which originally consisted of six pieces, could have any two of them used to construct a breast and back te. The smiths needed only to install some leather attachments. It was fine as long as Qianye could strap them onto his body.

    The modification process took the whole afternoon. Qianye felt exceptionally satisfied after donning the new armor and trying out a fewbat moves. He could still wear the internal armor he got from Deryl inside his warrior apparel.

    Many of the smiths and mercenaries watching from the side felt their faces turn green. The smiths had personally modified this set of armor and knew full well how heavy each part was. The mercenaries had also stepped out to weigh the dark race armor in their hands. They had never expected someone would be able to equip a set of armor weighing almost 200 kilograms without even activating origin power, much less move around unimpeded like so.

    Qianye slightly circted his origin power and immediately sensed the origin array in the armor being activated. This made him feel relieved. After obtaining a suitable darkness origin power cultivation method from the Song n Ancient Scroll, he finallypleted aplete cycle of the introduction. One of the advantages was that his fresh blood aura was no longer too prominent despite the detectable darkness attribute origin power during activation.

    This was a great way to disguise his abnormal constitution. Human origin power was likely the most diverse in this world¡ªhaving a minor darkness attribute wouldn¡¯t pose much of a problem.

    The arachne and werewolf armors prevailed in terms of thickness and weight, but their origin arrays weren¡¯t bad either. If the origin arrays on these third-grade armors were fully activated, they would be able to reduce the impact from a rank five origin gun down to a rank two level. Such a defense could be considered a mobile fort on the battlefield.

    That night, Qianye discovered that his instincts were on point.

    The scouts dispatched into the depths of the swamp returned and reported that they had discovered the dark race main forces. They hadn¡¯t brought along any fodder this time because they had to march through difficult marsnd terrain. The army consisted uniformly of regr warriors along with a few support types.

    ording to their current marching speed, the vanguard would likely appear in the vicinity of ck y Swamp at dawn the next day.

 Volume 4 - 13: Showdown

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 13: Showdown

    After ten-odd days of urgent work, ck y Town hadpletely turned into a fully armed fort.

    The original townspeople had beenpletely evacuated and settled in ckflow City, while the scavengers had been herded into the wilderness. In any case, the dangers in the wilderness couldn¡¯t be greater than ck y Swamp on the eve of war. There would be no other use for them here except to be food for the dark races.

    At dawn, a peculiar smell suddenly emerged from the winds blowing in from the direction of the swamp. An experienced hunter would immediately know that this was due to the gathering of arge number of arachne and werewolves.

    The soldiers from the expeditionary army and Dark me Mercenary Corps were all in position. As the wind carried toward them a shiver-inducing aura, both veterans and rookies unconsciously gripped their weapons tighter, their hearts beating like drums.

    Gradually, dancing shadows began to appear from the dense marsnd mist.

    Gazing from a distance, those moderately tall figures made even the most experienced of veterans shiver and be wary. The orderly formation of werewolf warriors indicated that they weren¡¯t random soldiers from a small tribe but from the dark race regr army.

    The reason why their figures appeared small was because there were other especially tall warriors in their ranks. The three to four meter-tall silhouettes were the nightmare of many an expeditionary army hero.

    These weren¡¯t servspiders but true arachne. The giant servspiders, possessing almost the samebat power, stood behind the squad.

    The less powerful human warriors subconsciously held their breath as the dark race formation made up of several hundred regr warriors walked out clearly from the swamp with an invisible momentum capable of crushing every obstacle in their path.

    The higher the warrior¡¯s rank, the more he was able to understand the oppressive feeling before the storm. Standing on the city wall, Qianye felt the chill even more deeply.

    He vaguely sensed the center of the ck clouds bearing down on the city and a supremely terrifying aura gradually moving closer like a gigantic tornado connecting the heaven and earth. All creatures appeared extremely insignificant before the powerful consciousness that could contend with the might of the heaven and earth.

    Qianye¡¯s abundantbat experience told him this was just an illusion, an instinctual reaction caused by the suppression from the party¡¯s powerful spirit. However, being able to invoke such an aura indicated that there was an outstanding expert in the other camp. He couldn¡¯t help but nce at Wei Bainian who was standing to his front left.

    Sensing Qianye¡¯s gaze, Wei Bainian turned to smile at him before patting his shoulder. Themander¡¯s calmness rapidly infected the expeditionary army officers around them. This effectively calmed the initial unease.

    Qianye realized this was why champion level experts were irreceable on the frontlines. In the present battle, for instance, it was imperative for Wei Bainian to block the other expert when the two armies began to sh. If he failed to block thetter or if he was holed up and refused to do battle, the enemy champion would forcefully break through and copse the defenses regardless of geographical and troop strength advantage.

    He was still a rookie back at the Red Scorpion. Although someone had exined this principle to him back then, it didn¡¯t leave as clear and deep an impressionpared to the current personal experience. Back then, due to his rank and characteristics as a sniper, he had always been posted far from the center of the battle. Now, however, he had the qualifications to stand beside a champion as a core member of the fighting force.

    Wei Bainian stood on the wall with his hands behind his back. He still hadn¡¯t released his aura, but it was precisely this calmness and unperturbed demeanor that gave people confidence.

    Thend suddenly began to tremble. A figure asrge as a hill appeared in the mist behind the enemy formation! Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat after seeing that ck shadow almost seven to eight meters tall.

    What an enormous body! Could the dark races have mobilized a giant battle beast? But how did a giant battle beast pass through the swamp?

    At this time, the small hill exited the dense mist and was gradually approaching them. What appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes was an iparablyrge arachne. Its naked upper body was a tangle of bulging muscles, and its azure skin was actually sparkling with a metallic luster. The vital parts of its body were covered in ck armor. Unlike the coarse armor on most arachne, every piece of its armor was decorated with golden vein patterns. Its craftsmanship was exquisite and its shape was graceful.

    The dark race army spread out like a tide and made way for the arachne to advance on its own. Each and every one of its steps seemed to be trampling on the people¡¯s hearts.

    It advanced continuously and stopped only 100 meters short of the newly constructed barricade. The arachne shouted with its arms across its chest, ¡°I am Viscount Brahms! Lowly humans, do you n to impede the great army of the sacred blooded race with such rubble?¡±

    Brahm¡¯s voice was like thunder. It sent all the expeditionary army soldiers directly in front of him into a daze. Some ordinary soldiers, who weren¡¯t fighters, suddenly let out a miserable cry and copsed with blood rushing out of their ears.

    Everyone from the expeditionary army was momentarily shocked!

    Wei Bainian let out a coldugh. He undid his overcoat with a raise of his hand and passed it to one of his guards, revealing a full dark yellow battle armor. Some guards carried over a giant shield almost as tall as Wei Bainian and a hands-breadth in thickness. One could only imagine its defensive power and weight.

    The seemingly lean Wei Bainian lifted the shield with one hand and casually waved it in the air a few times. Such an enormous object actually seemed as light as a feather in his hands.

    Wei Bainian exhaled and let loose his voice, which resounded like thunder and rumbled across the battlefield. It actually almost suppressed the arachne¡¯s volume.

    ¡°Brahms! Today, not just these dark blooded bastards, but you yourself will also fall beneath these town walls!¡±

    Brahms let out a world-shaking roar, ¡°Puny humans, let me see how you¡¯ll block my footsteps!¡±

    Brahms retrieved, from his back, a gigantic origin gun befitting his own size. Judging merely from its basin-sized muzzle, it would perhaps be more suitable to call it a cannon.

    The muzzle of the handheld origin cannon gradually lit up with origin power radiance. The cannon charging so slowly even with the arachne¡¯s strength indicated just how powerful the fired shell would be.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s figure gradually rose into the air. At the same time, he gestured for his attendants to retreat.

    Some expeditionary army officers rapidly fled from the outward-protruding observation tower. Wei Bainian¡¯s guards were somewhat hesitant but could onlyply when the former¡¯s stern gaze swept past them. An empty space was soon cleared out upon the town wall.

    Wei Bainian stood hovering in the air with the giant shield positioned before him as if on solid ground. He extended his left hand and curled his finger in a provocative gesture.

    The arachne roared loudly after seeing this provocation. He activated the origin power hand cannon with all his might¡ªa deep azure beam of light suddenly shot out from the muzzle and sted ruthlessly toward Wei Bainian!

    Wei Bainian let out a clear hiss which broke through the arachne¡¯s thunderous roar without being suppressed in the least. At the same time, a dazzling yellow radiance surged from his body and immediately enveloped an area dozens of meters around him. The light barrier was filled with images of towering mountains, steep ridges, and perilous precipices.

    This was the true secret art of the Wei n, the Thousand Mountains!

    The dark azure beam and the Thousand Mountains collided and immediately caused a worldshaking origin power explosion. Rolling waves of energy fluctuations assailed everyone¡¯s face. Origin radiances of various colors lit up from Qianye and the other officers. Their group was still able to stand straight without moving, but the weaker soldiers behind them were all swaying from side to side and some even lost their footing and fell back.

    This was an all-out collision between opposing champions!

    Brahms had slid back several meters as the origin power explosion gradually calmed down, his limbs drawing several deep scars on the ground. The origin gun in his hand was spitting out a continuous stream of sparks with the asional small explosions. It had already been ruined after bearing Brahm¡¯s full-powered attack.

    Directly in front of Brahms, only a solitary stone tower was left of the ck y Town¡¯s walls¡ªthe surroundings had be a pile of rubble and ruins¡ªthe might of Brahms¡¯ hand cannon had actually leveled a whole section of the town wall.

    However, Wei Bainian¡¯s figure appeared as the wall of dust clouds calmed down. He stood calmly on the stone tower with the heavy shield in his hand and waspletely unharmed.

    Loud cheers suddenly erupted from ck y Town. At this moment, all the expeditionary army warriors were high in morale. The dark race ranks, on the other hand, were apparently no longer as spirited as they were when they marched out from the swamp despite the continuing war cries.

    At this time, a crisp sound was suddenly heard from the giant shield in Wei Bainian¡¯s hand. Cracks began to appear throughout its surface, on which the origin array patterns hadn¡¯tpletely dissipated. Following which, it broke into pieces and waspletely shattered.

    The expeditionary army¡¯s cries were suddenly lowered somewhat.

    Wei Bainian nonchntly tossed away the fragments in his hand and shouted, ¡°Shield!¡±

    A number of guards appeared carrying a new giant shield which they worked together to throw high into the air amidst loud cries. Wei Bainian extended his hand with great dexterity and caught it firmly. He produced a short and unremarkable ck hammer from his waist. After the injection of origin power, both head and body of the hammer lit up with flickering symbols.

    Wei Bainian struck the surface of the shield with a swing of this short hammer andughed disdainfully at Brahms. ¡°Come on, what are you waiting for?¡±

    Brahms had already been triggered into a furious state by Wei Bainian¡¯s actions. The former drew the giant axe from his back and swung it around his head before pointing it at Wei Bainian. ¡°Charge! Kill all those humans!¡±

    Hundreds of dark race warriors let out bloodthirsty howls and pounced toward ck y Town.

    Werewolves and arachne rushed past Brahms like the tide while he himself stood there without moving, only staring fixedly at Wei Bainian. Thetter also stood straight at his original spot, unmoving like the mountains. Those dark race warriors were fairly well coordinated¡ªnone of them charged toward Wei Bainian.

    They knew this person was Viscount Brahm¡¯s opponent. If they were to interfere in a battle of such major characters, they might be torn to shreds by Brahms first before even arriving in position.

    Qianye, on the contrary, felt relieved after seeing the charging dark race army. Wei Bainian had seeded in provoking Brahms, who sent all of his troops charging toward the expeditionary army¡¯s line of defense. This was undoubtedly advantageous for the heavily fortified expeditionary army. However, this didn¡¯t mean the battle would be an easy one. The crux of this whole battle still depended on the showdown between Brahms and Wei Bainian.

    Brahms, who had arrived inmand of the dark race army, was indeed very strong. He was only a viscount because of his half-arachne state, but he might directly reach the threshold of a count if he couldpletely cast off his arachnid body and take on a human form.

    At this moment, Qianye had upied a temporary bunker built on top of the town wall. He was watching as the werewolves leapt over the wall and rushed into town one after another.

    He didn¡¯t move at all. Only when arge arachne began to climb up the town wall did he raise the fully loaded multi-barreled Vulcan machine gun and walk out of the bunker.

 Volume 4 - 14: Fierce Battle

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 14: Fierce Battle [1]

    The sturdy town walls were tall and narrow. Only a couple of people could walk side by side on top of it. It was quite difficult for the arachne with their enormous bodies to even turn after climbing on top. It could only nail its limbs into the wall to barely stabilize itself. Gunshots sprang up everywhere as the expeditionary army soldiers in the vicinity focused their fire on its gigantic spider body.

    A shower of sparks flew out from the arachne hanging on the wall as it was bombarded by a hail of bullets. Most of the projectiles were deflected by the thick armor it wore while the few bulletsnding on the unarmored areas only left some dents. Those were light injuries at most.

    From this, it was evident that the soldiers were mostly newbies. Arachne possessed boundless strength and mostly wore heavy armor to the battlefield. Small caliber firearms simply couldn¡¯t threaten them. It was difficult to kill them in one attack even with an origin gun. Experienced veterans would never waste ammo on those arachne mobile forts and would instead pick the weakest of werewolves and servspiders first. As for something like the rank six arachne on top of the wall, there would naturally be officers to deal with them.

    The arachne simply cared little about the scrap bullets and didn¡¯t even spare those ming muzzles a nce. Latching onto the wall with its limbs, the arachne was hesitating whether or not to jump into the town.

    The small human town before it was the narrowest it had ever seen. So much that even a settlement might be more spacious. The buildings were densely packed and the streets were full of twists and turns. Even a werewolf would bump into things when running quickly. An arachne would likely be trapped in the rubble once it copsed a rooftop.

    It looked down at the small town filled with smoke and shes of light for some time, unable to find a suitable ce tond.

    It was at this time that Qianye arrived beside the arachne like an arrow and rushed through its de-like limbs with a few evasive maneuvers. The Vulcan was almost pressed against the arachne¡¯s body as its six barrels began to spin rapidly!

    The arachne let out an astonished cry and wanted to curl up its body immediately.

    However, it was already toote. A torrent of red-hot metallic bullets gushed out of the Vulcan¡¯s muzzle. The tempest of me and metal forcefully tore the arachne¡¯s armor apart, piercing through its hard skin and pulverizing its flesh and blood.

    The arachne was badly mutted under the immense force, causing its gigantic body to flip over and fall down the wall. The arachne¡¯s life force was extremely strong and despite suffering a sudden ambush, its limbs were still moving as it let out a hiss so sharp it could almost cut the air apart. Carrying the Vulcan and using the town wall and the arachne¡¯s body as footholds, Qianye evaded the spider¡¯s dying counterattack with a few leaps.

    Qianye nimbly jumped back onto the wall as the arachne¡¯srge body struck the ground. The mes from the Vulcan¡¯s multiple barrels were like whips striking at the arachne¡¯s body continuously.

    The arachne struggled in the rain of bullets, its cries growing softer and softer. At this time, the Vulcan stopped spinning with a loud click¡ªQianye had emptied a whole 300 bullet cartridge.

    The arachne under the town wall still hadn¡¯t diedpletely. It kicked up a cloud of dust as its limbs were still moving and scraping at the ground continuously. However, its exoskeleton was almostpletely destroyed and its innards were a mess. It likely wouldn¡¯t survive too long with such an injury.

    An especiallyrge ck werewolf captain was dragging out an expeditionary army sniper from within the bunker. After witnessing this scene, it tossed away the body in its hand, got on all fours and pounced toward Qianye while letting out a long howl!

    Qianye discarded the Vulcan and nced at the werewolf captain with cold eyes before jumping into the town as if he had no intention to meet thetter in battle.

    The werewolf captain roared in rage as it leapt over the town wall in a sh and descended toward where Qianyest disappeared. It turned its head around while in mid-air and scanned the surroundings for signs of the human, but with battles raging everywhere in the town, where would he find traces of Qianye?

    The werewolf captain suddenly felt a sense of extreme danger. It rapidly lowered its head at this moment to see Qianye standing with his back tightly pressed against the wall with a pair of pistols aimed at him. The human¡¯s disdainful eyes seemed to be mocking its recklessness.

    The werewolf captain howled as origin power flickered on its body and formed an immediate defense. But under the bombardment of the twin flowers, the werewolf captain was sent flying as if it had been kicked by a giant, drawing a trail of saturated blood on the ground.

    Qianye rushed toward the werewolf¡¯snding point inrge strides, knocking away the werewolves and servspiders in his path with his body. He was determined to kill this rank six werewolf captain and didn¡¯t rx his pursuit in the least. The werewolves¡¯ defenses were extremely robust and this was doubly true for captain level warriors¡ªneither the Eagleshot nor the Twin Flowers could kill them in one shot. They would be dangerous enemies once they were allowed to catch their breath.

    The werewolf captain who had justnded nearby struggled momentarily and was, indeed, about to mber up.

    The nearby expeditionary army second lieutenant had just dealt with a servspider when he saw the bloody werewolf captainnd nearby. He rushed over with his assault rifle hoping to take advantage of the situation and finish off the enemy, but the other party showed no signs of falling even after three consecutive shots. On the contrary, the werewolf captain straightened its body and let out a horrifying roar toward the sky.

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s face, pale from the overconsumption of origin power, was filled with terror as he immediately turned to flee. However, the werewolf captain had already pounced on him like a sh of lightning and ripped off half his brain!

    Qianye was one step toote¡ªhe bent his back and charged after seeing the situation.

    The more badly wounded the werewolves were, the more violent they would be. This werewolf captain wasn¡¯t one to refuse a direct confrontation. It arched its back, got down on all fours and leapt forth, viciously biting at Qianye without using any fighting techniques.

    Qianye¡¯s left elbow pushed forward as if he didn¡¯t notice that the iing attack wasn¡¯t a w but cold sharp fangs. His right hand drew the Radiant Edge and, with a sh of dark red light, pierced ruthlessly into the enemy¡¯s heart!

    The werewolf captain bit into Qianye¡¯s arm but felt as if it had bitten a piece of metal alloy¡ªseveral of its teeth were immediately knocked off. It was staring with wide opened eyes even before its death, unable to understand why it couldn¡¯t bite through this insignificant human¡¯s armor or even damage it. It had only seen such defensive power in high ranking arachne warriors.

    The werewolf captain¡¯s final guess was, in fact, the truth. Qianye¡¯s arm te was taken from a rank seven arachne¡¯s armor. It was originally an armor of extreme weight and thickness. After activating its internal origin array, it was naturally not something that could be destroyed with a mere bite. It was just that an ordinary human warrior would be pressed to the ground by his own weight upon donning such an armor, not to mention do battle.

    Qianye pushed away the werewolf carcass and nced at the somewhat deformed armor on his arm. He couldn¡¯t help but shrug his shoulders after having experienced a werewolf¡¯s biting power once again.

    Qianye raised his head and scanned the surroundings. A rank five arachne struggling amidst the rubble entered his field of vision. He began to speed up, running faster and faster before finally leaping up and crashing into the arachne¡¯s body. Qianye¡¯s body, with his full set of armor, weighed several hundred kilograms. A leaping charge with such momentum directly toppled the arachne who had just gotten up with great difficulty and the two tumbled to the ground together.

    Qianye immediately jumped up after touching the ground, while the arachne, on the other hand, was momentarily unable to flip over with its belly toward the sky and its limbs swinging in confusion.

    Qianye took a step toward the arachne and directly pierced its defenseless abdomen with the Radiant Edge. The rank one heavy armor therein did little to impede the attack as the violent origin power erupted from the tip and immediately shattered the arachne¡¯s internal organs.

    Qianye immediately retreated after cutting into the vital parts and effectively evaded the arachne¡¯s final struggle. It waved its limbs madly and drained its remaining energy on the nearby rubble. Shattered stones and debris flew into the air and fell like rain but was ultimately unable to reverse its fate.

    It was at this time that a rumbling sound rang out behind Qianye¡¯s back. He only felt as if his back was struck by a heavy hammer, causing him to stagger a few steps forward before stabilizing himself. A fiery sensation spread throughout his back apanied by intense pain. At the same time, a bone-chilling darkness origin power entered his body but was immediately crushed aftering into contact with the raging tides of the Combatant Form.

    It turned out that Qianye was struck by an origin gun.

    The dark red origin power radiance flowed across Qianye¡¯s body and immediately swept away the remnant darkness origin power. Only then did he turn back unhurriedly to face the werewolf standing dozens of meters away.

    The werewolf, on the other hand, nced at the muzzle of his still glowing gun, peeked at Qianye and then back at his origin gun. Apparently, he waspletely puzzled and couldn¡¯t understand why there was no effect after striking this moderately powerful human with no military insignias.

    Qianye had no intentions to be entangled by this pitiful werewolf. He drew the Radiant Edge, rushed toward the enemy, and pierced its heart. The werewolf roared and swiped with its ws, and Qianye just grabbed onto one of them while letting the other strike his body.

    The werewolf¡¯s ws drew several ming tracks on Qianye¡¯s armor, leaving deep marks from shoulder to the chest. However, they were far from prating the armor. At this moment, the Radiant Edge had easily pierced into the werewolf¡¯s chest, immediately bursting with berserk origin power and grinding its heart into small pieces.

    Qianye withdrew the dagger and threw the werewolf corpse to the ground. It was somewhat of an overkill to use the Radiant Edge against a rank five werewolf. However, he was on the battlefield right now and the mission was to kill high-level enemy warriors as quickly as possible.

    He entered the battlefield once again and, along the way. helped two expeditionary army and mercenary sniper teamsplete their kills. Additionally, he also killed numerous rank five werewolves. Afterwards, he felt as if a ball of fire was burning in his chest and the sensation was only intensifying. This was a sign of origin power overconsumption.

    Qianye shed into a small house by the alleyway and, with his back against the wall, worked to calm down his breathing. There was a crystal in his hand¡ªdense blood power was being continuously drawn into his body. The fresh blood power contained within the crystal was rich, mellow, and extremely satisfying. It could be directly absorbed, unlike directly sucked blood which had to be devoured by the blood energy within his body and turned into energy.

    Qianye now understood why blood crystals were a high-level currency among vampires. It was just like energy-grade ck crystal but was more advanced in its deposition and release.

    Minutester, the blood crystal in Qianye¡¯s hand had been reduced to an ash gray color, bing weak and brittle. A light squeeze was enough to turn it into fine powder which scattered like dust.

    A huge ck shadow suddenly flitted past the room door. Qianye immediately rushed out of the house and chased after the rank seven werewolf. Thetter, sensing the pursuit of a high-ranking human warrior, immediately turned back and bared its fangs at Qianye.

    The two had just begun their confrontation when the ground beneath them suddenly shook. A world-shaking explosion resounded from nearby as a terrifying origin power tempest soared toward the sky.

    Lightning and thunder were provoked continuously in the air as daybreak and darkness origin powers shed wildly. Several bolts of lightning struck the ground and immediately ignited a great fire!

    Qianye and the werewolf both understood that Brahms and Wei Bainian had begun fighting.

    [1] I looked through the raws and found at least 3 chapters with the same title.

 Volume 4 - 15: Joint Assault

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 15: Joint Assault

    Warriors at such a high level as Qianye and the werewolf captain could already, albeit with some difficulty, join the battle between champions. Each saw the determination in the other¡¯s eyes¡ªthe determination to kill the current opponent as quickly as possible and assist their own champion in battle.

    Man and wolf roared at the same time as they released their power and simrly charged at the enemy in a straight line.

    Qianye and the werewolf crashed into each other with a loud boom¡ªthere was nothing fancy about their exchange¡ªand both were sent staggering back after the impact. Qianye turned to check his left shoulder with a frown. His shoulder armor waspletely deformed after being pierced through by the werewolf captain¡¯s bite. A fuzzy mess of flesh and blood could be seen under the fragmented pieces of armor where arge chunk of muscle was nearly torn off.

    The werewolf captain didn¡¯t get off that easy either. His mouth was full of fresh blood and many of its fangs were broken. Additionally, there was a fine strand of blood in front of his chest left behind by the Radiant Edge.

    Perplexity emerged in the werewolf captain¡¯s eyes as he looked down at the wound in front of his chest. However, an uncontroble and profound fear arose in the depths of its heart. Why was such a small wound making him feel as if his energy was gradually dripping away into nothingness?

    This feeling, this feeling¡­ he suddenly recalled what this feeling was!

    He was once stabbed by a vampire noble during a certain conflict with a vampire tribe. It was a rapier as fine as a toothpick and the tiny wound left behind was almost negligible. But momentster, this harmless littleceration erupted like a volcano and transformed into a gigantic wound which almost killed him!

    The vampires loved to y such shady games! The recollection made the werewolf furious. It let out a growl and once again activated his darkness origin power. At this moment, however, the indistinct sensation of energy drainage was suddenly magnified by thousands of times like a volcanic eruption. Fresh blood gushed out from the werewolf captain¡¯s thread-like wound and shot several meters into the distance.

    The prepared Qianye leapt to one side as the werewolf captain¡¯s huge body copsed with a loud bang.

    Qianye turned back to inspect the results of the battle and happened to see a jet-ck war hammer strapped behind the werewolf captain. He was immediately moved and bent over to retrieve it before weighing it in his hands. This war hammer was madepletely in werewolf style. It was heavy and crude, but there was nothing toin about the material and origin array.

    This was a grade three melee weapon. Its might was, of course, notparable to the Radiant Edge. However, it was more suitable for dealing withrge, heavily-armored enemies¡ªBrahms, for instance.

    Qianye picked up the hundred-kilogram war hammer with rtive ease and was quite satisfied. With that, he turned and ran toward the vige exterior.

    The battle line was already fully deployed on both sides. The expeditionary army made no special effort to keep the dark race army outside of the town. In two short charges, almost all the dark race warriors had rushed into ck y Town.

    However, the dark race warriors immediately found themselves being doubly besieged. There were expeditionary army soldiers everywhere as the little town had already been modified into a gigantic military stronghold. Every wall was a sturdy fortification, sharp des would extend out from under the roofs, and every house might fire bullets or even origin bullets at them.

    The rubble within the town served to impede the movements of the enormous arachne. The strength they were expending to deal with the rubble had far surpassed that of dealing with the expeditionary army. One could seerge arachne bodies getting stuck everywhere, following which, arge number of expeditionary army soldiers would appear to surround it and attack madly.

    Mixed within the expeditionary army forces was a group of soldiers wearing ordinary officer uniforms with no rank insignias. They were all rank five and above¡ªjudging from their joint assault tactics and positioning, one could tell that they were experienced in killing werewolves and arachne. They blended in with the ordinary soldiers in groups of three to five and targeted high ranking enemies at rank four and above. They would usually finish off a strong werewolf within a couple of exchanges.

    These people were Wei Bainian¡¯s personal guard. Although they numbered only a few dozen, their effect on the present battlefield was great.

    Qianye passed straight through the thick of the battle and rushed toward where Wei Bainian and Brahms were fighting. The area outside of the town had already been cleared into an open field by the origin power explosions. There, Brahms and Wei Bainian were engaged in a bitter fight as blinding white light erupted time to time from their midst.

    The arachne viscount¡¯s body was enormous, but his movements were quite nimble. His eight limbs were all sharp killer weapons. Being struck even a little bit would be no different from being cut by a sharp de for the frail human body. The spider held a new origin gun in his left hand and a five-meter halberd in his right.

    The halberd was the viscount''s primary weapon. He stabbed and shed repeatedly, stirring up an area dozens of meters wide. Numerous raging origin power fluctuations appeared on the sturdy earth. The origin gun would rumble from time to time and a giant hole would appear wherever the projectiles struck. The situation was extremely adverse.

    The greater part of Wei Bainian¡¯s body was hidden behind his giant shield. He seemed to be only defending and not attacking, running circles around Brahms and causing almost half the viscount''s attacks to strike empty air. The other half of the attacks were blocked by Wei Bainian¡¯s giant shield which flickered with yellow light.

    The way Wei Bainian utilized the Thousand Mountains was different from Wei Potian¡¯s. The image representing a sustained Thousand Mountains state couldn¡¯t be seen around Wei Bainian¡¯s body at all times. A yellow radiance would emerge only when Brahm¡¯s attack was about tond and would disappear once again after blocking the impact.

    Brahm¡¯s violent and ceaseless attacks wereparable to the tides. However, Wei Bainian wasn¡¯tpletely on the defensive either.

    Qianye had just approached the battlefield when he found Wei Bainian circling toward Brahm¡¯s nk. Wei Bainian suddenly lifted his heavy shield and chopped down on one of the arachne¡¯s limbs with its palm-sized edge. The arachne viscount''s limbs were naturally covered by thick diamond-hard ck shells.

    The sound of shing metal rang out as Wei Bainian hacked down with his shield. Brahm¡¯s was actually shoved several meters away by this full force attack, however, the shell on the his limb was only cracked open despite receiving such a heavy blow.

    Brahm counterattacked with his gun, urately grasping the short pause after Wei Bainian¡¯s charge. Wei Bainian was also quick to react¡ªhe had already assumed a retreating stance after the sessful attack¡ªthe arachne viscount¡¯s attack barely connected despite taking advantage of the close distance. Wei Bainian¡¯s shift to a defensive stance hadn¡¯t yetpleted and was struck before he could fully activate the Thousand Mountains. He was blown dozens of meters away and fell heavily to the ground, suddenly spitting out a spray of fresh blood.

    Brahms let out a roaringughter andpletely ignored his cracked limb. The gigantic spider body pounced toward Wei Bainian like a flying mountain peak.

    Two patrolling personal guards in the vicinity came forth to block the attack, but the arachne viscount had long since noticed their movements and sent them flying with a swing of his halberd. Ordinary rank seven or eight fighters werepletely helpless before Brahm¡¯s terrifying strength.

    Brahms suddenly felt something unusual with his body. One of his limbs could no longer move as if it had gotten stuck in the mud. The currently elerating Brahms abruptly lost his bnce, sending the enormous arachnid body swerving to one side. He nced down in surprise and rage only to find one of his limbs being held down by a tiny human.

    This fighter was neither tall nor strong even by human standards. In Brahm¡¯s eyes, the human was merely the size of a main dish, a stark contrast from the enormous force being transmitted through his limbs. Not only was the arachne viscount stopped from moving even a single inch forward, but it even seemed as if he would be dragged backwards.

    The astonished Brahms immediately broke into a fit of violence. He raised another limb and was prepared to punch a hole through this annoying bug with its sharp point.

    Qianye immediately let go as soon as he felt the sharp winds assault him from nearby. He bent down and exerted power through his foot, immediately disappearing from his original spot and crashing toward another leg.

    With a muffled thud, Brahm¡¯s razor-sharp jab missed its target while an intense pain was transmitted from another of his limbs. Momentarily losing his bnce, the arachne¡¯s huge body began to sway wildly.

    Qianye was already prepared when he charged toward the other limb. Making use of the recoil force, he leapt into the air with great agility, and he then retrieved the warhammer from his back, ruthlessly smashing the arachne¡¯s front limb with a full swing.

    Only a loud crack was heard as the hard shell shattered and peeled off. The ck pir-like spider limb was actually broken and slowly copsed.

    This didn¡¯t mean Qianye was stronger than Wei Bainian. It just so happened that he had targeted the ce damaged by Wei Bainian¡¯s shield. The force behind both oveying attacks was not the least inferior from a champion¡¯s. Of course, the spider limb couldn¡¯t withstand it and was fractured.

    Brahms was immediately sent into a frenzy and raised his origin gun with iparable fury. The arachne viscount¡¯s power was extremely berserk and thus the origin bullets he fired would always explode violently. Qianye was so close to the viscount¡¯s main body that thetter himself would be swept into the explosion if the shot found its mark. But at this moment, the enraged Brahm¡¯s could no longer care about these things.

    However, he couldn¡¯t find the tiny human when he looked down.

    Qianye didn¡¯t zealously continue his assault after breaking the arachne¡¯s limb. He immediately abandoned the cracked warhammer and ran away. Brahms nced left and right, but by the time he discovered the human, Qianye was already dozens of meters away.

    Brahm¡¯s roar grew louder. He slowly moved the origin gun as the radiance at its muzzle grew even more dazzling. The viscount cared little about uracy at this point¡ªwith his strength, the shockwaves from the explosion were sufficient to engulf Qianye even if the shot missed.

    A sudden gunshot rang out at this time¡ªit was the timbre of an Eagleshot¡ªa dazzling milky white origin bullet tore through the air and struck the back of Brahm¡¯s head.

    After the blinding origin power explosion dissipated, some pieces of armor, including the greater half of Brahm¡¯s helmet, were sent flying into the air. The arachne viscount, who was interrupted while charging his origin gun, seemed somewhat dazed. He pierced his halberd into the earth and began to look around him in search of the sniper.

    Qianye grasped this opportunity to hide into a nearby fortification and left the arachne viscount¡¯s line of sight. Just as he had expected, the Eagleshot wasn¡¯t quite able to exert its might against a champion level expert. The current dark race army was alsoposed of high-defense races such as werewolves and arachne¡ªit would be difficult to deal a fatal blow with a rank four origin gun unless the marksman was able to hit vital areas like the eyes, ears, or heart.

    At this time, Wei Bainian had already recovered and was rapidly approaching the arachne viscount while thetter was still searching for the enemy. He found a gap and smashed his shield toward Brahm¡¯s arachnid abdomen. The arachne roared continuously in pain and once again turned to battle Wei Bainian. But this time, Brahm¡¯s flexibility had been greatly reduced due to the loss of a limb, allowing Wei Bainian to evade with greater ease.

 Volume 4 - 16: The Finishing Blow

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 16: The Finishing Blow

    Qianye emerged from the fortifications after a moment of rest and observed from the edge of the champions¡¯ battlefield. Several high-ranking arachne and werewolves were currently tangled in a melee with Wei Bainian¡¯s personal guards. Apparently, those dark race warriors had alsoe to provide assistance, but they were firmly blocked by the prepared personal guards.

    Wei Bainian had stationed all the warriors of the 7th division¡¯s main force here and thus possessed an advantage over the dark race army¡¯s vanguard of a few hundred. Although the dark race vanguard was led by a champion like Brahms whose attacks could only be fended off by Wei Bainian, thetter¡¯s subordinates could kill off all the dark race warriors first and ultimately focus their fire on Brahms.

    This was a rather conservative tactic, but judging from the progress of expeditionary army in ck y Town, it was quite effective. From his somewhat extreme strategy of contracting the whole frontline to concentrate a massive military force on one corner of the theater, it was obvious that this famous general of the Wei n was a genuine leader despite his not-so-remarkable individual strength. It was no wonder he could upy a position near Marquis Wei.

    Both alone and in cooperation with hisrades, Qianye once again killed off a fair number of arachne and werewolves. He then silently approached Brahms and Wei Bainian¡¯s battlefield once again.

    The bitter fight between the two champions had gone on for quite some time at this point and both of them were showing signs of weariness. The arachne viscount used to have eight spider limbs, but the effects of losing a single appendage were bing more and more evident.

    Qianye withdrew his aura and circted his concealed bloodline ability before approaching Brahms¡¯ rear nk with a heavy hammer in hand.

    Wei Bainian clearly saw Qianye¡¯s movements from the front, but thetter actually vanished from his senses after withdrawing his aura. Even someone as calm as Wei Bainian couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished.

    However, the surprisested mere moments. With Wei Bainian¡¯s richbat experience, how could he miss such a great opportunity? After changing his posture a couple of times, he let out an explosive shout and rammed into Brahms¡¯ body. He poured his full strength into this attack¡ªthe Thousand Mountains erupted with radiance as he knocked the arachne viscount back repeatedly.

    Qianye finally found the opportunity he was looking for. The Combatant Form he had been maintaining at 20-odd cycles suddenly surged as he abruptly pushed all of his origin power into the warhammer. The weapon¡¯s surface was enshrouded in rapidly intensifying scarlet glow as though poised to condense into a sanguineous light!

    The warhammer ruthlessly smashed one of Brahm¡¯s rear limbs, kicking up fierce winds in the process. The thick and sturdy shell immediately copsed into an almost prative depression as fluids gushed out from between the cracks.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t the slightest bit of hesitation¡ªhe took advantage of the short moment before Brahms could react to swing the warhammer at the previously damaged area with full strength!

    Brahms let out an ear-piercing howl of agony as one of his limbs fractured with a loud crack.

    Qianye abandoned the deformed hammer, leapt up and aimed the Twin Flowers at Brahm¡¯s head. The arachne viscount turned back just in time to see two origin bullets explode in his face with a loud boom.

    Qianyended on the side and immediately fled with no regard for the oue of the battle. The grade four Twin Flowers were unable to do any considerable damage to Brahms and probably couldn¡¯t even st through the origin power defenses covering his vital areas. But two origin power bullets exploding in his face sent him into a daze. His face was covered in fresh blood and he couldn¡¯t see clearly for some time.

    Wei Bainian had long since arrived in position with a few movements. The shield in his hand emitted an intense radiance akin to an origin power cannon shell as it struck Brahm¡¯s abdomen with great force.

    This blow was iparably heavy and caused a huge dent in Brahm¡¯s abdominal armor. The shell beneath the armor didn¡¯t shatter and was only deformed, but judging from the muffled sound of surging fluids within, it seemed arge area of flesh within the shell was shattered from the impact. This immediately wounded Brahms badly.

    The arachne viscount¡¯s halberd swept toward the retreating Wei Bainian, who only had enough time to block the most lethal edge with his shield. The two powerful forces collided with a loud boom. From the midst of which, Wei Bainian was sent flying with fresh blood spurting out of his mouth and crackling soundsing from his body. Apparently, he had suffered some fractures.

    However, the Thousand Mountains was widely known for its toughness. Uponnding, Wei Bainian spat out another mouthful of blood and got up as if nothing had happened. Brahms, on the other hand, could no longer adapt after fracturing two of his spider limbs and was finding it difficult to bnce himself. Furthermore, Wei Bainian¡¯s shield was the most suitable for dealing with such heavily armored fellows. The injury caused by the shield bash wasparable to or even worse than a blow from a hammer of simr size.

    At this moment, the sound of an Eagleshot rang out once again. A middle-aged senior officer with a solemn countenance had stationed himself on an elevated position hundreds of meters away. Surprisingly, he had fired the Eagleshot from a half-kneeling position. Like the Twin Flowers, the Eagleshot couldn¡¯t do much damage to a champion, but it could greatly impair Brahms senses when aimed at the head, hence creating an opening for Wei Bainian.

    But such an opportunity would only be avable after the majority of high ranking dark race warriors were disabled. Otherwise, with the dark races¡¯ tradition of rushing for the human snipers as soon as the battle began, it would only be cing the auxiliarybat team in peril.

    Qianye ducked into the ruins of a house and, with a blood crystal in each hand, began to rapidly circte his fresh blood power to absorb the energy within. Qianye had almost exhausted all of his origin power during the few seconds he had fought with Brahms. It was practically a suicidal behavior to attack a champion, and it was impossible for him to withstand a frontal attack from the arachne viscount even with his current physical strength. Any one of Brahms spider limbs could easily punch a hole through him.

    Qianye rushed out from the ruins once again after resting for a couple of minutes and recovering his origin power. He rushed in close pursuit of a werewolf who had just run past him. This lycanthrope hadn¡¯t discovered Qianye at all and waspletely focused on a frantically escaping expeditionary army major. It was just about tounch an attack when it suddenly fell to the ground in a cloud of dust as if a rhinoceros had trampled on its back. Following which, the werewolf felt a chill from its back as all of its energy was sapped within moments.

    Qianye¡¯s de was extremely urate. He was certain he had pierced through the werewolf¡¯s heart. The strand of warm and dense blood energy transmitted from the Radiant Edge and the fresh darkness origin power therein immediately roused Qianye¡¯s senses.

    But then heughed ruefully in his heart. He had vaguely discovered Radiant Edge¡¯s other function back during the battle at the Far East Heavy Industries mining zone, and now the feeling had be especially distinct after this stab. Not only the three blood energies in Qianye¡¯s body but the Radiant Edge itself could also absorb blood energy from his victims.

    Qianye leapt onto an elevated structure after killing the werewolf and swept his eyes over the whole battlefield. Battles were bing sparse everywhere. Most of the dark race forces had been killed and only a few were resisting obstinately. Very few of them escaped because their leader, the arachne viscount, hadn¡¯t issued the order to retreat and their desperate counterattacks on the verge of death were still incisive and deadly. As such, the expeditionary army had also be quite cautious with their encirclement.

    In the distance, Brahms and Wei Bainian were still locked in battle but their momentums were no longer as great as when the battle began.

    Qianye immediately headed toward them. Now was the time to encircle and kill the arachne viscount. Killing Brahms would deal a huge blow to the dark races, but if he was allowed to escape, the impact of this battle would be cut in half even if all the dark race warriors were eradicated.

    The battle between the two warriors was already approaching its end by the time Qianye arrived. At this moment, Wei Bainian was focusing on defense and would onlyunch a fierce attack when the arachne viscount showed signs of movement or revealed an opening. Two of Brahm¡¯s limbs were broken and movement wasn¡¯t convenient for him. However, therge swamp was close by¡ªit would be extremely troublesome if he escaped into it.

    mes and origin power explosions erupted continuously on Brahm¡¯s body as more and more high ranking expeditionary army officers joined the encirclement. Most of them dared not approach and could only fire from afar.Those who had exhausted their origin power and could no longer use origin guns would simply pick uprge caliber gunpowder weapons. This kind of weapon probably couldn¡¯t even pierce through the skin of the arachne viscount¡¯s human upper body but would be quite annoying when they werepletely unloaded onto his face.

    The wounds on Brahm¡¯s body were increasing by the minute, and his roar was gradually bing lower. Although the officers¡¯ attacks merely caused disruption and minor wounds, a qualitative change would follow when umted in great numbers.

    Qianye didn¡¯t act at all and kept on running about dozens of meters away from Brahms, waiting patiently for an opportunity and helpingrades escape the energy shockwaves from the arachne viscount¡¯s attacks from time to time.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t find many openings this time. Wei Bainian suddenly let out a long whistle as a yellow glow surged from his body. At this time, he was holding nothing back and had thrown everything into an all-out attack, even suffering a couple of counterattacks from Brahms. Wei Bainian directly smashed Brahm¡¯s defenses after a violent series of fierce and thunderous attacks. This assault also deprived thetter of hisst chance at survival.

    A dazzling yellow mass of light swept through the skies as Wei Bainian swung his shield horizontally at full strength and actually pped the arachne viscount flying dozens of meters into the distance. Brahms¡¯ mountain-like body slid ten-odd meters on the ground andnded not far from Qianye¡¯s position.

    Brahms, at this moment, had copsed onto the ground and could no longer get up. Only a few of his limbs were moving feebly.

    Wei Bainian gestured towards Qianye and shouted, ¡°Qianye, finish it!¡±

    This was an extreme honor on the battlefield. It was also Wei Bainian¡¯s acknowledgement toward Qianye. Neither the high ranking officers from the expeditionary army nor Wei Bainian¡¯s personal guards had any objection. Qianye had ambushed Brahms twice, breaking thetter¡¯s limb each time. This had affected the battle significantly.

    Furthermore, Qianye¡¯s performance on the battlefield was witnessed by everyone and no one couldpare to him in terms of battle aplishments. He had confronted the enemy head on almost every time without any support teams¡ªhe himself was a strongbat unit. No dark race warrior was able to stand up again after three to five attacks from Qianye, a disy of true power.

    The supportive attacks he provided the otherbat units along the way were also quite beautiful. Whether he was cooperating with sniping squads or melee teams, he had proven his holistic capabilities with great results.

    To soldiers, only strength on the battlefield could thoroughly convince them.

    ¡°Qianye, finish it off!¡± Wei Bainian urged.

    Qianye no longer hesitated. He leapt onto Brahms¡¯ body and pierced the Radiant Edge deep into the spider¡¯s heart.

    All the patterns on Radiant Edge immediately lit up the moment it punctured Brahm¡¯s heart as if it was agitated by the warm blood therein. Among them were a number of dark violet lines Qianye had never seen before. He suddenly discovered blood energy pouring through the Radiant Edge like a powerful flood into his body. Within moments, the abundant energy had filled every corner of his being and was still increasing continuously!

 Volume 4 - 17: Song Clan Ancient Scroll: Mystery

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 17: Song n Ancient Scroll: Mystery

    Brahms, who was initially struggling on the verge of death, suddenly stopped moving. The spider limbs that were excavating deep lines in the ground just moments ago froze in mid-air as the dirt and residual origin power waves gradually settled. Meanwhile, Qianye stood there like a statue without the slightest bit of movement.

    ¡°Qianye?¡± Wei Bainian sensed something was wrong and swiftly arrived through the air.

    Only then did Qianyee to. He turned around and replied softly, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m just¡­ too tired.¡± At this time, his face was as pale as a sheet but would be often suffused by a somewhat strange tinge of red.

    Wei Bainiannded beside Qianye and felt relieved only after hearing his words. ¡°This battle was indeed quite arduous, but our victory was also absolute. You have the leading merit!¡±

    Qianye could only force a silent smile. The blood energy within his body had expanded to the point where it could explode at any moment. So much that he was worried a dense aura of fresh blood power would gush out from his mouth if he spoke.

    Qianye exerted hisst bit of remaining strength to extract the Radiant Edge. The arachne viscount¡¯s human-shaped upper body suddenly shriveled up as soon as the dagger left the body, and his skinpletely lost its luster. Furthermore, many wrinkles appeared on its body as if it had aged hundreds of years within moments.

    Wei Bainian said apologetically, ¡°I only wanted to leave the final blow to you, but I didn¡¯t consider how you¡¯ve been fighting an arduous battle up till now. Sigh, I was thoughtless.¡±

    ¡°Not at all. It¡¯s my honor.¡± Qianye revealed a sincere smile.

    Wei Bainian didn¡¯t seem to pay much attention to the arachne viscount¡¯s unusual condition. The dark races possessed as many odd and secretive arts as there were stars in the sky and would take all sorts of odd forms after death. He only checked Qianye from head to toe with worry.

    At this time, Qianye waspletely bathed in blood. There were many open wounds on his body suffused with different origin power auras. Fortunately, he appeared to be merely exhausted. His aura was still enduring and powerful. Wei Bainian transferred the giant shield to his left hand and approached to support Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s body momentarily tensed up¡ªtwo human figures climbed up from below and arrived beside Qianye in a sh, holding him up left and right. It was Lil¡¯ Seven and Lil¡¯ Nine. The twins¡¯ beautiful eyes gazed at Qianye and almost seemed to be tearing up. They were covered in dirt and blood but appeared otherwise unharmed.

    ¡°General, I¡¯ll go back to rest a bit.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was extremely feeble.

    Wei Bainian withdrew his hand after seeing the twins and nodded faintly. He assigned a few officers to lead their squads in a cleanup of the battlefield and left first.

    Wei Bainian had also sustained significant injuries during this battle. Brahmscked any scheming, was violent and easily enraged, but he was definitely one of the best among the dark race viscounts. If it wasn¡¯t Wei Bainian with his Thousand Mountains art and, instead, another human champion with weaker defense, he would¡¯ve copsed with heavy injuries even if he survived the first round of attacks.

    The great battle had finally ended.

    Cheers suddenly rang out from the town with increasing rity and intensity. All the warriors hugged each other,ughing and shouting. The veterans were somewhat more reserved, but the young soldiers were almost crazy with joy. Even several badly injured soldiers were roaring and waving their fists despite the pain, expressing the joy within their hearts!

    It was a glorious victory!

    They had killed an arachne viscount and eradicated a well-organized unit of regr dark race warriors. This kind of aplishment was extremely rare, even if not unique, among all ss A defensive regions. All surviving soldiers with such a contribution would almost always receive a promotion. The empire had always been generous in rewarding military aplishments.

    Being able to survive such a battle was proof of one¡¯s strength and fortune. However, they had also paid a hefty price for this victory¡ªQianye saw corpses at almost every step along the way, and there was no small number of familiar faces among them.

    Victory was always constructed on sacrifice.

    Whether it was daybreak or evernight, the fame of those illustrious characters was built on foundations of white bones and painted with fresh blood.

    Seeing an unscathed Song Hu after turning toward the next street block, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel some relief. The former was currently leading a number of captains in reorganizing the soldiers from the mercenary corps. After seeing Qianye who, at the moment, could hardly even walk, Song Hu hurriedly arranged a ce for him to rest.

    It was a house with only the ground floor still intact. There was a semi-basement there suitable to use as a cultivation room. Qianye instructed Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine to stand guard outside and not to disturb him for any reason.

    The moment the heavy stone door was shut, Qianye¡¯s face turned dark red as he sprayed out a mist of blood.

    Coughing up this mouthful of blood didn¡¯t ease Qianye¡¯s situation much. At this moment, he could no longer suppress the boiling blood energy within his body and felt as if his body was being stewed. A part of the blood energy had already begun to vaporize and seep through his skin toward the exterior, enshrouding his whole body in a hazy sanguineous mist.

    Back then, Qianye had only thought of cutting Brahms¡¯ heart with a stab of his de topletely kill off this dark race expert. However, he hadn¡¯t expected the Radiant Edge¡¯s blood absorption to transform from a trickle to an overflowing tidal wave. Vast amounts of blood energy essence had rushed into his body within moments.

    Just how formidable was a champion¡¯s power? Additionally, the arachne were famous for their powerful vitality. If not for Qianye¡¯s vampire constitution and his condensed origin power after cultivating the Song n Ancient Scroll, he might have exploded from the blood energy overload.

    Even so, not only was Qianye not having an easy time right now, but he was also at an extremely dangerous juncture.

    Although the blood energy from the arachne viscount contained vast amounts of vitality, it was essentially a type of darkness origin power. Unlike before, Qianye¡¯s red, purple, and gold blood energies, as well as his own daybreak origin power, were only thin streamspared to it. The abundant darkness origin power was flowing slowly within Qianye¡¯s vessels and had already drowned out his near-exhausted daybreak origin power.

    Even his origin nodes were being threatened. The recently ignited origin node in Qianye¡¯s knees was being continuously invaded by the dark tides and gradually being dyed red!

    Qianye¡¯s body was ring up in a congration, but his heart was ice-cold...

    However, he no longer had any choice at this moment. It was absolutely impossible for him to expel the blood energy with his own strength. Calcting from his previous rate, it would take at least three months for the three-colored blood energies to devour all the blood energy. By that time, his origin node would¡¯ve long since transformed from daybreak to darkness attribute.

    Qianye sat cross-legged with the Radiant Edge on the ground in front of him and took out a jade piece from the Song n Ancient Scroll. He brushed it with his fingers and caused numerous collections of words to appear.

    This was the first volume of the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s darkness origin power cultivation art, ¡°Mystery¡±. Qianye had tried cultivating this art before and had achieved aplete cycle, but he set it asideter on although it was capable of diminishing his fresh blood power aura. Qianye had no intention to cultivate darkness origin power.

    However, he had little choice at present and could only gamble on it. The Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s introductory arts all possessed a purification and condensation effect on origin power. Working with daybreak origin power, It consumed ten times the amount of origin power purified.

    Now Qianye only hoped the efficiency would be the same for darkness origin power cultivation. As for whether the considerable amount of condensed darkness origin power would oppose the daybreak origin power from hisbatant form, there was no way to tell at present.

    Qianye guided the tremendous dark tides ording to the records on the mystery chapter. Perhaps due to the overabundance of darkness origin power, a part of the arachne blood energy began to rotate and form a small whirlpool just as he hadpleted one cycle.

    ¡°Pop!¡± The jade tablet of the Song n Ancient Scroll suddenly shattered and transformed into lustrous specks of light which disappeared into Qianye¡¯s fingertips.

    At this moment, Qianye had no time to heed the jade tablet. His attention was focused on the small vortex in his lower abdomen. The amount of arachne blood energy gradually decreased with the spinning of this whirlpool, and the dark tides in the vicinity were also drawn in. It seemed this type of cultivation method could, indeed, use up the arachne blood energy. Only then did Qianye sigh in relief and continued to guide the cirction.

    The vortex gradually began to expand with the continuous consumption of darkness origin power. In the end, all of the arachne blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body began to revolve around the part of his body described in the Song n Ancient Scroll as the ¡°dantian¡±. The vortex was like a grinding stone. Every cycle of its rotation would wear away some of the arachne blood energy while expanding the vortex itself a little bit.

    At this moment, the dark red and purple vampire blood energies were all holed up in his heart without the slightest bit of movement. Qianye even felt that they were somewhat apprehensive of the gradually spinning vortex. Only the gold-colored blood energy was revolving around his heart. It seemed as if neither daybreak nor darkness origin power could trouble it.

    An unusual phenomenon arose after an unknown amount of time. A blood-red mist was gradually condensed from the vortex. It then began to stretch and move about as if it possessed a spirit, but it couldn¡¯t leave the confines of the dantian no matter how much it moved about.

    The gold blood energy immediately noticed the appearance of the bloody mist. It suddenly calmed down as if it was focusing its attention on the direction of the rotating vortex.

    After a moment of silence, a new strand of mist was born and converged into the small bloody mist.

    The golden blood energy, in its extreme longing, rushed toward Qianye¡¯s consciousness with the momentum of an avnche, After which, it moved toward the vortex like an arrow before he could even react. It darted into the dantian and swallowed the bloody mist in one gulp!

    The middle segment of the golden blood energy bulged up like a snake that had overeaten. Before it could make its next move, the vortex suddenly began to spin rapidly. Thetter instantly swept the golden blood energy into it, forming an indistinct mass of shining mist!

    The whole process waspleted within the blink of an eye. Qianye had no time to react¡ªhe could only stare helplessly as the golden blood energy aura rapidly weakened until, in the end, itpletely merged into the vortex and ceased to exist.

    Qianye was stunned and his mind momentarily turned nk. The golden blood energy not only gave him his eyes ability, but was also the core of his so-called Venus Dawn. The three blood energies had existed together in his body until now and he could naturally tell that the golden blood energy was the strongest among them.

    In truth, all of these things were just part of the reason. Qianye suddenly felt his mind go empty when the golden blood energy dissipated within the vortex. He even felt a vague pain in his head. The sensation of unwarranted regret made him feel as if everything was just an illusion.

    At this moment in a certain farawaynd, a group of high-ranking dark race warriors was traveling swiftly through an underground tunnel. The squad consisted mostly of vampires. Shockingly, there were three viscounts and a count in their ranks, and the weakest among them was a knight.

    There were also two pale andnky demonkin within the squad. The auras on their bodies were profound and mysterious. It was almost impossible to see through them.

    Although this squad consisted of less than 100 people, it could immediately cause a huge quake if they were deployed in any part of Evernight Continent. Their strengths were easily sufficient to decide the battle situation with a perimeter covering several counties.

    However, these people seemed to have little interest in the war on the surface. They werepletely focused on advancing forward. Finally, a pired hall with no doors appeared at the end of the hidden tunnel. In the depths of this hall, however, were two gigantic copper doors dozens of meters in height.

 Volume 4 - 18: City of Heavenâ€™s Chosen

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 18: City of Heaven¡¯s Chosen

    There were undecipherable patterns and runespeak symbols carved upon the door. Streams of light still flickered across the symbols although the door had been left unopened for an unknown length of time. This signified that the origin array was still operational.

    A certain vampire viscount walked up and observed the door in detail. He then returned to the squad and said respectfully to the expressionless demonkin, ¡°Great Master Maris, I¡¯ve checked and found no other arrays in the vicinity. Only the seal on the door itself is still operational.¡±

    The down-curved edges of Maris¡¯ mouth shifted slightly as he emitted a nasal ¡°mm¡±. This was considered a reply.

    The viscount was only a step away from being addressed as a sire, but in the eyes of this Master Maris, he wasn¡¯t even worth speaking to.

    Maris took a slow step forward but his figure suddenly became blurry¡ªthe next moment, he had already appeared mid-air before the giant doors. He hovered there silently observing the runespeak symbols and patterns on the door.

    No origin power fluctuation could be sensed during this whole process. Even in his current levitational state, it seemed as if he was standing on an invisible tform instead of using origin power. The vampire viscounts gazed at Maris with reverence in their eyes. Even the count was wearing a rather reluctant expression which barely disguised his profound apprehension.

    Maris studied the door for quite some time before he exhaled deeply andmented, ¡°The work of a master! This is the work of a great master! Sadieson, my friend, what do you think?¡±

    Only then did the other elderly demonkin speak slowly, ¡°If we hadn¡¯t obtained the opening method in advance, it would likely take a couple hundred years to open this gate with our ability. Legends stated that Andruil was a grandmaster of runespeak and origin arrays. It seems they¡¯re not false.¡±

    The group of vampires were relieved and revealed delighted expressions. It was unknown how old these demonkin were, but they were both masters of runespeak and arrays. They had likely served the Evernight Council for more years than the ancestors of everyone else here had lived. Receiving such an affirmation from them meant that the operation this time had already half seeded¡ªthey had found the correct ce.

    Besides, Andruil was a vampire monarch. The fortunes he had left behind would benefit the vampire race the most. Perhaps all the vampires from the evernight camp would rise in strength once the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasurees into being.

    Sadieson walked toward a certain vampiredy and, erasing the arrogance on his countenance, spoke respectfully, ¡°You Majesty Nighteye, it¡¯s up to you at this point. Your bloodline is the only key to opening this great door.¡±

    Nighteye removed her hood at this moment¡ªher remarkably beautiful face was the very picture of perfection, a countenance free from all blemish. If one must find a w, it was that her expression was too cold and her demeanor too proud. She seemed to hold everyone around her in contempt.

    This vague arrogance was also an inherent majesty. However, no dark race member was discontent. Their society was extremely strict with regards to the hierarchy founded upon bloodline and strength. Someone of higher rank could kill someone of lower-rank with little to no repercussions, given that he possessed overwhelming strength.

    Many of the weaker vampires immediately lowered their heads as Nighteye removed her hood and dared not look upon her features. Even the viscounts dared not gaze at her for too long. Even so, they felt their heartbeats hastening and the blood energy within their hearts almost going out of control.

    While restraining her aura, there wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of origin power fluctuation around her. It was as if she was a fledgling vampire who couldn¡¯t yet leave her superiors¡¯ side. Even now, her strength was merely rank nine and had yet to reach the level requirement for a viscount. However, even the vampire count couldn¡¯t help but take a step back and edge away when she released her aura.

    The vampires only sensed the suppressive might stemming from the primogenitor bloodline. In Sadieson¡¯s eyes, however, there was a formless energy field proliferating constantly around Nighteye with some drifting runespeak symbols flickering on and off.

    The two demonkin masters both revealed expressions of admiration upon seeing the powerful runespeak array. This was a top-grade bloodline power which could be rated as a perfect prototype. She was able to utilize runespeak power instinctively even before the champion level. This was something many champions would fail to do in a lifetime.

    Hence to Maris and Sadieson, Nighteye wasn¡¯t just a young vampiredy who hadn¡¯t yet crossed the champion threshold but was a princess who would ultimately sit with Evernight Council in the future.

    This was the veneration every race from the evernight camp possessed toward bloodlines.

    Nighteye advanced and arrived before the bronze doors. She then rose into the air to stand beside Maris.

    Before her was a great eye carved upon the bronze door,prised of iparablyplex arrays. The tens of thousands of array lines each contained power. This had already been personally witnessed by the vampires in the squad. The vampires below the viscount level had observed the eye for mere moments before they began to grow dizzy and some even fell to the ground. At this moment, no one apart from the count dared look straight into the giant oculus.

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils gradually turned from blood color to gold. The wisp of golden radiance transformed continuously, seemingly materializing into aplex condensation. If anyone here possessed a magnifying eye ability, he would clearly find that there were countless golden strands twisting together repeatedly. They were actually duplicating the array within the giant eye one by one.

    Maris was finally moved¡ªhe waspletely unable to disguise his astonishment and profound envy.

    This was one¡¯s bloodline and innate gift¡ªthe root of darkness had always been unfair. Some existences arrived in this world with iparable power and were destined to trample all living beings underfoot. However, it was such injustice that made the dark race citizens revere and seek providence with all their heart.

    After the origin array in her eyes had formedpletely, Nighteye extended her left hand and used her nails to cut across her palm. Blood immediately gushed out like a spring.

    Nighteye muttered some words in ancient runespeak, each of her words containing tremendous energy. She actually had no grasp of the meanings behind them, but the string of runespeak words had suddenly appeared in her head after sessfully copying the origin power array on the bronze door.

    This was themand to open the giant bronze doors. Beyond these doors was their objective, something they had been seeking all this time.

    Nighteye slowly faced the bronze door and pressed her bloodstained left hand on the giant pupil. Countless strands of blood immediately spread along the origin array patterns and gradually extended over the whole eye.

    As fresh blood flowed out continuously from Nighteye¡¯s hand, her face became increasingly pale and her aura rapidly weakened. She suddenly fell from mid-air and copsed to the ground after failing to stabilize herself.

    The door seemed toe alive as thework of sanguineous lines covered the whole of the giant eye. The lustrous eye seemed as if it was about to start moving, and indeed all of a sudden, the eye blinked.

    Within moments, all of them felt as if the eye was staring at them!

    However, such a bizarre scene delighted the two demonkin instead. Sadieson stopped the vampire count who wanted to rush forward to support Nighteye and continued to wait.

    They didn¡¯t need to wait too long before the giant eye shattered and transformed into countless irregr blood colored fragments which dispersed in every direction along the origin power patterns. The giant door began to shake and rumble before slowly copsing backwards, finally revealing the world within.

    There was vast space behind the doors, hundreds of meters from floor to roof, and supported by gigantic stone pirs that could hardly be encircled by a dozen or so grown men.

    There was a deep ravine just beyond the door. ncing down, one could see water flowing at the bottom of the abyss and emitting a bluish luster. The more powerful vampires would feel even greater terror while gazing at this river.

    The falling bronze door just happened to fall across this deep ravine and formed a natural bridge.

    Nighteye slowly got up at this time, her aura weakened significantly. The vampire count hurriedly ran over and presented two translucent and sparkling pieces of ruby-like top grade blood crystals. Nighteye directly swallowed one of them before color gradually returned to her pale face.

    A faint mist suffused the area beyond the abyss. It didn¡¯t appear very thick, but nothing could be seen through it. Everything from the bridge formed of the giant bronze door to the high vault seemed to vanish from everyone¡¯s senses as soon as they reached the other side of the abyss¡ªeven the two demonkin¡¯s senses were being blocked¡ªonly Nighteye¡¯s pupils were able to see through the mist unobstructed.

    She pointed toward the distance and said, ¡°There¡¯s a city over there.¡±

    Maris was both delighted and surprised as he cried out somewhat excessively, ¡°Could it be the legendary Heaven¡¯s Chosen City!?¡±

    Sadieson also said, ¡°The city constructed by the runespeak proficient chosen of the dark races! Could it be true that Andruil had discovered the City of Heaven¡¯s Chosen?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll know when we see for ourselves. I can¡¯t wait!¡± Maris said eagerly.

    Sadieson turned back and said to the vampire count, ¡°You return immediately and inform the His Majesty ughterde that we¡¯ve found and sessfully opened the door of lifeweaving eye. We request him to dispatch reinforcements!¡±

    The vampire count was quite hesitant. ¡°Great master, the family has ordered me to protect Her Majesty Nighteye and not to leave her side.¡± ¡±

    Maris said frostily, ¡°It¡¯s sufficient with us two elders protecting her majesty. Who needs a mere count like you?¡±

    The vampire count wanted to protest but Sadieson suddenly let out a heavy harrumph. It was unknown what secret art he used but the vampire count suddenly went pale and his aura was immediately weakened. He was actually injured by this single strike.

    Nighteye suddenly said, ¡°You go and inform His Majesty ughterde. I won¡¯t be in danger within Andruil¡¯s domain.

    Only then did the vampire count leave grudgingly.

    Nighteye then nced at Sadieson and said lightly, ¡°Mother will naturally discuss what happened today with His Majesty Darkword.¡±

    Darkword was the immediate superior of the two demonkin. Sadieson¡¯s cheeks twitched after hearing these words, but in the end, he ground his teeth and bowed toward Nighteye. ¡°Your Majesty, I had no intention to offend you. I only hoped to inform His Majesty ughterde as quickly as possible and have hime over. After all, Great Monarch Andruil was exceedingly powerful and the defenses deployed by him might not be something we can break through on our own.¡±

    Seeing Sadieson apologize, Nighteye only snorted and proceeded to ignore the two demonkin as she advanced straight toward the other side of the abyss.

    She had just set foot on the other side when she let out a muffled groan and copsed onto the ground.

    The two astonished demonkin rushed over to support her.

    Nighteye¡¯s face was pale as she vacantly stared upwards as if she had lost her spirit. She only came to after Maris and Sadieson called out to her several times.

    Her eyes moved around, taking in the surrounding imagery and finallynded on Maris and Sadieson for a moment. Only then did her eyes gradually regain their spirit.

    ¡°Your Majesty, what¡¯s wrong?¡± Maris inquired hurriedly. This was a significant shock even for people with their status and identity. They certainly didn¡¯t want anything to happen to the princess of the Monroe n on their watch, especially not after they had just ordered the vampire count away.¡±

    Nighteye gradually propped herself up and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Perhaps I lost too much blood while opening the door. I¡¯ll be fine after some rest.¡±

    The squad found a ce to camp after crossing the chasm. Alone in her tent, Nighteye sat hugging her knees and staring nkly at her toes.

    She hadn¡¯t told Maris the truth at all.

 Volume 4 - 19: A New Battle

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 19: A New Battle

    After crossing the bridge, Nighteye suddenly felt as if an unseen string of fate had been severed. She suddenly felt her mind go nk.

    She couldn¡¯t tell clearly just what she had lost but the feeling of emptiness was fairly difficult to bear.

    Nighteye sat alone and was deep in thought, hoping to find an answer. She was startled to find that a certain figure had appeared in her mind.

    ¡°Could it be him?¡± Nighteye was surprised, but it seemed as if another voice in her heart was telling her that this wasn¡¯t unexpected.

    The squad continued their advance after several hours of rest. A city appeared before their eyes after passing through the dense mist.

    The whole city was and of deathly silence¡ªthere was no mor, neither was there any life. There was dust everywhere. It was unknown just how many years the city had passed in the quiet darkness. The squad searched through a number of buildings and couldn¡¯t find even a single corpse or skeleton. No one found any clues regarding where the citizens had gone.

    Within the households, the pots were on the stove, the utensils were on the table, and the sheets in the bedroom were left undone. However, they couldn¡¯t find traces of the master at all.

    Their investigation went smoothly. There was an iparablyrge shrine at the center of the city¡ªone could hardly miss such a target. Everyone was momentarily shocked by the scene before them after entering the shrine.

    It was extremely spacious within the great shrine. However, there weren¡¯t any extra objects at all within this gigantic space hundreds of square meters in area apart from a tall stage erected at its center. There was a crystal sculpture at each of the four corners of this stage. The fourdies had their hands extended toward the same point in the sky as if they were praying for something.

    The ce where they were pointing to waspletely empty, but the same feeling appeared within the hearts of everyone present¡ªthere used to be something there.

    And the item that had disappeared was likely the treasure they had been seeking persistently.

    Maris wanted to fly up to the stage and observe in detail but was held back by Sadieson who pointed toward the ground and said, ¡°Look underfoot!¡±

    Maries nced down and immediately drew in a breath of cold air.

    The floor of the entire hall was covered with crisscrossed carvings which, upon closer inspection, were all interconnected. This had meaning in Maris¡¯ eyes because it was actually an origin array which filled the whole of this shrine.

    ncing at the array beneath his feet and then back at the stage, Maris suddenly came to a realization. ¡°This is a sacrificial altar!¡±

    Sadieson slowly nodded with a serious expression.

    The carvings which formed the array were, in fact, grooves which would also serve to carry the medium. Apparently, the driving force for such arge array wasn¡¯t just origin power. And the sacrificial altar, as the name implied, required a sacrifice to disy its effects.

    Then just what were the offering and medium? How were the two rted?

    Back at ck y Swamp, Qianye did not walk out from the isted chamber for two days and one night.

    Almost all of the arachne blood energy had been consumed, and there was now a small vortex spinning within Qianye¡¯s lower abdomen. It was formed from supremely pure darkness origin power which, ording to attribute distribution, was extremely close to the peak of darkness origin.

    However, Qianye had no idea that Brahms¡¯ power was derived from his inherent physical strength. The arachne viscount had maintained his half-human state even after he had entered battle for so long and was unable to transform freely between human and arachnid forms like most high ranking arachne. The reason was that his bloodline wasn¡¯t pure enough.

    It would certainly cause quite amotion if the evernight camp discovered that he was able to refine such pure darkness origin power from a mixed and impure origin blood.

    However, Qianye was being regretful about another thing altogether. Compared to the scale of daybreak origin power condensation, the quantity of this darkness origin power was somewhatcking. He wasn¡¯t really expecting an extremely deep darkness origin power, but such an obvious change could hardly be ignored.

    The small vortex was still spinning without rest. It seemed like the densest of ck clouds, dark and bottomless. One would even feel, after staring at it for some time, the illusion of the boundless darkness suffused by the color of blood.

    ¡°Mysterious is he with red amidst the darkness.¡± This was a record within the Song n Ancient Scroll, describing one who had seeded in cultivating the mystery chapter and was on the verge of entering the next stage.

    Qianye sighed in his heart¡ªthe final moment was imminent.

    After two days and one night, his exhausted daybreak origin power had gradually returned to his usual levels. At this time, daybreak tides were flowing along Qianye¡¯s blood vessels while a dark vortex was spinning in his dantian. How would the darkness origin power, after fullypleting its condensation process, react with his native daybreak origin power? The result would be apparent soon enough.

    Which would it be¡ªthe ice and mes shared not a furnace, as proven by 1200 years of human practice, or the outrageous darkness-daybreak equilibrium as described by the Song n Ancient Scroll?

    Qianye didn¡¯t ponder too much nor was he terrified about the impending result. In fact, at this point, there wasn¡¯t much of a choice. He would rather bet his life on it rather than watch helplessly as the darkness origin power corroded him.

    The revolution of the vortex sped up several times as he guided the darkness origin power through its final cycle. In the end, it contracted violently to form a ck crystal the size of a fingertip.

    Howe such an object appeared? Qianye was astonished. Admittedly, it was good news that the darkness and daybreak origin powers weren¡¯t in conflict, but he hadn¡¯t sensed any form of equilibrium between them either.

    The ck crystal suddenly shattered before Qianye could extend his consciousness to observe further. From within emerged a stream of golden blood energy so thin that it was hardly discernible.

    The color and luster of this newborn blood energy were toward the darker side. Although its aura was extremely weak, it contained an aura which was cold, lofty, and awe-inspiring. It also vaguely contained a certain ancient and deste air about it as if it had experienced the passage of countless years.

    The dark golden blood energy began to move slowly and, like aet, left a faint trail wherever it went. The trail would only disappear after some time.

    Qianye suddenly discovered minute and faintly discernible runespeak symbols within its trail. It was just that, because the golden blood energy was too small and its trail even smaller, he could hardly confirm whether he truly saw something.

    The dark golden blood energy first roamed the area filled with fragments of the ck crystal. These particles would disappear as the blood energy moved forward. Afterwards, it began to move upwards against the flow of Qianye¡¯s blood, as if it was familiarizing itself with the new environment.

    Qianye suddenly felt that the original golden blood energy possessed its own intelligence while the present one was like a newborn baby.

    The dark golden blood energy finally arrived at his heart. The eye ability seal hadn¡¯t dispersed after losing the golden blood energy and was still hovering within his heart. The dark golden blood energy was like a curious child¡ªit circled the seal a few times and tried touching it a couple of times with its slender head before shooting right into it. It then curled up and began to hibernate as if it had finally confirmed that this ce was its new home.

    Qianye saw Song Hu sitting right outside as he walked out of the cultivation room. It seemed he had already been waiting for a long time. There were many things to do after the great battle. It was unlikely that Song Hu woulde here to waste time unless it was necessary.

    ¡°Has anything happened?¡± Qianye extended his arms and allowed Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine to change his sweat-drenched clothes.

    Song Hu replied, ¡°We¡¯ve already discovered traces of the dark race army¡¯s follow-up squad in the swamp. General Wei wants you to visit him immediately after you finish your cultivation to arrange defensive matters.¡±

    Most of the expeditionary army officers had left by the time Qianye walked into the war room. A number of Wei n personal guards had also received their missions and were just about to leave.

    Wei Bainian was standing in front of the map of the war zone. He turned around after hearing Qianye enter and said, ¡°There¡¯s a good news and a bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?¡±

    ¡°The good news first then.¡± Since Wei Bainian was still in the mood for humor, the situation probably hadn¡¯t deteriorated to a disastrous state. However, Qianye noticed that the expressions of the officers he had passed by on the way here weren¡¯t exactly good-looking.

    Wei Bainian said, ¡°The good news is that the vanguard army we had just eradicated was, in fact, half of their forces in this direction. Furthermore, the price we paid for this victory was extremely smallpared to the previous expeditionary army campaigns.¡±

    Qianye nodded and asked, ¡°Then what¡¯s the bad news?¡±

    Wei Bainian smiled ruefully and replied, ¡°The bad news is that, although the dark race army isn¡¯t being reinforced, they seem to have no intention of changing their route. The scouts reported just now that they¡¯ve discovered the follow-up unit within the swamp and the leader is likely Sades Soulsplitter.¡±

    ¡°Soulsplitter? Is it that werewolf tribe?¡±

    ¡°Correct. The Soulsplitter Tribe is one of the ten great werewolf tribes, notorious for their bloodthirst and cruelty. That aside, the problem is that Sades Soulsplitter is also a champion.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°Two champions?¡±

    Wei Bainian nodded with a solemn expression. ¡°Yes, they refuse to change routes even after losing half the army. This war zone is clearly but a mere segment of their military deployment. Dispatching two champions in a direction which can¡¯t be considered an important point probably means the strength of the dark race offensive this time ispletely unprecedented.¡±

    Qianye walked toward Wei Bainian and asked while checking the newly marked map, ¡°General, how are your injuries?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve recovered more or less. Fortunately, I have brought along a special medicine from my personal stash. I didn¡¯t want to use it at first, but who would¡¯ve expected a werewolf to appear! Sigh, that medicine is worth a grade-six origin gun.¡± At this point, Wei Bainian shrugged. He seemed rather reluctant to part with it.

    Special medicine capable of healing a champion''s injuries within a short period was extremely rare. It was a life-saving ace to be used in perilous situations. But with the imminent arrival of another dark race champion, Wei Bainian had no choice but to recover to his peak state as quickly as possible.

    Following which, Wei Bainian shifted the topic back to the business at hand. ¡°I¡¯ve already arranged for the urgent transfer of troops from other defense lines and only left enough troops to maintain order. With that, we can at least maintain the advantage in troop strength. Your Dark me Mercenary Corps will be in charge of defending this position, an area of 100 meters of the town wall and the three adjacent street blocks.

    Qianye pointed toward the map and said, ¡°This area seems a bit too weak¡­¡±

    At this point, he suddenly felt a slight difort in the left hand he had propped on the table and thus moved it every so slightly. With a loud crash, the whole meeting table was broken into countless wooden fragments and even the military map upon it was torn to shreds.

    Qianye¡¯s left hand was still pressed on empty air. He waspletely stunned.

    Wei Bainian was also astonished and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What just happened?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ that¡­ I think I used a little too much strength.¡± Qianye stuttered as he spoke.

 Volume 4 - 20: The Second Battle

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 20: The Second Battle

    ¡°A little too much strength?¡± Wei Bainian¡¯s tone was suspicious. He had seen Qianye exchange pointers with his personal guards before¡ªthe standard militarybat technique, in Qianye¡¯s hands, wasn¡¯t at all inferior to those from aristocratic families. How could such a person lose control of his own strength? However, he reacted swiftly and sized up Qianye as he said, ¡°You didn¡¯t advance in rank, but it seems your strength has increased.¡±

    ¡°It seems so.¡± Qianye nodded. Afterwards, his right leg began to itch and ache ufortably as if countless ants were crawling within. He couldn¡¯t help but move it a bit. With a crack, the board beneath Qianye¡¯s foot shattered and left a big hole therein.

    Wei Bainian responded swiftly¡ªa yellow beam of origin power radiance extended toward Qianye to help stabilize his body. Otherwise, the room might notst under thetter¡¯s staggering.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s expression turned somewhat odd as he nced at his hand. ¡°Just how much did your strength grow?¡± The outward extension of his origin power wasparable to solid material. Thus, he clearly felt Qianye¡¯s strength after propping him up. This growth within this short period was extremely shocking.

    Naturally, Qianye himself had no answer to this. This kind of change was brought about by the dark golden blood energy. Qianye clearly felt the initiation of a new cycle of strengthening in his body after it upied the eye-ability rune and the process was still ongoing.

    Wei Bainian saw Qianye¡¯s confused expression and broke into aughter while shaking his head. ¡°This is a good thing. Normally, people in the fighter stage will only see an obvious increase in strength when advancing in rank. Only those with exceptional talent or special arts will gain a couple of extra opportunities between levels. Your gift, the Venus Dawn, had always been one to look down on those at the same level, so it isn¡¯t very surprising to see such a benefit. However, you must make use of this time to get some more training done and adapt to this new strength as quickly as possible.¡±

    ¡°Go, the next battle will probably arrive in two or three days,¡± Wei Bainian gave it some thought before adding, ¡°remember to bring more supporters into battle this time.¡±

    The smallest of mistakes on the battlefield could lead to disastrous oues¡ªevery decision was a measure of the distance between life and death¡ªeven the smallest of mistakes couldn¡¯t be tolerated. It would, on the contrary, cause him great danger if Qianye couldn¡¯t adapt to his strength immediately. [1]

    Qianye nodded in acknowledgment. He sensed Wei Bainian¡¯s concern as the elder, but the philosophy of a Yellow Springs Graduate was to nurture one¡¯sbat abilities inbat. No amount of training couldpare to an actual battle.

    The minor prelude before the battle thus passed by. Hundreds of dark race soldiers appeared outside of ck y Town three dayster. Just as before, there were no cannon fodder. All of them were regr warriors.

    The external defensive fortifications had all been reduced to ruins after the previous battle, and the greater half of the structures within the town had also been destroyed. Despite urgent repairs for the past few days, they could only restore the outward appearance.

    The original town gate and tower, for instance, had long since been leveled during the fight with Brahms. Presently, they had raised rows of sharpened stakes as a temporary line of defense. Many other segments of the town wall were also damaged, and some ces hadpletely copsed. They could only use logs to fill in the gaps as a temporary measure.

    Hence by the time Sades Soulsplitter emerged from the swamp, what he saw was a broken ck y Town that was even inferior to therger human settlements. To this three-meter tall, dark grey-furred werewolf, these defensive structures couldn¡¯t be considered a fort at all¡ªeven calling them roadblocks was somewhat strained.

    A certain werewolf lieutenant colonel ran over and saluted at Sades before reporting, ¡°We¡¯ve confirmed that the defending army in the town before us belongs to a formal numbered unit of the human expeditionary army. Additionally, the battlefield is suffused with the scent of blood belonging to Sir Viscount Brahms and his subordinates.¡±

    Sades let out a cold snort and said, ¡°This means that brainless idiot Brahms and his troops werepletely wiped out?¡±

    ¡°It should be so. General Sades, should we wait for reinforcements?¡±

    Sades snorted once more and said coldly, ¡°Why should we wait? The superiors haven¡¯t issued any new orders even after the reports were submitted. Additionally, the lord we¡¯re coborating with is a mighty count of the Monroe family. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re clear about the consequences of a dy.¡± He pointed toward ck y Town and added, ¡°Must I report that I was dragged down here by such a bunch of ragtags?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel involuntarily lowered his head. A fair amount of friction between werewolves and vampires was usual even when working as allies¡ªneither party epted the other. However, it was different with the Monroes. This family name wasn¡¯t merely one of the 13 great vampire ns, but it was also acknowledged throughout the whole of the dark world. An influential count of the Monroe n was sufficient to make the arrogant werewolves maintain a level of respect.

    ¡°Brahms¡¯ strength is evident despite hisck of intelligence and even I am not so certain I can beat him for sure. This area is merely a third-rate defensive region under the expeditionary army¡¯s jurisdiction and will have, at most, a couple of champions. How can they not have paid a heavy price to kill the former? I reckon they¡¯re just bluffing right now.¡± At this point, Sades raised his head and let out a long wolf howl!

    A circle of dark red fluctuations spread out rapidly with Sades at the center. All the werewolves immediately felt their hair stand on end as a dark red glow of bloodthirst appeared on their bodies.

    Sades let out yet another howl after the battle-cry. This was themand to attack.

    The hundreds of werewolves howled in unison before crouching down and dashing toward ck y Town. With lightning speed, the distance of a few hundred meters was covered within mere moments.

    Great balls of me suddenly rose amidst the running werewolves as the rumble of heavy artillery reverberated through the air. Dozens of werewolves were thrown into the air and flung backwards. For the two unlucky victims struck directly by the shell, heads and limbs were blown away instead.

    However, such casualties were negligiblepared to the whole squad. Not only did the werewolves not reduce their speed, they even began to charge. The stronger leaders, on the other hand, reduced their speed and turned their attention to the cannon cement.

    When the second volley arrived, the shells were shot by officers and exploded in midair. Only three of themnded sessfully and killed a few werewolf warriors.

    Sades finally began to move after seeing the warriors at the van charge into the town. He advanced toward ck y Town inrge strides. This werewolf general loved to personally dig out the hearts of his enemies.

    A certain werewolf captain brazenly leapt onto the town wall. He sent the defending expeditionary army soldier flying with a swipe of his ws before jumping right into the town. He took two hurried steps but came to an urgent halt after seeing Qianye who had just walked out of a house about ten meters away to block this his path.

    The werewolf captain quivered and his hair began to stand on end. The young man before him couldn¡¯t be considered strong even by human standards. However, the heavy armor crudely fastened outside of his warrior attire was clearly part of an arachne armor, and the warhammer in his hand was also the type used specifically by arachne officers. Those things were so excessively heavy that even werewolf officers would rarely choose such an outfit.

    His subconscious reaction to the scent of iparable danger dictated the werewolf captain to retrieve the battle-axe from his back. After all, werewolves weren¡¯t beasts¡ªweapons were certainly much more reliable than fangs and ws at a juncture of life and death.

    The werewolf captain growled as he charged at Qianye at full speed.

    Qianye¡¯s movements seemed somewhat sluggish and even awkward. He simply swung the warhammer and smashed it toward the iing werewolf captain.

    A sudden whistle resounded from the head of the hammer as it passed the point in the arc where it was pointed toward the sky. The werewolf captain simply couldn¡¯t believe his ears¡ªit was clearly a blunt weapon¡ªhow was it able to produce such a sound made by sharp weapons tearing through the air? The werewolf howled instinctively and waved the battle-axe with all his might to block the iing blow.

    Only half of Qianye¡¯s attention was on the werewolf captain because all of his limbs were still arching and itching unbearably. There was also a feeling of distension and swelling as if he would only feel better after venting the power within. The warhammer, suffused with a scarlet radiance,nded urately on the werewolf¡¯s battle-axe.

    The once iparably sturdy grade two battle-axe, at this moment, was as soft as freshly baked bread. It gave away at first contact and was immediately deformed like melted butter while the warhammer continued its unobstructed descent.

    Next to deform was the werewolf¡¯s skull and body.

    A deep pit appeared on the limestone road as Qianye¡¯s hammer fell. The werewolf captain and his battle-axe had been smashed deep into the hole, transforming into a mixture of metal, flesh, and blood.

    Qianye himself was astonished. Thebination of pure strength and origin power could result in such might? Although he had been training constantly for the past three days to gain better control over his new strength, the changes in his body hadn¡¯t stopped, and as such, it was difficult to exercise control over his output.

    But ording tomon knowledge, one had to continuously unload this energy and preferably at full capacity. This would allow the body to thoroughly remember the present state and adapt ordingly.

    The battlefield was the best of grinding stones.

    Qianye hoisted the heavy hammer and began to search for another battle. A number of werewolves were currently engaged in a desperate battle against a squad of expeditionary army warriors. The strongest among them suddenly raised its head and sniffed hard. Hair on end, it cautiously turned toward the left to see Qianye who had just turned around the corner and was approaching with slow and unsteady steps.

    The werewolf¡¯s roar became a whimper after seeing Qianye. It suddenly shook off its opponent and fled with a few groans. The remaining werewolves were also rmed and turned to nce at Qianye at the same time before running away.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished. He checked himself and found nothing special apart from smoke and bloodstains. This was a battlefield and the intense scent of blood was everywhere.

    Qianye walked toward the expeditionary army squad and was just about to ask about their situation when he saw some soldiers turn pale with terror reflected within their eyes. Some fell back and passed out immediately.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qianye asked bluntly. Passing out in battle was unforgivable for any reason.

    A certain captain ground his teeth and stepped out. He was trembling with fear as he said, ¡°Commander Qianye, s-sir¡­ I don¡¯t know why, but we¡¯re all¡­ scared of you.¡±

    Qianye frowned and deliberately withdrew his aura. As expected, the soldiers¡¯ expressions took a turn for the better. At this point, Qianye was extremely puzzled¡ªit seemed the problem was with himself. In terms of suppressive might, he hadn¡¯t even reached the champion level. Neither did he sense any change in the origin power aura emanating from him.

    Qianye waved his hand and instructed the soldiers to head over to support another weak area. He, himself, headed toward an arachne in the distance. The rank seven arachne actually took two steps back after turning around to see Qianye approaching.

    [1] ²îÖ®ºÁÀåÊ§Ö®Ç§Àï Lit. An error of one milli-Li (0.5 meters) could result in the loss of a thousand Li (500,000 meters)

 Volume 4 - 21: The Shadow Behind the Reception

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 21: The Shadow Behind the Reception

    Despite the lingering doubts in his heart, he couldn¡¯t let such a battle opportunity to slip by. He immediately started to charge. Dark red radiance lingered around his shoulders as his hammer, once again, whistled through the air. The arachne captainy smashed on the ground after the tempestuous onught.

    Qianye stepped on the arachne¡¯s chest, drew the Radiant Edge and pierced it deep into thetter¡¯s heart. Surging blood energy flowed through the Radiant Edge and into his body. His mind was immediately shaken.

    The blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body was nearing its maximum capacity after killing two more arachne and a werewolf.

    The final battle, just as before, involved numerous high ranking warriors supporting Wei Bainian in killing Sades. However, drawing from the previous lesson, Qianye no longer used the Radiant Edge to deliver the honorary finishing blow but instead used a warhammer to smash the werewolf general¡¯s spine.

    This battle left ck y Townpletely leveled. Wei Bainian seemed to be in a great mood despite being wounded again. He only left a token guard force and a small scouting party here before returning to ckflow City with the bulk of the army. Qianye and the Dark me Mercenary Corps were also brought along with him.

    The first thing Wei Bainian did upon arrival in ckflow City was neither a bolstering of defenses nor an examination of the situation in the other lines of defense. Instead, he instructed his men to prepare a grand celebratory wine reception and invited everyone possessing a certain level of fame and prestige within the defensive region.

    The heads of Brahms and Sades Soulsplitter were preserved with a secret art and disyed at the wine reception. Reports of the battle had already been delivered to the expeditionary army headquarters. These two trophies willter be sent back to the empire as a disy of military aplishments.

    Qianye was naturally also an honored guest at the reception. Additionally, his mercenary band also received a quota to attend the reception. This could be considered a rare honor. But Qianye was still unustomed to such asions¡ªafter chatting with some of the expeditionary army officers, he brought his food to an inconspicuous corner table behind the pir. Wei n was indeed worthy of being an aristocratic family. With only a single day of preparation and even during wartime, every detail of this reception was arranged perfectly.

    Song Hu followed Qianye around and naturally noticed thetter¡¯s expression. He only spoke after the two had almost cleaned their tes, ¡°Is young master wondering why General Wei is holding a celebration with great fanfare instead of managing urgent military matters?¡±

    Qianye raised his head and nced around. He said after seeing no one had taken notice of them, ¡°Although we won two battles, the officer casualty rate is almost one-third and troop casualties are more or less the same. That was only a dark race squad from a single direction.¡± What he didn¡¯t say was that the battle situation hadn¡¯t yet rxed and, on the contrary, was about to get even more strained. It was a bit too early to be celebrating.

    Song Hu understood his implication and replied with a smile, ¡°Young master, you¡¯ll start to see many other aspects to matters when you get to General Wei¡¯s position. This time, for instance, the Wei n suddenly arrived to suppress the 7th expeditionary army division and even killed the divisionmander. Although Xiao Lingshi¡¯s side was silent, there are other generals within the expeditionary army headquarters. Even though they¡¯re not showing it on the surface, how can they not have other secret designs? Even if they can¡¯t do anything publicly, there are no shortage of things they can do behind our backs.¡±

    ¡°Behind our backs?¡± Qianye seemed to have grasped the outline.

    Song Hu replied, ¡°Supplies, funds, and provisions for instance. The empire¡¯s supply allocations for the expeditionary army are already insufficient. Now it¡¯ll grow even less after passing through the headquarters¡¯ hands. In any case, dys are amon urrence¡ªthe sequence is from top to bottom¡ªas for whether the 7th division is receiving especially fewer provisions, no one will show any interest.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Wei n channeling resources over here?¡±

    Song Huughed out loud, ¡°Wei n? They¡¯re located in the remote Far East Province, more than thousands kilometers away. If they have to ship resources from their continent, the transportation will probably cost several times more than the resources themselves. However, there is no way to get past the expeditionary army headquarters if they were to collect supplies locally. In truth, this applies not only to resources but also to military aplishments.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned cold as he replied coldly, ¡°Could it be that they dare to embezzle military aplishments?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they dare?¡± Song Hu questioned.

    Qianye was somewhat startled because Red Scorpion didn¡¯t have such an atmosphere. However, he had heard about unfair resource distributions even within the regr army. It was just that he had never expected that military aplishments could be embezzled from an established unit fighting an honest battle.

    ¡°They even dare touch the Wei n¡¯s military aplishments?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown. Besides, Wei Bainian wasn¡¯t a nobody within the Wei n.

    Song Huughed coldly. ¡°The Wei n means nothing. The Marquis is a top character in imperial court with monopoly over the military and governmental affairs of the whole Far East Province. Comparatively, his voice holds little sway over the imperial military. The expeditionary army might even be stronger in terms ofprehensive strength. But this gigantic entitycks internal unity, much like a tray of loose sand, while Xiao Lingshi himselfcks a proper background. That¡¯s the main reason for theirck of prominence in the empire.¡±

    At this point, Song Hu said with some pride, ¡°If it¡¯s the Song n here, I¡¯d like to see if they dare make odd moves!¡±

    Qianye nced at Song Hu. He then lowered his eyes to ponder for a moment before saying, ¡°Did General Wei want to deter certain people from the expeditionary army headquarters from going too far by holding this celebration and spreading the news first?¡±

    ¡°It is exactly so.¡±

    Qianye felt a certain difort within his heart. ¡°If they¡¯re even embezzling the aplishments obtained by the front line soldiers in life-and-death struggles, who will be willing to fight for the empire in the future?¡±

    Song Hu¡¯s expression was calm as usual without any signs of indignation. He shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°This is and abandoned by the empire, is it not? Some people neither n nor look that far ahead. Besides, Wu Zhengnan¡¯s incident is a thorn in their flesh. Some people want nothing more than for the 7th division to be wiped out.¡±

    Qianye inhaled deeply. Momentarily, he was at a loss whether to be angry or depressed.

    It was at this moment that a Wei n personal guard came to see him. ¡°Young Master Qian, General Wei invites you over to the study.¡±

    Qianye nodded towards Song Hu and followed the personal guard.

    Song Hu nced at Qianye¡¯s figure from the back andughed soundlessly. The seventh young master¡¯s friend was an expert in solobat but was like a nk sheet of paper in other matters¡ªthe ssical oue of elite military training since childhood. If there were no idents, he would definitely be an extremely sharp de. However, overly firm items tend to break easier.

    As things stood, perhaps there wasn¡¯t much to worry about. Although inconsistent with his character, Qianye possessed a certain sharpness regarding strategy which allowed him to deduce many things from a single case. Even if he wasn¡¯t one to scheme against other people, he likely wouldn¡¯t fall for others¡¯ ploys that easily.

    Within the study, Wei Bainian was standing in front of a war zone map which upied a whole wall. His brows were locked together and his expression was solemn, a stark contrast from his spirited and cheerful demeanor back at the wine reception.

    ¡°General, you called for me?¡± Qianye knocked on the half-open door and entered.

    Wei Bainian passed him a few papers saying, ¡°This is the report I received just now. Take a look at it!¡±

    Qianye received the papers and was immediately shocked after looking through them. ¡°West Cliff Town was lost? So was Midcurrent and Three Cypress?¡±

    ¡°The defending troops were obliterated and only a few escaped.¡± Wei Bainian¡¯s tone was serious.

    The three small towns were located on the borders of the defensive region, directly facing the dark race frontier. Now that all three of them had been lost, it was apparent that dark race armies had also appeared from those directions.

    ¡°Howe there are so many units joining the battle this time?¡± Qianye suddenly recalled something and asked, ¡°General, how are your injuries?¡±

    Wei Bainian inhaled deeply and let out a wryugh, ¡°The umted injuries from two continuous battles will need at least a couple of weeks to heal. It¡¯ll be extremely dangerous if another battle arrives.¡± This was attributed to the extraordinary qualities of Wei Bainian¡¯s inherited arts¡ªthe Thousand Mountains was top-grade in defense¡ªhow otherwise could one not pay a steep price to kill a champion ofparable strength? Wei Bainian hadn¡¯t received any grave injuries, only those umted over the course of continuous battles. This was an excellent oue.

    Qianye shivered involuntarily after going through the report. The three border towns had copsed almost immediately after the battle began and didn¡¯t even have time to ask for reinforcements. The dark race armies were inevitably led by champions.

    The situation would be extremely dire if Wei Bainian couldn¡¯t hold them back. Qianye could severely wound an ordinary champion with a sessful ambush, but killing them just wasn¡¯t possible for him. Furthermore, he definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the other party¡¯s desperate counterattack.

    Wei Bainian said with a sigh, ¡°Although these developments are unexpected, it wasn¡¯tpletely without clues. I¡¯ve already made some preparations. This is also the meaning behind this wine reception.¡±

    ¡°To avoid military aplishments being discounted?¡± Qianye asked hesitantly.

    Wei Bainian shook his head. ¡°Military aplishments are minor. Everyone, barring the descendants of those generals from the headquarters, will suffer some deductions more or less. I held this wine reception to let people know that we gained two absolute victories. With such aplishments made known, whatever I do next won¡¯t be criticized.¡±

    Qianye was startled as he waited for Wei Bainian¡¯s continuation.

    As expected, Wei Bainian pped his extended hand hard on the map and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already issued the order for all troops to retreat to ckflow City. The surrounding cities and towns will be abandoned without exception, including the Four Rivers Military Base.

    This strategy shocked Qianye momentarily¡ªwithdrawing the whole army to defend a single city was a great military taboo. Wouldn¡¯t it be an isted city without the deep battle lines? Besides, the defensive fortifications in ckflow City weren¡¯t as strong as those of Darkblood City.

    Wei Bainian continued, ¡°The forces mobilized by the dark races this time has far surpassed anyone¡¯s imagination. We have no idea what they¡¯re after, but it certainly isn¡¯t the 7th division¡¯s deste and barren territory. After concentrating all our strength in ckflow City, anyone hoping to take us down will have to pay a certain price. If that price is steep enough, I would circle around and avoid being entangled here if I were the other side¡¯s leader.¡±

    At this point, Wei Bainian recovered his usual leisurely attitude and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s time we let our expeditionary army colleagues taste how sharp the edge of the dark race¡¯s army really is. Let¡¯s see how many waves of attacks they can withstand and how many champions they can kill.¡±

    Qianye was dumbfounded¡ªWei Bainian¡¯s method of withdrawal and leaving the main road open was an obvious move to divert the source of cmity. Not to mention thebined dark race forces from various directions, defending ckflow city would be a problem even against the joined force of Brahms¡¯ and Sades¡¯ armies.

    Wei Bainian patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said meaningfully, ¡°Maybe ckflow City will fall to you after this war ends.¡±

 Volume 4 - 22: Total War

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 22: Total War

    Qianye looked up at Wei Bainian¡¯s expression¡ªsome thoughts shed through his mind as he realized what thetter meant.

    The expeditionary army headquarters was still deploying troops ording to routine, but the dark race army¡¯s strength had far surpassed their estimation. The several divisions garrisoned across the whole Trinity River County would suffer heavy damage in the face of such an onught. A couple of divisions might even have their numbers canceled.

    Wei Bainian would be able to preserve his strength to arge extent if his concentrated defense strategy was able to hold out. With such a trade-off, Wei Bainian¡¯s 7th Division would rise as a major power of the post-war Trinity River County. With Qianye¡¯s contributions in the war, he would then have the qualifications to hold a city given that he was able to grasp the opportunity to expand his mercenary corps.

    Qianye let out a long sigh¡ªhe felt a great deal of respect for Wei Bainian. Song Hu had once told him that Wei Bainian¡¯sck of fame was simply because his specialty was in defense. Within this fiercely martial empire, it was mostly stories about brave generals who charged through enemy lines that people frequently spoke of. Only today did Qianye trulyprehend the meaning behind the word ¡°defense¡±.

    Song Hu himself was no saint either. Once a chief-of-staff in a regr army corps, he was able to guess most of Wei Bainian¡¯s intentions just from small clues. ording to his previous tone of voice, it seemed he quite approved of Wei Bainian¡¯s vicious arrangements.

    Indeed, none of these characters who had reached such a position was easy to deal with.

    Qianye suddenly felt somewhat distressed¡ªif he moved forward along the current trajectory, upying a city after the war wasn¡¯t impossible. He might be able to gain morends thereafter or even a whole county. At that time, the people he would have to deal with, whether friend or foe, would be characters like Wei Bainian and Song Hu. Compared to them, no wonder Song Hu felt Gu Liyu wasn¡¯t impressive at all.

    Although he knew and understood the nature of such arrangements, he still felt an inexplicable sense of depression.

    In the entirety of the empire, perhaps only Zhang Baqian was free from such circuitous activities. His character was absolutely unrestrained and would do whatever he wanted¡ªmost times, he wouldn¡¯t even care about the Imperial Household. But whatever he did, he would only garner overwhelming apuse because all those who dared risk their lives to criticize Zhang Baiqian had already lost their lives.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know why at this moment, he was thinking about an unfamiliar character like Zhang Baqian, whom he had only ever heard of. Perhaps he was just like the many other hot-blooded youths of the empire who subconsciously admired Zhang Baqian¡¯s style before their passions were ground away by reality.

    Marshal Zhang never thought twice about killing.

    The situation was just as Wei Bainian foresaw. The unstoppable dark race army swept through all the towns and cities between the border and ckflow City. The army consisted of tens of thousands of cannon fodder and thousands of regr warriors from every primary dark race, from werewolves to demonkin. Such a force had no weaknesses and was impervious to ambushes and sneak attacks. One could only meet them head-on.

    Wei Bainian had withdrawn the battle lines in advance, collecting all moveable men and materials into ckflow City. Citizens who were willing to follow the army in its retreat were taken into the city but there was no time to convince those who weren¡¯t. All of them were left in their original locations. The fate of these people need not be exined once the dark race army passed through.

    The whole of the 7th division had withdrawn to defend ckflow City. Even the deployment of scouts were few and limited to the area around the city.

    Every corner of the city was undergoing urgent construction. Large machinery which hadn¡¯t been used for a long time began to puff out steam which covered the greater part of the city from dawn to dusk. With that, a fort gradually took shape.

    Daily life revolved around defensive matters. All resources, as long as it was required for war, would be acquisitioned unconditionally. Naturally, there were people in the city who depended on their identities to defy the expropriation. There were even some who wanted to hoard certain resources and take advantage of the unrest to amass great profits. At this time, Wei Bainian revealed some thunderous methods¡ªhe killed off a number of young masters and effectively intimidated everyone else.

    The current poption in ckflow City had exceeded 100,000. The whole of the 7th division was garrisoned here, and an additional 20,000 temporary warriors were conscripted. ckflow City was now like a curled up hedgehog, waiting for the fierce beasts toe knocking on the door.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s move was a tactic of using weak forces to defend against the strong. It was almost invincible but not without consequences. The duty to defend was among the first ten uses of imperial militaryw. His method of allowing the dark races to pass through would draw heavy criticism and might even result in his immediate removal from office.

    However, Wei Bainian was quite calm. His contribution of killing two enemy champions was enough to cancel out the penalty for his withdrawal. This was also why he had concentrated the line of defense on ck y Town.

    The great dark race army arrived at ckflow City seven days after the wine reception.

    When the massive dark race army, tens of thousands in number, appeared outside the city walls, those people who had been hooting about charging out into battle and fighting for every inch ofnd immediately shut up. The numbers didn¡¯t make one feel absolutely hopeless¡ªwhat truly made one afraid to stare directly was the massiveyer of clouds which had formed a gigantic vortex above the densely packed formations, rotating slowly with the army at its center.

    At the center of this vortex, one could see five vague pirs of light surging toward the sky and connecting with the center of the vortex. The emanation of the dark race experts¡¯ aura had caused an abnormal alteration of origin power between the heaven and earth, resulting in this shocking scene. This also meant that there were actually five champions leading this army!

    At the center of the formation, the uneven figures of five experts possessing simr surging auras slowly rose toward the sky and gazed at the well-fortified ckflow City.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be a bit troublesome.¡±

    ¡°What trouble? It¡¯s just a small city.¡±

    ¡°But how many of our warriors will die?¡±

    ¡°They only have a single champion.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that Brahms and Sades both fell to this man. You can¡¯t hold him back and neither can I. The despicable human will escape as soon as the battle is unfavorable. It¡¯s meaningless if we capture the city but let him escape.¡±

    Four dark race champions quickly began to exchange ideas but felt that it was a thorny task to tackle ckflow City which had been armed to the teeth.

    As they couldn¡¯te to a unanimous decision, their gazes fell on the petite figure at their center who hadn¡¯t spoken a word since the beginning.

    This mighty count of the Monroe n had already lived for 700 hundred years. He easily overwhelmed the other four champions both in terms of bloodline origin and personal strength. He spoke with a hoarse voice after a period of silence, ¡°Our road ahead is still very long. This is but the first stop.¡±

    The other four champions immediately turned silent. It would undoubtedly affect theirter battles if they lost too much troop strength here. They all knew the true reason behind this battle and were also aware of the lip-smacking strength that had been mobilized. Not to mention others, even the Evernight Council had dispatched nine members!

    None of them would be able to assume responsibility if a battle of such scale was dyed because of them.

    At this time, the count continued, ¡°Additionally, we shouldn¡¯t forget that our mission this time isn¡¯t to upy cities ornd.¡±

    The other four champions nodded in session. This circumstances surrounding this battle were special. As for why they had received such an order, even they didn¡¯t have the qualifications to know the inside story.

    Seeing that none of the others were protesting, the vampire count said slowly, ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. Let¡¯s head toward the next city.¡±

    The dark race army hadn¡¯t stopped over for too long before they received new orders. However, it wasn¡¯t to attack but to retreat. This made many of the violent dark race warriors dissatisfied. The human city was already before their eyes and it was filled with fresh meat. Why weren¡¯t they attacking such a small city?

    Many races from the evernight camp were inherently violent and impatient. However, they had forgotten that the vampires, with their calm and refined appearances, were just as vicious and cruel. And the Monroes, whose emblem was the dread flower datura, were better known for their bloodthirst. Several dozen uproarious soldiers were dragged out from their squads and beheaded on the spot.

    The count¡¯s bloody ruthlessness finally suppressed all dissent and brought the great army back under his will.

    The countless people in ckflow City couldn¡¯t believe their eyes when the dark race army left in the end. They finally understood that they should hold the new master of the 7th division, the seemingly gentle and refined aristocratic champion, in greater respect.

    The dark race also left a medium-sized garrison, obviously to monitor activity in ckflow City. At this moment, it seemed those in the city had regained their ¡°rationality¡± as no one suggested going out to eradicate this squad.

    From that moment on, the fires of war ignited across the whole of Evernight Continent. The dark races mobilized armies of unprecedented scale and assaulted the human territory from dozens of routes. Tens of expeditionary army divisions copsed within a short period. Nearly ten counties were lost in session, and more or less the same number in imminent danger¡ªtheir defending armies had suffered severe damage and the defense lines could copse at any moment.

    The expeditionary army, as a whole, suffered a serious setback within a short period of time. At the current rate, the imperial expeditionary army would bepletely defeated within two more months, and human powers would bepletely driven out of Evernight Continent for the first time in history.

    The empire finally responded¡ªone month after the war began, the 9th legion entered Evernight Continent. The leading squads of the 17th and 21st legionsnded a weekter. After two months, elite corps such as Broken Winged Angels, Red Scorpion, and Arms of War were dispatched toward Evernight Continent in session.

    Among the four great ns, the Bai and Zhao ns began to dispatch experts to Evernight Continent on arge scale andunched a desperate attack against the dark race experts. During one of the most bitter battles, a total 11 champion rank experts from both sides were killed.

    This was a total war¡ªthe whole empire and even the whole of the daybreak and evernight factions were involved, all of them showing some signs of activity.

    The Northern Legion, under themand of the normally gentle Lin Xitang, suddenly mobilized on arge scale andunched a fierce attack on the rebel armies on the western frontier. Additionally, they imposed a coercion policy for the first time on the rebel-active regions, and night curfew was uniformly put into effect in all cities. Those going outdoors at night without explicit approval were shot on the spot.

    The thunderous methods naturally produced abundant results. Tens of thousands of rebels were captured and executed within a few short days, almost more than the whole of the past year. idental injuries were unavoidable during this process. Hence, a cab minister attacked Lin Xitang during a court session, saying thetter treated human life like grass. But before long, the man was thrown behind bars for cases such as corruption and fraud from five years ago.

    Once the western frontier was stabilized, the Fire Beacon Corps guarding the area immediately began to move. Almost half of them rushed over toward Evernight Continent.

    The other of the Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons, Zhang Baqian, had always hated such circuitous andplicated methods. He led a small elite corps and charged off on his own. Reports arrived dayster about how he had actuallyunched a brazen assault on the vampire headquarters on Twilight Continent.

 Volume 4 - 23: The Call of Destiny

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 23: The Call of Destiny

    A gravely wounded Zhang Baqian returned dayster¡ªthe squad he had taken with him had been wiped out. He didn¡¯t mention a word about the concrete results of the battle, but he was in high spirits upon return and showed not the slightest sign of being in a bad mood.

    Zhang Baqian was someone who found it beneath himself to conceal or pretend. Since his mood was good, it was likely that he had a great harvest. People could only make a few guesses from small clues since the results of his battle wasn¡¯t announced. Soon, there was news from the dark race camp. Even two of the 13 great vampire ns had urgently recalled all of their high-ranking nobility back to Twilight Continent, not to mention the smaller ns.

    The empire¡¯s gigantic war machine began to rumble into action with Zhang Baqian¡¯s assault as a starting point. All major corps were mobilized in session. Some were dispatched to reinforce Evernight Continent, while others attacked the dark race territories from different directions, hoping to decrease pressure on the ongoing war.

    The war was unfolding on a grand scale. Meanwhile, a certain location in a corner of the war zone was enjoying rtive tranquility¡ªckflow City.

    ckflow City began to confront the small surveince unit after the dark race army left. Those outside the city had no intention to attack, and those inside had no ns to leave. Just like that, the situation became a deadlock. As ming beacons ignited across the whole of the Evernight Continent and battles gradually escted in ferocity, this ce seemed to have be a forgotten corner.

    Wei Bainian wasn¡¯t idle during these days of peace. He was working on ckflow City¡¯s defenses at all time. With each passing day, ckflow City moved a step closer to bing aplete fortress.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t without things to do either. After confirming the departure of the dark race army from the war zone, he took the mercenary corps toward the mine upied by the deserters from the previous 7th division.

    The 15th division was thoroughly thwarted as the dark race army passed through the borders. Even the number of 7th division deserters from the mine were reduced significantly. The defensive battle which followed could hardly be considered intense¡ªtwo out of the three leaders were killed by Qianye¡¯s Eagleshot as soon as the battle began. Morale plummeted and quite a few soldiers began to flee.

    ording to his agreement with Wei Bainian, Qianye was to station the Dark me Mercenary Corps at the mine until the end of the war.

    The location of this remote mine was rather far from the usual routes of troop movement, and there were only a few hundred inhabitants in the attached vige. There was no value at all apart from the meager ore vein. The topography surrounding the mine wasplicated and connected to a branch of the adjacent mountainous region. Furthermore, it was just within the flight range of a small airship¡ªholding this mine was akin to ensuring an escape passage for ckflow City. Although only a select few would be able to make use of this channel, those major characters who were forced to stay in ckflow City would feel safer and, hopefully, y fewer tricks behind everyone¡¯s back.

    Qianye began to scout the surrounding areas alone after upying the mine. All signs indicated that the invading dark race army had set out toward the depths of human territory without stopping over. This confirmed their previous spection.

    Qianye continued to cultivate in istion after returning to ckflow City. Additionally, he continuously underwent intense physical training in order to adapt to his sudden increase in strength.

    Compared to the original golden blood energy, this new dark golden one was rather silent. It mostly stayed hidden within the eye ability rune without much movement apart from asionally scuttling out to devour a strand of ordinary blood energy. It was simply too quiet¡ªthe inactivity wasn¡¯t one which made people forget about its existence, but instead made Qianye feel an inexplicable chill as if a boundless ancient aura had brushed past him.

    Radiant patterns would sh on the eye ability rune from time to time, its transformations bing moreplex by the day. There were signs of an upgrade or even the formation of new runes.

    Qianye was still cultivating the Combatant Form primarily. The strengthening period of the dark golden blood energy this time was unprecedented, and the benefits were naturally extremely significant. He could already push his daybreak origin power tides past 40 cycles with rtive ease. But after going through the condensation brought about by the Song n Ancient Scroll, his maximum origin power capacity wasn¡¯t that astonishing. It was merely twice that of other warriors at the same level.

    As for the darkness origin power, Qianye had no need to worry about it conflicting with his daybreak origin power for the time being. The blood energy absorbed during his second battle at ck y Town all became food for the three types of blood energy in his body. The dark golden blood energy gobbled up the greater half, and the remainder were devoured by the purple and ordinary blood energies.

    The delivery speed of various news and information were affected by the unstoppable war. Finally, there was new movement from the expeditionary army headquarters¡ªtwo official documents passed countless mes to reach ckflow City.

    One was a letter ofmendation. The rewards listed in the attached document far exceeded expectations. ording to Qianye¡¯s military aplishments, he alone would receive over 3000 gold coins. This rate wasn¡¯t lower than the per unit bounty for free warriors. It seemed the expeditionary army had only deducted about 20% for military expenditures.

    However, they were currently at war. Thus, all rewards would only be granted after it ended. The few remaining channels of transportation had to be left for urgent military use.

    The other document was a war order. The document severely reprimanded Wei Bainian¡¯s conduct for his withdrawal. He was ordered to immediately mobilize the 7th division andunch a rear attack on the dark race army wreaking havoc through the Trinity River County, hence relieving pressure on the battle situation as a whole.

    After reading the order, Wei Bainian let out a coldugh and tore the document to pieces in the presence of Qianye and the other officers. He then raised his withdrawal tactic to its peak¡ªevery wide street in the city was filled with barricades and fortifications. Hidden sentries and sniper nests were built everywhere.

    Wei Bainian lifted the restrictions on the city after it was proven that the surveince unit outside ckflow City had no intention of taking action no matter how many citizens or soldiers left the city. He did not require the guards to perform any form of special inspections on those entering or leaving the city, only imposing a strict schedule for the opening and closing of city doors.

    News would naturally spread once there were people leaving the city. Generally, there was no shortage of dark race agents and spies in human cities, and ckflow City was no exception. The status of defenses within the city was soon leaked out which served to fulfill Wei Bainian¡¯s intentions. He wanted to let the dark races know how difficult it was and how much of a price they would have to pay to take down ckflow City.

    Qianye¡¯s daily life wasn¡¯t dull in the least. It was, at most, a bit uninteresting. After settling down the mercenary corps and returning to ckflow City, he spent his time cultivating almost every waking moment. Although the city itself was peaceful, the whole of Trinity River County and even the whole of Evernight Continent was in grave danger¡ªif the human race waspletely cleared out of Evernight Continent, the tiny ckflow City naturally wouldn¡¯t be able to stand alone. Once the dark race army appeared again below the city walls, that would be when the city falls.

    Afterpleting a whole hour of strength training, Qianye walked out from the training room and entered the bath. He felt afortable sensation gush out from all of his pores as the scalding hot water sprayed onto his skin. It was at this time that he suddenly heard a voice, ¡°Approach me¡­¡±

    Qianye was shocked and immediately entered abat state. Dark red origin power rushed out from his body and intersected with the steam which suffused the whole room. The scene wasparable to a mountain peak enshrouded in rosy clouds at dawn.

    The bathroom wasn¡¯trge and could be fully observed without turning one¡¯s head very far. There was no one apart from Qianye¡ªthere wasn¡¯t even a single bug.

    Qianye turned off the tap and attentively listened, but found that it was simrly quiet outside. However, he was sure he had clearly heard the voice. With Qianye¡¯s sharp senses and resolute temperament, how could there be any auditory hallucinations or mishearing?

    Qianye spread out his consciousness and swept through the bathroom and building once again. After confirming that there was nothing out of the ordinary, he calmly walked out of the bathroom and began to change his clothes. The Radiant Edge was habitually ced within arms reach.

    Nothing odd happened after that.

    Qianye picked up the stack of documents and letters from atop the table and began to work on general affairs. He added his thoughts to the two reports sent by Song Hu and proceeded to write him a reply letter.

    Qianye momentarily hesitated after finishing up his business. During this period, he had formed a habit of recing sleep with cultivation. But currently, he was feeling rather ill-at-ease, perhaps due to the frequent military matters and cultivation. His body was feeling fine, but his spirit felt overly fatigued.

    Qianye even felt the long-absent sensation of happiness as he lied down on the bed. Sleep came over him and he quickly entered dreand.

    Qianye suddenly felt a jolt in his consciousness¡ªit was as if the whole world was swaying. He opened his eyes and found himself in a world of haziness. Not to mention the furniture, he couldn¡¯t even see the bed beneath him. The mist rolling around him was so thick that it felt tangible and almost sentient.

    Qianye performed a scooping action and actually ¡°tore¡± off arge chunk of mist. A sensation of moist cotton was transmitted from his hand.

    What¡¯s going on? Qianye was extremely astonished.

    He lowered his head to nce again and suddenly found himself no longer in the room. He was now standing on solid ground. The dark and oily ground seemed rather fertile but no signs of life could be found. There was neither grass nor bug¡ªno signs of life¡ªthere was nothing.

    He raised his head and found a simrly hazy grey sky. It seemed boundlessly lofty but was alsopletely empty.

    Within this bizarre world, there was seemingly nothing else apart from the grey mist.

    Qianye checked himself. He was d in a simple x robe which he never remembered owning. The style was simr to themon apparel of low-level vampires.

    Qianye extended his hand and found that there was color on it. The other parts of his body exposed outside of his clothing also had normal color on them. However, it felt extremely out of ce within this grey world. That was because he was the only existence with color.

    Qianye suddenly understood that it was a dream, but this dream was simply too realistic.

    It was at this time that the voice rang out once again, ¡°Approach me¡­¡±

    Qianye heard it very clearly. The voice was faint and barely discernible, and it was difficult to ascertain the speaker¡¯s gender from its tone. However, its general direction was still distinguishable.

    He tried moving toward the source of the sound. It was a long journey¡ªhe walked at least a whole half hour. The surroundings didn¡¯t change in the least and remained exactly the same. Qianye nced suspiciously at the grey mist around him. Why did he feel that even the patterns on the rolling mists seemed the same as those at his point of origin? Was the whole world moving forward along with him?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but halt his steps. The voice rang out once again this time with seemingly less rity. Additionally, there seemed to be some words after the initial three. It was just that they weren¡¯t clear.

    Qianye continued onward after some thought. And this time, it was a whole hour before he heard the voice again.

    ¡°Approach me¡­ bring me my head¡­ grant me eternal peace.¡±

 Volume 4 - 24: Distance

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 24: Distance

    Qianye nced at his surroundings. Not to mention the so-called head, there was nothing else but grey mist here. It was at this moment that he felt the world spin and his surroundings rapidly darken. He could no longer see anything.

    The next moment, Qianye woke up on his own bed. His whole body was dripping with sweat and his clothes,pletely drenched. He felt a certain emptiness within and found that his origin power had beenpletely exhausted. It was as if he had just experienced a great battle and used up all of his energy.

    Touching his sweaty forehead, Qianye began to ponder about the strange dream world. Intuition told him that he would be able to go further into the dream realm and find the source of this voice if only his origin power was deeper.

    Following which, he shook his head and shook off this seemingly ridiculous thought. However, the existence of this voice was simply too realistic. He couldn¡¯t just dismiss it as a meaningless dream.

    There were a plethora of things going through his mind. Finally, he focused his thoughts on the three special things he had encountered recently: the Song n Ancient Scroll, the dark golden blood energy, and the rune fragment. Which of them was rted to this incident?

    After lying there for a while, he got up and retrieved the fragmented crystal disk he had acquired from Baron Deryl. He observed it in detail but found nothing else apart from the indecipherable runespeak characters. If there really were any secrets waiting to be discovered, perhaps the chances were much greater in Deryl''s hands.

    Qianye then tried to recall the details recorded in Baron Deryl¡¯s notebook once again but found nothing of note. After returning to ck y Town back then, he wanted to ask Hu Wei if there were any single old men who had passed away recently or shown unusual movement. But after inquiring about the circumstances, he decided against this method of investigation. There were simply too many old single men among both the residents and the scavengers. No one truly paid any attention to their fate.

    Perhaps the only clue was the forgotten mountain range in ming Beacon Continent.

    ming Beacon Continent was the name given by the dark races. The continent, on the empire¡¯s territorial map, was called Western Continent. This was an upper continent where the two factions were evenly matched, each upying half of the territories. There had been victories and losses for both throughout the years with no single side gaining any great advantage.

    The Western Continent was also where the Zhao n of the four great aristocratic ns had its foundations. The famed Fire Beacon Corps under themand of the new n master, Zhao Weihuang, was also stationed here. Additionally, the power of the rebel forces on this continent wasn¡¯t small either. They operated openly in several provinces, two of which had once dered independence at the same time.

    It just so happened that the dark races had stirred up a new war at that time. Under thebined assault of the dark race army and the rebel forces, the local forces including the great general of the northwest, Zhao Weihuang, were forced to run for their lives. The empire had no choice but to call in Lin Xitang from the northern regions to hold the fort. Although the general situation was calmed down in the end, the military deadlock remained till this day and had Lin Xitang bogged down in the Western Frontier.

    The mes of war were burning brightly in the current Western Continent, fanned by a disorderly mess of powers, big and small. The only rtively peaceful regions were those under the firm control of imperial ns. The situation surrounding the dark race and rebel territories, as well as the newly reimed provinces were exceptionally chaotic. The situation wasn¡¯t any better than that of Evernight Continent.

    At the thought of this, Qianye decided that he would go to the Western Continent to have a look once everything in Evernight Continent had been settled. The ck-Winged Monarch was a great monarch of the vampire race, and it so happened that vampire items were suitable for him. This was, perhaps, an opportunity for him to be stronger. After experiencing the two battles against Brahms and Sades, Qianye came to a deep understanding that only a battle between experts could determine the oue of a battle.

    He wanted to obtain greater power. Strength was the only cornerstone in this chaotic world, whether it was for survival or to protect things that were important to him.

    Qianye recovered slightly from his state of extreme exhaustion but he no longer had any feelings of sleepiness. He properly donned his clothing and opened the door to take a walk outside.

    Deep at night, ckflow City was somehow different from before. The greater half of the city was still brightly lit, and the giant machines were puffing out wisps of steam which enshrouded several city blocks. It seemed they were still reinforcing the city fortifications. There weren¡¯t many citizens on the streets at this hour, however, the city didn¡¯t feel deserted at all because many of the conscripted reserve soldiers were camping out and the expeditionary army patrols squads would pass by every quarter of an hour.

    Qianye aimlessly walked through the streets and alleys. Just as he walked past a certainne, his eyes fell on a figure standing on the other end of the alley. His whole body jolted as he immediately halted his steps. After a moment of hesitation, Qianye slowly walked back and nced in that direction.

    The person was still there. They stood gazing at each other, separated by a ten-meter long alleyway.

    Her countenance was hidden deep within her hood and veil. But her figure, her temperament, and especially those eyes capable of amodating the whole world were things Qianye could never forget.

    Qianye stood there for quite a long time¡ªthe other party, just as patient, also stood there in silence. When he finally walked into the small alleyway, he found that the hoodeddy was also moving toward him. Finally, the two came to stand in the middle of the small pathway.

    ¡°It¡¯s you.¡± Qianye thought for a long time. There were things he wanted to say but also felt that his words wouldn¡¯t be appropriate. In the end, only these two words came out of his mouth.

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± She slowly removed her veil to reveal a perfect countenance.

    It was Nighteye.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was cold and stiff. His tone betrayed a strand of helplessness which he himself wasn¡¯t aware. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t havee now.¡±

    Nighteye gazed calmly at Qianye and replied with a voice containing no fluctuations, ¡°But I¡¯m already here.¡±

    At this moment, at this ce, they were reunited.

    ¡°What do you n to do? Kill me?¡± Speaking thus, she nced at the Twin Flowers and Radiant Edge on Qianye¡¯s waist.

    Qianye habitually pressed his hand on the handle but his fingers hesitated slightly as if he was feeling ill at ease. To a veteran warrior, such small extra movements might be lethal on the battlefield.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Qianye stopped after saying a single word.

    There wasn¡¯t a need for Qianye to ask why Nighteye would appear here. She was obviously someone who had been conscripted. With her perfect bloodline concealment ability, she was capable of operating in human territory without fear, the perfect candidate for undercover and spy work. At this moment where the dark race army had swept through the whole of Trinity River County, her appearance in ckflow City was obviously to assess the defenses. She would then provide information to the dark racemander to decide whether or not they should swallow this city whole.

    Qianye inhaled deeply and said, ¡°Go, don¡¯te back.¡±

    The corner of Nighteye¡¯s lips curved up slightly into a spurious smile. ¡°What? You don¡¯t intend to kill me?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you here to spy on the defenses? As you can see, ckflow City doesn¡¯t fear a battle.¡± Wei Bainian actually wanted the dark race spies to see the defensive arrangements in the city, making them think twice about the price of attacking this ce.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was calm, frosty, and exuded an unquestionable resolution. ¡°I will kill you when we meet on the battlefield.¡±

    Nighteyes slightly lowered her gaze and found Qianye¡¯s hand wandering aimlessly around the gun¡¯s handle. [1] She revealed a faint smile and said while gazing into Qianye¡¯s eyes, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ve seen what I came here to see. I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡±

    She turned around and walked a few steps before saying, ¡°Leave this ce quickly if possible. The war on Evernight Continent ispletely different from what you think it is.¡± With that, she hastened her steps to leave.

    Qianye¡¯s voice suddenly reached her from behind. ¡°Don¡¯t let me see you on the battlefield next time.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s elegant figure paused momentarily. She turned her head ever so slightly and replied with iparable confidence, ¡°We will definitely meet again on the battlefield.¡± After saying this, she continued forward and vanished into the darkness of the night within the blink of an eye.

    Qianye stood there wondering why he had spoken thosest words

    Nighteye shouldn¡¯t be too far from the champion rank, but her strength was mostly based on her powerful eye ability. Qianye had a hunch that he could suppress those vampire bloodline abilities and that his destructive powers against vampires would be stronger especially after his sessive increase in rank. If they were to meet again when Qianye was rank eight or nine, she would likely fall to his de as long as she hadn¡¯t reached champion rank.

    The wind blew in from the wilderness. It passed over the sturdy city walls and through the fortifications on the streets, rushing into Qianye¡¯s chest¡ªhe felt a deep coldness permeate into his bones.

    Qianye was no longer in the mood to keep on walking. He returned to his room and immediately went to bed. However, he couldn¡¯t fall asleep even after lying there for several hours. Numerous thoughts were running through his mind in a tangled mess. It felt as if there was a defect in a certain corner of his mind and things were continuously falling through like a bottomless hole¡ªwithout rest, without end. He couldn¡¯t grasp what it was. Only a lingering sense of uneasiness remained.

    He and Nighteye were in the same war zone. They would definitely meet in battle down the road.

    Scenes from the battle of Earth Castle where the origin power bullets from the Twin Flowers exploded on Nighteye¡¯s body kept reying in Qianye¡¯s mind. At that time, she actually wasn¡¯t able to evade. Would it be even more difficult for her to evade the next time?

    There was a whole world¡¯s distance between daybreak and evernight.

    Qianye went to find Wei Bainian as soon as he woke up the next day.

    Wei Bainian was apparently in a good mood as he practiced calligraphy in the study. The piece of ink handmade by King Jiy quietly in a corner of his desk. Qianye had never seen Wei Bainian use it before. The few times he had opened the box was simply to admire it.

    Wei Bainian moved his brush very slowly. From the posture of his hands, it seemed as if he was moving a mountain instead of a brush.

    Qianye didn¡¯t disturb the general and instead waited for him to finish writing.

    Wei Bainian put his brush away and checked his writing several times. With great satisfaction, he then said to Qianye, ¡°Look, what do you think of this word scroll?¡±

    Written on the scroll were fourrge words, ¡°Immovable as the Mountains¡±. Its grandeur was dignified and resounding as if four mountain peaks were towering over the paper.

    Although Qianye didn¡¯t understand calligraphy, he could still feel the magnificence being emanated therein. ¡°The grandeur is indeed profound.¡±

    Wei Bainianughed contentedly and said, ¡°Thete stages of the Wei n¡¯s Thousand Mountains requires one toprehend concept more than cultivate arduously. If one cannot achieve the towering intent of the lofty mountains, it will be difficult for him to attain greater sess in this secret art. However, the great dao is boundless and everyone walks a different path. I suddenly chanced upon this enlightenment back in the year and found that I could only advance by tempering the mind with calligraphy. But at this point, I¡¯ve also reached my limit.¡±

    He paused momentarily before he pointed at the scroll and said, ¡°This word scroll is a piece I¡¯m most proud in the recent years. Why don¡¯t I give it to you?¡± With that, heughed loudly and joked, ¡°If one day you¡¯re short on money, this will sell for at least several dozen gold coins!¡±

    Qianye also liked this scroll very much. He immediately thanked Wei Bainian and put it away without being overly modest.

    Qianye stood waiting while Wei Bainian spent quite a lot of time carefully putting away his writing equipment.

    ¡°Come, Qianye. Sit.¡± Wei Bainian only invited Qianye to sit after he finished with everything. He brought over a cup of tea and took a sip before saying, ¡°There¡¯s some confusion in your mind. What happened?¡±

    [1] It was actually ¡°aimlessly stroking the gun¡¯s handle¡±... but that made me think of certain other things¡­ so I modified it slightly.

 Volume 4 - 25: Inexorable Restraints

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 25: Inexorable Restraints

    Qianye calmly admitted, ¡°My mind is indeed a mess these days. That¡¯s why I came to see you, General, and ask you about future war ns.¡±

    Wei Bainian was somewhat surprised. He smiled faintly and said, ¡°This doesn¡¯t sound like you at all. What¡¯s the matter? Are you anxious to fight? Quite a few people havee to visit me already, some from the expeditionary army headquarters and others from among the hot-blooded youths of the city.¡±

    The situation outside was changing as time went on. Wei Bainian¡¯s withdrawal tactic was once again being questioned both from outside and within. There were quite a number of hot-blooded youngsters in ckflow City who wanted to fight to the death against the dark races.

    However, Wei Bainian¡¯s administration was extremely strict. Neither regr nor conscripted warriors of the 7th division were allowed to move out alone. Themotion became so big that a number of them had to be handled on the spot before the opposing voices died down.

    Wei Bainian gave it some thought and said, ¡°I don¡¯t mind telling you some things since it¡¯s you asking me about this.¡± He stood up, pulled out a map from the bookshelf, and spread it out upon the table.

    Qianye saw a small seal at the corner of this map¡ªit was the ancient character for ¡°Wei¡±. He had seen this seal on many of Wei Bainian and Wei Potian¡¯s equipment. Apparently, this map didn¡¯te from the expeditionary army but through the Wei n¡¯s channels.

    Wei Bainian lightly patted the map and said, ¡°This is the true situation of the war on Evernight Continent. Ites from the imperial military, given only to the ns and upper-ss nobility taking part in this war. Even in the expeditionary army headquarters, only a few have seen this.¡±

    Qianye walked over to the table and looked over attentively. There were, indeed, much more details here than the one on the wall. Apart from the distribution of the dark race army, there were also various numbers and predictions of enemy troop movement. On the empire¡¯s side, there were several additional symbols on the current locations of the expeditionary army and the various reinforcement units. Apparently, there were important characters among them.

    Looking further, all the dark race armies were tagged as mechanized corps. [1] This signified that the strength of each unit wasparable to an imperial regr mechanized corps¡ªthis was absolutely shocking news. One had to know that each army normally had only two regr mechanized corps.

    There were over 20 such dark race units!

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help being startled. ¡°How is the expeditionary army going to block all this?¡±

    Wei Bainian nodded and said, ¡°In truth, the expeditionary army has already lost over a third of its military strength and half the territories. However, the current situation can still be maintained, albeit barely. Currently, two regr armies from the empire have arrived in Evernight Continent and more reinforcements are on the way. Arge number of experts from both Bai and Zhao ns have also been mobilized and are arriving in session.¡±

    Qianye studied the map in front of him and suddenly said, ¡°The movements of the dark race army are a bit odd. Why are these armies moving toward this direction?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s fingers traced along the several troop movement prediction lines. The direction of these dark race armies was inconceivable. They deviated from the cities and headed toward the wilderness whereupon they stationed themselves without further movement. It was as if they were waiting for the imperial army to attack them.

    Wei Bainian also said, ¡°This area is indeed quite odd. I can¡¯t make heads or tails of it, either. From their movements, it seems that the dark races have chosen those areas for the final confrontation. But, most of them are indefensible.¡±

    When two sides engaged in a great battle, the party choosing the location would normally gain a significant initial advantage, provided they could use various methods to force the other side to enter. However, those with the initiative would usually choose strategic locations. Here in these t ins, the two parties could only engage in a head-on battle. What benefits would it give to either party?

    Qianye suddenly recalled what Nighteye told himst night, that this battle wasn¡¯t what the humans thought it was.

    Wei Bainian patted several points on the map and said, ¡°Currently, the imperial army has reached an initial consensus. They will meet the dark race army inbat at these locations. As for troop strength, they will only dispatch enough troops to gain a small advantage.¡±

    Qianye felt even more suspicious. ¡°It sounds very much like one of those knight duels greatly revered by the vampires. When did those great characters be so honorable?¡± Humans and dark races had fought countless battles over thousands of years. Humans had always held the advantage in tactics, while the dark races were superior in military power. If the two were to meet in a head-on sh like so, it was almost certain that the casualties on the empire¡¯s side would be greater.

    Wei Bainianughed wryly and said, ¡°You misunderstood. It¡¯s not that they don¡¯t want to raid and take out a number of enemy units first, but it¡¯s just that they simply don¡¯t dare.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t dare?¡±

    ¡°The dark race military power currently amassed in Evernight Continent is far superior to the empire¡¯s side. Since they¡¯ve already taken such an obvious stance, the military is concerned that the situation will deteriorate rapidly if we don¡¯t y by their rules. The dark race army has been fully assembled. If they were tounch an all-out attack immediately, almost all territories apart from the major cities in the interior would be lost.¡± This also meant that it was only a matter of time before isted cities were taken down.

    Qianye immediately understood Wei Bainian¡¯s intention. Since the empire and the dark races were about to meet in an open battle, it made little difference to the general situation whether or not ckflow City would go to battle. Entrenchment wasn¡¯t without its merits¡ªtheir location at the rear was like a chokepoint¡ªthey could easily block off the enemy path of retreat once their frontlines had taken too much damage.

    ¡°So, we just have to wait for the battles to end?¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± Wei Bainian said with a nod, ¡°but we can¡¯t rx our city defenses in the slightest. Otherwise, the dark races certainly won¡¯t mind uprooting us in passing.¡±

    Qianye deliberated in silence before saying, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I want to go out and look for some opportunities. Maybe I can kill some of those dark-blooded bastards.¡±

    Wei Bainian gazed deeply at Qianye and said, ¡°Qianye, you¡¯re a dear friend of Young Master Huyang, so let me give you a veteran¡¯s advice. How can hunting solopare to leading soldiers into battle? Just look at ck y Town. How many aplishments did you amass? This isn¡¯t something you can do alone. The young should learn patience and restraint. You have to look at the bigger picture.¡±

    Qianye nodded and replied sincerely, ¡°Thank you, general, for the advice. However, my individual strength needs more tempering. That¡¯s why I hope to fight and practice more.¡±

    Wei Bainian exhaled deeply and waved his hands. ¡°Nurture strength in battle. Another one of Zhang Baqian¡¯s theories. You, youngsters, are all the same! Sigh, why does no one stop to think how many people are just overflowing with innate gift like Marshal Zhang? There¡¯s only one Zhang Baqian in the empire.¡±

    However, Wei Bainian didn¡¯t stop Qianye. He only asked thetter a few questions about certain arrangements regarding the Dark me Mercenary Corps and about his representativemander.

    Qianye began to collect his equipment after returning to his residence. Without further dy, he directly left ckflow City by motorcycle and headed into the vast wilderness.

    Subconsciously, he wanted to leave this war zone as quickly as possible. The excuse he kept giving himself was that there shouldn¡¯t be any battles around ckflow City for the time being and that he wanted to find enemies in order to nurture strength through battle. However, he didn¡¯t realize in the depths of his mind just what he was running from. If he met Nighteye once again, what reason would he have to avoid fighting her?

    The wilderness was still shrouded in unchanging twilight. The time had yet to arrive for sunlight to fall upon Evernight Continent, and even then, seeing the sun wasn¡¯t a certainty due to the recent gloomy weather. ncing as far as the eye could see, the greatnd extending toward the distant horizon was seemingly nketed by a faintyer of mist.

    The cold and moist wind was blowing from the front. The crossover between the light and dark seasons would soon fall upon Evernight Continent. As such, even the wilderness was filled with a rare aura of such intense vitality.

    Qianye lowered his body until he was almost leaning over the motorcycle and pushed the power output to the maximum. The motorcycle engine let out a rumble like rolling thunder as mes burst out from its fourrge exhaust pipes. The bike shook violently like a horse freed of its reins, sped up rapidly, and flew off into the vast wilderness.

    The iing winds were as sharp as des and would produce a stabbing pain as it struck Qianye¡¯s face. The surrounding scenery became somewhat blurry, and the sensation of extreme speed made the blood in his body boil. He was beginning to fall in love with this kind of stimtion.

    Many existences were rmed as Qianye rumbled past through the hazy mist. Their eyes fell on the brilliant mes emerging from the rear.

    ¡°A reckless little brat¡­¡±

    ¡°Shall we catch up and kill him?¡±

    ¡°Let it be. It¡¯s too troublesome.¡±

    Such conversations took ce repeatedly. The wilderness was full of danger, but it was currently a period where both humans and the dark races were minimizing scattered outdoor activities. This tranquility was just an illusion.

    Qianye naturally sensed these malicious gazes and was actually hoping for enemies to appear. As long as the other party wasn¡¯t a champion, the oue could be managed. There was a certain me burning in Qianye¡¯s heart, and it was being fanned violently by the fierce winds he faced at his current speed.

    What made him disappointed was that not a single dark race warrior had caught up to him despite having traveled hundreds of kilometers. Even vampires, known for their speed, hadn¡¯t appeared.

    A mountainous regiony before him. Qianye found a cave, hid his motorcycle there, and camouged the opening before dashing into the continuous mountain range. His target was the closest dark race war zone. He still couldn¡¯t direct the general situation of the battle with his current strength, but he nned to go around the vicinity and see if there were any opportunities he could exploit. He could still cause the dark race army to suffer some minor losses.

    This part of the journey was extremely peaceful. He met no enemy whatsoever except some wild beasts. Apparently, the dark races have truly entered a totalbat-ready status and had ced restrictions upon their subordinate warriors. This was a rare circumstance for the rtively undisciplined dark race soldiers.

    A level valley appeared before Qianye¡¯s eyes as evening arrived. The valley was very wide and filled with luminous grass. This kind of wild grass wasmon in the predominantly dark Evernight Continent. They would absorb the sunlight during the few hours of daytime and emit a faint luminescent glow as they swayed in the night breeze.

    However, luminous grass usually grew sporadically and rarely appeared in such arge patch. What Qianye witnessed was like a sea of luminescence wherein ripples would appear one after another in the wind. This kind of beautiful scenery was quite rare. And on Evernight Continent, an abnormal phenomenon usually signified a special reason. For instance, there might be certain mineral resources under this valley.

    At this moment, there were two groups engaging in a desperate battle. One sideprised an alliance of vampires and arachne, while the other was made up of human warriors. Judging from their uniforms, thetter seemed to be private soldiers from an aristocratic family.

    Qianye stealthily approached the battlefield without hesitation. Both sides were engaged in a battle of great momentum, and it seemed the bitter struggle had gone on for quite some time. There were few scouts in the vicinity, allowing Qianye to easily arrive at a distance of a few hundred meters.

    Qianye propped up the Eagleshot and observed the battlefield through its scope. The dark races were led by two vampire barons and the highest ranked on the human side was a rank nine fighter.

    But this private army, as a whole, wasn¡¯t weaker than the dark race warriors. Judging from the way they fought, it was evident that they were well trained, adept at group assaults, and well-versed in regr army tactics despite being a private army. As such, they were slowly regaining the upper hand.

    Qianye observed for a while before making his move. His crosshairs firmly locked onto a certain vampire. This blood esquire was the leader of a section of the battlefield and a perfect target for the firepower of the Eagleshot.

    He calmly began to charge the gun and add special effects one after another. What Qianye wanted was to kill in a single shot.

    Just as the origin power bullet took shape within the gun chamber, the figure of a certain girl leapt into his sights. Her movements were somewhat shaky and wild in nature. It was evident that she had received formalbat training only recently, and as such, arge part of her instinctive fighting habits still remained.

    [1] The PLA works with Group Armies as a unit which is roughly equal to a US corps. I think I¡¯ll go with corps so as not to confuse everyone.

 Volume 4 - 26: Intuition

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 26: Intuition

    The youngdy was holding a standard dagger in her left hand, but in her right was actually a morning star. She lunged at the blood esquire from the back¡ªalthough she wasn¡¯t fast enough and her movements weren¡¯t exactly efficient, she was able to grasp the perfect moment.

    The blood esquire had just parried a heavy blow from his opponent and his reaction was somewhat dyed by the impact when the girl swung the morning star toward him at a sharp angle.

    It was during this extremely short moment that thedy¡¯s morning star ruthlessly smashed through the blood esquire¡¯s back armor and into his spine. It was an astonishing aplishment. She was able to break through both the blood esquire¡¯s defense and armor in a single strike. Obviously, the youngdy possessed a strength unfitting of her external build.

    The blood esquire let out a miserable cry and soon lost the ability to move. His opponent grasped this opportunity¡ªa sword pierced into the blood esquire¡¯s heart andpletely ended his life. However, Qianye clearly saw, through his scope, that the final blow was already unnecessary. The blow from the morning star had already done the blood esquire in.

    The youngdy seemed only 13 or 14 years of age and was almost a full head shorter than the other warriors. She possessed pink lips,rge dark eyes, and a small chest which protruded ever so slightly. The ends of her long hair contained wavy curls, granting her the semnce of an erged doll.

    However, this cute little girl¡¯sbat style made one feel a certain chill. She constantly roamed about the battlefield and would, like a phantom, appear from the most unexpected of ces. Momentster, she sessfully ambushed another blood esquire,pletely crushing his ankle as a result. Dragging a wounded leg through this kind of intense battle, his death was just a matter of time.

    Qianye discovered, after a period of observation, that the girl was disying iparablebat instincts. She could grasp even the smallest of opportunities while each and every one of her attacks came from extremely ruthless angles. The person on the receiving end would suffer injuries to vital areas even if he didn¡¯t die immediately.

    The more Qianye observed, the more he felt an odd sense of familiarity. He felt as if he had seen this girl somewhere. His heart was jolted as a number of almost-forgotten memories began to emerge.

    On the night thatpletely changed his fate, something actually happened right before he met Lin Xitang. He vaguely remembered sharing his food with a small girl after which she had returned with a group of older boys and tried to take his life repeatedly.

    He had never expected to meet her again after so many years.

    The girl appeared even younger than him by a couple of years. It was unknown whether she was naturally built this way or if she had failed to mature properly during her growing period. Children who grew up in the junkyard were usually malnourished due to theck of food.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts were somewhatplicated. He slowly shifted the Eagleshot in his hands and locked the crosshairs onto the back of the girls head.

    On the battlefield, the girl was, once again, making her way toward another rank-five vampire. She had just raised her morning star when she suddenly turned back as if she had sensed something!

    Through the sniper scope, their gazes met once again after so many years.

    The young girl suddenly opened her small mouth, disbelief and shock written all over her face.

    Qianye calmly pulled the trigger. He was baffled because the girl''s expression didn¡¯t look quite like someone who had discovered an enemy ambush. Could it be that she had recognized him?

    A sanguineous glow was reflected within the girl¡¯s eyes as the image of an origin power bullet rapidly erged within them! Both her mind and body werepletely frozen. A certain emptiness akin to a loss of awareness rose within her eyes. This was an inherent self-defense mechanism which had activated on the verge of death.

    The red radiance virtually brushed past the girls face with only a finger¡¯s breadth between them. Some strands of hair flew into the air while a red mark also appeared on her skin. This was a swelling caused by the remnant fluctuations of the origin bullet¡ªher skin wasn¡¯t actually torn.

    A gush of warm blood sshed out from behind and spilled onto the girl''s neck and back, causing her to shiver.

    The girl turned back and found that her previous target vampire had already be a headless corpse which slowly copsed.

    Qianye¡¯s shot sted the vampire warrior¡¯s head without the slightest deviation. His Eagleshot, after being enhanced by the Resounding Strike, possessed great power and could kill any warrior below rank six in a single shot. This rank-five vampire received a headshot which immediately shattered his skull.

    The sound of the Eagleshot immediately rmed both parties on the battlefield.

    Without waiting for everyone to respond, the Eagleshot rang out once again. A certain rank eight arachne¡¯s leg was broken in response to this timbre. The youngdy appeared behind the arachne at almost the same time and, with a ruthless swing of her morning star, smashed another of the arachne¡¯s legs.

    Qianye was somewhat startled. He hadn¡¯t expected that the two of them would select the same enemy and even attack the same part. Hisbat instincts were half innate, but the other half was obtained by virtue of the extremely harsh training he had gone through in Yellow Springs. This girl¡¯s, on the other hand, was almostpletely innate.

    The allegiances had be obvious at this point. The human race side was naturally ovee with joy at the arrival of a strong reinforcement. Meanwhile, the dark race made a prompt decision to form a small squad. They wanted to rush over and kill the newly arrived sniper. How could the private army allow the enemy to have their way? At almost the same time, a group of melee experts moved forth to block the other party.

    The dark race was already at a disadvantage before. Now, after seeing the battle situation lean further toward the other side, they swiftly reorganized and retreated while fighting back.

    Qianye finally removed the sight from the girl¡¯s head, upon which the swiftness of her movements was restored. She seemed to have reached a tacit understanding of Qianye¡¯s unexpressed intentions¡ªwhatever she had to say should wait until after the dark races were killed. Afterying down the burden, the girl once again became a deadly threat on the battlefield. Every time she attacked, the target would either die or be crippled.

    The battle rapidly developed into an overwhelming situation. The dark races began to disperse and retreat after seeing that their momentum had been lost. This was supposed to be the correct strategy. However, they hadn¡¯t expected that the number of times Qianye could fire the Eagleshot each battle was twice that of the average soldier.

    The wide and empty valley provided Qianye with the best sniping vision. The Eagleshot rumbled constantly as the escaping warriors fell one by one. The girl also flung the dagger and morning star in her hands, putting down two more opponents. Unfortunately, the two rank-nine vampire barons still broke through the encirclement and escaped.

    After the battle ended, a middle-aged man walked out from the crowd and saluted Qianye. ¡°This lowly one is Bai Lun. I have an insignificant connection to the Bai n. We greatly appreciate your timely help in this battle. Otherwise, we really might have to expend a lot more effort.¡±

    Qianye swept his eyes over the soldiers behind Bai Lun and muttered, ¡°These people probably have more than just some insignificant connection to the Bai n.¡±

    Bai Lun was slightly taken aback. Following which, he replied with a calm smile, ¡°Young Master¡¯s perception is indeed like a burning torch. Since you already know, it will be inappropriate for this lowly one to incur your ridicule by hiding things. We are indeed part of the Bai n¡¯s main branch. How should I address young master?¡±

    Qianye smiled without replying.

    Bai Lun summoned a subordinate and gave him some instructions in a whisper. Momentster, this soldier delivered a small bag with an origin array attached to it. There were two pieces of ck crystal within.

    Bai Lun advanced a couple of steps, stuffed the bag into Qianye¡¯s hand with a smile, and said, ¡°This is just a small token of our gratitude. It¡¯s insufficient to fully represent our respect, but we hope Young Master will kindly ept it. We originally intended to split the spoils of war with you, but, due to certain reasons, the items on these dark race warriors happen to be things we require. So, please do not decline this gift.¡±

    Qianye frowned. He naturally knew how many dark race warriors were captured or killed. The value of these two ck crystals had far surpassed his potential share of the loot.

    However, after seeing Bai Lun¡¯s insistence, Qianye decided to not decline after some thought. His gaze momentarily paused at the girl before saying to Bai Lun, ¡°I was only passing by this area. I have important business to take care of, so I¡¯ll be taking my leave. Let us meet againter if we have the opportunity.¡±

    Bai Lun¡¯s expression immediately rxed quite a bit after seeing that Qianye was willing to leave. He said goodbye to Qianye with an even more courteous attitude.

    When Qianye had gone further away, a puzzled Bai n soldier asked, ¡°Master Bai, why were you so polite toward that little brat? He¡¯s merely rank six.¡±

    Only then did Bai Lun reveal a dignified expression and reply with a snort, ¡°What do you know? That Eagleshot¡¯s firepower is unusually powerful and his firing frequency during the battle also far surpassed the norm. I might be causing extra problems if I don¡¯t treat such a person politely. Fortunately, he is quite tactful and might really be a passerby. Otherwise, it will be quite troublesome.¡±

    Bai Lun then instructed his subordinates to clean up the battlefield, collect all the carcasses in one ce, and search them in detail. It seemed the aim of this battle was to find a certain person.

    At this time, thedy suddenly spoke, ¡°I¡¯m leaving for a while.¡±

    ¡°That, Miss Kong Zhao¡­¡± Bai Lun hadn¡¯t even finished forming his words when the girl had already sped into the distance. It just happened to be the direction in which Qianye had left.

    These Bai n soldiers didn¡¯t dare toment rashly about thisdy. They had fought alongside her in many battles in the recent days and were astonished by her killing methods. When all was said and done, they were afraid of her.

    The girl swiftly moved through the mountainous area. The way she ran was like a wild animal. She relied more on her own physical instincts and did not appear like someone who had cultivated a secret art.

    While running, she came to a sudden halt!

    Qianye¡¯s voice rang out from behind her. ¡°I knew you¡¯de. I¡¯ve already been waiting for quite some time.¡±

    The girl slowly turned around and saw Qianye under arge tree over ten meters away. However, she hadn¡¯t sensed even a strand of his aura previously.

    Qianye¡¯s posture was rather casual. He was leaning against the tree with his arms folded in front of his chest.

    The girl¡¯s gazended first on the Twin Flowers and Radiant Edge at Qianye¡¯s waist, then on the Eagleshot behind his back. She nced at Qianye¡¯s hand with due seriousness after checking out his weapons before looking into his eyes. By the time their lines of sight made contact, a strand of fear finally emerged on her usually undisturbed countenance.

    Qianye felt somewhat surprised and asked, ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± His dagger and guns were still at his waist¡ªthe weapons were sheathed and the Eagleshot wasn¡¯t something useable at such a distance.

    ¡°I am not!¡± The girl immediately shook her head.

    However, her expression was simply too fake. Even a dumb person could see that she wasn¡¯t being truthful. This little fellow, despite still retaining her childish features, was already bing a remarkable beauty¡ªher scared and restless demeanor added a certain allure to her charm, which would likely induce certain inappropriate thoughts in people¡¯s hearts.

    Qianye squinted his eyes and raised his head slightly without changing his posture. He simply sized her up from top to bottom with great confidence.

    The two parties were thus locked in ce for a moment.

    It was still Qianye who took the initiative to break the silence. ¡°Why are you following me?¡±

 Volume 4 - 27: Predator

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 27: Predator

    The young girl¡¯s chest wildly undted as she took deep breaths. There was a different kind of charm in her youth and inexperience. A pair of glistening dark eyes was shifting between Qianye and the ground before him. ¡°I¡­ I think we¡¯ve met before¡­¡±

    Qianye replied without any shift in his voice, ¡°Where do you think we¡¯ve met before?¡± He wasn¡¯t less surprised despite having guessed that the young girl had already recognized him.

    Due to his vampire constitution, Qianye had undergone a lot of changes aftering of age. Even Song Zining, despite being his schoolmate for many years, had to sound him out in order to confirm. This gifted little girl¡¯s intuition was powerful that it made one¡¯s hair stand on end.

    The youngdy seemingly drummed up her courage and said with much difficulty, ¡°I think¡­ when we were very young, you gave me¡­ bread.¡±

    ¡°Mm¡­¡± Qianye neither confirmed nor denied. ¡°You¡¯ve entered the Bai n?¡±

    The girl nodded. ¡°I was recently fortunate enough to meet Big Sister Aotu. She brought me back to the Bai n and provided me with food, training, and medicines. Bai Kongzhao is the name they gave me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re indeed fortunate,¡± Qianye said indifferently. He then asked, ¡°You actually aren¡¯t that young if I remember correctly.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao replied obediently, ¡°I stayed in the junkyard for many years after you left. There was barely enough food to survive there. When I grew up and could go further out, I left that ce and drifted everywhere in search of food. I¡¯ve been in the Bai n for less than a year and it was only there that I had ever eaten until I was full. Perhaps I couldn¡¯t grow up because I was eating too little all these years.¡±

    The girl¡¯s tone was very calm as she spoke, and her expression also calmed down gradually. These few words epassed the ten-odd years of her life.

    With that, the silence between the two resumed once again.

    Qianye was still maintaining his leisurely posture as he gazed silently at Bai Kongzhao. The young girl, on the other hand, was looking downward at her toes with her hands behind her. She seemed like a small animal before a powerful predator, abandoning all resistance and waiting to be ughtered.

    This awkward silence was so stifling that it gave one the urge to scream out loud.

    Qianye exhaled deeply and said with a spurious smile, ¡°Good, very good. Extremely well done. You actually didn¡¯t give me any reason to kill you at all. You don¡¯t even have any killing intent. How rare.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was pouting timidly, the line drawn by her pink lips almost seemed like a smile.

    Qianye said indifferently. ¡°I¡¯m not one to look back. So, let bygones be bygones. Don¡¯t give me a reason to kill you if we meet again in the future.¡±

    ¡°I won''t!¡± the little girl said confidently.

    Qianye¡¯s smile suddenly deepened as he said, ¡°Me being in a bad mood is also a reason.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao immediately became silent. She lowered her head and didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Goddammit!¡± Certain profanities poured out of her mouth after Qianye left.

    Bai Kongzhao peeked at Qianye¡¯s back. In her eyes, Qianye was leaving in a hurry and his defenses weren¡¯t tight enough. At a nce, there were at least four or five openings she could exploit.

    However, she quietly tightened her fist and, using the fullest extent of her willpower, forced herself to lower her head again. Her nails had even dug into her palm, causing a moist sensation to emerge there.

    After walking for a certain distance, Qianye turned back and found Bai Kongzhao still standing silently and obediently at her original position. He shook his head and hastened his steps.

    This little girl still astonished Qianye even after so many years. She definitely wasn¡¯t harboring good intentions when she chased after him on her own, but she didn¡¯t reveal even a shred of hostility. Afterwards, she took on a defenseless attitude and almost made others feel as if she was really here to apologize.

    Qianye¡¯s conscience made it difficult for him to take action against a non-hostile person for no obvious reason. Furthermore, after some deeper thought, he wondered if he really could kill this girl with astonishingbat instincts in one blow. If he couldn¡¯t, it would be giving the other party an opportunity to exploit.

    This was a rare capability. Bai Kongzhao, with her gifted intuition, would definitely find her opponent¡¯s weak point in the end and tip the scales in her favor.

    By the time Bai Kongzhao returned to the valley, Bai Lun had already ordered his subordinates to gather the dark race corpses into a pile. Some wooden stakes had been erected nearby and two vampires were currently tied upon them. Two Bai n soldiers had shed open several wounds on the vampires¡¯ bodies and were dripping silver into them.

    After seeing Bai Kongzhao return, Bai Lun hurriedly came over to ask, ¡°Miss Kongzhao, are you alright? You look pale.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao shook her head and replied, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I only went out to look around. Have we found any clues?¡±

    Bai Lun shook his head. ¡°No. It seems these two vampires don¡¯t know anything either. We have to continue searching.¡±

    ¡°Since they don¡¯t know anything, then ¡®entertain¡¯ them a while longer. Additionally, I feel tired. Let¡¯s camp here tonight,¡± said Bai Kongzhao.

    Bai Lun immediately ordered his subordinates to set up a tent. He had already traveled with the girl for some time. Even a battle-hardened veteran like him felt deeply apprehensive of her bloodthirsty methods. Bai Lun felt that her future prospects were unlimited even without her rtionship with Bai Aotu. He knew that, even if he didn¡¯t fawn over her, he definitely shouldn¡¯t offend her.

    Bai Kongzhao entered her tent, drew the curtain, and poured herself a cup of water.

    However, the water in the cup wasn¡¯t very calm¡ªit shook and sshed toward the sides. Bai Kongzhao hadn¡¯t even drunk the water but her chest was already wet. She shifted her eyes in a daze and found that her hands, which had pierced through countless hearts, were shaking uncontrobly at this moment.

    She quickly realized that she was afraid.

    Fear wasn¡¯t an odd emotion. Bai Kongzhao had never felt even a tiny bit of security in her life. It was precisely this fear of danger that allowed her to survive extremely adverse situations. But ording to her memory, the fear she was feeling now was different from that which she had ever felt before.

    She reced the sshing cup of water onto the table and subconsciously applied some strength in order to stabilize it. With a crackle, the steel cup was swiftly ttened.

    Bai Kongzhao held onto her trembling right hand using her left. She sat up straight and tried hard to ponder what it was that she was afraid of.

    Was it that person? He whom she had immediately recognized.

    She knew from her life¡¯s experience that she could only rely on herself. If any notion emerged in her mind, then it was the truth. Strict logic and plentiful reasoning¡ªall of them were fake.

    Thus, she chased after him when her instincts told her that this man was deadly and dangerous. The whole interaction was full of danger. Although Qianye didn¡¯t reveal the slightest bit of murderous intent, she knew that she couldn¡¯t afford even a single incorrect response. Otherwise, the proverbial de¡¯s edge she felt at her back on the battlefield would immediately transform into a sharp sword to pierce her heart. [1]

    However, Bai Kongzhao also believed Qianye wouldn¡¯t actually move against her. That was because she understood people quite well and knew how much damage her underaged external appearance could cause. But even so, she was still afraid, very much afraid. Now that she thought about it, she probably wasn¡¯t that confident.

    This was the first time Bai Kongzhao¡¯s intuition had fallen short. She began to wonder why she had immediately associated this Eagleshot-wielding warrior and the young boy from the junkyard.

    Those eyes! It was as if a bolt of lightning suddenly struck past Bai Kongzhao¡¯s mind. At the same time, she discovered just what she was so afraid of. It was actually his eyes!

    Why was she feeling this way?

    Bai Kongzhao recalled, in detail, Qianye¡¯s weapons, build, and methods. Those were the details used to judge a warrior¡¯s strength. Qianye was powerful and his movements agile. His arms and legs were abnormally strong. The pair of pistols and the Radiant Edge were extraordinary, but it didn¡¯t stir any intense reaction from her.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were ordinary. Perhaps other people would even feel that his eyes were beautiful but they held little meaning to Bai Kongzhao without any special ability. If she had to point out one thing she thought was special about them, it was that they were exceptionally limpid, almost like a wless piece of crystal.

    But those eyes were precisely what made Bai Kongzhao afraid.

    Was she afraid of a special ability that her instincts couldn¡¯t detect? Or was she apprehensive of the absolutely tranquil but not lifeless look in his eyes?

    Bai Kongzhao couldn¡¯t remember at all just how many people she had killed. To her, survival and a full stomach were the only things that mattered¡ªall obstructions had to be eliminated. Among them were all kinds of humans and dark race members. Every victim responded differently¡ªsome were shocked, some cursed maliciously, some were resolute, while others fought with her in a bloody battle until the very end. Bai Kongzhao had also seen more than just a few unyielding characters capable of continuing the battle in good cheer even with broken hands and legs. In the end, all of them had died in her hands.

    The girl had always believed that among humans, or even among all living creatures, there were only two types¡ªone that she could kill right away, and another that she would kill in the future. Therefore, her opponents¡¯ condition and resolution hardly affected her.

    But none of these could exin why she had recalled that small matter from so many years ago and why she was afraid of those eyes.

    The youngdy pondered for a long time but ultimately found no answers. She knew one thing for certain. If the situation from back then were to repeat, that person absolutely wouldn¡¯t hesitate to pull the trigger.

    Over ten years had passed. She had changed and so had he.

    Bai Kongzhao didn¡¯t sleep well that whole night.

    In the distant wilderness, Qianye was crouching on arge mountain rock and gazing at the valley below. He felt no sleepiness at all. His heart was rolling with killing intent and wracked by an inexplicable sense of vexation. A voice in his mind was telling him to turn back, kill Bai Kongzhao, and be rid of a potential trouble.

    Qianye controlled his agitation. Since that time he was invaded by the dark blood, he especially abhorred such uncontroble emotions. He was terrified of losing his mind and falling into the darkness.

    He was also felt quite odd. Why did he erupt with such intense killing intent only after leaving the young girl? In truth, both of them were kids back then and weren¡¯t exactly clear as to what they were doing. And there wasn¡¯t any conflict during their second encounter. If one were to search for malicious intent, it was actually him who had aimed at the girl numerous times during that battle.

    After careful thought, that kind of killing intent seemed to be a hostility that had been branded into his survival instincts.

    This killing intent made him unsettled and agitated. He had to try quite hard in order to suppress the urge to hunt down and kill Bai Kongzhao. Additionally, he felt quite conflicted. With the girl¡¯s frightening intuition, he would likely have little to show for his troubles if he went over right now. But if he didn¡¯t go, she would just stay there without moving.

    Qianye shook his head amidst the cool night breeze, sweeping away his almost ridiculous notions. He began to climb and leap through the mountainous terrain. Since he couldn¡¯t sleep, he might as well go about and see if some unlucky dark race soldiers would bump into the muzzle of his gun.

    He didn¡¯t find any unlucky dark race warriors but instead discovered two unfortunate beasts.

    Near a canyon on the neighboring mountain ridge, he saw a natural cave halfway up the mountain with two giant pythonszily moving around within it.

    [1] ÈçÃ¢´Ì±³ - Literally means a de¡¯s tip/edge at one¡¯s back. It describes an intense sense of uneasiness.

 Volume 4 - 28: Conspiracy

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 28: Conspiracy

    One of them had three rows of crystalline scales on its back, each the size of a palm and extending from the head to tail.

    The crystalline scales on the giant python sparkled with a faint luster under the curtain of the night, making it seem like a wandering beam of light as it roamed about. It was both mysterious and beautiful.

    This was a crystal python. A type of wild beast native to Evernight Continent notorious for its poisonous mist. A fully mature crystal python with three rows of crystalline scales on its back was equal in strength to a rank seven or eight human fighter.

    Qianye was still ncing at the two crystal pythons and considering whether or not to go in when the smaller of the two serpents noticed the intruder outside. It rose tall, open its wide mouth, and spat out a sparkling mass of poisonous gas.

    Qianye sidestepped the iing toxic mist and jumped down the precipice without further hesitation. Within moments, he had thrown himself into the crystal python¡¯s nest.

    A scarlet de radiance shed through the air as the Radiant Edge pierced through the head of the python with three rows of scales on its back. Qianye had to use almost 80% of his strength in order to pierce the dagger into the gap between its skull bones. This proved just how hard its skull was. With such hardness, even the Eagleshot wouldn¡¯t be able to st its head apart in one shot.

    The giant python possessed extremely strong vitality and was rolling about even though its brain had been pierced through. It came pretty close to swatting Qianye against the cave wall. At this moment, Qianye had finally found an opponent with which to try his strength. He grasped the Radiant Edge tightly with one hand whiletching firmly onto the crystal python with the other. He would asionally warp and leap between the cave walls as the python continued to roll its huge body in vain¡ªno matter how hard the python swung, it simply couldn¡¯t throw Qianye off its back.

    The crystal python only fell down immobile after the struggle went on for quite some time.

    The other python with a single row of crystalline scales was almost forced out of the cave by the force of this rampage. It only found an opportunity at this point and suddenly scuttled in tounch an attack at Qianye. However, at approximately rank four or five, its strength was simply toocking. It died to the Radiant Edge in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye had, once again, climbed to the top of the cliff by the time the night reached its peak. His backpack was now bulging quite a bit, filled with palm-sized scales.

    The crystal python¡¯s scales had long since been confirmed as a type of crystal. It would emit a beautiful halo after activation with origin power, thus, the crystal python¡¯s scales sold for a rather high price. It was popr as a raw material for low-grade origin arrays and as aponent of fashionable jewelry in the upper continents. It was just that, these two crystal pythons were so big that Qianye couldn¡¯t carry away all their scales. He could only select those with the highest quality to fill his backpack which wasn¡¯t even a third of the total.

    When Qianye returned to the cave he was staying in, his face was suddenly flushed by ayer of dark red and even began to puff out faint red mist when he exhaled.

    Just now when he was killing the three-striped crystal python, he had stabbed into its heart to prevent it from retaliating on its deathbed. Vast amounts of blood energy had rushed into his body through the Radiant Edge. The power contained within wasparable to a rank nine dark race warrior but of a lower quality and a great deal more impurities.

    Qianye discovered for the first time that he could actually draw blood energy from darkness attribute beasts like the crystal python. The darkness origin power contained within was even more abundant than a dark race warrior of the same rank. And with the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s mystery chapter, the purity of the blood energy obtained from these beasts became an insignificant factor.

    However, Qianye was somewhat uncertain as he recalled a detail which he had previously overlooked¡ªit seemed most of the strange beasts on Evernight Continent leaned toward the darkness attribute.

    During the period which followed, Qianye¡¯s journey took him around several battlefields. He followed thebels on the Wei n map to personally observe the dark races¡¯ designated battlefield. At the same time, he also surveyed the troop strength of the expeditionary army, the imperial regr army, and the private armies of the participating nobility.

    Situations like the one in which he had encountered the Bai n private troops also urred a number of times. Qianye used his long range sniping ability to help the imperial soldiers hasten their victory or recover from a loss, but would leave hastily after the oue of the battle was clear. He avoided all unnecessary contact with these aristocratic ns.

    One ordinary morning, an intense battle had just ended on the Silverlight ins near the northern border of Evernight Continent.

    In the past, this boundless in was filled with luminous grass that emitted a faint silvery glow under the velvety curtain of darkness. Gazing from a distance, this whole in looked like a gigantic glowingke withyers uponyers of silver ripples. This used to be a scenic location of Evernight Continent. Butter on, the dark races began to appear on the Silverlight ins after the expeditionary army lost several important strongholds nearby. From then on, people no longer visited this ce for sightseeing.

    At this moment, the whole of the Silverlight ins had changed beyond recognition. There were traces of corrosion and burns everywhere. There were also gigantic craters caused by the explosions reaching almost 100 meters in diameter. The luminous grass had all been burnt clean, and thin streams of green fluid were flowing on the exposed brown soil. The arachne body fluids, possessing highly corrosive properties, would destroy all life in the soil¡ªnothing would grow again thereafter.

    Squads of expeditionary and imperial army soldiers were cleaning up the battlefield. They cleared out each corpse of its belongings and moved them to a designated location. Judging from the control of the battlefield, the humans had probablye out victorious in this bitter campaign. However, there wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of joy to be found in the expressions of the generals standing to one side of the battlefield.

    Standing among the group of generals in martial attire, Bai Aotu seemed almost entric in her usual wide-sleeved gown. However, she possessed outstanding qualifications as the most powerful expert of the Silverlight ins which consisted of three counties. When necessary, she could directly take over themanding authority of the whole war zone.

    Although the Silverlight ins was but a second ss war zone, there was a battlefield selected by the dark races in this region. Additionally, there were very few experts among the empire¡¯s younger generation who could watch over a whole region independently.

    There was blood all over Bai Aotu¡¯s white clothing which had been torn in many ces over her back and shoulders. Through them, one could vaguely see some badly mangled wounds. Her face waspletely pale and her aura, weak and unstable. It seemed she had been injured quite badly.

    The imperial generals around her were over twice her age but all of them nced at her with eyes full of admiration and reverence. This wasn¡¯t merely out of respect for the Bai n but because of her substantial military aplishments. During the battle just now, Bai Aotu had killed the strongest expert from the opposite party almost on her own and thereby reversing the tides.

    Gazing at the bitter scene of the battlefield, an old general with grizzled hair sighed deeply. ¡°Is this¡­ considered our victory?¡±

    Another general smiled ruefully and said, ¡°The dark races lost but they retreated in an orderly fashion and didn¡¯t fall into confusion. This can only be considered a small victory.¡±

    The old general said with a dark expression, ¡°My unit has beenpletely wiped out and will likely have its unit number canceled upon our return.¡±

    Another person consoled, ¡°That won¡¯t happen. You¡¯ve contributed so much. The empire will surely reform the 133rd Corps.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡± The old general sighed as he helplessly shook his head.

    These generals naturally knew that, although the unit was reformed, it would be reduced to a third-rate lineup. How could new soldierspare with a unit brought up over the years?

    Bai Aotu¡¯s drooping eyelids suddenly opened and said, ¡°Our casualties should¡¯ve exceeded 100,000, right?¡±

    A general beside her replied hurriedly, ¡°We¡¯re still running the numbers, but from my own estimate, it should be over 110,000.¡±

    Bai Aotu spoke seemingly to herself, ¡°Almost 10,000 dark race regr warriors and over 100,000 cannon fodder were killed. Just what reason did they have to fight such a war?¡±

    All the generals nced at each other but none were able to answer. This campaign was extremely bitter. The dark races swarmed over like tidal waves. They were dauntless and werepletely unafraid of death. Most were able to take down imperial soldiers with them, so much that they were even prepared to sacrifice regr warriors. It almost made one suspect whether they were simply trying to achieve mutual destruction.

    The generals didn¡¯t dare say too much because none of them were very confident.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s body suddenly shed and reappeared dozens of meters away. She crouched down beside the corpse of an expeditionary army soldier, drew her dagger, and tore open his chest.

    The generals were stunned by her sudden action but soon followed over in session. Bai Aotu wouldn¡¯t do anything meaningless. It was obvious that she had discovered something abnormal.

    Bai Aotu pointed at the soldier¡¯s corpse and frowned. ¡°Look. He died after being pierced through the forehead by a high-ranking vampire noble, and as such, his body wasn¡¯t affected at all. However, his life force was drained especially fast. Don¡¯t you all feel this is abnormal?¡±

    This warrior had died not long ago, but even his innards were showing signs of withering. Additionally, such changes were still ongoing in all his other organs. At this rate, he would likely turn into a dried corpse before two days had passed.

    A certain general with sharp senses suddenly pushed his hand into the ground and scooped up a handful of soil. Following a forceful squeeze, fresh blood flowed out from between his nails!

    After seeing this scene, that general said with a solemn expression, ¡°It seems thisnd is able to absorb blood energy. No wonder I feel my movements have grown somewhat heavy. We can¡¯t stay here for long.¡±

    But there wasn¡¯t much to fear if only the environs were so¡ªall present here were experts with firm and powerful blood energy. The insignificant absorptive power of the Silverlight ins wasn¡¯t enough to affect them.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s frown locked even tighter as she said slowly, ¡°Perhaps it isn¡¯t that simple. Don¡¯t forget those old bastards from the Evernight Council. Mad they maybe, but they are anything but foolish. Let me see the intelligence map.¡±

    A certain major general brought out the map with thetest military intelligence and opened it in front of Bai Aotu. There were a total of 15 battlefields marked on this map, including the Silverlight ins. Battles had already urred in seven of them. The humans were at a slight disadvantage, having won three of them and losing four.

    These were battlefields designated in advance by the dark races. As such, the humans held a slight advantage both in the deployment of troops and experts. Even so, they had lost more than they won.

    Bai Aotu stared silently at the 15 battlefields, frowning all the while.

    In truth, the imperial army had long since analyzed these 15 battlefields thoroughly. They had also studied various connection diagrams but found absolutely no meaningful pattern. Many people had also used secret inference arts. Even Lin Xitang had rushed back to the imperial capital from the Western Frontier, but as it happened, the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery revealed nothing.

    However, this result wasn¡¯t too odd. It was said that many Evernight Council powerhouses had personally arrived tomand. With those old fogeys around, how could they let human secret arts infer their conspiracy?

    The old general said at this moment, ¡°Miss Bai, we¡¯ve already fought seven battles and have eight more to go. Perhaps we¡¯ll only find more clues after additional battles.¡±

 Volume 4 - 29: The Great Monarchâ€™s Treasure

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 29: The Great Monarch¡¯s Treasure

    Bai Aotu nodded in agreement at the old general¡¯s theory and had the chief-of-staff put away the military intelligence map. However, something continued to weigh persistently on her mind as if it was being pressed down by a huge rock.

    Simr misgivings arose in several other theatres and even back at the expeditionary army headquarters. Those in charge of the war on Evernight Continent, Duke Ding and the expeditionary armymander-in-chief Marshal Luo Mingji, were also constantly discussing this matter but to no avail.

    They had exhausted every method at their disposal and had even destroyed a certain arachne count¡¯s consciousness with cruel torture in order to obtain a confession. However, the results were disappointing. The dark race count was never made aware of the reason behind this war. The order he received was merely to rush toward a certain battlefield and kill as many human warriors as possible.

    From this, it was obvious that only those at the duke level would know whether or not there really was a certain conspiracy in the background. It was also possible that the authority level of this secret was even higher and perhaps only the Evernight Council members were privy to the details of the n.

    Finding no clues even after repeated discussions, the major human characters on the battlefield drew simr conclusions. And that was to continue fighting and observe.

    Qianye carefully made his way through the war-torn Evernight Continent. He traveled, fought, and cultivated¡ªhalf a month passed by in the blink of an eye. As the battles in all regions turned white-hot, he no longer dared to intervene so casually. This might easily draw fire from both parties at the same time.

    Qianye had killed off two dark race patrol squads on the way. It took him quite some time to gradually refine the blood essence into darkness origin power, over half of which was devoured by the new-born dark golden blood energy. The remainder was shared between the purple blood energy, the seven dark red blood energy, and the two advanced dark red blood energy.

    Qianye immediately discovered that the darkness origin power he had refined from the Song n Ancient Scroll had actually boosted the evolution of his blood energy a great deal. Within a short period of time, the number of ordinary blood energy had recovered to nine strands and two of them had been upgraded to rank two. The upgraded purple blood energy had also be more abstruse and seemed as if it would advance once again.

    The dark golden blood energy had inherited the golden blood energy¡¯s characteristics but was growing at a much slower rate. It was only slightly stronger than its new-born state even after consuming so much darkness origin power. However, Qianye felt that two more illusory runes had appeared within the trail it left behind while roaming about.

    Qianye had coexisted with the blood energies for a significant length of time and was already quite familiar with their uses. Ordinary blood energy would increase in number or upgrade, granting Qianye a slight boost in constitution while at the same time protecting and repairing his internal organs when they receive damage.

    The purple blood energy was clearly the source of his vampire constitution ability rune. Its growth and upgrade would bring about a significant strengthening in Qianye¡¯s body. Additionally, the highly damaging ¡°toxicity¡± of his blood to the dark races and especially vampires could probably be attributed to it.

    The golden blood energy was originally the source of his eye ability rune but also came to possess strengthening properties after its upgrade. The extent of this effect fell between that of the ordinary and purple blood energies.

    As for the new-born dark golden blood energy, it had apparently taken over the runic ability of the golden blood energy. It wasn¡¯t quite evident how it would develop in the future, but one thing was extremely evident¡ªits strengthening effect on Qianye¡¯s constitution was even greater than the purple blood energy.

    Its origins were also quite puzzling. Qianye still wasn¡¯t quite certain whether the golden blood energy advanced after engulfing the dark vortex or if he had assimted the golden blood energy after cultivating the Mystery chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    However, Qianye was slowly beginning to form a system after fumbling about with his cultivation. Daylight origin power was still dependent on the Combatant Form for umtion and then purified by the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Glory chapter.

    Since gaining an abundant supply of darkness origin power, the blood energies in Qianye¡¯s body no longer devoured daybreak origin power. Although he would have to waste some time circting the Mystery and Glory chapters of the Song n Ancient Scroll, he would no longer lose daybreak origin power. Thus his cultivation speed, as a whole, wouldn¡¯t be affected.

    Qianye would sometimesugh ruefully at his weird origin power system. However, this newly-constructed equilibrium based on the Song n Ancient Scroll felt much more dependable than anxiously fumbling around for ways to make daybreak origin power and dark blood energy exist together.

    Qianye¡¯s somewhat rxed mood was once again enshrouded in ayer of darkness after he entered the county seat of the Shadowhill County.

    This city, located in the hintends of Evernight Continent, was also a famous ck crystal production zone under human control. This ce was always heavily garrisoned. Although the whole of Evernight Continent was in a strained situation, the mes of war hadn¡¯t reached this ce. The city was still in good order and bustling with heavy traffic.

    Qianye had nned to cross the Profound Jade Peak, a branch of the mountain range running through this area, and head toward the next battlefield to check on the situation therein. As such, he had chosen to enter this city and replenish his supplies. There was a small business here run by a vassal family of the Song n and also one of Song Zining¡¯s secret contacts.

    There wasn¡¯t even a signboard on the storefront of this small manual workshop which specialized in weapons repair. Qianye¡¯s original n was merely to head over and replenish his physical origin bullet supply, however, he unexpectedly found out that Song Zining had been trying to get in touch with him via each and every branch organization since seven or eight days ago.

    The message was disseminated akin to casting a fishing, and thus, its contents were naturally quite vague. Qianye could only determine that Song Zining had a matter he needed help with and it was quite urgent.

    This kind of situation was absolutely abnormal!

    The haze in his heart grew even thicker after recalling the fragments he had picked up from Song Zining¡¯s letterst time. Thetter likely wouldn¡¯t seek out Qianye like looking for a needle in a haystack if he hadn¡¯t encountered a problem for which he couldn¡¯t even mobilize his own men.

    This tiny contact point wasn¡¯t able to provide much more information. Qianye hurriedly finished resupplying and immediately headed toward Weiyang City through the night. That was the empire¡¯srgest city in Evernight continent. Not only did it boast airship bases connecting toward the empire, but it was also home to the branch organizations of virtually every influential major power.

    Qianye climbed atop a mountain peak north of the county town and, gazing toward the north,pared thendscape before his eyes to the map of the Shadowhill County he had just memorized. He finally decided to take some risk by crossing through a region under dark race control about 100 kilometers in the distance¡ªthis was the shortest path toward Weiyang City.

    Meanwhile, deep underground. The mysterious city once opened by the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil was already strictly guarded by the soldiers under the directmand of the Evernight Council. No living creature was allowed to pass through apart from those with special authorization.

    This batch of warriors directly subordinate to the Evernight Council were rather few in number, and yet they were the most powerful elite warriors of the Evernight faction¡ªeven an ordinary captain was a champion rank expert. The officer selection process for this unit was extremely stringent. Not every champion rank dark race expert would receive such an honor. Only true experts of ughter were qualified to enter their ranks.

    This unit was a legend even in the Evernight faction and very few have ever seen their members. This was ck Sun, the sword-bearers and protectors of the Evernight Council.

    ck Sun was actually mobilized to guard this grand underground city and even those elite warriors were only allocated on the city borders. There seemed to be an invisible boundary in ce which they dared not pass.

    The interior of the city was still empty without any signs of life or activity. There was only a small group of people standing near the central altar.

    From a distance, these people looked to be of different physiques and were standing quite a distance from one another. However, the enormous space wherein the altar was located seemed iparably narrow for them, with each possessing an auraparable to the boundless oceans.

    Every casual movement caused their tremendously powerful auras to crash against each other¡ªit seemed as if perilous tidal waves were rolling through the air. And even this was the result of them showing some restraint. Perhaps this whole underground city was extremely small before any one of them.

    Even champion rank captains of ck Sun didn¡¯t dare to cross over the invisible boundary, so much that they didn¡¯t even nce toward the central altar as if their eyes would be burnt just by looking.

    The most shocking part was that there were 12 such terrifying existences.

    A whole 12 Evernight Council members! They weren¡¯t just ordinary council members. There were several senior members among them. A certain majestic figure among them even resembled one of those legendary powerhouses.

    There were a number of young people among these major characters of the Evernight faction. All of them, without exception, were illustrious characters of the Evernight faction¡¯s younger generation. Their future prospects were judged to be unlimited, and the prestige of the most excellent among them stood toe to toe with some of the ordinary members of the council.

    Nighteye stood at the very center of this group formed of genius among geniuses. She was the focus of all attention and was also one of the core members of this lineup.

    Fresh blood was flowing through the grooves which weaved together to fill the whole of the altar hall, climbing and crawling as if they were alive. This suffocative gigantic origin array had beenpletely activated.

    The blood running through the array gave off such an especially vivid aura of vitality that it made the vampire council members nce at it a couple of times.

    Blood energy was particrly dense above the altar where it had condensed into a mass of glistening mist. It was still rolling continuously akin to the pulsating heart of a primordial beast.

    After witnessing this scene, a vampire council member so old that it seemed as if he would copse any moment couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°The foolish humans are probably thinking about how they should fight a few more battles and see just what kind of arrangements we have made. Hehe, how can they know that we only needed seven battles?¡±

    A certain demonkin council member said slowly, ¡°The humans are indeed stupid, but there was also a certain honorable lord who was repelled by those foolish humans.¡±

    Another council member suddenly turned and said coldly, ¡°Farah, keep going if you insist on inciting a war!¡±

    The man who had turned around was, in fact, Ge Shitu. Back then, he had gone alone to the pir of the human territory, Darkblood City, and was shot by a human girl wielding the Red Spider Lily. He was badly wounded and had no choice but to escape. This incident became a weak point for his political enemies to attack.

    Farah snorted and said disapprovingly, ¡°I was only stating a fact.¡±

    Ge Shitu¡¯s replied with a cold voice, ¡°It is indeed a fact. If a certain other fellow were to take a direct hit from the Equinox Flower, I fear he wouldn¡¯t be returning at all.¡±

    Farah snorted deeply with a sour expression but didn¡¯t retort. Everyone here was a major character¡ªcertain superfluous things need not be articted. Defense was indeed his weak point. If he was, indeed, struck by the Red Spider Lily, one of the ten Grand Magnums, it was likely that he would be gravely wounded on the spot. He wouldn¡¯t even be able to escape.

    It was at this time that an old voice akin to the sound of chafing metal rang out, ¡°Silence! The treasure of Great Monarch Andruil has appeared.¡±

 Volume 4 - 30: Bloodline

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 30: Bloodline

    The tone of this aged voice couldn¡¯t be considered very polite toward Farah and Ge Shitu, but even so, the two of them didn¡¯t reveal the slightest bit of dissatisfaction.

    Everyone in the great hall became silent. The continuously forming lines on the bloody mist atop the altar gradually began to stabilize, vaguely forming the silhouette of arge unadorned door. Furthermore, it was gradually materializing and no longer illusory.

    The surroundings werepletely quiet. One could clearly hear the breathing of some of the Evernight Council members deepen. Even a council member would find it hard to stay calm before the legendary treasure of the Dark Monarch Andruil.

    After a short wait, the great door materializing from fresh blood finally took form. At the center of this door was a boundless and profound darkness. It almost seemed as if one would reach another unknown world after crossing through this threshold.

    In the perception of these Evernight powerhouses, the space beyond this bloody door seemed to be undergoing myriad changes every instant and constantly rotating like a wheel as if there were infinitely different realms therein. The worlds were simply switching too quickly¡ªit had already switched over to a new realm by the time their probing consciousnesses began to condense upon it.

    The incisive forces generated during the spatial changes were absolutely beyondpare and could easily bisect even those Evernight Council members known for their strong physical bodies.

    This was the ck Winged Monarch¡¯s terrifying might¡ªa single sanguineous door had effectively stumped the 12 council members. After careful investigation, these great characters of the Evernight faction silently withdrew all thoughts of forcefully breaking through.

    Ge Shitu slowly spoke, ¡°It seems we have no other way to open this bloody door without a descendant of Andruil¡¯s bloodline. This is also fine. Your Majesty Nighteye, we have arrived at the critical juncture. It¡¯ll be up to you whether or not we seed.¡±

    Nighteye had just taken a step forward when a tall youngdy, possessing the beauty of a frigid night-blooming cereus, suddenly walked out first and stood in front of Nighteye.

    She raised her head and addressed all the council members, ¡°Respectful lord council members, I also have Dark Monarch Andruil¡¯s blood flowing in my veins and, from many aspects, my own bloodline isn¡¯t inferior to Her Majesty Nighteye¡¯s. At this moment, I¡¯m willing to devote all my blood as a key to opening this treasured door!¡±

    Ge Shitu was visibly enraged and said coldly, ¡°Nonsense! Twilight, do you know what the dark monarch¡¯s treasure signifies? How can we allow you to mess around with such a major business.¡±

    Twilight ground her teeth and said, ¡°I know! Great Monarch Andruil sealed his most formidable power within. A core array with the potential to rival one of the ten grand magnums. An array with its own sentience and one that will choose its own master!¡±

    As she spoke these words, some from among the young people who were not yet privy to this secret let out gasps of astonishment.

    Ge Shitu¡¯s voice became even colder and began to emit a frosty killing intent. ¡°This is a secret of the highest level which only council members have the qualification to know. Where did you obtain this news?¡±

    Twilight was evidently feeling uneasy under Ge Shitu¡¯s suppressive might, but she had thrown all caution to the wind. Not only did she not lower her head, but she instead raised her voice and said, ¡°It¡¯s not important where I learned this. What¡¯s important is that we, the chosen of the darkness and the descendants of the sacred bloodline, obtain Dark Monarch Andruil¡¯s most valuable inheritance, is it not?! A sentient core array with an unlimited ability to mature¡ªif we can sessfully obtain it, we will have a famed gun that can rival the Red Spider Lily. Isn¡¯t it better that we get an extra attempt toward such a goal?¡±

    Ge Shitu was furious and was just about to say something when a certain vampire council member slowly spoke, ¡°The core array will automatically judge all bloodlines in the vicinity and select its partner ording to their strength and purity. There¡¯s nothing wrong with letting Twilight try since the contents of the previous agreement will not change. It''s fine as long as Her Majesty Nighteye is standing nearby when the core array appears.¡±

    Ge Shitu let out a deep humph and red fiercely at Twilight. ¡°So you¡¯ve found some backing, have you? No wonder you¡¯re so daring!¡±

    At this point, Ge Shitu turned toward the majestic figure in their midst and said angrily, ¡°If this test seeds, then wouldn¡¯t the future magnum be hers? This isn¡¯t what we agreed on back then!¡±

    The figure, as majestic as a mountain, was only a mirage. It was a shadow which extended from the ground all the way toward the roof of the hall. No one knew where his real body was or if he was, in fact, present all along.

    After hearing Ge Shitu¡¯s protests, the majestic figure said indifferently, ¡°This can be considered an internal matter of ck Wing¡¯s descendant branches. But since Twilight wishes for an opportunity, Sylvester, are you prepared to pay the price?¡±

    The vampire council member¡¯s face lit up with delight and immediately replied, ¡°Our n has already prepared sufficient supplies and can definitely give everyone a satisfactorypensation!¡±

    The gigantic mirage slowly lowered its head. A pair of illusory eyes appeared to gaze at Nighteye as he asked amiably, ¡°Nighteye, are you willing to let Twilight try once?¡±

    At this time, the depths of Nighteye¡¯s pupils was like a vast and boundless ocean of fresh blood, the waves suffused with a faint golden glow. As she gazed silently at the sanguineous door, the ripples in her eyes began to converge upon the blood energy fluctuations of the door.

    Twilight turned toward Nighteye, raised her chin and said coldly, ¡°She doesn¡¯t dare agree! Dark Monarch Andruil¡¯s bloodline also flows within me and our branch is the direct descendant of the great monarch. She¡¯s but a fortunate awakener from a branch of a branch family and she¡¯s not even a champion. Am I right, sister, Nighteye?!¡±

    She ced a great deal of emphasis on the word ¡°sister¡±.

    In the face of such a provocation, Nighteye only continued to gaze at the bloody door and replied with a coldugh only after some time, ¡°Mixed bloods will always be mixed bloods. There¡¯ll always be idiots who don¡¯t know the immensity of the heaven and earth.¡±

    Nighteye faced the lofty figure and said indifferently, ¡°Let her try. I just hope she¡¯s considered the consequences of paying such a significantpensation. Additionally, I want two shares.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s eyes ignited with the mes of fury and stressed her reply word by word, ¡°You can have five!¡±

    Seeing that the majestic figure had no objections and that Nighteye had also agreed, the other council members no longer expressed their opinion.

    That vampire council member had already openly expressed his standpoint by supporting Twilight. Thus, there was each a council member behind Nighteye and Twilight.

    The purity of Nighteye¡¯s bloodline after awakening had received the recognition of all members of the Evernight Council. However, Twilight was younger, rose to fame earlier, and as the inheritor of an ancient bloodline, her current strength was greater than Nighteye¡¯s. It was just that her bloodline, after awakening, wasn¡¯t as pure as thetter and thus her future prospects were deemed inferior.

    However, there never was a unified standard for such a thing as bloodline purity and had always been a matter of much controversy. This became even more pronounced when such a greater matter as the inheritance of the ck Winged Monarch was involved. The bloodline of Andruil simrly flowed through Twilight¡¯s veins¡ªif not for Nighteye¡¯s existence, the spot in front of this altar would¡¯ve rightfully been hers.

    Twilight had to fight for this opportunity even if she must offend Nighteye and the council member supporting her because the one opening the bloody door would have a greater chance of bing the core array¡¯s master. Being able to grasp a grand magnum would cement her position in the whole of the Evernight faction.

    Twilight exhaled a sigh of relief after seeing her objective fulfilled. Her face was flushed with undisguised delight and excitement as she walked over and took her ce before the altar.

    With a ng, Ge Shitu tossed a dagger at her feet.

    The dagger¡¯s sharp edge was engraved with countless runes, and embedded within the hilt, instead of gems, was an actual live eyeball! The eyeball rotated and stared fixedly at Twilight. One could clearly feel its overflowing bloodthirst despite it being a mere eyeball.

    Twilight picked up the dagger, extended her left hand, and suddenly shed her palm.

    She suddenly let out a miserably cry¡ªrows of sharp teeth had actually appeared on the dagger¡¯s edge, leaving a wound so deep that it almost cut off her palm! It seemed this dagger didn¡¯t just cut through flesh and blood but instead the soul. Even with her willpower and wild mindset, she couldn¡¯t help but cry out wretchedly from the pain.

    Fresh blood flowed madly from the wound as if guided by an invisible force, transforming into a ribbon of blood which flew toward the sanguineous door.

    The great door immediately reacted¡ªthe arrays on the door frame lit up one by one as the profound darkness churned, gradually forming a pathway leading toward a certain space within its depths. However, the borders of the pathway were blurry and indistinct as if they were swaying violently in a tempestuous downpour.

    Twilight¡¯s face had gone pale and ashen amidst the deathly stillness, but the arrays on the bloody door hadn¡¯t lit uppletely. Fresh blood flowed out from Twilight¡¯s body like a waterfall¡ªshe would be sucked dry by the door within a minute if this went on.

    But judging from the current speed, the door would require at least ten more minutes to openpletely.

    Twilight ground her teeth as her left hand trembled¡ªshe was unwilling to withdraw no matter what.

    ¡°Enough.¡± The vampire council member sighed. He appeared before the altar in a sh and broke the stream of blood with a wave of his hand.

    ¡°No! I can still hold on! I¡­¡± Twilight wanted to struggle but was forcefully dragged away.

    Only then did Nighteye respond, ¡°Is it finally my turn?¡±

    She slowly walked toward the altar, but as she was passing by, that vampire council member suddenly said, ¡°Your Majesty Nighteye, I hope you won¡¯t disappoint us!¡±

    Nighteye paused her steps and cast her gaze upon that vampire council member. ¡°Duke Jotun, you should be very clear that your current position is not the end of my ambitions. Therefore, I would suggest you don¡¯t offend me again out of consideration for yourself and your descendants. I shall remember today¡¯s incident. And remember, I¡¯m taking five shares and not a single gold coin less!¡±

    Duke Jotun¡¯s face naturally grew extremely ugly. He snorted deeply and said, ¡°Let¡¯s continue this discussion when you¡¯ve opened the bloody door!¡±

    Nighteye walked toward the altar and picked up the dagger. She then nced up at the ten-meter tall sanguineous door before slowly cutting her palm.

    The dagger let out a joyful scream the very instant it tasted Nighteye¡¯s blood!

 Volume 4 - 31: Unforeseen Event

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 31: Unforeseen Event

    The wound on Nighteye¡¯s palm wasn¡¯t very big. Her blood was simrly drawn towards the door in a ribbon-like stream, but it was evidently different from Twilight¡¯s with strands of gold mixed into it.

    Twilight¡¯s expression grew dismal after seeing this. Both their bloodlines had been thoroughly stimted by the sanguineous door. Thus, in the eyes of all these council members, it became obvious that there was a difference between the strength of their bloodlines.

    An imposing growl was suddenly heard from the boundless space beyond the door just as the ribbon of blood came into contact with it.

    The howl seemingly broke through space to invade the altar hall, whereupon the auras of all those major characters fell abruptly as if the peaks of a mountain range had been shaved off. Even that indomitable and majestic figure was suddenly shortened by a third.

    They soon came to and realized that it was a strand of consciousness left behind by Andruil. It actually able to subdue the numerous council members here. From this, it was obvious how strong the ck-Winged Monarch was at his peak!

    Afterwards, several origin arrays on the door began to light up; the rate was much faster than Twilight¡¯s.

    Within the blink of an eye, all the origin arrays on the door were activated, whereupon a gigantic eye slowly materialized at its center. It spun around and swept its gaze over everyone present.

    Everyone was ovee by an earth-shattering pressure as the gaze fell upon them. The stronger the council member, the greater the pressure. The pressure upon the younger generation was much lighter.

    Almost half the council members couldn¡¯t withstand the gaze sweeping over them and were forced to retreat several steps.

    Standing dejectedly in the crowd, Twilight¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up as she discovered something odd. She actually didn¡¯t feel any pressure as the eye swept over her despite her diminished vitality. Consequently, she began to ponder.

    The giant eye finally fell on Nighteye¡ªeven its pupil was taller than her¡ªthe cold and lifeless gaze turned much gentler as a deep voice rang out.

    ¡°My descendant, you, child, who possess the same bloodline as I¡ªyou have finally arrived. For this day I have waited a whole millennium! Now, ept my gift and prepare to inherit my destiny. May the darkness be with you, my child.¡±

    The darkness in the depths of the eye began to flow and, within the blink of an eye, spread out to form a seemingly endless pathway connected to an unknown location.

    A drop of sanguineous radiance lit up in the deepest parts of this pathway, following which several red gems gushed out like a spring.

    Jotun suddenly let out a resounding scream, ¡°Origin blood! Great Monarch Andruil¡¯s origin blood!¡±

    Apart from a number of senior council members, the others frantically soared into the air to intercept the flying red gems.

    Each origin blood crystal could produce a descendant with Andruil¡¯s bloodline. Although they would be much weaker than his direct descendant Twilight and iparable to Nighteye¡¯s awakened prime bloodline, their chances at bing a marquis, or even a duke, was much higher.

    Andruil left a whole seven crystals of origin blood. It was likely that a lot of disputes would ensue regarding their distribution. Even the 12 ancient ns wouldn¡¯t let go of such a readily-avable marquis position.

    Just as the crowd was busy intercepting the origin blood crystals, an inexplicable sensation emerged throughout the whole underground capital. It was a pensive, ancient, and tyrannical intent,parable to the sudden descent of a ferocious ancient beast.

    A golden radiance lit up in the deepest parts of the giant eye!

    ¡°The core array!!!¡± Ge Shitu¡¯s loud shout roused those who were busy intercepting the crystals.

    Suddenly, all eyes were focused on the mass of golden light.

    Not only did the council members not advance, but, on the contrary, they immediatelynded andpletely withdrew out of the altar¡¯s range. The younger generation also retreated along with their elders.

    No one dared to ignore Great Monarch Andruil¡¯s consciousness after experiencing his might. The Evernight Council had found certain records proven to be Andruil¡¯s own handwriting. It was clearly stated therein that the core array would choose a master on its own. Only a person with Andruil¡¯s bloodline and one of sufficient purity would have the qualifications to wield it.

    The eyes of all council members were ame, but none of them dared to attempt a forceful collection. This core array was rted to the birth of a grand magnum¡ªif the dark faction could gain control of it, they would be able topletely suppress the human race. It was a major change that wouldpletely shift the power bnce between the two factions.

    Additionally, there were high hopes that it could, one day, confront the Red Spider Lily directly. If anyone were to forcefully collect the array and, as a result, destroy the inheritance, themanding Evernight Council Powerhouses would be the first to tear the bastard apart.

    ording to the agreed-upon procedure, only Nighteye and Ge Shitu would remain near the altar. Nighteye would be responsible for collecting the core array with her awakened bloodline power while Ge Shitu would provide support from the side.

    The golden light leapt out of the eye and hovered in the air for a moment.

    Everyone held their breath at that moment and their hearts almost skipped a beat.

    It was at this time that a figure suddenly leapt up high and pounced towards the golden light.

    It was Twilight!

    She charged like a bolt of lightning, shouting, ¡°It¡¯s mine! It belongs only to me!¡±

    Killing intent shed across Nighteye¡¯s countenance as Twilight¡¯s flying figure was reflected within her eyes. The highly excited Twilight suddenly felt a sense of indescribable danger. She immediately erupted with origin power and forcefully shed with Nighteye¡¯s attack mid-air.

    Twilight¡¯s charging momentum was disrupted as she hovered in the air and coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood. Nighteye who was on the ground also let out a muffled groan and staggered back a few steps. Her face had gone pale and two streams of blood were trickling down the corners of her eyes.

    In this contest, Nighteye was actually on par with Twilight who was already a champion.

    The blob of golden light seemed to sense something. It suddenly stirred and flew toward the twodies.

    Twilight was immediately ovee with excitement as she extended her hand to grab the ball of light. However, the moment her fingertips came into contact with the golden halo, she was flung away like a kite with its string broken. It was almost as if she was struck by lightning.

    The golden ball of light,pletely unaffected, continued along its trajectory toward Nighteye.

    A number of council members revealed expressions of disappointment, but most appeared delighted. In truth, the Evernight Council as a whole had little interest in the countless conflicts underneath, especially the internal disputes of the ns. Neither did they have any predisposition.

    They only sought an extra magnum for the Evernight faction in order to gain a six versus three advantage over the humans. This was the bigger picture. As for who the master of this gun was, it was a significant matter but definitely not the most important thing on their list.

    Before awakening, Nighteye was only the young mistress of a small n with no blue-bloods supporting her. But this was actually better because it signified that she could still be won over. Twilight, the other hand, was a famous pureblood descendant and precisely because of this, her standpoint was already predetermined. Those in conflict with her n absolutely wouldn''t wish to see her obtain the core array.

    Nighteye used the dagger to cut her palm open. She extended hands stained with fresh blood toward the ball of light. This was both a ceremony and a testament.

    Everyone exhaled in relief as they waited for the advent of this historical moment.

    Nighteye was able to open the sanguineous door and draw out Andruil¡¯s origin blood and core array. This signified that her bloodline had already received the recognition of Andruil¡¯s remnant consciousness. Only she was the rightful inheritor of the core array.

    However, just as the ball of light entered Nighteye¡¯s hands and everyone believed the situation was decided, an rming change suddenly urred!

    The light rose suddenly and rapidly, shooting toward the sky with a sharp whistling sound. It pierced right through the domed roof within the blink of an eye and disappeared just like that.

    Only that powerful character and a few other senior council members were able to lock onto its trajectory. They extended their consciousness through the thickyers of earth to reach the surface but could only watch as the light disappeared into the distance, its whereabouts thereafter were no longer known.

    Everyone was momentarily petrified.

    In the deathly silence, Twilight wanted to howl withughter but she wasn¡¯t that dumb. She closed her half-open mouth and proceeded to wipe the traces of blood at its corner.

    Nighteye was also frozen in ce. She nced at her hands and then toward the direction in which the light had flown away. Her mind waspletely nk.

    The domed roof of the underground city waspletely unharmed. Not a single mark was left as if the ball of light wasn¡¯t even corporeal.

    The silence continued for a few moments before the majestic figured roared, ¡°Search! Go find out where the core array has gone!¡±

    Only then did everyone wake up from their reverie and began to ept the truth¡ªAndruil¡¯s core array, the Wings of Inception, chose neither Twilight nor Nighteye and had flown away into the distance.

    The Evernight Council members contacted their subordinates stationed on the surface. Momentster, everyone¡¯s expression turned extremely ugly.

    More than one person witnessed the mass of golden light break through the earth and fly toward the south. However, its speed wasparable to a shooting star. It even escaped the perception of that major character and many other senior council members. How could those soldiers, who knew nothing at all, be of any use?

    ¡°Give chase! Chase after it immediately!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a major human city in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Then mobilize all the armies. tten whatever stands in the way!¡±

    Numerousmands brimming with killing intent were transmitted in every direction. Before long, an elite squad began to move toward thest known direction of the Wings of Inception. Hourster, numerous dark race armies disassembled camp and moved south. One dayter, the units stationed near the predetermined battlefields also began to move.

    Suddenly, Evernight Continent was, again, ovee by sudden and violent developments.

    The imperial troops aggregated on Evernight Continent had already reached the size of five regr armies. Additionally, half of the elite corps had also arrived. The spies hidden in the Evernight faction were all mobilized to deliver each of the dark race army¡¯s movements to imperial ears. Besides, movements of such a scale could hardly be concealed.

    At the expeditionary army headquarters, dark arrowheads began to move on the map before Duke Ding and Marshal Luo Mingji. All of them vaguely pointed toward a certain direction. The arrows were of different sizes but each of them represented a unit of considerable strength.

    Duke Ding stroked his short beard and said slowly, ¡°They¡¯re moving in full strength!¡±

    Luo Mingji nodded. ¡°This time, it seems they havepletely no intention to feign or conceal their movements. Could it be my misperception? Why do I feel that these dark-blooded scoundrels are flustered and exasperated? What do you think, Lord Duke?¡±

    Duke Ding muttered to himself. There was a mountain range and a human city in that direction. But ording to reports, there was almost nothing special about that ce except the production of ck crystal and some rare ores.

    Duke Ding didn¡¯t ponder too long before he pped the map and said resolutely, ¡°We will also dispatch our troops! No matter what they want, we won¡¯t let them have an easy time. Mobilize everybat-ready army. Every army we deter counts!¡±

    Luo Mingji nodded. ¡°As it should be!¡±

    Momentster, numerous mobilization orders were sealed and delivered to the airships. Dozens of airships then took to the air and flew off in all directions. One dayter, the elite units closest to the front line began to set out. Afterwards, three half-armies with some preserved fighting power and the expeditionary army reserves were moved out in full force.

    Dozens of armies from both factions were directed at a single region. If they were to sh head-on, it would inevitably result in an earth-shattering battle!

    Meanwhile, in a remote corner of this region, Qianye was still sleeping soundly.

 Volume 4 - 32: Wings of Inception

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 32: Wings of Inception

    Qianye had just killed a rank eight iron rhinoceros. The plentiful essence blood within this ten-meter long beast made Qianye extremely full.

    This time, Qianye exhibited symptoms of tiredness after the filling meal. He was immediately ovee by drowsiness and could hardly control the urge to sleep. He had no idea if something was wrong with his body or if it was a special characteristic of the iron rhinoceros¡¯s blood.

    He could no longer care about how safe this region was as he hurriedly searched for a hiding spot to lie down and sleep. Qianye¡¯s consciousness was stillughing self-deprecatingly when he was swept into the dreand by the extreme weariness. It seemed shortcuts would always involve certain repercussions. Just as thebatant form brought harm to one¡¯s body, drawing upon the blood of creatures would also produce weird reactions from time to time.

    His sleep this time wasn¡¯t deep. After an unknown length of time, Qianye was still lingering in a half-awake state. Suddenly, he saw a golden meteorite falling from the sky and smashing ruthlessly into him!

    Immediately woken up with a start, he turned around and switched to a sitting position.

    He once again found himself in that hazy world. Mists were rolling about in all directions. He wanted to reach out and tear off a piece, however, he soon felt himself slowly ascending and piercing through the domed roof as if it was empty space. He then emerged through the thick earth, continuing to rise above the ground and toward the boundless skies.

    There was a ball of golden light before him which seemed to be the only existence he could sense within this empty space. Qianye proceeded to fly straight into it almost as if he was being guided by an invisible force.

    Following which, a pair of eyes appeared within his conscience.

    A pair of inexplicable eyes¡ªthey were enormous, as if they would blot out the heaven and earth. They had experienced countless vicissitudes, as if every ancient timeline was shing sequentially through their depths. Furthermore, they were intelligent, as if they could see through the world¡¯s deepest secrets with every gaze.

    The moment Qianye gazed upon this pair of eyes, an unparalleled and tremendous will touched his consciousness. Following which, a resonant voice reverberated throughout this whole world.

    ¡°I am Andruil of the ck wing. Oh ye blood descendant who shares amon origin as I, are you prepared? Since my legacy has chosen you, then it¡¯s inevitable that you ept this task¡ªthis mission destined to never bepleted¡­¡± [1]

    Qianye¡¯s immediate reaction was, why should he ept the orders of a great dark monarch? Furthermore, how difficult would it be if even Andruil himself felt that it was impossible toplete?

    Moreover, what was this so-called inheritance all about?

    It seemed this colossal consciousness immediately understood Qianye¡¯s thoughts as the voice once again rumbled, ¡°My legacy is divided into two parts. One of it is named the Wings of Inception which, at this moment, is already within your body. The other, called the Eye of Truth, is hidden on ming Beacon Continent¡­¡±

    Following which, the scene of a continent appeared within Qianye¡¯s consciousness. Judging from its specialndscape, the confluence of three peaks and single river, it was probably the Western Continent which was also the ming Beacon Continent as addressed by the dark races.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s field of vision seemed as if he was looking down from thousands of meters up in the sky. The earth was being repeatedly magnified as if the scene was zooming in until it fixed itself on a certain mountainous region.

    It wasn¡¯t merely a still map but simr to an iparably life-like image. He could clearly see many dark race members roaming about in the area as if they were searching for something. Arge number of them were already digging into certain hills and valleys.

    Qianye was shaken. Apparently, the dark races had also found certain clues about Andruil¡¯s treasure via other channels. Furthermore, they were already starting to explore and excavate. However, it seemed they hadn¡¯t obtained the exact coordinates and could only investigate over arge area. But with such a carpet-like excavation, they would find it sooner orter.

    Qianye¡¯s heart tightened as his vision was flooded with dazzling light.

    ¡°Go now, find the Eye of Truth and you¡¯ll obtain true strength. At that time, you¡¯ll gain the right to know your destiny¡­¡±

    When Qianye opened his eyes, he found himself lying within the cave hideout. The cave roof was intact. There wasn¡¯t the slightest sign of rocks falling down from above.

    So it was just a dream.

    Qianye propped himself up and was stunned as he lowered his head. The ground he was lying on had caved in with cracks extending in all directions. A red glow was shing in the depths of these crevices, and there were actually residual mes slowly flickering inside. However, no heat was transmitted to the surface at all.

    After seeing this bizarre scene, Qianye suddenly felt a chill run down his back. It so happened that he had been sweating profusely and allyers of his clothing were drenched.

    Could it be that a meteorite had really fallen onto him? Why couldn¡¯t he find any wounds on him at all? Even his clothes weren¡¯t damaged.

    So it was a dream but yet not a dream? Qianye doubtfully checked himself from head to toe but couldn¡¯t find this so-called Wings of Inception anywhere.

    At this time, Qianye calmed down and moved toward an intact corner of the cave. He sat down with his back to the wall to regte his breathing. The drowsiness brought about by the rolling blood energy had all but vanished. This was a region under dark race control and not his pre-determined resting ce. Hence, Qianye decided to continue his journey after being able to move again.

    As he ran through the night, Qianye sensed an unusual and almost drowning-like sensation which seemed to press down and diffuse throughout the surrounding air. The feeling affected his heart with every breath, making him very ufortable. It vaguely seemed as if great danger was closing in.

    Qianye raised his speed and, at the same time, became more cautious. His night vision and perceptive abilities were all activated as he paid rapt attention to surrounding movements.

    Qianye gazed into the distance after climbing up a peak which offered him a wide field of vision. Suddenly, his expression shifted¡ªthere was a ck tide slowly moving at the edge of the horizon.

    From his abundantbat experience, Qianye was able to tell that this wasn¡¯t a tide at all but a rapidly moving army. It seemed the previous wind-borne aura hade from the dark race army!

    Judging from its scale, this should be an army numbering in the tens of thousands. Even the strength of 10,000 cannon-fodder couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Besides, Qianye also noticed a number of ck specks floating above the dark race unit. Those were the champion level dark race experts monitoring the troops from the air.

    Suchrge number of experts signified the great strength of this army.

    Qianye observed for a while before he suddenly turned his head. A simr dark race army had appeared over the horizon in another direction. Additionally, their strength wasn¡¯t inferior to the current one.

    Qianye rapidly recalled the surrounding map in astonishment¡ªthis wasn¡¯t a predetermined battlefield. There must be some other reason for dark race armies of such scale to be converging upon it. The strength of these armies wasn¡¯t inferior at all to those deployed at the predetermined battlefields. The empire would inevitably react immediately. It was quite likely that this area would turn into a great battlefield.

    At this time, Qianye had no choice but to avoid this ce despite his wishes to serve the empire to some extent. Neither side would be able to distinguish his allegiance once the battle began. Their first reaction would be to kill him immediately.

    He now had two options. One was to turn back to Shadowhill County, and the other was to continue toward Weiyang City. He gazed at the lines of movement of the two opposing armies and, after a while, decided to take the risk. He would take the opportunity to pass right through them before their rendezvous.

    With that, Qianye leapt off the peak and ran under topographical cover for almost half a day at a speed slightly faster than that of long distance running. Finally, he sessfully passed through the region between the two dark race armies as the sun began to rise. He was forced to kill off two keen scouts along the way.

    What awaited in front, after passing through the danger zone, was a hilly region. However, Qianye had only walked for another half a day before finding yet another dark race army. Although the numbers in this unit were smaller, their soldiers were all elitespared to the other two armies.

    Two powerful consciousnesses swept toward Qianye just as he showed his head even though they were separated by a distance of over 10 kilometers. Qianye fell t on the ground with great astonishment andy without moving a single inch. He circted bloodline concealment and withdrew his aura.

    The two fluctuations swept past the hill but ended up empty-handed. Even the vegetation here was sparse with the asional harmless creature passing by.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare move¡ªthings absolutely wouldn¡¯t be so easy now that he had attracted the other party¡¯s attention. As expected, the two consciousnesses swept through the region once again one after the other.

    This time, Qianye immediately leapt up and fled along the mountain ridge as soon as the two consciousnesses passed him. A number of vampires appeared on the mountain ridge soon after he left. They hade to investigate once more but found nothing out of the ordinary. Qianye left almost no traces of himself, not even his own scent.

    Meanwhile, the dark race armies continued moving along their designated lines. This group of high-ranking vampires split up to check the surroundings for a short while then left to catch up with their unit.

    Qianye continued on, encountering several roaming dark race sentries along the way. He discovered even more dark race armies lying across his path toward Weiyang City. In order to skirt pass enemy scouts, Qianye was forced to change his route further and further away from his target.

    It wouldn¡¯t do if this went on. Even though Qianye had no idea what was going on in the outside world, he knew that the empire wouldn¡¯t let these dark race armies rendezvous sessfully. Therefore, a battle could break out any moment here. There were dark race scouts everywhere, and their experts were increasing in number. It was already too risky for him to escape toward the surrounding areas. If he was unlucky, he might run straight into the intercepting imperial army units.

    Qianye momentarily pondered before making a prompt decision¡ªhe turned back toward theplex mountainous area, found a cave extending deep into the ground, and sealed himself inside. He fumbled into the deepest parts and started cultivating. He was prepared to pass this period of turmoil here.

    Battle broke out at dawn the next morning. Qianye could still sense the sounds of origin power collisions and the shockwaves from explosions despite being hidden deep underground. Sometimes, the earth shook violently as if the whole cave and mountain peak was about to copse.

    From this, it was obvious how intense the battle outside was.

    Such experts and armies had gathered here to engage in a life and death battle. But why? Qianye sometimes couldn¡¯t help but wonder about the reason. He naturally didn¡¯t know that the true reason for this war was for Dark Monarch Andruil¡¯s Wings of Inception.

    Merely, after a certainpletion of his 40th Combatant Form tide, he discovered that the dark golden blood energy previously entrenchedzily within the rune had swum out.

    It remained unaffected within the sea of daybreak origin power and only continued to move around his heart in a leisurely manner as if it was out for a stroll. Oddly, a small pair of wings had grown out of one end. It seemed as if this blood energy, previously impossible to differentiate between head and tail, had suddenly grown a head.

    [1] There was a slight inconsistency here between this sentence and the next one. I modified them slightly so that it makes more sense.

 Volume 4 - 33: Boulderheart Jade Letter

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 33: Boulderheart Jade Letter

    Blood energy raised on pure darkness origin power advanced at a rtively faster rate. Seven of the ordinary blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body had already advanced sessfully, and the purple blood energy was also on the verge of upgrading to rank three. Since then, the essence blood from the iron-skinned rhinoceros had all been refined.

    The battle on the surface was still ongoing. But after that one world-shaking battle, there were no more collisions of the same scale. They fought back and forth for a period of time before gradually bing silent.

    Deep inside the mountain, Qianye knew neither day nor night as he entered a critical part of his cultivation. He was in the process of igniting his seventh origin node. It seemed the effects of pure daybreak origin power were also superior.

    At one point, Qianye¡¯s body suddenly shook as radiance erupted from within. The barrier around his seventh origin power node shattered with a loud rumble, following which, origin power flowed out continuously from within. The other six nodes were also vibrating constantly in response to the newborn node.

    Qianye slowly withdrew the surging origin power tides within his body only after the origin nodes were stabilized. He felt every movement of his limbs full of power and had the urge to release them in a ruthless battle.

    From now on, he had formally reached rank seven. ording to vampire race standards, he had already stepped past the threshold of a high-ranking vampire and would be able to receive the title of esquire. Rank seven was also the doorway for the promotion of new nobility in the human empire. In the military, he would be eligible for the rank of lieutenant colonel and gain the qualifications to lead a regiment.

    The surroundings had already quieted down for quite some time. It seemed the battle on the ground had reached the end of a phase. Qianye followed the snaking tunnel to reach the entrance, listened for a moment, and proceeded to break apart the rock blocking it.

    It was daytime outside¡ªthe sunlight almost seemed brighter with theing of the light season, and the mountain gale was also suffused with warmth. It was just that the winds also contained the intense odor of gunpowder and blood.

    Qianye climbed to the peak and gazed into the distance. Traces of a cruel battle appeared before his eyes.

    The ins had long since been charred, and the isted mountains in the periphery were actually broken across the middle. The river had stopped flowing, and the woods had been reduced to scorched earth. The gigantic war beasts were like small hills and possessed boundless strength while alive, but now only their gigantic skeletons remain.

    The battlefield had apparently been cleaned already. Both parties had already retrieved the remains of their soldiers. However, no one bothered with those giant dark race war beasts and cannon fodder like the servspiders. At this moment, countless ravens and vultures were gathered on the battlefield. Corpses were swiftly reduced to white skeletons under their razor sharp beaks.

    Qianye knew not whether the empire won or lost this great battle, and it was too difficult to determine the oue from the traces on the battlefield. But judging from the way the cleanup was carried out, it was likely that the battle had ended in a draw after which both sides began to pick up the pieces.

    At this moment, neither humans nor dark races appeared within Qianye¡¯s vision. Such battlefields would always be gued with epidemics for a certain period because of the dark race¡¯s habitual abandonment of cannon fodder and giant beast carcasses in mass. Thisnd would be a forbidden region for humans with insufficient strength. Although Qianye had no need to fear such diseases, it didn¡¯t feel toofortable either after a while.

    He checked the direction and began to head toward Weiyang City.

    The vast region seemedpletely empty after the battle. Qianye didn¡¯t encounter a single high-ranking warrior along the way, not even beasts.

    However,rge mobs of scavengers and tramps had flocked here. To them, the recent battle was like an excavated gold mine with countless opportunities within. The little things left behind after the cleanup would allow these scavengers to live as if they were in paradise for a certain period.

    Qianye arrived in Weiyang City without a hitch. The war had hardly affected thergest city in Evernight Continent¡ªthe bustling city was still flourishing and extravagant.

    Lights of various colors, akin to dazzling stars, could be seen in the night sky. Those were long distance airshipsnding and taking off continuously.

    As one of the two major hubs connecting Evernight and the empire, Weiyang City¡¯s airship base itself was like a small city servicing hundreds of airships each day. During wartime, this number would increase severalfold due to the transportation of troops. Most of the imperial regr armies arriving to participate in this war arrived via this hub.

    Qianye, on the other hand, was in no mood to admire the thriving city. He had been detained in the mountains for ten-odd days because of the war and was worried about the situation on Song Zining¡¯s side.

    He checked in at a small inn upon entering the city and then visited some other ces like the imperial tradingpany to sell off arge part of his crystal python scales for several hundred gold coins. Finally, he visited the origin power raw material tradingpany run by the Ningyuan Group.

    Qianye sold the remaining crystal python scales and other materials here, then shed his token to obtain a parcel Song Zining had left for him.

    Reportedly, none of the several high-ranking managers of the Ningyuan Group were in the city and the shopkeeper was only tasked with delivering the package upon seeing the token. After chatting with him for a while, Qianye realized that this shopkeeper was merely an outsider. Thetter was even under the impression that Qianye was a customer who had custom ordered certain equipment.

    Qianye opened the package after returning to his residence. There was half a piece of palm-sized jade within¡ªthis was a boulderheart jade letter. Its surface was smooth with seemingly nothing upon it, when, in truth, there were words therein carved with origin power. The words would only appear when the recipient injected origin power into it with a predetermined method. It was impossible to retrieve the contents without it.

    There was also a letter in the package with only a few words on it. Song Zining had entrusted Qianye with the task of delivering this boulderheart jade letter to the Western Continent, the recipient being a certain champion from the Zhao n.

    Qianye was rather concerned by the atmosphere around this business which seemed calm on the surface but involved a lot of tension inside. He himself had a load of problems in his hands. He couldn¡¯t just start investigating the Song n in an unfamiliar city without careful consideration.

    The destination, however, surprised him a great deal. It was actually the Zhao n of the Western Continent. The Forgotten Mountain Range mentioned in Deryl¡¯s diary belonged to Blue Dreams Mountain Belt, as did the Zhao n¡¯s Swallow Cloud Pass.

    In the couple of days that followed, Qianye was busy preparing his luggage. He disassembled the eye-catching Eagleshot and packed all theponents into his backpack. The Twin Flowers and Radiant Edge were tucked away in his tactical jacket. He bought somemon equipment from the gunsmith and hung them from his waist, including a secondhand Butcher and a military use tactical dagger.

    The outfit made Qianye look like an extremely ordinary hunter. The dagger and Butcher delivered a clear message¡ªthis was a madman who loved close quartersbat. Those with some degree of rationality wouldn¡¯t be willing to provoke a fellow who loved meleebat. Such people were quick to die, but, on the other hand, they enjoyed taking risks and were more willing to fight with their lives on the line.

    Qianye paid five gold coins to board an airship flying toward the empire where he would transfer towards the Western Continent.

    The price of five gold coins was a significant amount. As such, many citizens of Evernight Continent, including the soldiers of the expeditionary army, found it hard to visit the empire even once in their lifetimes.

    This was an old airship. Qianye was squeezed into the lower cabin with several hundred other passengers. They would all have to stay there for the long two-day journey. There were neither toilets nor dining halls. As such, the odor in the cabin wasn¡¯t exactly the best.

    But this wasn¡¯t too challenging for Qianye. At least there were seats in the lower cabin. When he first came to Evernight Continent, Qianye had traveled as a stowaway in the cargo hold and was made to sleep on a pile of mineral ores. He came quite close to being buried alive by copsing piles of ore when the airship shook violently.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to attract any attention, and as such, he had chosen to travel with hunters and mercenaries of simr social status despite the avability of better cabins above.

    Not long after boarding, the airship rumbled and shook violently as it gradually rose into the air and flew toward the border of the continent.

    There was a long journey ahead. Qianye leaned on the cabin wall and began to rest with his eyes closed. It was at this time that he received a heavy kick to the foot.

    Qianye opened his eyes to see a burly man as stout as a bear staring fiercely at him. The man smiled coldly and said, ¡°Move aside. Master Fang here wants that ce!¡±

    As Qianye looked over, the burly man revealed a tattoo-riddled arm and drew out the dagger on his waist half-way. There were a number ofpanions behind the man looking on at Qianye with bloodthirsty eyes. Apparently, these people would immediately pounce on him at the slightest protest.

    Such incidents weren¡¯t rare at all, but Qianye didn¡¯t expect it would happen to him. Those willing to squeeze into the lower cabins usually never exceeded rank three, and the people before him were not an exception. They were relying on their build and muscles to demonstrate their might instead of releasing their origin power auras. Hence, it wasn¡¯t too hard to imagine their strength.

    Qianye stood up and smiled at the burly man. ¡°You kicked me.¡±

    ¡°So what? This daddy here still wants to kick you a couple more times!¡± the burly man said. Then, as expected, he kicked fiercely toward Qianye¡¯s knee.

    Qianyeughed once again without moving an inch. He merely lifted his leg to block the iing blow.

    The two legs collided with a muffled thump followed closely by the crisp sound of cracking bones! The burly man cried out in misery as he bent down to hug hispletely deformed shank. His cries were almost world-shaking.

    Qianye briefly rotated his ankles and felt quite rxed. He had just reached rank seven¡ªhis body, especially his legs, were undergoing another round of strengthening. This was a long and painful process and the bone-deep itch often gave him the urge to kick the wall.

    Seeing the burly man¡¯s cries weren¡¯t stopping, Qianye shrugged his shoulders. ¡°So noisy.¡± He then proceeded to knock the man out with a kick to the back of his head.

    The expressions of the man¡¯spanions rapidly changed. Two violent but not-so-intelligent men drew their guns at Qianye.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m in a bad mood. You guys are really courting death.¡±

    Everyone saw a blurred scene before their eyes followed by two earsplitting booms. The sound emitted by the Butcher was enough to deafen people within this enclosed space.

    Origin power erupted on the two men¡¯s bodies as they were sted into the distance with countless shattered bones.

    The lower cabin was quite crowded. There were still quite a few unrted passengers standing near the two unfortunate fellows. At this time, they were pale with shock as they frantically felt around their bodies for possible wounds but found themselvespletely unharmed.

    Qianye had used a powerful Butcher to shoot explosive shells. Why were they unharmed despite standing so close to the two fellows?

    The lower cabin descended into a moment of chaos. People squeezed toward the sides to open up arge area in the middle. There used to be seven people facing Qianye, but now, three of them were already copsed on the floor.

    The lower cabin doors were suddenly opened with a bang as a number of fiendish sailors charged in along with a bearded captain.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know the firing of origin power guns is forbidden on airships?¡± the bearded captain asked, his voice suffused with killing intent.

 Volume 4 - 34: Silentflame Steppes

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 34: Silentme Steppes

    The hundreds of people in the lower cabin turnedpletely silent in fear. Many who frequently traveled between the continents had heard of the past deeds of this captain known as Ole Bearded de.

    It was said that this fellow was a veteran pirate before he got into the imperial airship business. Even without bringing up his past, Ole Bearded de could settle everyone in this cabin with his strength alone.

    ¡°Who fired his gun?¡± Ole Bearded de asked again.

    ¡°It is I,¡± Qianye replied calmly as he cleaned the Butcher with a square towel and restored it to his waist.

    The corners of Ole Bearded de¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but twitch after looking towards Qianye. He walked over to the fellow who had been injured, flipped the man over with his foot, and gave him a once over. ¡°He won¡¯t die.¡±

    ¡°Send these troublemakers to the fuel cabin.¡± Ole Bearded de got up and swept away the burly man¡¯s group with a wave of his hand, including those copsed on the ground. With that, he actually turned around and left.

    Even those sailors were stunned. Someone pointed towards Qianye and asked, ¡°What about him?¡±

    Ole Bearded de nced at Qianye and said, ¡°He¡¯s unrted. Just do as I say!¡±

    Ole Bearded de pushed open the door and left. One of his aides followed him to the gangway and said after looking left and right, ¡°Boss, that brat broke your rules!¡±

    Ole Bearded de snorted. ¡°If you can shoot an explosive shell from the Butcher like that, you can also ignore my rules.¡±

    The aide was startled. His expression gradually changed as he realized the meaning behind those words.

    The Butcher possessed great firepower but was notorious for its bad control. Qianye had fired two explosive shells but didn¡¯t wound anyone nearby. The two unfortunate fellows were wounded but still very much alive. This feat was much more difficult than sting them to pieces.

    This meant that either the Butcher was a disguised high-grade origin gun, or Qianye¡¯s control over origin power had reached near perfection. Regardless of the actual circumstances, this wasn¡¯t a person they could afford to offend.

    As for why such a person had gone to stay in the lower cabins, this aide had no desire to investigate. People in their line of work tended to die earlier the more they knew.

    The airship was peaceful thereafter, all the way until they reached the Qin Continent.

    Ole Bearded de stood at the cabin door, watching the passengers leave in session. As a rule, the lower cabin passengers were thest to alight. But this time, there were a couple of passengers from the fuel cabin behind them, the chaps who slept on piles of ck stones.

    Just as Qianye was about to disembark, Ole Bearded de tossed him a dagger and said, ¡°Half price if you ride my airship on the way back.¡±

    Qianye caught the dagger, checked it, and nced towards Ole Bearded de with a smile. ¡°Any other benefits?¡±

    ¡°I ship anything,¡± replied Ole Bearded de.

    ¡°Sounds good. What routes?¡±

    ¡°You decide the origin and destination. I¡¯ll draw up the route.¡±

    Qianye pulled out a box of cigars and tossed it towards Ole Bearded de. ¡°Very well, I¡¯lle find you when the need arises.¡±

    Ole Bearded de opened the box of cigars only after Qianye left. His expression changed slightly as he brought one to his nose and sniffed at it.

    The aide suddenly inhaled deeply. He then stared fixedly, unable to take his eyes off the cigar. ¡°Boss, something¡¯s odd about this cigar!¡±

    ¡°Bulsh*t, this is good stuff. It¡¯s got military-use stimnts added into it.¡±

    The aide¡¯s eyes lit up as he rubbed his hands. ¡°No, there¡¯s a slightly different scent.¡±

    Ole Bearded de immediately put away the box of cigars into his innermost pocket and red firmly at the aide. He then tossed the cigar in his hand towards thetter, albeit reluctantly.

    The aide ced the cigar under his nose and took a long sniff. ¡°This scent, it¡¯s different from the usual stimnts.¡±

    Ole Bearded de stared at the man and said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s different. This is an exclusive product from the elite corps.¡±

    The aide was immediately shocked out of his wits and nearly dropped the cigar. ¡°Boss, does this mean he¡¯s someone from one of those ces?¡±

    Ole Bearded Bade only snorted without replying.

    The aide immediately squinted his eyes into a straight line, his thoughts unknown.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stay long in this airship port city. He boarded another airship the following day and headed towards the Western Continent.

    Unnoticed by the passengers, this airship began to secretly veer off course not long after it left the Qin Continent borders. It met up and docked with another airship in the void whereupon a batch of passengers and goods boarded the second airship. The whole process was carried out rapidly and secretly.

    Then the two airships separated and each flew towards the Western Continent.

    At this moment, Qianye had already boarded the second airship. There were rust and patch marks all over this airship. It seemed to be at least 50 years old if not 100. Its only advantage was its absence from imperial official records. The target of this flight was also a small empty port unmarked on the official map.

    The gasping airship finallynded after a whole day of travel.

    Qianye jumped out of the hold andnded firmly on the ground, kicking up a cloud of red dirt from under his military boots. This made him cough a few times.

    At this time, sunlight was pouring down from above like surging waves of mes. Qianye felt his skin being scorched the moment he stepped out and even the air was suffused by a burning sensation. The surface temperature was close to 60C¡ªthe environment made it impossible for ordinary people to move about. Even Qianye felt somewhat unwell.

    Blocking the sun with his hand, Qianye gazed into the distance. The airship hadnded in a in. This so-callednding pad was just a manually leveled area amidst the wilderness.

    There was red soil as far as the eye could see, and the air was extremely dry. Sheets of fine dust would be kicked up by the asional wind to produce a scene akin to leaping mes, most fitting of its name, the Silentme Steppes.

    There was a small town nearby. The buildings therein had square roofs and were built of a mixture of wood and y. It seemed the region was arid and rarely experienced rain. There was wilderness all around with almost no vegetation whatsoever. The most eye-catching were a number of solitary giant trees standing nearly 100 meters tall. They were quite far from each other¡ªeach of them seemed to be ruling over a kingdom of its own.

    A wild gust of wind blew past at this time, drowning the wholending pad in a cloud of red dust. Qianye frowned after the wind had passed as he spat out a mouthful of sand. He then proceeded to shake outrge amounts of red dust from his head.

    ¡°Young man, wear this. This is a necessary equipment for this damnable ce.¡±

    Qianye nced over to see the airship captain handing him a hat with a face towel attached.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Having just experienced the might of the sandstorm, Qianye immediately received the hat and donned it.

    The captain then said, ¡°The car and items you requested have been prepared. I¡¯ll take you to see them.¡±

    Qianye thus followed the captain towards the small town.

    The town didn¡¯t look veryrge from the outside and but it was unexpectedly lively within. The streets were mostly filled with strong young men. They seemed like fugitives¡ªtheir cold eyes brimming with killing intent indicated the amount of blood on their hands.

    After seeing Qianye¡¯s unfamiliar face, many of them revealed expressions akin to hungry wolves eyeing their prey. But their expressions immediately became much more gentle after seeing the dagger at Qianye¡¯s waist. A person with Ole Bearded de¡¯s dagger was obviously one of their own.

    Within a small warehouse, Qianye was shown a two-wheel motorcycle. No one knew when this one-ton vehicle was manufactured. It seemed extremely old on the surface, but Qianye noticed that the engine and importantponents were pretty well maintained. Additionally, there was an origin array interface on the engine.

    The captain patted the almost three-meter-long bike and said, ¡°Thunderous Tiger, it¡¯s a good brand! At least it was 150 years ago. Now, youngsters aren¡¯t too fond of vehicles like this that only tough guys can operate. Look, I even had an expert modify it. It¡¯s more powerful than it actually looks!¡±

    Qianye looked around the warehouse and found piles of abandonedponents but no second motorcycle. It seemed this big fe was his only choice. But gazing at this motorcycle several times his own age, Qianye felt it wasn¡¯t worth 50 gold coins at all.

    The captain, on the other hand, didn¡¯t care that much and tossed the keys over to Qianye without even asking.

    Afterwards, he walked closer to Qianye and said mysteriously, ¡°As for the other thing you wanted, I can only say that your luck is good! Recently, there¡¯s a true master in town and he should have the goods you need. Of course, good things alsoe with a corresponding price.¡±

    The captain gestured and said, ¡°Come with me, you lucky little fellow!¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t feeling too lucky after seeing the Thunderous Tiger. However, people making their living in grey zones were just like that. They seemed capable of finding almost anything, but if they could really obtain truly ¡°good¡± things, why would they need to hang around in such ces?

    Besides, Qianye didn¡¯t have much of a choice either. If he traveled via the empire¡¯smon route he would have tond at the human airship port city located in the northeast of the Western Continent. Not only would he have to spend time and money passing through several provinces, but it would also be easy to track his whereabouts.

    Although he wasn¡¯t too clear about Song Zining¡¯s situation, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be cautious. As such, he could only choose these underground channels. However, Qianye knew nothing about the Western Continent. Ole Bearded de proved to be an unexpected bonus¡ªhis connections were certainly much more reliable than the ad hoc agents Qianye would otherwise have to find on the Western Continent.

    But momentster, Qianye was standing before a small, dark y house with broken windows. He was having a hard time imagining what kind of ¡°master¡± would live in such a ce.

    The captain wiggled his bear-like body and squeezed into the small lodge. Qianye could only follow him in.

    The originally small space within the lodge was lined with shelves holding all sorts of odd items. Basically, they were all broken scraps andponents. Qianye recognized some of them but he had no idea what most of them were used for.

    There was a beast skin spread out in one corner of the room and there was also a rolled quilt nearby. Apparently, this was the ¡°master¡¯s¡± bed.

    There was a table against the wall littered with tools and various materials, where a thin, withered old man, about 1.6 meters tall, was currently working busily. This was his workstation.

    There was a crystalmp installed upon the wall casting a clear and cold beam of light onto his workstation. This was probably the only modern item in the whole house.

    The old man raised his head to reveal an aged countenance akin to dried tree bark. He nced at the dagger on Qianye¡¯s waist and said, ¡°Since you have Ole Bearded de¡¯s dagger, then you¡¯re one of our own. Everything can be discussed since you¡¯re one of us.¡±

    ¡°Young man, show me the gun you usually use.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment, then retrieved the right-handed Twin Flower revolver from his tactical jacket and ced it on the table.

    A light shed across the old man¡¯s eyes after seeing the gun. He stared deeply at Qianye and said, ¡°Not many people use vampire weapons!¡±

    ¡°There are still some who do,¡± Qianye replied calmly.

    Intentionally or otherwise, the captain¡¯s hand slowly extended towards his pocket.

 Volume 4 - 35: Unavoidable Confrontation

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 35: Unavoidable Confrontation

    The old man suddenly raised his head and nced at the captain. ¡°Ole Bearded de won¡¯t lie to us.¡±

    The captain sighed in relief and shrugged toward Qianye. Thetter didn¡¯t fuss about it and only responded with a smile.

    The old man picked up the Twin Flower and mumbled while gently stroking each pattern. ¡°There are only two types of people in our eyes: those on our side and those who aren¡¯t. Even being a true vampire won¡¯t be a hindrance in bing one of our own.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but raise his brows after hearing this but didn¡¯t say anything.

    The old man studied the gun over and over before saying, ¡°There should be another one, right?¡±

    Only then was Qianye somewhat moved. He produced the other revolver and ced it on the table. This time, the old man only looked over the left-handed revolver casually before returning it to Qianye.

    The old man began to rummage through the heap of bits and bobs on his workstation and finally found a rusted iron box. He ced the container under the crystalmp and properly adjusted the angle before opening it slowly. Judging from his serious behavior, it seemed as if the box contained the most valuable gem in the world.

    The box was opened to reveal a yellow silk cushion seemingly as old as the exterior of the box. Upon the silk cushion was a single silver bullet.

    The craftsmanship of this bullet was exquisite, its deep silver-colored shell emitting a flowing radiance. It was actually mythril. Its surface was covered with a densework ofplicated patterns. Some of it patterns even resembled runespeak.

    When Qianye merely saw the patterns, he was surprised that a demon-subduing mithril bullet would appear in such a small ce. But the addition of these runespeak symbols made him quite suspicious.

    Those who could incorporate runespeak symbols into an origin array had surpassed the master level. There was only one such smith even in Red Scorpion. Qianye nced at the old man and then at the surroundings. He was finding it rather difficult to believe this old man was a great master who could use runespeak arrays.

    The old man had no interest in Qianye¡¯s secret criticism. He wore a zealous and sacred expression as he stared at the silver bullet with bated breath. Then, he suddenly raised his head and pointed toward the silver bullet as the following words poured out of his shriveled mouth, ¡°This thing is called a bullet.¡±

    Qianye momentarily felt the urge to cough up blood. Of course, he knew it was a bullet! Furthermore, he could even go into the details¡ªfor instance, this was a physical demon-subduing mithril bullet.

    But seeing the old man¡¯s unshakable expression, Qianye helplessly lowered his stance and said, ¡°Very well, a bullet it is.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s yours now. Remember, use it only to save someone¡¯s life.¡± With that, the old man closed the box and handed it to Qianye with both hands.

    Qianye was still pondering, even after leaving this small town called Dog¡¯s w, about how this single bullet was worth 100 gold coins.

    This was an outrageous price, but under the old man¡¯s gaze, Qianye muddle-headedly paid for it along with the other pre-ordered ammunitions. If one were to appraise it, the value should lie in the patterns and runespeak symbols upon it. It might even have some artistic value if the veins were a bit more exquisite.

    Qianyeughed ruefully as he felt his chest. The bullet was currently ced within his shirt pocket.

    No origin power fluctuations were felt from the iron box. This rusted container naturally wasn¡¯t a crystal box capable of origin power istion, neither was it an origin bullet cartridge from the imperial corps. This box didn¡¯t have any barrier effect at all. Thus, there being no origin power fluctuations from the bullet could only mean that this was a nk physical bullet which needed to be filled with origin power.

    Qianye shook his head in an attempt to forget about this small interlude. There were limitations on how much ammunition one could carry when riding intercontinental airships. At the very least, he was able to restock in such a deste location.

    Additionally, the rest of the gunpowder and physical origin bullets seemed quite normal. As for this mithril bullet, regardless of whether it could really subdue demons, its mithril quality was indeed up to par. So, the oue wasn¡¯t really that bad. Although Qianye was still a bit suspicious if this flowery origin bullet could really be filled with origin power...

    Qianye recalled asking the old man how he should be addressed. In the end, the old man replied, ¡°Just call me master.¡±

    What a blunt reply! Qianye turned the motorbike elerator while thinking of this. The rumbling of the engine intensified as the senile Thunderous Tiger trembled and gasped. It frantically dragged its heavy body and sped into the distance.

    The Thunderous Tiger, although very old, could be considered quite durable. It drove hundreds of kilometers before it began to spit out ck smoke, almost as if it was threatening to go on strike.

    The Silentme Steppes was a branch of the Blue Dream Mountain Belt with a uniquendscape. Due to its topography, it rarely rained in this region. Thend was iparably arid and appeared lonely and barren.

    But after crossing over the barrier-like mountain range, one would arrive amidst the magnificent scenery of the Taihang Mountain Range. There were actually many underground rivers flowing between the sides of the mountain range. This was the source of life for those colossal trees growing in the wilderness. Additionally, there would always be a small oasis around them.

    Qianye gazed forward and found a giant tree with a crown akin to an imperial canopy. He adjusted his direction and headed straight for the giant tree.

    As expected, a small oasis came into view and there was even a tiny clear spring in the middle. Qianye¡¯s spirits rose after seeing the spring water. His weariness was swept away as he pounced toward the spring and began to drink the cold water inrge gulps.

    Afterwards, Qianye wiped his face, filled the Thunderous Tiger¡¯s radiator with water, and added sufficient ck stone powder to the kic furnace. He was prepared to rest here for the night before continuing his journey on the morrow. Judging from the map, he would need to travel one more day through the arid wilderness before entering the Taihang Mountain range.

    The Great Qin Empire, dark races, and the rebel army existed together on the Western Continent. Especially in the recent years, the mes of war burned continuously and the situation had be quite chaotic. There were battles everywhere. Due to the presence of rebel forces, every checkpoint in the imperial territory had to perform stringent interrogations to prevent spies from entering.

    Qianye entered the Western Continent from Silentme Steppes via a grey channel. It was an excellent shortcut. Additionally, it was an ownerlessnd before crossing over the Taihang Mountain Range. Naturally, there were no sentries.

    Of course, he had still brought along the set of identification documents Song Zining had prepared for him. These documents described Qianye as an officer of the imperial regr army who had retired after being wounded in action. The documents cameplete with the relevant origin power seals which even experienced people would have a hard time finding fault with.

    As for verification, it would be difficult for even the imperial family to confirm the background of such an insignificant officer in an era where armies maintained their own documents. The only way to do this was to request a formal dossier from the original army. But drawing from his previous experience as a junior officer in Yin Qiqi¡¯s 17th corps, perhaps this set of military documents might already be within the original army¡¯s archives.

    Qianye¡¯s fingers drew an arched line on the map, passing through the mountainous region and toward the Zhao n territory. Several provinces on the Western Continent were wrested from dark race hands by the sessive generations of the Zhao n. Additionally, they constructed the majestic Swallow Cloud Pass at the border to defend against external enemies. These provinces became inherited territories of the Zhao n ording to the imperial system, thus cementing the family¡¯s position as a major n after a thousand years of inheritance.

    The Forgotten Mountain Range described in Deryl¡¯s diary was likely the name used by the dark races to mark the Taihang Mountain Range. And the legacy¡¯s location was quite close to one of Zhao n¡¯s core cities.

    Qianye closed the map and removed his luggage from the Thunderous Tiger, nning to pitch a tent here to spend the night. His heart suddenly trembled¡ªhe stood up and took a deep breath facing the night wind.

    There was a characteristic aura in the night air of the steppes. It was likely due to the heat of the Silentme Steppesbined with the lively scent emitted by certain nts from the other end of the mountain range. However, what caught Qianye¡¯s attention was a certain sweet fragrance which, after entering his nostrils, gave rise to intense craving and hunger.

    It was the scent of fresh blood¡ªpure, sweet, and full of energy!

    Qianye¡¯s first thoughts weren¡¯t actually to hide or run away but to attack and devour this delicacy. Immediately afterwards, he extricated himself from the urge and shed behind the great tree. His eyes began to glow a dark red as he activated dark vision.

    A group of warriors in dark clothing emerged through the night. There was a certain unrestrained and fearless quality in their movements. They didn¡¯t bother to restrain their aura at all¡ªthe leader was actually a champion, and the weakest among them were above rank five.

    This group of ten were all vampires, but they were wearing imperial military uniforms. This kind of disguise could hardly deceive expert eyes as long as they entered visual range. But it would, indeed, reduce a fair amount of unnecessary trouble while passing through human territory.

    They saw the giant tree from afar and thus adjusted their direction and ran over here.

    Qianye¡¯s heart jolted. He immediately knew the situation wasn¡¯t favorable. The oasis was quite small and there were no hiding ces in the vast wilderness. Furthermore, he had no time to clear away the traces he left while drawing water and setting up camp.

    He made a prompt decision. Tossing his luggage onto the Thunderous Tiger, he started the antique motorbike and fled toward the depths of the steppe.

    The rumble of the Thunderous Tiger was transmitted far and wide through the night, immediately drawing the vampires¡¯ attention. All eyes swept past toward it in the blink of an eye. The warriors, both strong and weak, noticed a speck of light drawing away from their destination.

    ¡°Sir Zalen, it''s a human. It seems he¡¯s already discovered us,¡± said a young vampire knight.

    The viscount leader¡¯s face was gloomy. He said with an impatient expression, ¡°A small inconvenience. The two of you will pursue and kill him. The others will rest at the oasis. We move out in one hour.¡±

    The two vampire knights moved out after receiving their orders. They turned into strands of vague mist as they chased swiftly after Qianye.

    Momentster, a small camp was constructed around the oasis. Zalen didn¡¯t rest at all¡ªhe stood pondering in silence before the clear spring.

    The female knight walked up to him and whispered, ¡°Sir Zalen, what is our actual objective this time?¡±

    Their unit had been traveling through the hignds for many days, seemingly without aim. They would asionally encounter some humans and would spare them as long as they weren¡¯t discovered. This was quite different from Viscount Zalen¡¯s usual temperament.

    Zalen retrieved a red crystal pendant and injected his blood energy into it. The pendant was immediately activated, projecting a palm-sized holographic map in the air. A certain area therein was marked out in an eye-catching red color.

 Volume 4 - 36: Critical Speed

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 36: Critical Speed

    The region didn¡¯t seem very big on the map. however, the map itself was a representation of the whole Blue Dream Mountain Belt. It epassed the vast Silentme Steppes and thousands of kilometers of the Forgotten Mountain Range. Not only the dark race territories, but arge chunk of the empire¡¯s Zhao n territories were also mapped.

    After a while, Zalen put away the pendant and said, ¡°Master Weber sacrificed dozens of years of his life to prophesize that clues regarding the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure will be found here. So our mission is to find this clue, whatever it may be.¡±

    The female knight¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. She hesitated slightly before asking cautiously, ¡°What exactly is the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure?¡±

    Greed and longing were revealed in Zalen¡¯s eyes as he said with a ruefulugh, ¡°I don¡¯t know either. Such secrets aren¡¯t something people at our level can understand.¡±

    The ck-Winged Monarch Andruil, one of the second generation primogenitors, was a highly regarded expert even throughout the whole of dark race history. That was why the Evernight Council made a big fuss about this and even paid a considerable price to have a master prophet perform a search. And due to the matter of bloodline inheritance, the fortune Andruil left behind greatly appealed to the vampires, much more so than the other dark races.

    As time passed in silence, Zalen was suddenly alerted and said, ¡°Why haven¡¯t those two fellows returned?¡±

    At this time, dozens of kilometers away, two blood esquires were running madly in pursuit of Qianye who was charging with his head lowered on the motorcycle.

    Only at such a critical juncture was the senile Thunderous Tiger¡¯s reliability truly revealed. This old fellow had obviously been remodeled by an expert. Not only did it maintain its original stability, but its eleration was also fairly astonishing.

    The two blood esquires, running at full speed, were somewhat faster than the Thunderous Tiger. However, the advantage wasn¡¯t too great since the two parties were originally separated by several kilometers. They only arrived within a hundred meters after chasing for the greater half of an hour. Although endurance was one of the strengths of a vampire constitution, they had exhausted over half of their stamina during the rapid pursuit. Additionally, they couldn¡¯t find the slightest opening to use long-range weaponry.

    The Thunderous Tiger in front of them let out a deafening screech from its breaks and came to a halt after a few jolts.

    Qianye jumped down from the motorcycle, turned around, and unsheathed the Radiant Edge halfway. All of his movements were executed smoothly¡ªhe hadpleted all attack preparations in the blink of an eye.

    The two blood esquires didn¡¯t pause their march at all and directly rushed toward Qianye. They were now within 50 meters.

    One of them reached for his gun and let out a nastyugh while gasping for breath. ¡°Howe you¡¯re not running anymore? Are you prepared to die now?¡±

    The other blood esquire said with a frown, ¡°Be careful, this brat likely isn¡¯t that simple!¡± He calcted the distance between the two parties and began to draw his sword.

    Qianye suddenly moved without giving them any time to react. He pounced toward the blood esquires at a speed which far surpassed their expectations.

    The first blood esquire to meet Qianye inbat was greatly astonished despite having made ample preparations. His sword thrust toward Qianye¡¯s chest moments after leaving its sheath. The origin array in the de wasn¡¯t even half-activated.

    However, Qianye arrived within melee range at lightning speed and directly swung his arm to smash the sword away. The de¡¯s edge drew a series of sparks on his arm but couldn¡¯t chop through the arm guard modified from a grade three arachne armor. At the same moment, the Radiant Edge in Qianye¡¯s right hand swept out in a reverse thrust.

    The blood esquire was shocked after catching a glimpse of the dagger through the corner of his eye. It was definitely a powerful weapon that could cut through defenses. He raised his left hand and grasped Qianye¡¯s wrist, hoping to grapple with thetter.

    Qianye briefly gauged this blood esquire¡¯s strength and abruptly exerted some force. The blood esquire¡¯s body waspletely pressed to the ground as the Radiant Edge prated deep into his heart.

    Qianye suddenly released the Radiant Edge, flipped over, and shed several meters away¡ªa rumbling origin bullet narrowly missed him. After seeing his shot was fruitless, the other blood esquire immediately drew his sword and charged forth.

    Qianye bounced up from the ground and forcefully wrung the iing sword with a twist of his arms. Under the frightening energy, the blood esquire¡¯s sword momentarily let out a creaking sound before it became thoroughly distorted. Qianye moved forward and crashed heavily into the blood esquire like a metallic fortress.

    This simple and direct collision immediately caused the blood esquire to be dizzy. He swayed, staggered, and almost fell head-first onto the ground. Qianye drew the Twin Flowers, aimed it at the blood esquire, and pulled the trigger.

    Qianye himself felt somewhat excited after efficiently dispatching two blood esquires of the same rank. But, he felt even more apprehension.

    The equipment on these two blood esquires was abnormally superior. They were actually using grade three weapons and armor, a whole grade higher than the dark races in Evernight Continent. Qianye would probably have to spend more effort to deal with them if they hadn¡¯t exhausted so much stamina during the chase.

    Qianye walked toward the blood esquire¡¯s corpse to perform a simple check and found a symbol depicting an inverted noose on the chest armor near the left arm. He couldn¡¯t help but be somewhat shaken. It was actually the family crest of the Byrne n, one of the 13 vampire ns.

    Qianye didn¡¯t waste any time on cleaning up the corpses. He immediately retrieved the Radiant Edge and prepared to flee immediately.

    These two blood esquires were only members of that small unit. The leading viscount was presumably a person of esteemed status since he didn¡¯t join the chase, but if these two subordinates failed to return after a while, he would definitely investigate in person. Qianye knew he didn¡¯t have the skills to deal with a viscount at the moment.

    As soon as Qianye grabbed the Radiant Edge, abundant and lively blood energy immediately flowed into his body through the hilt. Great delight swept through his consciousness like a tidal wave. It was as if he had received a shot of top-grade stimnt.

    His whole body was trembling, and it seemed as if his blood energy was cheering happily, reaching a state of blood boil within an instant. Even the dark golden blood energy, usually unreceptive of low-grade origin power, was currently acting out of character. It swam around vivaciously and seized arge blob of blood energy without holding back. This blood esquire was merely rank seven and his blood energy capacity was rather limited, however, the quality far surpassed the vampires he had killed in the past.

    A pure-blooded descendant of the 13 vampire ns was indeed extraordinary!

    Qianyepletely drew out the Radiant Edge only when the blood energy flow became indistinct. Its malevolent sawtooth-like edge was suffused with a faint glow. It was as brilliant as a brand new de and not the slightest bit stained by blood.

    Only then did Qianye truly understand why those vampires would go mad with excitement while sucking blood. After tasting the fresh blood of an esquire of the 13 vampire ns, the blood of the dark races and beasts of Evernight Continent became somewhat dull and insipid.

    Qianye put away the Radiant Edge and forced himself not to look at the other blood esquire corpse. He then hopped onto the Thunderous Tiger and drove at full speed toward the border of the Silentme Steppes.

    The Thunderous Tiger was indeed a rare instrument in this boundless wastnd. Its stability, endurance, and speed were all quite good, allowing Qianye to conserve a lot of stamina. Unfortunately, the time to part ways with it was nigh. Qianye roughly calcted the vampire viscounts speed and prepared to abandon the Thunderous Tiger in another hour. He would only carry some necessities and travel light during the escape.

    Zalen appeared at the scene of the battle not long after Qianye¡¯s departure and naturally saw the two blood esquire¡¯s corpses. His expression immediately turned quite ugly as he stood there silently. The female knight and the other esquires arrived minutester.

    The female knight checked the two corpses and said solemnly, ¡°Sir, this fellow isn¡¯t human. He¡¯s from our race! He used a high-grade blood absorption weapon. The victim¡¯s essence blood stores were almost sucked dry.¡±

    Zalen spoke slowly, ¡°A little bastard who isn¡¯t even a viscount actually used a grade five blood absorption weapon. It seems thisrade of ours is someone of significant origins.¡±

    The puzzled female knight asked, ¡°Then why would he run away immediately after seeing us? Even if he recognized us¡­¡± She suddenly recalled a certain possibility. ¡°Ah, could he be someone from the Drac n?¡±

    A fierce killing intent shed past Zalen¡¯s countenance. ¡°Those weaklings from the new party are the scum of us sacred blood descendants. Since one of them actually dares appear before our eyes this time, he can forget about returning alive.¡±

    The enmity between the Byrne n and the Drac n naturally ran deeper than just a conflict between the old and new factions as Zalen said. The first all-out n war between the two could be traced back to 700 years ago.

    The source of hostility between the two parties began from their primogenitors from the same era as the ck-Winged Monarch. The hatred originated between Dark Gospel Howard, the primogenitor of the Byrne n, and the Lightless Monarch Medanzo, the primogenitor of the Drac n.

    The female knight was astonished and said hurriedly, ¡°But sir, we¡¯re still on the Evernight Council¡¯s mission.¡±

    Zalen shrugged and replied coldly, ¡°The council dispatched more than just our group. They¡¯ll continue the investigation. Wait for me near the oasis at this time tomorrow. Hmph, do I even need one day to take care of this junior?¡±

    With that, Zalen¡¯s figure flickered and appeared a dozen meters away. He shed again to cover the same distance as he followed the tire tracks in rapid pursuit.

    Qianye¡¯s whole body was crouching on the Thunderous Tiger. Under such extreme speeds, the winds striking his skin started to cause some pain. The Thunderous Tiger¡¯srge metallic body below him seemingly contained boundless energy. It howled and shook as it left the monotonous wastnd far behind.

    This old motorcycle¡¯s reliability had far exceeded his expectations. Even the off-road vehicles from the empire would have long since broken down after running at such a speed for so long. The Thunderous Tiger, on the other hand, was showing no signs of malfunctioning after refueling twice¡ªit was already worth the money spent just from this.

    The scenery in the vicinity began to change after driving dozens of kilometers. It was no longer filled with unchanging red dust barrens and sporadic giant trees. There were now hills of various sizes with shrubbery growing upon them. Further ahead, the verdant and majestic mountain range was vaguelying into view.

    Here, Qianye reluctantly abandoned the Thunderous Tiger and began to run through the wilderness. The mountainous terrain ahead wasn¡¯t suitable for motorcycles. Additionally, with his experience in wildernessbat, the chances of being caught up would be drastically reduced after entering the mountainous regions and dense forests.

    At this moment, Qianye was rank seven. The strengthening process in his legs was nearlyplete, and his speed had increased significantly. He had far surpassed ordinary blood esquires of the same rank. Presently, he could only make a bet, hoping that champion rank viscount was on an important mission and wouldn¡¯t waste too much time trying to hunt him down.

    After all, a dark race warrior from one of the 13 ns was already a major character. He likely wouldn¡¯te to a deste ce like the Silentme Steppes just to lounge around.

    A day and a night passed by. Qianye hadn¡¯t stopped to rest this whole time.

    That was because the sensation of being pursued was bing more and more intense despite running at such extreme speeds.

 Volume 4 - 37: The Last Bullet

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 37: The Last Bullet

    Qianye began to think about how he should escape his current predicament. He hadn¡¯t expected this vampire viscount to actually ignore his current business and pursue him so fervently.

    In any case, the final solution would be to escape into human territory. It would inevitably draw the attention and interference of human experts if a dark race champion were to recklessly enter Zhao n territory.

    But it was easier said than done¡ªone would have to cross over thousands of kilometers of ridges and peaks in order to reach the nearest Zhao n city.

    In front of him was a lush mountain ridge overgrown with intersecting shrubs andrge trees. Meanwhile, that pursuing consciousness was bing clearer and clearer to the point where Qianye could feel the ferocity and killing intent.

    Qianye decided to take the risk. He leapt up onto a mound and stopped there. He picked up a dried branch in passing and sharpened it using his dagger. After puncturing his finger, Qianye dripped some of his fresh blood onto the branch.

    The blood which flowed out was no longer a dazzling bright red and suffused with a bizarre luster. Instead, it had a certain condensed and restrained vor within. The color was also much darker but the vor of the blood was now richer and more intense.

    The fresh blood seeped into the shriveled branch and was soon absorbedpletely.

    Qianye then ran toward a previously selected shrub and carefully ced the branch within it. He tried his best to make it seem as if the branch broke naturally and fell down. Afterwards, he tied together the two vampire hand grenades he had on him and buried them in a good spot nearby before setting up some small trigger mechanisms. He then wiped traces of human activity.

    Finally, Qianye climbed a small hignd to the southeast and swiftly set up his sniping position. He assembled the Eagleshot and then camouged himself, aiming the muzzle toward the distant shrub.

    He slowed down his breathing¡ªthreads of origin power gradually flowed into the Eagleshot with a powerful rhythm and gradually formed an origin bullet within the chamber. Presently, the origin power which Qianye had injected into the Eagleshot was purified daybreak origin power. The condensed origin bullet was milky white and possessed a gentle luster akin to high-quality jade.

    Blood colored vein patterns began to appear on the surface of the gradually forming origin bullet. There were several bizarre purple lines between them as well as a golden stripe so thin that it was almost undetectable.

    A hazy origin power glow arose from the origin bullet after it waspletely formed. Its size expanded significantly, indicating the activation of Heavy Caliber.

    Finally, Qianye activated the nail-sized Resounding Strike and raised the remodeled Eagleshot¡¯s firepower by a level.

    Afterpleting all preparations, he silently waited for an opportunity.

    During this time ofplete concentration, Qianye was suddenly ovee by a wonderful sensation. The origin bullet within the rifle chamber seemed to have formed a vague strand of connection with him. Afterwards, a scarletyer of semi-translucent mist emerged on the surface of the bullet. This would serve to greatly reduce the sonic boom.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t made to wait very long.

    The faint mist of twilight had shrouded the mountainous region akin to ayer of muslin. A dark specter-like shadow rose up as viscount Zalen appeared. He silently flitted across the treetops and rocky peaks like an illusion and entered the range of Qianye¡¯s Eagleshot in the blink of an eye.

    At first, Zalen had already leapt up once again and would have glided at least dozens of meters beforending. However, he came to a sudden and urgent halt mid-air and immediately turned around like a stringed puppet. Thispletely defied the logical trajectory of his flight. The viscount rapidly retraced his steps andnded exactly, without the slightest deviation, at the point from where he had leapt forward.

    The corners of Qianye¡¯s eyes twitched after seeing Zalen¡¯s bizarre movements. It was fortunate that he hadn¡¯t lost his calm after seeing the vampire viscount walk past the trap. Otherwise, he would have probably missed the shot.

    Zalen returned to his original position, raised his head, and inhaled deeply. His nostrils opened and closed continuously. Afterwards, he turned to stare at a certain dark green bush and no longer took his eyes off of it.

    With his powerful perception, the viscount immediately saw the single bloodstained branch among the hundreds of branches of leaves in the shrub. The sweet scent being emitted from it almost made Zalen somewhat absent-minded.

    The situation was simr to when the blood energy of pure-blooded vampire nobles made Qianye momentarily lose self-control. Qianye¡¯s fresh blood contained multiple types of blood energy. This strong andplex power was a poison to their vitality as well as an irresistible allure.

    Zalen¡¯s eyes turned red as he immediately revealed an expression of fanaticism and avarice. The blood in his whole body was heating up and had almost reached a state of blood boil. He extended his hand to reach for the branch, but his hand abruptly paused midway. Zalen was, after all, a viscount of the Byrne n. He had entered a state of confusion just now but he immediately woke up. Following which, a sense of intense danger enveloped his sharp senses.

    Zalen had already leapt up like a bolt of lightning the moment Qianye pulled the trigger. The viscount¡¯s figure immediately broke away from the crosshairs. Behind the scope, Qianye forcefully resisted the urge to shift the muzzle and, instead, pulled the triggerpletely.

    This time, the Eagleshot didn¡¯t erupt with a thunderous rumble but only a muffled pfft. The milky white origin bullet with bloody patterns upon it shot out silently like a fish swimming through the sea, crossing the thousand meters with iparable swiftness.

    Zalen leapt ten meters into the air and, just as before, hovered and fell back to his previous position with a simrly bizarre motion. It was as if time itself had been reversed. This special ability had allowed him to escape countless ambushes in the past, but this time, it had caused him to voluntarily return toward the trap.

    Zalen turned around and found, to his great astonishment, that the origin bullet was already very close.

    The distance was already too close for him to evade. The only thing he could do was to cross his arms in front to cover up his head and face. Blood energy gushed out frantically and began to form the silhouette of a shield in front of him.

    With a loud boom, Zalen was forced back two steps by the origin bullet which had undergone multiple augmentations. The armguards on his forearms were shattered, but at this moment, blood energy was continuously pouring out of his body with increasing intensity to block the fierce origin power explosion.

    Zalen frowned and shook his left hand where a bloody line had appeared on the palm. A fully powered st from the Eagleshot waspletely blocked by him, however, the fierce origin power explosion still tore the webs of his fingers, and two minor wounds had even appeared on the back of his hand.

    Qianye calmed himself down after witnessing the strength of this dark race warrior from an ancient n. He swiftly fired off another round, but Zalen was already on guard against him. Thetter spat out a mass of dense blood energy and actually struck the origin bullet midair.

    A dazzling origin power radiance erupted in the air as the blood energy and origin bullet were destroyed at the same time.

    Qianye¡¯s expression shifted slightly. He violently broke the Eagleshot in tow, retrieved the Resounding Strike crystal from within, and immediately fled.

    Zalen had also noticed Qianye on the high ground a thousand meters away from him. The corners of his mouth turned into a cruel smile as he calmly tidied up his somewhat messy coat. Only then did he step forward to give chase.

    In his eyes, Qianye possessed the strength of a mere esquire. It made no difference if the distance between them was 300 meters or 3000 meters. Since the other party had already exposed his whereabouts, chasing him down was only a matter of time.

    Zalen had only taken a few steps when he was suddenly ovee by a sense of foreboding. Immediately afterwards, the huge explosive power from the vampire grenadespletely engulfed him within!

    By the time the origin power storm had passed, the surrounding shrubbery waspletely razed, and a 30-meter crater had appeared on the mountaintop. Zalen was actually standing at the center and seemed none the worse for wear.

    It was just that his whole person seemed tattered¡ªhe was riddled with wounds and dark stains from the blood and smoke. The Qin Empire military uniform he was using as disguise had beenpletely obliterated. Even the custom-made grandmaster level armor inside was torn in some ces.

    As intense blood energy gushed out of Zalen¡¯s body, the small visible wounds were rapidly healed, while therger ones began to close up and stop bleeding. The viscount¡¯s eyes turnedpletely red akin to two scarlet gems.

    He stared fixedly at Qianye¡¯s receding figure and ground his teeth. ¡°You¡¯ve infuriated me. You¡¯vepletely infuriated me. You¡¯ll regret doing this very soon and you¡¯ll be regretting it for a very very long time!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s running speed this time actually wasn¡¯t very fast. Zalen easily caught up and was already within 100 meters even before ten minutes had passed. Qianye never looked back all this time for he knew that the viscount would catch up very soon. Suddenly, he erupted with strength and suddenly sped up, almost reaching Zalen¡¯s speed in the blink of an eye.

    Zalenughed coldly inside. He did want to see how long this little blood esquire can maintain this explosive state.

    Qianye frantically ran while waiting patiently. That strike from the Eagleshot couldn¡¯t cause a champion level expert any significant damage, but Qianye clearly saw tiny open wounds on Zalen¡¯s hand. Furthermore, the furious viscount didn¡¯t pay immediate attention to the two small openings.

    Even under his explosive state, Qianye¡¯s speed was still slightly inferior to Zalen. The distance between the two continuously closed in from 100 meters all the way to 50, then 30 meters.

    Zalen could¡¯ve caught up to Qianye in the blink of an eye if he activated his blood energy ignition at the risk of some short-term damage to his body. But as a noble viscount, how could he use such a desperate method as igniting his blood energy just to capture a mere blood esquire? If news of this were to spread, he might be aughingstock in the n. Not to mention the fact that he had to maintain his prestige at all costs before this descendant of the Drac n.

    Just as Zalen was calcting how he should torture this little esquire in order to vent his anger, his whole body suddenly trembled and almost copsed on the ground. He felt an indescribably ufortable and sticky moisture around his mouth and face. He extended his hand to wipe it off, only to suddenly realize that his palm was covered in putrid ck blood.

    At this moment, Zalen was extremely shocked¡ªhe felt something beginning to burn within this body as waves of scorching pain were transmitted to his sensory system. His arms immediately swelled up.

    In front, the keen Qianye sensed the abnormality in Zalen¡¯s footsteps. He turned back and, as expected, found that the poison had begun to take effect. He immediately drew the Twin Flowers, rapidly loaded them, and fired continuously. He then reloaded and fired again.

    The Twin Flowers continuously rumbled. Enchanting red and white flowers bloomed through the air as several origin bulletsnded on Zalen¡¯s body.

    However, the violent barrage had little effect on the enemy apart from forcing him several steps back. Although the greater half of Zalen¡¯s armor was now torn and his blood energy barrier was flickering on and off under the relentless onught, those were merely superficial wounds to him¡ªif only he didn¡¯t have to struggle against the blood poison within his body.

    Qianye was still surprised despite having already expected such an oue. Only in a head-on battle was he able to truly experience the frightening strength of a champion. The previously unbeatable Eagleshot and Twin Flowers almost seemed to lose all effectiveness. Perhaps only the Radiant Edge would be able to break through his opponent¡¯s defenses, but Qianye absolutely wouldn¡¯t fight with a vampire viscount in melee.

    Within the blink of an eye, Qianye had exhausted his supply of origin bullets. Only a single metallic bullet case remained in his pocket. He instinctively opened the iron box and let the origin bullet drop into his palm. After which, he loaded it into one of the Twin Flowers and pulled the trigger.

 Volume 4 - 38: The Nameless Valley

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 38: The Nameless Valley

    Up until the very moment he pulled the trigger, Qianye waspletely acting on his well-honedbat instincts. There wasn¡¯t any time to think.

    Only when the projectile left the chamber did he suddenly realize that the bullet he had fired from the left-handedponent of the Twin Flowers was the ¡°bullet¡± he had obtained from the ¡°great master¡±. And he hadn¡¯t even filled it with origin power!

    Qianye felt quite distressed. As a veteran soldier, this was a mistake he absolutely shouldn¡¯t have made. But then again, how was this empty bullet actually fired?

    At this moment, he wasn¡¯t even paying attention to the effects of that final shot¡ªan unfilled physical origin bullet was only a little more than a metal bullet, and without an explosive medium, the fired projectile would have as much effect as a pebble.

    Previously, he had fired so many rounds from the Twin Flowers and failed to wound the other party. Zalen merely maintained a simple blood barrier with seemingly no intention to evade. He was concentrating on dealing with the blood poison in his body. From this, one could see that the viscount was confident no grade four origin gun could break through his defenses.

    Qianye, on the other hand, didn¡¯t put too much hope on the Twin Flowers¡¯ firepower. He was only using this method in an attempt to send even more blood energy into Zalen¡¯s body. Everything after that would depend on the oue of the blood energy struggle.

    Qianye¡¯s movements were as fast as lightning despite the countless thoughts shing through his mind. After he finished pulling the trigger, Qianye immediately leapt away from the ground and toward a preselected direction of escape.

    However, he heard several odd hissing sounds while he was in midair, momentarily preventing him from hearing anything else clearly. Afterwards, he felt an iparably powerful energy fluctuation behind him, but it didn¡¯t seem to be directed at him.

    Qianye turned around to witness apletely unimaginable scene.

    The flying ¡°bullet¡± was shining brilliantly. All the fine patterns upon it had erupted with resplendent light and were gradually breaking down, transforming into irregr rings that were breaking free from the bullet surfaceyer byyer.

    The irregr ring-shaped radiance twinkled like starlight, revealing an indistinct pattern between each flicker like a miniature origin array. Additionally, the bullet¡¯s speed would increase a little whenever a ring broke from the bullet.

    Hundreds of rings broke away in such a short distance! The outer shell waspletely shed off in the blink of an eye, revealing a silver core a couple of centimeters in length.

    The bullet core was abnormally bright and could be seen very clearly despite the bright origin power radiance. Judging from the luster of its material, it was undoubtedly made of high purity mithril. The core was simrly filled with veined patterns as if an unknown origin array was carved upon it.

    At this moment, the flying bullet core was like an unsheathed de as it rumbled through the air with surging momentum. If not for the origin power radiance being a tad too small, one would be inclined to think, from its energy fluctuations, that it was an origin cannon shell.

    Zalen was the foremost target in its direct path¡ªhe immediately raised his head but the distance was so short that even the blood barrier didn¡¯t do much of a deterring effect. The bullet directly pierced into his body.

    Qianye was stunned by the scene. He descended from the air and almost forgot to continue running. A severely wounded vampire viscount was a great enticement for him. He wanted to take the risk and go in for the kill. It would be worth it even if he was heavily wounded in the process.

    However, Qianye immediately resisted this captivating notion. His recent experiences with dark race champions told him that a badly injured champion was still a champion and could easily drag him into mutual destruction.

    Besides, he only aimed for the greatest area of effect while he used the Twin Flowers to deliver blood energy just now and didn¡¯t especially target his vitals. It was the same for that final shot¡ªthe silver bullet core merely brushed past the viscount¡¯s heart. To high-ranking vampires with powerful constitutions, this injury was far from lethal.

    Qianye immediately raised his speed. He crossed over the mountains and ridges without looking back and soon disappeared amidst the peaks.

    Meanwhile, the wounded Zalen let out a pained roar as the bullet struck him. His blood energy suddenly began to boil and almost enveloped his whole body.

    He looked down at the wound on his chest. Arge area of his flesh was charred by the burning mithril. His exposed and wriggling internal organs were continuously spraying out bloody mists and striving to resist this external corrosion. However, threads of ck were coiling upwards from within his body like vines. That was Qianye¡¯s blood poison.

    Zalen retrieved a ck crystal bottle from his pocket and unscrewed it with trembling hands. There was a single drop of fresh blood within the bottle. The blood wasn¡¯t motionless. Instead, it was rolling about incessantly as if searching for an exit.

    As the viscount brought the bottle close to his wound, the drop of blood immediately shot out from the bottle, rushed in, and had merged into his flesh within mere moments. Zalen let out a painful howl and fell to his knees. His whole body was trembling uncontrobly.

    However, the rapidly putrefying flesh around his wound stopped worsening. Momentster, the parts corrupted by the mithril began to shed, revealing pink grantion tissue underneath. After some time,rge amounts of ck blood seeped out of his skin as Qianye¡¯s blood poison was expelled from his body.

    That was a drop of pure origin blood of a mighty count from their race. Zalen had obtained it in the past for his meritorious contributions.

    This drop of pure origin blood, when used on a human, would immediately produce an offspring at the blood esquire level from the start. When used on inferior or mixed blooded vampires, there would be a high chance of raising its bloodline rank. For a viscount such as Zalen himself, this drop of blood was a life-saving medicine. It would save him from dangerous situations as long as his injuries didn¡¯t kill him immediately.

    However, it was different from the essence blood used for the embrace or to produce blood thralls. Even a powerful count could only produce a drop of pure origin blood in dozens of years.

    When Zalen stood up once again, his previous handsome demeanor had bepletely warped and twisted. He stared fixedly toward the direction in which Qianye had fled and said while grinding his teeth, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely catch you and let you know what hell truly means!¡±

    Zalen¡¯s voice was traveled far and reverberated throughout the mountains.

    The fleeing Qianye heard Zalen¡¯s roar and felt a chill in his heart. He hadn¡¯t expected the vampire count would actually recover from such heavy injuries in the blink of an eye. The dark race warriors from the 13 ns were indeed extraordinary.

    Qianye began to increase his speed. At first, Qianye thought he would have one day to escape. He reckoned it would be quite difficult for the viscount to catch up as long as he nned his route throughplex environments such as jungles and make false traces along the way. But now, there was less than half an hour between them. There was simply no time to remove the traces of his movements.

    This episode of fleeingsted one whole day and night. The distance between the two was shrinking gradually. It was just that the process was quite slow.

    Such an oue greatly surprised Zalen¡ªhe hadn¡¯t expected a mere esquire could hold out for so long. But this also served to increase his resolve to eliminate this targetpletely.

    Although it was quite bizarre that the other party had fired a daybreak attribute origin bullet from a vampire handgun, the invading blood poison confirmed Zalen¡¯s previous spection. Regarding this hostile n scion whose bloodline power could contend against his own, it was obvious that he had to throttle the former to death before he matured.

    Besides, Zalen¡¯s losses this time were immense. He had consumed a drop of pure origin blood¡ªit was uncertain when he would be able to obtain such an item again. The chase had taken so long that he was certain it could no longer be concealed. If he couldn¡¯t find any clues rted to the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure, he would inevitably receive severe punishment upon his return.

    Right now, he could only vent this resentment by catching Qianye and bleeding him dry.

    Zalen climbed a tall peak and saw, in the distance, a faint shadow disappearing from his field of vision. He was so angry that he began tough instead. ¡°You¡¯re actually running toward human territory? Don¡¯t tell me that you think those livestock can be of any use. Scum like you will only tarnish our sacred blood!¡±

    Qianye who was at the front fled with his head lowered. He mostly went in a straight line¡ªthe terrain did little to obstruct him. But whenever he happened toe across some special terrain, he would utilize it in passing.

    But currently, the blood essence he had obtained from the blood esquire had been depleted. Hereafter, he would have to consume the daybreak origin power and blood energy within his body. The only thing that could be considered a bonus was that his legs, having been strengthened just a while ago, received maximal tempering due to the constant and extreme running. Not only did their strength stabilize, but they also seemed to be growing a little bit stronger.

    Another day passed by in the blink of an eye. Qianye had crossed over thousands of kilometers and the Zhao n¡¯s territory was just at the other end of the mountain range in front of him. Both of them were obviously moving slower, and the distance between them had shortened to a couple of kilometers. However, this distance hadn¡¯t changed for quite some time now.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was iparably heavy. He knew for certain that he wouldn¡¯t be able to push through this mountainous region with his remaining stamina. At this moment, his body was extremely tired and his legs were moving almost mechanically. However, he did his best to focus his mind and observe the surroundings. He had toe up with a countermeasure.

    As Qianye crossed over a mountain ridge, a long gradual slope appeared before his eyes which lead toward the valley in front.

    He leapt forward and, borrowing from his forward momentum, rolled down the gradual incline until he reached its base. He then jumped up and was prepared to sprint once again, leaving this valley as quickly as possible. This way, he might be able to borrow the concealment effect of thendscape to temporarily escape the vampire viscount¡¯s line of sight. If there was another terrain advantage he could utilize on the other side of the valley, it would help him gain a small distance advantage.

    The valley was tranquil and beautiful, but Qianye¡¯s eyes could hardly see the scenery. He was nervously determining the terrain at the valley¡¯s exit in order to draw a swift escape route the moment he rushed out.

    It was at this moment that Qianye suddenly came to a halt.

    A beautiful scene rushed into his vision. The green trees shaded the hillside while the valley ground was covered with a lush carpet of grass, decorated with mountain flowers akin to speckled stars. A stream trickled down along the steep precipice and converged into a winding river within the valley. The blue water was so clear that one could see the finger-length fish scuttling around at the bottom.

    The scenery was just like a painting.

    And within that painting, there was also ady.

    She possessed a head of ck hair and her temperament was gentle and beautiful. There was a transcendent aura about herparable to a fairy who shouldn¡¯t appear in the secr world. At this moment, she was crouching beside the river¡ªshe held up her long skirt with one hand, while with the other, she was stirring the river water. Her skin was so fair that it almost seemed translucent as her slender jade fingers moved through the water.

    The fish in the water weren¡¯t frightened by her movements. On the contrary, they gathered over and frolicked around thedy¡¯s fingers.

    The young woman was apparently quite fond of these little creatures in the water. However, a faint but undispeble concern was visible upon her countenance.

    This was a painting so beautiful that it was stifling. The moment it rushed into his field of vision, Qianye was momentarily dazzled as if something had struck his heart.

    The youngdy seemed to have noticed Qianye¡¯s gaze and also raised her head at that moment. As such, Qianye¡¯s figure appeared within her pure and limpid eyes.

    The moment their eyes met, Qianye and the youngdy seemed to have recognized one another.

 Volume 4 - 39: Flight

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 39: Flight

    They had indeed met before. It was at the little bar in Lighthouse Town named Red Spider Lily.

    Qianye had a deep impression of this youngdy who hade and gone so hurriedly that day. It wasn¡¯t merely because of her elegance, purity, and captivating beauty, nor was it because that Uncle Wang who was with her had seen through his secret and left him a box of Mithril Bullets of Exorcism...

    That kind of sensation was indescribable. There was a certain familiarity about her. It was as if an unseen attractive force was urging him to approach her and engrave her in his memories.

    However, the otherworldly peace was broken in the blink of an eye as an evil and cold killing intent rushed toward them.

    Qianye rapidly turned back to see Zalen¡¯s figure appear on a peak to one side of the valley.

    At this moment, the vampire viscount¡¯s movements were quite miserable. One could hardly recognize the grace and calm of a high ranking vampire noble in him. His aura had never been so weak before. It was obvious that the long chase right after he was badly wounded by the ¡°bullet¡± had caused quite a lot of damage to his vitality.

    Qianye began to run instinctively but he had only rushed out a couple of steps when he suddenly paused and nced back toward the top of the valley.

    Zalen was still standing rooted to his previous position, and his attention wasn¡¯t even on Qianye. The viscount''s eyes were on the youngdy near the river as a cruel and unbridled grin appeared at the corner of his mouth, revealing an expression of undisguised bloodlust, thirst, and craving.

    The youngdy stood up and seemed all the more fragile and petite as she did so. She wasn¡¯t the least afraid as she blinked herrge eyes with intangible childishness and naivety. She gazed at the vampire viscount with great fascination as if she had found an interesting new toy.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank.

    He knew what Zalen¡¯s expression signified. The vampires and humans from the two different camps shared deep enmity toward each other, but their sense of aesthetics was quite simr. Additionally, the dark races were known for being unrestrained in their desires. If this youngdy were tond in Zalen¡¯s hands, her fate would definitely be miserable.

    Zalen rose into the air and slowly glided down from the top of the valley toward the youngdy. His voice was low and raspy as he said, ¡°I would have never expected to see such an exquisite item in such a ce. If only I can obtain her as a forever-obedient offspring¡­ Ah, but now, but now, we only have a few short moments. How regretful!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was still looking at Zalen with great curiosity as if she had no idea what was happening. The intrigue in her eyes seemed to grow even more intense.

    ¡°Run!¡± Qianye shouted loudly.

    His voice had yet to reach its destination when he immediately started rushing over toward the young girl.

    The young girl wore a puzzled expression and asked, ¡°Why must I run?¡± Her voice was just as clear and limpid as it was that night. It was as gentle and pleasing to the ears as a bell under the windy eaves.

    Qianye ferociously spat out an obscene word. How could he have the time to exin things to Zhao Ruoxi? Did he have to tell her that this vampire viscount wanted to defile her first and then kill her before draining her blood to replenish his energy? And that he would, afterwards, continue to hunt Qianye? Even if he wanted to say all these things, Zalen wouldn¡¯t have given him the time.

    Without waiting for the young girl to say anything else, Qianye immediately pounced toward her and rather impolitely picked her up by the waist before frantically running away.

    There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of origin power fluctuation on the little girl¡ªQianye couldn¡¯t even sense a single ignited origin node. Instead of pulling such an ordinary person along, it was better to just pick her up and run.

    Suddenly losing her bnce and having her upper body swaying fiercely due to the high speed, the little girl subconsciously reached out and held Qianye tightly.

    As her wide sleeves slid down toward her elbow, the youngdy¡¯s exposed skin was pressed tightly against Qianye¡¯s neck. She could clearly feel his burning body temperature, his powerful pulsating arteries, and each strand of muscle, as hard as steel, contracting then erupting with vast amounts of energy like a volcano as he performed the high-speed run.

    Qianye¡¯s every step was exceedingly powerful¡ªthe immense shock as he soared upwards kept the young girl tightly pressed against his body, but he would be extremely rxed while gliding through the air as if he was wandering through the clouds.

    It was apparently a novel experience for the young girl. Her eyes gazing at Qianye were full of excitement and delight. The sadness gathered on her countenance seemed to have been swept awaypletely. Presently, she began to move her body, trying hard to look backwards and see if anyone was catching up to them.

    Qianye was furious after seeing her reckless naivety and proceeded to p her buttocks ruthlessly. ¡°Behave! Stop moving around!¡±

    The little girl let out a soft cry. Much like a frightened kitten, she immediately curled up into a ball and buried herself in Qianye¡¯s chest. Before long, she raised her head quietly and stole a nce at Qianye from under her longshes. She felt an extremely intense aura of vitality seeping out from under Qianye¡¯s skin. It was precisely this exuberant life force which made her want to draw closer and closer to him.

    Qianye had no way to deal with this youngdy who was as pure as a white sheet of paper. He would just let her be as long as she didn¡¯t squirm around.

    Qianye suddenly performed a sidestep while running. This shifted him several meters to one side and effectively evaded a whistling origin bullet.

    Zalen¡¯s face waspletely ashen. He let out a deep snort, holstered his origin handgun, and continued chasing after his prey. He had long since known that snipers were also expert anti-snipers¡ªhe had already attempted and missed two shots on the way, but he didn¡¯t expect Qianye to actually be able to make such an urate evasive judgement in his near-exhausted state.

    The young girl turned around to look after hearing the gunfire as if she didn¡¯t feel any danger at all. Herrge eyes swept over the vampire viscount¡¯s body and even revealed a simple smile. She then unconsciously shot a meaningful nce toward the sky.

    At this moment, there were two pairs of eyes silently watching them from the sky.

    One of them belonged to Uncle Wang whom Qianye had met before at the Red Spider Lily Bar. The other belonged to a tall, thin, and angry-looking man.

    His long white beard was moving on its own despite the calm winds. ¡°Stop blocking me! This old man will definitely chop that little pervert to death! No, a single death isn¡¯t enough. I have to revive him and then kill him again!¡±

    The old man was enshrouded in flickering lightning. Countless arcs of electricity seeped out from his body and condensed into des and weapons in quick session. He was able to control the intangible lightning with such perfection. It was truly shocking.

    The thunderous old man was spewing mes from his eyes as he stared fixedly at Qianye and his hands.

    It was precisely this hand which had unceremoniously pped the young girl¡¯s buttocks and made her a tiny bit more well-behaved. However, she was already beginning to nce left and right, seemingly discontent with staying still.

    Uncle Wang¡¯s face was full of helplessness. He extended his hands and formed a semi-translucent barrier which trapped the thunderous old man inside. Hundreds of lightning weapons formed in rapid session and bombarded the barrier. The weapons were annihted one after another, and the barrier was also flickering unstably. However, this barrier so thin that it looked like a cicada¡¯s wing was actually abnormally firm and didn¡¯t shatter until the end.

    ¡°Ole Zhao, my boy, don¡¯t be impatient! Look, the young miss isn¡¯t injured at all. With us here, that vampire cannot touch her at all¡­¡±

    The thunderous old man surnamed Zhao replied with a re, ¡°You call that unharmed? It¡¯s not that dark race bastard I¡¯m talking about here, but that brat! Did you not see what that little bastard did just now? He actually dared¡­ actually dared to¡­ humph!¡±

    The thunderous old man simply couldn¡¯t say it out loud. Uncle wang said with augh, ¡°That p can¡¯t even kill a mosquito. It¡¯s nothing serious.¡±

    The old man surnamed Zhao red so hard that his eyes were turning round. ¡°Of course that p isn¡¯t serious. But¡­ but the location isn¡¯t appropriate! This is clearly a p in our Zhao n¡¯s face!¡±

    Uncle Wang replied, ¡°How is that part of the young miss¡¯s body rted to our Zhao n¡¯s face?¡±

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it rted?! Just how important is the young miss¡¯s identity? Even the Imperial Prince wouldn¡¯t dare to do something like this! Compared to pping our Zhao n¡¯s face, beating the young miss¡¯s butt is even more¡­¡±

    While the two old men argued up in the sky, the intense game of cat and mouse on the ground continued.

    Zalen was, of course, hot on Qianye¡¯s heels and had shortened the distance to a few hundred meters. However, he slowed down his steps after crossing over a hill filled with rocks and, while keeping his consciousness locked onto Qianye in front of him, began to sweep his eyes all around him.

    Although the vampire viscount was seriously exhausted, his still-intact sharp senses sensed danger. It was as if a vicious beast was waiting for him in the dark despite not yet releasing its killing intent. Although at this moment, Zalen¡¯s urges were raging within him, he hadn¡¯t yet lost his intelligence. It was absolutely abnormal for a little girl without any origin power fluctuations to appear in the middle of the wilderness. Of course, he wasn¡¯t afraid, but he was always guarded against other potential enemies.

    In front of him, the figures of Qianye and the little girl suddenly disappeared from his line of sight. Zalen stared nkly and then rushed over swiftly. He could hear the deafening sounds of flowing water even before he arrived. There was actually a steep cliff with a hanging waterfall where the meandering stream flew off its precipice. Its water surface wasn¡¯t wide at all, but the drop was quite significant. The waterfall produced sshing water akin to pieces of shattered jade and was enshrouded in a watery mist.

    The viscount sneered. Did this brat think he could erase his traces with water and escape? The former had already memorized the scent of Qianye¡¯s blood energy from the previous trap. Unless the other party was fast enough to throw him off, finding the target was only a matter of increasing the search radius.

    But right now, Zalen was prepared to catch the bastard probing from the shadows. He suddenly let out a shrill cry. Soon, his whole body seemed to bulge up and was surrounded by a mist-like bloody glow.

    Blood energy ignition!

    Zalen had already lost all patience regarding this chase and was aiming to finish this business quickly. Since that little girl had entered his eyes, he was determined to obtain her. As such, he would kill anyone who dared enter his field of vision whether the one spying in the dark was one of the girl¡¯s guards, Qianye¡¯s aplice, or just an unfortunate passer-by.

    The vampire viscount almost seemed to have recovered to his peak state. He rose into the air, flitted over the rocky hill like a wisp of smoke, and pounced toward an overgrown bush. Following which, a shrill scream rang out.

    Zalen¡¯s raised right hand was holding a distorted human body, dripping with fresh blood. His left hand pulled out a chained metallic tablet which he nced at casually before tossing onto the ground. ¡°Lone Ghosts? Interesting. Aren¡¯t those the gray-rat-like assassins?¡±

    Chaos ensued in the sky after seeing Qianye jump into the waterfall while hugging the little girl.

    The thunderous old man¡¯s roars reverberated through the skies. ¡°Stop blocking me. Let me go down! I have to hack that blood-sucking bat to death. Ah, and also that little bastard. Ole Wang, can¡¯t you see the young miss is in danger?¡±

    ¡°The young miss isn¡¯t in danger. I only saw her gesture for you not to act recklessly.¡±

    ¡°Even a scratch on her skin isn¡¯t eptable!¡±

    ¡°Her skin cannot be scratched either. Ah, I have not seen such an interesting thing in many years. Ole Zhao, my boy, stay still! My barrier won¡¯t hold much longer. At that time, you¡¯ll suffer if you ruin the young miss¡¯s happy asion.¡±

    The thunderous old man red. ¡°What young miss¡¯s happy asion¡­ eh?!¡±

    The tone of thisst sentence was quite odd. The rolling thunderbolts assaulting the barrier also weakened all of a sudden.

    ¡°Lone Ghost? What are those grey rats doing in Zhao n territory? Move out of the way. I¡¯m going to hack them into pieces!¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the Zhao n territory just yet¡­¡±

 Volume 4 - 40: Wings Unfurled

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 40: Wings Unfurled

    Qianye scuttled out of the water surface hundreds of meters away, still carrying the little girl. They were enveloped in a faintyer of scarlet origin power. The little girl was still clean and tidy, while Qianye was half drenched from the spray. Although Qianye could skip levels to perform origin power discharge, it wasn¡¯t quite stable, not to mention his daybreak origin power was already near exhaustion.

    The curious little girl extended a finger to poke at the origin power radiance and watched as her white finger passed through the rosy scarlet light. [1] Even though there wasn¡¯t any tangible sensation at her fingertips, the origin power crystal within her was trembling slightly as if it was resonating with this young man¡¯s exuberant vitality.

    This was a sensation she had never experienced before. It was as if her monotonous world of ck and white suddenly became colorful and was gradually blossoming with life.

    The little girl pressed her astonished face tightly against Qianye¡¯s shoulder and neck, her soft breathing blowing upon his skin. At this moment, Qianye had no time to notice her little movements. He was constantly searching for arge rock to act as a foothold. Then, he leapt up from the water and fled into the distance.

    Qianye¡¯s swift running figure suddenly slowed down when he heard a vague scream of a human from the direction of the waterfall.

    ¡°Where are your guards?¡±

    The little girl shook her head. Her strands of hair rubbed against Qianye¡¯s cheek to induce a slight but soul-stirring itch. ¡°I¡­ ran away from home. My family¡­ wants to force me to marry an old man in his fifties!¡± Her voice was very soft and contained an almost weeping grievance within.

    Such a delicate and innocent little girl had actually encountered such a fate. Any young man with a shred of valor would feel infuriated at this.

    Qianye went silent for a moment and then asked, ¡°Does your family have a residence around here?¡±

    His question was very logical. The Zhao n¡¯s nearest city was still over 300 kilometers away. It would be difficult for a young girl without an ounce of origin power to appear here alone even if she could drive a vehicle. But just what kind of family would be strong enough to build a residence in the mountainous boundary between the dark race and human territories?

    The little girl blinked hard and pursed her lips at an angle Qianye couldn¡¯t see. This expression immediately added a certain spirit of yfulness that didn¡¯t quite match her original delicate and naive temperament.

    At this time, Qianye slowed down his footsteps. He had already left the flowing river and crossed over a series of rising hills. From there on, Qianye deployed some simple warning or misdirecting mechanisms as he ran.

    The path he chose was filled with certain shrubs called thorned butterflies. Its needle-shaped leaves would release a certain odd scent capable of driving insects away. This scent wasn¡¯t quite evident to the human nose, but a creature with a highly sensitive sense of smell would suffer significant interference. For instance, a vampire.

    Qianye knew that the vampire viscount had already memorized the scent of his blood energy. However, the girl was an ordinary human with a fairly weak aura. Her scent would definitely be untraceable after being flushed by the flowing river and passing through arge thorned butterfly breeding ground. Now, the two of them needed only to run separately and Zalen wouldpletely lose track of the girl¡¯s whereabouts.

    About an hourter, Qianye carried the little girl up a small hill with a gentle incline and stopped in front of a cave.

    Qianye let the girl down and felt her sleeves. Although she wasn¡¯t drenched by the river water, they were still quite damp. Qianye retrieved some tools from the waterproofpartment of his backpack and lit a bonfire. He then walked out of the cave and began to set up certain traps around the cave.

    The little girl stood at the mouth of the cave and curiously observed the busy Qianye.

    In truth, they didn¡¯t have much time left. From that miserable scream, Qianye guessed that Zalen had probably encountered some people, but judging from the little girl¡¯s unconcerned expression, they were probably not her guards. Regardless of what had happened at the waterfall, it would¡¯ve gained them only a couple of hours at most.

    The only thing Qianye could do right now was to deploy some mechanisms to repel wild beasts and then erase his own traces as soon as possible, hoping this innocent little girl, whom he had dragged into this mess, would be safe after he lured the vampire viscount away.

    As for the conflict between the girl and her family, Qianye might have asked her where she wanted to go and perhaps send her there if not for the mortal threat of a vampire viscount. Now, he could only hope the family that dared build a residence in the mountainous region would have guards of corresponding strength to escort her home safely.

    After he finished his arrangements around the cave, he walked a fair distance and then ran up and down the peak a few times. When he finished his business and returned to the cave, he found the girl sitting on the ground in front of the bonfire.

    The flickering mes were reflecting one side of her delicate outline. Her skin was pure, limpid, and was almost emitting a gentle glow. As she sat still without moving, her lively temperamentpletely vanished and was, once again, reced by that sorrowful demeanor while her near colorless lips made her seem almost sickly and frail. It was truly heartbreaking to the beholder.

    There were two different sides to this little girl¡ªone when she was active, and another when she was still.

    Qianye sat across from the little girl and began to regte his breathing. His daybreak origin power had reached a dangerously low level. Yet, his senses were fully concentrated on the outside at the moment, and he had no time to recover at all.

    ¡°I¡¯m called Xixi, how about you?¡±

    ¡°Qianye.¡±

    ¡°What shall we do from now on?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll draw the vampire far away. You¡¯ll be safe. Contact your family guards once the danger subsides!¡±

    The little girl pouted her little lips as if she was peeved and then buried her head in her knees.

    ¡°As for your family, perhaps you should talk to them¡­¡± Qianye gave it some thought, then said, ¡°I don¡¯t have a family, so I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±

    Qiqi had used many methods to coax him into dressing up as a woman during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. This experience gave him a fair amount of knowledge regarding the fashion of nobledies. At this moment, Qianye noticed that the little girl¡¯s apparel and ornaments seemed quite simple but were, in fact, not ordinary goods. This kind of low-keyed luxury signified that not only was she from andowning household, but was also likely to be an important scion from an aristocratic family.

    The importance attached to these aristocratic scions was usually decided by their talent and ability. Since this young girl was taken care of so well despite having no origin power, her family head probably wasn¡¯tpletely unreasonable.

    The little girl was startled, ¡°You have no family?¡±

    Qianye suddenly leapt up with a solemn expression. He removed the Radiant Edge from his waist and stuffed it into the girl¡¯s hand. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯ve drawn you into this mess. Take this!¡± Afterwards, he reached toward her waist and retrieved the beautiful but ancient-looking handgun therein.

    The little girl finally let out a cry of surprise. ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    ¡°Stay here. Don¡¯te out no matter what happens!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t use that gun! It¡¯s¡­¡± The girl didn¡¯t even have time to stand up. The corner of Qianye¡¯s clothes brushed past the tip of her helplessly extended hand before he disappeared in the form of a faint shadow.

    Qianye exited the cave with great speed. However, he didn¡¯t continue onto the gently sloping hill up front and, instead, climbed up a steep cliff from the top of the cave ording to his predetermined route. Very soon, he arrived at the back of the peak.

    A dense forest of mixed trees and creeping shrubs grew therein. The elevation was quite high¡ªone could see quite far through the gaps between the leaves.

    At this moment, the sky hadpletely darkened, but the night¡¯s curtain at the edge of the horizon still hadn¡¯t closedpletely. There was still a narrow line of glimmering light against which one could see a faint ck shadow flitting across the peaks above the mountainous terrain.

    Qianye ran down from the side of the mountain while sensing the fluctuations from the small devices he had scattered throughout the wilderness. Everything was still going ording to n¡ªthe vampire viscount was still chasing along the path he hadid out. However, he had to let Zalen truly capture his traces or else the viscount might be alert or even deviate from the path.

    Qianye held the magnificent old handgun. He had only heard half of the little girl¡¯s words, but he knew what she wanted to say.

    This was a Red Spider Lily replica. As one of the ten grand magnums obtained earliest by the human race and as the grand magnum with the most mysterious power, it received the favor of many young nobles. As such, replicas of the Red Spider Lily were quite fashionable. During its peak, one might see several such guns in a single banquet. Considering the girl was an ordinary person, it was likely that this replica was merely a grade-one origin gun and not even grade two.

    However, what Qianye currently required was a grade-one origin gun because his origin power was already insufficient to activate the Twin Flowers. It wasn¡¯t important whether a grade-one origin gun could wound Zalen or not. He only needed a medium range weapon with which to draw the vampire viscount away for a sufficient distance. It would be a wee bonus if he could seize this opportunity to deliver a tiny bit of blood poison.

    The next hill was the first predetermined catch-up point. He leapt up without any hesitation and pulled the trigger at Zalen who was rushing toward him from afar.

    The hammer in the old-fashioned gun let out a clicking sound as it rose and fell. The flintlock-like barrel becamepletely transparent as an indistinct glimmer appeared at its center, so faint that it resembled the wick of an old oilmp.

    Qianye suddenly discovered that the whole world had vanished¡ªthe only thing left was that hammer made of rose gold swinging past its highest point like a pendulum and falling forward.

    A bottomless abyss appeared where the hammer struck.

    An undefiable absorptive power activated all of Qianye¡¯s origin nodes. His previously exhausted and dim nodes were set aze like a raging inferno. It almost seemed as if the origin nodes themselves were ignited. His near exhausted daybreak origin power suddenly surged like tides,ing together to form a soaring wave which poured into the deep abyss.

    At this moment, Qianye could no longer feel anything. It was as if the only thing within his consciousness was the all-devouring and bottomless abyss.

    After his whole world was swept away, a speck of vitality sprouted in an unknown corner of his being. There wasn¡¯t any radiance at all. Only an aura of blossoming life began to spread outwards in silence.

    The dark golden blood energy had scuttled into his heart to hide since the daybreak origin power tides began to surge. But at this moment, it suddenly rushed out into the empty world and expanded thousands of times in the blink of an eye. Golden light burst out from every corner, mixed with a faint scarlet hue akin to the first rays of dawn falling upon the greatnd.

    There seemed to be something gradually forming within the light, and it became clearer in the blink of an eye. It was a ball of golden mes.

    At a location Qianye couldn¡¯t see, the girl who called herself Xixi appeared on a mountaintop an ordinary person simply couldn¡¯t reach and was signaling with her hands in the air. But soon, her anxious expression turned into one of disbelief as a pair of giant golden wings were reflected in her wide open eyes.

    Scarlet mist rose in the wilderness, with specks of golden light floating in their midst. They weren¡¯t that dazzling at first, but the glow gradually became brighter and brighter akin to the advent of a morning star. Qianye was still in his previous posture with the gun held in both of his hands. His countenance was concealed within the flickering lights and couldn¡¯t be seen clearly.

    The night wind carried the soft timbre of a gun through the air. That ¡°pop¡± was so faint that it was almost indiscernible. It was as if a flower in a certain corner had burst into bloom and one would soon smell its fragrance.

    Xixi might¡¯ve even missed the sound if she wasn¡¯t extremely familiar with it.

    A strand of faintly discernible light slid through the air. It was almost invisible in the darkness of the night.

    Meanwhile, the scarlet mist surging around Qianye abruptly disappeared, and the specks of golden light suddenly erupted into a dazzling radiance. After the initial blinding moment passed by, that which hung in the air was actually a pair of gigantic wings¡ªeach of its feathers was a golden me!

    [1] The raws said ¡°as white as a scallion tip¡±, but scallion tips are green! He must''ve mistaken it for the scallion stem? So, I removed it.

 Volume 4 - 41: Remember Me

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 41: Remember Me

    ¡°W-What is that thing?¡± The thunderous old man in the sky stuttered as he spoke, ¡°A little brat who¡¯s not even a champion actually materialized his origin power and condensed the shape of his innate gift?¡±

    Uncle Wang¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t that great. ¡°The young miss is calling us.¡± With that, he descended toward the mountain peak.

    The thunderous old man also began to move while mumbling, ¡°Which family¡¯s secret art was it that appears in the form of a birdman? Damn his grandma, the Bai family! Their Feathercloud Art¡­¡± The Feathercloud Art was one of Bai n¡¯s secret arts¡ªas one of this generation¡¯s sessful practitioners, Bai Longjia reached champion rank before the age of 30.

    However, thetter half of the old man¡¯s words were seemingly caught in his throat. His eyes were like copper bells as he stared nkly at the scene below.

    Uncle Wang¡¯s movements also turned sluggish and his pupils suddenly dted. He witnessed the vampire champion in the wilderness suddenly enter a water surface, perhaps it could even be called a mirror¡¯s surface!

    Viscount Zalen was just running across the wilderness when he suddenly realized something was wrong with the environment. It seemed as if he had unknowingly entered a bizarre space.

    He was still running swiftly despite having lost all sense of distance. Following which, he felt that his hearing had also be problematic. He could neither hear the wind nor the nocturnal beasts and birds, only the sound of waves crashing against the shore. The noise entering his ears seemed to be growing closer and closer.

    A speck of faint light appeared in the air before him, which rapidly grew in color and luster. Blood red silken strands began to unfurl one after another in every direction.

    Only then did the vampire viscount realize that his body had long since been immobilized and even his thoughts were almost frozen. Thousands of illusions suddenly appeared before him. Within each of them was a reflection of himself and a beautiful Red Spider Lily bursting into bloom, seemingly locked within the mirror world.

    It was at this time that a gentle ¡°pop¡± was heard as if that flower of the underworld river had reached the peak of its bloom. Then suddenly, cracks began to form on the mirror world which, soon afterwards, shattered with a loud rumble.

    In this manner, that viscount of the ancient Byrne n fell from the air and copsed on the ground. There wasn¡¯t a single wound on his body¡ªhis countenance stered in fear and his eyes devoid of all life¡ªhe had be a corpse.

    Meanwhile, in the sky opposite Zalen, the wings of golden radiance rose up and gently folded themselves around Qianye as if holding him in their embrace. The wings gradually descended and, after cing him on firm ground, dispersed silently into countless specks of light.

    At this moment, the whole world was ovee by silence.

    A giant bubble surrounded the little girl as she glided down from the sky. Immediately afternding, she lifted her skirt and ran frantically toward Qianye.

    Xixi threw herself onto the youth whose eyes were tightly shut and pressed her cold face against his chest. She let out a sigh of relief only after hearing his heart beating under the burning skin. She clenched her fingers so tightly that Qianye¡¯s shirt had be a wrinkled mass upon his chest.

    She raised her head but couldn¡¯t bear to move away the small hand on his body. As his exuberant aura of vitality seeped in through her palm, it almost seemed as if her world of ck and white woulde back to life at any moment.

    Xixi¡¯s expression suddenly changed as she turned to look at the handgun still tightly sped in Qianye¡¯s right hand. The previously golden barrel was still semi-translucent, but the Red Spider Lily on its handle was still gushing with an intense aura of vitality. It was still continuously drawing energy from the wielder as if it hadn¡¯t been satiated.

    She immediately grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand and pulled back on the ruyi-shaped hammer. [1] The little girl¡¯s delicate figure was seemingly pushed back by a powerful force. The intense impact almost made her fall off of Qianye¡¯s body.

    The ornate old handgun returned to the girl¡¯s hands and reverted to its original form. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯sshes trembled as if he would wake up soon.

    The two old men were standing nearby and staring at Qianye with faces full of astonishment.

    Even the thunderous old man¡¯s fiery temper vanished. ¡°He actually fired. He actually fired it!¡±

    Just how powerful was their vision? They had already taken in every minute detail that had just transpired. They naturally saw that Qianye couldn¡¯tpletely control the Red Spider Lily. He might have been drained clean if Xixi hadn¡¯t gone over to remove the gun.

    But that absolutely couldn¡¯t conceal the shocking fact that he actually activated the Red Spider Lily!

    The Ten Grand Magnums were named so because, contrary to activating a darkness weapon with daybreak origin power, it wasn¡¯t as simple as having reduced firepower or being unable to disy auxiliary effects. It should¡¯ve beenpletely unusable.

    Uncle Wang¡¯s expression was somewhat different from the thunderous old man. He was sizing up Qianye in detail as if recalling something.

    At this time, Xixi suddenly turned back and looked deeply into his eyes. At this moment, the girl¡¯s expression suffused with an unfamiliar prestige. Uncle Wang was slightly surprised and immediately lowered his gaze.

    The little girl brought Qianye into her arms, produced a thumb-sized crystal bottle, and poured the misty blue contents into his mouth. She then gestured toward the two old man beside her.

    Uncle Wang and the thunderous old man nced at each other and rose into the air.

    The thunderous old man could no longer hold back his words after reaching a certain distance. ¡°Aren¡¯t we bringing that boy back? Someone else is capable of using the Red Spider Lily, this is big news! Although it seems he can¡¯t control it that well, we can still do some research.¡±

    Uncle Wang¡¯s gaze was focused on the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s see what the young miss says.¡±

    The thunderous old man retorted, ¡°Such a major incident must inevitably be reported to the n head¡­¡±

    Qianye opened his eyes and sat up before the little girl¡¯s worried eyes. He was momentarily at a loss, but then he recalled the things from before he cked out. It seemed¡­ he opened fire, but what happened afterwards?

    He suddenly noticed thepletely lifeless vampire viscount lying over 50 meters away. Qianye subconsciously nced at his right hand but found that the gun had already returned to the girl¡¯s waist.

    A somewhat cold sensation rushed into his arms. The surprised Qianye caught the little girl¡¯s body and found her delicate arms hugging him with all her might.

    ¡°Forget about it!¡±

    ¡°This¡­ This is¡­¡± Qianye was baffled.

    ¡°Forget about it and forget about everything that happened. Don¡¯t ever mention what happened just now to anyone!¡± Xixi stared into Qianye¡¯s eyes and said word by word.

    The little girl¡¯s serene eyes seemed bottomless. At this moment, Qianye could no longer see the frailness in her eyes, but instead he saw shock and apprehension. He also noticed the strand of determination which had appeared for unknown reasons.

    Qianye nodded involuntarily.

    Xixi forced out a smile and suddenly pressed her cool face against Qianye¡¯s cheek. ¡°No, wait. You have to remember me.¡±

    With that, Xixi let go of Qianye, stood up, and repeated in all due seriousness, ¡°Forget everything that happened just now, but remember me.¡± She then turned around and ran away without turning back. Soon, only a ck dot remained of her petite figure.

    Qianye watched her disappear into the distance before letting out a sigh. Although he still wasn¡¯t clear as to what had happened just now, one thing was extremely obvious¡ªneither the gun nor the little girl was normal.

    Qianye sat in ce for a while and stood up to stretch his limbs only after the feeling of exhaustion was alleviated. A small crystalline bottle fell from his body as he got up.

    A trace of light blue liquid could be seen on the wall of the empty bottle. Qianye bent down to pick it up and found it to be quite familiar. He sniffed at it and sensed a mixture of origin power and herbs.

    It was a medicine for injuries.

    The familiar scent dragged out a certain memory¡ªthe medicine Zhao Junhong had given him during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt had the same smell and was contained in a simr bottle. Following which, he recalled the crystal box in which the medicine bottles were contained.

    A light shed through his mind as countless memory fragments came together. Crystal box, Red Spider Lily, Zhao n, Zhao Junhong, Zhao Ruoxi, Xixi...

    Qianye stared nkly at the ground as thousands of thoughts spun within his heart. Even he himself didn¡¯t know what he was thinking anymore. He didn¡¯t want to believe Xixi and Zhao Ruoxi were one and the same.

    Xixi was pristine and delicate. Although her naivety was likely just a facade, it stirred very natural feelings of intimacy in Qianye. Meanwhile, Zhao Ruoxi was the proud daughter and sessor of a great n who was even more talented than the second young master. She was a character high above the clouds.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s grasped a certain fact from amidst his confused thoughts. The Radiant Edge was still in her hands?! Whether it was intentional or otherwise, she hadn¡¯t returned the dagger to him.

    Qianye had pushed the de into her hands so that she could end her own life should thingses to worst and all of his ns fell through. The blood absorption effects of the Radiant Edge could prevent her from being embraced into a puppet before her vitality faded awaypletely.

    Why didn¡¯t Xixi give it back to him?

    Qianye subconsciously walked toward Zalen and flipped the corpse over. The vampire count¡¯s face was frozen in a terrified expression just like during thest moments of his life. However, there were no new wounds on his body. His body and organs were still full of vitality, so much that it could be said his body was still alive.

    However, Qianye discovered that Zalen¡¯s consciousness had beenpletely obliterated. Even if his body could be revived with certain secret arts, it would only be a walking corpse without any self-awareness.

    But just what kind of force couldpletely wipe out a vampire viscount¡¯s consciousness without wounding him?

    While Qianye was upied by a multitude of questions akin to tangled yarn, Xixi was facing Elder Wang and the thunderous old man.

    Her expression was extremely solemn. ¡°Uncle Wang, Uncle Kai, you must not breathe a word about today¡¯s incident. You must not leak a word about this, even to my father!¡±

    Although Xixi¡¯s tone was gentle and amiable, this was clearly an order. With her current position in the Zhao n, Uncle Wang and Zhao Kai could actually be considered her subordinates despite being her guardians and advisors in name.

    Uncle Wang appeared pensive.

    The thunderous old man named Zhao Kai came from the main branch of the Zhao n and possessed a rather frank nature. ¡°Young miss, this is important news! There¡¯s another person who can use the Red Spider Lily! How can we not inform the n head of such an important matter!¡±

    Xixi bit on her pale lips until it was a faint red color and said, ¡°That isn¡¯t using the gun at all.¡±

    Zhao Kai knew what Xixi meant. They had all witnessed the process and knew that the Red Spider Lily had probably absorbed his strength passively. But the old man believed that it was not an inherent hindrancepared to those without even the slightest bit of response.

    As such, he retorted, ¡°Even if that kid can¡¯t control it on his own, we might be able to find a solution after some research. There must be something special about his bloodline or secret art. If we can rope him into our n, won¡¯t the Zhao n prosper even more?¡±

    Xixi said slowly, ¡°Uncle Kai, this matter is impossible. Please forget it!¡±

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_(scepter)

 Volume 4 - 42: A Daughter All Grown Up

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 42: A Daughter All Grown Up

    Zhao Kai waspletely puzzled¡ªfrank people like him were usually quite stubborn with their beliefs and not easily dissuaded.

    And unlike Uncle Wang, Zhao Kai was an actual cousin of Zhao Weihuang who watched Zhao Ruoxi and her siblings grow up. At that time, Zhao Weihuang¡¯s branch wasn¡¯t the head of the n. Thus, his attitude was more that of an elder than a retainer like Uncle Wang.

    Uncle Wang suddenly interrupted, ¡°Old Brother Zhao, think about it, it might not be a good thing for the young miss if more than one person can use the Red Spider Lily. It might not necessarily be good for our Zhao n either. Additionally, that person is capable of materializing such an astonishing innate gift form. Even if it was induced by the Red Spider Lily, this still signifies that his inheritance and secret arts aren¡¯t simple at all. If he¡¯s from another n¡­¡±

    Zhao Kai was astonished. Uncle Wang¡¯s words made sense¡ªregarding a grand magnum like the Red Spider Lily, no one could be certain this young man would belong to the Zhao n. The imperial court might even make the first move before them. If he himself was already the scion of a certain n, it certainly wouldn¡¯t be Zhao n¡¯s turn to im the benefits.

    He immediately replied, ¡°Then we might as well¡­¡± But he quickly withdrew his suggestion about eliminating the subject.

    A rank seven fighter being hunted down by a dark race champion indicated that his identity wasn¡¯t simple. And despite all that, the brat was actually still alive! He might even havepanions nearby. With regards to silencing someone, firstly one had to worry that the target was of a distinguished identity, secondly, there was the risk of not being secretive enough and being easily exposedter on.

    As such, there were unpredictable risk factors involved in both recruiting and silencing this greatly defective talent. On the contrary, the most certain option would be to seal their lips tight and let this incident quietly pass by.

    Zhao Kai couldn¡¯t help but nod. Although somewhat dissatisfied, he had already begun to agree with this method.

    A mysterious look shed across Xixi¡¯s eyes as she said slowly, ¡°Uncle Kai, you should know how difficult it is for our Duke Chengen lineage. Although both I and fourth brother are slow-witted, we still believe we can carry on father¡¯s legacy. The two elders definitely won¡¯t be mistreated no matter who bes the n head in the future.¡±

    Zhao Kai gazed at the little girl whose calm demeanor was so different from the past and suddenly felt quite satisfied. It felt as if he was seeing a daughter mature. No follower would worry about a n scion being too ambitious¡ªonly the opposite because the subordinates would then have no future.

    Duke Chengen was Zhao Weihuang¡¯s title. However, the two hereditary dukes of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n were Duke Yan and Duke You respectively. In the past, the n head would be born from one of their two branches. From this, one could imagine the meaning behind Xixi¡¯s words about how difficult it was for the Duke Chengen lineage. Zhao Kai naturally knew that Zhao Weihuang had faced countless crises and power struggles in order to be the n head.

    Two years had passed since Zhao Weihuang ascended to the position of n head, but even now, the situation wasn¡¯t quite stable. On one hand, Duke Yan and Duke You were both well-established and still possessed great influence, while on the other, Duke Chengen¡¯s title wasn¡¯t hereditary. This meant that Zhao Weihuang couldn¡¯t pass the title to his children.

    Among Zhao Weihuang¡¯s current children, Zhao Jundu was the most hopeful of seeding his father¡¯s business. He was a well-recognized genius who had touched the threshold of champion rank at 20 years of age. Xixi, on the other hand, was a special case among special cases. She had shown an affinity toward the grand magnum Red Spider Lily since she was only three years old. However, she was born with a weak constitution and suffered several bouts of critical illness during childhood. As such, this owner of the Red Spider Lily was rarely involved in administrative affairs despite her superior status.

    There was another implication within thetter half of Xixi¡¯s words¡ªthat she was already allied with Zhao Jundu. With these two working together, chances of the n head position staying with the Duke Chengen lineage was greatly increased. This came as a wonderful news to people like Zhao Kai who were attached to Zhao Weihuang.

    Although Xixi and Zhao Jundu were allied, there was still some rivalry between them. They certainly couldn¡¯t let the other party catch wind of there being a second person who could use the Red Spider Lily. It would be difficult to tell if Duke Chengen would favor the son or the daughter after being informed of this matter.

    Zhao Kai, feeling as if he now understood everything, patted his chest and said, ¡°Young miss can rest assured. I¡¯vepletely stuffed this matter into my stomach.¡±

    Xixi smiled sweetly in response.

    As for Uncle Wang, he was an elder brought into the Zhao n by Princess Gaoyi, mother to Xixi and the fourth young master. His status was self-evident.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was standing beside the vampire viscount¡¯s corpse and trying to recall the memories he seemed to have lost. He clearly remembered that a bottomless abyss had appeared after the hammer struck, seemingly poised to suck the whole world into it.

    Qianye frowned. There was definitely something wrong with that gun.

    The principle behind origin guns was the activation of the array with instilled origin power. Individual control and strength of one¡¯s origin power, as well as thepatibility of the origin power attribute and the array, would affect the final firepower. During this process, the wielder was certainly the activeponent. He had never heard of an origin gun that could draw energy as if it was sentient.

    Sentient? Qianye¡¯s heart was shaken. He suddenly recalled a certain legend in which each gun was sentient and would choose its owner.

    Just like most people, he had dismissed this as an exaggerated rhetoric. The spirit was an exceptionally mysterious field. Even the peak characters of the empire were still debating its existence. As for the dark races, it was said that some demonkin wizards knew secret arts that could restrain spirits. However, no one had actually witnessed it.

    Could that have been¡­ the real Red Spider Lily?

    This was simply too unbelievable. This almost ridiculous notion only shed through his mind for a moment because even Qianye himself didn¡¯t quite believe he could activate the Red Spider Lily. That grand magnum, one of the ten famous guns, had mostly remained ownerless during these long years, not to mention there being two people at the same time who could use it.

    He rapidly shook his head and decided not to waste any more time on such mysterious things. Although this mountainous region was quite close to human territory, there might still be dark race warriors passing by. If they discovered that he had killed a viscount from the illustrious Byrne n, he wouldnd in even more trouble than taking Marquis Ross¡¯s Twin Flowers.

    Qianye swiftly searched through Zalen¡¯s belongings. He found that the vampire viscount had set out in a hurry and wasn¡¯t prepared for a prolonged chase. The weapons he had on him focused on portability. There was also an empty blood crystal box, but judging from its size, the contents were probably not for replenishment.

    His gun was a grade six handgun and its cartridge, capable of holding five rounds, was already empty. Qianye recalled the times Zalen had opened fire at him and concluded that shooting wasn¡¯t the viscount¡¯s strong suit. He didn¡¯t even bring any extra ammunition.

    Zalen didn¡¯t carry a longsword like most vampires and only carried a dagger that was somewhat shorter than the Radiant Edge. Qianye thought about it for a moment and immediately turned to check the vampire viscount¡¯s hands. There, he unexpectedly discovered extremely thin finger-sleeves worn on the thumb and middle fingers of both hands. They were as thin as a cicada¡¯s wings and made of an unknown material that was both strong and flexible.

    Qianye was somewhat rmed and a chill went down his spine. At this moment, he was rejoicing over his cautiousness and good fortune in not giving his assant any opportunity toe into close range. Judging from the weapons carried by this dark race champion, it was obvious that he was a melee expert who exerts his might through his fingers.

    Qianye drew the dagger and found a certain seal near the base of the shaft. Its name was Scarlet Edge. The dagger was of the same grade as the Radiant Edge, but its quality and craftsmanship was almost a grade above thetter.

    At this moment, Qianye was already quite experienced with vampire melee weapons and was able to recognize several types of arrays amidst theplicated and beautiful design patterns, including themonly seen firmness, sharpness, and blood absorption arrays.

    He held the Scarlet Edge and gazed hesitantly at Zalen¡¯s corpse.

    Vampire bodies would also undergo changes after reaching the champion rank. The vampire heart would condense into a blood core where the greater half of his flesh and blood essence would aggregate. Even a low ranking blood core could be sold for a sky-high price. Its uses ranged from origin arrays to medicines, and a single blood core could be exchanged for a grade six origin gun.

    On the other hand, it would increase Qianye¡¯s strength by a level if he were to absorb it himself.

    But after some thought, he decided to put it away in the empty crystal box.

    It would inevitably take a long time to absorb and digest the dark race champion¡¯s essence blood. Drawing from his past experience with the arachne viscount Brahm, Qianye knew he might even be rendered immobile for a couple of days. It truly wasn¡¯t safe to do so in this border region where there was danger lurking in every direction. Additionally, he had to deliver the boulderheart jade letter to its destination as quickly as possible. He couldn¡¯t just hide somewhere for half a month.

    Qianye pierced the Scarlet Edge into Zalen¡¯s already empty heart. The remaining blood energy flowed into his body through the dagger and, just as before, rejuvenated his spirit.

    Finally, he found some random bits and pieces within a bag, including some crystal currency. There were actually several rutted crystals among them. That was the most valuablemon currency of the dark races, each equal to a thousand imperial gold coins.

    He also found a red crystal pendant casually strung with a ck rope, its style was a stark contrast to the exquisitely crafted vampire ornaments. Qianye had a feeling that the patterns on the red crystal were actually origin arrays and man-made ones at that. He tossed it into his pocket when he saw no reaction after instilling some origin power into it.

    The items in the other two small boxes shocked Qianye quite a bit.

    One of them was also a blood crystal, but its color was deeper than any Qianye had ever seen. There were some strands of bizarre purple in its center, and from this piece of crystal, Qianye sensed an aura simr to the purple blood energy in his body. He had no idea why Zalen hadn¡¯t used this piece of blood crystal.

    The other was an origin bullet box. He could sense the violent energy contained within just by holding the box without even opening it. Through the crystal cover, one could see a single purple-red origin bullet. There were extremelyplicated and densely packed patterns carved upon it, forming an origin array which served to firmly lock the origin power inside the shell.

    Qianye was suddenly drenched in sweat as he recognized the material of this bullet. Although he had not seen it personally, the sses in Red Scorpion had touched upon the general knowledge regarding all high-level armaments.

    This should be the legendary ck titanium, a rare and exotic metal found only in ces with dense darkness origin power. It possessed exceptional sturdiness but extremely lightweight.

    ck titanium possessed great destructive powers toward all living things and, due to its attribute properties, does even greater damage to those from the Daybreak faction. Additionally, a smith capable of handling such a rare material would inevitably be a great master. Judging from the top-notch craftsmanship and the violent energy contained within the bullet, its might was far above that of a mithril bullet of exorcism.

    ck titanium bullets were listed as champion-level killer weapons within the empire¡¯s armament evaluation list. It was said that human champions who suffered a direct shot from such a bullet would be gravely wounded even if he didn¡¯t die on the spot.

    Fortunately, ck titanium was extremely rare, and those continents with the densest darkness origin power were ill-suited for survival, even to the dark races. As such, there was never a way to mass produce ck titanium bullets of annihtion.

    It seemed the vampire viscount couldn¡¯t bear to use such a rare and valuable bullet on Qianye, hence, allowing thetter to survive this tribtion. Otherwise, how could Qianye escape the explosion? Even if Zalen wasn¡¯t too urate, the deviation shouldn¡¯t be that significant. And the destructive powers of the ck titanium bullet of annihtion possessed an area of effect.

    Qianye cleaned up the scene of battle and thoroughly wiped away traces of himself and Xixi before throwing Zalen¡¯s corpse into a ravine thousands of meters away.

 Volume 4 - 43: Purple Crystal

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 43: Purple Crystal

    There was a certain liveliness to nighttime in the mountainous region. The stars were exceptionally bright¡ªthe mountain range seemed even more majestic under the night sky, and the undting cries of little creatures were faintly discernible.

    The meandering river seemed like a silver ribbon under the moonlight. Its crystalline luster was as gentle and leisurely as the flutter of wide-sleeved robes. It seemed as if earth had withdrawn its imposing might and severity of the day as the clouds danced gracefully through the sky.

    It was only now that Qianye regained the mood to admire the scenery apart from the geography. He ran swiftly against the wind until the horizon began to brighten.

    Dawn over the Taihang Mountain Range was enshrouded in a faintyer of mist. This area was already past the hignds¡ªthe dominant vegetation was no longer the twisted and knotted shrubs or the sparse woods made up of needle trees. The area around the foot of the mountain was covered by a luxuriant meadow.

    Qianye turned around and was still able to see the vague outline of the Silentme Steppes. It was like a deep red patch of raisednd that had abruptly copsed to one side,parable to the head of a reaper¡¯s scythe that had imed countless lives.

    Qianye slept during the day and traveled at night during the two days that followed. He didn¡¯t immediately enter Zhao n territory but instead traveled along the mountainous region at its border. He was nning to enter from a point closest to Yingzhou City so as to bypass most of the checkpoints.

    Things were peaceful at first, but Qianye felt something off as he got closer and closer to his destination. It was as if a pair of eyes was staring at him from the dark.

    He was certain that this sensation of being surveilled had appeared only recently. He hadn¡¯t sensed it when he was deep in the mountainous region. The sensation grew even more apparent after passing through the First Sun Highway. First Sun Highway was the main artery of human transportation on the Western Continent. It was also the longest highway on the continent, passing through most of the major Zhao n cities.

    The wilderness and mountains had always been Qianye¡¯s home-field. He quietly proceeded at his normal rate after noticing this abnormality, but modified his route so that it meandered through the mountains.

    One whole day passed like this, but that faintly discernible sensation never disappeared. At this point, Qianye was certain he was being targeted. Random passers-by would never travel through oddndscapes like he did.

    However, he was unable to discover the one trailing him despite using many different methods. He couldn¡¯t help but be intrigued. ¡°Seems to be an expert. Quite interesting.¡±

    Qianye stopped by a clear stream at dusk. He washed his face calmly, then caught and roasted some fish. He appeared to be taking a leisurely break, but in his mind, he was pondering the other party¡¯s identity.

    Having been trained in Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion, very few opponents were his match in the wilderness. But this time, the other party hadn¡¯t revealed the slightest movements despite Qianye¡¯s intentional probing. This level of skill was already superior to his own. Not only was it possible that the one trailing him was a professional, but it was also likely that his innate gift was rted to concealment and tracking.

    Who was it? What were his intentions?

    Qianye pondered momentarily but felt that there were too many possibilities, and it was too difficult toe to a definite conclusion. He wasn''t afraid of trouble, but he hoped to deal with this annoyance before entering Zhao n territory.

    Qianye actually looked forward to meeting this opponent. He was confident that he could take control of the situation as long as he could evade the first wave of surprise attacks. He had already left many openings during his daytime journey but failed to attract the ambush he was expecting. It seemed the other party was exceptionally careful and cautious¡ªhe actually didn¡¯t reveal himself despite Qianye¡¯s current situation being quite unstable and his wounds had yet to heal.

    Then, was the other party waiting for the perfect opportunity or was he waiting forpanions?

    The former was a reasonable possibility because those proficient in assassination usually possessed superior patience. Even Qianye himself sometimes had to wait silently for several days straight during Red Scorpion missions just to take that single shot.

    If it was thetter, then it wasn¡¯t good news.

    After resting and eating his fill, Qianye turned back toward the mountain and set up camp halfway up an isted mountain peak. Although narrow spaces like caves seemed easy to defend and difficult to attack, there were many things there that experienced assassins could exploit. Chances of a sessful ambush weren¡¯t low if the assant possessed special equipment.

    Qianye had given the tracker a choice.

    He himself began to cultivate and digest Zalen¡¯s essence blood after cing some traps and alert mechanisms. Although he hadn¡¯t gotten into a direct confrontation with Zalen, Qianye¡¯s origin and blood powers came close to running dry several times during the many days of fleeing. There were also internal wounds left behind due to the extended periods of high-speed running. Now that a great enemy was approaching, he had to grasp this opportunity to recover.

    As the mystery chapter began to circte, the vast amounts of blood essence transformed into a vortex. Like a millstone, it slowly stripped away the impurities within, leaving only pure darkness origin power. Meanwhile, the blood energies in Qianye¡¯s body began to devour the darkness energy and grow continuously.

    After thepletion of a cycle, an ordinary blood energy was first upgraded to the second rank. The dark golden blood energy had be slightly stronger, while the purple blood energy, after being nourished for several days, arrived at the threshold of the third rank.

    At this time, the darkness origin power within Qianye¡¯s body had already been divided up, but the purple blood energy was still moving about as if it was still longing for more.

    Qianye hesitated for a moment, but then he took out the blood crystal containing strands of purple blood energy and held it in his hands. However, he had only begun to absorb it when the blood crystal exploded and massive amounts of essence blood entered his body. Among them were also stands of purple blood energy. The total amount was roughly equal to a third of the vampire viscount¡¯s essence blood.

    Qianye felt surprised at how a small crystal could contain so much blood essence. But momentster, he was absolutely shaken!

    The several strands of purple blood energy weren¡¯t drawn into the darkness origin power vortex after entering Qianye¡¯s body. Instead, they actually started swimming up toward his heart and devoured an unevolved ordinary blood energy.

    The purple blood energy was alive?!

    Qianye was badly shaken. Fortunately, his own purple blood energy shot out at lightning speed and entangled one of the neers. Soon, they began to roll around, fighting against each other. The dark golden blood energy was even fiercer. It alone blocked three strands of purple blood energy. The remaining second rank ordinary blood energy worked together to contend with the final purple blood energy.

    Within the blink of an eye, the inside of Qianye¡¯s body became a battlefield¡ªa dozen different blood energies were fighting against each other.

    Qianye¡¯s own purple blood energy had long since reached second rank and thus had the advantage in singlebat against the neer. Before long, it was tearing off the opponent segment by segment and devouring it.

    The dark golden blood energy was actually suppressing the scene despite fighting one against three. It was even beginning to focus its attacks on a single opponent and would tear off parts of the enemy from time to time. It seemed this external purple blood energy would be its meal before long.

    The ordinary blood energy was fighting seven against one, and all of them were at second rank. Even then, they were only able to gain a slight advantage. Their attacks dealt little damage to the invading purple blood energy, while thetter would deal obvious damage with each attack.

    This major blood energy battle allowed Qianye to understand the true concept behind things like blood poison, bloodline suppression, and the embrace, all of which were quite fuzzy before. He also began to understand why the vampires attached such importance to gift and bloodlines.

    Blood energy was the vampires¡¯ source of darkness origin power. The difference between ranks was so great that it was difficult to make up for it with numbers alone. The situation with other dark races, despite the differing manifestations, should be more or less simr.

    From this, one could see that the humans were much more bnced. Even a gifted genius might not be able to draw out his innate gifts to their utmost without the support of great amounts of resources far exceeding his own diligence.

    This kind of difference, in fact, allowed many people the room to grow. This allowed the extremely hardworking and lucky people to eventually surpass those so-called descendants of the famous families despite their mediocre talents.

    This was, perhaps, the greatest difference between humans and dark races. It was also the greatest difference between the Evernight and Daybreak Factions.

    Afterprehending this point, Qianye no longer sat observing the oue of the blood energy battle. The external purple blood energy was also a form of darkness origin power. He selected a distant origin node and began to circte the Glory chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll. He condensed a drop of pure daybreak origin power and ruthlessly bombarded one of the invading purple blood energy with it.

    This purple blood energy was entangled in battle with the dark golden blood energy when it was struck and was almost torn in two. The dark golden blood energy shook its wings andpletely tore the enemy apart.

    Qianye followed the same pattern once again and struck another purple blood energy.

    The battle situationpletely changed after two more external purple blood energy were badly wounded and were wiped out within moments.

    The dark golden blood energy gobbled up two external purple blood energy but seemed to have lost interest in them afterwards, opting to go back and rest instead. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s purple blood energy, which was at the threshold of an upgrade, appeared quite hungry. It devoured three external purple blood energies before withdrawing into the rune and calming down.

    What surprised Qianye was that therge number of ordinary blood energy actually didn¡¯t get anything for their effort. Even the external purple blood energy they had tried so hard to injure went into the purple blood energy¡¯s stomach in the end. They could only share the small fragments torn off during the battle.

    This was the rule of the Evernight faction¡ªthe strong were privileged, even at the microscopic level. Ordinary blood energy would get their turn only after the dark gold and purple blood energies had eaten their fill. If they were short on suitable food, those ordinary blood energy would be devoured in the same manner.

    The world within Qianye¡¯s body slowly recovered its tranquility as the first rays of the morning began to appear outside¡ªa new day had arrived.

    He finally realized why Zalen was carrying this special blood crystal without using it. The viscount apparently understood its special properties. Without the originator or a superior elder nearby, the blood crystal might actually kill him if he was unable to suppress it.

    This indicated that the purple blood was of a more powerful bloodline than the Byrne n.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t walked too far from the cave when he, once again, vaguely sensed that he was being watched. He onlyughed coldly and hurried on his way.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s movements were obviously shaky and rigid. It was the result of the vampire constitution rune being upgraded after the purple blood energy¡¯s promotion. Somewhere in his body, invisible to the naked eye, countless tissues were dying and, at the same time, growing anew with rapid speed.

    Simr to everytime he underwent a physical transformation, it would require some time for him to recover perfect coordination. Hisbat power would undoubtedly be affected if he were to fight someone during this period.

    This was also an opportunity for the one spying on him in concealment.

    In the distant wilderness, a certain figure was faintly discernible within the dense leaves of a tree crown.

    He gazed at Qianye who was just running down from the hill and sneered, ¡°How can someone be wounded so badly from just a night of cultivation? Who are you trying to fool? You want to trick this daddy here with such poor acting skills? You¡¯re still too inexperienced!¡±

 Volume 4 - 44: Friendly Reunion

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 44: Friendly Reunion

    At this time, Qianye had almost disappeared behind the slopingndscape. The person¡¯s figure gradually turned indistinct¡ªthere was a barely noticeable distortion in the background scenery wherever he passed.

    As it turned out, this person was already approaching near-invisibility with his movements. No wonder Qianye couldn¡¯t grasp the movements of his surveint.

    An hourter, the spy¡¯s indistinct figure appeared atop a certain mountain peak. As expected, Qianye was still within his field of vision. The man was still undecided whether or not to make his move because Qianye¡¯s movements were still quite unnatural and he had already seen several openings for a long-range shot.

    However, the intense sense of danger in his heart kept this temptation at bay.

    That man was somewhat dissatisfied. What was there to fear about a mere rank-seven fighter, even if he¡¯s a veteran soldier? But hispanion would arrive that evening¡ªperhaps he should wait a while longer?

    In their line of work, one would die early without due caution and patience.

    The surveint was calcting the pros and cons in his heart when he discovered a change in Qianye¡¯s route. He found that Qianye, after meandering around the rugged valley below, was actually walking toward the mountaintop he was on!

    The man immediately became vignt. Was it possible that he had beenpromised? He rapidly observed the surroundingndscape and suddenly realized what had happened. No wonder Qianye was wandering around the valley for so long. As it turned out, he was using the barrier-abundant terrain to calcte the angle from which he was being observed. A rank nine assassin like him had actually been found out with such a clumsy method.

    The assassin ced his hand on his weapon and subconsciously nced at a somewhat suitable sniping position nearby. Should he take action now or escape for the moment?

    A sound rang out near his ears while he was still hesitating. ¡°You¡¯ve been watching for so long. Is it so interesting to watch that man?¡±

    The assassin was shocked out of his wits and almost slid off the slope.

    He rapidly twisted his head to find that a tall and handsome youth had appeared beside him since god knows when. And he was even standing shoulder to shoulder with him and gazing at Qianye.

    The blonde youth¡¯s expression was harmless and leisurely. However, the assassin felt as if he had fallen into an icy cavern¡ªhis whole body became rigid within the blink of an eye. He had absolutely no idea how that person had arrived or how long he had been following him. Since this blonde young man had actually appeared inplete silence, naturally, he could also have slit thetter¡¯s throat undetected.

    The assassin, after his initial shock had passed, immediately flipped his hand and thrust his weapon so fast under the young man¡¯s ribs that only a cold gleam was barely visible. Meanwhile, his figure warped as he leapt away in a different direction.

    As if he didn¡¯t see the wisp of cold and lethal light, the blonde young man shrugged and said, ¡°Is that all there is to the Lone Ghosts? You guys really don¡¯t amount to much!¡± With that, he reached out and grabbed the assassin by the throat with rtive ease as if the attack from the rank nine fighter didn¡¯t amount to anything at all.

    He suddenly lifted his blue-grey eyes and revealed a smile as brilliant as the sun. ¡°Hi, my dear friend. We meet again!¡± The blonde youth almost seemed to have forgotten the man in his grasp. With a wave of his hand, the assassin who was already on hisst breath shattered into several pieces and fell to the ground.

    On a half-slope hundreds of meters away, Qianye¡¯s eyes opened wide as a chill ran down his spine, all the way to his feet. He was also an expert in concealment and tracking¡ªhe had finally utilized the limited vision within the specialndscape and found the position of his surveint.

    Qianye reckoned the other party possessed a skill or equipment rted to invisibility, the reason why he hade to perform a thorough observation despite seeing no one on the mountaintop. But he hadn¡¯t expected to witness such a scene after the invisibility was dispelled at the right ce!

    He grasped the grade six origin gun he had obtained from the vampire viscount and instinctively aimed it at the blonde youth.

    The other party had no intention to dodge and was still smiling radiantly. ¡°Qianye, it¡¯s me, William.¡±

    Qianye had already fled like a bolt of lightning before he could even finish speaking.

    William¡¯s expression and movements all paused¡ªhis waving hand was still in the air, and his mouth was opened wide. ¡°Ah? Why did he run away?¡± With that, he tossed away what remained of the assassin¡¯s corpse.

    A ¡°pop¡± rang out behind a rock overgrown with flowers as a tall female werewolf with delicate curves tumbled out of invisibility. A pair of furry ears stood up amidst her dense maroon locks and then dropped back down, just like her current mood.

    ¡°Your Excellency, your friend¡­¡± the female werewolf said with some difficulty, ¡°is a human.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°You just killed a human right in front of him!¡± the female werewolf said in her mind. He had even used such a bloody method as tearing the assassin to pieces.

    ¡°That bastard came to kill him.¡±

    ¡°But, he probably doesn¡¯t know that¡­¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± William rose into the air and chased toward the direction in which Qianye had fled, leaving only an instruction, ¡°Tidy up here.¡±

    The female werewolf strongly shook her ears and tail but ultimately resigned herself to her fate. She walked toward the assassin¡¯s corpse and began to check through his belongings. The scent of flesh and the origin power in it was still very fresh. It made the female werewolf want to pounce on it for a snack. But after remembering that she would have to appear before his excellency¡¯s friend in a while, she could only wipe away her saliva and continue working.

    After hurrying for a short distance, William found that something wasn¡¯t quite right because Qianye¡¯s speed had far surpassed his imagination. Thetter had already reached the valley¡¯s exit within a short conversation¡¯s dy.

    ¡°Qianye, wait!¡± His loud cry swept through the whole valley.

    Qianye, of course, ran even faster after hearing such an imposing voice. William was from the Summit of Peaks, the most powerful and mysterious werewolf tribe. Even its immature members possessed strength close to a champion¡¯s.

    That night, near Darkblood City, Qianye had personally witnessed William take action and knew that thetter could only be stronger than Viscount Brahms¡ªthat might not even be his strongest attack.

    Before such overwhelming strength, how could Qianye give him even half an opportunity to catch up?

    Battle wasn¡¯t even an option. With Qianye¡¯s near rank-eight strength, he would, at most, be able to leave a moderate wound on William even if he used all of his trump cards, including the grade-six gun and the ck titanium bullet of annihtion. That was assuming he was fortunate enough tond the hit. One had to know that werewolves were the kings of mountainous regions, and their ability to make use of thendscape weren¡¯t inferior to humans at all.

    William began to frown after rushing out of the valley. Qianye had chosen to flee in a straight line toward a nd. In that way, both the werewolf¡¯s advantage in mountainous regions and his ability as a champion to fly over obstacles had been negated. Now, both parties could onlypete in pure speed.

    What was worse was that Qianye¡¯s speed was actually not slower than a vampire viscount¡¯s. He was showing no signs of slowing down even after running dozens of kilometers. Apparently, this wasn¡¯t a short-term explosive sprint. Judging from the current situation, it was impossible for Qianye to shake off William, but it would also prove quite difficult for thetter to catch up to him. He could only rely on his endurance to wear Qianye down to exhaustion.

    This definitely wasn¡¯t a good idea.

    Although the nd Qianye had chosen was somewhat a detour, he could still run to the First Sun Highway within a day. There, the chances of encountering human experts would increase greatly. Even as a member of the Summit of Peaks, William wouldn¡¯t dare to pass through Zhao n territory so brazenly.

    It seemed that running one day and night wasn¡¯t a problem for Qianye. William was truly difited. He suddenly let out a long howl¡ªthe earth beneath his feet began to tremble slightly as the giant image of a golden wolf, several meters tall, appeared behind him, and powerful origin powerful fluctuations surged toward the sky.

    William leapt upwards and merged with the illusory image. He had be a formidable giant wolf as hended back on the ground, his hair as white as snow and his golden mane as dazzling as the sun.

    William¡¯s speed increased twofold after transforming into the giant wolf. A beam of golden lightning streaked across thend and caught up to Qianye within moments. The giant wolf leapt into the air, crossed over Qianye¡¯s head andnded right in front of him.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s newly upgraded body was yet to achieve perfect coordination. He was caughtpletely off-guard and almost crashed into the wolf. In the end, he reacted rapidly bying to a sudden halt and stepping several meters toward the side.

    However, even the giant wolf¡¯s back was almost two meters tall. A pair of greyish blue eyes gazed at Qianye with the weight and solemnity of a mountain. The wolf¡¯s naturally suppressive might spread outwards almost substantially and even caused the wild grass, half as tall as a man, to copse t on the ground.

    Qianye¡¯s sidestep didn¡¯t bring him out of the suppression range. He immediately felt the force of a whole mountain peak rushing toward him¡ªhis arms dropped like heavy objects under the tremendous suppressive force, and even the origin power within his body became sluggish.

    The giant wolf let out a menacing roar and then slowly retracted his suppressive might beforeining, ¡°You scoundrel! You sure run fast¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression abruptly changed after the suppression on him receded. Was this William?

    Usual werewolf transformations only involved the head and tail, and the body would remain in human form. Only some of those low-ranking cannon fodder who couldn¡¯t take on human form would stay in full wolf form. He had never heard of a champion turning into a giant wolf.

    The giant wolf shook his neck and stood up, his mane erupting with golden radiance akin to the sun. After the dazzling glow receded, William stood there with his perfectly proportioned and muscr body exposed. He then grabbed a pair of trousers and began to put them on, ¡°Qianye, can you not¡­¡±

    Before he could even finish speaking, Qianye had already taken a step forward and struck out with his fist.

    At this moment, William was in an awkward position as the trousers in his hands had only been pulled up halfway. However, William didn¡¯t mind¡ªhe only moved after observing the opponent¡ªfreeing one hand and reaching out to grab Qianye¡¯s wrist. He was prepared to drag Qianye to the ground.

    But, as the two fists came into contact, a sound akin to muffled thunder was emitted from their midst. William felt an inconceivably strong force transmitted from Qianye¡¯s arm and actually failed to block the momentum of thetter¡¯s fist.

    This far exceeded William¡¯s expectations. He immediately exerted more strength and raised his output to half his maximum before he was able to lock down Qianye¡¯s wrist.

    Qianye¡¯s wrist sunk and twisted out of William¡¯s hand. At the same time, his foot stomped hard on the ground as a sideways elbowshed out along with the weight of his whole body. This stance was actually that of close-quartersbat.

    William sensed the earth tremble under Qianye¡¯s stomp and suddenly became more cautious as he raised his arm strength to 70%.

    He knew that the human body was quite frail, which was especially true for snipers and assassins. For instance, that Lone Ghost assassin he had identally ripped to pieces. That was why he had refrained from using darkness origin power. But with his rank as a count and his physique that was much stronger than those from the average werewolf tribe, he should¡¯ve been able to suppress a human fighter with pure strength.

    At this moment, using 70% strength against a rank seven fighter could already be considered quite cautious.

 Volume 4 - 45: Purpose

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 45: Purpose

    William¡¯s body waspletely knocked over with a loud boom, and he was even seeing stars as he flew through the air. It was as if an ancient giant beast had mmed into him.

    After stabilizing himself mid-air, he saw that Qianye had borrowed the momentum of this sh to fly backwards. Thetter leapt away right afternding and was already dozens of meters away.

    ¡°Am I that scary? Why are you running away as soon as you see me!?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s steps faltered and he almost tripped. He only felt a cold intent brush past his back. This kind of aggrieved tone was simr to the more mischievous children from his mercenary corps who refused to be content without secretly drinking some alcohol. He must¡¯ve been hearing things!

    Following which, Qianye felt a fierce wind kick up from behind him as a ten-thousand-kilogram force pummeled through the air. [1] He rapidly calcted the speed and strength¡ªhe knew full well that it was absolutely impossible to escape from a dark race warrior at William¡¯s level from within 100 meters.

    Qianye drew a deep breath and came to an urgent halt. Only when he sensed the vague pain from the iing fist winds did he make a sharp turn and swing out his elbow. He suddenly entered a wondrous state of awareness. It seemed as if he was carrying a stone thousands of kilometers in weight on his arm. He had to utilize his full strength while swinging, but becamepletely different after gaining momentum.

    With William¡¯s eyesight, he had long since noticed that Qianye¡¯s movements were, at times, uncoordinated. It was just that thetter¡¯s almost clumsy strike gave him an inexplicable feeling, and it was actually a feeling of¡­ danger?

    William would rarely get such a feeling even if his opponent was a champion of the same rank. Curiosity welled up in his heart as he shifted his fist stance and threw a simr elbow toward his opponent. This time, he had sufficient time to react and thus added some more power into his strike.

    The two elbows collided!

    Bangs echoed through the air as their arms shed countless times with each other within an instant. Within that split second, all the origin nodes within Qianye¡¯s body began to vibrate as an origin power tide extended to form an indomitable wall that crashed toward William.

    This time, William felt a bizarre oscition from the exchange of elbow blows which forcibly dispersed some of the energy he had condensed therein. He was once again knocked flying after an exchange of blows.

    He was still grabbing onto his pants and was unwilling to let go even as he was flung away with his upper body leaning backwards.

    Meanwhile, Qianye only took half a step back before he lunged forward, grabbed William¡¯s ankles, and instinctively shook his hands. Qianye¡¯s origin nodes all lit up and vibrated at the same time as the numb sensation brought about by the weird oscition spread throughout William¡¯s body.

    Thetter screamed as his whole body fell from the air and smashed heavily onto the ground. Qianye frowned and stomped down on his opponent. His leg-raising movement wasn¡¯t fast at all, but the air suddenly began to vibrate and let out buzzing sounds as if a giant hammer wasing down.

    Originally, William was lying nonchntly on the ground. But now, he waspletely shocked and no longer dared to hold back. A leg whipped out like lightning, apanied by a stream of blue origin power.

    Qianye let out a muffled groan as his defenses were prated by a burning darkness origin power and his whole body was flung away.

    Spirals of smoke could be seen rising on the endless grassy ins. Qianye and William were sitting beside the bonfire as two boar legs and tworge racks of boar ribs sizzled away on the mes, their golden yellow fat dripping onto the mes and permeating the whole ce with fragrance.

    A furious William was scolding Qianye, ¡°I finished off several Lone Ghost assassins for you out of kindness and you repay me this way? Someone as kind as I¡­¡±

    Qianye was attentively rotating the skewer in his hand. His ears moved a little after hearing the words, and he felt the mes in front of him grow a bit hotter, almost causing sweat to drip down his forehead.

    ¡°In any case, I¡¯m someone who¡¯s helped you before! We can ignore the fact that you didn¡¯t even greet me after our meeting, but look at how you treat me! Do you not feel guilty about thatst stomp?! You!¡± William was drenched in cold sweat after recalling Qianye¡¯s underhanded final move.

    The force behind that attack had already reached the champion level despite Qianye being a rank seven fighter. No matter how strong William¡¯s body was, some ces were still quite fragile and definitely couldn¡¯t take a champion-level blow.

    Qianye moved his hand and tossed arge rack of boar ribs toward William.

    William¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. He caught the iing food and wolfed it down without any fear of burning his mouth. He wasn¡¯t quite content even after that and had his eyes on the almost-done boar leg, his greyish blue eyes actually glowing with a green luster.

    The sweat on Qianye¡¯s forehead finally seeped out. He helplessly shook his head as he applied a finalyer of seasonings and roasted it a while longer before tossing all the remaining legs and ribs toward William.

    Williamughed heartily and was somewhat embarrassed, but his mouth didn¡¯t slow down in the least. Nearly 50 kilograms of meat was swept away like scattered clouds in the wind.

    Qianye shrugged, feeling quite speechless at the fact that this dark race count who had once intimidated a whole squad of high-ranking vampires was such a glutton. He began working on the remaining b of ribs and the boar¡¯s hind legs. One could easily tell, after seeing William¡¯s gigantic wolf form, that a single boar wasn¡¯t quite enough.

    Only after devouring the greater half of the roast meat did William free his mouth to chat with Qianye.

    ¡°Lone Ghost¡¯s target should be you. I¡¯ve killed two, including the one just now and I also found a Lone Ghost corpse in the mountains.¡± William opened a bag which the female werewolf just delivered and poured out a pile of small items. ¡°These things were collected from their bodies. Take a look yourself.¡±

    Qianye nodded and, after cing the seasoned meat onto the mes, began to rummage through the items. In addition to some portable and suppressed weapons, there were all kinds of equipment for traveling in the wilderness. There were also Lone Ghost Assassin identity tokens, but there was nothing special about them.

    William then opened a map of the Blue Dream Mountain Belt and pointed to the approximate ces where the assassins were encountered.

    Qianye¡¯s heart shook after observing in detail¡ªLone Ghost really was targeting him. These ces seemed unrted at a nce but, barring the official highways, all of them were points he had to cross if he wanted to head toward Zhao n territory. As for the reason why they were waiting for him on the Western Continent, it was likely rted to the item Song Zining had entrusted him to deliver!

    Qianye raised his eyes and saw William¡¯s head buried in the food. ¡°Why have you arrived here?¡±

    William revealed a greatly satisfied smile after swallowing thest piece of meat and said, ¡°Originally, I was just passing by when I saw some people chasing you and thought I¡¯d say hello,¡± his eyes shifted to Qianye¡¯s waist, ¡°but after seeing this gun, I think my objective might have something to do with you.¡±

    Qianye looked down and found that William was referring to the grade six origin gun he had acquired from the vampire viscount.

    ¡°This gun is called the Thorned Lariat,¡± William said meaningfully, ¡°and it belongs to one of the 13 ancient ns, the Byrnes n. Currently, it¡¯s serving as Viscount Zalen¡¯s weapon.¡±

    Qianye nodded and replied calmly, ¡°He¡¯s already dead.¡±

    William squinted his eye and suddenly extended his hand toward Qianye. ¡°Give it to me!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve obtained the Thorned Lariat, his other belongings should also be in your possession, right?¡± William said with a chuckle, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t care how he died. I originally rushed over to the Forgotten Mountain Range because I received news that Zalen hade here and wanted to get rid of him in secret.¡±

    Qianye believed the greater part of this reason because there was enmity between certain werewolf and vampire tribes that could be traced back tens of thousands of years. That was an era far in the past that written records were sparse and only legends remained.

    ¡°All the items Zalen has on him along with the items from the Lone Ghost assassins will go to you. I only want a certain blood crystal,¡± William drew out the approximate size with gestures and added, ¡°it¡¯s not a pure-colored blood crystal. There should be some strands of purple mixed in.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood that William was referring to the crystal he had already absorbed. It had a number of live purple blood energy within.

    He replied without any change in expression, ¡°I did obtain some items but there isn¡¯t anything among them that fits your description.¡±

    Qianye grabbed his backpack over and took out the Scarlet Edge, the pouch of crystal currency, the red crystal pendant, and the ck titanium bullet of annihtion. ¡°Just these.¡±

    William picked up the items one by one, examined them, and put them back down. He frowned as he said, ¡°Tell me where you found Zalen. I¡¯ll have Aya go and take a look.¡±

    Qianye recalled the map of the Blue Dream Mountain Belt and, after some thought, pointed to the deep ravine where he had thrown Zalen¡¯s corpse into. It waspletely meaningless to give William fake news because, as kings of the mountains, it was only a matter of time before the werewolves would find traces of the vampire viscount.

    Aya was the female werewolf who was following William. Qianye had no idea how the signal was sent¡ªAya appeared very soon and left again in a hurry after memorizing the map.

    Qianye thought for a while and began to probe. ¡°If it¡¯s a blood crystal, perhaps Zalen has already absorbed it.¡±

    William let out a wryugh and said, ¡°Impossible. Zalen would never dare to absorb that thing without an elder nearby. It isn¡¯t just any blood energy inside that crystal. It contains a powerful bloodline from a direct descendant of the Mammon family. Not to mention an ordinary viscount, even a count might not dare to attempt an absorption so rashly.

    William paused momentarily and then said solemnly, ¡°This piece of blood crystal, if used on a suitable candidate, might produce another Nana.¡±

    ¡°Nana?¡± Qianye was astonished.

    The empire had records of all the powerful dark race characters, and Marquis Nana was also included in this list. Hailing from the Mammon n, Nana rose to be a mighty marquis before the age of 100. She was considered a genius as 100 was still considered underage for the long-living vampires race.

    Nana had entered this list not simply because of her rank as Marquis, but, most importantly, due to herbat prowess. During several great battles in the past, Nana had eliminated half of the enemy forces on her own and thus established her bloody fame.

    To many of the empire¡¯s experts, they would rather face a vampire duke than fight against Nana.

    If the vampire race was able to produce another Nana, this wouldn¡¯t be good news at all for the empire. She was a terrifyingbat genius who might ascend to the rank of prince within the next 100 years. If such a person were to mature, it would signify a disaster for the experts of the human race. Fortunately, Nana didn¡¯t take part in battles that often, otherwise, the casualty list on the human side would be even longer.

    However, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask after seeing William¡¯s serious expression, ¡°Isn¡¯t it a good thing for your race if the vampires gain another Nana?¡±

    [1] Precise calction: 1 jun = 30 catty = 18000 kilograms.

 Volume 4 - 46: An Old Tradition

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 46: An Old Tradition

    William shook his head and said, ¡°All sacred-blood races must be the same in your eyes. But, in fact, the rtionship between the four great races are quiteplicated. Take Nana for instance, did you guys think she rarely took part in battles because she was busy cultivating?¡±

    ¡°It is indeed so.¡± Qianye nodded. His impression naturally came from imperial army documents.

    William drew a deep breath and said, ¡°The truth is actually different. Cultivation isn¡¯t important to Nana. The only things that can increase her strength are battle and ughter. She¡¯s been fighting against us for the greater part of the past ten years. It was precisely because of her emergence that our ancient Silverback tribe is on the verge of extinction.¡±

    This was surprising news to Qianye.

    The Silverbacks were an old werewolf tribe with over a thousand years of history. They were recently quite low-key and rarely made any appearances¡ªwho would¡¯ve thought they were on the brink of extinction in a war against the vampires.

    ¡°Won¡¯t the summit of peaks intervene?¡±

    William stretched his legs, switched to a different sitting position, and sighed. ¡°This is a feud between the Silverbacks and the Mammon family. We currently have no right to get involved. Once we interfere, it will give the other vampire ns a reason to join the fight.¡±

    This was the dark race¡¯s old tradition of blood feuds¡ªthey not only existed between different races, but also within the same species. It was just that Qianye had only found out that such conflicts were no less bitter than their war with the daybreak faction.

    That was also why the werewolves could hardly tolerate the emergence of another Nana even though the chances of producing an ancient bloodline awakener was quite low. There were seven such purple blood crystals. Up to this day, they had already used five of them and failed to produce an awakener with the Mammon bloodline. The one in Zalen¡¯s hand was one of the two crystals that had drifted outside.

    Although Zalen himself possessed only mediocre talent and bloodline power, he was a pureblood¡ªboth his paternal and maternal lineages were quite strong. Bloodline awakening and strength inheritance couldn¡¯t be determined with conventional reasoning, and as such, the werewolves weren¡¯t willing to take this risk. On the other hand, Zalen had kept the fact that he had obtained this blood crystal a secret from his race, giving the werewolves an opportunity they could exploit.

    Qianye continued to gaze at the bonfire in silence.

    William felt it was odd and asked, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking anymore?¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°Since you¡¯ve told me so many secrets, I reckon you¡¯re going to silence me soon, right?¡±

    William raised his brow and began tough maliciously, ¡°Yes! Yes, indeed. But, I can give you a chance. You have to work for me! For instance...¡±

    Heughed resplendently and even patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. Thetter didn¡¯t dodge, but his eyes turned extremely cold.

    William then continued, ¡°For instance, keep on using the Twin Flowers! Ha, every day the gun stays in your hands, is another day of vexation for that old thing Ross. And whenever I see that old thing unhappy, my mood will be especially good!¡±

    The tense atmosphere, much like a punctured balloon, was thus immediately deted. Not knowing whether tough or cry, Qianye said unceremoniously, ¡°It''s just a grade four origin gun. Soon, I won¡¯t be able to use it anymore.¡±

    William rubbed the short beard on his chin and said, ¡°So, you don¡¯t know how to use it yet!¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled and naturally quite puzzled. He had never encountered the wear of ipatible origin power while using them, but it seemed there was some other meaning to William¡¯s words.

    William pulled out the Twin Flowers from Qianye¡¯s waist and released his powerful suppressive might, apanied by the illusion of arge golden wolf in the air. He then brought his arms together until the guns were adjacent to each other, whereupon an unusual phenomenon ensued!

    The origin arrays on the guns lit up in sequence as the origin power radiance formed the outline of two beautiful and even somewhat bewitching flowers. The flowers, blooming in opposite directions, began rotating in the air until they faced each other. Ayer of patterns emerged on each gun at the moment of contact, wherein an undecipherable rune would light up with the fall of each petal.

    Before Qianye¡¯s eyes, the Twin Flowers merged into a double-barreled handgun.

    Each of the gun¡¯s two barrels shot out an azure origin power bullet just as thest petal from the two illusory flowers fell. The projectiles merged in the air and collided with a giant tree hundreds of meters away.

    The giant treepletely vanished amidst an earth-shattering explosion, leaving a deep pit dozens of meters in radius. Everything on the ground was wiped off to reveal a deep brown-colored soil with red rocks mixed in.

    The firepower of a grade-six gun! The original appearance of the Twin Flowers was a double-barreled gun?

    William¡¯s aura gradually receded. He once again separated the Twin Flowers and turned them back into the two revolvers.

    William tossed the Twin Flowers to Qianye and said, ¡°See it? That¡¯s the true Twin Flowers. It¡¯s an antique of the Monroe n¡ªit¡¯s said to have once belonged to a certain duke and that there were certain secrets hidden within,¡± at this point, William casually shrugged and said, ¡°but all these named guns im to have stories and secrets.¡±

    Having said that, and seeing Qianye trying tobine the two guns, William couldn¡¯t help but say with augh, ¡°It¡¯s no use. Why else do you think Ross¡¯s descendants didn¡¯t use it? Without the activation of a suitable bloodline, you¡¯ll need to be at champion rank or higher. And not just any ordinary champion; you might be able to do it in a few years.¡±

    William hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when ayer of scarlet mist appeared around Qianye¡¯s body with specks of golden light hovering within. These motes of light suddenly burst into mes! Within the searing light, a pair of radiant wings began to unfurl and soon reached its peak.

    The two illusory flowers condensed upon the guns didn¡¯t fall this time. The petals began to burn as the guns merged together and then shot out two blood-colored origin bullets. The projectiles simrly merged as one and struck a nearby patch of shrubbery.

    A deep pit appeared on the ground after the explosion subsided. It was even somewhat deeper andrger than the one William had produced with his shot.

    ¡°This, this isn¡¯t normal,¡± a stunned William mumbled while scratching his head subconsciously. He then began to size up Qianye, ¡°Your bloodline¡­¡±

    Qianye himself was absolutely shocked. He had originally wanted to give it a try and didn¡¯t even hold too much hope of sess. He knew it was probably due to an ipatible bloodline that the descendants of the Monroe family weren¡¯t able to use this gun. In order to use origin power to forcefully activate this gun, he would likely have to be at William¡¯s level to obtain decent selectivity and cost to performance ratio.

    The initial feeling he got was indeed so. He sensed that a terrifying amount of origin power was needed to merge the two guns, and that the requirements had far exceeded his current ability. But just as he was about to give up, the pair of little wings on the dark golden blood energy suddenly expanded and unfurled, whereupon the obstructive force in the Twin Flowers vanished, allowing him to fire a shot that could easily wound a champion.

    However, the great firepower came at a steep price. This single shot had drained the greater half of his origin power, and his blood power was drained significantly by the dark golden blood energy as it spread its wings. And this was under a condition where his origin power intensity and purity were far superior to those at the same rank. Any other person under the champion rank might not be able to seed even after being sucked dry of all origin power. Even so, the might of this single shot came as a delightful surprise to Qianye.

    After Qianye came to, he saw William sizing him up thoughtfully and couldn¡¯t help but feel rmed.

    William shook his head and said, ¡°I remember when I first saw you, I thought you were a newborn from a certain vampire n. It seems human bloodlines are even moreplicated than the ancient sacred-blood ns. How odd!¡±

    Hisst words were referring to amon consensus that was reached since the War of Daybreak. The reason the dark races kept on kidnapping, buying, and breeding human bloodline seedlings was partly because they wanted to study this strange phenomenon.

    ¡°Did you spare me back then because you thought I was a vampire?¡± asked Qianye.

    ¡°Oh, no, it¡¯s because you were so weak that even pping you to death was too much trouble,¡± William replied honestly.

    Qianye frowned. ¡°You¡¯re truly frank.¡±

    William¡¯s gaze once again turned to the meat roasting on the bonfire. The ribs and legs had turned a golden yellow and seemed nearly done. He inhaled deeply and said delightfully, ¡°Of course, the delicious food was also an important factor.¡±

    Qianye went silent for a moment and said, ¡°It¡¯s quite strange for a werewolf to like cooked food.¡±

    The smile on William¡¯s face froze momentarily.

    The two spent the night there. The next morning, Qianye was quite surprised after waking up because he hadn¡¯t expected himself to actually fall asleep. But with William around, the vicious beasts of the wilderness dared not approach. The night was especially peaceful.

    He opened his eyes to see that the female werewolf, Aya, had already returned and was currently speaking to William.

    William came over after they finished their discussion and said, ¡°I¡¯m headed toward the Tulip Bazaar. We best go together if we¡¯re headed in the same direction.¡±

    This so-called Tulip Bazaar was, in fact, a grey city between Zhao n and dark race territories. Such cities were also scattered across the borders on several other continents, and the only difference was their scale and the content of their trade. They would trade in anything they could get their hands on in the area,pletely ungoverned byw and order.

    Qianye asked, ¡°What happened?¡±

    There were many problems on Zalen¡¯s corpse. The most evident was the way he had died, and how his essence blood was drained by a blood absorption weapon. William didn¡¯t seem to suspect Qianye even after listening to the female werewolf¡¯s report, but there seemed to be some other unexpected discoveries.

    William thought about it for a while and said, ¡°Agents from the Evernight Council were already there when Aya arrived at the scene.¡±

    Qianye nodded and then frowned. It was naturally good news that William hadn¡¯t found out his secret, but he wasn¡¯t quite certain if his methods in erasing traces would work against agents of the Evernight Council. Regardless of the little girl¡¯s actual identity, Qianye didn¡¯t wish to bring her extra trouble.

    ¡°I recall seeing a red crystal pendant yesterday among Zalen¡¯s possessions.¡±

    Qianye brought the item out. After examining it for some time, William found an unremarkable symbol at its base. ¡°So it¡¯s the work of Master Weber! Qianye, give this to me, and I¡¯ll give you this in exchange.¡±

    William brought out a deep blue velvet pouch and tossed it toward Qianye. After opening it, Qianye found that it was filled with blood crystals, a couple dozen of them. A werewolf was actually in possession of so many blood crystals¡ªit seemed William¡¯s target ining to this mountainous area wasn¡¯t just Zalen.

    ¡°Who¡¯s master Weber?¡± Qianye was curious.

    ¡°A prophet from the Evernight Council,¡± Williamughed, ¡°this should be a map. I can¡¯t open this thing, but if I can find someone who can, I¡¯ll know just what they¡¯re up to in this area. However, this is an internal affair of the Evernight nobility. You¡¯d best pretend you never obtained such a thing.¡±

 Volume 4 - 47: The Grey City

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 47: The Grey City

    Qianye put the silk pouch away. He wasn¡¯t that interested in the red crystal pendant, merely a bit curious. William¡¯s tone didn¡¯t seem that reverent toward the Evernight Council.

    At this time, Qianye was hesitating whether or not to travel together with William.

    Speaking geographically, the Tulip Bazaar was in the same direction as the recipient of the boulderheart jade letter, and the distance between them wasn¡¯t that great. It would also be safer for Qianye to sell the items he had obtained from Zalen in this grey city. But even if this was likely a friendly gesture on William¡¯s part, Qianye still couldn¡¯t trust the formerpletely.

    William handed the red crystal pendant to the female werewolf and softly said a few words to her. He then headed back to Qianye¡¯s side after she left.

    He seemed not to have noticed Qianye¡¯s hesitation and said with a nonchnt smile, ¡°Then let¡¯s set out right away and leave this ce as soon as possible. I don¡¯t want to bump into those old fogeys from the Evernight Council. I doubt you do either!¡±

    Qianye suddenly realized that William should also have some doubts about his identity. His suggestion to leave together probably wasn¡¯t just on a whim but might also be to prevent his traces in this area from being leaked.

    And thus, one man and one wolf, each with their own intentions, set out on the two-day long journey in each other¡¯spany.

    Owing to William¡¯s presence, Qianye only cultivated Combatant Form on the road. This was the first time he had circted the Combatant Form after absorbing the purple blood crystal and receiving an upgrade to his vampire constitution rune.

    He began to feel some pressure after the origin power tides exceeded 38 cycles, but he clearly still had power to spare. Forty cycles was his previous limit¡ªthis time, he was somewhat ovee with excitement as he began to form the 41st cycle!

    The rebound suffered by the body would increase almost exponentially in theter stages of the Combatant Form, and the progression of each cycle had to be executed with great difficulty. That was why fighter kings were so rare. But behind such difficultiesy virtually unparalleled potential aplishments because there was no upper limit regarding the increase in cultivation speed. Even though it was just in theory, it was still unlimited nheless.

    A small part of Zhang Boqian¡¯s great fame could be attributed to the Combatant Form. He was the first ever warrior in history to push the form past 50 cycles before adulthood. He then ignited nine origin nodes with astonishing speed and broke through the bottleneck to be a champion within one night.

    Zhang Boqian was only 40 years old that year.

    Zhang Boqian switched to a different art after breaking through to champion rank. Even to this day, when talking about the past, people would enthusiastically discuss and guess just how many cycles Marshal Zhang would be able to circte if he hadn¡¯t switched cultivation arts.

    And now, Qianye was currently on that very same path. The vague figure of Zhang Boqian¡¯s back had begun to appear in front of him.

    There was a fundamental difference between the advanced and intermediate vampire constitutions. Add that to the tenacious protective effect exerted upon his heart by the continuously growing dark golden blood energy, Qianye immediately charged past the 41st and 42nd tides to reach the 43rd within the blink of an eye.

    At this time, his Daybreak origin power tides were like tsunamis. Even the defenses formed by the dark golden blood energy momentarily dimmed down! At this point, Qianye understood that he had arrived at his true limit.

    As the tides gradually calmed down, delight gushed out from the depths of Qianye¡¯s heart.

    It seemed that, with the repeated evolution of blood energy, his constitution would continue to grow even stronger, and the number of origin power tides he could withstand would increase. Perhaps one day, he would be able to withstand 50 origin power tides and formally stand alongside Zhang Boqian.

    Looking at this era, it was indeed a period capable of amodating two apex characters.

    These couple of days, Qianye was focused entirely on attacking the Combatant Form. The majority of his body was filled with scarlet origin power with a smaller amount of condensed daybreak origin power mixed within.

    Qianye suddenly realized something¡ªthis so-called Venus Dawn, one of the three greatest daybreak origin powers, was perhaps referring to the attribute closest to daybreak. That was to say, the condensed form of daybreak origin power.

    What appeared before Qianye after leaving the mountainous region was arge area of wilderness. This ce was different from the Silentme Steppes; the coarsendscape was flourishing with vitality. Apart from the great trees with deep roots that could extract water from the underground water flow, there was also vegetation growing close to the earth¡¯s surface.

    There were weathered rocks everywhere, and at the end of one¡¯s sight, there were severalrge stone pirs towering over the horizon. They seemed to be some ancient remains.

    After traveling for the greater half of the day, an area filled with short buildings appeared before them. This was an oasis marked neither on human nor dark race official maps with a patch of verdant and lush trees growing upon it. Its tender green color formed a stark contrast with the grey-brown wilderness surrounding it.

    The grey city had no walls and was filled with short houses. A three-storeyed building stood as its grandest building.

    The sandy winds were strong in the wilderness. The night winds would sometimes grow so strong that even a camel might be blown up into the sky. The buildings here had to be exceptionally firm and couldn¡¯t be built too tall. Otherwise, it would be difficult for them to withstand the might of nature.

    Additionally, grey cities actually weren¡¯t fixed as the Zhao n would sweep the surroundings clean once every few years. Grey existences such as the Tulip Bazaar would then be rebuilt in a new ce. There naturally wouldn¡¯t be any beautiful buildings since they had to move around.

    They were just like the wilderness lilies bearing little yellow flowers. Even whenpletely uprooted, they would grow out again from a certain crack in the ground after the sandstorm had passed.

    Qianye was somewhat shaken after seeing this grey city and subconsciously reached for the gun and knife at his waist. People would die mysteriously every day in such a ce where order and trust were almost nonexistent. Strength was the only dependable resource both for protecting the transaction and oneself.

    William who was beside him began tough and said nonchntly, ¡°Rx, this ce maybe a little bit dirty and messy, but there¡¯s no danger to speak of. We can totally walk unhindered here.¡±

    Qianye ignored the man and proceeded to pull his traveler cloak over his head.

    Such grey cities, simr to other human areas, would normally have a couple of champions overseeing them in order to maintain basic order. Those that had developed to the scale of this Tulip Bazaar before them would at least have three. William¡¯s current rank of count made him a great noble, someone who had to be addressed as an excellency. Even the noble heads of lower and intermediate aristocratic families, who ruled over several regions, were merely at this level.

    As the two walked into the grey city, Qianye saw scenes of vampires and werewolves happily chatting away, that of humans and arachne haggling, and even that of a servspider pulling a carriage with two humans sitting upon it.

    Such scenes would be quite unimaginable had he not seen them with his own eyes.

    The grey city neither had city walls nor guards. One coulde and go freely. Only after entering the city did Qianye realize why the humans and dark races could coexist so peacefully here. The humans in this ce were all extremely fierce and tough. Both their might and killing intent were superior to the dark races by a clear margin.

    The asional passer-by would sweep their eyes over Qianye and William as if they were evaluating how plump their prey was. Qianye wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with such gazes. It was the same in every underground world and everynd of disorder, that was to size up any unfamiliar faces.

    Both Qianye and William were wearing the most ordinary of traveler cloaks. Qianye made no attempt to hide his own level¡ªrank seven wasn¡¯t the strongest in this ce, but it definitely wasn¡¯t too weak either. It should be enough to avoid a fair amount of unnecessary troubles. William, on the other hand, had, for some reason,pletely retracted his aura and even his race was no longer evident.

    Within this grey city, there was an inn, a casino, a bar, an arena, and even an auction house of considerable scale. Here, Qianye had seen almost all of Evernight¡¯s races just by walking through a shortne. There was even one from the rare demonkin race, a grocery shopkeeper no less.

    Qianye involuntarily paused his steps as they passed in front of a weapons store and began to size-up this unremarkable little shop with great curiosity. The store actually had two grade five gunsid out before its main doors, and one of them was a rare vampire sniper rifle.

    This grade five sniper rifle appealed greatly to Qianye, especially since vampire weapons were known for their uracy and craftsmanship. The only doubt he had was whether or not he could install the ¡°Resounding Strike¡± array on it.

    Qianye was shocked after shifting his gaze toward the price tag stuck beside it at a weird angle. This grade five gun was actually on sale for a whole 80 pieces of high-purity blood crystals.

    This number was twice the normal price.

    Qianye picked up the gun and observed it in detail. He found signs of refurbishment in many ces. The technique was quite brilliant, but it still couldn¡¯t escape the eyes of a veteran like Qianye. In other words, this wasn¡¯t a new gun but a second-hand item. Adding depreciation to the equation, its asking price was more than three times the market price.

    Qianye shrugged, put the gun down, and nned to leave.

    After finding out about the real use of the Twin Flowers, he was no longer in urgent need of a high-grade sniper rifle. If, in the future, he was required to take up a long-range role inbat, a remodeled Eagleshot with the Resounding Strike installed would still be his weapon of choice. At least it could overwhelm this second-hand grade-five rifle in all aspects.

    It was just that, after seeing such a random small shop being able to ce two grade-five weapons on disy allowed Qianye to gain a direct understanding of this Tulip Bizaar.

    Qianye had just turned around when a fierce voice arrived from behind him. ¡°Halt!¡±

    Qianye turned around and found that it was the keeper of this small shop, a middle-aged man with a face full of scars. There were two tall and burly men standing to his left and right. From their undisguised auras, it seemed that they were werewolves. At this time, they were staring at Qianye with malicious eyes.

    It would be an inconceivable sight, both in imperial and dark race territories, to see a human set up shop with werewolves acting as guards. But apparently, everything was possible in such a ce as this grey city.

    Qianye¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change in the least as he asked calmly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    That shopkeeper spat on the ground and then extended hisrge hand toward Qianye, saying, ¡°80 blood crystals! You looked at my gun and asked the price, so you must buy it!¡±

    Qianye frowned. He knew such ces were rife with all kinds of trouble, but he hadn¡¯t expected trouble toe knocking so quickly and so directly.

    Some people had already gathered in the vicinity. Most of them were standing in a leisurely manner and many revealed expressions akin to watching a y. But Qianye knew that once there were benefits or opportunities to exploit, nothing could stop them from turning into hungry wolves that would join the ranks of those sharing this meal.

    Qianye swept his eyes over the shopkeeper and his two guards. The two guards were rank seven, while the shopkeeper himself was rank six. In this grey city and even in other ces, this kind of lineup could already be considered quite powerful.

    This could be considered a probe¡ªthese people were trying to sound out the foreigners. Merely, it belonged to one of the most serious types.

    Qianye shot a nce at William and found him to be fairly rxed. Thetter was full of smiles as he asked quietly, ¡°How can I be of service?¡±

 Volume 4 - 48: Rules of the Tribe

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 48: Rules of the Tribe

    ¡°Are there any taboos?¡± asked Qianye.

    William took a step back and shrugged. ¡°None whatsoever. Do as you wish.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He then stepped forward and grabbed the man¡¯s cor.

    Revealing a nasty grin, one of the werewolf guards grabbed at Qianye¡¯s wrist and roared, ¡°Little bastard, are you courting death?¡±

    But soon after catching Qianye¡¯s wrist, his whole body shook and flew backwards, as if he were struck by lightning.

    Qianye¡¯s movements weren¡¯t quick at all, but the shopkeeper seemed to be bound by an invisible attractive force and unable to retreat. He could only gaze helplessly as Qianye lifted him up by the cor.

    The shopkeeper felt as if he were struck in the chest by a heavy hammer the moment Qianye¡¯s fingers touched him and a mouthful of blood rushed up his throat. However, with a shake of Qianye¡¯s hand, the man¡¯s whole body trembled as if struck by lightning, effectively choking that mouthful of blood back down.

    The other werewolf bodyguard drew his weapon and rushed over. With a wild roar, he smashed his spiked club down on Qianye¡¯s head.

    Qianye only turned and shot a nce at him, but the guard suddenly began to palpitate as if he were being watched by a vicious beast. Not to mention swinging his club, he even had the urge to run away immediately.

    Qianye calmly lifted his leg and stomped down.

    The ground suddenly began to shake as an indefensible force was transmitted underneath the werewolf bodyguard¡¯s. It threw him high into the air and dozens of meters away.

    Qianye¡¯s hand suddenly rxed and dropped the fierce-looking shopkeeper to the ground. The man wasn¡¯t weak, but he was still struggling to mber up. In truth, he had already received two heavy blows since falling into Qianye¡¯s hands and the origin power within him was on the verge of copse. How could he stand up?

    Qianye walked calmly towards the booth, retrieved that grade five sniper rifle, and tossed a blood crystal over. It bounced once on the shopkeeper¡¯s face, then slid down his jacket and onto his belly.

    Qianye lifted the rifle indifferently and began to inspect the trigger and barrel in detail. Afterwards, he said without even looking at the shopkeeper, ¡°This is money for the rifle. You won¡¯t get off so cheap next time. It¡¯s not as if I can¡¯t afford to buy your arms, legs, and even your brain.¡±

    None of the spectators were heckling anymore. Most of them were trembling because all of them knew that Qianye¡¯s words, although spoken to the shopkeeper, were likely also directed at them. However, some among them showed no signs of fear and only gazed deeply at him and William to memorize their appearances before dispersing in twos and threes.

    The results of this probing were already quite evident. The strength of this neer was tyrannical, to say the least, and his way of handling things was just perfect. Someone with such efficient and ruthless methods was clearly not a newly hatched bird. The onlookers swiftly decided that it was impossible to scrape profits from such a person, but they might be able to do something big by cooperating with him.

    Qianye strapped the sniper rifle to his back and beckoned William. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    William nodded and left with Qianye.

    William¡¯s destination was a two-storeyed building on the west side of the city. It was a sizeable store with all kinds of merchandise filling its disy racks. From vampire origin power guns to arachne crystalline silk¡ªthere were all sorts of things. Those entering and leaving the shop alsoprised of many different races and the number of werewolves among them wasn¡¯t greater than that of the others.

    William pulled back his hood and revealed an insignia on the inner surface of his cor. After seeing the origin glow emitted from the insignia, the clerk¡¯s eyes lit up as he led them towards the back of the store.

    Qianye was walking furthest back. He had just passed the doorway when he suddenly noticed a cold gleam in the corner of his eye as a dagger was thrust at his throat.

    Qianye made no extra movement and even his expression seemed absolutely unaffected. At a nce, it was difficult to say if he was petrified with fright or if he was so calm that he didn¡¯t even care about the lethal danger. He only raised his head to nce at William.

    The dagger arrived at lightning speed and was pressed against Qianye¡¯s throat. A capable looking young werewolf with a bare upper body appeared from within the shadows and said while staring fixedly at Qianye¡¯s face, ¡°I smell the stench of a vampire on his body!¡±

    A florid radiance shed across William¡¯s ceramic-like greyish blue eyes, but it gradually vanished after seeing Qianye¡¯s calm demeanor.

    His turned towards the young werewolf, and said coldly, ¡°This is my guest. Drop your weapon, lest the visitor looks down on us.¡±

    The young man wasn¡¯t quite satisfied and retorted loudly, ¡°What right does he have to look down on us? He¡¯s just a useless bastard!¡±

    William immediately let out a sigh.

    The young werewolf¡¯s eyes never shifted away, but his expression suddenly changed. A handgun had appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand at some point and its muzzle was aimed straight at the werewolf¡¯s heart.

    A chill permeated the young werewolf¡¯s heart¡ªhe actually hadn¡¯t sensed it! Due to this, he came to a swift realization¡ªsince the other party was capable of drawing his weapon and aiming it at him so silently, it was also quite likely that he could have easily dodged the de at his throat.

    That is to say that, although Qianye seemed restrained by the werewolf, he had actually never even cared about him. That was the sole reason why the sharp weapon was allowed to approach his neck.

    The young werewolf¡¯s breathing grew distinctly heavier as he retracted his de and growled, ¡°He uses a vampire weapon and there¡¯s a vampiric stench on his body! We don¡¯t wee him here!¡±

    William¡¯s expression turned cold as he roared at the young werewolf. The volume of his roar was just about the same as normal speech, but the young werewolf was suddenly blown back as if he were struck by a cannon shell. He smashed through twoyers of walls with a loud crash and copsed on the street outside.

    ¡°Wait! This is a misunderstanding!¡± An old werewolf rushed over and blocked William¡¯s way.

    The old werewolf performed a salutation towards William and said, ¡°Honorable guest of the Summit of Peaks, it was not our intention to offend you. My son, that young werewolf, is easily agitated due to the hot weather. It¡¯s just that your guest is truly not weed here. Please have him remain outside!¡±

    ¡°This is a grey city and not the tribal grounds. When did such a rule appear without my knowing? One such that even I cannot bring a guest.¡±

    The old werewolf wore an apologetic smile but seemed to have no intention of retracting his words.

    William let out a coldugh and said, ¡°It seems the White w Tribe is so amazing right now. You¡¯ve brought your tribal rules to this ce after being allowed a turn in this position for a mere three years? I insist on bringing this person with me. What can you do?¡±

    The old werewolf replied politely but resolutely, ¡°Then I can only ask you to leave.¡±

    William began tough loudly instead of showing anger. He dragged Qianye behind his back and said very slowly, ¡°It seems the Summit of Peaks has been too kind towards you lot. Even a second-rate tribe dares disrespect me. Is this a deration of war from the White w Tribe?!¡±

    At this point, William let out another muffled roar and sent the old werewolf flying. Not only did he shoot through the building walls but also crashed into the shop across the street. It was unknown just how many houses he crashed through after that and where he fell in the end.

    The sound waves from William¡¯s roar hadn¡¯t yet died down and was still reverberating in all directions. All the people in the shop copsed and rolled on the ground. Many werewolves were directly flung away and crashed into the walls, spraying fresh blood mid-air.

    Qianye, who was standing behind William, felt as if a hurricane was blowing into his face. The origin power in his whole body began to move on its own, suddenly bing more condensed and contracted.

    Along with the changes in origin power, Qianye noticed that he suddenly felt as if he were in water; his every movement was greatly impeded. He felt as if his body might just leave the ground and float upwards due to the formless attractive forces that had appeared in the vicinity. Many small objects were already beginning to hover in the air.

    As William¡¯s roar traveled forward and reverberated throughout the ce, the residual waves crashed into Qianye¡¯s protective barrier and produced a sound like muffled thunder before shooting out in every direction.

    Qianye¡¯s face turned somewhat pale but recovered soon afterwards. This time, he had personally experienced William¡¯s unfathomable strength. It seemed that William hadn¡¯t, in the slightest, used his full strength that day in Darkblood City. Otherwise, Bai Longjia would have undoubtedly lost when fighting one against two.

    Originally, William had turned around with a mass of azure-colored energy on his arm, intending to help Qianye block off the residual waves, but unexpectedly, a collision between the two origin powers had already taken ce. A touch of surprise appeared within William¡¯s eyes after witnessing the scene before him. He didn¡¯t have time to say anything before an incisive killing intent surged in from outside the house.

    A tall and thin man walked in withrge strides, looked around, and said with a frown, ¡°Friend, grey cities are indeed free, but you¡¯ll still have to maintain a basic level of quietness. What¡¯s the matter here? Can you give me an exnation?¡±

    William let out a snort and replied coldly, ¡°This ce belongs to the werewolves. It has nothing to do with you arachne. Whatever I do here is not your business. Leave immediately!¡±

    That arachne was already capable of taking on a human form and was apparently also a champion-level expert. Fury shed across his countenance after hearing William¡¯s impolite reply, but at this time, the arachne¡¯s eyes happened to sweep over the unremarkable tattoo on William¡¯s neck. He was immediately shaken and his anger also vanishedpletely.

    The arachne then shot a nce at Qianye and frowned. This person, who was the only one left standing in this shop apart from William, gave him a certain odd sensation and even a faint sense of danger.

    However, the other party¡¯s aura was that of a weak human and might also be rted to the vampires in some way. The arachne noticed the dagger and pistol at Qianye¡¯s waist and understood that normal humans wouldn¡¯t use a whole set of vampire weapons.

    In any case, the arachne wanted to regain a little bit of face, and Qianye was just right for that. He immediately roared, ¡°Since that is so, what is this weak human doing here?¡±

    William frowned and was about to give an impatient reply, but Qianye had already raised his head. While looking at the arachne, he said while releasing a strand of his aura, ¡°I just killed someone and am here to sell some of the spoils.¡±

    The arachne¡¯s expression changed drastically. He took a few steps back almost subconsciously and cried out in astonishment. ¡°Brahms! He actually died in your hands?!¡±

    That which Qianye released was, in fact, a strand of Viscount Brahm¡¯s aura from the battle at ck y Swamp. Back then, arge amount of Brahm¡¯s essence blood had been absorbed by Qianye, and naturally, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to preserve a strand of his aura.

    The arachne stared at Qianye as if he had seen a ghost and began to edge back. ¡°Have fun in this ce!¡± he said with some difficulty. With that, the arachne turned around and left hurriedly, as if he were fleeing for his life.

    William asked in amazement. ¡°Brahms? If I remember correctly, he¡¯s quite capable in battle despite being a bit dumb. He actually died in your hands?¡±

    Qianyeughed and said, ¡°Of course not! I merely delivered the final blow.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you holding onto his aura for?¡±

    ¡°To drive wild beasts away.¡±

    William immediately rolled his eyes at this.

 Volume 4 - 49: Underground Trade

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 49: Underground Trade

    Most wild beasts would stay away once Viscount Brahm¡¯s aura was released, and its uses weren¡¯t limited to this.

    In the hands of an expert in concealment and assassinations, a strand of special aura could also be used for deceit and disguise. For instance, it could be used together with a blinding technique to pretend one was a powerful arachne and confuse the perception of dark race enemies, allowing one to sneak into certain sensitive areas.

    William only red at Qianye once but didn¡¯t reveal any of this.

    His gaze swept across the werewolves strewn across the building and shouted, ¡°Get up, all of you, and clean this ce up immediately! You have one hour!¡±

    The werewolves mbered up in session. They endured the pain and began to work without any resistance.

    Only at this moment did Qianye see William¡¯s tyrannical side. Qianye felt quite odd because this extremely dignified dark race count before him was too different from the glutton who loved eating roast meat despite being a werewolf.

    Afterwards, William and Qianye continued on their path which had been interrupted previously, walking through two doors and entering a small empty hall. There wasn¡¯t any furniture there, only a single path downwards. At the end of the spiral flight of steps was a strictly guarded door, through which they entered and arrived at a maze-like underground space.

    This was a natural underground cave. There were actually a number of shops within, but they hung no sign boards and their customers seemed few and far between. However, Qianye was shaken to find that none of the humans or dark race members moving about here were below rank seven.

    The underground cave was very quiet. People were conversing in hushed tones and seemed as if they were whispering to each other. asionally, one could see a number of people leaving hurriedly with trunks of goods in tow. Qianye also noticed that the path out wasn¡¯t just limited to the one they had entered from.

    William also softened his volume and said to Qianye, ¡°There are some fine goods in this ce, and it¡¯ll be easier for you to sell the stuff in your hands here. There¡¯ll be rtively fewer after-effects as well. I¡¯m off to handle the business regarding the White w Tribe. You can look around on your own for now. Go back along this tunnel when you¡¯re done. Just inform the guards and they¡¯ll let you through. You¡¯ll get back as long as you follow this tunnel.¡±

    A thought shed through Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°Do you need my help?¡±

    The matter above ground likely wouldn¡¯t end just like that. The fuss about vampire weapons and aura from before was just an unintelligent excuse¡ªit wasmon knowledge that weapons seized from vampires would retain their n¡¯s aura unless it was erased with special equipment or methods.

    Qianye¡¯s current Concealed Bloodline ability no longer needed to be activated and was already a part of his normal status. He didn¡¯t believe that the mediocre werewolf youngster would have been able to see through anything. This whole business was basically the White w Tribe trying to make William lose face for some reason.

    Williamughed out loud as a cold gleam shed through the depths of his eyes. ¡°No need. If I can¡¯t even take care of a mere White w tribe elder, then I¡¯d rather mingle with you from now on!¡±

    Qianye nodded. William probably didn¡¯t want to expose too much of his tribe¡¯s internal conflicts in front of Qianye either. After he left, Qianye swept his eyes over the shops in front of him and went in a random direction.

    This natural trading hall was used both for setting up storefronts and as a warehouse. There were a total of six moderately-sized stores, and among them, the vampires, werewolves, arachne, and demonkin owned one store each. Humans, on the other hand, owned two.

    After observing the set up here, Qianye understood that this wasn¡¯t just a coincidence¡ªthey were arranged ording to the distribution of major powers in the Tulip Bazaar. The reason there were two human stores was because they were the other party in trade and not because they were more powerful than the other races.

    The clerks in the stores appearedzy and indifferent. The items upon the racks weren¡¯t too impressive either. The demonkin¡¯s shop was even empty. There wasn¡¯t a single item upon the shelves¡ªonly two iron ammunition boxesy in one corner. They were covered in dust and it seemed as if they¡¯d been left untouched for quite some time.

    Qianye browsed through every store and chatted with the clerks briefly until only the demonkin store was left. What surprised Qianye was that among the two human stores, one of them belonged to an agent of the Zhao n while the other was backed by the rebel army.

    The Zhao n and the rebel army had been fighting bitterly on the Western Continent for decades. But within this grey city¡¯s trading hall, agents from both parties were sitting side by side in harmony, doing their best to collect rare resources for their respective masters.

    The six shops had their own ways of running their business. Dark race goods would normally fetch a better price in human stores while imperial goods had to be sold to one of the four dark race stores.

    As such, Qianye returned to the Zhao n store and asked, ¡°Do you buy vampire armaments?¡±

    The person behind the counter was a fair-looking youngdy. She nced coldly at Qianye and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to bring out any origin guns below grade four or melee weapons below grade three.¡±

    Qianye produced the Thorned Lariat and ced it upon the counter.

    The youngdy¡¯s eyes suddenly went round. She picked up the Thorned Lariat and observed it carefully for quite some time before carefully cing it back down. She then turned towards Qianye with a gaze so passionate that it could melt steel.

    She smiled charmingly and said with a gentle voice, ¡°I need to have someone appraise this. Can you wait a moment?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Immediately, the young woman asked Qianye to sit down with all due politeness. She then brought out a teatray from god knows where with fragrant tea and attractive desserts upon it. Only after that did she hurriedly leave for the back of the store.

    Momentster, a short and fat old man walked out. He was also somewhat startled after seeing the handgun on the table. Then he brought out his equipment with a solemn expression and began to appraise the item in detail.

    Qianye only sat quietly without touching the tea or snacks.

    The short and fat elder observed the gun for over ten minutes. Only afterwards did he exhale deeply and turned towards Qianye while wiping the sweat from his brows. ¡°The Thorned Lariat, a premium product of the Byrne n. This is a gun with a long story behind it and not something that would easily drift outside.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently without raising his head, ¡°A gun is a gun and the stories are merely stories. As for other things¡­¡±¡ªhe smiled silently¡ª¡°I thought the items in this trading hall had no history attached to them.¡±

    The old fat elder focused his gaze on Qianye and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s just that guns with stories are more valuable. So, young master, what do you want?¡±

    ¡°Mithril, energy-grade ck crystals, and Mithril Bullets of Exorcism.¡±

    Momentster, Qianye walked away with several pieces of mithril, a piece of energy-grade ck crystal, and three Mithril Bullets of Exorcism.

    He then walked towards the arachne store and directly poured out the Lone Ghost assassins¡¯ equipment onto the table.

    The arachne were very much interested in human equipment. Qianye didn¡¯t understand why these gigantic and powerful arachne would want with such portable gear, but they had things he wanted and the price offered was quite good.

    There was a small pouch of crystal silk in Qianye¡¯s pocket when he left. The production rate of arachne crystal silk was extremely low, but it was one of the most resilient materials currently known. Even a high-grade origin gun would have a hard time sting through a small sheet of cloth woven from crystal silk, making it one of the best materials for making inner armor.

    Such things were considered tactical resources in the empire, but who knew they could be easily traded for in this ce.

    Finally, Qianye walked up to the demonkin store and knocked on the counter.

    The demonkin behind the desk was focused on carving a sheet of crystal and asked without evening raising his head, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Qianye nced at the empty racks and asked, ¡°What do you have?¡±

    The demonkin still didn¡¯t look up and replied, ¡°We have everything.¡±

    ¡°Do you have ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion?¡±

    The demonkin finally raised his head and nced at Qianye after hearing these words. ¡°You actually want something like this? I have one in stock. Twenty blood crystals, no bargaining.¡±

    Qianye was overwhelmed by this price. It wasn¡¯t possible for such bullets to exist in ordinary markets in Evernight Continent and, as such, this was also the first time he had heard of its price. Twenty blood crystals were already enough to buy a second-hand rank-five origin gun.

    However, ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion was a rare tactical resource since the metal couldn¡¯t be mined in the empire at all. As for how they arrived in the military resource stores, it was a special-grade secret and Qianye naturally wasn¡¯t aware of it. The only way to buy one outside of the military was to purchase it from the dark races via underground channels.

    Qianye gave it some thought but, in the end, he counted out twenty blood crystals from his backpack and ced them on the counter.

    Only then did the demonkin stand upzily. He picked up a piece, sniffed it, and said carelessly, ¡°Monroe n goods. The quality isn¡¯t bad.¡± He swept the crystals off the table with a wave of his hand. Apparently, there was a certain mechanism underneath.

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a bit. If William had obtained these crystals just recently, this indicated that the Monroe n people were also in the Forgotten Mountain Range area. What were the vampires or perhaps the Evernight Council searching for? Could it be the Eye of Truth he had heard of from the voice in his dreams?

    The demonkin turned a switch under the table, whereupon, the counter split open in the middle. A small lifting mechanism within dragged out an borately decorated palm-sized ck bullet case.

    Qianye sized up the ordinary-looking counter. He unexpectedly found that it was made of metal and that every joint in it was probably movable. It could be opened and closed mechanically to form a storage space within. No wonder there wasn¡¯t anything on the shelves.

    Qianye received the bullet case and only flipped it open for a quick nce before shutting it tight immediately. ck titanium metal itself possessed extreme destructive properties towards life. Ordinary humans would have most of their vitality destroyed and slowly die just by being close to it, let aloneing in direct contact.

    Qianye was quite satisfied with the quality of the goods. With two ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion in hand, he would have a good chance of gravely wounding his opponent even if he were to encounter a human champion. Since the Lone Ghost assassins had already appeared, it was obvious that thest leg of his journey towards the Zhao n wouldn¡¯t be peaceful.

    His only regret was that he had no weapon in his hands capable of dealing significant damage to a dark race champion. The handmade ¡°bullet¡± he got from the great master in Dog w Town was indeed quite powerful. Unfortunately, he had already used it on Zalen. He had bought the mithril and ck crystal just now so that he could go and find that ¡°great master¡± on his way back. He wanted to see if he could have that master make him another ¡°bullet¡±.

    Qianye went back along the passage and arrived at the werewolf base of operations.

    The messy shop had been more or less cleaned within the short hour and even the hole in the wall had been repaired. The werewolf clerks and guards had also resumed their open-for-business status and weren¡¯t hostile towards Qianye, at least on the surface.

    Qianye had just stepped through the door of that small hall when a werewolf met him and told him that William was waiting for him.

    He found William gazing silently at a map as he walked into a room on the west side of the second floor.

    Qianye shot a nce at the map and found the geography to be quite unfamiliar. He could discern neither the region nor the continent of the area disyed on the map. Additionally, he had never seen most of the symbols on the map, making it difficult to understand their meaning.

    William¡¯s brows were locked tightly in a frown. Apparently, he had encountered some trouble.

 Volume 4 - 50: Deals and Choices

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 50: Deals and Choices

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in a hurry either and turned his attention to the furnishings around them.

    This was a lounge built so crudely that it appeared a tad miserable. A somewhat disorganized disy of beast heads, hides, and des decorated the walls in a true werewolf tribal style.

    It was at this time that William let out a deep sigh and turned around to ask, ¡°How¡¯re your profits?¡±

    ¡°Significant,¡± replied Qianye.

    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡±

    ¡°Qianye nced at the map and suddenly recognized a symbol resembling the insignia of a certain mid-rank vampire n. This time, he noticed that the symbols on the map resembling that of military units seemed to represent a confrontation between the vampires and the werewolves. It was just that the situation on the werewolf side wasn¡¯t looking very optimistic¡ªthe vampires had already begun to form a vague half-encirclement around them.

    Qianye asked, ¡°Anything troubling you?¡±

    Williamughed wryly. ¡°A lot. Quite a lot, in fact. So much so that I¡¯m not sure where to start.¡±

    His gaze then fell back onto the map as he said in a dreary voice, ¡°We werewolves, as a race, greatly revere our ancestors and traditions. Arge part of our experts¡¯ strength also originates from our ancestors¡¯ protection. However, that doesn¡¯t mean all their methods were correct, especially after a thousand years of war¡­¡±

    Qianye listened in silence and didn¡¯t say anything. Tradition or change¡ªit was an extremelyplicated issue. And even more political factors woulde into y after reaching a level of nations and tribes. This certainly wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s forte.

    On the other hand, as one of the four major races of the Evernight faction, the werewolves had always been a backbone of their military strength. They were more intelligent than arachne, somewhat less selfish than the vampires, while their numbers were much greater than those of the demonkin.

    William knocked on the corner of the table, collected his thoughts, and resumed his usual demeanor. He then brought out a ck tablet made of an unknown metal and tossed it to Qianye.

    ¡°This is our tribe¡¯s token. With this, you can walk freely through werewolf tribal territory. It goes without saying that a basic level of caution is still necessary. There are no shortage of tribes like the White ws.¡±

    Qianye caught the metallic tablet and studied it in detail.

    This tablet was the size of half a palm and had a rough and uneven surface. The image of a towering mountain peak decorated the front side and a werewolf totem was carved upon the back. The metallic tablet, from its craftsmanship to the images carved upon it, possessed a crude style characteristic of the werewolves and was emitting a vague aura of destion.

    Qianye asked in passing, ¡°Has your problem with the White w Tribe been solved?¡±

    A coldness once again appeared in William¡¯s tone when he said, ¡°Old Walker has been chief for too long. So long that he¡¯s forgotten to revere the ancestral spirits of the Summit of Peaks. Since war is what they want, war is what they¡¯ll get.¡±

    Qianye raised his head in amazement. The expression on William¡¯s face, at this moment, was extremely unfamiliar. A touch of incisive sharpness had emerged upon his handsome, viking-like countenance.

    Qianye said while flipping the metallic tablet in his hand, ¡°You¡¯ve investigated me right? What do you want me to do?¡±

    William suddenly giving him a tribal token was naturally not to just facilitate travel. A human might not need to head into werewolf territory in a lifetime, and those who do travel that deep into dark race territory were there either to trade or to kill.

    If William hadn¡¯t known about Qianye¡¯s identity beforehand, why would he think that a lone hunter possessed the ability and qualifications to do business with a werewolf tribe?

    Williamughed and said, ¡°I was only slightly curious about the person who made Ole Ross unhappy. Now that you have a mercenary band of your own, you¡¯ll need money and resources. This business will benefit us both.¡±

    Qianye maintained his silence. Before meeting William, he had never believed he could associate with a dark race member for several days. However, doing business was another matter entirely¡ªit wasn¡¯t as simple as buying and selling loot at the underground market, nor was it something he could ept just because both sides would benefit.

    William retrieved a certain scroll from beside him and opened it to reveal a map of the Evernight Continent. ¡°It¡¯s very simple, you only have to help me with a couple of small things. First, when you go to war with the vampires, I hope you¡¯ll go and give Marquis Ross¡¯s descendants some extra ¡®care¡¯ whenever the situation permits. I might even be able to provide you with some extra information from our side.¡±

    He paused for a moment and then pointed to the region around ckflow City. ¡°The other thing is¡­ there are a dozen or so small werewolf tribes in the vicinity. They can trade you medicine and ores in exchange for armaments. Of course, it¡¯ll be even better if you can provide some custom-made equipment. The price will definitely be satisfactory.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s frown became even tighter.

    The werewolves weren¡¯t proficient in crafting due to their innate characteristics. The vampires, on the other hand, were born masters of arts and crafts, while the demonkin were famous for their top-grade origin power equipment. The werewolves would habitually rely on raw physical strength to kill their enemies. To them, armor wasn¡¯t essential, but their strength inbat would increase explosively should they get their hands on suitable equipment. This wasn¡¯t something Qianye was willing to see.

    William suddenly patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. While looking deeply at him with a pair of greyish-blue eyes, he said softly, ¡°In truth, the matter is quite simple and it¡¯spletely up to you whether or not you want to do it.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought and said slowly, ¡°The first thing is something I would obviously do. As for the trade¡­¡±

    William smiled. ¡°Why not decide on this matter after you go and get in touch with them? Those tribes have close ties with my own and are also rtively friendlier. But just like in this ce, you have to disy enough strength when meeting them since werewolves have always revered the strong. This will make them recognize you with greater ease.¡±

    Qianye nodded while heaving a sigh of relief in his heart. At this moment, he suddenly thought of Song Zining¡ªthe Ningyuan Group maintained certain routes of trade with the dark races. Just what were Song Zining¡¯s thoughts when he decided on doing business with the dark races?

    William added, ¡°I still have some matters to attend to and will be staying here for a couple of days. You should also stay a while longer. Good stuff appear in this grey city every day.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m short on time. Actually, I¡¯m going to set out in a while.¡±

    ¡°Worried about the situation back in Evernight Continent? There¡¯s nothing to worry about right now. The war there has actually ended.¡±

    Qianye was stunned.

    That was a total war poised to sweep away half of the Evernight Continent. There were signs that the Evernight faction had mobilized a two digit line up of council-member-grade experts to oversee the situation there. ording to Wei Bainian¡¯s information, the empire had also transferred a number of regr army corps and almost half their elite forces to Evernight Continent.

    Just the transportation costs would add up to an astronomical figure. ording to convention, a war of such scale should drag on for the greater part of a year before a winner became evident. How did the war suddenly end?

    William discerned Qianye¡¯s puzzlement and said with augh, ¡°It seems the reason those old Evernight Council geezers started this war was to search for a certain item. Now that the oue is clear, there¡¯s naturally no need to continue fighting.¡±

    Qianye felt the first part of his words to be almost unbelievable. He couldn¡¯t imagine just what kind of item could actuate a war of such scale. But his heart tightened after hearing what William had said after that. ¡°Is the oue good or bad?¡±

    William shrugged and said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s bad. Those old fogeys are probably quite distressed right now.¡±

    Later on, Qianye said his goodbyes to William.

    William apanied him out the door and warned him, ¡°I don¡¯t know why the Lone Ghosts are after you. I helped you kill two of them while a third unexpectedly died in Zalen¡¯s hands. However, the Lone Ghosts never leave theirmissions unfinished. You must be careful.¡±

    Qianye nodded and, without further dy, left the grey city for Zhao n territory.

    He stuck close to the border along the road to Serenity. Unlike in the empty mountainous region or the open ins, the dark races and vicious beasts were quite active here. Thus, there were also quite a number of human hunters and adventurers. And these humans weren¡¯t any less dangerous than the dark races.

    Serenity was a major city within Zhao n territory with a poption of over 300,000. The situation inside the city was also quiteplicated due to its proximity to the territories of both the dark race and the rebel army. The true danger probablyy not in the wilderness, but within Serenity.

    Qianye set out in the afternoon and, unexpectedly, encountered no danger even while camping out that night. At that time, he ignited his eighth origin node after pushing the Combatant Form past 43 cycles.

    While Qianye was hurrying on his journey, the war situation on Evernight Continent had developed into an odd state¡ªthe great army made up of countless dark race warriors suddenly began to retreat like the ebbing tide. Even the strategic points they had captured with great difficulty were easily abandoned.

    The empire¡¯s side simply couldn¡¯t determine the purpose of the dark races¡¯ actions. Some valiant and impetuous officers couldn¡¯t resist charging after them in pursuit. But this time, the dark races no longer abided by their previous rule of pre-selected battlegrounds. Several armies surrounded the carelessly advancing corps and devoured them whole.

    An entire four divisions worth of elite soldiers were wiped out within three short days. Duke Ding, who was in charge of that battlefield didn¡¯t even have enough time to send reinforcements before the corps had beenpletely annihted. The empire¡¯s losses in this campaign were now equal to those of the dark races. This caused Duke Ding and Marshal Luo Mingji¡¯s expressions to turn extremely ugly.

    After that battle, the empire¡¯s side became fairly cautious in their troop deployments. They followed the retreating dark race army and fought them steadily, gradually reiming the lost territories.

    In truth, the atmosphere on the dark race side was also quite heavy. Over ten council members were gathered in a nearby frontline castle. No one had yet spoken in the hour since the meeting had begun, allowing the stifling atmosphere to expand continuously.

    Only after an unknown length of time had passed did a specter-like council member speak with an erratic voice, ¡°Is there no news yet?¡±

    An arachne marquis attendant immediately stepped forward and said respectfully, ¡°All search parties have arrived at the ming Beacon Continent as instructed and have entered their designated areas. There have been no reports of new discoveries up till now. The only news worth noting is that Viscount Zalen of the Byrne n has fallen in battle.¡±

    A vampire council member asked in a stern voice, ¡°Zalen? How did he die?¡± This veteran council member¡¯s aura pressed forth like a ck panther. Even someone as strong as the arachne marquis had to take a step back.

    The marquis hurriedly replied, ¡°We¡¯ve already found Viscount Zalen¡¯s remains. It¡¯s said that he went deep into the mountainous region in pursuit of a suspicious human who resembled a vampire. The ce where the viscount fell is quite close to Zhao n territory. Judging from his corpse, the viscount likely died to¡­ the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    These words immediately caused amotion within the meeting hall. Even these council members couldn¡¯t control their emotions after hearing the Red Spider Lily¡¯s name, and this was especially true for Ge Shitu.

 Volume 4 - 51: The Storm of Investigation

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 51: The Storm of Investigation

    This Evernight Council member who had once suffered greatly in the hands of the Red Spider Lily said coldly, ¡°Impossible! Is there a need to use the Red Spider Lily to kill a mere viscount? Its wielder has to pay a portion of his life for each activation. The empire had finally found apatible wielder after so many years, how could they waste it like this?¡±

    The arachne count began to sweat under Ge Shitu¡¯s gaze and replied with a trembling voice, ¡°This-this subordinate doesn¡¯t know either. But the results of the post-mortem inspection did-did indeed say that it¡¯s the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    Ge Shitu¡¯s face turned cold. He let out another snort, suddenly reducing the temperature in the entire hall.

    Even as a member of the Evernight Council, he had been heavily injured by a shot from the Red Spider Lily. From this, it was evident just how powerful the Ten Grand Magnums were. A gun with such a heavy activation price was actually used to deal with a mere viscount. This made Ge Shitu feel rather humiliated.

    Another council member interrupted before Ge Shitu could be further enraged. ¡°It¡¯s not important how Zalen died. It¡¯s apparent that he died in the hands of the Zhao n. Zalen was found far from the area designated to him by the great master. His death is deserved since he was operating without permission. The current issue is how to find the Wings of Inception.¡±

    The council members began to discuss the issue one by one, but there was no effective solution.

    Someone asked, ¡°Perhaps the Wings of Inception have already left the area. Should we have the great master grant us another prophecy?¡±

    The most majestic shadow in the hall shook his head and said in a deep voice, ¡°The previous prophecy has drained the master greatly. He¡¯ll need at least three years to recuperate. One must know that this prophecy involves the great ck-Winged Monarch. The price for such a prophecy is naturally colossal.¡±

    Prophecy was a mysterious and powerful ability, but it wasn¡¯t omnipotent and had many limitations to it. The stronger the character involved, the more difficult it was to form a prophecy and the greater the rate of error.

    Each prophecy rted to someone as powerful as the ck-Winged Monarch was equal to doing battle with his power across space even though he had been missing for thousands of years. Great Master Weber was gravely wounded after forming thest prophecy despite being a veteran member of the Evernight Council. Additionally, the contents were fairly vague and could only point to a vast region.

    The hall fell into silence. Looking for the Wings of Inception would be like searching for a needle in a haystack without the help of prophecy. At the very least, no one would¡¯ve thought that the Wings of Inception which had disappeared from Evernight Continent would actually appear on Fire Beacon Continent if not for the prophecy.

    Amidst the silence, a certain council member slowly said, ¡°What does the Wings of Inception look like?¡±

    All the council members nced at each other after hearing these words. They had never thought about this because this was never an issue.

    The Wings of Inception carried the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s aura. Although quite weak, to them, this aura was like an iparably brilliant star in the darkness. Yet now they realized that even a marquis wouldn¡¯t have the ability to discern Andruil¡¯s aura. Only council members with strength akin to the oceans would be able to do so.

    Originally, this problem didn¡¯t stand out because the great master had, after all, demarcated the area in which the Wings of Inception was located through prophecy. But now, it had be an unavoidable issue after failing to obtain a second prophecy.

    A certain werewolf council member said coldly, ¡°ording to the current situation, only a descendant of Andruil can receive the Wings of Inception and his bloodline has to be even purer than Nighteye¡¯s. As such, let¡¯s investigate along this lead. First, we should inspect all the members of the Monroe n...¡±

    Two vampire council members were immediately infuriated. ¡°You¡¯re provoking the ancient Monroe n!¡±

    The werewolf council member didn¡¯t seem afraid in the least and smiled sarcastically. ¡°Is the honor of a single Monroe n more important than the whole assembly? It doesn¡¯t matter if you lot aren¡¯t willing to undergo an inspection, but the remuneration for our tribe has to be paid in full, not a single crystal coin less.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The two vampire council members were so furious that their faces turned ashen.

    The entire Evernight Council had been mobilized for this operation and, consequently, the expenditure was rather enormous. The original agreement was that the Wings of Inception would go to the vampires while the vampires wouldpensate all the other races.

    But now, they would have to pay the agreedpensation despite the whereabouts of the Wings of Inception being unknown. This would be a difficult thing to manage for the Ross n, even with its deep foundation and umted resources.

    The leading dignitary said coldly, ¡°Stop bickering. Obtaining the Wings of Inception is of utmost importance. We cannot let it fall into another¡¯s hand like the ¡®Shattered Moment!¡¯¡±

    All the council members trembled after hearing this.

    Shattered Moment was also one of ten Grand Magnums. It fell into the hands of a young vampire genius of humble origins about three hundred years ago. He eventually defected from the Evernight faction and joined a neutral faction because his lover was snatched away by the descendants of the Mammon n. Thus, the Shattered Moment also fell into the hands of the neutrals.

    During thest three hundred years, this ex-vampire genius had roamed the various continents like a specter and continuously killed the higher-ups of the Evernight Camp. In total, two council members and three dukes had actually died to the Shattered Moment! This grand magnum thus became an unextractable thorn in the hearts of the Evernight Council members.

    The hearts of the council members naturally trembled when Shattered Moment was brought up again. The Wings of Inception was Andruil¡¯s masterpiece and it hadn¡¯t even beenpleted when it was lost. ording to the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s own assessment, if such a divine weapon were to mature, it would surpass at least half of all the Grand Magnums. So much so that it might even vault over the leading Magnum.

    At this time, the great dignitary slowly said, ¡°Issue thismand: From now on, all vampires who enter the ming Beacon Continent will undergo inspection. Especially young vampire geniuses; all of them will be inspected thoroughly no matter who they are!¡±

    Thismand wasn¡¯t giving face to the vampires at all. The faces of the two vampire council members were extremely ugly, but they had no way to retort.

    If the Wings of Inception were to drift out and mature, the damage it might cause to the Evernight faction would probably be even greater than that of Shattered Moment. It would be even more unbearable if by some chance it fell into the empire¡¯s hands. This might actually break the current strategic bnce.

    Finally, the council members reached consensus and the new order was immediately issued to all parts of the continent.

    This immediately set off waves of unrest in the dark race territories on ming Beacon Continent. Many of the young vampires were geniuses of their n or even a whole region. However, they had now be suspects that were being hunted down and brought to designated areas for isted inspections.

    These young vampire geniuses were, more often than not, proud and arrogant. Relying on the power of their ns and their own talents, they either refused to pay attention to the Evernight Council¡¯s orders or felt that they could at least struggle.

    In the past, such actions would have posed no problems and would have even won them some respect, since the dark races revered strength so much that their hierarchy was constructed upon it. Additionally, thew enforcement group dispatched by the council was all made up of arachne and werewolves¡ªthere were no vampires among them.

    In the eyes of most vampires, the arachne and werewolves were like half-wild beasts, even though they recognized the valiance of these two races. The young vampire geniuses were thus even more intolerant of having to lower their heads before these savage races.

    But this time, these young vampire geniuses had made a grave mistake. Thew enforcement team from the Evernight Council performed their duties without the slightest leniency. Those who resisted were met with an utter and bloody suppression.

    Within a single day, numerous proud and untamed vampire youths died in the hands of thew enforcement unit, while many others were badly injured.

    This batch of vampire youthsprised the future core members of their respective ns. As such, this matter immediately caused huge tidal waves among the vampires of the Western Continent. Many high-ranking vampire nobles either personally rushed towards thew enforcement unit¡¯s encampment, or elected a certain count or even marquis to make an appearance and demand an exnation.

    However, the protesting vampire nobility left with ashen expressions soon after entering thew enforcement unit¡¯s camp. Before long, news spread in every n that the order to inspect all young vampire geniuses came from one of the Seven Great Dignitaries of the Evernight Council with the consent of ten-odd council members.

    The weight behind such an order was so great that perhaps only the chairman of the Evernight Council might be able to overrule it.

    Qianye, however, knew nothing about the storm brewing across the continent under his feet. He also had no idea that this order had caused the gazes of all the major characters to fall upon the young vampire geniuses, especially those from the main branch of the Monroe n.

    The information regarding Qianye waspletely overlooked during this whole incident. The dark race reports stated that chasing after him was the reason Zalen had left his designated area, while that Lone Ghost assassin who had died in Zalen¡¯s hands was mistaken for Qianye.

    An extravagant vampire airship of great magnificence, decorated with alternating ck and gold colors, was flying silently through the vast emptiness.

    A group of vampires was currently gathered in a great hall on the upper deck of this airship, chatting in groups of twos and threes with wine sses in hand.

    As they gazed out from the side-windows, the silhouette of a great continent came into view. It was Twilight Continent, the headquarters and legendary birthce of the vampires.

    A certain youngdy whose looks were perfect and free from all blemish, was standing by the window and gazing at the distant continent.

    At this time, another vampire girl walked over and said, ¡°Nighteye, stop gazing into space. Why note and tell us about your experiences with the treasure of Andruil?¡±

    The one who was standing beside the window was indeed Nighteye. After hearing the invitation, she only revealed a faint and tired smile. ¡°No, I¡¯m rather tired. I want to stay quietly alone.¡±

    The vampire girl nodded and returned to the group of young vampires to once again join their conversation.

    The recent major events involved the opening of the ck Monarch¡¯s treasure and the loss of the Wings of Inception. The strength of the great monarch and this divine instrumentparable to the Ten Grand Magnums were the focus of discussion for the hot-blooded youths of the vampire race. As they kept on chatting, the topic of discussion naturally shifted towards this matter.

    ¡°I heard Twilight rushed to open the great door but failed and was so badly wounded that she almost fell from champion rank.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. How can shepare with Her Majesty Nighteye? After all, thetter is a true primo. This isn¡¯t something that can be said of all geniuses.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t the Wings of Inception fly away? Could it be that there¡¯s someone in this world with a bloodline closer to Great Monarch Andruil than Her Majesty Nighteye?¡±

    The group of young vampires discussed the matter with great passion. They were all born of noble backgrounds and their strengths were also well-known among their peers. Thus, they possessed a fair degree of authority by which they were able to obtain such information not privy to those on the outside world. They even knew a fair number of details about the opening of Andruil¡¯s treasure.

    When mentioning Nighteye, however, they subconsciously lowered their voices.

 Volume 4 - 52: Changes

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 52: Changes

    This was, after all, not a good thing for Nighteye. At least, this meant that she wasn¡¯t the most qualified inheritor in the eyes of the ck-Winged Monarch.

    A certain vampire girl asked in puzzlement, ¡°Her Majesty Nighteye is a primo. Could it be that there¡¯s someone with an even purer bloodline?¡±

    The hall turned silent after these words were spoken¡ªperhaps most people had already thought of such a possibility, but no one was stupid enough to say it out loud.

    Being a primo meant that her awakened bloodline was that of a primogenitor and likely the closest to Andruil¡¯s own. Even descendants who had received the embrace from the great monarch wouldn¡¯t be able topare to a primo. Nighteye was the only primo among the younger generation of the Monroe family. There were only a handful of primos in the vampire race as a whole and their awakened bloodlines were iparable to Nighteye¡¯s.

    The ck-Winged Monarch Andruil¡¯s strength was ranked near the front even among the thirty second-generation primogenitors. But now, another descendant with Andruil¡¯s bloodline had appeared. As such, Nighteye was no longer the only one, and there would inevitably be subtle changes to her value.

    Although Nighteye was standing in front of the window, she had heard the entire discussion of the group of young vampires behind her. After hearing it, she should¡¯ve be distressed or perhaps begun to consider her own future. But for some reason, Qianye¡¯s figure appeared in Nighteye¡¯s tired mind.

    Sheughed wryly and pressed her forehead against the cool metallic border of the airship window. The fires of war in Evernight Continent had calmed down and ckflow City hadn¡¯t been included as an attack target up till the very end. In that case¡­ he¡­ was he doing well?

    The airship crossed through the void and gradually approached Twilight Continent. Gazing at the great continent upying the whole window, Nighteye slowly calmed down and buried that person¡¯s shadow deep inside her heart.

    The final leg of the journey was particrly calm¡ªQianye arrived at the city of Serenity without any obstruction.

    This was a strong fortress of steel, boasting twenty-meter tall walls irregrly embedded with thick steel tes. Although steel wasn¡¯t considered that valuable as a metal, it was still quite the expenditure to build a city out of it.

    Gazing from a distance, the most eye-catching was the heart of every human city, the Perpetual Dynamo Tower. Serenity had a total of six Perpetual Dynamo Towers and, among them, five were constructed around the city, surrounding and protecting the lofty central tower.

    A colossal airship was floating in the air above the city. It was almost a hundred meters from bow to stern and seemed like a small hovering fortress from afar. This airship wasn¡¯t flying, but was instead fixed in ce by numerous metal chains as thick as a man¡¯s arm.

    Gazing at it from the distance, Qianye could see two ship cannons from his viewing angle and a number of long-range binocrs fixed in different positions. Even though he was used to seeing cutting-edge military equipment at the Red Scorpion Headquarters, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the boldness of Serenity¡ªthey had actually fixed an airship here as a watchtower and firing point.

    The metal gates of Serenity were steam operated, and right then was the time of day when they were open. Only half of the gate on each side was pushed back into the city wall, but even so, the width of the passage in the middle already surpassed the size of the entire Backflow City gates. Only while passing through the gates did Qianye realize that the gate actually wasn¡¯tposed of just a singleyer, but fiveyers of metallic doors stacked together.

    The poption of Serenity was quite high, but there were no signs of war within the city¡ªthe streets were wide and clean, the eaves of many buildings were exquisitely decorated, and, from time to time, a magnificent work of architecture would appear that could light up one¡¯s eyes.

    The buildings before him grew taller and more magnificent as Qianye walked along the streets and towards the city center. The number of buildings constructed in ancient style also gradually increased. The carved metallic pirs mixed together with the stone walls produced an unusual sense of beauty. Qianye saw restaurants that were a whole seven stories tall, certainpany headquarters that were hundreds of meters in height, and vast zas that could hold thousands of people at a time.

    After entering the city center, many shops bearing the insignia of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n began to appear. Whether it was a tavern or an arms shop, all of them had something inmon¡ªthey were exquisitely decorated outside and ornately decorated inside. Even in such a magnificent street, they stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens.

    Those walking around in the city center were dressed rather differently, and there were very few dustden travelers like Qianye.

    He strolled around the street block and then checked into a middle-grade inn at the border of the central district. The price for lodgings here was several times higher than in Weiyang, thergest city in Evernight Continent. This left Qianye speechless.

    The maids in this inn were all delicate and pretty, even if it could only be considered a middle-grade establishment in Serenity. Qianye found his room, put down his things, and washed up to his heart¡¯s content before throwing himself onto therge, soft bed. After a long period of running and fighting, this ce almost seemed like an immortal peach garden.

    Qianye closed his eyes and took a short nap. Afterwards, he got up and observed the facilities in the room. He tried pulling on a certain tasseled rope near the headboard, following which, the cheerful sound of a bell rang out on the other side of the inn.

    Momentster, a gentle voice came through, apanied by a knock on the door. ¡°Sir, how may I be of service?¡±

    Qianye opened the door and said to the maid, ¡°Please bring me a map of Serenity and send over three portions of dishes.¡±

    The maid¡¯s eyes lit up after seeing Qianye¡¯s face, and she revealed a charming smile. ¡°I¡¯ll prepare them immediately! Additionally, I can also serve as your guide if you wish to tour the city.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t volunteer any unnecessary replies. The maid didn¡¯t seem disappointed either. She tossed a rather charming nce at him and excused herself. Momentster, the map and dishes were delivered to his room. After eating his fill, Qianye studied the map for a while and finally found the objective of his journey, the Golden Glow Casino.

    It was currently still afternoon, so he took another nap to revitalize his spirit and regte his condition to its peak state. Only then did he prepare his equipment and leave the inn.

    The curtain of the night was descending upon the city of Serenity. The streetmps were beginning to light up, but the number of pedestrians wasn¡¯t any less than during the daytime.

    Qianye hurriedly walked in the direction of the Golden Glow Casino. The establishment, a three-storeyed building, was located adjacent to the central district. Although its exterior was a dazzling sight to behold, it was already showing signs of aging and some parts of its neon signboard were dark.

    As was usual for such establishments, there was a number of burly men in ck clothes standing in front of the building¡¯s doors. These strong and vigorous men were releasing an origin power aura that wasn¡¯t at all weak. With expressionless faces, they swept their eyes over the people that were entering and leaving.

    Qianye followed the flow of people and arrived at the casino door, whereupon a youngdy immediately arrived to receive him with a smile. ¡°How may I be of service, sir?¡±

    This youngdy was pleasant and beautiful, but was still a grade inferior to thedies from therge casino two streets away. This was also the difference between the two establishments. Additionally, the backing behind that casino named Swallow Hill was the Zhao n.

    Qianye produced ten imperial gold coins, ced them in the girl¡¯s hand, and said, ¡°Exchange this into chips for me and bring me to the ckjack section.¡±

    Thedy revealed a sweet smile and immediately exchanged the chips for him. She then brought Qianye to a medium-sized gambling hall on the second floor. There were a dozen-odd yers within this elegant and tranquil environment, along with several maids traveling back and forth in service of the customers.

    Ten gold coins happened to give Qianye the qualification to enter this gambling hall and also put a sweet smile on the young girl¡¯s face. But if he wanted an even more charming look as well as some minor ambiguous advances, ten gold coins weren¡¯t quite enough. He would have to exchange at least twenty gold coins. If he had exchanged fifty, he would have gained the qualifications to head to the third floor and also bring this young girl into his room.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in such entertainment, however. He came here only to contact the recipient of the boulderheart jade letter. He looked around and then walked towards a certain table.

    ckjack was an easily-learned card game.

    Qianye sat at the gambling table, asked to be dealt some cards, and casually yed a few rounds. He won some and then lost some. At the seventh round, he turned his cards horizontally. This unremarkable movement could easily be overlooked as many gamblers had their own habits. The banker only shot him a simple nce, but paid no more attention.

    Numerous rounds went by, and soon, another seventh-round arrived. Once again, Qianye carelessly ced his cards in a horizontal position, and once again, the banker¡¯s gaze passed by him before the man continued his usual routine of dealing cards and handling chips.

    At the third seventh-round, Qianye ced his cards horizontally once again and lost that round. At this time, he had already lost the greater half of his ten gold coins worth of chips. Qianye pushed away his cards and got up as if he were upset. After he left his seat, an impatient yer immediately came over to take his ce.

    Qianye walked around the gambling hall for a moment and, finding nothing else of interest, began to walk towards the exterior.

    It was at this time that a strand of delicate fragrance arrived, apanied by a gentle voice close to Qianye¡¯s ears. ¡°We still have some other special games. Are you interested?¡±

    Qianye had long since noticed someone approaching him. He turned around at this time and saw that the speaker was a woman dressed in ck. Her appearance could only be considered graceful, but her skin was as fair as snow. Especially since, at the moment, she had her head lowered, revealing a segment of her spotlessly white corbone which formed an almost dazzling contrast with her ck dress.

    A thought shed through Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°I only y ckjack.¡±

    The youngdy smiled alluringly and said softly while extending her hand towards Qianye¡¯s shoulder, ¡°We have three types of ckjack.¡±

    This was the designated password. Qianye nodded and said without any change in expression, ¡°Very well. Bring me to take a look.¡±

    Thedy in ck dress immediately led Qianye through another gambling hall and into a silent corridor. She then stopped abruptly and pressed on the wall, whereupon a secret door actually appeared on its smooth surface. Thedy swiftly pulled Qianye inside¡ªbeyond the secret door was a spiral staircase. They descended one floor and then pushed open another secret door on a seemingly empty wall.

    At this time, Qianye found himself standing in a dark alley behind the casino. There were no lights here, and the two sides were blocked off with high walls. Perhaps this wasn¡¯t even a passage at all and merely a narrow space between tworge buildings. The dark alley was currently quiet and dark, with only the faint lighting through the casino windows illuminating it ever so slightly.

    ¡°Follow me,¡± Thedy dressed in ck gestured to Qianye as she walked towards the end of the alleyway.

    Qianye followed her through the dark and narrow passage for about ten minutes, until they finally arrived at an old and dpidated two-story building.

    Only a couple of windows on this old building were still intact, but there should be residents inside, since a faint glow could be seen in some of them. The main door was left unlocked with rust creeping all over what was supposed to be a sturdy metallic door.

    Thedy in ck took a step back to arrive beside Qianye and said gently, ¡°The person you¡¯re looking for is inside. Please enter.¡±

    Qianye nced towards the building and found the floorpletely dark. Not even through the crack in the doors did any light seep in. A faint red glow shed through the depths of his eyes as he stepped forward and arrived before the door.

    He didn¡¯t push it open immediately, but instead turned to ask, ¡°Do I go in alone?¡±

 Volume 4 - 53: Middleman

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 53: Middleman

    Thedy in ck apparel smiled and said, ¡°Of course, I¡¯m only responsible for bringing you here. Now, I must return to the casino.¡±

    Qianye nodded and reached out to open the door. The door bolt, apparentlycking lubrication, let out a shrill screech which added a bit of eeriness to this dark night. He didn¡¯t head in immediately¡ªinstead, he suddenly turned around, caught thedy in ck, and pushed her inside.

    Bang!

    The muffled sound of an apparently suppressed firearm rang out. Thedy in ck let out a miserable scream as a flower of blood bloomed on her thigh. But the shrill cry was almost immediately suppressed and then followed closely by the sound of someone rolling and stumbling in the darkness, only stopping when the subject was firmly pressed against the wall.

    Qianye stood at his original position and revealed a cold smile.

    His origin power flowed into thedy and directly prated her defenses during that moment of grabbing and pushing. But thisdy who had only revealed a strength of rank two or three along the way was actually rank six. It wasn¡¯t surprising then that she still had the strength left to find a hiding ce after suffering a shot and having her defenses broken.

    At that same moment, the shooter behind the door cursed, ¡°Goddammit!¡±

    For a long time afterwards, there was only deathly silence both inside and outside of the building.

    However, a pair of eyes blinked within the pitch-darkness behind the crack in the partially opened door. Apparently, the shooter couldn¡¯t hold back and had arrived near the door to see if there was still anyone outside.

    Qianye, with his Dark Vision, had a clear view of this shooter¡¯s every stealthy move. He then sighed silently at how foolish thetter¡¯s method was.

    The actions of the man didn¡¯t frighten Qianye at all, but he was quite astonished that the person waiting for him was such an unpresentable trash.

    The shooter had just poked his head out when a ck muzzle was pressed against his face.

    Qianye had one of the Twin Flowers pointed at the shooter. However, he didn¡¯t say anything and only gazed at thetter in silence. The shooter¡¯s expression fluctuated wildly¡ªhe didn¡¯t dare make a reckless move nor let out the slightest sound. He froze there with bean-sized beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

    Someone else in the depths of the hall couldn¡¯t wait any longer and let out two soft whistles.

    The Twin Flower in Qianye¡¯s right hand was still pointed at the shooter¡¯s face while his left hand drew its counterpart and fired towards the source of the sound. On the second st, he shifted the muzzle about thirty degrees.

    Something heavy fell to the ground with a loud bang. With his night vision, Qianye saw a middle-aged man tumble down from a height of about thirty meters with a bloody hole in his chest, right where the heart was.

    As expected, it was an assassin with a special ability¡ªthe ce where the first shotnded was only a sound refraction. Unfortunately, Qianye¡¯s firing speed was much faster than that of a normal person. Not only did the assassin not seed in misleading the enemy, but the small movement of activating his origin gun had instead revealed his true position.

    Qianye¡¯s right hand suddenly withdrew and then smashed down on the shooter¡¯s head with the gun handle, knocking him out cold. After this, Qianye didn¡¯t advance but instead withdrew. He shed out of the main door, leapt onto the second floor, and silently climbed in through the window.

    A half-naked man with bulging muscles was currently pressed against the wall with his gun aimed at the stairwell, waiting for the person downstairs to rush up. Another neatly-dressed middle-aged man with a dagger stood silently while leaking virtually no aura at all. He wasparable to a motionless desert viper waiting to deliver that single coup de grace.

    Qianye leapt through the window and immediately fired a shot with a flick of his hand. The burly man stationed near the stairwell let out a miserable scream after his back was struck and tumbled down the stairs. Immediately afterwards, Qianye drew his dagger and pounced at the middle-aged man.

    The middle-aged man grinned nastily as he strode forth to engage Qianye. Thus, the two begun a de fight within the small space. The middle-aged man had reached rank seven¡ªhis attacks were as swift as lightning and his sword techniques were quite exquisite.

    Apparently, the middle-aged man¡¯s origin power capacity also surpassed that of a standard rank-seven fighter. The dagger in his hand hummed and trembled with every thrust¡ªthis was an extremely powerful type of assassination ability. If one were to carelessly suffer a strike, the wound would be rapidly expanded by the high-frequency vibrations.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to prolong this fight. He chose not to evade the iing dagger and only raised his hand to catch the opponent¡¯s arm, thereby reducing the greater half of the iing force. He then stabbed at the middle-aged man with his dagger in a backhand grip.

    The middle-aged man increased the force in his hand and ruthlessly pushed the de tip towards Qianye¡¯s abdomen. Being an experienced veteran, the man decided to take advantage of the situation after seeing that Qianye wanted to trade injuries. He nned to stab the opponent first and then sh away. That way, even if they had to trade injuries, Qianye would inevitably be weaker after being badly wounded in the abdomen while his own wounds would be much lighter.

    But when the de pierced Qianye¡¯s abdomen, the middle-aged man felt as if he were stabbing into a dense tree trunk¡ªit was difficult to go even slightly deeper. He was shocked and wanted to extricate himself by backing away, but Qianye¡¯s dagger had already entered his nk, all the way up to the hilt.

    The de had just entered his body when the middle-aged man immediately felt all of his origin power and essence blood rushing towards the de and pouring out of his body. It felt as if there was a bottomless ck hole on the other side of the de sapping away his strength.

    He suddenly cried out, ¡°A blood absorption de! You¡¯re a vampire!¡±

    Qianye gripped the middle-aged man¡¯s neck and stifled his cries. The de he was currently using was the Scarlet Edge he had obtained from Zalen. Qianye held the dagger¡¯s hilt tightly for several moments and only withdrew it after he had drawn out the greater half of the middle-aged man¡¯s essence blood.

    The middle-aged man fell to the ground like a deted balloon.

    Qianye went around every floor of the building and only returned to the main hall after finding no other enemies.

    As expected, thedy in ck had already moved herself to one side and was leaning against the wall. There was an exquisite palm-sized dagger in her hands with which she had cut off her long skirt and wrapped it tightly around the wound on her thigh.

    This origin gunshot wound was sustained after her origin power defenses had been crippled by Qianye, and as such, the injury was especially severe. It was fortunate that the shooter had nned to capture the target alive and had only aimed at the leg. Otherwise, this shot would¡¯ve killed her on the spot if it struck a vital area.

    The ck-dresseddy had already dressed her wounds, but her head was drenched in sweat from the pain. She was just about to mber up, but her movements halted when Qianye¡¯s military boots appeared in her line of sight.

    Qianye pulled out a first-aid drug and waved it in front of her eyes before tossing it over.

    The woman in ck caught the medicine and immediately injected it into her arm, sending all the fluids into her body. This type of first-aid drug possessed anesthetic properties and greatly eased her expression within moments.

    Qianye crouched in front of her, then raised her chin with the Scarlet Edge and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the person I¡¯m supposed to see?¡±

    Thedy in ck forced a smile and said, ¡°Give up. If you¡¯ve heard of the name Lone Ghosts, you should know that a single person can¡¯t go against us. Perhaps if you leave right away and hide yourself, we might not be able to find you. That ought to allow you to live a few more years.¡±

    Qianye smiled and gently pushed the de tip forwards, breaking a small part of her fair skin. He then repeated the question, ¡°Where is the person I¡¯m supposed to see?¡±

    Her gaze followed the de in Qianye¡¯s hand. As the de pressed against her face and drew out a drop of blood, she could no longer resist crying out, ¡°In the basement!¡±

    ¡°The basement here?¡± Qianye watched thedy in ck nod with some difficulty and felt somewhat surprised. Although this matter had gotten off quite terribly, the developments seemed rather smooth.

    He patted thedy¡¯s face with the de and said, ¡°Bring me there.¡±

    Thedy in ck ground her teeth and mbered up before limping towards the back of the building. The entrance to the basement was in the storage room. After opening it, she clenched her jaw and actually jumped down. Although the first-aid drug possessed an anesthetic effect, the impact still affected her wounds and caused her vision to darken from the intense pain.

    Qianye immediately jumped down after her and supported her in passing.

    It was no longerpletely dark from this point onwards as a minimal level of illumination was maintained along the short corridor. There was a room at its end, likely a cer which had been converted into a prison cell.

    There was a man in his forties locked within the room. He was pinned against the prison wall with steel nails through his wrists while numerous wounds marred his body. Apparently, he had suffered cruel torture and was barely breathing.

    Qianye frowned after seeing the man in the prison. ¡°Wake him up!¡±

    Thedy in ck pulled open the simple bars of the prison door and fed the man some medicine taken from the pile of items nearby.

    Momentster, the man finally woke up and began to tremble after seeing thedy in ck. He shouted loudly, ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything! I really don¡¯t know anything else! I¡¯m only responsible for receiving the goods and have no clue about the messenger¡¯s identity!¡±

    Qianye sighed and interrupted, ¡°Have you truly told us everything?¡±

    The man wasn''tpletely sober and said deliriously, ¡°It¡¯s absolutely true! You¡¯ll definitely be able to find the courier with the method I gave you! Besides, haven¡¯t you already found my coordinator?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression became cold when he turned towards thedy in ck. ¡°I¡¯m guessing I¡¯m this so-called courier. Who¡¯s this coordinator then? So this person is just a middleman?¡±

    The ck-dresseddy turned pale and immediately recited an address. ¡°There are about a dozen people there, but over half of them were killed during our raid and the remainder have been sent to our regional headquarters in Hill City. It¡¯s possible that they¡¯ve already been dealt with and are being sent out of the Western Continent.¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes, sensing something wrong with this statement.

    The information given to him described the recipient as a champion from the Zhao n. It was just that he didn¡¯t know who it was exactly. That champion clearly wouldn¡¯t appear to receive the goods, so he only needed to find the agent ording to the provided method and hand the boulderheart jade letter to him.

    It was possible to kill a couple of people in Zhao n territory, but a battle involving dozens of people could hardly be disguised. After exchanging moves with the Lone Ghosts members just now, he could only say that theirbat strength might gain them an advantage against the local gangs but was far from beingparable to the private army or elite corps of the aristocracy.

    ¡°Who are they?¡±

    Thedy in ck smiled wryly. ¡°Us Lone Ghosts were also hired. Themissioner requested that we capture both parties involved in this matter and deliver them to a designated location. As for the details, I was not told. Those at my level know nothing about it.¡±

    The man nailed to the wall became quite excited after hearing the conversation between Qianye and thedy in ck. ¡°You¡­ did youe to save me? Did master Lin send you? I¡¯m Ma Zhong! Why haven¡¯t you released me yet?!¡±

 Volume 4 - 54: The Recipient

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 54: The Recipient

    Qianye nced coldly at Ma Zhong before picking up a steel nail and piercing it into his thigh.

    Amidst the miserable cries, Qianye calmly said, ¡°This is the price for selling me out. Now, tell me the truth about your identity and the details about the goods or deal.¡±

    The man replied rapidly, ¡°I really don¡¯t know what the goods are! I¡¯m only here to wait for the courier and guide him to the designated receiving area where a different person will be in charge of receiving the goods. But now, that ce has also been destroyed.¡±

    Qianye frowned after hearing theplicated handover procedure. His intuition was telling him that the boulderheart jade letter in his chest pocket wasn¡¯t just any normal letter.

    ¡°Then who do you work for?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°I belong to the Egret Corps. We can be considered¡­ a power attached to the Serene South Province.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts were interrupted after hearing this reply.

    Although the Serene South Province still existed within the empire¡¯s territory in name, it had actually left the empire¡¯s control and was one of the most active rebel provinces. This so-called Egret Corps was, in fact, the rebel army.

    Qianye had never expected that the target of Song Zining¡¯s business was actually the rebel army. ording to imperialw, the crime of associating with the rebel army was ranked even higher than colluding with the dark races.

    The rebel army had already existed for hundreds of years¡ªthe empire had cleared out their nest time and again, but the situation on the Western Continent was only growing worse by the day. The rebel army was on such an expanding momentum that the empire had no choice but to mobilize Marshal Li Xitang toe and hold the fort here. Even then, they were only kept in check; it still wasn¡¯t possible to uproot thempletely.

    Qianye had be acquainted with some of the indignant stories behind these rebels during his missions with Red Scorpion. But he had seen even more instances of the rebels stabbing the imperial army in the back while thetter was busy fighting against the dark races. Thus, Qianye had an ingrained sense of dislike for the rebel army.

    Qianye forcefully suppressed the feeling of difort in his heart and pondered some of the odd points in this whole matter. He then raised his head to look at thedy in ck. Seeing no surprise on her face at all, he knew that this spineless man before him had already confessed to all he knew.

    As it turned out, Ma Zhong was a lieutenant colonel of the Egret Corps¡¯ logistics department. The Master Lin whom he had spoken of just now was his direct superior, the deputy chief of the military supplies department.

    Although Ma Zhong himself was also directly in charge of some of the rebel army¡¯s external transactions, he was merely a liaison this time, while the true recipient was another lieutenant colonel.

    That person was called Chen Lu. This 28-year-olddy with rank-seven strength was someone who had been in the Serene South Province for ten years. Her military rank wasn¡¯t high, but she was a technical officer in charge of purchasing and maintaining origin arrays for origin guns. It could be considered a fairly important position.

    That was also why Ma Zhong had held on to some vague hopes that the rebel army would dispatch people to rescue them.

    After hearing this, Qianye turned to ask thedy in ck, ¡°Has Chen Lu already fallen into your hands?¡±

    ¡°All survivors were moved to the headquarters after taking down that base,¡± said thedy in ck. She then added, ¡°This was three or four days ago. By now, they ought to have spoken everything they should and shouldn¡¯t have.¡±

    Surprisingly, Qianyeughed after seeing the calm gradually returning to thedy¡¯s face. ¡°But even then, you lot still don¡¯t know my identity and what item I¡¯m carrying. It seems this matter would cease to exist as long as I just walk away.¡±

    Thedy in ck responded with a charming smile, and this time, her expression was much more natural and lively, ¡°Although you¡¯re powerful, it¡¯s impossible for you to contend against the whole of Lone Ghost. Not to mention others, the chief in charge of this region alone is already a champion. You¡¯re young, powerful, and have a bright future ahead of you. So I think you should just abandon this matter!¡±

    Qianyeughed again¡ªhe was almost tempted to do so. He turned his gaze toward Ma Zhong and found that an expression of terror had surfaced on the man¡¯s face. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

    However Qianye spoke first, ¡°But I still feel somewhat uneasy about this. For instance, this Ma Zhong. Although he ims not to know the details about this transaction, it¡¯ll be troublesome to leave him alive.¡±

    Thedy in ck hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°Although the employer¡¯s instruction is to capture him alive, I guess it¡¯s fine to kill him since there¡¯s nothing more we can squeeze out.¡±

    For the sake of her own survival, thedy in ck had been trying to persuade Qianye to prioritize safety over principles since they were in the hall. As such, she repeatedly suggested, both explicitly and subtly, that Lone Ghost didn¡¯t know of Qianye¡¯s identity at all. Now that Qianye¡¯s stance had finally softened, how could she still care about the client¡¯s requests? Byparison, her own life was naturally more important.

    Ma Zhong, on the other hand, was astonished. This was the first time he had heard that the Lone Ghost¡¯s client wanted him alive. What scared him out of his wits was that this mysterious courier who had passed through a siege of numerous Lone Ghost assassins actually wanted to silence him!

    ¡°No, don¡¯t! You can¡¯t do this!¡± Ma Zhong cried out.

    Qianye¡¯s freezing gaze swept over Ma Zhong, causing thetter to shiver. ¡°Since this trade route has already been broken due to your own ipetence, it¡¯s best we clean this up thoroughly.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s more! I know a secret!¡± Ma Zhong shouted, ¡°Save me, this secret is absolutely worth it!¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Oh? Speak.¡±

    Ma Zhong had already begun to gasp for breath as his emotions fluctuated wildly. ¡°Let¡­ let me down first.¡±

    An indescribable glow shed within Qianye¡¯s eyes as he directly pulled out the nail on Ma Zhong¡¯s wrist.

    The man fell heavily on the ground and gasped for a while before saying, ¡°Chen Lu is from the Song n, and it¡¯s very likely that her true surname is Song.¡±

    A thought suddenly shed through Qianye¡¯s mind and it was so rapid that he almost couldn¡¯t grasp it. But he had alreadye to a definite and keen realization that this business wasn¡¯t just for pure profits. This also meant that Lone Ghost¡¯s employer wasn¡¯t just a viin who wanted to rob from another viin but also had other motives.

    And the crux of this incident was perhaps this Chen Lu with her twin identities.

    ¡°Song n?¡± Qianye raised his brows and shot thedy in ck a nce.

    Thedy¡¯s face, once again, turned pale as she met Qianye¡¯s gaze. The terror within her eyes was even more obvious than before. This was also the first time she had heard of this matter¡ªas a Lone Ghost assassin, she was very clear that such a secret, especially one involving such a gigantic entity as the Song n, was a certain death warrant.

    Ma Zhong¡¯s eyes stared fixedly at Qianye like a drowning man searching for a floating log.

    The man found no specific expression on Qianye¡¯s face and was truly afraid that he wouldn¡¯t be trusted. He nodded vigorously and said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed the Song n, there¡¯s no mistaking it! I incidentally saw Chen Lu having dealings with a certain person. I¡¯ve seen that person before on the Eastern Continent, and he¡¯s a steward of the Song n. Later on, I found the opportunity to tail her twice, and I overheard parts of their conversation during one instance. There¡¯s no doubt!¡±

    The significance of this news was broad andplicated. The Song n was one of the four major ns and a core strength of the imperial nobility. With regards to their standpoint, they naturally ought to be irreconcble with the rebel army.

    Since Chen Lu was a Song n spy nted within the rebel army, it would result in a lethal cmity for herself if this news were to spread. As for the Song n, not only would they lose a spy, but their connections and deals might also be traced and subsequently destroyed.

    However, the matter wasn¡¯t that simple. Now that it was certain that the Song n was trading with the rebel army via this channel, they might be prosecuted for collusion with the enemy.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°This news is, indeed, quite valuable to me. At least I can make her do some things.¡± If Ma Zhong used this information to threaten her, there was a good chance he could obtain some benefits from Chen Lu.

    Ma Zhong hesitated for a bit and stammered, ¡°I have indeed thought of this, but¡­ I didn¡¯t get the time.¡±

    Qianye suddenly asked, ¡°Who did you sell her to?¡±

    Ma Zhong answered reflexively, ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡± Following which, his pupils constricted as if he had suddenly remembered something and revealed an expression of extreme terror.

    Qianye spoke Ma Zhong¡¯s current thought out loud, ¡°Then why would the Lone Ghost¡¯s client want you alive?¡±

    Ma Zhong, as a middleman who knew nothing, was of little value if the robber¡¯s target was this batch of goods. It would be better to kill him directly and avoid future problems. Presently, the other party had stressed that they wanted him alive, so it was obvious that they needed him as a witness to testify against his colleague, Chen Lu.

    Ma Zhong¡¯s expression shifted irregrly, and his gaze was darting around as he moved his lips without making any sound.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Thedy in ck trembled and lost control of her voice, almost as if she would scream the next moment.

    She saw Qianye draw his dagger and directly sh Ma Zhong¡¯s throat open. Thedy in ck wasn¡¯t a little girl who had never seen blood, but she couldn¡¯t help but shiver after seeing Qianye¡¯s precise movements which almost seemed as if they would never deviate even an iota.

    ¡°This kind of man will sell out just about anyone. What¡¯s the use of leaving him alive?¡± Qianye¡¯s tone was calm, but he was trying hard to suppress the waves of surging vexation in his heart.

    At this point, Qianye was no longer in the mood to look into the things Ma Zhong did or did not do since the causes were no longer important.

    The situation was quite obvious¡ªSong Zining¡¯s business had beenpromised, and the situation was extremely dire. The person behind the scenes wasn¡¯t content with simply uprooting this trade channel but also wanted to capture witnesses. This signified that Song Zining himself might be in danger.

    Qianye drew a deep breath and looked up at thedy in ck. ¡°Tell me the location of your regional headquarters.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t contend with Lone Ghost!¡± Thedy in ck still wanted to resist.

    The Scarlet Edge danced between Qianye¡¯s fingertips, and his handsome face was half concealed in the shadow cast by the dusky light. ¡°The one in the hall is still alive, and there¡¯s one more upstairs with half a breath left. Additionally, their positions seem to be somewhat higher than yours.¡±

 Volume 4 - 55: Exposed

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 55: Exposed

    Thedy in ck shivered, and her lips trembled slightly before saying, ¡°Will you spare me if I tell you everything I know?¡±

    ¡°I can.¡±

    Thedy in ck had some misgivings. ¡°How can I trust you?¡±

    Qianye smiled coldly and said, ¡°You have no other choice than to bet on it.¡±

    Thedy in ck clenched her teeth and brought out a map, on which she pointed out the location of their headquarters. Additionally, she also exined the distribution of personnel and guards.

    Qianye frowned slightly as he listened. There were three other resident experts in addition to the chief of Lone Ghost¡¯s regional headquarters, Fang Tianlun. Although the number of experts above rank five was limited, they were still a fairly powerful force.

    After thedy in ck finished speaking, Qianye brought her back into the great hall to wake up the gunman in the hall and the badly wounded middle-aged man upstairs. The gunman and thedy in ck were roughly the same in rank and knew little about the details.

    That badly wounded middle-aged man, however, was the person in charge of the Lone Ghost base in Serenity. Qianye had to put in a fair bit of effort interrogating him. Consequently, thedy in ck witnessed Qianye¡¯s precise and almost surgical interrogation methods.

    Thedy in ck huddled up on one side until the moment the middle-aged man breathed hisst¡ªshe would have probably vomited midway if only her body weren¡¯t frozen in terror.

    Qianye got up and slowly wiped his hand with a square towel. This manager was a middle-ranked character in Lone Ghost, but his knowledge was fairly limited and knew little regarding the identity of the client or the purpose of this operation.

    But the middle-aged man¡¯s confessions did exin a number of questions Qianye had in mind.

    As it turned out, Lone Ghost was rather doubtful about the operation and had no intention to cause a bigmotion in Serenity. They set out to lure and capture Chen Lu after seizing Ma Zhong. At the same time, they dispatched the best assassins of the regional headquarters to obstruct Qianye in the wilderness.

    However, the situation on both sides didn¡¯t progress quite as nned.

    Chen Lu was indeed lured to the receiving area in advance, but, during their assault, Lone Ghost encountered intense resistance which far surpassed their expectations. They were able to take down the base in the end but suffered fairly heavy casualties. Meanwhile, those on Qianye¡¯s side had gonepletely silent until, suddenly, they received news that he had already entered Serenity.

    As such, Qianye encountered thisst-moment trap¡ªnot only was it extremely coarse, but the participating personnel were also quite weak. Of course, this was only Qianye¡¯s feeling. To Lone Ghost, a line-up consisting of thedy in ck, Lu Yn, three rank-six sharpshooters, and two ran-seven assassins was already considered quite powerful.

    At this point, the matter was even moreplicated than he had expected. Lone Ghost only obtained the pattern with which to connect with the courier from Ma Zhong, while the courier¡¯s appearance, distinctive features, and the information that he was a rank-seven hunter came from the client. From this, it was apparent that Song Zining¡¯s side had also beenpromised.

    Actually, Song Zining had said in his letter that Qianye should immediately destroy the boulderheart jade letter and leave the Western Continent in due haste if he encountered any idents. He had also told Qianye not to proactively contact him after returning to Evernight Continent, and that he would deal with the aftermath himself. Back then, Qianye had thought this to be merely a routine instruction, but now it seemed Song Zining also had a premonition.

    Fortunately, not all was bad news¡ªit was clear from how Lone Ghost was acting so cautiously regarding this matter that the mastermind behind this wasn¡¯t the Zhao n. In addition, the information regarding Qianye only contained his outward appearance, which meant that thepromise on Song Zining¡¯s side only involved the outer circle and could still be reversed.

    At this time, Qianye suddenly realized that he owed William a great favor because Lone Ghost¡¯s most powerful assassin, barring their regional chief, was rank nine and possessed a special concealment ability. Add to that the two rank-eight assistants and the fact that Qianye hadn¡¯t fully recovered at that time, it was highly possible that he might have fallen into their hands had he not met William.

    Qianye ignored thedy in ck who was cowering in the corner and proceeded, with due haste, to search through every floor of the building. After confirming that there were no other survivors, he reappeared before Lu Yn with arge bag. She hadn¡¯t moved at all and even her posture hadn¡¯t changed. It seemed she was so shocked that she didn¡¯t even dare think of running away.

    Qianye tossed her an injectable origin power medicine and said, ¡°You have half an hour to recover. Afterwards, we¡¯ll head to the regional headquarters.¡±

    Lu Yn suddenly came to and cried, ¡°You¡¯re insane! The chief is at the headquarters and he¡¯s a champion! We¡¯ll all die!¡±

    Qianye calmly replied, ¡°I¡¯ll let you drive to save some time. Otherwise, I only have to spend a bit more time finding the right ce.¡±

    Lu Yn trembled momentarily. She then injected the medicine into her arm, sat there cross-legged, and began to circte her origin power.

    Just by looking at Qianye¡¯s style of handling matters, she was clear that she had no opportunity to resist. Qianye took no precautionary measures against her at all and seemed as if he wasn¡¯t, in the least, worried about her running away orunching a surprise attack. The more he acted this way, the more afraid Lu Yn became because only those with sufficient strength could act so confidently.

    Qianye casually pulled a chair over, sat down, and began to recuperate with his eyes closed.

    His heart wasn¡¯t as calm as his outward appearance. As things stood, the best way for Qianye to deal with this matter was to leave immediately as per Song Zining¡¯s instructions and not wade into these muddy waters. That was because he had no idea who was actually behind Lone Ghost, and neither did he know how big the entire tempest was nor what proportion of it the link in Serenity upied.

    But after hearing of Chen Lu¡¯s other identity from Ma Zhong, Qianye immediately realized that he couldn¡¯t let her fall into Lone Ghost¡¯s hands since this person was a direct witness who might perhaps implicate Song Zining. It was imperative that he assess the situation and decide whether to save or silence her.

    Qianyeughed wryly in silence¡ªnow wasn¡¯t the time to argue about Song Zining¡¯s trade with the rebel army, but what should he say once he met his good friend again after everything was settled smoothly?

    The half-hour swiftly passed by and Lu Yn had recovered over half of her origin power. She no longer struggled pointlessly and obediently drove out a light jeep from the garage behind the building.

    Qianye jumped onto the front passenger seat and tossed therge bag in his hand towards the back seat, producing a series of rustling sounds.

    Lu Yn¡¯s heart momentarily skipped a beat. There was something wrong with this sound¡ªshe immediately went through all the items from the base¡¯s armory in her head and was overwhelmed to discover that the bag was stuffed full of grenades!

    In addition to ordinary gunpowder grenades, there were also a number of powerful origin grenades originally prepared for use at the recipient base. Later on, their chief decided against using them for fear that the hugemotion would attract the Zhao n in full force.

    Qianye was casually tossing such a bag around! Although the grenades normally wouldn¡¯t go off on their own, what if they did? If by any chance the bag of grenades was to go off identally, the force would most definitely st the car along with the two passengers into smithereens.

    Lu Yn¡¯s back was immediately drenched in cold sweat but she refrained from speaking after seeing Qianye¡¯s silent and almost hazy face from the side. Afterwards, she started the car¡¯s engine.

    The city of Serenity was surrounded by the dark race¡¯s Forgotten Mountain Range and the rebel-controlled Serene South Province. Despite being surrounded by enemies, the city gates weren¡¯t closed during the night and allowed people to enter or leave. From this detail, one could see the Zhao n¡¯s confidence and arrogance.

    The light jeep exited the city without a hitch and drove along a branch of the First Sun Highway into the boundless night.

    Lone Ghost¡¯s regional headquarters was located in a certain manor about an hour¡¯s drive from Serenity. Even near cities, the roads through the wilderness were still quite dangerous¡ªferocious beasts and bandits were both lethal threats to the night-time traveler.

    The jeep didn¡¯t have any lights on. Lu Yn advanced relying only on the dim moonlight. As a rank-six sharpshooter, she possessed a certain level of night vision capability and could see the road ahead with some effort. However, she would also slip up asionally.

    Whenever this happened, Qianye would immediately tell her to turn either right or left. Nothing on the road could escape his eyes whether it were stones, pits, or corpses.

    Apart from this, Qianye mostly kept silent, leaning on the door with his head propped on his hand as if he were pondering deeply about something.

    As the jeep advanced through the night, there was almost no other sound apart from the rumble of the engine. The night seemed especially quiet¡ªnot to mention encountering beasts, not even a single living creature scuttled past the side of the road.

    Eventually, this deathly silence turned into a huge boulder which pressed down on Lu Yn¡¯s heart and gave her the urge to let out a frantic scream. Additionally, the jeep was terribly cold and it was unknown just where this eerie chill wasing from. This caused her to start trembling uncontrobly toward the end.

    Lu Yn became faintly aware that this abnormal sensation was arising from Qianye. There was one moment where she actually felt the illusion that the person sitting in the passenger seat wasn¡¯t a human youth but a terrifying beast.

    A faint strand of aura was indeed being constantly emitted from Qianye¡¯s body. Lu Yn only felt extreme danger from it but couldn¡¯t discern the specific details. The beasts in the wilderness, however, easily sniffed out an arachne at the level of a viscount or even greater.

    This was Brahm¡¯s aura. The powerful suppressive might dered the region as its domain and caused even the most powerful of wild beasts to not dare take a single step over this minefield.

    Qianye ordered Lu Yn to stop the jeep at an approximate distance of five kilometers from the destination. He then tossed her an origin assault rifle and a dagger before bringing her toward the manor.

    The fear in Lu Yn¡¯s heart had reached its highest point as she obediently followed behind Qianye. At this moment, she wasn¡¯t willing to stay alone in the wilderness even if Qianye let her leave. Comparatively, the regional chief within the manor didn¡¯t seem so scary anymore.

    The few kilometers passed by in silence, and the silhouette of the manor was already appearing before their eyes.

    Qianye gestured toward Lu Yn and said softly, ¡°Fire at anyone whoes out of the manor.¡± With that, Qianye left without waiting for a reply and continued to advance alone.

    Lu Yn hesitated for a moment as she gazed at Qianye¡¯s back. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t dare to fire at Qianye. She understood, after seeing the grade-five vampire sniper in his hand, that she might not necessarily be able to hit him even if sheunched a sneak attack.

    Lu Yn was actually hesitating whether or not to fire some warning shots, but she lowered the muzzle after recalling the strict rules of the organization. She had already failed her missionpletely, not to mention all herpanions were dead. Not only was she the only survivor, but she had also brought the enemy to their regional headquarters. The only fate awaiting her was a cruel punishment even if Qianye were to be captured or killed.

    A faint scent of blood suddenly pervaded the dense night air as Lu Yn heard an almost undetectable groan mixed amidst the wind. Apparently, Qianye had dealt with the hidden sentry of the manor. It was just that his actions weren¡¯t very clean.

    An odd sensation flitted across her heart¡ªhow could this cruel, precise, and orderly youthpromise his movements at the external sentry post? However, her doubts were immediately answered.

    The scent of blood and the muffled groan could perhaps be hidden from ordinary people, but it definitely couldn¡¯t escape the senses of the experts. A loud roar suddenly rang out from within the manor, ¡°Who darese here to court death?!¡±

    An ear-piercing rm then rang out as several figures rushed out from within.

    The snake had left the hole!

 Volume 4 - 56: Devastating Strike

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 56: Devastating Strike

    The formation fell into disorder as one of the several shadowy figures suddenly fell.

    A chill crept through the bottom of Lu Yn¡¯s heart because she couldn¡¯t tell how Qianye had done this. It seemed even the guards themselves had no idea what had happened and began to gaze in random directions.

    Lu Yn recalled the instructions Qianye had given her with his dull and uncaring tone. She clenched her teeth, rushed out of her hiding ce, and began to fire in three-round bursts. Three Lone Ghost guards fell in quick session while the remainder were so startled that they abandoned their search for the iing enemy and ran back into the manor.

    Lu Yn began to gasp for breath after the bout of running and shooting, working desperately to calm down the fluctuating origin power in her body. However, she didn¡¯t dare stop her feet in the least as she rapidly left her original position and dived toward a different hiding spot.

    Assault rifles were her forte, and firing the three-round burst with differential aim was her ability. The aplishments just now were due, in part, to the fact that the Lone Ghost guards were already in confusion. But killing off three rank-four targets in a single burst was also a superb disy of her abilities.

    It was just that a single burst was already her limit, and at present, she only had enough power to fire one more shot. However, the Lone Ghost guards inside no longer dared to emerge because they had lost four men in this face-off without even seeing who the enemy was.

    It was at this time that anky and stern figure slowly rose into the air and, in the blink of an eye, enveloped the whole forest with his tremendous suppressive might.

    He hovered in the air above the forest as his voice flooded every corner of the area like flowing mercury. ¡°This old man is called Fang Tianlun. What kind of person honors us with his presence? Why note out and meet me?¡±

    There was only silence in the four directions.

    Fang Tianlun frowned. His gaze, akin to a torch, gradually swept over the fallen guards and toward the surroundings. He suddenly focused on Lu Yn¡¯s direction and sneered, ¡°This expert¡¯s burst fire isn¡¯t bad at all. Judging from the technique, you should be Lu Yn, right?! Good, very good. A mere whore actually dares to betray us? After capturing you, I¡¯ll cut off your limbs and soak you in a jar of alcohol. I guarantee you¡¯ll live for a month at least¡­¡±

    Lu Yn was hiding within a bush and holding her breath with an ashen expression. Her limbs had be so stiff that she couldn¡¯t even extend her fingers. She knew Fang Tianlun would definitely do what he imed¡ªsince he nned to torture her for a month, he certainly wouldn¡¯t let her die a day sooner.

    But Fang Tianlun hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when muffled sounds rang out from within the woods as a dozen or so dark objects flew toward him from different directions.

    ¡°Grenades!¡± Fang Tianlun¡¯s expression changed significantly.

    He wasn¡¯t actually afraid of these grenades, but was, instead, astonished at how he hadn¡¯t sensed the enemy below him at all. Additionally, judging from the trajectory of the flying grenades, it seemed as if there were at least three or four of them hidden here. How was this possible?

    Fang Tianlun didn¡¯t have time to think as he immediately descended to the ground with hazy origin power emerging from his body. He had passed the champion¡¯s threshold for many years now, but his progress had also halted there. Although he could hover in the air, flexible movements were out of the question. At this moment, there was no clear intelligence on the enemy situation, and it was possible that they were specialists in concealment. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t stay in the air for no reason and be a target.

    However, the trajectory of those grenades seemed to have been precisely calcted and thrown with a special technique. Fang Tianlun hadn¡¯t evennded on the ground when the grenades exploded one after another in the air¡ªthe circr wave of mesbined with the shrapnels to form a huge which swept over him full in the face.

    Amidst this continuous series of rumbling explosions, Fang Tianlun was engulfed in smoke and mes.

    Afterwards, another dozen or so grenades flew through the darkness. This time, the target was the manor. These grenades were also thrown from different directions andnded at different distances. The closer onesnded within a couple dozen meters which happened to be within the range of the manor building, while others flew several hundred meters before exploding at the center of the vi.

    The continuous explosions thoroughly tore apart the silence of the night.

    The manor was in a state of confusion. Half of an annex building had copsed and was burning rapidly amidst miserable cries. The sentries couldn¡¯t stay hidden any longer and scuttled out from concealment to search for the enemy.

    At this time, Qianye was standing at the border of the woods with his aurapletely retracted¡ªin fact, he almost seemed as if he was one with the tree behind him. The origin tides within his body, on the other hand, weren¡¯t calm at all. Even with his repeatedly upgraded speed and iparably pure and dense origin power, the two continuous bouts of extreme movement and grenade-hurling had still drained a considerable portion of his stamina.

    At this time, thest of the chain explosions around Fang Tianlun had just subsided and the mes were beginning to weaken. Qianye calmly gazed at the human-shaped silhouette that slowly emerged from the surging fumes before hurling the grenade in his hand.

    Fang Tianlun had just made his way out of the fiery rain. At this moment, his face was covered in dirt and scrape wounds, and the clothes on his body were tattered, exposing his dark brown inner armor. His entire left shoulder was in a most sorry situation¡ªboth clothes and armor had been torn open to reveal arge patch of flesh.

    However, Qianye was quite surprised. There were quite a few abrasion marks on the exposed parts of Fang Tianlun¡¯s body with numerous fingernail-sized shrapnels embedded within the flesh, but Qianye noticed that, on closer inspection, these shrapnels were blocked by the steel-like muscles and unable to prate deeper.

    Although Qianye hadn¡¯t expected such ordinary grenades to do major damage against Fang Tianlun, such a sturdy constitution had surpassed the level of an ordinary champion. It seemed his innate gift was rted to the strengthening of his body.

    At this point, Qianye no longer hesitated and immediately tossed the remaining two origin power grenades.

    Fang Tianlun had just walked out of the explosion when he saw an origin grenade rolling toward him¡ªits surface was already beginning to flicker with the glow of origin power!

    ¡°Dammit!¡± He only had enough time to curse out loud before immediately curling himself up on the ground and using his arms to protect the vital areas on his chest.

    Such a powerful wave of grenades was already enough for breaching fortifications on the battlefield. It definitely wasn¡¯t an operation manageable with just a couple of men. But Fang Tianlun still couldn¡¯t get a lock on the enemy positions. It was unbelievable! He began to recite various obscenities in his mind while forcefully defending against the origin power explosion.

    An extremely dazzling light lit up in the night sky as terrifying fluctuations dispersed in every direction. The destructive power of these high-temperature mes was far superior to that of ordinary fire. After being abused by a single origin power grenade, another two exploded at the same location. At the center of the explosion, Fang Tianlun was suffering the impact from wave after wave of origin power storms.

    Lu Yn had frantically left her previous position and fled to the back of a giant tree in the distance as the first grenade exploded. She didn¡¯t even have time to congratte herself on finally escaping Fang Tianlun¡¯s focus before she was scared silly by the terrifying origin power storm.

    Although the center of this explosion was quite a distance away, the earth beneath her feet rocked and swayed. Even the great tree behind her, which would require several men to wrap their arms around, began to tremble continuously and seemed as if it would snap off at any moment.

    Qianye stared fixedly at the center of the explosion, his face as gloomy as water. The two continuous probing attempts had yielded clear results. Fang Tianlun¡¯s speed and agility weren¡¯t outstanding, but his constitution was especially resilient. Such an opponent couldn¡¯t be considered dangerous but was also fairly difficult to kill.

    At the thought of this, Qianye cut open his own finger and flicked it. A peculiar drop of fresh blood flew out and struck a giant tree several dozen meters away. This drop of blood became more and more condensed after leaving his body and finally became an eerie navy blue. It also seemed somewhat crystallized.

    Qianye¡¯s face turned somewhat pale after shooting out this drop of blood. He lowered his body and vanished silently into the mottled shadows.

    Fang Tianlun slowly got up after the origin power storm subsided. His face was the very picture of wrath because he hadn¡¯t been reduced to such a wretched state in quite some time. The nearby trees began to shake and leaves began to fall chaotically as a substantial bluish-white origin power radiance extended outwards from his arms.

    It was at this time that he was suddenly startled¡ªhe rapidly turned around and stared fixedly at the eastern border of the woods. There was a strand of aura surging from that direction which, despite being fairly faint, caused one to shiver.

    The aura of an arachne viscount!

    Fang Tianlun inhaled a breath of cold air. The dark races inherently possessed sturdier constitutionspared to humans and, at the same level and under the same conditions, held a rtive advantage inbat strength. The situation regarding the raid on this manor was already bizarre enough, and now, with the sudden appearance of an arachne viscount, he couldn¡¯t help but be rmed.

    Fang Tianlun was on full alert¡ªhe immediately turned toward the arachne viscount¡¯s aura and activated his origin power to its peak.

    Qianye quietly reappeared within the shadows in a certain part of the woods, as indiscernible as the nocturnal mist rising atop the leaves. The Twin Flowers in his hands had beenbined into one¡ªscarlet origin power flowed amidst the dense twilight and flickering stars. Following which, a pair of ming golden wings unfurled behind him.

    The turbulent origin power fluctuations caused Fang Tianlun to suddenly turn his head, whereupon his vision was immediately filled with the radiance from the wings of raging me.

    Qianye¡¯s hand was was steady¡ªabilities like Heavy Caliber, urate Shooting, and Night Vision unfolded in sequence. In the air, the twin flowers bloomed, faced each other, and then withered in each other¡¯s embrace.

    In the pitch darkness of the night, an even darker dot flew toward Fang Tianlun. It resembled a most profound darkness capable of devouring all light¡ªimpossible to discern with the naked eye, and could only be traced from the changes in the surroundings as it passed by.

    As a champion, the intuition he had sharpened by walking across countless des was screaming ¡°danger¡±!

    Within moments, Fang Tianlun suddenly recalled a terrifying name: ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion! ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion were the nightmare of countless human experts just as Mithril Bullets of Exorcism were for the vampires.

    It was already toote to evade. One could hardly escape the area of effect of the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion with a mere shift in position. Fang Tianlun let out a crazed howl and crossed his arms over his chest as bluish-white origin power radiance suddenly erupted to its peak, forming numerousyers of dazzling and almost blinding white barriers.

    The ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion flew silently through the air enshrouded by a faintyer of ck mist.

    Like ink falling into water, the ck mist immediately dispersed Fang Tianlun¡¯s daybreak origin power upon contact. A ck spot emerged on the burning-white origin power barrier and spread out within the blink of an eye like the ink on a superior work of calligraphy.

    The daybreak origin power stained by the ck mist rapidly disintegrated. It wasn¡¯t even discernable whether or not the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion had slowed down as it simply pierced through the multiyered defenses and came into contact with the skin on Fang Tianlun¡¯s arm.

    Fang Tianlun¡¯s origin power defenses, as well as his steel-like flesh, were immediately shattered. The bullet shot through the bones of both arms and only came to a halt as it reached his ribs.

    The next moment, this seemingly invincible bullet suddenly melted as jet ck metallic fluid extended toward every direction. Flesh and blood were reduced to nothingness wherever it passed.

    On the verge of death, Fang Tianlun drew his dagger and ruthlessly sliced off arge patch of flesh from his chest. He then held the dagger in his mouth and cut off both his arms which had been pierced through by the bullet.

 Volume 4 - 57: Rescue

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 57: Rescue

    After all doing all of that, Fang Tianlun instantly fell exhausted to the ground and could no longer stand up.

    The amputated limbs and the flesh he had carved away turned into a pool of ck liquid in the blink of an eye before vanishingpletely.

    Fang Tianlun¡¯s ruthless decisiveness caused Qianye to raise his eyebrows. With what he just did, he could no longer return to being a champion in this lifetime, but at least he could keep his life and still be capable of self-care with the use of artificial limbs.

    Still lingering within the shadow of the trees, Qianye turned toward a different part of the forest. Sounds of sniper fire rang out, followed by two brief but wretched cries.

    Fang Tianlun¡¯s previous shout and the grenade explosions attracted the attention of several Lone Ghost guards. They didn¡¯t dare approach the origin power storm at first, but now that the chaos had receded, some of them wanted to see what was wrong. Unexpectedly, two of them died to Qianye¡¯s gun the moment they emerged from hiding¡ªthe others ran away.

    Only then did Qianye walk out of the darkness to check on Fang Tianlun who was lying feebly on the ground. He called Lu Yn over and gave her some simple instructions. ¡°Watch him but don¡¯t get too close.¡±

    Fang Tianlun was, after all, a champion. Although he had been badly wounded, it wasn¡¯t impossible to drag a rank-six fighter with him if he used some secret techniques.

    Qianye retracted his aura once again and walked into the darkness.

    Momentster, a series of grenades exploded again in the heart of the manor, apanied, from time to time, by the sound of sniper shots. Buildings copsed and human bodies were sted high into the sky amidst the mes.

    Comparatively, the charred wreckage within the woods seemed pervaded by a deathly silence. Only the embers which had yet to burn outpletely would release the asional crackling sound.

    Under the illumination of the mes, Fang Tianlun¡¯s face was ashen and the corners of his lips twitched continuously. He suddenly red at the woman who was curled up in the shadows and said coldly, ¡°Well done! Half a lifetime of my hard work has been ruined in your hands! I¡¯m sure you¡¯re even clearer than me regarding the fate of those who betray Lone Ghost.¡±

    Lu Yn leaned on a big tree ten-odd meters away and spoke not a single word. On closer inspection, one would see that her face was pale, beads of sweat were hanging on the tip of her nose, and her hands were trembling continuously. She had worked under Fang Tianlun for many years and deeply understood this chief¡¯s cruel and violent character. Although he was, at the moment, seriously injured and even had to gasp for air a couple of times while speaking, she still felt fear. This was likely an umtion of his dominance over the many years.

    The battle in the manor was nowing to an end. Or it could even be said that before Qianye¡¯s night vision, speed, and sniping abilities, it was just a one-sided ughter. Over half of the Lone Ghost guards were either wounded or dead, while the others escaped from the manor.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give chase as this was, after all, the regional Lone Ghost headquarters; they shouldn¡¯t have forces more powerful than this in the province. Traveling toward the adjacent one through the wilderness at night would be a fairly dangerous undertaking, and Qianye would have already finished his business here by the time Lone Ghost¡¯s newly assembled party arrived.

    The manor calmed down once again. Qianye only cleared out the surroundings and returned to the woods without entering the building.

    Fang Tianlun¡¯s expression was now even more dispirited and his face was shrouded in ayer of darkness. Although he had made the prompt decision to cripple himself, a small amount of ck titanium still remained in his body which he couldn¡¯t expel no matter how hard he tried. At this moment, not much was left of Fang Tianlun¡¯s origin power, and he was slowly losing his suppression over the invading ck titanium. The distinct sensation of being corrupted inch by inch tortured him until he was half dead.

    Qianye brought the antidote before Fang Tianlun¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°Answer my questions and this will be yours.¡±

    Fang Tianlun¡¯s depressed expression immediately became radiant as he stared fixedly at the medicine. He said with a trembling voice, ¡°You won¡¯t kill me?¡±

    Qianye squinted his eyes as he gazed at Fang Tianlun and said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s not impossible. Your survival actually isn¡¯t that important.¡±

    A strand of hope was ignited in Fang Tianlun¡¯s eyes as he said while nodding, ¡°I¡¯m not a threat to you since I no longer have any hope of recovery after being wounded to such a state. I¡¯ll tell you everything as long as you let me go!¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the recipient? Who hired you?¡±

    Fang Tianlun spoke without any struggle at all. Qianye wasn¡¯t surprised with his cooperative attitude because anyone ruthless enough to cut off both arms to live apparently wouldn¡¯t choose to bring about his own doom.

    The client was a certain elder from Lone Ghost headquarters. Fang Tianlun himself wasn¡¯t quite clear regarding the details. He only knew that the other party¡¯s identity was quite extraordinary, and he might actually belong to aristocracy or even a great n.

    Originally, the client had dispatched a representative to oversee the operation, but he had actually died fighting at the recipient¡¯s base. Thus, the recipient¡¯s group, including Chen Lu, hadn¡¯t been shipped away yet. They were still being held in the dungeon, waiting for the client to dispatch an agent to receive them.

    Qianye nced once more at Fang Tianlun and tossed the medicine to him. ¡°Drink it and then take me there.¡± He didn¡¯t fully trust Fang Tianlun¡¯s words. Although most of them should be true, he felt that Fang Tianlun wasn¡¯t necessarily ignorant about the client¡¯s identity.

    When Fang Tianlun mentioned that the client was likely from an aristocratic family, his expression flickered as he stealthily sized up Qianye¡¯s weapons and apparel. From how the man was trying to judge his identity, Qianye knew that he might have actually heard something about the client.

    However, the waters surrounding the aristocratic ns had always been very deep, and Qianye being capable of overturning the whole Lone Ghost headquarters despite not being a champion meant that his identity likely wasn¡¯t ordinary either. Presently, even Fang Tianlun¡¯s own life was in the hands of another. How would he dare reveal that he knew certain things which he shouldn¡¯t?

    Fang Tianlun bit down on the medication and swallowed it with a raise of his head. The medicinal effects spread out within moments, and his vitality was marginally restored. He then proceeded to mber up.

    The dungeon was under thergest buildingplex. Everything went smoothly with Fang Tianlun leading the way¡ªQianye killed off the remaining rank four and five guards without much effort, while the other servants and chefs were all ordinary people without any fighting capabilities.

    Qianye instructed Lu Yn to round them up and lock them in a room while he himself followed Fang Tianlun into the dungeons.

    The entrance was behind a spiral staircase. A great steel door appeared before them after taking ten-odd steps down and turning a corner. There was a row of four handles, each with a number above them.

    Qianye was slightly astonished. ¡°A steam mechanism? What¡¯s the password?¡± Without waiting for Fang Tianlun to reply, he casually pointed at the steel door and said, ¡°You stand in front of the door.¡±

    Fang Tianlun¡¯s expression shifted slightly and his eyes flickered about. Finally, he stood before the door and said, ¡°The password is 0704.¡±

    Qianye nced at him with a spurious smile and began to pull on the handles. Amidst the clicking sounds of rotating gears, the number above began to rotate and was soon at 0.

    Afterwards, Qianye turned the other three handles in sequence. A gush of steam emerged from the crack in the door when the numbers were at 0704. The giant gear began to rotate, slowly drawing the panels of the heavy door to each side.

    Qianye nced upwards and found some steam seeping out from the gaps in the ceiling. If the wrong password were entered, this narrow corridor would be filled with high-temperature steam hot enough to scald even the powerful body of a dark race warrior.

    Fang Tianlun walked obediently in front for the rest of the way. The dungeon was quite spacious and contained a couple dozen prison chambers of varying sizes. Most of them were currently empty, but the walls and torture equipment were dyed ck with aged bloodstains, a testament to what usually went on around here.

    Qianye followed Fang Tianlun to a small solitary chamber at the end of the dungeon. Held within was apletely naked woman with various cruel torture wounds all over her body and four thin chains attached to the wall piercing through her hands and feet.

    The woman raised her head and revealed her delicate countenance upon hearing footsteps. She couldn¡¯t see the visitors as her face was full of grime, and the messy hair stuck onto her face obstructed her vision.

    She let out a snort and, although her aura was quite feeble, one could still hear the undisguised ridicule in her tone. ¡°So, has the bastard Song Ziqi finally sent over more of his men? Heh, heh, you¡¯d better be careful this time and not let him get killed like Liu He. s, I would advise you not to waste any more effort. Killing me will help you save some resources.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted slightly after hearing the name Song Ziqi. As he swept his gaze toward Fang Tianlun, thetter said softly with an awkward expression, ¡°Liu He is that representative.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t what Qianye was asking about, but it was already meaningless to continue this conversation. He only smiled and raised his voice, ¡°Contrary to appearances, you seem pretty strong-willed. I might just listen to your advice if I were Song Ziqi.¡±

    Qianye directly crushed the lock, pulled open the prison door, and walked in. He then picked up the nearby bucket of water and poured it over the woman.

    The woman let out a groan and immediately raised her head to swallowrge gulps of flowing water. Apparently, she was extremely thirsty.

    Qianye poured two more bucketfuls of water on her and washed away most of the grime. Only then did he draw his dagger and shed at the chains, easily hacking the four fine-steel chains into several fragments.

    ¡°Bear with it.¡± Qianye pressed her down and tugged forcefully. A chain was drawn out of the woman¡¯s shoulder apanied by a gush of fresh blood.

    The woman was exceptionally unyielding and didn¡¯t even let out a groan. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t help but admire her tenacity. He produced a medicinal syringe, injecting half into her arm while applying the remainder on her wound.

    The womany there with her chest heaving up and down continuously. Her face recovered a bright red color only after a while, whereupon she turned to nce deeply at Qianye and said, ¡°I¡¯m Chen Lu. Who¡¯re you?¡±

    Qianye pulled Chen Lu up and said, ¡°It¡¯s not important who I am. I¡¯m only responsible for delivering a package.¡±

    Chen Lu¡¯s eyes lit up as she sized Qianye up from head to toe before revealing a charming smile. ¡°You¡¯re the courier? Great! Please bring me away from this ce and we can talkter. There¡¯s a bastard called Fang Tianlun guarding this ce, and he¡¯s very powerful!¡±

    ¡°Did you mean him?¡±

    Chen Lu nced over and was astonished to find Fang Tianlun outside the door. Not only was Fang Tianlun¡¯s aura extremely feeble, but he had also lost his hands. There was also a terrifying bone-deep wound on his chest.

    Chen Lu stared speechless for a moment before asking, ¡°You did this?¡±

    Qianye pulled out his cloak from his backpack, tossed it to Chen Lu, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s leave first.¡±

    Fang Tianlun said with augh, ¡°You¡¯ve found the prisoner, and I¡¯ve also told you everything I know. Now, I¡¯mpletely useless to you. Can you let me go now?¡±

    Qianye nced at Chen Lu and said, ¡°Look away.¡±

    Seeing Chen Lu turn around as instructed, Fang Tianlun¡¯s expression changed greatly. ¡°You¡¯re going back on your word!¡±

 Volume 4 - 58: Silenced

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 58: Silenced

    The Scarlet Edge in Qianye¡¯s hand had already pierced into the man¡¯s heart before his cry had even ended.

    Surging blood energy flowed through the Scarlet Edge and into Qianye¡¯s body. As expected of a champion with a strengthened constitution, Fang Tianlun¡¯s essence blood was fairly abundant and was able to restore the greater half of Qianye¡¯s reserves even though the former¡¯s foundation had been severely damaged by the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion.

    At this moment, Qianye felt an indescribable sensation. It was by instinct that he had used the dagger to kill this person, and only when the blood energy began gushing in did he realize that he was holding a blood absorption weapon. His heart was overwhelmed by a peculiar sensation when he recalled that the blood energy was from a human.

    Chen Lu, with her back toward him, let out a snort and said disdainfully, ¡°Isn¡¯t it just to silence him? Why must I turn around?! It¡¯s not like I¡¯m a little girl who hasn¡¯t seen such things before. Frankly, the people I¡¯ve killed might not be fewer than¡­¡±

    Chen Lu¡¯s voice immediately drew Qianye back to reality. He quickly put away the Scarlet Edge and interrupted Chen Lu¡¯s chatter, ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    Chen Lu¡¯s eyes suddenly widened when she turned around and saw Fang Tianlun¡¯s withered corpse. Her gaze brushed past the Scarlet Edge which had already returned to its sheath on Qianye¡¯s waist. She opened her mouth ever so slightly but didn¡¯t say anything in the end.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t promise him anything,¡± Qianye said as he walked out.

    Puzzlement shed across Chen Lu¡¯s eyes after hearing Qianye¡¯s clueless words. But then she recalled the words Fang Tianlun shouted before his death. Could it be that Qianye was trying to exin that he didn¡¯t promise to not kill Fang Tianlun and that he didn¡¯t break any promises?

    She blinked a few times and finally couldn¡¯t help but burst intoughter. ¡°This isn¡¯t a big deal. It¡¯s a matter of course to silence people. Even if you did promise him, he can only me his own stupidity in believing it.¡±

    Qianye, who was walking in front, couldn¡¯t help but rub his temples and even wanted to let out a sigh. This woman¡¯s character was simply too... sprightly. How could such a person work as a spy?

    But, the greater half of Qianye¡¯s solemn mood was actually scattered by her.

    Although Fang Tianlun had lost all of his fighting capabilities, he was fairly resilient and knew when to bow and when to stretch. Especially when Chen Lu mentioned the names of Song Ziqi and Liu He, he had obviously avoided the major character while focusing on the minor one. From this, it was obvious that he wasn¡¯tpletely ignorant of the details. Letting such a character go would cause no end of troubles for himter on.

    Even though Qianye himself wasn¡¯t afraid of Lone Ghost¡¯s retaliation, he wouldn¡¯t do something that would add more variables to the unclear situation on Song Zining¡¯s side.

    There were a number of other prisoners held within the dungeon, but none of them were Chen Lu¡¯spanions. Of the originally captured recipient party members, only Chen Lu and a number of other key characters were kept under strict watch, while the rest hadmitted suicide or died to cruel torture. None of them had survived.

    Chen Lu didn¡¯t show much grief and simply said, ¡°Someone will pay for what happened here.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in the backgrounds of the other prisoners and had no intention of releasing them. He walked out of the dungeon while Chen Lu stayed behind to find some clothing.

    She emerged only after a while, now wearing a Lone Ghost uniform and carrying a set of weapons. An origin assault rifle hung from her back, two handguns at her waist, and a dagger attached to each of her thighs.

    Qianye stood smoking at the door. In truth, he was mostly just gazing at the flickering mes and the smoke spiraling up from his fingertips. After hearing the approaching footsteps, he shot a nce at Chen Lu and said, ¡°You sure took your time.¡±

    Chen Lu shrugged and replied, ¡°I had to kill everyone inside.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyebrows knitted together every so slightly.

    Chen Lu raised her brows and said, ¡°They saw our appearances very clearly and probably also heard you kill Fang Tianlun. I really have no time to go over their origins and find out who¡¯s trustworthy.¡±

    Qianye said nothing else and gestured her to move along.

    The two of them then searched the whole manor thoroughly and found some letters in Fang Tianlun¡¯s study. However, there weren¡¯t any details rted to the client.

    Chen Lu didn¡¯t feel disappointed because she had long since recognized the identity of the client¡¯s representative, Liu He. That was why she had risked her life to kill the man during the battle at the recipient base, thus dying the time the captives were transported away from the Western Continent. And seeing that no new representative had arrived during this period, it was likely that Song Zining had also taken action to hinder the other party¡¯s movements.

    Qianye felt somewhat relieved after listening to Chen Lu¡¯s spection.

    Although they didn¡¯t find any information, the spoils of war were actually quite abundant. As the Lone Ghost regional headquarters, there were a lot of resources stocked up within the manor. In particr, they had hundreds of origin guns, daggers, and armor. As for firearm type weapons, they had two warehouses full of them.

    These origin guns were only rank two or three with rifles upying the majority and were thus useless for Qianye. He browsed the armory a couple of times and only picked up a couple dozen of nk origin bullets and three origin grenades. Chen Lu, on the other hand, had stuffed her backpack full of grenades. Later, the two of them ignited the gunpowder inside and sted apart the whole buildingplex. Since they couldn¡¯t ship the armaments away, they naturally wouldn¡¯t leave them for Lone Ghost either.

    There was a fair number of good stuff in Fang Tianlun¡¯s personal storage, including a number of rank-five origin guns. There weren¡¯t any premium models in his collection, but the advantagey in that he had collected almost every type. There was a particrly rare rank-five mini-submachine gun. There were over ten rank-four rifles, half of them being sniper rifles and even a remodeled Eagleshot.

    It seemed Fang Tianlun¡¯s hobby was to collect various types of origin guns, but now, all of them would benefit Qianye.

    Apart from this, Qianye also found two vampire origin grenades, a crate of special medicine, and a number of arachne abdominal scales. Finally, there were three Mirthil Bullets of Exorcism. Although such bullets were precious, basically everyone at the champion level would be able to get their hands on a couple of them as a reserve.

    Finally, they snatched away a fair number of gold coins and six ck crystals. Lone Ghost¡¯s total losses likely reached tens of thousands of gold coins.

    Even if Lone Ghost dispatched people to reestablish this regional organization, the losses in umted armaments and resources were simply too great. It would be difficult for them to recoverpletely even after ten years.

    Qianye summoned Lu Yn and prepared to leave the ce.

    After Chen Lu saw the dozen servants huddled up in a corner of the kitchen, she suddenly tossed out a series of grenades into the kitchen with a wave of her hand. The explosives bounced off the floor and walls, followed by a sequence of explosions.

    Qianye cursed out loud and pushed Lu Yn down under his body. Following which, he rolled through the hallway with the force of the explosion and tumbled several meters away with the girl in his arms. All this while, he had to dodge the bricks falling down continuously from above.

    Presently, nothing remained between that kitchen, in which the servants were being held, and the end of the corridor. Even the second floor had been smashed down, while the greater half of the external walls had copsed, revealing the deep night sky.

    There wasn¡¯t even a single groaning from the rubble. Those ordinary people happened to be at the center of the explosion and were all buried under the copsing building. It was impossible for them to survive.

    Meanwhile, a giant steel shield had been erected seemingly out of nowhere at a corner of the corridor. Hiding within the triangr space formed by the steel te and the wall, Chen Lu didn¡¯t even suffer any of the shockwaves. Her body was weak and her position was quite close to the room. Shockwaves of such intensity would badly injure her even if they didn¡¯t kill her on the spot. It seemed she had already made preparations to hide even before she took action.

    Qianye said with an angry expression, ¡°Those are civilians!¡±

    Chen Lu replied indifferently, ¡°But they have eyes and mouths.¡± She walked past Qianye on her own and said, ¡°Naive little fellow, you would¡¯ve died countless times if you were to have dealings with the rebel army. You¡¯re trying to lecture me? Let¡¯s go. We should leave this ce.¡±

    While talking, Chen Lu suddenly halted her steps and swept her gaze over Lu Yn from head to toe. Lu Yn was originally quite pale, but at this moment, she met the other party¡¯s gaze with great determination. Chen Lu let out a cold snort and turned around to leave inrge strides.

    The three drove out a jeep from the manor garage. They threw the spoils of war onto the car, started the engine, and left the raging mes of the burning manor behind them.

    The jeep drove through the wilderness for four hours and arrived at a small town around sunrise. Their target was a house located in the northern corner of this town consisting of a three-storied building and a medium-sized courtyard.

    Chen Lu jumped off the car and proceeded to bang on the house door with a particr rhythm. Momentster, a small window opened up on the ck door from which a pale old man peered out before opening the door.

    The residents here looked like a rich merchant family. There were even a fair number of servants who had gotten up to work at the break of dawn. However, none of them showed any surprise to see Chen Lu and the dustden Qianye and Lu Yn. All of them kept on doing their own jobs as if they hadn¡¯t seen anything.

    The three were brought to a guest room¡ªthey passed through the main building and arrived at the two exquisitely designed houses with white walls and ck eaves. Lu Yn went off to bathe first, while Qianye followed Chen Lu into an inner room resembling a study.

    Only then did Chen Lu finally rx and extended her hand toward Qianye. ¡°Now, you can give me the goods.¡±

    Qianye brought out the boulderheart jade letter and ced it on the table. ¡°Are these people from the rebel army?¡±

    Chen Lu smiled and leaned back into the chair. She then nced at Qianye and said, ¡°It can be said that they are, and it can also be said that they aren¡¯t. In truth, they are just civilian merchants whose lives are no different from ordinary people. They don¡¯t have any dealings with the rebel army either. But when needed, they can provide us with everything. Everything, you understand?¡±

    Everything¡ªthis signified that they were willing to sacrifice even their lives. These people acted as the eyes and ears of the rebel army. How terrifying would it be If there were arge number of them? None of the civil affairs of the empire would be able to escape the rebel army¡¯s notice.

    Qianye went silent for a moment and said, ¡°This is iprehensible.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing too difficult to understand here. There are too many reasons for them to do such things. To the empire, only the major ns could be considered their true citizens. Thendowning ss are only second-rate people, to speak nothing of themoners. Trivial matters not even worth mentioning in the eyes of those major characters might perhaps decide amoner household¡¯s life or death. The empire is vast and such cases are abundant, hence the existence of the rebel army.¡±

    Chen Lu paused momentarily before revealing a mocking smile. ¡°A single Zhao n couldn¡¯t handle it so the empire called in Grand Marshal Lin Xitang and his Northern Legion. But then what? After several years, the rebel army is still growingrger andrger.¡±

 Volume 4 - 59: Array Lock

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 59: Array Lock

    An indescribable feeling of anger rose in Qianye¡¯s heart after seeing Chen Lu¡¯s disdainful expression.

    He said coldly, ¡°So what? You think the rebel army would have had the opportunity to thrive if the imperial warriors hadn¡¯t been busy obstructing the hordes of the dark races? I don¡¯t recall the rebel army fighting the dark races even once. Why don¡¯t they try to achieve something if they¡¯re really so capable?¡±

    Chen Lu¡¯s smile deepened. ¡°Ah, the temper of youth! But it¡¯s useless no matter how angry you get. The imperial soldiers have no choice but to hold the line once hordes descend. So what if you disapprove? If you really hate this so much, why don¡¯t you go and eradicate the rebel army? But with just you? Heh heh!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression became even colder. ¡°What of it?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be devoured whole, bones and all, if you tried. What major business can you aplish when you¡¯re so soft-hearted and sloppy even when silencing witnesses?¡±

    Qianye was slightly distracted because he actually hadn¡¯t expected such an answer. He suddenly recalled having heard from Shi Yan how even Lin Xitang had made little progress when he first arrived on the Western Continent. Arge part of that could be attributed to the fact that the rebels were hiding among the civilians and were difficult to differentiate. Marshal Lin refused to utilize a scorched earth policy and hence caused a dy in military progress. He was even summoned back to the empire to deliver a report regarding this matter.

    Seeing that Qianye wasn¡¯t speaking, Chen Lu pointed at the main building and said, ¡°You can¡¯t kill off the rebel army. It won¡¯t disappear as long as people like these exist. Little boy, you¡¯ll know when you grow up a bit. Okay, there¡¯s no time to lecture you on these major principles. I¡¯ll ept the goods now.¡±

    Chen Lu reached out to take the boulderheart jade letter, but it was pressed down by Qianye who had just snapped out of his thoughts.

    Chen Lu raised her graceful brows and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°So many things have happened. Don¡¯t you feel you owe me an exnation? For instance, what the goods were about?¡± There was a strand of almost unnoticeable coldness in his unyielding tone.

    Chen Lu became silent for a moment. She then withdrew her frivolous expression and said seriously, ¡°You must be young master Qianye, right? Our seventh young master has long since instructed us to answer your questions truthfully, but are you sure you want to wade into these muddy waters?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart was shaken¡ªit seemed that Chen Lu¡¯s identity was even higher than he had expected, and she was likely an important character in the Song n, or more precisely, Song Zining¡¯s faction.

    She must¡¯ve already understood certain things about Qianye. Otherwise, there was no way she could¡¯ve ascertained his identity just from the rescue and the few hours of subsequent interaction. It was just that Lone Ghost had only been able to obtain the courier¡¯s physical appearance and professional ranking, but not his actual identity. From this, it was apparent that Song Zining had already taken certain precautions in advance.

    As for the pool of muddy water in front of Qianye, he originally only wanted to hear what Chen Lu had to say in order to get rid of that stifling sensation in his chest. But he was surprised by the instructions the woman before him had just stated. Did Song Zining mean to keep nothing at all from him?

    Qianyeughed wryly¡ªSong Zining hadn¡¯t changed at all since their days in Yellow Springs. He was straightforward in apletely different sense and had no restraints at all.

    Back in training camp, they were able to trust one another with their backs even in an exam where students were tasked with killing one another. What about now? Qianye suddenly realized that it was probably not Song Zining who needed to think about how to give him an exnation but, instead, it was he who had to think about how he would face the following answer.

    Despite the million thoughts running through his mind, Qianye said indifferently with a calm expression, ¡°I¡¯ve already crossed over.¡±

    Chen Lu nodded. ¡°Then allow me to demonstrate.¡±

    Qianye moved his hand away, allowing Chen Lu to take the boulderheart jade letter. Upon instilling it with origin power, a set of numbers and a diagramposed of lines emerged on the smooth surface of the jade.

    Chen Lumitted this to memory and then flipped the jade tablet over. A faint origin power glow appeared at her fingertips with which she reproduced the diagram she had seen just now on the jade¡¯s surface. As the final stroke fell in ce, the jade tablet split into two halves with a ¡°crack¡±, and a fingernail-sized crystal disk fell out from within.

    Chen Lu took out a set of equipment from a secretpartment in the bookshelf, carefully ced the crystal disk inside, and flipped the switch. The apparatus shot out a beam of white light which illuminated the crystal with a magnificent brilliance.

    The radiance changed along as she adjusted the apparatus. Momentster, the picture stopped to form another set of numbers and a line diagram.

    Chen Lu once again memorized this and ced the crystal disk on the side. She then extracted another ck crystal disk of simr size and shape from the storagepartment at the bottom of the apparatus. She inserted this into the device and manipted the white light so that it fell upon the ck crystal from different angles.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s gaze suddenly froze. He realized that this so-called boulderheart jade letter was only an outer shell which housed the origin array chip inside. Chen Lu was apparently an expert in this field and could use a device to decode and reproduce the origin array.

    Chen Lu picked up the crystal disk andpared it with the copy. She then crushed both into fine powder because she had already memorized the array and could make a copy anytime.

    She exhaled deeply, put away the device, and turned to Qianye. ¡°That¡¯s it. What you just delivered was an origin array segment embedded within a mother array. Normally, it wouldn¡¯t affect thetter¡¯s functions and would only activate after receiving a special signal.¡±

    Chen Lu paused momentarily, then added, ¡°The function of this segment, when activated, is to disable the mother array and lock down the origin gun.¡±

    A vague premonition arose in Qianye¡¯s heart as he said slowly, ¡°But the origin arrays in mass-produced origin gunse fully formed. Where would you insert this segment?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a reserved slot within the origin array of each and every gun sold to the rebels by the Ningyuan Group, and I¡¯m the one who will insert this segment into them.¡±

    Qianye suddenly understood¡ªChen Lu was the technical officer and as such the maintenance and remodeling of all origin guns was in her hands. The origin guns sold by Ningyuan group¡¯s channels had no problems originally but would be problematic after being maintained by Chen Lu.

    Once the percentage of such origin guns had expanded to a certain level, a middle-ranking fighting force capable of using origin guns would be caught off guard in battle and face inevitable defeat.

    Qianye broke into a frown. This sounded quite good, but the implementation period was long and the risks were great. Just like this time, if Lone Ghost had gotten its way and revealed Ningyuan group¡¯s trade with the rebel army, Song Zining might not have been able to escape the implications. As for the true reason behind this trade, those with evil intentions would make sure not to let them see the light of day.

    There were many other methods to strike at the rebel army, so why did Song Zining choose such a convoluted method? What would he do if he encountered an idental setback? There was no way that Song Zining hadn¡¯t foreseen the dangers in this endeavor if even Qianye could see through them. This really didn¡¯t feel like his way of doing things.

    ¡°Who¡¯s Song Ziqi? Was he the one who hired Lone Ghost to disturb this transaction?¡±

    ¡°Song Ziqi is the third young master of the Song n and is ranked fourth among the sessors to the n lord¡¯s title. These high-ranking young masters not only fight ferociously among themselves but also attempt to form alliances everywhere. The seventh young master had always maintained a neutral position and his family branch only slightly leaned towards that of the eldest young master. Originally, he was able to live together with everyone in harmony, but the old ancestor of the Song n began to show favor towards him at one point and it became increasingly difficult for him to conceal his rapidly increasing strength. This caused many others to view him as a threat and Song Ziqi was one such person.¡±

    Chen Lu sneered, ¡°This time, Song Ziqi wanted to seize evidence of the trade between the Ningyuan Group and the rebel army. This crime would be sufficient for the seventh young master to be expelled from the family or even suffer a secret execution. In truth, they would secretly assassinate the seventh young master as soon as he was captured in order to consolidate this crime. Their ambitions aren¡¯t limited to just toppling the seventh young master¡¯s branch, either. They have ns to utilize this incident to attack other people.¡±

    Qianye inhaled deeply and said while disguising the killing intent in his eyes, ¡°I heard that the Drinking Horse Yin n is rted by marriage to a branch of the Song n?¡±

    A strand of confusion appeared on Chen Lu¡¯s face, but she soon understood the question. ¡°You must be referring to the second young master Song Zian¡¯s connections. They once used the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt to suppress seventh young master¡¯s evaluation. But Song Ziqi and Song Zian aren¡¯t on the same team.¡±

    Qianye nodded and then told her about Ma Zhong¡¯s verbal confession. ¡°I feel that it¡¯s not just Ma Zhong who had incidentally discovered this secret. I think there might be problems with the people on Zining¡¯s side.¡±

    A stern expression shed across Chen Lu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not that spineless bastard! Song Ziqi got wind of the trade between Ningyuan Heavy Industries and the rebel army from sources outside of the Western Continent. I¡¯ll definitely report this matter to the seventh young master after returning. We have to perform a thorough cleanup of personnel both on his side and the Western Continent.¡±

    ¡°Are you returning to the rebel army?¡±

    ¡°The important characters here are all dead. Naturally, whatever I say is the truth.¡± Chen Lu continued with great confidence, ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy to form this trade route. How can we just throw it away? Meanwhile, the fact remains that Song Ziqi had hired Lone Ghost to destroy one of the Egret Corps transaction points. This news must be made known to the rebel army dignitaries.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood Chen Lu¡¯s intention to shift the me, but he himself had little toment on such schemes. ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave now since there¡¯s nothing else on your side.¡±

    Chen Lu stood up and asked, ¡°Will you return to Evernight Continent? Is there anything else you need here?¡±

    Qianye muttered to himself momentarily, then said, ¡°I can¡¯t ship away all those things in the car. If possible, introduce me to a reliable channel so that I can sell them off.¡±

    ¡°Wait for me.¡± Chen Lu left the room and came back after mere moments. She tossed Qianye a ring and said, ¡°Take this token and visit chief auctioneer Zhao Runshui in Serenity. He will give you a fair price.¡± She shrugged and said, ¡°The Zhao n has never cared about one¡¯s affiliation so you should be safe back in the city, but it¡¯s never wrong to exercise caution.¡±

    Qianye fiddled with the ring and said with a smile, ¡°This batch of origin guns won¡¯t drift into the hands of the rebel army, will it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. However, the auction in Serenity belongs to the Zhao n. You should be seeking them out if, in the end, these gunsnd in the hands of the rebel army.¡±

    Qianye nodded and said, ¡°Many thanks. Then I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± After some thought, Qianye decided to follow Chen Lu¡¯s channel and also observe the situation in Serenity. Additionally, his luggage was still in the small inn. Although it wasn¡¯t that important to him, he would still need to replenish some supplies for use in the wilderness if he nned to visit the ce housing the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s Treasure.

    Chen Lu finally revealed a charming expression and smiled much more normally. ¡°You saved me this time, so I¡¯ll help you modify your weapons free of charge. Anything below grade six, I can modify or upgrade. But you¡¯ll have to pay for the materials yourself. I¡¯m not rich!¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°Got it.¡±

    He immediately saw Lu Yn as he walked out of the room. She had just finished bathing and even her hair hadn¡¯t yet driedpletely. She was sitting nkly on the sofa and gazing out the window.

    Qianye momentarily felt somewhat distressed.

 Volume 4 - 60: Ahead

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 60: Ahead

    Qianye gestured towards Lu Yn and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Somewhat stupefied, Lu Yn followed Qianye out and got into the driver¡¯s seat.

    ¡°To Serenity.¡±

    Lu Yn trembled slightly as she turned to nce at Qianye with eyes full of anxiety and uneasiness. ¡°We¡¯re going back to Serenity?¡±

    ¡°I have some business there. Why? Does Lone Ghost have more agents there?¡±

    ¡°Only some external informers. You¡¯ve killed most of Lone Ghost¡¯s main characters in this region, but they¡¯ll soon discover that something has happened here. At that time, they¡¯ll dispatch some elders over.¡± Lu Yn¡¯s voice trembled slightly. Apparently, those Lone Ghost elders weren¡¯t easy to deal with.

    Qianye had already familiarized himself with the distribution of Lone Ghost¡¯s force on the Western Continent. He thus replied indifferently, ¡°It¡¯ll take them a couple of days at least. We still have enough time. You¡¯ll be free once I leave Serenity.¡±

    Lu Yn couldn¡¯t help but shiver after hearing these words.

    Qianye realized what had happened and said with a smile, ¡°Rx, you did well along the way, so I won¡¯t kill you. And I believe you¡¯re clever enough not to do something foolish like returning to Lone Ghost.¡±

    Lu Yn nodded and started the engine in silence.

    After arriving in Serenity, Qianye collected his luggage at the small inn and moved to a more centrally located establishment owned by the Zhao n. He, himself, didn¡¯t linger there and rushed towards the auction house despite the time being close to nightfall.

    Zhao Runshui was from a side branch of the Zhao n. His bloodline was so thin that he could barely be called a member of the n. Even so, the Zhao surname had yed an essential part in allowing him to obtain this lucrative post at the Serenity auction house.

    The ce had already closed for the evening, but Zhao Runshui was still taking inventory of the day¡¯s ie and hadn¡¯t yet left.

    He weed Qianye inside with great enthusiasm once the guards passed him the token that Qianye had presented. He even dispatched some men to call back the appraiser and trader who had already left and proceeded to evaluate Qianye¡¯s guns one by one.

    Qianye suddenly realized something while looking at Zhao Runshui¡¯s appearance. Song Zining¡¯s original instructions had stated that the recipient was a champion from the Zhao n. Although this was just a disguise, it probably wasn¡¯t without reason. Perhaps Song Zining did have simr connections within the Zhao n. It was just that this incident had stemmed from the Song n¡¯s internalpetition for the sessor¡¯s position¡ªnot even the core members of the Zhao n would interfere in this, to say nothing of a mere champion.

    Qianye sighed in his mind. This whole excursion to the Western Continent had been full of battle and murder. His emotions became extremelyplicated whenever he thought of the stories hidden behind all the bloodshed.

    Zhao Runshuipleted his evaluation and brought over a thick resource catalog. Qianye casually flipped through it and requested some rare materials that could be easily carried with him. He also expressed a desire to obtain some weapons used specifically to target the dark races.

    Zhao Runshui didn¡¯t ask anything and brought out five Mithril Bullets of Exorcism as well as a special jade box.

    The origin bullets within the box were a pleasant surprise to Qianye. He had never expected to see a Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang in an auction house. This was a type of bullet whose firepower wasparable to that of the ck Titanium Bullet of Exorcism. That was, of course, when used against the dark races.

    Comparatively, even ¡°the bullet¡± made by the ¡°great master¡± was a grade inferior. If Zalen had been shot in the chest by a Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang, he would have likely turned into a charred corpse in an instant, without any chance to recover or treat his wounds.

    Afterpleting the deal, Qianye returned to the hotel and found Lu Yn asleep on the sofa, curled up in an extremely ufortable position. Too many things had happened these days, and it seemed that she was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

    Qianye patted her awake and said, ¡°We should leave now.¡±

    Lu Yn opened her eyes in a daze. ¡°Leave? Where are we going?¡±

    A single word had jolted her awake. Huddled up into a ball, she stared fixedly at Qianye with a pale countenance. She wasn¡¯t that timid in the past, but it had be increasingly difficult to maintain her courage after that first time she flinched on the fine line between life and death.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t kill you. But I¡¯m leaving now, so you¡¯re free to go wherever you want.¡±

    Lu Yn¡¯s eyes flickered as she suddenly said, ¡°Can you arrange something for me?¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°What kind of arrangement?¡±

    Lu Yn sat up straight. In addition to fear, there was also a strand of hope within her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve receivedprehensive training in assassination. It¡¯s just that my field experience isn¡¯t sufficient. My specialties are gambling, management, and information gathering.¡±

    Qianye had already packed. He threw his backpack over the shoulder and said after some hesitation, ¡°I¡¯m currently on another mission and can¡¯t bring you along.¡±

    Lu Yn¡¯s expression fell a bit.

    After some thought, Qianye said, ¡°If you¡¯re willing to go to Evernight Continent, you can head to ckflow City in Trinity River County and im a position in the Dark me Mercenary Corps.¡±

    After that, Qianye tossed her a pouch of money. ¡°Lone Ghost won¡¯t dare cause a big ruckus in Zhao n territory, so the public airships might be safer.¡±

    Lu Yn hesitated for a moment but finally nodded.

    Qianye thus drove his jeep onto the First Sun Highway under the gradually darkening twilight. At first, he would still pass by travelers who were hurrying towards the city, but after a while, only the wilderness remained in every direction.

    A segment of the starry night sky was upied by a gigantic moon, and one could clearly see the mountain ridges rising and falling upon its surface.

    The city of Serenity soon vanished on the other side of the horizon. There was only boundless night wherever Qianye nced¡ªit was as if the sky and the wilderness had merged together into one.

    It felt as if he were the only one left on this whole continent. An unfamiliar star as hung upon the firmament¡ªthe sky of each continent in this world was unique, and the stars and moons appeared different to people on different continents,.

    At this moment, many faces appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind. He suddenly began to miss his friends, acquaintances, and even those whom he had only met for a couple of times. Countless images shed before his eyes: Song Zining passing over the green tea, Wei Potian as he constantly lost his fights, Nighteye¡¯s figure as she turned towards the airship cemetery, Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s smile as she nced at him from beside the creek, and even that of William as he drooled while gazing at the meat roasting over the bonfire.

    With this, Qianye knew he was feeling lonely. It seemed the older he grew, the more afraid he was of loneliness. But he also knew that this feeling was different from when he was escaping Darkblood City. Presently, every bit of longing was born of concern and every bit of loneliness was born of the expectation of a reunion.

    After crossing over two provinces, the Fallen Star Mountain Range, which extended for thousands of kilometers, came into view in the distance. Hidden there was another piece of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s legacy, the Eye of Truth.

    Qianye had already guessed, after merging the Twin Flowers twice, that the pair of wings which had suddenly appeared on the dark golden blood energy was very likely the Wings of Inception. But even if he had no intention to obtain more power bybining it with the Eye of Truth, he still couldn¡¯t sit by and watch as such an important item fell into the hands of the dark races.

    The jeep drove farther along the road, day in and day out, toward the boundless mountain and his boundless destiny.

    Western Swallow Province was one of the Zhao n¡¯s four provinces, and it was also a territory the n had opened up and constructed from scratch.

    The Zhao n¡¯s ancestors, as the meritorious ministers during the founding of the empire, were entitled to a single county. Later on, by virtue of the skill and wisdom of sessive n lords, they had exchanged the county for half a province on the Western Continent. Back then, the empire had just extended its reach here and it was a charrednd enveloped by the mes of war,pletely iparable to the fertilends at the empire¡¯s belly.

    However, the Zhao n produced experts in every generation. With this as a foundation, they were able to seize territories one after another from the hands of the dark races and finally became a great n whose influence spanned four provinces.

    In truth, it wasn¡¯t just the Zhao n¡ªthe other ns had also made contributions as pioneers¡ªeven the Song n, known for its trade and less so for its military might, had gained its core fiefdoms by developing them from the ground up. That was also the reason why theirnds were hereditary.

    No foundation was conjured out of thin air. Every inch of territory was exchanged for an inch of blood and buried beneath them were the heroic spirits of warriors from each generation.

    The jeep had only gone past half of the Western Swallow Province when there was no longer any road in front of Qianye. The Western Swallow Continent was quite odd¡ªhalf of it was flourishing while the other half was iparably deste with numerous traces of having been deserted after the war. The boundaries between the flourishing and deste regions were also the border regions where the dark races would frequently attack.

    After seeing no more road ahead, Qianye knew he had left the safe zone. Following the markings on the map, he found a small border city wherein he sold off the jeep and bought a short-legged horse famous for its endurance. The road ahead was a boundless desert and was impossible to traverse without specialized vehicles. The horse was an easy-to-purchase means of transportation with the best price to quality ratio.

    On the evening of the second day, Qianye discovered an isted stone table which read: Great Qin Border.

    He would officially exit the imperial territory after passing this boundary tablet.

    At this time, a gust of wind blew past and kicked up arge cloud of yellow sand. Even the sun in the sky became somewhat distorted, but the sandstorm couldn¡¯t affect the boundless light and warmth projected onto this uninhabited area.

    The horse under Qianye was already somewhat listless, and his water pouch was already half empty. It would be dangerous if he couldn''t¡¯ exit the desert before he used up his water supply. An expert¡¯s strength could only help so much in such a vast and uninhabited region.

    But this naturally adverse environment was especially silent. After one more night, Qianye could already see the mountain range far in the distance. The winds blowing in his face had also be less scorching.

    He should reach the dark race territory after entering the Fallen Star Mountain Range. Originally, this was an extremely deste and sparsely popted mountain region, popted a multitude of wild beasts. However, Qianye had seen numerous dark race squads roaming this area. Apparently, it was no longer as tranquil as it was in the past.

    After walking out of the desert, Qianye set the horse free and walked into the vast mountains alone. He was fairly cautious and avoided advancing rashly. He took a rest after finding a proper hiding ce despite it still being light outside, nning to restore his stamina to its peak before going deeper into the mountain.

    Afterwards, Qianye fell into a deep sleep while leaning on the cliffside.

    In his dream, he seemed to hear a voice call out to him continuously. It sounded very familiar, but he couldn¡¯t recall where he had heard it before.

    The voice repeated the words at a uniform frequency for an unknown length of time before Qianye was able to hear it clearly. ¡°Approach me. Bring me my head and I shall help you be the king of this world!¡±

    Qianye was suddenly jolted awake!

    The voice in his dream had been extremely vivid, and it seemed to echo in his ears even after waking up. He finally recalled where he had heard this voice before; it was just after he had obtained the crystal disk fragment from Baron Deryl.

    From his experience interacting with Andruil¡¯s consciousness, Qianye realized that this voice was most likely not a hallucination, but a summons from a certain entity. It was just that he couldn''t confirm whether the voice was calling out just to him or if other people could also hear it.

    But why was this rted to a crystal fragment which Andruil had left for his servant? Could it also be a remnant of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s consciousness?

    Qianye inhaled deeply. He felt rather uneasy¡ªperhaps he would encounter more than just the Eye of Truth in this endeavor.

    The next day, Qianye finally discovered traces of dark race activity when he arrived at a vampire castle which stood towering over a certain valley.

 Volume 4 - 61: Abrupt Change

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 61: Abrupt Change

    The castle wasn¡¯t very big, but the environs were fairly beautiful. The towering old trees and the flower orchards that had already be part of the courtyard scenery indicated that this ce had been established for hundreds of years.

    Qianye pondered momentarily and then began to slowly approach the castle. He intended to observe this family¡¯s strength.

    A number of airships were parked in a small za to the side of the castle, filling the small space to the point of bursting. It was clear that such arge number of airships would never appear here under normal circumstances.

    Qianye frowned slightly after counting in his mind¡ªjust the number of vampires he could see already far surpassed the scale of a single castle. Even if it were a marquis living here, there shouldn¡¯t be so many of them even after adding up his descendants and private troops.

    It was clear that this castle had already turned into a transitional base.

    As night gradually descended, squads of vampires walked out of the castle and swiftly disappeared deeper into the mountain range. At the same time, another vampire unit emerged from the mountainous region and entered the castle.

    Qianye watched for a while, resisting the urge to capture a live prisoner for interrogation. The vampires were cautious creatures¡ªthey would immediately deduce that there was a hidden enemy nearby if one of theirpanions went missing, especially when they were all in distinct groups.

    After some time had passed, Qianye began to shift his scouting position and, after familiarizing himself with the pattern of the vampire squads, followed one of them deeper into the mountainous region.

    There were ten-odd members forming this vampire squad¡ªall of them were d in ck trench coats with a blue ming shield insignia sewn onto their cuffs with dark red thread. Apparently, they were warriors from the same n. The group, led by a knight, traveled silently through the mountainous woods and didn¡¯t utter a single word even after traveling for the greater half of the night.

    The squad arrived at a valley when it was nearly dawn. There was a small camp erected here with everything they might need for rest and replenishment.

    A number of vampires were already within the camp, all of them busy with their own tasks. Some were preparing food while others were cleaning their origin guns, weapons, and defensive equipment.

    One of the two vampires preparing food was chopping some kind of meat while the other was dragging a man out from a cage and hanging him up on a nearby rank. After this, the vampire pierced some empty needles into the man¡¯s arteries, causing fresh blood to flow out of the pipe on the other end and into the pre-positioned tin cans.

    Qianye was currently on a distant hill. He could clearly see everything going on in the camp with his night vision despite being far away. So much so that he could even make out the ornament attached to a certain female vampire¡¯s long fluttering hair.

    Because of this, Qianye saw that the meat being cut up by the vampire was actually human meat! Fresh human meat!

    There was a number ofrge cages at a corner of the camp, holding ten-odd captives with apathetic expressions and sluggish movements. These humans were bred by the vampires to be used as food. They had long sincee to terms with their fate and had given up on struggling.

    The man suspended on the wooden rack was nearly drained of blood. He was gasping for air with great difficulty and could no longer even utter a word. A vampire warrior came over and collected the tins of fresh blood. Afterwards, he picked up a dagger and began to cut the man up immediately.

    The man who was on hisst breath shook and let out a pained cry as his final struggle. Soon, he lost his voice. Pieces of his carcass fell into the tray after a series of fine cuts and would soon be a dish to be served on the table.

    These vampires belonged to the blood-banquet party, the cruelest and most radical among the primogenitor factions. They not only drank human blood but also ate human flesh. For these vampires, the pained expressions and mournful screams of the humans were the best apaniment for their meals.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was ashen as he gradually lengthened his breathing, strands of scarlet origin power surging up on his body from time to time.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time he had witnessed a blood-banquet. He had even seen some that were crueler andrger in scale than the one before him. But every time he witnessed such a scene, the deeply ingrained anger and sorrow would well up from the bottom of his heart.

    This was an irreconcble enmity between the humans and the vampires, born from every aspect of their daily lives.

    Qianye forced himself to slow down his breathing and shift his hands away from the sniper rifle. [1] It wasn¡¯t a good time to take action because he wouldn¡¯t be able to save these livestock humans even if he could kill all the vampires in the camp. It would only serve topromise his movements.

    Additionally, there inevitably were dark race experts overseeing this mountainous region. Once they were rmed, it would be impossible for Qianye to continue his search for the Eye of Truth, even if he could escape with his life.

    The group of vampires became obviously rxed after entering the camp. They unloaded their equipment in session, sat down at the table, and began to wolf down the fresh human meat inrge gulps.

    Qianye was just about to leave when an unexpected incident urred.

    A vampire warrior heading towards the creek suddenly rose into the air!

    He struggled with all his might and continuously scratched at his throat with both hands. However, he kept rising higher and higher as if he were held by an invisible rope.

    The incident near the creek immediately rmed the resting vampire warriors in the camp. They drew their weapons and began to search for the assant. However, even more warriors were suddenly hoisted into the air, bound by an invisible force. Within moments, strands of blood began to appear on their bodies, splitting them into pieces of flesh which were sent flying through the sky.

    Qianye finally discovered the countless transparent threads weaving through the air. It was these threads that had entangled the vampire warriors and carried their powerful bodies into the air. These transparent threads were iparably resilient and possessed unimaginable cutting power, capable of dismembering a vampire¡¯s powerful body with rtive ease.

    The leader of this camp, being a vampire knight, reacted quickly and brandished his sword to cut apart the invisible threads in the vicinity. He then drew his gun and fired off a volley of shots toward the nearby woods.

    Origin bullets whizzed through like a storm. Branches and leaves flew in every direction as a number of ancient trees fell with loud rumbles.

    At this time, a gigantic figure slowly emerged from amidst the falling leaves. Unexpectedly, it was an arachne¡ªits lower body was in arachnid form with natural blue scales covering its abdomen.

    The scale armor seemed fine and delicate, but its defensive power was quite exceptional. The vampire knight¡¯s shot had struck the arachne squarely in the abdomen, but was only able to leave a meter-long wound that was as deep as a palm. This could only be considered a minor injury to an arachne.

    He extended a hand and shot out dozens of spider silk strands which continuously entangled the vampire warriors. Additionally,rge patches of spider web would appear around the arachne whenever it moved. A vampire warrior suddenly dashed in from the left side but was glued tightly the moment he stepped into the webs and couldn¡¯t extricate himself no matter how hard he tried.

    The arachneughed maliciously and hacked that high-ranking vampire warrior into two with a swing of its axe.

    The blood knight was both shocked and furious. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±

    The arachne smacked its lips and grinned. ¡°What am I doing you say? I¡¯m wiping you all out of course!¡±

    The blood knight¡¯s eyes flickered with a red glow, and he roared in anger, ¡°Then go to hell!¡±

    Blood-colored light erupted around his body as he activated his full potential and fired a rumbling barrage of origin bullets toward the arachne. Half of them were blocked by the spider webs, but a series of projectiles still found their mark. The arachne let out an explosive shout as he hurled the gigantic axe in his hand towards the blood knight, cutting him into two halves.

    The arachne moved towards the blood knight¡¯s corpse, dug out his heart, and proceeded to eat it up.

    This exceptionally powerful arachne¡¯s strength was close to that of a champion and he was proficient in utilizing spider silk for both offense and defense. With over half of the vampires either killed or injured during the sudden ambush, the situation copsed after the blood knight¡¯s death¡ªsome of the warriors roared and charged towards the arachne while a number of them began to scatter in various directions.

    At this point, Qianye secretly shook his head. Escape was probably impossible against an arachne who was so gifted in the control of spider silk. No one knew just how long he had been hiding in the vicinity and how many traps it hadid down.

    As expected, the fleeing vampires were either hoisted into the air and torn to pieces orpletely immobilized within spider webs that seemed to havee out of nowhere.

    After killing each vampire, the arachne would immediately dig out the victim''s heart and directly swallow it. At this time, Qianye noticed that there were many old scars mixed in among the criss-crossing patterns on the arachne¡¯s body, one of which extended across the arachne¡¯s entire abdomen and nearly cleaved him into two halves. These wounds weren¡¯t left behind by the warriors of this vampire camp.

    Qianye was momentarily enlightened. This arachne was probably a viscount whose strength had fallen due to an unknown injury. Even so, he retained his specialbat technique and, with it, finished off all the warriors in this vampire camp.

    The arachne greedily devoured the vampires¡¯ hearts one by one as if the world would end the next moment. Apparently, he was eager to heal his injuries.

    The hearts of vampires and werewolves, the demonic cores of the arachne, and the origin furnaces of the demonkin were the respective core organs for origin power convergence. Devouringrge amounts at a critical juncture could, indeed, allow one to rapidly recover from injuries. But the problem was that this kind of absorption was extremely wasteful and associated with a fair amount of seque. Apparently, this arachne¡¯s injuries were extremely critical, leaving him with no other choice but to use this kind of extreme method to seek recovery.

    It seemed the dark races active within this vast mountainous region weren¡¯t exactly unified. On the contrary, they likely possessed deep hatred for one another.

    A thought shed through Qianye¡¯s mind as he began to approach the camp stealthily. The arachne was so focused on prying open the vampire corpses and devouring their hearts that he didn¡¯t notice the movements in the vicinity at all.

    Actually, in addition to the unsprung traps it had set up around the camp, an area dozens of meters around the arachne was covered in dense spiderwebs. It was almost impossible tounch a sneak attack against it.

    But Qianye had long since confirmed the coverage area of the webs with his night vision. He moved cautiously through the gaps and halted his steps just beyond the webs spread out on the ground behind the creature.

    Qianye brought out the Twin Flowers and pressed a Mithril bullet of exorcism into it. After this, he activated the Wings of Inception as he merged the guns together and a loud boom echoed out as the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism tore a huge hole in the arachne¡¯s body.

    The arachne suddenly let out a hysterical scream as the translucent white silk frantically wrapped around his body to form a defensive barrier. He turned around, stared fixedly at Qianye and let out a roar while attempting to pounce at him. However, his body had long since been drained of strength and his entire back was charred as if he had been scorched by intense mes. The strands of spider silk were immediately reduced to ash upon contact.

    The arachne was only able to take two steps before copsing onto the ground. However, it still managed to extend its right hand towards Qianye and shoot out a strand of spider silk.

    Qianye took a step back, drew the Scarlet Edge, and hacked down into the air in front of himself. His hand shook from the impact as he cut the spider thread apart. It was as if he had just cut through a steel bar.

    The shrill sound of cut threads echoed through the air as Qianye continued to brandish his de and tear a path through the dense spider webs.

    Qianye arrived within melee range, pointed the Scarlet Edge at the arachne¡¯s throat from a distance, and asked coldly, ¡°Why did you kill them?¡±

    The arachne stared at the dagger in Qianye¡¯s hand, then asked in a hoarse voice, ¡°Which n are you from?¡±

    [1] Author said Eagleshot here, but I think the current sniper is no longer an Eagleshot. Because of this, I¡¯ve reced it with sniper rifle for now. At least until I can confirm things.

 Volume 4 - 62: The Second Fragment

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 62: The Second Fragment

    Qianye waved the Scarlet Edge around and said indifferently, ¡°That¡¯s none of your business. Answer me or I¡¯ll plunge this de into your demonic core.¡±

    How could a dark race expert not recognize a blood absorption weapon, a symbol of the vampires? Having one¡¯s essence blood absorbed while alive was a slow and agonizing way to die.

    But the arachne didn¡¯t seem terrified. His legs began to twitch and his expression turned vacant as he muttered while gasping for air, ¡°I won¡¯t live much longer, so what does it matter how I die? My only regret is that¡­ I obtained it with much difficulty and yet¡­ yet¡­¡±

    Qianye waited for a moment to make sure the arachne¡¯s voice hadpletely died down. After a moment of hesitation, he took two steps forward and pierced his de into the arachne¡¯s demonic core.

    The pure essence blood flowing through the blood absorption de signified that the arachne was indeed a count and was likely just one step away from bing a viscount. It was just that his injuries were so severe that his strength had been reduced to that of a rank-nine fighter.

    Afterwards, Qianye quickly searched the arachne¡¯s body but found nothing special apart from a number of crystal coins. The battle axe was a grade-five weapon, but unfortunately, Qianye would be unable to hide while carrying such a big piece of equipment.

    Qianye got up and took note of the surrounding movements. He then carefully recalled the arachne¡¯s dying words and felt he had missed something.

    He checked the arachne¡¯s carcass once again, and this time, he found something.

    One of the wounds on the arachne¡¯s abdomen appeared somewhat abnormal¡ªit seemed to have closed much faster than the others and was almost fully healed. A thought shed through Qianye¡¯s mind as he cut open the scar and revealed a glittering crystalline light.

    There was actually a crystal fragment within!

    Qianye brought out his own fragment and held the two together in his palm. He found that they were made of the same materials, possessed simr patterns on them, and were more or less of the same size despite the difference in shape. After pairing them side by side, he found that there was, indeed, a segment where they could be connected together seamlessly.

    Qianye had never expected that he would discover this crystal fragment on the arachne¡¯s body. It seemed the battles he had experienced before were likely rted to this item. Could it be that the gift Andruil left behind for his servant was no longer a secret?

    Qianye frowned as he picked up the origin gun which belonged to the blood knight and fired at the wound in which the crystal fragment was hidden. The projectile thoroughly destroyed the flesh around the wound and also wiped away all traces of the crystal fragment¡¯s existence. He then observed the surrounding scene of battle, cleared away traces of his own movement, and left swiftly.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare stay here too long and continued deeper into the mountainous region. He ran for one whole day and night, cautiously avoiding the dark race patrols along the way.

    A number of vampires appeared outside of the camp not long after his departure. They were wearing copper masks and each of them possessed deep and powerful auras.

    ¡°Grote actually died here. This is terrible,¡± one of the vampires said slowly.

    ¡°More importantly, where is the item he took away?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s still on his body. Grote is notorious for his craftiness.¡±

    ¡°A slim hope at best.¡±

    A vampire at their center raised his hand and sprayed out sheets of blood-colored mist from his fingertips which immediately burst into mes upon contact with the arachne¡¯s corpse. Within moments, only a pile of white ash remained of the gigantic carcass.

    The atmosphere among the vampires suddenly became quite depressed as they nced at the pile of white ash and then at each other.

    One of them said, ¡°Grote was sucked dry of all essence blood, and judging from the traces on the carcass, it was done by someone from our race.¡±

    ¡°But the lethal injury was caused by a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that rare to see a human bullet being used. One must know that the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism¡¯s damage against our sacred-blooded races is trulymendable. Also, didn¡¯t you notice that the bullet was fired from a vampire origin gun?¡±

    ¡°This means that the key disk should be with Grote¡¯s killer.¡±

    ¡°It might be wise to initiate arge-scale manhunt¡­¡±

    The vampires in the group immediately shook their heads and said with lowered voices, ¡°That won¡¯t do. We absolutely can¡¯t let other people get wind of this! The key, as well as Andruil¡¯s treasure, must be keptpletely under our control.¡±

    After scanning everyone with his eyes, a vampire said, ¡°This camp belongs to the Fargus n. You, immediately investigate their members dispatched within this area. I want aplete list, and not one of them must be missing. Do I make myself clear?¡±

    The vampire affirmed the order and immediately left.

    At this time, the vampire leader waved his hand and said, ¡°We¡¯ll split up and search. He shouldn¡¯t have gotten far. Let¡¯sb through a radius of 200 kilometers from this point.¡±

    This search perimeter wasn¡¯t small. Even these powerful vampires would have to expend a considerable amount of origin power in order to aplish this. But they silently turned away to execute the orders without a shred of discontentment.

    The key fragment was too important. Even if they couldn¡¯t get their hands on it, they must prevent others frombining them into aplete key.

    The masked vampires moved like the wind and pushed through the mountainous woods like specters. Within moments, they had flipped over numerous mountain ranges and inspected every deep ravine. They passed by many other dark race patrol squads but remainedpletely undiscovered.

    Qianye¡¯s intuition was correct¡ªthe mysterious vampires were no farther than ten kilometers from him at their closest. But at that point, they had already reached the boundary of their search perimeter.

    From the vampires¡¯ point of view, Grote¡¯s killer couldn¡¯t have fled so far in such a short time. Additionally, if that person had indeed left their search radius, it signified that he either possessed a special gift in speed or was exceptionally powerful. This meant that there was no way for them to deal with this assant on their own and would have to report this to their higher-ups.

    Qianye was still running even after the mysterious vampires stopped giving chase. He ran for nearly 400 kilometers before finding a well-hidden spot to rest. On the way, he found some odd things worth pondering.

    The dark races were stretched too thin in this mountainous region, and their numbers were too few. Their average levels weren¡¯t high enough either. It already seemed pretty good if a small squad had a high ranking dark race warrior like a knight leading them. There were even units without any high-ranking warriors. Comparatively, the average strength of the vampire forces was of a higher level.

    In addition, the dark races here were continuously fighting amongst themselves. Just along the way, Qianye had encountered at least half a dozen ongoing battles or traces of them. Their situations weren¡¯t simr to the one-sided ughter at the vampire camp¡ªthe battles were small in scale but in no means inferior in intensity, most of them ending in theplete annihtion of one party. ¡£

    ording to Qianye¡¯s previous experience, this kind of deficiency in operational unity usually meant that they werecking a powerful leader. It could also be that the alliance agreement between the higher-ups didn¡¯t put much emphasis on restraining them, allowing the dark races to settle personal feuds while performing their missions.

    All in all, this probably meant that the dark races still hadn¡¯t found the location of Andruil¡¯s treasure. So much that they might not even have any solid clues regarding it.

    After observing these battles, Qianye felt that it was time to capture someone and ask them some questions since he no longer needed to worry aboutpromising his movements.

    After several hours, Qianye silently followed a search partyprised of some arachne and their servspiders, ambushing them as they entered a short and narrow valley. There was no longer any suspense in the ensuing battle after Qianye grievously wounded the arachne knight leader with his sniper rifle. The remaining two arachne and the dozen or so servspiders were only able to hold out for minutes before they were wiped outpletely.

    Qianye brought out a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism and waved it in front of the dying arachne knight. ¡°Answer my questions and I¡¯ll let you die easy. Otherwise, I¡¯ll stuff this into your mouth.¡±

    The arachne knight¡¯s eyes had just moved away from the Scarlet Edge when it clearly saw what that origin bullet was. It was immediately ovee by a mixture of rage, terror, and perplexion. However, it finally nodded.

    ¡°Where are you lot from and what are you looking for in this ce?¡±

    The arachne struggled somewhat before replying, ¡°We hail from the Hanging Silk Kingdom of the Western Continent, and our mission is to search for a certain historical remain which might exist. Murals, antiques, and tombs are all within the search criteria. As for what the actual goal of this search is, I¡¯m also uninformed.¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly. He knew, from the current clues, that the arachne knight was telling the truth. Such an all-epassing search covering a vast area only went to say that the dark races had no idea regarding the specific location of their objective. So much that they might not even know in what form Andruil¡¯s treasure existed.

    Qianye asked a number of questions from different perspectives and, after confirming that the arachne knew nothing more than he had said, shed its throat apart. After the arachne stopped moving, Qianye plunged the Scarlet Edge into its demonic core.

    The blood energy within Qianye¡¯s body was nearing its maximum capacity after absorbing the arachne patrol squad¡¯s essence blood. But even after transforming such arge amount of essence blood into darkness origin power, he still wasn¡¯t able to let the dark golden blood energy to upgrade again.

    Qianye cleaned up the scene and wiped away the traces of his position. However, he left behind traces which showed the corpse was drained of its essence blood.

    Later along the way, Qianye took the risk to ambush two more search parties. Finally, he squeezed out some information from a vampire baron and discovered that the person in charge of overseeing the operation on Fallen Star Mountain Range was Duke Bellini of the vampire race.

    After hearing this news, Qianye¡¯s taut nerves rxed somewhat.

    Presently, there may be great monarchs from the dark raceparable in strength to Andruil and could possibly break the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s arrangements. However, this character definitely wasn¡¯t a mere vampire duke. Putting a duke in charge of this operation and not someone of higher standing meant that the dark races hadn¡¯t found out further clues.

    This was good news. It meant that as long as Qianye was careful enough, he wouldn¡¯t encounter especiallyrge forces at the entrance of his destination.

    Qianye climbed onto a tall peak and gazed into the distance. Hepared the current topography against the one he had seen in Andruil¡¯s consciousness and found that the Eye of Truth should be located in a central region of the Fallen Star Mountain Range.

    Qianye traveled for the next three days without attacking any more patrol squads along the way. This went on until the familiar silhouette of a towering solitary mountain appeared in his eyes.

 Volume 4 - 63: Discovery

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 63: Discovery

    The lone peak was verdant, tall, and precipitous. This exceptionally eye-catching peak, akin to a sword pointing towards the sky, was one of the prominentndmarks Qianye had noticed in the scene Andruil had shown him.

    He proceeded even more cautiously and gradually approached the lone peak under the cover of the surrounding topography. Dark race activity was obviously greater in this region, but it was still manageable as there was no increase in the inherent strength of the patrol squads.

    Even though the Wings of Inception would be able to sense the entrance when it was nearby, searching for it in an area spanning thousands of square kilometers was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.

    But sometimes, the clumsiest of methods was the most effective. Qianye had alreadymitted thendscape to memory and, thus, with himself as the center, he split the region into thousands of small areas which heter went through one by one.

    On the second day, a group of humans appeared in Qianye¡¯s field of vision.

    Hardly able to believe his eyes, he brought out a differential scope and began to scan them.

    He scanned for vampires first and found that, among the dozens of people, about half were surging with blood energy, while the other half was non-reactive. Next, he found that the others were non-reactive in werewolf, demonkin and arachne modes as well. A faint glow began to shine on their bodies only when he switched to the daybreak origin power gauge.

    Qianye put down the scape with a heavy heart. Excluding the possibility that the enemy had utilized special anti-detection methods, the current results could almost confirm that half of the group consisted of humans, while the other half was made up of vampires.

    Under normal circumstances, humans who cultivated daybreak origin power would be like sheep among wolves after entering dark race territory and would be torn to shreds before getting very far. Additionally, there was no need for the dark races to disguise themselves in this special region where their forces were especially concentrated.

    This meant that these were bona fide humans who cultivated daybreak origin power and not those fellows who had fallen to the Evernight Faction. Such people were currently walking together in harmony with vampires¡ªthere was definitely something going on behind this.

    Their manners were also somewhat peculiar. Instead of moving around aimlessly like ordinary patrol squads, they would pause after moving a certain distance, whereupon some of the humans in the group would operate certain machines or assume odd cultivating stances. Only after a while would they head over to the next region.

    Qianye found, after observing them a number of times, that they seemed to be using special equipment, detection origin arrays, and spatial fluctuations. This gave him a bad, albeit vague, premonition.

    He didn¡¯t continue tracking them but instead continued with his own search. But after half a day, he came across yet another simr group.

    Qianye decided to take a risk after seeing that the unit had entered and stopped within a valley. He activated his Bloodline Concealment and retracted his aura, then circled to the front and hid inside an ancient tree.

    This was an extremely dangerous endeavor. Although the party wasn¡¯t being overseen by a champion-level character, it still had several rank-eight knights in addition to arge number of high-ranking warriors. Without the advantage of range, it would be difficult for Qianye to even escape unscathed from such a force.

    But his luck was quite good¡ªthe group did indeed walk over to where he was hiding but stopped when they were about 200 meters from his position. At such a distance, Qianye could clearly hear what they were talking about.

    The vampire leader was a knight and, from his hangman¡¯s noose insignia, it was apparent that he was a member of the Byrne n. The other vampires were also mostly warriors from the Byrne n. The human leader, on the other hand, was a middle-aged man with a gloomy and distracted expression.

    The Byrne n knight and the middle-aged man stood together, looking at the men setting up the equipment or sensing their surroundings using meditation and origin arrays.

    Impatience shed across the Byrne n knight¡¯s countenance as he said, ¡°We¡¯ve been searching for ten whole days with nothing to show for it. If you wretched humans dare lie to me, I¡¯ll tear you all to shreds and put you on the dining table!¡±

    The middle-aged man fearlessly responded to the Byrne n knight¡¯s threat with a sneer, ¡°Our progress during these ten days is obvious. The numbers show that we¡¯re gradually closing in on the entrance. Hmph, you morons must¡¯ve searched for months before working together with me, but what have you found?¡±

    ¡°This is an insult to our great ancient Byrne n!¡±

    ¡°A mere knight can¡¯t represent the whole n,¡± the middle-aged man replied impolitely.

    The knight drew his sword in a bout of fury and pressed its edge against the middle-aged man¡¯s neck. ¡°Despicable human, all of you are only good for being diced and ced upon the dining table!¡±

    The middle-aged man wasn¡¯t moved at all, and there was even some disdain in his smile. He pushed the de away and said, ¡°The current cooperation between us was finalized by the major characters. If you dare kill me and dy matters, not only you but also this whole squad will be wiped out. Away with your de, idiot.¡±

    The blood knight¡¯s pale face warped and twisted while his chest heaved with great intensity. He suddenly pulled back his sword and growled, ¡°You best be able to prove your worth. Or else, I¡¯ll personally dig your heart out!¡±

    The middle-aged man nced askance at him and mocked, ¡°You¡¯re just a bastard who hasn¡¯t even condensed a blood core. If we really start fighting, it''ll be me digging your heart out instead. And don¡¯t forget that the person working with us is Duke Garis. Do you intend to dere war on him?¡±

    Neither of them was willing to give way in this verbal spar. From how the subordinate vampires and humans were all minding their own business, it was apparent that they had already be ustomed to this kind of quarrel.

    Dark clouds filled Qianye¡¯s heart. He was puzzled as to why these humans would choose to work with the dark races, but it was apparent that they possessed certain techniques and information that might allow them to find the entrance to Andruil¡¯s hidden treasure before long.

    Qianye knew he had to act faster.

    After the group left, he continued on his own journey. He encountered many units along the way and their strengths were also increasing.

    At dawn the next day, Qianye was struck by a sudden sense of rm. The dark golden blood energy was still sleepingzily outside his heart, but the pair of small wings on its back fluttered a number of times. After this, he felt a gentle voice calling out to him from the northwest.

    It was the entrance!

    Qianye calmed down his rapidly beating heart. It was imperative that he be more cautious at this point. He regted his physical condition and returned himself to a state of concealed bloodline before running in the direction from which he was being called.

    At this moment, over ten people were standing on an isted peak and gazing into the distance. Since this was the highest point in a radius of hundreds of kilometers, one was able to take in the entire region while standing here.

    The ten-odd people looked different and possessed greatly different demeanors. Over half of them belonged to the dark race, but there were also a number of humans among them. The leader on the dark race side was a vampire count while the humans were led by a young man, not even thirty years of age.

    The vampire count asked the young man, ¡°Mr. Li Rui, how¡¯s the progress on your side?¡±

    He was fairly polite and didn¡¯t show the slightest hint of arrogance before this human. That was because he knew that this young man¡¯s age actually exceeded his external appearance and that his strength was much greater than his frail body would suggest. This vampire count couldn¡¯t hope to emerge victorious in a battle with this human.

    Li Rui¡¯s gaze swept across the vast mountainous region below him, and he said with a smile, ¡°We already have a general idea of its whereabouts. I¡¯m currently four parts sure that Andruil¡¯s treasure is within this region.¡±

    The sound of a falcon suddenly echoed through the air as a fierce-looking bird flew in from the distance andnded on Li Rui¡¯s shoulder. He retrieved a copper tube from its ws and pulled out a paper slip from within. Once he had read the message, he allowed the bird to fly away.

    With a wave of Li Rui¡¯s hand, his servants approached and opened up a map for him. He confirmed the coordinates for a moment and then marked down a certain location. There were dozens of simrly eye-catching marks on the map, vaguely forming a spiral shape together.

    Li Rui stared at the map momentarily, then said to the vampire count, ¡°We have more good news. We¡¯ve picked up yet another origin power fluctuation. It seems our target is quite likely to be in this region. We should be able to find the entrance to the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure within half a month. When the timees, I hope Duke Garis will honor his word.¡±

    The vampire count replied proudly, ¡°We are of the great ancient Lakins n. Duke Garis won''t go back on his promise under any circumstances, so please rest assured!¡±

    Li Rui smiled. ¡°All is well then. ording to our agreement, everything rted to the Wings of Inception will go to your side, while everything else will be split 50-50. Additionally, I¡¯ve already prepared enough ck crystals and mithril. I hope our uing deal will go smoothly.¡±

    ¡°300 origin guns specially-crafted for human use are already being shipped. They should reach your hands after a month.¡±

    Li Rui extended his hand and said, ¡°Wonderful! I look forward to a joyful cooperation!¡±

    The vampire count hesitated for a moment, but in the end still reached out to shake Li Rui¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Eh?¡± At this time, Li Rui¡¯s eyes suddenly shifted towards the distance.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± The vampire count followed Li Rui¡¯s gaze but found nothing.

    Li Rui frowned and said slowly, ¡°I thought I saw someone moving in that direction, but I¡¯m not too certain because of the distance.¡±

    Not just the vampire count, but all the other vampires on the peak were visibly moved. The location Li Rui had pointed towards just now was dozens of kilometers away. All they could see from such a distance were the dense mountainous woods. How could they spot a person¡¯s figure? Just in terms of perception, this constantly smiling and polite Li Rui had overwhelmed all of these vampires.

    The vampire count was secretly rmed, but said without much change in countenance, ¡°Maybe someone lost his way?¡±

    Li Rui frowned even more, then suddenly said, ¡°No, something¡¯s not right! I have a bad feeling about this. Li Zhan, take some men and check that location. Now!¡±

    The patrol squads in the region were strictly assigned to their own perimeters. However, it was difficult to tell the direction in the vast mountainous woods, so a slight deviation in their routes wasn¡¯t a big deal. But a single person moving through the woods was definitely abnormal.

    A staunch man with killing intent concealed between his brows answered Li Rui¡¯s call. He gestured to the several warriors behind him and immediately jumped off the cliff.

    He fell straight down for almost a hundred meters before a fine rope shot out from his hands. The steel w at its end dug into the cliff and slowed the man¡¯s fall. Afterwards, he retracted the rope and shot it towards a cliff below. With this method, he reached the base of the thousand-meter peak in the blink of an eye.

    The other Li family warriors also descended rapidly by utilizing their ropes in a simr manner. Afterwards, they ran full speed in the direction Li Rui had indicated.

    The expressions of all the vampires changed slightly after seeing Li family¡¯s elite warriors in action.

    The vampire count said to a certain viscount, ¡°You should also take a squad of warriors and check that area.¡±

    The viscount responded and left with a unit of vampire warriors.

    At this moment, Qianye was standing on a treetop. His expression couldn¡¯t help but sink when he saw the stream of warriors descending from the tall peak and rushing in his direction.

    He knew he had been discovered.

 Volume 4 - 64: Spatial Restriction

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 64: Spatial Restriction

    The pair of small wings on the dark golden blood energy began to move faster and faster. The feeling Qianye was getting from the northwest was also bing more and more intense.

    He could almost see clearly, in his consciousness, a certain space in rapid transformation. It was forming an iparablyrge vortex as if something was about to charge out from within. Apparently, the entrance was just nearby and would open any moment.

    But Qianye¡¯s movements had already beenpromised¡ªthe warriorsing down from the isted mountain peak were of extraordinary strength, especially the leader. He definitely wasn¡¯t an ordinary champion.

    At this time, Qianye had two choices. If he ran directly toward the entrance of Andruil¡¯s treasure, he would surely expose its location. If he ran toward a different direction and the group sent out news of his presence, he would soon be swarmed by the dark race forces converging upon him. And that was assuming he could outrun the grouping after him.

    Qianye no longer had the time to ponder on his options. He clenched his teeth and ran frantically, raising himself to top speed within moments.

    Immediately noticing Qianye¡¯s rapid fleeing movements, the leading group from the peak left the other warriors far behind and began to chase after him in session. However, there was no way for them to shorten the distance so quickly.

    A world-shaking whistle suddenly echoed from the tall peak as a number of figures rose into the air and tore through the sky at incredible speeds.

    Qianye¡¯s heart immediately sank after ncing back at the mountaintop. There were indeed characters there at the level of count or perhaps even greater. Recalling William¡¯s top speed, he knew he would only have the chance to sprint a couple of times.

    The pair of small wings in Qianye¡¯s body shook continuously as he ran with many imperceivable fluctuations emerging from his body and spreading far into the distance.

    The scenery not far in front of him suddenly began to distort. The silhouette of a great door gradually appeared with prismatic beams of lights sweeping around it. The image behind the door was rather fuzzy, but after a moment of stabilization, one could actually make out the indistinct outline of a dense forest.

    If not for an obvious difference in the types of trees, one might even suspect the scene to be a mirror image of the current forest.

    Qianye had no prior experience with space traversal. In truth, he had only learnt of the existence ofrge origin arrays and space passages while studying the basic theory of firearm arrays. But right now, he had no time to ponder what dangers might lie behind this peculiar scenery as he ran straight into it.

    The tiny wings on the dark golden blood energy stopped shaking and Qianye felt his limbs being filled with energy from an unknown source. It felt as if he would rise into the air the very next moment.

    His back, on the other hand, felt as if it were being pierced by countless needles¡ªthe sensation of extreme danger almost seemed to brush past his ears¡ªthis was because the experts from atop the isted peak were closing in on him. Qianye leapt up without thinking; his body felt exceptionally light as it left the ground. After reaching the limit of his ordinary jumping height, he rose even further into the air before steadily entering the spatial door.

    The prismatic beams of sweeping light suddenly became chaotic after Qianye¡¯s figure disappeared, and the great door was even showing signs of dissipation.

    Li Rui, who was just a short distance behind, let out a great roar. Dazzling origin power radiance erupted from his body as the image of a gigantic azure snake appeared behind him. Its gigantic amber eyes shot out slender beams of light which irradiated the half-dispersed door.

    The haphazard beams of multi-colored lights ground to a halt and were frozen in ce, effectively stabilizing the space therein. However, Li Rui seemed to have exerted himself to the extreme, turning as pale as sheet within moments with his forehead full of sweat.

    The vampire count was only one step slower than Li Rui. His figure shot forward into the spatial door like a bolt of lightning, followed by a number of slightly weaker vampires.

    The originally stable door immediately began to fluctuate with great intensity after the group of vampires entered. Li Rui appeared heavily injured. His bloodless face turned ashen as he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Despite his efforts to hold on, the azure snake image behind him was bing increasingly dim and indistinct. There were thin streams of blood flowing down its eyes.

    Soon afterwards, the spatial fluctuations from the door became even more intense as the vampire count was spat out amidst wretched screams.

    The vampire count was enveloped by a faintyer of white light. Droplets of white water formed continuously in the air and poured down upon him like fine rain. The water drops immediately burst into raging mes the moment they came in contact with his body, charring the count¡¯s skin until it was as ck as coal.

    The vampire count tumbled down from the air. The rain of white water drops was like his own shadow¡ªit closely followed his every movement and poured onto him without the slightest deviation. The pale white mes burned the vampire count until he was screaming in continuous misery.

    Li Rui momentarily drew in a breath of cold air. He had noticed that these white waterdrops were a liquefied form of condensed daybreak origin power. Such pure daybreak origin power was extremely toxic to creatures of darkness origin like vampires.

    He would have a hard time imagining such an oue if he hadn¡¯t witnessed it personally. The defenses within the personal space of a great dark monarch actually included daybreak origin power. How was a great dignitary of the Evernight Faction actually able tomand a daybreak origin power so pure that it had condensed into liquid form?

    His heart trembling, Li Rui made a prompt decision to stop maintaining the spatial door.

    He rushed toward the vampire count and shot out a thin beam of light from each finger which pierced through space and dispersed the lingering daybreak origin power mist in the air. Finally, the count was saved from the burning white rain.

    The county copsed on the ground and was barely able to stand up with support even after his subordinates arrived to apply simple first-aid.

    Thergely dispersed spatial door flickered a number of times and spat out two vampire viscounts before vanishingpletely.

    The two viscounts were simrly enveloped in raging daybreak origin mes. They were far weaker than the count and thus had already turned into charred corpses by the time they were expelled.

    The vampire count was greatly astonished after the spatial door disappeared. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me we can¡¯t enter anymore?¡±

    Li Rui¡¯s eyes transformed as he observed the area where the spatial door used to be with vertical serpentine pupils. Momentster, he said with a deep voice, ¡°No, we might still have a chance to reopen it. However, it¡¯ll require a great amount of resources and the help of experts.¡±

    The vampire count immediately replied, ¡°I¡¯ll notify Duke Garis right away. Rest assured, anything you need will be provided as long as you can open that spatial door.¡±

    The vampire count turned to instruct his subordinates. A certain vampire viscount flew away like a bolt of lightning without a care for his own injuries. Only afterwards did the count¡¯splexion recover slightly.

    They had found the entrance before everyone else and had thus made a great contribution. Not only would they receive ample rewards, but they would also enter the sights of those major characters from the Evernight Council. However, not to mention them, even Duke Garis wouldn¡¯t be able to escape heavy punishment if the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure were to be snatched away by the mysterious person who had entered before them.

    Fortunately, the spatial door had only spat out two vampire viscounts¡ªa viscount and two barons still remained within. Presently, they could only pin their hopes on the group inside to capture the bastard who had snuck in.

    At this point, the vampire count felt slightly more rxed. Although he had no idea who this person actually was, he had seen the other party¡¯s strength during the short pursuit, and it was only at the level of a knight or at most a baron. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been chased to the point ofpromising the door¡¯s location.

    The count and Li Rui didn¡¯t have to wait very long. Before even an hour had passed, the wind and clouds began to stir in the distant skies as faint peals of thunder echoed through the air. A number of figures appeared in the distance, and although they were still quite far, the transmitted pressure was enough to stifle everyone¡¯s breath.

    Even Li Rui¡¯s expression was somewhat pale.

    Within moments, a vampire elder stood before the group.

    He was d in a ck trench coat with golden rambler roses around its sleeves and a holy grail insignia on the chest. The elder¡¯s countenance was as pale as a sheet and his skin hung loose. Both the corners of his mouth and deep blue eyes were drooping downwards.

    This vampire who seemed so old that he would die any moment was Duke Garis of the Lakins n, one of the thirteen ancient vampire ns.

    Even someone as powerful as Li Rui had to show due respect before this vampire duke.

    Duke Garis tossed a briefcase toward Li Rui and said, ¡°Here¡¯s everything you need. Now, open that spatial door again.¡±

    ¡°I need about ten minutes.¡± Li Rui immediately opened the case and began to make the necessary arrangements. As expected of an expert in the field of arrays, hepleted the deployment of a sizeable array even before ten minutes had passed.

    Li Rui¡¯s aura, at this time, was much weaker than before. He stood up and wiped the sweat of his brows while regting his condition for a moment. Then, he walked to the center of the array and shouted, ¡°Open!¡±

    Several minute beams of light shot out from the origin array and illuminated the air, wherein the outline of a spatial door slowly came into being.

    Duke Garis gazed at the gradually stabilizing door but didn¡¯t enter immediately. He even stopped a certain count behind him who wanted to charge over.

    Duke Garis said slowly after a moment of observation, ¡°The ck-Winged Monarch left a restriction within this space. Those greater than the rank of viscount will suffer strong attacks after entering. The more powerful they are, the greater the retaliation.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other¡ªa count was badly injured, and the corpses of two viscountsy before them. This proved just how powerful the spatial restrictions were. Since even Duke Garis wasn¡¯t willing to take this risk, the other experts naturally wouldn¡¯t dare to make this attempt.

    Garis turned around and instructed, ¡°Send out thismand; transfer everyone above the level of knight and below the level of viscount over here within three hours.¡±

    A number of vampire experts immediately left.

    At this time, Li Rui whispered as if he had thought of something, ¡°Sire, if even the restrictions at the entrance are so powerful, the viscounts inside might suffer severe limitations to their activities.¡±

    He naturally had other words he wanted to say¡ªit was certain that Andruil had made such arrangements in order to prevent others, apart from his descendants and servants, from entering this ce. Even if they sent low-leveled warriors into the space, it would only serve to avoid the defensive capabilities of the entrance. They still had no idea what kind of dangersy within.

    Duke Garis replied slowly, ¡°It¡¯ll be alright. I¡¯ll attack the space continuously in order to draw away a portion of its power. It shouldn¡¯t be a big problem for the rank-two or rank-three viscounts to enter at that time.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be a big problem¡­¡± A chill rose from the depths of Li Rui¡¯s heart. Not a big problem meant that there was still a problem.

 Volume 4 - 65: Minor Realm

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 65: Minor Realm

    The ranks above the dark race viscount were all divided into three ranks, however, there were always situations where a person¡¯s strength surpassed his level. What they feared was that the spatial restriction assault would ignore one¡¯s rank and, instead, act ording to his strength.

    As an expert in space and origin arrays, Li Rui was extremely clear regarding the dangers of spatial restrictions. It was just that Great Monarch Andruil had been missing for thousands of years, and such spatial defenses could still be worn down to depletion no matter how powerful they were. Duke Garis made it clear that his intention was to let those experts enter first to serve as cannon fodder.

    Two hours had just passed when dozens of vampires arrived on the scene and, under Duke Garis¡¯ eyes, disappeared into the spatial door one after another.

    Duke Garis stood in the air in front of the spatial door with his hands behind his back and seemed as if he wasn¡¯t doing anything. However, Li Rui noticed several indistinct strands of blood energy flowing out continuously from the duke¡¯s foot and into the spatial door.

    Li Rui probed the spatial door once again and was shaken. The violent energy hidden beneath its seemingly calm facade was actually being reduced gradually. Duke Garis¡¯ domain was actually able to control space. A duke from an ancient n was indeed unfathomable.

    Any minor doubts Li Rui might have had before werepletely dispelled at this moment. A strand of dissatisfaction shed across the depths of his eyes as he turned back and said, ¡°Li Zhan.¡±

    Li Zhan stepped forth and said in a deep voice, ¡°What is yourmand?¡±

    Li Rui said slowly, ¡°You go in with some men and capture that brat. I want to see his person if he¡¯s alive, or his corpse if he¡¯s dead.¡±

    Li Zhan¡¯s strength was already quite close to a viscount¡ªentering the door, for him, would be akin to walking along the borders of the underworld. However, he did not show the slightest bit of awkwardness and only replied in the affirmative before jumping into the spatial door with a number of rank-eight to rank-nine warriors.

    Duke Garis didn¡¯tment on this. Currently, they hadpletely no idea about what was going on inside. The addition of a number of humans could also be considered an extra attempt opportunity.

    Qianye was currently running through the forest at full speed. Many towering ancient trees shed past beside him.

    He had been running for nearly an hour, but there was only the boundless forest in front of him. It felt as if the woods were without end.

    ording to the human race¡¯s understanding of vampires, Qianye had, at first, thought Andruil¡¯s treasure would be hidden within an ancient tomb or an underground city. He had never expected to fall into a vast sea of trees upon entering the space.

    Fortunately, the Wings of Inception maintained asting reaction to a certain ce in the distance, and that was the location of the Eye of Truth. Otherwise, Qianye might not even be able to grasp the correct direction in this vast sea of trees.

    Suddenly, his ears captured a number of subtle and rapid footsteps. This vampire viscount had been on Qianye¡¯s tail since he entered this space and refused to give up all this time¡ªhe just couldn¡¯t shake the former off no matter what method he used.

    Qianye frowned. He took note of his surroundings as he ran, hoping to find andscape he could utilize. Although he had once gravely wounded a Lone Ghost regional chief, that was a sneak attack he hadunched while the other party wasn¡¯t prepared. Presently, Qianye had no way to fight head-on against a vampire viscount. His chances of victory were quite slim even if the other party was only third-rank.

    But the forest wasrgely uniform with hardly any utilizable terrain. Qianye¡¯s several attempts at harassment found no sess, to speak nothing ofying down traps in leisure. The vampire viscount disyed simrly abundantbat experience and patience, not giving Qianye the slightest opportunity to retaliate. It was just that he wasn¡¯t able to close the gap between them either.

    It was during this period of deadlock that a sense of extreme danger appeared in Qianye¡¯s heart. The scenery not so far in front of him suddenly distorted¡ªa gap was torn in the space between tworge trees, from which a person tumbled out.

    Qianye immediately recognized this human as the leader of the first batch descending from the lone peak!

    More people havee? Did the spatial door not close? Or was it reopened? Could it be that the entry points were random?

    Many questions shed through his mind at once. However, he was in no condition to think of extra things because, once that mannded safely, Qianye would fall into a dangerous situation with a tiger in front and a wolf at his back.

    A surge of valiance rose up within his chest as he released a loud roar and mmed into the back of the falling Li Zhan! In addition to the fact that he was running at full speed at the time, the collision was backed by the eruption of his full strength. Without any fancy tricks, the two collided with a muffled bang like the impact of a falling meteorite.

    Li Zhan hadn¡¯t yet recovered from the jolt of spatial transportation and was still focused on stabilizing his descent. He was thus caughtpletely off-guard as Qianye mmed squarely into him. Several bones were broken amidst a series of cracking sounds, sending Li Zhan flying at an odd incline.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t feeling good himself and could feel an intense fishy smell gushing up his throat. He forcefully swallowed the mouthful of fresh blood and pulled out the Twin Flowers at lightning speed. He didn¡¯t even have time to merge them before he pulled on the triggers and fired two shots.

    Li Zhan let out a muffled groan as blood sprayed out from his legs¡ªhe had been shot. The aftershocks from the origin bullet explosion crashed violently onto his defenses. In the end, he couldn¡¯t help but cough up a mouthful of blood.

    However, Li Zhan¡¯s reactions weren¡¯t slow at all. Despite suffering sessive attacks, his consciousness had recovered from the muddle-headedness of spatial translocation. He immediately drew his origin gun and aimed urately at the potential direction of the follow-up attack.

    Qianye, however, had no intention of going in for the kill. After firing the two shots, he ran into the distance without even a moment¡¯s pause.

    Li Zhan couldn¡¯t help but feel amazed while looking at the figure rapidly disappearing into the distance.

    The vampire viscount swiftly arrived and came to a sudden halt dozens of meters away from Li Zhan. He stared at thetter with bloodshot eyes and did nothing to hide the greed therein.

    To a vampire, the essence blood of a human expert of Li Zhan¡¯s strength was a great supplement. This third-rank vampire viscount might even advance a level if he could suck the man dry.

    Li Zhan only let out a cold snort and shot the vampire viscount a nce. He then proceeded to holster his origin gun, sit down, and handle the wounds on his leg. It was as if he didn¡¯t even care about this viscount who had been eyeing him covetously.

    The viscount was restless and, on several instances, had the urge to pounce forward. But the intense sense of danger would always stop his movements at the final moment. He felt as if the man before him wasn¡¯t a sheep to be ughtered, but instead a natural predator.

    In the end, the viscount slowly retreated and put a certain distance between them. Human marksmanship was more powerful than the dark races. It was obvious from how Li Zhan had drawn his gun after he was ambushed that he was an expert in this field. Since the vampire had no ns to take action, the wisest course of action for him was to move out of gun range.

    Li Zhan spat hard and said disdainfully, ¡°What a spineless vampire! Your daddy here would skin you alive if the master hadn¡¯t strictly forbidden me from taking action!¡±

    The vampire¡¯s face twitched. ¡°Good, very good! I¡¯ll be sure to ry every word you said just now to Duke Garis.¡±

    Li Zhan mumbled after the vampire viscount¡¯s figure vanished into the dense woods, ¡°You still want to leave here alive?¡± He applied simple first-aid to the wounds and continued his pursuit in the direction Qianye had left.

    After gaining some distance with great difficulty, Qianye didn¡¯t even look back and continued running toward the location he was being guided to by the Wings of Inception. Currently, he had fallen into a mysterious space. Even if he were to discount the people chasing after him, there was no way for him to leave this ce without any understanding of spatial pathways and origin arrays. His only hope was to find the Eye of Truth.

    The reaction became increasingly clear as Qianye rushed out of the forest and the scene before him abruptly opened up. He stood in ce and was momentarily distracted.

    The scene that had appeared before him was a soothing in which extended all the way toward the horizon. There was a great river winding across it, and a majestic city towering over its bank.

    There were white clouds drifting in the lofty blue dome above, and the midday sun was moving ever so slightly toward the end of this sky. Meanwhile, a gigantic red moon hung just above the distant horizon.

    This scenery had never existed in Qianye¡¯s memories before, and neither had he ever read of such a ce. He hadn¡¯t expected that beyond the sea of trees was such a vastnd and sky. This wasn¡¯t like a sealed space at all and was more like a minor realm on its own.

    For the first time, Qianye suspected whether or not he really was in Great Monarch Andruil¡¯s space. These vast mountains, great rivers, and this deathly still city all stood as a silent testament to the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s might.

    Qianye was momentarily startled but soon set out once again and dashed toward the distant city. He had only covered a couple of kilometers when the vampire viscount and Li Zhan charged out of the woods one after the other.

    The vampire viscount was hardly any faster than Qianye. Li Zhan, on the other hand, was probably originally faster, but his legs were affected by the wound and had thus fallen behind even the viscount.

    The three figures, one fleeing, and two chasing, were akin to shes of lightning as they shot across the in and darted toward the city.

    Ayer of faint mist rose up in front of Qianye¡¯s eyes after stepping into the city perimeter. His range of vision became fairly limited, and he could only see objects within several meters. This mist seemed to have risen abruptly because there wasn¡¯t the slightest sign of its existence before entering the city.

    The mist also greatly obstructed one¡¯s perceptions. Qianye discovered that his night vision had been rendered ineffective, and even his hearing had be impaired. It felt as if the world had shrunk down to a few meters after entering the city.

    This wasn¡¯t a bad thing for Qianye because he believed his pursuers, the vampire viscount, and Li Zhan, wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the effects of this mist. He swiftly traveled along the streets and dashed past several street blocks. He then made two continuous turns into a couple of alleyways before activating his bloodline concealment to withdraw all of his aura.

    Hereafter, it would depend on pure luck for both human and vampire to find Qianye¡¯s trail within this city.

    Qianye leaned on a tall wall and gradually regted his breathing before beginning to observe the surroundings.

    The buildings in this city were quite special. They were built with foundations of stone and metallic frames. The walls, windows, and eaves were all decorated with metallic sculptures and ornaments. The style gave off a feeling of exquisite magnificence amidst the solemnity. The greater half of the metallic materials consisted of steel and copper.

    Judging from the height of the buildings and sculptures, it was evident that the residents were humanoid creatures slightly taller than the current humans and vampires. Their average height should be around 200 centimeters.

    The wall Qianye was standing on belonged to a certain building with a great steel door just nearby. Qianye walked over and reached out to push on it.

    There was no lock on the fairly heavy door, and it was, almost miraculously, free of rust. At this point, the door opened slowly and silently.

 Volume 4 - 66: City of Death

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 66: City of Death

    Qianye listened attentively for a moment. Hearing no movement within, he walked in slowly and cautiously after a moment of hesitation.

    However, the scene that came into view made him break into a frown.

    The room and hallway were fairly spacious, but there was no furniture or decoration of any kind. The whole of the first floor was absolutely empty and contained nothing else whatsoever¡ªeven the walls were made up of raw stones.

    The interior of the building was also suffused with a thin mist. One could hardly make out the wall on the other side of the hall while standing at the sizeable doorway.

    Qianye arrived at the wide spiral staircase and gazed upward. He slowly walked up amidst the deathly silence and found that the second and third floors were in the same state with absolutely no traces of people having lived here. By the time he was on the third floor, he could no longer hear anything from the first.

    He gazed out of the curtainless window and found mist as far as the eye could see. Only the silhouette of arge building across the street could be vaguely discerned.

    The mmy grey mist made it feel as if the world were limited to a small area around the beholder. This reminded Qianye of something and his heart was suddenly jolted. That dream! The two dreams in which he had heard the mysterious voice¡ªonce after he had obtained the crystal fragment from Baron Deryl, and the next after entering the Fallen Star Mountain Range.

    Qianye pondered for a moment and then quietly went back downstairs. He then entered a number of buildings and found all of them empty regardless of the size and structure. There wasn¡¯t a single valuable thing to be found.

    At this time, an uneasy sense of frustration rose up from the bottom of his palpitating heart. He was first astonished, but then came to realize the source of this uneasiness.

    The city was too silent, so silent that only one¡¯s own footsteps could be heard. Every little sound seemed to have be magnified within this environment of extreme stillness, and after some time, one could even hear his own heartbeat and blood flow. Walking alone in such a city made Qianye feel as if he were the only one left in this world. This kind of loneliness gradually became difficult to endure.

    Qianye inhaled deeply and made an effort to rx his tense nerves.

    The city wasn¡¯t small at all and, judging from its scale, could probably amodate tens of thousands of residents. But, although the buildings had been maintained fairly well, he wasn¡¯t able to find any traces of people having lived there. The city was simply too clean¡ªthere was neither trash nor dust, and even the metals hadn¡¯t rusted.

    It seemed as if time had stopped at the point where the city was newly constructed.

    Fortunately, the Wings of Inception weren¡¯t obstructed by the mist and could still sense the location of the Eye of Truth. But this was also what bewildered Qianye¡ªthe Eye of Truth was constantly changing locations. Every time he closed in on it, he would sense the eye in a different location.

    Additionally, the eye¡¯s new positions were erratic regardless of his own movement speed. It would sometimes move farther and farther away or suddenly appear nearby. It had no regr pattern and seemed to be moving almost randomly.

    After realizing this, Qianye stopped attempting to chase down the Eye of Truth. He instead entered a random building nearby, sat down on the ground, and began to regte his breathing and replenish his origin power, all the while pondering his present predicament.

    Qianye had already lost his sense of direction within this mist-enshrouded city. After being led in circles by the Wings of Inception, he realized that he could no longer even discern the city entrance. All the buildings around him seemed rather simr, and although there were some unique details, it was difficult to find any strikingndmarks with such limited visibility.

    After realizing this issue, he also tried leaving marks on the buildings. However, this was actually a terrible idea because there were two enemies on his tail and more of them would definitely appear. He would have revealed his movements once the marks were seen through.

    Those enemies were still an unknown factor, but Qianye actually discovered something overwhelmingly odd about the city. It was that any mark he had left behind would gradually disappear within the mist. He even tried carving a deep notch on the metallic decoration patterns with his Scarlet Edge but found that the mark would gradually fill up andter disappear.

    Unwittingly, Qianye hadpleted a full cycle of origin power cirction. He became greatly spirited after the abundant daybreak origin power inundated his vessels. He pushed away all distracting thoughts for the moment and proceeded to check his equipment and items. He even took the Twin Flowers apart and performed some maintenance on it.

    Afterwards, hey down and silently counted to a thousand with his eyes closed. This was a method which forced him to rest. After reaching a thousand, Qianye leapt up and walked out with his de drawn.

    He could neither find the Eye of Truth, see through the secrets of this deathly still city, or even leave this ce. But there was at least one thing he could do at the moment, and that was to kill the enemies chasing after him.

    He would soon go insane if he had nothing to do in this kind of environment. Additionally, killing seemed to be the only thing he could do at the moment.

    At this time, dozens of vampires and a group of Li family warriors led by Li Zhan had gathered outside the city. Their entry points into this world were indeed different, but regardless of the topography they had walked out from, everyone would see this city towering over the ins.

    Several vampire viscounts wore grave expressions and were somewhat hesitant. It wasn¡¯t because some of theirpanions had gone missing, but because the city before them was apparently the core of this space and was most likely where the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil¡¯s treasure was kept.

    But how could the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s pce be so easy to enter?

    Upon closer inspection, one would find a faintyer of bloody radiance enveloping the viscounts, a clear sign that they were circting their blood energy power constantly. Strands of faint white mist which asionally appeared through the air would be neutralized by the bloody glow upon contact. The viscounts had suffered from such restrictive pressure on their way through the spatial gate. They had believed that the worst had passed since their ensuing journey was rather uneventful. Never did they expect to encounter this restriction just by standing outside of the city doors.

    After standing silently for a couple of minutes, a certain viscount said, ¡°Let¡¯s just go in. We¡¯re short on time.¡± He then shot a nce at Li Zhan.

    The viscounts all nced at each other and nodded with pained expressions.

    This human¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t weaker than any of the viscounts here, but they couldn¡¯t discern from Li Zhan¡¯s expression whether or not he was subject to a simr spatial restriction force. If the viscounts refrained from entering the city out of fear and the great monarch¡¯s treasure fell into human hands, their fate after returning would be more terrifying than death.

    The vampires and human race warriors entered in a straight line and were soon engulfed by the mist within the city.

    Qianye was walking down an empty street. Not only had he lost track of his direction, but he had also lost the sense of time. The frustration and uneasiness in his heart would have expanded several times if he didn¡¯t have the goal of ambushing his enemies to cling on to.

    After an unknown period of time, Qianye was ovee by a certain illusion and felt that he could walk to the ends of the earth this way. After turning into a street corner, he suddenly halted his steps and listened attentively. He still couldn¡¯t hear anything, but he recognized this trembling sensation as one that would emerge right before a battle, an indication that someone or something was approaching.

    Qianye calmed himself down, leaned quickly against the wall, and waited.

    A certain vampire warrior, wielding a sword and pistol, rushed out of the mist. He assumed a stooped posture as he cautiously scanned the surroundings.

    The vampire had also noticed Qianye by the time thetter saw him clearly. The two were less than ten meters apart.

    The vampire warrior reacted swiftly. He let out a roar and pounced toward Qianye at full strength¡ªthere was no time to shoot at this distance, and melee fights werergely decided by the initiative.

    This was precisely what Qianye wanted.

    He arched his body slightly and suddenly exerted strength, shooting toward the vampire warrior head on. The two immediately mmed into one another.

    The vampire warrior flew backward with a loud bang as a cold gleam shed in Qianye¡¯s hand. In truth, the Scarlet Edge had already delivered three shes during this short exchange.

    The vampire was flung over a dozen meters away and crashed into the building across the street. He then slid downward and copsed on the ground with fresh blood flowing out from under his body. He would never rise again.

    Qianye walked toward the vampire warrior who had already stopped breathing and was nning to look through his belongings but swiftly retracted his hand midway.

    He noticed that the fresh blood gushing out from beneath the vampire warrior was gradually vanishing after flowing a meter or so. The street surface was paved with a virtually seamless arrangement of highly polished stones, so how did the fresh blood seep in so easily?

    It was at this time that the body of this lifeless vampire moved slightly.

    He had copsed while leaning against the wall and even left a shocking trail of blood upon it. But currently, the body was actually beginning to sink into the ground and wall right before Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    Before long, the vampire corpse was swallowed uppletely, and not even a single trace of blood was left behind on the ground or wall as proof of this warrior¡¯s previous existence.

    Qianye instantly felt his blood run cold.

    This silent and empty city had just quietly revealed its sinister side.

    Qianye slowly crouched down and reached out to touch the ground. There was a puddle of fresh blood here just a while ago, but now he could only feel the cold stone blocks.

    He stood up with a sigh and headed toward a random direction with the Scarlet Edge in hand.

    This time, he reached a small za after passing two street blocks. The mist was rtively thin in this open space, and as such, he was able to make out a number of shadowy figures within. Qianye was quite familiar with this silhouette. It was Li Zhan whom he had ambushed along the way.

    Qianye had his aura withdrawn this whole time¡ªhe immediately restrained all his actions and maintainedplete silence. He then drew the Twin Flowers and aimed them at the figure in front of him.

    Li Zhan seemed to have felt something the moment Qianye pulled on the trigger. He suddenly stepped sideways and turned around like the wind, drawing his gun and firing at lightning speed.

    A scarlet origin bullet brushed right past Li Zhan¡¯s chest. At the same time that Li Zhan turned around, Qianye had also shed away and simrly evaded his shot.

    The two bullets disappeared into the mist¡ªthey might have struck the buildings or something else. But in any case, no such sound was heard.

    The two opponents had no time to take note of this bizarre detail and werepletely focused on each other.

    Li Zhan nced at Qianye with a solemn expression. He then revealed a sinister smile and said, ¡°We¡¯ve finally caught you.¡±

 Volume 4 - 67: Fangs of the City

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 67: Fangs of the City

    Qianye asked, ¡°You¡¯re a human?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am. What? Do you have anyst words?¡± Li Zhan sized Qianye up, somewhat astonished that the person he had been chasing was also a human.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re a human, why do you work for the dark races?¡±

    Li Zhan frowned. Apparently, he was quite surprised to hear such a question. But he was quite patient and replied, ¡°This isn¡¯t working for. It¡¯s working with. Both parties are here for things they need.¡±

    ¡°Things they need?¡± Qianye sneered, ¡°Did you know what the dark races are getting with such a cooperation and what kind of profit you¡¯ll get? Did you think your gains will be equal the object you just gave away?¡±

    Li Zhan¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°This isn¡¯t my concern. My only objective is to bring you back to the master. I¡¯ll bring you back alive if you don¡¯t resist, otherwise, I can only bring your corpse back. It makes no difference for me.¡±

    Qianye raised his hand and pointed the Twin Flowers at Li Zhan. However, a ¡°click¡± rang out at the same time as he pushed a physical origin bullet, which he had brought out at one point, into the bullet chamber.

    Li Zhan¡¯s killing intent erupted.

    He wasn¡¯t one for words, but this city was simply too bizarre. He was in a group of three with hispanions when he entered the city, but they were split up after turning through a couple of street blocks. This kind of situation definitely wasn¡¯t normal. All of them were veterans who had gone through hundreds of battles, and they were vignt of their surroundings at all time. How could they make such a mistake?

    As such, Li Zhan felt extremely astonished after seeing Qianye and finding him to be human. He couldn¡¯t help but say a few more words. It was also, more or less, to sound out his options. He hadn¡¯t expected Qianye to have acted right under his eyes.

    Li Zhan sneered, ¡°You want to force me back with a single bullet? With your mere strength, it¡¯s uncertain if you can even break through my defenses unless you have a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion. Put down your gun¡­¡±

    He suddenly stopped speaking and then said each word with a pause, ¡°You really have a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion?¡±

    Qianye revealed a faint smile and said, ¡°Won¡¯t you know for sure by the time I fire?¡±

    Li Zhan¡¯s gaze was as sharp as a de. The origin power radiance flowing out from his arms gradually became thicker and almost seemed as if it would condense into something substantial.

    Qianye¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change in the slightest. He edged back step by step with the Twin Flowers still aimed at Li Zhan.

    Li Zhan tightened his left fist. His face was twitching continuously as he took one unresigned step after another.

    Both sides had maintained about ten or so meters of distance the whole time, neither of them in the mood to pay attention to their surroundings. They felt the mist bing gradually thicker, but at such a distance, they were still capable of sensing the other party¡¯s movements with some effort.

    Qianye knew he had won this gamble when he saw that Li Zhan hadn¡¯t charged in immediately.

    Apparently, Li Zhan had weighed his options and felt that the difference between them was significant enough that he would be able to take Qianye down easily if the opportunity presented itself. He felt that there was no need for mutual destruction.

    Qianye retreated continuously and suddenly shifted sideways into a corner of the street block. Li Zhan waited for a breath¡¯s time before turning the corner and arriving at a small alleyway simrly enshrouded by the omnipresent mist. However, Qianye¡¯s figure had long since vanished.

    Li Zhan stood in ce for a moment with a cold expression. He had definitely smelled ck titanium on Qianye¡¯s body just now. Although this was also somewhat doubtful, how could a sub-champion level brat activate a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion with a grade-four origin gun?

    But neither the city nor the appearance of this Qianye was normal. Li Zhan didn¡¯t dare take careless risks¡ªhe didn¡¯t fear death, but he certainly wouldn¡¯t throw his life away impetuously.

    Li Zhan nced around him. He was prepared to try tracking down Qianye despite knowing that it was a wasted effort to do so within this mist. But a vampire knight charged out of the mist at that very moment.

    Li Zhan immediately tightened the grip on his sword and origin gun while staring at the other party. Although they were cooperating at the moment, it was only temporary and everyone knew this rtionship was so fragile that it would shatter at the slightest touch.

    Also noticing Li Zhan, the vampire¡¯s face immediately tensed up as he quickly halted his steps and retreated to lean on a nearby wall. His hand was firmly pressed against his chest with fresh blood flowing out continuously from between his fingers. There were actually strands of ck mixed into the blood.

    Li Zhan¡¯s pupils constricted; this was a sign of mithril infection. But if this knight had really been wounded in Qianye¡¯s hands, their battle shouldn¡¯t have been too far from this ce. Why then did he not hear anything?

    Li Zhan¡¯s understanding of this city increased ever so slightly. He shot a nce at the vampire and then walked away, soon disappearing into the mist.

    That vampire knight had just breathed a sigh of relief when a dagger shot through the air, pierced through his wounded chest, and pinned him firmly on the wall.

    Li Zhan then walked out of the mist.

    The vampire knight pointed at Li Zhan with great difficulty. ¡°You¡­¡± But he failed to finish his sentence as fresh blood gushed up into his throat and obstructed his words.

    Li Zhan walked toward the vampire knight with an expressionless countenance. There was no telling how long they would have to stay within this ursed ce, so he couldn¡¯t afford to waste ammo and supplies.

    But just as Li Zhan arrived before the vampire knight¡¯s corpse, two round metallic balls were suddenly tossed out from the mist and began to roll toward him.

    Li Zhan¡¯s expression shifted as he jumped back with all his strength and elerated to full speed almost within moments. He rapidly charged into the mist although he couldn¡¯t clearly see just what was behind it.

    The two exquisite metallic balls were evidently vampire origin grenades!

    The explosion seemed to shake the whole street block¡ªthe shockwaves caught up to Li Zhan and flung him into a forward somersault. By the time the shockwaves subsided and he turned back to look, the vampire¡¯s corpse had already been torn to pieces.

    Li Zhan¡¯s expression was ashen, and green veins pulsated upon the back of his de hand. He suddenly turned around and, relying on his memory, headed toward the direction from which the grenades were hurled. But the street was essible from all sides and enshrouded in fuzzy mist. Not a single shadow was found.

    Meanwhile, the cracked stone pavement and scraped wall ornaments behind him were restoring themselves one by one. Every part of the vampire knight was gradually disappearing into the ground.

    Qianye was moving swiftly through the mist on a different street. He pushed open the main doors of a building, hoping to find a ce to rest.

    However, his expression changed rapidly!

    The entire hallway was clearly visible¡ªthere was a vampire there with half his body submerged into the ground. He was frantically iling his arms around in hopes of pulling himself out. But just like a weary traveler devoured by the marsh, he only sunk deeper and deeper no matter how he struggled.

    The vampire warrior also saw Qianye. His pale countenance was the picture of terror as he opened and closed hisrge mouth as if he were saying something. However, Qianye couldn¡¯t hear any sound at all.

    There was only a stifling silence.

    Qianye¡¯s heart suddenly thumped heavily and almost jumped out of his chest. He nced down and indeed found that his feet were gradually sinking in. He wouldn¡¯t have discovered it if he hadn¡¯t seen it with his own eyes because his normally keen perception hadn¡¯t sensed anything at all!

    Qianye reacted instantly by leaping away and out of the building. Fortunately, he was still able to extricate himself, but that peculiar sensation still lingered on even after he stepped firmly onto the stone pavement outside. Quite luckily, things were normal on the street.

    Qianye swept over the nearby buildings with a dreary gaze. He didn¡¯t even need to take the risk to test his theory and was fairly sure that all the buildings in the city were no longer safe to use as temporary shelter.

    The excessively silent city had gradually revealed its fangs. It seemed swallowing dead bodies could no longer satisfy it.

    The Wings of Inception fluttered slightly as the Eye of Truth, once again, appeared in the distance. Qianye suddenly felt an odd sensation and a question popped up within his mind: what was it waiting for?

    He leaned against the wall and brought out a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism. His palm lit up with scarlet origin power radiance which enveloped the bullet and gradually liquefied it.

    There were actually some other unremarkable changes since he started cultivating the glory chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll. For instance, the rtive weakness brought about by his vampire constitution had disappeared. Mithril, which was highly toxic to vampires, no longer had any particr effect on him. At times, Qianye wondered what would be of him in the end.

    He lifted the Scarlet Edge and observed the dagger briefly before rubbing the mithril onto it. A Mithril Bullet of Exorcism was used up within moments, but the dagger in his hand now had ayer of menacingly flowing silver.

    Qianye stood straight, holstered the Twin Flowers, and walked back into the misty street with the Scarlet Edge in his hands.

    During the ensuing period, the city became more dangerous. Qianye had no idea just how many pursuers had entered this space. After the insides of the buildings became deathtraps, the search perimeter of the survivors was now limited to the streets. Encounters would be even moremon from now on.

    A vampire knight appeared before Qianye. The former was first startled but his expression immediately turned to delight as he drew his de and pounced. But the knight¡¯s sword was still in mid-air when Qianye¡¯s figure suddenly flickered like a demon, following which the Scarlet Edge was buried into his chest.

    The vampire knight gasped and breathed hisst. He didn¡¯t even see clearly how that de had pierced his heart.

    Waves of fiery warmth flowed through the glowing veined patterns and into Qianye¡¯s body. He lifted the vampire knight¡¯s limp body and slowly ced it on the ground.

    The corpse gradually sunk into the ground behind Qianye as he continued forward.

    Qianye came to a halt at the next intersection after seeing a lone haughty figure in the middle of the street¡ªit was a vampire viscount. He was coldly gazing at Qianye with his head raised.

    Qianye immediately came to his senses. This viscount hadn¡¯t been looking around for him and had, instead, waited here at this six-road intersection the whole time.

    Although waiting idly for opportunities wasn¡¯t a wise strategy, it seemed fairly effective under the current circumstances. At the very least, he had seeded in waiting for Qianye to appear while it was difficult for thetter to escape.

    The corners of the vampire viscount¡¯s mouth formed a harsh curve. He then revealed a disdainful smile and said, ¡°Human?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± replied Qianye.

    ¡°Very well, human. Considering how you actually had the honor of entering the great ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s domain, I¡¯ll give you a chance at fairbat.¡±

    With that, the vampire viscount dropped his origin gun and equipment pouches onto the ground. He also tossed his dagger and sword to one side before curling a finger at Qianye in a challenging gesture.

    ¡°Come and witness the true might of our sacred-blooded descendants before your final moments!¡±

    Qianye suddenly broke into aughter. This was probably his first time encountering a vampire disying the chivalry of those legendary ancient knights. Thus, he sheathed his Scarlet Edge and strode toward the viscount.

    The next moment, the two had grabbed onto each other in a contest of strength.

 Volume 4 - 68: Reward

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 68: Reward

    A wild grin appeared on the vampire viscount¡¯s eerily handsome face as he let out a shrill scream and exerted strength from both arms.

    In his expectations, this power was enough to crush Qianye¡¯s wrist, so much that he could even hear the crisp snap of uing fracture. After all, the human body was just that fragile, just like a porcin doll.

    But the vampire viscount felt, after exerting strength, as if he had grabbed onto an iparable solid piece of superalloy. During their collusion, he discovered that the opponent waspletely immovable like a mountain.

    Qianye also felt somewhat astonished. The strengthing from the vampire viscount¡¯s side was much weaker than he had imagined. Indistinct rumbles of thunder rang out in the air as he took a step forward.

    The vampire viscount couldn¡¯t help but take a step back when Qianye advanced. The mockery on his face was no longer there and had instead been reced by shock. The viscount had never imagined that he would be at a disadvantage in such a contest of strength.

    However, the continuous waves of energy gushing toward him were absolutely indefensible. The viscount was pushed back at every exchange until his back crashed against the wall with a bang.

    Qianye let out the roar of an ancient primordial beast¡ªall the origin nodes within his body trembled as specks of golden mes suddenly emerged amidst the scarlet origin power around his body. With a crack, the bones in the vampire viscount¡¯s hand were crushed whereupon the violent origin power surged into his body. The sounds of fracturing bones echoed throughout the vampire¡¯s body, extending from the arms to the chest, and all the way down to his legs.

    Qianye took a step back and gazed at this opponent who could now barely stand while leaning against the wall. ¡°In any case, you¡¯re an opponent worthy of respect. I shall put you to rest ording to your ancient traditions.¡±

    With that, Qianye drew his Scarlet Edge and pierced the vampire viscount¡¯s blood core.

    The vampire viscount didn¡¯t pass away immediately and said while looking at Qianye with eyes full of disbelief, ¡°So, you¡¯re¡­ actually a descendant of the sacred blood¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a human,¡± Qianye replied.

    Qianye immediately vanished into the mist afterpletely depriving the vampire viscount of his vitality. The viscount¡¯s strength was so unusually weak that Qianye suspected he had already been wounded or had exhausted a great part of his essence.

    He had only walked out of another street block when he encountered yet another vampire baron, whereupon an intense battle broke out between the two parties. In the end, Qianye finished off the baron with his mithril coated Scarlet Edge, while he himself also suffered three cuts.

    Comparatively, Qianye felt that the previous viscount was much weaker.

    There was no ce in the city that could be considered safe now that the buildings couldn¡¯t be entered. Pursuers might appear at any given moment, even within a silent alleyway. Qianye sat down on the spot and applied some simple bindings to his wounds. He then began to circte the Mystery Chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll in a carefree manner. Abundant essence blood was continuously transformed into darkness origin power which was then absorbed by the blood energies in his body.

    It was imperative that he conserve strength while facing this unpredictable city and the countless enemies within. Although his daybreak origin power had little function after the strengthening of his blood energies, it could still elerate the recovery of his injuries and physical stamina.

    Luck seemed to be on Qianye¡¯s side¡ªno enemies appeared during the time it took for him toplete a full cycle. He sensed the Eye of Truth¡¯s location as he stood up once again. This was likely the closest it had ever been to him since he entered the city. It was only a couple hundred meters away!

    Although he knew from experience that he wouldn¡¯t be able to find the ce that easily, Qianye still headed over in that direction.

    An explosion rang out momentster. Qianye watched as a vampire knight copse in front of him. The might of a vampire origin grenade wasn¡¯t so easily blocked.

    Two more explosions rang out minutester. Following which, Qianye drew his sword and pounced toward the wounded vampire baron. The enemy was quite fierce and managed to return two stabs despite falling to the Scarlet de in the end.

    Qianye nced down at the injury on his thigh and sighed helplessly. An injury here would make things fairly troublesome for him as it affected his speed. The main reason Qianye had always been able to gain the advantage whenever he encountered a battle was because of his overwhelming advantage in both constitution and speed.

    What followed was a series of battle encounters. Although Qianye was able to kill his opponents every time, he had also suffered continuous injuries. He had already experienced a blood boil and had also used his recovery medicine. Fortunately, however, there was no shortage of essence blood.

    Qianye sat down at the corner of a certain wall. From here, he could clearly see the enemies approaching from the front and prevent an enemy assault from the rear. Most of the wounds on his body had already closed, but they were still emitting waves of pain. Additionally, they would burst open again if he were to engage in an intense battle.

    Qianye brought out another Mithril Bullet and applied it to the Scarlet Edge. He pondered about how all the enemies he had encountered along the way were no weaker than knights but no stronger than viscounts. Among them, the knights and barons possessed normalbat strength, but the viscounts were evidently weaker, so much that they were even inferior to the barons. What was going on?

    Finally, the entire Mithril Bullet of Exorcism transformed into ayer of silver on the de¡¯s edge. Qianye inspected his equipment once again¡ªhe had two more mithril bullets or exorcism and three more vampire origin grenades. He hadn¡¯t touched the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion at all.

    Qianye exhaled lightly, got up, and instinctively sensed the direction of the Eye of Truth. He was somewhat startled to find that, at this moment, the Eye of Truth was within a hundred meters of him. It had never been so close before.

    Suddenly, a chill run down Qianye¡¯s spine as a thought suddenly arose in his mind. Could it be that the Eye of Truth would appear only after a sufficient number of deaths? He looked up and saw the unchanging mist before him and the carnivorous city behind¡ªit was like a living creature hiding within the darkness.

    But wasn¡¯t this a gift Andruil had left for his servants and descendants? How could the ck-Winged Monarch have known that countless dark race warriors would follow the activator into the spatial door and thus be sacrifices to the city?

    Qianye had a premonition about what was toe and felt that there were more secrets to this city than anyone knew of. He had made certain associations after recalling how the highest ranking enemy to appear here was at the level of viscount, and even then, they were suppressed.

    But for now, he could only wait silently. Qianye didn¡¯t get to rest for long as a certain vampire knight appeared around the street corner. Qianye rushed out like a bolt of lightning and pierced the blood knight¡¯s heart with his de.

    This blood knight was fairly young but possessed astonishingbat strength. He actually executed a sessful retaliation in his death throes, piercing through Qianye¡¯s abdomen with the sword in his hand.

    Qianye let out a muffled groan as he pinched the de¡¯s edge, effectively preventing it from causing greater damage. At the same time, he shook his right hand and sent a wave of oscitions along the Scarlet Edge¡¯s de. This stirred up the blood knight¡¯s innards into paste.

    Qianye endured the intense pain and slowly pulled the sword out from his abdomen before downing a bottle of healing medicine. His strength rapidly recovered in his blood boil state, swiftly contracting the wound on his abdomen and stopping it from bleeding. However, the internal injuries weren¡¯t that easy to heal.

    The blood knight¡¯s body was already beginning to be dragged down into the city.

    Qianye picked up the sword he had just pulled out from his body and was moved after giving it a nce. The edge of the sword was stained with blood just now, but it had bepletely clean just within moments to reveal the origin power patterns upon it. Those seemingly coarse and inflexible patterns were, in fact, formed from ayer of finer patterns.

    This sword absolutely wasn¡¯t a normal grade-three weapon used by blood knights. Qianye tried shing a couple of times and felt that the sword was extremely heavy, perhaps even hundreds of kilograms in weight. He thrust the sword into the nearby wall in passing and saw almost half the de easily pierce into it with a pfft.

    The stones in this city were all as hard as metal alloy.

    After activating the origin array upon it, Qianye recognized the effects "advanced stability" and "advanced sharpness". This also meant that this sword was at least grade-five. A weapon which not even a viscount might possess had actually appeared in the hands of a blood knight.

    It was clear that he was a direct descendant of a certain ancient n and was likely a genius of great importance. Such a person had met a fate in this city where even his remains weren¡¯t left.

    Qianye shook his head with emotions that couldn¡¯t really be considered regretful. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, seizing every moment he could to rest.

    It was at this time that a wave of intense pain assailed his head without warning. It was so painful that Qianye couldn¡¯t help but groan in agony. A familiar voice rang out within his consciousness, ¡°Bring me my head!¡±

    Contrary to the one in his dream, the voice this time was extremely loud and clear. Every word shook Qianye¡¯s ears until they were ringing and he was almost dazzled.

    ¡°Where is your head?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but reply within his consciousness.

    His question was then answered.

    ¡°You¡¯re close now, very close! Keep on killing. Kill those outsiders and¡­ the guardians. You¡¯ll find my head when you¡¯ve umted enough blood!¡±

    The voice slowly receded but left a word just as it was about to fade away. ¡°This is your reward in advance¡­¡±

    The pain in Qianye¡¯s head gradually disappeared. Presently, he was no longer in the mood to rest¡ªhe leapt up all of a sudden and was startled. The stone b before him was rippling like water and bubbling up as if something was actually about to emerge from within.

    It was a sword! The de was jet ck in color with faint silvery patterns carved upon it. At a nce, it was quite simr to the grade-five sword he had obtained from the blood knight.

    Qianye slowly reached out, grabbed the sword¡¯s hilt, and lifted it up. The formation of origin array patterns on this sword was indeed quite simr; it was also made up ofyers of embedded arrays. There was only one new ability: Devastation.

    Qianye weighed the sword in his hand and then pushed the pointed end into the ground. He had only casually pressed on it without much force, but the sword let out a soft whistle and easily pierced into the sturdy ground.

    It was indeed Devastation. It would produce even more devastating strikes when brandished with greater force. This could also be considered a half active ability that was particrly useful in battle. Naturally, it was also very valuable.

    It was at this time that a figure, once again, appeared from the mist.

    Qianye immediately reacted by tossing out an origin grenade as the figure of a man appeared in the corner of his sweeping vision. He wasn¡¯t very tall, but stood ramrod straight and was surging with killing intent.

    It was Li Zhan!

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected to meet him again so soon. Li Zhan¡¯s strength was just short of a first-rank vampire viscount and, as a character who had walked out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, possessed abundantbat experience.

    It was unknown what Li Zhan had been doing all this time, but he was also startled upon seeing Qianye. Immediately afterwards, he reacted with a speed simr to Qianye and also tossed out a grenade.

 Volume 4 - 69: Book of Darkness: Inception

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 69: Book of Darkness: Inception

    Qianye cursed in a hoarse voice as he grabbed the sword at hand and pierced headlong into the nearby building. He then rapidly crossed the room and leapt out from the other window.

    The two origin grenades exploded at the same time, turning the narrow alley into a zone of death. The explosion had just receded when Li Zhan shot through the smoke, appeared before the building Qianye had just entered, and, likewise, charged in.

    But the moment he entered the room, he immediately felt as if he had fallen into a swamp. It was clearly solid ground beneath his feet but there was no foothold to be found. Every movement took great effort, and the waves of piercing pain being emitted through his skin became unbearable within moments.

    Li Zhan was greatly startled. At this moment, he actually began to feel stifled as if his mouth and nose were blocked by something. He suddenly let out a loud roar and erupted with dazzling origin power. This seemingly shattered something around him, freeing him of his invisible bindings and allowing him to stumble out of the room.

    He was yet to calm down from the fright as he stood on the street. From the street, the room indeed seemed empty without anything out of the ordinary. Li Zhan nced down at his body and found that the skin on his arms was red with pearls of blood seeping out continuously. The metal fasteners on his armor had also begun to rust.

    Li Zhan was certain that even his body would have dissolved had he stayed for a couple of seconds more within the room. Maybe even his skeleton wouldn¡¯t remain. The buildings in this city were bing more and more dangerous. Previously, they only dragged people in like quicksand and wasn¡¯t that perilous for someone of his abilities to pass through briefly. Now, however, it was directly dissolving one¡¯s flesh.

    His expression turned gloomy. He tightened his fist and went around the street corner to continue the long pursuit.

    Qianye, who had passed through the room, didn¡¯t feel any obvious changes apart from a somewhat sticky force trying to drag him down as he leapt out of the window. But he had long since prepared for this and used extra force with every step. Thus, he sessfullynded on the other street.

    He didn¡¯t dare to stop over at all as he advanced rapidly through a number of foggy street blocks before reducing his speed to find a resting ce.

    But just at this moment, a vampire warrior each appeared from his left and right.

    Goddammit! Qianye pounced forth while brandishing his de.

    The battle ended swiftly with the two vampires turning into corpses which peacefully sunk into the ground. Meanwhile, Qianye had sustained an extra wound and two more old ones had burst open.

    Qianye sat leaning against the wall and gasped for air, each breath seemed as if he were breathing out mes. He rummaged around his pocket with great effort and found that there was no more medicine. There were, however, two origin grenades.

    Just at this time, Li Zhan¡¯s figure appeared through the mist.

    Qianye stood up in silence. He didn¡¯t run away this time and charged instead of fleeing. The devastating de shed toward Li Zhan¡¯s head without any fancy moves. Thetter sneered and moved to block with a horizontal sh. At the same time, his left hand wed toward Qianye¡¯s chest.

    The two des drew intense trails of radiance through the air. Qianye grunted as he suddenly sped up the sword and hacked down at the center of Li Zhan¡¯s de with the force of hundreds of kilograms.

    A loud ng rang out like the toll of an ancient bell. Qianye¡¯s sword recoiled back and fresh blood began to flow from his right hand. Li Zhan, on the other hand, sank down and staggered back continuously with blood flowing out of his nose and ears.

    The force transmitted from Qianye¡¯s de was too terrifying. Li Zhan had to lean against a tall wall in order to stabilize his backward momentum. He let out a furious roar as origin power radiance erupted from his back to form the vague image of a twisting python. But he turned pale and spat out a mouthful of blood just as his innate talent materialization was about toplete.

    Li Zhan couldn¡¯t help but curse at this damned city.

    He was, of course, also under the suppression of the spatial restrictions. But the energy utilization pattern of humans and vampires were different. The vampires could only depend on blood shackles to suppress their bloodline power. Thus, those vampire viscounts could only use their own strength to resist this spatial suppression. Li Zhan, on the other hand, had discovered that he could escape the restrictions as long as he didn¡¯t activate his origin power vortex and only drew upon the daybreak origin power within his nodes.

    But even if Li Zhan didn¡¯t use his champion level abilities, his strength was at least equal to a third-rank viscount. He hadn¡¯t expected that he would actually be pushed back by a single sh in direct confrontation.

    Li Zhan suppressed the boiling blood energy in his chest. He was just thinking about continuing his pursuit when a sudden and peculiar whistling sound was transmitted through the air. A sense of extreme foreboding rose in his heart as he watched the sword spinning toward him through the air. It was the other sword Qianye was holding just now.

    The sword¡¯s momentum and sound were too odd as it flew almost erratically through the air. Li Zhan didn¡¯t want to receive this blow head-on and thus he moved out of the de¡¯s range after looking around. But it was at this moment that two origin grenades rolled over toward him as if they had eyes.

    ¡°You madman!¡± Li Zhan cursed out loud. He only had enough time to curl up his body before he was flung away by the shockwaves from the explosion. He mmed squarely into a wall and was only able to stand up with great difficulty. He nced over and saw only the thick mist. How could he even find Qianye¡¯s shadow?

    ¡°What insanity! He¡¯s truly a madman!¡±

    At the distance just now, Qianye himself should also have been within the radius of the origin grenade¡¯s explosion. In truth, it was almost a half-suicidal course of action. Qianye would have inevitably paid a great price even though he was able to escape once again by using this method.

    Meanwhile, Qianye had already run to a different street and was breathing heavily while supporting himself on an anchor-shaped sculpture. In truth, his condition was much better than Li Zhan had imagined it to be. His powerful vampire constitution had withstood arge portion of the explosive force.

    Suddenly, Qianye heard something moving behind him like the sound of shifting sand. He turned around and saw, in the distance, a giant door decorated with carved patterns.

    The door creaked open and a vampire warrior walked out from within.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted as he took a step forward, raised his sword, and shed down at lightning speed.

    The vampire warrior seemed slow to react and his manner was somewhat sluggish, but the sword he raised horizontally still managed to obstruct Qianye¡¯s attack.

    The sword in Qianye¡¯s hand, however, was iparably heavy and glowing with faint silver origin arrays due to the activation of its Devastation properties. The sh directly cut the vampire warrior and his sword into two.

    The two halves of the vampire fell slowly to the ground, but there wasn¡¯t any blood within its body sections and was, instead, filled with sandy granules. The corpse transformed into a pile of sand before Qianye¡¯s eyes, rustled to the ground, and disappeared into the street surface in a matter of moments.

    Qianye was astonished and soon recalled that the voice had told him to kill off the outsiders and guards. So, was this a guardian?

    It shouldn¡¯t be very difficult if they were only at the level of rank seven or eight like this one. However, it was unknown just how many of them there were.

    There was something glittering where the fine grains of sand had disappeared. Qianye picked it up and discovered a fingernail-sized piece of crystal. He flipped it about and, finding nothing special about it, put it away into his pocket. This was the first time the city had left something after devouring its victim.

    Qianye was just nning to leave when the ufortable screech of flowing sand was heard once again. He turned around and saw a guardian climb out from a french window in the distance. Qianye moved forth inrge strides, beheading the guardian as his hand rose and his de fell. He obtained yet another piece of crystal.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted after picking up the crystal because three more guardians appeared within his field of vision! Additionally, sounds of movement were heard from the buildings lining the street. Needless to say, there were more guardians appearing within them.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but inhale a breath of cold air. However, he charged forth with his de gripped tightly. Any guardian who approached him was either shed apart or beheaded in a single move.

    There was no ¡°give up¡± in his life dictionary. He had even gotten through the danger of being infected by dark blood back then. This trial before him was just a battle¡ªa true warrior wouldn¡¯t give up until the very end.

    This ordinary-looking street stretched so far that one couldn¡¯t see the end, and the wave of guardians seemed unending no matter how many were killed. Qianye could no longer remember clearly just how many shes he had already executed and only knew that the number of crystals in his pocket was increasing. He didn¡¯t even need to bend down to pick them up; his pocket would grow slightly heavier with each guardian he killed.

    After an unknown length of time, Qianye suddenly halted his steps. The endless street before him finally changed as a lofty building suddenly appeared.

    It was hundreds of meters tall and was supported by twelve pirs at the front, each of them several meters in diameter. A person would feel as insignificant as an ant before this majestic building.

    The Wings of Inception shook once again as it sensed the Eye of Truth within.

    Qianye crossed through the threshold and arrived before a hall so big that it almost felt stifling.

    The walls and roof were filled with murals of exquisite artistry, most of them depicting stories of their genesis. They showed how the heroes of each dark race had battled countless giant primordial beasts and even alien creatures. There were also some murals which portrayed a number of great battles between the dark races.

    Some of the giant beasts depicted in the murals had never even been heard of, and the dark races¡¯ battle prowess had been embellished brilliantly. One could see their boundless might with a single nce. These murals would definitely fetch an exorbitant price if one were to find a way to copy these paintings and bring them back because they were able to fill in therge gap in history before the thousand-year war.

    Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t the time to be thinking of such things. Qianye retracted his gaze and moved forward.

    In the depths of the great hall was a row of thirteen coffins. From theiryout, it seemed the area was a resting ce for certain ancient vampires.

    There was an altar before the coffins with various rare treasures scattered on and around it. In their midst were piles of eerie white bones likely belonging to creatures of different races. The abundant riches along with the openly disyed remains gave one an odd sensation.

    There was a scripture stand that stood erect before the altar, and currently lying upon it was arge ck book with a bleeding red eye on its cover.

    The reaction from the Wings of Inception was so close that it almost seemed within reach¡ªit was precisely this mysterious ancient volume.

    Qianye hesitated for a moment before cing his hand on the ck cover. He felt a brief pain from his palm as his fresh blood immediately stained the cover and was then absorbed into the blood.

    Countless strands of almost tangible ck radiance erupted from the book. It almost seemed as if tentacles had reached out and entangled Qianye.

    At this point, Qianye lost all control over his body and even his perception had disappeared.

    The next moment, he found himself floating within an empty space with the ck book hovering in front of him. The pages on this thick and heavy tome began to turn on its own, and with each page flipped, the content would emerge within Qianye¡¯s consciousness.

    He had no idea how much time had passed when thest page was finally turned. Qianye gradually opened his eyes.

    He now knew what this book was.

    It was one of the dark races¡¯ lost ancient tomes, the Book of Darkness: Inception.

    The ck book didn¡¯t just consist of one book; it was a set. This tome had vanished in an era long before the War of Daybreak, and only its name was left behind in the memories of the descendants. There wasn¡¯t any other information about it. Who would have thought the first part, the chapter of inception, would actually appear in Andruil¡¯s ruins?

    The chapter of inception recorded the workings of the world¡¯s origin power system. Qianye saw the moment of the world¡¯s inception. He saw how the boundless darkness had burst forth from the void and spread toward the vast expanse at an unimaginable speed.

    This was the darkness of inception, the source of all darkness origin power.

    This world was originally dominated by darkness.

 Volume 4 - 70: Trial

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 70: Trial

    Qianye was extremely astonished after witnessing this scene and suddenly recalled the first glimmer of daybreak which had appeared during the disintegration of the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s General Principles chapter.

    As if something had mmed into his world, Qianye was suddenly jolted awake and soon recovered all of this senses after withdrawing from the state of emptiness. His hand was still on the book stand, but the ck tome hadpletely vanished.

    He pensively checked the inside of his body. As expected, he found a new conscious space within, and the Book of Darkness: Inception was floating in it.

    Qianye took a deep breath and tried hard to calm down his chaotic emotions.

    The Inception chapter described the birth of the world, while the Song Can Ancient Scroll recorded the first opening of the heaven and earth. However, the differences between them were too significant. Why did the dark race and human race have different concepts regarding this same world?

    The ¡°Glory¡± and ¡°Mystery¡± chapters which he had sessfully cultivated were vastly different in their methods, but after careful thought, they probably weren¡¯tpletely unrted. ¡°Glorious is he who breathes fire but conceals his luster¡±, ¡°mysterious is he with red amidst the darkness¡± ¡ªQianye seemed to have grasped some clues. Yet, he was seemingly separated by a thin veil and couldn¡¯t see through everything clearly.

    Just at this moment, the familiar aura of a certain colossal consciousness swept through Qianye¡¯s mind.

    ¡°You who are descended of the same bloodline as I, it greatly surprises me that you were able to absorb the Book of Darkness. It seems the long vicissitudes ultimately cannot wipe away our hallowed ancient bloodline.¡±

    Qianye frowned and maintained his silence. He didn¡¯t know why the ck-Winged Monarch had always believed him to be his descendant, however, it made little sense to deny things under such circumstances.

    ¡°It seems you¡¯re bloodline isn¡¯t, at all, inferior to my own and is extremely close to that of the ancestor we share. As such, you can already be considered my peer ording to the oldest sacred blood traditions. You are, without a doubt, extremely weak at the moment and powerless to shoulder this responsibility and mission. Unfortunately, however, neither you nor I have the time.¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°Where are you?¡± He had no interest at all in the vampire race¡¯s mission and responsibility. However, he vaguely realized that something beyond his control had already urred and that everything had already been set in stone. This kind of sensation made Qianye somewhat frustrated.

    ¡°I¡¯m within the Wings of Inception and also within the Eye of Truth. There are fragments of my consciousness left within them. I will guide you on how to obtain them, but before that, you¡¯ll face some trials.¡±

    ¡°I feel I¡¯ve been through enough trials.¡±

    ¡°That is an ident and not my original intention.¡±

    ¡°I left some riches around the altar, things that are considered treasures to those of the secr world. I had originally intended to gift them to my loyal servant, Lu Jianan. You may take a portion of it and then give a suitable share to his descendants. Excessive wealth isn¡¯t necessarily a good thing for ordinary people. On the contrary, it might spell their eventual doom.¡±

    ¡°I will find his descendants,¡± Qianye promised. Lu Jianan¡¯s progeny should have been living in ck y Town. Back then, there was no way for him to search, among the multitude, for an old man who lived alone. But now that he knew the man¡¯s name, he might be able to try again. However, chances were slim at best since that ce had just been baptized by the mes of war.

    ¡°I have a crystal key that¡¯s been split into three fragments. I left one with my devoted servant and another with my loyal guard. Afterbining the two with the third, it will open a different secret chamber. I prepared some presents within for Nangong Yuqing, my lover during my time amongst humans.¡±

    At this point, Qianye was astonished. This was the first time Andruil had personally admitted that he had once lived amongst humans. The surname Nangong was also quite familiar¡ªcould she be from the Nangong family, one of the empire¡¯s top aristocratic families?

    Although he was extremely surprised, he agreed after some thought. It was at this moment that the two crystal fragments in his pocket suddenly began to throb, and a beam of light shot out through his clothes. Qianye brought it out and found that the two fragments had already fused together and was emitting a beam of light toward a certain direction.

    That was the location of the third crystal fragment. It seemed that the crystal key fragments wouldn¡¯t activate unless one agreed to Andruil¡¯s request. At this moment, Qianye was utterly convinced by the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s mysterious powers. He couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how Andruil had managed to do all this.

    At this time, Andruil seemed to have spoken something but his voice suddenly became distorted and noisy as if affected by an intense interference.

    Somewhat startled, Qianye waited for some time but the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s consciousness didn¡¯t appear again.

    He looked around the ce and decided toplete his initial promise first. The fortunes around the altar mostly consisted of gold coins, gems, and a number of exquisite little boxes. Qianye opened them one by one and found that they were all filled with blood crystals. It was just that, due to the passage of time, the energy contained within them had all dissipated and only empty crystals were left behind.

    These crystals could be instilled with fresh blood power, but empty crystals could also be used interchangeably with the dark race¡¯s crystal coins.

    The value of the treasures around the altar could be counted in the hundreds of thousands of gold coins, but it would be almost impossible to move out the hundreds of kilograms of treasure with powerful enemies lurking around.

    Qianye collected two small boxes of rare materials and headed toward the direction of the third crystal fragment.

    At some point, a number of pathways had emerged on the four walls of the hall. Qianye followed the guidance of the beam of light being emitted from the key and entered that passage. There weren¡¯t any traps or mechanisms along the passage, and as such, he arrived at the end without any problem at all. It was a side-chamber.

    But as he walked into the hall, Qianye realized why there weren¡¯t any defensive mechanisms in such an important ce. Atop a ck steel seat within the side-chamber sat a high-ranking vampire¡ªthe insignia on his ck robes signified that he was actually a marquis of the Monroe n.

    Qianye was instinctively cautious, butter on, he discovered that the vampire marquis sat peacefully without any movement at all, his falcon-like eyes staring at a point one meter in front of his feet. He had long since lost all signs of vitality.

    Qianye advanced slowly and saw that there was a dark bloodstain on the marquis¡¯ chest. It had blended in with his ck robes and thus wasn¡¯t evident without careful observation. That ce was where the blood core resided.

    The vampire marquis¡¯ body copsed into a pile of fine sand and fell to the ground as Qianye approached, perhaps because the vibrations from his footsteps had broken the fragile bnce.

    This vampire marquis should also be one of the guardians Andruil had deployed here. It was unknown, however, whether such a powerful expert had turned into a puppet-like guardian before or after his death. It was also a mystery regarding who hade to the ck-Winged Monarch ruins before and killed this vampire marquis.

    Qianye looked down to find a crystal fragment on the ground in front of the tall throne and a skull beside it. The cut surface on the neck bone was as smooth as a mirror. It seemed he was decapitated by a sharp weapon.

    Qianye heard that voice again as soon as he saw the skull. ¡°You¡¯ve already found my head. Well done! Now bring it to me and you¡¯ll obtain a generous reward. Do not doubt the power and prestige of Andruil. Bring it to me, now!¡±

    This sound seemed to have some sort of magic power which made Qianye subconsciously reach for the skull. But at this moment, he realized something was wrong. As his spirit jolted awake, the purple blood energy suddenly scuttled out from the ability rune and rapidly spread throughout his whole body. This drove the voice out of his consciousness and made it sound fairly distant.

    Two ck-Winged Monarchs?

    Qianye could already confirm that the colossal consciousness and the voice constantly demanding his head wasn¡¯t the same person.

    The situation seemed increasingly bizarre.

    Qianye stared fixedly at the skull for a moment and then decided to pick up the crystal fragment first. The three fragments merged together upon contact and formed aplete crystal disk.

    He pondered for a moment and then picked up the skull. Afterwards, following the guidance of the crystal disk, he traveled deeper along a passage and finally arrived before a great bronze door.

    There was a depression at its center which was an exact fit for the crystal disk. The origin arrays on the door flickered and lit up as the door gradually slid to one side.

    Behind the door was another side-chamber, and this time, there weren¡¯t any guardians. Only some beams of various dazzling colors would shoot through the air from time to time.

    A sense of extreme danger emerged within Qianye¡¯s mind. He had obtained some knowledge of space after obtaining the Book of Darkness. He knew that these beautiful and illusory beams of light represented the presence of unstable spatial rifts. A part of his body would fall into the space if he were to bump into them carelessly.

    The most eye-catching within the side-chamber was a weapons rack ced against the wall. Disyed upon it was a full array of weapons and defensive equipment¡ªfrom daggers to full sets of armor. Judging solely from their material and origin array patterns, none of them was less than grade-five.

    And within this side-chamber, there were several dozens of such equipment. This was indeed arge fortune.

    But Andruil had especially mentioned that the equipment within this chamber were the cornerstones of this secret chamber and couldn¡¯t be taken away. The item he needed Qianye to bring to Nangong Yuqing was on a table nearby.

    Qianye turned away and walked toward the roundtable at the center of the chamber. On it, there was an origin gun, two daggers, and two golden boxes.

    The gun and de were premium products made especially for use by humans. The gun was a grade-seven origin gun, while the two daggers were grade-six. One of the golden boxes was filled with physical origin bullets crafted of mithril. The method of production was extremely rare¡ªthe bullets would deal significant damage to members of the dark races even without the instition of origin power. The other golden box was actually filled with liquefied mithril.

    Not to mention the value of the gun and de, just the value of the two boxes and the high-purity mithril contained within them would rival that of a small n¡¯s entire treasury.

    But Andruil had stated clearly that these items were to be handed to Nangong Yuqing or her descendants. Qianye had no designs of them. He would respect the words he had given regardless of who the other party was.

    Qianye sorted out the items and ced them in his backpack. The bronze door closed on its own behind him as he walked out, and the crystal key was ejected into his hands with a click.

    Andruil¡¯s will appeared once again in Qianye¡¯s consciousness. ¡°Congrattions on passing another trial.¡±

    As it turned out, the armaments within the secret chamber were indeed its cornerstones. The defense mechanisms would have kicked in if he had failed to control his greed and had collected them. The brilliant beams of light would expand, and the gigantic spatial rifts would tear apart everything in the room, including Qianye.

    Qianye was in a bad mood. Setting foot in such an ursed ce was likeunching a one-way automatic airship. Unless it crashed in the middle, there was no way to turn back once he reached his destination. He didn¡¯t like this kind of feeling.

    The familiar voice once again rang out in his ears when he returned to the main hall.

    ¡°Well done! You¡¯ve brought my head as you promised. Now, return it to its rightful ce and you will obtain the great ck-Winged Monarch Andruil¡¯s gift and protection! You¡¯ll be able to found a n and its name will rival that of the 12 ancient ns. So much that you might even be able to inherit the surname of the 13th n which had already broken its line of session!¡±

    Such a series of promises which would probably cause huge tidal waves within the dark races might perhaps cause a true vampire¡¯s blood to boil with passion. However, Qianye felt nothing from it. Even though Andruil himself had admitted to the purity of Qianye¡¯s bloodline, thetter had consciously avoided this issue.

 Volume 4 - 71: Traitor

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 71: Traitor

    Qianye was now certain that the voice wasn¡¯t Andruil¡¯s. But then, why was it able to transmit information via the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s crystal fragment?

    Additionally, this was the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s ruins! Andruil had left such shocking arrangements here since thousands of years ago. How could he allow someone to impersonate him within his own pce?

    The Wings of Inception became still after Qianye walked out of the secret chamber. Andruil¡¯s will also turned silent and no longer gave him any suggestions. Could this be the unintended trial as described by the ck-Winged Monarch?

    Qianye nced at the skull in his hand and had the urge to hurl it at the opposite wall. Even though he was facing a great dark monarch who enjoyed a high ranking throughout dark race history, he didn¡¯t enjoy the feeling of being led by the nose.

    The voice beside his ears sounded even more urgent now.

    Qianye calmed down his depressed emotional state and followed the voice. He found himself returning to the great hall he had first arrived at and finally discovered the source. It wasing from one of the thirteen ancient coffins behind the altar.

    Only after observing the blood coffins in detail did Qianye find that the n insignias carved upon them weren¡¯t the same. From the first Perth n to the twelfth Carlton n, all of them were gathered here.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed; he felt that such a situation went againstmon knowledge. ording to the human race¡¯s understanding of the vampires, it was impossible for the twelve great ns to coexist in peace. Additionally, those resting within the coffins were ancient vampires who should be with their own ns.

    The one that gave Qianye the chills was the thirteenth blood coffin. The patterns carved upon it were exquisite andplex, but there weren¡¯t any insignias upon it. Vampire legends state that there were 13 primogenitors, but presently, there were only records and descendants for 12 of them. Who then was in thisst blood coffin?

    The thirteenth n?

    This wasn¡¯t good news for the humans. If a thirteenth n had existed before, it would mean that the vampire race would possess the strength of another primogenitor in due time. Even if it was dormant at the moment, who knew when its descendants would awaken?

    ¡°Approach me, present to me my head! I shall grant you power, rank, and strength in the ancient name of Andruil!¡±

    This time, Qianye heard it very clearly; the voice wasing from the first blood coffin.

    However, he didn¡¯t pay it any attention and, instead, pushed open the coffin nearest to him. The heavy coffin lid felt cold to the touch. The quality and sturdiness of its wooden material surpassed even that of metallic alloys.

    After opening the lid, he saw the corpse of a high ranking vampire d in martial attire. His insignia consisted of an olive branch surrounded by a circle of golden leaves. He was actually a glorious marquis. It was just that there was a hole in his chest, and his blood core had long since disappeared. A vampire who had lost his blood core was akin to a human who had lost his heart. He had long since died thoroughly.

    It was at this time that the first coffin slowly opened to reveal a sleeping vampire within.

    Vampires in long-term hibernation looked no different from a sleeping person except bing thin and shriveled. They would be thinner and weaker the longer they stayed in hibernation. By the time they had surpassed 100 years of hibernation, these vampires would need to be bathed in a blood pool in order for them to wake up.

    The vampire who had appeared before Qianye had almost shriveled up to the point where there were only bones left. He was also d in martial attire and had sustained severalrge wounds on the surface of his body. Many of his military decorations had been lost, and thus his rank could no longer be discerned. It seemed the injuries hadn¡¯t been treated at the time they were sustained¡ªthe flesh and blood around the wounds had be discolored as if they had suffered wind erosion over the years.

    Although the injuries on this vampire were severe, the position of his blood core was still intact. The only thing missing was his head.

    ¡°Fortunate descendant, you¡¯ve done well! Very well! Now, ce my head on my body and offer me some fresh blood. I, the mighty great monarch Andruil, will rise again. I shall then grant you the bloodline of a progenitor and the ability to found your own n!¡±

    This time, the voice no longer caused Qianye¡¯s ears to ring like the tolling of a great bell. It was muffled and possessed a certain inexplicable magic to it as if it were emitted from the bottom of his heart. Every word was a representation of what he wanted the most right now.

    Qianye felt momentarily absent-minded and began to step forward involuntarily.

    Vignce arose in his heart as he felt himself about to be torn into two halves. One half wanted to walk toward the first blood coffin and put the skull onto the body, while the other half wanted to drag down his steps and, at the same time, crush the skull into pieces.

    A spectator watching from one side would see Qianye acting like a malfunctioning robot. He would take two steps forward, then one step backward, and would even turn around from time to time while iling his arms about. But behind theseical movements was an intense contest of willpower.

    The purple blood energy had, once again, expanded as Qianye took the first step. However, it was unable topletely negate the control of the voice. It could only exert continuous interference, preventing Qianye from being utterly crushed in the struggle for control over his body.

    Qianye¡¯s will be increasingly murky with the rapid exhaustion of the purple blood energy¡¯s power. At this moment, the dark golden blood energy resting just outside his heart suddenly moved. It spat out a strand of blood as fine as an ox¡¯s hair which traveled upward along his blood vessels at lightning speed. It then exploded upon reaching the area between his brows.

    Following an intense pain in his head, Qianye suddenly felt that his consciousness was iparably clear.

    He once again took control over his body and immediately realized that this was a fleeting opportunity. He could no longer care about the conflict between his abundant blood energy and daybreak origin power as he immediately activated the Combatant Form. His origin power tides arose, whistling like a storm on the sea.

    The dark golden blood energy quickly retreated into his heart but not before leaving the illusory image of a pair of golden wings. As the pure daybreak origin power refined by the Glory Chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll swept over, speckles of golden light emerged within the dark red world and soon erupted into clusters of me.

    The torrent of origin power radiance infused with golden mes poured out of Qianye¡¯s hands and fell upon the headless vampire corpse like a waterfall. Silvery mes rose up within the blink of an eye, soon apanied by a wretched scream which echoed throughout the great hall.

    The shrill voice was like a sharp de and almost seemed as if it could cut through anything. It pierced into and twisted Qianye¡¯s consciousness, almost causing him to faint from the pain. Just as Qianye¡¯s visioned darkened and he was right before death¡¯s door, he managed to condense a willpower capable of resisting this attack which hacked at his very soul.

    He shook off the skull once again, and this time, the skull was sessfully flung away. Qianye drew the Twin Flowers and opened fire after loading his final Mithril Bullet of Exorcism into it.

    An enchanting flower bloomed in the air with a loud bang, followed by a rain of bony fragments. At this point, the incisive scream also came to a sudden stop.

    The whole world suddenly became iparably still. Qianye then sat while leaning against the coffin behind him, extremely weak and exhausted. It felt as if he didn¡¯t even have the strength to pant.

    The invasion became bidirectional during the fight for control over his body or perhaps because the voice had wanted to upy Qianye¡¯s consciousness. Consequently, Qianye was able to grasp some broken fragments of the other party¡¯s memories.

    It turned out that the high-ranking vampires in the coffins were the thirteen blood generals of the ck-Winged Monarch. They had kept guard over these ruins all this time after Andruil went missing. The headless vampire had, for some reason, deserted his post and ughtered all hisrades. However, he waster beheaded by the guardian marquis in the side chamber.

    Also for some unknown reason, the traitor actually didn¡¯t diepletely. Since his talents specialized in spiritual power, he was able to use the crystal key fragment to tempt others into exploring the ruins and thereby achieving his goal of revival.

    In truth, one would already have the opportunity to enter this hall after obtaining a single crystal fragment. Throughout the hundreds if not thousands of years, many powerful and greedy experts hade here before Qianye, but they were all, without exception, turned into energy for maintaining the operation of this space.

    Qianye only recovered a minuscule amount of strength even after resting for a long time.

    It seemed this bizarre incident hade to a close. Although there were many details he was still uncertain of, he knew this wasn¡¯t the only truth to be drowned in the long river of time.

    Qianye opened up all the other blood coffins and found the corpses of ten high-ranking vampires. Their martial attire was more or less simr, and from the badges on them, one could see that the lowest rank among them was a marquis. All of them had their blood cores dug out, and only the corpse of that headless vampire was whole.

    However, Qianye was surprised to find that the thirteenth blood coffin was empty. He carefully recalled that the vampire marquis guarding the side-chamber was wearing different adornments. Did this mean that there was still a thirteenth blood general?

    Qianye raised his head and nced around the great hall¡ªthere was only absolute silence all around. If not for his arrival, this ce would be like a frozen fragment on the vast wastnd of time.

    But at this point, Qianye had already realized that the ck-Winged Monarch wasn¡¯t omnipotent. Everything he had witnessed within this space had long surpassed his understanding and could only be described as a miracle. Even so, unforeseen events had still urred with the long passage of time; one general had turned on him, another had gone missing, while the rest had all been murdered.

    Qianye had a vague feeling that Andruil was borrowing his hand to deal with the traitor. Judging from the tone of the colossal will, the ck-Winged Monarch wasn¡¯t ignorant of what had transpired within the hall. As for why he didn¡¯t take action himself, there was no way to know.

    Blue light emerged on the vault of the great hall after the thirteen blood coffins were all opened. The murals on the walls all vanished as Qianye looked up¡ªthe vast and deep color was like a starless night sky. Following which, a beam of radiance shot down and fell upon him.

    Subsequently, gentle but tremendous power filled Qianye¡¯s bones and limbs. This time, he clearly felt the Wings of Inception unfurl and form a pair of gigantic radiant wings behind his back apanied by specks of brilliant gold.

    Suddenly, the whole pce began to rock and sway. The tremors weren¡¯t intense, and it felt as if one were standing on the waves. Before him was a wall dozens of meters in height and hundreds of meters wide. The facade began to split and gradually open up.

    Blue radiance gushed out and stopped before Qianye to form a giant door of light which reached toward the sky.

    Qianye subconsciously reached out and found that the blue light felt tangible, cool, and smooth to the touch. It felt as if he had reached into seawater. A tremendous suction force came through and dragged him into this ocean of radiant blue.

    The pce was then restored to its original state. The opened coffins all closed up on their own and resumed their deathly stillness.

    At this time, the city outside of the hall was in chaos. Intense battles were raging in every street as the vampire warriors fought against the guardians.

    The guardians¡¯ levels were a couple of ranks lower than Qianye, but their numbers were endless. They emerged continuously from the buildings and rushed out of the long windows. After they were killed, they would turn into sand and flow back into the ground without leaving a single trace.

 Volume 4 - 72: The Black-Winged Monarch

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 72: The ck-Winged Monarch

    Li Zhan brandished his sword and sent the heads of two guardians flying. He watched as their bodies turned to flowing sand with a gloomy expression. He had already lost count of how many guardians he had already killed, but the scene before him was always the same¡ªmore of them would flood out from the houses on each side regardless of how many were killed.

    He had sustained a fair number of injuries and his face was somewhat pale. Despite that, the battle intent in his eyes hadn¡¯t faltered in the slightest. ¡°Mere puppets!¡± Detest shed through the depths of his eyes.

    In other ces, a number of vampire viscounts were locked in constant battle. Their vampire constitution gave them an advantage in such melee battles, and with the support of blood crystals, their endurance was much greater. But mists of daybreak origin powerful would spray out through the air from time to time andnd urately on them despite their evasive efforts.

    This type of damage wasn¡¯t very serious, but it had never stopped since they entered the city. As such, the umted energy became quite significant over time. Additionally, the viscounts had a feeling that the frequency of gushing daybreak origin power, as well as the number of emerging guardians, was steadily increasing. Apparently, Duke Garis who was impeding the spatial restrictions outside was almost at his limit.

    Not only would the city¡¯s defenses reactivate, but even the spatial door might close once Duke Garis¡¯ powers were exhausted. This meant that those who had gone in would be trapped within.

    Over a hundred figures had gathered outside of the spatial door.

    Li Rui¡¯s expression was cold as he switched out a number of drained crystals from the origin array from time to time. The discarded crystals had formed a sizeable pile nearby¡ªthis expenditure alone was an astronomical figure.

    There were some high-ranking vampires who were previously looking on with indifference. Their expressions turned quite ugly as they watched the newly reced crystal lose its color before even ten minutes had passed.

    Finally, a vampire count could bear it no longer. ¡°What the hell are you doing?! The number of crystals you¡¯ve used up can already cancel out the power of a prince! But the spatial restrictions here are bing more and more consolidated. Damned human, don¡¯t tell me the ck-Winged Monarch is on the other side!¡±

    Li Rui turned to stare at the count for a length of time before saying, ¡°If my guess isn¡¯t wrong, the spatial door is connected to an intact lesser hidden realm. This kind of realm can operate for a long time on only a small amount of energy because most of it stems from the apex of the realm which we can never reach. Since your sense of superiority is so ardent, why note and maintain this spatial door on your own. I¡¯ll end my life here if you can maintain it for three minutes without dissipation, how¡¯s that?¡±

    The enraged vampire count roared loudly. ¡°Despicable human, this is an insult to the noble Count Bernie! I¡¯ll put you on my dinner table!¡±

    A frosty baleful intent shed through Li Rui¡¯s eyes as he replied coldly, ¡°Is that so? Then why don¡¯t we engage in a fair duel to the death? I¡¯m quite confident about killing an idiot like you.¡±

    Bernie was unable to restrain his anger and revealed his fangs amidst his roars.

    In the distance, Duke Garis suddenly growled, ¡°Bernie, shut up!¡±

    Bernie, who was originally in a towering rage, actually shivered after hearing Duke Garis¡¯ voice and no longer dared to speak.

    Duke Garis then nced at Li Rui and said, ¡°Mister Li, please restrain yourself. Casually provoking my subordinates won¡¯t benefit our cooperation.¡±

    Li Rui switched to a respectful expression and said with a smile, ¡°Please rest assured, I¡¯ve always acted appropriately.¡±

    At this time, a vampire elder standing nearby said with a mocking tone, ¡°Garis, it seems to me that you can¡¯t hold on much longer. Do you want me to help you?¡±

    Garis replied without even turning to look, ¡°Agnis, I can still hold on for a long time. Your Monroe n has already gotten itself into quite a lot of trouble this time. Don¡¯t tell me you want to provoke our Lakins n right now?¡±

    The elder named Agnisughed heartily and said, ¡°No matter how great an inconvenience is, it¡¯s merely an inconvenience. You, on the other hand, should consider whether you want to keep on being stubborn and lose all your chips in the process.¡±

    Duke Garis said after a moment of silence, ¡°I can give you some advance payment. Choose someone to send in.¡±

    Agnis let out a muffledugh and said with a wave of his hand, ¡°You, enter.¡±

    A vampiredy behind Agnis responded. Even Duke Garis couldn¡¯t help but exim with an astonished expression after she removed her hood, ¡°Twilight!¡±

    Duke Garis shot a nce at Agnis and snorted coldly. ¡°It seems you¡¯ve indeede well-prepared.¡±

    Agnis stroked his short beard, seemingly pleased with himself. ¡°I only wanted to see if we¡¯ll have a chance. Additionally, we won¡¯t take a big share here. The greatest benefits will still fall to you, my dear excellency.¡±

    Garis replied slowly, ¡°That¡¯s quite difficult to say.¡±

    Agnis didn¡¯t argue with Garis. He pointed and shot out a thin strand of blood, whereupon the originally agitated spatial door immediately stabilized.

    Twilight removed her hood to reveal her lithe figure d in ck leather armor. Two swords appeared in her grasp with a flick of her hands. After which, she stepped into the spatial door without the slightest bit of dy.

    Duke Garis watched the figure of Twilight¡¯s back and sighed. ¡°If only the Lakins n possessed a descendant like Twilight.¡±

    Agnis smiled faintly but didn¡¯t bother toment.

    It wasn¡¯t impossible for vampires to switch ns, but the price wasn¡¯t easily affordable.

    The battle within the city seemed perpetual, and even Li Zhan had lost track of how many he had killed. Yet, the enemies were still swarming toward him, causing a fretful expression to finally emerge on his countenance. Suddenly, the two guardians dashing toward him sank down and dispersed into sand.

    Li Zhan was startled¡ªhe surveyed the surroundings and found that the city had been restored to its initial state of deathly silence without a single guardian in sight.

    And at this moment, the mist in front of him suddenly became much thinner, revealing a great majestic shrine towering over the end of the street.

    Hardly able to keep his calm, Li Zhan raised his speed and dashed toward the temple hall which almost seemed to extend into the sky.

    Just as he reached the base of the stairs, he saw a figure suddenly appear in front of the pce doors. The vampiredy was d in ck leather armor and wielding a sword in each hand. Her short golden hair danced about like cold mes.

    To Li Zhan, thisdy felt like a sharp unsheathed de; he felt a slight pain in his eyes just by looking at her.

    Twilight shot a nce at Li Zhan and immediately proceeded to enter the shrine without paying him further attention. Li Zhan clenched his teeth and followed suit.

    Both Li Zhan and Twilight sensed only one thing the moment they stepped into the great hall¡ªthe world was swaying.

    Under such circumstances, it was impossible for them to take notice of the appearance of the pce hall. To their astonishment, they saw a gigantic door of azure light stretching from the floor all the way up to the domed roof and from the left wall of the hall to its right.

    Twilight¡¯s eyes were filled with fanaticism as she stared intently at the blue door and mumbled, ¡°Is this the great inheritance left behind by the great monarch Andruil? I-It¡¯s mine. It¡¯s finally mine!¡±

    Suddenly waking up from her reverie, Twilight turned to Li Zhan and said, ¡°Give me your de.¡±

    Li Zhan hesitated for a moment but ultimately passed her the sword in his hand.

    Twilight immediately hurled the de at the door of azure light after receiving it. It was enveloped by ayer of ck and blue mes, a manifestation of her darkness origin power.

    The sword whistled toward the radiant door, but at the moment of contact, numerous small bolts of lightning suddenly shot out from the door and immediately reduced the grade-four sword to ash.

    Twilight¡¯s expression dimmed with obvious disappointment as she slowly said, ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t enter.¡±

    ¡°Then we only need to wait here. That brat has to emerge sooner orter, provided that he isn¡¯t utterly destroyed. Whatever he obtained inside will be ours as long as we kill him.¡±

    Li Zhan had recognized the datura flower insignia on Twilight''s jacket. Andruil was a great monarch of the Monroe n¡ªif even a descendant of their n couldn¡¯t enter, then it would be impossible for him, a human, to break through the restrictions.

    Twilight corrected him with a cold voice, ¡°It¡¯s mine.¡±

    Li Zhan bowed and said, ¡°As youmand.¡± At this angle, Twilight couldn¡¯t see the sh of cold murderous intent which shed through his eyes.

    The two became silent and waited calmly before the radiant door.

    A whileter, two vampire viscounts also entered the great hall, followed by a dozen-odd vampires and Li family warriors. The expressions of the vampire warriors changed greatly after seeing Twilight. All of them, including the two viscounts, edged back subconsciously, not daring to go past Twilight¡¯s position.

    The azure door upying the entire hall was rippling like sea water.

    Behind the door, Qianye was walking along a passageposed of blue light. Although it felt as if he were treading on solid ground, there was only emptiness on all sides.

    Even Qianye felt his heart shudder¡ªthis wasn¡¯t rted to courage or theck thereof, but it was, instead, a type of inherent fear when facing the unknown.

    Qianye knew not for how long he had walked, but he could no longer see the radiant door when he nced back from time to time. There was only a single path emerging from and stretching toward the emptiness. There seemed to be neither a beginning nor an end.

    The Wings of Inception awoke again by itself and pushed Qianye forward until he was gliding along the radiant path. He went faster and faster until he felt as if even the empty space were elerating backward.

    There was finally a change at the end of the radiant path. A blue speck of light emerged and expanded continuously until it formed the silhouette of a vast and majestic pce, one that was even greater than the temple outside.

    Qianye¡¯s emotions almost froze at this moment¡ªit was impossible to express everything he had experienced in words. It was simply impossible to produce all of this by manpower unless everything was just an illusion. Even a miracle could hardly surpass this level.

    After entering the great hall, the first thing toe into view was the throne at the center of this vast space. Upon it sat a man with his chin resting on one hand as if he were deeply pondering something.

    The moment he nced over, the entirety of Qianye¡¯s attention was attracted by this man¡ªit was as if he were the center of the whole world. He had long dark hair and was dressed in a loose ck robe. His hands were as fair as jade, and his skin was enveloped by ayer of hazy radiance.

    The man gradually looked up as Qianye approached the throne, thetter¡¯s figure clearly reflected within the pair of ocean-blue eyes.

    At this moment, Qianye felt as if his whole being had be as transparent as ss. From the inside out, there was no ce on his body to hide any secrets. At the same time, a strand of enlightenment appeared out of nowhere. He immediately realized that the man sitting upon the throne was, in fact, the long-lost second generation primogenitor, the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil.

    ¡°You¡¯ve finallye,¡± Andruil said with a smile.

 Volume 4 - 73: Inheritance

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 73: Inheritance

    The legendary ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s voice was pleasant, gentle, and possessed an inexplicable maism. His countenance was almost perfect¡ªhis deep blue eyes were akin to starry oceans, boundlessly serene and profound. If one must point out a defect, then perhaps it could be said that his handsomeness leaned toward average.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s astonishment could no longer be described with words.

    Andruil was actually alive?!

    As a second generation primogenitor and a great dark monarch, he had demonstrated a variety of mighty powers since Qianye stepped into this space. If he were truly alive, it might just break the fragile bnce of power between the empire and the dark races.

    Qianye had long since known that the crime he wasmitting was iparably dangerous, but he had never expected to meet the ck-Winged Monarch himself.

    Andruil extended his hand toward Qianye and said, ¡°It¡¯s a delightful surprise that you were able to appear before me so quickly. Now, let me take a good look at you.¡±

    Specks of blue radiance emerged around Qianye as his figure was once again reflected in Andruil¡¯s eyes. His body gradually turned transparent, thoroughly revealing the condition of his origin power and blood energy cirction.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Andruil eximed in surprise as he retracted the light from his eyes. He pondered for a moment before saying slowly, ¡°A human? This is truly a surprise. How could a hybrid possess sacred blood of such purity? What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Qianye.¡± Qianye, on the other hand, hadpletely calmed down. He knew, since the moment he met the ck-Winged Monarch, that the secrets in his body would all beid bare. But he hadn¡¯t imagined Andruil¡¯s understanding would also be skewed, that the monarch would actually think he was a hybrid.

    Andruil still seemed somewhat bewildered. He extended a finger, drew a few lines in the air, and condensed a rune. But then, he reached out to wipe it away.

    The ck-Winged Monarch shook his head and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a big problem. Normally, hybrid lineages are always impure, but your daybreak origin power is of a fairly rare purity. It seems you¡¯re a top-grade talent among humans, but it would ultimately be impossible for the daybreak races to retain their origins in this world blessed by the darkness. In the future, your sacred bloodline will continue to awaken. It will naturally suppress and assimte all the impurities.¡±

    Qianye inhaled a breath of cold air and felt his heart suddenly tighten. Although Andruil had misjudged his bloodline origin and this meant that he was safe for the moment, he could find no delight in the future the ck-Winged Monarch had described. This so-called sacred blood assimting the impurities inevitably meant that he would turn into a pure vampire in the end.

    At this point, Andruil¡¯s voice rose considerably as he said, ¡°What truly astonishes me is that, although your bloodline is still very weak, its purity has surpassed all the primos and approaches that of a primogenitor!¡±

    Andruil became increasingly excited while speaking. In the end, he stood up and began to pace on the high tform. ¡°Perhaps you don¡¯t understand what this signifies! As long as you don¡¯t fall in the foreseeable future, there¡¯s arge chance that you¡¯ll produce a drop of origin blood, and the Monroe n will once again bear witness to the birth of a primogenitor!¡±

    Andruil paused for a moment and said with a fairly perplexed expression, ¡°Although you and I share the same bloodline origins, you probably haven¡¯t grown past the newborn stage for a long time. This means, in terms of generation, you can only be boundlessly close to my own bloodline power, but can never surpass it. But now, you¡¯re bloodline purity is equal to my own. This is unbelievable, no, this is simply a subversion of allmon knowledge.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s understanding of the vampire race, of course, wasn¡¯t deep enough to involve bloodline inheritances. Hence, he had no idea what thetter part of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s words actually meant. Additionally, this great monarch¡¯s assessment of his condition had been skewed since the beginning, causing hister spections to gopletely astray. Hence, Qianye didn¡¯t really take it seriously.

    But he did recall a certain incident back when he was cultivating the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Mystery Chapter¡ªthis dark golden blood energy was produced only after the original golden blood energy was sucked into the ck vortex and devoured.

    Could it be that the Mystery Chapter could not only purify darkness origin power but could actually purify vampire bloodlines?

    Qianye naturally couldn¡¯t walk the path toward a vampiric awakening, but since the Song n Ancient Scroll could purify the golden blood energy, it might also be able to purify the dark golden blood energy and might finally produce origin blood. If it could also purify origin blood¡­ what then was the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s ultimate goal?

    Qianye was lost in his own thoughts. The impact of such a possibility was immense even for a mere thought.

    Andruil returned to his throne and sighed helplessly. ¡°Regrettably, I¡¯m only a fragment of the main body¡¯s will and have no power to unravel this mystery. For the time being, just think of it as a gift from destiny.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled. He had felt the suppressive might of this great monarch sinceing into the great hall, but it was actually a mere manifestation of Andruil¡¯s will.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Where¡¯s the real ck-Winged Monarch?¡±

    ¡°You should know that there are two suns and an asteroid belt at the topmostyer of this world. That ce is actually reachable, and it is there that my main body found a path to leave this world and explore the distant realms. He made ample arrangements here and then left.¡±

    Even though there were airships, the journey between continents was full of danger and unexpected events. Climbing up to the top of the world, where the sun and asteroid belt were located, sounded like the ravings of a lunatic, but there had indeed been records of such feats in both the dark faction and the human empire. The disappearance of a certain emperor of the Great Qin was also rted to this endeavor.

    Qianye stared nkly, not knowing how to assess his course of action. Despite his advantage in power, wealth, and his longevity as a vampire, Andruil, who was in his prime back then, had actually stepped onto such a path of no return. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel a heartfelt admiration toward his spirit and broad-mindedness although he belonged to the enemy faction.

    But Qianye noticed something from Andruil¡¯s words. ¡°Arrangements? Was everything that happened in the great hall already foreseen?¡±

    Andruilughed. ¡°Are you asking about the crystal key¡¯s perpetual activation of physical energy or the fall of the 13 generals? O descendant who shares the same origin as I, your understanding of people¡¯s hearts is too simple. Even prophecies can only grasp, among the countless strings of fate, the one closest to reality. My main body only set the rules for the operation of this space. As for the results, they were brought about by individual people.¡±

    A speck of azure radiance appeared on his extended hand as he said with a smile, ¡°Well, our time is short. It¡¯s time I hand you the most important item. This is the Eye of Truth, one of the most important powers of our bloodline.¡±

    The blue light flew out from Andruil¡¯s hand and merged into Qianye¡¯s body.

    Andruil added, ¡°Although your bloodline isparable to my own in purity, it''s still very weak at the moment. This is a drop of my origin blood. It¡¯ll help you activate the Eye of Truth and the Wings of Inception.¡±

    A drop of fresh blood then flew out from Andruil¡¯s fingertip and immediately transformed into a fist-sized crystal. Oddly, the crystal wasn¡¯t gold or blood-colored as Qianye had expected but a deep azure like the sky and ocean.

    Upon contact with Qianye¡¯s hand, the blood crystal erupted with a mass of blue radiance which enveloped him entirely.

    Following which, Qianye discovered that the dark golden blood energy in his body had formed a cocoon at one point, and the specks of blue light were diving into it like moths to the me. After all the specks of light had entered, the cocoon began to wiggle, and almost immediately, Qianye felt as if a second heart was beating along with his own.

    The excessively powerful pulsations caused Qianye¡¯s consciousness to grow fuzzy as an indefensible sleepiness welled up within. He slowly fell to the ground and, in his dazzled state, seemingly heard Andruil eximing in surprise, ¡°Eh? These guns are actually in your hands. What an unbelievable coincidence¡­¡±

    When Qianye gradually awoke after an unknown length of time, the first thing he saw was the tall domed roof of the great hall. He slowly turned his head and saw Andruil sitting firmly on the throne. It was just that his figure was somewhat blurry and would be distorted from time to time.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± Andruil smiled as if he understood Qianye¡¯s puzzlement and said, ¡°The sage blood inheritance put you into a deep sleep. You¡¯ve slept for a month now. But time is a meaningless concept in this ce, so by taking the spatial door as a reference, you¡¯ve likely slept for only a couple of hours.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but nce at the great hall and said, ¡°What a grand achievement.¡±

    Two revolvers emerged in the air as Andruil raised his hand and pressed ever so lightly.

    Qianye reached out to receive them, somewhat puzzled. Weren¡¯t these the Twin Flowers? But they seemed a bit different at a nce due to the many faint blue patterns upon it. Apparently, the origin array had undergone a significant modification.

    ¡°These guns used to be mine when I was young. They were just experimental products I had built out of fascination. I¡¯d never expected that they would be in your hands. Now, their origin arrays areplete. I¡¯m only a fragment of the main body¡¯s will and thus have no way to upgrade it. However, it¡¯s already good enough since you possess the Wings of Inception.¡±

    ¡°The main body also left you one of his true masterpieces, one that is likely unrivaled in the world. Its name is Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.¡±

    Qianye suddenly realized that he was now wearing a ne with a fingernail-sized sapphire pendant attached to it. It appeared rather simple and one could hardly see anything unique.

    ¡°It can be activated with your bloodline power and, within it, is a hidden space. Although its size can¡¯t bepared to this vast ce, its stability is tangible and will exist perpetually.¡±

    Qianye tried instilling the ne with blood energy and found that his consciousness had suddenly entered a special space. The interior was a dusky grey with faintly discernible barriers in all directions. The space was roughly a couple of cubic meters in volume and couldn¡¯t be considered veryrge, but this was already astonishing.

    At this moment, Andruil¡¯s figure became fairly indistinct, and the great hall began to tremble. So much that broken pieces were beginning to fall down from the domed roof.

    ¡°This ce is about to perish. Leave now, the Wings of Inception will bring you away.¡±

    Qianye momentarily turned silent for he had no idea what to say at this moment. As such, he performed a salutation toward Andruil¡¯s figure as the Wings of Inception unfurled behind him.

    As Qianye stepped out of the great hall, Andruil¡¯s voice rang out beside his ears, ¡°Ah, how terrible! I almost forgot to tell you the most important thing.¡±

    The ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s voice, at this moment, was gentle, leisurely, and it almost seemed as if he was smiling as he spoke. Qianye suddenly felt a bad premonition.

 Volume 4 - 74: Escape

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 74: Escape

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve already obtained my inheritance, it¡¯s only natural that you also inherit my enemies. For now, you should remember some names. First on the list is Jasmine; she¡¯s ourmon enemy as well as the eternal nemesis of our entire lineage. Second is Medanzo, a fellow whose stance is unclear, but the true Wings of Inception is an irresistible attraction to him. Finally, Rex. He was one of my best students, one I took great pride in. He was also the one who betrayed me with the greatest ruthlessness.¡±

    ¡°Kill them, or at least don¡¯t let them kill you. This is your fate. As for the future¡­¡±

    Andruil¡¯s voice slowly faded away, but Qianye¡¯s emotions couldn¡¯t rx in the least. It felt as if he were being pressed down by a thousand Books of Darkness.

    Jasmine, known as the Queen of the Night, was the primogenitor of the Perth n, ranked first among the twelve ancient vampire ns. She had lived through countless eras. Although she hadn¡¯t made an appearance for hundreds of years now, the empire believed that she was hibernating in a secret location and would appear again when needed.

    As for the Lightless Monarch Medanzo, he was the primogenitor of the Drac n, ranked fourth among the twelve ancient ns. He had simrly lived for a long time and was a terrifying character from the same era as Jasmine and Andruil. An even more frightening fact was that there had been news of his activity within a hundred years. This signified that a great dark monarch could likely descend upon Evernight Continent at any moment.

    Finally, Rex¡ªthis was an unfamiliar name. But since he was a student even Andruil took pride in and someone being mentioned alongside Jasmine and Medanzo, he was likely to be a character at the level of a great dark monarch.

    If this was to be his fate, Qianye felt that his future was looking quite bleak. Moreover, he suddenly recalled Andruil¡¯s mention of a mission destined never to be aplished. Was it rted to the words the ck-Winged Monarch couldn¡¯t finish saying?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t even force out a wryugh at the moment. It was really just as Andruil said, the first thing he had to do was to ensure his own survival. Thereafter, he would just have to y it by the ear.

    The Wings of Inception shook as it brought Qianye out of the great hall. The miraculous pce behind him copsed amidst loud rumbles as giant pieces of rock and broken pirs fell toward the boundless void. Qianye felt extremely emotional as he watched this drastic transformation.

    The return journey was much faster, and the radiant door was within sight in the blink of an eye. He nced back and saw that the luminous path through the void was gradually dispersing into specks of lustrous blue which eventually faded away into nothingness.

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush through the radiant door in a hurry. Instead, taking advantage of the time before the tform¡¯splete dissipation, he began to check his gains following the dark golden energy¡¯s advancement.

    It had thoroughly broken out of its cocoon and was swimming in circles around his heart. The eye ability rune, on the other hand, had split into three. One was the Eye of Truth, the other was a Super Vision, and thest one possessed an ability which made Qianye feel a great rush of excitement. It was Eye Ability: Control.

    Qianye brought out an origin bullet case and tossed it into the air. Soon, his eyes turned a deep blue color as a spinning bullet case was reflected within them.

    ¡°Click!¡± As if a big invisible hand had grasped the bullet case, it was continuously deformed and slowly squeezed into a metallic ball.

    Qianye reached out and caught the falling mass of metal.

    This was the power of Eye Ability: Control!

    Qianye deeply exhaled and casually hurled the piece of metal into the distant emptiness before walking into the radiant door.

    Outside of the radiant door, Li Zhan and the vampire warriors were standing in silence. They had been waiting for several hours now, and apart from Li Zhan and Twilight, most of the vampire warriors seemed somewhat anxious.

    Presently, all of them could feel that the space was bing increasingly unstable. The great hall was shaking continuously, and some stone fragments had begun to fall from above. The floor was also beginning to crack, and the fissures therein were gradually growing longer.

    Twilight waved her hand and said, ¡°You lot, carry away all the things in this hall and leave nothing. Afterwards, retreat immediately.¡±

    The vampire viscounts were hesitant because they weren¡¯t under Twilight¡¯smand. However, they also weren¡¯t willing to offend this young talent who already had a spot reserved in the Evernight Council. Additionally, Twilight was notorious for her viciousness.

    Finally, the viscounts decided to bring their vampire warriors to sweep the hall clean first. Then they went to move the 13 coffins away. They had already checked the items in the hall and knew that these items, although iparable to Andruil¡¯s inheritance, were extremely valuable for vampires.

    Momentster, only a dozen or so vampire warriors remained within the great hall. The expression of that vampire viscount who had stayed behind gradually eased up. It was quite far from being able to make up for their losses in this operation, but now, they at least had something to show for their efforts.

    It was at this time that the blue ripples in the radiant door suddenly intensified, like the sea surface during a storm, as the figure of a person rushed out.

    ¡°It¡¯s him!¡±

    ¡°Capture him! Don¡¯t let him escape!¡±

    A number of vampire warriors shouted loudly as they charged forth one after another.

    Li Zhan let out a sinisterugh as he pounced at Qianye with his dagger aimed directly toward thetter¡¯s heart. It was as if he wanted to vent all of the resentment he had saved up from the long battles. Twilight was one step ahead of him¡ªshe charged at Qianye and thrust her twin swords toward his legs. Her n was to capture this unidentified person alive and interrogate him about the whereabouts of Andruil¡¯s treasure.

    Seeing Li Zhan going in for the kill, Twilight suddenly erupted with rage and shouted, ¡°You dare?!¡±

    The sword in her left hand kept on thrusting toward Qianye, while the one in her right turned to hack at Li Zhan¡¯s throat. This change took ce within moments. From this, one could easily gauge Twilight''sbat strength.

    It was at this time that Qianye¡¯s eyes turned a deep blue with Twilight¡¯s figure reflected within it.

    Twilight suddenly felt a chill surge up from her heart and could no longer maintain her offensive. She let out a scream, hugged her knees, and spun backwards at lightning speed. Within moments, she had pulled back dozens of meters. Li Zhan was also astonished by the abrupt change in situation and became hesitant for a split second.

    During that moment of hesitation, Qianye had drawn his gun and sted out an origin bullet.

    Li Zhan immediately lost hisposure and eximed, ¡°A grade-five gun!¡±

    He had fought with Qianye a number of times and knew for certain that thetter¡¯s guns were grade-four, but now, they had suddenly turned into grade-five weapons. It was only a level¡¯s difference, but Li Zhan wouldn¡¯t dare to forcefully resist a st from a grade-five gun like he would one from a grade-four weapon.

    Li Zhan let out a furious roar as he frantically moved sideways and managed to evade the st by a hair¡¯s breadth.

    A pair of luminous wings suddenly spread out behind Qianye during this short gap while, at the same time, a beam of brilliant light shot down from the domed roof. He rapidly ascended along this beam of light, broke through the roof in a sh, and eventually vanished.

    Within the mountainous region, Duke Garis and Agnis were standing side by side as they resisted Andruil¡¯s spatial powers.

    At this time, a brilliant pir of light appeared dozens of kilometers away and directly pierced through the night sky! The pir of light was emitting a faint suppressive might which made it impossible for one to gaze upon it directly.

    Duke Garis¡¯ expression greatly changed as he eximed, ¡°Great Monarch Andruil!¡±

    Agnis had disappeared at this moment and was rushing at full speed toward the pir of light. Duke Garis was just one step slower, but he also shed away instantly.

    Two vampire dukes were charging at full speed¡ªjust how powerful was this momentum? Blood power surged out around them as they shot out like two sanguineous meteors. They crossed the dozens of kilometers in the blink of an eye and arrived near the pir of light.

    The radiant pir had emerged from the empty air, and its other end extended toward the depths of the boundless night skies. Within the pir of light, Qianye was traveling upward at full speed with his wings spread wide.

    The two vampire dukes growled at the same time as numerous beams of sanguineous light shot out like roaming dragons. They extended thousands of meters within the blink of an eye, poised to entangle Qianye.

    But the pair of wings behind Qianye suddenly flickered with a blue light, following which a hexagonal spatial door suddenly appeared before him. The numerous bloody poison dragons behind him all struck empty air as he rushed into the spatial door.

    Duke Garis suddenly turned around and gazed toward his left. There, he saw a spatial door open with a flicker of blue light and Qianye charging out from within. As it turned out, thetter had fled to a point almost a hundred kilometers away by means of a spatial leap.

    Duke Garis¡¯ eyes erupted with a spiritual glow and he was about to give chase. However, he was stopped by Agnis.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡± Agnis sighed.

    Another spatial door had appeared in the distant night sky and Qianye was already dashing toward it. But this time, he had surpassed the limits of their vision, and it was unknown where he would next appear.

    ¡°This is¡­¡±

    Agnis said with a sigh, ¡°Spatial sh, one of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s most powerful abilities. Each Spatial sh can travel hundreds of kilometers. We can¡¯t catch up to it. The great monarch actually left behind such a method behind to protect his descendant.¡±

    Duke Garis nced at Agnis and sneered, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought the Monroe n still possesses such a talented descendant? It seems that Twilight you tossed out just now was merely a diversion?¡±

    Agnis¡¯ expression immediately turned ugly. He knew that Duke Garis had paid an enormous price in order to take charge of this search operation and would face immense losses if the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance fell into another¡¯s hand. It was only natural for him to be upset.

    But the problem was that Andruil¡¯s inheritance didn¡¯t fall into the hands of the Monroe n.

    Agnisughed wryly and said, ¡°I¡¯m not certain who that person is, but I can say with great confidence that he¡¯s not a descendant of the Monroe n.¡±

    Garis¡¯ expression turned even more solemn. ¡°Bloodline inheritance is the most important attribute for a vampire race descendant. Do you expect me to believe that this person who obtained Andruil¡¯s inheritance is unrted to your Monroe n?¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t necessarily the one to obtain the great monarch¡¯s inheritance.¡± Agnis¡¯ expression had also turned cold from the overbearing pressure from Duke Garis.

    The two dukes flew back to their original position in silence. At that exact moment, Twilight and Li Zhan rushed out of the extremely unstable spatial door, which soon became distorted and vanished into the air.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation inside?¡± Agnis asked in a deep voice.

    Twilight replied with a solemn expression, ¡°This space is indeed the location of Great Monarch Andruil¡¯s inheritance. But¡­ but my bloodline isn¡¯t pure enough to enter the final space. However, I saw a young descendant emerge from within. I suspect he¡¯s already obtained the Wings of Inception and the Eye of Truth!¡±

    Duke Garis snorted heavily and said to Agnis, ¡°You¡¯ll exin this matter at the council!¡±

    Agnis replied coldly, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about this matter.¡±

    Garis said nothing more. He rushed directly into the sky and vanished into the depths of the night. Agnis, on the other hand, left together with Twilight. There would be other people to clean up the scene.

    Although the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s most important treasure was likely taken away by someone else, the remains itself was extremely valuable. The dark races might actually take a step forward in the study of space by researching these ruins.

 Volume 4 - 75: Nascent Gun Spirit

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 75: Nascent Gun Spirit

    An azure hexagonal door suddenly appeared in the sky over a certain uninhabited mountain region. Qianye rushed out headfirst from it only to find that he was hundreds of meters in the air.

    At this moment, the luminous wings on his back dimmed and dissipated into specks of light. Qianye paused for a split second in the air before falling rapidly toward the ground. Below him was a dense forest region¡ªamidst a series of rustles, he broke severalrge branches on his way down before mming into the grass.

    Although Qianye¡¯s body was quite sturdy, he couldn¡¯t help but bepletely dazed after falling hundreds of meters. He came to only after a good while, after which he slowly dragged himself up with the help of a nearby tree. He observed his surroundings and, finding that he hadnded at the edge of a forest, began to advance toward the exterior.

    Qianye exited the woods momentster and came to a vast clearing. He was currently standing halfway up a mountain, and before him was a gentle slope covered by a green meadow. It was like a piece of brocade extending toward the distant valley. Within that valley, there was a small river which snaked toward the horizon, joined by numerous streams flowing down from the mountains on both sides.

    Qianye was moved because the small river suddenly became extremely clear in his vision. So much that he could even see numerous fish under the translucent water surface swimming up against the current with all their might. The fish inhabiting the mountain streams were palm-sized with a transverse golden line running along their sides. Qianye saw all of these with extreme rity.

    However, Qianye was a full thousand meters away from that small river.

    Greatly astonished, he gradually swept this gaze over the entire valley. The already picturesquendscape of the valley seemed to havee alive at that moment. He could see the leaves swaying in the wind, the birds moving about their nests, and even that unidentified green bug being blown off from atop the leaf.

    All the details and secrets in this whole valley were reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes despite him standing a thousand meters away.

    A certain realization came over him. Was this Super Vision? If that was so, then what kind of ability was the Eye of Truth?

    Just as Qianye was thinking, his eyes once again became a deep blue color and the world within it transformed. It seemed as if all the colors were stripped away, leaving only ck and white.

    In truth, the colors were still intact, but every inch of Qianye¡¯s vision was suffused with ayer of faint ck mist which seemingly covered up all the colors. The ck mist was everywhere, but it was incorporeal and couldn¡¯t be touched.

    Strands of white mist would shoot through the air from time to time and collide against the all-epassing ck mist before gradually fading away. Strands of white mist were born, eliminated, and then the cycle began anew.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel that he had seen this scene somewhere. He pondered momentarily and soon recalled what it was. Back in the empty city, he had seen such white mist emerging from the air and spraying onto the vampire viscounts during battle.

    Qianye, once again, sensed the changes and finally confirmed his theory. The white mist emerging in the air was actually daybreak origin power, and the diffuse ck mist that filled the air was darkness origin power.

    Was this the True Sight? To one¡¯s surprise, it could disy the distribution of origin power.

    It wouldn¡¯t be too excessive no matter how one described the significance of such an ability capable of identifying origin power. At least for the current Qianye, he would be able to render many of the dark race¡¯s inherent concealment abilitiespletely ineffective. Most camouge abilities could deceive one¡¯s vision, but it was impossible to change one¡¯s fundamental origin power attributes.

    Qianye had a vague feeling that his True Sight would gain the frightening ability to see the truth of the world after continuous strengthening. True Sight was likely just an initial manifestation of the Eye of Truth¡¯s power.

    The scene he had witnessed just now served to confirm the vague feeling he had before. It seemed darkness origin power was everywhere on the continent. Inparison, daybreak origin power was much thinner. No wonder human experts required all kinds of supplementary methods when cultivating, from specialized cultivation chambers to the various secret medicines. Meanwhile, the dark races would see a corresponding increase in strength with natural growth.

    At least on this ming Beacon Continent, humans who had to cultivate daybreak origin power were at a great disadvantage.

    After trying out his True Sight, the only thing left was Eye Ability: Control.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze shifted toward a plump hare hiding within the bushes not so far away. As though it had sensed the sudden danger, the hare leapt out from the shrubbery and fled swiftly into the distance. However, its figure had already appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    The hare seemed startled as it leapt away with all its strength. But it suddenly fell midair, smashed heavily onto the ground, and stopped moving after a few twitches. Qianye picked up the rabbit and dissected its abdomen. He found that the hare waspletely unharmed externally, but its innards were a mess, and its heart had directly transformed into a puddle of blood.

    This was Eye Ability: Control. Where his gaze falls, lies his domain of control.

    That drop of Andruil¡¯s origin blood helped Qianye lift all restrictions on the Wings of Inception, activating itpletely. Contrary to what people believed, it wasn¡¯t a core array for an origin gun. After fusing with its owner, the Wings of Inception was perhaps better described as a gun spirit.

    It could be annexed to any origin gun to raise its firepower, the magnitude of which was decided by the wielder¡¯s own strength. This also meant that its boost in firepower would increase without any upper limit as Qianye grew stronger. It was likely that powerful new abilities would awaken in the Wings of Inception as it matured, giving Qianye the chance to obtain all of Andruil¡¯s special abilities like Spatial sh, Prative Darkness, etc.

    All in all, the Wings of Inception was a gun spirit with unlimited potential for growth. Presently, it was still in its nascent stage and Qianye¡¯s bloodline would serve as an incubator for its growth. After reachingplete maturity in the future, the Wings of Inception would separate and materialize. Only then would a new Grand Magnum truly appear.

    This process sounded so mysterious that it was almost magical. No wonder Andruil viewed this as his supreme masterpiece. It also wasn¡¯t surprising that the Evernight Council spared no effort and even initiated a continent-wide total war in order to obtain it.

    Qianye exhaled and picked up the Twin Flowers¡ªthey were both grade-five guns now that their origin arrays had been perfectly restored. The left-handed and right-handed revolvers could now be distinguished. The former, known as the Bloody Datura, sought victory through pure power, while thetter, called the Mystic Spider Lily, was capable of oveying its attacks with special effects.

    After having the origin array restored to wless perfection by the maker Andruil himself, the gun¡¯s firepower could be increased by an entire grade after activating the Wings of Inception.

    Looking up at the sky and gazing toward his surroundings, Qianye suddenly began to appreciate the iparable vastness of the world with its tall skies and faint clouds.

    The uninhabited mountainous region waspletely quiet with only the asional indigenous animal scuttling about and no signs of dark race activity. Qianye rxed somewhat¡ªthe luminous path via which he was sent out had consecutively activated a dozen-odd Spatial shes. At this moment, he was almost a thousand kilometers away from his original position and should already have escaped the dark races¡¯ search perimeter.

    Qianye was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he rested for a couple of days in the forest and only began to determine his location after he was fully recovered.

    Previously, he was already at the end of the Fallen Star Mountain Range, the middle segment of the Blue Dream Mountain Belt¡¯s three-peak-one-river geography. He would arrive at the empire¡¯s borders as long as he traveled along the mountain toward the southeast.

    Several days passed by in a sh. The panorama of a gentle in entered Qianye¡¯s vision as he ascended yet another mountain ridge. He surveyed thend and found, in the distance, a river traversing the ins and a city towering over its bank.

    The city wasn¡¯t veryrge, but it possessed tall walls, deep trenches, and strict fortifications. Judging from its style, it was likely a human border fort. Its appearance proved that the area was already within imperial territory. A surge of delight rose in Qianye¡¯s heart as he hastened his steps and ran toward the city.

    Although the ce was a border fort, it wasn¡¯t a barrennd. There wererge patches of fertile agriculturalnd surrounding the city with crisscrossing canals for irrigation.

    Ten-odd viges of varying sizes stood around the city, each of them located behind heavily fortified stone walls that were several meters in height. During war, these viges would be able to depend on each other and work together in a wide consolidated defense.

    There were roads connecting each vige to the city. Although crudely built, they were at least even and could easily allow a jeep to drive through at high speeds. On the other side of the city, there were two highways stretching separately into the distance.

    From the viges, roads, and farnds, one could see the how flourishing this domain was. The feudal lord of the city was able to govern thesends with such order and make it thrive like so. Inparison, the human cities of Evernight Continent were like rundown viges.

    Atop a faraway tower, Qianye could see two gs dancing in the wind¡ªone was naturally the empire¡¯s g, and the other depicted an armored horse galloping in the clouds. That was the insignia of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n, and signified that the city was a Zhao n enfeoffment.

    Qianye had no Zhao n residential identity and thus would have to pay tax to enter the city. What amazed him was that the guards let him pass after he paid the tax. They didn¡¯t make things difficult for him, neither did they pay particr attention to outsiders.

    Hundreds of people had passed through the gates within mere moments and among them were small to mid-scaled trade caravans. Just from the flow of merchants, one could see that this city, although a border fort, was even more flourishing than certain county capitals on Evernight Continent.

    The great river flowing past the city was known as the Dark River, and thus this city built upon its shore was called Darkshore City.

    The first few things Qianye did after entering the city was finding a detailed regional map and confirming that he was at the border of the Zhao n¡¯s Southern Swallow Province. Darkshore City was just adjacent to Mount Pugou. The soil there was quite special, and both the flora and fauna yielded significant amounts of precious products. Thus, Darkshore City became a fairly famous distribution center within the region.

    After entering the city, Qianye originally intended to board a public airship toward the Zhao n capital. From there, he would backtrack along the Taihang Mountain Range and return to Evernight via that small nameless vige in Silentme Steppes.

    But flights toward the Zhao n capital didn¡¯t operate every day in this small border city. The earliest flight would set out only several dayster. Thus, Qianye decided to tour Darkshore City during the several days of idleness.

    He unexpectedly discovered, after asking the inn owner about the region¡¯s specialty, that the most famous in this city was the bone of the fragrant cloud deer. After the fragrant cloud deer bone was burned using a secret method and ground into powder, it could be used as the main ingredient of the secret medicine, the Origin Construction Incense. The effects of the Origin Construction Incense were simr to the Vermillion Countenance Blood. It would afford a fighter at the fifth rank and above increased sensitivity to origin power during cultivation, thus increasing their progress.

    The main ingredient of such a medicine didn¡¯t seem too rare in the region of production, but its price would soar several times after reaching Evernight Continent. This was more than just an issue of shipping costs¡ªthe safety of the cargo during transport also had to be factored in.

    The journey between the great continents was full of peril. Not just because of the mes of war raging everywhere, but also due to the astrological phenomenon that would ur without warning. It was already considered eptable if seven out of every ten caravans setting out from Darkshore City reached Evernight Continent.

    But to Qianye, shipping was now no longer a problem. Although Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm wasn¡¯trge, it was sufficient to store several crates of Fragrant Deer Bone Powder. The difference in market price alone would be in the thousands if he could bring this shipment back to Evernight Continent.

 Volume 4 - 76: Preparing Goods

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 76: Preparing Goods

    After having breakfast the next day, Qianye headed toward Darkshore City¡¯s most thriving trade street and arrived at Xinglong Trade Company as per the inn owner¡¯s rmendation. Thispany specialized in the various products of Mount Pugou, and among them, the Fragrant Deer Bone Powder was one of its most importantmodities.

    Qianye had just entered when a sales clerk walked up, bowed, and asked with a smile, ¡°Greetings! How may I be of service?¡±

    The sales clerk was quite young and d in a well-fitting uniform of tastefully chosen materials. Not only were his appearance and bearing impable, but his strength was also at an eptable level. A sales clerk with rank threebat strength would, indeed, be inconceivable in back in Evernight Continent.

    There were seven or eight such personnel on this floor of the Xinglong Trading Company, and all of them were handsome men and women. In contrast, Qianye was dressed in the pre-made clothes he had just bought¡ªhis warrior¡¯s coat and tactical jacket were also somewhat damaged¡ªadd to that the alterations he had made to his appearance, he now looked just like an ordinary young man. Just from the outward appearance, these sales clerks were much cleaner and neater than him.

    Qianye could be considered the odd one out among the customers of the Xinglong Trading Company. Because thepany mainly focuses onrge-scale trading, the ones to usually frequent it were stewards of noble houses and peddlers above the medium scale. Rarely, if ever, would a lone hunter appear.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes swept over the disy cabs in the hall and said, ¡°I want some deer bone powder. Also, if there are other special products rted to cultivation, introduce them to me.¡±

    There was some faintly discernible contempt in the eyes of this young sales clerk. But, at least, his outward attitude was still eptable. ¡°This young master, our Xinglong Trading Company normally doesn¡¯t engage in retail. For instance, the sales of Fragrant Deer Bone Powder begins at three boxes, each of them 100 grams in weight and 100 gold coins in price.¡±

    300 gold coins was a significant amount to a solitary hunter. At this moment, the gazes of the rich merchants in the hall all fell upon Qianye, all of them eager to watch an interesting show.

    This was Zhao n territory where those with grand origins calmly suppressed those of inferior status. One had to shame these country folk and let them know the immensity of the heaven and earth in order to be consideredpetent.

    ¡°Three boxes at least¡­ hmm¡­¡± Qianye calcted the space in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    The young sales clerk smiled and said, ¡°If you have no intention to buy that many, you can visit the nearby Shore Street. There are many retail stores there that may be able to satisfy your needs.¡±

    The words sounded perfectly polite; he had even helped the customer with directions. The issue was that Shore Street was a trade street targeted at outsiders where they sold inferior goods for cheap prices. It could be said that the ce was a ck market intended to trick outsiders. A major store like Xinglong, on the contrary, wasn¡¯t quite popr among newly arrived hunters and adventurers because there was basically no contact between the two groups.

    The young sales clerk¡¯s words seemed mild on the surface but contained a sharp edge within. This served as wee entertainment to the customers within the hall. In their eyes, strangers should go to ces that best suited them.

    Qianye sensed the faint malicious intent in his surroundings. Despite his smile and modest demeanor, this young sales clerk before Qianye made him rather ufortable. However, he couldn¡¯t find any reason to flip out either.

    After a moment of silence, Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯m indeed unprepared to buy too many. Let¡¯s go with three crates then.¡±

    ¡°T-Three crates?!¡± The young sales clerk¡¯s expression froze. The other customers in the hall also found it quite difficult to believe their ears.

    Every crate of deer bone powder contained 100 boxes and was valued at 10,000 gold coins. Three crates would amount to a colossal batch of goods that even a major tradingpany have difficulty digesting.

    The young sales clerk reacted swiftly¡ªhe quickly adjusted his expression and said with a professional demeanor, ¡°Please follow me to the upper floors where you¡¯ll be received by our manager.¡±

    Qianye followed the young sales clerk to the third floor and sat down within a top-grade lounge.

    Momentster, a chubby middle-aged man quickly walked into the lounge. He sat down in front of Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°Your humble servant is called Wang Youyuan. Young noble, although barely, we are indeed capable of putting together three crates of goods. It¡¯s just that the amount is simply too great. We¡¯ll require two days for the transfer and preparation.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Time isn¡¯t a big issue. I can wait.¡±

    Wang Youtuan sized up Qianye and said, ¡°On our Xinglong Trading Company¡¯s prestige, I can guarantee a timely delivery of goods. May I check the funds on your side? Or perhaps you have a certain family to vouch for you?¡±

    Wang Youyuan¡¯s request was reasonable. Thisrge-scale transaction would turn into aical waste of time and manpower if one party couldn¡¯t deliver the goods or money when the time came.

    There was no doubt about the prestige of Xinglong Trading Company. Solitary hunters like Qianye usually paid up front, but 30,000 gold coins was a significant sum. It would require a sizeable box even if the amount were converted to ck crystals.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have that much cash on me,¡± Qianye spoke the truth.

    Wang Youyuan¡¯s smile froze momentarily; he slowly rubbed his plump hands while waiting for the follow-up words. One would need to have a considerable ability if he wanted to make fun of the manager of a Zhao n tradingpany.

    Qianye brought out a small box from his pocket and pushed it across the table. ¡°Can we use this as a payment for the goods?¡±

    Wang Youyuan¡¯s expression was somewhat doubtful as he received the palm-sized metallic box. He opened it and immediately inhaled a breath of cold air. ¡°Mithril?!¡±

    Within the box was a piece of silvery metal the size of an egg, flowing with a gentle radiance. It was actually mithril! And it appeared to be of the highest purity. ording to the current market price, this piece of mithril was more than enough to pay for the goods. They would even have to pay Qianye two to three thousand gold coins.

    Wang Youyuan held the box in both hands as he said with a stern expression, ¡°I¡¯m unable to set a price for such a valuable item on the spot. Let¡¯s do it this way since the Deer Bone Powder will also take some time to transfer. Please return three dayster and I¡¯ll invite a specialist to appraise the mithril. What do you think of this?¡±

    Mithril, belonging to the ss of top-grade tactical resources, rarely, if ever, circted in the market. Even arge business like the Xinglong trading Company wouldn¡¯t hire a specialized appraiser and would need to borrow one from another ce.

    Qianye understood the situation and nodded. ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll return in three days.¡± With that, he collected the ball of mithril.

    Wang Youyuan¡¯s gaze followed the little box up until it entered Qianye¡¯s pocket. Only then did he reluctantly shift his gaze and said with a face full of smiles, ¡°I still have to ask young noble¡¯s name and contact details. We¡¯ll immediately send someone to contact you after we finish preparing the goods!¡±

    Qianye left his hotel address and fake name before leaving the Xinglong Trading Company.

    Wang Youyuan saw Qianye to the door and watched as his figure disappeared. At that point, his smile vanishedpletely and his expression became gloomy.

    The young sales clerk, who had been standing nearby him all this time, came over and whispered, ¡°Manager Wang, are you really going to let him take that mithril away?¡±

    Wang Youyuan red at the man. ¡°What else can I do?¡±

    The young sales clerk said in a soft voice, ¡°Tradepanies have their own rules, but some rules no longer apply once he walks out of the door. Perhaps¡­¡±

    Wang Youyuan frowned and said after a moment of pause, ¡°This transaction is too big and not that easy to digest. Let¡¯s decide after I report this to the superiors.¡± He wouldn¡¯t have any disloyal thoughts about normal goods, even if it were red crystal iron. But mithril was simply too hard toe by, and such arge amount was exceedingly rare. Additionally, the recent situation was special¡ªthe Zhao n¡¯s demand for mithril had increased dramatically.

    The young sales clerk said with a sinister smile, ¡°Manager Wang, it so happens that my uncle is in Darkshore City these days. He can help you with certain things that are inconvenient for you.¡±

    Wang Youyuan pondered for a moment before nodding slowly. ¡°Very well, I understand.¡±

    As the manager of Xinglong Trading Company, Wang Youyuan¡¯s news channels had always been fast and efficient. So much that he had gotten wind of the slight restlessness within the Zhao n, which was also why he cared even more about tactical resources like mithril. As for where these disturbances originated from, it wasn¡¯t something a minor character like him would know.

    West Pole City, towering over the north of the Western Continent, was built against Swallow Mountain. It was also known as the granary due to the confluence of three rivers in front of the city and was also and many military forces would fight for.

    This grand city had a long history to it. Hundreds of years ago, the leader of Zhao n¡¯s resurgence, Zhao Wuji, felt deeply for the declining spirits of the n. Thus, he abandoned the richnds of the Qin continent and moved to the Western Continent which, back then, was dominated by savage darkness.

    Back in the day, Zhao n¡¯s territory was imed to be a province when, in fact, it was limited to a single county. The other areas were either uncultivatednds or upied by bandits of various races.

    Zhao Wuji built the n¡¯s ancestral hall in West Pole City and proceeded to wage a thirty-year war. He advanced unhindered for tens of thousands of kilometers, killing enemies and iming wildnds until he conquered the Serene Cloud and Swallow North provinces. Thus, he established the foundation of Zhao n¡¯s prosperity for hundreds of years toe.

    Even to this day, West Pole City boasted a poption in the millions with a constant flow of people passing its gates each day. The continuously operating airships in the sky were a magnificent sight to behold. This was the number one city of the Western Continent in every aspect. Even the dark race¡¯s Fullmoon City which had been operating for thousands of years couldn¡¯t bepared to West Pole City on equal terms.

    There was a city within West Pole City built against the mountain in the northwestern part of the city. From its highest point, one could look down on the entirety of West Pole City.

    This was the Zhao n¡¯s main camp, and with tens of thousands of people living within, it was aplete city of its own. At its center stood the Zhao n manor with its endless array of pce halls arranged in a nine by nine structure. This was the residence of the sessive generations of Zhao n masters, the current head being Duke Chengen, the Northwestern General, Zhao Weihuang.

    The nine-buildingyout was a symbol of one who had reached the highest of official positions. One had to know that even the imperial pce was built with 18 buildings from north to south and 12 buildings from east to west. The other three n master residences were all built in an eight by eightyout, and not even the Zhang n, with its four dukes, was an exception.

    The Zhao n¡¯s extra slot wasn¡¯t due to its strength but because of its close ties to the imperial family. Zhao n was a rtive of the imperial family, and there was no shortage of imperial consorts with the surname Zhao in the sessive dynasties. And the current n head Zhao Weihuang had taken Imperial Princess Gaoyi, a clear sign of the close rtionship between the two families.

    The outer buildings of the Zhao n manor were split into two major residences and 18 auxiliary residences. The two major residences were the mansions belonging to the families of the two hereditary dukes, Duke Yan and Duke You. The 18 auxiliary residences were upied by direct rtives and the six main branch families. As for the Zhao n¡¯s many side branch families and divisions, they were not qualified to enter the manor.

    At this moment, a young man was sitting behind a desk and focused on reading through some documents. The study was spacious, well-illuminated, and exquisitely decorated. Outside its windows was the famous Lake Profound of the n residence¡ªthe scenery therein was extremely beautiful.

    It was clear from its central location that the study was quite important and could be said that its significance was only second to the n master and elders. But the person sitting in such a ce was fairly young. This was a rare sight among aristocratic ns.

    This elegant young man was d in loose-sleeved ancient attire, sported a head of flowing short hair, and wore a pair of square-rimmed sses. He seemed deep in thought and would look up from time to time, revealing his beautiful, almost enchanting countenance.

    At this moment, a knock rang out from the door as another young man walked in. Surprisingly, it was Zhao Junhong with whom Qianye had once fought in an intense battle. After entering, he said with a smile, ¡°Fourth brother, are you not done yet? Eldest brother recently got his hands on a good gun and is inviting us to the front line battlefield to try it out. Do you want to go together? Now that I think of it, we four brothers haven¡¯t fought together for a long time.¡±

    The young man behind the desk was the youngest of the four young masters of the Zhao n, Zhao Jundu.

 Volume 4 - 77: Resonance

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 77: Resonance

    Zhao Jundu shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯ll pass. These are troubled times. The dark races are maneuvering troops on arge scale, while the rebel army is bing restless after getting their hands on arge number of weapons from an unknown source.¡±

    Zhao Junhong shrugged. ¡°Fine, those are indeed major developments. Heh, heh¡­ you¡¯re the one bing n lord in the future, so who else can these burdens fall to? Fighting on the front lines will only take a week or so. Can¡¯t you even make time for that?¡±

    Zhao Jundu revealed a helpless smile. ¡°Father is in the army all year round and doesn¡¯t like to handle these trivial affairs. You, Third Brother, and Eldest Brother aren¡¯t willing to work on administrative duties either. So, who else will do all of this if not me? These matters, regardless of importance, can¡¯t be left to outsiders. One has to know that the other two branches are eyeing this position! Someone has to work hard if we want to keep the n master position within the Duke Chengen lineage.¡±

    Zhao Junhong raised his hands andughed. ¡°Say no more, I get it. In any case, I don¡¯t n to join administrative duties before I break through to champion rank.¡±

    Zhao Jundu only shook his head.

    Among the three brothers, the eldest and third¡¯s temperaments werepletely unsuited for administrative work. Zhao Junhong, on the other hand, possessed moderate talent in this aspect. However, he was fascinated by martial arts all year round and would join the battlefield at the first chance. He simply couldn¡¯t set his mind onmon duties.

    Zhao Junhong casually picked up a provincial report and flipped through it. He then said with some surprise, ¡°Lone Ghost¡¯s regional headquarters in serenity was burnt to the ground? Who is it that left Elder He with no face at all?¡±

    Zhao Junhong was quite keen regarding the movements within the n even though he refused to take part in them.

    Elder He, from the Duke You lineage, was someone who usually campaigned quite actively against Zhao Weihuang¡¯s administration. Most of the affairs under his administration were grey matters. An organization like Lone Ghost, which couldn¡¯t appear in public eyes, was inevitably linked to him in countless ways. Losing any number of people while fighting wasn¡¯t considered a big deal, but having one¡¯s foundation razed to the ground would definitely result in great animosity.

    Zhao Jundu said without much interest, ¡°I heard Lone Ghost messed up a certain transaction point and was destroyed in retaliation.¡±

    After hearing this, Zhao Junhong felt that the incident had little to do with his n and thus tossed the folder to one side. He was just about to leave when he suddenly recalled something and said, ¡°Oh right, Fourth Brother, when do you n to break through to champion rank?¡±

    Zhao Jundu continued working through his documents and said without even looking up, ¡°I¡¯ll decide after consolidating my foundations. There¡¯s no particr hurry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m having a hard time restraining the urge to rank up.¡± Zhao Junhong sighed.

    Zhao Jundu put down his pen and said seriously, ¡°Your foundations are still not solid enough. You won¡¯t get very far even if you break through to champion rank in this state, so why the rush?¡±

    ¡°Sigh, I still have a rematch with that fellow. It¡¯s almost been half a year now.¡±

    After hearing this, Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change but a cold gleam suddenly shed through the depths of his eyes.

    Zhao Junhong suddenly became vignt and said, ¡°Fourth Brother! Don¡¯t touch him.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s character was extremely protective. There were some people within theirmunity who had mocked Zhao Junhong¡¯s defeat back during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt.

    Zhao Junhong, at this point, recalled that Zhao Jundu seemed to have sent people to search for Qian Xiaoye back then, but the person had already left the Yin family. Later on, Evernight Continent was engulfed in a total war and the situation on the other continents was also quite tense. The matter was thus dropped, and he no longer paid it any more attention.

    Zhao Jundu smiled while shaking his head. ¡°Since Second Brother has said so, this little brother naturally must obey.¡±

    After Zhao Junhong left, Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes fell upon a certain grey portfolio buried under the pile of documents. With the mes of war rising all across Evernight Continent, a tiny hunter was no different from a needle in a haystack. That was why he had dispatched people to keep an eye on the seventh young master of the Song n.

    Although he hadn¡¯t obtained any solid leads, he believed that person should have been in touch with Song Zining all this time. However, Song Seven was in a fair bit of trouble himself and the internal affairs of the Song n weren¡¯t that easy to pry into. Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t want to reveal this news to his second brother at the time.

    After leaving the tradingpany, Qianye took a leisurely stroll around the city since he was in no hurry to return to the hotel. He arrived before a courtyard with a hint of ancient elegance to it and looked up to find a horizontal board inscribed with the characters, ¡°West Suppression Dojo¡±.

    The calligraphy wasn¡¯t bad, but the words West Suppression were rather grandiose and felt somewhatical ced atop a small dojo.

    Fortunately, Qianye wasn¡¯t here to trouble them, but rather to seek a cultivation chamber. Although any quiet location would suffice for cultivation, a specialized chamber capable of applying medicinal supplements was still the first choice for increased cultivation speed.

    The empire was founded upon battle, and thus within its borders, there were all sorts of armament stores, armories, and even dojos. In addition to epting disciples, teaching thembat skills, and epting certain violent missions, renting cultivation chambers was also a primary service offered at a dojo.

    Qianye entered the dojo and said to the disciple in charge of receiving customers, ¡°I want to rent a top-grade cultivation chamber for 20 hours.¡±

    The disciple wore a well-trained smile and replied with respect, ¡°One gold coin for every three hours.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the price¡ªZhao n domains were indeed wealthy¡ªeven the prices in such a small border city was ten times higher than on Evernight Continent.

    But after being brought to the ce, Qianye discovered that this so-called top-grade cultivation chamber was actually hundreds of square meters wide and came equipped with all the necessary facilities. There were medium-sizedw arrays for origin power condensation on the walls, not just ordinary arrays. This in and of itself was a big investment.

    Afterwards, a female disciple with delicate facial features appeared carrying a censer of origin construction incense to aid with cultivation. After seeing all of this, Qianye felt that the money spent could be considered worth it, albeit barely.

    Qianye sat down cross-legged without any dy right after the door to the cultivation chamber was pushed close along the steam rail. First, he circted the Combatant Form. His constitution had taken a step forward after the sessful advancement of the dark golden energy, and once again, an increasingly strengthening blood energy barrier emerged to protect his internal organs. Thus, his cultivation of the Combatant Form forged head with great ferocity and finally reached a shocking 45 tides.

    During theter parts of the Combatant Form, the more powerful the origin tides that were brought about, the more rapid the increase in origin power growth. Beyond the 30th, every increase of origin power tide would increase cultivation speed by ten percent. After the 40th, each tide would increase cultivation speed by twenty percent. This also meant that Qianye¡¯s actual daybreak origin power cultivation speed was now twice as fastpared to when he was at 40 tides.

    At this rate, he would be able to ignite his ninth origin node within a month and would only be one step away from bing a champion. At that time, he would need to purify his origin power and consolidate his foundations while searching for the perfect opportunity to break through.

    After the Combatant Form tides gradually calmed down, Qianye activated his True Sight to confirm a certain suspicion.

    Under the effects of the eye ability, he could see that the air was still pervaded by darkness origin power, while the originw arrays would spray out a mist of daybreak origin power. It was rtively sparse and was soon neutralized by the darkness origin power.

    Butpared to the outside world, the chamber was indeed a better cultivation environment.

    Strands of white daybreak origin power were flowing out of the incense burner in the corner. The Origin Construction Incense actually helped cultivation by increasing the density of daybreak origin power. From this, it seemed that the incense burning within the censer was one of high quality. This West Suppression Dojo could be considered quite conscientious in its business.

    Qianye began to condense his origin power. Daybreak origin power gushed out of his origin nodes along with his respiration. Meanwhile, the origin power purified by the Mystery Chapter umted at his chest to gradually form a qi vortex.

    After the qi vortex was formed, the daybreak origin power in Qianye¡¯s body suddenly reacted to the darkness origin power outside. Suddenly, the originally formless darkness origin power around him seemed to have gained weight, making Qianye feel as if he was at the bottom of the ocean¡ªhis every movement would stir the seawater and be iparably sluggish.

    The ocean formed from darkness origin power was much denser than ordinary seawater. Even punching and kicking felt fairly exhausting to Qianye despite the fact that his strength wasparable to a vampire viscount. The more intense his daybreak qi vortex grew, the stronger the pressure exerted by the surrounding ocean of darkness.

    After umting almost all of his daybreak origin power, he utilized at least eight parts of his strength to gradually perform a punch. Every time the striking edge of his fist pushed through, the ocean of darkness within a meter of his body would tremble slightly, and a fine strand of darkness origin power would leap out to wrap around it.

    The current fist didn¡¯t just carry his own formidable power but also drew upon the origin power in the surrounding air.

    Qianye¡¯s fist struck toward a steel dummy near the wall. The dummy, made of crude steel and covered in a thickyer of rubber, was provided for warriors to practice their martial arts.

    The strand of origin power urged on by Qianye¡¯s fist had impacted the steel dummy before his hand actually came in contact with the target. The target area immediately caved in like a giant wave crashing onto the shore!

    Qianye¡¯s instinctively withdrew his strength, but the fist attack was like a boat amidst the waves and couldn¡¯t be easily controlled.

    A ck rang out from the steel dummy¡ªsuddenly, it copsed as if it were trampled by a giant beast and transformed into a piece of sheet metal. Its edges curled up as it was pierced through in the air.

    The remnant force behind the attack didn¡¯t stop there and mmed into the wall behind the dummy. A crack rapidly traversed the entire wall, and with a boom, the sturdy wall copsed into a pile of rocks right in front of Qianye.

    The dojo absolutely didn¡¯t skimp on materials while building this cultivation chamber and had offered their services to many a high-ranking fighter. Yet, it couldn¡¯t withstand a single blow from Qinaye¡¯s fist.

    Qianye finally understood why his attacks had grown slower and heavier after cultivating the Mystery Chapter and activating his blood energy advancement. It seemed that he could already induce origin power resonance with his surroundings back then. It was just that he didn¡¯t have True Sight and thus failed to discover the profundities within.

    The fundamental principle behind the secretbat arts of the aristocratic families was to utilize the origin power within one¡¯s body to attack. Some high-gradebat arts, however, were able to draw upon the origin power in the environment and were thus much more powerful than ordinary ones. As such, most of them required one to be at the champion level to cultivate them sessfully.

    Condensing qi into a vortex and drawing upon the origin power of the heaven and earth. This was a champion-level ability and also the main reason why a fighter and champion were worlds apart.

    Qianye being able to execute a champion-level method despite not knowing any specialbat art or igniting all of his origin nodes had to be attributed to the mass of pure daybreak origin power.

    From this, it was obvious that the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Mystery Chapter wasn¡¯t simple at all. There should be even more secrets within just waiting to be dug out.

    At this time, amotion had risen outside of the cultivation chamber. The door frame began to rotate as a number of disciples rushed in with anxious expressions.

 Volume 4 - 78: Proof of Allegiance

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 78: Proof of Allegiance

    This cultivation room was the most expensive one in the dojo, but now Qianye had demolished an entire wall with a single strike of this fist. The bigmotion had long since rmed the greater half of the dojo. They still had no idea what had happened, but it could only mean trouble regardless of whether it was a customer suffering a cultivation ident or a malfunctioning facility in the chamber.

    The group of dojo disciples rushed in and were immediately petrified. For a while, they actually thought they were hallucinating when they saw the back garden scenery.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to exin this situation, so Qianye brought out a thirty-square-centimeter piece of ck crystal, stuffed directly it into the hands of a dojo disciple and left hurriedly after saying, ¡°Take this aspensation.¡±

    An entire piece of uncut energy ck crystal was more than enough to cover the repair of this cultivation chamber. The disciples hadn¡¯t yet recovered from the shock and thus no one remembered to block him as he left.

    It was just that the disciple holding onto the ck crystal felt puzzled¡ªfrom where had this customer, who wasn¡¯t even carrying a backpack, pulled out this big box? He then nced at the multi-colored back garden and felt somewhat confused.

    Long after Qianye left, a female disciple eximed in surprise as she fished out, from the rubble, a thick steel te with a big hole in the center and fragments of rubber all over it.

    She observed it for a good while and stammered as she spoke, ¡°This¡­ is this the steel dummy? How did it be like this?¡±

    The disciples all examined it and finally confirmed that this steel te was once the steel dummy used to trainbat arts. However, it was so t and it didn¡¯t even seem like it was struck by a human but instead run over repeatedly by a convoy of heavy trucks.

    The disciples felt that their eyes were somewhat unreliable today as they nced at the steel te and then at the missing wall of the cultivation chamber.

    Qianye didn¡¯t think he would cause such a ruckus with a casual punch. It was fortunate that he had gotten away quickly, otherwise, it would be quite difficult to exin things. After this, Qianye was no longer in the mood to continue his stroll and thus headed back to the hotel.

    That night, Wang Youyuan was standing respectfully before a certain middle-aged man.

    The man possessed a handsome countenance, slender eyes, and an amiable-looking demeanor. However, Wang Youyuan didn¡¯t even dare breathe loudly before him.

    The middle-aged man mumbled something to himself as he tapped lightly on the table and said only after a while, ¡°You also know how seriously our Zhao n takes its rules.¡±

    Wang Youyuan hurriedly bowed and said, ¡°Sir Zhao, the strictws naturally must be observed within the n, but it isn¡¯tpletely impossible to do things flexibly once outside.¡±

    The middle-aged man only snorted with an indifferent expression.

    Wang Youyuan bowed even lower and his voice grew even softer. ¡°Sire, you see, this is mithril we¡¯re talking about! This humble one understands that other things won¡¯t even enter your esteemed eyes. And isn¡¯t it quite likely that¡­ the position of city lord¡­ will be yours from now on?¡±

    The middle-aged man shot Wang Youyuan a nce, and his expression somewhat softened.

    Seeing this, Wang Youyuan swiftly proceeded to strike while the iron was hot. ¡°Sir, the n¡¯s military affairs are at an important phase. Handing in a resource like mithril now will not only grant you an equivalent value in gold coins, but also a meritorious record! Moreover, that brat casually brought out a piece of mithril worth 30,000 gold coins, so he might have other goods on him.

    The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment and suddenly said, ¡°What are his origins?¡±

    ¡°Someone from out of town. This is his first timeing to Darkshore. Moreover, he doesn¡¯t have a guarantor.¡±

    Wang Youyuan¡¯s mention of a guarantor back then wasn¡¯t just a random question. For such a transaction worth tens of thousands of gold coins, both parties would normally invite a guarantor, unless they were long-term business partners who knew each other well. An exchange of goods like this was equal to two separate transactions, so it was important to prevent problematic goods or receiving stolen property.

    A store with the Zhao n¡¯s signboard naturally wasn¡¯t afraid to take in stolen goods, but these things couldn¡¯t be done in the open. There was a big difference between a regr business and underground transactions. Having stayed on Evernight Continent year round, Qianye had no experience at all in such matters.

    Wang Youyuan immediately knew after a brief chat that Qianye wasn¡¯t a legal peddler. He could let it slide if it was a cash transaction, but as it happened, the other party had brought out a piece of high-purity solid mithril. Such an item being in the hands of a hunter meant that its origins were definitely sketchy. Thus, in Wang Youyuan¡¯s eyes, it was equal to an ownerless fortune.

    The middle-aged man, Zhao Youpin, seemed to hesitate briefly before nodding unhurriedly. ¡°Then do it, but don¡¯t leave any loose ends. I¡¯ll arrange for someone to keep watch.¡±

    For a moment, it seemed as if flowers had bloomed on Wang Youyuan¡¯s countenance as he said repeatedly, ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll handle this business appropriately! It so happens that Tride Ma is in Darkshore. He¡¯s a fierce man who¡¯s halted before the champion rank for many years now. I¡¯m confident I can convince him to take action, at which point, sess will be assured.¡±

    Zhao Youpin frowned. ¡°Tride Ma? I heard this fellow has raised a group of bandits outside the city and isn¡¯t someone easy to get along with. It might be troublesome if we drag him into this business.¡±

    Wang Youyuan replied with a smile, ¡°On the contrary, I know a fair bit about Tride Ma. He¡¯s the type who thinks of nothing else but profit and has a fair reputation in handling matters. Everything is on the table as long as enough money is paid. Moreover, his n nephew works at our store. What problem can there be with two such connections?¡±

    Seeing that Zhao Youpin was hesitant, Wang Youyuan added, ¡°Even if he has other intentions, you¡¯ll have be the city lord after this deal ispleted. At that time, we can let him be if he knows his ce. Otherwise, he can¡¯t me us for being cruel.¡±

    Zhao Youpin eventually nodded. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s do it that way then. I¡¯ll arrange for a toon of guards to cooperate with you just in case.¡±

    ¡°Sir, please wait for the good news!¡± Wang Youyuan¡¯s steps seemed much lighter as he left the study.

    A woman¡¯s sneer came from within the room, ¡°Delivering a gesture of allegiance right away; this old fellow is quite clever despite being from an external branch.¡± A youngdy with beautiful facial features had been standing behind Zhao Youpin all along, but only voiced her opinion at this point.

    Wang Youyuan running over to present such a case naturally wasn¡¯t because he coveted the small reward he would gain after the matter was settled sessfully. He was actually taking a considerable risk by doing this, not because burying a foreigner without a background was troublesome, but because he might be prosecuted by the Zhao n¡¯sw enforcement unit.

    It was rather unexpected that this general manager of the Xinglong Trading Company, notorious for being a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing, was actually so decisive. He had noticed that the old city lord wasn¡¯t in good shape and thus had intentionallye over to the popr city lord candidate, Zhao Youpin, to deliver such a benefit as an expression of his allegiance.

    ¡°Go and investigate. If everything Wang Youyuan said is true, have Li Liu cooperate with the man.¡± Zhao Youpin¡¯s expression was calm, but in his heart, he felt quite good about the Wang Youyuan¡¯s expression of goodwill.

    But Zhao Youpin felt distraught after thinking about the city lord¡¯s position. The situation within the n wasn¡¯t very peaceful in the recent years. After the Duke Chengen lineage gradually worked to consolidate their newfound authority, there was a need for them to assign people to certain positions. Despite wearing the Zhao surname, it was bing increasingly difficult for people from branch families like him to grasp benefits. A share of ten to twenty thousand gold coins would definitely help him in his endeavor. No amount of money was considered too much when pursuing an official position.

    Seeing that Zhao Youpin was once again in deep thought, the woman decided not to disturb him and quietly withdrew from the study.

    The next day, Qianye continued his leisurely tour of the city afterpleting his morning cultivation. Darkshore was a center of trade; perhaps he could find some more good items like the Deer Bone Powder.

    The bone powder of the fragrant cloud deer wasn¡¯t too rare at its region of production. On Evernight Continent, however, it was a specialmodity. Normally, the trade of medicine used in cultivation like the Origin Construction Incense and its corresponding ingredients were monopolized by the expeditionary army.

    This authority wasn¡¯t decreed by the empire, but the expeditionary army¡¯s ban was naturally effective on Evernight Continent. Because its supply was fully controlled by the expeditionary army, the prices of these medicinal materials were not only much higher than the source but also unavable to everyone. With ckflow City¡¯s current rtionship with the expeditionary army headquarters, it was possible that the 7th division¡¯s quota would be withheld.

    Bringing back a batch of deer bone powder under such circumstances would afford him great convenience both for sale and self-use.

    Qianye browsed through themodities and thought about what else he should stock up on. There should be several thousand gold coins left over after trading in the piece of solid mithril. He would have to limit his budget ordingly if he were to buy other goods.

    Back at the altar within the great hall, Qianye didn¡¯t have Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and the space within his backpack was limited. Thus, he only took some rare materials. Among them, mithril was considered amon resource; there were others so rare that he knew nothing of their origin. As for those rare ores only obtainable from certain mines on certain continents, he didn¡¯t want to sell them off so easily.

    Qianye had just turned into a small alleyway when he saw a young man rushing towards him.

    He was running hurriedly at full speed, but just as they were about to brush past one another, his body bent forth as if he had tripped and suddenly bumped into Qianye.

    Having grown up in a dumpster, Qianye had seen all kinds of tricks. He had long since known that the other party¡¯s movements seemed to be in disorder, when, in fact, his steps were fairly steady and he hadn¡¯t lost control of his body at all. Qianye moved slightly to one side and avoided the youth while locking his hand with a backward grip.

    The youth¡¯s movements were exceptionally agile. His hand had actually half-reached into Qianye¡¯s pocket when it was caught.

    The youth immediately struggled after he was caught, but Qianye¡¯s grip held firmly onto his wrist like a metal pincer.

    ¡°Release me!¡± the youth screamed.

    Qianye nced calmly at the young man but didn¡¯t let go.

    The youth suddenly began to shout loudly, ¡°Help! There¡¯s a foreigner trying to kill me!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned cold¡ªa number of disorderly footsteps were heard in the vicinity as a number of burly men who looked like street thugs began to appear and blocked off the two ends of the alley.

    After seeing that some people hade over, the youth produced a dagger with his free hand and thrust fiercely toward Qianye¡¯s nk. Not only was the strike swift and ruthless, it was also aimed with exceptional malice. An ordinary person would¡¯ve been killed instantly.

    The youth didn¡¯t forget to cry out during this process. ¡°Murder! A foreigner is attempting murder!¡±

    Qianye watched on expressionlessly as the young man¡¯s dagger reached his nk. Its edge was so sharp that it almost didn¡¯t seem like a non-origin power weapon. It pierced through Qianye¡¯s tactical jacket, bypassed his internal armor with great precision and stabbed ruthlessly into his nk. The impact even caused his skin to dip down ever so slightly.

    But that was it, not even a drop of blood appeared.

    The youth felt as if he had stabbed at a stone and almost dropped the dagger due to the pain from the impact. It was impossible for him to thrust further.

    Qianye strengthened his grip ever so slightly and shattered the young man¡¯s wrist bones with a snap. Thetter didn¡¯t even have time to scream in misery before Qianye, likewise, grabbed onto the hand holding the dagger and crushed all the bones within.

 Volume 4 - 79: The Third Blade

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 79: The Third de

    The young man¡¯s hands had been bent into odd angles. He could no longer speak clearly and was only capable of rolling on the ground while crying out in misery.

    The group at the entrance of the alleyway witnessed this scene and were immediately upset.

    Their leader, a thin man in brightly colored clothing, roared angrily, ¡°You dare touch someone from our big de gang! Everyone, attack! Chop him up!¡±

    The group of thugs drew their machetes, flocked toward Qianye, and covered him with shes. Their machetes were all of the same style¡ªover half a meter long with a thick back and a straight edge. This kind of weight and sharpness was enough to lop off one¡¯s head with a single sh.

    The thugs wore sinister expressions and had apparently exerted lethal force behind their blows as numerous machetes whistled toward Qianye. It almost seemed as if they couldn¡¯t wait to hack him into several pieces.

    Qianye responded with rtive ease. With a slight shift of his body, he had passed through the gap between two machetes and grabbed the skinny leader. Then, with a full swing of his arms, he sent the man directly into the wall on one side of the alley.

    With a muffled bang, a human-shaped defect appeared in the red brick wall wherein the skinny man waspletely embedded¡ªhe had been knocked out cold.

    At the same time, Qianye stepped sideways and kicked an iing thug flying over ten meters away. Afterwards, he performed a backhand p which sent another hooligan into the air. He spun several times before falling back to the ground with a mixture of teeth and fresh blood sshing onto the nearby wall.

    In the blink of an eye, only one was left from the group of thugs. This burly man was also one of the most ruthless in his attacks. It was just that despite going all out with his shes, the man had failed to even touch the corners of Qianye¡¯s clothes. Thetter casually grabbed onto the burly man¡¯s wrist¡ªwith a twist and a push, he easily turned the man¡¯s shank-sized arm around and pushed the machete into his abdomen.

    In no time at all, no one in the alley, apart from Qianye, was left standing.

    His frown hadn¡¯t dispersed because his instincts were telling him that the matter wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed on the surface.

    Qianye turned around and saw a bald man full of tattoos rushing out from the alleyway behind him. He was surging with killing intent as he aimed arge caliber origin gun at Qianye and pulled the trigger.

    The trigger hadn¡¯t even reached its base when Qianye stomped firmly on the ground, sending a wave of vibrations through the ground and toward the burly man¡¯s feet, sending him flying into the air. As for that shot, it had long since sted toward some other direction.

    The bald, burly man mmed heavily onto the ground and even his origin gun had flown out of his hands. Qianye had appeared beside him at some point¡ªhis right hand reached out and caught the falling weapon firmly.

    The bald, burly man wanted to flip over, but no longer dared to move after realizing that the hot muzzle was pressed against his temple.

    His Adam¡¯s apple moved up and down as he begged, ¡°D-Don¡¯t kill me! I¡¯m only following orders. I had no other choice!¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed and gradually raised his head.

    A sinister looking man almost two meters in height was walking into the small alleyway at the moment. He opened his jacket to reveal a strong chest filled with ck hair and three eye-catchingbat des, one long and two short, hanging at his waist.

    The man walked over to a point ten meters from Qianye and said while pointing at himself with his thumb, ¡°Your daddy here is called Ma Zuo. All the brothers in my line of work call me Tride Ma. However, in the recent years, there aren¡¯t many people left who are qualified to see my third de.¡±

    Qianye sized up this Tride Ma¡ªthe man¡¯s nine origin nodes lit up radiantly under his True Sight. His aura was exuberant, but the activity of his origin nodes wasn¡¯t uniform. Some were overactive, while others were deficient, and there was even a fair amount of impurities mixed into them.

    Apparently, this self-proimed Tride Ma was a rank-nine fighter and one who had stagnated here for a considerable length of time. It was just that his foundation wasn¡¯t optimal, and his origin power was impure despite its abundance, making it difficult for him to advance to champion rank.

    Tride Ma frowned. He felt extremely uneasy before Qianye¡¯s eyes which had suddenly turned a deep blue. It felt as if he had suddenly turned naked from inside out and was being read like a book.

    He spat somewhat angrily. Then, he unsheathed his sword and shouted while pointing toward Qianye, ¡°Brat, this can be considered your misfortune. Someone paid me arge sum to take your worthless life. Let go of the bald head and hand over the goods obediently. I promise you a clean death!¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°I don¡¯t have a habit of releasing people I n to kill.¡±

    With that, he immediately pulled the trigger and sted the man¡¯s brains out with a boom.

    ¡°Bald head!!!¡± Tride Ma roared madly. His expression turned ashen as he red at Qianye with ming eyes. ¡°Well done! It¡¯s been many years since I¡¯ve seen such a reckless brat! It seems I''ve been so quiettely that no one remembers Tride Ma anymore. Little bastard, you can rest assured. After you die, I¡¯ll put in the effort to find your family and have them apany you. Die, brat!¡±

    Tride Ma leapt up and immediately rushed toward Qianye. His sword, apanied by fierce winds, shed toward Qianye¡¯s head.

    Within Qianye¡¯s eyes, he could already see the affected origin power fluctuations even before Tride Ma¡¯s sword swung down. A ripple had formed before the de¡¯s edge, clearly denoting the de¡¯s lethal trajectory.

    Qianye immediately performed a sidestep and easily allowed the de to brush past his body.

    Tride Ma was greatly astonished. Actually, he wouldn¡¯t have been so shocked if Qianye had merely blocked the sword. At his level, although he still couldn¡¯t draw upon the might of the heaven and earth, he could already affect an area with his attack. An ordinary opponent absolutely wouldn¡¯t dare to brush past his de edge in such a calm fashion. But not only did Qianye do this, he was alsopletely unscathed.

    But although Tride Ma was astonished, his hand didn¡¯t pause in the least. He borrowed the momentum to rush forward, drew his dagger, and performed a backhand sh at Qianye¡¯s nk.

    The angle of this de was extremely tricky. The origin power projected from the de was over half a meter long and could tear through flesh just like a direct cut from the de¡¯s edge.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t even step away and only retracted his abdomen, effectively evading Tride Ma¡¯s killing move.

    This time, the man was truly shocked. He pointed his sword at Qianye and said while clenching his teeth, ¡°Little bastard, you¡¯re unexpectedly quite slippery! Your daddy here will let you see my third de!¡±

    With that, Tride Ma¡¯s left hand reached toward the third de at his waist. However, there was already a dagger in his left hand. Could it be that he was nning to hold two des in one hand?

    Qianye noticed origin power fluctuations suddenly appearing on the sword in Tride Ma¡¯s right hand as a beam shot straight at Qianye¡¯s chest.

    Qianye¡¯s heart trembled. He immediately drew the Scarlet Edge and, with a wave of his hand, produced a beam of bright light before his body.

    It was at this time that Tride Ma let out a loud cry. His sword vibrated as the tip of the de left its body and shot out at lightning speed toward Qianye¡¯s heart. As it turned out, this was his third de!

    At this moment, his Scarlet Edge had formed a swirling barrier of light. Tride Ma¡¯s sword edge ran into it and was immediately knocked far away.

    So it¡¯s like this! Qianye was immediately enlightened. His True Sight allowed him to see the flow of origin power, and with that, he was able to judge the opponent¡¯s route of attack. Although it was just a brief prediction, this small advantage was enough to impact the oue in a melee battle where changes urred rapidly and constantly.

    Qianye reached toward his waist and, drawing the Bloody Datura with his left hand, aimed it directly at Tride Ma.

    Tride Ma suddenly felt an extremely strong sense of danger. It was the kind of terror when death was just within reach. But knowing that the might an origin gun could disy in meleebat was fairly limited, the man roared loudly and lunged toward Qianye.

    Both parties entered melee range within the blink of an eye. At this point, origin guns had lost their value. But Qianye didn¡¯t pull back and, instead, flipped his right hand over to perform a backhand stab at Tride Ma¡¯s abdomen.

    The man let out an odd cry as he crossed his des to entangle Qianye¡¯s dagger. But for some reason, Qianye¡¯s strike became slower and slower. Tride Ma¡¯s des arrived first despite having started outte and mped down on the Scarlet Edge.

    Just as the three des came into contact, Tride Ma felt as if he were struck by lightning. His two des flew out while the Scarlet Edge pierced deep into his abdomen without the slightest pause.

    Qianye exerted some force through his hands, sending Tride Ma flying backwards and crashing into a courtyard wall on the side of the alley.

    Qianye walked toward Tride Ma. ¡°Now, tell me. Who is it that wants my life? If you¡¯re straightforward and my mood improves, I might let you off. It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re unwilling. We¡¯ll just have to see whether you¡¯re stronger than they are.¡±

    With that, Qianye brought out a series of odd little instruments resembling metal threads of various shapes and sizes. Tride Ma¡¯s expression immediately changed after recognizing the set of specialized torture instruments. These little things, in the hands of a professional, were even more terrifying than whips and branding irons.

    Tride Ma couldn¡¯t help but tremble after seeing Qianye approach and shouted hurriedly, ¡°Wait! I have something to say! You¡¯ve provoked someone you absolutely can¡¯t afford to. It¡¯s best if you put down the goods and leave immediately!¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t afford to provoke? How so?¡± Qianye took a step forward.

    At this time, Qianye suddenly became aware of the peculiarity in his surroundings. In his ears, he seemingly heard an odd whistle. The sound was very soft but exceptionally clear. This went to show that the surroundings were too quiet.

    Qianye halted his steps and a blue hue once again emerged in this eyes. The bunch of jingling instruments had disappeared and his hand was now on the holster at his waist.

    At this moment, the sun was high in the sky, showering the world with scorching light, and the sounds of crickets could be heard in the distance. Ignoring the half-dead hooligan brat, the only ones alive in the alley were Qianye and Tride Ma.

    It was too quiet.

    It was currently daytime and this alleyway was still located at the city center despite being at its edge. How could there not be a single person at the entrance? Where was everyone?

    On the ground, Tride Ma was covering the wound on his abdomen and gasping for air. The terror on his face gradually intensified as beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

    The silence was suddenly broken by the roar of an engine as an armed jeep barged into the alley and screeched to a stop.

    Several soldiers jumped down from the car and pointed their guns this way. Their uniforms and insignias clearly indicated that they belonged to the Zhao n¡¯s private army¡ªquite surprisingly, it was the city defense force.

 Volume 4 - 80: Disengage

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 80: Disengage

    ¡°Don¡¯t move! Hands in the air!¡± the city guard warrior shouted with his gun aimed at Qianye.

    Qianye slowly raised both hands and edged back in silence until his back was pressed against the wall.

    An entire group of city guards poured in from the entrance of the alleyway. Agents also appeared on the rooftops on both sides.

    Qianye¡¯s eyebrows twitched slightly¡ªhe had seen the two snipers hiding on a rooftop about 200 meters away, and the ck muzzles aimed at him from the front were mostly from origin guns. This indicated that there were a fair number of fighters in this unit.

    This ratio allowed Qianye to understand the strength of a n¡¯s private army. Even the troops distributed to a small border city like Darkshore wasn¡¯t inferior to the imperial regr army.

    Arge burly officer jumped down from the jeep and swept his gaze over the corpses on the ground. ¡°What happened here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure either. These people suddenly jumped out and attacked me,¡± said Qianye. ¡°Oh, that fellow calls himself Tride Ma.¡±

    The bearded man waved hisrge arms and said, ¡°No matter what happened here, I can figure it out. Right now, remove all the weapons on your body ande back with me to the city guard headquarters along with that Tride Ma person. We have to make things clear.¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly. As an officer of the city guard, this bearded man¡¯s decision seemed quite normal, but Qianye could sense an inexplicable enmity and killing intenting from him.

    It was at this time that Qianye heard that odd whistling sound again. This time, he finally recalled what it was¡ªit was the sound of a charging origin array!

    Qianye instantly reacted by pushing himself backward with all his all strength. The brick wall simply couldn¡¯t bear the impact¡ªa huge hole immediately appeared amidst a cloud of dust, and bricks rustled down one after another as Qianye rushed into the room behind it.

    A series of rumbles rang out within the alleyway as numerous origin bullets whistled over and bombarded Qianye¡¯s previous position. A characteristic muffled sound was also heard amidst the explosions. That was the timber of arge caliber sniper rifle. Even his vampire constitution wouldn¡¯t be able to endure the concentrated fire had Qianye kept on standing where he did. He would, no doubt, be injured quite badly.

    A number of soldiers from the city guard rushed toward the hole in the wall in response to the bearded officer¡¯s shouts. But suddenly, a number of green melon-sized grenades rolled over through the dust cloud. [1]

    ¡°Origin grenades!¡± The group of city guards were frightened out of their wits and began to scramble in all directions.

    The grenades traversed the alleyway and bumped into the opposite wall but didn¡¯t explode.

    ¡°Goddammit, they¡¯re dummies!¡± The bearded officer¡¯s face turned ashen as he proceeded to personally lead the group forward.

    At the same time, Qianye¡¯s figure burst through the roof, knocking out the soldier therein and snatching his assault rifle in passing. He then plucked the string of grenades from the man¡¯s waist, pulled the safety, and tossed them into the room below.

    The room beneath his feet shook violently amidst the series of continuous explosions, apanied by the bearded officer¡¯s roars and curses. These gunpowder grenades possessed limited firepower. They were fairly effective against ordinary people, but it would be rather difficult to st a rank-five fighter like the bearded officer to death. However, encountering a string of them in an enclosed space would still cause an episode of confusion.

    Qianye felt extremely depressed despite having gained the advantage. He couldn¡¯t help but want to spew out ruthless profanities.

    The city guards had apparentlye with malicious intentions. It would be quite troublesome if they were working together with the group in the alleyway. Breaking out without killing anyone would be fairly difficult since the other party held the advantage in numbers.

    But the oue would be grave if he were to kill the city guards. No n would let off someone who had killed their people; they would inevitably chase him down regardless of the reason.

    While Qianye was still hesitating about killing the soldiers, a sudden feeling of rm arose in his heart. Stepping sideways, he narrowly avoided a number of bullets which whistled past his body.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was indifferent. He raised the assault rifle, aimed it at the sniper on the distant roof, and pulled the trigger all the way to the end.

    The assault rifle spat out tongues of me and was emptied within mere moments.

    There were an entire 200 meters between Qianye and the sniper. Although he was within the range of the assault rifle, the sniper refused to believe Qianye could hit him while strafing from such a distance. In his eyes, the other party was just venting without a thought.

    The rain of bullets flew out andnded more or less within a meter of the sniper. The sniper let out a loud scream and was flung away with dozens of bullet holes added to his body.

    Qianye calmly swapped out a cartridge and fired toward a different direction. The second sniper also took ten-odd bullets and fell off the building, screaming.

    Qianye swapped out the final cartridge and mowed down everyone else who dared poke their heads out. He then discarded the assault rifle, leapt off the roof, and soon vanished into the distance.

    Only after Qianye had left did the city guards dare to mber up and nce around cautiously. The bearded officer emerged from the half-copsed wall with an ugly expression.

    At this moment, a chubby figure appeared from within a nearby alley. This was precisely the manager of Xinglong Trade Company, Wang Youyuan. He saw the whole area in disorder and couldn¡¯t help but feel his face twitch withrge beads of sweat rolling off his shiny bald forehead.

    ¡°How¡­ how did this happen?¡± Wang Youyuan stammered as he spoke.

    ¡°Save¡­ save me!¡± A faint voice was heard from nearby.

    Wang Youyuan turned around and saw Tride Ma leaning on a nearby wall with one had pressed upon the continuously bleeding wound on his abdomen. Wang Youyuan¡¯s expression suddenly turned gloomy as he shot a meaningful nce at the bearded officer.

    The bearded man walked up to Tride Ma, raised his origin gun, and fired ruthlessly toward the man¡¯s heart. The explosive force from this shot almost prated his body.

    Tride Ma used struggled to speak with hisst breath, ¡°Why¡­?¡±

    ¡°No reason. You lost and you know too much,¡± Wang Youyuan said lightly.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Tride Ma only spat out this word before copsing in endless resentment.

    Wang Youyuan wiped away the sweat on his forehead and said to the bearded man, ¡°I¡¯m going to meet sir Zhao right away. I¡¯ll leave the situation here to you. You must catch that brat at all cost or we¡¯ll have no way to exin all this!¡±

    The bearded man nodded and gestured toward a number of warriors. ¡°You lot, immediately head toward each city gate and ensure that the people passing through are strictly inspected. We have to prevent him from escaping even at the risk of mistakenly detaining some people!¡±

    Momentster, rms went off throughout Darkshore City as squads of city guards rushed out from the military camp and began to search the city. A unit charged into Qianye¡¯s hotel room and flipped over all of his belongings, but found nothing apart from a change of clothes.

    Meanwhile, in West Pole City, the main residence was extremely peaceful. Zhao Jundu stood on the waterside balcony gazing at the misty waters of Lake Profound before him. His expression was vacant¡ªhe seemed to be pondering deeply yet also seemed as if he was thinking of nothing.

    The chimes hanging from the eaves began to jingle, indicating the arrival of a guest.

    Zhao Jundu entered the study and found that it was Uncle Wang. He was somewhat surprised, but still offered him a seat with due politeness.

    Uncle Wang was an elder Princess Gaoyi had brought along when she married into the Zhao n. Due to her illness, the princess lived in a separate courtyard all year round and Uncle Wang was in charge of all contact with her four sons and one daughter. After the four young masters reached maturity in the recent years, Uncle Wang had been staying at Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s side for the most part.

    Uncle Wang¡¯s expression was grave¡ªhe got straight to the point and said, ¡°Fourth Young Master, this old servant has been pondering a certain matter repeatedly, which I feel needs to be brought to your attention.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was was somewhat startled. Instead of asking what the matter was, he said, ¡°I heard Ruoxi has gone to visit mother?¡± What was it that Uncle Wang had to tell him behind Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s back? Thetter¡¯s temperament was such that she disliked others interfering with her business, even if this other person was her own brother.

    As if he knew what Zhao Jundu was thinking, Uncle Wang immediately said, ¡°This old servant and Zhao Kai were both present when the matter took ce. Back then, the young miss had requested that we not utter a single word about this matter. However, not only is this rted to the inheritance of the Red Spider Lily, but that person might be¡­ rted to past matters¡­and the young miss¡­¡± At this point, Uncle Wang paused as if he were trying to find the correct words before continuing, ¡°Young Miss knows very little about the matters of the past.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s brows slightly knitted together. Matters of the past? What kind of past matter was on the same level as the Red Spider Lily¡¯s inheritance? While pondering on this matter, he had his servants deliver tea and then had them leave the portico. He also instructed them not to allow anyone else to approach.

    Zhao Jundu watched as the doors closed before reaching out to press something under the table. Numerous origin arrays came to life on the windows and walls, isting the entire study from the exterior. Then, he personally handed Uncle Wang a cup of tea and then poured one for himself. Only after this did he sit down calmly and waited for Uncle Wang to exin everything.

    Uncle Wang had been mulling over this matter repeatedly during the recent days. Although his ount was short to the point, he didn¡¯t leave out any of the important details. He quickly described Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s encounter with Qianye and the ensuing feigned pursuit, fully describing how Qianye had manifested his talents in the form of a luminous wing and activated the Red Spider Lily, killing the vampire viscount in one shot.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression changed numerous times, and he only spoke after a moment of silence, ¡°Up to this very day, the empire¡¯s research into the Red Spider Lily has yielded no insight into its mechanism of inheritance. After Xixi became its wielder in this generation, anyone with pure Zhao n blood can, with great effort, sessfully fire a shot. But it¡¯s impossible to activate the ultimate skill.¡±

    Although it was said that any Zhao n descendant with a pure bloodline could use the Red Spider Lily, Uncle Wang knew that Zhao Jundu was the only one who had sessfully charged, activated, and fired it; the others were only able toplete the first few steps. Even then, Zhao Jundu¡¯s shot was equal in firepower to a corresponding origin handgun, a far cry from Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s ultimate skill, the River of Forgetfulness.

    ¡°Luminous wings? The Feathercloud Art?¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression turned increasingly solemn as he got up and paced around the room. He then paused and shook his head, saying, ¡°That¡¯s not possible. We¡¯ll definitely have heard of it if there was a second inheritor to the Feathercloud Art in the Bai n.¡±

    Uncle Wang spoke unhurriedly, ¡°The reason this servant is concerned about his identity isn¡¯t just because his aura is simr to the Young Miss; there¡¯s also another matter. I was in the Young Miss¡¯pany when she went to Evernight Continent two years ago to attack that Evernight Council member. There, we encountered a youth in the tavern of a small town who had a very eye-catching scar on his chest.¡±

    Elder Wang paused for a moment. ¡°The two look extremely simr. It¡¯s likely they are one and the same.¡±

    Bang! The teacup in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand suddenly shattered.

    [1] Melon-sized?!

 Volume 4 - 81: Matters of the Past

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 81: Matters of the Past

    Zhao Jundu brought out a napkin and slowly wiped away the tea on his hand. By the time he looked back up, his expression had resumed its calm ambiguity. ¡°Let me handle this matter. Don¡¯t tell my father and brothers just yet.¡±

    Uncle Wang nodded, heaving a deep sigh in his heart.

    Those old matters were extremely convoluted, and its aftermath was also extremely bizarre. Although Zhao Jundu was old enough to remember the events back then, how much information could a child have heard? But since he was able to connect the dots just from some isted phrases, it was apparent that he had never forgotten the past, or perhaps he had secretly investigated this matter before.

    ¡°But regarding the princess¡­¡± Uncle Wang was hesitant.

    A spirited gleam shed through the depths of Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes as he said indifferently, ¡°Because of him, mother had to go through a difficultbor when she gave birth to Xixi and hadn¡¯t recovered up to this to this day. Additionally, mother wasn¡¯t, at all, involved in the matters back then. Regarding this, Uncle Wang, you should be even clearer than me. That being said, why should we trouble mother with somethingpletely irrelevant?¡±

    Uncle Wang¡¯s heart trembled ever so slightly, but in the end, he nodded solemnly and said, ¡°Rest assured, Fourth Young Master, this old servant won¡¯t breathe a word of this.¡±

    Uncle Wang¡¯s loyalty toward Princess Gaoyi was unquestioned. Since he had made his way here, it was already apparent that he had no intention to rm the princess.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t say anything else and only asked, ¡°What does that person look like? Since he was unconscious, you were able to obtain a personal belonging of his, right? I have methods to track him as long as I have something directly rted to him.¡±

    ¡°Back then, the Young Miss didn¡¯t allow us to approach, however, the young miss does have something belonging to him.¡±

    Uncle Wang came prepared¡ªproducing a portrait and a dagger, he ced them in front of Zhao Jundu. The simple but lifelike artwork of the portrait outlined Qianye¡¯s appearance with a few simple strokes. The dagger, on the other hand, was the Radiant Edge which Zhao Ruoxi hadn¡¯t returned.

    Uncle Wang said, ¡°Fourth Young Master, this dagger belongs to the Young Miss¡¯ collection. I only ¡®borrowed¡¯ it for a while and will have to return it afterwards.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s said that Xixi will head toward the Northern Mountain King¡¯s residence after visiting my mother. This journey will take at least ten days, and I won¡¯t require more than five days.¡±

    ¡°In that case, this old servant is relieved.¡± Uncle Wang got up and excused himself, but he paused as he reached the door and hesitated for a while before saying, ¡°Fourth Young Master, there¡¯s one more thing. I¡¯m not sure if I should speak.¡±

    Uncle Wang, his heart full of worries, didn¡¯t notice Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand on the portrait tremble ever so slightly.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice was still tranquil and without any fluctuation.

    ¡°It seems, to this old servant, that the Young Miss has¡­ some feelings for that man.¡±

    Zhao Jundu suddenly stood up with an astonished expression. ¡°Is this true?¡±

    ¡°Unless my old eyes deceive me, it is¡­ indeed so.¡±

    Zhao Jundu inhaled deeply and soon resumed his calm. ¡°Very well, I understand.¡±

    Zhao Jundu held onto the portrait for a while even after the door was closed. He then proceeded to rummage through the documents on the table for that grey portfolio, within which was another sketch of a certain person. The two drawings were ofpletely different styles, but the subjects looked somewhat simr.

    Zhao Jundu crunched up the two papers. They were slowly ground into fine powder in his hand before flowing out from the gaps between his fingers. He stood there for quite some time before picking up the Radiant Edge and walking out of the study.

    Year round in the outer courtyard, there was a fully prepared carriage ready to set out at a moment¡¯s notice. The main residence was the size of a small city, so a means of transportation was necessary to travel toward the outer residences. Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression was as gloomy as water¡ªhe boarded the carriage and only instructed the driver to head toward the Elder Assembly before closing his eyes in silence.

    The driver had followed Zhao Jundu for a long time. Seeing the young master in an extremely bad mood, he dared not say a single word and started driving steadily toward the Elder Assembly as swiftly as he could.

    The silver carriage drove straight into the Elder Assembly and parked in front of a solitary courtyard on its eastern side.

    Zhao Jundu alighted and, stopping the boy servant who was about to announce him, headed directly into the courtyard.

    The courtyard wasn¡¯t very big, but the flowers and nts within were arranged meticulously. There was even a canopy full of purple grapes. Being in season at the moment, the vines were heavilyden with fruit and bunches of them could be seen hanging down amidst the verdant leaves. An elder was sitting there on a chair made of vines, resting with his eyes clothes while fiddling with the two perfectly round jade spheres in his hand.

    Just as Zhao Jundu entered through the door, the old man said without opening his eyes, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Jundu. What a rare asion for you to visit this old man. Speak, what kind of troublesome business do you need me to handle?¡±

    Zhao Jundu was very familiar with the elder¡¯s temperament and thus got right to the point. He passed the dagger over and said, ¡°Sixth elder, it hasn¡¯t been very long since this de left its previous owner. This nephew wants you to take action and find that person¡¯s whereabouts. He¡¯s a youth about 20 years of age and about rank seven or eight in strength.¡±

    The elder slowly opened his eyes and frowned. ¡°I knew nothing good woulde of your visit. This business will ruin my constitution. Is he on the Western Continent?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡±

    After hearing this, the elder¡¯s brows almost bunched up into a ball as he said, ¡°That makes it even more difficult. You have to know that this deed will consume ten years of my cultivation.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression remained unchanged. ¡°This matter is extremely important to me, and I will not hesitate to pay a certain price. Please help me, Sixth Elder.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Sixth Elder was hesitant and his expression was quite unsightly. Even though he had already retired and no longer needed to engage in contests of strength, ten years of cultivation wasn¡¯t something easy to part with.

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°I heard Cousin Ruo Ming is preparing to break through to the champion rank. This nephew has some methods to help him obtain some of the most valuable medicines required for the process.¡±

    Sixth Elder¡¯s eyes shed with a spirited glint and sighed while shaking his head. ¡°This¡­ so be it. This old man will stake it all on this one. Sigh, I wouldn¡¯t need to worry so much for Ruo Ming, if only he were half as talented as you are!¡±

    After receiving the Radiant Edge, Sixth Elder swiped a finger along the de and said, ¡°In order to trace its origin, I¡¯ll need to offer sacrifice to the stars and pray for power. The process will require a few days.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll be waiting for Sixth Elder¡¯s good news.¡± With that, Zhao Jundu left without lingering further.

    ¡°A few days¡­¡± Zhao Jundu sat within the carriage with his eyes closed. Momentster, he said, ¡°Notify the military; have them withdraw the ¡®Blue Firmament¡¯ and nurture it within the Celestial Pool. I shall go to war within the next few days.¡±

    His voice was neither loud nor soft, but it was enough for the guards outside the carriage to hear clearly. Everyone¡¯s expression trembled slightly as they responded, ¡°Yes, Young Master.¡±

    Zhao Jundu cultivated the Zhao n secret art, West Pole Purple Cloud, and had already ignited nine origin nodes when he turned fifteen. The champion rank was already within arms reach, but he halted his vigorous progress for an entire five years to polish himself at the ninth rank.

    During his earlier years, Zhao Jundu would disobey the family teachings and appear in battle from time to time. But since Zhao Weihuang became the n lord, he mostly stayed within the residence to handle administrative affairs for his father. He rarely fought except in major imperial events such as the spring hunt.

    However, he would never lose whenever he went to battle and even his guards had no clear grasp of his martial prowess. They only knew that he had never encountered his match at the same level.

    Just before twilight, the atmosphere in Darkshore City was extremely tense. They couldn¡¯t casually close off the city gates, but the inspection process had be extremely stringent, causing a long line to form at the gates.

    Meanwhile, within a small inconspicuous courtyard two streets away from the city guard headquarters, Wang Youyuan was standing before Zhao Youpin with his waist bent at a near-ny-degree angle and half his face badly swollen.

    ¡°Worthless! What use would I have for you if you can¡¯t even manage such a small business? Now we have neither the goods nor the person, and even lost a fair number of our city guard brothers. How do I report such a blown-up matter to the superiors? Humph! Although that old man, the city lord, has one foot in the grave, he¡¯s still sitting in that position!¡±

    Before Zhao Youpin¡¯s tongueshing, Wang Youyuan could only repeat the same words while pping himself. ¡°I¡¯m worthy of death.¡±

    Zhao Youpin suddenly red coldly at him and said, ¡°Is there no news yet?¡±

    The guard nearby said hurriedly, ¡°Sire, we¡¯ll give you a report as soon as we have news!¡±

    ¡°A bunch of trash!¡±

    The guard nced at Zhao Youpin¡¯s expression and hurriedly left after saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go rush them!¡±

    Zhao Youpin walked toward the window in frustration and said suddenly, ¡°Fine, since that brat is still in the city, I¡¯ll take action myself and take his worthless life!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to act personally?¡± Wang Youyuan swallowed hard and said cautiously, ¡°Sire, I think that brat is a rank-eight fighter, the same as yourself. Even Tride Ma lost in his hands, so I fear he¡¯s not easy to deal with! Why don¡¯t we find more people to join you?¡±

    Zhao Youpin replied coldly, ¡°How can our Zhao n¡¯sbat techniques bepared to that low life¡¯s? Tride Ma maybe of a higher level, but I only need three moves to kill him! Find more people?! Are you worried that the matter isn¡¯t big enough yet? The top priority right now is to kill that brat as soon as possible. The goods are secondary. Even I will be in trouble if this matter is exposed, to speak nothing of you. That bastard¡¯s aides are all watching us attentively and waiting for us to make a mistake!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re indeed valiant, sire!¡± Wang Youyuan hurriedly ttered with a somewhat frightened expression.

    The city guard was, of course, not under Zhao Youpin¡¯s solemand. There were two other captains, one of whom was a trusted aide of the current city lord. The other captain, the strongest among them, was from an external family, and thus had always remained neutral in factional disputes.

    Although Wang Youyuan had given Li Liu the timely instruction to finish off Tride Ma, he naturally wouldn¡¯t let thetter¡¯s nephew off either. That way, the escaped brat would have no proof even if he wanted toin to the authorities. Even so, it would be akin to breeding a cmity if they couldn¡¯t kill him off.

    Zhao Youpin suddenly felt his emotions in disarray and waved at Wang Youyuan, saying, ¡°Leave!¡±

    Wang Youyuan hurriedly excused himself as if he had received a great pardon. But he began to move back just as he got to the door.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to leave?! Eh?!¡±

    Zhao Youpin saw an origin gun pressed against Wang Youyuan¡¯s head; thetter was edging backward one step at a time, followed by a young man.

    Zhao Youpin focused his gaze on Qianye and said, ¡°Are you the one who killed my subordinate?¡±

    ¡°It is I.¡±

    Zhao Youpin sneered and said as he unbuttoned his robe. ¡°You dare kill our Zhao n¡¯s warriors and even make your way here. You¡¯re quite bold!¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°Your public attempt at murder and robbery is even bolder. Does imperialw still exist in this world?¡±

    Zhao Youpinughed and said, ¡°The imperialw is another matter entirely. Now that you¡¯ve killed our Zhao n¡¯s warriors, you¡¯ll have no ce to hide even though the world is vast!¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°Is that so? That¡¯s fine. I won¡¯t be losing out too much if I also kill a city guard captain like you.¡±

    Zhao Youpin revealed a mocking smile and said, ¡°With just you?¡±

    He had already removed his robe to reveal the full set of flexible armor underneath. He then rxed his limbs and lifted one leg upward while supporting himself on the other. He took on a stance resembling that of a soaring immortal crane and shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll let you experience the Zhao n¡¯s secret art, Soaring Wader Fist!¡±

    Qianye calmly crushed Wang Youyuan¡¯s neck and tossed the carcass away. He then slowly moved toward Zhao Youpin and assumed abat stance.

    ¡°Military Combat Arts?¡± Zhao Youpin¡¯s face was the picture of disdain.

    The Military Combat Arts was the hallmark of an ordinary citizen. Evenndowning households would possess familial or sect-taught secret arts. Only the most ordinary of recruits from the army would be using the Military Combat Arts up until rank eight.

 Volume 4 - 82: Return Journey

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 82: Return Journey

    With his True Sight, Qianye saw that Zhao Youpin¡¯s stance wasn¡¯t just for show. The surging origin power rippled outward with his body as the center, a full seven ripples extending toward the surroundings. All of them were potential attack routes, covering almost the entire semicircr area in front of him.

    Zhao Youpin¡¯s body swayed lightly like an immortal crane dancing in the wind, the seven origin power ripples fluctuating indefinitely along with his movements¡ªit was as if he wouldunch a fierce attack toward a certain direction at any given moment.

    The Soaring Wader Fist was indeed worthy of its status as a secret art. Judging from its origin power movements, it could be said that the art possessed both offensive and defensive capacities. The swaying movement afforded him many routes of attack while making it difficult for the opponent to grasp the trajectory of his assault. For the same reason, he was also capable of calmly dealing with all attacks within the wide coverage area. That semicircr area-of-effect might expand even further if Zhao Youpin were to reach the champion level.

    But presently, all of the Soaring Wader Fist¡¯s variations were clear as day in Qianye¡¯s eyes. The secret art was, true to the Zhao n¡¯s style, fairly elegant and flowery. It was constantly suffused with an unhurried calmness and seemed free of all worldly intent. But this was also why, despite its quick-witted elegance, the art was three partscking in power.

    Qianye immediately umted his origin power and strode forth to deliver a simple punch toward the opponent¡¯s chest.

    It was a jab from the Military Combat Arts. It wasn¡¯t apanied by any fancy movements, but faint rumbles of thunder seemed to echo in the air as the fist shot out.

    Zhao Youpin¡¯s range of swaying suddenly increased, almost losing his bnce and involuntarily leaning toward the edge of Qianye¡¯s iing fist. He was greatly astonished because the iing attractive force was so powerful that it took a fair amount of effort just to ovee it.

    Zhao Youpin could no longer bother with bringing himself back to the most optimal position. He immediately let out a resounding scream as he swung his right hand like a wing and pped down on Qianye¡¯s fist.

    A thunderous bang was heard as fist and palm collided. As if struck by lightning, Zhao Youpin¡¯s entire body was severely shaken and suddenly flung backward. He crashed through the desks and tables along the way before mming into the wall and coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood.

    Zhao Youpin had never expected that he would encounter such a situation. For a while, he was startled, afraid, and even his brain was nked out. He saw Qianye running over withrge strides, but was slightly dyed in his reaction.

    Qianye¡¯s leg whipped out with a momentum capable of bringing about total annihtion. As if he had just woken up from a dream, Zhao Youpin shifted his body and evaded with all his might.

    Qianye¡¯s fist smashed down again, but this time, Zhao Youpin could no longer dodge and was forced to defend with his arms crossed¡ªa thunderous boom rang out from the impact followed by the coughing up of even more blood.

    Qianye¡¯s attacks were like lightning and thunder, not leaving Zhao Youpin with even a moment to catch his breath. Each and every one of his moves was direct and agile, with most of the basic moves from the Military Combat Technique, but he was fast enough, powerful enough, and cruel enough.

    Zhao Youpin had lost the initiative and had to exhaust all his strength just to defend against Qianye¡¯s casual blows. He couldn¡¯t understand why thetter¡¯s strikes were so powerful despite being at the same level as him. It felt as if a great mountain was pressing down upon him, one so heavy that it made him despair.

    Within moments, Zhao Youpin¡¯s origin power defenses crumbled, allowing Qianye¡¯s palm to strike right through andnd heavily on his chest. The man couldn¡¯t even cough up blood as his entire chest caved in amidst snapping sounds.

    Qianye slowly withdrew his attacks and gazed at the dying Zhao Youpin.

    While gasping for air, he said with great ferocity, ¡°The Zhao n won¡¯t¡­ let you go! They will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. I¡¯ll be going first to wait for you down there!¡±

    Qianye replied with an unmoved expression, ¡°Then keep on waiting.¡± With that, he casually drew out a sword from the nearby rack and pierced it into Zhao Youpin¡¯s heart. He then looked around the room, dropped the sword, and calmly leapt out of the window before disappearing into the night.

    The battle was over in a sh and had involved only ten-odd moves. Only after Qianye left did the guards rush into the study and raise the rm.

    Qianye ran swiftly under the night sky and straight toward the airship port. The entire Darkshore City was in chaos at the moment, but this area just outside of the city¡¯s west gates was rtively silent. The only difference from the norm was a several-fold increase in the number of guards.

    However, these vignt guards were only for show in Qianye¡¯s eyes¡ªhe deftly crossed over the guard cordon and arrived before the three airships parked on one side of the port. There he chose the centurion ss airship transporting a mixture of passengers and cargo.

    Opening the emergency hatch at the rear of the airship was quite easy for Qianye; the set of metallic instruments used for torture could also open simple mechanical locks. Moreover, this centurion ss airship was the empire¡¯s mostmon dual-use public airship model and thus had no overlyplicated mechanisms.

    Qianye snuck into the airship from the auxiliary door, resecured the door, and removed all nearby traces. The airship, scheduled to fly for the Zhao n capital in two days, waspletely quiet at the moment with neither crew nor passenger on board. However, the greater half of the cargo hold was filled with goods.

    Qianye headed toward the fuel chamber in the loweryer. The ship had already been resupplied with ck stones piled up in the form of a small hill within the fuel reservoir. Qianye found an isted corner near the wall where he dug out a hole, lined it with military use tarpaulin, and made his way inside.

    Qianye emitted an origin power vibration, causing the surrounding ck stones to roll down and bury him within. He then retracted all of his aura and gradually retracted his body temperature until he reached a state of semi-hibernation.

    The chaos in Darkshore City eventually calmed down after the other two city guard captains appeared to take control. However, the tense atmosphere persisted.

    As a city guard captain, Zhao Youpin¡¯s assassination within a private residence was not a small matter. A city guard captain from such an important city could be considered a manger level character within the Zhao n, belonging to the middle ranks.

    The city guard mobilized in full force¡ªthey overturned Darkshore City as they searched for a full day and night, but to no avail. Naturally, an important area like the airship port was searched thoroughly many times over. Even the guests and their luggage were inspected stringently as were the goods in the cargo hold. It was just that no one thought to overturn and look through the pile of ck stones in the fuel reservoir.

    All of this torment only took ce within Darkshore City region as external order had to be maintained. Otherwise, not to mention a mere captain, they would be rebuked by the Zhao n even if it was the city lord who died.

    As such, the centurion ss dual-use airship carrying both passengers and goods took to the sky ording to schedule and flew toward West Pole City.

    Everything was normal within the Zhao n residence in West Pole City, the only exception being the privately circted news of Zhao Jundu¡¯s imminent action.

    This news astonished many people. Duke Chengen¡¯s three highly ranked sons had just left for battle and hadn¡¯t returned just yet. Zhao Ruoxi was also away from the city. There was no need to mention Zhao Weihuang himself¡ªthe man was with the Fire Beacon Corps all year round and would only return for major asions and ceremonies.

    There was a dedicated group of staff to operate the daily affairs of the Zhao n and thus their absence wouldn¡¯t cause any disturbance. However, the Duke Chengen lineage leaving no administrative character in the residence raised a fair number of eyebrows.

    Soon, people from every residence became curious about this matter. However, Zhao Jundu had decided to set out alone this time¡ªinquiring about his destination was out of the question since even his personal guards received no mobilization notice.

    The folder rted to the assassination of a city guard captain from Darkshore City arrived on Zhao Jundu¡¯s desk the next day. The nature of this matter was rtively vile, but it couldn¡¯t be considered too big a matter and was thus categorized as a third ss document. This meant that the matter had already been handled, and Zhao Jundu needed only to know of it.

    Zhao Jundu only nced at the subject before tossing the folder onto the desk. He had been in a bad mood these days, and now after seeing that a stately guard captain had actually been assassinated within the city, he couldn¡¯t help but feel enraged.

    The file didn¡¯t stop on the table. It slid off andnded on the floor with a bang, whereupon a loose sheet slowly fell out from it; it was a drawing. The conclusion of the search in Darkshore City was that this person had likely escaped and thus they were requesting the main branch to issue a wanted notice for him within the Zhao n domain.

    Zhao Jundu bent down to pick up the file and his expression changed slightly after ncing at the drawing. This was an ordinary-looking young man whose features couldn¡¯tpare to that of the handsome youth in the other two drawings. But Zhao Jundu¡¯s intuition was somehow making him associate the two.

    He refocused his thoughts and went through the folder again. There wasn¡¯t a lot of new content¡ªthis person had killed many soldiers in Darkshore City and had then assassinated the city guard captain for reasons unknown. Zhao Jundu picked up the drawing again and, after observing it for a while, suddenly noticed which part of it was simr to the other two.

    The eyes! Both in the handsome drawing and the ordinary one, those eyes were too alike. Generally speaking, unless it was an overlyplicated appearance alteration technique, one wouldn¡¯t especially change the shape of the eyes.

    Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help but reach out to rub his forehead. He suddenly thought of Zhao Ruoxi and only then did he notice another issue. Regardless of who this person from Darkshore City was, the clear eyes of the youth in the drawing given to him by Uncle Wang actually bore a striking resemnce to his little sister.

    Zhao Jundu gave it some thought before stamping somerge characters on the file from Darkshore City: ¡°Return for reinvestigation.¡±

    Those from the Profound Library in charge of daily affairs couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished after receiving this rejected folder. Zhao Jundu would usually only read through such cases and never take action. Could it be that there was more to the assassination in Darkshore City than it seemed on the surface?

    The steward who had received the folder immediately understood something after he recalled the bedridden Darkshore City Lord and the ambiguity of this assassination case report. Several secret orders were dispatched toward Darkshore City before dusk that day. Soon, the secret agents who only answered to the main family were mobilized to further investigate the root of this matter.

    While the Zhao n headquarters and Darkshore City were busy with various things, the airship carrying Qianye finally arrived in West Pole City after two days and one night of flight.

    The airshipnded at a public airship port in the outskirts of West Pole City. There, Qianye waited until the dead of the night before emerging from the fuel chamber. It was quite fortunate that the Zhao n was wealthy enough to stock enough fuel for a round trip, even for a public airship. The ck stone reservoir was only half consumed, leaving Qianye with enough space to hide.

    At this moment, the airship waspletely empty and even the goods had been unloaded. Qianye made his way to the auxiliary door and left without leaving any traces just as he had done when he entered.

    West Pole City was located in the hintends of the Western Continent and was also the heart of the Zhao n¡¯s four great provinces. In a grand disy of their affluence, the city gates were kept open through the night and there was no tax for entry. Qianye discarded all the alterations in his appearance before entering West Pole City. That way, no one would be able to associate him with the incident in Darkshore City.

    As expected of the number one city on the Western Continent, they also were quite efficient with news from the other continents. Naturally, Qianye paid the most attention to the war on Evernight Continent. From the current information he had obtained, it seemed the war was over¡ªit was truly over.

    The conflict had passed, and thus he didn¡¯t need to hurry on his way back. However, he also couldn¡¯t remain in the Zhao n territory for too long since disguises weren¡¯t omnipotent. True experts could utilize various unfathomable methods to lock onto a person¡¯s whereabouts. It was best for him to leave the Western Continent as soon as possible.

    Qianye booked a seat on the earliest public airship bound for Mount Taihang. His target was that small remote city. He would cross the Silentme Steppes just as he did when he arrived and return to Evernight Continent via the grey channel.

    Afterwards, Qianyey low in West Pole City and almost never left the hotel room. Only when the scheduled time for his flight approached did he leave hurriedly for the airship port and boarded his airship.

    Momentster, Qianye stood at the cabin window and watched as the ship gradually distanced itself from the ground. He felt much relieved as the airship sped into the distance, traversing over the mountains and rivers.

    Zhao Jundu received news from the Sixth Elder not long after Qianye¡¯s airship took to the skies.

 Volume 4 - 83: The Blue Firmament

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 83: The Blue Firmament

    Zhao Jundu arrived at the Elder Assembly without a moment¡¯s dy. The Sixth Elder seemed to have aged quite a bit during the few days of his absence; his hair and skin had all but dried up.

    He returned the Radiant Edge to Zhao Jundu and said, ¡°That person will appear at the eastern border of the Silentme Steppes within five days.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°Many thanks to Sixth Elder. I¡¯ve already prepared the spirit condensation grass and marine lotus. I¡¯ll have someone deliver it to Cousin Ruoming immediately.¡±

    An expression of joy appeared on Sixth Elder¡¯s tired face.

    Spirit Condensation Grass was native to the Wastnd of Time, and Marine Lotus was a nt unique to the Great Maelstrom. The former was deep within dark race territory, while thetter was a natural stronghold that even powerful experts wouldn¡¯t dare enter carelessly. With these two main ingredients, one could produce several types of high-quality medicines to aid with the breakthrough to champion rank. It might even be possible to make a selection based on Zhao Ruoming¡¯s natural aptitude. With such a reward, Sixth Elder sacrificing ten years of his cultivation could be considered worth it.

    Zhao Jundu returned to his residence, the ¡°Violet Ketu Courtyard¡±, summoned his aides, and gave them some simple instructions regarding the matters at hand. He had made ample preparations for his uing journey during the recent days¡ªmost affairs had been arranged for and could be handed over any time.

    Within two hours, a small high-speed airship rose into the air from the Zhao n residence¡¯s private airship port and sped toward Mount Taihang.

    At the same time, arger airship happened to be in the process of descending, and the two brushed past each other.

    Thending craft was an armed airship equipped with two aerial cannons. Chatting enthusiastically on its deck was a group of young men and women in military apparel, most of whom were suffused with the scent of recent battle.

    One of them suddenly eximed in astonishment, ¡°Eh? Isn¡¯t that the Zhao Fourth Young Master¡¯s vehicle?¡±

    Zhao Junhong suddenly turned around.

    He could see through the cabin windows quite clearly at this distance¡ªhe saw Zhao Jundu sitting in the main cabin with the extremely eye-catching Blue Firmament in his hands!

    The faraway Silentme Steppes was the same as before with the gigantic red crescent-shaped peak stretching across thend under the vast blue skies.

    The geography of the path taken by Qianye this time was more arduous. This part of the Taihang Mountain Range, full of steep inclines and precipitous cliffs, was definitely off the beaten track. So much that even the local wild beasts were few and far between.

    But such a mountainousndscape wasn¡¯t much of a hindrance for the current Qianye. He traversed the mountain range even faster than he had before and soon entered the hilly region between the desert and the foothills.

    The Silentme Steppes grewrger andrger within his eyes as speckles of red began to appear in the soil under his feet. This was the eastern border of the Silentme Steppes, and thendscape here was almost level with little to no elevation.

    Qianye suddenly noticed a number of vampires appear in the distance while he was running. Additionally, they were rushing toward him at high speed.

    More trouble!

    The entire wilderness was in in sight during the day, and there was no ce to hide apart from the giant parasol-shaped trees scattered across the region.

    With his long range of sight, Qianye was quickly able to discern the details on the vampires¡¯ bodies. From both their speed and insignias, he could tell that there were no viscount level experts among them. This could be considered good news, albeit barely.

    Qianye simply halted his steps. He had already run for half a day and had exhausted a fair bit of his strength. Since there was no way to avoid a battle, he would rather initiate the fight and replenish his diminishing blood energy in passing. He drew the Twin Flowers, loaded a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism into each of them, and silently waited for those vampires to approach.

    Those vampires were moving in an odd fashion, and their attention was so focused on the rear that they actually noticed Qianye only when they were 500 meters from him. Their expressions turned obviously frantic as they conversed amongst themselves in a secret code. Their path soon began to shift away; it seemed they were nning to skirt around Qianye.

    This came as a great surprise to Qianye because, with their usual arrogance, the vampires would never disy such weakness when encountering a solitary human. He suddenly noticed that almost all of them had dark stains on their clothes¡ªit turned out that they had long since suffered injuries.

    The group was made up of high-ranking vampires. They possessed fair skin, handsome features, and were equipped with exquisite clothing and premium weapons. Apparently, they were the descendants of a respectable n. Just what kind of person was able to make them flee in such misery?

    Soon, Qianye saw a number of figures appear in session on the small hill where the vampires had first emerged. There were also vampires in that group, but there were more werewolves and arachne among them. A greatly rmed Qianye swept this True Sight over the area and immediately found three enormous masses of origin power. To his astonishment, there were three viscounts!

    Qianye drew in a breath of cold air. He then started to run with all his might without uttering a single word. Of course, he chose to run in a different direction from those who were being chased down.

    At this time, the dark race warriors who had gathered on the small hill had approached a hundred. They could clearly see the situation in the vast wilderness. A certain arachne viscount chased after Qianye with a dozen or so men in tow¡ªit seemed they had no n to leave any survivors, even the passers-by they hade across incidentally.

    The arachne possessed a great advantage while traveling in marsnd, but the viscount could only maintain a basic champion-rank speed on the vast ins.

    Qianye was able to gauge the difference in speed after running for a while. Outside of the arachne viscount, there were also two high-ranking vampires who possessed rtively threatening speeds. If he ran at full speed, he could shake them offpletely within a hundred kilometers, and the remaining dark race warriors would fall behind within twenty.

    The infighting among the dark races wasn¡¯t a rare sight, and Qianye had no interest in the details of this pursuit. However, he was quite intrigued by the group chasing after him, especially the arachne viscount.

    He was currently short of blood energy. Although the blood crystals made for effective replenishments, directly absorbing the essence blood from an expert was the fastest method. Theck of blood energy to shield his internal organs would obviously affect the progress of his Combatant Form.

    A bold idea formed within Qianye¡¯s mind. Controlling his speed, he had pulled his pursuers apart in less than an hour. At his heels was the arachne viscount, and then at a fair distance were the two high-ranking vampires. The remaining dark race warriors were left several kilometers behind, while the weakest ones like the servspiders had long since been thrown off.

    The time was just about right.

    There was a towering tree in front with a small oasis about ten-odd meters in radius. Qianye broke into a sprint and, with a sudden leap, disappeared into the lush crown of the giant tree. The branches rustled violently as small broken twigs and leaves fell down pell-mell.

    The arachne viscount who had just arrived looked on nkly¡ªthe tree definitely wasn¡¯t a good hiding spot. With his strength, he could simply uproot the entire tree, and that was also what the arachne intended to do. A mass of dazzling origin power radiance enveloped his forearms as he got ready to unleash a fully-charged blow.

    However, at this moment, a grey shadow silently rolled out from behind the tree trunk and leapt up as it reached the oasis. A pair of radiant wings suddenly unfurled in the air as Qianyebined the Twin Flowers into one and aimed directly at the arachne,yer uponyer of origin power patterns lighting up in session.

    Bang!

    The gunshot reverberated throughout in the wilderness¡ªit was a long rumble akin to a dragon¡¯s roar. The arachne viscount was sted high into the air and even flipped over as sheets of jade green brilliance shed across its enormous body.

    By the time the arachne viscountnded on the ground, he had transformed into a half arachne body, but the right half of his shoulder and two of his spider legs had long vanished. The viscount realized something was wrong and had immediately sought the high defenses of his true form. Unexpectedly, his defenses were directly broken, and even a part of his body had been dented.

    Had the arachne viscount received this shot in human form, it was likely that he would¡¯ve been obliterated. Even now, his situation wasn¡¯t any better¡ªhe could only struggle at death¡¯s door unless the injuries were treated immediately.

    A shot¡ªa single shot had crippled an arachne viscount! Even though he was only a third-rank viscount, the aplishment was still something to be proud of.

    But Qianye, standing at the edge of the oasis, was currently dumbfounded.

    Clear blue light akin to flowing seawater had appeared in his hands after his Wings of Inception had umted its peak power and the Twin Flowers were fully charged. And within the radiant gleam, two flowers, one blood-colored and the other dark-golden, were faintly discernible. But, the issue here was that Qianye hadn¡¯t pulled the trigger.

    Someone else had shot that arachne viscount and sent it tumbling!

    At this moment, the two high-ranking vampires had arrived before him. Their faces were full of astonishment, but they could no longer control their charging momentum. The changes were too sudden and had given them no time at all to react. They could only keep on charging toward Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power had already been activated to the critical point. As such, he split the Twin Flowers into two, aimed it at each vampire knight, and immediately sted them to the verge of death.

    Qianye then rapidly turned around only to find the same vast wilderness without a single human shadow to be found. Thus, he activated his True Sight and swept it over the horizon once again. This time, he found a certain location in the distance with signs of massive origin power umtion. However, it was over a thousand meters away and thus he couldn¡¯t see anything with his range of vision.

    Suddenly, a beam of brilliant splendor surged up from the area of umtion and, within moments, almost dyed the entire firmament a greenish blue.

    It was at this moment that Qianye saw an origin bullet prating through the world of blue and whistling toward him. His True Sight immediately outlined the bullet¡¯s trajectory¡ªit would produce a slight deviation at a distance of three meters and form a slight curvature.

    Qianye stood there without moving and allowed the origin bullet to brush past his left arm. The blue radiance would¡¯ve infringed upon his sleeve had he shifted even a millimeter. Even so, the brilliance actually condensed into a number of crystalline fragments as it shone on Qianye¡¯s wrist guard but quickly dispersed without waiting for him to reach out and check if it were real.

    Qianye turned back and saw the origin bullet shoot through the pursuing dark race warrior.

    It was unknown what material this origin bullet was made from, but its prative power was exceptionally strong. It actually shot through three dark race warriors in session and continued flying over ten meters with its remaining momentum before exploding into a ball of mes.

    The upper bodies of the three shot werewolf warriors burst apartpletely, leaving only the lower halves. One no longer required uracy with such terrifying firepower; a simple abrasion would lead to a lethal injury.

    Compared to this terrifying firepower, what made Qianye even more apprehensive were the sniping skills the person had disyed. Especially thatst bullet¡¯s trajectory which wound around him and the urate angle with which he killed three enemies in a single shot¡ªboth of them were the skills of a great master. Qianye felt that he himself was much inferior inparison.

    He raised the Twin Flowers and fired off three consecutive rounds, sting off the heads of thest three soldiers. At this point, the entire squad chasing after him had been wiped out, and the servspiders that hadgged behind were of no threat; it wasn¡¯t even certain if they could find this oasis.

    The empty wilderness once again regained its calm, as if a great crisis had just passed. Qianye gazed at the horizon and suddenly felt beads of sweat appear on his forehead as a faint pinprick sensation arose between his brows.

    The feeling was very faint and most people would¡¯ve overlooked it. However, an experienced sniper like Qianye knew that this was the sensation of enemy crosshairsnding between his brows.

 Volume 4 - 84: Victory, Defeat, Survival, and Death

    Volume 4 ¨C Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 84: Victory, Defeat, Survival, and Death

    Qianye slowly bent down as if he were picking up something. In truth, his movements weren¡¯t that simple¡ªbreaking his actions down into one-second frames, one would find that Qianye¡¯s body was swaying gently at an irregr frequency and that the speed of this movement was fluctuating.

    This was an extremely brilliant evasion technique capable of breaking away from a lock-on by a small margin. However, the crosshair in the distance kept itself fixed on Qianye¡¯s forehead all along as if he had never even moved.

    Qianye slowly straightened his body and felt his palms grow somewhat mmy; he was actually sweating. Qianye had always disyed an almost suicidal level of courage regardless of how powerful the enemy was, but this time, this sniper who had helped him kill those enemies made him feel a chill which ran deep into his marrow.

    Qianye¡¯s corner vision fell on the dark race corpses strewn across the ground and suddenly understood why this sniper had killed them.

    That person wanted a clean battlefield¡ªone with only a cat and a mouse.

    The phantom image representing the Wings of Inception dispersed, and a deep oceanic azure once again emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes. Amidst the omnipresent darkness origin power, the dense purple mist was as eye-catching as a g.

    Traces of that sniper once again appeared within the monochromatic world of his True Sight. He had changed positions after firing the shot which had killed three enemies, and this time, he hade within 800 meters.

    Qianye took a deep breath and ignored the tingling between his brows. He produced a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion in in sight and slowly pushed it into his most powerful gun, the Bloody Datura.

    The mass of purple mist in the distance was extremely rare, but it still belonged to the daybreak side. The ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion was particrly destructive against any creature with daybreak origin power cultivation, regardless of the form.

    However, distance was the greatest barrier here. No matter how powerful they were, the Twin Flowers were only handguns, and their range was no more than 200 meters.

    But at this moment, Qianye¡¯s chances of escaping were almost zero. That sniper was over a thousand meters away when it killed the arachne viscount. Even if Qianye erupted with the highest speed in an instant, he wasn¡¯t confident in escaping the other party¡¯s firing range in the time it took for him to charge up and fire.

    It was as if there was only a single path he could take, and that was to go forward.

    Qianye began to run¡ªhe almost seemed to be warping about with no regrnding point. At the same time, his body was also swaying about lightly. This type of gait was the most effective method to deal with snipers despite its greater energy consumption.

    As expected, the feeling of being locked on by the crosshair vanished momentarily.

    Eight hundred meters away, Zhao Jundu was standing within the crown of a towering tree, his footing as stable as he was on solid ground. When Qianye vanished from his rifle scope, he only raised his brows and sent a beam of violet mist shooting straight up toward the sky.

    A deep blue color lit up before Qianye¡¯s eyes as if the entire world had transformed into the blue sky. A great sense of rm emerged in his heart, but there was no time to ponder about this. He could only rely on his instincts and rush forth with greater speed!

    In a battle against an expert sniper, it would be iparably dangerous once one came within a certain distance. With Qianye¡¯s current reflexes, he could evade a shot from a sniper below grade-four at a hundred meters, but this would be uncertain once he arrived within a hundred meters. The stronger the sniper, the wider this zone of absolute danger.

    Qianye judged that the sharpshooter was using a grade-seven heavy sniper rifle and that the danger zone was at least two hundred meters. This just happened to be the maximum range of the twin flowers. This also meant that Qianye only had one shot at this¡ªhe would survive if he hit, and die if he didn¡¯t¡ªit was that simple.

    During his all-out sprint, his True Sight outlined the path of an origin bullet. Extending from a distance, there were actually five potential trajectories for this single bullet!

    Qianye¡¯s heart trembled. This, of course, didn¡¯t mean that the sniper could fire five bullets at one time, but that he was currently performing minute adjustments in ordance with Qianye¡¯s position. All five lines were potential bullet paths.

    A boom echoed in Qianye¡¯s ears at the decisive moment between life and death. The sounds from the entire world disappeared within that split second, leaving only the muffled whistle of a charging origin array. Time seemed to slow down as Qianye turned, stepped, and leapt sideways to extricate himself from the coverage area of all five bullet trajectories.

    In the distance, a strand of astonishment shed across Zhao Jundu¡¯s face. There was even some frustration within the depths of his eyes as he reached out to remove his sses. His pitch ck eyes suddenly burst into violet mes, and a pair of deep violet eyes actually appeared when the mester receded. He no longer made any deliberate attempt to aim and only lifted the muzzle and pulled the trigger all the way to the end.

    Qianye suddenly felt a moment of weakness as he left the state of time stagnation. Without waiting for him to regte his breathing, an origin bullet suddenly appeared amidst the lingering blue light. There was no trajectory to it as if it were condensed out of thin air.

    It was inconceivably fast and seemed to have reached Qianye right after it left the muzzle.

    During the split second where thoughts could no longer function, only a single notion was left within Qianye¡¯s mind, and that was a gun skill which only existed in the legends¡ª¡°True Strike¡±.

    The origin bullet flew on at an unimaginable speed. It pierced through Qianye¡¯s left leg and bore into the red earth before exploding therein to form a shallow hole.

    What burst out of the wound on Qianye¡¯s leg wasn¡¯t fresh blood but, instead, threads of light¡ªit was as if the bullet had shattered a ss doll. Subsequently, Qianye¡¯s body began to distort and flicker before disappearing amidst a shower of luminous specks.

    Qianye emerged ten meters away with a pair of fleeing wings behind his back. He staggered and almost fell to the ground.

    Spatial sh!

    The Wings of Inception had actually seeded in activating Spatial sh at the moment of grave peril. However, Qianye didn¡¯t even meet the minimum requirements for using Spatial sh and thus could only move a short distance while consuming the greater half of his blood energy in the process. Presently, his dark-golden and purple blood energies were still energetic, however, the nine ordinary blood energy had sunkpletely to the depths of his heart and be extremely dispirited.

    But the several meters he had traversed with Spatial sh had effectively countered the legendary True Strike.

    At this moment, a shadowy figure was shooting through the sky from a distance. Enshrouded in a purple mist and drawing aet-like trail behind him, he arrived within a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye instinctively raised his hand and the timber of the Bloody Datura resounded throughout thend.

    Zhao Jundu urgently halted his steps, fell kneeling onto the ground, and fired off a shot from the astonishing two-meter long heavy sniper rifle in his hand.

    The two bullets actually collided mid-air!

    The wilderness erupted into a mass of dazzling radiance, followed by a world-shaking explosion¡ªthe light radiated over a perimeter of a hundred meters before gradually weakening. Such firepower wasparable to a st from a daybreak origin power heavy cannon. It would be lethal even if the shotnded somewhat close by, to speak nothing of a direct hit.

    The two were naturally flung away by the shockwaves from the explosion, but it wasn¡¯t a problem at all for Qianye and Zhao Jundu to deal with such a level of impact. At most, the dust and remnant ck titanium would cause some difort.

    Qianye rapidly pulled back and safely left the explosive area of effect with the exception of some dust on his body. Meanwhile, violet mist flickered around Zhao Jundu¡¯s body. He actually forcefully resisted the shockwaves andnded ramrod straight on the ground. It was as if he couldpletely ignore the violent impact.

    Qianye finally saw the opponent¡¯s appearance. That person was unexpectedly young and handsome, possessing the grandeur of a dragon and the temperament of a phoenix. The most eye-catching was the rising dark violet mist which suffused the depths of his eyes.

    Comparatively, Qianye¡¯s appearance was affected by his vampire constitution¡ªhis skin was a sickly white, and his handsomeness was apanied by a coalescence of pride and determination. But this young man¡¯s external appearance, as a whole, was superior to Qianye¡¯s by a small margin. It was just that he was more neutral, and his gaze, like ice and snow, had a prative chill to it.

    As the two stood to face each other, it almost felt as if they had already taken the greater share of the heaven¡¯s favor.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes fell on the gun in that person¡¯s hands, a heavy sniper rifle which he had never seen before. Its two-meter long bronze body was decorated with life-like patterns resembling a legendary primordial beast, the wind stallion, and its might was also fitting of its unforgettable appearance.

    Inparison, even a remodeled Eagleshot equipped with Resounding Strike was like a child¡¯s toy.

    That person held the heavy sniper rifle in one hand as if it were as light as a feather. Apparently, his strength was just as astonishing as the weapon in his hand.

    He nced at Qianye and suddenly revealed a smile. ¡°Zhao n, Zhao Jundu.¡±

    Qianye was astonished; there was naturally no way he hadn¡¯t heard of this name before. The most illustrious genius among the younger generation of the four ns. Why would such a character appear in a barrennd like the Silentme Steppes? Could it be due to the incident at Darkshore City?

    Qianye soon discarded this notion. The incident in Darkshore was neither big nor small, but it definitely didn¡¯t warrant the personal arrival of the Zhao n¡¯s fourth young master.

    However, Zhao Jundu¡¯s current attitude made it evident that he hade here specifically to kill him.

    ¡°Why?¡± Qianye asked.

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°Either defeat me or be defeated. Then you¡¯ll know.¡±

    Qianye frowned. The two were a mere ten meters away, a range which happened to be optimal for the Twin Flowers, while Zhao Jundu¡¯s heavy sniper rifle was no longer suitable for use. He put away the Bloody Datura, flexed his fingers, and then gradually formed a fist.

    Zhao Jundu smiled and inserted his heavy sniper rifle into the ground. He then spread his arms wide as if he were spreading a pair of wings. Surprisingly, it was the Soaring Wader Stance.

    Qianye had long since experienced the Soaring Wader Fist in his fight against Zhao Youpin. Back then, he had disrupted the man¡¯s stance with a single strike and followed up with a tempestuous assault momentum. The other party didn¡¯t even have the opportunity to retaliate.

    However, would this same Soaring Wader Fist be the same in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands?

    Qianye advanced inrge strides and pushed the Combatant Form to the 35th cycle, the tides resounding like thunder.

    When they were only meters apart, Qianye let loose his voice and broke into a sprint at extreme speeds. A leg swept toward Zhao Jundu apanied by the sound of wind and thunder.

    This kick was delivered at Qianye¡¯s full strength, leaving no room for any change. Only this kind of brute force suppression was effective against the Soaring Wader Fist whose advantagesy in its grace and agility.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s iing kick which would likely break even a giant tree trunk, Zhao Jundu raised his hands and held them together in the air like a wader holding its wings together. The next moment, he smashed his fisted hands downward with the great strength and boldness of a lightning storm.

    The interlocking punch and kick caused a p of thunder to resound through the clear skies as bothbatants were thrown back. This exchange was actually a pure contest of strength without any fancy moves.

    Qianye flipped around mid-air andnded firmly on the ground, his legs suddenly digging deep into the soil and transmitting the remnant shockwaves into the earth as two long ditches appeared in front of him. Zhao Jundu, on the other hand, stepped back continuously and only stabilized himself after four or five steps, each leaving a deeply chiseled foot imprint on the ground.

    The result of this forceful exchange apparently far surpassed the expectations of both parties. The two opponents gazed at each other with surging killing intent and cold gleams shing through their eyes.

    A reckless bird just had to fly over their heads at this very moment. In the end, it plummeted mid-flight and burst into a mist of blood before even reaching the ground. Following which, half of this bloody mist burst into golden mes, while the other was immted by a purple ze.

    The violet intent in Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes surged. ¡°Very good. Once more!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t say anything else and rushed forward directly. Every step was apanied by the sound of fluctuating tides, and a scarlet radiance weaved over his forearm as he chopped down like an axe. Zhao Jundu swept out with his palm like a divine bird pping its wings and materialized myriad phenomena with a single strike as if the entire jade mountain was being toppled over!

    Another peal of thunder resounded as the two exchanged blows once again.

    Qianye¡¯s attacks were all from the Military Combat Technique and, at times, wouldpletely abandon all form tounch an earth-shattering brute force attack. On the other hand, Zhao Jundu was still wielding the Soaring Wader Fist. But, in his hands, every move from this secret art known to all core descendants possessed such power and momentum that it could shatter thend. There wasn¡¯t the least bit of emptiness in it.

    The moves used by the two were swift and distinct, yet every exchange was akin to colliding mountains and submerging continents. As the battle progressed, the two eventually forewent blocking and evasion. They traded blow for blow and collided in melee range, each consuming vast amounts of origin power.

    The more simple and violent the blows, the greater its might.

    After a long battle, Qianye could no longer catch his breath and was smashed back by Zhao Jundu¡¯s fist. Finally, he couldn¡¯t help but spit out a mouthful of blood and copsed to the ground.

    With a wave of his hand, the Blue Firmament left the ground and fell into his hand. With one hand, he pointed the gun at Qianye¡¯s chest and said, ¡°Were you the one who killed Zhao Youpin?¡±

    Qianye replied candidly, ¡°It is I.¡±

    Zhao Jundu suddenly smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯ll let you live if you¡¯re willing kowtow, apologize, and work for me. What say you?¡±

    Qianye closed his eyes and said indifferently, ¡°There¡¯s no need. Since I¡¯m inferior in skill, my fate is to die after being defeated.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded and pulled the trigger.

    ¡°Click!¡± went the sound of trigger pushing against the firing pin.

    Qianye opened his eyes, his limpid eyes gradually surging with anger. ¡°Do you find this amusing?¡±

 Volume 4 - 85: Half-Brother

    Chapter 85: Half-Brother

    Spoiler Title

    Zhao Jundu nced yfully at Qianye and bent over to pat his face lightly. ¡°So this is your true appearance, huh, Qian Xiaoye?¡±

    Qianye only felt that Zhao Jundu¡¯s actions were inexplicably odd. But after hearing that depressing name, he suddenly thought of a certain possibility and felt speechless.

    Could it be that this fourth young master of the Zhao n was keeping an eye on him in order to get back at him for Zhao Junhong and had discovered the murder at Darkshore City in passing? If that was the reason he had caught up with Qianye, then it was really too much of a damn coincidence.

    Qianye said while grinding his teeth, ¡°My name is Qianye.¡±

    A heavenly me lit up in Zhao Jundu¡¯s violet eyes. He unhurriedly brought out his sses and put them on, concealing all emotion therein. ¡°Why did you kill Zhao Youpin?¡±

    Qianye sneered without replying.

    ¡°I really should¡¯ve let you suffer a bit more!¡±

    An abrupt change urred as Zhao Jundu moved once again!

    He suddenly felt as if the right hand he had on his gun was mped by a red-hot vice, and he almost loosened his grip from the intense pain. He looked over and found nothing there, but a strip of his skin about two-fingers in breadth was red and swelling up at a visible pace.

    At that same time, Qianye, who was being pressed down by the muzzle, suddenly moved. A great force traveled upward, causing the Blue Firmament to fly directly out of Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes behind his sses shed with cold austerity. He shifted the gun to his left hand, pulled it up, and casually stuck it into the ground on one side.

    A mass of purple mist appeared in his right palm which extended toward his elbow within moments and ignited with a whoosh. The red swelling on his wrist was immediately contained and could spread no further¡ªthat invisible constrictive energy had been immediately dispersed by the violet mist.

    Zhao Jundu then sent a palm pping toward Qianye at lightning speed.

    Qianye had just rolled away after extricating himself from the muzzle. He was jumping back to his feet when he suddenly let out a muffled groan as if he had suffered a powerful attack¡ªa thin stream of blood flowed down the corner of his left eye.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s furious palm strike had also arrived before him.

    Qianye blocked with his arms¡ªhis entire body was shaken upon contact and flung away. Following which, an iparably heavy object pressed down upon him and locked his body firmly in ce.

    A still-ming fist fell right beside Qianye¡¯s left ear and pierced deeply into the ground, the violet ze singeing some of his hair until they were burnt and curled up.

    Qianyey on his back¡ªhis vision was dark, his chest was burning, and every breath feltborious.

    His body was already in an exhausted state when his origin power defenses were broken just a while ago, and now he had forcefully activated his eye ability and daybreak origin power again within a short time. Presently, the effects of the bacsh from the eye ability and the overdraft of origin power had ovepped. This feeling of weakness was extremely ufortable¡ªit felt as if a giant hole had appeared in the world, and even his soul was falling into it.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice, overflowing with anger, was so close that it ruffled the broken hair near Qianye¡¯s ears. ¡°My dear brother, you¡¯re really asking for a lesson!¡±

    Qianye felt as if he were struck by heavenly lightning¡ªall of his thoughts ceased working in the instant that he opened his eyes.

    Zhao Jundu withdrew his right hand, grabbed onto Qianye¡¯s cor, and pulled down. This immediately ripped apart the front of his clothes to reveal a giant scar stretching through his chest and abdomen.

    In truth, the scar had already healed a fair bit after Qianye obtained his vampire constitution and was no longer uneven and sinister like an entrenched centipede.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand trembled slightly, and his expression changed several times. His eyes on Qianye saw, in thetter¡¯s limpid crystalline pupils, a mixture of doubt, emptiness, puzzlement, and some anger¡ªbut no joy.

    Zhao Jundu said slowly, ¡°It is¡­ indeed you.¡±

    ¡°Qianye, we have the same father.¡±

    Qianye stopped his struggling. He still couldn¡¯t see very clearly at the moment¡ªlines of ck and white flitted across his vision from time to time, a lingering effect of the bacsh from his eye ability. His state of extreme weakness was also still there.

    But at this moment, Qianye¡¯s thoughts were in even more chaos than his blurred vision.

    He never had any expectations about his birth parents. A child from the dumpster had only himself to rely on. Even if he really had parents, there was little they could¡¯ve done amidst the extreme hunger and the struggle to survive. Under the extremely adverse environment, it would be difficult for parents to ensure the survival of their children even if they traded away everything they had.

    That was why there existed no age, gender, and family in the dumpster¡ªonly individuals seeking survival.

    As such, he had never had such expectations or hopes.

    In truth, when he sometimes looked back, Qianye felt that he was iparably fortunate in that he had always found a tiny strand of light whenever he groped toward the future.

    Marshal Lin who had dragged him out of the dumpster, Song Zining with whom he shared a closepanionship since their days at the Yellow Springs training camp, Wei Potian whom he had met on the day of recruitment, all those he had met and left on Evernight Continent, and even those dark race descendants with ambiguous stances like Nighteye and William¡ªall of them were so.

    He cherished all friendship and goodwill because they weren¡¯t things he could take for granted. In this chaotic era of war over thisnd of imminent peril, even protecting oneself was a difficult mission, to speak nothing of caring for others at the same time.

    However, at this very moment, someone was suddenly telling him that his life could¡¯ve been different?

    Qianye suddenly felt that it wasughable and even wanted to break out inughter. ¡°You¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s reaction after seeing his scar reminded Qianye of Song Zining¡¯s warning. He wasn¡¯t so naive as to believe he was merely a lost child of the Zhao n.

    At one point, he had desperately wanted an answer when failing to break through bottlenecks despite spending many times more effort than a normal person would in cultivating the Combatant Form. But at this moment, Qianye suddenly had no wish to know any further.

    ¡°The identity Song Seven made for you is virtually impregnable. Since he interfered with the internal affairs of our Zhao n, tell me, how much do you think he already knows?¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s tone of voice was suffused with an unmistakable chill.

    Anger shed across Qianye¡¯s countenance. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Go back with me.¡±

    Qianyeughed, his voice suffused with unspoken ridicule. ¡°You can bring my corpse back,¡± he added after some pause, ¡°your brother has died over ten years ago. The one living now is a child who grew up in a dumpster on Evernight Continent. I have neither parents nor siblings!¡±

    Zhao Jundu inhaled deeply¡ªhe raised his hand to strike but just couldn¡¯t bear to swing it down after seeing those crystal clear eyes.

    Qianye struggled to mber up. Although he almost fell several times, he was able to stabilize himself in the end.

    After seeing the bloody trail at the corner of Qianye¡¯s eyes, Zhao Jundu coldly said, ¡°My West Pole Purple Mist has already entered the ¡®heavenly me¡¯ realm. You dare sh against it with that measly eye ability of yours. You would¡¯ve been blinded already if I retaliated with full force.¡±

    Qianye onlyughed coldly without saying anything.

    Vampire abilities all required blood energy to activate, and that Spatial sh back then had already deprived Qianye of the greater half of his blood energy. This eye ability was just a risky all-in gambit. He was willing to ept defeat, he was willing to die, but he absolutely wouldn¡¯t ept being humiliated. He was already indifferent to life and death during thatst bout, so how could he care about being blinded?

    If Zhao Jundu looked down on his eye ability because of this, he might be in for a surprise the next time they met again, that was if there was ever such an opportunity.

    Zhao Jundu suddenly removed his sses and nced at his surroundings with ming purple eyes before putting it back on. His somewhat thin lips formed a stern arc as he promptly withdrew his fury.

    He picked up the Blue Firmament and strung it to his back. Then he tossed toward Qianye a tablet with a jade relief carving installed on a bronze base. ¡°I¡¯ll handle that incident at Darkshore City. Take this, it¡¯s my personal token. With it, you can enter the Zhao n residence at West Pole City or send me a message via the Zhao n¡¯s channels. You can also utilize the resources under my name.¡±

    Qianye caught the palm-sized tablet and gave it a few nces. Carved on the jade relief was the same deviant beast as the one on Zhao Jundu¡¯s heavy sniper rifle. He threw the jade bronze jade tablet and said indifferently, ¡°I don¡¯t feel that I have a father, much less a brother. If you want to kill me, then do it swiftly. Otherwise, I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t angry this time. He onlyughed as he walked toward Qianye and pressed the tablet back into his hand. ¡°Whether you have a father or not, you¡¯re still my little brother. Additionally, your mother left you a locked crystal disk back then, and your name Qianye came from it. That is the only thing she left behind, and it¡¯s at the Zhao n residence. Do you really not want to take a look?¡±

    Qianye was startled. He clearly knew Zhao Jundu was enticing him, but even so, he revealed an expression of hesitation. He hesitated for a moment and finally asked, ¡°Who¡¯s my mother? What exactly happened back then?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything the day you return to the Zhao n. Otherwise, you can only dream of knowing!¡±

    ¡°You!!!¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes flickered with killing intent. He felt his hands start to itch and really wanted to smash his fist into Zhao Jundu¡¯s face.

    Zhao Junduughed out loud. ¡°You¡¯re indeed very strong, but you¡¯ll need a few years if you really want to beat me. If you¡¯re not convinced, we can fight another round when you¡¯re recovered, but you¡¯ll have to return to the Zhao n if you lose. Do you dare?¡±

    ¡°Farewell!¡± How could Qianye fall for this trick? He turned to walk away, leaving aughing Zhao Jundu behind.

    The smile on Zhao Jundu¡¯s face gradually disappeared as Qianye¡¯s figure disappeared over the horizon, reced by an indescribable coldness and arrogance.

    He slowly turned around, aimed the Blue Firmament toward the front, and said coldly, ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen enough? Time toe out and die!¡±

    Amotion ensued ahead as many figures appeared on a small hill hundreds of meters away. It was actually a group lead by two werewolf viscounts and hundreds of warriors. Among them, a small unit led by a baron chased toward the direction in which Qianye had left.

    One of the werewolf barons stared fixedly at Zhao Jundu with eyes full of greed and roared with a sinister smile, ¡°So you¡¯re Zhao Jundu? Very good, we might even get to meet the prince if we capture you!¡±

    Zhao Jundu aimed the Blue Firmament at the werewolf viscount and said coldly, ¡°An audience with the prince? Wait till your next life!¡±

    The Blue Firmament rumbled, turning the entire world a greenish blue! When the jade-like color faded away, that werewolf viscount and the entire guard squad behind him had vanished.

    The werewolves had, in their enthusiasm to gain merit, forgotten one thing. The Blue Firmament was a grade-seven heavy sniper rifle, and most weapons of such grade were able tounch area of effect attacks, although, in theory, only count-level champions couldpletely utilize their full power.

    Chaos descended upon the small hill as the remaining werewolves erupted with savagery after recovering from the momentary panic. They howled loudly, leaping and charging toward Zhao Jundu.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s countenance was covered in ayer of iciness. With a ng, a sharp de gleaming with a cold luster extended out of the Blue Firmament¡¯s muzzle. Still holding the heavy sniper rifle as if it were as light as a feather, he swung it in an arc, whereupon arge crescent-shaped de radiance flew out and hacked the pouncing werewolves through the waist.

    At this moment, mechanical rumbles suddenly resounded in the air as a high-speed gunship approached from the distance. It so happened that they encountered that small unit chasing after Qianye. The cannons under the gunship spat out a continuous stream of mes, filling the vast wilderness with resounding explosions. Origin power lights of different colors erupted at set intervals on the ground, amidst which the unit of werewolves was immediately devastated.

    Zhao Jundu frowned after seeing the insignia on the gunship. He leapt sideways and, like a bird, stepped over the heads of three werewolf knights. The de extending from the muzzle of his heavy sniper rifle drew an arc of blue light resembling a water screen. When hended back on the ground, only fresh blood and pieces of flesh were left behind him.

    At this time, the small gunship in the distance had already concluded its battle and quickly approached this side. Several cables were dropped down, via which a number of agile guards slid to the ground. The battle ended momentster, leaving a ground full of strewn corpses.

    Zhao Jundu climbed the highest lookout post on the small airship and saw Zhao Junhong standing there with his hands behind his back, gazing at the twilight over the Silentme Steppes.

    ¡°Second Brother, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°Someone sold your movements to the Doncaster werewolf tribe.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded and didn¡¯t ask further. He was already used to such situations. Since he dared go into battle alone, he was naturally not afraid of such things.

    His heart shook ever so slightly as he approached Zhao Junhong¡¯s side and followed thetter¡¯s gaze. From such a high vantage point and with his vision as a long-range sniping expert, he could see a small ck dot walking alone through the red earth of the vast wilderness. That was Qianye who had not gotten very far.

    It was an era where battles were present everywhere and at any given time, regardless of n, nation, or race. Even proud sons of heaven like them could only protect those who were within reach.

 Volume 5 - 1: A Call For Help

    Chapter 1: A Call For Help

    The Silentme Steppes remained just the same, no matter how much the world had changed.

    The asional gust of wind would kick up clouds of fine dust akin to leaping mes, just like Qianye¡¯s emotions at the moment.

    He walked forward almost mechanically. Reying in his mind were not only Zhao Jundu¡¯s words but also a plethora of past memories, memories that belonged only to him.

    Now that he thought about it, he had probably formed a vague premonition since the day he learnt, from Song Zining, that his scar was due to origin power theft. Fortune and coincidence could hardly exin how he had survived such a forbidden incidence.

    As such, he had long since given up on wanting to know the answers as nothing else but more deaths, conspiracies, pain, and blood woulde of this.

    Qianye had never wanted to return to Evernight Continent so urgently. At least there, he had a small shelter and people waiting for him to return¡ªthose were things that truly existed.

    Only when Dog w Town appeared in the distance did he suddenly realize that a whole day and night had passed by.

    Dog w was just as simple and crude. That ¡°great master¡± was still working busily in his run-down workshop¡ªno one would¡¯ve associated this little store, set up in such an uninhabitednd, with the extremely powerful ¡°bullet¡±.

    When Qianye opened the door and entered, the great master was processing some unknown item on his semi-automatic worktable.

    That which he was working on was an extremely exquisite silverponent. It was only the size of a fingernail and covered with openwork patterns. Qianye finally recognized that it was aponent of a bullet. The materials used by the great master were mostlymon goods, but he was actually able to process them into such a preciseponent.

    The great master exhaled deeply after he was done with the processing. He nced up at Qianye and said, ¡°Are you here for the ¡®bullet¡¯?¡±

    Qianye replied respectfully, ¡°Yes. I also brought some of the necessary raw materials.¡±

    The great master rubbed the sheet of silver which was as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing, checked its patterns against the origin powermp, and said slowly, ¡°I only owed Ole Bearded de one favor and I¡¯ve already returned it with thest bullet.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± After personally witnessing the astonishing transformations after the bullet was fired, Qianye understood that the price tag of a hundred gold coins was far too cheap.

    The great master asked, ¡°Where did you use thatst bullet?¡±

    ¡°A viscount of the Byrne vampire n.¡±

    The great master nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good enough. It can be considered tolerable that this old man¡¯s masterpiece was used on a viscount. Let me see your materials.¡±

    Qianye brought out two small boxes¡ªone contained the fingernail-sized piece of mithril he had exchanged from Tulip Bazaar, and the other contained four vampire fangs.

    The great master swept his gaze over the mithril and said, ¡°Mn, enough for three bullets.¡±

    He picked up the vampire fangs and said after observing it in detail, ¡°The fang of a vampire viscount. This thing can also be made into bullets, but it¡¯ll only be effective against daybreak creatures. The effects will be significantly inferior against the dark races.¡±

    The great master put away the materials and handed two finished mithril bullets to Qianye. This time, the crafting fees alone amounted to 400 gold coins for each bullet discounting the materials. That was the true value of the ¡°bullet¡±.

    Qianye only stayed half a day at Dog w Town before boarding the smuggling airship back toward the empire. The great master would deliver the special origin bullets crafted from the vampire fangs via Ole Bearded de.

    The airship shuttled through the void and traversed imperialnds. Only after several more flights did Qianye arrive back at ckflow City.

    The great war had already ended. One could still see soldiers bearing the insignia of the imperial regr army in Weiyang City. ckflow City, on the other hand, hadpletely recovered its normal order.

    There were many traces of battle left behind outside of the city. However, the dark race army ultimately decided not tounch arge-scale attack against Wei Bainian¡¯s withdrawal tactics. As such, ckflow City immediately recovered its vitality as soon as the dark races withdrew.

    After entering the city, the first ce Qianye went to was the Dark me Mercenary Corps. But as he walked into the encampment, he almost couldn¡¯t recognize this exceptionally lively ce.

    Back then, the Dark me Mercenary Corps had signed over an abandoned factory at a corner of the city. Thend wasrge and fairly underutilized, making it seem extremely empty. But now, what stood before Qianye was a bustling construction site.

    A number ofrge construction machinery were excavating deep trenches, and a heavy crane was slowly lowering a steel pipe, as thick as an ancient tree, into apleted segment of the ditch.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be rmed after seeing the picture of a kic tower carved upon the steel pipe. Apparently, they were installing an energy channel used specifically for the transport of kic steam. This wasn¡¯t a small project at all! Additionally, only major military camps would require such energy pipelines.

    He surveyed the surroundings and saw a number of other buildings under construction at the same time¡ªa barracks, a fort-stylepound wall, and two watchtowers. Judging from the scale of this project, one might be able to stuff an entire division into it afterpletion.

    Although Qianye inevitably had certain ambitions for the Dark me Mercenary Corps, they hadn¡¯t inted to such a degree.

    At this time, Song Hu immediately rushed over after receiving news of Qianye¡¯s return. Behind him were a number of unfamiliar mercenaries¡ªapparently, they were in the middle of a business discussion.

    The group of leaders from other mercenary corps greeted Qianye and then left. Only then did Qianye point at the construction site and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Song Hu replied indifferently, ¡°Increasing our speed of development.¡±

    Qianye, of course, knew this would speed up development. But weren¡¯t things going too fast?

    Originally, the Dark me Mercenary Corps had also suffered some losses during the war. However, the merits umted during the two major battles amounted to arge sum in rewards. Additionally, the expeditionary army hadn¡¯t subtracted a lot, and Wei Bainian definitely wouldn¡¯t take a cut like the other expeditionary army generals.

    As such, after this sum of money was paid out, Song Hu began to expand on arge scale without holding back. The current mercenary corps had expanded to two thousand men, and this camp was built ording to the standards of a light division.

    The group of mercenary leaders who had arrived with Song Hu just now were the leaders of mercenary groups from the cities that fell in the war as well as those originally from ckflow City. Song Hu was currently negotiating an annexation which would formally raise the troop count to three thousand.

    But no matter how abundant the empire¡¯s rewards, the payout couldn¡¯t be that high. Not only did Song Hu spend all the rewards, but he also borrowed all the money he could borrow. As such, the debt on Qianye¡¯s head was already asrge as 50,000 gold coins!

    For a moment, Qianye had no idea what to say.

    Song Hu saw Qianye¡¯s unsightly expression and consoled him, ¡°Rest assured, Sir Qianye, we still have some money in our coffers, and it¡¯s enough to pay for the next two months of our operating costs.¡±

    Qianye exhaled deeply. He currently had no need to worry about the debt because, although he hadn¡¯t acquired that many rare materials from Andruil¡¯s space, the piece of high-purity solid mithril alone was valued at 30,000 gold coins.

    But Song Hu¡¯s decision was simply too risky. What would he do after two months if Qianye hadn¡¯t returned with Andruil¡¯s rewards? Was he nning to disperse the mercenary band?

    Song Hu produced a letter from his pocket and passed it over without waiting for Qianye to form his words. ¡°This is a letter for you from Young Master Zining. There were special instructions to hand it to you directly.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled and suddenly recalled that there was a score he needed to settle with Song Zining. He opened the letter immediately and saw that the first words written there were, ¡°Qianye, save me!¡±

    Qianye was momentarily shocked. Song Zining had never lost hisposure like this even during Yellow Springs Training Camp where there was only a thin line between life and death.

    He asked immediately, ¡°When did this letter arrive?¡±

    Song Hu saw something wrong with Qianye¡¯s expression and was also surprised. ¡°Only two days ago. Young Master Zining¡¯s messenger said that you should be returning around this time, so I was waiting for you at the camp without doing outside work.¡±

    Qianye continued scanning the letter as he listened to Song Hu. The letter made no mention of the cause of danger. It only said that Song Zining was at the city of Hope in Clear River County, and that Qianye should go to meet him immediately after receiving the letter.

    Qianye crushed the letter to shreds with a twist of his hand and said with a gloomy expression. ¡°Help me secure a flight to the city of Hope in Clear River County. You¡¯ll be in charge of everything here. As for the other matters, just let it be. Just maintain the expansion as is and we¡¯ll see what we should do when I return.¡±

    Qianye was extremely busy during the following period and had no time to rest. He went to meet Wei Bainian and learnt of the most recent situation on Evernight Continent. He even brought back a pile of reports from the Imperial Bulletin. He had no time to read through them all and only browsed through the headlines.

    Qianye then went to find an underground trade channel and sold off the piece of mithril which he failed to exchange at the Xinglong Trading Company. This would be left as funds for the mercenary corps.

    Song Hu¡¯s eyes immediately became quite different after seeing therge sum of money. Unfortunately, Qianye had explicitly ordered him to restrict the expansion. Otherwise, with such a sum of money in the former¡¯s hands, it was likely that Qianye¡¯s debts would increase instead of decrease.

    Of course, Qianye didn¡¯t forget to dispatch some men toward ck y Swamp to secretly gather information on Lu Jianan. Finally, he got back to his residence at night and was warmly weed by Lil¡¯ Seven and Lil¡¯ Nine. Only then did Qianye recall that he had already left for several months and it was time to let them drink his blood.

    After recalling the twins¡¯ origins, Qianye became even more worried about Song Zining¡¯s situation. That fellow dared to deal with the rebel army and even had his transaction zone flipped over in Zhao n territory. But what kind of problem could Qianye possibly help him with?

    After a night of interwoven anxiety and passion, Qianye woke to the lightless dawn of Evernight Continent¡ªLil¡¯ Nine was still huddled up beside him, and Lil¡¯ Seven¡¯s light footsteps could be heard outside as she prepared the rinsing water.

    Qianye pulled the thin nket over Lil¡¯ Nine¡¯s naked body before walking out of the room. A joyous smile emerged on Lil Seven¡¯s small blushing face when she saw Qianye.

    Qianye smiled as he rubbed her head and then dressed himself with the clothes neatly folded on a nearby chair.

    And this was how many restraints were formed¡ªsome of them he had forged willingly, some came to be unintentionally, while others had emerged out of responsibility. There were also some he was determined to undertake. In this world where tomorrow was always an uncertainty, Qianye felt more and more strongly that he had to build up his own little paradise, a ce where he could shelter the people around him from the wind and rain.

    That morning, Qianye boarded the airship toward the city of Hope just as the first light of dawn cast its rays upon the airship port outside of ckflow City.

    His destination was Clear River County in the hintends of human territory. There were few wars there, and it wasn¡¯t even affected by the most recent war on Evernight Continent. And that was where the true headquarters of the Ningyuan Group was located.

 Volume 5 - 2: The Examination

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 2: The Examination

    If he didn¡¯t have the address in hand, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have imagined this fancy building before him, with the word ¡°wealthy¡± carved onto every brick, was the headquarters of the Ningyuan Group.

    Although Song Zining spared no effort outside to maintain his image of a hedonistic scion, at least he was tasteful. This enormous building, however, was a far cry from the word tasteful and could only be associated with the word ¡°nouveau riche¡±.

    The lower eight stories of the building was a restaurant which included all forms of entertainment. Qianye had only stood at the door for a couple of seconds when he was almost dragged into the morous main hall by a woman with a slender waist,rge chest, long legs, but one who couldn¡¯t hide the creases on her face despite the thick makeup.

    He went halfway around the building and found a staircase leading directly to the top two floors where the Ningyuan Group was located.

    After Qianye reported his identity, a youngdy immediately brought him toward Song Zining¡¯s personal office on the top floor.

    The view opened up as he walked out of the stairs and it actually felt quite spacious. The top floor had mostly been opened up to form a wide room and arranged to provide the atmosphere of a secluded valley. Although the Song n had always been regarded as the nouveau riche among the ns, people began to regard them as cultured after reaching a certain level.

    The notion that money couldn¡¯t buy sophistication only applied to those without enough money. Even the best great-master-level craftsman had a price. It was just that the price might not be in money.

    But such a show of extravagance didn¡¯t suit Qianye¡¯s tastes. He felt that such exquisite facilities bordering on extravagance were hardly suitable to exist on the same ne as this world where bloody battles could break out at any given time and ce.

    Song Zining was, at this moment, standing before a french window. He seemed deep in thought as he gazed at the cityscape under the rosy glow of the setting sun.

    ¡°Zining.¡±

    Song Zining immediately turned around with a big smile. He walked forward withrge strides and reached out to hug Qianye. ¡°Hey! Qianye, you¡¯vee! It¡¯s great to see you safe and sound!¡±

    Seeing Qianye observing from head toe, Song Zining felt somewhat apprehensive and even his smile turned a bit unnatural. He thus called out arbitrarily, ¡°Qianye?¡±

    Qianye raised his brows after seeing Song Zining¡¯s calm and unworried demeanor. ¡°I received your letter. What happened?¡±

    Song Zining let out a dry cough andughed. ¡°Ah, that letter¡­ don¡¯t worry too much about it. It¡¯s merely to make you hurry over here.¡±

    Qianye exhaled lightly after hearing this and had the urge to beat up this fellow before him. Thus, he actually indulged himself and swung his fist.

    ¡°You camete, so we might not be in time for¡­ ah¡­¡± Song Zining hadn¡¯t even finished his words when thetter half of his sentence was blocked back. He staggered back seven or eight steps and only stopped after crashing into the window sill.

    The two stared nkly at each other.

    Although Qianye¡¯s fist wasn¡¯t delivered at full force, there was still considerable strength behind it because he wanted this troublesome fellow to know some pain. Unexpectedly, Song Zining neither dodged nor blocked and was struck squarely. Fortunately, Qianye had withdrawn some of the force at thest moment.

    Song Zining reacted first and had to rub his abdomen a number of times before being able to speak. ¡°Qianye, your strength sure grows fast.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say at this moment and just responded in an upset tone, ¡°Congrattions on reaching rank nine.¡±

    Song Zining smiled ruefully. ¡°I, on the other hand, know that you¡¯re already rank eight. But I wasn¡¯t expecting you would be this powerful. That¡¯s odd. I don¡¯t think even a rank-eight arachne will be that fierce.¡±

    Qianye had reached the eighth rank on the Western Continent. Since Song Zining already knew of this, it was apparent that Chen Lu had already reported the incident at Serenity and Lone Ghost Headquarters.

    Qianye¡¯s expression grow cold and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think you owe me an exnation?¡±

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°Chen Lu has told you most of it. I¡¯m indeed working for a certain major character from the imperial army for a holistic strategy against the rebel army. I and my Ningyuan Heavy Industries merely constitute a small loop within it.¡±

    Qianye turned silent.

    Song Zining¡¯s current position was no different from a spy hidden within the enemy camp. That major character definitely wouldn¡¯t speak for him should things go south, and even if that n were to seed, there was no telling if Song Zining would gain any open credit. He might even be charged with treason many yearster.

    Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder with augh and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I also obtained sufficient benefits. The rapid development of the Ningyuan Group can¡¯t be separated from the various conveniences this person has given me. Fortune has to be sought amidst danger. High-risk businesses are naturally high in return.¡±

    Song Zining had also spoken the same words back when he acted against the trade channel behind Wu Zhengnan. Qianye sighed inwardly and said, ¡°Remember to tell me if there¡¯s anything I can help with.¡±

    Song Zining blinked a few times and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask who that major character is?¡±

    Qianye kept his silence¡ªat some point, he had begun to avoid this matter. He always felt that he wasn¡¯t prepared enough to mention that name.

    Song Zining no longer continued speaking about this matter. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. Every business has risks. At least the risk with this business isn¡¯t greater than my return to the Song n this time for my great-grandmother¡¯s birthday.

    Qianye was somewhat startled and Song Zining didn¡¯t keep him guessing either. ¡°It¡¯s our old ancestor¡¯s birthday in a couple of days.¡±

    Qianye said in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that she possesses such longevity.¡± Lethal idents could happen anywhere in this era of conflict. One would require significant fortune to be able to live to an old age.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s a good thing for her. The same can¡¯t be said for me, however. Someone is determined to take my life on the old ancestor¡¯s birthday.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was suffused by a strand of killing intent.

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°Who else but my beloved brothers?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat perplexed. ¡°How can they kill at your old ancestor¡¯s birthday?¡±

    The ns encouraged internalpetition among their descendants in order to preserve their vigor, but they strictly forbid such conflicts to escte to the murder of blood rtions. Even if Song Zining had such archenemies within the n, they wouldn¡¯t pick such a time tomit the crime.

    Song Zining sighed and said, ¡°But killing is possible during this birthday event.¡±

    It turned out the birthday of the Song n¡¯s Duchess An happened to coincide with the decennial sessor exam.

    Three years ago, Duchess An felt that the n¡¯s descendants were growing progressively weaker in martial power and bing more dependent on trickery, thus widening the gap between them and those from the other three ns. She thus set up this unique examination system.

    Outside of the statecraft and tactics assessments included in all great n examinations, their martial arts section was a unique and pivotalponent.

    Here, the martial arts referred to one¡¯s individual strength, and thepetition was a single-elimination tournament. The participants here weren¡¯t just limited to the Song n¡¯s sessors; each of them could invite two guest warriors for assistance. The level of the Song n sessors wasn¡¯t restricted, but the guest warriors had to be below the champion rank.

    Such a rule was quite fitting of the Song n¡¯s characteristics¡ªsince martial power wasn¡¯t their forte, they would have to draw upon the superiority of their rtionships. Those external participants would then be given the treatment and qualifications of an official n guest. This could also be considered a way for the Song n to attract talents.

    The problem was that thepetition between Song n sessors actually followed the rules of bloody battle which also meant that each was responsible for their own life and death. Even if an outsider were to kill a Song n scion, he wouldn¡¯t be held ountable.

    Qianye had long since known, from the Yin family¡¯s sessor exam, that the conflict for the n sessor¡¯s position had always been cruel. The Song n, on the other hand, had always maintained a rtively mild facade. Yet, unexpectedly, its assessment methods were so cruel and blunt. It was virtually the same as openly encouraging the candidates to fight and kill each other mercilessly.

    ¡°This rule is truly unexpected,¡± Qianye said after recovering from a momentarypse in thought.

    Song Zining, however, spoke without much concern, ¡°The old ancestor finally made this painful decision to baptize the Song n descendants with blood in order to produce some promising talents. But old habits die hard; how can they be broken so easily? It¡¯s been thirty years now, and the two sessive generations of the Song n only continue to grow weaker. When have we ever produced a character on par with the Zhao n¡¯s Zhao Jundu and the Bai n¡¯s Bao Aotu? To say nothing of a peerless genius like Zhang Baqian. With him around, the Zhang n is guaranteed at least fifty years of unfailing prosperity.¡±

    Qianye was slightly shaken after hearing Zhao Jundu¡¯s name. Song Zining¡¯s words were full of undercurrents¡ªthis was the first time Qianye had seen just how far the conflicts between the four ns had progressed. The Song n was actually poised to use the blood of its descendants to wash the stairs leading toward the sky.

    Qianye asked with a sigh, ¡°Who¡¯s nning to kill you?¡±

    ¡°Ha, naturally it¡¯s that bastard Song Ziqi and a couple of others in cahoots with him.¡±

    Qianye had heard Chen Lu mention the name Song Ziqi before he wrecked the Lone Ghost regional headquarters, but he wasn¡¯t clear about the reason for their enmity. ¡°What did you do that made your family want to kill you at all costs?¡±

    This bloody rule wasid down since thirty years ago, yet the Song n was still maintaining its mild outwards appearance. This went to show that, regardless of the reason, the Song n sessor¡¯spetition hadn¡¯t reached an extreme intensity, at least on the surface.

    Song Zining¡¯s entry into the sessor¡¯s list was fairly recent, and he had always maintained an extremely low profile. So much that the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt could be considered his first public appearance. So how did he provoke such an archenemy?

    Song Zining plucked his fingers nonchntly and said, ¡°Nothing too big. It¡¯s just that the Ningyuan Group was growing a bit too fast recently and snatched a few deals from them. Ah yes, those deals seem quite sizeable. In addition, I identally destroyed two of their trade caravans, but that¡¯s because they¡¯re too weak. Who would¡¯ve thought they would be wiped out after a few rounds? Oh, and I might¡¯ve taken up his little brother¡¯s quota in the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Perhaps that counts too?¡±

    Qianye was momentarily at a loss for words. There was indeed enough reason for Song Ziqi to form a vendetta.

    ¡°Then, give me data on Song Ziqi.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head and said, ¡°Song Ziqi just broke through to the champion rank. He¡¯s my opponent. I only need you to help me deal with his guest warriors.¡±

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°It might be better for me to do it,¡± he paused for a bit before adding, ¡°did you break through to rank-nine just to deal with this examination?¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Although I ranked up quickly, there are no problems rted to an unstable foundation. It¡¯s just that an overly wide gap in levels will be troublesome.¡±

    The oldest among the Song n sessors of this generation was already nearing thirty, and among them, three had already broken through to the champion rank. If Song Zining still lingered at rank-seven, the three-level-gap would put him in a fair bit of disadvantage.

    It is preached in every cultivation art that one must, with patient polishing, form a solid foundation after igniting the origin nodes. However, such a rule couldn¡¯t easily apply to a genius with great attainments in the secret arts like Song Zining. There was no significant consequence for them under the champion rank regardless of the time and level of their breakthrough.

    Qianye could only nod since Song Zining had said so. In his mind, however, he was thinking of ying it by the ear when the time came. He already had experience fighting against champions. Song Zining, on the other hand, was speaking of it quite casually but it would definitely be a bitter fight at that time.

    Qianye suddenly recalled another matter and hesitated slightly before asking, ¡°There should be many people from the other ns going over to offer their well-wishes on Duchess An¡¯s 100th birthday, right?¡±

    ¡°The old ancestor has declined visitors for many years now. [1] There won¡¯t be any outsiders present during the sessor exam. However, the other ns will surely send people to deliver birthday presents and offer greetings. Although there won¡¯t be a unified banquet, the n will arrange for people to receive them separately.¡± Song Zining reacted fairly quickly¡ªhe knew Qianye wasn¡¯t someone who would think of such trifling details. ¡°Why? Is there anything that will inconvenience you?¡±

    ¡°I met Zhao Jundu on the Western Continent.¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t even squeeze out a wry smile and couldn¡¯t help but reach out to rub his throbbing temples.

    However, recalling Zhao Jundu¡¯s unmistakable killing intent at the mention of Song Zining¡¯s name, Qianye still decided to tell his good friend about this incident so as to prevent unexpected circumstances when the two met again in the future. Besides, Song Zining was probably the one who knew Qianye¡¯s many secrets the best.

    Song Zining was astonished, but there was nothing unexpected in his gaze toward Qianye. On the contrary, it seemed to contain more understanding.

    [1] The literal trantion is ¡°closing the door and thanking the visitors¡±, which sounds much more polite but makes much less sense here.

 Volume 5 - 3: Meeting on the Narrow Path

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 3: Meeting on the Narrow Path

    Song Zining listened attentively to Qianye¡¯s narration and said after a moment of thought, ¡°If you n to go to the Zhao n residence, remember not to enter directly for any reason. Contact Zhao Jundu with the token and have hime out and meet you.¡±

    Qianye was momentarily stunned because he hadn¡¯t expected Song Zining to say such a thing. ¡°Do you believe what he said is true?¡±

    Complicated emotions shed through Song Zining¡¯s eyes. ¡°That fourth young master of the Zhao n has a vile temperament, but his words hold enormous weight. Besides, with his position and authority, why would he need to recognize a stranger as a brother for no good reason?¡±

    The room fell into a period of silence.

    In the end, Song Zining said, ¡°Although the ns will definitely send people from the younger generation to offer birthday congrattions, chances of meeting Zhao Jundu aren¡¯t very big. His position is a bit too high for this. Actually, it¡¯s the Eldest Brother Zhao Junyi and the second brother Zhao Junhong who usually appear in recent public events of this nature.¡±

    The two no longer talked about such stuff and began preparing to set out.

    There was quite a distance to cover from Evernight Continent to Hignd County in the imperial territory, and Duchess An¡¯s birthday was six dayster. Their schedule was already rtively tight.

    Most things had been prepared in advance. The problem was that Qianye needed a new identity and aplete makeover in appearance. But there were as many experts in the Song n as there were clouds in the sky and an excessive disguise definitely wouldn''t escape their eyes. Thus, he only made some changes to his temperament, using some medicine to change his skin color, then applying some appropriate changes to his appearance and facial hair.

    Qianye¡¯s new identity was called An Renyi. There was indeed such a person, a manager whom Song Zining had taken in two years ago. He was only a couple of years older than Qianye, and the two were simr in build and height. That person was one of Song Zining¡¯s hidden agents who rarely made any public appearance. Moreover, he had recently been dispatched on a faraway mission which required him to have no identity at all.

    Originally, Qianye was to assume this identity and participate in the examination. Later on, he would be a guest in the Song n, thus obtaining a formal identity with which he could make public appearances. But man proposes and God disposes¡ªwho would¡¯ve thought he would bump into Zhao Jundu on the Western Continent.

    At noon on the third day, the airship on which Song Zining and Qianye were ridingnded at the airship port outside of Trade Hill City.

    Trade Hill was the capital of the Hignd County and also the home city of the Song n. The city was already iparable in its prosperity due to the hundreds of years of meticulous development. The region was situated with the Cloud Mountains at its back, and the Lan River at its front.

    This ce was also the center of transportation for the entire province. The Song n, founded onmerce, possessed only one province in the empire¡¯s interior. Even if they did cultivate newnds, those ces would be outlying locations disjointed from their main n. Although thend they possessed was limited, it was nheless extremely abundant; their natural resources and fertility were many times superior to the harsh frontier fortresses.

    Qianye nced out of the cabin window as the airship gradually descended. He saw that the city was still far in the distance and that the one before them was a small airship port city.

    On the parking site which extended into the distance, there were actually dozens ofrge airshipsid out in an endless row. The air was filled with a dense fleet of hovering airships waiting to enter the port while airshipsnded and took off in turn from the eighteennding tforms.

    Perhaps because Duchess An¡¯s birthday was drawing near, many small to mid-sized airships here bore the insignias of different ns and families. Befitting of a trading n, the airships bearing the Song n insignia were mostly freight vehicles.

    The aides Song Zining had left behind at the main family had long since arrived to await his arrival. His car was decorated with a crest symbolizing his status as a direct descendant of the Song n. Even so, they had to queue for nearly half an hour on their way out of the airship port.

    Qianye and Song Zining rode the same car, watching as the scenery outside flew past in reverse.

    Their destination wasn¡¯t within Trade Hill City, but the ¡°Enlightenment Manor¡± in the western suburbs where Duchess An resided in seclusion.

    But merely by looking at the state of the road, one could discern that the position of this ¡°Enlightenment Manor¡±, despite being known as a ce of seclusion, wasn¡¯t the least inferior to the capital city. It was a majestic road where eight jeeps could travel side by side, not at all smaller than the circumferential main road of Trade Hill City.

    Not long after they entered the highway, Qianye saw an 80-meter tall kic tower. Such an instation dedicated to providing energy for the illumination and defenses of a single highway could only be seen in the first-ss highways of the empire.

    There were several jeeps overtaking them from the adjacentne. ¡°Eh?¡± An exmation of surprise was produced from one of the jeeps as the two motorcades crossed each other. Following which, those jeeps made rapid turns and forcefully cut into Song Zining¡¯s convoy.

    The driver stomped down on the brakes, causing the tires to emit an ear-piercing screech from the friction.

    Song Zining¡¯s body suddenly became as light as a feather. He reached out to the front seat and lifted himself up to hover in empty air. Qianye, on the other hand, braced himself against the side of the car. This caused the steel te to crunch and cave in while he sat firmly andpletely immobile in his seat.

    A certain follower sitting at the front seat, however, wasn¡¯t that capable. He crashed headfirst into the windscreen and flew out directly. Afterwards, he mmed into another car with a bang and fell to the ground.

    The jeep spun crazily and only stopped after shooting off to the side of the road following a brief impact with the iing car.

    The doors of the opposite jeep opened, and from it jumped a smiling young man.

    He spread his arms and called out with an exaggerated voice, ¡°Ah! Isn¡¯t it my beloved seventh brother? What a surprise seeing you here. You have no idea how sad I was all this time!¡±

    He then snapped his fingers toward his back and said angrily, ¡°Get down here! Are you all dumb?! How dare you all sit so boldly on the car in the presence of the Seventh Young Master? I¡¯ll chop off your legs when we get back!¡±

    Dozens of burly men jumped down from the seven or eight jeeps. All of them were warriors whose levels weren¡¯t low at all. They stood properly behind the young man and said in unison, ¡°Greetings, Seventh Young Master.¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t brought a lot of people in the first ce. Apart from Qianye and himself, there were only a total of eight warriors spread across three cars. At this moment, all of them had alighted and were standing in confrontation, but their momentum was apparently much weaker.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes twitched for a moment as he whispered, ¡°What a broadening of horizons. I thought those fellows from the Sky Snake Gang havee back to life.¡±

    Song Zining asked curiously, ¡°Sky Snake Gang?¡±

    ¡°A third-rate gang I wiped out on Evernight Continent.¡±

    Song Zining let out a couple of dry coughs. He then opened the door, got down, and said with a smile, ¡°Brother Ziqi, how unexpected! Are these your new recruits? They look rather unfamiliar. Where are those old people?¡±

    Song Ziqi¡¯s eyes overflowed with coldness. ¡°There was an ident recently, and my losses are great. But as you can see, I¡¯ve already supplemented my staff. I¡¯ll definitely recoup my losses, right? Little Seven?¡±

    Song Zining only smiled without replying.

    Song Ziqi nced at the follower who had fallen on the ground and said, ¡°Haven¡¯t I collected a little bit of interest here? Oh, he can still move. He¡¯s quite the tenacious one.¡±

    He had just finished speaking when a nearby jeep driver started the engine and immediately drove toward the heavily injured follower!

    The expressions of the warriors on Song Zining¡¯s side changed drastically. Someone immediately rushed out to grab the copsed follower and retreated immediately. But his movements were just a little bit too slow¡ªhe was grazed by the jeep¡¯s body and staggered back several steps with a pale expression.

    As the jeep started up, Qianye suddenly felt a prative killing intent lock onto him. He looked up and saw, behind Song Ziqi, a gloomy-looking man with a short beard ring at him with a frosty smile.

    That rank-nine warrior was emitting a constant scent of blood and gunpowder. One could tell at a nce that this was an elite veteran who reaped human lives as he would x. Such a character was fairly difficult to handle. In an arena where there were no restrictions on life and death, such a person would be even more dangerous than some warriors of a higher level.

    Qianye smiled and moved his left hand ever so slightly. However, Song Zining reached out and pressed down on his shoulder, whereupon Qianye retracted his aura and stood silently to one side.

    Song Zining replied indifferently, ¡°Since Third Brother is in such a hurry to im all the interest, then be my guest.¡±

    Song Ziqi took a couple of steps forward and whispered as he approached Song Zining, ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll fall for such a dumb trick? Killing on the streets for no good reason will result in a forfeiture of sessor rights. Heh, heh, I only wanted his legs just now.¡±

    Song Ziqi shot a nce at Qianye and thrust his consciousness toward him in an unbridled manner. He then revealed a mocking smile and said, ¡°This is your guest warrior? He¡¯s not even rank-nine! Seventh Brother, is your eyesight growing worse or are you so poor that you can¡¯t afford a rank-nine soldier? Tell big brother here if you¡¯re really tight on money. I¡¯ll help you pay for one! hahaha¡­¡±

    Song Ziqi turned toward Qianye and reached out to pat his head like a household pet.

    Song Zining was smiling just as before but a cold leaf-shaped gleam emerged between his right fingers.

    However, Qianye frowned and suddenly flung a kick toward Song Ziqi at lightning speed!

    Song Ziqi hadn¡¯t expected Qianye to make a move at this juncture and thus found himself with no time to react at all as the kicknded squarely on this abdomen. The impact sent him flying backward¡ªhe knocked into several followers along the way before smashing heavily into a jeep and causing the entire bo to cave in.

    Things developed so suddenly that the men on Song Ziqi¡¯s side were momentarily startled. Following which, everyone drew their weapons amidst shouts and curses.

    Qianye, on the other hand, paid no heed to the morous men who were charging over to encircle him. He kept his gaze on the silent and unmoving men at the back. Only those people were emitting an aura which made Qianye somewhat apprehensive.

    Song Zining revealed no change in expression as he reached out and dragged Qianye behind him. The group of warriors charging forth with torrential momentum was obstructed, for they didn¡¯t have enough courage to make a move against the Song n¡¯s seventh young master.

    On the other side, Song Ziqi had already fallen to the ground. He ground his teeth and said, ¡°You bastard, you actually dare attack your father? Even with Ole Seven¡¯s protection, you can only leave in eighteen pieces today!¡±

    Song Zining broke into aughter, ¡°Song Ziqi, why are you being so loud? As a champion kicked flying by a rank-eight fighter, do you even have any face left?¡±

    ¡°Stop the car.¡± A voice was heard nearby at this moment as a motorcade came to a stop amidst the sounds of rumbling engines and screeching brakes.

    The two groups in confrontation nced over in astonishment.

    There were still cars passing by on the highway even after the conflict began, but all of them had naturally taken a detour.

    Without a doubt, the Song n cars all recognized the insignias on the two convoys. Both the ordinary descendants and the other sessors wanted nothing more than to pretend they didn¡¯t see anything. As for the people from the other ns, they, of course, wouldn¡¯te to watch the liveliness.

    Qianye sensed someone looking at him and thus turned back to look. The personing down from the main car happened to be none other than Zhao Junhong. His apparel was rather formal¡ªhe was dressed in ancient style clothing with a silver and ck dual-colored theme. Apparently, he was the one who hade to offer congrattions on behalf of the Zhao n.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s smile was, just as before, fairly reserved and suffused with a tinge of arrogance. ¡°Long time no see, Song Third Young Master and Zining.¡±

    Song Ziqi¡¯s expression immediately turned unsightly because Zhao Junhong¡¯s greetings made their distance obvious. As it happened, he couldn¡¯t act up either because the Zhao n¡¯sck of tact was notorious. They had always acted as they willed and were extremely arrogant.

 Volume 5 - 4: Omniscient Seal

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 4: Omniscient Seal

    Take this moment for instance¡ªZhao Junhong had stopped to offer greetings at such an inopportune moment. For any other aristocratic scion, it would seem that the person hade to watch this joke y out. But with Zhao Junhong, it might not necessarily be an intentional move to embarrass them.

    Song Ziqi could only calm down his anger and respond to the conversation with a different expression. Song Zining, on the other hand, was already proficient in such matters and seemed as if he was bathed in the spring breeze.

    Consequently, the atmosphere changed swiftly from the verge of a group brawl with daggers drawn to a conventional conversation between nobles who had not seen one another for a length of time. However, Song Ziqi¡¯s mood was presumably quite sour at this moment, seeing as how he had to swallow his anger after taking such a loss.

    Qianye watched from behind as the three chatted in an extremely delighted manner and couldn¡¯t help but praise these aristocrats for their ability in keeping up appearances. Even that Song Ziqi who had entered the scene with great malice had wiped away his rascally demeanor, assuming the proper bearing of a Song n descendant and conversing with great elegance.

    Qianye nced up after sensing yet another gaze on him. He suddenly realized that everyone had also quieted down and were looking in the same direction.

    A person had, at one point, appeared beside the central car of the Zhao n motorcade.

    That person was extremely young, slender, and as elegant as ady. At first nce, he was full of grace and blessed with an almost resplendent beauty. After a second nce, however, one would find that he was as cold as ice and his eyes seemed as if they would cut everyone down the very next moment.

    He walked straight toward Qianye as if there weren¡¯t anyone nearby and the Song n warriors subconsciously made way for him. Suddenly, someone cried out miserably¡ªone of Song Ziqi¡¯s subordinates covered his eyes and fell rolling onto the ground with blood seeping out of his fingers.

    No one knew how this warrior was wounded. However, the two nearby warriors had clearly recognized this young man¡¯s identity; they wore apprehensive expressions and didn¡¯t dare move to support the victim.

    Song Ziqi¡¯s expression changed rapidly. Howe it was this malignant star?!

    This person was even more beautiful than ady, but it was a taboo to mention his appearance. Back at the primary academy in the imperial capital, he had beaten up nearly half of the students for this¡ªeven the son of the imperial prince wasn¡¯t spared. It was likely that Song Ziqi¡¯s subordinate had no idea who this was and had revealed something inappropriate in his eyes; he should¡¯ve been blinded already.

    Although Song Ziqi had broken through to the champion rank, he had absolutely no wish topete with this person. He simply didn¡¯t dare!

    He secretly cursed his subordinate and was just thinking about what he should say when Zhao Junhong calmly turned around. ¡°My Fourth Brother has a somewhat urgent temperament. He only came to get acquainted with the Song Seventh Young Master.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stopped at a point about ten steps away and removed his sses. His pitch ck eyes gradually lit up with ayer of violet mist as he said, ¡°Song Zining?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank. He took a step forward but was dragged back by Song Zining.

    Tufts of violet mes suddenly emerged flickering in the air and fixed themselves in the four corners before splitting into two. Each violet me then transformed into a beam of violet qi which shot into the sky, forming a total of eight violet pirs and locking Song Zining in the middle.

    Domain: Omniscient Seal!

    This was the most powerful domain of the West Pole Violet Qi. Originally an ability only champions could activate, only Zhao Jundu had cultivated it sessfully in the entire Zhao n.

    Song Zining¡¯s gentle smile didn¡¯t change in the slightest as he responded, ¡°It is I.¡±

    Only a ¡°whoosh¡± was heard before countless leaves rustled down within a radius of a dozen or so meters. They drifted with great speed and momentum as if blown by a violent storm and blocked the eight beams of purple qi outside.

    Song Ziqi had almost choked on Zhao Junhong¡¯s words and now he was petrified by the scene before him. Using a domain right off the bat! He even suspected whether these Zhao n brothers were here for revenge.

    But he quickly reacted and immediately decided to go with the flow. ¡°By all means, brother Junhong. I have an appointment, so I¡¯ll be leaving first. When you arrive at the Enlightenment Manor, you must visit the Cloud Crown Hall and allow me to fulfill my duties as a host.¡± He then left immediately after saying some formal parting words.

    Zhao Junhong shot a nce at the figure of his back and no longer paid him any more attention. As expected of the of Song n¡¯s descendants, they possessed the qualities of a merchant and were mostly cognizant of the situation. But sometimes, they were so adaptive that it made one feel contempt for them.

    At this time, the Zhao n motorcade and Song Zining¡¯s warriors all received the order to pull back to over a hundred meters away, leaving only four people at the scene.

    Zhao Jundu reached out and dragged an illusory leaf over. He then crushed the leaf into fragments as it materialized in his hand. His countenance was as cold as a cial rock, and his voice didn¡¯t have the slightest warmth in it. ¡°Does a Yellow Springs graduate only know such effeminate tricks?¡±

    Song Zining raised his brows. Even within the Song n, only a handful of people knew he had gone to the Yellow Springs Training Camp. Just who was Zhao Jundu investigating? Was it him or Qianye?

    ¡°Yellow Springs actually isn¡¯t as scary as the rumors make it be.¡± Song Zining finally withdrew his gentle expression and revealed a profoundly evil smile. ¡°My identity as an aristocrat is a guarantee for walking out of that ce alive.¡±

    He spoke the word aristocrat slowly and clearly, causing the violet intent in Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes to grow deeper.

    Among the empire¡¯s four great secret training camps, the distinguishing feature of Yellow Springs was to push thew of the jungle to its greatest extent. It was said that the rate of elimination for every batch was 99%. Then how ever did Qianye walk out alive?

    Zhao Jundu inhaled deeply. He cut short the verbal spar and said directly, ¡°Qianye must not fight for you in this life and death arena match. Get someone else. I¡¯ll provide doublepensation for all losses incurred. Otherwise, you no longer need to participate in this examination.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was, of course, very clear about the contents of the Song n¡¯s sessor exam. Thus, after recognizing Qianye, he immediately realized that there was absolutely no other reason for him to be here except to serve as a guest warrior.

    Qianye, who had maintained his silence all this time, suddenly spoke. ¡°Zining is my brother. We¡¯ve even fought through the life and death battlefield together, let alone a mere arena match.¡± There was neither emotion nor any fluctuations in his tone. It was as if he were describing a truth.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s perpetually ice-cold demeanor shifted ever so slightly. Beside him, Zhao Junhong let out a sigh as if he wanted to say something, but he had no idea what to say at this moment.

    Song Zining smiled at this time and said, ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Master, are you implying that I¡¯m manipting Qianye? But the child from back then would¡¯ve long be a skeleton in some unknown corner if he were any less fortunate. So many years have passed by and now youe to say such things. Are you sure it¡¯s not at all for your benefit?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes suddenly erupted with killing intent. The violet mes in the air began to circte and gradually contract toward the center.

    Song Zining¡¯s countenance quickly turned pale. He raised his hand and swiped through the air¡ªleaves would freeze in ce wherever his hand passed, their borders flickering like the cold gleam on a de¡¯s edge.

    A sh between domains was totally free of pretense. Strength and weakness, life and death¡ªeverything was clear and decided in an instant.

    However, at this moment, Qianye suddenly moved. He threw a simple punch toward the violet mes. The moment his fist arrived, there was a split second ofplete silence, progressing to the sound of tides and gradually erupting in a deafening st of thunder. In the end, the strike arrived with great momentum akin to myriad galloping horses!

    As Qianye¡¯s fist sted out, Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal flickered unsteadily for a moment. Song Zining grasped this opportunity¡ªall the fallen leaves spun together to form a gigantic tornado which sted toward the violet qi from within.

    Amidst violent rumbles, an origin power tempest shed in the air, churning, raging, and sweeping away everything. asionally, some dancing leaves and sparks of violet mes would escape from within and fall down like tiny meteors.

    Suddenly, a clear and melodious hum of a de echoed as eight silvery sword beams rushed into the tempest and began to grind away indiscriminately at the remnant origin power radiance from the previous explosion. Zhao Junhong¡¯s Silver Sword Finger finally swept the residual origin power clean after its second wave.

    All four of them staggered backward.

    Zhao Jundu lost color for a split second and soon recovered. Meanwhile, the other three could hardly catch their breath. In truth, Zhao Junhong had attacked both sides at the same time, but even then the result was actually a draw.

    Qianye shot a silent nce at Zhao Jundu and then gave Zhao Junhong a thankful nod before turning to leave with Song Zining in tow.

    Zhao Junhong said softly after watching the two leave, ¡°Fourth Brother, have you given it any thought? It¡¯s impossible for him not to hate us after knowing the truth.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was silent for a long time before he replied slowly, ¡°But, I can¡¯t allow other people to tell him false stories.¡±

    Zhao Junhong hesitated for a moment. ¡°Song Zining likely isn¡¯t such a person.¡±

    Song Zining, of course, wouldn¡¯t know the details of that incident back then. In truth, even the siblings themselves had some lingering doubts and suspicions. As a n descendant, Song Zining might have guessed some things, but Qianye¡¯s gaze toward them was overly calm and didn¡¯t seem like one who had listened to rumors.

    Zhao Junhong also knew that his fourth brother had strongly suspected whether Qianye had killed the Darkshore City Guard Captain Zhao Youpin out of his hate for the Zhao n. Who would have guessed investigations would reveal a Zhao n tradingpany¡¯s plot to murder a customer for profit?

    This matter made Zhao Jundu extremely furious. Although the two perpetrators had both died on the scene, their rtives were all implicated. This could be considered a fairly severe penalty, but this misunderstanding likely stirred up Zhao Jundu¡¯s emotions even more.

    Zhao Jundu slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his violet pupils had once again reverted to their dark color.

    He retrieved his sses and put them on. His emotions could no longer be discerned from his speech as he said, ¡°Song Seven seems unremarkable within the Song n, but in truth, he already holds a sizeable power in his hands. But most of them are scattered outside of the main family and hidden in the darkness. This person is extremely shrewd and his schemes are difficult to fathom, but he approached Qianye deliberately. Who knows what intentions he has?¡±

    Zhao Junhong suddenly asked, ¡°Back then, who was it that wanted to kill Qianye?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied coldly, ¡°No doubt it¡¯s one of those old fogeys. Perhaps it¡¯s some of them or it might even be all of them. Those old fools only fear that the world wouldn¡¯t be in chaos!¡± His voice was suffused with deep hatred and anger.

    Zhao Junhong sighed in his heart. Zhao Jundu was a prodigy and thus had already begun to remember things back then. As such, it became an obsession after many years of umtion.

    ¡°Fourth Brother, I¡¯ll always stand on your side no matter what.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Second Brother.¡±

    ¡°No need for such words between brothers.¡±

    Meanwhile, their other half-blood-rted brother was feeling perplexed. Qianye stayed silent for a long time but ultimately couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Just what had happened back then?¡±

    Song Zining was resting against the seat with his eyes closed, his face suffused with a bloodless pallor. There was a sizeable gap between him and Zhao Jundu. The lengthy confrontation in addition to thatst strike had virtually drained him of all origin power.

    He opened his eyes after hearing Qianye¡¯s words and replied in a weak voice, ¡°This matter is a top secret even within the Zhao n. How can I know the details? I have my own conjectures, but I can¡¯t just speak without thinking it through. Otherwise, I might mislead you.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the only way is to go and ask Zhao Jundu.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to face this matter sooner orter. It makes no difference whether you do it now orter,¡± said Song Zining, ¡°at least, the Zhao Fourth has no evil intentions toward you. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to leave his domain standing. Neither you nor I am a match for him at this point.¡±

    Qianye keenly discerned the meaning hidden within Song Zining¡¯s words and said with a frown, ¡°Just him?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and add Zhao Second into the equation. In major aristocratic families, even blood-rted half-brothers might not be of the same mind. No one can be trusted without sufficient certainty.¡± Song Zining¡¯s words were so calm that it almost sounded grim.

    The end of the highway was at the base of the Cloud Mountain. When Qianye got out of the car, he was greeted by a scene akin to an extremely magnificent mountain and river painting.

 Volume 5 - 5: East Peak

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 5: East Peak

    The rosy peaks surrounding the Cloud Mountain were elevated in gentle gradients. The dark azure mountain range spread out windingly across the vast ins near the middle stretches of the Lan River.

    The numerous exquisite pavilions and courtyards built against the mountainous terrain resembled theyers of a terraced field. All of these buildings belonged to members of the Song n. The Enlightenment Manor upied the entire summit and was, most of the time, only faintly discernible amidst the mist.

    The four generations of the Song n lived under the same roof. Duchess An, whose one-hundredth birthday was imminent, held the greatest power. Not everyone was qualified to even enter the Enlightenment Manor, let alone live in it. As such, the surrounding areas became treasured feng-shuinds coveted by everyone, and after dozens of years, this impressive scenery was formed. Among them, the pieces ofnd with the best geography and scenery naturally belonged to the branches of the direct line.

    While traveling up the mountain, Qianye experience just what it meant to have an extravagant lifestyle amidst tall towers and majestic buildings. Even the maids who would rush by from time to time were d in colorful brocade.

    There were ancient-style buildings everywhere. The perpetual dynamo tower and steam pipelines were either painstakingly hidden behind specially designed decorations or, with great effort, buried deep underground during construction, lest they ruin the scenery.

    At the same time that Qianye sighed emotionally, he also vaguely understood why the old ancestor of the Song n had changed the rules for the sessor examination 30 years ago.

    Compared to the Zhao n city he had seen before, the Song n¡¯s pursuit of such fancy details in life and the unnecessary expenditure of resources was perhaps too extravagant in the eyes of the imperial nobility.

    The group finally arrived past half-way up the mountain. Those living at this height could be considered people of significant status in the Song n. Behind the cover of the trees was an array of seven or eight courtyards of fairly simr size and style. Apparently, they were constructed around the same period.

    But from the state of the courtyard decorations and the flow of servants, it was clear that Song Zining¡¯s ¡°Deep Cloud Hall¡± was fairly silent and in decline.

    Qianye discovered the reason for this silence after walking in. It turned out that the entire courtyard was mostly sealed off, and only a small courtyard on the eastern side was tidied up as their temporary lodgings during this period.

    This ¡°Deep Cloud Hall¡± was still listed under Song Zining¡¯s father who had, since a young age, withdrawn from the center of Song n¡¯s authority due to his frail constitution. He had been recuperating in Enlightenment Hall all this time and hadn¡¯t made a public appearance in a very long time. He had also never lived in this courtyard.

    As for Song Zining himself, he had another garden courtyard where most of his servants and concubines were ced. But in order for them to prepare for the examination in silence, Song Zining, Qianye, and another guest warrior would stay here for a couple of days.

    The side-courtyard was on the smaller side and possessed an ancient yet secluded appeal.

    The courtyard was paved in bs of limestone. There was soil only in the four corners wherein clusters of green bamboos and two banana trees were nted. There was also an odd rock and an ancient-looking octagonal well which brought out an otherworldly character.

    Even though Qianye wasn¡¯t a big fan of this style, he couldn¡¯t help but offer some praise. ¡°It¡¯s a nice ce.¡±

    Song Zining received a pile of documents from the caretaker and gestured toward Qianye to follow him into the main hall. ¡°The arrangements in the courtyard actually form an origin array. Every day, at dawn, it will double the umtion of natural origin power. You can test out its effects tomorrow morning.

    Qianye was somewhat startled and dumbfounded¡ªhe didn¡¯t know whether he should praise the architect for remembering practicality while producing art or if he should sigh at how they had to be so creative even while building an origin array.

    Song Zining went through the documents while walking and handed Qianye a couple of pages rted to the sessor''s examination.

    He said, ¡°Your guest identity has been registered, and after a while, I¡¯ll arrange for someone to bring you over to pick out your equipment. We¡¯ll visit the depository and cultivation chamber tomorrow. Wait to have dinner with me tonight.¡±

    With that, Song Zining instructed his aide a couple of things, including making arrangements for the person injured earlier, and left in a hurry. There were many things waiting for him to do. Not only did he have to rush toward the Enlightenment Manor and pay his respects to an entire list of his father¡¯s seniors beginning with Duchess An, but he also had to report to a number of important elders and inform them of the results of the recent affairs he had been assigned to.

    Qianye sat down in the quiet hall and flipped through the information Song Zining had handed him. He couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    Even an outsider like him could see that the changes Duchess An had made to the sessor¡¯s examination had already failed. Song Zining¡¯s experience was clear proof of this.

    The Song n, due to its small number of direct descendants, had a different familial ranking system aspared to the other three ns. They weren¡¯t divided into ancestral halls and family branches but arranged in sequence ording to generation. Song Zining was from the great-grandchildren generation and was seventh among his siblings. From this, it was clear just how few their descendants were. Moreover, the Song n had a system which suppressed the side branches and had firmly controlled the n authority for hundreds of years.

    Despite the severeck of manpower, a talented descendant like Song Zining was actually designated as a marriage partner to andowning household citing hisck of cultivation potential as a reason. One had to know that the aristocrats began origin power training at six to eight years of age¡ªthere was enough time to revise the results of this test.

    However, Song Zining had chosen to enter the Yellow Springs Training Camp at the age of eight. This went to show the situation he was in at the time. Arge part of this was because his father wasn¡¯t at the center of authority and, as such, even a direct descendant who should¡¯ve been greatly valued by the n had lost protection.

    If a n be had be so narrow-minded that they would withhold resources from descendants of lineages without authority, then it was inevitable that they would eventually turn into a pool of stagnant water.

    Moreover, as a merchant n, the Song n was not required to cultivate and safeguard newnds, and as such, they had little experience with the perils of war and death. This, to a great extent, camouged the consequences of being so narrow-minded. This became so pronounced that merely changing a system could no longer turn things around because there was no longer any space for its implementation.

    This wealthiest n thus became the weakest in martial prowess. It was unknown whether the authoritative figures were able to see through the shadow looming behind the brocade of flourishing flowers.

    Qianye rested for a short while after browsing through the documents. At this time, a personal guard came to report in, saying he was instructed to drive Qianye to the Song n¡¯s external armory. The guard also told him that Song Zining¡¯s other guest warrior would only arrive at night the next day, and thus, Qianye would have to visit the depository on his own.

    The Song n had invested a great deal of resources for the sessor¡¯s examination. The benefits offered to the guest warriors were extremely bountiful, mainly in terms of weaponry and ess to the depository.

    After registering as a guest warrior, he could borrow a set of equipment from the external armory and could buy it at half-price as long as he won three rounds or more in the arena. It would be gifted free of charge should the participant win five rounds.

    This money was equal to buying one¡¯s life. Although it was considered a life and death arena, one couldn¡¯t be free of all apprehensions when facing a Song n descendant. But a sh between two guest warriors, on the other hand, was very likely to be decided by life and death, depending on their prior grievances.

    The n¡¯s depository was even more so¡ªit would never be open to outsiders normally. Guests were limited to certain shelves and could only read on site, but it was a rare opportunity nheless. If with luck, one were to find a suitable cultivation art, the benefits would be equal to ten years of service to the n.

    Only after arriving did Qianye realize that this so-called external armory was almost as big as a small town. He followed Song Zining¡¯s personal guard inside and saw an old man nodding off in a small space between two file cabs.

    The personal guard first looked for the name An Renyi in the register, and only after finding it did he respectfully wake up the old man. ¡°Elder Lu, this is the Seventh Young Master¡¯s guest warrior. He¡¯se to select armaments.¡±

    The old man gradually opened his eyes and shot a nce at Qianye.

    When the man opened his eyes, Qianye felt as if a bolt of lightning had shed through the room and was actually blinded for a moment. The bright sensation lingered in his consciousness¡ªit felt as if his entire body from the inside out had been left behind within that sh of light and all of his secrets had beenid bare.

    Qianye was overwhelmed and instinctively circted the Glory Chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll, sending pure origin power rushing out of his origin nodes. Presently, he didn¡¯t even dare activate his Concealed Bloodline ability. All of his blood energy had been withdrawn. The dark golden blood energy had also scuttled into his heart and dived into its depths along with the ability rune.

    The old man¡¯s gaze swept over Qianye¡¯s body several times. ¡°So it¡¯s the Seventh Young Master¡¯s man. Not bad. In you go! Don¡¯t forget to tell him the rules.¡± Saying this, the old man gradually closed his eyes.

    The guard responded hurriedly, ¡°Rest assured, elder.¡±

    With that, the two prepared to cross through the giant indomitable-looking alloy door before them.

    Elder Lu suddenly said from behind them, ¡°Young people tend to rush things. The armory is quite big and there are a lot of things inside. Don¡¯t rush, choose slowly.¡±

    After hearing this, Qianye turned back to nod in gratitude and said, ¡°Many thanks for Elder Lu¡¯s advice.¡±

    Elder Lu waved his hand and, once again, began to sleep.

    External warriors were allowed to ess the section with grade-five origin guns and grade-four weapons.

    There wasn¡¯t enough space in the arena to draw out the advantages of an origin gun. It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t pull out the Twin Flowers on stage, so he chose a random mid-range handgun and then focused his attention on melee weapons.

    Qianye browsed as he went¡ªhe would frequently pick up weapons to weigh them and give them a few swings. The weapons entering his hands grew progressively heavier, but whether it was battle axes or heavy hammers, he was able to wield them with rtive ease.

    The guard following Qianye all the way revealed a doubtful expression because, as a rank-eight warrior, he was fairly familiar with the standard weight of these weapons. It greatly astonished him to see these weapons be as light as a feather in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    He couldn¡¯t help but pick up the long hammer Qianye had just put down and was overwhelmed to find that he was unable to move it at all. He nced at Qianye¡¯s slender and somewhat frail figure with eyes of admiration.

    Qianye had eventually covered the greater half of this area when he suddenly noticed a heavy sword leaning against a certain corner.

    It was longer than normal swords by half and already approaching the length of a two-handed greatsword. However, its de was only slightly wider than a normal sword.

    He walked over and reached out to grab the hilt, wanting to lift it up and see. Unexpectedly, his hands sank down and the de almost fell off.

    Qianye was astonished because this weapon was many times heavier than the ones he had just tested. He no longer dared treat it lightly the second time¡ªhe grasped it with the right amount of strength and finally picked up the longsword steadily. He ced it at eye level and gradually pulled off the sheath.

    The de edge was pitch-ck and unremarkable. Although it wasn¡¯t especially sharp, it wasn¡¯t one of those oundish designs with no edge either.

    There were numerous crude origin patterns on the spine which gave it a primitive sense of beauty. However, this also meant that the origin array didn¡¯t possess anyplicated function, just as it was impossible for even an expert with great attainments to narrate an extravagantly embellished story with only a few words.

    Qianye observed the sword repeatedly to confirm its material. If he had to point out something special about the sword, then it would have to be its unusually heavy weight.

    The more he observed, the more he felt that the de was an iplete product. It was like a piece of peerless material discarded by the artisan after a few crude strokes.

    Qianye flipped the sword over and saw two words carved therein, ¡°East Peak¡±.

 Volume 5 - 6: Dowry Changes Lives

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 6: Dowry Changes Lives

    Qianye walked out of the armory and found Song Zining talking to a certain youngdy.

    Behind the counter, Elder Lu was still dozing off with his back against the chair and snoring subtly. But the old man¡¯s eyes suddenly opened just a tiny slit the moment Qianye stepped out of the alloy door. His gaze immediately fell upon the East Peak in Qianye¡¯s hands apanied by an unnoticeable sh of light.

    At this moment, the personal guard walked over to the counter and said while passing over two tokens, ¡°Elder Lu, we¡¯ve chosen our equipment. Please look over them.¡±

    Elder Lu shifted his sitting position and opened his eyelidspletely. He then shot a nce at the tokens and, seeing that they belonged to a grade-five origin gun and the ancient sword East Peak, he began to record the name An Renyi in the data column along with the date and purpose of withdrawal.

    Elder Lu¡¯s vision seemed somewhat blurred¡ªhe brought the tablet closer with shaky hands until it was almost at his nose. During this process, his pinky finger rubbed against the tablet lightly¡ªthe name ¡°ancient sword East Peak¡± suddenly faded away and was reced by the words ¡°iplete heavy sword¡±.

    Elder Lu tossed the two tablets to the nearby armory steward to be filed. He then yawned and waved his hands toward Song Zining who seemed to want to say something. ¡°All is well, your men have always been meticulous in their work. You can go now. This old man still has to sleep a bit longer for that all-night gambling match. I¡¯ll definitely have old man Fu leave without his pants!¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°I have to apany my friend for a drink tonight and won¡¯t be there to cheer for you. I wish you a big victory over the other three parties.¡±

    Elder Lu¡¯s eyes had already closed at this moment, and after waving, he began to snore once again.

    At this time, the youngdy beside Song Zining said, ¡°Brother Zining, you¡¯ve note back for a long time. Are you sure you¡¯re drinking tonight? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to fool around with little brother?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile was as gentle as the warm breeze in spring. ¡°I only arrived this afternoon. I haven¡¯t even met Zhiyuan yet!¡±

    He looked up and found Qianye looking at them curiously. A strand of evil shed through his eyes as he waved and said, ¡°Xiao An, this way.¡± He then said to the youngdy, ¡°This is my brother, An Renyi.¡±

    The youngdy turned around and nced expectantly at Qianye with herrge watery eyes. She was about 14 or 15 years of age, with a petite figure and was only as tall as Qianye¡¯s chest. Her countenance possessed a certain type of bewitching charm and this contrast formed an extremely unique sense of beauty.

    The youngdy said in an outgoing manner, ¡°Big brother An!¡±

    Qianye was startled and, having no idea what to say, uttered a random response. Song Zining said with aughing tone, ¡°Yunqing is my n sister and Honorary Count Gu¡¯s daughter.¡±

    At this moment, there was a group at the door who seemed to have been waiting for some time. A person among them called the youngdy¡¯s name. Consequently, Song Zining said his farewells to thedy with a smile and dragged Qianye out of the door with his arm over thetter¡¯s shoulder.

    The leader of that group was a champion. Only after seeing Song Zining move away did he go forward and said respectfully to the sleeping old man, ¡°Elder Lu, the guest warriors of Young Master Zhihe and Young Mistress Jingchu have arrived to withdraw equipment. Also, Young Mistress Yunqing wishes to enter the third-grade weapon area to change armaments.¡±

    Judging from the champion¡¯s announcement, the group belonged to a side branch of the Song n. The Song n currently has 20-odd people on its sessor list. Among them, not even half were direct descendants. Although the side branches gaining the n lord¡¯s position was unprecedented, they could still contend for the position of an elder.

    At this time, Elder Lu was snoring continuously and seemed to have no intention of waking up. The leader didn¡¯t seem very concerned as if he had known it would turn out this way. He opened the book on his own and found the records rted to the guest warriors. A steward soon walked out from behind and took them into the armory.

    The leader didn¡¯t follow them in. He stayed outside and whispered to the manager, ¡°Manager Li, howe Elder Lu came out today?¡±

    Manager Li said in a soft voice, ¡°How will I know? Elder Lu¡¯s actions are full of profound meanings. But judging from his intentions, it¡¯s possible that he wants to observe the youngsters participating in this examination and see if there are any moldable talents he can guide.¡±

    The group leader¡¯s eyes lit up and said enviously, ¡°If that is the case, then it¡¯s truly a great fortune. I wonder which brat has such a good luck.¡±

    In the courtyard just outside of the armory, Song Zining and Qianye stood at the base of the stairs as they waited for the former¡¯s personal guard to drive the car over.

    Song Zining still had his hand over Qianye¡¯s shoulder as he whispered with augh, ¡°What do you think of the girl just now? If you wish, I can y the matchmaker and let you bring her back home after the exams.¡±

    Qianye was shocked and almost felt something was wrong with his ears. He had never thought about getting married, not to mention the other party was from arge n. ¡°She¡¯s the daughter of a count, right?¡±

    ¡°Only an honorary count. It sounds all good and well, but the title can¡¯t be inherited and can be obtained as long as one donates enough money to the imperial military.¡± Song Zining shrugged casually and spared no effort to exin the many benefits of this union.

    ording to his words, this was a shortcut that would spare him 30 years of hard work. This n sister Yunqing, for instance, was the only daughter of Honorary Duke Gu and woulde with an extremely abundant dowry. It would, at least, be equal in value to the equipment costs of a regr army corps.

    In this day and age, those with money and equipment would easily gain an entire group fearless people to work for them. Hence, taking this wife would allow Qianye¡¯s small mercenary corps to leap upward and expand to the level of a division. On Evernight Continent, he would at least be a city lord.

    Additionally, Song Zining, in his usual immoral style, told Qianye to rest assured and that he could take more than just one wife. He could just marry again if he met another girl he really liked or one with an abundant dowry. The empire had strict rules regarding polygamy, but that was not the case on Evernight Continent.

    As for the family of the original wifeing to cause trouble, that wasn¡¯t a problem either. As long as Qianye¡¯s martial prowess kept on improving and moved up to the ranks of brigadier general and general, who would dare speak to him with his head raised? Hence, he could marry as many wives as he had the strength to.

    Song Zining¡¯s final conclusion was: ¡°Dowry changes lives.¡±

    Qianye was already dumbfounded by the time Song Zining was done speaking. He only felt that this was such a preposterous argument and he didn¡¯t even know how to retort. As it happened, Song Zining was waiting for his reply with an expectant expression. Hence, Qianye replied in a somewhat distressed manner, ¡°That girl isn¡¯t even of age, right?¡±

    Song Zining was stunned. ¡°What does that have to do with marriage?¡±

    The two stared at each other for a while before Song Zining suddenly spoke as if he had understood something, ¡°You like mature women?! That¡¯s fine too. I know a couple of them.¡±

    Qianye was already toozy to pay attention to him.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining was still going on. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re thinking about heirs? If you find these women not very desirable, then don¡¯t let them get pregnant. It¡¯s not easy to make a woman give birth, but it¡¯s even harder to make them not give birth.¡±

    He nced at Qianye and said suspiciously, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know about these things? The ves from the Hidden Springs Merchant Group are extremely proficient in room-craft. Have you not used them well? How about this? I¡¯ve gotten my hands on yet another pair of sisters, I¡¯ll let you have one tonight.¡±

    Qianye could no longer endure and used his elbow to deal a moderate blow to Song Zining¡¯s upper abdomen, flinging him away from his shoulders. He then walked toward the gradually approaching jeep inrge strides.

    When Qianye got onto the car, the entire jeep suddenly sank down and even began to emit slight creaking noises. Although this vehicle was designed for speed and not outstanding in its capacity for weight, it was still surprising to see it being pressed down like so.

    Song Zining hurried over from behind and, after seeing what had happened, reached out to lift the East Peak. However, to his great surprise, he was actually unable to pick it up on the first try. He then used origin power to weigh it in his hands and said with an astounded smile, ¡°It¡¯s a good item. Very suitable for the arena.¡±

    Although heavy weapons drained a fair amount of origin power, they made for powerful killing tools in the limited space of the arena. As long as the wielder was capable of controlling the situation, he would be perfectly capable of overpowering all fancy techniques.

    Only on the way back did Qianyee to know why Song Zining hade back from the Enlightenment Manor so soon¡ªit turned out he hadn¡¯t met the elder in charge of n affairs. It was said that some esteemed guests from another n had arrived, and the elder was required to receive them. This matter was supposedly a top secret, but Song Zining had his own methods of obtaining information.

    At this point, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but sneer, ¡°What esteemed guest? It¡¯s merely Zhao Jundu, and those old fogeys can¡¯t focus on their own duties anymore.¡±

    Qianye was rather surprised. Perhaps Zhao Jundu could, in terms of authority, half-represent Zhao Weihuang of the Zhao n. But in any case, he was still a junior and hadn¡¯t even received any formal title. The Song n expressing such excessive courtesy was actually equal to throwing away their own prestige. After all, the two ns were ranked together among the four major ns¡ªoverly lowering their stance not only amounted to bad etiquette, but it also made clear their inferiority in position.

    Qianye gave it some thought and asked, ¡°Does the Song n have anything to ask of the Zhao?¡±

    Song Zining was momentarily startled. Qianye¡¯s thoughts were honest and direct¡ªalthough this made him inferior in strategy, it also allowed him to see things with greater rity. More often than not, he was able to directly address the vital points in military affairs. Unexpectedly, he was also quite keen in n politics.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The position of my eldest brother Song Zicheng¡¯s first wife had always been an undecided matter. Rumor has it that he was scheming to marry ady of the imperial n. In truth, this isn¡¯t just so that he can im the seat of the next n lord. This method has already gained the silent approval of many an elder, and the Zhao n is a faithful member of the imperial party. That was why the elders are eager to express their goodwill toward the Zhao n. And with Zhao Jundu¡¯s abilities, he is the most likely to be the next Zhao n lord.¡±

    This Song Zicheng he had spoken of just now was the eldest son of the generation and the eldest grandchild of the current n lord. He was close to thirty years old and had broken through to be a champion three years ago. Additionally, he had participated in n affairs for many years. As the leader of this generation in terms of age, martial prowess, and ability, he had always been ranked first as a sessor.

    With the Song n¡¯s current situation, it was likely that the n lord position would be handed over a generation. As such, Song Zicheng was the favorite candidate for this position.

    At this point, Qianye had understood the entire process.

    The Song n had already weakened to a dangerous level as there were no powerful experts in all three generations capable of supporting the general situation of the n. For a n with so much wealth that even a branch family¡¯s dowry could affect the strength of a division-level force, such a situation would make them a fat sheep amidst wolves. The inferior aristocratic families might not dare to do anything to them, but those at the same level might not have any qualm.

    One had to know that the great ns were neither there since the beginning nor were they the only ones to ever gain this position. In the empire¡¯s thousand-year history, there were nine ns at their most flourishing era and three at their lowest.

    There were old grudges between the ancestors of the Zhang and Song ns. Presently, the Zhang n had made no bold moves because Duchess An was still around. However, Zhang Boqian was like a midday sun and hadn¡¯t even reached the peak of his martial advancement. If some unforeseen events were to ur in the future, the Zhang n would likely be the first to cause trouble for the Song n.

    From Qianye¡¯s point of the view, however, the Song n¡¯s attempt to draw closer to the imperial n wasn¡¯t a wise choice either. The current Song n¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t the same as Zhao Weihuang. Its sessor marrying ady of the imperial n, or perhaps even a princess, might preserve his position as n lord and duke, but would the strength of a single woman be enough to maintain the Song n¡¯s position in the empire?

    From Song Zining¡¯s somewhat mocking expression, Qianye knew that he didn¡¯t approve of this matter either.

    But Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in evaluating the internal affairs of the Song n. He did have certain other concerns, however. ¡°Will Zhao Jundu harm you?¡± Since the Song n was ttering Zhao Jundu like so, it might be fairly problematic for Song Zining if the former even slightly expressed his dissent.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°You need not worry about this. It¡¯s more likely for him to kill me directly than to do something like borrowing the Song n¡¯s hands to suppress me.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown after hearing this. At this time, the jeep had stopped at an extremelyrge courtyard at the base of the Cloud Mountains. Song Zining said with augh, ¡°We¡¯ve arrived at the Clear Melody Pavilion. We shall not return until we¡¯re drunk. Leave all other troubles for tomorrow!¡±

    Atop three flights of stone steps before them was a splendorous hall. The sounds of dancing and singing lingered around this building with its doors and windows opened on three sides. This was the Song n¡¯s most prestigious music hall. Since most businesses were concluded over banquets and feasts, the Song n¡¯s entertainers and delicacies were extremely famous.

 Volume 5 - 7: Hidden Currents

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 7: Hidden Currents

    The banquet within was designed in an antique style. The hall was divided into two parts¡ªthe pathway in between was paved with green jade and had been made, with an unknown method, to emit a flickering glow in the twilight. A group of twenty-odd dancers was moving elegantly amidst the music of bells and zithers, their exquisite and bountiful curvatures faintly discernible under the flying muslin. Add to that their charming and gentle expressions, they would not lose out even if there were no apanying music.

    Zhao Junhong was seated at the leading table to the left and beside him was a tall man no more than thirty years of age. His bearing was calm and his facial expression resembled Song Zining a fair bit. He was the man they had mentioned just a while ago, Song Zicheng.

    The great hall was already half full, filled with people of all descriptions and rtives both close and distant. This ce was a public venue where the music troupe performed and not reserved by a single person. But even then, those who could sit at the front were all direct descendants of the Song n, or at the least people from powerful branches.

    Song Seventh Young Master, known for his love of beauties and wine, was a frequent customer of the music hall. He had long since been spotted by a servant who ran over to guide them in.

    At this time, the singing and dancing came to a pause. The dancers split into two groups and performed salutations toward the seats on each side. The hall was filled with cheers¡ªthe men¡¯s eyes lit up as they swept their gazes over thedies and began to make idlements.

    Qianye and Song Zining arrived at a certain empty seat without drawing much attention. Song Zining¡¯s eyes immediately lit up as he swept his gaze toward the stage. ¡°So this is the batch of little beauties trained by Zhiyuan? Interesting indeed.¡±

    The guiding servant seemed as if he wanted to say something, but he happened to see a person rushing in from the entrance just as he turned around. ¡°Seventh Young Master¡¯s eyesight isparable to a torch. Look, sir, Young Master Zhiyuan has arrived.¡±

    The person who had just arrived was a young man in his twenties with a cheerful and frank demeanor. This was precisely the younger son of Honorary Duke Gu, Song Zhiyuan. The kid Qianye had met at the entrance to the armory was his sister.

    The three of them sat down together after Song Zining introduced the two.

    Song Zhiyuan immediately began to praise the group of dancers he had trained. He immediately beckoned for two of them toe over and pour wine for them. His attitude was fairly enthusiastic and didn¡¯t neglect Qianye just because he was a mere guest warrior. This went to show that the personal rtionship between Song Zhiyuan and Song Zhining was quite close.

    Qianye felt the scene to be a tad too noisy and his nose was filled with all types of fragrances. The perfumes used by the Song n dancers were all high-quality items and were, without exception, faint, natural, and alluring. They absolutely couldn¡¯t be spoken of on equal terms with the cheap cologne worn by the women in those little taverns on Evernight Continent. After some time, the pleasant fragrance almost seemed to prate deep into the marrow, making one feel intoxicated.

    On one side, Song Zining was in high spirits as he teased the little beauty. Soon, the group shifted the target of their jests to Qianye.

    A dancer with a beautiful purple chrysanthemum pinned to her hair stood with her back toward Qianye. She then flipped back as if her soft waist had no bones in it and delivered the wine cup held steadily in her mouth toward Qianye¡¯s lips.

    Not only Song Zining and Song Zhiyuan, but even those from the nearby tables were cheering. At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall was gradually heating up. The group of dancers had dispersed toward the various tables to pour wine and were using various methods to urge the guests to drink, giving rise to bursts ofughter from time to time.

    Qianye smiled as he reached out to take the wine cup from the dancer¡¯s mouth and drained it in one gulp.

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but perform a facepalm and say, ¡°Why would you use your hands for this?¡±

    The dancer who passed Qianye his drink was still maintaining her posture. But at this moment, she suddenly moved¡ªher slender waist extended sideways with great dexterity and actually kissed Qianye who was just within reach on the forehead.

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but p the table as he broke into aughter. He reached out to drag Qianye by the shoulder and said, ¡°Good brother, don¡¯t betray thedy¡¯s grace.¡±

    The dancer¡¯s lips were quite soft, and quite unexpectedly, there weren¡¯t any intense external fragrances on her body. That which assaulted the nostrils was first the scent of the Dahlia in her hair, followed then by a wisp of alcohol. Expedited by the girl¡¯s vivacious aura, the two came together to form a distinct spirit which made one¡¯s blood flow faster.

    Qianye didn¡¯t hate this kind of tipsy feeling. He reached out to hold the dancer¡¯s chin and immediately gave her a kiss. Thedy let out a moan and sent her supple waist backward until she actuallynded on Qianye¡¯sp. Her lips and tongue were offered with great passion as they intertwined and partook of each other.

    Suddenly, Zhong Junhong stood up from the leading table and raised his wine ss at Song Zining.

    Thetter¡¯s eyes shed as he cheerfully reciprocated the gesture and emptied his cup.

    Zhao Junhong then turned back and began to chat with Song Zicheng beside him.

    This small action had, in truth, entered the eyes of many. The relevant parties were already aware of the incident that took ce this afternoon on the way to Enlightenment Manor.

    Even Song Ziqi, who had left some men to observe the entire process from afar, had no idea what had just happened. That servant only saw Zhao Jundu and Song Zining exchange a few words without any obvious movement before thetter¡¯s guest warrior had thrown a punch forward, whereupon he was promptly obstructed by Zhao Junhong. After that, Song Zining and his guest warrior turned to leave.

    But no one dared to carelessly judge if a person was friend or foe just from this. The Zhao n¡¯s fourth young master possessed a notorious temper. Throughout the years, all who had heard even a little bit about him would know that it was best not to join in even if he were confronting someone else because he might actually beat the neer first before killing his enemy. Inparison, Zhao Junhong seemed like a good person since he was, at most, merely condescending and arrogant.

    As such, no one mocked Song Ziqi for withdrawing even though he had gone to stir up trouble for Song Zining and had, instead, taken a loss in public. Although it was normal for those of the same n to stand up against outsiders regardless of their infighting, not many among the younger generation of the Song n had the guts to do so against the Zhao n brothers.

    Song Zhiyuan whispered in Song Zining''s ear with an extremely soft voice, ¡°The Zhao second young master seems to view you favorably!¡± Song Zhiyuan had already witnessed the grand asion of Zhao Junhong¡¯s arrival¡ªit was an honor if that second young master even gave one a nce, to speak nothing of a proactive greeting.

    Song Zining only smiled without responding. Under the Song n¡¯s current circumstances, a favorable impression could only be considered a mixture of fortune and cmity. The gesture was just enough to make up for Zhao Jundu¡¯s ineffable ambush since thetter made no move to promote him or affect him in any way.

    Zhao Junhong had always been mediocre in his fame, but after numerous dealings with him, Song Zining found that this Zhao n second young master shouldn¡¯t be underestimated. His manners were always controlled and appropriate¡ªthis was a definitely a far-sighted person.

    At this time, Zhao Junhong left the table and walked out of the side door alone. Song Zining also stood up and left the great hall.

    Letting go of the dancer in his arms and yfully stroking her long silky hair, Qianye turned around with a pensive gaze. Meanwhile, the dancer, panting and with fiery eyes, remainedtched onto him like a pond of spring water.

    The moon was at its brightest outside, its soft hazy light scattering to the ground amidst the exquisitely decorated nts and originmps of the courtyard.

    Song Zining walked to the end of an isted alleyway and smiled as he saw Zhao Junhong¡¯s figure appear. ¡°Brother Junhong, do you have anything to say to me?¡± Suddenly, autumn seemed to pervade the air around them as several fallen leaves gradually fluttered down. All sound had been isted by the domain of the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art.

    Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t seem at all uneasy just because he was standing in another person¡¯s domain. ¡°You¡¯ve reached such a level even before the champion rank. It won¡¯t be wrong to say that you¡¯re the number one character in the Song n. Unfortunately, time isn¡¯t on your side.¡±

    Song Zining was somewhat startled but soon replied with a smile, ¡°So it turns out, Brother Junhong is here to talk about my affairs?¡±

    Zhao Junhong said, ¡°If you are willing, you can marry anydy from the Zhao n¡¯s side branches. Even Zhao Yuying isn¡¯t impossible either.¡± Zhao Yuying was born to a side branch of the Zhao n, but her talents were reportedly just below Zhao Ruoxi and the fourth young master.

    A chill suddenly ran down Song Zining¡¯s back and his hands actually began to sweat. In truth, this was the third time he had received a wedding offer, and it seemed the propounders had all ignored his engagement to someone from andowning ss. But this wasn¡¯t a good thing either, because it meant that these people were also ignoring the Song n¡¯s will.

    Even though the attitude of those individual aristocrats couldn¡¯t indicate anything special, the significance behind Zhao Junhong¡¯s sudden offer waspletely different. One had to know that Zhao Yuying¡¯s position in the Zhao n could only be higher and not lower than Song Zining¡¯s status in his own n. Bringing her up for this marriage offer was, without a doubt, not for her to marry into the Song n. Since Zhao Junhong had spoken so directly that Song Zining was already short on time, those words had to have a reason behind them.

    After a moment of silence, Song Zining spoke with an unmoved expression, ¡°Zhao Second Young Master truly favors me.¡±

    ¡°This is also my fourth brother¡¯s opinion,¡± Zhao Junhong was smiling just as before, ¡°I shall take my leave on the morrow to attend to the many n matters. As such, it¡¯s best we dispel the misunderstanding between us as soon as possible.¡± He paused for a moment and said with a sh of mncholy, ¡°Fourth Brother only wishes for Qianye to be safe. It¡¯s just that his way of handling things is a bit impetuous. I hope Zining can understand.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly broke into aughter. ¡°Let me tell Brother Junhong a story.¡±

    ¡°About half a year ago, I helped Qianye kill one of his enemies, a brigadier general and divisionmander of the Evernight Continent¡¯s expeditionary army. He was known to be ofmon origins and it was also thus recorded in the army¡¯s files. But in truth, he was a bastard son of the head of the Huaiyang Martial Family.¡±

    At this point, both Song Zining and Zhao Jundu suddenly turned around to see Qianye walking through the small alley toward them.

    Song Zining only nodded at thetter and opened the domain to let him in. He then continued his words.

    ¡°That person single-handed established a city, which shows just how talented he was. Later on, he somehow found out about his own origins and established contact with the main family. In any case, we found, when we moved against him, that the transactions under his governance were all closely tied to the three branches of the Huaiyang Martial Family.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled after hearing this. It turned out Song Zining was talking about Wu Zhengnan¡¯s case.

    ¡°Actually, the situation wasn¡¯t at its worst when his forbidden transactions with the dark races were being investigated. But, the Huaiyang Martial Family maintainedplete silence and cut off all trade routes rapidly.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something even more interesting. Even though the Huaiyang Family¡¯s secret arts and techniques are just so-so, they¡¯re still an aristocratic family. But not only did he not obtain any inheritance from the family, but on the contrary, he was forced to seek bloodline amalgamation from the vampires in order to repair the hidden injuries brought about by the Combatant Form. In the end, he fell to the dark sidepletely.¡±

    The scene was suffused with a stifling sensation as Song Zining finished speaking.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression changed several times before be smiled ruefully and said, ¡°I think I understand what you mean.¡±

 Volume 5 - 8: The Most Profound Take the Simplest Forms

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 8: The Most Profound Take the Simplest Forms

    After bidding Zhao Junhong farewell, Song Zining and Qianye didn¡¯t return to the hall. They didn¡¯t drive either and, instead, walked along the main path up the mountain. Looking back from halfway up the mountain, the crystalline Lan River was gleaming under the moonlight like a dancer''s wide sleeves. There werenterns scattered all over the ce from the Cloud Mountains to all the way to the riverbank. It was truly a flourishing and magnificentndscape.

    Suddenly, a beam of purple mes shed through the night sky and approached rapidly. Even the air began to churn akin to the ripples formed when a roof tile hit the surface of the water.

    Qianye took one step forward and stood in front of Song Zining after seeing the mes.

    Zhao Jundunded ramrod straight at a point several steps away and said coldly with a frosty expression, ¡°What ability does a mere Song Seven have that you¡¯re willing to be ordered about by him?¡±

    Qianye frowned and said slowly, ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Master, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re misunderstanding here. If we have to calcte benefits between Song Zining and me, then I owe him my life in the first ce. What¡¯s more, did you think I will allow anyone else to easily influence me?¡±

    Song Zining sighed and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°I heard all those who havee of age in the Zhao n must enter the battlefield. Even if Qianye is willing to go back with you, are you going to prevent him from fighting his whole life? Is this trying to protect him or harm him?¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t reply after hearing this and momentarily closed his eyes in silence. He then opened his eyes and looked intently at Qianye. ¡°One year. If you don¡¯te by that time, I¡¯lle looking for you. Additionally, you¡¯ll never see that crystal disk again.¡±

    Qianye inhaled deeply. His fingertips were trembling, but he made no sound.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t wait for Qianye¡¯s reply as he turned his cold gaze toward Song Zining and said, ¡°Song Zining, there¡¯s something you might not know yet. Zhang Boqian will challenge the Grand Duke of Profound Order. This news will spread across the empire in a month¡¯s time.¡±

    Song Zining was suddenly shaken and his expression changed precipitously.

    The Grand Duke of Profound Order was from the imperial lineage and also one of the four heavenly monarchs of the human race. It was precisely because the four grand dukes were holding the fort and standing in opposition to the dark race great monarchs that the empire was able to keep the general situation under control.

    Now that Zhang Boqian intended to challenge the Great Duke of Profound Order, it was a major event that would shake the empire¡¯s internal structure regardless of the oue. Whether he won or lost, Zhang Boqian had a good chance of bing the fifth heavenly monarch as long as he disyed fighting strength rivaling that of the Grand Duke of Profound Order. The Song n would inevitablye under pressure once Zhang Boqian advanced to the rank of heavenly monarch even if Duchess An could keep things under temporary control.

    This news could be considered earth-shattering. Even someone as subtle as Song Zining was greatly affected¡ªhis mind wentpletely vacant for a moment. By the time he had collected his thoughts, Zhao Jundu had long since left.

    ¡°¡­ Let¡¯s go,¡± Song Zining called out. His voice had unexpectedly turned hoarse.

    As such, Qianye and Song Zining continued up the mountain. Thetter broke the unbearable silence only after a good while.

    ¡°Qianye, have you ever thought about your future path?¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s only one path, then I¡¯ll walk straight ahead. If there are many paths, I¡¯ll choose one and walk forward all the same.¡±

    ¡°How will you choose?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll choose a path that leads to results.¡±

    ¡°What if you can¡¯t tell which one you desire?¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll pick the closest one.¡±

    After ending this almost pointless conversation, Song Zining suddenly broke into aughter. ¡°Living beings wallow inplexities, but the most profound take the simplest forms. The path has always been there. It seems I¡¯m the one overthinking things.¡± Now that he thought of it, there had never been many options in Qianye¡¯s life. So why was he, on the contrary, feeling lost despite the choices he had?

    ¡°Qianye, since you¡¯ve said so yourself, you have two choices before you now. Pick one!¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice was once again cheerful. Whenever he spoke such words, Qianye would usually encounter nothing good.

    Qianye looked up and found that they had already arrived at the main doors of the Deep Cloud Hall. Two identical and beautiful youngdies had emerged from the side-courtyard and were bowing toward them in greeting from under the porch. Their long raven-dark hair fell toward their chest to reveal a segment of dazzling white skin on the nape of their necks.

    This pair of youngdies resembled one another even more than Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine. Additionally, they had received professional training¡ªtheir every frown, every smile, every little action, and even their voices were exceptionally uniform. It was as if the two were one and the same. It seemed as though the beholder were drunk and seeing double images.

    Qianye felt his temples aching. Could it be that this fellow was nning for them to take one each?

    Song Ziningughed mischievously. ¡°I¡¯ve never used Sixteen and Seventeen before, but, ording to the teacher at Hidden Springs, their only difference is on bed.¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt a sense of approaching danger. Without giving him time to dodge aside, a powerful force came in from behind and pushed him into a pile of soft, fragrant jade. The twodies clung onto Qianye after seeing Song Zining¡¯s gesture and embraced him tightly between them.

    At this moment, under such circumstances, Song Zining would never allow Qianye to shrink back.

    Momentster, the sounds of battle rang out from the inner and outer rooms of the main building which were separated only by a curtain.

    As expected, although Sixteen and Seventeen were identical down to their speech, the wonderful sounds they were making at this moment were rather different. One was like a ck-naped oriole, her voice mellow, clear, and from time to time, rising high into the clouds. The other was like continuous silken thread, with a deep and winding voice akin to the waves crashing on the river shore under a moonlit spring night¡ªone wave hadn¡¯t even died out when the next had already arisen.

    As this intense and chaotic battle was going on, the origin powermps were as bright as day within themand room of a majestic fort towering over the rebel-controlled Serene South Province on the Western Continent.

    Ling Xitang was standing before a long table with his hands behind his back and gazing attentively at the sand table¡ªhe had just sunk into an episode of prolonged reflection.

    There was an old-fashioned wooden box ced at a corner of the long table. Its craftsmanship was rather crude, but the material was fairly sturdy. This was one of Lin Xitang¡¯s personal items, something he would put on his desk no matter where he went. Someone had once gotten a glimpse of the contents¡ªthe box was filled with damaged name tags quite simr to those used by the army. Many of them were badly damaged, each carrying traces of burnt powder and mes.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression suddenly changed as he walked over and pushed open the balcony window. His figure then leapt into the sky and rose into the ash-grey firmament amidst the flowing moonlight, his silver hair fluttering in the wind.

    A giant cloud, covering hundreds of square meters in diameter, was slowly revolving hundreds of meters in the air.

    A certain person was sitting at its center with one leg extended and the other flexed. His natural posture made it seem as if it were solid ground beneath him and not empty air. That person raised his head and swallowed arge mouthful of wine, a small amount of the scarlet fluid flowing down the sharp outline of his chin. He suddenly tossed the bottle out with an extremely unruly manner.

    Lin Xitang stood just outside of the cloud. He reached out to grab the iing wine bottle and took arge gulp out of it before hurling it back.

    That person¡¯s voice seemed to have a certain attractiveness to it as he let out a muffledugh. ¡°The vampires have nothing good, but their history is long enough. They¡¯re the only source, apart from the imperial pce, where we can find such high-quality 500-year-old liquor.¡±

    Lin Xitang let out a faint smile and said, ¡°Congrattions on Marshal Zhang¡¯s further aplishments.¡±

    Zhang Boqian slowly stood up. This legendary character, famed as one of the Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons, possessed an imposing stature and a staunch appearance. Every contour of his was suffused with a precipitous intent resembling steep cliffs and perilous peaks. The most impressive was his pair of brilliant phoenix-like eyes¡ªfull of spirit and apanied by a terrifying pressure capable of overturning the heaven and earth.

    ¡°You¡¯ve stayed in this damned ce for two years. Is it really that interesting?¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression was calm, without the slightest bit of fluctuation. ¡°There are certain difficulties with the ongoing war. Fortunately, there¡¯s been some progress with the conflict on Evernight Continent.¡±

    Zhang Boqianughed mockingly. ¡°Mere roaches! How difficult can they be? Give me a month and I promise I¡¯ll leave none alive.¡±

    Lin Xitang restrained his emotions and said, ¡°This is my theater of operations. If Marshal Zhang has an opinion, please petition the imperial first beforementing on it.¡±

    ¡°Why the need for these half-truths, Marshal Lin? Aren¡¯t you hanging tightly onto this ce in order to escape the terrible mess at the Endless Pce? Everyone¡­¡±

    Great waves arose in Lin Xitang¡¯s calm eyes as he cut Zhang Boqian short with a stern voice. ¡°Marshal Zhang!¡±

    An all-epassing lightning seemed to sh through Zhang Boqian¡¯s phoenix eyes as the clouds surrounding him suddenly began to stir. Then, he gradually calmed down and said in a dull tone of voice, ¡°Let it be, let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. This time, I¡¯m here to give you a big present.¡±

    Lin Xitang was somewhat rmed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have a high demand for the rare medicines produced from the Song n¡¯s Vega Meadow in the Great Maelstrom? Go ask for more a monthter, and Song Zhongnian will offer them to you with both hands. Their defensive capabilities will soon be insufficient for guarding their outlying realms.

    Song Zhongnian was precisely the current Song n lord. Additionally, the Great Maelstrom where the Vega Meadow was located wasn¡¯t connected to the Song n domain, and its normal defenses required more military power than their primary domain.

    Lin Xitang frowned as he waited in silence. He knew, from Zhang Boqian¡¯s words, that there must be a continuation.

    Zhang Boqian then said, ¡°I¡¯ll challenge the Grand Duke of Profound Order in one month.¡±

    Li Xitang went silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Congrattions, Marshal Zhang, on your breakthrough to the heavenly monarch realm.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was waspletely devoid of fear and restraint, regarding even the majestic imperial court as though it were an uninhabited ce. Anything he had decided, he would see through to the very end. But it was this unwavering self-important attitude that had actually cultivated his brilliant momentum and power.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s odds of winning were high in this challenge against the Grand Duke of Profound Order.

    Li Xitang sighed in his heart after thinking about the Song n. As one of Zhang Boqian¡¯s biggest political rivals, the Song n might really draw closer to him if thetter were to be the fifth heavenly monarch.

    ¡°Why has your Art of Heaven¡¯s Mastery paused at the realm of celestial splendor? Since you¡¯ve already deduced the sixty-year-cycle horoscope back then, you should already have known that my path is the correct one.¡±

    Li Xitang smiled faintly and said, ¡°Our paths were never the same. Didn¡¯t we deduce the heavenly mysteries so that we can defy the heavens? Otherwise, what¡¯s the use of such an ability? Why should I be a puppet of the heavenly dao?¡±

    Zhao Boqian was suddenly shaken. He had never imagined that this former Yellow Spring schoolmate and imperial marshal, whose divination arts were celebrated as the best in this world, was actually walking such a path.

    ¡°Why?!¡±

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve received His Imperial Majesty¡¯s trust, I can only devote myself to the empire unto my dying breath.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this empire to you?¡± Zhang Boqian asked slowly.

    With a wave of his sleeve, the clouds were immediately torn into wads of flying cotton. Following which, they were rapidly stained with ayer of ash-grey as if they had been soaked in ink. It seemed as though the sky over this region were spinning as a gigantic dark vortex began to form and sweep over Lin Xitang.

    Thetter extended his hands, and immediately after, the dark clouds lit up for a brief moment as specks of starlight flickered through them. It was as if a small meteor belt had shuttled down from the top of the world.

    Stars fell like rain into the great vortex where Lin Xitang stood ramrod straight and as sharp as an unsheathed de. It felt as if he would never bend even if he were broken in two.

    Zhang Boqian suddenly took a deep breath and, with a wave of his hand, swept away the clouds to reveal the moon. The world regained its previous calm as if nothing had ever happened here.

    His pair of phoenix eyes was full of untamed cruelty as he said, ¡°I¡¯ll wait and see how your imperial path turns out!¡± He then turned around and disappeared into the distant sky.

    Lin Xitang watched as the man¡¯s figure disappeared, his clear eyes reflecting the heaven, earth, and stars. Among the ways of myriad living beings, the only thing to be feared was ack of conscience.

 Volume 5 - 9: Aggregation

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 9: Aggregation

    There was already a strand of dawn on the horizon by the time Qianye walked out of the room. He swept over the small courtyard with his True Sight, and as expected, he could clearly see wisps of white mist flowing out from the man-made decorations at the four corners. Moreover, they were somewhat denser than the naturally urring daybreak origin power.

    Afterwards, Qianye began his busy day.

    First, he went to the depository. The section open to the guest warriors was rted to basic theories and low-grade cultivation arts, so there weren¡¯t too many people here. Normally, most warriors who had reached rank-nine, even those of humble origins, already had certain opportunities to learn special cultivation arts. As such, they had little interest in those basic items.

    But as it happened, Qianye wascking in basic theory. He was currently cultivating both daybreak and darkness origin powers¡ªthe opposing attributes were existing together under the effects of the Song n Ancient Scroll and didn¡¯t obstruct his progress. Butpared to the secret techniques held by those aristocratic descendants, his technique in origin power utilization was a nk te, just like a toddler learning to talk.

    Taking the Combatant Form as an example, he could steadily push past 45 tides during cultivation, but in battle, he could only fire off 35 in an instant. Meanwhile, his resonance with the origin power in the environment waspletely dependent on instincts. Unlike Zhao Jundu and Song Zining, he couldn¡¯t draw upon natural origin power to form a fixed domain.

    Qianye stayed at the depository for an entire morning, browsing through various types of basic origin power theories. These were things the Song n descendants had to learn at a young age before formally practicing secret arts andbat techniques. As such, almost no one came to the corresponding bookshelves, but Qianye benefited greatly¡ªmany topics became clear to him at once.

    The entire process was fairly smooth and the steward of the depository even made two copies for him. They didn¡¯t need Song Zining for such a privilege as the personal guard in charge of guiding Qianye could settle it on his own. Additionally, Qianye also found a book on two-handed sword basic techniques. It could be said that his rewards were quite bountiful.

    nning to use all of the remaining time on cultivation, Qianye headed to the Song n¡¯s cultivation grounds with the personal guard. Although he was already mentally-prepared, he couldn¡¯t help but be momentarily astonished at the sight.

    Thergest centralized cultivation grounds Qianye had seen was at the Yellow Springs Training Camp which could amodate hundreds of cultivators. However, the cultivation chambers there were no more than rows of metallic longhouses resembling a barracks.

    But the grounds before them upied half a hillside and an entire valley floor, an even wider area than Yellow Springs. Every chamber upied a wide area and was built upon an iparably enormous origin array. There were two kic towers, dozens of meters in height, supplying the energy required for its operation.

    A faint blue glow emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes as he nced over with the Eye of Truth. He found that the basic structure of each origin array was quite simr outside and only their sizes were different.

    He saw that the core of the array was located in a windowless stone room at the corner¡ªa number of disciples hauled an entire crate of ck crystals into it and soon brought out a crate full of depleted stones. Dense origin power flowed out from the stone room and transitioned,yer byyer, through the origin arrays. They were purified and transformed until finally entering the cultivation chamber as daybreak origin power for the cultivator to absorb.

    When the personal guard brought Qianye to register, the youngdy in charge of handling the procedure gazed intently at Qianye and seemed unable to ignore him at all.

    Qianye was startled, but before he could ask, the youngdy chuckled and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing! I was just curious and I wanted to see what kind of person can actually make the seventh young master bring out an entire year¡¯s quota.¡±

    ¡°The whole year?¡± Qianye nced at the register and found that he was listed for three days.

    The youngdy raised her chin and said, ¡°The Song n¡¯s cultivation ground isn¡¯t of a low quality like the dojos outside. There are only seven sky-grade cultivation chambers, sometimes used by the elders. Seventh Young Master has three days to his name and this is far beyond any other person. The other young masters and mistresses get only one day per year. Some don¡¯t even get any at all!¡±

    While saying this, the youngdy and the personal guard nearby both revealed envious expressions. They two of them were both surnamed Song, but their bloodlines were rtively thin. Not to mention a sky-grade cultivation chamber, they didn¡¯t even have the right to use the earth-grade and man-grade ones which were slightly lower in rank.

    The youngdy brought Qianye to the sky-grade cultivation chamber. Along the way, he observed the facility with his Eye of Truth and found that, in terms of origin power density, earth-grade cultivation chambers were ten times that of man-grade, while sky-grade was dozens of times more. Converted into ck crystals, the volume of consumption was huge!

    Qianye finally understood why there were only seven such cultivation chambers even with the Song n¡¯s wealth.

    The youngdy pushed open the doors to a small walled courtyard and pointed to the cultivation chamber at its center. ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± she paused for a moment, but couldn¡¯t help but add, ¡°it¡¯s unfortunate that you¡¯re not yet at rank nine. Otherwise, the sky-grade cultivation chamber is most helpful for breaking through to the champion rank. ording to the elders, the chances would be increased by as much as ten percent!¡±

    ¡°Ten percent!¡± Qianye was astonished.

    One had to know that there were hundreds of millions of fighters, but to most of them, rank-nine was the peak of their lives. Less than one out of ten thousand would be able to sessfully condense their energy into a vortex and truly step onto the path of a champion.

    Less than ten percent of n disciples were able to break through to the champion rank despite their exceptional bloodlines, proper nurturing, and solid financial support. This meant that this sky-grade cultivation chamber was actually able to raise their chances of a breakthrough by more than twofold. Unfortunately, the Song n¡¯s younger generation descendants were declining in talent even though they possessed such resources.

    The youngdy exined all the facilities to Qianye one by one and then tapped lightly on the purple bell outside of the courtyard¡ªthe clock had started ticking.

    After the youngdy left thepound, Qianye removed his armor, entered the limestone cultivation chamber, and sat down cross-legged.

    The mist inside was so dense that one could hardly see his own fingers. There were neither windows nor vents here¡ªit turned out that the vapors were gushing out directly from the limestone on the walls and floor.

    At this moment, Qianye didn¡¯t even need to activate his Eye of Truth to know that this wasn¡¯t vapor, but instead extremely dense daybreak origin power. The energy aggregation array in the Deep Cloud Hall paled inparison.

    Qianye reached out to touch the floor and found that, although the limestone appeared coarse, it actually possessed a soft, warm, and gentle texture.

    This wasn¡¯t stone at all! It was the legendary Green Sun Warm Jade. Most aristocratic ns would use them to make cushions for cultivation and meditation. A palm-sized piece was already priceless, but the Song n had covered an entire cultivation chamber with it.

    Qianye wouldn¡¯t have imagined the Song n would actually have such a foundation if he hadn¡¯t seen it for himself. Simrly, although the other three great ns weren¡¯t known for their wealth, it could be presumed their umtions over hundreds of years wouldn¡¯t be too different.

    Qianye suddenly thought of Evernight Continent where a silver coin was a colossal amount a scavenger had likely never seen in his life, and a dozen-odd gold coins would be enough to make hunters and mercenaries risk life and limb. Those who would be counted as geniuses of thendowning ss like Gu Liyu and Ye Mn would stop at nothing to form a marriage rtionship with the great ns.

    There was no fairness to speak of in this world, even in nature. Exuberant darkness origin power filled one''s lungs at all times while daybreak life forms had to struggle to survive in between the gaps.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and began to cultivate. The core of his current cultivation were the Glory and Mystery Chapters of the Song n Ancient Scroll in which he had achieved an initial bnce. Darkness origin power was derived from blood energy which could be continuously replenished as long as he kept killing. This was an elerated path¡ªhe didn¡¯t have to worry about the progress. On the contrary, he had to control his essence blood absorption to avoid taking in an excessive amount of blood energy and breaking the fragile bnce.

    Comparatively, he had no other shortcuts for daybreak origin power and could only rely on cultivation. This had actually be the weak link. Even though Qianye¡¯sbatant form had reached an astonishing 45 cycles, it still couldn¡¯tpare to the convenience of killing and absorbing essence blood.

    This was perhaps a reflection of the difference in cultivation as a whole between humans and the dark races.

    Taking a deep breath, Qianye¡¯s heart became as concentrated as still water. At this moment, the daybreak origin power density here had reached a point where it was visible to the naked eye. His breath drew in everything like a whale devouring the ocean waters¡ªthe vapors not only flowed in from his mouth and nose but also seeped into his body through his skin.

    Within the blink of an eye, the daybreak origin power within the chamber waspletely exhausted¡ªhe had actually absorbed all of it.

    It turned out that the sky-grade cultivation had such a benefit!

    Dense clouds of daybreak origin power filled Qianye¡¯s body to the brim. Even his muscles felt some pain after his bones and limbs were flooded with intense origin power pressure. It was fortunate that Qianye had to go through unimaginable barriers when he first cultivated the Combatant Form and this kind of pressure was nothing to him.

    The Glory Chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll kicked into action, gradually circting the daybreak origin power within Qianye¡¯s body and forming it into a vortex. A drop of milky white daybreak origin power was formed at its center. The drop eventually grew bigger and finally took form as all the daybreak origin power in his body was used up. It dripped down from the center of the vortex and fell into his sea of energy.

    At that split second, it seemed as though the entire world was filled with the sound of a drop of water falling into the sea.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but tremble all over as he instinctively spat out a beam of milky-white qi. It took the shape of an arrow, flew directly at the opposite wall, and actually bore a small finger-sized hole through it!

    Exhtion like an arrow¡ªthis was precisely a sign of attaining a higher level as described by the Glory Chapter. Reaching this step meant that his origin power had reached a certain level of density. Aggregating energy into a vortex to break through to the champion level was now only a matter of time. His sess would naturally follow when the conditions were right.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes. The room was, once again, filled with vapor. Strands of daybreak origin power continuously seeped through the four walls, and before long, it became tangibly dense.

    Qianye shot a nce at the clock and found that it hadn¡¯t even been one hour yet.

    He got up, moved his muscles around, and also practiced one round of the military usebat arts. Seeing that the daybreak origin power was once again as heavy as rain, he got seated once again and swept all the daybreak origin power clean with a whale-like breath. He then closed his eyes and concentrated on purifying it.

    An hourter, Qianye spat out an arrow once again. All of the daybreak origin power had been condensed into a drop of milky fluid and collected into his sea of qi.

    Cultivating for one hour here was equal to the greater half of the month outside. And this waspared to Qianye¡¯s 45 tides in the Combatant Form. At this point, Qianye waspletely assured. He would definitely rely on daybreak origin power to achieve victory in the arena under the gazes of all the spectators. It was best he refrained from using blood energy if he could help it. Otherwise, there were many experts among the spectators, especially Duchess An, and there was no guarantee he wouldn¡¯t slip-up under their discerning eyes.

    Now, the effects of the sky-grade cultivation chamber were so good that he even had the leisure to thoroughlyprehend the basic theories he had learned this morning and also practice some two-handed sword techniques in passing.

    Just like that, a drop of milky fluid would fall into the nodes of his sea of qi every hour. Qianye no longer paid any attention to time and waspletely immersed into the world of cultivation.

    However, the world outside the cultivation chamber was in chaos.

    Six out of the seven sets of sky-grade kic equipment were operating normally, but one of the kic towers was rumbling like thunder and spewing outrge masses of white gas. Its operation speed had exceeded the critical point and was already bordering on danger.

 Volume 5 - 10: Chamber Robbing

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 10: Chamber Robbing

    This origin array being driven by this kic tower was exceptionally bright. There were beams of origin power surging up like waves and rushing torrentially toward the cultivation room at the center.

    A disciple in charge of odd-jobs ran out from the windowless stone room at the corner and shouted loudly, ¡°Quick! The ck crystals have been used up again! Inform the warehouse quickly and withdraw another batch!¡±

    Within the stone room, the disciple in charge of recing fuel was pale and drenched in sweat. Presently, the ck crystals would be drained of energy and turn white as soon as he put them in.

    An entire crate of ck crystals had been used up in a short period of time. This disciple was sweating¡ªthe fuel used in sky-grade cultivation chambers weren¡¯t ordinary goods. Such high-purity energy grade ck crystals cost many times more than the ordinary ones.

    The head steward on duty rushed over and, after seeing the rate of consumption, felt his facial muscles twitching. ording to the current rate of consumption, this cultivation chamber would likely surpass the sum of the other six.

    ¡°Have you checked the energy condensation array?¡± The elder was well experienced and immediately got to the important point.

    The disciple replied hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯ve already checked and found no problems. We all feel that such an abnormality¡­ almost¡­ almost¡­¡±

    The elder had long since lost his patience with the stammering boy, ¡°Speak!¡±

    The disciple was shocked out of his wits and said quickly, ¡°It almost seems as if the person in the cultivation chamber is absorbing origin power at an excessive speed and the energy condensation array can¡¯t keep up the replenishment. Hence, the present situation.¡±

    The elder red angrily and said, ¡°Nonsense! How advanced is a sky-grade array? Such a situation won¡¯t ur even if it was an elder cultivating inside. Do you think I¡¯m muddled due to my age? You lot must¡¯ve damaged the origin array in your carelessness and refuse to admit!¡±

    The disciple said with a bitter expression, ¡°How would we dare speak irresponsibly regarding such an important matter? Take a look, sir, and you¡¯ll know what I mean!¡±

    The elder personally inspected the stone room, whereiny the core of the array, inside out and top to bottom. His expression immediately became quite odd as he said, ¡°This¡­ could it really be a replenishment insufficiency? Who¡¯s inside? I didn¡¯t hear anything about any revered eldersing over.¡±

    Someone nearby replied, ¡°It¡¯s the seventh young master¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Zining?¡± The elder felt even more baffled. Not to mention a single seventh young master, even ten of him wouldn¡¯t drain so much origin power while cultivating.

    The disciple continued speaking, ¡°¡­ Guest warrior.¡±

    He flipped through the record book in his hand and said, ¡°This person is called An Renyi. He¡¯s 24 years old and a rank-eight fighter of unclear origin power attribute.¡±

    ¡°Rank-eight?!¡± The elder¡¯s eyeballs almost fell out of his sockets. Absorbing origin power like this at rank-eight, does this person not want to live anymore? Such vast amounts of origin power would likely cause even ten of such rank-eight warriors to explode! But warriors participating in the examination likely wouldn¡¯t fake their rank because there was no way they could slip through.

    Additionally, the abnormal situation in this cultivation chamber had been going on for some time. If it really was a rank-eight warrior inside, there was no way he could withstand even a quarter of an hour¡ªhow could he have withstood until now? Just what kind of secret art was that person practicing to have brought about such an astonishing rate of consumption?

    The disciple saw the elder¡¯s bewildered expression and said cautiously, ¡°Shall we call him out and check? Perhaps there¡¯s a leak in the origin array inside the room?¡± His words were spoken without much confidence because they had already checked since the beginning and found nothing out of the ordinary in the courtyard. There weren¡¯t any signs of a leakage at all.

    The elder¡¯s expression fluctuated wildly before asking, ¡°Is the person inside alright?¡±

    As if in response, the energy condensation array began to circte wildly yet again. The disciple nearby who was in charge of replenishing ck crystals rapidly switched out two rows of greyed out crystal residues. Apparently, the person inside was not only fine but had also begun a new cycle of cultivation.

    The elder clenched his teeth and said, ¡°Go and withdraw more ck crystals from the warehouse and set the energy condensation array to overdrive. Never let it be said that our Song n can¡¯t keep up with the consumption of a mere rank-eight fellow. And a guest warrior no less! Won¡¯t we lose all our face if this matter spreads out?

    The disciples nearby dispersed to perform their duties after receiving the instructions. Momentster, the radiance on the energy condensation array grew even brighter. Crates of ck crystals were shipped out from the warehouse and poured into the array like flowing water.

    Fortunately, the energy condensation array calmed down after it was cranked up, making everyone sigh in relief.

    Qianye, who was in the cultivation chamber, had no clue about the turmoil outside. There were already a dozen-odd drops of daybreak origin power liquid within the nodes in his sea of qi. Presently, they hadbined with the previously purified daybreak origin power to form an expanse of milky white.

    Under the impact of such a vast amount of origin power, his ninth origin node began to blossom with a soft light and its barrier was on the verge of copse. Qianye felt that he could light up the final node after a couple of cycles.

    The benefits brought about by the sky-grade cultivation chamber had far surpassed his imagination, but he was already beginning to feel a vague sense of weariness. This was a sign of him approaching the limits of his cultivation session. Even a constitution as strong as his wouldn¡¯t be able to endure if he kept going and umted too much energy within a short period. Additionally, his daybreak origin power had finally surpassed his blood energy, so it was best not to over-cultivate for the moment.

    Qianye looked up to nce at the origin clock and unexpectedly found that time had passed much slower than he had imagined. If he stopped cultivating at this point, he could leave Song Zining with two days of cultivation time. He assessed his physical condition and decided to stop afterpleting thest two cycles. As such, he devoured all the origin power within the chamber and began refining in silence once again.

    At this moment, the sunlight outside was sprinkling down all over the ins¡ªit was already noon on the second day. A group of people walked into the cultivation grounds.

    The leader was a tall and gloomy looking youth who seemed to be in his twenties. He was already a champion and his every movement was apanied by an extraordinary temperament.

    As soon as the steward in charge of weing guests saw him, he ran out with a face full of smiles and weed the man with great passion, ¡°It¡¯s the Second Young Master! What can I do for you?¡±

    Song Zian was second in seniority among the younger generation descendants of the Song n. He was also ranked second as a sessor. He had broken through to the champion rank even earlier than the eldest Song Zicheng and was considered number one among the younger generation in terms ofbat strength. He had always been Song Zicheng¡¯s most powerful rival.

    Song Zian nodded toward the steward and said, ¡°The examination is near at hand. I should also put some effort in. Open up a sky-grade cultivation chamber for me. I should have a fair bit of quota left, right?¡±

    The steward¡¯s expression turned rather unsightly. ¡°This¡­ Second Young Master, I¡¯m truly sorry. All the sky-grade cultivation chambers are full.¡±

    ¡°Full?¡± Song Zian was quite surprised.

    The consumption rate for each activation of a sky-grade cultivation chamber was enormous, and as such, the quotas had never been abundant¡ªeven he only had about ten days this year. These chambers were usually empty, but unexpectedly, all of them were full today. It seemed many disciples had gritted their teeth to apply for a sky-grade chamber in preparation for the uing examination. It could be considered adding a little advantage.

    Song Zian asked with a disappointed expression, ¡°When is the earliest vacancy?¡±

    The steward''s eyes darted about and suddenly said, ¡°Second Young Master, even for you, it won''t be convenient to have people in the other six chambers give way. But this one is rather interesting. Please take a look.¡± The steward flipped the register to An Renyi¡¯s page and handed it to Song Zian.

    Song Zian¡¯s eyes gleamed as he swept through the data. ¡°Interesting. So it¡¯s little seven¡¯s man inside. Heh, heh, he¡¯s truly generous.¡±

    Song Zian returned to the document to the steward and said indifferently, ¡°Right now, the old ancestor¡¯s birthday is close at hand. Some rules should be bent during such important periods. These cultivation chambers are top-grade resources of the Song n and should be prioritized for use by Song n descendants. Have little seven¡¯s man vacate that cultivation chamber.

    The steward said immediately, ¡°I¡¯ll handle things immediately! Please wait a while. Speaking of which, he¡¯s already been there for an entire day, it should be enough.¡±

    The steward was just about to leave when Song Zian suddenly reached out to block him. ¡°No need. I want to see how this person, who¡¯s received such a favor from little seven, looks like.¡±

    With that, Song Zian brought his subordinates and headed over to the sky-grade cultivation chamber area.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± the steward secretly cried out in his heart. One had to know that the one in the room was the seventh young master¡¯s guest warrior. There was a good chance the and Song Zian¡¯s men would face off in the examination. If Song Zian took this opportunity to wound or even beat him to death in great numbers, things would be quite big.

    Normally, a young master beating a warrior to death could be solved withpensation. But they were currently in the exam period and the names of these guest warriors had already been submitted. Since the old ancestor attached such importance to this examination, who would dare to do such a thing under her eyes? When the time came, Song Zian would likely push the me onto his underlings, but he, as the steward, would have to take all the me.

    The steward cried out in his heart. The seventh young master¡¯s reputation wasn¡¯t prominent. Even though he was favored by the old ancestor, favor and authority were ultimately different. The steward had just wanted to curry favor with the second young master since he knew thetter and seventh young master didn¡¯t quite get along. But if a major conflict arises, he would¡¯ve brought trouble unto himself while trying to be clever.

    For a moment, he didn¡¯t know what to do and almost wanted to spin around on the spot.

    The other reception stewards looked at each other and sneered secretly, but only looked on with folded arms. One of them shot a knowing nce at one of the disciples who then slipped out from the side door. He immediately jumped onto a jeep and drove rapidly toward the Song n direct descendants¡¯ courtyard district.

    Song Zian paid no attention to what the group of stewards wanted to do and found his way to the relevant courtyard with his group in tow.

    Within the cultivation chamber, Qianye happened to be at a critical point in his refinement process. The drop of milky white fluid had taken form and the ninth origin node was continuously emitting a me-like brilliance as if it were being immted. This was an indication of imminent origin node ignition. As soon as he finished refining this mouthful of origin power, the ripples formed as it fell into his sea of qi would be enough to shatter the barrier around the node and allow Qianye to pass through the great threshold of a rank-nine warrior.

    It was at this moment that the doors to the cultivation chamber were violently pulled open and a domineering voice said, ¡°That fellow inside,e out. Stop cultivating!¡±

    The abrupt shout startled Qianye and sent the origin power within his body into turmoil. The origin power slowly evolving within him like a vortex was immediately dispersed to all parts of his body, and that half-formed pure origin power was shattered.

    The overflowing origin power crashed ruthlessly into his internal organs. If not for the blood energy protecting them, he would¡¯ve lost half his life under this impact. So much that even his origin nodes might have suffered damage and adversely affect his future achievements.

    Qianye¡¯s face turned instantly pale. He let out a muffled groan as a strand of fresh blood trickled down the corner of his mouth. He slowly opened his eyes, a cold killing intent filling his obsidian pupils.

    The person who had shouted loudly had done this deliberately in order to agitate him during cultivation.

    The purple bell used specifically to rouse cultivators without causing damage was just at the door. Additionally, the doors to the cultivation room were made iparably heavy to prevent people from identally opening them. It couldn¡¯t be easily opened unless the person had intentionally released the mechanism.

    A young man wearing a Song n warrior¡¯s outfit stood at the door of the cultivation chamber and sneered, ¡°You seem to be cultivating quite impressively. Come out quickly! What use does a rank-eight fighter have for a sky-grade cultivation chamber?¡±

    Qianye got up slowly. At this moment, his chest was in grave pain and the smell of blood would rush up to his throat even with slight movements. After hearing the perpetrator mocking him, Qianye silently drew the grade-five origin gun he had just withdrawn from the armory.

    The manughed coldly and said, ¡°This small gun looks quite interesting¡­¡± He hadn¡¯t even finished his words when he choked up as he made eye-contact with Qianye!

    He was being looked upon like a dead object, and the cold killing intent in thetter¡¯s eyes was almost tangible.

 Volume 5 - 11: Decisions

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 11: Decisions

    The young warrior went mute on the spot. He managed to force out a few words as he watched Qianye calmly put on his clothes and then walk toward the door. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ be reckless! Our family¡­ our family¡¯s young master has something to say to you.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished his words when he ran scuttling toward the courtyard.

    Qianye walked to the door and saw that ten-odd people had arrived in this small courtyard, led by a tall youth. He had seen the relevant information and thus knew that he was the Song n¡¯s second young master, Song Zian. Yin Qiqi¡¯s maternal lineage was attached to his branch of the Song n. This person was one of the three champions of the younger generation and also recognized as first inbat strength.

    Song Zian sized Qianye up from head to toe and said nothing. It felt to him that even speaking a couple of words to his brother¡¯s subordinate was beneath him.

    A follower beside him said, ¡°So, you¡¯re the Seventh Young Master¡¯s guest warrior? Our second young master needs to use the cultivation chamber. Please vacate it! Afterwards, no matter how muchpensation you want, we¡¯ll reward you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s furypletely calmed down at this point and his emotions were as calm as the water surface. ncing at the crowd and recognizing the steward at the rear, he extended a finger and said, ¡°You,e here.¡±

    The steward didn¡¯t dare speak directly after being picked out and said with an apologetic smile, ¡°Well, Steward An, you see that Second Young Master has his reasons for doing this. All of this is for the examination. So, why don¡¯t you switch to another room? After all, you¡¯ve already cultivated for an entire day, right? Things like cultivation can¡¯t be rushed¡­¡±

    There were no fluctuations in Qinaye¡¯s expression as he cut the steward short. ¡°Is my time up?¡±

    The steward was immediately drenched in sweat and said with a salute, ¡°Well, there is indeed some time left¡­¡±

    The follower from Song Zian¡¯s party who had spoken just now shouted in dissatisfaction. ¡°Brat, Second Young Master is waiting for your reply!¡±

    Qianye ignored both the man and Song Zian¡¯s somewhat unsightly expression. He only gazed fixedly at the steward and said calmly, ¡°Since my time isn¡¯t up, then why did someone open the cultivation chamber door?¡±

    The steward forced out a few words. ¡°This¡­ I guess they were just a bit impatient.¡±

    ¡°Please bring over the elder on duty.¡± Qianye¡¯s tone was neither high nor low and was devoid of any fluctuations.

    ¡°Eh? Elder?¡± The steward''s sweat fell like rain.

    ¡°I remember there¡¯s an elder on duty here every day. I wish to see the elder.¡±

    The steward couldn¡¯t help but bow down and said apologetically, ¡°We don¡¯t need to rm the elder with this small matter, do we?¡±

    ¡°You have no right to decide whether or not this matter is small. Will you go and invite the elder or do I need to go myself?¡±

    One of Song Zian¡¯s followers could no longer endure. He stepped toward Qianye and said furiously, ¡°Brat, you don¡¯t want to be given face huh?¡±

    Qianye lowered his gaze. Even under the cover of medicine, one could see that his hand on the gun had lost color and green veins were throbbing on the back. He inhaled deeply but ultimately decided not to act. Instead, he turned toward Song Zian and said coldly, ¡°Does a stately Song n second young master not dare to meet an elder?¡±

    Song Zian finally frowned and gestured for that follower to return. ¡°You¡¯re called An Renyi, yes? This cultivation chamber is very important to me. How about this? State your terms and I¡¯ll grant them as long as they¡¯re not too excessive.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows at Song Zian¡¯s words and was quite surprised.

    However, Qianye had no idea that Song Zian was actually forced into showing his weaker side due to the circumstances.

    He hadn¡¯t thought that a mere regional steward under Song Zining was actually so shrewd and ruthless in his conduct. He was neither servile nor overbearing, neither rmed nor angry. So much that he hadn¡¯t even gotten into an argument with his subordinates and only demanded to see the elder. He had originally wanted to use the conflict as a pretext, but now his calctions had all gone awry.

    This way, the situation had be fairly tricky. Song Zian¡¯s party was in the wrong in this matter. Regardless of who the on-duty elder today was, even if it was one who supported him, it would be very problematic if this matter was blown-up. Even if he and his followers could get off just fine, the steward absolutely wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the crime. He would certainly be sacked and investigated.

    No matter how mediocre Song Zining was, he was still the seventh young master of the Song n. How easy would it be for him to cause trouble for a n member without office?

    If such an incident came to be, who would be willing to express goodwill or work for him in the future?

    Qianye pondered in silence. He was fairly hesitant because the other party hade with great momentum but had turned soft in the end. He hadn¡¯t expected Song Zian to actually lower his stance like so. But this incident was clearly intentional¡ªthey had done this deliberately in order to prevent him from entering the arena. How could Qianye be willing to let the matter drop like this?

    Song Zining¡¯s voice came through from afar just as the two parties were in a deadlock. ¡°Second Brother seems to be in high spirits today.¡±

    Everyone nced over and found Song Zining approaching swiftly with a number of followers. Among them was a burly man who quite resembled a steel-tower. He was an entire head taller than the others and every step he took would cause the ground the shake. He was surrounded by an almost tangible killing intent and his facial features seemed as if they were carved with knives and axes.

    After the steward turned around to see this kind of lineup, sweat fell from his forehead like rain and extreme regret welled up in his heart.

    The corner of Song Zian¡¯s eyes twitched momentarily. He greeted Song Zining and then took the initiative to repeat the conditions he had given to Qianye.

    Song Zining had already walked to Qianye¡¯s side. His expression changed greatly as his gazended on the corner of Qianye¡¯s mouth and that trace of blood thetter had no time to wipe away. Killing intent immediately surged up from the bottom of his eyes.

    But his expression had normalized by the time he turned back to Song Zian and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s rare for Second Brother to be in such high spirits. This is a small matter. As long as Second Brotherpensates us with twice the time quota afterwards, this cultivation chamber is yours.¡±

    Song Zian broke into a frown and was immediately ovee by a major heartache. Usage rights for the sky-grade cultivation chamber could only be acquired by quota and converting contribution merits. This chamber was registered for two more days, so it woulde down to four days after conversion. Even though he was already formally participating in n affairs, this would amount to an entire half year of contributions.

    But Song Zian was also a decisive person. He knew that it was the most beneficial for him to immediately settle the matter at hand. Realizing from Song Zining¡¯s words that he had no intention to look into the matter of his guest warrior¡¯s injury, the former immediately said, ¡°Seventh Brother is indeed considerate. Then it¡¯s settled.¡±

    With that Song Zian said to the steward, ¡°Transfer four days from my quota to Zining¡¯s name¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it immediately!¡± Feeling lucky to have gained a new lease life, the steward immediately fled to handle the procedure.

    Afterwards, Song Zian once again said, ¡°Thank you, Seventh Brother, I visited the Sparkling ins not long before and brought back a number of pretty good local produce. I¡¯ll have someone send them over to you soon.¡±

    Song Zining only nodded with a smile and left the courtyard with Qianye in tow. As they reached the side of the jeep, he whispered, ¡°Who injured you? Point him out.¡±

    Qianye indicated that young warrior who had pulled the cultivation chamber doors open.

    With a nod, Song Zining turned back and said, ¡°Song Ge.¡±

    A follower stepped forward and said softly, ¡°That person is called Yue Feng. He¡¯s born of andowning household and is now a rank-seven fighter serving as a small unit leader in the Second Young Master¡¯s guard unit. He¡¯s not a guest warrior in this exam.¡±

    A wisp of ruthlessness shed across Song Zining¡¯s forehead. ¡°Then don¡¯t let him live past this examination.¡±

    Song Ge replied, ¡°His sister is the Second Young Master¡¯s concubine.¡±

    ¡°If that woman is too talkative, just let her apany the brother,¡± Song Zining said calmly, ¡°then send two dancers to Second Brother.¡±

    Song Ge responded, ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    At this moment, Song Zining¡¯s followers all arrived near the car.

    The burly steel-tower-like man walked over and opened the front passenger seat on Song Zining¡¯s car. Since he was able to sit in the same car as Song Zining, it was clear that his position wasn¡¯t low. The burly man crammed himself into the seat, shaking the car somewhat before saying in a hoarse voice, ¡°Young Master, are we leaving just like that? Are we letting that bastard off?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°An Renyi is wounded, so we must return right away. Remember their faces well. You know what to do if we meet them in the arena.¡±

    Only then did Qianye understand that this burly man was actually Song Zining¡¯s other guest warrior, Gao Junyi. He was also the strongest under the champion level among Song Zining¡¯s warriors who weren¡¯t of the surname Song. One look was enough to tell that he was an old veteran who hade from the battlefield, and it was unknown just how much blood was on his hands.

    The burly manughed maliciously, ¡°Understood. Rest assured, Seventh Young Master.¡±

    The injuries caused by disrupted cultivation had to be treated without dy. Otherwise, not only would it leave detrimental effects, but it was even possible to be crippled. Once both parties turned violent, the first thing that would happen was a dy in Qianye¡¯s treatment. And it wasn¡¯t even certain whether Song Zining could gain an advantage. That was the actual reason Song Zining had decided to endure the anger.

    Song Zining stuffed a tube of medicine into Qianye¡¯s hand as the car began to move, ¡°Drink it. We¡¯ll go back first and find someone to treat you immediately.¡±

    Qianye nced at thebel on the tube: Origin Power Restoration Medicine Type-3. This was a special medicine used to treat a loss of origin power control and its price was astonishing. It was divided into three types, and the higher the number, the better the effects. The type-3 medicine in his hand was of the highest grade, something even champions wouldn¡¯t use lightly. This was probably something Song Zining had saved up for life-saving situations.

    Qianye felt a faint warmth in his heart. He returned the restoration medicine to Song Zining and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll recover after some rest. There¡¯s no need to use such a medicine.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be careless! This is no ordinary injury. It¡¯ll affect your foundations if improperly handled.¡± There was some anxiety in Song Zining¡¯s voice.

    Qianye extended his hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m really fine. Take a look and you¡¯ll see.¡±

    Song Zining grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand and focused on it. He then sent a wisp of origin power to probe the situation inside Qianye¡¯s body. As expected, origin power was flowing just as normal¡ªit was calm, steady, and only some of his organs showed signs of new injury. Only then was Song Zining reassured and his expression rxed.

    In truth, Qianye could be considered fortunate. What he was circting at the moment of disruption was the Song n Ancient Scroll. As such, the impact from his loss of origin power control was equal to the 45th tide of the Combatant Form and the injuries weren¡¯t severe. With his constitution, he could recoverpletely in one night even without any medicine.

    After the two returned to Deep Cloud Hall, Song Zining still couldn¡¯t rx and forced Qianye to soak into a physique restoration fluid for three hours. Qianye¡¯s injuries had fully healed when he woke up. He was still a hair¡¯s breadth away from breaking through to rank-nine, but the advancement was only a matter of time and not something to be overly worried about.

    Qianye clothed himself and walked out of the isted room. There, he saw Song Zining sitting in the courtyard and bathing in the twilight glow. He seemed to be pondering over something with a cup of tea in his hand.

    The tea within had long since gone cold and there was even a leaf on its surface. However, Song Zining was totally unaware of it. He gulped down the tea in the cup as he heard the door open and turned to ask with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re awake? How¡¯re you feeling?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯mpletely recovered.¡±

    Song Zining got up and grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand to inspect the condition of his origin power flow. Afterwards, his smile grew brighter.

    Qianye nced at him and suddenly asked, ¡°Anything troubling you?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head, but after seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, he smiled ruefully and said, ¡°Is it that obvious?¡±

    Qianye broke into aughter. ¡°You even ate a leaf just now. Don¡¯t tell me that¡¯s how you cultivated your Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art.¡±

    Song Zining was stunned, then he rotated the teacup in his hand as if he had understood something and sighed. ¡°How did you see that? Mn, it¡¯s actually not that big a case. Since I have no n to be the n lord, I should sell my chips for a good price and act without any restraints. This should prevent other people from thinking I¡¯m easily bullied and stepping all over me.¡±

    Qianye was startled but soon realized the meaning. ¡°You¡¯re going to form an alliance?¡± Or perhaps speaking more precisely, submit to someone. But Song Zining really could obtain abundant remuneration by forfeiting his ranking in this examination.

    Song Zining nodded and said, ¡°Qianye there¡¯s no need to consider the effects it¡¯ll have on me if you encounter my second or third brother in the examination. It doesn¡¯t matter even if you kill them. I¡¯ve never feared criticism about infighting.¡±

    Normally speaking, it would be lucky for them to get away with their lives in the face of a champion. It was just thatbat strength wasn¡¯t always decided by rank. Song Zian had long since be a rank-eleven champion¡ªhe was equal in strength to a second-rank viscount and was perhaps a formidable opponent. Song Ziqi who had just crossed the threshold of a champion couldn¡¯t enter his eyes at all.

    Qianye frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard you mention having any great animosity toward Song Zian. Is this because of me?¡±

    Song Zining replied with a smile, ¡°Of course not, it¡¯s for myself.¡± He waved his hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m heading out to run some errands. Tell Song Ge if there¡¯s anything you need.¡±

    ¡°Zining,¡± Qianye called out to Song Zining who had just turned to leave, ¡°do you really have no intention to be n lord?¡±

    Song Zining gave it some thought and said with a serious expression, ¡°Zhao Junhong was right. I have no more time. I¡¯ll need at least ten years if I want to sit at the n lord¡¯s position. But neither the Song n nor I can live through this ten-year trial. Additionally, an aristocratic family name is both an assistance and a restraint, and what I want had never been limited to such things.¡±

    Qianye gazed intently at Song Zining and nodded after seeing no signs of reluctance.

 Volume 5 - 12: Price

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 12: Price

    Within an external courtyard near the summit of Cloud Mountain, the eldest young master of the Song n, Song Zicheng, sat upright behind a desk, looking through the examination register with rapt attention. An old man sat resting with his eyes closed in the elder¡¯s seat on the right-hand side.

    Song Zicheng read everything in detail down to thest line before looking up with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve troubled Sixth Great Uncle this time. I still want to look through these documents, so I¡¯ll return them to you tomorrow. Additionally, I¡¯ve prepared a small gift. I¡¯ll have someone deliver it to your residence shortly.¡±

    The Song n elder waved his hand whileughing. ¡°This is a small matter. Why the need for gifts? I watched you grow up, so there¡¯s no need to act like strangers. But you mustn''t be careless in this examination. You should also draw-in the other old fogeys. I heard Song Zian hase up with some wild schemes to drag you down from the favorite position. He¡¯s determined to win this martial arts contest.¡±

    Song Zicheng¡¯s expression turned slightly more serious. However, he wasn¡¯t flustered and replied calmly, ¡°Rest assured, Sixth Great Uncle. I have the advantage in politics and the same goes for military strategy. He can¡¯t topple the general situation as long as I¡¯m not left too far behind in martial arts.¡±

    The elder smiled while stroking his beard and said, ¡°You, Zicheng, have always been reliable in handling matters. Very well, I should avoid arousing suspicions before this exam, so I can¡¯t stay here very long.¡±

    ¡°Sixth Great Uncle take care!¡± Song Zicheng got up and personally sent the elder off to the gates before turning back.

    Song Zicheng summoned his trusted aides and advisors to begin studying this registry of examinees. The rules in this category of individual arena matches were an elimination system and the sequence of contestants hadn¡¯t been scheduled just yet. They were currently discussing how to exert some influence on this sequence.

    Song Zicheng¡¯s contacts among the elders afforded him the convenience of making small modifications to the order of matches. This also meant that he could choose to avoid a certain person during the first couple of rounds or get his own warriors to face some weak opponents first. This would allow them to conservebat power and snipe the powerful enemiester on.

    It was just that the arrangements had to be reasonable in public eyes and not too excessive.

    At this time, the group of advisors had looked through the name list¡ªthe rank-eight warriors stuck out like a sore thumb among the virtually uniform list of rank-nine warriors. Most of them were Song n descendants who were participating in the examination, and Qianye was the only guest warrior at that rank.

    An advisor said while pointing at the documents, ¡°This An Renyi is only rank-eight. We should let one of our men meet him in the first round.¡±

    Another advisor spoke, ¡°It¡¯s the Seventh Young Master¡¯s man? That¡¯s odd, I heard he has brought together no small number of powerful experts outside. The three strongest under hismand are known as the Three Tigers of Ningyuan. This time, only Gao Junyi, the leader of the three tigers, came, and he is indeed an expert. Could it be that this rank-eight An Renyi is even more powerful than the other two tigers?¡±

    Another person said, ¡°I feel something odd here¡­ I think I heard someone say before that this An Renyi is in charge of certain grey businesses under the Seventh Young Master. This kind of person must have some special advantages.¡±

    Song Zicheng said pensively, ¡°I heard there was some friction between Old Two and Little Seven at the cultivation grounds?¡±

    It just so happened that the aide who had reported this matter was in the study. After hearing this, he said, ¡°That¡¯s right. That An Renyi was also at the scene. The Seventh Young Master had given the man his quota for the sky-grade cultivation room.¡±

    Numerous people in the room let out sounds of astonishment.

    Song Zicheng also raised his eyebrows¡ªconflicts between brothers weren¡¯t anything new. Back then, he had only listened to the general outline and didn¡¯t bother to ask the details. Only now did he realize there was such a case.

    He couldn¡¯t help but break into aughter. ¡°So that¡¯s what happened. Bullying a guest warrior for no reason, what was Old Two thinking? He should still give Little Seven some face even if it¡¯s because of the Yin family woman. So he wanted to cripple that An Renyi just because Little Seven cares about him? Old Two always unts himself as frank and outspoken when, in truth, he¡¯s the one who¡¯s always scheming.¡±

    It was at this time that a personal guard hurriedly entered and whispered into Song Zicheng¡¯s ears, ¡°The Seventh Young Master is here to see you.¡±

    ¡°Zining? What¡¯s he here for?¡± Song Zicheng felt surprised.

    The rtionship between him and Song Zining wasn¡¯t bad, but not especially close either. Basically, they had little dealings with one another, but their asional cooperation while working on n affairs could still be considered quite delightful. However, Song Zining¡¯s visit during such a critical period might have different implications.

    Song Zicheng instructed his guards to lead the guest to the reception pavilion in the front courtyard. He then pondered for a moment while tapping lightly on the table and said, ¡°What does everyone think?¡±

    A certain advisor said hesitantly, ¡°Seventh Young Master has made quite a number of enemies recently. There¡¯s been a lot of tension with the Second and Third Young Masters.¡± epting a friend also meant epting his enemies¡ªthe advisor¡¯s opinion was to keep things simple.

    Another person sneered. ¡°That makes it sound as if the Second Young Master won¡¯t fight for the first ce anymore if we don¡¯t receive Seventh Young Master.¡± Song Zian¡¯s ambition for the sessor¡¯s position was known by everyone, and he had always been Song Zicheng¡¯s greatest rival.

    The previous advisor argued, ¡°But the Second and Seventh Young Masters¡¯ hostility arises from Yin Qiqi, and Seventh Young Master was in the wrong regarding that matter.¡± At this point, everyone in the room wore ambiguous expressions. The advisor added, ¡°Besides, Yin Qiqi has the heir of Marquis Bowang behind her back.¡±

    After the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt, Song Zining¡¯s sessor ranking fell by two positions. Such a severe punishment wasn¡¯t due to Song Zian¡¯s efforts, but an action taken by the Song n to appease Yin Qiqi and Wei Qiyang, Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir.

    The contradicting advisorughed even louder. ¡°Yin Qiqi and the Second Young Master are inws, and the same goes for Yin Qiqi and the heir to Marquis Bowang. Those people won¡¯t stand behind the Eldest Young Master even if there wasn¡¯t such an incident.¡±

    Song Zicheng, who had been listening to the debate, extended his hand and gestured with a downward motion. ¡°Enough. All of you discuss the arena match sequences for now. I¡¯ll go and meet Seventh Brother. Although Yin Qiqi and the Wei n heir have personal rtionships with Second Brother, they can¡¯t affect the future of the n. There won¡¯t be a problem as long as I hold this position firmly.¡±

    The Song n¡¯s rtionship with the Yin and Wei ns was one between two ns and could hardly be influenced by individuals, even if that individual was the n lord. Otherwise, there would be no need to struggle for the sessor¡¯s position¡ªeveryone could justpare their connections.

    Song Zicheng entered the reception pavilion and sent away his staff.

    Song Zining stood up and said, ¡°Eldest Brother, I feel that I¡¯ve always respected my elder brothers with sufficient respect and have never acted irreverently. But Second and Third Brother¡¯s actions are leaving me without even a ce to stand!¡±

    Song Zicheng could vaguely confirm Song Zining¡¯s intentions from this. Thus, he gently spoke a few words of constion and then listened to Song Zining¡¯s story.

    Momentster, Song Zicheng gazed solemnly at this brother who was a fair bit younger than him and said, ¡°You mean that you¡¯ll support me on the inheritance rights and also sweep away the opposition for me in this examination?¡±

    ¡°Precisely.¡±

    Song Zicheng picked up his teacup and said slowly while fiddling with it, ¡°Seventh Brother is quite confident!¡±

    Song Zining replied with a smile, ¡°How would I daree and find you if I don¡¯t even have this ability? Not to mention other aspects and merely speaking in terms of military strategy, it won¡¯t be a problem to defeat both Second and Third Brother even if they somehow joined forces.¡±

    Song Zicheng slowly drank his tea in order to gain some thinking time. This mouthful of tea took a fairly long time, but he finally finished it. He then put down the teacup and asked casually, ¡°I heard Old Three¡¯s merchant caravan took heavy losses a while ago?¡±

    ¡°There was a minor conflict, then, Third Brother¡¯s ambitious agents decided to outnumber and wipe out my men. But, in the end, his party was annihted instead. I feel that Third Brother should train his people a bit more before bringing them out into public, lest he loses all face like that.¡±

    Song Zicheng and Zong Zining didn¡¯t bring up Song Zian. Both of them were clear that the former and Song Zian were enemies withpletely no chance of an alliance. Song Ziqi, on the other hand, was a different matter. Actually, the Song n¡¯s eldest young master was now faced with a choice¡ªone was his third brother who had already stepped into the champion rank, while the other was his seventh brother who had only recently started to stand out.

    Song Zining lowered his gaze and focused on the steaming teacup in his hand. ¡°What does Seventh Brother have in mind?¡±

    Song Zining had long since prepared for this. ¡°The assault airships produced by your Yuancheng Heavy Machineries are the top of their line among those of the same ss. My Ningyuan Heavy Industries has recently built a number of industrial facilities, but unfortunately, we have no heavy heavyweight products. I hope Eldest Brother will transfer the technology to me. Additionally, you have a small number of mines on Evernight Continent. It must be quite troublesome for you to manage all the extraction and shipping. It so happens that your brother here can put them to good use. So, why not sell them to me at a discount, and¡­¡±

    Every condition that came out of Song Zining¡¯s mouth was of considerable value. They included technology, mines, and even two well-developed heavy truck production lines.

    Song Zicheng felt his heart sink with each condition¡ªit hadn¡¯t sunk all the way to the bottom after Song Zining was done speaking, but it was already quite close.

    ¡°Seventh Brother, your asking price is a bit too high.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Even if we disregard the potential grand position of n lord, the stability of your position as the favorite sessor should be worth more than just these things. Additionally, your brother isn¡¯t one to destroy the bridge after crossing it. I¡¯ll help you reach the top in this examination and also stand with you in all n affair disputes hereafter.¡±

    Song Zicheng pondered for a good while before finally making the decision. He reached out and shook Song Zining¡¯s hand tightly.

    There was some weariness on Song Zicheng¡¯s face as he saw Song Zining out of the reception pavilion. He smiled ruefully and said, ¡°My investment this time is truly big. Brat, you almost swept away the greater half of my family properties in one go.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Eldest Brother has great aspirations. How can such small personal estates enter your eyes? Our Song n iscking in many things. What we neverck is property.¡±

    At this time, Song Zicheng suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said to the advisor who was standing near the door. ¡°Rearrange the sequence of the arena matches. Our men should be kept away from Seventh Brother¡¯s men as much as possible.¡±

    The advisor was startled and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°But what about that rank-eight?¡±

    Song Zicheng waved his hand. ¡°Avoid.¡±

    ¡°But, in any case¡­¡± The advisor only brought up this subject, but his true meaning couldn¡¯t be more obvious. A rank-eight warrior was virtually a forfeit, so why not give it to their own men?

    Song Zicheng, on the other hand, maintained a forthright temperament and had no interest in taking this small advantage. He was more concerned with Song Zining¡¯s feelings and immediately said with a frown, ¡°It¡¯s decided. No need to bring this up again.¡±

    Song Zining heard this from one side and said with a smile, ¡°Eldest Brother is wise.¡±

    After seeing Song Zining off, the eldest young master of the Song n, for some reason, couldn¡¯t help but feel that his seventh brother¡¯s smile had another meaning to it, and that made him rather uneasy.

    Meanwhile, back in Deep Cloud Manor. Qianye had asked someone to open the drill grounds in the back courtyard and had arranged tens of steel training dummies in a tightly packed formation.

    This site was an enclosed space and wasn¡¯t veryrge. It became quite packed after stuffing so many dummies into it, and even swinging one¡¯s sword without touching anything was a struggle.

    Qianye drew the East Peak and began to size it up in detail.

 Volume 5 - 13: Commencement

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 13: Commencement

    The de possessed no other special abilities apart from being especially heavy and sturdy. However, after a detailed observation, Qianye found the craftsmanship to be excellent and it was iparablyfortable to wield.

    How could a sword with such exquisite design and craftsmanship have only ¡°East Peak¡± as a special characteristic? Even if this ¡°East Peak¡± was an upgrade version of the ¡°Sturdy¡± characteristic, it still didn¡¯t feel very fair. With such good quality materials, this de could hold at least four or five more origin arrays.

    Could this be a half-finished product? That was likely the only exnation for now, but how could the Song n keep a half-finished product in their armory? However, he felt somewhat unsure after recalling Elder Lu¡¯s implicit words that day.

    After familiarizing himself with the nature of the sword, Qianye tossed the sheath to one side and stepped forth to perform a simple one-handed thrust. East Peak moved like the wind and brushed past a dummy.

    After which, Qianye thrust, shed, swept, and cut through the air, sometimes holding the de in both hands and at times in one. But the cutting edge of East Peak began to emit faint sounds of wind and thunder as Qianye struck with increasing speed¡ªit also became progressively difficult to control.

    Finally, Qianye lost control while switching from a cut to a thrust. His wrist trembled as the East Peak scratched one of the steel dummies. The lower half of this mannequin didn¡¯t move in the slightest, but its upper half suddenly copsed into a pile of scrap metal!

    Qianye continued practicing. At this moment, East Peak¡¯s thrusts were as graceful as the wind, and a faintly discernible shadow flickered around its edge. The densely packed steel dummies would creak, groan, and crumple into a mass of scrap metal if they were grazed by the de.

    The greater half of the dummies in the field had been destroyed after an entire hour of training. Only then did Qianye sheathe the sword and moved to the side of the field for a rest. He brought out the sword technique book he had copied from the Song n depository and began to read in earnest. Additionally, hepared the information therein with the insights he had gained from personal practice.

    That basic-level sword technique book mostly described methods rted to force application and sword strikes, which happened to suit Qianye¡¯s current needs. He had rarely used heavy weapons before back in Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion. Now, with the growth of his physique and strength, ordinary weapons were gradually bing less handy for him. Sometimes, he would even have to snatch werewolf and arachne weapons on the battlefield, and he had to fight ording to instinct all this time.

    It was said that one strong warrior could beat ten skilled warriors¡ªthat could also be considered a strategy, but one would eventually be exhausted. Presently, Qianye¡¯s destructive power had increased, but he needed to refine his skills.

    Qianye closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. Once the servants had swapped out a new batch of steel dummies, he once again carried his sword down to the field. Another hour passed by in a sh¡ªthis time, he had destroyed 21 out of 50 steel dummies, three less than the previous round.

    Qianye rested for half an hour before continuing once again. Out of the third batch of 50 dummies, only 19 were destroyed; two less than thest round.

    16 dummies were destroyed in his fourth round, and 11 on the fifth.

    By the time the midnight bell rang, there wasn¡¯t a single light in the drill grounds. One could only hear the indistinct sound of wind and thunder as Qianye practiced in the dark¡ªit had been over an hour since any dummy was destroyed.

    During the following days, Qianye continued to temper his sword skills day and night. asionally, he would head to the Song n depository to read. He didn¡¯t learn any new sword techniques and only polished the basic stances repeatedly.

    This was the way Yellow Springs honed the path of killing¡ªthe focus was on extreme simplicity and extreme ferocity.

    As his training progressed, the number of steel dummies in the drill grounds progressively increased in number. Atst, the space between them was only enough for Qianye to squeeze through sideways. Even so, the number of mannequin casualty only decreased in a straight line. In the end, not a single dummy was destroyed for an entire afternoon, and the vague sound of wind and thunder was no longer audible when Qianye swung his sword.

    During these few days, Song Zining almost didn''t cultivate at all. He ran everywhere, engaging in secret discussions and who knows just how many hidden deals he had made.

    The day of Duchess An¡¯s birthday celebration arrived in the blink of an eye.

    That day, the entire cloud mountain was decorated anew and full of jubtion. One would need to be a character of considerable importance to even show one¡¯s face momentarily at the birthday feast. Not to mention guest warriors like Qianye, even Song n descendants born of concubines and side branches had no right to enter the Enlightenment Manor. Attending the banquet was even further out of the question.

    Song Zining brought his followers with the surname Song to attend the banquet, while Qianye and Gao Junyi remained in the external courtyard to cultivate.

    There was no problem between the two. At first, Gao Junyi seemed somewhat dissatisfied that Song Zining had given the other guest warrior position to Qianye instead of his sworn brothers.

    As such, under Gao Junyi¡¯s half-jest-half-provocation, Qianye took him on in a round of virtualbat.

    Gao Junyi wasn¡¯t yet totally convinced when the two emerged from the fighting room, but his view toward Qianye had changed greatly. Under the origin power suppression of virtualbat, that which was put to the test was theirbat instinct and fighting experience. Gao Junyi immediately understood that although Qianye looked young, he was a veteran of a hundred wars and a master of killing techniques.

    It was just that Gao Junyi had no idea that Qianye wasn¡¯t fighting seriously at all.

    The next day after the celebration proper came the Song n¡¯s decennial examination.

    The first category of the great martial arts contest would span three days. The venue was a drill grounds just outside of the Enlightenment Manor which was big enough to allow an entire private army regiment to train at the same time.

    This event, to thepetitors, was both an honor and an opportunity. If one could enter the old ancestor¡¯s discerning eyes, his future prospects would rise to the skies.

    Arrangements had been made on the inspection tform in the drill grounds and over a dozen awe-inspiring elders were already seated therein. Almost all of the Song n¡¯s elders had gathered here and at their center was an empty cushion¡ªobviously, that was Duchess An¡¯s seat.

    All participating Song n descendants and guest warriors were lined up under the tform. At nine o¡¯clock sharp, an elderly silver-haired woman walked onto the stage with the support of a number ofdies and took her seat, trembling all the while.

    This was the first time Qianye had seen this legendary Duchess An. She was already so old that the years seemed to have condensed on her body. She possessed a benevolent appearance and was no different from an ordinary grandmother.

    Duchess An¡¯s gaze swept over those under the stage, her eyes squinting as if she couldn¡¯t see very clearly. She then smiled and said, ¡°Good, good! These are good children. I can see they¡¯re not bad just by looking at them. Zining,e up,e up!¡±

    Song Zining seemed already used to such a treatment¡ªhe leapt onto the stage under countless fiery gazes and performed a formal greeting.

    Duchess An held Song Zining¡¯s hand and said to n Lord Song Zhongnian beside her with a smile, ¡°Among all your grandchildren, I like Zining the best. He¡¯s well bred, talented, and simply delightful to talk to!¡±

    All the elders responded with smiles, but those under the stage couldn¡¯t help but reveal odd expressions. What reasons were those?! Additionally, these talents being praised by the old ancestor weren¡¯t of the martial dao, but misceneous arts like painting and calligraphy.

    Duchess An cared not about what others thought and immediately removed the jasper thumb ring from her hand and pushed it into Song Zining¡¯s own.

    Paying no particr attention, Song Zining calmly put the ring on his hand. That was a grade-six defensive armament. Although it could only be used once, it was powerful enough to block an all-out attack from a champion. Duchess An had never before concealed her favor toward Song Zining, and this time, she had once again made people speechless.

    Qianye, who was under the stage, broke into a frown. He had always heard that the Song n¡¯s old ancestor favored Song Zining, but he felt that something was off after seeing it personally today. Could she be making enemies for Song Zining without any good reason? Without waiting for him to think further, an elder stood up on the stage and began to announce the roster for the first round.

    There were 24 Song n descendants participating in the exam, and there were 48 guest warriors. Among them, the guest warriors would have to fight a number of rounds first and decide on the top 16. Then they would meet the 16 lower ranked Song n descendants in an elimination match until only eight were left. Together with the eight higher-ranked Song n descendants, they would then form the top-sixteen participants of this martial examination. In the end, they would confront each other two by two until the respective first ces were decided.

    Every contestant would umte points ording to their rank, and the sum of the Song n descendant and his guest warriors¡¯ scores would decide the first ce of this examination.

    The drill ground was divided into four sites which would allow four confrontations tomence at the same time. Apart from high explosive weapons like origin grenades and handheld origin canons, there was no limit on the types of weapons. There was also no limit on life and death.

    ording to the rules, sixteen guest warriors would be vacant during the first round. Neither Qianye nor Gao Junyi drew vacant lots¡ªwith every sessor using various methods to influence the fight roster, this kind of advantage naturally wouldn¡¯t fall to Song Zining.

    It was obvious that the sessors had invested great effort to rope people in¡ªthe first batch of guest warriors were all experienced veterans. Not only were they fierce and ruthless, but theirbat strength had also far surpassed that of a standard rank-nine fighter. These were all ferocious people who could easily suppress those at the same level.

    Additionally, the fights were especially intense. There was no friendship to speak of between the guest warriors, and thus no one had the intention to leave any space for the opponent. Almost every match would end with blood.

    Gao Junyi¡¯s name came up in the second batch of four matches.

    In this batch, the longest battlested for almost an hour. Gao Junyi was indeed a genuine talent¡ªhe had defeated his opponent in less than half an hour¡¯s time, however, he had also paid a certain price in the form of a near bone-deep cut on his left arm.

    Gen Junyi raised his head and said with a smile as he passed Qianye on his way back, ¡°Little fellow, don¡¯t lose Seventh Young Master¡¯s face in a while.¡± It was already enough to boast after winning the first round since none of the participating guest warriors were ordinary.

    Qianye onlyughed. Song Zining, on the other hand, was all smiles as he gave Gao Junyi some praise.

    It was at this time that the elder presiding over the examination announced An Renyi¡¯s name. Qianye got up and walked toward the arena after casually picking up the East Peak leaning against his seat.

    Just as Qianye had taken his position at the center of the arena, Duchess An suddenly opened her eyes from atop the stage and shot him an ambiguous nce.

    Qianye, who was silently waiting for thepetition to begin, was suddenly ovee by an inexplicable feeling. Feeling a pair of eyes were watching him attentively from the dark, he subconsciously turned toward the high tform. However, the Song n old ancestor had long since closed her eyes and once again resumed her resting state.

    No one on the stage noticed that short moment where Duchess An opened her eyes. No one was surprised about the ancestor nodding off either because, to this duchess who had advanced to the divine champion level over forty years ago, such fights between the younger generation were like kids swinging swords before an adult¡ªthere wasn¡¯t anything of interest to speak of. Perhaps she would pay some attention when the Song n descendants took the stage.

    But, although Duchess An had her eyes closed, no one on or below the stage dared ck off. With the ancestor¡¯s cultivation, nothing in these grounds could hide from her perception even if she was nine parts asleep and only one part awake.

    ¡°Ninth battle, Du Dahai vs. An Renyi, begin! Tenth Battle, Cao Junping vs. Gu Xiaohui¡­¡± The bell indicating themencement of the fights was rung as soon as the elder finished speaking.

    At this moment, Qianye finally focused his attention on the enemy. Standing on the other end of the arena was a burly red-faced man with a sinister scar on his left cheek.

    Qianye nced at him and said with a smile, ¡°You must be one of Song Ziqi¡¯s men?¡±

 Volume 5 - 14: Sweeping Through

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 14: Sweeping Through

    Du Dahai sneered. ¡°It¡¯s good that you know. Rest assured and forget about leaving since you¡¯ve alreadye up here. The price of daring to move against the Third Young Master is¡­ death!¡±

    The word death was uttered through his teeth.

    With a handgun in his left hand and a battle axe in his right, he was well equipped for both melee and rangedbat. This was also the standard gear for most arena matches. Du Dahai raised his battle axe and spun it around his wrist in a disy of might. He then strode forth in a straight line and began to charge with surging killing intent.

    But he was still separated from Qianye by a gap of ten meters when Du Dahai came to a sudden halt as if he had struck an invisible wall and stared fixedly at the front with his cheeks trembling ever so slightly.

    Meanwhile, amidst the action, Qianye was still calmly standing at his original spot. He had no intention to even draw his sword and only took on a simplebat stance, his right hand raised high like a de.

    Within an instant, the entire world vanished within Du Dahai¡¯s vision¡ªthere was only the radiance of apletely unsheathed de suspended high in the air. Under the draw of an invisible force, Du Dahai involuntary took another step forward.

    The moment he stepped forward, the fragile confrontation was immediately shattered.

    Qianye¡¯s figure moved and immediately arrived in front of Du Dahai. A thunderous boom resounded in the air as the palm de shed toward thetter¡¯s head.

    Du Dahai was terrified and his hair all stood on end. He utilized his full potential at the moment of life or death, letting out a frantic shout as he crossed his raised arms in an attempt to defend against this single strike which seemed to be apanied by the force of an entire world.

    Only a muffled thump was heard akin to the beating of a war drum. Qianye¡¯s palm de halted in mid-air for a moment¡ªit was actually resisted.

    But the very next moment, Du Dahai¡¯s knees gave in¡ªhe fell kneeling with a plop, and the ground underneath his knees caved in with cracks extending in every direction. Afterwards, his entire body sunk half a meter into the floor.

    Qianye held his hand and pulled back a step. East Peak was still firmly grasped in his left hand, and it seemed there was never any intention for it to leave its sheath since the very beginning.

    The focus within Du Dahai¡¯s eyes dispersed as he gradually copsed forward without even the chance to cough up blood. A deep pit several meters in diameter had appeared in the arena with Du Dahai lying at its center, his fate unknown.

    ¡°¡­ This battle is An Renyi¡¯s victory!¡± The elder in charge of judging the match gazed nkly for a moment before he remembered to announce the results.

    The other two matches had just begun, and the contestants from the third were still standing in a confrontation. Yet, the battle here had already ended?

    On the high tform, Duchess An was still napping, but this battle was so unexpected that over half the elders were visibly moved, and a number of them couldn¡¯t help discussing this matter as Qianye turned to leave the site.

    ¡°That strike drew upon the worldly origin power? But that¡¯s clearly a champion level ability!¡±

    ¡°I believe I only saw eight origin nodes on his body unless my old eyes are failing me.¡±

    ¡°This young man is able to use a champion level skill at rank-eight. His future is boundless, boundless I say!¡±

    ¡°Little Seven¡¯s foresight is pretty good.¡±

    There were also other voices mixed in with the praise and astonishment.

    ¡°Humph! The enemy is just too weak, and the defeated fellow underestimated his enemy!¡± The elder who had spoken was Song Xiuwen, Song Ziqi¡¯s great uncle. Naturally, he felt as if he had lost a lot of face.

    Immediately, another elder who was always at odds with him sneered. ¡°I wonder if Brother Xiuwen was able to p a rank-nine warrior half dead when you were rank-eight?¡±

    Song Xiuwen¡¯s old face immediately turned red. He let out a deep snort but couldn¡¯t retort.

    When Qianye returned to his seat, Gao Junyi¡¯s gaze toward him was filled with astonishment and admiration. Song Zining¡¯s personal guards were even more deferential.

    Within another spectator¡¯s area, Song Zicheng withdrew his gaze from Qianye and exhaled lightly. He had suddenly understood the odd meaning behind his seventh brother¡¯s departing smile. He couldn¡¯t help but secretly congratte himself for not taking that small advantage.

    He also knew that the arrangement of this battle involved no small influence from his third brother. Du Dahai was Song Ziqi¡¯s capable subordinate. Thetter had perhaps hoped to gain a cheap advantage by sending him to face Qianye in the first battle and, at the same time, wash away the previous humiliation. But he had never imagined things would turn out quite contrary to his expectations or that he would lose a powerful general right off the bat.

    Qianye paid no heed to everyone¡¯s attention as he walked toward Song Zining and sat down at his side.

    Song Zining sized up Qianye with an astonished expression and said, ¡°I suddenly have an unpleasant premonition that I won¡¯t be able to beat you anymore.¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s been quite some time since you can no longer beat me. Not just now.¡±

    Song Zining responded with a light snort. He then moved near Qianye and said in a whisper, ¡°You don¡¯t think you can beat me with just this?¡±

    Qianye responded in a soft voice, ¡°And you don¡¯t think I only have this much, do you?¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then let me see your other methods in a while.¡±

    ¡°You should worry about yourself first. Don¡¯t let others beat you down.¡±

    The two exchanged a few words but then they stopped the debate at the same time after finding that neither held a solid advantage. At this time, the first round had finallye to an end. With the addition of the vacant lots, there were now 32 guest warriors remaining.

    The second round began ording to schedule. Half of the warriors would be eliminated here, and the victors would battle 16 participating Song n descendants.

    Gao Junyi encountered a formidable foe during this round, and the two evenly-matched opponents fought an extremely thrilling battle and every de drew blood. In the end, he won by a hair¡¯s breadth.

    Next, it was Qianye¡¯s turn once again.

    From the opposite spectator¡¯s area, Song Ziqi gazed at the distant figure of Qianye¡¯s back, his expression as gloomy and dark as a low-lying cloud. He gripped his fist tightly, emitting a series of crackling sounds from his joints. Apparently, he was extremely furious.

    Du Dahai wasn¡¯t only one of his strongest warriors, but also rather knowledgeable in leading troops in battle. All of Song Ziqi¡¯s calctions had fallen into chaos now that the man was defeated and half-dead from the severe injuries. Not only would the loss of such an assistant cause his martial assessment rankings to plummet, but it would also deeply affect his future strategic assessment. Now, it was almost impossible for him to fight for the second sessor¡¯s position.

    There was never a Song Ziqi in Qianye¡¯s eyes¡ªthe current opponent was the only one he saw.

    Qianye¡¯s opponent couldn¡¯t be considered powerful and was also wounded. It appeared this opponent was arranged for Du Dahai after he had gained victory over Qianye, allowing him to win two easy battles and move up to fight against the Song n descendants. He would then clear the way for Song Ziqi by removing the obstructions posed by those sessor candidates.

    Standing before Qianye was a female warrior who, at this moment, was wearing a bandage on her leg and ncing at him with a flustered expression. Although she hadn¡¯t witnessed Qianye¡¯s battle in person, herpanions had, of course, informed her about it.

    As such, the female warrior didn¡¯t use her origin gun and instead drew a pair of des. The intention was to avoid his terrifying strength by utilizing agility and flexible techniques to circle around him.

    Just as the elder announced the beginning of the fight, the female warrior let out a shrill cry and pounced toward Qianye like a cheetah! The two des were tucked tightly beneath her ribs like a poisonous snake that would erupt at any moment to injure the prey.

    Qianye stood motionless just as he did in the first battle, and only when the opponent arrived within a certain distance did he take one step forward. The arena floor suddenly shook¡ªthe female warrior let out a muffled groan as if she were struck by an invisible hammer and staggered toward Qianye due to the sudden disruption of her footwork.

    Qianye raised his hand vertically like a de and shed down amidst a thunderous boom!

    The female warrior wanted to evade but suddenly realized that there was a certain attractive forceing from the palm de in front of her. She simply couldn¡¯t change the direction of her forward momentum no matter how she struggled. Desperation shed in her eyes as she let out a shrill scream and crossed her des to resist the iing blow. And, at this moment, the sharp edge of her des was aimed upward.

    She had not hoped this mping movement would stop Qianye¡¯s palm de. Her only hope was that the other party would worry about the sharp de edge and slightly modify his trajectory, hence missing the vital parts of her head and face. As for the rest, she could only hope the follow-up blow wouldn¡¯t cause too severe an injury.

    However, the female warrior¡¯s spections never came true. Qianyepletely ignored the de edge and chopped down directly without the slightest deviation.

    As palm and de intersected, the female warrior¡¯s twin des were flung away. Her entire body was also knocked flying with a bang as if she were struck by lightning and could no longer mber up. However, the cracks on the ground beneath her were much fewer than the previous round and she could still move her limbs. Apparently, her injuries were much lighter than Du Dahai¡¯s. On the other hand, Du Dahai, despite being much stronger than thisdy, was still receiving emergency treatment after being dragged off the arena. There was still no news of his fate.

    This battle was won without much suspense, and it was obvious that Qianye had been lenient. By the time he returned to Song Zining¡¯s side, the attention andments he was receiving had lessened quite a bit.

    After Qianye sat down, Song Zining said, ¡°Let me see your hands.¡±

    Qianye extended his right hand. There were two long red marks at the edge of his palm and the center was starting to turn purple. However, that was the extent of it¡ªthe des raised by a rank-nine warrior with all-out effort had actually failed to even cut through his skin.

    Although origin power defense was also a reason, this was still an exchange between flesh and an origin power weapon. This went to show that the sturdiness of Qianye¡¯s physique had reached an astonishing level.

    Song Zining was momentarily dumbfounded. He then tossed the medicine he had prepared back to his personal guard and squeezed out the words, ¡°Are you still human?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Qianye replied truthfully with great sincerity.

    The examination came to a halt for the day after the 16 guest warriors were decided. Both of Song Zining¡¯s warriors had made it to the next round, and this attracted quite a bit of attention from the elders.

    The Song n descendants took the stage in session the following day.

    Unexpectedly, Duchess An was present once again. This raised the spirits of all the participating Song n descendants since this meant that they could enter the old ancestor¡¯s eyes even if they didn¡¯t reach the finals and might even receive the opportunity to gain her favor and be promoted. Hence, everyone¡¯s fighting spirits were raised by a great deal.

    The olddy nced around with a benevolent expression. There were a number of fresh fruits and various snacks beside her. Apparently, she was in a rather good mood today and was ready to observe her great-grandchildren¡¯s generation in earnest. The elders were also in high spirits and were doing their best to shoot meaningful nces at the sessor candidates from their branch.

    From this moment on, every battle would affect certain groups of people.

    Qianye appeared on stage with the first batch, and his opponent was a young man in his twenties. He was tall, slender, and somewhat elegant. This person¡¯s name was Song Zize¡ªhe was actually fourth in seniority among the direct line of descent, but was actually ranked third as sessor, surpassing the third brother Song Ziqi. Apparently, he was a fairly outstanding individual.

    Song Zize nced at Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s indeed astonishing for a rank-eight fighter to reach this stage. However, this is as far as you¡¯ll go. The remainder of the arena belongs to our Song n descendants. Will you admit defeat yourself or do you want me to send you down?¡±

    Qianye nced at this bragging fourth young master and said calmly, ¡°If your skills are as eloquent as your words, the battle should¡¯ve ended by now.¡±

    Song Zize¡¯s expression turned vacant. He then drew his sword and sneered. ¡°I had wanted to leave some face for Little Seven at first, but since you¡¯re courting death, I can only chop off your hands and feet to teach you a lesson in his stead!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t understand the opponent¡¯s logic at all. Did the man think a few words could make him forfeit?

    In truth, Song Zize had the qualifications to be so arrogant. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to suppress Song Ziqi. He had already been polishing himself at rank-nine for quite some time. He wanted to form a solid foundation and then break through to be a brilliant champion in one go.

    Qianye turned back to nce at Song Zining. Thetter more or less understood his fourth brother¡¯s attitude and really wanted tough after seeing Qianye¡¯s helpless expression. He shrugged in response, indicating that Qianye could do as he wished and had no need to fear anything.

    Qianye nodded and gradually drew the East Peak. This underwhelming long sword had finally left its sheath after sleeping for two rounds.

 Volume 5 - 15: Pushing Through

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 15: Pushing Through

    At a corner of the high tform sat Elder Lu from the armory. His originally intoxicated-looking eyes opened slightly after seeing the East Peak leave its sheath and his peripheral vision swept toward the arena.

    Song Zize was holding his sword with both hands, the tip pointed at the ground as he rushed toward Qianye with a footwork resembling that of dragons and tigers. Song Zize exhaled deeply and let out a great shout after drawing close¡ªmyriad beams of illusory brilliance erupted from his de in a tempestuous forward sh.

    With just a single move, Song Zize had disyed his exquisite sword technique to the greatest extent. The splendorous radiance was formed of origin power and contained an incisive sword intent. There was no difference at all between being struck by the light and being shed by the de.

    Song Zize could already perform a materialization of origin power before crossing the champion threshold. Although he was aided by the premium grade-five origin sword in his hands, it was also a reflection of his own strength.

    Qianye¡¯s expression waspletely calm as he raised the East Peak and performed a sweeping horizontal sh from left to right.

    This simple stroke of the sword couldn¡¯t even be considered a technique and was merely a basic sword move. However, the iing brilliance was extinguished wherever the East Peak¡¯s edge passed by.

    Song Zize was inconsbly shocked. This ¡°Myriad Lanterns¡± was the most powerful secret sword technique he had always relied on. He had never imagined that it would be broken through so cleanly by a basic sword move. All of this origin power variations and intecing sword intents were as illusory as a mirage before this calm sweep of Qianye¡¯s sword.

    Seemingly as light as a feather, East Peak transformed from a sweep to a sh with a mere twist of Qianye¡¯s wrist¡ªa de came shing down toward Song Zize¡¯s head.

    At this moment, Song Zize waspletely shaken¡ªthis sh was overflowing with sword intent and yet entirely silent¡ªhe was one who studied the sword and knew at a single nce that it was impossible for him to receive such a blow. But the de was as quick as a sudden thunderbolt and there was also an invisible force pulling him toward its edge. How was he supposed to evade?

    He made an all-out effort to block the strike with a sweep of his own de but felt as if he had shed at a mountain. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s descending edge continued its descent,pletely unaffected.

    ¡°How can there be such a heavy sword?!¡± This was Song Zize¡¯s thought.

    Qianye¡¯s blow pped both Song Zize and his sword into the ground, forming a man-shaped pit in the arena. Had Qianye not turned the sharp edge away at thest moment and used the t of the de instead, Song Zize would have likely been hacked into two halves. Even then, he had suffered a dozen or so fractures throughout his body. Not only was he disqualified for the current martial assessment, even the ensuing strategic assessment might be affected.

    The might of this single strike was actually so powerful!

    On the stage, Elder Lu unwittingly opened his eyes wide and nodded slightly with an undetectable smile before resuming his nap. When Qianye¡¯s final dended, even Duchess An raised her eyelids ever so slightly.

    Many elders on the stage wore ugly expressions. Song Zize was considered one of the more outstanding talents among the younger generation, but in the end, he was beaten into such a miserable state by an unknown fellow. The Song n would be left with no face if this matter were to spread out.

    This round, Gao Junyi suffered an unfortunate defeat and Song Zining achieved an easy victory. Nine out of the sixteen guest warriors had been eliminated, and only seven of them achieved victory.

    From this, it was obvious that thebat strength of the great n descendants as a whole was anything but ordinary. They had already gained the upper hand against the guest warriors even before the eight most powerful candidates had made an appearance. The reasons for this was not only due to the numerous formidable secret arts but also because the Song n descendants were also much better equipped than the guest warriors.

    The expressions of the Song n elders recovered somewhat after seeing these results. One of them immediately said while stroking his beard, ¡°These results aren¡¯t bad at all. It seems the children are quite diligent!¡±

    Another elder said with a smile, ¡°With the Old Ancestor watching them, how would they dare not to give it their best? That being said, there are a lot of moldable talents among these children. It seems our Song n has good descendants and our resurgence to power is in sight.¡±

    Even the Song n¡¯s current lord and Duke Wei, Song Zhongnian, gave a slight nod. However, Duchess An didn¡¯t even bother to open her eyes.

    Meanwhile, a thin elder sneered from one side, ¡°Resurgence? Heh, heh, just don¡¯t let the first ce get taken by an outsider. That would make things interesting.¡±

    The elders¡¯ expressions all changed. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. We have Zicheng and Zian holding down the fort!¡±

    The thin elder¡¯s name was Song Zhongxing. He had always been one to speak frankly and knew not about making indirect remarks or leaving any leeway. As such, his rtionship with most elders was quite adverse. However, people had no way to deal with him since he was the current n lord¡¯s brother and also one of the current Song n¡¯s few experts.

    After hearing the elders¡¯ words, Song Zhongxing sneered and said, ¡°Zicheng and the others are all champions. Of course, they can hold their ground against a group of fighters. If our Song n is really so confident, then why haven¡¯t we rxed the guest warrior¡¯s rank restrictions to the champion level? How can it be called ability when we¡¯re suppressing the weak with the strong?¡±

    The elders all felt somewhat awkward and no one dared continue with his conversation.

    They were indeed somewhat crafty with their rules, but one had to know that this was the old ancestor¡¯s 100th birthday and what they wanted to bring about was an auspicious jubtion. There was nothing wrong with using the rules to let the Song n disciples win as long as the examination still served the purpose of assessment and tempering. Things like this were best kept to oneself after realizing; how could one blurt it all out?

    But Song Zhingxing was unwilling to spare them and continued with a coldugh, ¡°So what if the Song n descendants win? Which of these kids from the third generation can be brought out topete with the other three ns? Not to mention Zhao Jundu, I heard the Bai n recently epted a certain Bai Kongzhao. She¡¯s already out on the battlefield at such a young age and has set a record of killing champions at rank-seven. Although she took advantage of certain cheap tricks, that¡¯s still an extraordinary feat. Do Zicheng and the others dare fight against this Bai Kongzhao?¡±

    The elders¡¯ expressions turned more and more unsightly. A character like Bai Kongzhao was a demonic star born to ughter. Anything could happen in a fight against her. Even if Zicheng and the others could win against her, they would likely receive permanent injuries. They might even lose their lives if they were a bit careless.

    A certain elder let out a dry cough and said, ¡°Zicheng and Zian are both people with status. How can they bepared on the same page with that feral kid whose origins are unclear?¡±

    Song Zhongxing hadn¡¯t even spoken when Duchess An finally opened her eyes and sighed. ¡°What¡¯s the use of status on the battlefield? However, Zhongxing, you would also do well to speak less.¡±

    Song Zhongxing was much more reverent toward Duchess An. ¡°I merely feel indignant watching these people scheming around behind people¡¯s backs for mere points. What meaning does such a victory have? What meaning do these points have once they walk out of the Song n?¡±

    Numerous elders became angry. They had all engaged in no small number of petty maneuvers in order for their branch descendants to gain some advantage. So much that some blood was inevitably spilled in the process. However, Song Zhongxing actually revealed them so directly in front of the old ancestor! As members of a major n, he should still consider their dignity.

    The old ancestor closed her eyes once again and said calmly, ¡°Thepetition has just begun and the champion is still undecided. Zhongxing, you shouldn¡¯t be so anxious. Just watch slowly. You would¡¯ve broken through a long time ago if not for your impetuousness.¡±

    Song Zhongxing responded affirmatively and sat down in silence. Those elders who had been taunted by him proceeded to sit upright and give the match below their undivided attention.

    Afterwards, the sixteen victors once again faced off in pairs to decide the final eight.

    Qianye¡¯s opponent this time was a Song n descendant who was almost thirty years old. He had reached rank-nine three years ago and was tempering himself all this time. His origin power was abundant and inherently possessed a god-like strength. He was considered to be a powerful contender for the third sessor¡¯s position once he had broken through to champion rank.

    This person didn¡¯t bring an origin gun and only carried a heavy halberd. Judging from its external appearance, the weapon should be at least hundreds of kilograms in weight. He gradually walked into the ring with dignified steps and shouted, ¡°I see that you¡¯re also a straightforward person. Let¡¯s do away with the long-winded conversation and exchange a few heavy blows first!¡±

    Some Song n disciples nced at Qianye and sneered. They understood this cousin very well and knew that his scheming mind waspletely contrary to his coarse external appearance. A direct contest of strength was his specialty, and a halberd going against a sword was also taking a big advantage.

    Song Zining nced at the arena and let out a yawn in order to conceal the smile hanging around the corner of his mouth.

    On the stage, Elder Lu had already started to snore.

    Qianye shot a nce at the opponent and nodded. ¡°Very well.¡±

    That person held the halberd horizontally and said, ¡°I won¡¯t take advantage of you. You can have the first three moves!¡±

    Qianye broke into aughter but had no intention to hold back as he held the sword with both hands and raised the East Peak. This sword which was one and a half times the length of an ordinary de seemed full of vigor above Qianye¡¯s head but was obviously slim and delicatepared to the opponent¡¯s heavy halberd.

    Qianye exhaled lightly¡ªEast Peak¡¯s cutting edge gradually began to tremble as a droning whistle akin to a dragon¡¯s cry arose within the arena.

    That opponent¡¯s expression suddenly shifted.

    The speed with which East Peak shed down wasn¡¯t fast at all, but it was like a mountain peak gradually toppling over. The moment the de¡¯s edge moved, it let out a rumbling thunder which shook everyone¡¯s hearts.

    The opponent let out an odd cry as he raised his halberd and, with all his might, finally resisted this heavy blow. Contrary to expectations, no sound actually came out as the sword and halberd came into contact, but the entire arena violently shook.

    The heavy halberd shaft suddenly bent downward, and the origin arrays upon it shattered one by one until East Peak¡¯s edge stopped no more than a palm¡¯s breadth above the man¡¯s head.

    Afterwards, the man¡¯s movements came to aplete pause during this deadlock with Qianye¡ªit was as if time itself had slowed down. The next moment, all the origin power defenses on his body suddenly shattered, and he shot toward the back like a cannonball,nding near the edge of the other arena.

    The spectators who were hoping to watch a good show turned speechless. Many people had their mouths opened wide and their faces were frozen in astonishment. Even such an opponent was struck flying with a single blow¡ªjust how heavy was Qianye¡¯s sword?

    Next, Song Zining took the stage and once again defeated his enemy with rtive ease. This time, most of the elders¡¯ gazes were focused on him.

    Song Zining had only entered the sessor¡¯s rankings for only two years. Although he had achieved minor sess in the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art, it wasn¡¯t an attack type secret art. He was also quite young and only rank seven when he took part in the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Now that he had continuously advanced two ranks for this examination, there were people secretly criticizing him for being short-sighted and that his foundation would be unstable. No one had actually expected he would disy suchbat strength.

    After the round waspleted, the final eight victors were given half a day of rest and would face the eight higher-ranked Song n descendants in the afternoon to decide the top-eight of this examination.

    Qianye had swept through all opposition in his previous battles and didn¡¯t need to rest since he hadn¡¯t expended any stamina at all. However, the others didn¡¯t have it that easy since the entire four-hour interval had to be used for both rest and treatment.

    The martial examination, up to this point, hadn¡¯t seen any casualties. However, the battles between guest warriors almost always drew blood, and among them, the one with the gravest injuries was Du Dahai whom Qianye had met in the first round. It was said that he still hadn¡¯t regained consciousness.

    However, as thepetition progressed, the smell of gunpowder on the drill grounds grew progressively thicker. In the previous round between two Song n descendants, the two parties obviously had old grudges¡ªthe fight immediately escted into a lethalbat which ended with one of them sustaining heavy injuries and losing consciousness. Had the elders not stepped in at the critical moment, it might have be the first casualty of the examination.

    At this point, there were only three guest warriors left. All of them possessed tyrannical strength and seemed to be hiding certain tricks up their sleeves even when they were pitted against champions. And Qianye was one of them.

    The rules of battle were different from the top-sixteen onwards.

    The contestants who had killed their way up thedder would be appraised and ranked by a collective group of elders. They would then be able to choose their opponents from the top-eight Song n descendants ording to this ranking.

    This rule greatly favored the warriors who had fought their way up the eliminationdder because the person assessed as first inbat strength would get the first pick. Normally, they would choose the weakest opponent because they would have reached the top-eight after this round, and there was no longer a difference whom they met first orst.

    With Duchess An sitting on the stage, thebat strength assessment naturally proceeded without any obvious sketchiness. Qianye¡¯s ranking was the lowest, but he had swept through all of his opponents as if he were pulling out rotten weeds. As such, he was unanimously elected as first inbat strength and would gain the right to select the first opponent. Such a result was already expected by the audience.

    Song Zining asked before they walked out onto the drill grounds together, ¡°Have you chosen your opponent?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get beaten up too badly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something I should be saying to you.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t. I¡¯ll definitely pick the weakest.¡± Song Zining shrugged¡ªhe had already guessed what Qianye would do, but decided not to stop him after some thought.

    From here on out, the supporting elder had been changed to the elder of the Hall of Peace, Song Tu. It was obvious from his name that he came from a side branch¡ªa tall, strong, and burly man in his prime. However, his every action was as steady as a mountain peak, and his eyes shed like lightning whenever they moved. Apparently, he was extremely powerful.

    Song Tu pointed toward Qianye and said in a deep voice, ¡°An Renyi, choose the opponent for your next battle!¡±

    Qianye stepped forward and slowly raised his hand.

    Following his movement, the eight Song n sessors all revealed different expressions. This was especially true for the only female sessor who was ranked eighth in the list, Song Xinran. Provided there were no idents, Qianye was almost certain to choose her as an opponent because that would ensure his advancement into the top-eight.

    The others who were ranked toward the lower end were all forcing themselves to look calm. With the strength Qianye disyed during the elimination matches, he could sweep through any opponent under the champion level¡ªthey were all bound to lose when faced against Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s hand slowly rose, but the direction in which he was pointing at was actually the first-ranked Song Zian.

    Immediately, the entire audience broke into amotion.

 Volume 5 - 16: East Peak Sinks the Moon

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 16: East Peak Sinks the Moon

    Song Zian¡¯s expression was extremely unsightly because this wasn¡¯t just a challenge, but also a humiliation. This meant that Qianye didn¡¯t pay any attention to his first-rankbat strength at all.

    He leapt up from his seat and said with a cold snort, ¡°A little mayfly dares cross the river?¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m not a very patient person, and I don¡¯t like dragging out my revenge. Since you harmed me intentionally two days ago and caused my advancement to fail, I shall settle this enmity with you today. Your martial examination rank shall end here!¡±

    ¡°Insolence!!!¡± Song Zian was enraged¡ªhe felt rather regretful. He thought the matter from that day had been settled and that he had gained a secret advantage over Song Zining. Never did he expect that the other party to make such a move. Even if he did win this round, this usation had already been heard by the seniors.

    Beside him, Song Tu roared with a frown, ¡°Enough! Next!¡±

    Behind Qianye was Song Zining who unceremoniously picked the Song n young mistress. However, Song Xinran actually let out a sigh of relief because Song Zining¡¯s fighting style from the previous rounds could be considered quite gentle. Even if she lost, it wouldn¡¯t affect the uing assessments as long as she didn¡¯t sustain heavy injuries.

    The remaining six chose their opponents one after another, and this time, there weren¡¯t any surprises. The two lowest-ranked contestants would have to face Song Zicheng and Song Ziqi, which was as good as saying they had been eliminated.

    At this moment, Duchess An suddenly opened her eyes and instructed her attendants to change the refreshments. This also indicated that the old ancestor was no longer going to rest with her eyes closed. It appeared she was going to watch thepetition in earnest.

    The stage bustled with activity. By the time the things Duchess An requested were arranged for, the elders¡¯ seats had also been somewhat modified. Elder Lu had been summoned to Duchess An¡¯s side alongside Song Zhongnian on the other.

    Among the various elders, the great elder Song Zhongcheng¡¯s countenance was as gloomy as a dark cloud capable of pressing down upon a city. He was Song Zian¡¯s grandfather and also the current n lord¡¯s eldest brother. It was bad enough that Qianye had challenged Song Zian, but he actually announced that Song Zian had harmed him secretly before thepetition.

    How important was the Song n¡¯s decennial examination? It was a great taboo to harm the opponent in secret before the contest. Additionally, all the other guest warriors were rank-nine. Only Qianye was rank-eight, and yet he was ranked first inbat strength. He had chosen, at this moment, to reveal that his failure to advance was due to Song Zian¡¯s secret ploy. How serious was this matter?!

    Regardless of the truth of this matter, Song Zhongcheng had already sensed something different in the other elders¡¯ expressions. Although the old ancestor seemed unmoved by this, she might actually hold a grudge considering how much she favored Song Zining.

    The Song n¡¯s third generation was in a general decline and there was no longer any suspense regarding the fact that the session of the n lord¡¯s position would skip a generation. Song Zhongcheng had always hoped Song Zian would be able to wrest the sessor rights from Song Zhongnian¡¯s lineage and seize the n lord¡¯s position. He was absolutely infuriated now that his ns were messed up by Qianye and wanted nothing more than to p this bold youngster to death. He made a firm resolution to clear away the root of these troubles as soon as the examination was over.

    Following the bell¡¯s toll, the first battle for top-eight began. It was Song Zian versus Qianye.

    This lineup should¡¯ve belonged to the semi-finals or even the finals, but was forced tomence early due to Qianye¡¯s selection.

    Elder Lu immediately sat up straight as Qianye walked into the arena holding the East Peak. He was looking forward to the battle.

    Song Zian appeared on stage soon afterwards and stood before Qianye. Before the battle began, he suddenly suppressed his voice and asked, ¡°Have your injuries from that day healed already? It seems you recover rather quickly.¡±

    Suffering an agitation during cultivation would result in internal injuries, and it was difficult to fully recover from them. Moreover, Qianye had imed that he was attempting an advancement at the time, and as such, the consequences should be even worse. Song Zian bringing up past matters at this moment was clearly to enrage Qianye.

    But Qianye wasn¡¯t moved at all and only nced up at him, saying, ¡°So it was indeed you who did this deliberately. It seems knocking you out of thepetition at this point is the right choice.¡±

    Song Zian drew his sword and the corners of his lips formed a disdainful curve. ¡°A servant imitating the master. Utterly reckless!¡±

    A deep azure shed through the depths of Qianye¡¯s eyes and along with a visible killing intent.

    Song Zian¡¯s sword was a bit longer than ordinary des, and its body was narrower by a third¡ªapparently, its focus was on agility and sharpness. There was also an aqua-blue light flowing along the sword, and after instilling it with origin power, the image of a moon against the starry night would emerge within the erupted radiance. This was an impressive grade-six melee weapon.

    This was one of the Song n¡¯s famed swords, the ¡°Moonchaser¡±. It was an extraordinary product among grade-six swords. With such a weapon in hand, Song Zian was already at a great advantage in terms of weaponry. Not to mention the fact that a grade-six weapon woulde with various powerful attributes¡ªits ¡°Divine Edge¡± alone was enough to directly hack through an ordinary grade-five weapon.

    The two parties began to move in confrontation. Song Zian, however, didn¡¯t attack with his sword and, instead, retreated to one side. While running, he whipped out his handgun and fired off a series of shots toward Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s body seemed to be swaying in the wind. His smooth footwork shifted within a small radius and evaded the sts almost effortlessly. This kind of side-step technique could only be trained amidst the rain of bullets on the battlefield.

    Seeing that origin gunfire was ineffective against the opponent, Song Zining let out a snort and holstered his handgun. He then drew his sword and sped up his footwork. He encircled Qianye several times within the blink of an eye andunched a series of tempestuous sword attacks.

    Song Zian had observed Qianye¡¯s previous battles and knew that this opponent possessed extraordinary strength despite his frail-looking physique. As such, he immediately took the initiative tounch an agile offensive, hoping to defeat Qianye with speed and technique.

    Song Zining¡¯s strategy was indeed correct¡ªhis only mistake was using it on Qianye.

    The East Peak in Qianye¡¯s hand moved forth¡ªthis modest-looking de suddenly seemed to have lost all weight as it stuck close to the Moonchaser and drew a chain of circles in the air, almost wringing the de out of Song Zian¡¯s hands.

    These few moves were seemingly lightweight and iparably exquisite. Song Zian was momentary stunned in the face of thispletely unexpected situation, and his hand actually paused for a moment. How could Qianye let such an opportunity slip by? He took advantage of thispse and swung his de in a counterattack. The East Peak trembled, emitting faintly discernible draconic roars akin to a fish swimming against the torrential currents.

    Song Zian¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t slow at all. He immediately recovered from his momentary daze and calmly met the blow head-on. The Moonchaser in his hand was iparably agile as it drew out several rings of origin power radiance. However, Qianye was in full control of his advance and retreat¡ªthis Devastating Strike which many had experienced before was, at this moment, akin to a sheet of goose feathers. Qianye weaved back and forth with great haste as he broke through the rings of origin power brilliance and shattered them one by one.

    This exchange between the two transformed into an entanglement, and they were evenly matched!

    At this time, the entire audience was astonished, and the expressions of the several elders on the stage changed. Even Elder Lu was staring fixedly at the battle with his eyes wide open. The old ancestor slowly peeled a lychee and put it into her mouth.

    Song Zian¡¯s heart was aze. In his eyes, Qianye¡¯s every attack was the most ordinary of basic sword techniques, but his attacks were virtually at the pinnacle of timeliness. Not only had they pierced through the gaps between his sword radiance, but also struck the weakest links with great uracy, effectively shattering his origin power.

    Song Zian¡¯s peripheral vision identally fell on the expressions of the elders on the stage and couldn¡¯t help but grumble in his heart. Presently, he had almost broken through to a rank-twelve champion and was deservingly the number one descendant in terms of cultivation level. If he was having such a hard time beating a rank-eight warrior, his status in the old ancestor¡¯s eyes would decline sharply even if he did win this round in the end.

    Not only did he have to win this round, but he would also have to win beautifully!

    Song Zian was now in a position where he couldn¡¯t stop midway. He gritted his teeth and rearranged his sword stance. At this point, the de erupted with zing light as he ruthlessly shed toward the East Peak.

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose. He knew that Song Zian wanted to borrow the power of his grade-six weapon and his advantage in origin power ranking to forcefully receive the blow from his heavy sword. The round was as good as won if he could break the East Peak.

    Qianye flipped his wrist over, whereupon the East Peak made a sharp turn and shed in reverse toward Moonchaser without the slightest intention to evade or yield.

    The moment the two des came into contact, Qianye suddenly let out an explosive roar as his origin power surged up¡ªit actually seemed as if scarlet mes were soaring into the sky. The specks of golden light were especially dazzling amidst the origin mes.

    Within a split second, Qinaye¡¯s origin power had been raised to its peak, and the natural origin power several meters around his body began to resonate with him. A strand of darkness origin power wound around the East Peak¡¯s edge as it hacked toward Moonchaser!

    Qianye¡¯s True Vision was able to clearly identify the origin power lingering around Song Zian¡¯s Moonchaser and that it would fluctuate in intensity ording to the shift in his sword stance. However, the superiority became evident in a single all-out exchange¡ªthe origin power resonance brought about by Song Zian¡¯s sword was much smaller in magnitude.

    As the two blows intersected, Song Zian¡¯s entire body was violently shaken and his hands could hardly hold onto the hilt. Meanwhile, Qianye also lost all color at that moment and his hands on the sword couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    The two staggered backward. This blow had resulted in a draw.

    However, this result shocked everyone at the scene.

    Song Zian was already about to break through, but Qianye was a mere rank-eight fighter. The difference between the two wasn¡¯t limited to just three levels, but also epassed the wide chasm between a champion and a fighter. Even under such circumstances, it could already be considered a poor performance if Song Zian was unable to kick Qianye out of the arena in one move. How could they reach such a stalemate?

    Song Zian¡¯s countenance was also full of shock. He stared at Qianye suspiciously and cried out involuntarily, ¡°You¡¯re hiding your strength! You¡¯re definitely not a fighter¡­¡±

    Song Zian immediately stopped talking midway¡­

    He was simply too astonished just now and thus lost hisposure. How could a mere champion hope to conceal his rank under the old ancestor¡¯s eyes? The moment these words slipped out of his mouth, Song Zian realized he had lost more points with his performance.

    At the moment, the old ancestor was cracking melon seeds while gazing over at their battle. Although she said nothing, her eyes were extremely sharp and no small movement could hope to escape her notice.

    Song Zian forced himself to calm down. He gazed at Qianye and said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m fairly astonished that you can fight against me to this level. But this ends now. You should¡¯ve been injured quite badly just now, am I right?¡±

    Qianye suddenly revealed a mocking smile. After a few deep breaths, he raised the East Peak once again and his vigor also rose gradually like the tides in the blue sea, not weakened in the slightest.

    Song Zian could hardly believe his eyes. How could Qianye bepletely unharmed?

    In truth, the forceful sh between the two parties had indeed resulted in a draw. Qianye was originally just a step away from rank-nine and was far above Song Zian in terms of physical strength and endurance. Speaking in terms of constitution, Qianye was alreadyparable to a vampire viscount¡ªhow could an ordinary humanpare with him?

    Comparatively, Song Zian¡¯s only advantage at the moment was his origin power capacity. He hadn¡¯t even gained a significant advantage in terms of weaponry. It was only logical that their exchange of swords would result in a draw.

    How could Song Zian know where the crux of the problem was? He shot a nce at the East Peak and couldn¡¯t help but stare¡ªthat unremarkable jet-ck sword waspletely unharmed! This also meant that this ordinary-looking sword, at least in terms of material, was not the least inferior to his own.

    He inhaled deeply, and with a shake of his hand, a bright moon suddenly appeared overhead and illuminated the sky. The long sword in his hand trembled continuously as it sprayed out tens of thousands of sword beams toward Qianye akin to the brilliance of the moon reflected on the water.

    This was the Hignd Song n¡¯s secret sword art, Brightmoon Heart. At this time, he could no longer care about leaving cards up his sleeves for the uing matches¡ªthe uing matches were out of the question if he was defeated here.

    However, at this moment, Qianye¡¯s stance had fully formed and the East Peak shed through the air amidst a loud cry.

 Volume 5 - 17: Success in One Battle

    This sh was extremely simple and left no room at all for any variations. Apanied by a torrent of origin power, it came hurtling down in a straight line like a waterfall descending from the nine heavens.

    The greater half of Song Zian¡¯s attacking de radiance was dispersed as the de fell.

    A change urred right after East Peak¡¯s momentum was exhausted. With a reverse flick and a sideway sweep, what remained of the fading moonlight waspletely obliterated.

    After breaking Song Zian¡¯s Brightmoon Heart, Qianye maneuvered the de with both hands and switched from defense to offense,unching a flurry of chaotic attacks against Song Zian. It almost seemed like a series of random shes where not even a basic sword move could be observed.

    However, the sword momentum behind each of Qianye¡¯s blows was iparably heavy. It could break mountains, overturn the seas, and was poised to sink the moon and stars!

    On the stage, Elder Lu¡¯s eyes lit up. He immediately pped the table and praised, ¡°Good swordy!¡±

    Duchess An washed her hands in the basin of clear water offered by her attendant and actually agreed with a gentle nod, ¡°eptable.¡±

    This was an evaluation from the Song n¡¯s old ancestor! This ¡°eptable¡±, when ced on a younger generation descendant, was an extremely high praise one would hardly hear once in several years. Among the hundreds of Song n disciples, only Song Zicheng and Song Zining had ever received such praise.

    On the side, the great elder¡¯s countenance turned even darker. The old ancestor¡¯s high evaluation clearly wasn¡¯t given to Song Zian.

    At this moment, Song Zian¡¯s sword was emitting sheets of lunar brilliance and forming a multitude of wondrous images in the air. Apparently, he had reached a certain level of attainment with the Brightmoon Heart. Countless beams of moonlight formed a screen and gradually enveloped him, making it seem as if he were standing within a gigantic full moon.

    Those who were familiar with the secret art couldn¡¯t help but exim in astonishment¡ªthis was a sign denoting the imminent formation of the ¡°heart¡±. Once perfectly integrated, he would be able tounch an extremely powerful attack.

    However, Qianye waspletely unaffected and seemed as if he was engrossed in his assault. East Peak shifted once again with a violent whistle¡ªit was, at times, as heavy as a mountain and, at times, as exquisite as a thread. His transitions between light, heavy, slow, and fast were almost untraceable and his footwork grew progressively calm and rxed.

    However, the situation within the field was extremely clear. Whenever East Peak streaked past, that gigantic moon would weaken by a bit and never reach consummation. In the end, Song Zian¡¯s forehead was filled with beads of sweat. He had to drive the Brightmoon Heart to its extremes just to forcefully maintain the full moon.

    On the stage, Elder Lu was pping continuously. ¡°Good, good. Well done!¡±

    The great elder¡¯s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot because Elder Lu¡¯s words almost seemed to be saying Song Zian should be beaten up.

    Song Zian, on the other hand, was able to exhibit some tenacity after getting rid of his distracting thoughts. Although he was at a disadvantage, he was still able to hold on. Additionally, with his rank as a champion, his long-term endurance was significantly greater than Qianye, and he would eventually win if they continued this stalemate.

    A deep blue color suddenly emerged within Qianye¡¯s eyes and Song Zian¡¯s figure was clearly reflected within.

    Thetter suddenly felt his heart tighten. Although he was able to suppress the sensation immediately, his movements still turned sluggish for a moment. Qianye grasped this short interruption in the opponent¡¯s strength tounch three continuous strikes with the East Peak. With a momentum seemingly capable of sinking thend and overturning the seas, he shot down Song Zian¡¯s full moon in one go.

    Song Zian wanted to retaliate in astonishment, but the weight of his longsword seemed to be fluctuating wildly as his movements all turned sluggish as if his limbs were stuck in a spiderweb. He was feeling inexplicably awkward. At this critical moment, his heart suddenly began to hurt once again.

    Song Zian¡¯s origin power became momentarily unstable. However, Qianye didn¡¯t press the attack. Instead, he took a couple of steps back and slowly raised the East Peak.

    With a loud cry, three strikes were, again,unched at lightning speed!

    The first shattered the lunar brilliance, while the second broke Song Zian¡¯s origin power defenses. Meanwhile, the third ran directly toward Song Zian¡¯s lower abdomen and, with a light flick, flung him high into the air.

    Carrying East Peak with his left hand, Qianye drew his origin gun with the right and unleashed a volley of shots toward Song Zian who happened to be falling back down at the moment. Origin power sted out continuously from the muzzle!

    On the stage, the great elder jumped out of his seat and roared, ¡°Brat, you dare?!¡±

    The gun in Qianye¡¯s hand was the grade-five handgun provided by the Song n, and its might was far below that of the Twin Flowers. However, Song Zian¡¯s origin power defenses had just been shattered and could no longer resist such concentrated fire despite being a champion.

    Song Zian let out a wretched cry as his body spun several times in the air with blood gushing out continuously. Surprisingly, none of those shots had missed and all the projectiles had found their mark.

    The great elder roared furiously, ¡°Junior, you¡¯re courting death!¡± He leapt off the stage and, using his palm as a sword, shed toward Qianye from afar. A beam of silken lunar brilliance shot across the long distance.

    It was the same Brightmoon Heart, but in the elder¡¯s hands, it possessed a formidable might capable of tearing apart the heaven and earth.

    ¡°Stay your hand!¡± Song Tu, who was overseeing the match from beside the arena, blocked the moonlight with an angry roar.

    However, the elder hadunched this malicious attack at full power. Song Tu was immediately struck flying and coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood. Although the streak of lunar radiance had dimmed a fair bit due to Song Tu¡¯s obstruction, the remaining half continued its flight toward Qianye.

    Thetter¡¯s eyes turned a deep azure as he locked onto the iing moonlight.

    A slight distortion was suddenly revealed within this consummate radiance. Although it was minuscule, there was finally a weak point in this originally invincible de light. Qianye tossed away the origin gun and held the East Peak in both hands. He held his breath and concentrated his attention¡ªthe heavy sword felt as if it were dragging ten thousand tonnes of seawater as he raised it with great difficulty and thrust directly forward at the lunar sword radiance.

    Just as the two des came into contact, a pair of luminous wings suddenly unfurled at Qianye¡¯s back.

    Spring thunder rumbled through the air as the great elder¡¯s moonlight was actually hacked apart by the East Peak.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body was shaken as he coughed up arge mouthful of fresh blood. The radiant wings behind his back distorted for a moment and gradually faded away. His finger webs were all drenched in blood, and his arms were trembling uncontrobly. However, his figure still stood ramrod straight.

    Qianye had actually received a blow from the great elder!

    The audience almost couldn¡¯t believe their eyes. The great elder¡¯sbat strength could be ranked within the top ten in the entire n. Even though the greater half of the attack power had been blocked by Song Tu, it still wasn¡¯t something an ordinary champion could¡¯ve received.

    Even the great elder who was hovering high in the air was startled because he had never expected that his all-out attack would be rendered ineffective. He waspletely enraged and raised his hand to fire another moonlight rainbow.

    But this beam only flew out halfway before it was severed andpletely dispersed by a certain object. The elders on the stage clearly saw that the item which had broken the great elder¡¯s attack was actually a peeled lychee.

    Meanwhile, the lychee in Duchess An¡¯s hands had gone missing.

    ¡°Zhongcheng, what do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Duchess An said slowly.

    The great elder flew back to the stage and bowed. ¡°Zian has already been defeated and yet that junior stillunched a treacherous blow. His intentions were clearly improper. That was why I wanted to take action and give him a lesson.¡±

    Duchess An replied indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ve said this long ago. The martial assessment won¡¯t pursue life and death. Even if he killed Song Zian on the spot, that¡¯s just because our descendant iscking in skill. Are the rules Iid down being ignored even before my death?¡±

    The great elder¡¯s forehead was drenched in sweat as he replied hurriedly, ¡°This son doesn¡¯t dare!¡±

    Duchess An sighed. ¡°Your actions have actually shown the world that our Song n doesn¡¯t even have the slightest bit of tolerance. Who will be willing to join us in the future? Withdraw now and relinquish your elder¡¯s position on your own. Your entire branch¡¯s expenses shall be halved for five years.¡±

    A disastrous change came over the great elder¡¯s countenance. This was a fairly severe punishment. Although the time span was only five years, it meant that their entire branch¡¯s development would be suppressed during this time, and it would be even more difficult to contend with Song Zhongnian.

    Duchess An then said, ¡°Pour a cup of the Heavenly Wind Dew from my room and let that child drink it, lest his foundation be damaged.¡±

    The two attendants immediately leapt off the stage and left in a hurry. The elders were all somewhat moved.

    The Heavenly Wind Dew collected by Duchess An could be considered a priceless wine. Not only was it a divine medicine for treating injuries, but it could also help nurture a solid foundation for cultivation.

    After taking on the great elder¡¯s blow, the primary injury Qianye had received was the moonlight sword intent which had prated his body. It was indeed difficult to eliminate, but all of the elders here were capable of treating it. Duchess An bringing out such a valuable item was, in truth, a disguisedpensation.

    There were people on the drill grounds to carry Song Zian off the arena and take care of his injuries. He had suffered a series of gunshots and the deepest one had damaged his lungs. This kind of injury would require several months of recuperation even with the best of medicines. This also meant that he was bound to be crippled for the remainder of the assessments.

    But this matter didn¡¯t end here. After the conflict was over, many people recalled the radiant wings Qianye had manifested behind his back and couldn¡¯t help but reveal peculiar expressions.

    Normally, one would have to reach rank-thirteen champion and above in order to manifest one¡¯s talent form. However, it wasn¡¯t exactly strange to see someone achieve this in advance¡ªevery major n would have a number of geniuses who could do this. Qianye had defeated a champion as a rank-eight fighter so he couldn¡¯t be assessed with conventional standards. Hence, people weren¡¯t overly astonished.

    But those luminous wings¡ªwhich n¡¯s bloodline or secret art did it belong to?

    In truth, some had already begun to privately discuss his identity after he distinguished himself in the elimination matches. They suspected whether he was a n disciple who hade to provide assistance with a hidden identity and even felt that he might be from another major n or a high-ranking aristocratic family.

    This didn¡¯t go against the rules of thepetition. Moreover, one had to know that in an empire with rigidly stratified social statuses, it could be considered amendable ability to be able to convince a high-ranking aristocratic descendant to hide his name and act as a guest warrior. But certain criticisms couldn¡¯t be avoided when said person¡¯s strength was so overwhelming.

    Song Zining sat motionlessly as if he hadn¡¯t sensed all the gazes upon him. Qianye drank the provided medicine and also took care of thecerations on his hands. Then, with the East Peak in his arms, he leaned back in his seat and began to rest with his eyes closed. Of course, he also turned a deaf ear to the discussions around him.

    On the stage, the elders¡¯ suspicious voices had also faded away. Only a couple of them were exchanging nces and whispering under their breath.

    Song Zhongxing, with his nasty temper, sneered, ¡°What Feathercloud Art? It¡¯s not as if the elders here haven¡¯t seen the Bai n¡¯s secret art. It looks nothing like this! And even if that is indeed the case, is it enough to save our Song n¡¯s face? Don¡¯t tell me a Bai n junior should be stronger than our Song n?¡±

    Without waiting for him to continue, n Lord Song Zhongnian hurriedly shot Song Zhongxing a meaningful nce and stopped this younger brother of his who tended to offend everyone with his speech.

    At this time, Elder Lu said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed not the Feathercloud Art.¡± Duchess An, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t even be bothered to open her eyes. As such, the numerous elders gradually became silent.

    The remaining battles were no longer suspenseful since all of them involved the strong defeating the weak.

    The final eight would fight again on the morrow and finally decide on the first ce of this examination. At this point, only Qianye and one of Song Zian¡¯s men remained among the guest warriors. The difference between ordinary warriors and n descendants was significant. Although they wereparatively more experienced, this hardly made up for the difference in material wealth and the foundationid down since childhood.

    It was also no wonder why elder Song Zhongnian lost hisposure like so. It was obvious that their branch had invested heavily in this examination, especially in the martial assessment. They hade well prepared and were determined to take the highest score. However, they were met with aplete failure when Song Zian was defeated by Qianye during the battle for top-eight.

    That night, Qianye drank the Heavenly Wind Dew and fell into a deep sleep, waking up only at dawn the following day.

    He felt some peculiarities in his body as soon as he woke up. Thus, he hurriedly observed with his internal vision and found that the ninth origin node had actually been ignited unconsciously. Additionally, all of his injuries hadpletely healed.

 Volume 5 - 18: The Foundation of Survival

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 18: The Foundation of Survival

    Having seen him sweep out Song Zian in advance, Qianye¡¯s opponent in the top-eight battle was obviously low in fighting spirit. Qianye was thus able to score an easy victory.

    Song Zining, on the other hand, faced off against Song Zian¡¯s guest warrior. Both sides had shed all pretenses after yesterday¡¯s battle¡ªthat warrior immediatelyunched a series of killing moves and wasn¡¯t at all hesitant to exchange injuries. He obviously intended to push Song Zining into dire straits.

    However, Song Zining finally disyed astonishingbat prowess in this battle. He used the Song n secret art, Fueled Fire Spear. This spear art was most suitable for groupbat in the battlefield and, in his hands, possessed the destructive might of a formidable army. The fight between the two didn¡¯tst long before that guest warrior was killed on the spot.

    This was the first mortal bout during this martial examination, however, the audience was silent and no one made any criticisms. Song Zian had lost yet another powerful general and this damage could be considered disastrous.

    The top-four was thus produced. Qianye would soon face Song Ziqi, while Song Zining¡¯s opponent was Song Zicheng.

    Song Ziqi had just crossed over the champion threshold and was an entire level inferior to Song Zian inbat strength. Inparison, Qianye had advanced to rank-nine after drinking the Heavenly Wind Dew. As such, there was little suspense in the following battle. Qianye didn¡¯t even need to use Eye Ability: Control before he had broken through Song Ziqi¡¯s defenses and injured him with a flurry of sword strikes.

    Qianye really wanted to leave some disability on Song Ziqi if not for Song Tu keeping a close eye on him from nearby. But even so, he should be bedridden for at least three to five days.

    On the other hand, an intense battle had erupted between Song Zining and Song Zicheng.

    As the eldest son of the current n lord, Song Zicheng had always firmly held the first sessor¡¯s position. He had much more resources at his disposal and should¡¯ve held aplete advantage in terms ofbat arts and weaponry. Only when the two made their appearance did people realize Song Zining had already swapped out his gear and was actually equipped with a full set of grade-six armaments.

    Even as members of a n known for its great wealth, everyone was still visibly moved¡ªSong Zian only possessed a single grade-six weapon and Song Zicheng only had two pieces of grade-six armor. When the examination began, Duchess An had publicly granted Song Zining a grade-six defensive ring as a life-saving measure.

    That was because everyone knew that Song Zining¡¯s paternal and maternal lineages weren¡¯t at all prominent and his future wife belonged to andowning household. There was no way for him to have umted anything significant. With his current ranking as a sessor, his quota of resources and benefits were hardly enough to put together a set of grade-four defensive gear and a grade-five weapon, let alone an entire set of grade-six equipment.

    Naturally, all the elders knew Song Zining owned a private industry known as the Ningyuan Group, but who among the grown main family descendants didn¡¯t own a number of factories and workshops? But if this set of equipment dide from his personal business, it signified that the scale of his assets wasn¡¯t small at all, not to mention it had only been a few years since he started managing things on his own.

    Many elders were instantly ovee by a peculiar feeling.

    Duchess An suddenly asked, ¡°Zhongnian, Zining is from your branch. Where are the origins of the little things on him?¡±

    Song Zhongnian was also looking at Song Zining. He pondered for a moment after hearing the duchess¡¯ words before answering, ¡°In my opinion, part of the equipment should be from his personal umtions, while the remainder was put together via his connections.¡±

    ¡°Putting together¡± was no different from borrowing money. However, the elders all nodded in session, knowing that being able to borrow was also an ability.

    ¡°Zining this child seems to be growing progressively better.¡± The old ancestor¡¯s words petrified the smiles on many of the elders¡¯ faces.

    Song Zining¡¯s fighting style during this round waspletely different from thest. Against Song Zicheng¡¯s ¡°Embroidered Sword Art¡±, which was adept in both offense and defense, he immediately unleashed the Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art¡¯s domain.

    At this moment, the three hundred meter radius of the arena was filled with a hint of autumn rain. Countless strands of fine origin power materialized in the air and wove into awork of air-tight defenses. After sensing an external origin power assault the very next moment, the origin power was once again transformed into des of wind which spun back to mount a counterattack.

    The Song n descendants in the audience had never seen this secret art which no one had seeded in cultivating in hundreds of years. The elders, on the other hand, more or less understood this technique, and as such, everyone was wearing different expressions. However, they also seemed to have different worries in their hearts. Even the discussions had lessened by quite a bit and the stage waspletely silent.

    The ¡°Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art¡±, like many other high-ranking secret arts, was ssified into three ranks and nine realms. Normally, most people would only reach the middle rank in their entire lifetime. The high rank could only be achieved through enlightenment and opportunities¡ªthere was no shortcut whatsoever. Once a person reached high-rank in any type of secret art, he would have little obstruction when breaking through thest few champion ranks. This also meant that he had the potential to break through to the rank of divine champion.

    Song Zining¡¯s current ¡°Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art¡± had actually reached the ¡°Autumn Sunset¡± realm which was the fifth realm of the middle rank! In terms of secret art realms, Song Zining was already number one among the Song n¡¯s younger generation¡ªthe others behind him wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up to him for several years at least.

    Song Zicheng¡¯s only advantage was in his origin power. Hisbat art wasn¡¯t weak either and was just about to break through to middle-rank. However, it was greatly evened out by Song Zining¡¯s superior gear. It was inevitable that the battle would drag on since both parties were high in defense butcking in offense.

    The battlested for an entire two hours before Song Zining finally exhausted his origin power and faced an unfortunate loss.

    Although Song Zicheng could still support Song Zining, he himself was pale as a sheet when he stepped off the arena. His footsteps felt weak, and he could hardly take the final steps when he reached the border of the arena. Had Song Zining held on for ten more minutes, the first to copse might¡¯ve been Song Zicheng.

    That afternoon, the final battlemenced between Song Zicheng and Qianye.

    As soon as he entered the arena, Song Zicheng decisively announced, ¡°I concede!¡±

    He was overly worn out from his battle with Song Zining. Even with the use of superior medicines, he hadn¡¯t recovered from the weakened state arising from his overdraft of origin power.

    The Song n elders on the stage all wore odd expressions as Song Tu announced the results of thepetition. And Song Zhongxing¡¯sughter, at this moment, sounded iparably grating to the ears. The rules of the Song n¡¯s sessor examination was highly advantageous for the n descendants. In the end, the champion¡¯s position was actually taken by an outsider. If this matter were to leak out, it would more or less affect the Song n¡¯s prestige.

    However, the elders¡¯ appraisal of Song Zicheng¡¯s forfeiture wasn¡¯t uniform. This was also the special characteristic of a n built uponmerce¡ªgive up on the impossible and find another way.

    At this point, Duchess An said, ¡°Summon Song Zining and that child onto the stage. I wish to have a few words with them.¡±

    Momentster, Qianye followed Song Zining onto the stage and stood before Duchess An. Only at this point did Qianye have the opportunity to observe this legendary Song n ancestor. He only nced at her once before quickly lowering his head.

    Although Duchess An¡¯s hair was as white as snow, her countenance wasn¡¯t as aged as one might expect. She might possibly be mistaken for a middle-ageddy if she had dyed her hair ck. But her pair of eyes, filled with the vicissitudes of the passing years, vaguely revealed the secrets of her age.

    When Duchess An¡¯s gazended on Qianye¡¯s body, she merely sized him up and didn¡¯t use her perception to probe his origin power and constitution. This little detail allowed Qianye to feel a little bit more rxed.

    Duchess An said after a nce, ¡°Not bad. Both children are not bad. Having you as a friend is also Zining¡¯s good fortune.¡±

    Friends? Qianye¡¯s heart trembled ever so slightly after hearing those words and immediately replied, ¡°Thank you for the praise.¡±

    Duchess An said to her attendants with a smile, ¡°This child is so talented and polite. I like him. Someone, bring me that box.¡±

    A nearby attendant presented a cedar box iid with silver and opened it before everyone, revealing three origin bullets within.

    These bullets werepletely silver in color. However, they weren¡¯t as shiny as mithril and, instead, possessed a type of simple yet profound depth to it. Additionally, there were unique patterns upon them which seemed to have been embeddedyer byyer. From a design perspective, it was somewhat simr to the work of the great master from Dog w Town, but the craftsmanship was vastly superior.

    Under Duchess An¡¯s indication, Qianye received the box of origin bullets from the maid¡¯s hands. As soon as the items entered his hands, he was astonished to find that the intensity of the origin power fluctuations being emitted was significantly greater than that of a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism.

    Duchess An said warmly, ¡°These are Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang produced by our Song n, slightly different from the ones on the market. You won the first ce in thepetition and yet I have nothing good on hand to give you. I¡¯ll just let you have these little things so that you can use it to protect yourself.¡±

    The elders nearby were still able to keep theirposure, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the Song n disciples below. Many people revealed expressions of pain and envy¡ªit was a rather marvelous scene.

    The Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang were powerful killer weaponsparable to the ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion. Moreover, those produced privately by the Song n had been heavily modified. Every shot was handcrafted and involved dozens of high-ranking artisans toiling away for several months. This so-called ¡°slight difference¡± spoken by Duchess An was equal to a gap between the heaven and earth for ordinary people.

    This kind of Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang was a killing weapon unique to the Song n and could kill a dark race viscount even when fired from a grade four to five origin gun. Such ammunition was usually supplied to the personal guards of the imperial family. Many great experts would fight over them in the rare asion that they leaked out into the public market. Even Song Zicheng and Song Zian had only two each on as a life-saving measure. Song Zining, with his current status, haven¡¯t even gotten one such bullet.

    But Qianye, as an external warrior, was given three in one go. How could this not make the other disciples envious?

    Duchess An waited until Qianye had put away the box before ncing at the people around her. ¡°Our human race¡¯s greatest nemesis is still the dark race. As such, the foundation of our survival is still on the battlefield against them. The reason our Song n established ourselves as merchants was, in fact, so that we can provide support to those on the front lines. You lot must be thinking that my reward is excessive. These little things will take the lives of three dark race viscounts in this child¡¯s hands. In the hands of you unworthy descendants, however, they¡¯re likely to be sold off for business capital and be part of a personal collection in another n¡¯s armory.¡±

    These words exposed many people¡¯s thoughts, causing them to be drenched in cold sweat.

    Duchess An sighed. ¡°The path of the martial arts, outside, can defend us from the other races, while inside, it is the very foundation of our n. The intention of holding this decennial examination is to reverse our Song n¡¯s weaknesses, but some still fail to understand this logic. Resorting to trickery has be so much of a habit in daily life that you can¡¯t change your methods when true swords and spears are required. If we continue developing this way, how will there be any bravery and courage left? Can we still expect anything from you all when our survival is at stake?¡±

    ¡°The title of a great n isn¡¯t perpetual after being granted to a certain family. A thousand years ago when the empire was founded, there were seven great ns. Later on, within a short two hundred years, they were reduced to three and then back to nine great ns during the period of resurgence. How prosperous an age! Counting from the fall of the Zhu n, it¡¯s been over three hundred years now since power was divided amongst the four ns¡­¡±

    Qianye listened with bated breath. This was the first time he learned of the detailed historical changes of the ns. He had no contact with such things during his time at Yellow Springs or Red Scorpion.

    Qianye shot Song Zining a nce and found him just listening to the lecture with his eyes lowered just like everyone else. He seemed no different from his usual self.

    But with Qianye¡¯s understanding of him, he knew that there was a lot on Song Zining¡¯s mind and that thetter felt little joy from his good grades at the sessor¡¯s examination. It seemed as though his depressed mood had grown more obvious since after the battle between Qianye and Song Zian.

    Recalling all that had happened during these few days, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but let out a secret sigh. Perhaps he should find some time to talk with Song Zining about this. The Song n was, after all, rted to thetter by blood. Regardless of his choice, this decision must¡¯ve been an extremely difficult one to make, even for someone as decisive as Song Zining.

 Volume 5 - 19: Set Adrift

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 19: Set Adrift

    Qianye suddenly recalled Zhao Jundu and felt momentarily confused himself. At this time, Duchess An¡¯s speech had reached a conclusion.

    ¡°The three ns, Zhang, Bai, and Zhao have produced many a genius from their younger generation who have achieved great aplishments in the battle against the dark races. But what about our Song n? How many of you have actually joined a major battle before? Right now, you have these old bones to protect you, but what will you do after the older generation retires?¡±

    These words caused the entire scene to growpletely silent.

    Although the world was vast, the Song n was at least second if not first in terms of wealth. But if there was no one at the helm, the only path was toward destruction, and the best oue would be to have the n divided up by the others. But how could it be so easy to reverse this current trend of weakness?

    Many people began to sweat profusely.

    Even Qianye, who was quite ignorant toward tactics and trickery, had sensed the Song n¡¯s predicament in this examination.

    The inheritance of such an enormous aristocratic n naturally involved a twistedwork of benefits on the inside, currently held at a rtively stable equilibrium. Discarding the old and bringing in the new would, in truth, be tantamount to shaking these elders¡¯ lifeblood; how difficult would that be? But if such a change weren¡¯t carried out, it would likely shake the Song n¡¯s roots.

    Duchess An seemed to have lost interest after speaking up to this point. She got up and said, ¡°You¡¯re all dismissed. Put more effort into the strategic assessment two dayster.¡±

    At this point, the curtains fell on the martial examination.

    After taking inventory, the one who had benefited the most in thispetition was still the eldest Song n young master, Song Zicheng. The branch of his most threatening rival, Song Zian, had taken disastrous losses. This was especially true after Elder Song Zhongcheng¡¯s dismissal from office and their resources being halved. The effects of this were far-reaching and couldn¡¯t be measured merely in terms of sessor scores.

    Comparatively, although Song Zicheng hadn¡¯t taken first ce, his status grew even more solidified since he had pulled himself far ahead of the second sessor.

    Song Zining, on the other hand, had always kept a low profile since he entered the sessor¡¯s sequence two years ago. This time, he could be considered to have amazed the entire Song n with a single brilliant feat. He had only advanced to rank-nine for a few months but had already disyed enough strength to contend with a champion.

    Additionally, what no one else knew was that Song Zining, as a Yellow Spring graduate, could be considered number one among the younger generation in terms of actualbat experience. A newly ascended champion like Song Ziqi might not be his match.

    These results came as a p to the greater half of the elders¡¯ faces. They were in charge of assessing the talents of n descendants and guiding them, but Song Zining had always received a third-rate evaluation since a young age. Later on, he was reassessed and raised by a level. Even then, he was merely second-rate in the records.

    Later on, Duchess An personally judged Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art as sessful and raised him into the sessor¡¯s list. However, because Song Zining indulged in misceneous studies and possessed a romantic nature, most elders refused to believe he would achieve anything great on the martial dao.

    But as it turned out, even though the Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art wasn¡¯t an offensive secret art, Song Zining had already surpassed most of the n descendants they had evaluated as geniuses.

    Although Song Zicheng had obtained the greatest benefits in this examination, under present circumstances, some of his advisors couldn¡¯t help but express their concern about Song Zining. However, the Song n¡¯s eldest young master refused to listen.

    He gently said to his aides, ¡°Regardless of bloodline, Little Seven and I share the same grandfather and we¡¯re closer than many other people. In terms of the assistance, we have an agreement between us and he¡¯s delivered so much more than expected. We can¡¯t always keep working with weak people. The way to make progress is to strengthen oneself and not to suppress others. Moreover, a real expert can¡¯t be suppressed. So, don¡¯t let me hear about suchments in the future.¡±

    That very night, Song Zicheng personally went to Deep Cloud Hall and delivered all the things Song Zining had requested along with a generous gift.

    Skipping one day ahead, it was the strategic assessment.

    The Song n¡¯s military tactics examination resembled the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt in form, but the rules were vastly different. The examination grounds were constructed on the borders of the Eastern Continent. In truth, the ce was a battlefield where they were confronting the dark races.

    The examinees would each bring a hundred-man unit andunch an assault against the dark races, then form rankings in terms of military aplishments.

    Chances of idents happening in this strategic assessment were high. Even a powerful candidate might run into arge dark race unit or a general if he was unfortunate. As for the strength of the sessors¡¯ forces, there was only a generalized restriction on the number and level of troops. Individualbat strength would depend on the resources of their respective branches.

    At first, both Song Zian and Song Ziqi had ambitions to suppress the eldest Song Zicheng. However, they had never expected to be injured so badly by Qianye in the martial examination. Song Ziqi could still force himself to appear, but Song Zian simply couldn¡¯t join the examination in person and only sent his squad in. Without a leader at the reins, their final results were easily imagined.

    One day before the strategic assessment, almost a hundred airships arrived majestically on the Eastern Continent. Duchess An was no longer spectating this time, but the experts from the Hall of Peace had all been mobilized for security.

    Song Zining¡¯s unit was neither strong nor weak and could only be considered average. Having received no support at all from his parents, he had depended on himself to build everything from scratch. It was alreadymendable for him to have reached this level.

    The prize for this military tactics examination moved Qianye. It was a set of armaments sufficient to equip a reinforcedpany and, additionally, their quality was at the level of the imperial elite corps. With these armaments, anyone with sufficient resources could form an unit of considerable strength.

    One could see Duchess An¡¯s intentions from this reward. She hoped the Song n descendants would not only raise their individual fighting power but also form an impressive military force. She hoped that they would aplish things out on the battlefield. The foundation for maintaining one¡¯s noble title was still via military aplishments. Only then would they be capable of preventing the downfall of the Song n.

    Unfortunately, Duchess An¡¯s painstaking effort had turned out contrary to her expectations.

    Although Song Zining himself didn¡¯t quite need the equipment, Qianye¡¯s Dark me Mercenary Corps was expanding with great momentum in the recent days and such a batch of premium military supplies might not be avable for purchase even if one had the money.

    As such, Song Zining and Song Zicheng reached a secret agreement. If he were to help Song Zicheng win the military assessment, the rewards would all go to him in addition to enough cargo trucks for use by a battalion.

    Qianye had never expressed his opinion on such matters and simply let Song Zining make the decisions. He also stopped cultivating intensively and, instead, went to Song n¡¯s depository to find more books on the theory of origin power cultivation and various basic martial arts.

    Qianye would return to Evernight Continent as soon as this examination was over. With Song Zining and Song Zicheng¡¯s name, he was afforded a rare opportunity to borrow and read so many ssics. He had to grasp this opportunity to study as much as he could.

    The myriad great daos weren¡¯t always interconnected, but the more one understood, the easier it was to approach the true path. After reading through a dozen or so basic martial techniques and then reviewing the experiences he had gained from actualbat, Qianye felt himself beginning to understand thingsprehensively.

    After over a day of flight, they finally arrived at the borders of the Eastern Continent, and the curtains would soon be raised on the strategic examination. Over twenty Song n units would be thrown into different ces on the battlefield andunch individual attacks against the dark races.

    They were almost three-thousand-strong with all the Song n units added together and were made up of elite soldiers all rank-five and above. Additionally, there were two champions and several quasi-champion level experts among them.

    Obviously, the dark race forces here weren¡¯t expecting to encounter such a powerful force and were immediately beaten into a miserable retreat. Their defensive lines fell into chaos and holes opened up everywhere.

    Things became chaotic right after boring a hole through the enemy defense lines. Some units continued to push deeper in, some chose to circle back and nk the enemy, while certain unitmanders decided to settle old scores in advance. As such, many moderate conflicts broke out throughout the ce. Even though the main goal of the examination was to eliminate the dark race forces, incidents where people hindered each other were amon urrence.

    While fighting for rtive rankings, sometimes it was more effective to weaken someone else than to bolster one¡¯s own score.

    Qianye¡¯s true vision was definitely a powerful killer weapon on the actual battlefield. No enemy within a thousand meter radius could escape his perception. With the addition of Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art, they were able to sessfully counterattack and half-massacre two ambush units attempting tounch a sneak attack on them.

    Afterwards, Qianye left the group and proceeded to ambush Song Ziqi and Song Zian¡¯s units.

    Qianye felt that such a move wasn¡¯t entirely necessary in this round. To them, the path toward victory was to ignore thepetition and directly push into the depths of the battlefield, killing as many dark race soldiers as they could. Who would be able to catch up to them if they killed a number of viscounts?

    But Song Zining had pestered Qianye insistently until thetter reluctantly agreed to this strategy.

    ording to Song Zining, the key to this battle was to ensure Song Zicheng¡¯s victory. Only then would they achieve the greatest benefits for everyone. As such, they had to be absolutely safe in case Song Zicheng somehow encountered some odd misfortune and suffered a setback. The best method was to cripple Song Zian and Song Ziqi¡¯s forces,pletely disabling theirpetitive strength. As for the others, there was no need to fear them since it was impossible for them to catch up with Song Zicheng.

    In the end, Qianye didn¡¯t deny Song Zining and made his way through the battlefront alone. He then ambushed Song Zian and Song Ziqi¡¯s forces in session, heavily injuring all of their core experts. Song Ziqi suffered a direct hit and was immediately withdrawn from thepetition.

    Apart from Zhao Jundu, Qianye had rarely, if ever, met his match on the battlefield in terms of sniping. He was at an entirely different levelpared to these Song n young masters. On the battlefield where myriad changes could ur within an instant, these so-called experts from the arena were easily overwhelmed and abused.

    Qianye¡¯s ambush also produced an additional effect. The two unitspletely lost their courage¡ªthey each found an easily defensible area and made camp, only daring to reveal their heads after noticing no hostile activity for several days. With so many days of dy, it could already be considered a miracle if they could make their way to the middle of the rankings.

    During the remainder of the battle, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art, rumored to be able to see through the mysteries of the mortal world, had the potential for inauspiciousness.

    Song Zicheng¡¯s troops pushed in continuously like a hot knife through butter, but for some reason, they had actually failed to notice the positions of the allied units. Among his adjacent forces, Song Zining had stopped moving entirely after Qianye left, while Song Zian and Song Ziqi¡¯s forces were beaten up by Qianye until they were holed up in a corner. As a result, Song Zicheng pushed too far ahead and soon became an isted unit.

    The dark race forces immediately grasped this opportunity to rapidly assemble their forces and surround Song Zicheng¡¯s unit. A great battle ensued where Song Zicheng routed the enemy forces but at a great cost. He single-handedly killed a third-rank werewolf viscount but was also heavily injured and had no choice but to withdraw from thepetition. The greater half of his troops had also suffered heavy casualties and lost their fighting power.

    After Qianye returned to the squad, the situation developed in such a way that even sitting in ce was no longer feasible. They even had to actively retreat tens of kilometers, lest some blind dark race units bump into them. Killing such a unit would cause Song Zining¡¯s score to surpass Song Zicheng¡¯s instead.

    As such, a peculiar spectacle was formed¡ªthe examination was only halfway through when four of the Song n¡¯s most powerful squads stopped making any progress. The remaining units, on the other hand, were fighting rather valiantly. However, their fighting power was too inferiorpared to the top-four and had no way to catch up.

    What should¡¯ve been a vigorous strategic examination was thus concluded with a weak finish.

    The total aplishments of each unit could scarcely be described as passable. But this was the real truth¡ªa truth mixed in with politics. Just like how internal struggles had always held the empire by the elbow whenever they faced the dark races. The situation on the dark race side was even more serious. Were it not for their intense infighting, how could the Great Qin have established the empire and gradually expanded?

    Qianye was in a bad mood after the battle ended. But he was no longer that rookie from the Red Scorpions¡ªeverything he had experienced during his journey from Evernight to the Upper Continent had changed his mental outlook. He nced at Song Zining who had been out of sorts throughout the entire strategic examination and ultimately decided not to say anything.

 Volume 5 - 20: Our Country

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 20: Our Country

    The final assessment was quite simple. Every contestant wouldpose a political strategy for ruling the country and governing one¡¯s house. He would then be interviewed by the various elders and finally be given a score by the elder group.

    This part of the examination was the most transparent because all examinees could listen during the interview. However, it was also one of the most debatable areas. Everyone had different opinions and points of view¡ªsome advocated for defense, some supported radical expansion, while others wanted to maintain a middle ground. In order to gain the recognition of most of the elders, one had to have the appropriate ability.

    Song Zining was quite rxed and contented. He casually produced a strategy and dealt with the interview and, without even waiting for the results, ran back to his own courtyard to enjoy warmth and tenderness. Someone had recently gifted him two little beauties who were reportedly rare experts in roomcraft.

    Qianye was no longer willing to apany Song Zining in fooling around and seized the avable time to browse through more ancient martial arts ssics. His scope of study had already expanded to the various entry-level meleebat techniques.

    Hence within Deep Cloud Hall, Song Zining was unrestrainedly hugging the two newly arrived beauties while Qianye sat within the study, going through ancient books. Number seventeen, who had once shared a brief night of fateful grace with Qianye, waited upon him in silence, pouring him a new cup of tea periodically.

    Qianye suddenly felt that such silence andforting moments were indeed a type of enjoyment. He could single-mindedly push forward on the dao of martial arts and had no need to think about the troubles of the secr world.

    At this time, the study door was pushed open and Song Zining walked in with a rxed expression. ¡°Your simple life isn¡¯t so bad, I see!¡±

    Qianye looked up at him and said, ¡°You¡¯re like this every day. Aren¡¯t you afraid your cultivation will fall into neglect?¡±

    Over ten days had passed since the two arrived at the Song n up until the end of the examination. During this period, he had never seen Song Zining cultivating. He went out to meet friends almost every day and returnedte at night, suffused with the scent of alcohol and cosmetics.

    Song Zining sat down on a wide ceramic couch facing the desk and leaned on the backrest in a semi-reclining position. Only after making himselffortable did he say, ¡°Following one¡¯s nature is also one of the great daos. Moreover, I¡¯m only like this when I return to the n. I¡¯m very restrained normally.¡±

    Qianye sighed. Even back in their days at the Yellow Springs Training Camp, no emotions could be found on that young Song Zining¡¯s face. Back then, there was a certain coldness and pride between his brows, befitting of a person born to the highest order of society. He also possessed a certain ruthlessness and wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to offend him¡ªhe had definitely killed more students than Qianye.

    Song Zining had already transformed into a different person when they met again several yearster. He almost seemed like a standard n descendant¡ªbright, cheerful, and gentle. But this was merely a mask with which to hide his emotions¡ªhis delight, his fury.

    Only aftering to the Song n did Qianye understand why this n descendant of noble bloodline turned into such a person. He had wanted to talk to Song Zining since the end of the martial assessment, but he wasn¡¯t quite adept at expressing himself and never found a way to bring this up.

    Qianye put down the jade scroll in his hand and shot a nce at Number Seventeen. The clever girl immediately understood¡ªshe withdrew from the study and carefully closed the door.

    Song Zining was resting silently with his eyes half closed. A moment of silence pervaded the study.

    ¡°Zining, it seems you¡¯re about to go through a period of trouble. Do you have any ns?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t open his eyes and replied carelessly, ¡°After this examination, my sessor rank will be entering the top three. This is a wonderful development. What trouble can there be?¡±

    ¡°Will Song Zian and his elder generation endure such a loss?¡± Qianye believed that the great elder Song Zicheng had really wanted to kill him at the scene. Duchess An punishing the entire branch of his family would only serve to deepen his enmity and make it difficult to resolve.

    Song Ziningughed lightly. He raised his hand to cover his eyes, which also conveniently concealed his expression and said indifferently, ¡°So what if they¡¯re not willing? They only have those few bargaining chips. The Yin family and Yin Qiqi will have to try much harder if they want to upy the leading position. The Wei family and Marquis Bowang definitely won¡¯t care about such matters. As for that boar, it¡¯s not even sure whether he can leave the battlefield alive¡­¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s voice suddenly stopped here after noticing he had spoken too much.

    He lowered his hand to nce at Qianye¡¯s expression and said with augh, ¡°Twenty days ago, the Wei n suffered a crushing defeat on the Far East frontline, and Wei Potian was reportedly in the army at the time. The situation there is quite tense at the moment. It¡¯s likely Wei Bainian will be summoned back to the main family when you return to ckflow City in a few days.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. The Wei n¡¯s Far East Province, as a frontier fortress, had been campaigning against the dark races year round.

    Within the information Song Zining had just revealed, the most important detail for Qianye wasn¡¯t Wei Potian¡¯s safety since there would definitely be safety measures to protect the Wei n sessor on the battlefield. But Wei Bainian¡¯s departure meant that the expeditionary army would dispatch a new divisionmander to take office.

    Regarding the previous incident involving Wu Zhengang, it was unsure whether the expeditionary army headquarters knew of Qianye¡¯s involvement in the matter. However, just from the Dark me Mercenary Corps¡¯ closeness with the Wei n, Qianye¡¯s rtionship with the new divisionmander might not be that great.

    But Qianye wasn¡¯t distracted by Song Zining¡¯s words. ¡°Even if you feel Song Zian isn¡¯t a threat, then what about Song Ziqi? Isn¡¯t he the one after your life since the beginning?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯szy attitudepletely disappeared at this point. He sat up straight and said with a calm expression, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. The old ancestor won¡¯t let him act too excessively within the n. As for incidents outside of the n, why would I have to be afraid of him?¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    Seeing that Qianye insisted on getting an answer this time, Song Zining said differently, ¡°Perhaps because I was thrown into a engagement with andowning household. Oh right, it might also be rted to the level of my talent assessment.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but inhale deeply. Even though he had guessed these things, it still felt extremely ufortable to hear Song Zining speak about it in an unperturbed manner.

    That year, Song Zining¡¯s talent assessment was obviously suppressed by someone and most of the resources entitled to him were given to someone else. This was perhaps an unavoidable part of family infighting, but as a victim, it would feel as if there was no justice in the heavenly dao.

    There was only coldness in the depths of Song Zining¡¯s eyes despite the faint smile on his face. ¡°But I¡¯ve already decided not to fight for the n lord¡¯s position no matter what. This piece ofnd is already rotten and it¡¯s no longer possible to build tall buildings on it. I might as well develop a new territory on my own.

    Qianyeughed wryly. If Song Zining was really so open-minded, he wouldn¡¯t have been so out of sorts these days. ¡°Since that is so, what else is on your mind?¡±

    Song Zining turned silent and appeared distracted for a moment. He only spoke momentster, ¡°This is terrible. It seems you always see through my emotions,¡± he continued calmly, ¡°I¡¯m regretting things. Qianye, I shouldn¡¯t have dragged you into this.¡±

    Qianyeughed and said, ¡°I gained a lot of benefits this time.¡±

    These words absolutely weren¡¯t just tofort Song Zining. He was able to use the sky-grade cultivation room and obtain the heavy sword East Peak as well as three refined silver bullets. He also received enough equipment for a reinforcedpany in addition to a battalion¡¯s worth of cargo trucks. An ordinary mercenary corpsmander could never amass such wealth even in his entire lifetime. What helped Qianye the most was still the Song n depositary. The multitude of basic martial arts knowledge made up for his final shoring. As of this moment, he only needed to digest andprehend them slowly.

    Song Zining no longer attempted to hide his emotions since he had already revealed the matter. ¡°I still failed to observe the situation clearly. You shouldn¡¯t have had to engage in life and death battles in the arena.¡±

    ¡°Zining, you¡¯re overthinking things. There¡¯s really no difference whether I fight life and death battles on the battlefield or in the arena.¡± Qianye knew Song Zining hadn¡¯t taken this examination seriously since the beginning, and neither did he pay any attention to Song Ziqi¡¯s death threat.

    In truth, Song Zining had no intention to deal a deadly blow to Song Zian and Song Ziqi. Despite his scheming and decisive nature, there was still a subconscious weakness against blood rtions. The incidents following this examination made Song Zining realize a certain truth¡ªhe couldn¡¯t avoid conflict just because he wasn¡¯t contending for certain things unless he was willing to be a mediocre person and let things take their course.

    ¡°Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Mn?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Evernight together and build our own nation. A country founded ording to our ideals.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Very well.¡±

    Duchess An¡¯s Lotusheart Residence within the Enlightenment Manor. At this moment, someone was discussing the two friends.

    Although it was called a residence, the building upied arge area and even included a man-madeke in the courtyard. A banquet was currently being held within its main hall with only one table and five seats. Naturally, the guests were extremely important characters.

    Duchess An was sitting at the master¡¯s seat, and beside her was a graceful middle-aged man with long brows, narrow eyes, fair countenance, and no facial hair. The current Song n lord Song Zhongnian, Elder Lu, and another grand elder apanied them on the lower seats. Judging from how he was invited to this banquet, it was obvious that this Elder Lu¡¯s status wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed on the surface.

    Duchess An spoke first, ¡°It must¡¯ve been a tiring period for Prince Rui. The younger generation¡¯s performance was quite clumsy. They¡¯ve truly made you watch a joke.¡±

    This middle-aged man was, in fact, Prince Rui of the empire. He was also the nephew of the current emperor. Although his influence in the imperial court couldn¡¯t be considered enormous, he was still a character of distinguished status. Even within the Song n, only a select few people knew that someone from the imperial family was actually spectating the decennial examination.

    Prince Rui said, ¡°Old ancestor¡¯s words are too serious. There are a number of talents among the younger generation who can be nurtured. As for theirck of battle experience, what¡¯s there to worry about? They¡¯ll naturally be tempered when they go into the battlefield in the future. There¡¯s no need to be too concerned.¡±

    ¡°What does your Excellency think of the champion, An Renyi?¡± asked Elder Lu.

    Prince Rui also had a deep impression of Qianye who had taken the first ce. He immediately replied, ¡°Naturally, that child¡¯s talent is extremely good. Unfortunately, like an unpolished jade, he wasn¡¯t carved well. His talent is rather special. At first, there were signs of Venus Dawn, but instead of a twilight radiance mounted upon the stars, it actually turned into endless mes and finally condensed into a pair of luminous wings. It seems my knowledge is quite limited since I have never heard of such a talent.¡±

    Everyone here couldn¡¯t help but make a fewments on this matter. Of course, no one came up with an answer. In truth, Duchess An had already noticed the wisp of darkness origin power on the East Peak¡¯s edge when it collided with the Moonchaser. Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power was so pure and intense that he could draw upon the origin power of the heaven and earth even at rank-eight. This was a clear indication of his outstanding talents.

    Prince Rui said with some regret, ¡°He¡¯s not a n descendant and thus missed the best time to build his foundations. If I¡¯m not wrong, his origin power cirction method is actually the Combatant Form. A fighter king who¡¯s cultivated to rank-nine would have too many internal injuries at this point. Even if he can be a champion in the future, how far he can progress will only depend on luck.¡±

    The Combatant Form was the human race¡¯s number one elerated cultivation art, but its greatest hidden danger was the damage it caused to the body. A rank-nine fighter king like Qianye had most likely reached the end of his road. If he continued cultivating, his body would fall apart before the age of thirty. Even if he switched to another art before that and healed his internal injuries, he could hardly reverse the damage to his foundations. This would adversely affect his future aplishments as a champion.

    There was one thing, however, that Prince Rui refrained from saying in order to preserve the Song n¡¯s prestige.

 Volume 5 - 21: Sign of Resurgence

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 21: Sign of Resurgence

    Qianye had dared challenge one who was three ranks above him and won; his strength and courage were indeedmendable. But there was nock of geniuses in this world, and he certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to perform such feats forever. It was quite likely that he would be forced to return in low spirits had he attempted this against the descendants of the other three ns.

    From a different perspective, being forced to leap ranks despite one¡¯s low level was a strategic mistake in and of itself.

    At the mention of Qianye, it was inevitable that the other Song n disciples would be brought up. Prince Rui finished a cup of wine and said calmly, ¡°Zicheng isn¡¯t bad. He has a calm temperament and a magnanimous character without foregoing strategic methods. I heard he had formed an alliance with Song Zining since before the examination and, in the end, ced second in the martial assessment and first in the strategic and political assessments. Now, he firmly holds the first ce sessor position. Zicheng¡¯s talents are upper intermediate, and he¡¯s also diligent and hardworking. His ability in your future military power might not exceed the previous or current situation, but he¡¯s more than enough to preserve familial aplishments.¡±

    The Song n people nodded in session. Even Duchess An was also in agreement.

    Afterward, Prince Rui frowned indecisively and only spoke after a while, ¡°As for Song Zining, it¡¯s truly difficult to judge him. It¡¯s said that the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art is a divination art, but itsbat strength isn¡¯t weak at all in Zining¡¯s hands. His realm advancement is in fact quite fast, but he left no traces of an unstable foundation. This is simply too rare, but I sometimes hear that he¡¯s quite indulgent in the female charms? Moreover, he¡¯s engaged to andowning household?¡±

    Song Zhongnian and the grand elder¡¯s expressions turned rather awkward. This matter was the result of the elders¡¯ collective evaluation. Actually, the power bnce within the n was also a reason.

    But no aristocratic n, even the branch families, would be willing to have their descendant marry someone from andowning household. Song Zining¡¯s parents belonged to a weak branch and his cultivation talents back then weren¡¯t ranked too high. Yet, he was a lineal descendant by right. [1] As such, he was chosen by the elders. In order to appease the n members, Song Zhongnian gave them a tacit approval by not speaking up for this grandson. As the n lord, he had to make some sacrifices for the n.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Song Zining would amaze everyone with such a brilliant performance. One had to know that the resources he had obtained from the n couldn¡¯tpare to Song Zicheng and Song Zian. And yet, he was able to achieve such aplishments. If this wasn¡¯t talent, then what was?

    After this exam, Song Zining had be publicly epted as the number one genius of the fourth generation. It wasn¡¯t just limited to the fourth generation¡ªeven the previous generation was swept away by him. The Ningyuan Group founded single-handedly by Song Zining also disyed its strength by means of that grade-six equipment set.

    Judging from this, Song Zining possessed both martial talent as well as management skills. He could be considered a crane in a flock of chicken, at least among the younger generation of the Song n. As long as it didn¡¯t affect his cultivation, his romantic temperament and pursuit of misceneous arts would only add to his sophistication. Only those who indulged in such things without a solid foundation were considered hedonistic.

    But the biggest problem at present was that Song Zining had already been pushed out to marry andowning family. Those of the imperial aristocracy would never ept andowning ss woman as the mistress of a n. Moreover, with that prior engagement in effect, no high-ssdy would be willing to be his second wife.

    Even if the wedding was called off in the future, it could hardly wipe away this blemish. Regardless of the reason for the breach, he would be clearly dishonored, and the social status of his future wife would also fall by a level. At least the imperial n would never consider such a marriage.

    This was Song Zining¡¯s actual shoring. A marriage of two families was the merging of two lineages. In this chaotic world where one had to depend on powerful alliances at all times, failing to form a marital rtionship with a major n meant one had lost half of all assistance.

    Prince Rui¡¯s first wife was the lineal daughter of Song Zhongnian¡¯s first wife. He was in charge of civil affairs in the imperial court and also required the Song n¡¯s support in many areas. As such, he had no apprehensions about speaking his thoughts on such an asion. However, he had no intention to dive too deep into the Song n¡¯s internal affairs¡ªseeing that the atmosphere had turned awkward, he deliberately changed the topic of conversation.

    Prince Rui hesitated for a moment and then said, ¡°Come to think of it, there are some movements that might be worth paying attention to. Firstly, it¡¯s said that Zhang Boqian will challenge the Grand Duke of Profound Order once his injuries are healed.¡±

    Everyone was astonished as soon as these words were spoken!

    Due to their ancestral grudges, Zhang Boqian had never concealed his enmity toward the Song n. However, he had shown little movement due to the presence of Duchess An. But if Zhang Boqian were to sessfully advance to the rank of heavenly monarch, many people from different levels of society might get ideas even if the Zhang n kept on biding its time.

    Everyone from the Song n wore anxious expressions. Duchess An, on the other hand, asked in a seemingly unconcerned manner, ¡°What other news is there?¡±

    Prince Rui replied, ¡°I and a number of other imperial brothers went to observe the various ns and found a batch of young people who had advanced rapidly in the recent years without any signs of an unstable foundation.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t just rely on medicines to catalyze their progress. Almost all of them cultivated champion level secret arts or techniques since the fighter stage and had achieved minor sess. For instance, the Zhao n Duke Chengen¡¯s second young master, Zhao Junhong. Just like Zining, he had ranked up continuously since the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt and had already touched the threshold of a champion. The Far East Wei n¡¯s sessor had advanced four entire ranks in the past year!

    ¡°There are also a number of such cases among the Zhang and Bai ns, as well as few among the other aristocratic families. Perhaps, before long, we will see a batch of champions in their twenties.¡±

    Everyone was visibly moved after hearing this.

    The direct major n descendants had no need to worry about resources as long as they were sufficiently talented. As such, they ced a lot of focus on solidifying their foundations¡ªtheir advancement speed prior to the champion rank wasn¡¯t fastpared to the descendants ofndowning households and humble families. Sometimes, they might even fall behind, but their champion breakthrough rate was much higher, their foundations solid, and their origin power pure. The disparity inbat strength would increase evidently after their advancement.

    ording to the empire¡¯s past convention, one would be worthy of the title genius if he became a champion before the age of thirty. For instance, Bai Longjia of the Bai n had reached the champion rank only when he was close to thirty years old. However, he skipped right over the brigadier general level and possessed thebat strength of a major general.

    There were two epted paths when breaking through to the champion rank. One was to advance when the conditions were right. This involved routine cultivation and the condensation of one¡¯s qi into a vortex, followed by a direct advancement. The second method was to suppress one¡¯s level and repeatedly temper oneself during this period in order to refine, condense, and remove all impurities in one¡¯s origin power. The closer one got to the origins of daybreak, the more powerful he would be after breaking through to the champion rank.

    But not everyone could take the second path. Most people would fail to contain and control the tremendous origin power when condensing the vortex, leaving them with no choice but to advance. The major n descendants had various secret methods to attempt a suppression. Normally, those who could suppress rank advancement for a year after the initial vortex formation could be considered a genius. Zhao Jundu was likely the only one in the empire who could stall for an entire five years.

    Prince Rui¡¯s words clearly meant that a batch of champions in their twenties was about to appear whose post-champion-rank aplishments were apparently unaffected by rapid advancement.

    Song Zhongnian said in a solemn tone, ¡°Could this be a sign of the empire¡¯s resurgence?¡±

    Outstanding heroes were born inrge numbers when the empire had brought about the Guangwu resurgence hundreds of years ago. The so-called geniuses of the past immediately becameckluster inparison. During that time, countless famed generals galloped through the battlefield and beat the dark races into a progressive retreat. Not only did they im the Eastern Continent for the empire, but they also upied a third of the ming Beacon Continent.

    During thetter parts of the Guangwu resurgence, the number of great ns in the empire grew from three to nine. The standards for the great ns had never changed since the establishment of the Great Qin empire, hence, the growth in number signified an increase in the number and strength of experts.

    Could it be that another era of resurgence was about to arrive after hundreds of years?

    ¡°It would seem so.¡± Prince Rui nodded. ¡°I and most of my royal brothers believe this to be the case.¡± However, there wasn¡¯t a lot of joy on his face.

    Those from the Song n also wore serious expressions.

    This so-called imperial resurgence almost meant that a period of turmoil was about to arrive. The effects of this would not only manifest on the battlefield against the dark races but also in the imperial court and the civil affairs involving all levels of society. There was also a truth no one here had brought up¡ªthe imperial family¡¯s strength was far from its former era of glory.

    Throughout the history of the Great Qin empire, it had always been the imperial family and the major ns who ruled the world together. The foundation of the empire was based on awakening and possessing ns with great power, establishing its territory on the four continents with the blood of their countless descendants. This also gave the human race a vast world to rest, recuperate, and develop.

    Through the 1200 years, the ns had always enjoyed special authority while, at the same time, taking on the responsibility of protecting their territory. In the eyes of their descendants, the n, their name, and their bloodlines were the most important. The empire controlled the world andmanded the three hundred provinces, but could hardly interfere with the internal affairs of the major ns. In the eyes of themon people, the nws had always been more effective than the imperialws.

    Under such circumstances, the imperial family would also produce talented people during this era of resurgence. However, there was a significant difference between their base numbers, and they had far fewer peoplepared to the ns. When this batch of young people matured ten or twenty yearster, the imperial family¡¯s power over the general situation would fall to a dangerous level.

    Conversely, the ns¡¯ influence would expand, and it was difficult to say whether one or two ambitious characters who wanted tomand the world would appear.

    During the previous resurgent era, Emperor Guangwu was a peerless champion of the times both in strategy and in martial power. He had once retreated under thebined assault of three great dark monarchs and shocked the world. Although there were nine major ns in office at the same time, their reverence for the imperial family had far surpassed the previous generation and was only second to the empire¡¯s founding era.

    However, the current emperor stayed deep within the Unending Pce and rarely made an appearance. Among the empire¡¯s core generation, the twin paragons Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang shone brightly while Zhao Jundu disyed astonishing talent in the younger generation. Within the imperial family, it was still their two ancestral-generation heavenly monarchs upholding the general situation. Although there were also good talents among the remaining descendants, they were far from being able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the three people.

    Amidst the silence, a thought emerged within everyone¡¯s minds¡ªa chaotic era was imminent.

    Elder Lu suddenly said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, these old rules have long since expired and be useless. Why not let Zining assume the sessor¡¯s role and have An Renyi join the family by marrying Ziyan? With our Song n¡¯s resources, it won¡¯t be a problem to make up for that child¡¯s deficient foundation.¡±

    Elder Lu¡¯s words astonished everyone. Even the old ancestor frowned and began to ponder in silence.

    The Song n grand elder said with augh, ¡°Old Lu, this matter is too shocking. How would the other major ns view our Hignd Song n? Moreover, Duke Jin had thought rather highly of Ziyan during his imperial concubine selection. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯d have her give up the position of Duke Jin¡¯s main imperial concubine and recruit someone who might be the descendant of a humble family or even amoner. Assuming we did agree to your n, wouldn¡¯t this be a grave offense to Duke Jin?¡±

    Old Lu sneered, ¡°This isn¡¯t only about An Renyi¡¯s background, is it? In the end, you people aren¡¯t willing to admit to past mistakes and give the n lord¡¯s position to Zining! It¡¯s just that even if Zicheng married a member of the imperial n, he can at most secure a duke¡¯s position and drag things out for one more generation. Have you never thought about how the Song n would fare when the era of chaos actually arrives? Why not take this opportunity to destroy the old, wee the new, and be reborn amidst the mes?¡±

    Song Zhongnian and the grand elder nced at each other with rueful smiles but didn¡¯t retort. That was because they simply couldn¡¯t bear to speak some of the truths out loud. Matters weren¡¯t as simple as Old Lu said¡ªthe power bnce had already been established, and even the n lord Song Zhongnian couldn¡¯t make everyone obediently wee a new master with just a few words.

    Song Zining¡¯s foundations were simply too shallow and his age was too young. If he wanted a firm grasp on authority, he would have to uproot a couple of branches and establish his might. The great elder Song Zhongcheng¡¯s branch was definitely one of them. There was no telling how much Song n blood would be spilled during this process. The Song n had never been abundant in poption, so how could they afford such an internal friction?

    They might actually turn to ashes before they could be reborn amidst mes.

    An Renyi was indeed a good de, but he was too sharp. If he didn''t die and advanced to the champion rank, there would likely be no one capable of wielding him. Even Song Zining himself might have to expend a lot of energy to do so. Under such circumstances, how could Song Zhongnian and the grand elder dare to let him marry a lineal descendant and give him the power to establish a main branch?

    Elder Lu¡¯s shocking words deeply involved the Song n¡¯s internal matters. Prince Rui could only listen on the side and continuously drink his wine without even looking up.

    In the end, Duchess An sighed and said, ¡°Internal selection, the passing of inheritance to a lineal descendant and forbidding intermarriage between the noble and the humble are the founding rules of a n. If we break those rules for no good reason, our Song n will have made an enemy out of the world. We will fall into internal chaos even before the era of chaos arrives. This matter, we shall discusster.¡±

    Since Duchess An had spoken thus, it meant this matter was impossible. Elder Lu wore a resentful and dissatisfied expression but said nothing else.

    Hence, the Song n¡¯s situation was like a tall building on the verge of copse. Those who moved would be seeking death, those who did not could only wait for death. The choice between the two was extremely difficult.

    While the atmosphere around ¡°Lotusheart Residence¡± was bing progressively stagnant, the ambiance in ¡°Deep Cloud Manor¡± had already recovered its calm. After speaking all that needed to be said, Song Zining soon recollected his recent depressed mood and dragged Qianye out for a drink in the courtyard.

    The two sat facing each other with a bottle of wine and a couple of side dishes. There were beauties to help them pour wine as they drank and sang in a leisurely manner. This could be considered their parting banquet.

    The dust had settled over the examination, and the situation in ckflow City would soon see a great change. Hence, Qianye didn¡¯t linger¡ªhe left the Song n at noon the next day and boarded an airship bound for Evernight Continent.

    He rushed all the way back to ckflow City. Qianye didn¡¯t even have the time to hand Song Zining¡¯s project to Song Hu before Wei Bainian¡¯s personal guard came knocking on his door.

 Volume 5 - 22: A Hesitant Beginning

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 22: A Hesitant Beginning

    Qianye asked and found out that Wei Bainian had dispatched his guards to pay attention to his movements. That was why they hade to see him immediately after he stepped into the main gates of the mercenary corps. Some thoughts shed through Qianye¡¯s mind as he recalled what Song Zining had told him¡ªabout the Wei n¡¯s war with the dark races. It seemed the power structure in ckflow City was about to witness some big changes.

    By the time Qianye arrived at the Seventh Division Headquarters, he saw Wei Bainian¡¯s guards hurriedly moving around. The open space near the main building was fully upied with private soldiers who were in the process of packing.

    Wei Bainian was personally waiting for Qianye before the door. He brought Qianye into the study and had someone deliver tea before closing the doors for a lengthy discussion.

    Qianye exchanged some conventional greetings with Wei Bainian and then asked directly, ¡°General Wei, are you about to leave?¡±

    Wei Bainian sighed. ¡°The Far East Province is now in a total war with the dark races.¡±

    Qianye had already heard bits and pieces of information from Song Zining. Thus, he immediately asked, ¡°How¡¯s the heir doing?¡±

    ¡°The heir was also in the army at the time and returned with serious injuries. But Qiyang is brimming with talent. Not only is his Thousand Mountains already at the seventh realm, but he¡¯s also awakened a powerful ability, Superhuman Recovery. Regardless of how grievous his injuries are, he¡¯ll recover as long as he doesn¡¯t die on the spot. Moreover, his recovery is over ten times that of a normal person.¡± At this point, Wei Bainian¡¯s tone was full of praise.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help exim in admiration after hearing of Wei Potian¡¯s almost perverted ability. The Thousand Mountains was known as the best in defense. Add to that a Superhuman Recovery, this Wei n heir was truly developing toward an indomitable direction.

    Then Wei Bainian began to exin the general situation in Far East Province.

    It turned out that a great general of the Wei n had recently scored repeated victories against the dark races. Bing quite conceited and making light of the enemy, he unwittingly found himself deep within dark race territory as he led his troops forward.

    Surprisingly, the dark races wouldn¡¯t let this go. It was as if they already had the intention tounch a war. They took this opportunity to pursue and attack the unit all the way to the jade gates where they were finally stopped by the natural stronghold and its fortifications.

    Presently, the dark race troops outside of the Jade Gate had increased by several times. It was only by relying on the fortifications there that the Wei n forces were able to hold onto this passage leading into the Far East Province and barely stabilize the general situation. The other defensive lines of the Far East Province were also fairly strained. The Wei n was currently recalling their generals stationed in various enved domains. As a general famous for his defensive capabilities, Wei Bainian would definitely be assigned to oversee the Jade Gate Stronghold. This was a ce of utmost importance.

    It was currently unclear as to how long the situation in the Far East Province would drag out. It was a battle for survival, and the Wei n was contracting all of its forces. With the exception of those stationed in some extremely important administrative enves, most of its troops had been transferred back to the main n. ckflow City was of little value to the Wei n while Wei Bainian was one of its few great generals. As such, it was inevitable that the city would be included in the list of withdrawals.

    The Wei n had already dispatched an elder level attendant to discuss this matter with the Expeditionary Army Headquarters¡ªthey would assign a new divisionmander to take over the seventh division. The handover between the two parties would take ce within a couple of weeks.

    After informing Qianye of the developments, Wei Bainian asked meaningfully, ¡°What do you n to do after I leave?¡±

    Some thoughts shed through Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°What is the expeditionary army¡¯s attitude? Do we have any idea which general will take over the seventh division?¡±

    Wei Bainian smiled faintly; these questions had struck the two most important issues. Due to Wu Zhengnan¡¯s incident, the rtionship between the expeditionary army and the Wei n was bumpy at best. The new divisionmander might not have a good impression of Qianye. For a mercenary corps standing in opposition to the garrisoned expeditionary army, even survival would be difficult, to speak nothing of future developments.

    ¡°The expeditionary army¡¯s attitude was exceptionally good. The reason, at least on the surface, is the total war between the Far East Province and the dark races. They don¡¯t want to cause an obvious hindrance from behind lest they are med by the empire. In truth, I heard that a certain aristocratic family from the empire ns to extend its reach to Evernight Continent. They¡¯ve dispatched a main n descendant to develop territory here, and this happened to be a readily avable opportunity.¡±

    Qianye frowned. There was currently no way to judge whether this information bode well or not. If the expeditionary army was nning to bring about a peaceful handover with the Wei n for certain benefits, they would have good reason to maintain the stability of the situation in ckflow City. However, the effects it would have on Qianye and the Dark me Mercenary Corps was difficult to say.

    Additionally, the new divisionmander was of an aristocratic background. He should be vastly different from most of the expeditionary army divisionmanders who had climbed up from the grassroots and fought for their aplishments. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to guess this person¡¯s way of handling things.

    ¡°Do you know which aristocratic family?¡±

    ¡°The Sishui Dong Family,¡± Wei Bainian thought about it for a moment before adding, ¡°their family title is that of a regional count.¡± [1]

    Qianye had no recollection of this aristocratic family, but he knew that the title regional count was for a lower-ranking aristocratic family. The regional count had to maintain his feudalnds at the size of a major county or above and was always at risk of being demoted from nobility. It wasn¡¯t surprising that they were anxious to break new grounds and had turned their attention toward Evernight Continent.

    Wei Bainian said, ¡°I¡¯ll still be around for about fifteen days or so, and I¡¯ll be taking all my men with me when I leave, so you should make ns in advance.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Wei Bainian¡¯s words meant that the Wei n troops in the ckflow City war zone would be withdrawnpletely.

    But Qianye had no ns for the moment. He might consider fighting for the position of the seventh divisionmander if he were already a champion, but he still needed some time. A divisionmander must be a champion; this was a rigid thousand-year-old rule set by the imperial military. Qianye wasn¡¯t a true champion yet, despite his current power already beingparable to one.

    In truth, Qianye¡¯s response wouldrgely depend on the attitude of this new divisionmander whom he had never met before.

    Qianye left Wei Bainian with a heavy heart and returned to the encampment of the mercenary corps.

    At this moment, the camp was extremely lively. A long line of cargo trucks was filing in, all of them outfitted ording to imperial regr army standards. Each truck had arge caliber heavy machine gun mounted on top with two thick exhaust pipes standing tall and straight behind the driver¡¯spartment. Their bold appearance was truly unforgettable.

    The two sides of the road had already been filled with people who hade to watch the liveliness, and more people was rushing over. This was the people who had spent the greater half of their lives on Evernight. How could they have ever seen such arge number of imperial regr army standard cargo trucks?

    At this moment, half of those cars were carrying military grade cargo crates, while the other half was upied by fully uniformed soldiers. These warriors were formidable in appearance and outfitted with excellent gear, also of regr army standards. Comparatively, the expeditionary army looked like beggars, and most of those mercenaries, hunters, and adventurers who made their living on Evernight Continent looked even worse.

    Song Hu had long since received this news and immediately came out to receive them.

    A burly man with a darkplexion jumped down from the leading truck. He then walked toward Song Hu withrge strides and said, ¡°Third special reinforcedpany of the Ningyuan Heavy Industries internal guard unit reporting in.¡±

    Song Hu nodded and pointed toward the side. ¡°That area will be your barracks. Park all the cars in the side courtyard parking lot. Move all heavy equipment into the warehouse after taking inventory and keep all light equipment at hand.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Thepanymander saluted Song Hu and set out to make arrangements for their establishment. The soldiers from the Ningyuan Heavy Industries quickly alighted. They began to move the equipment and set up camp in an orderly fashion. The entire process involved no idle chatter apart from necessary orders and inquiries.

    Song Zining had dispatched thispany to escort the prizes from the examination. It was also his first investment in Dark me Mercenary Corps. They would be assigned into the corps after they hadpleted their escort and delivery duties. Thispany was valued at a five percent share in Dark me Mercenary corps.

    In terms of actual fighting power, this specialpany might actually defeat the entire Dark me in battle, given that Qianye didn¡¯t join the battle. If an outsider were to know of this converted price, they would surely believe Song Zining had taken a huge loss. Even Qianye himself thought so.

    But Song Zining didn¡¯t calcte in such a way. He believed that a single Qianye was equal to an entire division, and that he might even beparable to a corps or more in the future. With such a calction, he had actually profited considerably.

    While the internal guards of Ningyuan Heavy Industries were busy with their work, some other people within the camp were paying attention to their movements. Apart from the blood seedlings he had saved, there were two neighboring mercenary groups Dark me had recently annexed.

    The high-ranking officers of those mercenary groups all wore ugly expressions. They secretly drew someparison in their minds and realized that they would be utterly defeated even if they pulled out four or five hundred warriors to fight against this reinforcedpany made up of a hundred-odd people, not to mention the heavy weaponry being unloaded continuously from the trucks. The sheer quantity made one¡¯s scalp go numb.

    At this moment, what little hidden intentions they might have had in their hearts had dispersed into thin air.

    Qianye returned to the encampment in a dreary mood, and after seeing this buzzing scene, his somewhat low spirits were immediately uplifted. ording to the ns between Song Zining and Qianye, the present expansion was only the beginning.

    During the following period, Song Zining would use the Ningyuan Group¡¯s name to recruit 500 more warriors, organize them into a battalion, and invest them into the Dark me Mercenary Corps. This kind of troop organization and equipment allocation would continue until they reached the strength of an imperial regr army corps. This would then be the first step in their westward project.

    Qianye met Song Hu and the dark-facedpanymander Duan Hao, then proceeded to make arrangements regarding certain corps affairs. He then stood in front of the map rubbing his tired eyes as he repeatedlypared a number of westward routes in his mind.

    However, no path waspletely certain when forming such a major scheme. The most important question here was the stability of their rear. A new seventh divisionmander with an unclear stance would only serve as a hidden danger. Qianye didn¡¯t dare guarantee that their home base wouldn¡¯t be seized while they were off developingnd in dark race territory.

    He gave it much thought but couldn¡¯t think of any good way outside of expanding the Dark me Mercenary Corps once again and leaving enough troops here to ensure the safety of their base.

    But this method wasn¡¯t quite feasible. For one, Qianye¡¯s financial strength was limited, furthermore, a rapidly expanded unit without sufficientbat experience would only cause their overall fighting power to decrease. Additionally, an infighting with the expeditionary army within the seventh division¡¯s defensive region was a sure way to disaster.

    Then how should he defend?

    Qianye gave it some thought and then discarded this option. After a round of rapid expansion, the earnings from the defense of those surrounding small towns could no longer provide for the current Dark me. He could more or less make do if he was granted a contract for half the defensive region, but the issue loops back to the origin¡ªwith the seventh division here, how could they allow him to take away such arge share of resources?

    Dark me continued to expand as nned while Qianye spent the few days drowned in hesitation.

    Song Hu was overwhelmed with all the work since he had to reallocate officers, reorganize the troops, and supervise the construction work in addition to investigating the westward paths. Of course, he also grabbed Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine, the Wu siblings, and some other outstanding warriors from among the seedlings to share his heavy responsibilities. This was also a good opportunity to nurture the new blood of the mercenary corps.

    Meanwhile, Qianye spent most of his time cultivating. He had just advanced to the ninth rank and needed to solidify his foundations. During the remaining time, he would repeatedly ponder their future operations and corresponded with Song Zining regarding certain ideas.

    It was during this period of peace that a small group of travel-worn adventurers arrived in ckflow City, seeking a meeting with Qianye.

    [1] The actual trantion is ¡°county count¡± which sounds kinda ridiculous to me. So I modified it a bit and named it a regional count. Neither of the two is an actual feudal rank.

 Volume 5 - 23: Guest at The Doors

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 23: Guest at The Doors

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help being baffled because this group of adventurers imed they weren¡¯t natives of Evernight Continent. However, he was somewhat astonished when he saw this group of five¡ªthe leader was a rank-eight fighter and the rest were rank-seven. Their levels were quite high,parable to the small units dispatched by the major ns to handle foreign errands.

    The leader, a burly man with a full beard, introduced himself, ¡°I¡¯m called ck Liu, Ole Bearded de¡¯s life and death brother. I came over this time because he entrusted me to deliver an item to you.¡±

    ck Liu passed a lead box to Qianye. It appeared simple, crude, and even the lid was welded shut.

    Qianye received the item and observed it momentarily. Then, without any instruments, he first tore a slit with his bare hands and then proceeded to open the entire cover.

    The strength he demonstrated made ck Liu¡¯s eyes twitch. Thereafter, his attitude became imperceptibly more respectful.

    Within the lead box was an exquisite bullet case which held four origin bullets. Their tips were round and lustrous as if they were made of the highest quality jade material. However, Qianye was able to smell a wisp of blood energy from it. This should be the batch of origin bullets made from the blood sucking fangs of a vampire viscount.

    Apparently, the great master from Dog w Town hadpleted Qianye¡¯smission and had shipped the goods via Ole Bearded de. These four vampiric fang bullets possessed great destructive potential against humans, only inferior, by a single grade, to the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion. A single square hit would kill anyone below the champion rank.

    Qianye put away the goods and a certain idea shed through his mind. ¡°In which area does Brother Liu usually work? What other business do you deal in apart from shipping goods?¡±

    ck Liu replied, ¡°Just call me Big ck. I and my brothers mainly deliver goods between Evernight and other continents, only picking upbat missions asionally.¡±

    At this point, Qianye realized that ck Liu¡¯s powerful little unit was, in fact, a trade channel. But it was merely a grey smuggling channel.

    Qianye pondered for a while and said, ¡°You should¡¯ve seen the situation here when you came in. There''s demand for a fair amount of supplies here. Naturally, I also have goods I¡¯d like to trade out. What type of goods do you usually carry?¡±

    A cheerful look appeared on ck Liu¡¯s face. They were all secretly astonished by the scene after walking into the Dark me Mercenary Corps¡¯ base and facing Qianye made them feel even more suffocated.

    All of them were old veterans who had rolled about the border of life and death for many years and had a keen intuition for danger. Even though this mercenary corpsmander was excessively young and not even a champion, the pressure they had felt indicated that Qianye¡¯s strength was far above theirs. The future expansion of such a mercenary corps definitely wouldn¡¯t be limited to a small ce like ckflow City.

    Being able to find such a business partner in Evernight Continent was equal to gaining an additional fixed smuggling route. Their risks would be greatly lowered, while their profits would increase exponentially.

    ck Liu didn¡¯t do a sloppy job at all. He wrote down two separate lists after asking for pen and paper. ¡°Sire Commander, this is a list of goods we purchase along with their prices. There¡¯s no upper limit. This one is a list of goods we offer, mostly things of limited supply on Evernight Continent. We can also negotiate if you have any special requirements.¡±

    Qianye nced over the list and found that the items they purchased were mostly ores and various local products and materials from the dark race side, all of them high-level varieties. The goods they marketed on Evernight Continent were mostly weapons and equipment. Among them, origin bullets upied a major share of the transactions.

    Qianye was slightly moved after seeing copper in the list.

    During the most recent war on Evernight Continent, Qianye had attacked a small mine upied by the deserter army as per his agreement with Wei Bainian. Later on, that mine fell under his name. Although the scale of that mine wasn¡¯t veryrge and the types of ores produced were also somewhat mixed, it did produce copper ore.

    Qianye made some simple inquiries and found out that the copper ore produced from Evernight Continent were favored by the corporates of the upper continents due to its high quality. Only at this point did Qianye realize the meaning behind Wei Bainian¡¯s seemingly inadvertent arrangements. The produce from that small mine wasn¡¯t rare at all, but the copper it produced was a staple material that was easily tradable.

    To the newly established Dark me Mercenary Corps, the ease with which their resources could be converted to cash was of great importance as it would signify a continuous stream of replenishment. Rare resources were, of course, valuable, but their trade restrictions were also significant.

    Qianye immediately called Song Hu over to go over the amount of copper ore they had in hand and negotiated the price with ck Liu on the spot. Additionally, he also bought a fair number of spoils from the dark races.

    The total value of this transaction reached 3,000 gold coins. ck Liu would require a couple of days to collect the cash for this. Additionally, a part of it would be paid for in origin guns and origin bullets.

    ck Liu was a pleasant surprise that Qianye gained in the recent days. However, the people he had dispatched to ck y Town to investigate Lu Jianan didn¡¯t bring back any good news.

    The town was being rebuilt after the previous great battle, and the expenses were provided by the expeditionary army. As such, the mayor, Hu Wei, felt that he might as well build it into aplete fort. Theyout of the buildings was now even more dumbfounding than before, and it was said that reconstruction work should bepleted after two months.

    ¡°Two months?!¡± Qianye was startled. The progress was simply too fast.

    ¡°Hu Wei recruited arge number of scavengers and obtained most of the building materials from neighboring regions, hence the fast construction speed.¡±

    Qianye recalled the fatty mayor whom he had met when he first arrived at ck y Town. He already had some impression of the man back then, but now it seemed he was even more talented. Perhaps the management of a single town wasn¡¯t enough to sufficiently disy his abilities.

    But news regarding Lu Jianan was quite disappointing. ck y Town was abandoned during the war on Evernight Continent. The ce was trampled over by the dark race army soon afterward, and almost all the scavengers there were utterly destroyed by the famished servspiders.

    Additionally, ck y Town had been destroyed and rebuilt three times during the past hundred years. The residents had changed several times, and all of the relevant documents had been lost. There was simply no way to make inquiries.

    At this point, Qianye could only let out a sigh.

    The vampires might have certain methods iprehensible to humans with which they could identify the blood energy of certain ns. It was quite possible that the vampire knight had found Lu Jianan¡¯s descendant back then and killed him after obtaining the crystal fragment. It was unknown where he had disposed of the corpse. However, it was probably impossible to confirm this theory because the vampire knight had already died in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    During this rtively peaceful daily life, the atmosphere around the ckflow region was slowly growing tense. Of course, this had nothing to do with ordinary civilians.

    Qianye received news from Wei Bainian that the negotiations between the Wei n and the expeditionary army had ended, and that thepensation received by the Wei n was eptable. From another perspective, this indicated that the aristocratic family who wanted to take over this ce had made a steep investment.

    Additionally, Wei Bainian also gave Qianye some more information. Although the new divisionmander hadn¡¯t yet taken office, this person had already arrived in advance and was beginning to make contact with a number of strong officers from the seventh division.

    Perhaps some of the local powers in ckflow City had already received such visits. The hunters association, a number of major adventurer guilds, as well as some of the poorly-backed trade establishments, were clearly bing restless.

    It seemed this aristocratic family had its own way of doing things. This new divisionmander hadn¡¯t even made an appearance but was already setting out to make certain administrative arrangements in the defensive region. Wei Bainian naturally turned a blind eye to all of this. He was only waiting for the other party to perform a formal handover and then he would return to the upper continent. But this didn¡¯t stop him from providing Qianye some help.

    No uninvited guests had yet appeared before Dark me¡¯s doors. But as one of the most powerful local power in ckflow City, Qianye and the other core members of the corps had already sensed the abnormal atmosphere in the city. As such, they had discussed this matter a number of times and confirmed their policies.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have to wait too long before a visitor appeared just as expected.

    At noon this day, a number of rumbling armed jeeps rushed straight toward the gates of Dark me¡¯s camp. The vehicles were all armored, outfitted with heavy machine guns on top and had the expeditionary army¡¯s insignia painted upon it. Such vehicles with powerful defense and flexibility were considered elite equipment even among the core divisions of the expeditionary army.

    The sentries from Dark me immediately sounded the rm as the armed jeeps drove straight toward the camp gates. The tworge-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on the guard towers on each side of the gate turned and aimed toward them at almost the same time.

    The guard at the camp gates picked up the microphone and shouted, ¡°Halt! Report your identity or we will open fire!¡±

    There was a gloomy looking officer seated in one of the jeeps. He shot a nce toward the front and frowned. He had some documents on Dark me in his hand, but apparently, the information there had already be outdated. The scale of the other party¡¯s encampment had far surpassed what was described therein.

    He sneered after hearing the guard¡¯s shout and said, ¡°Charge in! Run over whoever dares block the way!¡±

    The jeep engines rumbled as they elerated instead of slowing down and charged straight toward the main gates. The Dark me sentinels turned pale¡ªthey took aim but didn¡¯t dare pull the trigger.

    The jeeps were clearly painted with the expeditionary army¡¯s insignia. Attacking them was tantamount to attacking the expeditionary army. These sentries had been ordinary hunters and adventurers until recently, so how would they dare offend the expeditionary army?

    Atop the gate tower, a military officer with a darkplexion and iron-like muscles frowned. He quickly pushed the sentry aside, held onto one of the heavy anti-aircraft machine guns and opened fire at the jeeps rushing toward them.

    Tututu! The muffled sound of a machine gun rang out as powerful anti-aircraft bullets struck the road, kicking up meter-tall clouds of soil and debris. In this way, he drew a clear bullet trajectory which extended rapidly toward the iing jeeps.

    The expeditionary army warrior behind the steering wheel was well experienced. Under great rm, he rapidly turned the steering wheel, and the five jeeps shifted toward the two sides of the road.

    The four jeeps at the front barely evaded the machine gun¡¯s line of fire but thest vehicle was a moment too slow and swept through. Its armor was immediately struck flying, and a small part of its backpartment roof waspletely torn open. This sent a number of expeditionary army soldiers flying out, and one of those unlucky fellows was even missing an arm.

    The jeeps swerving toward the side weren¡¯tpletely unharmed either. Two of them had clearly lost bnce and were on the verge of flipping over.

    A door on one of the jeeps flew out with a bang as the officer who had given the order to charge leaped out just as the car was about to flip.

    His face was full of anger as he shouted with a stern voice, ¡°I¡¯m a lieutenant colonel of the expeditionary army! You dare open fire against me? Do you have a death wish?!¡±

    The officer on the gate tower sneered. He dragged over a new crate of bullets with his foot, connected the ammo belt to the anti-aircraft machine gun, and aimed at the lieutenant colonel. Immediately, tongues of me began to gush out of the muzzle.

 Volume 5 - 24: Whose Means of Survival?

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 24: Whose Means of Survival?

    Huge changes came over the expeditionary army lieutenant colonel¡¯s countenance as he urgently leapt sideways and ducked over ten meters out of the way. Meanwhile, the ce he originally stood had been drowned in a cloud of dust. One could see the earth being shaved awayyer byyer amidst the rolling smoke. Even a rank-seven fighter would have been turned into a beehive even if he didn¡¯t die.

    That lieutenant colonel was shocked and furious in equal measures. Not just because he was being shot at, but also at the firepower of the heavy weaponry. An anti-aircraft machine gun capable of shooting down airships weren¡¯t amon sight even in the expeditionary army¡¯s core divisions¡ªhow could he run into one at the gates of a mere mercenary corps?

    The hundred-bullet belt was emptied within an instant. The officer on the gate tower wasn¡¯t quite satisfied and wished to continue pulling on the trigger, but a big hand reached out from beside him and pressed the muzzle down.

    ncing back, the officer immediately let go of the machine gun and performed a salute. ¡°Sir!¡±

    The one who had appeared nearby was the iron-tower-like burly man with a darkplexion. He nced down and said in a clear voice, ¡°My name is Duan Hao. Just now, my brother here fired identally. Everything is a misunderstanding. Since you¡¯re really from the expeditionary army, then doe in!¡±

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s expression was extremely unsightly and almost broke out in curses. ident?! Misunderstanding?! He and his subordinates had used these words countless times over the years and tricked numerous people. However, it was really the first time they were being used on them.

    Out of the five jeeps, two had flipped over and one had crashed badly. The lieutenant colonel ground his teeth, waved his hand toward the back, and headed directly toward Dark me¡¯s main gate. The expeditionary army warriors mbered out of the cars in session and formed up behind the officer.

    Duan Hao immediately jumped down from the gate tower and stood at the center of the road. There, with his hands crossed over his chest, he sized up the lieutenant colonel¡¯s group.

    The man walked up to Duan Hao and nced coldly at him. Their stares almost sent sparks flying.

    The lieutenant colonel sneered. ¡°You¡¯re the first to dare treat the expeditionary army like this in Evernight Continent! I¡¯ll remember you!¡±

    Duan Hao said in a rxed tone, ¡°Sir, you must¡¯ve arrived at the abandonednd not long ago.¡± Heughed and said with deep implications, ¡°It¡¯s precisely because we''re in Evernight that there wasn''t any bloodshed just now. Otherwise, the army would¡¯ve had to send people to collect corpses.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s eyes narrowed. The expeditionary army soldier who had lost an arm was still in the group behind him. How could this be called ¡°didn¡¯t see blood¡±?

    He was so angry that he broke into aughter. ¡°Collect corpses? What a big tone. I¡¯ll be sure to look into your background when I get back and see what sort of major character you are to have spared so many of our lives!¡±

    Duan Hao¡¯s face turned cold and said indifferently, ¡°Quite frankly, I¡¯m astonished you daree over here without investigating our background first.¡±

    Duan Hao was one of the heavyweight characters under Song Zining¡¯smand. Under normal circumstances, having him bring a reinforcedpany to garrison a small ce like ckflow City was using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. There was definitely a reason Song Zining had dispatched him at such a time. That was because Duan Hao¡¯s other identity was an official external steward of the Song n.

    Regardless of how much internal and external conflicts the Song n was facing, it was still an enormous entity in the upper continents. A mere expeditionary army lieutenant colonel would require sufficient reason if he wanted to touch a Song n external steward. Moreover, the expeditionary army could do little to deter the retaliation he would suffer afterward.

    The lieutenant colonel wasn¡¯t able to gain the least bit of advantage verbally and, instead, became hesitant after hearing Duan Hao¡¯s words. However, all of the recent arrangements had beenpleted in session and Dark me was hisst stop. His mission would be a great sess if he could chew off this bone¡ªthere was no reason to withdraw just because of a few words.

    He gazed fixedly at Duan Hao for a moment and said while forcefully suppressing his anger, ¡°I¡¯m expeditionary army lieutenant colonel Du Yuanze. I must see your corpsmander for urgent military matters.¡±

    ¡°See? Nothing would¡¯ve happened if you had just said so sooner!¡± Duan Hao raised his eyebrows. He then turned to step out of the way and summoned two warriors with a wave of his hand. ¡°Notify Sir Qianye and ask him if he has the time to meet some idle people.¡±

    After hearing these words, Du Yuanze¡¯s expression couldn¡¯t help but grow gloomier despite his subtlety.

    Watching Du Yuanze¡¯s expression, Duan Hao squinted his eyes and revealed a cold smile. He had already made things very clear¡ªit couldn¡¯t be med on him if the other party insisted on jumping in.

    Afterward, Du Yuanze¡¯s group met no more obstacles and were soon able to meet Qianye in the parlor. This speed caused Du Yuanze¡¯s expression to rx slightly. Even if Dark me did have some background, the master of ckflow City was no longer the Far East Wei n. As themon saying goes, ¡°the present officer is more powerful than the district magistrate¡±¡ªeveryone should be clear about the circumstances.

    Although Du Yuanze had already looked through the documents beforehand, he was still astonished after seeing this excessively young mercenary corpsmander.

    Sitting at the end of the long table was a young man who could almost be described as beautiful. His obsidian eyes were clear, bright, and seemed to be overflowing with brilliance. Du Yuanze would have doubted the other party¡¯s identity had he not seen how those vicious and unbridled veterans nearby treating him with great respect.

    The lieutenant colonel suppressed the wisp of groundless uneasiness in his heart and sat straight as he gazed at Qianye. ¡°It seemsmander Qianye still has a basic level of respect for the expeditionary army. In Evernight, the expeditionary army represents the empire. I wonder ifmander Qianye is aware of what happened just now?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t stand up to wee these unwee guests. He sat leaning on the chair and said indifferently, ¡°You mean the unit captain who fired at you from the gate tower? He¡¯s already been punished. Oh, as for the specific penalty, what was that again? Song Hu?¡±

    Song Hu, who had been standing behind Qianye, took a step forward as if he were about to whisper in Qianye¡¯s ears. However, his voice was so loud that everyone in the room could hear him clearly. ¡°Three days of confinement and an additional three months of special training.¡±

    Qianye nodded and nced up at Du Yanze. ¡°That¡¯s the punishment.¡±

    This couldn¡¯t be considered a proper punishment at all, but Du Yuanze decided to take this as an expression of goodwill. He swallowed his anger and stoppedining about this problem. The reason he hade to Dark me Mercenary Corps wasn¡¯t to punish an ignorant captain but to discuss more important matters.

    Du Yuanze was never someone so easily dealt with. The reason why he had given in, for the time being, was simple¡ªall that he had seen on his way into Darkme Headquarters had far surpassed his imagination. This was especially true for the row of cargo trucks in the parking lot. It was clear, from their model and horsepower, that these were armaments only the imperial regr army should possess!

    In his mind, mercenaries were only slightly better off than hunters. They possessed strong individual fighting power but had no tactics to speak of. They had almost no cooperation on the battlefield and were far inferior to the standing armies.

    Most mercenary corps were made up of short-sighted people who knew only about buying guns and ammunition. They had no idea how important special vehicles like cargo and engineering trucks were to the battlefield.

    Du Yuanze secretly congratted himself on making Dark me Mercenary Corps hisst stop. Currently, the deployments in and around the city were basicallyplete. Otherwise, there might be idents when facing this Dark me.

    Du Yuanze decided to finish his mission as quickly as possible. He could settle the scorester no matter how upset he was. He dragged the corners of his mouth into a smile and said, ¡°I¡¯ve seenmander Qianye¡¯s goodwill. I¡¯ll definitely report this to General Dong upon my return.¡±

    However, his words were cut short by Qianye¡¯s absent-minded words. ¡°Mister Lieutenant Colonel, I think you¡¯ve misunderstood. That captain was punished because his aim was too poor. Against a motorcade charging straight at our camp, he actually failed to kill even a single person. That¡¯s why I feel the need to reinforce his training. If that brat repeats such a mistake, we¡¯ll directly demote him to a foot soldier. A third time and he¡¯ll be fired.¡±

    Du Yuanze¡¯s countenance was frozen, contorted, and alternating between pale and blue. He couldn¡¯t even utter a word and only managed to calm his breathing after a long while. ¡°You, surnamed Qian! Thend you¡¯re standing on is the domain of the expeditionary army! Don¡¯t forget that the expeditionary army represents the Great Qin Empire on Evernight Continent!¡±

    Qianye changed his posture. He propped his chin on his hands and said meaningfully, ¡°You also shouldn¡¯t forget that thend beneath our feet is the Evernight domain. This ce is also called the forsakennd.¡±

    Du Yuanze¡¯s expression turned progressively darker as he sneered. ¡°So what? Corps Commander Qian, I was appointed by General Dong to take over the seventh division. This ckflow City belongs to the seventh division, and right now, I represent the seventh division! These are General Dong¡¯s appointment papers and the orders personally penned by him. Take a look!¡±

    Du Yuanze grabbed two file bags from his subordinate¡¯s hands, tossed it onto the table, and flicked it over with his fingers. The documents slid across the smooth surface of the table with no intention to stop even as it reached Qianye.

    The high-ranking officers of Darkme revealed expressions of fury. Du Yuanze¡¯s movements were too frivolous. Qianye, however, remained calm and collected. He reached out and deftly stopped the bag of documents. He then pulled out two sheets of paper and looked over them.

    One of them was the expeditionary army¡¯s appointment order, assigning Dong Qifeng as themander of the seventh division with immediate effect. The other was a military announcement signed by Dong Qifeng himself.

    Qianye scanned the two documents from top to bottom and passed the military announcement to Song Hu. Thetter read through the document and immediately broke into a frown.

    Qianye¡¯s expression, on the other hand, was unchanged. He nced up at the gloomy Du Yuanze and said, ¡°So, General Dong wishes for all the armed forces in the ckflow City to ept the seventh division¡¯s rearrangements. Each force must not exceed 200 men and they would have to await the expeditionary army¡¯s assignments at any given time?¡±

    Du Yuanze revealed a contorted smile and said while clenching his teeth, ¡°That¡¯s right! All soldiers exceeding this number must be dispersed. Additionally, there cannot be any type of heavy weaponry or origin guns above grade-two. All equipment in vition of these rules must be handed over to the seventh division!¡±

    The meeting room was suffused with a horrifying silence. Unexpectedly, all the high-ranking Dark me officers didn¡¯t question this matter. Their previous angry demeanor had disappeared, and most of them became expressionless.

    Du Yuanze was fairly pleased with the present results and paused intentionally before extending a finger. ¡°The time you have to organize things is¡­ one day!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s sitting posture was casual and rxed. He suddenly broke into aughter like the spring rain melting the snow. ¡°All armed forces? What a swift and decisive aristocratic style.¡±

    Du Yuanze instinctively sensed something wrong, but Qianye asked without waiting for him to think, ¡°What if we don¡¯t reorganize our forces?¡±

    ¡°Then you are rebels! The expeditionary army will thoroughly annihte you without leaving a single one alive!¡±

    When Qianye smiled, his exquisite facial features made him look even younger and even somewhat naive. He said softly, ¡°This is refusing to give us a means of survival.¡±

    Du Yuanzeughed loudly. He then forcefully mmed on the table, leaned forward to gaze fixedly at Qianye, and said word by word, ¡°I¡¯ve already given you a means to survival! Reorganize as I say and get it done by the time I say. This is the only way you¡¯ll survive! Those wretched citizens of ckflow are already carrying out these orders obediently and you are no exception! y tricks with me and I¡¯ll st your ass apart with an origin gun!¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t furious. He stood up slowly and said with great indifference, ¡°I think that general has gotten something wrong. This is Evernight Continent. Whoever has the biggest fist has the say. And right now, you¡¯re in my territory and not the seventh division¡¯s.¡±

    Du Yuanze was shocked. ¡°Are you revolting?!¡±

    Qianye raised his hand and said calmly, ¡°Men, seize this Lieutenant Colonel Du.¡±

 Volume 5 - 25: Parting Gift

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 25: Parting Gift

    Du Yuanze shouted in a stern voice, ¡°Who dares?!¡± The expeditionary army soldiers beside him also drew their guns in session.

    However, the Dark me officers moved much faster and with greater ruthlessness. Gunshots rang out in the parlor along with shes of origin power radiance. When the smoke had settled, the smell of blood hung in the air, and there was no longer anyone standing beside Du Yuanze¡ªall of his subordinates had copsed into pools of blood.

    Du Yuanze¡¯s hands and feet were cold. His voice was trembling, and he could no longer even speak in full sentences. ¡°You-you-really dare.¡±

    He had his subordinates draw their weapons just to threaten Qianye and had no real intention to start a fight within Dark me headquarters. Presently, all of the forces around the ckflow City area had already fallen under his control. If only Dark me refused to recognize his power, then its only fate was to be besieged by the remaining powers.

    Who knew Qianye¡¯s subordinates were actually not in the least apprehensive andmitted murder so brazenly. The expeditionary army uniform didn¡¯t have the slightest bit of deterrence.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was still undisturbed and he spoke as if he were engaging in idle chatter, ¡°See? I don¡¯t like the path of survival you¡¯re giving me, so I just went and made one on my own.¡±

    Duan Hao approached Du Yuanze with a smile and unceremoniously searched thetter from head to toe, confiscating all weapons. Although Du Yuanze was a rank-seven fighter, he didn¡¯t dare make the slightest move. Duan Hao alone was enough to ughter him, not to mention all the others in the room.

    Qianye passed Dong Qifeng¡¯s appointment order to Song Hu and said, ¡°Deliver this to General Wei Bainian. With this, his transference procedure ispleted. Also, advise General Wei to leave ckflow City before dusk tomorrow.¡±

    Song Hu thoroughly understood this matter and left quickly.

    Du Yuanze suddenly trembled after he heard Qianye¡¯s message for the Far East Wei n general. The information he had obtained stated that Dark me had developed so quickly within half a year because it had attached itself to the Wei n.

    Actually, this was also a major reason why they had chosen to use such thunderous methods to disassemble this mercenary corps. Dong Qifeng had paid a significant price in order to get this appointment and vowed to go all out. What he wanted was apletely obedient administrative region, and as such, the old powers had to be cleared out. Additionally, Dark me¡¯s newly constructed base and the mine under its name was also quite enviable.

    But how could a mercenary corps depending on the Wei n for survival dare speak to Wei Bainian in such a tone?

    Du Yuanze thought back to the meaning behind Qianye¡¯s words after his initial shock subsided and felt an extremely bad notion emerge within his heart. He said in a trembling voice, ¡°You-you¡¯re going to¡­¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t wait for the man to finish speaking. ¡°That¡¯s right. I won¡¯t bother Lieutenant Colonel Du with the transference procedure. We can have a good chat after I capture ckflow City.

    Du Yuanze was a smart man. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have gotten this staff officer¡¯s position. What he relied on the most was that he had already assumed control of the majority of the seventh division. As for the hunters, mercenaries, adventurers, and even the city factions, he viewed them as cannon fodder. It was virtually impossible for these local powers to contend with the organized expeditionary army¡ªnot that they would dare.

    Hence, Du Yuanze had never even considered the possibility that he would encounter any form of obstruction during his operation of purging ckflow City. He was even prepared to kill some faction leaders to establish his might.

    But his experience with Dark me had far surpassed his imagination. Qianye had long since known that they had taken control of the seventh division. However, he seemedpletely unperturbed and was actually nning tounch a proactive attack? Du Yuanze smelled a conspiracy brewing and cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

    He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°This is rebellion!¡±

    Qianye shot a nce at Du Yuanze and said indifferently, ¡°It seems Lieutenant Colonel Du just came from the upper continents and isn¡¯t quite familiar with the rules of Evernight. The territories here are ¡®not¡¯ official imperial fiefs. Whoever wins the fight owns the ce.¡±

    Presently, the two were speaking face to face and no one restricted Du Yuanze¡¯s movements¡ªhe was neither tied nor handcuffed. Apart from having no weapons, he could be considered entirely free. But the more it was so, the more Du Yuanze didn¡¯t dare y any tricks. He was very clear that Qianye dared let him move around freely because thetter was absolutely confident in killing him at the slightest suspicious move.

    At this time, the Dark me base outside the window was bustling, but in an orderly manner¡ªwarriors had been mobilized in full force and were assembled on the drill grounds. An unending flow of various weapons and equipment were being brought out from the warehouse.

    Du Yuanze heard the sounds ofrge forces being mobilized, and finally, he couldn¡¯t resist moving to the window and gazing out. The more he observed, the paler his face became. He turned back to nce at Qianye who was silently listening to a Dark me officer¡¯s report and felt himself drenched in cold sweat.

    At this time, Du Yuanze was already feeling extremely regretful. He shouldn¡¯t have ced excessive trust in those big shots from the expeditionary army headquarters, and he really shouldn¡¯t have rxed his vigil after seeing the Wei n¡¯s cooperative attitude. As for the information provided by the expeditionary army, now even a fool would know that it had been tampered with. Had he known this sooner, he would¡¯ve visited ckflow City personally to check on the situation even if it meant dying the ns.

    The best way to deal with a tyrannical entity like Dark me was to first cooperate with them on the surface and then slowly encroach upon their living space. Even if they had to spend more time, it would be much better than the present situation¡ªthey were riding atop a proverbial tiger and couldn¡¯t stop midway what they had set in motion. Even until now, Du Yuanze could scarcely believe that Dark me actually dared take action!

    Song Hu pushed open the door, walked in, and whispered some words in Qianye¡¯s ears.

    Song Hu had been quite busy during the past hour. He had personally delivered a message to Wei Bainian and sent information regarding their agreement to Song Zining who had arrived on Evernight Continent two days prior. Finally, he sent word to all the regional powers of ckflow City and instructed them to maintain their neutrality if turmoil breaks out in the city.

    Song Hu didn¡¯t wait for the reply from the various factions within the city because he was very clear about Qianye¡¯s intentions. When they moved out, whoever dared stand on Dong Qifeng¡¯s side would be annihted without mercy. Qianye wanted to sweep his room clean.

    Qianye nodded after listening to Song Hu¡¯s report. He then stood up and instructed his men, ¡°Entertain Lieutenant Colonel Du well.¡±

    Song Hu turned to Du Yuanze with a sinister smile and said, ¡°Rest assured, Sire Qian.¡±

    Thetter sensed a cold intent from the distance and suddenly realized that, despite being a rank-seven fighter, he actually felt timid before this rank-six veteran.

    The old tavern on Green Leaf Street had existed since the founding of ckflow City and was quite famous. It had been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times. The entire establishment was new apart from that wooden signboard ridden with scorch marks.

    Within this tavern, conspiracies, assassinations, betrayal, adultery, and everything else that could take ce in a tavern had already yed out before.

    There weren¡¯t many customers in the old tavern when Qianye arrived and most of the tables were empty. He chose a corner table and sat down. He then ordered seven portions of their signature roast meat pies in one go and began to enjoy them in a leisurely manner.

    The old tavern wasn¡¯t too far from the seventh division headquarters. It was a great ce to get together.

    Before long, the main doors of the tavern were pushed open as a man walked in, d in a trench coat with its cor raised high. He scanned the tavern, walked over to Qianye on his own, and sat down beside him.

    ¡°Why did it have to be this ce?¡± asked Wei Bainian.

    ¡°I heard the food here is great and it¡¯s quite close to your ce.¡± Qianye pushed the extrarge te forward as he spoke.

    Wei Bainian unceremoniously grabbed a big piece of meat pie and stuffed it into his mouth. He munched on it quietly and praised, ¡°Not bad. It¡¯s indeed not bad. Quite satisfying.¡±

    Afterward, the two forewent conversation and ate their fill. Soon, the tes which filled the greater half of the table were cleaned out.

    Wei Bainian drank arge gulp of wine and said in satisfaction, ¡°Good food. Now, back to business. I received your message, but let me hear the reasons.¡±

    ¡°To avoid suspicion,¡± Qianye uttered these extremely simple words.

    Although Wei Bainian had already anticipated this, his expression still changed after actually hearing it. ¡°Are you really taking action so soon?¡±

    Wei Bainian was very clear about the momentum of Dark me¡¯s current strength and development. Any other divisionmander wouldn¡¯t be willing to see such an external armed force in his territory, and frictions would ur sooner orter. It was just that he hadn¡¯t expected the two parties to reach the point of open battle even before the garrison had been transferred.

    Qianye summarized Dong Qifeng¡¯s military announcement and said, ¡°It¡¯s quite clear that this General Dong has no intention to interact peacefully with me. That being the case, I¡¯ll seize ckflow City first and then sit down to negotiate with him.¡±

    Wei Bainian nodded. Any discussion, regardless of the topic and method, would require sufficient bargaining chips. And the controlling rights to ckflow City had a lot of weight.

    This was Evernight, not the upper continents of the empire. Here, the strong made thews and even the expeditionary army couldn¡¯t control everything. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be so many grey areas and grey factions. In truth, the expeditionary army itself was shrouded in ayer of grey. As long as Qianye was strong enough, he could make the changes in ckflow City be facts.

    Wei Bainian pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Dong Qifeng¡¯smand is indeed a weakness. Aint can be filed against it. Although I can¡¯t make a direct appearance, I can find some connections in the military to help you. The caveat is that you have to win the battle first.¡±

    In theory, the expeditionary army divisionmander possessed all rights in his defensive region. However, Dong Qifeng¡¯s manners were too unsightly¡ªapart from the seventh division, he wanted to scrape ayer of grease off of all the regional powers. Even divisionmanders who rose to power from the grassroots would scarcely do something so short-sighted. It wasparable to draining a pond to catch fish.

    An use of misconduct had little effect on those civilian-born divisionmanders, but the Dong family was, at any rate, still a middle-ranked aristocratic family. Even if Dong Qifeng was shameless, his main family couldn¡¯t afford to throw away their prestige.

    But whatever he nned to do, the first step was to seize ckflow City. Only then would he have the corresponding authority to speak. No one would be interested in the voice of the weak.

    After swallowing ckflow City, Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t cough it up easily. As for what Dong Qifeng had to negotiate, that was a matter for the future.

    Qianye gazed at this general from the elder generation and felt fairly thankful. He smiled and said, ¡°To speak the truth, I have a n regarding this matter. I have a friend who will talk to some of the expeditionary army¡¯s big shots.¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you want me to stay back? With me and my men, you¡¯ll have an easier time suppressing the seventh division.¡±

    ¡°Seizing ckflow City is just the beginning. This matter won¡¯t end so easily. Since the Wei n has already made an agreement with the expeditionary army headquarters, it¡¯ll be tantamount to open conflict with the expeditionary army if you and your men take part. The Wei n¡¯s focus on Evernight isn¡¯t profit and there¡¯s still a war going on in Far East Province. I don¡¯t wish for the n to gain another enemy because of such a minor business.¡±

    Wei Bainian¡¯s eyes flickered as he nced at Qianye¡ªno one knew what he was thinking. He suddenly let out a longugh and said, ¡°Very well! Since you have the confidence to handle this business, then I won¡¯t take part anymore. It seems people from our generation are indeed growing old.¡±

    Qianye said with great sincerity, ¡°General Wei, thank you for all the care and advice during this period.¡±

    Wei Bainian waved his hands in response. He then brought out a map and ced it on the table¡ªit was a defensive map of the ckflow City region.

    He pointed to a number of ces and said, ¡°These three ces are the main camps of the seventh division. Their troop distribution and defense situations are all written here in detail. After going back, I¡¯ll dere tomorrow as a holiday but forbid them to leave camp. Additionally, I will allow them an extra meal and lift the ban on alcohol temporarily. This ce is my Wei n private army camp. All my men will withdraw before dusk today, but the heavy weaponry, ammunition, and supplies will be left behind.

    Qianye had already seized Du Yuanze. As such, even if the Dong family had other men around, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone authorized to givemands. At least for tonight, Wei Bainian¡¯s orders will be effective.

    Qianye understood clearly that this arrangement was Wei Bainian¡¯s parting gift to him.

    Wei Bainian stood up and reached out a hand to Qianye. ¡°I wish you sess!¡±

    Qianye shook the general¡¯s hand with a smile and replied, ¡°I will definitely seed.¡±

    Wei Bainian suddenly realized that the temperature of Qianye¡¯s hand was slightly lower than normal people, but his grasp was extremely firm and powerful. It felt as if he had gripped a solid block of stone.

    There was no longer a significant difference in the power represented by the two hands.

 Volume 5 - 26: The Offensive

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 26: The Offensive

    After midnight, Qianye brought his guard unit and appeared at the east-west street block. The tallest building here, a ten-storied hotel, had beenpletely emptied at this moment.

    ncing out of the french windows of its top-floor room, one could vaguely see the silhouette of the entire seventh division in the neighboring street block. This distance of less than a thousand meters was nothing for Qianye with his extraordinary senses¡ªeverything was in in sight without even the need for a scope.

    Qianye stood beside the window watching the brightly lit military base on the other side and could vaguely feel the atmosphere of jubtion therein. He suddenly let out a sigh from the bottom of his heart. These people, these warriors had thrown away their lives just for that tiny bit of present benefit. They had no idea that their current merriment would probably be theirst.

    They had been abandoned.

    Qianye pulled out his Scarlet Edge in silence and slowly wiped it with his finger, oblivious to the fact that he had been cut. His blood was already flowing freely upon it.

    The expressions of the few officers who hade to deliver reports shifted slightly, but no one reminded him about it. They only concluded their reports and left immediately.

    Du Yuanze was sitting on the sofa opposite of Qianye. All this time, he had sat ramrod straight, and his nerves had been extremely tense. So much so that he felt somewhat exhausted and would asionally feel that everything before his eyes was a dream. He suddenly nced at his own hands and realized that it was suffused with an unprecedented pallor.

    There were officers knocking and entering continuously to report on the most recent situation with no intention to avoid Du Yuanze. Thetter, on the other hand, felt the blood on his face drain away after hearing each of them.

    Blood¡ªit dripped continuously toward the tip of the Scarlet Edge and fell to the ground.

    After an unknown length of time, the unsleeping city finally started to calm down, and themps everywhere began to turn dim. This night, there were very few nocturnal animals in ckflow City, and the entire city was beginning to fall asleep.

    The room regained its silence as two officerspleted their report and left.

    Du Yuanze finally couldn¡¯t hold back and said, ¡°You¡¯re causing too much of a ruckus and won¡¯t be able to handle the aftermath! Stop it now!¡±

    Qianye had already put down the Scarlet Edge and was currently performing maintenance on his grade-five vampire sniper rifle.

    This gun was eight-parts new and was part of Wei Bainian¡¯s collection. Thetter saw that the weapons Qianye carried were all vampire products and, hence, gifted him this sniper rifle, believing that he was particrly fond of vampire armaments. This was originally a pretty good piece of decoration, but in Qianye¡¯s hands, it was aplete killer weapon.

    Qianye didn¡¯t bother to deal with his wounded finger and kept on inspecting the tactical essories one by one, slowly dying the entire gun red.

    After hearing Du Yuanze¡¯s words, Qianye replied indifferently without even raising his head, ¡°You people are the ones who should be thinking about how to handle the aftermath.¡±

    Du Yuanze had already discerned that Qianye wouldn¡¯t kill him. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t avoided during the troop deployment. This was likely to let him see how Dark me would take down ckflow City, and he even anticipated that Qianye would let him go after this battle so that he could tell General Dong about all that he had seen here. However, he didn¡¯t feel the slightest bit secure.

    The expeditionary army was a special existence in the Great Qin military. Du Yuanze was originally a high-ranking officer in the regr army and was, of course, familiar with suchmon knowledge. But only at this point did he recall those rules and suddenly realize their hidden meaning.

    All numbered units apart from the two corps under the headquarters¡¯ direct control would only receive half the pay. During the most difficult phase ofnd expansion, some divisionmanders had led a numbered unit and conquered a certain territory at the borders, gradually establishing a division therein.

    The authority of an expeditionary army divisionmander was significant. Below the level of county capital, divisionmanders were granted full governmental and military authority as well as an equally big responsibility. From this perspective, the expeditionary army was like a miniature empire¡ªeach division was akin to an aristocratic n, and the territory they conquered would be added to their domain. The empire only demanded nominal sovereignty, the right to mobilize them during war and the collection of taxes.

    Compared to the dark races, the empire¡¯s internal parties seem rtively peaceful. However, it wasn¡¯t entirely free of infighting and the rebel army was one such example. Wars might also be dered between two aristocratic ns. Although the imperial family would step in to mediate after the incident, the cities and territories that were upied might not necessarily be restored.

    Thinking up to this point, Du Yuanze couldn¡¯t help but shiver and his clothes were so moist that they stuck to his skin. Could it be that Dark me intended to swallow up the entire seventh division¡¯s defensive region?

    At this time, Song Hu walked in and said, ¡°General Wei handed all military authority to the deputy divisionmander and left ckflow City before midnight. Our men have already taken control of the southern city gate, and all of thebat units are ready to move out at a moment¡¯s notice.¡±

    Qianye nced at the time and said, ¡°Take action at 0500 hours. Kill all who resist.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The hours felt like years to Du Yuanze. He was restless and fidgety, but time still passed by little by little.

    Ten minutes before the appointed time of 0500 hours, all of Dark me¡¯s officers had gathered in the room and were reporting their statuses to Qianye. In the end, they each confirmed their missions and left after epting their orders.

    Five o¡¯clock arrived.

    The peace in ckflow City was broken by the rumble of machine guns. A series of heavy weaponry seen only in medium-scaled battles such as trucks, armed jeeps, and mobile artillery rushed out of the Dark me headquarters and ran over the empty streets.

    The civilians along the way were jolted awake. Some of them opened their windows amidst curses and were nning to spew out some profanities. However, they were left trembling after witnessing the scene outside. They quickly closed their windows tight and dared not let out any unwarranted sounds.

    There were sentries from the seventh division at important crossroads within the city, but just as they were alerted, the doors to the lookout posts were sted open as Dark me soldiers who had been hiding nearby poured in. Within the blink of an eye, they had taken control of the guard post, disarmed the guards, and ced them under watch.

    These sentries were in hidden locations and weren¡¯t easy to take down. But since all of them had been arranged by Wei Bainian, they were like naked sheep before a pack of wolves. All of the seventh division sentries in ckflow City were disabled the moment Dark me formally began their operation. The regional powers werepletely silent¡ªit was as if they had turned deaf and dumb.

    Dark me moved out in full force and split into three forces. The main force and thepany of elite special forces headed straight for the seventh division headquarters and rapidly took control of the entry and exit passages in the surrounding street blocks.

    The other two teams marched out of the southern gate and made for the seventh division garrisons in Cloud Sail City and the Four Rivers Military Base. Their orders weren¡¯t to attack the encampments, but to prevent their forces from exiting the camp.

    A military-use airship rose into the air outside of the city. There was finally a ce for this big fellow Wei Potian had gifted Qianye to shine. It would serve to supplement the somewhat weaker military power of the two Dark me units and also prevent the seventh division from using any heavy weaponry. It wasmon knowledge that airships were the bane of allnd-based heavy weaponry.

    Du Yuanze also saw the airship rising from the south of the city, the zing lights on its wings somewhat distorted by the powerful airflow. It was exceptionally eye-catching against the pitch-dark city background. Although it was quite far away, he immediately recognized it as an armed airship.

    Although he had already been astonished by Dark me¡¯s situation up until now, Du Yuanze still let out an audible gasp.

    Lifting the heavy and almost gigantic grade-five sniper rifle, Qianye got up and said to Du Yuanze, ¡°You will stay in this room here on out. You¡¯re not allowed to leave. If you take so much as one step out, there won¡¯t be a second chance to live. I hope you can return in one piece and with news of what happened here.¡± After saying this, Qianye no longer paid attention to Du Yuanze and left on his own.

    Du Yuanze sat rigidly on the sofa within the empty room. His mind had gonepletely nk, and he had no idea what he should do.

    Qianye climbed onto the t roof atop the hotel and found a suitable ce to set up his sniper rifle. From this point, he could take in all of the changes in the seventh division headquarters and the surrounding street blocks.

    Near the seventh division, two mobile heavy cannons appeared at the end of the long street where they lowered their supporting legs and began to extend their dark muzzles. Only when they began preparing for a bombardment did the sentries at the gate realize things weren¡¯t looking good and urgently set off the rm.

    The mournful rm thoroughly ripped apart the silence, but the entire division camp was obviously slow to react. Not only were they sluggish, but also badly disorganized. The soldiers rushed out of the barracks in disarray, but most of them ran around the camp like headless flies and seemed to have no idea what they were doing.

    Qianye observed this scene and realized that Wei Bainian¡¯s ns had taken effect.

    Wei Bainian¡¯s management in the army was extremely strict. The seventh division had also experienced numerous changes and great battles throughout the year. As such, the soldiers were almost never granted such a period of rxation.

    But on hisst day in office, the general had not only given them a holiday, but also added an extra meal and lifted the alcohol ban. The officers were more or less worried regardless of whether they had hooked up with the new divisionmander. However, the soldiers were simple¡ªhow could they not grasp this rare opportunity to enjoy the drinking? In the end, both the officers and their men ended up as drunk as a lord.

    It was five o¡¯clock at dawn and precisely when people were in their deepest sleep. Most of the soldiers in the barracks hadn¡¯t sobered up from the intoxication and were sleeping soundly despite the ring rm.

    Through this, Qianye had once again experienced Wei Bainian¡¯s abilities. A small stratagem had copsed most of the seventh division¡¯sbat strength.

    At this time, armored jeeps and heavy trucks loaded with soldiers appeared in quick session. The Dark me soldiers, armed to the very teeth, jumped off the car one after another and pushed toward the seventh division headquarters.

    Numerous Dark me officers shouted at the same time, ¡°Dark me hase under orders to reorganize the seventh division. Everyoney down your weapons! All who disobey will be killed on the spot!¡±

    Within the headquarters, a lieutenant colonel jumped onto abat vehicle and shouted loudly, ¡°They¡¯re rebelling! Everyone pick up your weapons and converge on me! We must wipe out these insignificant mercenaries!¡±

    A dark red light suddenly tore through the night sky as he was shouting. Following which, the lieutenant colonel¡¯s head along with half his shoulderpletely disappeared¡ªthe badly damaged carcass fell slowly from the car and copsed onto the ground.

    ¡°Sniper! There¡¯s a sniper!¡±

    The seventh division warriors were all thrown into disarray as they sought individual cover. The few officers who had rushed onto the drill grounds immediately halted their steps. They had to find a safe location first and had no time to care about stepping in to organize the soldiers.

    A certain major was fairly brave. He calmed raised his voice to calm down the warriors around him and ordered them to assemble near the armory to prepare a counterattack.

    The major¡¯s position was quite ingenious. He was at a blind spot below a row of buildings, and there was a half-enclosed stone wall nearby. Unless the sniper came from straight ahead, he would encounter obstructions in every other angle.

    Qianye scanned the position of the voice source and took note of all the obstructions along the firing trajectory. He then loaded the sniper rifle with a physical origin bullet and knelt down. Then, he calmly applied Heavy Caliber and Elemental Shot before pulling the trigger.

    With a loud bang, the origin bullet, flickering with a deep yellow radiance, easily pierced through the stone wall and opened up a huge hole on the major¡¯s chest. Elemental Shot was a new ability Qianye had gained at rank-eight and could apply certain attributes to an origin bullet.

    The camp was once again thrown into chaos. The officers only dared to stealthily gather up the soldiers who were close by; no one else was willing to raise his voice and take the lead. With such a terrifying sniper suppressing them, whoever dared to stick out would surely die.

    Numerous snipers from the seventh division had already been outfitted, but the situation outside was too chaotic. Although they had already deduced the general direction of the enemy sniper from the previous shots, they didn¡¯t dare to rush out without any cover fire since it would be equal to throwing their lives away.

    Fortunately, the division gates had been sealed shut. The machinery on each side rumbled and shot outrge amounts of steam as two massive steel doors slowly came together, adding anotheryer of safety to the main gates. These doors were usually activated only in times of war.

    Qianye saw this clearly but had no intention to stop it. He believed Duan Hao who was inmand would know what to do.

    As expected, the two mobile canons they had set up just now began to rumble. At such a close distance, the cannons were almost firing straight ahead and their firepower was fully exhibited.

    The massive explosion left the greater half of the city shaking. After a dozen or so consecutive shots, the seventh division¡¯s main gates finally copsed with a boom!

 Volume 5 - 27: Occupation

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 27: upation

    The armed jeeps jolted over the steel te which had been riddled with holes and charged straight into the division headquarters.

    The anti-aircraft machine guns mounted upon them possessed great firepower. Wherever there was resistance, they would spit out a stream of red-hot mes and crush the people along with their bunkers. Within an instant, all soldiers of the entire seventh division had been pushed back into the barracks.

    Bursts of origin power flickered in different colors as the numerous seventh division officers charged out through the hail of bullets. They wanted to use their advantage in rank to quickly enter melee range and stop the armed jeeps from pushing in. Under Duan Hao¡¯s orders, Dark me experts charged out in session to intercept the officers and entangle them in meleebat.

    A loud boom suddenly rang out as one of Dark me¡¯s armed jeeps was engulfed by a massive ball of mes, the violent explosion sending the passengers flying dozens of meters away. This was the result of a high-ranking officer of the expeditionary armyunching a sneak attack with a high-firepower origin gun. He had finished off one of Dark me¡¯s armed jeeps in a single shot.

    In the distance, Qianye¡¯s eyes turned a deep blue. His sniper muzzle shifted rapidly and locked onto the enemy sniper hiding within a certain part of the main building. It was a rank-nine colonel. The man was moving rapidly within the building, but in Qianye¡¯s eyes, his intense origin power aura was like a lighthouse¡ªthere was simply no ce to hide.

    The sniper rifle in Qianye¡¯s hand shifted continuously. No matter how the colonel tried to evade, he was still locked down at the center of the crosshairs. The colonel finally picked a new sniping position¡ªhe had just set up his sniper rifle and revealed himself when he spied a dark red beam of light through the corner of his eyes.

    Warnings went off within the colonel¡¯s mind. He immediately fell t on the floor and spread out his origin power defenses. An origin bullet whizzed toward him almost at the exact moment that hey down. Not only did itpletely destroy the wall he was hiding behind, but it also sted apart his origin gun and a corner of the balcony.

    The colonel curled himself into a ball, rolled back into the room, and shrunk into a corner. His entire body was numb and almost immobile. He had only been struck by the residual waves from the explosion, and yet, his origin power defenses had almost copsed. If that shot was just a bit lower and had struck him directly, it would have definitely torn his body apart.

    How could that be called an origin bullet?! It was practically a handheld cannon!

    After two or three minutes had passed and his numbness subsided, the colonel discovered that he was drenched in cold sweat. At this moment, he suddenly recalled that Dark me¡¯smander was a sniper whom Wei Bainian had praised before.

    The rumble of origin guns and explosions outside were still intense. A clear and resonant shout rang out once again across the battlefield. This was thest call for the seventh division to surrender. If they chose to resist, Dark me would begin to use heavy firepower.

    Several minutes passed by yet again.

    Duan Hao pushed back his opponent with a sh of his sword. He then turned back to shout, ¡°Launch an all-out attack! Kill!¡±

    The sound of snipers rang out once again across the battlefield. The Dark me snipers no longer had any misgivings and began to go all out in taking down the seventh division officers who were still resisting. Very soon, the seventh division snipers also began to retaliate.

    It was at this time that the rumble of heavy cannons suppressed all sounds on the battlefield. An artillery barrage fell toward one of the positions where numerous seventh division snipers were holed up in, tearing both men and bunker into pieces.

    The call for surrender echoed once again on the battlefield a short while after the bombardment. At this moment, the expeditionary army¡¯s resistance had already weakened significantly. After the numerous officers fighting with Duan Hao¡¯s unit were killed, the rest lost fighting spirit and pulled back into the main building while covering each other¡¯s retreat.

    Meanwhile, the colonel who had just survived a cmity under Qianye¡¯s muzzley on the cold floor as he struggled continuously in his heart.

    He was the highest-ranking officer in the seventh division after Wei Bainian¡¯s departure. That was also the reason why he was the first to be contacted by Dong Qifeng, and the two parties had already reached a rather generous agreement on the distribution of benefits. Dong Qifeng¡¯s aristocratic family background also moved him quite a bit. Not only did it signify resources, but also a status which many Evernight Division Commanderscked. It would serve as a substantial safeguard of sorts.

    Almost a thousand meters away, Qianye was frowning. He had repeatedly scanned the battlefield in the seventh division headquarters with his True Sight, and he could already confirm the colonel¡¯s identity from his origin power aura. However, the other party still seemed to have no intention to surrender and was even secretly moving to a new position.

    Qianye circted his origin power and shouted at the top of his voice, ¡°Zhu Wuya! You¡¯re still not surrendering. Are you courting death?!¡±

    Zhu Wuya was that colonel¡¯s name. At the same time, he was also the seventh division deputymander andmander of the first regiment. He was also a veteran who had been in service since Wu Zhengnan¡¯s government. He had retained his position after Wei Bainian took office due to his timely submission to the Wei n. Regardless of the reign, this person¡¯sbat strength had always been ranked within the top five in the seventh division.

    Despite the long distance, Qianye¡¯s voice still reached the seventh division headquarters with great rity. So much that it even suppressed all the explosions.

    Zhu Wuya had found a new sniper rifle and was in the process of moving to a new position. He was greatly astonished to hear Qianye address him by name. He hesitated for a moment but then continued to move toward a side corridor.

    Although Dark me¡¯s surprise attack came abruptly and the battle situation was extremely adverse, he still held onto some hope of winning by a fluke. The seventh division still had two units stationed outside the city, and many of Dong Qifeng¡¯s men had already seeped into the ckflow defensive region. Perhaps there would be reinforcements if he held on for a while longer.

    Qianye waited ten seconds in silence but finally lost patience with this obstinate fellow. He locked onto the man with his sniper rifle and, once again, applied Heavy Caliber and Elemental Shot. An entirely yellow bullet apanied by a trail of dark red mes flew out from the barrel and whistled into the distance.

    Elemental Shot was even more practical than Heavy Caliber in many situations since one could apply various types of destructive attributes as needed over the former. This time, Qianye had added an elemental attribute capable of prating metallic alloys, increasing the origin bullet¡¯s armor pration.

    Zhu Wuya immediately pressed his back against the wall right next to a window. He had long since observed the ce and knew that this would be a rtively good sniping position. From here, he could see the two extremely threatening Dark me heavy cannons. If he could crush them, Dark me would¡¯ve lost its fiercest firepower, and the seventh division¡¯s morale would rise dramatically.

    However, just at this moment, a sudden sense of extreme uneasiness arose in Zhu Wuya¡¯s heart. Without even the time to think, he tossed the sniper rifle in his hand and leapt to the side with all his might.

    He had just left his original position when the wall he had been taking cover behind suddenly shattered. An origin bullet flew out amidst the dust and debris to st a huge hole on the opposite wall of the corridor. It seemed to lose momentum only after shooting through four walls.

    The limestone walls and their metallic frames were easily broken through like paper, and the cool dawn breeze poured in from therge hole in the front wall of the main building.

    Zhu Wuya couldn¡¯t catch his breath for a short instant. That shot just now would¡¯ve taken his life were it not for the powerful upgrade to intuition he had received when he ascended to rank-eight as well as the instinctive reactions he had formed through many battles bothrge and small.

    In the distance, Qianye was quite surprised to find that he had miscalcted. This staunch seventh division colonel could be considered a great talent. It was truly unfortunate. Qianye locked down the target once again and began to apply his abilities.

    Zhu Wuya hadn¡¯t even caught his breath when a sensation of grave danger once again crept up to him. This time, he could no longer endure. He rushed to the window and shouted while raising both hands, ¡°I surrender! I surrender!¡±

    Qianye had already pressed the trigger to its boundary point. He hadn¡¯t expected Zhu Wuya to suddenly rush out and surrender. He rapidly shifted the muzzle away, and the very next moment, an origin bullet whizzed out.

    The bullet swept past Zhu Wuya from several meters away. It struck an expeditionary army soldier who was continuously sweeping the area outside with a machine gun and sted him away along with an entire segment of the corridor.

    After Zhu Wuya¡¯s surrender, the seventh division¡¯s resistance finally crumbled, and only sporadic battles remained within the division headquarters.

    Qianye walked down the hotel building, bringing Du Yuanze, who had been staying quietly in the room, along with him. He then headed toward the seventh division headquarters which had already fallen into Dark me¡¯s hands.

    Duan Hao and Song Hu were leading individual teams to clean up the battlefield. After being disarmed, the expeditionary army officers and soldiers were ced under watch in separate areas. The officers were ced in an intact warehouse with heavy weaponry like cannons and armed jeeps keeping guard outside, while the soldiers were all made to sit down in the drill grounds; no one was allowed to stand.

    Qianye left 500 men to watch the headquarters and allocated twopanies to monitor the situation in ckflow City and adapt as needed. He himself led a unit toward the other two base camps. The scale of the other two bases was much smaller and each of them only had a single regiment garrisoned within.

    It was precisely ten past nine when Qianye arrived at Cloud Sail City, and the sky was gradually growing brighter.

    Those in the camp had already discovered something wrong with the situation outside and were getting restless. However, Wu Shiqing and Lil¡¯ Seven had mercilessly ambushed any soldier who had dared leave the barracks. The airship, on the other hand, had kept the heavy weaponry in Cloud Sail City suppressed. Although it wasn¡¯t easy, they had still managed to keep the situation under control.

    A battlemenced immediately after Qianye arrived, and his call for surrender fell on deaf ears. He sniped and killed the regimentmander who refused to surrender with a single shot, then, with the momentum of a thunderbolt, rapidly ttened all of the enemies¡¯ defensive positions with heavy firepower. When Qianye rushed into the enemy camp with experts like Duan Hao, there were still five or six officers who came out to meet them in battle. However, they were all ughtered within the blink of an eye, and the remaining forces surrendered.

    Qianye only left behind a singlepany to monitor the captives and rushed toward the Four River Military Base with the main force. At this time, Lil¡¯ Nine and the other captain could no longer hold the expeditionary army in their barracks. The enemy had charged out and was pressuring them into a gradual retreat.

    Qianye finally arrived with the main force just as they were falling into a precarious situation. The airship and mobile artillery fired continuously, inflicting severe casualties among the expeditionary army troops. They were forced to fall back into their camp and depend on the barriers therein for defense. However, Qianye had rushed into the camp alone under cover-fire and brought the entire regiment under control in one go, forcefully pressuring them to surrender.

    At this point, the main battles had already been concluded. However, the cleanup work was still not done. Dark me had to spend another half day topletely upy all the important locations in the city, especially the kic tower, the city defense structures, and the airship port outside the city. Only then was their control of ckflow City consideredplete.

    Afterward, Qianye dispatched orderlies toward the dozen small towns within the ckflow City¡¯s defensive region, demanding the immediate surrender of the local garrison and mayor.

    Approximately one dayter, Qianye received news from the individual parties in session. Most of the dozen-odd small towns had surrendered, but there were also those who had ignored Qianye¡¯s orders. Those from a town named Rocky Ridge had even directly killed the Dark me warrior who was sent to deliver the message.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even bother to find out whether there were Dong Qifeng¡¯s men hiding within that small town. Right in front of Du Yuanze, he ordered Duan Hao to lead a specialpany toward Rocky Ridge, aided by the just-surrendered Zhu Wuya and half of the heavy weaponry.

    His only order was to kill!

 Volume 5 - 28: Reorganization

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 28: Reorganization

    There wasn¡¯t really any suspense in this battle since Dark me held the absolute advantage both in terms of weaponry and experts.

    There were only a couple hundred soldiers guarding this town¡ªthe mayor and the guard captain were only rank four or five in addition to numerous outsiders who were above rank-five. But Dark me seemedpletely uninterested in those strangers and had no intention to negotiate. As soon as the unit arrived, they began the battle with a round of heavy artillery barrage.

    The fight ended before an hour had passed. They half-destroyed the town wall and gates, razed the mayor¡¯s residence to the ground, and killed all who resisted without mercy. Afterward, Duan Hao performed arge-scale manhunt throughout the town, capturing all the rtives of the mayor and the guard captain. He then immediately sold the captives to a ve merchant who hade along with the army.

    Such a ruthless and thunderous method shook all the small towns that were still wavering. They quickly dispatched messengers in session and expressed their wish to submit to Qianye. The entire ckflow defensive region had fallen under Dark me control at this point, in name at least.

    It went without saying that such allegiances were like grass on the wall¡ªthey would sway to whichever side the wind blew. This was merely the path to survival for people on Evernight Continent. Qianye didn¡¯t require their absolute loyalty; he only needed them to adapt to the present circumstances and be obedient while he governed the defensive region.

    Three days after the battles ended, Qianye was finally able to gain a basic level of control over the general situation of the ckflow defensive region, and there were no longer any open voices of dissent in various regions. The surviving officers from the seventh division had all been brought to the Dark me headquarters, while the soldiers were ced under watch in the three military camps.

    After gaining initial control over the state of affairs, Qianye summoned all the officers of the seventh division and began to formally reorganize them.

    The assembly point was arge warehouse hundreds of square meters in area. This used to be where the two mobile heavy cannons were parked.

    There were thick chains hanging down from the steel rails near the ceiling of the warehouse. One side of the warehouse had been raised half a meter and installed with brand new steam rails. All of these were equipment used to support the maintenance of heavy machinery. It was just that dispatch divisions garrisoned by the expeditionary army rarely built such expensive maintenance facilities.

    Presently, there were a tightly packed group of over 200 people in this fairlyrge space. The group below quieted down when Qianye walked in through the doors and leapt onto a high tform.

    All of the seventh division¡¯s officers above the second lieutenant level had gathered here with the exception of a dozen-odd imprisoned officers who still refused to yield. There were four colonels here including Zhu Wuya, 14 lieutenant colonels, and over 30 majors. The remaining junior officers numbered over a hundred. This also meant that there were approximately 200 fighters above rank-two gathered here. Among them, there were three rank-eight and one rank-nine expert.

    The three rank-eight colonels weren¡¯t exactly outstanding and were already over forty years of age. Their origin power was somewhat deeper than the standard, but they had more or less reached the peak of their cultivation with no possibility of future progress.

    Zhu Wuya¡¯s position as a rank-nine sniper was already quite outstanding in the army. Moreover, he had awakened Danger Awareness and Origin Sight, two very rare abilities most suited for snipers. He was also an important core member of many tactical operations. That was why he had always been able to retain his position regardless of who was in power. Unfortunately, bumping into Qianye was like meeting a natural predator¡ªhe was left with no room to disy his abilities.

    As a whole, the strength of the officers gathered here was already about to surpass Dark me. But the seventh division¡¯s equipment was inferior to Dark me¡¯s by a level, and they were vastly inferior in terms of heavy weaponry. Additionally, they had been caught unaware due to Wei Bainian¡¯s plot and were unable to disy even half of their abilities, allowing Qianye to lead Dark me to an easy victory.

    At this moment, all of the seventh division officers here were unrestrained. They had neither been injected with origin power inhibitors nor forced to wear origin shackles. All of them were in good condition apart from some of the officers who had been injured in the previous battle. Meanwhile, on Dark me¡¯s side, there were only three groups of warriors guarding the two sides of the door. Yet, there wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of abnormal movement among the group of officers.

    They had already seen thebat power of Dark mes special forces unit two days ago. Back then, Song Hu was taking roll with the seventh division¡¯s roster in hand and his inspection had reached a rank-six warrior d in a major¡¯s uniform whose name wasn¡¯t on the list. That person and another senior officer suddenlyunched a surprise attack.

    Song Hu was rank-six and the two Dark me warriors beside him were only rank-five. However, they didn¡¯t even mobilize the sniper outside the entrance and simply killed the men on the spot.

    The entire process took only a couple of minutes and didn¡¯t even give the other officers time to consider whether they should rebel together. This result wasn¡¯t brought about by a suppression in terms of equipment¡ªtheir warriors also possessed mutual understanding and cooperation. This was a clear disy of how Dark me¡¯s fighting strength was vastly superior to ordinary mercenary corps.

    After the officers from the Four Rivers Military Base arrived and recounted how Dark me¡¯smander had single-handedly forced them to surrender, most of the others no longer entertained any more thoughts about resisting.

    Qianye swept his gaze through the crowd one by one and finally said, ¡°I think all of you already know the reason behind this battle.¡±

    At this point, the expressions on many of the officers became quite unnatural. This was especially true for the senior officers who had been contacted by Dong Qifeng¡¯s representative. Song Hu had already announced the entire story to all of the seventh division officers while checking the prisoners of war.

    This was also a type of psychological warfare. Dark me was resisting a tyrannical rule and not rebelling. The two involvedpletely different meanings.

    Those old veterans who had been tempered through the mes of war naturally weren¡¯tcking in resolution, but they also needed to see what they were fighting for. At least in the eyes of most middle and junior officers whose benefits were unrted to this matter, this new general was simply trying to cause trouble without the capability. He had tried to reorganize a mercenary corps for no reason but was reorganized instead.

    No soldier was willing to serve a foolish and incapablemander.

    Qianye observed their expressions and continued, ¡°Since Dark me has won this battle, we have the authority to reorganize the seventh division. This is thew of Evernight. If you are willing to join Dark me, your status and sry will remain unchanged. It will only increase in the future ording to your aplishments.

    Most of the officers were surprised by this promise. On Evernight Continent, even those few ten-thousand-strong mercenary corps couldn¡¯tpare to the expeditionary army in terms of resources. Dark me¡¯s armaments had already exceeded their expectations, but to actually be able to provide the same sry¡ªdidn¡¯t this mean that their true strength could already match that of an expeditionary army division?

    ¡°There are likely some of you who want to return to the expeditionary army system and are thus hoping for General Dong Qifeng¡¯s counterattack. However, going with Dong Qifeng isn¡¯t the only way to return to the expeditionary army system. Dark me can do it as well.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words ignited a huge bomb and everyone under the stage was visibly moved. Even Zhu Wuya who had fought a battle against Dark me was somewhat dumbfounded.

    The expeditionary army division designations weren¡¯t permanent. In truth, the rise and fall of number designations here were even faster than in the imperial regr army. Numerous divisions had been dissolved in the recent war after theirmanders fell in battle and more than half the troops were lost.

    However, every designation had a defensive region to watch over. Qianye¡¯s intention was to actually establish his own designation, which also meant that he wouldpletely drive Dong Qifeng out of this defensive region. In order to aplish this, both strength and connections were indispensable.

    Qianye took in everyone¡¯s reactions and said, ¡°Whatever ideas you may have, I don¡¯t really mind. But right now, you will help meplete the seventh division¡¯s reorganization. Whoever dares to y petty tricks during this process will be killed without mercy! That is all, dismissed.¡±

    The group of officers dispersed with heavy hearts.

    In the following days, the entire seventh division was dismantled and mixed into Dark me¡¯s ranks. The batch of surrendered officers were all reappointed in separate groups, but most of them merely yed an auxiliary role. ording to Song Hu, these officers could only be trusted after a bitter fight against the expeditionary army.

    Fortunately, the expeditionary army¡¯s regional forces possessed the characteristics of a personal army, especially true for the lower level officers. This was just another job for them, and it was inherently no different from being a hunter or mercenary. They were all here to exchange their lives for money. The only difference was that the expeditionary army had greater authority, their status rtively more stable and their profits better ensured.

    As long as Dark me could stand tall without falling, the warriors would gradually form a sense of belonging to it. The factions on Evernight Continent were fickle andplicated with no evesting loyalty to speak of. Apart from themon belief that the dark races were the enemy of the human race, even the Great Qin Empire was just a distant symbol of authority.

    Qianye watched the officers leave in session and went through his ns once more in his mind. Using Dark me as the skeleton, he would break up the original seventh division soldiers and fold them into its ranks. In this way, he could form a unit with considerablebat strength within a short time.

    The urgent matter at hand was to repel all potential interference from the expeditionary army. Although Song Zining had stated that he would settle things with the expeditionary army leaders, it was best to be prepared.

    After repelling the interfering expeditionary forces, he would march west to open up new territory.

    ckflow City was an adverse territory. It was below average both in terms of location and resources while its staple ie, in the past, mostly came from grey trade. The city was enough for a seventh divisionmander, but it was insufficient to amodate Qianye¡¯s ns and dreams.

    The only path ahead was to head west. The vastnd there with its boundless resources would serve as the true foundation for the future.

    Meanwhile, the airship port at the expeditionary army headquarters was bustling with activity.

    Numerous military-use jeeps had arrived in quick session. When the airship port guards saw the expeditionary army insignia with a golden star on it, they immediately stood ramrod straight and performed a resounding salutation. ¡°Greetings, General!¡±

    The jeep windows were lowered and an obviously chubby face appeared from within. His puffy eyes were especially conspicuous. He seemed quite pleased with the sentry¡¯s attitude and raised his hands to his forehead in response. Afterward, he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking, but there was a smile emerging at the corners of his mouth.

    This squad of jeeps overtook several cars that were lining up for entry and drove directly into the airship port toward a certainnding tform.

    This was obviously jumping the queue. However, the cars and travelers who had been waiting in the tedious line dared not utter a word of dissent after seeing the general¡¯s insignia on the car. Special privileges weren¡¯t a rare sight, especially in such a ce as Evernight where there was never anysting peace.

    The motorcade drove all the way in and only stopped after reaching an airship. A beautiful female aide-de-camp with dazzling long legs jumped down from the front seat. She then opened the back door and said with a clear voice, ¡°General, we¡¯re here.¡±

    That general with a square face and big ears nced outward before moving his fat body out of the car. His bearings were actually quite nimble. As he passed by, the general firmly groped the female officer¡¯s buttocks secretly with his left hand. The beautiful aide-de-camp¡¯s face turned frosty and jab at those fat hands in reverse.

    The attack was quite ruthless, but the general remained unfazed as if that hand wasn¡¯t even his. The tenacity of a champion¡¯s body far surpassed that of ordinary people, and it was just right to use it in such an asion.

 Volume 5 - 29: A New Designation

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 29: A New Designation

    At this time, the airship captain approached with a flight bill and performed a military salute before handing it to the general.

    The airship captain said respectfully, ¡°General Dong, please look over the itinerary and sign it. The journey to our final destination, ckflow City of Trinity River County, is rather long. As such, we n to stop three times on the way for rest and supplies. Our midway points are teau Mountain City, Weiming City, and Vast Depth City.

    This fat general was Dong Qifeng who was preparing to take office at ckflow City. He received the itinerary but was still ncing at his aide-de-camp, the iceberg-like beauty, through the corner of his eyes.

    Thedy was quite clear what the general was concerned about. Thus, she introduced the three stops with great emphasis on their famed characteristics¡ªsome were known for their good food, some for their scenery, and Weiming City for its beauties.

    Dong Qifeng was radiant with delight after listening to this introduction and repeatedly said "good". He then reached out to grope the aide¡¯s buttocks yet again.

    The aide-de-camp didn¡¯t even raise her eyebrows, her expression cold and defensive. This was exactly Dong Qifeng¡¯s favorite type. This general fancieddies who were ice-cold on the outside and as passionate as fire on the inside.

    Dong Qifeng had taken the journey toward his new post as a vacation trip and wouldn¡¯t miss any attraction along the way. Otherwise, it was little more than a day¡¯s journey¡ªwho else wouldn¡¯t fly directly?

    Dong Qifeng was quite satisfied with this arrangement. He checked the safety measures and found that he would be escorted by two military use gunships. He immediately decided that there was nothing toin about and signed his name with a wave of his big pen.

    Ignoring everything else, the three big characters Dong Qifeng were, in fact, written with an impressive style. This was a clear disy of his great power.

    ¡°Enough with the thering. Let¡¯s board the airship! This general has to hurry on with the journey!¡± Dong Qifeng waved hisrge hand and boarded the airship first.

    But his entourage hadn¡¯t even finished entering the cabin when a light jeep arrived as if it were flying. It rushed directly toward the airship and came to a halt at its side.

    A major jumped down from the vehicle and shouted loudly, ¡°General Dong, please wait! I have orders from General Xiao asking you to return to headquarters immediately!¡±

    Dong Qifeng poked his head out of the cabin door and asked curiously, ¡°General Xiao?¡±

    The major passed over an official document and said, ¡°This is a handwritten order from General Xiao. Please take a look.¡±

    Dong Qifeng received the document and nced over it. However, the order only asked that he return to headquarters and didn¡¯t exin any details. The general¡¯s expression immediately turned gloomy after receiving such an order all of a sudden and for no good reason.

    There was only one General Xiao who could give orders to General Dong in the expeditionary army, and that was the deputymander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Xiao Lingshi. The expeditionary armymander-in-chief, Luo Mingji, was an imperial marshal. His role with the title was merely to oversee the general situation and wouldn¡¯t involve himself with the details. Almost all military affairs were handled by the four deputymanders-in-chief, and Xiao Lingshi was one of them.

    But whatever opinion General Dong may have regarding this lieutenant general of humble origins, he wouldn¡¯t express it at this moment. He simply gave out some instructions, returned to the jeep, and traveled back toward the expeditionary army headquarters with the major who came to convey the order.

    The convoy of jeeps rapidly drove all the way and practically sprinted through the headquarter gates. The major then led Dong Qifeng straight to Xiao Lingshi¡¯s office in the eastern building. The moment he stepped into the building, Dong Qifeng suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure, and this person was one who shouldn¡¯t be here at this time.

    Dong Qifeng said in great astonishment, ¡°Du Yuanze, why are you here? Didn¡¯t I send you to take over the seventh division?¡±

    That person was, indeed, Du Yuanze. The man smiled wryly and whispered, ¡°General, let¡¯s go in first. General Xiao is already waiting in the conference room.¡±

    Ayer of dark clouds emerged in Dong Qifeng¡¯s heart. He gave a nod, then followed Du Yuanze up to the top floor and into the conference room.

    The room wasn¡¯t that big at all. There were only ten-odd people seated here, but their general¡¯s stars were sparkling on their uniforms¡ªapparently, most of them were generals. It could be said that most of the high-ranking officers under Xiao Lingshi were gathered here. Xiao Lingshi himself was seated at the end of the long table. No clues could be obtained from his expressionless countenance.

    Seeing Dong Qifeng and Du Yuanze enter, Xiao Lingshi gestured for them to sit down and said slowly, ¡°I received news just now from ckflow City that a certain mercenary corps called Dark me has annexed the seventh division. They have dispatched a messenger to the headquarters requesting us to revoke the seventh division¡¯s designation number. At the same time, they expressed their willingness to join the expeditionary army system. The designation they applied for is Dark me Independent Division.¡±

    ¡°Dark me Independent Division!¡±

    Discussions immediately broke out within the conference room as soon as this new title was announced. Even those generals weren¡¯t an exception¡ªeveryone felt that this Dark me Mercenary Corps was crazy. They were actually demanding an independent division designation?

    The expeditionary army¡¯s main fighting units were ssified into two types¡ªdispatch divisions who were assigned to guard the cities, and field divisions used to supplement the gaps in the defensive lines. However, there was also a number of specialized organizations, and the independent division was one of them. This designation represented greater authority and scale.

    An independent division could recruit 50% more troops than an ordinary division, and the staffing structure would also increase ordingly. Moreover, only the deputy divisionmander position required the approval of the expeditionary army headquarters. The appointment and dismissal of all other senior-officer positions would be left to the divisionmander.

    Dong Qifeng¡¯s ears began to ring immediately after hearing Xiao Lingshi¡¯s words. He could no longer hear anything else, and for a moment, he couldn¡¯t evenprehend the meaning of those words. It took him quite some time to collect his thoughts and immediately began to roar without a care for hisposure, ¡°That¡¯s my seventh division! How can it be revoked just like that?!¡±

    In order to obtain this lucrative post, he had used up numerous big favors and tens of thousands of gold coins in bribes. Additionally, the n had forked out a huge sum when he formally received the appointment order¡ªit was titled as a donation to the expeditionary army, but was, in truth, apensation to the Wei n and the expeditionary army headquarters.

    The Sishui Dong Family was willing to pay such a price because the ckflow City was almost untainted by the mes of the recent war on Evernight Continent. Although the campaign received a mixture of praise and criticism, being able to force the dark race army to take a detour was proof of the seventh division¡¯s strength.

    Obtaining the seventh division was like picking up one of Evernight Continent¡¯s most mature scopes of influence. Dong Qifeng was prepared to use this as a foundation to develop an even more glorious family business. But he had never expected the situation to actually be turned on its head during the short period that he was getting ready to take office.

    Up until this moment, Dong Qifeng still hadn¡¯t realized what exactly had gone wrong.

    He had discussed all the steps beforehand with Du Yuanze and a number of his trusted aides. Dong Qifeng had assigned his personal guards to take control of some important characters across the ckflow defensive region even before his official transference with the Wei n.

    There were old veterans who had served in the imperial regr army among Dong Qifeng¡¯s personal guards, while the others also possessed experience handling n affairs. It was reasonable to say that such an arrangement was absolutely safe. Why then had matters not developed as he had imagined?

    The group of generals and high-ranking officers stayed silent and allowed Dong Qifeng to shout as he pleased, most with a shade of schadenfreude in their eyes.

    Most of these high-ranking officers were born of humble civilian families or, at most,ndowning households. They had no favorable impression toward the high-level aristocracy. To them, both the Far East Wei n and the Sishui Dong n were outsiders who were here topete for profits on Evernight Continent.

    Comparatively, Wei Bainian who had managed to defend ckflow City during the war probably received more recognition. This Dong Qifeng, on the other hand, was virtually unheard of before this incident.

    Only when Xiao Lingshi frowned and gestured for his silence did Dong Qifeng calm down.

    As Xiao Lingshi saw it, this entire incident wasn¡¯tplex at all. Wei Bainian had visited the expeditionary army headquarters to handle the final resignation procedures before he left Evernight Continent. At that time, he had personally brought Dong Qifeng¡¯s appointment papers and a copy of the first set of issued military announcements. Thus, ording to the timeline, the two parties had, in fact,pleted the handover procedure even though Dong Qifeng hadn¡¯t personally arrived at ckflow City.

    The expeditionary army headquarters could confirm this. Hence, ckflow City was definitely lost in Dong Qifeng¡¯s hands¡ªeven the man himself couldn¡¯t utter any objection or question this fact.

    Following which, Xiao Lingshi had Du Yuanze recount his experience that day.

    Du Yuanze stood up and narrated how Dark me had taken down the seventh division. Many generals frowned silently after listening to the battle process. They were very clear as to how terrifying a skilled sniper like Qianye was on the battlefield. Even champions wouldn¡¯t be willing to face such a dangerous enemy.

    Dong Qifeng could no longer endure after Du Yuanze concluded his story. He stood up once again and roared, ¡°Rebellion! This is aplete rebellion! I demand that Dark me be announced as rebels. Afterward, mobilize the expeditionary army forces around ckflow City and annihte that brat Qianye along with that damned mercenary corps of his! Otherwise, won¡¯t anyone be able to disregard the expeditionary army¡¯s prestige?!¡±

    Dong Qifeng wasn¡¯t aplete idiot. He still knew how to strive for his profit by making use of the expeditionary army¡¯s great status. Some of the high-ranking officers nodded in agreement, but the generals, on the other hand, only nced at each other and showed no signs of movement.

    With a wave of Xiao Lingshi¡¯s hands, his personal guards immediately led Dong Qifeng and Du Yuanze out of the conference room with an extremely respectful yet unyielding attitude.

    The room was pervaded by a moment of silence after the doors were shut.

    Xiao Lingshi was a staunch general who had always defended the best interests of the expeditionary army with no fear of confronting the upper continent aristocracy. Those familiar with his character knew that his present attitude was rather thought-provoking.

    One of the generals broke the silence first and began to express his doubts, ¡°The Wei n extricated itself from this matter quite efficiently. But if it was really so clean, how could a mercenary corps actually devour the entire seventh division?¡±

    Naturally, the expeditionary army headquarters couldn¡¯t keep constant watch over a new mercenary corps from a third-rate war zone like Dark me. Thest time the generals heard of this name was during the recent war on Evernight.

    Dark me had reaped abundant rewards in a single campaign, and the amount wasn¡¯t less than the handful of ten-thousand-strong mercenary corps on Evernight Continent. This was sufficient proof of theirbat strength. But in the eyes of the expeditionary army generals, there was no way it could reach the stage where it could devour an expeditionary army division whole. Dark me¡¯s rapid expansion was a recent matter, and news of it hadn¡¯t even gotten around to the headquarters. There was naturally no shortage of people concealing and misdirecting this information deliberately.

    An old white-bearded general said after a moment of silence, ¡°ording to Lieutenant Colonel Du¡¯s statement, it seems the Wei n hadn¡¯t taken part in this at all. Since they, themselves, have no intention to lodge aint against the Wei n and we didn¡¯t witness the situation, it¡¯s inappropriate for us to bring up new problems.¡±

    This old general was Wen Ruocheng, Xiao Lingshi¡¯s chief staff officer, and his words had always carried some weight. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but form their own ns after hearing the tone of his voice.

    The previous general spoke once more, ¡°Dark me¡¯smander isn¡¯t a champion as far as I know.¡±

    Wen Luocheng replied without batting an eyelid, ¡°Speaking of which, that Qianye can¡¯t be considered a champion, but hisbat strength is more or less already at that level. However, the divisionmander¡¯s position must be held by champions. This is the military¡¯s ironw and there will be no amodations. Since Dark me has applied for a designation, then they must¡¯ve taken this into consideration. When the timees, it¡¯s fine as long as a champion takes office.¡±

    All the officers in the room nced at each other when these words were spoken.

 Volume 5 - 30: A Brother in Need

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 30: A Brother in Need

    Those who were quick to react immediately recalled that although champions were all heroes of a region in Evernight, they weren¡¯t all that rare on the upper continents. The high-ranking nobility would have quite a few guest warriors at that level.

    High-ranking nobility?!

    There still wasn¡¯t any expression on Xiao Lingshi¡¯s countenance, however, he quietly observed the reactions of everyone in the conference room. The greater part of those sitting here were his trusted aides, but there were a few of them who had closer ties to the other generals. Hence, he refrained from carelessly expressing his stance.

    However, Wen Ruocheng words could be considered his own, and the news he had revealed just now included sufficient information for people to make certain connections. The direction of this meeting quietly changed right before their eyes.

    Xiao Lingshi simply closed his eyes to rest while everyone was in discussion. He was thinking about the private discussion he had with Song Zining a while ago. Xiao Lingshi was quite satisfied with this ally¡ªnot only had they cooperated delightfully numerous times, but thetter himself had also jumped up to the second rank as a sessor in the recent examination. It could be said that his future was limitless.

    However, what Xiao Lingshi cared most about was that Song Zining was extremely low-profile in the outside world and rarely used the Song n¡¯s name to finish his business. This made it easy for him to conceal traces of his involvement with a n descendant during their cooperation and maintain his image of never working together with the influential powers.

    Xiao Lingshi favored looking at the long-term, and a person like Song Zining was someone he could work with for many years toe. As such, a temporary loss or gain wasn¡¯t that important.

    The sounds in the room gradually softened as the officers concluded their discussions. Xiao Lingshi raised his eyes and nced at a certain colonel sitting in a corner who hadn¡¯t spoken at all since the beginning. He was one of General Yang Shuo¡¯s men. The Sishui family¡¯s appointment to the seventh division had alsoe via the Highfence Yang family.

    Xiao Lingshi quietlyughed in his heart. Song Zining had visited him this time to pave the way for Dark me. However, what he brought out wasn¡¯t the Hignd Song n¡¯s name but, instead, the Cloud Swallow Zhao n¡¯s. The military might perhaps be able to y dumb in the face of the merchant Song n, but they would have no choice but to act impartially when facing the Zhao n with its three dukes.

    Most of the people in the room were Xiao Lingshi¡¯s long-term confidants, and they should already have understood his intentions.

    At this moment, a strong young general with a valiant countenance stood up to speak, ¡°ording to the expeditionary army¡¯s rules, the territory belongs to whoever conquers it. The seventh division can be considered an ownerless force after Wei Bainian left office. Since Qianye is capable of seizing it, it¡¯s only reasonable that we give it to him. As for the independent division designation, it¡¯s not something a few light words can settle. Apart from shouldering the corresponding responsibilities, he must be able to pay a sufficient price!¡±

    The audience nodded in session after these words were spoken. Even those big shots who had received benefits from the Dong family were no exception¡ªthe nature of this matter had undergone some subtle changes at the mention of a price.

    ¡°What kind of price?¡± someone asked.

    That valiant general red and said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s an expedition! Otherwise, how will we preserve our expeditionary army¡¯s prestige? If that brat can win this battle, it¡¯ll have proved that his strength is sufficient, and it won¡¯t be excessive to give him a designation. As for the independent division designation, we can discuss thatter on.¡±

    Wen Ruocheng said indifferently, ¡°The problem is, who will fight him?¡±

    ¡°This¡­well¡­¡± The valiant general nced at Xiao Lingshi and was at a loss for words. He couldn¡¯t give a definite answer.

    This was originally a fairly simple problem¡ªcampaigning against rebels and restoring peace was already within Xiao Lingshi¡¯s scope of authority. That was why this meeting was hosted by him after the expeditionary army headquarters received news from ckflow City. But for some reason, Xiao Lingshi seemed to have no intention to continue on this topic, and this ced the valiant general at a loss.

    Xiao Lingshi was a lieutenant general who had the fourth corps under hismand. He was far above everyone else here both in terms of military force and authority, while that general was only a major general. He didn¡¯t dare to ask directly after seeing Xiao Lingshi keep his silence.

    The other generals couldn¡¯t help but make some guesses since Xiao Lingshi obviously had no intention to mobilize his army. Those with aspirations quickly recalled how a new deputymander-in-chief had recently appeared out of nowhere in the expeditionary army. Although this person¡¯s individual rank and office were equal to Xiao Lingshi¡¯s, his military rank was, in fact, a general. Under normal circumstances, there was only one reason for such a difference¡ªfamily background.

    Moreover, Wen Ruocheng hade only one step away from directly stating that Dark me also had an aristocratic background. As such, many people suddenly felt enlightened and formed secret notions of watching a good show. No one could me Xiao Lingshi if he didn¡¯t want to get involved in a conflict between the aristocracy.

    At this point, the only way was to mobilize the other three divisions stationed in the Trinity River County. Although two out of these three divisions had experienced some minor conflicts with the seventh division during the Wei n¡¯s administration, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to convince them to mobilize their troops against ckflow City.

    It went without saying that a city siege wasn¡¯t easy. A punitive expedition of this nature wouldn¡¯t allow them upation, and they would have to hand the city back to Dong Qifeng after a victory, to speak nothing of a defeat. Nobody was willing to undertake such an arduous and thankless task without sufficientpensation. Even the valiant general who had brought up this matter would never stick his head out despite having two divisions under his control.

    The meeting room was ovee by a prolonged silence.

    The awkward quietness was finally broken by Wen Ruocheng who was apparently prepared for this. ¡°Since it was Dong Qifeng¡¯s seventh division that Dark me has devoured, the responsibility for this incident should naturally fall on the general himself. As I see it, we should dispatch him to campaign against Qianye. What does everyone think of this?¡±

    Everyone immediately voiced their agreement after these words were spoken. Xiao Lingshi¡¯s eyes shed with a wisp of delight but, soon afterward, reverted to the calmness of an ancient well.

    Very soon, the two men waiting outside of the conference room were informed of the final decision. They were so overwhelmed that their jaws almost fell to the floor.

    Dong Qifeng was here to take over the seventh division. How could he have any troops in his hands? Was he expected to muster the few dozen guards he has to attack ckflow City? There was no need to use such an idiotic method even if one wished to court death.

    Dong Qifeng was so furious that his face was ashen and the fat on his chubby body was trembling. But he also knew that he couldn¡¯t flip out at such a ce. Wen Ruocheng clearly exined everything use by use. Additionally, all of them were annotated with reference to the expeditionary army¡¯s rules. If they were topete in looking for loopholes in the army regtions, the Dong family was definitely not a match for this old general who had served in the expeditionary army his entire life.

    Dong Qifeng forcefully swallowed his anger and walked out of the conference room with great difficulty. He understood that the huge sum of gold coins and the ten-odd beauties he had invested were all gone with the wind.

    Those expeditionary army big shots were iparably greedy and would never cough up things they had already swallowed. On the other hand, there was no telling how many gold coins he would have to fork out if he wanted to raise an objection to Xiao Lingshi¡¯s decision. The difficulty involved was on apletely different level.

    ¡°General, what shall we do now?¡± Du Yuanze asked meekly, feeling quite bitter in his heart. A lieutenant colonel like him with mediocrebat strength wasn¡¯t worth a fart without the army¡¯s participation. In the Dong n, he had relied on his past achievement as a rank-seven fighter to obtain a middle-grade steward¡¯s status.

    Dong Qifeng¡¯s countenance was as gloomy as water. ¡°What do we do? We must muster our n¡¯s troops and finish off that son of a b*tch Qianye! To actually dare rob this daddy¡¯s seventh division, I must kill this group of lowlifes! We won¡¯t leave a single one of them alive!¡±

    ¡°¡±

    Du Yuanze shrunk his neck but didn¡¯t dare say anything. He had personally witnessed the entire process where Dark me took down the seventh division. Especially, that youngmander¡ªthe feeling he had given Du Yuanze was even more terrifying than a champion.

    Dong Qifeng was nning to mobilize family forces tounch a punitive expedition, and the expenditure involved was colossal. Even if they could seize ckflow City, the profits wouldn¡¯t make up for the loss if they could only regain a patch of rubble¡ªit might be more efficient to build a new city in an uninhabitednd.

    However, Dong Qifeng was currently in a fit of temper. Du Yuanze felt that it was already quite fortunate that the man wasn¡¯t ming him for his ipetence¡ªhow would he dare say anything else?

    At this time, Qianye was sitting in an office on the top floor of the seventh division headquarters, observing a map of the entire trinity river county.

    That map was different from the ordinary versions. Not only did it include the geography of thend 500 kilometers into the dark race territory, but also had the distribution of dark race forces in the region marked upon it. This was the result of the effort Song Hu had exerted for the greater half of the year.

    Qianye drew lines upon the map with his finger while contemting. Some led straight toward dark race territory, while others passed through the hintends of the Trinity River County. He was forming a n for his westward campaign, but at the same time, he had to be prepared for the cold spears behind his back.

    Dong Qifeng definitely wouldn¡¯t let this matter be. Meanwhile, the divisions neighboring the seventh division¡¯s defensive region had more or less taken part in Wu Zhengnan¡¯s business back then, and it hadn¡¯t been that long since the incident.

    Qianye put down the map and pulled over the stack of documents from the table. Those were reports of corps affairs he needed to know orment on, now with the addition of matters rted to ckflow City¡¯s defense.

    After Dark me took over the seventh division, Song Hu alone could no longer handle everything. Those talented bloodline seedlings along with Lil¡¯ Seven and Lil¡¯ Nine were maturing quickly, but there was no way for them to catch up to the speed of Dark me¡¯s expansion. A handful of men from Song Zining¡¯s specialpany could be used, but they were far from sufficient to cover the would-be Dark me Independent Division. Qianye felt that he needed a number of deputymanders.

    There were two personal letters on top of the stack of documents. The first came from Song Zining, and its contents weren¡¯t that long.

    The correspondence began with a message telling Qianye not to worry, hinting that he had always enjoyed a happy working rtionship with certain major characters from the expeditionary army and that this time was not an exception. The letter stated that the matter regarding the designation would be handled soon, and that although he had paid a certain price, it could be considered reasonable. Song Zining also mentioned that he woulde to ckflow City after concluding the business at hand to help Qianye handle uing matters.

    Qianye¡¯s mood was quite good up to this point, but Song Zining¡¯s letter made an unexpected sharp turn. It proceeded to discuss how Hidden Springs hadunched a new batch of goods, and that their quality was the best they had ever offered. He imed that such a good opportunity couldn¡¯t be missed, and that he was prepared to drag along Qianye to visit the ce.

    Song Zining mentioned, with great cheer, that Qianye already had Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine. With just a couple more, he could form a guard squad made up of beauties. Such a scene would truly fill one with delight!

    Qianye could onlyugh wryly and decided that he wouldn¡¯t go to Hidden Springs with Song Zining no matter what. This Song seventh young master was good in every aspect¡ªthe only thing Qianye couldn¡¯t endure was how he liked to gift women. If this kept going on, the money he earned from fighting everywhere would probably be insufficient to provide for all of them.

    However, Qianye soon recalled how Song Zining had once exined that thedies from Hidden Springs didn¡¯t need to be provided for. Not only were they all beautiful, but they were also extremely capable and could easily provide for themselves.

    Perhaps only Song Zining would have such an original way of seeing things.

    The second letter made Qianye feel quite surprised because it was actually from Wei Potian. Calcting the time of its dispatch, Wei Bainian likely hadn¡¯t arrived back at the Far East Province.

    From the contents of the letter, Wei Potian indeed had no idea about ckflow City¡¯s recent developments. The contents were quite short and only took up half a page. The greater half of the letter exined how much he was enjoying the fighting.

    It was mentioned, only at the end of the letter, that this sessor of Marquis Bowang had encountered some trouble. It couldn¡¯t be considered a major problem, but it was something he couldn¡¯t handle himself. He stated that, since brothers had to share each other''s troubles, he was prepared to let Qianye deal with a part of this problem.

    Seeing these brainless words, a sudden sense of foreboding came over Qianye for some reason.

 Volume 5 - 31: Sharing the Burden

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 31: Sharing the Burden

    At this time, Song Hu knocked and entered the room with a thick stack of documents in his arms. All of them were reports rted to the takeover and reorganization of the ckflow defensive region.

    Presently, Dark me had already taken control of the entire warzone in name, and the reorganization of the seventh division wasing to a conclusion. Dark me was originally a force of less than four thousand men, but now that it had suddenly expanded to over ten thousand, there were countless details among the men which required mediation and wearing-in.

    In order to gain strict control over this newborn force, Qianye and Song Hu temporarily had no intention to spread their forces throughout the domain. After epting the surrender of the various towns, he followed the former procedure by stationing a small unit there to maintain basic defensive operations.

    Dark me¡¯s most important mission was to ensure the absolute control of ckflow City along with its two conventional military bases, Cloud Sail City and Four Rivers Military Base.

    ording to Song Hu, the entire process of taking control was especially rapid and smooth. As for the bloody methods behind this so-called smooth, he only yed them down and moved on to other topics.

    Qianye didn¡¯t pay too much attention to such details and was going over the armament list in his hands.

    The seventh division¡¯s properties were even more abundant than he had imagined. They possessed a fair number of heavy trucks, ten-odd heavy cannons, and the same number of armoredbat vehicles. Such a scale of weaponry had far surpassed the standard of a dispatch division in charge of a third-rate war zone.

    It went without saying that these armaments didn¡¯te from Wu Zhengnan but were procured after Wei Bainian took office. It was precisely because of this that no suspicion was roused among the seventh division officers when Wei Bainian, upon his resignation, ordered them sealed and ced in storage, only to be used after the new divisionmander had taken inventory.

    And after being sealed and stored, it would take technicians the greater half of a day to bring them out. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh emotionally¡ªno wonder he felt that Cloud Sail City and Four River Military Base were especially weak in firepower when he attacked them. It turned out that there was such a reason behind this.

    Only someone like Wei Bainian was a general truly capable of leading troops. With just a small instruction, he had greatly reduced the fighting power of two military bases that had been operating for many years.

    And now, all these weapons were left behind to Qianye¡¯s benefit. Strictly in terms of weaponry and troops, Dark me¡¯s current strength was already catching up to the imperial regr army divisions.

    Qianye passed through a rtively peaceful and uninteresting period. The days were filled with handling military affairs and cultivation.

    On the expeditionary army¡¯s side, both the headquarters and the neighboring divisions showed no signs of movement. However, Song Zining sent him a letter saying he had heard that Dong Qifeng had gone back to the upper continent to assemble his family¡¯s private army. It seemed a battle was unavoidable. Song Zining warned Qianye repeatedly that he must pay attention to his own safety as well as that of Dark me¡¯s core members. One had to know that the most effective method to win a civil conflict was to target the leader.

    Originally, Qianye had wanted to head over to the surrounding dark race territories to take a look at the situation, however, he naturally couldn¡¯t leave the city under such circumstances. In the current Dark me, he was the only one who had the power to contend against a champion. That Dong Qifeng had gone back to muster his family¡¯s forces and might even pull out a couple more champions. As such, Qianye, Song Hu, Duan Hao, and the others had to rearrange the city¡¯s defenses and bolster their defensive capacity on arge scale.

    Several more days passed by in the end, and, instead of Song Zining, it was Wei Potian who had arrived first.

    Qianye had just concluded his cultivation and walked out of the room when Lil¡¯ Seven approached to help him change into a new set of clothes. At the same time, she said, ¡°Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir of the Far East Wei n hase to visit you. He has been waiting outside for some time now.¡±

    Qianye was immediately astonished. He hadn¡¯t imagined that Wei Potian would arrive so fast even if he really did have the intention toe to Evernight Continent. He had just examined the expeditionary army¡¯stest bulletin and understood that the war in Far East Province was still ongoing and had transformed into a war of attrition. Why had Wei Potian suddenly run over to Evernight Continent while the mes of war were still burning?

    Qianye immediately changed his clothes and headed toward the parlor in a hurry.

    Before the french window was a man with broad shoulders and a slim waist standing with his back toward the door. He was gazing at the city outside the window as dusk slowly crept over it. His simple standing posture possessed the imposing grandeur of a mountain.

    A wisp of blue shed past Qianye¡¯s eyes. With his True Sight, he could very clearly see nine dazzling origin nodes flickering on the man¡¯s body. There was a faintly visible stream of energy circting between them. It was actually the sign of an impending breakthrough.

    During the period of his absence, Wei Potian had already stepped into the ninth rank, and his cultivation was already quite close to that of a champion.

    Wei Potian turned around after hearing the door being opened and nced at Qianye with shining eyes. Then he suddenly walked over withrge strides and gave Qianye a big bear hug.

    This heavy hug was as fierce as that of a literal bear and almost broke Qianye into two. However, Wei Potian soon realized something wasn¡¯t quite right. It felt as though he had hugged a solid pir made of superalloy¡ªhe couldn¡¯t move Qianye even slightly no matter how much strength he exerted.

    The embracested quite some time. Only after discovering something wrong with Lil¡¯ Seven¡¯s expression and seeing her little mouth hang open so wide that it could fit a goose egg did the two separate. Neither Wei Potian nor Qianye showed any signs of having activated their origin power. Naturally, Lil¡¯ Seven couldn¡¯t see that they were, in truth,peting in pure strength.

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°So fast! You¡¯re already rank nine.¡±

    Wei Potianughed loudly and replied with a bitter expression, ¡°But aren¡¯t you also rank nine? Dammit! I thought I could totally suppress you!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s talents have always been outstanding, and the n had provided him with as much resources as he required. He had progressed rapidly during the past year and surprised the entire upper ss of the empire. Additionally, Wei Potian¡¯s awakened abilities were extremely powerful and allowed him to fight to his heart¡¯s content on the battlefield.

    It wasmon knowledge that the more intense the battles, the easier it was to break through. As such, it was publicly epted that the Wei n heir¡¯s future was full of promise.

    But Wei Potian and Qianye had always advanced shoulder to shoulder since their reunion back then. Every time he met Qianye after a period of satisfaction, he would feel as if a bucket of cold water had been sshed into his face and have no choice but to sober up.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue once again. He observed carefully for a while and then said with a frown, ¡°Potian, your foundation seems to becking in purity. Have you been advancing too fast? With your talents, the champion rank is only the beginning of a long future path. There¡¯s no need to rush with breaking through.¡±

    Qianye had discovered that there were already signs of qi aggregation in Wei Potian¡¯s nine origin nodes, and thetter seemed to have no intention to suppress his level. ording to Wei Potian¡¯s advancement speed for the past year, a breakthrough was imminent.

    But Wei Potian didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. He patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder andughed loudly, ¡°That¡¯s good enough. I¡¯ll breakthrough when it¡¯s time to breakthrough. What¡¯s the use of pondering over so many details? In any case, this daddy here is a man destined to be a marshal. There¡¯s no need to be overly careful with cultivation!¡±

    Qianye gave Wei Potian¡¯s words some thought and had to admit that it might be reasonable in its own way.

    High-grade secret arts focused more on talents andprehension as they progressed, and everyone¡¯s path above the level of champion was different. Wei Potian had been charging around violently all these years and had nurtured a second-to-none momentum. Especially since the cultivation of his Thousand Mountains and Sky Shattering Bright Fist was dependent on his momentum. Perhaps he might be able to forge a path of his own by advancing all the way without grinding for origin power purity.

    Qianye was hesitating whether or not he should tell Wei Potian about how he had seen signs of origin power flow within his body. In the end, Wei Potian waved his hands and said in a carefree manner, ¡°Enough with the nonsense. Let¡¯s fight first! Qianye, you¡¯re bing more and more long-winded now. You¡¯re almost starting to sound like that sissy Song Seven. I¡¯ve said this before, but that gigolo isn¡¯t a good person.¡±

    At the mention of Song Seven, Wei Potian began to unleash a torrent of unpleasant words. Additionally, there were many irrelevantparisons and groundless usations within them.

    Qianye¡¯s ears were buzzing from the noise, and it took a fair amount of effort to resist the urge to beat this man to the ground. He waved his hand toward Lil¡¯ Seven and instructed her to open the fighting room.

    He immediately took his stance after entering the ring and said with augh, ¡°Qianye, I¡¯ve been killing on the battlefield for such a long time and it so happens that I¡¯ve gained some insight recently. Come,e,e! I¡¯ll let you know today what it means to be unmoving as a mountain!¡±

    Wei Potian released a loud shout. His momentum immediately surged to the skies, and the deep yellow radiance emerging around his body was so dense that it was almost tangible. Images of numerous mountain peaks actually emerged behind his back.

    Qianye had long since learned from Wei Bainian that Wei Potian had already broken through to the seventh realm of the Thousand Mountains, and now, he was personally witnessing the group of mountains materialize. Although merely an illusion, they possessed the imposing aura of a majestic mountain range. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration at Wei Potian¡¯sprehension.

    Just by the realm of his Thousand Mountains, ordinary champions could forget about breaking through his defenses.

    Wei Potian let out another resounding shout akin to spring thunder and pressed toward Qianye step by step, each as heavy as a mountain.

    Qianye shot him a nce. He then quietly removed East Peak and ced it conveniently against the wall. The entire fighting room actually shook slightly as the sword touched the ground.

    Wei Potian was momentarily astonished, and a familiar sense of diffidence arose in his heart. He wanted to forfeit the match immediately, but Qianye had already circted his energy and struck out directly with a forward stride.

    The momentum of Qianye¡¯s fist was fairly slow and resembled a person practicing the basic form of a jab. However, there seemed to be genuine and strenuous effort involved in his movements as if he were pushing against ten thousand tons of seawater.

    By the time his fist was midway, a faintly discernible rumble of thunder began to emerge in the room and soon erupted into a thunderous echo of crashing tides.

    One fist to move the wind and thunder!

    The intuition Wei Potian had honed through countless life and death battles was screaming madly. He let out an odd cry and wanted to run away, but the space around him had suddenly turned iparably dense and sticky. A powerful force actually pushed Wei Potian forward to meet Qianye¡¯s fist head on.

    Left with no other choice, he braced himself and received the iing fist with crossed arms.

    Only a sudden p of thunder was heard before Wei Potian was sted onto the floor, smashing a human-shaped hole therein. The brightness of the yellow origin power radiance around his body was fluctuating rapidly, while the illusory mountain peaks became distorted and finally vanished.

    After their reunion, the illustrious Thousand Mountains which had allowed Wei Potian to move unhindered throughout the battlefield had once again been smashed apart by Qianye¡¯s fist.

    Wei Potian¡¯s momentum was too strong when he charged over¡ªit was as if a sky-piercing mountain peak was pressing forward directly. As a result, Qianye had subconsciously attacked with full force. Not only had he used forty tides of the Combatant Form, but also invoked a wisp of worldly origin power from his surroundings.

    Qianye soon regained his senses and hurriedly went over to help Wei Potian up. But by the time he arrived, thetter had already mbered up with a grimace and was crying out in pain after some movement.

    ¡°Goddammit, what a heavy blow! Ouch!!! Don¡¯t touch me!¡± Wei Potian howled as he pped Qianye¡¯s hand away and struggled to stand up. There seemed to be some lingering fear in his mind as he gazed at Qianye with a begrudged expression.

    Qianye was somewhat worried after seeing that gaze. He scanned Wei Potian¡¯s body with True Sight and felt secretly relieved after finding no broken bones. He casually picked up East Peak which he had left leaning against the wall and was just about to say something. However, Wei Potian spoke first.

    ¡°Wait! Let me see that sword,¡± shouted Wei Potian.

    Qianye found it odd but nheless passed East Peak to Wei Potian.

    After the de changed hands, Wei Potian immediately let out an odd cry. His whole body slightly sunk down and almost copsed to the floor. His Thousand Mountains had just been broken and he was quite weak at the moment. He would have been pressed down by East Peak if not for his firm horse stance.

    Qianye hurriedly snatched the sword back and helped Wei Potian stand firm.

    Thetter wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and said, ¡°Could you have been nning to hack me with that sword?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s called East Peak. Since you im yourself to be as unmoving as the mountains, I had indeed wanted to try it out.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re inhuman!¡± Wei Potian said while clenching his teeth.

    Despite his momentary weakness, he had still gotten a good idea of the de¡¯s weight. If Qianye¡¯s fist just now had been reced by a sh of this sword, he would¡¯ve been left with a dozen or so fractures at least. He would¡¯ve been bed-ridden for several days even with his superior gift in regeneration.

    However, Qianye¡¯s smile was just as clear and brilliant. ¡°I think so too.¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly broke into aughter apanied by a wisp of craftiness contrary to his originally outspoken manner. ¡°Qianye, now that we¡¯ve already finished sparring with each other, I¡¯ve recently run into some problems, you see. Since we¡¯re brothers, you naturally have to help me bear this burden.¡±

 Volume 5 - 32: Disaster

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 32: Disaster

    Qianye nodded immediately. ¡°No problem. But Evernight is quite far from the Far East Province and moving troops over there isn¡¯t very practical. How about I go with you? The enemies there are also dark race forces anyway. It¡¯s not much of a difference.¡±

    Wei Potian shook his head and said, ¡°No, this problem is bigger than a battle. There¡¯s no longer a problem with the war situation over at Far East Province. The cold wave for this year came early, and the ice will only melt away next spring. So, there won¡¯t be anyrge-scale movements for either party. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have the time to visit you.¡±

    ¡°So what exactly is the problem?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know very soon!¡± Wei Potianughed craftily.

    Qianye suddenly felt a bad premonitione over him. It seemed this problem wasn¡¯t rted to life and death, but might be even more serious than life and death.

    Not having seen each other for a long time, they discussed their recent situations over wine that night.

    Wei Potian¡¯s topics were all about his battles and how he had been beaten ck and blue by those dark race viscounts. He had no qualms about these awkward incidents and was, on the contrary,ughing with great satisfaction.

    Qianye could only shake his head as he recalled the first time he had met Wei Potian back at Xiangyang City. Although that was only a number years ago, it felt as if an entire lifetime had passed in between.

    Qianye still maintained a basic level of reservation regarding Wei Potian¡ªhe only told thetter that he had met Zhao Jundu and that he might be rted to the Zhao n. Moreover, he was still uncertain what exactly had happened that year, and there really was no way to confirm.

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t pursue the matter. As someone born of aristocracy, he knew very well that there were countless scandals within those big residences that could never be brought out into the light. The Zhao n had lost a child for no reason, and now they want to recognize him after ten years. One would know there was something wrong with this even if they used their knee to think.

    As such, Wei Potian only patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder¡ªhe told thetter to remember that he had a brother in him and that there would always be a foothold for Qianye as long as he was alive.

    Qianye was somewhat moved, but he had no intention to drag his friend down.

    Wei Potian and Song Zining weren¡¯t the same. Song Zining knew almost everything there was to know about him and was also part of one of the most important periods of his life. When Zhao Jundu had threatened Song Zining back then, Qianye suddenly realized that anyone investigating his past would definitely draw out Song Zining. Temporarily disregarding the matter regarding Red Scorpion, Yellow Springs was just sitting there perfectly fine.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to see his personal matters affect his friends. However, he had no proper way to deal with this and could only hope to grow stronger as quickly as possible. Additionally, Wei Potian wasn¡¯t as flexible as Song Zining and might not be able to hold back on certain things. It was for the best that he knew a bit less.

    Afterward, Wei Potian asked about that heavy sword East Peak which had left him with some lingering fear.

    Unexpectedly, Wei Potian was immediately infuriated. He pped on the table and began to curse Song Zining for actually pushing Qianye onto a life and death arena.

    ¡°I knew from a single nce that sissy is no good! You can¡¯t have a friend like him!¡± Wei Potian¡¯s eyes were red from the alcohol as he reached such a verdict.

    Qianye rubbed his buzzing ears and could onlyugh wryly.

    Song Zining actually had no intention to fight for a sessor¡¯s position. Hence, there was no need for him to try too hard both in the martial and strategic assessments. Bringing Qianye to take part in the examination was, in truth, to provide him with resources. The depository, the sky-grade cultivation room, and the equipment provided to guest warriors¡ªall of these had greatly benefited Qianye.

    As for theter developments, they werepletely unexpected.

    But no matter how Qianye exined, Wei Potian was still like a red-eyed bull and hell-bent on cursing Song Zining. He cried out how the Song n was blind to have ranked that gigolo second as a sessor and that a destructive crisis was imminent for them.

    In the end, Qianye stopped speaking. He had realized that Wei Potian was actually so drunk that his eyes were nk, and there was no way he could listen clearly to what others were saying. The angry Wei n heir was likely moving by instinct and refused to stand down before he had cursed Song Zining to his heart¡¯s content.

    The dawn over Evernight Continent was eternally dark. However, the city had already awoken, and the brightening originmps on the ground had formed a contrasting belt of light against the pitch-darkness of the sky.

    Wei Potian, who had been chattering away all night, had finally copsed due to the intoxication. Meanwhile, Qianye had already sobered up.

    Qianye helplessly shook his head after seeing all the empty wine bottles strewn across the ground. He summoned a number of orderlies who were on duty and had them move Wei Potian to the guest room to rest.

    It seemed Wei Potian¡¯s superior recovery had a ratherprehensive effect; he only slept for a couple of hours. He woke up before noon and immediately went to look for Qianye in high spirits.

    After seeing Qinaye, Wei Potian began to denounce Song Zining once again after a short conversation. At this moment, the Wei n¡¯s eldest young master hadpletely forgotten about the absurd things that had happenedst night, including how his Thousand Mountains was shattered by Qianye¡¯s fist. But he clearly remembered each and every one of Song Zining¡¯s evil conducts.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He rotated his wrists and considered if he should knock Wei Potian out with a single blow. That would at least give him enough peace and quiet to finish going through the stack of documents on the desk.

    Qianye¡¯s expression suddenly turned solemn as he walked over to the French window and looked out.

    A group of ck spots had appeared over the distant horizon. It was an entire fleet probably made up of dozens of airships! Moreover, they were actually traveling along the flight path toward ckflow City.

    The dozen-odd airships at the center were of different shapes and sizes¡ªsome were steady and dignified, some were swift and graceful, some were shaped like spiritual birds and deviant beasts, while others were adorned with mountain and river ink paintings.

    These airships were surrounded by dozens of imperial military use gunships. Among them, the most eye-catching was the main battleship. What a powerful escort fleet! Even a duke¡¯s inspection tour entourage wouldn¡¯t exceed such a scale.

    What kind of major character could this be? And what business could he have around ckflow City?

    At this time, the sentry on the lookout tower had already discovered the approaching massive fleet. He immediately turned pale and sounded the rm with all his might. The sharp bugle sound indicating an imminent enemy attack resounded throughout the skies. ckflow City hadn¡¯t heard such a sound for several months now. Apart from the army officers, all the people on the streets broke into amotion.

    Qianye was quite calm. With his powerful vision, he could already make out the designation on the gunships at this distance. They belonged to the regr army corps stationed within imperial territory.

    He had, for a brief moment, suspected whether it was Dong Qifeng¡¯s assault, but he excluded the possibility soon afterward. The designation belonged to the third corps under the direct control of the imperial army. If Dong Qifeng and his family possessed such power, there would¡¯ve been no need for him to build his own domain on Evernight Continent. After all, there were numerous opportunities to develop newnd on the upper continents.

    Qianye opened the door and was just about to summon some men when an orderly came running to report this matter. Qianye thus gave him instructions, ¡°Inform the airship port to make preparations. The fleet will likely request tond. Don¡¯t be overly rmed, that¡¯s an imperial fleet.¡±

    There were a number of Dark me officers following behind the orderly. They were all relieved after hearing Qianye¡¯s words and headed out to perform their respective duties.

    Qianye did find it quite odd¡ªa third of the ckflow warzone borders was directly connected to dark race territory, and there weren¡¯t any special natural resources to speak of. So why had a fleet of imperial airships arrived?

    The insignias on the luxurious airships were all different. Although Qianye couldn¡¯t identify all of them one by one, he still knew a few of them. Unexpectedly, all of them belonged to upper and middle-ss aristocratic families.

    Qianye suddenly recalled something. He turned back to re at Wei Potian and said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me this is your so-called ¡®trouble¡¯?¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head continuously and said with a mischievousughter, ¡°It would seem so.¡±

    ¡°What exactly is the matter?¡± Qianye frowned.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out very soon.¡± Wei Potian suddenly became embarrassed, but he refused to yield no matter what.

    Qianye shot a nce at Wei Potian and then summoned one of his personal guards. ¡°Prepare the car. We must go to the airship port.¡± With that, he reached out to grab Wei Potian who was nning to escape and dragged him onto the car.

    Since Qianye was the current person in control of ckflow City, he couldn¡¯t ignore such a fleet of airships poised to fly over his head. By the time he jumped off the jeep with Wei Potian in tow, the massive fleet had already arrived in the sky above them.

    Gazing from below, that primary battleship, hundreds of meters in length, appeared especially fierce and formidable. It was akin to a giant beast hovering in the air above ckflow City¡¯s walls. Its twenty-odd main cannons stretched out and slowly adjusted their direction toward the city below.

    Qianye had just broken into a frown when he discovered amotion break out in the air. It seemed all of those luxurious airships wanted to be the first tond and started fighting among themselves for flight paths.

    But ckflow was only a third-grade city even in Evernight Continent. Not only did the public and military share a single airship port, thending sites could only amodate two airships at the same time. Even so, it was idle for most of the time.

    But Qianye had noticed some things. Although the military gunships were strict and orderly, the airships they were protecting seemed to have been put together temporarily with no one tomand them. They began to fight for the descent and no one was willing to give way. A collision actually took ce after a number of dangerous aerial maneuvers. Fortunately, the airships produced by aristocratic families were sufficiently sturdy. Otherwise, they would have probably crashed.

    The main battleship finally reacted after witnessing this scene. A dozen or so experts flew out andnded on each of the airships. Qianye¡¯s eyelids twitched for a moment¡ªan entire group of champions!

    Momentster, the chaos took a turn for the better. The airships formed a line in the air and prepared tond in sequence.

    At this time, a general hovering in front of the main battleship slowlynded on the ground. His shoulder insignia indicated that he was actually a major general. Additionally, he possessed a fairly young countenance.

    The general swept his gaze over the ce. After seeing Wei Potian, his stern expression rxed as he began to walk over inrge strides.

    He directly ignored Qianye and said to Wei Potian, ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Zixing of the third imperial army corps in charge of escorting the nobledies here. Since the Wei n heir is here, then it makes things much easier, and I can now hand over my duty.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face turned stiff and he merely nodded.

    Zhang Zixing then turned around and gestured toward the sky at which point the airships began tond in session. First, a jade-blue-themed airship began to descend. Qianye wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with the family¡¯s insignia¡ªit was the Yishui Nangong.

    After the airshipnded, a young girl came down the steps surrounded by a crowd. She was quite beautiful, possessing a noble temperament and a mild, charming expression. She was precisely in the most brilliant years of her life.

    Zheng Zixing bowed humbly and performed a salutation usually used when interacting with nobles, ¡°A respectful wee to the second young miss of Marquis Ningyuan, Nangong Ling.¡±

    Nangong Ling was followed by arge group of people consisting of a dozen-odd maids and almost a hundred guards.

    She walked toward Wei Potian on her own. Then she nced around with a smile and said in a charming manner, ¡°Qiyang, howe you¡¯re in such a ce? Is there anything interesting here?¡±

    Nangong Ling¡¯s words sounded rather intimate, but Qianye could see that their rtionship couldn¡¯t be considered close. They might not even be friends. All close friends of the Wei n heir knew very well that he preferred to be addressed by the name he had given himself.

    Nangong Ling was all smiles as she chatted with Wei Potian. Her eyes lit up for a moment as she shot a nce at Qianye but then turned back to Wei Potian.

    At this moment, another airshipnded, and out came ady dressed in warrior¡¯s clothing. But it was apparent from the materials that the clothes were made by a master. She herself possessed a wonderful temperament¡ªlively yet not fickle, heroic yet not coarse.

    Zhang Zixing raised his voice yet again, ¡°Respectful greetings to the adopted daughter of Duke Wei, the third young miss of Marquis of Highsun, Sun Kaiyan.¡±

    ¡°Kaiyan, you¡¯ve alsoe.¡± Wei Potian was obviously more cordial toward the youngdy who was walking over. Nangong Ling¡¯s beautiful countenance was suddenly covered by ayer of frost.

    Within moments, Zhang Zixing¡¯s voice rang out once again. ¡°A respectful wee to the eldest young miss of Marquis of Righteousness, Shi Dongqi!¡±

    At this point, Qianye had already discovered that something wasn¡¯t right and began to edge backward quietly. He wanted to move away from Wei Potian who was the heart of this cmity.

 Volume 5 - 33: Each Otherâ€™s Sunshine

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 33: Each Other¡¯s Sunshine

    As expected, Zhang Zixing¡¯s voice kept echoing in quick session.

    ¡°A respectful wee to the eldest young miss of the Marquis of Citysun.¡±

    ¡°Greetings to the fifth young miss of the Marquis of Order Foundation.¡±

    One airship after anothernded in quick session. Qianye had quietly retreated to the edge of the airship port and was continuously distancing himself from this troublesome area.

    He secretly counted and found that there were two adopted daughters of dukes, ten lineal daughters of marquis, and three lineal daughters of counts. And this was excluding the main familydies within the enormous groups of followers. This group of nobledies hade for Wei Potian and was precisely this so-called ¡°trouble¡± the Wei n heir had been mincing words about.

    At this time, Qianye suddenly thought of something. It seemed ckflow City would be extremely ¡°safe¡± in the period to follow.

    A total of fifteen prominent nobledies had arrived along with their guard units, eachprised of well over a hundred warriors. ckflow City had gained a powerful thousand-man squad in the blink of an eye! There wasn¡¯t much cooperation to speak of among them, but their levels were high and their equipment, excellent. They, alone, could easily defeat an imperial regr army corps of the same size.

    Besides, the expeditionary higher-ups were undoubtedly aware of the fact that a group of nobledies and an imperial fleet hade over to ckflow City. They certainly wouldn¡¯t choose such a time to act even if they had certain ns in mind.

    Qianye was thus afforded with another buffer period. Meanwhile, his control over the reorganized Dark me and ckflow City would only increase over time.

    From this perspective, the problem Wei Potian had invited over wasn¡¯t all that bad.

    But the sudden influx of so many people made ckflow City¡¯s poverty even more obvious. There weren¡¯t enough jeeps in the city to carry everyone not even if they ran back and forth several times. In the end, only the nobledies and their femalepanions were offered afortable ride, while their followers and guards along with Zhang Zixing¡¯s subordinates had to share the troop carrier trucks on the bumpy ride into the city.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t gotten the chance to speak with Wei Potian in private since the moment Nangong Ling alighted from the airship. Presently, he had been surrounded by ten-odd nobledies¡ªhow could he have the time for Qianye amidst the constant buzz of feminine chatter. Meanwhile, Qianye had no intention to help him break this siege at all. He absolutely wouldn¡¯t court trouble for himself by approaching these nobledies.

    Qianye called for Song Hu, Duan Hao, and the others immediately upon arriving back at the division headquarters. Together, they began to recruit the rich and powerful gentry of ckflow City to amodate these heaven¡¯s proud daughters. It was just that the standards of the ckflow City upper-ss were a ways off from that of imperial nobility. Although the local gentry were delighted to ingratiate themselves to these nobledies, the process wasn¡¯t exactly a smooth sail.

    Settling thousands of people in was aplicated business, and these aristocratic fellows were exceptionally demanding. Additionally, the nobles of the upper continent were inherently disdainful of the civilians of the abandonednd, theirnguage and behavior a constant disy of their arrogant sense of superiority.

    Arranging for amodations alone took up the entire afternoon. To speak nothing of the other Dark me members, even Qianye himself heard words like ¡°as expected of a rural area¡±, ¡°why isn¡¯t this ce cleaner?¡± and ¡°can you bear the crime if our young miss gets sick?¡± multiple times.

    The actual nobledies were all mild-mannered and refined. They absolutely weren¡¯tcking in manners, at least in front of Wei Potian.

    But those followers were much more difficult to deal with. Their attitudes were usually much more arrogant than the nobledies, and it almost seemed as if their eyes were growing atop their heads. Perhaps one could discern the nobledies¡¯ true manners from their respective maids.

    Fortunately, there weren¡¯t any problems with the imperial army corps led by Zhang Zixing. They quickly settled themselves in after the seventh division emptied half a barracks for them. Even the apanying champions who had to share a room in twos or threes didn¡¯t raise any special demands.

    It was already night time by the time all these uninvited guests of astonishing identities had been arranged for.

    Only then did Qianye find an opportunity to grab Wei Potian and drag him into the dark. He lifted the man by the cor and said angrily, ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

    Qianye could be considered slender and thin among his peers. Wei Potian was taller than him by almost half a head, and his build was stouter than the former by a significant margin. But now, he had been lifted up by this rtively delicate Qianye with no ability to retaliate.

    Wei Potian let out some awkwardughter¡ªit seemed there was no way to fool Qianye. ¡°I¡¯ll speak, I¡¯ll speak! Qianye, can you please let me down first?¡±

    Qianye let out a cold snort and released his hand, whereupon, like a huge rock, Wei Potian fell to the floor with a loud bang.

    Wei Potian nced at Qianye fearfully while rubbing his somewhat painful neck. He couldn¡¯t help but exim, ¡°Even the arachne viscounts I¡¯ve battled before aren¡¯t as strong as you are. Are you still a human or not?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you before that I¡¯m not,¡± Qianye was starting to get impatient, ¡°now speak! Stop rambling about other things!¡±

    Wei Potian sensed a rather familiar killing intent and immediately shrunk his neck while letting out a dry cough. ¡°Hehe¡­ that¡­ wasn¡¯t my birthday just a while ago?¡±

    This so-called ¡°just a while ago¡± was six months prior¡ªit was Wei Potian¡¯s important twentieth birthday. At first, Qianye had intended to visit the Far East Province after the matters regarding Dark me had settled down, but ns fell through when war erupted on Evernight Continent.

    ¡°So, what of it?

    It turned out that half of the upper continent defensive regions had battled against the dark races in the period preceding the war on Evernight. The Broken-Winged Angels where Wei Potian had been at the time was also called into battle. Under the circumstances, his birthday banquet was canceled and, that very same day, Wei Potian was gravely injured after single-handedly holding back two dark race viscounts on the battlefield.

    Wei Potian¡¯s face flushed red as he said sheepishly, ¡°Erm, while I was recuperating, my family suddenly told me that it was time for me to start a family since my birthday has passed.¡±

    Qianye stared fixedly at Wei Potian and observed him from every angle. The Wei Potian who usually acted like a local ruffian was actually wearing such a bashful expression.

    Qianye suddenly became spirited and said with augh, ¡°That¡¯s not wrong. What then?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face turned even redder and was now like a well-cooked lobster. ¡°Naturally, all types of matchmakers began to appear at the doors! As it turned out, my family had already spread news of my marriage arrangements.¡±

    Qianye found Wei Potian¡¯s reaction quite odd. Wasn¡¯t this normal?

    Marriage was one of the most important events for the aristocracy and signified an alliance with other powers. Wei Potian had long since been designated as the heir and had revealed outstanding talents. His future was extremely promising and was the perfect marriage partner. Daughters of dukes and marquis all flocked to him the moment this news was released.

    But Wei Potian was usually natural and unrestrained in his social interactions. Why was he being so sheepish? He was even more bashful than a nobledy pretending to be pure and innocent.

    Qianye suddenly thought of a possibility and said abruptly, ¡°So, you¡¯re still inexperienced.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face immediately swelled up with a purple-red color and said angrily while stomping about, ¡°You¡¯re the inexperienced one! This daddy has been peeping at bathingdies since I was ten and ying with twosomes since I was fourteen. Although I don¡¯t have as many women as that perverted sex-glutton Song Zining, I¡¯ve been with no less than a hundred and eighty!¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly but refused to believe him. Aristocratic descendants would have maids in their room aftering of age, allowing them to understand the ways of the world. However, very few would overindulge in the female charms. The period before the age of twenty was the most suitable time to cultivate origin power andy down a solid foundation. The greater the aristocratic family, the more rigorously they would discipline their core descendants.

    Only hedonistic sons with no initiative would revel in dance and wine each day. That was why Song Zining¡¯s style had always been criticized. He was considered an odd character among his aristocratic peers for having such arge group of concubines at such a young age.

    Song Zining¡¯s love of female charms and his pursuit of misceneous knowledge was seen as self-abandonment. People felt he had no future even if he had great talents. That was also why no one had paid any special attention to what he had been doing outside before the Song n decennial examination.

    Under the gaze of Qianye¡¯s bright eyes, Wei Potian¡¯s momentum grew weaker and weaker until he finally said in disappointment, ¡°Sigh, it¡¯s useless. Let it be, there¡¯s no problem in telling a brother. Laugh if you want to! That Nangong Ling dropped in as soon as I started to recover from my injuries, iming that she was traveling and happened to be passing through Far East Province. She was merely the first, then an entire group of them followed.¡±

    Even Qianye had realized that Nangong Ling¡¯s so-called traveling was just an excuse and her real reason was to call upon Wei Potian. But it was also quitemon to let two young people meet each other before marriage. Although the essence of a marital connection was for the benefit of the two families, the feelings of the people involved were also important. But there was something not quite right about meeting an entire group at the same time.

    ¡°How did that happen? It¡¯s quite different from the normal style of the nobility.¡±

    Even though he didn¡¯t understand much about the upper-rank aristocracy, he knew that they paid particr attention to their reputation. Even if the Wei n¡¯s position was quite outstanding, they were nothing more than a regional marquis. Selecting from such a lineup was unheard of even for the concubine selection of an imperial family member.

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was so bitter that he might be able to wring water out of it.

    This matter was quiteplicated, yet it was also simple¡ªmany dukes and marquis favored Wei Potian, and this made it difficult for the Wei n to pick. It was unknown what had been going through the Marquis of Bowang¡¯s mind when he actually announced that he would allow it as long as the two youngsters fell in love.

    Unexpectedly, these nobles had no objection whatsoever regarding Marquis Wei¡¯s unconventional decision! One could clearly see, from the fact that all the nobledies had begun to ¡°travel¡± and ¡°coincidentally pass through Far East Province¡±, that they had tacitly agreed to the Marquis¡¯ methods.

    Three more daughters of feudal lords joined the entourage on the way. Their status was far below that of the nobility and their chances of being selected as the next Wei n mistress weren¡¯t that high. But those who felt that their daughters were qualified decided to have them jump into the fray since the marquis himself had announced that the marriage would be allowed as long as the youngsters were in love.

    ¡°Then, you ran over to my ce?¡± Qianye had asked this question without any change in expression, but Wei Potian could almost hear the killing intent within.

    He paused for a moment and then said sheepishly, ¡°We haven¡¯t met for a long time, right? So I dropped in to see how you were doing.¡±

    Qianye shot a nce at Wei Potian and said indifferently, ¡°You were wounded, so they came to visit you. This is amon thing even among friends. Why are you so flustered?¡±

    ¡°Common? How can this bemon?¡± Wei Potian was suddenly furious and embarrassed. ¡°You have no idea what I had gone through these days!¡±

    It turned out that these nobledies arrived at the Wei n in session and took turns to visit Wei Potian¡¯s sickroom. Later on, they couldn¡¯t allocate the time in a fair manner so they split into several groups and stayed with him in shifts.

    Wei Potian was badly wounded at the time and couldn¡¯t even get down from the bed. As such, he was ¡°taken care of¡± by the nobledies in various ways. But thesedies had belonged to rich families since childhood¡ªhow many of them had ever done any chores? It was quite easy to imagine the quality of care he received¡ªthere was no limit to this potential horror.

    As it happened, Wei Potian could hardly even turn in bed at the time and thus he was faced with a fair bit of suffering. What made the Wei n heir most dissatisfied was that, during this process, he had been in close contact with thedies as well as their maids. He eventually lost count of how many times he had been taken advantage of.

    Recalling those nightmarish days, Wei Potian finally couldn¡¯t resist cursing out loud. ¡°F*ck! It was like pickingdies at a brothel where you grab her chest to see if it¡¯s big enough and her behind to see if it¡¯s curvy enough! But goddammit this time, I became the one being poked and picked. It¡¯s like the whole room was full of brothel patrons and I¡¯m the onlydy!¡±

    At first, Qiane listened attentively without a change in expression. However, it eventually became impossible for him to hold back and he broke into a howlingughter.

    ¡°Qianye!!!¡± Wei Potian ground his teeth.

    Qianye¡¯sughter grew so intense that he couldn¡¯t even stand straight.

    Wei Potian pounced over in anger, grabbed the front of Qianye¡¯s shirt and roared, ¡°Are we still brothers?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course, we are, haha, haha!¡±

    ¡°Then stopughing!¡± Wei Potian shouted.

    ¡°Fine, fine, fine¡­ I¡¯ll stopughing.¡± Qianye struggled free from Wei Potian¡¯s bear-like grasp with a single move and dashed out several meters with great agility.

    He didn¡¯t even wait for Wei Potian toe back to his senses before he started howling inughter once again.

    Wei Potian suddenly felt helpless after seeing Qianyeughing in such an exaggerated manner. ¡°Qianye, you! What kind of brother are you?!¡± His fury had reached an extreme. He suddenly charged toward Qianye and the two tumbled to the floor.

    Even then, Qianye was stillughing uncontrobly. Wei Potian sighed helplessly while covering up his face. ¡°I did not want this to happen! It won¡¯t be this bad if only my face was half as thick as Song Seven¡¯s.¡±

    It was at this time that the night suddenly quieted down. Even Qianye¡¯sughter was broken off for a single moment.

    Suddenly, a fallen leaf floated past Wei Potian¡¯s eyes.

    Wei Potian had an instinctive hatred of fallen leaves. He grabbed at it, crushed it into fine powder, and cursed, ¡°What kind of damned tree is shedding leaves in this season?!¡±

    It was at this time that a gentle voice rang out, ¡°What¡¯s the joyous asion? And how is my insignificant self rted to it?¡±

 Volume 5 - 34: Land of Tigers and Wolves

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 34: Land of Tigers and Wolves

    Wei Potian had just leapt up from the ground when he was startled by the iing voice. His expression changedpletely as he muttered two words from between clenched teeth, ¡°Song! Seven!¡±

    A young man d in ancient wide-sleeved clothing had walked out from the night, his smiling countenance as tender as the spring rain. His bearing as he pped the folding fan in his hands was inexplicably romantic, and the calligraphy on it was clearly the work of a great expert.

    Wei Potian¡¯s face naturally turned dark and his dislike grew deeper¡ªit was in the dead of the night and the cold breeze had brought about a noticeable chill. Was there a need to use that damned fan?!

    Song Zining arrived before the two and extended a hand toward Qianye.

    Qianye stood up with his support and turned to look at Wei Potian. At this moment, the heir had a solemn expression on his face, a stark contrast from the sheepish demeanor from just now. Qianye immediately broke intoughter once again. He began to cramp up and couldn¡¯t help but bend over withughter, almost stumbling in the process.

    Song Zining supported Qianye and asked with a smile, ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±

    Qianye pointed toward Wei Potian with great difficulty and said, ¡°Ask him!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes shed as if he had realized something. He nced toward Wei Potian and said with augh, ¡°It turns out to be the heir of Marquis of Bowang. It¡¯s quite rare for us to meet like this. If you have anything delightful, why not speak out and share the happiness?¡±

    ¡°Song Seven! You¡¯re courting death!¡± Wei Potian immediately flew into a rage from the embarrassment. He naturally wouldn¡¯t be polite with Song Zining¡ªhe raised his fist on the spot and smashed toward Song Zining¡¯s face.

    Thetter was fairly calm as he took a small step backward and pulled Qianye in front of him in passing. This made it so that Wei Potian¡¯s fist was headed straight for Qianye.

    Wei Potian hadn¡¯t expected Song Seven to be so evil. He hurriedly withdrew his fist but the urgent shift in momentum left his qi and blood boiling, causing him to suffer internally.

    Wei Potian¡¯s countenance turned ashen. Without a single word, his origin power began to surge, and a hazy yellow light immediately appeared over his body. Numerous illusory mountains began to appear behind him while specks of brilliant origin power began to flicker around his fist.

    Seeing that Wei Potian had already brought out the Sky Shattering Bright Fist, Qianye quietly withdrew hisughter and reached out to pat Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder. The half-formed Thousand Mountains immediately dissipated under the indefensible force.

    ¡°Stop messing around and let¡¯s find a quiet ce to talk. We¡¯ll attract trouble if we cause too much noise.¡±

    At the mention of those nobledies, Wei Potian¡¯s expression immediately shifted. Song Zining only coughed lightly with a spurious smile on his face. He had already seen, on his way to ckflow City, the magnificent airship fleet parked at the port.

    Qianye considered various locations within the Dark me camp but ultimately decided that his room was the only safe ce.

    Wei Potian refused to live in the external mansions no matter what and insisted that he sleep in the guest room at Dark me headquarters. The result was that a continuous stream of nobledies came to visit him using various excuses. Seeing that Wei Potian was obviously hiding from them, the horde of nobledies began to scour the Dark me base with the excuse of taking a tour. This threw the entire base into a turmoil¡ªthere was virtually no ce they didn¡¯t dare enter and even the bathrooms weren¡¯t safe.

    Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s bedroom was made up of threeyers, and the room outside of his own was where Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine took turns to live. With such ayout, those heaven¡¯s proud daughters found it difficult to charge deeper in.

    Song Zining was waving his folding-fan and smiling as he gave Lil¡¯ Nine some instructions. He advised her to wear fewer clothes in the future and told her that she should wear clothes that were thinner and more translucent. Qianye and Wei Potian immediately understood the unspoken words within and secretlymented, in different words, about Young Master Song¡¯s wise yet despicable nature.

    After the three sat down, Qianye gave them a simple breakdown of the circumstances surrounding ckflow City and Dark me Mercenary Corps. He made brief mention of Wei Potian¡¯s purpose of visit but didn¡¯t mention the nightmarish experiences he had gone through during his convalescence.

    This finally allowed Wei Potian to breathe a sigh of relief. However, Song Zining had already guessed what had transpired even though he wasn¡¯t privy to the details. He closed his fan and said while rapping it lightly against his palm, ¡°Qianye, you don¡¯t need to hide things for that wild boar. It¡¯s not the first time he¡¯s acted without using his brain. He thinks he can escape from those young mistresses just by running to the forsakennd, haha!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face was like a color palette. It changed from ash to purple and then from purple to red. His expression revealed a killing intent as his momentum rose up gradually.

    Qianye helplessly stood between the two and said to Song Zining, ¡°Is there any progress with our military designation?¡±

    Song Zining knew that Wei Potian would explode if he kept on agitating the man. As such, he epted Qianye¡¯s change of topic and went back to proper business. ¡°Receiving a designation is not a problem at all. It¡¯s just that we have to fight for our right to be designated as an independent division. The business there has been concluded, so I¡¯ll be staying here for some time.¡±

    It turned out that Song Zining nned to have the Ningyuan Group and Dark me work closely together. The Ningyuan group¡¯s future operations in Evernight Continent would be entrusted to Dark me as much as possible while their own private armies would focus on protecting the merchants and trade routes. As such, he nned to pick a plot ofnd and construct a Ningyuan Group branch office during his present trip.

    Song Zining¡¯s other reason foring here was because he was greatly interested in Qianye¡¯s westward project. He hadn¡¯t fought alongside Qianye for a long time and it so happened that he could take part in a few battles this time. He also wanted to open up another trade route toward the west if possible.

    Wei Potian¡¯s eyes grew wide as he listened on the side. He had administered the military affairs of ckflow City for a short period and naturally knew that only dark race territory remained to the west of ckflow City. It was fairly evident who the trade-partners of a westward trade route would be.

    If it were any other asion, Wei Potian would¡¯ve banged on the table and gotten up. But he suppressed his temper after seeing Qianye¡¯s calm demeanor.

    Qianye also noticed Wei Potian¡¯s expression. He suddenly recalled the metallic token he had gotten from William which he had tossed into a corner of Andruil¡¯s Space. He couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh in his heart and quickly end the discussion about the trade route.

    Song Zining observed Qianye, shot a nce at Wei Potian, and squinted his eyes knowingly. However, he refrained from stirring up trouble and shifted the topic to another matter.

    He had gotten wind that Dong Qifeng had mustered his family¡¯s private army and would soonnd on Evernight Continent. Additionally, it was rumored that the force was quite considerable. Song Zining had already issued a mobilization notice to all of his private forces in the upper continent. However, it seemed that there was already no need for this military expenditure judging from present circumstances.

    At this point, the topic once again turned back to the nobledies chasing after Wei Potian.

    Wei Potian understood that Song Zining was mocking him once again, but he only sat to the side with a dark face and didn¡¯t say anything. This time, he had indeed miscalcted. He had never expected those proud nobledies would actually flock to a ce like Evernight Continent, a ce most of them viewed as nothing more than a savage wastnd.

    Strictly speaking, Evernight wasn¡¯t imperial territory. Moreover, ckflow City was located at the very border of human-upied territory where battles could break out at a moment¡¯s notice. It was, indeed, a fairly dangerous ce.

    It was unknown just how many connections and resources those aristocratic families utilized¡ªthey actually persuaded the imperial military to dispatch an entire fleet from the third army corps to escort thedies. The soldiers on those military airships were also transferred over from various ces using their private connections.

    And that was how the magnificent and exaggerated lineup before them was formed.

    Presently, the area around the Wei n heir had be an arena where the aristocratic families wishing to form a marital connection werepeting with great ferocity. Emerging victorious from this invisible war would prove that the family who won the wedding contract possessed the strength to overwhelm thepetitors. In an empire where people paid particr attention to strength, such a prestige wasn¡¯t small.

    Additionally, Wei Potian¡¯s reputation in the Broken Winged Angels and his many exploits on the battlefield against dark race viscounts was sufficient proof of his talents andbat strength. His position as the heir was as solid as a boulder. The present Marquis of Bowang might leave office within ten years and take up the position of grand elder, therebypleting the transfer of authority to the younger generation.

    A bona fide regional marquis less than thirty years old! This also meant that Wei Potian had a wider space for development and growth. With such potential benefits, the various aristocratic families could no longer care about being reserved and thus ensued an undisguised contest over this marriage.

    The nobledies had also put down their aloofness and were going all out. What was a little bit of facepared to the position of a regional marchioness? Had they been allowed to use force, there would be no telling how many times the Wei n heir would¡¯ve been pushed down.

    The one who was feeling the most difort was naturally the one at the center of this entire business, Wei Potian. In the Wei n eldest young master¡¯s own words, it was like being the onlydy in a room full of brothel-patrons. He was about to go crazy just from their big hands reaching out to touch him here and there for no reason.

    Qianye suddenly spoke, ¡°Potian, there are so manydies here, and all of them look quite good. Which one do you actually prefer? Make a decision quickly and be done with this.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face suddenly turned a swollen red color and began to hem and haw once again. He wasn¡¯t willing to speak even if his life were on the line.

    Song Zining shook his fan and calmly threw out a rotten idea. ¡°As I see it, why not take them all since you can¡¯t make a choice? When the ¡®raw rice bes cooked rice¡¯ and they all be pregnant, those old fogeys will have no choice but to recognize that what¡¯s done is indeed done. In any case, you can take more than one main wife!¡±

    Wei Potian was immediately enraged. Song Zining was clearly digging a trap for him to jump into. It was already inexcusable to have two wives of the same status. If he were to take seven or eight of them, what difference would there be between them and maid concubines? At that time, not only would the Wei n not gain multiple marriage alliances, but would insteade under siege from all of them.

    Wei Potian wanted to retaliate, but he knew that he couldn¡¯t win againt Song Zining in a verbal spar. Many painful experiences had taught him that the more he spoke, the deeper this no-good fellow would drag him into a pit. He circted his qi and let out a cold snort, saying, ¡°Fanning himself in the middle of the night, as expected of a sissy!¡±

    Song Zining began tough loudly after hearing this. It seemed he had taken this as apliment instead of an insult. He then opened and closed his fan repeatedly to showed off both sides. ¡°This treasured ink painting is the work of a great expert. I paid a considerable price to get my hands on it, so I should disy it more often in public. Anyone who¡¯s even slightly knowledgeable about these things will know that I¡¯m rich after seeing this fan. There¡¯s no need for me to exin needlessly. This is the fan¡¯s true significance, haha, haha!¡±

    For a moment, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t find any ce to vent his stifled anger.

    Although he was mocking Wei Potian, Song Zining¡¯s actions made it clear that he didn¡¯t dare provoke these heaven¡¯s proud daughters either. During the following period, Song Zining led his people from the Ningyuan Group to findnd and construct a branch organization here. He almost never came into contact with thosedies.

    Qianye, on the other hand, discarded the code of brotherhood and decided to continue with his present work. He spent most of his time entrenched within his office at the seventh division headquarters or within his cultivation chamber. Thanks to the third army corps stationed there and the location being clearlybeled as the expeditionary army headquarters, the nobledies showed little interest in visiting this crude office building and army camp.

    As such, during this period, Wei Potian was unceremoniously abandoned amidst the pack of tigers and wolves.

    Song Zining left most of the work to his subordinates after making the foundational arrangements for his branch organization. He then came back to Qianye to continue making ns for their westward campaign. The two no longer gave any thought to Dong Qifeng¡ªit could be reasonably assumed that the Dong n wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to assault the city while Wei Potian and the group of nobledies was here. The expeditionary army definitely wouldn¡¯t wade into such muddy waters.

    However, Song Zining himself had forgotten that he had told Xiao Lingshi that he had best block Dong Qifeng¡¯s sources of information. General Xiao was a man of his word and a very reliable partner.

    At noon this day, a massive fleet of airships appeared over a hundred kilometers away from ckflow, and they were exactly headed toward this tranquil yet lively city.

 Volume 5 - 35: Astride a Tiger

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 1, Chapter 35: Astride a Tiger

    The fleet was made up of dozens of airships. An armada of this scale could definitely be considered grand in Evernight Continent. Division-level fighting units usually possessed only a couple of dual-purpose airships used both for transport and fighting. Additionally, most of them were models that had been eliminated on the upper continents.

    But one would find, upon closer inspection, that most of these ships were dual-purpose airships used to transport cargo and passengers. Those that possess actualbat ability were limited to a mere three airships, and they were only small swift gunships. They were the most basic of all armed airships in the imperial regr army.

    Those cargo airships were obviously overloaded. There was a cumbersome number of cables hanging below them, and all of them were connected to cargo crates. Their flying speed was originally slow, and now they resembled the sand beasts used to carry heavy loads across the desert. They weren¡¯t much faster than cargo trucks traveling overnd.

    The main warship at the center resembled an ancient boat and was the only vessel that possessed the spirit of an upper continent airship. But its size, capability, materials, and degree ofvishness were far below the nobledies¡¯ airships parked in ckflow City.

    Up on this airship, Dong Qifeng was gazing through the right cabin windows and down at thend below.

    Days on Evernight were short and the nights were long¡ªalthough it was morning at the moment, the dawn had yet to break because the sun had been obstructed by the upper continents.

    The weather outside wasn¡¯t very good, and those on the deck could clearly feel the cold, damp air rushing at them from the front. ncing into the distance, the vastnd below the airship was dark and covered in a hazy mist as far as the eye could see; nothing could be seen clearly. They could only confirm the correct route via a guidingpass.

    Anky colonel standing beside Dong Qifeng spoke, ¡°This time, not only did we mobilize arge force, but also expectedly transported all the troops by airship¡ªit¡¯s truly an unfathomable tactic! ckflow City certainly wouldn¡¯t have expected our army to appear so suddenly. Moreover, they¡¯ve just undergone an internal conflict and happened to be in their weak state. You¡¯ll definitely be able to secure the city and leave a ssic example for military school textbooks!¡±

    Dong Qifengughed in a rather aloof manner and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t much. We¡¯ve only seized the element of surprise. If we¡¯re careless, we might still suffer some losses after arriving at ckflow City.

    With a powerful wave of his hand, thenky colonel said with great vehemence, ¡°General, you mustered a massive force tounch such a long distance raid. How can these mercenary mobs ever hope to withstand our assault?!¡±

    Dong Qifengughed out loud after hearing these delightful words. ¡°What do you think? Those fellows from the expeditionary army headquarters should have a whole new level of respect for us after this battle, right?¡±

    The colonels, lieutenant, and majors in themand cabin immediately began to engage in a tide of ttery.

    Only Du Yuanze said with some hesitation, ¡°General, we mustn¡¯t be careless. Dark me ispletely different from ordinary mercenary corps. The fighting power of their core members is even slightly stronger than that of some imperial regr army corps.¡±

    Dong Qifeng was immediately displeased after hearing this. ¡°The previous failure was purely bad luck. We just happened to arrive just after their expansion. Now, General Yang has given us the updated information. They¡¯re only slightly better equipped and have a few experts in their ranks. What other tricks can they pull when the average rank of their entire force isn¡¯t even that high? Moreover, I¡¯ve brought over half of our family¡¯s elites.¡±

    In addition, there were two champion-rank guest warriors who would target Dark me¡¯s experts specifically. In the end, the core strategy of this battle was a tounch a blitzkrieg attack and finish off the enemy leadership. Dong Qifeng anticipated that such a rabble of mercenaries would be routed immediately once the core members were eliminated. Meanwhile, the officers of the seventh division would definitely know where they should stand after witnessing his might!

    With that, Dong Qifeng let out a cold snort. ¡°Our Dong family¡¯s elite soldiers and armaments are enough topletely suppress even an imperial army corps. It seems you¡¯ve been scared out of your wits by those plebeians!¡±

    Du Yuanze¡¯s expression changed drastically after seeing that Dong Qifeng was truly furious. He hurriedly apologized and refrained from talking any further. He felt secretly relieved only after recalling that an entire division¡¯s worth of Dong family private soldiers were on the airships.

    At this time, the major in charge navigation said, ¡°General, ckflow City is 50 kilometers to the front. Shall we descend?¡±

    ording to their predeterminedbat strategy, the Dong family private troops shouldnd at an area 50 kilometers from the city. This distance was beyond ckflow City¡¯s normal patrol range and would allow them to unload soldiers and equipment without alerting the city. They would then march toward their objective after sufficient rest and reorganization.

    Dong Qifeng waved his hand and said, ¡°Merely a ragtag mob that has taken control of my seventh division. Their losses can¡¯t be small either. There¡¯s no need to rest and reorganize. Fly over directly andnd five kilometers from the city. We must let those wretched natives see the might of an aristocratic family!¡±

    His staff naturally began to lick his boots once more.

    The only one feeling uneasy was Du Yuanze¡ªhe recalled the words of that officer surnamed Duan who had stopped him at the gates. However, the new information they had obtained didn¡¯t indicate anything special about the man¡¯s identity. Du Yuanze, on the other hand, believed the man wasn¡¯t just bluffing. Having been reprimanded by Dong Qifeng just now, he didn¡¯t dare ssh cold water over the enthusiastic atmosphere in the cabin.

    Expeditionary army headquarters.

    Xiao Lingshi was sitting in his office carefully going through a thick stack of documents. Those were the detailed records of the most recent exchanges in top-secret military intelligence. Originally, such a trivial inspection would be left to his aide-de-camp and he would, at most, receive a report whether there were any oversights.

    But Xiao Lingshi seemed rather engrossed and even revealed a rare smile as he closed the folder.

    The lineal daughters and descendants of fifteen middle to high-ranking noble families as well as the Wei n heir had all flocked to ckflow City¡ªthis news had been ssified as a top-secret military intelligence. Only the deputymanders-in-chief were privy to the detailed information at the expeditionary army headquarters. The others only carried out their orders without knowing the specifics, and they weren¡¯t allowed to make inquiries either.

    In order to prevent this information from leaking and consequently encountering a dark race ambush, the imperial third army corps had been in charge of everything from escort duties to travel arrangements. Not even the local officers who had received orders to cooperate with them knew which major character was passing through.

    Finally, these nobledies arrived safely in ckflow City. But now, another trouble was headed their way.

    News of several thousand people appearing out of nowhere in that small ce wasn¡¯t exactly a secret. Moreover, the rapid increase in demand posed great difficulty in collecting enough daily necessities. Hence, the expeditionary army headquarters had issued a secret military order to the other cities in Trinity River County. They were asked to provide ckflow City with various types of daily-use supplies and instructed not to pry or disseminate news.

    Regardless of how the expeditionary army felt about the imperial aristocracy, none of them wanted anything to happen to these nobledies in their territory. Their deaths wouldn¡¯t affect the strength of the aristocratic families, but would surely bring about an investigation for misconduct.

    The expeditionary army headquarters hadn¡¯t forgotten the newly appointed divisionmander Dong Qifeng and the seventh division that was still garrisoned in Trinity River County. Thus, the list of top-secret military information dispatches also had his name on it. It was just that the recipient had been changed to an unknown basic level personnel, and it had been addressed to seventh division headquarters, ckflow City northern district.

    There was a knock on the door as Xiao Lingshi¡¯s aide-de-camp walked in and collected the processed documents from the corner of this desk. That list would subsequently fall into the ocean of documents in the archive room.

    Xiao Lingshi turned his tall-backed chair toward the French window and gazed at the unchanging scene of the expeditionary army headquarters. This ce was Evernight¡ªin the end, all outsiders had to recognize this fact and adapt to the rules here. That General Yang Shuo who had appeared out of nowhere was no exception either.

    The silhouette of ckflow City gradually appeared over the horizon as the gigantic Dong family fleet advanced slowly and continuously.

    ckflow, on the other hand, had already raised a city-wide emergency alert well over an hour ago.

    That was the information provided by General Zhang Zixing of the imperial third army corps. The seventh division¡¯s own defense systems had only sent a warning ten minutes prior, stating that a massive unidentified airship fleet was fast approaching.

    On Evernight Continent, most of the alert systems around the cities consisted of ground watchtowers, independent sentry posts, and vige guards. Money-burning toys like scouting airships were only used for reconnaissance and rapid transportation. There was no change in this policy even after Wei Bainian took over the city because the value of this warzone could only support such an expenditure.

    Based on the differing topography, the average scope of sentries in every direction was about thirty-five kilometers. This was an hour¡¯s forced march distance for ground troops. From this, it was obvious that the alert system wasn¡¯t used to guard against aerial assaults. Back when the third army corps had escorted the fleet of nobledies here, both their speed and altitude were enough to ignore thend-based defense lines.

    But on Evernight Continent, there was no military target worthunching such an iparably expensive aerial assault¡ªthis applied to both humans and dark races.

    But such a defensive situation apparently couldn¡¯t satisfy the third army corps. After being stationed in ckflow City, Zhang Zixing immediately requested permission to assist in defensive duties. Presently, there were two small gunships patrolling the skies continuously within a 30-kilometer radius while a battleship stood hovering in the sky above the city at all times.

    Qianye had no qualms with this arrangement and was quite happy to let the third army corps flush money down the drain.

    The Dong family¡¯s airship fleet was quiterge and the cargo airships couldn¡¯t fly too high¡ªthey were almost immediately discovered by the third corps¡¯ patrols.

    Meanwhile, Dong Qifeng¡¯s expression was turning quite ugly as he gazed at the battleship floating above ckflow City. He turned back to ask Du Yuanze, ¡°What¡¯s going on? You never mentioned that Dark me¡¯s armed airship was a light corvette!¡±

    The size of the airship in the distance was indeed a corvette ss ship. It was still a standard battleship despite being only a light corvette and could easily outperform the three small gunships they had pulled over from the Dong family. They might not emerge victorious even if they fought three against one.

    Du Yuanze¡¯s forehead was drenched in sweat as he tried hard to recall the model of the Dark me airship he had seen amidst the chaos. ¡°I didn''t see this battleship back then. But even if there is a battleship in a ce like Evernight, it must be a broken vessel discarded by the imperial army.¡±

    Only then did Dong Qifeng¡¯s expression recover somewhat. However, his eyesight was much better than the other officers, and the more he observed this airship, the more the felt that something was wrong. The airship¡¯s external form resembled that of a Skrk ss battleship. That was the newest model, the first batch of which was introduced less than ten years ago. How could it have been discarded?

    However, he was already astride the proverbial tiger and couldn¡¯t get down halfway. Even if they didn¡¯t have any external sentries, the watchtowers in the city would have already discovered him at this distance. Dong Qifeng gazed fixedly at that battleship for a moment. He had originally nned to fly close to ckflow City with his fleet of airships and suppress the enemy. His intentions to subdue the enemy without a battle vanished without a trace.

    He immediately issued the orders, ¡°Gunships to the front! Transport airshipsnd on the spot. All troops must finish assembling in thirty minutes! Go and invite the two elders over.¡±

 Volume 5 - 36: Challenge

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 36: Challenge

    This order was somewhat forceful, but no one was foolish enough to anger him after seeing his gloomy expression. All the officers scattered like birds and beasts, each tending to their own duties.

    ckflow City, on the other hand, had already finished its first wave of troop assembly after the first rm was sounded.

    After a simple negotiation, Qianye and Zhang Zixing each agreed to dispatch half of their forces to reinforce the city defenses.

    The time it took for the two parties¡¯ troops and weapons to reach their designated areas was more or less the same. However, there was a significant difference between the reorganized seventh division and the imperial third army corps. Whether in terms of quantity or quality, Dark me was a ways from being a match for that division of tigers and wolves.

    Qianye stood atop the wall and gazed at the big airships in the distance slowly descending one after another. Squads of soldiers rushed out from them and moved toward their respective assembly points in an orderly fashion.

    It was obvious that the unit hadnded quite suddenly, but despite the hurry, they weren¡¯t disorderly at all. Apparently, they were part of an elite division.

    Qianye observed for a few minutes and deduced that there were over ten thousand soldiers in this unit¡ªan entire division! The cost for transporting such a force by air was astronomical. Such an operation would be carried out only for certain important battles on the upper continents.

    Just which family¡¯s emblem was it on those airships?

    Zhang Zixing, Wei Potian, and Song Zining were standing around Qianye. Zhang Zixing appeared quite pensive but chose to remain silent without making anyment. Wei Potian lowered the binocrs and broke into a frown. Neither he nor Qianye could recall which family that emblem belonged to.

    Song Zining raised his brows in surprise, ¡°Judging from the emblem, it¡¯s the Sishui Dong Family¡¯s private army. It¡¯s just that the Count of Sishui¡¯s fiefdom is far in the Eastern Continent, and it¡¯s quite odd for them to concentrate such arge force on Evernight Continent. Judging from this line-up, they¡¯re determined to win this battle.¡±

    ¡°The Sishui Dong Family?¡± Qianye reacted immediately. It seemed the news Song Zining had gotten wasn¡¯t wrong at all. Dong Qifeng hadn¡¯t given up on ckflow City and had even mobilized the family¡¯s private army. However, Qianye had truly underestimated this General Dong. He really hadn¡¯t expected the man to have the courage they siege to ckflow at such a time.

    ¡°The Sishui Dong Family!¡± Wei Potian suddenly understood. He tossed the binocrs to a follower, cracked his knuckles in a series of pitter-patter, and let out a nastyughed. ¡°Just in time! Let this daddy see what kind of person dares bully my brother.¡± He had been feeling iparably sullen these days. What aristocratic family? He would fight first and talkter even if it were a major n at their gates.

    Song Zining shot him a sidelong nce and his expression was as if he were looking at an idiot.

    Zhang Zixing¡¯s gaze swept over the three and then silently turned toward the distance. A battle g had been raised over the opposing army¡ªa cross formed of a flintlock and a bloody bay¡ªthat was the emblem of the expeditionary army.

    However, Qianye was somewhat speechless at how they had so brazenlynded just a couple of kilometers from ckflow City. Weren¡¯t they afraid that the troops in the city would charge out and attack while they were still unorganized?

    The three small gunships in the air weren¡¯t very useful at all. Without even needing Qianye to do anything, Zhu Wuya could use arge-caliber sniper to shoot one of them down.

    Finally, Qianye frowned.

    At this moment, the Dong family¡¯s armaments were being deployed on the ground one after another. However, it was obvious that they werecking in equipment¡ªthere were no heavybat vehicles at all, and only a number of heavy trucks, armed jeeps, and a couple of heavy cannons. It seemed the Dong family was already at their limits.

    Such a lightly armed force might seed if they were to attack other cities at the same level, but ckflow City¡¯s defensive structures had be as sturdy as a turtle shell during Wei Bainian¡¯s reign. Even the dark race army could only take a detour around it. Additionally, Dark me¡¯s heavy weaponry had grown much more powerfulpared to that time. Even though the Dong family had brought three champions, it wouldn¡¯t be that easy to fight a siege battle.

    At this time, Wei Potian could no longer endure. ¡°These grandsons are assembling their troops right under our noses. Do they think the people in the city are dead? Qianye, I¡¯ll lead the soldiers out to kill those f*ckers. Three champions? Ha! Who do they think they¡¯re trying to scare?¡±

    Qianye paid no attention to Wei Potian and, instead, shot Zhang Zixing a nce. ¡°Let theme to us.¡±

    At this moment, Song Zining sneered, ¡°ckflow¡¯s walls are sturdy and its cannons are fierce. Meanwhile, the other party has no heavy firepower. Why do we have to go and fight it out with them? We can think about what to do after they exhaust themselves at our walls.¡±

    Zhang Zixing only smiled faintly. Song Zining¡¯s tactics were admittedly reasonable. Qianye, on the other hand, seemed as though he wanted to drag the third corps into the waters, but the general didn¡¯t really mind.

    The Vast North Zhang Family could be traced back thousands of years to the same roots as the Green Sun Zhang n at the foremost of the empire. However, they had already been independent for ten generations. There was no way they could¡¯ve maintained their position if they were weak. Moreover, he was representing the third army corps this time¡ªeven if the Sishui Dong Family decided to look into this matter, they wouldn¡¯t dare cause a ruckus at the third corps.

    Qianye issued a series of orders in rapid session. At which point, the orderlies waiting quietly nearby left instantly as if they were flying.

    Wei Potian red at Song Zining but gave up in the end.

    At this time, a mor arose from the city as the pleasant and mellow sound of feminine chatter boiled over.

    ¡°Is there going to be a battle?¡±

    ¡°I heard there are enemies outside the city! Can it be the dark races?¡±

    ¡°Definitely! Didn¡¯t wee here to see the dark races? Let¡¯s guess who the opponents are? Werewolves or arachne?¡±

    ¡°I like vampires! They''re cool and handsome! I must capture a few and take them back this time!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be great if there are demonkin!¡±

    ¡°Indeed! I¡¯m feeling excited just at the thought! Make way, make way! This youngdy can¡¯t wait any longer!¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt a headacheing over him and even Zhang Zixing¡¯s wooden countenance seemed to be twitching. Wei Potian, on the other hand, had suddenly transformed into a statue. Only Song Zining was still calm and didn¡¯t even raise a single brow. Apparently, he was extremely familiar with such situations.

    The city walls were flooded within moments as the group of nobledies rushed up the city walls and began pushing toward the front for a good view into the distance. Their arrival squeezed the third corps and Dark me soldiers out of their formations.

    The nobledies looked out in high spirits and found that the iing force was actually a human army. The most eye-catching fact was that the enemy g appeared rather simr to the expeditionary army g on the walls. Immediately, everyone was greatly disappointed.

    The reason they had run over to a remote area like Evernight continent, apart from chasing after Wei Potian, was to see the dark races. The handsome vampires and demonkin were especially popr among the nobility who took to them like exquisite human dolls.

    A certain nobledy was immediately displeased. ¡°Whose unit is that out there? So ugly! They¡¯re like beggars.¡±

    A lineal daughter of a certain feudal lord replied, ¡°Judging from the emblem, it seems to be the Sishui Dong Family.¡±

    ¡°Sishui Dong Family? It sounds somewhat familiar, but who exactly are they?¡± Most of the nobledies were at a loss. Dong Qifeng might actually vomit blood and faint if he saw their reactions right now.

    These nobledies were barely past twenty years old, and most of them were daughters of dukes and marquis. Their social circles consisted mostly of the high-ranking aristocracy, and it was rare to see even middle-ranked ones. On the other hand, the Sishui Dong Family was positioned so low among the middle-ranks that they were already at risk of being demoted. Thedies rarely had any opportunity toe into contact with such a family, and it wasn¡¯t surprising that they couldn¡¯t recall the name.

    Finally, someone reacted appropriately and asked, ¡°What are they trying to do? Are they going to attack us?¡±

    ¡°It seems so!¡±

    Not only were thesedies not frightened, but their eyes were even glowing. They were lineal daughters of aristocratic families¡ªthey, of course, cultivated, and their origin power ranks weren¡¯t low either. But they had nearly zero experience in actualbat, to speak nothing of a battle.

    At this moment, Dong Qifeng¡¯s forces had finallypleted their reorganization and were beginning to move toward ckflow City.

    However, therge fleet of airships didn¡¯t provide cover fire for them ording to their original n. The main reason was the light corvette hovering in the sky above ckflow City. In front of an actual military battleship, these unarmored transport airships were nothing more than giant shooting targets.

    ¡°General, we¡¯re at a sufficient distance. Shall we press the attack?¡±

    The colonel¡¯s helpful reminder roused General Dong from his reverie. He rubbed his hands anxiously and said, ¡°Demand their surrender first!¡±

    People on the airship became busy. Technicians moved to erect giant megaphones, filled them with ck crystals, and activated the origin arrays. Momentster, an extremely clear voice echoed across the air above ckflow City.

    ¡°Those in ckflow City, listen up! The expeditionary army seventh divisionmander Dong Qifeng demands your immediate surrender! I repeat, surrender immediately! You have three minutes to consider. If the defiance continues, all who resist shall be put to death immediately after the city is breached. The citizens will be sold as ves, and the women shall be forced to be prostitutes for the army!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t rare to punish a subdued city in such a manner¡ªeven internal conflicts within the empire weren¡¯t resolved with much benevolence. It would be even crueler for opposing factions. However, Dong Qifeng had never expected that his announcement would cause a hugemotion within ckflow City.

    Wei Potian was still wearing that sharp, stern expression, while Song Zining¡¯s smile became as warm and gentle as jade. Zhang Zixing, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°This fool!¡±

    Qianye only smiled faintly and made noment.

    Things had exploded on the nobledies¡¯ side. The actual young misses themselves didn¡¯t react that strongly since they had to maintain their image before the Wei n heir. Their maids, however, didn¡¯t have a lot to care about. All of them were as red as a beet and began to curse while stomping their feet. Judging from their fierce attitudes, it seemed as though insulting their young misses was ten times more serious than being humiliated themselves.

    In truth, those nobledies couldn¡¯t keep very calm either. From childhood up until now, when had they ever been threatened to be made into prostitutes?

    ¡°How dare he?!¡±

    ¡°Sishui? What noble rank is Sishui?! A mere regional count dares to act so arrogantly?! I¡¯ll ask my father to annihte him!¡±

    ¡°General Zhang, where is general Zhang? Where''re the imperial corps? Why aren¡¯t they mobilizing?¡±

    Amidst the mor, Zhang Zixing suddenly moved close to Qianye and whispered, ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to make use of the third army corps. Be careful not to burn your hands if you want to y with fire.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°Not moving your forces even at this point, it seems to me that you¡¯re the one ying with fire.¡±

    The mor on the wall grew louder and louder. The nobledies only mentioned it verbally, but their maids had already drawn their weapons and some were already prepared to go down and assemble their guard units.

    The corners of Zhang Zixing¡¯s eyes twitched slightly. ¡°Well done. This is the first time I¡¯ve met a mercenary who dares talk to me like this. I won¡¯t bully you either. Come find me for a match after you¡¯ve broken through to the champion rank.¡±

    ¡°If general is interested, we can do it right after the battle. There¡¯s no need to wait.¡±

    Zhang Zixing broke into aughter instead of getting angry. ¡°The young truly don¡¯t know the immensity of the heaven and earth!¡±

    He was able to wear the rank of a major general as a rank-eleven champion not because of his background but because of his solid military achievements. Even ordinary champions couldn¡¯tst very long under his attacks, not to mention a rank-nine mercenary like Qianye who specialized in sniping.

    Qianye alsoughed softly, his crystal clear eyes overflowing with spirit. ¡°People like us who constantly walk on the de¡¯s edge aren¡¯t always lucky enough to meet weak enemies.¡± In truth, Qianye was was truly interested in fighting against Zhang Zixing. He wanted to know the disparity between himself and those champions who had walked out from a sea of mes and swords.

    Unfortunately, this young general didn¡¯t seem to understand Qianye¡¯s thoughts. The veins on Zhang Zixing¡¯s neck began to pulsate and he was so angry that he couldn¡¯t speak. He turned away rapidly and shouted at this aide, ¡°Issue the order! The third army corps will immediately spread out in formation and prepare the heavy cannons. All airships scramble!¡±

    Apparently, Zhang Zixing¡¯s anger had been transferred directly to Dong Qifeng.

    Song Zining listened from the side, exchanged a nce with Qianye, and shrugged. It seemed there was nothing else for them to do since Zhang Zixing had actually given the order for all of his airships to scramble.

    The three minutes were up at this moment. Hence, Dong Qifeng issued the order, ¡°Army advance! Heavy cannons prepare to fire!¡±

    Along with an impassioned cry of the bugle, the Dong family private army assumed a scattered formation and charged toward the ckflow City walls like a tidal wave. After approaching the city walls, the fighter-rank experts mixed in with the ordinary foot soldiers wouldunch a sudden attack and upy the highest vantage point on the city walls.

    Dong Qifeng hovered in the air and nced coldly toward ckflow City in front of him. There was a crowd of ck human heads on the city wall¡ªtheir formations were extremely chaotic and could hardly be called a formation at all.

    Dong Qifeng suddenly felt that his previous anxiety wasn¡¯t necessary at all. So what if Dark me had a corvette? A rabble was still a rabble. Even if they had superior equipment, they would never be able to make full use of them. At this time, the two champion-rank elders were standing to his left and right. The appearance of three champions would surely affect the morale of the forces defending the city.

    A division¡¯s worth of troops and three champions¡ªhe refused to believe he couldn¡¯t take down a small ckflow City with such a lineup.

    That which drew the curtains over the battlefield was the Dong family¡¯s artillery. Numerous heavy cannons aimed at the city wall, and with a loud rumble, their shells smashed toward the gate towers.

    A voice suddenly rang out in the ears of everyone on the battlefield, ¡°You dare fire your cannons at your mother? You¡¯re courting death!¡±

 Volume 5 - 37: Complete Victory

    Immediately afterward, a continuous string of gunshots rang out as five giant balls of me erupted in the air. The cannon shells fired by the Dong family private army had all exploded in mid-air.

    Qianye nced back, astonished, and found that ady had appeared atop a shooting tform on one of the sentry towers.

    She was indeed an impressive sight to behold¡ªher long ponytail was flying wildly behind her head, and her tight-fitting clothes outlined the beautiful and energetic curves of her body. She was fairly tall and possessed a pair of astonishingly long legs. Her figure was slender to the front and curvaceous toward the back. One didn¡¯t need to see her face to know that she was a great beauty.

    She was holding onto an assault rifle with one hand, and the origin array on its muzzle was still glowing.

    However, Qianye had been able to discern that the drawn-out rumble from just now actually consisted of five shots, which meant that thedy hadn¡¯t missed a single shot¡ªshe had detonated all the iing shells with an ordinary assault rifle.

    It seemed shooting down five cannon shells in one go wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy her. She extended a hand backward and said, ¡°Give me something more powerful!¡±

    Twodies d in simrbat attire brought over a handheld origin-canon. Its caliber was sorge that one could almost stuff a watermelon inside, but thatdy lifted the weapon with rtive ease and mped it under her arms. She then took aim at Dong Qifeng who was hovering in the air and opened fire!

    The origin cannon rang out with a world-shaking rumble. The wall under thedy¡¯s foot was immediately split apart as surging origin power fluctuations began to spread outward. Zhang Zixing immediately rose into the air and, with a wave of his hand, drew out an origin power shield to protect the nobledies. However, some residual waves still managed to slip past, and the impact even caused some of the warriors to lose their footing.

    The cannon spat out a red ball of me which flew across the sky like a shooting star and sted toward Dong Qifeng. Seeing this ten-meter ball of fire, the expressions of Dong Qifeng and the other two champions changed immediately. They didn¡¯t dare to block the attack at all and had to evade one after another.

    He had just sidestepped ten meters away when Dong Qifeng suddenly remembered something, and his heart screamed in distress. The fireball advanced with unreduced momentum and was hurtling toward the airship behind Dong Qifeng¡¯s back. That was his gship!

    The fiery ball sunk into the airship with rtive ease. The very next moment, streams of raging me erupted therein, and a dozen-odd figures were seen jumping out from the airship and falling to the ground. An earth-shattering explosion soon followed as the airship transformed into a giant ball of mes which swelled up and then dispersed in the air. Those who failed to escape in time were turned to ashes along with it.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s satisfying!¡± the ponytaileddy cried out and tossed the handheld cannon back to her maids.

    It wasn¡¯t just Qianye¡ªeveryone else who had witnessed this scene showed different degrees of changes in their expression.

    The might of this cannon had exceeded all expectations and was probably the most powerful attack Qianye had witnessed apart from the Red Spider Lily. In terms of pure firepower, it had already surpassed Zhao Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament, and even Qianye¡¯splete Twin Flowers reinforced by the Wings of Inception still fell short.

    It was at least grade-seven, and even then, it must be an item of premium quality. Qianye immediately formed such an opinion of this terrifying handheld cannon. Those who could use a grade-seven weapon couldn¡¯t be a nobody. However, Qianye had no impression of this person.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes swept over the group around him and concluded from their expressions that this unidentifieddy wasn¡¯t theirrade. Wei Potian and Song Zining didn¡¯t seem to know her either.

    He suddenly discovered something wrong with Zhang Zixing¡¯s expression after he saw the woman. It wasn''t astonishment or fear, but rather¡­ annoyance? It was as if his distressed expression after seeing the group of nobledies had been magnified by a dozen times.

    But there was no time to look into the details at this moment. Since Dong Qifeng had already opened fire, Zhang Zixing naturally wouldn¡¯t be so polite. He immediately issued themand for an all out attack.

    The cannonfire on the walls almost shook the sky. Roughly fifty heavy cannons belonging to Dark me and the third army corps rumbled continuously and bombarded the attacking unit with great ferocity.

    Dong Qifeng couldn¡¯t help but be petrified after seeing the abrupt and violent assault. He simply couldn¡¯t imagine how ckflow City, with its chaotic troop formation, had been able to retaliate with such concentrated firepower.

    The artillery barrage was so fierce that even the three champions and those high-ranking officers were only able to destroy a small portion of it. Most of the shellsnded amidst the besieging army and sted entire groups of warriors into the air.

    Following which, Dong Qifeng witnessed a scene he would probably not forget for the rest of his life. In the sky just beyond the city, airships were rising one after another in quick session, and at the very end, a terrifying giant battleship, hundreds of meters in length, revealed its sinister face. It looked as though an entire street block had risen into the air.

    The smallest among the dozens of battleships were corvettes. Meanwhile, A g was gradually being raised on the biggest airship¡ªit was evidently an imperial airship on active duty!

    Dong Qifeng¡¯s brain had gone nk at the moment and he almost couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. An entire squadron of imperial airships had appeared in front of him!

    Even if all of the Dong family¡¯s airships were added together, they couldn¡¯t stand a single blow from such a squadron.

    Dong Qifeng nearly thought he hade to the wrong ce. He had the illusion that the city in front of him wasn¡¯t ckflow but an important county of the empire.

    As soon as the fleet appeared, it rained down ayer of mes toward the troops on the ground and threw them intoplete disorder. The Dong family warriors could no longer care about attacking the city. The troops immediately switched to an anti-air formation, and the heavy cannons began to raise their firing angle. The small gunships were frozen in the air. One of them courageously wanted to meet the enemy head-on but was fired upon by numerous fiery beams and soon exploded into a ball of mes.

    Qianye suddenly leapt atop the wall with a two-meter long grade-five sniper rifle in tow and directly jumped out of the city.

    Song Zining grabbed a bronze spear from one of his personal guards and leapt out at almost the same time.

    Qianye then ran toward the the ce where the three champions were hovering in the air with Song Zining at his heels. The two possessedrgely different motion patterns¡ªQianye was running in an irregr zig-zag motion, a method widely employed in the army to counter snipers. Meanwhile, Song Zining¡¯s figure faded in and out like a phantom.

    At this moment, the aerial barrage had just ended on the battlefield, and there was smoke and residual fluctuations everywhere. The Dong family army had already retreated to a point three hundred meters from the city walls and was in the process of reorganizing. Almost no one noticed the two of them. The asional origin power shockwaves and sniper shots were either evaded or blocked by Song Zining¡¯s spear.

    Atop the gate tower, Wei Potian¡¯s expression was dark. By the time he had squeezed his way out of the threeyers of nobledies and approached the city walls, Qianye and Song Zining had alreadynded on the ground and covered at least a hundred meters. He had the sudden urge to smash something with his fists but had no target.

    Zhang Zixing who had been issuing instructions from the air revealed a faint smile. His duty was to protect those nobledies, and there would be no danger to them as long as Wei Potian behaved himself and stayed in a safe ce. This work wasn¡¯t so bad after all.

    Previously, the three champions on Dong Qifeng¡¯s side had arrived quite close to the battlefield in order to protect the troops from the cannon fire. As such, Qianye had spent only minutes before arriving within his sniping range of a thousand meters.

    Dong Qifeng, who was still somewhat in a daze, felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest as if he had been pricked by a needle. He suddenly realized something and nced instinctively toward ckflow City just in time to see a zing radiance approaching at lightning speed.

    Following which, his entire body quaked from the impact as arge hole opened up over his heart.

    Dong Qifeng immediately sobered up from the intense pain. He covered up the wound with his hands and immediately turned to flee. His ability to escape decisively had saved his life numerous times in the past. Naturally, he had also sent no small number ofrades to their deaths in the process.

    However, Qianye would never give him such an opportunity. He pulled on the trigger once more¡ªa blue color suffused his eyes just as the bullet flew out of the muzzle with Dong Qifeng¡¯s figure clearly reflected within it.

    Eye Ability: Control was activated within a split second. Dong Qifeng¡¯s heart was suddenly afflicted by an intense pain, and he couldn¡¯t help but bend downward. It was during this moment of dy that blood sprayed out from Dong Qifeng¡¯s back, and the man fell straight down from the sky. This time, Qianye had sted him with the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion and ended his lifepletely.

    And thus, the eldest young master of the Sishui Dong Family, the rank-ten champion Dong Qifeng, unexpectedly died at ckflow City on Evernight Continent.

    As soon as Dong Qifeng died, the private army under hismand immediately fell into chaos. The other two champions no longer dared to linger and immediately left the battlefield.

    Soon, ckflow City¡¯s gates opened wide and Dark me soldiers swarmed out. The Dong family¡¯s private soldiers hadpletely lost the will to fight and began to surrender inrge groups. The cargo airships as well as the two gunships didn¡¯t dare move at all in the face of the imperial squadron. A small number of them refused to surrender and chose to escape into the wilderness instead. However, this was Evernight Continent¡ªtheir fates wouldn¡¯t necessarily be better than bing prisoners.

    The battle had been won, and ckflow City took almost zero casualties. The nobledies atop the wall were all in high spirits as if they had won the war themselves.

    Honestly speaking, the Dong family¡¯s forces weren¡¯t that bad. They had the ability to fight a proper battle even against an imperial regr army corps. But the lightly armed unit had no way to resist the suddenly appearing imperial airship squadron. Add to that the death of their leading general, they naturally copsedpletely.

    Taking post-war inventory, merely the prisoners of war numbered close to ten thousand along with countless armaments. Zhang Zixing naturally paid no attention to the trifling matters regarding the clean-up. He imed that Qianye was the actual ckflow City Lord and pushed all the work to him.

    Settling and handling so many prisoners wasn¡¯t a simple matter at all, not to mention the horde of curious nobledies causing trouble nearby.

    Song Zining knew what Qianye was distressed about and immediately said with a smile, ¡°This is a small matter. Watch me!¡± He looked around and then walked over toward one of the nobledies with a smile. The other party also recognized him and immediately returned a smile.

    Song Zining greeted, ¡°Dongqi, long time no see!¡±

    That nobledy was precisely the eldest young miss of Marquis of Righteousness, Shi Dongqi, who had met Song Zining numerous times before.

    Song Zining¡¯s appearance was elegant and his temperament was gentle. The misceneous arts which people considered useless were, on the contrary, extremely appealing to these youngdies. As such, he had always been well-received by thedies in the empire¡¯s social circle.

    He was already engaged and thus didn¡¯t fall within the scope of potential marriage for these lineal daughters. This posed no hindrance to friendship, however, and thosedies from lesser aristocratic families were fairly intimate with him. A prime example would be thedy standing behind Shi Dongqi who belonged to one of the Shi n¡¯s branch families; she was smiling rather passionately.

    Song Zining waved his fan and said with a smile, ¡°Eldest Young Miss Shi, our empire puts great emphasis on military aplishments. Since the youngdies achieved the first merit in this battle, I feel that a celebratory banquet is in order. Moreover, the soiree definitely has to berge-scaled. An idle person like me has no ce participating, but an honored guest like the Bowang Heir can¡¯t be absent.¡±

    Shi Dongqi was immediately enlightened. A celebration like this was a great opportunity. When everyone had gotten tipsy and merry, she might have an opportunity to seize Wei Potian on the spot and confirm the marriage affair. She immediately thanked Song Zining and left in a hurry to arrange matters.

    Song Zining watched the figure of Shi Dongqi¡¯s back as she left, a barely discernible shade of schadenfreude emerged within his smile.

 Volume 5 - 38: A Wanton and Unrestrained Beauty

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 38: A Wanton and Unrestrained Beauty

    Wei Potian was surrounded at all times by a number of nobledies except when he was discussing serious business with other men¡ªthese bossy youngdies absolutely refused to let him interact with any single woman. There was no way Shi Dongqi could hide her intentions to invite Wei Potian using a celebratory feast as an excuse.

    As such, the situation developed just as Song Zining had anticipated¡ªall the nobledies were soon intent on holding a celebratory party. However, there was only one Wei n heir. As a result, the soiree was jointly held by all of them with the lone guest of honor being Wei Potian.

    Song Zining dragged Qianye away to stand in the distance. They watched as the group of nobledies chattered around Wei Potian, discussing what type of wine they should serve, what dishes they should prepare, and what music they should perform.

    Qianye suddenly recalled Wei Potian¡¯s remark about being the onlydy in a room full of brothel patrons and felt that the scene before him was a vivid depiction of those words. He immediately broke into an uncontrobleughter and even his his stomach started to cramp up.

    Song Zining¡¯s strategy of diverting cmity was extremely effective. All of the nobledies lost interest in the post-war affairs and focused their attention on the banquet which had quickly be the highlight of the night.

    However, not everything went as nned. Qianye had just breathed a sigh of relief when trouble came knocking on the doors. Moreover, it was even more troublesome than all the bossydies added together.

    That valiantdy who had sted Dong Qifeng¡¯s gship with a handheld cannon suddenly appeared before Qianye and asked to speak with him alone. Seeing this beautifuldy up close, Qianye deeply experienced a type of magnificence and splendor that was even more dazzling than the sun. So much that he had been bewitched even before he could see her facial features clearly.

    However, the giant handheld cannon she was fiddling with in her hand painted the words ¡°speak in private¡± with a sense of inexplicable danger.

    Under her harsh gaze, Song Zining quickly turned around and left without a shred of brotherly spirit¡ªhe didn¡¯t even stay to engage in social niceties. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but curse in his heart and felt that Wei Potian¡¯s rude descriptions of Song Zining weren¡¯t totally unreasonable.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have someone clear out a conference room,¡± Qianye braced himself and said.

    That beauty replied impatiently, ¡°Let¡¯s just go to your room. Stop acting like an old woman!¡±

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°This isn¡¯t very appropriate, is it?¡±

    ¡°Enough with the rubbish. Even your mother here doesn¡¯t care, what¡¯s a little boy like you being so embarrassed about?¡±

    Little¡­ boy? Qianye nced at the beautifuldy who was at most a couple of years older than him and felt drops of sweat roll down his forehead. Moreover, she was waving that astonishingly big handheld cannon around while she was speaking and, intentionally or otherwise, the muzzle always seemed to be pointed toward him.

    At close range, the cannon muzzle was so big that it was no different from that of a mobile heavy cannon. Could this thing really be fired from one¡¯s hands? Even Qianye, who possessed a constitution surpassing that of the dark races, couldn¡¯t help but have some doubts about it.

    The scene where this big fellow had sted an airship apart with one shot was still vivid in Qianye¡¯s mind. He felt that his fate, after being struck, wouldn¡¯t be much better than the airship.

    Suddenly, an inconspicuous insignia flitted past Qianye¡¯s eyes and caused his gaze to freeze for a moment. That was the Swallow Cloud Zhao n¡¯s emblem. There was, however, a slight difference, and it likely represented a certain branch family.

    Qianye gave it some thought and then brought her toward his own residence in the Dark me headquarters.

    The moment thisdy entered, she sized up Lil¡¯ Seven, who was standing at the door, from head to toe and then from toe to head. One big and one small, the twodies nced at each other with beautiful eyes akin to peach blossoms.

    Qianye felt his distress intensify.

    During his momentarypse in concentration, that beautifuldy had walked toward the interior on her own and directly entered his room. She then tossed her big handheld cannon to one side and, with a loud ¡°ng¡±, produced a hole in the floor.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but twitch a few times. Not because the floor had suffered an unexpected cmity, but because he felt a heartache for that grade-seven weapon.

    A grade-seven origin armament was a big step-up from grade-six. Any random grade-seven weapon was worth tens of times more than a grade-six. Because of theck in craftsmen at that level, the creation of a custom-made weapon of that level would take several years or even dozens.

    Without waiting for Qianye to speak, she had thrown herself onto his bed and bounced a couple of times on it before sitting up to speak to him, ¡°It¡¯s notfy at all!¡±

    After making such ament, she sat at his bedside, crossed her two straight legs, and proceeded to light a cigarette. She then inhaled deeply without a care for her image.

    Finally, Qianye couldn¡¯t take it anymore and said, ¡°That¡¯s my bed.¡±

    ¡°I know it¡¯s yours, but so what? Isn¡¯t it just a broken bed? What? This mommy here wants to sit on your bed. Do you dare to not yield?¡±

    Qianye was immediately defeated and said helplessly with a wryugh, ¡°Stop ying such jokes. What exactly is your business?¡±

    Thedy began tough out loud after seeing Qianye¡¯s distressed attitude. ¡°Has anyone told you that your embarrassed manner is very amusing?¡±

    Darkness flitted across Qianye¡¯s countenance as he replied in a frosty voice, ¡°Let me tell you that it¡¯s not fun at all.¡±

    The unbridled beauty curled her lips and said, ¡°So serious! You¡¯re just like Little Four.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled and asked suspiciously, ¡°Little Four? Which Little Four?¡±

    She replied impatiently, ¡°Which other Little Four is there? There¡¯s only one person in the Zhao n who can be called Zhao Fourth, and that¡¯s Zhao Jundu.¡±

    A n asrge as the Zhao had countless branch families. Naturally, there was more than one person who was ranked fourth in seniority. But at present, the name Zhao Fourth only referred to Zhao Jundu and none other.

    Qianye went silent. Ayer of coldness appeared in the depths of his eyes as he asked, ¡°Then what about you?¡±

    She hopped up,nded in front of Qianye, and extended her hand. ¡°Come, little beauty, let¡¯s get to know each other! I¡¯m Zhao Yuying of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n and Duke You is my grandfather.¡±

    The Swallow Cloud Zhao n¡¯s two branches of hereditary dukes were Duke Yan and Duke You respectively. During the past hundreds of years, the position of n lord had always been controlled by these two branches. That was until the current Duke You¡¯s younger brother achieved a meteoric rise and was designated Duke Xuanyuan. He then pleaded the emperor to allow his eldest son, Zhao Weihuang, to marry the Imperial Princess Gaoyi. It was only after ten-odd years of service that Zhao Weihuang was conferred the title of Duke Chengen and allowed to sit at the n lord¡¯s position.

    This also meant that the current Duke of You, Zhao Xuan, was Zhao Weihuang¡¯s uncle. Although the n lord¡¯s position had fallen to a different branch, Duke Yan and Duke You¡¯s connections were deeply rooted akin to a tree withplicated branches and luxuriant leaves. Their status wasn¡¯t easily shaken within a generation or two.

    In addition to the apprehension in his heart, Qianye also found it to be somewhat odd.

    Among the Zhao n¡¯s younger generation, it seemed that Zhao Weihuang¡¯s four sons and one daughter had seized most of the brilliance. In truth, the Zhao n, as a whole, wasn¡¯tcking in geniuses. Zhao Yuying was one such outstanding person from a branch family.

    But she was particrly special. Her name was frequently heard, but she rarely made any public appearance. Even lineal descendants of high status like Song Zining and Wei Potian had never seen her before. This indicated that she almost never attended any social event held by the upper-ss of the empire. Hence, her limelight had been drowned out by the fourth young master.

    But after meeting her personally, Qianye felt people¡¯s evaluation of her didn¡¯t do her justice. Zhao Yuying was exceptionally strong¡ªignoring other aspects of her strength, just that grade-seven cannon alone wasn¡¯t something everyone could use. A weaker champion would¡¯ve been sucked dry if he were to fire a shot from it. Even though thisdy couldn¡¯tpare to Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi, she could easily suppress the other three young masters without much suspense.

    Seeing that Qianye wasn¡¯t reacting, Zhao Yuying waved her hand closer and almost reached Qianye¡¯s nose.

    Qianye didn¡¯t take her hand and, instead, asked, ¡°Did Zhao Jundu tell you toe here?¡±

    ¡°Him?¡± Zhao Yuying let out a snort and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t the slightest association with that stupid fellow. I¡¯m only here to see how troublesome his disobedient brother actually is.¡±

    Thosest words made him recall something. and his heart suddenly softened. He let out a sigh in his heart and, after a moment of hesitation, slowly reached out to shake Zhao Yuying¡¯s hand.

    The smile on Zhao Yuying¡¯s face suddenly changed and was now full ofcency as if her plot had seeded.

    Qianye felt a powerful force being transmitted from her hand, one so strong that it could easily leave fingerprints on solid steel. Qianye had no doubt that the bones in his hand would have shattered if he were a bit weaker. He let out a deep shout and erupted with full force to mount a painstaking counter-attack.

    It was a strugglepletely devoid of fancy moves and, for a time, neither side could gain an advantage. They were in a deadlock.

    Qianye was greatly astonished because this was the first time he had encountered someone among the younger generation who could match him in terms of raw strength. Even ordinary champions were far inferior to him in terms of physical strength. Zhao Yuying was ady, and yet, she actually possessed a terrifying strengthparable to arachne of the same level.

    Seeing that her sneak attack had failed, Zhao Yuying¡¯s ponytail began flying behind her without any wind. Following which, she charged forth and crashed straight into Qianye. The force from her shoulder actually caused cracking sounds like thunder and lightning to ring out in the air.

    Qianye was very familiar with this sound¡ªit was a sign of origin power resonance. Qianye was already a bit angry and his countenance was as gloomy as water. He returned the same move with his shoulders and simrly stirred up thunderous rumbles through the air.

    The moment the two crashed into each other, the tes and tableware in the room all shattered. Afterward, anything not solid was torn into shreds, including the pillows and sheets.

    In this exchange, merely the origin power seeping out from their bodies had disyed such destructive might.

    This sh once again resulted in a draw. Zhao Yuying¡¯s body swayed abruptly¡ªthis movement, extremely clever in both its angle and timing, shook Qianye¡¯s bnce. She then closed in on Qianye, locked her long legs around him, and tossed him into the air. She then pressed him heavily onto the ground.

    Reacting rapidly, Qianye twisted his waist away and wrung her in return. He stuck tightly to Zhao Yuying and brought her along into the air.

    Their bodies intertwined and smashed together onto the ground where they rolled around. Heads, shoulders, elbows, palms, and fingers¡ªevery part of their bodies were used as weapons to attack the other party. In more vulgar terms, the two now resembled two ruffians brawling on the streets. There was no more technique to speak of and only random attacks based on instinct.

    Although the battle appeared rather ugly, it was, in fact, extremely dangerous. Both their bodies were killer weapons from head to toe and every elbow strike and headbutt possessed enough power to shatter rocks.

    Numerous loud thumps rang out within the blink of an eye, and it was unknown who had received how many blows. Qianye¡¯s physique was strong enough to bepared to a vampire champion, but that dazzling beauty, Zhao Yuying, wasn¡¯t a bit weaker. Purely in terms of constitution, she was even a bit stronger than Wei Potian.

    However, Zhao Yuying was already rank-eleven and she was far superior to Qianye in terms of origin power. He fell into a disadvantage shortly afterward and was pressed to the ground by Zhao Yuying. She grabbed out with her left hand and clutched Qianye¡¯s throat.

    Qianye¡¯s chest rose and fell as he gasped violently for air. Within this short battle, he had used up all of his origin power and didn¡¯t even have the strength to raise his hand.

    But, through this battle, Qianye had alsoe to a direct understanding of Zhao Yuying¡¯s strength. Among the champions he had fought, Song Zian was also rank-eleven, but the difference between him and Zhao Yuying was like that between a firefly and the bright moon. If they were to fight each other, Song Zian was the type of trash who could be eliminated with a single shot of her cannon.

    Zhao Yuying stared fixedly at Qianye for a moment and then raised her brows in delight. ¡°I thought you looked like a beautiful little toy, but you really do pack quite a punch in battle. Very good! Now that¡¯s more like it. You¡¯re just my type! You¡¯re worth that stupid Zhao Fourth offending so many people.¡±

    Zhao Yuying stood up while speaking and also pulled Qianye back to his feet.

    It was at this time that a de of autumn leaf suddenly flitted past the two.

    Qianye and Zhao Yuying both fixed their eyes on the leaf and watched it fall in a leisurely manner. For a time, the atmosphere turned iparably odd.

 Volume 5 - 39: Song Zining, The Almost-Conned

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 39: Song Zining, The Almost-Conned

    Most of the items in the room had already been destroyed by the two, but the window was still intact. Additionally, there weren¡¯t any trees outside even if the window was broken. So how did this thing get here?

    Zhao Yuying shot Qianye a nce; her eyes were shockingly bright.

    Without the slightest bit of brotherly spirit, Qianye shrugged to show that it had nothing to do with him. In truth, he was somewhat enraged. A moment ago, he was under great pressure while fighting against Zhao Yuying and thus hadn¡¯t been able to observe the surroundings. But now that the atmosphere had more or less rxed, it did vaguely feel as though they were being watched.

    Apparently, this leaf was like an eye, and it was likely that someone had been observing the fight between him and Zhao Yuying. As for who had secretly stretched his domain inside, was there even a need to ask?

    Song Zining usually wasn¡¯t so careless¡ªhe was probably shaken after witnessing the scene of their battle or perhaps the energy scattered from the two had jolted his domain and caused a couple of leaves to fall out.

    Zhao Yuying suddenly sneered, ¡°You dare y these mysterious tricks before your mother?¡±

    She lifted her long, exquisite, yet powerful hand and threw out a p. Her target was still that floating autumn leaf.

    However, a ¡°pow¡± rang out as Zhao Yuying¡¯s pnded on the leaf. It had actually produced the crisp sound of flesh. This astonished Qianye almost immediately.

    It was clearly a leaf that had been struck, so why did it sound as though the strike hadnded on someone¡¯s face? As if to answer Qianye¡¯s question, a cry of pain rang out from outside the door, and it sounded as though the person had been pped.

    Zhao Yuying let out a coldugh. She swung her hand again and said to the leaf, ¡°Pretend! Continue pretending!¡±

    A cry of rm was heard from outside just as the p was about to be delivered. Song Zining shed into the room and said hurriedly, ¡°Beautifuldy, please have mercy!¡±

    Zhao Yuying nced askance at Song Zining and asked, ¡°What did you call me just now?¡±

    Song Zining adjusted his clothes, flicked the expensive fan in his hand, and said in an unflinching manner, ¡°You¡¯re an outstanding beauty. Both your figure and grace are, without exception, the best of the best. Additionally, you are so capable! From the inside out, there¡¯s not one ce about you that isn¡¯t beautiful. Although the words ''beautifuldy'' is somewhat cliche, it¡¯s the closest one can get to describe this youngdy.¡±

    Qianye was dumbfounded and suddenly wanted to pretend he didn¡¯t know this fellow. This was actually the first time he had personally witnessed Song Zining trying to court ady. Qianye could hardly find any words to express his present mood.

    But soon afterward, he noticed a sudden change on half of Song Zining¡¯s face. A palm print had emerged therein with five clear marks resembling fingers. Judging from the size of this palm, it evidently belonged to Zhao Yuying.

    The p just now was thrown onto the falling leaf, but had, in fact,nded on Song Zining¡¯s face. He must¡¯ve noticed that the second p was imminent, and thus, walked out on his own, lest a cmity befall the other side of his face.

    Zhao Yuying was startled after hearing Song Zining¡¯s explicit, corny, and shameless words. Afterward, she asked, ¡°Am I really that wonderful?¡±

    ¡°Of course! When has this insignificant one ever lied?¡± Song Zining said with due seriousness as if he were dissatisfied with Zhao Yuying¡¯s doubt. He flipped the fan in his hand over to reveal the drawing of another great master and said in a clear voice, ¡°If this youngdy isn¡¯t a beauty, then who else can be considered such?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s vision grew dark¡ªhis exhausted body hadn¡¯t yet recovered and was already swaying unsteadily. But, hearing Zhao Yuying¡¯s reaction almost made him fall down.

    Zhao Yuying was beaming with delight and even somewhat embarrassed. She reached out to grab the leaf and fiddled around with it subconsciously before asking, ¡°You really mean what you said?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Song Zining replied vehemently.

    Qianye felt that his horizons had been broadened. It turned out that wooing ady could be such an utterly shameless business, and such frank ttery almost bordering on crudeness was actually effective! Facing this man and woman, Qianye was at a loss who among them he should be admiring.

    Song Zining secretly peeked at Zhao Yuying¡¯s reaction and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he had fortunately made it through this problem. This woman¡¯s methods were extremely powerful and could actually restrain his domain. This was quite rare even though the other party was a rank-eleven champion.

    It was at this time that Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes lit up and sneered, ¡°Damn you! These tricks used to fool little girls, you actually dare use it on me? What hasn¡¯t this mother here ever seen? You think I¡¯ll believe your nonsense?¡±

    She put in some force and rubbed the unlucky leaf in the palm of her hand. With her strength, not to mention an ordinary leaf, even a golden leaf would be rolled into a ball.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t understand why Zhao Yuying was being so violent with the leaf. However, he vaguely understood some things after recalling the p to the leaf which had actuallynded on Song Zining¡¯s face.

    He nced back at Song Zining and, just as expected, found the fellow wearing a wonderful expression¡ªhe clearly wanted to cry out but couldn¡¯t. Who knew which part of Song Zining¡¯s body was being affected by the leaf pinched tightly in Zhao Yuying¡¯s hand. In any case, his demeanor made it clear that he wasn¡¯t having an easy time.

    Qianye was suddenly enlightened, and a deep azure emerged within his eyes. Just as expected, numerous origin power lines began to appear before him.

    He was quite familiar with Song Zining¡¯s origin power aura. He first identified a patch of faintly discernible blue-green light in the form of a. At a nce, it looked like the veins on a bodhi leaf overall¡ªthis should be Song Zining¡¯s domain.

    At this moment, this origin power was contracting toward a point in the air, and most of it had already escaped. There was only one ce where it had been mped down tightly by a dark purple mass of daybreak origin power and couldn¡¯t break free. Meanwhile, that dark purple radiance would oscite from time to time, and with each fluctuation, a surging tide would travel along the lines of the origin-power and pound against the air.

    Qianye grasped certain outlines from this and gained a deeper understanding regarding origin power materialization.

    At this time, the fallen leaf could no longer bear the humiliation and transformed back into origin power with a flicker, returning to where it came. Meanwhile, the two wisps of wrestling origin powers were also extinguished in Qianye¡¯s True Sight.

    Song Zining appeared as though he had just been granted amnesty. He took a step back and nced at Zhao Yuying as though he were looking at a venomous snake. Qianye had great eyesight and noticed that his fingers were trembling ever so slightly.

    Song Zining finally withdrew his romantic and profligate attitude. He wore a serious expression as he nced at Qianye and asked, ¡°Qianye, are you alright? Is this¡­ your friend?¡±

    The roomed looked as if a tornado had just swept through¡ªalmost all of the furniture and utensils had been shattered, and the floor was aplete mess. It almost seemed as though a great battle had taken ce here.

    Zhao Yuyingughed in an exaggerated manner and said, ¡°What? Do you n to seek revenge? That¡¯s fine with me! You seem quite capable, so I¡¯ll give you the opportunity and wait for you toe and find me. Group brawl or one-on-one, take your pick! Your mother here is called Zhao Yuying of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n!¡±

    ¡°Zhao Yuying?¡± Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but be dazed after hearing this name, and soon afterward, his expression became iparably brilliant.

    ¡°What? Have you heard of my famous name?¡±

    Song Zining suddenly clenched his teeth and said, ¡°Zhao Junhong! I¡¯ll settle this score with you!¡±

    This time, it was Zhao Yuying¡¯s turn to be puzzled. ¡°What does this have to do with old two?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. I¡¯ll be taking my leave first.¡± Song Zining bowed slightly toward Zhao Yuying after recovering hisposure and then turned around to leave. Just as he was about to leave through the door, Song Zining suddenly turned back and said with due seriousness, ¡°Young Miss of Duke You, speaking honestly, the two words beautifuldy are extremely appropriate to describe you.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was startled, but just as she was wondering how to react, Song Zining had already gone far away.

    ¡°Who is that pretty boy? Why does he hate Zhao Junhong so much?¡± Zhao Yuying asked.

    Qianye did know a little bit about why Song Zining was reacting this way. Zhao Junhong had tossed out a marriage offer back then, and Song Zining had told Qianye about itter on. He had also revealed some of his own opinions.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t against such a marriage. With his awkward situation in the Song n, finding a powerful inw family and striving for independence could be considered a way out. The Zhao n¡¯s strength far surpassed that of individual nobles and,pared to the otherdies in the n, the young miss of the Duke You lineage possessed a higher status and value. It was said that her strength wasn¡¯t bad at all, and that she wasn¡¯t just a pretty face.

    It was just that Song Zining didn¡¯t want to officially leave the Song n just yet. That was why he hadn¡¯t agreed to it back then, but he still considered the option seriously.

    But only after seeing Zhao Yuying today did Song Zining understand what a natural nemesis was. It was someone he had to take a detour around. It was precisely because of this that he was resentful of Zhao Second and couldn¡¯t shake off the lingering fear. If he had agreed to the marriage immediately back then, this seventh young master¡¯s life would¡¯ve fallen into a bottomless pit.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t disclose such a matter to Zhao Yuying and only gave a simple exnation. ¡°He¡¯s called Song Zining, seventh young master of the Song n and my brother.¡±

    Zhao Yuying had apparently heard of his name before and raised her eyebrows. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s who he is. Let it be that you don¡¯t want to recognize Little Four as a brother, but you¡¯ve actually taken such a weak chicken as one. Are you not afraid Little Four will dismantle him into thin sheets?¡±

    Presently, Qianye had gained the ability to listen only to the important points in his conversation with Zhao Yuying and ignore all the vulgarities. Why did this Zhao n daughter feel more like a street thug than the Wei n heir? However, Zhao Yuying still understood Zhao Jundu quite well. The Zhao fourth young master did have such an intention.

    Since Song Zining had already run away, Qianye didn¡¯t want to drag him back into the waters. He collected his thoughts and asked, ¡°You said Zhao Jundu offended a lot of people. What exactly is going on?¡±

    Zhao Yuying replied, ¡°You¡¯re that little bastard who was snatched away from my uncle''s house, right?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed ever so slightly.

    Zhao Yuying nced oddly at Qianye. ¡°You didn¡¯t know? Or was there a problem back then?¡±

    Qianye drew in a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and asked, ¡°What did you hear about the matter back then?¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s knowledge of this matter was fairly limited. Reportedly, there was once an illegitimate child in Zhao Weihuang¡¯s family, and that he was about a year older than Zhao Ruoxi. More than ten years ago, an assassin had charged into the inner courtyard and kidnapped the young boy. Thereafter, his fate was never known.

    Qianye had never expected there would actually be such a story.

    The most serious thing that had happened to him was origin theft, and Zhao Jundu should be familiar with the details. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have checked the wound as soon as he approached. Although Zhao Yuying was a core descendant of the Zhao n and even Duke You¡¯s granddaughter, she seemed to have no knowledge of this matter.

    Qianye felt somewhat frustrated, but he also knew that it was useless to continue asking Zhao Yuying who knew little of this matter. As such, he returned to the previous issue and asked, ¡°What exactly is going on with Zhao Jundu?¡±

    ¡°Not long ago, Little Four announced that he would recognize a brother, add him to the family records, and join his auxiliary residence.¡± Zhao Yuying saw Qianye¡¯s doubtful expression and realized that he wasn¡¯t clear what Zhao Jundu¡¯s actions signified.

 Volume 5 - 40: The Wei Clan Heirâ€™s Crush

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 40: The Wei n Heir¡¯s Crush

    Zhao Yuying said with due frankness, ¡°Presently, the Swallow Cloud Zhao n already has one main, two peer, and eighteen auxiliary residences. There are thousands in our generation alone. Who has the time to recognize so many brothers and sisters? Blood rtions really aren¡¯t worth much.¡±

    Qianye frowned¡ªZhao Yuying¡¯s words annoyed him although he had no intention to return to the Zhao n.

    But Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t care at all and continued, ¡°Temporarily putting aside the matter regarding the family record, gaining an auxiliary residence signifies status, honor, and vast amounts of resources. There are thousands of descendants in each generation, but only a hundred or so are chosen. Even if Little Four is strong enough to hold a residence on his own, others would find it difficult to ept him bringing someone in without a good cause. I heard some people went to argue with him about this matter and, well, you know Little Four¡¯s temper. Many disagreeable things happened on the spot and some fights broke out.¡±

    Only then did Qianye realize that the Zhao n¡¯s internal affairs worked purely on elite authority¡ªhalf depended on bloodline inheritance, while the leading half was one''s strength. Only those with enough strength would have the opportunity to take up a residence, and Zhao Jundu was already the master of one at twenty-one years old.

    Zhao Yuying spoke as if it were a matter of course, ¡°Others still don¡¯t know you actually have Zhao n blood, but that really doesn¡¯t make much of a difference. Recognition in the Zhao n can only be gained through strength. Trash without ability will die early on the battlefield. Who has the spare energy to take care of them?¡±

    After listening to all of this, Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with an inexplicable feeling. He fell silent for a short moment and then said, ¡°Did Zhao Jundu send you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. He is he and I am I. I was only curious about you, so I came to take a look. But you¡¯re really not bad and quite to my liking.¡±

    Qianye said helplessly, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me your so-called ¡®take a look¡¯ is to attack?¡±

    Zhao Yuying replied matter-of-factly, ¡°Why of course! You¡¯re also my brother, so it won¡¯t do if you¡¯re too weak.¡±

    ¡°It seemed just now, you were trying to kill me.¡±

    ¡°If I really wanted to kill, I would¡¯ve used Mountain Splitter from the get-go.¡± With that, she pointed at that origin handheld cannon.

    However, the strength she had used just now was enough to cripple an ordinary rank-ten champion¡ªhow could it be called test out his strength? But after some thought, perhaps this was just the way Zhao Jundu and Zhao Yuying tested people. Without strength, one would not gain any recognition. Just as Zhao Yuying said, there were thousands in every generation; what use was one¡¯s bloodline?

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, Zhao Yuying said in a rare stern tone, ¡°Little Four decided to bring you back to the n only after he tried out your strength. Otherwise, the only fate awaiting you after entering the Zhao n is death. It will be wiser to raise you outside.¡±

    Thosest words almost made Qianye choke. But with Zhao Yuying as aparison, Zhao Jundu¡¯s actions in the desert could be considered gentle¡ªat most, he would¡¯ve been shot through the left leg. If it were Zhao Yuying in that ce, he would¡¯ve been left with at least a dozen fractures.

    Zhao Yuying patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said casually, ¡°Don¡¯t feel too ufortable though. Little Four and I also went through all of these things. Since childhood, I fought my way through all adversity and beat up everyone who refused to recognize me until they changed their minds. That was how I arrived at my current status today.¡±

    Qianye could only stay silent.

    In truth, the Great Qin Empire¡¯s policy, in and of itself, favored the strong and devoured the weak. However, after a millennium since its founding, it was also starting to pay more attention to cultural inheritances and whitewash certain things in the name of righteousness. But the Zhao n¡¯s geniuses were too proud and felt disdain toward thisyer of disguise.

    Qianye let out a soft sigh and said, ¡°Since Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t ask you toe, and you¡¯ve seen what you¡¯vee to see¡­¡±

    Zhao Yuying immediately cut Qianye short with augh. ¡°It just so happened that I¡¯ve had nothing to do recently, so I can help you do some fighting. Look at how bad a job you¡¯re doing? Even a regional count¡¯s son dares besiege your city! But rest assured, with this old sister protecting you from now on, it¡¯s useless even if old man Dong himself arrives!¡±

    But Qianye had an instinctive feeling that Zhao Yuying staying here wasn¡¯t a good thing. As he saw it, this unrestrained beauty was even more frightening than an imperial regional count. But Zhao Yuying had already lifted up her hand cannon, and its muzzle was swaying around in front of Qianye. It almost seemed as if the weapon might identally go off if he didn¡¯t agree to this.

    Qianye let out a helpless and ruefulugh. He summoned Lil¡¯ Seven and his personal guards, instructing them to make arrangements for Zhao Yuying and her two followers before entering the study alone.

    At the moment, he truly had no idea what to do. As such, he brought out his westward campaign map. However, the lines and colors before him seemed to be jumping about just like his confused thoughts¡ªhe simply couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.

    The night passed by in the blink of an eye. As the sounds of Dark me¡¯s morning drills came through the window, Qianye walked out and left the headquarters. He wanted to find Song Zining for a chat.

    Song Zining¡¯s residence was a grand mansion in the eastern part of the city. That ce wouldter be the regional headquarters of the Ningyuan Group. Because it was currently undergoing construction and renovation work, the entire building was already brightly lit early in the morning. The construction work was in full swing as the workers toiled against the clock.

    Song Zining¡¯s residence was deep within the manor and could be considered rtively peaceful. Upon arrival, Qianye saw Song Zining sitting under a wisteria perg and sipping his tea continuously¡ªapparently, he was feeling rather ill at ease.

    After greeting Song Zining, Qianye found that the former was was not only pale, but his aura was also somewhat weak. In fact, there was even a trace of instability in his origin power. He thus asked with concern, ¡°Are your injuries alright?¡±

    That leaf formed from the Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art was crushed apart by Zhao Yuying. Now it seemed things weren¡¯t so simple because Song Zining had apparently sustained significant injuries.

    Song Ziningughed wryly with a lingering fear in his heart. ¡°The injury is a bit troublesome, but it¡¯s fortunate¡­ quite fortunate.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s fortunate?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that I didn¡¯t agree to Zhao Second impulsively. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve been harmed to death by him!¡±

    Qianye immediately understood and nodded in agreement. Whoever married Zhao Yuying would suffer a cmity. This beautifuldy wasn¡¯t just entric¡ªit so happened that she was also from a major n and was extremely powerful. Such a woman had no weak points at all, but how was a man to interact with her?

    Song Zining shot Qianye a nce, offered him a cup of tea, and asked, ¡°You seem to have some concerns of your own?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s rted to the Zhao n.¡± He recounted the information he had gained from Zhao Yuying.

    Song Zining frowned but didn¡¯tment on the matter. He only asked, ¡°What¡¯s your n?¡±

    Qianye stayed silent for a moment and said, ¡°It won¡¯t do to just let things continue this way. I n to visit the Zhao n when matters here are stable.¡±

    Song Zining turned the teacup in his hand and said with a smile, ¡°Very well. Call me when you go. I¡¯ll apany you.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°It might be dangerous.

    Still smiling as before, Song Zining replied, ¡°At least on the surface, I¡¯m second in ce as the Song n sessor. They won¡¯t dare go too far with me around. After all, the old ancestor is still alive.¡±

    They had no fear of open conflicts and challenges, but it was impossible to defend against secret schemes. With Song Zining tagging along, those fellows with unfathomable intentions would need to consider their methods carefully.

    After all, the Song n was still a member of the four major ns regardless of its weak internal affairs. It was an enormous entity who ranked first in terms of wealth and currently had Duchess An overseeing it. They would have no way to exin if a high-ranking Song n sessor were to disappear in the Zhao n.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°For you to casually interfere in the Zhao n¡¯s internal affairs, Duchess An might not be pleased even if she¡¯s willing to protect you.¡±

    Song Zining let out augh and said, ¡°Since I have no intention to be the n lord, it doesn¡¯t matter whether she¡¯s pleased or not. Besides, to me, your matters are not the Zhao n¡¯s internal affairs at all. It¡¯s our internal affair.¡±

    Qianye sighed deeply and said after a good while, ¡°There¡¯s no hurry. Let me think about it.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°You still need to be careful about Zhao Yuying. I heard the Duke You and Duke Yan lineages are at odds with Duke Chengen¡¯s branch.¡± He only gave such a reminder and refrained from saying more.

    Qianye excused himself after two cups of tea. He recalled something just as he was about to leave and turned back to ask, ¡°Zining, are your wounds alright?¡±

    A suspicious blush flitted across Song Zining¡¯s countenance as he replied in an angry tone, ¡°Qianye! You¡¯ve learnt some bad things!¡±

    Qianye was immediately startled. He had spoken out of pure concern and hadn¡¯t given it much thought. But judging from Song Zining¡¯s intense reaction, Qianye immediately understood that this matter mustn¡¯t be brought up and thus slipped away in a hurry.

    After returning to his residence at the Dark me headquarters, Qianye unexpectedly found that Wei Potian had been waiting there for a long time.

    ¡°Potian, how did you find the time to visit me? It¡¯s truly odd. Those nobledies actually let you go like this? How have you been doing recently?¡±

    Wei Potian was infuriated at the mere mention of this matter. ¡°If not for this daddy¡¯s peerless capacity for liquor, I would¡¯ve copsed in the hands of those savage people! Goddammit! Who gave them such a rotten idea? I¡¯ll definitely y him alive once I know! A celebratory banquet for heroic deeds?! Heroic my a*s! Thosedies didn¡¯t even fire a single shot!¡±

    Qianye could only pretend to be dumb because he had witnessed this matter from the sidelines and made no effort to stop it. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be so dumb as to say it out loud.

    Wei Potian continued to curse the mastermind for a moment, but the truth dawned on him after noticing Qianye¡¯s somewhat peculiar expression. He leapt out of his seat and began to scream in anger, ¡°I know it now! It must¡¯ve been that sissy Song Seven! That fellow actually dares scheme against me behind my back?! This daddy here must settle the score with him!¡±

    Qianye hurriedly dragged Wei Potian back and said, ¡°Hold on! Settling the score can wait. You must have some serious business to visit me so early in the morning?¡±

    After being questioned by Qianye, Wei Potian suddenly became restless and started to hem and haw iprehensibly. ¡°That¡­ erm¡­ Qianye, didn¡¯t adye to visit you suddenly? That one with an origin hand cannon.¡±

    Qianye replied suspiciously, ¡°Yes, what of it?¡±

    ¡°I-I¡¯ve seen her before in Far East Province.¡±

    ¡°She visited Far East Province before? Ah, that¡¯s also possible. It was my first time seeing her yesterday. Is something wrong?¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head vigorously and minced his words around for a long time before picking up the courage to say, ¡°I still don¡¯t know who she is.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Yuying, granddaughter of the Zhao n¡¯s Duke You.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± Wei Potian was startled and his countenance fluctuated for a moment before saying, ¡°So it¡¯s like that! I-I thought she was also here for the engagement. Now it seems to not be the case.¡±

    Qianye gazed intently at Wei Potian¡¯s expression and realized something. ¡°You like her?!¡±

    ¡°N-No!¡± Wei Potian¡¯s voice rose sharply and then fell to a whisper, ¡°It¡¯s just that there¡¯s an inexplicable feeling. She¡¯s not like the other nobledies¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression immediately became one of not knowing whether tough or to cry. Indeed, Zhao Yuying and the other nobledies weren¡¯t the same. The degree of her uniqueness bordered on oundish. Compared to her, Wei Potian was simply a good little boy.

    ¡°What¡¯s the story with you two?¡± Qianye¡¯s curiosity began to burn.

 Volume 5 - 41: Bidding

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 41: Bidding

    Wei Potian hemmed and hawed for a long while before making things clear.

    It turned out that Zhao Yuying had once appeared in his sickroom while he was bedridden, and for some reason, none of the nobledies had appeared that night. This independent and uniquedy walked around the room and even opened Wei Potian¡¯s sheets to check his injuries before leaving with a disdainful expression.

    The process of inspecting his wounds was presumably quite intense judging from how the Wei n heir seemed distracted while talking about it. Wei Potian never saw her again afterward until her sudden appearance when Dong Qifeng attacked the city.

    Even Wei Potian himself had no idea what he was expecting when he ran over in the early morning to ask Qianye about her. But as soon as he heard that she was the granddaughter of Duke You, Wei Potian understood that it was impossible for her to be a nobledy who hade for marriage.

    A wedding was to the benefit of two families and to form an alliance between the ns. However, Far East Wei n had always maintained a neutral stance in the hundreds of years of its history and never formed marital connections with the major ns. It wouldn¡¯t be a small matter if the Zhao n had such an intention and Wei Potian would have known about it.

    ¡°Potian? Do you need any help?¡± Qianye¡¯s question roused Wei Potian from his reverie.

    He thought about it seriously and suddenly let out a wryugh. ¡°No, you don¡¯t need to do anything. It¡¯s enough now that I know who she is.¡±

    Qianye went silent for a moment and then said sympathetically while patting his shoulder, ¡°I must admit, it¡¯s a truly courageous choice! But I shouldn¡¯t get involved in this matter, so take care of yourself.¡±

    Wei Potian opened his mouth but didn¡¯t know what to say and left in a dazed state.

    Qianye watched Wei Potian¡¯s receding figure and shook his head. With Zhao Yuying¡¯s character, it truly wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to rmend her to be his brother¡¯s wife. Although it was Wei Potian¡¯s own business if he wanted to leap into the ming abyss, Qianye decided it wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to give him that final kick on the butt. Besides, judging from Wei Potian¡¯s distracted mood, it seemed there were some other obstacles.

    After sending Wei Potian off, Qianye found a rare opportunity to sit down and deal with proper business. A thick stack of documents had umted on the desk in just half a day¡¯s time, through which Qianye looked one by one.

    Dark me and seventh division¡¯s reorganization was on the right track¡ªthey were already beginning joint training, and the preparations for the westward campaign was also progressing methodically. The battlefield outside of the city had already been cleaned. The various armaments and supplies had been sorted and stored away after making inventory. However, the most troublesome were those captives and airships.

    This kind of private army was mostly made up of family servants and descendants of faraway branches. Hence, their loyalty to the n and family was high. Incorporating them into one¡¯s troops would be akin to nting a mine.

    This was also one of the reasons why captives in civil conflicts were sometimes massacred. But since the other party had surrendered and the battle had already ended, Qianye simply didn¡¯t have the heart to kill the ten thousand soldiers.

    Meanwhile, airships were considered luxury goods on Evernight Continent since their maintenance costs were colossal. Not only was there a shortage of technicians, the required parts would also have to be bought from the upper continents. The Dong family¡¯s airships were mostly freight ships, and they were also quite old. There was no use in keeping them, but it was also a pity to just abandon them¡ªit was quite the dilemma.

    Qianye thought about several methods to deal with them, but all he came up with was either not feasible or too wasteful. All in all, there wasn¡¯t a fully satisfactory solution to this.

    Song Zining waltzed in just as Qianye was busy with work. It seemed the injuries that had been worrying him had taken a turn for the better. After the two talked for a while, Song Zining came to understand the predicament Qianye was in. He then immediately ran over to the residence of the third young miss of the Chongyang Hou Family and asked to meet Sun Kaiyan.

    The Marquis of Chongyang and the Song n were longtime friends. The moment he announced his identity, the personal guards immediately invited him through the doors, and a maid hurried over to bring him into the pavilion in the inner courtyard.

    Immediately after seeing him, Sun Kaiyan asked with a smile, ¡°Zining, long time no see. Is Mn well?¡±

    Song Zining replied with augh, ¡°She¡¯s doing fine. You, on the other hand, have gotten even more beautiful during this time.¡±

    Sun Kaiyan chuckled. ¡°What glibness!¡±

    The maid beside her chimed in from Song Zining¡¯s side, ¡°Young Miss, Seventh Young Master isn¡¯t exaggerating at all! You probably don¡¯t know, but the eyes of the Zhou family and Tian Family¡¯s young masters were about to pop out after seeing you!¡±

    Sun Kaiyan snorted. ¡°You cheekyss. Watch how I¡¯ll tear your mouth apart in a while!¡±

    That maid only giggled. Although she apologized politely, there wasn¡¯t the faintest trace of fear on her face.

    Sun Kaiyan said to Song Zining, ¡°Can¡¯t help it. Thisss has gotten used to being rude since childhood. Zining, did youe here just to chat?¡±

    Song Zining smiled faintly and proceeded straight to the point, ¡°Kai Yan, what do you think you should rely on to take the Marchite position?¡±

    The two had known each other for many years and shared a good rtionship. She didn¡¯t really feel offended even though Song Zining had directly mentioned such private matters. She was, however, somewhat stumped by the question.

    She immediately sighed and said, ¡°How should I know? Wei Potian and I originally got along quite well, but now, there¡¯s an entire group of orioles and swallows around him. How can I ever catch him alone? It¡¯s not even possible to exchange a few words with him alone! Actually, I¡¯ve stopped thinking too much about this matter. I¡¯ll just take it asing out on vacation. Could it be that you have some bright ideas?¡±

    Song Zining had already nned for this in advance. ¡°Actually, the crux of this matter doesn¡¯t lie with Wei Potian and you, but on Marquis Chongyang.¡±

    Sun Kaiyan was startled. ¡°Why do you say so?¡±

    Song Zining smiled and said, ¡°This matter has already reached a stalemate. Even if you have methods to break the status quo, the others won¡¯t just sit idly by. All of this is because Marquis Bowang casually said ¡®as long as the youngsters are in love¡¯. The way to break this stalemate also lies with Marquis Wei.¡±

    Sun Kaiyan¡¯s brows were slightly knitted together but seemed to have realized something soon afterward.

    ¡°Both of us are very clear what the real significance of a marriage is. As such, only by having Marquis Chonyang negotiate with Marquis Bowang will you have any hope of sealing this deal. And during this process, your status and reputation in the n are extremely important. The greater your weight, the more chips Marquis Sun will be willing to throw out, and the greater the chances of moving Marquis Bowang.¡±

    Sun Kaiyan said with a frown, ¡°That may be so, but what should I do?¡±

    Song Zining waved his folding fan and said, ¡°Actually, there¡¯s an opportunity right in front of us. The great battle just now ended in an unrestrained victory. Although the Sishui n ranks on the lower end among the middle ranked nobility, dealing with an army that had mobilized in full force isn¡¯t that easy. This battle was aplete victory; the merits involved aren¡¯t small and can be considered quite dazzling. Didn¡¯t you also climb the city walls to take part in this? If you can bring back some captives, it will be a promation of your military aplishments. Everyone knows the number of guards you brought this time, and their ratio to the number of prisoners will serve as a measure of your aplishment in people¡¯s eyes.¡±

    Sun Kaiyan felt a rush of excitement after hearing this. The Great Qin Empire had always given the most weight to military aplishments, and the nobility weren¡¯t an exception. All of these nobledies were to be married into other families and wouldn¡¯t take part as a family sessor. However, military aplishments would definitely increase their status and resource quotas within the n.

    But she hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°But the captives are all in Dark me¡¯s hands.¡±

    Song Ziningughed and said, ¡°Those captives are all private soldiers of the Sishui family and this is Evernight Continent. What use does Dark me have for them? They don¡¯t dare take these people into their ranks, and it¡¯ll be quite the waste to sell them off as ordinary ves. As long as you propose to buy these captives, Dark me Commander Qianye won¡¯t have any reason to refuse.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right! I¡¯ll go find him right away!¡±

    Sun Kaiyan had a brisk temperament and did whatever came to mind. After saying goodbye to Song Zining, she ran toward Dark me headquarters with her maids and guards in tow.

    Earlier on, these nobledies had thrown Dark me into chaos in order to besiege Wei Potian. The guards all recognized Sun Kaiyan and thus she was able to meet Qianye without any difficulty. She said as soon as she arrived, ¡°Commander Qian, I want to buy a batch of captives and also a couple of airships, those belonging to the Dong family.¡±

    Qianye was just worrying about how to deal with this difficult situation when Sun Kaiyan came knocking at his door. How could he refuse such an offer? He immediately summoned Song Hu and opened the list of spoils, and the two parties began to negotiate.

    Sun Kaiyan didn¡¯t look through the thick stack of documents in detail. She only wanted numbers and a certain proportion of ordinary soldiers and officers. She paid no attention to specifics of who they were.

    When Qianye asked how many captives she needed, Sun Kaiyan replied, ¡°Five hundred, no, make it one thousand!¡±

    This number astonished Qianye. The proportion of fighters in the Dong family private army was quite high, and it would require a force of sufficient scale in order to thoroughly incorporate all of them. But that was Sun Kaiyan¡¯s own business and had nothing to do with him.

    Qianye, however, didn¡¯t know that Sun Kaiyan was thinking how the more she bought, the less other nobledies would be able to buy. From the very beginning, she hadn¡¯t hoped to be able to hide this from the other young misses¡ªthe best way was to take drastic measures.

    After reaching an agreement, Sun Kaiyan had her followers bring out the payment immediately. That which she had brought along were high purity energy-grade ck crystals, a currency that was wee anywhere. After the big deal was concluded, Qianye left the rest to Song Hu and had him arrange for the Sun family people to go and pick out their captives.

    ckflow City wasn¡¯t very big. The group of young misses had one eye on Wei Potian, and the other on each other. Before long, Sun Kaiyan¡¯s movements had reached the nobledies¡¯ ears, and her reason for doing so was revealed within hours. It was unknown whether their clever advisors had figured it out or if someone had leaked this news.

    The many nobledies who had been locked in a stalemate immediately found a glimmer of hope. They all realized that the key to obtaining the status of Marchioness Bowang actuallyy with their families and ns, and the support from their ns would naturally depend on their own performance. Hence, all of them began to take action.

    Not long after Sun Kaiyan had left, Qianye reced Wei Potian¡¯s position and was surrounded by a group of nobledies. The captives and old airships which had been distressing him all this time were robbed clean, and the nobledies almost lost courteousness in a bid to get a bigger share.

    The difficult problem was ced back in the Dark memander¡¯s hands.

    The share avable to each of them was an issue of principles and prestige¡ªhe couldn¡¯t skimp on this. All of these nobledies were of extraordinary backgrounds. There were threedies whose fathers were only feudal lords, but despite their ranks being inferior to the aristocracy, they were either high ranking frontier officers with abundant troops under theirmand or possessed powerful connections. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have had the confidence to send their daughters over to form a connection with Marquis Wei.

    The slightest mismanagement would make it impossible not to offend people. Qianye was still hesitating about this matter when one of them started to bid.

    This meant trouble¡ªthe women gathered here were highlypetitive. Who would be willing to fall behind? Within moments, they had drawn their daggers and raised the prices to exorbitant heights.

    Qianye saw that the situation was going out of hand and immediately shouted, ¡°Shut up, all of you!!!¡±

 Volume 5 - 42: A Meeting Doth Not an Acquaintance Make

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 42: A Meeting Doth Not an Acquaintance Make

    Qianye had used origin power with this shout and even caused the origin power in the surrounding air to vibrate. All the nobledies were immediately shaken¡ªtheir vision dimmed and they became dizzy. For a moment, they forgot to continue their bickering. The surrounding guards were all overwhelmed, and a number of powerful experts almost charged in directly by conditioned reflex. They exchanged a few secretive looks among themselves and seemed to have be much more guarded than before.

    Those who were able to be an aristocratic family guard captain were all outstanding individuals of their respective ranks¡ªthey clearly understood the implications of a fighter possessing champion-rank abilities. They were also familiar with the terrifyingbat strength people like him, who drank blood from the de¡¯s edge, could disy on the battlefield.

    The eyes of many a guard lit up after noticing that Qianye had sent all the young misses into a daze, but only enough to draw all attention onto himself.

    Qianye could be considered half a vampire and not many humans could surpass him in terms of external appearance.

    But, at the moment, Qianye only wanted to put an end to this troublesome business as quickly as possible. As such, he waved his hand and said, ¡°The captives will be divided equally and every family will get two airships! The price will be set ording to the market price on Evernight Continent. This is final!¡±

    Quite unexpectedly, Qianye¡¯s impolite and tyrannical demeanor didn¡¯t produce much bacsh. Most of the nobledies felt this wasn¡¯t a bad oue, and the couple of them who weren¡¯t quite satisfied only pouted.

    Qianye had settled this business with such difficulty, so how could he let them linger? He immediately pushed the troublesome group out amidst a loudmotion.

    Qianye only breathed a sigh of relief after thest nobledy had left; he was actually drenched in sweat. Communicating with this group of young misses was even more tiring than the martial examination. But the good thing was that the issue regarding the captives and armaments had beenpletely settled. It could be considered a major problem solved.

    The captives and airships were all sold at the current market price on Evernight Continent which,pared to the upper continents, was so cheap that it looked like a free gift. Those old airships, on the other hand, were much more expensive. But the price was nothing to these young misses and they didn¡¯t have any objection either¡ªthey could even be considered to have owed Qianye a small favor.

    Qianye had no way to sell all these at the market price were it not for these young misses. Spoils of war originating from the aristocracy had always been hot potatoes, and it would¡¯ve been considered fair if he could sell them for sixty percent of the norm.

    Dark me¡¯s coffers were filled with tens of thousands of gold coins in the blink of an eye. Indeed, murder and arson was the true hegemonic way toward fortune.

    After settling this business, Qianye began to consider matters regarding his westward campaign.

    The initial path had already been decided. The present issue was to decide where to stop and how to establish a new base of operations. Qianye spent an entire afternoon alone contemting this matter, but there were a plethora of things to consider, and he was still left with countless unsolved issues.

    Establishing a permanent stronghold wasn¡¯t as simple as building a temporary camp. A kic tower was an absolute necessity and that, in and of itself, was a major project. Since there was a kic tower, there had to be a set of facilities, relevant equipment, and people to maintain it¡­ Qianye¡¯s mind was crammed in the blink of an eye.

    Night arrived in a sh. Qianye suddenly pped his forehead and scolded himself for being dumb. Why would he need to fret about these things on his own? He immediately summoned a personal guard and instructed him to invite Zhao Yuying, Song Zining, and Wei Potian for dinner.

    The three arrived soon afterward. It seemed all of them were quite enthusiastic about food, especially since it was Qianye¡¯s treat.

    Zhao Yuying arrived first with arge barrel of wine in tow¡ªit was half a person¡¯s height, and one could barely wrap his hands around it. Qianye wondered if Duke You would kick her out of the Zhao n doors in anger if he saw her present state.

    He finally understood why she wasn¡¯t famous despite her outstanding strength. With such gangster-like behavior, she would immediately cause the Zhao n to be aughingstock if they brought her into the public.

    But Zhao Yuying paid no heed to other people''s¡¯ opinion. She tossed the barrel onto the ground with great excitement and said while patting it, ¡°I finally found some good stuff! I really didn¡¯t expect to find good wine in such a poor remote city. After seeing the poverty-stricken state of your room, I¡¯ve reckoned that you won¡¯t have anything worth drinking. So, I went out and found some on my own.¡±

    Qianye began to feel somewhat distressed and asked, ¡°Dare I ask how you ¡®found¡¯ this barrel of wine?¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed mischievously and said, ¡°How else but to go through every house one by one. Rest assured, no one in this rundown ce will find any traces of me!¡±

    Qianye muttered ¡°just as I thought¡± in his heart. Zhao Yuying had actually stolen a barrel of wine. As for which unfortunate fellow had received such a favor from her, there was no way to find out.

    Wei Potian¡¯s boisterousughter rang out from the door minutes after Zhao Yuying arrived. ¡°I finally have a reason to escape those women! Qianye, this daddy won¡¯t let you go tonight. We must go at it again, and this daddy will let you know how powerful he is! There¡¯s no shortage of alcohol anyway!¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s countenance turned odd. She nced at Qianye and asked, ¡°Is it that idiot?¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even replied when Wei Potian cried out from outside the door, ¡°Which bastard dares insult me? Come out here; this daddy here will beat you until you¡¯re ck and blue!¡±

    Zhao Yuying sneered after hearing this.

    Wei Potian arrived carrying two barrels of wine by himself and entered the room inrge strides. Upon seeing Zhao Yuying, his mouth immediately opened wide and his jaw almost fell to the floor, unable to close it back.

    ¡°Why, why is it you?¡±

    Zhao Yuying frowned. She sized up Wei Potian from head to toe and turned to Qianye only after a long while. ¡°Do I know this idiot?¡±

    ¡°How should I know?¡± Qianye shrugged. He made a wise decision not to wade into these muddy waters.

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression immediately dimmed down as he said, ¡°That¡­ it seems we¡­ might¡¯ve met before.¡±

    ¡°Where have we met before? Howe I can¡¯t recall?¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression was somewhat impatient. ¡°Hey, brat. Are you trying to pick up girls like this? Your methods are so dumb that it won¡¯t even work on those young girls, and you¡¯re trying to use that on me? Let me tell you honestly, this mommy here is at least three or four years older than you. So, don¡¯t waste your breath!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face became red and almost swollen. ¡°That wasn¡¯t my intention. We¡¯ve really met before!¡±

    Zhao Yuying clearly didn¡¯t believe this and only sneered. It seemed she was ready to resort to violence.

    Qianye hurriedly stood between the two and blocked their lines of sight. He summoned Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine with a loud voice and had them carry the wine barrels to the dining room. Afterward, he instructed the kitchen to serve a couple of cold dishes first.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go, the table has beenid. Let¡¯s eat first!¡±

    Qianye had just distracted Zhao Yuying with great difficulty when he saw that Wei Potian was about to say something. Hence, he immediately dragged thetter away.

    At this moment, Wei Potian simply couldn¡¯t understand why she couldn¡¯t remember him despite having spent a long time together in his sickroom back then.

    Meanwhile, Qianye understood Zhao Yuying more than Wei Potian. He knew that this beauty usually had only one thing on her mind. She definitely had some other business when she ran over to the Far East Wei n that day, and the bedridden Wei Potian was probably no different from a piece of furniture. Naturally, she hadpletely forgotten.

    In the eyes of the Zhao n¡¯s younger generation members, those with even slightly weaker strength were mere background scenery that deserved to be ignored. It was so for Zhao Yuying, the same went for Zhao Jundu, and even the seemingly gentle Zhao Junhong was no exception.

    The three had just entered the dining room when numerous autumn leaves began to flutter in the room. Afterward, Song Zining¡¯s voice rang from outside the room, ¡°Were you guys nning to start the feast without waiting for me? Isn¡¯t that too hical?¡±

    Qianye let out a cold snort. Blue ripples began to emerge from his eye as he swept through the room with his gaze, causing the falling leaves to immediately disappear. Zhao Yuying was reaching toward a leaf and hadn¡¯t yet seeded when it was dispersed into specks of light by Qianye¡¯s gaze.

    Only at this point did Song Zining realize that Zhao Yuying was also in the room. He immediately cried out in astonishment, ¡°Beautifuldy, please don¡¯t resort to violence!¡±

    He only let out a sigh of relief after finding that Qianye had destroyed the leaves in advance. He no longer dared to y his mystifying tricks and directly jumped in through the window. The group was now full after Song Zining¡¯s arrival, but the atmosphere had be fairly odd.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected the three fellows would produce such a spectacle when put together. He decisively interrupted their spark-producing staredown and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s eat first!¡±

    A steady stream of food and drinks were soon served. The four of them possessed outstanding strength as well as a simrly powerful appetite. As such, the dishes were cleaned out one by one with tempestuous momentum. Even Song Zining had discarded his elegance; he was eating quite voraciously and scrambled to grab food whenever a new te was served.

    All of them, including Qianye, knew that the feast had just begun and the curtains hadn¡¯t yet been raised over the true battle¡ªthe three big barrels of wine were still sitting in the corner. If they didn¡¯t take this opportunity to fill themselves up and build up a foundation, they would definitely face a tragic fateter on.

    The three of them wiped out an entire ten portions of food before they felt remotely satisfied. Almost at the same time, everyone put down their chopsticks and nced at each other with overflowing killing intent.

    Wei Potian waspletely fearless, or it could also be said that he didn¡¯t know life from death. Heughed loudly and said, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of food without wine? Come, let¡¯s drink a bit.¡±

    Zhao Yuying sneered, ¡°A bit? Naturally, we shan''t return until we¡¯re drunk!¡±

    Song Zining carefully put away his expensive fan and said calmly, ¡°Since everyone is so refined and elegant, then I shall face the peril without fear.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. He stole a nce at the three barrels of wine and felt his confidence waning.

    Everyone here was intelligent¡ªeven the Wei n heir was much smarter than ordinary people when he wasn¡¯t overexcited. All three of them sensed Qianye¡¯sck of confidence and immediately began to pour the wine. Within moments, four big mugs of wine had been ced before each of them.

    Fragrance rushed at their noses as soon as the alcohol was poured. Qianye¡¯s forehead began to sweat¡ªall threerge barrels were actually full of strong alcohol. Additionally, it was the richest type of aged wine.

    Qianye asked while wiping his brow, ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask the kitchen for a couple more dishes?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve more or less eaten enough. Empty the cup first and we¡¯ll talk!¡± Wei Potian raised his head and drained the container in one go.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!¡± Zhao Yuying praised and also emptied her own cup.

    Song Zining drank in small but unceasing mouthfuls and also emptied his share within moments.

    Only Qianye was left staring nkly at his cup. Momentster, he made a firm resolution and emptied it with great ferocity.

    Qianye¡¯s face immediately flushed red as the cup of aged wine entered his stomach.

    ¡°Very good! This is satisfying! One more round!¡± Wei Potian simply stood up, held the barrel in his arms, and began filling everyone¡¯s cups.

 Volume 5 - 43: Knock Them Down One by One

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 43: Knock Them Down One by One

    There was clearly something wrong with Qianye¡¯s expression after another round of emptying their cups.

    ¡°Haha, Qianye. Serves you right! I remember how you made me so miserably drunk back then. Today, the heavens will let you know that I, Wei Potian, am no longer the same person!¡±

    Wei Potian was extremely unbridled and took little notice of the expressions on Song Zining and Zhao Yuying¡¯s faces. Song Zining was thinking ¡°this idiot¡±, while Zhao Yuying immediately realized that Wei Potian¡¯s capacity for alcohol wasn¡¯t all that great either.

    By the time they had finished the third round, Qianye was already swaying and seemingly about to copse. Additionally, his mood was fluctuating quite a bit, and he seemed particrly excited both in terms of expression and words spoken. It was obvious that he had drunk more than he should.

    This time, even Zhao Yuying became interested¡ªshe dragged Qianye over and emptied three cups with him in quick session, hoping to bring him down. But Zhao Yuying herself began to feel somewhat dizzy after three cups, while Qianye was still hanging in there on the verge of copse.

    Zhao Yuying felt that this was normal. ording to her understanding,bat strength equaled to alcohol capacity. Since Qianye possessed such great strength in battle, how could he copse so easily?

    She had just wanted to continue another three rounds when Song Zining suddenly arrived to challenge her to a few cups of wine and discuss the matter of that leaf.

    How could Zhao Yuying fear Song Zining? She immediately emptied three cups with him and began to debate the grudges from back then. However, both parties naturally began iming they were right, and very soon, they had turned back to drinking once again. Thus, a chaotic four-way battle ensued.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was already wobbling quite badly since the very beginning of this war.

    As they kept drinking on and on, Wei Potian grabbed Song Zining¡¯s cor and said angrily, ¡°Hey sissy, I know it¡¯s your rotten idea that made those womene and pester me to drink every day! I won¡¯t forget this matter so easily!¡±

    ng! Song Zining smashed his cup toward Wei Potian¡¯s face and sneered, ¡°So what? Empty three cups first if you¡¯re not satisfied. What¡¯s with all the nonsense? You¡¯re just like a woman!¡±

    Zhao Yuying moved before Song Zining andughed coldly, ¡°What is this about women?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was the same¡ªhe pushed the cup toward her face and said, ¡°Nothing. Three cups to dissolve all grudges and enmity?¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡±

    It was currently a battle between the three kingdoms while Qianye wobbled quietly to one side.

    It was unknown how long they had been drinking. Even Qianye himself could only vaguely remember that he had drunk quite a bit, to speak nothing of the other three.

    After a while, Wei Potian pulled Song Zining over and lisped, ¡°Although I don¡¯t like you that much, I really must admit that you¡¯re a tiny bit stronger than other people. Only a little bit though!¡±

    Song Zining pped Wei Potian¡¯s hand away and said in annoyance, ¡°Stop touching me. How can I be only a little bit stronger than other people? Let me tell you the truth. Just my fan alone¡­ hic¡­ is enough to trade a dozen suchdies!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was calm and his movements steady, but it just so happened that the direction he had pointed at was toward Zhao Yuying. Song Zining pointed at her without much thought since there was only that single beautifuldy at the table, and the only other choice would be Qianye.

    ¡°Huh? A dozen women like me?¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes immediately lit up.

    Qianye understood Song Zining very well and knew that thetter had already drunk too much; his eyes were already muddled despite seemingly normal on the outside.

    As expected, Song Zining only nced once at Zhao Yuying and nodded. ¡°Thisdy is not bad! Quite good in fact! A dozen really was too exaggerated, but my fan is worth at least eight of them.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s mood eased up a bit after hearing the first half of the sentence, but she turnedpletely green after hearing the follow-up words.

    Sitting quietly to one side, Qianye felt an inexplicable thought arise in his heart. Zining is about to suffer.

    Zhao Yuying grabbed a cup of wine, took a small sip, and pouted her lips. It seemed she was nning to feed Song Zining mouth to mouth!

    Song Zining immediately puffed his chest out and raised his head in a heroic and altruistic posture. Meanwhile, Wei Potian¡¯s mouth was opening wider and wider. The alcohol-induced redness on his face receded thoroughly, and his countenance was now fluctuating between white and blue. His right hand had tightened into a fist and his joints were beginning to crackle.

    Zhao Yuying acted like me and fire¡ªshe lifted Song Zining up directly and moved closer to his face. Their faces were now so close that they could hear each other¡¯s breathing.

    Qianye supported his head with one hand and looked on calmly. Song Zining was definitely about to suffer soon.

    As expected, Zhao Yuying suddenly grasped Song Zining¡¯s neck and pressed him onto the table. Zhao Yuying¡¯s strength was about the same as Qianye¡¯s¡ªhow could the Song Seventh Young Master resist? She tightened her left hand and caused Song Zining to open his mouth involuntarily. Afterward, she grabbed a full cup of wine and poured it down Song Zining¡¯s throat. This was just the beginning¡ªZhao Yuying continued to pour a whole five or six cups before releasing her hand.

    Song Zining immediately fell kneeling on the floor and began to cough violently. This wine was fairly strong, and he had been made to chug with great ferocity. He really couldn¡¯t endure such a devastating blow no matter how good his alcohol capacity was.

    Zhao Yuying pped Song Zining¡¯s back andughed in an unbridled manner. ¡°Ha! This mother here can handle tender birds like you all day.¡±

    With that, she reached out to squish Song Zining¡¯s face and said while clicking her tongue, ¡°Your flesh seems quite fresh and delicate. You might be able to exchange a couple of moves with me if your face were thicker, but now, you¡¯re just too inexperienced!¡±

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but p the table and cry out in approval.

    Song Zining¡¯s face flushed red from the insuppressible tipsiness. He had lost control under the anger and embarrassment, causing the intoxication to rush up to his head. He fell down on the spot and directly copsed under the table.

    On the other side, Wei Potian finally saw Song Zining copse. He rxed after trying his utmost to hold on for so long, and within moments, he too fell to the floor and started snoring.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying looked around and found that only Qianye remained among her opponents. Moreover, he was already on the verge of copse.

    She wanted to sneer at first but suddenly recalled that Qianye had been wobbling in this manner since the very beginning. Howe he hadn¡¯t copsed yet?

    Zhao Yuying immediately became interested. She poured two more cups and stuffed one into Qianye¡¯s hands. She then sat down beside him and, quite naturally, ced her right hand over his shoulders as though she were a hedonistic son taking liberties with an innocentdy.

    Qianye removed her arm and wanted to move to the side, but Zhao Yuying was immediately displeased. ¡°What¡¯s the big deal? I even helped you bathe when you just arrived at the Zhao n as a kid. What¡¯s there left to see? Right, Little Four was one year older than you. He insisted on carrying you away and everyone fell rolling onto the floor. Haha!¡±

    Qianye was startled and even sobered up for a split second. He had thought Zhao Yuying was just speaking nonsense during the first part of the sentence, but the second part made his heart throb intensively, and he couldn¡¯t tell whether it was due to pain or bitterness.

    ¡°Enough with the nonsense. Come! Drink!¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s hand had pped over with great strength.

    Qianye felt helpless. He wiped away the lingering sentiments and apanied Zhao Yuying in drinking one cup after another.

    He wobbled and swayed, but kept on drinking until, at one point, he heard a loud thud. Zhao Yuying had copsed.

    Qianye sat silently for a moment before he realized that he was the only one left. He let out a sigh¡ªit seemed he was always the only one left every time theypeted seriously in alcohol, and that was since Yellow Springs.

    At this moment, Qianye recalled that his original intention for calling them over was to ask for their opinion regarding the westward campaign. The western expansion was a major gambit¡ªsess would allow them to open up a new territory and mold out apletely different power structure, while failure would mean a great loss in their power which would take a long time to recover.

    Qianye looked around and discovered that the three whom he had hoped to discuss big things with were all copsed on the floor like dead pigs, emitting a continuous stream of intoxicated sounds. It seemed there was no way to wake them up without resorting to extreme measures.

    Although Qianye was still feeling dizzy, he knew that he would be consigned to eternal damnation the next day if he were to use these extreme methods on them. It would be impossible to endure abined attack from Wei Potian, Song Zining, and Zhao Yuying even if he had two Wings of Inception.

    Qianye rubbed his aching temples. His original n was merely to treat them to dinner and discuss the westward campaign. How did it turn into a contest of alcohol?

    These three fellows were all fierce characters who could hold up a part of the sky. For instance, Zhao Yuying¡¯sbat strength was capable of killing the enemy leader among ten thousand troops. But together, they did nothing but undermine one another and produce a big mess without aplishing anything.

    Qianye suddenly felt an anger rush up from the depths of his heart as he roared, ¡°We march west in three days. It¡¯s decided!¡±

    But the three only responded with their thunderous snores.

    At this moment, it was already two in the morning; the guards and maids had long since been instructed to retire. One would have to cross the wide drill grounds in order to reach Dark me¡¯s guest residences, and there were only two guest rooms on this side of the building where the high-ranking officers lived.

    Qianye nced at the three and decided to set about the task himself. Zhao Yuying naturally had to be given a single room. After tossing her onto the bed, Qianye suddenly felt that this decision wasn¡¯t to protect her, but, instead, to avoid misfortunate befalling anyone else.

    Then came Song Zining and Wei Potian¡ªQianye dragged each of them in one hand and tossed them into the same bed in the same room. As for how they would react after waking up, that wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s concern.

    Things were unexpectedly calm the next day.

    All three of them woke up early and even had breakfast with Qianye. Both Song Zining and Wei Potian conversed cheerfully with typical aristocratic elegance. Zhao Yuying also became quitedy-like this morning and didn¡¯t even once address herself as ¡°this mommy¡±.

    Qianye found this ambiance to be fairly odd, but their gazes toward him were even more peculiar.

    He calmly told them of his intentions to expand westward and didn¡¯t receive any objections from them at all. Unexpectedly, no one said anything unnecessary either, and breakfast ended with an oddly harmonious atmosphere.

    No one mentioned the matters fromst night.

    Before they dispersed, Wei Potian solicitously ran over to Zhao Yuying¡¯s side and asked her what her origin handheld cannon was called, iming that there was no way such a powerful grade-seven weapon would be nameless.

    As expected, Zhao Yuying spat out an extremely tyrannical name: ¡°Mountain Splitter¡±.

    After breakfast, the four came to the war room to listen to Qianye¡¯s ns for the westward campaign.

    The march from ckflow City to the predetermined destination would pass through the territories of four dark race viscounts. There were also many settlements, big and small, along the way.

    If it were up to Song Zining, he would have likely brought out a splendid strategy utilizing an entire array of direct attacks, hidden ambushes, charging, and surrounding. Strategies like attacking the enemy base to relieve a siege and besieging a city to wipe out iing reinforcements were simple matters to him.

    Qianye¡¯s ns were much simpler¡ªknock them down one after another!

 Volume 5 - 44: Melted Ice

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 44: Melted Ice

    As expected, this n received full approval from Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying, but was firmly opposed by Song Zining. The n sessfully passed with a three to one vote. Additionally, Qianye had no intention to go into details with them because, even if they knew, their intelligence would sharply decline when they were together.

    Qianye nned to scout the dark race territory himself before their formal advance toward the west. He wanted to see if there was any change in the military intelligence he had previously received. The objective of this trip was the Silverflow Fjord, a natural barrier at the bend of a big river formed by precipitous cliffs.

    These cliffs were hundreds of meters tall, and from atop them, one could see dozens of kilometers toward the other bank. As long as he could ship heavy cannons up there, he could construct an effectivework of defense. The dark races had already built a settlement at the summit, but the garrisoned forces weren¡¯t very powerful.

    Everyone felt uneasy letting Qianye go alone. Apart from Wei Potian who simply couldn¡¯t extricate himself, Song Zining and Zhao Yuying both wanted to go along with him. However, their notions were declined since even Zhao Yuying was far inferior to Qianye in terms of scouting and fighting in the wilderness. It was safer for him to go alone.

    In truth, Qianye also had another destination which he couldn¡¯t tell them. The werewolf tribes William had mentioned were also near their westward route, and Qianye nned to check them out in passing. He hadn¡¯t even decided whether or not he should tell Song Zining of this matter.

    During the following days, Qianye was kept busy organizing his baggage and arranging the affairs of the mercenary corps. Upon arriving at the motorcycle garage, he found many people were moving in and out to instal a kic pipeline. Deafening sounds of machinery rang out continuously from within the garage.

    Qianye was somewhat astonished as he walked in withrge strides. This was a small garage used by a number of Dark me higher-ups, and most of the vehicles within were two-wheeled motorcycles or light jeeps. The building was normally closed to the public, and only people like Qianye and Song Hu woulde here when they needed a means of transport.

    Howe there were so many people here all of a sudden?

    He saw a familiar figure the moment he entered: Zhao Yuying. Despite wearing a worker¡¯s uniform and a sturdy boot, her mboyant beauty allowed her to be recognized almost immediately.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying was together with an elderly man and seemed to be gesturing at some blueprints. The ten-odd workers near them were hurriedly adjusting a massivethe, while numerous others were carrying the coreponents of a small pressing machine toward their designated positions.

    Qianye recognized the man beside Zhao Yuying as Dark me¡¯s chief engineer in charge of the maintenance and modification of variousbat vehicles.

    Afterward, the engineer walked to the side with the blueprint and began to study it with his assistants. Meanwhile, Zhao Yuying picked up a box ofponents and walked toward a half-dismantled two-wheeler.

    The workers were almost petrified. The box ofponents was almost a square meter in size and weighed at least a ton. Normally, it would have to be dragged with a pulley block or moved by numerous strong men. They had never expected Zhao Yuying would actually lift it up with a single hand as though it were a lunchbox.

    She crouched down near the motorcycle and began to personally remodel it.

    Qianye quietly arrived near her and watched attentively. She apparently possessed a great understanding of the motorcycle''sposition¡ªshe easily unloaded the engine in just a few adept moves and began to adjust the chassis.

    This process demonstrated Zhao Yuying¡¯s strength as a champion. Dark purple origin power gushed out from her hand and turned into light blue mes by means of an unknown secret technique. After softening the chassis with heat, she used her bare hands to turn and pinch certain parts into apletely different shape.

    She followed this pattern and adjusted numerous parts in session. Presently, the vehicle framework hadpletely changed and could now fit an engine that was two sizes bigger. This entire process took her less than ten minutes.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t think you would know how to modify motorcycles,¡± said Qianye.

    With a screw in her mouth, Zhao Yuying replied disdainfully, ¡°Don¡¯t think that n disciples only know how to cultivate and make merry. Anything can happen on the battlefield. Don¡¯t tell me I have to wait for an engineer when a weapon breaks down?¡±

    ¡°Ordinary engineers aren¡¯t your match.¡± Qianye¡¯s words came from the bottom of his heart. The origin me and the ability to modify parts with her bare hands were virtually impossible to manifest for anyone below the champion level.

    ¡°That¡¯s a given! You should know who this mommy is!¡± Zhao Yuying had no idea what modesty was.

    ¡°But is it really useful for you to learn these things?¡± Qianye had some doubts. Disregarding the time it would take to master machinery, one would still have to save valuable origin power to kill enemies on the battlefield¡ªmotorcycles, cars, and even heavy cannons were rtively expendable.

    Zhao Yuying pulled out an engine from theponent crate and began to install it. ¡°Of course there is, but its primary use isn¡¯t innd battles. Instead, it¡¯s most useful on battleships and interster airships. Just think about it, how can there be any ce for you tond and repair if a malfunction urs while in space?¡±

    Qianye suddenly understood.

    Zhao Yuying snorted and said, ¡°I just know at a nce that you¡¯re a country bumpkin who¡¯s never taken part in an aerial battle!¡±

    Qianye had indeed never participated in arge-scale air battle. Red Scorpion was a special operations elite unit specializing in surprise attacks, and their battles were mainly fought on the ground. The most advanced battleship he had ever boarded was merely a light corvette.

    Zhao Yuying added, ¡°A battle between airship fleets ispletely different from ground battles. There, even champions might not have the ability to protect themselves. You have no experience in this, so it¡¯s best you don¡¯t get involved in such battles, lest you be a cannon fodder. I¡¯ll take you to the frontlines for a few battles when the opportunity presents itself in the future. Just follow elder sister around and you definitely won¡¯t lose out!¡±

    Although Zhao Yuying¡¯snguage was quite offensive, herst words caused an inexplicable feeling to well up in Qianye¡¯s heart.

    The Zhao n members put no one in their eyes and viewed the weak as dirt. But one would find apletely different side to them after receiving their recognition. A pride of lions would only allow another lion to join them¡ªwild wolves that approached them would immediately be food.

    As he interacted more deeply with them, Qianye found, to his great rm, that the sturdiest corners of his heart were actually showing signs of melting. The anger and pain he felt when asionally recalling the past seemed to be weakening progressively.

    Zhao Yuying had prepared this motorcycle especially for Qianye, but he only felt its benefits after entering the wilderness.

    Its rear end had been fitted with a luggage frame¡ªon one side was arge bag full of various supplies for use in the wilderness, while the other had East Peak. The motorcycle still had the horsepower to spare even while carrying such weight. Qianye felt that it wouldn¡¯t be a problem even if he had to carry another East Peak. This level of output had even exceeded many of the light-armored vehicles.

    Qianye jumped off the motorcycle after traveling a certain distance from ckflow City and put away the bag and sword into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. There were even more ammunition and supplies sitting in there.

    The motorcycle immediately recovered its full vitality after East Peak was put away. The motorcycle, with its special mufflers, only produced a light hum as Qianye rode through the wilderness, but its speed had already exceeded 100 kilometers per hour. The sound of the wheels grinding against the ground was fairly insignificant since even nocturnal beasts would produce louder sounds when they ran.

    The only problem was the shock absorption. The specially modified system could allow him to ride at greater speeds over rough terrain, however, it posed strict requirements on the driver¡¯s physical attributes. Qianye felt that any other person below the champion level would be seeing stars and vomiting uncontrobly if they rode as fast as he did.

    This was simply a transportation tool designed for champions.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes fell on the engine cover, on which the head portrait of a beautifuldy with a ridiculous cigar in her mouth and a mboyant expression on her face was painted. Her eyes, brows, and temperament bore a striking resemnce to Zhao Yuying herself. Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Zhao Yuying to y such a move.

    A faint smile emerged on Qianye¡¯s face as he looked at this wild and reckless portrait. Evernight was no longer that dark and lonely with these people around.

    The motorcycle rushed toward the west and left ckflow City¡¯s scope of control after about a hundred kilometers. The rapidly flowing ckwater River could be seen far in the distance.

    At this point, he was formally in grey territory where both dark races and humans operated. However, the enemies here weren¡¯t limited to the enemy faction alone. Any life form one encountered in thiswless ce could very well be an enemy.

    Qianye adjusted his direction and traveled west along the river, arriving at an uneven mountainous region after traveling a short distance. It was here that the ckwater River would make a sharp turn toward the north. Qianye, on the other hand, turned into the mountains to scout for dark race settlements and the distribution of their towns and cities.

    Along the way, he encountered numerous human hunters and adventurers moving in small groups. All of them were astonished after seeing Qianye¡¯s speed. Qianye paid them no mind and just passed by from a distance. In the wilderness, the distinction between friend and foe could change with a mere thought. Sometimes, those of the same race would prove to be even more dangerous than the dark races.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone but was merely toozy to waste time on them. He also didn¡¯t want to draw his gun on a human unless it was necessary.

    Just as he was about to cross over the dark race borders, numerous streams of smoke began to appear at a distance.

    Qianye¡¯s extraordinary vision allowed him to see three ¡°hill spider¡± model light jeeps driving over against the wind, each upied by three or four adventurers. Most of them were wearing leather armor and had tattoos on their face and bodies. There were also metallic rings pierced through their ears, noses, and even their lips.

    Such adventurers were one of the most dangerous groups in the wilderness. They hadpletely no fear of death and even daredunch attacks on dark race settlements and the expeditionary army convoys when they were in a frenzy.

    They were known as the Carrion Vultures. For a piece of rotten meat, or even just for the excitement of walking the line between life and death, they would act with recklessness and without the slightest bit of apprehension.

    Qianye slightly changed the direction of his motorcycle to avoid meeting them head-on. At the same time, he raised the throttle to the maximum and suddenly elerated. He was prepared to bypass the troubleing in from the front.

    On the leading car, a woman with her lips painted ck was staring fixedly at Qianye. Her eyes suddenly lit up and said, ¡°Sand Snake, something¡¯s not quite right with that brat¡¯s motorcycle!¡±

    The bald and burly man known as Sand Snake had a sinister snake tattoo on the top and back of his head. The corners of his eyes twitched as he cast a nce at Qianye. ¡°Goddammit! What high-quality goods!¡±

 Volume 5 - 45: Internal Strife

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 45: Internal Strife

    ¡°Stop him!¡± The woman became excited. She mbered onto the steel rack atop the car and shouted loudly toward Qianye. At the same time, she began to fire toward the sky with the assault rifle in her hand.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was cold. He had no intention to pay them any heed andpletely ignored the woman¡¯s show of force. He elerated once more and caused the engine to emit a bewitching mor as he sped into the distance.

    Sand Snake ordered the jeep to make a sharp turn and chase after Qianye. At the same time, he brought out arge bore sniper rifle, took aim, and fired at Qianye¡¯s back. This was a gunpowder rifle, but it possessed such firepower that a solid hit was enough to kill ordinary fighters immediately. Sand Snake was aiming for his life!

    Qianye having no intention to invite trouble didn¡¯t mean he would tolerate anyone trying to kill him. He pulled on the throttle and raised the output to the max, turning the docile motorcycle into a wild monster. Its engine rumbled as the vehicle drew a wide arc amidst the flying dust and charged toward the iing jeep.

    It was unknown when a sniper rifle had appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand. He held the gun with one hand and aimed the long, cold barrel at the jeep as the origin patterns lit up rapidly.

    The woman on the car had sharp eyes and good knowledge. She immediately became flustered after seeing the gun in Qianye¡¯s hands and screamed, ¡°Eagleshot! That¡¯s an Eagleshot, turn around! Turn back!¡±

    ¡°No! Charge over and suppress him with gunfire!¡± Sand Snake roared. The jeep suddenly sped up and rushed toward Qianye like a wild horse.

    Qianye¡¯s right hand on the gun was rock-steady as he pulled on the trigger.

    The Eagleshot¡¯s unique timber echoed across the wilderness. The jeep windshield shattered into countless crystalline fragments, and in the front passenger seat, Sand Snake¡¯s head was nowhere to be found; only a headless upright corpse remained.

    The woman began to scream hysterically. The shocked driver spun the steering wheel subconsciously and caused the vehicle to spin around uncontrobly in the wilderness.

    The Eagleshot rang out once again and the jeep¡¯s engine exploded violently, sting the remaining passengers into the air. Soon, the burning hot metallic fragments swept through and tore those Carrion Vultures apart like a hot knife through butter.

    Qianye was still sitting firmly on the motorcycle with the Eagleshot in one hand. His expression was calm, and not a single fluctuation could be seen in his eyes as he slowly raised the muzzle toward the other two jeeps. The two vehicles made rapid turns and elerated frantically in a bid to escape with their lives.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in chasing after them. He put away the Eagleshot into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and swung the motorcycle around to resume his journey.

    Sand Snake had made a fatal mistake¡ªhe thought that a powerful weapon like the Eagleshot required a proper positioning to fire. He felt that not only would Qianye surely miss if he fired from a single hand, but he would also harm himself in the process. That was why he had ordered his men to charge. He wanted to draw close before the other party had time to take proper aim.

    In Sand Snake¡¯s eyes, whoever used the Eagleshot must be a sniper. And no matter how powerful a sniper might be in closebat, it was impossible for him to outfight these Carrion Vultures that roamed through the wilderness. Moreover, he was all alone. But there were always idents in this world¡ªSand Snake would have never imagined that the Eagleshot had long since be a single-handed weapon for Qianye.

    The only reason he had brought this weapon along was because he was extremely familiar with it. With his current strength, not only could he use it with one hand, but he could also fire over ten shots in one go with power left to spare. The Eagleshot was much more practical against weaker enemiespared to a grade-five weapon.

    Qianye also encountered some groups of dark race warriors along the way. They possessedparatively sharper senses and were able to detect, albeit vaguely, the dangerous blood energy and suppressive might brought about by the difference in rank. As such, all of them stayed away from him.

    Qianye got down from the motorcycle after entering dark race territory and stored the big fellow into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. The small space was immediately stuffed quite full.

    Qianye changed into a light armor for convenient movement, then equipped himself with the Twin Flowers and Scarlet Edge. He then left the main road and made his way through the mountains toward the first dark race settlement on his map.

    ording to reports, this settlement housed a number of arachne and hundreds of servspiders. Qianye observed from a thousand meters away and confirmed the situation of the settlement. He then wrote an ¡°arhe-3¡± on the map and rushed toward the next settlement.

    This settlement could be considered a strategic location for transportation and, as such, was of a bigger scale. Qianye was much more cautious this time and climbed atop a small hill a thousand meters away. With his superior eyesight, he was able to observe the general situation within the settlement even at such a distance.

    There were over a thousand dark race citizens here and it could even be considered a small town. After surveying the ce, Qianye marked out a ¡°mixed-6¡± on the map.

    This was themon marking method used by the imperial military. The characters before the number indicated the primary race living in the settlement, while the number indicated the grade. Dark race cities were ssified into many grades ording to their size, troop strength, and defenses. Therger the number, the more powerful the city.

    For instance, the main vampire camp on Twilight Continent was a gigantic city as high as grade-twenty. No one, however, had assessed the dark council¡¯s headquarters before because no human had ever set foot in there up to this day.

    In this manner, Qianye kept on probing deeper into enemy territory, covering hundreds of kilometers and a dozen-odd settlements in one day and night. Most of them were minor settlements grade-three and below; only two of them were small towns. There was also a castle belonging to a viscount.

    Thebined forces in all of the ces he had surveyed could equal an imperial regr army division. These troops, however, were scattered in many ces, and he could break through them one by one as long as he was fast enough with the offensive.

    However, the biggest obstruction, in the end, was at the fjord. Qianye would have to face the wrath of an arachne count if he wanted to build a city there. Thetter¡¯s city was no more than a hundred kilometers away, and it was almost equal to breaking ground at his door. War was inevitable.

    However, Qianye still chose this ce because this arachne count¡¯s strength was the weakestpared to the others within a hundred kilometers.

    His rank was the lowest among the counts despite having lived for a couple hundred years. He was already at the end of the road in terms of dark race lifespan, and his strength was gradually declining. Reportedly, his strength was more or less equal to Brahms¡¯. The most important part was that there were no strong descendants in his tribe.

    Qianye nned to sneak into the enemy count¡¯s territory and finish his reconnaissance before returning to ckflow City. With his current strength, he could handle it even if he encountered a number of dark race patrols. However, Qianye¡¯s primary goal was to gather intel, and as such, he resisted the urge to attack even though his essence blood had long since run dry.

    On the third day after entering dark race territory, the majestic and beautiful fjord entered Qianye¡¯s vision. The blue water surface below was like a pristine green gem, and the granite mountaintop was where he had nned to build his city. The arachne count¡¯s territoryy just beyond this fjord.

    It was at this time that Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He quickly leapt onto an ancient tree, retracted his aura, and hid himself in the crown.

    A werewolf appeared in the distance and was running at full speed toward Qianye¡¯s position.

    This werewolf had already transformed¡ªhe possessed a coat of dark glossy hair, but there were injuries all over his body. There was a bone-deep wound almost a meter long extending along his back. Additionally, the flesh around it had been mangled up and without the slightest sign of healing on its own. It seemed even the werewolf¡¯s powerful regenerative abilities had lost their effect.

    Qianye scanned the ce with his True Sight and found that the werewolf¡¯s darkness origin power was extremely pure, far surpassing that of ordinary werewolves. Reaching such purity before the viscount level was a clear indication that he was an extremely talented character in this tribe.

    Such a werewolf should possess the strength of a baron, but the injuries were causing him to stagger even as he ran. It was unlikely for him to even beat an esquire in this state. He rushed all the way to the tree where Qianye was hiding and fell down all of a sudden¡ªhis body was spasming and he couldn¡¯t mber up for the moment. The injuries on his body had opened up, and fresh blood almost seemed to be gushing out.

    A dozen or so figures rustled through the distant forest and approached quietly.

    Qianye squinted his eyes. These were all vampires and they weren¡¯t weak at all. The leader was decorated with a ribbon denoting his status as a rank-three viscount. However, Qianye¡¯s True Sight showed that his darkness origin power purity wasn¡¯t below that of the injured werewolf. Among the vampires he had ever encountered, only viscounts from the twelve ancient ns possessed such strength.

    It seemed the werewolf was being hunted down by these vampires.

    Qianye still kept his aura retracted, but he had already produced two Mithril Bullets of Exorcism in his right hand and quietly loaded them into the Twin Flowers. Origin bullets instilled with Qianye¡¯s blood energy served as devastating weapons against vampires, and it was indeed quite a waste to use up two Mithril Bullets of Exorcism. He didn¡¯t even want to use them if not for therge number of vampires that had appeared.

    However, the internal conflict between dark races was of no importance to Qianye, and he had no intention to take action as long as they didn¡¯t get him involved. Qianye continued observing the development after he hadpleted the necessary preparations.

    That viscount walked over toward the copsed werewolf and said, ¡°You run quite fast, I must say. You actually managed to escape thousands of kilometers, but now it seems you can run no more. Schiller, I heard you were taken in by the Summit of Peaks and have be so arrogant that you don¡¯t even put our twelve vampire ns in your eyes. Did you ever think you¡¯ll suffer such a fate?¡±

    The young werewolf could no longer maintain his fighting posture and had turned back into human form. He propped himself up with great difficulty, leaned against the tree trunk, and red furiously at the vampire viscount. ¡°That matter will be known sooner orter even if you kill me here. Duras, you can¡¯t hide it from everyone! All of you will die once this thing gets out!¡±

    ¡°So what? Even the Evernight Council will value our holy child when he seeds in this endeavor. Who else will dare interfere?¡± Duras sneered.

 Volume 5 - 46: Youth from the Summit of Peaks

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 46: Youth from the Summit of Peaks

    The werewolf¡¯s chest rapidly rose and fell, but each violent breath caused more blood to flow out of his injuries. He said with great difficulty, ¡°The Summit of Peaks won¡¯t let you have your way!¡±

    Durasughed out loud. ¡°How will the Summit of Peaks ever know if I kill you now? You stinking dogs never use your brains, haha!¡±

    He walked toward the young werewolf Schiller, pointed his de at thetter¡¯s chest, and said coldly, ¡°You really know too much and even saw some things you should have never seen. Now, die!¡±

    But just as Duras was about to pierce down with his sword, he felt a feeling of inexplicable danger. At the moment of life and death, he could only do his utmost to move his body and leap to one side.

    However, he felt his lower back burn as his entire body flew out as though it had been smashed by a heavy hammer. All he managed to do was let out an anguished cry.

    Another speck of silver light appeared in the air and caught up to Duras in the blink of an eye. The vampire viscount could not even scream this time as the bullet entered his abdomen and burned a fist-sized hole through him.

    The size of the wound was only a minor issue. The wounded area, however, felt as if it were burning, and the pain it brought about was unusually severe. Duras was immediately shocked out of his wits because this was a sign of mithril entering the body. With his strength, the two injuries he had received just now weren¡¯t lethal despite being quite serious, but he would die without a doubt if mithril had gone into the wound.

    Even someone born of the twelve great vampire ns like Duras was at hisst breath after being shot in two vital areas with Mithril Bullets of Exorcism.

    The other vampires werepletely caught off-guard¡ªthe cmity had struck too abruptly, and only after Duras had been shot twice did they look up at the crown of the tree where the two Mithril Bullets of Exorcism had been fired from.

    Qianye had already leapt backward andnded behind the tree by the time the vampires looked up.

    At this moment, two vampires ran toward Duras, while the rest charged toward the big tree. A number of them jumped up mid-way, drew their vampire longswords, and hacked toward the crown of the tree.

    Qianye shed out from behind the tree. The Twin Flowers rumbled continuously as he fired off four continuous shots. Four vampires copsed amidst miserable screams, either dead or on the verge of demise.

    After firing four continuous shots, Qianye put away the Twin Flowers, drew his Scarlet Edge, and pounced directly towards the closest vampire warrior. Thetter had just reached rank-six and couldn¡¯t even take a single move from Qianye.

    The Scarlet de trailed a vaguely discernible shadow as it pierced swiftly through the vampire¡¯s heart. After a sessful strike, Qianye immediately pulled out the de and turned toward another vampire.

    This one was a blood esquire. He had long since drawn his sword in a vigorous stance and immediately thrust forward after seeing Qianye charge toward him. The presence of his sword intent was fairly stern, indeed the style of an ancient n. However, Qianye deflected it with a wave of his bare left hand and smashed his face ruthlessly!

    The blood esquire¡¯s entire face caved in under Qianye¡¯s viscount-level power and immediately copsed on the ground.

    At this time, a series of sanguineous light exploded on Qianye¡¯s body as he was bombarded by numerous origin bullets. But the high-ranking vampires had already been wiped outpletely, and the remainder were all warriors below blood esquire rank. With Qianye¡¯s defenses and powerful constitution, even taking direct hits would merely result in some minor injuries.

    Qianye grabbed a six-barrelled Vulcan rotary cannon from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, and a blue light emerged within his eyes. Wherever his gaze fell, low-level vampires would feel their hearts wracked with extreme agony as their movements turned sluggish. The Vulcan cannon in his hand roared madly amidst a tempest of whistling metal, mowing down all the vampire warriors one by one.

    The Vulcan cannon in Qianye¡¯s hand was an outstanding remodeled weapon that used special high-caliber ammunition. It possessed extreme firepower at close range and was lethal to these blood esquires. As a gunpowder weapon, it could be used without limitation as long as one had enough ammunition and served as a great killer weapon in chaotic fights. Presently, ammunition was no longer a problem since Qianye possessed Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. Thus, Qianye had brought along a fair number of gunpowder weapons this time in order to deal with cannon fodder like servspiders, wargs, and blood thralls.

    There was no longer a single standing vampire in Qianye¡¯s sight by the time the Vulcan cannon stopped rumbling.

    He drew his Scarlet Edge once again and walked around the battlefield stabbing through all their hearts regardless of whether they were dead or alive. On one hand, this action was to remove any potential trouble, while on the other, it aimed to absorb some essence blood in passing.

    The warm flow rushing up through the Scarlet Edge made Qianye feel fairlyfortable. All these vampires came from an ancient n and possessed purer blood energypared to those of minor ns, even if their ranks were the same. In terms of efficacy, absorbing the blood of a baron from the twelve great ns was better than drawing the blood of a viscount from a small n.

    Qianye finally arrived before Duras after taking a trip around the battlefield.

    This third-rank viscount red at Qianye with intense hatred and said through gritted teeth, ¡°You will suffer the full retaliation of our n! You and your entire family!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry, but that¡¯s impossible.¡± With that, he pierced through Duras¡¯ blood core with the Scarlet Edge.

    Vast amounts of essence blood streamed continuously into Qianye¡¯s body. Sensing his essence blood flowing out, Duras red fixedly at Qianye and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Impossible! You¡¯re also of sacred blood.¡±

    But he never finished this sentence¡ªQianye gazed coldly at him and suddenly elerated the absorption rate. Duras¡¯ blood core rapidly shriveled up and then cracked open like an air-dried fruit.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have the habit of wasting words with dying enemies, especially when he was in dark race territory.

    Qianye gradually withdrew his de; there was only a faint, cold gleam on its edge and not a single trace of blood. Qianye sheathed the dagger and searched through Duras¡¯ body, but found nothing special apart from standard equipment. As such, he walked toward the young werewolf.

    Schiller had long since returned to human form and was leaning against the tree. His countenance was deathly pale as he stared cautiously at Qianye. He was emitting a series of threatening growls from his throat, but there was an uncontroble sense of rm in his eyes. This curly brown-haired youth¡¯s face still possessed a trace of childishness, and just like William, he had a totem tattoo of a mountain range on the side of his neck.

    It seemed he was only a big boy but already possessed the strength of a baron. This improved Qianye¡¯s evaluation of him by another level.

    Qianye tossed the Vulcan onto the ground. He then lighted a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and asked, ¡°You¡¯re called Schiller? Can you still fight?¡±

    The werewolf youth didn¡¯t reply. He subconsciously edged backward in an attempt to distance himself from Qianye. The vampire squad that had been chasing after him all this time hadsted no more than a few minutes in this person¡¯s hands. The young werewolf had never seen such urate grasp of timing, ruthless attacks, and powerfulbat strength. Even the elders from his tribe wouldn¡¯t be able to perform such an efficient and urate massacre despite their higher cultivation.

    Humans were themon enemy of all dark races. Although the internal strife within the Evernight faction oftentimes exceeded their hatred of the human race, Qianye was no different from Duras in the young werewolf¡¯s eyes. All of them were enemies.

    Qianyeughed after seeing the werewolf youth¡¯s rmed and cautious expression. He pointed toward the cigarette in his hands and asked, ¡°Do you want one?¡±

    The werewolf slowly shook his head, not daring to take his eyes off Qianye.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be afraid of me.¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the werewolf shot out like lightning, rolled over to grab the Vulcan cannon, and aimed it at Qianye.

    ¡°Let me go.¡± This was the first time he had spoken on his own.

    Qianye smiled and pointed at the Vulcan cannon. ¡°Do you think that thing is useful against me?¡±

    The werewolf¡¯s gaze flitted across the injuries on Qianye¡¯s body. Thetter had taken at least half a dozen straight hits from the vampire warriors¡¯ origin guns, and, through therge holes on Qianye¡¯s protective armor, he could see that the wounds had already closed, leaving behind only faint traces of blood. Even if the wounds hadn¡¯t closed, they were fairly small and shallow¡ªminor injuries at most.

    There was probably little the Vulcan cannon could do against Qianye if even a grade-three vampire origin gun had only left such light injuries. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s movements just now were lightning fast; perhaps his head would be taken first even before he had finished pulling on the trigger.

    The werewolf youth waved the weapon with an obstinate expression and shouted, ¡°Let me go!¡±

    Qianye took out William¡¯s metallic token and waved it in front of the werewolf youth. ¡°Your injuries are too severe. You won¡¯t be able to walk out of this mountain even if I let you go. Moreover, after seeing this, I think you¡¯ll be willing to at least let me finish talking.¡±

    The werewolf youth¡¯s eyes went wide after seeing the token in Qianye¡¯s hand. ¡°That¡¯s the Summit of Peaks¡¯ Sacred Envoy Writ! How did you get this thing?¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°A fellow named William gave it to me. He¡¯s quite mediocre in battle, but he can really eat a lot.¡±

    The werewolf youth hesitated for a moment before approaching to sniff the writ token. Only then did he slowly put down the Vulcan cannon and said, ¡°It does have the smell of the holynd. This writ token is genuine.¡±

    Qianye put away the token and said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s true. William asked me to help him look after the tribesmen in this area. Why are you being chased by the vampires? And although you have the mark of the Summit, your strength is honestly quitecking for such a title. How did thate to be?¡±

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s voice contained a wisp of coldness. He didn¡¯t mind absorbing some more essence blood if the fellow he had encountered was a bragging swindler pretending to be from the Summit of Peaks. Presently, Qianye¡¯s strength had advanced greatly and so had his capacity for essence blood. He still had space left after absorbing the essence blood of an entire vampire squad inclusive of a viscount. He was no longer like before where a single viscount was enough to fill him to the point of bursting.

    The werewolf youth replied, ¡°I¡­ my name is Schiller and was, up until recently, a member of the Sharp Fang tribe. Our tribal ancestors moved to this region over four hundred years ago and had been living in Count Stuka¡¯s territory all this time. As the number one warrior in the younger generation of our tribe, I gained the qualifications to participate in the decennial great hunt. There, I ranked within the top thirty and gained the qualification to join the Summit of Peaks.¡±

    ¡°That means you haven¡¯t had the time to learn at the Summit of Peaks?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the young werewolf replied.

    Qianye nodded since this exnation was reasonable. He then addressed the most important issue.

    ¡°Why were the vampires chasing after you?¡±

 Volume 5 - 47: Tradition and Perseverance

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 47: Tradition and Perseverance

    A wisp of hatred shed across Schiller¡¯s face. ¡°A group of vampires arrived at Count Stuka¡¯s castle not long ago, andter on, a number of them upied Green Peak Mountain for some reason. Since four hundred years ago, Green Peak Mountain has always been our Sharp Fang tribe¡¯s sacred ce wherein rests the ancestors of every generation! But a single order from Count Stuka made it so that our Sharp Fang tribe members couldn¡¯t enter our own sacred ce!¡±

    Schiller calmed down his emotions with some effort and continued, ¡°I felt indignant after my return and thus sneaked onto Green Peak Mountain to see what those vampires were doing at our ancestral cemetery. I¡¯m quite good at stealth and thus sessfully arrived at the summit where I discovered a group of vampires holding a secret meeting. They probably hadn¡¯t expected anyone to approach, and thus I was able to eavesdrop on many topics of their discussion. However, I was identally discovered upon my departure and chased all the way here.¡±

    At this point, Schiller began gasping for breath. His wounds had been invaded by blood energy and could no longer heal on their own¡ªthey were worsening with each passing moment.

    Qianye checked the werewolf¡¯s injuries and asked, ¡°Do you want me to help you treat the wounds?¡±

    Schiller edged back instinctively and shook his head. ¡°I need food.¡±

    Qianye nodded and brought out arge piece of dried meat ration and tossed it to him. After some thought, he also tossed out a piece of blood crystal.

    Schiller literally wolfed down the food and finished it in just a couple of mouthfuls. He held the blood crystal and hesitated for a moment before swallowing it whole. Momentster, a visible strand of darkness origin power washed over the big wound on his back, after which, the curled up flesh and skin slowly began to close.

    The effect of blood crystals on darkness life forms was simr to that of ck crystals on humans. It was just that the effects were remarkably better on vampires. But this werewolf¡¯s powerful restorative abilities made Qianye somewhat envious. The dark races were indeed the favorites of this world¡ªthey possessed powerful talent and abilities from birth, while the humans had to cultivate with great difficulty. To close the gap, humans even had to borrow the help of special effects from various arts.

    ¡°What secrets did you hear that they have to chase you all the way here?¡± asked Qianye.

    Schiller looked at Qianye cautiously. Then, he said slowly and firmly, ¡°I can¡¯t tell you, and I won¡¯t ever tell anyone outside of the Summit of Peaks!¡±

    Qianyeughed and said, ¡°If not for me, you would already have died and won¡¯t be able to inform the Summit of Peaks. Additionally, it seems their holy child is taking action from what I heard from that vampire viscount. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to tell me? This might dy important things.¡±

    Schiller shook his head. ¡°No! I can only tell this secret to the Summit of Peaks!¡±

    Qianye frowned¡ªhe tried persuading him once more, but no matter what Qianye said, Schiller only replied that he could only reveal this to the Summit of Peaks.

    Most werewolves were like Schiller. They were extremely stubborn and inflexible, sometimes to the point of being stupid. That was precisely why they made poor militarymanders despite being the best warriors on the battlefield and also why they weren¡¯t suited to be lords of a region.

    Those like William were an oddity in the werewolfmunity.

    It seemed that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get that secret out of this young werewolf even if he killed thetter. But Qianye didn¡¯t really mind that so-called secret. Among the dark races, the vampires and demonkin had always enjoyed engaging in conspiracies, scheming and deceiving each other. This was especially true in such an obviously secretive situation¡ªthe details overheard by the werewolf youth probably seemed like a big issue to him, but it might not actually be that significant to Qianye.

    Qianye didn¡¯t n to pressure Schiller and only said, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re not willing to divulge the information. I can only help you this much.¡±

    Schiller¡¯s eyes flickered. He nced at Qianye and suddenly said, ¡°I can give you information on Count Suka.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°What makes you think I¡¯m interested in this count?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m quite sure a powerful person like you must be a major character on the human side and not just a mere hunter or adventurer. Since someone like you came to this area on your own, who else but Count Stuka is worth your attention within a hundred kilometers? You might not care about the other viscounts.¡±

    Qianye smiled¡ªthis werewolf was unexpectedly clever. Although he also had a good deal of stubbornness, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but form a favorable impression of him.

    Two bottles of strong wine appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand, one of which he tossed over and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s hear it.¡±

    The dark race members loved alcohol and Schiller wasn¡¯t an exception. But he nced at the vampire corpses strewn across the ground and asked with some hesitation, ¡°Here? What if more of them catch up?¡±

    Qianye replied casually, ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as His Excellency the Count doesn¡¯t arrive himself. It¡¯ll save me some trouble if they find their way here.¡± He still had two of the great master¡¯s bullets and three of the Song n¡¯s Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang. Add to that his own blood energy suppression, the Twin Flowers, and the powerup from his Wings of Inception, he really didn¡¯t care about one or two low-rank viscounts.

    Schiller¡¯s young blood was stirred after hearing Qianye¡¯s calm words. He immediately sat down on a big rock and began to recount all of the secret information he had obtained.

    Count Stuka was the arachne count who ruled this area. He was the lowest-ranked among counts and, ording to arachne standards, was near the end of his life. The arachne, as a race, would not grow stronger during thest phase of their lifespan. In fact, they might even deteriorate somewhat. Normally, Stuka should have already chosen a sessor to inherit his title andnds.

    The dark races enjoyed long lives and also ced the pursuit of strength above all else. As such, upon reaching an advanced age, they would choose to hand all of their authority and resources to the most outstanding descendant. Afterward, they themselves would either wait peacefully for the end of their lives or enter a long hibernation to dy their gradual death.

    With the exception of vampires, members of other races had to have the strength of a duke or utilize other special arts in order to enter hibernation, not to mention they would also have to spend vast amounts of resources. Both paths were far out of Stuka¡¯s reach, and the only path left for him was to obtain the essence blood of a powerful expert.

    But ording to Schiller, this Count Stuka was apparently not resigned to his fate. As such, he had proactively participated in matters of the upper continent in hopes of working for a major character. He wanted to borrow this opportunity to receive recognition and hence receive a few drops of essence blood.

    Essence blood from a true superior expert possessed all kinds of miraculous effects. It could activate the bloodline of young descendants and heal deadly wounds. When used on Stuka, the most direct effect would be the prolongation of his life.

    Stuka was willing to pay any price In order to obtain supreme essence blood. Not only did he control all of the region''s resources in his iron grip, but also bled all the vassals and tribes dry. Anyone who didn¡¯tply with him would invite the count¡¯s frantic retaliation and bloody suppression.

    The werewolves were the weaker race within this region. Having lost their ancestral resting ce, it was only natural that the Sharp Fang tribe would be full of hatred toward the count, and there were many others tribes who were in simr situations. Since even the werewolves had experienced such things, it was even worse for those small races outside of the four major ones¡ªmany of them were killed off or banished.

    The entire county was actually in a state of tempestuous chaos.

    This information was something Qianye had never expected. The reason he had chosen this ce was because the count had no powerful heir, and the potential resistance after upying thisnd would be weak.

    But now it seemed that the only obstacle was this mad count. He only needed to defeat the count, and the seemingly powerful army under hismand would immediately copse. Moreover, Qianye felt that the closer this arachne count was to the end of his life, the less he would be willing to put his life on the line.

    Schiller removed a beast bone ne from his neck and passed it to Qianye. ¡°I owe you a life. This is my token. If you need any help in the future, you cane and find me with this. I will uphold my promise even if I have to fight a bloody battle.¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Will you still help me if I decide to drive Count Stuka away and take his ce? I¡¯ll carve out a piece ofnd and live alongside all of you.¡±

    This made Schiller hesitate. Share a territory with humans? Although there was no shortage of such grey zones in Evernight and even the upper continents, a treaty with the human race was simply inconceivable to this young werewolf.

    Qianye was in no rush and waited calmly for Schiller¡¯s decision.

    The young werewolf nced over at the vampire corpse, and momentster, a firm resolution appeared in his eyes. ¡°The Sharp Fang tribe will stand with you as long as you promise to return our sacred mountain to us and not ughter those of my race!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I agree.¡±

    Schiller cut open his wrist and poured his boiling hot blood onto the ne. The beast fangs turned a dark red immediately after absorbing the fresh blood. This was the werewolves¡¯ most sacred ceremony¡ªa promise made in this manner had to be upheld with the lives of the entire tribe. It seemed his position in the Sharp Fang tribe was very high. Otherwise, there was no way he could easily decide the tribe¡¯s future like this.

    Schiller handed the ne to Qianye and said solemnly, ¡°It¡¯s not you whom I trust, but His

    Excellency William and the Summit of Peaks. If one day I find that you used us without keeping your promise, I will find and kill you wherever you may be, no matter how many years have passed!¡±

    Qianye broke into a smile and asked, ¡°Do you think you can do it?¡±

    The werewolf youth was momentarily stunned and his momentum dropped quite a bit. There was, at this moment, a huge gap between Qianye¡¯sbat strength and his. It would take him at least several years of hardwork in cultivation to catch up. But Qianye was quite young in terms of human life-span, which meant that he had a long future ahead of him. Who knew how powerful he would be at that time?

    However, the word fear didn¡¯t exist in the werewolf dictionary. Schiller immediately replied with due seriousness, ¡°If I can¡¯t kill you, I will continue to fight you until I die!¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Out of respect for William, I can only give you some advice. Excessive courage is no different from stupidity.¡±

    ¡°We werewolves have our own traditions and perseverance!¡± Schiller replied in a dedicated tone.

    Having recovered a fair bit of his stamina and origin power after a while, this obstinate werewolf youth insisted on leaving by himself.

    Qianye then cleaned up the battlefield and took away everything valuable. There wasn¡¯t a single item he fancied, including Duras¡¯ belongings. But now that there were two trade channels, one light and one dark, in Song Zining and Old Bearded de, these vampire armaments were all equal to gold coins.

    After hearing about Count Stuka¡¯s madness, Qianye began to show some interest in that secret Schiller had found out. Although the young werewolf wasn¡¯t willing to talk, he had actually revealed a key location¡ªGreen Peak Mountain.

    The vampires involved should still be there, waiting for Viscount Duras¡¯ return, and Qianye could catch them on Green Peak Mountain if he moved fast enough. ording to Schiller, there was no count among them, and this added to Qianye¡¯s desire to get to the bottom of this matter.

    He opened the regional map and confirmed the direction before running swiftly toward the Sharp Fang settlement.

 Volume 5 - 48: Pity

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 48: Pity

    Green Peak Mountain was a towering peak located within the neighboring mountainous region. It was imposing, upright, and boasted beautiful sceneries. It was no wonder the Sharp Fang tribe chose this ce to settle down after moving into the region. Werewolves were kings of the mountainousnd¡ªthey believed that the prosperity and growth of the tribe came from the earth and mountains.

    Qianye watched from afar and took in theplete picture of the Sharp Fang tribe into his eyes. There were a dozen or so caves at the base of Green Peak Mountain with a small clear stream snaking past not so far in the distance. There were dozens of wooden houses constructed on the shores, forming a small vige.

    There was a pack of wargs on the gently sloping grasnd, and few would be able to approach the tribal vige without being discovered.

    Qianye was standing atop a mountaintop hundreds of meters away. He shifted his gaze toward the surroundings and found a path up the mountain not so far from the Sharp Fang Vige. There were numerous giant wooden totems erected on each side of the entrance, indicating that this was the territory of the Sharp Fang tribe.

    But now, many of their totems were either askew or had fallen to the ground, reced by a long metallic spear. A g flying from it disyed the emblem of the vampires, but there was no indication of the specific n.

    There were a number of sinister-looking servspiders lurking around each side of the mountain path. These servspiders were probably kept by Count Stuka and posted here to prevent the Sharp Fang tribe from going up the mountain.

    At this moment, there was a young werewolf boy ying with a majestic warg, running back and forth on the meadow. The physique of werewolf children far surpassed that of humans, and they were alreadyparable to young men by the time they were seven or eight.

    And this werewolf boy was even younger than that. He was at most four or five, yet he could actually catch up with an adult warg running at full speed. Chasing after one another, they unknowingly approached the path up the mountain.

    A woman suddenly rushed out from one of the wooden houses and shouted loudly toward the little child. It was obvious from her expression that she was extremely anxious.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying from such a distance but noticed that her expression was full of terror as she rushed forward.

    On the other side, the young boy stopped and looked back with a vacant look, not knowing that he had already stepped across an invisible boundary.

    The warg lowered its body and let out a threatening howl, the hair on its back standing on end.

    A hundred or so meters away, one of the originally prostrating servspiders stood up. Itsrge body was several meters tall and looked as though a small hill had risen up from the ground. The servspider¡¯s long legs moved as if it were moving across the water surface and arrived nearby in the blink of an eye. There, it sprayed out arge spider web from its abdomen, covering up the warg and the young werewolf boy.

    The young boy turned back and was still bewildered as to what had happened. The warg roared and pounced on the young boy, hiding him firmly under its body just as the spiderwebnded. The ten-meter web soon enveloped both the boy and the warg.

    Green smoke began to rise immediately as the spiderweb fell on the warg¡ªits pelt was rapidly charred and began to break away, revealing patches of squirming flesh. Despite the incessant howls, the warg¡¯s four legs dug in firmly and refused to move in the slightest.

    Within moments, the spiderwebs had eroded its strong body and its originally ck, glossy pelt had turned dark grey. An aura of death emerged around the warg as its howls lowered to a whimper and finally broke off. The servspider moved over slowly, its terrifying mouth opening and closing continuously. Small holes were formed on the ground asrge drops of saliva dripped down.

    The wargs raised by the werewolf tribe were only somewhat stronger than ordinary wild beasts. But these servspiders were different¡ªCount Stuka had raised them meticulously for hundreds of years, and each of them was almost equal to a knight in strength. The warg, as well as the greater half of Sharp Fang tribe, was categorized as food in the eyes of this servspider.

    The young boy¡¯s mother had rushed over madly at this point. Numerous werewolves had rushed out of the caves and wooden houses in response to her loud cries, and their expressions all changed after seeing the young boy scuttle out from beneath the dead warg. They began charging over with loud roars in a bid to drive the servspider away.

    The servspider hesitated ever so slightly¡ªthese werewolves were much weaker than itself, but they were superior in number, and it might not be able to handle them once they swarmed over. At this time, three more giant servspiders stood up around the mountain path and walked down step by step.

    The four servspiders stood together and began to face off against those of the Sharp Fang tribe.

    At this time, the puzzled young boy prodded the warg but received no response. He identally touched a floating strand of spider web, and a deep burn mark appeared on the back of his hand. The young boy began to cry out in pain, and his young but prative voice echoed throughout the valley.

    The cries ignited mes of anger in the werewolves¡¯ hearts. They let out a uniform battle roar and began to advance in formation. The servspiders, on the other hand, were somewhat hesitant and began to edge back slowly.

    The anxious mother let out a sudden scream as she charged recklessly toward the young boy inside the spider web. There were dancing spiderwebs all around the ce, and it would take only a few strands to end his young life.

    Strand after strand of spiderwebs twisted mercilessly around the mother and began to erode her body. However, she just kept on running into the center as though she felt none of the pain. She then grabbed the boy into her arms and retreated along the path she had opened with her body.

    The werewolves of the Sharp Fang tribe let out mournful howls because they knew the woman wouldn¡¯t make it.

    She finally staggered over thest strand of spider web and nced delightfully at the child in her arms. The young boy¡¯s hand had already eroded down to the bone but he had survived in the end¡ªas for her own agony, she had long since forgotten it.

    It was at this time that a muffled gunshot rang out from the mountains, and arge origin bullet tore through the air. It shot right through the mother¡¯s body as well as the child in her arms, sting them into two.

    Qianye frowned in the distance. A frosty killing intent emerged in the depths of his eyes as he grabbed the Eagleshot from his back with his right hand.

    The werewolves of the Sharp Fang tribe were just as furious. Some young werewolves even transformed and assumed abat stance, while other activated their origin power des and charged up their guns.

    Seeing that a battle could break out at any moment, an aged wolf howl came through from one of the caves above. The angry werewolves finally calmed down somewhat and turned back to look in that direction.

    An elderly werewolf appeared from one of the caves. He was so old that he could no longer stand straight and had to move slowly using a tree branch as a walking stick.

    An arachne charged down from the mountain path at the same time. There was an origin assault rifle in his hand with its origin array still glowing¡ªapparently, he was the one who had killed the boy and mother with a single shot.

    This arachne was already a baron and not too far from bing a viscount. As such, he was able to view the hundreds of assembled werewolves as though they were nothing. He calmly walked past the servspiders and scanned the werewolves with cold eyes. ¡°What? Do you want to challenge the count¡¯s authority?¡±

    The werewolves didn¡¯t shrink back and only stared fixedly at the arachne while emitting deep growls.

    A vicious glint filled the arachne¡¯s eyes as he pointed at the mountain path below and roared, ¡°I¡¯ve warned you before that anyone who steps into this forbidden area will be killed! What? Are you not satisfied?¡±

    ¡°But he¡¯s only a child who knows nothing! Even if he entered the forbidden zone by mistake, it¡¯s only a couple of steps!¡± a young werewolf cried loudly and charged to the front, immediately stirring a burst of response from his tribesmen.

    ¡°Even one step means death, not to mention a couple of them! And whoever dares to question the count¡¯s order shall die!¡± The arachne erupted with ferocity, and the assault rifle in his hand rumbled once more, opening up arge hole in the young werewolf¡¯s chest.

    Therge wound prated his entire chest¡ªthe ce where his heart should¡¯ve been had already disappeared along with the surrounding flesh and bones. The young werewolf soon copsed with a loud thud.

    The werewolves were sent into an uproar once again. Meanwhile, the arachne let out a sinisterugh and shouted, ¡°Whoever dares question His Excellency¡¯s order will meet the same fate! It¡¯s no big deal even if we wipe out all of you smelly dogs. Do you want to try? A bunch of useless garbage!¡±

    ¡°We have Schiller and he¡¯s already joined the Summit of Peaks!¡± someone shouted from among the crowd.

    ¡°Right! We must let Schiller speak out for us!¡±

    ¡°Even the count won¡¯t be willing to fight the Summit of Peaks, right?¡±

    There werewolves¡¯ hopes were ignited once again, but apparently, the Summit of Peak¡¯s name failed to intimidate this arachne. The baronughed out loud and said, ¡°Go and bring out that little wolf bastard. I¡¯ll let you know whether or not the arachne fear the Summit of Peaks!¡±

    Qianye watched all of this with a frown. Although his hand was already gripping the Eagleshot tightly, he hadn¡¯t pulled the trigger all this time.

    At this time and moment, he still had no intention to meddle with the conflict between the werewolves and the arachne. Qianye had indeed promised William that he would treat the werewolves as well as the situation allowed it, but this didn¡¯t signify an alliance. It was merely a limited neutrality and would, at most, mean a mutual exchange of assistance.

    There was a vast difference in opinion among the werewolves, just like how the White w tribe had treated William back at the Tulip Bazaar. Although Sharp w tribe deserved sympathy and Schiller had also promised Qianye theirmitment, it was still unknown just how effective this promise was.

    As Qianye saw it, he definitely wouldn¡¯t interfere rashly if the Sharp Fang tribe itself didn¡¯t rebel. Moreover, he would still wipe them out mercilessly if the tribe wasn¡¯t willing to swear allegiance after he upied the region.

    That was because Qianye¡¯s foremost responsibility was for the soldiers who followed him, the friends who had allied with him, and the civilians living in his territory¡ªnot the other races who, despite deserving of sympathy, could potentially turn into enemies at any given time.

    This was war¡ªa war between Daybreak and Evernight. There might be a tiny bit of warmth amidst the conflict, but it must be built atop the foundations of victory.

    Only the victors had the right to pity the weak.

    ¡°Enough!¡± An aged voice rang out. The werewolves opened up a path as the elderly werewolf had finally arrived at the scene, disying the elder¡¯s iparable prestige in the tribe.

    There werewolf elder¡¯s eyes swept across the werewolves to his side and said indifferently, ¡°What are you lot doing? Are you trying to rebel against His Excellency the Count?¡±

    The werewolves lowered their heads and slowly lowered their weapons. Count Stuka¡¯s ruthlessness and terror had long since seeped into the depths of their hearts. Every now and then, there would be news of certain tribes being wiped out because they were bold enough to rebel.

    Sharp Fang tribe wasn¡¯t the only one within Count Stuka¡¯s territory, and neither were they the strongest. Sharp Fang tribe would surely be exterminated if they somehow angered Stuka. That was precisely why they had to endure even though their ancestral sacred ce had been expropriated.

    The werewolf elder arrived before the arachne, steadied his trembling body, and said, ¡°Sire, this is just a misunderstanding. The ones who mistakenly entered the forbidden zone are already dead. Can you stop here?¡±

 Volume 5 - 49: The Mysterious Array

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 49: The Mysterious Array

    The arachne almost seemed to hold a deep apprehension toward the werewolf elder. He stopped pressuring them and said with a nod, ¡°Fine. Remember that the prohibition is final! Whoever vites it will be put to death even if he is a child, understand?¡±

    ¡°Understood,¡± replied the old werewolf.

    ¡°Then I hope the chief will control his tribe well. The count is in a horrible mood these days. I¡¯m sure you all know what will happen if word of this gets to his ears.

    The arachne put away his origin gun and ordered the four servspiders to return to their positions.

    The elder walked toward the two corpses and bent down to pick up the boy. A couple of other werewolves carried the bodies of the mother and the young werewolf man toward a nearby valley. Momentster, the corpses were flung into the bottomless ravine, while the Sharp Fang tribe members stood near the precipice singing an ancient bad in unison.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t understand the lyrics but was able to feel the deep sorrow and sense of vicissitude.

    The werewolf funeral ceremony was brief but solemn. Momentster, the tribesmen headed back to their settlement under the elder¡¯s leadership. Hundreds of them formed a long line through the mountains, and just like the great migrations, their race would undertake for survival in almost every era since time immemorial.

    Qianye turned around and left quietly.

    Perhaps justice and equality were only rtive values in every country. Qianye had always known that there were serious conflicts among the dark races, but this was the first time he had witnessed the experiences of their ordinary civilians.

    The policy of honoring the strong was implemented even more thoroughly in the dark race nation. Those in power, more of than not, used an iron fist to maintain their rule and would wipe out smaller tribes at the slightest pretext. Qianye recalled the missions rted to the rebel army which he had undertaken back at Red Scorpion. One could see a simr kind of cruelty within the empire. There were indeed many simrities between the two factions and one wasn¡¯t necessarily better than the other.

    But with what had happened today and the token Schiller had given him, Qianye felt that it might actually be possible to negotiate with the Sharp Fang tribe. He didn¡¯t need them to fight alongside him. In truth, he would never feel at ease letting them do so. What he needed was merely information rted to the uing battle and the promise that Sharp Fang wouldn¡¯t take part in it.

    The valley was once again calm after the werewolves retreated back to their residences.

    Qianye avoided the defensive range of the servspiders and circled around to the other side of the peak to the most precipitous parts of the mountain. There he began to climb toward the summit. If his luck was good, those mysterious vampires might still be waiting at the summit.

    Qianye moved cautiously¡ªalthough his Bloodline Concealment could retract his aura, it wasn¡¯t true invisibility. It might be able to deceive perception, but not the naked eye.

    An entire hour passed by before Qianye arrived at the summit of Green Peak Mountain. There were odd, craggy rocks everywhere, and looking from above, one could see a natural stone tform about a hundred meters below. On the stone tform was a sacrificial altar with many totems erected around it. This should be the Sharp Fang tribe¡¯s holynd.

    At this moment, there were many peculiar apparatuses set up on the empty space in front of the altar where ceremonies were usually held. Together, they formed arge circr origin array over ten meters in diameter. There was a metallic pir at its center with a metallic sphere floating atop. The metal ball, engraved with origin array patterns, was currently in operation¡ªit alternated between light and dark while emitting odd fluctuations.

    Three vampires, two esquires and one baron, stood beside the circr origin array. The baron who was standing at the edge of the tform and gazing at the towering mountains in the distance suddenly said, ¡°Why hasn¡¯t Sir Duras returned yet?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps they were dyed by some matters on the road. Although that werewolf whelp isn¡¯t that strong, he¡¯s fairly crafty and knows how to run,¡± one of the knights replied.

    The baron frowned. ¡°Even so, Sir Duras should¡¯ve returned by know. Those he brought along were all experts.¡±

    They could only keep on waiting despite being a bit anxious. The baron instructed the two esquires to guard the array while he himself entered the cave to rest.

    The two esquires stood guard on each side and gazed at the surrounding mountains with great boredom. They didn¡¯t have the slightest clue about the danger descending from above their heads.

    Qianye nced at the array for a while but gained nothing from it. What little knowledge he had about origin arrays was mostly rted to guns and machinery. The only way for him to learn what they were doing in the werewolves¡¯ sacred ce was to acquire information from these remaining vampires.

    Qianye observed the two blood esquires for a moment then gradually slid downward until he was tens of meters away from the tform. There, he leapt straight down and pounced toward the esquire on the left.

    The blood esquire swiftly reacted, immediately drawing his sword andunching a backhand stab at Qianye before shouting out in rm. But the long sword had only stabbed halfway when Qianye¡¯s scarlet edge struck the de.

    There was an entire two-grade gap between the weapons in addition to the full force Qianye put behind the attack. The Scarlet Edge broke the blood esquire¡¯s sword like a bamboo and left a bloody streak between his brows.

    Qianye finallynded on his feet, and the impact shook the altar for a moment. The metallic ball at the center of the mysterious array began to sway immediately, and its light began to fluctuate with great intensity.

    ¡°Protect the array!¡± An rmed voice rang out from the cave as the baron rushed out from within. At this time, the blood esquire on the other side was rushing over with his sword drawn.

    Qianye charged at the baron without so much as a moment¡¯s pause. The Mystic Spider Lily appeared in his grip while he was running. After which, a shot was fired toward the cave with a raise of his hand.

    The ignited origin array shot out numerous illusory flowers which bloomed around the exquisite handgun. Such a beautiful background scenery just happened to be the fangs of the grim reaper. That baron wasn¡¯t even able to evade before his entire body was shaken¡ªhe turned rigid as though he were petrified and fell to the ground.

    Apart from Qianye¡¯s own Heavy Caliber, the shot was empowered by the Twin Flowers¡¯ powerful shock and paralysis effects. The baron¡¯s blood energy defenses dissolved in a sh like thin ice under the sunlight.

    The remaining blood esquire near the altar had assumed a defensive stance in front of the metallic ball, but was shocked after seeing Qianye knock out the baron with one shot. Qianye simply rushed into the cave afterward, leaving the blood esquire hesitating whether he should follow him in and coordinate with hispanions inside tounch a pincer attack or if he should guard the array.

    Without waiting for the blood esquire toe to a decision, an origin grenade flew out from within the cave and shot straight toward the array.

    The blood esquire was ovee with shock. If that origin grenade exploded within the array, it wouldpletely destroy the array and the apparatuses. Without the time to think, the esquire threw himself toward the origin grenade¡ªwith a grab and a toss, he enveloped the grenade in blood energy and turned it toward a different direction. The grenade was flung dozens of meters away from the tform and exploded in the air.

    The violent shockwaves seemed to have disrupted the operation of the mysterious array. The metallic sphere began to undte wildly but soon calmed down again. The blood esquire had just finished breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the intruder walk out from the cave¡ªhis heart immediately sank to the very bottom.

    A blood esquire and numerous other high-ranking warriors were resting inside, but there were no signs of movement from within. Could it be that this person had finished them all off in such a short time? The baron, on the other hand,y immobile on the ground a dozen or so steps away from the cave entrance, his fate unknown. The blood flowing out from his body was unexpectedly ck.

    Qianye approached at a steady pace and said differently, ¡°Surrender.¡±

    ¡°Step dreaming!¡± The blood esquire clenched his jaws and pounced forward, the sword in his hand erupting with a zing radiance.

    However, ayer of purple energy flickered over Qianye¡¯s body as inexplicable terror gripped the blood esquire, suddenly freezing him in ce.

    ¡°Sacred Blood! Senior¡­¡± The esquire came to a sudden stop mid-sentence and extreme panic appeared in his dark red eyes. This was the dread toward superior experts that had been etched deep into their consciousness. He slowly lowered his head to find a beautiful dagger pierced into his heart, through which all of his essence blood was gushing out.

    Qianye had just released all of his blood energy without reservation. The terrifying pressure and intimidation from his superior bloodline caused an intense suppression upon the unsuspecting blood esquire. In a melee exchange, a short moment of distraction was enough to decide one¡¯s life and death.

    The blood esquire finally understood why the other party was able to finish off the warriors in the cave with such speed. But why would a superior vampire appear in this ce? To this question, however, he no longer had the time to think and would never know the answer.

    Qianye walked to the edge of the tform, took out Wei Bainian¡¯s grade-five vampire sniper rifle, and aimed at the path up the mountain. Themotion just now wasn¡¯t small, and if there were enemies nearby, they would surely appear.

    As expected, an arachne¡¯s hurried figure entered Qianye¡¯s vision soon afterward. He calmly pulled on the trigger and sent the arachne¡¯s giant body tumbling some distance backward and then off the cliff.

    He waited a while longer and put away the sniper rifle after confirming that there was no more movement. He then grabbed the unconscious baron and pierced thetter¡¯s chest with the Scarlet Edge.

    The pain of essence blood leaving his body woke the baron who let out a groan and gradually opened his eyes.

    Qianye pulled out the Scarlet Edge¡ªa drop of fresh blood traveled along the de and dripped down right in front of the baron¡¯s eyes. Thetter¡¯s face turned pale, and his expression was fluctuating with terror upon recognizing this grade-five vampiric weapon.

    Qianye pointed at the circr array and asked directly, ¡°Tell me what this is for.¡± With that, he pointed the Scarlet Edge at the baron¡¯s heart.

    The baron was exceptionally weak after losing a part of his essence blood. Although Qianye¡¯s tone was t and his words almost didn¡¯t feel like a threat, the vampire couldn¡¯t help but tremble under his aura.

    That was a suppression of bloodline which transcended cultivation ranks. Moreover, he had sensed a simr aura before on a certain other person¡ªa type of tyranny capable of destroying everything and filled one with instinctive dread¡ªMarquis Nana.

    The baron spoke respectfully, ¡°May I ask if you hail from the honorable Mammon n?¡± Mammon was precisely the n Nana belonged to.

    Qianye replied coldly, ¡°You need only to reply my question right now.¡±

    The baron finally submitted under the Scarlet Edge and the threat of having his essence blood sucked alive. ¡°Our mission is to set up such arrays in special ces like these. It¡¯s said that they have detection and inhibition abilities, capable of sensing the emergence of specific auras. We were instructed to report immediately as soon as abnormal fluctuations appear in the array.¡±

    ¡°Specific auras?¡±

    The baron smiled wryly and replied, ¡°We don¡¯t know what it means either.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He knew that these people were only responsible for setting things up and understood little about its uses. Additionally, there hadn¡¯t been any unusual reactions recently. But the fact that Qianye didn¡¯t understand didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t find someone who did. He gave it some thought and decided to terminate the array¡¯s operation first. He then disassembled those peculiar apparatuses and tossed all of them into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

 Volume 5 - 50: A Difficult Choice

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 50: A Difficult Choice

    There were hundreds ofponents to thisw array, and some of them wereposed of rare metals. Just the recycled materials alone were worth a small fortune even if one were to ignore the origin array at the top. The baron watched theponents vanish one by one in Qianye¡¯s hands and was, at first, astonished. But then his expression became progressively dismal¡ªhis fate was sealed now that he already knew of Qianye¡¯s secret.

    The origin grenade and sniper fire had already rmed the Sharp Fang tribe at the base of the mountain, but they weren''t able to proceed after arriving at the boundary of the forbidden zone with the servspiders eyeing them as a tiger would its prey. After Qianye killed the arachne inmand with a single shot, the less intelligent servspiders could only obstruct the werewolves ording to previous orders.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of such a good opportunity. He finished off the baron in one sh, quietly cleaned up the scene, and left stealthily from the back of the mountain.

    Qianye¡¯s resolute attack on these vampires and arachne was meant to also add more pressure on these werewolves. Otherwise, it was hard to make sure whether Sharp Fang tribe would stand with Qianye in the future or if they would choose to stay neutral.

    After such a long period deep in dark race territory, Qianye had already heard a fair bit about the count¡¯s brutality and his actions to curry favor with the upper continents. These vampires were clearly rted to major characters from the upper continents. Now that they had died in his territory, Count Stuka would likely take it out on the Sharp Fang tribe, and the best way for them to avoid annihtion was to choose to stand on Qianye¡¯s side.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in a hurry to contact Sharp Fang just yet. These obstinate werewolves needed some time to recognize their situation and likely not a short while either.

    After descending Green Peak Mountain, Qianye headed toward his final destination: Count Stuka¡¯s underground castle. He had long since wanted to see how this dark raceir looked like. The time would be just right to secretly contact the nearly disabled old chief of the Sharp Fang tribe when he returned from the count¡¯s castle.

    Someone like him was bound to have many stories to tell, and it might even bring Qianye some pleasant surprises.

    Qianye arrived at Count Stuka¡¯s castle after traveling cautiously for several days.

    As an arachne count, Stuka¡¯s castle had retained the unique characteristics of the arachne race while also conforming to his status as a count.

    That which appeared before Qianye was an earthen mountain with a majestic castle built on top, and a wide path stretching down along its slope. The weird part was that there were many caves distributed throughout the entire body of this earthen mountain with an especiallyrge one at its base. It was dozens of meters wide, enough to allow passage to massive war beasts.

    There were members of various evernight races entering and leaving through each cave. On the contrary, there was no one passing through the castle gates at the summit.

    There was a wide road running through the biggest cave at the base of the mountain and seemed to be a path designed for races other than the arachne. The ground on each side of the road was filled with spider webs and was only suitable for the arachne and servspiders to move through. These creatures would be able to move at least twice as fast on the webs, and every small vibration on it could be sensed by the distant servspiders, notifying them of intruders. Some arachne and servspiders couldy down spiderwebsced with intense poison to form a natural defense line.

    Even Qianye would have a hard time passing through such arge area of spiderweb coverage.

    He observed for a while and realized that the entire earth mountain was hollow inside. One could directly enter the belly of the mountain via a secret path from the castle above. The underground portion of this mountain was likely arge space since, after all, arachne were experts at digging and building.

    Stuka¡¯s castle atop the earthen mountain was built ording to a conventional arachneyout, and it was unknown just how many warriors and servspiders he had hidden underground. The structure was easy to defend and difficult to assault. One would have to pay a steep price to seize the stronghold with only troops.

    Qianye frowned and abandoned the impractical notion. It would be too difficult to conquer Stuka¡¯s castle with what little strength he had.

    He circled around the entire castle and observed for a good while. He then headed back in the direction he hade from after confirming the patterns of activity in and around the castle. Qianye felt a tinge of regret just as he was about to leave¡ªall those different dark race members entering and leaving the castle were living masses of essence blood and darkness origin power¡ªbeing unable to attack at the moment was too much a suffering.

    Qianye visited the Sharp Fang tribe again on his way back.

    This time, Qianye hid near the tribe and waited patiently. The werewolves¡¯ sense of smell was quite troublesome and made it difficult for him to get close. But he didn¡¯t need to wait too long; the Sharp Fang chief emerged from the cave shortly after dinner time and began to patrol the area and console his tribesmen.

    He finished his rounds only when the moon was high in the sky. This matter alone had worn him down quite a bit¡ªhis back was bent deeply, and the worry on his face couldn¡¯t be wiped away.

    Qianye understood where the chief''s worries stemmed from. It was definitely the dead vampires and Count Stuka¡¯s servspiders.

    ¡°You all go back first. I want to take a walk.¡± The chief nced at his two werewolf guards and ordered them to leave. Afterward, he slowly walked out of the vige on his own.

    This area was Sharp Fang tribe¡¯s territory and could be considered fairly safe and tranquil. There were numerous high-yield mines in the domain, and each of them was guarded by a significant number of werewolf soldiers, serving as garrisons. As such, those of the Sharp Fang tribe weren¡¯t particrly worried about the old chief¡¯s safety.

    The old chief strolled along with heavy steps, all too familiar with the mountains and streams along the way. He arrived beside a clear pond and knelt down to wash his hands. He had maintained this habit for dozens of years and had almost be a ceremony of sorts.

    The old chief nced down at the pond and suddenly discovered the figure of another person standing beside him.

    His old hands trembled ever so slightly, raising numerous ripples and shattering the reflection on the water surface. He collected himself and turned back slowly toward Qianye. ¡°Young human, you¡¯re quite bold.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s truly courageous. You look so calm. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve found a way to deal with Count Stuka¡¯s wrath?¡±

    The old chief stood up in an instant and his vigor rose all of a sudden. An ardent me began to burn brightly in his originally turbid eyes as he stared fixedly at Qianye. Qianye, however, just stood there without the slightest bit of movement and looked on as though the chief¡¯s imposing manner was nothing to him.

    A wisp of shock and admiration shed through the chief¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re likely not an obscure character in the human race. You¡¯re so young and possess such potential, so why would you take the risk to enter our country? Great geniuses are nothing if they be corpses.¡±

    Qianye smiled and said, ¡°This area will be my country very soon.¡±

    The old chief¡¯s eyes immediately turned sharp and replied with a cold voice, ¡°You humans want to invade? Humph! Your soldiers will be met head-on, and your warriors will be torn to shreds by our sharp ws! No human soldiers have stepped through thisnd in hundreds of years.¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly and said, ¡°Even if I fail, it won¡¯t be in the hands of a tiny Sharp Fang tribe. Moreover, it¡¯s not certain whether you¡¯ll survive until my army arrives. I heard the count isn¡¯t very patient and maybe Sharp Fang would¡¯ve be history even before my forces arrive. And he probably won¡¯t let you off even if, by any chance, I was forced to withdraw.¡±

    The chief¡¯s eyes flickered as he pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Is there a difference between dying to the count and dying to human bullets? Stuka might not destroy Sharp Fangpletely, but the humans definitely will!¡±

    ¡°That might not necessarily be the case.¡± Qianye brought out Schiller¡¯s ne and passed it to the chief.

    The old werewolf received the item, brought it to his nose, and sniffed a couple of times. His eyes became somewhat more gentle as he said, ¡°This is Schiller¡¯s blood oath. He has used his ancestor¡¯s spirit to vouch for you. But it¡¯ll still take time for me to trust you since, after all, Schiller is only a youngster. And the youth are always impulsive.¡±

    The chief hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye passed him yet another metallic token. ¡°The youth are impetuous. Then how about this?¡±

    The old chief observed the token and began to tremble all over. ¡°T-This is the token of the Summit of Peaks! How did you get this?¡±

    ¡°ording to the friend who gave it to me, this token should possess considerable prestige among the werewolves. Why don¡¯t I see any from you?¡±

    After hearing Qianye¡¯s implicit criticism, the old chief smiled wryly and said, ¡°A token from the Summit of Peaks is like a holy object for those like us living in the lowest rungs of society. It¡¯s just that your demands are too¡­ too inconsistent with our traditions and beliefs. I fear no werewolf is willing to live a life under human rule, to speak nothing of fighting alongside them. You¡¯ll be disappointed if you want to borrow Sharp Fang¡¯s strength to fight against Count Stuka.¡±

    Qianyeughed out loud. ¡°You¡¯re overthinking things. I¡¯ve never hoped to borrow Sharp Fang¡¯s strength. In truth, your meager forces are insignificant in my eyes. It¡¯s just that my friend from the Summit of Peaks had once asked me to take care of his race and I¡¯m also impressed by Schiller. That¡¯s the only reason why I¡¯m willing to appear here and talk with you.¡±

    Qianye drew the Scarlet Edge and flicked the de lightly with his finger, whereupon a whistle akin to a dragon¡¯s cry rang out. He then nced at the old chief and said, ¡°I have no demands for the Sharp Fang. It¡¯s fine whether you wish to join the fight or stay out of this, but that choice will affect the treatment the tribe receives after I take this entire region into my territorial map. You should be very clear that the two treatments will be entirely different. Naturally, you can also choose a third option, which is to join Stuka¡¯s army. However, I will definitely ughter all those who oppose me! Think about it carefully.¡±

    With that, Qianye turned around and left without waiting for the old chief¡¯s reply.

    The old werewolf cried out while gazing at Qianye¡¯s back. ¡°How should I address you? Were you the one who killed Viscount Duras and Baron Wendu?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply. His figure disappeared into the distance, leaving behind a trailingughter.

    The return journey was much simpler. Qianye left the dark race territory safely and arrived at the grey border territory. Here, he brought out the motorcycle and sped toward ckflow City. Upon approaching, he brought all of the weapons andw arrayponents he had gained from Green Peak Mountain out from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and stored them on the motorcycle rack. Only then did he continue toward ckflow City.

    Upon his return, Qianye immediately handed the origin arrayponents to Dark me¡¯s array specialist for deciphering. At the same time, he summoned all of the high ranking Dark me officers along with the trio, Song Zining, Zhao Yuying, and Wei Potian, for a strategy meeting.

 Volume 5 - 51: Drastic Measures (Part 1)

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 51: Drastic Measures (Part 1)

    Qianye had marked out the new intelligence he had gained on therge war-map. At the same time, he had drawn out a route for dispatching troops.

    Qianye gave everyone a simple exnation of his gains during this trip. ¡°This is the newest information I have obtained and the attack route I have nned. The good news is that the ruler of the territory, the arachne count Stuka, is exceptionally brutal and has already milked his subjects dry.¡±

    ¡°As such, my prediction is that there won¡¯t be a lot of resistance in other areas as long as we can defeat the count¡¯s direct forces. The bad news is that our chances to engage this count in battle are very high.¡±

    Wei Potian quickly became excited. He leapt up shouted, ¡°An arachne count! That will be goddamn satisfying. I must go this time! This daddy¡¯s arts have improved again recently, and now I want to know if an arachne count can break through my Thousand Mountains!¡±

    ¡°He can definitely break it, and he won¡¯t even need a second hit! Now sit!¡± Zhao Yuying was merciless in making Wei Potian see reality. Afterward, she reached out and pressed down on Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder, causing him to fall back into his chair.

    She sneered, ¡°A brat who hasn¡¯t even grown proper hair wants to imitate how adults fight? Just behave and stay in the city!¡±

    Wei Potian red angrily. He then turned around and pointed at Song Zining. ¡°Then how about this gigolo?¡±

    ¡°Zining will go with us,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Us?¡± Wei Potian was suspicious.

    ¡°Me and Yuying.¡±

    Wei Potian began to stomp and roar. ¡°Why does that sissy Song Zining get to go, but I can¡¯t? How am I inferior to him?¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye to reply, Song Zining stood up while pping his fan and said, ¡°That¡¯s because this insignificant self is more handsome than you are!¡±

    Wei Potian immediately erupted with anger. ¡°Sissy, you¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Song Zining fanned rapidly whileughing. ¡°I am indeed courting death, what can you do? We must see how capable the Wei n heir is.¡±

    Wei Potian wanted to retort but a gigantic force pressed him back into his seat.

    After pping Wei Potian back into his chair, Zhao Yuying scanned the two with cold eyes and roared, ¡°Shut the hell up!¡±

    Wei Potian and Song Zining immediately sat down, no longer making a din. Qianye was immediately stunned and almost couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. He still had no idea that even Zhao Yuying had been annoyed to no end by the two bickering men. As such, she had set up a rule for the two of them, and she would immediately beat them up if they didn¡¯t follow it.

    With Zhao Yuying¡¯s strength as a rank-twelve champion and her fierce brute force, she could even smash apart Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains with a few hits. As for Song Zining, never again did he dare to use his Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art in front of her¡ªdomain takeover was no funny matter.

    It turned out that these two young men had the fear of god put into them.

    Everyone else understood why Wei Potian couldn¡¯t be brought along for this battle. The horde of young misses from the upper continent would definitely follow suit once the Wei n heir went to battle. A ce like ckflow City with nothing to see or do was incredibly boring, and that battle with Dong Qifeng was probably the only thing entertaining during these days. These nobledies definitely wouldn¡¯t miss the opportunity to take part in a real battle.

    But the moment they moved, Zhang Zixing¡¯s third army corps would have to follow. Once the dark races caught wind of an imperial fleet appearing in Evernight, they would also maneuver their own fleet to face the enemy. At that point, it would no longer be limited to a local battle, but escte to an all-out war.

    Originally, Qianye only wanted to seize a piece of territory toy down his foundations. In a barren ce like Evernight, any viscount could rule over a vast territory, and the major characters of the two factions wouldn¡¯t even be interested in listening to the report.

    But if an entire squadron of imperial airships were to appear, it would not only cause a marquis to appear, but might even catch the attention of a duke. And such a matter was neither Qianye¡¯s goal, nor was it the empire¡¯s intention.

    Wei Potian actually understood this matter quite clearly, but he simply couldn¡¯t swallow his anger after seeing Song Zining¡¯s arrogant attitude. In his wrath, he couldn¡¯t help but point at Song Zining and shout, ¡°I challenge you to a one-on-one fight in the back alley. Come alone. Whoever doesn¡¯te isn¡¯t a man.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes lit up as he said with a faint smile, ¡°That¡¯s fine too. Apparently, your skin is itching because it¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve beaten you up.¡±

    Wei Potian sneered, ¡°This daddy here has gone through life and death in battle. Do you think I can¡¯t beat a useless person like you who surrounds himself with women every day?¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel an imminent headache after seeing the two of them once again making appointments for a fight.

    It was still Zhao Yuying who had a good method of dealing with them. She lifted her Mountain Splitter, smashed it down in front of Wei Potian, and said, ¡°This is for you!¡±

    She then pounded the table in front of Song Zining with her fist and said, ¡°And this is for you!¡±

    There was a fiendish expression on the Zhao young miss¡¯ countenance. Her gaze swept over the faces of the two as she said with a nastyugh, ¡°You two ignorant brats have already learnt to sh people? Fine! You have guts! Tonight, this sister will take the both of you in the back alley!¡±

    The face of Wei Potian and Song Zining froze in ce. It was unknown whether they were intimidated by this sister¡¯s words or actions.

    At this moment, Qianye let out a faint cough. Zhao Yuying turned back to point at him and shouted, ¡°You, shut up! I¡¯ll also beat you up otherwise!¡±

    Qianyeughed innocently and said, ¡°I only wanted to say that you¡¯ll lose if they fight you together.¡±

    A rather brilliant expression appeared on Zhao Yuying¡¯s face.

    She quickly turned back to re at Qianye. ¡°Why are you always butting in?! Fine! Let¡¯s fight one-on-one. Let this mommy here teach you how to behave!¡±

    Qianye widened his eyes and asked with a smile, ¡°Close quarters, no weapons?¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression turned dark. Unlike Wei Potian, Qianye was an expert in meleebat, backed by a terrifying constitution and strength. The wrestle in Qianye¡¯s room back then had made it clear to her that aplete victory over him wasn¡¯t possible. How would she have any honor left if a beautifuldy like her had to mber up with bruises all over her face?

    But the young miss of Duke You possessed an unyielding temperament. Her brows rose tall, and her expression turned frosty.

    It was at this time that Song Zining said in an unhurried manner, ¡°Qianye, how can you bear to attack such a stunning beauty like Yuying? And you even want to engage in close-quarterbat? That¡¯s really too distasteful. It¡¯s fine if you guys want to fight, but there should be rules. First, no attacking the face, second, no assaulting the chest, andstly, no touching the buttocks. You two can fight as long as you follow these three rules. Otherwise, I¡¯ll have to join the fight and protect Miss Yuying. How can I let you mistreat such a beautifuldy?¡±

    Qianye was immediately stunned. How was he supposed to fight a melee with so many limitations?

    Zhao Yuying was also furious. She banged the table with strength and shouted, ¡°How can one even fight like that?! Who told you to meddle? Stop treating your mother here like ady!¡±

    The entire room fell into an awkward silence after this shout had passed. It seemed as though no one here had any intention to treat her as ady.

    Order was restored only after great effort¡ªQianye finished exining his overall ns, summarized everyone¡¯s suggestions, and made the necessary amendments. He then summoned the high-ranking Dark me officers and assigned them their missions.

    After leaving the conference room, Wei Potian naturally returned to his encirclement of young misses.

    But after being in a deadlock up until now, these nobledies were no longer as aggressive as they were before. Moreover, everyone understood that arge group wasn¡¯t beneficial for fostering affection. As such, the number of people surrounding Wei Potian was drastically reduced, and they began taking turns to apany him. The Wei n heir was finally able to rx a bit.

    That afternoon, Wei Potian upied Dark me¡¯s open-airbat arena in thepany of a couple of nobledies. It just happened to be a good time to have an intimate chat.

    Wei Potian was already drenched in sweat after finishing a round of practice. His bare upper body was chiseled and muscr, granting him a rather fierce look.

    ¡°Potian, what¡¯s wrong? You seem to be in a bad mood,¡± asked a beautiful and gentledy.

    ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m vexed by that gigolo!¡± With that, Wei Potian proceeded to spew out a series of profanities before his anger subsided.

    He nced at the refined youngdy and asked after recalling something, ¡°What do you think of my brother Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Very handsome!¡± Thedy replied without thinking and then added with a red face, ¡°Of course, he¡¯s also very powerful.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my brother, of course, he¡¯s powerful!¡± Wei Potian was greatly pleased with himself and seemed even more delighted than receiving praise himself.

    Nangong Ling had been in touch with Wei Potian for quite some time and had already discerned what he was thinking. ¡°Young noble Qianye is good in every aspect, but his background is a bit too low. I think it can¡¯t even be considered a humble family, right?¡±

    Wei Potian replied back in anger, ¡°Men depend on ability and fists! What effing use does background have?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Nangong Ling smiled and no longer continued speaking. She believed Wei Potian would understand her meaning.

    Thetter drank some water and said, ¡°Qianye is my life and death brother, and he hasn¡¯t settled down yet either. Which family has a suitable girl for him? Introduce them over! You¡¯ve all seen him. This brother of mine already owns a division. Won¡¯t it be a piece of cake to take down a couple of provinces in the future?¡±

    The three nobledies all felt a rush of excitement. Wei Potian¡¯s words were always exaggerated, and three provinces were indeed too excessive. But, as they saw it, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard for Qianye to seize a couple of counties. Such a territorial structure was alreadyparable to the peak ofndowning families.

    His familial background naturally couldn¡¯t match theirs, but it wasn¡¯t a problem at all for him to marry the daughter of an honorary count who couldn¡¯t inherit any title. Furthermore, the daughters of various levels of hereditary viscounts were an appropriate match for him.

    These nobledies all possessed good judgment. Among them, Nangong Ling was especially mature and knew full well the potential value someone like Qianye held. Simply put, a valiant general like Qianye with a powerful army in his hands was much more useful than ten noble descendants in times of conflict, or even war with other noble ns.

    The gentledy immediately replied, ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll discuss this with grandpa when I return and ask him to pick out some sisters from our n.

    An idea shed through Nangong Ling¡¯s mind. Thisdy was the granddaughter of Duke Fu, and she had actually brought out her grandfather in order to cater to Wei Potian¡¯s wishes¡ªthis was quite the investment. Nangong Ling didn¡¯t show her weakness and said on the spot, ¡°I have a cousin with superb appearance and temperament. She¡¯s the youngest daughter of Count of Huihe and has always been doted upon in our family since childhood.¡±

    The Count of Huihe came from the Westsong Qiu n, one of the top ns among the middle-rank, and the count himself was the n lord¡¯s brother. Although his own noble title was that of a regional count, the title was hereditary for five generations, and it could be considered a social climb for the current Qianye.

    Wei Potian immediately nced at Nangong Ling and gave her an approving nod after these words were spoken. The two other nobledies saw the situation and immediately lowered their heads, thinking hard about suitable candidates among their family and friends.

    Wei Potian was also thinking of a number of suitable candidates from among the Wei n¡¯s branch family. Adding thesedies into the mix, there would be a fair number of beautifuldies to choose from¡ªQianye should pick at least one of them, right?

    At this point, Wei Potian withdrew the smile on his face and said with due seriousness, ¡°Now I have some proper matters to discuss with you all.¡±

    The three of them saw Wei Potian¡¯s serious demeanor and couldn¡¯t help but be nervous.

 Volume 5 - 52: Drastic Measures (Part 2)

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 52: Drastic Measures (Part 2)

    Wei Potian said gradually, ¡°I¡¯m greatly indebted to all of you for your favor during the recent days. In terms of family background, temperament, and looks, all of you are more than a good match for me. But even as a noble heir, I can only have one primary and two parallel wives ording to imperialw.¡±

    The smiles of the three nobledies were more or less forced¡ªthey, of course, knew this. In truth, being a parallel wife was already extreme injustice for them. But how could they not contend for it under present circumstances?

    These noble lineal daughters were born to riches and honor. However, there were also corresponding responsibilities behind the morous lifestyle, and one of them was marriage. This was a duty given to them by the family and n. Just take the marriage with the Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir for example. They would enter a new life with new authority and responsibilities after winning this position, but everything would start all over again if they failed.

    Stories like being deep in love and marrying into humble families without regard for one¡¯s status only existed in folktales and opera. These nobledies had to do it for the family even if not for themselves; they had to fight for a good family background for their future children.

    Even if there really was a person reckless enough to let go of everything, things wouldn¡¯t end with just her contentedness with poverty. The high-ranking nobility would never allow the existence of such a conduct which challenged convention and ruined the family name.

    This was the price of being born with everything; authority and responsibility were always proportionate. There was only one way to break out of these shackles, and that was to be strong¡ªstrong enough to break free from all these bonds.

    Just as the three nobledies were worrying, Wei Potian suddenly halted this topic and turned to another one. ¡°Ah, yes. I almost forgot one thing. It¡¯s also time for Zining to build a family.¡±

    ¡°Song Seven? Isn¡¯t he engaged to andowning household?¡± Nangong Ling asked curiously. These young nobledies didn¡¯t know about the secret conflict between Wei Potian and Song Zining. They only saw that both of them were quite close to Qianye and assumed the three of them shared a good rtionship.

    Wei Potian waved his hand and said casually, ¡°How can thatndowning woman sit in the Song seventh madam¡¯s position? She¡¯ll be removed sooner orter. You might not know, but Zining shocked everyone at the most recent decennial examination and jumped to the second sessor¡¯s position. Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s an entire nine years younger than Song Zicheng. The future n lord, heh, heh, there¡¯s no telling who that will be!¡±

    The Song n didn¡¯t announce the results after their recent examination. Although it wasn¡¯t difficult for interested people to obtain relevant information, it was actually the first time the threedies had heard of this.

    Song Zining¡¯s engagement to andowning family was a major problem, but it wasn¡¯t impossible to settle. Moreover, even if they themselves weren¡¯t suitable, there were still other lineal sisters and close friends who would be their support once they became inws with the Song.

    The three nobledies and theirpanions couldn¡¯t help but feel great waves in their hearts. They remained calm on the surface, but the flicker in their eyes revealed some of their thoughts.

    With Song Zining¡¯s current momentum, he could be considered a popr candidate in the Song n and was sure to eventually be a grand elder even if he couldn¡¯t sit in the n lord¡¯s position. He would receive a noble title in due time, and, with enough luck, aplishments and a territory¡ªthe title might even be hereditary.

    Even if such a future prospect wasn¡¯t as stable as Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir, it could be considered outstanding among the empire¡¯s younger generation. The three nobledies began to suggest some suitabledies from those at their side, but it was also unavoidable for them to have certain thoughts in secret. So what if it were themselves? How could their families object?

    It was hopeless to try and keep secrets when the group ofdies got together. Night hadn¡¯t even fallen when all the nobledies became aware of Song Zining¡¯s situation and value.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining suddenly received numerous appointments, and being direct invitations from lineal nobledies, most of them were difficult to reject. Song Zining realized something was wrong by the time he received over five of them.

    Wei Potian dragged Qianye to hid in the war-room and wasughing quite happily. He was enjoying some peace and quiet after a small part of the firepower around him was split off. Song Zining, on the other hand, had been held up, and it would be impossible for him to join the westward expedition with thosedies surrounding him.

    These nobledies possessed impressive identities, and even the ndies who hade along with them weren¡¯t of low status. One would have no choice but to marry them after climbing into their beds. Wei Potianughed with great cheer thinking about how that lecher Song Seven would be surrounded by a group of beauties but could do nothing but watch.

    Qianye was still unaware of what had transpired. He only felt that it was fairly abnormal to see Wei Potianughing frequently like an idiot.

    Thetter had brought along a champion when he came to visit Qianye just now. He wanted his guest warrior to join the western expedition because he couldn¡¯t go personally and was worried about Qianye.

    Although an extra champion would indeed bolster the strength of their unit, Qianye still didn¡¯t agree on the spot. It wasn¡¯t that easy to use a guest warrior champion from an aristocratic family, and the man might not fully obey Qianye¡¯s instructions in battle. Moreover, that person¡¯s original duty was to protect Wei Potian. How could he suddenly agree to leave his side?

    But Qianye understood the reason very soon.

    The war-room doors were suddenly pushed open. Song Zining walked in and, without so much as a word, materialized his origin power into a pile of razor-sharp leaves. He then flung all of them straight at Wei Potian¡¯s face. Thetter was apparently prepared; he circted the Thousand Mountains within a split second and blocked all the attacks.

    That Wei n guest warrior made no attempt to block Song Zining¡¯s attack, and instead retreated awkwardly to one side. Then under Wei Potian¡¯s amused gesture, he said goodbye to Qianye and left the war-room in a hurry.

    What followed was a chaotic battle.

    Qianye only learnt of the issue after the two had worn themselves out. It turned out that Wei Potian had caused Song Zining to be unable to go to war. Then, in order to make up for the loss in fighting power, he had stuffed his own guest warrior into Qianye¡¯s hands. It was unknown just how many benefits the Wei n heir had promised the man in order to make him go to battle and also keep quiet about the matter.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even want to get angry with these two fellows who were always trying to hinder one another. The young miss of Duke You was in high spirits after she found out about this matter and felt that the opportunity to decide everything in one battle hade. She immediately patted her chest and tookplete charge of everything. ¡°You can rest assured. When this mommy here goes into action, she can do the job of two people.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned even darker. Young miss Zhao Yuying was indeed worth two men in terms of unreliability. This big beauty definitely wouldn¡¯t listen to hismands on the battlefield.

    Qianye came to a firm decision on the eve of the western expedition. If there was ever any important business in the future, he would have each of them take charge of one aspect, but would never have them working together.

    The predetermined time arrived very quickly, and Dark me¡¯s armored battalion was the first to set out¡ªthe western expedition had begun.

    Qianye and Zhao Yuying sat in themand vehicle and left the city with the main force. Meanwhile, Wei Potian and Song Zining were left to deal with all the nobledies. It was just that one¡¯s mood was on cloud nine, while the other¡¯s was in hell.

    Song Zining seemed to have been stimted after being given a taste of his own medicine by the wild boar. He had used up his normal half a year¡¯s worth of paper and books to train with great diligence. ording to his words on the night of Qianye¡¯s departure, he had already touched upon the meanings of ¡°deep twilight¡± and would soon break through to the sixth realm of the Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art¡¯s middle-rank.

    Meanwhile, Wei Potian was in a great mood and had touched upon the threshold of forming an origin power vortex during practice. It seemed the two had arrived at the same destination despite having taken different paths and were making great progress in their martial power.

    Zhao Yuying was sitting across Qianye in themand vehicle and said casually while peeling a fruit with her army knife, ¡°It seems I have to deal with that damned count. But this won¡¯te cheap! I¡¯ll let you take a look at this.¡±

    She reached out to kick the ck crate beside her. The cover sprang open on its own, revealing a silver physical bullet which was the size of a palm and as thick as a fist. The origin array patterns on it ran in straight lines and were filled with a somber aura.

    Qianye asked in surprise, ¡°What is this?¡±

    Zhao Yuying took a bite from her fruit and said, ¡°This is specialized ammo for the Mountain Splitter. A single shot can st that low-rank count half-dead. Naturally, its firepower is evenly matched by its price. With this baby in hand, we have nothing to fear from that old count whose teeth are about to fall off. But you¡¯ll have topensate me afterward. I want 20% of the spoils of war after this battle, and I¡¯ll be the first to choose.¡±

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°ves, prisoners of war or civilians, but they mustn¡¯t be old. Demonkin are the best, werewolves are suboptimal. and arachne are useless.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°You¡¯re going to engage in very?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not working in the ve trade, but something even worse! This matter is unrted to you and it¡¯s best you don¡¯t ask. Moreover, this can¡¯t be considered my business. I¡¯m only helping a friend.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Fine, but reckon there won¡¯t be many prisoners of war in this battle.¡±

    ¡°Civilians are fine,¡± Zaho Yuying replied. Her nonchnt attitude was capable of producing a chill in the depths of one¡¯s heart.

    Qianye was silent for a moment and said, ¡°I¡¯m quite curious about your past.¡±

    A nobledy born to a hereditary duke had turned into who she was today. Naturally, this couldn¡¯t be solely attributed to a deviation in upbringing¡ªit was likely that an extremely unpleasant story was involved.

    Zhao Yuyingughed while looking at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re just a kid. Stop asking about this and that like an adult. You¡¯ll naturallye to understand when you grow up.¡±

    Qianye broke into aughter. This young miss was only older than him by a couple of years but loved to act like an old and experienced person. But then again, there was a certain appeal in seeing this big beauty call herself ¡°this mommy¡± with such ferocity.

    This made Qianye recall one of Song Zining¡¯s words, ¡°As long as you¡¯re handsome enough, everything you do will look good.¡±

    But Qianye had no intention to let Zhao Yuying seize the initiative just like that. This didn¡¯t just involve the distribution of spoils but also the authority ofmand.

    Qianye brought out a small box and opened it to reveal three origin bullets. ¡°I won¡¯t let Count Stuka have an easy time even if he really came.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s countenance changed somewhat after immediately recognizing the tiny emblem on the tip of the origin bullet. ¡°The Song n¡¯s Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡± Qianye closed the lid with a bang.

    ¡°This bullet requires a grade-six gun to bring out its minimum firepower, but I don¡¯t see you holding one.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, I don¡¯t have a habit of squandering things.¡±

    The two became silent and cultivated quietly on their own. Any sort of umtion before the battle was good.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s body was overflowing with dark-purple origin power and emitting an aura simr to the West Pole Violet Qi. However, it contained more of a bloody, murderous intent aspared to Zhao Jundu¡¯s bright and imposing heavenly-me-like violet qi.

    Qianye circted the mysterious chapter in silence, digesting the essence blood stored in his body. He had, once again, had his fill of essence blood during thest reconnaissance run, but all kinds of business had kept him from digesting it in cultivation.

    Afterpleting a full cycle, the mass of darkness origin power was dispersed and devoured by the blood energy within his body. Perhaps owing to his True Sight, Qianye was able to see the pair of golden wings plump up a bit after the dark golden blood energy had swallowed nearly half of the darkness origin power.

    The darkness origin power swallowed by the purple blood energy was fewer this time. Momentster, numerous purple rays spilled out from the blood energy and flowed toward every part of his body. There would be a slight itchy sensation wherever these tiny lights went, be it his organs, flesh, or bones. Newly formed energy seemed to be gushing out from each drop of blood and strengthening his body.

    This was the purple blood energy¡¯s process of strengthening and modifying his body. Comparatively, the dark golden blood energy seemed to be doing its best to nurture the Wings of Inception.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes and spat out a strand of ck qi, which pierced a small hole through the car¡¯s body.

    Zhao Yuying was still resting with her eyes closed when she suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯m really curious about your cultivation art.¡±

 Volume 5 - 53: Factors That Decide Victory

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 53: Factors That Decide Victory

    ¡°Combatant Form,¡± Qianye replied calmly. The Song n Ancient Scroll and the blood energy within his body were his greatest secrets. Only Song Zining knew of them at the moment.

    Zhao Yuying broke into aughter. ¡°Combatant Form? That muddy qi you spat out just now was pure darkness, not something that can be passed off as a minor impurity. I¡¯ve never heard that the Combatant Form can cultivate darkness origin power.¡±

    There was no emotion on Qianye¡¯s face. It was apparent that he didn¡¯t want to continue this discussion.

    Zhao Yuying said with augh, ¡°Don¡¯t be so stingy. I¡¯m not interested in this little secret of yours. Oh, and by the way, let me tell you that I cultivate the Western Emperor¡¯s Grand Ambition, which is the pr counterpart of the West Pole Violet Qi. One light and one dark, these two are the top-grade secret arts of the Zhao n.¡±

    The West Pole Violet Qi was one of the most famous arts of the Zhao n. Why was the Western Emperor¡¯s Grand Ambition not well-known if it wereparable to the former? Qianye didn¡¯t know Zhao Yuying¡¯s intentions in telling him this, and he didn¡¯t want to ask too many questions. Sometimes, it was better to know less about the secrets rted to the Zhao n.

    News from the vanguard arrived while they were setting up camp that night. Duan Hao had already assaulted the dark race territory and captured two settlements. Additionally, he had also annihted two patrol units and sessfully arrived at his designated position.

    There were already hundreds of captives in Duan Hao¡¯s hands, both warriors and civilians, currently being escorted to the rear. Duan Hao had also allowed a number of dark race citizens to escape on purpose. Viscount Thomas, who was closest to this location, would receive news of the invasion very soon, and his troops would likely arrive at the battlefield within two days.

    Qianye passed the report to Zhao Yuying and said, ¡°I guess it¡¯s time for us to move out.¡±

    As expected, Zhao Yuying said while yawning, ¡°Thomas? That pitifully weak rural vampire? Not interested. You can take care of him on your own.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently and stuffed the report into her hands. ¡°This won¡¯t do. Many of my subordinates will die if you don¡¯t take part.¡±

    Zhao Yuying yawned once again and tossed the report back to Qianye. ¡°You can be considered a leader now. Use some brain, will you? Your elder sister¡¯s greatest value is inunching a ferocious surprise attack against that arachne count. I can at least knock off two of his hind legs. Why would I need to take action for a mere third-rank viscount? Don¡¯t tell me you want all your warriors toe back alive? How can there be any elite soldiers without any deaths? If that¡¯s your intention, then it¡¯s best you just disperse Dark me right now. You¡¯re not suited to lead an army.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with Stuka.¡±

    ¡°You should know that the correct choice is for me to deal with him.¡± Zhao Yuying had no n topromise.

    Qianye shrugged and said, ¡°Fine then. If you really can¡¯t knock off two of his hind legs, then you¡¯ll have to listen to mymands from now on.¡±

    Zhao Yuying nced at Qianye and said, ¡°As long as you cooperate well, I¡¯m five parts confident in finishing off that old spider. But are you sure that¡¯s what you want?¡±

    Qianye immediately shook his head. ¡°Of course not. Leaving him alive for now will benefit us.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s settled.¡± Zhao Yuying then ignored Qianye and returned to her cultivation.

    After finishing up the military affairs at hand, Qianye pondered on his conversation with Zhao Yuying and felt his heart tremble ever so slightly. Apparently, thetter possessed impressive strategic foresight despite her sloppy outward appearance.

    After the night passed by, Qianye led Dark me¡¯s main force and marched toward the designated battlefield. The mine they were charging toward was one of Viscount Thomas¡¯ economic bloodlines¡ªthe viscount would have no choice but to send reinforcements whether or not he had other intentions in mind.

    Dark me now had a total of six regiments after incorporating the seventh division. Qianye only brought along three of the most powerful regiments and left the remainder to guard Cloud Sail City and Four Rivers Military Base. ckflow City was left under Song Hu¡¯s full control to manage logistics.

    Qianye had no worries at all about the city¡¯s defenses at the moment. It was practically invulnerable to attacks as long as Zhang Zixing¡¯s airship squadron was around.

    Dark me arrived at the predetermined battlefield in the evening. It was a hilly region with gentle slopes, most suitable for Dark me to disy its firepower. Qianye set up the two mobile heavy cannons on the highest knoll with which he could control a ten-kilometer area around them.

    Zhao Yuying watched detachedly from the side and found that Qianye¡¯s troop deployments strictly adhered to standard imperial army tactics. Although he couldn¡¯t be considered a genius in this regard, at least he wasn¡¯t making any mistakes. This was indeed the best strategy in a scenario where one¡¯s own troop strength and armaments were at an advantage.

    Night came early in Evernight Continent, and the sky hadpletely dimmed down by four o¡¯clock in the evening. A faintly discernible sound suddenly rang out in the distance, but upon careful listening, it also sounded like the wind blowing through the ins and forests.

    Those experts who possessed Night Vision could see a crowd of ck figures appearing on the distant hilltop. There was an invisible pressure slowly advancing toward them.

    Zhu Wuya arrived beside Qianye and whispered, ¡°Sir, the enemy has arrived.¡±

    ¡°How about their reconnaissance units?¡±

    ¡°Those in range have been finished off.¡±

    Qianye nodded and instructed Zhu Wuya to return to his position, leaving only Zhao Yuying and a number of orderlies near him.

    In the distant forest, countless bats suddenly fluttered up and formed a swirling ck cloud in the sky. Below that dark cloud was the main army of the dark race.

    The bright day and dark night were no different at all in Qianye¡¯s supervision. He shot a single nce and said to Zhao Yuying, ¡°5000 blood thralls and around four to five hundred vampire warriors. It seems most of them are the viscount¡¯s men.¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged and said, ¡°Is this your first time leading a battle of this scale?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Qianye admitted calmly.

    ¡°Very well. After this boring battle ends, you¡¯ll understand that there are many factors that affect the battle, including the warriors¡¯ training, sufficient supplies, firm strategy, and quality of equipment. But there¡¯s really only one thing that decides victory.¡±

    These were the words of one of the empire¡¯s greatest marshals, Zhang Boqian¡¯s great-grandfather, Zhang Dongliu. Almost every imperial soldier knew this by heart and Qianye was no exception. He finished the sentence with a rueful smile, ¡°Experts.¡±

    ¡°Correct. I was wondering whether or not you¡¯ll know. Why don¡¯t you just rush over directly and finish off that weak viscount? Won¡¯t that solve everything? Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t kill a measly third-rank viscount? I feel it¡¯s not difficult for you to finish off two such characters.¡±

    Qianye smiled and pointed toward the Dark me warriors who had taken up a defensive stance. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. But my subordinates need to mature amidst the mes of war and such an opportunity doesn¡¯te too often.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the use of these ordinary soldiers? On the contrary, it¡¯s distracting.¡±

    Qianye broke into aughter and shook his head. ¡°They¡¯re naturally useless to high nobles like you, but it¡¯s not the same for us.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Zhao Yuying cut him short. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯re mistaken. Troops and influence are only useful to people like us. We received the support of the n, and as such, we also have a responsibility to reciprocate. Troops are best used for upation, control, and administration¡ªthey¡¯re like adding wings to tigers like us. But it¡¯s not the same for you. You must be clear by now that the Zhao n may be your support, but quite likely a crisis as well.¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly.

    Zhao Yuying continued, ¡°Little Four is strong, very strong. And I have no doubts about his determination to protect you. But I also know that relying on others is, in and of itself, unreliable. So, what you really should do is to be stronger yourself and not get distracted. For instance, Lin Xitang.¡±

    The appearance of this name shook Qianye¡¯s heart.

    Zhao Yuying hadn¡¯t noticed the minute changes in his emotion and kept on speaking, ¡°Many people only know Lin Xitang leads his armies with extraordinary skill and is unparalleled in strategy. They only know that the Northern Legion he established can be considered the most elite unit, and how he single-handedly brought the Lin family from low to high-ranking noble status. But few know the true reason why Lin Xitang was able to stand equal to Marshal Boqian as one of the empire¡¯s twin paragons.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but listen with bated breath. He too had never imagined that there would be another reason.

    Zhao Yuyingughed coldly and said, ¡°Lin Xitang has gone through hundreds of battle, big and small, throughout his career. But he has never once been defeated in a direct confrontation! It¡¯s quite amusing that everyone thinks he achieved a leading position with strategy.¡±

    Qianye opened his mouth and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Has Marshal Lin and Marshal Zhang ever fought before?¡±

    Zhao Yuying shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of such a battle. Don¡¯t ask me, I don¡¯t know why either.¡±

    Qianye recalled in detail. He had indeed never heard any rumors rted to the results of a contest between the two. This was quite surprising.

    The reputation of the Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons rose when they were both champions. Back then, they were the two iparable brilliant rising stars, one civil and one military, one a strategist and the other a warrior. Their stories were spread far and wide among the military¡¯s younger generation. Later on, one became the cornerstone of the aristocratic ns, while the other became the leader of the rising military power. In the end, the two became political rivals in the imperial court, but they were still the idols of countless youths.

    Today, Zhang Boqian was a peerless symbol of the empire¡¯s backbone generation, while Lin Xitang¡¯spletely unfathomable Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery was gradually surpassing the other ancient secret arts. Thus, in the eyes of countless people, the bestbination was to have Lin Xitang lead the army, and Zhang Boqian break through enemy formations to ughter their generals. As for aparison of martial strength, it was naturally Zhang Boqian who was stronger.

    However, ording to Zhao Yuying''s words, it seemed the results of a battle between the two paragons wasn¡¯t that easy to judge. But now that Zhang Boqian was about to advance to the rank of Heavenly Monarch, there would probably never be an answer to this guess.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and gazed at the fast approaching vampire army. ¡°I understand. But, let¡¯s finish this battle first before anything else.¡±

    He slowly raised his right hand. The orderly immediately focused his attention on his gesture, waiting for themand.

    Qianye gauged the distance in silence. He finally gripped his hands into a fist after the tide of blood thralls had descended the knoll and began charging along the gentle slope.

    The dense darkness of the night was torn apart by the resplendent mes as a dozen-odd cannons rumbled continuously, firing shell after shell toward the dark race army. The first wave actually contained a fair number of res¡ªit was as though ten suns had appeared in the sky as the blinding white light illuminated the entire battlefield.

    The high-ranking vampire warriors hiding amidst the blood thralls were staring fixedly at the sky, ready to intercept the iing heavy cannon shells. Ordinary res would only affect their vision slightly and caused no damage to their eyes.

    However, the ones Qianye had used were special sh shells used only by the imperial regr army. The light erupting from them contained intense daybreak origin power and were highly destructive against the dark races. This was especially true for the vampires and demonkin who possessed outstanding eyesight.

    These special sh shells were of extraordinary value, and it was fairly rare to see them on Evernight Continent, even in major battles. The opponent, Viscount Thomas, had never even seen this thing before. He realized something wasn¡¯t right the moment this white light suddenly appeared and hurriedly closed his eyes. Even then, his eyes stung and tears flowed out involuntarily.

    Even Thomas was in such a state, to speak nothing of the vampires under hismand. Many high-ranking warriors were howling in pain while covering their eyes. Large charred marks had even emerged on the blood thralls¡¯ skin. Many of the weaker ones were burned until they rolled about on the ground in pain.

    A single wave of cannon fire had thrown Thomas¡¯ entire unit into confusion and wiped out all of his lower-ranking military power.

    Qianye stood at the back, observing everything in silence.

 Volume 5 - 54: Minor Victory

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 54: Minor Victory

    Heavy cannons rumbled on, and this time, they contained ordinary shells. Balls of me erupted amidst the vampire ranks, each of them sting away a dozen-odd blood thralls.

    Although the heavy artillery sted with great vigor, their actual destructive power was rather limited. Because of humans¡¯ frequent use of cannons in battle, the dark races normally spread themselves out in a scattered formation when charging.

    Moreover, blood thralls were purely expendable cannon fodder for consuming enemy ammunition, and the vampires wouldn¡¯t feel distressed no matter how many of them died. But such a wide-coverage barrage was effective against vampire warriors who usually hid among the blood thralls charging toward the enemy camp.

    The middle to low-ranking dark race warriors wouldn¡¯t dare take direct cannon fire despite their strong bodies. Their evasive movements were much nimbler than ordinary blood thralls and would usually be spotted by the human race snipers, turning them into firing targets.

    At this moment, Viscount Thomas had fallen into a predicament¡ªmost of the blood thralls had been immobilized by the star shell just now, and the entire formation could no longer press forward. If he ordered the army to continue their advance, the vampire warriors would bepletely exposed before Dark me¡¯s cannons, but they would suffer continuous cannon fire if they were to hold their ground.

    Even the thinly spread formation wouldn¡¯tst long under the continuous plowing of the artillery barrage. Thomas opened his still-teary eyes and entered a state ofplete fury. He pointed forward and roared, ¡°Kill! Kill all those despicable humans!¡±

    This was a signal for an all-out attack. The vampire warriors began to charge under the viscount¡¯s orders¡ªthey disyed extreme speed and agility as they rushed toward Dark me¡¯s defensive line even faster than a cheetah.

    Qianye raised his fist and pointed forward. The order was passed on like a ry, and Dark me¡¯s light and heavy weaponry began to st out in unison, mowing down the first row of vampire warriors like grass.

    The vampires began to retaliate at the same time. The characteristic timber of their origin guns reverberated continuously as beams of origin light streaked across the night sky andnded on the defensive position. The quality of the vampire elites came into disy at this moment. Very few of them used gunpowder weapons, and their origin bullets almost seemed to trace back along the trajectory of the projectiles fired from Dark me guns, seemingly poised to drill into the muzzles.

    Dark me suffered hundreds of casualties in mere moments.

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained unchanged and continued to observe the situation in silence.

    Under the provocation of terrifying enemies, Dark me¡¯s warriors fired an overflowing torrent of bullets toward the front. The dense barrage of bullets formed a ming in the darkness of the night which soon enveloped the vampire warriors.

    Vampire warriors fell continuously no matter how they moved or shifted. They were also retaliating, and almost every bullet would find a mark. However, the casualties they were able to inflict grew smaller and smaller.

    Snipers like Zhu Wuya and Tu Shiqing were firing with all their might¡ªeven high-ranking warriors with lightning-fast agility could hardly escape their shots.

    In the end, the vampire warriors still made it past the zone of death and arrived near the battle line. Numerous ck shadows were immediately flung into the frontline, followed by a world-shaking explosion. Its might wasn¡¯t at all inferior to Dark me¡¯s heavy artillery barrage, and might even be more powerful in certain areas.

    Vampire grenades were just that powerful no matter when they were used.

    But seeing the few exploding balls of me, Zhao Yuying spat and jeered, ¡°Just these few toys? As expected of rural vampire bastards, so poor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to cry if they¡¯re rich.¡± Qianye disyed some rare humor.

    Hundreds of vampire warriors had rushed up the defensive position in an instant, and the battle quickly turned into a melee. One after another, Dark me officers issued battle cries and jumped out to meet the iing enemy in battle.

    Far in the distance, Viscount Thomas let out a shrill cry, whereupon the vampire warriors who had charged into the defensive position split into two. Some vampires held their original positions and engaged the enemy, covering for the others who quickly pushed deeper into the defensive position. It seemed they wanted to create confusion in Dark me¡¯s battlefront and also destroy the snipers and heavy cannons that were usually positioned at the back.

    However, Dark me wasn¡¯t an ordinary unit. This was especially true for the three regiments Qianye had brought this time¡ªthe proportion of fighters in them far surpassed ordinary expeditionary army units. The high-ranking vampire warriors who had charged in found themselves surrounded by countless fighters.

    Viscount Thomas noticed the multicolored origin power radiance within Dark me¡¯s position. Although the enemy ranks weren¡¯t excessively high, they were capable of drowning out his own warriors with numbers alone. Moreover, he had never seen any expeditionary army unit with so many fighters!

    At this moment, even ordinary people who knew nothing of warfare could see that the vampire warriors who had rushed in would soon be annihted.

    The viscount looked left and right. His entire force was already engaged in battle, and only his personal guard unit remained around him.

    It would be their turn after thepletely surrounded vampire warriors were finished off. Thomas hesitated for a moment and then let out a mournful whistle which represented a retreat. He then turned around and ran into the darkness of the night.

    In Viscount Thomas¡¯ heart, it wasn¡¯t considered a defeat as long as he himself was alive. As for the warriors and descendants, it wasn¡¯t important no matter how many had died. He could still recover his strength with a bit of time and resources. The blood thralls, on the other hand, weren¡¯t considered a loss at all.

    Zhao Yuying suddenly nced at her side as Thomas began to escape, only to find that Qianye had disappeared at some point.

    It was at this time that a vampire warrior staggered past numerous interceptions and arrived before Zhao Yuying. This was a blood knight¡ªhe had long since be drenched in blood, and there was arge sinister looking wound across his chest. However, his powerful vampire vitality allowed him to keep on fighting.

    His eyes immediately lit up after seeing Zhao Yuying and charged up while waving his sword. Apparently, he wished to drag someone important along with him to the grave.

    Unfortunately, Zhao Yuying was too much for him to handle. She didn¡¯t even raise her hand and only spat out in a disgusted manner¡ªthe saliva projectile shot through the blood knight''s forehead and actually produced a cross-shaped hole amidst a gush of fresh blood.

    The blood knight¡¯s eyes immediately lost all spirit, and the body gradually copsed after taking a few steps forward from the inertia.

    All the Dark me soldiers around Zhao Yuying revealed expressions of fear and distanced themselves secretly. She had actually spat a desperate and fierce blood knight to death with a mouthful of saliva. They probably wouldn¡¯t believe it had they not seen it with their own eyes.

    The fight within the Dark me position gradually calmed down after the blood knight fell. Most of the vampires had already died in battle, and a portion of them chose to surrender. There were also a small number who broke through the siege and disappeared into the night, not daring to look back.

    Thomas was running quickly through the distant forest, his speed much faster than a high-ranking werewolf. Thendscape and darkness posed not as obstructions but were, instead, the best covers for him.

    He cursed Dark me maliciously in his heart as he ran. He wasn¡¯t that worried about his own safety because he was already safe after running this far. Thomas didn¡¯t believe any human could catch up to him under present conditions.

    However, he came to a sudden halt after rushing out of a forest¡ªQianye was standing quietly not so far in the distance, waiting for his arrival.

    Thomas recognized him as themander of Dark me but didn¡¯t know how this person had suddenly appeared here to intercept him. He had seen Qianye issuing instructions in the Dark me position just before he set out.

    Thomas roared furiously, sped up, and pounced straight toward Qianye. Immediately after moving forth, he drew his origin handgun and sted straight ahead.

    However, he felt a sudden burst of intense pain in his chest just as he was about to pull the trigger. This caused his hand to shake, and the muzzle was raised upward¡ªa beam of origin power shot toward an unknown direction. The viscount endured the pain in his heart and looked up with great difficulty, just in time to find that a double-barreled handgun had appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand and was aimed at his head!

    Thomas¡¯ expression grew increasingly fierce as he suddenly let out a resounding scream.

    Qianye felt a fit of dizziness as the strong origin power fluctuations in the dark viscount¡¯s cry rushed into his central nervous system. Qianye simply closed his eyes and relied on his instincts to pull the trigger. Thomas¡¯ anguished howl was mixed in with the timber of the Twin Flowers.

    The dizziness had subsided when Qianye opened his eyes, but the vampire viscount had already arrived before him. Thomas¡¯ right shoulder and arm were badly mangled, and the wound was charred ck as though it had been burned. Apparently, the Twin Flowers had injured the viscount seriously despite the slight deviation.

    Thomas had paid a hefty price to draw close to Qianye. He naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of this opportunity and shed out with the sword in his intact left hand. At the same time, his two blood-sucking fangs emerged, ready to be sunk into Qianye¡¯s body at the first opportunity.

    Qianye reached out with his right hand and easily grabbed Thomas¡¯ wrist. The sword stopped immediately mid-air and couldn¡¯t advance a single inch.

    Thomas was greatly astonished. How could a mere human possess such strength?!

    He noticed Qianye¡¯s left arm move past him and, without thinking, bit down. His two blood-sucking fangs sunk deep into Qianye¡¯s arm!

    Thomas stared fixedly at Qianye with a sh of cruel excitement in his eyes. Although this human was strong, he apparentlycked experience fighting against vampires. Ordinary people simply wouldn¡¯t dare engage a vampire in barehanded melee. That was because a human, once bitten, would turn into a blood thrall.

    Qianye was undoubtedly a powerful opponent. Thomas couldn¡¯t help but be excited when he thought of the former turning into a blood thrall.

    However, he suddenly realized that Qianye¡¯s expression was calm, so calm that it made him feel cold. It was as though the arm that had been bitten wasn¡¯t his own. Thomas sucked forcefully, but he simply couldn¡¯t taste the intoxicating blood. He wanted to inject toxins into Qianye, but the venom wouldn¡¯t flow out as though his fangs were blocked.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s arm was as hard as a rock, and Thomas¡¯ fangs were sealed in stone.

    Qianye sneered and suddenly pulled his left arm away from Thomas¡¯ mouth with the two blood-sucking fangs still nailed on it. Even the flesh at their roots was still wiggling.

    Thomas let out a blood-curdling howl of anguish and fell rolling onto the ground. Having one''s blood-sucking fangs pulled out wasn¡¯t something a vampire could withstand.

    Qianye stepped on Thomas with one leg, drew his Scarlet Edge, and pierced thetter¡¯s blood core.

    Thomas stared fixedly at Qianye with a contorted smile. Blood was flowing out of his mouth, but he still managed to speak with great difficulty. ¡°You¡¯ve been bitten and won¡¯t live long. You¡¯ll be burnt to death by those of your race!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re overthinking,¡± Qianye replied indifferently. Scarlet Edge¡¯s absorption was suddenly increased, and Thomas¡¯ essence blood flowed out along the de¡¯s edge.

    The viscount¡¯s expression changed drastically as he shouted in great terror, ¡°You! You¡¯re also a descendant of sacred blood?! Why?!¡±

    He never got his answer because the Scarlet Edge had shattered his blood core and drained him of all essence blood. Meanwhile, Qianye had never made it a habit to satisfy the enemy¡¯s curiosity.

    He got up and felt as if his body were bathed in warm water. This inexplicablyfortable sensation was a sign of overflowing essence blood. He wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb anymore if he were to meet another powerful enemy.

    Qianye nced at his surroundings and found that it waspletely silent. After confirming that no one had slipped by, he picked up Thomas¡¯ body and went back.

 Volume 5 - 55: Standard of Profit in War

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 55: Standard of Profit in War

    Gunshots rang out from time to time as Dark me warriors cleaned up the battlefield. They worked in groups of three to five, and their attitudes were just as cautious as they were during battle.

    Vampires were the most dangerous enemies to humans, especially those on the verge of death because one would be a blood thrall all the same if they were suddenly bitten. The standard procedure during a cleanup was to fire first at any blood thralls or vampires with signs of life before approaching them.

    Perhaps that was also the reason why vampires treated human prisoners of war with increasing cruelty. They were now much harsherpared to before the Thousand Year War where human prisoners were kept as livestock.

    Between the two factions, the conflict between the humans and vampires was the cruelest.

    When Qianye returned, he saw a dozen or so vampire warriors pacing around Zhao Yuying, probably the only prisoners of war in this entire battle. There was only one way humans treated blood thralls, and that was to exterminate them. There were also very few vampire warriors who were willing to surrender.

    Zhao Yuying would asionally pinch their chests and pat their buttocks as though she were the patron of a brothel picking out a girl. Then, he saw her open a blood knight¡¯s mouth and check his fangs¡ªnow that was definitely a method for picking beasts of burden.

    Qianye truly had no idea how to evaluate this granddaughter of Duke You. The more he interacted with her, the more amazed he became. For instance, these originally fierce and vicious vampires were now as meek as kittens before her. One had to know that it was a great humiliation for vampires to have their fangs looked over, yet they were actually enduring it.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°How did you achieve this?¡±

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t turn back. ¡°Call me sister and I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave that forter.¡± Qianye tried to slip through.

    It was a rare asion for Zhao Yuying to not pursue a matter relentlessly. She only continued her selection process and said, ¡°It¡¯s quite simple really. I only told them that anyone who disobeys will die for three days.¡±

    ¡°Is it that simple?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t believe it.

    ¡°It¡¯s just that simple!¡± Zhao Yuying replied without hesitation.

    ¡°How can you have so much time.¡± Qianye unceremoniously exposed her lies. Time was precious to a person like Zhao Yuying¡ªhow could she spend three days on something like this?

    Unexpectedly, Zhao Yuyingughed out loud and said, ¡°I¡¯ve always had a lot of time on my hands.¡±

    Momentster, Zhao Yuying picked out ten vampires and said, ¡°These vampires will be mypensation. Dispatch someone to send them back in a while.¡±

    Qianye frowned after checking the remaining vampires. ¡°That¡¯s more than ten percent.¡±

    Zhao Yuying put a hand on Qianye¡¯s shoulder andughed. ¡°Qianye, why do you have to be so stingy?! This mommy, no, I¡¯m still your sister no matter what.¡±

    Qianye pped away her ws without batting an eyelid. ¡°This matter hasn¡¯t been confirmed yet.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s ws came back once again and her face was all smiles. ¡°Why isn¡¯t it confirmed? There are only these few siblings in the Zhao n. How can there be a mistake?¡±

    Naturally, there were more than just a few people in the Zhao n. Just the younger generation under thirty years old numbered in the tens of thousands. But those who could enter the eyes of Zhao Jundu and Zhao Yuying could naturally be counted on one hand.

    Qianye frowned slightly. He didn¡¯t want to be tangled with her anymore and said without the slightest bit of concession, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you want to take more from this batch. We¡¯ll just adjust your payments ordingly in the future batches.

    Zhao Yuying pouted. ¡°It¡¯s so rare to have another brother, yet he¡¯s such a miser!¡±

    ¡°This little property is all I have. I would¡¯ve been devoured clean by you if I weren¡¯t stingy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re speaking as though you¡¯re this mommy¡¯s man!¡±

    ¡°I suggest you do find a man as quickly as possible.¡±

    ¡°Hey, who treats an elder sister like that?!¡±

    Qianye had already lost interest in bickering with Zhao Yuying. He shot a nce at the ten vampires she had picked out and asked, ¡°How did you pick them?¡±

    ¡°ording to their strength and quality of course.¡±

    Quality? Qianye had never felt he could find any quality in these vampires. Even if there was any to be found, she probably couldn¡¯t find any with her methods. Moreover, no matter how one observed, it still felt as though she was just picking those with good looks and figures.

    Qianye had heard vaguely about how handsome vampires and demonkin were quite popr among the high-ranking nobility.

    The results of the battle were checked very quickly.

    Viscount Thomas¡¯ forces werepletely wiped in this battle. Over twenty vampires above the level of esquire fell in battle, and two were captured. Nearly five hundred formal vampire warriors were killed, and over a dozen were captured. As for the blood thralls, the losses reached six thousand.

    Meanwhile, the casualties on Qianye¡¯s Dark me was over three hundred. This kind of casualty rate could be considered a glorious victory by the empire¡¯s standards, however, that wasn¡¯t the case in Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes. Qianye had used ten rounds of expensive daybreak res in order to achieve this result. This battle could only be considered a minor victory once the ammunition cost was factored in.

    Qianye was somewhat puzzled after hearing Zhao Yuying¡¯s evaluation. She was, after all, a descendant of a major n. Ignoring her shockingly carefree nature for the time being, just how was she raised to be so avaricious?

    As Qianye saw it, ammunition was something that would be used sooner orter, while warriors would grow stronger with each battle. Using ten star shells in exchange for a major victory was definitely worth it.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stop after eliminating Viscount Thomas and continued marching through the night. He split up the forces into two¡ªone unit, led by Zhao Yuying, assaulted the mines along the way, while Qianye personally led the other toward Viscount Thomas¡¯ir. That Wei n champion continued leading the military engineers and logistic teams at a safe distance from the main army where he could both safeguard their rear path and rush to the front when his help was needed.

    Zhao Yuying had to make an iparably painful choice between attacking the viscount¡¯s castle and the mines. There, Qianye saw a different side of her that was indecisive and hesitant. Bute to think of it, she would only waver so much when money was involved.

    Dark me¡¯s offensive finally rmed the entire county after this battle.

    Only then did the feudal lords under Stuka¡¯smand began to mobilize their troops, and with iparable sluggishness at that. Up until now, the human forces in ckflow City¡¯s direction had only focused on defense and neverunched a major offensive before. Only when Thomas¡¯ army waspletely wiped out and the viscount himself had fallen in battle did theye to realize that the humans wereunching a real war.

    Within a castle in the southeast, an extremely tall and sturdy werewolf was sitting on his high seat, looking down at the hall full of his subordinates.

    Those in the hall were all werewolves, and there was none from the other races¡ªa stark contrast from other feudal lords. Additionally, all of the werewolves were in their primitive forms; no one had transformed into human shape.

    The werewolf on the high seat had ming red hair, a vicious expression, and arge scar across his chest. He was known as ¡°Red-Haired Brudo the Terrible¡±, the only werewolf viscount under Count Stuka.

    Brudo was inherently cruel and tyrannical, but he possessed greatbat strength and would disregard all consequences when he turned berserk. The scar in front of his chest was left behind when he challenged Count Stuka.

    Having challenged Count Stuka as a second-rank viscount and even living to tell the tale¡ªeveryone came to know of Brudo¡¯s madness and valiance after that incident.

    This werewolf viscount was, at the same time, a racist who had always believed that only werewolves were trustworthy. That was why only werewolves were allowed to live in his territory and the only ones from the other races were ves.

    At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall was extremely stifling. Brudo¡¯s loud breathing was akin to that of bellows as it echoed through the hall. The other werewolves, on the other hand, cowered without daring to speak.

    Brudo finally spoke, ¡°Where are those humans now?¡±

    A werewolf walked toward therge map on the wall and pointed out the positions of Qianye¡¯s three units.

    ¡°When did this incident take ce?¡± asked Brudo.

    ¡°Yesterday night.¡±

    The viscount suddenly roared, ¡°Don¡¯t try to fob me off with something so ambiguous asst night! Tell me the exact time. How many hours before was this!?¡±

    The werewolf in front of the map said in a trembling voice, ¡°F-Fifteen, approximately fifteen hours ago.¡±

    ¡°Fifteen hours! Humph!¡± It was quite rare to see a pause in Brudo¡¯s fury. The pair of jade-green eyes stared fixedly at the map with an inexplicable solemnity on his face.

    ording to the information they acquired, Thomas lost too quickly no matter how they assessed the progress of the battle.

    As one of the feudal lords under Stuka, Brudo understood Thomas very well. Even though that treacherous and cunning vampire was as cowardly as a mouse, the army under hismand wasn¡¯t weak at all, so much that his army might even be more powerful than Brudo¡¯s werewolf-supreme army. How could he have been defeated just like that?

    Brudo slowly turned back and asked, ¡°Are the warriors from every tribe present?¡±

    ¡°Warriors from all tribes have been summoned except¡­¡±

    ¡°Except what?¡± Great ferocity shed in Brudo¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°The Sharp Fang Tribe hasn¡¯te. They im to be performing an extremely important sacrifice to their ancestors and for which their entire tribe must be present. Otherwise, their ancestors would me them.¡±

    ¡°Sharp Fang,¡± Brudo muttered this name from between his teeth and ended with a muffled growl toward the end. Those familiar with Red-Haired Brudo the Terrible knew that he would tear everyone from Sharp Fang apart after this battle.

    A brown-furred werewolf waved his ws and said, ¡°Sire, let¡¯s set out now. I¡¯ll charge first and tear those human insects apart.

    Brudo stood up and paced a couple of times in front of his seat before suddenly saying, ¡°No, we shall defend. Inform all our men to recall all external patrol units and stop all hunting activities. Every warrior shall withdraw to defend the gates, and no one is allowed to fire unless the humans attack us proactively. No one shall attack even if they walk right past our eyes!¡±

    ¡°Sire, this¡­¡± The werewolves were bewildered because they had never seen Brudo issue such an order.

    ¡°Execute the order!¡± Brudo roared loudly and released his aura of brutality without restraint. The werewolves lowered their heads in fear and firmly memorized their orders. Then, they withdrew from the hall and began to convey the will of Brudo the Terrible to all relevant parties.

    Only Brudo was left in the hall. He stood in front of the map and stared fixedly at the marks upon them, some thoughtfulness and caution appearing in his originally savage eyes.

    On Dark me¡¯s side, the vanguard led by Duan Hao swept through all dark race settlements one after another and annihted all patrol teams who entered their sights. And with Thomas¡¯ main force already destroyed, Qianye and Zhao Yuying conquered their respective targets with rtive ease.

    Qianye plundered everything valuable from the viscount¡¯s castle. He dispatched apany of soldiers to escort the hundreds of vampire captives and tens of thousands of livestock humans back to ckflow City while he himself led the army to rendezvous with Zhao Yuying.

    The first thing Qianye asked after seeing Zhao Yuying was the number of casualties, but thetter¡¯s only reply was that they had made a big profit this time.

    With great effort, Qianye¡¯s thoughts made a sharp turn and confirmed that their losses were indeed quite small.

 Volume 5 - 56: A Peculiar Ore Vein

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 56: A Peculiar Ore Vein

    The mines in Zhao Yuying¡¯s charge produced ck stone ore. This was a fairlymon mineral found on Evernight Continent, but the vampire count¡¯s mine boasted massive reserves and easy extraction. Moreover, there was also a considerable yield of ck crystal which was worth much more than ck stone ore. Compared to Qianye¡¯s little mine, however, its ability to convert produce into cash was somewhat inferior since it didn¡¯t produce copper.

    Qianye and Zhao Yuying stood on high ground, watching Dark me warriors escorting the mine guards toward the designated camp in a single file. In addition to the guards, there were also thousands of miners and a fair portion of them were humans. They weren¡¯t blood thralls or raised ¡°livestock¡±, but human ves.

    Zhao Yuying tossed an irregr piece of ck crystal ore in her hand and said, ¡°There are too many of them. It¡¯ll be fairly troublesome. What do you n to do with them?¡±

    ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± Qianye replied with a question. He liked to listen to Zhao Yuying¡¯s idea recently. Although this unique and independent nobledy would sometimes say astonishing things, they weren¡¯t entirely unreasonable upon careful thought. Additionally, this was a good opportunity to understand more about her.

    Qianye had originally thought that Zhao Yuying¡¯s reply would be to put them all to death or seal them directly into the mines and leave them to their fate. It was amonly used method in war, especially in territories where one couldn¡¯t station troops mid-way. This would prevent the army from being dragged down by the prisoners of war and deny the other side any opportunity to take advantage of.

    Unexpectedly, Zhao Yuying said, ¡°Leave them here and have apany watch over them. Don¡¯t stop the ore extraction routine.¡±

    Now, it was Qianye¡¯s turn to hesitate. ¡°This will restrict arge part of our troops. Don¡¯t tell me we¡¯re going to do the same for all the other mines along the way? My troop strength isn¡¯t at a level where we can scatter them in this manner.¡±

    Zhao Yuying replied, ¡°If worstes to worst, I¡¯ll put in more effort and fill in for the gap in fighting power.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t like you.¡±

    ¡°No, this is just like me. The ore vein here is different from the others. It might actually be hiding something, but I need to upy even more mines to make sure. Look, this ck crystal is proof of this.¡±

    Zhao Yuying flicked her fingers and sent a ck crystal rolling into Qianye¡¯s hands. Thetter observed in detail and switched to different perceptions. He even used darkness and daybreak origin powers to probe, but couldn¡¯t find anything special about this piece of ck crystal.

    ¡°You also know how to distinguish minerals and prospect mines?¡±

    ¡°This is a necessary skill for a money grubber, is it not?¡±

    ¡°You also know that you¡¯re a money-grubber?¡±

    ¡°Qianye, if you keep treating your sister like this, I¡¯ll double the battle reward!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the most generous and magnanimous!¡±

    ¡°What horrible ttery! Go back and learn from Zining!¡±

    Qianye gave the present issue some thought. He then summoned Dark me¡¯s senior officers to discuss matters rted to troop allocation and made arrangements ordingly after confirming that they could still afford to take out apany of soldiers.

    Qianye walked into his own tent after he had finished handling military affairs. He opened the map and began to research the remainder of their journey.

    There were two viscounts on their way forward¡ªthe werewolf Brudo and the arachne Musk. Their strengths were more or less equal to Thomas, but the fight against them would be much harder.

    Daybreak star shells were especially effective against vampires, and Qianye himself possessed an overwhelming advantage against vampires of the same level. The shells weren¡¯t as effective against the resilient werewolves and arachne, but the situation would bepletely different if Zhao Yuying was willing to put in more effort.

    At this time, the door p to the tent was lifted up and in came Zhao Yuying. ¡°Have you thought about how we¡¯ll fight the uing battles.¡±

    Qianye drew out two advancement routes and said, ¡°If I were them, I¡¯ll find a way to meet up at this point and hold the defensive position. After all, we just devoured Thomas and the two of them aren¡¯t fools. How would they dare to fight us separately?¡±

    Zhao Yuying muttered, ¡°It seems we took down Thomas too quickly. It¡¯ll be a bitter fight if the two of them join forces and that old spider dispatches his forces at the same time.¡±

    ¡°We will split up if they¡¯re all gathered in one ce. You and I will lead a unit each. As for the target, heh, heh, are you interested in robbing a viscount¡¯s castle?¡±

    ¡°Little Five, you¡¯re too kind!¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes lit up in a scary manner as shetched right onto Qianye¡¯s shoulder and kissed him. Moreover, this movement caused her chest to presspletely against his shoulder without the slightest restraint. Qianye¡¯s perception was extremely sharp and immediately sensed the surging fullness of Zhao Yuying¡¯s bosom.

    He immediately took a step back without batting an eyelid. Zhao Yuying also noticed something was odd andughed loudly, ¡°What¡¯s the big deal? I even helped you bathe when you were a kid.¡±

    Qianye was dumbfounded for a long while and replied helplessly, ¡°Who knows if that¡¯s real? You were only a smallss back then¡­ let¡¯s get back to proper business!¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s get back to business. I just interviewed the foreman of this mine and gained some interesting information. There are five more simr ck stone mines in the count¡¯s territory.¡±

    With that, Zhao Yuying marked down the five mines on the map which Qianye observed repeatedly. However, he found nothing special about them apart from the fact that they all belonged to the same mountain range.

    Zhao Yuying knew Qianye wasn¡¯t proficient in prospecting mines and, as such, marked down several other areas on the long mountain range. ¡°We should be able to find new ck stone mining sites in these areas and they should be of simr or even greater yield than the present ones.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows and said, ¡°These mines are so abundant? Doesn¡¯t this make this ce a mineral-rich region?¡±

    ¡°How can it be as simple as a mere mineral-rich region?! Come, remember this ce.¡±

    Zhao Yuying pointed to a point on the map. Qianye¡¯s expression shifted slightly because the ce where she had pointed was precisely Green Peak Mountain. It was also the region where Sharp Fang Tribe was.

    ¡°Is there something special about this ce?¡±

    ¡°If my judgement is correct, there is something hidden in this region affecting all the mineral deposits. This ce should be a key point ording to the path of the ore veins¡ªit¡¯s highly likely that we¡¯ll be able to find some clues or even apletely new ore vein.¡±

    Qianye only frowned in silence as he recalled the mysteriousw array he had seen at the summit of Green Peak Mountain.

    Zhao Yuying also recalled the matter at this point. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say there was abnormal dark race activity in this area? Maybe they have also found this abnormality. We¡¯ll know after the arrayponents you brought back have been cracked whether they¡¯re searching for new ore veins or something else.¡±

    Qianye nodded and said, ¡°Very well! I¡¯ll take control of this area as soon as possible.¡± He began thinking about how he should modify his own ns. A mere Sharp Fang Tribe wasn¡¯t much of an obstruction.

    It was at this time that an orderly entered the tent and said after performing his salutations, ¡°Sire, this is the most recent intelligence, please take a look at it.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned rather odd after receiving the report and scanning it briefly. He then passed it to Zhao Yuying.

    Zhao Yuying looked over it and was momentarily startled. ¡°Werewolf Viscount Brudo didn¡¯t dispatch his troops and, instead, pulled back all of his warriors to hold the mountain pass outside of his castle? They¡­ this¡­¡±

    Brudo holding back his troops and assuming a defensive position was naturally good news under normal circumstances, but now, it was a problem because Sharp Fang Tribe was beyond the mountain pass, and two of the mines Qianye and Zhao Yuying hoped to upy were also on Brudo¡¯s territory.

    This fierce werewolf famed for his valiance has actually holed up? This was indeed surprising.

    Qianye quickly collected his thoughts. In any case, this wasn¡¯t bad news for the present battle situation because it meant that the arachne viscount Musk would be left alone without any help.

    Qianye promptly made his decision. He summoned the orderly and issuedmands while pointing to certain points on the map. ¡°Immediately prepare the army to move out in one hour. Our destination is here, and we will set up camp on this mountain ridge. Send someone to find Duan Hao and have him lead a unit south to watch the werewolves. Instruct him not to hold the line in case of abnormal movements and merely retreat while fighting. Stalling them will suffice.¡±

    The location Qianye had pointed to was a position suitable for cutting off Count Stuka¡¯s potential reinforcements from the arachne viscount¡¯s forces. This would prevent them from joining forces and the initiative would be in Qianye¡¯s hand when the time came to attack any one side.

    Qianye nced at the map after the orderly had left and said, ¡°There¡¯s only one problem. What if Musk also holes up and doesn¡¯te out? At that time, we¡¯ll probably have to face enemies on all three sides.¡±

    ¡°If that little spider decides to hide himself, then we¡¯ll just overturn hisir!¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes lit up at the mention of the wordir.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be that easy, will it?¡±

    Arachne castles were famous for being easy to defend but difficult to besiege. Anyone would encounter a fair bit of distress against them.

    But Zhao Yuying let out a frosty smile. ¡°Musk¡¯s so-called castle is merely a small earth mound. What¡¯s so difficult about that? We have such arge amount of extracted ck stones. We can just move them all over, pile them up at the base of the earthen mound, and burn their stronghold for a couple of days. Whether it¡¯s a viscount or a count, we¡¯ll just incinerate them!¡±

    Qianye felt a chill in his heart.

    Zhao Yuying saw something queer in Qianye¡¯s eyes and said with a charming smile, ¡°What? Are you thinking about your sister¡¯s brilliance and wisdom?¡±

    ¡°You could say that.¡± Qianye realized that he was speaking more and more things that were contrary to his thoughts.

    Zhao Yuying immediately revealed her inherent character and let out three loudughs. ¡°Just follow this elder sister and learn in the future. I guarantee you¡¯ll be really skilled in dealing with the dark races!¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly since he had nothing to say. Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion had mainly focused on elite fighting ability. Although he had learned some strategy and military operations, that was merely for cooperating withrge units in aplishingbat missions.

    Whilemanding Dark me¡¯s forces at present, Qianye had to consider and deduce things repeatedly, frequently convening with the high ranking officers for discussion. It was akin to a process of step-by-step learning and practice, and meeting Zhao Yuying widened his horizons greatly. Each and every one of her numerous suggestions were outrageously cruel and sinister. For instance, this method of burning the arachne¡¯sir with ck stone was definitely not in the imperial military academy¡¯s textbooks.

    However, these cruel tactics were extremely effective. The arachne would have no choice but to charge out for a decisive battle after seeing the battle situation. Otherwise, his castle would be immted for several days straight¡ªeven though it wasn¡¯t enough to kill the high-ranking arachne, countless low-ranking warriors, servspiders, and civilians would be roasted alive. Their spider eggs wouldn¡¯t escape this fate either.

    Young Miss Yuying¡¯s strategy, in summary, came down to two words, ¡°Complete Annihtion¡±. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but want to know what kind of experiences Zhao Yuying had gone through to have be such a terrifying god of murder.

    The army marched straight toward its destination afterpleting the necessary preparations. It was like a sharp de piercing straight into the belly of the count¡¯s territory.

    At this moment, the werewolf Brudo¡¯s eyes were red. He only stared fixedly at the map in front of him while drinking one cup of wine after another.

    A werewolf guard approached fearfully. ¡°Sire Viscount, the messengers of the count and Viscount Musk can¡¯t wait any longer.¡±

    Brudo suddenly turned around, his bloodshot eyes radiating ferocity in all directions and the red fur behind his back standing on end. The guard was so scared that he took several steps back and almost fell to the floor.

    White mist sprayed out continuously from Brudo¡¯s nose as he ground his teeth, emitting sounds that would make one shudder. He spoke only momentster, ¡°Let them wait!¡±

    The werewolf guard asked once more despite his fear, ¡°How long shall I have them wait?¡±

    ¡°Let them wait as long as they want and tell them to leave if they can¡¯t wait!¡±

    The guard no longer dared to say anymore and turned to leave.

    A sigh suddenly echoed through the hall, followed by a gentle voice. ¡°Does this mean you¡¯re breaking off all ties with that spider? Have you thought about how you¡¯ll deal with them in the future?¡±

    Brudo turned toward a corner of the hall where, in the shadows, sat a female¡ªa human female.

 Volume 5 - 57: Eve of The Tempest

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 57: Eve of The Tempest

    The woman was fairly delicate and pretty, but nothing more than that.

    But when Brudo nced at her, his eyes were no longer cold and gradually became gentle.

    This time, Brudo spoke in a rather deep voice, ¡°I¡¯ve never thought so far ahead. First and foremost, the werewolves must survive the impending tempest.¡±

    Thedy asked, ¡°Why have you not asked the Summit of Peaks for help?¡±

    ¡°The Summit of Peaks¡¯ strength is currently waning because they have left the ancestral path. Only under the protection of our ancestors¡¯ heroic spirits will the werewolves gain power! Explosive, destructive, and bloody-thirsty power!¡±

    Brudo¡¯s roar echoed throughout the hall.

    ¡°Werewolves were born of the darkness, and our most powerful weapons are our fangs and ws. This is our own power handed down from generation to generation. But that group from the Summit of Peaks makes us wear human armor and use those weak origin power weapons! Do those old fellows not know that the vampires and demonkin wish to see the werewolves rely upon their frosty goods? So much that these things will eventually be our bridles and reins! In their eyes, werewolves are no more than warbeasts who know only to kill and bleed!¡±

    The werewolf viscount waved his ws violently and left numerous deep azure traces in the air.

    Thedy spoke softly when he had calmed down, ¡°I don¡¯t understand these things, but I have a feeling that the tempest this time will be very, very big, and many totems will copse.¡±

    Every tribe had their own totem, and the fall of a totem signified the destruction of a tribe.

    Brudo gazed at the deep twilight outside of the window with resolution in his eyes. ¡°The werewolves will survive!¡±

    Atop the distant mountain ridge, a dark brown arachne had just climbed up to the very peak. There were thousands of servspiders rolling forth under his feet, crawling into the distance. The several units of arachne warriors moving amidst the sea of servspiders would asionally shoot out spider webs and sweep away all life forms that had failed to escape in time.

    There was a number of small units made up of a mixture of werewolves and vampires. Their treatment was obviously inferior by a grade and had to make way for the arachne.

    The dark brown arachne shouted with an impatient voice, ¡°Any news from that rabid dog Brudo?¡±

    The arachne guards on each side nced at each other. Apparently, they had no news to report.

    At this moment, an entirely azure arachne with exceptionally long limbs appeared at the base of the mountain and approached at great speeds. The craggy mountainous terrain was like a nd under its five-meter-long legs. This was a storm arachne¡ªspeed being their forte, they made natural scouts and orderlies.

    It ran straight for the summit where it came to a halt before the brown arachne and said with a bow of its human upper-body, ¡°Sire Musk, I have brought two bad news. Viscount Brudo refuses to field troops and even abandoned all of his surrounding settlements, withdrawing all civilians and warriors to the area around his castle. Our messenger went to seek an audience but wasn¡¯t able to meet him even after waiting for so long.¡±

    The dark brown arachne was Viscount Musk. After hearing this, he said furiously, ¡°What?! Brudo this bastard!¡±

    Musk¡¯s army would be an isted unit if Brudo refused to field troops¡ªthis human force could devour him without much effort since he was capable of swallowing Thomas so easily.

    Musk collected his thoughts and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the second piece of news?¡±

    The storm arachne replied, ¡°Our scouts reported that the human army has arrived at ck Ridge and have set up camp there.¡±

    ¡°ck Ridge?¡± Musk¡¯s expression shifted immediately, and his two hind legs even wavered for a little bit.

    The upation of ck Ridge meant that Musk¡¯smunication with the count¡¯s territory had been cut-off. Now, he could no longer join forces with Stuka¡¯s army even if he wanted to.

    ¡°Sire, what should we do?¡±

    Musk paced around the mountaintop a dozen or so times before calming down. ¡°Turn the army around. We return to Fort Legarne!¡±

    Fort Legarne was one of Musk¡¯s border strongholds and, although not veryrge in scale, should provide some degree of defense. Musk was prepared to pull back there and watch the movement of the human army.

    This human unit¡¯s designation was unfamiliar, and they had appeared too suddenly. Presently, it was unclear whether the aim of their invasion into dark race territory was to upynd or to plunder resources.

    Although it was also an arachne castle, Count Stuka¡¯s was significantly more magnificent and several timesrger. At this moment, Count Stuka was standing in his study and reading a thick ancient book.

    His external appearance was anky old man with perfectly groomed greyish-white hair. He wore a gold-rimmed monocle with a thumb-sized ck gem attached to the end of its chain.

    It was apparent that this count was fairly attentive of his appearance and sought perfection in every detail. This quality of his wasn¡¯t the slightest bit inferior to the vampires who cared most about their looks. However, faint speckles could still be seen on his skin.

    These were senile freckles that would appear as one arrived at the end of their lives. They were actually caused when the slow but uncontroble seeping of darkness origin power from the body produces an irreversible erosion of the skin. Count Stuka had already dabbed a thickyer of powder but still found it difficult to suppress the deep colors.

    There came a knock on the study door at this time.

    A wisp of annoyance shed across Stuka¡¯s countenance. ¡°Enter,¡± he said, his eyes never leaving the page he was on.

    It was a vampire who entered. Seemingly in his middle age, this handsome and elegant person was Stuka¡¯s assistant. Even most members of the count¡¯s race couldn¡¯t understand why he kept a vampire at his side and even trusted him so much.

    ¡°Your Excellency, I had to disturb you because we received news of the human invaders.¡±

    Count Stukas asked without looking up, ¡°Oh? Where are they now?¡±

    ¡°ck Ridge.¡±

    ¡°Have you found out what they are here for?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    The count still refused to raise his head and said indifferently, ¡°Then let¡¯s just keep observing and make sure what exactly it is that they want. Deschamps, take a look, there¡¯s a rather interesting legend here rted to the seven hallowed objects: ¡®The gushing spring of blood shall bring about eternal and unfading youth¡¯.¡±

    Deschamps didn¡¯t go and read the book in the count¡¯s hands, but said anxiously, ¡°Your Excellency, the viscounts to the east of your territory will be wiped out if you don¡¯t take action!¡±

    The count finally raised his eyelids and gazed at the vampire until his bright eyes had forced thetter to lower his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine even if they¡¯re wiped out; we can rebuild. Losing some viscounts is fine too; we can rece those reckless people. Moreover, we¡¯re almost at the most critical phase, as such, my main force cannot move. They must hold fast to this defensive line. Do you understand what will happen if I slip up on my side?¡±

    Deschamps lowered his eyes in silence.

    Stuka carefully folded the page he was reading and ced the book back on the table. He then rose and strolled around the room several times before stopping in front of Deschamps. ¡°You¡¯re also a descendant of sacred blood and should know the source of this storm. We¡¯re pressed between those two major characters, and the time to choose a faction is imminent. How can I have the mood to pay attention to what those human ants are doing?¡±

    Stuka sighed and reached out to pat Descamps shoulder. ¡°Can you give me some suggestions?¡±

    Deschamps said calmly, ¡°My advice is the same as before. The oldest is always the most powerful.¡±

    Stuka uttered a ¡°heh¡± but didn¡¯t continue this topic. He said momentster, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a thousand warriors and the authority to mobilize the surrounding viscount¡¯s forces. That is all I can give you. Go, Deschamp, do not disappoint me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire Count.¡± Deschamps was just as respectful and calm. He wasn¡¯t flustered or delighted by the sudden authority given to him.

    Stuka spoke slowly with a sigh, ¡°This is a tempest. We¡¯ll arrive at a boundless open vista if we can get through this, and we will die if we cannot.¡±

    Deschamps¡¯ expression trembled momentarily as he slowly withdrew from the study. Just before leaving, he gazed habitually toward the window, hoping to see the moon. But he found not a single window after scanning the entire room.

    The count had dressed himself up like a vampire from head to toe, but he was still an arachne at the fundamental level. This study was decorated luxuriously in an ancient style, but it was still buried deep under the ground.

    At this moment, ck Ridge was well illuminated by brilliants lights. Qianye stood at the summit, watching as pillboxes were raised and trenches were dug one after another. The heavy cannons were being moved up to their designated positions atop the mountain by thebined strength of a dozen-odd fighters.

    Their base was quickly taking shape, and this put Qianye¡¯s mind at ease. upying ck Ridge meant that he had effectively separated Count Stuka from the three viscounts in the northeast, and it could be said that his western expedition had half-seeded.

    Zhao Yuying stood beside Qianye and said, ¡°Brat, your luck is quite good. It seems the old spider is tied down by something or perhaps he¡¯s already senile. He actually let you in. Since we¡¯ve already entered, we definitely won¡¯t go back so easily.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°We¡¯ve only wiped out a single viscount, and Count Stuka¡¯s main forces have yet to receive any damage. This battle has just begun.¡±

    ¡°What are your ns for now?¡±

    In truth, Qianye had been pondering this problem all this time. ¡°We have to draw out Stuaka¡¯s main force first. Thend we upy won¡¯t be safe unless we can deal him a serious injury.¡±

    ¡°But it seems the old spider is going to hole up to the end.¡±

    Qianye immediately made up his mind and said, ¡°He won¡¯t be able to sit still if we make him believe that we¡¯re here to plunder.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s our target?¡±

    ¡°Mines. The most important things in his territory are the mines.¡±

    ¡°Normal destruction won¡¯t be effective!¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°We¡¯ll burn them.¡±

    Zhao Yuying whistled and said frivolously, ¡°How ruthless! Now that¡¯s more like a man! Otherwise, you¡¯re so beautiful and soft-spoken. I thought Little Four found himself a sister.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s felt a breath stuck in his chest and began to curse silently. Don¡¯t tell me alldies should be like you? But he knew, from their interactions in the recent days, that he could never gain any advantage in a verbal spar with Zhao Yuying. It was even less beneficial if they started fighting physically.

    He immediately ignored her and proceeded to summon some Dark me officers to discuss military affairs.

    Count Stuka¡¯s territory was famous for its abundant ck stone production. ck stone ore was different from the others in that it could burn a long time even without being processed and purified. If one could ignite the apanying ck crystals using a special ignition fuel, no amount of water or soil would be able to extinguish it.

    That was why igniting ck stone mines was an extremely destructive method. They would burn for several months, and the entire mine would¡¯ve been destroyed by the time the mes died down. Even the nearby involved regions would be a wastnd for a long period of time.

    ck stone ore was the lifeline of this region¡ªonly those with the intention to plunder and leave would do something like burning the mines. And Qianye was nning to use these mines as chips to flush out Count Stuka¡¯s main force for a decisive battle.

 Volume 5 - 58: The Wei Clan Heirâ€™s Coordinated Scheme

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 58: The Wei n Heir¡¯s Coordinated Scheme

    After discussing the war-map with the Dark me officers, Qianye selected a mine in the count¡¯s territory as his target and began to mobilize his forces. He nned to have his main force stationed on ck Ridge, leaving Zhao Yuying in charge to maintain logistics and their retreat path. He himself would lead apany of light-armored elites tounch a raid.

    Zhao Yuying only spoke up after seeing Qianye picking out warriors, ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am.¡± Qianye felt baffled.

    ¡°That¡¯s a mine you know, an unending fountain of gold coins!¡± It turned out that her miserly character had resurfaced.

    Qianyeughed. ¡°If we can¡¯t drive that old spider away, we can¡¯t get our hands on any of them no matter how many mines there are. Moreover, didn¡¯t you say there are many other ces in this mountain range where we can excavate new ck stone mines?¡±

    Zhao Yuying wanted to grab Qianye¡¯s shoulder out of habit, but Qianye easily got away. She rolled her eyes and asked with augh, ¡°Qianye, why are you being so shy? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re still a virgin?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned dark and replied coldly, ¡°I¡¯m most certainly not. Thank you for your concern.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great then! Elder sister will take you to a brothel when we get back to the upper continents. There are a lot of premium goods there!¡±

    The Dark me officers nearby seemed as though they wanted tough but didn¡¯t dare. Qianye wanted to put his palm on his face¡ªwhy had a proper strategy discussion deviated toward such a topic? In the end, he said helplessly, ¡°This isn¡¯t something you should be concerned about, is it?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong about this sister caring about a major turning point in your life?¡± Zhao Yuying was bold and confident in her conviction.

    Qianye really didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. How was caring about a major life event rted to a brothel? In truth, he already had quite a few at his side¡ªfor instance, Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine who were ncing over at him from a distance.

    Speaking of a major turning point in life, there really were quite a few people concerned about it, including Song Zining and Wei Potian. It was just that their focus was entirely on one another¡¯s major life event.

    At this moment, Song Zining and Wei Potian were ying chess. Normally, such sophisticated matters were out of Wei Potian¡¯s reach, but at this moment, the Wei n heir was sitting beside the chessboard with a ck piece in hand, gazing at Song Zining with a smile as though he was about to y a move of the ages. [1]

    Meanwhile, Song Zining was inherently proficient in the misceneous arts. Although his skill in chess wasn¡¯tparable to a national grandmaster, it was still quite easy for him to fling Wei Potian away for a few streets. But his expression wasn¡¯t joyful at this moment and could hardly maintain the usual elegance despite the group of nobledies spectating the contest from the side. He was rubbing a handful of white pieces and had already cracked quite a few of them.

    Judging from his expression alone, Song Zining was presumably about to give up and admit defeat. But looking at the chessboard, white was doing quite well and had beaten ck into disorder¡ªthe oue had already been decided.

    Wei Potian, however, simply refused to admit defeat. He continued to ce pieces randomly and even smiled faintly with the attitude of a national expert. It was, once again, Wei Potian¡¯s turn, but he didn¡¯t even look at the chessboard. He simply opened his fan with a swoosh and began to wave it around absent-mindedly. The Wei n heir¡¯s way of holding the fan was rather valiant and looked as though he was raising a battle axe.

    But the drawing on the fan was the work of a famous expert and it looked iparably familiar. This should be Song Zining¡¯s favorite item that he had been carrying around recently, and it seemed to have fallen into Wei Potian¡¯s hand for some reason.

    Wei Potian closed the fan with a swoosh and began pointing at Song Zining. ¡°Just look, haha! What makes a gifted schr? What makes a romantic? Aren¡¯t they all like this? If anyone in the Song n says they can surpass the Seventh Young Master, I¡¯ll be the first to object!¡±

    These words ignited a series of gentle feminine giggles that were inexplicably pleasant to the ears. These nobledies were watching the game¡ªsome were sitting on Song Zining''s side, while the others were beside Wei Potian. The scene was joyful and harmonious.

    The recent days were mostly filled with such scenes. Half of the distress originally belonging to Wei Potian was now shouldered by Song Zining. How could this not make Wei Potian delighted? Especially since the Wei n heir had rarely ever seeded in scheming and the one he had conned this time was Song zining.

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes swept past Wei Potian like a de and calmly said, ¡°y your piece.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s mood was as good as having drunk a jug of cold water on a hot day. He didn¡¯t look at the chessboard and, instead, spoke to thedies with augh, ¡°I, Old Wei, have always been an unrefined person with no other hobbies apart from fighting and womanizing. The only merit I have is my loud snoring. But look at this Seventh Young Master¡ªhis face, his chest, on second thoughts, just look at his face! Isn¡¯t he so much better than me?¡±

    He pped his thigh. ¡°Song n. Ah, that¡¯s the Song n were talking about! My Wei n isn¡¯t that bad either, but we¡¯re somewhatcking in military expenditures and can¡¯t draft that many soldiers. When the dark racese knocking at our doors, even I, the heir, have to fight them on the front lines. I¡¯ve even lost count of how many times I was injured.¡±

    With that, Wei Potian got up and lifted his clothes, ¡°As a matter of fact, this daddy here has another deep scar on his butt! Come, let me show you!¡±

    The group of young misses cried out in rm and immediately started giggling. Someone scattered a handful of chess pieces onto Wei Potian¡¯s head, most of which then fell into the chess board. Later on, Wei Potian shamelessly messed up the chess board and demanded it to be a draw.

    Song Zining was so angry that he couldn¡¯t speak, but he didn¡¯t dare to provoke Wei Potian either. Otherwise, who knew how chaotic the scene would be if thetter really took off his pants.

    It was a fact that the game could no longer continue. It was already quitete at night, and all the nobledies rose and excused themselves with smiles.

    Song Zining grabbed Wei Potian who was about to slip away and growled through his teeth, ¡°Wei Pighead! You clearly know I won¡¯t fight for the Song n lord¡¯s position. Why do you have to con me like this?!¡±

    Wei Potian grinned. ¡°This is an era where looks are everything. Who else should I con?¡±

    Song Zining replied coldly, ¡°Qianye looks so much better than me. Why don¡¯t you con him instead?¡±

    Wei Potian halted his steps, sized Song Zining up from head to toe, and said while clicking his tongue, ¡°What a brother you are!¡±

    Song Zining replied unceremoniously, ¡°You¡¯re no better either. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t bring these women over here!¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly looked up at the moon and said solemnly, ¡°Do you know what¡¯s more important than looks?¡±

    Song Zining responded subconsciously, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Strength.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly felt like an idiot. It was such a foolish question, and the answer was just as dumb. Yet, he had actually apanied this boar in such a conversation.

    But things couldn¡¯t go on like this. Wei Potian had been dragging him around all this time, and they would always be apanied by arge group of nobledies. The greater half of Song Zining¡¯s forces were in the dark. Some stewards with special identities wanted to report certain matters to him but found no opening to make an appearance.

    Song Zining said solemnly, ¡°Qianye is on his westward expedition and there is an entire pile of work regarding Dark me¡¯s logistics. The matter with the expeditionary army hasn¡¯t ended either, so I have a lot of work to do. I won¡¯t be able to do anything if I¡¯m entangled by these women.¡±

    Wei Potian folded his arms in front of his chest and gazed at Song Zining with narrow eyes. He then broke into aughter all of a sudden. ¡°Dark me? Qianye is the corpsmander, but I feel that all the men inside are yours.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s gaze fixated upon him, and the two proceeded to stare daggers at each other.

    After a while, Song Ziningughed. ¡°This is a business partnership between me and Qianye. My investment will reach thirty percent share at most. Even if we have some old grievances, do you really have to pick this time to trouble me?¡±

    Wei Potian extended three fingers in an unperturbed manner and waved it in front of Song Zining. ¡°Very well then, promise me one thing. Lose three rounds of chess to me publicly, and I¡¯ll give you some pointers.¡±

    Losing three rounds of chess was only a bit of humiliation and nothing big. Song Zining thus agreed on the spot.

    Wei Potianughed loudly and said, ¡°It¡¯s easy to deal with those women. Just do what you must and pretend they don¡¯t exist. Oh, right! It¡¯s always a good strategy to bring up other suitable candidates for them and split the firepower.¡±

    Song Zining ground his teeth after hearing this. Apparently, he was such a target for sharing firepower.

    When Nangong Ling and three other nobledies came to find Wei Potian, the Wei n heir was in exceptionally high spirits. He brought them to the seventh division headquarters to drink with Zhang Zixing.

    Wei Potian began to boast after three cups of wine had gone in. He imed that he was unrivaled in chess, and it was easy for him to take down Song Zining. Nangong Ling and the others had already seen how he had shamelessly failed to acknowledge his defeat, but they didn¡¯t reveal anything at the moment and only concealed their faint chuckles.

    Zhang Zixing had actually yed a couple of rounds against Song Zining and utterly lost. How could he be satisfied after hearing this? ¡°It¡¯ll be a miracle if you can beat Seventh Young Master.¡±

    Wei Potian waved his hand andughed. ¡°That gigolo? Not to mention win against him, even winning three times straight isn''t impossible. I¡¯m not bluffing! You want to bet?!¡±

    Zhang Zixingughed and said, ¡°What does the Wei n heir want?¡±

    Wei Potian rubbed his hands and said, ¡°I heard you have a piece of high-quality silken essence gold in your hands. I¡¯m not very greedy; just give me about 250 grams of it.¡±

    Zhang Zixing couldn¡¯t help but re at him. Silken essence gold was a rare metal used to make high-quality armor, but Wei Potian¡¯s words made it seem like cabbage. ¡°250 grams? It¡¯ll be difficult to bring out such an amount even if you rob me. What do you want it for?¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°I already have quite a few other raw materials and only missing that one thing. With it, I can have someone forge a heart armor for one of my brothers.¡±

    ¡°Your brother?¡±

    ¡°Qianye, the head of Dark me. You¡¯ve also met him before. One can die any day in a ce like Evernight. This daddy here will feel more at ease with a good armor on him.¡±

    Zhang Zixing¡¯s expression eased up quite a bit. He gave it some thought and said, ¡°Very well then. What will you bet?¡±

    ¡°How about this fan?¡± Wei Potian brought out Song Zining¡¯s folding fan, opened it with a swoosh, and showed off both sides.

    Zhang Zixing was quite knowledgeable. ¡°This is the work of an expert, and the price is extraordinary. But I¡¯m someone who leads soldiers into battle. What must I do with such a thing?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t like it, but that doesn¡¯t mean those old men will feel the same. Thesedies like it even more. Just look at their expressions!¡±

    Nangong Ling and the others reached out to poke Wei Potian ruthlessly. Fortunately, he possessed thick skin, and they weren¡¯t even able to tickle him. As for how this fan arrived in Wei Potian¡¯s hands, no one knew the actual story behind it.

    Zhang Zixing nodded with a smile and agreed to the bet.

    The two continued drinking until noon. Wei Potian then dispatched someone to send word to Song Zining. After confirming thetter was at the Dark me headquarters, the intoxicated Wei Potian headed over to y chess with Zhang Zixing in tow.

    Wei Potian was belching from the alcohol even as he sat down unsteadily at the chess table. Even in this manner, he yed three rounds in session and actually won the bet.

    Zhang Zixing was dumbfounded. Wei Potian¡¯s chess style was unrestrained and fairly strategic. But he had experienced Song Zining¡¯s chess ability before¡ªit was bold, imaginative, and flexible. He simply didn¡¯t believe Wei Potian would win three rounds in session. It was impossible to say nothing fishy was going on.

    But Zhang Zixing also noticed that although Wei Potian and Song Zining were both Qianye¡¯s friends, they were secretly at odds. How could they work together to scheme against him? He connected the dots and understood that this was probably a linked scheme set up single-handedly by Wei Potian.

    Despite realizing what was going on and his displeasure at being tricked, Zhang Zixing was still willing to ept the loss. He immediately ordered his guards to deliver the silken essence gold to Wei Potian¡¯s residence.

    Wei Potianughed shamelessly and said, ¡°Just a small trick, don¡¯t take it to heart.¡± With that, he brought out the folding fan and slipped it into Zhang Zixing¡¯s hands.

    Zhang Zixing was startled¡ªWei Potian was actually nning to trade all along, and the bet was just an excuse. His expression rxed quite a bit.

    Song Zining saw everything from the side and immediately realized that he had been thoroughly exploited. His face couldn¡¯t help but turn dark.

    It was at this time that a sharp rm echoed over ckflow City. Everyone¡¯s expression changed¡ªhow could there be a sudden rm with the third division¡¯s airships patrolling the skies?

    Zhang Zixing rose into the air without a word, and his guard unit ran after him at full speed. Numerous light jeeps began speeding at full throttle toward the nearest sentry post.

    Zhang Zixing flew into the sky over the watchtower, whereupon he gazed into the distance and found four ck dots¡ªthose were four airships approaching them at high speeds! No wonder the patrolling airships didn¡¯t have time to report back. The other party had already overwhelmed all the airships in his sub-fleet in terms of speed.

    Zhang Zixing¡¯s heart trembled momentarily. He emitted a long whistle which reverberated through the sky, sending all the corvettes and destroyers in his sub-fleet scrambling into the air while the main battleship started up its engines.

    The four airships in the distance approached without slowing down and made a beeline for ckflow City. They began to send out a series of light signals after seeing imperial airships rising into the air one after another.

    ¡°So it¡¯s from the Red Scorpion.¡± Zhang Zixing felt relieved.

    At this time, Song Zining and Wei Potian had arrived atop the wall. They nced at one another with peculiar expressions.

    ¡­

    [1] Chess here is referring to ¡°go¡± https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game).

 Volume 5 - 59: The Mine Raid

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 59: The Mine Raid

    The four airships from Red Scorpion entered their vision in the blink of an eye. Among them was a high-speed troop transport ship, and its size could fit two Red Scorpion battalion, which meant that itsbat strength had surpassed that of an imperial regr army division.

    Zhang Zixing¡¯s brows bunched up into a ball after seeing this lineup. Red Scorpion, having mobilized at such a scale, was a clear indication of how difficult the mission was. It so happened that he had a group of untouchable nobledies to take care of¡ªif Red Scorpion were to engage in abat mission nearby, it was hard to say whether or not ckflow would be left unaffected.

    The Red Scorpion battleships drove straight in and hovered in the sky above ckflow¡¯s airship port. However, they didn¡¯tnd¡ªthe cabin doors opened hundreds of meters in the air, and batches of Red Scorpions jumped out with rapid descent cables in tow.

    Their descent was fairly close to a free-fall, and they only tugged on the cable slightly when they were close to the ground to reduce their speed. Thus, over two hundred Red Scorpion warriors reached the ground in a sh. Many of their high-ranking fighters were holding gigantic weapons and supply crates in their hands, some of them evenrger than the person.

    Just this alone was enough to fully disy Red Scorpion¡¯s elite qualities.

    Despite his mental difort, Zhang Zixing had to admit that the warriors of the third imperial corps weren¡¯t just a little bit inferior to those of Red Scorpion. Such an elite unit formation was a force capable of tipping the scales in the battlefield.

    The two battalions of Red Scorpion warriors spread out in all directions and quickly took control of the strategic points around the airship port facing ckflow City. In the end, a man jumped out from the cabin without any cable and proceeded to hover in the air, the general star on his chest sparkling brilliantly. He was actually a brigadier general!

    After everything was in order on the ground, the high-speed transport ship¡¯s cabin doors opened wide. A dozen-odd giant metallic boxes were pushed out and slowly lowered to the ground via cables.

    Zhang Zixing¡¯s eyes froze. Could it be that two Red Scorpion Battalions had arrived to escort this thing?

    Song Zining suddenly spoke, ¡°Hey, Mister Heir, aren¡¯t you from Broken Winged Angels? Go and ask which camp they¡¯re from.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Wei Potian didn¡¯t mock Song Zining¡¯s unceremonious instructions and only asked, ¡°Which camp is Qianye from?¡±

    ¡°How should I know?¡± Without waiting for Wei Potian to act up, Song Zining said, ¡°These are all minor details, and there¡¯s really nothing we can do. I only wanted to give him the news.¡±

    Wei Potian turned silent with a solemn expression, and Song Zining didn¡¯t speak again. They watched the busy Red Scorpion warriors outside the city. It was fairly easy to identify the special elite corps¡ªscarlet embroideries on the cor andpel of the standard ck imperial army uniform and an eye-catching red scorpion design on the arm.

    A storm was gathering on the ckflow war zone.

    Qianye sat atop a giant rock and looked down at the valley below.

    The ravine was man-made, and there wereyers of winding paths on its borders for cargo trucks to drive through. Meanwhile, at the bottom, there were numerous metallic monsters dozens of meters in height, spitting out steam. Giant shovels as tall as multi-storeyed buildings were being pushed into the earth, and each of them would push out tons of ck stones.

    This was an open-air ck stone mine, one of the top-three mines in the count¡¯s territory. Its greatest valuey in the fact that its transportation was convenient, and it could be extracted in the open. As such, it was easier to userge steam machinery. There weren¡¯t many ve miners here despite the size of the mine, and most of the staff here were technicians for the operation and maintenance of the mining equipment.

    An important mine like this was definitely Count Stuka¡¯s favorite. Even though it was within his own domain, the count had assigned his own nephew, a third-rank arachne viscount to stand guard here.

    Qianye observed the ce in silence, memorizing the geography and troop distribution here before vanishing into the boundless hills.

    Dark me had already set up a secret camp in a valley several dozen kilometers away where hundreds of elite soldiers were either resting or cultivating.

    Qianye returned to the camp and instructed, ¡°We eat in four hours and set out afterward. We attack at 12 noon.¡±

    In the short daytime of Evernight Continent, it was said that daybreak origin power was strongest at noon. It was also break-time for many of the dark races, especially those lower-level citizens who hadn¡¯t separated themselves from their bestial forms.

    Noon arrived, and the originally noisy mine became somewhat quieter. The mining cars had all stopped, and only a small number of ves were still performing some odd jobs. It took at least a rank-three fighter to operate such metallic monsters.

    The guards in the vicinity of the mine had grownzy, and many of them were lying in the spiderwebs without moving. In truth, they were already sleeping.

    This mine had been peaceful for ten-odd years. The period of uneventfulness was so long that the guards had already forgotten what it was like to fight.

    A two-meter tall servspider was lying between two rails with its limbs folded. There were spider webs underneath and all around its body¡ªthe hazy white patch covered an area hundreds of meters in diameter. It was the master of this defensive region, and everywhere the spiderweb touched was under its control. All of the important paths leading the mine were guarded in this manner.

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared atop a nearby hill. He weighed the origin grenade in his hand, took a deep breath, and hurled it out.

    The grenade flew hundreds of meters through the air andnded right in front of the servspider¡ªthe explosion was clearly reflected in itspound eyes.

    The grenadended, shot through the spider webs, and smashed onto a rock.

    The grenade which had been set to detonate on impact exploded violently and flung the arachne¡¯s giant body into the air. Afterward, a ring of mes spread out in every direction.

    This was an incendiary grenade. The mes produced by the ignition ofpressed origin power fuel reached extreme temperatures and was difficult to extinguish. Spider webs were especially weak against mes and began to break apart in the blink of an eye. Dancing threads of still-burning spider webs scattered, facilitating the spread of the mes.

    A dozen-odd Dark me elites appeared behind Qianye. Under his orders, a portion of them charged from the front, while others began to set up heavy firepower like anti-aircraft machine guns.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in a rush even after the arrangements wereplete and proceeded to delegatemand authority to eachbat unit. He himself lit up a cigar and inhaled deeply, immediately raising his spirits.

    This was a pure military use stimnt and a medium-quality one at that. But Qianye still missed the taste of the counterfeit products he had made back then and was distracted while thinking about how he would make some for himself.

    Qianye had just finished half the cigarette when he suddenly hoisted the Eagleshot, aimed briefly, and pulled on the trigger. Hundreds of meters away, an arachne who had just mbered out of hisir was badly shaken as half a head flew off.

    Qianye tossed the half-finished cigarette onto the ground and advanced inrge strides with the Eagleshot in hand.

    Only at this point did the rm start to ring. From this, it was obvious just howx the defenses of this mine.

    A continuous stream of guards emerged from the caves and thousands of crawling servspiders, big and small, covered the entire mountain. However, the hundred Dark me warriors actually advanced through oneyer of defense after another, pushing the guards back continuously.

    Those Qianye had brought along were all elites, and this assault unit¡¯s firepower was extremely fierce. Incendiary grenades were tossed out one after another as though they didn¡¯t cost any money, and the anti-aircraft machine guns never stopped roaring.

    Although such standard firearms had no great effect against high-ranking warriors, they were fairly powerful against therge number of fragile cannon fodder.

    An earth-shattering roar suddenly rang out in the mine as an arachne charged out of its undergroundir. He was in a half-man-half-spider form but almost one and a half times as tall as the others¡ªhe looked just like a spider-shaped tank.

    Amidst loud roars, the arachne began to charge through the hail of bullets and toward the Dark me soldiers. The high-caliber bullets striking his body were all deflected by his thick, sturdy armor, and not even the anti-aircraft guns were effective.

    A certain dark me lieutenant colonel tossed an origin grenade with excellent uracy whichnded right where the arachne viscount¡¯s next step would fall. After the explosion, the lieutenant colonel watched, dumbfounded, as the terrifying arachnended firmly after rising only one meter into the air. His limbs moved swiftly as he charged over as though nothing had happened.

    The arachne held a long battle-axe in one hand and an origin gun in another. But apparently, he wasn¡¯t very proficient with a gun. He only fired a couple of random shots while charging, and there was really no aim to speak of.

    At this time, he was less than a hundred meters from Dark me¡¯s front line. As such, he abruptly swung his four-meter long battle-axe and sent an arc of dark green origin power sweeping forward, kicking up numerous shockwaves on the ground.

    The few high-ranking Dark me officers at the front hurriedly produced their origin power defenses, while the weaker ones retreated swiftly. However, the multicolored origin power shields actually copsed at first contact. Fortunately, the two parties were still quite a distance from each other and, although the soldiers were all pushed back, no one was injured.

    This was the arachne viscount guarding this mine. Although he was only third-rank, a viscount was still a viscount. He wasn''t something normal human fighters could handle.

    Qianye let out two whistles, signaling the warriors at the front to withdraw. He tossed the Eagleshot to one of his personal guards, drew East Peak, and charged straight toward the arachne viscount withrge strides.

    He ran faster and faster, with every step causing the earth to quake. Merely judging from his running posture, it was evident that Qianye¡¯s slender and somewhat frail-looking body was even heavier than the arachne viscount¡¯s.

    The two met each other midway in the blink of an eye. Qianye let out a shout, leapt up, and performed a sweeping sh with East Peak.

    The arachne roared loudly and held the battle-axe straight up in a bid to block East Peak with its bowl-sized handle. Comparatively, Qianye and his swordbined was only half as long as the battle-axe, and it seemed as though he would be knocked flying the moment they came in contact.

    But when the sword and axe actually crossed blows, the arachne viscount was shaken, and his massive body was unexpectedly flung into the air. He only felt the earth-shattering impact transmitted through the battle-axe before the weapon actually began to warp right in front of his eyes. At this time, the arachne heard the crisp sounds of his shoulder bones breaking continuously.

    A shade of red appeared on Qianye¡¯s face. He was actually surprised to find that he hadn¡¯t been able to snap that battle-axe in two. With a loud ¡°Ha!¡±, he spat out a stream of white mist and moved his hands once again. East Peak shot up once more and shed down diagonally.

    The arachne viscounts arms were wounded anew, and the battle-axe flew out the moment it struck against East Peak. He could only watch as the heavy sword cut through his waist,pletely separating his human upper body from his spider torso and sending it flying onto a distant mine shaft.

 Volume 5 - 60: Nighteyeâ€™s Interest

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 60: Nighteye¡¯s Interest

    East Peak fell with a pat and half the de¡¯s edge sank into earth.

    Qianye held the sword in both hands afternding and almost fell down himself. He gasped urgently¡ªhis entire body was heating up at a frightening pace, and there was white steam gushing out of his nostrils.

    He had just cut down an arachne viscount with two shes, and although this feat seemed effortless, it had taken everything he had. The two strikes from East Peak were both agile and heavy in equal measures. He had poured out almost all the origin power in his body in an extremely short period and was now finding it difficult to even stand straight.

    However, the arachne viscount was ughtered head-on, and this scene immediately shook everyone present. The dark race defenders found their morale copsing in the blink of an eye, and they started scrambling in all directions. Dark me soldiers continuously chased them down in squads, but it was only to prevent the routed army from reassembling¡ªit wasn¡¯t quite possible to wipe them outpletely.

    Those high-ranking servspiders simrly escaped into the wilderness after being deprived of the arachne¡¯s control. The low-ranking servspiders, on the other hand, turned violent and advanced dauntlessly in continuous waves. But such cannon-fodder level troops weren¡¯t a threat at all in the face of superior firepower and were mowed down in droves.

    Qianye breathed heavily for a while before slowly calming down. He waved his hand, indicating to his guards that he didn¡¯t need any support. He then brought out a stimnt syringe and injected it into his arm. Momentster, wisps of origin power were regenerated in his body, and his countenance regained some color.

    At this moment, a fully armed Lil¡¯ Seven approached and asked in a concerned tone, ¡°Master, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, only a bit tired. Be careful with the cleanup process and capture as many technicians alive as possible.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Seven replied, ¡°Rest assured, Master.¡±

    Qianye still couldn¡¯t get rid of the emptiness within him brought about by the exhaustion of origin power. He immediately lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.

    Dark me¡¯s elites didn¡¯t need Qianye¡¯s instructions. They worked on their own, tending to the wounded, checking casualties, and reforming into numerousbat units to search the mine. The miners and technicians who weren¡¯t able to run away were all moved to an open ground where they were interviewed by a major who came from the Ningyuan Group and separated ording to their professions.

    There were a fair number of werewolves among the technicians, but most of them were vampires. There was even a rarely seen demonkin among them who was immediately isted and interrogated in detail. He was unexpectedly quite cooperative and basically answered everything he was asked.

    Qianye was quite interested in the demonkin and walked over as soon as he had recovered some origin power. ¡°How did it go? Did you find out anything?¡±

    Lil¡¯ Nine didn¡¯t even get the chance to reply when the demonkin cut her short. ¡°No need for her to speak. I¡¯ll tell you everything. I¡¯m called Percy, a grand metal thaumaturge from the ancient and honorable nation of the Pool of Deep Darkness. I am here as chief technician on His Excellency Count Stuka¡¯s invitation, and my contract term is one year.¡±

    ¡°All the mining vehicles you see here are my products!¡± At this point, the demonkin¡¯s expression was full of pride.

    A sh of astonishment flitted across Qianye¡¯s countenance. He nodded and said, ¡°Very good.¡±

    Percy said proudly, ¡°I admit you¡¯ve captured me. As a son of darkness, I have the right to let my country pay ransom in exchange for my freedom, but the Pool of Deep Darkness evaluates the members of its race differently, and the standardized ransom also varies. Lucky human, I must warn you that you only have one chance at obtaining a ransom. Don¡¯t try to haggle.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Oh is that so? Very well then. I shall forfeit this opportunity. Lil¡¯ Nine, lock him up and watch him carefully. Understand what I mean?¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Master.¡± Lil¡¯ Nine responded in a very obedient attitude, but she soon revealed her true appearance after turning around and walking toward Percy with a rope weaved from thin metallic fments.

    Percy¡¯s expression changed greatly and began to shout while stomping about, ¡°You can¡¯t do this to me. Stay away! You¡¯re a little demoness disguised as a beauty!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help shaking his head inughter. He then turned around and went deeper into the mine.

    Seeing that Qianye was about to leave, Percy became even more anxious and shouted toward Qianye¡¯s receding figure, ¡°I¡¯m Percy, a grand metal thaumaturge! You¡¯re all treating a son of darkness in contempt. What are you doing? Don¡¯t do this, let¡¯s talk nicely. Oh! Ahhhh!¡±

    Qianye had already arrived near the mine shaft when he heard all that and broke into aughter once again. He then jumped down into the depths.

    Qianyended at the bottom with a thud and smashed a big hole in the floor. He then got up as though nothing had happened and began to observe his surroundings. The bottom of the mine was about a kilometer in radius, and there were six or seven mining machines scattered throughout the ce.

    Only up close did he truly understand what a colossus meant¡ªjust their wheels alone were as tall as twenty meters. Beside them, Qianye looked like an ant standing near an elephant¡¯s foot. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration.

    Qianye had learnt basic knowledge regarding machines and knew that, despite their fairly uplicated structure, it wasn¡¯t easy to build mining machines of such size. This was the work of a true master. If these machines were all designed by Percy, then his title as a metal thaumaturge probably wasn¡¯t a bluff.

    Qianye reached out to touch the wheels and felt that he had really picked up a treasure this time. The value of that demonkin called Percy was indescribable. With his technology and the Ningyuan Group¡¯s rapidly expanding manufacturing power, countless war machines would roll out continuously from the factory and toward the frontline.

    To hell with that little bit of ransom from the Pool of Deep Darkness.

    Qianye walked around one of the mining machines and felt increasing pity. He simply couldn¡¯t take away such a gigantic fellow and could only let it sit here as a funerary object.

    Otherwise, if he could drive it to the frontline, ordinary origin guns wouldn¡¯t be able to prate it. He could definitely install a heavy cannon on the sturdy roof and st the enemies directly¡ªit would be just like a mobile battery.

    But there were also other benefits apart from these leviathan machines. For instance, there were close to a hundred cargo trucks in the parking lot beside the mine. With some modification, they could be made into different types of special military vehicles.

    Qianye bent down, grabbed a handful of ck stones from the ground, and crushed them in his hand. They were all ordinary ck stones with no special characteristics¡ªnot that he could identify them even if they did.

    Qianye shook his head and patted his hands clean, discarding the powder to the ground. No matter what secrets the dark races were hiding here, they would be revealed once enough territory was upied.

    Ten-odd Dark me warriors appeared at the border of the mining pit at this moment, each of them carryingrge wooden barrels which they hurled into the pit with great effort. The wooden barrels rolled, bounced, and then shattered at the base of the pit, filling the air with a pungent smell.

    Those barrels contained purified ck stone powder and ignition additives. This was also the kic power source for heavy trucks and could burn for prolonged periods of time. Momentster, more Dark me soldiers appeared in another direction and tossed down a dozen or so fuel barrels.

    Qianye didn¡¯t linger any longer. He began to climb back up along the side and exited the hundred-meter deep mine pit.

    Lil¡® Seven, after seeing Qianye from a distance, said, ¡°Master, all important materials have been checked and loaded onto the trucks, but we¡¯re short on manpower, and there are thirty more cargo trucks that we can¡¯t drive away.¡±

    ¡°Destroy all that we can¡¯t take.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Seven nodded and left to fulfill themands. Momentster, Lil¡¯ Nine also hurried over and said, ¡°Master, all important captives have been loaded into the cars, and we¡¯re ready to leave at any time. There are still hundreds of useless captives. What shall we do with them? Shall we push them into the pit?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No need. We still need someone to bring word to Count Stuka. Tie them up, throw them to one side, and leave them there.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Nine replied yes sir, then added, ¡°Things have been set up in the mining pit, and the men have withdrawn to a safe distance. When shall we ignite?¡±

    ¡°Do it now.¡± With that, Qianye tossed out abustion grenade he had prepared beforehand.

    The grenade reflected the sunlight and turned into a dazzling meteor which flew close to a thousand meters and fell into the middle of the mine pit. A ball of mes blossomed from the bottom of the pit and immediately ignited the fuel flowing freely throughout the ce. Numerous zing dragons rolled toward every direction, and within the blink of an eye, the giant pit had transformed into a ming inferno.

    ¡°All is done. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Qianye turned and walked out of the mine area¡ªbehind him, an earth-shattering explosion resounded as enormous metallic parts flew hundreds of meters into the sky and then fell down once again.

    That was the mining vehicles¡¯st moment of glory.

    At this moment, there was a certain majestic castle standing atop a distant mountain peak, and its scale, history, and umtion weren¡¯t things Count Stuka¡¯s castle could ever hope to catch up to. In the main building of the castle, Nighteye was standing before the French window and gazing at the distant horizon.

    The sky at this time shouldn¡¯t have darkened just yet.

    A massive shadow hung over the end of the horizon and almost upied half of the sky in her vision. That was the Western Continent, moremonly known to the dark races as ming Beacon Continent.

    And on the other side of the horizon, another shadow was slowly moving over.

    This was a scene unique to Evernight Continent. It always seemed so magnificent and yet it always made people despair like so.

    Nighteye stood there in unmoving silence just like a statue.

    It was at this time that the room doors were opened and in walked a woman who was even slightly taller than Nighteye. She had short faint golden hair and a pair of cold eyes seemingly capable of dragging out a person¡¯s soul.

    ¡°Twilight, I¡¯ll tell you for thest time, I don''t want to be disturbed. I¡¯ll crush your blood core if you keeping uninvited.¡±

    It seemed as though Twilight hadn¡¯t heard Nighteye¡¯s threats at all. She walked toward Nighteye on her own and stood abreast to gaze at the rosy vista together. ¡°As expected of a primo who¡¯s awakened the ancestral bloodline. You already dare speak to me, someone on the verge of advancing to count, in such a tone just after bing a third-rank viscount. My dear elder sister, should I say that your courage isudable or that you¡¯re foolish?¡±

    Nighteye replied coldly, ¡°Try me if you think I¡¯m bluffing.¡±

    Twilight turned to gaze deeply at Nighteye with a pair of blood-colored pupils. She then shrugged and said, ¡°I¡¯m not interested in such fights. Our Monroe n has already taken too many losses recently. There¡¯s no need for more infighting. I¡¯m only curious why you¡¯reing to Evernight Continent regrly. Just what is attracting you here?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    Twilight suddenlyughed. As keen as she was, the former had sensed a change in Nighteye¡¯s tone of voice. This variation was extremely minute, but perception happened to be her specialty. Nothing of significance could escape her, no matter how small the change.

    As such, she decided to press on with this topic.

 Volume 5 - 61: Signs of Danger

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 61: Signs of Danger

    Twilight pensively extended a finger and pointed to her own lips. ¡°I¡¯m just curious. Let me guess, the reason you¡¯re being attracted to Evernight Continent is perhaps rted to Great Monarch Andruil? The ck Winged Monarch¡¯s greatest masterpiece is the Wings of Inception, a weapon with sentience. It is truly unimaginable!¡±

    ¡°Were you being so long-winded just to say this?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. You know I¡¯m too bored and there¡¯s rarely anyone to talk to. There are only groups of useless people outside, and I couldn¡¯t be bothered to spare them a nce. Let¡¯s continue¡ªthe Wings of Inception flew away right in front of our eyes. It is truly inconceivable that there¡¯s actually someone with a bloodline closer to the ck-Winged Monarch than a primo.¡±

    Twilight shot a nce at Nighteye. ¡°But in any case, we weren¡¯t able to find the whereabouts of the Wings of Inception even with the Grand Prince¡¯s secret art. Finding it again after such a long time is an impossible mission. It¡¯s unlikely you¡¯re here for the Wings of Inception or the Great Monarch¡¯s other hidden treasure. Then, maybe you¡¯re here for¡­¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± Nighteye was finally showing faint traces of anger.

    Twilightughed in a muffled tone. Her trailing voice rose swiftly with an explicable allure. She moved closer to Nighteye and said softly, ¡°You¡¯re here for a certain person, someone who may or may not be rted to the ck-Winged Monarch. Did I guess right?¡±

    Nighteye suddenly calmed down and replied indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re very much correct.¡±

    Twilightughed lightly. ¡°No matter what you say, the answer is already in my heart. Well then, I won¡¯t disturb you anymore. Enjoy yourst period of freedom, my most beloved sister.¡±

    Twilight walked toward the exit but came to a sudden pause just as she was passing by the desk. She brushed away the scattered books on the table and revealed a paper pressed down at the very bottom. Upon that paper was a half-portrait of a certain person, drawn vividly with concise lines.

    That was a human youth whose civilian identity was made evident by the style and texture of his clothes. He appeared fairly young and was looking straight forward with a clear and tranquil expression.

    That was actually Qianye¡¯s image from his days in Lighthouse Town.

    Nighteye turned around like a tempest and shouted furiously, ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    Twilight didn¡¯t give Nighteye any opportunity. She grabbed the paper rapidly and scanned it a couple of times before raising her head. There was an inexplicable cruelty within her bewitching smile. ¡°This is the reason you came to Evernight Continent?¡±

    Nighteye began to feel a chill on her body. Her eyes gradually turned abstruse as she said slowly, ¡°Twilight, you¡¯re courting death.¡±

    ¡°Can you kill me?¡± Blood energy also began to surge on Twilight¡¯s body, and it was much more powerful than Nighteye¡¯s.

    Nighteye¡¯s eyes were nowpletely suffused with fresh blood, and Twilight¡¯s figure suddenly appeared within it. However, blood energy churned madly and gushed out of thetter¡¯s body, covering her inyers of scarlet mist. The almost-formed image in Nighteye¡¯s sanguineous eyes became distorted and was even about to disappear.

    The two stood opposite one another, but the battlefield immediately shifted into Nighteye¡¯s eyes. There, Twilight¡¯s figure was struggling, at times clear and at times blurry. It was as though they were in a stalemate¡ªTwilight¡¯s figure was unable to disappear, but Nighteye wasn¡¯t able topletely seize her and force her to materialize.

    This was a battle free of smoke, but it was even more vicious than real guns and des.

    Twilight suddenly raised the paper in her hands and Nighteye¡¯s gaze turned cold upon seeing this.

    ¡°There¡¯ll be no conclusion if we keep on going like this. You can¡¯t kill me, at least not now. And I, have simrly important reasons not to kill you. So, why don¡¯t we talk?¡±

    Nighteye slowly nodded and Twilight¡¯s figure finally faded from within her eyes. She said in a low voice, ¡°Put down that paper.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s lips curved up in an enigmatic smile. ¡°Is this person so important to you?¡±

    Nighteye replied indifferently, ¡°That¡¯s not something you should be paying attention to.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I should go and take a look at him.¡± The moment she spoke such words, Twilight felt an even sharper killing intent press down upon her. She broke out in aughter. ¡°See? Aren¡¯t you so anxious right now?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze was iparably serene, but her killing intent grew progressively denser.

    Twilight finally withdrew her insincere smile and said seriously, ¡°Rx, I only want to go and take a look. I won¡¯t do anything. Why should I do anything to a human ant? Let¡¯s make a deal. It¡¯s not convenient for you to go out recently, but I have no such limitations. I¡¯ll go check up on him and see how he¡¯s doing. If he¡¯s in trouble and I¡¯m in a good mood, I might even help him out a little bit. What say you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Such a clear-cut refusal?¡±

    Nighteye sneered. ¡°You can¡¯t find him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a certainty.¡±

    Nighteye turned silent for a moment and said, ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression finally turned fervent and uttered word-by-word, ¡°The ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s essence blood!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible because I¡¯ve already used it,¡± Nightly replied calmly.

    ¡°Is that so? Then that¡¯s quite regretful.¡± Twilight said nothing more. She nced at the drawing in her hand and let out a whistle. She then ced it back on the table as though she were truly regretful and then left the room.

    Nighteye stood in ce for a good while before walking toward the table. She picked up the portrait and gazed silently at the youth who still bore a wisp of naivety. This was Qianye¡¯s appearance when she had first met him, and he had already changed a lot since then. At the thought of this, Nighteye sighed softly and her tightened back rxed somewhat.

    Twilight left the castle when night fell. She turned into a ck figure which vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye. She arrived at the base of a lonely and deste mountain deep in the night. Hidden behind a certain thicket therein was an entirely dark and inexplicably eerie wooden house.

    Twilight arrived before this house and entered.

    The furnishings within were extremely simple with only some beast skins and hay on the floor. There was a cold firece at one corner, the walls of which had been ckened with soot but there wasn¡¯t so much as an ember within. So much that the roasting rack leaning against it even had rusted stains upon it.

    At a nce, this seemed like a small hut for hunters to rest in the wilderness. However, it seemed a long time had passed since anyone hade.

    Twilight didn''t find a ce to sit down. She stood upright in the middle of the house and rested with her eyes closed.

    Before long, the simrly rusted door hinge leat out a creak and in walked a stooped elderly man.

    He let out a low, hoarseugh and said, ¡°How rare to see a major character here. Pray tell, how can I be of service?¡±

    Twilight tossed a folded piece of paper and said, ¡°Help me find this person. This is his portrait, but his appearance now should bepletely different.¡±

    The old man opened the paper carefully and brought it to the window to examine under the moonlight. Shockingly, it was Qianye¡¯s portrait, and it was exactly the same as the one on Nighteye¡¯s desk¡ªTwilight could reproduce an exact copy of whatever she had seen before.

    The old man peered carefully at the portrait and said, ¡°A change in appearance isn¡¯t important. There are always traces in one¡¯s facial features and framework that I can use to search. I¡¯ve already memorized this pair of eyes. But, can you give me a starting range? It¡¯s beyond my ability if you want me to search the entire Evernight Continent.¡±

    ¡°He should¡¯ve appeared in Trinity River County within human territory about two years ago. Is this enough?¡±

    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s a small possibility now, but this human civilian might¡¯ve died long ago. You know that this is Evernight Continent. Those weak bugs, there are simply too many things that can take away their petty lives.¡±

    Twilight said without the slightest hesitation, ¡°He won¡¯t die even if you die a hundred times! This I am certain! Stop rambling incoherently and go find me this person!¡±

    The elderly man was shocked out of his wits by Twilight¡¯s voice. He took a step to the side, mmed heavily into the wooden wall, and wheezed several times before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll try my best, but it¡¯ll be expensive.¡±

    ¡°How much do you want. Name the price.¡± Twilight''s voice was frosty.

    ¡°You should know that crystal coins can¡¯t buy everything.¡± The old man stole a nce at her most curvaceous area with a sh of avarice in his eyes.

    Unexpectedly, Twilight had captured all of his small movements. She immediately snorted, raised a finger, and shot out a thin beam of blood energy which shot through the old man¡¯s thigh like a bolt of lightning. The impact sent his clumsy body skidding across the floor.

    The old man immediately began squealing miserably like a pig at the ughterhouse. His hands wed at the air with streams of dark mist rising from his fingers, but for some reason, he couldn¡¯t touch the blood at all. He continued to wail for a full three minutes before Twilight withdrew her blood energy.

    The elder¡¯s injured leg smashed onto the floor with a painful thud. He covered the mangled wound with his hands, trembling all over. He was in so much pain that he couldn¡¯t even cry out.

    Twilight tossed a couple of crystal coins on him and sneered. ¡°This is your down payment. Isn¡¯t it said that your Grey Nightwalkers have infiltrated all of Evernight¡¯s shadow? Don¡¯t think that Twilight Continent can only rely on you and, from now on, stop being deluded about things you¡¯re not worthy of obtaining. I¡¯ll immediately dig out your eyes if you dare shoot indiscriminate nces again. What use do you think a ck-robed elder is before a pureblood of the Monroe n?¡±

    The old man couldn¡¯t help but shiver after hearing the name Monroe. He immediately grabbed the crystal coins and said repeatedly, ¡°Rest assured, please rest assured! I¡¯ll have results in half a month. I definitely will!¡±

    ¡°You know what will happen if you fail to get results after taking my money.¡±

    The old man nodded with all his might and came pretty close to performing a blood oath.

    ¡°Bandage your leg. Don¡¯t die from blood loss before you finish my job.¡± Twilight left the wooden house after saying this.

    When Twilight arrived at the edge of the thicket, a tall man wearing a ck trenchcoat quietly appeared from within the shadows of arge tree and stood behind her. He was exceptionally handsome and his fingers were particrly long and slender.

    ¡°Ge Mu,e back here after half a month and bring back the information in my stead.¡±

    The young vampire named Ge Mu asked, ¡°Then?¡±

    Twilight replied coldly, ¡°Then dig out his eyes and cut off his left hand and leg.¡±

    ¡°Just that? Don¡¯t you want him to die slower?¡±

    ¡°No, leave his life. The Monroes won¡¯t kill those who work for us.¡±

    Ge Mu shrugged and said, ¡°Truly an old and almost rotten principle.¡±

    Twilight turned back and stared fixedly at Ge Mu. ¡°You mustn¡¯t say such words before you have the power to challenge those old fellows. It¡¯s meaningless, understand?!¡±

    Ge Muughed carelessly and said, ¡°We¡¯ll be able to challenge them sooner orter, won¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see when the dayes!¡± Twilight left these words as her figure flickered repeatedly and appeared hundreds of meters away.

    Ge Mu started to run after her and shouted, ¡°Hey, wait for me! Listen to me! Many strange people have appeared in the vicinity recently.¡±

    Night had once again enveloped Evernight Continent. It felt as though night had never left in the first ce, and the couple of hours of sunlight during the short daytime was only a fleeting illusion.

    At this moment, Qianye had already crawled back into his tent and was preparing to cultivate. But for some reason, he was suddenly ovee by an irresistible exhaustion. He controlled his body with great difficulty, found a fairly suitable posture, and fell into deep sleep.

    Qianye had an odd dream that night. He was in a ck forest filled with dark colored ancient trees. They were entirely devoid of leaves, and all the naked branches were twisted and warped out of shape. There wasn¡¯t a single straight line as far as the eye could see. It almost seemed as though the chaos in his vision was being impacted by the silent and exceptionally painful cries of those ancient trees.

    There was an exceptionally dazzling white figure at the center of this forest. It was a youngdy walking alone.

 Volume 5 - 62: The Black Forest

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 62: The ck Forest

    The details in his vision slowly grew clearer as though an invisible lens was zooming in.

    A fair bit of the youngdy¡¯s skin was revealed under her badly tattered white skirt. She was covered in small red marks, and some ces were slightly swollen with drops of fresh blood seeping out. She kept on walking forward,pletely oblivious to the razor-sharp branches scratching at her body and adding even more red scars.

    She was holding half a piece of bread in her hand.

    It was at this time that thedy seemed to have noticed something¡ªshe turned back abruptly and gazed toward Qianye¡¯s direction.

    Only then did Qianye discover that she actually had no eyes! Only two bloody holes remain where her eyes used to be.

    Qianye mbered up suddenly. His heart was beating like a drum, his chest was trembling, and his body had bepletely drenched in cold sweat.

    Heposed himself and found that not only did the scene in his dream not fade away, but it became even clearer in his memory. If he had a pen in hand right now, he could portray everything down to the folds and creases on thedy¡¯s white skirt.

    Although the girl in his dream had lost her eyes, Qianye could still recognize her. She was Bai Kongzhao, the little girl who was determined to kill him back at the junkyard.

    Qianye frowned subconsciously; nothing good hade of his recent dreams. Whether it wasing into contact with Great Monarch Andruil¡¯s consciousness or hearing that headless general¡¯s summons, his dreams were actually a response to things in real life. However, even after pondering for a long while, Qianye still couldn¡¯tprehend what this particr dream signified.

    He pulled open the tent p and nced out to find that everything was normal and undisturbed.

    The camp was encircled by rows upon rows of cargo trucks, and the bonfire at the center was still burning fiercely. Most of the warriors had already eaten their fill and were either cultivating or resting. There was also a small group of them organizing the heavy equipment. A number of warriors were moving a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun onto a truck to set up a firing point and bolster the nighttime sentry.

    On the other side, Zhao Yuying was sitting atop a truck with a bottle of wine in hand and takingrge swigs from time to time. For some reason, Qianye felt a hint of loneliness as he gazed at the silhouette of this drinkingdy.

    Qianyeid down the tent p, sat down cross-legged, and was prepared to cultivate the Mystery Chapter. His body was almost overflowing with essence energy at the moment, and he couldn¡¯t absorb any essence blood at all after killing the arachne viscount at the mine¡ªit could be considered extremely wasteful. As such, it was of urgent importance that he use up the umtion within his body.

    The Mystery Chapter began to circte slowly, but, to his great astonishment, his entire body was shaken. He suddenly discovered that only half remained of his originally brimming essence blood, while the other half had vanished into thin air.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank immediately and his first thought was whether an ident had urred with the Song n Ancient Scroll. He checked internally and found nothing wrong with his organs, vessels, and origin nodes; even his blood energies were behaving well within his heart.

    But that was the greatest abnormality¡ªthe missing essence blood couldn¡¯t have disappeared into thin air. But under True Sight, he found no signs of his blood energies having over-absorbed darkness origin power, and his daybreak origin power nodes hadn¡¯t been eroded by darkness either.

    It was inconceivable! Half of a third-rank viscount¡¯s essence blood had transformed into nothingness.

    Qianye pondered for a moment and then tried circting the Mystery Chapter once again. The result was fairly sessful¡ªthe vortex converted a part of the essence blood into pure darkness origin power after nine revolutions which the dark golden blood energy promptly devoured.

    Qianye was still perplexed afterpleting a full cycle of cultivation and could only put this odd incident off for the time being.

    At this moment, there was an ancient ck leather book hovering in the depths of his heart¡ªthis was a ce where Qianye¡¯s perception couldn¡¯t reach for the time being. The previously indistinct title on the cover had be much clearer now.

    In a certain location northeast of the camp, there was a ck forest extremely simr to the one Qianye had dreamt of where only a few lonesome leaves hung upon the crooked branches.

    A young girl with a white skirt was standing within the forest. She looked up vacantly and gazed at the sky, but, apart from the many oddly-shaped tree branches, she could see nothing under the lightless firmament. No bright colors existed here.

    A gust of wind blew past, but the eerie branches didn¡¯t move in the slightest. Only the helpless leaves drifted upward, proving to the beholder that the wind wasn¡¯t just a misperception. A leaf left its branch and flew through the sky, spinning several times beforending in front of the young girl.

    She reached out to grab the leaf and looked closely.

    The leaf was also greyish ck with some patches of mold growing upon it. It had long since died and was emitting a lingering scent of fishiness. The girl threw the leaf to the ground, but a ck patch was left behind on her palm.

    She immediately scraped at her palm with the dagger she was holding in her right hand. Although this erased the ck patch, the flesh and blood had already stuck to the de and were smeared on her palm, dirtying her small white hand even more.

    The girl seemed fairly angry. She conveniently pulled over the warrior beside her and wiped her hand forcefully on hisbat robe. That warrior was extremely tall and sturdy¡ªthe girl only reached his chest in height, however, he didn¡¯t dare move in the slightest at this moment. So much that one could sense, albeit with some difficulty, that he was trembling. Apparently, he was extremely apprehensive of this young girl.

    The ten-odd warriors behind them possessed powerful auras and were apparently rare elites. But these fierce and bloody warriors all looked at the girl with extreme fear as though she were a poisonous creature.

    She was still wiping her hand when an old soldier summoned up the courage to approach her. ¡°Miss Kongzhao, that vampire is already dead.¡±

    This young girl was, in fact, Bai Kongzhao. But she had grown much taller since shest encountered Qianye and her facial features had also matured quite a bit. Now, she seemed like a fifteen-year-old girl at a nce; at least she was no longer malnourished in the Bai n. She also happened to be in her growing phase and, as such, was changing rapidly.

    The gust of wild wind hadn¡¯t stopped and kept on blowing in one after another. It lifted the soldiers¡¯ capes and revealed a bear-head insignia embroidered on the corner of theirbat robes. The Wild Bears was one of the Bai n¡¯s internal guard units. Such an elite unit had no fear even if they faced a champion, but they were all quiet and fearful before Bai Kongzhao.

    Bai Kongzhao suddenly raised her head and gazed at the sky. She had a certain feeling that some mysterious existence was watching her attentively, but she couldn¡¯t find this person no matter how hard she tried.

    She became frustrated and suddenly fling her head back to stare at the few vampires nearby. These vampires had lost all movement capabilities and were prostrating on the ground. Seeing Bai Kongzhao¡¯s gaze sweep toward them, these naturally vicious vampires actually started to tremble.

    Bai Kongzhao walked over inrge strides, lifted up a vampire girl, and stared fixedly at her for a while. A sweet smile slowly emerged on her face as she asked, ¡°Tell me, why have you bastards suddenly run over to Evernight Continent? What are you nning to do?¡±

    The vampire girl was so terrified that her beautiful face had almost be somewhat distorted. She replied repeatedly, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I really don¡¯t know! We¡¯re only external units following our captain to assemble at the designated location and wait for the next order. I really don¡¯t know anything else!¡±

    ¡°Then what are you all looking for? Do you not know that either?¡±

    The vampire girl began to scream uncontrobly. Bai Kong Zhao¡¯s words just now signified the beginning of a deep nightmare, evidenced by the other miserable vampires who had died before this.

    Continuous mournful cries echoed throughout the ck forest. The hysterical sound was a clear indication of the inhumane suffering the vampire girl was going through.

    Such criessted for an entire half hour before they died down.

    Bai Kongzhao released her hand and dropped the unrecognizable corpse to the ground, her face and body were covered in droplets of sshed blood. She didn¡¯t bother to wipe them and only turned back to give instructions, ¡°Deal with these fellows and remember to make it clean. Then, wait for me back at the n settlement.¡±

    The Wild Bear unit captain hesitated for a while and said, ¡°Miss Kongzhao, are you sure you don¡¯t need us to follow you? Many unfamiliar faces have been appearing in this areately. It might be dangerous.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± With that, Bai Kongzhao walked toward the depths of the ck forest on her own.

    The captain¡¯s expression fluctuated wildly as he watched the girl leave. Only afterward did he wave his hand¡ªa number of soldiers rushed toward the vampires and ended their lives efficiently. Then, they began to deal with the remaining traces with great proficiency.

    After seeing Bai Kongzhao¡¯s methods, they only wanted to finish everything quickly and return to camp. They were no longer in the mood to torture or kill captives. Additionally, they could foretell that everything they had experienced today would appear in their nightmares for a long while afterward.

    The white-skirted girl walked through the ck forest alone, and apart from her clothes, there wasn¡¯t a single piece of equipment on her, nor did she bring any supplies. She sang briskly while walking, her voice pleasant and ephemeral. But upon listening carefully, one would find that she was merely repeating the same words over and over.

    ¡°I¡¯ll find you, I¡¯ll find you.¡±

    A bird¡¯s eye view would show chunks of ck forest scattered throughout thend akin to ink blots on fine paper.

    Nighteye sat before the French window with a wine ss in her hand filled with a bloody dark-red liquid.

    The room doors were opened once again, and just as before, the visitor didn¡¯t knock.

    Nighteye kept on gazing outside of the window without the slightest movement. It was as though she had no idea someone had entered.

    It was a tall, young man with a head of brown, wavy hair. He was extremely tall, over half a head higher taller than the average vampire, and his build was also different from the normally slender vampire physique. He was exceptionally muscr, and it seemed every bit of his flesh and blood contained explosive power within.

    His countenance was blessed with the characteristic handsomeness of the vampires, and his eyes flickered with a glint of callousness and cruelty. His aura, unusually mysterious and profound, had actually reached the level of a count. Vampires enjoyed long lives and many of them would stop aging once they had reached a certain level of strength. Hence, it was fairly difficult to judge their age from external appearance.

    The young man nced at Nighteye with scorching mes in his eyes. ¡°Nighteye, you¡¯re always like this. You¡¯re not willing to even greet me despite knowing that I¡¯vee.¡±

    ¡°Not in the mood,¡± Nighteye replied indifferently.

    The tall vampire pulled over a chair and sat down beside Nighteye. ¡°This isn¡¯t a proper answer.¡±

    The close distance made Nighteye frown. She replied coldly, ¡°Proper or not, it¡¯s none of your business. Please leave if you have no other business.¡±

    The tall young manughed and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a qualified answer either. I¡¯ll sit here if I want to sit here.¡±

    Nighteyes brows knitted tightly together, but she actually didn¡¯t retort.

    The young manughed contentedly after seeing this. He then looked out the window, from which he could see a dense grove of ck trees. At this point, his gaze froze and his expression turned solemn. ¡°The ck forest has reached this ce. It seems that time ising soon. Have you thought about what you¡¯ll do?¡±

 Volume 5 - 63: Pressure

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 63: Pressure

    Nighteye finally turned around and looked straight at the Young Man. ¡°Fira, the answer is no regardless of how many times you ask.¡±

    Fira¡¯s expression froze and his cheek was twitching continuously¡ªapparently, he was extremely angry. He tried to force out a smile in order to retain some elegance, but the distorted line on his lips only made him look inexplicably sinister.

    Nighteye turned back and continued gazing out the window. Her eyes were detached, cold, and even contained a trace of disdain. She also moved her body as though by ident and distanced herself a little bit.

    ¡°You whore!¡± Firas cursed in anger. Nighteye¡¯s small movement had ignited thest segment of his fuse, and he directly extended hisrge hands to grab her.

    A cold gleam shed in Nighteye¡¯s eyes¡ªthe pair of daggers at her waist left their sheaths and fell into her hands. A bright red glow suffused the twin des as she thrust at Fira¡¯s chest, and at the same time, his image appeared in her eyes.

    Only a ¡°ding¡± was heard as the sound of shing metal echoed through the room. Fira¡¯s right arm moved across his chest and actually blocked Nighteye¡¯s daggers. It seemed as though the two sharp des, which had already cut apart countless enemies, had just shed at a metallic sculpture. It was extremely difficult to push the de further even slightly.

    Nighteye let out a clear shout on the spot, and Fira¡¯s image in her eyes shattered abruptly. Only a muffled groan was heard as the man¡¯s face turned much paler. However, his blood energy only wavered for a moment before restabilizing. The bloody mist around his left hand rapidly intensified and immediately pressed upon Nighteye¡¯s protective blood energy.

    The dense blood energy gushing out wildly from the two was almost tangible and filled the entire room in the blink of an eye. Following which, the blood energies of different attributes materialized their own domains tounch fierce attacks.

    Fira¡¯s dark red blood energy took the form of numerousnd beasts¡ªlions, tigers, bears, and wolves appeared in great numbers and charged toward Nighteye amidst loud roars. This wasn¡¯t just a simple illusion. Every pounce and every rend possessed the power to tear apart flesh and blood. So much that they were even more vicious than ordinary demonic beasts.

    A peculiar cry rang out all of a sudden as a twin-headed beast emerged amidst the countlessnd animals, and an extremely powerful pressure emerged the moment it appeared. The ability to materialize terrifying entities within a domain to attack the opponent was recognized as a standard for geniuses, and the attack power of such a domain was much stronger than ordinary ones.

    Fira¡¯s anger subsided by a fair bit after releasing his domain to the fullest extent and converting it into calmness necessary for battle. Nighteye was a primo and so was he, but he received much less attention from the major characters of the upper continent.

    Nighteye activated her blood energy; hers was bright red with specks of gold. At this moment, her entire body was enveloped in a dense, lingering blood-colored mist and was barely discernible. Suddenly, a giant bird rose into the sky! It was like a peacock with a line of gold extending from its beak toward its back and all the way to itsst feather.

    Fira¡¯s pupils constricted precipitously¡ªthis was a golden peacock! A fierce beast with the ability to control darkness origin power. Comparatively, the twin-headed beast Fira had released from his domain immediately lost its color.

    The golden peacock pounced directly toward the twin-headed beast as soon as it appeared, not even sparing a single nce at the othernd beasts charging at Nighteye¡¯s defenses. It pecked several times with great ferocity and excavated a bloody hole in the beast¡¯s left head. The beast was in immense pain and struggled with all its might¡ªthe other head turned around and bit down on the golden peacock''s body.

    However, the peacock pressed the beast firmly and couldn¡¯t be shaken off no matter what. After several vicious pecks, the beast¡¯s other head burst into strands of spiralling ck smoke which dispersed within the blood-colored domain.

    The superiority in this battle had been decided.

    But the victorious golden peacock was soon drowned out by all types ofnd beasts. Every p of its wings sent demonic beasts flying and transforming into ck origin power mid-air. However, there were simply too many of them, and the golden peacock continuously sustained more and more injuries.

    Nighteye opened her eyes amidst the bloody mist, her cold pupils exceptionally bright and clear. Once again, a grey condor with snow-white wing tips rose into the air and pounced forward.

    A snow-winged golden condor! Yet another vicious beast and, although it was somewhat inferior to the golden peacock, the difference was fairly limited.

    Fira¡¯s expression finally changed. Two vicious beasts had appeared in session from Nighteye¡¯s domain, and they were both high-ranking flying beasts. It seemed her talents in the field of domains had already far surpassed his own.

    The ability to materialize vicious beasts in domains was ordinarily limited to experts above the level of marquis, but if he had remembered correctly, Nighteye had only just be a viscount.

    No wonder the Monroes were still unwilling to negotiate and acting coy even under present circumstances, and no wonder the Evernight Council big shots would pay her so much attention. But drawing too much attention wasn¡¯t always a good thing.

    Fira revealed a sinister smile. The greater the talents Nighteye disyed, the more resolute he became.

    Demonic beasts rushed out like a ck tide within his domain and rushed toward the golden peacock and snow-winged golden condor. Even though the two avians would tear thend beasts into ck smoke with every swipe of their w and peck of their beaks, but the numbers were simply too great. Every dead beast would be reced immediately by the one behind it.

    Fira¡¯s level was far above Nighteye¡ªin the end, he was able to achieve victory by means of his blood energy capacity and forcefully suppressed Nighteye. The snow-winged golden condor was the first to falter and was torn to shreds.

    Nighteyes countenance turned pale as she coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood. Her movements immediately turned somewhat slower, and she was almost struck by Fira. Within the blink of an eye, the golden peacock also disappeared¡ªNighteye coughed up yet another mouthful of fresh blood, and her movements became even more sluggish.

    Fira finally found his opportunity. His left hand pierced through Nighteye¡¯s protective blood energy with great ferocity and lifted her up by the neck.

    After controlling Nighteye, Fira nced at the surroundings and found that only a small number of vicious beasts remained within his domain, all of them injured. Fira¡¯s expression turned gloomy because this indicated that he had won only by a narrow margin.

    He was an entire three ranks higher than Nighteye, and yet, the fight had progressed to such a state. If they were at the same level, he probably wouldn¡¯tst even ten minutes.

    Fira stared fixedly at Nighteye with madness in his eyes and said through gritted teeth, ¡°As expected of a primo capable of moving those old fellows. Your talents are indeed far above my own. But so what? Your talents will only push you into the abyss.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s pale countenance was flushed due to the suffocation, but she only returned a cold gaze with exceptional calmness in her eyes. It was as though even the present situation couldn¡¯t move her in the least.

    Fira¡¯s voice turned particrly deep. ¡°I know you despise me, but this matter is beyond your control. Just be obedient and be my woman¡­¡± he paused suddenly and then continued with a dangerous tone, ¡°perhaps I should have a taste of you right now. That¡¯s not a bad idea at all!¡±

    It was at this time that a cough echoed through the room.

    Fira¡¯s movements slowed down for a moment. He turned back abruptly and red at the old man who had appeared at some point with fiery eyes.

    There wasn¡¯t a single hair out of ce on this old man¡ªeven the jeweled ring on his finger was angled perfectly¡ªhis style waspletely that of an ancient noble. He nced at Fira and said slowly, ¡°Your Excellency Fira, your actions at the moment are rather¡­ inappropriate.¡±

    ¡°Inappropriate?¡± Fira sneered and moved the hand on Nighteye¡¯s neck slightly. With an ear-piercing tear, her first button was torn away along with her cor.

    The old man coughed once again. Fira¡¯s movements froze as a bright red dot appeared on the side of his neck from which a drop of blood slowly trickled down.

    ¡°Are you determined to stop me?¡± Fira shouted in a sharp voice.

    ¡°If you¡¯re referring to the present, then I am.¡±

    Fira¡¯s eyes almost seemed to be spouting mes. He snorted deeply and pushed Nighteye away.

    Nighteye flew backward and crashed heavily into the wall, immediately coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood. The contest of domains had exhausted her blood energypletely, and now, she wasn¡¯t much stronger than a newborn vampire.

    The old man raised the corners of his brows but neither took action nor said anything. He watched Fira quietly without taking his eyes off him for even a moment.

    Fira became violent and paced about in the room withrge strides. He waved his arms with great force and spoke continuously, ¡°Very good, Your Excellency Count us, I shall remember your words today. I heard you have a fair number of descendants but all of them are trash. They should be careful hereafter¡ªit would probably be best for them to not leave the castle or their coffins. Evernight had always been unsafe, and it will be even more dangerous from now on.¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression changed and then recovered immediately afterward.

    Fira walked over to the old man, jabbed at his chest with a finger, and said word by word, ¡°Listen, old thing, even if you can stop me today, you won¡¯t be able to stop me tomorrow! She¡¯s destined to be my woman, and it¡¯s only a matter of time. But because of your actions today, I¡¯ve decided to toy with her in front of all your descendants until she¡¯s half-dead! And this is all because you¡¯re too meddlesome, hear me? You old thing!¡±

    This time, the old man retained his normal expression as though a breeze had just blown past his ears and said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. You should go and rest.¡±

    Fira¡¯s chest rose and fell rapidly, and he only calmed down slightly with great effort. ¡°Fine! I¡¯m leaving! But I want to see how the current Monroes can reject me! I shall go back and tell Carl that the original conditions have been canceled. Negotiations will start anew!!!¡±

    After roaring thus, Firas left inrge strides and mmed the door with a loud bang.

    The old man arrived before Nighteye, supported her up, and then passed her a piece of blood crystal. Color returned to Nighteyes countenance only after draining the blood crystal clean.

    The old man watched Nighteye with eyes full of love and pity. ¡°Although you¡¯ve awoken the primogenitor¡¯s bloodline, I still consider you my child.¡±

    The iciness in Nighteye¡¯s expression melted as she whispered, ¡°You¡¯ve always been my father. This has never changed.¡±

    The creases on the old count¡¯s face appeared even deeper as he sighed deeply. ¡°Fira is unexpectedly so brazen. It seems they¡¯re fiercely determined.¡±

    An indiscernible sh of determination appeared in her eyes. ¡°There¡¯s nothing in this world that one can obtain for certain.¡±

    The old countughed wryly. ¡°I¡¯m a little bit worried that the people up there won¡¯t be able to take the pressure.¡±

    Nighteye lowered her gaze without replying.

    The old count turned silent for a while and said, ¡°You should go. Leave this ce.¡±

    Nighteye was startled and then shook her head. ¡°But what about you? They¡¯ll definitely take it out on you if I leave.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already old, so old that the time for eternal sleep is nigh. So what if they take it out on me?¡±

    Nighteye gently held the old count¡¯s hands.

    That was a definitely the hand of an old man¡ªhis skin had lost its sticity, and it had be fairly thin, almost translucent, due to the erosion of time, revealing the craggy bones and tendons underneath.

    She slowly pressed her face in his hands just like she had done many years before when she was but a child.

    During these days, Dark me¡¯s elites were stationed atop ck Ridge with the Wei n champion overseeing them and taking full charge of logistics and the transport of the spoils of war. Qianye himself led the elites on a series of raids and struck two more mines. He seized everything that could be moved away and then burned the mine into ruins.

    There was still no movement in the depths of the arachne count¡¯s territory, but Qianye wasn¡¯t worried whether or not there was any scheme behind the count¡¯s passivity. The longer things dragged on, the more established the defensive construction on ck Ridge would be¡ªgiven enough time, the ce would be a fort. Qianye even transferred an airship over.

    It wasn¡¯t a bad thing even if the arachne count really had no intention to mobilize his forces. They could cut off the eastern region¡¯smunication with the countpletely so long as they maintained a firm grasp on ck Ridge. Then, he would mop up the viscounts in the eastern region one by one and aplish his western expedition ns.

    Zhao Yuying disappeared during this period, leaving a message saying she was going to survey the geography and that she would probably be back when there were actual battles to fight. With Zhao Yuying¡¯s ability, no existence in the count¡¯s territory could pose a threat to her as long as she acted with some care. Thus, Qianye just let her go since there wasn¡¯t an urgent need for her anyway.

    The guardians of the two other mines were only barons. Qianye was able to obtain victory without much effort, and there was even the added benefit of replenishing his essence blood.

    After pulling back to ck Ridge, Qianye wanted to start cultivating immediately and convert the essence blood as quickly as possible. Unexpectedly, he was suddenly ovee by exhaustion¡ªit was, once again, that familiar and irresistible sensation.

 Volume 5 - 64: Nirvanic Rend

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 64: Nirvanic Rend

    An unknown length of time had passed when Qianye sat up and nced vacantly at his surroundings. He recalled, after quite some time, that he had fallen into a deep slumber just as he was about to cultivate.

    He reached for the nearby origin clock and was relieved to find that only about half an hour had passed. Qianye was just thinking about circting the Song n Ancient Scroll when he suddenly realized that his essence blood was missing again. Additionally, over half of it had vanished and only about a third remained.

    Qianye was shocked¡ªthis time, he knew for certain that something was wrong. He immediately sat down, activated his True Sight with great concentration, and began to check every corner of his body. He couldn¡¯t rest easy without uncovering the mystery of the vanishing essence blood.

    Qianye¡¯s internal vision had be much clearer after obtaining True Sight, and he could even capture the most minute of changes in origin power. As such, he began to circte his cultivation arts one by one and observed the flow of origin power within.

    Everything was normal, starting from the Combatant Form to the Song n Ancient Scroll. He simply couldn¡¯t find anything odd.

    Qianye finally noticed some details he had formerly overlooked when he activated the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Mystery Chapter. It turned out that threads of condensed essence blood were flowing out of his heart under the guidance of the Mystery Chapter to form a vortex within his body.

    This vortex was like an invisible grinding stone which crushed and expelled the mixed impurities within the essence blood. This process produced the purest of darkness origin power which was then absorbed by his blood energies.

    After absorbing darkness origin power, the purple blood energy would use it to strengthen his body. At the same time, it would release some specks of purple light which were then carried, by means of his blood, to every part of his body.

    Meanwhile, the dark golden blood energy disyed no changes despite absorbing even more darkness origin power than the purple one. Instead, a certain feather on the Wings of Inception suddenly seemed a bit brighter than before. It was almost tangible and no longer illusory like it was before.

    Sometimes, the dark golden blood energy would also release some light, but it didn¡¯t flow to his limbs and bones via the bloodstream and was instead absorbed by his internal organs. There were some minute changes in the organs after absorbing the golden light. The changes were so minuscule that one could hardly notice them, but they were, in fact, a definite reinforcement.

    Qianye finally discovered the dark golden blood energy¡¯s effects. It was unexpectedly capable of strengthening his internal organs.

    The cultivation path of those from the Evernight faction was much more straightforwardpared to theplex human systems¡ªevery race prioritized strengthening their bodies. But the upgrade was mostly limited to the external physique below the level of champion. Only after passing the champion threshold would the darkness origin power enter deeper into the organs and reach a new level.

    This implied that Qianye, with his dark golden blood energy, possessedbat strengthparable to that of a viscount despite the fact that his blood energy was quantitatively at the level of a baron¡¯s.

    This also meant that his strength inbat would exceed other vampires of the same level when he formally condensed a blood core and advanced to the champion rank.

    At this moment, he hadpleted a cycle of the Mystery Chapter. The luminous feather on the Wings of Inception had be slightly more substantial¡ªit might perhaps undergo a new transformation after materializingpletely.

    Qianye rested for a short while and then began cultivating his second cycle of the Mystery Chapter. He had to examine the Mystery Chapter in detail in order to figure out the reason behind the disappearing essence blood.

    As expected, the essence blood seeping out of his heart was cut off at the beginning of his second cycle, and only a small amount of essence blood seeped out a whileter. The flow of essence blood during this entire process was intermittent¡ªapparently, a part of it was disappearing once again.

    Qianye slowly withdrew his arts. He already knew that the essence blood he had absorbed were all stored in his heart, and hence, the reason behind the vanishing essence blood should also be in its depths. It was just that ordinary internal vision couldn¡¯t probe into the internal operations of the heart.

    He gave it some thought before operating his true sight, focusing it on his heart. Quite unexpectedly, the heart became transparent under his True Sight and slowly revealed the scene within.

    At this moment, the essence blood had formed a ball the size of his thumb and was hovering within his heart chamber. Its color was fairly mottled¡ªsome parts were bright red, while others were somewhat darker, presumably caused by the mixture of essence blood from different races.

    Above this sanguineous ball, Qianye saw the illusory figure of a book. That was the Book of Darkness which he had obtained from Andruil¡¯s treasury!

    Back then, the book had inexplicably entered Qianye¡¯s consciousness but had mysteriously disappeared after he had left the lost realm. He couldn¡¯t find any traces of it no matter how he observed. He had never expected the book to have entered the depths of his heart at some point.

    The ¡°Book of Darkness: Genesis¡± was one of the dark race¡¯s lost ssics, but Qianye had no other information about it apart from the demonstration of the world¡¯s inception when he had first obtained it. Even though the Song n¡¯s depository had indeed collected a fair share of dark race historical documents, no records there were rted to this book.

    The bleeding eye on the book¡¯s cover had undergone some changes and now seemed rather illusory. On the contrary, the three runes around it appeared much clearer than before.

    Qianye observed for a moment and automatically understood their meaning.

    The first rune was the ¡°Book of Darkness¡±, the second meant ¡°Genesis¡± and the third represented ¡°darkness origin power¡±.

    Two out of the three runes had already been lit up, while the third was halfway between illusory and material¡ªit wascking just a little bit to appearpletely.

    At this moment, the scenery within this conscious space became exceptionally clear. A strand of essence blood would asionally seep out from the bloody sphere to be absorbed by the Book of Darkness. Could it be that the vanishing essence blood had been absorbed by the Book of Darkness?

    Qianye, once again, shifted his focus onto the Book of Darkness. This time, the Book of Darkness was altered the moment it came into contact with his consciousness¡ªan inexplicable and enormous attractive force began to draw the ball of essence blood toward it.

    The Book of Darkness began to pulse as though it possessed a life of its own and continuously devoured the essence blood inrge gulps. Within the blink of an eye, the ball of essence blood equivalent to a knight hadpletely disappeared.

    Qianye was amazed. Afterward, he discovered that thest rune on the cover had lit up, and a thought shed through his mind¡ªhe subconsciously wanted to open the Book of Darkness and study it in detail. This notion had just emerged when the hovering Book of Darkness opened itself.

    There was a table of contents on the title page, but it contained only one line: ¡°Tempering¡±.

    Qianye¡¯s will moved once again, and the Book of Darkness flipped to the next page on its own. This time, there were masses of billowing darkness on the page. There was a small runic word at the corner of the page which read ¡°Tempering¡±. Qianye tried to flip the page once again, but it jumped directly to the back cover.

    This thick Book of Darkness, at present, had only one page.

    Qianye flipped back to the Tempering Chapter.

    Following the attention of his consciousness, the mass of darkness slowly transformed, and the irregr mist slowly formed meaningful and continuously transforming images. Suddenly, the figure of a person shed past, someone Qianye felt he had seen before.

    The figure immediately became much clearer as Qianye focused his attention, its form stabilizing in the shape of a man thrusting with a sword. Qianye was fairly familiar with this diagram¡ªit was a basic stance from one of the Song n¡¯s basic sword techniques. Qianye soon recalled the other sword stances from this basic sword technique, and the corresponding human-shaped figure would appear almost immediately.

    All of the human-shaped diagrams were moving continuously and disying their representative sword techniques. Every demonstration was slightly different, and these minor discrepancies shook Qianye¡¯s heart. They were actually improvements made to the basic sword technique! Those changes happened to be in the parts which he had felt were not very smooth but didn¡¯t know how to improve on.

    The Book of Darkness was automatically deriving martial arts?

    Qianye suppressed the astonishment in his heart and began to recall the other martial techniques he had seen in the Song n depository. As expected, any stance he recalled would appear on the Book of Darkness. Within the blink of an eye, there were hundreds of human-shaped figures within that lump of darkness. They moved up and down as they continuously demonstrated various types of martial arts.

    Back at the Song n, he had spent most of his time and energy on studying sword techniques after obtaining East Peak and naturally paid more attention to sword techniques at present.

    Following his will, all of the human figures in the Book of Darkness turned blurry and reverted to misty ck lines. Then, they assembled once more, and this time, all of the human-shaped figures were holding swords. The most astonishing thing was that these swords were actually identical to East Peak.

    Every human figure represented a sword stance. On careful observation, these sword techniques all originated from the dozens of basic sword technique records Qianye had read.

    The mass of darkness surged at progressively greater speeds, and all of the human-shaped figures began to move ordingly. Within moments, hundreds of people were waving swords in front of Qianye¡¯s eyes. Some were performing sword dances on their own, others were sparring with one another, and some figures were even engaging in a group brawl. Momentster, some of the human-shaped figures disappeared, while othersbined into one. Their numbers dwindled quickly, and only a couple of human figures remained in the end.

    Qianye observed with even greater concentration and found that these figures weren¡¯t using the sword techniques from any single sword art. Their actions were simrly simple and direct but were much more exquisite than basic sword techniques. Most importantly, these sword techniques were obviously a fit for the East Peak, not only in terms of size and shape, but also in terms of weight.

    Qianye had been single-mindedly studying East Peak¡¯s use during this period and was struck with a sudden sh of insight after seeing these techniques. But he still felt something was missing.

    As if they had sensed Qianye¡¯s thoughts, the human figures performing swordy in the darkness turned blurry. They gathered to one side and seemed to be on the verge of merging together. During this process, the mass of pure darkness origin power faded away rapidly and was fully consumed in the blink of an eye. After which, only a single human figure was left on the page.

    With the sword in hand, the figure shed out like a thunderbolt and fired a sword radiance extending dozens of meters.

    Qianye¡¯s heart and mind werepletely shaken as he watched this move. This sword strike wasn¡¯t borate and only sought pure might, almost capable of shing open space.

    The human figure released that single sh and then stopped moving as numerous ancient runes began to appear in the surrounding space.

    An abrupt revtion condensed the meaning of this runic word in Qianye¡¯s consciousness.

    Nirvanic Rend!

 Volume 5 - 65: Long-Distance Raid

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 65: Long-Distance Raid

    At about the same time, Qianye naturallyprehended the secrets and basic techniques of Nirvanic Rend. The darkness origin power on the book thenpletely disappeared, and the sword-wielding human figure also faded away gradually.

    The Book of Darkness flipped back to the content page on its own, and the only words upon it, ¡°tempering¡±, also grew indistinct. Qianye tried flipping the page again, but he couldn¡¯t no matter how he tried.

    He was thinking about sword techniques when he activated that function just now. As such, the Book of Darkness took all of the basic sword techniques he knew, weeded out theplicated parts, kept the simple essence, and then integrated them into his weapon of choice, the East Peak. In the end, everything culminated into a single move: Nirvanic Rend.

    The process of tempering martial arts consumed the darkness origin power within the Book of Darkness which, in turn, came from essence blood. The consumption involved in this process was truly astonishing. Qianye did some calctions and found that the required essence blood was equivalent to that of two third-rank viscounts.

    Had the quantity been even slightly insufficient, the tempering process might¡¯ve stopped at the first few sword moves and the final Nirvanic Rend wouldn¡¯t have appeared.

    This discovery came as a pleasant surprise for Qianye. Andruil¡¯s True Sight, the Wings of Inception, and the Book of Darkness could all be considered amazing items.

    But despite their colossal might, the Wings of Inception and Book of Darkness were also amazing in their blood essence requirement. Two third-rank viscounts were only enough to feed a single page on the Book of Darkness. It was obvious that he would need simr amounts of essence blood if he wanted to use the tempering ability again. And this was just a single sword stance¡ªthe essence blood requirement would be even greater if he needed to temper higher level martial techniques.

    Tempering was only the first page of the Book of Darkness. It didn¡¯t take a lot of thinking to know that he would need to fork out vast amounts of essence blood if he wanted to see more pages.

    Comparatively, the Wings of Inception was even more hateful¡ªthe dark golden blood energy had already devoured so much blood essence blood and yet, even up to this day, only half of a single feather had been lit. It was unknown just how many experts would have died in Qianye¡¯s hands by the time both wings were illuminated.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly. With two big abyss-like consumers in the form of the Wings of Inception and the Book of Darkness, the growth of his three blood energies fell by more than half. All in all, this could be considered a blessed distress¡ªit seemed he would have to join more battles in the future.

    He picked up East Peak and walked out of the camp. He brought out his motorcycle in a secluded area and drove toward the wilderness, hoping to find a ce to test out the might of his Nirvanic Rend.

    There was an isted valley to the northwest of Dark me¡¯s garrison with a steep cliff dozens of meters tall at its entrance. The stony surface was bright, clean, and fairly suitable to test out a martial technique. This ce was already quite a distance from the camp and likely wouldn¡¯t rm others even if he stirred up amotion.

    Qianye drew the de and circted his origin power in silence. Then, with a loud cry amidst wind and thunder, East Peak unleashed a Nirvanic Rend toward the opposite precipice.

    A wisp of darkness origin power emerged from the void as East Peak shed out and flowed into the de¡¯s edge, merging with Qianye¡¯s origin power. The sword was suffused by hazy ck mist as a faintly discernible sword light burst forth, extending ten meters and cutting apart the rocky cliff in its entirety.

    A crack appeared at the center of the smooth stone cliff amidst the loud rumble which then shot explosively in every direction like a spider web. Shattered rocks fell like rain as a ten-meter long and two-meter deep sword scar appeared before Qianye in the blink of an eye.

    The might of this blow shocked Qianye even though he was already expecting it.

    He carefully recalled the process by which he unleashed the Nirvanic Rend and how he had caught the strand of darkness origin power through the void. Perhaps this was the key to this overperforming might. Qianye could also utilize origin power while attacking, but that power was from his surroundings and not drawn out from the void.

    Obtaining the Nirvanic Rend made up for Qianye¡¯s biggest shoring¡ªhisck of a powerfulbat art. The only weak point was that both the Wings of Inception in Nirvanic Rend consumedrge amounts of energy, and his ability to continue fighting would plummet after a single use.

    Qianye felt that he could, at most, swing three Nirvanic Rends in his peak state. He picked up East Peak and reached out to touch the stone cliff that was no longer smooth. He then left the valley in the end after confirming the might of his sword technique.

    The motorcycle had just entered the main gates when Zhao Yuying appeared out of nowhere. This beautifuldy was, at the moment, looking fairly miserable¡ªher face was covered in so much dirt that it was almost difficult to make out her original countenance. Thebat attire on her body was also full of cuts and holes, not much better than the junkyards residents of Evernight Continent.

    Upon finding Qianye, Zhao Yuying jumped onto his motorcycle without a word and squeezed Qianye to the back seat. ¡°Follow me!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Qianye was somewhat startled.

    ¡°An extremely important matter. I think I¡¯ve figured out the old spider¡¯s secret!¡±

    From the sudden appearance of those vampires and the origin array that hadn¡¯t been cracked up to this day, Qianye knew that Count Stuka was plotting something. Perhaps because the dark races enjoyed long lifespans, it seemed they were always scheming in order to relieve their boredom and prevent themselves from bing a pool of stagnant water.

    Additionally, their schemes were more often rted to their internal conflicts rather than their conflicts with humans. That was why Qianye had paid little attention to the arachne count¡¯s secret in the beginning.

    But it was apparent from Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression that the matter wasn¡¯t as he had thought. Stuka¡¯s conspiracy might somehow be rted to the human race¡ªeither that or it involved massive profits. Otherwise, this young miss who, more often than not, possessed a unique way of thinking, wouldn¡¯t be so anxious.

    ¡°What¡¯s Stuka up to?¡± Qianye asked.

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t reply. She opened up the lid at the top end of the motorcycle and revealed a row of hidden switches. Qianye was startled because she had never told him about them.

    Zhao Yuying pushed all of the switches upward¡ªthe vehicle began to jolt restlessly, and the sound of the engine became muffled and powerful.

    ¡°Hang on tight!¡± she shouted as the motorcycle leapt out amidst a loud rumble. Its wheels spun at high speed and shaved two deep traces on the ground.

    The vehicle shot out thunderously like a fired cannon shell, almost flinging Qianye off. He subconsciously tightened his hug around Zhao Yuying¡¯s waist as the motorcycle elerated to extreme speeds and the scenery around them became fairly blurry.

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t even have the patience to make a turn out of the camp gates and simply charged straight at the fence.

    Qianye cried out, ¡°Where are you going?¡± But his voice was drowned out by the roar of running machinery and friction.

    The noise of the engine escted even higher as Zhao Yuying grabbed the handles and swerved ever so slightly. The motorcycle charged up an inconspicuous little mound at the speed of wind and lightning¡ªits wheels rose several meters into the air and flew right over the protective fence. The vehicle then drew a parab in the air beforending heavily on the ground.

    The motorcycle was unexpectedly able to withstand such a roughnding as though it were nothing and then proceeded to roll into the distance amidst thunderous rumbles.

    Only in Zhao Yuying¡¯s hands was this motorcycle able to draw out the true meaning behind the word ¡°wild¡±. Comparatively, Qianye¡¯s own method was like riding a docile little sheep.

    ¡°Where are we going to?¡± Qianye moved close to Zhao Yuying¡¯s ears and shouted loudly. This willful young miss was always so swift and decisive. They should¡¯ve made proper ns after finding some clues¡ªit was simply too rash to charge out like this without even informing Dark me.

    ¡°To a certain mining pit!¡± Zhao Yuying shouted back.

    They couldn¡¯t hear each other amidst the thunderous roar of the engine without shouting at the top of their lungs.

    Zhao Yuying shouted once more as if she knew Qianye would surely me her actions. ¡°It¡¯s fine to leave those burdens behind!¡±

    Qianye was rendered speechless. But then he recalled a different matter. ¡°Didn¡¯t you mobilize some men to attack a settlement?¡±

    ¡°Ah! I forgot!¡± Zhao Yuying replied as though it was all right and proper.

    ¡°Then what about thepany you took along?!¡±

    ¡°They should be fighting already, I guess.¡± A response typical of the granddaughter of Duke You.

    Qianye roared furiously, ¡°You let them attack a settlement on their own?¡±

    ¡°So what?! It¡¯s just a settlement. This mommy here can overturn a dozen or so of them in one night. They¡¯re an entirepany! What¡¯s the use if they can¡¯t even handle that?¡±

    ¡°You!¡±

    Considering the scale of dark race settlements in this region, a singlepany of Dark me soldiers was enough under normal circumstances. The problem was that they were already deep in enemy territory and no longer in the buffer zone. It would be terrible if there was a traveling dark race expert in the settlement.

    If by any chance the expert was at the level of Qianye or Zhao Yuying, even an entire battalion would fail to return, to speak nothing of a singlepany.

    Zhao Yuying suddenly elerated once more whereupon the engine let out a deafening roar and it became difficult to converse even with shouts. Qianye could only m up¡ªhe seemed to vaguely catch Zhao Yuying¡¯sst few words about how a unit incapable of fighting independently was useless, and those without sufficient luck were also useless.

    The motorcycle shattered the peaceful night and shook all life-forms within several kilometers out of their dreams, throwing the wilderness into amotion. Countless birds and beasts gazed in terror as the faraway metal beast shot through wilds at unimaginable speeds and drove into the distance.

    They only dared return to their nests after the rumble of the motorcycle receded. But it would likely take them quite some time to fall back asleep.

    On the way, Qianye finally couldn¡¯t resist the urge and shouted once more, ¡°Aren¡¯t you announcing our location to the dark races with this ruckus?¡±

    ¡°So what if they know? Who will daree and throw away their lives, that old spider?

    Qianye turned silent once again. It was just as Zhao Yuying said¡ªwith the exception of the arachne count, anyone else seeking them out would only be throwing their lives away.

    The motorcycle sped on for almost two hours before finally arriving at the destination. Qianye noticed that this mine wasn¡¯t on themon map of this region, but was one of the locations where Zhao Yuying had pointed out as potential mining sites. It seemed the dark races weren¡¯tcking in expert excavators either to have chosen the same ce as Zhao Yuying without prior arrangements.

    The buildings in front soon became clearer in their field of vision. Judging from its appearance, the scale of this mine was evenrger than the ck stone mine Qianye had razed, and it was also heavily guarded. Not only was it surrounded by numerous high walls, but the main gate was also ten meters tall with three towers constructed around it¡ªtheir forbidding, ck cannon muzzles could be seen from a distance.

    What kind of mine was this? It was clearly a fortress!

    The motorcycle¡¯s movements were simply too conspicuous and had drawn the attention of the guards from a fair distance. Guns poked out of the embrasures in session, and the fixed cannons on the towers began to turn slowly toward them.

    ¡°Are we going over just like that?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°Yup, we¡¯re going in just like that!¡± Zhao Yuying replied.

    The rumble of the motorcycle engine escted to its peak once again as the vehicle actually charged straight toward the main gates.

 Volume 5 - 66: Unexpected

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 66: Unexpected

    rms erupted immediately in the mine. The guards roared as various weapons opened fire, sending forth a shower of gunpowder projectiles and origin bullets.

    An extremely faintyer of dark purple emerged on Zhao Yuying¡¯s body which extended vertically into a protective arc and enveloped the motorcycle. She didn¡¯t have the slightest intention to decelerate or change directions and simply charged straight into the tempest of bullets. She tugged violently at the head of the motorcycle upon approaching the gates¡ªthe vehicle rose into the air before the countless dumbfounded arachne and vampires, leapt over the gates, andnded in the mine.

    Behind the gates was an extremelyrge za, on one side of which was a small mountain of ck stones. There were numerous caves at the base of the mountain in the distance with railway tracks extending into each of them. This kind of mechanization could be considered a major investment on Evernight Continent where manpower was still heavily relied upon.

    The mine was brightly lit. Although the dark race warriors all possessed night vision, the mining ves couldn¡¯t see in the dark, and the illumination was prepared specifically for them. Even so, the dazzling lights were simply too extravagant, a clear indication of how much importance the count attached to this mine.

    There were hundreds of smiths at the center of the mine, busily setting up a massive origin array hundreds of meters in diameter. There was a mountainous pile of crates beside thew array, and judging from their external appearance, they seem to beponents for its assembly.

    Smiths capable of constructing aw array of such scale couldn¡¯t be ves¡ªthey should be true technicians of considerable individual strength. Such professionals were of significant value in either faction. With Stuka¡¯s strength and position, recruiting even half this number would cause him to suffer greatly¡ªthe numbers before them certainly wasn¡¯t something an Evernight count could afford.

    Qianye saw this and understood why Zhao Yuying wanted to raid this mine so urgently. No matter what the function of this origin array was, a matter capable of making the arachne count ignore an invasion into hisnds was definitely of utmost importance.

    But before he could even decide what to do next, the group of people standing beside the array nced back sessively in rm. The first to turn was an elderly person.

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat after seeing the other party clearly. He only heard Zhao Yuying exim in astonishment, ¡°Stuka!¡± Apparently, meeting the elderly man here was also well beyond her expectations.

    The elderly man was the master of this domain, the arachne count Stuka. Qianye had seen pictures of him, the viscounts under hismand, and certain other important characters in his early military intelligence. But why was Stuka here instead of staying in his castle?

    Since even Stuka was here, it was only natural that his elite units would be nearby.

    Qianye had already calmed down. The enemy¡¯s strategic location was where his side had to strike¡ªthis strategy could never go wrong in any era. It was just that, with the old man here, the surprise attack had now be a direct confrontation. Apparently, a bitter fight was imminent.

    Within moments, Qianye¡¯s hand was already on the Twin Flowers at his waist. At the same time, he reached into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm with his consciousness and began to go through the suitable munitions within.

    After a cry of surprise, Zhao Yuying gritted her teeth and leapt off the vehicle with Qianye in tow. It was unknown what button she had pressed during this maneuver, but the motorcycle engine reached its peak once again¡ªthe fourrge exhaust pipes spewed out long jets of me and screamed toward Count Stuka like a mad bull.

    Without waiting for Count Stuka to move, an arachne viscount beside him waved his hand and conjured a spider web out of thin air to envelope the motorcycle. However, the output of the vehicle Zhao Yuying had modified far surpassed the viscount¡¯s expectations. The vehicle shook slightly in the air as its wheels spun wildly, and quite unexpectedly, it only sank for a moment before charging straight at Stuka.

    Stuka let out a cold snort and attacked in person. Three dark green colored spider webs appeared at the same time and wound tightly around the metallic machine. This time, the motorcycle couldn¡¯t break free and was dragged to the ground. With a loud boom, it smashed to the ground near thew array amidst a cloud of dust and debris.

    Stuka looked up with a sneer and numerous jade green lights started flickering between his fingers. But then his expression changed abruptly as he turned back to nce at where the motorcycle hadnded.

    The motorcycle engine had yet to die after smashing to the ground; it was still trembling, and its temperature was climbing rapidly. The origin arrays outside the kic chamber had not dimmed down. Instead, they were glowing progressively brighter and, in the end, began to spew out mes.

    Stuka had no time to issue a warning and shot out a spiderweb with a wave of his hand. But it was toote; the motorcycle exploded with a loud boom. The force of this explosion could only be stronger than a vampire origin grenade and not weaker.

    Everything within fifty meters apart from Count Stuka and the two viscounts was blown away by the shockwaves. Even the smiths working on thew array were affected by the ripples; many of them copsed after they were struck by the sputtering metal fragments.

    Count Stuka turned back furiously and was just about to chase after the two bold human insects when he suddenly noticed two origin grenades flying toward the half-constructed origin array.

    Stuka was greatly rmed¡ªhe immediately rose into the air and intercepted one with a spider web while blocking the other with his own body.

    Two balls of fire erupted in the air with a loud rumble as shrapnels flew out like rain in every direction. Count Stuka¡¯s figure emerged as the mes receded¡ªhis hands were wrapped around his head in a protective stance, and the origin power radiance around his body was flickering unstably.

    The count lowered his hands and looked down at himself. Two tears had appeared on the formal attire crafted by a famous master.

    Ayer of frost had appeared on the count¡¯s expression when he looked up again. Darkness origin power began to spread out like rolling haze as though a small storm was brewing. He had taken a hidden loss during their first exchange.

    Originally, it would¡¯ve been impossible for a grenade to st open a dark count¡¯s origin defenses regardless of its power. But the count hadn¡¯t expected that the human who had used this unorthodox weapon was, in fact, a champion who had secretly condensed tangible daybreak origin power onto the explosive and used it like a throwing weapon. Moreover, that person¡¯s origin power attribute was extremely unique and quickly broke through his origin defenses.

    At this moment, explosions rang out in session.

    Qianye followed tightly behind Zhao Yuying and finally witnessed this beautifuldy¡¯s fierybat style. She warped around like the wind as she rushed about the mine, dropping grenades at every stop before continuing to the next.

    Qianye followed her for a part of the way but turned toward a different direction after finding that she didn¡¯t need his protection at all. He also produced two origin grenades, stuffing one into a random building and tossing the other toward the center of thew array.

    An arachne viscount waved out a spider web amidst furious roars and wrapped it around the grenade mid-air. A dazzling burst of light erupted in the air soon afterward as origin power shockwaves rippled out, almost affecting thew array.

    Stuka¡¯s expression was dark. He hurriedly issued some orders and then threw himself in Zhao Yuying¡¯s direction to give chase. His guard forces were originally resting in the row houses at the border of the mine. At this moment, they were just running over, but after seeing the count¡¯s gestures, they turned away to nk Qianye instead. Meanwhile, the arachne viscount beside Stuka stood guard near the array for fear of Qianye and Zhao Yuying attempting to destroy it.

    The origin array was yet to bepleted and simply couldn¡¯t withstand the destructive power of an origin grenade. It wasn¡¯t even certain whether or not the shockwaves would affect the precision instruments within.

    Meanwhile, Qianye and Zhao Yuying had realized, from how Stuka had personally intercepted the grenades, that the array was his greatest weakness. As such, they would throw an origin grenade toward the array from time to time as they waved through the mine. In this manner, they had effectively restricted that arachne viscount to the area around the array.

    The mine was in chaos and explosions rang out everywhere in close session.

    Stuka¡¯s guard unit found no sess in trying to capture Qianye. Thetter¡¯s speed had far surpassed these high-ranking soldiers and would often take advantage of his powerful physique to meet them head-on. He hadn¡¯t brought out East Peak and only relied on the Twin Flowers and hand-to-handbat. And despite that, no one was his match.

    The guard force only managed to slow Qianye down slightly even after paying a steep price of one baron and one knight in casualties. As for those ordinary warriors, miners, and smiths, their losses were even greater.

    The dark race warriors had never encountered a battle where grenades were used in suchrge amounts. Zhao Yuying¡¯srge backpack was filled to the brim with origin grenades and almost nothing else! Under her special methods, every grenade was capable of producing extreme destruction.

    Most of the grenades Qianye had tossed out weren¡¯t origin grenades. But that didn¡¯t make the situation any better¡ªgunpowder grenades possessed great cost to performance ratio against cannon fodder. With Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Space in his possession, the number of grenades he was throwing out could only exceed Zhao Yuying¡¯s rate. So much that he was throwing them out continuously without the need to search for specific timing and angle.

    Stuka had locked onto Zhao Yuying and was hot on her trail. However, thetter was extremely fast and exceptionally crafty¡ªshe took full advantage of the mine¡¯splex terrain and refused to fight head-on with Stuka. The count chased for a long time and almost seeded in intercepting her on several asions, but she always managed to slip away at thest moment.

    The count scattered spider webs on numerous asions, but all of them were pierced through directly and failed to impede this human-shaped T-Rex in the slightest. He decided to stop wasting his origin power after numerous repeats.

    Stuka suddenly realized that his own path was about to converge with Qianye¡¯s at one point. After a moment of hesitation, he scattered a spider web to block Qianye¡¯s advance. This little rat who wasn¡¯t even a champion had caused no less damage than that woman, and as such, he decided to spend a few seconds to help his guard squad kill off this troublesome fellow.

    But sanguineous mes lit up around Qianye¡¯s body at this moment, apanied by specks of faintly discernible golden light. He charged straight forward and swaggered off, leaving only a human-shaped hole in the jade-green spider web. At the same time, two origin grenades were thrown out toward the origin array.

    Stuka was stunned and his expression became increasingly ugly. He let out an earth-shattering roar as his body suddenly began to swell, ripping his formal attire to shreds.

    The arachne count revealed his absolutebat stance¡ªan iparablyrge arachne with two striking green lines at his waist. At this moment, Count Stuka was five or six meters tall, and his spider body was like a small hill. The pressure from his gaze alone made one feel asphyxiated.

    The count reached out to grab the javelin one of his guards had tossed out and flung it with a cold snort. He then shot the javelin toward Zhao Yuying at lightning speed.

 Volume 5 - 67: A Bitter Struggle (Part 1)

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 67: A Bitter Struggle (Part 1)

    Zhao Yuying had just tossed out another grenade, but she made a sharp turn and circled back after seeing that Stuka intended to intercept Qianye.

    To her surprise, however, Qianye escaped without a hitch, and the arachne count revealed his true form in anger. The javelin enshrouded in dark green mist whistled toward her¡ªeven Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t dare take on such a momentous attack by force. She immediately shifted out of the way with all her might, causing the javelin to brush past her left arm.

    Without waiting for Zhao Yuying to adjust her breathing, another sharp whistle rang out as the second javelin closed in! Zhao Yuying had no more room for evasion. She drew herbat knife, roared loudly, and hacked forth with all her might¡ªthe extremely risky strike actuallynded on the javelin¡¯s sharp point.

    A muffled bang rang out. Zhao Yuying was struck flying from the impact and only stabilized herself after taking severalrge steps backward.

    Stuka was fairly surprised¡ªhe hadn¡¯t expected that a mere humandy would be able to block his all-out attack. But he sneered right afterward and said in a sinister tone, ¡°Doesn¡¯t taste good, does it?¡±

    Ayer of hazy green appeared on Zhao Yuying¡¯s countenance. Stuka¡¯s spider poison was extremely powerful and could prate the body merely from the contamination of his origin power.

    However, Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t suffer from the full effects of the poison as Stuka had imagined. A dark purple origin power seeped out of her body and, like infernal mes, ignited with great intensity. Zhao Yuying shed her wrist open with a wave of her de¡ªthe arrow of blood which shot out was actually dark green!

    The gloomy shade of green on Zhao Yuying¡¯s face was reduced significantly after the blood spurted out. ¡°You think this mommy here will go down because of this little poison?¡±

    Stuka felt his cheeks twitch as he stared fixedly at Zhao Yuying¡¯s origin power radiance, a mixture of purple and swirling ck mist. He said with some uncertainty, ¡°Violet qi? The West Pole Qi?! You¡¯re a member of the Zhao n?¡±

    Zhao Yuying spat in an unrestrained manner and curled her fingers at Stuka. ¡°This old spider seems to be quite experienced and knowledgeable. Bute over if you want to fight! What do you care who I am?¡±

    Count Stuka¡¯s expression was austere. He made a grasping motion midair, shooting out numerous spiderwebs and bringing a battleaxe and origin gun into his hands. His massive body was actually floating slightly above the ground while his eight moving limbs propelled him forward as if he were a boat in water. He charged toward Zhao Yuying at great speeds and hacked down with his axe.

    Zhao Yuying brandished her de to block the attack. Her entire body was immediately shaken from the impact, and her face was drained of all color.

    A fierce battle had begun.

    Origin power surged wildly within the za, and the exchanges would cause small explosions from time to time. The air was soon filled with flying dust and debris, making it difficult for the weaker people to even breathe.

    Stuka, in hispletebat form, was able to truly bring out a dark count¡¯sbat strength¡ªhe definitely wasn¡¯t as weak and feeble as the rumors had imed. With the two experts exchanging blows, the dark race soldiers no longer dared to linger nearby. All of them had moved to the border of the mining zone to form arge perimeter.

    Although Zhao Yuying was just as strong as Qianye, she was far from being a match to an arachne count and quickly fell at a disadvantage in meleebat. However, she was able to bring out numerous secret techniques which made it impossible for Count Stuka to defeat her immediately.

    At this moment, Qianye had run all the way to a mine shaft to the East and tossed a grenade into the mining tram car. His expression changed after hearing the concentrated collision of origin power behind him. He nced back and, as expected, found Zhao Yuying and Stuka facing off against one another.

    He threw down the bag of grenades within Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and drew out East Peak. However, a massive shadow enveloped Qianye, and the ground quaked slightly as an arachne viscount inbat form appeared in front of him.

    This arachne was d in azure-colored heavy armor and only one meter shorter than Stuka. Brandishing thebat axe with both hands, he said with a cold voice, ¡°Little fellow, I shall be your opponent.¡±

    This was Count Stuka¡¯s guard captain who was previously out patrolling the surroundings. He had rushed back only after hearing the rm and happened to arrive just in time for this battle.

    A deep ocean-blue color emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes as True Vision swept past. This was a third-rank viscount, and the density of his darkness origin power could only be greaterpared to Duras and the other two vampires he had killed.

    Qianye squinted his eyes and waved East Peak disdainfully at the arachne.

    The guard captain was enraged¡ªhe let out a thunderous roar and began to rumble forward like a tank. He lowered his body, and his eight limbs struck the ground rhythmically like steel rods. The battleaxe in his hand tore through the air with a sharp whistle and hacked straight at Qianye.

    Qianye stood where he was and met the iing enemy attentively with East Peak in hand. The scenery in his eyes shifted¡ªthe world turned ck and white¡ªand only circr ripples of darkness origin power extended in all directions with the guard captain¡¯s battleaxe as their center.

    He inhaled deeply. East Peak shot up, pressed against the battleaxe with great precision, and flicked lightly upward, causing the massive weapon to draw a wondrous arc through the air as though it were weightless.

    The battleaxe in the guard captain¡¯s hand pulsed violently and almost flew out. He was greatly astonished and grabbed at the axe with all his might. His eight limbs stomped about in disarray and only managed to stabilize his body after some time.

    The sword technique Qianye had used just now was one of the final moves tempered by the Book of Darkness. The de had cut into the gap between the guard captain¡¯s swinging battleaxe. Thatst flick involved no strength at all, and the method was based on inciting a darkness origin power resonance instead¡ªeven an arachne viscount couldn¡¯t stand the two moves stacked together.

    After the flick, Qianye pulled back immediately. His right hand was still on East Peak, but an origin grenade had appeared in his left, which he flung out close to the ground.

    The guard captain had just stabilized his footing when he suddenly spied the rolling origin grenade through the corner of his eyes. But as it happened, that was a blind spot for his massive arachne body¡ªhe could neither evade nor deflect it.

    The grenade exploded almost directly under the arachne¡¯s body. The intense shockwaves sent the guard captain flying into the air and revealed his weak abdomen.

    Qianye had withdrawn East Peak at this point. He whipped out the Twin Flowers at great speed and fired two shots in close session, each striking the center of the arachne''s spider abdomen. The viscount¡¯s abdomen was revealed as the blinding radiance receded, a mess of mangled flesh and blood.

    Although he didn¡¯t have time to add special effects to the two shots, he had used Mithril Bullets of Exorcism. The pain sent the guard captain into a maddened rage asrge amounts of mithril entered his body. He fell heavily to the ground with his spider limbs in the air and couldn¡¯t flip over for a moment. The sharp limbs, swinging wildly about, injured several of the count¡¯s guards who hade to assist him.

    Qianye moved as fast as lightning and ran around the injured guard captain, firing continuously with his Twin Flowers and sending Mithril Bullets of Exorcism into the viscount¡¯s abdomen one after another. With so much mithril entering his body, it was enough to corrode most of the arachne¡¯s internal organs, and he was certain to be crippled whether he lived or died.

    The count¡¯s personal guards formed abat unit once again to block Qianye but failed to catch up to thetter¡¯s speed. Qianye paid them no heed and continued firing as he ran.

    On the contrary, it was the guard captain, who had be their greatest threat. The arachne viscount¡¯s central nervous system had been destroyed by the pain and mithril, causing him to lose all rationality and il about with his sharp limbs and battleaxe. But with the eventual drain in his vitality, the captain¡¯s movements gradually turned sluggish, and his attacks grew progressively weaker.

    Seeing that the time was just about right, Qianye holstered the Twin Flowers and made a beeline for the dying arachne viscount, directly knocking away a guard who had moved to obstruct him.

    Qianye leapt up and threw himself onto the arachne¡¯s mountainous body. The already staggering guard captain copsed with a boom, and his razor-sharp limbs began to sh about madly in the air, preventing the count¡¯s guards from approaching.

    Meanwhile, Qianye drew his Scarlet Edge and plunged it into the arachne¡¯s heart.

    A torrent of hot essence blood rolled into his body through the dagger, and Qianye¡¯s spirits rose as his exhausted body began to recover at a noticeable speed.

    The guard captain¡¯s struggles grew weaker and weaker until his limbs trembled unconsciously and his body spasmed on the verge of death. Only then did Qianye pull out the Scarlet Edge and stand up slowly.

    The count¡¯s dauntless guards roared and pounced toward Qianye. They only saw the heavy sword East Peak appear out of thin air andnd in Qianye¡¯s grip before thetter spun around and sent a circle of sword radiance extending in every direction.

    The guards froze midway as though they had turned into statues and didn¡¯t dare move. Terror surfaced on their countenance as they slowly looked down at their own bodies, at the thin line of blood which had appeared at their waist. Then, their lower bodies eventually staggered and fell away¡ªthey had been cut apart at the waist with a single sh!

    Qianye lifted East Peak and two origin grenades appeared in his hand as he shot a nce at the dark race warriors who had surrounded him from a dozen or so steps away. The warriors who had previously experienced the pain shivered. Many of them slowed down and began to retreat instead of pressing forward.

    Qianye tossed the grenades in his hand up and down before hurling them with great force. His target wasn¡¯t the dark race warriors in the front.

    The two grenades flew backward to his right and, one after another,nded precisely within the originw array.

    The arachne viscount guarding the array let out a furious howl but had no choice other than to run back and intercept the grenades. He was originally charging over in Qianye¡¯s direction after seeing that the guard captain had died.

    Qianye turned and charged toward Stuka with East Peak in tow.

    Stuka was battling Zhao Yuying contentedly. The two green stripes on the arachne count¡¯s body were dazzling, and wherever he passed would be suffused by a lingering faint green mist. Even dark race warriors would lose their lives on the spot if they were identally enveloped in it.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s entire body was gushing with dark purple origin power as if she were d in a full suit of armor, and this allowed her to move freely within the poisonous mist. However, a hazy jade color had once again emerged on her face. Her movements weren¡¯t as smooth as when the fight began and seemed to be in a perilous situation.

    She held the Mountain Splitter in her left hand and thebat knife in her right as she fought a desperate battle against Count Stuka. Mountain Splitter¡¯s muzzle had been surging with light all this time, but she had never found the right opportunity to fire.

    Zhao Yuying had fired two shots at the very beginning, and one of them had sted off half a spider limb. Although this couldn¡¯t be considered a major wound, Count Stuka hade to realize this humandy¡¯s strength from this. He responded with extreme caution thereafter and denied Zhao Yuying another chance.

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t having an easy time either. Mountain Splitter¡¯s consumption rate was astonishing, and she could only fire so many shots in total. Thus, she had to focus on conserving origin power so that she could give the old spider a vicious blow when the chance arose. At this moment, she had already loaded that exceptionally valuable ammo and was just waiting for the right opportunity.

    But Count Stuka was, after all, a count who had experienced countless battles throughout his long lifetime. He was currently closing in step by step, swinging his battleaxe and firing continuously from his handgun. Zhao Yuying¡¯s room for evasion was shrinking little by little.

    It was at this time that a sense of rm emerged in Stuka¡¯s heart, and he couldn¡¯t help but divert his attention to nce back amidst the intense battle. What he saw was the human bug, whom he had thought was already dead, walking toward him while dragging an unremarkable ck sword.

 Volume 5 - 68: A Bitter Struggle (Part 2)

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 68: A Bitter Struggle (Part 2)

    For some reason, Count Stuka sensed the approach of intense danger, but then he felt that it was quiteical. How could a little insect who wasn¡¯t even a champion be a menace?

    But the count¡¯s heart was still beating fast and it made him fairly ufortable. He frowned and raised his origin gun at Qianye for, in his vicious arachnid eyes, the best way to avert danger was to get rid of it directly.

    Zhao Yuying had just performed two consecutive sideway jumps to evade the continuous shes of Count Stuka¡¯s battleaxe, but her expression changed rapidly as she nced back uponnding. ¡°Qianye, pull back! There¡¯s a poisonous mist!¡±

    However, it seemed Qianye had neither neither heard Zhao Yuying¡¯s shouts nor noticed the arachne count¡¯s gun muzzle aimed at him. He just kept on advancing in a straight line, plowing a deep trench as he dragged East Peak along. It was almost as if he were cutting the earth into two.

    Later on, the dust kicked up by East Peak increased progressively and began to emit a vague droning sound like the tides in the deep sea¡ªEast Peak was starting to vibrate ever so slightly.

    ¡°Goddammit! You madman! Little Four and Little Five are all goddamned madmen!¡± Zhao Yuying cursed loudly. She gritted her teeth, lifted her Mountain Splitter, and fired immediately after taking aim. Blinding light erupted abruptly as an orange ball of me was spat out toward the arachne count. This wasn¡¯t the most opportune time to attack, but she had no other choice.

    Stuka paid no more attention to Qianye. He let out a loud roar and waved his axe with all his might. The cannon shell fired by the humandy this time was much more powerful than the previous ones, but it wasn¡¯t at the level where the count needed to be apprehensive in a direct confrontation. The green light shrouding the battleaxe lit up and expanded several times in the blink of an eye. Then, with a torrential momentum, he shed violently at the iing fireball.

    Only a loud rumble was heard before the fireball was shattered forcefully and turned into dozens of ming balls which shot out in every direction. But because the cannon shell had arrived a bit faster than Stuka had anticipated, the explosion took ce at a dangerously close distance.

    Several stray mesnded on the count¡¯s massive mountain-like body. This time, his defenses were actually prated with ease, andrge amounts of yellowish-green fluid flowed out from his body. Not only did the mes not die, but they began to disseminate and form deep trenches on his spider body.

    Stuka red at Zhao Yuying with a vicious glint in his eyes. These seemingly shocking injuries could only be considered superficial wounds to him. But this made the count mark Zhao Yuying as an extremely dangerous character¡ªhe had made a decision to eliminate her on the spot even if he had to pay a certain price.

    Allowing a woman with the firepower of a walking cannon to roam free in his territory wouldn¡¯t just harm his profits. There was a good chance that she might affect the major business he had taken part in, an oue he couldn¡¯t afford to shoulder.

    At this moment, Qianye had been tossed to the back of the count¡¯s mind.

    Stuka let out a long cry as his massive spider body rose into the air and pressed down toward Zhao Yuying like a copsing mountain peak. Darkness origin power within a hundred meters began to fluctuate wildly, so much that a mixture of ck and green mist was faintly discernible. It was a scene of absolute chaos and violence.

    ¡°Little Five, run!¡± Resolution shed across Zhao Yuying¡¯s face as she erupted in incisive killing intent. She made no attempt to run or evade¡ªMountain Splitter was raised, and the origin arrays lit up in quick session as she stared fixedly at the arachne count descending upon her. ¡°You want this mommy¡¯s life?!¡±

    Seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s bid to end in mutual destruction, a furious expression shed across the arachne count¡¯s countenance midair. He had forgotten just how many years it had been since he had been provoked like so.

    At this moment, the dark green origin power glow had extended from his arachnid body to his human-shaped upper body and was emitting a metallic luster. It seemed he was about to go all out with his present attack.

    A gentle hum resounded all of a sudden. The sound was fairly soft, but it possessed extreme prance and echoed clearly through the area filled with darkness origin power.

    Stuka felt as though he had been pricked by a needle. His heart suddenly contracted as he sensed an inexplicable force approaching him from afar which arrived behind him in but an instant.

    The arachne count had no time to turn hisrge arachnid body¡ªhe failed to notice that Qianye had never once slowed down and was still charging toward him. However, East Peak was now tightly in Qianye¡¯s hands and swept out diagonally. The edge of the heavy sword trembled slightly, and every vibration would condense a lingering illusion of the de.

    Even the count¡¯s personal guards didn¡¯t dare approach the area covered by his darkness origin power, but it seemed to have no effect at all on Qianye. Scarlet origin power suffused with flickering specks of gold passed out of his arms, blocking out the mixture of ck and green.

    In a sh, Qianye was now only a distance of two or three sprints from Stuka, and three sword mirages had appeared around East Peak¡ªa new one would be generated at the back as soon as the foremost one dissipated, maintaining the cycle. Without the slightest hesitation, he let out a shout, leapt into the air, and shed toward Stuka from a fair distance!

    All the experts on the battlefield felt a rush of palpitation.

    At this moment, the void almost seemed to have opened up, revealing vaguely a tiny corner of a different world. However, the aura which spilled over in the time it took for a spark to fly off a flint was so terrifying that it gave one the urge to involuntarily prostrate in fear.

    Afterward, a faintly colored thread of origin power hung down from the air and wrapped itself around East Peak.

    The three illusory swords returned in a sh, and Qianye¡¯s arms sunk abruptly because the de in his hand had be several times heavier. He had long since prepared for this and managed to hold onto the hilt firmly without a change in his swinging trajectory. A faint sword shadow shed out from the East Peak¡¯s edge and charged straight toward Stuka.

    Nirvanic Rend!

    The de struck noiselessly and without any overwhelming momentum. The arachne count¡¯s expression, however, shifted greatly and abruptly¡ªthe darkness origin power around him felt like the ocean in a violent storm, akin to raging waves tearing apart the rocky shores.

    Stuka could no longer pay attention to Zhao Yuying and twisted his enormous body around. At the same time, he pulled back his axe and shed forth in a hurried defense.

    The sword shadow flitted past¡ªit appeared slow but was, in truth, extremely fast.

    The first and second beams shed sessively with the battleaxe. The gold speckled scarlet origin power tangled with the mixture of ck and lingering green mist, suddenly causing a series of small explosions.

    The third sword shadow, however, streaked past Stuka¡¯s body silently.

    The arachne count¡¯s protective origin power lit up brightly in an eerie green color. The next moment, countless cracks began to appear before it shattered with a loud boom and countless fragments flew off in all directions.

    A bloody line appeared on Stuka¡¯s arachnid abdomen which split open immediately afterward, forming a grisly two-meter long wound. The arachne count let out a howl of pain and sent the battleaxe flying toward Qianye with a wave of his hand.

    Stuka fell heavily onto the ground with a muffled thud, but he was still able to stand and started roaring in extreme fury. The origin gun in his hand spat out tongues of me as it bombarded Qianye continuously.

    Zhao Yuying was startled for a moment after witnessing this scene. She came to at this moment and, turning the full-charged cannon around, sted out an origin power shell which struck the battleaxe flying despite having actedte.

    Qianye shed out with his sword and felt as though he had struck a mountain. His figure paused slightly in the air before he was flung backward by the enormous counter-force that was transmitted along East Peak. The numb sensation in his hands spread to his shoulders, and for a moment, it felt as though he had lost both arms and arge stone was pressing down on his chest. The stifling sensation was relieved only after spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    Qianye staggered backward as soon as hended on the ground and almost fell over. He stuck East Peak into the ground to stabilize his body but immediately ducked to the side after seeing a series of origin gunshots through the corner of his eyes. He evaded Stuka¡¯s barrage with several rolls but still failed to escape the shockwaves and shrapnelspletely. Numerous bloody wounds appeared on his shoulder and back.

    What followed was a short moment of silence as the arachne count¡¯s origin gun had reached its limit for continuous fire. Qianye supported himself up and took advantage of the gap to drew the Twin Flowers. A pair of luminous wings appeared behind his back as the Mystic Spider Lily and Bloody Datura merged into one. He aimed straight at Stuka and fired!

    All sounds vanished as the shot rang out, and only the unique timbre of the Twin Flowers echoed throughout the battlefield.

    Two origin power bullets emerged from the chamber and twisted around each other like the gemini of fate. Not long after taking flight, they suddenly erupted with intense radiance and rose like two suns.

    ¡°Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang!¡± Stuka¡¯s heart skipped a beat as the radiance appeared. The fear of refined silver was instinctive to the dark races just as humans feared ck titanium.

    However, the two bullets almost seemed to be crossing through space as though the distance between them and Stuka didn¡¯t exist. Stuka was already beginning to move sideways the moment he saw the blinding light, but he felt pain at almost the very next moment as the two Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang sted his arachnid abdomen.

    Stuka turned immediately to escape. The arachnid¡¯s agility was brought out without restraint at this moment of life and death. Qianye had just lit up the first origin array while charging for a second shot when the arachne count¡¯s figure leapt over the mountain ridge beside the mine and disappeared into the boundless night.

    Zhao Yuying had just arrived at Qianye¡¯s side as her eyebrows rose. She wanted to chase after the fleeing count but was stopped by Qianye.

    ¡°Don¡¯t chase after him.¡±

    ¡°Are we letting him off just like that? Rest assured, this mommy here has a way to finish him off!¡± Zhao Yuying said while rubbing her fists. This was how one should take advantage of another¡¯s precarious situation.

    ¡°He¡¯s taken two of my Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang and probably won¡¯t have an easy time. We have to clear up this ce now. The reason you took such a big risk toe here isn¡¯t to fight that old spider, is it?¡±

    Zhao Yuying revealed a rare expression of embarrassment. She had dragged Qianye over for a robbery but unexpectedly encountered Count Stuka here.

    She immediately shifted Qianye¡¯s attention by ncing at their surroundings. Almost a hundred dark race warriors remained but, for a moment, none of them moved¡ªthey were stunned by the abrupt shift in battle situation. Meanwhile, there was still an arachne viscount standing at the center of the origin array.

    Zhao Yuying said while pointing, ¡°This side is yours and those stronger ones are mine.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No, all of them are yours. I have to rest for a couple of minutes.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was startled, ¡°Why? Have you been squeezed dry with just that?¡±

    Qianye calmly produced a stimnt and stabbed it into his thigh. ¡°I¡¯m not a champion yet.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so fierce even now. What will this mommy do when you¡¯ve be a champion? What was that sword move just now? Even I don¡¯t have much confidence in receiving it.¡±

    Qianye said helplessly, ¡°They¡¯re going to escape if you don¡¯t take action.¡±

    Zhao Yuying nced back and, as expected, found the arachne viscount near the origin array edging back constantly. Apparently, he was nning to escape.

    Zhao Yuying raised the Mountain Splitter and roared, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to run!¡±

    How could the arachne viscount listen to her? He turned and fled immediately without the slightest bit of hesitation. Zhao Yuying was immediately furious and shouted, ¡°Stop Running! This mommy heremands you! You¡¯re still being disobedient? I¡¯ll break off all your legs once I catch you!¡±

    Zhao Yuying shouted all the way as she chased after the arachne viscount and disappeared over the other side of the mountain in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye was left alone in the mine.

    The atmosphere here was fairly subtle. The dark race soldiers scattering in every direction halted their steps and nced at Qianye with malicious intentions.

 Volume 5 - 69: Riot

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 69: Riot

    The dark race members¡¯ eyes were filled with ferocity. The warriors nearby had clearly heard that Qianye was drained of origin power, and a warrior without origin power wasn¡¯t much stronger than an ordinary person regardless of his rank.

    Qianye almost seemed oblivious to the dangerous situation he was in. He brought out a cigarette from his pocket, inhaled deeply, and said with a smile, ¡°Do you guys want a smoke?¡±

    An arachne and two vampires roared loudly as they charged toward Qianye.

    A ring of sword radiance suddenly emerged and swept past the three warriors. Their bodies kept on running forward and only split apart after taking a couple of steps.

    ¡°Together!¡± It was unknown who exactly let out such a shout, but it caused everyone to swarm forth.

    Qianye stood holding his sword with both hands at the center of the battlefield. East Peak¡¯s sword qi weaved back and forth, drawing out an illusory image with every wave of the de. Be it vampires, arachne, or werewolves, the sword would immediately see blood if it so much as brush past them.

    Qianye was merely repeating the basic sword stances tempered by the Book of Darkness. However, every wave of his sword would bring about a bloody storm and send broken limbs and bits of flesh flying in all directions. Dark race warriors were mowed down in droves. Some attacks didnd on his body, but even shes at full force only managed to leave shallow wounds on his body.

    After a round of fierce killing, the dark race warriors finally grew apprehensive and began to retreat in session.

    Dozens of corpses had fallen around Qianye, while others who had lost the ability to movey groaning and gasping. Qianye removed the cigarette hanging from his mouth and gave it a quick nce before tossing it to the ground.

    The blood below his feet had formed a river. The cigarette stub fell into the sanguineous flow and was extinguished with a sizzle.

    Qianye suddenly drew the Mystic Spider Lily and fired into the distance. A certain smith who was trying to slip away was taken down in a single shot.

    Qianye aimed the Mystic Spider Lily at the gathering of smiths and said, ¡°None of you may leave. Whoever dares escape will meet the same fate.¡±

    Someone in the crowd shouted, ¡°Split up and run!¡± Some of them felt a rush of excitement. They saw that Qianye only had a single handgun. How many rounds could he fire? How many of them could he intercept? But numerous balls of me erupted beneath the foremost group just as they began to run, and the pungent smell of gunpowder quickly filled the air. That was a gunpowder grenade!

    The smiths were immediately frozen in ce. Those further from the explosion still hadn¡¯t given up, but the moment they stepped out, a number of grenadesnded urately near them¡ªit was as though they had grown eyes. Only then did the smiths slow down their steps and return.

    Qianye watched them with a spurious smile while tossing a grenade in his right hand. A heavy cloth bag had appeared in his left hand at some point, and from the shape, it was very likely filled with grenades.

    The smiths¡¯ expressions turned dismal. Some among them weren¡¯t low in rank, so much that there were even rank seven or eight experts. However, they had been working with origin arrays most of the time and were thuscking inbat experience. The only reason they had raised their strength was so that they could construct higher level arrays.

    The explosives in Qianye¡¯s hands were all gunpowder grenades. Although a single blow wasn¡¯t enough to kill them, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid receiving heavy injuries. Under such circumstances, splitting up to escape was more or less a joke. No one was willing to be cannon fodder for the sake of draining Qianye¡¯s ammunition.

    Some of them still had their hopes pinned on the count¡¯s army. But they nced around only to find that all the dark race warriors had long since run away while Qianye was busy with the smiths.

    After Qianye tossed a grenade near them and the ensuing origin power shockwaves caused the nearby smiths to be unable to stand straight, all of them obediently returned to thew array without any other movements.

    At this time, on the other side of the mountain, Zhao Yuying had shed off the arachne viscount¡¯s head with a wave of herbat knife. ¡°Competing in speed with this mommy here. You¡¯re just courting death!¡±

    She suddenly remembered something and cried out in rm, ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Zhao Yuying was too engrossed in the chase and only now did she remember that she had left Qianye, now drained of origin power, in the mine. And there were at least a hundred dark race soldiers there.

    She ran back to the mine at full speed without even taking the time to collect the spoils of war.

    Momentster, Zhao Yuying arrived back at the mine and was momentarily stunned after seeing Qianye.

    It was unknown when a table and chair had been set up in the middle of the mine. Qianye was sitting at the table with East Peak beside him and drinking tea in all due leisure. Two vampires were standing beside him, and it seemed they were reporting something with great respect. There were also dozens of smiths working busily near the originw array, disassembling and sorting the arrayponents they had just installed a while ago.

    It seemed as though Qianye was the actual master of this mine.

    Zhao Yuying walked toward Qianye withrge strides and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Qianye shrugged and said, ¡°It¡¯s just as you see it.¡±

    ¡°Where are those dark race warriors?¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you still remember that there¡¯s a batch of dark race warriors here?¡±

    Zhao Yuying immediately felt guilty and her tone softened by quite a bit, ¡°That¡­ well¡­ this mommy here was only a bit careless. You seem fine and dandy right now.¡±

    Qianye shrugged and said, ¡°At this rate, you¡¯ll kill me one day!¡±

    Zhao Yuying knew she had passed a tribtion¡ªshe was immediately all smiles as she ced a w on Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°How can that be? You just stick with your elder sister here and there can only be benefits.¡±

    After hearing this, Qianye felt that his future was rather bleak.

    It was at this time that a muffled rumble was heard, followed by a series of explosions. mes and smoke emerged from a mine shaft to the east as its steel doors copsed with a boom and out poured arge group of miners and ves. Most of them appeared to be humans, but there were also a fair number of dark races.

    Those people were likely the ve miners toiling in the depths of the mine pit and mixed in with them were their supervisors. It was unknown why they had sted open the spare exit and rushed out only at this moment.

    A dense crowd of people had poured out. Most of them appeared malnourished and were d in tattered clothing. They were waving mining picks and shovels, without any presentable weapons to speak of. There were a number of werewolves among them who emergedpletely naked with their ¡°chaps¡± swinging and moving below their crotches¡ªthey took a couple of steps out and simply started running out on all fours.

    At this moment, the smiths still needed some time to disassemble the origin array. Moreover, the apparatuses and media were exceptionally precise, and even a single stomp would likely damage them. The origin array would bepletely ruined if it were to be stepped over by the hundreds of mining ves.

    Qianye saw the crowd¡¯s direction and couldn¡¯t help but frown¡ªthese people weren¡¯t scattering and were, instead, running toward the center of the za¡ªapparently, someone was urging them on from behind. These people possessed little martial prowess and naturally posed no threat to Qianye and Zhao Yuying who had even defeated Count Stuka. But they could cause chaos. On one hand, they could take this opportunity to destroy the array, while on the other, they could give the smiths an opportunity to escape.

    Qianye scanned the smiths in thew array and noticed that some of them had stopped working and were gazing into the distance. He said coldly, ¡°Continue working.¡±

    Qianye did not repeat his threat, but the smiths discerned the sharp killing intent within his words. They all shivered and lowered their heads before continuing to disassemble the array¡ªthey understood that the next grenade in Qianye¡¯s hand would likelynd on their heads and not near their feet.

    The iing stampede approached rapidly and someone in the crowd shouted, ¡°Charge! Whoever kills that wretched man and woman will be granted freedom!¡±

    Many ves¡¯ eyes were red as they let out bestial roars and charged over while brandishing the makeshift weapons in their hands.

    The perpetrator¡¯s intentions were clear as day. The mining ves were mostly humans, and thus, he wanted to see if Qianye and Zhao Yuying could bear to take action against so many of their own race.

    Qianye hurled numerous gunpowder grenades and drew a firing line in front of the advancing crowd. He then shouted with a stern voice, ¡°Withdraw! One step forward and you will die!¡±

    Under the effects of his origin power, Qianye¡¯s voice rang out like thunder and echoed throughout the za. However, the ves showed no signs of slowing down their footsteps and continued to swarm forward. It almost seemed as though the ones up front were being pushed by those behind. Qianye¡¯s warning fell on deaf ears.

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned frosty. He looked over but found that there was a fair number of dark race members mixed within the crowd. It was simply impossible to tell the hiding perpetrators apart from the penalized dark race members who had been forced into very.

    The human tidal wave approached the origin array in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye was hesitant for a moment. He had no shortage of origin grenades on him, and he could st away hundreds of people in this dense formation.

    It was at this time that Zhao Yuying¡¯s enraged voice rang out, filled with killing intent, ¡°You want to y this game with this mommy here?!¡±

    Soon afterward, a dozen-odd origin grenades flew toward the charging crowd in a horizontal line.

    ¡°This mommy here has killed even more people than you¡¯ve seen in a lifetime!¡± Zhao Yuying only spat out the second part of her heroic speech after the attack.

    The ves, both dark race and humans, could still recognize the grenades despite the madness. The crowd fell into chaos as¡ªthose in front wanted to retreat with all their might, while the ones at the back couldn¡¯t halt their advance immediately and kept on pushing forward.

    The grenades exploded at almost the same time, and the dazzling origin power light formed a low wall in front of Qianye. The intense stench of blood filled the air¡ªalmost all of the hundreds at the van fell, and and of death close to a hundred meters wide appeared in the midst of the horde.

    Not many survived the immediate st. The few lucky survivors were struggling in pools of blood, and their screams caused those behind to turn pale. They lost their heads and no longer dared to advance. Zhao Yuying¡¯s cruelty and viciousness had finally stemmed their madness.

    Some of the ves were finally afraid and turned to flee. A sharp whistle rang out through the air as numerous grenades flew over, but this time, the explosives passed high over their heads and fell at the back, turning the escapees into corpses.

    Neither able to advance nor escape, the ves had no idea what to do at the moment. Some of the more timid ones couldn¡¯t control the fear of death. They fell on their knees and began to plead for mercy.

    Zhao Yuying tossed her backpack to the ground. One could see from the opening that it was indeed filled with origin grenades. Although she had used up a fair bit, about half of them remained. Not yet content with the present firepower, she looked around and found the two crates of gunpowder grenades under Qianye¡¯s table which he had brought out to intimidate the smiths.

    She arrived inrge strides and, with a flick of her foot, sent the two heavy crates smashing near her backpack. She returned to her previous position, picked up a grenade, and tossed it in her hand while gazing forward with a cold smile.

    The ves immediately fell into amotion. Meanwhile, the smiths buried their heads in work and dared not even shoot a nce.

    Zhao Yuying said coldly, ¡°This mommy will give you all a chance. Who made you lot charge? Point that person out along with all of the old spider¡¯s men. Otherwise, I have a lot of toys here in this crate!¡±

    Although most of them were gunpowder grenades, the ves weren¡¯t experts in origin power either. The threat from these explosives was no different from origin grenades to them¡ªthey would die all the same once they were caught in the explosion.

    The ves began to nce around, and a dozen or so dark race members were isted almost immediately.

 Volume 5 - 70: Dividing Loot

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 70: Dividing Loot

    A vampire from the group noticed things going south and shouted loudly, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her nonsense! The count will be back immediately. Finish them off or everyone will die when His Excellency return!¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed coldly. She drew the Mystic Spider Lily from Qianye¡¯s waist and fired off a round with a raise of her hand. That vampire¡¯s brain was sted apart, sending blood and brain fluid flying everywhere and drenching those nearby.

    Gunshots rang out continuously. Zhao Yuying fired a dozen or so shots in session and killed off all the isted dark race members before stopping.

    The ves all lowered their heads. No one dared look at Zhao Yuying¡ªher murderous intent had suppressed the entire scene.

    Zhao Yuying then ordered, ¡°Everyone strip naked. Leave nothing on your body. Then you may leave!¡±

    As soon as these words were spoken, the ves immediately discarded everything and ran out of the mine naked. Their only wish was to get as far as they could from this terrifying woman. Some of them were hesitating at first, but they noticed people around them were doing as they had been told. They realized they had no choice but to join the naked army as Zhao Yuying¡¯s gaze scanned over them with overflowing killing intent.

    Perhaps there were still foremen and aides of Stuka among them, but they could no longer affect the general situation.

    After the scene was emptied, Zhao Yuying turned to Qianye with a frown. ¡°Qianye, what was that just now? Can¡¯t bear to attack?¡±

    Qianyeughed ruefully. ¡°These people can be considered civilians, right?¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed coldly, ¡°To hell with civilians! Can you tell them apart from those guards and warriors hiding among them? It¡¯s fortunate that they didn¡¯t have a sniper or they would have shot you. Who put this nonsense in your head?! Remember, this is a battlefield, and everyone charging at you in a battlefield is your enemy. The same goes for women and children!¡± [1]

    Qianye continued tough wryly, ¡°Okay, okay, I only hesitated for a little bit.¡± He then shot a nce at the two crates of gunpowder grenades Zhao Yuying had kicked over.

    Zhao Yuying followed his gaze and said in a baffled manner, ¡°Where did these thingse from? They seem to be of human make.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat because he had pulled this out of Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. Naturally, no one noticed it during the chaotic battle, but Zhao Yuying was very clear what armaments Qianye had on him when she dragged him out. In any case, it was impossible for him to have brought these two big crates.

    ¡°Found them in the storehouse,¡± Qianye replied boldly.

    This exnation was somewhat far-fetched. Additionally, one would know something wasn¡¯t quite right just by asking those in charge of the storehouse. Zhao Yuying¡¯s attention was soon shifted away from this small matter, perhaps because she had never imagined there would be an item like Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. She saw East Peak stuck in the ground nearby and immediately recalled the earth-shattering sh that had grievously injured the arachne count. That blow was already equal to a st from her Mountain Splitter in terms of raw power, but Qianye wasn¡¯t even a champion yet.

    ¡°Where did you learn that sword stance from just now? It¡¯s so powerful!¡± At this point, Zhao Yuying noticed she had overlooked a major issue. ¡°Oh right, I¡¯ve never asked you before, but just what kind of art are you cultivating? Why does the induced innate gift look like the Bai family¡¯s birdman inheritance?¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment. ¡°My cultivation art is the Combatant Form. That sword strike is something I thought up.¡±

    Zhao Yuying immediately red at him. She grabbed Qianye by the cor and almost lifted him up. ¡°You thought of it on your own? Stop joking. Do you know the significance of a sword strike that can break a count¡¯s defenses? Even the Zhao n secret arts avable only to its core scions are merely at this level, and there are less than a hundred core descendants in each generation. You¡¯re actually telling me that you thought up something like this?!¡±

    The true secret arts of the major ns shared amon standard. That was the ability to draw upon the origin power from the void, not just from the surroundings. Only such a secret art would give the practitioner a chance at breaking through to the divine champion level.

    But all such secret arts had to go through dozens of generations and hundreds of years of revision in order to reach perfection. Only then would they truly be an inheritance. Many of them were lost throughout the long years because there was no one suitable to cultivate them.

    ¡°It¡¯s merely a single move,¡± Qianye said with a guilty conscience.

    Zhao Yuying still couldn¡¯t recover her calm¡ªa single move? And ¡°merely¡±? The value of a secret art couldn¡¯t be measured by the number of moves. More often than not, the more powerful a secret art was, the less the number of moves.

    Countless geniuses had, in their entire lives, only managed to cultivate one or two such moves to perfection and managed to draw out their full power. Creating a technique was only heard of with legendary characters.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying nced at Qianye once again and felt increasingly displeased. A proud and arrogant person like her wasn¡¯t willing to stay below someone else. Now that she had suddenly encountered a genius who far surpassed her, one whom she could never catch up to, her first thought was to strangle him to death.

    Zhao Yuying stole nces at Qianye¡¯s neck, sending a sudden chill down his body. Fortunately, she remembered that there was still some blood rtions between them and muttered to herself, ¡°This is Little Five. Ah, he¡¯s also quite cute. It¡¯s a pity to strangle him to death. How about I strangle him half dead?¡±

    She felt that it was good idea.

    Qianye felt an indescribable sensation of danger. He felt as though he had to do something or else bad things were about to happen. As such, he quietly took a step back and reached out his hand. ¡°My gun.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so anxious about this tiny gun? This sister will find you a pair of good ones after we go back!¡± Zhao Yuying patted her chest. She was just about to hand the Mystic Spider Lily back to Qianye when, with a sudden ¡°Eh?¡±, she brought the gun before her eyes and started examining it.

    ¡°That¡¯s odd. Why was the firepower so much weaker when this mommy fired off a dozen rounds just now? Don¡¯t tell me this damned thing is selective?¡±

    Qianye was dumbfounded. In truth, he was already extremely surprised at how Zhao Yuying managed to fire the Mystic Spider Lily so many times in session after a big battle. He had truly gained a new recognition of Zhao Yuying¡¯s origin power capacity.

    It was just that the Twin Flowers, in Qianye¡¯s hands, was constantly affected by the Wings of Inception¡ªits firepower from ordinary shots fell between that of grade-five and six custom-made guns, and a fused shot was equal to a custom-made grade six weapon. Meanwhile, in Zhao Yuying¡¯s hands, it was only an ordinary grade-five handgun. Add to that the reduction in firepower for a human using a vampire weapon, the discrepancy naturally became obvious¡ªits firepower in her hands was only grade-four, approximately.

    Qianye said vaguely, ¡°This, custom-made¡­¡±

    No one knew whether or not she had noticed that the Mystic Spider Lily was made in a ssic vampire style. She stopped her observation and mumbled, ¡°Both of you are perverts!¡± before tossing the gun back to Qianye.

    Zhao Yuying then pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said patiently, ¡°Little Five, remember this. There¡¯s no one in this world worth trusting with everything you¡¯ve got. On the battlefield, whoever charges at you with a weapon is an enemy. Outside of the battlefield, those who want to fish money from your pocket are enemies.¡±

    Qianye could only listen to the lecture.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes lit up as she scanned therge origin array at the center of the za. ¡°I lost too much today, I must have half the profits.¡±

    Qianye was immediately dumbfounded. What else had she lost apart from having used too many origin grenades? He immediately said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that anyone looking to fish money out of my pocket is an enemy?¡±

    A fistnded on Qianye¡¯s shoulder with a thump.

    Zhao Yuying replied furiously, ¡°I¡¯m your sister. How can you be like this? Your things are all mine, and my things are still mine!¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Qianye suddenly realized that his attempt at reasoning with thisdy was akin to climbing the proverbial tree to catch fish.

    Although Qianye had used up two Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang, they were nothingpared to the profits from this mine raid. This holds true even for the special version made by the Song n.

    In addition to the resources before them, they had also caused Stuka to escape with grievous injuries. This oue wasn¡¯t bad at all.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want Stuka to die immediately. A count was a major character who could be termed an excellency. Even though this ce, in the eyes of the Evernight Faction, was only a rural area, the loss of a count would at least draw the attention of Count Stuka¡¯s n. They might even dispatch other experts to take over.

    Meanwhile, the arachne count who had been struck by the Extreme Yang Bullet would, at most, live a couple of years more. Judging from Stuka¡¯s harsh governing policies, it didn¡¯t seem like he would allow anyone to meddle in this area. It just so happened that this would give Qianye a much-needed buffer period during which he could slowly devour the count¡¯s territories.

    While waiting for the origin array¡¯s disassembly, Qianye and Zhao Yuying engaged in a round of seriously haggling.

    In addition to the mine itself, the value of the origin array wasn¡¯t appraisable. Moreover, the thirty surviving smiths were also a sizeable fortune. The standards of those who could construct aw array of such scale were, no doubt, first-rate even in the dark race domain. Obtaining these smiths was equal to gaining a batch of first-rate origin array technicians.

    It was fine if Zhao Yuying wanted to split theponents of the array as long as its core remained. But Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to let go of even one of the smiths because they would be a foundational stone when Dark me was ready to upgrade in the future.

    The issue of loot division was solved atst with Zhao Yuying taking half of the arrayponents and Qianye receiving the array core and smiths.

    Although the disassembly was easier than the construction, it still took the greater half of a day to take it apart and sort theponents into crates. The modules took up an entire three containers.

    The mine was located deep in the count¡¯s area of jurisdiction, and it was a long way from ckflow City. The losses would be too great if any idents were to ur along the way. Qianye personally rushed back to ck Ridge and transferred the airship over. The crates and smiths were stuffed into the airship and then escorted back to ckflow City by Zhao Yuying.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stay idle after returning to ck Ridge. Taking advantage of the arachne count¡¯s recuperation period, he decided to take this opportunity to expand his martial aplishments in dark race territory.

    He split his army in two. Part of it followed Qianye toward the werewolf viscount¡¯s territory. Qianye found the werewolves¡¯ movements to be quite odd and decided to bring his troops over for observation.

    The other unit stayed behind. There, they would wait for Zhao Yuying¡¯s return and then attack arachne viscount Musk¡¯s fort under hermand. As for Dark Ridge, the Wei n champion would oversee the scouting and logistic forces therein. Count Stuka, the only one who could threaten ck Ridge, had been incapacitated and wouldn¡¯t be able to do battle on the short term.

    The upiednds would be interconnected after Qianye and Zhao Yuying had taken down their respective viscounts¡¯ territories. Then after knocking out the dark race settlement at Silverflow Fjord, most of Count Stuka¡¯s territories in the east and south would have fallen into Qianye¡¯s hands. At this point, this westward expedition would be aplished perfectly.

    Qianye set out with only apany of special forces in tow. The werewolves hadpletely retreated and were holed up behind their natural stronghold. Ordinary warriors were useless regardless of the numbers and would only serve to slow down their marching speed. It was faster to travel with a small number of elites.

    Back at ckflow City, Wei Potian was sitting within a study and repeatedly examining a piece armor.

    ¡­

    [1] I modified the raws it bit for better flow. It was originally ¡°where did you learn such a disease?¡± The disease/ailment here refers to the subjective shoring of a person.

 Volume 5 - 71: Nangong Xiaoniao

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 71: Nangong Xiaoniao

    An old man beside him said, ¡°Heir, this armor was made too urgently. The pattern is somewhat coarse, and the engravings aren¡¯t very detailed. But all the origin arrays that should be added have been added, and I guarantee they are all top-quality.¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t express his opinion and only kept on examining it over and over. Afterward, he activated the origin arrays on it one by one.

    The primary material of this chestguard was the silken essence gold Wei Potian had obtained from Zhang Zixing with the addition of a dozen or so rare supplementary materials. It took the Wei n¡¯s smith several days from the forging of the mold to the carving of the origin array¡ªeverything was crafted by hand.

    The chestguard wasn¡¯t very big, and it was shaped like an inverted maple leaf. Although the old man had, in his modesty, imed the molding was coarse, it was in fact fairly exquisite and beautiful. However, it was only capable of protecting the vital areas of the chest and couldn¡¯t even cover the shoulders and part of the waist.

    The old man saw Wei Potian¡¯s less-than-delighted expression and hurriedly exined, ¡°It was impossible to make it thinner because the requirement was for it to be capable of blocking a st from a grade-six origin gun. You also know that there¡¯s only so much material. Because of the limited surface area, we had to especially design this shape so that it will protect the vital areas of the chest and abdomen simultaneously.¡±

    Wei Potian also knew that the chestguard¡¯s design was fairly exquisite¡ªthe origin arrays on it were mainly defensive, and they had even used rareyering techniques to increase the strength of the effective surface area. The Wei n smiths had worked day and night against the clock to finallyplete it on time. Nothing more could be asked of them.

    In truth, Wei Potian¡¯s displeasure wasrgely because the armor looked like a leaf no matter how he looked at it. And whenever he thought of leaves, he couldn¡¯t help but recall a certain annoying fellow. But his depressed feeling had lessened quite a bit after conning Song Zining a couple of times recently.

    Wei Potian ced the armor back in the box and said, ¡°Send this to the Dark me Headquarters and hand it to Uncle Hu. Ask him to give it to Qianye when he returns. While you¡¯re at it, ask Dark me if they have any news on the army? Where is Qianye at the moment?¡±

    ¡°Understood, Heir.¡± The old man withdrew with the armor box in hand.

    Wei Potian watched the room doors close and was distracted for a moment. He picked up a letter from atop the table and scanned it a couple of times. Actually, he had already read this letter from Marquis Bowang before.

    Marquis Wei¡¯s letter stated that Wei Potian had left the family for too long and asked him to return to the Far East Province immediately even if the wedding business hadn¡¯t reached a conclusion.

    Although the cold wave had forced the Wei n and the dark races into a deadlock outside of the Jade Gate, the other side seemed to have no intention of pulling back, and battle could break out at any moment. Wei Potian, as the n¡¯s heir, couldn¡¯t stay outside for too long during such a critical period. In addition to military matters, there were also other affairs that required his eventual participation. Only by doing so could he convince the masses.

    Wei Potian had already expected this letter. In truth, he had already known that he could only linger on Evernight Continent for half a month at most, and now, the time was up more or less.

    As the sessor of his n, he naturally couldn¡¯t act too headstrong. Since he had already received the n¡¯s letter, it was time for him to return. As he grew older day by day, this young man who had once dreamt of breaking the sky with a single fist felt that he was gradually losing his free will.

    At the thought of this, Wei Potian somewhat envied Song Zining. Regardless of how evil and cunning this fellow was, he had abandoned the struggle for the Song n lord¡¯s position without hesitation and was working hard on his own. Although the process was arduous, he waspletely unfettered.

    Wei Potian sighed silently. He had already announced the news of his imminent departure, and those nobledies would likely follow him. Even those who had designs on Song Zining wouldn¡¯t linger too long on Evernight Continent. It would take a couple more days for them to pack and prepare¡ªit was unknown whether he would have the chance to meet Qianye before leaving.

    Someone knocked on the study door at this time. Wei Potian frowned ever so slightly. He closed the letter and said, ¡°Enter.¡±

    Nangong Ling entered with a tea tray in hand and said delightedly, ¡°I just roasted some new tea, let¡¯s try it out together! Speaking of which, I never thought there would be wild tea in a ce like Evernight Continent. Moreover, the taste isn¡¯t bad at all.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unexpected that you¡¯re still in the mood to do these things.¡±

    Nangong Ling smiled warmly. ¡°Everyone is familiar with such ordinary skills. The only difference is whether they have the consideration.¡±

    Wei Potian picked up the teacup and was just about to drink when he gazed out the window with an ¡°Eh?¡±¡ªan airship had appeared over the distant horizon and was speeding toward ckflow City. This airship¡¯s style was fairly odd, and it was traveling abnormally fast. It had expanded from a ck dot to the size of a basin in the blink of an eye.

    Wei Potian¡¯s eyesight was capable of seeing the scorpion tail on the side of the airship; his eyebrows furrowed involuntarily. ¡°Red Scorpion¡¯s airship? Why haven¡¯t I ever seen that model before? What the hell are they up to? Could this be reinforcement?¡±

    Two Red Scorpion battalions had arrivedst time and stayed over in ckflow City as though they had nothing better to do. But two nights ago, an entire battalion disappeared along with the dozen-meter long metallic crate.

    The Broken-Winged Angels and the Red Scorpions had never gotten along in the army. Wei Potian disliked them even more because of what happened to Qianye. He only felt relieved for his good friend after finding out that these two units were from the Blood Scorpion Camp and had no direct connection with Qianye. Unexpectedly, more of them were arriving immediately after one had just left.

    Nangong Ling¡¯s gaze froze for a moment as she looked at the airship¡ªit was as though she had noticed something. Ayer gloominess flitted past her countenance, and her lips moved ever so slightly. However, she said nothing in the end.

    ckflow City opened up the territorial airspace after seeing the g signals transmitted from the Red Scorpion airship. Hence, the airship dashed straight over with a long trail of mes spewing out of its end. Numerous mes streaked out of its sides when it was right above thending pad¡ªthe airship was thus brought to an urgent stop and made to hover therein.

    This was a maneuver only a high-performance jeep could pull off on the ground. People had long since gotten used to the whale-like movement of the airships; some main battleships would need a trajectory of several kilometers just to make a turn. From this, it was obvious that this airship possessed extraordinary flexibility and control.

    The airship descended abruptly aftering to a hovering stop. It fell tens of meters before spitting out more mes and braking itself in the air. At this moment, the airship was only tens of meters from the ground. The cabin doors were thrown open, and dozen-odd figures jumped out from within.

    One of them waspletely enveloped within a thick set of armor and looked just like a human-shaped mecha at a nce. This person flipped open the visor afternding on the ground¡ªthere was a hint of childishness in her pair of round and brilliant eyes as she nced about left and right.

    It was actually a young girl inside such an armament, and she didn¡¯t seem too old. The surrounding Red Scorpion soldiers, however, were apparently quite respectful toward this youngdy. At this moment, numerous Red Scorpions entered the airship port. Their leader was a burly man¡ªit was precisely themander who had arrived earlier.

    The youngdy performed a salute and said, ¡°General An, I¡¯vee to Evernight Continent to do some studying. I¡¯m only here at ckflow to resupply and will leave for Darkblood City tomorrow. No need to mind me if you¡¯re on a mission.¡±

    Brigadier General An was startled. ¡°Darkblood is one of Boulder County¡¯s most strategic cities. The state of the powers there are fairlyplicated, and it seems to be less than peaceful in the recent days. Transportation and flights between Darkblood and ckflow have also been reduced by half. If you can make adjustments to your study area, might I suggest considering ckflow or the nearby Broken River City? They¡¯re smaller in scale, but the geography and atmosphere are all quite simr.¡±

    Thedy lowered her gaze and said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ll consider your suggestion, but I want to go and take a look at the situation in Darkblood City first.¡±

    Brigadier General An seemed to understand thedy¡¯s temperament. He nodded and said, ¡°I will probably stay here for about a week. Tell me if there¡¯s anything you need. I can give you twopanies when necessary.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks. I will definitely ask for help when needed.¡±

    At this time, two jeeps were lowered to the ground via cables. Their most eye-catching part was the giant exhaust pipe at the back of the car.

    The Red Scorpion Brigadier General drove the new Red Scorpion warriors into the gates of the Seventh Division. This ce was more or less under General Zhang Zixing¡¯s control in Qianye¡¯s absence. Thebined forces of the third imperial army division and Red Scorpion had upied most of the barrack¡¯s living quarters.

    Wei Potian stood before Qianye¡¯s office window and watched the two obviously foreign jeeps drive through the main gates. For Qianye¡¯s safety, he had toe over and see which boot camp this new unit was from, no matter how much he disliked the Red Scorpions.

    But a puzzled expression appeared on Wei Potian¡¯s face after seeing the new arrivals. He thought of a certain possibility but found it to be rather inconceivable.

    ¡°Could it be that person?¡±

    Nangong Ling, who had followed him out from behind, was now wearing a rather ugly expression. She said coldly, ¡°Who else can it be but her? Humph, fiddling with these useless things to make up for her mediocre strength.¡±

    Wei Potianughed loudly and became quite rxed. If it really were that person, then there was no connection whatsoever to Qianye¡¯s former boot camp, the Tiger Scorpions. ¡°I heard people from your family got into quite a disagreeable argument with her?¡±

    ¡°Only a minor matter. What kind of wind and waves can she kick up on her own?¡±

    Wei Potianughed meaningfully without making anyments. He nced at the girl in heavy armor jumping down from the car and said, ¡°I wonder what she¡¯s here for?¡±

    Nangong Ling followed along and was just nning to say something when she suddenly realized that she might have been acting too harsh in front of Wei Potian. She swallowed the words she was just about to say and bit her lips.

    At this time, Zhang Zixing and a fair number of third army corps officers walked out from the barracks, and some of the nobledies who hade after Wei Potian had also just arrived. The small za in front of the divine headquarters was colored with extraordinary liveliness.

    It wasn¡¯t just Zhang Zixing alone¡ªthe high ranking officers of the third corps and the newly transferred champions all had slight changes in their expression after seeing the girl¡¯s appearance and the Red Scorpion emblem on the heavy armor. They whispered among each other, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s that person?¡±

    ¡°What is she doing here instead of staying at the Red Scorpion Headquarters?¡±

    ¡°With so little guards? She probably snuck out.¡±

    Brigadier General An led the Red Scorpion procession before Zhang Zixing and proceeded to make an introduction after exchanging salutations. ¡°This is the Red Scorpion Armored Division¡¯s Colonel Nangong.¡±

    The heavy-armored girl said with neither expression nor enthusiasm, ¡°Nangong Xiaoniao.¡±

 Volume 5 - 72: Chance Encounter

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 72: Chance Encounter

    Wei Potian walked down the stairs of the division headquarters and stood nearby, stroking his stubble in a seemingly pensive manner. ¡°If it really is her, then it seems the rumors about her taking up the family name are true.¡±

    Nangong Ling¡¯s expression turned cold, no longer able to care that she was in Wei Potian¡¯s presence. She let out a snort and said coldly, ¡°How can she be worthy of the name Nangong?¡±

    Wei Potian onlyughed without saying anything.

    The expressions of the greater half of the audience turned odd after hearing the name Nangong Xiaoniao. The third army corps officers kept silent, but the nobledies had no such reservations. They got together and whispered among each other while shooting asional nces at the girl.

    ¡°Nangong Xiaoniao, where have I heard this name before?¡±

    ¡°Is it the Nangong Xiaonaio highly favored by themanders of Red Scorpion? Isn¡¯t it said that she has the potential to be both a master machinist and a master array specialist?

    ¡°Then, isn¡¯t she really awesome?¡±

    ¡°Not just awesome, but extremely so! It¡¯s said that she has already begun to design new airships.¡±

    ¡°Did you all know that she and the Nangong family have a feud? I heard they nearly came to blows¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that all about? Pray tell!¡±

    Nangong Ling felt the peculiar gazes of the nobledies upon her, and their whispers were still loud enough for her to hear clearly. Her countenance fluctuated between blue and red, but naturally, none of those who dared discuss such a matter in front of her was of inferior background. It was apparently not a good idea to act up here.

    Nangong Ling was always looking for ways to approach Wei Potian and, at times, even prevented them froming into contact with him. These nobledies had no intention of holding back now that they had found a rare opportunity to anger her. On the contrary, they spoke louder and louder.

    Nangong Ling could no longer endure and said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m feeling a bit unwell. I¡¯ll return first.¡±

    Wei Potian hadn¡¯t the slightest intention offorting her and actually said, ¡°That¡¯s good too.¡± Nangong Ling was so angry that she stamped her feet and left the seventh division headquarters.

    At this time, a lieutenantmander from Dark me headquarters rushed over to take over the duty of arranging lodgings for Nangong Xiaoniao and her Red Scorpion warriors.

    Zhang Zixing muttered to himself with a frown as he followed the leaving party with his gaze, ¡°This is going to be troublesome.¡±

    The puzzled aide-de-camp beside him asked, ¡°General, even if there is trouble, it should be Red Scorpion¡¯s, right? Aren¡¯t we about to escort the Wei n heir and the nobledies back to the Qin continent?¡±

    Zhang Zixing said with some indignance, ¡°When has a Red Scorpion operation ever been free of casualties? How can they have the extra manpower to deal with that little troublemaker? I don¡¯t care about An Shaonian¡¯s survival, but those old men from Red Scorpion will tear my house down if something happens to her! Dammit!¡±

    The aide-de-camp realized Zhang Zixing was in a bad mood and immediately stopped shooting off his mouth. However, Zhang Zixing was already annoyed with him and suddenly said, ¡°Go ask Red Scorpion how long Colonel Nangong Xiaoniao is staying in ckflow City and where she ns to go afterward. I¡¯ll assign you a battalion and a high-speed destroyer. You will be in charge of escorting her from here on out, and you¡¯ll be held ountable if she loses even a single hair!¡±

    The aide¡¯s expression immediately turned bitter¡ªdidn¡¯t this mean he couldn¡¯t return with the battalion? No one was willing to stay too long in a ce like Evernight where one almost couldn¡¯t see the sun. But how would he dare oppose the angry Zhang Zixing? He only asked with a sour expression, ¡°General, how¡­ how long will this take?¡±

    ¡°Until she leaves Evernight Continent!¡± Zhang Zixing threw out those words and buried all of the aide-de-camp¡¯s hopes.

    In the days that followed, ckflow City was peaceful yet busy. The nobledies who had, for so long, caused a mor in this little border city were about to leave along with their apanying troops. This made the entire city feel greatly relieved.

    Wei Potian was still in a bad mood. Dark me¡¯s military intelligence had reached his hands¡ªQianye¡¯s Western Expedition was fairly sessful, and he had even badly injured Count Stuka in the most recent battle. But he had led his troops toward the werewolf viscount¡¯s territory afterward, and it seemed impossible for him to rush back within two days.

    Meanwhile, the unpredictable Song Zining had appeared once again after disappearing for a number of days. Reportedly, he had settled matters with the expeditionary army headquarters, and all that remained was to follow various procedures in order to legalize Dark me.

    Wei Potian was, on one hand, happy for Qianye but, on the other, was displeased with Song Seven¡¯s spirited countenance. He began pondering whether he should find a way to drive thetter away and suppressed the notion only after recalling that Qianye was just starting out with everything. Moreover, his Zhao n identity and what he had gone through in Red Scorpion were still hidden concerns.

    Song Zining paid no heed at all to the Wei n heir¡¯s depression. He was in a wonderful mental state after settling Dark me¡¯s matters and hid himself behind closed doors to engage in art and calligraphy, improving his mental realm cultivation by leaps and bounds.

    Today at dawn, his brush was flying about as though he were assisted by the gods. The image of a mountain journey took shape in one go, and in a sh of origin power, the scene on paper seemed to havee alive. Frosted red maple leaves danced along the stony path meandering toward the clouds.

    ¡°Dark Twilight.¡± Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves art had entered the sixth realm of the middle rank.

    At this moment, Wei Potian was observing the painting from behind. The Wei n heir immediately recalled the chest guard he had made for Qianye when he saw those specks of light condense into maple leaves. His countenance immediately turned dark. He suddenly extended his hand¡ªyellow lights formed the vague outline of a perilous and lofty ridge which pressed down on the world in the painting.

    Song Zining was unaware of the reason, but he became even more delighted after seeing Wei Potian¡¯s unsightly countenance. Ignoring the fate of his painting, he allowed the two origin powers to sh, turning the fine paper into a pile of powdery fragments. He was just about to make fun of Wei Potian when amotion came through from the outside.

    The two were startled and turned to look out the window at the same time. They were in Qianye¡¯s office at the Dark me headquarters where the southern window overlooked therge drill grounds connected to the main gate. Presently, a group of people had gathered there.

    Today was the day Nangong Xiaoniao was set to leave for Darkblood City, but a Red Scorpion warrior had mentioned that the ckflow City Lord and Dark me¡¯smander had previously brought back an origin array which no one had been able to crack. They had evene to ask the professional staff from Red Scorpion and the third army corps about the situation.

    The young girl was most interested in such things. She checked the time and, seeing that there was still an hour until her flight, decided to visit Dark me for a while. She had just walked into the main gates when she saw a group of people following a nobledy. It was precisely Nangong Ling.

    Nangong Ling hadn¡¯t expected to bump into Nangong Xiaoniao either. She was momentarily startled, but her expression fell immediately and said, ¡°Out of the way.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s heart-shaped face puffed up. She was apparently angered and said while clenching a fist, ¡°Who are you asking to get out of the way?¡±

    ¡°You, of course. Is there anyone else?¡±

    The main gates of Dark me were designed for the passage ofbat vehicles. Not to mention two youngdies, even two armoredbat vehicles can move through side by side. But the two Nangongdies stubbornly stood face to face, unwilling to move a single step.

    ¡°Why must I make way for you?¡± Nangong Xiaoniao asked furiously.

    Nangong Ling¡¯s brows rose. She walked slowly toward Nangong Xiaoniao and said, ¡°Because of my identity. Because yours is but a humble family and not even andowning household!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao cried out, ¡°If you lot hadn¡¯t plotted and set us up, how could my grandfather¡­¡±

    Nangong Ling cut her short, ¡°Such a distant matter. Who knows what actually happened back then. Moreover, what does that have to do with me? Nothing! So now, I¡¯m telling you. Make! Way!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face waspletely red. It seemed she was no match to Nangong Ling in terms of verbalbat¡ªa few words from thetter had almost caused her to burst into tears.

    The ruckus they were causing at Dark me¡¯s main entrance immediately drew a lot of attention. The Dark me warriors had long since gotten scared of these nobledies and only watched from afar without daring to approach.

    Meanwhile, the young noble misses who just had to visit the Dark me camp with Song Zining and Wei Potian began to emerge from every corner. They began to point fingers and make secretments. Naturally, they had no intention to calm the situation and were only thinking about how to fan the mes.

    Nangong Xiaoniao suddenly wiped away the tears that were on the verge of rolling down. She then stared fixedly at Nangong Ling and spoke word by word, ¡°I¡¯m. Not. Moving!¡±

    Nangong Ling suddenly broke into aughter. ¡°How audacious of you to use the Nangong family name. You don¡¯t even know the slightest bit of manners. Then let me teach you some today!¡±

    Nangong Ling suddenly swung her hand toward Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face in a p. Perhaps because she was lost in thought, or perhaps because she hadn¡¯t expected Nangong Ling to attack so suddenly, Nangong Xiaoniao failed to react immediately and was struck on the cheek with a resounding bang.

    This time, the nobledies on the side were all startled. Even Nangong Ling herself was fairly surprised¡ªshe had only intended to put on an act and make Nangong Xiaoniao move away. She hadn¡¯t expected that the p would actually connect so squarely.

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face immediately swelled up, and a handprint appeared clearly upon it. She covered her cheeks and nced at Nangong Ling. Her expression turned iparably calm at this point and said slowly, ¡°You hit me?¡±

    The Red Scorpion soldiers behind here weren¡¯t as calm, however. After a moment of astonishment, a number of them strode forth with weapons drawn.

    Nangong Ling¡¯s heart trembled. The Red Scorpion warriors were all veterans who had killed on the battlefield. Although their levels weren¡¯t especially high, their imposing momentum seemed to carry a thirst for blood. Since things had developed to this point, how could she cower in front of so many people? She clenched her teeth and said, ¡°So what if I did? Who told you to block my way?!¡±

    Nangong Ling¡¯s maids and guards also swarmed over and blocked her front. A maid shouted, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you moving away yet? Imperialws clearly state that those of humble birth must give way to those from a noble family. What? Do you want to break thew?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao ignored the maid entirely. She only stared at Nangong Ling and repeated, ¡°You hit me?¡±

    Nangong Ling¡¯s expression froze. However, she was absolutely unwilling to back down. Concession was a small matter, but she would be throwing away the entire Nangong family¡¯s face.

    The Red Scorpion warriors who had been stopped by Nangong Xiaoniao wore expressions of fury and were surging with killing intent. They might take action at a moment¡¯s notice. The army was full of suicidal soldiers who cared little about Nangong Ling¡¯s identity, and once angered, their des would draw blood all the same. If worse came to worst they need only pay with their lives.

    One of Nangong Ling¡¯s followers realized that the situation wasn¡¯t good and began to retreat secretly. Although aristocratic family guards thought highly of themselves, they didn¡¯t dare act carelessly while facing an elite special unit. This person was rather clever and had gone to find their family¡¯s experts.

    The spectators also noticed that things were deteriorating fast and hurriedly dispatched people to find Wei Potian, Song Zining, and Zhang Zixing. It would be a major issue if, by any chance, Red Scorpion and the Nangong family started fighting. These spectators would also find it difficult to extricate themselves once things had truly gone out of hand.

    All eyes were on Nangong Ling. This made her feel quite pressured, but after recalling the attitude of her n elders, she raised her head high and said, ¡°Still not moving? I¡¯ll p you again if you insist on blocking the way!¡±

    The maid reached out to push Nangong Xiaoniao while shouting, ¡°Move! You lowlife from a poor family.¡±

    However, at this moment, an ostentatious voice rang out outside of the gates, ¡°Oh my! So many people. Are all of you here to wee me?¡±

 Volume 5 - 73: Imperial Law

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 73: Imperial Law

    Who else apart from Zhao Yuying would dare speak to all those nobledies in this manner?

    Nangong Ling¡¯s maid, however, didn¡¯t stop and continued to push Nangong Xiaoniao forcefully. A faint origin power glow emerged on her palm¡ªapparently, she was nning tounch a sneak attack. But a sudden crack, resembling that of a whish, rang out in the air just as her hand was about to touch Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s chest.

    The maid screamed wretchedly and staggered back. The sleeves were torn, and the two bloody traces on her arm were swelling up fast.

    No one saw the whip, but knowledgeable people understood that it was an invisible whip formed from origin power, and that the assant was exceptionally skilled in origin power control.

    Zhao Yuying walked through the base gates in a leisurely manner and beside her was Qianye. She gazed at this maid with a cold smile and said, ¡°You dare attempt an attack while this mommy here is talking? You¡¯re simply asking to be disciplined. I whipped your arms this time, but I¡¯ll whip your mouth if you dare repeat this offense! I wonder who raised such an unruly dog.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao nced back¡ªher gaze shot past Zhao Yuying andnded on Qianye. She waspletely stunned.

    Zhao Yuying walked over. ¡°Xiaoniao, howe you¡¯re here? Why didn¡¯t you tell me beforehand? Come to think of it, how are the old men doing? They haven¡¯t died, have they?¡±

    It was evident that Zhao Yuying was more than just familiar with Nangong Xiaoniao.

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s eyes seemed stuck to Qianye and only let out some unintelligible sounds as though she hadn¡¯t heard a word of what Zhao Yuying just said.

    Zhao Yuying stood in front of Nangong Xiaoniao with a puzzled expression and said loudly, ¡°Hey! I¡¯m going to harass you if you keep acting mute!¡±

    ¡°Oh, right, okay,¡± Nangong Xiaoniao replied absent-mindedly. It was apparent that she had no idea what she had just replied.

    At this time, the hostile atmosphere had beenpletely broken by Zhao Yuying. The Red Scorpion soldiers standing close by had heard her clearly and were all dumbfounded. A female Red Scorpion officer near Nangong Xiaoniao wanted to remind her by pinching her arms, but Zhao Yuying¡¯s re sent her cowering to one side.

    Miss Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t one to be messed around with¡ªsheughed like an evil wolf as she reached out her ws to grab Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s chest. This grabbing motion immediately outlined the actual size of Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s chest under the military uniform. Quite surprisingly, its curves rose and fell like the roaring waves.

    The sudden assault to her vital part woke Nangong Xiaoniao from her reverie. First, she screamed loudly and only afterward did she remember to p away Zhao Yuying¡¯s hands.

    Zhao Yuying took the opportunity to grab a couple more times andughed, ¡°What a klutz. This mommy here would¡¯ve finished taking all kinds of advantages by the time you react.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re acting like this again!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao red angrily at Zhao Yuying. The word ¡°again¡± filled people with imagination. It was a clear indication that such an incident had happened more than once before.

    Zhao Yuyingughed mischievously with a rascal expression. ¡°One more time makes no difference.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao was fuming as she forcefully swung her little fists at Zhao Yuying. Later on, her gaze turned back to Qianye and was stuck there once again.

    Even the insensitive Zhao Yuying had already discovered that something was off. She nced between Nangong Xiaoniao and Qianye with a puzzled expression. ¡°My brother here is indeed not bad looking, but¡­¡±

    Qianye also felt odd after being gazed at by this youngdy and felt as though he had seen her somewhere. Something shed through his mind all of a sudden¡ªhe blurted out, ¡°Little rookie?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao immediately became excited.

    Zhao Yuying wore a suspicious expression. ¡°When did your name be Nangong Little Rookie?¡± [1]

    ¡°My name is Nangong Xiaoniao!¡± She quickly pped away the hand Zhao Yuying was secretly extending toward her.

    At this time, Nangong Xiaoniao turned aroundpletely, allowing both Qianye and Zhao Yuying to see the red palm print on her face. Qianye was only startled slightly, but Zhao Yuying waspletely furious. She pulled Nangong Xiaoniao over and asked, ¡°How did this happen? Who hit you?¡± With that, she scanned the surroundings with vicious eyes.

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s lips were shut tight and refused to answer, but the reactions of the surrounding people immediately pointed out the culprit.

    Nangong Ling spoke without any pretense, ¡°It is I.¡±

    Zhao Yuying squinted her eyes and asked coldly, ¡°Why?¡±

    Qianye also walked over and, ncing at the little girl whose height only reached his chin, asked with a frown, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao looked up but immediately lowered her head like a startled deer after realizing she was only an arm¡¯s length away from Qianye. Her face was as red as a big, ripe apple. Her pursed lips couldn¡¯t manage to speak a single word, and her head had been lowered so much that it was about to disappear.

    Nangong Xiaoniao couldn¡¯t speak, but Nangong Ling had no choice but to reply. Unwilling to lose out in terms of momentum, she said insipidly, ¡°Yuying.¡±

    ¡°Is Yuying for you to address? Don¡¯t act so familiar with this mommy!¡±

    Nangong Ling¡¯s expression turned extremely ugly. She took a deep breath and forced herself to contain her emotions.

    At this moment, a group of people arrived from outside of the gates. Zhang Zixing and the Red Scorpion Brigadier General An Shaonian had arrived. Meanwhile, Song Zining and Wei Potian had also emerged from the base. It seemed all the important characters in ckflow City were now present.

    Nangong Ling found it even more difficult topromise under such circumstances. Her face was somewhat pale as she straightened her chest and said calmly, ¡°Young Miss Zhao, you also know that our Nangong family has grievances with her.¡±

    Zhao Yuying cut her short once again and said impatiently, ¡°Cut the crap. This mommy here doesn¡¯t understand! Speak directly!¡±

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t giving Nangong Ling the slightest bit of face. The spectators, especially those nobledies, were all looking on with an expression of schadenfreude.

    Nangong Ling clenched her fists under her wide sleeves and said coldly, ¡°Directly it is then. I pped her because she was blocking my way. It¡¯s just that simple! So what if I strike a person of humble birth? Not to mention a p, I only need to provide a bit ofpensation even if I cripple her. This amount, I can afford! This is the Imperial Law. What? Does the young miss of the Zhao n have any questions about this? ¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughednguidly instead of getting angry. Contrary to expectations, she said, ¡°Of course not.¡±

    Nangong Ling was greatly surprised, but she understood that she shouldn''t stay here for long. ¡°Since you have no questions then I shall take my leave.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Zhao Yuying called Nangong Ling back and then walked toward her.

    ¡°What? Does the Zhao n young miss have more advice to give?¡± Nangong Ling hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Zhao Yuying¡¯s palm swung over. The pnded squarely on her face with a loud bang.

    Half of Nangong Ling¡¯s face swelled up, and fresh blood trickled down the corner of her torn lips. Nangong Ling was petrified and only managed to cover her face with her hand. She couldn¡¯t believe that Zhao Yuying would actually make a move against her, and with such ruthlessness no less.

    The maid behind Nangong Ling reacted only afterward as she rushed out and hurriedly stood protectively in front of Nangong Ling. However, she knew very clearly just how powerful Zhao Yuying was and didn¡¯t even dare utter fierce words, to speak nothing of drawing her sword.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s mood improved quite a bit after the p. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to advise. I¡¯m only teaching you to be obedient and letting you know how the Imperial Law works. This is Evernight continent. Not the empire.¡±

    At this point, a cold light shed through the depths of Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m indeed in the wrong for pping you. You can go and report this matter after returning to the empire. There¡¯s no rush. Maybe the verdict wille after eight or ten years. This mommy will do whatever the Department of Justice sentences me to¡ªyou¡¯ll bepensated not a penny less.¡±

    Nangong Ling stared fixedly at Zhao Yuying. Her eyes were full of mes, but she spoke not a word in the end and turned around to leave. That maid-guard also hurried after her.

    The threat in Zhao Yuying¡¯s words was fairly evident. There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of advantage in confronting her in such awless ce like Evernight continent. Moreover, as the granddaughter of Duke You, her identity was much higher than Nangong Ling¡¯s status as the second lineal daughter of a marquis. So what if she returned to the empire? So what if she reported this matter to the Department of Justice?

    At that time, those old men from the Department of Justice need only perform their routine duties ording to the book, and this matter would drag on for several years. Even if it was ruled that Zhao Yuying had pped her for no good reason, thew would only require her to pay for medicine and treatment. Themotion would only cause the Nangong family to lose face.

    Zhao Yuying was on apletely different levelpared to Nangong Ling in making use of Imperial Laws.

    Seeing Nangong Ling retreat, Zhao Yuying said with a cold snort, ¡°You sure are quick to run! This mommy here wanted to do another backhand p!¡±

    Many of the nobledies felt intimidated after hearing these words and began to disperse in session. Their identities were all simr to that of Nangong Ling¡ªsince Zhao Yuying dared to p Nangong Ling, she dared p them too. Zhang Zixing wouldn¡¯t interfere. He had made it very clear that he would only deal with external threats and not internal conflicts.

    Wei Potian apparently had no fear at this moment and approached with a face full of smiles. ¡°Sister Yuying, you¡¯ve returned! Oh, Qianye, you¡¯re here too!¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes at the halfway point, ovee with the urge to smash this boar¡¯s face¡ªthetter hadn¡¯t noticed him at all.

    Zhao Yuying was toozy to pay the Wei n heir any attention and dragged Nangong Xiaoniao over to check her wounds. ¡°Does it still hurt? Are you injured anywhere else?¡± Although she was apparently checking the face for injuries, her hands were quite busy, touching here and grabbing there.

    Nangong Xiaoniao, on the other hand, no longer possessed the courage she had disyed while confronting Nangong Ling. She continuously evaded Zhao Yuying¡¯s ws and had almost bunched up into a ball.

    Seeing that Zhao Yuying was acting more and more unreasonable in front of the crowd, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but let out a dry cough. Zhao Yuying looked up and rolled her eyes at him, saying, ¡°This mommy here is busy picking up a girl. What¡¯s with that cough? Do you have a cold? Shall I find you a doctor?¡±

    Zhao Yuying still loosened her grip despite the sharp retort, whereupon Nangong Xiaoniao immediately escaped and hid behind Qianye. Her movements were as swift as a sweeping ze and had far surpassed her usual standards. Zhao Yuying¡¯s brows rose after witnessing this scene and broke into a meaningfulughter.

    Momentster, everyone was seated in Qianye¡¯s study.

    Qianye nced at Nangong Xiaoniao and felt a deep headache. Zhao Yuying had already exined this rookie¡¯s identity in full detail.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected that the little rookie he saved that day would rise from the ashes and soar to the skies after returning to Red Scorpion. Presently, she had be the darling of the Red Scorpionmanders, and they were all afraid of hering to any harm.

    At such a tender age, she had already disyed great talent in two major fields: machinery design and origin arrays. Qianye naturally understood the value of those geniuses from the armored battalion. On the long-term, their value was even higher than a scorpion king, not to mention that Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s talents were much greater than ordinary geniuses.

    Such a person had run over to Evernight Continent with only a small guard squad and a high-speed airship. No one would believe that she hadn¡¯t snuck out.

    Nangong Xiaoniao sat across Qianye with her eyes fixed on the table as though there was a rare origin array therein.

    ¡°Xiaoniao, did you sneak out?¡± Zhao Yuying asked after introducing Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s astonishing background to everyone.

    ¡°Yes. Ah! No, no, of course not!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was clearly lost in thought and blurted out the truth.

    Zhao Yuying and Qianye nced at each other. ¡°Then are you returning now?¡± Although Zhao Yuying was usually unresponsible, she was still quite clear regarding such important matters. She understood that Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s stay in ckflow City wasn¡¯t a good thing for Qianye.

    ¡°No!¡± The little rookie was no longer muddled and replied without the slightest bit of ambiguity.

    ¡°Then how long are you staying?¡±

    ¡°A long time!¡±

    [1] Nangong Xiaoniao = Nangong Little Bird, Rookie/Cai Niao = (Vegetable/weak/unskilled) + Bird. When ZYY said when did your name be Nangong Little Rookie, she only needed to add the character ²Ë/cai in the middle.

 Volume 5 - 74: Little Miss Trouble

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 74: Little Miss Trouble

    Zhao Yuying shrugged at Qianye with a helpless expression. She then scuttled over toward Song Zining with a whoosh and pped his shoulder. ¡°Bring out a couple of leaves for me to y!¡±

    Song Zining said proudly, ¡°My humble self is not an entertainer.¡±

    Zhao Yuying pinched his ear with a pow.

    Song Zining continued smoothly without a change in expression, ¡°But I¡¯m willing to jump into water or mes as long as Miss Yuyingmands it!¡± With that, he shot out two masses of origin power and condensed them into leaves. However, it was no longer easy for Zhao Yuying to counterattack Song Zining through these two leaves.

    Zhao Yuying immediately discovered this and waved her hands in a bored manner. The leaves turned into motes of lights which gradually vanished.

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but move his chair away with a snort. He was deeply familiar with this fellow¡¯s shamelessness.

    Qianye was toozy to pay attention to these three. Comparatively, Nangong Xiaoniao was the biggest problem. Those old fogeys from Red Scorpion might arrive in Evernight to chop him up if something were to happen to thess in his domain.

    Qianye spoke after a moment of silence, ¡°Xiaoniao.¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± An apparently startled Nangong Xiaoniao bounced up and knocked against the table, sending all the refreshments in front of her spilling toward Qianye.

    Qianye felt helpless. He casually grabbed East Peak from beside him and, with a shake of the long sword, produced an invisible energy barrier to block the refreshments mid-air. Only afterward did he get up and hurriedly take a step back.

    Nangong Xiaoniao jumped up along with the flying tableware in a bid to remedy her mistake. But she tripped over and ended upnding a square kick on the table, sending it whizzing toward Qianye.

    Qianye instinctively swung his hand to block andpletely shattered the tea table. However, this caused the pool of green tea to go out of control. It proceeded to pour down over his head, drenching himpletely.

    ¡°Eh?!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was frozen midway in the same posture¡ªrushing forward with her hands outstretched. She could neither advance nor retreat.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He went inside to change into new clothes and had Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine clean up the room before returning to Nangong Xiaoniao.

    After witnessing this scene, Wei Potian and Song Zining excused themselves in quick session. They imed to have just remembered some things they needed to do and left this mess to Qianye without a shred of brotherly spirit. Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t stay either. It was just that, before leaving, she made a fierce wing gesture at Qinaye and then pointed at Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s chest. She then swaggered off whileughing heartily.

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face was so red that it seemed ready to drip blood, and her head hung lower and lower until it was almost buried in her own chest.

    Qianye cursed the three fellows countless times in his heart, but it was all in vain.

    The two of them were now alone. Qianye did his best to express his heartfelt words, ¡°Xiaoniao, we¡¯re fighting every day here.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ I have to be at the front lines quite often. Moreover, my city is located close to the borders, and dark race forces appear here quite often.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    Qianye felt truly helpless and decided to be more direct. ¡°It¡¯s very dangerous here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of danger,¡± Nangong Xiaoniao replied with a fresh set of words.

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°But I am. If something happens to you, I¡¯ll be cut up alive by the people from Red Scorpion.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I won¡¯t know anything at that time.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s words choked Qianye half-dead. He finally understood that she was here to stay no matter what. Qianye recalled, amidst his distress, that he would neither have returned early nor met Nangong Xiaoniao were it not for the sudden change in circumstances that made him give up the assault on the werewolf viscount¡¯s territory.

    But from a different perspective, if they hadn¡¯t met here, there was no telling what kind of trouble a special character like Nangong Xiaoniao would cause if she had gone to perform an unrestrained search for him in the Darkblood City region. Zhao Yuying had secretly warned Qianye that this Nangong Xiaoniao was only gentle on the surface but was, in fact, strong and unyielding at heart. She would go all the way once she was determined to do something.

    Presently, Qianye had begun to understand Wei Potian and Song Zining¡¯s suffering. They couldn¡¯t get anything done with suchdies of important background hanging onto them. His only hope at the moment was that Nangong Xiaoniao wouldn¡¯t insist on following him to the front lines.

    ¡°Very well then. You¡¯re staying at the seventh division headquarters, right? I¡¯ll have someone move your lodgings to Dark me headquarters after a while. You can go about as you wish under normal circumstances, but you have to be apanied by your guards at all times. You must notify me in advance if you want to leave the city.¡±

    Xiaoniao¡¯srge eyes were filled with delight as she nodded with all her might.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡± Qianye got up and saw Nangong Xiaoniao out.

    The Red Scorpion soldiers shifted their gaze toward Qianye at the same time, immediately putting him under great pressure. At this point, anyone with eyes could see that thess¡¯ so-called field trip to Darkblood City was just a pretense, and that she was here to find Qianye. Hence, all the Red Scorpion warriors were curious¡ªjust how outstanding was this person to be able to make the darling of their corps travel thousands of kilometers just to find him.

    Afterward, Qianye spent the entire afternoon handling official matters. Dark me officers, both the ones stationed here and those who had returned with him, were filing in and out of the office like flowing water. The city defenses needed to be rearranged since the third army corps was about to leave. This was of utmost importance because ckflow City was his foundation. Now that there was an untouchable special character like the little rookie here, there was no longer any room for even the slightest bit of failures.

    Wei Potian came to see him at dinner time. He was scheduled to leave the morning after tomorrow. Song Zining and Zhao Yuying also arrived after a while. Qianye instructed the kitchen to produce a sumptuous feast since it could also be considered a farewell dinner for Wei Potian.

    Everyone had just sat down when a high-spirited Zhao Yuying immediately asked, ¡°How was it? Have you touched it? It¡¯s quite big, right?¡±

    Qianye red at her. ¡°Touch my a*s! The only thing big about her is the trouble.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that? It¡¯s obvious that she¡¯ll be yours sooner orter. You should just sleep first and talkter. Isn¡¯t that right, Zining?¡±

    Song Zining only smiled without paying her any heed and said, ¡°Qianye, you need to think this through. Are you really going to shelter Nangong Xiaoniao here? I suggest you send her back.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was immediately displeased. ¡°I like thatss a lot. Why must we send her back?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°Leaving her here is equal to going against the Nangong family. Yuying, you¡¯re naturally unafraid since you have the Zhao n and Duke You behind you. But what does Qianye have?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was even more annoyed and said furiously, ¡°You think this mommy here needs to rely on the n?¡±

    But, for the first time, Zhao Yuying felt a spell of diffidence under Song Zining¡¯s sharp gaze. She naturally understood that it wasn¡¯t her who had forced Nangong Ling to leave in disgrace today, but Duke You, Zhao Xuanji.

    Qianye asked, ¡°What exactly is the problem between her and the Nangong family?¡±

    Actually, both Wei Potian and Song Zining had heard of this matter, but Zhao Yuying was familiar with Nangong Xiaoniao and understood more. She immediately waved her hands and said, ¡°An utter mess! That¡¯s what!¡±

    ¡°The ancestor of her family originally belonged to the eldest lineal branch. But it¡¯s said that theytermitted a grave offense and nearly caused the Nangong family to be demoted. This resulted in their entire branch being expelled from the direct line of descent. They remained in the n but were considered a side branch. Thereafter, the situation deteriorated quickly. At her grandfather¡¯s generation, a certain elder set his eyes on her family¡¯s estate. He found a reason to drive the entire branch out and then devoured their family property.¡±

    Such incidents existed in every n, but it was a different feeling when the implicated party was someone close. For no reason at all, Qianye suddenly recalled his own childhood at the junkyard. Perhaps, to a certain extent, he could be considered a victim of n conflict.

    Zhao Yuying continued, ¡°It¡¯s fine if things ended there. Xiaoniao¡¯s family struggled to survive and wanted only to live an ordinary civilian life. Unexpectedly, a certain elder from the n fancied Xiaoniao after she grew up and entered her room one night to force himself upon her. Goddammit, Xiaoniao was only twelve at the time!¡±

    ¡°Which bastard is it?¡± Wei Potian was furious. This kind of conduct was too despicable! It made one feel great contempt.

    Zhao Yuying replied, ¡°That bastard is Nangong Ling¡¯s father, Nangong Yuanbo. Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s father was also a genius warrior and possessed outstanding cultivation. It was just that he had always kept a low profile. That night, he attacked in anger¡ªto save Nangong Xiaoniao, he killed all of Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s guards and gravely injured the man. However, he was also irreversibly injured and passed away soon after.¡±

    At this time, Song Zining said, ¡°Back then, it was reported that Nangong Yuanbo had fallen ill and he nearly lost his sessor¡¯s position. He recovered only after several years of recuperation. So this turns out to be the case.¡±

    Wei Potian shot Song Zining a nce. ¡°I also heard that Nangong Yuanbo relied on the Song n to hang on to his n lord position.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was indifferent. ¡°He paid a great price, and the Song n has already maintained a rtionship with his branch for three or four generations. Having Nangong Yuanbo at the n lord¡¯s position is better for the Song n than having a more powerful stranger there. Will your Wei n have done differently in our ce?¡±

    Wei Potian was immediately at a loss for words.

    Zhao Yuying sighed. ¡°Near the end of his life, Xiaoniao¡¯s father entrusted his daughter to a good friend of his, a retired general from Red Scorpion. And thus Xiaoniao joined the corps.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Nangong Yuanbo is petty-minded and extremely vengeful. Under present circumstances, he won¡¯t dare do anything to Nangong Xiaoniao in the open. but he will definitely take it out on you if he discovers that you¡¯re somehow rted to her. Must you offend an aristocratic family for a total stranger? The Nangongs are not like the Sishui Dong Family. Qianye, you must think this through.¡±

    Zhao Yuying suddenly stood up and said angrily, ¡°Xiaoniao is my friend. You might not dare to offend the Nangongs, but I¡¯m not afraid.¡±

    This time, Song Zining showed not the slightest sign of fear and faced Zhao Yuying¡¯s killer re with due calmness. ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of offending the Nangongs. Wei Potian and I aren¡¯t either. But it¡¯s not the same for Qianye.¡±

    Qianye shook his head and said calmly, ¡°Zining, no need to say further. I¡¯ve thought this matter through. Let her stay.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°Qianye...¡±

    Qianye raised his hand and stopped Song Zining¡¯s words. ¡°Rest assured, I won¡¯t do things forcefully. I¡¯ll have Red Scorpion send her back if things take a turn for the worse. In any case, they¡¯ve also dispatched people to apany her. As for Nangong Yuanbo, if he really decides to take it out on me for this, then let hime. Us brothers are still young¡ªwe still have ample time to make him regret.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s blood was immediately sent boiling. He shot up and said loudly, ¡°Well said! The first thing this daddy will do after assumingmand of the Wei n is raise an army to beat up that old brat!¡±

    Song Zining shot him a sidelong nce and said coldly, ¡°The Far East Wei n and the Yishui Nangong n are not even on the same continent. Raise an army? Where are you going to do that?¡±

    The empire wasn¡¯t free of civil war, but most of them were conflicts between adjacent territories. Not to mention that the imperial family and army wouldn¡¯t allow him to do as he pleased, first he had to find a way to move the massive force through the territories of other nobles.

    Wei Potian replied in anger, ¡°This daddy will go alone, alright?!¡±

    ¡°Then you won¡¯t ever return, idiot!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Qianye roared, unable to endure any longer, and finally managed to silence the two.

 Volume 5 - 75: Untitled

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 75: Untitled [1]

    Qianye said, ¡°Let¡¯s leave Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s matter at this. I already have a lot of troubles on my hand, so what¡¯s one more?¡±

    Song Zining lowered his gaze with a silent frown.

    Qianye continued, ¡°Let¡¯s get back to important business. Count Stuka¡¯s movements during this Western Expedition are too odd. Additionally, there are also signs of abnormality in the werewolf territory. In any case, Dark me has taken three viscount territories and the strategic point of ck Ridge; these profits should take us a while to digest. As such, I¡¯m prepared to pause our expansion and figure out what exactly the dark race is up to before deciding on our course of action.¡±

    He nced at everyone and asked, ¡°What are your ns? Potian, you¡¯re leaving the day after tomorrow, right?¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head and said in a deted tone, ¡°The old man sent a letter asking me to return.¡±

    ¡°You should indeed go back. Earnestly practice leading troops in battle.¡± Song Zining wasn¡¯t polite at all.

    Qianye turned to Song Zining and asked, ¡°Zining, what about you?¡±

    After a moment of silence, Song Zining said, ¡°Upgrading Silverflow Fjord to a stronghold is a major project. Now, we also have ckridge. Both of them are strategic locations that must be held onto. I¡¯ll return to the Ningyuan Group to reorganize the military construction bill. I¡¯ll dispatch a merchant caravan as soon as possible and ship over a part of the materials and equipment for the stronghold construction. ording to Miss Zhao Yuying, the underground ore veins in the region are peculiar and might be hiding a rare type of ore. I must also deploy some specialists in that area. It¡¯s clearly not a good idea to rely on dark race technicianspletely.¡±

    Qianye nodded and then nced at Zhao Yuying. The young miss repliedzily, ¡°I¡¯ll stay here since I have nothing better to do anyway. Just don¡¯t forget my share.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment and said, ¡°I¡¯mcking a divisionmander at the moment. Why don¡¯t we register you first?¡±

    ¡°How convenient for you! You want to tie this mommy here? Impossible! Not doing it!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you ten percent of the surplus profits.¡±

    Zhao Yuying immediately leaped up and arrived beside Qianye, beaming. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely help you since we¡¯re family.¡±

    The party dispersed after dinner since everyone had a pile of things on their hands.

    Qianye returned to his study and continued processing the stack of documents on his desk, the task ending only deep at night. He rubbed his tired eyes and strolled over to the military map hanging on the nearby wall.

    The present situation was more or less clear-cut. Presently, the arachne viscount Musk had fallen in Zhao Yuying¡¯s hands. The werewolves were holed uppletely, and many vicious beasts had suddenly emerged in his vicinity. Qianye cautiously decided against storming the region and only dispatched the army to block off the werewolf domain¡¯s external passages. They would have to climb over the mountain range on the other side if they wanted toe out.

    So far, arge portion of the count¡¯s southeastern territory had fallen into Qianye¡¯s hands.

    During the following period, he only needed to wait for Song Zining to transport the machinery and materials required for construction work. The first step of his pioneering would beplete once they finished building strongholds on the Silverflow Fjord and ck Ridge. However, there was a lingering shadow in Qianye¡¯s heart¡ªjust what was that origin array for?

    But to crack that originw array was no simple matter. Dark me¡¯s array specialists weren¡¯t worth a mention. They were highly-ranked in the Trinity River County, but they wouldn¡¯t be considered anything on the Qin continent.

    But the specialists Song Zining had transferred over from the Ningyuan Group were also helpless. They had also studied the array for several days without any progress. The prisoners were all technicians in charge of assembly and maintenance, but they had no knowledge regarding its specific function since the core of the origin array was sealed within the metallic sphere. As for that demonkin, he was a master machinist who had nothing to do with arrays.

    Regardless of what this origin array was for, one thing was obvious¡ªthis wasn¡¯t something the arachne count could set up on his own. So much that he probably couldn¡¯t afford to do so. Something Qianye had always been worrying about had happened; an external power was beginning to interfere with the situation in his region.

    Under such circumstances, it was indeed a wise decision to have spared the arachne count. Qianye was currently rejoicing that his two Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang had struck Stuka¡¯s arachnid body and not his human-shaped upper half.

    After a moment of pondering, he decided to first prospect the mines within his upied territory and see what kind of profits they would yield. Song Zining intended to invite a true array specialist via the Ningyuan Group during his trip back. Perhaps there might be some progress at that time.

    Qianye walked out of the study only after concluding his thoughts.

    Qianye saw Zhao Yuying as he pushed open the door, standing alone with her back against the wall and smoking a cigarette.

    ¡°Were you waiting for me?¡±

    Zhao Yuying nodded. ¡°About Xiaoniao, thank you.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°There¡¯s no need to say such things between us.¡±

    The ice in Qianye¡¯s heart shattered the moment Zhao Yuying decided to stay behind and cover his escape during the battle with Stuka. It was only toward her, however. Since Zhao Yuying hoped Nangong Xiaoniao would be able to enjoy a period of rtive freedom in Evernight Continent, it was only a slight effort on his part to ept.

    Zhao Yuying exhaled a ring of smoke. ¡°Xiaoniao is very pitiful, but she¡¯s also very strong. The first time I met her was on the Red Scorpion drill grounds, I had never imagined a little girl could train so madly as though her life depended on it. Even I hadn¡¯t tried so hard during that time. Later on, after we became friends, I asked her why she was trying so hard. She said that it was all so that she would have the ability to go and meet a certain person.¡±

    Qianye was silent.

    ¡°I¡¯d never expected that person was actually you.¡± Zhao Yuying shot out a straight line of smoke and watched it slowly disperse. She then turned to stare fixedly at Qianye and revealed a mischievous smile. ¡°Are you really not considering bedding her? She¡¯s really big!¡±

    Qianye said unceremoniously, ¡°Probably not as big as you.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes lit up immediately as she straightened her chest. ¡°Your elder sister here is indeed hiding some impressive goods, and that little girl is not my match at all. You have good eyesight! But Xiaoniao has a different attractiveness to her. You¡¯ll know once you sleep with her.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°How can there be a friend like you? Trying to push her onto my bed.¡±

    Zhao Yuying said with great confidence, ¡°That is how a true friend should be. She¡¯ll sleep with someone sooner orter. Isn¡¯t it better to find someone she likes?¡±

    Qianye had no way to refute Zhao Yuying¡¯s distorted logic. He only pushed her from the back and said, ¡°That¡¯s enough. Go and rest!¡±

    ¡°Call Xiaoniao out for somete-night snacks and wine! It¡¯s better to act when she¡¯s drunk!¡±

    ¡°Go and sleep!¡±

    He sent Zhao Yuying away with great difficulty and returned to his bedroom, indicating Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine to follow him in. Unexpectedly, the moment he stepped into the room, there was a leaf floating to and fro in front of his eyes. It was inexplicably irksome.

    Qianye pondered for a while and then activated his True Sight. At the same time, he attempted to project his origin power. Strands of daybreak origin power rose up to form a mistywork. The fallen leaf was emitting a faint mass of light in the world of ck and white origin power. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that numerous threads of light were extending from a certain point in the air.

    Qianye waved his hand and sent thework of origin power sprinkling toward the strands of light.

    As if it had detected the dangerous situation, the leaf turned around rapidly and evaded Qianye¡¯s p. Then, it immediately reverted to origin power and vanished.

    ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve learned bad things!¡± Song Zining¡¯s exasperated voice came from outside the window.

    ¡°When did you start engaging in voyeurism?¡± Qianye watched as Song Zining jumped in through the window and added with a smile, ¡°And when did you start bing fond of climbing through windows?¡±

    ¡°This is the only way to prevent being discovered.¡± Song Zining wasn¡¯t ashamed at all. He tidied his clothes and once again recovered his confident demeanor. ¡°Qianye, I¡¯ve important business to discuss.¡±

    He raised two fingers and said with due seriousness, ¡°Firstly, you must find a way to send Nangong Xiaoniao away. Otherwise, I¡¯m sure Nangong Yuanbo will find someone to deal with you. Secondly, my departure this time might take a while. I have some personal business to attend to.¡±

    ¡°Let Nangong Xiaoniao stay. As for the Nangong n, they¡¯ll regret it if they target me.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was solemn. He sighed after a moment and said, ¡°Let it be. I won¡¯t dissuade you anymore. You have to be careful during my absence. The Zhao n¡­ just as I said before, don¡¯t trust them too much,¡± he hesitated for a moment before whispering, ¡°including Zhao Yuying.¡±

    Qianye was slightly startled. He looked up at Song Zining and nodded only after a while. ¡°When are you leaving.¡±

    ¡°Early tomorrow morning.¡± At this point, Song Zining broke into aughter. ¡°That fellow Wei Potian won¡¯t be satisfied if I don¡¯t leave.¡±

    After saying farewell, Song Zining left from where he came.

    Qianye sat down beside the bed. His sleepiness had now disappeared, and he felt even more distressed after recalling Nangong Xiaoniao. He simply threw all these things to the side and entered the cultivation chamber to digest the essence blood in his body.

    He hadn¡¯t cultivated properly since the beginning of the western expedition. As expected, the Book of Darkness continuously absorbed the essence blood just as he started circting the cultivation art and only stopped after consuming more than half of it.

    One of the three ancient runes on the cover had almost materialized.

    Qianye continued his cultivation and began feeding the Wings of Inception. The blood energies in his body got their turn only after the Book of Darkness and Wings of Inception had had their fill. Qianye sighed silently¡ªhe had a vague feeling that his future path was going to be full of ughter. This was the path of survival on Evernight continent.

    It was in the dead of the night. Nangong Xiaoniao was in her room fiddling with a metallic sphere. This was the one Qianye had gotten from the origin array on Green Peak Mountain.

    Numerous array specialists had worked on it for many days but still failed to open this metallic ball. They could open it by brute force, but that would likely destroy its core and, along with it, any chance at figuring out the dark race¡¯s secret.

    After Qianye had agreed to let her stay, Nangong Xiaoniao ran back to her residence and started opening her packed luggage. Only then did she recall that her main reason for visiting Dark me was because she had heard that there was an uncrackable origin array there. She ran back to Dark me immediately and happened to bump into Zhao Yuying. With this young miss¡¯ endorsement, the metallic sphere arrived in her hands without much effort.

    Suddenly, a light knock came from the door as the voice of a young man rang out, ¡°Colonel Nangong, may Ie in?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao was first startled. Although her room was a single room, there were Red Scorpion warriors in both adjacent ones¡ªthere seemed to be no signs of movementing from them. How did this person manage to arrive without alerting anyone?

    But she noticed that the voice sounded rather familiar and quickly recognized that it was Song Zining whom she had met during the day.

    [1] I''m not exactly sure why it''s titled so. It might be referring to the "untitled" poem series by Li Shangyin. I have limited knowledge of verse structures but here''s a rough trantion of it:

    The time since our parting was hard to bear, the flowers have withered in the east wind.

    Spring worms stop weaving only in death, Just

    As candles cry themselves into ash.

    Clouds in the early morning mirror reflect the changing color of his hair, and

    the night sings under the cold moonlight.

    His paradise is near. Oh, Green Bird! Pray listen, and bring his message to me.

    PS: There was actually no indication of gender in the poem.

 Volume 5 - 76: The Third Button

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 76: The Third Button

    Nangong Xiaoniao went over to open the door and said, ¡°Pleasee in. It¡¯s a bit messy here.¡±

    Song Zining entered sideways through the door with a sh of light green origin power. He stood just inside the doorway and didn¡¯t go further in. ¡°Nevermind. I¡¯ll leave after a few words.¡±

    ¡°P-Please speak!¡± Xiaoniao was apparently somewhat nervous.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t beat around the bush and got straight to the point. ¡°I heard there¡¯s an unpleasant feud between you and the Nangong family.¡±

    ¡°We have a deep enmity! Sooner orter, I¡¯ll have that old thief, Nangong Yuanbo, pay with his blood!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s emotions were riled up at the very mention of this.

    Song Zining continued with an apathetic nod, ¡°Then why haven¡¯t you taken action?¡±

    A startled Nangong Xiaoniao stammered, ¡°That old thief¡­ t-that old thief is very powerful. I-I¡¯m not his match at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Then why hasn¡¯t he made a move against you?¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression was indifferent.

    Nangong Xiaoniao replied, ¡°Elder Gu, Elder Zhou, and Elder Yin said that the old thief won¡¯t dare do anything to me as long as they¡¯re alive.¡±

    ¡°Then you should know the weight of the three elders, right?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao nodded with a bewildered expression. She had no idea why Song Zining was asking these obvious questions.

    Song Zining smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of Nangong Yuanbo because you have the three Red Scorpionmanders supporting you. Miss Zhao, as the granddaughter of Duke You, has no need to fear him. I¡¯m from the Song n and naturally have no qualms either. But what about Qianye? He has nothing. If Nangong Yuanbo can¡¯t do anything to you, he¡¯ll take it out on Qianye. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I-I¡­¡± Nangong Xiaoniao didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°I¡¯ve said all I came to say. Now please excuse me.¡± With that, Song Zining opened the door and disappeared into the night just as silently.

    It was yet another night of the scarlet moon. The Dark me headquarters was fairly quiet during thetter part of the night with the exception of asional patrol squads.

    Song Zining¡¯s figure materialized in the shadows behind the dormitory. He looked up at the full, scarlet moon which had almost taken up half the sky, the gauze-like moonlight showering onto his cheerless face.

    He suddenly turned around and saw Wei Potian walking over from the other side of the drill grounds.

    A passing Dark me patrol unit left after greeting them.

    Wei Potian watched the soldiers disappear over the other end of the drill grounds before turning back to stare at Song Zining with a cold expression. ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re meddling too much?¡±

    ¡°Ignorance is not an excuse for being stubborn, and neither is innocence an excuse for recklessness. If Nangong Xiaoniao wants to stay here, she must be clear about the consequences of her action.¡±

    ¡°You underestimate Qianye. He knows what he¡¯s doing.¡±

    ¡°Must I let him bear this burden just because he can?¡±

    Wei Potian was silent. He sized Song Zining up with luminous eyes and said slowly, ¡°In that case, I have something I¡¯ve wanted to ask you for a long time. What is the rtion between the Ningyuan Group and the Northern Legion?¡±

    Song Zining chuckled out loud. ¡°Two years ago, the Ningyuan Group provided them with a thousandth of their origin arrays. Presently, we provide one percent of their armaments¡ªall types of them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Lin Xitang¡¯s man¡­¡± An implication of exceptional danger was apparent in Wei Potian¡¯s suppressed voice.

    ¡°The Wei n heir should speak cautiously. It¡¯s not a good habit to make irresponsible remarks.¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice was simrly soft. ¡°Although the Far East Wei n has never taken sides between major ns, it¡¯s a known fact that the second grand elder of the Wei n is very close to Marshal Zhang. Why then are you so interested in Marshal Lin¡¯s matters?¡±

    The two res met, the coldness in them cut through the flesh like sharp des.

    Wei Potian said slowly, ¡°Song Seven, you¡¯re a smart person. Don¡¯t y with fire. It¡¯s fine if you burn yourself to death and rid the world of a scourge, but don¡¯t drag Qianye into these waters.¡±

    ¡°Did you think everything Qianye experienced back then has ended? He¡¯s already been in the water for a long time.¡±

    Wei Potian gripped his fist so tight that it started emitting popping sounds. In the end, he rxed his hands and said, ¡°I know your Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art is quite extraordinary. But, Song Seven, the world is filled with myriad dao and the most important is to maintain one¡¯s conscience. No one has the right to make decisions for Qianye and you¡¯re no exception.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your path, not mine.¡±

    ¡°Then we shall see,¡± Wei Potian replied in simple words. At this point, he had nothing more to say and thus turned around to leave.

    However, Song Zining¡¯s voice reached him from behind. ¡°Qianye and I were ssmates for five years and partners for two. If you¡¯re interested, you can find out what it means to be partners in Yellow Spring.¡±

    Wei Potian noticed that Song Zining¡¯s tone as he spoke thosest words was especially odd. He couldn¡¯t help but nce back¡ªSong Zining¡¯s jade-like countenance almost seemed devilish under the scarlet moon. He then took a deep breath and left.

    In truth, he didn¡¯t need to inquire. Wei Potian knew what kind of ce Yellow Springs was. Less than one out of a hundred students survived the ce, and their very first ss involved killing their partners. These were the two charges frequently brought up by the opposition party to condemn the death training camp.

    After Song Zining left, Nangong Xiaoniao sat in her room for an entire night, doing nothing apart from stroking the metallic sphere subconsciously. Only when there was, once again, a knock on the door did she jump up like a startled little bird.

    A maid¡¯s voice came through the door, ¡°Miss Nangong, themander invites you to breakfast.¡±

    ¡°Breakfast? Ah, okay! Just a moment! I¡¯ll be done right away. Right away!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao practically flew into the bathroom and, as expected, found a girl in the mirror with disheveled hair and panda eyes.

    She was almost in tears. She made herself presentable as quickly as possible and rushed out within three minutes. As for the effects, she could only leave it to fate. At this time, the anxious thoughts that had wracked her for the entire night had been tossed away.

    Breakfast was served in a small guest-cum-dining room at the other end of the corridor from Qianye¡¯s room. Qianye¡¯s life wasn¡¯t that luxurious at first, but a reception area became necessary after the arrival of Zhao Yuying and the nobledies. In addition to being a necessary etiquette, it was also to prevent them from charging into his living room all the time.

    Qianye and Zhao Yuying were already seated by the time Nangong Xiaoniao arrived. She rushed to the table, jumped into the seat, and quickly sat straight with a very unnatural expression.

    Zhao Yuying was cutting a cigar on the dining table at the moment. She tossed one at Nangong Xiaoniao and said, ¡°Enough, stop pretending! It¡¯s tiring to do this every day and you still have a long while ahead of you! Smoke one first to celebrate the p I gave Nangong Ling. The goods here are quite rare.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao picked up the cigar reflexively but soon came to. She stole a nce at Qianye, put the cigar back onto the table, and said with her head lowered, ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t smoke.¡±

    Zhao Yuying let out an odd cry, ¡°Oh! You don¡¯t smoke?! Enough! Who stole half a box of my premium goods back then? Hump, I still remember how you almost choked yourself half-dead on your first try. But, half a monthter, you¡¯ve already learned how to steal my cigars!¡±

    ¡°When¡­ did I¡­¡± Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s head was almost pressed against the table.

    ¡°Then there was that one time you demonstrated how to light a cigar with origin power!¡±

    This time, Nangong Xiaoniao really pressed her red face directly on the table and mumbled, ¡°Stop, please stop. I-I¡¯ll smoke!¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it! There¡¯s no need to act like a refineddy in front of my Qianye!¡±

    Qianye red fiercely and whispered, ¡°What¡¯s this about not needing to act like a refineddy?¡±

    Zhao Yuying patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder in an iparably outspoken manner. ¡°She¡¯s already trying to act like a refineddy and probably won¡¯t let you bring her onto your bed so easily. Listen to this sister, just push her down and be done with it! We¡¯re doing big things. How can we have the time to spend on a woman?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. Beside them, a trembling Nangong Xiaoniao seeded in lighting the cigar only after numerous attempts. It took her several continuous puffs before she managed to calm down.

    Qianye had nothing more to say about her habit of smoking cigars at breakfast. He shot Zhao Yuying a sidelong nce and said, ¡°These cigars will go into your tab. Stop eyeing the military budget.¡±

    Zhao Yuying immediately sat straight. She approached Qianye with a charming expression and said gently, ¡°Qianye, you¡¯re already an important character who wields a big territory. Don¡¯t be so miserly! It¡¯s just some cigars. Rest assured, when have I ever mistreated you? Xiaoniao!!!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao was shocked out of her wits. ¡°Eh?!¡±

    ¡°Undo your top three buttons! Now!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao was momentarily dazed. ¡°Un-undo my buttons? I-I haven¡¯t¡­¡±

    Zhao Yuying said with an evil smile. ¡°There¡¯s only me and Qianye here. And it¡¯s only three buttons! What¡¯s the big deal? Undo them! If you don¡¯t, then I¡¯ll talk about our little incident in the tent¡­¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was apparently worried. She quickly opened up the top two buttons but began to hesitate at the third. The greater half of her bosom would be revealed after undoing the third button on her military uniform.

    ¡°Enough! Stop messing around!¡± Qianye roared and knocked Zhao Yuying on the head before leaving the dining room inrge strides.

    Zhao Yuying shot an angry re at Nangong Xiaoniao. ¡°Look at you! Why didn¡¯t you unbutton quickly? Now you pissed Qianye off.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s hands were frozen on the third button and her brain was muddled. Eh? Qianye was really angry? Just because of this button? She instinctively felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right, but couldn¡¯t think of what it was.

    Zhao Yuying summoned the maid regretfully and said, ¡°Put this meal on yourmander¡¯s tab. Oh right, send a box of cigars to my room in a while and put that on his tab too.¡±

    The maid naturally understood this rather famous Zhao young miss and, with a nod, proceeded to do as instructed. As such, a small part of Qianye¡¯s military budget was swindled yet again.

    Qianye was already quite full and didn¡¯t want to deal with the piles of documents just yet. As such, he asked his guards to open up a drill grounds so he could warm up his sword techniques. But he was feeling ill at ease throughout the session¡ªNirvanic Rend would either fail to exert its full might or it would go out of control.

    After destroying half the steel dummies in the drill grounds with a single sh, Qianye finally put away East Peak and headed toward Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s room.

    He knocked for a long time but the room remained silent. The maid outside had clearly seen Nangong Xiaoniao return, so why was there no response? Qianye tried pushing lightly on the door and proceeded to walk into the room after finding it unlocked.

 Volume 5 - 77: Aura of an Old Friend

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 77: Aura of an Old Friend

    The room was fairly messy withponents and tools scattered everywhere like an old arms workshop. It was a wonder how she had brought so many things into the room.

    Qianye heard some movement in the bathroom and thus walked over to take a look. There, he saw Nangong Xiaoniao standing before the mirror muttering irresolutely to herself, ¡°Third button, third button.¡±

    Qianye was worried after seeing her in this state and couldn¡¯t help but call out, ¡°Xiaoniao?¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao turned around like a whirlwind, her face pale and clearly startled. When she saw that the one standing before her was Qianye, she immediately began to sway and could hardly stand straight.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Qianye was even more worried now.

    ¡°I-I¡­¡± Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s brain seemed to be filled with gears at this moment, and all of them were creaking and groaning. It was a mystery just what kind of conclusion they had churned out. She suddenly pulled open her third button and said to Qianye, ¡°I¡¯ll undo it!¡±

    Qianye was deeply affected after seeing Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s almost bursting cleavage. Nangong Xiaoniao was still the sweet and adorable little rookie from back then¡ªthe impact of her childish face paired with such a bosom was indeed iparable.

    ¡°Xiaoniao, don¡¯t do this. The button¡­¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Nangong Xiaoniao spoke once more, ¡°I¡¯m undoing it!¡±

    Helpless to do anything else, Qianye shouted, ¡°Rookie! Attention!¡±

    One order, one action¡ªNangong Xiaoniao stood to attention out of reflex. Unexpectedly, her nerves were tense and her movements were too forceful, nearly causing her chest to pop out of her clothes. Nangong Xiaoniao nced down at her chest and then at Qianye. A different implication appeared in her bewildered eyes as though she had understood something.

    Qianye was ovee by the urge to put his palm to his face. He did his best to maintain a straight face and shouted, ¡°Rookie, button up your clothes!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao asked innocently, ¡°You don¡¯t need me to undo one more?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s vision grew dark, and he finally realized that perhaps the rookie had grown up all of a sudden. In the end, he decided that this matter couldn¡¯t continue¡ªhe forcefully pulled up Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s clothes and did all of her buttons one by one. But Qianye immediately regretted his decision when his fingers came into contact with the skin on her chest. It was inexplicably exquisite and the sticity was astonishing.

    ¡°Enough, Xiaoniao, let¡¯s get back to proper matters. I might have to go to on campaign in the near future. What do you intend¡­ Eh? Wait!¡± Qianye suddenly felt a familiar aura. It was extremely faint, but the familiarity became exceptionally clear after taking notice of it.

    His heart skipped a beat. He fully activated his perception and discovered a wisp of blood energy, one that was extremely faint and unassimted by the darkness origin power in the environment.

    Qianye was indeed iparably familiar with this strand of blood energy because he had once possessed it. However, the golden blood energy was purified and transformed into the dark golden blood energy after he gained major sess in the Song n Ancient Scroll. That blood energy was devoured by the terrifying origin power vortex.

    Presently, he had once again perceived the smell of this blood energy and immediately detected this barely discernible presence. This blood energy reminded him of a certain person, a person he thought he would never see again¡ªNighteye.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes swept through the messy room and found the source of this blood energy. It was an opened metallic sphere with its internalpartment exposed. Thepartment was silver and just as smooth as its outer shell with a number of small holes lining its upper half.

    Under his true vision, Qianye saw that the origin power in the surrounding environment was exceedingly active and flowing into the internalpartment continuously. Meanwhile, a strand of extremely faint blood energy was flowing out from the small holes above.

    ¡°This is the core of the origin array. You managed to open it?¡± asked Qianye.

    Nangong Xiaoniao nodded. ¡°It wasn¡¯t so hard. I managed to open it after a few tries. But we need to open the internalpartment to know exactly what it¡¯s used for.¡±

    ¡°Can you open it now?¡± Qianye was eager to know more.

    ¡°Let me try!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao flipped through the metallicponents and whipped out a number of oddly-shaped special tools. She first fixed the silverponent on the workbench and then brought out a set of slender metallic needles which she carefully inserted into different parts of the internalpartment.

    The silverpartment was as bright and clean as a mirror, and even Qianye couldn¡¯t find any openings apart from the small holes. It was unknown just how Nangong Xiaoniao managed to pierce all the needles in after feeling the surface carefully with her hands.

    Nangong Xiaoniao produced a special golden needle once the ten odd metallic needles were in ce. She tried out a couple of ces and then chose one to probe into the internalpartment. She then flicked lightly when the needle was halfway in.

    Suddenly, numerous origin array patterns lit up on the originally bare needle and rapidly extended to cover the entirepartment. A number of gaps emerged on the surface of the internalpartment amidst minute snapping sounds and weaved together before opening up like a blooming flower.

    The process of opening the internalpartment was a new experience for Qianye. He had never imagined there would be such an exquisite mechanism on earth.

    Moreover, the internalpartment was opened in less than three minutes in Xiaoniao¡¯s hands. One had to know that many famous Red Scorpion array specialists had worked on it for quite some time, but failed to tackle even the outer shell, not to mention the internalpartment. From this, it was quite reasonable that the old men from Red Scorpion were willing to offend Nangong Yuanbo for her.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes fell on the opened internalpartment. It was lined with dense array patterns which formed an iparably exquisite three-dimensional structure¡ªit was almost like a work of art. There was a dark fingernail-sized crystal nted at its center, and one could vaguely make out a thin strand of blood within it.

    The aura of the sanguineous thread abruptly grew stronger after the internalpartment was opened, a clear indication that the crystal had no sealing properties. On the contrary, its function was to nurture and disseminate its aura. Qianye was finally certain that this wisp of blood was Nighteye¡¯s.

    Why would her blood appear here?

    Qianye asked in contemtion, ¡°Xiaoniao, what is this origin array used for?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao replied, ¡°Judging from the utility of the origin array, there are four functional areas. One is to draw in darkness origin power, nurture the fresh blood, and maintain its vitality. The second function is simr to a blood shackle. The warning mechanism of the array will be activated when the owner of this drop of fresh blood enters its effective range and, when needed, it can suppress the bloodline associated with that drop of blood. I¡¯m not too clear about the other two arrays. I¡¯ve never seen anything simr before¡ªI might be able to crack them, but I¡¯ll need some time to test them out.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart sunk for some unknown reason. He had only encountered the blood shackles once and that was when the vampires were hunting Nighteye down. They had utilized the blood shackles to trace her movements and suppress her strength. Now that the present array had incorporated the abilities of the blood shackle and contained Nighteye¡¯s aura, it was clear that the person behind this had evil intentions.

    When he had seen herst time, it seemed as though Nighteye had already be a major character among the vampires. Could the target of this extravagant set up be her?

    Qianye gave it some thought and asked, ¡°How wide is the area of its effect?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao brought the internalpartment to her eyes and inserted a thin needle into the origin array as a reference. She then performed some silent calctions before saying, ¡°It can affect an area of approximately 200 kilometers if installed at a height of 300 to 500 meters.¡±

    ¡°Only 200 kilometers. Then there should be many more such origin arrays. It¡¯s impossible for there to be only one.¡± Qianye pondered for a moment and then continued, ¡°I still haveponents from another origin array. It¡¯s of a muchrger scale, and itsplexity is even greater. Please help me crack that one too if possible and see what its uses are.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao agreed while puffing up her chest.

    Qianye moved his eyes away and said, ¡°I¡¯ll send people to assist you. Just tell me whatever you need.¡± With that, Qianye prepared to excuse himself.

    But Nangong Xiaoniao suddenly blocked his way. She drummed up her courage and said, ¡°See? I still have some uses. I¡¯ll try hard and make myself even more useful! Can you please not send me away because of the Nangong family?¡±

    Qianye nced at Nangong Xiaoniao, and in herrge eyes, he saw courage, determination, and apprehension. He sighed lightly in his heart and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No need to pay too much attention to the Nangong family. This is, after all, the Evernight Continent. But I can¡¯t keep you here if the Red Scorpions demand it.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when brilliant colors erupted from Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s eyes. She came pretty close to jumping about and kept on nodding furiously. ¡°Rest assured, the Red Scorpions won¡¯t do that. I have ways to deal with them!¡±

    Seeing Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s excited state, Qianye suddenly realized that he might have made a mistake. Those old men might¡¯ve spoiled her¡ªit seemed they had no way to deal with her if she insisted on staying.

    Qianye shook his head. The ineffable shadow vaguely shrouding his heart had lessened by quite a bit. He reached out to rub Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s head and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving first. I have some business to attend to. And stop messing around with Zhao Yuying. Don¡¯t just undo your buttons randomly, you hear?¡±

    ¡°But it seemed quite effective.¡±

    ¡°Effective my a*s!¡± Qianye knocked on Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s head, pushed the door open, and left. There was no telling how many more buttons this little rookie would undo if he stayed longer.

    After returning to his study, Qianye unfurled a table-top deduction map and outlined a 200-kilometer circle around Green Peak Mountain. Afterward, he pushed outward and expanded another 200 kilometers, penning in a number of possible origin array locations.

    Qianye gazed at the map with his brows locked in a frown. The dark race territory seemed to be hidden behind an iron curtain, and the humans understood little about them up until this day.

    When Qianye saw Nighteye for the second time at Earth Castle, he saw that she was wearing a golden datura emblem. That was the insignia of the Monroe n, one of the twelve ancient bloodlines. But he knew almost nothing else about her.

    He knew not whether she was still on Evernight Continent, which ns she had an enmity with, or if the vampires and werewolves who had hunted her down the first time were on the same side as those setting up the origin array.

    Qianyemitted to memory the area he had drawn and the specific coordinates of the potential sites before crushing the map into a pile of paper shreds.

    At this time, a drawn-out whistle rang out in the distance, followed by what sounded like rolling thunder. That was the sound made by dozens of airships in ascent.

    Qianye walked to the window and saw a massive airship gradually rise into the air from behind ckflow City. The origin arrays at the ship¡¯s belly flickered on and off as the darkness origin power in the environment fluctuated continuously.

    This massive vehicleparable to half the city rising into the air was the third army corps¡¯ gship. After it took to the air, the other corvettes, patrol ships, and transports all soared into the air in quick session.

    Momentster, the entire sub-fleet was assembled above ckflow City. Then, the strangely-shaped retro-airships belonging to the numerous nobledies started taking to the air. They left under the protection of the escort fleet and finally vanished over the horizon.

    Qianye was gazing absent-mindedly at the empty sky when Lil¡¯ Seven came to report that General An Shaonian of the Red Scorpions was here to visit him.

 Volume 5 - 78: Danger From Behind

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 78: Danger From Behind

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help being startled after hearing this news and immediately instructed her to invite the man in.

    His emotions were fairlyplicated when he received Song Zining¡¯s letter back at ck Ridge. Qianye hadpletely changed in terms of identity, appearance, and aura, and those who had fought alongside him had mostly fallen in that battle. He had no reason to worry about his identity being exposed even if he met those from Red Scorpion once again, but there was a lingering sense of frustration and loss in his heart.

    Qianye had never met this Brigadier General An Shaonian in person, but he had seen the man¡¯s data. He was yet to be a general, but his experience wasparable to a scorpion king. With Red Scorpion¡¯s casualty rate and the tradition of higher-ups acting as rear-guards during retreat, scorpion kings who had been in service for over a decade were as rare as qilin horns and phoenix feathers.

    At the thought of this, another name popped up in his memory, Wei Lishi. Colonel Wei was one of the scorpion kings who had stood shoulder to shoulder with An Shaonian back then, and it was he who had brought Qianye into Red Scorpion. However, he was buried within that conspiracy. Qianye had to take a deep breath in order to calm down his almost boiling blood.

    The door was pushed open following Lil¡¯ Seven¡¯s clear announcement, and in walked anky man with an astute countenance. As expected, he was a typical military man, a model Red Scorpion member.

    ¡°General An, please take a seat. Please don¡¯t hesitate to tell me if there¡¯s anything I can help.¡± Qianye stood up to wee the man with a level of intimacy which he, himself, wasn¡¯t aware of.

    An Shaonian simply returned the courtesy but didn¡¯t sit down immediately. He sized Qianye up with incisive eyes and suddenly shouted, ¡°Forgive me!¡±

    His voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when origin power surged over his entire body and a punch was shot toward Qianye¡¯s fist!

    An expression of astonishment shed across Qianye¡¯s face, and a deep blue radiance emerged in the depths of his eyes. He saw, in his True Sight, that all the origin power in the vicinity had red up at this moment and numerous threads were aggregating toward An Shaonina¡¯s fist.

    This fist strike appeared simple and was but the basic stance of the militarybat technique. However, every square inch of its force was solid after drawing upon the origin power in the vicinity, and there was not a single weak point to be exploited.

    Utilizing this basic straight punch from the militarybat technique to such a level was a sign of a grand dao simplification.

    Qianye had let out a low roar and threw a simrly simple punch which crashed into An Shaonian¡¯s fist!

    A thunderous explosion rang out from the study as a gust of qi rolled upward from the point of impact, quietly cutting a bowl-sized hole in the ceiling and almost piercing through the roof. However, the other objects in the room were undamaged¡ªeven the tea-table between them and the sofas weren¡¯t disced in the slightest.

    An Shaonian seemedpletely unfazed after the exchange of fists. Meanwhile, a flush of redness emerged on Qianye¡¯s countenance, but he recovered immediately afterward. Apparently, he had suppressed the origin power impact and bacsh during this short moment.

    The astonishment on An Shaonian¡¯s face was clear. He was a scorpion king and, although only a brigadier general in rank, even an imperial regr army general like Zhang Zixing wouldn¡¯t dare slight him in terms ofbat strength.

    Even though he hadn¡¯t exerted his full strength with that blow, Qianye hadn¡¯t used any evasive movements or secret arts to dispel it either. He had forcefully received the assault head-on and yet he wasn¡¯t struck down. This was already the standard of a scorpion king in Red Scorpion.

    Moreover, An Shaonian¡¯s champion-level talent was Origin Power Precision which allowed him to wieldbat strength surpassing his own rank. The very little overflow with that strike just now was a clear indication of his exquisite control over origin power. What was abnormal was that Qianye had managed to do the exact same thing, and he wasn¡¯t even a champion yet.

    An Shaonian sighed in admiration and said, ¡°I heard that Commander Qianye, born a bounty hunter, had built the Dark me Mercenary Corps from scratch and devoured the expeditionary army seventh division even before a year had passed. I originally believed this news to be overly exaggerated, but yourbat strength is actually far above the rumors. The victor isn¡¯t a certainty if we had gone all out against each other.¡±

    ¡°General An has overpraised me. You¡¯re not just any general either.¡± Qianye smiled. Thebat strength of Red scorpion soldiers was far above what their ranks implied. The moreplicated their environments, the better they could reflect this point.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t an ordinary corpsmander either.¡± An Shaonian also smiled, but his expression turned solemn soon afterward as he said, ¡°Commander Qianye should already have guessed the intention of my visit. Ie to discuss the matter of Colonel Nangong.¡±

    Qianye nodded slightly. Qianye had already guessed, upon hearing of his visit, that the man was here for Nangong Xiaoniao.

    An Shaonian pondered for a moment as though he were carefully choosing his words and then said, ¡°I¡¯m sure Commander Qianye has more or less heard about Colonel Nangong¡¯s importance to Red Scorpion. But Xiaoniao is rather obstinate and we can hardly persuade her once she decides to stay. Moreover, her circumstances will be even more dangerous if she ran off on her own.¡±

    Qianye was also quite distressed about this matter, but he couldn¡¯t help but be soft-hearted when he recalled the little girl¡¯s manner as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll make myself useful. Please don¡¯t send me away.¡±

    An Shaonian added, ¡°I came to Evernight Continent on an important mission and will have to leave very soon. I suggested leaving some men with Colonel Nangong, but she refused me. In truth, the number of men I can spare is fairly limited even if she didn¡¯t.¡±

    Qianye naturally understood the other party¡¯s situation very well. The mission level of An Shaonian¡¯s unit couldn¡¯t be inferior to the one that had mobilized a third of Red Scorpion back then. This also implied a higher level of danger.

    Qianye gave it some thought and said, ¡°General An, you probably know that we¡¯ve been campaigning against the dark races recently. But I¡¯ll do my best to ensure her safety as long as she stays within the city.¡±

    An Shaonian¡¯s expression showed some relief after hearing Qianye say so. ¡°There¡¯s probably no problem with Colonel Nangong¡¯s safety with you and Miss Zhao Yuying around. However, some people mighte to trouble you, and these people might not be limited to the Nangong family.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I understand. Thank you for General An¡¯s warning.¡± This didn¡¯te as much of a surprise either. Red Scorpion itself had a lot of enemies within the army and government. An important character like Nangong Xiaoniao leaving the headquarters would definitely draw the attention of those lying in wait for an opportunity.

    ¡°The Nangong family won¡¯t dare do anything to the colonel in the open, but this is the Evernight Continent, and the imperial army¡¯s deterrence here is that much weaker. There¡¯s nothing much I can do either. I¡¯ll just leave this little thing here. Perhaps there¡¯ll be an opportunity to make use of it in the future.¡± An Shaonian ced a box on the table.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was slightly moved after seeing its familiar lead-sealed style. He opened it and found a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion within. This was a clear implication that the danger An Shaonian had just mentioned very likely involved humans and not the dark races.

    An Shaonianughed in self-deprecation. ¡°Life in a military post is poor and full of hardship. Many years of umtion was only enough to buy a single bullet. I hope it can be used to good effect in Commander Qianye¡¯s hands.¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt the box in his hand grow exceedingly heavy. An Shaonian was also of civilian origins. Even though Red Scorpions umted more merits than the ordinary army corps and were granted higher priority in exchanging them for military supplies, he had still expended a significant amount in order to advance to a champion.

    Qianye pushed the box back. ¡°General An, it¡¯s better you take this back. Truth be told, I also have a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion in my hands.¡±

    An Shaonian shook his head and said, ¡°The duty of the Red Scorpions is to fight against the other races. I have little use for such an item. But the same can¡¯t be said for you. There are many enemies in Evernight Continent, both in front and behind.¡±

    Qianye heaved a heavy sigh in his heart. He was, of course, all too clear that Red Scorpion missions didn¡¯t always target the dark races. In truth, certain missions rted to internal affairs were even more rewarding and involved less danger. This was likely An Shaonian¡¯s personal choice.

    The general added with a smile, ¡°Fighting dark races is simpler. My talents are limited so I tend to bezy and choose simpler work.¡±

    With that, An Shaonian excused himself. The figure of his back was as straight and tall as a pine tree.

    North of the Transcendent Continent was a river called Yi which spanned across three provinces and meandered for thousands of kilometers.

    The Yidong Province was one of the three, located at the nine bends of the river¡¯s middle segment. It was most prosperous with tens of kilometers of fertilends. The Nangong family¡¯s fiefdom was within the Yidong province, and six out of ten in the province had their surname.

    The empire had conferred three marquis and eleven counts along the Yi river, and only the Nangong family was able to use the title Marquis of Yishui. This went to show the imperial favor and authority they enjoyed. The Nangong family was already one of the three marquis hundreds of years ago when the empire was fighting the dark races for control over Transcendent Continent. Later on, they proved themselves time and again with outstanding military aplishments and went on to be the only regional marquis around the Yi River. This allowed them to develop their private army without any restrictions.

    Presently, the Transcendent Continent had long since been taken over by the empire, and there were no longer any wars. The Nangong family¡¯s private armies were mostly dispatched to the battlefields on the Eastern and Western Continents as well as to guard their resources outside of the fiefdom. The private army left to guard theirnds had grown smaller over the years due to the growing peace, but even so, it was far greater in scale than that of the other two marquis.

    The Yishui Provincial government was located within the Transcendent North City, half of which was upied by the Nangong Manor. As such, the sessive lords of the Nangong family had privately given it a nickname: Half-Nangong City.

    One could imagine the depth of the marquis¡¯ manor just from how it was known as half a city. The primary manor was constructed halfway up the Wei Mountain to the north of the city and extended all the way down to the foothills. As for the wide residence at the base of the mountain, it was where the various branch families lived.

    At this moment, within the study of a big residence, Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s expression was ashen. He roared furiously, ¡°Useless! All of you are useless! What use are you if you can¡¯t even deal with such a small matter properly?¡±

    Several people were kneeling in a wide room the size of several ordinary family courtyards. In addition to Nangong Ling, her maid and guards who had gone with her were also present. At this moment, Nangong Yuanbo was in a fit of rage¡ªeveryone had their head lowered and dared not make the slightest movement, lest they attract the mes of his ire.

    Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s wrath calmed down after cursing for a while. ¡°Ling¡¯er, stand up.¡±

    Nangong Ling stood up with her head still lowered, not daring to nce at Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s expression.

    Nangong Yuanbo paced back and forth a couple of times with his hand behind his back. Then, he suddenly stopped in front of Nangong Ling and said, ¡°You said it was Zhao Yuying who pped you?¡±

    Nangong Ling trembled slightly and replied, ¡°Yes. And in front of all the nobledies, she said¡­ she said¡­¡±

    ¡°What did she say?¡±

    ¡°She said I shouldn¡¯t hesitate to report her and that¡¯s useless no matter where I take this matter!¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Nangong Yuanbo crushed the jade lion he was fiddling in his hands into fine powder and roared, ¡°How arrogant!¡±

    ¡°Yes! She¡¯s simply a female hoodlum.¡±

    Nangong Ling hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a pnded on her face once again, whipping her onto the floor. Nangong Ling covered her swollen face and nced nkly at Nangong Yuanbo.

    The marquis snorted deeply. ¡°Even if she¡¯s a scoundrel, she still has her grandfather, Duke You! Humph, female scoundrel? I, on the other hand, hope I have such a female scoundrel for a daughter. Zhao Yuying is a character with the potential to be a divine champion. What about you lot? How far will you go past champion rank? Rank two? Three?¡±

    No one dared speak a word in the face of his thunderous wrath. Nangong Ling had already served as an example, and the others here were all stewards and servants. Who would dare provoke Nangong Yuanbo?

    ¡°You can¡¯t even deal with a mere Nangong Xiaoniao and the engagement with Wei Qiyang has probably been pped away too. Tell me what use are you?!¡±

    After the fit of anger, Nangong Yuanbo took a deep breath to suppress his rage and called out, ¡°Xiaofeng!¡±

    A man walked out from the shadows of a bookshelf, ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo said in a deep voice, ¡°You go and wipe out that Dark me or whatever. A group of lowly civilians dares interfere with the internal affairs of our Nangong family. They can hope for a better next life!¡±

 Volume 5 - 79: The Secret of the Werewolves

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 79: The Secret of the Werewolves

    That person revealed a set of snow-white teeth. There seemed to be a shade of lingering haze between his delicate, upright brows. He said with an almost frivolous tone, ¡°A mercenary head? A trivial matter.¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo pondered for a moment and added, ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as you don¡¯t offend the expeditionary army too badly. Additionally, bring Xiaoniao back if you get the chance. But you must get it done efficiently and without loose ends, understand?¡±

    His smile grew even more peculiar. ¡°Understood. I won¡¯t take action before finding a good opportunity.¡± A regional expeditionary army division not under themand of a corps didn¡¯t amount to anything. But the same couldn¡¯t be said for Red Scorpion¡ªeven the Nangong family wasn¡¯t willing to go head-on against an elite corps ranked within the top five in the empire.

    Nangong Yuanbo wanted to say something after seeing this person¡¯s expression, but he restrained himself and said, ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to utilize the necessary resources. I only wanted this matter handled sessfully.¡±

    The young man smiled silently and said, ¡°Should I deal with Zhao Yuying while I¡¯m at it?¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo asked with a frown, ¡°Are you confident?¡±

    ¡°Two parts. That¡¯s enough.¡±

    ¡°Two parts? Humph!¡± Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s expression was furious. ¡°Even if you manage to realize this twenty percent chance, how confident are you in hiding it from Zhao Xuanji?¡±

    The manughed. ¡°None. But uncle, isn¡¯t dealing with Zhao Xuanji your business?¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo replied furiously, ¡°If I can deal with Zhao Xuanji, then I would be Duke You instead of the Marquis of Yishui!¡±

    Only at this point did the man take on an enlightened demeanor and said, ¡°Oh, I see. Very well then, I¡¯ll stay away from Zhao Yuying.¡±

    ¡°Enough, everyone withdraw!¡± Nangong Yuanbo waved his sleeves angrily and went back inside.

    The man standing within the shadows had his back half-bent all this time and only stood straight after the marquis¡¯ figure vanished beyond the doors. The level of etiquette was a bit too exaggerated, and almost contained a hint of mockery.

    The room immediately turned silent. He suddenly turned around and nced at Nangong Ling¡¯s party with the same silent smile on his face.

    Nangong Ling couldn¡¯t help but shiver and her already bloodless face turned as pale as snow. She produced a smile with great difficulty and said, ¡°Cousin Xiaofeng, I¡¯ll take my leave now if there¡¯s nothing else.¡±

    The man nodded slowly. Nangong Ling immediately performed a salutation as though she had been granted a great amnesty and left hurriedly without even daring to look back.

    Nangong Xiaofeng was the number one genius of the Nangong family¡¯s younger generation,parable to even the top descendants of the four major ns. However, his warped personality was just as outstanding as his talents. He was a double-edged sword¡ªeach side just as sharp as the other¡ªand even Nangong Yuanbo had cut himself once. A younger generation descendant like Nangong Ling would, under normal circumstances, rather not bump into this cousin of hers.

    But after withdrawing into the courtyard, Nangong Ling revealed a delighted expression as she gazed at the wisterias hanging from the flower canopy. That was because she knew that ckflow City would, no doubt, be a living hell with Nangong Xiaofeng taking action. She was happy to let that woman who still dared to use the Nangong surname witness the destruction she had brought about!

    She was even more hopeful that Nangong Xiaoniao would be secretly taken care of since killing youngdies slowly and sadistically was Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s favorite pastime. But she knew chances were slim since Nangong Xiaoniao was Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s forbidden zone. Nangong Xiaofeng, despite his warped personality, was by no means a fool¡ªhe wouldn¡¯t actually break such a taboo.

    Within a secret Red Scorpion base on the Qin Continent, a calm young man was standing before a desk with a weasel-hair brush in hand. He was busy copying a certain martial scripture in tiny, carefully crafted characters. The vertical and horizontal strokes in each character appeared straight, neat, and without the slightest bit of deviation. However, they all appeared stiff and werepletelycking in character.

    The long piece of calligraphy paper had been half-filled, and the characters written therein likely numbered in the thousands.

    At this moment, a young female officer entered and whispered something into his ear. The young man¡¯s hand trembled, and the brush in his hand immediately fell down, leaving arge blotch of ink on the paper.

    ¡°You mean Xiaoniao suddenly left? Do the old men know?¡± His expression was calm, but his voice was trembling somewhat.

    ¡°Judging from various signs, they probably didn¡¯t know either. It¡¯s highly likely that Colonel Nangong left secretly,¡± the female officer replied. There was a faintly discernible wisp of jealousy in her eyes.

    The young man said slowly, ¡°Go and check what Xiaoniao did before she left. For instance, what books she read, what information she checked on, and who she contacted. Then report the results to me.¡±

    The female officer affirmed the instructions and was just about to leave when the young man called her back. ¡°Prepare my Windchaser. I¡¯ll leave once there¡¯s the slightest news of her.¡±

    The female officer opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but refrained from doing so in the end and withdrew from the room. However, she couldn¡¯t resist the urge to peek through the crack in the door just as she was about to leave and witnessed the young man slowly tear the half-filled calligraphy paper apart from corner to corner. This caused her to tremble involuntarily.

    Each of the countless, neatly-arranged little characters on the paper was a cage used to contain the beast within his heart.

    And now, the cage had been destroyed.

    Qianye was always feeling ill-at-ease in the recent days. He was distracted every now and then by a sense of agitation during cultivation and while handling official business.

    Official matters fared much better. Everything was still progressing smoothly ording to his ns and remained more or less unaffected. There was a small problem, however, with his cultivation. The cultivation rate of the two chapters, Mystery and Glory, had slowed down so precipitously because most of the essence blood obtained during the previous campaign had been absorbed by the Book of Darkness.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t find the reason for his restlessness, but the dark cloud in his heart was presently growing bigger and bigger. If not for Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s research on therge origin array showing constant progress and his eagerness to see the results, Qianye might¡¯ve gone out to battle once again to calm himself down amidst blood and ughter.

    An extremely bored Zhao Yuying grabbed Qianye in the afternoon for some idle chatter, to which Qianye responded absent-mindedly.

    The conversation eventually drifted to the dao of martial arts. Whenever they reached this topic, there would be an episode of Zhao Yuying¡¯s self-praise followed by a bout of belittling the other geniuses of the same generation. She suddenly recalled something afterpleting this procedure and asked, ¡°You¡¯re already rank-nine at the moment. Why don¡¯t you have a domain yet?¡±

    ¡°Domain? Isn¡¯t that supposed to happen after bing a champion? Moreover, only a small number of champions are able toprehend a domain.¡±

    Zhao Yuying immediately shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s a theory for useless people. ording to normal standards, one should already have a fledgling domain by rank eight, 7

    and it should be fully formed by rank nine. Everything will be toote if youprehend it after bing a champion!¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly, ¡°What kind of standard is that?¡±

    ¡°The Zhao n standard,¡± Zhao Yuying replied as though it were all right and proper.

    Qianye was speechless. ¡°Then, how many people have met these standards in the Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°Little Four and I have definitely surpassed it, and Old Two barely qualifies. There are also four or five more, but their potentials arecking a little bit and even inferior to Old Two!¡±

    ¡°That also means that there are only seven or eight such people in the entire younger generation of the Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s already a lot. That¡¯s why I say this standard is quitex.¡±

    There were tens of thousands of people in the Zhao n¡¯s younger generation, but only three of them had truly met Zhao Yuying¡¯s so-called standards. Qianye could only shake his head at this. ¡°My talents are inherently mediocre.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?! How can anyone preferred by your elder sister becking? The form of your innate talent is quite unique and quite easy on the eyes. You¡¯ll surely be very powerful in the future, so it¡¯s also possible that your domain is taking some time to appear.¡±

    Qianye felt somewhat guilty after hearing this. That so-called talent form was Andruil¡¯s Wings of Inception. How could a relevant domain ever appear? Being powerful was a certainty, nheless.

    ¡°Some secret arts could produce their own domains after a sessful cultivation. But unless the cultivation art was especially suitable for the cultivator, they are usually less powerful than the ones naturally awoken by one¡¯s innate talents.

    At this point, Zhao Yuying pped Qinaye¡¯s shoulder with great force and said heroically, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry though. Whether or not you have talent in domains is a small matter! I¡¯ll give you a copy of the Three Taiyue Divine Peaks after we get back to the Zhao n, and you¡¯ll be able to cultivate a domain no matter what.¡±

    Her brows suddenly knitted together. ¡°You still seem to be cultivating the Combatant Form. Although this thing is good for rushing ranks, it¡­¡±

    Qianye, on the other hand, didn¡¯t hear Zhao Yuying¡¯s question. A sh of lightning streaked through his mind the moment he heard her mention the Three Taiyue Divine Peaks. ¡°Green Peak Mountain!¡±

    Zhao Yuying was baffled. ¡°What mountain again?¡±

    ¡°You told me a couple of days ago about an important mining node in the area, remember? That is Green Peak Mountain.¡±

    Zhao Yuying also recalled the matter. ¡°Right, but isn¡¯t that area the territory of the werewolves? Has the big dog shown any signs of movement?¡±

    Werewolf strongholds were vastly different from the arachne¡¯s, and the biggest distinction was the choice of foundation¡ªthey favored rocky peaks over earthen mountains.

    This posed no hindrance to the werewolves who were known as the kings of the mountainous region. In their primitive form, even ordinary soldiers could run over rugged terrain as though they were on t ground. Human warriors were different¡ªordinary soldiers could hardly scale the precipitous heights, to speak nothing of shipping heavy weaponry.

    That was why Qianye had decisively given up on storming them after an entire night of scouting. He only left troops at the pass to seal offmunication between the stronghold and the outside world. His original n was toe back and deal with this isted army after bringing the arachne count¡¯s entire eastern territory under control.

    Qianye stood up and paced around the room for a couple of times and said with a frown, ¡°I have a bad feeling as though something is happening at the moment. This kind of uncontroble development is very frustrating. I don¡¯t want to wait anymore. Let¡¯s take down the werewolf territory first and link up all the special nodes. Let¡¯s see what kind of secrets are hidden in the ground beneath our feet. We¡¯ll need to know more in order to decide what we should do.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also a good idea to make ns in advance. What are your ns?¡±

    ¡°Take down the leader! I¡¯ll go alone.¡±

    Zhao Yuying nodded. ¡°Okay, but you should stay here for one more day. I¡¯ve just finished remodeling a new motorcycle, and it just so happens that you can use it. Xiaoniao also put in a fair bit of effort!¡±

    ¡°A new motorcycle? The type with arge amount of gunpowder hidden inside?¡± Qianye¡¯s expression was fairly ugly. No one was willing to sit with a pile of explosive under their buttocks.

    Zhao Yuying let out a dryugh. ¡°Rest assured, the only way to ignite this mommy¡¯s special gunpowder is via the built-in mechanism. Otherwise, it won¡¯t explode even if you shoot it with a gun.¡± She stole a few nces at Qianye¡¯s expression and proceeded to guarantee while patting her chest. ¡°This time, I¡¯ll exin all the mechanisms on the bike!¡±

    Qianye received his brand new motorcycle one dayter.

    This motorcycle with a dark-red paint job was heavier than the previous one, and its external appearance was even more exaggerated. As one can well imagine, there had been a performance upgrade with this mechanical monster. Zhao Yuying¡¯s ostentatious portrait was painted above the fuel tank as usual but now with two adorable golden birds on each side.

    Qianye stared fixedly at the mutated smith symbol and felt speechless. He nced up at the immensely satisfied Zhao Yuying and Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s expectant countenance. Finally, he still got onto the bike and left the city.

    The Dark me camp outside of the werewolf pass had expanded to the size of a regiment. After the battles in other areas came to a close, all the motorizedbat units apart from the stationary garrisons at ck Ridge and the fjords had gathered here.

    Themanders of the present camp were Duan Hao and Zhu Wuya.

    Although Dark me had yet to receive an independent division designation, the expeditionary army headquarters had tacitly recognized the fact that the seventh division had been reced. The military channels were still regrly delivering all kinds of official documents and military intelligence. It had never stopped, even during the week Dark me had taken over ckflow City.

    Not long ago, the seventh division¡¯s half a year worth of rations, as well as the reward for killing dark races, were delivered normally, and with them was a batch of issued armaments. These weapons were grossly inferior to Dark me¡¯s own equipment, but it was a strong message and a clear indication of the expeditionary army headquarters¡¯ attitude.

    With that, Dark me, which had incorporated the seventh division, was granted unprecedented stability. Both ckflow City and the new regions cultivated during the western expedition were operating with great efficiency, and the disloyalty of the surrendered officers was also wearing away.

    Apanied by Duan Hao and Zhu Wuya, Qianye went up to the frontline position to observe the werewolf mountain pass.

    It was made up of two screen-like mountains, with only a gap between them several dozens of meters wide. Additionally, this natural passage inclined upward, making it easy to defend but hard to assault.

    The werewolves had sealed off the passagepletely with the fort-like defensive structures and walls at the end of the passage. The positioning of these walls was fairly clever¡ªartillery fired from the outside would have to pass through manyyers of natural obstructions and could hardly strike the target directly.

    Duan Hao passed over a pair of binocrs. ¡°Sire Qianye, more and more weird things have been going on these days. Please take a look!¡±

 Volume 5 - 80: Through the Mountain Pass

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 80: Through the Mountain Pass

    Qianye took the binocrs and, sure enough, saw a number of lifeforms resembling giant crocodiles crawling over the precipitous cliffs. Their bodies were several meters long with dark scales growing over them, and they were crawling slowly over the almost vertical cliffs as though on level ground.

    The scene before him caused Qianye¡¯s heart to tremble because there weren¡¯t as many vicious beasts when hest came here. Most of the ones here preferred hiding in the dark corners and rarely climbed out into the open. Moreover, there were already hundreds of such crocodile-type beasts on the two sides of the cliff¡ªwho knows how many more were hiding in unseen ces.

    ¡°Do you know where these thingse from?¡± asked Qianye.

    ¡°ording to our observation, it¡¯s very likely that they crawled out from the southwestern forest. But it¡¯s indeed quite odd because these animals don¡¯t look like woond creatures at all. Our scouts tried approaching the area, but had to give up on investigating deeper because the beasts there are too powerful,¡± said Zhu Wuya.

    ¡°Oh? How are their strengths?¡±

    ¡°Their power is proportionate to their size for the most part. The weakest ones among them require rank-three warriors to deal with, while only rank-four soldiers can hold back the bigger ones. Those especiallyrge ones over there are probably leaders. Only I, Old Duan and a couple of other lieutenant colonels can handle them.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°What is there rtionship with the werewolves?¡±

    Duan Hao took over the conversation and replied, ¡°They seem to bepletely unrted. Just a while ago, I saw an impudent werewolf guard being torn to shreds after charging into their territory.¡±

    But even if these mountainous crocodiles were unrted to the werewolves, their area of activity happened to upy the mountainous cliffs on each side of the mountain pass. This was equal to granting the werewolf defensive line anotheryer of natural fortification.

    Qianye assessed the surroundingndscape and pointed toward an area where the mountain crocodiles were the most concentrated. ¡°Fire a few cannon rounds at that area.¡±

    Duan Hao and the rest hadn¡¯t made such an attempt because there was a risk of enraging the entire poption of mountain crocodiles. But there should be no problem at the moment since it was Qianye¡¯s orders. The orderly flew toward the nearby firing point, and momentster, the sound of heavy cannons began to rumble. Shells rained down continuously on the concentrated group of mountain crocodiles.

    Several of them fell over a hundred meters from the cliff side and smashed heavily onto the ground. But unexpectedly, they only swayed a bit afterward and managed to mber up. Apart from a number of unlucky victims that were directly struck and killed, the rest within the area of the shockwave were rtively unaffected.

    The crocodile horde became restless, and the ones within the coverage of the heavy cannons seemed to have sensed the source of the attack. They turned around in quick session and were seemingly intent on moving toward Qianye¡¯s base. Like the first tidal wave in the great ocean, their movement gradually spread to and began to affect the other crocodile groups.

    ¡°Cease fire!¡± Qianye ordered.

    The mountainous crocodiles suddenly lost their target after the cannons stopped rumbling, and their movements were thrown into momentary confusion. After a while, the entire herd gradually calmed down and proceeded to divide the remains of the dead crocodiles for consumption.

    It seemed these mountainous crocodiles weren¡¯t very intelligent but were quite sensitive to external assault. A couple more cannon shots would¡¯ve incited the entire herd to charge at the Dark me base.

    Qianye pondered for a while and said, ¡°You lot remain on standby and keep an eye on the werewolves inside. Don¡¯t let them charge out no matter what.¡±

    ¡°How about you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to visit that Viscount Brudo.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t stay any longer since he had already made the decision. He left the motorcycle within the Dark me camp and headed into the steep mountains on his own.

    The mountainousndscape posed little hindrance to Qianye. He had brought sufficient supplies inside Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, especially various types of grenades. The battle at the mine had allowed him to experience the tremendous might origin grenades afforded the lone raider. As such, they became his first priority when replenishing arms.

    Qianye traveled swiftly through the mountainous woods and shot straight into the pass. He was prepared to ascend the western cliff, circle around the barrier at the end of the passage, and head straight into werewolf territory.

    He came to a sudden halt while running as an agile shadow scuttled out from beneath the pile of leaves in front of him. The mountain crocodile opened its mouth wide and bit down with great ferocity. Its endeavor, however, was rendered fruitless by Qianye¡¯s sudden stop.

    Up close, the mountain crocodile was indeed a huge monster. Its body was over five meters long, and the scales on its back were as solid as bs of rock. The most dangerous part was that this massive body was as agile as a mountain wolf. After missing its aim, the bitended on arge tree behind Qianye¡ªsplintered wood flew out in all directions as arge defect as deep as the tree¡¯s radius appeared on it.

    Qianye stepped to the side, performed a half turn, and stomped down on the mountain crocodile¡¯s back. At the same time, Scarlet de pierced deep into its neck at lightning speed. That was the mountain crocodile¡¯s vital area, and its hard scales could do little to block the grade-five Scarlet Edge. The strike sank with rtive ease, all the way down to its hilt.

    Large amounts of essence blood rushed up from the Scarlet Edge. It turned out that this rank-three crocodile was able to provide even more essence blood than a rank-five dark race warrior. Qianye stood up from atop the corpse and continued forward. Very soon, he had killed yet another crocodile looking to ambush him.

    The current Qianye finally understood why Dark me¡¯s scouts dared not go deeper into the southwestern forest. Although these crocodiles weren¡¯t high in rank, they were strong, agile, and possessed far greater destructive power than the ordinary beasts of the Evernight wilderness.

    Qianye had killed off ten-odd mountain crocodiles within the short distance of several hundred meters. He finally stopped advancing after finishing off a ten-meter beast and left the mountain crocodiles¡¯ active region.

    Qianye found a quiet ce to calm down his somewhat boiling blood energy. These beasts contained several times the essence bloodpared to a dark race warrior of the same level. He had already filled a small part of his capacity after killing only ten-odd crocodiles.

    However, the situation here was clearly abnormal. Even a small group of vicious beasts like the mountain crocodile would require arge hunting area. Otherwise, their consumption rate would destroy the ecosystem of the entire region. Presently, there was already such arge number of them in sight¡ªthere was surely a reason behind this unnatural phenomenon.

    Qianye cultivated the Mystery chapter in silence, consuming a part of the essence blood. He then continued in the direction of the werewolf settlement.

    But before long, he discovered the mountain crocodiles possessed extremely keen senses and were able to sense a person¡¯s movements from far away. It was impossible to pass through this area without rming them unless Qianye expendedrge amounts of origin power to keep himself concealed.

    Qianye could think of only one strategy: let loose and kill his way over. These crocodiles were originally hunters of the mountainous woods, but they became prey through and through after losing the advantage of concealment before Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth.

    Afterward, Qianye proceeded to hack his way through the horde of mountain crocodiles until his body was almost full of essence blood. He then found a hiding ce and began cultivating the Mystery Chapter. Little by little, the essence blood transformed into darkness origin power which nourished the blood energy in his body. He set out once again after he had digested a good part of his essence blood, hunting and cultivating in turn.

    It seemed the adequate supply of essence blood had allowed the Book of Darkness toplete a full cycle¡ªits cover had almost lit uppletely, and Qianye would soon be able to open it once again. Meanwhile, the greater half of that feather on the Wings of Inception had also materialized. In addition, the three types of blood energy had seen different developments, and the Dark Golden Blood energy was on the verge of weing its third evolution.

    When Qianye set out once again, he realized that the mountain crocodile horde had thinned out significantly, signifying that he had left their area of control. He scaled a certain cliff and looked down to find that he had already arrived at the other end of the natural mountain pass. A series of hillocks rose and fell behind the mountain ridge, dotted with verdant trees, and there was even a small, crystal-clearke halfway down the mountain.

    The scenery atop the distant mountain was somewhat different. Qianye released his extraordinary eyesight to its maximum range and saw that it was a vast, crude, but majestic castle. Therge pieces of greyish-white wallstones werepletely unadorned and almost blended seamlessly with the windswept cliffs.

    A g depicting three w marks was fluttering atop the castle¡ªthis was the insignia of the werewolf Viscount Brudo. The w marks symbolized hisprehension of the ancient werewolf traditions: speed, power, and destruction.

    A lush forest stretched from the base of the rocky peak and far into the distance. There was yet another beautiful mountain peak past a natural rift valley¡ªthat was Green Peak Mountain, the territory of the Sharp Fang tribe and also where Zhao Yuying had spected the ore vein node would be.

    At this moment, Qianye was overlooking the entire area and could see the mountain pass. The werewolves had also built fortifications here to block the end of this passage, and there were a number of wooden huts and tents scattered nearby. Judging from their number and scale, Brudo seemed to have deployed hundreds of elite werewolf warriors here¡ªthis was over half of the viscount¡¯s fighting power.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t linger here for too long and fell back onto the distant castle. The viscount¡¯s defensive line would naturally disperse so long as he could capture or kill Brudo.

    Werewolf castles were mostly built atop rocky peaks, and the basic materials wererge pieces of rock which looked extremely sturdy at a nce. However, the werewolves advocated nature, and many of their tribes didn¡¯t even like using weapons in battle. As such, there were very few origin arrays and defensive mechanisms within their strongholds which,pared to those of other races, were primitive both in terms of decoration and function.

    It was undoubtedly much easier to raid such a castle as one would only require warriors capable of dealing with the werewolves.

    Qianye pulled out arge pack from Andruil¡¯s mysterious space and began his pre-battle preparations. He equipped and properly positioned his standard military knife, Scarlet Edge, the Twin Flowers, and other gadgets used for climbing and stealth. Atst, he brought out a bottle of medicine and sprayed himself from head to toe.

    This was a drug specifically used to deal with the werewolves¡¯ keen sense of smell. The scent would cause the werewolves instinctive difort, and thus made it easier for them to overlook the wearer¡¯s aura.

    Qianye checked the equipment on his body once again and jumped down the cliff. He would hang onto the rocks and pause for a short while after every ten or so meters before continuing his descent; this repeated for several times until he hadnded quietly on the ground. Afterward, he entered the forest and sped toward the viscount¡¯s castle in the distance.

    Qianye finished off two more mountain crocodiles near the cliff. It seemed their area of control had already stretched from the screen-like mountain pass to this region.

    Although their numbers here were negligible, Qianye still broke into a frown. While killing crocodiles all the way, he had discovered that the beasts that should¡¯ve been living in the mountainous woods had almost been wiped out¡ªthis wasn¡¯t a good omen at all. Once the natural bnce of the ecosystem had been destroyed, the next to be encroached upon would likely be the living space of intelligent creatures like the dark races and humans.

    Qianye pierced the Scarlet Edge into the neck of a leader-rank mountain crocodile and felt a rolling gush of hot blood flowing into his body. Meanwhile, the giant creature was still struggling continuously and only stopped moving after a few minutes.

    Qianye only felt warm andfortable from head to toe. His limbs and bones were overflowing with energy, and his heart was beating with exceptional power. The essence blood provided by thisrge beast was already equal to an ordinary baron.

    This was the depths of the forest. Qianye nced back at the position of the cliff which he had climbed down from and formed an estimate of the distance. He then pulled out the Scarlet Edge and made his way forward, quickly disappearing into the woond shadows.

    A faint mist suddenly appeared over the forest as a barely discernible figure walked out from within. Her entire being was blurred, and her facial features weren¡¯t clearly visible¡ªone could only judge, from the graceful outline of her silhouette, that she was a woman.

    She stopped and slowly bent over the corpse of a mountain crocodile. She then sniffed the wound briefly and covered it with her hand.

 Volume 5 - 81: Glory of the Werewolves

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 81: Glory of the Werewolves

    A number of sharp nails sprang out of thedy¡¯s fingertips with which she sliced open the mountain crocodile¡¯s stony carapace as though it were thin paper. She checked the insides of the injury and, as expected, found that the flesh within had dried up.

    She then poked at the smooth injury near the mountain crocodile¡¯s vital area. ¡°Vampiric de? It¡¯s bing more and more interesting. Could it be the primo who¡¯s even stronger than Nighteye?¡±

    As thedy stood up to nce at the surroundings, her eyes fell on the body of another mountain crocodile, then another. She stood there without moving at all, but it seemed as though her vision waspletely unobstructed, as though it could pierce through the mountains and forests at will and find whatever she wanted to see.

    Momentster, her gaze turned toward Viscount Brudo¡¯s territory. Her entire being grew blurry, and she soon vanishedpletely amidst a gust of mountain wind.

    The mountainous woods extending toward the viscount¡¯s castle had retained a fairly primitive appearance. There was only a single run-down passage leading toward the pass, but this didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t any residents nearby.

    After forging ahead for a while, Qianye discovered that there were numerous small werewolf tribes scattered on the road to the castle. The warriors from those tribes served to guard the castle¡¯s vicinity and were obstructions on Qianye¡¯s path.

    An inexplicable sensation emerged in Qianye¡¯s heart as though he had overlooked something. He simply halted his steps, leapt onto a fir tree growing straight into the clouds, and gazed at the werewolf viscount¡¯s core region unraveling before his eyes.

    Werewolves... brave warriors¡ªso it¡¯s actually like this! Qianye suddenly realized that an assassination was probably not the best way. Killing Brudo would get rid of the werewolves¡¯ most powerful military asset, but he would have to spend a lot of effort suppressing the resistance if he wanted to fully upy the territory afterwards.

    Perhaps there was another choice.

    The werewolves in the area held primitive valor in high esteem, and as the viscount, Brudo was no doubt the most powerful warrior in the area. Since he was the most powerful, he would be the one to charge at the fore and ept any direct challenge in ordance with werewolf traditions.

    Qianye decided to change his strategy in the uing battle.

    Momentster, a sharp wolf howl suddenly rang out in the depths of the forest. The sound spread far into the distance and soon received a response in the form of several howls. This was a warning! The entire forest was rmed in a sh and angry growls were heard repeatedly.

    After responding with a long howl, a young werewolf warrior rushed toward the direction of hispanion¡¯s first warning. But he hadn¡¯t run far when the figure of a human youth appeared in front of him.

    The werewolf warrior pounced forward instantly and bit toward the opponent¡¯s throat! He imagined himself snapping the invader¡¯s neck bone with a single bite.

    However, the human only stretched his hand casually, and the young werewolf found himself being clutched by the throat. The other party¡¯s hand felt as though it were cast from steel and refused to loosen no matter how he struggled.

    Qianye had little interest in the young werewolf in his grasp. Although the other party was already rank-five, he was only fighting instinctively and had not undergone any systematic and professionalbat training. Warriors of such standards were useless against Qianye no matter how many of them there were.

    It seemed these werewolves weren¡¯t aware of this fact at all, but Qianye would soon make them understand the disparity.

    Qianye increased the force of his grip ever so slightly and snapped the young werewolf¡¯s neck bone. He then loosened his grip and let the werewolf slide to the ground. Thetter hadn¡¯t died yet, but would soon stop breathing without urgent treatment.

    Qianye started running through the forest once again. Theplexndscape of the mountainous woods was the werewolves¡¯ home ground, but it was also Qianye¡¯s home ground. He suddenly sped up, quickly catching up to a werewolf patrol squad and running alongside them.

    The sudden appearance of a human figure shocked the werewolves out of their wits. The warriors confirmed that it was a human only after a moment of confusion. A ck-furred werewolf immediately roared, ¡°Intruder! Lowly human! Tear him apart and devour him!¡±

    Numerous werewolves pounced forth in response. However, Qianye took a step forward, shot through the numerous werewolves at lightning speed, and appeared before the ck-furred werewolf. A simple horizontal sweep of East Peak cut the werewolf into two¡ªQianye had no habit of showing mercy to an enemy who nned on eating him.

    The ck-furred werewolf, probably the captain of this small unit, was much stronger and sturdier than the other werewolves. Yet, he couldn¡¯t even block a single move under Qianye¡¯s sword. But the other werewolf warriors showed no signs of fear and continued their warning howls. At the same time, they pounced dauntlessly toward Qianye.

    Qianye raised East Peak horizontally and, with a shake of his wrist, numerous sword images materialized from the de¡¯s edge. Within moments, all the werewolves were struck in the abdomen and copsed amidst mournful wails¡ªnone of them could stand up again.

    Qianye slowly put away East Peak and left a word for the copsed werewolves, ¡°Brudo woulde and meet me in battle if he were a true warrior. Stop sending useless trash to die!¡±

    With that, Qianye walked through the werewolves unhurriedly and vanished into the depths of the forest.

    Before long, a burly brown-furred werewolf appeared at the scene to whom the injured werewolves ryed Qianye¡¯s message. He was first astonished, then suddenly became enraged and let out a long howl toward the sky.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t gone very far when he heard the meaningful howl. Heughed coldly and turned back to meet the enemy in battle.

    Momentster, the brown-furred werewolf¡¯s entire body had sunk into a tree-trunk with his long tongue drooping to one side¡ªhe hadn¡¯t even the strength left to draw it back in. His two hands werepletely deformed, and countless bones in his body had been broken. At this moment, the vicious gleam in his eyes had been reced by deep fear.

    Qianye stood before him and said indifferently, ¡°The time it takes to fight isn¡¯t as long as the time it takes to travel.¡±

    With that, Qianye withdrew East Peak from the werewolf¡¯s neck and turned to leave.

    But for some reason, Qianye felt somewhat uneasy as though a pair of eyes were staring at him from somewhere. He subconsciously used True Sight to scan his surroundings but only saw some faint darkness origin power reactions in the distance¡ªthe somewhat fierce auras probably belonged to the werewolf warriors rushing toward this area.

    The wisp of peculiar sensation had died down within an instant and could no longer be captured.

    Qianye dyed no longer. He ran several kilometers and toppled yet another squad of werewolf warriors before drifting away into the distance.

    As casualties stacked up, the werewolves began to notice that the vast mountainous wood they were based in had be a natural hunting ground. It was just that the usual predator and prey had switched roles¡ªthe human who had suddenly appeared was now the hunter, and the werewolves in the viscount¡¯s territory had all be prey.

    In the hall of the viscount¡¯s castle, Brudo was pacing back and forth with a continuous growl of anger. A table and several of chairs had already been torn to shreds under his ws.

    ¡°That wretched human actually dares humiliate me like so. He insults the most valiant warrior in this territory!¡±

    The werewolves in the hall were all apprehensive and no one dared persuade the angry viscount. Only the humandy who had been sitting in the shadows said, ¡°Brudo, calm down! You¡¯re not just a valiant warrior, but also a farsighted leader. Anger won¡¯t solve problems.¡±

    Her voice was very soft, but the werewolf viscount still heard it amidst his fury. He snorted several times in session before he finally managed to suppress his wrath.

    Brudo suddenly turned back to stare at the woman and said word by word, ¡°But he¡¯s provoking me? He¡¯s issuing a challenge on our traditional hunting grounds! How can I not go to battle?!¡±

    ¡°As a warrior, you should fight. But as a leader, you mustn''t fall into his trap. Hasn¡¯t the werewolf honor been manipted enough by the vampires? Why would you be enraged by a human?¡±

    ¡°Then what should I do?!¡±

    ¡°Dispatch a group of your most elite warriors into the forest. Have them kill him or capture him. Since he¡¯s a human, his constitution will surely be his weakest link, and you have the advantage in numbers. There¡¯s no need to fear sacrifice. Drag him to death!¡±

    Brudo¡¯s expression was gloomy, and the breath from his nose almost seemed as though it would burst into mes. But he began to ponder over her words.

    Gazing out from the window in front of him, he could see several hundred werewolf warriors had gathered atop a nearby hill. A tall werewolf stood in front of the group, waving his arms and shouting loudly.

    That werewolf had revealed his primitive form¡ªhis tall and sturdy body was covered in lustrous brown hair and was more valiant than most of the others at the scene.

    At this moment, he revealed therge scars on his body as he roared at the warriors below. ¡°We are the descendants of the wolf god. Every drop of blood in our veins is for the sake of battle! The lowly, treacherous, and weak humans are only fit to serve as food! Now, there¡¯s actually a human who dares provoke us. Brothers! This is our chance to restore our ancient glory and traditions. Follow me! We shall capture him, tear him apart, and serve him at the dinner table!¡±

    The brown-haired werewolf¡¯s voice instilled bloodlust in the warriors who then began to howl excitedly as they materialized their wolf-forms in quick session.

    Brudo¡¯s expression was still gloomy. The brown-haired werewolf was his uncle, a long-term fanatic of Ancient Glory.

    Ancient Glory was one of the most radical factions among the werewolves who advocated the restoration the Wolf God¡¯s rule over the Seven Holy-Land Continents¡ªjust as it was during the legendary era¡ªand destroy the other continents that were outside of the glory of God.

    Not only did they view humans as food, but also saw the vampires as incoexistable enemies. At the same time, they regarded the demonkin as treacherous, and the arachne as a race with iplete evolution. As for the other minor races outside of the four major ones, they were all ssified as mixed breeds. All in all, in the eyes of Ancient Glory, the entire world was their enemy, and even werewolves from other factions might join the list.

    Even Brudo, who followed traditions strictly, found this kind of radical ideology uneptable. But Ancient Glory garnered increasing support from werewolves of the lower social strata.

    Brudo couldn¡¯t help but frown after seeing the brown-furred werewolf ignite the young werewolves¡¯ emotions and wanted to go out and stop them.

    But his arm was suddenly pulled back¡ªthe woman had arrived beside him at one point and was also ncing out. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a good oue? The sacrifice won¡¯t be your responsibility.¡±

    Brudo struggled within his heart, but he didn¡¯t remove thedy¡¯s hand.

    Qianye hid in the luxuriant crown of an ancient tree, watching the roaring brown-haired werewolf through his scope. Although they were quite a distance apart, the wind just happened to be blowing in this direction. The werewolf¡¯s shouts echoed through the mountainous region and entered Qianye¡¯s ears intermittently.

    ¡°Tear all human livestock apart. Devour the wolf god! Conquer the world.¡±

    The brown-furred werewolf was speaking in themon dark racenguage for the most part, but some of the most intense nouns sounded like wolf howls and was likely the werewolf tribalnguage. Qianye revealed a mocking expression after finally guessing the meaning since they were being repeated continuously by the werewolf¡ªit turned out that they were part of Ancient Glory.

    He slowly pulled the trigger. The unique timbre of the Eagleshot tore through the skies as the brown werewolf copsed.

    Qianye jumped onto the top of the tree and unhurriedly shifted the sniper rifle to his back. He then raised a middle finger at the werewolves who were almost boiling in anger before jumping down and vanishing into the forest.

    The werewolf viscount stood before the window and felt his body tremble. Qianye¡¯s middle finger was clearly aimed at him, and he couldn¡¯t cower in front of so many warriors.

    Brudo pushed the woman away firmly and leapt out of the window. He let out a long howl and chased after Qianye with astonishing speed.

 Volume 5 - 82: The Nameless Dancer

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 82: The Nameless Dancer

    The young werewolf warriors felt their blood boiling as they followed their leader into the forest.

    Brudo weaved through the forest like a bolt of lightning and had soon left the other werewolves far behind. The werewolf viscount didn¡¯t really care because, as the most powerful warrior in the territory, he felt guards were unnecessary.

    However, Brudo¡¯s already heavy heart was soon covered in dark clouds after running several kilometers.

    That human had left no aura whatsoever¡ªthis meant that he hade prepared and applied a medicine targeted at werewolves. This was the mostmon trick used by the cunning humans when ambushing werewolves, and it was fairly effective against ordinary warriors. But it had little effect against dark race champions because they would quickly perceive the abnormality in their sense of smell and investigate the source of the problem.

    Take the present situation for instance¡ªalthough there was no scent to guide the way, Brudo was still able to follow that wisp of peculiar intuition and pursue the target closely. What puzzled him was why the other party hade in secret and then provoked him so openly? This was poles apart from the normal behavior of the human race.

    There was still no trace of Qianye in front of him, and there were no werewolves who could catch up behind. Although Brudo was certain that he was chasing in the right direction, his heart was gradually filled with uneasiness.

    Werewolves were the kings of the mountainous regions and only vampires could match them in terms of speed. The other party was a mere human, so why hadn¡¯t he caught up yet?

    All of a sudden, Brudo found that he had charged into an open space, and there, at its center, was the human youth. And it seemed as though thetter had been waiting for him.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re so slow.¡±

    ¡°Human, you¡¯re humiliating the most powerful warrior in thisnd!¡± A low and threatening growl escaped from Brudo¡¯s throat.

    Qianye broke into aughter. ¡°The most powerful warrior in thend? From now on, that is no longer the case.¡±

    Brudo was enraged to the extreme. His disheveled fur stood up, and his sharp ws, dancing with a cold gleam, stretched out from his fingers. On the other side, Qianye raised his de andunched a straight thrust.

    The sword strike was neither fast nor slow, but Brudo was ovee by a misconception that it was impossible to avoid. With a loud roar, the werewolf viscount brandished his ws and pped ferociously upon the de¡¯s edge. For a split second, it felt as though he had crashed into a mountain.

    In the end, East Peak was still deflected to one side, but the steel gauntlet on Brudo¡¯s hand was also torn into pieces.

    Qianye took a step forward and seized the opportunity to drag East Peak horizontally toward Brudo¡¯s waist.

    Brudo pped at East Peak once again, but this time, aceration appeared on the back of his hand and blood began to seep out. The werewolf viscount could hardly believe it¡ªthat unassuming heavy sword was actually able to break his defenses.

    In the blink of an eye, East Peak had changed directions and shed down once again.

    Brudo held back no longer and went all-out in battle.

    In Qianye¡¯s True Sight, zing darkness origin power was rising over the werewolf viscount¡¯s body. Every wing of his fist possessed the explosive force of an origin cannon, and the origin power in the vicinity would aggregate on his ws with every swipe, strong enough to tear open the sturdiest of armors.

    East Peak drew several sword arcs in the air with no specific stance. It looked as though he was swinging randomly with nimble movements. But only Brudo, who was engaging him head-on, could feel pressure therein¡ªevery sh felt as though a mountain peak was pressing down at his face.

    The werewolf viscount felt that his defenses were being cut open at their weakest point, and the resounding energy apanying the heavy de seemed as though it would devour everything. In Brudo¡¯s memory, he hadn¡¯t felt so helpless even while contending against the powerful Count Stuka; it felt as though he had fallen into the deep ocean.

    Just as Brudo was finding it increasingly difficult to endure, Qianye took several steps back all of a sudden. He slowly raised East Peak and said unhurriedly, ¡°The final sword.¡±

    This sword stance was average, unimpressive, and felt no different from the ones before. But an intense sensation of danger arose in Brudo¡¯s heart as though the entire world was shaken. The werewolf viscount felt, with iparable rity, that the source of his vigorous power, the darkness origin power of the earth, was trembling wildly.

    Brudo¡¯s hair stood on end as he let out a frantic howl and erupted with his full strength. Visible ck mes appeared around the viscount as though the darkness origin power near him had been ignited.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s strike arrived¡ªthe dark heavy sword shed open the void, stained with an indistinct radiance of indescribable color.

    Brudo¡¯s darkness origin power defense, one so strong that it could be considered a second set of armor, was shattered like an avnche. The werewolf viscount was sent flying backward and smashed heavily onto the ground. The thick armor on his body split apart as he struggled to mber up, and a bloody line appeared at the center of his body.

    Brudo¡¯s hands trembled as he nced down at the wound. The strike, were it even slightly more forceful, would¡¯ve cut open his abdomen. He nced up to find that Qianye had stuck East Peak into the ground and now had a gun aimed at him.

    ¡°Fire.¡± Brudo was exceptionally calm. This wasn¡¯t the first time he had had his defenses broken, but he hadn¡¯t felt so powerless even when he was defeated by the count. The strike just now had shattered not only the viscount¡¯s protective origin power, but also his connection with nature. This made him feel exceptionally weak, and the regenerative abilities the werewolves were so proud of had also been rendered ineffective.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want your corpse. I want submission. I think I made that very clear in the letter I sent to you.¡±

    Brudo replied in a downcast voice, ¡°Werewolves will not surrender.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you can take a look at this and reconsider.¡± Qianye tossed him the insignia of the Summit of Peaks.

    Brudo caught the heavy token, and his expression changed ever so slightly. His expression fluctuated as he brought the insignia to his nose and sniffed it a couple of times. ¡°You should know that we who pursue the ancestral path walk a different pathpared to those from the summit. The difference has grown wider and wider over the years, so I won¡¯t obey their orders.¡±

    ¡°The Summit of Peaks hasn¡¯t issued any order at all. I¡¯m just telling you that I¡¯m not an absolute enemy of the werewolves.¡± With that, Qianye smiled and said, ¡°Naturally, we can¡¯t be friends. But you may lead your tribe and continue living on my territory as long as you fulfill your obligations. It¡¯ll be the same with how you treat Stuka.¡±

    ¡°This is ournd!¡± Brudo roared.

    Qianye sneered, ¡°Dead men have nond, and dead wolves have noir.¡±

    Brudo¡¯s vigor gradually weakened. He suddenly sniffed hard in Qianye¡¯s direction, and his expression changed drastically. ¡°An extremely hateful stench! You have the scent of fresh blood on your body!¡±

    The werewolf viscount became agitated once again, and a red glow emerged within his eyes.

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m a human.¡±

    Brudo nced at Qianye suspiciously, and at the same time, he was also baffled. Those bloodsucking vampires would rarely insist themselves to be human no matter what schemes they were plotting.

    ¡°Strength begets reverence and submission. Is this not your creed?¡± Qianye spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve reced Stuka and obtained his territory. In other words, I¡¯m now in power unless you n to fight to the death or move your tribe away.¡±

    These words seemed very logical. In fact, if only Qianye wasn¡¯t a human and, instead, a dark race noble, even the werewolf viscount himself would agree to his rights as the victor.

    Brudo was hesitant. ¡°What benefits will I gain from submission?¡±

    ¡°You can maintain your present lives. I don¡¯t mind a werewolf tribe living in my domain as long as you fulfill your obligations as a vassal. Furthermore, you might be able to live even better if you offer more service.¡±

    A low growl rolled through Brudo¡¯s throat, but then he calmed down and said, ¡°It seems I have little choice.¡±

    ¡°You would have more options if I were the one lying on the ground.¡±

    Brudo spoke only after a moment of silence, ¡°I need some time to think this over.¡±

    ¡°Fine. But you only have one day. I hope you understand that since I can win you in a fair fight, I have no fear of you going back to muster troops. I have even fewer qualms about killing more werewolves.¡±

    Brudo nodded, moved back gradually, and turned around to enter the forest.

    Qianye also turned to leave. Momentster, he sat atop a tall, ancient tree and surveyed his surroundings. Since both parties had agreed on the time, Qianye would wait for a full twenty-four hours.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t worried that the viscount would change his mind after going back because, under that violent exterior, Brudo had a meticulous heart. Clever people would always think more, and this was a good thing. It was precisely because they thought so much that clever people were afraid of dying and making unnecessary sacrifices. Qianye suddenly discovered that he was beginning to like intelligent people.

    Qianye was prepared to visit Green Peak Mountain since he had the time to kill and ¡°visit¡± the Sharp Fang chief in passing. The totems erected at the mountain pass defensive line indicated the small tribes on Brudo¡¯s territory, but there was none belonging to the Sharp Fang Tribe. This was, perhaps, already a clear indication of the chief¡¯s stance.

    Qianye leapt off the ten-meter tree and shot straight into the forest below. Along the way, he pulled on a thick branch in front of him, snapping it at the base. However, this movement transformed Qianye¡¯s descending momentum into a horizontal movement as he flew toward the distant Green Peak Mountain.

    It was at this time that Qianye spied something unusual through the corner of his eyes. He immediatelynded on a tree branch with an ¡°eh?¡±, and scanned a certain direction with his binocrs.

    Through the lens, he saw an unimaginable scene.

    The giant round moon was slowly rising in that direction as though a bright, shining border had been drawn on the night sky. And before this majestic and mysterious silver curtain was a dancing girl.

    The light of the full moon blurred out the details, and only her silhouette could be made out. But it was precisely because of this that her astonishingly perfect figure was magnified.

    She danced wildly, full of primitive unruliness. Her chest, her waist, her legs, all of them were shaking and trembling at an inconceivable frequency. Although the world within the lens was soundless, Qianye felt as though he could hear the sounds of an ancient drum beside his ears.

    She seemed in search of something. She seemed happy, yet distressed. All forms of intense emotions were being expressed vividly and silently via her dancing movements.

    Her limbs were, at times, unimaginably soft and, at times, full of powerful flexibility. Every swing of her hips, every twist of her waist, every kick of her legs, and every spring of her chest was like the powerful beat of a drum which made Qianye¡¯s heart beat along with its rhythm.

    Qianye watched silently for a while before putting away the scope. With the East Peak in his right hand and the Mystic Spider Lily in his left, he stood unmoving as he waited for this mysterious woman¡¯s follow-up actions.

    He knew that genuine trouble had arrived.

    Qianye didn¡¯t believe that he would happen to witness this scene after raising his scope so randomly. Attracting his attention at the right moment and appearing within his lens¡ªthis was a type of unfathomable special ability.

    It was her intention to let Qianye see her.

    Before this mysterious woman, he would be courting death by running away. He might perhaps have a slim hope at survival if he stayed calm and engaged in battle.

    Qianye stood for a while just like that, but nothing happened. Just as he was starting to suspect whether or not it was an illusion, an alluring voice rang out beside his ears. The speaker seemed to be panting ever so slightly.

    ¡°Were you waiting for me?¡±

 Volume 5 - 83: A Fatal Allure

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 83: A Fatal Allure

    The voice came from behind and sounded fairly close.

    Qianye didn¡¯t turn back immediately. Instead, a deep oceanic blue flickered within his eyes. As expected, his True Vision perceived countless strands of unusual darkness origin power interweaving in the air around him. The source was behind him, and its area of effect had enveloped himpletely.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes recovered its normal clear darkness as he calmly and gradually turned around.

    Hovering in the air in front of him was an indescribable woman. She was, without a doubt, beautiful, but her expression was as cold as ice. Although she was standing at the same height as Qianye, there was an inherent superiority in her eyes¡ªit was as if she were looking down at him from high above.

    However, there was one part of her that formed a stark contrast to her cold and arrogant demeanor. Her full, vermilion lips pursed ever so slightly and glistened with bright colors, adding a touch of liveliness to her painting-like countenance. Anyone who saw her would feel the urge to nip on them.

    Thedy¡¯s figure at this moment was the pr opposite of that wild dancer inside his scope¡ªone was ice and the other, fire. But such an intense contrast brought about a simrly powerful attraction.

    Qianye gazed at her with a fairly calm but probing attitude and asked without any emotional fluctuation, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Sheughed suddenly. ¡°That¡¯s not important. Now answer this one question, was my dance enjoyable?¡±

    ¡°It was.¡± Qianye¡¯s reply was sincere.

    It seemed she only twisted her waist ever so slightly before her figure crossed over several meters and arrived near Qianye. There, she leaned forward and asked again, ¡°Then, was it alluring?¡±

    The deep ravine in her chest was clearly visible from this angle¡ªit would appear the degree of fullness was not inferior to Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s.

    Qianye nodded yet again.

    The woman smiled in satisfaction as she gazed attentively at Qianye.

    From a battle perspective, the two had already reached a dangerously close distance. However, Qianye¡¯s hand on East Peak was fairly steady and showed not the slightest bit of restlessness. Moreover, he didn¡¯t avoid the woman¡¯s gaze, either. So much that he had no intentions to hide his admiration upon seeing this beautiful object.

    The woman¡¯s eyes turned progressively brighter. She smiled lightly and said, ¡°I¡¯m called Twilight, a woman who¡¯s very much interested in you. I¡¯m pleased¡ªvery pleased¡ªwith you. So, doing it isn¡¯t out of the question! As long as you pass a small test.¡±

    Her voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when two exquisite daggers suddenly appeared in her hands and, with a sh of cold light, pressed toward Qianye¡¯s throat and heart.

    The two des arrived without the slightest warning and moved with the momentum of a thunderbolt. Qianye simply couldn¡¯t react on time and seemed to be on the verge of being pierced through.

    It was at this time that Twilight heard a sudden p of thunder, and her heart actually skipped a beat¡ªshe saw that Qianye had made no effort to evade. Meanwhile, East Peak was shooting straight toward her chest amidst a thunderous gale.

    Twilight was deeply astonished. She was able to feel the might of this strike with the greatest sensitivity because her blood energy domain had fully enveloped Qianye¡ªit was no passing breeze, but instead a sweeping gale. She immediately determined that her two daggers were perfectly capable of piercing Qianye¡¯s vitals, however, even with her speed, she wouldn¡¯t be able to pull back afterward and would have to take this blow.

    But how could this strike be so easy to endure? Twilight had a bad premonition. She was actually uncertain abouting out of this unscathed. And herbat instincts had already helped her conquer countless enemies who were even stronger than herself.

    Qianye¡¯s single move had forced Twilight to withdraw her de; she swerved away and evaded the iing edge with extreme crity. At the same time, she drew a snaking de radiance which shed toward Qianye¡¯s throat.

    Another peal of thunder rang out. Qianye was, just as before, stationary when yet another sword-strike shed down on Twilight''s head.

    The power behind this sh was even more evident. Twilight felt the resonant darkness origin power in the vicinity turn chaotic, so much that there were even signs of a reverse suppression. Surprise flickered through her eyes, and she was once again forced to dodge sideways. The de shing at Qianye¡¯s neck naturally missed its target.

    Twilight¡¯s supple figure formed several indistinct afterimages in the air as she reappeared behind Qianye almost immediately. Her dagger stabbed quietly at Qianye¡¯s back as her figure flickered twice, almost like performing a teleportation. It was obviously an iparably powerfulbat technique.

    Qianye didn¡¯t panic after her figure disappeared from his vision, and he was in even less of a hurry to turn around in search of her. Instead, he used East Peak to draw a ring-shaped de radiance which protected him within.

    Twilight¡¯s de shed against East Peak with a ng. Both of them staggered back from the severe impact as though they had been struck by lightning. This was the first time they had exchanged solid blows. Qianye came out a bit short¡ªhe jumped down from the tree with rtive calmness and took a couple of steps back before stabilizing himself.

    Twilight performed a backflip andnded on a horizontal branch of a big tree. She floated up and down as though she werepletely weightless.

    Qianye looked up at her. He had already put away the Twin Flowers, and his hands gripped East Peak tightly. This was the most powerful enemy he had encountered to date. This woman¡¯sbat technique appeared to lean toward grace and agility, yet Qianye¡¯s heavy sword and his strengthparable to that of a dark race champion had failed to form any kind of suppression.

    The most important point was that her blood energy was faintly stirring the ambient darkness origin power. Qianye tried twice but failed to activate Nirvanic Rend sessfully.

    Twilight¡¯s eyes lit up as she gazed at Qianye. Her figure suddenly flickered and drew out a long trail of afterimages. Within moments, she had arrived before him, her dagger almost pressing against his throat. Her speed was too fast¡ªthe afterimage standing on the branch hadn¡¯t even disappearedpletely when both man and de had arrived in front of Qianye. Qianye was barely able to react despite hisbat experience.

    However, Twilight¡¯s expression shifted ever so slightly. That dark, scrap-iron-like heavy sword appeared slow but was, in fact, extremely fast. Another blow was already aiming for her abdomen. In spite of everything, his methods were still aiming to injure both parties.

    In truth, after several exchanges, both of them already had a clear understanding of the gap between them. But Twilight had never expected that this human youth would be so determined to go all-out. His ruthlessness waspletely disproportionate to his elegant, almost frail, appearance. One had to know that this kind of technique would mean injury for Twilight, but death to Qianye.

    Twilight¡¯s figure flickered in and out of vision¡ªonly the sharp whistle in the air proved that she was attacking Qianye. Within moments, a dense web of interweaving origin power patterns emerged in Qianye¡¯s True Sight. There was simply no way to judge her next attack. This was an attack of extreme speed and power forming a state of near-invulnerability.

    Qianye exhaled and let out a roar. He hacked, shed, and thrust out with East Peak¡ªhe was no longer searching for the other party¡¯s weak point and only shed at the area with the densest veined patterns with all his might. He suddenly felt the tip of his sword strike something, followed by a muffled groan.

    The battlefield suddenly changed. The watery moonlight suddenly turned dark as though one were standing in the darkness between sundown and the moonrise. The sky turned gloomy, and a chill spread out boundlessly, cutting deep into the bones.

    Qianye suddenly felt as though countless threads had entangled his body. His every movement became iparably stagnant, and he could barely lift East Peak which was more or less an extension of his own limb.

    His wrist turned numb. East Peak fell from his grasp and pierced into the ground in front of him. Twilight emerged behind Qianye with her entire body pressed tightly against his own, hugging him from behind and caressing his neck with great tenderness. If not for the killing intent in the air, their posture at this moment would look just like a pair of intimate lovers.

    Twilight buried her face in Qianye¡¯s neck and inhaled deeply, a faint moan escaping her lips. She praised, ¡°What a nice scent. Why don¡¯t I give you the embrace? What say you?¡±

    Qianye remained silent.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled!¡± Twilight let out a delightedugh.

    Qianye felt a faint stabbing pain to the side of his neck where Twilight had her fangs pressed against his skin. She needed only to bite down and inject her essence blood for Qianye to be her descendant.

    Twilight¡¯s hands slowly reached upward and gently stroked his cheeks and eyes. Qianye¡¯s footing was stable although his vitals had been restricted, and he showed not the slightest signs of nervousness¡ªnot even his fingertips trembled.

    He was waiting for an opportunity.

    This woman who called herself Twilight was one of the strongest dark race members Qianye had ever encountered. From their exchange just now, Qianye understood that the pressure from her darkness domain was only second to William¡¯s suppressive might. This wasn¡¯t a gap between their bloodlines, but a pure contrast in their power levels.

    But now that Twilight wanted to give Qianye the embrace, it happened to give him an opportunity.

    Normally during the ceremony, the vampire giving the embrace would also take in some of the descendant¡¯s blood in addition to bestowing her own. On one hand, this was a token ofpensation, while on the other, most descendants were chosen because of their powerful and excellent bloodlines¡ªeven the most powerful of vampires could hardly resist the temptation of such sweet, fresh blood.

    The purple blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body was from the ancient Mammon n, one of the top vampire bloodlines. The origins of the dark golden blood energy were unknown, but judging from their usual origin power distribution, it should be far more powerful than the purple one.

    If the one receiving the embrace already possessed the power of blood, then the process would turn into a battle between two blood energies of different origins. The strong would survive, and the weak would die. There was no room for negotiation.

    Qianye waited in silence.

    But in the end, Twilight didn¡¯t sink her fangs into him and only bit him flirtatiously. She then whispered into his ears, ¡°I already told you that this is only a small test. Congrattions on passing it. Which means you now have the qualifications to be my man. But this is only the first step!¡±

    Qianye moved his body ever so slightly but found that his body was mostly numb from the arms down. He couldn¡¯t sense the origin power activity within him at all. Apparently, it was a powerful restrictive secret art which utilized blood energy to lock down his senses. It was somewhat simr the origin restriction drugs humans used on their ves.

    Qianye asked calmly, ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re very interesting. You also have great potential. Although you¡¯re somewhat weak at the moment, I needed to use my domain to take you down unscathed. You should have the power to fight evenly when you arrive at the same level. That¡¯s why I said you have gained the initial qualifications. But you must be stronger if you want to be my only man.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ our encounter here wasn¡¯t coincidental?¡±

    Twilight broke into aughter. ¡°Don¡¯t try to stall for time. It¡¯s meaningless. I don¡¯t want to kill you just yet. I only want to sleep with you!¡±

 Volume 5 - 84: Danger Close at Hand

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 84: Danger Close at Hand

    Finally, Qianye could no longer maintain his calm expression in the face of such bold words. ¡°Right now?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    Qianye was rendered speechless and only managed to reply after a long while, ¡°The environment in somewhat¡­ inappropriate.¡±

    Twilight let out a fascinatedugh as she pinched Qianye¡¯s face a couple of times. Then, she moved her hands down to stroke his chest. ¡°Don¡¯t even try. Don¡¯t you feel that your origin power has beenpletely frozen like a river in winter? This is the effect of Bloodfreeze¡ªnot to mention you, even a virtuous count can forget about extricating himself. Unless¡­ you have some other¡­ secret arts?¡±

    A virtuous count? That was the highest rank for a dark race count.

    Qianye lowered his eyes. Indeed, his daybreak origin power felt as though it were sinking into a mire. His ordinary blood energy had withdrawn into the depths of his heart and werepletely inactive. The purple ones had shrunk into the ability rune and looked as though they were about to enter hibernation. However, the dark golden blood energy carrying the Wings of Inception was only a little bit sluggish.

    Twilight¡¯s seemingly yful and probing whisper caused Qianye to be cautious. A sense of extreme danger shed through his heart, whereupon he immediately dismissed the thought of trying to use his eye ability. At the same time, he also recalled something!

    This woman had been giving Qianye the feeling that they were somehow acquainted. It turned out that this wasn¡¯t just a misconception. He had seen her before! She was the first enemy he had encountered after emerging from the radiant door of Andruil¡¯s lost realm!

    Back then, the drop of primo blood Andruil had given Qianye hadn¡¯t yet lost its effect. Qianye wasn¡¯t certain whether or not Twilight had seen him clearly during the high-speed Spatial sh, but no one would believe that their meeting here, at this ce and time, was a mere coincidence. The keyy in what she wanted, and how much she knew.

    Seeing that Qianye had turned silent, Twilight gently patted his face and said, ¡°Be obedient and stop thinking too much. I might change my mind if you drag this on for too long.¡±

    ¡°Then? Will you let me go?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Twilight, as though she had just remembered something, broke into a suddenughter and said cheerfully, ¡°I can consider!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d give me the embrace¡­¡±

    Twilight wrapped her arms around Qianye¡¯s neck and leaned her head sideways to gaze into the pair of obsidian eyes. They were so limpid and crystal-clear that she could see her own image within it.

    For a while, the two gazed at one another just like that.

    Twilight rubbed her cheeks against Qianye¡¯s face. Her words were almost exhaled straight into his ears. ¡°I don¡¯t like useless, obedient men. They¡¯re not interesting at all. I like strong, dangerous, and exciting men¡­¡±

    She let go of her hands and took a step back, saying, ¡°It seems today is really not the right day; you¡¯re not strong enough at the moment. But, I can give you some more time. I¡¯ll be looking forward to it, so don¡¯t make me wait too long.¡±

    Qianye turned back and gazed silently at Twilight. Just how trustworthy the words of this extremely pr and fickle woman were, it seemed only she herself would know.

    At least, Qianye was certain that she had really wanted to give him the embrace, but she had suddenly changed her mind for some reason. And this reason was naturally not born of kindness.

    Twilight leapt up with graceful crity and glided several meters onto arge, horizontal tree branch. There she turned back as though she had just remembered something and pointed toward Qianye in a shooting gesture. ¡°Oh, right! If you be my man, I don¡¯t mind helping Nighteye once.¡±

    Nighteye! This name was one which he hadn¡¯t heard for a long time. Great fluctuations arose in Qianye¡¯s heart at the sudden mention of it, so much that there were some abnormal changes in his facial expression.

    Even the smallest of peculiarities couldn¡¯t escape Twilight¡¯s eyes. A certain tinge emerged within her smile which made Qianye tremble in fear. It was as though the two had been ying a game of blind chess up until now, and Twilight had finally seen his hidden cards.

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving now. Get stronger, little man!¡± Twilight waved energetically. Her figure turned indistinct and, in the blink of an eye, reappeared far in the distance. After a few of such shes, she had vanished entirely, giving Qianye no opportunity at all to raise his question.

    He stood there in silence and endured the urge to call her back.

    Twilight¡¯s appearance covered Qianye¡¯s heart with a heavy shadow. This vampiredy¡¯sbat strength was far above Count Stuka, and even Zhao Yuying was more likely to lose against her than to win.

    Now that he thought about it, he had stepped into Twilight¡¯s domain in an unguarded state at the very beginning. She could easily have ended the battle in a few moves if not for her wanting to avoid damage. Qianye¡¯s only choice was to rely on the dark golden blood energy and the Wings of Inception to break through Bloodfreeze¡¯s control and prevent himself from falling into her hands alive.

    However, a person with such power was definitely a high noble among the vampires. Why would she target him specifically? Qianye recalled the secrets in his body and couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath.

    If this vampire woman was indeed one of the contestants for the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure, then perhaps certain dangers weren¡¯t too far off. But how was this matter rted to Nighteye?

    Qianye smashed the tree beside him with a loud bang. The tree-trunk which even two adults couldn¡¯t wrap their arms around immediately copsed on one side. A deepceration also appeared on the back of his hand and, drop by drop, fresh blood fell onto the earth.

    Qianye suddenly realized that he couldn¡¯t do anything in his present state despite knowing that danger was close at hand. The sense of achievement he had gained from subduing Brudo had vanished without a trace. He couldn¡¯t tell if hisplicated emotions and feeling of helplessness stemmed from his own fate or because of Nighteye¡¯s situation.

    Qianye stood there for god knows how long before he exhaled deeply and ran toward Green Peak Mountain. Regardless of what the future held for him, he had to walk the current path to its end. Qianye was never one to give up so easily, otherwise, his life would¡¯ve ended back at Lighthouse Town.

    Sharp Fang tribe was still there at the foot of Green Peak Mountain, however, the entire settlement was solemn as though they were preparing for the arrival of a great enemy. The werewolves in the wooden huts had all pulled back into the caves, and they had even constructed a low wall halfway up the mountain with numerous stone archer towers.

    A long howl rang out as Qianye shot into their vision at high speed. Hundreds of werewolf warriors rushed out to their posts and assumedbat stance.

    Qianye turned a blind eye to these warriors and pressed forward all the way until he was about ten meters from the wall. He swept his gaze over the battle formation which seemed like it would ignite at a moment¡¯s notice and asked coldly, ¡°Where¡¯s the chief? How long is he going to wait?¡±

    The werewolves were immediately agitated and many of them roared. But at this moment, there was a clear aura on Qianye¡¯s body which incited a sense of inherent apprehension within them¡ªthe suppressive might of a powerful expert. Even the most violent of werewolves dared not charge out.

    The defensive line toward the left split into two, and the old chief emerged in thepany some powerful werewolves. He waved his hand, gesturing for his tribesmen to stay put while he walked toward Qianye on his own. ¡°Young and powerful human, the way you appeared is rather inappropriate.¡±

    ¡°Honorable Chief, your fence-sitting attitude is also very inappropriate. My patience is disappearing as we speak. Please give me a clear answer.¡±

    The chief¡¯s expression turned gloomy. ¡°Are you threatening our Sharp Fang tribe?¡±

    ¡°I never threaten. I only state the truth.¡±

    ¡°Our tribe has over two hundred brave warriors, and all of them are prepared to bleed.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°So you want all your soldiers to bleed?¡±

    The chief turned silent for a moment.

    ¡°Before you make your decision, you should probably know that Brudo is about to surrender.¡±

    ¡°Red-Haired Brudo the Terrible?¡± The Sharp Fang tribesmen broke into amotion.

    They could be considered vassals to the werewolf viscount, and Brudo¡¯s terror had long since taken root deep within their hearts. Such a terrifying character was actually willing to serve a young human?!

    The werewolves finally took Qianye¡¯s strength seriously. Before this, they couldn¡¯t help but hold him in contempt simply because he was a human.

    The chief¡¯s expression seemed to have aged considerably during that moment. He hadn¡¯t the slightest doubt regarding the authenticity of Qianye¡¯s words since this kind of news could be confirmed with a simple inquiry. Moreover, the chief knew that Brudo had locked down the mountain pass at the very front. Qianye appearing here was already enough to exin everything.

    He turned back to nce at the werewolf tribesmen behind him. Most of the warriors seemed at a loss as they gazed at their chief and leader with pure faith and expectation. The chief¡¯s gaze then shifted into the distance where the women and children were standing.

    The old werewolf finally withdrew his gaze. He looked at Qianye attentively and said with a wryugh, ¡°It seems we have no other choice.¡± He slowly got down on one knee and raised his scepter, a symbol of his status as chief, before Qianye.

    Qianye took the scepter, then returned it to the old chief.

    In the dark race nation, this simple receive and return was a ceremony to acknowledge allegiance. It symbolized a vow of loyalty, and the lord¡¯s subsequent conferment of authority. From this moment on, Sharp Fang tribe would be considered Qianye¡¯s vassal. Naturally, that was ording to dark race rules.

    ¡°Bring a few men and apany me onto Green Peak Mountain.¡±

    The chief immediately became hesitant. ¡°That¡¯s the resting ce of our ancestors.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°That ce was nothing several hundred years ago. And even now, that ce wouldn¡¯t be yours had I not driven Stuka away.¡±

    The old chief sighed. He then summoned two elders to follow Qianye up the mountain. There were still traces of an origin array on the natural tform at the summit. Qianye circled around and then entered the cave where the vampires had once stayed.

    Back then, the vampire guards were all concentrated within the two outer stone halls. Qianye was in a hurry back then and thus didn¡¯t go deeper after finishing them off. Only now did the have the time for careful observation.

    The outermost stone hall waspletely empty. From the secondyer onward, there were holes chiseled into the walls on both sides, many of them filled with corpses wrapped in thick cloth. Qianye walked toward the innermost room and found hundreds of such corpses.

    It was a werewolf tradition to preserve the remains of the most important people in the tribe and ce them in the ancestral graveyard. Meanwhile, the bodies of most werewolves would be thrown into the ravine and allowed to return to the earth.

    Sharp Fang tribe¡¯s ancestral grave had preserved such arge number of corpses. Apparently, their history was even longer than Qianye had anticipated. Perhaps the origins of this tribe could be traced back to the Thousand Year War. The vampires who had upied this ce didn¡¯t profane the ancestral remains and left everything intact.

    Standing within the werewolf ancestral grave, Qianye was suddenly ovee by an inexplicable feeling. Both his daybreak origin power and blood energy were restless, as though they were responding to something.

    A vague blue color emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes, and as he scanned the surroundings, he immediately discovered that the origin power here was much denser than the outside. Threads of darkness origin power were seeping out continuously from the cave walls, and some of them were actually being absorbed by the corpses of the werewolf ancestors.

 Volume 5 - 85: Dark Crawlers

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 85: Dark Crawlers

    Qianye¡¯s heart trembled slightly. The werewolves¡¯ methods of offering sacrifices to their ancestors were indeed mysterious. The truly valuable part, however, was the darkness origin power seeping out from the cave walls. No wonder the vampires chose this ce to set up an origin array.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stay in ce for very long and continued into the depths of the cave. This was a natural cave which snaked downward and only ended at about half-way down the mountain. The werewolves had built fiveyers of stone halls as their ancestral graveyard. This took up but a small segment of the cave while the remainder was left in its original form.

    The deeper he went, the more intense the sensation became. Presently, Qianye could clearly feel his blood energy and origin power resonating with something in the darkness. It seemed there was indeed a secret hidden beneath thisnd.

    Qianye turned back to ask the chief, ¡°Is there anything special about this area? Ore types for instance.¡±

    The old chief shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s nothing especially valuable here. In terms of production, the elk nds in the forest and the white fish spines from the nearbyke can be used as origin power media and are perhaps the most valuable. Oh, there are also a number of wild medicinal grasses on the hillock, but those can¡¯t be considered too valuable.¡±

    ¡°Then why did Sharp Fang tribe decide to settle here?¡±

    One of the werewolf elder¡¯s sighed. ¡°They gave this piece ofnd to Sharp Fang tribe because it was so barren that no one wanted it. Compared to tribes on Count Stuka¡¯s core territory, we¡¯re merely foreigners who arrivedter.¡±

    Qianye nodded. One had no right to speak without sufficient power. This kind of profit distribution couldn¡¯t be considered wrong. ¡°I can give your tribe a new ce after things settle down.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± The werewolf elders immediately became alert.

    The old chiefughed wryly. ¡°No matter where it is, it certainly can¡¯t be worse than this ce.¡±

    The elders also felt that was the case and thus refrained from saying anything.

    Observing up to this point, Qianye had already confirmed that something out of the ordinary existed within Green Peak Mountain, however, he wasn¡¯t familiar with excavation and had no intention to investigate on his own. He immediately gave the surroundings a once over and memorized the unusual state of origin power before returning to the surface with the werewolves.

    ¡°I shall be leaving first. I¡¯ll send men to bring all of you to a new territory after things have settled down. It¡¯s best not to let your tribesmen go outside, lest a conflict arises between them and my soldiers.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t stay too long since the chief had already agreed to do as asked. His return journey was much faster. Those mountain crocodiles remained in their original areas and showed no signs of spreading out. Already familiar with the regional geography, Qianye quickly circled around the mountain pass and returned to the Dark me camp directly.

    He hadn¡¯t returned for very long when the guards reported that there was a woman outside the camp. She had asked specifically for Qianye and imed to be the viscount¡¯s messenger.

    ¡°A woman?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t surprised that Brudo had made his decision within the appointed time, but he hadn¡¯t actually expected this conservative werewolf to actually send a human female messenger.

    As expected, he saw a woman waiting silently when he walked into the reception tent. Her back on the seat was ramrod straight, and her hands were crossed on her knees. She couldn¡¯t be considered very beautiful, but her facial features were delicate, and her fair countenance was tinged with the frailty of a sickly person.

    The woman turned around upon hearing footsteps, after which, she stood up and performed a formal imperial greeting. ¡°You must be Sire Qianye. Ie representing Viscount Brudo to discuss our surrender.¡±

    Qianye walked over to the master seat and gestured for her to sit down. He didn¡¯t speak immediately and, instead, sized thedy up from head to toe. Many secrets were revealed under his True Sight.

    She was indeed a human through and through. At least Qianye couldn¡¯t find anything abnormal with her bloodline. But flowing within her was all darkness origin power and not a shred of daybreak.

    It was rather interesting. This woman¡¯s body had practically toppled the basic rules of origin power control in both factions.

    Humans were inherently creatures of daybreak, butpared to other creatures, they could be consideredpatible with both. Some secret arts would carry darknessponents after advancing in rank or awakening talents. Some people would cultivate darkness origin power in pursuit of greater power.

    However, these were the minority. Moreover, these people could hardly avoid being corroded by the darkness and their bodies would mutate. But this woman was able to maintain her human appearance despite the fact that her body was filled with darkness origin power. Even Qianye¡¯s True Sight couldn¡¯t find any abnormalities.

    ¡°Brudo sent a human as his messenger. This is indeed surprising.¡±

    The woman replied indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s not too unexpected, right? Besides, how can I meet you so easily were I not a human? The defensive line at the front isn¡¯t that easy to pass through.¡±

    ¡°Brudo¡¯s faction can be considered quite conservative. Why does he trust you?¡±

    ¡°This is a secret. Please allow me to keep it.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No. This is rted to whether or not I can trust you, and whether you can represent Brudo. You may return if you don¡¯t wish to speak. Have hime and exin things personally.¡±

    The woman¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Sire Qianye, do I take this as your determination to fight the viscount? We still have thousands of brave warriors!¡±

    ¡°I even beat the count running. What have I to fear of a viscount? In truth, my willingness to sit down and negotiate is because I personally admire the straightforward manner of the werewolves. If the reason you¡¯re sitting here is to use meaningless words to win some benefits, then you may leave now.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice was neither loud nor soft, but it carried an unquestionable pertinacity.

    The woman¡¯s expression froze. She then softened the tone of her voice with a hint of resentment on her face. ¡°Sire Qianye truly has nopassion for the fairer sex.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not that beautiful.¡±

    The woman was startled and thenughed wryly. ¡°How frank¡­ and insensitive.¡±

    ¡°The thing about sensibility is that the more you give it, the less you have for yourself. So I make it a point to only treat those close to me with due subtlety.¡± Qianye¡¯s tone turned colder. ¡°You¡¯ve already wasted enough of my time. Let¡¯s stop here.¡± With that, he prepared to stand up.

    The woman sighed. ¡°Very well. Viscount Brudo¡¯s bottom line is that he retains the same authority and status he had under Count Stuka¡¯s rule. If you can promise this, then he will surrender. Otherwise, he will fight a bloody battle to the end.¡±

    Qianye replied coldly, ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. Those are the conditions I proposed back then. But bring him a message. The viscount must understand that, even if he went all out, the damage he can do to me is still within eptable limits. But every single werewolf will die, so don¡¯t try to threaten me with war!¡±

    The woman couldn¡¯t help but tremble. The killing intent overflowing from Qianye¡¯s body was almost tangible, and she could even feel faintly discernible pain on her skin.

    She forced a smile and said, ¡°Then we should consider this negotiation concluded. Additionally, I have a small request. Count Brudo requires a nominal independence, at least on the surface. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be difficult to suppress those in hisnds.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine, but he¡¯ll have to move to another territory.¡±

    ¡°Another territory?¡± The woman was surprised and watched Qianye with a guarded expression.

    ¡°His territory is too close to the borders. I¡¯ll find a piece ofnd closer to the count¡¯s territory, enough for all werewolves to reside in. One has to know that the eastern borders will eventually join the ranks of human-controlled territories. I might also get into trouble with the empire if the werewolves live here publicly.¡±

    The woman pondered for a while and said, ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll convince Brudo as much as I can. There shouldn¡¯t be a problem if the new territory isn¡¯t too poor.¡± At this point, she chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, ¡°But it¡¯ll be quite difficult to find and more barren than ours in the count¡¯s territory.

    Qianye felt odd. ¡°Why? I heard Brudo once challenged Count Stuka. Although he lost that match, it should¡¯ve allowed him to obtain a more resource-abundant territory. In truth, Brudo is much more powerful than the other two viscounts.¡±

    ¡°Because of the werewolves¡¯ ancient tradition obviously.¡± The woman¡¯s tone contained a trace of mockery. ¡°The werewolves in thisnd believe in the ancient traditions, which means that they believe that only physical strength is their own true power. They believe that armaments and origin arrays are for the weak. As one can well imagine, they have very little demands and don¡¯t feel that they¡¯recking anything. They¡¯re content as long as they have a forest to provide herbs and meat, and a river with fish to add some variety. Resources like minerals hold no meaning to them at all.¡±

    Qianye was enlightened and stirred by an inexplicable emotion.

    The woman stood up and said, ¡°If Sire Qianye has no other instructions for me, then I shall report back to the viscount and have him arrange territorial matters rted to the migration.

    Qianye stopped the woman who was preparing to leave.

    She nced back to see a pair of exquisite handguns with their dark muzzles aimed at her. She immediately said in rm, ¡°Sire Qianye, there¡¯s no need for this. Whatever you want, just say it and I¡¯ll obey as long as it is within my power.¡± At this point, an inexplicably flirtatious expression emerged from the corner of her eyes and brows.

    There was no fluctuation in Qianye¡¯s expression. ¡°I don¡¯t need your to obey. I¡¯m just curious about your origins. Perhaps you should introduce yourself properly, otherwise, I might be inclined to think that you¡¯re more valuable than Viscount Brudo. In that case, I¡¯ll give up on the werewolves¡¯ allegiance and bring you back to the empire. There are many professionals there who excel in prying out secrets.¡±

    A gleam shed through the woman¡¯s eyes. She watched the origin power patterns on the Twin Flowers light up and finally rxed her well-prepared stance.

    She spread out her hands in a harmless stance and said, ¡°I was fairly confident about fleeing from the viscount, yet I¡¯ve lost all fighting spirit in front of you, one who¡¯s not even a champion. Very well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ruoyu, and Ie from the Skywing Continent. I belong to the Dark Crawlers, an organization so enormous that you can¡¯t even begin to imagine it. I¡¯m just amon member there, a verymon member.¡±

    ¡°Dark Crawlers? An interesting name.¡± There was still no expression on his face, but great waves had risen in his heart. He had never heard of this organization, but the Skywing Continent was one of the middle continents. It had always belonged to the dark races and human soldiers rarely, if ever, set foot on it.

 Volume 5 - 86: Black Tide

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 86: ck Tide

    Ruoyu sighed. ¡°This name is indeed odd, but you¡¯ll understand why we call ourselves so after finding out certain things.¡±

    ¡°As a person living in the lowest rung of society in the dark nation, every day is a struggle between life and death. But although we are petty and can only crawl in the dark, we possess as much power as there are granules of sand on the Ganges River. We are the foundation of the entire dark nation pyramid. We fight for freedom in hopes that one day, we can overturn the Evernight Council and grasp fate in our own hands!¡±

    Thedy¡¯sst words were full of passion. Qianye raised his brows and asked, ¡°Are you all humans?¡±

    ¡°No, only a part of us are human. There are werewolves, vampires, and even demonkin in. Race is neither relevant or important. The most important part is that we share amon vision, and that is to overturn the Evernight Council!¡± Ruoyu seemed emotionally stirred.

    ¡°What is your mission here?¡±

    Ruo Yu hesitated for a moment. She then nced at Qianye¡¯s expression and spoke with careful deliberation, ¡°To seek potential rebels, draw them to our cause, and nurture them. As our members expand, so does our strength.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean I¡¯ll be your enemy if I kill Brudo?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was tainted with killing intent.

    ¡°Why must we reach such a stage?¡± Ruoyi replied with a question. ¡°Our interests coincide, do they not? At least regarding the overthrowing of the Evernight Council.¡±

    Qianye put away the Twin Flowers after pondering for a moment. ¡°Go then. Tell Brudo of my decision. As for your organization, do not act in my territory in the future.¡±

    Ruoyu was stunned after hearing this and immediately sought to exin, ¡°But our existence won¡¯t cause the slightest bit of obstruction to you! The Evernight Council is ourmon enemy. I believe there are many areas in which we can cooperate.¡±

    Qianye remained unmoved. His fingers tapped a couple of times on the table as he said, ¡°Perhaps, but I have no interest at the moment. We can discuss further in the future when I encounter an issue.¡±

    Qianye sat pondering in the tent after Ruoyu¡¯s departure.

    He felt an inherent dislike for the Dark Crawlers organization; their ideals sounded too far-fetched. Perhaps they held considerable power, however, it was undoubtedly a pipe dream to think of overthrowing the Evernight Council which had several big-shots overseeing it.

    Moreover, even if they did manage to overthrow the council, what then?

    The definition of freedom was too broad and was honestly not a term suitable to prattle about. Who knew what would happen if he allowed such an organization to roam free within his territory.

    As for the potential retaliation after clearing their organization out, Qianye wasn¡¯t overly apprehensive¡ªthis was something every lord would have to face in the process of exerting control over their territory. Even without the Dark Crawlers, there would still be other people and other matters. He was even less worried about Brudo¡¯s side. It was just as Qianye had told Ruoyu, the one who couldn¡¯t pay the price of this battle was the werewolf viscount, not him.

    Qianye gave Duan Hao and Zhu Wuya instructions pertaining to the follow-up matters and, seeing that it was still early, decided to return that very night. His western campaign hade to an end after having subdued the werewolf tribes. He had managed to fully achieve his initial concept.

    This was the first time Qianye had truly pioneered a new territory. However, he didn¡¯t feel at ease during his journey back. The appearance of Twilight and Ruoyu caused the entire area to be suffused with dark clouds. Moreover, it seemed like things would escte over the days toe.

    The sky over Evernight was always gloomy, but the dark races felt no difort from the dreariness.

    Although darkness origin power on the continent was intense, it was extremely violent. For most dark race members, it wasn¡¯t a suitable ce for living or cultivation. It was far inferiorpared to the upper continents like Twilight Continent where many ancient races had originated.

    At this moment, Nighteye was standing against the wind on an isted mountain peak which pierced into the clouds¡ªa single step in front of her was a bottomless ravine. Count us was standing behind her. Within a short month, his hair had grown whiter, and the wrinkles on his face had increased significantly.

    us gazed at the lonesome figure of Nighteye¡¯s back and finally said with a sigh, ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    Nighteye turned back and said gently, ¡°Don¡¯t call me Your Majesty. You¡¯ll always be my father in my heart."

    us was rmed and said hurriedly, ¡°No, you can¡¯t say it like that! You¡¯ve awoken Great Monarch Andruil¡¯s bloodline. That is your true inheritance. Nothing will happen to me if others hear these words, but it will bring you a lot of trouble!¡±

    Nighteyeughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Are my troubles any less at the moment? I wouldn¡¯t mind adding a bit more.¡±

    us also sighed and asked, ¡°What are your ns from now on?¡±

    Nighteye replied indifferently, ¡°I won¡¯t let them have their way. I most certainly won¡¯t agree to this engagement!¡±

    ¡°With the Grand Prince around, he definitely won¡¯t allow Feras to act as recklessly as he said he would,¡± us reminded.

    Marriage was an extremely sacred word among the twelve ancient ns. But more often than not, it was also just a formality.

    To the long-lived vampires, the true significance of marriage was an alliance. Secondly, it was to create a pure-blooded descendant with a powerful bloodline. As such, not every vampire had the right to marry. This was especially true among the twelve ancient ns where gaining the right to marry indicated that the person had gained the n¡¯s recognition.

    Although inferior to Nighteye, Feras was also a primo. He was born of the fifth-ranked Sperger n and one of the strongestpetitors for the next term n lord.

    Nighteye understood what us wanted to say and thus interrupted his words, ¡°I¡¯ve decided to go to war.¡±

    ¡°Go to war?¡± us was astonished. He said hurriedly, ¡°Don¡¯t be rash. You¡¯ve just ascended to the viscount rank. This war will be covered by an iron curtain. It will be one of the cruelest and bloodiest! Your life will truly be in danger if you enter the battlefield.¡±

    A faint, ineffable emotion emerged in Nighteye¡¯s gaze. ¡°The rewards of a bloody battle are bountiful. I should have more confidence in speaking to those old fellows if I have enough contributions, right?¡±

    us wanted to say something but was hesitant.

    How could the present issue be canceled out with mere military contributions? But he was very clear about Nighteye¡¯s present mood¡ªshe only wanted to leave a thread of hope for herself. Military contributions in a bloody battle were generous, but the risk involved in umting them was significant, and chances of survival were slim.

    ¡­

    The sound of a rumbling engine echoed through the wilderness as Qianye rushed forward on his motorcycle.

    ckflow City had already emerged far over the distant horizon. He had long since arrived back in human territory. The wild beasts of the wilderness and the wanderers of various professions posed no threat to the current Qianye. But for some reason, there was an indescribable uneasiness in his heart, and it was bing progressively prominent.

    The motorcycle¡¯s rumble shook the earth and caused a number of giant rats to leap out from an unremarkable hole in the ground. They were a full meter long from head to tail and almost looked like an ugly dog. Seeing the motorcycle speeding toward them, their eyes turned red as they pounced forth amidst sharp squealing sounds.

    An origin power radiance suddenly emerged. A defensiveyer covered the entire vehicle as it whistled through the swarm of giant rats amidst a shower of blood. A number of giant rats were sent flying, unable to stop the motorcycle¡¯s advance in the slightest.

    Qianye braked urgently and caused the bike to spin several times in ce before bringing it to a stop. He jumped down, walked over to one of the corpses, and picked one up with his dagger.

    Crashing into an origin barrier at high speeds was no different from bumping into a steel wall. The giant rat¡¯s bones had all shattered, and it hungidly on the de, barely recognizable.

    However, what Qianye was interested in was why it had attacked the motorcycle.

    The giant rats were the lowest in the wilderness food chain, so it definitely wouldn¡¯t provoke something like a motorcycle under normal circumstances. But a swarm of them had actuallyunched an attack at Qianye¡ªthis kind of suicidal action didn¡¯t conform to their nature.

    But Qianye couldn¡¯t find the reason for their sudden violence at all. He tossed the giant rat carcass away and put away the Scarlet Edge. His originally gloomy expression turned even more solemn.

    In truth, he had encountered such an incident more than once on his way back. In addition to omnivorous beasts like giant rats, even small animals that were normally docile had turned ferocious all of a sudden and would asionallyunch suicidal attacks at the passers-by.

    The atmosphere over the entire wilderness was somewhat different.

    At this moment, engine rounds rumbled in the distance as two jeeps appeared over the horizon and sped toward ckflow City at full speed. The vehicles were riddled with signs of damage andrge patches of dried blood. Qianye could see even from afar that the passengers were also wounded, and a number of them were in critical condition.

    They swerved over after seeing Qianye and slowed down near him. The burly man at the wheel shouted at him, ¡°Brother, return to the city quick! The beasts in the wilderness have gone mad and will bite anyone they see! This is a sign that a beast tide is imminent. Don¡¯t stay outside the city and court death!¡±

    After shouting thus, he stomped on the gas pedal without waiting for Qianye¡¯s reaction. Arge puff of ck smoke shot out from the jeep as it bolted away like a wild stallion.

    ¡°A beast tide?¡± Qianye had lived on Evernight for a fair length of time, but he had never heard of such a term.

    However, the changes in the wilderness weren¡¯t too bad in ces closer to the city. The strength of the wild beasts was limited and could hardly pose a threat to fighters. But what about those beasts deep in the wilderness capable of using origin power? Were they just as berserk?

    Ordinary and berserk beasts were apletely different concept. The fighting power of berserk beasts would suddenly advance by a couple of ranks. For instance, the giant mountain crocodiles were rank five or six demonic beasts. Qianye could normally do them in with a single strike of his de, but he would have to run if numerous berserk mountain crocodiles were to swarm at him.

    If a beast tide really were to appear, the entire ckflow City warzone would be in imminent danger. The defensive structures Wei Bainian had left behind in ckflow City would suffice to resist a dark race army, but the surrounding towns and bases would be ruins.

    Qianye suddenly nced back at the depths of the wilderness.

    A ck line had appeared over the distant horizon at one point and was gushing toward him. It looked like arge patch of dark clouds, but in Qianye¡¯s eyes, it was just an insubstantial dark color. Everywhere it passed, thend below the skies would turn abnormally dark.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Qianye was bewildered.

    The dark line was expanding rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it had upied half the sky and was still spreading. Whatever it was, its omnipresent grandeur made even breathing difficult.

    Qianye jumped onto the motorcycle rapidly and drove toward the iing darkness. Along the way, he encountered many hunters, mercenaries, and adventurers. Most of them were full of injuries and running toward ckflow City in a flustered state.

    There were violent beasts everywhere in the wilderness. Even the timidest of rabbits would reveal its incisors and rush toward Qianye with great ferocity. Fortunately, these beasts were weak¡ªthey were only attacking instinctively on sight and hadn¡¯t started moving in ranks. This allowed Qianye to breathe a sigh of relief.

    An hourter, Qianye stopped the motorcycle. He stood gazing at the sky in what seemed like apletely empty wilderness.

    In the air, the darkness flowed past like the tide, and the demarcation was extremely clear. In front of it was a clear sky, and behind the line was a murky firmament, a world where day and night were difficult to tell apart.

 Volume 5 - 87: The Iron Curtain

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 87: The Iron Curtain

    The surroundings turned oddly dark as the ck tide line pushed swiftly over Qianye¡¯s head. It was just as though dusk had fallen over thend. He turned to gaze as far as his eyes could see and found the light over the wilderness growing farther and farther away. It was as though the dark tide were traversing the firmament with unstoppable momentum.

    A blue glow flickered in Qianye¡¯s eyes as he nced at this own hands. His slender fingers were surrounded by threads of darkness origin power. At this moment, they were exceptionally lively as they flew and danced about. He could feel a very mild sting when they came into contact with his skin asionally.

    The sable world governed by darkness was separated into blocks of dark and light colors.

    Qianye discovered that there was darkness origin power seeping out through the air continuously. They spread out like ink-stains until they encountered a different mass of energy, whereupon they would soak up and change shape. Upon closer inspection, these rapidly changing forms were, in fact, the projections of various beasts, and all of them were roaring and killing each other.

    An unexpected and ineffable frustration welled up within Qianye¡¯s heart. He suddenly felt the urge to throw himself in and massacre everything. He came-to soon afterward and felt his back drenched in cold sweat. The sensation was familiar¡ªit was as though he had returned to the days where his dark blood would re up, inciting in him a craving for fresh blood and ughter.

    At this moment, an indescribable shudder emerged from the depths of Qianye¡¯s heart as he realized what this ck tide was.

    It was a domain, one so inconceivably big that he couldn¡¯t see its end even with his extraordinary eyesight! An unknown existence was using its domain to cover the earth and sky.

    Qianye stood in ce and took a couple of deep, slow breaths before jumping back onto the bike and heading back to ckflow City. After getting through the initial phase of restlessness, Qianye realized that the ck tide was somewhat different from the effects of the dark blood. The ck tide caused the natural darkness origin power to suddenly be active, and this, in turn, brought about the restlessness in the creatures. On the other hand, dark blood corroded the assimted creature¡¯s intelligence.

    However, this discovery only served as some constion and couldn¡¯tpletely put his mind at ease.

    Presently, ckflow City and its surrounding area, or perhaps even the entire Trinity River County, had been covered by the ck tide. Evacuating the civilians on arge scale was practically impossible. The city was still safer than the wilderness in any case since no one knew how big this ck tide was and where it was safe.

    By the time Qianye returned to ckflow City, the ck tide had already passed over, and it was now extending deeper into human territory. The world had been plunged into darkness, and even the few hours of sunlight each day was no more.

    Such a peculiar phenomenon caused iparable terror among the citizens. But Qianye found, upon reaching the city, that everything was exceptionally tranquil. This was a result of Zhao Yuying¡¯s iron fist. She had summoned Dark me¡¯s high-ranking officers and Song Hu to announce a city-wide martialw as soon as the ck tide appeared.

    Dark me¡¯s garrisoned soldiers were all dispatched onto the streets and began setting up precautionary measures at every intersection. They set to work with thunderous methods, killing a dozen or so people¡ªsome were inciting panic after losing their heads, while others were looking to profit from the misfortune by engaging in murder and arson. Finally, they were able to intimidate the hunters, mercenaries, and adventurers flocking into the city.

    As for the native residents of ckflow City, most of them had be iparably obedient during those nobledies¡¯ half a month of stay.

    Immediately after returning to Dark me headquarters, Qianye called on Zhao Yuying nad asked, ¡°Is it a beast tide?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was rarely ever so solemn. ¡°No, it¡¯s even worse than that. If I remember correctly, that¡¯s probably an Iron Curtain.

    ¡°Iron Curtain?¡± Qianye was startled. He had always thought this term was a mereparison and not an actual object.

    ¡°It¡¯s not surprising that you¡¯ve not heard of it. The iron curtain only appears in the Dark Nation under normal circumstances. It will, at most, extend to distant imperial borders and engulf small regions. News of previous instances were suppressed by the empire. It¡¯s a top-level secret, and even I was only able to catch wind of it because of my grandfather.¡±

    Qianye nced out of the window and gazed at the dark sky. However, it wasn¡¯tpletely dark like the night¡ªthere was a lead-grey glow in the sky which instilled an iparably stifling sensation in the beholder. It was truly as though a boundless iron curtain had covered the entire world.

    There was neither sun, moon, nor star in the world beneath it.

    ¡°What exactly is that thing?¡±

    ¡°You must¡¯ve felt it too. This Iron Curtain is, in fact, a domain¡ªone that is inconceivablyrge. The smallest Iron Curtain recorded by the empire was half a provincerge. As for therge ones, no one had ever been able to ascertain their borders.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s a domain, there must be someone releasing it. This kind of energy is unfathomable. Just what kind of existence possesses such might?¡±

    Zhao Yuying smiled wryly. ¡°Perhaps they can¡¯t be considered people. The empire has its heavenly monarchs, and the dark races have their grand princes. Simrly, the beasts have their own regents. In terms of pure strength, they are the true experts who stand at the peak of the realm. Moreover, there are some unimaginably powerful existences that roam the void. Perhaps it¡¯s not wrong for ordinary people to consider them gods.

    Qianye felt that it was unimaginable. ¡°The iron curtain is a beast king¡¯s domain?

    ¡°That has always been the case as far as I know. There are no exceptions.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. He opened his mouth briefly but knew not what to say. He only spoke after a long while, ¡°The iron curtain wouldn¡¯t have appeared for no reason, right?¡± Such an astonishing phenomenon signified a vast consumption. Even the king of beasts wouldn¡¯t do it meaninglessly.¡±

    ¡°This is only hearsay, but it¡¯s possible that those kings have discovered a rare object or a special region that they¡¯re determined to obtain. The release of the iron curtain is a deration of authority. It¡¯s said that the gun spirits of two of the ten Grand Magnums were born within an iron curtain.¡±

    This time, Qianye turnedpletely silent. At the level of the Grand Magnums, all battles were fought between grand princes and heavenly monarchs. Not to mention the ckflow war zone, even the entire Trinity River County and the expeditionary army were as insignificant as insects. These major characters might find it troublesome to even spare them a nce.

    However, that was also precisely why the bystanders were bound to suffer. Dark me couldn¡¯t afford to to suffer even the residual shockwaves.

    This was also Zhao Yuying¡¯s first timeing into contact with the Iron Curtain, and she wasn¡¯t quite clear about what would follow. But both of them had simr ideas¡ªa mass evacuation was impossible. It would cause quite a stir even if they abandoned the residents of ckflow City and move the entire Dark me Mercenary Corps. Who knew what kind of situation they would trigger?

    The only thing they could do was to quietly await new developments.

    Neither Qianye nor Zhao Yuying enjoyed beingpletely passive. After reaching an agreement on the strategy, they split up to take a stroll within the city and in the wilderness in hopes of getting a better grasp of the situation.

    As time passed, Qianye gradually limatized to the pressure and violence of the Iron Curtain. There were no abnormalities apart from that. However, a domain was still a domain, and it was a fairly dangerous business to be within one¡ªTwilight had just proven this point to him.

    At this moment, a light barge dozens of meters long was gliding through the void just outside of Evernight Continent. Enveloped by ayer of faint origin power radiance, its external appearance was like an ancient boat with numerous sails billowing atop its tall masts.

    The most eye-catching part of this blue-grey flying boat was the solemn and majestic bronze vajra image carved into its bow. There was no other visible kic system on it apart from the propellers installed on each of its wings. It was astonishingly simple for an intercontinental airship.

    This light barge was unusually fast, so much that it had surpassed some of the most famous high-speed models used by the imperial military. It arrived near Evernight Continent in the blink of an eye and, without slowing down, transformed into a beam of blue light which sped into the distance.

    Below the light barge, the edges of the void were rapidly disappearing as great mountains and rivers blurred past.

    During its swift advance, a gentle voice rang out from the topmost room of this two-storeyed vessel. ¡°An honored guest has arrived. Stop the ship.¡± The person¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t very loud, but it reached every corner of the barge in an instant.

    The light barge decelerated rapidly and came to a hovering stop in the air. The entire process was as smooth as the moving clouds and flowing water; there wasn¡¯t the slightest jolt. This wasn¡¯t solely due to the superiority of the airship¡¯s performance¡ªapparently, the operator was also a top-grade expert.

    Someone in the air let out a clearughter. ¡°It seems I can¡¯t hide it from you.¡±

    A sudden sh of lightning tore through the air. Soon, the wind and clouds rapidly converged, rolled, and spun together to form a thousand-meter cloud as a person descended atop a small canoe.

    That was a genuine boat. It was only a couple of meters long and shaped like a sailless boat used by river anglers. The sole difference was that its entire body was emitting a metallic luster and had runes flickering across from time to time.

    The person was tall, sturdy, and possessed a pair of vigorous phoenix eyes that exuded an unparalleled momentum. Who else could it be but the Imperial Marshal Zhang Boqian?

    Lin Xitang walked onto to the deck. ¡°How have you been doing Marshal Zhang? What a coincidence to see you here.¡±

    Zhang Boqian snorted. He sized-up Lin Xitang from head to toe and then scanned the light barge. No one emerged from the two-storeyed vessel, but all the soldiers within who gazed upon Zhang Boqian shivered at the same time. It was as though thetter¡¯s sharp gaze could pierce through the cabin walls and see them clearly.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was gloomy. ¡°Come down and talk.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled faintly. He neither moved nor spoke.

    Zhang Boqian sneered, ¡°A stately imperial marshal doesn¡¯t dare take half a step off of his ship? How unexpected.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression remained unchanged. His eyes flickered ever so slightly as he said, ¡°Marshal Zhang must¡¯ve met the Grand Duke of Profound Order recently, right?¡±

    The battle appointment between Zhang Boqian and the Grand Duke of Profound Order was an event which received the most attention in the recent days. The odd thing was that the appointed time had passed, but not the slightest rted news was heard from both the imperial family and Zhang n. The only thing that could be confirmed was that the imperial family and the other heavenly monarchs had already recognized Zhang Boqian¡¯s status as a Heavenly Monarch. This also meant that the Great Qin Empire now had five Heavenly Monarchs.

    That was why Li Xitang was, in truth, fairly surprised when he discovered that the person who had arrived was Zhang Boqian. It was almost impossible toe out unscathed from a battle between experts of that level¡ªeven several years of convalescence wasn¡¯t out of the question. So why was Zhang Boqian here on Evernight Continent so soon after his big fight? Why wasn¡¯t he recuperating in properly?

    Zhang Boqian said modestly, ¡°I have indeed seen it.¡±

    A spiritual gleam shed through Lin Xitang¡¯s eyes. ¡°How is it?¡±

    ¡°Come out if you want to know.¡±

    Lin Xitang broke into aughter and stepped aside. ¡°Why not Marshal Zhang board my little vessel instead? We can discuss the scenery and people over a cup of tea. What say you?¡±

 Volume 5 - 88: Bloody Battle

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 88: Bloody Battle

    Zhang Boqian stood with his hands behind his back. His gaze returned to and swept past Lin Xitang like a sh of lightning. ¡°Do you really want me up there? I won¡¯t pay you back if I identally smash your beloved ¡®Bluebird.¡¯¡±

    Lin Xitang remained unmoved in the face of Zhang Boqian¡¯s overbearing attitude and said, ¡°Brother Boqian, now is probably not the time to settle whatever matters there are between us, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Are we supposed to wait until after the bloody battle if not now?¡± Zhang Boqian said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s all fine that the empire wants to step in after the Iron Curtain¡¯s appearance, but why did it be a bloody battle? Even if they want to engage in a bloody battle, why aren¡¯t those four old fellows noting out? Do you think you can stay in control on your own and snatch that thing under the iron curtain?¡±

    Li Xitang¡¯s brows knitted together ever so slightly as he slowly said, ¡°This time, the imperial family truly intends to give up on that item in exchange for a bloody battle.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s gaze suddenly turned sharp. ¡°They¡¯re giving up just like that? Whose idea is it?¡±

    Lin Xitang pondered momentarily and said, ¡°It¡¯s the Sky Demon at the center of this Iron Curtain.¡±

    The present matter was a top-secret military intelligence. All of the army¡¯s mobilization orders came from the emperor himself. This also meant that even the marshals only figured out the details after their units were mobilized. Secret orders for the major ns would only be dispatched several dayster.

    Zhang Boqian was also quite surprised. It was almost as though dark clouds were flitting across his countenance. ¡°Why him?¡±

    At the ends of the void dwelled several of the most mysterious and terrifying beasts, and Sky Demon was one of them. This name originated from the dark race records because they had dealings with him before the Thousand-Year War. However, no one knew its true appearance up until this day. Sky Demon would take on a different external appearance every time it appeared, albeit with identical origin power auras. It could even appear in multiple ces at once and could be said to possess countless incarnations.

    It was precisely because of such an ability that Sky Demon could bring out its fullbat potential in any given environment. That was to say that there was no specific method to restrain him¡ªthe only option was a painstaking fight to the death.

    Moreover, a void-entity like Sky Demon was different from the beast kings that lived on the various continents. The objects it took a fancy to were perhaps iparably rare and invaluable, but there was also a good chance that the item was only significant for itself¡ªit might bepletely useless to humans and dark races.

    Lin Xitang continued, ¡°The Iron Curtain this time has a special rule: champions ranked thirteen and below on our side and warriors below third-rank viscounts on the dark race side are unaffected and allowed to move freely within. But those above that level will suffer the attack of Sky Demon¡¯s incarnations. I¡¯m only here to serve as a restraining force and boost morale. I neither have the intention to snatch the item nor take part in the battle.¡±

    Zhang Boqian sneered, ¡°It¡¯s unlikely those old fellows from Evernight will have the same thought. Will they be willing to sit by and watch you take advantage from the side?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m quite capable of running away even if there¡¯s danger,¡± Lin Xitang said calmly. His Art of Heaven¡¯s Mastery was undoubtedly number one in terms of self-preservation ability.

    Zhang Boqian realized after some thought. ¡°You¡¯re referring to the bloody battle?¡±

    Lin Xitang replied slowly, ¡°It¡¯s indeed a bloody battle! But this time, it¡¯ll be one between Evernight and the empire. Three out of the empire¡¯s ten elite army corps will take part in this battle. Additionally,rge military contribution rewards will be established, and the elites of all the major ns will be made to participate. The strength of our Great Qin Empire¡¯s younger generation and that of the Evernight Council will be made clear under this Iron Curtain!¡±

    Zhang Boqian sneered after hearing this. ¡°A flock of sheep will never give birth to a lion no matter how much they train or fight.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled indifferently. Their difference in opinion wasn¡¯t a matter of one or two days¡ªthere was little meaning in debating.

    Zhang Boqian red at him and said, ¡°Such arge-scale business even involving the rising n descendants, this doesn¡¯t look like something you¡¯re capable of doing alone.¡±

    Lin Xitang lowered his eyes. ¡°This n not only mobilized the elites of the army, but even involved the nobility and bigwigs. It¡¯s naturally His Majesty¡¯s wise decision.¡±

    A trace of gloominess shed across Zhang Boqian¡¯s face as he said indifferently, ¡°But who doesn¡¯t know that His Majesty takes your advice.¡±

    Lin Xitang looked up, his gaze as deep and clear as a secluded pond. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me a stately Duke Green Sun believes such street talk?¡±

    The imperial family had just conferred Zhang Boqian the title of Duke Green Sun. Although those of different surname couldn¡¯t inherit their titles since Emperor Wu¡¯s reign, this could be considered the emperor¡¯s recognition of his strength as a heavenly monarch. With that, the Zhang n was restored to its former glory, one that wasparable to the midday sun during the days of the Empire''s founding.

    Zhang Boqian snorted. ¡°Lin Xitang, you understand very clearly whether this is your idea or His Majesty¡¯s.¡±

    Lin Xitang replied softly, ¡°What difference is there? I¡¯m fully devoted to His Majesty and the Empire.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s killing intent red up, but he retracted it soon afterward and said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ll be in Evernight for a period of time. I must see what exactly is within that Iron Curtain and what kind of people areing from the Dark Races. You can lead your big ns and observe from atop the wall, but I just hope you and His Highness don¡¯t trip over from being too smart.¡±

    Lin Xitang said in a meaningful tone, ¡°That¡¯ll depend on how the bloody battle goes.¡±

    On a certain nameless mountain peak stood an odd, elderly man. His long hair was disheveled and knotted¡ªno one knew when he hadst washed it. The clothes on him were also torn, tattered, and no different from that of a scavenger.

    He was as thin as a match, and his eyes appeared muddled. This person looked like he belonged to the lowest rungs of society through and through. But a knowledgeable expert would find the darkness origin power boiling around him was so strong that it was almost tangible.

    The old man stood atop the mountain peak and nced up at the sky. The Iron Curtain had just reached the peak, and its grey-ck line was exceptionally distinct.

    There were dozen-odd figures on the mountain peak in addition to the old man, and most of them were demonkin warriors d in magnificent ck armor. There was also a number of vampires present, and the weakest among them was actually a count.

    All of them appeared cautious. No one dared approach the sloppy old man¡¯s side and made sure to avoid even a single strand of his overflowing darkness origin power. The mountain peak wasn¡¯t veryrge, so these people had almost reached the edge of the precipice.

    The old man gazed upon the boundless Iron Curtain in silence. No one knew what he was thinking about, or what he was waiting for.

    It was at this time that a ck dot suddenly appeared in the distance and shot toward them. It tore through the horizon in the blink of an eye and arrived before the mountain peak. This was a metallic ball enveloped in such intense darkness origin power that it appeared to be shrouded in lingering ck mist.

    The metallic ball suddenly unfolded into humanoid form andnded right in front of the elder. It was a middle-aged demonkin man¡ªthe external surface of the metallic ball was originally the armor on his body. Uponing into contact with the rolling ck mist around the old man, the middle-aged demonkin¡¯s darkness origin power shrunk back immediately as though it had been scorched. It then remained on the surface of his body as a thinyer. Only then did it manage to block out the rolling ck mist.

    Even so, the middle-aged demonkin was the only one who dared approach the elderly man, and there was only reverence for him in the eyes of everyone else present.

    ¡°Any news?¡± the old man inquired.

    The middle-aged demonkin only dared reply after the old man finished speaking. ¡°I just received word from our agent that the empire¡¯s Lin Xitang has arrived in Evernight. He should be here for the Iron Curtain.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, I have two pieces of unverified information. One is that the imperial family will issue a decree after assembling the army, enlisting the descendants of all the major ns for this campaign. They¡¯ve even announced a generous amount of contribution rewards. The news, at this point, only coincides with this Iron Curtain. The second is that the empire¡¯s new Heavenly Monarch Zhang Boqian has reportedly left the empire and is headed to Evernight.¡±

    ¡°How do you see it?¡±

    A simple question made the demonkin fairly nervous. He pondered carefully and said in measured words, ¡°I believe that the empire wishes for a bloody battle. The thing under the Iron Curtain might be secondary.¡±

    The demonkin and vampires on the mountain peak became pensive the moment these words were spoken.

    The old man questioned indifferently, ¡°You really think so?¡±

    The middle-aged demonkin tensed up, but he gritted his teeth and replied, ¡°Yes.¡±

    The old man nced up at the sky and asked without looking back, ¡°What do you all think? Do you believe this to be so?¡±

    Everyone hesitated for a moment and finally replied, ¡°Yes.¡±

    The old man sneered. ¡°In the end, this is just for a bit of experience! No matter what the thing under the Iron Curtain is, it¡¯ll change the general situation between the two factions as long as it¡¯s usable. So what if we win the bloody battle? It will either be a miserable victory or a small loss. How many such battles must we fight to change the present situation? What will you all amount to if you let small gains and losses cloud your judgement?¡±

    The middle-aged demonkin¡¯s forehead was covered in sweat. He replied only after a moment of silence, ¡°Your teachings are true.¡±

    The old man shot him a nce and said unenthusiastically. ¡°It¡¯s fine even if you remain unconvinced. I¡¯ll be hesitant about killing you as long as you obey my orders. I still have to give that old fart some face.¡±

    The elderly man asked again after a short pause, ¡°Zhang Boqian has alsoe to Evernight? This is quite interesting. What exactly are the results of that Heavenly Monarch battle? If he was indeed the winner, it¡¯s not quite enough with me alone. We must call a couple of those old fellows here.¡±

    The middle-aged demonkin replied, ¡°It¡¯s said that they¡¯ve already fought, but the results are not yet known.¡±

    The old man spoke no more and only waved his hand. This time, he couldn¡¯t even bother to say the word useless.

    Momentster, the elderly man concluded his contemtion and said, ¡°The item inside the Iron Curtain is naturally the most important, but the bloody battle must also be fought. It¡¯s rare for the Great Qin Empire toy down such a game of chess. We must y them properly. Hump! The empire¡¯s resurgence? I must see what they have to back such a im.¡±

    With that, he waved his hand and said, ¡°Go and make necessary preparations. Since it¡¯s already certain that we have to fight this bloody battle, we must also prepare for a couple of months to put up a presentable fight. Naturally, those old fogeys will be responsible for that thing, but you lot must think things over if the bloody battle is lost.¡±

    Everyone bowed in salutation and disappeared from the peak in the blink of an eye.

    Outside of ckflow city, Qianye was standing atop a hignd and gazing at the surroundings. There were numerous violent beast corpses at his feet. These ordinary beasts should¡¯ve run in fear after sensing the aura Qianye was intentionally releasing, but now they were rushing at him in waves as though they had lost the instinctive fear of death. He had no choice but to kill them one by one.

    Killing these violent beasts was a matter of one sh, but it became extremely troublesome inrge numbers.

    The sky was still lead-grey, and the Iron Curtain had covered the entire Trinity River County. The expeditionary army¡¯s reaction this time was much faster than their usual wars against the dark races. Orders had reached the divisions in the Trinity River County requiring them to contract their battle lines and guard their defensive regions tightly and without fail. It also stated that the regr army and imperial reinforcements would arrive within a few days.

    The orders for Dark me, on the other hand, were no longer addressed to the seventh division. Although the same number designation was used, it was clearly written as Dark me independent division. It seemed the expeditionary army had no intention to tangle further regarding this matter.

    Additionally, there was a piece of secret military intelligence attached to the new Division Commander Zhao Yuying¡¯s appointment papers. It contained information rted to the Iron Curtain¡¯s master and its rules. It also stressed that they should hold fast to their original position and allow the major characters from above to handle the other matters.

 Volume 5 - 89: Solid Defense

    Chapter 89: Solid Defense [Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The couple of days which followed were exceptionally quiet. Human hunters and adventurers no longer dared venture into the wilderness covered by the ck tide. The sudden change sent everyone into a panic. Many chose to escape overnight into the hintends of human territory, but there was also nock of brave chancers who wanted to wait for opportunities. Such people stayed back in cities like ckflow that were located within the border counties.

    Simrly, the dark races also kept themselves hidden, both sides waiting for the right moment.

    News of the Iron Curtain had stirred up quite a tempest inside the empire as the empire half-publicized this information for the first time. Moreover, the army and aristocracy were formally mobilized to participate in this battle. The scope of mobilization would increase as the bloody battle progressed.

    In the eyes of many, the opening up of a new battlefield was a symbol of the empire¡¯s increasing power, but those with vision knew more. There were deep implications regarding the empire¡¯s proactive initiation of this bloody battle. It wasn¡¯t only to demonstrate their martial prowess to the dark races, but it also served as an opportunity for the aristocracy to show off their military aplishments within the country. The bloody battle was, just as the name implied, extremely cruel¡ªthe nobility, the army corps, and even the imperial family would be ranked ording to their military contributions. It would directly reflect the rtive superiority of all the ns.

    The n rankings which hadn¡¯t seen any change for quite some time would likely shift after this battle.

    The noble ns who received the recruitment order naturally began to prepare for war. Meanwhile, the minor ns that didn¡¯t receive the order were rather dissatisfied and began thinking of ways to get their hands on one. Many small families with big ambitions chose to attach themselves to the major ns after failing to receive the order.

    Even if they didn¡¯t have big aspirations, the generosity of the military contribution rewards was enough to move them.

    The Violet Ketu Courtyard within the Zhao n Manor of West Pole City was busier than usual in the recent days. Followers and guards passed through continuously, arranging various types of armaments. There was a pool of flowing water in the little courtyard at the back, emitting white steam in the warm afternoon¡ªit was actually a hot-spring. At this moment, there was violet mist mixed in with the white steam which pervaded the air. Zhao Jundu sat cross-legged at the waterside performing maintenance on his Blue Firmament, part by part.

    Extremely light footsteps were transmitted from outside the courtyard doors. There were only a couple of people who dared disturb him at such a time. Zhao Jundu looked up and, as expected, saw Zhao Junhong arrive.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression was solemn, but he didn¡¯t speak immediately.

    Zhao Jundu snapped the Jade River de into the groove below the barrel and stood up to break the silence. ¡°Second Brother, you¡¯ve returned. Come in and have a seat.¡± He was very clear why Zhao Junhong was here.

    The Swallow Cloud Zhao n, as one of the four major ns, received news of recent matters before receiving the imperial family¡¯s official order. The elites of the younger generation were to emerge in full strength¡ªwith Zhao Yuying as themander and Zhao Junhong as her deputy, they were to lead the group into battle. However, the most famous Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi weren¡¯t included.

    Such an arrangement wasn¡¯t due to the selfishness of Duke Yan and Duke You lineages. The eldest of the Duke Chengen lineage, Zhao Junxiao, made his name the earliest and had already surpassed rank-thirteen. He would draw Sky Demon¡¯s attention if he were to enter the Iron Curtain, and it would be no different from throwing his life away. Although the third Zhao was a champion, he was iparable to the second brother in terms of talent,bat strength, and charisma.

    As for Zhao Ruoxi, she was the Zhao n¡¯s guardian treasure. It wasn¡¯t necessary for her to gild the lily with more military aplishments. Zhao Jundu, on the other hand, was the epted number one character of tomorrow and thus had no need to prove himself in the bloody battle. What he needed at the moment was to nurture his origin power well and enrich his foundations. Moreover, this lineup reflected the Zhao n¡¯s habitual arrogance¡ªit was almost saying that there were so many outstanding talents in the Zhao n that they could contend against the other three ns even without Zhao Jundu.

    However, Zhao Jundu actedpletely out of character after receiving this news. He wholeheartedly requested to go into battle and, in the end, reced Zhao Junhong. Zhao Junhong was, at that time, on a punitive expedition against the rebel army on the Western Continent. By the time he returned, the name list had already been submitted to the imperial army and be set in stone.

    Zhao Jundu personally served Zhao Junhong tea after entering the room and said without beating around the bush, ¡°It¡¯s better for Second Brother to oversee the family in this battle.¡±

    Zhao Junhong smiled ruefully as he received the exquisite porcin cup. He turned the vessel in his hand for a couple of times and, in the end, still decided to ask, ¡°Why? Is it because of Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Not just him. I want to experience this so-called Iron Curtain.¡± Zhao Jundu smiled sarcastically after a brief pause. ¡°There are gushing undercurrents in the empire. No small number of people are dissatisfied at our Zhao n. I¡¯m hearing no small number of rumors about how our Zhao n¡¯s reputation was born of nepotism. This bloody battle will be a good chance for our Zhao n to kill its way to glory! The Iron Curtain will be a good opportunity to kill whoever isn¡¯t convinced.¡±

    Zhao Junhong suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯m preparing to enter seclusion and advance to the rank of champion.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was startled momentarily and was just about to say something when Zhao Junhong waved his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the conditions are just about right. My Silver Sword Finger has formed its ninth sword intent. I¡¯lle over to the Iron Curtain and kill my way to fame after I be a champion.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded, and Zhao Junhong ced a hand on the former¡¯s shoulder. There was no need for superfluous words between the two brothers.

    Qianye had just returned to ckflow City. He had spent the past two days patrolling the wilderness between ckflow City and Silverflow Fjord. There were no signs of the dark races whatsoever, and there wasn¡¯t anything unusual in the areas enveloped by the Iron Curtain apart from the silence and overactivity of darkness origin power.

    Qianye summoned Song Hu and went up to the city walls to inspect the city defenses. After Wei Bainian¡¯s reconstruction, the strength of ckflow City¡¯s defenses was undoubtedly one of the best among the third and fourth-tier human cities. It was, without any reservations, number one within the Trinity River County, but it would involve a major project if they wanted to upgrade it one more level.

    The core of a medium-sized city¡¯s defensesy in the kic tower and the variousrge defensive weapons attached to it. Any of the two involved steep construction costs and had fairly stringent requirements for technicians and resources. The current Dark me couldn¡¯t afford it at the moment.

    As such, Qianye decided to employ the sea of people strategymonly used in Evernight Continent, conscriptingrge batches of mercenaries and adventurers to fill the gaps in the city defenses. Fortunately, Dark me still had sufficient supplies after devouring the seventh division, but it would be apletely different matter if the dark tide continued for several months.

    Qianye called Song Hu over for a tour of the city defenses. He had nned to let the conscripted mercenaries guard the less important regions. After they had inspected half the city¡¯s defenses, Qianye asked, ¡°How many soldiers have been conscripted?¡±

    ¡°Ove three thousand in total. Any more and our budget might not be able to hold out.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Only three thousand? It might not be enough.¡±

    Qianye still had some rare materials he had brought out from Andruil¡¯s realm and thus didn¡¯t need to worry about military expenses for the time being. But the armies of Evernight had always nurtured soldiers in battle¡ªone would still need to consider the value of the defensive region before deciding the investment. Qianye had learned the truth about the Iron Curtain from Zhao Yuying and understood that this battle would be dangerous. Song Hu, however, wasn¡¯t at the level where he could know of such secrets, hence it was natural for him to have reservations during conscription.

    Qianye pondered for a moment and said, ¡°No matter, a unit will be delivered soon.¡±

    Qianye saw Song Hu¡¯s expression turn a bit unnatural and said with a smile, ¡°Rx, I¡¯m not asking the Seventh Young Master for reinforcements.¡±

    Song Hu immediately turned somewhat awkward. He coughed a couple of times and asked, ¡°So where is the new uniting from?¡±

    There seemed to be no visible danger after the descent of the ck tide, however, the most affected were the people¡¯s hearts. Few among the original residents moved away, but only the boldest of the vagrant hunters and adventurers stayed back¡ªno small number of them flocked toward the hintends¡ªthis caused the formerly ample manpower to be rather scarce.

    Qianye saw that Song Hu was clearly trying to avert the topic after his moment of indiscretion. He didn¡¯t press on with the question and only said, ¡°From the other expeditionary armies within the county. They¡¯ll provide soldiers and military expenses. It¡¯s not a lot, but at least it¡¯ll serve as a supplement.¡±

    ¡°The expeditionary army? It¡¯s already fortunate if they don¡¯t stab us in the back at the critical moment. Why would they reinforce us?¡±

    Qianye replied with augh, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that this is Evernight.¡±

    Evernight wasn¡¯t imperial territory. Apart from a number of massive fortresses, they had no way to dispatch soldiers to reimnd once it had been lost. Presently, no one could clearly say how long the ck tide withst and what would happen during this period. Just like ckflow City, the defensive regions of Evernight were all more or less the private properties of the respective divisionmanders. Should ckflow fail to hold out, the adjacent warzones and cities would be next in line to face the dark race battlefront.

    There were no eternal enemies in the face of profit.

    With that, Qianye continued toward another defensive sector.

    The ce he was going to inspect next was a crucial part of the city defenses, a cannon tower.

    There used to be an old ballista on top of the tower which relied on mechanical force to fire bolts at the enemy. Now, it had been reced with a stronghold cannon. It was a second-hand model ten years behind the ones installed in the empire¡¯s frontline bases, however, it was still countless times more powerful than the ballista which had fallen behind by hundreds of years.

    ckflow City had four stronghold cannons in total. Wei Bainian had utilized the Wei n¡¯s resources to get a hold of them during his time in office. His withdrawal tactics during the great war were also built around these cannons.

    Qianye naturally couldn¡¯t overlook the core of ckflow City¡¯s defenses and had to inspect it personally before he could rest easy. However, he couldn¡¯t help but be rmed when he gazed upon the cannon tower from afar¡ªthere were dozens of people working there, and the outer shell of the stronghold cannon had been unloaded to reveal the machinery within. Moreover, it looked like many of the internalponents had been removed.

    The stronghold cannon was different from ordinary tanks and trucks. Its construction was exceptionallyplex and not something ordinary mechanics could handle, especially since many of its internalponents were sealed together as modules for ease of maintenance. Entire modules would normally be swapped out during repair, allowing them toplete the process in the absence of a high-ranking machinist. The price for this was its great cost since entire modules would need to be switched out even if a smallponent was damaged.

    Qianye looked carefully and found that it wasn¡¯t just a couple of modules that had been removed; some of the modules had even been opened. One had to know that the weapons manufacturers had installed anti-tampering mechanisms in order to prevent imitation. Theponents installed within would bepletely destroyed unless the modules were opened with a special method.

    Now that these modules had been opened, the cannon was as good as scrap.

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits and immediately hopped onto the cannon tower. ¡°Hold on! What are you doing?!¡±

    The technicians on the tform were all those whom he recognized. One of them looked up at him¡ªit was actually Percy!

 Volume 5 - 383: United

    Chapter 383: United [Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    This demonkin master machinist had never made himself useful since he was captured. The most important point was that there was nothing in ckflow City for him to disy his qualities.

    Percy¡¯s daily life here could be considered quite free, but there was always someone keeping an eye on him. He was, after all, a demonkin¡ªhis underlying rank would still afford him impressivebat strength in battle no matter how little he knew about fighting. Now, Percy had actually appeared on the cannon tower and even seemed quite busy. How could Qianye not be astonished?

    He looked around and found that there was indeed a fair number of dark races among the smiths. These people were all familiar faces¡ªthey were those he had captured at the mine.

    A small figure poked its head out of the stronghold cannon¡¯s interior after hearing Qianye¡¯s furious roar¡ªit was Nangong Xiaoniao. She was smeared in grease, and her little face was a mess of white and ck patches. She held a module in her hand which she had just taken down, and judging from thebel, it was the cannon¡¯s core origin array control module.

    Qianye¡¯s brows twitched. ¡°Xiaoniao, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. I saw that these cannons are all very old, and there are also numerous problems with their design. So, I wanted to modify them a bit and upgrade their performance.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s voice became softer and softer. She felt indescribable tension whenever she was standing in front of Qianye. However, her words came as a pleasant surprise to Qianye.

    ¡°It can be upgraded? Isn¡¯t this stronghold cannon a military model?¡±

    ¡°There might not be any room for improvements if it¡¯s the newest model, but this one is already seven to eight decades old.¡±

    ¡°What kind of upgrade are we talking about?¡±

    Xiaoniao¡¯s speech became more fluent while talking about professional matters. She tossed the ck metallic module in her hand and said, ¡°This is the core origin array of this cannon. I¡¯ll design a new array and switch out someponents. This will grant the stronghold cannon an overdrive mode. When required, we can increase its firepower by 50% and firing speed by 20%. But the only problem is that the cannon¡¯s lifespan will decrease.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Then wouldn¡¯t the firing parameters almost rival the empire¡¯s newest models?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only equivalent to the smallest models.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Qianye was delighted.

    A small stronghold cannon was still a stronghold cannon¡ªit was already an overkill to use it in a ce like ckflow City. Nangong Xiaoniao was able to use these oldponents to remodel the stronghold cannon to such a degree. No wonder those old men from Red Scorpion treated her like a treasure.

    Qianye nced at Percy¡¯s group and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on with them?¡±

    ¡°Those technicians under you aren¡¯t very useful. I have to teach them too many basic things and they learn too slow. These fellows are much better, especially Percy. He¡¯s quite smart.¡±

    Percy was immediately furious after hearing this. ¡°What do you mean quite smart? I am a great demonkin born of the Pool of Deep Darkness and known as the metallic wizard!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s expression was one of disdain. ¡°You have the cheek to call yourself a metallic wizard with your level? You¡¯re just trying to swindle people who don¡¯t know better! The demonkin I¡¯ve met before is so much better than you.¡±

    A trace of astonishment shed across Percy¡¯s face. ¡°Better than me? In the field of mechanical design and metals?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Not just these two fields, he¡¯s also so much better than you in origin kics and arrays.

    ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± The excitement on Percy¡¯s face was unsuppressed.

    ¡°Barbarossa.¡±

    ¡°Barbarossa!!!¡± Percy almost jumped up and pounced toward Nangong Xiaoniao.

    Qianye was watching from the side, so how could he let the demonkin seed? East Peak didn¡¯t leave its sheath either¡ªa mere horizontal wave was enough to block Percy¡¯s advance. The sword refused to budge in the slightest no matter how Percy pushed.

    Percy clung unto the heavy sword, stretched his neck forward, and shouted, ¡°Barbarossa is my master¡¯s master, a first-generation of machinist of the great Pool of Deep Darkness! Where is he now? I want to go and meet him!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao was startled and said with some hesitation, ¡°This¡­ won¡¯t be possible. He¡¯s locked up at the Red Scorpion Headquarters, and it¡¯s already been some time. You¡¯ll all be caught without a doubt if you go to Red Scorpion, and you might not necessarily be ced in the adjacent cell.¡±

    Percy¡¯s face immediately dimmed down and let out a sigh only momentster. He erased the thought, returned listlessly to the cannon¡¯s side, and continued his work.

    Qianye stood on the side and watched all of this in silence.

    Percy could ignite a faint ck me in his hand. With it, he could rapidly smelt any type of metal and mold it into the desiredponent. This method was quite simr to Zhao Yuying¡¯s, but Percy was able to produce aparable effect despite his vastly inferior individual strength. There was indeed something original about him; it seemed his name as a metallic wizard wasn¡¯t undeserved.

    Qianye called Nangong Xiaoniao over and asked in a whisper, ¡°How did you make him obey and work? Won¡¯t there be a problem?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao shook her head and said, ¡°There won¡¯t be a problem! I split up the work into many different parts, and everyone is in charge of a small section. It¡¯s easy work for them and it¡¯s not quite possible even if they wanted to y tricks. I do the final inspection and eptance. Moreover, I told them that they will be paid as much as they were on the other side, and that they were free to spend the money as they wished as long as they didn¡¯t leave the city.¡±

    ¡°They¡­ agreed just like that?¡± Qianye felt that it was inconceivable¡ªthe conditions were too simple¡ªhe would¡¯ve dealt with them long ago if these technicians could be settled with money.

    ¡°Why not? Sister Yuying said we can chop up whoever disagrees and feed them to the dogs.¡±

    Qianye was momentarily rendered speechless.

    What Nanong Xiaoniao brought was a delightful surprise. Four stronghold cannons with firepowerparable to the newest models would serve as a big killer weapon. This kind of stronghold cannon was extremely powerful and would even heavily injure a viscount if struck directly. Ordinary heavy cannons simply couldn¡¯tpare.

    Qianye let Nangong Xiaoniao go about her business but transferred a number of high-ranking guards for protection. He then returned to headquarters with Song Hu. He had just sat down in the study when a personal guard entered to deliver a report. ¡°Sire, those from the expeditionary army have arrived.¡±

    ¡°Invite them into the war room.¡± Qianye was apparently in a great mood.

    Waiting in the parlor outside wasn¡¯t just a single person, but a dozen or so people. In addition to the field and dispatch divisions within the Trinity River County, even those from the neighboring counties had dispatched people. Moreover, all of them were high-ranking officers at the rank of colonel and above. Even that brigadier general, the 10th divisionmander of Broken River City, had arrived in person.

    It could be said that all the warzones adjacent to the ckflow City theater had dispatched forces over.

    Qianye invited the guests to take their seats and proceeded to sit down at the main seat himself. He forewent the exchange of conventional greetings and got right to the point. ¡°Everyone arrived at more or less the same time, so I take that you¡¯ve all talked things over amongst yourselves?¡±

    The expeditionary army officers all nced at one another, but it was the brigadier general who spoke, ¡°Commander Qianye, I have a question first. How confident are you in holding ckflow City if the dark races make their way here?¡±

    Qianye lifted his teacup and took a slow sip before putting it down calmly. ¡°This will depend on everyone¡¯s support. ckflow is at the van and will suffer great losses in the war. But as long as everyone supports me well, I¡¯m quite capable of blocking the enemy outside of ckflow City even if a count arrives.¡±

    Everyone was visibly moved. On the dark race side, the total strength of a viscount was roughly equal to an expeditionary army division. A count was a big monster to these divisionmanders who ruled their separatends.

    The officers exchanged nces amongst themselves. They understood that news of Dark me¡¯s western expedition and how they had forcibly seized significant territory and resources from the hands of the arachne count had to be true. Otherwise, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have such confidence.

    These high ranking officers were all important characters from their respective divisions. They weren¡¯t young anymore, and there were even two white-haired men among them¡ªthis was made especially evident since such a young person like Qianye was sitting across from them.

    However, Qianye¡¯s every action was collected¡ªhis speech was mild and contained not a single superfluous word. Were he not sitting before them, these people wouldn¡¯t believe that the person truly in charge of this independent division was only in his twenties.

    This should perhaps be attributed to Song Zining. While the two were chatting about the styles of major characters, he had yfully demonstrated the proper appearance one should have when in a discussion with important people¡ªevery action had to be solemn and dignified. Not only must one speak unhurriedly, but the words should also be rehearsed in the mind before speaking. No mistakes must be made even if one had to speak slower.

    Qianye was currently applying what he had learned. It seemed the results weren¡¯t bad judging from how these expeditionary army officers were listening attentively and pondering in earnest. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s surging origin power and powerful physique came into y after obtaining East Peak. His bearing was now as grave as the mountains, and his every movement possessed a transcendent strength about them.

    At this moment, the expeditionary officers found that the longer they sat in front of Qianye, the more they sensed a vague pressure descending upon them. Moreover, it was growing progressively heavier, and even their breathing no longer felt smooth. The 10th divisionmanderughed wryly in his mind andpletely abandoned what little discontent he had before.

    He had felt that Qianye wasn¡¯t treating him, a general, with proper respect. Even though Dark me was now on equal standing with the 10th division, he felt that he was still slightly above Qianye since thetter wasn¡¯t yet a champion.

    The strong were respected¡ªthat was the empire¡¯s creed from top to bottom.

    The brigadier general let out a cough and said, ¡°We came to help Sire Qianye stabilize the city defenses. It¡¯s just that we¡¯re not yet clear which area you need help with.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly and extended a single finger. ¡°I want one battalion from each party, replete with necessary trucks. That¡¯s all.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other, dumbfounded.

    There were seven or eight divisions here. If each of them forked out a battalion, it would reach a total of three regiments, and Dark me¡¯sbat strength would suddenly increase by half. These units were certain to never return after they had fallen into Qianye¡¯s hands. Moreover, in such a special period, the soldiers delivered would all be from their main force¡ªno one would y tricks here. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be here for an alliance.

    Another colonel coughed with a rueful smile and said, ¡°Sire Qianye, your request is a bit too steep. Reportedly, the empire will be issuing exceptionally high rewards for this battle. It should be more than enough to cover your losses. Would you consider¡­¡±

    Qianye replied with an indifferent smile. ¡°It¡¯s precisely because the rewards are high that you have alle to find me, is it not? Since you¡¯re all so interested in the contribution rewards, then why not go and earn them yourselves? How about that?¡±

    The colonel was instantly at a loss for words. The high rewards indicated greater risk. The imperial military would never act foolishly in this regard. But no matter how high the rewards were, one had to be alive to earn them. It was exactly because of this dangerous signal that the neighboring divisions had sent people to ckflow City, hoping Qianye could withstand the frontline pressure for them.

    The 10th division¡¯s brigadier general pondered for a moment and said while clenching his teeth, ¡°Then one battalion it is! Rest assured, all those delivered will be from the main force.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as theirbat strength and equipment are up to standard. I don¡¯t care about their designations or even their military ranks.¡± Qianye scanned the surroundings and, as expected, saw some peculiar expressions on a number of officers. As veterans, they all understood the meaning behind Qianye¡¯s words.

    There were rebellious soldiers in every division who were capable in battle but failed to gain the favor of their superiors due to their nature. Every time, they would be dispatched to the most dangerous and arduous of missions¡ªQianye wanted such men.

 Volume 5 - 384: The Winds Rise

    Chapter 384: The Winds Rise [V5C91 - A Distance Within Reach]

    An agreement was quickly reached, and the various divisions promised to deliver the troops within a week. This was equivalent to paying Qianye protection fees¡ªthe price seemed high, but it was nothingpared to having their own defensive regions wiped out.

    But the more protection fees Qianye epted, the greater his responsibility became. Everything would be off if he couldn¡¯t halt the dark race¡¯s advance.

    Qianye received a special guest after sending off the group of officers.

    It was a man in his forties. The plump middle-aged man wasn¡¯t very tall and possessed an obviously bulging belly. However, Qianye felt a vague aura of danger emanating from the man when he sat down across from him. This feeling was much stronger than it was with the previous expeditionary army officers.

    The middle-aged man took his seat on the sofa but maintained a cautious, upright posture. His hand, resting on his knees, was subconsciously rubbing his hat. Apparently, he was feeling rather restless, almost like a small merchant who had suddenly met a senior officer.

    Even Qianye had to admire his acting. Had he not clearly seen the person¡¯splex origin power fluctuations with his True Sight, he might¡¯ve been fooled into thinking that this was an ordinary fatty.

    Qianye waved his hand and gestured for Song Hu to leave. Now, only Qianye and the fatty remained in the living room.

    ¡°Just speak directly. No need to act anymore. No matter which family you¡¯re from, you should be an elder at the very least.¡± This also meant that the man before him who had assumed the identity of a little merchant was, in fact, a champion.

    The middle-aged man looked deeply at Qianye; his gaze had suddenly be as sharp as a de. ¡°Sire Qianye has good eyesight indeed. You¡¯ve seen through my identity and still dare to remain alone in the same room. That¡¯s an extraordinary level of insight and courage.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°Actually, this is unrted to courage. I¡¯ve killed a fair number of viscounts and elders in the past. I also n to keep on killing more in the future. I don¡¯t mind killing one more or one less.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression froze momentarily. He suddenly withdrew his imposing manner and restored his friendly fatty demeanor. ¡°Sigh, I¡¯m old now and encumbered by family and career. It¡¯s true that I no longer have the courage to rush and take risks like the youngsters. If it were fifty years ago, I would¡¯ve insisted on receiving pointers from you.¡±

    Qianye only smiled without replying¡ªsuch matters were meaningless in words. Only taking action would prove who was stronger or weaker.

    The middle-aged man took on a serious expression and said, ¡°My surname is Zhou and given name Caiguang, a veteran elder from Lone Ghosts who was just transferred here. Hereafter, I¡¯ll be in charge of business in the six northwestern counties under the expeditionary army¡¯s control. I came over just to call upon Sire Qianye and see if we might have the honor of working for you in the future.¡±

    His words were pleasant and tactful, but in reality, there was no telling what kind of words he would say had Qianye not torn off his disguise immediately.

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose after hearing the name Lone Ghosts. He reached out to pick up his teacup and took a sip before ncing at Zhou Caiguang. ¡°Lone Ghosts? I heard your group has always operated on the Western Continent. So you also have a branch in Evernight?¡±

    Zhou Caiguang replied, ¡°The Western Continent is the Zhao n¡¯s domain, so the Lone Ghosts can only hold so much power. Evernight is the real ce for unlimited development.¡± These few words were enough topletely disy this fatty¡¯s ambitions.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°But there are many other organizations like yours, even some that are bigger. Even Evernight itself has its fair share of such groups, and they¡¯re at least more familiar with they of thend. Why should I choose you?¡±

    Zhou Caiguang replied with a smile, ¡°No matter how Lone Ghosts fare on the Western Continent, it¡¯s a new phase after entering Evernight. The powers you mentioned have been here for a long time, and thus, they might be stronger than us for the time being. But it¡¯s impossible for them to have various types of connections like we do. They might sometimes be convenient for handling matters, but there¡¯ll also be a lot of impedance. So much so that you might not be clear who¡¯s actually standing behind them.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. He hadn¡¯t expected this unassuming fatty to be such a smooth-talker. The various powers in Evernight were tangled andplicated¡ªthe biggest obstacle in the way of cooperation was usually trust between the two parties. That was because, in some fields, profits weren¡¯t everything.

    ¡°We, on the other hand, are different. Lone Ghost is as clean as a newborn baby on Evernight Continent and thus more trustworthy. Your Dark me is fairly powerful, but I heard that it was also just recently established. I believe there are many aspects in which we can cooperate. You¡¯ll know as time goes by that killing isn¡¯t all that Lone Ghost can do. This is also the reason why we chose to visit you first. Additionally, we also prepared something for you. Please take a look.¡±

    With that, Zhou Caiguang produced an envelope and passed it over. Qianye opened it to find a letter of certification inside, and on it were numerous estates listed as coteral. What surprised Qianye most was that the certificate was signed by Wei Potian.

    Zhou Caiguang was watching Qianye attentively and observing his every expression. At this time, he smiled and said, ¡°Please take a look. This should be enough proof of our sincerity. All the estates on the list have been given to the Wei n heir as security. With the rtionship between you and the Wei n heir, you can contact him and take them aspensation should any problem arise in our future cooperation.¡±

    Up to this point, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but admire this fatty¡¯s methods. It seemed Zhou Caiguang still wasn¡¯t aware of the past matters between Qianye and the Lone Ghosts. He was only doing this in order to break new ground with his business. Furthermore, in order to facilitate this, he had intentionally visited Wei Potian and got him to serve as an endorsement of trust. This also meant that Zhou Caiguang had invested some effort to understand Dark me and Qianye¡¯s background.

    Qianye pondered for a moment and inquired, ¡°What can you do for me?¡±

    ¡°We can start from the basics like intelligence for instance. For a set monthly fee, we¡¯ll provide information at regr intervals. I guarantee you¡¯ll see some things that interest you that other people do not.¡±

    Qianyeughed¡ªthis was a tailored service¡ªit seemed Zhaou Caiguang was intent on taking Dark me¡¯s market.

    Zhou Caiguang brought out a thin stack of documents containing only a few pages. The papers were split into numerous columns, namely major world events, imperial movements, and important matters of Evernight. There were over a dozen pieces of information listed at each level, and two of them were even about the movements of the imperial family. Every article was around a hundred words and only contained simple introductions.

    Zhou Caiguang spoke while Qianye was flipping through the papers, ¡°You¡¯ve opened up such prospects at such a young age. Your future will be boundless after you break through to the champion rank, that¡¯s why the things you hold in your hands are absolutely necessary. One must have a broad view in order to do big things.¡±

    Qianye put down the summarized report and said, ¡°These things are a bit too simple.¡±

    Zhou Caiguang said with augh, ¡°This is only an entry level report worth 100 gold coins a month. There are two types of higher level presentations should you require them, but the prices are also different¡ªmore than 10 times the cost. If you have certain areas that interest you, we can also provide an in-depth investigation and report. As for Lone Ghost¡¯s primary line of work, that¡¯s also within the scope of orders we ept.¡±

    The so-called primary line of work was murder. In truth, assassination was Lone Ghost¡¯s actual livelihood. To have used information as his main selling point, this Fatty Zhou was indeed an interesting character.

    Qianye nodded and put down the report in his hand. ¡°That¡¯s good enough. Leave this report with me along with a mode of contact. I¡¯ll contact you when the need arises in the future.¡±

    Zhou Caiguang extended his chubby hand and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s my honor to be able to serve you.¡±

    Qianye reached out to shake Zhou Caiguang¡¯s hand. All of a sudden, he felt a terrifying force from the man that might even crush steel if there were no resistance. It seemed this kind-looking fatty couldn¡¯t resist testing Qianye¡¯s strength in the end.

    Qianye circted origin power throughout his body and abruptly applied force from his hands. Origin power surged out together with the formidable strength of his vampire constitution.

    The sound of rolling thunder echoed throughout the empty living room. Zhou Caiguang¡¯s face turned pale and sweat began to drip down from his forehead as his entire body trembled. The origin power he had attacked with was actually flushed back at him.

    Qianye slowly withdrew his origin power and rxed his grip after seeing Zhou Caiguang couldn¡¯t hold out much longer. The man¡¯s right was swelling up rapidly, and the purple fingerprints upon it were iparably clear.

    Zou Caiguang¡¯s face turned pale from the pain as he tried moving his fingers. He took a deep breath after finding that his fingers were fortunately still able to move. Apparently, Qianye had shown him some mercy by not crushing all of his bones.

    Zhou Caiguang couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly. ¡°Sire Qianye¡¯s strength truly makes one sigh in admiration. Although my skills are rather disappointing, I¡¯ve never ced ordinary rank-ten champions in my eyes. Unexpectedly, I couldn¡¯t evenst a couple of minutes in your hands. Thunder rang out in empty air the moment your origin power stirred. Even among champions, not everyone is at such a level.¡±

    At this point, Zhou Caiguang couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°When do you intend to advance to champion?¡±

    ¡°There''s no rush.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t feel obligated to answer this question.

    Zhou Caiguang also understood that he had spoken inappropriately. He left his contact details with a bow and excused himself.

    In the days that followed, people like Zhou Caiguang visited one after another¡ªthere were all kinds of them, and they came in a never ending stream. This was proof that Dark me¡¯s swift, decisive methods after devouring the seventh division and the sess of their westward campaign were finally showing their effects. They had received the recognition of Evernight¡¯s powers from top to bottom¡ªonly now could their foothold be considered truly stable.

    Among the visitors, there were organizations like Lone Ghost proposing cooperation, and there were also certain aristocratic families and powers with dubious backgrounds looking to develop business in ckflow City. There were even arrogant representatives of minor nobility who looked upon Qianye as though a high-ss person would amoner, and demanded that Qianye switch allegiances. Moreover, they acted as if they were doing him a gargantuan favor.

    Qianye was simply toozy to pay such people any attention at all. He beat them up on the spot and kicked them out of the city. As for cries like ¡°you¡¯ll definitely regret this¡± or ¡°you can¡¯t afford to offend the person behind me¡±, even the Dark me soldiers only treated them as dog barks.

    Once or twice was fine, but simr matters repeated too many times. Only then did Qianye realize that not everyone was well-informed enough to understand the rules.

    Now that he thought about it, he would¡¯ve been entirely ignorant of things outside of the war zone were it not for Song Zining and Zhao Yuying¡¯s channels. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but recall Hunter¡¯s Home from back then. The price for information there was quite expensive rtive to the mission rewards.

    Now, it seemed that Zhou Caiguang¡¯s report was indeed important. At least, he wouldn¡¯t bepletely ignorant of the things happening in the world. The other topic Zhou Caiguang had brought up caused some waves in Qianye¡¯s heart, and he began to seriously consider the possibility of advancing to the champion rank.

    Human champions and dark race viscounts were both a threshold, the doorway separating the upper-ss society and the lower ones. No matter how strong Qianye was or how many champions he had killed, the respect he received would be somewhatcking in meaning unless he broke through to the champion rank.

    The human race¡¯s secret to advancement could be described in a single term: Condense Qi into a Vortex. After origin power had been condensed to a certain level at the nine nodes, they would naturally be a vortex. This would increase their origin power absorption by many times, allow them to draw upon the origin power in the surroundings, and, at the same time, improve their constitution to a certain degree.

    Advancing to the champion rank was a holistic upgrade process. It was a watershed which the difference in strength would be akin to the difference between heaven and earth.

    Even among champions, the size and purity of the origin power vortices would determine how far the person would be able to go. The purer one¡¯s origin power was¡ªthe closer it was to the origin¡ªthe greater his might and potential for advancement. Ordinary champions were only slightly superior to fighters in terms of origin power condensation. That was why geniuses would find ways to suppress their rank and invest great effort into purifying their origin power.

    At the thought of this, Qianye recalled Song Zining¡¯s words about how every major family had their own secret methods to boost in champion advancement. Not only would they greatly increase the chances of an upgrade, but certain top-grade methods were even capable of raising one¡¯s origin power purity by a level.

    The top-grade cultivation chamber Qianye had used back at the Song n was one of them. Its consumption rate was a colossal number to ordinary people. Qianye was somewhat curious as to what the Zhao n¡¯s methods were.

    Now that the Iron Curtain was fully formed and war could break out any moment, Qianye felt the urge to stop suppressing his rank and advance to champion rank. This might perhaps affect his future prospects, but what future would there be if he died in the bloody battle?

    The endless stream of visitors finally died down after a couple of days, and Qianye was allowed some free time to cultivate in peace. Thus, Qianye began preparing for his advancement¡ªall of Dark me¡¯s officers received instructions not to disturb him unless it was extremely urgent. All matters rted to daily operation were handed over to Song Hu and a number of high-ranking officers.

    On the second day of Qianye¡¯s isted cultivation, an unassuming little airship arrived in ckflow City. It appeared fairly mediocre at a nce, but the fact that it was able to arrive in ckflow City through the Iron Curtain spoke volumes of its extraordinary qualities.

    Under the Iron Curtain, not only were thend animals berserk, but the birds in the sky were also in a simr state. Ordinary transport airships had all stopped running, and only those escorted by military airships dared take to the skies.

    After the airship descended onto thending pad, the cabin doors were opened, and thedder was lowered. Out walked an elderly man with clear, handsome facial features and a head of perfectly groomed silver hair.

    He was dressed in in clothes with no decorations whatsoever. However, knowledgeable people would see that the materials and craftsmanship were the work of a master and every detail was wless. His clothes alone might be able to buy several houses in a poor, remote ce like ckflow City.

    There was a handsome young man behind the elder along with a number of followers.

    The old man¡¯s eagle-like gaze swept across the ce as he said indifferently, ¡°So this is ckflow City?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have arrived,¡± the young man beside him replied.

    The old man was nomittal about the cityscape before him and only said, ¡°Since this is the right ce, then let¡¯s go find the young miss first.¡±

 Volume 5 - 385: Injured

    Chapter 385: Injured [V5C92 - A Distance Within Reach]

    A number of Dark me officers in charge of guarding the airship port saw the disembarking group and felt suspicious. A junior officer said, ¡°Why do I feel something¡¯s not quite right with these people? Could it be that they¡¯re from a high-ranking family?¡±

    ¡°They might be aristocracy,¡± said another.

    A certain bearded officer spat out a mouthful of spittle. ¡°Impossible. What kind of aristocratic family would run over to such a ce at this time? We have to fight and die every day here. How could those proud young masters be willing to join in on the action? Moreover, those from the major families have their noses in the air, and they¡¯re usually not even willing to nce at us. These people don¡¯t look the part!¡±

    The only major in the group said, ¡°What are you all babbling about?! Just do your job no matter who they are! Even people from the four major ns must follow the procedures.¡±

    The officers all agreed. One among them said with augh, ¡°We should take it easy if they¡¯re from the Zhao n. Or else, the Young Miss Division Commander¡¯s face will turn ugly.¡±

    The major snorted and said decisively, ¡°Everyone will be treated equally no matter who they are. Besides, why would the Zhao peoplee here? Stop speaking nonsense and get to work! You¡¯ll get three months of sentry duty if you keep goofing off.¡±

    The officer was shocked and waved his hands hurriedly. ¡°Oh no! If I don¡¯t fight for three months, the idleness will be ball-breaking!¡±

    The officers¡¯ little bickering wasn¡¯t very loud. However, the people from the airship were of extraordinary strength and had heard all of it clearly. Their expressions turned rather odd except for the old man who remainedpletely unmoved.

    The petty officer assigned by the major immediately withdrew his sloppy demeanor. He then headed over to the airship with some men and began the routine registration and inspection process. The entire process was carried out strictly in adherence to the rules and without any presumptuous behavior.

    Seeing this, the old man nodded and said, ¡°The soldiers are led fairly well.¡±

    There was an astonished expression on the young man¡¯s countenance for he knew the elder rarely offered praises. Moreover, the major families were governed by strict rules¡ªhow could these ruffian officers be considered good in his eyes?

    As such, Qianye hadn¡¯t even cultivated for two days when he was interrupted by the arrival of an important guest. This Count Yuyang was, at the same time, Duke Yan¡¯s younger brother, definitely an honored guest in every aspect. Moreover, they had used the Zhao n¡¯s name on the visitor''s token, signifying that Count Yuyang was here on behalf of the Zhao n.

    It was just that Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand before entering the living room. Count Yuyang was most likely here for Zhao Yuying, and she was indeed out at the moment, but why would the man insist on seeing him?

    A thin old man was sitting within the room with his eyes lowered. He only looked up to nce at Qianye when thetter stepped through the door. That single nce made Qianye feel as though a bolt of lightning had shed past his eyes. His entire body shook and momentarily lost all perception.

    Qianye was shocked, and his body reacted automatically. His origin power rumbled out like the raging tides and quickly shattered the origin power binding his body.

    Astoundment shed through the old man¡¯s eyes as he nodded. ¡°What a fierce and tyrannical art. Not bad.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. This old man¡¯s strength waspletely unfathomable¡ªa single nce had locked him down on the spot. Although he was able to extricate himself almost immediately, it consumed a good chunk of his origin power. Moreover, a moment of restriction was enough to kill him many times over had they been in an actual fight.

    Solely in terms ofbat strength, Count Yuyang¡¯s title as an honorary count was apparently too unfitting.

    ¡°Combatant Form?¡± the young man behind the elder blurted out in astonishment.

    His eyesight wasn¡¯t weak despite his young age, and he was able to figure out Qianye¡¯s cultivation art with a single nce. However, thebatant form was a famous cannon fodder art. As such, it was extremely powerful against opponents below the champion level, but using it to contend against those above was virtually unheard of, especially against people at the elderly man¡¯s level. This caused the young man to be particrly astonished.

    The old man was still sitting formally as he sized up Qianye from head to toe. ¡°It¡¯s indeed umon to see someone cultivate the Combatant form to this stage. What¡¯s rarer is the purity of your origin power¡ªtruly exceptional.¡±

    Qianye slowly calmed down his origin power and sat down across the old man. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to receive Count Yuyang¡¯s praise.¡±

    Count Yuyang nodded. He then summoned the young man to the front and introduced, ¡°This is Zhao Fenglei, my great nephew. I brought him out this time to broaden his horizons and gain some experience lest he bes too engrossed in cultivation at home and grows to becking in this respect.¡±

    A thought popped up in Qianye¡¯s mind as he recalled the documents he had seen. ¡°Could Brother Fenglei be Duke Yan¡¯s grandson?¡±

    Count Yuyang replied, ¡°Correct, he¡¯s indeed my elder brother¡¯s lineal grandson.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei offered some conventional niceties. Not the slightest fault could be found in his tone, but Qianye¡¯s sharp senses perceived a faint hostility emanating from him, even some killing intent. This bewildered Qianye somewhat because he was quite certain that he had never met Zhao Fenglei before and knew not where he had offended the young man.

    Count Yuyang spoke while Qianye was still puzzling over this matter, ¡°This old man came here to bring word to Duke You¡¯s young miss. The empire has recruited an unprecedented number of rising talents from the major ns for this bloody iron-curtain battle. Our Zhao n also attaches great importance to this fight and Yuying is the leader elected by our council of elders. Her staying in ckflow up until now is proof of how much she cares about you, so this old man was somewhat curious and insisted on meeting you. And, indeed, you did not disappoint me.¡±

    Qianye onlyughed without continuing this topic. Whether in terms of age,bat strength or rank, Count Yuyang wasn¡¯t excessive in ying the part of a senior.

    Count Yuyang pondered for a while and said, ¡°I hope you assist Yuying as much you can in this battle and umte contributions. This old man might as well tell you that the empire¡¯s bounty this time is several times greater than before. Our Zhao n will also arrange separate rewards that are not at all inferior to the empire¡¯s. As long as you umte enough merits, even our Duke Yan Lineage¡¯s secret cultivation arts are on the table.¡±

    Zhao Feni was shocked. ¡°This¡­¡±

    But he immediately stopped speaking when Count Yuyang raised his hand. The young man was apparently quite reverent of this elder.

    Qianye pondered in silence for a moment before saying, ¡°I shall try my best since you think so highly of me.¡±

    Whether it was with the empire or the major ns, bountiful rewards signified greater danger. Judging from Count Yuyang¡¯s words, the Zhao n seemed to have invested quite a bit of power in this battle.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t quite clear as to why the Zhao n would recruit a small mercenary corpsmander like himself since they had already mustered such military power. But he had long since decided on a strategy regarding this Iron Curtain. He had just recently built a small foundation for himself, so how could he sacrifice everything for the Zhao n in exchange for rewards?

    The secret cultivation art, no matter how good, was a matter for the future. The Combatant Form wasn¡¯t inferior to any other art below the champion level. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s condition was special, and his path to the champion-rank was unlikely to be conventional.

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s expression was one of displeasure as he listened to the conversation from one side since the evasive intent in Qianye¡¯s reply was obvious. He wanted to say something but refrained from doing so after ncing at Count Yuyang.

    Count Yuyang, on the other hand, nodded calmly and said, ¡°Since that is the case, this old man will take his leave.¡±

    Qianye stood up to see the visitors out and had just exited the building when a personal guard rushed over with an urgent report. ¡°Sire! Young Miss Zhao has returned with grave injuries!¡±

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°Yuying¡¯s injured?! Where is she? Lead the way immediately.¡±

    Count Yuyang was still beside him. He who had never worn his heart on his sleeves couldn¡¯t help but reveal an astonished expression at this moment. Zhao Fenglei¡¯s expression shifted even more rapidly. Everyone followed the personal guard and hurried toward Zhao Yuying¡¯s residence.

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t lying on the bed when Qianye rushed into the room, but her condition wasn¡¯t necessarily better. She was sitting beside the table with two bottles in front of her, one of which was still unopened. Hearing people enter, she withdrew her hand and looked up.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s face was devoid of color. Although she was wearing her usual nonchnt expression, Qianye, with his sharp eyesight, immediately noticed that her hand under the table was trembling slightly all along.

    She couldn¡¯t even control her own fingers despite her powerful strength¡ªone could easily imagine the severity of her injury. This small maneuver naturally couldn¡¯t evade Count Yuyang¡¯s eyes. The old man¡¯s expression turned rather unsightly.

    Zhao Yuying was startled upon seeing Count Yuyang. ¡°Sixth Grand Uncle, why are you here?¡± The more powerful one was, the greater the danger under the Iron Curtain. Why would an important character of the Duke Yan lineage personally take this risk at such a time?

    Qianye spoke anxiously without waiting for Count Yuyang¡¯s reply, ¡°How are your injuries?¡±

    Zhao Yuying shook her head and said, ¡°It¡¯s no big deal. Such a small injury isn¡¯t a problem for this mom¡ªfor me.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was somewhat more reserved in front of Count Yuyang and quickly withdrew her usual obscenenguage. She said it wasn¡¯t a big deal, but Qianye didn¡¯t believe it at all.

    ¡°Who did this?¡± His words were filled with killing intent.

    ¡°That bastard Nangong Xiaofeng. F*ck! This mommy was chasing down a vampire viscount when that bastardunched a sneak attack. But the little animal didn¡¯t have it easy either. He suffered a fierce blow from my cannon. Damn his grandmother! He made me waste that cannon shell. That¡¯s my entire fortune!¡±

    Zhao Yuying was apparently quite furious. The angrier she was, the less reserved she became, and foulnguage eventually began to gush out from her mouth. Count Yuyang, with his level of self-restraint and upbringing, revealed a great shift in facial expression. Zhao Fenglei waspletely bbergasted and even his body was frozen stiff. Apparently, he had never seen this kind of disposition.

    Qianye, on the other hand, felt somewhat relieved. He would find it abnormal if she wasn¡¯t spewing foulnguage. It seemed the injuries were still under control at the moment since she was so full of spirit.

    ¡°Nangong Xiaofeng?¡± Qianye frowned as he tried to recall if he had ever heard of this name.

    Zhao Yuying sighed. ¡°He¡¯s the number one expert of the Nangong family¡¯s younger generation. In the recent years, he¡¯s even a bit stronger than this mommy here, but that¡¯ll change after a few years!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s because of Xiaoniao¡¯s matter. What else can it be?¡±

    Killing intent surged in Qinaye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Where did you meet him?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was shocked and replied hurriedly, ¡°What are you nning to do? Don¡¯t be rash?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be better to kill him since he¡¯s injured!¡±

    Count Yuyang let out a cough at this moment and said slowly, ¡°This matter isn¡¯t so simple. We mustn¡¯t act rashly. There are strong undercurrents within the empire, and the Nangong family¡¯s tendencies are not clear. It¡¯s exactly a crucial contesting moment. We have to consider the aftermath at length since an inappropriate handling of matters will push them to the other side. Naturally, Yuying¡¯s injury isn¡¯t a small matter. Rest assured, we will definitely make Nangong Yuanbo fork out a satisfactory exnation before we let this slip.¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes. A sanguineous hue ignited within his clear, obsidian pupils as he sneered, ¡°A satisfactory exnation? Yuying has been wounded like this. Only Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s death is a satisfactory answer!¡±

    Zhao Feni couldn¡¯t help butting in, ¡°You want to kill Nangong Xiaofeng when you¡¯re not even a champion yet? He¡¯s not someone you can casually move even if he¡¯s heavily injured. What are you going to fight him with? The Combatant Form? Besides, is the Nangong family someone you can afford to offend if our Zhao n doesn¡¯t take the initiative?¡±

    Qianye turned to re at Zhao Fenglei and suddenly said, ¡°Get lost!¡±

 Volume 5 - 386: Revenge

    Chapter 386: Revenge [V5C93 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Zhao Fenglei was momentarily dumbfounded and simply couldn¡¯t believe his ears. Even though his talents were inferior to the Duke Chengen fourth young master and Zhao Yuying, he was still an excellent character within the Zhao n and also the grandson of Duke Yan¡ªwhen had he ever heard such words?

    He came to only with great difficulty and his face immediately turned red as he shouted, ¡°What did you just say? Say it again?¡±

    Qianye spoke word by word, ¡°I said scram!¡±

    Zhao Fenglei was furious¡ªhis origin power erupted without disguise and formed two vortices around his body. ¡°You¡¯re courting death.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t even spare Zhao Fenglei a nce. He gazed at Count Yuyang and said coldly, ¡°Do you intend to take action inside the room or shall we go out?¡±

    His bearing and tone as he spoke those wordspletely ignored Zhao Fenglei¡¯s existence. Thetter was greatly enraged and pounced toward Qianye with a sh of green origin power. However, Zhao Fenglei had just moved when Count Yuyang ced a hand on his shoulder and pressed him down.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying propped herself up and blocked Qianye. She then turned around and said, ¡°Sixth Grand Uncle, let¡¯s leave this matter here. I wish to rest. I¡¯ll call upon you in a couple of days.¡±

    Count Yuyang nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine too.¡±

    Zhao Yuying hung unto Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Qianye, stay behind. There¡¯s something I need to discuss.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s eyes were almost spewing mes as he stared fixedly at Qianye. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re nning by getting yourself involved with Yuying! If you have guts, don¡¯t learn our Zhao n¡¯s arts. Continue cultivating your Combatant Form until you die!¡±

    Qianye stared coldly at him without a change in expression¡ªan azure light swept through his eyes.

    Count Yuyang said with a frown, ¡°Fenglei, speak less! Let¡¯s go.¡± With that, he turned around and left. Zhao Fenglei wanted to say something but was immediately dragged out.

    Zhao Yuying turned limp after Count Yuyang¡¯s group left and had to cling onto Qianye for support. She said with an unsteady voice, ¡°Help me with the wound, this mommy can¡¯t hold on much longer.¡±

    Qianye broke into a tight frown. He simply picked up Zhao Yuying and walked into the bedroom.

    Zhao Yuying removed her clothes andy face down on the bed. Her wound was on the back close to her ribs. It was only about three fingers wide, and the margins were extremely smooth. Qianye was astonished after a careful inspection¡ªthe wound seemed small, but it was extremely deep and almost reached the other side of the body. Moreover, the external origin power lingering around the opening was extremely sinister. Not only did it remain undispersed around the wound and obstruct its healing, but it was also invading the internal organs continuously.

    Zhao Yuying appeared fine on the surface, but her organs were already badly damaged. The damage wasn¡¯t lethal considering her strength, but she would need to recuperate for at least a month and would be restricted from using her full strength several months afterward.

    Qianye calmed down after observing the wound clearly and inquired once more about how she was injured. It was just as Zhao Yuying had recounted earlier¡ªNangong Xiaofeng hadunched a sneak attack. His strength was slightly above Zhao Yuying in the first ce, so he seeded in heavily wounding Zhao Yuying in a single strike.

    But Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t run away immediately in the face of grave danger and, instead,unched a brazen counterattack. She used up that extremely valuable cannon shell to shatter Nangong Xiaofneg¡¯s protective origin power and simrly injured him.

    ¡°I understand now.¡± With that, Qianye began cleaning Zhao Yuying¡¯s wound.

    Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power was iparably pure, and its effects were extremely evident here. Before long, the lingering origin power around the wound had more or less been dispelled, and Qianye also managed to grasp Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s origin power attribute during this process. However, she would have to slowly clear the remaining bits of origin power that had entered her lungs.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s aura became apparently weaker after this round of torment, but herplexion had taken a turn for the better and was no longer as pale.

    Only at this time did the two of them regain the mood to discuss other matters. Zhao Yuying asked about Qianye¡¯s meeting with Count Yuyang and said, ¡°Qianye, that¡¯s just how the Sixth Grand Uncle is. He only takes action after sufficient nning. This matter, in his eyes, might be an extremely good opportunity with which to force the Nangong family toward our Zhao n. Even if he fails to do so, he¡¯ll definitely make Nangong Yuanbo bleed heavily, and thepensation will be more than enough.¡±

    Qianye sat down beside the bed. ¡°I grew up as a native in the countryside, and I don¡¯t understand the methods of you aristocrats. I only know that since they¡¯ve injured you, don¡¯t even think aboutpensating with money!¡±

    ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t be rash. The Nangong family is not one you can afford to provoke. It¡¯s fine while I¡¯m still here, but I¡¯ll have to leave sooner orter.¡± Zhao Yuying only felt Qianye remove the sheets and hold her in his arms. Zhao Yuying¡¯s weary body rxed in his warm presence, and tiredness finally rolled over her entire being. She could no longer hold on at this point and fell into a deep sleep.

    She suddenly woke up after an unknown period of time. She found that the sky outside the window had turned dark, and the room waspletely empty. Qianye was gone.

    Zhao Yuying was rmed and, for some reason,pletely flustered. She could no longer care about her powerless body and rushed out after putting on her clothes. Two ramrod straight Dark me warriors were standing guard outside the door.

    Zhao Yuying asked immediately, ¡°Where¡¯s Qianye?!¡±

    ¡°Sire Qianye left long ago and only instructed us to keep watch here.¡±

    Zhao Yuying had left even before the guard¡¯s voice had trailed off. She asked everyone she met along the way and finally heard from Song Hu that Qianye had long since left the city on an airship without telling anyone where he had gone. The one he had taken was Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s airship. It was several times faster than normal vessels and was probably already far away at this moment. It was already toote even if Zhao Yuying wanted to chase after him.

    She stood in a daze for a length of time before returning to her residence. There, she brought out a bottle of wine and started drinking slowly, her emotions iparablyplicated.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was standing atop a rocky mountain peak and looking down at a certain courtyard at the foot of the mountain. The manor was extremely big and even had its own perpetual dynamo tower¡ªit was practically a small city.

    Gazing down at the manor below, Qianye thought quietly to himself, ¡°This fatty is quite useful.¡±

    This news couldn¡¯t be considered too hard to obtain, but it was still difficult to bring it out on the spot. Zhou Caiguang had, without a second word, brought out intelligence rted to the Nangong family when Qianye went knocking on his door. Not even a single unnecessary word was spoken. From this, it was clear that he had already done sufficient homework.

    This was the Nangong family''s biggest estate in the Trinity River County. The family only had three or four bases of such scale on Evernight Continent. If Nangong Xiaofeng needed to recuperate, it was very likely that he would be here.

    Qianye drew the Twin Flowers and pressed two ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion into the chamber before holstering them. He then retrieved East Peak from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, strapped it to his back, and ran toward the manor.

    The Iron Curtain hadn¡¯t extended to this ce yet, but it was already quite close. Hence, security in the manor was tight¡ªthere were sentries everywhere, and there were soldiers patrolling the area constantly. Moreover, a fair number of fierce dogs were kept outside of the manor walls to ensure watertight defenses.

    A patrol unit was moving along the external walls of the manor, the originmps in their hands flickering with an exceptional yellow hue against the dark night. A gust of cold air caused them to shiver involuntarily.

    ¡°This ursed weather suddenly turned so cold. Will we even survive?¡±

    ¡°A little chill is fine, but not seeing the sun every day is damn frightening.¡±

    The fully bearded leader snorted, ¡°Enough! Quitining. If there was a choice, who would be willing to be sent to an ursed ce like Evernight? But we¡¯re fortunate that whatchamacallit Iron Curtain hasn¡¯t reached this ce yet. Otherwise, you can all start weeping!¡±

    Someone asked curiously, ¡°What kind of thing is that Iron Curtain? Why is everyone so afraid?¡±

    Another person nced around and, after finding no one nearby, spoke in a whisper, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to intimidate you guys. You might not know, but Sire Xiaofeng just arrived today and now he¡¯s grievously injured! I heard he went into the Iron Curtain. What kind of person is Sire Xiaofeng? Even he was injured, so tell me if that Iron Curtain is scary or not?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expression changed since all of them were external warriors, and it was the first time they had heard about this. Someone asked suddenly, ¡°Has Sire Xiaofeng left?¡±

    The person who revealed the news replied subconsciously, ¡°He still has to recuperate for a couple of days¡ªwait, who are you?!¡±

    The warriors all nced back and discovered that they didn¡¯t recognize the person who had raised the question. In fact, they didn¡¯t even know when this person had appeared behind them. This shocked them out of their wits.

    Qianye swung East Peak without unsheathing it. Powerful origin power tides shot forth like a tsunami and knocked all of them flying. They spat blood through the air and copsed onto the ground.

    Qianye discovered, from their gossip just now, that these people were dispatched from the upper continent. No matter how unfavored they were, each of them was still part of the n¡¯s main force. Such soldiers usually served the family faithfully for generations and would probably fight to the death. As such, Qianye didn¡¯t hold back at all¡ªthe entire unit was killed from the impact of his origin power. Numerous canines in the vicinity heard themotion and charged over toward him, but just as they were about to bark furiously, Qianye shot them a sidelong nce. The dogs immediately lowered themselves to the ground after sensing the blood energy on his body. There, they whimpered continuously and couldn¡¯t even stand up.

    Qianye jumped over the wall but didn¡¯t move covertly the rest of the way. Instead, he charged straight into the courtyard without hiding his presence and shouted with a stern voice, ¡°Nangong Xiaofeng. Get out here! Does the number one genius of the Nangong family only know how to hide like a turtle?¡±

    The manor was stirred within moments, and many people charged out from their rooms. They wanted to see who was bold enough to cause trouble in the Nangong family estate.

    At this time, azy voice rang out from a secluded little building, ¡°Where did this madmane from? Are you so eager to die when you¡¯re not even a champion? Your daddy here is just halfway done with this young girl. What a nuisance! It seems I have to teach you a good lesson to vent my frustrations.¡±

    While speaking, a ghostly figure floated out from one of the second-floor windows and rose against the wind to stand upon a tall eave. It was evident from his unfathomable movements that this person was an expert in assassination.

    Qianye said nothing more. A backpack suddenly appeared in his hand which he tossed toward Nangong Xiaofeng. The bag unraveled in the air and out spilled a dozen or so ck objects¡ªall of them were origin hand grenades!

    ¡°Shit!¡± Nangong Xiaofeng was shocked out of his wits and cursed loudly. His entire body curled up into a ball as he charged into the small building.

    He saw, at a single nce, that the grenades all had vampire style patterns on them. Moreover, the other party was clearly a veteran¡ªalthough the grenades were tossed at the same time, each of them was lit up to a different degree, and the trajectories were somewhat interlocked. Even with his skills, Nangong Xiaofeng didn¡¯t dare attempt to break through the explosive, much less resist forcefully.

 Volume 5 - 387: Heavy Sword

    Chapter 387: Heavy Sword [V5C94 - A Distance Within Reach]

    The ten-odd vampire grenades exploded continuously. The little building at the center of the world-shaking firepower was swiftly leveled, so much so that there wasn¡¯t a single intact building left within several dozen meters of it. Just like that, the back half of the manor went up in smoke.

    A mass of red origin power radiance emerged amidst the explosive aftershock. It epassed a floating human figure within, but the light was flickering like a candle in the wind that might be extinguished at a moment¡¯s notice. Apparently, the heavily wounded Nangong Xiaofeng had managed to forcefully endure the explosion, but his defenses had taken great damage and were on the verge of copse.

    Nangong Xiaofeng had just breathed a sigh of relief when a sense of great danger suddenly arose in his heart. He looked up to find an extremely handsome youth standing atop a nearby broken wall and shing down at him from a distance.

    Madman! That was Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s first thought.

    The young man¡¯s position was also within the range of the origin grenades, and the revolving origin power storm still hadn¡¯t receded at this moment. His body was also full of injuries and apparently wasn¡¯t feeling sofortable either.

    Qianye, however, appearedpletely unaffected. His hands were rock steady as he hacked down with East Peak.

    That sword strike was clearly a dozen or so meters away, but for some reason, Nangong Xiaofeng felt great rm and quickly raised his origin defenses without much thought. However, he soon discovered that his red origin power glow had stopped fluctuating as though space had frozen for a split second. Immediately afterward, there was a sound of cracking ss followed by an explosive shattering.

    The sword intent tore his origin defenses, and after a mere moment¡¯s dy, the bone-prating chill shed onto Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s body. Only at this point did he manage to react¡ªhe realized that his protective origin power had failed topletely nullify the sword strike, and that its remnant energy had managed to cut open his body.

    Seeing that the long wound was continuously increasing in width and depth, Nangong Xiaofeng let out an odd cry as his body erupted with brilliant light. His origin power gushed out like the raging tides and finally broke down the sword intentpletely.

    It was just that he had paid a steep price for this all out move, causing fresh blood to gush out madly from his wound. Moreover, his old injury was also affected. The already healed wound was once again torn open to reveal the pulsating organs within.

    Nangong Xiaofeng felt equal measures of fury and rm. He screamed, ¡°Who are you?!¡±

    The might of this strike was unusually powerful and even drew upon the origin power of the void. Else it would have been impossible for him to have his defenses broken and his body injured despite the grave injuries he had sustained beforehand. Few champions, even among the lineal descendants of top-grade aristocratic families, would be able to utilize such a method.

    Nangong Xiaofeng reached out to grasp his personal weapon. The young man¡¯s origin power hadn¡¯t even formed a vortex when he brandished his sword¡ªapparently, he wasn¡¯t even a champion. However, his ability to hide within the origin explosion andunch an abrupt attack proved that he was no ordinary person. This was likely a top-grade assassin one of the other noble families had sent to target him.

    At this moment, East Peak¡¯s previous strike had stirred the origin power in the vicinity and kicked up great waves in the unsettled origin storm.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t the slightest intention to talk. He stood as unmoving as the mountains and calmly put East Peak away. In a sh, the Mystic Spider Lily and Bloody Datura appeared within his hand andbined into one. Following which, two radiant wings unfurled behind his back as two bullets sted out of the chamber, revolving around each other like the Gemini of Fate and shooting toward Nangong Xiaofeng.

    Those were ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion!

    Nangong Xiaofeng let out a hysterical scream after seeing this. At this distance, he had no chance to perform an evasive maneuver. He curled up into a ball and burst out with a blinding orange radiance, squeezing out hisst bit of potential. At the same time, he did his best to lean toward the side and shift the angle of his front-side.

    Two ck clouds exploded in the air, the darkness especially eye-catching even in the depth of the night¡ªit was as though anything thrown in would be devouredpletely. Afterward, a ball of orange mes ignited amidst the ck mist and didn¡¯t disperse for quite some time.

    Those were the mes of origin power. Unless it burned out on its own, even pouring out entire rivers andkes wouldn¡¯t extinguish it. Even Qianye didn¡¯t dare charge in hastily. After the mes finally died down, Nangong Xiaofeng was already nowhere to be found. Indistinct howls of pain could be heard in the distance, and it was moving farther away at a rapid pace.

    Qianye sighed. Judging from the voice, it was already toote to chase after him. Nangong Xiaofeng was indeed powerful and even such methods couldn¡¯t kill him, but two badly charred limbs could be seen falling through the air, barely recognizable as an arm and a leg. Apparently, Nangong Xiaofeng had also paid a hefty price to block the two ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion.

    Top-grade aristocratic families naturally had secret techniques to regenerate lost limbs. However, disregarding the colossal price, the new limbs would be extremely weak andpletely iparable to the repeatedly tempered main body.

    After being wounded to such a degree, Nangong Xiaofeng would need more than half a year of recuperation. Furthermore, even if he did recover, his strength would see a sharp decline and even his life aplishments might be affected. It was quite likely that the Nangong family¡¯s number one genius had been destroyed.

    Just as Qianye was feeling resentful, a furious roar was heard from behind. ¡°Which bastard dares act so atrociously in the Yishui Nangong Family¡¯s domain?!¡±

    At this time, the shockwaves from the explosion had finally died down. The Nangong family warriors previously suppressed by the origin power storm began to emerge from their hiding ces one by one. Most of them hadn¡¯t seen Qianye¡¯s short exchange with Nangong Xiaofeng and wasn¡¯t clear as to the situation.

    In the wake of this explosive shout, the ruins of a half-copsed house nearby was sted apart and out rushed a man. The man was in his fifties and shrouded in concentrated origin power fluctuations. An origin vortex could be seen clearly as he rose into the air, condensed his power, and assumedbat stance. He was actually a champion.

    In the face of such an opponent, Qianye immediately hurled three origin grenades without further words. The Nangong family champion cried out in rm and dropped rapidly onto the ground. The three origin grenades were of human make, however, the champion wasn¡¯t an exceedingly powerful expert either and would definitely suffer if he received the impact forcefully.

    With his richbat experience, the man managed to adapt swiftly and avoid the brunt of the explosive impact. He had justnded on the ground but, upon looking up, found Qianye charging straight through the explosive mes to arrive above him.

    He was so astonished that he couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. He saw East Peak fly toward him and could only raise his de to block.

    A light screech rang out as East Peak swept past the man¡¯s arm and dagger. Soon afterward, a head was sent flying into the air.

    After killing the champion with a single sh, there was no one else in the manor who couldst one round against Qianye. At this moment, the entire base was in chaos. The origin power fluctuations from the previous explosion had just calmed down when raging mes began to rise.

    Another backpack filled with grenades appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand. All of them were ordinary grenades, but it was a powerful weapon against buildings and ordinary soldiers.

    Rumbles rose and fell in quick session, and after one bag was emptied, there was yet another. The Nangong family¡¯s base which they had built over the years with painstaking efforts thus went up in raging mes. Hundreds of elite soldiers were buried together with the copsing architecture within this infernal sea.

    Nangong family¡¯s northwestern forces on Evernight Continent were thus uprooted. Not to mention the enormous costs involved in rebuilding the base, it would be quite difficult to even find a suitable location and amass sufficient manpower.

    Qianye turned and left¡ªthe sea of raging mes behind him lit up the dark night as though it were day.

    Before long, Qianye had climbed up a nearby mountain peak. He took out his pocket watch and found that there was still some time until the appointed hour. He thus sat down, silently lit up a cigarette, and inhaled deeply.

    He was somewhat regretful about allowing Nangong Xiaofeng to escape, but, in truth, it was almost impossible for Qianye to take down a person like Nangong Xiaofeng at the moment. It wouldn¡¯t have gone so smoothly had he not ambushed the man by staying within the explosion radius.

    There were sure to be some lucky survivors within the base, but Qianye couldn¡¯t bother to kill the little fish one by one. After meeting Nangong Xiofeng face to face like this, the Nangong family would surely discover that it was his doing and soone to exact revenge.

    However, there was no fear in Qianye¡¯s heart¡ªonly a raging, inextinguishable inferno.

    A faint engine sound was heard from the sky as a small airship appeared silently through the night sky. It glided through the sky like a swimming fish and arrived at the mountain peak.

    The airship cabin opened, and a long cable was tossed out. Qianye leaped up, grabbed onto the cable, and hopped into the cabin with a couple of climbing movements.

    In the front cockpit, Nangong Xiaoniao covered her little mouth as she gazed at the zing fire in the distance. She was so shocked that she couldn¡¯t speak for a while.

    Qianye pushed open the door and entered at this point. He then threw himself into the chair, reached for a bottle of strong wine, and took a fierce swig. He poured all the remaining liquor in one go before he felt a little bit better.

    Nangong Xiaoniao asked in a trembling voice, ¡°How did it turn into this? Who were you trying to kill?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°It¡¯s Nangong Xiaofeng that bastard. Unfortunately, he escaped but not before leaving an arm and a leg. The number one character of the Nangong family is probably about to change.¡±

    ¡°What about that burning ce?¡±

    ¡°One of the Nangong family¡¯s bases. I burned it in passing.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao stayed silent for a while, then said in a soft voice, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I brought this trouble.¡±

    Qianye shot her a nce. ¡°Trouble will alwayse knocking. It¡¯s only a matter of more or less.¡±

    ¡°But¡ª¡±

    Qianye stood up, pulled Nangong Xiaoniao over, and said while rubbing her hair furiously, ¡°No buts! Drive the airship quickly! I have to go back for a midnight snack!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao reflexively stood to attention and almost performed a military salute.

    Qianye leaned back into the chair and shook his head with a smile. It seemed only this kind of ordering tone was effective in making her obey.

    The airship turned about nimbly and elerated rapidly with mes spewing out of its back. Soon, it had disappeared into the boundless night.

    During the flight, Nangong Xiaoniao said, ¡°The Nangong family will definitely send their men.¡±

    Qianye was gazing at the swift motion of the mountains and rivers below with his head ced against the cabin window. He said with a faint smile, ¡°We¡¯ll kill everyst one thates. If not today, then tomorrow. If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just give up this estate. But, I must kill until Nangong Yuanbo pulls back.¡±

    Within a certain residence in ckflow City, Count Yuyang was resting with his eyes closed. It was just that he was constantly spinning the teacup in his hand¡ªapparently, he wasn¡¯t as calm as he seemed on the surface.

    Zhao Fenglei approached and sat down across from him. ¡°Sixth Grand Uncle, Sister Yuying has been gravely wounded. This will be quite troublesome. Before we left, grandpa told me that the foreign affairs rted to the bloody battle were only secondary. The most important point was to establish the empire¡¯s might.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Fenglei said with a shrug, ¡°Although I have no idea who we¡¯re trying to impress.¡±

    Count Yuyang opened his eyes and shot Zhao Fenglei a nce. ¡°Elder brother cares deeply about you. It¡¯s also the right time to let you know more things. It¡¯s not just our Zhao n, but the other three major ns and some high-ranking aristocratic families are all of the same thought. This establishment of might is for His Majesty to see.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty?!¡± Zhao Fenglei was astonished. He had never expected there to be such a reason behind things.

    Count Yuyang¡¯s expression was calm and looked as though he had just spoken some insignificant gossip. ¡°Since his ascension to the throne, his Majesty has always enjoyed promoting the young. After many years of experience, the new nobility has also produced many talents.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s expression shifted after hearing this. Since Count Yuyang had pointed them out intentionally, these people weren¡¯t just ordinary young people. Most of the so-called new nobility of the imperial party had no impressive family background to speak of. Even the lineal son of a lower-ranking aristocratic family like Lin Xitang could be considered to have a fairly significant status.

    Count Yuyang added, ¡°Now that there are signs of the empire¡¯s resurgence, His Majesty wishes to follow the example of the Martial Emperor and be a ruler of resurgence. It was just that out of three parts under the heavens, two are in the hands of the ns and aristocratic families. As such, the new nobility is somewhat helpless despite their great ambitions and are naturally unresigned.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei had calmed down at this time. He processed Count Yuyang¡¯s words in his head and then asked carefully, ¡°Could it be that they¡¯re nning a centralization of power?¡±

 Volume 5 - 388: Treatment

    Chapter 388: Treatment [V5C95 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Count Yuyang responded with a ¡°heh¡±, but didn¡¯t reply directly. ¡°The structure of the major ns have alreadysted for three reigns and hundreds of years without any change. The peace has indeedsted too long.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Fenglei realized something. ¡°If his Majesty is indeed intent on shifting the power structure of the imperial court to make space for the new nobility, he¡¯ll surely be paying particr attention to which family he should target.¡± He continued with a vexed tone, ¡°Then this battle is indeed vital. Unfortunately, Sister Yuying has been wounded at such a juncture.¡±

    Count Yuyang replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about the big picture. Yuying is injured, but there won¡¯t be a big change with Jundu around. On the other hand, it¡¯s no longer possible to overwhelm the Zhang n in this battle. Zhang Boqian has also arrived in Evernight. He won¡¯t interfere with the younger generation¡¯s fight, but we can forget about using cheap tricks under his watch. The only way is topete for contributions fair and square.¡±

    With that, Count Yuyang sighed lightly. ¡°It¡¯s just that the Duke Chengen lineage will take all the glory. Do you understand now?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei wore an ashamed expression and said in a grave tone, ¡°It¡¯s all because I¡¯m disappointing.¡±

    Count Yuying shook his head. ¡°No need to undervalue yourself. At least us old bones were also the same at your age. Zhao Yuying¡¯s aptitude is extremely rare, and Zhao Jundu is even more of a heaven¡¯s chosen. It¡¯s very normal to lose to them. It¡¯s just that¡­¡±

    Seeing the count hesitate, Zhao Fenglei couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°It¡¯s just what?¡±

    Count Yuyang shook his head but refrained from speaking more. ¡°You don¡¯t need to know so much yet. Just focus on the battle ahead.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei nodded. Something shed through his mind at this moment. ¡°Great Uncle, I have an idea.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Let¡¯s year it.¡±

    ¡°Sister Yuying¡¯s injury might be a good thing if handled properly. I heard Nangong Xiaofeng has a queer temperament and is absolutely unrestrained in handling matters. Meanwhile, the Yishui Nangong Family has no grudge against our Swallow Cloud Zhao n. Injuring Sister Yuying must be his own decision.¡±

    Count Yuyang responded with an ¡°mm¡±, indicating that he should continue. Zhao Fenglei spoke on, ¡°There¡¯s no doubt at all that the fault in this matter lies with the Nangong family. In the recent years, Nangong Yuanbo isn¡¯t so well-regarded as he seems on the surface. There are a lot of problems both inside the family and in the imperial court. If we exert enough pressure and throw in some benefits, it might not be too difficult to make him yield. At the very least, he can support us in secret. With the Nangong family¡¯s full support, the Zhao n will be able to suppress the Zhang n in this bloody battle. Moreover, our Duke Yan and You lineages will also triumph over the Duke Chengen lineage.¡±

    Count Yuyang nodded slowly and praised, ¡°One must not be controlled by emotions when thinking of the big picture. You¡¯ve matured quite a bit. All this time, I¡¯ve been thinking about how to report the matter of Yuying¡¯s injury to the family. What you said just now are my thoughts exactly. Humph! Nangong Yuanbo can¡¯t refuse.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei took the opportunity to add, ¡°We¡¯ll gain great merit in the n once this matter seeds. At that time, if we canbine our two lineages by marriage, the next n lord¡¯s position¡­ might not fall to another branch.¡±

    Count Yuyang shot Zhao Fenglei a nce. Seeing his great-nephew''s eyes filled with passion, he couldn¡¯t help but sneer, ¡°The idea isn¡¯t bad, but the probability of sess isn¡¯t looking good. You can¡¯t tame Yuying. At that time, who will be the master and who will be the deputy?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei lowered his gaze and said, ¡°I¡¯m very sincere in my fondness for Sister Yuying. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll eventually understand this in the long years following our marriage. Besides,bat strength doesn¡¯t necessarily decide how suitable one is for the Zhao n lord¡¯s position; take Duke Chengen for instance¡­ I¡¯m sure the elders understand this very clearly, right?¡±

    Count Yuyang disapproved of this initially, but he soon revealed an expression of contemtion and proceeded to close his eyes in silence. There was also another reason¡ªZhao Fenglei hadn¡¯t spoken it out loud, but both of them knew what it was. Presently, the Yan and You lineages appeared quite close since they were in the same situation, but in terms of bloodline, the Duke You lineage was much closer to the Duke Chengen lineage. That was Duke Yan¡¯s true concern. So, any path that would solidify the Yan-You alliance was worth walking.

    Momentster, Count Yuyang said, ¡°That¡¯s fine too. It¡¯s not necessarily impossible to achieve.¡±

    Delight appeared on Zhao Fenglei¡¯s countenance. ¡°Then I¡¯ll contact the Nangong family immediately. We must make Nangong Yuanbo submit!¡±

    Count Yuyang nodded. ¡°Go then.¡± He was actually the one in charge, but he allowed Zhao Fenglei free reign since the purpose of this trip was for the younger generation to gain experience.

    It was at this time that hurried footsteps were heard in the hallway. Someone knocked lightly on the door and said, ¡°Urgent report!¡±

    Zhao Fenglei recognized the voice of his trusted aide and walked over to open the door. He received the short note and only scanned it once before crying out involuntarily, ¡°The Nangong family¡¯s base of operations was destroyed? Nangong Xiaofeng escaped with grievous injuries and his fate is unknown?! What¡¯s going on?¡±

    This news came too suddenly. Even the calm Count Yuyang sprang up from his seat in astonishment.

    Although he hadn¡¯te to a decision on how to handle the matter of Zhao Yuying¡¯s ident, the meticulous Count Yuyang had issued a secret order to the nearby Zhao n branches and affiliated organizations, instructing them to keep an eye on the Nangong family estates and search for Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s whereabouts. He had never expected such a quick reply, and it was such a shocking news too.

    Zhao Fenglei looked toward Count Yuyang and suddenly said, ¡°Could it be Sister Yuying¡¯s doing? It¡¯s too much of a coincidence otherwise.¡±

    Count Yuyang frowned in silence. He was certain that Zhao Yuying¡¯s injuries at this moment were very severe, and that it was impossible for her to do battle in the short term.

    Zhao Fenglei suddenly recalled something and said in a thoughtful manner, ¡°Could it be that Qianye?¡± But he shook his head immediately afterward. ¡°How can someone who¡¯s not even a champion pull this off?¡±

    Count Yuyang paced around the room for a couple of times and muttered, ¡°You go and check on Yuying and try to sound her out. Her injuries are grave, and it¡¯s unlikely for her to be so willful.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei also recalled this matter¡ªthere would be severe after effects if Zhao Yuying were to suppress her injuries with a secret art in order to go and exact revenge. He felt rather worried about all this. He instructed his aide to summon the messenger and, after asking him a few questions, hurried toward the Dark me base.

    It was already deep into the night at this moment, but the lights were still on in one of the rooms within a small building at the back.

    Qianye was naked on the bed with only a towel around his waist, and the room was suffused with the intense smell of medicine. Meanwhile, Nangong Xiaoniao and Zhao Yuying were standing on each side and dressing his wounds.

    Qianye quietly returned to ckflow City with Nangong Xiaoniao and fell into a deep sleep as soon as he arrived.

    He had twice charged forcefully into the grenade¡¯s explosive range in an effort tounch a surprise attack and kill the enemy in one strike. In truth, he had also paid a steep price for this, and his body was covered in dozens of wounds from head to toe. The shrapnels in some of them had already reached his internal organs. Fortunately, Wei Potian¡¯s chestguard served to protect the vitals in his chest, and there was no lethal damage despite the multitude of injuries.

    That Nirvanic Red and the shot from the Twin Flowers also consumed a great deal. Add to that the two instances of recoil from Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s all-out defense, Qianye had umted a fair amount of internal and external damage. His daybreak origin power and blood energy had all bottomed out, and it was already quite the ordeal for him to hold on until he got back.

    It was just that there was a bit of Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s origin power left in his body, and it would require an expert to remove it. Neither seventeen nor Nangong Xiaoniao could do it. Qianye wanted to use stimnts to recover some origin power and then clear it out himself but received a bout of serious scolding after being discovered by Zhao Yuying. There were side effects to any type of medicine that served to rapidly recover origin power. They had no choice on the battlefield, but doing such a thing during recovery was, ording to Zhao Yuying, courting a slow death.

    In the end, Zhao Yuying took action personally and cleared out Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s origin power. Next up was to clean the wounds, remove the shrapnels, and dress it. Since it was such a slow and painful process, Zhao Yuying gave Qianye a special medicine for his injuries. It was just that he would be restricted from using his origin power for one day.

    Zhao Yuying and Nangong Xiaoniao treated Qianye with entirely different attitudes¡ªthetter was extremely meticulous and took half a day to clean one wound, meanwhile, Zhao Yuying worked quickly and ruthlessly while spewing out a stream of profanities. Sometimes when she was angry, she would even push the shrapnel in before pulling it out.

    No matter how harsh Zhao Yuying treated him, Qianye only smiled. He would only reply once in a while, ¡°How can I tolerate such a matter?¡±

    Zhao Yuying red until her eyes turned round and roared, ¡°This mommy hasn¡¯t evenined yet. When is it your turn to find it intolerable? No need to rush even if you want to die so badly. You must return the money you owe me first.¡±

    ¡°When did I ever owe you money?¡± Qianye was baffled. He had already dispatched her fair share. On the contrary, it was Zhao Yuying who kept putting things on his tab during her stay at Dark me. After detailed calctions, it should be her who owed Qianye.

    ¡°Anyway, you owe this mommy here! Dammit, you dare talk back after being wounded so badly!¡±

    With that, Zhao Yuying was so furious that she picked up a ratherrge piece of shrapnel and proceeded to jab Qianye¡¯s shoulder with it. She soon found that the sensation wasn¡¯t quite right as the shrapnel connected. Zhao Yuying was startled to find that Nangong Xiaoniao had reached her hand out to cover Qianye¡¯s body. The shrapnel pierced into the back of her hand and fresh blood flowed out immediately.

    ¡°Xiaoniao, you!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s so injured already! He mustn¡¯t be wounded anymore!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s eyes were red, and it seemed tears would fall at any moment.

    Zhao Yuying was momentarily speechless. ¡°How is this a wound? Don¡¯t be fooled by his listless appearance. All of them are just superficial injuries. He¡¯ll be up and about in three days at most. Besides, this guy courted disaster by jumping into the origin grenade explosion for no reason and even fought until he waspletely drained of origin power. He deserves it!¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re so heavy-handed!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was almost shouting.

    Zhao Yuying put her palm to her face and sighed. ¡°It¡¯ll scratch his skin at most. This fellow looks tender, but his skin is even thicker than a wild boar. Ordinary people can¡¯t cut him even with a knife. Do you think he¡¯s the same as you? Xiaoniao, you¡ª¡±

    Nangong Xianiao red at Zhao Yuying angrily and was almost resting on top of Qianye¡¯s body. She refused to let Zhao Yuying touch Qianye no matter what she said. Zhao Yuying could no longer endure. She pped Qianye¡¯s buttocks and said, ¡°Qianye! Stop ying dead and exin things to her!¡±

    Qianye let out an extremely awkward cough. ¡°It¡¯s like this. Xiaoniao, Sister Yuying is only trying to clear away the necrotic flesh in my wound and teach me a lesson in passing.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao produced an ¡°Ah¡± as her face turned red.

    At this time, a mor arose from outside the door, followed by Seventeen¡¯s scream. ¡°You can¡¯t go in!¡±

    ¡°Scram!¡±

    Seventeen cried out in pain, followed by a muffled groan and then silence.

    The door was kicked open with a bang, and in walked Zhao Fenglei. His gaze was so fierce that his eyes were about tocerate, but heughed instead of showing anger. ¡°Sister Yuying, it¡¯s already sote, but you too seem to be in quite the mood. What a cheerful scene of romance!¡±

 Volume 5 - 389: Hatred

    Chapter 389: Hatred [V5C96 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression sank precipitously. ¡°Which eye of yours saw this mommy here indulging in romance? This mommy is treating injuries. Are you blind? Can you not see?¡±

    ¡°Treating injuries? Could it be that there¡¯s not a single doctor in this city? Howe a stately young miss has to do such work?¡± Zhao Fenglei let out a sinisterugh. ¡°Very well, let me see where this brat¡¯s wounds are!¡±

    With that, Zhao Feni charged in and grabbed at Qianye¡¯s back. A metallic origin power glow emerged on his five fingers apanied by the faint sound of a sharp weapon tearing through the air. It was evident that the might of this blow, if struck, was enough to punch a hole through steel armor.

    ¡°You dare?!¡± Zhao Yuying swung her hand furiously. However, she hadn¡¯t recovered from her heavy injuries and was extremely weak after forcing herself to clear the origin power in Qianye¡¯s wounds. Zhao Fenglei raised his left hand and pushed her away with an origin power barrier.

    Nangong Xiaoniao screamed and stood in front of Qianye¡¯s bed.

    ¡°Scram!¡± Zhao Fenglei¡¯s backhand pnded on Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face. The mes of his fury had been thoroughly ignited, and his attacks were extremely ruthless. She was immediately whipped flying and crashed heavily into the wall. Fresh blood flowed out immediately.

    Qianye had already shot up on the bed, but he couldn¡¯t activate his origin power as the effects of the medicine hadn¡¯t yet receded. Thus, he was a step too slow and failed to pull Nangong Xiaoniao away. He only made it in time to block Zhao Fenglei¡¯s w.

    Two origin power vortices lit up on Zhao Fenglei¡¯s body as he clenched his w into a fist and smashed out. Qianye was immediately flung backward with a muffled groan and copsed half the dividing wall amidst a loud boom.

    Zhao Fenglei was also somewhat surprised at how easy he had seeded. He sneered, ¡°I was wondering just how powerful you were. So it turns out you¡¯re just a useless trash who cultivates the Combatant Form!¡±

    He nced over to see Qianye¡¯s naked body and immediately confirmed all kinds of ideas. The me obstructing his chest burned even brighter and turned his eyes red. He kicked away the pile of stone fragments in front, took a step forward, and once again wed toward Qianye¡¯s heart.

    Hurried sounds came through from outside the door apanied by a shrill rm. The Dark me warriors outside had noticed something was wrong. Two soldiers with origin assault rifles rushed in and, seeing the situation within the room, raised their guns to fire¡ªthe origin arrays on the weapons lit up rapidly.

    Zhao Fenglei let out a cold snort. ¡°Mere insects dare interfere?¡± He stopped and pulled back all of a sudden, crashing into the two warriors at lightning speed.

    Following the dull sound of impact, the two soldiers were sent flying while coughing up blood mid-air. Their chests had caved in. Immediately afterward, two small balls of me lit up¡ªit was the explosion of the origin power guns that had been interrupted mid-charge and struck with great force.

    At this time, several soldiers rushed in and pounced toward Zhao Fenglei without a care for their lives. However, they were all killed without much effort. The difference in strength between them was too great, and their suicidal attacks failed to impede Zhao Fenglei in the slightest.

    Zhao Fenglei frowned. He had just killed off an entire small patrol squad. These people fought to the end even under an obvious disparity in strength and not one ran away.

    Zhao Fenglei turned back and saw that Qianye had finally mbered up near the wall and was supporting himself on a nearby table leg. It seemed he would copse again at any moment.

    Qianye¡¯s obsidian eyes had turned an azure blue, much like the ocean before a storm. An intense dark red color was shing in its midst, akin to the blood of the soldiers within and outside of the room. His heart was beating slower than ever before, but the three blood energies were agitated and waiting for the moment of Zhao Fenglei¡¯s approach.

    His blood energy had erupted, prepared for the final technique of detonating his blood energy and dying together with the enemy. Qianye knew not if his pure blood energy was enough to contend with a rank-eleven champion, but the answer would soon be evident.

    The metallic origin power on Zhao Fenglei¡¯s hands was so dense that it was almost tangible and emitting a frosty luster. He was just about to cross over the shattered wall when a chill rose from behind his back that gave him some pause.

    Afterward, he heard Zhao Yuying¡¯s scream, ¡°Zhao Fenglei! If you dare touch him today, I will team up with Zhao Jundu to kill you tomorrow!¡±

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s body trembled as he nced back. He could hardly believe that Zhao Yuying was threatening him like so. ¡°You¡¯ll kill me? And even team up with Zhao Jundu? I¡¯m the lineal son of Duke Yan. Duke You won¡¯t allow you to do so!¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed loudly. ¡°At that time, you¡¯ll already be dead. What can grandpa do to me? This mommy will at most be confined for ten years or sent to a border region to fight to my heart¡¯s content.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei said fiercely, ¡°Why would Zhao Jundu help you? He won¡¯t have an easy time either after harming someone from the same n.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s voice turned cold. ¡°Qianye is the one Zhao Jundu wants to bring into Ketu Secondary Residence. If you dare attack him today, this mommy will make you regret being born into this world unless you can hide inside the Duke Yan residence without evering out again!¡±

    Zhao Fenglei was shocked and only red at Zhao Yuying with a fluctuating expression. He didn¡¯t know whether he should believe this or not. He had indeed heard about how Zhao Jundu had caused a ruckus in trying to bring someone into his residence, but he had never connected the dots until today. Now that he thought about it, there must¡¯ve been a reason why Zhao Yuying had run over to Evernight to stay with this unknown rural mercenary leader.

    Zhao Yuying added with a cold smile, ¡°As for Zhao Jundu, what can ever happen to him? You think too highly of yourself. Nothing will happen to him at all, at most, a couple of days of reflection.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s countenance immediately turned ugly.

    Although Zhao Yuying¡¯s strength was higher than his at the moment, the lineal grandson of Duke Yan was slightly higher in position than the lineal granddaughter of Duke You. However, the same couldn¡¯t be said for Zhao Jundu¡ªhe was the number one genius in the 300 years of Zhao n history. Moreover, he had the potential to be the empire¡¯s number one character after Zhang Boqian.

    Such a person would definitely receive Duke Chengen¡¯s greatest protection even if he killed Zhao Fenglei. Even many elders within the n would stand on his side. Why would they hurt the n¡¯s pir with which they could climb into the skies for a dead person? This was the general train of thought in major ns and aristocratic families.

    It was simr to Nangong Xiaofeng injuring Zhao Yuying. The damaged had already been done, so instead of demanding blood, why not simply im even more benefits aspensation. Individual sacrifices were nothingpared to the benefit of the n.

    Zhao Fenglei was making such a rational n just a while ago, but this very principle had fallen onto his head in the blink of an eye. What surprised him was that this feeling was exceptionally sorrowful.

    ¡°Won¡¯t that mean Zhao Jundu can kill anyone he wants?¡± Zhao Fenglei guffawed, but hisughter was brought to a sudden halt by Zhao Yuying¡¯s cold gaze filled with killing intent.

    Zhao Jundu was indeed capable of killing anyone he wanted, and even the lineal grandson of Duke Yan was no exception. In truth, Zhao Fenglei was also able to do the same to anyone who wasn¡¯t royalty or nobility.

    Naturally, Zhao Jundu would be restricted by the n after killing someone of Zhao Fenglei¡¯s status, and the empire wouldn¡¯t allow him to act wantonly either. But the problem was that the first victim would¡¯ve died for nothing and Zhao Fenglei didn¡¯t want to be the first.

    He clenched his teeth and said, ¡°Fine, you¡¯re capable! You even allied yourself with the Duke Chengen lineage for a country boy. I want to see how you¡¯ll exin this to Duke You.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my problem. None of your business!¡±

    Zhao Fenglei took a deep breath. ¡°Yuying, you¡¯ll be my woman sooner orter. This is something already finalized by our grandparents.¡±

    Zhao Yuying spat disdainfully and said, ¡°Unless all the men in the world are dead!¡±

    Zhao Fenlei turned to re at Qianye and said, ¡°It seems you¡¯re not fated to die today.¡±

    Qianye had been standing at his original ce all this time and gazing at him as though he were observing a dead man. The gaze caused Zhao Fenglei to feel uneasy all over and he couldn¡¯t help but shout, ¡°What expression is that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my expression when I look at a dead man,¡± Qianye replied calmly. He hung onto a nearby object and slowly mbered up.

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s eyes were filled with anger. He wanted to kill this bastard regardless, but a bone-deep chill shed through his heart. Qianye was quite unsteady as he stood up and seemed as though he would copse at any moment. But Zhao Fenglei perceived the illusion of an injured beast baring its fangs.

    Zhao Fenglei had wanted to say something when footsteps were heard from the hallway apanied by slight buzzing sounds of charging origin guns. Without a second word, he smashed through the window behind him and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

    The group of dark me officers and soldiers rushed in.

    Qianye changed into his clothes with the help of two personal guards and, without a single word, went to inspect Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s injuries. Half of her face had swollen up, and her nose and mouth were full of fresh blood. But she was only struck because of the anxiety andck ofbat experience; her own origin power wasn¡¯t that weak. She managed to block most of the damaging impact and received only flesh wounds.

    After putting Nangong Xiaoniao down, Qianye found Seventeen in the hallway outside. Her head was bent in an unnatural position as though she had fallen asleep. However, there was a ghastly trace of blood snaking down from the wall behind her.

    Although he had already expected this, Qianye still extended his hand toward her nose.

    There was no longer any breathing.

    Qianye¡¯s hands trembled slightly. Although Lil¡¯ Seven, Nine, and Seventeen were all ves in the beginning, Qianye had always treated them as friends. Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine had been transferred to military duties and could already shoulder heavy responsibilities. Seventeen cameter and thus stayed near Qianye to take care of his clothes, food, and everyday life like a thoughtful little maid.

    The patrol unit that had charged had been wiped outpletely, and their remains had been gathered to one side by their colleagues. Qianye still went over to check on them one by one, however, miracles were called miracles because they rarely ever happened.

    There was mor outside the room. After finding that Qianye was safe, the Dark me officers reassembled their forces to search the base and reestablish defenses. A series of orders and footsteps could be heard continuously therein. Inside the room, however, everything was deathly still.

    Qianye walked to the bed, picked up his clothes, and started wearing it piece by piece. However, Zhao Yuying caught him.

    ¡°Lie down immediately and finish the treatment. Xiaoniao, take care of him and don¡¯t let him leave until the wound has been dressed. I¡¯ll take care of things outside!¡±

    Qianye wanted to struggle free, but Zhao Yuying lifted him up and pressed him down on the bed. She then said word by word, ¡°You can fight tomorrow if the injuries are properly treated. If you¡¯re not willing to spend one hour, then it¡¯ll take a week! Understand?¡±

    Qianye nced up buty down obediently with a sigh after seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s bright gaze.

    Zhao Yuying spoke no more. She exited the room inrge strides and shut the door in passing. Momentster, a ring marshaling call rang out in the Dark me base as squads of soldiers rushed out and assembled on the drill grounds.

    Zhao Yuying jumped onto the jeep and rushed out of the barracks with numerous transport vehicles carrying hundreds of warriors behind her. Even more soldiers rushed out of the base and toward the various strategic points. In the blink of an eye, the defenses of the entire ckflow City had been raised to the highest level.

    Zhao Yuying circled the city once in her jeep before driving toward Count Yuyang¡¯s courtyard. The courtyard door opened just as she jumped off the vehicle, and from it emerged a guard who bowed toward Zhao Yuying and said respectfully, ¡°Young miss, the master has been waiting for you.¡±

 Volume 5 - 390: Unyielding

    Chapter 390: Unyielding [V5C97 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 97: Unyielding

    Zhao Yuying nodded and turned to instruct the Dark me warriors, ¡°Wait for me here.¡± She then followed the guard into the courtyard on her own.

    The area inside and outside of the courtyard were two different worlds. The decorations within were beautiful and refined. Count Yuyang was standing there with his hands behind his back and admiring an ink-ssh mountain and river painting. If the owner of this courtyard were present, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to recognize his own residence. The ability topletely change one¡¯s surroundings without missing a single detail was indeed the style of a major n.

    Zhao Yuying entered the room and said, ¡°Sixth Grand Uncle seems to be rather spirited.¡±

    There was undisguisable anger in her voice. Count Yuyang didn¡¯t turn around and only replied calmly, ¡°You¡¯re still unable to control yourself. Brother Xuanji might be disappointed to see you like this.¡±

    Zhao Yuying no longer maintained her bearing and reverted to her usual style. ¡°There was never an aspect of me that has satisfied him before. Where¡¯s Zhao Fenglei that bastard? Tell him to get out here and meet me!¡±

    Count Yuyang turned around and said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯ve sent him away. He should¡¯ve left the war-zone by now. Moreover, you shouldn''t use those words just now on Fenglei. If it were made known, my two elder brothers won¡¯t be happy.¡±

    Zhao Yuying snorted heavily and said coldly, ¡°Fine, then I won¡¯t curse at that bastard anymore. But Sixth Uncle, is today¡¯s matter your idea or did he do it of his own volition?¡±

    Count Yuying frowned after seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s hands crossed in front of her chest in a tyrannical manner. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about what happened. Fenglei was indeed too impetuous. But what¡¯s so serious about killing a few lowlifes? Your words back then, on the contrary, were out of ce. Do you know what consequences will follow if it were to be spread?¡±

    Zhao Yuying sneered. ¡°Did Zhao Fenglei not tell you he wanted to kill Qianye?¡±

    Count Yuying responded with a question of his own, ¡°Was it Qianye who raided the Nangong family¡¯s base of operationsst night?¡±

    Zhao Yuying nodded. ¡°I had him do it. What about it?¡±

    A wisp of fury shed across Count Yuyang¡¯s face. ¡°How willful! Your moment of impetuousness has caused the big picture to deteriorate to such a state! Originally, we could¡¯ve used your injury to make the Nangong family submit and stand with the Zhao n. Now, it¡¯s troublesome. What good does killing some insignificant private soldiers do apart from venting anger? Now, the Nangong family will lean toward our enemies. Think about the merits and demerits in this!¡±

    ¡°Zhao Fenglei even wanted to kill Qianye back then. What are the pros and cons of that?¡±

    Count Yuyang¡¯s expression eased slightly and said, ¡°It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know Fenglei¡¯s feelings. He¡¯s already reached a state of madness. It¡¯s unavoidable that he¡¯ll be impulsive after witnessing such a scene. Moreover, although Qianye is talented, he¡¯s still an ordinary civilian. His identity remains the same even if Jundu brings him into his residence. There¡¯s no way he canpare to Fenglei. Even if Qianye really does enter our Zhao n, he must follow the rules. Even Jundu can¡¯t ignore this logic.¡±

    ¡°Qianye, he¡­¡± Zhao Yuying stopped her words at this point.

    She was very clear that Zhao Fenglei held back in the end, not because of her threat, but because he feared Zhao Jundu. Zhao Jundu had caused quite amotion in an attempt to bring this person into his residence and was reportedly going to recognize him as an adopted brother. If Zhao Fenglei had killed this person outside without any reason, the enmity would be serious. In the end, Qianye¡¯s life wasn¡¯t as important to Zhao Fenglei as Zhao Jundu¡¯s face.

    The difference in identity was a deep chasm. This was the same even if Qianye became a Zhao n member in the future. The meaning in Count Yuyang¡¯s words was clear. It wouldn¡¯t be a big deal even if Zhao Fenglei killed Qianye in the future.

    Zhao Yuying said coldly, ¡°This means that Sixth Uncle is intent on siding with him to the end?¡±

    Count Yuyang was enraged. ¡°What kind of words are those?! This old man has always prioritized the Zhao n. Fenglei made a small mistake, but you lot have destroyed the big picture. The results will be the same even if we bring this matter to the council of elders.¡±

    Count Yuyang was observing Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression while speaking. In the eyes of various elders of the Duke Yan lineage, Zhao Yuying¡¯s temperament wasn¡¯t at all suited to be the mistress of a major family. Duke You, however, had no other lineal granddaughters of a suitable age. This discussion had dragged on all this time simply because they needed to bridge the five-degree gap in bloodline between the two lineages, breed talents for the next generation, and because of Zhao Fenglei¡¯s own determination.

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s heart was in turmoil and likely failed to discover it, but after hearing that Qianye was the person Zhao Jundu wanted to bring into his residence, Count Yuyang immediately sensed that Zhao Fenglei might have been mistaken about certain matters. It was likely that Zhao Jundu wanted to interfere with Zhao Yuying¡¯s wedding to weaken the alliance between the two branches, but that person probably wasn¡¯t Qianye¡ªthetter was, after all, unqualified even if he did enter the Zhao n in the future.

    What then was the reason for Zhao Yuying¡¯s unusual concern about Qianye? Perhaps he should investigate the lord of this small frontier city in detail.

    While Count Yuyang was pondering thus, Zhao Yuying suddenly sneered. ¡°You take my life and exchange it for your branch¡¯s merit. What a good n! I didn¡¯t bring any men from the Dark me independent division when I went out hunting this time, so how did Nangong Xiaofeng know my whereabouts so clearly? I must make this matter clear with my grandfather.¡±

    Count Yuang was finally moved and said anxiously, ¡°Our Yan and You branches are like one family. Yuying! You can¡¯t speak wantonly like this!¡±

    ¡°How I wish to speak is my business. And tell Zhao Fenglei to give it up! It won¡¯t be his turn to touch my finger even if I have a hundred or even a thousand men!¡±

    ¡°You!!!¡± The calm Count Yuyang was momentarily at a loss for words.

    Zhao Yuying spoke no more and left the small courtyard. On her way out, she broke through the courtyard gates with a loud bang.

    Count Yuyang sat alone in the room and sighed deeply after a good while.

    By the time Zhao Yuying returned to Dark me headquarters, Qianye¡¯s wounds had already been dressed. It was already dawn, but he was maintaining the Twin Flowers instead of resting.

    Qianye was calm and focused as though nothing had happened before. However, this made Zhao Yuying¡¯s heart tremble. How could she not know his temperament after interacting with him for so long? The calmer he was, the more he took the matter to heart.

    ¡°You¡¯re back?¡± Qianye looked up after hearing the door.

    ¡°Zhao Fenglei has run away, and I just had a rather tense discussion with Sixth Granduncle,¡± Zhao Yuyang said openly. Afterward, her countenance flushed red as she began to cough violently as frothy blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth.

    Her injuries were even more serious than Qianye had expected. It wasn¡¯t obvious when she was moving about as normal, but the torment of this journey had overstressed her internal organs.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Sit down and rest for a while. Your internal wounds require a period of convalescence.¡± Following which, his voice turned cold, ¡°Let Zhao Fenglei run. The days that follow are long. We¡¯ll definitely meet again unless he hides in the Duke Yan manor without evering back out.¡±

    Zhao Yuying threw herself into the sofa and said with a depressed tone, ¡°Zhao Fenglei is different from Nangong Xiaofeng. What he did is insignificant in the eyes of those old men.¡±

    ¡°I know. It¡¯s a small matter even if I had died.¡±

    ¡°No! You¡¯re not the same.¡± Zhao Yuying found that she couldn¡¯t continue her words. Qianye was naturally important to both her and Zhao Jundu, but his life and death was also a small matter to the Zhao n as a whole. Even if Qianye¡¯s status as a bastard of the Duke Chengen lineage was restored, he would only be one among the tens of thousands of young scions.

    At the thought of this, Zhao Yuying smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯ve already provoked the Nangong family. You can¡¯t afford to offend Duke Yan.¡±

    Qianye only smiled and said calmly, ¡°What¡¯s one more to me? If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just give Dark me to Zining and hide away into the wilderness. I¡¯ll just treat it as tempering myself, but they can forget about sleeping soundly as long as I¡¯m alive.¡±

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t know what to say. She said softly after a while, ¡°Zhao Jundu will be taking part in this battle. Will you meet him?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s hands on the Twin Flowers paused for a moment. Then, he proceeded to remove the muzzle and said indifferently, ¡°No.¡±

    Zhao Yuying thought about it for a moment and continued, ¡°Qianye, let''s go back to the Zhao n once the bloody battle ends. The Marrow Cleansing Pool there can awaken your potential to the maximum. Advancing ranks there will be much better than any other ce. This is an important matter, so don¡¯t be stubborn.¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡±

    This time, Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t say anything else. She stood up to excuse herself and returned to her room.

    After Zhao Yuying left, Qianyey the Twin Flowers down on the table and sat in silence, his heart wracked withplicated emotions.

    He understood Zhao Yuying¡¯s intention. Advancing to the rank of champion was a step every expert had to take. It was also the first great barrier. Everyone had to treat it with iparable importance since any carelessness could affect one¡¯s future aplishments. Meanwhile, the Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Pool was one of, if not the very best, supplement for advancement.

    However, using it meant returning to the Zhao n. No matter what reason Zhao Jundu used to bring him into the family, he would no longer be Qianye and instead be Zhao Qianye.

    This didn¡¯t sound like something he should be distressed about¡ªin the eyes of many people, it was even an opportunity to ascend the heavens in a single step. Who wouldn¡¯t want to live in the Zhao n? Even a descendant of its side-branch was much more powerful than the lineal son of an aristocratic family.

    It was just that Qianye recalled how he had grown up at a junkyard since his first memory and that sinister, giant scar which upied his chest despite the multiple upgrades in his constitution. His heart was screaming with an unwillingness to return.

    In the depths of his heart, he used to be extremely obstinate and unyielding.

    But first Zhao Jundu, then Zhao Ruoxi, andter Zhao Yuying¡ªhis interaction with the younger generation melted most of the ice in his heart. Zhao Yuying had been wounded so badly, but there wasn¡¯t even a receptacle for physique restoration fluid in ckflow City, to speak nothing of facilities that can help champions recuperate. She should¡¯ve returned to the upper continent long ago, but she stayed back all this time for fear that the Nangong family would rain vengeance upon Qianye.

    Who else apart from a madman like Nangong Xiaofeng would dare move recklessly against Zhao Yuying?

    Qianye¡¯s heart was inplete disarray. He had thought at first that the Zhao n¡¯s fetters would end with the item left behind by his mother, but now, he had discovered that some things weren¡¯t that easy to sever¡ªblood rtion for instance.

    At the thought of this, he suddenly recalled his two friends who were also born of nobility. Although Song Zining and Wei Potian¡¯s situation in their respective ns were different, they both had things that were beyond their control.

    With the bloody battle imminent, things were developing with great momentum. At this moment, a small, unassuming city at the border of the Transcendent Continuent was weing a guest of the highest status in its entire history. A row of airships was descending toward the city in what could be described as a sky-blotting scene. Although the emblem on the airships had been hidden, knowledgeable people would easily recognize that this was the Nangong family¡¯s main fleet.

 Volume 5 - 391: One Step Away

    Chapter 391: One Step Away [V5C98 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 98: One Step Away

    A middle-aged man with long, slender eyes walked down from the airship. He was d in Chinese style apparel, and there was a faint aura of frostiness around him. Without a word, he headed straight toward the city lord¡¯s mansion immediately after disembarking.

    There were numerous guards at the door to the city lord¡¯s residence. A young soldier stepped forth to face them and asked, ¡°Who are you people?¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when a figure shed out from behind the middle-aged man and flitted past the young guard. The soldier¡¯s expression froze, and immediately afterward, his head flew high into the air, apanied by a gush of fresh blood.

    The figure didn¡¯t stop at this and continued to encircle around the remaining soldiers. Hence, several heads flew into the air as the guards all turned into headless corpses.

    The middle-aged man ignored all of this and walked straight into the main residence.

    The city lord had received news at this point. He rushed over, fell to the floor, and cried repeatedly, ¡°I did not know of Sire Nangong¡¯s arrival and my foolish subordinates dared sh against the esteemed guests. This servant deserves to die!¡±

    The middle-aged name was the current lord of the Nangong Family, Nangong Yuanbo. Despite his bad mood, he found it rather difficult tosh out at this prostrating city lord. He only asked, ¡°Where is he?¡±

    The city lord secretly wiped the sweat off his brows and said hurriedly, ¡°Please follow me, sire!¡±

    Momentster, Nangong Yuanbo finally met Nangong Xiaofeng within the city lord¡¯s own room, the best in the city. At this moment, his aura was withered as hey on the bed gazing at the ceiling with a nk expression. He didn¡¯t even react to people entering the room.

    Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s gaze froze upon seeing what remained of Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s arms and legs. He nced back to inquire, ¡°Can he be saved?¡±

    An old man behind him stepped toward the bed and said after a thorough examination, ¡°The limbs can be regenerated with secret arts. There will be a loss in power, but there¡¯s still hope of him recovering to his currentbat strength. Future breakthroughs, however, might not be possible.¡±

    Atst, there was some expression on Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s face. He let out two soft chuckles and said, ¡°It seems I¡¯ll still be of some use.¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo forcefully suppressed his fury and asked, ¡°Who did this?¡±

    ¡°First, I was injured in the battle with Zhao Yuying. Afterward, I was ambushed by that brat called Qianye. My arm and leg were destroyed in the fight with him.¡± At that point, a trace of self-deprecation that wasn¡¯t easily noticeable to the bystander emerged on Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s countenance.

    He had never taken that Dark me mercenary corps seriously. Naturally, he hadn¡¯t memorized the rted data and was unable to recognize Qianye amidst the chaos. Only after he escaped with grievous injuries did he feel as though he had seen that beautiful yet insane youth somewhere¡ªhe subsequently realized that he had been injured in the hands of someone he had once treated as an insect.

    ¡°Qianye?¡± For a moment, Nangong Yuanbo couldn¡¯t recall who it was and only realized when a follower whispered in his ear that it was that mercenary corpsmander. He paced back and forth in front of the bed with an even graver chill around his body.

    Momentster, Nangong Yuanbo came to a sudden stop and said, ¡°Xiaofeng, you acted on your own this time. Do you know how much trouble you¡¯ve brought upon our Nangong family? Duke You has sent us three letters in a single day demanding an exnation!¡±

    Nangong Xiaofengughed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just Duke You? You can still handle it, right? Moreover, hasn¡¯t the Zhang n invited you for a chat already?¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo snorted coldly. ¡°The Zhao n¡¯s eyes have always been on top of their heads. Their alliance is only in name when, in truth, we¡¯ll be subordinates. Judging from their style, they definitely won¡¯t treat us with any respect. As for the Zhang n, they¡¯re not much better either. What difference will there be?¡±

    Nangong Xiaofeng was startled because he had understood Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s thoughts from his words. He said in exceptional astonishment, ¡°Are you nning to side with the imperial party?¡±

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    Even the unbridled Nangong Xiaofeng was shocked by Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s words. He nced around the room and found that none of the trusted aides of the Nangong family were too amazed despite some change in expression. It seemed Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s thoughts about this didn¡¯t just happen within a couple of days.

    Nangong Xiaofengughed heartily in his mind and said slowly, ¡°Most of the new nobility are born of humble origins. Uncle, can you bear their vulgarity? Moreover, His Majesty is just waiting to tten the major ns and aristocracy¡­ What use will we be to them? When the timees, the Imperial Party will recall that we¡¯re also an aristocratic family.¡±

    Nangong Yuanbo said in displeasure, ¡°Nonsense! Is the so-called nobility and Imperial Party not imperial officials all the same? His Majesty is bound to aplish much in the future, so it¡¯s inevitable that he must establish his might and cut off some disobedient people. Why would he eliminate all the aristocracy?! Serving His Majesty is the correct path. Why must we care about the opinion of the four major ns?¡±

    After a short pause, Nangong Yuanboughed. ¡°The skies over this empire is due for a change.¡±

    ¡°As for this person, Qianye, let him disappear in this bloody battle!¡± Nangong Yuanbo waved his hand casually. This kind of small matter didn¡¯t require any extra effort from a n lord like him; his aides would deal with it.

    Qianye had no idea that his moment of anger had more or less affirmed the Nangong family¡¯s previous resolution. He was unaware of how he had dropped a small stone into theke of politics and stirred up a small wave therein.

    The words imperial politics were indeed too big and too far away from Qianye. The only thing he knew was that strength was the only thing he could rely on whether it was the Iron Curtain or the ns he had to face.

    Qianye¡¯s Combatant Form cultivation improved by leaps and bounds perhaps because he had justunched a brazen attack on the Nangong family base and his mind was still filled with fearless ughter. He actually broke through forty-nine cycles in one go and was only one step away from Zhang Boqian¡¯s aplishments during his youth.

    And only after reaching this step did Qianye realize just how terrifying the Combatant Form¡¯s fiftieth cycle was. The might of every added cycle after forty-five was equal to the nine earlier ones. The incited origin power tide swept through every corner of his body and resonated with all of his origin nodes. His vessels surged forward like raging waves¡ªit was as though the entire world had disappeared, and only the surging tides remained.

    As the tides brought about by the Combatant Form grew stronger, he somehow happened to draw upon a wisp of daybreak origin power from the void. This strand of daybreak origin power was iparably pure and already close to the origins, even more so than the origin power purified by the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Glory Chapter. After it entered his body, Qianye¡¯s Nine Origin Nodes began to vibrate at the same time, apanied, unexpectedly, by the sound of thunder.

    However, even Qianye¡¯s vampiric constitution bolstered by the dark golden and purple blood energies could only reach forty-nine cycles at the maximum. His body was already showing signs of copse. Qianye perceived a wondrous feeling at the exact moment the Combatant Form reached the peak of its forty-ninth cycle. It was as though something was breaking out through the waters of this all-epassing tide.

    Qianye had to spend twice the usual time topletely calm the tides of the Combatant Form. He recalled the process of this cultivation and confirmed that his final reaction wasn¡¯t an illusion. It seemed the Combatant Form had undergone an astonishing change after he reached fifty tides. It was just that the recoil wasn¡¯t a force he could endure in his present state.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration at Zhang Boqian¡¯s talents. He still couldn¡¯tpare to Zhang Boqian¡¯s aplishments from back then even though his strength had far surpassed ordinary vampire viscounts. This marshal of unrivaled bearing who could already aim for the rank of Heavenly Monarch in the prime of his life was indeed worthy of his fame. It was almost impossible to catch up to him.

    But even on the day of his ascension to a heavenly monarch, Zhang Boqian had no intention to renounce his position as the so-called Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons. It was said that some busybody had, in earnest, requested the emperor to revoke the term Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons because Lin Xitang was no longer worthy of being addressed at the same level. Unexpectedly, he was severely berated by Zhang Boqian. This person¡¯s bootlicking had gone too far¡ªhe had thoroughly offended both the paragons and made himself the empire¡¯sughingstock for quite a while.

    Qianye inspected his body after a moment of rest. Just the wisp of daybreak origin power he had obtained in the middle was equal to half a month of grueling cultivation. It was just that a second one never appeared up until the end of his cultivation. It seemed such a fortune could only be encountered and not sought after.

    Meanwhile, the forty-nine cycles of Combatant Form absorbed the origin power of the heaven and earth akin to a whale swallowing seawater. Its cultivation speed had far surpassed the so-called secret arts of the aristocratic families. Perhaps only the core cultivation arts of the four major ns and imperial family would beparable. As such, Qianye didn¡¯t need to cultivate long before the daybreak origin power in the vicinity was no longer sufficient. Not only had it been wiped clean, but even a fair amount of darkness origin power had been drawn into his body as well.

    Any other person would have to invest extra effort to obstruct and clear out the darkness origin power, but it was not a problem for Qianye. The darkness origin power, after entry, was suppressed by the Combatant Form, whereupon they would be driven towards his heart and devoured by the blood energies therein.

    Theoretically, the origin node resonance was already a sign of advancing into the champion level. However, Qianye discovered that his situation was special. Even though the Combatant Form¡¯s cultivation speed was extraordinary, only a fraction of the energy it had umted remained after the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s purification process. As such, he was still quite a ways from being able to form an origin vortex with overflowing energy. It didn¡¯t seem too far off, but he would need to spend much more time than ordinary people.

    Naturally, the purification of origin power had great advantages. He didn¡¯t need to suppress his level at the champion threshold and could break through as soon as his origin power waspletely full. At this time, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but recall the cultivation chamber back at the Song n¡ªonly that cultivation session could be considered satisfactory.

    But even Song Zining only had so many quotas each year. It was easy to imagine how valuable it was. That single cultivation was able to bnce out half a year of arduous work. The aristocratic descendants were afforded such advantages which, after gradual umtion, formed an unsurpassable barrier for other people.

    After several days of strenuous cultivation, Qianye was once again faced with another problem in addition to whether or not he should advance to champion rank. The Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s second chapter required darkness and daybreak origin power to exist alongside each other without too much deviation. This also meant that his darkness origin power had to reach the viscount level when his daybreak origin power reached champion rank.

    There was a big difference in cultivation method between the dark races and humans. No matter the race, a telltale sign of reaching the viscount level was the formation of an origin power core. The vampire blood cores, the demonkin dark cores, and the arachnid crystal of the arachne were all simr items. As for advancement, most of them came naturally. They would transform naturally once the time was ripe.

    At the thought of this, Qianye suddenly felt flustered. Could it be that he would condense a blood core in his body? After some thought, he felt that the possibility was high. The three blood energies had already taken his heart as their headquarters. The purple blood energy was continuously changing Qiuanye¡¯s constitution while the dark golden blood energy was strengthening his heart. This so-called strengthening was, in truth, a type of transformation, and it wasn¡¯t impossible for a blood core to form during this process.

    But if this came to be, Qianye himself wouldn¡¯t know whether he would be considered human or vampire. Heughed wryly and decided to let go of these terrifying thoughts for the moment.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to advance his blood energy. Although absorbing essence blood was a shortcut, the consumption rate was simrly frightening. Moreover, the Book of Darkness and Wings of Inceptions also needed to be fed, and their absorption rate was uncontroble. Hence, the difficulty involved in raising his darkness origin power was no less than upgrading his daybreak origin power.

    Qianye walked out of the istion room and looked up at the perpetually dark sky. He had already decided to walk the path to advancement. Whether it was to nurture his blood energies or to collect murderous qi for cultivating the Combatant Form, the best choice was to nurture power in battle.

    The iron curtain above his head was unusually calm, and even the Gemini Alpha star that would approach Evernight once a month was nowhere to be seen. The near tangible darkness seemed to be constantly reminding everyone that the bloody battle was about to break out any time.

 Volume 5 - 392: Shade

    Chapter 392: Shade [V5C99 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye, who had just experienced the forty-ninth cycle of the Combatant Form, hade to a deeper understanding of power. His heart was burdened by some other matters as he gazed at the almost eternal night sky, namely the rules of the Iron Curtain.

    It was, in truth, quite understandable why the curtain prevented people above the level of count from entering.

    Take Qianye himself, for instance. He wouldn¡¯t bother to spare a second nce at a group ants passing near his feet whether they were fighting or moving food. Even stomping them to death would only happen if the ants were to appear where his foot wouldnd. But if a number of giant bugs were strutting around or if dogs, cats, or mice were to appear, he would be annoyed and kill them off in passing.

    This understanding made Qianye ufortable. He thought in self-mockery that no one would be happy about being an ignored ant.

    A special guest arrived in ckflow City soon after Qianye had exited isted cultivation. It was an imperial envoy.

    The envoy, a colonel from the imperial military, came with only a handful of attendants and requested a meeting with the ckflow City Lord. The envoy didn¡¯t say anything else after seeing Qianye and immediately passed him an official document envelope and a bestowment order. After asking briefly about ckflow¡¯s defensive matters, he soon excused himself and hurried toward his next destination.

    There was nothing special about ckflow City in the eyes of the envoy, so much so that there was even some pity in his gaze. This small city was at the border frontline and located beneath the Iron Curtain¡ªits downfall was only a matter of time once the bloody battle began.

    Qianye opened the documents after the envoy had left. The contents were simr to the previous rallying order from the expeditionary army. This document was a call for all powers to mobilize for this bloody battle. It stated that the rewards would be twice as highpared to normal standards, and that there were no limitations to identity. Everyone, regardless of social status, may obtain rewards.

    Additionally, the empire had constructed many temporary bases in Evernight Continent. Participants could visit them anytime with proof of contribution to receive the rewards. This spared potential participants theplicated procedures usually involved in applying for rewards. Among them, the closest base was at the county capital of Trinity River County.

    There was a map apanying the document, and on it was the range within the Iron Curtain that was currently under imperial control. That was also the scope of the uing battlefield. Of course, there were no rules forbidding one from leaving the Iron Curtain to fight the dark races, but there was a risk of running into true experts.

    Encountering experts under the Iron Curtain wasn¡¯t impossible, either. Some with special abilities that could hide their auras or experts who had suppressed their rank could still move about under the Iron Curtain. For instance, Zhao n¡¯s Count Yuyang was able to directly enter ckflow City.

    It was just that they couldn¡¯t drag too long once they had enteredbat, lest they draw Sky Demon¡¯s attention. At that point, they wouldn¡¯t just be suppressed by the Iron Curtain¡ªthe higher their level, the greater the chance of being attacked by Sky Demon.

    Qianye unfurled the map to observe in detail. The markings on the map this time were even more detailedpared to the military intelligence he had receivedst week. He was greatly astonished after seeing the borders of the Iron Curtain¡ªit had surpassed a quarter of human territory, and judging from the curvature of the external borders, most of the unmapped parts should be within dark race territory.

    There was no information from the dark race side. However, an extraption of the known borders, assuming that the curtain was round, showed that over 20% of Evernight Continent¡¯s surface area had been shrouded by the Iron Curtain.

    Just from the size of this Iron Curtain, it was obvious that Sky Demon¡¯s power had exceeded the limits of imagination.

    After seeing his map, Qianye ventured a guess regarding the imperial upper echelon¡¯s intentions. It was the perfect timing to attack the dark race territory under the Iron Curtain¡¯s protection.

    Qianye put down the documents and proceeded to open the rewards list at the back. Listed upon it were different rewards corresponding to different levels of dark race soldiers.

    Among them, the baseline was viscount¡ªthe reward for killing a third-rank viscount was a grade-five origin gun or other military supplies of equal value. Taking firm control of a viscount¡¯s territory and incorporating it into human-controlled territory would raise the reward to a custom-made grade-five firearm.

    Just from this list, it was obvious that the empire had invested a great deal for this battle. One had to know that there were only so many technicians in the empire capable of producing armaments above grade five. That was why, in general, only a set number of grade-five weapons were produced each year. Previous military rewards came in the form of gold coins¡ªstrategic supplies could be exchanged only under special situations. Ordinary people couldn¡¯t afford even standard high-grade firearms, to speak nothing of the custom made ones.

    Qianye was inevitably moved as he flipped through the entire two pages of firearms. He currently possessed the Wings of Inception and the Twin Flowers, so even grade-six firearms weren¡¯t of any use to him. But there were many high-ranking officers in Dark me. In due time, the number of soldiers capable of using grade-four or even grade-five weapons would only increase. Theirbat strength would undoubtedly soar if he could swap out all of their equipment.

    There was only a short sentence on thest page, but it managed to firmly draw Qianye¡¯s gaze. It was actually the highest purity ck crystal!

    ck crystal was a tightly controlled strategic resource. Both the low-purity, kic-grade ck crystals that were used as fuel and the medium-purity, industrial-grade ck crystals that served as the primary material in building origin guns were in short supply all year round. Additionally, the energy-grade ck crystals that were usually converted to daybreak origin power for use in cultivation only had a price tag but no set market for it. For instance, the cultivation chambers in the Song n used such high-purity ck crystals.

    The empire actually allowed for the exchange of energy-grade ck crystals this time. It was clear that the importance they had attached to the bloody battle on Evernight Continent was on par with therge-scale wars of the upper continents.

    Qianye had just put down the rewards list when Zhao Yuying approached in a hurry.

    ¡°How went your isted cultivation?¡±

    ¡°No bad. At least, I¡¯vee to understand my future path.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good. How long until you break through to champion?¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly, ¡°At least two months. It¡¯ll take even longer after factoring the time in battle.¡±

    Zhao Yuying breathed a sigh of relief instead. ¡°Don¡¯t rush with the breakthrough so as to avoid an unstable foundation. It¡¯s best to advance at the Marrow Cleansing Pond. You don¡¯t have to worry about the resources involved. I¡¯ll find a way to settle it. At worst, this mommy won¡¯t withdraw money from the n anymore!¡±

    An indescribable sensation emerged in Qianye¡¯s heart. Zhao Yuying had lightly spoken of it, but this meant that she would have to exchange all her future resources from the n for a chance to enter the Marrow Cleansing Pond. But, he only nodded without saying anything.

    At this day and time, there was no longer a need for any polite conventions between Qianye and Zhao Yuying. Even though he had no intention to ept such a costly gift, he appreciated her kind intentions.

    Zhao Yuying picked up and briefly looked through the official documents, map, and rewards list before putting them down. The contents therein weren¡¯t too different from the dispatch they had received from the expeditionary army. It seemed as though she had something on her mind, but had no idea how to say it.

    Zhao Yuying was rarely so hesitant. Qianye only waited in silence and didn¡¯t rush her. This valiant beauty took a deep breath and said amidst a series of vulgarities, ¡°This mommy still wants to take part in the bloody battle!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Qianye inquired.

    With Zhao Yuying¡¯s identity in the Zhao n, she should have no shortage of military contributions to exchange for resources. Meanwhile, that previous matter with Zhao Fenglei had blown up to disagreeable proportions. As a result, the squad that was supposed to be assigned to her hadn¡¯t even arrived. In truth, the state of Zhao Yuying¡¯s injuries would require her to avoid intense battles for several months. It was only rational for her to make use of this fact to withdraw from this battle.

    ¡°For the Zhao n.¡±

    This reply surprised Qianye somewhat.

    Zhao Yuying felt unburdened after speaking her mind. ¡°Correct, it¡¯s for the Zhao n. Even in my current state, I¡¯m still a Zhao n member at heart. Descendants like us are afforded its cool shade only because the great tree, that is the Zhao n, remains tall. Although there are many people in the family I don¡¯t see eye to eye with, I¡¯m still surnamed Zhao with regards to important matters like this.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°The Imperial Party¡¯s intentions in this bloody battle are clear. They¡¯re forcing all the major ns toy their cards on the table. It can be said that they¡¯re using everything at their disposal to centralize power. The empire had been established for thousands of years, and the ns had also existed for just as long. Which centralization did not involve a storm of blood?¡±

    Qianye was a bit confused since he wasn¡¯t very knowledgeable about imperial politics. He said with a frown, ¡°Centralization? What does it have to do with the Zhao n? Even if the four ns were involved, shouldn¡¯t the Song n should be first?¡±

    Zhao Yuying shook her head. ¡°Our Zhao n is closely rted to the imperial family and our bloodlines are quite close. Many empresses of generations past were surnamed Zhao. The present emperor¡¯s situation is¡­ rtively special. The empresses¡¯ family is the Jingtang Li n, but the imperial family married Princess Gaoyi to Duke Chengen. As such, the other ns see the Zhao as a part of the Imperial Party, but in the eyes of the Imperial Party, the Zhao n is one hundred percent a n.¡±

    Qianye was enlightened. ¡°So, the Zhao n will be weakened or suppressed no matter which side ends up winning? This¡­¡±

    ¡°My grandfather and a number of great-uncles share the same view. Most of the n elders also believe this to be so. Hence, their attitude toward this bloody battle is very different.¡±

    ¡°Mm, raise the bounty?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was originally in a solemn mood, but she broke into an angryughter after hearing this. She reached out to knock Qianye¡¯s head and said, ¡°You only know about rewards. Song Seven must¡¯ve led you astray!¡±

    Afterward, she resumed a serious expression and said, ¡°The n has received news that someone from the Imperial Party wants to single out the Zhao n. It¡¯s possible that they¡¯ll secretly attack the Zhao n descendants during this bloody battle. The elders wish to end violence using violence and use this to establish our might. We must not only gain military contributions but also kill anyone with hostility toward the Zhao n, regardless of party and allegiance.¡±

    With that, Zhao Yuying reverted to her carefree personality. Shended a powerful p on Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°That¡¯s why this sister has to return to the Western Continent to recuperate as quickly as possible before returning for battle. I¡¯m still much stronger than ordinary people despite some inevitable reduction inbat strength. Little Qianye, you have to take care of yourself!¡±

    Qianye smiled and extended his hand. ¡°Give it to me.¡±

    ¡°Give what?¡± Zhao Yuying was startled.

    ¡°Your war token. How else will I put my dark race kills on your head?¡± Qianye said a matter of factly.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Zhao Yuying couldn¡¯t believe her ears.

    ¡°I said, I¡¯ll fight in your name. But the rewards from both the Zhao n and the empire will go to me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Half-half!¡± Zhao Yuying retorted mercilessly.

    ¡°Two-eight!¡±

    ¡°Three-seven!¡±

    Zhao Yuying appeared much more rxed after the flurry of ferocious haggling. She and Qianye looked at each other and broke into a heartyughter.

 Volume 5 - 393: Commence

    Chapter 393: Commence [V5C100 - A Distance Within Reach]

    The imperial emissary¡¯s arrival was akin to the silent tune of a bugle¡ªit signified the raising of the curtains over the bloody battle. Crowds of young heroes swarmed over from all over the empire and charged into the Iron Curtain without a second thought.

    The dark world also treated this matter as a distinguished gathering. The Evernight Council decided to offer simrly astounding rewards which included not only equipment and resources, but also nobility andnd. Under the allure of the enormous bounty, young warriors from numerous tribes mobilized in great numbers, even bringing along the older children.

    At this moment, if there were a pair of eyes in the sky, it would see that Evernight and Daybreak forces were like two tides approaching each other continuously.

    Numerous imperial army units had gathered in a small, unassuming city at the border of the Iron Curtain. For a period of time, the number of warriors here even exceeded that of the city residents. The buildings at the center of the city had all beenmandeered, and the city lord¡¯s mansion had turned into amand center. This little city was the overseeing base chosen by Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang.

    There were rising hills and snaking rivers on the sand table which upied a third of the entire room. The human-popted regions scattered throughout thend were arranged in picturesque disarray. The different hues to their brilliance represented the state of theirbat-readiness.

    A jet ck arc passed through the human-controlled territory, and most of the models closer to the dark race territory had lit up. It was a sign that these strategic points hadpleted all preparations for war and was ready for mobilization.

    As the final imperial envoy finished reading his report, the cities of the Trinity River County also lit up ordingly on the sand table.

    The envoy closed the document folder¡ªthere was a thinyer of sweat on his forehead, and his spine was as tense as a drawn bow. However, this wasn¡¯t because there was anything wrong with his report. In truth, most of the people in this crowded room full of military stars were simrly anxious.

    The source of their tension originated from the man standing before the french window, d in imperial clothing of ck and gold. Zhang Boqian hadn¡¯t spoken a single word since the very beginning and even his gaze had always been directed out of the window. However, an invisible pressure had enveloped the entire ce since the very beginning.

    Lin Xitang, who was sitting in the first seat of the sand table, looked up amidst deep contemtion. ¡°Since this is the case, every general should pay attention to dark race activities at all times. Dismissed.¡±

    The participants¡¯ footsteps as they left the war room seemed rather urgent. These generals who belonged to the various imperial army corps and expeditionary army headquarters had all killed their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. But with Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang present at the same time, they were akin to a rookie facing his military instructor on the training field.

    Many people exhaled deeply after walking out of the door, feeling rather apprehensive at heart. It was unknown what the imperial army headquarters was thinking to have dispatched two obviously antagonistic generals together to this battlefield.

    The room was quickly emptied. Li Xitang rose and walked over to one end of the sand table where he picked up a mountain model to fiddle with his hands. His gaze was fixed upon therge mountainous region in front as though he were contemting something.

    Zhang Boqian turned back from the window and, spying a major general who had remained in the war room, said indifferently, ¡°Leave.¡±

    The major general¡¯s imperial uniform was somewhat different from the others¡¯. Its golden edges weren¡¯t in lines but, instead, cloud-patterned, symbolizing his status as a member of the imperial guard. This man actually refused to cower under the tremendous suppressive might of Zhang Boqian¡¯s gaze and continued standing ramrod straight without the slightest of movements.

    A tempest surged within Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s gentle voice broke the tense atmosphere. ¡°Wei Sang, there are no other matters here. You may retire.¡±

    The major general performed a military salute and left without a word.

    No emotion could be gleaned from Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice. ¡°I do wonder if His Majesty assigning you the Thunder Guard is out of fear that I¡¯ll harm you¡­ or in order to keep an eye on you?¡±

    Lin Xitang had only brought a battalion of personal guards from the Northern Legion when he arrived on Evernight Continent. Apparently, this general from the Imperial Guard¡¯s Thunder Guard Division had appeared only recently.

    Li Xitang said with a frown, ¡°Brother Boqian, please speak cautiously regarding this matter.¡±

    Zhang Boqian walked toward Lin Xitang and stood beside him at the sand table. He bent over slightly to briefly scan thendscape in front of him and then said, ¡°Evernight has also mobilized in full-force, but there aren¡¯t any especially powerful characters among the units entering the Iron Curtain. Does this mean the Evernight Council is uninterested in Sky Demon¡¯s item? Or could it be that they¡¯ve already realized what¡¯s inside the Iron Curtain?¡±

    Present imperial intelligence stated that the dark faction has responded proactively to the bloody battle. However, the standard of their invested fighting power and the number of already known big shots from the Evernight Council overseeing the asion was even inferior to the previous, inexplicable battle on Evernight.

    Li Xitang spoke, ¡°The empire¡¯s real intention is only to fight a bloody battle. We¡¯ll have it easier if the Evernight Council mobilizes less.¡±

    Zhang Boqian pointed at the area in front of him. ¡°Red Scorpion seems to have conducted some missions on Evernight Continent a while ago.¡± His finger drew a circle around the western part of Trinity River County and the opposite dark race territory. ¡°Apparently, it¡¯s within this area. There was also a Zhao n unit there at the time. What could be in that region?¡±

    Lin Xitang was silent for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure. The seventh army was in charge.¡±

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t press this matter. He raised his hand in a brushing motion, sending the origin array on the sand table flickering.

    At this moment, the dark race¡¯s reaction was only secondary to the upper echelons of the empire because their major characters all had their eyes on the empire¡¯s internal affairs. The present situation was tricky. The political structure surrounding the ns had been maintained for too long, and everyone wanted to shift it around a bit¡ªthe key was when and how.

    But the political situation was something best left for the major characters to consider. To the present Qianye, it was more practical to fight tooth and nail for his own military contributions. Qianye made brief arrangements for Dark me¡¯s military matters after seeing Zhao Yuying to her airship. Then, he packed his belongings and headed into the vast wilderness.

    The bloody battle had begun. Under normal circumstances, cities like ckflow that were fully equipped for defense wouldn¡¯t be the target of arge-scale attack early on. As such, Qianye decided to take this opportunity to go around hunting. This would also allow him to gain first-hand intelligence.

    His first target was naturally the territory of his old friend the arachne count. Count Stuka hadn¡¯t yet recovered from the grave injuries he had sustained from Qianye and Zhao Yuying¡¯s joint assault. Moreover, a third of his eastern territory had been seized by Qianye which led to a significant loss in resources. This was precisely a time where he had been greatly weakened.

    From every perspective, the arachne count¡¯s territory was the best target. Naturally, such a fatty piece of meat mustn¡¯t fall into a bystander¡¯s mouth.

    Qianye headed due west and soon arrived at Silverflow Fjord. The defensive construction work was in full swing¡ªa number of light cannons had been installed at the highest points and could now control the river running through the fjord, albeit barely. He didn¡¯t stay for long and continued past the fjord toward the arachne count¡¯s territory.

    Qianye bypassed the werewolf habitat and made for the depths of the northeasternnd. There was a first-rank viscount territory called ck Nest, where Stuka¡¯s brother had supposedly entrenched himself.

    ck Nest and Silverflow Fjord were separated by Count Stuka¡¯s main territory and thus wasn¡¯t within Qianye¡¯s original n. Due to the geography, it was impossible to seize his resources or territory unless Qianye could devour the entirety of Count Stuka¡¯snds. But things were different with the arrival of the Iron Curtain. With rewardsing from both the empire and the Zhao n, killing a viscount had, in and of itself, be a very profitable endeavor.

    Qianye withdrew his aura and traversed the mountainous woods at a steady pace. He kept himself in his optimal state at all times, ready to intercept the enemy. Before long, a bloody stench swept through the surrounding area as a giant wild beast rushed out from woods and pounced ruthlessly toward Qianye.

    This ambush couldn¡¯t threaten him. Qianye side-stepped the charge and plunged the Scarlet Edge deep into the giant panther¡¯s side, sending the point of the de into its heart.

    A hazy glow of blood shed on Qianye¡¯s hand as intense essence blood flowed into his body through the de. Within moments, the massive panther had copsed to the ground as its dark fur lost its usual luster.

    Qianye frowned after easily finishing off the giant panther. With his current ability to retract his aura and hide his presence, even a count would find it difficult to sense Qianye¡¯s movements. However, this giant panther, with a strength of only rank-five even after going into a frenzy, had actually sensed him from far away. This made his heart tremble.

    Under the effects of the Iron Curtain, not only had the panther grown significantlyrger within half a month, but its fur had also turned dark, and its essence blood had increased severalfold. This was absolutely abnormal. Qianye checked the carcass and found that all the internal organs were showing signs of overgrowth. He had a vague suspicion that this giant panther had overdrafted its vitality to explosively increase its strength within a short period.

    The road ahead wasn¡¯t easy. Qianye was ambushed seven or eight times before he could pass over a single mountain ridge. All of them were grade five to seven beasts that had gone berserk. They threw themselves at him upon sight and fought madly to the death.

    Beasts were naturally no threat to Qianye. On the contrary, they provided him with a fair amount of essence blood, the total amount almost catching up to a knight¡¯s. However, such ambushes impeded the speed of his advancement. Qianye discovered that it was useless no matter how he tried to hide his presence. Be it ligers or mountain crocodiles, all of them seemed to discover him from a thousand meters away and proceeded tounch frantic attacks.

    Killing beasts awarded no merits, and because of that, Qianye didn¡¯t want to waste time on them. But for some reason, these beasts seemed to see through his every disguise. In the end, he had no other choice but to adopt the clumsiest and most direct method. That was to advance in a straight line and kill his way through.

    Qianye chose the mountain region at the border of Stuka¡¯s territory. This area was quite barren, and there wasn¡¯t even a single dark race settlement here. The smooth journey he had originally nned became quite bumpy in the end. He finally walked out of the mountainous region after spending an entire two days killing almost a hundred beasts of various sizes.

    But although there weren¡¯t any contributions to be gained, the journey wasn¡¯t without benefit. Qianye obtained a fair number of precious materials from the beasts, and the essence blood he had absorbed surpassed a third-rank viscount.

    Qianye immediately felt the world open up before him as he walked out of the mountainous region. He couldn¡¯t help but exhale deeply. Even the Iron Curtain above him no longer felt as stifling.

    It was at this moment that Qianye heard a delighted sigh from some distance away, and this startled him quite a bit. He turned back to find a young vampire walking out of the forest. The original exquisiteness of his tattered clothes was barely noticeable, and his skin was full of injuries from ws and fangs.

    It would seem that this youth had also endured the ravage of the vicious beasts within the forest. Originally, blood energy released by the vampires could force beasts and poisonous insects to withdraw, but apparently, it was no longer effective.

 Volume 5 - 394: Hunting

    Chapter 394: Hunting [V5C101 - A Distance Within Reach]

    The vampire youth also saw Qianye. He was first astonished, but his eyes lit up immediately afterward. ¡°A human!¡±

    He drew his handgun rapidly and aimed it at Qianye. The youth¡¯s movements weren¡¯t slow, but Qianye¡¯s figure in the gun¡¯s sight was oddly distorted and indistinct, so much so that it was continuously fading away. The vampire had never encountered such a scene. A bullet had already pierced through his forehead during the short moment that he was startled.

    Qianye lowered the Mystic Spider Lily and walked over to the young vampire¡¯s corpse. The Mystic Spider Lily¡¯s powers had begun to appear as Qianye¡¯s own strength increased. Although its firepower wasn¡¯tparable to the Bloody Datura, it would asionally distort Qianye¡¯s figure while he was firing, throwing off the enemies¡¯ judgement and aim.

    Astonishment and shock were still stered on the vampire youth¡¯s countenance as hispletely lifeless eyes stared listlessly at the sky. He was very young, and would only be fifteen or sixteen in terms of human age. Despite that, he already possessed the strength of a knight, an indication of his outstanding bloodline and talent.

    Qianye searched the body and found several blood crystals, melee weapons, and small, tightly-packed notebook with the depiction of a bloody dagger on its cover. It was filled with densely packed notes and even red highlights in certain areas.

    Qianye looked through it and found all types of military contribution rewards. The highlighted parts contained armaments, bloodlines, and titles¡ªeverything a youth would dream of. But Qianye found, after some calction, that it would require one to kill five or six experts at Zhao Yuying¡¯s level.

    ¡°What a madman.¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh emotionally at the young man¡¯s sky-high ambitions. It seemed beasts weren¡¯t the only ones who had gone berserk under the Iron Curtain¡ªpeople from both factions might be even more so.

    However, on second thoughts, Qianye found that he might not be so different either. He put away the spoils into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, removed the youth¡¯s vampiric fangs as proof, and continued on his journey.

    Qianye started encountering small dark-racebat units on the road ahead. These groups were of different sizes and strengths, but, judging from their direction of advancement, all of them seemed to be hurrying toward human territory. Apparently, they were also looking to hunt human warriors to exchange for rewards.

    The vastnd under the Iron Curtain was slowly turning into a battlefield.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in small groups below the knight level. He did his best to evade them as he moved deeper into enemy territory and finally arrived at ck Nest.

    ck Nest was, just as the name suggested, airparable to a small, ck mountain. The scale of this fortress was much smaller than Count Stuka¡¯s, but there were a lot more passages. It was evident that thisir¡¯s master was even more radical than the count.

    At this moment, the interior of ck Nest was morous with all types of dark race members moving in and out. This ce seemed to have be the Evernight Faction¡¯s transit base.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare act blindly after seeing this. He found a good hiding spot to conceal himself and waited patiently for an opportunity.

    Apparently, the dark races hadn¡¯t expected a human to have infiltrated their surroundings. Security was somewhatx as most of them were in a state of restless excitement on the eve of war and ughter. Their line of thought was simple and effective¡ªsuch arge number of warriors had already gathered here, and this, in and of itself, was the best defense.

    Qianye patiently remained in hiding in the days that followed, waiting for the right moment. Valiance was important in battle, but patience was equally crucial.

    A few dayster, signs of human warriors appeared in ck Nest¡¯s vicinity. This group of ten or so adventurers was actually led by a champion and had likely killed their way here from the opposite direction. Powerful and skilled in teamwork, it was no wonder they were able to reach such a deep ce.

    But their luck was simply too bad. They had likely never expected this viscount castle to be a dark race transit station. Hundreds of soldiers of all types swarmed out soon after the rm went off and spread out into the wilderness as though casting a.

    Atop an isted mountain peak, Qianye had disguised himself as a rock and retracted his aura. The view here was good and allowed him to take in the entirety of the surrounding area. At this moment, an intense pursuit battle was raging on in front of him.

    The squad of human adventurers fought and ran for an entire day. Their headcount had also dwindled down to five from the previous ten-odd members. The pursuers had also sustained over fifty casualties, a clear indication of how powerful those adventurers were.

    Qianye was just hesitating whether or not he should save these adventurers when a rustling sound entered his ears. A vampire soldier had arrived on the peak with arge sniper rifle in tow. He circled around, selected a satisfactory location, and began setting up his weapon. Afterward, he sat down to take aim and wait for an opening.

    Qianye was speechless after seeing this. The vampire sniper was no more than ten meters away from him but failed to notice him at all¡ªperhaps he was too concentrated.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up after seeing the giant, eye-catching sniper rifle in the vampire warrior¡¯s hand. The extremely borate gun was so filled with intricate patterns that, at a nce, one would find it difficult to tell the decorations apart from the origin array. The barrel retained the original color of the material¡ªck mixed with golden specks¡ªit looked like metal but was not.

    The ten-odd meters between them was but the distance of a single sprint. Qianye activated his Bloodline Concealment to the maximum and silently awaited his opportunity.

    The vampire sniper began moving the muzzle ever so slightly. He had apparently locked onto his target and waspletely focused on the crosshairs,pletely oblivious to his surroundings. He was muttering irresolutely as his fingertched onto the trigger and tugged at it little by little¡ªthe shot was imminent.

    Qianye leapt out without hesitation and plunged the Scarlet Edge into his back, all the way to its hilt!

    The vampire sniper¡¯s body tensed up as he nced back slowly with a face full of shock. But weakness washed over his entire body before he could see Qianye¡¯s figure behind him.

    Qianye lifted theid body and ced it slowly on the ground before drawing out his dagger.

    The victim was a baron, but only a single step away from bing a viscount. Qianye waited until thest drop of essence blood had entered his body before picking up the sniper rifle.

    He wasn¡¯t mistaken. This magnificent sniper rifle possessed a firepower fitting of its grand external appearance. It was specially designed and likely the premium work of a master craftsman. Although it was only grade-five, thebination of its uracy and long distance arrays, along with the use of special bullets, would bring its firepower fairly close to grade-six.

    Qianye flipped through the baron¡¯s body and, as expected, found two boxes with a total of ten titanium cored sniper rounds. The tip of this bullet was cast with a ck titanium core. Although its might couldn¡¯tpare to the annihtion bullets made of pure ck titanium, its price was nothing to scoff at. The two boxes of ammunition were enough to exchange for two ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion.

    A fellow who could afford to use such a weapon couldn¡¯t be a poor person. This vampire baron also possessed a fair number of other small odds and ends. There were over thirty rounds of various types, and all of them were good quality items. The only fly in the ointment was the fact that these bullets only possessed special effects against humans.

    But this was perfectly understandable since the objective of the participants of the bloody battle was to kill humans¡ªit was only natural that they would bring the relevant equipment, just like how Qianye had bought a fair number of refined silver bullets before setting out.

    It was just that the situation surrounding this bloody battle was somewhat special, and there was a lot of infighting among humans. With this sniper rifle and so many bullets in hand, Qianye somewhat looked forward to ¡°encountering¡± the Nangong family.

    Qianye handled the baron¡¯s corpse quickly and left the mountain peak. Momentster, the fortunate human survivors ran past the base of that mountain,pletely unaware of the fact that they had just escaped a disaster.

    Only at this point did the vampire warriors in charge of interception notice something wrong. They rushed to the mountain peak to check but found nothing apart from the baron¡¯s remains and some traces of blood Qianye had left behind.

    A night passed by in the blink of an eye, and the five adventurers had be three. They ran with all their might but failed to notice that the number of pursuers were dwindling. Qianye, like a specter, followed the hunting party from behind, pouncing at them whenever the opportunity arose and killing one or several of them before vanishing once again.

    Qianye had already discovered that only the native beasts could sense his presence. Naturally, they could also sense the dark race soldiers. Meanwhile, the dark race¡¯s perception was no different from the norm, or even somewhat decreased due to the Iron Curtain¡¯s effects. This made Qianye feel thoroughly relieved.

    The remaining three adventurers ran frantically with neither rest nor sleep. Even eating was done while running. Even then, they just barely managed to prevent themselves from being overrun. When they finally rushed out of the mountainous woods, they found themselves within a valley with precipitous cliffs on three sides and no other way out.

    ¡°How did this happen? Aren¡¯t you capable of telling the direction under any circumstance?¡± The champion¡¯s expression was gloomy as he turned to nce at hisnkypanion.

    Thetter¡¯s countenance turned extremely unsightly. ¡°The Iron Curtain¡¯s suppression on my ability is quite significant. I don¡¯t know when my senses deviated.¡±

    The champion snorted with a furious re. ¡°Prepare to fight with your lives! Climbing the ravine at this point will only turn us into living targets.¡±

    Numerous dark race warriors appeared from the dense forest and closed in on the three people. The only female among the three had turned pale, and her sword hand was trembling continuously.

    The champion said solemnly, ¡°Xiaoqing, keep calm. We¡¯ll just have to die at worst.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ perhaps don¡¯t need to die,¡± the woman mumbled to herself. Her voice was so soft that even she herself couldn¡¯t hear it clearly.

    The champion¡¯s hearing was extremely powerful. His countenance turned frosty as he said, ¡°You¡¯ll only live a couple more days after falling into their hands. You¡¯ll be food in the end.¡±

    The woman¡¯s face turned paler, but she managed to stabilize her hand and stop it from shaking.

    At this time, the three noticed that the dark race warriors in front of them were acting abnormally. Their movements were slow, and their gazes were dull. There was also something wrong with their numbers¡ªthere were far fewer of them than they had expected. They took a couple of steps forward before falling down one by one. Only then did the wounds behind their backs start gushing fresh blood.

    Qianye appeared from within the forest and said to the three adventurers, ¡°You¡¯re safe now, but only for the time being.¡±

    The three were delightfully surprised by the sudden development. The woman groaned and fell limp onto the ground¡ªthe brush with the grim reaper had left herpletely exhausted. The other two weren¡¯t any better. They had sustained injuries of all sizes from head to toe and were on the verge of copse.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, then leave the battlefield and return only after recuperation.¡± He pointed toward the southwest of the iing road. ¡°Head in this direction and swim downstream when you reach a big river. You¡¯ll soon arrive in human territory.¡±

    With that, Qianye bent down to check the dark race warriors and put away the parts that could be used as proof of contribution.

    The champion said, ¡°Thank you very much! Please die now!¡±

 Volume 5 - 395: Black Nest

    Chapter 395: ck Nest [V5C102 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 102: ck Nest

    Qianye suddenly looked up to find that a handgun had appeared in the champion¡¯s hand, and its ck muzzle was aimed at him. It charged up in a sh before letting out a rumble. Qianye felt as though a big hammer had rammed into his chest as he flew backward and fell to the ground.

    The other two were fairly surprised. They hadn¡¯t expected the champion to have conserved his power and even managed to fire a shot at full force.

    ¡°Why?¡± thenky man couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    The champion snorted as he holstered the handgun and said, ¡°That brat should¡¯ve killed many dark race members. There should be a lot of good stuff on his body. Killing him will make this trip worth it.¡±

    Thenky man and the woman immediately understood. What concept was the empire¡¯s reward? Were it not for the promise of enormous rewards, how could this groupe together to risk their lives in this ursed ce?

    The woman immediately leapt up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go search his body!¡±

    The champion said with a frown, ¡°Remember to add a couple of stabs. He might not bepletely dead yet.¡±

    The woman waved the de in her hand and said, ¡°No problem.¡± She approached Qianye with brisk steps, the de in her hand gleaming coldly as she stabbed at Qianye¡¯s throat with great viciousness.

    However, Qianye¡¯s body suddenly slid several meters away. The iing de struck empty air and pierced into the ground.

    Qianye¡¯s back straightened as he shot up from the ground. Following which, East Peak appeared within his hand, and a Nirvanic Rend soon shot forth.

    The woman hadn¡¯t even realized what had happened and only felt a chill at her waist. Meanwhile, an ear-splitting shout came through from behind¡ªthe champion¡¯s voice was filled with shock and anger in equal measures.

    The woman suddenly nced back to find the champion¡¯s protective barrier fluctuating violently on the verge of copse. Meanwhile, arge cut had appeared on her abdomen amidst a continuous gush of fresh blood.

    Qianye flitted past the woman like a gale and charged at the champion. At this moment, he had swapped out his weapon¡ªthe Blood Datura fired off one round with every step he took.

    The gunshots rumbled like thunder. The champion¡¯s protective energy was shattered in just two shots, and after which, sanguineous flowers bloomed continuously on his face and chest. By the time Qianye stood before the champion, his upper body had already be a mess of blood and gore.

    The staggering champion raised his arm; it was unknown whether he was trying to defend or attack. Qianye grabbed the man¡¯s fist and violently shattered his resistance amidst the sounds of cracking bones. Qianye then pushed the scalding muzzle into his mouth and pulled the trigger!

    With a loud boom, a rain of blood shot out from the back of the champion¡¯s head before he finally copsed on his back. Qianye drew out the Bloody Datura and shifted his cold gaze toward thenky man.

    The woman was still staring nkly from her original position. The development was so sudden that she hadn¡¯t even managed to react when the continuous gunshots faded awaypletely. Only then did she realize that she was positioned behind Qianye, and the other party had his back to her,pletely unguarded. This was him showing disdain toward her, but this was perhaps an opportunity.

    She subconsciously gripped the de tightly as the thought urred to her. If she could onlyunch an attack, they might yet escape this peril still. The notion was very attractive.

    However, she discovered that something wasn¡¯t quite right as she tried to exert power. She looked down to find a bloody line running through her body from which her body separated into two halves. At this moment, she finally understood that Qianye¡¯s sh had cut through her beforending on the champion¡¯s body.

    Thenky man¡¯s face was pale as his gazended on Qianye¡¯s chest. The area was charred ck, and his warrior¡¯s apparel was already in tatters, revealing the chestguard within. There was a radial indentation on the front of the armor, a clear indication of the might of that champion¡¯s full-force attack. That armor, however, merely became distorted without showing the slightest sign of rupture¡ªapparently, it was no ordinary item.

    Thenky man¡¯s lips twitched slightly. Finally, he lowered his hand and said with a rueful smile, ¡°You saved us, but we repaid you with enmity. It¡¯s only right that we die in your hands. Do it!¡±

    Qianye shot the man a nce and said indifferently, ¡°You have never touched your weapon since the very beginning. So, I¡¯ll let you go. Put down all your belongings and leave.¡±

    Thenky man was startled for a moment. Afterward, he threw down his backpack and removed everything else he had on his body before running in the direction Qianye had pointed out.

    ¡°Hold it,¡± Qianye called him back.

    Thenky man turned back in shock, thinking that Qianye had changed his mind. Unexpectedly, he saw Qianye toss him an origin gun and abat knife, which he caught subconsciously.

    ¡°Take these for self-defense. You won¡¯t be able to reach the empire otherwise,¡± said Qianye.

    Thenky man was greatly astonished at this. He gazed deeply at Qianye and said, ¡°I¡¯m called Gao Congyuan. I hope we meet again one day!¡± With that, he turned around and disappeared into the forest.

    Qianye didn¡¯t put this matter to heart. He inspected the spoils of war and found, to his surprise, a viscount-grade vampiric fang, and a viscount grade werewolf heart. There were also dozens of other items grade-five and above usable as proof of contribution.

    It turned out that these adventurers had already killed two viscounts along the way, and judging from the number of their spoils, they had likely knocked out a viscount¡¯s territory already. No wonder they were full of confidence and rushed toward ck Nest without even bothering to scout it out. It was just that they hadn¡¯t expected the stronghold to have already be a dark race transit base. In the end, they had bumped into a ho¡¯s nest.

    It seemed the adventurer group¡¯s spoils were all held for safekeeping by the champion. Now, all of it had easily fallen into Qianye¡¯s hands.

    After putting away the spoils, Qianye carefully wiped away his traces and entered the forest once more. The woods and mountains were the home-ground of the dark races, but it was also his own home-ground.

    ¡­

    The surging origin power tides were slowly receding within the Zhao n¡¯s ¡°Ketu Violet Courtyard¡±.

    Zhao Jundu extended his hand and allowed the plumes of falling violet mes to enter his palm. He then asked without turning back, ¡°Second brother, were you looking for me?¡±

    Zhao Junhong had been standing for some time at the entrance of the training grounds. He took the silver tray from his follower¡¯s hand and gestured for him to leave. He himself walked toward Zhao Jundu and passed him the wet towel. ¡°When do you n to go and find him?¡±

    Thest Zhao n unit participating in this bloody battle had left at noon today. The destination of Zhao Jundu¡¯s personal vehicle, however, wasn¡¯t the empire¡¯s Evernightmand center, but the remote Trinity River County.

    Zhao Junhong watched Zhao Jundu wipe his sweat and change his external robe. His movements were rxed and elegant, no different from his usual demeanor. But Zhao Junhong knew that the mes of anger in his fourth brother¡¯s heart, ignited by the news Zhao Yuying had brought back upon her return, had never quieted down.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and bring him out. The Zhao n hasn¡¯t fallen to a state where we need him to risk life and limb for military contributions.¡± Zhao Jundu nced back andpsed into a moment of silence after seeing Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression. Finally, he said, ¡°He took Yuying¡¯s token. Those with intentions will find out his whereabouts as soon as he goes to exchange military contributions.¡±

    The Zhao n had always drawn people¡¯s attention, and there were too many people with malicious intentions. It might be the Nangong family, another aristocratic family, or even someone from the Zhao n. Even identities like Zhao Jundu and Zhao Yuying¡¯s couldn¡¯t guarantee absolute safety on the big battlefield, to speak nothing of of Qianye. So much so that he wouldn¡¯t even ¡°die in battle¡±¡ªit was more likely that he would be found ¡°missing¡±.

    ¡°Fourth Brother, you know this bloody battle is not the same as before.¡±

    There was no expression on Zhao Jundu¡¯s face. ¡°Is Second Brother advising me to think of the big picture?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Zhao Junhong sighed. ¡°Fourth Brother, have you thought about how much more attention you will draw after entering Evernight Continent.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was somewhat startled at this. Zhao Junhong continued, ¡°It might not be good for Qianye if you¡¯re over attentive of him at this point. In fact, it will only add to his danger. At that time, Qianye will be surrounded not only by his own enemies but yours as well.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s participation in the Iron Curtain would definitely draw special attention from the aristocracy. Meanwhile, the enemies who wanted to hunt Zhao Jundu were much more powerful than those who wanted to kill Qianye. Just like Nangong Xiaofeng, he was simply toozy to touch Qianye at first and went directly for Zhao Yuying.

    There was another thing Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t say. He had heard from Zhao Yuying that Qianye didn¡¯t want to meet Zhao Jundu. He was almost certain that the stubborn youth who had left a deep impression on him back at the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt wouldn¡¯t follow arrangements obediently.

    Zhao Jundu remained silent for a good while. ¡°I know. I only¡­¡± He paused for a moment and continued after taking a deep breath, ¡°What right does a bastard like Zhao Fenglei have to humiliate Qianye?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei and Zhao Yuying arrived back at the n at almost the same time. There weren¡¯t any major chaos, but minor conflicts were unavoidable. Zhao Fenglei¡¯s words were naturally unpleasant to hear. He didn¡¯t dare address Zhao Jundu directly but put all the me on Qianye, fueled by the previous resentment about Zhao Jundu¡¯s attempt to bring someone into his residence.

    ¡°When a formerly overlooked character rises to power, he will definitely experience a lot of setbacks and suppression. That¡¯s because people truly feel threatened. But everyone will choose to bow their heads when he soars into the sky with nothing to hold him back.¡± Zhao Junhong watched his Fourth Brother in silence before saying, ¡°This is the path of the strong. No one can do it for him.¡±

    The Iron Curtain over Evernight had gone beyond a night-like darkness. Qianye would asionally scan his surroundings with True Sight as he ran swiftly through the forest. This revealed all sources of origin power within two kilometers and allowed him to avoid being ambushed by experts.

    Suddenly, Qianye discovered a strand of extremely intense darkness origin power. His heart was shaken because he knew that the big fish he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

    He inspected the equipment within Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, brought out the great master¡¯s ¡°bullet¡±, and ced it in his pocket. His mind was on a different matter. With ckflow City¡¯s resources and future prospects, he could already establish his own weapons factory. He decided that he would visit the small town on the Western Continent once this bloody battle was over and invite that great master to ckflow City at all costs.

    There would never be enough killer weapons like the ¡°bullet¡± in a war against the dark races.

    Qianye retracted his aura and slowly approached the source of that origin power. As expected, the forest had already be a battlefield, and the wild beasts here had been killed offpletely. This removed any worry of his whereabouts being located.

    In the end, Qianye selected a high vantage point and, after disguising himself, began to investigate the battlefield below. He saw arge unit of dark race warriors passing by atop a nearby grassy knoll, surging with killing intent. Among them, some were werewolves, but most were arachne. Thend trembled slightly as the ten-odd massive, sinister-looking arachne passed by.

    The arachne at the center of the unit was exceptionally eye-catching. His arachnid body was ck with strands of silver patterns upon it. In terms of physique, he was evenrger than the count¡¯s primal form.

    Apparently, this arachne was different from Stuka who fought mainly with poison and different abilities. He was likely closer to Brahms who favored engaging in close-quarter melee.

 Volume 5 - 396: Entering Deeper

    Chapter 396: Entering Deeper [V5C103 - A Distance Within Reach]

    Regardless, Qianye still felt his skin crawl after seeing this several-meters-tall arachne and gave up any intentions of ambushing this giant. If there were no surprises, this arachne was likely the master of ck Nest and Count Stuka¡¯s brother, the first-rank viscount Porter.

    Qianye¡¯s rifle crosshairs wandered around Porter¡¯s vital areas for a good while, but in the end, he had no choice but to resist the urge to fire and let him go.

    Recalling the bitter fight between Wei Bainian and Brahms back then, Qianye wasn¡¯t entirely confident in severely injuring Viscount Porter who was in his peak state. Moreover, there was also arge squad of guards around him. Judging from how he had mobilized in full force, it was likely that a powerful enemy had appeared nearby¡ªit was likely that a certain aristocratic family or army corps had arrived.

    After the arachnebat unit had passed by, Qianye was hesitant about how he should proceed. But he immediately recalled that Porter had taken all of the elites under hismand. Wouldn¡¯t this mean that ck Nest was entirely unguarded?

    Qianye had been active around ck Nest in the recent days and was very clear about the dark race warriors arriving at ck Nest for transit. With the gradual extension of the war, all iing soldiers would leave soon after arrival and disperse toward the vast battlefield.

    He no longer hesitated and began sneaking toward ck Nest immediately.

    The massive ck Nest once again appeared over the horizon. As expected, things were much calmer than the past couple of days, and even the guards in the vicinity had lessened quite a bit. Qianye observed for half an hour but found only a couple of arachne passing through, not to mention the servspiders perched within were also few in number.

    Qianye approached an unassuming exit like a spirit. This was a logistics passage through which ves usually moved in and out with carts full of misceneous items. The defenses here were much weaker than the others, perhaps because this ce was always in use. People would inevitably think, out of habit, that infiltrators wouldn¡¯t choose such a lively ce to enter.

    There was a giant servspider lying on one side of the passage. It made not the slightest movement, and it was a mystery just where its ten-odd eyes of varying sizes were staring at.

    Qianye approached the spider at an angle from behind. The servspider shifted restlessly as though it had sensed something. Its gigantic body swayed slightly as it made an attempt to stand up.

    Qianye suddenly leapt up. East Peak descended and shed the servspider into two.

    He immediately activated his blood energy to release his vampiric aura and shuttled through the smaller servspiders. Those servspiders were quickly suppressed by the might of his superior bloodline and fell paralyzed to the floor. Qianye moved his de like the wind and all the servspiders were killed with a sweep of his sword intent.

    These servspiders were all rank two or three cannon fodder. The empire¡¯s reward list counted enemies rank two and above as eligible for military contribution, but each would only award a minuscule amount. Thereafter, the reward would increase twofold for every increase in rank. Although the servspiders in front of him could be exchanged for some contributions, Qianye was toozy to collect the spoils. Instead, he ran swiftly and headed into the depths of ck Nest.

    Before long, a group of servants appeared in the passage along with a number of servspiders. They were shocked out of their wits when they saw Qianye. The servspiders emitted shrill screams as they threw themselves at Qianye who, with East Peak in hand, charged past them without the slightest pause. He rushed through the entire group in the blink of an eye and killed all of the servants along with the servspiders, leaving behind only a single human servant.

    Qianye waved East Peak at the man and said, ¡°Take me to Porter¡¯s residence if you want to live.¡±

    The servant¡¯s knees shook, and he could hardly stand despite leaning against the walls of the passage. He raised a trembling arm and pointed toward a certain direction.

    ¡°Catch up on your own.¡± Qianye only left some words before his figure vanished in the blink of an eye.

    The servant¡¯s pale countenance turned blue as he almost fell onto the floor. In the end, he gritted his teeth and mbered up with the wall as support before following Qianye¡¯s trail.

    After turning a corner, the servant was utterly shocked by the scene before him. There was a room on the side of the passage for the guards to rest, and normally, there would be several werewolf guards within. Now, however, they were all covered in flowing blood and strewn across the ce at different angles.

    Qianye was standing amidst the corpses, watching the servant with a spurious smile as he arrived. ¡°A timely arrival more or less. Keep pointing the way.¡±

    The servant¡¯s heart almost leaped out of his chest, knowing Qianye would¡¯ve turned back to kill him had he not followed from behind. After personally witnessing how seven or eight violent werewolves had been wiped out inplete silence, the servant dared not have other thoughts and could only point the way obediently. Moreover, he especially reminded Qianye about the locations of hidden sentries and patrols.

    With such a hardworking guide beside him, Qianye¡¯s progress was exceptionally smooth. East Peak was as heavy as a mountain peak, and his techniques, having undergone countless tempering, was like a fish in the water in such tight spaces¡ªeven knights couldn¡¯t block a single blow from his de. Only an arachne baron managed to block a head-on blow, but Qianye¡¯s follow up attacks fell like raging tides upon the spider who couldn¡¯t move freely within the enclosed space. He thus suffered ten-odd blows within moments and was almost torn apart.

    Qianye cut off his head in one sh and stored it within Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    The arachne baron was seemingly the highest-ranking warrior in the area. The journey after killing him became a smooth sail, and there was little resistance until they reached Porter¡¯s residential area.

    The residence was an isted area, and at the end of the passage was a small circr courtyard. The servant had reminded Qianye that this courtyard was actually an elevator for Porter¡¯s personal use. Fortunately, nobody could activate it while he was out, so there shouldn¡¯t be any danger of an attack from above.

    There were tworge copper doors on the other end of the za, and standing before them was arge, entirely ck arachne d in sinister-looking armor. There was a giant axe in his hand with mes burning faintly upon its edge. One could immediately tell that it was no ordinary item.

    ¡°A human?!¡± The arachne¡¯s voice rang out like thunder. His burly body stooped down ever so slightly, and it seemed he was fairly surprised. But immediately afterward, the arachne raised his giant axe amidst a swell of viscount-level darkness origin power which resembled lingering ck mist.

    ¡°It¡¯s indeed surprising that you managed to arrive here, but it ends here after running into me, Gurema! Tonight, you will be the most sumptuous dish on our table!

    Qianye spoke not a single word. He raised East Peak and arrived before Gurema in a single sh before shing down with his heavy sword!

    Gurema roared frantically and waved his giant axe horizontally to sh against East Peak.

    ¡°Dong!¡± A powerful sound, akin to the toll of a bell, shook the entire passage!

    There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of fanciness in this contest of pure strength and origin power. However, contrary to his expectations, Gurema failed to knock the puny human flying as though he would a fly. The sh with East Peak felt as though his Giant Axe had collided with a mountain¡ªthe recoil immediately sent Gurema¡¯s blood and qi into turmoil. He couldn¡¯t help but stagger and fall backward to the ground as his arachnid legs gave way.

    Qianye was also sent flying backward with numbed arms. Apparently, he didn¡¯t have it easy either in this sh. Gurema was evidently proficient in close-quarterbat, and his strength, among the dark races, was capable of looking down on all of those in the same realm. Qianye could already be considered extremely powerful to be able to contend against him head-on ande out only slightly worse for wear. In fact, no one would believe that such a thing actually happened.

    Having sounded out Gurema¡¯s strength, Qianye no longer continued his probing. He drew out a wisp of darkness origin power from the void and East Peak shed down from mid-air.

    Nirvanic Rend!

    Gurema sensed the danger instinctively. He let out a wild roar and erupted with origin power, hoping to resist the iing attack with his heavy armor. At the same time, he raised his giant axe to retaliate during this opening. The human before him possessed extraordinary strength, but Gurema wanted to see if his insect-like body could withstand a blow from his axe.

    However, the giant axe had just been raised when it was frozen in the air before it could evene back down. Gurema was assaulted by a wave of weakness as though he had fallen into a deep abyss. Most of the origin power he had condensed vanished in the blink of an eye as a long crack emerged on his heavy armor, almost tearing it into two. Under the armor, there was also a wound on his body that was currently opening up.

    With a slight shift of Gurema¡¯s body, the injury burst open and fresh blood gushed out instantaneously. He was immediately shocked and could hardly believe that this single sword strike would possess such might. How was this a human? Even an all-out attack from a descendant of the Twelve Ancient Vampire ns was only at this level.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered as he stepped onto Gurema¡¯s arachnid body.

    The arachne smashed his elbow toward Qianye with a roar, but Qianye promptly caught his arm. There was nothing topare between their arms¡ªGurema¡¯s wrist was much thicker than Qianye¡¯s thigh¡ªbut the contest of strength resulted in both parties being locked in ce without a clear winner.

    In the short while that they were in a stalemate, Qianye tossed East Peak away, drew the Scarlet Edge, and plunged it deep into Gurema¡¯s back. The de went straight for his heart.

    ¡°You¡¯re not¡­ human?!¡± Gurema¡¯s giant spider body copsed with a boom just as he finished muttering his final words. His limbs were still struggling unconsciously, but his body was no longer mobile. He never received an answer up until the very end.

    Qianyey atop Gurema¡¯s body without any movement and arose only when the rolling tides of essence blood had dried up. Afterward, he began to gasp loudly for breath. The arachne possessed powerful vitality and could still survive for some time even if they were cut through the waist. They could be considered truly dead only after their essence blood had dried up.

    Qianye calmed down his breathing before cutting open Gurema¡¯s chest to retrieve a fist-sized crystal. This was an arachnid crystal condensed by most viscount-level arachne. It was also proof of his military contribution.

    Gazing at the translucent yellow crystal, Qianye vaguely sensed origin power flowing within. Even the empire hadn¡¯t discovered the uses of arachnid crystals up until this day, so most of these things became ornaments for imperial nobility. It was the perfect item to use as proof of contribution.

    The trembling servant poked his head out from the other side of the za and eximed in shock after seeing Gurema¡¯s corpse, ¡°Sire Gurema has died? Just like that?¡±

    Qianye replied with augh, ¡°How else should he die? Do I need to kill him a couple more times?¡±

    The servant waved his hands and said in terror, ¡°No! That isn¡¯t my intention. Sire, up ahead is Viscount Porter¡¯s residence. I¡¯ve never had the opportunity to enter before. I wonder¡­¡±

    Qianye waved his hand and said, ¡°You may leave. Be careful not to get killed.¡±

    The servant left while holding his head in his hands as though he had just been granted a great amnesty.

    Qianye sighed secretly. This servant was a bona fide human, but he had grown up in the Dark Nation and had no intention to return to human-controlled territory.

    This man would probably look for a ce to hide and then return to being a servant after things had calmed down. He would continue this life until he died of old age, or until he became food on a certain dark race dinner table. That was simply because he knew no second way to live.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and walked toward the copper doors which opened wide after a forceful push. The door wasn¡¯t locked, and there were no restrictive arrays behind it either, so much so that there weren¡¯t even any guards or sentries. It would seem Porter ced full trust in Gurema¡¯s protection.

    The resident was abnormally wide and almost seemed to upy half of their¡¯s area. Before Qianye was a half-enclosed passage ten meters tall and ten meters wide. Walking through it, the ce felt exceptionally empty and spacious¡ªeven his footsteps would produce echoes. But after recalling Porter¡¯s massive arachnid body, it was only natural that he would require such a tunnel; in truth, it could even be considered narrow for him.

    A zing torch hung from the wall at regr intervals, casting a peaceful, greenish light upon the path and granting it a touch of iparable eeriness. The area was extremely silent as though it were a sleeping city. At the moment, it seemed like the intense battle between Qianye and Gurema hadn¡¯t rmed anyone at all.

    Qianye walked out of the hundred meter passage with due swiftness and arrived at a magnificent building at its end, the main doors of which were decorated with depictions of spiders. This time, Qianye didn¡¯t rush to push the door open and instead pushed himself close to listen attentively.

 Volume 5 - 397: Incubation Chamber

    Chapter 397: Incubation Chamber [Volume 5 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    As expected, Qianye heard faint soundsing from behind the door, the rustle of limbs brushing across the floor. He withdrew his aura and waited silently for a moment. He estimated that it was a wide space inside with over ten arachne moving about.

    Qianye quietly produced several grenades from within Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, pulled the door open, and tossed them inside.

    A gust of fishy air assailed his nostrils the moment the door opened. Qianye quickly confirmed that his judgement was correct¡ªthe cave-like hall within appeared to be the arachne¡¯s daily gathering and resting area. It was just that the roof was higher, and the walls were wider.

    The ten-odd arachne within, some prone and others standing, were moving with gradual crawling movements. Several of them reacted rather quickly once the door was opened. With their limbs rustling about, they pounced toward the door. However, Qianye shut the door immediately afterward.

    A series of powerful impacts were transmitted through the metallic doors.

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned pale¡ªthebined force from so many arachne was almost equal to a small siege machine. Fortunately, the explosion of origin power grenades rumbled behind them. Near and far, they rang out continuously amidst the sharp hisses, roars, and hurried footsteps. Eventually, the sounds of the arachne banging against the door also died down.

    Qianye opened the doors once more and found the hall in a state of disarray. Over half of the spiders had copsed to the floor and were on theirst gasp. Those still alive, on the other hand, had been badly wounded. The angle at which the bunch of grenades was hurled enveloped the entire room within the st radius, and the hall¡¯s strong walls deprived the arachne of any space to escape as all of them were swept up in the explosive tempest.

    Qianye charged in with East Peak in tow. He then swiftly went around the hall to kill off all the arachne before breathing a sigh of relief.

    At this time, he had just realized that the arachne in the hall were all females. Add to that the fact that this ce was at the very center of Porter¡¯s residential area, they were likely his wives, concubines, and daughters. It was just that Porter¡¯s preferences were evidently quite unique. These arachne all possessed arachnid bodies, and some didn¡¯t even have human-form upper bodies, a stark contrast from the dark race upper-society who favor humanoid forms.

    There weren¡¯t any garrisoned soldiers in the residential area. A number of servspiders were drawn out by the loud rumble of the grenades, but Qianye killed them off one by one with rtive ease. And behind this hall was Porter¡¯s bedroom.

    It was arge space of about a hundred square meters and over ten meters tall. The ground and walls were covered in dense spider webs, but certain important equipment like des, armaments, paintings, and carved treasured sculptures were left untouched by the spider webs.

    There was a tall tform at the end of the hall with a thickyer of countless beast skins entangled with the intecing spiderwebs below. That was likely Porter¡¯s bed. There was something sparkling within the beast skin and spider webs. Qianye discovered, after arriving closer, that they were randomly scattered jewels and ck crystals with a number of rare ores mixed within.

    The treasures, ores, and ck crystals didn¡¯t count toward military contributions, but they were of great value in and of themselves. The price for obtaining these benefits wouldn¡¯te cheap, however. Qianye¡¯s senses were extremely sharp. As he approached the bed, the intense odor beneath the mattress almost caused his vision to go dark.

    Qianye endured the difort and leapt onto Porter¡¯srge bed. East Peak swung like the wind, cutting the beast skin and spider webs into several pieces. The jewels, ores, and ck crystals were sent flying into the air with a light flick of his de, eventually falling into the bag in his hand.

    The speed of Qianye¡¯s movements was even faster than when he was fighting against Gurema. From this, it was evident just how destructive this mattress was. He managed to breathe a sigh of relief only after wiping Porter¡¯s bedroom clean and beating a hasty retreat. But his mood was immediately elevated after weighing the bounty in his hand which was likely worth several tens of thousands in gold coins.

    Porter¡¯s storeroom was also easy to find. Perhaps because no one had ever entered the viscount¡¯s bedroom before, the door was constructed to the east of the room and was only covered by a simple tapestry which upied the entire wall. There was simply no way to disguise a ten-meter door.

    Qianye used East Peak to tear away the wall decoration of interwoven cloth and spiderwebs, revealing a set of two giant doors cast from refined iron. This kind of metal was sturdier than the steel alloys used by humans. Its main merit was still the massive weight, with each door weighing several tons.

    Here, weight was the best defense. Porter didn¡¯t bother setting up any steam mechanism to open this door, thus it required several powerful arachne to forcefully open this storeroom.

    Qianye¡¯s present strength was insufficient to open the massive doors, but he had other methods. He raised East Peak and attempted an all-out sh which promptly produced a deep scar upon therge refined iron door. Afterward, Qianyended numerous shes on the same area and, amidst a shower of sparks, finally managed to punch a hole through the big door. He widened the opening enough to allow himself passage before making his way inside.

    The storeroom was extremelyrge. There were as much as four ten-square-meter rooms within separated into weapons, defensive armaments, ores, and raw materials. But Qianye was greatly disappointed after going through them.

    There were a lot of items in the storeroom, but all of them were items for arachne use. The armors were all unusuallyrge, and most of the weapons were so big that they wouldn¡¯t fit inside Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    Additionally, the arachne weapons were different from vampires and demonkin. Because they wererge, heavy, and inherently powerful, the armaments weren¡¯t as exquisite as the demonkin''s, and the raw materials were also several grades inferior. That said, Porter¡¯s giant axe was at least several hundred times heavier than a vampire viscount¡¯s sword. How could he afford to use the same materials?

    Because of this, there were only a handful of things in the entire storehouse worth taking away for Qianye. It was the same with ores and materials. Various types of ores were piled until they reached the ceiling, but they were mostly copper, refined iron, or raw, unprocessed ores containing some ck crystals inside.

    The material room was full of already-refined metal ingots, but the grade of these materials couldn¡¯t catch Qianye¡¯s attention.

    After a round of inspection, Qianye did gain some benefits in the end. He found a batch of raw ck titanium and mithril ores. The amount was enough to produce two or three bullets, albeit barely. Moreover, he had also found a batch of high-purity ck crystals and blood crystals.

    In the end, Qianye picked out two grade-five vampire handguns and a grade-four sword from Porter¡¯s collection of armaments belonging to other races. That was all he had. Apparently, this arachne viscount wasn¡¯t interested in weapons from other races¡ªthe collection was pitifully small, and the quality was also fairly mediocre.

    ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be considered a fruitless trip.¡± Qianye consoled himself. The things he could take away were more or less equal to the treasures in two ordinary viscount castlesbined. But there was no denying that he was disappointed¡ªafter all, Porter was a first-rank viscount.

    It was at this time that Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat as a peculiar feeling emerged therein. The sensation passed by in a sh and was soon untraceable.

    Qianye confirmed that it wasn¡¯t a hidden source of danger, but instead a certain existence that didn¡¯t quite fit into the surroundings. He pondered for a moment before his eyes lit up with an azure blue as he scanned the storeroom with True Sight.

    After two repeats, Qianye finally discovered an origin-power abnormality in a certain corner. There was actually a strand of void origin power lingering around the junk piled up therein!

    This was an almost impossible scene. It was virtually impossible for it to appear without any external induction. Even the void origin power that leaked through the legendary spatial tears would be quickly assimted by the surroundings and turn into darkness origin power.

    Qianye arrived before the pile of junk and began rummaging through it. There were various things among them, including irregr pieces of timber, ores, crystals, and some peculiar things of unknown function. It seemed Porter would toss things here if he had no idea whether it was useful.

    Qianye soon found the source of that wisp of void origin power¡ªan unassuming metal box.

    It was made of the mostmon of pig iron, two finger¡¯s breadth in size and mottled with rust. The box hadn¡¯t been opened for an unknown length of time¡ªeven thetch on the front surface had became fixed with rust.

    Qianye held the box and studied it time and again. He scanned the state of the void origin power once more and pried it open with his fingers after confirming that there were no mechanisms within.

    The box was only made up of a thinyer of metal. The inside was just as ordinary¡ªits inherent metallic hue was visible due to the absence of origin arrays and linings. Within it was a ck crystal the size of a finger. There was almost nothing special about it apart from its surface appearing smoother and its corners more rounded. Moreover, it was much smaller than the standard ck crystal.

    Qianye¡¯s True Sight, however, could actually see strands of void origin power forming at its core. One of them would gradually seep out, but would only exist for an extremely short moment before being assimted into the surroundings.

    Qianye sensed it for some time and confirmed that the previous abnormality he had perceived was in fact due to the emergence of void origin power. Apparently, there was a secret within this piece of ck crystal. He fished out an origin bullet case and carefully stored the ck crystal within, along with its iron box, before putting them away in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. Only after this did he feel that this trip hadn¡¯t been in vain.

    Qianye checked Porter¡¯s residential area once more before returning to the circr elevator za outside. He had stayed in ck Nest for a fair length of time up until this point and was just hesitating whether he should withdraw when he felt the nearby vent releasing a stream of abnormally warm air.

    The facilities in the arachneir were several timesrger than those found in human buildings, and the air vent was no exception. Qianye¡¯s vision was filled with red mist as he peered down through therge grills. The heat was actuallying from real magma! This also meant that the space beneath his foot was the arachne incubation chamber.

    Now, that was an effortless discovery. The human from before had nevere into contact with the Dark Nest¡¯s core area, and Qianye himself had no time to search every corner of the castle¡ªhe was already about to give up.

    Qianye observed the geography then proceeded to carve an entrance on the za floor and advanced into the room below. However, he had unexpectedly encountered intense resistance as he reached the door into the incubation chamber. Unexpectedly, there were over a hundred guards stationed there¡ªthe security here was far tighter than Porter¡¯s own residential area.

    The hundred-odd soldiers were all ughtered in an arduous blood-bath before Qianye sessfully arrived in the incubation room. He was immediately shaken by the scene before him as he stepped into the room.

 Volume 5 - 398: Interception

    Chapter 398: Interception

    Chapter 398: Interception [V5C105 A Distance Within Reach]

    The incubation chamber was a giant room hundreds of meters in diameter which seemed to have been transformed from a natural cave. There was a deep pit at its center in which flowed burning redva. There was an origin array set up around the opening of this pit which filtered over half of the fierce mes, leaving only a gentle warmth with which to incubate the spider eggs.

    The four walls were built in steps which rose upward like terraced fields with arge number of spider eggs on each of the ten steps. Their count increased toward the periphery, but their sizes decreased. There were at least tens of thousands of eggs on the outermost one, but they were also greatly inferior in size and activity¡ªit seemed they would only produce servspiders.

    Qianye scanned the entire room and found that there were actually tens of thousands of spiders eggs of all sizes. Not to mention a viscount, even Count Stuka¡¯s incubation chamber might not be of such a scale. What was going on here?

    His gaze swept through the room and fell upon the two flights of stairs closest to the center. There were fivepletely ck spider eggs upon the secondst step. They werepletely different from the other ones, and three of them even had a number of obvious jade-green stripes on their shells.

    Those were viscount-grade spider eggs!

    The arachne breeding methods were somewhat different from the rest of the dark races. The female spider could produce hundreds of eggs in one go, but only a small number of them would be arachne.

    It could be said that the egg hadn¡¯t even hatched when its lifetime aplishments had already been confirmed. This was an even cruelerw of survivalpared to humans. Barring any major idents or opportunities, these viscount-level eggs would normally reach the viscount rank after they mature.

    The higher the grade of the spider egg, the lower the chances of it appearing. An arachne viscount could make his female partnery down tens of thousands of eggs in her lifetime, but viscount level ones would hardly exceed ten even among different mothers. To the arachne, only this kind of egg would be treated as a true descendant.

    Now, there were five viscount-grade spider eggs before Qianye.

    Bringing these back would him military contributions. A single egg was equal in merit to a third-rank viscount. Just like the dark races, the empire had always been engaging in biological research¡ªthe demand for gifted dark race offspring was high and the rewards, generous.

    When Qianye walked down to the lowest step, he unexpectedly discovered a spider egg behind a veil of green mist.

    The egg wasn¡¯t big, and its aura was weaker than the other viscount eggs. However, its entire body was a sparkling, translucent ck. There were numerous green veined patterns on its shell which came together to form a set of natural runes, albeit the simplest type. Its meaning was poison.

    This rune alone was enough to set it aside from the spider eggs of the viscount grade. Qianye found the aura being emitted from the egg to be somewhat familiar. He activated the Eyes of Truth once again and observed in detail before finally confirming that the aura bore some semnce to Count Stuka¡¯s.

    Qianye suddenly realized that this spider egg was probably Count Stuka¡¯s descendant, and a count-grade one at that. Although its aura was weak and seemed to be congenitally deficient, it might perhaps force its way to the count ranks. But there was an inherent difference between it and a viscount grade egg, and this difference was the key¡ªthe natural rune representing poison.

    This discovery caused Qianye to suddenly realize something. Count Stuka possessed a count-grade offspring, but it was congenitally defective. Perhaps this egg hadn¡¯t finished growing even as he was at death¡¯s door. This was probably the reason why he was reluctant to give up his position and let it fall into another¡¯s hand.

    It was no wonder Qianye had encountered such intense resistance after his arrival just now. So it turned out that this was amon incubation chamber used by a first-rank viscount and a veteran count. That was why it was of such arge scale.

    Since Count Stuka had ced his descendant here, then the incubation chamber in his castle was likely filled with decoys in order to pull the wool over people¡¯s eyes. With such thoughts and schemes, it appeared this arachne count wasn¡¯t that ipetent.

    Qianye carefully sealed and stowed away the count-grade egg and the five viscount-grade ones into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. The realm was now packed full and could no longer amodate anything else.

    Qianye decided not to linger here. It was high time he returned to the empire to report his contributions and renew his supplies. Additionally, these spider eggs wouldn¡¯t survive very long after leaving the incubation chamber, so it was imperative that he dealt with them as quickly as possible. Otherwise, dead spider eggs would lose their value.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he nced at the remaining spider eggs. Such arge number of eggs together would equal a dark race count in terms of contribution. It was just that he had no means to take them away in one piece. He ced a number of origin grenades on the origin array covering theva heat source and installed a simple timing mechanism before leaving swiftly.

    This time, Qianye took therge passage toward the main gates. This passage was straight, wide, and the shortest in distance, but he would definitely encounter guards. After sprinting all the way and ughtering over twenty high-ranking dark race warriors, Qianye finally arrived at the main gates. At this time, muffled rumbles rang out behind him like rolling thunder. The entire ck Nest began to tremble as a wave of infernal heat spread out from behind.

    Qianye sped up his footsteps after sensing the odor ofva. He shed a baron in front into two and knocked a servspider flying as he charged straight out of their. He nced back while dashing along the stone path leading away from ck Nest. The castle was shaking continuously, and people were running out from its various passages in panic. Two of the tunnels had even started to spit out mes.

    This movement quaked the earth and shook the mountains. It was as though a volcano was erupting.

    Qianye was startled. Afterward, he recalled the origin array he had just destroyed and realized that the array suppressing the undergroundva was probably of utmost importance. After its destruction, theva underneath went out of control and started gushing out. Apparently, the entire incubation chamber and the surrounding core area of ck Nest had be unsalvageable.

    This was good news for Qianye because ck Nest would no longer be an obstruction should he choose to push further west in the future. He halted further observation and darted into the closest mountainous region, prepared to retrace his steps via Silverflow Fjord.

    He hadn¡¯t gotten far when he suddenly chanced upon the first-rank viscount Porter as he was scanning his surroundings for origin power. However, Qianye discovered that his aura had grown much weaker than before.

    He¡¯s injured? Qianye¡¯s heart was shaken. He adjusted his direction and began approaching the arachne rapidly.

    Momentster, Viscount Porter¡¯s entourage appeared from behind a gentle slope several hundred meters away from Qianye. It could be said that the viscount¡¯s troop formation as he left ck Nest was majestic and surging with killing intent¡ªeven a main force division of the expeditionary army might not be able to halt his advance.

    Now, however, the squads around him were in disarray, and no more than twenty high-ranking warriors remained by his side. Moreover, all of them carried serious injuries.

    Porter himself wasn¡¯t in good shape as his armor was broken in many ces. There was a big defect on the edge of his giant axe, and its hilt was obviously bent. Unexpectedly, two out of his eight arachnid legs had been broken. Presently, he had four legs on one side and only two on the other, which made it difficult for him to maintain bnce while moving. There was a terrifying, bone-deep wound on his face, and his left eye had vanished.

    Judging from the travel distance, Porter¡¯s battle time hadn¡¯t even reached half a day. How was he beaten so badly? Apparently, the human unit that had appeared here was of extraordinarybat strength, quite likely the main branch unit of a certain aristocratic family.

    Regardless of that, Qianye no longer hesitated because the opportunity before him was simply too rare. He emerged abruptly and charged full speed at Porter without bothering to disguise himself.

    The group¡¯s morale was at an all-time low from the pain and injury. Moreover, they had rxed their vignce since they would soon arrive at ck Nest. Only when Porter suddenly nced backward after sensing some abnormal vibrations in the earth did he see Qianye rushing toward them.

    At this moment, Qianye was less than a hundred meters from Porter. He exerted greater power from his feet, causing the ground to rise and fall with his every step. Waves of runes spread toward every direction like ripples on the water surface.

    Qianye raised his speed yet again and sent flying an arachne viscount who sought to block his path. He was now less than ten meters from Porter. East Peak rose and shed out through the air.

    Nirvanic Rend!

    Porter saw Qianye clearly. His first expression was of disdain, then one of anger. No matter how injured he was, there was no chance a weak human who wasn¡¯t even a champion could take advantage of him. But his expression shifted all of a sudden as Nirvanic Rend appeared¡ªhe felt an instinctive threat to his life!

    The arachne viscount paid the price for his initial carelessness. He roared frantically and hurled his giant axe at Qianye like a javelin in a bid to block thetter¡¯s charging momentum. He forcefully moved his massive arachnid body to the side and used his four intact limbs to receive the sword intent emitted from the edge of the heavy de.

    A series of cracks rang out as one of Porter¡¯s limbs actually broke. However, Nirvanic Rend¡¯s momentum didn¡¯t end there. It pressed on to leave a deep gash on the arachne¡¯s abdomen before the sword intent thoroughly dissipated.

    Qianye evaded the whirling axe with a simple sidestep and leapt up without pause afternding on the ground. His speed, at the level of a vampire viscount, allowed him to reach the viscount in a single dash, and he was poised to stomp onto Porter¡¯s arachnid body.

    Porter already saw Qianye as a great enemy. How could he give thetter such an opportunity? He immediately retracted his entire body as his lingering origin power began to crackle on his humanoid torso, poised tounch an all-out attack the moment Qianye arrived.

    However, Qianye made an urgent stop mid-air. He then drew the Twin Flowers, merged them into one, and unfurled a pair of brilliant wings behind his back! Soon, an iparably fierce ze blossomed from its muzzle, instantly lighting up the dark world like a beam of sunlight shooting through space.

    The Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang turned into a beam of light which sted upon Porter¡¯s body, issuing a dazzling burst of radiance¡ªit was as though a new sun had risen amidst the darkness.

    The surviving dark race warriors in the vicinity began to scream in misery as the sudden extreme yang radiance pierced their eyes. Even powerful barons felt their eyes burning and had tears streaming down. Their vision became a blur, and they could no longer see anything for the moment.

    Porter howled in pain. His entire body was covered in raging mes from head to toe. These mes which contained daybreak origin power was extremely agonizing to the dark races. The arachne viscount lost all reason due to the agony¡ªhis massive body fell to the ground where he rolled around with all his might in a vain effort to extinguish the mes.

    Qianye had already switched back to his True Sight. Before him, he saw a boundless surge of daybreak origin power almost engulfing the entire area.

 Volume 5 - 399: Conflict

    Chapter 399: Conflict [V5C106 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye only stopped the Eye of Truth when the daybreak origin power gradually dispersed. Several meters away, Porter¡¯s shoulder had been sted into oblivion¡ªthere was almost nothing but ayer of skin attaching his arm to his torso, and the wound was still flowing with incandescent refined silver.

    Qianye pounced over instantaneously and stabbed at Porter¡¯s heart.

    The arachne viscount let out a pained roar and, with all his might, swung the intact left arm at Qianye¡¯s shoulder. However, Qianye didn¡¯t evade and forcefully endured this assault as he absorbed essence blood via the Scarlet Edge.

    Porter¡¯s movements quickly turned weak as his massive body copsed with a boom, never to move again.

    Only at this point did the dark race warriors recover their vision, but what awaited them was only Porter¡¯s corpse.

    The atmosphere suddenly became ratherplicated. But Qianye¡¯s injuries were obviously not light either, not to mention he had used his most powerful Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang and the Nirvanic Rend.

    Although these arachne had no idea what Qianye¡¯s two powerful moves were, they could easily imagine that an attack capable of heavily injuring a first-rank viscount probably couldn¡¯t be pulled off continuously.

    If they swarmed over him right now and pay a certain price, they might perhaps be able to ughter this human ambusher on the spot.

    Qianye also understood this reasoning, but he showed not the slightest sign of being flustered. Instead, he calmly produced an entire box of Mithril Bullets of Exorcism and pressed two of them into the Twin Flowers. Everyone could clearly see that there were eight bullets left in the box.

    The arachne were momentarily hesitant. The Mithril Bullet of Exorcism was something they were very familiar with. Most of them had even suffered its effects before and knew that it was indeed unpleasant. The arachne possessed naturallyrge bodies, and a single bullet might not be lethal to them. However, it wasmon to be left with an unheble injury or even be handicapped after getting struck by it.

    With the ruthlessness Qianye had disyed just now, the arachne soldiers knew that the first ones to charge would die without a doubt. Qianye, on the other hand, still had so many mithril bullets left. The soldiers reckoned half of them would have to die before they could take him down.

    Qianye spun the Twin Flowers in his hand. He then nced at the hesitant arachne soldiers and sneered, ¡°Who wants to try first? Let¡¯s see if your waists can take a shot!¡±

    The arachne were shocked. Beforeplete human transformation, the waist between the arachne¡¯s human upper body and arachnid abdomen was one of their weaknesses. A st there from a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism would leave a perpetual injury, resulting in a precipitous decrease in theirbat strength and agility.

    In the Dark Nation where rankings were strict and strength was honored above all, a fall in strength meant a certain fall in status. Moreover, the slide in status was usually much faster¡ªsuch a conclusion, to most arachne warriors, was even more difficult to ept than dying in battle.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to his nonsense. Humans are the craftiest species!¡± an arachne knight cried loudly.

    ¡°Bang!¡± Qianye pulled the trigger without the slightest bit of hesitation. The arachne knight let out a cry of extremely agony as blood burst forth from the bowl-sized injury at his waist, apanied by a stream of green fumes.

    Qianye gravely injuring this knight intimidated the other arachne. Afterward, he produced yet another box of mithril bullets and said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ve ample supply of these things. I guarantee everyone will get his share.¡±

    The arachne warriors finally began to show some cowardice. The strongest baron among them whispered, ¡°He must be from a major human n. Let¡¯s retreat!¡±

    Although the arachne took delight in ughter, they weren¡¯t stupid. The arachne of Evernight Continent were considered rural vigers in the Dark Nation. They were no match for the empire¡¯s aristocratic scions both in terms ofbat strength and armaments. Now that Porter had died, the most important thing at present was to return and decide how to split the benefits. Those heavily wounded right now would be eliminated when it was time to cut up the fatty meat.

    Qianye finally heaved a sigh of relief as he watched the arachne soldiers retreat. He had never imagined that he would be able to escape the perilous situation so easily. He felt that his luck was pretty good since he was expecting to sustain more injuries before being able to break out of this encirclement.

    Qianye retrieved Porter¡¯s arachnid crystal and returned swiftly to Silverflow Fjord without seeking more battles.

    Silverflow Fjord wasn¡¯t affected by the bloody battle and was still fairly peaceful. Qianye recuperated some time and dealt with the injuries on his body before setting out. He drove the motorcycle over the vast wilderness and hurried back to ckflow City.

    The interior of ckflow was just as Qianye had left it. The atmosphere was somewhat tense, but things were still rtively peaceful. There were many adventurers, mercenaries, and soldiers in the city, and most were here for the high military contribution rewards, prepared to fight risking life and limb. Those fortunate enough might be left with a sizeable fortune after this battle and never again have to worry about food and lodgings for life.

    Arge batch of people had escaped the Iron Curtain when it first appeared. Now, however, there were more people arriving in ckflow than those who had left. The bloody battle had just begun, so a supply base like ckflow was a godsend.

    The adventurers and mercenaries naturally weren¡¯t easy to deal with, but few dared to stir up trouble in ckflow City. Their eyes were extremely fierce¡ªthey had long since discovered that there were more soldiers inside ckflow than in any other city. At this moment, the reinforcements from the nearby divisions had already arrived, bringing Dark me¡¯s regr soldier count to one and a half times that of an ordinary independent division.

    Moreover, the Dark me soldiers patrolling the entire city were d in superior equipment almostparable to the imperial regr army. Barring for those who were too blind, none of the mercenaries dared cause a ruckus under such circumstances.

    There were also aristocraticbat units passing through the city, but the surprised men quickly retracted their pride after hearing that the divisionmander was actually Duke You¡¯s granddaughter, Zhao Yuying.

    After returning to ckflow City, Qianye assembled the high-ranking officers to inquire about the present situation and found out that everything was normal. Regarding defense, three out of the four stronghold cannons had already been modified. Thest one was half done and should bepleted in three more days. ckflow City¡¯s defenses would reach new heights after the four stronghold cannons werepletely remodeled. At the very least, it would not be inferior to an imperial border city.

    Qianye felt somewhat relieved after listening to the reports. At this moment, he heard a series of rumbling sounds outside. He got up to the window and peered out to find several heavybat vehicles and armored military trucks loaded with soldiers leaving the camp in a single file.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Free hunting was the main theme among the many expert participants of this bloody battle. Troops without an expert to oversee them had little impact, and it was almost equal to sending them to their deaths¡ªjust like how Qianye had entered ck Nest on his own and killed all the guards there.

    Song Hu replied from the side, ¡°The caravan dispatched by the Seventh Young Master has arrived and will enter the Iron Curtain soon. This unit is heading out to receive them.¡±

    ¡°The materials have arrived?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the materials this time are quite important since they includeponents for the stronghold walls and a small kic tower. Seventh Young Master has already dispatched his most powerful guards, but the situation inside the Iron Curtain is difficult to ascertain. That¡¯s why I acted on my own in dispatching an armored unit to support them,¡± Song Hu exined.

    Qianye nodded. Song Zining had given him a surprise at the critical moment¡ªthese materials were originally due to arrive several monthster¡ªhe hadn¡¯t expected thetter to ship the goods at lightning speed. It seemed Song Zining had made use of some major connections in order to achieve this.

    Qianye was now free since there was nothing major in ckflow City. He thus drove a jeep alone toward the Trinity River County capital in order to hand in his military contributions.

    The county capital, at this moment, was iparably lively. There were busy craftsmen all over the walls, and new cannon towers had sprung up one after another. Its four main gates were wide open, and the flow of people continued day and night without rest.

    The empire had established a tallying center for military contributions here. As such, the city had be a gathering ce for all the hunting parties in the surrounding battlefields¡ªno less than tens of thousands of mercenaries and adventurers had converged therein.

    Unless they werepletely crazy, the weaker dark racebat units would steer clear of this region.

    Qianye saw a crowd at the city gates as he arrived at the county capital on his jeep. The crowd leaving and entering the city was in chaos and refused to make way for one another. There were sounds of quarrel mixed in with the sound of fists striking flesh. The expeditionary army guards only watched the show from one side and seemed to have no intention of interfering. They were evenmenting on the developments withughter.

    Qianye was also blocked within the stream of people amidst the chaotic scene and couldn¡¯t move his car for quite a while.

    Qianye jumped down from the vehicle with a cold expression and pushed past the crowd to arrive at the scene of conflict. The parties in contention were a mercenary band and an aristocraticbat unit. Judging from their family crest, this so-called nobility was merely andowning household. The squad¡¯s strength was also rather mediocre, and there was nothing to praise about them apart from their uniform equipment.

    Thendowning household squad was shouting loudly, repeating their noble rank and family name as though they themselves were the nobles. But this was Evernight¡ªthe major ns and families from other continents might have some deterring effect, but a smallndowning household held no weight at all. Their name wasn¡¯t even as useful as that of a current expeditionary army officer.

    Regardless of location, mercenaries and adventurers who earned a living with their lives on the line were always cruel and untamed. They would, at most, need to hide away in the wilderness or go to a new city aftermitting a crime. Thisndowning household squad was only equal to the mercenaries in strength, so how could they force the other party into submission?

    The two parties had already progressed from spewing out curses to the verge of actual fighting. They were currently hitting each other with fists, but weapons would soon be drawn if this dragged on.

    The city gates became even more obstructed as more and more people came to watch the liveliness. Qianye had no time to waste here. He shouted with a heavy expression, ¡°Go to the side if you guys want to fight. Don¡¯t block the road!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t high, but everyone heard him clearly. Moreover, everyone felt their hearts beat faster and their chests began to tighten as though a big rock were pressing over it.

    The mercenaries knew who they could and could not afford to provoke. Qianye¡¯s shout clearly disyed his deep and resounding origin power. After seeing the expeditionary army insignia on Qianye¡¯s uniform, they immediately withdrew from the conflict with apprehensive expressions.

    These mercenaries were clear that, with Qianye¡¯s strength, his position in the expeditionary army must be fairly high. The expeditionary army was the local tyrant of Evernight Continent, an entity they were most unwilling to offend.

    However, thendowning household squad didn¡¯t care about such things. They became furious after seeing the mercenaries give way and started to give chase with punches and kicks. It seemed these people actually had no intention of letting the other party go, even after victory.

 Volume 5 - 400: Exploitation

    Chapter 400: Exploitation [V5C107 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Chapter 400: Exploitation [V5C107 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank somewhat. He reached out to grab thendowning family soldier¡¯s shoulder and said coldly, ¡°I said stop it. Did you not hear?¡±

    That person¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t vague at all. He lowered his elbow tounch a sideways blow toward Qianye¡¯s chest. Meanwhile, the other hand wasn¡¯t idle either¡ªa p whistled toward Qianye¡¯s face as he spewed profanities from his mouth. ¡°Who do you think you are? Is this your ce to speak? Don¡¯t you know who our master is?¡±

    Qianye swung a fist out with a frown. His attack arrived first despite movingter and smashed the man flying backward. The man crashed a path through the crowd and fell down only after striking the city wall, leaving a trail of flying blood and teeth.

    Thendowning squad was shocked for a moment. Afterward, they exploded and began shouting, ¡°Commoner! How dare you injure a noble?¡±

    ¡°Hey, expeditionary army soldiers over there! Are you all blind? Didn¡¯t you see this brat hit a noble? Seize him!¡±

    ¡°We might as well just ughter him. We¡¯ll have to pay a fine at most.¡± Another burly man from the group roared. He drew a handgun, took aim, and actually pulled the trigger on Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s brows locked into a frown. He had never expected this unit would reach such a degree of unruliness. One had to know that he was wearing an expeditionary army officer¡¯s uniform. Even the imperial elite corps would have to use up their casualty quota in order to kill him in public. Qianye removed the heavy sword from his back and tapped the man lightly with a sheathed East Peak.

    The burly man¡¯s expression turned sluggish and his knees gave way. He fell kneeling onto the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood before copsing, his fate unknown.

    Everyone was astonished, and even those watching the liveliness turned silent for a moment. Soon, everyone backed up in panic and cleared out an open space at the scene.

    Momentster, someone from thendowning unit came to and started shouting, ¡°Murder! Amoner has murdered a noble! Capture this brat and the empire will reward handsomely!¡±

    Qianye exhaled lightly. He could no longer endure the scoundrelly behavior of thesendowning soldiers. East Peak waved out horizontally and whipped onto the man¡¯s face.

    The soldier spun several times in the air and spat out several teeth before falling unconscious.

    This time, these people finally understood that they had kicked a steel te. All of them froze on the spot and no longer dared continue their lowly speech. Some among these fellows had their hands on their origin guns. They were considering their options time and again but dared not draw their weapons.

    Qianye nced toward the surroundings and then waved at the expeditionary army officer nearby. ¡°Come here.¡±

    The officer wore a major¡¯s insignia on his shoulder and should be themander of the gate sentry. His subordinates called him out from within the guard tower for fear of the situation going out of control. He realized things weren¡¯t looking too good when he saw the colonel insignia on Qianye¡¯s shoulder¡ªbut then he nced at Qianye¡¯s face. He felt a rush in his mind and immediately hurried over in a jog.

    The major said with a smile, ¡°So it¡¯s Colonel Qianye. What instructions do you have for us, sir? Don¡¯t hesitate to say it. I¡¯ll work on it right away!¡±

    Dark me was quite famous among the expeditionary army soldiers of the Trinity River County, having nursed gratitudes and grudges with the expeditionary army divisions therein from the moment of its founding to the establishment of its independent division. All middle to high ranking officers had at least heard of Qianye¡¯s description even if they hadn¡¯t seen him in person.

    This gatekeeping officer was in his forties and had already been a major for several years. He naturally knew that the person in true control of Dark me was this Qianye standing before him. This was a major character capable of standing on the same level as their divisionmander. As such, the smile on his face was exceptionally enthusiastic.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°These people can be considered a disturbance to public security, right? Seize them and deal with them.¡±

    The major¡¯s expression turned ugly. ¡°Sire Qianye, it''s not a problem to capture them, but it¡¯s not much use since we¡¯ll have to release themter on. Our divisionmander has ordered us to let those from the upper continent be unless theymit a major crime.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment. ¡°That means things like this have been happening frequently?¡±

    The major revealed an apanying smile and said, ¡°It¡¯s not especiallymon. These lordsing down from above are indeed difficult to serve, but not a lot of them actually move against our expeditionary army officers, so our general doesn¡¯t really want to deal with them. Moreover, the true major ns won¡¯t stay here for long. They¡¯re usually off to war as soon as they arrive.¡±

    Qianye understood the major¡¯s hidden implications. This one before them wasn¡¯t the only arrogant and despotic minor family. However, the expeditionary army divisionmander did not want to get tangled up with them since these people could only bully mercenaries and adventurers who had no background.

    But this also allowed them to be more and more arrogant. So much so that they casually moved to kill Qianye despite his expeditionary army officer¡¯s uniform.

    Presently, thesendowning household soldiers had regained their breath. Only now did they notice that Qianye was wearing a high-ranking expeditionary army officer¡¯s uniform. They nced at each other and felt that they were quite unlucky. But they weren¡¯t nervous at all¡ªso much so that they were watching Qianye with gazes of ridicule as they awaited their capture. In any case, they would be going in from the front and walking out from the back.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Seize them and send them to ckflow City.¡± With that, he tossed a bag into the major¡¯s hands. ¡°Go drink with the brothers afterward.¡±

    The major breathed a sigh of relief. Once these people were in ckflow City, whatever happened would be Qianye¡¯s problem and have nothing to do with them. He grabbed the bag and realized from its contour that there should be both gold and silver coins within. His smile immediately turned even more ttering.

    ¡°What are you all staring at? Go and capture them!¡± the major shouted with a wave of his hand, and this time, he was full of courage.

    The expeditionary army soldiers in charge of guarding the gates had apparently endured these aristocratic soldiers for quite some time. They responded explosively and swarmed over at once. The mercenaries and adventurers who were watching from the side actually charged over at this point and beat those soldiers up until they were ck, blue, and had copsed onto the ground. It seemed everyone had been holding back their anger all this time.

    The major instructed, ¡°Tie them up well and dispatch two cars to transport them to Sire Qianye¡¯s ckflow City!¡±

    He arranged everything with great swiftness for fear that it would involve him.

    The major recalled something after handling the men from thebat squad. He approached Qianye and said in a whisper, ¡°Sire Qianye, this lowly one must remind you that these people kept saying that their master is the nephew of a certain duke. You must be careful!¡±

    Qianye broke into aughter almost immediately. The soldiers from this squad were simply unrivaled in their bluffing. If their master was indeed the nephew of a duke, it was impossible for him to fall to the ranks of andowning household. Apparently, they were only using it to scare the ignorant natives of Evernight Continent with extravagant boasting.

    Thismotion had dyed him quite a bit. Qianye walked back to his jeep and suddenly found that anky man had stealthily climbed into the vehicle, apparently aiming to fish in troubled waters.

    Qianye arrived behind him in a sh, lifted him out of the car, and flung him to the ground. Thenky man didn¡¯t even get the chance to cry out before he was knocked unconscious.

    The expeditionary army soldiers immediately recovered their ruthless qualities in dealing with such a thief. They charged over and beat him up before dragging him away like a dead dog.

    One could see with a single nce that Qianye¡¯s jeep was a high-grade vehicle, not to mention it was flying the expeditionary army g. How could any ordinary person dare to touch it? Thatnky man was simply too bold.

    Qianye shook his head in secret. The chaos in the county capital had far surpassed his expectations.

    After finally entering the city, Qianye followed the major¡¯s directions to the ce where military contributions were being tallied.

    The tallying area was set up within a three-storied building beside the central za in order to make it convenient for people of all trades to turn in their proof items and register contributions. The bloody battle had just begun, but the number of people registering had far exceeded expectations. The za was full of human heads, and the venue could even be considered rather crowded.

    Feeling that it was inconceivable, he turned to ask the major apanying him on the car, ¡°So many people have made contributions? It hasn¡¯t been long since the bloody battle began, has it?¡±

    The major replied with augh, ¡°In truth, many people find it hard to believe that the rewards are so generous, so they go out to fight a couple of random battles and hurry here to exchange points after obtaining some stock. This will also serve to confirm that the rewards are true.¡±

    Qianye nodded since this was indeed natural human behavior and continued driving forward. But his car was stopped at a certain intersection.

    A dozen or so soldiers had blocked the entire road, and judging from their uniforms, they should be a certain aristocratic family¡¯s private army.

    A strong, burly man banged Qianye¡¯s door and shouted, ¡°Get down!¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Are you here to register for military contributions? Take the items out and let us see!¡±

    Qianye replied coldly, ¡°Who are you people? Why must I show you anything?¡±

    The burly man was immediately enraged and shouted with his gun drawn, ¡°Take it out if I tell you to. Why are you speaking so much nonsense? Are you looking to die?¡±

    At this time, a middle-aged man walked over and held down the burly man¡¯s gun. ¡°Don¡¯t be rash. We¡¯re here to do business, not to fight.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s gaze was sharp. He swept his gaze over Qianye and said, ¡°Brother, if you want to pass through this street to register for military contributions, you must give us half the goods ording to the rules. This is a passage fee as well as the price for your protection.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood. It turned out that these people had taken a fancy to the iparably generous bounty and were actually exploiting the peopleing to register their contributions. This ce was only a couple of steps away from the registration area. How dare they set up such a grandiose blockade?

    Qianye found it rather inconceivable and shot a nce at the major beside him. As though knowing what Qianye wanted to ask, the officer revealed a wry smile and said in a soft voice, ¡°Sire, it¡¯s the same whichever road you take¡­¡±

    The major hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the middle-aged man sneered. ¡°Take another road? Stop dreaming! Since you¡¯ve alreadye, then you must pass through here! You must leave half of your things even if you turn back now.¡±

    Qianye was expressionless. He pointed toward the expeditionary army g and said indifferently, ¡°We¡¯re from the expeditionary army.¡±

    The middle-aged manughed. ¡°It¡¯s because of that g and your uniform that we demand only half. Others must pay two-thirds.¡±

    Qianye asked with a smile, ¡°What gives you the right?¡±

    The burly man beside him pointed to the insignia on his chest and said, ¡°The Wang family, appointed Count Xiaoshang by imperial decree. This gives me the right!¡±

    A regional count was neither big nor small and could be considered a middle-ranked aristocratic family, a major character to those on the Evernight continent. However, they had run over to Trinity River County to exploit military contributions. What unsightly table manners!

    Qianye realized something after seeing how the major was hesitant to speak and was instead shooting him meaningful nces¡ªit seemed there was a story behind this so-called Count Xiaoshan''s private army. He alighted and walked over to the middle-aged man with a smile. ¡°Brother, aren¡¯t your demands a bit too much?¡±

 Volume 5 - 401: Wrong and Right

    The middle-aged man flicked the butt of his cigarette away and revealed an evil grin. ¡°The empire¡¯s rewards this time are too generous. You¡¯ll get scalded by this fortune if you keep it in hand! You¡¯ll be able to get your fair share with Count Xiaoshan watching over you. Otherwise, no matter how much money you have, the fun is over if you lose your life.¡±

    While speaking, the middle-aged man suddenly peered through the car windows and found tworge, fully-stuffed bags sitting on the back seat. Most peopleing to register military contributions had only one or two items on them. When had they ever seen tworge bags stuffed full of them?

    The middle-aged man immediately felt overwhelmed. His voice trembled as he asked, ¡°Are all of these military contributions?¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± Qianye replied calmly. It was as though he had never seen major beside him casting him meaningful nces.

    The middle-aged man quietly signaled the men beside him before approaching Qianye with a face full of smiles. ¡°Since this is the case, we can negotiate.¡±

    It was at this time that a gust of chilly wind approached from behind Qianye¡¯s back. The figure of a man had suddenly emerged therein, and the dagger in his hand thrust ruthlessly at Qianye¡¯s waist.

    The dagger was just about to enter his flesh when it suddenly froze mid-air and the assassin¡¯s face turned pale. That was because the Twin Flowers were already aimed toward his face and the muzzle was almost pressed against his mouth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± The assant begged for mercy with a trembling voice.

    ¡°Goodbye,¡± Qianye said indifferently as he pulled on the trigger.

    ¡°Boom!¡± The assassin¡¯s brain exploded into a shower of blood. The middle-aged man¡¯s expression shifted rapidly. The man was just about to move when another handgun appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand and was already pressed against his forehead.

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression turned gloomy as he repeatedly said, ¡°We¡¯re Count Xiaoshan¡¯s men. You¡¯re dead if you dare touch us!¡±

    The Twin Flowers rumbled once again. Qianye had no intention to even let him finish speaking.

    ¡°Charge together. Kill!¡± The private army soldiers came to only at this point and some of the more violent soldiers immediately pounced toward Qianye.

    Qianye performed a small sidestep, skillfully traversed the two iing fists, and put away the Twin Flowers in a leisurely manner. Following which, East Peak left its sheath and swept across in a dull fashion. Several of the soldiers leading the charge were cut into two along with their weapons.

    Such ruthless methods finally managed to intimidate the habitually arrogant private soldiers. They shouted with their weapons tightly in hand, but none dared actually approach.

    Qianye shot them an indifferent nce and was just about to return to the car. However, themotion had alerted the soldiers at the imperial registration station. A lieutenant colonel ran over with a dozen or so fully-equipped imperial soldiers in tow.

    The lieutenant colonel arrived just in time to see the corpses strewn all over the floor. Immediately infuriated, he shouted toward Qianye, ¡°You dare stir up trouble andmit murder at an imperial office?! Men, seize him!¡±

    The imperial soldiers rushed toward Qianye immediately. In terms ofbat strength, these people were inferior to Count Xiaoshan¡¯s private soldiers, but they were d in imperial regr army uniforms¡ªthis represented apletely different identity. Touching them was akin to acting against the prestige of the imperial regr army.

    Qianye said to the lieutenant colonel with a frosty voice, ¡°Are you blind?¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± The lieutenant colonel was infuriated. But his eyes turned blurry before he could react¡ªQianye had somehow arrived before him and smacked the man in the face with a certain object in his hand.

    The lieutenant colonel was whipped into a spin and spat out several teeth. However, Qianye grabbed his shoulder and prevented him from falling down.

    The man recovered from his dizziness with great difficulty and was just about to spew out abuses when a certain object appeared in front of his eyes. It was the same thing he had been pped with just now.

    ¡°Take a good look at what this is.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was, just as before, t and devoid of fluctuations, but it sounded like a sudden p of thunder in the lieutenant colonel¡¯s ears.

    The left half of the man¡¯s face had swollen up like a pig¡¯s head, and his left eye could no longer see due to the congestion of blood. He tried hard to observe the steel token with his only functioning eye and was drenched in cold sweat at the sight of the word ¡°Zhao¡± carved in its center.

    ¡°Which Zhao n?¡± The lieutenant colonel wanted to p himself after blurting these words out. The style and patterns upon the token were of noble make. Although Zhao was a big surname, there weren¡¯t a lot of nobles among them¡ªhe was seven parts sure that the token belonged to the one he did not wish to hear.

    The lieutenant colonel turned to nce at Qianye¡¯s jeep and saw the expeditionary army g depicting a crossed flintlock and bloody bay. However, a name that caused his entire body to shiver escaped from Qianye¡¯s mouth. ¡°The Swallow Cloud Zhao n.¡±

    The imperial regr army soldiers had drawn their weapons at Qianye after seeing their officer suffer. But now, their expressions were also visibly different.

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s attitude shifted rapidly. He assumed apletely different countenance and said shamelessly, ¡°Please wait a moment while this lowly officer handles some official matters, sire. It won¡¯t dy you for long.¡±

    His face had already turned frosty by the time he turned back toward Count Xiaoshan¡¯s private soldiers. As expected of someone born of the imperial military, his change in attitude was rapid. The lieutenant colonel pointed toward the private soldiers and shouted with surging killing intent, ¡°Seize these scoundrels immediately! Kill whoever resists!¡±

    A sincere smile was stered onto the lieutenant colonel¡¯s face as he turned back. ¡°Did youe to turn in military contributions, sire? Please follow this lowly officer in and let the youngsters handle your car.¡±

    Qianye made noment and only gazed at the lieutenant colonel with narrowed eyes¡ªthis man was producing a smile as radiant as the spring wind with his half-swollen face. Qianye nodded and followed the lieutenant colonel toward the registration area. Only then did the man manage to breathe a sigh of relief and wipe away the cold sweat on his neck.

    The registration area was rather lively with close to a hundred adventurers lining up to register their contributions. The officer brought Qianye through the main hall and directly to the third floor. His unctuous behavior shocked everyone in the hall for a moment.

    After seating Qianye and instructing someone to deliver tea, the lieutenant colonel gave Qianye a brief introduction of the rules rted to the registration process while they waited for the soldiers to carry his proof of contribution up. Qianye already knew the publicized rules; the ones being exined were the unwritten ones.

    The nominalmander of this military contribution registration office was a certain colonel from the imperial military. Qian Liu was the lineal son of a marquis and a man of high stature. He didn¡¯t daree to the county capital to assume office since, after all, this ce was under the Iron Curtain. He hid himself far away while leaving everything here to the lieutenant colonel¡¯s management.

    Count Xiaoshan was, in truth, in league with this Marquis Wu¡¯an whose scope of profit this registration office fell within.

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s words were vague, but Qianye understood the implications.

    There was no emotion on Qianye¡¯s countenance after the introduction, but there seemed to be no anger either. Only at this point did the lieutenant colonel manage to breathe a sigh of relief. He asked carefully while wiping off his cold sweat, ¡°Sire Qianye, how do you want to deal with those who offended you?¡±

    ¡°Just handle it how you should,¡± Qianye replied calmly.

    The lieutenant colonel immediately summoned an aide and whispered some instructions. He then performed a beheading gesture. The aide nodded and left swiftly.

    The lieutenant colonel returned to Qianye¡¯s side and said with a smile, ¡°Please rest assured, sire, everything will be handled efficiently. There won¡¯t be such a case here in the future.¡±

    Qianye sighed lightly and said, ¡°This is your area of jurisdiction, so just do what should be done. I won¡¯t meddle in your business as long as I don¡¯t see Count Xiaoshan¡¯s men again next time.¡±

    ¡°Please rest assured, you definitely won¡¯t! Why are those fellows so slow? I¡¯ll go and rush them!¡± After cating Qianye, the lieutenant colonel discovered that his subordinates hadn¡¯t yet brought up Qianye¡¯s proof of contribution. He nced about and decided he might as well run over to deal with it personally.

    Qianye walked over to one of the windows along the corridor where he could see the main hall below. Perhaps the superior officers loved the feeling of looking down on the others, especially those who had mbered up from below.

    The adventurers in the hall were full of smiles as they walked over to the point exchange list on the other side of the hall after receiving their vouchers. These people were badly exploited before being able to stand here, but there wasn¡¯t the slightest trace of indignation in their expressions.

    Qianye shook his head secretly after recalling that the extortions and blockades weren¡¯t limited to this ce. Simr things were happening everywhere¡ªit was useless to stop them or defend against them. Even outside of the bloody battle period, the various departments of the expeditionary army would still more or less intercept the contributions and supplies.

    Meanwhile, the lieutenant colonel¡¯s change in attitude toward him was only born of a contrast in benefits behind each party. Count Xiaoshan¡¯s men wanting to touch Qianye had, in truth, encroached upon the Zhao n¡¯s benefits. Since they were in the wrong, it was only natural that they were kicked out. Even though Qianye hadn¡¯t revealed his identity in advance, it remained that Count Xiaoshan¡¯s men were blind and handled matters inappropriately.

    This was the standard for determining who was right and wrong.

    But although Qianye could ask to have Count Xiaoshan¡¯s men killed, he couldn¡¯t change the entire game as breaking the rules would offend all the aristocratic families in the same league.

    It was at this time that the doors to the main hall were suddenly opened amidst great mor and in charged a squad of soldiers. They pushed away the queueing adventurers with great arrogance and shouted, ¡°Make way! Everyone move aside! Our family¡¯s young master is here to turn in contributions!¡±

    A young man, escorted by ten or so soldiers, walked into the hall with his head held high. He proceeded to smash a ratherrge werewolf head onto the counter and shouted, ¡°This one!¡±

    The adventurers in the hall burst into amotion after seeing the werewolf head. No small number of people cried out in surprise, ¡°A viscount! That¡¯s the head of a werewolf viscount!¡±

    The well-dressed young man was extremely content. He knocked lightly on the counter and said to the charming female officers inside, ¡°Please help me register this werewolf viscount under Li family¡¯s Count Qingyi of the Clearsky County on Transcendent Continent.¡±

    The adventurers¡¯ nces toward the well-dressed youth was already a mixture of fear and respect. To them, a dark race viscount was a major character, from whom it would be impossible for them to escape with their lives. Now that a werewolf viscount head was being ced on the counter, everyone felt that it was like a dream.

    Qianye activated his Eye of Truth from above. He scanned the well-dressed youth and found that he was a new champion who had just reached rank ten. But his origin power wasn¡¯t very pure¡ªunless he encountered some kind of fortune, chances of him reaching the sky in the future wasn¡¯t very high. Killing a werewolf viscount at the same level would be rather difficult with this person¡¯sbat strength. It seemed his luck wasn¡¯t bad.

    The lieutenant colonel pushed open the door at this point, followed by several soldiers carrying the tworge bags. The lieutenant colonel¡¯s gaze, as he looked toward Qianye, was now even more reverent.

    The man¡¯s eyes had almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the two bags just now. Regardless of whether these items were collected by Qianye alone or not, it was easy to judge Qianye¡¯s strength and status merely from how the Zhao n allowed him to roam the wilderness with so much loot.

    The lieutenant colonel congratted himself on handling Count Xiaoshan¡¯s blind soldiers with ample decisiveness and efficiency.

    After the soldiers put down the load, the lieutenant colonel charged over to the door and shouted, ¡°All registration staff,e up immediately! Pause all registrations down there!¡±

    At this moment, the well-dressed young man was chatting away quite happily with the female officers. He was momentarily astonished after hearing this order and shouted toward the upper floor with a clear voice, ¡°Why must you pause the procedure? Do you know that I¡¯m from the Li Family of the Transcendent Continent¡¯s Clear Sky County?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel replied impatiently, ¡°It¡¯s no use whichever family you¡¯re from! Don¡¯t make this daddy wait!¡±

    The numerous female officers flew toward the third floor like startled birds, leaving the well-dressed young man and his ten or so subordinates in the main hall.

 Volume 5 - 402: Cashing-In Contributions

    Chapter 402: Cashing-In Contributions [V5C109 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    One of the soldiers was immediately furious. ¡°Young Master! They¡¯re clearly looking down on our Li family! Shall we¡­¡±

    The well-dressed youth d in Chinese clothing stopped the man from producing more fiercenguage. He then sneered, ¡°You lot, follow me. Let¡¯s see who this person is and just what level of contribution he has aplished. How dare they make me wait here!¡±

    At this moment, in therge office on the third floor, seven or eight female officers were unpacking and sorting the various types of proofs of contribution. Three more of them were in charge of appraisal and registration¡ªthe difficult ones were evaluated by the lieutenant colonel himself.

    Piles of vampiric fangs, werewolf ears, arachne heads, and servspider poison nds appeared on the floor. Most of these items appeared sinister and were covered in dried blood.

    But to these female officers, everything they touched was a pile of gold coins¡ªtheir expressions and movements were exceptionally gentle. Even their lovers might not receive better treatment. They would also steal nces at Qianye from time to time, their expressions flush with an explicable charm and allure.

    Qianye sat to one side, slowly sipping his tea. Hepletely ignored the female officers¡¯ small movements and proceeded to ponder his own matters.

    The lieutenant colonel arrived beside Qianye and said with a ttering 90-degree bow, ¡°Sire, we¡¯ve already finished the initial inventory. Those at the viscount grade have all been ced there. Please take a look if we missed anything?¡±

    At this moment, the lieutenant colonel had moved his desk to the center of the room, and all of the viscount level proofs of contribution had been ced upon it. The pile filled up the entire table, and the five ck arachne eggs were exceptionally eye-catching. As for the items below the level of viscount, they had to make do with lying on the floor.

    Qianye scanned through them and saw that the number viscount grade items were more or less correct. ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll begin the settling.¡±

    ¡°Just a moment. There¡¯s one more.¡± Qianye called back the lieutenant colonel, produced an arachnid crystal the size of a human head, and passed it over to him.

    The lieutenant colonel¡¯s heart was immediately shaken after seeing the size, color, and luster of this arachnid crystal. ¡°This, could this be¡­¡±

    It was at this time that the door was pushed open and the youth in Chinese apparel entered. ¡°I¡¯m Li Pei of the Transcendent Continent. I¡¯mcking in talents, but I do hope to see which outstanding character requires the entire registration office to serve him?¡±

    His speech came to a stop midway as though someone had clutched his throat with great ferocity. Li Pei¡¯s eyes fell upon the desk at the center of the room and could no longer move away from it at all. The vampiric fangs with their jade-like luster, the erect werewolf ears, and the colorful arachnid crystals therein almost blinded his eyes.

    This was especially true of the five ck spider eggs¡ªthey made Li Pei¡¯s breathing be iparably difficult and even his heart had almost stopped beating. These were all viscount-grade arachne eggs and of exuberant vitality no less. Just what kind of arachne castle would one have to overturn in order to obtain five such eggs in one go? In any case, it couldn¡¯t possibly be a third-rank viscount¡¯s stronghold.

    Li Pei was forced to go all out just to kill that third-rank werewolf viscount and had paid with the lives of ten-odd subordinates before finally achieving victory. He had never imagined what kind of scene it would be to raid a viscount¡¯sir.

    Li Pei moved his gaze away with great difficulty only to see the giant arachnid crystal in Qianye¡¯s hand¡ªhis eyes were immediately stuck once again. He could be considered rather knowledgeable as he said with a trembling voice, ¡°A first-rank viscount arachnid crystal!¡±

    Below the level of count, the arachnid crystals were all sparkling and translucent¡ªthey had to be categorized in terms of size. Ordinary third-rank viscount arachnid crystals were slightly smaller than the size of a fist, but this one was almost asrge as a human head. It undoubtedly belonged to a first-rank viscount, and a superior one at that.

    Qianye shot Li Pei a nce and said indifferently, ¡°Just a lucky convenience.¡±

    Li Pei¡¯s heart thumped several times with great ferocity and could no longer speak. Quite frankly, a first-rank arachne viscount could easily decimate two or three squads like Li Pei¡¯s. Even if the other party was badly wounded, charging such an enemy would only result in his death instead of convenience.

    Additionally, the five spider eggs were a clear indication that he had raided their of a first-rank viscount. Li Pei wouldn¡¯t dare to take such an advantage even if it presented itself.

    Qianye finally looked up at Li Pei as though he were waiting for thetter to continue.

    Li Pei only felt that Qianye¡¯s gaze resembled two incinerating beams, scorching his body painfully from head to toe.

    ¡°I¡­ this¡­¡± Li Pei wanted to utter some conventional niceties, but his mouth had gone dry and words failed to form. In the end, he simply gritted his teeth and left. Any amount of prestige and pride would only be a joke before this room full of dazzling spoils¡ªlingering would only add to his humiliation.

    Qianye lowered his gaze and continued sipping his tea. He was once again deep in his own thoughts and seemed to have no intention of making things difficult for that young aristocrat.

    The adventurers waiting in the hall saw Li Peiing down and leaving hurriedly with an ashen face. How could they not know that he had kicked a steel te? As such, they couldn¡¯t help but be curious about the identity of the person upstairs.

    The lieutenant colonel received the arachnid crystal with trembling hands. A beam of magnificent radiance shone into his eyes, almost causing him to drop the dazzling item. The arachnid crystal and eggs were eptable on their own, but the implications became much deeper once they were ced together.

    After carefully passing the arachnid crystal to one of his staff, the lieutenant colonel arrived beside Qianye and asked, ¡°Sire, how should we register your military contributions?¡±

    The Zhao n was a massive entity. The military register in the lieutenant colonel¡¯s hands showed more than tenbat squads of various sizes from the Zhao n taking part in this battle. Apart from their three dukes sending out a unit each, a fair number of branch families had also organized their ownbat squads. In order to facilitate the distribution of certain special rewards, the military contributions had to be applied to specific units.

    Qianye replied, ¡°Duke You, Zhao Yuying.¡±

    ¡°Understood, I¡¯ll handle this immediately!¡± The lieutenant colonel¡¯s attitude was even more respectful. This was the Zhao n¡¯s core tier!

    The lieutenant colonel had no idea how Qianye, as a high-ranking officer of the expeditionary army, had gained such a connection. But this person was apparently a core character since he was trusted enough to be allowed to deal with such an enormous amount of military contributions¡ªhis future prospects were surely immeasurable.

    At this time, the military contribution numbers had been processed, and a tall, attractive female officer read it out loud, ¡°One first-rank viscount, one second-rank viscount, twenty third-rank viscounts, and 130 warriors of various ranks below the viscount level. Is there any mistake, sire?¡±

    Although everyone had expected this much, the final numbers still shook everyone. These numbers would soon transform into a vast amount of resources, rows of high-grade armaments, and crates of ck crystals. It could be said that the sum of all contributions received during the past ten-odd days of this office¡¯s operation didn¡¯t exceed this single transaction.

    The lieutenant colonel confirmed the numbers several times before registering them into the military contribution voucher, a palm-sized silver te engraved with origin arrays.

    ording to his convention, the handler of military contributions would more or less glean some profits from it. Qianye understood this etiquette and hinted that the lieutenant colonel could pick up the odd numbers. But this fortune was simply too dangerous. The lieutenant colonel declined righteously, iming he waspletely selfless and different from Count Xiaoshan¡¯s men. Qianye onlyughed without furtherment.

    After concluding the procedures, the lieutenant colonel asked while rubbing his hands, ¡°Do you want to save the contributions for now or exchange them for resources?¡±

    After a moment of silence, Qianye asked for a pen and paper. He then wrote down a list and handed it to the lieutenant colonel, saying, ¡°Cash it in ording to this list.¡±

    The list included four grade-five guns, four grade-four guns, thirty sets of grade-two standardbat armor, andrge amounts of physical origin grenades. The remainder were all converted to cultivation-use ck crystals. This list would likely clear out half of the rewards in the warehouse in one go.

    The lieutenant colonel ordered his men to retrieve the materials and asked solicitously, ¡°Do you need any escorts?¡±

    Seeing Qianye shake his head, the lieutenant colonel pped his forehead and said, ¡°I¡¯m so stupid! Who would actually dare target you? Isn¡¯t it equal to delivering themselves up?¡±

    Momentster, Qianye drove away from the military contribution registration office, his jeep packed full with equipment¡ªthe value was enough to make people go crazy. Even Qianye himself found it somewhat surreal. The empire was truly generous this time around, butparatively, Qianye was much more interested in the Zhao n¡¯s rewards. The items rewarded to the young scions of the major ns were the truly good stuff.

    After Qianye left, a mithril card with records of his military contributions arrived upon a high-speed messenger airship which flew toward the expeditionary army headquarters at top speed. The mithril card had arrived at its destination before half a day had passed.

    At this moment, an extremelyrge origin array had been set up within the headquarters which took up almost the entirety of theirrgest meeting room. Four out of the six kic towers at the headquarters were supplying energy for its operation. Apart from this, the origin array¡¯s core required ck crystals to supply additional energy.

    The mithril card, after passing through several checks, was inserted into a specialized slot. The numbers within flowed out torrentially and poured into the origin array.

    The big conference room at the headquarters had already been modified. The array projected a screen, upon which was disyed a series of contribution numbers. The contribution stats for the entire bloody battle would be collected and analyzed at the headquarters before getting transferred via high-speed airship to the empire¡¯s Eastern, Western, and Transcendent Continents at set intervals.

    Even the faraway imperial capital would receive these numbers after one day¡¯s dy.

    Simr screens were present not only at the expeditionary army headquarters but also at the four major ns. It was just that the data acquirement and maintenance costs had to be paid for by themselves. This was an enormous expense, but unexpectedly, the empire had opened its coffers and offered to pay for half of these costs. Thus, it reached the point where many middle-ranked and even the more powerful lower-ranked aristocratic families could now afford it.

    The main conference hall at the expeditionary army headquarters had a duplex design. Presently, there were several people standing on the second floor, watching the constantly changing numbers on the screen.

    These people included Duke Ding, Duke Wei, and the expeditionary armymander-in-chief, Marshal Luo Mingji, as well as the two deputymanders-in-chief, Xiao Liongshi and Yang Shuo. All of them were illustrious characters. If the dark races were to see these characters here, they might mobilize all their forces overseeing the bloody battle immediately.

    At this moment, the list was moving constantly, and every change would disy the relevant information on therge map which upied an entire wall, showing where exactly the contribution originated from.

    Duke Wei observed briefly and said with deep implications, ¡°Some days ago, there were still some unknown characters rising to power, but the ones ranked at the fore are all major aristocratic families in the end. This goes to show that the nobility is, without a doubt, the true backbone of the empire.¡±

    Duke Ding also nodded. ¡°It is indeed so. The empire is fine without the Imperial Family, but not one day can it go by without the ns. Heh, heh.¡±

 Volume 5 - 403: Rankings List

    Chapter 403: Rankings List [V5C110 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The expressions of the top three expeditionary army leaders shifted ever so slightly after hearing this.

    The empire is fine without the Imperial Family¡ªsuch words could be considered rebellious. But Duke Ding and Duke Wei were both rted to the Imperial Family by blood, so it sounded like modestying from their mouths. However, pondering the implications behind their words was enough to make one shudder.

    Xiao Lingshi was the first to speak after the three shot each other a nce, ¡°Surely, Duke Ding jests. Even though I¡¯ve always been posted on Evernight ande from a humble family, there¡¯s not one day in which I¡¯m not fully aware of my identity as a citizen of the empire who serves His Majesty.¡±

    The other deputymander-in-chief followed up with a faint smile, ¡°General Xiao¡¯s words are spot on. Even the four major ns are only His Majesty¡¯s subjects. As officials, even they must abide strictly by their responsibilities, to speak nothing of a small aristocratic family like mine. The two dukes have spoken too seriously.¡±

    Duke Ding stroked his beard with a smile and said warmly, ¡°The two generals have spoken well! Let us check the list. Some changes seem to be taking ce.¡±

    Duke Wei scanned the screen and praised at once, ¡°The empire is truly producing a lot of talents. All of the top-ten are actually from aristocratic families, and four of them are even medium-ranked ones. None from the four major ns and the imperial family have entered the rankings.¡±

    Yang Shuo¡¯s forehead was covered in traces of sweat¡ªhe was, after all, still a bit young. His Highfence Yang family was on the rankings at this moment, and it was even ranked third. The two dukes¡¯ words, from a while ago up until now, contained deep implications. Any careless mistake in his words might¡¯ve brought about a disaster.

    The expeditionary armymander-in-chief, Marshal Luo Mingji, remained silent with his eyes lowered and didn¡¯t seem awake. Meanwhile, Xiao Lingshi waspletely rxed.

    Yang Shuo knew that he had to be the one to continue Duke Wei¡¯s words. He gritted his teeth and said, ¡°The Imperial Family and the four major ns are the cornerstones of the empire who have always nned well before taking action. Ordinary ns are not a match for them. Moreover, the number of participants from the four ns aren¡¯t small ording to the register. It must be that they haven¡¯t found the opportunity to establish contributions after entering the Iron Curtain. The rankings at this phase cannot be taken too seriously.¡±

    The two dukes nced at each other and nodded with a faint smile. Only then did Yang Shuo manage to secretly loosen his tightened right fist¡ªthere were faint traces of moisture on his palms.

    Xiao Lingshi said from the side, ¡°But judging from the timeline, it¡¯s about time the ns start reporting their contributions.¡±

    The rankings suddenly changed at this moment as though it were reacting to his words. The golden-wed flying serpent representing the empire and the emblems representing the four ns released bright light as they started entering the rankings. Among them, the Song n made triumphant progress and actually charged to the top of the rankings with close to 100,000 points. Only the Zhao n was showing some decline and actually failed to enter the top-ten. This startled everyone present.

    This spectacle was also ying out in every part of the country, appearing before the heads and elders of each family.

    The imperial pce apartments. Far opposite the Weiyang Pce, within the Jiaofang Hall, a beautifuldy in Chinese-style clothing and bundled hair sat high atop the phoenix seat. Before her, two people were holding a ck-veined metallic origin array. They stood there with great respect and didn¡¯t dare to lift their heads at all.

    The iparablyplicated patterns on the origin array flickered on and off as it projected a screen, upon which was disyed the rankings list of the bloody battle. Moreover, the shocking part was that the rankings here were in sync with the changes taking ce at the expeditionary army headquarters.

    Knowledgeable people would know that the power and influence behind such methods were inevitably significant, and the expenditure involved didn¡¯t stop at enormous. But to this otherworldly beauty atop the phoenix seat, money was merely a number.

    An imperceivable smile emerged on her face as she watched the rankings. She asked indifferently, ¡°Howe the Zhao n is doing so badly even at the start?¡±

    There was an impressive looking man standing below the phoenix seat. With sword-like brows and starry eyes, his aura was extraordinary.

    At this moment, the man replied with a faint smile, ¡°The most outstanding among the Zhao n¡¯s younger generation are Zhao Jundu and Zhao Yuying. Zhao Ruoxi can¡¯t be counted among them. Originally, Zhao Yuying was more suited to join this bloody battle, but I heard she was injured by Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s ambush, after which she crippled him in revenge. This matter has caused the Zhao n and Nangong family to break off all rtions. Zhao Yuying probably won¡¯t be able to go into battle on the short term, but we still can¡¯t underestimate the Zhao n. Zhao Jundu is known as the number one character among the younger generation. He¡¯ll definitely put on an astonishing performance once he joins the battle.¡±

    ¡°Mister Yan, hasn¡¯t the Song n been declining for a while now? Howe they¡¯re so fierce?¡±

    Mister Yan replied disdainfully, ¡°The Song n has a deficit in manpower with no one among the younger generation capable of ying a leading role. They give absolutely no cause for worry. However, the centipede has yet to bepletely vanquished. The Song n is known for their vast wealth, and what they¡¯re leastcking in is money. They likely showered money from their eaves to recruit arge number of soldiers to enter the Iron Curtain. These mottled squads will be useless when the true dark race experts go into battle.¡±

    The youngdy nodded. In truth, her eyes had never left the Zhao n even though the swallow cloud family crest had already fallen out of the top ten.

    It was at this time that a shocking change came over the rankings as the Zhao n¡¯s points suddenly climbed with great ferocity. Their points rose over twice as high and were now only a couple hundred points away from the third ce Zhang n.

    The youngdy on the phoenix seat was momentarily startled. She actually stood up and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Mister Yan¡¯s expression was grave. ¡°It must be Zhao Jundu reporting his military contributions. Judging from the increase in points, this person is indeed worthy of his name. He¡¯s truly capable.¡±

    The youngdy sat down slowly. After regaining her calm, she said with a sweet smile, ¡°That¡¯s a good thing. Bring this news to Imperial Consort Zhao, and also send her the fire crystal bracelets we obtained today as a congrattory gift.¡±

    Mister Yan was somewhat surprised and stole a nce at the youngdy atop the phoenix seat. A shiver ran through his heart after seeing her face full of delight as though she were truly feeling happy for Imperial Consort Zhao.

    Within the Zhao n¡¯s elder assembly, the twenty elders were all silent with grave expressions. The screen at the center was clearly disying their military contributions in this bloody battle¡ªthe Zhao n¡¯s position hadn¡¯t entered the top ten yet. This kind of ranking pressed down heavily upon the hearts of the numerous elders and made it difficult for them to breathe.

    None of the Zhao n¡¯s three dukes were present at this moment, but their trusted aides were in attendance.

    The origin array used in the elder assembly naturally couldn¡¯tpare to the one at the Jiaofang Hall. It depended on the data stored in the mithril cards which had to be transported via cross-continent airships. It would normally take up to two days to see the newest numbers.

    At this moment, an elder couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Has Zhao Jundu gone into battle yet?¡±

    Another elder said after some thought, ¡°It should be three days now since Zhao Jundu¡¯s squad went into battle. It¡¯s probably not time for him to report contributions yet.¡±

    Someone snorted on the spot and said coldly, ¡°The matter is of such importance and we received news so early. But Zhao Jundu just has to procrastinate until thest day before setting out! Great! The three major ns are advancing hand in hand, while our Zhao n has fallen far behind. How will other people think? How will they see us?! Sometimes, I wonder if he still has the Swallow Cloud Zhao n in his eyes. Duke Chengen is quite capable in teaching his sons.¡±

    There were only two in the elder¡¯s assembly from the Duke Chengen lineage. At this moment, they were full of anger but endured the provocation without saying anything.

    ¡°These matters need to be nned ahead. Let¡¯s add to the rewards and dispatch more units!¡±

    An elder from the Duke Chengen lineage finally spoke, ¡°Dispatch more squads? Where will the moneye from?¡±

    ¡°We might as well shift some of the Fire Beacon Corps¡¯ funds. There¡¯s been no big movement from the rebel army anyway.¡±

    The previous elder stood up immediately and said furiously, ¡°That won''t do!¡±

    However, the elders at the scene nced at each other with most of them seconding this motion. ording to normal procedure, they were to decide this matter by vote. At this moment, the two elders from the Duke Chengen lineage had realized something was wrong, but it was already toote. The matter had been decided.

    A unit like the Fire Beacon Corps was considered a buffer military force of the empire. In truth, it was half a private army belonging to Duke Chengen, Zhao Weihuang, but two-thirds of its military expenditure came from the Zhao n¡¯smon ount. The elder assembly¡¯s suggestion was equal to reducing Zhao Weihuang¡¯s power in the near future.

    The numbers on the screen hadn¡¯t changed by the time the elders dispersed.

    The Song n, on the other hand, was in great jubtion. Many people were spreading the news with pride and satisfaction. The Song n¡¯s old ancestor, Duchess An, was holding a private banquet within the Enlightenment Manor, and those in attendance were all elders of the n.

    The atmosphere at the banquet was rather heavy.

    n Lord Song Zhongnian spoke first, ¡°Old Ancestor, is our Song n¡¯s current triumphant progress a bit too excessive? Knowledgeable people might be making certain assumptions.¡±

    The old ancestor said slowly, ¡°There are no outsiders here, so it¡¯s fine to speak clearly. Our Song n has been on the decline for too long. It¡¯s no secret that we¡¯re strong on the outside but withering within, and there¡¯s simply no need to hide this fact. How will we have room for hiding strategies when even going all out won¡¯t be enough for us in this bloody battle? Rather than worry about this and that, why don¡¯t you fork out your personal stash and form a couple more units? Perhaps it¡¯ll allow our Song n to look somewhat better.¡±

    Expressions of shame immediately appeared on those who were present.

    ¡°Song Zining, that child¡­ it¡¯s been quite some time since I¡¯ve heard any news of him. Who knows what he¡¯s doing?¡± Duchess An brought up another topic.

    All the Song n elders nced at each other, but it was Song Zhongnian who spoke in the end. ¡°Zining hasn¡¯t returned to the n in the recent period, but the routine matters assigned to him are operating normally. I heard he¡¯s set his mind on Evernight Continent. He bought a number of mines, and, oh, he¡¯s also invested in a certain mercenary corps.¡±

    Although Grand Elder Song Zhongcheng had been relieved of his post, there was still a seat for him in such n banquets. At this time, he could no longer endure. ¡°What willfulness! What good resources can there be in that abandonednd? Things have reached such a state. Why isn¡¯t he forming a squad to join the bloody battle? And he¡¯s even ying investments!¡±

    The old ancestor said thoughtfully, ¡°Has he not returned since the grand examination?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The elders felt something was amiss after replying.

    The old ancestor no longer pressed this topic. ¡°What about his marriage. How¡¯s the progress?¡±

    Song Zhongnian said, ¡°I¡¯ve discussed this matter with the elders several times. That engagement isn¡¯t a good match for Song Zining¡¯s identity and ability. That Ye family girl isn¡¯t suitable. Recently, I¡¯m prepared to discuss this matter anew. We should cancel the engagement.¡±

    The grand elder said with a re, ¡°That won¡¯t do! It¡¯s a confirmed engagement, and the other party has made no major mistake. If we terminate the engagement so suddenly, where will our Song n¡¯s prestige go? Moreover, even if the Ye family¡¯s second daughter isn¡¯t suitable, don¡¯t they have other girls in their family?¡±

    At this point, the atmosphere at the banquet became progressively heavier.

    The old ancestor waved her hand and said, ¡°Enough about this matter. Let¡¯s eat.¡±

    Up until the end of the feast, no one brought up the matter of Song Zining¡¯s return to the n to take part in the bloody battle. It was as though they had all forgotten about it.

    Song Zicheng followed Song Zhongnian out of the manor gates and heaved a deep sigh in his heart as he watched the somewhat aged figure of his grandfather¡¯s back. He was the only person of the younger generation who had been allowed a seat at the banquet as an exception. It was just that with so many paternal and ancestor level elders present, it wasn¡¯t his ce to say anything.

 Volume 5 - 404: News From Afar

    Qianye¡¯s return to ckflow was fairly peaceful. The asionalbat unit he met along the way would cautiously keep its distance from him after seeing the expeditionary army insignia.

    It would seem that the county capital where all kinds of nobility had gathered was the true ce of chaos within this region.

    Qianye distributed the guns and armaments soon after arriving at Darkme Headquarters. All high-ranking officers received a set of new gear, greatly increasing their survivability in battle.

    He had just finished taking inventory and storing the remaining resources when he received news of the Ningyuan Group caravan¡¯s arrival. Qianye immediately hurried over to check on the situation since the motorcade was of extraordinary value.

    The caravan wasprised of dozens of heavy trucks, a scale even somewhatrger than what Qianye had previously anticipated. Duan Hao was currently instructing the workers to move the crates down. These crates were fairly heavy and required fighter level officers to help out in order to unload them safely. There was actually a specialized crane truck in the motorcade for the transfer and assembly ofrge kic towerponents.

    Although the one being transported this time was only a small kic tower, the core boiler alone had taken up the entire cargo truck¡¯s capacity. Therger kic towers could no longer be transported by trucks. They would instead have to depend on medium torge cargo airships.

    Apart from theponents of the kic tower, the remainder were all uniform crates.

    Qianye arrived beside the crates and knocked on one of them. ¡°What¡¯s inside? Open it up. Let¡¯s see.¡±

    ¡°This is good stuff!¡± Duan Hao grinned. He personally tore the cover off from one of the crates to reveal several dark-green steel tes within.

    Qianye retrieved one of the rectangr steel tes and found that they were mostly one square meter in area and two fingers thick. However, they were unexpectedly quite light in the hand¡ªapparently, the interior structure was either hollow or honeb. There were ports on each side of the steel te seemingly for joining them together.

    ¡°te armor?¡±

    ¡°Modr Stronghold te Armor. Goddamit, I had to memorize it for ten or so times before I managed to remember it. Reportedly, these goods are of thetest design¡ªone can connect them together to immediately set up a defensive structure, even in the wilderness. In sufficient numbers, even building a city isn¡¯t a problem.¡±

    Qianye quickly understood the logic behind it and was immediately jubted. A dozen-odd trucks fully loaded with such te armor modules was enough to build a defensive structure capable of housing a reinforced regiment. Additionally, they could also construct temporary defensive structures atop the city walls by linking them together. With this batch of te armor, ckflow City¡¯s defenses were now even more solid.

    ¡°Well done! This is yours.¡± Qianye was in a great mood as he produced a grade-five origin gun and tossed it to Duan Hao.

    Duan Hao gave it a once over after catching the weapon and was greatly astonished. ¡°T-This is a grade-five gun?¡±

    ¡°Correct!¡±

    ¡°I only ran a few errands. How can I ept such a valuable gift?¡±

    Qianye patted Duan Hao¡¯s shoulder with a smile. ¡°This is an advance payment. Your mission is to hold the city and survive. It¡¯ll be yours once the bloody battle is over.¡±

    Holding the gun case with both hands, even a forthright man like Duan Hao was at a temporary loss for words.

    Qianye said, ¡°Zining handed you over to me. Apparently, he¡¯s very pleased and confident about you. I also feel the same. So my true demand from you is only this one thing. You must survive until the battle ends. There are more units that need your leadership in the future.¡±

    ¡°Understood, sire!¡±

    Qianye only smiled before he turned to leave.

    After returning to his residence, Qianye inspected the items in his backpack and Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, listing out the supplies he needed to replenish for his next battle.

    He spied that count-grade spider egg and couldn¡¯t help but recall a certain matter. Qianye had inadvertently touched it with his injured hand while stowing away the spoils of war after his fight with Viscount Porter. At that time, he discovered that the egg could actually absorb his blood energy, followed by an evident increase in its vitality and survival time. He tested out the other spider eggs and found that they weren¡¯t capable of this.

    Qianye was already feeling that he had too many contribution points, so he didn¡¯t present the count-grade egg. In any case, such an item had nock of outflow channels¡ªit was sure to be a hot-sale even in the upper-continent auction houses.

    He pondered for a moment then once again spread out paper and pen to write a letter to Song Zining, asking him for the best way to deal with the spider egg. Afterward, he nned to cultivate for a couple of days and adjust himself to his peak condition before heading out into battle once again.

    Time flowed out gradually and so did the bloody battle continue. The rankings at the expeditionary army headquarters were changing constantly, but the pattern had gradually stabilized.

    The imperial family and the four major ns disyed their powerful foundations¡ªtheir rankings climbed at a steady pace and stood within the top-ten all along. Moreover, they gradually distanced themselves from those ranked behind them. There were also five or six high-ranking aristocratic families who managed to stay hot on their trails, revealing the capacity of their ns for the first time and raising numerous eyebrows.

    But behind the gradually climbing contribution numbers on the rankings, the casualty numbers were climbing at an equally swift pace.

    After two days of rest, Qianye once again headed out into battle on his own. His luck this time wasn¡¯t as good as thest. After half a month of hunting, he only managed to kill two viscounts and dozens of cannon fodder. In the end, he even came close to falling into a trapid down by a dark race hunting expedition. He fought several arduous battles before he finally managed to break through the siege and return to ckflow City.

    At this moment, Qianye, full of bloodstains and injuries, was riding a worn-out motorcycle which he had seized on the way. It was at this time that a series of cannon shots suddenly rang out from within ckflow City¡ªit was the sound of a gun salute. The seven shots indicated that a rather important person had passed away.

    Qianye asked the soldier on gate duty, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    The Darkme soldier said with a sigh, ¡°It should be Viscount Du Fangjue¡¯s funeral. Reportedly, hisbat squad encountered a powerful dark race hunting party and waspletely wiped out. Only one person managed to escape.¡±

    Qianye nodded with an inexplicably heavy heart. The cruelty of the bloody battle was being revealed little by little.

    After returning to Darkme headquarters and treating his injuries, Qianye received two unexpected visitors. One of them was Li Pei whom he had met the other day, apanied by a middle-aged man who projected natural dignity and power. His aura was as grave as it was profound¡ªhe, quite shockingly, was a count-level expert.

    Immediately after seeing Qianye, Li Pei greeted him with great enthusiasm. ¡°Sire Qianye, this little brother was wracked with shame after the incident that day. Hence, after finding out your whereabouts with great difficulty, I was determined to pay you a formal visit.¡±

    With that, he introduced the middle-aged man beside him. ¡°This is my n-uncle Li Duanhe.¡±

    Qianye greeted them and couldn¡¯t help but observe Li Duanhe a couple of times. ¡°Your esteemed uncle possesses such a high cultivation. Will it be fine?¡± Under Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth, Li Duanhe had four origin power vortices in his body and was already a rank-thirteen champion. This was already above the epted safety standards.

    Li Duanhe was finally moved. ¡°Sire Qianye¡¯s perception is akin to a torch. It is truly astonishing. But there¡¯s no need to worry about me. Even if I do use my rank-thirteen origin power, it will only be for a blink of an eye as long as I utilize thunderous methods. Sky Demon must be busy dealing with the top characters from the two factions at this moment. How will he have the time to deal with such small matters?¡±

    Qianye nodded and no longer said anything else. He knew nothing about the Clear Sky Li Family of the Transcendent Continent. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t go too deep into their matters.

    Li Pei said with cupped hands, ¡°I was greatly inspired after seeing how Sire Qianye developed ckflow City¡¯s impregnable defenses and have decided to move our squad¡¯s base of operations here. I¡¯ll probably be bothering you in the future.¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°Young Noble Li is too polite.¡±

    Li Pei clearly wished to befriend Qianye, and it was also quite beneficial to ckflow City if he were to move his squad¡¯s base of operations here. They chatted briefly for a moment before Li Pei excused himself.

    Qianye saw the Li family uncle and nephew out of the office building and watched them leave the Darkme camp. Li Pei was clearly full of mettle after his recent catch, and it looked as if he would go hunting again before long.

    However, there was a faint, lingering shadow in Qianye¡¯s heart. These warrior squads who had arrived from all directions were entering the wilderness one after another¡ªjust how many of them would return safe and sound?

    The bloody battle was different from ordinary battles. There was no telling what one would encounter at the next moment. All tactics and strategies were rendered useless, and only absolutely strength held the greatest significance.

    Qianye once again entered istion during the three days that followed in order to refine the essence blood he had absorbed during his previous excursion. At the same time, he had Nangong Xiaoniao construct a simple cultivation array with which he converted the ck crystals he had obtained from the military contributions to aid in his cultivation.

    This cultivation array was rather special. Qianye had Nangong Xiaoniao exclude the origin power conversionponents, causing the power drawn out from the ck crystals to be mostly darkness origin power. No matter how precise the human cultivation arrays, there was always over fifty percent loss in power during the conversion. But it just so happened that Qianye wascking even more darkness origin powerpared to daybreak. Naturally, he wasn¡¯t willing to allow so much waste.

    Nangong Xiaoniao was naturally quite puzzled about such an array, but she was very clever and asked not a single question about it.

    Three days passed by in a sh, and Qianye had almost used up all of the ck crystals he had obtained from the military contributions. It was once again time to go into battle.

    Qianye received Song Zining¡¯s reply as he exited istion. The letter imed that the arachne egg was extremely useful, and he would soon dispatch someone to fetch it. Additionally, Song Zining also mentioned that a merchant caravan would soon set out toward ckflow City, and its scale was even bigger than the previous one. However, he made no mention of what it was transporting and only said that Qianye would know when the time came.

    Qianye was somewhat suspicious because ckflow City wasn¡¯tcking in anything at the moment. This was especially true after he decided to temporarily relocate the stronghold materials for Silverflow Fjord for city defenses¡ªckflow City¡¯s fortifications were as solid as a native imperial city. What else would they need?

    But Song Zining had never done meaningless things. Since he was keeping Qianye in suspense, then he must have his own thoughts about this matter. Qianye put away the letter, packed up his luggage, and left ckflow City once again for his third round of hunting.

    Far in the distance at this moment, Song Zining was sitting in his study drawing and writing repeatedly on paper. He had been editing contents of this paper from morning to evening¡ªeven dying lunch in the process¡ªbefore it was considered done.

    Song Zining stood up and gazed outside the window just in time to see the setting sun. The lofty firmament clear of wind and clouds was precisely a rare asion of good weather. This ce,pared to the Iron Curtain, was like contrasting the heaven and earth. Song Zining simply sauntered out of the room and headed toward the garden.

    Not long before he had left, there was a light knock as Ye Mn called out from outside the door, ¡°Zining, your tea is ready.¡±

    Receiving no reply, she pushed open the study door lightly.

    The door was unlocked and opened with a single push. Ye Mn walked into the room and was startled after finding no one within. Suddenly, her heart stirred as she caught a glimpse of the papers on the table¡ªshe quietly walked over and started examining them.

 Volume 5 - 405: Conspiracy

    It was actually a list of goods. Numerous goods were to be dispatched from various areas and converge into a caravan which would then continue its shipment. The items on the list actually included ck crystals, mithril, and other strategic resources that could only be obtained through special channels. There was also arge batch of grade two to three origin armaments enough to equip a regr division!

    Although Song Zining was indifferent toward her during the past year, Ye Mn had wielded some authority before. The immensity of the lists¡¯ value shocked her out of her wits¡ªit was actually enough to cancel out several years of Ningyuan Group¡¯s profits. As she continued flipping through the pages, she found that the destination was, just as she had anticipated, ckflow City.

    Ye Mn wasn¡¯t a stranger to ckflow City because for the past year, Song Zining had invested almost everything there. Was he going to convert all of his assets into arms and have them delivered to ckflow?

    She was very clear that there was only one reason for this: Qianye!

    Countless thoughts tangled up immediately within Ye Mn¡¯s heart. Even she herself was surprised at her own calmness amidst all this confusion. Her hand didn¡¯t even tremble for a moment or leave any traces on the list.

    She carefully reced the paper. She meticulously examined it for a while and corrected its position before withdrawing from the study, closing the door behind her. Afterward, she flipped her hand and sent the chinaware on the tray crashing onto the floor. Then, with a raised voice, she proceeded to summon the two maids on duty to clean up the mess while she herself returned to brew a new pot of tea.

    When Ye Mn returned with a new pot of tea, Song Zining had returned from the courtyard and was sitting on the desk. That list had long since disappeared.

    ¡°Zining, here¡¯s your tea.¡± Ye Mn poured the steaming jade-green tea and said in a gentle voice, ¡°This is the year¡¯s new tea from Mount Jun, and the water is also collected from a mountain spring there. The taste is excellent since theyplement each other very well.¡±

    Song Zining took a sip, offered some praise, and then asked Ye Mn to put the teapot down. ¡°You go and rest first. I want to read a while longer.¡±

    However, Ye Mn didn¡¯t move. Instead, she drummed up her courage and said, ¡°Zining, the bloody battle has begun and the n requires people. Why don¡¯t we go back? It¡¯s not a good long-term n to stay here all the time!¡±

    Song Zining smiled indifferently and said while pointing beneath his feet, ¡°The Ningyuan Group is my own foundation. This is the true long-term n. Why would I go back to the n?¡±

    Ye Mn replied hurriedly, ¡°But won¡¯t this be like letting others take the n lord position?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s already my elder brother above me.¡±

    ¡°Zining, you can¡¯t say it like that. Everyone knows that none of your brothers of the same generation can surpass you in terms of talent. Song Zicheng only has the advantage of age. You might take a step forward in the next assessment as long as you continue trying hard. The n lord¡¯s position isn¡¯t necessarily out of reach!¡±

    Song Zining, however, wore an indifferent expression. He waved his hand and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to say more. I have no interest in the n lord¡¯s position. Just let my brother have it.¡±

    ¡°Zining!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°This is not a matter for you to speak out of turn. Leave!¡± He had rarely, if ever, spoke with a harsh voice, but his countenance at this moment was solemn¡ªan invisible suppressive might suffused the area and made it difficult to breathe.

    Ye Mn bit her lips lightly and lowered her head in silence. After a moment, she turned around and left the study with a soft ¡°Yes¡±.

    Song Zining continued reading his book as though nothing had happened. It was as though there were ten thousand taels of gold and jade-like beauties within it.

    After nightfall, Ye Mn quietly left the residence. After roaming through half the town, she walked briskly into a dark alleyway and knocked on a small door.

    The small door opened to reveal a beautiful face within¡ªit was actually Ye Muwei. Ye Mn entered swiftly, locked the door behind her, and peered cautiously at the street through the observation hole. Only after confirming that everything was normal did she follow Ye Muwei into the room.

    ¡°Xian, I¡¯ve been waiting for so long. You¡¯ve finally arrived. Do you have any news?¡± Ye Muwei asked eagerly as the two sat down.

    ¡°I do have news, but I wonder if you two can take it.¡±

    ¡°Does it have to do with that brat?¡±

    ¡°Very much so.¡±

    Ye Muwei said, ¡°Liyu has recently made a lot of powerful friends. There are quite a few on that side too. So rest assured, we can digest any kind of news.¡±

    ¡°Very well then.¡± Ye Mn¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°Recently, the Ningyuan Group will be dispatching a caravan to ckflow City. I want to make sure that the motorcade never reaches ckflow City.¡±

    ¡°Is this caravan very important?¡±

    ¡°It includes the entirety of Song Zining¡¯s fortune. You tell me,¡± Ye Mn replied.

    This time, it was Ye Muwei¡¯s turn to be astonished. ¡°Xian, we¡¯re only seeking revenge on Qianye, but you¡¯re hurting Song Zining instead!¡±

    Ye Mn gritted her teeth. ¡°I know! But Song Zining is actually unwilling to fight for the n lord¡¯s position. He¡¯s also been dragging our marriage out. What use do I have for him?! He¡­ where has he ced me? All of these for Qiqi¡¯s male pet!¡±

    Ye Muwei was surprised.

    Ye Mn took a deep breath and calmed down her emotions. ¡°Hence, not only will I harm him, but I also want to kill him! He won¡¯t ever be able to climb back up if something happens to this caravan.¡±

    Ye Muwei patted thedy¡¯s shoulder tofort her. ¡°Rest assured, Gu Liyu will definitely find a way to devour him no matter how many guards he dispatches.¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± Ye Mn nodded. Then, she added, ¡°I want half the share after everything is over.¡±

    ¡°Let me discuss this matter with Liyu,¡± Ye Muwei said awkwardly, ¡°the escorts for such a high-value caravan won¡¯t be weak. You know that soldiers and channels all need money to operate.¡±

    ¡°Four parts at least. That¡¯s my bottom line!¡± Ye Mn was adamant.

    Ye Muwei observed Ye Mn for a moment and said with a sigh, ¡°You¡¯re right. Us women have to grasp some things in our hands to feel reassured. None of the men in this world are dependable. I¡¯ll talk to Liyu about this.¡±

    Ye Mn¡¯s expression was frosty as she described the route and stops of the caravan to Ye Muwei before leaving in a hurry.

    After the room door was properly closed, a cab on the wall suddenly opened¡ªit was actually a secret door. Gu Liyu walked out from within and said with a cold smile, ¡°Your sister is truly ruthless, greedy, and stupid. She has nothing apart from her somewhat presentable face. Humph! She dares dream of swallowing half of Song Zining¡¯s properties.¡±

    ¡°Liyu, what shall we do? Are you confident?¡± Ye Muwei said with a worried frown. ¡°This is rted to the Song n. Why don¡¯t we stay away from it?¡±

    Gu Liyu snorted and said with a cold voice, ¡°So what if it¡¯s the Song n? Not to mention the fact that their n is already in a sharp decline, with themotion he caused at the examinationst time, it¡¯s not even certain if their nsmen will chase after the assant or hit him while he¡¯s down should something happen to him.¡±

    The smile on Ye Muwei¡¯s face clearly froze. ¡°Liyu, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re trying to take Xian?¡±

    Gi Liyuughed loudly and said, ¡°Two sister-flowers growing from the same stem is everyone¡¯s dream!¡± He softened his tone after seeing Ye Muwei¡¯s forced smile. ¡°I¡¯m only kidding, Xiaowei. I won¡¯t ever mistreat you.¡±

    After exiting ckflow City, Qianye passed Silverflow Fjord and traversed Count Stuka¡¯snd as he pushed deeper into dark race territory.

    The blood battle regions on the western side were now more or less clear¡ªCount Stuka¡¯s borders formed the battle line across wherein the dark race and the imperial warriors were doing their utmost to kill one another. Qianye¡¯s position at this moment was equivalent to having snuck behind enemy lines. It was an extremely dangerous endeavor since he could easily fall into a helpless and isted situation once he had beenpromised.

    But Qianye was very familiar with the surroundings¡ªan advantage the aristocratic soldiers couldn¡¯tpare to¡ªand this allowed him to calmly traverse the dark race territory.

    At this moment, he was traveling through a deste and primitive forest. There wasn¡¯t a single racial settlement here, only native wild beasts. Even dark race patrols weren¡¯t willing toe to such a ce. Qianye warped through the treetops as though he were flying, his feet never touching the ground. This method left the least number of traces and kept him out of the way of frenzied wild beasts.

    But as he marched on, Qianye suddenly heard a faint moring from the side. His heart stirred as he halted his steps and listened intently for a moment before heading toward the source of the noise.

    Momentster, he arrived close to the origin of the sounds. It was an open space within the forest where a dozen-odd profusely sweating werewolves were digging a hole. A big pit over ten square meters in area and over a meter in depth had already appeared in the center of this clearing.

    A number of vampires stood to one side with folded arms, looking on and rebuking the werewolves from time to time. Qianye¡¯s eyes were suffused with a sparkling blue hue as he scanned the dark race members in the clearing. He found that the most powerful vampire was only rank-seven.

    Qianye edged closer.

    At this time, he noticed that there was a pile of ten or so corpses upying a certain corner of the open space. He felt he had seen these people somewhere. There were two human heads and a pile of ears beside the corpses, likely items to serve as proof of their military contributions.

    A number of low-ranking vampires were currently taking inventory and packing the ears into a box. Moreover, the container appeared rather luxurious and was apparently treated with quite a bit of importance. As the heads were being moved, Qianye caught a glimpse of their faces and was momentarily shocked. It was actually Li Pei and his n uncle!

    Qianye had just parted ways with them a while ago. Who would¡¯ve thought hisbat squad would¡¯ve been wiped out during this short period? It seemed none of them managed to escape since even the rank-thirteen uncle had fallen in battle here.

    Qianye¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but tremble. One had to know that it wasn¡¯t easy to surround and kill a rank-thirteen champion in an ordinary chance encounter unless the disparity in strength was too great or one party decided to fight to the death.

    But judging from the traces at the scene, there weren¡¯t any signs that Sky Demon¡¯s clone had been rmed which meant that the battle hadn¡¯t taken too long. That being said, just what degree ofbat strength did the assant have to be in order to ughter Li Pei¡¯s entire group of experts?

    This area was extremely dangerous!

    Qianye immediately retracted his aura and pulled back little by little. He was very patient and put covering his tracks above all else.

    It was at this time that a series of footsteps rang out from the opposite forest as a tall vampire warrior emerged and arrived in the clearing.

    d in a magnificent heavy armor, he had two handguns at his waist and a two-handed greatsword as his melee weapon, a rarity among vampires. There was a dark golden datura flower on his chest¡ªit seemed he was a soldier from the ancient Monroe n.

 Volume 5 - 406: The Rambler Rose Forest

    Chapter 406: The Rambler Rose Forest [V5C113 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Lingering blood energy aggregated around this vampire warrior¡¯s body. Even Qianye dared not underestimate him although he hadn¡¯t yet reached the first-rank viscount level. A viscount of the twelve ancient ns couldn¡¯t be mentioned on the same terms as those on Evernight Continent. Thebat strength of an ordinary rank-two viscount from the Monroe n was likely superior to Count Stuka.

    Should he ambush this vampire viscount? Qianye hesitated for a moment. The distance was still within range of the Twin Flowers. As long as he seeded in the ambush, he was six parts confident that he could annihte everyone at the scene. However, this viscount alone wasn¡¯t capable of exterminating Li Pei¡¯s squad no matter how much his fighting prowess surpassed his rank. There must be other Monroe n experts lurking nearby.

    In the end, Qianye decided to retreat quietly. At this moment, he was crawling on the ground like a gecko as he pulled backward.

    But he hadn¡¯t gone very far when a vampire warrior in the clearing suddenly sniffed hard and turned toward where Qianye was before. ¡°Enemy!¡±

    Qianye was astonished. This vampire warrior was only rank-five. How did thetter even find him? He had no time to think too much at the moment. He shot up from the ground like a bolt of lightning and charged forward instead of retreating. The twin guns rumbled as he fired a volley at the vampire viscount who was already beginning to move after hearing the warning.

    The vampire reacted immediately as expected. The broadsword behind his back appeared in his hand as though by magic and drew out numerous sanguineous circles of light that actually dispersed the origin bullets sting through the air.

    Qianye soared into the air as he shot out from the forest. The Twin Flowers had been returned to their sheath by the time East Peak descended before the vampire viscount.

    Half of the viscount¡¯s face was hidden beneath the magnificent armor revealing only a pair of sharp, blood-colored eyes. With a wave of his hand, the werewolves and low-ranking vampire warriors in the clearing pulled back to form a perimeter.

    The two at the scene confronted each other for a moment before the vampire viscount said in a deep voice, ¡°Third-rank viscount of the Monroe n, Durant. Dying under my de is your honor.¡±

    Qianye spoke not a single word and only raised East Peak.

    ¡°Taste my Rambler Rose Forest!¡±

    The broadsword seemed to have lost all weight as it dragged out a garish red radiance which snaked through the air like the gently blooming petals of the rambler rose.

    Qianye raised his de and returned a horizontal blow. The two weapons intersected amidst a loud sound¡ªthe immense impact sent both warriors staggering backward. The colliding origin power suffused the area and formed a brief, miniature tempest which caught the nearby dark race warriors off-guard. Many were sent flying and two among them even starting coughing up blood, badly injured by the impact. Only at this point did they realize the ferocity of this battle and widened the perimeter somewhat.

    Qianye took a couple of steps back before he managed to stabilize himself, his hands feeling somewhat numb. Durant took two more steps backwardpared to Qianye and the hands on his de werepletely pale. He hade out somewhat short when they had crossed swords earlier.

    ¡°Human, state your name. I admit that you have the qualifications to make me remember you.¡±

    ¡°I make it a habit not to tell dead people my name,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°I¡¯ll know once you die under my de!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes suddenly fell upon Durant¡¯s hand, where a fine trickle of fresh blood was flowing out from his sleeves. Regardless of whether the injuries came from the Twin Flowers, the sword strike just now, or even his earlier battle with Li Pei¡¯s squad, a small injury like this was enough to change the situation in an evenly matched battle.

    Qianye¡¯s sword stance shifted. His killing intent was retracted, and he became as steady as Mount Tai.

    Although Durant¡¯s expression was hidden beneath the armor, the gleam in his eyes immediately became concentrated. He charged toward Qianye withrge strides and hacked down on Qianye¡¯s head with the broadsword. The split second that his sword stance was established formed an illusion of rambler roses bursting into bloom by the thousands.

    However, East Peak struck upward with a simple flick and pierced right through the thicket of rambler roses to block the broadsword. A small origin power explosion emerged where the two swords crossed one another, shattering all the phantom roses. This sword strike apanied by myriad phenomena was fended off just like that.

    Durant roared furiously as he performed a rotating step. The broadsword spun around and swung toward Qianye¡¯s waist. At the same time, hundreds of rambler roses shot out and sted toward him. The roses were formed of transformed blood energy and would inflict true damage once struck. Even though the damage caused by each flower was limited, being struck by hundreds of them at the same time was more or less equal to being sted by an origin cannon.

    The Rambler Fireflow was one of Monroe n¡¯s sword techniques. Countless human experts had fallen under this move throughout the centuries.

    Qianye pressed down with East Peak, shooting out origin power in all directions and blowing away the flying roses. Meanwhile, East Peak¡¯s sharp edge pped urately on the iing broadsword, causing it to dip down and nearly nt itself into the ground.

    Durant was greatly astonished and couldn¡¯t help but take several steps back, drawing a deep gulch on the ground. There was deep apprehension within his gaze, and the hands with which he held his de trembled ever so slightly.

    That unassuming sword was heavy beyond expectation, and that human was also exceptionally strong. His sword stances were simple and in, but he was able to pierce through the rambler forest¡¯s de intent every time and block his sword technique. ¡°Just who are you? Are you from the Great Qin¡¯s four major ns?¡± Durant inquired.

    Qianye was in no mood to speak and simply strode forth with his sword raised. This vampire viscount was fairly young and would surely be a big threat to the humans once he had matured. It was best to kill off such enemies before they had risen to power¡ªthere was no room for mercy.

    Durant¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°It¡¯s fine even if you don¡¯t say it. As long as you operate in this region, my master will catch you sooner orter. At that time, death is your only option!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart was shaken as he recalled the expert who had killed Li Pei and his uncle.

    Durant¡¯s expression was proud as he continued, ¡°My master is from an ancient n, the most renowned genius in the world of Evernight! You won¡¯tst a single move before my master.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°All the more reason for me to kill you.¡±

    East Peak whistled as it shed down at the man¡¯s head.

    With a furious shout, Durant drew some runes in the air with his left hand, whereupon lingering blood energy emerged around him, apanied by a progressive growth in momentum. The viscount blocked East Peak with a swing of his sword.

    Qianye¡¯s hands went numb as East Peak shot upward uncontrobly. The power behind Durant¡¯s defensive strike had actually grown by 30% all of a sudden. This made it difficult for Qianye to suppress the opponent with pure strength.

    Qianye sensed his surrounding shift during that brief moment of bewilderment¡ªthere was faint blood energy everywhere, and countless rambler roses had broken through the ground to sprout, bud, and burst into bloom. In the blink of an eye, he found himself standing in a sea of rambler roses.

    Qianye frowned and took a step back, stepping on a number of nts that had reached his feet. However, the gently swaying sprigs scratched his calf. The petals were unexpectedly as sharp as des and managed to cut through Qiane¡¯s trousers andbat boots, leaving numerous fine wounds.

    ¡°A domain?¡± Qianye¡¯s brows were locked together, and he no longer moved. These unremarkable flower petals were able to cut his skin despite the toughness of his physique. It was obvious that everything within this domain was a materialization of the other party¡¯s origin power.

    ¡°Die within the sea of rambler roses! A top-grade domain like this is surely worthy of your identity.¡± Durant walked toward Qianye with his de raised. The flowers would part and make way for him wherever his steps fell.

    Qianye evaded the iing de edge with a sidestep, sustaining a number of new injuries on his legs. Additionally, a slight tingling sensation was felt from the cuts¡ªit would seem that the rambler roses formed of blood energy were poisonous. Qianye frowned ever so slightly upon realizing that Durant¡¯s domain not only strengthened himself but also restricted the opponent¡¯s movements. It was truly thorny in every sense of the word.

    Durant took two more steps beforeing to a sudden halt and gazing at Qianye in bewilderment. The East Peak in Qianye¡¯s hand was pointed toward the ground, and its sharp edge was shrouded in ck mist¡ªthis aura actually made Durant¡¯s heart beat wildly. He instinctively wanted to escape.

    While Durant was hesitating, East Peak swung upward in a diagonal swing!

    Nirvanic Rend!

    In that instant, the central region of the rambler rose sea was shattered as a faint sword intent immediately arrived before Durant. Thetter once again disyed his powerful capabilities at this moment of danger. Countless rambler roses flew up and assembled over his body, forming a shield which protected him within.

    But the rosy armor was shattered in a single strike. The sword intent fell upon Durant¡¯s body after a mere moment and proceeded to cut open his protective blood energy and heavy armor. Finally, it left a deep cut on his body before dispersing.

    The domain was shattered with a boom, and the sea of rambler roses vanished without a trace. Durant staggered backward and only managed to remain standing by nting his broadsword into the ground. His entire body was trembling as he nced down at the wound on his chest. His chest would¡¯ve been split open if only that sword strike had been slightly more powerful or if his armor were slightly inferior.

    Qianye¡¯s face immediately turned bloodless and pale after swinging out that Nirvanic Rend. The technique was incredibly powerful, but its consumption was also significant. Even at this point, he would reach exhaustion after three strikes.

    Qianye regained his breath in the blink of an eye and was just about to release a second strike when a sudden premonition arose in his heart. He turned his head slightly and, through the corner of his eyes, saw a sh of light in the distance. It was actually an origin bullet tearing through the air!

    The ambusher was clearly an expert sniper seeing as how this shot came without any warning at all. Qianye no longer had the time to evade. He forcefully twisted his body and faced the sniper round with his chest. At the same time, a vampire sniper rifle appeared in his hand with which he sted toward the gunman¡¯s location.

    Qianye fell to the ground as though he had been struck by lightning but soon mbered up nonchntly. This immediately stunned the dark race warriors nearby who had been eying him with dangerous gazes. How was this personpletely fine after taking a sniper round to the chest? Such a situation could only appear on major characters at or above the level of a count.

    Qianye¡¯s scanned everyone at the scene with a gaze as cold as ice. After seeing that no one was approaching, he let out a snort and walked into the forest.

    After running through the forest for a short while, Qianye¡¯s body swayed abruptly and almost fell to the ground. He held onto arge tree to prevent himself from copsing, but he could no longer endure the pressure in his chest as he coughed out arge mouthful of fresh blood.

    He could no longer care about his extreme exhaustion as he fled rapidly into the distance.

    Meanwhile, Durant suddenly came to and shouted loudly, ¡°He¡¯s injured. Give chase!¡±

    The group of vampire warriors, as though woken up from their reverie, began charging into the forest amidst rallying cries.

    Just as Durant was about to chase after Qianye, a cold voice rang out beside his ears, ¡°A group of trash!¡±

    Durant trembled all over as he nced back at the tall and graceful figure. He bowed hastily and greeted, ¡°Master! You¡¯vee.¡±

    Twilight walked out from the forest and arrived where Qianye was shot. She bent down to pick something up and raised it to her eyes with an interested gaze.

    Durant arrived beside Twilight. ¡°Master, we¡¯ll chase him down now. I shan¡¯t return without seeing his corpse!¡±

    ¡°The chances are slim at best, and you¡¯re not his match either,¡± Twilight said indifferently.

    Durant¡¯s expression appeared unresigned, but he didn¡¯t dare retort. He could only clench his teeth and say, ¡°Yes, master!¡±

    But in the end, he couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Master, why didn¡¯t you seize that brat since you¡¯ve arrived? It¡¯s impossible for him to resist you.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one who shot him.¡± Twilight tossed the item in her hand and caught it once more.

 Volume 5 - 407: Plot V5C114 â€“ A Distance Within Reach

    Chapter 407: Plot [V5C114 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Durant was astonished after hearing this. Although there were no regional divisions in the bloody battle, who else would dare interfere with the Monroe n¡¯s prey knowing that their n was hunting in this area?

    Twilight flicked her finger with a smile and tossed Schiller the small item. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that brat¡¯s troubles are only beginning. Those looking to kill him are humans.¡±

    Schiller received the item and observed it carefully. It turned out to be a deformed piece of metal which produced a burning sensation in his hand. A wisp of blood energy immediately appeared on his palm and isted the metallic surface.

    The sniper round Qianye was shot with contained mithril elements within. Only human physical bullets would add mithril to their bullets, while dark races usually added heavy lead or ck titanium. But there was a trace of darkness origin power lingering around the bullet. Although it was extremely weak, it couldn¡¯t escape Durant¡¯s senses.

    The viscount said regretfully, ¡°That brat is very powerful. It¡¯s such a pity to have him die in another¡¯s hand.¡±

    Twilight replied indifferently, ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re all too weak and couldn¡¯t handle thatbat squad, forcing me to take action. Now, I¡¯m being targeted by a terrifying human expert. She¡¯s lurking nearby and observing me. If I move against that brat and fail to kill him in one blow, she¡¯ll take advantage of the opportunity to kill me as I make a second move. Do you want me dead?¡±

    ¡°Ah! This subordinate doesn¡¯t dare!¡± Durant was immediately rmed and felt somewhat ashamed. But he was also suspicious about how an expert capable of killing Twilight would be able to move at will under the Iron Curtain.

    Twilight saw through his thoughts and said, ¡°That person is so powerful that she¡¯s notpletely defenseless even against Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. Naturally, she¡¯ll draw the Iron Curtain¡¯s attention once she fights, but it''s not too far from the border of the Iron Curtain. As long as the battle is kept short, it¡¯s possible for her to escape even if Sky Demon¡¯s avatar appears.¡±

    Durant drew in a breath of cold air and nced instinctively at his surroundings. A character capable of resisting a couple of blows from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar could kill him with a flip of her palm. Such a person was lurking around here, yet he had not even sensed the slightest of traces.

    ¡°Master, then what shall we do right now? Do we inform the n to have them search and kill this person?¡±

    Twilight said without much care, ¡°No need. She can¡¯t do anything to me as long as I stay vignt and refrain from fighting. Otherwise, she¡¯ll be done in by Sky Demon¡¯s avatar before she can kill me. Being able to pin her here without doing anything is greatly beneficial to our battle situation. Enough, clean up this ce. Let¡¯s leave.¡±

    Durant quickly ordered his subordinates to bury the bodies, pack the proof of contribution into boxes, and clean up the scene.

    Before leaving, Twilight shot a nce toward where Qianye had escaped and whispered softly with a yful smile, ¡°Don¡¯t you die. Otherwise, I might just feel a bit sad.¡±

    On a peak one thousand meters away, a young girl sat in a daze, hugging a sniper rifle even longer than herself. The wind was strong at such heights and it was fairly cold, but all she wore was a thin white skirt. Her arms and legs were left uncovered as though she were oblivious to the chill.

    She seemed lost in thought and made no movement even as the winds blew past and lifted her long hair, causing a lock of ck silken threads to fall off and scatter to the winds. A long trickle of blood had appeared on her cheek which gradually produced a number of sanguineous pearls.

    The girl reached out to touch her face and ced her hand before her eyes, her fingertips stained with a garish red. Her expression was somewhat disappointed as Qianye¡¯s figure emerged in her eyes.

    Back then, he had turned around and flown backward after being struck by the sniper round. It was during this process that a sniper rifle, clearly of vampire make, had appeared in his hand. The muzzle lit up in the blink of an eye, followed by a progressively erging origin bullet which eventually filled her entire pupils!

    Fine drops of sweat had appeared unknowingly upon her nose as the young girl awoke, shivering, from her reverie.

    It was at this time that a quiet voice rang out beside her ears. ¡°Kongzhao, where are you? Come and meet me.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao quickly disassembled the sniper rifle¡¯s stock and frame before carrying it on her back. Such arge gun didn¡¯t really affect her movements¡ªshe was like a spirited pather moving nimbly through the mountainousnd. She descended the peak in the blink of an eye and vanished into the forest.

    Momentster, Bai Kongzhao arrived at an ancient tree beneath which stood ady d in a wide-sleeved robe¡ªBai Aotu.

    Bai Aotu shot a nce at the sniper rifle on the young girl¡¯s back. The sniper rifle was clearly bigger than a human firearm and its style was dark and magnificent, but it was also a tad more sinister than weapons of vampire make. This demonkin custom-made sniper rifle was much rarer than a vampire¡¯s.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s brows rose slightly. ¡°You robbed it?¡±

    At this moment, Bai Kongzhao was like an obedient and timid littless as she replied in a gentle voice, ¡°I was lucky enough to have found a dying demonkin, so the item fell into my hands. It¡¯s yours if you want.¡±

    It was a mystery what Bai Aotu was thinking. Momentster, she asked with a sigh, ¡°Is it good to use?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao nodded in due honesty.

    ¡°Your body doesn¡¯t reject darkness origin power. Your original cultivation method is also fairly rare and not at all inferior to our Bai n¡¯s core arts in terms of cultivation speed. But I must still warn you that you¡¯ll transformpletely and fall to Evernight if your darkness origin powerpletely suppresses daybreak.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll always be a human,¡± Bai Kongzhao replied.

    Bai Aotu sighed. ¡°You may hunt freely during the following period. The Iron Curtain might be hell for others, but it¡¯s the best hunting ground for you. But remember not to be too indulgent, moreover, do not kill people on our side unless absolutely necessary.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao lowered her head and said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll try to control myself.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯m leaving now.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao looked up in astonishment, and this time, the fright on her face was genuine. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Bai Aotu pointed at the dark sky above her head and said, ¡°That fellow has already noticed me, so I can¡¯t stay long. But I¡¯ll teach that vampire woman a lesson before I leave. I¡¯ll be keeping her bedridden for some time. At least, by then, you won¡¯t have to worry about her in the days that follow.¡±

    With that, Bai Aotu rubbed the young girl¡¯s head and left. Her steps weren¡¯t fast and seemed as though she were walking normally. However, in the blink of an eye, she had already vanished into the depths of the forest.

    Bai Kongzhao stood without the slightest of movements, still maintaining her previous obedient attitude. But at an angle where no one could see, an odd smile had emerged on her pink, petal-like lips. She looked up after a while and sniffed hard before choosing a direction to advance.

    The strange thing was that Qianye was now in that very direction.

    Qianye stood leaning against arge tree. He pulled open the clothes in front of his chest and was just about to check his injuries when his movements came to a sudden halt. He listened with tilted ears and heard a subtle, almost imperceptible rustling from the forest¡ªsomeone was fast approaching.

    Qianye circled behind the tree with a side step and stood there with his back against the trunk.

    A number of figures were speeding through the woods with incredible agility. Qianye stood as silent and unmoving as a stone sculpture until, all of a sudden, East Peak swept out horizontally. One of the shadows which happened to be passing the ancient tree was immediately cut through the waist.

    Qianye had rushed behind another figure during the split second that the other figures slowed down. East Peak pierced through one of the figures¡¯ back and emerged from the chest.

    Only one of the pursuers was a werewolf and the rest were all vampires, known for their natural crity and high speed. Meanwhile, Qianye had to reserve his strength to deal with the person trying to snipe him from the dark. Under such circumstances, he was actually unable to throw these dark race soldiers off his trail.

    Two of theirpanions had died at this moment, but the remaining vampire warriors showed no fear as each and every one of them pounced toward Qianye with great ferocity and courage.

    Qianye swung East Peak left and right in a seemingly random manner, but each strike was as heavy as a mountain. These vampire warriors couldn¡¯t take even one blow and most of them were cut in half along with their weapons.

    Over half of the ten or so dark race warriors were killed within moments. Qianye paid extra attention to the vampire who had discovered his movements from far away because he wanted to know the reason. One had to know that even a dark race viscount could hardly detect Qianye¡¯s presence when he was exerting his full effort to hide.

    This vampire was only a knight, yet he was able to pinpoint his position urately¡ªit was as though his perception had transformed just like the vicious beasts.

    He was a middle-aged vampire who had probably lived for several hundred years, and yet only possessed that much strength. He was probably a minor character at the bottom of the Monroe n. He hadn¡¯t disyed any outstanding qualities during the battle, either. A simple p on the back with Qianye¡¯s de broke several of his bones andpletely immobilized him.

    Qianye walked over to the knight and pointed East Peak at his chest. ¡°How did you discover me?¡±

    ¡°Soldiers of the Monroe n will not yield. Kill me!¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Not talking? I have lots of ways to make you speak, dripping mithril into your veins for instance. What say you?¡±

    The vampire knight was shocked. His expression changedpletely as he blurted out, ¡°Y-You demon!¡±

    Qianye continued, ¡°I can also make a small opening on your chest and drip molten mithril into it. This method isn¡¯t bad either.¡±

    Liquid mithril would burn and char the vessels in a vampire¡¯s body wherever it traveled. Meanwhile, molten mithril dripped onto a vampire¡¯s chest would produce longsting damage, preventing them from ever condensing a blood core. The most terrifying part was that the vampire would survive for a long time if the dosage was controlled well.

    This was one of the tortures vampires feared the most. Many of these methods were invented by humans, but a number of them were vampire masterpieces. Coming from Red Scorpion, Qianye had no shortage of contact with various dark race members and had naturally received professional education about how to torture them.

    Seeing the vampire¡¯s shifting expression, Qianye knew that the time was just about right and that he only needed one final push. He produced a mithril bullet and removed its tip. Origin power ignited in his hand, softening the bullet amidst a flow of silvery light.

    ¡°I-I¡¯ll talk!¡± The blood knight finally broke down under the pressure.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stop his movements. ¡°Speak, I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this¡­¡± The blood knight had just begun to speak when Qianye felt that something was off. It was as though the surroundings had changed at this moment. The shift couldn¡¯t be described with words, and it wasn¡¯t even a part of one¡¯s body being stimted¡ªit seemed to only exist in one¡¯s senses.

    But Qianye, who had often walked the fine line between life and death, moved. He shifted sideways out of instinct and nced back. Soon afterward, the abnormal sensation seemed to have materialized as a faint chill arose from behind his back.

 Volume 5 - 408: A Lifelong Enemy (Part 1)

    Bai Kongzhao appeared behind Qianye like a specter¡ªthebat knife in her hand, shing with jet-ck radiance, thrust ruthlessly toward Qianye¡¯s lower back.

    Qianye, with his quick reflexes, had originally evaded this stab but Bai Kongzhao seemed to have anticipated his maneuver. Her de made a sharp turn midway and continued its trajectory toward Qianye¡¯s waist.

    The edge was iparably precise and aimed directly between the bones.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Qianye¡¯s tenacious body became fairly weak in the face of this attack as the de¡¯s tip entered his back!

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s skirt danced in the wind. Apparently, she had exerted her full strength, yet her movements were still silent and undetectable. Qianye couldn¡¯t detect even a shred of origin power fluctuation from her body and was only able to confirm where he was struck after the de entered his body.

    At the moment of danger, Qianye¡¯s expression was as gloomy as still water. He reached out to grab the sharp edge of thebat knife, momentarily preventing it from piercing deeper. His right hand performed a simple horizontal sh and hacked at Bai Kongzhao¡¯s waist.

    The girl¡¯s eyes flickered as she nced at the iing East Peak. She wore a vacant expression as though she had no idea how to deal with the attack¡ªthe sword was too fast, too heavy¡ªher only choices were to pull back or endure the blow.

    Bai Kongzhao suddenly pulled back her de with all her might. Thebat knife left Qianye¡¯s body and, at the same time, left a bone-deep gash on his palm.

    After drawing herbat knife, Bai Kongzhao immediately performed a backflip and evaded East Peak by a wide margin.

    A blue light suddenly emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes at that moment. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body immediately fell down with a muffled groan. Meanwhile, East Peak¡¯s angle shifted ever so slightly and struck her like a shadow chasing after its caster. The young girl was sent flying through the air like a kite with its strings cut.

    Qianye frowned slightly and went after her inrge strides. He knew that Bai Kongzhao seemed to be struck flying but was, in fact, using the force of the blow to retreat. The strike just now couldn¡¯t be considered a heavy blow at all.

    As expected, the young girl had gotten up with a flip of her body. She stared fixedly at Qianye with flickering wolf-like eyes, and her lips opened slightly as if she wanted to say something.

    But Qianye had no interest in listening to her speak. East Peak hacked down from overhead, poised to cut her mercilessly into two halves.

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s expression turned extremely awkward. She raised her de horizontally against East Peak and borrowed the force to roll to one side, effectively evading the sh seemingly backed by a thousand tons of force.

    Qianye raised East Peak and swung out once again, his brows locked in a frown.

    Under his Eye of Truth, the origin power trajectories around Bai Kongzhao were transforming continuously. This proved that she had no fixed technique, and all of her moves were produced depending on Qianye¡¯s movements. The problem was that the trajectories were shifting too fast, and the ones she chose to materialize in the end were those with the least openings. It was truly difficult to catch her.

    At this moment, Qianye had truly experienced Bai Kongzhao¡¯s iparable talents inbat. The only fortunate part was that her origin power was quite mediocre; she was only rank-eight at the moment.

    Since he had no way to gain the upper hand in terms ofbat techniques, Qianye simply raised East Peak andunched a flurry of sweeps, shes, flicks, and ps. All of them were basic sword techniques he had used repeatedly, but every strike was iparably heavy and sought victory through force.

    At this moment, although there were still openings in Qianye¡¯s sword strikes, they were extremely few in number. Moreover, each strike was so fierce and heavy that Bai Kongzhao simply didn¡¯t dare to meet them head-on. Even if she did find any openings, it was impossible to take advantage of them because merely blocking and borrowing the momentum of the blow was already taking great effort.

    The two fought an intense battle without pause. At this moment, Qianye¡¯s attacks were like a bear, and every m was enough to break bones and tendons. Meanwhile, Bai Kongzhao¡¯s movements were iparably agile like a panther.

    But Qianye was already badly injured, and it was disadvantageous for him to be tangled on. Moreover, he was all alone while it was unclear whether Bai Kongzhao had reinforcements.

    Suddenly, one of Qianye¡¯s strikes went too heavy. Bai Kongzhao took advantage of this opportunity to press down with a wave of her de, sending East Peak piercing into the ground. The girl soared into the air and actually stepped onto East Peak before lunging at Qianye¡¯s chest with thebat knife in her hand.

    Qianye had no time to change his move. His only choice at the moment was to abandon the de and retreat or receive the blow with a less vital part of his body.

    Unexpectedly, Qianye actually made no effort to retreat and his body didn¡¯t so much as sway. He received the de¡¯s edge directly with his chest. At the same time, his pupils turned an unfathomable azure which pierced Bai Kongzhao¡¯s eyes. An invisible hand passed through all obstacles and grabbed at the young girl¡¯s heart.

    Bai Kongzhao realized that Qianye was looking to exchange injuries. Without further thought, she clenched her teeth and continued forth. She endured the intense twitching pain in her chest as she steadily pushed thebat knife in her hand into Qianye¡¯s chest.

    However, the de was oddly sluggish in entering Qianye¡¯s body. Bai Kongzhao cried out involuntarily as she recalled how Qianye had escaped so quickly despite taking a sniper round to the chest. It was obvious that he had a chestguard of excellent quality!

    Bai Kongzhao retreated rapidly after the miscalcted move. Both her attack and retreat were decisive and efficient, but East Peak was like a coiled dragon arriving through the skies.

    The young girl had no other choice. She let out a scream and hacked fiercely at East Peak¡¯s edge with all her might.

    This was a contest of pure force without any fancy moves. Qianye¡¯s legs sank into the earth as though his body were tens of thousands of tons in weight. Meanwhile, the origin power within his body formed an astonishing tsunami which struck out along East Peak and mmed ruthlessly onto Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body.

    As the forty-nine cycles of the Combatant Form poured out in an instant, East Peak¡¯smon steel-like exterior lit up for a moment, but soon recovered its jet-ck appearance. It was as though that force capable of destroying all weapons below grade-five was merely an illusion.

    Bai Kongzhao had taken a solid blow from this iparably powerful heavy sword. Her small body was flung away like a lifeless puppet and smashed through severalrge trees before copsing to the ground. But she actually managed to bounce back up amidst the cloud of dust and, like a startled rabbit, soon vanished with great haste.

    Qianye was greatly astonished to see her escape with such crity after taking such a heavy blow. It was just that she had spurted out three mouthfuls of fresh blood during that short moment¡ªit was apparent that she wasn¡¯t having it easy either.

    Qianye didn¡¯t chase after her. He stood silently in ce for a moment before spraying out a mouthful of fresh blood. The wound at his waist split open and, likewise, shot out a stream of blood.

    The Combatant Form was fierce and incisive, but the price one had to pay was also significant. Qianye had forcefully pushed the form to its limit of forty-nine cycles despite being heavily injured. Although East Peak was able to handle the washing of the violent tides, his body couldn¡¯t endure the bacsh, adding injury upon injury.

    Qianye stood for a while and waited for the violent origin power tides to recede before dressing his wounds simply. He then went over to pick up thebat knife Bai Kongzhao had dropped.

    The knife was slender, and the de was no more than three fingers in breadth. However, it was quite heavy in the hand and flickering with a sable radiance. There was a sinister looking beast-head at its crossguard depicted in a characteristic demonkin style.

    Moreover, the sniper rifle strapped to the girl¡¯s back was also of demonkin make. Demonkin weapons could be activated with darkness origin power and had no blood-energy-limitations like vampire weapons, but they should only be able to exert about seven parts of their maximum power in human hands.

    During the battle just now, the demonkin de had worked unobstructed in the little girl''s hand and was able to exert all of its might. In the final confrontation of origin power, Qianye¡¯s Combatant Form had easily shattered Bai Kongzhao¡¯s origin power, however, a mysterious force had dispersed the greater half of the raging tides, thus saving her from death. Regardless of race, an ordinary rank-eight fighter in her ce would¡¯ve had all his bones immediately fractured and his innards shattered¡ªneither heavenly monarchs or dark princes could save him.

    It seemed there were quite a few secrets on Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body, and it might not be fewer than Qianye¡¯s own. He weighed the demonkinbat knife in his hand and put it away into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm in passing. He would be able to barely put this grade-five weapon to use in situations where he needed to conceal himself and thus couldn¡¯t use East Peak. Otherwise, inferior weapons simply couldn¡¯t handle his tyrannical origin power.

    Qianye walked over to where Bai Kongzhaost fell down and gauged the other party¡¯s status of injury. It was unknown whether this assassination attempt was her own idea or the Bai n¡¯s intention. If it was thetter, then his situation would be even more dangerous.

    Qianye cleared the scene and returned to the blood knight. Bai Kongzhao had struck him in passing during the intense battle just now. Although Qianye had interfered in time, one of his legs was still cut off at the knee.

    ¡°Now speak, how did you discover me? Tell me and I¡¯ll give you a clean death.¡±

    The blood knight¡¯s listless eyes lit up ever so slightly. ¡°One day, I suddenly heard a voice in the depths of the Iron Curtain calling out to me. I responded and formed a connection of sorts with the Iron Curtain. Thereafter, I was able to persistently sense the power there. This type of power made me stronger, and my perception range grew wider, allowing me to sense anything within a thousand meters. But now, it''s leaving me and I¡¯m in great pain.¡±

    The blood knight suddenly began to twitch and spasm as though he were in great pain.

    Qianye realized he couldn¡¯t get anything more out of the vampire. As such, he raised East Peak and pierced it through the blood knight¡¯s heart, effectively ending his suffering.

    Qianye looked up and found that the sky was a dense lead-grey color, just like his own heart. From the blood knight¡¯s words just now, he could confirm that it wasn¡¯t just the beasts that had been affected by the Iron Curtain. Some of the dark races might also be affected simrly. At present, he had no idea if the humans would encounter such a situation, but he didn¡¯t exclude this possibility.

    The increase in strength after gaining the Iron Curtain¡¯s power was only secondary to Qianye. What worried him the most was the greatly increased perception because that was a lethal threat to him. Fortunately, he had only seen this blood knight as an example, and this particr threat had been eliminated. But this increased his vignce¡ªat least, he could no longer sneak deep behind enemy lines as unscrupulously as before.

    At this moment, the military drugs he had just taken a while ago were starting to take effect, and his injuries were feeling somewhat better. Qianye¡¯s spirit had also risen ordingly. He identified the direction and headed back toward Silverflow Fjord.

    He hadn¡¯t gone very far when a sense of rm arose in his heart. There was something abnormal in the darkness origin power suffusing forest¡ªit was denser in one particr ce.

    Qiane kept on going without batting an eyelid. His steps came to a sudden halt at one point as he drew the Mystic Spider Lily and fired at that ce.

    Bai Kongzhao shot up from the ground like a startled deer and vanished into the forest. During that short maneuver, Qianye noticed that a corner of her short skirt was now torn with blood trickling down her leg. Although this shot wasn¡¯t aimed carefully, it still managed to injure her leg.

 Volume 5 - 409: Lifelong Enemy (Part 2)

    Chapter 409: Lifelong Enemy (Part 2) [V5C116 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye did not give chase. Instead, he hastened his footsteps and changed his direction, choosing the closest route toward human-controlled territory. It was reasonable to think that Bai Kongzhao had been injured quite badly, but she had sneaked her way back in such a short time. Apparently, her injuries had recovered at an abnormal speed. Moreover, she should already have known that it was impossible for her to finish Qianye off alone, but she simply refused to leave and was waiting around like a gangrene upon the bone.

    However, Qianye halted his steps once again before he had gone very far. Presently, he was extremely cautious and had True Sight active at all times despite the blood energy consumption¡ªas expected, he found abnormal fluctuations up ahead. A thousand meters ahead, a dozen or so people had sealed off the southeastern path toward human territory and were waiting to ambush him.

    It was really too convenient how these people had appeared in such a ce to set up a blockade. Qianye, with his heavy injuries, couldn¡¯t help but be vignt after connecting them to Bai Kongzhao¡¯s movements.

    The aggregation of origin power in the distance flickered rather obviously as a number of cryptic and tyrannical auras appeared. Although all of them were daybreak origin power, it felt even more dangerous to Qianye. He didn¡¯t hesitate very long before pulling back and soon switched to a different direction in order to circle around them.

    In the distant forest, dozens of warriors were swiftly making their way through the woods. Their equipment were of superior quality, but there was no obvious symbol on their weapons and apparel, making it difficult to discern their allegiance.

    The leader, a short-bearded man, stopped and suddenly raised his hand. The warriors behind him all came to a halt and dispersed into the forest to assume a guard formation.

    Bai Kongzhao walked out from the forest inplete silence much like a specter. Many soldiers revealed a sense of dread they themselves couldn¡¯t quiteprehend. Most of them had never even seen this girl before, but they were instinctively afraid.

    The short-bearded captain¡¯s expression rxed after seeing Bai Kongzhao. He walked over to meet her and asked, ¡°Miss Kongzhao, how did it go?¡±

    ¡°I shot him once and added another stab. He¡¯s badly injured now.¡±

    The short-bearded captain was full of delight. ¡°I¡¯ve already ordered my men to set up a blockade, but where is he?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao reached out a small hand and said, ¡°I can bring you to him, but the price will double. Moreover, you¡¯ll pay up front.¡±

    The short-bearded captain¡¯s expression shifted immediately. ¡°This isn¡¯t what we originally agreed.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s even more powerful than you guys have imagined. You can chase after him yourself, but I can tell you that you won¡¯t ever find him.¡±

    The captain took a step back to size-up Bai Kongzhao. ¡°Have you alreadymunicated with the will of the Iron Curtain?!¡± His voice was trembling ever so slightly as he said this.

    ¡°He¡¯ll get away if you keep on bbering,¡± Bai Kongzhao said without any expression.

    A sinister-looking soldier behind the short-bearded captain came forward and whispered, ¡°Chief, thatss has been badly wounded herself. Why don¡¯t we just take her down? In any case, none of the brothers here will utter a word about it.¡±

    The captain¡¯s gaze couldn¡¯t help but fall on the young girl''s legs. The hem of her skirt was in tatters and almost revealed her entire thigh. There was a striking wound on her exquisite skin where the skin and flesh had been turned inside out, and her calf was stained with dried blood. It was obvious from this just how much blood she had lost.

    Looking at her fair, well-proportioned leg, the captain suddenly felt his mouth run dry and his adam''s apple rolled up and down for a bit. Behind him, the gazes of the soldiers were just as fiery as they stared fixedly at the girl¡¯s thigh. All of them were elites who forged their staunch willpower through blood and mes, but, for some reason, they couldn¡¯t quite control themselves at this moment.

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s expression was just as vacant as before as though she had no idea what was going on.

    At this moment, the captain recalled the numerous legends surrounding this youngdy and then remembered her background. He was suddenly drenched in cold sweat and immediately became clear-headed. Without a second thought, he removed the satchel from his waist and tossed it to Bai Kongzhao. ¡°This is all the money we first agreed on.¡±

    The sinister-looking warrior cried out anxiously, ¡°Captain!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!!¡± The captain grabbed the soldier¡¯s neck and held it so tight that the man could hardly breathe. He stared into thetter¡¯s eyes and said word by word, ¡°Don¡¯t forget, that woman from the Bai n is still here! I still have women and children back home. I don¡¯t want to die for nothing here!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± He wanted to say that the Bai family woman had no way to take action, but he sensibly swallowed his words after seeing captain¡¯s fierce gaze.

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s misty eyes had turned into an unfathomable darkness as she watched them from the side and couldn¡¯t help but let out a regretful sigh.

    Only afterward did she look down at the satchel and found it filled with a neat stack of ck crystals. ¡°Not enough. I told you I can lead you to him, but the price will increase.¡±

    The captain turned back and shouted, ¡°Bring out everything you have!¡±

    The dozens of warriors walked out in a line and handed over the gold coins they had on them. There was also a number of ck crystals among them. All the items were ced into the bag in the captain¡¯s hand, filling it up halfway in the blink of an eye.

    The captain handed the bag over to Bai Konghzhao and said, ¡°Here¡¯s the cash.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao threw the bag into the previous satchel and slung it over her back. ¡°You¡¯re smart, but I don¡¯t like smart people because I¡¯m dumb.¡±

    The captain, who was three levels higher than Bai Kongzhao in terms of origin power, felt rather uneasy under the young girl¡¯s gaze. Heughed wryly and said, ¡°Smart people live longer. I only wish to survive. Miss, you might not be able to catch up to him if you keep dying further.¡±

    ¡°I remember his scent and won¡¯t lose him no matter what.¡± The young girl¡¯s voice was clear and gentle, almost as though she were singing softly. But the captain was ovee by greater uneasiness and his thoughts just now werepletely dispelled.

    Bai Kongzhao entered the forest first with the dozens of valiant warriors following behind her at great speed.

    Beside a pond thousands of meters away, Qianye was leaning on arge tree with his clothes half-undone as he washed his wounds. He had originally intended to endure until he reached the base at Silverflow Fjord, but now it seemed these visitors had no intention of letting him return so easily.

    The injury at his waist seemed lethal at a nce but actually wasn¡¯t so bad. There were traces of ck titanium in the demonkin weapon and would dy wound healing in ordinary people. However, Qianye possessed the tyrannical dark golden blood energy which was slowly devouring the harmful substances around the wound. At this rate, his injury would return to its normal healing rate within a day.

    The wound in front of his chest was the problematic one. The armor Wei Potian had gifted him had been torn into pieces, and it was already cracked after blocking the first sniper round. Afterward, it was split into pieces after being pierced through by Bai Kongzhao¡¯s de, and the broken fragments had stabbed deep into his flesh.

    Meanwhile, a number of bones on Qianye¡¯s chest had been fractured by the impact from the two almost consecutive blows. Such an injury would¡¯ve killed him several times over were it not for the support of his upgraded vampire constitution.

    Qianye endured the pain as he pulled out the armor fragments from his chest, wrapped the shards in cloth, and put them away into his spatial ne. This protective armor had saved him thrice. Despite being broken, the materials were still there and could be reforged into another piece of high-quality armor upon his return.

    Qianye finally produced some clear water to pour over his wounds. He then applied alcohol and medicine to the injuries before sitting down with his back against the tree and heaving a long sigh. His eyelids grew progressively heavier as he fell into a deep sleep.

    However, he had just closed his eyes when his ears caught a series of subtle footsteps. At the same time, he felt the earth trembling ever so slightly, causing him to immediately be alert. He fell prone to the ground to carefully sense the vibrations¡ªat least a dozen or so people were heading toward him at great speed.

    These people made no effort to hide their presence. Perhaps it was for speed or maybe it was because they already had a definite target.

    Qianye leapt up swiftly onto the nearby ancient tree and hid himself amidst the dense foliage.

    The squad of warriors arrived beside the pond under Bai Kongzhao¡¯s leadership.

    ¡°Halt!¡± The entire group stopped in response to a wave of the young girl¡¯s hand. She scanned the surroundings, and finally, her beautiful little eyebrows locked into a frown as her gaze reached the area beside the pond.

    The short-bearded captain crouched down beside the pond and reached out to touch the earth beside it. ¡°He was here a while ago.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Bai Kongzhao screamed, ¡°He¡¯s above!¡±

    The captain was greatly astonished. He looked up instinctively only to find a dozen or so origin grenades falling down from above¡ªhe was immediately shocked out of his wits.

    All the origin grenades exploded at about the same time and covered an area tens of meters in diameter. The congration connected with one another and condensed into a dazzling ball of me slowly climbing into the sky.

    The short-bearded captain shot up from the ground as the flowing ze had receded¡ªthe origin barrier around him flickered as he moved to extinguish the mes on his body. He had reacted with extreme speed just now, dropping to the ground and pushing his defenses to the max. That was the only reason he had managed to survive the strongest impact.

    At this moment, the forest was already inplete disorder. Trees had fallen in disarray, and the ones caught within the st radius were on fire. Over ten soldiers stood up in session, but several others were left groaning on the ground¡ªthe rest showed no signs of movement.

    The captain felt a chill run through his heart. Did that ambush just now wipe out over half of his men? Recalling that earth-shattering origin grenade bombardment just now, he realized that it wasn¡¯t impossible. But what kind of person would carry so many grenades around?

    At this point, the captain was rmed all of a sudden. Where was Qianye?

    A figure shed through the corner of his eyes as Qianye appeared from behind a burning tree. Following a step on the tree trunk, his entire body shot out like a cannonball and cut diagonally across the inferno toward Bai Kongzhao.

    The young girl let out a cry of rm and turned to run without the slightest intention of resisting. The captain couldn¡¯t help but curse in his heart as he reached for the origin gun in his hand.

    Qianye bounced up once again afternding on the other side. However, the sudden pain at this waist slowed him down, and all of a sudden, the distance was drawn apart. Qianye had no choice but to stand and watch as the girl vanished into the depths of the forest.

    Qianye turned back immediately without the slightest bit of hesitation, making a beeline for the captain who was charging his gun and taking aim. East Peak performed three thunderous shes which shattered the man¡¯s protective origin power before the fourth decapitated him.

    The mes had yet to die down. Qianye charged through the ze and felled one enemy after another. Momentster, no one else was left standing.

    Qianye gasped leaning on the de. It took quite the effort to calm down his boiling origin power. The wounds on his chest and back had opened up once again, in addition to the several new ones on his body. Among them, the strike he had received from the dying captain was the fiercest¡ªit cut out a bone-deep gash on Qianye¡¯s left arm.

    Qianye walked over to the captain¡¯s headless corpse and proceeded to flip through it. In the end, he found the Nangong Family¡¯s token in the man¡¯s pocket.

 Volume 5 - 410: Fierce Battle

    Chapter 410: Fierce Battle [V5C117 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye¡¯s heart was shaken. These people were elite soldiers of the Nangong family sent to hunt him down. It was just that he had no idea why Bai Kongzhao would be working together with them.

    The Nangong family and the Bai n working together wasn¡¯t good news at all.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare linger for long, so much so that he simply turned and left without bothering to clean the battlefield. He was already short on food and ammunition after this period of hunting¡ªhe was already out of grenades and only had a couple of physical origin bullets left.

    Moreover, themotion from just now was too great. The giant fireball could be seen from dozens of kilometers away and might draw people over. To the isted Qianye, anyone could be an enemy.

    Qianye abandoned his intention to head toward Silverflow Fjord because the base there was too crude and had no experts overseeing it. There was no way it could defend against the Nangong family¡¯sbat squad. In a bid to return to ckflow City, he spent half a day cautiously traversing the fierce war zones where the humans and dark races were fighting.

    That was his territory and also one of the expeditionary army¡¯s foremost nodes in this bloody battle. Even Bai Kongzhao and the Nangong family wouldn¡¯t dareunch an open assault on the city.

    However, Qianye was greatly rmed after walking out of the war zone borders because he had seen yet another blockade with his True Sight. His heart sank¡ªhe had the confidence to sneak past if it were only a simple blockade. However, things were different with Bai Kongzhao in the equation.

    Qianye hesitated for a moment. Finally, he retreated after deciding that it wasn¡¯t worth the risk.

    This time, he was prepared to cut through the east and foray into arge segment of the Dark Nation territory before entering human territory once again. This path would take him well out of his way, but the good thing about this route was that even the Nangong family and the Bai n put together wouldn¡¯t be able to set up a blockade hundreds of kilometers long.

    Qianye had just started running when his heart skipped a bit. He looked toward the left to find a bright signal re shoot up only tens of meters away from his current position.

    This was a signal to surround and attack! Although he couldn¡¯t see the person¡¯s origin power reaction, he could tell without thinking that it was Bai Kongzhao who had shot this re.

    He didn¡¯t run immediately and, instead, stood silently in ce, allowing the footsteps in the vicinity to grow denser and denser.

    Finally, a human figure flickered through the forest as the young girl appeared from behind a tree and gazed suspiciously at Qianye¡¯s location. In the end, what she immediately found were the dark muzzles of the Twin Flowers!

    Qianye pulled the trigger without a moment of hesitation¡ªblood immediately burst forth on the girl¡¯s body apanied by a wretched scream. With a flip of her body, she quickly hid herself in the woods and disappeared just like that.

    Qianye secretlyined about how regretful it was. At this moment, he was already like an arrow at the end of its flight and could no longerbine the Twin Flowers into one. But the grade five firepower of the Bloody Datura and the Mystic Spider Lily were more than enough to deal with a rank-eight fighter.

    His two merciless shots aimed at the head and heart failed to achieve their objective in the face of Bai Kongzhao¡¯s terrifyingbat instincts. She reflexively twisted her body at virtually the same time the gunshots rang out, evading the headshot and causing the shot aimed at her heart tond on her back instead. This time, Bai Kongzhao was badly injured, but the results were far from what Qianye had imagined.

    Since the beginning of his martial career at Red Scorpion, Qianye had rarely, if ever, missed in such a fashion. From a different aspect, this also went to show that this young girl was one of Qianye¡¯s most terrifying opponents, even though she was lower than Qianye by one rank at present.

    Qianye didn¡¯t linger after Bai Kongzhao had fled. He charged brazenly into the surrounding unit and broke through the siege.

    What followed was a fight for his life.

    Along the way, Bai Kongzhao appeared a number of times like a specter but was repelled several times by Qianye. She was also being wounded continuously, and her injuries might not be any lighter than Qianye¡¯s own. But this young girl¡¯s tenacity was extremely terrifying¡ªshe would always evade Qianye¡¯s fatal blow by a hair and recover at an astonishing rate, appearing around him again before long.

    Qianye discovered that even his True Sight could hardly discern Bai Kongzhao¡¯s existence at a certain distance. He suddenly recalled how he had misjudged the Monroe n blood knight¡¯s rank from hundreds of meters away and only discovered the issue after exchanging blows face to face.

    At this point, Qianye formed a horrible spection. Bai Kongzhao might¡¯ve gained the power of the Iron Curtain just like that blood knight¡ªshe could lock down his location and conceal herself under the Iron Curtain. He immediately modified his strategy since this was the case. He no longer attempted to hide his presence and, instead, started to run at extreme speeds, maintaining a bnce between his speed and stamina.

    Just as he had dealt with the vampire viscount back on the Western Continent, he was nning to rely on his physical advantage to wear down the pursuers.

    However, Bai Kongzhao was like a lone wolf in the wilderness; both her patience and stamina were terrifying. She remained hot on Qianye¡¯s trail and would try to pounce on him from time to time. Although such attempts mostly ended with Qianye¡¯s counterattack, she never gave up from the beginning to the end.

    Any other person would¡¯ve copsed under her continuous ambushes, but Qianye¡¯s own tenacity wasn¡¯t weaker than Bai Kongzhao¡¯s at all, so much so that even his reactions showed no signs of dy or weariness. Qianye would¡¯ve turned around to kill her if not for the Nangong family soldiers chasing after him.

    In this aspect, the two of them were quite simr. Perhaps the experience of growing up at the junkyard granted them a simr perseverance.

    The pursuit continued intermittently for the entire afternoon and continued into the night. Bai Kongzhao was still behind Qianye, but the Nangong family soldiers were starting to fall behind in quick session. In the end, no more than ten people were able to keep up with Bai Kongzhao, but all of them were pale in the face, and their breaths seemed to be hanging by a thread. It was questionable whether they could even shoot if a battle were to break out.

    Qianye didn''t have the slightest chance if he had to fight this pursuit unit head-on, but half a day of constant running had totally worn them down.

    However, Qianye wasn¡¯t in good shape either. New wounds were being added to his body constantly, and his origin power was gradually running dry. His movements were growing heavier as he had no time to absorb and replenish his blood energy. Bai Kongzhao remained on his trail like a spirit who didn¡¯t know what exhaustion was. There was no telling when she would appear and deliver a fatal blow¡ªthis was the greatest pressure.

    One, two, and three days passed by on the chase.

    The Nangong family¡¯s soldiers had vanished entirely. Their most powerful rank-eleven champion had died one day ago under Qianye¡¯s ambush. The champion waspletely drained of origin power and could hardly exert half his abilities at that moment.

    However, Qianye also paid a heavy price in the form of two stabs as the championunched a dying retaliation. Immediately afterward, Bai Kongzhao had taken the opportunity tounch another ruthless stab that almost pierced right through his body. The young girl¡¯s continuous strikes were all aimed at his back and legs.

    In this manner, this fight for life had turned into a game of cat and mouse between Qianye and Bai Kongzhao three days after it all began. The two would exchange roles from time to time¡ªthe hunter from a moment ago would instantly be the hunted after a moment of carelessness and a heavy injury.

    At this point, Qianye had already considered Bai Kongzhao as a great cmity. He would pursue and counterattack whenever the opportunity arose. This young girl was like a sharp de hanging above his head. It was unknown when death would descend upon him if he couldn¡¯t kill her.

    Two days passed by in a sh.

    Qianye ran and ran, but finally, he could hold on no longer¡ªhe copsed onto the ground andy there gasping for breath. His throat had be so dry that it was about to split apart. It felt as though there was a fire burning in it. He grasped Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and wanted to bring out some water and medicine but, in a burst of extreme pain, he lost the ability tomunicate with the spatial ne.

    This was also within his expectations. His body was now drained of both origin power and blood energy. Qianye nced in every direction and saw a small waterhole in the distance. The hole was filled with muddy water, but it was like a sweet spring to one who sought to survive. He immediately crawled over and began to drink inrge gulps, finishing everyst drop in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye felt somewhat rejuvenated after drinking. He moved his body against a big tree and stood up with its support. His every movement at this moment brought about stabbing pains throughout his entire body. He had no idea how many wounds he had on him right now, and many of them had already started to fester as he had no time to clean them.

    The shrubbery on the other side suddenly split open and out came Bai Kongzhao. At this moment, the girl¡¯s skirt had been ruined beyond recognition and had turned into a rag wrapped around her waist. Her entire body was exposed¡ªher slim frame was also covered in wounds, and sinister-looking white bones were exposed in certain ces.

    She could hardly stand at the moment, but the grip on her knife was still powerful, and her clear eyes were gleaming brightly.

    Qianye, on the other hand, was quite rxed now. He remained sitting against the tree as he nced at the young girl. ¡°Why do you hate me so much?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao remained silent for a moment before replying, ¡°I can¡¯t rest easy as long as you¡¯re alive. I¡¯ll die in your hands one day.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t expected this reply. Recalling the past, he had at least let her live twice.

    ¡°Intuition.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough of a reason.¡± Qianye stood up with the tree as support and gestured at the girl. ¡°Come then. Kill me.¡±

    At a nce, Qianye no longer had any capacity forbat. A single stab would end this long battle and eliminate her restless nightmare. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s hand on her knife grew tighter and tighter as strands of darkness origin power actually seeped out from her fingers.

    Qianye smiled faintly as his gaze fell on her hand. ¡°So you were hiding an ace all along. Since you still have darkness origin power to spare, why aren¡¯t you attacking? Come. One stab is all it takes. It¡¯s just that simple.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao, on the other hand, was hesitating. Her originally clear eyes were flickering with a wisp of surreptitiousness.

    The two were only a few meters away. The oue of such a confrontation would depend on who copsed or revealed an opening first.

    The girl was still hesitating. She saw that Qianye¡¯s aura was weak, and his entire body was full of openings¡ªonly his eyes were as spirited as before.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s body was almost lifeless. The daybreak origin power in his vessels had virtually dried out, and the asional flickering specks were a telltale sign that the me of hismp was only one step away from being snuffed out. Only the depths of his heart was still full of life¡ªthe dark golden blood energy was swimming and floating up very slowly. The wings formed of blood energy spread out little by little, and one of its feathers was emitting a brilliant radiance.

 Volume 5 - 411: The Living Black Forest

    Chapter 411: The Living ck Forest [V5C118 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    This was a feather of the Wings of Inception which had fed on a tremendous amount of blood energy. It was a mystery just how powerful it was, but it shouldn¡¯t be a problem to wipe out a couple of Bai Kongzhaos with it.

    The issuey in whether he could hit her. In the past couple of days, Qianye hadunched attacks which he believed would definitely connect, but Bai Kongzhao had always escaped the peril using extremely secretive methods.

    This time, Qianye was going to wait for Bai Kongzhao to close in before dealing this fatal blow. That would be the time for him to fire the Wings of Inception.

    But Bai Kongzhao was hesitant and holding at this very juncture, a stark contrast to her previous decisive ruthlessness. She gazed at Qianye with perplexed eyes and finally withdrew into the forest and vanished.

    Qianye was startled for a moment butter realized that the young girl had chosen to abandon the opportunity before her. Her instincts were indeed unmatched. Qianye also left to continue ying this endless hunting game.

    The sky above his head was a dense lead grey color. It was as though the Iron Curtain had already be a part of the sky and would never disperse. Qianye staggered forward with no idea where he was. The scenery before him had turned into an intermittent blur, and many parts of his body had lost all senses.

    Up above was the unchanging Iron Curtain, and ncing around, there were only dense woods in every direction. Qianye had lost his sense of time, and his body was growing increasingly light as though he were floating above the clouds. At times, it felt like he was walking over soft cotton despite having stepped on solid ground.

    ¡°Am I at the limit?¡± A notion suddenly popped up amidst his chaotic thoughts. He stopped in a daze and vaguely felt his shoulder lean on arge tree. Just like that, he rested in a standing posture. He dared not sit down because he knew he would never be able to get up again.

    ¡°Am I going to die?¡± This was his second thought.

    Death wasn¡¯t frightening. He needed only to close his eyes and rxpletely to fall into eternal darkness and serenity. During his daze, Qianye seemed to have returned to his youth. It felt as though he were standing upon the chaotic mess of the junkyard.

    He could almost hear the rumble of engines which, to the children of the junkyard, was like heavenly music. The sound indicated that an airship from the upper continent had arrived with new trash. This refuse was the only means of survival.

    Qianye suddenly opened his eyes with mes flickering gradually within. I-I can¡¯t die yet!

    He shook his head, somewhat rifying the scenery around him. He could no longer activate his True Sight and only choose a safe direction with his intuition in which to continue his journey.

    After a while, Qianye was suddenly startled as he realized that he hadn¡¯t seen Bai Kongzhao for a while. ording to the previous pattern, the girl should¡¯ve attacked him two or three times already during this period.

    Could it be that she could no longer hold on and has finally copsed? Qianye shook his head. Bai Kongzhao clearly had reinforcements and supplies behind her. She wasn¡¯t that weak. Since even Qianye had retained enough strength for onest strike, it was only natural for her to make one final attempt.

    Fighting for several days with neither rest nor sleep had unknowingly allowed the two to understand one another with iparable rity.

    Qianye nced toward his surroundings in an attempt to find the young girl¡¯s traces. However, his expression shifted as his vision gainedplete rity.

    A faint mist had spread throughout the forest at some point, and the trees around him had assumed apletely different form. The trunks were pitch-ck, and the branches had be twisted and razor sharp. The scene was indescribably eerie.

    This is¡­ the ck Forest?

    Qianye¡¯s expression was solemn. He had never expected that a thing of the legends would appear before his eyes. So much so that he had no recollection of how he had arrived here¡ªhe knew not whether he had walked into the ck Forest or if the original woods had suddenly transformed.

    There were numerous mysterious legends about the ck Forest. It was just that most rumors were never proven, so much so that it was controversial whether the forest appeared only in the imagination of the dying person or if it really did exist.

    But now, Qianye was very clearly aware that the scenery around him was true.

    The mist grew thicker and thicker until the endless array of faintly visible trees and branches had been reduced to a mass of hazy grey. Qianye¡¯s field of vision was limited to a couple hundred meters, and it was filled with trees seemingly carved of ck stone. A thought arose in his heart¡ªBai Kongzhao¡¯s failure to appear might have something to do with the ck Forest.

    Qianye didn¡¯t act rashly. He fished out thest blood crystal in his pocket, shattered it, and absorbed the blood energy therein. He spent a moment recovering, then proceeded to observe the surrounding ck Forest with due caution. He might be trapped here forever if he failed to peer into its secrets.

    His vision was somewhat blurry as Qianye used True Sight once again, but it didn¡¯t prevent him from sensing the surging darkness which seemed to have flooded the entire world.

    At this moment, Bai Kongzhao was standing silently in the distance. She was gazing at the exceedingly dense forest without the slightest of movement, a cape tightly wrapped around her body.

    Several Nangong family elites were standing beside her, including a short elderly man.

    The old man¡¯s gaze was like lightning as he shot Bai Kongzhao a nce and said in a deep voice, ¡°This old man is Nangong Yuanwang. I¡¯m sure Miss Kongzhao has heard of my name.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao replied indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ve indeed heard of the Nangong family¡¯s second elder. It¡¯s unexpected for you to arrive here personally. Aren¡¯t you afraid of Sky Demon discovering you?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang let out an amused heh and said proudly, ¡°This old man has been cultivating for over thirty years. Wouldn¡¯t it have been for nothing if I can¡¯t even hide from Sky Demon¡¯s attention?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao replied with an "Mm", and continued, ¡°Then, is the second elder prepared to take action?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang was immediately stoppered up. Despite his conceit, the man was no divine champion¡ªthere was no way he would dare to go all out under the Iron Curtain. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s questioning tone was rather impolite. There was a faint disdain within her words that almost seemed to question his point ining here without the ability to fight.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression shifted between blue and white. ¡°This old man received news that Tiancheng has fallen in battle and thus rushed over at full speed. He¡¯s my only son, Miss Bai. Don¡¯t you feel that you should give this old man an exnation?!¡± At this point, Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s voice had bepletely harsh.

    Bai Kongzhao, on the other hand, seemed to not have heard the threat in his words. ¡°Nangong Tiancheng? The captain with the short beard?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression was full of anger.

    ¡°He died in Qianye¡¯s hands.¡± And that was Bai Kongzhao¡¯s exnation.

    Nangong Yuanwang endured his fury and asked, ¡°Where is Qianye right now? This old man must y him!¡±

    Bai Kongzhao pointed toward the dense forest in front. ¡°In that direction.¡±

    There was an exceedingly dense forest where she was pointing. The leaves on its trees were oddly verdant, dazzling, and almost seemed to be glowing radiantly under the dusky world of the Iron Curtain. For some unknown reason, Nangong Yuanwang actually felt great rm after seeing this forest.

    ¡°Why does this forest look so peculiar?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao chuckled softly. ¡°Of course, the ck Forest would look different.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang was startled. ¡°The ck Forest?! It¡¯s not as if this old man has never seen the ck Forest before. Why does it look like this?¡±

    ¡°Then how should it look like?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s brows locked into a frown as he nced at Bai Kongzhao. ¡°Then how do you know that this is the ck Forest?¡±

    ¡°Intuition.¡±

    The girl¡¯s reply shrouded the old man¡¯s countenance in ayer of ashen hue. He wanted to act up but managed to swallow his anger after recalling how Bai Aotu was hanging around the Iron Curtain¡¯s border. Moving against Bai Kongzhao was tantamount to offending Bai Aotu.

    Someone beside Nangong Yuanwang said slowly, ¡°There are too many legends about the ck Forest, but none of them have been proven. This lowly one is inept but has also experienced the forest once. Both the trees and soil within it are iparably eerie with no way to understand how it was formed. Apart from that, however, there seems to be nothing especially terrifying about it. This area is still quite a ways from the ck Forest, so why has Miss Kongzhao stopped?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao replied, ¡°That which you have just said is merely the vestige left behind by a dead ck Forest, while the one before us is alive. I do not wish to enter. You lot can go in if you¡¯re willing; that person is definitely inside.¡±

    ¡°A live ck Forest?¡± People from the Nangong family were all surprised.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression was solemn as he muttered, ¡°Since Miss Kongzhao knows so much about the ck Forest, I hope you¡¯ll apany us into it. With our force¡¯s strength, I¡¯m sure we can get through this daunting experience without any idents.¡±

    ¡°I refuse.¡± Bai Kongzhao¡¯s refusal was blunt.

    A certain person whispered in Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s ears. Thetter said immediately, ¡°The price can be easily discussed if you¡¯re willing to enter with us.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    The continuous refusals made Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s countenance turn extremely ugly. He had always been a major character in the Nangong family who had the masses at his beck and call. When had he ever suffered such temper? Even if other people couldn¡¯t agree to his request, they would always refuse tactfully and seek his forgiveness.

    But despite this, he had no way to vent his anger because this young girl before him not only possessed a special identity but also boasted peculiar abilities. Of the two hundred-men elite units working with her to hunt down Qianye, one had been wiped out entirely, while the other had been driven to exhaustion¡ªonly Bai Kongzhao was able to tangle with Qianye all the way to the end.

    This kind of aplishment proved that one shouldn¡¯t use ranks to measure this seemingly prepubescent girl before him. Moreover, there had to be a reason why a top-ranking character like the arrogant Bai Aotu would view her with such importance.

    Bai Kongzhao was adamant about not going into the live ck Forest, so much so that she wasn¡¯t even willing to approach it. Nangong Yuanwang was also an old wily fox; he became vignt and attempted to probe further. ¡°Miss Kongzhao, I wonder if you can reveal some details about the dangers of this ck Forest.¡±

    The young girl shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. I just don¡¯t want to go.¡±

    With that, the young girl no longer paid attention to the Nangong family. She simply turned to leave and soon vanished into the mountains like a spirit.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression was fluctuating wildly as he suddenly spoke to a warrior beside him, ¡°You, bring ten men and scout ahead! Turn back after half an hour.¡±

    The man immediately turned pale, but he daren¡¯t go against Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s orders. He could only clench his teeth and select ten soldiers who would follow him into this eerie forest full of vitality. As expected, an odd scene yed out¡ªthe figures of the scouting soldiers gradually disappeared after entering the forest despite clearly being in visible range.

    These people suddenly vanished right under Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes, and he actually couldn¡¯t get a lock on their auras even with his strength. The old man¡¯s unsightly expression reached its extremes. Right now, all he could do was wait for the soldiers to return at the appointed time. However, everyone had a bad feeling about it.

    Afterward, Nangong Yuanwang and his group of people fell into an impasse. They waited for a long while without any news whatsoever from those who had gone into the forest.

    Seeing Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s countenance turn anxious, one of his aids said, ¡°Elder, there might not be any results even if we wait longer. Why don¡¯t we leave some people here to wait for them and head back? You mustn¡¯t stay for long under the Iron Curtain.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang nodded slowly. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll leave first then. Jiancheng, set up an ambush here with half the men. Kill that brat mercilessly once you see him leave the forest. Yucheng, you bring the rest of the men to hunt for some merits in the surrounding area. We came to kill Qianye in passing, but now the cart is before the horse.¡±

    The aide was clearly relieved at this arrangement. It would be for the best if they could leave this eerie ce as soon as possible.

    ¡­

    Qianye had no idea how long he had been inside the ck Forest. He was leaning on a tree with his eyes closed.

    The surroundings were so silent that it was terrifying. There wasn¡¯t a sound to be heard, not even the rustling of leaves in the wind. However, the prolonged silence gave rise to numerous minute voices. It was as though someone was whispering, as though something was chewing quietly.

 Volume 5 - 412: Chaotic Entity (Part 1)

    Chapter 412: Chaotic Entity (Part 1) [V5C119 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    All sounds disappeared once Qianye opened his eyes. Apparently, it was just an illusion. The forest was just as silent¡ªso silent that one could hear the blood-flow beneath the skin, as well as the sound of one¡¯s beating heart.

    He had undergone training in extreme silence back at Yellow Springs. That was a greatly dangerous ss during which many students had gone mad. Qianye knew what he had to do at this moment and, after some thought, decided to try inspecting his body.

    The blood crystal he had absorbed just now wasn¡¯t enough topletely activate his True Sight. But it had revived the dispirited blood energy in his heart, and he was now able to feel his numb body gradually recovering.

    Pain, both light and severe, marched at Qianye from every corner of his being, but the sensation rejuvenated him instead¡ªthis was the feeling of being alive.

    Qianye¡¯s physical condition, however, was in an extremely bad shape. His injuries were simply too severe; the prating wounds alone numbered three. His internal organs had all sustained damage, and even half of his liver had been shattered. His blood-flow at this moment was so slow and viscous that only a small amount would leak out of broken vessels. The blood was suffused with a faint trace of blood energy¡ªit was due to their existence that Qianye hadn¡¯t bled out all this time and was able to maintain the ability to fight again. This was the ability of the vampiric constitution rune.

    However, the blood energy in his body was already fairly weak. Once it had dried uppletely, the stagnated blood would spurt out instantly, and a major blood loss would ensue. Qianye clenched his teeth and drew out an ordinary blood energy from his heart before mobilizing a strand of daybreak origin power to shatter it.

    This was equal to a small confrontation within his body. Qianye released a muffled groan as the blood energy dispersed, and his face instantly turned pale. But the scattered blood energy rapidly merged into his blood and injected new life into the withered blood energy around his wounds. Afterward, his bodily functions became obviously activated and moved to restrict the injuries from worsening.

    This was a secret technique born of the vampiric constitution rune¡ªshattering blood energy to repair grievous injuries.

    In terms of healing effects, this method produced instant effects and was far superior to the human mind arts. Except important areas like the blood core, heart, and brain, all other injuries could be treated no matter how severe they were. The trade-off was that a vampire¡¯s quality was directly proportionate to the number of blood energy he possessed. Shattering blood energy was tantamount to lowering one¡¯s own rank.

    Qianye drew out yet another ordinary blood energy and shattered it in the same way. After all, he wasn¡¯t a vampire and, although he knew the principles, had no knowledge of how to control thempletely. He could only use such a clumsy way to disperse them. However, it was as though the blood energy in his body possessed spirituality. After he had shattered two of them, the rest crawled into the depths of his heart and refused to emerge no matter how he tried.

    Fortunately, the two wisps of blood energy were enough to control his wounds. Presently, the purple blood energy was curled out in its rune without the slightest movement, and only the dark golden blood energy still retained some liveliness.

    Qianye¡¯s perception was seriously impaired within this forest. Not only had he lost all sense of direction, but even his concept of time was fairly vague. He brought out his origin power sundial and found that his lengthy process of recovery had only taken one hour.

    But Qianye soon discovered that the hands on the sundial weren¡¯t moving¡ªit had apparently stopped functioning. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the time dial had also failed. This was a rather serious problem because it was the same forest in every direction, and one might spend an entire day walking in circles.

    Qianye began to observe the surroundings in detail. After his injuries were stabilized, the Eye of Truth also regained some rity.

    This time, the ck Forest had gradually removed its disguise and revealed its true nature. This ce was simr to other areas on Evernight in that it was suffused with darkness origin power. But while exceptionally active, there were many other things mixed into it. When Qianye noticed those impurities, his previously clouded senses were restored, and a feeling of numbness emerged on his skin.

    Qianye¡¯s heart trembled¡ªhe was no stranger to this sensation¡ªit was akin toing into contact with materials like ck titanium. This meant that there was extraordinarily powerful radiation within the ck Forest.

    Qianye stood up slowly and nced at his surroundings, his True Sight slowly unraveling the secrets of this ce. He eventually saw strands of void origin power seep out, scatter and wereter neutralized¡ªapparently, this was the source of the radiation.

    There were many forms of void origin power. Pure and moderate daybreak or darkness origin power could be utilized, but the void origin power appearing here was fairly close to the middle ground between daybreak and evernight. It was oddly violent and warped, bringing only destruction and little benefit. Those below the champion rank couldn¡¯t stay long under such a degree of radiation. Only dark race members with their power physiques could hope to linger within.

    Qianye took a deep breath. Clearly, this violent void origin power was one of the secrets of the ck Forest.

    It was impossible for this piece ofnd to suddenly appear on Evernight Continent. It was just that no one knew where its original location was. The vast amount of void origin power was proof of its extraordinary qualities¡ªand on Evernight, special ces meant danger.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s sensory faculties had been restored more or less. He sensed the blood energies in his body resisting the radiation but were slowly being consumed in the process. The situation before him was dire, and the surroundings were adverse. He might be drained to death in this peculiar forest if he couldn¡¯t think of something quickly. But there were only eerie trees no matter where he looked; there was simply no end to them.

    Qianye didn¡¯t hesitate for long and simply walked forward without spending any extra effort to distinguish the direction. Since even True Sight couldn¡¯t find the way, it made little difference how he chose the route.

    After walking for an unknown length of time, Qianye sensed something peculiar from a certain tree not so far in the distance. His dark golden blood energy also began swimming quicker.

    At a nce, it was nothing but an ordinary tree in this forest, a ck tree with a warped trunk and sharp branches akin to steel brambles. But there seemed to be something different in the Eyes of Truth.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stop his movements and kept on going toward it. Within this perpetually unchanging forest, every little anomaly might be an opportunity to leave.

    The big tree needed three men to fully wrap their hands around it. It appeared normal from the front, but Qianye was immediately astonished as he walked over to the back.

    There were a dozen or so holes on the tree. Through the transparent membrane seal, one could see that they were half-filled with turbid fluid, and each held a creature inside. These entities were so grotesquely shaped that Qianye simply couldn¡¯t name them¡ªa number of tree holes simply contained wriggling pieces of flesh within.

    This tree looked like the breeding chamber of a mad scientist who had cut off a part from different creatures and stitched them back together randomly.

    Without waiting for Qianye to decide his next course of action, one of the tree holes broke open, and the creature within charged out amidst a burst of murky liquid. It shot up immediately after falling to the floor and charged at Qianye¡¯s face.

    This spider-like creature had a mouth under its abdomen, lined with dense rows of sharp teeth. It was somewhat simr to a type of sandworm.

    Against this pouncing odd creature, Qianye simply drew the Scarlet Edge and ced it before him. This resulted in the assant throwing itself onto the de and being pierced through. Although the creature appeared sinister, its attack power was merely at the level of a rank five beast. An enemy of this level couldn¡¯t hope to do anything against Qianye at all.

    But the surprising thing was that this indescribable creature actually possessed a surprising amount of essence blood for its build. Moreover, it was filled with surging vitality that was richer and more powerful than ordinary beasts.

    The vitality was excessively vigorous to the point where it couldn¡¯t be controlled. The biology Qianye had learned back at Yellow Spring told him that a creature with such vitality would see its tissues grow rapidly and eventually turn into an abnormal ball of flesh before dying on its own.

    Simrly, the essence blood flowing into Qianye¡¯s body through the Scarlet Edge might be extremely toxic to ordinary vampires. They would erupt with vigorous power aftering into contact with the body and blood vessels, inciting the tissues to grow at lightning speed.

    But Qianye had discovered something odd. He immediately circted the Mystery Chapter and gradually formed that great vortex capable of grinding away essence blood. The vortex drew in the abnormally active wisps of essence blood just as it normally would and proceeded to crush them down and convert them to pure darkness origin power.

    With this darkness origin power supply, the previously immobile purple blood energy finally moved a bit. At the same time, Qianye breathed a sigh of relief.

    At this moment, the entities being gestated within the big tree seemed to have sensed something and started bing active. Numerous odd monsters broke out in quick session¡ªeven the abnormal pieces of flesh were wriggling with all their might.

    The creatures didn¡¯t attack Qianye and instead began to fight and devour one another. Their strengths were more or less simr to the one from before. Qianye was startled and proceeded to observe the developments in silence.

    Of the numerous creatures, only one was left in the blink of an eye. Its shape was now somewhat different from when it broke out of the membrane. The creature had expanded to the size of a mountain wolf, but it had three heads and eleven appendages that could be considered legs.

    It let out a menacing growl at Qianye but didn¡¯t attack. On the contrary, it pounced onto the tree and started devouring the creatures still within the tree holes. Soon, it started growing at a visible rate.

    This process gave the spectator an explicable feeling of difort. The odd beast¡¯s body was like a boiling cauldron with unknown organs bulging up here and there. However, its strength didn¡¯t quite increase after this growth and started losing vitality instead.

    At this point, Qianye understood that it didn¡¯t have long to live. He thus took a step forward and, after easily evading the oing attack, pinned the creature to the big tree.

    The beast emitted sharp screeches as it struggled for dear life. But it had no power to speak of apart from the dense vitality and simply couldn¡¯t resist the powerful absorption of the Scarlet Edge. It lost all life in the blink of an eye and stopped moving.

    Qianye cut open its carcass with a wave of his de and found that the insides were inplete disorder. Bone-like objects were growing here and there, the organs had fused together with its flesh, and a number of unknown nds had developed together in one ce.

    This was apletely chaotic life form that simply shouldn¡¯t appear in this world. But it had provided Qianye with more essence blood than a blood knight.

    He was already prepared this time and quite calmly absorbed all of the essence blood. He started cultivating immediately afterward and continued until he hadpleted one full cycle.

    After gaining a supply of darkness origin power, the purple blood energy finally recovered from its stagnation and started swimming around slowly. Although still quite weak, its revival signified that Qianye¡¯s physique had resumed its operation. The recovery might take some time, but at least the immediate peril had passed by.

 Volume 5 - 413: Chaotic Entity (Part 2)

    Chapter 413: Chaotic Entity (Part 2) [V5C120 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye¡¯s recovery was obviously hastened after the purple blood energy¡¯s restoration. He walked over to the big tree after a moment of rest and dug out a cavity with the Scarlet Edge, hoping to see what odditiesy within.

    The trunk wasn¡¯t sturdy at all¡ªits cut-section was moist, and a viscous liquid quickly began to seep out. Qianye reached out to touch it and found that it was the same fluid from within the holes. But the unusual part was that Qianye could sense violent void origin power from within the liquid.

    It would appear that thisrge tree was able to extract void origin power from the earth and supply them to the entities within the tree holes. It was precisely the violent and chaotic nature of the void origin power that had affected the gestated creatures, causing them to transform into such grotesque forms.

    A process that would require a year or even several years toplete outside had been contracted to the extremes here.

    Qianye continued on his way after further examination yielded no new discoveries. This time, he would carve a mark on a tree every ten meters or so to prevent himself from getting lost.

    But Qianye suddenly heard a faint rustling through the air as though something was flying toward him from behind. Every little movement in this quiet forest was magnified¡ªthe sound seemed to be some distance away, but it was fairly hair-raising in this extreme silence.

    Qianye immediately confirmed that the sound was true and not his hallucination. He thus shed behind a big tree and hid himself instantaneously.

    Momentster, a man actually appeared from the direction he hade from. An inexplicable peculiarity came over Qianye at the sight of a normal man appearing in such a crazy ce.

    The person stopped before arge tree and reached out to touch those meaningless lines. Qianye¡¯s heart trembled as he realized this person must¡¯ve followed these symbols.

    His gaze fell upon the man¡¯s clothes and equipment but found no indication of his identity from the outside. However, Qianye noticed the insignia of the Nangong family on an exposed corner of his holster as he began to nce at the surroundings after he had finished inspecting the symbol.

    A Nangong family expert!

    Qianye took the risk to scan the other party and actually found three origin power vortices¡ªhe was a rank-twelve champion. Qianye might not be able to prevail over this opponent even in his peak state, to speak nothing of his current physical condition.

    Qianye immediately retracted his aura and slowly backed away. The senses suffered great interference within this forest, so it wouldn¡¯t be easy to track him down as long as he could keep his distance.

    However, he had just taken two steps back when the Nangong family expert turned toward him and shouted, ¡°Who goes there?! Come out!¡±

    Qianye was shocked, but he immediately noticed that the other party was able to follow him through the ck Forest with great uracy just from the symbols he had left behind. This could no longer be exined as a mere coincidence. Apparently, this fellow had also gained the power of the Iron Curtain.

    Qianye no longer made any attempt to conceal himself and shot up to flee at full speed.

    The man¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw Qianye. ¡°It¡¯s you! Haha, it seemsing in here wasn¡¯t aplete waste of effort! Still trying to run?!¡±

    He started running swiftly like an unbridled wild stallion and slowly began to close the gap. Originally, speed wasn¡¯t his forte, but Qianye was heavily injured at the moment, and his movements were greatly affected.

    ¡°Brat, you can¡¯t escape. I promise to spare your life if you stop now and listen to my instructions! Let¡¯s leave this ursed ce first.¡±

    ¡°Still not stopping? Do you really think this Master Nangong has no way to deal with you?¡±

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯ll die if you waste origin power like that!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart was resolute no matter how the person behind him threatened or tempted him. He maintained the highest speed he could endure and ran frantically all the way. He suddenly thought of another problem during the chase, and that was whether there were predators in this forest.

    Just how terrifying would the adult chaotic entities be if their new-borns were already rank five or six. And sound was the best way to sense prey within this iparably silent forest.

    As he ran, Qianye saw an intense, almost boiling origin power fluctuation in the distance. He immediately shifted his direction and ran toward it. Presently, the distance between Qianye and that Nangong champion had shrunk to an extremely dangerous point¡ªwhatever that thing in the distance was, it would make little differencepared to falling into hands of the Nangong.

    Qianye heard a sudden increase in the running footsteps behind him and leapt forward instinctively without a second thought. A rumble ensued just as expected, followed by an origin bullet whizzing past Qianye. The bulletnded on arge tree and produced a bowl-sized defect with muddy fluids pouring out from within.

    Nangong Jiancheng fired two more shots, but they were duly evaded by Qianye. The man couldn¡¯t help but curse loudly, ¡°To hell with it!¡± Presently, it would seem he had no other way but to chase all the way to the end.

    As he was running, Qianye felt the ground beneath his feet turn soft¡ªhe looked down and found that one of his feet had sunk into the earth. Quite mysteriously, this ordinary-looking soil was actually a mere topyer, and the area below it was actually filled with sludge.

    Qianye heard a plop behind him. Nangong Jiancheng had sunk almost to his knees before he leapt straight up and extricated himself. The man had also encountered a pothole¡ªhis was apparently even deeper, and being much less agilepared to Qianye, he had taken a small loss for no good reason.

    Qianye took advantage of this good opportunity to draw several dozens of meters away.

    At this moment, the forest floor was already full of muddy holes, and ponds of varying sizes started appearing after a couple hundred meters. Qianye ran with greater caution and started leaping between the intersecting tree roots. Nangong Jiancheng also raised his speed after he had grasped they of thend and started closing in on Qianye.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s breathing suddenly becamebored. His chest tightened as he coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood. Its color was exceptionally garish and even dotted with glowing specks of light. He only felt a burst of weakness as his footsteps immediately turned leaden.

    It was when Qianye had worsened his internal injuries that an ordinary blood energy suddenly emerged from his heart. It dispersed on its own and managed to stabilize the injuries, preventing them from worsening.

    Qianye gritted his teeth and charged forth as Nangong Jiancheng¡¯s loudughter approached quickly from behind. He suddenly felt a gust of wind past at this moment and was immediately startled.

    Since entering the forest and up until now, the entire world here appeared to be frozen¡ªeven the air seemed to be stagnant, to speak nothing of a breeze. Wherever the wind was blowing from might be the exit!

    However, Qianye soon sensed more than just the wind here¡ªthe earth itself was trembling, and a shadow was descending upon them from above. A towering giant beast was soon looking down at Qianye and Nangong Jiancheng.

    Its head resembled a crocodile, and its mouth was full of sharp fangs. The body below seemed to be constructed from a pile of meat supported on eight irregrly distributed limbs. The monstrosity appeared to be trembling and seemed as though it would crumble at any moment.

    This massive beast was over ten meters tall when standing. Qianye and Nangong Jiancheng were like two little insects before this enormous entity, likely not even enough for a single mouthful.

    The two halted their steps in the face of this dangerous situation and didn¡¯t dare act rashly. With such a gigantic main body, it would be extremely terrifying even if it didn¡¯t have any odd abilities. The impact of ordinary origin guns would only be enough to make it itch¡ªperhaps only weapons at the level of Blue Firmament and Mountain Splitter would be able to injure it.

    The enormous beast was clearly intrigued by the sudden appearance of the two humans. It lowered its massive head, the dozens of eyes upon it moving about individually as it nced at the two. The monster sniffed a couple of times and afterward decided to abandon Qianye and go for Nangong Jiancheng.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡± Nangong Jiancheng had almost gone mad. Qianye was apparently closer, but the giant beast had decided to ignore him and go for the former instead. Could it be that he was tastier?

    Qianye, on the other hand, had guessed the reason. Nangong Jiancheng was indeed more appealing inparison. He had observed the chaotic entities as they devoured each other and found that the most important criterion was having exuberant vitality.

    Qianye was badly injured and his aura was weak, needing to rely on his remnant blood energy and vampiric constitution just to remain standing. Meanwhile, Nangong Jiancheng was a spirited rank twelve expert with extremely powerful vitality within his body. This, to the chaotic entity, was a peerless delicacy.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let such an opportunity pass by. He immediately turned tail and ran.

    It was just that he hadn¡¯t even taken two steps when the earth trembled once again. Surveying the area, he found several holes appearing on the bumpy, uneven ground, and countless chaotic entities of all shapes and sizes were crawling out of them. The giant beast didn¡¯t want Qianye, but he was still a big feast to these little ones.

    Qianye would soon be surrounded. He moved beside a big tree in a sh and stood with his back against it. This way, he could at least block the attacks from behind. An idea suddenly popped up in Qianye¡¯s head as he tried releasing a wisp of blood energy.

    The foremost chaotic entities paused for a moment. Apparently, these beings made of chaotic void origin power were simrly indisposed in the presence of darkness origin power, but they only paused for a moment before gradually pressing on, urged by their hunting instincts.

    A spider-like entity suddenly shot up and pounced toward Qianye¡¯s face at lightning speed. Qianye was able to easily deal with such random attacks. He simply held the Scarlet Edge before him and allowed the spider to impale itself.

    The Scarlet Edge pierced through the spider in a sh, but Qianye¡¯s arm was shaken and even turned slightly numb. The force behind this charging arachnid chaotic entity was extremely powerful, evenparable to a cannon shell. It would have produced a big hole if it had struck the tree trunk.

    Qianye increased his vignce. He was just about to cast off the chaotic spider from his de when a surge of hot essence blood poured in through his de. Qianye trembled all over as the blood energy in his body bubbled up and almost entered a state of blood boil. Fortunately, he was fully prepared and immediately restrained the feral blood energy.

    This chaotic spider¡¯s essence blood was dense beyond expectations and contained strong vitality. It immediately brought about signs of activation throughout Qianye¡¯s body. He had never expected that a mature chaotic entity¡¯s essence blood would be so strong that even he could hardly withstand it.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even get the chance to circte the Mystery Chapter. As though it had sensed danger, the purple blood energy rushed out of its rune and galloped through his blood vessels, continuously releasing specks of purple light. Wherever these purple specksnded, his physical growth would be stable andpact once more.

    But even the purple blood energy could only dy the activation process¡ªthe terrifyingly active vitality was still finding a way out within Qianye¡¯s body.

    But the time it had bought was enough for Qianye to circte his Mystery Chapter. A giant vortex started revolving slowly like a grinding stone, drawing in and crushing the chaotic spider¡¯s essence blood one by one.

    It was just that the process wasn¡¯t as easy as absorbing the new-born chaotic entity¡¯s essence blood. A strand or two of overly active essence blood would attempt to struggle free from their shackles. Qianye had no choice but to split his attention and suppress them when needed.

    He still had to pay attention to his internal battle while fighting outside. This made dealing with the chaotic entities quite a strenuous effort. After evading several attacks in session, Qianye was finally struck by a calf-sized beast. He was sent flying for tens of meters, demolishing severalrge trees along the way before finally falling down.

    This crash wasn¡¯t light. The blood energy in Qianye¡¯s chest rolled and crashed, almost causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. It was at this time that arge tree trunk fell from the sky andnded right in front of him, smashing an odd beast that was chasing after him into the ground.

 Volume 5 - 414: The Shot of Inception

    The odd beast pushed the tree trunk away with its head and immediately leapt back up, but it could no longer stand firm. Qianye grasped this opportunity to charge forth and deliver a fierce stab to the beast¡¯s vitals in the neck.

    These chaotic entities looked like known animals on the surface, but they had been warped and transformed in many areas. It was difficult to say which part was vital, but it made no difference before the vampiric de since it could drain the creature of its essence blood no matter where it entered from. It happened to be their nemesis.

    Scalding vitality once again poured in through the Scarlet Edge and almost half-filled Qianye¡¯s body before it was refined within the Mystery chapter vortex into darkness origin power.

    This calf-sized odd beast possessed as much blood as a dark baron. Thefortable warmth flowed upward from Qianye¡¯s palm and swiftly coursed through his veins. In the blink of an eye, he had absorbed over half of the beast¡¯s essence blood.

    At this point, Qianye nced up at the sky from whence came the flying tree trunk and saw the Nangong champion fighting an intense battle with the giant beast. Trees were being broken and toppled one after another amidst shocking explosions¡ªcountless branches were shooting out like arrows in every direction.

    If not for the battle therein shedding light on the giant beast¡¯s power, Qianye would have submitted to his urge to clean up all the mature chaotic beasts here before leaving. Their blood might be highly toxic to other people, but they were like walking storehouses of energy to Qianye who cultivated the Mystery chapter.

    It was at this time that an odd beast whizzed over. Qianye reacted by lowering his body, allowing it to shoot overhead¡ªthe beast couldn¡¯t control its momentum and crashed into a big tree. With a loud boom, that tree trunk, as thick as a mammoth¡¯s leg, was broken through the middle and gradually fell down.

    After evading a series of pounces, Qianye chose a weaker beast and pierced through it at lightning speed. In this manner, Qianye continued his fierce battle with odd beasts of various shapes and sizes, all the while paying attention to the situation on Nangong Jiancheng¡¯s side.

    In contrast to Qianye¡¯s one-sided ughter, Nangong Jiancheng was fighting a world-shaking battle. His aura actually rose little by little until it had broken through to the thirteenth rank¡ªapparently, he had paid a steep price to activate a secret art at the juncture of life and death.

    Rank thirteen was the widely-epted watershed known to attract the attention of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar, but there seemed to be no abnormal developments even after such a long battle. This forest was indeed odd.

    Nangong Jiancheng¡¯s movements were lightning fast. His figure had almost turned into a blur as he roamed continuously around the giant beast, leaving only beams of circr radiance. While dodging the beast, he rained down a frantic torrent of attacks upon its massive body.

    The colossal beast had produced several tentacles from its body, each dozens of meters long and as thick as a bucket. These fleshy tentacles possessed inexhaustible power as they chased after Nangong Jiancheng and would leave a giant hole on the ground every time they smashed down. It would asionally uproot trees and use them as weapons to swat at the champion.

    Nangong Jiancheng suddenly stood still in the air and, retrieving the rifle from his back, fired off three continuous shots. The bulletsnded on the giant beast¡¯s neck and opened up a big hole therein. Immediately afterward, he produced two origin grenades and hurled them into the defect with iparable uracy, causing half of the colossal beast¡¯s brain to vanish with an earth-shattering explosion.

    Nangong Jiancheng had just breathed a sigh of relief when a meat tentacle whipped him several dozen meters away. There, he fell staggering to the ground and immediately spurted out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    A frightening scene ensued. The flesh around the giant beast¡¯s wounds started wriggling and growing back. A dense patch of countless tiny tentacles squirmed about as a new head grew out at a visible rate. It was just that the newly grown part waspletely different from before. The giant beast had regeneratedpletely in the blink of an eye and proceeded to pounce toward Nangong Jiancheng.

    Nangong Jiancheng was overwhelmed. He quickly switched to his sword and shot out several meters of sword radiance. At this point, he could no longer care about Sky Demon¡¯s threat and was going all out. Every sword strike would leaverge wounds on the beast¡¯s massive body that were several meters long and almost one meter deep. But the beast also boasted extremely terrifying regenerative abilities; these injuries would heal and disappear in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye drew in a breath of cold air as his heart was ovee with the urge to flee. Soon, another doubt surfaced in his mind. Nangong Jiancheng was clearly not the giant beast¡¯s match. Why hadn¡¯t he escaped? The man hadmunicated with the will of the Iron Curtain, and the ck Forest¡¯s interference on his senses was fairly weak. Meanwhile, the lumbering beast was quite slow; it wasn¡¯t impossible to escape.

    Qianye was only bothering to deal with these little beasts in order to absorb essence blood and recover. He also felt that the giant beast wasn¡¯t very fast and that he could flee quite easily if things had gone south.

    However, Nangong Jiancheng was frantically attacking the giant beast like a fool and seemed to have no intention of running away.

    Qianye felt something wasn¡¯t quite right because, judging from how Nangong Jiancheng was going all out, it was only a matter of time before he fell in battle. He finally decided to listen to his own intuition and turned to run without trying to kill more beasts.

    Those beasts could do nothing to stop Qianye since he was determined to run away. Presently, his body was full of rolling blood energy after having entered a state of blood boil. For a short period, his strength had even surpassed his peak state.

    Qianye chose a direction opposite from the gigantic beast and began breaking through the encirclement. He evaded the chaotic entities as much as he could but simply crashed through the others with his body and sent them flying.

    Qianye was by no means inferior to these odd beasts in terms of strength.

    Qianye ran over a thousand meters in one sprint before slowing down his pace. He was just nning to nce back at the battle situation in the distance when the environs suddenly turned dark. It was unknown when his body had been engulfed by surging ck mist, but it felt like a mountain peak was pressing down on him from above¡ªhe immediately found it difficult to advance and even walking had be tedious, to speak nothing of running.

    A screen of light had arisen not too far in front of him and separated the world into two¡ªoutside was the ck Forest, and inside was another realm. Qianye felt the pressure increase as he approached the screen.

    ¡°A domain!¡± Qianye was stunned. He had never expected the giant beast to actually have a domain and such a big one at that!

    The domain¡¯s function was fairly specific¡ªthat was to add weight and block passage by means of the light screen. It was precisely because it only had a single function that the domain was all the more powerful. Qianye felt as though he had fallen into a swamp, and every step took twice the effortpared to thest. It would be quite difficult to even reach the light screen, let alone break it and escape.

    He now understood why Nangong Jiancheng didn¡¯t run away. Apparently, he had already tried but had failed to escape the giant beast¡¯s hunting domain. He could only remain and go all out.

    A miserable, drawn-out cry was heard from afar; it was Nangong Jiancheng¡¯s voice. This Nangong family expert was finally no match for the enemy and had met his end in the colossal beast¡¯s mouth.

    Soon afterward, the earth shook as the giant beast moved its enormous body with great effort and lumbered toward Qianye. However, the light screen in front waspletely still¡ªthis meant that the hunting domain didn¡¯t move along with it. Qianye took a couple of steps back and felt the pressure lessen significantly. It was already negligible by the time he was over a hundred meters from the light screen.

    Qianye silently grasped the Scarlet Edge in hand and waited in ce for the giant beast to arrive. At the same time, he was analyzing its weak points.

    He could contend with the beast at the center of the domain since Qianye had the speed advantage. However, the beast possessed a massive build and every step would take it over ten meters in distance. Add to that the ten-meter long tentacles, its zone of control was fairly wide. Moreover, the damage he could produce from a distance while roaming would be limited. Meanwhile, the beast boasted extremely terrifying regenerative capabilities and was almost impossible to kill since it could restore itself in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye, at this moment, was only three parts recovered from his injuries. He was only able to exert near-normal strength because of the blood boil following his absorption ofrge amounts of essence blood.

    At this moment, the giant beast that had appeared before Qianye was already different from when it first appeared. It was like a mountain of flesh covered in meaty tentacles and eyes of various sizes growing on his limbs. Nangong Jiancheng had left countless wounds on the monster who had then regenerated rapidly and without order, eventually resulting in the form in front of Qianye.

    This was the most headache-inducing thing about a chaotic entity. There was simply no telling where its vitals were. This made dealing with massive bodies prohibitively more difficult.

    The giant beast¡¯s movements were indeed sluggish, and it took several minutes before it managed to heave itself over to Qianye. It then lowered its body and extended a number of bucket-sized tentacles with several eyes and nostrils on them. It observed Qianye before sniffing him hard as though checking if this food would be tasty.

    An idea emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind. He retracted his aura with his Bloodline Concealment ability and stood perfectly still. The chaotic entity¡¯s standard of measurement was the exuberance of one¡¯s vitality and the intensity of his origin power. At this moment, Qianye had pulled back his aura and appeared to be a piece of dead meat in the monster¡¯s eyes, not much stronger than a rock.

    However, the monster still opened its mouth after a moment of hesitation. It stretched out a tongue that was tens of meters long and lined with sharp teeth in order to sweep Qianye in. It would seem that the beast was determined to add a dish to its table no matter how tasteless it was.

    Qianye let out a sigh as he realized he could no longer get past by a fluke. Out of ammunition and food, the only card he had left to y was¡ªthe Wings of Inception!

    The moment this notion emerged in Qianye¡¯s heart, the pair of tiny wings unfurled, and that mature golden feather erupted with brilliant light.

    Qianye had no idea how to activate the Wings of Inception, but the golden radiance slowly crept into his surging vessels and shrouded his internal world with its characteristic hue. He seemed to have reached an instinctive enlightenment as he closed his hands together with the index and middle fingers extended toward the giant beast like a gun.

    The colossal beast¡¯s numerous mouths let loose a thunderous roar as though they had sensed danger. All its fleshy tentacles sprung to life and smashed down upon Qianye. At the same time, several openings of various shapes and sizes opened up on its body, from which torrents of iparably odorous fluids rained down upon Qianye. Unexpectedly, the giant beast was going all out.

    However, a pair of radiant wings unfurled behind Qianye whose body was now overflowing with golden brilliance. A thin beam of light shot out from his fingertips and pierced through the chaotic giant colossus in the blink of an eye. It continued shooting toward the distant firmament and finally disappeared to god knows where.

    The heaven and earth suddenly turned still.

    This shot, fired at this very moment with Qianye¡¯s own body as the gun, was, in fact, the first true shot from the Wings of Inception!

    The radiant wings started to disperse after the shot was fired and left Qianye¡¯s entire being on the verge of copse. He had no strength left to stand, and his weak knees could no longer keep him from falling to the ground.

    Qianye felt dizzy and only wished he could fall asleep. However, he forced himself to raise his head and stared fixedly at the giant beast. His heart couldn¡¯t help but sink as he observed the small, fist-sized hole with his swaying vision. With the monster¡¯s regenerative capabilities, that small hole would very soon be restored to its former smoothness despite piercing all the way through.

    The beast stood frozen as though nothing had happened, and even its raised tentacles remained petrified in the air¡ªit was as though time had stagnated therein. Only the many eyes on its body were turning about continuously, revealing extremely terrifying gazes.

    The little hole on its body didn¡¯t recover. Instead, the wound edges became as smooth as a mirror as it transformed into a substance akin to colored ss crystals. It then cracked and shattered into countless pieces which fluttered about in the air before vanishing into nothingness.

    Soon afterward, the beast¡¯s flesh and blood started turning to ash. The wound on its body was expanding rapidly, growing from the size of a fist to that of a bucket, then into arge hole several meters in radius. Moreover, its destroyed flesh failed to grow back out¡ªit would seem the giant beast¡¯s terrifying regenerative abilities had been rendered ineffective.

    This was the true might of the Wings of Inception.

 Volume 5 - 415: Activation

    Chapter 415: Activation [V5C122 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye soon discovered that not all the flesh in the hole had been sted into oblivion¡ªa ratherrge piece of scarlet meat was still half-floating therein. It would appear that this irregrly pulsing man-sized organ was the giant beast¡¯s core, an existence akin to the human heart.

    The giant beast¡¯s core was actually able to block an attack from the Wings of Inception? While Qianye was still in astonishment, the giant beast¡¯s lifeless body suddenly began to copse and fell roaring onto the ground.

    Although the center of this giant beast¡¯s body had been hollowed out, the remainder of its body was colossal. The impact wasn¡¯t at all inferior to a copsing building or a crumbling mountain and quickly drowned Qianye within.

    Qianye forced himself to leap toward the side, but something struck him hard from behind. He could only feel his surroundings turn dark as he sunk down. By a curious stroke of coincidence, it was actually the giant beast core that had smashed into him. It was unexpectedly heavy, solid, and easily weighed tens of thousands of kilograms¡ªthe force instantly smashed Qianye into the earth.

    Even Qianye¡¯s vampiric constitution couldn¡¯t take this blow, and a dozen or so bones were quickly fractured throughout his body amidst cracking sounds. Fortunately, his golden blood energy was iparably alert. It swam frantically around his chest during this organ-discing quake and sprayed out specks of golden light which repaired the cracked bones and prevented them from shattering.

    The giant chaotic beast was eliminated by a single attack from the Wings of Inception. This proved that the strength of its body was just so-so, yet the sturdiness of its core was on apletely different level.

    However, the dazzled Qianye couldn¡¯t think that much, and neither did he realize that cracks were starting to form on the giant beast core pressing down upon him and were spreading out continuously. The numerous cracks shattered at the same time, pouring out countless wisps of essence blood which drowned Qianye from head to toe.

    The blood was pure, limpid, and bright red, a stark contrast from the bodily fluids ejected by the giant beast. There wasn¡¯t any unpleasant odor at all, and on the contrary, there was even a type of fragrance to it. The most terrifying part was the amount of vitality contained within.

    The essence blood seemed to be sentient¡ªit crawled unceasingly over Qianye¡¯s body and entered his body through his mouth and nose. The giant beast¡¯s vitality was hundreds of times more powerful than the ordinary ones and would crazily activate everything it passed by.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body was currently soaked in this blood. Fleshy bulges and grantions were appearing all over his body, and even his bones were producing spikes which extended in every direction. Before long, Qianye would lose his own consciousness and turn into a second chaotic beast.

    Qianye was faced with this peril as soon as he woke up from his daze.

    Only a single color remained amidst the exuberant vitality¡ªa flourishing scarlet. Even the several ordinary blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body could no longer control themselves. They devoured the giant beast¡¯s essence blood unrestrainedly and began to expand rapidly.

    The purple blood energy was also in imminent danger as the density of the giant beast¡¯s essence blood reached a point where it could induce activation merely from external contact. The purple blood energy thus fled back into its ability rune, still swelling up and shrinking periodically on the verge of activation.

    Only the dark golden blood energy remained unaffected as it swam around the heart and kept guard on this most important territory. Perhaps in order to prevent its domain from being tainted, the dark golden blood energy became extremely tyrannical. It flushed all of the ordinary blood energy out of the heart and even kicked out the purple blood energy along with its ability rune, not allowing any of them to remain within.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts were iparably clear at the most dangerous juncture and weren¡¯t flustered in the least. He knew that the only path to survival was to whittle away this essence blood. The unwavering will and determination he had cultivated over the years of hardship granted him the power to remain steadfast and not give up easily. He stopped paying attention to the changes to his external body and focused on guarding hisst strand of rity as he slowly circted the Mystery Chapter.

    The vortex born of the Mystery Chapter emerged with great difficulty in this world of abnormally dense vitality. It started with an insignificant ck dot and began to expand at an extremely slow pace¡ªboth its range and speed were less than half the norm. It had also been squeezed into the heart and found it difficult to expand outward.

    However, the vortex wasn¡¯t devoured by the giant beast blood which filled every corner of his being. On the contrary, wisp after wisp of vital blood was drawn in and crushed by the rotating vortex. The impurities were cast out while the remaining essence was drawn into the deep darkness at its center. In the end, wisps of pure darkness origin power would seep out from that sable mass.

    During the usual refinement process, the origin vortex would treat eight out of ten parts of the essence blood as impurities to crush and discard. The higher the quality of the essence blood, the fewer the impurities contained within. However, impurities made up less than half of the giant beast¡¯s core blood. This was astonishing because such quality wasparable to a vampire duke.

    This made the process of refinement abnormally slow.

    Only at this point did Qianye manage to free up his perception to check the changes in the other parts of his body. He quickly discovered that the activation of his body could no longer be avoided. After a moment of hesitation, he hardened his heart and abandoned all control over his body, choosing instead to focus his attention on actuating the Mystery Chapter.

    Qianye¡¯s vision turned dark in the blink of an eye as he lost all senses. His head was beginning to activate and grow.

    At this moment, Qianye could no longer be seen within that pool of fresh blood under the giant beast corpse¡ªthere was only a madly growing mass of irregr flesh. This piece of flesh was disying a terrifying devouring ability. Even the hard substances surrounding the giant beast¡¯s core had been torn out to be a part of it.

    After the core hadpletely disappeared, that mass of flesh started devouring the giant beast¡¯s remaining flesh and blood. Moreover, it started to spread out in every direction like a flowing river and started swallowing everything in its wake. Even the soil wasn¡¯t spared, and a hundred meter pit gradually formed in the area as its countless strands stretched out in a radiating pattern.

    The forest was no longer deathly still as countless beasts of all shapes and sizes scuttled out from unknown ces. Theirirs were extremely strange; some were underground, some were in trees, and some were even nested within other odd beasts. These creatures could only tremble as they gazed at the crawling streams of fleshing toward them. They didn¡¯t dare run away at all and were quickly devoured and incorporated.

    In the ck Forest,rge trees fell one after another and vanished.

    At the core of the mad pile of flesh, there was a pristine independent space surrounded by the giant beast¡¯s heart blood.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was hovering within it. The dark golden blood energy was revolving around it and asionally spilling out specks of golden light to stabilize this space. The vortex of the Mystery Chapter was rotating continuously above his heart, dragging in strands of blood energy and releasing misty wisps of darkness origin power for the dark golden blood energy to absorb.

    Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s consciousness had entered a wondrous state. It had broken away from his body entirely and was observing the operation of this small space in silence. He could no longer feel his own body but was still able to circte the Mystery Chapter.

    At this moment, Qianye had no idea what situation he was in. However, what he could do at this moment was limited¡ªthe only thing he was capable of aside from observation was to wait.

    An unknown length of time passed by in this manner. Qianye, in his infinite boredom, suddenly recalled a serious issue. The world in front of him was formed of blood energy and darkness origin power. Then where were his daybreak origin power and nodes?

    Themonest sign of a human who had fallen to Evernight was a suppression of daybreak origin power by darkness. The change would continue to modify and transform the body until the human became aplete dark entity.

    At the thought of this, Qianye¡¯s heart suddenly sank. He might¡¯ve been drenched in cold sweat if he were still capable of feeling his physical body. Even at the juncture of life and death, he had never considered the option of transforming into a dark entity in order to extend his life.

    As though in response, Qinaye¡¯s consciousness shook violently, and the pristine independent space suddenly transformed. Transparent ripples swept through the nothingness and dragged out a rune of unknown significance.

    And the scene gradually being revealed behind this rune was actually¡­ a realm?!

    Qianye¡¯s vision zoomed in as he exerted effort to see more clearly. What he saw through a transparent screen was a faint scarlet mist with nine specks of light shining brilliantly within. Seven of them formed the shape of an uprightdle with its head raised, while the other two were somewhat darker and located below the handle.

    Why was this image so familiar? A beam of light shed through Qianye¡¯s consciousness while he was puzzling over this matter. Those were his nine origin nodes!

    It turned out that the omnipresent scarlet behind the screen wasn¡¯t static and was gushing about constantly. Judging from its rhythm and pattern, those were the tides of the Combatant Form.

    The transparent runic wave shooting through this space eventually vanished into the distance where Qianye¡¯s consciousness could no longer track. Qianye felt an ineffable sense of relief although he couldn¡¯t fullyprehend what he had just seen and soon brought his attention back to the present space.

    Song Zining was sitting in his study thousands of kilometers away, and for some reason, he was feeling restless at the moment. He decided to put down the documents and proceeded to prepare paper and ink with which to draw.

    People believed he was cing too much emphasis on misceneous arts, but no one knew that the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was reliant on breaking the mysteries of the mortal world. The three thousand daos were all interconnected¡ªthat which he had chosen involved seeking the dao via painting and polishing his heart in order to forge ahead.

    Song Zining paid rapt attention as his pen moved as though it were flying. In the blink of an eye, a rain-drenched mountain range began to take form. Such artistry satisfied even Song Zining himself, but it was at this moment that his hand trembled for no reason. A big drop of ink fell from the brush and quickly tainted the formingndscape.

    A dark glimmer arose from the fine paper. The glow formed half the veins on a bodhi leaf but failed to produce aplete image. Thework of veins copsed one by one and eventually disappeared.

    The uneasiness in Song Zining¡¯s heart intensified. He slowly put down his brush as he pulled over and rang a bronze bell.

    Momentster, a thin but spirited old man slowly entered and greeted politely, ¡°What instructions does the Seventh Young Master have for me?¡±

    ¡°Teacher, have the caravans left?¡±

    The old man said, ¡°All of them have set out on time. Two of them have already exchanged their goods in secret. The other three will exchange their load at a midway stop after two or three days and hurry over to the designated rendezvous location.¡±

    Song Zining paced a couple of times within the room and said decisively, ¡°A change of ns. Tell the remaining three caravans that they don¡¯t need to exchange goods anymore and to head straight to the designated location.¡±

    The old man was somewhat startled. ¡°Seventh Young Master, those three caravans contain fewer goods, but they still make up four parts in total. Without an exchange, the total value of the goods will exceed half. This¡­ won¡¯t the losses be too great?¡±

    Some hesitation appeared on Song Zining¡¯s countenance, but he still said resolutely after some thought, ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving soon and might take a while this time. There can be no mishaps regarding that n, so let the losses be! Just consider it a repayment to the n for nurturing me.¡±

 Volume 5 - 416: Viscount

    Chapter 416: Viscount [V5C123 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The old man sighed indignantly. ¡°Seventh Young Master has shown such obvious hints, yet those old fogeys from the n are ying deaf and mute. Song Zhongcheng that bastard is still going on about how the Song n¡¯s prestige is important. Humph! The way I see it, he¡¯s just causing trouble for you. He¡¯s afraid that you¡¯ll cast off your shackles and connect yourself to an influential n, thereby gaining a powerful ally. This building is already about to copse, what¡¯s the use of gaining face? Foolish, truly foolish!¡±

    Song Zining said with a soft sigh, ¡°The heavens have never killed people. It¡¯s always people who seek death on their own.¡±

    At this moment, a strong gust of wind blew open the windows and filled the room with extreme coldness. The gale picked up the papers and threw them about, but Song Zining didn¡¯t move in the slightest¡ªhis heart, for a moment, was filled with bleakness.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was still carrying out his long wait. The giant beast¡¯s heart blood seemed boundless, and the converted darkness origin power flowed on without end.

    The purple blood energy was immobile and curled up in one corner of the space. It hadn¡¯t the smallest share in the vast amount of darkness origin power produced by the Mystery Chapter¡ªall of it was being absorbed by the dark golden blood energy. For some reason, thetter was being extremely despotic. The purple blood energy wanted to partake in some of the darkness origin power as usual but was banished by the dark golden one.

    The two blood energies engaged in a fierce battle, but the purple lost miserably and was nearly torn and devoured by the golden blood energy. It was badly injured and no longer dared to fight for food. It could only cower into a corner, wait for its rival to have its fill, and then see if there were any leftovers.

    Meanwhile, both the Book of Darkness and Wings of Inception were oddly silent this time. They made no move to fight the golden blood energy who thus proceeded to absorb all of the darkness origin power.

    After an unknown length of time had passed by, the golden blood energy finally reached a critical point. It began to release streams of blood which attached themselves to Qianye¡¯s heart and formed a dark golden blood cocoon¡ªthe advancement had begun.

    Qianye did some calctions and was immediately astonished. The darkness origin power absorbed by the dark golden blood energy was equal to a count¡¯s entire store of essence blood.

    It turned out that an entire vampire count was only enough for the dark golden blood energy to evolve once. If Qianye still had his body, he would surely have felt his brows twitching. In the past, he had only felt that the Wings of Inception and the Book of Darkness had an astonishing rate of consumption, but now, he had just realized that the true major glutton was the dark golden blood energy.

    The dark golden blood energy didn¡¯t stop absorbing darkness origin power even after forming a cocoon. On the contrary, its absorption rate even increased. Momentster, a wisp of dark golden blood energy stretched out from the cocoon and probed into Qianye¡¯s heart¡ªa whileter, another strand grew out and entered his heart.

    This was yet another long process. A sudden enlightenment entered Qianye¡¯s consciousness as the unceasing stream of darkness origin power from the Mystery Chapter entered the blood cocoon. The dark golden origin power would form a blood core after this stage!

    This signified Qianye¡¯s advancement on the Evernight side as he became a formal third-rank viscount¡ªthe corresponding imperial rank was a rank-ten champion.

    It was just that Qianye could onlyugh wryly after seeing the dark golden blood energy¡¯s consumption rate. It had absorbed yet another count¡¯s worth of darkness origin power after forming the cocoon. Adding everything together, it had taken the darkness origin power equivalent of two and a half counts to feed this dark golden blood energy¡ªonly then did this forming blood coree into being. With such standards, the next advancement would surely be an unfathomable mission.

    However, there existed a theoremmon to both the Evernight and Daybreak Factions¡ªunder the condition of fixed innate talents, the benefits were directly proportional to the investment. The more terrifying one¡¯s talents were, the more difficult it was to achieve a perfect advancement. However, the sturdier one¡¯s foundations, the more extensive one¡¯s future prospects would be.

    Qianye still felt rather apprehensive despite knowing this logic, the only reason being the unreasonable consumption levels involved for advancement. Such a drain might be just right for people like Zhao Yuying or Zhao Jundu, but even they shouldn¡¯t encounter such a rate of depletion under normal circumstances.

    The countless dark read threads pierced into his heart and weaved tightly together. The blood energy within the sanguineous cocoon was also in the process of continuous evolution. Qianye¡¯s heart was slowly transforming and being strengthened. During this process, he used up yet another two count¡¯s worth of essence blood.

    This continued until the dark golden blood energy finallypleted its metamorphosis and broke through the cocoon!

    At this moment, Qianye could no longer be considered excited because the equivalent of at least five counts in essence blood had been consumed during this entire process. In other words, a total of five Stukas was required for Qianye to condense a blood core and advance to a third-rank viscount.

    The giant beast¡¯s heart blood in the small space had almost been exhausted, and only a thinyer of it remained. Qianye could only sigh emotionally at how exuberant the vitality in the chaotic beast¡¯s essence blood was¡ªit was several times superior to ordinary creatures.

    At this very moment, the blood core had already formed under the right conditions. The countless strands of blood piercing into Qianye¡¯s heart didn¡¯t disengage after the dark golden blood energy broke out of its cocoon. Instead, it started drawing out fresh blood from within, causing the heart to condense into a small mass of blood.

    Qianye finally felt relieved after seeing this mass of blood. He had originally thought that the golden blood energy would assimte itpletely into the blood core, which was the case for all vampires.

    That would¡¯ve dragged the greater half of Qianye¡¯s body toward the Evernight faction. Additionally, many humanbat arts past the champion rank required the activation of the heart¡¯s origin power source. The heart was also an absolute necessity if one wished to be a divine champion in the future.

    That was why Qianye had been repeatedlymanding the dark golden blood energy to condense a new, separate blood core. It was just that he had no idea whether the blood energy would listen to his order. After all, Qianye never had any real control over it.

    Fortunately, the golden blood energy was exceptionally obedient. It actuallyplied with Qianye¡¯s demands and formed a new blood core.

    The sanguineous mass wiggled continuously and continued to absorb darkness origin power. Only when the giant beast¡¯s remaining heart blood was reduced to a trickle did a new blood core appear beside his heart.

    It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be baffled after seeing this new blood core. Is this really my blood core?

    He had killed no small number of viscounts and seen his fair share of blood cores. He had even seen a marquis¡¯ back at the Red Scorpion array chamber.

    At this moment, the newly formed blood core beside his heart was the size of a fist. It was far bigger than that of an ordinary viscount and closer to a first-rank viscount¡¯s in terms of size. This was still understandable since, after all, it had absorbed so much essence blood during the advancement; being somewhat stronger than an ordinary viscount was only natural. However, Qianye¡¯s blood core wasn¡¯t made up of purer flesh and blood¡ªthere were many dark golden crystalline granules embedded within it.

    Legends described how a vampire¡¯s blood core would undergo a transformation once he had progressed past the level of a duke and stepped toward that of a grand prince. The blood core would bepletely crystallized and turn into what was known as blood amber. This process, however, could only be found in written records since most people would never have the chance to see a grand prince¡¯s blood core in a lifetime.

    Vampire grand princes were iparably powerful. They were only one rank below great monarchs and possessed virtually unlimited lifespans. It wasn¡¯t strange at all for them to live thousands of years. Most of those famous vampire grand princes were even older than the empire¡¯s history. Who could kill such characters and bring out their blood core for a look?

    Then how was one able to categorize Qianye¡¯s current blood core? Half-crystallized?

    Feeling greatly distressed, Qianye decided he might as well push these problems to the side for now. He had sessfully condensed a blood core at the moment, and the most direct benefit it afforded him was the ability to reform his body. Vampires possessed an extremely tenacious vitality and could be reborn as long as their blood core remained¡ªall that was required was to ce it within the n¡¯s blood pool with some investment in time and resources. That was the reason why one had to destroy the blood core when killing high-ranking vampires.

    The blood core, after its condensation, started to beat rhythmically like a heart. The dark golden blood energy appeared tired. It dived straight into the blood core and refused to budge. Only at this point did the cowering purple blood energy started to show signs of movement. It swam around the blood core for some time but didn¡¯t dare enter. It could only return to the heart with its ability rune in tow and proceed to hibernate therein.

    When the blood core was first activated, Qianye¡¯s consciousness felt as though it hadnded on solid ground. It had fallen into the blood core from nothingness. Then, with a single thought from Qianye, the blood core immediately shot out thousands of sanguineous threads which tore through the surrounding space and pierced into the giant beast¡¯s remaining flesh and blood. He then began the simultaneous process of absorption and reconstruction.

    Qianye calmed down and devoted himself to the reconstruction of his body.

    In the ck Forest, the invasive flesh that was extending in every direction and devouring everything in its wake suddenly halted its advance and became strangely stationary. It started to contract momentster, leaving behind only the corroded, scorched earth.

    But the soil that had been shaved off by the passing flesh actually started moving as though it were alive¡ªthe earth swelled gradually, and the trenches therein soon filled up on their own.

    After some time, green shoots began to sprout on the ground and started to grow at a visible rate. A grove of tall trees several meters in height had appeared within the short span of a single day. They stopped growing at this point. The withered yellow leaves fell like rain while the branches and trunks gradually turned dark and twisted, slowly transforming into that eerie forestndscape.

    The flesh and blood that had already covered thousands of meters in diameter were contracting at this moment. Moreover, it was drying up progressively as though its essence was being drained without a pause. In the end, it started to wither from the periphery; the fleshpletely shriveled up and eventually transformed into dark grey rocks.

    After an unknown length of time, Qianye tore open the blood membrane surrounding his body and stood up. The first thing he did after rising was to touch his chest. There, he found more than just a beating heart¡ªsomething that wasn¡¯t there before¡ªa blood core.

    Qianye then observed his hands. His limbs had grown more slender, and, much like a work of art, there wasn¡¯t a single blemish to be found. If one must point out a defect, it was that his skin was pale¡ªso pale that there was a certain morbidness to its beauty.

    However, these seemingly delicate hands held a disproportionate amount of terrifying power. Qianye nced at his surroundings and found a broken sword nearby. The de was brought into his hand with a single summoning gesture.

    This sword was Nangong Jiancheng¡¯s weapon. The giant chaotic beast had swallowed the man whole after his death, and even his weapon was corroded with only half the de remaining.

    Qianye nced briefly at the broken sword before wringing it quite casually¡ªthe sharp de was actually crushed like twisted dough. This kind of strength had far surpassed vampires of the same level and was quite sufficient to tear fine steel apart.

    Qianye flung what remained of the de to the ground and then nced at his own hands. Only afterward did he turn his attention to the surroundings. He was standing at the center of apletely empty space thousands of meters in diameter. There was virtually nothing here apart from a thickyer of odd rocks and the ne by his feet. It was precisely Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    As expected of a core treasure left behind by the ck-Winged Monarch, the ne waspletely unharmed. Qianye picked it up and wore it on his neck once more.

    At this moment, a flickering light nearby caught his attention. He walked over to take a look and found that it was an odd diamond-shaped crystal the size of his palm.

 Volume 5 - 417: Conflict

    Chapter 417: Conflict [V5C124 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The odd thing about this crystal was that it was actually generating void origin power continuously from within. Qianye picked it up and observed it again and again in his hand¡ªits crystalline body appearedpletely natural and showed no signs of having been carved. However, there was a defect on it.

    Seeing the shape of this defect, Qianye suddenly recalled the odd piece of crystal he had picked up from Viscount Porter¡¯s treasury. He immediately retrieved it from his spatial ne and found that its size and shape were a perfect fit for the gap in this rhombus-shaped crystal.

    As expected, the small crystal fastened itself perfectly upon insertion, and the entire diamond-shaped crystal erupted with intense radiance. Additionally, a formless wave spread out far into the distance and had soon vanished to god knew where.

    The crystal turned dark and lightless after that initial surge of brilliance. However, under the Eye of Truth, the crystal had grown even more cryptic and profound¡ªperhaps this was its original form. Qianye was unable to figure out anything after studying the crystal for the greater half of the day. As such, he put it back into the spatial ne so that he could have it appraised by a masterter on.

    Qianye searched through the surroundings once more and finally found the Twin Flowers, but there was no sign of his Scarlet Edge. Apparently, it had been corroded by the giant beast¡¯s bodily fluids. One had to know that the dagger was a grade-five vampiric de and was far above the Twin Flowers in terms of material quality. However, the two revolvers were indeed extraordinary after being modified by the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s remnant will¡ªthey were actually unharmed.

    After such a long time together, Qianye had formed some attachment to the pair of handguns. He couldn¡¯t help but be immediately delighted. It was just that their holsters had vanished entirely, so Qianye could only put the weapons into his ne. He then produced and changed into a set of clothes.

    After making proper arrangements, Qianye began to nce at his surroundings once more in hopes of finding an exit from this odd forest. He suddenly felt that something was off after a moment of observation.

    Qianye smashed the earth with his fist. Apanied by a cloud of dust, the rumbling smash immediately produced a deep pit in the ground which he peered into with the Eye of Truth. However, there was no longer any void origin power seeping out.

    Only at this point did Qianye realize that the forest no longer felt the same¡ªthe dense, eerie vitality permeating the woods had disappeared. The entire forest seemed to have lost its life and turned into a dead zone. There were no more transformations whatsoever.

    A rueful smile appeared on Qianye¡¯s countenance as he recalled how he had entered the ck Forest by ident. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m already a vampire viscount!¡±

    At this moment, his emotions were indeed difficult to describe.

    The various bizarre phenomena brought about by the ck Forest naturally dispersed after its death, and the area was no longer a one waynd of death. Qianye checked his position and advanced toward a random direction. The current ck Forest was no longer able to interfere with his perception, so he would surely arrive at its border as long as he kept walking.

    As for why the ck Forest had suddenly perished, Qianye could only venture some guesses. Perhaps it had something to do with the giant beast¡¯s demise or, perhaps, it was another reason altogether. There was no shortage of legends regarding the ck Forest remnants, but never any stories of its secrets being discovered.

    Qianye saw many more peculiarities along the way. There were humans wrapped up in giant cocoons, and others half swallowed by the trees with the remaining half of their bodies struggling painfully outside. Death came to them in many different forms.

    There was a giant tree with human faces embedded within it, each of them frozen with painful expressions. They were actually crying, but the tears had crystallized and would forever remain on their faces.

    It was just that the ck Forest had already died, and these trees had also lost their vitality. Those who had been devoured would remain eternally locked in this moment of painful struggle. All these people who had entered the ck Forest, mistake or otherwise, became nourishment in the end. Even someone as strong as Nangong Jiancheng was no exception.

    Qianye would asionally find some items under the trees which he checked one by one¡ªthere were Nangong family tokens among the many others which belonged to the aristocratic families. There were even some fairly aged tokens covered in rust and well-weathered parchments. These centuries-old objects proved that the ck Forest had existed for at least three hundred years.

    At this point, Qianye deduced that yet another Nangong family elite squad had met its end in the ck Forest in order to chase him down. All in all, Qianye estimated that at least over a hundred elites had died in his hands, including two champions and a true expert like Nangong Jiancheng. His enmity with the Nangong family seemed to be growing deeper and deeper.

    Qianye hastened his steps. He wanted to leave this ce quickly and return to ckflow City. There was an unerasable worry in his heart. Bai Kongzhao was a vicious and merciless person. There was no telling what she would do now that she had failed to assassinate him after that long, thousand-kilometer battle.

    Additionally, he had no idea if Bai Kongzhao¡¯s assault was her own idea or the Bai n¡¯s intention. If the Bai n were really involved, Zhao Yuying¡¯s name alone might not be able to ensure ckflow City¡¯s safety.

    The matter at hand was urgent, but he would need to get out of this ce first.

    In ckflow City, Song Hu was sitting in his office and feeling distressed as he faced the heap of official documents. The undercurrents within the city were growing stronger as a continuous stream of unidentified people entered the city. With Song Hu¡¯s fox-like sense of smell, he had long since noticed that these people hadn¡¯te with good intentions. However, he had no way to deal with them at the moment.

    Qianye had gone dark after going to battle and had yet to return to this very day. Meanwhile, Zhao Yuying was still recuperating back at the Zhao n with no way toe over on short notice. At this moment, there wasn¡¯t a single expert powerful enough to hold the fort in ckflow City.

    There were rumors flowing within the city about how Qianye had fallen in battle at the Dark Nation. They were naturally spread by people with certain intentions, but these fabrications might move people¡¯s hearts if Qianye failed to appear after a long time.

    The best way to deal with this matter was to engage in battle and shift people¡¯s attention. Song Hu arrived before the map on the wall but still couldn¡¯t decide after gazing at it for a long time. He could only let out another sigh.

    In the end, he was only a division-level chief of staff and had been badly wounded before. It was quite a strain both in terms of strength and strategy for him to deal with the current situation. If he staked everything in one throw and lost, the situation would immediately destabilize¡ªthat probably wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s intention when thetter put him in charge of things.

    It was at this time that the office door was pushed open and a familiar soldier rushed in. ¡°Officer, things don¡¯t look good. Our men have gotten into a conflict, and many brothers have been killed!¡±

    Song Hu roared with a cold face, ¡°Who did this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still those people from the Nangong squad!¡±

    Song Hu smashed his fist heavily on the table and said hatefully, ¡°It¡¯s them again!¡±

    The soldier gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Sir, this isn¡¯t the first time! We¡¯ve already lost a dozen or so brothers to them. So what if we can¡¯t win? Let¡¯s fight it out with them. Rest assured, none of our brothers are cowards in battle! Since we¡¯re going to die anyway, dying in battle is better than being vexed to death!¡±

    Song Hu¡¯s face twitched hard, but he was hesitant. There were already all kinds of people mixed in within the city, but arge Nangong familybat squad had established themselves here a couple of days ago. The Nangong family was a giant entity to a small border city like ckflow. They started getting into conflict with the Dark me soldiers immediately after their arrival, and every time, there would be a spige of blood. Later on, they simply started killing people.

    No matter how elite the Dark me soldiers were, they were stillmoners who couldn¡¯t bepared to the true experts of the Nangong unit. As such, they would be badly defeated in every conflict. A number of officers couldn¡¯t take it anymore and brought an entire battalion to demand an exnation. In the end, several hundred soldiers were beaten to the ground following a fierce battle, even leaving a couple of corpses behind.

    This Nangong unit wasprised of several dozen men, all of them rank eight or nine experts. They didn¡¯t go to battle after arriving in ckflow and simply roamed the city every day to pick fights with Dark me troops. Conflicts had broken out every day during this short period under the cold gazes of the various bystanders.

    Song Hu was also from an aristocratic family and knew the difficulty of this situation. It was useless to report this to the upper echelons¡ªthe self-governing tradition ofbat divisions dictated that the weak had no way to protect their own domain. Revealing their own weakness might even cause the other fellows who had always disliked Dark me to take advantage of the situation and y some tricks.

    There were only two ways to deal with this. The best way was, of course, to destroy the opponent. But this method wasn¡¯t feasible with both Qianye and Zhao Yuying absent.

    The second was to swarm out in full force and kill them with a sea of soldiers. There was also a drawback to this strategy because, without an expert to oversee the troops, it would be quite difficult to prevent the Nangong squad from breaking the siege. At that time, the casualties would be heavy and the benefits, little. The gains would hardly make up for the losses.

    Moreover, experts like Duan Hao and Zhu Wuya were out managing missions at the temporary strategic points. Qianye was also missing deep behind enemy lines. How could he summon them back at such a critical juncture?

    Song Hu, as a chief of staff, was adept at handling military affairs, but he wasn¡¯t decisive enough regarding such major issues.

    However, the Nangong squad was currently causing a great disturbance within the city. Not only were they causing the citizens to waver, but even the army morale had inevitably be disorganized.

    While a distressed Song Hu was pondering over what to do, the door was pushed opened and in walked a smiling man. ¡°Uncle Hu, long time no see. Why do you look so nervous? Do you not even dare to take such a small action anymore?¡±

    Song Hu¡¯s entire body shook as he nced carefully at the visitor. Both surprised and delighted, he said, ¡°Seventh Young Master! Why are you here?!¡±

    The person who had arrived was indeed Song Zining who said while ying with the fan in his hand, ¡°I was feeling quite restless these days, so I came over to take my mind off things and also to take a look at the situation here in passing. Howe I¡¯m hearing about the Nangong family causing trouble the moment Inded?¡±

    Song Hu smiled wryly, ¡°It¡¯s been several days, and over ten of our warriors have died in their hands. But Sire Qianye isn¡¯t here, so there¡¯s no way to deal with them.¡±

    Song Zining closed the fan with a pop and retracted his smile. A killing intent emerged on his face as he said, ¡°Only a group of jumping clowns. It just so happened that I¡¯ve be a champion recently and have nothing else to do. I¡¯ll go over and y with them. You just wait for me here.¡±

    ¡°Seventh Young Master! But¡­¡± Song Hu wanted to say something, but Song Zining had already left.

    Song Hu had worked under Song Zining and knew quite clearly that this young, gentle-looking master only appeared amodating, but was never one to go back on his words. He felt quite nervous and wanted to exin the many pros and cons to him, but he didn¡¯t dare go out since Song Zining had ordered him to stay. He could only pace about Dark me¡¯s main gates like an ant on a hot pan.

    In the end, Song Zining came strolling back along the wide road leading up to Dark me¡¯s main gates. He couldn¡¯t help but break into aughter after seeing the anxiously awaiting Song Hu on the sentry tower. ¡°Go and make some preparations. The Nangong family men will arrive soon afterward, and I have questions for them.¡±

    Song Hu was astonished at how quickly Song Zining had returned. Had his Seventh Young Master really just gone out to y?

 Volume 5 - 418: Establishing Might

    Chapter 418: Establishing Might [V5C125 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Momentster, two heavy trucks filled with men from the Nangong squad arrived at Dark me¡¯s gates. It was just that all of them were injured, tightly bound, and there were even some corpses.

    Only at this point did Song Hu understand that Song Zining wanted him to set up an interrogation room. But he still found it difficult to disguise the shock in his heart no matter how hard he tried. Even if Song Zining were already a champion, he should be a newly advanced one. How then was he able to sweep through the Nangong family troops and capture them all in one go?

    The interrogation room was set up a whileter.

    It could hardly be called an interrogation chamber and was more like a trial hall. Over thirty Nangong family soldiers and five corpses were brought into the room together with an entirepany of the most elite guards whom Song Hu had arranged for Song Zining¡¯s safety. It took thergest conference hall at Dark me headquarters in order to settle them all in.

    Only after everything had been arranged appropriately did Song Zining finally appear in thepany of several beautifuldies. He stepped steadily toward the stage and sat down with due calmness as his aides hurriedly delivered tea and fruits.

    Song Zining looked down from above with a sidelong nce and asked calmly, ¡°Who are these bound prisoners?¡±

    This knowing question quickly infuriated the Nangong family squad.

    One of the leaders said furiously, ¡°Song Zining! Kill me if you want. I, Nangong Kang, am your son if I so much as frown! Why must you humiliate us so? Your Song n may be powerful, but our Nangong family isn¡¯t so easily bullied either!¡±

    Song Zining onlyughed and tossed a slice of fruit into his mouth. ¡°I don¡¯t think that the Song n is powerful at all. If it really is powerful, how could it be taken advantage of by you people?¡±

    Nangong Kang¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Seventh Young Master¡¯s words are incorrect. We¡¯ve never offended the Song n.¡±

    Song Zining pointed beneath his feet and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s not toote to let you know that I have a share in this ce. You people smashed my business and killed my men for no good reason. If this isn¡¯t pushing the Song n around, then what is it?¡±

    Nangong Kang¡¯s expression changed yet again. They had no idea that Song Zining owned a share in Dark me. However, the Nangong family hadpletely shifted to the Imperial Party and even dared offend the Zhao n, so the Song n didn¡¯t matter all that much. Moreover, as Nangong Kang saw it, Song Zining was only trying to fault them and extort some benefits.

    He immediately sneered, ¡°That is quite the secret, but, just as the Seventh Young Master said, it¡¯s not toote to know about it now. Since Seventh Young Master has captured us, you can negotiate with the Nangong family¡ªjust state your demands whether you want money ornd. I¡¯m sure the family will give you a satisfactory reply.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head with a smile. ¡°Why go to all the trouble? I¡¯m old now, and my memory isn¡¯t so good. As such, I prefer the simplicity of taking revenge on the spot! Song Hu, how many men did we lose?¡±

    Song Hu replied from the side, ¡°Seventeen in total, Young Master.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I¡¯ve killed five of them already, so that leaves twelve. Pick any twelve and chop their heads off! Use my de here.¡± With that, Song Zining removed his sword and tossed it to Song Hu.

    Despite having experienced his fair share of important matters, Song Hu¡¯s expression couldn¡¯t help but change at this point. Killing twelve soldiers wasn¡¯t a big deal for someone of Song Zining¡¯s status, but a public execution was a different matter¡ªit was tantamount to dering war on the Nangong family!

    Song Hu could hardly believe such extreme words woulde from the extremely sophisticated Seventh Young Master who had always handled matters with great discretion. But he could only obey since the order had been issued. Song Hu immediately drew the de and arrived behind the group of Nangong soldiers¡ªwith its rise and fall, twelve heads rolled to the ground in a sh.

    Song Hu couldn¡¯t care about the blood all over his body. He returned to Song Zining¡¯s side and said, ¡°Seventh Young Master, the men have been killed. I now return your treasured sword!¡±

    Song Zining opened his fan with a swoosh and covered his face. He then said while waving his hand, ¡°Stay away, stay away! Look at what you¡¯ve done. There¡¯s blood everywhere. Seeing blood is the one thing I¡¯m most afraid of!¡±

    Song Hu was immediately shocked after hearing this. Meanwhile, the group of maids giggled with their mouths covered. It seemed these little girls taken in by Song Zining weren¡¯t simple either. At least, they were still quite calm and cheerful while facing this bloody scene.

    Below them, Nangong Kang was ring so hard that his eyes were about to tear. He roared furiously, ¡°Song Zining, you dare kill my brothers. There¡¯ll definitelye a day when I quarter you and turn you to ash! Don¡¯t ever think about sleeping soundly as long as I¡¯m alive!¡±

    Song Zining was startled after hearing these words. ¡°T-That¡¯s really not good!¡± he said unhurriedly with a terrified expression. ¡°Then I can only let you die.¡±

    At this point, a maple leaf formed of origin power appeared in Song Zining¡¯s hand.

    A sudden shout came through from outside the window. ¡°Halt!¡±

    But Song Zining didn¡¯t seem to hear anything. The leaf in his hand shot out at lightning speed and sent Nangong Kang¡¯s head flying high into the air.

    ¡°You dare?!¡± The person outside was both angry and surprised. He hadn¡¯t expected that Song Zining would take action so decisively¡ªhe didn¡¯t even have time to stop thetter.

    The french window opened without any wind as a young man walked in. He stared daggers at Song Zining and said word by word, ¡°I¡¯ve long since heard about a certain Junior Zining from our batch who¡¯s brimming with talent. But today, I found that your methods are also extraordinary. It¡¯s just that your actions are so ruthless. Do you not wish to leave some leeway for the future?¡±

    Song Ziningughed in a fairly reserved manner. ¡°How can my meager talentspare to Senior Brother? Senior Brother Xu Lang is the number one in Yellow Springs. Please don¡¯t mock me. See? I¡¯m already scared after seeing blood. How can I be a ruthless person?¡±

    Xu Lang was stoppered up, and his countenance turned malicious. This Song Zining had so casually ordered to have twelve people beheaded, not to mention he himself had just taken someone¡¯s head. Yet, he was still iming that he didn¡¯t dare see blood¡ªhis pretentiousness was on a whole new level.

    Song Zining spread his fan and said, ¡°Could it be that Senior Brother is behind these people?¡±

    Xu Lang had no way to continue this topic¡ªhow could he fall for such an obvious verbal trap?

    He snorted coldly and said in a mocking tone, ¡°Major n descendants are indeed different. But I heard junior brother¡¯s share in Dark me is only a small amount. Is it worth offending the Nangong family for such a minuscule profit? It¡¯s best junior brother not take on the role of a scapegoat!¡±

    The threat in Xu Lang¡¯s words was obvious, but Song Zining didn¡¯t mind it at all. ¡°The conflict between ns has always been tangled andplicated. It¡¯s not easy for Brother Xu to reach this stage with yourmoner background. You shouldn¡¯t wade into these muddy waters so easily. I¡¯m here right now, but quite understandably, you won¡¯t dare take action. Even if I¡¯m not your match, I still have brothers, elders, and the many experts raised by the Song n. These people aren¡¯t mere freeloaders and will surely retaliate in kind. If Senior Brother wishes to lecture me, I suggest waiting for another five years or so!¡±

    Xu Lang¡¯s countenance immediately turned unsightly. He sneered, ¡°Major n descendants are really quite imposing! Do you have no other cards to y apart from ganging up on people?¡±

    Song Ziningughed heartily at this. He pped his fan even faster as he said with augh, ¡°This is the only good thing about being a noble. It¡¯ll be a waste not to put it to use.¡±

    Xu Lang couldn¡¯t flip out despite his fury since Song Zining was acting in such a scoundrelly manner, not to mention most of the Nangong family¡¯s men were already dead anyway. He immediately said with a frosty demeanor, ¡°Well yed Zining, this senior brother is much obliged. But you must know that certain other people don¡¯t have powerful backgrounds, especially Junior Brother Qianye. He should take great care when going out in the future.

    Song Zining only chuckled. ¡°Is Senior Brother referring to that troublemaker, Qianye? It¡¯s fine, you can teach him a good lesson when you next meet him. I¡¯ve been displeased with him for a long time now.¡±

    Xu Lang only snorted and left, knowing that he simply couldn¡¯t gain any advantage in a verbal spar.

    The Dark me soldiers in the room all copsed in session after Xu Lang¡¯s departure and only managed to mber up momentster. The man¡¯s presence had exerted a formless suppression in the room, and it took these soldiers everything they had just to remain standing. Now that the pressure had vanished following Xu Lang¡¯s departure, the men could no longer hold on and copsed one after another. Only the powerful officers were able to remain unfazed.

    Song Hu was aghast. This Xu Lang was so young, but his strength was unfathomable. It seemed even Song Zining was at a disadvantage and could only protect himself. He couldn¡¯t shield all those soldiers in the hall.

    ¡°Seventh Young Master, what shall we do with the remaining prisoners?¡±

    Song Zining was still smiling frivolously. He swept his gaze over the Nangong family members below and said, ¡°I wanted to keep a couple of them alive to deliver a message to Nangong Yuanbo, but that¡¯s no longer necessary since Senior Brother hase. Kill them all!¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t too appropriate, is it?¡± A shocked Song Hu said cautiously, ¡°Seventh Young Master, this method is too ruthless. It won¡¯t be good if word gets out. Moreover, killing these people would mean a real war with the Nangong family.¡±

    Song Zining smiled indifferently. ¡°It¡¯s not ruthless at all. I¡¯m not a softie like Qianye. This time, I¡¯ll have those people know that as long as I¡¯m here, Dark me is a ce they won¡¯t ever return from.¡±

    ¡°The Nangong family army¡­¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°If they daree, then I dare fight them. It¡¯s high time they see my tactical abilities.¡±

    ¡°Seventh Young Master¡¯s abilities are naturally top-notch,¡± a maid chimed in from the side.

    Song Ziningughed loudly and said, ¡°I¡¯m not being modest. Even Qianye isn¡¯t my match when leading troops into battle.¡±

    Another maid asked curiously, ¡°Has the Seventh Young Master ever fought Sire Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we¡¯ve never fought a real battle, but I¡¯ve rehearsed it several times on the sand table and the results are always the same.¡±

    ¡°What are those results?¡± It wasn¡¯t just the maids, even Song Hu and the other Dark me warriors were curious at this point. In Song Hu¡¯s eyes, Song Zining was undoubtedly a heaven-bestowed talent, but he had also found Qianye bing increasingly unfathomable after an extended period of interaction. It was truly difficult to say who would win in a direct confrontation.

    Song Zining closed his fan in the face of all those curious gazes and said heroically, ¡°Naturally, I¡¯m the one with extraordinary skill in leading troops. I marched straight ahead and directly wiped out that troublemaker¡¯s army. Then¡­¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡± everyone asked in unison.

    Song Zining clenched his teeth and said, ¡°Then that cmity broke into my camp alone and took my head!¡±

    ¡­

    Within half a day, the corpses of the Nangong family men had been fixed to wooden frames and exposed to the public. All the powers in ckflow City immediately became quiet and decided toy low. No one dared make a rash move.

    Everyone knew some changes were imminent following Qianye¡¯s prolonged absence. However, Qianye¡¯s departure begot Song Zining¡¯s arrival, and thetter was even more difficult to deal with. With Song Zining¡¯s current status, he could kill anymoner orndowning household member at his whim. Even the Nangong family¡¯s troublemakers had been killed off; what could these ordinary people even do?

 Volume 5 - 419: Grey Market

    Chapter 419: Grey Market [V5C126 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was iparably solemn after all the people had left and he alone remained. He was very clear that Xu Lang was a highly ambitious person, not the kind the Nangong family could easily put to work. There might be someone behind him, or perhaps some other reason¡ªnone of them was a good sign under the present circumstances.

    Song Zining pondered for quite a while before he managed to discard the distracting thoughts and start preparing for the bitter war. Leading troops wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s forte, so Song Zining was prepared to shoulder this burden alone.

    But it had been so long since there was any news of that troublemaker. Could he really have encountered some misfortune? Song Zining¡¯s brows knitted together involuntarily as he recalled the fuzzy vision he had seen via the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art¡ªa golden spark flickering weakly in a boundless world of darkness¡ªholding on, steadfast, and unyielding.

    Qianye was traversing the ck Forest at this moment. Every leap took him over ten meters forward as he leaped from tree to tree, his feet never touching the ground. It was unknown just how many times faster he had be, but his movements werepletely silent.

    The ck Forest couldn¡¯t be considered toorge and was only a few hundred kilometers in radius. Qianye was able to arrive swiftly at the forest¡¯s borders since the powers of spatial distortion were no longer active after its death.

    Before him was a continuous stretch of rising hills leading up to a majestic mountain range far in the distance which pierced into the clouds. The geography was iparablyplicated with its weaving rivers and deep ravines. But in Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth, he saw that the origin power of thisnd was much denser than the others and also superior in its purity and liveliness.

    The dense and vivacious origin power inevitably signified an easier sess in cultivation. It also implied that there were even more resources hidden underneath the earth. Add to that the iparablyplicatedndscape, this ce was a natural battleground.

    Qianye had no idea at all what this ce was. Neither did this ce correspond to any ce on the war-zone map which he had memorized. It was highly possible that he was deep in the hintends of the Dark Nation.

    He looked up at the sky and found that the Iron Curtain was still there. This proved that he was still within the range of the bloody battle, but that didn¡¯t exin much because the Iron Curtain was simply too big. Moreover, it was reportedly expanding little by little in a certain direction.

    Qianye chose a random direction and walked along the forest¡¯s edge. Although he had no idea where he was, a deduction from the previous bearing hinted that he was very likely in the Dark Nation territory. It wasn¡¯t wrong to be cautious.

    But this area appeared rather calm. Qianye only saw a small number of conflicts after walking for half a day, a stark contrast from the ming battle situation around the ckflow City region.

    The battles here were all internal battles among dark race members. Qianye had no intention to participate and only circled around them before continuing his journey in silence. Before long, a small, crude town appeared in the extremes of his line of sight.

    The town wasn¡¯t big, and the buildings therein were small and simple, almost like arge settlement. However, the town was thriving despite its small scale with people shuttling through its streets andrge clusters of tents pitched outside of its walls. Apparently, there were too many people visiting this ce and not enough amodations. Hence, many of them simply decided to camp outdoors.

    It was mostly dark race members going in and out of the small town, but, quite unexpectedly, there were many humans too. At this moment, a group of human warriors had appeared from the distant mountain range and were walking toward the little town. The men were strong, well-equipped, and d in uniform apparel¡ªit was quite apparent that they were part of a major family.

    ording to reason, such a group of people appearing in the sights of dark race members signaled the start of a dreadful battle. However, the battle Qianye was expecting did note to pass. The dark race members only cast them brief nces¡ªsome were indifferent, some were cautious, and others were even quite cordial.

    In the end, that squad entered the small town without the slightest bit of harm. Later on, Qianye saw several more humans leave the ce with excitement written all over their faces. It was as though they had just gained huge benefits.

    Such a scene immediately made Qianye recall the Tulip Bazaar he had visited together with William. It seemed this was also a simr ce. Not only had the bloody battle not destroyed this grey area, but had, instead, made it thrive even more. It could only be said that the profits to be gained here were much greaterpared to military contributions.

    After understanding what was going on, Qianye adjusted his clothes and headed toward the small town. He decided to enter the small town as a vampire and take a look around. Trading was only secondary¡ªhis main objective was to find out where he was at the moment.

    Both humans and dark race members near and far shot Qianye peculiar nces since a loner like him was fairly rare. The so-called safety in the grey zone was only rtive. Everyone entering and leaving this ce had many valuable things on them¡ªtrue safety was dependent on one¡¯s own strength.

    But Qianye would re back without showing the slightest bit of weakness whenever he sensed someone¡¯s attention. He was now a newly advanced viscount, and even across the entire Evernight Faction, he could be considered to have stepped into the upper echelons. It would be strange if he were to act meek with such power and status.

    There were indeed all kinds of people in this little town. There were only two viscount level champions overseeing the Tulip Bazaar back then, but there were more than two viscounts active in this area. Most of them would release their aura after locking eyes with Qianye and leave after a mutual disy of might. It could be considered a fairlymon way of greeting among strangers in the Dark Nation.

    Two werewolf guards came up to Qianye as he approached the town gates. Qianye said nothing in response to their interrogation and only released some of his aura¡ªthe two werewolf guards were immediately intimidated.

    The werewolves were full of fear as they took a step back in a gesture of respect. Afterward, they exined the rules of the town quite briefly, mostly pertaining to how private battles were forbidden inside the town and must be taken outside.

    Qianye decided to take a good look around the grey market since he had already arrived. He had managed to exchange killer weapons like ck Titanium Bullets of Annihtion during hisst visit to a grey bazaar. The ammunition proved decisively useful in the many battles that followed.

    It should be even safer than hisst excursion with William now that Qianye had condensed a blood core and could hide his human identity perfectly. What did he have to fear?

    The mor rushed at him as he entered the main gates.

    The little town was exceptionally lively with people everywhere on the streets. The crowd here wasparable to the most flourishing trade street at the imperial capital. The rooms on each side of the street had been modified into shops, the owners of which included both humans and dark race members. Moreover, there seemed to be very few instances of neers being cheated or conflicts on the verge of erupting. Everyone was busy¡ªpeople would arrive hurriedly, quickly strike a deal, and then leave in due haste.

    Both in the small alleyways and on the big streets, there were people doing business and carrying out transactions everywhere. There was nock of humans and werewolves walking with their arms around each other¡¯s shoulder. The scene here was even more exaggerated than at the Tulip Bazaar.

    Qianye followed the stream of people for a while and arrived before a certain store. The shop was clearly the former home of an aboriginal, the front wall of which had been torn down and the room turned into a storefront.

    What made Qianye excited was the bizarre insignia upon its signboard which resembled a serpiginous dragon. The empire¡¯s symbol was a flying serpent, and all family insignias resembling one were somehow rted to the imperial family. Qianye couldn¡¯t discern whether the picture here was rted to the flying serpent, but it did look somewhat simr.

    When Qianye walked into the store, a middle-aged man behind the counter asked without looking up, ¡°Race?¡±

    ¡°Vampire.¡±

    ¡°Rank?¡±

    ¡°A new third-rank viscount.¡± Qianye had never encountered such an odd way of doing business and thus decided to speak honestly.

    The middle-aged man finally nced up at Qianye after hearing his rank and gave him a respectful nod. That was all the etiquette he had to offer.

    He then lowered his head once again and said in a cold tone, ¡°Are you looking to deal with humans or other sacred-blood races?¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°I have a feud with another vampire.¡±

    ¡°Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang are ten blood crystals a pop. One bullet should suffice to kill a third-rank viscount. I have some fine goods from the Song n if you feel that it¡¯s still not enough. But I only have one, and it sells for fifteen blood crystals. No haggling.¡±

    Qianye drew in a breath of cold air. He hadn¡¯t expected this unassuming little store would actually have Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang for sale and even be able to bring out the Song n¡¯s special model. His amazing feats back at the Song n examination had only earned him three Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang whichter on proved to be life-saving.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯sck of response, the middle-aged man shot him another nce and said in an apathetic tone, ¡°If you don¡¯t have the money, we also have mass produced Mithril Bullets of Exorcism at two blood crystals each. We have an ample supply of those, but five is the minimum order. Move along if you can¡¯t afford even that much. This store doesn¡¯t do small deals.¡±

    Qianye was already out of supplies and ammunition at the moment. He had exhausted all of his defensive weaponry but had picked up a fair amount of blood crystals and ck crystals in the ck Forest. He ced twenty blood crystals on the counter without further hesitation and said, ¡°Two Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang.¡±

    The middle-aged man was somewhat surprised and gazed deeply at Qianye before heading into the back of the store. He emerged momentster with an unremarkable wooden box which he duly ced on the counter. He then proceeded to sweep the blood crystals into a cloth bag and put them away.

    Qianye opened the wooden box and found two Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang inside. This unassuming box even contained an istion array used to retard the bullet¡¯s attenuation.

    Qianye was greatly satisfied. He wanted even more, but unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have that many blood crystals. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man had already started to drive him out. ¡°Move along if you have no money. This daddy¡¯s time is precious!¡±

    Even after leaving the store, Qianye still couldn¡¯t quite believe that he was able to buy two Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang. He browsed around the streets and exchanged the remaining blood crystals for a number of vampire origin grenades before he was finally satisfied.

    Qianye was now even more interested in this grey market and decided he might as well take some time here. He looked around and eventually squeezed his way into a rundown but crowded bar¡ªalehouses were the best ce to gather intel regardless of the nation.

    The bar was so crowded that there was hardly any ce to stand. The air was thick with the smell of tobo, ale, and perfume. Most of the people here were already half drunk when Qianye entered.

    The bar was a ce to indulge oneself, and this one at the grey market was no exception. Many women here was scantily d, and there were even some who seemed to be wrapped with only strips of cloth, revealing things they should and shouldn¡¯t. Three of the four biggest dark races were humanoid in form and thus possessed simr aesthetic standards¡ªonly the arachne were the odd ones out.

    But there was no way an arachne could squeeze into such a packed bar either, except the one behind the bar counter. Correct, the owner of this small bar named Apocalypse Nightfall was an arachne.

 Volume 5 - 420: Want to Get me Drunk?

    Chapter 420: Want to Get me Drunk? [V5C127 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    This arachne was already well advanced in his years. His face was full of creases, and his skin was alreadyx. However, the advantage of being an arachne was that he could reach all the alcohol on the tall shelf just by turning in ce. His movements were nimble despite his age¡ªthe customers needed only to shout what they wanted, and the ale would be tossed onto their table. Naturally, they had to pay first.

    From this alone, it was easy to see that this arachne wasn¡¯t simple at all. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to set up a bar here either.

    Qianye squeezed over to the bar and tapped lightly on the surface. ¡°Give me something strong.¡±

    The arachne shot Qianye a prative nce and said while shrugging his shoulders, ¡°Little vampire, be careful about getting drunk. There¡¯s only one oue if you copse in such a ce. You¡¯ll be robbed clean and tossed out of the town.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s smile remained unchanged as he repeated, ¡°Give me something strong. The type you specialize in.¡±

    ¡°Very well! Newborns are indeed impetuous. I was the same at your age.¡± The old arachne nagged on while mixing up a brightly colored concoction with dazzling techniques. He then ced the drink in front of Qianye.

    That ¡°thing¡± looked and smelled terrifying. Qianye, with his keen senses, almost sneezed as the inexplicable odor assaulted his senses. Even he was somewhat hesitant at the sight of this mysterious brew.

    It was at this time that a beautiful woman arrived beside Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°Hey little handsome, this drink is the specialty of this ce. It¡¯ll be quite a regretful if you don¡¯t try it.¡±

    This werewolfdy was fiery hot and quite explicitly dressed. Her amorous gaze was also quite frank and just shy of pressing Qianye down to the floor.

    Qianye had inherited the innate character of a vampire and wasn¡¯t too interested in werewolves. But he still raised the ss and took a small sip. This mouthful of alcohol was like a stream of mes rushing into his stomach which left him dazzled and giddy as though an explosion had just gone off in his brain. He had unexpectedly taken too big a sip.

    Qianye had never encountered a situation where a single sip of wine had brought him to the verge of copse. His body, at this moment, was burning up¡ªhis brain was muddled, and his thoughts were adrift. He ced his hands before his eyes and found that it was flushed red. Presumably, his face was also in the same state.

    Many eyes around the bar counter were on Qianye at this moment. Many gazes had turned abnormal after seeing his visibly intoxicated manner. Some were checking his belongings, others were looking at his person.

    The beautiful woman¡¯s eyes were glowing as she approached and pushed her bountiful chest on Qianye¡¯s arm. ¡°Little Handsome, aren¡¯t you going to buy me a drink? Just one is enough!¡±

    The voices Qianye could hear were simply fleeting. He nodded.

    The arachne shook his head as he mixed up a simr drink and put it on the table. The werewolfdy grabbed the cup with eyes full of greed, poised to pour all of it into her mouth. But the ss had just risen from the table when it fell back down with a thud.

    A hand had reached out from behind and pressed down on the werewolfdy¡¯s wrist, forcing it onto the counter.

    The werewolfdy found, to her surprise and fury, that a young vampire girl with a frosty countenance had appeared behind her. Thetter spoke in a cold voice, ¡°Scram, slut! A hairy beast like you is not worthy of this sire from our vampire race.¡±

    The werewolfdy let out a low growl as the fangs in her mouth grew longer, ¡°Who are you calling hairy, you lowly thing?¡±

    The vampire girl refused to budge. ¡°I¡¯m talking to you! What of it?¡±

    The werewolf roared and pounced onto the young vampire, pressing her down to the floor. The two rolled about and beat each other up in a full contact struggle. The people around them were intent on stirring up trouble. They watched on the sidelines and cheered the fighters on, but none of them had the intention to intervene. On the contrary, many of them started betting¡ªthere were some who bet on the vampire girl, but there were even more bets on the werewolfdy.

    Qianye was still taking small sips from the ss,pletely oblivious to the things happening behind him.

    Another female appeared beside him at one point¡ªa youngdy. She sat beside him without turning her head and only asked indifferently, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to buy me a drink?¡±

    Qianye wanted to nod instinctively, but his whole body jolted after seeing her rare ck hair. He only spoke after a moment of silence, ¡°I¡¯ll apany you no matter how much you want to drink.¡±

    The ck-haired girl turned to gaze at Qianye with her deep, unfathomable eyes.

    She suddenlyughed. ¡°You want to get me drunk and bring me away?¡±

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s thoughts were adrift and he replied quite instinctively, ¡°If possible, then why not?¡± Even Qianye himself was shocked at the words he had just spoken¡ªhe would never have said such things were he sober. A few sses of wine, and he would turn into a different person.

    But the ck-haired girl, which was exactly Nighteye, wasn¡¯t angry and only responded with an indifferent tone. ¡°You¡¯re wee to try. Boss, ten sses of the usual!¡±

    Ten sses!

    Even in his half intoxicated state, Qianye was shocked and sobered up quite a bit. Many people in the bar who had taken notice also started to cheer and howl.

    The old arachne revealed a ruminating smile. Without a second word, his hands set to work at lightning speed, and soon, ten colorful decoctions appeared on the counter.

    Nighteye took a cup and clinked it forcefully against Qianye¡¯s own. ¡°Come, bottoms up.¡± With that, she raised her head and allowed the ming liquor to enter her throat.

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned bitter. He held the ss in both hands and continued to drink in small sips as though he were taking medicine; it took him quite a while to finish it. Jeers rang out around them, and many people raised their middle fingers at Qianye.

    Nighteye reached out to adjust her hair and raised yet another ss. ¡°Come, bottoms up.¡±

    This small movement exposed her countenance to everyone¡¯s eyes. The rowdiness in the bar suddenly decreased by half. Their breathing gradually turned coarse as they stared fixedly at Nighteye.

    Qianye continued to frown with a depressed expression as he slowly finished his second ss. This time, the jeers had lessened quite a bit. The house specialty was extremely strong, and not many here could take two sses without falling under the table.

    The bar had turned fairly silent by the time Nighteye raised the third cup. Even the two brawlingdies had stopped and were looking at Nighteye withplicated expressions.

    Nighteye¡¯s features could only be described as perfect, one that should never have appeared in such a ce. Meanwhile, Qianye wasn¡¯t really inferior either in terms of external appearance. Many people felt that the two sitting there together made quite a good match.

    Many young men and women were looking at Nighteye. Many were also looking at Qianye.

    And with that, the fourth cup went down.

    Nighteye¡¯s countenance was no different from the norm¡ªit was as though she had just drunk four sses of water. Her eyes had grown more abstruse, however. Qianye, on the other hand, had been swaying since the very first cup and was still wavering right now. But he just wouldn¡¯t go down.

    At this point, even the stupidest person would know something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    The dup was still in the same state after the fifth cup. Nothing had changed.

    ¡°Boss, another ten cups.¡± Nighteye¡¯s style was just as ruthless and decisive.

    But a disruption soon arrived in the form of an extremely burly werewolf. Hended a heavy p on the counter and stooped down as he said to Nighteye, ¡°Miss Vampire, there¡¯s no point in drinking with that sissy. Drink with me! I, Wildfang, will satisfy you both at the drinking table and in bed! What do you say?¡±

    Some of the other vampires drooling over Nighteye were immediately dissatisfied. One of them released his baron-level aura and said in a deep voice, ¡°Hairy fellow, the noble vampire race isn¡¯t something you can touch!¡±

    Wildfang stared at the vampire baron and stood up straight with a sinister smile. The werewolf was extremely tall and had almost reached the ceiling after standing up. A wild and tyrannical aura emerged from his body, apanied by a darkness origin power so intense that it almost seemed tangible. Quite impressively, he was a second-rank viscount.

    The burly werewolf watched the vampire baron being stifled under the pressure of his aura and said with a sinister smile, ¡°This daddy here has yed with hundreds of vampire girls and toyed several dozens more to death! Do you have anything to say? I¡¯ll tell you in passing that this daddy¡¯s full name is Wildfang Bloodcrown.¡±

    That vampire baron¡¯s face was already quite pale, but his expression changed drastically after hearing the name Bloodcrown; his hands started to tremble slightly.

    Bloodcrown was a powerful major tribe among the werewolves, only second to the Summit of Peaks. However, the Bloodcrowns were exceedingly radical and preferred the use of military power to solve every problem. It was one of the most aggressive werewolf tribes, and all who hail from it were extremely powerful warriors. Just like the Twelve Ancient Vampire ns, their strength couldn¡¯t be measured just by rank.

    It was at this time that a middle-aged vampire walked over. He stood in front of the baron and said coldly, ¡°Wildfang, he¡¯s one of mine.¡±

    This vampire appeared thin and weak, but the blood energy being released from his body was extremely dense¡ªhe was also a second-rank viscount. All the vampires in the bar turned pale from the suppression of his superior bloodline.

    Wildfang focused his gaze and said coldly, ¡°Brock, other¡¯s might fear you, but I certainly don''t. Thisss here is mine. Are you going to bring up your noble bloodline again?¡±

    Brock spoke while staring at Wildfang, ¡°My family and yours are just about equal, and it¡¯s not as if we¡¯ve never fought either. Why must Ipromise? Let¡¯s do it like this. We¡¯ll let her choose. How about it?¡±

    Wildfang let out a series of sinisterughs and turned to Nighteye with hot air spouting out of his nose. ¡°Lass, what do you say?¡±

    Nighteye raised her hand and sshed the wine onto Wildfang¡¯s face. She had only one word to say, and that was ¡°Scram."

    Wildfangughed instead of getting angry and proceeded to lick the wine on his face with a scarlet tongue. ¡°Feisty. I like it!¡±

    The werewolf then moved his mountain-like body toward Qianye and said, ¡°What do you say, brat?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s reply was even more direct. He picked up the wine ss and smashed it onto Wildfang¡¯s face!

    The ss split into several pieces with a loud bang, leaving a mixture of spirit and blood dripping down Wildfang¡¯s face.

    Wildfang was momentarily startled because he had never expected Qianye to smash his face directly. The entire bar fell silent.

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡± With a furious roar, Wildfang swung his fist down on Qianye!

    Qianye could barely reach the werewolf¡¯s shoulder even when standing; the difference between their physiques was simply too great. A swing of Wildfang¡¯s fist was sure to badly injure anyone below the level of baron.

    Qianye raised a single hand amidst a series of gasps and grabbed Wildfang¡¯s heavy fist. But contrary to expectations, he wasn¡¯t smashed to the floor. His other hand struck out at lightning speed andnded a solid blow on Wildfang¡¯s abdomen¡ªalmost his entire forearm went into thetter¡¯s body.

 Volume 5 - 421: Fear

    Chapter 421: Fear [V5C128 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Wildfang¡¯s eyes turned round all of a sudden¡ªhis mouth couldn¡¯t help but open wide as he sprayed out everything he had drunk. The torrential vomitus drenched the onlookers standing behind Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s right fist shot out and, once again, mmed into Wildfang¡¯s abdomen. This time, the werewolf could no longer hold on¡ªhis knees went soft, and he fell kneeling onto the floor. Qianye pulled Wildfang¡¯s face up by the hair and delivered a ruthless headbutt!

    Wildfang¡¯s face turned into aplete mess amidst cracking sounds. His nose had been beaten into his skull, and a mixture of fresh blood and alcohol sttered out in all directions.

    The alehouse suddenly fell into apse of silence. Everyone knew just how sturdy a werewolf¡¯s skull was, but quite unexpectedly, Qianye had beaten Wildfang¡¯s face into a pulp with a single headbutt.

    Qianye was rather caught up in the fight and only discovered the presence of a fishy smell after he had delivered that satisfying headbutt. His face immediately turned pale as he recalled how Wildfang had just vomited a while ago and came quite close to throwing up himself.

    Qianye reached behind him and rather conveniently discovered a piece of cloth there. A forceful tug of his hand tore the fabric off with which he hurriedly wiped his face clean.

    It turned out that a young vampiredy was standing behind Qianye. Despite her cold countenance, she was scantily clothed and possessed a plump, fiery figure that was rare among the vampires. Not only was the vampire girl not concerned, but her eyes were even flowing with charm as she twisted her body over toward Qianye.

    Unfortunately, a bottle of wine exploded on her head before she even managed to approach. The vampire girl momentarily swayed about before falling head-first to the floor. Nighteye snorted deeply behind her as she tossed the broken bottle in her hand to one side.

    Wildfang had already recovered from his daze during the time it took for Qianye to wipe his face. The werewolves¡¯ healing powers were indeed terrifying. He had already entered a berserk state, suddenly transforming into his werewolf form. His head crashed right through the ceiling as his body expanded rapidly!

    Qianye said nothing. He just directly rushed over and threw another punch at Wildfang¡¯s abdomen.

    A shocking scene yed out this time¡ªQianye had actually pierced through Wildfang¡¯s protective origin power with a single punch, his forearm once again disappearing into the werewolf¡¯s body. With Wildfang¡¯s strength, no gun below grade-five could st through his origin power, but now, someone had punched right through it. How could this not shock everyone?

    This time, Wildfang had nothing to vomit. His eyes, filled with astonishment and disbelief, nearly popped out of their sockets. His knees buckled, and he was once again sent kneeling onto the floor.

    Qianye reached out to grab Wildfang¡¯s hair and pressed down. The werewolf¡¯s head smashed right through the bar counter with a boom and fell to the ground, half of it vanishing into the floor. Qianye picked the wolf head up again and smashed it down. Once, twice, thrice¡ªevery smash was apanied by a muffled thud¡ªmuch like a drum thundering at the bottom of everyone¡¯s heart.

    Wildfang still refused to fall unconscious and continued struggling frantically. Even Qianye found it hard to keep him pressed down. It was at this time that a bottle of wine appeared before Qianye¡¯s eyes which he took without a second thought and smashed it ruthlessly onto the werewolf¡¯s head.

    The bottle shattered, but Wildfang¡¯s struggling was still as violent. The damage done by the bottle seemed almost negligible against the werewolf¡¯s steely head.

    Nighteye nced around, and her eyes soon fell upon a pig-iron cask behind the counter. That fellow seemed big and sturdy, and it was also heavy enough.

    ¡°Boss, out of the way!¡± Nighteye pushed the old arachne away and lifted that big wine cask with one hand.

    ¡°Wait! That¡¯s¡­¡± The old arachne was shocked. He tried to stop her, but, s, it was toote¡ªNighteye had tossed the cask to Qianye.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Qianye caught the cask and smashed it onto Wildfang¡¯s head with a loud bang, immediately ttening the thick cask.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it,¡± Nighteye replied politely.

    Werewolf heads were indeed hard. Wildfang¡¯s skull still hadn¡¯t shattered even after receiving such a heavy blow. However, he stopped moving after struggling a couple of times and was finally out cold.

    Qianye exhaled deeply and stood up feeling greatly refreshed. He was quite sober now.

    But it would seem that his problems still hadn¡¯t ended. Brock led the group of vampires toward Qianye and said coldly, ¡°Brat, you want to leave just like that? Kneel down!¡±

    A wisp of blood energy carrying some traces of ancient blood rose from Brock¡¯s body and rushed violently toward Qianye. The vampire wanted to use his powerful blood energy and superior bloodline power to suppress Qianye into submission.

    The mutual suppression of bloodlines among vampires were much stronger than that of the other three races. Even if they weren¡¯t direct line descendants, the superior bloodline would exert an obvious suppression on the inferior one. The greater the difference in rank, the more distinct the suppression would be. For instance, the vampires from a remote region like Evernight might even be rendered helpless when facing a descendant of the Twelve Ancient ns. The vampires had always been the strictest in terms of hierarchy among the four big races.

    Brock had discovered when Qianye was fighting against Wildfang that thetter¡¯s aura was particrly lively, a sign that he had just condensed his blood core. Brock wasn¡¯t willing to give up despite having seen Wildfang fall in Qianye¡¯s hands¡ªhe wanted to rely on his advantage in bloodline and rank to directly suppress Qianye. Even if thetter had some background, it would, at most,e to a stalemate.

    The blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body red up as Brock¡¯s blood energy rushed onto him¡ªthis, to them, was a direct challenge. In the past, any blood energy bold enough to enter Qianye¡¯s body could hardly escape the fate of being torn apart and devoured.

    Qianye only felt a certain urge within his heart as an inexplicable and tyrannical killing intent surged up. He could no longer endure and retaliated against Brock with a bestial roar!

    Extremely dense blood energy burst forth from his body. Itpletely swept Brock away and covered the entire bar.

    The vampire viscount turned pale. It felt as though a hammer had struck his heart, and he nearly coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    Brock still managed to remain standing, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the vampires under him. Several vampires copsed to the floor with a thud, while the weaker ones simply fainted.

    Qianye¡¯s face was full of killing intent as he reached out to pick Brock up and throw him down to the floor. This attack was so powerful that it shook the whole bar and produced a human-shaped hole in the stone floor.

    With Brock¡¯s second-rank viscount strength, his body was even harder than rock. He still hadn¡¯t fallen unconscious and was struggling to mber up, but Qianye ced a foot on his head and stepped down hard, sending Brock¡¯s entire head into the stone floor with a boom. Brock could no longer endure such a severe attack and fell unconscious.

    The violence in Qianye¡¯s heart had yet to subside as he scanned the bar with his foot still on Brock¡¯s head. It was only then that Qianye realized that only a dozen or so people were still standing. All of these fierce people had been suppressed to the floor by his blood energy eruption.

    Moreover, this was Qianye¡¯s first time using his blood energy to suppress an opponent. The effects were unexpectedly good, and could even be considered inconceivable. Qianye¡¯s sobriety increased further when he realized how fortunate it was that the eruption was only from the purple blood energy; the golden one hadn¡¯t moved at all. Had thetter erupted, there might not be a single person capable of standing here.

    In the end, the old arachne broke the silence. ¡°You two broke so many of my things. You¡¯d better pay for all of them on top of the price for the wine. Oh right, that iron cask was the base spirit I¡¯ve been saving up for decades. It¡¯ll also go on your tab.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed as he groped around his body. All his money had been used to buy equipment. Now, he only had a single piece of blood crystal left on him, and its quality wasn¡¯t that great either. Additionally, the alcohol that had leaked out from the cask he had used to smash Wildfang was extremely fragrant¡ªit was clearly a premium product one couldn¡¯t find just anywhere. It was also impossible for him to take out items from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm under so many eyes.

    Qianye turned quite awkward at the moment and asked Nighteye in a whisper, ¡°Do you have money?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then what do we do?¡± Qianye was somewhat anxious.

    ¡°Run!¡± As decisive as ever, Nighteye started running with Qianye in tow.

    The two dashed out madly and soon vanished into the night.

    ¡°Hold it!!!¡± Those in the bar who still had other motives immediately gave chase.

    They had just stepped out, however, when all of them fell to the floor. During their chaotic tumble, these people discovered a thin strand of spider silk winding around their legs. The thread that had held them back was barely visible, and no one knew when it had appeared. However, it was inconceivably sturdy, and not even a viscount could tear it apart.

    There was only one arachne in the bar. Everyone¡¯s expression shifted when they nced at the old fellow.

    The old arachne, at this moment, was gazing at the direction in which the duo had escaped. He muttered in a voice only audible to himself, ¡°Nana¡¯s descendant? Nana has a descendant?¡±

    At this moment, within a certain majestic and spacious pce hall, a young, delicate girl¡ªone so beautiful that she seemed not to be of this mortal world¡ªgradually opened her eyes atop the ck throne. Her brows were slightly creased as she gazed at the empty space in puzzlement. For a moment just now, it felt as though something had resonated with her¡ªthe feeling was distant yet intimate, familiar yet unknown.

    Qianye and Nighteye ran frantically through the small town and soon reached a fairly deserted corner. There, they were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after finding that no one had caught up to them.

    The two nced at each other for a short moment before breaking into a heartyughter. After a a while, they asked each other at the same time, ¡°How did you¡­¡±

    At this point, both of them paused their words and became silent. Although they had met purely by chance, the reason foring here was self-evident¡ªit was for the bloody battle.

    ¡°Your blood energy¡­¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°My body is already half-vampire, but I remain human.¡±

    Nighteyeughed. ¡°I know.¡± It was just that there were some other things hidden within her smile.

    The serious topic once again sent the two into apse of tacit silence. Nighteye suddenly nced at Qianye and asked, ¡°Did you drink too much?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Qianye replied truthfully. His thoughts were still floating about at this moment, just as they had been since the first cup.

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Nighteye¡¯s pupils shone like the stars as she embraced Qianye and sealed his lips.

    Qianye was astonished and momentarily at a loss what to do.

    He wasn¡¯tcking in experience, but in front of Nighteye, he was always fraught with worry¡ªanxious that he would do something wrong and make her unhappy. Perhaps that was why, at this moment, Qianye was still apprehensive and didn¡¯t dare return the embrace. He truly feared that Nighteye would vanish the moment he held her in his arms.

    Qianye had never felt so afraid before.

 Volume 5 - 422: Day and Night

    Chapter 422: Day and Night

    Chapter 422: Day and Night [V5C129 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Nighteye was never one to do a sloppy job. She began her assault by prying open Qianye¡¯s lips almost violently and stretching her tongue inside.

    With a boom, a certain me ignited within Qianye¡¯s being and almost made him go insane! He could no longer care about other stuff as he reciprocated ferociously like an erupting volcano.

    Qianye was pressed down to the ground with a loud thud, but he soon flipped over with great force.

    The sounds of panting beasts suddenly rang out in that corner of the small town, almost like a tremendous quake.

    A window suddenly opened up not so far away, and a voice akin to a strangled duck shouted, ¡°How can people sleep with that ruckus?!¡±

    An unidentified object flew out from the dark and mmed right through his teeth and into his mouth. The person dragged the hard object out with great difficulty and ced it under themplight¡ªhis soul almost flew away in shock upon seeing the origin power grenade! Fortunately, the safety hadn¡¯t been pulled out.

    The window closed tightly with a bang and even the lights were put out. There was no longer a single sign of movement thereafter.

    With that, the quake at the vige corner went on.

    Nighttime was long on Evernight Continent, but no matter how long, dawn would eventually arrive. At this moment, an entire night had passed by, and a faint glow was appearing over the distant horizon. The perpetual dark grey sky under the iron curtain only lightened up slightly and became suffused with an aged white hue.

    Qianye tossed his body onto the ground, feeling as though it had grown several times heavier than before. He felt his body aching everywhere as hey there on his back, breathing heavily. He felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction, but there was also a deep leaden hue staining this joyful moment, its color very much like the sky above.

    Nighteyey beside Qianye, her ck hair drenched in sweat and sticking to her forehead. She bunched up her messy hair and slowly propped herself up, but even this small movement caused her to frown with a pained expression.

    ¡°Still painful?¡± Qianye asked cautiously.

    ¡°No kidding! I¡¯ve never seen you so fierce in battle!¡± Nighteye rolled her eyes.

    ¡°But it¡¯s you who asked me to go hard.¡±

    ¡°Of course! How can you be called a man if you don¡¯t put in the effort at such a time?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s exnation was stuffed back into his mouth by Nighteye¡¯s words. He had no idea how to reply since it sounded wrong no matter how he phrased it.

    Nighteye nced up at the sky and calmed down all of a sudden. ¡°The dawn is breaking.¡±

    Her words sounded like nonsense because daytime under the Iron Curtain was fairly dusky, while the nighttime wasn¡¯t as dark. There was little difference between night and day. But for some indescribable reason, Qianye¡¯s heart ached after hearing these words.

    Nighteye scanned their surroundings, collected her clothes, and then put them back on one by one. Her calm demeanor made the morning seem like any other¡ªnot at all like one who had passed a night of ming passion and shared the most intimate rtionship with a man.

    Qianye got up in silence and also dressed up. He had many questions and many words he wanted to say to Nighteye, but not a word came out. He was still very much afraid, and this time, he was afraid that the night would really end after that one question.

    But the night would inevitably pass, and the daybreak would still arrive in the end.

    Nighteyebed her ck hair with her fingers and tied it behind her head in a ponytail. Apart from that, the girl looked exactly as she had when she arrived at the little town. Nothing extraordinary could be sensed about her apart from those deep eyes¡ªno origin power, no blood energy¡ªshe was just like an ordinary human girl.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t surprised at this. It was the same when he saw her for the very first time. Qianye had already fought countless vampires back then, and yet, he had still failed to discover her identity. Now that Qianye also possessed this Bloodline Concealment ability, he naturally understood that some secret arts and talents could not only blind the eyes, but also deceive the senses.

    Nighteye nced at Qianye and said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s dawn. I should leave now.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    ¡°Next time...¡± Nighteye paused momentarily, ¡°there won¡¯t ever be a next time.¡± Her final words were spoken with great calmness and resolution. There wasn¡¯t a shred of hesitation, as if those words weren¡¯t just an ordinary goodbye.

    Gazing at Nighteye¡¯s receding figure, Qianye understood that there would never be a next time. Even if there were opportunities for them to meet again, it would be for the best if they did not. [1]

    She stood on the side of Evernight, and Qianye belonged to daybreak. This one step distance was akin to an eternal chasm. Great earthquakes may change the lofty mountains and great rivers one day, but no one knew what it would take to extinguish the enmity imprinted into the two factions. Qianye¡¯s hands were stained with the blood of innumerable vampires, just as countless human experts had fallen to Nighteye.

    This vendetta had gone on for a thousand years and would seemingly continue for eternity.

    Their next reunion would definitely be on the battlefield. So what was the point in meeting?

    Qianye stood there in silence for an unknown length of time. It was only when night fell anew that he slowly turned to leave the grey market, quickly disappearing into the dark night.

    This grey market was a trade outpost that had appeared spontaneously under the Iron Curtain, a natural paradise for the wild and adventurous. But its existence was fairly short-livedpared to simr establishments along the border region. Not long after Qianye¡¯s departure, the diverse crowd also poured out and eventually scattered in different directions. This grey market existed only for a single week.

    The ce had turned into a battlefield by the time night fell once more. Several units from The Empire and the Dark Nation met one another here. An intense battle ensued whichsted for several days and nights, and the mes of battle ravaged the entire town. Only that little bar known as Apocalypse Nightfall remained standing amidst the rubble, preserving some of the memories from that fateful night.

    Qianye chose to go south. He had already confirmed that the grey market was located north of human-controlled territory, but was still over two thousand kilometers from ckflow City. The Iron Curtain stretching into human territory was in the shape of a long arc¡ªckflowy in the southwest, while the grey market was to the northeast.

    Qianye had unwittingly reached such a remote ce. The reason for this was naturally the live ck Forest. It not only warped time and space for the creatures that had entered, but its own location was also shifting constantly in rtion to the fixed continents.

    No matter how far, it was manageable as long as he could get a fix on the location. Qianye made preparations to head south and kill his way back into human territory before boarding an airship back to ckflow City. That was the fastest route.

    The situation in ckflow City, at this moment, was on the verge of ignition.

    Waterfront, a small city not even a hundred kilometers from ckflow City, had turned into a major army camp. The beasts in the area had been swept clean, andrge fleets of airships werending and taking off in turn.

    Entire units of soldiers walked out from each airship to unloadrge numbers of excellent equipment¡ªeverything from heavy cannons to military trucks. Escorting this massive fleet of airships was actually a number of regr-army-grade destroyers.

    Over three thousand warriors had gathered in Waterfront City, and each of them was a member of the Nangong family¡¯s elite private soldiers. There were several other camps around Waterfront City, bustling with an endless stream of mercenaries and adventurers who had set up camp here.

    Nangong Yuanwang nodded in satisfaction as he watched the airshipsnding one after another. He asked his aide, ¡°How much longer until the assemblypletes?¡±

    Someone beside replied, ¡°Elder, thest batch of soldiers will arrive three dayster. However, it¡¯ll take another ten days for all the equipment and resources to be shipped.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang ced his hands behind his back. ¡°No rush. It¡¯s not toote to attack after making sure of everything. Any news from Jiancheng?¡±

    Another person replied cautiously, ¡°Elder, Sire Jiancheng and all the soldiers left behind to set up an ambush have gone missing. That ck Forest has also disappearedpletely. My guess is that Sire Jiangcheng might¡¯ve entered the ck Forest by ident and lost contact with us.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang sighed deeply. His countenance was rather gloomy because Nangong Jiancheng was a great general from his lineage. Their strength would surely suffer now that he had disappeared along with so many elite soldiers, and his position in the family hereafter might also be shaken.

    But it was toote for regrets. Nangong Yuanwang nced toward the distant ckflow City with eyes full of hate. He had long since transferred his wrath onto ckflow and Dark me¡ªeven Song Zining and the Song n had been dragged in.

    ¡°Any changes in ckflow City?¡±

    His aides were all hesitant. Atst, one of them braced himself and said, ¡°No change at all.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes flickered with ferocity. ¡°Are our Nangong soldiers¡¯ corpses still hanging on the city wall? Have the emissaries not returned?¡±

    That person said with a bitter expression, ¡°Elder, the men we sent have returned. But that, Song Zining is fairly arrogant. H-He said¡­¡±

    ¡°Speak!¡±

    ¡°He said those people havemitted a grave offense and must be hanged there for a couple more days.¡±

    ¡°Insolence!¡± Nangong Yuanwang was furious. Winds kicked up around him, causing all of his subordinates to sway left and right.

    One of his trusted aides stabilized his body and said hurriedly, ¡°Elder, please calm your anger! That Song Seven is surely seeking his own demise by being so arrogant. But this subordinates believes we shouldn¡¯t mobilize just yet. Why don¡¯t we¡­¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang retracted his might and said coldly, ¡°Speak!¡±

    That man approached and said in a hushed tone, ¡°This subordinate just received news that the dark races are amassing a big army on the other side, and that their movements are unclear. Doesn¡¯t ¡®that person¡¯ have a deep rtionship with the other side? If we leak some news, we might be able to draw the dark race army to ckflow City. At that time, no matter which side emerges victorious, our Nangong army will tten them as the autumn gale sweeps away fallen leaves.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang said with a frown, ¡°These dark race members are as ruthless as they are cunning. Even if we leak the news, how can we be sure that they¡¯ll move as you¡¯ve predicted?¡±

    The aide moved even closer and said in a soft voice, ¡°Elder, the one inside ckflow is the Song n¡¯s second in line. Such a character will fetch a significant sum of contribution on the other side. There¡¯s no need to worry about them not taking the bait.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang appeared enlightened. ¡°This n is brilliant! Very well, let¡¯s do it as you said. I¡¯ll record a big contribution under your name if the dark race army attacks ckflow City.¡±

    The aide cupped his hands and said, ¡°Thank you, elder, for the cultivation. This subordinate has something else to say, but I am not sure whether or not I should speak of it.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang was in a great mood. ¡°Just say it.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve lost so many men here. Not only has Sire Xiaofeng been badly injured, but the two sires, Tiancheng and Jiancheng, have also fallen in battle. The source of all this isn¡¯t Qianye or Song Zining, but a woman called Nangong Xiaoniao.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang snorted loudly. ¡°This elder naturally knows about this matter. That Nangong Xiaoniao is good looking, but far from being a kingdom toppling beauty. Moreover, she¡¯s the descendant of a distant branch. What¡¯s so good about her?¡±

    ¡°Elder, the n lord mobilized in full force just for this woman. Not to mention the waste of manpower and resources, the warriors of the family have also suffered significant casualties. Many people are dissatisfied about this matter!¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang was visibly moved and inquired despite knowing the answer, ¡°You mean?¡±

    [1] West River Moon (by Sima Guang)

    Her bundled hair hung loose, and her make-up faintly worn.

    Those threads, like gossamer, were dancing in the green mist.

    We should not have met again. For reunion

    begets more yearning, just as love begets more pain.

    I awoke as the music faded away.

    The courtyard was empty and the moon was high in the sky.

 Volume 5 - 423: Caravan

    Chapter 423: Caravan [V5C130 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The aide said, ¡°Elder, the n lord position must be filled by someone with virtue and ability. This subordinate believes you¡¯re the only one suited for this job!¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang said after a lengthy silence, ¡°That may be the case, but the situation is like a notched arrow. Even if we are to impeach Old Three, it has to wait until the matters here have been settled. Although our current strategy is to ¡®urge the tiger to swallow the wolf¡¯, we can¡¯t just stand by without doing anything. Dispatch some men to ckflow City and have them keep an eye out for opportunities to exploit.¡±

    The aide affirmed the order and said toadily, ¡°How many battles can that hatchling, Song Zining, have fought? With you personally taking action, everything is easily yours for the taking. You¡¯ll return in triumph when the timees, and everyone throughout the n will be converted!¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang felt happy to hear this and couldn¡¯t help but smile while stroking his beard.

    Qianye ran all the way and soon exited the mountainous region to arrive at the border of the war-zone. Hearing the rumble of engines as he was passing a certain valley, Qianye immediately hid his aura and sneaked over. There, he discovered a ratherrge motorcade advancing slowly along the valley.

    The caravan consisted of over ten heavy trucks, but there was no way to tell what they were carrying because the goods were tightly covered in tarpaulin wraps. The apanyingbat vehicles numbered close to twenty, even more than the cargo vehicles. The guard force was also fairly sizeable, and the warriors weren¡¯t weak. Judging merely from the escort strength, it was obvious that the shipment was of extraordinary value.

    The bloody battle was an iparably chaotic war-zone where battles could break out at a moment¡¯s notice. There were no rules or apprehensions here, and neither was it bound by anyw. This caravan appearing in the middle of the war-zone was really too bold and risky. Even a robbery from the empire¡¯s side could be med on the dark races. No one would be in the mood to investigate the truth during the bloody battle, and they probably wouldn¡¯t find anything even if they did.

    That was why the caravan was moving quite cautiously despite having three times the usual escort power and choosing the most hidden routes wherever possible. Qianye naturally had no special thoughts about this caravan and didn¡¯t want to get involved either. He began to edge back slowly.

    However, Qianye suddenly felt that the vehicles in the caravan looked somewhat familiar and soon figured things out after a closer inspection. Despite the disguise and removal of insignias, the trucks still retained a lot of their characteristics. Qianye recalled that Song Zining¡¯s Ningyuan Heavy Industries had arge batch of such heavy trucks. The model was fairly new and definitely not amon sight in Evernight Continent. But the guards weren¡¯t from the Ningyuan Group and were split into three different squads, quite possibly mercenaries hired at thest moment. That was why Qianye hadn¡¯t recognized them.

    Qianye didn¡¯t approach the secret caravan to avoid misunderstandings. Instead, he continued on his way south. He wasn¡¯t traveling very fast because a good part of his attention was inside his body¡ªthe new blood core had entered a state of dormancy after its formation and showed no signs of movement.

    The vampire blood core was supposed to take over the heart¡¯s functionpletely. Under normal circumstances, it would pulse slowly and drive the flow of blood around the whole body. Qianye had never heard of a hibernating blood core¡ªbut then again, he had never seen one with embedded crystalline granules either.

    Qianye tried to activate the blood core many times along the way and found that the blood core would show some signs of movement when instilled with more origin power. Qianye formed an spection after many attempts¡ªcould it have entered a dormant state because there wasn¡¯t enough essence blood during its formation?

    Qianye could onlyugh wryly at the thought of this. The terrifying consumption during the formation of his blood core was already enough to shock him. In the end, this frightening amount was actually not enough and forced the blood core into a hibernating state.

    The vampire blood core didn¡¯t just substitute the heart but was also the source of many powerful abilities. But now, Qianye still had no idea just what power this new blood core had brought him. The only tangible upgrade was the strengthening of his vampiric constitution, which had reached apletely new realm. But it would surely be a let down if that were all, considering the terrifying consumption involved in this process.

    Qianye walked for a long while and finally reached the border of the Iron Curtain. There was a thread of clear sky far off in the distance. At this point, he had reached the traditional human territory¡ªthe dark races were far from being able to fight their way here.

    The bloody battle was still in its early phases. The Dark Races weren¡¯t as well prepared and had taken quite a loss during this period. However, the Dark Nation¡¯s overall strength was far superior to the empire¡¯s, and the battle would only grow more intense as they continued to pour in the manpower. The tranquility of this region was hence only temporary.

    Another unit soon appeared over the distant horizon. This squad was made up of a thousand well-equipped men. The dozens of military transport vehicles carrying them, simrly without any insignias, were rumbling toward the war zone.

    Qianye hid himself in a nearby forest and waited for this unit to pass by. There was definitely an expert overseeing the motorcade. A gaze so sharp that it was almost tangible seemed to pierce through the woods. Qianye only felt a chill flit past his body. He became somewhat rmed and retracted his blood energy even deeper.

    That expert scanned the forest a couple of times but, finding nothing abnormal, eventually marched past the forest with the convoy.

    Qianye emerged from the woods after the squad had left. He gazed at the rolling dust with a frown. In that short moment just now, Qianye had keenly sensed blood energy from that expert. There was no way to hide it from Qianye¡¯s True Sight despite the good concealment. Qianye proceeded to observe the convoy attentively and found, to his shock, that there were over a hundred high-ranking vampire warriors hidden within the squad.

    Such a squad of humans and vampires appearing around the borders was extremely abnormal and hence deserving of extra attention. Judging from their route, they would soon encounter the caravan of mysterious cargo trucks, and that was very likely their objective.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t ignore the mysterious caravan since it was probably rted to the Ningyuan Group. With a coldugh and a surge of killing intent, he began tailing the unit led by the vampire expert and followed them all the way.

    This mixed squad moved rapidly and soon intercepted the caravan in the hilly regions outside of the valley¡¯s exit¡ªit seemed they had obtained urate information about thetter¡¯s route. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to go straight for the target like this.

    The caravan fell into momentary disarray after seeing the charging attack squad. A middle-aged man in the caravan said with an ashen expression, ¡°How can there be interceptors here? Goddammit, we¡¯ve been betrayed!¡±

    The people around him wore ugly expressions. It was easy to see that the distant squad was above the caravan in terms ofbat strength.

    The middle-aged man jumped onto the roof and shouted in a loud voice, ¡°Don¡¯t think about running. There¡¯s no way you¡¯ll make it. The enemy won¡¯t leave survivors! Everyone, prepare forbat. We must fight it out with them!¡±

    The mercenaries of the caravan could be considered well trained. They were able to mobilize rapidly despite belonging to several different squads. The caravan was protected in the innermost part while the military transports formed an outer defensive perimeter. The middle-aged man opened the cargopartment on one of the vehicles¡ªit turned out to be a mobile heavy cannon disguised as a cargo truck.

    A fierce battle ensued in the blink of an eye as the heavy cannons began to rumble. The suppressive sound waves echoing across the battlefield were especially shocking. Arge swathe of soldiers would fly out every time the heavy cannon shellsnded. Even the high-ranking vampire warriors would be heavily injured or die on the spot after taking a direct hit.

    At this moment, at the center of the mysterious squad, several figures were standing atop abat vehicle and gazing at the distant battle. Most of them had pale faces and were d in magnificent ancient apparel. The rolling sanguineous hue in the depths of their eyes made it clear that they were high-ranking vampires, the leader being a third-rank viscount. Apart from the vampires, there was also a human. At rank-eight, he couldn¡¯t be considered powerful, but the two vampire viscounts were fairly polite toward him. Apparently, his identity was special.

    Listening to the continuous rumble of the heavy cannons and seeing the assault vehicles explode one after another, the middle-aged man nodded slightly and said, ¡°Such a heavy escort is several times more than the norm. This caravan should be the real one. It seems the news we¡¯ve obtained is unmistaken.¡±

    The leading vampire viscount said with a sinisterugh, ¡°It¡¯ll be clear once we see the goods.¡±

    With that, he performed a hand gesture, prompting another vampire viscount to immediately charge out. Thetter¡¯s speed was abnormally fast as he cut through the battlefield and charged into the caravan¡¯s defensive line. He tore open one of the cargopartments, picked a random crate, and rushed back at lightning speed, tossing the crate onto the ground upon his return. He had entered and left through the mes of battle as though the caravan¡¯s defensive perimeter didn¡¯t even exist.

    This scene caused the mercenaries to despair. They could only shout at the top of their lungs and pour out more firepower in order to slightly reduce the terror in their hearts.

    The crate was duly opened to reveal rows of neatly arranged gun barrels. The human male picked up one of them and observed it in detail before nodding. ¡°This is a barrel for grade-two origin guns. It¡¯s confirmed, these are the goods.¡±

    The vampire viscountughed maliciously and said, ¡°Then what are we waiting for? Time to feast!¡±

    The viscount was just about to give the order when the human said indifferently, ¡°Viscount Karsi, please send the news back first. The sire is still waiting to make a decision!¡±

    Karsi was evidently displeased at being obstructed but still gave somemands ordingly. Momentster, several blood falcons with bright red wing tips soared into the sky and flew swiftly into the distance.

    Qianye looked up at the blood falcons flying overhead and quietly took note of their direction before continuing his hidden advance toward the battlefield. It was already within sniping range, but Qianye didn¡¯t stop there and kept on going forward. It was only when he was within 500 meters that he produced the vampire sniper rifle and fired with a raise of his hand.

    There was no need to aim too carefully at such a distance since it was impossible for one of Qianye¡¯s caliber to miss. The group on thebat vehicle was rmed, but it was toote to evade. All they could do was activate their defensive abilities.

    The origin bullet arrived screaming, but the target of this ambush was rather surprising. Quite unexpectedly, it wasn¡¯t Viscount Karsi and neither was it that seemingly important human. Instead, it was the vampire viscount who specialized in speed.

    That vampire viscount let out a muffled groan as his blood energy was sted open and a fist-sized wound appeared on his leg. Such injuries were nothing to vampires, but his speed would be more or less affected.

    Qianye strode forward after a sessful shot and fired once more. But Karsi was well prepared and sidestepped the bullet. It was just that he had failed to protect his subordinate despite saving himself¡ªa vampire knight behind him was sent flying from the assault vehicle.

    Qianye fired two more shots along the way, but none of them struck Karsi. Thetter utilized the vampire race¡¯s highly unpredictable movements to the utmost, evading three of Qianye¡¯s shots sessively on the small car roof. This went to show just how powerful he was.

    However, Karsi suddenly felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. He nced back and found that only the human male and another viscount remained. All of his other subordinates had been blown away, their fate unknown.

    At this moment, Qianye was only dozens of meters away from the assault vehicle. He sprinted once again and arrived before the car like a phantom. East Peak¡¯s momentum wasparable to a mountain as it hacked down!

 Volume 5 - 424: Muddy Waters

    Chapter 424: Muddy Waters [V5C131 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Karsi immediately felt his scalp go numb when East Peak appeared¡ªa sign of extreme danger. He simply didn¡¯t dare to meet the blow head-on and leaped frantically away from the other two.

    East Peak fell with a crack and directly shed the assault vehicle into two halves. It was as though it were slicing through tofu.

    Karsi was shocked out of his wits. Seeing Qianye rush toward him, the viscount drew his sword to block while shouting loudly, ¡°Norris, pincer attack!¡±

    East Peak arrived with iparable force and twisted Karsi¡¯s sword out of shape immediately upon arrival. He could hardly ward off the attack in terms of pure strength, to speak nothing of the origin power impact.

    Moreover, Norris who specialized in speed failed to assist him in time. The vampire¡¯s movements were as slow as a snail, and he even tripped along the way. Norris nced at hispletely numb left leg, only to discover that the blood flowing out of the wound was actually putrid and dark purple in color.

    ¡°My blood, my blood!¡± Norris was inconsbly terrified.

    Karsi was barely holding out under the raging torrent of blows. It actually took several dozen exchanges before his sword waspletely destroyed and the viscount was pierced through the abdomen. The origin power attached to East Peak suddenly erupted and almost tore Karsi into two.

    The vampire viscount hadn¡¯t diedpletely at this point, but Qianye didn¡¯t have time to deal that final blow. He quickly turned toward the human male who had already fled for some distance. He could clearly see the man¡¯s eight origin nodes with his True Sight, which proved that he was only a rank-eight fighter. But for some reason, he gave Qianye a vague feeling of uneasiness.

    At this moment, the battle ahead was still raging on, and most of the warriors were so invested in the battle that they had no idea what had transpired behind them. But the soldiers cutting off his path weren¡¯t small in number either. Ten-odd vampire warriors and over a hundred human soldiers reacted by surrounding him from all directions.

    Qianye ignored the people around him and thrust directly toward that human male. There were no fancy moves in this strike, but it was fast and hard enough. The best way to deal with such mysterious opponents was to use raw strength to overpower them.

    However, this blow capable of defeating a viscount didn¡¯t faze the man at all. He pressed down on his waist and immediately conjured a faint red barrier which protected him within.

    Qianye only felt as though he had struck an extremely big rubber ball; most of the force was dispersed and failed to reach the target. This sword strike akin to wind and thunder actually failed to break that energy barrier and only sted it away.

    Qianye was a bit surprised. A defensive treasure capable of blocking a sword strike containing eight parts of his full force should be fairly valuable. It seemed the other party¡¯s identity wasn¡¯t ordinary. But why was a person of such status so mediocre in strength, and why were there no expert bodyguards apanying him?

    His heart trembled¡ªfollowing his will, a scarlet origin power barrier emerged around his body to reinforce his origin power defenses. It was at this moment that a person among the ordinary soldiers surrounding him erupted with power and charged toward Qianye. A rapier several meters long and only a finger in width appeared in the man¡¯s hand as he thrust it at Qianye¡¯s back.

    The rapier was as thin as a needle. It broke through Qianye¡¯s origin defenses in one strike and pierced into his back. Even the constitution stronger than a vampire count was rendered helpless in the face of this rapier embodying the extremes of power.

    As the de entered his body, Qianye instinctively twisted his body to avoid vitals and, at the same time, fired at his assant.

    A ¡°ding¡± rang out in Qianye¡¯s body as the thin rapier shot past the heart and struck the blood core! That faint sound was precisely the sound of the de puncturing the heart and stinging the dormant blood core.

    The ambushing expert wasn¡¯t expecting Qianye to react so quickly. With a muffled groan, the man was struck by the Mystic Spider Lily, producing a messy, bowl-sized hole on his chest.

    A shot at such a close distance had barely managed to break the other party¡¯s defenses. The man wasn¡¯t anxious at all even under the current circumstances. He proceeded to pull out his de with great force and caused the rapier to exit Qianye¡¯s body like a venomous snake. Afterward, he shed away.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core finally woke up after being damaged. It was beginning to pulsate.

    ¡°Thump¡­ Thump¡­¡± The dull sound was like a beating war drum and almost suppressed the beat of his heart.

    Qianye didn¡¯t lose his mobility like other vampires after his blood core was injured. On the contrary, he grew ever more ferocious like a wounded beast. At this moment, an uncontroble killing intent surged within his heart, and he couldn¡¯t help but let out a furious roar!

    The blood core started boiling and almost burst into mes. All of the crystalline fragments lit up as countless strands of blood shot out from within.

    At this moment, ayer of faint red appeared on Qianye¡¯s body as hundreds of sanguineous threads shot out and pierced through every warrior within a dozen or so meters. The ambushing expert was the most miserable, having been pierced through by tens of bloody lines.

    The heavily injured Karsi and Norris weren¡¯t able to escape the cmity either and were struck by ten threads each. The remaining high-ranking vampire soldiers all suffered several attacks, while the ordinary human soldiers were only pierced by one.

    The bloody lines retracted immediately after their emergence, their ends stained with the scarlet color of blood. After their return, the blood energy in Qianye¡¯s body shot up to its peak and immediately started to boil. The blood core repaired itself at an unbelievable rate, and the physical injury on his body also closed up rapidly. It regenerated in the blink of an eye until only a faint scar was left behind¡ªand even that was gone after some time.

    That expert¡¯s face was pale, and his aura extremely weak. He looked down at his body only to find ten-odd bloody spots which,pared to the wound from the origin gun, were negligibly small. However, the injuries didn¡¯t seem simple at all. Nine of them were on his nine origin nodes, while his heart and two champion vortices were pierced by numerous bloody threads.

    At this moment, the greater half of his vitality had been robbed, and his origin vortices, destroyed.

    The man raised a finger at Qianye and said in a trembling voice, ¡°You¡­ you¡­¡± He could no longer speak at this point and suddenly copsed to the floor, his vitality extinguished. No one knew just what it was that he wanted to say.

    Like a toppling domino, the expert¡¯s copse was quickly followed by the petrified men around him; all of them had lost their vitality. In the blink of an eye, no one was left standing around Qianye.

    The distant man inside the protective barrier turned pale as he stared at Qianye like he would a ghost. He had managed to avoid that cmity just now because of his distance. Seeing Qianye¡¯s gaze turn toward him, the man finally lost hisposure¡ªhe let out a fearful cry and turned to flee.

    But how could Qianye let such a pivotal character escape? He immediately chased after him with great speed and progressively shortened the distance between them.

    ¡°Save me!¡± the man screamed while running. Qianye became vignt and paid extra attention to his surroundings to avoid ambushes. However, his speed never decreased.

    A military transport charged over from the side at a great speed, aiming for Qianye. The ferocity in his heart hadn¡¯t receded at this moment, and he couldn¡¯t suppress the killing intent upon seeing the vehicle that didn¡¯t know life from death. He let out a thunderous shout and actually crashed right into it.

    ¡°Boom!¡± Qianye¡¯s body was pushed back several meters, and his legs dug deep into the ground, forming two deep trenches. Meanwhile, the transport was sent flying and spun several times in the air before crashing to the ground.

    Qianye strode forth inrge strides and shed right through the car. Fresh blood immediately gushed out amidst the torn metal and formed a bloody mist after mixing with the gushing steam. Apparently, the people inside didn¡¯t survive.

    Dealing with the military transport didn¡¯t take long. He started running once again and soon arrived behind the man, pping him to the ground with a swing of East Peak.

    The barrier was quite strong and managed to block East Peak once again. The man wasn¡¯t injured at all despite falling to the ground. This time, Qianye was prepared. He brandished East Peak and started hacking at the barrier in a leisurely manner. This kind of external origin barrier required an energy supply and would naturally vanish once the stored energy had been depleted.

    The man cried out anxiously, ¡°Stop! Let¡¯s talk nicely! Stay your hand first!¡±

    After several shes, the barrier was fluctuating intensely and appeared to be on the verge of shattering. The helpless man withdrew his barrier and gradually stood up with his hands raised.

    ¡°Have your men cease fire and surrender,¡± Qianye said coldly.

    With East Peak against his neck, the man had no choice but to obey. ¡°Cease fire! Everyone stop fighting and drop your weapons!¡±

    The gunshots soon grew sparse and finally stopped. Apparently, this man¡¯s position was quite high since his orders were immediately executed. Even the surviving vampires didn¡¯t resist and threw down their weapons obediently.

    The captain of the caravan rushed over after a while and was startled upon seeing Qianye. That was because thetter was still wearing a tactical mask at this moment which blocked out most of his facial features.

    However, he quickly understood that Qianye didn¡¯t want to show his face. He bowed deeply and said, ¡°This lowly one is Song Yinian. Many thanks to this Young Noble for saving us. Otherwise, all our goods would¡¯ve been lost here along with several hundred lives. I wonder if Young Noble is willing to expose your name? I will definitely visit you upon my return and express my deep gratitude!¡±

    ¡°Where is this caravan from?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Song Yinian hesitated for a moment before speaking with a wryugh, ¡°This route was supposed to be top-secret, but we were unexpectedly intercepted here. It would seem that we were sold out long ago. Let it be¡­ we are from the Ningyuan Heavy Industries, and these three mercenary squads were hired as supplementary escorts.¡±

    As expected, this caravan was from the Ningyuan Group. It seemed Qianye had made the right choice by intervening. But he still felt rather doubtful, and hence he inquired further.

    Song Yinian was only a middle-rank character in Ningyuan Heavy Industries and had only been following orders this time. All he knew was that he had to deliver these goods to the designated cargo distribution center and nothing about the route after that. He didn¡¯t even know what he was transporting before they were robbed.

    Seeing that Song Yinian couldn¡¯t exin anything clearly, Qianye instructed him to arrange an empty cargo truck and bring the captured man inside.

    Qianye threw the man to the ground after closing thepartment doors and said coldly, ¡°Tell me everything you know. I would advise against making me use my usual methods. No one has ever seeded in keeping their lips sealed in my hands.¡±

    This man appeared to be in his thirties with fair skin and slender eyes. He was fairly calm now that his initial panic had passed¡ªhe mbered up to pat his clothes and proceeded to sit down cross-legged.

    He said calmly, ¡°I see that you charged in midway and have no idea how deep the waters run. With a powerful cultivation at a young age, your future prospects are indeed promising. You must, by all means, avoid wading into these muddy waters. Otherwise, you¡¯ll regret it very quickly.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°You¡¯ll have to exin to me just how deep these waters are.¡±

    The man said proudly, ¡°You¡¯re already in deep trouble for those vampires you killed outside. Those are important characters from the Twelve Ancient ns. They¡¯ll surely never let you off. But if you swear allegiance to me, I can help you suppress this matter. What say you?¡±

    ¡°If their identities are really so shocking, can you even suppress them?¡±

    Facing Qianye¡¯s doubtful gaze, the man said, ¡°Of course, I can. I¡¯m surnamed Li. Young Noble, you should know what that means, right?¡±

 Volume 5 - 425: Plot [V5C132 â€“ A Distance Within Reach]

    Chapter 425: Plot [V5C132 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye pondered for a moment but wasn¡¯t able to recall immediately which top-grade noble family was surnamed Li. Li was a big surnamemon among both nobility andmoners. For instance, Li Pei, who had unfortunately fallen in the Bloody Battle along with his sect uncle, was from the Green Sky Li Family of the Transcendent Continent was also a Li.

    But the two reports delivered by Lone Ghost proved themselves useful at this time. Qianye probed, ¡°It seems the present empress is also surnamed Li?¡±

    That man¡¯s voice immediately rose higher. ¡°Indeed! This lowly one is Li Xu. We can be good friends in the future.¡±

    Qianye suddenlyughed. ¡°The Jingtang Li is the Empress¡¯s family. How can such a stately n be working together with the vampires? Why would such a family rob such a small caravan?¡±

    Li Xu¡¯s expression shifted as he said furiously, ¡°What do you know? It¡¯s not just this caravan.¡±

    Immediately after saying this, Li Xu realized his indiscretion and stopped talking. He then stared fixedly at Qianye and said, ¡°Young Noble is such a young genius. It will be a waste of talent for you to work under me. I¡¯ll rmend you upward upon my return. With your ability and the support of my n, it won¡¯t be too difficult to soar into the sky¡ªeven bing the empress¡¯s helper is not impossible. As for the cooperation with the vampires, I would suggest Young Noble to forget about it for the time being. This is a subject best avoided, and not something you should know for now.¡±

    This Li Xu was indeed good at talking. He was sensible, reasonable, and sounded rather sincere when talking about important matters. Qianye really might¡¯ve been persuaded if he were a person with no connections whatsoever.

    ¡°Do you have anything else to say?¡± Qianye asked as he produced a small leather bag and proceeded to open it, revealing a dozen or so delicate tools within.

    Li Xu¡¯s eyelids twitched after seeing the neatly arranged tools. ¡°These are torture equipment used specifically by the elite corps!¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled because not many people could recognize these things. It seemed Li Xu¡¯s identity was indeed as he had said.

    During the half an hour that followed, Li Xu confessed to everything after just a bit of torture.

    It turned out that the target of their robbery was arge-scale caravan carrying enough equipment to outfit a regr army division, and Song Yinian¡¯s group was only one of the sub-caravans. However, the caravan wasn¡¯t the main objective of the person behind Li Xu. They hadrger ns, and this robbery was only a small part of the big picture.

    But Li Xu¡¯s knowledge was limited. The reason for choosing this target, for instance, and the so-called big plot behind the scene was beyond his knowledge. Li Xu only exined that the current partnership involved the Jingtang Li n and a major power on the dark race side. Reportedly, the ancient n had dispatched a person, and he was an expert of extremely high status.

    However, Li Xu wasn¡¯t clear as to who that person actually was and only knew that the vampires referred to her as the princess. Li Xu¡¯s position in the Jingtang Li n was actually quite mediocre, and he only managed to climb his way up by relying on the kingdom-toppling beauty that was his sister.

    Listening up to this point, Qianye knew that he could get nothing more out of the man. But the address Monroe Princess made it difficult for him to breathe¡ªit was like arge stone pressing down upon his chest.

    Li Xu stole a nce at Qianye while thetter was deep in thought. He smiled cautiously and said, ¡°Young Noble, this lowly one has told you everything he knows. Can you perhaps let me go now? I still have some meager savings on me, and they¡¯re all yours as long as you spare my life.¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed and was still lost in his own thoughts. The present empress¡¯s family colluding with an ancient vampire n was, no doubt, an rming development. Perhaps such matters weren¡¯t limited to the empress¡¯s family¡ªthe other major human powers with connections to the dark races probably weren¡¯t few in number either.

    This was the first time he had discovered just how deep the undercurrents below the Iron Curtain were. In the midst of all this, Qianye and Dark me could easily be torn to shreds if they were the slightest bit careless.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Li Xu asked cautiously.

    Only then did Qianyee to. He nced at the man and said indifferently, ¡°Won¡¯t people arrive to kill me very soon if I let you go?¡±

    Li Xu¡¯s eyelids twitched as he forced a smile. ¡°Impossible. Sire, you jest.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when his sentence was cut short. With a raise of his hand, Qianye had run a de through the man¡¯s heart. Despite his reserved manners, this person was cunning and had a sister who was an imperial concubine. Releasing him would only bring endless troubles. Qianye had no intention to leave Song Zining a troublesome enemy.

    Li Xu wasn¡¯t strong, but the fortune he was carrying was nothing to scoff at. The ten-odd ck crystals he was carrying added a small fortune to Qianye¡¯s empty purse. None of the man¡¯s equipment sparked Qianye¡¯s interest, except that defensive ribbon¡ªnot only was it capable of blocking a heavy blow from East Peak, but it could also be recharged and reused. It was even rarer than the high-ranking defensive tools Qianye had seen back at the Song n.

    But the thing was also quite problematic. It would be quite troublesome if the item was recognized by someone. The Li family wasn¡¯t famous in the empire, but they were definitely not simple. Otherwise, how could they push out the Zhao n¡¯s daughter to ascend the empress¡¯s position? One had to know that it took more than just good looks to secure this seat.

    Qianye walked out of the cargopartment after storing the defensive ribbon into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. Song Yinian immediately came over and said, ¡°Young Noble, the battlefield has been cleaned up, and all the important captives are gathered over there. Do you want to go and take a look?¡±

    Qianye nodded and followed Song Yinian over. A number of vampire corpsesy in a nearby open space, and all of them were high-ranking vampires above the knight level.

    Qianye searched the corpses briefly and found an engraved token on Karsi¡¯s body. It was an itemmonly used to represent the owner¡¯s status among the dark race nobility. It was just that the flower carved upon it was as elegant as an angel¡¯s bugle, yet at its stalk was a depiction of hellish thorns. Qianye felt an indescribable heaviness in his heart.

    Datura, the flower of terror, was the insignia of the Monroe n.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of the Monroe n. It wasn¡¯t as though he had never killed descendants from the Twelve Ancient ns before. However, the insignia inevitably reminded him of the same design he had seen on Nighteye¡¯s weapon and clothes. Moreover, there was no telling whether or not she knew this Karsi.

    As Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s strength gradually increased, their paths were bound to gradually intersect at one point¡ªbut that intersection would likely be on the battlefield.

    These people didn¡¯t have a lot of things that interested Qianye. The only thing he needed at the moment was a vampiric de. Karsi was born of the Monroe n, while the other viscount, Norris, hailed from a small family. The vampiric des on them were both grade-five, but Karsi¡¯s weapon was much higher in quality. But after seeing the eye-catching datura symbol, Qianye opted for Norris¡¯s instead.

    Song Yinian waited patiently on one side and came over only after Qianye had finished his business. He shot a nce at the nearby vehicle and asked with a whisper, ¡°Young Noble, how is that person?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± Qianye replied indifferently.

    Song Yinian¡¯s expression changed slightly but soon recovered hisposure. ¡°Then how should we deal with him?¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment and said, ¡°This person has a great background. It¡¯ll be for the best if we act as though he has never appeared. Do you understand?¡±

    Song Yinian was a sly man. He immediately replied, ¡°Understood! I¡¯ll clean up all the traces and make sure the men don¡¯t speak irresponsibly.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He didn¡¯t stay for long and left quickly.

    Song Yinian watched Qianye disappear from his vision before turning back. A trusted aide approached and asked, ¡°Sire, what shall we do with those captives? They¡¯re quite troublesome!¡±

    Murderous intent shed past Song Yinian¡¯s face. He chopped his hand through the air, indicating that they should all be killed.

    Qianye changed his route slightly and headed toward the designated cargo distribution center. Song Yinian¡¯s caravan was only a small part, which meant that this caravan was much bigger, and the goods they were carrying might even be the entirety of Ningyuan Heavy Industry¡¯s fortune. If there were any mishaps, Song Zining¡¯s many years of hard work would go down the drain.

    Moreover, Song Yinian was intercepted at such a secret route. This meant that the other rendezvous points were no longer a secret.

    But while Qianye was running, he felt his blood core¡¯s pulsations grow sluggish. He was soon ovee by an unstoppable sleepiness, and his eyelids felt as though they were a thousand tons in weight.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± Qianye suddenly cried out in his mind. He recalled that hibernation was a means to elerate regeneration for the dark races.

    Qianye was ambushed by Li Xu¡¯s subordinate, and his blood core was injured. This awoke a terrifying ability which killed everyone in the vicinity and used their essence blood to repair the wound. Apparently, the blood core had decided that it needed to stay dormant to facilitate recovery.

    This was really not the time for sleeping, but the weariness was different from pain in that it greatly impaired his willpower. Moreover, as his second heart, the blood core¡¯s effect on his body was rather significant. He simply couldn¡¯t resist the urge to sleep. He had no choice but to find an isted ce as quickly as possible¡ªthere, hey down and fell asleep immediately.

    At this moment, the blood falcons released by Viscount Karsi had traversed hundreds of kilometers to arrive above a dense forest. There was a camp in the middle of the woods, but it was well-disguised and noticeable only after approaching.

    The specially trained blood falcons descended one after another after recognizing their trainer¡¯s aura. The message they had brought were also removed by specialized staff and sent into therge, central tent.

    There, several people were discussing official matters. A short-bearded middle-aged man scanned the secret message and said, ¡°Viscount Karsi sent word that the goods on his side are real.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions rxed slightly. Another person spoke at this point, ¡°Since the goods on that route are real, then the others naturally won¡¯t be fake, either. Presently, three caravans have arrived at the rendezvous point, and the remaining one isn¡¯t far off. I think we should make our move immediately, lest more troubles arise.¡±

    Another person said with a frown, ¡°I think we should investigate more. That Song Zining is notoriously crafty. There must be something wrong if things are going so smoothly for us.¡±

    The previous man sneered, ¡°Colonel Gu, it¡¯s because of your suspicions that we¡¯ve taken the time to intercept thatst caravan. This has already caused quite the dy. Now, you still think it¡¯s not appropriate? There are so many big shots here with heaps of important things waiting for their attention. When was it the turn of a small colonel like you to give orders? I¡¯ll drive you out if you keep being long-winded!¡±

    The person being reprimanded was Gu Liyu. As an imperial army colonel being rebuked so mercilessly, the man¡¯s face was shifting between white and blue¡ªand inexplicably ugly.

    However, he could only maintain his silence. It was just as that other person had said. Everyone standing here came from shocking backgrounds, and only he was from andowning household. Not to mention a colonel, they wouldn¡¯t treat him well even if he were a brigadier general.

    Gu Liyu¡¯s previous insistence had led to Viscount Karsi and Zhao Xu being mobilized to rob one of the caravans. They would see if that caravan was real before deciding on the follow-up ns. Now that it had been proven that Gu Liyu¡¯s judgment was incorrect, these aristocratic descendants naturally wouldn¡¯t give him any face. Their stance remained the same despite knowing he had some background support.

    Which shocking character from a major n didn¡¯t have some thugs like Gu Liyu?

 Volume 5 - 426: On the Verge

    Chapter 426: On the Verge [V5C133 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    At this moment, the middle-aged man had finished reading the secret message. He said while stroking his short beard, ¡°The other party has sent word that the princess will only stay here for one day and not a second more. With the princess taking action, it''s useless no matter how many reinforcements the Song n arranges. This matter is settled. We¡¯ll take action as soon as the princess arrives tonight.¡±

    Gu Liyu opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t say anything since a thousand reasons wouldn¡¯t be enough to make them listen. His background was humble, but his heart was proud and arrogant. He snorted coldly and left the tent without turning back.

    Naturally, the expressions of those in the tent turned rather unsightly. An energetic youth sneered, ¡°A hired thug thinks he¡¯s really something. It¡¯ll be more appropriate if that Song n member were standing here!¡±

    These words weren¡¯t spoken softly, and it was enough for Gu Liyu to hear clearly. His expression immediately turned more solemn.

    ckflow City, Dark me headquarters. Song Zining was sitting in the study while contemting in silence when a series of mor came through from outside the window and broke his tranquility.

    At this moment, people were rushing through the city in disorder. The fifty-thousand-strong dark race army was already within a hundred kilometers and would arrive within a single day. Although most of them were cannon fodder, it was hardly something a single division could handle. ckflow City had never engaged in a battle of this scale since its founding.

    A big army was pressing down upon them. Most of the adventurers and mercenaries in the city wanted to escape after receiving the news because only death awaited them once the city was breached. However, Song Zining had issued an order in advance to close the main gates and disallow all forms of entry or exit.

    With the battle close at hand, he naturally wouldn¡¯t give the dark race spies any opportunity to send information. Song Zining¡¯s response wasn¡¯t slow, but people were still anxious. Add to that the transfer of Dark me soldiers everywhere to bolster city defenses, the entire city was in a state of constant agitation and flowing rumors.

    Additionally, there were hearsays that the dark race army was here for Song Zining, and that they would retreat if he were handed over.

    This rumor spread rapidly throughout the city. Under normal circumstances, Song Zining¡¯s status was enough to deter anyone from having thoughts about him. But danger was imminent with the big dark race army bearing down upon them. Even if the Song n were to retaliate for handing Song Zining over, that was a matter for the future. If they didn¡¯t, however, the entire poption would be butchered once the city had been breached.

    The rumors started like a prairie fire and spread in the blink of an eye. Eventually, people stopped bothering to check whether the contents were true as their hearts became increasingly unstable and restless. The adventurers and mercenaries in the city started to sh with Dark me soldiers, and the conflict eventually turned into violence.

    Song Zining was sitting silently in the study just as before. Beyond the walls, he could faintly hear the chaotic ruckus of the city. However, he seemedpletely oblivious to everything as he satpletely still. His brows were locked in a slight frown, and no one knew where his thoughts were. After a long while, he got up and poured himself a cup of tea from the long table.

    At this moment, a knock came from the door and in walked Duan Hao. ¡°Seventh Young Master, we¡¯ve already found the dozen or so people who were spreading rumors. As expected, they are all deeply connected to the Nangong family. But there are several others that we can¡¯t confirm at the moment. I¡¯ve already dispatched men to keep an eye on them. What do you think we should do?¡± The strategic point Duan Hao was in charge of was the closest to ckflow City. He hadn¡¯t expected to encounter such a situation soon after being summoned back.

    Song Zining held the zed porcin cup in his hand and allowed the fragrance to fully seep out. He then finished the tea slowly before speaking in an indifferent manner, ¡°Since you¡¯ve found them, just kill them all.¡±

    Duan Hao was momentarily stunned. ¡°Seventh Young Master, this isn¡¯t very appropriate, is it? Some among them haven¡¯t been confirmed as the mastermind.¡±

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°Extreme times call for extreme measures. It¡¯s no longer important whether or not they¡¯re behind this matter. People¡¯s hearts are unstable at the moment. Not to mention hoping for their strength in battle, must I divert my attention to guard my back? Moreover, ten thousand lives will be lost once the city really falls. Don¡¯t you understand such a simple logic?¡±

    Duan Hao had followed Song Zining for many years beforeing to Dark me and understood this seventh young master¡¯s temperament quite well. He knew the angrier thetter was in his heart, the calmer he was on the surface. Merely from Song Zining¡¯s countenance that was as tranquil as still water, one could see that he was already extremely angry. Duan Hao immediately bowed with a rueful smile and left to attend to the matters at hand.

    Momentster in a downtown area of ckflow City, a thin young man was captured by several ruthless Dark me soldiers and pressed to the ground.

    The man wasn¡¯t in much of a panic and, on the contrary, even began to cry loudly, ¡°What right do you have to capture me? Is there stillw and order here?¡±

    An officer sneered, ¡°Deluding the people with lies is a sure way to seek death. Rest easy and be on your way!¡±

    The man finally realized things weren¡¯t looking good when the officer drew his handgun. He shouted while struggling with all his might, ¡°Do you know who this daddy here is? I¡¯m from the Nangong family¡¯s direct line. A lowlymoner like you dares move against me? I¡¯ll kill your entire family!¡±

    The officer pulled the trigger with a coldugh, and arge caliber bullet immediately sted half of the man¡¯s head apart.

    Several of the spectators immediately began to edge back quietly. Such a scene yed out in ten-odd locations throughout the city. Everyone quickly saw the danger, and those whispering idlers immediately lost the greater half of their zeal.

    Song Zining watched the execution scene from one of Dark me¡¯s lookout towers, then instructed Song Hu who was standing behind him, ¡°Set up a banquet today and invite every leading character in the city over. Give an invitation to anyone with strength, regardless of status.¡±

    Song Hu was quite adept at such matters and handled it perfectly. By evening, several dozen men had already gathered in Dark me¡¯s main hall and taken their seats. It could be said that people from all trades had been crammed into a single hall. There were aristocrat representatives, leaders of squads that hade for the bloody battle, as well as mercenary corps leaders. There were even two leaders from ckflow¡¯s underground organizations.

    The two so-called leaders were, in fact, ruffian bosses who had no right to step into Dark me¡¯s gates under normal circumstances. But despite their lowly status, they were like the shadow of the city and grasped no small number of hidden information channels. Thus, Song Zining had invited them over with some coercion.

    The statuses of the dozens of people at the table were extremely different, and it would normally be impossible for them to gather together. Now that they were all present at once, there was a certain degree of awkwardness among them.

    Only when everyone had arrived did Song Zining appear to take his seat. He was wearing Chinese robes on his body, a frivolous smile on his face, and was waving his fan in a leisurely manner. Behind him was an entire row of delicate and sweet-looking maids whose emergence served as a merciless eye-opener for most of the Evernight natives.

    Song Zining raised his wine cup toward everyone and said with a smile, ¡°Since everyone came to grant me this rare honor, this young master will drink first as a sign of respect!¡±

    With that, he emptied his cup and the guests reciprocated in session. Two more toasts were offered afterward. With three cups of wine in their stomachs, the atmosphere at the banquet gradually became more rxed and warm.

    However, some people revealed disdainful expressions. They were all born of aristocracy and viewed Song Zining as an insincere hedonist. A while ago, a lot of news had spread of his brilliance and might, but apparently, it was someone¡¯s ttery.

    Two rounds of dishes followed the three cups of wine as those beautiful maids shuttled back and forth within the crowd.

    Song Zining saw that the time was just right. Only then did he rise to perform a polite bow and said with a smile, ¡°This young master hails from the Song n. I¡¯m sure everyone already knows of this. These big ns all boil down to two things: one is that they find safety in numbers, and the other is that they like face and hold grudges. It wasn¡¯t easy for this young master toe to ckflow City. It¡¯ll certainly be embarrassing if I were to run with my tail between my legs. So, I must hold this city at all costs. I also hope everyone will do their utmost to help.¡±

    After a short pause, Song Zining¡¯s smile grew even more resplendent as he said word by word, ¡°If ckflow City falls, the day of the breach is the day everyone here dies. At that time, regardless of whether you¡¯ve epted money from the Zhang n, the Li n, or the Nangong n, you¡¯ll have no life left to spend it.¡±

    For a short moment, the entire hall was so silent that one could hear a needle drop to the floor, but it was immediately followed by amotion. No one had expected Song Zining to actually say such things. Such a direct, undisguised threat was tantamount to shedding all pretenses and leaving no leeway at all.

    Everyone was shocked and angry in equal measures. Someone cried out, ¡°Song Zining, is your Song n so tyrannical?¡±

    Song Zining replied with augh, ¡°My Song n is indeed tyrannical. Does this sir have a problem with that? In fact, I can be even more tyrannical. Do you want to see?¡±

    The person was exasperated with cold sweat dripping down his forehead. What else could be more tyrannical apart from murdering him on the spot?

    Song Zining nced at everyone in turn, and everywhere his gaze passed, people would lower their heads. The handful of aristocratic descendants among them couldn¡¯tpare at all to Song Zining in terms of status. Regardless of sincerity, they still lowered their heads because anyone with half a brain wouldn¡¯t want to stick out at this time.

    But with so many people here, there was bound to be an unusual person. A small voice broke the suppressive silence. ¡°The Song n handles things in such a despotic manner. Aren¡¯t you afraid of the damage to its reputation once it¡¯s known?¡±

    Song Zining covered his mouth with the fan and chuckled. ¡°You took so much of the Nangong¡¯s money and n to sell out ckflow City entirely. Now, you¡¯re worried about the Song n¡¯s reputation? Don¡¯t you find that odd?¡±

    That person¡¯s expression immediately shifted, and he replied with some difficulty, ¡°The Song Seventh Young Master jests.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the maid nearby produced a dagger and, in a sh of cold light, sent his head flying into the air! The sh was so fast that the man¡¯s body was left in its sitting posture. A fountain of fresh blood gushed out and drenched the guests from head to toe.

    A single drop of blood flew far enough tond on Song Zining¡¯s face. His smile, as gentle as spring water, immediately dazzled everyone like infernal mes.

    The banquet went on untilte at night before it was dispersed. Everyone only found out after leaving that the dark race army had already arrived outside the city and was preparing for a siege.

    After reaching this stage, the people¡¯s hearts grew calmer instead. There was still hope of escaping before the dark race army¡¯s arrival, but now, leaving would only mean death. The four major dark races each had their own specialty, but none of them were weak in terms of speed. A running contest against them in the wilderness was a surefire way to seek death. The human race¡¯s advantage had always been their machines and solid city defenses.

    Defensive preparations in ckflow City had already beenpleted. All of the important defensive structures had been heavily garrisoned and were standing off against the opposing dark race army. The battle could break out at a moment¡¯s notice.

    When Song Hu arrived hurriedly at the study, Song Zining was practicing calligraphy with great interest. A long piece of fine paper hung from atop the wall all the way to the floor. His elbow moved with great fluidity as he inked the words upon the paper¡ªevery stroke felt as though the ng of swords, and sabers would emerge from within.

    ¡°Seventh Young Master, the dark race army is moving. They¡¯ll attack in one hour at most.¡±

    Song Zining responded with an ¡°oh¡± and slowly put down his brush. ¡°It¡¯s about time. Men, help me don my armor!¡±

 Volume 5 - 427: Attack and Defense

    Chapter 427: Attack and Defense

    Chapter 427: Attack and Defense [V5C134 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    A number of maids entered with a set of grey ck-silver armor and helped Song Zining change into it. Momentster, he had donned a set of heavy armor instead of his usual wide-sleeved ancient apparel. He looked exceptionally handsome although his elegant countenance and mild temperament made him appear somewhat weak.

    A maid offered him a brocade case from which Song Zining produced a ck silver mask. The sinister demonic face carved upon it was vivid, lifelike, and clearly the work of a master.

    Song Zining slowly donned the mask which concealed all of his expressions. At this moment, the kindness and elegance on him had disappeared. It was as though a primordial divine soldier had been unsheathed, one who had drunk the blood of countless enemies. The entire room turned cold from the overflowing murderous intent.

    Momentster, Song Zining climbed the city gate tower. There, he had his men arrange a seat and sat upright looking down at the besieging army.

    Soon, the dark race army hadpleted its preparations. A mournful yet vigorous bugle rang out as countless cannon fodder charged toward ckflow City, raising the curtains on this siege.

    Normally, the dark races would start off with a feint to test out the city¡¯s defenses and military strength. However, everyone on the city wall was shocked upon seeing the enemy¡¯s earth-shattering formation and momentum. The so-called fifty-thousand strong army might destroy them in one go even if they were only probing.

    Only Song Zining sat without movement, his face hidden beneath that ck silver mask. No one could see his expressions clearly. Only when the tide of cannon fodder arrived below the city wall did Song Zining raise his hand and waved it forward through the air. His talented attendants immediately performed a gesture and issued the firstmand.

    On the cannon tower in ckflow City, the four stronghold cannons had already been checked and tuned. After receiving the order, the dozens of powerful cannoneers waiting in formation rotated one side of the giant turntable amidst loud work chants.

    The cannon tower shook violently and emitted a world-shaking rumble. A cannon shell hundreds of kilograms in weight escaped the chamber amidst dazzling mes and shot toward the distance. The entire segment of the city wall seemed to sway for a moment.

    Several thunderous roars erupted at the same time on the ckflow City walls, followed by four giant fireballs rising amidst the dark race tide. All cannon fodder within dozens of meters were sent flying, and even the arachne mixed into the formation weren¡¯t spared as their massive bodies were lifted high into the air! Moreover, the dark race warriors closer to the center of the explosion werepletely decimated without even broken arms or limbs remaining.

    After the mes died down, four empty patches had appeared in the dark race tide that filled thend. Moreover, they connected together to form a line and almost cut the entire ck tide in the middle. But this scene passed by in an instant because the number of the dark race cannon fodder was simply too great. The dark tide behind rushed over and quickly drowned out the ck and white dividing lines.

    However, another four rumbles followed very quickly and, once again, left four empty areas amidst the enemy ranks.

    ¡°Oh? Not bad!¡± Song Zining was slightly moved.

    The firepower of the four defensive stronghold cannons had been raised no less than 100% in Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s hands. They weren¡¯t inferior at all even whenpared against small cannons of the newest model. The four giant cannons might even be more powerful If not for the limited capacity of ckflow City¡¯s kic towers.

    Three volleys were fired in the blink of an eye. The men on the cannon tower started to move; three groups of people rotated the turntable continuously as gushing steam covered the entire tower. However, these well-trained men knew what they had to do despite the low visibility.

    Dozens of cannoneers tugged on the chains and hoisted a set of three cannon rounds, which they duly loaded into the open chamber. Immediately afterward, the stronghold cannon¡¯s ammunition chamber was shut, and its armor closed up once again. Under the drive of mechanical power, the cannon was restored to its original position, and its muzzle slowly rose up.

    Outside of ckflow City, the army of cannon fodder had crashed violently into the walls like a ck tidal wave and kicked up a huge upward ssh.

    Those little specks forming the sea-spray were actually individual dark race soldiers. They flew straight for the top of the city wall, with some leaping up with inhuman agility, and others being tossed up by theirrades.

    The cannon fodder came from every race, but all of them had sharp ws capable of piercing into ordinary stone bricks. Hence, the city wall wasn¡¯t too big of an obstacle for them. However, steel armor tes had been installed along the top segment of ckflow¡¯s city walls, and those were impervious to sharp ws. As such, most of the cannon fodder could no longer find a foothold after reaching this point and slid back down one after another. The frantic climbing momentum of the ck tide was momentarily stemmed.

    Meanwhile, the climbing cannon fodder were surrounded and killed by therge force Song Zining had long since set up.

    At this time, the stronghold cannons that hadpleted their reloading started to fire once again, producing more empty spaces within the ck tide. Having lost the advantage on both sides, the attacking momentum of the dark race army slowed down quite a bit.

    In the dark race army, a young demonkin d in magnificent armor said furiously, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the city defenses in Evernight are like a pulp? Does this defense look like a pulp to you? Don¡¯t you dare tell me those stronghold cannons are scrap weapons! Even those in the upper continent human cities only have that much firepower!¡±

    A certain arachne replied, ¡°Sire Luther, our reports show that the stronghold cannons in there are models from over a century ago. Moreover, they¡¯ve been in use for several decades.¡±

    Luther sneered, ¡°You still have the audacity to mention intelligence? Which of us has joined the continental battlefield before? Spiel, is a trash like you questioning my judgment?¡±

    Anger shed across the arachne¡¯s face, but he suppressed it and lowered his head. ¡°I do not dare.¡±

    Luther, however, had no intention of suppressing his anger and continued rudely, ¡°Don¡¯t dare? Why did you re at me just now? It seems your tribe has survived too long!¡±

    The arachne were inherently violent. Spiel, at this moment, could no longer suppress his anger and said with a low growl, ¡°Luther! We¡¯re both first-rank viscounts. Do you think I¡¯m afraid of you?¡±

    The corners of Luther¡¯s lips formed a cold smile as he scanned the high-ranking experts around him. ¡°First-rank viscount? Does rank hold any meaning for things with lowly bloodlines? This is the first andst time I¡¯ll put up with this kind of behavior. From now on, whoever dares provoke me the slightest will have their tribes wiped out. Do I make myself clear?¡±

    There were ten odd experts around Luther wearing furious expressions. However, no one stepped out to challenge him. They all knew that Luther not only possessed tremendous influence, but his personal aplishments on the upper continents were also extremely glorious. Even Spiel had to lower his head unwillingly.

    Luther said coldly, ¡°Take your tribe and attack the city. I¡¯ll forgive your offense if you¡¯re still alive after the city is breached.¡±

    In the face of Luther¡¯s terrifying imposingness, Spiel no longer expressed any doubt or provocation, choosing instead to withdraw in silence.

    Momentster, numerous arachne appeared on the battlefield. Their leader was five meters tall, d in heavy armor, and seemingly impervious to the hail of bullets and shells as he charged toward Song Zining¡¯s tower inrge strides.

    The sprint was extremely violent and fierce¡ªhe ran almost in a straight line, ignoring all his own soldiers in the way. The cannon fodder in his wake were either sent flying or mowed down. This arachne arrived below the city tower in the blink of an eye and let out a roar which pierced into the skies. He then used his hammer which weighed several tons to pound at the door.

    The earth seemed to tremble for a moment, and the entire tower swayed vigorously. Arge dent immediately appeared on the te-reinforced gate as the steam-operated tracks on each side shot up,pletely deformed. Even the city gates reinforced with two meters of armor couldn¡¯t withstand this blow.

    The arachne¡¯s appearance sent the ckflow City defenders into a momentary chaos.

    Song Zining finally got up at this point, during which his maids offered him a long spear they had prepared beforehand. He slowly strode forward after receiving it, a hazy glow emerging on his silver armor and veined patterns shing along his spear. The weapon¡¯s bronze color suddenly faded away to reveal its original appearance¡ªa material akin to gold and jade.

    He walked out of the tower in three steps and arrived above the heavy armored arachne. Immediately afterward, he dropped down like a meteor and smashed ruthlessly onto the enemy.

    Song Zining was almost negligibly smallpared to the arachne¡¯s massive body, but the momentum of his descent seemed to weigh ten thousand tons. The arachne¡¯s limbs gave way as soon as Song Zining¡¯s feet stomped down. The giant spider was actually pressed onto the ground with a loud boom, kicking up a dust cloud several meters tall. The dark race soldiers nearby who didn¡¯t have time to dodge were crushed into meat paste by the falling arachne.

    Song Zining raised his spear and pierced it right into the arachnid body all the way to its hilt. Both the arachne¡¯s sturdy body and his heavy armor were as soft as tofu before this one strike. And despite its iparably powerful vitality, the arachne showed not the slightest sign of movement after it was run through.

    Blood gushed out in all directions as Song Zining calmly removed his spear and rose into the air. The air thirty meters around him was permeated with the bleakness of autumn and filled with a rain of fallen leaves. Bloody light shed across the charging cannon fodder soldiers, turning them into countless pieces of flesh scattered across the ground.

    Song Zining produced a square napkin and wiped the blood off of his spear before leaping back into the city wall at a leisurely pace. The ce where he had stood before had long since turned into and of death, and, even among the remains, not many were whole.

    After returning to the tower, Song Zining suddenly turned back and shot a nce at the dark race army. In that direction stood the arachne Spiel¡ªhis countenance was ashen after seeing the most valiant warrior under his banner ughtered without even a chance to retaliate.

    The sinister-looking ck silver mask stirred an ineffable fear in Spiel as their eyes met. That kind of shuddering feeling was even stronger than when he was facing Luther.

    A mournful bugle rang out once more, signaling the retreat of the ck tide and the end of the first wave of attacks.

    During the days that followed, the dark race army kept ckflow City surrounded on all sides and wouldunch attacks on the city several times each day. Song Zining finally disyed his leadership abilities¡ªthe watertight city defenses sent Luther back in defeat no matter what tactics he employed.

    At the same time, the Song n seventh young master also revealed his iron-blooded nature. All who failed to exert themselves in battle, those harboring evil intentions, or those colluding with the Nangong family were investigated and put to death on the spot. As such, the city fell into a state of unprecedented peace while the fight outside raged on like mes.

    After failing to take down the city, Luther¡¯s original rage transformed into calmness. He understood that he had finally met his match. He continuously mobilized and wore-in the fifty-thousand-strong allied army under hismand¡ªhe attacked the city continuously every day, maintaining pressure on the city and waiting for the opponent to make a mistake. However, Song Zining was like the most precise of machines. There was no opening or mistake, no matter how great the pressure or how long the battle.

    The battle grew more and more remarkable as the two parties, one on the offense and the other on defense, employed their respective strategies. The countless demonstrations of ssic offensive and defensive tactics between the two forces gradually attracted the attention of numerous parties.

    Countless heaven¡¯s proud sons had demonstrated their emerging talents since the onset of the Iron Curtain. The quiet, previously unheard of Song n seventh young master thus rose to fame like the morning star.

    At this moment, in a deserted mountainous forest, Qianye was curled up under the roots of a dead tree and sleeping soundly. A wild wolf walked out of the woods quietly and began to sniff his way over to him.

 Volume 5 - 428: Enigma

    Chapter 428: Enigma [V5C135 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The wild wolf slowed down its pace dozens of meters away from Qianye¡¯s shelter and let out a series of low growls as though it were hesitating. However, the normal azure of the wolf¡¯s eye was currently suffused with ayer of dark red, and its aura was also much more violent¡ªapparently, it had been affected by the Iron Curtain.

    The feral wolf pounced violently toward Qianye, unable to endure its hunger and thirst for blood.

    A sudden change urred at this point. Tens of negligibly thin bloody threads suddenly shot out from Qianye¡¯s body and pierced through the wolf. The bloody threads withdrew immediately after they were shot out, but only one of them carried a red color on its end. Apparently, this feral wolf was already quite short on vitality.

    The wolf fell to the ground with a plop, never to move again.

    Soon, dozens of vicious beast bodiesy around Qianye in an odd circr shape. The remains of snakes, scorpions, and insects, on the other hand, were innumerable. On this grassy piece ofnd, there was no creature with life around Qianye.

    Qianye finally moved after an unknown length of time and slowly opened his eyes.

    He stared nkly at the small patch of grey sky visible through the branches as his senses flowed toward every direction like flowing water. In that short moment, he had already taken in the entire scenery within a hundred meters.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes became suffused with a ripple blue color that was even deeper than before. When True Sight was really opened, the world in his eyes changed once again and switched to an origin power aspect. But this time, he could see more things than before¡ªthe origin power flow and distribution were even more detailed than before. Moreover, there were some fuzzy things in the air which he couldn¡¯t see quite clearly.

    Qianye did his best to rify what those shadows were, but his visual powers had already reached their limit. The harder he tried, the blurrier they became.

    After a momentary daze, Qianye suddenly thought of something. ¡°Howe I fell asleep?¡±

    He immediately woke up in astonishment and sat up straight. He was shocked to find the dense stack of beast and insect bodies around him because their deaths were clearly rted to him. Qianye collected his thoughts and immediately began to inspect his own body.

    His blood core was floating quietly beside his heart and would pulse every once in a while. The trauma it had receivedst time left no scars, and there were runes swimming in and out of the core without any restriction.

    Qianye could recognize his Bloodline Concealment and eye ability runes, but there were two new ones which he didn¡¯t. He touched them with his consciousness and immediately understood the power they contained. One of them was True Sight, but the ability had grown even stronger. The other one was fairly special¡ªit waspletely integrated into the blood core.

    The ability represented by this rune was Life Plunder. It was the ability he had obtained at his advancement to the viscount realm.

    Once activated, Life Plunder would shoot out hundreds of invisible blood threads at nearby life forms and collect their vitality toplement his own.

    This power attack was both attack and defense in one move. Qianye had already experienced its might when he first activated it. Even ordinary viscounts wouldn¡¯t be able to block the focused attack of numerous blood threads. As Qianye grew stronger and stronger, the number, might, and range of his sanguineous threads would increase.

    Life Plunder was effective against crowds, but it wasn¡¯t without limits. Once used, the blood core would need to rest for at least a day before enough energy would be restored for another activation. Additionally, Life Plunder couldn¡¯t be used with allies in the vicinity since it couldn¡¯t differentiate between friend and foe. Otherwise, all of them would be wiped out.

    Now, Qianye knew how those corpses came to be. Most of the dark race bloodline talents were extremely aggressive, and this world was one where the strong devoured the weak. The degree of Life Plunder¡¯s might and ferocity was rare even across the entire Evernight faction. Now, this was a power fitting of a top-grade bloodline.

    Qianye stood up and gradually moved his body. His body was like a rusted machine after so many days of sleep; even the simplest of movements were somewhat shaky. But after a moment of activity, Qianye immediately discovered that every cell in his body contained power akin to a volcano, waiting to break out at a moment¡¯s notice.

    He tried taking a step forward but almost tripped over. He subconsciously reached out to prop himself against arge tree, but the tree immediately copsed as though it werepletely rotten inside.

    Qianye was deeply astonished after discovering that his limb movements were extremely uncoordinated. He realized that the reconstruction of his body following the blood core¡¯s activation could be considered trulyplete only at this point. Knowing that it was useless to rush, he simply assumed abat stance and began practicing the Military Combat Arts right there in the forest.

    Qianye¡¯s body could be considered much more mobile after a set of punches and kicks¡ªat least, he was no longer staggering when he walked. He simply repeated thebat arts time and again in order to limatize to his new body.

    Qianye finally grasped control of his body after a dozen or so sets. He brought out East Peak and performed the basic sword techniques repeatedly. After several hours of exercise, Qianye finally reachedplete adaptation.

    He brought out an origin sundial to check the time and direction before deciding to continue toward his original destination. Many days had passed by, and it might already be toote even if he were to arrive. However, he still wanted to go and see because he felt something about this entire business was fishy.

    Hundreds of kilometers ofplicatedndscape was only a couple of day¡¯s journey for the current Qianye. He arrived at the designated location one dayter.

    The caravan¡¯s assembly point was also within a hidden valley. All that Qianye saw upon his arrival was a field of carnage with corpses strewn across the ground and not a living soul in sight.

    Even though he had long since understood this oue, he still felt furious after witnessing this scene. What surprised him was that the scene wasn¡¯t cleared away or destroyed. One could see that the caravan assembling here contained over a hundred trucks, and the guard force numbered in the hundreds. But now, all of the guards and mercenaries had turned into corpses.

    Qianye saw little traces about the valley¡ªmost of the caravan staff and soldiers had fallen with a surprised expression. It seemed they didn¡¯t even have the chance to retaliate.

    Qianye frowned as he shuttled through the scene of battle. His gaze eventually fell upon a certain mercenary corpse¡ªthis person was an expert while he was still alive, but his expression was frozen in the pain and terror of that moment before his death.

    Qianye walked over and examined the mercenary. From the traces of origin power left in his origin nodes, he was likely a rank-nine fighter before his death. Such a person would be a baron on the other side and could already be considered a high-ranking noble, albeit barely. He was very likely the leader of this guard squad, but his expression was as though he had suffered extreme terror and shock before his death.

    Just what could¡¯ve made such a veteran soldier lose hisposure on the battlefield?

    Qianye cut open his clothes and checked his body but found not the slightest bit of injury. He pondered for a moment before activating his Eye of Truth, whereupon he found vague signs of darkness origin power umtion around the heart.

    Qianye cut open the man¡¯s chest with a swing of his dagger. There, he found that the heart had been reduced to a clump of meat paste¡ªthe organ seemed to have been crushed and thoroughly fragmented by some immense force.

    This power caused Qianye¡¯s heart to beat faster because it was simr to his own eye ability. It was able to prate surface defenses and directly attack important organs like the heart or blood core. Directly crushing a rank-nine warrior¡¯s heart meant that the assant¡¯s control of this power was much better than Qianye¡¯s own.

    Qianye checked a number of other corpses and found that basically all corpses rank eight and above died of a crushed heart.

    After the post-mortem, Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon the cargo trucks. He suddenly realized where the feeling of peculiarity hade from¡ªarge number of undamaged cargo trucks had been abandoned here. These vehicles were rare goods on Evernight Continent, and there was no reason to leave them here. Unless, of course, they found it too troublesome to remodel the cars and were afraid of them being recognizedter on.

    In truth, there were so many grey channels on Evernight Continent. What was this bit of trouble in the face of a fortune? Moreover, they might not want the cars, but what about the goods on them?

    Qianye leaped onto a truck, retrieved a crate, and opened it. It was filled with ck stone¡ªamon fuel ore and the most abundant mineral on Evernight Continent. It was somon that even ordinary civilians could afford them, and so cheap that no one was willing to excavate the smaller ore veins anymore.

    The upper continents mined ck stone ore mainly for the apanying ck crystals and other rare minerals.

    This caravan, from its trucks to its guard squads, could only be considered grand. So, why was it shipping ck stone? Qianye flipped the crate over and poured out all of its contents but still found nothing special. The entire crate was only filled with ck stone.

    Qianye opened several other crates and found that they were all filled with ck stone. There was no need to check further because all of them were surely filled with the same ore¡ªthat was why they had been abandoned here.

    Qianye checked his surroundings and silently calcted the scale of this caravan. Then, using Song Yinian¡¯s caravan as a reference, he found that at least half of the entire caravan was filled with ck stone. This meant that Ningyuan Heavy Industry¡¯s losses had been decreased by half.

    At this point, Qianye had also found that something was off. Song Zining had always handled business in a watertight manner. A huge shipment of ck stones being used to fill the numbers indicated that this was a trap he had set for someone else. But the proportion was really quite steep¡ªignoring the others, Song Yinian¡¯s caravan was actually carrying a genuine load of origin guns.

    Just who was Song Zining nning to deal with? And which expert was capable of bursting the hearts of so many experts?

    Nighteye¡¯s figure popped up in Qianye¡¯s heart, but he suppressed the notion instinctively. He could only identify her as part of the Monroe n from the insignia on her clothes. Apart from that, he knew nothing about her¡ªand he didn¡¯t want to know more, either.

    There were no familiar faces among the corpses. Song Yinian¡¯s group wasn¡¯t present either¡ªhe probably wouldn¡¯te here to throw his life away unless he was excessively dumb. But the man should¡¯ve informed hisrades after encountering a setback. Judging from the scene here, however, the warning had no effect at all.

    There were many suspicions in Qianye¡¯s heart, but there was no way to solve them before meeting Song Zining.

    Having finished his inspection of the battlefield, Qianye prepared to leave the ce. The implications of this case were simply too great¡ªamong those he knew, not only the vampire Monroe n but even the empress¡¯s family was involved. Qianye had no idea where Song Zining was, but he felt a vague sense of uneasiness.

    He had yet to leave when sounds of a confrontation were heard up ahead; it was a standoff between two parties.

    One of them was made up of several dozen men. Their apparel was mixed, but it was clear that they consisted of people from the Song n, the expeditionary army, and mercenaries. Meanwhile, the other party only had ten or so people, a uniform Bai nbat squad.

 Volume 5 - 429: War Zone

    Chapter 429: War Zone [V5C136 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    A beardless, middle-aged man from the Song n was shouting with an angry expression, ¡°Ie on orders of the Song n elder assembly to conduct official business! Friends, why are you blocking the way? I¡¯m quite familiar with your Bai family¡¯s attendant Bai Lu.¡±

    ¡°Bai Lu?¡± The Bai n squad¡¯s leader sneered, ¡°The Bai n has thousands of such attendants. Who knows which one of them is your so-called Bai Lu? This region is now the Bai n¡¯s war zone, and no one is allowed entry without permission. This applies even if a heavenly monarch arrives.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Brother, your words aren¡¯t giving our Song n face. Let me remind you, an important caravan from the Song n has encountered an ident up ahead. Howe the Bai n has sealed the area immediately after this happened? Unless perhaps you¡¯re rted to this matter?¡±

    The Bai n leaderughed loudly and said with a smile, ¡°Stop trying to frame this daddy! Your Song n¡¯s misfortune has nothing to do with our Bai n. Do you think you can shift the me just by pping your mouth? Let me tell you, this daddy here is definitely going to block this road. Go and report this to anyone you want. Start fighting if you¡¯re dissatisfied. Walk over this daddy¡¯s corpse!¡±

    The Song n middle-aged man waspletely livid. He retorted furiously with a wave of his sleeve, ¡°A stately n member speaking like a bandit!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s still better than your Song n cowards who can only yap and not dare take action!¡±

    These words quickly infuriated the Song n group, but they could only suppress their anger no matter how indignant they were. Not to mention a fight, no one even dared talk back.

    In this bloody battle, the direct subordinates of the major ns understood each other¡¯s situation quite clearly, and it was inevitable that the dispatched private soldiers would be differentiated by power. The Zhao n¡¯s units were the most elite, but the Bai n¡¯s men were also powerful. Although they couldn¡¯tpare to the Zhao in terms ofbat strength, their victories were numerous.

    Comparatively, the Zhang n didn¡¯t quite shine¡ªthey were quite mediocre both in number and quality. But no one dared belittle them, especially when it was rumored that the newly ascended heavenly monarch Zhang Boqian hade to Evernight to oversee matters. It was enough to extinguish most of the thoughts certain parties were entertaining.

    The Song n squads were the greatest in quantity, but the percentage of mercenaries was also the biggest. No small part of the teams was assembled on short notice, and the members were mostly mercenaries and adventurers. Such a mixture of good and bad men naturally wasn¡¯t as cohesive during crucial moments as the private soldiers nurtured by the ns.

    The Bai n seemed to have fewer men in this confrontation, but they might not lose if a fight were to break out. Moreover, Qianye had already noticed that the Song n people were timid and had no will to fight¡ªthey wouldn¡¯t be wasting so many words otherwise.

    Things had be a stalemate at this point. The Song n middle-aged man eventually spoke some harsh words and left with his team. Apparently, they looked somewhat dejected. The Bai n men, on the other hand, broke into heartyughter without giving them any face and didn¡¯t forget to add some sarcastic remarks.

    The squad moved forward along its patrol route after forcing the Song n unit away. However, they hadn¡¯t gone far when the leader sensed something odd¡ªthe surroundings were a bit too quiet.

    ¡°Halt and stay alert!¡± The captain issued such an order, but his eyes immediately widened after turning back. Only half of his men remained, and it was a mystery when the other seven or eight had vanished.

    Even the ones standing were wearing lifeless expressions and seemedpletely unresponsive to the captain¡¯s orders.

    Arge bead of sweat rolled down the captain¡¯s forehead, but he managed to calm down with some difficulty. He shouted, ¡°You lot, what¡¯s the matter? Didn¡¯t you hear what I just said?¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t hear anymore.¡±

    Those soldiers suddenly went limp and fell down gradually, revealing Qianye¡¯s figure behind the squad.

    Astonished, the captain drew his gun with a swoosh and aimed it at Qianye. ¡°Who are you? You actually dare touch our Bai n¡¯s squad? Are you tired of living?¡±

    ¡°Bai n? Heh, I happen to be looking for people from the Bai n.¡±

    With a slight move of his hand and a series of afterimages, the origin gun in the captain¡¯s hand mysteriously appeared in Qianye¡¯s grasp. The man did his utmost to pull the trigger but only managed to press empty air¡ªonly at this point did he realize that there was nothing in his hands.

    What speed! The captain drew in a breath of cold air. Before the captain could even react, Qianye had lifted him up by the neck and smashed him into a giant tree.

    Only a muffled groan was heard as the captain¡¯s body disappeared into the tree. The two men were over ten meters away from the tree just now, but Qianye had carried him over in a single step. Merely bumping into the tree would be quite damaging at such a speed, not to mention being directly smashed in.

    The captain couldn¡¯t endure this impact despite possessing the power of a rank-nine fighter and being only one step away from bing a champion. He coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood as dozens of bones fractured throughout his body.

    ¡°Why are the Bai n people here? Who had arrived? Tell me everything you know, and I might let you live.¡±

    The captain was embedded within the tree and couldn¡¯t move at all. He let out a ¡°heh¡± after hearing these words and shot a mouthful of blood at Qianye¡¯s face. ¡°Kill me if you have the guts. It¡¯s useless to try and get words out of me. If I die here, the experts of the n will naturally avenge me. At that time, your entire family will die a gruesome death. The men will be cut up and fed to the dogs, while the women will be sold to the ck brothels and yed to death.¡±

    Qianye dodged, and his brows rose slightly as he said with a cold voice, ¡°You¡¯re unexpectedly quite tenacious. But unyielding people only tend to die a slower death in my hands. Since you hate me so much, then I¡¯ll let you continue for a while longer.¡±

    With that, Qianye reached out to pat the captain¡¯s body a couple of times, causing the man¡¯s face to immediately turn red. He shouted frantically, ¡°You shattered all my origin nodes! You¡¯ll die a horrible death!¡±

    Qianye casually snapped off a piece of wood, rammed it into the captain¡¯s mouth to stop his crazed swearing, and then left. But he didn¡¯t go very far. Instead, he found a lush, ancient tree and leapt into its crown where he waited in hiding for more Bai n people to arrive.

    This little squad had a fixed patrol path. There would surely be peopleing to investigate now that the entire unit had gone missing. It was fine even if the new arrival was too strong and Qianye couldn¡¯t take action against them. This captain¡¯s origin nodes had all been shattered, and he would probably live only another day or so¡ªit was useless even if they rescued him.

    As expected, another Bai n unit appeared about an hourter. This squad contained about twenty men, and the leader was a champion.

    His rapid steps came to a sudden halt as he nced toward the crown of an ancient tree. That was where Qianye had been hiding a moment ago, but the tree waspletely empty when the champion nced over and there wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of movement.

    ¡°You two, go over there and check. You three, climb up that tree and search for clues.¡± That champion didn¡¯t let go of the abnormal sensation and assigned several soldiers to fan out toward every direction.

    The climbers returned very soon and naturally had nothing valuable to report. Only a soldier who specialized in smell reported that there was a peculiar odor on the treetop, but he couldn¡¯t tell what it was.

    The champion¡¯s expression turned serious. This information was worthless because any bird could¡¯ve left behind a smell, but there had been a faint uneasiness in his heart since the very beginning. He felt that there was something odd about that tree top.

    At this moment, the champion realized that the soldiers he had sent forward hadn¡¯t reported back. He immediately turned back with a solemn expression and said, ¡°Prepare forbat!¡±

    Upon turning back, however, he realized that most of the soldiers behind him had copsed, and the ones still standing followed suit as a shadow flickered around them.

    After dealing with these soldiers, Qianye appeared beside the champion like a ghost and delivered a palm strike. The man was actually quite fast with his reaction as he raised a shield to meet Qianye¡¯s blow.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were a deep blue at this moment. The champion¡¯s movements in his eyes were significantly slower, and his flow of origin power waspletely visible, along with the hundreds of openings all over his body. Moreover, even if there weren¡¯t any openings, Qianye was quite confident that he could produce some in meleebat.

    But Qianye was toozy to use any special moves against this weak champion with a shaky foundation. His hand didn¡¯t deviate at all and mmed right into the shield, poised to suppress the enemy with his peerless strength.

    The champion¡¯s legs gave way as he fell kneeling to the ground with blood spurting out of his mouth. His shield arm was still raised high above his head¡ªit wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to put it down, but that his body was already petrified and couldn¡¯t move at all.

    Qianye¡¯s left hand turned into a fist, from which a slender finger flicked out. The air was suddenly filled with the crisp sound of thunder as several indiscernible air-shots flew toward the other Bai n warriors who hade running from the side.

    The soldiers were all wiped out without exception, leaving only the champion.

    Qianye stood firmly before the man and reached out to pat his shoulder. ¡°Now, answer my questions and I might just let you live.¡±

    The man¡¯s face was initially full of dread, but he became much calmer instead after discovering that all of his men were dead. A faint hope for survival appeared within his eyes. It turned out that Qian Bo was an expert with neither background nor status who had submitted to the Bai n along the way. Being able to break through to the champion rank was already a heaven-defying fortune.

    He wasn¡¯t as loyal to the Bai n as the previous captain. Qianye hadn¡¯t even threatened the man when he spilled all the beans and told him everything he knew. Very soon, Qianye heard a rather unexpected name.

    ¡°Bai Longjia? He¡¯s here?¡± Qianye was a bit startled. With Bai Longjia¡¯s rate of advancement, he was probably past the Iron Curtain¡¯s safe line by now.

    ¡°General Bai will take charge of military affairs in this war zone. That was an order we received just a while ago.¡±

    ¡°War zone?¡± Qianye frowned ever so slightly.

    ¡°It is, indeed, a war zone, and it was designated very recently.¡±

    Momentster, Qianye let Qian Bo leave after realizing that there was nothing more he could glean from the man. Just as Qianye had expected, the champion didn¡¯t return toward the Bai n base but instead headed in the opposite direction, apparently to escape punishment. With his strength, he could easily find another powerful backing on the upper continents and live afortable life.

    The present situation had grown even moreplicated. The Bai n had set up a war zone at this exact time, and they had even transferred Bai Longjia over. It was unknown whether this was on the imperial military¡¯s orders or the Bai n¡¯s own movement. Regardless of that, a mere Ningyuan Heavy Industries caravan was definitely not enough to pique their interest.

 Volume 5 - 430: News

    Chapter 430: News [V5C137 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The waters were muddy enough with the Monroe n and the empress¡¯s family, but now there was another Bai n. Qianye had no idea what they were scheming, but he certainly had no wish to be a part of it. It was just that he had been hunted by Bai Kongzhao over thousands of kilometers and he wasn¡¯t one to stay silent after being bullied¡ªthese two Bai n squads can be considered a tiny bit of interest taken in advance.

    But Qianye¡¯s heart sank when he heard Bai Longjia¡¯s name and recalled Wei Potian saying this person knew about his possession of blood energy. Presently, Qianye was confident that he could hide the fact with the Combatant Form and Bloodline Concealment¡ªBai Longjia had also let him off back then. That being case, Qianye decided to refrain from making this matter any bigger.

    After some calctions, he realized that his hunting expedition had gone on for too long and couldn¡¯t help but wonder about the situation in ckflow City. Qianye quickly figured out the direction and soon left the Bai n war zone and Iron Curtain far behind.

    Bai Longjia appeared at the scene before half a day¡¯s time had passed. At this moment, not only were his eyes asionally releasing a lightning-like radiance but the aura around him had also retracted entirely¡ªit was almost non-existent. His temperament no longer possessed the de-like sharpness from back then and had instead be deeply profound.

    Although this area was close to the Iron Curtain¡¯s borders, Sky Demon¡¯s avatar could appear at any moment. Bai Longjia being able to stand under the curtain with his high cultivation attracted gazes of admiration and envy from the surrounding Bai n soldiers.

    Bai Longjia checked the corpses one by one, not sparing even the most ordinary of warriors. Over an hour had passed by the time he had finished examining everyone. He finally arrived before the captain who¡¯d been embedded into the big tree and stood there silently for quite a while.

    This captain had long since perished, but there was still some lingering vitality in his eyes. The man loosened thatst breath he had been hanging onto as Qianye left, unable to endure any longer.

    Bai Longjia pondered for a moment before peering deep into the captain¡¯s pupils, lightning blossoming gradually within his own eyes. With that, he spied a certain figure in the depths of those lifeless pupils.

    The figure was somewhat blurry, but it was clearly a human. At least his basic attributes had no dark race aura to them. That person was fairly young and, despite the tactical mask, his handsome qualities were visible through his silhouette and posture.

    Bai Longjia observed for a while before shaking his head in secret. The assant was exceptionally cautious and had kept the mask on all along. Moreover, the shadow was really too fuzzy to be of any help.

    After a moment of silence, Bai Longjia asked, ¡°Has Qian Bo returned?¡±

    ¡°Captain Qian is missing. He didn¡¯t leave any items or messages at the scene either.¡±

    Bai Longjia said coldly, ¡°He¡¯s likely divulged our Bai n¡¯s secrets and doesn¡¯t dare return for fear of being punished. Men, issue a wanted notice for Qian Bo.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± His aide responded. ¡°General Bai, have you found the murderer?¡±

    Bai Longjia nced at the corpse embedded within the three and said indifferently, ¡°What¡¯s the use even if I find him? I can¡¯t take action under the Iron Curtain, and you lot will only be throwing away your lives even if you catch up to him. Unless my sisteres over, we can only wait until the Iron Curtain ends.¡±

    The aide was startled momentarily because he hadn¡¯t expected Bai Longjia to assess this person so highly. He asked after a moment of hesitation, ¡°Then, shall we have Miss Bai Konghzao take a look?¡±

    Bai Longjia immediately sneered, ¡°Her? We¡¯ll have to thank the heavens if she doesn¡¯t make more enemies for the Bai n.¡±

    The aide lowered his head and didn¡¯t dare say anything else. Seeing that Bai Longjia had no other instructions for him, the man left to oversee the cleanup of the scene and collect the remains. Meanwhile, Bai Longjia remained motionless in front of the captain¡¯s corpse for a long while.

    Qianye, at this moment, had already left the Iron Curtain and entered human territory. His aim was to reach a city with an airship port. Thend he was on belonged to the Sky River County and the closest traffic hub city was the county capital. He was unexpectedly able to buy a second-hand motorcycle from a passing merchant caravan which allowed him to hurry toward his destination at lightning speed.

    Only then did Qianye knew the definite time¡ªit turned out that he had slept for an entire five days. But from the clues he had found in the valley, he wouldn¡¯t have arrived in time to help the Ningyuan Heavy Industries caravan even if he hadn¡¯t slept at all. Moreover, the caravan seemed to be a trap of some sort, and he might¡¯ve ruined Song Zining¡¯s arrangements if he had really taken action.

    The walls of Sky River City soon appeared in his vision. The defenses here were reinforced due to its proximity to the Iron Curtain, but the overall atmosphere in the city was much calmer. Qianye didn¡¯t go to the airship port directly. Instead, he went around the city to collect thetest news and replenish his supplies.

    The Ningyuan Heavy Industry¡¯s matter was tainted with oddities. After finding out the identities of those involved, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but worry about Song Zining¡¯s situation even if the entire business were a set-up. But he simply had no idea where his friend was. As the city closest to the scene, there would surely be some news here about major incidents in the vicinity.

    Qianye passed by a certain side street and noticed an unremarkable little tavern at the corner.

    Home of Hunters!

    This immediately evoked countless memories. The Hunter¡¯s Home was undoubtedly one of the best ces to start if it was news he wanted.

    Qianye pushed open the tavern doors and walked in. The establishment wasn¡¯t very big, but the main hall, which also served as the lounge, was pretty big. A dozen or so hunters were sitting around the few tables on the side, drinking and chatting. Several among them were bandaged and their injuries had yet to heal¡ªit was apparent that they had just returned from the wilderness.

    The hunters¡¯ topic of discussion naturally involved the popr bloody battle. They were either boasting their aplishments or discussing the contributions they had just exchanged. The rewards in this bloody battle were indeed quite generous and they were open to everyone. It would seem these hunters had gained quite the profit.

    Contrary to mercenaries, most hunters focused on killing dark race members and possessed higherbat strength.

    All eyes fell upon Qianye as he walked into the tavern. A number of them started whistling as they gazed at the exceptionally beautiful youth.

    Qianye ignored them and headed straight for the counter. There, he produced a vampiric fang and ced it on the counter. ¡°I want some supplies and news.¡±

    The entire tavern was filled with gasps as the fang was brought out. The hunters all had fairly good eyesight and immediately realized that the fang belonged to a blood esquire¡ªthat was not an enemy ordinary hunters could deal with. In any case, it was not a problem for such a person to beat up ten of them.

    The expression of the middle-aged man behind the counter shifted ever so slightly. He calmly put away the vampiric fang and gestured to the apprentice behind him to retrieve the goods from the storeroom. He then asked Qianye, ¡°News from which field?¡±

    ¡°The most recent, and the most important.¡±

    The middle-aged man nodded as he passed over some papers.

    Qianye was startled the moment he started reading. The papers recorded some of the most important events that had taken ce in the recent period. The most eye-catching piece of news was that the empire had, for some reason, decided to officially announce the bloody battle score rankings and update it once a month.

    Even one as insensitive as Qianye knew that the rankings would immediately produce big waves throughout all levels of the empire. There was bound to be something deeper behind this act.

    Announcing the scores of the major n to the public was tantamount to letting everyone see the rtive superiority between them. The bloody battle was limited to those below the count level. But no matter the excuse, a low ranking would at least prove that the n¡¯s offspring werecking and that their foundations were empty.

    This no longer had anything to do with tactics and trickery, but the prestige of the aristocratic ns.

    The word prestige was iparably important to the major ns. On the short term, it would affect the number and quality of the people joining them whereas, in the long run, it would affect the bnce of power and distribution of benefits.

    A grand, high-ranking n failing to perform as expected would immediately draw the attention of ambitious people. After all, aristocracy and titles weren¡¯t just empty nominations¡ªespecially those of the direct branch¡ªeach signified thousands of kilometers ofnd, boundless wealth, and even influence in court.

    This was especially true for ns with feuds. They were even less willing to lose out to their rivals.

    The various major families actually had their own rankings in the people¡¯s eyes, and it would greatly damage their fame once a significant deviation was seen. Thus after the publication of rankings, the aristocratic ns could no longer hold back just to save face. Even if they wanted to save their powerful hidden aces, they would still have to keep up appearances quite proactively.

    Under such situations, establishing one¡¯s might would be the more viable option. It was just as Zhao Yuying had told Qianye¡ªthe Zhao n nned to prove their power in this bloody battle and intimidate the petty thieves.

    Qianye continued reading and found thetest version of the rankings, listed up to the one-hundredth rank.

    These rankings were quite unexpected. The Song n was still leading the board but was merely a few thousand points ahead of the Bai n in the second ce¡ªonly a few hundred warriors in difference. The four major ns and the imperial family were all in the top-ten, but the Zhang and Zhao were ranked pretty low at seventh and ninth respectively.

    Qianye¡¯s heart leapt slightly when he recalled the points he had handed in. Judging from the numbers, it seemed his contributions made up one-fourth of the n¡¯s score. Without that portion, the Zhao n might¡¯ve dropped out of the top-ten by now.

    As one of the four major ns, they couldn¡¯t let themselves drop out of the top-ten no matter how much they wished to conceal their strength. Did something happen on Zhao Jundu¡¯s side?

    Among the other aristocracy, the Kong family had emerged as a new power and secured the third ce with the Nangong family following close behind.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze became more focused as he flipped through the other pages. The waters of the imperial upper echelon were truly muddy. Registering his contributions under Zhao Yuying¡¯s name was only to help her realize her wish¡ªQianye had no interest in the Zhao n¡¯s rankings.

    The contents of the next page immediately shocked him out of his wits because most of it was rted to ckflow City. News from such a small border city reaching this ce across thousands of kilometers meant that something big had happened.

    Qianye read the first line and couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief. Song Zining was actually back in ckflow.

    During the outset of the bloody battle, fights between the humans and dark races would mostly take ce in the wilderness. The battle at ckflow City was the firstrge-scale battle between the two armies. Moreover, it was iparably brilliant. Information regarding the generals from each side, First-Rank Demonkin Viscount Luther and Song Zining, the seventh young master of the Song n, were being dug up continuously.

    Qianye had no time to ponder why Song Zining was in ckflow City during the Ningyuan caravan¡¯s mishap asthe information that followed made it difficult for him to contain his anger¡ªthe results of the recent battles and theparison between their current military strengths.

 Volume 5 - 431: Return Journey

    Chapter 431: Return Journey

    Chapter 431: Return Journey [V5C138 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Zining¡¯s aplishments could be considered glorious. He had beheaded numerous dark race viscounts throughout this campaign. However, such aplishments weren''t normal because Evernight wasn¡¯t an upper continent¡ªthere was little sense in capturing a city here. How could a small city like ckflow with its scarce resources attract such arge army?

    The dark race¡¯s intentions were easy to read. Luther¡¯s meticulous tactics made clear his intentions to capture the general alive. That was because there was no absolute advantage on the battlefield, and capturing a champion was even more difficult than killing him. Meanwhile, in the eyes of the dark race upper echelons, anyone not an expert was cannon fodder. They wouldn¡¯t flinch no matter the casualty.

    That which had stirred the most enthusiastic discussions in histest battle was his guard squad. Despite consisting entirely ofdies, itsbat strength wasn¡¯t at all inferior to those of imperial generals. But what Qianye saw behind these alluring rumors was an iparable danger because this meant that Song Zining¡¯s hidden aces were being flipped one after another.

    Luther was currently receiving a constant stream of reinforcements. His forces after the series of major battles were growing stronger instead of weakening. On the contrary, there was neither reinforcement nor replenishment for Song Zining no matter how many dark race experts he killed. Both supply and manpower would decrease after each battle. He would surely lose after a certain period no matter how skilled he was in military operations.

    Qianye was more astonished than he was angry at this point. As an important vanguard of Trinity River County in this bloody battle, ckflow City should¡¯ve received reinforcements unless it was taken down in one go.

    Ignoring the faraway forces, there were still several divisions in Trinity River County, and it was impossible for them to not know the consequences of ckflow City¡¯s demise. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have offered up a fully equipped battalion each beforehand. So, why were they holding back their troops now that ckflow was in dire straits?

    Most of the expeditionary army divisions were local tyrants. They might be somewhat inferior in fighting power, but they weren¡¯t fools. It was impossible for them to not understand the principles of mutual dependency. Moreover, Song Zining¡¯sbat strength was so powerful¡ªas long as there were reinforcements, the dark race army would have no choice but to weigh the consequences of being attacked on two sides. There was no way they could calmly maintain a siege for over ten days.

    Taking a step back, the Song n also hadbat squads entering the Iron Curtain. There was no way they would ignore him under such circumstances since Song Zining was the second heir in name. If by some chance he were to be captured by the dark races, the Song n¡¯s prestige would take a huge hit regardless of the reason.

    However, ckflow City simply had no reinforcements.

    The apprentice returned with arge tactical backpack which the middle-aged man ced beside Qianye. ¡°This is the best set of wilderness gear we have, replete with supplies, tools, and ammunition. Do you want to exchange something else with the remaining quota?¡±

    Qianye looked up from the paper and said, ¡°This news. I want more details on it.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression changed after a nce.

    ¡°Whatever is left of the quota will go to you,¡± Qianye said. ¡°I want to know why ckflow City didn¡¯t get reinforcements.¡±

    The middle-aged man wrote something on the exchange ledger and said with a smile, ¡°This news is quite well-known in private channels. In truth, you could¡¯ve obtained the information quite easily over there. Despite that, I can¡¯t return the items to you.¡± The remaining quota was still an extraordinary amount, an unexpected fortune for the man.

    After that, the middle-aged man told Qianye everything he knew and even offered his personal opinion.

    It turned out that the Nangong family¡¯s regr division was already quite close to ckflow City. Moreover, they hadpletely locked down all passages there and had spread word that anyone who dared to reinforce ckflow would be considered an enemy.

    The expeditionary army divisions didn¡¯t dare move under the Nangong family¡¯s threat. But in truth, it was useless even if they did mobilize because the Nangong family¡¯s regr division contained countless experts. Several expeditionary army divisions working together might not even be able to beat them, not to mention the fact that the old monster, Nangong Yuanwang, was overseeing this operation.

    Although an expert so close to the level of divine-champion couldn¡¯t take action under the Iron Curtain, his fame was enough to deter everyone from stroking the proverbial tiger¡¯s whiskers. Even if the generals from the expeditionary headquarters were to arrive personally, they would still have to weigh the pros and cons.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was devoid of joy after listening to the news. However, his blood core began to pulse slowly.

    Ba-dump!

    Everyone in the tavern heard the sound akin to a deste war drum and felt as though a giant stone were pressing down on their hearts¡ªeven their breathing halted for a second.

    A hunter¡¯s wine ss exploded violently and drenched him in alcohol. However, he simply sat there without the slightest of movements¡ªthe entire Home of Hunters became deathly still for a moment.

    Qianye took a deep breath and calmed down his blood core¡¯s pulsation, gradually dispersing the invisible pressure inside the tavern. All the hunters soon recovered mobility but none of them dared move. Their hands were trembling lightly but uncontrobly.

    It was Qianye who broke the stillness. ¡°Does the Song n not know about the Nangong family¡¯s conducts?¡±

    ¡°Song n?¡± The middle-aged man was the first to recover. He revealed a disdainful expression after hearing the name. ¡°Those cowards only know how to hire people like us to formbat squads and help them earn contributions. Their first ce is supplemented by risking people¡¯s lives. It¡¯s already been some time since the Nangong family started doing this, but there¡¯s been no movement at all from the Song n¡¯s side.¡±

    At this point, a hunter couldn¡¯t help but cut in, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard about the Song n producing any outstanding men throughout the years. Only this seventh young master is a true hero. Now, he¡¯s fighting a bitter battle in ckflow City and cut off from the rear by the Nangong family, but the Song n isn¡¯t even farting. How is that fitting of a major n?¡±

    Another hunter chimed in, ¡°Agreed! I heard this seventh young master just became a champion a while ago, but he has already beheaded several viscounts from the other side. He¡¯s sure to be at least a supreme champion in the future, right?¡±

    The hunters began speaking up one after another. They discussed their disdain of the Song n without any pretense.

    Qianye listened in silence for a while before cing the stack of papers in his hand onto the counter. He then thanked the middle-aged man and left with the tactical backpack in tow.

    His movements as he put down the paper was exceptionally gentle. It was as though he were touching a tender flower petal and afraid he would destroy it. A number of keen people who were paying attention to his movements immediately stoppered up, their eyes full of puzzlement.

    Qianye pushed open the doors and left. A gust of wind blew in from the half-open entrance, drowning the lounge in a grave chill and causing everyone to shiver. The counter suddenly disintegrated into countless fine dust granules as the gale blew past and the papers fluttered gently to the floor.

    The tavern fell into apse of momentary silence as sweat poured out from the hunters¡¯ foreheads.

    ¡°T-This¡­ how did such a fierce man appear in such a small ce?¡± One of the hunters forced augh.

    The middle-aged man saw, in his ledger, that a machine gun had been checked out. He muttered softly with aplicated expression, ¡°It looks like the Nangong family is in trouble.¡±

    There was a three-storied building beside the gates to the Sky River County Capital. The ce was iparably bustling with a steady stream of people going in and out. Most people who wished to take an airship to other ces had to buy tickets and register here.

    Qianye walked briskly through the stream of people, using some force to part the crowd and clear the path. Some impatient people wanted to curse out loud. For some reason, however, they felt a chill in their hearts at the sight of Qianye¡¯s frail figure which forced the profanities back down their throats.

    Qianye quickly made his way to the front and scanned the counters. He found an empty little table at the innermost part with several small airships listed above. He walked over and knocked on the counter. ¡°I want an airship capable of leaving immediately.¡±

    A thin, shrewd-looking man behind the counter raised his brows. ¡°Reserving an airship? That won¡¯t be cheap! Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°ckflow City.¡±

    The thin man was shocked out of his wits and replied hurriedly, ¡°No! Definitely not going there!¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Not only is that ce under the Iron Curtain, but it¡¯s also a war zone! Won¡¯t we be courting death? Moreover, the Nangong family has issued a notice that all airships heading to ckflow mustnd at their base. Otherwise, they¡¯ll attack immediately upon entry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll add more money.¡±

    These words held a different weight and immediately turned the thin man¡¯s expression into one of hesitation. His gaze darted toward the surroundings as he asked in a hushed tone, ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°Three times.¡±

    ¡°Not enough. I need at least seven times the price to find someone brave enough for this endeavor.¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡±

    The thin man moved closer and told him an address. ¡°Go there at midnight with enough money. Someone will be there to make arrangements for you.¡±

    Qianye nodded and was prepared to leave. At this moment, a small person covered in a cloak from head to toe asked hurriedly, ¡°Are there any airships to ckflow City?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat astonished. He hadn¡¯t expected anyone would want to go to ckflow City at such a time. But he paid no heed and simply walked out on his own. He could vaguely hear the two bickering behind him, their voices growing louder and louder.

    Midnight quickly arrived, and Qianye headed toward the appointed location. The streets were silent, deserted, and became progressively narrower as he walked on. The buildings on each side grew more dpidated, and the streets were covered in sewage and trash. He had apparently reached the borders of the city slums, a ce where crooks and honest folk were almost indifferentiable.

    After walking past twones, the street gradually turned into a small alley. Qianye came to a sudden stop as a petite figure rushed out from the side to stop his way.

    ¡°Are you going to ckflow City? Can you bring me along?¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Who are you? And I¡¯m not going to ckflow either.¡±

    The backside of this person¡¯s thick cloak was bulging out¡ªhe was clearly hiding a rather big gun inside. Hearing Qianye¡¯s immediate denial, the person was somewhat anxious and cried out, ¡°I clearly heard you reserving an airship to ckflow.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank, and his eyes were now suffused with killing intent. ¡°The more you know about certain things, the more likely you are to lose your life.¡±

    ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t intending to eavesdrop on your secrets! I only wanted to go to ckflow.¡±

    Qianye suddenly leaned backward at this moment as a flying knife whizzed past him and shot straight into the wall of the opposite house. This de was thrown with a fair bit of force, and might even pierce through regr army armor.

    Qianye nced toward the source of this projectile and found several sinister-looking men walking out of the shadows. ¡°Brat, are you the one looking to join the liveliness in ckflow City?¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was cold.

 Volume 5 - 432: The Bizarre Girl [V5C139 â€“ A Distance Within Reach]

    Chapter 432: The Bizarre Girl [V5C139 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    A young man with long, multicolored hairughed nastily and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to know who this daddy is. You only need to know that most people trying to get into the muddy waters of ckflow City are already dead. Heads like yours are worth a pretty penny at the Nangong family.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned much calmer after hearing the Nangong family¡¯s name. ¡°Does this mean someone has sold you information about us?¡±

    ¡°There are simply too many cooperative people in this line of work. You¡¯re not the only thing being sold, either.¡± The young man hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a burly man beside him said, ¡°Boss, why waste so many words? Just take him down directly. We can still make it in time for a midnight snack!¡±

    The men spread out with their weapons drawn and slowly surrounded Qianye. These people were dressed like scoundrels, but their equipment was pretty good. One of their shields even had an origin array on it, a premium armament avable only to the regr army corps.

    Qianye took a step forward to appear before the young leader and threw a kick at his stomach. The move appeared calm, but was as fierce was an erupting volcano. The man flew out like a cannon shell and smashed through several houses before falling to the ground. His body waspletely deformed and his fate, unknown.

    Afterward, Qianye reached out and grabbed the burly man¡¯s shotgun. The man didn¡¯t even see how his weapon was snatched before a mass of pellets exploded in his face and sent him flying.

    Gunshots rumbled as Qianye fired continuously and felled all the hoodlums one by one, not even sparing the ones trying to run away. He had no ns to figure out the identities of such people who were willing to sell their lives for the Nangong family. He wouldn¡¯t show them any mercy, either, and nned to kill as many of them that appeared before him.

    Qianye casually threw the shotgun away after spending all the bullets in a sh. It was at this moment that he heard a gun being loaded behind him and turned around rather unhurriedly. With the firing speed of the foe¡¯s gun, he knew this runaway would die in his hands the moment he pulled the trigger.

    A small figure pounced forward like a panther at this moment. It smashed the man behind the head with a ck object and immediately sent him sprawling onto the ground. The person copsed with a deformed head, twitched a couple of times, and then stopped moving.

    The one who had finished off this thug was the little fellow who had been pestering Qianye to take him to ckflow City. She had taken her hood off at this moment, revealing a young girl with short, brown hair. Her face was rather delicate and pretty, while her pair of dark eyes were full of spirit. It was just that there was arge patch of grease on her face, covering up most of her beauty.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon her right hand, in which she grasped a giant hammer. The weapon was gradually adjusting itself at this moment and would leak wisps of steam from time to time. It was actually a kic hammer, and a rather heavy one at that. The girl had used this blunt weapon to take down the thug who was trying to ambush Qianye. Being able to use such a kic hammer proved that there was much power hidden within her petite frame.

    The girl raised her head and said, ¡°I just helped you. Now you can take me along, right? Let me tell you beforehand that I have no money whatsoever.¡±

    The young girl felt a sudden chill and couldn¡¯t help but shrink before Qianye¡¯s azure-suffused eyes.

    In his true sight, Qianye saw that the girl had lit up six origin nodes. However, her origin power flow was rather peculiar in many ces, especially on the left half of her body. It waspletely different from ordinary people, but also inherently distinct from the dark races.

    He was momentarily shocked as his attention shifted to her limbs. This little girl actually had numerous mechanical parts imnted into her body, all driven by origin arrays. This was especially true of her left arm which was almost half-flesh half-machine. That was precisely why she could use that shocking kic hammer.

    Qianye nodded after seeing that this peculiar girl wasn¡¯t weak in terms ofbat strength. ¡°There¡¯s more troubleing. I won¡¯t have time to take care of you.¡±

    The young girl puffed out her chest and said boldly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll protect you!¡±

    Qianye shrugged and continued onward.

    The two arrived at the depths of the small alleyway, passed through a side street, and arrived before an unremarkable little courtyard.

    The night was deep, and the silent streets were devoid of all human shadows. Qianye nced at the surroundings and confirmed that he had arrived at the correct ce before kicking the doors open.

    There were two ferocious-looking muscr men behind the gates at this moment, leaning against the walls in a bored manner. Seeing the courtyard doors being kicked open all of a sudden, the men subconsciously drew their weapons and took aim. Their vision blurred for a moment, and they soon found themselves lifted up by Qianye¡ªone in each hand. Immediately afterward, they were smashed into the wall and lost consciousness.

    Qianye headed into the room after throwing away the two guards. Themotion in the courtyard had apparently rmed those inside as several burly men rushed out from within. Qianye moved at lightning speed as he picked them up and mmed them into the wall before casually tossing the unconscious victims behind.

    He went up to the second floor and felled yet another batch of guards. Finally, he kicked open a door to reveal a magnificent room within.

    Qianye walked into the room that was obviously out of ce in this neighborhood. With a sudden swipe of his hands, the shotgun belonging to a man hiding behind the door fell into his grasp. The man tried to draw his dagger, but was sted out of the room by a backward shot from Qianye¡ªthetter didn¡¯t even turn back.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stop there. He advanced inrge strides and arrived before a desk at the end of the room. There, he aimed the still-smoking gun at the wizened middle-aged man behind the table.

    ¡°I want an airship to ckflow City,¡± Qianye said clearly.

    ¡°To ckflow City? That¡¯s impossible!¡± the thin man cried out instinctively. This prompted the shotgun muzzle to press right against his forehead, the residual heat there causing his skin to burn and sizzle.

    ¡°It¡¯s really impossible! If I send you to ckflow City and the Nangong family finds out about this, I, my brothers, and our families will all die!¡± the thin man cried out desperately.

    Qianye¡¯s hand waved toward his back and pointed his gun at the assassin who had rushed out from a secret door to his left. The assassin didn¡¯t even manage to take aim when blood spurted out of his head, and his body was sted flying into the still-open secret door.

    Qianye pulled the forestock back with a click, pushing a new round into the chamber. He then aimed the gun at the thin man¡¯s head and said, ¡°Disobey and you¡¯ll die immediately. The same goes for everyone in the courtyard.¡±

    ¡°The Nangong family has issued a lockdown order. It¡¯s useless even if you kill me.¡± The thin man was trembling. ¡°Besides, we have no pilot capable of flying past their blockade.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°As long as you give me an airship¡­¡±

    The bizarre young girl suddenly cut in at this point. ¡°I have a way!¡±

    She activated her kic hammer and smashed down on the thin man¡¯s foot! The heavy mallet immediately crushed all the bones and turned his foot into a puddle of flesh.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The thin man had just started to cry out in misery when his mouth was plugged by an oil-stained rag. He struggled desperately in his agony, but the young girl was exceptionally strong and used a single arm to keep him firmly pressed on the chair.

    The thin man could bear it no longer when he saw the girl raise her kic hammer toward his other foot. He let out a series of muffled sounds in an urgent bid to speak.

    The thin man said immediately after the gag was removed, ¡°The airship is in the storehouse of the Shamrock Manor outside the city! This is the activation key!¡±

    ¡°Hey, thanks!¡± Qianye said as he took the keys and headed outside.

    The girl was startled. She whacked the thin man behind the head and knocked him out before catching up to Qianye. ¡°What do we do if he¡¯s lying?¡±

    Qianye shot her a nce and said with a smile, ¡°Then wee back and kill him.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s going to just sit and wait?¡± the girl mumbled to herself, apparently quite skeptical of Qianye¡¯s decision.

    The two left the city in due haste and soon arrived at the Shamrock Manor. This unfrequented manor was home to an excessivelyrge warehouse. Qianye pulled open the doors after easily dealing with the guards, revealing the old-fashioned airship within.

    The sounds of machines broke the silence of the night as the storehouse roof opened to each side under the draw of numerous thick chains. Qianye and the young girl jumped into the airship and arrived at the cockpit.

    The airship activation key was shaped like a mechanical box with several metallic rods inside.

    The girl stared fixedly at the box in Qianye¡¯s hand and asked, ¡°This is the key?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± With that, he inserted the box into the control panel, the metallic rods fitting snugly into the sockets therein.

    As Qianye activated the origin array inside the box, the metallic rods started spinning at a preset rate and direction. This, in turn, operated the machinery inside the console.

    The origin arrays on the control panel lit up one after another as the engine produced a deep rumble and spat outrge masses of steam. Soon, the shaking on the airship grew stronger and stronger.

    The airship rose into the air momentster. It rotated itself above the manor, settled on a direction, and flew away swiftly.

    In the control room, the young girl seemed fairly curious about everything as she examined and fiddled around with everything. ¡°So this is the airship control room? This is the first time I¡¯ve seen one, but it¡¯s unlike what I heard before. Why is it so rundown? Ah, this must be the control for the side wing. A rod driver? They¡¯re still using such an old system? There¡¯s not even an assistive origin array!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but smile as he adjusted the airship¡¯s direction. ¡°This airship is a hundred-year-old antique, and it must¡¯ve been designed even earlier. This is Evernight and not the upper continents. It¡¯s already good enough that it can fly.¡±

    The girl was somewhat dissatisfied. ¡°But isn¡¯t it said that the empire¡¯s technology is the best? In the end, I entered an airship control room for the first time only to see these things!¡±

    At this point, Qianye had already finished adjusting the directions at this point and locked the steering mechanism. Now that he was free, he nced at the young girl and said calmly, ¡°Now, it¡¯s time to tell me why you¡¯re going to ckflow City.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice was suffused with killing intent because there were numerous suspicious points about this young girl. Qianye only needed to throw her out of the airship if it was confirmed that she had bad intentions. A thousand-meter fall would no doubt result in her death.

    The young girl¡¯s face turned a bit pale after sensing Qianye¡¯s murderous intent. However, she wasn¡¯t intimidated as Qianye had expected. Instead, she scuttled into a corner of the control room like a startled beast and curled up therein. She wasn¡¯t cowering in fear and seemed poised to erupt at any moment to injure someone.

    The young girl¡¯s performance intrigued Qianye even more because this wasn¡¯t a normal person¡¯s reaction. Only old veterans who had stepped over mountains of corpses and seas of blood would act in such a manner¡ªeven when facing an enemy they had no hope of winning against, they would still find a way to hurt them badly.

    As Qianye observed the young girl, his obsidian eyes once again turned into a deep oceanic azure.

    The young girl shivered uncontrobly for a moment. She then stared at Qianye and said slowly, ¡°I want to go and fight.¡±

 Volume 5 - 433: Highbeard

    Chapter 433: Highbeard [V5C140 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    ¡°Fight? That''s it?¡± Qianye found the young girl¡¯s reply rather incredulous. Was this lively and elegant little girl a war fanatic?

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s because of that! I can earn contributions by fighting, and contributions mean money. I¡¯ve already asked clearly, there are no limitations in the exchange of contributions.¡±

    ¡°That means you¡¯re not from the empire, right?¡± Qianye inquired.

    The girl was startled and a dangerous gleam shed through her eyes.

    Qianye leaned back on the control panel with his arms folded. ¡°Enough. Put down that gun under your cloak. It¡¯s useless against me. You can¡¯t kill me even if I stand here and let you st me.¡±

    The girl hesitated for a moment before pulling a handgun out from the cloak and putting it on the floor. The weapon looked like a handgun, but it was many timesrger than an ordinary model¡ªthe muzzle alone was the size of a fist.

    The thickness of the barrel caused Qianye¡¯s brows to twitch. For some reason, it reminded him of Zhao Yuying¡¯s Mountain Splitter. If this huge gun¡¯s firepower was proportionate to its size, Qianye suspected the recoil might even break her little wrist.

    ¡°I had no intention to shoot you. I-I was merely a bit scared just now. I haven¡¯t even paid you for bringing me to ckflow City!¡± The little girl tried her best to exin.

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s not important. But, are you really going to earn contributions in battle? The bloody battlefield is huge, so why did you choose ckflow?¡±

    ¡°Because there¡¯s a huge battle there. That¡¯s the only battlefield that suits me.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose slightly. ¡°Where are you from? You sound like you¡¯ve fought many battles before.¡±

    The little girl hesitated for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m a Highbeard, and I¡¯m seventeen this year. I started joining battles at the age of ten. That¡¯s when all Highbeard warriors be qualified warriors.¡±

    ¡°Highbeard?¡± The name sounded somewhat familiar. Suddenly recalling something, Qianye asked in astonishment, ¡°The tribe that specializes in producing warriors?¡±

    The young girl replied, ¡°Us Highbeards are all natural warriors, and we live for battle. We have no fixed home. Where there is war is where we live.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°But I heard that almost all Highbeards belong to the rebel army, while I belong to the imperial army.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because the imperial army pays too little. Moreover, they always send us to our deaths. We¡¯re warriors, not cannon fodder!¡± the little girl retorted.

    ¡°You im to be a Highbeard. Prove it to me.¡±

    After a moment of hesitation, the girl slowly removed her cloak and opened up her shirt to reveal the tactical vest inside. Her skin was brown, soft, and glossy¡ªthe most eye-catching, however, were the numerous silver lines on her skin which looked like the runes of an origin array.

    Moreover, her left arm was half-machine-half-flesh. Theponents had sunk deep into her skin and be a part of her body. It was likely due to these machines that she was able to exhibit a strength disproportionate to her physique and brandish that hundred-kilogram-hammer. That was also the reason why she was able to use that powerful hand-cannon.

    ¡°As expected!¡± Qianye felt relieved.

    ¡°Y-You don¡¯t think we¡¯re monsters, do you?¡± the girl asked apprehensively.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I¡¯ve heard of the Highbeards before although I¡¯ve never seen one in person. Then, tell me your name.¡± Qianye signaled her to put her clothes back on and cover up her astonishing modified physique.

    ¡°My name¡¯s ckmoon, the youngest rank-three hybrid warrior in the tribe! I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯m super powerful!¡± The little girl puffed her chest out in a proud manner.

    Highbeard was an unusual tribe whose members were mostly natural warriors or machinists. Their numbers were small, and they roamed the various continents. They were famed for their hybrid warriors, powerful soldiers born from merging their bodies with origin power machinery. The Highbeard tribe was far ahead of the Qin Empire in this aspect.

    The empire had also engaged in many years of hybridization experiments. However, rank-two was the furthest they were able to reach before the subjects would pass away, unable to endure the drastic changes to their body. The Highbeard n¡¯s most celebrated hybrid warriors could reach rank-five. They were almost like metallic giants that were capable of walking and thinking¡ªpure machines of war.

    The empire reached an initial conclusion after many years of experimenting; the Highbeard tribe¡¯s hybridization technology was rted to their special innate constitution. To reach that strength, the empire would require warriors with the potential to be rank-thirteen champions or higher, effectively defeating the entire purpose of hybridization. Qianye had seen this conclusion back at Red Scorpion, but he wasn¡¯t authorized to read the details.

    ckmoon had reached rank-three hybrid and rank-six origin power at such a tender age. She was truly a rare specimen.

    Qianye believed her exnation after seeing that she was indeed a Highbeard. It seemed ckmoon really was here for the military contribution rewards. Who would¡¯ve thought the effects of this bloody battle would grow so progressively? It was like a giant whirlpool whose outer border was already beginning to involve the other continents and tribes.

    ¡°What will you do if you meet other Highbeards on the battlefield?¡±

    ¡°Fight them, of course. Killing an opponent with all one¡¯s might is the highest form of respect for the opponent,¡± ckmoon replied matter-of-factly.

    Qianye was somewhat speechless. The Highbeards were, indeed, as the legends imed, a tribe with fairly special and crazy beliefs.

    The airship flew through the dark night. The rhythmic hum of the engine no longer felt noisy after some time. ckmoon seemed to know no tiredness during the entire night of air travel¡ªshe climbed up and down the airship repeatedly and explored every ce she could open. She even climbed up to the aerostatic balloon for quite a while to examine it.

    Qianye stood quietly in front of the control panel and didn¡¯t move at all for several hours. All he did was adjust the direction and altitude asionally.

    ¡°How can you stand alone for so long?¡± ckmoon appeared beside Qianye many times and asked curiously.

    This overactive little fellow couldn¡¯t understand at all why Qianye could remain immobile for so long and not even shift his standing posture. He would only respond with a smile every time and provided no answer to her question.

    Qianye felt that he had be much calmer since condensing the blood core¡ªexactly the calmness of a person waiting to see the vast world opening up before him.

    Evernight, under the Iron Curtain, was filled with de shes and sword shadows. A small city in the north, however, was just as peaceful as before. It served as a transit hub for most of the imperial army corps and was also themand center of the Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons. It was probably the safest ce in human territory.

    Daytime was fairly short on Evernight Continent even outside of the Iron Curtain. The sun¡¯s beams were already leaning low at three in the afternoon, as though it would disappear below the horizon the very next moment.

    Lin Xitang was walking slowly along a limestone street in the city, apanied only by a trusted aide. He liked to travel the distance between his residence and themand center on foot. There were more armored soldiers in the city than there were ordinary citizens, and they would asionally stop to perform a salute.

    Suddenly, everyone nced up at the sky as a long white cloud shot past half the city andnded toward the south¡ªit almost looked like the contrail left behind by a high-speed airship. There was only one person who would dare cross the sky above the small city in such an ostentatious manner, and that was Zhang Boqian.

    Lin Xitang retracted his gaze and continued toward his residence. His aide, quite fittingly named Shi Yan, followed the marshal inplete silence and uttered not a single word. [1]

    The marshal¡¯s residence was actually a small barracks set up in a battlefield operationsyout. The tworgest tents at the center belonged to Lin Xitang and Zhang Boqian. Beyond them were the living quarters of the Northern Legion and the Thunder Calvary. At the outermost area were the residences of the other high-ranking officers whose legions hade to take part in the bloody battle.

    Lin Xitang arrived in front of his door, but his outstretched hand suddenly froze midair as the door opened on its own. He was stunned for a moment as he gazed at the man d in formal imperial attire withplicated decorations. ¡°You¡¯re finally back.¡±

    With Zhang Boqian¡¯s usual temperament, he would never wear such multiyered formal clothing. He had left Evernight several days ago for the upper continent. Could he have gone to attend the court assembly?

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s countenance was gloomy as his tall, handsome figure stood towering like an indomitable mountain peak, emitting an iparably heavy sense of pressure. His sharp, phoenix eyes peered straight into Lin Xitang¡¯s pupils as he said in a cold voice, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?!¡± With that, he hurled a certain item at thetter¡¯s face.

    Lin Xitang was startled. The item stopped 30 centimeters away from him without waiting for him to reach out and grab it. It was actually a stack of documents, but the format was different from those in general use. It was a thrice-folded parchment paper with an origin power glow shing over it from time to time. It was a memorial used specifically by the empire¡¯s ministers, and the origin array stamped upon it was actually an origin seal signifying the writer¡¯s identity.

    Lin Xitang was familiar with governmental affairs and was able to identify the insignias of several aristocratic families and imperial ministries. This was proof that the memorial was anything but ordinary¡ªit shouldn¡¯t have appeared here at all. Even if the contents involved things that needed to be carried out, only a copy should be issued, while the original should remain sealed within the court archives.

    Lin Xitang reached out and collected the memorial into his hand. Without even opening it yet, he inquired in a mutter, ¡°You brought this out from the imperial court?¡±

    Zhang Boqian broke into an angryugh. ¡°Lin Xitang, these are all memorials impeaching you in the imperial court.¡±

    Lin Xitang replied calmly, ¡°Impeachment? Isn¡¯t that normal?¡± The journey from the son of a first-rank count to his current position had made him countless enemies and was filled with storms of blood. An impeachment in the imperial court could be considered the most honorable of attacks.

    Zhang Boqian said sharply, ¡°An overwhelming number of your core Imperial Party members are using you of embezzling military contributions, epting bribes at every level, harassing the order of the bloody battle, and forming a clique to repel outsiders. Is that normal?¡±

    Lin Xitang had already seen that the insignias belonged to the departments headed by the new nobility and ns close to the imperial family. He remained silent for a moment before replying indifferently, ¡°The imperial court has always been full of divisions and alliances. It¡¯s all a matter of profit. The only one I¡¯m loyal to is the emperor.¡±

    Zhan Boqian¡¯s attitude was frosty. ¡°Although the Jintang Li family isn¡¯t in this memorial, a lot of their rtives and inws are present.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s brows rose ever so slightly, unsure why Zhang Boqian would bring up the present empress¡¯s family. He then heard Zhang Boqian ask, ¡°Was it your idea or His Majesty¡¯s to confer me the title of Prince Green Sun?¡°

    Lin Xitang remained silent. He replied grudgingly after a while, ¡°Does it make a difference?¡±

    Zhang Boqian being conferred the title Prince Green Sun naturally wasn¡¯t due to ack of new words. The Green Sun Zhang was an iparably illustrious n with four dukes. However, Zhang Boqian had always been engrossed in the martial arts and seldom took part in the n¡¯s day to day affairs. The Duke Dan lineage he had descended from wasn¡¯t in charge, either.

    Zhang Boqian winning a prince title would no doubt impact the power bnce within the n. The imperial court conferring him the title, Green Sun, the symbol of the Zhang n, most certainly aggravated this conflict. At the very least, it would be a rather subtle problem as to whether Prince Green Sun or the current n lord, Duke Hui, would represent the Zhang n in the uing triennial grand sacrificial ceremony.

    The imperial court¡¯s intentions were none other than to cause trouble for the number one n who had just produced a new Heavenly Monarch. A period of internal strife was unavoidable even though the entire Zhang n could clearly see this overt plot.

    Zhang Boqianughed coldly. ¡°There was no difference at first. What did you think I went to the capital for? Did you know that woman from the Pepper Pce wants to bestow me a marriage?¡±

    ...

    [1] Shi Yan = Stone Speech

 Volume 5 - 435: Assault Fire

    Chapter 435: Assault Fire [V5C142 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    One had to know that the two airships were shaking violently. Not even the best Highbeard sharpshooter was capable of hitting a critical part in one shot under such circumstances. Only a legendary sniper might be capable of such a feat.

    Qianye held onto the airship balloon with one hand and fired with the other. He shook his head after seeing the results and appeared fairly disappointed. He was aiming for the control room at first, but a strong gust of wind blew in just as he pulled the trigger. This caused the entire airship to swerve slightly, and his shot struck the propeller instead.

    Qianye aimed anew amidst the fierce gale. Those below the champion rank simply couldn¡¯t stand on the airship roof¡ªeven ordinary champions would find their movements greatly restricted. But such an environment was negligible for Qianye who had activated his blood core. He aimed once more at the patrol ship¡¯s bridge, and this time, his eyes were suffused with an azure glow.

    In his True Sight, the patrol ship¡¯s movements slowed down, and the squalls revealed their trajectories. With a slight shift of Qianye¡¯s right hand, the sniper crosshairsnded above the bridge¡¯s side. He then pulled the trigger!

    Another zing streak tore through the night sky. The strong wind jolted the patrol ship, causing it to rise upward for a split second. The bullet that should¡¯ve missed struck right through the control room windows, sting half of themander¡¯s head apart and shattering the steering mechanism.

    Qianye was greatly satisfied with this shot. He nced at the patrol ship that had lost control and proceeded to climb back into the cabin.

    ckmoon¡¯s expression was somewhatplicated as she gazed at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re so awesome. Even the rank-four hybrid warriors from the n might not be your match.¡±

    ¡°Rank-four hybrid? What level does that correspond to?¡± Qianye asked casually while sorting out the descent cable.

    ¡°Our rank-four hybrid warriors can contend against dark race counts and defeat their first-rank viscounts.¡±

    ¡°Oh, am I that powerful?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are. Hybrid warriors see an exponential increase in strength with every advancement.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Qianye nced at ckmoon in astonishment; what he was amazed at wasn¡¯t the strength of a hybrid warrior but ckmoon¡¯s discernment. This young girl had casually estimated Qianye¡¯s truebat strength. That wasn¡¯t something that could be written off as coincidence.

    Qianye brought out the map and pointed to a certain location. ¡°Drive the airship to this ce after ten minutes. I¡¯ll be waiting for you there.¡±

    ¡°What if I encounter another patrol ship?¡± ckmoon inquired.

    ¡°Find a way to lose them, or at least hold out until I get back.¡± With that, Qianye opened the cabin doors, threw out the descent cable, and watched it fall into the bottomless night.

    The biting cold air immediately flowed in once the cabin doors were thrown open. The wind was so strong that ordinary people would find it difficult to even speak. But ckmoon raised her voice and shouted, ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    ¡°Below us is the Nangong family¡¯s base of operations. I¡¯m going to give them a small present.¡± With that, Qianye leaped out of the cabin door, shooting through the night and toward the ground.

    ckmoon poked her head out of the door and nced down at the earth hidden beneath the nket of darkness¡ªapart from some vague lights, everything was shrouded in boundless gloom. She donned a pair of special goggles from her backpack and quickly zoomed-in by turning the adjustment knob.

    There were two neat rows of barracks on the ground, and several airships were parked to one side. It was unexpectedly an airship base. At this moment, there were two battleships with all their lights on. Many soldiers were moving around the airships and preparing them for take-off. Within moments, these battleships would be ready to fly into battle and capture that antique airship.

    Qianye descended rapidly through the sky. He grabbed onto the cable as it flew past him, retarding his momentum and also swinging him back up. He let go of the rope as he reached the highest point and shot down like aet¡ªhe was still hundreds of meters from the ground at this point!

    Many Nangong family soldiers saw the airship whistling past and the human figure hanging below it. They were dumbfounded when Qianye let go of the descent cable and fell diagonally toward one of their military patrol ships.

    With a loud boom, the human cannonball, Qianye, smashed right through the roof of the patrol boat and crashed into the cabin like aet. Under Qianye¡¯s feet, several of the airship staff who failed to escape in time were crushed to death under the metallic frame and chunks of steel.

    At the cabin doors, the survivors who had managed to avoid the first wave of cmity were staring with wide eyes as Qianye stood up nonchntly¡ªthey could hardly believe their eyes. Aftering to, they turned to run with a loud cry.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in chasing after these small soldiers. He kicked open the cabin doors and entered the control room. He was quite familiar with theyout here and knew at a nce that this was a light patrol ship. Moreover, it was the newest model invented within thest thirty years. These ships were currently in service within the army and were rare on Evernight Continent.

    Qianye produced two grenades, ced them on the control panel, and crashed his way out of the side window. Behind him, the control room was filled with mes which poured out several meters through the windows. The newer the airship model, the moreplex the control system. There was no way for this airship to fly on the short term after having its control room destroyed.

    Qianye turned around and headed toward the next patrol airship that was about to take off. His steps appeared slow but were actually swift¡ªhe reached the next airship in just a couple of steps, and small explosions rang out continuously through the night soon after. The soldiers who had wanted to stop him copsed mysteriously to the ground without even Qianye raising his hand.

    The footsteps of the charging Nangong family soldiers faltered after witnessing this scene from afar. This young man was like a demonic god¡ªhe had appeared all of a sudden, and all those who approached him met their ends without knowing how or why.

    Qianye boarded the second patrol ship in the blink of an eye and leapt out once again from the cabin windows. This patrol ship¡¯s control room also burst out in raging mes.

    Several warriors rushed out from the side at this moment and charged toward Qianye while firing. They were seasoned and ruthless, clearly the elites of the private army. Under their leadership, the previously cowed soldiers began to form an encirclement.

    Qianye had no intention to avoid the fight and rushed straight toward the iing group. He walked calmly through the hail of bullets¡ªhis gait seemed rxed, but his body would flicker at every step as he evaded most of the attacking bullets.

    He simply took the ones he couldn¡¯t evade head-on, that was except those fired from high-grade origin guns. Ordinary bullets would simply bounce off Qianye¡¯s skin on their own, and evenrge caliber bullets would only leave a red mark.

    He could capture almost all of the soldiers¡¯ movements with his True Sight. He could see their numerous trajectories weaving together and would evade the most powerful origin bullets with a slight shift of his footwork.

    Qianye¡¯s five fingers flicked out in turn, shooting out numerous air bullets amidst soft, thunderous sounds. The soldiers within dozens of meters fell backward with bloody holes on their throats and foreheads.

    Qianye¡¯s surroundings were emptied within moments as none of the Nangong family private soldiers dared approach him.

    Two grenades appeared in his hands, which he weighed briefly before hurling toward a distant airship. The several hundred meters of distance was normally well out of grenade range, but the two explosives actually screamed through the air at an abnormal speed. Their trajectories were almost horizontal, and it seemed striking the airship wasn¡¯t a problem.

    ¡°You dare!¡±

    A tall figure appeared in front of Qianye with a loud roar. The two grenades were also destroyed mid-air by the iparably fierce origin power.

    The mes on the nearby airships had yet to die out. Set off by the ze, the man¡¯s figure was like a mountain as he walked toward Qianye step by step. This person¡¯s appearance shrouded Qianye in a hazy mist, causing his origin power cirction to turn stagnant and his origin nodes to dim down by quite a bit.

    This was the Nangong family¡¯s famous domain, Origin¡¯s End. All origin power would be suppressed within this domain with the exception of the Nangong family¡¯s special arts. Although iming to end all origin power was a bit exaggerated, it was still a first-rate domain in terms of power.

    ¡°You actually dare act so atrociously in front of me, Nangong Xiaoyue. You sure have guts¡ª¡± He didn¡¯t even manage to finish his words before his eyes suddenly went wide!

    Countless cracks akin to dense spider webs suddenly appeared on the earth beneath Qianye¡¯s feet as a visible wave extended in every direction. With a soft tter, the domain power restricting Qianye¡¯s body was forcefully shattered. His figure flickered and arrived before Nangong Xiaoyue with a single step!

    ¡°You!¡± Nangong Xiaoyue was astonished. The origin power on Qianye¡¯s body was presently dim and had clearly been suppressed by the domain. However, he had forcibly thrown off the bindings without using any secret techniques, relying only on his iparably tyrannical force. It was simply unimaginable!

    Nangong Xiaoyue had no time to ponder on this. He let out a sudden shout and brandished his hand like a de, drawing out a huge crescent moon through the air which shed toward Qianye. But Qianye seemed to have transformed into a mirage in the breeze¡ªhis figure flitted past Nangong Xiaoyue and appeared dozens of meters behind him.

    Qianye turned back slowly, allowing the fresh blood to drip down from his fingertips. In a sh, his digits were free of blood and just as clean as before.

    Nangong Xiaoyue was frozen on the spot. He slowly looked down, with incredulous eyes, at the five bloody holes over his heart. Even the armor that was capable of stopping a st from a grade-four origin gun was prated.

    His Origin¡¯s End shattered with a bang. At that very moment, Nangong Xiaoyue knew he hadn¡¯t seen wrong¡ªQianye definitely wasn¡¯t a champion yet, and his origin power had clearly been restricted. But thetter was able to shatter his domain and pierce his heart merely by relying on that iparably powerful body.

    The entire airship port fell into silence as Qianye flicked thest drop of blood off of his fingers. The warriors were all petrified¡ªit was a mystery whether they were intimidated or if they were waiting for Nangong Xiaoyue¡¯s fate.

    It was at this time that a mountainous suppressive might covered the entirending zone. An aged but thunderous voice rang out, ¡°Who dares cause chaos here?¡±

    An old man dressed in green robes and a tall cor walked out from the darkness. Despite his slightly-built stature, he took up everyone¡¯s everyone¡¯s field of vision the moment he appeared. [1]

    At this very moment, a strong gale kicked up around Qianye and pressed down upon him like a mountain. It seemed as though the entire world hade alive to pressure him from all directions. Qianye¡¯s legs trembled slightly and his bones creaked and groaned¡ªit was as though a mountain was on his back, trying to force him to the ground.

    Being able to restrain Qianye to this point with just his aura meant that this was definitely the second elder of the Nangong family, Nangong Yuanwang.

    [1] Not the cors used by European nobility. The kind of little hats Chinese officials wear.

 Volume 5 - 436: Heavenly Might

    Chapter 436: Heavenly Might [V5C143 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression was shrouded in an austere and baleful intent. Even the Nangong family¡¯s rank-ten champion couldn¡¯t endure the pressure and had long since knelt on the ground.

    Although the young man before him possessed abnormally condensed origin power, it was clear that he had yet to form an origin vortex and step into the champion realm. But unexpectedly, he was able to stand straight without falling. This left Nangong Yuanwang¡ªan illustrious decades old expert¡ªwithout any face.

    This person couldn¡¯t be left alive! Killing intent shed through Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes as he extinguished all thoughts of capturing the person alive. Without further hesitation, he raised his right fist and attacked from afar.

    The howling of the wind in the vicinity changed slightly as his fist shot out. It was as though the origin power of heaven and earth was gathering on Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s fist¡ªa head-sized ball of green light sted at Qianye.

    Qianye noticed that the ball of radiance was formed from countless beams of green light despite being hundreds of meters away. Although the brilliance was formed from origin power, it was almost tangible and possessed astonishing might.

    The green light ball arrived before Qianye at lightning speed. However, Qianye wasn¡¯t forced to retreat as people had expected. Instead, he took a step forward, lowered his back, and shot a fist toward the iing green light. His entire body was suffused with intense sanguineous brilliance as he moved to meet Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s blow head-on!

    A dazzling ball of light lit up the entire airship port. Even Nangong Yuanwang had to squint his eyes and couldn¡¯t see clearly behind the light.

    The intense radiance shifted from white to green. Countless green threads soon fanned out in every direction and enveloped half the airship port.

    These green light threads possessed extremely terrifying cutting power. Whether it was the human body, armor, or even origin guns and des, it flitted over everything without the slightest bit of hindrance. Even the thick hull armor of the military battleships was filled with deep interweaving scars.

    The hundreds of elite Nangong private soldiers were petrified on the spot, their final expression of terror frozen on their faces. Momentster, they copsed like sand castles and shattered into hundreds of fragments¡ªeven their weapons were no exception.

    Thus, a green, fan-shapednd of death appeared on the airship port.

    However, there was one person still standing at the tip of the fan!

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s pupils contracted rapidly, and his right fist somewhat trembled. He could hardly believe his eyes; he gazed fixedly over yonder with long green beams shooting out of them.

    Qianye stood straight and tall, his face, fist, and body covered in intecing lines of blood where the green light had cut him. However, his eyes were glowing as blue as the vast, bottomless ocean.

    Qianye finally moved as he gathered his fist slowly¡ªthis movement caused his tactical jacket to fall apart piece by piece. The green light threads had cut it into dozens of pieces.

    Nangong Yuanwang let out a long internal sigh, and his gaze eased up quite a bit. No matter who that brat was, it was impossible for him to block his ultimate move: Green Sky Severance. Even though Nangong Yuanwang could only utilize an equivalent of rank-twelve in origin power at the moment, ordinary young experts like Nangong Xiaoyue weren¡¯t capable of contending against him at all.

    However, Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes immediately twitched after seeing Qianye actually draw his right fist back; he didn¡¯t shatter into pieces halfway as the former had expected.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body seemedpletely unimpeded by the injury, so much so that he was even revealing a mocking, cold smile. The bloody lines all over his body were beginning to produce some drops of blood, but he didn¡¯t continue to bleed out. Instead, the bloody injuries were even fading away gradually.

    Not just Nangong Yuanwang, but all the fortunate Nangong survivors couldn¡¯t believe their eyes. Could this person have really taken on Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s earth-shattering attack?

    A muffled rumble rang out like thunder at this moment as a pir of fire shot into the sky behind Qianye. A military battleship behind him had been struck by the Green Sky Severance, and the damage had finally extended to the fuel chamber, causing it to explode.

    Qianye¡¯s earlocks flew wildly within the scorching winds and raging mes. With eyes as cold as ice, he pointed a finger toward Nangong Yuanwang from afar.

    Facing such provocation, an absolutely furious Nangong Yuanwang roared thunderously, ¡°Junior, you are too arrogant! I must st you to death here and let you understand the meaning of heavenly might!¡± With that, he raised his hand, and his aura shot up immediately.

    At this moment, the entire heaven and earth suddenly quieted down. All sounds were lost, and even the dancing mes seemed to have been frozen in ce as an indescribable feeling suddenly assaulted everyone¡¯s hearts. From Nangong Yuanwang and Qianye all the way to ordinary technicians, everyone felt an ineffable entity open its eyes and gaze toward them.

    Everyone looked up at the sky simultaneously.

    An iparablyrge vortex had appeared in the grey Iron Curtain at some point which actually covered hundreds of kilometers. A single amber-colored eye slowly opened at the center of the maelstrom and gazed at the ant-like existences below.

    The eye was entirely amber in color and possessed neither pupil or whites. However, its frosty contempt for all living beings was a fact known to all.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression changed drastically. He let out an odd cry as his figure vanished abruptly, and in his ce was now a dozen or so Nangong family private soldiers. The men were in a daze as they gazed at each other, bewildered as to how they had appeared therein.

    While they were at a loss, the eye in the sky had already gazed toward them. The soldiers suddenly exploded and turned into a lingering bloody mist which soon faded into nothingness. It was as though the ten-odd elite soldiers never existed in the first ce.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes contracted after witnessing this scene. He was astonished by the might of the heaven and earth, but also amazed by Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s unfathomable tricks. He was actually able to switch ces with a dozen private soldiers at the moment of life and death. He really wouldn¡¯t be able to fight head-on against this celebrated old monster if it weren¡¯t for the Iron Curtain.

    Nangong Yuanwang, at this moment, was standing among the dumbstruck private soldiers. His face was pale, his hands were trembling continuously, and his eyes were filled with terror.

    Born to nobility with outstanding talents, the journey toward his current superior status had been a smooth sail. It was only at this moment in the presence of Sky Demon that he realized what it meant by ¡°all life akin to ants¡±. He hadn¡¯t the slightest intention to resist and could only do his utmost to retract his aura, hoping to be taken as an ordinary soldier.

    The eye in the sky turned about and almost seemed somewhat hesitant. In the end, it slowly dispersed. Sky Demon departed like the receding tides, rumbling into the distance.

    Qianye was also gazing at the sky with aplicated expression.

    Now that was peerless heavenly might!

    With Sky Demon gone, Nangong Yuanwang once again resumed his supreme demeanor. He waved his long sleeves with a snort, producing an invisible wave of origin power which pushed the soldiers away haphazardly and cleared arge area for him.

    Nangong Yuanwang walked out from the shadows and immediately saw Qianye ncing at him with an expression of mockery. His old face burned up rather ufortably in both humiliation and anger.

    ¡°Junior, you dare make fun of this old man?!¡± Nangong Yuanwang gnashed his teeth, his hair and beard flying wildly. Wind and thunder kicked up in the vicinity as he raised his right hand. Just from the power involved, it was easy to say that this move was even more terrifying than the Green Sky Severance from just now.

    However, Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s raised hand was slow toe down. Qianye, with a cold smile, was using his eyes to point at the grey sky of the Iron Curtain. Nangong Yuanwang once again sensed that fluctuation that made him tremble uncontrobly¡ªhow could he dare act rashly?

    Nangong Yuanwang was livid. In the end, his right hand fell forcefully but without the slightest trace of origin power. Instead, he roared loudly, ¡°Brats, take him down and tear him to shreds!¡±

    The warriors around them nced at each other and took quite a while to realize that the elder was ordering them to charge. They hesitated momentarily, but militaryws were just as stringent in private armies; how could it allow them to shrink back in the face of adversary? With several high-ranking officers shouting out orders and leading the charge, therge squad started marching forth with resounding steps.

    Thousands of Nangong soldiers charged at Qianye like a tidal wave. All kinds of bullets, cannon shells, and origin shots converged into a stream of mes which poured over torrentially.

    Qianye turned and ran out of the airship port with a sneer, followed by a dark swarm of private soldiers chasing after him strenuously.

    The rumble of an engine approached swiftly through the night sky as an airship broke through the clouds and shot past.

    ckmoon immediately turned on the steering after Qianye had leapt up and caught the descent cable. The airship climbed swiftly and swaggered off into the dark night, leaving the Nangong family soldiers dumbstruck on the ground.

    At this moment, several spiritual intents traversed the mountains and rivers tond on the Iron Curtain above Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s head, only dispersing after quite a while.

    At the expeditionary army headquarters, two long men in wide-sleeved robes were ying chess. They were the two dukes sent by the empire to oversee the military contribution rankings, Duke Ding and Duke Wei. They were the major characters who had stood as top officials for many years. The game had gone on for quite some time, but there were still a couple dozens of pieces on the board.

    Duke Wei was holding a white piece in his hand but didn¡¯t y it for a long time. He nced out the window and said, ¡°Sky Demon has been angered again, and that¡¯s quite odd. Judging from the position, it¡¯s happening at the Nangong family¡¯s region. But with so many bloody examples before him, how can Nangong Yuanwang lose his cool like that?¡±

    Duke Ding held the advantage on the board at this moment, and it seemed he had already nned things out in advance. ¡°I¡¯m afraid someone has forced Nangong Yuanwang to show his hand.¡±

    Duken Weiughed with an unfathomable expression. ¡°That old Nangong¡¯s character is only so-so, but he really does have some powerful tricks up his sleeve. Even we might have to exert ourselves somewhat if we want to take care of him. This person is quite interesting to be able to force Nangong Yuanwang into attracting Sky Demon¡¯s attention.¡±

    Duke Ding nodded. ¡°True. With his level, he can only utilize the power of a rank-twelve champion under the Iron Curtain. But considering his experience and realm, even rank fourteen champions aren¡¯t his match. That person is indeed somewhat interesting.¡±

    Duke Wei Suddenly said, ¡°Have you heard about what happened in the imperial court?¡±

    This question was somewhat brainless because Duke Ding clearly knew what he was referring to. ¡°That person has been impeached too many times, but His Majesty has always let him off lightly.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s not the same this time¡­¡± Duke Wei wanted to say something, but he suddenly paused to y the chess piece in his hand.

    Duke Ding pinched a ck chess piece with great calmness and ced it on the board with a bang. ¡°Why care about other people? It''s good enough for us to know where we should stand.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    The two dukes pondered deeply as the chessboard once again fell into a stalemate.

    Thousands of miles away, there was a camp set up between a river and a mountain. It wasn¡¯t arge base, but there were soldiers going in and out continuously. All of them were busy¡ªsome were patrolling cautiously, while others were drawing water and cooking rice. From the tents in the camp to their armory and weaponry, the entire unit was well-equipped almost to the point of extravagance.

    In the central tent, Zhao Jundu was deep in thought as propped himself on the table and gazed at the map.

 Volume 5 - 437: Lurking Wolves

    Chapter 437: Lurking Wolves [V5C144 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    There was also a burly, stern-looking man standing within the tent. He said, ¡°Young Master, it¡¯s been several days since we¡¯ve had any harvests. This situation isn¡¯t right! We¡¯re already in the hintends of the Dark Nation, but we can¡¯t even find half a dark bastard after searching for so long.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°That¡¯s normal. We have at least five or six other groups acting alongside us. The dark races aren¡¯t morons. Who¡¯lle to throw their lives away?¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t our rankings turn ugly if this goes on?¡± A worried expression shed across the burly man¡¯s face, but it immediately turned into fierceness. ¡°Why don¡¯t we take a walk and drive away those flies?¡±

    Zhao Jundu looked up. ¡°Drive away?¡±

    Under Zhao Jundu¡¯s scrutiny, the burly man¡¯s face turned more and more unnatural. Atst, he scratched his head and said in an embarrassed manner, ¡°Some lives will inevitably be lost. We¡¯re already deep in dark race territory, so some casualties should be normal. Ahaha¡­ haha!¡±

    There was no humor on Zhao Jundu¡¯s face as he asked thoughtfully, ¡°How many days has it been since we lost contact with those behind?¡±

    The burly man gave it some thought and replied in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s been seven days now!¡±

    Seven days wasn¡¯t short, but it wasn¡¯t long, either. There were wolves lurking everywhere under the Iron Curtain. Even champion-level scouts might not be able to keep the rear channel flowing smoothly. Although their squad wasn¡¯tcking in supplies just yet, they had lost contact with the outside world. They were no different from a blinded beast¡ªevery step was fraught with danger.

    Zhao Jundu touched the crystal disk in his pocket and said softly, ¡°Seven days¡­ too long.¡±

    The burly man grinned with frosty killing intent. ¡°Young Master, you know that I, Zhao Kuang, am a coarse person. But I simply refuse to believe these flies buzzing around us are just a coincidence! Two Bai n squads, two Nangong squads, and two more from other families. As I see it, these people didn¡¯te for military contributions. They came for you.¡±

    Zhao Junduughed indifferently. ¡°That¡¯s normal too.¡±

    Zhao Kuang said with a gloomy expression. ¡°Young Master, these people are too insolent. They¡¯re not putting our Zhao n in their eyes at all! They probably won¡¯t know the immensity of heaven and earth if we don¡¯t teach them a lesson. Let me go out and ughter a dozen of them first.¡±

    ¡°No need,¡± Zhao Jundu pointed to a point on the map and said, ¡°we¡¯ll pack up tomorrow and go to this ce.¡±

    Zhao Kuang looked on nkly, ¡°Isn¡¯t that the hunting ground of that Nangong brat?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°There are no boundary stones on the ground. Wherever, I, Zhao Jundu goes is where the Zhao n¡¯s hunting ground is.¡±

    Zhao Kuang¡¯s eyes were suffused with a ferocious glow. ¡°I understand!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s entourage packed up and left at dawn the next day. They had just passed through a valley region when dozens of warriors jumped out from the forest ahead and blocked their path.

    A man in his thirties with a neatly trimmed beard walked over. ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Master, how did you find the mood to visit our Nangong family¡¯s hunting grounds?¡±

    Zhao Kuang took a step forward and shouted, ¡°From now on, this is our Zhao n¡¯s hunting ground. You can take your men and scram.¡±

    The man was furious and said coldly, ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Master, What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°What he said is also my opinion.¡±

    The manughed loudly. ¡°I, Nangong Yuncheng, have never seen such an insolent fellow! What? Are you going to resort to force if I refuse to leave?¡±

    ¡°That is indeed my intention.¡±

    Nangong Yuncheng was startled, but anger rushed up immediately afterward. He said while gnashing his teeth, ¡°Zhao Jundu! Even if you¡¯re the empire¡¯s number one genius, you¡¯re not even a champion at this point. I¡¯m already a rank-eleven champion which puts an entire two realms between us! Humph, genius? I was also a genius among the nobility several years ago! Did you think you¡¯re the only genius among so many aristocratic families and ns? If you¡¯re truly intent on fighting, I¡¯ll just have to experience how powerful your Blue Firmament is!¡±

    Zhao Kuang was furious, and thunderps rang out as his hands formed into fists. However, an invisible origin power swept past from beside him and rooted him in ce; he couldn¡¯t even take one step forward.

    Meanwhile, Zhao Jundu slowly walked forward and stood about ten meters away from Nangong Yuncheng. A smile hung on the corners of his lips, but his eyes were full of frost and devoid of all humor.

    Nangong Yuncheng drew his twin des subconsciously and assumed abat stance. The man only came to see the truth after his hands were upon the cold sword hilts¡ªhis weapons were already drawn, while Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t even done anything¡ªdidn¡¯t this mean he was afraid of the other party?

    Nangong Yuncheng simply let out a loud shout. Dark currents immediately surged in the vicinity as he activated the Origin¡¯s End domain.

    Zhao Jundo finally raised his hand and sped it in the air. ¡°Omniscient Seal, rise!¡±

    With Zhao Fourth¡¯s clear, prative shout, eight streams of violet mes rushed to the skies and locked Nangong Yuncheng within. At almost the same time, each of them began to exude dense violet qi which spread out like a curtain and enveloped an area dozens of meters in radius. It was impossible to see what had transpired within. This was a contest of domains, and apparently, the Omniscient Seal had overwhelmed the Origin¡¯s End.

    Zhao Jundu strode forward, his figure flickering as he entered the formation in one step and left in another. But there was now a human head in his grasp.

    ¡°Before me, all geniuses are merely jokes.¡±

    Behind him, the scenery within the domain became clear as the eight violet pirs of me shattered and the violet qi dispersed. Nangong Yuncheng¡¯s headless body was actually still standing with his de in hand, but it gradually fell down after a moment.

    That illustrious Blue Firmament had been strapped to Zhao Jundu¡¯s back this whole time, and he didn¡¯t even use it.

    The Nangong family warriors stood frozen on the spot with distorted expressions and were ughtered by the Zhao n warriors swarming over them.

    ¡°Next stop, Bai n.¡±

    ¡­

    Outside of ckflow City, Qianye was standing atop a mountain peak and gazing into the distance. He could see ckflow¡¯s silhouette, but most of it had been covered up by the rolling smoke. The sounds of cannons and war-cries reached even that distant peak.

    The battle was in full swing at this moment, and several segments of the city wall were aze. The dark race warriors and Dark me soldiers were fighting desperately¡ªevery meter of the city wall had been taken and retaken several times.

    ¡°So this is ckflow City? There is indeed a war! But it looks like the defense is in dire straits!¡± ckmoon spoke.

    Even ckmoon could see the problem here; how could Qianye not know?

    Despite the anxiety in his heart, his expression was as calm as still water and didn¡¯t betray any of his thoughts.

    Qianye surveyed the entire battlefield and suddenly turned his gaze to a certain direction.

    ckmoon followed Qianye¡¯s line of sight and saw a group of dark race soldiers appearing from that direction and rushing toward the battlefield.

    At this point, ckmoon felt things were far from encouraging. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why doesn¡¯t ckflow have any reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°There will be no reinforcements.¡±

    ¡°Then how are we going to fight this war?¡± A vexed ckmoon scratched her hair as she gazed at the distant city embroiled in the mes of war.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s not an easy fight, but one that we have to fight nheless. You¡¯ve seen the battle situation. It¡¯s not toote to go back now.¡±

    Anger shed across ckmoon¡¯s face. ¡°A Highbeard¡¯s word is worth its weight in gold. We¡¯re not scheming like you imperials. Since I¡¯ve already epted your advance payment, how can I leave without even fighting? What face will I have left to meet my tribe and its warriors if I do such a thing? In short, I¡¯m definitely fighting this war! Remember to send my payment if I fall in battle. My father¡¯s waiting for that cash to save someone¡¯s life.¡±

    The words made Qianye nce at ckmoon in astonishment. Throughout the empire and even among the imperial ns, the number of people with such an attitude was dwindling.

    Qianye finally nodded and said, ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll deliver it.¡±

    ckmoon appeared puzzled after observing the flow of the battle for a while. ¡°Why isn¡¯t ckflow city trying to break through the siege or sending couriers out?¡±

    From their location, they could see that the dark race army was separated into numerous camps which had ckflow City tightly surrounded. There were gaps between each camp, but considering the dark race¡¯s superior agility, those trying to charge through them would be quickly surrounded. Arge squad couldn¡¯t escape, but there was enough leeway there for a small unit of experts to leave.

    But after a long period of observation, not a single expert was seen charging out from the city.

    Qianye gazed at the zing ckflow City and gradually understood Song Zining¡¯s notion.

    ¡°An opening!¡± Seeing most of the dark race squads being mobilized, ckmoon shot up and wanted to charge toward the city. Under the chaotic circumstances, there was a good chance she might be able to charge through the assault lines and rush into the city.

    ¡°Hold it.¡± Qianye held her back. ckmoon jumped a couple of times but only managed to bounce about in ce. This surprised her quite a bit because she was assisted by mechanical power, and ordinary champions weren¡¯t her match in terms of pure strength. But in the end, Qianye¡¯s tug had rendered herpletely immobile as though she were tied to a mountain.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we charging in now?¡±

    ¡°No yet, rush into the city when I make my move.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going into ckflow City?¡± ckmoon inquired.

    ¡°No, I want to pay the dark racemander a visit,¡± Qianye replied calmly.

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy!¡± ckmoon finally understood what Qianye was nning and couldn¡¯t help but gasp in astonishment.

    At this very moment, Song Zining was sitting atop the city gate tower like a carved statue. He had already cut down several dark race viscounts since the beginning of the great battle, and that sinister demonic mask had be the nightmare of many a dark race warrior.

    Song Zining paid no heed to the dark race army¡¯s torrential offensive. His gaze was patrolling through the army beneath the walls as though he was searching for something.

    Luther knew Song Zining was looking for him.

    This demonkin general was standing amidst the great army at the moment, and his guards had also changed into ordinary warrior uniforms. At a nce, the ce looked just like an ordinary captain¡¯s station and nothing like themand center of the entire dark race army. The army¡¯s attack patterns would change asmands were issued one after another, and Song Zining was surveying all of these minute details. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he shot a nce toward Luther¡¯s area!

    Luther felt a burning stab of pain as Song Zining¡¯s gaze swept over him!

 Volume 5 - 438: Breaking Formation

    Chapter 438: Breaking Formation [V5C145 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Luther was shocked and ovee by an ineffable dejection. This wasn¡¯t the first time Song Zining had found him from among the tens of thousands of soldiers. This was proof that the Song Seventh Young Master on the wall was a level higher than him in terms ofmanding troops.

    Additionally, Luther clearly understood what Song Zining was nning.

    Song Zing was sitting quite casually atop the gate tower, but the grasp on his spear tightened subconsciously. Although he was quite decisive in leading troops, there was still some hesitation at this moment because he wasn¡¯t entirely confident. The oue would be unimaginable should he fail.

    It was at this time that a pair of gentle and beautiful hands covered the back of Song Zining¡¯s hand. A young girl standing beside him said in a gentle voice, ¡°Young Master, taking the enemy general¡¯s head amidst tens of thousands of soldiers is something only a brute would do. Why should you take this risk? You only need to stand firm, and these people before you will no longer be your match after a couple of years.¡±

    Song Zining said slowly, ¡°You¡¯re right, but it¡¯s so infuriating!¡±

    The young girl chuckled. ¡°How can everything go as one wishes? Young Master¡¯s fame will surely shake the world after this battle and fill those filthy lowlifes with regret. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡±

    Song Zining exhaled deeply as the killing intent in his eyes receded. The hand on his spear also rxed gradually.

    ¡°Those lowlifes, heh, heh.¡± Song Zining chuckled twice before bingpletely silent. His serene gaze focused toward the depths of the Iron Curtain. It had been fourteen days since the siege, but there was no news of Qianye at all.

    Luther was immediately disappointed after seeing no action atop the walls, but he was also somewhat relieved. From all these days of fighting, he knew Song Zining rarely made a move but was like a thunderous tempest once he took action. Moreover, it seemed the other party wished to charge into the army and fight it out with him. Judging from how Song Zining had led his troops, it was clear that he wasn¡¯t a reckless person. This also meant that the man was at least five to six parts certain of killing him¡ªthis thought made Luther fairly ufortable.

    The battle situation at this moment was like riding on the proverbial tiger and impossible to stop. The truth had proven that the information Luther had received before the battle was inurate; this Song Seventh Young Master was a veteran at leading troops and definitely not a hedonist who knew nothing about martial arts. But it was impossible to retreat since they had mobilized on all fronts, and he would have to wait until the battle was over before settling things with those who had tipped him off. It was just that, as a cautious person, he couldn¡¯t help but hesitate while making various decisions.

    It was during Luther¡¯s moment of internal strife that a frosty intent washed over him from the top of his head and traveled deep into his heart. His entire body went ice cold during that moment as a frigid killing intent locked firmly onto him!

    Luther turned back abruptly and found a figure charging straight toward him with the speed of a specter¡ªthe warriors he passed by werepletely unresponsive. Only the asional officer would notice something wrong, but they couldn¡¯t catch up to him at all.

    Judging from his intentions, this person wasunching a solitary suicide attack!

    Luther was immediately overwhelmed by the perilous situation. He simply had no idea how this person had found him. Song Zining had traced him from the subtle clues of his troop movements, but Luther refused to believe there were two god-like strategists in a small ce like ckflow.

    On the other hand, Luther¡¯s main army wasn¡¯t empty despite eight parts of his forces besieging the city. He had hundreds of personal guards, thousands of cannon fodder, and Luther himself was a first-rank viscount. Counts couldn¡¯t take action under the Iron Curtain, either. This person actually dared to charge into his central army alone¡ªwas he looking to hasten his own demise?

    As a veteranmander, Luther quickly calmed down and pointed at Qianye. ¡°Surround and kill him!¡±

    The great army moved his response to hismand. The cannon fodder charged out in front, while the elites moved out diagonally to nk him. Half of Luther¡¯s personal guards also mobilized, and they quickly split into three small groups, seeking to deliver a fatal blow.

    Each stratum of the dark race army moved in an orderly fashion in response to Luther¡¯smand. An elite strategist would notice how capable this demonkin viscount was in his troop management. It was just that Luther¡¯s aides were somewhat puzzled as to why the whole army had been mobilized for a single assant as though they were dealing with an entiremando unit.

    Qianye had only charged halfway when bullets fell toward him like rain. He lowered his body, raised a heavy shield, and charged on amidst the barrage. A series of sparks flew off from the heavy shield, sending shrapnel and pieces of the shield¡¯s alloy flying off in all directions. However, Qianye¡¯s speed didn¡¯t slow down in the slightest.

    Hundreds of meters passed by in a sh, and Qianye had already crashed into Luther¡¯s central army.

    Muffled thuds rang out continuously as cannon fodder were sent flying in his wake. Qianye soon flung out the badly damaged shield¡ªthe piece of metal flew out with an extremely sharp whistle, producing a scene of carnage for dozens of meters before falling to the ground. Even the two blood esquires who wanted to intercept it with their swords were forced away.

    An incisive scar immediately appeared within the neat dark race formation.

    Next, Qianye shed out horizontally with East Peak and rent the ten-odd cannon fodder in front of him into two halves. As the sword winds blew past, a ten-meter-long passage lined by corpses appeared before him.

    Qianye strode forward ten meters at a time and crashed through the group of cannon fodder once again. East Peak transformed into a soaring serpent¡ªit swung wide and far, apanied by myriad phenomena. Blood would spill wherever this de fell.

    Qianye was like an iparably sharp wedge. No matter how dense Luther¡¯s troops were, they couldn¡¯t stop him from nailing all the way in.

    He had pierced through all the cannon fodder in the blink of an eye. Luther¡¯s countenance was ashen, and his hand was already on the hilt of his sword. However, he endured the urge and only raised his right hand to form a fist, then pointed at Qianye.

    This was the order for the regr army to charge.

    The regr soldiers following behind the cannon fodder began to charge and attack Qianye. Under the sudden pressure, Qianye let out a long whistle¡ªEast Peak¡¯s momentum became even more incisive, and its might increased by half. Every swing of his sword was apanied by a fierce ambiance akin to a tsunami or andslide.

    The regr warriors were massacred without even managing to slow down the person¡¯s steps. Luther was overwhelmed with shock and heartache. He couldn¡¯t help but want to draw his sword and charge forth, but he managed to hold himself back forcibly. Qianye¡¯s strategy was fulfilling but also involved an extreme amount of consumption; he would bepletely exhausted after a while.

    Luther was secretly amazed at Qianye¡¯s sword techniques and power. He wasn¡¯t willing to take the brunt of the attack while the other party was at the peak of his momentum. He had always been a geniusmander, but he wasn¡¯t a peerless expert. It was the role of a famed general to use his subordinates to deplete the enemy¡¯s origin power, then move forth to end his life.

    Upon the tower, Song Zining shot up from his seat with eyes full of joy. However, the delight was soon reced by a strong sense of worry. He grabbed his spear without a second thought and leapt off the tower, transforming into a silver streak of light which whistled toward the enemy¡¯s main army.

    ¡°Young Master!¡± The young girl failed to stop Song Zining in time and could only stomp her feet on the spot. She then drew a pair of daggers and jumped down the tower to chase after Song Zining.

    Atop the city wall, Song Hu was shocked out of his wits. He turned around and hurriedly shouted outmands, ¡°Stronghold cannons, prepare to fire at positions three and seven! Reserve squad, prepare to descend the walls! All defensive structures, cover the Young Master!¡±

    Song Zining flew dozens of meters beforending on the ground and was duly surrounded by numerous enemies. A shake of his spear kicked up whistling winds akin to the disorderly arrival of powerful cavalry¡ªdozens of mes embellished with flickering silvery light shot out in every direction. The soldiers around him fell like copsed wheat amidst a sea of blood, and no one was left standing within a radius of several meters.

    The Song Seventh Young Master ignored the myriad soldiers around him as he charged toward Luther¡¯s main army amidst a disy of fireworks.

    A petite figure was following Song Zining from behind. It leapt here and there, felling several enemies with every blow.

    Thergemotion naturally rmed Luther who nced back and immediately cried out in distress. This Song Seventh Young Master had to choose this very moment to kill his way over and y the solitary horseman breaking the army. But then again, how could Song Zining have endured his siege for so long with a much weaker army if he couldn¡¯t even grasp such an opportunity?

    Despite Song Zining charging over with the momentum of a rainbow, Luther only pointed toward Qianye after weighing the pros and cons. His personal guards finallyunched their attacks and increased the pressure on Qianye.

    A muffled thud akin to the sound of a war drum reverberated throughout the battlefield. Even the blood in Luther¡¯s body was stirred by this sound, and just as he was ovee by astonishment, he heard a second beat of the drum.

    Luther suddenly realized that it was actually the sound of a vampire¡¯s pulsating blood core. But such a resonance could hardly be seen even on a high-ranking count.

    Just who was this person?!

    Ayer of bloody radiance emerged around Qianye¡¯s body as he vanished in a sh. It was during that split second that an indescribable chill of destion and austerity washed over a wide area.

    This was the dignity of a superior entity looking down on the mundane existences, a ruler¡¯s indifference toward plebians¡ªvampires, werewolves, arachne, and even Luther himself became distracted for a moment. The vampires were affected the most. Wherever the aura passed, all vampires trembled, and some even copsed to the ground.

    Qianye retracted his blood energy immediately after releasing it. East Peak rose and cut down several of Luther¡¯s personal guards in a sh, leaving no room for resistance. By the time the dark race warriors came to, Qianye¡¯s blood energy had reappeared to petrify all enemies within a ten-meter radius around him.

    ¡°Bloodline suppression?¡± Luther was suddenly dumbstruck.

    This surprised him more than Qianye ughtering his men with the strength of a count or even a marquis. Luther¡¯s bloodline belonged to an ancient inheritance. The vampire bloodlines capable of affecting even him could be calcted on one hand.

    Suspicions arose in Luther¡¯s heart as he shouted, ¡°Who are you?!¡±

    Qianye only shot him a nce full of enmity and killing intent, but had no intention of speaking. It was during this moment that more personal guards fell under East Peak.

    The vertical eye on Luther¡¯s forehead finally opened. However, he immediately felt as though he were hallucinating¡ªthe heavy sword of carnage was actually driven by daybreak origin power! But then what was that intense dark golden blood energy on his body?

    While Luther¡¯s thoughts were wandering, Qianye had passed through most of the central army and wasn¡¯t far from where the former was standing. More than half of his elites had fallen, and a third of his personal guards had suffered casualties. Cannon fodder wasn¡¯t worth much money, but these elites and personal guards were solid losses. This made Luther feel iparably distressed.

    Heartaches aside, Luther saw that Qianye¡¯s reserves of blood energy and origin power were mostly drained. Gritting his teeth, he ordered hisst ten guards to charge and kill Qianye on the spot! A wisp of ck mist appeared on Luther¡¯s body and transformed into a giant two-headed python. He then proceeded to watch Qianye coldly.

    Whether the other party really possessed a superior bloodline or a secret technique, Luther wasn¡¯t willing to battle him rashly even if hisbat strength was above Qianye. He would wait for Qianye to weaken himself after charging through his personal guards then deliver the fatal blow.

    Seeing the personal guards surround him like a pack of wolves, Qianye¡¯s eyes shed with murderous intent. A dark golden hue emerged in the depths of his eyes as hundreds of sanguineous threads shot out from his body and pierced through all the enemies!

    The vicinity was immediately emptied and Luther was right in front of him. There was no longer any obstruction between the two. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s exhausted blood energy and origin power rose gradually, recovering half his reserves in the blink of an eye.

    Life Plunder!

    Only on the battlefield could one truly bring out the terrifying powers of this innate ability.

 Volume 5 - 439: Beheading the General

    Chapter 439: Beheading the General [V5C146 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Luther¡¯s expression was extremely solemn as he slowly drew his sword. The vertical eye at his forehead swiveled for a bit as ck mist curled up around him, taking the form of a winged fish with sinister spikes all over its body¡ªthat was the Jeruson n¡¯s innate totem.

    He focused his gaze on Qianye and said slowly, ¡°You¡¯re an opponent worthy of me taking seriously. State your family name!¡±

    But Qianye wasn¡¯t going to waste words. His eyes turned azure upon activation of his eye ability¡ªa sharp pain wracked Luther¡¯s origin furnace, causing him to tremble momentarily. Grasping this opening, East Peak shed down in the form of a distant Nirvanic Rend. Qianye produced one killing move after another and denied Luther any opportunity to catch his breath.

    Luther¡¯s expression transformed once again. As he grasped his left hand in the air, the totem behind him spat out a stream of ck mist which quickly condensed into a dazzling hexagonal shield seemingly made of ck crystal.

    The crystal shield and Nirvanic Rend were both destroyed with a loud boom. The resultant shockwaves sent the nearby dark race warriors into disarray, and the weaker ones, flying. No one was left standing within thirty meters around Qianye and Luther.

    The twobatants were both shocked. This was the first time since learning Nirvanic Rend that Qianye had failed tond a sh.

    Meanwhile, Luther was even more amazed. This Sable Bulwark was his family¡¯s peerless secret technique capable of blocking all attacks at the same level. It was this art that allowed Luther¡¯s Jeruson n a ce among the many experts of the demonkin race. Now, however, his Sable Bulwark was actually shattered by a single strike¡ªthis proved he was far from capable of stopping that strike with his ownbat strength.

    On the battlefield, myriad changes could ur in the blink of an eye. How could there be any time to hesitate? Despite the astonishment, Qianye had seen through Luther¡¯s darkness origin power flow with his True Sight. He immediately took a step forward and shed down with all his might, instinctively choosing to use brute force.

    The shrill whistle as East Peak swung out shook Luther¡¯s heart. This hiss was different from the thunderous sound produced by the addition of simple origin power to the attack¡ªit was born of the strike¡¯s excessive force and speed.

    Luther couldn¡¯t think of a better method to fend off this attack. He conjured the Sable Bulwark once more with a loud cry and managed to block East Peak at thest moment. Fine cracks appeared on the shield amidst cracking sounds, but fortunately, it didn¡¯t shatter this time. Luther had just managed to breathe when two more heavy blowsnded on the shield; it was as though two mountain peaks had smashed into it.

    Luther¡¯s left arm turned numb. He had no choice but to ce his sword behind the shield and only managed to endure the series of blows by using both hands.

    Qianye was also at a loss. He hadn¡¯t imagined Luther would manage to block three consecutive strikes so easily.

    But what of it? Roaring, he swung East Peak continuously in a mad flurry of shes. He would go for the openings when there was any or simply bash the shield when there wasn¡¯t!

    Luther couldn¡¯t use any technique at all under the rumbling barrage and could only rely on the Sable Bulwark to resist. He was being smashed left and right into a state of utter misery. The shield shattered, formed, and then shattered again¡ªthis went on countless times. He would¡¯ve been shed countless times were it not for his secret technique having reached the great sess realm, allowing him to reform the shield in a sh.

    In Luther¡¯s eyes, Qianye¡¯s moves were full of openings andcked any sort of skill or aesthetic. If only he were free to move, he could bring out at least three or four secret techniques that could heavily injure the other party. However, Qianye simply wouldn¡¯t listen to reason at all. The demonkin viscount possessed a noble bloodline and knew many a secret technique. But he couldn¡¯t even catch a single breath, let alone retaliate.

    Luther prayed that Qianye would exhaust himself or his subordinates would rush over and deal a heavy blow to him. But the surroundings had been cleared away by Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder, and the origin power radiating from their sh could easily injure anyone below the champion rank. Who would dare approach?

    Qianye suddenly paused his torrential blows and raised East Peak over his head, followed immediately by three consecutive heavy blows.

    ¡°Crack!¡± The Sable Bulwark immediately shattered, causing Luther to cry out inwardly in distress. He could no longer care about his numb, aching body as he formed yet another Sable Bulwark.

    But the shield had just taken form when Luther felt a chill behind him and lost control of the origin power throughout his body. He discovered a spear tip through the corner of his eyes as it pierced right through his chest!

    Iparably berserk daybreak origin power stampeded through this body in the blink of an eye. The vertical eye on Luther¡¯s forehead shot out dazzling light as excessively dense darkness origin power gushed out from the wound on his chest. It took the form of a sinister winged fish that opened its maw and let out a mournful scream.

    However, raging mes ignited from the spear tip at this moment. The zing streams tangled around Luther¡¯s darkness origin power at lightning speed, resulting in miniature origin storms.

    ¡°Song Seven¡­¡± Luther hadn¡¯t even finished his words when East Peak arrived like a dragonfly skipping across the water surface and sent his head flying into the air.

    Luther¡¯s headless body fell down to reveal a spear made of an unknown material that was neither metal nor jade. Just as Luther was struggling to block Qianye¡¯s frantic attacks, Song Zining had grasped the opportunity to hurl his spear across hundreds of meters. The weapon pierced the demonkin¡¯s vital origin power convergence point¡ªthe origin furnace.

    The dark race warriors were left in a daze, but the scene became iparably chaotic immediately afterward. Some of the soldiers, mostly those from Luther¡¯s main unit, resorted tounching suicidal attacks without a care for their lives. With their general dead, it was impossible for them to live after returning. Hence, they would rather let loose and die in battle. Meanwhile, the cannon fodder and the allied squads from the other races had no idea what to do, and some of them had even begun to scatter. The entire battlefield had turned into a huge boiling pot.

    Meanwhile, Luther¡¯s murderer stood leaning on his sword, but not a single soldier dared approach him. In addition to him killing his way into the main army alone, that Life Plunder of his had robbed everyone of their galls. Although Qianye waspletely surrounded, no one was willing to step forth and throw away their lives. Even the survivors among Luther¡¯s aides chose to charge toward ckflow City in a bid to drag a couple more humans down with them.

    ¡°Qianye, save me!¡±

    Qianye was rmed as Song Zining¡¯s sharp cry arrived from a distance. He nced over and saw Song Zining unarmed, surrounded, and in a rather miserable state. That heroic posture from just now as he charged straight into the enemy¡¯s central army was nowhere to be found.

    There was another petite figure around Song Zining. She was fairly ruthless despite her frail appearance¡ªtwo des danced around her like flowing light as she cut down one dark race warrior after another. In critical moments, even Song Zining had to move out of her way to evade her daggers.

    Sword raised and roaring loudly, Qianye had charged out thirty meters at first, pping away everyone in his path with a swing of his sword. But his eyes twitched after seeing Song Zining¡¯s sorry figure dodging here and there. Qianye thus sheathed East Peak and stood there to watch the scenery instead of going forward.

    ¡°Qianye, you bastard! I put myself in peril to save you! Y-You, do you even count as a brother?!¡± An exasperated Song Zining cursed while stomping his foot. Feeling that his voice was too soft, he simply took off his maskter on and began shouting loudly.

    Qianye yawned as he nced left and right as though he were looking for a ce to rest. Despite his harmless expression, the dark race soldiers would scatter frantically wherever his gaze fell, lest they catch his attention.

    Song Zining immediately became spirited and started ming Qianye, ¡°Just look at you, pretending to be all innocent and virtuous!¡±

    Several des rushed toward the back of Song Zining¡¯s head the moment he stopped dodging. He was rather furious at being disturbed while berating Qianye. A sword miraculously appeared in his grasp following a backward wave of his hand. The de drew a series of afterimages amidst a hail of countless dancing leaves, immediately killing everyone behind him. His actions were as light as a feather and involved neither smoke nor mes.

    The eyes of the twin-de girl immediately lit up. Now, this was the Song Seventh Young Master everyone knew¡ªeven a ughter was performed with such poetic grace.

    Song Zining was startled after that sword strike because he knew he had exposed himself. No matter how thick his face was, he couldn¡¯t help but burn up slightly under Qianye¡¯s bright, limpid gaze.

    The two nced at each other for a moment before breaking intoughter. They walked over with quick steps and hugged each other.

    Song Zining released his hand and sized Qianye up from head to toe. ¡°Where in the world did you run off to? You didn¡¯t return after such a long time. I even thought you were done in.¡±

    ¡°I was that close to being finished off.¡± Qianyeughed.

    ¡°Who under the Iron Curtain is capable of that? Now, you¡¯re able to kill a famous demonkin viscount without even batting an eye. That¡¯s no ordinary level of ferocity!¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression was doubtful.

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°How can it be that effortless? That demonkin isn¡¯t easy to deal with.¡± Without Song Zining¡¯s spear, Qianye would have to pay a steep price even if he won in the end.

    The conversation hadn¡¯t even ended when Qianye¡¯s blood and qi surged abruptly. Unable to suppress it any longer, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. How could he be entirely unharmed while suppressing Luther with that frantic assault?

    Song Zining didn¡¯t show the slightest concern after seeing Qianye cough blood. On the contrary, heughed cheerfully with an expression of schadenfreude. ¡°Who told you to show off like that. Now you¡¯re coughing blood, aren¡¯t you? Haha, I know you have more blood down there. Don¡¯t hold back now. Cough it all out!¡±

    After hearing such words, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but re angrily at Song Zining. His blood and qi had already begun calming down, but the agitation almost caused him to spray out another mouthful.

    Song Zining chuckled with his mouth covered and secretly spat out two mouthfuls of fresh blood onto his handkerchief. The square cloth then vanished into his sleeve with a flick of his fingers. On the surface, the Song Seventh Young Master was just as spirited and outstanding as before. It was just that his countenance, as elegant as the spring water, had taken on a slight shade of scarlet.

    Qianye snorted, and his eyes narrowed. He reached out and pped Song Zining behind the back and repeated thetter¡¯s words ad verbatim, ¡°Don¡¯t hold back now. Cough it all out!¡±

    This palm strike had just the right amount of force behind it. Song Zining could no longer hold back his injuries and spat out a stream of dark purple blood. This caused his face to turn pale, but he felt much more at ease and his aura gradually strengthened.

    Song Zining stared fixedly at Qianye and said while gnashing his teeth, ¡°Where¡¯s that mouthful of blood? Stop hiding. Out with it!¡±

    Qianye shrugged and replied with a radiant smile, ¡°There¡¯s no more!¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Song Zining cried out with an incredulous expression. ¡°Even a stately champion like this young master coughed up three mouthfuls of blood. Who¡¯s going to believe that a mere rank-nine soldier only coughed up a single mouthful of blood after charging into the main army and killing Luther? You¡¯ll go through hell if you n on keeping up appearances. Cough it out quickly or you¡¯ll worsen your internal injuries!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s really none.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡± Song Zining was still skeptical.

    ¡°Really.¡±

    The strength of Qianye¡¯s physique, as well as his recovery rate, had far surpassed Song Zining¡¯s expectations. Although the origin power recoil from attacking Luther had caused some serious injuries, he had already recovered a bit during this short period. A mouthful of stagnant blood was the limit.

    Song Zining was ncing at Qianye from different angles as though he were searching for that mouthful of blood. At this moment, the twin-de girl cried out loudly from afar, ¡°You two, save me!¡±

    Qianye was startled as he nced over to see the girlpletely surrounded by enemies and bathed in blood. He thus strode forth in a bid to rescue her.

    Unexpectedly, Song Zining pulled Qianye back and said indifferently, ¡°Don¡¯t bother, she¡­¡±

 Volume 5 - 440: Promise

    Chapter 440: Promise [V5C147 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Zining had only finished half his words when he felt an inconceivable force on his hands and his entire body. Whiletched onto Qianye¡¯s arm, he was dragged along through the air.

    Qianye dashed dozens of meters and arrived beside the young girl in an instant. A horizontal sweep from East Peak immediately cut several werewolves into two while the subsequent downward whack crushed two more vampires. With that, the young girl¡¯s siege was broken with rtive ease.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Qianye suddenly felt as though he had overlooked something. He nced back and was faced with Song Zining¡¯s furious re¡ªthetter was still grasping his arm firmly, but his body seemed to have been dragged across the ground.

    ¡°Zining, um¡­¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say, so he just acted dumb.

    Song Zining mbered up and patted the dust off his ck silver armor with a snort, his expression furious. ¡°Savage! Barbarian! You¡¯ve been led astray by that Wei n boar! How am I supposed to fight you in the future?¡±

    The twin-ded girl broke into aughter without the slightest bit of desperation in her demeanor.

    Qianye nced at her in surprise. Only then did he realize that she wasn¡¯t injured at all and that the blood on her body belonged to others.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned serious as he made introductions. ¡°Miss Nanhua is my¡­ erm¡­ female friend¡­ one of them at least. Actually, it¡¯s not easy for me to defeat her if she goes all out.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but view this maid-like young girl in a different light. Qianye had clearly witnessed Song Zining¡¯sbat strength. A person even he couldn¡¯t defeat easily wasn¡¯t one to be trifled with. It was just that Qianye felt Song Zining¡¯s tone of voice to be somewhat odd.

    At this moment, the battle had already entered its final stages, and the routed soldiers were starting to scatter after Luther¡¯s main forces were wiped out. The Dark me defenders charged out of the gates under the cover of the cannons to give chase.

    However, there was still a fair number of elites among them, and most of those belonging to certain tribes or regions formed their own units¡ªtheir general fighting power was still significant although they weren¡¯t led by dark race champions. The small units thus retreated gradually while fighting back, inflicting numerous casualties among the Dark me pursuers.

    At this moment, both sides were engaged in a chaotic battle with everyone fighting tooth and nail. Therge cannons on the city walls had stopped shooting to avoid friendly fire. The timbre of origin guns on the battlefield became exceptionally conspicuous after the cannons stopped rumbling.

    On the other end of the battlefield, the image of an odd beast appeared in the air and charged toward an unremarkable, petite figure. The creature possessed deer antlers and five hook-like ws. That was the innate skill totem of a demonkin! There was actually a second demonkin on the battlefield besides Luther.

    That little figure charged forward, her cape unfurling like a g in the wind as she spat out a one-meter long streak of mes. The rumble of her gun was like rolling thunder as it reverberated through the battlefield.

    Qianye¡¯s eyesight was extremely sharp. He nced back and immediately saw the fist-sized bullet emerge from the muzzle at inconceivable speeds. He instinctively sensed the astonishing firepower of the shot.

    That small figure was, in fact, ckmoon. A single shot from her pushed that demonkin warrior two steps back from dozens of meters away, his origin barrier fluctuating wildly. The beast-image in the air was also swaying violently as the momentum of his assault became stagnant.

    Boom! Boom! Boom! ckmoon reloaded at lightning speed and fired continuously, repeatedly pushing the demonkin back. His origin defenses soon shattered, and a terrifying bloody hole appeared on his body. The innate totem in the air had also dispersed.

    ckmoon rushed toward the demonkin warrior''s body, cut off his head, and hung it at her waist. These movements were iparably smooth and well-practiced. There were ten-odd soldiers under that demonkin¡¯smand, but they were all intimidated by ckmoon¡¯s vicious methods and didn¡¯t dare go forward.

    This girl had sted a rank-eight demonkin¡¯s origin barrier apart and killed him in one shot. This went to show that the firepower of her gun was already close to grade-eight. However, gunpowder armaments were advantageous in that they could fire continuously as long as one had enough ammunition. The weapon was a handgun to her, but it was actually more like a human hand-cannon; the recoil was naturally quite powerful. Under the champion rank, only mechanized hybrid bodies like hers could withstand such a force.

    After collecting the rank-eight demonkin, ckmoon hopped into the group of enemies and began hunting down high-ranking warriors among the routed enemies. She didn¡¯t even bother to spare those below rank-five a second nce. This little girl was like a wolf on the battlefield and was both agile and deadly despite her small frame.

    Song Zining had also noticed ckmoon. ¡°A Highbeard warrior?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Correct. ckmoon is a friend I met along the way who¡¯se to earn some military contributions in ckflow City.¡±

    Song Zining gazed at the girl for a while as though to assess her. ¡°Almost all the Highbeards are on the rebel army¡¯s side. I¡¯ve had quite a lot of dealings with them, and they¡¯re indeed quite difficult to tangle with. It seems this ckmoon is a high-ranking warrior among her n. Although their traditions dictate that they should be loyal to the employer, it¡¯s really best to be more careful.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll keep an eye on her,¡± said Nanhua.

    Qianye nodded in consent. With the strength Nanhua exhibited just now, she indeed had the capability to suppress ckmoon somewhat.

    The battle situation at this moment had been decided. Only Luther¡¯s main squad waspletely routed and wiped out, but the demonkin viscount¡¯s death had deprived the other camps of upstreammand. Hence, all of them chose to retreat.

    ckflow City erupted in jubtion after thest of the dark race army disappeared into the distance.

    Having been isted since the beginning of the siege, no one believed this small border city would be able to escape being leveled. This great, unexpected victory seemed like an otherworldly oue to the military masses of the city.

    ¡°Let''s go, we¡¯ll talk more over wine.¡± Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and left the cleanup of the battlefield to the Dark me officers.

    Song Zining and Qianye sat down in the study after returning to the city.

    Song Ziningpletely rxed when the both of them were alone. Gone was his usual showy demeanor and the murderous spirit he exuded with his mask on. He sat down with a manner as calm and tranquil as the deep waters. Hisportment was perfectly harmonious, and each of his movements was akin to shifting clouds and flowing water.

    Qianye sat across from Song Zining. He was theplete opposite of thetter, his body exuding natural valiance and tyranny¡ªit was as though he would shatter any and all obstructions with a strike of his de.

    Song Zining observed Qianye for a while and said while shaking his head, ¡°You¡¯re indeed different from before. It seems you¡¯ve had some extraordinary profits during this Iron Curtain bloody battle.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly after recalling his experiences in the ck Forest. ¡°I¡¯ve formed a blood core.¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t as surprised as Qianye had expected and seemed, instead, to be expecting this development. He tapped lightly on the table and produced a transparent leaf with prominent veins which floated toward Qianye. ¡°Do you mind letting me take a look?¡±

    Qianye activated his blood energy and pointed onto the leaf. Both of them trembled ever so slightly as a mottled, chaotic light shed through the air.

    Bewildered, Song Zining dispersed the leaf with a wave of his hand. ¡°That¡¯s odd. Having no n insignia in your body means that you were never infected. Why is it that even the Song n Ancient Scroll failed to refine these blood energies? On the contrary, they even formed a blood core.¡± He pondered for a moment then asked, ¡°But I noticed you¡¯re still activating the Combatant Form when using this heavy sword?¡±

    Qianye extended his right hand with a nod. With a light ¡°whoosh¡±, the scarlet origin power glow of the Combatant Form emerged from his arms.

    Song Ziningughed after some thought, ¡°Then it¡¯s fine. Who can cut open your body to find that blood core? By the time you be a champion, it¡¯s fine even if you use some darkness origin power in your attacks. It¡¯s just that the Combatant Form might not be able to help you cross the champion barrier¡­¡± He hesitated for a moment and continued, ¡°The Zhao n¡¯s secret arts can be considered one of the best among the major ns. Maybe you should consider¡­¡±

    There wasn¡¯t a shred of ease on Qianye¡¯s dark countenance. He suddenly cut Song Zining short and said, ¡°Zining, promise me one thing.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s demeanor changed abruptly, and he nodded solemnly without even asking what Qianye wanted to say. ¡°I promise that I¡¯ll kill you with all my might if there¡¯s a vampire capable of suppressing your will with their origin blood. I won¡¯t let you live like a zombie.¡±

    Qianye exhaled deeply with an expression of relief.

    Song Zining inquired, ¡°You werepletely off the grid these days. What exactly did you encounter? Could it also be the Nangong family?¡± At this point, Song Zining¡¯s voice turned cold and was filled with undisguised killing intent.

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°I¡¯ve dragged you down this time.¡± At this moment, he was already aware that it was likely the Nangong family who had blocked Song Zining in ckflow City. ording to the present circumstances, their target should¡¯ve been him instead.

    Song Zining broke into aughter. ¡°There¡¯s no need for such words between brothers. I wouldn¡¯t havee here to fight a disadvantageous war if I were afraid of trouble. Moreover, my own troubles aren¡¯t any less than yours. Do you mean to say I shouldn¡¯t burden you in the future?¡±

    Qianye alsoughed. ¡°Fine then. The ones hunting me down are Bai Kongzhao and the Nangong family, but I¡¯ve finished off most of the Nangong family¡¯s men.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s gaze focused. ¡°Bai Kongzhao? I¡¯ve heard of this person. But do her actions represent the Bai n?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Qianye shook his head.

    Song Zining got up and paced a couple of times around the study. ¡°What ns do you have?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let Bai Kongzhao off, but I¡¯m not sure about the Bai n¡¯s attitude toward this matter.¡±

    Song Zining became silent for a while. Even he had to think carefully in the face of a gigantic entity like the Bai n. He spoke only after a while, ¡°There are many experts among the Bai n¡¯s elder generation, but theyck a supreme expert to oversee them. Although they have three divine champions, two of them are already one foot in the grave and haven¡¯te out for a long time. Bai Aotu¡¯s authority has grown progressively stronger in the recent decade. After all, she¡¯s the one with the highest chance of bing a divine champion.¡±

    Song Zining said after a pause, ¡°Bai Aotu¡¯s character is extremely tyrannical and overbearing, and Bai Kongzhao was personally recruited into the n by her. We¡¯ll definitely sh with Bai Aotu if we kill Bai Kongzhao, and thus a battle with the Bai n is inevitable.¡±

    Qianye nodded and replied indifferently, ¡°I understand now.¡± The two spoke in a rxed manner as though their opponent wasn¡¯t a major n but andowning household instead.

 Volume 5 - 441: Resistance

    Chapter 441: Resistance [V5C148 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Zining said, ¡°There¡¯s no hurry to this matter since we have to think of the long term. First the Nangong, then the Bai n¡ªthat¡¯s the sequence. And the Nangong family has an entire division of soldiers nearby. They wanted to take over this battle line after ckflow¡¯s fall and thereby justify all their actions. But now that ckflow City¡¯s siege has been broken, we¡¯ll have to face their desperate move.¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°They¡¯ll need to reorganize for at least half a month even if they want to trouble us.¡± With that, Qianye recounted his ambush on the Nangong family¡¯s base.

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud. ¡°Well done! It can be said that the Nangong family went for wool but came home shorn. Among the high-ranking aristocratic families, the quality of their Xiao and Cheng-named disciples can be considered quite good. Now that they had taken such losses, it¡¯ll be quite some time before they can catch their breath.¡± But Song Zining was also somewhat baffled. ¡°Howe the Nangong family¡¯s methods are so crude and direct? It¡¯spletely unlike Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s usual treacherous style.¡±

    It was Qianye¡¯s turn to frown at this point. ¡°Did something happen on your side? I encountered a Ningyuan Group caravan being ambushed thousands of kilometers away at the Sky River County. Moreover, why has the Song n not made any statements up to this day? Even if their individual squads can¡¯t match the Nangong private army, this matter is no longer a private conflict. The empire wouldn¡¯t watch two ns go to war under the Iron Curtain, would it?¡±

    Song Zining muttered to himself after listening to Qianye¡¯s recount of his run-in with the Ningyuan caravan. ¡°Bai n? The empress¡¯s family?¡±

    An undisguisable expression of weariness appeared on his countenance as he leaned back on the chair. He remained silent for a moment before speaking with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to tell you about this entire matter. In truth, I had no ns to defend ckflow City to the bitter end. I would¡¯ve broken through the siege on my own if things turned unsalvageable, bringing Nangong Xiaoniao along at most. The reason I didn¡¯t order her Red Scorpion members to join the battle was so that they could guard her on the way out. But regardless of the circumstances, I¡¯m not going to rely on the Song n¡¯s power again.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled. He nced at Song Zining¡¯s expression and recalled the things he had set up in the recent months. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯ve decided to leave the Song n entirely?¡±

    Song Ziningughed bitterly and said, ¡°Yes, that Ningyuan Heavy Industries caravan is myst contribution to the family, an attempt at digging out those disloyal fellows who were colluding with outsiders. As for whether the caravan can survive, it won¡¯t affect the results of the general n. Those with errant ambitions would surely have been exposed by now, but judging from the present circumstances, it would appear that the cleaning process didn¡¯t go all that well. Do you think they¡¯d fail to deal with such a small thing if they really put their minds to it?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Communication with the outside world must be quiteplicated at this moment. We can have that Zhou Caiguang from Lone Ghost to deliver information to us. Then we¡¯ll know the situation.¡±

    Song Zining said indifferently, ¡°He can¡¯t inquire about things within the n. As for the others, it¡¯s no longer important.¡±

    However, Qianye noticed a trace of discouragement from Song Zining¡¯s tone of voice. The Song n¡¯s failure to rush to ckflow City¡¯s rescue could be considered a form of neglect, even if they had encountered some kind of trouble. The Nangong family¡¯s domineering attitude was entirely born of the Song n¡¯s silence. The situation might¡¯ve beenpletely different if the Song n were just a little bit unyielding.

    Perhaps Song Zining had never expected reinforcements from his family, however, anyone would feel as though being cut by a sharp de when ignored in this manner.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how he should console Song Zining. As such, he got up to the wine cab, brought out two sses of wine, and passed one to thetter.

    Song Zining withdrew most of his depressed mood in a short while. He received the ss and swirled it in his hand, gazing at the bizarre glow of the liquid as it hung onto the walls. He then raised his ss at Qianye with a smile and finished it in one gulp.

    ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t worry too much. I¡¯m now free. Isn¡¯t that great?¡± At this point, Song Zining¡¯s eyes lit up as he said with a smile, ¡°The military contributions gained from the dark races outside the city will surely allow Dark me to advance in the expeditionary army. Do you want to assemble another field division for fun or upgrade the ckflow defensive region?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have that big an ambition at the moment.¡±

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re sitting on this seat, people around you will force you to have ambitions even if you don¡¯t.¡± Song Zining chuckled.

    Qianye alsoughed as he took small sips from his wine ss. As the two chatted intermittently, they could vaguely hear the jubnt cheers from the city outside.

    Many people were moving in and out of the Song n¡¯s Culvert Jade Courtyard at this moment. Numerous servants had cleaned every corner of the ce¡ªtherge courtyard was filled with the colors of spring, and the air was suffused with a gentle warmth. Strands of daybreak origin power flowed out from the imitation mountains, pirs, and even the shrubbery. Taking in just one breath would uplift one¡¯s spirit. In terms of origin power density, the cultivation chambers of the smaller ns could hardlypare.

    The servants and maids were all cautious, fearful of making the slightest bit of mistake. Today, the routine elder assembly would convene here¡ªwith the old ancestor in isted meditation, it could be said that all the important characters of the Song n would be gathering in this courtyard.

    Within the Hall of Honesty to the north of the courtyard, dozens of elders had been engaged in discussion for over half a day, covering a dozen-odd topics regarding the n.

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s expression was solemn and devoid of all joy, while the former grand elder Song Zhongcheng was sitting across him with a face full of smiles. Thetter was apparently quite pleased with himself and showed not a shred of gloominess at being removed from the grand elder position.

    ¡°Next up, let¡¯s discuss the expenses of the sixth branch.¡± Song Zhongcheng hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Song Zhongnian¡¯s gloomy voice cut him short, ¡°We should be discussing how to rescue Song Zining! He¡¯s been trapped in ckflow City for over half a month now!¡±

    Song Zhongcheng let out a cough and said unhurriedly, ¡°ckflow City is a dangerous location that¡¯s already been surrounded by the dark race army. We only have a couple of squads nearby, and that¡¯s not enough of a force at all. This old man has already ordered them to break through the defensive lines at all costs and reinforce Zining, but their repeated attempts during this half a month have failed, inflicting great losses with little progress. Sigh! Actually, the n Lord shouldn¡¯t worry too much. It¡¯s not a problem for Zining to break through the encirclement with his abilities.¡±

    At this point, Song Zhongcheng shot a nce at another elder who immediately said, ¡°All elders, this ckflow City isn¡¯t our Song n¡¯s area, and there are no Song nbat squads in it. Don¡¯t forget that ckflow City¡¯s contributions in this bloody battle are recorded in the Zhao n¡¯s name. As I see it, saving Zining and saving ckflow are two different things.¡±

    All the elders agreed in session the moment these words were spoken.

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s expression was ashen¡ªhe snorted heavily but was helpless to do anything. All thebat squads outside ckflow City were under Song Zhongcheng¡¯s control. They only acted for show and exerted no real effort in this matter. As the n lord, Song Zhongnian couldn¡¯t do anything about it either.

    Song Zhongnian said with a snort, ¡°Then let¡¯s discuss how Ye Mn, Ye Muwei, and the three people from our n colluded with the enemy and caused our Song n caravan¡¯s annihtion. This matter has been investigated thoroughly, and, with such concrete evidence, these people should be beheaded! What say all the elders?¡±

    Song Zhongcheng stroked his beard and said, ¡°That is the Ningyuan Heavy Industry¡¯s caravan and not our Song n¡¯s. Zining has long since intended to separate himself, so how can we discuss his property as our Song n¡¯s? Hence, I think the two Ye family sisters¡¯ collusion with the enemy requires further discussion. Moreover, this matter involves too many things and contains too many suspicious points. This old man thinks we should investigate in greater detail. We might as well dy this matter and continue at next month¡¯s elder assembly.¡±

    Anger shed across Song Zhongnian¡¯s face as he shouted, ¡°Song Zhongcheng, you keep evading this matter in order to prevent Zining¡¯s engagement from being canceled! Do you think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re nning?!¡±

    The smile on Song Zhongcheng¡¯s face remained unchanged. ¡°This is only an opinion born of my experience and wisdom. I¡¯m not saying we won¡¯t discuss this matter. We merely need to discuss further. Why is the n Lord so angry?¡±

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s face was ashen. ¡°This won¡¯t do, we shall discuss this matter now! Elders, do not be negligent!¡± At this point, Song Zhongnian¡¯s tone of voice was entirely harsh.

    Song Zhongcheng¡¯s expression had also changed. He snorted and said coldly, ¡°You can¡¯t dictate the entire elder assembly! The handling of this matter must gain the approval of all the elders.¡±

    Seeing how things were turning out, the elders spoke up one after another. However, most of them only wanted to y the peacemaker, and those standing on the n Lord Song Zhongnian¡¯s side were not dominant.

    Although Song Zhongnian held the position of n lord, it was actually the old ancestor who truly decided everything. All major businesses required the old ancestor¡¯s nod of approval before execution. As such, Song Zhongnian¡¯s authority was quite limited, and the two branches were actually equal in influence before Song Zhongcheng was stripped off of his position.

    The old ancestor suddenly announced that she would go into secluded meditation during these troubled times. Moreover, she ordered that no one must disturb her no matter how important the matter was. This wasn¡¯t a good sign in the eyes of many people. There were rumors secretly spreading that the old ancestor had actually gone into a death meditation in order to seek an extension to her life. If she failed in this ordeal, she would either die or lose a significant portion of her cultivation.

    Although Song Zhongcheng had lost his position as the grand elder, his influence was yet to be diminished. Having operated the elder assembly for so many years, his status there was still robust, and the two were evenly matched in certain matters.

    Seeing the two gradually shed all pretenses, many elders began whispering in hushed tones. This Song Seven¡¯s engagement had turned into a matter of enormous proportions.

    Duke Wei had announced a while ago that he would be selecting a partner for his beloved daughter, Lil¡¯ Xin, immediately causing amotion among the talented youths of the empire. Duke Wei¡¯s authority was like the midday sun, and Lil¡¯ Xin was a good lookingdy who enjoyed his favor. Marrying her would be an instant elevation to the groom¡¯s status¡ªfew were untempted, even among the outstanding lineal scions of the four major ns.

    Song Zhongcheng had also proposed a marriage to Duke Wei on behalf of Song Zian. Song Zian might be able to turn the tides and im the sessor position if he could pull off this marriage. As such, the former grand elder had pulled out all the stops and gone all out. Song Zhongnian¡¯s original intention was also to release Song Zining of his engagement and pursue Due Wei¡¯s daughter. After all, Duke Wei had praised Song Zining more than once during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt. Moreover, Song Zining was widely known for his aplishments and elegance, an inherentdy-killer.

    At this moment, Song Zining¡¯s engagement had be the key factor and also the reason why Song Zongcheng was resisting this matter with all his might. It could be considered a victory for him if he could drag this matter out until selection day.

 Volume 5 - 442: Parting on Bad Terms

    [V5C149 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The elder assembly dispersed on bad terms without any results.

    Naturally, no one objected to Song Zhongnian¡¯s branch increasing thebat squads dispatched to Evernight Continent, but it was impossible to mobilize the Song n¡¯s private army. But everyone knew that most of these so-called Iron Curtain units were hired locally¡ªit was fine to exchange some contributions for their lives, but breaking the ckflow City siege was impossible.

    The sky was already dark by the time the elders walked out of the hall in twos or threes.

    Song Zhongcheng was apanied by six or seven elders, all of whom were his close friends. He cupped his hands all around and said, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to your help this time. There definitely won¡¯t be a shortage of benefits for everyone if my business seeds.¡±

    One of the elders replied with augh, ¡°Brother Zhongcheng is too polite. We¡¯ve known each other for decades. There¡¯s no need to mention such a slight effort on our part.¡±

    Another elder chimed in, ¡°Allow me to congratte you in advance for weing Miss Lil¡¯ Xin into the household. The next n lord¡¯s position isn¡¯t so certain now!¡±

    The other elders agreed.

    Song Zhongcheng stroked his beard and saidcently, ¡°The marriage selection is close at hand, so Zian has to be well-prepared. We¡¯ll have to trouble Elder Hu and Brother Zhongming for everything.¡±

    The two elders in question replied hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s what we should do.¡±

    Another elder looked around and said with augh after finding that Song Zhongnian still hadn¡¯te out from the hall, ¡°Little Seven¡¯s talents are indeed astonishing, but it¡¯s a pity that his luck has never been good. I think he might not get through this ordeal in ckflow City.¡±

    Song Zhongcheng smiled. ¡°The n lord¡¯s position remains unclear. Even if we don¡¯t do anything¡­ do you think his branch is all that unified? Actually, it¡¯s also fine to dissolve Little Seven¡¯s engagement. In any case, he¡¯ll have be a defeated general after the ckflow City battle. His reputation won¡¯t be that great anymore.¡±

    The elders nodded in quick session. In truth, they were already scared witless after reading the reports on the dangerous situation in ckflow City. It was already a big surprise that Song Zining could hold out for so long.

    At this time, Song Zhongnian finally walked out from the hall apanied by three or four elders, a group far inferior to Song Zhongcheng¡¯s in number.

    Seeing Song Zhongcheng¡¯s pleased demeanor, Song Zhongnian snorted loudly and left the courtyard inrge strides. At this moment, an elder sighed. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate how short-sighted Zhongcheng is. He really thinks he can win this marriage by suppressing Zining. How can a mere Song Zian win that position? Zicheng¡¯s chances might be better.¡±

    The elders all sighed.

    After gaining the first ce with great dominance in the exams, Song Zicheng sessfully sought the hand of Princess Rongyang of the imperial n; their marriage date would soon be announced. That was also the reason why the grand elder¡¯s lineage was so tant regarding this matter and couldn¡¯t even care about other people trampling over the Song n¡¯s face. There was simply no time left to go in circles.

    Song Zhongnian said slowly, ¡°Let it be. It¡¯s unfortunate that Zining is not fated for this.¡±

    The elders all nced at each other but couldn¡¯t find any words to say. Song Zining had disyed his outstanding qualities in recent years, and all those battles under ckflow City had pushed his name to the peak. He was the best among the Song n¡¯s younger generation both in terms of talent and martial ability, so much so that some people had begunparing him to the geniuses of other major ns. This had never happened before.

    Such a genius-level character splitting off to establish his own organization was undoubtedly a big loss for the Song n. In the end, Song Zhongnian decided to help him dissolve his engagement and represent the Song n in proposing a marriage to Duke Wei. This was not only to have Song Zining remain, but also for the future of the n.

    It was just that Song Zhongnian had never expected such resistance from the elder assembly¡ªeven those who usually refrained from offending anyone were suddenly standing on Song Zhoncheng¡¯s side. Thetter¡¯s poprity and influence weren¡¯t enough to produce such a change.

    Song Zhongnian and the elders were all supreme characters. With their shrewdness, how could they not know why this matter had reached such a stage? How could it be just Song Zian who didn¡¯t wish for Song Zining¡¯s return? There were others who would feel threatened if this dragon among men were to continue rising in the Song n.

    At the thought of this, Song Zhongnian¡¯s face turned weary as though he had aged ten years in an instant. He could only shrug as he stepped out of the courtyard doors.

    Suddenly, a gust of wind assaulted them head-on, nearly causing the two elders to the west of the road to stagger.

    Song Zhongnian nced over with a frown. ¡°Zhongxing, what are you in such a rush for? Moreover, look at the time! You arrived only after the assembly ended¡­¡±

    The person who had arrived was precisely the n lord¡¯s younger brother, Song Zhongxing. He had always been a short-tempered man who spoke frankly. He would usually still give his own brother some face, but now, he only rolled his eyes and said, ¡°What¡¯s the point in attending this broken assembly? Haven¡¯t youe back empty-handed once again?¡±

    Seeing that the former grand elder¡¯s group had emerged from the courtyard and was watching them argue, the moody Song Zhongnian replied immediately in displeasure, ¡°Zhongxing¡­¡±

    Song Zhongxiang, however, didn¡¯t have the patience to listen to his brother¡¯s lecture. He cut thetter short and said with a cold voice, ¡°Brother, you don¡¯t need to worry anymore. The situation in ckflow City has been resolved.¡±

    Silence descended upon the smallne outside of the Culvert Jade Courtyard. It was so quiet that one could hear the leaves rustling in the wind.

    However, the stillness was soon followed by a great p of thunder as Song Zhongxing spoke in a tone of joyous mockery, ¡°Zining charged into the army of ten thousand and took down themanding general, beheading him in front of his troops. The dark race army waspletely routed. Haha, our Song n¡¯s Fueled Fire Spear once rivaled the Bai n¡¯s Feathercloud Art on the battlefield. Today, it has regained its former glory in Zining¡¯s hands. Everyone, aren¡¯t you all delighted?¡±

    The expressions of all the elders were indescribable with all kinds of colors present¡ªit was as though they had opened a dye shop.

    Song Zining¡¯s fame would surely soar like the midday sun after this battle, likely enough to elevate him to the same level as the handful of major n geniuses. However, such a person was destined to never be the Song n¡¯s future pir. The n¡¯s movements as they avoided battle during this period could hardly be hidden from the other aristocratic entities. Having reached such an oue after all their scheming, the Song n would definitely be theughingstock of the entire empire.

    Song Zhongxing tossed out yet another big bolt of thunder. ¡°Oh, and by the way, I actually came to beg for forgiveness today.¡±

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s heart, at this moment, was filled with a plethora of emotions. He hadn¡¯t even recovered from the previous shock when he heard Song Zhongxing say, ¡°I went to check the prison just now and happened to see the two Ye family whores trying to break out of prison. I was careless and identally killed them. It looks like we must push this case onto the Ye family. I refuse to believe that they have no idea what the two sisters are doing.¡±

    Song Zhongnian hadn¡¯t even said anything when the grand elder Song Zhongcheng roared loudly, ¡°Song Zhongxing, youmitted murder to silence people!¡±

    Song Zhongxingughed. ¡°What? Does the grand elder think I should stand there and allow them to kill me? Only twondowning family women. Big brother, isn¡¯t your prejudice too obvious? If one didn¡¯t know any better, everyone would think your daughters-inw just died.¡±

    Song Zhongcheng was so angry that he couldn¡¯t find words to say. The finger he was pointing toward Song Zhongxing trembled continuously. Song Zhongxing was still an important expert of the Song n despite the fact that his temper was loathed by everyone. Even if Song Zhongcheng wanted to teach him a lesson, it would only end with a drawn-out battle since the two were roughlyparable in strength.

    Song Zhongxing scanned everyone¡¯s faces with a mocking gaze and waltzed away with a ¡°Heh¡±.

    As night fell upon the greatnd, ckflow City weed its first truly peaceful night in quite a while.

    Calling it silent was hardly viable since the entire city was brightly lit. Dark me soldiers were scattered throughout the battlefield, cleaning up and collecting the spoils of war.

    Within ckflow, a small portion of the city had turned into rubble. Although the dark race army had retreated, the bloody battle was yet to be over. They naturally had to make the best of this time to repair the defensive structures. Not to mention the others, three out of the four stronghold cannons had broken down after operating at overload for all this time. They had to be repaired immediately.

    Qianye and Song Zining were standing atop the gate tower and gazing at the scene in and around the city. Both of them were slightly tipsy.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°How many years has it been since we met at the Yellow Springs?¡±

    Qianye was also moved by the changes that had taken ce in their lives.

    ¡°Qianye, have you considered what path you¡¯ll take in the future?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I have it easy since I¡¯ve always been alone, and cane and go as I please. You, on the other hand, will be in quite a bit of trouble after this battle.¡±

    Song Zining appeared unconcerned. ¡°To hell with it, I don¡¯t fear such small troubles. If things go out of hand, I can always leave with Nanhua for a continent outside of the empire. I¡¯ll just live a carefree life as a royal son-inw.¡±

    ¡°You? I¡¯ll be damned if you can hold back your desires.¡± Qianye mocked without reservations.

    Qianye learnt from Song Zining that Nanhua was actually the princess of a small, external continent country called Solemnity.

    Solemnity was a tiny nation even smaller than some of therger imperial counties, and it could be considered one of the empire¡¯s vassal states. They had mobilized in full force for this bloody battle and its bountiful rewards since this was a rare opportunity to gainrge batches of imperial equipment. Meanwhile, Nanhua had another thought¡ªthat was to get to know the aplished and handsome youths of the empire. Later on, she met Song Zining.

    Qianye only had one assessment for Nanhua: ¡°You¡¯ve met the wrong person.¡±

    But Solemnity¡¯s customs were quite open-minded, and the people there weren¡¯t as rigidly stratified as the imperial ns. Nanhua didn¡¯t mind Song Zining¡¯s so-called engagement at all. In fact, this princess might even be hoping that he didn¡¯t have such a celebrated surname.

    Song Zining onlyughed mischievously at Qianye¡¯s mockery. ¡°When do you n to visit Nangong Xiaoniao?¡±

    Qianye was immediately at a loss for words.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t pursue this topic further after gaining the verbal high-ground. He merely asked, ¡°What do you n to do afterward?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I need to rest for a couple of days. Afterward, I¡¯ll go y with those Nangong people.¡± Unknowingly, his words already contained faint traces of tyranny.

    Qianye¡¯s body was full of internal injuries after the battle with Luther and required urgent recuperation. But he had also gained vast amounts of essence blood when he used Life Plunder toward the end of his charge. All those who had surrounded him at the time were Luther¡¯s personal guards, and none of them were weak. In that instant, he was filled with vitality to the verge of bursting. Such arge amount of essence blood required immediate digestion.

    Qianye excused himself without further dy and left Song Zining hanging on the City Tower, drinking in the wind. He quickly arranged a quiet room and entered secluded cultivation after ordering that he was not to be disturbed unless it was an important matter.

    Although he had sustained a lot of injuries in the battle, they were fortunately not too serious. Most of them came from the bacsh while he wasunching frantic attacks at Luther. The injuries on his body surface weren¡¯t rming, but the internal organs were a bit problematic.

    Qianye sat down in the isted room and slowly activated his blood core. He didn¡¯t know many secret arts, and the only one with healing powers was the Yin family¡¯s Nurturing Rain Art. Butpared to the strength he currently possessed, both the speed and effect of the Nurturing Rain Art were mediocre at best. It was probably faster to use blood energy for healing.

    The blood core began to pulse in a moment and its rate gradually increased. The hibernating blood energies also showed signs of activity, and his injuries would start to heal wherever they passed. Most of his surface injuries were gone in a mere half a night¡¯s time.

    The night was still young at this moment. Qianye circted the Song n Ancient Scroll and began digesting the massive amounts of essence vitality in this body.

    One day and night passed in a single meditation session.

    His digestion speed was much faster than before. All of the vital essence blood turned into darkness origin power, which was then absorbed by the dark golden and purple blood energies. Quite surprisingly, both the Wings of Inception and the Book of Darkness were lying low withoutpeting for the darkness origin power.

    By the time the final bit of darkness origin power was absorbed by the dark golden blood energy, a warm current suddenly gushed out from his chest and spread to his entire body in the blink of an eye. It was inexplicablyfortable. He hurriedly looked inside in astonishment and found that some specks of golden light had flowed out of his blood core at some point. These radiant blobs would make his entire body feel warm andfortable wherever they went, and his vitality seemed to be growing all the more exuberant.

    The specks were great in number, and would gradually fade away after traveling through the bloodstream for some time. Qianye focused on one of them and his vision quickly zoomed in down to the smallest detail.

    He saw that the golden specks weren¡¯t made of pure light. There was an iparably small granule at its center, surrounded by diffuse golden mist akin to a burning me. The granule grew smaller and smaller as thebustion continued until it eventually disappeared.

    At the sight of this, Qianye was slightly shaken as he thought of a certain possibility.

 Volume 5 - 443: Auric Flame Blood

    [V5C150 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye once again shifted his attention to the blood core.

    It was pulsing slowly just as before, the crystals on its surface reflecting an intermittent brilliance with every contraction.

    The world within the blood core was revealedyer byyer as his True Sight zoomed in. Qianye saw that a drop of golden blood had appeared at some point within the depths of the blood core. It hovered in the air alight with a faint golden me. When his blood flowed into this chamber, it would bring away specks of golden light from this drop of golden blood and transport them to various parts of his body.

    Qianye could feel his body growing stronger little by little as the golden specks continued to circte. Although the degree of strengthening was almost negligible, his constitution and strength were improving constantly. Moreover, it was a permanent upgrade that would grow to an impressive level over a long time.

    A term emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind when he saw the burning drop of golden blood.

    Auric me blood!

    The auric me blood would be born in a vampire¡¯s blood core upon his ascension to the rank of marquis. The energy contained within every speck of golden light it released was hundreds of times richer than that of fresh blood, and with their presence, one¡¯s origin power condensation and regeneration would increase by a significant margin.

    Among twobatants with equal strength, the one who possessed the auric me blood would easily emerge victorious over the one without. This was also the reason why a vampire¡¯s rank and bloodline allowed them to exert overwhelming dominance over those inferior to them.

    ording to legend, those mighty marquis whose strength were above all other marquis had already transformed all the blood in their body to auric me blood. Such vampires were different from others down to their innate vitality and could be considered a different form altogether. They already possessed a thread of hope to assail the threshold of a duke.

    The dark race feudal ranks matched their strengths. They would escape the ranks of cannon fodder starting from the rank of esquire, and bing a viscount was a sign that they had crossed into the realm of true experts. The rank of marquis was when they would touch the borders of the pyramid''s summit.

    However, the suppression exerted by a high-ranking dark race member on a low-ranking one was more obvious than the stratification of human champions. The benefits of Qianye forming the auric me blood at the viscount rank were quite easy to see.

    Qianye was happy about his increase in strength, but he couldn¡¯t describe the feelings in his heart after recalling the origin of his blood energy. Moreover, despite the Song n Ancient Scroll, there was no telling when he would lose bnce now that his dark side had advanced by leaps and bounds. He wasn¡¯t willing to pay the price of falling into darkness even if he could obtain greater power.

    Qianye thought of something at this point. With the auric me blood¡¯s strengthening effects on his constitution, he might be able to withstand more impact from the origin power tides than before¡ªat least theoretically. That being the case, just how far would he be able to advance with the Combatant Form?

    Qianye had already cultivated the Combatant Form to forty-nine cycles. Such a progress was only exceeded by Zhang Boqian within the century. But it was already quite difficult for Qianye to reach this stage, and he even had a feeling back then that the next stage of the Combatant Form would produce a drastic transformation. As such, he didn¡¯t dare take the next step forward.

    But now that Qianye had condensed a blood core and produced the auric me blood, his body strength now rivaled that of a dark race count. In addition, there was an urgent need to bnce the darkness and daybreak origin powers in his body. This produced in him the will to advance once more.

    Qianye calmed himself down, adjusting his physical and mental status to the optimal state as he gradually circted the Combatant Form. The activation of the Combatant Form had already be second nature to him after cultivating it all this time, and the origin power tides quickly reached twenty without any extra effort on his part.

    That was the cornerstone that allowed him to join the Red Scorpions. Recalling the past, it felt as though he were already worlds apart at the moment.

    Qianye suddenly sensed a minute difference amidst the momentous tides poised to sweep away the entire world. In the past, there would always be some stagnant areas around his chest and abdomen. This time, however, it traveled unobstructed like a level-road, and it was as though the turbulent areas had never even existed.

    His mind fluctuated ever so slightly but calmed down once again afterward. The Combatant Form surged along his blood vessels like a rotating wheel as unending strands of origin power gushed out from his nine nodes. They all came together within the sea of origin power formed by the Combatant Form and actuated the superposition of the tides.

    Thirty, then forty cycles passed by in the blink of an eye. Qianye was easily withstanding the impact of the tides capable of ripping a human champion to shreds. Qianye¡¯s body began to tremble only after reaching the forty-fifth cycle¡ªhe was finally feeling some pressure.

    At this moment, he let go of all distracting thoughts, and there was neither grief nor joy as he continued to stack the origin tides atop each other, all the way up to the forty-eighth cycle.

    At this moment, the blood core finally reacted to the increased pressure and started to pulse. The auric me blood being discharged from the blood core also increased ordingly and reced the ordinary blood energy of the past in protecting his organs from damage.

    Qianye passed the forty-eighth cycle with rtive ease and finally reached the peak of the Combatant Form¡¯s forty-ninth cycle.

    At this very moment, the origin power within his body was majestic and finally took on the charm of an early origin sea. Manyyers of tides rushed on the surface of the sea and finally umted into giant waves that reached the skies¡ªthe peaks of these waves almost touched the firmament.

    Suddenly, Qianye sensed that the area above the sea of origin power wasn¡¯t just empty space, but an invisible dome-shaped barrier. It blocked the giant tides and prevented them from pushing higher.

    When he reached the forty-ninth cyclest time, Qianye¡¯s attention was focused on resisting the massive force of the giant tide and protecting himself from lethal damage. He was able to sense the existence of the formless barrier only after the auric me blood afforded him the ability to endure the force of the giant tides.

    ¡°Could that be the limit of the Combatant Form?¡± Qianye reached a revtion.

    But Zhang Boqian had used himself to prove that the forty-ninth cycle wasn¡¯t the Combatant Form¡¯s limit.

    As Qianye circted the Combatant Form, the giant tides surged into the sky and crashed into the barrier above. The tides were shattered, but the towering barrier remained steadfast. The impact of the waves crashing into the firmament was tremendous¡ªthe defenses provided by the auric me blood were crushed, leaving countless injuries of all sizes on his internal organs. Qianye¡¯s face turned pale as he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    However, Qianye was delighted instead of bing rmed because he had noticed the firmament waver negligibly during that violent impact.

    Qianye wasn''t anxious to forge ahead. He controlled the tides and reduced themyer byyer until they returned to their origin node, then pushed them back to forty-nine cycles momentster. After going past the forty-ninth cycle, Qianye controlled the giant wave and struck the barrier once again with great ferocity!

    This time, he was well-prepared. His blood core pulsed as it produced a continuous stream of golden radiance, causing almost half his blood to be suffused with raging mes. The bacsh from the attack on the barrier was violent, but Qianye was able to resist it with only his face turning pale. The minute damages within his body were healing at a visible rate due to his vampire constitution and powerful regenerative ability.

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush onto the next attack but instead allowed the tides to recede and his injuries to recover. He began the next cycle only after his injuries had more or less healed.

    This cycle repeated time and again. Qianye was immersed in the cultivation of the Combatant Form and had long since forgotten the time and date.

    ckflow City was only peaceful for one day and night after the end of the big battle. It became lively very quickly as all kinds of people representing the various powers came pouring in. Messengers, representatives, and even people from their families appeared in person.

    Song Zining stepped out of the study and had just sent off a group of guests when several more approached him. ¡°This one is Wang Shanxing, son of Count Jushan. I¡¯vee especially to call upon the Seventh Young Noble.¡±

    Song Zining nodded with a smile and replied, ¡°I¡¯ve met Uncle Wang once when I was young and received quite a few martial arts pointers from him. Doe in and have a seat. How is Uncle doingtely?¡±

    ¡°My father is in good health.¡± Wang Shanxing followed Song Zining back into the study and exchanged some routine pleasantries before asking with an anxious expression, ¡°Seventh Young Noble¡¯s name has shaken the entire empire after your disy of divine might in this battle. I was wondering if you can transfer some of the military contributions from this battle?¡±

    Song Zining replied with an unchanging smile, ¡°We haven¡¯t finished checking the contributions at this moment and might need a couple more days. It¡¯s fine to transfer some contributions, but there are a thousand repairs waiting to be done in this small ce of mine. We still need to n out the required resources. It¡¯s still a tad bit too early to discuss this matter.¡±

    Wang Shanxing attempted to persuade further, making numerous promises and issuing all kinds of lists. But he was helpless as Song Zining rejected all of them, citing that the time wasn¡¯t right. Fortunately, Song Zining didn¡¯t refuse outright which left them with some leeway to act.

    After the departure of Count Jushan¡¯s son, the brother of Viscount Dingbian from the Xingjing area paid a visit. And the discussion was, once again, the matter of contribution transfer. Meanwhile, there were two more groups waiting outside.

    Song Zining met seven or eight groups of people that day alone, and all of them hade for military contributions.

    At least five viscounts had fallen in this battle, including the first-ranked viscount Luther. Almost a hundred warriors below the baron rank were killed, and others eligible for contribution numbered in the thousands. Casualties among the cannon fodder were innumerable. It could be said that this was the biggest single batch of military contribution under the Iron Curtain.

    The contributions basically belonged to Song Zining and the Dark me independent division. However, a division couldn¡¯t be reformed into an army corps after one major battle, and it was debatable whether the other border cities were worth investment and expansion. As such, it would be an absolute waste to cash in this batch of contributions for resources and gold coins.

    Everyone clearly understood this simple logic.

    Those with good information channels had long since understood the siege of ckflow City quite clearly. Naturally, they also knew that Song Zining had more or less left the Song n to establish his own. Hence, the n these military contributions would fall under became a topic of emphasis.

    Military contributions became a hot resource since the empire publicized the bloody battle rankings. This was especially true for arge lump sum like the one in question since it could directly affect the sequence of those in the top-ten rankings. How could it not be coveted?

    The representative powers around ckflow City were the fastest to act. They weren¡¯t expecting to obtain all of the contributions, but just half of it would be superior to their best squad¡¯s desperate efforts.

    The visitors up until now were mostly minor powers, but it was likely that many high-ranking ns woulde knocking on the doors before long. Song Zining was naturally in no rush to make a deal and only listened on no matter what kind of requests or conditions they proposed.

    After Qianye went into istion, Song Zining reverted to his carefree demeanor as the wanton and flowery seventh young master. It was just that no one knew what he was thinking beneath that enchanting smile.

    The superficial peace didn¡¯tst very long as a special unit appeared outside of ckflow City after a mere two days.

 Volume 5 - 444: Malice

    [V5C151 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    This unit was extremely well-equipped. Despite being only one battalion in scale, they were apanied by over ten military trucks and several mobile heavy cannons. All of the foot-soldiers were on armored transport vehicles.

    There were actually two airships apany this unit. They were only low-grade gunships but, as in-service war vessels, their firepower was far superior to the old airships usually found on Evernight Continent.

    Their rate of advancement was so abnormally fast that the sentry on the city walls could already see them before the remote scouts outside of ckflow City were able to ry the warning.

    A Dark me sentry suddenly cried out in rm after seeing the eye-catching Nangong family g through his binocrs.

    This unit stopped a thousand meters away from ckflow City and assembled assumed formation. They set up their mobile heavy artillery and raised the muzzles toward the city.

    The sentry had someone report to the superiors while keeping watch through his binocrs. Suddenly, he saw one of the cannons light up. The soldier¡¯s expression quickly turned to one of despair as he was soon devoured by the smoke and deafening sts.

    At this moment, the spectator could see how the heavy cannons roared in unison, sending ming streaks over the city walls. The shells then struck each other in the air with iparable uracy and exploded in pairs.

    This bombardment which resembled a gun-salute should¡¯ve have ended at that, but sudden changes urred all of a sudden. The segment of the city wall below the explosion split open tumultuously, slowly dragging a sentry tower along with it. The few warriors on top were flung away and left hanging on the nearby walls amidst miserable wails. The others, however, were directly buried under the copsed masonry.

    An ear-piercing rm rang out over the city asrge squads of Dark me soldiers charged out of the barracks and headed for their posts. The soldiers who had survived thest battle had already be iron-blooded veterans and fighting had be an instinct flowing throw their veins.

    That unit stopped firing after the initial salvo.

    ¡°Hold it! Do not fire!¡± Atop the ckflow City walls, a certain major cried out while pressing the down the soldiers¡¯ guns one by one.

    A petty officer roared back at the officer, ¡°What are you doing? Didn¡¯t you see how many brothers have died? Did we survive those dark race bastards just to die in imperial hands?¡±

    The officer¡¯s expression was solemn. Apparently, he was also suppressing the mes of his anger. ¡°That¡¯s the Nangong family¡¯s army. If we open fire, it¡¯ll be war with the Nangong family. This isn¡¯t a matter we can decide!¡±

    The petty officer was spewing mes out of his eyes but, despite his wrath, he understood that the major was right. Those cannon shots seemed like a form of greeting aimed at bringing ckflow City down a notch¡ªit was just that a bloody ¡°ident¡± became involved unexpectedly.

    In the Nangong family unit, a mysterious looking man lowered his binocrs and said with a cold, scheming smile, ¡°It seems that Song Zining¡¯s leadership is just so-so.¡±

    An aide beside immediately replied, ¡°How can hepare to our Nangong family¡¯s elites with his meager ability?¡±

    The man waved a finger forward. ¡°Since we¡¯ve sent our greetings, it¡¯s time to go knocking on their doors.¡± With that, he and the aide boarded amand vehicle which drove toward ckflow City. A number of vehicles wanted to follow but were stopped with a wave of his hand.

    The Dark me major became even more cautious after seeing themand vehicle leave the main army and make for their gates. Their heavy weaponry in their hands could deal with a heavybat vehicle, but not the experts within this car.

    A resounding voice suddenly rang out behind him just as the major was hesitating whether to fire a warning shot. ¡°Let them in.¡±

    A steam whistle emitted a short cry as clouds of rolling steam surged out and the newly-repaired city gates rolled toward the sides. The jeep drove straight in without the slightest bit of hesitation.

    A man resembling an iron tower stood right in the middle of the city¡¯s main road with his hands behind his back. His gaze was like a de as he stared at the oing jeep, but the vehicle continued roaring straight toward the man!

    The man on the road neither moved nor changed his expression. It was as though he didn¡¯t even put the charging jeep in his eyes.

    The jeep slowed down abruptly amidst sounds of screeching brakes and finally came to a jolting stop at the veryst moment. But the car¡¯s bumper still pressed against the man¡¯s body with a muffled thud. A sh of pallor flitted across thetter¡¯s face which quickly faded away.

    Themand vehicle doors opened and out walked the secretive man. He nced at the man blocking the road and said with a nod of approval, ¡°A fierce general actually exists in such a deste ce! How should I address you?¡±

    ¡°Duan Hao.¡±

    The mysterious man nodded. ¡°This seat is Nangong Zhen, and I¡¯vee to call upon the Seventh Young Noble.¡± The man clearly came with evil intentions but his speech and manners were polite, a full disy of his noble demeanor.

    Duan Hoa¡¯s brows jumped ever so slightly. ¡°Seventh Young Master is already waiting. Please follow me. Additionally, your car may only drive up to this point.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll follow you for this trip.¡± Nangong Zhen made no motion to argue. He ordered his aide to alight, and the two men followed Duan Hao toward the Dark me headquarters.

    Along the way, Nangong Zhen suddenly said, ¡°Duan Hao, this seat thinks you¡¯re a rare talent. Why don¡¯t you follow me back to Transcendent Continent? The ten thousand elites under mymand are yours to pick, and I guarantee to make you anded gentry as long as you make enough contributions.¡±

    Duan Haoughed out loud. ¡°I¡¯m a crude person and can¡¯t do much other than fight. Moreover, I¡¯ve long since sold this rotten life to the Seventh Young Master.¡±

    The aide beside them said with a gloomy expression and a cold voice, ¡°With your meager strength, it¡¯s already an honor to be invited by the sire! Don¡¯t¡­¡±

    Nangong Zhen raised his hand with a frown, stopping the aide from speaking on. Duan Hao, on the other hand, smiled sinisterly at the aide. The aide actually felt an ineffable chill and couldn¡¯t help but tremble momentarily.

    Duan Hao was currently rank-eight. Although a faint glow had appeared on this ninth-node, he still wasn¡¯t a rank-nine fighter. But that rare tyrannical momentum surrounding him was akin to one who had killed his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The aide was immediately cowed upon confrontation and ovee by an uncontroble will to retreat.

    Nangong Zhen was even more displeased after seeing this and snorted heavily. He was quite clear that this aide would¡¯ve died without a doubt if he had met Duan Hao on the battlefield. That was also why he was so impressed with Duan Hao.

    What kind of character would Song Zining be if even a subordinate was like this? Moreover, ckflow had another mysterious city lord called Qianye.

    It was rumored that Song Zining had charged into the central army and behead the enemymander. But the Nangong family¡¯s scouts observing the battle had clearly reported that it was Qianye who had charged into the army alone and taken Luther¡¯s head, thus breaking the siege. It was just that this person stopped appearing afterward¡ªclearly, his injuries weren¡¯t light¡ªthe perfect opportunity to settle old scores.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression turned grave at the thought of this but only slightly¡ªhis pride wasn¡¯t reduced at all. Apanying Duan Hao on this stretch of the road was lowering himself out of respect for the man¡¯s talents and humbling himself to make acquaintances.

    Song Zining stood before the study window gazing at the group walking up Dark me¡¯s main road. ¡°So, it¡¯s Nangong Zhen? Interesting.¡±

    Nangong Zhen made his name quite some time agomanding armies outside, mainly fighting against the other races. He recently joined the elder assembly to be one of the Nangong family¡¯s youngest elders.

    Behind Song Zining, Song Hu was reporting the shot fired by the Nangong army upon their arrival. Song Zining¡¯s expression was just as carefree and unfettered.

    Nangong Zhen walked into the study after a short while, shot Song Zining a deep nce without any greetings and sat down imposingly as though he were the owner of this ce.

    Absolutely furious, Song Hu and Duan Hao stepped forward in order to berate the man. However, a stare from Nangong Zhen sent a mountainous pressure down upon their bodies¡ªthe two found it difficult to breathe and their bones began to creak and groan.

    Duan Hao and Song Hu were high established high-ranking officers, but they were a far cry for an expert like Nangong Zhen in terms of strength.

    ¡°How can you be so rude to Sire Nangong?¡± With that, Song Zining waved his hand and indicated Duan Hao and Song Hu to retreat. The pressure upon them also gradually faded away.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was just as before and didn¡¯t seem to mind Nangong Zhen¡¯s discourtesy at all. He brushed away his wide sleeve and sat down calmly across the guest,pletely ignoring the near-tangible sharpness of thetter¡¯s gaze.

    A trace of astonishment shed through Nangong Zhen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Hearsay is indeed inferior to meeting in person. Seventh Young Noble is indeed a young hero. It¡¯s no wonder you¡¯re able to win the battle of ckflow City.¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s just luck. I really don¡¯t deserve Sir Nangong¡¯s praise. I wonder what brings you here?¡±

    Nangong Zhen didn¡¯t reply and only asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the lord of your esteemed city?¡±

    Song Zining raised his brows and pointed beneath his feet. ¡°This humble one is enough to decide everything on thisnd.¡± He was suddenly rmed while saying this¡ªQianye¡¯s isted cultivation couldn¡¯t be kept a secret. What was Nangong Zhen nning?

    Nangong Zhen snorted heavily and banged on the armest. ¡°That Qianye killed so many disciples from our Nangong n. Does he think he can just hide away in isted cultivation? Have hime out and receive his death!¡±

    At thest word, Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression was severe and his origin power erupted with a boom. A sudden, violent storm swept through the study and sent all the bookcases and chairs flying, causing them to shatter upon the walls.

    Song Hu was sent flying and crashed into the wall with blood spurting out of his mouth. Duan Hao roared loudly as he did his utmost to resist, but he was still pushed back under the pressure, leaving deep footprints on the ground. Even the aide Nangong Zhen had brought along was pale and retreated continuously until he managed to stabilize himself against the wall.

    Only Song Zining remained calmly seated in the study, but his clothes were flying in the wind. The only intact pieces of furniture within the room were the chairs under Song Zining and Nangong Zhen.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned as gloomy as still water. ¡°Nangong Zhen! Thisnd is under the Iron Curtain! Everyone will suffer if you¡¯re not careful!¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± Nangong Zhen let out a sinisterugh as he continued to increase his origin power.

    Half the wall between the study and the small za outside copsed with a loud rumble as Song Hu, Duan Hao, and Nangong Zhen¡¯s aide were swept away. Meanwhile, a vortex of qi started to form within the room.

    At this moment, the atmosphere throughout the entire ckflow City became stifling. Ripples shed through the unchanging grey sky like ake into which someone had thrown a rock. These nearly-negligible waves, however, didn¡¯t calm downpletely. It felt as though the sky had sunk down a bit and was continuing to descend. An enormous and inexplicable aura was brewing above, and it caused everyone to shiver.

    Only experts at a certain level would be able to sense the aura sense this world-changing aura of terror. Most ordinary people sensed nothing, but they suddenly became jittery as though an explosive voice was roaring in their hearts, unable to calm down.

    Song Zining was both rmed and angered because he had already understood Nangong Zhen¡¯s intentions at this point.

    Apparently, he had already heard that Qianye was in isted cultivation to treat his injuries. This was a time when he shouldn¡¯t be agitated. The man had run over here to draw upon Sky Demon¡¯s aura and agitate the whole of ckflow City in a bid to heavily injure Qianye. Sky Demon¡¯s aura will was far-reaching under the Iron Curtain¡ªthe stronger the expert, the more they more deeply they would sense it. This was not something a mere wall could iste.

    Once agitated by Sky Demon¡¯s aura, Qianye might suffer injuries to his spirit and even damage his foundations, stripping him of all future development. Nangong Zhen¡¯s method could be considered extremely malicious.

    Nangong Zhen sneered as he sat straight like a pir and deftly maintained his origin power at the threshold. It was just enough for Sky Demon¡¯s aura to sweep past the city but not enough to attract his terrifying gaze.

 Volume 5 - 445: Breaking Through

    [V5C152 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Zining suddenly stood up and, without hesitation, burst forth with origin power. The study was immediately filled with a rain of falling leaves. Nangong Zhen¡¯s Origin¡¯s End Domain didn¡¯t affect him much. Moreover, there was no violent scene during the collision of the two domains.

    While Nangong Zhen was in doubt, he suddenly realized that Song Zining¡¯s flexible, vine-like origin power had wrapped around his own, causing it to increase uncontrobly!

    The rotation of the Iron Curtain above elerated all of a sudden as the indescribably enormous will of Sky Demon paced back and forth therein. It seemed he would cast his gaze toward ckflow City at any moment.

    Nangong Zhen shouted loudly, ¡°You¡¯re mad!¡±

    Song Zining said word by word, ¡°If you don¡¯t withdraw, then we shall perish together, and you¡¯ll be the first to die!¡±

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression changed several times before he finally withdrew his origin power. Only then did he feel ayer of moisture on his back and realized he was unknowingly drenched in cold sweat.

    He had just arrived on Evernight and had yet to experience Sky Demon¡¯s power. Although Nangong Yuanwang and the others had given him quite a bit of information on the death of certain unfortunate experts, the conceited Nangong Zhen felt those rumors to be somewhat exaggerated. Only now aftering into contact with Sky Demon¡¯s aura did he realize the terror involved.

    Despite his usual calmness, Nangong Zhen couldn¡¯t help but lose hisposure after sensing Sky Demon¡¯s aura just now. Under such formidable pressure, Sky Demon didn¡¯t even need to send his avatar¡ªa mere gaze could make Nangong Zhen explode.

    As Nangong Zhen withdrew his origin power, the cirction on the Iron Curtain slowed down and eventually came to a stop. Sky Demon¡¯s aura which epassed hundreds of kilometers also receded gradually, returning ckflow to its normal state.

    Within the isted room, Qianye was circting the Combatant Form. He had lost count of how many times he had charged at the barrier.

    The formless firmament was extremely sturdy. Even the impact from forty-nine waves of the Combatant Form could hardly produce a crack upon it. But Qianye refused to back down because he had sensed that the barrier was no longer invulnerable like before and was starting to waver.

    This added to Qianye¡¯s confidence. He threw away all distracting thoughts and repeatedly activated the Combatant Form, all the while paying rapt attention to every little change. Judging from how the firmament barrier was wavering, he surmised that three isted cultivations, eachsting seven days, would be enough to st this barrier apart and push the Combatant Form into a new realm.

    However, at the critical juncture, Qianye sudden felt the entire world start shaking as if there were a major upheaval. In a faraway ce that seemed more like another world, an indescribably massive aura descended from the sky, arriving almost instantly and filling the entire world with its presence.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core and heart were agitated and started to pulse madly seemingly in an attempt to prevent his will from shattering under the terrifying aura.

    Fortunately, that terrifying aura only swept past for an instant and vanished toward the other end of the world.

    This aura gave Qianye a feeling of familiarity. Was that Sky Demon? He didn¡¯t have time to ponder from whence the extremely dangerous change had stemmed from when he saw that the previously indomitable barrier was now filled with cracks due to the impact from Sky Demon¡¯s aura.

    This was a true, unexpected surprise! However, Qianye immediately discovered that the cracks there were gradually starting to heal as the terrifying aura receded.

    Qianye was rmed! How could he let such a good opportunity to slip away? He immediately activated the Combatant Form and began throwing the tides at the firmament one after another, regardless of the cost. The barrier was already wavering before this, and now, the series of repeated shocks suddenly brought about a sharp ¡°crack!¡±

    The sound felt like a heavenly note as it resonated in Qianye¡¯s ear.

    He saw a small piece of the barrier fall from the firmament and disappear into the void. This small defect was almost negligiblepared to the vast dome, but it was, in fact, the herald of the Combatant Form¡¯s rebirth.

    It was at this moment that Sky Demon¡¯s aura rose once again from afar and swept through all obstructions with a merciless chill like a majestic river suspended from the nine heavens.

    Qianye¡¯s will was like a small fish swimming in the long river¡ªeven a small spray was enough to fling him into the sky, to speak nothing of resisting the great billows.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s idea wasn¡¯t wrong. Before the Sky Demon¡¯s aura, even a cultivating Divine Champion would be strained if he was caught off-guard.

    However, the dark golden blood energy scuttled out from the blood core at the critical moment. The little Wings of Inception fluttered as it blocked most of Sky Demon¡¯s aura with the apanying barrier of light. Meanwhile, the Book of Darkness also appeared at this moment and produced a ck light barrier with which to deter the remainder.

    As expected of Andruil¡¯s core inheritances, the Wings of Inception and the Book of Darkness were actually able to stand up to Sky Demon¡¯s aura. Although the two of them were contending against an extremely small portion of Sky Demon¡¯s will, it was already an astonishing feat.

    With the protection afforded to him by the Wings of Inception and the Book of Darkness, Qianye clenched his teeth and decided to grasp this wonderful opportunity. He activated the Combatant Form to strike at the barrier which was already cracking under the pressure of Sky Demon¡¯s aura. Fragments fell like rain as the once indomitable barrier was filled with holes in the blink of an eye and teetering on the brink of copse.

    The defects on the firmament revealed a corner of another world¡ªan unfathomable emptiness.

    Qianye¡¯s world didn¡¯t calm down even as Sky Demon¡¯s aura vanished once again. Thecerations in the sky seemed to have lost the ability to self-repair, allowing strands of suffocating auras to descend from the void and into the origin sea below.

    These auras were inexplicablyrge, cold, and unsympathetic¡ªsomewhat simr to Sky Demon¡¯s, but were even more ancient and majestic. It seemed as though they were born together with the universe and have always existed alongside it.

    The boundless perpetuity shook Qianye¡¯s heart and almost caused it to stop beating. His will suddenly became a minute speck of dust in the vast expanse of this world, but it was also iparably sturdy and bright.

    The radiance from the Wings of Inception and the Book of Darkness converged around him to form a mixture of dark and light. Meanwhile, the Combatant Form tide he had just used to assail the barrier had gradually receded, and a giant vortex was revolving slowly down below. Countless runes were flickering on and off upon the inner walls¡ªupon closer inspection, one could see that they belonged to the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Mystery and Glory chapters.

    A greatly astonished Qianye watched the scene before him unfold, a certain thought appearing in his mind out of nowhere. ¡°Could it be the aura of the great dao?¡±

    At the same time, both Nangong Zhen and Song Zining felt something as they nced toward the direction of Qianye¡¯s location.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression changed rapidly, his heart wracked with bewilderment. Sky Demon¡¯s will had clearly retreated, but he could still feel a certain aura that filled him with trepidation. It was as though a beast hidden within the depths of ckflow City was about to awaken.

    Song Zining retracted his gaze and said coldly, ¡°Did Sir Nangonge to ckflow City alone just to establish your might? Do you really think you can leave this city alive?¡±

    Nangong Zhen was stoppered up and only managed to emit a heavy snort because Song Zining¡¯s strength had far surpassed his expectations. Had he known that thetter was actually capable of resisting his Origin¡¯s End to this degree, he most certainly wouldn¡¯t havee into ckflow City alone.

    Before this, Nangong Zhen believed that the Song n¡¯s secret arts were only so-so. Song Zining was also quite young and had just entered the champion rank¡ªhow strong could he be? At his level, a battle between experts could no longer be won by stacking human lives against him. He was confident in escaping even if he were surrounded.

    But now, Song Zining¡¯s odd secret art alone made it impossible for him to charge out of ckflow without rming Sky Demon.

    Nangong Zhen sighed in his heart as he recalled the aim of this trip. He forced a smile and said, ¡°I was only joking just now. There¡¯s no need to keep it on your mind. This seat came to deliver a joyous business for Seventh Young Noble. Now, we can discuss things properly.¡±

    ¡°A joyous matter? Sir Nangong¡¯s negotiation methods are truly new. Fine, let¡¯s hear it.¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression was unfathomable as he raised his hand to stop the Dark me soldiers who were about to charge in. He gestured Duan Hao to enter and had Song Hu remain outside to obstruct Nangong Zhen¡¯s aide.

    Nangong Zhen ignored the mockery in Song Zining¡¯s words and said, ¡°The conflict between us has caused no small amount of losses to both sides. If this goes on, the matter will definitely be a joke to the other ns. Moreover, we had no idea that Seventh Young Noble¡¯s interests were involved when this conflict began.¡±

    Nangong Zhen paused momentarily at this point. To be precise, they hadn¡¯t expected Song Zining¡¯s reaction would be so intense, and neither had they realized that this person was so difficult to push around.

    Song Zining lowered his gaze without replying.

    Nangong Zhen continued, ¡°In truth, not everyone in our Nangong family agrees with Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s methods. It¡¯s indeed unwise to initiate such a dispute for a woman. His n lord position might be shaken before long.¡±

    Song Zining only reacted at this point and nodded in response to the reasonable words. But he still suspected that Nangong Xiaoniao had other secrets on her. Otherwise, Nangong Yuanbo wasn¡¯tcking in women¡ªwhy would he offend giant entities like Red Scorpion and the Zhao n just for her?

    Nangong Zhen continued, ¡°Ie representing our elder assembly to negotiate a ceasefire with Seventh Young Noble. At the same time, we¡¯ll also stop our attempts to hunt down Qianye.¡±

    A chill shed through Song Zining¡¯s eyes at this point. ¡°Sir Nangong¡¯s actions just don¡¯t seem so sincere!¡±

    Nangong Zhen remainedposed. ¡°Does Seventh Young Master know how many of our family¡¯s scions died in Qianye¡¯s hands? Those are all ranked core descendants. Moreover, I wasn¡¯t looking to take his life. It¡¯s just a small joke, and the results will be as the heavens will it. What will Seventh Young Noble have done if you were in my shoes?¡±

    Song Ziningpsed into silence once again. His right hand behind his back rxed slightly but sped tightly once again.

    ¡°Moreover, to show our sincerity, we¡¯ll also give you the name of an important character in the Song n. He paid us arge sum of money to have you remain in ckflow City forever. He also divulged a lot of information about you. I¡¯m sure such a person would interest you, right?¡±

    Song Zining replied indifferently, ¡°This person must be extremely important to you. Are you going to sell him to me just like that?¡±

 Volume 5 - 446: From Tide to Vortex

    [V5C153 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Nangong Zhenughed loudly with a mocking expression. ¡°He¡¯s important but not essential. In uglier words, with the Song n¡¯s current integrity, I can buy as many such people as I want as long as I¡¯m willing to pay. Why wouldn¡¯t I sell him to Seventh Young Noble for a good price?¡±

    Duan Hao was furious and would¡¯ve charged up to fight it out with the man had Song Zining not stopped him. Havinge from the Song n, Duan Hao could hardly endure such humiliation. In the end, the Yishui Nangong family was but a high-ranking aristocratic family and nominally one level lower than the Song n.

    Song Zining inhaled deeply then said with a sigh, ¡°Quite skilled you are to make me lose my smile.¡±

    Nangong Zhen said with a smile, ¡°What is facepared to one¡¯s life and profits?¡± In truth, he had never believed that the Song n would throw their prestige onto the floor and allow the Nangong to trample all over them.

    ¡°Since Sir Nangong has such ¡®sincerity¡¯, what do you hope to obtain here?¡±

    Nangong Zhen said in a serious voice, ¡°Simple. Our Nangong family mobilized a division of soldiers and contributed to the battle by guarding the defense line behind ckflow City. We want eight parts of the current military contributions!¡±

    ¡°Eight parts? Damn your mother¡¯s nonsense!¡± Duan Hao cursed loudly. He had fought bravely during this entire bloodbath and lost a fair portion of his brothers in order to obtain this heavy share of contribution. Now that Nangong Zhen was asking for eight parts of it, this brave, hot-tempered general could no longer endure and not even Song Zining could keep him in check.

    Nangong Zhen didn¡¯t spare Duan Hao a single nce and only spoke to Song Zining. ¡°Eight parts, not a bit less.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression sank. No wonder the Nangong family could even let go of the losses to their core descendants¡ªit turned out that they had their eyes on this. If he agreed to this deal, the Nangong family¡¯s interception of ckflow¡¯s reinforcements would be painted as a defensive assistance on top of gaining them arge sum of military contributions, sufficient to push them to the top of the rankings. The inside story would be covered up lightly at that point, and even Red Scorpion and the Zhao n wouldn¡¯t be able to trouble them.

    Song Zining chuckled. ¡°Eight parts of this military contribution is enough to equip four regr divisions with just the empire¡¯s rewards alone. Isn¡¯t the Nangong family afraid of hurting their appetite?¡±

    Nangong Zhen said indifferently, ¡°That we won¡¯t trouble you with.¡±

    ¡°What if I don¡¯t agree?¡±

    ¡°Then perhaps our Nangong army will have to take charge of ckflow City¡¯s defenses.¡±

    This was an undisguised threat. Dark me had fought an extensive battle with Luther and suffered extensive casualties. Meanwhile, the Nangong family¡¯s division was honing themselves for a big push and also had many experts overseeing them. Dark me would truly struggle to defend if they were tounch an assault. No matter how proficient Song Zining was inmanding troops, even the cleverest of wives couldn¡¯t cook without rice.

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°Sire Nangong is quite heroic. You¡¯re even prepared to offend the expeditionary army to the very end.¡±

    ¡°The only one I¡¯m offending is Xiao Lingshi. The expeditionary army has more than just one deputymanders-in-chief,¡± Nangong Zhen said in a meaningful tone. ¡°Moreover, the Iron Curtain won¡¯t remain forever.¡±

    All emotions disappeared from Song Zining¡¯s eyes; they were calm without a single ripple within. It seemed Nangong Zhen had already grasped a fair bit of inside information.

    Song Zining watched Nangong Zhen momentarily with narrowed eyes and said calmly, ¡°Since that is the case, I shall wee the Nangong army in ckflow City. I¡¯ll also get to observe Sir Nangong¡¯smanding skills in passing.¡±

    Nangong Zhen was startled, and his expression sank immediately afterward. Apparently, he had never expected Song Zining to refuse him immediately. ¡°I shall definitely let you experience it. You weren¡¯t even born when this seat started leading troops.¡±

    Song Zining paid him no further heed and said loudly, ¡°See the guest off!¡±

    Duan Hao immediately took a step forward and said with a sinister grin, ¡°Sir Nangong, this way!¡±

    Nangong Zhen let out a series of coldughs. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s see how long you can hold out!¡±

    Just as he was leaving, Song Zining suddenly spoke, ¡°Sir Nangong, if you ¡®greet¡¯ us again just as you did when you arrived, our stronghold cannons might also misfire.¡±

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression turned ashen. ckflow¡¯s stronghold cannons had performed brilliantly during the war and made Luther suffer quite a bit. Who would¡¯ve thought these rickety old things would possess such might? If the four of them were to fire at the same time, Nangong Zhen wasn¡¯t confident he could block them all without suffering any damage. The regiment he had brought would surely suffer great casualties.

    Nangong Zhen didn¡¯t even bother with the pleasantries and left with a wave of his sleeves.

    Just as Nangong Zhen¡¯s figure disappeared outside of Dark me headquarters, even the cautious Song Hu asked, ¡°Seventh Young Master, why don¡¯t we give them a few sts and seek revenge for our brothers?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head and said, ¡°No rush, we¡¯ll collect both principal and interest sooner orter. Everything can wait until Qianye exits seclusion.¡±

    With that, he rushed toward Qianye¡¯s cultivation chamber after leaving the two with some brief instructions. Sky Demon¡¯s aura had twice flitted above ckflow City just now, and it was unknown how Qianye was faring.

    Nangong Zhen wasn¡¯t willing to linger and exited the city quickly after finding hismand vehicle. Now that he had the opportunity, the aide asked in a whisper, ¡°Sire, didn¡¯t Elder Yuanwang tell us to negotiate for four parts of their military contributions?¡±

    Nangong Zhen snorted. ¡°How can four parts be enough? This seat wants two parts, and there are others we need to share with.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Song Zining will have to deliver the contributions with both hands as long as we cut off all externalmunication from ckflow City. The Song n didn¡¯t even make an appearance during the siege, to speak nothing of the present situation. As for Red Scorpion, they won¡¯t meddle in other people¡¯s business as long as we don¡¯t touch that woman. Zhao Yuying¡­ heh¡­ she doesn¡¯t have the right to represent the Zhao n.¡±

    His voice hadn¡¯t even ended when Nangong Zhen suddenly nced back after sensing something. In his perception, a beam of origin power rushed up into the sky from ckflow city and actually pierced straight into the grey dome of the Iron curtain.

    Within that split second, this origin power pir was connected to the heaven and earth! The biting chill of a murderous intent poured out instantly in every direction.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Nangong Zhen couldn¡¯t help but be overwhelmed. With his experience, he had an indistinct feeling that this was a worldly phenomenon produced during a breakthrough. But just what level of breakthrough could have induced a phenomenon of such scale?

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression was as gloomy as it could be. He spoke only several momentster, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Even his previous thoughts about firing a few shots before leaving had vanished.

    Many powerful characters in ckflow City sensed this vision, and all of them were bewildered. Only Song Zining was greatly delighted because the origin power had arisen from the direction of Qianye¡¯s istion chamber. But his expression immediately changed as the Iron Curtain started revolving anew and Sky Demon¡¯s aura returned.

    Song Zining shot toward Qianye¡¯s seclusion area at full speed, a zed barrier emerging faintly around him. Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art¡ªone leaf to prophesy, and another to blind the eyes¡ªright now, he only hoped he could get there in time!

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s initial shock upon seeing the shattered firmament barrier had passed, and he was sitting cross-legged on the ground in silence to facilitate his cultivation. Origin power cascaded down from the void like a waterfall and poured into his sea of origin power¡ªevery second, every minute was nowparable to days of bitter effort.

    There were no longer enormous waves upon the sea of origin power, and the entire sea was revolving slowly to form arge vortex. The whirlpool looked serene but actually contained a world-shaking might which had far surpassed the giant wave of the Combatant Form¡¯s forty-ninth cycle. It seemed capable of sweeping in and crushing everything.

    Boundless origin power poured through from the void, rushed into the sea of origin power, and was quickly assimted by the vortex.

    After the Combatant Form surpassed the forty-ninth cycle to break through the sky barrier, the giant wave turned into a whirlpool of extreme absorptive power¡ªa testament to the heavenlyw that everything will move in the opposite direction after reaching an extreme. Afterward, a certain art appeared naturally in Qianye¡¯s consciousness: Profound Combatant Form.

    This was precisely the cultivation art for the Combatant Form past its fiftieth cycle. It contained a mere couple hundred words and was fairly simple, but the Combatant Form at this stage was already approaching the realm of naturality and no longer required too many tricks. It would gradually approach a supreme status just by circting in ordance to the rules.

    Qianye read through the couple hundred words of the art in an instant and mumbled with a soft sigh, ¡°So, that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    The founding Great Qin Emperor had found enlightenment to this art while drifting through the overflowing blood and sorrow of the battlefield. The Combatant Form¡¯s cirction was actually emting the great momentum of the heaven and earth. Just from this concept alone, it could be considered peerless among the extensive range of arts in the empire.

    But how many people could stand abreast with the Great Ancestor and his extreme talents? Theter cultivators only managed to copy the form but lost the spirit, thus failing to revive the Combatant Form¡¯s past glory.

    It was during the era where the Great Ancestor started developing the empire that he contributed this art to the war for survival against the dark races in a bid to bring out more of the human race¡¯s potential. The Ancestor made some modifications to the Combatant Form at this point. The first part was the basic form widely known in the army, while the cultivation method past the fiftieth cycle was hidden in the void via a shocking method.

    If there was anyone capable of breaking through the fiftieth cycle barrier¡ªgoing from tide to maelstrom¡ªan origin pir would shoot into the void and conjoin the heaven and earth. This would actuate the advanced Combatant Form and grant him the inheritance.

    It wasn¡¯t that the original Combatant Form couldn¡¯t advance to the champion rank, but few could withstand the extreme pressure of that great origin power vortex past the fiftieth cycle. Qianye might have suffered heavy injuries from the pressure had he not formed his blood core and Auric me Blood. Ordinary cultivators couldn¡¯t even surpass the soldier king threshold at the thirtieth cycle, to speak nothing of turning tide to vortex at the fiftieth and controlling that maelstrom to assault the champion rank.

    But Qianye realized that this Profound Combatant Form wasn¡¯tplete. The pressure of the great sea vortex was too powerful and ced unbelievable demand on the cultivator¡¯s body¡ªit would be extremely difficult to take a single step forward. Perhaps that was why Zhang Boqian and King Wuwei stopped cultivating it after the fiftieth cycle.

    How could the might of the heaven and earth be so easy to obtain?

    Sky Demon¡¯s mysterious aura once again appeared from the outer realm. Qianye¡¯s heart trembled as he quickly withdrew the Combatant Form.

    The origin power pir gradually dispersed, and the defect in the void filled up on its own. Sky Demon¡¯s will roamed about on the Iron Curtain but gradually left after finding nothing.

    At the same moment, Qianye suddenly noticed a familiar aura envelop the istion chamber. The faint pressure and obstruction felt as though someone had opened up a domain.

    Afterward, a fallen leaf floated gently in front of Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts were still lingering on the moment where the tide had transformed into the great sea vortex, pondering the memorable profundities therein. He couldn¡¯t help butugh after seeing Song Zining¡¯s symbolic leaf¡ªhe flicked it with his finger before withdrawing his origin power and walking toward the door.

    A muffled groan unexpectedly came through from the other side. Qianye pulled open the door just in time to see Song Zining stagger with a pale expression.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Qianye asked.

    During that single moment, Song Zining felt as though a boundless ocean pressed down upon him at full force! The domain of the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art wavered and almost couldn¡¯t hold on. Song Zining recovered swiftly, but the intent and aura of that single flick almost made him feel as though he were hallucinating.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression fluctuated wildly. In the end, he grabbed Qianye by the cor and asked furiously, ¡°What art is that?¡±

    ¡°The Combatant Form.¡±

    Song Ziningughed coldly, ¡°Who are you trying to fool?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s indeed the Combatant Form at the fiftieth cycle.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still denying?! Wait a min¡­ did you say fiftieth?!¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I just broke through.¡±

    Song Zining drew in a breath of cold air. ¡°Fiftieth cycle! Doesn¡¯t this mean you¡¯re already on par with Marshal Zhang back in the day?¡±

    At this point, Qianye let out a frustrated sigh. ¡°Actually, I just can¡¯t figure out how Marshal Zhang broke through the fiftieth cycle barrier back then. The true Combatant Form lies past that point.¡±

    Song Zining said while gnashing his teeth, ¡°What I want to know more is how you broke through?! Stop spouting nonsense and speak up! Do you still need to consolidate your realm? If you don¡¯t, then get out there and earn some military contributions. It¡¯ll be a waste if I don¡¯t use such a good thug.¡±

 Volume 5 - 447: Kill Our Way There

    [V5C154 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye reached out to pat Song Zining¡¯s shoulder andughed, ¡°If we¡¯re going, then we must go together! Sufferings must be shared.¡±

    The two joked around for a bit before Qianye asked, ¡°What happened just now? Sky Demon¡¯s aura suddenly appeared and almost made me suffer.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s voice turned cold. ¡°What other than the trash from the Nangong family?¡± He then recounted what had happened just now.

    Qianye nodded and asked calmly, ¡°What are your ns?¡±

    ¡°What do think we should do?¡± Song Zining asked back.

    Qianye said with killing intent shing through his eyes, ¡°Let¡¯s just kill our way over there now.¡±

    Song Zining broke into aughter. ¡°How simple and violent. I like it! But there are many major characters watching that ce. Us brothers have neither power nor influence at the moment. We might have to wrap a cloth around us if we¡¯re going to y with his mother. Haha!¡±

    Qianye red at him and said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you half a day¡¯s time to prepare the loincloth!¡±

    Song Zining said with great confidence, ¡°I¡¯ve already made ample preparations. We can leave right away.¡±

    Momentster, a motorcade drove out from the freshly destroyed gate. This vehiclesprising this seven-truck convoy had eye-catching Dark me and expeditionary army insignias painted upon them.

    The seven heavy trucks advanced in a single file, their engines rumbling, and their tall vertical exhausts puffing out ck smoke. The eight man-sized wheels on each car rose and fell as they climbed over various types of rugged terrain, akin to colossal beasts of burden slowly traversing the destend.

    These Primordial Beast trucks belonged to a model currently in-service in the imperial regr army, and a was rare sight on Evernight Continent. There shouldn¡¯t be any at all in a remote ce like ckflow. Song Zining had only brought along some when he stationed himself here. Hence, one could easily tell that Dark me was here after seeing these massive entities.

    The cab of the Primordial Beast was fairly spacious with two rows of seats. One could stuff in a dozen or so men during critical times.

    Within the lead vehicle, Qianye was holding onto the steering wheel and clumsily operating this five-meter-tall steel beast.

    Following a violent jolt, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but p the steering wheel and say, ¡°It¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve driven such a car. It¡¯s truly hard to get used to.¡±

    ¡°Take it slowly. Here have a cigarette to raise your spirits.¡± Song Zining, on the other hand, seemed to be in a good mood as he lit a cigarette and passed it to Qianye.

    The smoke soon filled the cab. Nanhua, who was sitting on the back row, sniffed hard and asked, ¡°Why does this cigarette smell so odd?¡±

    ¡°This is high-quality, military-use stimnt,¡± Song Zining replied with augh.

    Nanhua was still puzzled. ¡°Are stimnts still useful to you guys? Moreover, the dose is so small.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just nostalgia,¡± Qianye replied.

    At this time, there was a tap from the roof, followed by ckmoon¡¯s voice. ¡°Stimnts? Give me one.¡±

    Song Zining grabbed a cigarette and flicked it upward from the window. ckmoon grabbed it with a half-machine hand and lit the smoke by shooting out a thin stream of mes from her fingers. She then inhaled deeply and let out a sigh of satisfaction. Military stimnts were no longer effective for Qianye and Song Zining, but the effects for her were quite evident.

    ckmoon sat atop the truck, bundled up in her thick, dark cape¡ªand beside her was arge-caliber machine cannon.

    They motorcade passed not a single person during the entire hour of driving through the wilderness. The Nangong family had locked down the entire area and forbidden anyone from entering or leaving.

    A heavily-guarded sentry post appeared at the end of the road with a small army camp beside it. The silhouette of a city also emerged over the horizon. That was the Nangong family¡¯s main base camp, one of the important nodes they had been using to lock down ckflow City.

    Qianye shifted the steering wheel and drove the Primordial Beast straight toward the sentry.

    ¡°Halt! Halt!¡± An officer blocking the road fired several shots into the air while the soldiers behind him were also aiming at the convoy.

    Qianye didn¡¯t reduce his speed at all and only stepped on the brakes at thest moment. The eight wheels of the Primordial Beast stopped moving with a shrill screech, the massive inertia leaving deep grooves on the road. The valves on each side of the car spat outrge clouds of steam which almost shrouded the entire vehicle.

    The Primordial Beast stopped just short of the barrier. The officer had long since jumped to the side in fright and was steamed in every sense of the word.

    ckmoon was still sitting atop the car as steady as a mountain despite the violent deceleration. This was aplete defiance of thews of physics.

    Qianye pushed the door open and flicked the half-smoked cigarette to the ground before leaping down from the cab high above.

    The officer, wet and miserable, made his way out of the steam cloud. Upon seeing Qianye, he spat out the words ¡°I¡¯ll ughter you!¡± in a mixture of rage and humiliation before smashing the butt of his gun at Qianye¡¯s face!

    This blow was quite forceful, enough to shatter all the bones in an ordinary person¡¯s face and leave him barely alive if not dead.

    Qianye¡¯s hand moved ever so slightly¡ªno one knew how, but the officer¡¯s wrist was caught in his grasp and renderedpletely immobile.

    ¡°You really do want to kill me.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice contained a trace of mockery.

    The officer exerted himself several times, but his hand wouldn¡¯t budge at all. Shocked and angry, the man roared, ¡°You bastards from ckflow City dare charge our checkpoint? Let go or this daddy will kill you all!¡±

    Song Zining walked over with a smile and said, ¡°Resorting to violence? Why go to all the trouble? Let me help you!¡±

    With that, Song Zining grabbed the officer¡¯s hand and twisted it into a weird angle before giving it a forceful pinch. This caused the muzzle to spit out mes and leave a bullet mark on the Primordial Beast.

    ¡°You really do want to kill us! Then I won¡¯t be polite anymore.¡± Song Zining repeated Qianye¡¯s words, but his tone was entirely different. He twisted the officer¡¯s hand to aim the gun at his face before pulling on the trigger.

    The officer copsed with a face full of shock. The soldiers at the checkpoint couldn¡¯t believe their eyes and quickly fell into chaos.

    Leaves suddenly appeared around Song Zining and flew out in all directions. A terrifyingceration would open up on the body wherever the fallen leaves streaked past, and all the soldiers near him copsed in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye drew the Bloody Datura and fired at the two sentry towers, the origin bullet shredding the structural armor with rtive ease and igniting the gunpowder within. Two balls of me shot up with a boom and sent the sharpshooters in the tower flying.

    At this time, the continuous sound of an autocannon rang out as ckmoon started firing madly from atop the roof of the truck. Every bullet seemed to have grown an eye in ckmoon¡¯s hand as they sted the soldiers away one after another. Even those behind cover were struck in the head by her shots.

    Gunfire rang out like thunder as the Nangong family soldiers were mowed down in droves. The battle was almost over by the time Nanhua jumped out of the car¡ªan entirepany had been killed, while a small number of them fled toward the city.

    Qianye paid the escapees no heed since these ordinary soldiers were all the same to him. What he needed to do was wait for the big fish from the Nangong family.

    Their group boarded the truck once again and drove through the checkpoint toward the Trinity River County Capital. Themotion here had rmed the distant city, and soldiers were moving out from their barracks. Momentster, an airship flew rapidly toward the motorcade.

    ¡°Only one?!¡± ckmoon mumbled in apparent dissatisfaction.

    Qianye stomped down on the brakes and pulled on a special red lever. The Primordial Beast panted to a stop, and the rearpartment opened to reveal a long, sinister double-barreled cannon. It was exceptionally long, twice as thick as an ordinary auto-cannon, and relied on the Primordial Beast¡¯s kic power for its operation.

    ckmoon jumped behind the cannon and began operating it with both her hands and feet. With a st of steam from its base, the cannon rose rapidly and aimed toward the iing airship.

    The vessels employed by the Nangong family were military battleships, and even the smallest of their patrol boats weren¡¯t easy to contend with from the ground. But one simply couldn¡¯tpare Qianye and Song Zining to ordinary champions.

    Qianye yed around with the Twin Flowers beforebining them into one. With the reinforcement of the Wings of Inception, the Twin Flower was easily capable of tearing through the gun ship¡¯s armor.

    Song Zining produced a long spear from the cab. If needed, a hurl of his spear could send a champion flying hundreds of meters away. A patrol gunship was an easy target within its range.

    As for Nanhua, she could only climb onto the roof and pick up the autocannon ckmoon had thrown away. But it was clear from her clumsy movements that her aim wouldn¡¯t be too urate. Moreover, that little autocannon couldn¡¯t do much against an airship.

    The Primordial Beasts behind also stopped one after another. Three of them had been installed with high-caliber autocannons, but they were all inferior to the one in ckmoon¡¯s hand in terms of range and bore¡ªthat one was personally modified by Nangong Xiaoniao and embodied her simple and violent style.

    Qianye gazed at the oing patrol airship and said regretfully, ¡°What a pity that only one came.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Looks like you¡¯re quite confident in ckmoon. I, on the other hand, think we might be in trouble if two more airships arrive.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate that girl. We¡¯re not that proficient in operating things like autocannons,¡± Qianye replied.

    Perhaps because it had never been threatened, the patrol airship flew quite low and was no more than 200 meters high. Additionally, it was flying straight toward the convoy.

    What surprised Qianye and Song Zining was that ckmoon had already opened fire while the airship was still thousands of meters away. The muffled roar as the giant cannon opened fire was exceptionally intimidating, and the entire Primordial Beast shook from the impact.

    The first salvo brushed right past the airship. The shock threw the operators into a fluster as they rushed to perform evasive maneuvers.

    ckmoon paused momentarily and made new adjustments before stomping down on the trigger paddle once again. This time, the bright shells drew out streams of mes and struck the airship fiercely like a zing whip.

    Despite the distance, Qianye and Song Zining saw severalponents andrge pieces of the airship¡¯s skin flying off continuously. As one of ckmoon¡¯s shots peeled off a propeller, Song Zining finally shrugged and said indignantly, ¡°I must admit I¡¯m not Miss Highbeard¡¯s match in this.¡±

    Qianye holstered his Twin Flowers and patted Song Zining¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the main dish is still waiting for you! Nangong Zhen is all yours.¡±

    Song Zining was immediately upset. ¡°Why not Nangong Yuanwang?¡±

    ¡°Your physique is too bad. You can¡¯t take a single hit from him.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t leave any face for Song Zining.

 Volume 5 - 448: Overture of Tumul

    t [V5C155 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    ckmoon was still firing aggressively, and the patrol gunship was on the verge of copse despite its best efforts to evade. mes were spurting out in many ces apanied by dense smoke. Eventually, the vessel lost control and started spinning in the air as arge piece of steel fell off.

    Nanhua stood up urgently and started strafing when she saw that the airship was about to crash without her managing tond a single hit. It was just that no one knew where her bullets went across such a long distance.

    Finally, the ming patrol gunship could no longer hold on and fell crashing into the ground. A violent explosion ensued, sending dense rolling smoke into the air.

    The two airships behind had only flown halfway when they witnessed this scene. The vessels were so shocked that they turned around immediately without bothering to ascend¡ªif ckmoon could finish off a patrol gunship a thousand meters away, she could just as easily destroy one a thousand meters in the air.

    ¡°Looks like the fun is over,¡± Song Zining shrugged and shouted while raising his spear, ¡°we¡¯ll deal with the remaining two ording to the n!¡±

    The six Primordial Beasts behind them started up once again and drove toward the county capital. The three cannons weren¡¯t retracted, and their muzzles only turned toward each side, seemingly waiting for the next victim.

    Dust clouds rose above the distant military camp as their gates opened after a period of chaos. Out drove dozens ofbat vehicles and hundreds of armored military transports which surged toward the Dark me convoy like a flood of steel.

    Ignoring the Nangong army, Qianye circted his origin power and shouted at the top of his voice, ¡°Nangong Yuanwang, Nangong Zhen, get out here! Don¡¯t just send your subordinates to their deaths!¡±

    This shout rumbled like rolling thunder which, despite the distance, reverberated in all of the Nangong men¡¯s ears.

    Nangong Zhen, who was resting silently within themand vehicle, opened his eyes ever so slightly. A sh of imperceivable graveness shed through his eyes¡ªthat distant shout actually made him feel a faint sense of peril.

    But with his identity, Nangong Zhen had no choice but to respond to such an open challenge. He immediately sneered, ¡°There¡¯s no need to trouble the Second Elder to deal with a group of juniors. With this seat taking action, it¡¯s more than enough to deal with you lot!¡± He didn¡¯t raise his voice, but his voice traveled toward Qianye with iparable rity.

    Qianye and Song Zining exchanged nces after hearing this. They hade to a tacit understanding.

    Song Zining nced back at Nanhua and said, ¡°You stall those two champions in a while. Duan Hao¡¯s unit will provide support.¡±

    Nanhua wanted toin at first, but for some reason, she nodded in agreement.

    Song Zining then gestured toward ckmoon and pointed toward the iing sea of Nangong soldiers. ckmoon nodded seriously and rubbed her fingers in a money-counting gesture.

    Money was Song Zining¡¯s forte, yet he couldn¡¯t help but be startled after seeing this Highbeardss¡¯s skilled gesture and solemn expression. But the Seventh Young Master was rich and his style was carefree¡ªhe only feared women wouldn¡¯t speak money with him. Everything was negotiable as long as they were willing to name a price.

    Song Zining immediately agreed without any hesitation. His forthright attitude caused ckmoon¡¯s eyes to light up.

    Nangong Zhen flew up into the sky when the armies were a couple hundred meters apart and looked down at the speeding Dark me convoy. His eyes swept over Qianye and Song Zining like lightning.

    Qianye immediately felt as though he had been seen through once he came in touch with that gaze. He was shaken as he realized that these celebrated old veterans possessed true skill.

    However, Nangong Zhen¡¯s shock far surpassed Qianye¡¯s own. This was the first time he had personallyid eyes on the much spoken of ckflow City Lord. The other party¡¯s nine origin nodes were clearly visible as he activated his origin power¡ªthis proved that the young man who had inflicted so many casualties on their family¡¯sbat unit was actually not a champion.

    This was even more astonishing than failing to see through his rank or discovering a secret art!

    While not yet a champion, he was able to prate the central army and kill the First-Rank Viscount Luther. While not yet a champion, he was able to survive a blow from Nangong Yuanwang and then swagger off. Such a person would, without a doubt, rise meteorically after stepping into the champion realm.

    Now that Qianye and the Nangong family had formed a deep enmity, they had no intention to let Qianye go unharmed despite their original terms. The most lenient they could be was crippling his cultivation.

    However, Nangong Zhen narrowed his eyes as a killing intent rose in his heart. Qianye had risen to power on his own in a destend like Evernight and possessed no family background. The Nangong family would never sleep soundly again if he were to throw away everything and fight them to the death.

    His eyes turned toward Song Zining with growing frostiness. He secretly spected that this kid wasn¡¯t easy to deal with either, and they had already offended him to the utmost with the battle of ckflow City. Although killing him would bring trouble, it should be fine to cripple him in one blow and prevent future troubles.

    Nangong Zhen was entertaining malicious thoughts when Song Zining called out from afar, ¡°Sir Nangong, we meet again so soon. How can such a major character like you have so much time to enjoy our remote countryside sceneries?¡±

    Nangong Zhen pointed toward the ruined sentry post and said coldly, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? Can Seventh Young Noble exin a bit?¡±

    Song Zining chuckled lightly and said frivolously, ¡°Nothing much, these fellows don¡¯t understand the rules and actually fired at my ride. How can I allow such insensible people to work under Sir Nangong? That¡¯ll be a humiliation to you. That¡¯s why I took charge and reprimanded them a bit.¡±

    Qianye was prepared to start a massacre. However, he couldn¡¯t help but fall betweenughter and tears after hearing Song Zining¡¯s shameless words.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s expression turned ashen as he said repeatedly, ¡°Good, good! Song Zining, I shall discipline you in your elders¡¯ stead today. You truly do not know the immensity of heaven and earth!¡±

    ¡°Why is Sir Nangong so perturbed over a few dead dogs? Moreover, you must have forgotten that thend beneath your feet belongs to ckflow City. Who can say anything about me killing some people on my ownnd? In fact, it¡¯s your Nangong family who blocked my lines ofmunication and hunted down my brother. Howe no one¡¯s speaking out about that?¡±

    At this point in the conversation, Song Zining¡¯s smile suddenly disappeared as he said coldly, ¡°Discipline me for my elders? Are you worthy of it?¡±

    The words were spoken with great rity and spread far and wide like the chime of metal and stone. The thousands of Nangong soldiers heard them very clearly.

    Nangong Zhen could no longer keep calm at this point. He shouted furiously, ¡°Wild junior! I shall destroy you today!¡±

    He donned a finger-sleeve seemingly made of gold or bronze and charged over like a bolt of lightning. The man threw out a fist from a hundred meters away, the force from whichpletely enveloped Qianye, Song Zining, and Nanhua.

    The fist was quite loud, but Qianye sneered secretly after scanning it with his True Sight. Nangong Zhen was really too arrogant in dispersing his force so thin at such a distance. Qianye and Song Zining were well-coordinated. Qianye immediately understood after seeing Song Zining¡¯s nce and quickly held back his attack.

    Song Zining shouted loudly. The runes on his spear flickered as he drew a stream of ming specks through the air and flicked the point toward Nangong Zhen¡¯s fist¡ªit was as though fire beacons had lit up in all directions amidst the charge of myriad cavalry.

    The spear possessed great might. Not only did it destroy the iing fist intent, but also reduced the force going toward Qianye significantly. Thetter stood behind and only blocked horizontally with a still-sheathed East Peak to neutralize all of the remaining force.

    It took Nanhua much more effort. She was pushed back repeatedly as her twin des collided with the fist-force and her small face turned much paler. She was originally fearless and was even ming Song Zining and Qianye for not bringing her along for the confrontation against the Nangong family elders. Only after the sh did she realize that this wasn¡¯t a battle she could take part in.

    Song Zining was an exception¡ªNanhua knew that this seemingly hedonistic aristocrat was actually quite unfathomable. However, Qianye¡¯s strength had far surpassed her expectations, and she couldn¡¯t help but shoot him a nce. Despite having seen him behead Luther, she was subconsciously unconvinced and believed that most of the work was done by Song Zining¡¯s spear. Only after the presentparison did she understand that Qianye¡¯s victory was no cheap trick.

    Nangong Zhen felt humiliated after his fist strike failed to produce results, but he also became much calmer at heart. With their current performance, Nangong Zhen was confident that he could take them down within a hundred moves without rming Sky Demon.

    He let out a low growl and pounced toward Song Zining at lightning speed. Among the three, Nangong Zhen was the most apprehensive of this Song n seventh young master. It was just that a wisp of doubt shed through Nangong Zhen¡¯s heart. Just how did Qianye escape from Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s hands with such mediocrebat strength?

    Nangong Zhen was so fast that he had already arrived before Song Zining and thrown a fist toward thetter¡¯s chest just as that thought shed past¡ªhis glimmering fist intent condensed like a pir and sted out like an origin cannon shell.

    Fallen leaves danced around Song Zining as his spear thrice shot forth at lightning speed. me streaks weaved through the air and just barely blocked the force behind Nangong Zhen¡¯s fist.

    Murderous intent suffused Nangong Zhen¡¯s countenance upon seeing Song Zining capable of defending head-on against the momentum of his fist. He withdrew the Origin¡¯s End with a snort. This familial secret art was apparently ineffective against Song Zining, but he had more than one domain.

    Nangong Zhen stepped forward with green mist shing around his body, and a lush forest suddenly emerged in a hundred-meter radius around him. Within moments, Song Zining¡¯s domain was dispersed and suppressed. The man took another step forward and punched out once more.

    The force within these fist-strikes was as condensed as a pir, and the radiance produced was almost tangible. He held back no longer as the clear intention to kill rose deep within his heart.

    Song Zining quickly withdrew dozens of meters while firing off a flurry of countless spear afterimages. But no matter how far he retreated, Nangong Zhen would follow, his fists like a torrent of raging waves.

    Qianye had also entered the fray. East Peak shed repeatedly at Nangong Zhen with the momentum of a mountain-splitting axe. His footwork matched the man¡¯s own and wasn¡¯t even half a stepte. Nangong Zhen had long since reached a state ofplete harmony in his cultivation¡ªshing on his origin power barrier was akin to weakening his fist-power.

    Within moments, Nangong Zhen, Qianye, and Song Zining had taken their battle hundreds of meters away. Nanhua remained in ce and moved to intercept the two Nangong family champions who were about to follow suit. Twin des dancing, she swept the both of them into her own domain.

    The two champions opened up their own domains, but Nanhua¡¯s was exceptionally powerful and didn¡¯t lose out at all despite fighting two against one. She was exceptionally fast, nimble, and able to handle the two enemies with ease. But it was also quite difficult for her to inflict any meaningful damage.

    Immediately afterward, the timber of origin guns rang out¡ªthe remaining experts of the Nangong n wanted to rush over but were pinned down by Duan Hao¡¯s unit. They began firing at range since both sides were quite distant, and it would require at least three or four sprints to reach melee range.

    At this moment, the continuous rumble of an abnormally loud cannon drowned out all the sounds on the battlefield. ckmoon had finally found the chance to start sweeping with the autocannon that had been modified by Nangong Xiaoniao.

 Volume 5 - 449: Tumul

    t [V5C156 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The Nangongbat vehicles hundreds of meters away were struck with sparks flying out in all directions. Those with thinner armor couldn¡¯t take a single barrage and would go up in mes after a couple of rounds. A continuous line of fire was ignited from one side of the Nangong defense line and quickly spread all the way to the other.

    The Nangong family experts tangled up with Duan Hao¡¯s unit simply had no time to react. In the end, they only managed to stop the rounds heading toward themand vehicle and the mobile artillery around it. None among the dozens of armored transports andbat vehicles at the van survived, and countless soldiers were sted into the air.

    After a wild salvo, the autocannon in ckmoon¡¯s hand clicked loudly¡ªit turned out that she had used up all the ammunition. ckmoon immediately jumped down from the gunner¡¯s seat and escaped into the distance. She had just left when the Nangong family¡¯s retaliatory cannon fire arrived, sting apart the Primordial Beast along with the heavy autocannon on top.

    The Nangong family¡¯s casualties in this artillery battle were quite significant. Nangong Zhen who had been paying attention to the battle turned ashen, and his brows knitted tightly together.

    He was in the process of chasing after Song Zining with a mad flurry of attacks, but thetter¡¯s spear was unexpectedly tenacious despite flickering like a candle in the wind and wouldn¡¯t go down no matter what he did. Moreover, the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Domain would pop up from time to time¡ªapparently, it was neverpletely suppressed since the beginning. This indicated that Song Zining¡¯s domain was far superior to Nangong Zhen¡¯s Evergreen Domain at the same realm.

    Qianye had been moving alongside Nangong Zhen all this time and restricted a third of hisbat strength at the very least.

    Coldness suddenly shed through Nangong Zhen¡¯s eyes as he turned tounch an explosive punch at Qianye. The power behind this blow was even greater than when he was pursuing Song Zining!

    ¡°Die, Junior!¡± Nangong Zhen didn¡¯t just let out a simple roar but actually spat out a wisp of origin power which sted toward Qianye¡¯s chest in a bid to kill him in one blow.

    However, Nangong Zhen hadn¡¯t expected Qianye to remain so calm in the face of his abrupt ambush¡ªthetter seemed to have neither the intention to retreat nor to evade. He shed at the iing fist instead, poised to meet the attack head-on!

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s heart sank as East Peak appeared with a world-splitting momentum.

    Their origin powers were the first to connect before the collision of the fist and sword. The two origin powers tangled together with an explosive rumble¡ªa continuous cycle of growth and annihtion ensued which transformed into mes, lightning, wind, and thunder.

    They were actually evenly matched!

    Nangong Zhen was shocked out of his wits. He hurriedly poured more strength into his fist, allowing it to pierce through the elements and smash heavily on East Peak¡¯s edge.

    ng! The resonance of shing metal echoed throughout the battlefield. Song Zining, who was the closest to them, was pushed back a dozen or so meters with the greater half of the leaves around him destroyed. In the distance, the actions of Nanhua and the two Nangong champions paused for a split second, only continuing their battle after the moment of absent-mindedness.

    To the side, ckmoon was running frantically and gunning down the enemies behind. However, the sudden impact threw her headfirst onto the ground, and it took her quite some effort before she managed to mber up in misery.

    Since even these experts were affected, one could imagine how much worse it was for ordinary soldiers. The all-elite Dark me unit only suffered violent falls, but many Nangong soldiers copsed with blood flowing out of their mouths and noses, never to get up again.

    Nangong Zhen stood tall without the slightest movement and only stared at Qianye with cold eyes. Thetter slid back ten meters but appeared rtively calm and only stretched his body before pointing East Peak at Nangong Zhen again.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s thoughts revolved at lightning speed. He had originally thought he would be able to smash East Peak to bits with a single fist. Unexpectedly, the unassuming de waspletely unharmed and even left a deep groove on his glove. Meanwhile, the origin power he had spat toward Qianye¡¯s chest¡ªa power capable of piercing through a high-level fighter¡ªevoked no response from him at all.

    This fist embodied the full extent of Nangong Zhen¡¯s rank-suppressed power. Any more than that and he would¡¯ve broken the limit and attracted the attention of Sky Demon¡¯s will.

    While Nangong Zhen was hesitating, Qianye had already started activating his origin power, and it was gradually speeding up. A boundless vortex appeared over his sea of origin power, and this vast, omnipresent power grew ever more distinct with the stirring of the Profound Combatant Form. East Peak trembled and droned along with the gyration of the ocean vortex¡ªit was like a screaming gale, a bestial roar.

    Nangong Zhen was shocked to find the aura on Qianye¡¯s body growing more and more bizarre. It seemed as though he were facing not a human, but instead the heaven, earth, and oceans.

    This feeling made him tremble ever so slightly.

    What Nangong Zhen couldn¡¯t afford to ignore was Song Zining¡¯s predatory gaze. Thetter¡¯s spear arts would unfold in a torrential attack momentum and increase in power with every blow¡ªthere was no easy way to unravel the assault apart from suppressing it with absolute power¡ªthat was the reason why the Song n¡¯s Fueled-Fire Spear was famous throughout the world for an entire millennium.

    The corners of Qianye¡¯s lips moved at this moment, and a smile actually appeared therein. His smile, amidst the vast energy of the heaven and earth, contained a hint of mysticism.

    East Peak¡¯s screams became more and more resonant. The words that actually escaped Qianye¡¯s lips was: ¡°ytime¡¯s over.¡±

    Nangong Zhen didn¡¯t immediately understand what those words meant¡ªor it might be better to say that he was instinctively denying the literal meaning. But at that very moment, Nangong Zhen saw a blinding light erupt from Qianye¡¯s eyes as his entire being vanished into thin air.

    Only a vast body of water remained in front of Nangong Zhen¡ªa slowly revolving ocean.

    East Peak appeared in front of Nangong Zhen immediately after it was raised¡ªits speed had simply exceeded the limits of perception.

    Shocked out of his wits, Nangong Zhe raised his fists with all his might and struck East Peak¡¯s iing edge. However, a boundless pressure was soon transmitted through his fists and made Nangong Zhen feel as though he were holding up a real ocean!

    The confrontation between de and fist sent Nangong Zhen flying a dozen or so meters away. Afternding, he slid another dozen steps backward beforeing to a roaring stop. Qianye also slid back ten meters where he stabilized himself by thrusting East Peak into the ground before spitting out a mouthful of blood.

    Nangong Zhen rxed after seeing Qianye cough up blood and also sprayed out a mouthful himself.

    This exchange was simply too fast. Song Zining had just assumed a thrusting stance with his spear when the two were already a hundred meters apart.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s face twitched furiously as he charged toward Qianye inrge strides, every step taking him ten meters forward. However, he had just taken two steps when he came to a sudden halt without advancing further. That was because Qianye¡¯s eyes had opened once again and that gaze gave Nangong Zhen a clear premonition that, should he take so much as a step forward, East Peak would appear before him once again with the momentum of the mountains and seas.

    At this moment, the Nangong family¡¯s youngest elder was already feeling the impulse to kill Qianye in one blow by exceeding the Iron Curtain¡¯s limit. He would then try to escape the pursuit of Sky Demon¡¯s will.

    Many experts had already learned some tricks to fool Sky Demon¡¯s will. However, no method was absolutely safe¡ªfailure would lead to a pursuit from Sky Demon¡¯s will or even its avatar. No one below the divine champion level would survive.

    It was just that, deep down, he was still a bit hesitant and finally abandoned the thought with some regret. He didn¡¯t believe this war was worth risking his life for. Moreover, as the youngest Nangong family elder, his brilliant journey had only just begun.

    However, a sudden muffled thunder rang out beyond the Iron Curtain and shook everyone to the core. Even experts like Nangong Zhen were momentarily shaken. Immediately afterward, Sky Demon¡¯s omnipresent will emerged once again and rapidly condensed above everyone¡ªapparently, the threshold of its descent had been reached during this short moment.

    Nangong Zhen couldn¡¯t help but cry out in shock. How did he attract Sky Demon¡¯s aura merely by thinking about breaking the restriction? Could it be that Sky Demon¡¯s abilities were so great that he could read people¡¯s minds under the Iron Curtain?

    But he soon discovered that the aura wasn¡¯t converging on him. Although the aura was spread across hundreds of kilometers, Nangong Zhen¡¯s keen perception allowed him to notice even a hundred-meter deviation.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s pupils contracted rapidly as he nced over.

    Sky Demon¡¯s aura was actually converging upon Qianye!

    How could it be Qianye attracting Sky Demon¡¯s aura? Nangong Zhen¡¯s heart was wracked with doubt, shock, incredulity, and a plethora of emotions. Since the start of the battle, he had always been calcting whether or not he would attract Sky Demon¡¯s attention. He never expected that the one to invite Sky Demon¡¯s will would actually be Qianye. This was an absolute mockery.

    Qianye shot the Iron Curtain a nce but seemed to have no intention of retracting his own aura. He continued pushing the vortex on his sea of origin power and caused it to revolve faster. The pressure on East Peak rose continuously, and its cries grew ever more sonorous.

    Song Zining looked over at Qianye with resolution in his eyes. The leaves around him turned transparent as he raised his hand, leaving only the flickering patterns to indicate that he hadn¡¯t withdrawn his domain.

    ¡°Lunatics! You¡¯re all crazy!¡± Nanhua couldn¡¯t help but cry out loudly.

    At this moment, Sky Demon¡¯s aura had already reached the critical point. A giant eye emerged upon the Iron Curtain as the iparably terrifying will of Sky Demon finally descended, scanning the earth with its cold gaze.

    It was at this time that Qianye took a step forward and appeared dozens of meters away.

    A deep pit appeared noiselessly where he had been standing. All the soil, sand, and rocks there had vanished¡ªit was as though they had never existed.

    The frosty, cier-like will of Sky Demon spread out toward every direction but was unresponsive as it flitted past Qianye. Song Zining immediately revealed an expression of joy while Qianye waved a fist through the air.

    Their bet was correct!

    Although the Profound Combatant Form had attracted Sky Demon¡¯s will, Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power hadn¡¯t yet crossed over the champion threshold, and he was merely a third-rank viscount in terms of darkness origin power. As such, Sky Demon¡¯s will naturally overlooked him, so much so that Song Zining didn¡¯t even need to use the Three Thousand Flying Leaves art to fool it.

    The giant eye in the sky spun around and swept its gaze over the entire battlefield. Both Dark me and Nangong soldiers clearly felt the colossal entity¡¯s contempt and cruelty.

    Meanwhile, the one trembling the most under the cold gaze of its will was Nangong Zhen.

    Qianye and Song Zining nced at one another before striding forth with a sudden shout. East Peak swept out with the force of an overturned ocean and arrived at Nangong Zhen¡¯s lower back.

    Nangong Zhen cursed loudly in his heart. Even though he had suppressed his rank with a secret art, he wasn¡¯t quite confident in getting away with it under Sky Demon¡¯s direct gaze. How would he dare to receive this blow? All he could do was retreat rapidly for hundreds of meters.

 Volume 5 - 450: Andante of Tumul

    t [V5C157 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    However, Qianye¡¯s speed had far surpassed Nangong Zhen¡¯s expectations. The former covered a hundred meters in but a few steps and clung to him like a lingering shadow. This time, the heavy sword East Peak was fairly slow. It would only sh out once in a while, but every sh was like a tsunami¡ªNangong Zhen simply didn¡¯t dare to take them head-on.

    On the other side, Song Zining was moving swiftly with his spear raised. He was like a clear wind blowing through the destend, free of all secr bindings. He moved diagonally to obstruct Nangong Zhen¡¯s path from behind in a bid to prevent thetter¡¯s return to the base.

    Nangong Zhen was indescribably distressed, but therge eye above just wouldn¡¯t disperse, and its cold will was scanning thend repeatedly. How could he dare to let loose and fight the two at full strength? Who knew when he might identally produce half a strand of origin power exceeding the limit?

    Nangong Zhen felt himself facing a deep, boundless ocean swirling with undercurrents, one in which a tempest was seemingly about to form, but the raging waves of peril were yet toe. His Evergreen Domain was iparably frail before this deep ocean. It seemed as though it would shatter in a single charge without being able to hinder Qianye¡¯s advancing steps.

    It was at this moment that countless flower petals appeared around Nangong Zhen and fell like rain. The Evergreen Domain suddenly froze and then started to break down like a damaged mirror surface¡ªthe lush vegetation wilted immediately and was shattered by the spinning de-like flower petals.

    Nangong Zhen¡¯s movements stagnated for just a split second, but Qianye¡¯s East Peak had already reached him during that short moment.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were as blue as the ocean. He sent the de forth with iparable concentration as though his two hands on the sword contained boundless weight.

    Nangong Zhen could no longer evade. He let out an earth-shattering roar and threw both fists out, but only managed to barely deflect the de¡¯s edge after countless blows. He himself lightly flew back hundreds of meters away and immediately turned to flee uponnding.

    The giant eye in the sky finally turned to gaze at Nangong Zhen who immediately spat out fresh blood with a miserable cry. However, he didn¡¯t slow down in the least and eventually disappeared into the wilderness¡ªbut not before roaring loudly from afar, ¡°Song brat! You better notnd in my hands in the future!¡±

    Doubt shed through the giant eye as it scanned the battlefield once more, but it eventually faded into the Iron Curtain after finding nothing.

    Qianye stood silently with his sword in hand and his eyes lowered. Momentster, he spat out a mouthful of iparably bright blood stained with little specks of gold.

    Song Zining walked over in a leisurely manner. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Qianye waved his hand after spitting out a mouthful of blood. ¡°I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just the bacsh from the overly violent force. Just a light injury.¡±

    ¡°The Profound Combatant Form is indeed tyrannical. Only an inhuman person like you might be able to cultivate it,¡± Song Zining said with a shrug.

    ¡°It¡¯s rather unfortunate that the bastard ran away.¡±

    ¡°How can he be a Nangong elder if we can kill him just like that? But I¡¯m sure that fellow won¡¯t dare to cause us any more trouble under the Iron Curtain.¡± At this point, Song Ziningughed ruefully. ¡°That fellow apparently hates me more than you. That¡¯s not fair!¡±

    ¡°Who told you to be so treacherous?¡± Qianye said with a smile, leaving Song Zining no face at all.

    ¡°That¡¯s called intelligent fighting.¡± Song Zining always managed to find a suitable adjective for himself.

    But it couldn¡¯t be considered an exaggeration this time. Nangong Zhen was guarded against Song Zining¡¯s ambush at the interception point but never expected this newly ascended champion¡¯s domain to be so wide¡ªthetter had actually activated the Three Thousand Flying Leaves art to contend with Nangong Zhen¡¯s Evergreen Domain way before he had gotten into position. This forcibly dragged down Nangong Zhen¡¯s speed.

    How could even half a surprise be allowed in a battle of this level? Nangong Zhen had no choice but to sh with Qianye after faltering and was no longer able to fully control his energy at the juncture of life and death. He touched Sky Demon¡¯s restriction ever so slightly and invited some of its attention.

    It was merely a quick nce to Sky Demon, but it was undoubtedly a heavy injury for Nangong Zhen. He might have died on the spot had he used just a little bit more origin power at that time. That was exactly why Nangong Zhen was exceptionally hateful of Song Zining¡¯s sinister sneak attack¡ªeven more so than Qianye¡¯s.

    The conflict on the other side of the battlefield was at its fiercest. Dark me and the Nangong private army had resumed their battle while the three were fighting. Sky Demon¡¯s will was only a fleeting sensation to these ordinary soldiers. The biggest threat was still before them¡ªthe moment they stopped firing, the rain of bullets from the other side would tear them apart.

    But, no matter how fierce, the battle there was only for decoration. How could the two Nangong champions dare remain after Nangong Zhen escaped? They slightly pushed Nanhua back with simultaneous attacks before turning to run. Moreover, they only dared run in the opposite direction of Song Zining and Qianye; they didn¡¯t even dare return to base.

    Seeing the major characters all gone, the morale of the Nangong Soldiers immediately plummeted.

    Qianye ran toward the battlefield inrge strides. The bullets raining toward him were all deflected by his origin defenses, and the asional autocannon shell that did manage to pierce through was already like an arrow at the end of its flight¡ªthey could do nothing at all against his present physique.

    After rushing past a burningbat vehicle, Qianye reached into the mes with his bare hands and removed a millstone-sized wheel which he weighed in his hand before hurling with great ferocity.

    The steel wheel emitted an intimidating scream as it flew hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye and sliced open an enemybat vehicle!

    Qianye stood beside the broken vehicle and tore out the ming fellow¡¯s parts, turning therger wheels and gears into long-range projectiles. Their might immediately reached a whole new level with the addition of the Profound Combatant Form, and they weren¡¯t at all inferior to cannon shells in prating power. In the end, Qianye threw out an entire turret and half-smashed one of the Nangong family¡¯s primary tanks.

    This kind of violent and inefficient method was apparently quite effective against ordinary soldiers. The Nangong squad¡¯s morale finally copsed, and they began to retreat. But as well-trained elites, they managed to retain order even in an extremely unfavorable situation. They split into small squads and set up a string of defensive lines to guard the main force during its retreat.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in ughtering these low-ranking soldiers. Moreover, they had a more important objective. Apanied by a soaring momentum, a certain figure was charging over from the distant city at lightning speed, and this expert¡¯s aura far exceeded that of Nangong Zhen.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t a stranger to this aura¡ªone could even say he was deeply acquainted. This person was indeed one of the top characters of the Nangong family, their second elder, Nangong Yuanwang.

    Qianye stood in ce until Nangong Yuanwang arrived within a hundred meters before saying, ¡°I thought Elder Yuanwang would be meditating deep underground now that Sky Demon¡¯s will has appeared. What are you here for? Are you looking to die?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s face turned ashen upon hearing such words of tant mockery. He said coldly, ¡°Qianye, are you intent on offending our Nangong family to the very end?¡±

    Qianye chuckled indifferently. ¡°I¡¯m deeply indebted to the Nangong family for its attentive ¡®reception¡¯. Wouldn¡¯t I be letting down your kind intentions if I didn¡¯t retaliate in kind?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang sneered, ¡°Even if we allow you to act so wantonly at the moment, the Iron Curtain will disperse one day! Did you not think about the future before doing such a thing? At that time, this old man will definitely take your dog life even if you hide away to the ends of the world!¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m here right now. Why wait so long if you want it?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyelids twitched as he roared, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    The origin power in Qianye¡¯s body escted slowly. ¡°Simple. The Iron Curtain is still here at the moment, and under it, I can at least drag you down with me.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang spoke no more. He waved both hands in quick session and shot several blobs of green light at Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes grew brighter and brighter as he shed out continuously, breaking the green balls of light one after another. Countless green threads burst out, but most of them would vanish into thin air a couple of meters from Qianye. It was as though there was a giant vortex devouring everything in silence.

    A number of luminous beams managed to pierce through his defenses andnd on his body, but they only managed to burn through his external clothing. They couldn¡¯t even split open hisbat armor, much less test the tenacity of his body.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s pupils contracted in astonishment¡ªQianye had easily deflected the Green Skyrender that almost badly wounded him only a couple of days ago. Nangong Yuanwang naturally dared not utilize as much power as he did that day, but it was evident that Qianye had achieved a major breakthrough to be able to render his ultimate movepletely ineffective.

    Qianye took a step forward with sword in hand but then proceeded to stand there in silence.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes turned even graver after seeing Qianye¡¯s movements. He had realized from this step that Qianye¡¯s speed under the Iron Curtain wasn¡¯t slower than him at all, even a little bit faster. That didn¡¯t bode well! This meant that a slight carelessness would lead to him being entangled with Qianye. Mutual destruction would ensue if Sky Demon¡¯s will was attracted at that time.

    Nangong Yuanwang was somewhat dissatisfied. He pointed at Qianye from afar and shot out a beam of green light which formed a mysterious array around Qianye¡¯s body. The beam¡¯s head and tail locked together to form a circle of light which suddenly contracted toward the center, binding Qianye at the waist like a pincer. The Nangong family¡¯s Origin¡¯s End, in this second elder¡¯s hands, was able to take on many wondrous forms.

    The band of green light materialized and pressed down upon the scarlet origin power radiance on Qianye¡¯s arms, firmly restraining him. Meanwhile, East Peak¡¯s luster had also grown much dimmer, and it was now like a piece of scrap metal.

    Seeing this allowed Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s brows to rx slightly.

    However, the sound of roaring ocean tides reverberated around Qianye all of a sudden. The light ring around Qianye shook violently as though it were being battered by a raging tempest and began to break apart, inch by inch, under the terrifying pressure. Countless green light-fragments soon filled the air, each of them reflecting Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s livid countenance.

    The second elder suddenly waved his wide sleeve and sprayed out a beam of green light in a different direction. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the beam was made up of countless green strands of light shuttling back and forth like a swimming fish.

    These green threads were another form of the Green Skyrender, and the energy contained within wasn¡¯t something a fighter could easily endure. They swam out over a distance of hundreds of meters, effectively setting up a barrier in its wake.

    Qianye and Song Zining naturally didn¡¯t fear this degree of blockade, but people like Duan Hao and ckmoon would undoubtedly die if they were to charge through. Nangong Yuanwang hadpletely blocked off Dark me¡¯s pursuit of the Nangong family army with this single move. He didn¡¯t try anything else, either, apart from maintaining this barrier. He confronted Qianye for a moment and then withdrew slowly after his soldiers had left the battlefield.

    Qianye neither moved nor gave chase, and only looked on with a cold smile.

    A feeling of uneasiness emerged in the depths of Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s heart, but he couldn¡¯t pinpoint the concrete reason. He could only convene together with his family squad despite the lingering doubt.

    Deep that night, Nangong Yuanwang finally understood what it was.

 Volume 5 - 451: Echoes of Tumul

    t [V5C158 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Deep that night, mes suddenly surged into the sky from the airship port, and the explosions therein awoke the garrisoned troops in the entire city. Raging me pirs soared toward the firmament and, from a distance, looked as though zing tongues werepping at the low-lying Iron Curtain.

    Nangong Yuanwang hadn¡¯t yet fallen asleep. He was quietly reading a book in his study when the mes rushed up from the airship port. At this moment, the greater half of the airship port had been engulfed in mes, and the ignited airships were exploding one after another.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s vision grew dark upon witnessing this scene¡ªhe realized that the airship fuel storage had been ignited. Even he could do nothing to save this kind of congration¡ªthe airship port was sure to be destroyed, and along with it the greater half of the Nangong family¡¯s airship fleet.

    But the fuel chamber was one of the most important and heavily-guarded areas. Moreover, there were numerous fire protection mechanisms. How could it be so easily ignited? Although the mes were raging wildly at the moment, it hasn¡¯t been very long since their eruption¡ªthe arsonist couldn¡¯t have gone very far.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes were like lightning as he scanned the entire area, quickly locking onto a certain figure heading into the wilderness.

    It was Qianye!

    Nangong Yuanwang was ovee by a certain urge. He shot out and managed to intercept Qianye in the blink of an eye.

    Thetter wasn¡¯t anxious at all. He gazed straight at Nangong Yuanwang with a substantial little vortex of origin power condensing in his left hand. ¡°What? Has Elder Nangong decided to engage in a proper battle with me?¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s expression fluctuated wildly as his eyesnded on the vortex in Qianye¡¯s left hand, but he remained inplete silence. He had clearly sensed from that little maelstrom an aura capable of drawing Sky Demon¡¯s attention.

    Qianye waited momentarily, but after receiving no response from the elder, he said with a chuckle, ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now if Elder Nangong doesn¡¯t want to fight. I¡¯ll visit you again after a while.¡±

    Nangong Yuanwang didn¡¯t move at all even after Qianye had gone far away.

    Nangong Yuanwang was born with great status, power, and even had a thread of hope for assailing the divine champion rank. He was one of those characters at the very top. The death of his only son was the greatest setback he had suffered in recent years. But he had long sinceid down his bloodline¡ªhis grandsons and daughters were still young, but they were much more talented than their father and were sure to aplish much within the decade.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was a poor little brat born on Evernight Continent. He had only obtained this little city¡ªworth even less than an upper continent vige¡ªby relying on the younger generation of the Song and Zhao ns. Qianye was no different from an impoverished beggar in Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s eyes. How could he be willing to die together with such a person?

    But the situation had reached a stalemate. Qianye¡¯s words made it clear that he was going to return andunch repeated sneak attacks just like this one. Without an effective way to stop him, the Nangong family¡¯s entire division would be devoured piece by piece, not to mention the other Nangong family units under the Iron Curtain in addition to this private army.

    Much like a statue, Nangong Yuanwang remained silent and immobile under the Iron Curtain.

    Qianye arrived safely in ckflow City as dawn broke, just in time to have breakfast with Song Zining.

    Song Zining offered a definite assertion after listening to how Qianye had destroyed most of the Nangong family division¡¯s airships. ¡°Nangong Yuanwang will withdraw within three days!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that is the case. It¡¯s meaningless to deal with these ordinary people.¡± Qianye rapidly destroyed the big pile of food as he spoke.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not the right attitude. Disaster will follow if we allow this private army to retreat safely or shift to other war zones.¡±

    At this point, Song Zining halted his actions and fell into silence. Judging from his demeanor, Qianye understood that Song Zining was plotting something to prevent the entire Nangong division from leaving Evernight Continent.

    Qianye was no expert in such matters, so he just left it to Song Zining and continued eating.

    ¡°Qianye, what are you going to do next?¡± Song Zining asked after some thought.

    Qianye had already made ns for this. ¡°The Combat Form requires nurturing in war, so I¡¯m going to continue with the bloody battle. I can stabilize my realm while bringing back some contributions. Oh right, if you have no special use for those contributions, register a portion of it under the Zhao n¡¯s name. I promised to help Yuying procure some contributions. Naturally, the benefits from the Zhao n will be yours.¡±

    ¡°Yuying? That¡¯s no problem!¡± Song Zining agreed readily.

    As Song Zining had expected, the Nangong family division uprooted their camp and retreated before three days had passed, opening up the passage to the depths of the Trinity River County.

    Nangong Yuanwang retreated all the way outside of the Iron Curtain before reorganizing his troops since only there would they be free of Qianye¡¯s sneak attacks. As for Nangong Zhen who had escaped with grave injuries, he would probably need a fairly long period to recover.

    Nangong Yuanwang didn¡¯t plot anything against Qianye after pulling out of the Iron Curtain. This surprised many people, but it was well within Song Zining¡¯s expectations.

    The confrontation between Qianye, Nangong Zhen, and Nangong Yuanwang proved to them that Qianye¡¯sbat strength was sufficient for him to move unhindered throughout the Iron Curtain. The private army was able to retreat in peace with Nangong Yuanwang holding the fort, but there were many other Nangong squads and youngsters fighting on the battlefields.

    It would surely turn into a one-sided ughter if a cornered Qianye specifically went after those units. If such a scenario yed out¡ªeven though the Iron Curtain would inevitably disperse one day¡ªthe Nangong family could very well forget about aplishing anything in this bloody battle. More importantly, the loss of young descendants would stunt the next twenty years of their n¡¯s development.

    In truth, the Nangong family was already showing signs of weariness on the bloody battle rankings due to the heavy casualties they had suffered while hunting down Qianye. This was truly unbearable for the powerful Nangong family. Moreover, there were rumors about them spreading throughout the upper echelons of the empire. Even those from the Imperial Party were starting to criticize them, questioning their strength and denouncing their previous conducts against the Song n.

    Increasing pressure thus fell upon the n lord, Nangong Yuanbo. The frontlinemander, Nangong Yuanwang, also suffered quite a bit of criticism as people believed him incapable of holding things together.

    In the end, the enmity between Qianye and the Nangong family was actually due to a girl who had been expelled from the n; this reason felt uneptable to most of the elder assembly members. Between killing Qianye to preserve a bit of their prestige and stabilizing their bloody battle aplishments while safeguarding their younger generation¡¯s growth¡ªthe priorities were obvious.

    Moreover, there were great changes recently in the general situation between daybreak and evernight. Things were vastly differentpared to the outset.

    More and more dark races from various major continents had arrived to take part in the bloody battle, sending a continuous stream of their young geniuses into the Iron Curtain. The pressure on the empire had thus risen sharply, and the dark races had already begun to upy the high ground in most of the regions. They even managed to expel the imperial squadspletely from certain war zones.

    These changes could be directly observed from certain publicized numbers.

    Since the periodic publication of the military contribution rankings, people noticed that the total contribution growth was slowing down at each interval. Meanwhile, away from public eyes, the casualty numbers in each family were on a steady rise¡ªsome familiar names had started to appear on the list of the fallen.

    The role of the hunter and the hunted was gradually shifting.

    Not long after the Nangong private army had withdrawn, Qianye left ckflow City and headed toward the Dark Nation to continue his own hunting expedition. This time, however, his hit-list contained the Nangong family and Bai Kongzhao in addition to the dark races.

    Thetest edition of the military contribution rankings was published just as Qianye vanished beyond the dark race borders. The Zhao n¡¯s rankings had finally changed, jumping with great difficulty from rank nine to rank seven.

    This could be considered humiliating for an entity like the Zhao n. At the outset, they could still use the excuse of preparation and thete dispatch of elites to exin the rankings. However, they had no way to exin this meager rank at this point since even Zhao Jundu had gone into battle for quite some time.

    At this moment, the atmosphere was more than gloomy in the Zhao Manor of West Pole City, and no one even dared take a deep breath¡ªit was as though a storm was just around the corner. The arrival of two n warriors broke the silence. They ran at full speed,pletely disregarding the rules about how they should travel inside the manor. Theyter split up to deliver the urgent reports to the studies of Duke You and Duke Yan respectively.

    Duke Yan scanned the letter hurriedly, and his countenance soon turned ashen as he pped the document onto the table. Duke You, on the other hand, read repeatedly and in great detail before crushing the urgent report into fine powder. His expression was so somber that it might very well start dripping water.

    The two reports actually contained the same content, the casualty list of n descendants. However, this list was long¡ªso long that the two dukes immediately lost theirposure.

    On the border of the Western Continent, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly rang out from the main camp of the Fire Beacon Corps!

    Duke Chengen, Zhao Weihuang, the current Zhao n lord, banged violently on the table, turning the paper to shreds along with the sturdy steel wood table beneath.

    But his anger hadn¡¯t yet subsided at this point, and he started throwing whatever he saw. Everything in the study was shattered in the blink of an eye, and even that jade bottle he had been ying with for thirty years didn¡¯t survive.

    All of the generals and staff officers of the corps were rmed by this development and rushed over in a hurry. But how would they dare enter after hearing the thunderous ruckus within? They didn¡¯t even dare whisper and only shot meaningful nces amongst themselves.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s roars echoed within the study, ¡°Four main branchbat squads all wiped out! Seventeen lineal descendants and fifteen side branch descendants all dead in battle! They¡¯ve gone too far! Do they really think I don¡¯t dare to kill?!¡±

    The generals remained silent and dared not make a sound. All of Zhao Weihuang¡¯s subordinates were fierce generals who lived on the battlefield, but even they could figure out that the meaning behind those words wasn¡¯t simple. Such political struggles directly involved the imperial court¡ªnot something they could just take part in.

    The door made of starry-sky wood was kicked flying with a bang. It drew a whistling arc through the air and fell onto the barracks on the other side of the drill grounds.

    Zhao Weihuang walked out inrge strides and shouted, ¡°Issue mymand. Follow me back to Qin Continent! This duke wants to see if our battle-hardened Fire Beacon Corps is stronger or if their private armies can fight better!¡±

 Volume 5 - 452: Competition

    [V5C159 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    All the generals were shocked. Even those fierce generals who knew nothing but war understood this was greatly inappropriate. They stopped Zhao Weihuang in a hurry and did their best to dissuade him. ¡°Lord Duke, you must not!¡±

    ¡°Lord Duke, please reconsider!¡±

    The generals barely managed to hold back the furious Zhao Weihuang by working together frantically. It was fine no matter what Zhao Weihuang did on the Western Continent, but crossing over to the Qin continent with an army was tantamount to rebellion. It wouldn¡¯t do even if he was only attacking those aristocratic families.

    After his anger had subsided, Zhao Weihuang also understood that his methods weren¡¯t feasible. But he still couldn¡¯t swallow his anger no matter what¡ªhe immediately picked up a paper, wrote down several names, and tossed it to the generals. ¡°Go and investigate! Dig up information on all members, organizations, and estates belonging to these families on the Western Continent. I want them all wiped out within seven days! This duke must strike their name¡¯s off from this ce.¡±

    The generals nced at one another.

    It was an unwritten rule that the enmity born in the bloody battle stays in the bloody battle. It was also a general rule for simr imperial operations of the past. Even the number one Green Sun Zhang n only swallowed their anger after suffering huge losses in the Song n¡¯s hands back then¡ªeven Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t stir up trouble after bing the fifth heavenly monarch.

    Presently, Zhao Weihuang¡¯s actions were equal to breaking this unwritten rule, and an unending flow of disputes would surely follow once this example had been set. But this was nothingpared to marching on the Qin continent. As such, the generals epted their orders and left to attend to them.

    The anger on Zhao Weihuang¡¯s countenance faded slightly and turned to gloominess as he paced about the wrecked study with his hands behind his back. The Fire Beacon Corps¡¯ actions would soon enter those people¡¯s ears before long and should at least make them slightly more apprehensive.

    ¡°Imperial Party!¡± A furious Zhao Weihuang uttered these words through clenched teeth, green veins popping on the back of his hand.

    There were many new nobles in the Imperial Party who had risen without any background. They were eager to aplish, and their methods were cruel, extreme, and unpredictable. The major ns still considered their manner and prestige at the very least; they were fairly cautious and rarely burned their bridges or went to the extremes. But these new nobles and their henchmen were different¡ªtheir policy was to seek fortune amidst danger.

    As the bloody battle went on, the descendants invested into it from each family steadily increased. Three out of Zhao Weihuang¡¯s four sons were already on the bloody battlefield, the only exception being the eldest Zhao Junxiao who had already surpassed the origin power limits. The second son, Zhao Junhong¡ªwho had just reached the champion rank less than a month ago¡ªhad also led his squad into the Iron Curtain in a hurry. Zhao Weihuang, in spite of his anger, couldn¡¯t help but feel some worry.

    In aplex region of alternating mountains and rivers within the Dark Nation, a fierce battle had been raging on for many days. Nearly twentybat units had gathered in this insignificant area to form an iparably chaotic situation. Battles were raging not only between the dark races and the imperial forces, but also among themselves, and the cruelty of these internal conflicts even exceeded the faction battles.

    After several days of chaotic battle, some of the dark race tribal units had started to form an encirclement, blocking off the important passages surrounding the battlefield. What surprised the dark races was that the infighting among the imperials was growing more and more intense despite the unfavorable situation. They were fighting with such ardor that they had even pushed the dark races to the side.

    Ten-odd Zhao n warriors were recuperating within a hidden cave halfway up a mountain. Most of them were injured, while two were immobile and unconscious¡ªit was unknown whether they were dead or alive.

    The atmosphere in the cave was fairly oppressive. Some of the Zhao n warriors were treating their injuries, some with lighter wounds were cultivating, while others were maintaining their armaments¡ªit seemed they had just experienced a bitter fight. However, the warriors in the group were likely elite veterans of a hundred wars. They knew exactly how to preserve their strength despite the disadvantageous situation.

    A well-equipped warrior was crouching at the entrance of the cave with his sniper rifle aimed at the distant forest, the scope of which was darting between the trees, valleys, and hills. He suddenly noticed an abnormal movement in the forest and immediately shifted his aim there.

    As expected, a group of soldiers walked out from the amidst the trees. Clearly rxed after seeing their leader, the vignt sniper turned back and said, ¡°Fourth Young Master as returned.¡±

    It was exactly Zhao Jundu who had walked out from the forest. A fair length of time had passed since he joined the battle, and his appearance was now quite different from the outset. The ck hair usually maintained by a famous dresser was now extremely short, having been shave casually with abat knife; his handsome, almost wless face was now covered with thick camouge paint.

    The robe on his body was in tatters, revealing the damaged, ck armor underneath. There were de cuts all over his body along with several unhealed injuries. A strand of fresh blood trickled down from his arms and hands and flowed out of his sleeve¡ªeven the Blue Firmament in his hand was stained with blood.

    The Zhao Jundu before the bloody battle could be considered cold, detached, and transcendent, but the current him seemed to have returned to the human world and was suffused with the frosty intent of murder.

    Only those eyes were as clear and bright as before.

    Zhao Jundu was holding a human head in his hand with blood dripping down asionally from the cut surface of its neck. The person¡¯s eyes were wide open, his expression frozen in thatst moment of extreme shock. Meanwhile, there were a dozen-odd Zhao n soldiers behind Zhao Jundu. It was just that all of them were injured and most of them seriously so¡ªthere were even two men with missing arms and legs.

    Zhao Jundu walked toward the cave but halted his steps before he had traveled very far. Violet mes erupted from his eyes as he gazed coldly toward the front. The muzzle of the Blue Firmament was also raised slightly and started flickering with origin power.

    The scenery in front of Zhao Jundu suddenly distorted as a woman in wide-sleeved robes appeared out of thin air. A sh of lightning flickered through the heaven and earth the moment she opened her eyes, illuminating the miserable mountains and rivers for an instant!

    The veteran Zhao n warriors lost all color as they recognized thedy¡¯s identity!

    She was the Bai n¡¯s hope and the empire¡¯s celebrated legend, Bai Aotu.

    Her hands were folded within her sleeves as she nced at the head in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand with a frown, ¡°We¡¯re you the one who killed Bai Huiyu?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied coldly, ¡°Correct! This is the only fate for a mere rank-eleven champion who dares attack my Zhao n.¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s indifference remained unchanged as though the eldest son of the n¡¯s third branch was but an insignificant character. ¡°Then how about the Bai n¡¯s three units?¡±

    ¡°A total of 96 men have all been killed,¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s tone was calm, ¡°it¡¯s a pity I didn¡¯t see that slut Bai Kongzhao. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve killed her too and resolved the enmity from the ckflow side.¡±

    Bai Aotu finally raised her eyes and gazed at Zhao Jundu. She then said with a cold voice, ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Noble¡¯s killing intent is quite heavy.¡±

    Zhao Jundu pointed toward his men and said calmly, ¡°Only these people remain out of the hundred men from my Zhao n¡¯s threebat squads. There would be none left if I didn¡¯t have any killing intent. Does the Bai n eldest miss have any objections?¡±

    Bai Aotu was suffused with a cold killing intent as she said slowly, ¡°What if I do?¡±

    Zhao Jundu pointed the Blue Firmament upward and sneered, ¡°What does it matter if you have any objections under the Iron Curtain? You don¡¯t dare kill me, and you can¡¯t, either!¡±

    These words reflected Zhao Jundu¡¯s pride and aggressiveness as the number one younger generation genius of the empire.

    But Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t enraged after hearing this. Instead, she said with a chuckle, ¡°No matter what the reason is for killing you, the Zhao n will surely gather all of their elites and fight it out to the death with my Bai n. But that¡¯s not the reason I don¡¯t dare move against you at the moment.¡±

    Bai Aotu continued without waiting for Zhao Jundu to speak, ¡°Perhaps people will me me for allowing such infighting to ur with the enemy¡ªthe dark races¡ªright before us. Wasn¡¯t this aggrieving friends to dden the enemy?

    ¡°But these short-sighted people are those who can only cling to morality because they have no power to change the situation. They make no contributions whatsoever while ming others unscrupulously when things don¡¯t go their way. What kind of person am I? Why would I need to pay attention to the criticism of these scoundrels? I need only to kill with one fist whoever daresment in front of me!

    ¡°As I see it, the Iron Curtain bloody battle is merely a child¡¯s game. In order to deal a grievous blow to the dark races¡ªkilling a hundred so-called young geniuses can¡¯t match up to destroying a single marquis. Everything that happens under the Iron Curtain is insignificant and will do nothing to change the bigger picture.

    ¡°Even if our Bai n¡¯s behavior is inappropriate and causes great losses for the empire, I alone can easily make up for it elsewhere. There¡¯s no need to fuss over little things in this children¡¯s game.

    ¡°I, Bai Aotu, alone am enough for the Bai n!¡±

    These words were an undoubted disy of Bai Aotu¡¯s heart. She was actually thinking to imitate Lin Xitang and Zhang Boqian in single-handedly shouldering an entire generation of the family¡¯s foundations.

    Even someone as arrogant as Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help but turn silent and see her in a new light.

    Bai Aotu gazed deeply at Zhao Jundu and said, ¡°It¡¯s true that I don¡¯t dare kill you right now. It¡¯s not out of fear for the Zhao n¡¯s retaliation, but because your fame as the number one younger generation genius of the empire follows your merits. You are not yet mature at this point, and it¡¯ll injure my dao heart if you die in my hands. The time of our big battle is when we are at the same realm. Zhao Jundu, do not make me wait too long.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression of pride had been withdrawn, and there was a trace of respect in his eyes. But he couldn¡¯t help but break out in aughter after hearing Bai Aotu¡¯sst words. ¡°My cultivation today is bright, consummate, and wless. My West Pole Violet Qi has reached the greater sess stage, and the straight path to divine champion is already open before me. How can you be my match if you and I are at the same realm?¡±

    Bai Aotu smiled brightly and said, ¡°That¡¯s yet to be decided. Spection without a fight is only artificial.¡±

    ¡°Very well, we shall fight in the future. But what of the present?¡±

    Since Bai Aotu had made an appearance, it was clear that she had a reason. She quickly replied without much thought, ¡°The thing everyone¡¯s fighting for is in your hands, right? Give it to me and we¡¯ll end this case here. I shall not interfere no matter what the other Bai n members do from here on out. But you must also promise not to ughter those who did nothing to offend you.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°Fine.¡±

    He tossed Bai Huiyu¡¯s head to the ground nonchntly and produced a thumb-sized crystal from his pocket. It was shockingly simr to the void origin crystal in Qianye¡¯s hands, except this one was much smaller.

    Zhao Jundu sent the crystal flying toward Bai Aotu with a flick of his fingers. Thetter took and examined the item thoroughly before nodding. ¡°It is indeed a void crystal. Very good.¡±

    She put away the void crystal and turned to leave. Her figure turned blurrier with each step, and she soon vanishedpletely after several strides.

 Volume 5 - 453: Extreme Violet Yields Azure

    [V5C160 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Bai Aotu¡¯s unfathomable methods as she came and went struck a chill in the hearts of the Zhao n spectators. But their eyes burned fiercely when they nced toward Zhao Jundu.

    The danger during that short confrontation just now was no less than a life and death situation. A single inappropriate response would¡¯ve led to a mortal showdown between the two. In truth, Bai Aotu¡¯s domineering great dao of solitude and Zhao Jundu¡¯s indomitable regal dao had already confronted one another. How could it be a mere battle of empty words?

    As for Bai Huiyu¡¯s head, it was now half submerged in the mud, and no one was even paying it any attention.

    The soldiers from the cave had rushed over at this moment, and their champion-rank leader asked, ¡°Fourth Young Master, the dark races have probablypleted the encirclement. What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°We break through and return to the Zhao n.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s words were extremely simple, but it surprised everyone quite a bit.

    ¡°Return to the Zhao n?¡± That champion couldn¡¯t help but repeat.

    With Zhao Jundu¡¯s temperament, he likely wouldn¡¯t return to reorganize his forces until he had gained enough contributions. Moreover, the withdrawal this time was to the Zhao n¡¯s frontline base outside of the Iron Curtain. But their n had encountered a misfortune this time around¡ªthree of the Zhao n¡¯s direct linebat squads had been surrounded and almost wiped out by the numerous families led by the Bai n. In the end, it was Zhao Jundu who received the news and broke through the siege on his own to rescue the dozen or so stragglers.

    ¡°Bring news to the Zhao n after breaking through the siege, and have them prepare the Marrow Cleansing Pool. I¡¯m advancing to the champion realm,¡± Zhao Jundu said indifferently. ¡°Oh and by the way, don¡¯t forget to spread news of the Bai n obtaining the void crystal.¡±

    ¡°Champion?!¡± Everyone from the Zhao n was astonished. Zhao Jundu had been dying his advancement for several years. In the end, he had unexpectedly made up his mind to go ahead¡ªbut, was this an appropriate time?

    Ayer of frost appeared in Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes as he said, ¡° It won¡¯t take long. I must see if there¡¯s anyone I can¡¯t kill under the Iron Curtain afterward!¡±

    The Zhao n warriors nced at each other, knowing that their fourth young master was truly furious and prepared to ughter.

    The Bai n and the alliance of several aristocratic families couldn¡¯t hold Zhao Jundu, and neither could the dark races outside. The characteristic hue of the Blue Firmament lit up the leaden Iron Curtain with the brilliant colors of death. Half a dayter, Zhao Jundu led the Zhao n warriors through the heavy siege and swaggered off, leaving the ground in his wake littered with corpses.

    Once out of the Iron Curtain, he immediately boarded the awaiting high-speed battleship back to the Western Continent. This scene, spread far and wide by people with malicious intentions, invited various discussions. Many rumors spoke of how Zhao Jundu had abandoned the bloody battle and returned to the Western Continent because he couldn¡¯t bear the losses. This led many to believe that Zhao Jundu was nothing out of the ordinary and that he couldn¡¯t live up to his fame in the face of actual difficulties.

    But Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t care about these baseless words at all. The only thing he did on his way back¡ªapart from reading the bloody battle reports¡ªwas cultivate.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s potential ascension to the champion rank was a major event for the entire Zhao n. The news shook the entire residence; both Duke You and Yan postponed all their current matters to oversee the preparations. One dayter, Zhao Weihuang also rushed all the way back from the Fire Beacon headquarters, and the first thing he did after returning was to test whether the Marrow Cleansing Pool was well prepared.

    Zhao Jundu had already suppressed and consolidated his cultivation for six years. Whether or not it was worth it would be made clear once he broke out of the cocoon and became a butterfly.

    Everything from top to bottom had already been prepared by the time Zhao Jundu returned to West Pole City. His mother, Princess Gaoyi, spared no expense to invite four inner-court specialists in order to set up a major array, lest the heaven and earth grow agitated and the overly powerful darkness origin power affects his advancement.

    Apart from this, one of the Zhao n¡¯s divine champions, Duke You, Zhao Xuanji, would personally oversee the Marrow Cleansing Pool and protect him during the entire process. Such a lineup wasn¡¯t at all inferior to when Zhao Xuanji broke through to divine champion back in the day.

    Zhao Jundu rested for three days after returning to the residence. He would enter the Marrow Cleansing Pond only when his mental state was at its best.

    At dawn on the third day, Zhao Jundu was reading as usual when the study doors were pushed open and in walked a windswept Zhao Junhong.

    ¡°Second Brother, howe you¡¯ve returned?¡±

    Zhao Junhong said with a rueful smile, ¡°How can I not rush back after hearing of your ascension?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with a frown, ¡°But didn¡¯t you just enter the Dark Nation hintends? Charging out like this should be quite dangerous.¡±

    Zhao Junhong said with an unconcernedugh, ¡°Your second brother¡¯s talents are limited and can¡¯t fight any famous battles, but not making any mistakes is something I can do.¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head with a sigh but didn¡¯t say anything.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s temperament had grown more proper and earnest after the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt that year, and this change was also reflected in his military strategies. Although he wasn¡¯t capable of extreme flexibility and unpredictable changes like Song Zining, he was steadfast,posed, and as imposing as a mountain peak, leaving little if any openings to exploit.

    The only way to take down such an enemy was to devour him head-on with military superiority. However, Zhao Junhong¡¯s Silver Sword Finger was one of the top three most powerful techniques in the Zhao n. It certainly wasn¡¯t that easy to deal with.

    Zhao Junhong asked directly, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯ll need one more year for your origin power purity to reach perfection? Howe you¡¯ve changed your mind?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be hidebound by convention. The heavenly dao shifts with time, and so has the current political situation. That small gap can be made up forter on. I¡¯ll be able to rampage through the Iron Curtain as long as I advance to the champion rank! This bloody battle is an important matter involving our Zhao n¡¯s fame and fortune.¡±

    Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t know how to dissuade his brother after hearing this.

    Zhao Jundu remained silent for a while before saying, ¡°I wonder how Qianye¡¯s doing? Why is it Song Zining defending ckflow City alone all this time? That slut Bai Kongzhao has clearly arrived on the western side. Could it be that Qianye hasn¡¯t gone back, or¡­¡±

    Zhao Junhong said, ¡°Speaking of this, there¡¯s some good news to be shared. The siege of ckflow City has been broken. Song Zining utterly defeated the dark race coalition, and even the Nangong family private army has withdrawn from the Iron Curtain. ording to my information, the expert who pushed back the Nangong together with him should be Qianye.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s brows rose then knitted together slightly. ¡°If Qianye is going to ascend to the champion rank, it¡¯s best he also returns to the Marrow Cleansing Pond.¡±

    Zhao Junhongughed wryly and patted Zhao Jundu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t think about that for now. Your ascension is much more important. With your contributions and mine, it¡¯s not difficult to secure him a quota in the pond.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. Since the time had arrived, he stopped chatting and followed his attendants toward the Marrow Cleansing Pond.

    That afternoon, leaden clouds covered the Western Continent as heavy rains poured everywhere¡ªonly the skies above the Zhao n residence were clear and windless.

    The Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Pond was simr to the Song n¡¯s cultivation chambers. It was just that their methods were different. The Song n cultivation chambers used kic towers and origin aggregation arrays to provide the user with intense origin power, while the Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Pond was filled with origin distite. Thetter could be viewed as liquid daybreak origin power with many rare medicines to aid the absorption process¡ªits value could easily be imagined.

    Even a direct descendant like Zhao Junhong would need to be sufficiently talented and umte enough points to gain one to three opportunities. Without sufficient talent, even lineal descendants weren¡¯t qualified. Only those who had contributed greatly to the n might be granted one opportunity.

    All the major characters were gathered in the courtyard outside as Zhao Jundu entered the Marrow Cleansing Pond, submerged himself, and began cultivating. They were all waiting silently for the moment of his advancement.

    Those with outstanding talents would produce various phenomena during advancement oncemunication was established between the origin power of the heaven and earth. One could estimate the ascending champion¡¯s quality and potential by the scale and shape of the phenomena.

    In the so-called aggregating qi to form a vortex, the origin vortex was also differentiated into different levels¡ªthe purer one¡¯s origin power, the more outstanding it would be. The lowest grade origin vortex was as thin as mist, and after that was dew, then all the way to a rain of origin power. One would be considered a top genius if he could produce drops of liquid origin power after forming a vortex.

    At this moment, all three of the Zhao n¡¯s dukes were present within the Immortal Manor in the Fortune Courtyard. They were all waiting for the magnificent scene that would soon follow. It could be said that the Zhao n¡¯s future for the next century wasrgely pinned on Zhao Jundu alone.

    Those who could enter the Fortune Courtyard at such an important time were important characters at the elder level, while the juniors and less important members could only wait outside. Those who were qualified toe have already arrived since witnessing an advancement phenomenon was also a rare opportunity for cultivators toprehend the origin power of the heaven and earth.

    An ordinary champion wasn¡¯t worth a mention, but it was said that a talent like Zhao Jundu possessed a high chance of inciting the innate origin powers of the world. If one could take this opportunity toprehend them, it was possible to raise their lifetime cultivation by two to three ranks.

    It was just that some were delighted, while certain others were worried¡ªthe expression on Zhao Fenglei¡¯s face was somewhat forced.

    Ascension within the Marrow Cleansing Pond would normally take seven to ten days or even more. The three Zhao n dukes and all the elders were waiting with great patience.

    However, Zhao Jundu had just entered for one hour when thunderbolts suddenly crackled through the clear skies. An indescribably boundless aura swept out like ripples and soon filled the entire Fortune Courtyard.

    The three dukes immediately turned silent within the Immortal Manor. Their eyes shone as they stared fixedly at the distant Marrow Cleansing Pond, knowing that the phenomena were about to arrive. Being much younger than the other two dukes, Zhao Weihuang¡¯s heart was filled with concern. He couldn¡¯t help but mumble with an anxious expression, ¡°How can it be so fast?¡±

    It was at this time that a giant explosion erupted and seemingly robbed the world of all sound. Eight streams of violet qi shot into the air and positioned themselves in eight directions¡ªan impressive sign of greater sess in the West Pole Violet Qi¡¯s domain, the Omniscient Seal.

    The eight streams of violet qi were extremely rich and almost seemed like eight pirs cast from violet sma. There was a rosy light flowing inside apanied by various propitious visions¡ªauspicious beasts and treasured avians were born and destroyed one after another. The scene could only be described as a myriad of phenomena.

    Seeing the intense, lustrous, and almost translucent violet hue, Duke You, Zhao Xuanji, couldn¡¯t help but sing praises while pping the table. ¡°How wonderful! The maturity of Jundu¡¯s West Pole Violet Qi might becking just a little, but its purity has already reached great heights. Even this duke was no better back in the day. Weihuang, this aplishment has already surpassed you.¡±

    Duke Yan also nodded repeatedly with a delighted expression. The eight streams of violet qi meant that Zhao Jundu¡¯s future ascension to the divine champion rank was already a certainty.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s face was suffused with joy. He didn¡¯t even mind Duke You¡¯s faint ridicule and only gazed fiercely at the eight violet pirs.

    At this moment, the phenomena on the Marrow Cleansing Pond transformed yet again. The clear skies suddenly turned dark as the void emerged, pouring down torrents of origin power onto the Marrow Cleansing Pond. These origin powers were stained by the eight streams of violet qi and quickly took on a dense purple hue as they spread toward the eight directions. A sea of violet rippled out from above the pond, but the eight towering pirs, like Ocean Suppressing Needles, remained unmoving amidst the great waves. [1]

    Even the experienced Zhao Xuanji couldn¡¯t help but lose hisposure. ¡°This phenomenon is no small matter¡­¡±

    However, the visions didn¡¯t end with this¡ªthe origin power pouring down from the void was unending like a waterfall while the violet qi beneath grew more and more vigorous. The violet hue, in the end, was so intense that it turned ck. It was as though the void were hanging upside down.

    The entire Fortune Courtyard trembled thrice as the violet chroma reached its extreme, and a thin beam of azure qi emerged and shot several dozen meters into the air!

    The moment this azure qi appeared, the entire Fortune Courtyard was awash with a faint sense of emptiness and spirituality which rxed everyone¡¯s hearts. Everyone previously dazed by the might of heaven and earth sobered up quite a bit.

    ¡°Extreme Violet Yields Azure!¡±

    The three Zhao n dukes all stood up reflexively, and the faces of several reclusive supreme elders were filled with shock. There were even some who rubbed their eyes.

    Even in the entire empire, the West Pole Violet Qi was a top-grade secret art. However, the violet qi it produced was still somewhat different from the ultimate source of daybreak origin power. But records described how one¡¯s origin power would return to the origins after cultivating this art to the extremes and give birth to a strand of azure qi. The legendary Venus Dawn was a different means to achieve this same oue and was also iparably close to the ultimate source of origin power!

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s formation of this azure qi meant that he had a chance to touch upon the ultimate source of daybreak origin power during his lifetime, thereby advancing to the rank of heavenly monarch.

    [1] This is a rarely used name for the Sun Wukong¡¯s weapon, the Ruyi Jingu Bang. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_Jingu_Bang

 Volume 5 - 454: A Conflict of Martial Dao

    [V5C161 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The worldly phenomena only dispersed at twilight. Meanwhile, a pir of water half the height of a man suddenly shot out from the Marrow Cleansing Pond¡ªZhao Jundu was actually about to leave istion! The three dukes and supreme elders of the Zhao n were moved yet again. Was he about toplete his advancement in just half a day?

    Duke You Zhao Xuanji¡¯s brows twitched. He was nning to perform a voice transmission¡ªtelling Zhao Jundu to stay calm and that consolidating his realm was important¡ªwhen his eyes froze and his voice vanished.

    An ancient-style robe hanging on the nearby sago palm tree flew up and went into the pir of surging water. Soon afterward, Zhao Jundu slowly walked up along the jade stairs, the three origin vortices in his body shining alternately. He had actually crossed over rank-ten and rank-eleven in half a day to stand as a rank-twelve champion!

    This legendary advancement wasn¡¯t forced in the least. The power of Zhao Jundu¡¯s three origin vortices was pure to the extreme, and his qi had condensed into liquid. But that wasn¡¯t all; true experts like Zhao Xuanji could see that the circting origin distite was extremely viscous¡ªmuch like an emulsion¡ªand suffused with a faint trace of azure.

    This time, the Zhao n elders were shaken once more. Such a quality of daybreak origin power would hardly appear in several hundred years, even for a millennia-old n like the Zhao. Before reaching the champion rank, Zhao Jundu could only be treated as a young genius no matter how aplished he was¡ªhe couldn¡¯t be considered a true expert. Geniuses weremon, while true experts were rare. This was the same for both factions across the twenty-seven continents.

    After crossing this step, Zhao Jundu would join the ranks of the true experts and even has hopes of challenging the heavenly monarch rank. It could be considered aplete metamorphosis.

    The expressions of the various elders and Zhao Weihuang becameplicated. Before, they had Zhao Ruoxi, and now they had Zhao Jundu. Even if Zhao Weihuang wasn¡¯t talented, his branch would still enjoy at least hundreds of glorious years and subsequently transform the Duke Chengen title into a hereditary one. It would seem the Zhao n¡¯s three-duke structure was now set in stone.

    Even if Zhao Jundu would never cross the heavenly monarch threshold in the future, he could easily gain another title as long as he was a superior divine champion. The Zhao n, then, would have four dukes and stand shoulder to shoulder with the Green Sun Zhang n in terms of power.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t stay long after his ascension. He left for the front lines on Evernight Continent the very next day. In response to the elders urging him to stay, he only replied that the bloody mes of battle make for the best training grounds, and that the heads of his enemies were the best congrattory gifts.

    Even Zhao Weihuang was at an immediate loss for words. All he could do was assign more elite generals to fight on Evernight.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s ascension naturally couldn¡¯t be kept a secret. The news was spread throughout the empire in the blink of an eye and became the focus of recent discussions. It was just that the Zhao n¡¯s situation under the Iron Curtain didn¡¯t change immediately¡ªthey were still standing alone against one major n and various families.

    This one n referred to the Zhang n, and the various houses were the aristocratic families. Thetter¡¯sposition wasplicated¡ªthere were ns among them, and there was no shortage of imperial party members either.

    The Zhang n was fairly low-key throughout the entire bloody battle, but they encountered the least resistance all this time since everyone knew Zhang Boqian hade to Evernight Continent. They only focused on fighting the dark races within their war zone. However, the Zhang and Bai ns had shared a good rtionship over many generations, so it was inevitable that the former would help out in battle. No one knew how or why, but in the end, the Zhang n was also dragged into the great maelstrom of civil war.

    The Green Sun Zhang n was the epted number one n in terms of strength. Now that they were shing with the Zhao n, the situationrgely became focused around them. Presently, the two ns were in a deadlock with each side asionally ¡°misfiring¡±.

    Originally, the four ns, with their entangled rtionships, kept one another in check. At the moment, the Zhang and Bai ns shared a close rtionship, while the Song and Zhao ns had always had dealings with one another. The Song n, however, seemed to care only for itself at the moment with their wanton mercenary squads focusing solely on contribution points. Meanwhile, the prideful Zhao n wasn¡¯t willing to lower itself to ask the weakest Song n for help either.

    The Song n was still in the lead at this point in the bloody battle, but that was because they had gone all out at the very beginning and gained too much of an advantage. It was extremely difficult to score contributions at this point¡ªa month of bitter fighting now could hardly match a week¡¯s yield of the past¡ªand with the various ns and families confronting one another, it wasn¡¯t easy to make up for the gap.

    But discerning people could see that the Song n¡¯s fall from first ce was only a matter of time. Moreover, they would never be able toe back once they had yielded the position.

    Actually, there was more ridicule than praise for the Song n¡¯s first-ce rank throughout the empire. It was fine for a middle or lower rank aristocratic family to utilize such tricks, but for a stately major n to do so was an inevitable invitation of contempt and even revealed their internal weakness in the process.

    Moreover, it was the Song n ying a series of odd moves. For instance, during the battle of ckflow City, they had actually allowed the Nangong family to block off Trinity River County and left the highly talented Song Zining to defend the dangerous city alone. There was no way for them to exin themselves no matter the argument.

    With discussions were taking ce throughout the empire, the suggestion of breaking one¡¯s own fence was inevitably brought up. Zhang Boqian had only onement: ¡°Merchants are all scoundrels.¡±

    On the contrary, the Zhao n fought on bravely despite the disadvantageous position and was slowly climbing in rank, a clear indication of the thousand-year-old n¡¯s fighting spirit.

    The other ns had more or less revealed their hidden aces in the bloody battle. Some among them were able to awe the masses with a single feat, while others were proven weak despite their powerful appearance. The most discussed household, in truth, was still the Nangong family.

    The Yishui Nangong Family had been growing in strength over the recent years¡ªthey suppressed the middle and lower ranking aristocratic families, and hardly backed down even against the major ns. In the eyes of outsiders, they had even suppressed the Song n in this bloody battle so much so that thetter didn¡¯t dare retaliate. It could be said that they were highly impressive.

    But that wasn¡¯t the case on the contribution rankings. The Nangong was still among the top-ranks at the outset and their position was quite high, however, they began to slide down over time and had contributed almost nothing in thest two months. This reached a point where they were kicked out of the top-ten, inciting countless debates and discussions¡ªall types of mockery and derision were a given.

    The Nangong family was iparably stifled from top to bottom. The n lord and elders were stomping in fury, but they couldn¡¯t think of a way out despite their anger. The most disastrous losses were all rted to hunting Qianye down, involving their true elites and a number of young experts with bright futures. Moreover, the casualties came at the beginning of the bloody battle when it was the easiest to gain contributions. With that, the difference grew by quite a wide margin.

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s main objective in leading the army into Trinity River County was naturally not the tiny ckflow City. It was a taboo to ughter a human city during the bloody battle, and the Nangong n, no matter how arrogant they were, wouldn¡¯t take real action.

    Their real target was the fifty thousand strong army the other side had thrown out. Unexpectedly, Song Zining had made a sudden appearance to lead Dark me in defense of that isted city. He had fought the most ssical of battles since the beginning of the bloody battle and actually deprived Nangong Yuanwang of all benefits.

    An entire division of elites was thus held back at Trinity River county without gaining a single contribution. Later on, Qianye returned with great momentum, heavily injured Nangong Zhen, and pushed back Nangong Yuanwang along with the entire private army. With so much of the Nangong family¡¯s strength exhausted on a single Qianye, it was only natural that they would be kicked off the rankings.

    This matter wasn¡¯t clear to outsiders, but the bloody battle, like all wars, was only judged by the oue and not by the process. In the end, it was naturally the Nangong n lord who was considered ipetent.

    The crime of not fighting was still a crime.

    Several days passed by in a sh, and it was time for a new rankings announcement when Qianye returned from the Dark Nation.

    The current rankings shocked all parties as the Zhao n¡¯s position took a big leap forward from seventh to fourth. This kind of progression was rarely seen even during the outset of the bloody battle.

    Some people quickly attributed this progress to Zhao Jundu¡¯s advancement, but even that wasn¡¯t enough to exin things. That was because, considering the traveling times, Zhao Jundu had only returned to the Iron Curtain for a couple of days. How many could he have killed during this time? That was unless the dark races had gathered another big army for him to kill.

    Moreover, some well-informed people revealed that the Zhao n¡¯s forces had taken heavy casualties during this time. Upon his arrival, Zhao Jundu had pulled the greater half of the men out of the Iron Curtain to reorganize, while he himself entered with a small unit.

    In the end, inquiries from many sources revealed a shocking piece of news¡ªnine parts of the Zhao n¡¯s contribution growth hade from the Trinity River County. This also meant that Song Zining had actually registered all of the ckflow City contributions under Zhao Yuying¡¯s name!

    The various aristocratic families were discussing this matter spiritedly. Great waves simrly rose within the Song n¡ªmany elders were bitter and rebuked Song Zining as an ungrateful traitor. Some were so furious that they suggested striking Song Zining¡¯s name from the register and expelling him from the n.

    This instigation naturally couldn¡¯t get pass Song Zhongnian. The n lord¡¯s group immediately questioned what the Song n units stationed nearby were doing when Song Zining was defending the city alone. If there was to be a discussion about punishments, the n descendants in charge of those groups should also be severely penalized.

    Moreover, due to the intentional dy at a certain elder assembly, Song Zining was never included in the bloody battle name list. He didn¡¯t have a Song n token and naturally couldn¡¯t submit contributions in their name. Who was to take responsibility for that?

    As such, the elders quarreled incessantly until their faces were red and their necks were swollen, but no conclusion was reached. But such a situation could be considered quitemon in the Song n elder assembly. It was already quite good if two out of ten quarrels yielded any results.

    Qianye, also puzzled by Song Zining¡¯s actions, went to see him immediately after returning to ckflow City. He had originally thought that recording Luther¡¯s death under Zhao Yuying¡¯s name was the limit and never expected that Song Zining would deliver everything in one go.

    Song Zining was drawing in the study when Qianye found him. There were inky mountains and rivers beneath his brush, with misty rain flowing through the air in countless forms. Even someone who knew so little about art could sense how extraordinary this piece of creative work was.

    Seeing Qianye walk through the threshold, Song Zining withdrew his brush without the slightest bit of a pause. It was as though he had drawn that final stroke just as Qianye took thatst step. He pointed toward the half-finished painting with a smile and said, ¡°What do you see from this painting of mine?¡±

    Qianye had already sensed some profound mysteries from the movements of Song Zining¡¯s brush during his entry. He duly walked over to the painting and began to analyze it in detail.

    But Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was famous for being unfathomable and was known to contain the mysteries of the great dao. After his ascension to the champion rank, the realm of this art had reached a new level and actually contained a faint trace of the great dao. It was still an extraordinary feat despite it being the most superficial of superficial knowledge¡ªthe great dao was unique to divine champions, and not something just anyone could utilize.

    Qianye, being inept in arts, was already at a disadvantage. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t a big fan of too many variations, and this pushed him away even more. As such, Song Zining¡¯s half-finished Empty Mountains Spiritual Rain painting brought him only headache upon headache. Even with the Eye of Truth, his vision was only filled with confusing origin power lines akin to cotton wads.

    However, Qianye¡¯s martial dao was poised to break formations and behead generals with the suppressive tyranny of the mountains and seas¡ªthere was no need for him to spend time on these empty tricks. Failing to see anything even with his True Sight, Qianye grabbed the paper and ripped Song Zining¡¯s proud work to shreds, turning whatever great dao mysteries within into dust.

    Song Zining was bbergasted and couldn¡¯t help but be angered. He cried out in exasperation, ¡°You! You barbarian! You¡¯re no different from that wild boar!¡±

    Qianye blinked innocently as the azure in his eyes receded, and their obsidian-like rity returned. His father¡¯s branch in the Zhao n had always produced handsome children, while he had also gained many vampire characteristics from his blood energy¡ªcalling him a barbarian wasn¡¯t fitting at all, and a boar was even further from the truth.

    Song Zining gradually calmed down after ring at Qianye for a while and eventually let out a sigh.

    He was, in truth, proposing a problem by questioning Qianye about the painting.

    The subject was a difference in martial dao between two people.

    Qianye probably wasn¡¯t quite clear regarding Song Zining¡¯s intentions and simply destroyed the setting. Song Zining had clearly lost this round.

    Naturally, if they were to trade actual blows, Song Zining could hardly take Qianye head-on. Thetter had awakened auric gold blood and could circte the iparably tyrannical Profound Combatant Form. Any number of fallen leaves would only be swept into nothingness under that great vortex. Song Zining¡¯s only opportunity then would be to use the unfathomable Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art to avoid the brunt of the damage and take on a defensive stance. He would have to protect himself and make sure he wasn¡¯t defeated before seeking another opportunity to strike back.

    Qianye then asked about the matter of military contributions. Song Zining only replied with a mysterious smile, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about thatter. Now, apany me to meet a guest first. I¡¯ve made this person wait for nearly two hours.¡±

 Volume 5 - 455: Bottom Line

    [V5C162 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Only after following Song Zining into the living room and undergoing an introduction did Qianye discover that this old man who had been left alone for half a day was an elder from the Song n. The man had steeped the pot of tea so many times that the beverage was almost as clear as water.

    The Song n elders held greater authoritypared to those from other ns, and this was especially true while Duchess An was in istion. With little actual power in the hands of the n lord, every elder had the ability to influence n affairs.

    This elder named Song Qisi was a character from Duchess An¡¯s generation. He was even higher than Song Zhongnian in terms of seniority, and three entire generations above Song Zining¡ªthetter had to respectfully address the man as great granduncle. Even the two nephew generation followers he had brought along were two generations older than Song Zining, and all of them were main branch descendants.

    But Qianye felt the scene to be somewhat peculiar, so much so that he couldn¡¯t help but want tough.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯tcking at all in manners and treated them with the utmost respect. In truth, he had left this great-grand-uncle here for so long and run off to paint in the study. Judging from the progress of that painting, there really was no telling how long this old man would have to wait if it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s timely return. Moreover, there weren¡¯t any other refreshments apart from a few pots of tea.

    This level of etiquette was rather interesting.

    Qianye had guessed Song Zining¡¯s thoughts but refrained from revealing them. He duly seated himself to observe the developments in silence.

    ¡°Zining! It¡¯s not Great Granduncle wanting to me you, but your handling of this matter is truly inappropriate! How can the young forget their roots and forget gratitude like so?¡± The old man immediately let loose a barrage of rebukes.

    Song Qisi was at least over eighty years old. With his age and seniority, it couldn¡¯t be considered excessive for him to lecture Song Zining. However, Qianye frowned slightly on the side after discovering that Song Qisi¡¯s origin power was a mere rank twelve or thirteen. Considering all the years he had lived and the resources of the Song n, his strength could be considered extremely mediocre.

    The Song n was, after all, one of the four major ns and likewise a thousand-year-old lineage. Even if their bloodline wasn¡¯tparable to the Zhang and Zhao ns who had risen along with the empire, it shouldn¡¯t be inferior to a high-ranking aristocratic family at all. Talented descendants like Song Zining were present in every generation, but whether or not they could mature was apletely different matter.

    Qianye understood the Song n descendants more clearly after joining the Song n¡¯s decennial examination. Apart from a rare few like Song Zining, the other Song n scions lived like princes¡ªtheycked the assiduous will to advance and sought profit above all others. Their strengths were maintained at an eptable level by relying on secret arts and vast amounts of resources. Their truebat strength, however, was vastly inferior and could be considered unworthy for a stately major n.

    Qianye felt that even he could easily take down someone of Song Qisi¡¯s strength. He truly wondered where the man got the confidence to reprimand Song Zining. Could he be relying on the Song n¡¯s might? But what might was there to speak of regarding the present Song n?

    Song Qisi and his group noticed Qianye¡¯s unusual expression. That wasn¡¯t a problem either because Qianye didn¡¯t feel the need to hide anything.

    But a man standing beside Song Qisi was immediately angered. ¡°How dare a mere fighter make faces while a Song n elder is delivering words of admonishment! You¡¯re simply asking for a p!¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when the man really swung his palm at Qianye¡¯s face!

    It wasn¡¯t just Qianye who was surprised at this point; even Song Zining was dumbfounded. That person was a rank-eleven descendant of the main branch and was a two entire generations Qianye¡¯s senior. ording to the strict hierarchy within the n, it was quitemon to rebuke or strike a younger generation descendant or subordinate.

    But this wasn¡¯t the Song n.

    Only a bang was heard. The one sent flying was naturally the assant, and he even sprayed out a dozen or so teeth in the process. Qianye¡¯s p wasn¡¯t light at all! Afterward, his hand reached out and pressed down in the air¡ªthe man was suddenly swatted to the floor like a fly and passed out after coughing a mouthful of blood.

    Qianye was startled with his hand still frozen in the air as though he couldn¡¯t believe the oue. He nced toward Song Zining and asked doubtfully, ¡°He¡¯s so weak! Are you sure he¡¯s a Song n champion?¡±

    Song Zining covered his face with his fan as though he couldn¡¯t bear to watch and sighed ¡°It¡¯s not that he¡¯s weak. It¡¯s you! Did you really need to use your whatchamacallit arts for a mere p?¡±

    Qianye was suddenly enlightened. ¡°Ah! It was habitual.¡±

    He had always nurtured his martial arts in battle and passed most of his post-advancement consolidation periods inbat¡ªthis time was no exception either. He hadpletely integrated the Profound Combatant Form into hisbat instincts and could activate it at a mere thought. He didn¡¯t even think it through after being attacked and simplyunched a retaliatory p out of instinct.

    But Qianye broke into a frown once again. He still felt that this person was too weak¡ªso weak that he couldn¡¯t bear to look straight at him. Not only was the man iparable to the same-ranked champions of the Nangong family, but even the more powerful dark race knights might be more powerful than him.

    Song Qisi and his other nephew were astonished since they had never experienced such a situation before and managed to recover from their shock and fury only after a good while. The former shot up and roared, ¡°Brat, how dare you act atrociously on our Song n¡¯s domain?! This old man will p¡­¡±

    Song Qisi hadn¡¯t even finished his words when a fan unfolded to block his line of sight, filling it with the scene of courtdies taking a spring trip. Song Qisi¡¯s old face turned bright red as he stared fixedly at the depiction of a certaindy.

    The painting was drawn in great detail¡ªthe girls moved like the wind with their clothes fluttering in a life-like fashion. But, that wasn¡¯t the issue just yet. The first important point was that thedies wore very little, revealingrge parts of their spring scenery; it was more like a bath scene than a spring trip. The second key point was that a young lotus-faced girl depicted therein was identical to one of Song Qisi¡¯s great-great-granddaughters.

    Song Qisi clearly understood at this point that his most beloved great-great-granddaughter had some inexplicable rtionship with Song Zining. The old man had hoped to send her into the royal pce to seek future prospects, but now, this painting was proof that his painstaking efforts had been for naught.

    ¡°Y=You¡­¡± Song Qisi pointed at Song Zining. He was so angry that he couldn¡¯t find the words.

    Song Zining folded the fan and pointed at Qianye with a spurious smile. ¡°Great Granduncle, I introduced this Sire Qianye just now as the deputy divisionmander of Dark me Independent Division, but you still don¡¯t know that he¡¯s the actual city lord of ckflow. My business here is only to give him some support.¡±

    Song Qisi was skeptical after hearing this, but his gaze flickered somewhat.

    Previously, the Song n wasn¡¯t quite sure of Song Zining¡¯s business situation outside. They had only learned of his investment in ckflow City during Ye Mn¡¯s case, and the fact that he had a share in the city was only proved when Song Zining himself stated it as a reason for his open conflict with the Nangong family.

    The Song n had naturally made inquiries before. The current dispatch divisionmander of ckflow City¡¯s expeditionary army was Zhao Yuying of the Zhao n, but it was amon thing in the empire to register certain properties under a major n scion¡¯s name for convenience¡¯s sake. Just the fact that neither the Zhao n nor Zhao Yuying had appeared during the siege of ckflow City was proof enough that this detail wasn¡¯t important at all.

    Song Qisi naturally thought the same and it was showing on his face.

    Song Zining shot him another nce and said with a smile, ¡°Great Granduncle, Sire Qianye just killed a powerful dark race general a while ago, the first-rank viscount Luther, and is stillcking in his sense of priorities. Please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    Song Qisi¡¯s face twitched involuntarily and knew not whether tough or to cry. He had understood the meaning behind Song Zining¡¯s words¡ªsince the other party was able to behead even a first-rank viscount, wouldn¡¯t he be able to kill an old fogey in a couple of moves? On a deeper level of consideration, those withbat strength surpassing their levels were mostly major n scions. What exactly was this Qianye¡¯s background?

    Song Qisi¡¯s hand was raised halfway, prepared to ¡°teach Qianye a lesson¡± with a flip of his hands. He did eventually flip his hand but didn¡¯t dare teach any lessons at all.

    But he was also a smart old man. His expression changed as he shouted at the other follower, ¡°What are you staring for? Drag your cousin out! We¡¯ll punish himter after our return!¡±

    The man was startled but didn¡¯t dare disobey¡ªhe quickly carried his unconscious cousin and left.

    Song Qisi was already full of smiles by the time he turned back. ¡°As expected of a young hero and a talented good friend of our Zining.¡±

    Qianye could only gasp in amazement at the rapid change in attitude as both sides sat down once more and began the chat anew. This time, Song Qisi behaved much bette. He knew quite clearly that neither Song Zining nor Qianye respected him in the least. As such, he no longer dared y the elder card and proceeded to exin his intentions directly.

    He had taken this trip, not out of impulse, but as an actual representative of the elder assembly. The elder assembly¡¯s decision was mainly made up of two notions, and the first was to severely rebuke and lecture Song Zining for registering ckflow City¡¯s contributions under the Zhao n¡¯s name and punish him ordingly.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned peculiar once again. He hadn¡¯t heard wrong¡ªthe Song n elder assembly had indeed taken steps to punish Song Zining. His sessor rank would be lowered by three positions, all n affairs withdrawn, and allowances reduced for one year. Moreover, his Song-n-rted personal assets would be frozen until the end of his punishment.

    The allowance reduction was negligible. His sessor position wasn¡¯t important either since Song Zining¡¯s ambitionsy elsewhere. But the frozen assets weren¡¯t a small number¡ªit epassed a mine and tworge factories situated in Song n territory.

    Fortunately, however, Ningyuan Heavy Industries wasn¡¯t very dependent on the Song n, and he had just moved a part of his industries to Evernight Continent a while ago. Otherwise, judging from the present situation, most of his officially owned estates would be confiscated on top of all the Song-n-rted assets.

    Qianye saw that his good friend remain unmoved, but he clearly sensed the gloominess behind thetter¡¯s calm demeanor. This Yellow-Spring schoolmate wasn¡¯t an easily-bullied phnthropist. It was just that even the unconstrained Song Zining found it difficult to break the constraints of blood rtionships.

    As though he had sensed Qianye¡¯s gaze, Song Zining looked up with a smile and shook his head lightly.

    Qianye understood his meaning. The Song n had long since crossed Song Zining¡¯s bottomline, and he definitely wasn¡¯t one to resign himself to destruction. It was just that Song Qisi hadn¡¯t finished his words as yet, and he still wanted to see where the Song n¡¯s bottomline was.

    The old man had enjoyed power for far too long. He failed to notice the odd expressions of the two and continued speaking with great assurance.

    The second wish of the Song n elder assembly was for the Song n to formally establish the ckflow war zone and have Song Zining continue leading Dark me. All contributions from the ckflow War Zone were to be recorded under the Song n¡¯s name¡ªprivate transfers were not allowed. Moreover, the threebat squads in the area would be incorporated into his forces, and their previous leaders were to aid Song Zining inmanding military affairs.

    ¡°Aid?¡± Song Zining repeated with a cold smile.

 Volume 5 - 456: Extremes of Progress

    [V5C163 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Qisi¡¯s brows jumped as he finally discovered something wrong with the ambiance. He said with an apologetic smile, ¡°These people have fought quite well in the past, and the troops under theirmand are the elites of our Song n. They¡¯ve umted quite a bit of contribution already. Moreover, they''re all from your uncle¡¯s generation. Zining, you¡¯re still quite young after all, and one must rely on experience when marching armies into battle. With their assistance, you can ignore the unimportant matters rted to the actual army formations and concentrate on advancing your cultivation. Isn¡¯t that even better?¡±

    Song Zining said nothing after listening to these words. He only waved his fan constantly, causing those scantily-ddies, especially Song Qisi¡¯s great-great-granddaughter, to sh past the old man repeatedly.

    Song Qisi¡¯s smile became more and more forced, but he couldn¡¯t drop his smile or avert his gaze yet.

    Song Zining spoke only after a moment of silence, ¡°And if I don¡¯t agree, my branch of the family will be punished, is that right?¡±

    Song Qisiughed dryly and said, ¡°We naturally don¡¯t dare to treat the n lord disrespectfully. It¡¯s also fine if Little Seven doesn¡¯t want to join the battle. We¡¯ll only reduce family allowances ording to the rules. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡±

    Even Qianye understood what would happen should Song Zining refuse. The elder assembly wouldn¡¯t touch n Lord Song Zhongnian, but Song Zining¡¯s father would be implicated. An allowance reduction didn¡¯t sound like much, but the reduction could be ten percent or it could very well be ny percent.

    Song Zining¡¯s mother passed early, and his father was a man of frail constitution who rarely left the depths of the Enlightenment manor. Now that Duchess An was in istion, it could be said that he had lost his protection. Daily life under another person¡¯s roof was the most troublesome¡ªthere was no telling what would happen.

    This method was truly ruthless.

    But if Song Zining dared go back at this time, he might not have the freedom to return. He would be punished for a year at least, and it might even involve ¡°isted reflection¡±.

    ¡°What did the n lord say?¡± Song Zining suddenly asked.

    Song Qisi replied, ¡°The n lord is naturally unwilling, but since the elder assembly has decided thus, Song Zhongnian can only agree. This is also our family¡¯s rule.¡± Thest words were spoken with great righteousness and power.

    Song Zining suddenly let out a lonely smile. ¡°The n lord hasn¡¯t exercised veto-power this year, has he?¡±

    Song Qisiughed. ¡°Why would he need to take it that far for such a small matter?¡± The man had instinctively sensed that things weren¡¯t doing so well. Song Zhongnian was Song Zining¡¯s grandfather. There was definitely something out of the ordinary since Song Zining was addressing him as n lord.

    Song Zining nodded with a tired expression and said, ¡°Great Granduncle, you¡¯ve all made a mistake. This ckflow City isn¡¯t mine, but Qianye¡¯s. You¡¯ll have to talk to him if you have any suggestions.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Song Qisi wasn¡¯t expecting such a situation. He nced toward Qianye but didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ckflow City wasn¡¯t worth anything. The true value was with Dark me.

    However, status and identity were the most important in the eyes of Song Qisi and the n elders. Qianye was a mere Evernight civilian and still a person of low social status despite his status as a high-ranking expeditionary army officer. There was no way to bring him into public view without a noble title.

    That was why the Song n had never considered this person before. Their only worry was Zhao Yuying, but the Zhao n was too busy dealing with its own problems in this bloody battle, and they had never even mobilized Dark me before. This went to show that they didn¡¯t care about this mercenary corps at all. Why then shouldn¡¯t the Song n make use of it?

    Song Qisi became secretly apprehensive after seeing Qianye. This was born of a habitual line of thought that it was impossible for ordinary civilians to possessbat strength exceeding their rank.

    In truth, this Song n elder was somewhat angry with Song Zining. His actions and words today had more or less realized the allegations of disobedience. In the old man¡¯s eyes, the elder assembly was indeed insightful and farsighted in iming that Song Zining was not worth nurturing. What use was a disloyal descendant?

    Hence, after Song Zining pushed everything onto Qianye, the first thought Song Qisi had was that the former wanted to haggle. It was just that he needed to do some calctions before naming the price.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression had returned to normal at this point, seemingly free of any worry. Qianye, however, had been listening from the side and knew that he must be feeling ufortable. As the Song n lord, Song Zhongnian possessed at least two or three chances to exercise veto power, but he wasn¡¯t willing to use it for this matter. Regardless of the reasons, he was still nning to let Song Zining suffer this grievance.

    Qianye stood up slowly without waiting for Song Qisi to finish mulling over his choice of words and walked over to Song Zining¡¯s side. There, he ced a hand on Song Zining¡¯s shoulder and said coldly, ¡°I built Dark me alone, and this city is mine through and through. Zining¡¯s investment will naturally secure him a share of profits, but I have no intention of working with the Song n.¡±

    Anger shed through the depths of Song Qisi¡¯s eyes. Throughout the many years of handling matters, he had rarely, if ever, encountered a situation where he was declined before he had even spoken. He squeezed out a smile after some thought and said, ¡°What future does this destend have? The present bloody battle is a great opportunity to gain merit. If you hand over Dark me, our Song n will give you a background. This old man will find you a branch family and grant you the surname Song. This will be the foundation for your future noble title.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. He simply couldn¡¯t understand the reasoning of these Song n people. He couldn¡¯t help but break into augh before saying, ¡°Song n¡¯s employment strategy is truly eye-opening. I¡¯ve heard about how your esteemed n values only the direct lines and restrains the branches. I fear your Song n surname isn¡¯t worth that much.¡±

    The Song n¡¯s problem wasn¡¯t a secret throughout the empire, and it was also a frequent topic of gossip. But nobles naturally wouldn¡¯t expose things so unceremoniously like Qianye.

    Song Qisi flew into a humiliated rate. ¡°Not worth much?! But even if you approach the Zhao n, that Zhao Yuying won¡¯t grant you their n surname and identity!¡± The Zhao n was the proudest among the major ns¡ªit was the only family that refused to intermarry withndowning households, let alone bring someone of a different surname into their n.

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You may leave now. From now on, this ce doesn¡¯t wee people from the Song n. Additionally, the area 500 kilometers from ckflow City belongs to my war zone. I don¡¯t want to see any Song n squads showing up here. Otherwise, I won¡¯t guarantee their safety.¡±

    Song Qisi was both shocked and angered. He shot up from his seat and roared, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°My intentions are clear. I do not wee Song n people on mynd. There¡¯s no telling what will happen if yourbat squads so much as take one step into the area. I might identally kill them if my mood is sour.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Song Qisi was so angry that his fingers were trembling, but he couldn¡¯t find any words to retort. He wanted to spit out some fierce words but was also afraid that Qianye would suddenly attack him. His nephew was still unconscious outside. In the end, he waved his sleeve and said furiously, ¡°You barbaric plebian!¡±

    Qianyeughed coldly as he summoned some Dark me officers and ordered them to send Song Qisi¡¯s entourage out of the city, politely ¡°escorting¡± them all the way to the borders of the ckflow War Zone. This action was no different from expelling them, an immediate realization of Qianye¡¯s previous words about not allowing Song n members on hisnd. Song Qisi was so angry that his vision grew dim, but no one really cared about his wrath.

    After dealing with these matters, Qianye turned to Song Zining and said, ¡°Your Song n members¡¯ insult lines are all the same.¡±

    Song Zining leaned back into the chair and sighed. ¡°The Zhang n is powerful, the Zhao n is noble, but what does our Song n have? We arecking in martial prowess, so all we can do is discuss reason through literature and make upplicated rules as a disy of our power. After such a long time, those old men have turned into coarse, uneducated characters who are even less honorable than ourselves.¡±

    Qianye red at Song Zining and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you the same?!¡±

    Song Zining became more spirited as he opened his fan andughed. ¡°You¡¯re inferior to me in every aspect of the four arts. What are you if not a barbarian?¡±

    Qianye only replied with a snort, ¡°It seems I have to let you taste true barbarism.¡± With that, he raised his right arm and flexed his wrists.

    Song Zining¡¯s eyelids twitched, and his smile immediately turned unnatural. He had no wish to taste the might of the tyrannical Profound Combatant Form.

    Qianye suddenly said, ¡°Let me go back with you to the Song n and see how uncle is doing.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but turn gloomy, and he spoke only after a good while of silence, ¡°Won¡¯t we be ying right into their hands? The Enlightenment Manor is my great grandmother¡¯s istion site. It¡¯s even more difficult to enter than the Song n¡¯s primary residence.¡±

    Song Qisi had made the elder assembly¡¯s forceful intentions quite clear. It was still fine if Song Zining remained outside, but walking into the trap was the worst of strategies. Those old men certainly wouldn¡¯t hold back.

    Qianye frowned as though he wanted to say something, but Song Zining said, ¡°I have some channels inside the n. Let me probe a bit before deciding. Now you see just how many people are after our military contributions, don¡¯t you? The Song n is only one of them. The longer we hold this piece of fat meat, the more visitors there will be. It¡¯s better to just use it up quickly.¡±

    Qianye nodded, moved by the same thought.

    Song Zining suddenly shifted the topic of conversation. ¡°How goes your cultivation? How¡¯s your origin power purity?¡±

    Qianye had quickly opened up all of his nine nodes, and all that was left was to umte and purify origin power. His cultivation speed was already a dozen times faster than others because of the Combatant Form. However, the strength of Qianye¡¯s constitution afforded him a much greater origin power capacity, thus requiring him to spend greater effort to reach advancement.

    But Song Zining estimated that Qianye had already reached the final juncture before the champion rank. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have returned in such a short time.

    Hearing Song Zining¡¯s question, Qianye stretched his hand and shot out a beam of origin power. The beam lit up the entire room with its scorching brilliance and caused a sharp rise in temperature¡ªit was as though a small sun had formed on the tip of his fingers.

    An autumn leaf floated past Song Zining to filter out the powerful light and heat. Song Zining waspletely shocked when he was finally able to see the shape of Qianye¡¯s origin power. He shot up from his chair and gasped. ¡°Origin Distition?!¡±

    He hadn¡¯t seen wrong¡ªthat which had shot out from Qianye¡¯s fingertip was a tangible line of liquid. This was a sign that his origin power had been condensed to the extreme and subsequently liquefied.

    ¡°How can this be? It shouldn¡¯t be possible to reach this level even with the Glory Chapter.¡± Song Zining was greatly surprised.

    Qianye withdrew his origin power and said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t possible at first, but I discovered that I can temper it once more with the Glory Chapter after reaching a bottleneck, so I tried it out.¡±

    Song Zining did some calction and said in amazement, ¡°Re-temper? Then just how much origin power would you need to advance?!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I have the Profound Combatant Form.¡±

    Only when Qianye actually cultivated with the Profound Combatant Form did he realize just how powerful this art was. It relied on the pressure of the great sea vortex to crack open the void and draw upon the endless void origin power therein. This alone increased his cultivation speed to many times that of the forty-ninth cycle Combatant Form.

    Additionally, void origin power was inherently different from the natural origin power of the world. Ordinary daybreak origin power would be reduced to a tenth after being purified by the Glory Chapter, but two portions of void origin power would yield one portion of pure origin power.

    Qianye had thus refined all the origin power in his body once more and liquefied them. He was now at the extremes of progress, thest juncture before the champion rank. In terms of origin power purity, he was equal to the major n geniuses who had suppressed their ranks before ascending to the champion level. His return to ckflow was to find a suitable ce to undergo isted cultivation and formally advance to the champion rank.

    Song Ziningughed loudly after listening to Qianye¡¯s words. ¡°Just in time then! Take a look at this!¡± He fished out a jade tablet from his pocket and passed it to Qianye.

 Volume 5 - 457: Hatching

    [V5C164 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    That jade tablet was sparkling, translucent, and as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing. However, it was also iparably sturdy.

    The detailed golden patterns covering its four sides weren¡¯t just decorations. They were actual origin array lines used to protect the jade tablet from damage. The cost of the array alone was worth thousands of gold coins. On the other hand, this jade tablet was carved so thin yet was capable of sustaining the array. Its material was definitely worth more than a thousand gold coins.

    There was a line ofrge, straight words at the very center of the tablet: Fortune Courtyard, Marrow Cleansing Pond.

    Qianye examined the object repeatedly and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    Song Ziningughed, ¡°The right to use the Marrow Cleansing Pond once in exchange for military contributions.¡±

    ¡°Marrow Cleansing Pond?!¡± Qianye was startled. Zhao Yuying had mentioned before that it was best for him to advance in the Marrow Cleansing Pond, but he didn¡¯t put that to heart. It was of secondary importance where his advancement would take ce, but this meant that he would have to go to the Zhao n.

    Song Zining knew what Qianye was thinking. He patted thetter¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to face this matter sooner orter. The one-year agreement between you and Zhao Jundu is also fast approaching. He¡¯s fighting in the Evernight bloody battle, so it¡¯s quite likely that he¡¯ll visit you. Since you¡¯ll have to go there once anyway, why not perform your advancement in passing? The Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Pond is by no means inferior to the Song n¡¯s Sky Grade Cultivation Chamber. It might even be more suitable for your present situation.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Qianye stopped midway through a wryugh.

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°No buts! If you think you owe me for the contributions, then you¡¯ll pay for the wine from here on out. But I must have girls to apany me.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart, at this moment, was wracked with myriad emotions, and he didn¡¯t know what to say. At this point, his gaze suddenly froze as though he had sensed something and soon realized that the abnormal feeling wasing from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. He had little reservations in front of Song Zining. Thus, he proceeded to scan the space and immediately found the source of rm.

    Song Zining sensed Qianye¡¯s odd expression and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°It¡¯s just some girls. Do you really need to be so distressed about such an expenditure? Qianye, you can be considered the owner of a home and business now. You must learn to enjoy life!¡±

    Qianye was toozy to retort and only said, ¡°Do you remember the count-level arachne egg I told you about?¡±

    Song Zining quickly recalled the matter. At first, he had nned to have someone pick it up from Qianye and send it to an affiliated research facility. However, Qianye went missing soon afterward, and he himself was surrounded by the dark race army. The matter was thus dyed. Arachne eggs had a limited survival time after leaving the magma-filled incubation chamber; that egg should¡¯ve diedpletely after such a long time.

    Song Zining muttered, ¡°A dead arachne egg isn¡¯t worth any money. The couple of gold coins we can get for it won¡¯t even cover travel expenses. Let¡¯s just fry and eat it.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. It was fine even if the egg was made into a scramble since expired arachne eggs were usually served as raw materials for ordinary recovery medicine. ¡°That arachne egg isn¡¯t dead yet. I unexpectedly discovered that it can absorb my blood energy to retain its vitality.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned solemn. With a flick of his finger, an autumn gale filled the room amidst a swirl of fallen leaves. ¡°It absorbed your blood energy?¡±

    Seeing that the room had been enveloped in Song Zining¡¯s domain, Qianye simply took out the spider egg from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    Song Zining¡¯s brows couldn¡¯t help but jump as he watched the lustrous ck arachne egg appear in Qianye¡¯s hand. Qianye didn¡¯t make any special effort to hide it since the two were inside Song Zining¡¯s domain. Thetter could clearly sense the space around Qianye¡¯s ne distort momentarily.

    A muffled heartbeat reverberated throughout the room as the arachne egg appeared. It was like the beating of a war drum. If Song Zining had been present to see the egg back at ck Nest, he would¡¯ve noticed that it had grown one circle smaller than before, and that the green veins forming the natural array upon it had turned into a dark golden color.

    Song Zining was somewhat startled. ¡°What intense vitality! Is Stuka even that powerful?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Its aura was weak when I obtained it, almost as if it¡¯s congenitally deficient. I¡¯ve been instilling blood energy into it at regr intervals since finding out that it can maintain its vitality. Just like that, it grew stronger over time and even seems to have undergone a transformation. I remember the patterns on the shell were green when I first found it.¡±

    ¡°A transformation?¡± Song Zining frowned. He was no expert in biological technology, and neither was Qianye. The knowledge they possessed regarding the dark races was limited to where their vitals were and how to kill them the quickest.

    Song Zining stared at the egg seriously for a good while. If the transformation was indeed born of Qianye¡¯s blood energy, then they couldn¡¯t let just anyone take it for research. Otherwise, it might reveal Qianye¡¯s secrets. However, Song Zining felt something special about this transformed count-grade arachne egg which prevented him from suggesting its immediate destruction.

    Song Zining fished through the air to grab a couple of fallen leaves. He then arranged them in front of him to perform a simple divination.

    ¡°How is it?¡± Although the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was a divination art, Qianye had rarely seen Song Zining perform it in earnest. But from another perspective, it was clear that Song Zining had no clue since he had even brought out such a method.

    After observing the shape of the leaves in front of him, Song Zining nced at Qianye with a fairly odd expression.

    Baffled by Song Zining¡¯s gaze, Qianye red back and said furiously, ¡°Stop acting all mysterious. Just say it!¡±

    Song Zining dispersed the leaves with a wave of his hand. He had only performed this divination on a whim but had reached a truly unexpected result. ¡°This little thing seems to be linked deeply to both you and I. It¡¯s truly odd. Why don¡¯t we just eat it? That way, any and all karma we have with it will be resolved in a couple of days.¡±

    ¡°Be serious!¡± Qianye waspletely puzzled.

    Song Zining wore a serious expression and spoke with an aged tone, ¡°Fine, let this young master disy his talents and broaden your barbarian horizons! Perhaps this will save you from acting like that Wei family boar and thinking about solving everything with a p.¡±

    The evil Qianye flicked at a fallen leaf and said, ¡°Anything that can be solved with a single p can''t be important. Why the trouble? Why don¡¯t I try pping your domain?¡±

    Song Zining was momentarily petrified. The Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was a marriage of three thousand great daos and was unrestricted by any attribute. Merely from how he had repelled a special domain like the Nangong family''s Origin¡¯s End, one could see what ¡°good skill can ovee a thousand-kilogram force¡± meant.

    However, there was also another saying that went ¡°tricks are useless in the face of absolute power¡±. The great sea vortex of Qianye¡¯s Profound Combatant Form had the power to crush the world and shatter the void. Under its suppression, it was likely that Qianye would be able to disperse the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art¡¯s domain with a single p.

    Song Zining would be restrained in every aspect if his strength wascking even a little bit.

    With a sigh, Song Zining no longer paid Qianye any attention and proceeded to fish out a palm-sized square box from his robe. As his hand brushed over the cover, a hazy green light flickered over the previously empty surface to form the words: ¡°Three Thousand Great Daos.¡±

    The square box floated exactly one inch above Song Zining¡¯s palm. The lid flew open with a click to reveal the countless gears and machinery within. The pinions began to turn under the activation of Song Zining¡¯s origin power, raising the octagonal array te hidden within the box.

    Song Zining respired deeply. As he opened his mouth, a single floating leaf shot toward the array te andnded at its center. There were tens of thousands of meticulously carved runes on the array te and countless thread-like grooves connecting them all together.

    The hundreds of runes¡ªeach only as big as a brush tip¡ªlit up on the te just as the leafnded and formed a miniature array. Qianye activated the Eye of Truth and saw that countless strands of origin power were about to bind Song Zining, himself, and the arachne egg together, while the remaining strands stretched into the void.

    But the dozen-odd strands of origin power had just touched Qianye¡¯s body when they trembled violently, and the great half of them immediately shattered. Following which, the Book of Darkness appeared in the depths of Qianye¡¯s consciousness andpletely wiped out the remainder. He hadn¡¯t made any effort at all to circte his origin power, but his body had sensed the danger out of instinct and moved on its own to eliminate it.

    Meanwhile, the leaf on the array te suddenly fluctuated between light and shadow to reveal the shape of an arachne egg, followed by the appearance of a boundless deep ocean with a giant maelstrom at its center. Soon afterward, a shadow emerged from the ocean to devour the entire imagery before vanishing just like that.

    Song Zining¡¯s face turned pale as he turned toward Qianye and said, ¡°I knew it! This young master always fails when the divination is rted to you!¡±

    Qianye felt that his charge was baffling to say the least. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Does that mean you can correctly divine things that aren¡¯t rted to me?¡±

    ¡°At least three out of ten!¡± Song Zining spoke with great confidence.

    Qianye gave it some thought beforeing to a realization. ¡°From what you said, wouldn¡¯t it be better for us to toss a coin instead? At least we¡¯ll get half of it right.¡±

    ¡°How can my divination art of the three thousand daos bepared to tossing gold coins?!¡± Song Zining retorted while putting away the square box.

    Qianye dismissed the words with augh since he was merely joking before. In truth, after seeing the strands of origin power with his Eye of Truth, Qianye knew that Song Zining¡¯s secret art was full of profound secrets¡ªit was indeed extraordinary. The divination¡¯s failure was perhaps due to ack of power. It might also be due to the connection of Qianye¡¯s Profound Combatant Form and Book of Darkness to the great powers of the world and the secrets of Evernight¡ªhow could it be so easily fathomed?

    After putting away the square box, Song Zining¡ªhalf-curious and half-helpless¡ªproceeded to gaze at the arachne egg with his hand on his forehead. He tapped the egg with his fan and said, ¡°What do you say we do with this little thing? Don¡¯t tell me we really should fry it?¡±

    At this point, there was no telling what kind of transformation this arachne egg would undergo. There was a possibility that Qianye¡¯s secret would be revealed if they brought it into public eyes just like that. However, a live count-grade egg was a raremodity¡ªeven if they didn¡¯t hand it over to the imperial military for resources, they could still sell it at the auction house for an exorbitant price. It would be such a pity to destroy it just like that.

    ¡°Pop, pop, pop!¡± Song Zining knocked thrice on the egg with his fan. It was just a subconscious action he performed in his mental distress.

    Qianye suddenly shouted, ¡°Stop! You¡¯ve broken it!¡±

    ¡°How can it be?¡± Song Zining was stunned. The light tapping just now likely wouldn¡¯t even break a chicken egg. It would be a joke to try and shatter the steely count-grade egg with that force.

    But beneath Song Zining¡¯s fan, a small crack had appeared on the smooth, ck-ceramic-like eggshell!

    Song Zining was startled and, without much thought, reached out to lift the egg up for a detailed examination. A sudden crisp sound was heard as the shallow crack lines grew deeper and longer, quickly extending across the greater half of the shell¡¯s surface.

    Following which, a series of popping sounds emerged as the arachne egg cracked open. A tiny hand reached out and groped about in the air before grabbing the border of the eggshell with great force. A fair little face stretched out from the egg with its damp golden locks hanging down from the forehead.

    It was actually a little girl!

    She batted her longshes a couple of times, Song Zining¡¯s face clearly reflected on her ash-green feline eyes. She tilted her head with a naive and confused expression before opening her little mouth and crying out with a childish voice, ¡°Mama!¡±

 Volume 5 - 458: Zhuji

    [V5C165 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    This tender voice was like a sudden p of thunder. It shocked both Qianye and Song Zining so much that one could even hear a needle drop to the floor.

    Qianye was the first to break into aughter. ¡°Pfft¡­ hahaha¡­¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was petrified. His hands trembled and slipped, dropping the arachne egg straight to the floor.

    ¡°Yi-ya!¡± The little girl uttered some unintelligible sybles, but her actions werepletely contrary to her cute voice. She tore away the remaining shells as though they were sheets of paper, scuttled out, and shot toward Song Zining at lightning speed.

    Song Zining simply had no time to react before his jacket was grabbed by a pair of little white hands. Below her beautiful, palm-sized countenance was a lustrous ck-ceramic-like arachne body. Her eight limbs were still somewhat weak and kept slipping on Song Zining¡¯s body. She managed to stabilize her foothold only after taking a couple of steps.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was shaken after seeing this tiny human-faced arachne. Most arachne would be in their spiderling form at birth and needed to undergo several metamorphoses before gaining a half-human body. It was a process of continuous strengthening, and they would only be able to assume human form above the viscount level. This little arachne, however, was already in half-human form at birth and could be considered a rare genius among the arachne.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining hade to at this point. His countenance was ashen and even a bit distorted, especially since Qianye was swaying back and forth as he guffawed at the former¡¯s situation¡ªthere was no indication of him stopping either. Song Zining red furiously at Qianye as he brushed away the little arachne clinging onto him and threw it to the floor.

    The little arachne¡¯s ash-green eyes were full of bewilderment. She opened her little mouth but no sound emerged. Instead, a stream of green gas was sprayed onto Song Zining.

    Song Zining was caught off guard by the head-on spurt. His head and face were suffused with green smoke as a numb sensation extended toward his entire body. He was drawing back at the moment, and his right leg had just taken half a step when he discovered that he could no longer move. Song Zining had actually been poisoned! Quite unexpectedly, this extremely terrifying toxin was capable of immobilizing him.

    The little arachne did its best to hang onto Song Zining with its little hands and limbs flopping about. At the same time, an borate spider web formed midair and came right down on Song Zining¡¯s face, wrapping him up until he couldn¡¯t so much as budge. Shooting webs was an arachne¡¯s inherent hunting skill, but the ability to form webs out of origin power would usually emerge only at the viscount level.

    The little arachne was finally satisfied after binding Song Zining firmly and proceeded to push her head into his chest.

    Qianye, who had been enjoying the show from the side, jumped up in rm, but he was toote. Qianye cried out ¡°Oh shit¡± internally as he recalled how Stuka was famed for his poison, and that even Zhao Yuying had to avoid facing it head-on.

    Qianye rushed over and grabbed the little girl by the back of her neck so that she couldn¡¯t move and injected a strand of blood energy into her body.

    Qianye¡¯s blood energy was an intense poison to the dark races. It was quite possible that this little spider had already bitten into Song Zining¡¯s skin and injected the toxin. Qianye¡¯s aim in using his blood energy was to force the little arachne to utilize her poison for self-preservation and give her less time to infect Song Zining.

    Quite unexpectedly, the blood energy vanished instantly after crossing over¡ªlike a stone dropping into the ocean. Qianye¡¯s heart sank, and he could no longer bother to be merciful¡ªhe immediately activated the purple and dark golden blood energies and shot one strand each into her body.

    The purple blood energy was born of Count Nana¡¯s superior bloodline, while the dark golden blood energy¡¯s rank was a mystery. The little spider finally reacted after these two blood energies were injected and promptly fell off Song Zining.

    Qianye loosened his grip, threw her to the side, and grabbed a hold of the swaying Song Zining.

    The little arachne fell to the floor with a plop. Her limbs moved a couple of times as she quickly mbered up; it was as though nothing had happened at all. However, she was swaying around like a drunkard¡ªshe stood up, fell down, and stood up again. That beautiful little face was flushed, and her golden curls were bouncing up and down along with her head movements, herrge, ash-green eyes misty and unfocused.

    Qianye held the rigid Song Zining up but had no idea where to start treating him. His blood energy was indeed capable of dealing with blood and spider poison, but he had never tested whether it could treat a poisoned human. Just as Qianye was hesitating, Song Zining erupted with origin power and vomited a mass of green gas. Only then did he barely manage to stand straight. His head was also covered in spider webs.

    ¡°Goddamit! This is so humiliating!¡± The seventh young master spewed out a rarely heard string of profanities as he carefully picked off the webs.

    Arachne webs were different from ordinary ones. They were as hard as a steel alloy¡ªif one were to pull it off directly, there was a good chance he would tear off his own skin in the process. Song Zining could only clean up obediently no matter how angry he was.

    Qianye said in surprise, ¡°You¡¯re fine?¡±

    ¡°What can happen to this young master? That toxin was only for paralysis.¡±

    Only then did Qianye realize that the little arachne wasn¡¯t actually trying to poison Song Zining. She only acted out of instinct after seeing him pull away.

    The two couldn¡¯t help but nce at one another after taking a look at the little arachne. A white cocoon had appeared and wrapped the little arachne up to her neck. Her little mouth was spraying outrge masses of origin power which then turned into sheets of spider webs which added to the cocoon. She waspletely enveloped from head to toe in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye pointed at the cocoon and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your fault of course. How should I know? I¡¯ve never raised an arachne before.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t she call you mama? Who will know if not you?¡± Qianye¡¯s single sentence almost caused Song Zining to choke. His expression quickly turned into one of indignance, and he even had the urge to fight it out with Qianye.

    The two suddenly calmed down as they nced at the cocoon brimming with intense vitality.

    Song Zining spoke only momentster, ¡°It¡¯s highly possible that she¡¯s your descendant. What do we do with this little fellow now?¡±

    Qianye was bbergasted.

    ¡°In addition to natural procreation, vampires can produce descendants by means of the embrace and bloodline devouring. A superior vampire can grant an inferior one his origin blood, thereby suppressing, absorbing, and assimting his original bloodline. Injecting the arachne egg with your blood energy might¡¯ve produced the same effects. But the embrace can only be given to those of the same race or humans and half-vampires. I¡¯ve never heard of it converting members of another race, but it might not bepletely impossible either.¡±

    Qianye did not reply immediately.

    The vitality within the cocoon grew denser and denser as the sound of a powerful heartbeat emerged once again¡ªapparently, the small arachne would break out of the cocoon very soon. Therefore, it was time to make a decision.

    Qianye suddenly let out a sigh and shrugged with a rueful smile.

    Song Zining understood Qianye¡¯s thoughts. He finished picking off thest strand of web from his arm and patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. She¡¯s your descendant, so she¡¯ll obey you unconditionally. That is thew of the vampire race.¡±

    Qianye mumbled, ¡°But to raise a kid¡­ why don¡¯t you continue being her mama?!¡± Qianye¡¯s suggestion brought ayer of darkness over Song Zining¡¯s face.

    It was at this time that a ripping sound emerged as a hole was torn through the cocoon, and the little girl mbered out from the within. This time, she waspletely covered in slime and a thinyer of translucent membrane which eventually came loose as she struggled to move her limbs. In the end, it was left in ce and one could still see a vague outline of an arachne body inside it.

    But at this moment, she was a little human girl through and through.

    Qianye and Song Zining nced at one another, each sensing the astonishment of the other. This little arachne hadpleted a metamorphosis right after birth and even possessed a true human form. She would definitely be a celebrated genius in the arachne poption no matter what. Even a powerful viscount like Brahms couldn¡¯t leave his arachne bodypletely due to his bloodline problems.

    The little girl started crawling instinctively toward Song Zining. Half-way through, she rose unsteadily and tottered on. However, she came to a sudden halt and looked up at Qianye. Her little face was filled with bewilderment as she tilted her head and nced repeatedly between Qianye and Song Zining¡ªshe simply couldn¡¯t make up her mind.

    Song Zining seemed to have found a redeeming light amidst the darkness and was almost crying tears of joy. He immediately pointed at Qianye and said, ¡°Your mama is over there. Go!¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡±

    ¡°But she grew up drinking your milk!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s blood energy!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no inherent difference. Qianye, go!¡±

    Qianye took a resolute step backward, ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    Song Ziningughed coldly. ¡°Stop trying to run away! You produced this mess, so you better take responsibility! Watch my secret art!¡± With that, countless fallen leaves appeared around Qianye, with each de exerting a fair amount of pulling force. He was actually nning to lift Qianye over to the young girl.

    ¡°Humph!¡± Without any extra words, origin power screamed out around Qianye¡¯s body to form a giant sea vortex which swept away all the floating leaves. At the same time, a hand pressed toward Song Zining, sending the entire maelstrom crashing onto him. The impact sent thetter staggering and caused him to fall on his butt right in front of the little girl.

    Qianye circted his Bloodline Concealment and withdrew his aurapletely. He then scuttled behind Song Zining with lightning-fast movements, grabbed the little girl, and stuffed her into his arms.

    The little girl rubbed her cheeks against Song Zining¡¯s chest as she looked up at him. Unable to sense Qianye¡¯s blood energy, her memories from before the transformation finally gained the upper hand.

    She pounced into Song Zining¡¯s arms and cried, ¡°Mama!¡± Soon afterward, she let out a little yawn and fell into a deep sleep.

    Seeing that the danger had passed, Qianye finally breathed a long sigh and retracted his origin power.

    As Song Zining lifted the girl up, the remaining leaves floating in the air fell down one by one to form strands of hazy green light on her body and dispersed only after a while.

    Song Zining remained silent for some time before lifting the little girl in front of Qianye. ¡°Don¡¯t you think she looks like you?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    Song Zining said patiently, ¡°Can¡¯t you feel that bloodline connection?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    Seeing that Qianye was unwilling to step into these muddy waters, Song Zining helplessly exined the results of the test he had performed just now. ¡°She has the Bloodline Concealment ability. Without deliberate testing, even an ordinary champion wouldn¡¯t be able to identify her race when probing with origin power. There are many mixed-bloods on Evernight Continent. As long as she doesn¡¯t use arachne specific abilities like the spider web, it¡¯s fine even if her darkness origin power is a bit dense. You must guide her slowlyter on!¡±

    Qianye was startled. A subtle feeling arose in the depths of his heart as he gazed at that fair little face.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you name her?¡± Song Zining let out a nastyugh. ¡°She certainly doesn¡¯t belong to Stuka¡¯s family anymore in terms of bloodline.¡±

    Qianye was determined not to continue along this topic. He gave it some thought and said, ¡°Zhuji?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Song Zining seemed to have epted his fate. He held the little girl in his arms as he discussed with Qianye how they should cover up this little ident.

    Qianye suddenly recalled a certain matter toward the end of their discussion. He happened to see that almost-forgotten box nearby as he was fishing out the count-grade egg from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Space. He had wanted to show it to Song Zining at first.

    ¡°Do you recognize this thing?¡± Qianye produced the box with a palm-sized rhomboid crystal within.

    Note: About the name Zhuji, the word means ¡°Zhu Princess/ Lady Zhu¡±. This Zhu is a surname character, but its pronunciation is identical to the word ¡°spider¡±. It¡¯s also worth noting that this word is pronounced ¡°Hime¡± in Japanese.

 Volume 5 - 459: Return Journey

    [V5C166 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Zining nced over and instantly gasped in astonishment. ¡°A void crystal! And such a big one at that!¡±

    ¡°Void crystal?¡± Qianye recalled that the item was indeed generating a continuous stream of void energy when he picked it up.

    Song Zining took the item for a look. His gaze paused upon the filled defect and said, ¡°What is this? An iy?¡±

    Qianye gave him a brief summary of how he had found a small piece of crystal in Viscount Porter¡¯s castle and then an entire piece in the ck Forest.

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not too sure either. It¡¯s best we call Nangong Xiaoniao over to take a look. She¡¯s the real expert.¡±

    Song Zining tidied up the room somewhat and cleared away some of the traces that needed to be concealed. He then summoned his aides and maids, instructing them to settle the sleeping little girl and summon Nangong Xiaoniao.

    Song Zining and Qianye¡¯s version of the story depicted Zhuji as an orphan from a wiped-out human settlement whom Qianye had picked up on his hunting expedition. However, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but feel depressed after seeing the expressions of his followers and maids. The reason was a rather clumsy one, but why did no one guess that it was Qianye¡¯s misdeed? What was with those ¡°we-understand-you-don''t-need-to-exin¡± looks?!

    Qianye was naturally about to split his sides inughter.

    Nangong Xiaoniao entered hastily momentster, blushing hard upon seeing Qianye again after so long. They hadn¡¯t even exchanged greetings when her eyes fell upon the item on the table, which caused her to immediately cry out, ¡°A void-crystal! And one of premium quality too!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao pounced over, grabbed the dim crystal, and studied it in great detail before putting it back down unwillingly.

    ¡°What is this thing used for?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°This is the highest grade kic energy source currently known to man!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao replied.

    Only after a round of detailed exnation from her did Qianye understand that a void-crystal was like an item connected to a natural node in the void¡ªactuated by a suitable array, it was capable of providing an unending stream of void origin power. However, this material wasn¡¯t produced in mines or in fixed regions. It would only appear under extreme conditions and was thus exceedingly rare. One could only chance upon it and not seek it.

    The most important use for void crystal in the empire was the construction of battleship kic furnaces. A small, finger-sized void crystal was enough to drive an entire destroyer. The one Qianye had obtained was inconceivablyrge and easily capable of powering the empire¡¯srgest Skyfire-grade carriers.

    Up to this point, the empire had a very limited fleet of super battleships, only a dozen or so of them. Such rarity wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t have the technology or wealth, but because they didn¡¯t have enough void crystals to build origin furnaces.

    With such arge piece of void crystal, the empire would be able to add another battleship to their arsenal. Qianye had seen a battleship of the imperial regr army back then when the nobledies followed Wei Potian to ckflow City¡ªit was as though an entire street block was floating in the air, and that wasn¡¯t even a Skyfire-Grade battleship.

    But after receiving confirmation from Nangong Xiaoniao, Qianye felt a bit distressed in addition to the joy of picking up a treasure. One had to know that it was one of the most important strategic resources and would be quite difficult to handle. It wasn¡¯t something just anyone could possess.

    Song Zining nced at Qianye and understood what he was thinking. ¡°I¡¯ll think of a way to deal with this thing.¡±

    What followed was a period of great peace. The bloody battle raged on under the Iron Curtain and one could glimpse at its intensity and bloodiness via the information obtained from Lone Ghost and the expeditionary army headquarters. However, the recuperating ckflow City was like a haven with a multitude of people shuttling in and out in perfect order.

    Qianye was still quite hesitant about the Zhao n. He wasn¡¯t afraid of danger, but it was likely an instinctive rejection of the truth regarding his past. Song Zining didn¡¯t persuade him again and instead focused his attention on preparing Dark me for war. He was nning to take advantage of this Iron Curtain to sweep past Dark Nation borders, at least ttening the regions adjacent to ckflow. This would also serve to consolidate the fruits of Qianye¡¯s western expedition.

    Zhuji began her life of eating and sleeping like a normal human child¡ªno one could find anything abnormal about her. But her habit of clinging onto Song Zining and calling him mama still remained¡ªthis distressed the seventh young master to no end. Only when facing Qianye would she act differently from other children, seemingly afraid and obedient.

    Three to four o¡¯clock that day. The grey firmament above remained the very same as lights lit up in the city as usual.

    Qianye was walking through the streets of ckflow and observing the city that belonged to him. In front of him was a construction site located across two street blocks. Large steam pipes rumbled as they transmitted kic energy to power the machines even bigger than the nearby buildings. Countless workers were working on the scaffolding.

    Whether it was the repair of the walls or the reconstruction work, all projects were already nearing their end. Before long, all damage ckflow had suffered would be a flipped page in its local history.

    This was Evernight, a dark and barrennd with an iparably tenacious will to live.

    Qianye stood atop the web of interweaving steam pipes as he looked down at the lights in the greater half of the city. He then turned around to gaze at the boundless wilderness outside of the city walls.

    Suddenly rmed, he looked down at a certain section of the street. There amidst the bustling crowd was a young man looking up at him.

    Qianye watched the familiar face and suddenly fell into a daze. The Profound Heavenly Spring Hunt that had taken ce one continent away seemed just like yesterday¡ªbut it also felt as though a century had passed.

    The person flew into the air and walked over to Qianye step by step. His light-colored hair had been blown forward and was hanging on his handsome countenance. ¡°Qianye, long time no see.¡±

    Qianye replied after a moment of silence, ¡°Zhao Second Young Noble.¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s temperament had transformed greatlypared to during the Profound Heaven Spring Hunt¡ªhis unbridled arrogance was nowpletely hidden beneath a calm expression. He was d in an ordinary warrior¡¯s attire, and the Silver Winged Fantasy behind him was hidden beneath his hooded cloak. Apart from his straight and elegant figure, he was no different from the busy soldiers walking along the streets.

    Zhao Junhong sized Qianye up from head to toe and said with augh, ¡°The appointment for our rematch has passed, but it seems I¡¯m only falling farther and farther behind you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s tense body suddenly rxed as he revealed a faint smile. ¡°If Second Young Noble is interested, I can keep youpany.¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s dark, somewhat-purple eyes lit up with an eager glint. But soon afterward, he said with some regret, ¡°The Iron Curtain¡¯s bloody battle was supposed to be a good opportunity for us to fight side by side andpare, but unfortunately, Yuying is waiting for you on Western Continent. She has long since sent word that if you don¡¯t go, she¡¯lle over personally to catch you.¡±

    ¡°Yuying? Has her injury healed?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, would she be staying at home so obediently otherwise?¡± Zhao Junhong hesitated slightly before saying warmly, ¡°Fourth Brother is leading all thebat squads in this bloody battle and can¡¯t leave. So, I¡¯ll be guiding you to the Western Continent instead.¡±

    Qianye was silent once again.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it windy up there?¡± A voice rang out from the side, apanied by the cute babbling voice of a child. Song Zining was standing on the street and gazing at them with a smile. The little girl, Zhuji, was clinging tightly onto his right arm like a ko.

    Qianye only learnt on their way to Dark me headquarters that Zhao Junhong hade alone without any followers or guards. The Zhao n¡¯s situation in the bloody battle was quite tense. Zhao Junhong arriving alone and under disguise was in order to not rm certain people and cause unnecessary trouble.

    Additionally, it turned out that Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t at the West Pole Manor but had already arrived at an airship transit town on the edge of the Western Continent. Qianye understood that Zhao Yuying had interrupted her treatment to wee him. If he kept on dying this matter, she might reallye over to Evernight and drag him back to the Zhao n.

    Some matters were still unavoidable in the end.

    Qianye started packing his luggage as soon as he got back to Dark me headquarters. In truth, there wasn¡¯t much that he needed. Zhao Junhong wanted to keep his arrival a secret, so he stayed in Qianye¡¯s room the entire time. The two didn¡¯t chat much¡ªin truth, they were tactfully avoiding a certain topic.

    Qianye suddenly spoke after he had finished cleaning the Twin Flowers. ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Noble said he has a piece of crystal left behind by my mother.¡±

    ¡°Jundu has told Father everything about this matter when he returned to the n for his advancement. So, when you go back this time, Father will be there to hand you that item.¡±

    The father Zhao Junhong spoke of was naturally Duke Chengen, Zhao Weihuang¡ªwho was also Qianye¡¯s father.

    Qianye turned silent.

    Zhao Junhong said softly, ¡°Back then, Eldest Brother, Third Brother, and I were all in school. Only Jundu was left at home, so he was especially close to you, but perhaps you no longer remember. He didn¡¯t witness that incident personally when it happened, but the impact it had on him was great. The knot in his heart was never resolved through all these years.

    ¡°However, the actual situation is fairlyplicated. We failed to find out all the ins and outs despite trying for many years. At this point, many of those who had taken part in this matter are already gone. I¡¯ll let Father tell you about the actual details, but what he can tell you is also quite limited.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Qianye finally spoke.

    ¡°That¡¯s because Father was fighting the rebel army tens of thousands of miles away when the matter happened. When he rushed back after receiving the news, everything was already toote.¡±

    Listening up to this point, Qianye¡¯s heart rxed inexplicably, and the room once again fell into silence. Qianye¡¯s voice finally emerged after a while. ¡°Let¡¯s set out tomorrow if that¡¯s fine with you.¡±

    The journey was set for dawn the next day. Very few people in Dark me knew of Qianye¡¯s journey, but Nangong Xiaoniao was one of them. She walked Qianye all the way to the airship¡¯s door, and many a time she wanted to speak but hesitated. Even as the doors to the airship were closed, she still hadn¡¯t managed to speak whatever it was that she wanted to convey.

    The engine rumbled as the aged airship rose into the air and flew into the vast skies. Nangong Xiaoniao stood in ce and only turned away slowly after the airship had disappeared entirely. No one knew when, but a considerable amount of sadness had crept up on her child-like face.

    Song Zining invited Nangong Xiaoniao to the study soon after Qianye had left.

    ¡°Sit.¡° This time, Song Zining was quite amiable and not as cold as before.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just stand here.¡± Nangong Xiaoniao, on the other hand, was quite indifferent. Apparently, she couldn¡¯t easily forget how Song Zining had persuaded her to leavest time.

 Volume 5 - 460: Going Home

    [V5C167 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Song Ziningughed and said calmly, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. I don¡¯t have any more intention to bring you away from Qianye. But since the Nangong family has been temporarily pushed back, I felt it was time to have a good talk with you¡ªabout why Nangong Yuanbo is so interested in you.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face turned beet red as she replied furiously, ¡°Isn¡¯t it clear enough? M-My childhood incident¡­ you all know about it already. Why are you asking me again?¡±

    ¡°No, not that reason,¡± Song Zining shook his head and continued, ¡°with Nangong Yuanbo¡¯s identity and status, what kind of woman can¡¯t he have? As a n lord, he didn¡¯t hesitate to offend the Zhao n, the expeditionary army, and Red Scorpion at the same time. Do you really think he¡¯ll do that just for your body? If Nangong Yuanbo were such a person, he would have never be the n lord in the first ce.¡±

    A barely noticeable wisp of anxiety shed through Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s eyes. Song Zining leant forward while staring into her eyes and asked word by word, ¡°Nangong Xiaoniao, just how much are you hiding from us?¡±

    ¡°No, none!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was frantic. She couldn¡¯t help but lower her head under Song Zining¡¯s sharp gaze and couldn¡¯t look at at all.

    Song Zining said in a serious tone, ¡°I don¡¯t want to help you, but I have to help Qianye. He¡¯s already in deep trouble because of you, and it might bring him even greater danger if you keep hiding these things from us. You don¡¯t think the Iron Curtain will be here forever, do you? What will he do once the Iron Curtain disappears?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao crossed her little hands in front of her, trembling and hesitant.

    ¡°I''ll only know how to prevent the disaster if you tell me the reason. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be toote once the Iron Curtain disappears. I don¡¯t want Qianye to be ignorant about what he¡¯s fighting for when all the experts of the Nangong family descend upon him.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s face turned pale, but she finally shook her head and said, ¡°I have no secrets. I¡¯d better return to Red Scorpion if you¡¯re not willing to have me here.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°You can stay as long as you want, but do take care.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao wanted to say something but seemed hesitant. In the end, she just left.

    Song Zining walked slowly over to the wall and gazed at the war zone map for quite a while. He then reached out and drew a line over it, passing through the human territory borders into the Dark Nation and all the way over the border of the continent. After passing through the void was another continent and another nation before finally reaching neutral territory.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time Qianye had ridden an airship, but he was still shaken every time he saw the earth flit pass beneath his feet.

    The old airship let out a deafening roar as the entire cabin trembled¡ªit was as though the vessel would fall apart at any moment with nofort to speak of. Cabins that have been used for a long time would always have a peculiar odor to them, an inexplicable mixture of body odor, tobo, and alcohol.

    A series of rolling smoke emerged from one side of the airship''s rear and dragged out a long trail behind it. The asional gust of wind from behind would blow some of the dense smoke into the cabin, and the odor would linger on the passengers for a long time before dispersing.

    They avoided public air routes for this journey and didn¡¯t use Zhao n vessels either. Instead, they went via a private route just as Qianye had when he went to the Western Continentst time. This time, however, Qianye and Zhao Junhong upied the two best rooms on the airship. The vessel was carrying dozens of other people, and all their destinations were other continents.

    Qianye threw himself onto the bedding. He wanted to rest, but he just couldn¡¯t calm down as countless thoughts ran chaotically through his mind. He simply opened his eyes and stared at the mottled ceiling without the slightest bit of movement.

    The airship passed over mountains, oceans, and opennd to finally arrive at an airship port tens of timesrger than the previous. At a nce, one could see a dozen-odd airships in the air¡ªsome rushing in and others traveling into the distance. There was no shortage of military battleships andrge-scale military transports among them. After each transport airshipnded, the cabin doors would open andrge squads of soldiers would march out from within.

    Just from this airship port, one could see that the empire¡¯s war machine had already started running.

    Zhao Junhong brought Qianye to a high-grade but ubeled small airship, ready for immediate takeoff. Their speed gradually increased as several origin sails opened up. The ship finally leaped into the void between the continents, heading for the Western Continent.

    One dayter, the airshipnded at an airship port on the borders of the Western Continent where it would quickly resupply before flying anew. Zhao Junhong would be turning back to the Evernight battlefield from this point.

    The vessel body had barely touched the ground when the urgent sound of the cabin doors being pulled open was heard and Zhao Yuying walked in withrge strides.

    ¡°How have you been?! Little Five, did you miss mommy?¡± Qianye received a fairly typical greeting from Zhao Yuying upon meeting her, as well as a violent hug.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know how to respond to such a greeting.

    Fortunately, Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t need him to reply either. She turned to Zhao Junhong and gave him a powerful p on the back. ¡°Second Brother, howe you¡¯ve broken through again just after a few days?¡±

    Zhao Junhong was well prepared. He took a side-step toward the cabin doors and said with augh, ¡°My martial prowess is just so-so. I can¡¯t catch up to you no matter how many times I advance.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Zhao Yuying red at him with wide eyes and said furiously, ¡°Zhao Junhong! Stop trying to expose my weakness in such a roundabout way! I only lost a couple of tabletop strategy games against you, and that¡¯s because this mommy was careless, alright?!¡±

    Zhao Junhong smiled. ¡°I was only fortunate. If that were a real battle, you can naturally break through the central army, and the situation really might be different.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was immediately satisfied and said, ¡°As long as you understand!¡± Apparently, she hadn¡¯t discerned the meaning in Zhao Junghon¡¯s words at all. Since he already knew Zhao Yuying would break into the central army, how could he, with his solidmanding skills, not make any preparations?

    Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t argue, either. He only nodded at Qianye and said, ¡°I¡¯m relieved now that Yuying is here to apany you. Let us part here. I¡¯ll be returning to Evernight.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Second Young Noble¡­¡± Qianye paused for a moment. ¡°Take care.¡±

    Zhao Junhong smiled faintly. ¡°The Iron Curtain is merely a game. We brothers will meet again outside of it after you advance to the champion rank.¡±

    Qianye watched as Zhao Junhong left with a plethora of feelings in his heart. Thetter hadn¡¯t brought up the matter of the Iron Curtain very often during their limited interactions during this period. He also stated that neither he nor Zhao Jundu had the intention to officially recruit Qianye into the Zhao nbat unit despite his many contributions under Zhao Yuying¡¯s name.

    At noon two dayster, Qianye and Zhao Yuying stood before the main gates of the West Pole Manor.

    The Zhao n residence was like a small city, and its main gate was no different from a city gate¡ªthe tower therein was fifty meters tall and a hundred meters wide. Above the red doors studded with copper spikes were the words ¡°Swallow Cloud Zhao n¡±. Every character spanned several square meters, with strokes of silver and hooks of gold, filled with myriad variations.

    Qianye and Zhao Yuying alighted at the residence gates and got into a vehicle for in-residence use.

    Once they had gotten onto the car, Zhao Yuying waved her hand in a carefree manner and said, ¡°Have someone send a letter to Duke Chengen! But afternoon is when uncle sorts through military affairs so he might not have the time. You shoulde to my ce first.¡±

    And just like that, the car started up without waiting for Qianye to speak. The vehicle half-spun through the za before rushing toward the Duke You Residence on the eastern side.

    Meanwhile, the two followers standing beside their transit point werepletely ignored by everyone. Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t even spare them a nce, and Qianye naturally didn¡¯t know that they were actually subordinates from the Duke Chengen Residence.

    After passing two streets in session, a group of cheerful young descendants walked out from the side, and judging from their clothes, they were all lineal scions.

    A young man at their center looked up and saw Zhao Yuying on the car. He immediately became excited and walked over hurriedly while calling out in a loud voice, ¡°Yuying! You¡¯ve returned to the residence?¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s rtionship with this young man seemed quite good, and she was also in a great mood today. She instructed the driver to stop and got down the car.

    The young man walked over swiftly until he was standing before Zhao Yuying; his movement techniques were quite impressive. Tall, handsome, and radiant, it would seem he had also inherited the characteristics of the Zhao n bloodline. Additionally, his smile was sincere and carefree.

    ¡°Yuying, why did you run out when your injuries haven¡¯t healed yet? A good friend of mine brought some boiling dragon powder, and it has great effects in treating origin power damage. I was thinking about how to hand it to you when you appeared. I¡¯ll have someone send it over in a while!¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed. ¡°It¡¯s not good for you if my injuries heal fast! Weren¡¯t you miserable enoughst time? Do you want to get beaten up by me again?¡±

    The young man immediately felt a bit awkward, but heughed loudly and said, ¡°Do I give up fighting just because I can¡¯t beat you and Jundu? It¡¯s merely being beaten up, nothing too big. Moreover, you might not beat me in terms of strategy.¡±

    His eyes turned toward Qianye in a fairly casual nce, but he was slightly astonished after seeing Qianye¡¯s excessively handsome appearance. He immediately asked with a smile, ¡°Yuying, is this your friend?¡±

    This person¡¯s discourse was fitting for the asion, and his temperament was extraordinary. Qianye had a good impression of him, but he could sense a wisp of cautiousness in the other party¡¯s question.

    It was a mystery just what Zhao Yuying was thinking when she ced a hand on Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°He¡¯s my best friend!¡±

    Thest two words were stressed quite a bit.

    The young man¡¯s smile became unnatural at that moment, but he still retained his elegance. ¡°Yuying¡¯s friend is my friend. Wee to the Zhao n. Where are you two headed?¡±

    ¡°Qianye has just arrived, and there isn¡¯t a ce for him yet. So he¡¯ll live at my ce for the time being.¡± These words evoked peculiar expressions with everyone in the surrounding. Zhao Yuying waved her hand at the young man as though she didn¡¯t see any of it and said, ¡°We¡¯ll be leaving first. Let¡¯spete again once my injuries are healed!¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± The young man watched them leave with a smile, and his face only turned gloomy after they disappeared around the corner.

    A person nearby who had been deep in thought suddenly spoke, ¡°Young Master Zhuxiu, we¡¯ve never seen Miss Yuying bring anyone to stay at her residence!¡±

    Zhao Zhuxiu¡¯s expression changed several times. In the end, he instructed, ¡°Go and investigate who he is. There¡¯s no need to do anything, though, just send the information to Zhao Fenglei. Even if I have to engage in a confrontation, it¡¯ll have to wait after I break through.¡±

    ¡°Young Master is wise.¡±

    Zhao Zhuxiu snorted as he red fiercely at the Duke You residence before leaving together with the group.

    The Zhao residence wasrge, but news traveled extremely fast.

    Duke You was reading a book in his study when a long-time follower knocked on the door and entered. He then spoke into Duke You¡¯s ears, following which, thetter¡¯s expression revealed a mixture of joy and worry. He pondered for quite a while before saying, ¡°Yuying and Qianye¡­It¡¯s fine if Qianye really is the kid from back then.¡±

    ¡°Master, but what do we do for the time being? There is no shortage of lowly ves who like to gossip.¡±

    Duke Youughed loudly. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, let them say what they want. In any case, the headache is on Duke Chengen, not us!¡±

    Within the Duke Yan residence, Zhao Fenglei started stomping around as he roared, ¡°What did you say? Zhao Yuying brought a man to live in her residence?!¡±

    The follower trembled in fear. ¡°Y-Yes. This lowly one saw it personally.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Zhao Fenglei pped the man. ¡°You saw them personally. How could you just let them go like that?!¡±

    The subordinate spoke repeatedly, ¡°This lowly one is incapable. I¡¯m guilty! I¡¯m guilty!¡±

    In truth, Zhao Yuying¡¯s notoriety was well known throughout the residence. Not to mention a small follower like him, even Zhao Fenglei himself might not dare say anything if he were present. Zhao Yuying would not hesitate to attack anyone.

    In another corner of the Zhao n residence, there was a little building situated amidst the rocky mountains and lush vegetation. There was also a pond of jade-colored water with strands of clear mist floating up continuously, but it would spread no further than the courtyard walls. One would feel his spirit be clear and invigorated just by staying here for a while. This was due to a massive origin array beneath the courtyard transforming pure daybreak origin power for those within the courtyard to use.

    There was a small building near the courtyard gates in which lived an elderly old woman who was currently dozing off. This Dawn Courtyard was a famous ce within the Zhao n residence, but it was also a forbidden area. Not only outsiders but even family descendants had to hand over an invitation token before gaining ess.

    Zhao Ruoxi was sitting alone near the window on the second floor and yawningzily. A maid beside her said, ¡°Youg miss seems to be in better spirit these days!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Zhao Ruoxi smiled lightly, but there was a faint trace of bitterness within her expression. She exhaled a lengthy sigh in self-deprecation and said, ¡°I¡¯m only less worn out today, but that can already be considered spirited. A person like me must be pretty rare, right?¡±

    The maid replied hurriedly, ¡°That¡¯s not true! Those ordinary people are also born with tiring fates. How can theypare to you? You¡¯re destined to be a major character who will go down in the annals of history!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi sighed. ¡°You know, I would rather be like an ordinary person. I want to be free to visit everywhere.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi suddenly asked after a moment of silence, ¡°Tell me the truth. Has the recent medicine dose increased?¡±

    The maid was somewhat flustered, but in the end, she had no other choice. She bit her lower lip and said softly, ¡°Only a two-part increase.¡±

    ¡°As I thought.¡± Zhao Ruoxiughed wryly. She reached out to take the mirror on the table and nced at her own reflection within. ¡°Is there anything new in the residence? Tell me about them.¡±

    The maid felt that it was a good opportunity to change the topic and spoke hurriedly with a smile, ¡°There is indeed something interesting! On Duke You¡¯s side, Miss Zhao Yuying has just returned and has reportedly brought a man back to live in her residence. We were just saying how the Duke You and Yan residences are about to be lively! So many young masters are seeking Miss Yuying¡¯s hand in marriage.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was indeed interested. ¡°Sister Yuying has never fancied any men before. Just what kind of person is he?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s said that he¡¯s extremely handsome and evenparable to Young Master Jundu. Ah, right, many of my sisters say that his looks don¡¯t lose out even whenpared to those vampires and demonkin! His name is also quite tasteful. He¡¯s called Qianye, but no one knows his surname.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± The mirror in Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hands fell to the floor and shattered.

 Volume 5 - 461: The Past Part 1

    Chapter 461: The Past (Part 1) [V5C168 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    ¡°Did you say that person¡¯s name is Qianye?¡± Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s voice was trembling slightly.

    ¡°Yes, Young Miss. Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± The maid was badly shocked.

    Zhao Ruoxi grabbed her and asked with a re, ¡°The man Yuying brought back is living at her residence?¡±

    The maid felt that something was wrong and replied with a trembling voice, ¡°Y-Yes.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi slowly let go. Ayer of frost emerged on her countenance as she suddenly turned and left.

    ¡°Young Miss, Young Miss! Where are you going?¡± The maid chased after her frantically, but as soon as she exited the room, she saw Zhao Ruoxi floating up toward the third floor instead of going down. The maid was shocked out of her wits at this point and ran up after her.

    At the moment, the maid¡¯s speed was as swift as a galloping horse¡ªapparently, she wasn¡¯t ordinary either. However, she simply couldn¡¯t close the gap between her and Zhao Ruoxi no matter how hard she tried. She could only watch as thetter¡¯s figure disappeared past the third-floor corridor.

    Zhao Ruoxi suddenly came to a stop on the third floor. The old granny who had been asleep in the house suddenly appeared before her to block the way.

    ¡°Granny Shi, why do you block my way?¡±

    The olddy replied slowly, ¡°It¡¯s currently the Young Miss¡¯s afternoon nap time. Why are you not resting?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t sleep, so I¡¯m going out for a walk.¡±

    Granna Shi smiled kindly and said, ¡°It¡¯s good to take your mind off things, but you don¡¯t need to bring the Red Spider Lily along for a walk, do you?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s expression remained unchanged. ¡°It¡¯s a part of me. I won¡¯t feel easy without it near me.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Granny Shi revealed a knowing smile but decided not to continue pressing this issue. ¡°Young Miss, please take your medicine and take a short nap. Isn¡¯t it better to take a stroll after you¡¯re feeling better? This old woman won¡¯t stop you once you¡¯ve rested well.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi took a deep breath. Her chest heaved up and down as the frostiness on her face melted somewhat. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go take a nap, then I¡¯ll go for a stroll.¡±

    Granny Shi nodded in praise. ¡°Young Miss, your body is the most important. You mustn''t be angry!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi suddenly moved her hand forward from behind her back¡ªit was actually the Red Spider Lily in her grasp! Granny Shi was shocked out of her wits, and even her breathing stagnated for a moment. She suddenly nced back, but the door behind her was clearly locked tight¡ªhow then did the gun reach Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hands?

    The famed magnum spun nimbly in Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hands before vanishing into thin air. This time, Granny Shi didn¡¯t need to look back to tell that the Red Spider Lily had returned onto the gun rack in the study behind her.

    A faint smile appeared on Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s face as she said, ¡°Granny Shi, the Red Spider Lily is a part of me. I can take it at any time and ce. No one can stop me.¡±

    Granny Shi¡¯s expression transformed several times before she finally felt relieved and said, ¡°It¡¯s good that the Young Miss can think this way. Otherwise, this old woman will be in a difficult position.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi went down and returned to her room. Granny Shi sighed in relief only after seeing the girl descend. That short encounter had caused her to break out in cold sweat.

    After returning to the room, Zhao Ruoxi found a medicine bowl on the table and within it was a steaming deep-colored decoction. She picked up the bowl and finished it in one gulp in spite of its scalding heat before cing it back on the table with a bang.

    ¡°I merely didn¡¯t want to make it difficult for you.¡± Zhao Ruoxiy on her bed and gazed quietly at the ceiling.

    The night gradually hung lower and lower.

    The entire afternoon passed by in peace. Qianye sat quietly in the eastern side-room of Zhao Yuying¡¯s courtyard¡ªonly he knew clearly just how much he was being affected. Dinner was alsoid out in Zhao Yuying¡¯s small courtyard. She had called for a table full of food and wine, but Qianye only moved his chopsticks a couple of times because he didn¡¯t have the appetite. Duke Chengen, Zhao Weihuang, had sent word that they would guide Qianye over after dinner.

    Qianye could hardly swallow the food, but Zhao Yuying¡¯s appetite was especially good. She cleaned up all the dishes alone, which, in total, was enough to stuff several burly men to the point of them passing out. Time passed with great difficulty until, atst, the appointed hour arrived, and the car that hade to pick up Qianye stopped in front of the courtyard doors. Qianye boarded the vehicle in thepany of Zhao Weihuang¡¯s aides and, passing through several streets, soon arrived at the Duke Chengen residence.

    Qianye was led through many rooms and halls until he reached a magnificent hall. This building somewhat resembled a sacrificial ground, but it was also akin to a martial practice field. It was extremely wide with little to no furniture and lit by millstone-sizedmps hanging down from the tall ceiling. The light sources actually consisted of arm-sized candles which cast eerie shadows across the entire chamber.

    A man as straight as a mountain stood at its center with his back facing the door. He was cleaning a three-meter-long sword under the candlelight. The de¡¯s edge was actually covered by a sheen of garish red, its color almost as dark as blood.

    The aides left quietly after sending Qianye in and duly closed the doors.

    The man slowly turned around to reveal a surprisingly clear and handsome face that was almost unfitting of his aggressive temperament. Upon careful inspection, however, one would see that his brows were as sharp as swords. A single nce from him made Qianye feel some pain on his face¡ªit felt as though he had been stabbed by a sharp sword intent.

    The man started speaking with a slow but clear voice that resembled the echo of a cauldron, ¡°To think that I, Zhao Weihuang, at the present age of forty-nine, have achieved the title of the empire¡¯s Duke Chengen. I rule the Zhao n with the hundred-thousand-strong Fire Beacon Corps under mymand, and I have fought hundreds of battles. How can such sesse from Gaoyi alone?

    ¡°People say that I¡¯m all brawns and no brain, that I can charge into the enemy lines but have no sense of strategy. But how can those plebeians know the aspirations and great dao in my heart? My great dao is the 3 meter Green Edge in my hand, with which I seek only the power to split a mountain with each strike¡ªsince I can block a million soldiers in one sh, why would I need to scheme?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang tossed the sword in his hand toward Qianye who then caught it subconsciously. Only then did he realize just how long this de was. It was actually even taller than himself by a head. Just holding onto it sent a ghastly chill into his body as though he had experienced nine winters, and its sharpness was a rarity in the present world.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s shout reverberated loudly, ¡°Will you be able to cut me down if we are at the same level?¡±

    Qianye was shaken as all the origin power in his body resonated continuously with this one shout, and the great sea vortex formed in an instant. Without pondering, he replied with a deep voice, ¡°Why can¡¯t I?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang nced at Qianye with a gaze as sharp as a de. After a while, he suddenly broke into a loudughter and said, ¡°Now that¡¯s Zhao Weihuang¡¯s son! Good, very good!¡±

    Qianye looked down at the sword and wiped down the de with his finger. The sheen of scarlet upon it actually rippled mysteriously. Qianye tossed it lightly and watched as the de half-sank into the earth without a sound. It was as though the sword had cut into tofu.

    He could imagine just how much of a killer weapon this sword would be on the battlefield.

    Qianye looked up once again and gazed straight into Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes. ¡°But I don¡¯t feel that you¡¯re my father.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes were suddenly filled with killing intent which pressed down upon Qianye with earth-shattering momentum. Qianye stared back at him without any movement, so much so that there wasn¡¯t even a flicker in his eyes as he faced the duke.

    Suddenly, Zhao Weihuang retracted his killing intent and his gaze turned gentle. He sighed heavily and said, ¡°I know. Surely, you must be brooding about the matter from back then.¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°In truth, I¡¯m neither concerned nor begrudged because I don¡¯t have a single memory of those matters. That which I have suffered and experienced, including how I am able to stand here today, are the only things meaningful to me.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s gaze froze as an almost pained expression shed through his eyes. In truth, the matter back then was only the beginning of Qianye¡¯s ordeals and not the end. Zhao Weihuang did not know what Qianye had experienced through these years. However, he could easily imagine just how difficult it would¡¯ve been to rise to power in the abandonednd, and the fragmented recounts Zhao Jundu had given him were enough to peep into this child¡¯s wandering plight.

    Qianye¡¯s seemingly light words had, in truth, cut a deep chasm between the father and son.

    ¡°I only want to know who and where my mother is.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang became absent-minded as he said with a bitter expression, ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s gaze turned harsh. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°I truly do not know.¡± Zhao Weihuang let out a long sigh as he sank into the memories of the past, shbacks he didn¡¯t even dare recall for the past ten-odd years¡ªnot even when he was alone.

    Back then, the young Zhao Weihuang had already revealed extraordinary talent and gained some fame in the family. His father, the younger brother of Duke You, was even more of a heaven-bestowed talent, and his umted contributions gained him the title of Duke Xuanyuan. One could see just how capable he was.

    Duke Xuanyuan¡¯s title wasn¡¯t hereditary, but his brilliant talents and ability weren¡¯t at all inferior to the two dukes, You and Yan. Meanwhile, Zhao Weihuang was of statelyportment and had great future prospects. In the end, he gained Princess Gaoyi¡¯s hand in marriage.

    The imperial family wedding ceremony wasplicated to say the least, and there was still one year until the appointed date. Zhao Weihuang wasn¡¯t willing to be left out, so he took to touring the world in search of victory, challenging experts everywhere. It wasmon practice for major n scions to go about tempering themselves in pursuit of improvement and experience.

    It was during this journey that Zhao Weihuang met a woman, an ordinary youngdy who had no outstanding qualities apart from her gentle and peaceful temperament. She was truly beyond mediocrepared to the brilliance and luster of the nobledies.

    A woman with only rank-three origin power was worlds apart from Zhao Weihaung¡ªa newly advanced champion¡ªin terms of strength.

    Thetter recalled with great difficulty the first time the two of them had decided to travel together aspanions. It seemed to be a deste and dangerous area with only a single path, and the two were traveling in the same direction. That was the only reason.

    She encountered danger repeatedly along the way, and it was always Zhao Weihuang who had saved her. He was even wounded badly because of it. But Zhao Weihuang discovered that he wasn¡¯t the least impatient and, in times of peace, even hoped that these days couldst longer.

    Regardless of the situation, it seemed as though her spirit was always wandering in another world and calmly looking at the reality before her. It seemed as though nothing could cause her to feel fear or cower even if the earth and mountains were to split open. She seemed just like a bystander who had nothing to do with everything happening around her.

    But a fluctuation finally appeared in her eyes when the injured Zhao Weihuang pushed her to the other side of the ravine and turned back to cut down that natural stone bridge, effectively blocking the pursuing beast horde within the dangerous area.

    Everything happened naturally after the two escaped the danger zone.

    Embracing a woman wasn¡¯t a big deal to the young and carefree Zhao Weihuang. She was, after all, just a woman without any status. He had already gone through dozens of women before the age of eighteen, whether it was at school or while having fun with friends.

    But this time, it was just as natural as a first embrace. Zhao Weihuang actually abandoned his quest and settled down with her in a remote, quiet, and beautiful little town. He didn¡¯t bring out his backpack full of gold coins, nor did he reveal his cultivation. The two of them built a life with their bare hands.

    Zhao Weihuang found a job as a guard and would asionally escort goods between the nearby towns for some extra money. Meanwhile, thedy did all the cooking and housework at home. The two lived in the most ordinary of little homes and enjoyed the most ordinary of days.

    Even up until now, Zhao Weihuang couldn¡¯t say why he did so. Perhaps he was attracted by her mysterious and cryptic temperament, or perhaps it was those ordinary days where he worked from dawn to dusk that made him feel a sense of internalfort and serenity. Or, it might be that he never knew the reason at all.

    Just like that, the calm and peaceful days went by for half a year just like a gentle dream. But Zhao Weihuang began to feel restless for he knew he was about to wake up. His wedding with Princess Gaoyi was fast approaching, and he would have no choice but to return.

    There was that one moment where Zhao Weihuang had considered passing his entire life in this manner, but he knew it wasn¡¯t possible.

    It was normal for n scions to lose contact while training outside. The Zhao n had their own secret arts to determine whether he was dead or alive and to track him down.

    It was while Zhao Weihuang was at his wit''s end that he found¡ªupon returning home after relinquishing his job one day¡ªa table full of hot dishes just as before. However, that woman had already left.

 Volume 5 - 462: The Past Part 2

    Chapter 462: The Past (Part 2) [V5C169 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Everything in the house was left in ce, and only she was gone. The only thing missing in the house was a piece of crystal, and that wasn¡¯t any valuable item either¡ªit was a gift Zhao Weihuang had bought for her using his first sry. It was also his only gift to her.

    Zhao Weihuang wasn¡¯t surprised. He issued a greeting just as though she were still at home and sat down to have dinner. He then recounted the interesting things that had happened in town just as he normally would. Her usual seat was empty, but Zhao Weihuang kept on talking to an empty chair.

    At this moment, the doors burst open and a group of Zhao n warriors rushed in. The leader was an old man¡ªhe was Duke Xuanyuan¡¯s trusted subordinate and someone who had watched Zhao Weihuang grow up. All of them sighed in relief when they saw Zhao Weihuang. With the marriage drawing ever closer, Duke Xuanyuan had finally decided to the n''s utilize secret arts and was able to find him as expected.

    ¡°Uncle Wu, please go out first. I¡¯ll go back with you after my meal,¡± Zhao Weihuang spoke calmly, but his tone left no room for disobedience. And that was the very first time this man, who wouldter ascend to the Zhao n lord¡¯s position, had exhibited the dignity of a leader.

    Zhao Weihuang cleaned up the utensils after his meal. He then left the house, as well as that small town.

    His life returned to the right track in the days that followed.

    Zhao Weihuang sessfully married Princess Gaoyi and established a formal residence in the Zhao n. At the same time, he received permission to form the Fire Beacon Corps and won a series of continuous victories outside. The Northwestern Fire Beacon Corps achieved great fame outside, while inside the family, he gained four children in quick session. All of them possessed outstanding talent, especially the fourth son, Zhao Jundu. During the talent assessment at one month of age, he had produced overflowing visions as brilliant as the midday sun¡ªa rarely seen superior grade talent.

    As the scion of a major n, Zhao Weihuang seemed to possess everything. Power, achievements, children, and a bright future ahead.

    That was until one year, the Swallow Cloud Zhao n and the Dark Nation once again fell into a total war. On his way to You Tongguan¡¯s rescue, Zhao Weihuang was caught in an expected battle with the dark races and only managed to secure a narrow victory. Quite unfortunately, a small human town became the battlefield, and almost the entire settlement had been reduced to rubble by the end of the battle.

    It was there that Zhao Weihuang saw her once again.

    When she raised her head, a tall figure in martial attire was reflected in her indifferent eyes¡ªit was as though the ten years of separation never existed.

    There was seemingly no difference at all apart from the fact that she was already rank eight. The same aura, the same joy¡ªthe same captivation.

    However, she had vanished once again when Zhao Weihuang woke up the next day. It was as though everything was just a dream.

    With the military situation on the frontlines in a critical state, Zhao Weihuang could only leave some aides to search for her while he himself pressed on toward the conflict. Naturally, they returned empty-handed; perhaps she wasn¡¯t even a resident of the small town and only a passer-by. With how big the world was, it was simply impossible to find thisdy who called herself Yeji even with the Zhao n¡¯s influence.

    Just when Zhao Weihuang was about to push this chance encounter back into the depths of his memory, a person appeared at the Zhao n with a baby, asking to meet Zhao Weihuang by name.

    That was an extremely ordinary old woman. Apart from handing Zhao Weihaung the baby, she also left a piece of crystal. Popr essories in the empire were made of gold, silver, or gems. Crystal was rare, but this piece of crystal was somon in quality that it would be a slight embarrassment to disy at the Zhao n. However, Zhao Weihuang immediately recognized it as the crystal he had bought back then with his very first sry.

    The craftsmanship of the crystal was just as clumsy. The only astonishing thing was the picture on it which was actually made up of two ancient runespeak characters. It was rumored that the genesis of these ancient runes took ce even before the birth of the dark races, and that it was rted to the deepest source of the great dao. Even the dark race experts could hardlyprehend a couple of them, but Zhao Weihuang naturally understood the meaning of the two runespeak characters.

    That was: Qianye.

    ording to the old woman, she was entrusted by a terminally ill woman to return the child to his father. Up to this point, Zhao Weihuang still wasn¡¯t clear as to what was going on. But after following the olddy to thest known town where the woman had stayed, he failed to find her remains in themon tomb where outsiders were buried.

    The olddy¡¯s identity was investigated countless times after that, but she was just an ordinary civilian of the Zhao n¡¯s territory¡ªher family had been living here for several generations. She only feltpassion at the moment and decided to fulfill the woman¡¯s dying wish. There was no suspicious clue to be found at all.

    Zhao Weihuang finally gave up and epted this truth.

    However, the young and naive Zhao Weihuang didn¡¯t remember to cover up his movements. The news quickly reached the pregnant Princess Gaoyi, causing her to fall into great illness, and Zhao Ruoxi was born prematurely due to the effects of the natal qi.

    Zhao Weihuang sighed at this point, and it seemed as though he had aged by ten years. He said only momentster, ¡°The matter that year was truly nature toying with men.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was calm, but his heart was wracked with great fluctuations. From the Drinking Horse Yin Family to the Hignd Song n, he had seen no small number of internal chaos and didn¡¯t have a shred of good impression regarding those so-called major ns. But hearing such a story straight from this man¡¯s mouth, the resentment and injustice he had harbored for his old injury gradually receded.

    All kinds of feelings welled up in Zhao Weihuang¡¯s heart as he stared at the young man standing before him like an unmoving mountain peak.

    The so-called imperial bloodline wasn¡¯t just a noble status. It also signified strong abilities and immense potential. The reason for Princess Gaoyi¡¯s high position in the imperial family before marriage was because of the purity of her imperial bloodline. The previous emperor had passed for twenty years, but she was still able to mobilize a part of the imperial family¡¯s resources and also had a fair bit of influence in the imperial n. This went to show just how brilliant she was back then.

    Qianye¡¯s appearance caused her to lose prestige. It was fine if that were the end of it because which major n scion didn¡¯t have a messy past? But not only did Zhao Weihuang not hide this matter, he had even announced his affection for that unnamed woman.

    This action was like a ruthless p to Princess Gaoyi¡¯s face, and it tore apart the spousal rtionship they had maintained for over a decade. However, Qianye¡¯s bloodline and talent assessment was like a backhand p following the frontal one¡ªand that p was even harder than before.

    Qianye, who wasn¡¯t even a year old, was not only a Zhao n descendant but also an owner of an innate origin crystal!

    The energy produced by the origin crystal would grow and multiply without end. Those in possession would be blessed with an unending flow of vitality and would slowly recover to the peak state no matter how severe the injury. This was the best kind of supplement for battle and cultivation. Although it wasn¡¯t the most powerful of offensive abilities, the appearance of an origin crystal signified a straight path to the divine champion rank. Such talent wasparable to Zhao Jundu.

    All the Zhao n elders turned silent after learning of Qianye¡¯s talents, and no one spoke up anymore against his return to the family. Fortunately, Zhao Weihuang could be considered somewhat clear-headed at this point. He immediately issued a silencing order and prevented this news from leaking out. In the end, only the highest echelons of the Zhao n knew of this matter.

    Meanwhile, Princess Gaoyi was busy taking care of the newborn Zhao Ruoxi and seemed not to know. She neither cared nor asked about Qianye after assigning him everything befitting of a Zhao n bastard¡ªeverything was calm and quiet.

    The serenity of the Zhao residence was finally broken by a great change after two years.

    The matter came suddenly. The time was near new year, and the rebel army of the Western Continent had revolted once again. Zhao Weihuang returned to the frontlines to oversee the general situation, while Princess Gaoyi led the children to the imperial capital to attend the new year banquet. Zhao Ruoxi had never left the Western Continent before due to her weak constitution, and this was her first time visiting the imperial pce.

    It was during this new year banquet that something happened which shook the entire empire¡ªRed Spider Lily, the Grand Magnum that had been silent for many years, recognized a master. Everyone remembered that the master of the Red Spider Lily for the current generation was Zhao Ruoxi of the Zhao n.

    But what people did not know was that Zhao Ruoxi fell ill that night right after the Grand Magnum recognized its master. The imperial family experts had to pay an enormous price to stabilize her condition. It turned out that Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s constitution was too weak, and her lifespan wasn¡¯t that long. She was unable to withstand the great power which came from her fusion with the Red Spider Lily¡¯s vital soul.

    Zhao Weihuang stopped again at that moment.

    Qianye exhaled deeply at this point because he had figured out the greater half of the story. ¡°So, the origin theft was like that. That means the origin crystal is in Fifth Little Sister¡¯s body?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang nodded seriously.

    Qianye wasn''t distressed or gloomy. The frost on his calm, almost detached countenance gradually melted away as he said, ¡°This ending¡­ it can¡¯t be considered too bad.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Zhao Weihuang didn¡¯t know what to say after seeing Qianye¡¯s attitude.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°There was probably no choice since I was the bastard.¡±

    Inrge families, the status of a bastard wasn¡¯t even as high as some of therger branch families. Moreover, what price wouldn¡¯t they pay to save Zhao Ruoxi under the situation? Not to mention Princess Gaoyi and the imperial family, even the Zhao n¡¯s elders would have made the same decision.

    But there was still a final question. ¡°What happened after that?¡± How did he appear in a dumpster on Evernight Continent?

    Zhao Weihuang wasn¡¯t able to give him an answer. Back then, Zhao Weihuang had rushed back from the frontlines after hearing news of the Red Spider Lily¡¯s recognition and Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s illness. But the die had been cast¡ªQianye¡¯s origin crystal had been removed the day before. A big fight ensued between Zhao Weihuang and Princess Gaoyi.

    Who knew a murder would take ce in Qianye¡¯s little courtyard while Zhao Weihuang was rushing over to Princess Gaoyi¡¯s residence. Many unidentified experts invaded the building and inflicted great casualties upon the guards. When the Zhao n people arrived, not only had the intruders all died, but they had also destroyed their own remains.

    ording to the survivors, the assants¡¯ aim was to kill Qianye. Just when they were almost unable to hold out, an expert d in Zhao n guard uniform charged in and killed most of the intruders. He then picked up Qianye and escaped.

    Half of the Zhao n had been alerted of the intrusion at that time, and the outer defensive lines were mobilized. But that person actually charged through the several defensive formations and injured a dozen or so Zhao n experts along the way. Even two rank-twelve champions attacking together failed to drag him down for long. In the end, that person finally escaped the encirclement, but not without receiving heavy injuries himself.

    An investigation afterward revealed that the person who had kidnapped Qianye was indeed a subordinate of the Zhao n, an external expert who had joined the Zhao n for several years. Among the younger generation experts, he was ranked toward the top in terms ofbat strength. This result, however, baffled everyone because this person had nothing to do with Zhao Weihuang¡¯s branch before. The Zhao n proceeded to lock down every street and searched through the entire city but no one could find his traces. There was no more information after that.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be surprised at this point¡ªthis was even more astonishing than Princess Gaoyi trying to finish him offpletely.

    Zhao Weihuang sighed in his heart. Apart from the servants and guards in charge of Qianye, Zhao Jundu was the person closest to Qianye.

 Volume 5 - 463: The Past Part 3

    Chapter 463: The Past (Part 3) [V5C170 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Zhao Jundu was only five years back then when he identally witnessed his infant brother in a heavily injured state and his parents fighting. The young boy wasn¡¯t able to figure out the gist of matters, but, when he came to, his brother was already nowhere to be found.

    Zhao Weihuang let out yet another long sigh after recalling the night long discussion he had with Zhao Jundu before his departure.

    Qianye, on the other hand, was filled with inexplicablyplicated emotions when he nced at Zhao Weihuang again. There were too many doubtful points regarding the matter of the past, but, to him, all of those were minor details he no longer wanted to know.

    ¡°Where is that crystal my mother left? Can you give it to me?¡± Qianye asked. This was one of the reasons he had returned to the Zhao n.

    Zhao Weihuang pondered for a moment before producing the crystal from his chest pocket.

    Qianye¡¯s hand was even trembling a bit when he received the object. The crystal¡¯s quality was ordinary and its craftsmanship was coarse. The drawing was quite different from those normally seen, but he immediately understood the meaning afterying hands on it¡ªthe ancient runes upon it indeed represented his name.

    Qianye put the crystal fragment away with great care. This was perhaps the only connection he had with the mother he had never seen before.

    After recounting the story of the past, there was little left to say between the two men. Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes gradually turned sharp as he recovered the posture of a leader who had long held the fate of many in his hands. He scanned Qianye from head to toe and suddenly tossed his sword over.

    Qianye caught the de out of reflex.

    ¡°This sword is called ughter, and it has apanied me in battle for eighteen whole years. It has cut down countless enemies and drunk so much blood that the de¡¯s edge has gradually developed a sanguineous hue. It can be considered a greater sess when blood flows wherever the de points¡ªit can then be considered a divine weapon. I see that you¡¯re somewhat capable, so I¡¯ll gift to you.

    Qianye was astonished. This weapon called ughter could actually develop itself over time and was undoubtedly a rare weapon. This de having followed Zhao Weihuang for eighteen years meant that it had been nurtured for the same length of time. Just what kind of character was the Northwestern General Zhao Weihaung? The Fire Beacon Corps had been fighting non-stop since its founding. Throughout the eighteen years, the sanguineous glow on the de had grown increasingly brilliant. Its killing intent retracted, and there was even a gentle aura about it. It was seemingly not far off from the greater sess stage.

    A divine weapon like this was invaluable and not something money could buy. Yet, Zhao Weihuang had casually tossed it to Qianye as though it were an ordinary origin sword.

    Qianye flicked the de with his finger and listened as the sword emitted a continuous hum¡ªthe de¡¯s tip was shrouded in a hazy sanguineous mist. His basic sword technique had been refined by the Book of Darkness. As an expert in swordy, he naturally couldn¡¯t stop sighing in admiration at the three-meter sword.

    But he still passed ughter back to Zhao Weihuang. ¡°This sword is not a very good fit for my martial dao. I already have the heavy-sword East Peak. It isn¡¯t as good a de as ughter, but it¡¯s more suitable for me.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang was startled upon hearing his words. ¡°East Peak? Song n¡¯s East Peak?!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Zhao Weihuang to actually know his de¡ªit was quite the marvel. With thetter¡¯s status, he probably wouldn¡¯t even put a grade seven or eight weapon in his eyes, not to mention East Peak¡ªa weapon from an external storehouse that any descendant could choose. For instance, ughter was a grade-eight weapon in terms of imperial ssification, and it would be grade-nine after greater sess¡ªonly one grade below the Ten Grand Magnums.

    There was nothing left to hide since the conversation had reached this point. Qianye thus recounted the process by which he had obtained East Peak.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes lit up as he said, ¡°Did you say Elder Lu? Then, there shouldn¡¯t be a mistake. Go and bring East Peak for me to see.¡± He summoned an aide and had him retrieve the sword from Zhao Yuying¡¯s residence as per Qianye¡¯s instructions.

    After the aide left, Zhao Weihuang beckoned at the air, bringing ughter into his hand with a sharp cry. Immediately afterwards, he performed a sh at lightning speed and cut down at Qianye!

    The sword intent engulfed half the hall and Qianye simply had no time to evade. He only felt a wisp of intense power travel down from this forehead and past his entire body. The clothes in front of his chest were suddenly cut apart and even the essence gold chainmail underneath was divided into two. However, there wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of damage to his skin. One could see from this single strike that Zhao Weihuang was already at the very peak both in terms of uracy and might.

    His perfect body was revealed after his clothes were cut open. There was a faint luster to his iparably exquisite skin¡ªit was just that he was excessively pale. Zhao Weihuang was surprised to find that there was no scar and his brows rose as he put down the sword in his hand.

    ¡°Jundu said that your hidden injuries hadn¡¯t healed, but it seems you have encountered other fortunes. Not only have you recovered but your constitution has even reached such a degree. It¡¯s quite the rare case.¡± Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes shed with delight. ¡°I was at first worried that the Combatant Form would have caused too much damage to your body and that it won¡¯t be enough to suppress the might of the qi vortex even if you change to the Zhao n¡¯s secret arts. But apparently, there¡¯s no such problem.¡±

    Qianye was drenched in cold sweat after being caught off guard. It was fortunate that he had ced a lot of focus on concealment after forming his blood core. At this moment, not only was his Bloodline Concealmentpletely activated, but the Auric Gold Blood had also sunk to the depths of his vessels. The Book of Darkness And Wings of Inception had even formed barriers of light¡ªone gold and one dark¡ªto envelope his blood coreyer byyer, preventing it from being detected.

    Zhao Weihuang only used an ordinary origin power scan despite being a divine champion. This, fortunately, allowed Qianye to escape his eyes.

    Qianye immediately spoke, ¡°I don¡¯t need to change cultivation arts anymore.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang frowned. ¡°It¡¯s not that the Combatant Form can¡¯t bring you through the advancement, but the shearing forces of the condensed vortex will even surpass the level a grade thirteen or fourteen champion can withstand. Your constitution right now is quite good, but, in consideration of your future development, it¡¯s best not to take this risk.¡±

    Qianye said stubbornly, ¡°I¡¯ve already cultivated the Song n¡¯s secret art¡­¡± with that he condensed a small mass of origin power in his hand¡ªmuch like a big drop of water.

    Zhao Weihuang immediately recognized that Qianye¡¯s origin power had liquefied and reached the extremes of development. He gazed absent-mindedly for a moment before saying, ¡°Song n¡¯s secret arts? Could it be that the seventh young noble of the Hignd Song n gave it to you?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    Zhao Weihuang went silent for a moment. The Zhao and Song n secret arts were roughly the same in terms of their levels. Even if the Zhao arts were superior, the difference would be fairly limited. And the most important point when considering a cultivation art is how suitable it was for the cultivator. Since Qianye had been able to cultivate this art to such a degree, it was proof enough that the art was most suited for him¡ªas such, there was no need to cultivate a new one.

    At this moment, the aide who had gone to fetch East Peak entered with a knock and delivered the de.

    Zhao Weihuang picked up East Peak and weighed it in his hand before nodded to himself. He carefully studied the de¡¯s edge and even used ughter to sh at it. Even with thetter¡¯s sharpness, Zhao Weihuang¡¯s sh left only a barely noticeable mark on East Peak. If this were a real battle, it could be said that East Peak possessed the ability to contend against ughter for a short while.

    ¡°This is the one. This East Peak indeedes from Old Lu, and it could be said that this is the final product of his career. It can be considered fate that you were able to obtain this sword.¡±

    Qianye was fairly astonished after hearing Zhao Weihuang give such a high assessment. In his eyes, there was really nothing special about East Peak apart from the special material of the de, its sturdiness, and weight. Song Zining had fiddled with it several times and was also of the same opinion.

    It was just that Qianye was fairly used to it now after such a long period. Moreover, the Book of Darkness had refined Nirvanic Rend with East Peak as the foundation. Now that Qianye¡¯s physique was fairly powerful and he had produced the auric me blood, any other weapon felt too light in his hands.

    ¡°What good points does this East Peak have apart from being heavy and hard?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Zhao Weihuang flicked the edge of the de and said, ¡°It¡¯s not entirely correct to say that this de is Old Lu¡¯s final product because he didn¡¯t quite finish it. More urately, the sword is only a half-finished product.¡±

    ¡°Half-finished product?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang understood Qianye¡¯s suspicions and said, ¡°Me and Old Lu are old acquaintances, and I¡¯ve heard him mention his intentions regarding East Peak back then. The sword¡¯s original intention was to draw upon the great momentum of the mountains and seas to defeat the wielder¡¯s enemies without any fancy tricks. Just from the name, East Peak, one can see just how grand his aspirations were. Back then, Old Lu had an odd piece of metal originating from the extracontinental void, which he soaked in the fresh blood of a void beast and spent several years just to produce East Peak¡¯s body. But I heard Old Lu thereafter failed to find a suitable material to perfect East Peak. Only after seeing this sword did I know that the rumors were indeed true.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected East Peak to actually have such a story behind it, but that was only normal. After obtaining this sword, Qianye felt that its might far surpassed his expectations, but he hadn¡¯t expected the de to have such an extraordinary background.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang tested out a few stances with East Peak and said, ¡°Since you already have East Peak, it¡¯s normal that you¡¯re not used to ughter. But a matter impossible for Old Lu doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s impossible for our Zhao n. I happen to have some Heavenly Dew Silver in my hand. I¡¯ll hand it to the Crafts Manor tomorrow and have the smiths think of a way to incorporate them into East Peak. It should be able to raise East Peak¡¯s might by one grade. It¡¯s just that the sword¡¯s weight will increase greatly. Can you handle it?¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment and replied, ¡°I can use anything below five tons with ease.¡±

    ¡°Good, leave East Peak here. We¡¯ll only know how long the reforging will take after the craftsmen take a look.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave first now if the n lord has no further instructions.¡±

    ¡°Jundu has already ordered people to clean up his Ketu Violet Courtyard for you before he left.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°I guess it¡¯s better not to keep moving around all the time. I want to return to Evernight Continent after my ascension. The military affairs there are in a critical state.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang sighed as he watched Qianye¡¯s receding figure. Qianye was respectful and courteous towards him but never called him father.

    After leaving Zhao Weihuang¡¯s Martial Hall, Qianye walked out of the Duke Chengen residence in the apany of two aides. He had just stepped through the doors when he encountered several dozen people who seemed to have been waiting for some time.

    A white-bearded old man stepped forward and said with a somewhat squeaky voice, ¡°Is this Young Noble Qianye before me?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled as he replied, ¡°That is me. What seems to be the matter?¡±

    The old man replied with a smile, ¡°You¡¯ve finally appeared, Young Noble. Our princess wishes to see you. Please follow this lowly one for a while if Young Noble doesn¡¯t have any other matters!¡±

    ¡°Princess?¡± Qianye¡¯s pupils shrunk.

    ¡°It is indeed Princess Gaoyi.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s aides shot each other a nce. One of them stepped forth and whispered in Qianye¡¯s ears, confirming the other party¡¯s identity. However, he said nothing more apart from that.

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned cold as he said calmly, ¡°Then I¡¯ll trouble you to lead the way.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no trouble. Please follow this lowly one.¡±

    The old man turned walked ahead while the group of followers separated into two lines and, intentionally or otherwise, ced Qianye between them. Qianye sneered secretly as he calmly followed them. One of Zhao Weihuang¡¯s two followers followed along while the other went back inside.

    Princess Gaoyi¡¯s Lucid Calm Pce could be considered quite far from the Martial Hall and took a fair bit of time to arrive on foot.

    Qianye paused slightly on the za before the pce hall. ncing over, he could see that the Lucid Calm Pce waspletely different from the other buildings in the pce. The maids here were also different in both the uniform they wore and their bearing. Moreover, it was clear that the servants moving about busily had all be castrated¡ªthis was a rule enforced only in the imperial pce.

    The old man announced their arrival before leading Qianye into the pce hall.

 Volume 5 - 464: Gaoyi

    [V5C171 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye entered the main hall with calm steps and found the building to bepletely empty. Before long, he saw ady in traditional Chinese apparel walk out of the rear chamber and took her seat upon the phoenix chair.

    Without waiting for Qianye to perform any ceremonies, thedy raised her hand and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t the imperial pce, so there¡¯s no need to observe so many rules. Sit.¡± Her voice was fairly gentle and pleasing to the ears, but it was also suffused with an imposingness that disallowed all disobedience.

    With that, Princess Gaoyi gestured toward a chair to the side. The flickering lights in the hall were reflected on her long, glistening nail cover as she waved her hand.

    Qianye, after seeing this, felt a slight pain as though his eyes had been stabbed. In his daze, it felt as though the luminous originmps had conjured ayer of bloody hue. An odd notion emerged in his mind as he wondered if it were these hands that had held the de that cut open his chest.

    Princess Gaoyi took good care of her health and looks. At a nce, she didn¡¯t even seem thirty years of age. Her countenance was like a painting, possessing a rare beauty as well as great temperament and grace. Even the gaze with which she observed Qianye was as gentle as water, and one simply couldn¡¯t discern any other intention at all.

    The more this was so, the more Qianye¡¯s heart shook. Additionally, he had noticed that the princess¡¯s skin was somewhat pale, and her face was suffused with undisguisable exhaustion.

    Princess Gaoyi said slowly, ¡°Qianye, I heard you took part in the bloody battle and earned no small amount of military contributions for our Zhao n. I¡¯m fairly curious about the situation under the Iron Curtain. Will you perhaps indulge me?¡±

    Qianye calmed himself and said, ¡°The Iron Curtain seems like nothing but a ck cloud pressing down on our heads¡ªone that refuses to disperse¡ªbut in truth, it¡¯s an iparably vast domain.¡±

    As such, one asked while the other answered, and they chatted as though it were part of their daily lives.

    Princess Gaoyi mostly asked Qianye about the phases of his life¡ªwhere he had lived, about the local customs, and the people he had met. She asked whether he had built a family, and about how he had met Zhao Junhong, Zhao Jundu, and Zhao Yuying.

    These were all minor details of his life. She made no mention at all about the truly important subjects like his cultivation arts, his rank, strength, and background. Naturally, she didn¡¯t utter a single word about the matters of the past.

    After chatting for a while, Princess Gaoyi suddenly spoke, ¡°A good weapon is essential for the sons and husbands of the n to achieve great things on the battlefield. I heard that you have a heavy sword that requires incorporation with Heavenly Dew Silver in order to beplete. It just so happened that I brought some with me from the imperial capital back in the day but have never found a use for them throughout the years. Using it here will be perfect. I¡¯ll have someone send it over to you tomorrow. Although it¡¯s not much, it should be barely enough for a single refinement. It goes without saying that it¡¯ll be even better if you can supplement some more.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Princess.¡± Qianye rose from his seat to express his gratitude, but a frosty intent emerged within his heart.

    He believed that, with Zhao Weihuang¡¯s strength, no one could¡¯ve eavesdropped on their conversation. However, the matters instructed by Zhao Weihuang had already reached the princess¡¯s ears in the blink of an eye. Apparently, she hadn¡¯t loosened her grasp on the Duke Chengen Residence despite having lived in a side courtyard for many years.

    Princess Gaoyi smiled faintly and waved her hand. ¡°There¡¯s no need to offer thanks for such a small matter. Junhong and Jundu have been missing you all this time. Although you missed the opportunity to meet the two brothers on your return this time, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be very happy.¡±

    It was at this moment that the old man who had escorted Qianye here rushed into the hall. He approached the princess and said in a soft voice, ¡°Princess, Young Miss is outside and wishes to meet you!¡±

    Princess Gaoyi sighed. ¡°Why is this child up sote? What does she want with me so urgently? I¡¯m also quite tired now. I shall retire after a few words with her.¡±

    At this point, Princess Gaoyi¡ªintentionally or otherwise¡ªcast a nce at Qianye. There wasn¡¯t any meaning in this gaze, and it couldn¡¯t be considered very sharp. However, Qianye was shaken and some cold sweat emerged on his palm. This wasn¡¯t fear but an instinctive rm in response to danger.

    Princess Gaoyi didn¡¯t retain him when Qianye rose and excused himself¡ªshe only sent some of her subordinates to apany him. Qianye felt as though he had shed a heavy burden after stepping out of Lucid Calm Pce and let out a sudden sigh. He was unknowingly drenched in cold sweat once again.

    Within Lucid Calm Pce, Princess Gaoyi sat straight with neither joy nor sorrow on her countenance. ¡°Little Xi, why have youe here sote at night instead of resting? Don¡¯t you know the condition of your own body?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi revealed an innocent smile and said coquettishly, ¡°I was bored, so I¡¯vee to visit mother.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi smiled spuriously. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re not here to see me, but to check if Lucid Calm Pce truly is and of no return?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was petrified and spoke with some effort, ¡°You jest.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi said indifferently, ¡°You must know that I¡¯m your mother. Do you think your little thoughts can escape my notice? Moreover, being close to the Red Spider Lily will drain your spiritual power. Don¡¯t hide it in your skirt if there¡¯s no need.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s expression changed and gradually became more obstinate instead. ¡°Mother, you should know why I have it on me.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi gazed at Zhao Ruoxi and sighed after a while. ¡°What kind of major incident can there be in the Zhao n residence that will require the Red Spider Lily?¡±

    ¡°That will be for the best. I¡¯ll take my leave then.¡± Zhao Ruoxi thus performed a curtsey and left Lucid Calm Pce.

    Princess Gaoyi sat on the phoenix seat for a long time, gazing at the tall ceramic floormp rack which resembled a treasured tree. She muttered to herself after a long time, ¡°Kids are always like that when they grow up. It¡¯s the same for this one, and no different for the other.¡±

    Qianye soon returned to Zhao Yuying¡¯s home, a courtyard at the northeastern side of the Duke You Residence. There was only a porch between this ce and the external wall. There was also a solitary door which made passage quite easy.

    Qianye happened to see a number of doctors leaving upon his return to the Mountain Splitter Courtyard. Zhao Yuying required treatment at fixed intervals¡ªnot only had she suffered internal injuries, but even her origin vortex had been badly damaged. Such a condition required gradual recuperation and had to be made up for with painstaking effort.

    Zhao Yuying was sitting beside the table with a bitter expression when Qianye entered the room, gazing at the dozen or so bowls on it. The vessels were filled with the medicines she needed to take, and it seemed they didn¡¯t taste that good at all. Otherwise, this Zhao n miss wouldn¡¯t be looking so miserable.

    Seeing Qianye, Zhao Yuying tossed him a letter and said, ¡°It¡¯s Jundu¡¯s letter! Read it first while I deal with these things.¡±

    Zhao Yuying picked up a bowl of medicine and finished it in one gulp as though she were calmly facing death itself. Her face shifted red and blue as the medicine went in her throat¡ªit was an inexplicably brilliant expression. She then picked up the second one without waiting for the effects to die out.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but shake his head after witnessing this scene from the side. The gloominess in his heart was also reduced by quite a bit. He was startled to find a rather thick stack of letters as he opened the envelope and hence sat down on the sofa before reading through them in detail.

    The letter started off withrge segments of cultivation insights. Zhao Jundu knew he trained in the Combatant Form, so he enumerated several Zhao n arts that might be suitable for Qianye. He also said that Zhao Weihuang would personally help Qianye pick a cultivation art, but he still enumerated the pros and cons of each art in great detail.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t impatient at all even though there was no need for him to switch cultivation arts. He read through them carefully word by word.

    In the letter, Zhao Jundu repeatedly warned Qianye that the Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Pond was different from ordinary cultivation grounds. He exined how the great array under the Fortune Courtyard couldpact one¡¯s origin power, and that it could take Qianye¡¯s origin power to new heights regardless of its purity, advising Qianye not to waste this opportunity no matter what.

    Zhao Jundu had just advanced to the champion rank and even formed three vortices in one go. He listed, in great details, the process and matters to pay attention to during the advancement and even about the special situations one might encounter. Even though different arts had different ways of controlling the origin tides, there were still certain areas that were interconnected.

    Qianye was deeply moved after reading the mail. The letter was pretty long¡ªso long that it was even a bit long-winded. But Zhao Jundu was as cold as ice in Qianye¡¯s impression, a person who could hardly be bothered to speak with ordinary people. It was a mystery how he had found the time to write such a long letter during the bloody battle.

    Zhao Yuying had also finished her medicine by the time Qianye finished reading the letter. She immediately went over to the cab and fished out a bottle of wine before taking a big swig. This cleared her spirits and improved her countenance quite a bit.

    Qianye was speechless as he watched her. ¡°You should be prohibited from alcohol after taking these drugs, right?¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal. It¡¯s better for this mommy to die if she can¡¯t drink even a mouthful of wine. What did Little Four write about? The letter is so thick. Let me see!¡±

    Qianye passed the letter to Zhao Yuying who scanned it briefly while clicking her tongue. ¡°I never expected Little Four to be so long-winded. He¡¯s almost like a woman. Did the Marrow Cleansing Pond damage his brain?¡±

    Qianye had never bought Zhao Yuying¡¯s shocking words, and she was also used to hisck of response. She recalled something after criticizing Zhao Jundu and said, ¡°Oh right, don¡¯t hold back when you go into the Marrow Cleansing Pond the day after tomorrow. Just take in as much as you can. Origin Distite is pretty hard toe by, and it¡¯ll only be a waste if one doesn¡¯t use it.¡±

    Qianye felt that it was somewhat inappropriate. ¡°Since the distite is rare, shouldn¡¯t I stop after advancing? Origin power will grow after gradual cultivation. Moreover, I¡¯ll still need to consolidate my realm.¡±

    Zhao Yuying red at him and said, ¡°Just use it when you¡¯re allowed to. What are you babbling on about?! Don¡¯t you know how wretched those old fogeys are? Song Zining¡¯s contributions were actually enough to use the pond twice, but they refused adamantly, citing how the Marrow Cleansing Pond was too important to allow outsiders in. They finally allowed one usage after this mommy nearly burned their houses down. Even then, they still deducted Jundu¡¯s points for this! Since those old men are so heartless, there¡¯s no need for us to be polite with them. This mommy will teach you a lesson if we can¡¯t earn back the capital!¡±

    Facing a Zhao Yuying filled with killing intent, Qianye could only agree.

    In truth, there was another reason for Zhao Yuying¡¯s anger. The Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing pond wasn¡¯t open to outsiders. She had listed Qianye as her subordinate at first, but that wasn¡¯t enough to consider him a Zhao n member. In the end, she could only rm Zhao Jundu and have him register Qianye under his secondary residence. Only then did he gain the right to use the pond.

    Qianye had juste back from meeting Zhao Weihuang. Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t quite adept at reading bodynguage and couldn¡¯t tell what was wrong with Qianye¡¯s expression. However, she still held back from telling him about the struggle for his identity out of instinct.

    Qianye refrained from going outdoors thereafter and only went to meet Zhao Weihuang one more time. He cultivated in the Mountain Splitter Courtyard day in and day out, adjusting his mind and body to their optimal states as he waited for the opening of the Marrow Cleansing Pond.

 Volume 5 - 465: Dispute

    [V5C172 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Zhao Yuying apanied Qianye to the Marrow Cleansing Pond at dawn, but unexpectedly encountered Zhao Xiuzhu and Zhao Fenglei at the entrance to Fortunate Courtyard.

    Zhao Yuying naturally wasn¡¯t polite toward Zhao Fenglei. She rolled her eyes and said, ¡°What are you here for? Could it be that you¡¯re here for another try? Have you umted enough points?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei stared at Qianye with mes spewing out of his eyes. However, with so many people present here, he had to retain his elegance and manners as Duke Yan¡¯s eldest grandson. He couldn¡¯t act as unbridled as Zhao Yuying.

    That being said, although Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t have the slightest air of a nobledy and was always spewing profanities, no one had been able to find fault with her in moral and conduct, not to mention she was also powerful in battle. Thus, these little quirks were merely written off as quirks.

    How could Qianye leave any face for Zhao Fenglei after seeing his hostile gaze? He red straight back without even bothering to disguise his austere killing intent.

    Zhao Fenglei was furious and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°I really do want to see what this lowlymoner you guys paid such a high price for will amount to. Going into the pond and failing to produce any strange phenomena, now, that would be quite the embarrassment.¡±

    Zhao Yuying sneered, ¡°That¡¯s still better than a certain someone who doesn¡¯t dare go into battle and has no points for the Marrow Cleansing Pond at all.¡±

    These words struck Zhao Fenglei where it hurt the most. His countenance was suffused with a green hue, and he became so angry that his face grew somewhat contorted. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that there¡¯s an engagement between us!¡±

    Unexpectedly, Zhao Yuying waved her hand as though she didn¡¯t give a damn. ¡°It¡¯s no use unless this mommy here agrees.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Yuying suddenly approached Zhao Fenglei and said in a whisper, ¡°It won¡¯t be your turn even if this mommy is gang-r*ped.¡±

    ¡°You!!!¡± Zhao Fenglei almost went mad with anger. He pointed at Zhao Yuying but couldn¡¯t find the words to say.

    Zhao Yuying had suppressed her voice, but it was enough for everyone nearby to hear. It could be assumed that this news would spread to every corner of the Zhao n before long. Zhao Yuying was well known for shooting her mouth off, and it wouldn¡¯te as a big surprise to anyone. Only Zhao Fenglei would turn into aughingstock.

    Zhao Xiuzhu, on the side, couldn¡¯t help but wear a smile. Zhao Yuying red at him and asked unceremoniously, ¡°What are you grinning about?¡±

    Zhao Xiuzhu, on the other hand, was still smiling as he replied, ¡°I felt that I shouldn¡¯t be staying out of matters during these troubled times, so I decided to end my origin power purification in advance and breakthrough to the champion rank. These days, I was fortunately able to produce the phenomenon of violet qi pirs dividing the north and south. Sigh, although it can be considered passable, I¡¯m far, far behind Jundu.¡±

    These words seemed humble, but in truth, he was quite pleased with himself. Such a phenomenon was probably only second to Zhao Jundu among all the descendants who cultivated the West Pole Violet Qi. Zhao Yuying¡¯s cultivation art was a different school and couldn¡¯t bepared directly, but they were probably not too far off, judging from the quality of his visual phenomena.

    Zhao Yuying only nodded at his self-praise before pouring it out through the other ear. She reached out to pat Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°It¡¯s your turn. Remember to make it lively, lest this mommy loses face.¡±

    Qianye nodded. But how could he guarantee something like a visual phenomenon?

    Zhao Yuying dragged an old man in attendant¡¯s clothing and whispered something. Then, she returned and said softly, ¡°I just asked. Only Jundu and Xiuzhu have used the Marrow Cleansing Pond in the recent period. Jundu used up a third, and that idiot Zhao Xiuzhu¡¯s consumption is negligible. More than half of the origin distite remains, so you don¡¯t need to hold back. Use it all up! It¡¯s one of Zhao Fenglei¡¯s cousins after your turn. Let him wait!¡±

    Qianye onlyughed. Zhao Yuying was merely speaking vicious words¡ªan over-intake of external origin power could cause his body to burst apart. Qianye clearly remembered what had happened in the Song n¡¯s sky grade cultivation chamber. Add to that the fact that his origin power requirements would grow exponentially at each advancement, it shouldn''t be a problem to surpass Zhao Xiuzhu.

    The bell rang at this point, indicating that the time was nigh. A number of stewards from the Fortune Courtyard led Qianye through two doors to arrive just outside the pond.

    The stewards exined how to use the pond and things to pay attention to. Then, they had him remove all his clothes and essories. The articles were ced in a designated location where a specialized staff would keep watch. The value of the origin distite within the Marrow Cleansing Pond couldn¡¯t be calcted in gold coins. This could be considered a way of preventing people from smuggling the distite away.

    Qianye pushed open the simple wooden door before him and entered a small, exquisite courtyard. In the middle of thispound was a pond cut out from stones of various colors. Several gemstone steps led into its deep, jade-green waters. The contents of the pond were rolling about as though it were boiling.

    The water surface was suffused with a lingering mist, as if there were stackingyers of clouds upon it that rose past the banks by quite a bit. However, not a strand of mist seeped out of the pond as though there was an invisible wall holding them in.

    Qianye activated the Eyes of Truth and found that the mist was actually made up of dense, tangible origin power, while the pond was filled with a liquefied form.

    Qianye took a deep breath at the side of the pond and felt the origin power in his body be much more active. He moved forward along the steps and entered the pond. He then rxed his body andy down, slowing sinking to the bottom of the pond.

    The water wasn¡¯t hot at all, but Qianye could feel waves of scalding pain on his skin as though red-hot steel nails were piercing his skin continuously. This little pain was nothing to Qianye¡ªhe quickly pulled back his concentration and slowly circted his origin power ording to the chant the stewards had provided him.

    As the origin power started to flow within his vessels, Qianye soon felt a deep force continuously drawing upon the origin power from his nodes and aggregating them in his chest. Strands of origin power began to revolve and gradually took the form of a fledgling vortex.

    This was the Zhao n¡¯s secret art tailored for use in the Marrow Cleansing pond. It was capable of raising the chances of a sessful advancement. This was where the foundations of a major ny.

    The vortex had just taken shape when the origin distite in the pond turned into a scalding hot stream which gushed in through his nodes, mixed with his origin power and rushed toward the newly formed origin vortex in his chest.

    Qianye¡¯s umtions were extremely deep. Not only was his origin power capacity several timesrger than ordinary rank-nine warriors, but each and every drop of it was also pure to the extreme. He was at the end of all progress.

    However, this was only the first step. His origin power vortex had to grow continuously all the way to its limit before reaching the most critical moment¡ªthat was where the essence of the Marrow Cleansing Pondy.

    But the stage of condensing qi into a vortex was exceptionally slow and long. No matter how much origin power poured in, he was like a bottomless hole capable of devouring everything clean. Meanwhile, there seemed to be very little change in the vortex. It would expand every so slightly only after a long time.

    Qianye was in no rush, either; he was neither arrogant nor impatient. He entered a state of emptiness and forgot about the flow of time.

    Within the Fortune Courtyard, Zhao Yuying had climbed up to the third floor of the building. This ce was usually reserved for the elders of the n. However, those old men had no interest in watching Qianye ascend¡ªonly the younger generation paid him attention.

    In truth, all the young descendants in the n were fairly curious about Qianye. Zhao Jundu had caused quite a stir back then when he announced that he would take in an adopted brother. His authority grew exponentially after advancing to the champion rank, and even the n elders were no longer willing to go against his will regarding this small matter. As such, it could be considered settled.

    Because of this, it was only natural that everyone wanted to know just what was so special about Qianye that even Zhao Jundu had to view him favorably.

    It was just that most Zhao n descendants were too proud to admit that they were inferior to Qianye without even fighting him. They didn¡¯t feel that he would produce any visual phenomena, either. No visions meant that there was nothing toprehend, and attending the ritual would be a pure waste of time. Only Zhao Fenglei and Zhao Xiuzhu had a different idea; they were looking to shame Qianye ruthlessly in front of Zhao Yuying.

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t hold back at all. She climbed right up to the third floor and upied the central table, even ordering people to deliver wine and dishes. There, she drank and ate with great gusto while reading a secret volume.

    Qianye¡¯s ascension might take a couple of days or even longer, and it was inevitable that she would be bored. However, Zhao Yuying was determined to sit here personally and watch from the beginning to the end, lest certain people y tricks during Qianye¡¯s advancement.

    Zhao Yuying was feeling quite carefree and leisurely, but the others couldn¡¯t enjoy such treatment. Zhao Fenglei and Zhao Xiuzhu duly seated themselves on the second floor. They weren¡¯t willing to meet Zhao Yuying on the third floor just yet because that would truly be seeking awkwardness.

    The early phases of advancement for normal people were mostly calm and uneventful. Having nothing better to do, Zhao Xiuzhu asked Zhao Fenglei, ¡°Cousin, I heard you¡¯ve met Qianye before. Do you think this person has any chance of winning Yuying¡¯s affection?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei shot up from his seat and asked furiously, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    Zhao Xiuzhu wasn¡¯t afraid at all as he replied with a smile, ¡°I just feel that this Qianye might shock everyone with a single brilliant feat. Who knows?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei sneered, ¡°He¡¯s just a kid Old Four picked up from some unknown ce. An overnight rise to fame? This is simply not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth. Yuying is just temporarily muddled. She¡¯lle to herself sooner orter.¡±

    Zhao Xiuzhuughed radiantly after hearing this. Although no one could say it out loud, many people were already making guesses in secret. For someone with Zhao Jundu¡¯s temperament to view Qianye as his brother, maybe he really might have some Zhao n blood. But the n rules were strict, and it wasn¡¯t so easy for external descendants to return to their ancestry.

    There were also talks about how Duke Chengen and Princess Gaoyi had met Qianye personally¡ªnow, that was thought-provoking. Even if people had an axe to grind, it would be unwise to act rashly without fully understanding the truth.

    Zhao Fenglei was resentful upon seeing Zhao Xiuzhu¡¯s expression. However, Zhao Xiuzhu was the grandson of Duke Yan¡¯s third brother. Although thetter was inferior to him in status, the visual phenomena produced during his ascension proved that he was still above Zhao Fenglei in terms of talent. It was a certainty that Zhao Xiuzhu¡¯s future status would rise¡ªeven if it probably wouldn¡¯t exceed Zhao Fenglei, he wasn¡¯t someone thetter could casually lecture, either.

    Zhao Xiuzhu naturally knew when to stop. The two were of the same branch, closely rted, and also had the same enemies. There was no way they would start an internal fight in Fortune Courtyard.

    It was at this time that some footsteps rang out from the stairs, and it was actually Zhao Ruoxi who appeared.

    The two immediately stood up and greeted her at the same time. But Zhao Ruoxi only shot them a nce and continued onto the third floor without even bothering to smile.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Zhao Fenglei¡¯s face was red, and he was so angry that he couldn¡¯t speak. As the eldest grandson of Duke Yan, his status in the n was extremely high. Throughout the residence, how many people dared not give him any face?

    Unfortunately, however, the twodies on the third floor belonged to that group. Zhao Fenglei still dared to talk back at Zhao Yuying, but he didn¡¯t even have the confidence to retort in front of Zhao Ruoxi. Seriously speaking, Zhao Ruoxi, with her Red Spider Lily, was alreadyparable to all the elders in status. Her position was quite aloof in front of the younger generation¡ªeven Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t surpass her before his ascension.

    Zhao Ruoxi ran up to the third floor as though she were riding on the clouds and sat down across Zhao Yuying. She then proceeded to give thetter an extremely ill-willed re.

    Zhao Yuying was quite surprised. She had rarely had dealings with Zhao Ruoxi although she was quite close to Zhao Junhong and Zhao Jundu, not to mention they were also quite different in their temperaments.

    Seeing Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s torrential momentum, Zhao Yuying simply couldn¡¯t recall when she had ever offended the young girl. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Did I provoke you in some way?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi said with a cold voice, ¡°When Qianyees out, he¡¯ll move to my ce from yours.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression sank as she replied coldly, ¡°Isn¡¯t it Jundu¡¯s residence that he should be moving to? Are you trying to order me about?¡±

    Zhao Yuying reached out and instantly brought Mountain Splitter into her hand. She had actually brought this hand-cannon of extreme firepower along. It would seem she hade well-prepared, and Mountain Splitter would fire immediately at anyone who so much as tried to do anything to Qianye.

    Unexpectedly, Zhao Ruoxi also ced her little hand on the table, and in her grasp was the Red Spider Lily. Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyelids twitched as an uncontroble chill rushed up from the bottom of her heart and her entire body froze up. She couldn¡¯t move at all!

    The Red Spider Lily was a Grand Magnum of the present age, while Zhao Yuying was in an injured state. After being locked down by its killing intent, she only felt her surroundings freeze up as she lost the ability to resist.

    ¡°You¡¯re mad!¡± Zhao Yuying had never expected Zhao Ruoxi would really use the Red Spider Lily. This was the Zhao n! A st from this gun would turn not only Zhao Yuying but also the entire building into dust.

 Volume 5 - 466: Daybreak Once More

    [V5C173 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    ¡°Let Qianye move out,¡± Zhao Ruoxi said word by word.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s character waspletely fearless, and she wasn¡¯t willing to express weakness even whenpletely suppressed. She immediately sneered, ¡°You want to threaten this mommy? Dream on!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes flickered with surprising killing intent.

    It was at this time that an iparably cold murderous spirit broke through the Red Spider Lily¡¯s ¡°Nether River¡± domain. The three-meter long ughter cut across the table to separate Zhao Ruoxi and Zhao Yuying.

    ¡°Duke Chengen!¡±

    ¡°Father!¡±

    The person who had arrived on the third floor was indeed Duke Chengen, Zhao Weihuang. With his strength and ughter¡¯s power as a divine weapon of the generation, the Red Spider Lily was temporarily suppressed. Naturally, part of the reason was that Zhao Ruoxi hadn¡¯t activated the weapon with all her might.

    Zhao Ruoxi was greatly astonished after seeing Zhao Weihuang appear. ¡°Howe you¡¯re here? Mother¡­¡± She suddenly stopped because the past shouldn¡¯t be spoken of in public. Otherwise, Zhao Ruoxi wouldn¡¯t have hesitated until today to appear beside Qianye, either.

    Zhao Yuying was simrly surprised. She knew that Qianye was Zhao Weihuang¡¯s bastard son, but Duke Chengen¡¯s appearance made their rtionship clear. The more he cared about Qianye, the uglier Princess Gaoyi¡¯s countenance would be.

    Zhao Weihuang, on the other hand, didn¡¯t seem very concerned. He only said ¡°no matter¡± before sitting down at the central table.

    Zhao Yuying and Zhao Ruoxi shot hateful nces at each other before taking their individual seats. The two could no longer fight with Zhao Weihuang present. Moreover, it was even more inappropriate to bring up the reason for their quarrel.

    Zhao Weihuangughed loudly when he saw the table full of food and drinks. He ced ughter on the table, still unsheathed, and proceeded to pour himself a drink. ¡°Yuying, you really know how to enjoy life. Not only did you pick a good ce, but you even prepared wine and dishes to go with it.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was somewhat embarrassed. ¡°This momm¡ªI mean I wasn¡¯t expecting you to arrive.¡±

    The third floor was usually reserved for the elders, but there was really no harm in letting some daring descendants like Zhao Yuying to use it asionally behind their backs. However, things were a bit awkward now with Duke Chengen¡¯s arrival.

    It was at this time that Duke You¡¯s voice came from the staircase, ¡°Yuying was only helping me reserve a seat.¡±

    This time, even Zhao Weihuang stood up in astonishment. In terms of seniority, he was one generation Duke You¡¯s junior. It was just that the two were both dukes, and the former was n lord, so they never observed familial etiquette in public¡ªonly imperialws.

    Zhao Xuanji slowly climbed up the stairs. His gaze paused slightly on ughter and Red Spider Lily upon the table, then smiled as though he had realized something. ¡°It seems you¡¯re in good spirits, Weihuang. You¡¯re even nning to liven things up with a sword-dance.¡±

    Zhao Weihuangughed loudly as he returned ughter to its scabbard and put it to one side. He then offered Duke You a seat before ring at Zhao Ruoxi and shouting, ¡°Why haven¡¯t you put away the Red Spider Lily? This gun isn¡¯t for you to y with.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi holstered her gun unwillingly and sat brooding in silence. She wasn¡¯t quite willing to give face even with two dukes, including her father, present.

    Zhao Xuanji sat down beside Zhao Weihuang and asked, ¡°Did Yuying cause any trouble?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was immediately dissatisfied and said angrily, ¡°Nonsense! This mommy is so kind and virtuous.¡±

    Zhao Yuying knew immediately that she had spoken inappropriately¡ªshe quickly halted her words and shrunk back. Zhao Xuanji had gained fame for several decades and enjoyed great prestige. Even Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t dare to be too unrestrained in front of him. This ¡°mommy¡± would very likely result in several months of allowance reduction.

    ¡°What brings Duke You to the Fortune Courtyard. Could it be¡­¡± Zhao Weihuang didn¡¯t finish his words.

    Zhao Xuanji only said, ¡°I think Duke Yan is about to arrive too.¡±

    His voice hadn¡¯t even ended when Duke Yan¡¯s voice rang out, ¡°It seems Xuanji understands me the most.¡±

    At this point, all three dukes of the Zhao n were present. After Duke Yan took a seat, Zhao Weihuang shot an inquiring nce at the two dukes.

    The Dukes You and Yan nced at one another, but it was Duke you who replied, ¡°There are no outsiders here, so it¡¯s fine to say it. Weihuang, you also know how much Jundu insisted on this matter. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s identity is also special. So, us old men wanted to take this opportunity to see just how much potential this child has. If there¡¯s a chance he can be brought up, we don¡¯t mind contributing some strength to protect him.¡±

    Duke Yan nodded. ¡°Xuanji is right. Our Zhao n¡¯s fate for the next hundred years rests solely on Jundu¡¯s shoulders. The matter from back then was probably premeditated by those people, and we failed to guard against them at that time. But it¡¯ll be a huge joke if we still can¡¯t protect our family¡¯s child after so many years.¡±

    A sternness shed through Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes as he said with a smile, ¡°Let¡¯s see then!¡±

    The three dukes thus sat there, as lofty as a mountain peak, as deep as the abyss.

    With the three dukes present, the two young girls could only apany them obediently. It was nothing special for Zhao Ruoxi. She was normally so quiet that her presence was hardly discernible¡ªit wasn¡¯t a problem for her to sit for an entire day. For Zhao Yuying, however, it wasplete torment as she really wasn¡¯t one to sit still. If not for Qianye¡¯s advancement, she would have never sat down to guard this ce. Now that everyone before her was a senior, she had to maintain a basic sitting disposition, and that was inexplicably distressing for her.

    Only a while had passed yet Zhao Yuying was already twisting and turning in her seat. She felt awkward throughout her entire body and wanted nothing more than to poke herself with a de for a couple of times¡ªmaybe that would make her feel morefortable.

    An evening passed in this manner and dusk gradually approached. There was still no signs of movement from the Marrow Cleansing Pond, but the three dukes sat as firm as Mount Tai.

    Several waves of people approached the Fortune Courtyard quietly but left just as stealthily after finding the three dukes present.

    Zhao Fenglei and Zhao Xiuzhu had already sat for quite some time. They couldn¡¯t leave now that the three dukes had suddenly arrived, or they would bebeled as impatient by the seniors above. The others didn¡¯t even enter this small building and that was as it should be¡ªwhat was there to see in the advancement of a secondary residence disciple? Those who came must have a reason for doing so.

    How could their actions escape the notice of the three dukes? The trio exchanged knowing nces but didn¡¯t say anything unnecessary.

    At this moment, in the Fortune Courtyard, several attendants were running back and forth, their heads drenched in sweat. One of them ran over to the steward and said in a whisper, ¡°Sire, something¡¯s not right! The speed of origin distite consumption is oddly fast. This is only the first day, and he¡¯s already used up a portion of it. At this rate, it won¡¯t evenst another two days.¡±

    The steward was shaken. ¡°Have you checked everything?¡±

    ¡°Our brothers have just checked everything thoroughly. There¡¯s no problem! We¡¯ve checked every corner. Could it be¡­¡±

    The steward immediately cut the attendant short, ¡°Nonsense! We watched him as he entered. How can it be? Making irresponsible remarks while the three dukes are up there, do you not want to live anymore?¡±

    The steward shrunk back in shock, but he still retorted in dissatisfaction, ¡°But the consumption is too great. That¡¯s almost the same rate as Young Master Jundu! He¡¯s taken in so much, yet there¡¯s not even a visual phenomenon.¡±

    The steward suddenly drew in a breath of cold air. ¡°This means that the phenomena will be quite extreme when they do appear!¡±

    It was at this moment that the attendant was dumbstruck as he gazed at the steward''s feet. Thetter nced down in puzzlement and found that a scarlet hue had appeared at some point. It was flowing over the ground like water and had already submerged his feet.

    The steward was greatly astonished and jumped up reflexively. The scarlet color gradually spread outward like a tide, and nothing including the trees, shrubs, and rocks could stop it.

    The stewardnded back on his feet and stepped right into the waves of light, but there wasn¡¯t the slightest ripple. At this point, he suddenly understood what was going on. He quickly nced toward the Marrow Cleansing Pond and whispered, ¡°A visual phenomenon!¡±

    The attendant saw the continuously expanding flow of light and said in a daze, ¡°T-This radius is almost equal to Young Master Jundu''s.¡±

    The old steward, who had been guarding the pond for many years, had aplicated expression on his face. ¡°The radius isparable, but the quality is somewhat inferior. However, this is just the beginning!¡±

    At this moment, three peerless tyrannical intents swept over the Marrow Cleansing Pond. The three dukes atop the building had noticed the phenomenon.

    The scarlet flow of light spread out to cover the entire Fortune Courtyard before stopping its advance.

    At the second floor window, Zhao Xiuzhu¡¯s expression was solemn, but he was still able to keep hisposure. He said with an indifferent expression, ¡°The quantity is there, but the quality isn¡¯t. It can barely be included in the superior ss.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei, on the other hand, was gnashing his teeth and simply couldn¡¯t disguise his resentment. Even if it wascking in quality, the quantity alone was enough to suppress him with much to spare.

    The three dukes on the third floor remained unmoved as they watched on. Zhao Yuying, on the other hand, leapt out of her seat and cheered. She ced a foot on the chair and cried out, ¡°This visual phenomenon isn¡¯t bad at all. It¡¯s even catching up to Little Four¡¯s in terms of radius!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was also overjoyed, but her little face immediately sank after seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s cheerful demeanor. One of her hands slowly crept toward the Red Spider Lily.

    Duke You shot Zhao Yuying a nce and said, ¡°Look at yourself, so coarse and impatient! Sit down this instant!¡±

    The depth of origin power Qianye had disyed just now was indeed above the average, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to get into their discerning eyes. After reaching a higher level, the purity of one¡¯s origin power was much more important than its depth and quantity. Moreover, it would directly impact one¡¯s future potential after crossing over to the champion rank.

    At this moment, Zhao Fenglei snorted loudly and couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°It¡¯s just a greater amount of origin power. What¡¯s the use of that without any special abilities?!¡± His voice was raised, but it wasn¡¯t that loud because he feared the people on the third floor. However, those upstairs were all extraordinary individuals, and they heard everything quite clearly.

    The expressions of the three dukes remained unchanged like an ancient well. In truth, what Zhao Fenglei said wasn¡¯t wrong. A vast store of origin power was perhaps an asset to ordinary champions, but it could only graze the superior rank in a major n like the Zhao.

    The flow of scarlet had already stopped expanding within the Fortune Courtyard, and it was slightly smaller than Zhao Jundu¡¯s. However, the flow of light suddenly moved on its own and began to form numerous ripples as specks of golden light emerged throughout its sphere. At a nce, it looked as though countless stars were extending into the distance.

    The three dukes were moved at the same time!

    Zhao Weihuang shot up from his seat, barely able to disguise the joy in his heart. He cried out involuntarily, ¡°Venus Dawn! It really is Venus Dawn!¡±

    Dawn brings light but when Venus appears, all bes brilliant.

    At this moment, the golden lights increased progressively and formed a sea of stars which floated above the Fortune Courtyard. Later on, streams of golden light would even emerge from amidst the scarlet glow.

    Duke Yan¡¯s eyes flickered with astonishment as he nodded. ¡°True! The prismatic lights of daybreak as Venus moves the stars. It truly is Venus Dawn!¡±

 Volume 5 - 467: Reaching for the Heavens

    [V5C174 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Zhao Weihuang, at this moment, noticed that he had lost hisposure. He duly returned to his seat but couldn¡¯t wipe the grin off his face.

    The dukes You and Yan also nodded repeatedly. With their status and authority in the Zhao n, it was only natural that they would hear things ordinary people wouldn¡¯t. For instance, how this Venus Dawn was the reason Zhao Junhong had once lost in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    Venus Dawn was considered an origin power closest to the ultimate source of daybreak. It was powerful because of its purity. Although it possessed no special offensive abilities on its own, it wasn¡¯t restricted by any attribute, either. Judging from Qianye¡¯s visual phenomena, it was already sufficient to pour the Zhao n¡¯s resources into raising him.

    It was just that the two dukes felt some regret after recalling the matters of the past. Qianye¡¯s potential would be even greater if he wasn¡¯t captured¡ªbut the past was gone, and there was no way to change it. Moreover, the choice between the master of the Red Spider Lily and a future divine champion wasn¡¯t just about talent and strength. There was also the general situation and bigger picture to consider.

    The atmosphere within the Immortal Manor grew more rxed after the visual phenomena appeared. The three dukes began to chat andugh. The things they talked about were the major events of the world and the instability of the imperial court which seemed unrted to the issue at present. However, they had already reached a tacit agreement on the many things hidden within their seemingly light-hearted conversation.

    At this moment, the specks of golden light hadn¡¯t receded¡ªon the contrary, they were growing higher and higher. First, they reached one¡¯s waist and gradually rose to the treetops. Suddenly, a type of profound umtion spread throughout the entire Fortune Courtyard as though a mountain rain was about to fall.

    The night sky, at first, was clear as far as the eye could see, but no one knew when dark clouds had suddenly appeared. They gathered from every direction and covered up the entire firmament in the blink of an eye¡ªit was as though the canopy of the sky was about to drop down. Starlight fell like rain as the sky almost toppled over. The hue of the scarlet flow also turned deeper as waves started to form upon it. Each wave grew higher than the next, akin to the deep sea before a tempest.

    The great waves raged like the tides as a vortex appeared in the blink of an eye. A sudden p of thunder rang out! An inexplicable pressure tore the void apart and formed patches of darkness in the sky. Thereafter, boundless void energy poured down like a waterfall and into the deep sea below!

    An immeasurable amount of void origin power poured into the great sea every second¡ªit was enough to cause an ordinary champion to explode.

    The old steward and the attendant were both petrified on the spot as they stared up at the giant interweavingcerations in the void. Everyone was so busy gazing at this apocalypse-like scene that not one person noticed how the origin distite within the Marrow Cleansing pond was decreasing rapidly¡ªall its reserves had already been exhausted.

    At the bottom of the Marrow Cleansing Pond, Qianye sat with his eyes tightly closed and his chest heaving up and down. He could hear a faint pulsation akin to the beating of a primordial drum as the origin power poured down from the void and entered the origin vortex in his chest.

    At the core of this origin vortex was the deepest of darkness capable of devouring everything. Even influx of such a vast amount of void origin power and Marrow-Cleansing origin distite was only able to produce a slow expansion.

    Within the Fortune Courtyard, a speck of radiance suddenly emerged at the center of the great sea vortex¡ªa resplendent piece of golden-colored crystal floating on the water surface. After the first, there was a second, then a third, and this went on endlessly.

    In an instant, the countless crystals shot out from the vortex core and flew around each other. It was as though a great path had been paved from a river of stars, connecting the heaven and earth!

    The brilliant might caused the entire world to grow dim inparison, and all life lost their voices.

    The three Zhao n dukes atop the Immortal Manor gazed at the visual phenomena with bated breaths.

    The vision came swiftly and left just as fast. It blossomed like a night-blooming-cactus and vanished immediately afterward. The several attendants in Fortune Courtyard were rubbing their eyes, unsure whether they had just seen a heavenly vision or if it was just an illusion.

    The Immortal Manor waspletely silent. Momentster, Zhao Weihuang asked with a frown, ¡°What was that vision just now? Is it good or bad?¡±

    At this moment, Zhao Weihuang was also at a loss because such a phenomenon had never been described in the Zhao n records.

    Duke Yan said, ¡°The Pivotal Perception ability of the great array under the Marrow Cleansing Pond is born of the same source as Lin Xitang¡¯s Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery. Its ability to induce visual phenomena and judge one¡¯s potential is naturally not inferior to his own. I heard Qianye has never cultivated our Zhao n secret arts, then it¡¯s not surprising for him to produce an unprecedented phenomenon.¡±

    At this moment, Duke You let out a long sigh and said slowly, ¡°Such a grand vision, such a heavenly path! This child¡¯s future is boundless! Boundless!¡±

    Zhao Weihuang felt worry instead of joy after hearing Duke You¡¯s assessment. He said with a frown, ¡°This matter might not be a good thing for Qianye.¡±

    Duke You Zhao Xuanji¡¯s voice turned void as he said word by word, ¡°Issue a silencing order. Today¡¯s matter must not be spoken of. Otherwise, even lineal children and grandchildren shall not be spared from execution! As for the stewards and attendants of Fortune Courtyard, we shall them send all away.¡±

    Zhao Yuying and Zhao Ruoxi felt a chill in their hearts. They knew the actual meaning behind Duke You¡¯s seemingly yed-down word ¡°send away¡±. That even lineal descendants shall be executed wasn¡¯t a joke, either. Zhao Xuanji possessed extreme killing intent during his youth, and his methods were always ruthless. However, he rarely used such harsh words as he grew older throughout the years¡ªbut once spoken, they would be carried out without fail.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s frown remained knitted as heughed wryly. ¡°This is treating the symptoms and not the cause.¡± Dealing with those attendants and stewards would make it even more conspicuous.

    Duke Yanughed calmly and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing so serious. If something really does happen, we¡¯ll adopt the appropriate measures for the situation. Our Swallow Cloud Zhao n and the empire are of the same age. Even if all life and death obstaclese at us, there¡¯s no telling who will be the one destroyed. Well then, since this matter has ended, us two old fellows will leave first. You go and wee Qianye.¡±

    The two dukes¡¯ figures flickered as they vanished from the Immortal Manor. Zhao Yuying and Zhao Ruoxi nced at one another before following Zhao Weihuang down the building and toward the Marrow Cleansing Pond to wait for Qianye¡¯s emergence. As for Zhao Fenglei and Zhao Xiuzhu, Duke Yan would naturally be in charge of restraining them.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes within the Marrow Cleansing pond and discovered himself lying naked at the bottom of the pond. Surprisingly, the entire pool had been drained¡ªthe asional drop of origin distite would fall from the cirction pipe and down onto the bottom of the empty pond.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but be startled. He only noticed momentster that he had absorbed all of the origin distite within the Marrow Cleansing Pond. But Zhao Yuying had told him before that Zhao Jundu used only a third during his advancement. Howe he still felt a bit unsatiated even after draining it all? Just now during the advancement, he had indeed felt that the origin distite wasn¡¯t quite enough.

    Immediately afterward, he looked into his body and found that an origin vortex had reced his nine origin nodes and was rotating slowly but continuously. His origin vortex was formed from intense origin distite¡ªthepletely liquefied form of origin power.

    Qianye flipped over, sat up, and duly exited the Marrow Cleansing Pond. Naturally, there were attendants waiting to return him his clothes and personal belongings as well as to help him get properly dressed.

    After passing through two doors, Qianye saw Zhao Weihuang standing before him.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes narrowed upon seeing Qianye. There was actually a slight feeling of pressure. Qianye had only just advanced to the champion rank but could already make him feel some pressure. Even this negligible degree could be considered quite inconceivable.

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes were like lightning as he scanned Qianye from head to toe. He was astonished as he quickly realized that thetter had formed only one vortex. At the same time, he was also somewhat disappointed. Zhao Jundu became a third-rank champion upon his advancement. After inciting such a terrifying phenomenon, Qianye normally should¡¯ve reached rank two at the very least. Yet in the end, he had only produced a single vortex¡ªa mere rank ten.

    But when his perceptionnded on Qianye¡¯s origin vortex, Zhao Weihuang immediately sensed that thetter¡¯s origin power waspletely liquefied. Moreover, there were crystalline granules osciting within it. Even Zhao Weihaung, someone who had been in a high position for such a long time and seen many capable and distinguished experts, was shaken.

    These shocking crystals were formed from liquefied origin power which had been condensed to the next level. Even after personally witnessing the visual phenomenon just now, Zhao Weihuang had never imagined that Qianye would¡¯ve touched the threshold of origin crystallization.

    Origin crystallization was the prerequisite for a divine champion.

    Even Qianye himself hadn¡¯t imagined such an aplishment. The origin power in his entire body had reached the extremes of purity after being thoroughly refined twice by the Glory Chapter. Add to that the aid of the Marrow Cleansing Pond, he was finally able to take the vital step forward.

    Zhao Weihuang was more worried than delighted as he watched Qianye. He let out a light sigh and asked, ¡°Do you feel any difort?¡±

    ¡°Everything¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good then. Rest well for a couple of days, and don¡¯t over-cultivate.¡± With that, Zhao Weihuang prepared to leave. But he turned back after recalling something, ¡°East Peak has reached the Crafts Manor. You can go and observe the forging process if you have nothing to do. It might be beneficial to your future.¡±

    Upon seeing Qianye nod in response, Zhao Weihuang turned to leave without saying anything else. After he had walked a fair distance, Zhao Ruoxi emerged from the vegetation beside the road and followed him from behind. She had shrunk back at the veryst moment and didn¡¯t let Qianye see her.

    Zhao Weihuang kept walking on for a while before ncing at Zhao Ruoxi. ¡°You¡¯re willing to follow me now?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi ignored the overtone in his words and asked directly, ¡°Do you have any secret arts that can conceal one¡¯s cultivation?¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± Zhao Weihuang frowned.

    ¡°To give Qianye. Didn¡¯t you all just say Qianye¡¯s talents will bring him danger if exposed?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang looked pensive, but he still shook his head in the end. ¡°This matter can¡¯t be hidden from people with intentions. Moreover, I see that his martial dao is a path of breaking through everything with strength, seeking the profound in simplicity and walking straight ahead. He¡¯s not suited to hiding about. Besides, which expert of the present generation didn¡¯t kill countless powerful enemies and walk out from amidst blood and mes? Even I, your father, had to go through several near-death experiences in order to get to where I am today.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi remained silent, and no one knew what she was thinking. It was just that the grasp on her Red Spider Lily tightened.

    News spread fast via bribery. Before long, the entire Zhao residence knew that Qianye had encountered a setback during his advancement. Even the attendants of the Fortune Courtyard were dismissed and were, after a couple of days, dispatched to remote family branches. Additionally, Qianye was actually found to possess the top-ranking talent, Venus Dawn, and managed to advance to the champion rank despite the twists and turns. However, he was only rank-ten.

    This news exined why Zhao Jundu cared so much about this Qianye. But the Zhao n bloodline was excellent, and there was no shortage of rank-skippers among the descendants qualified to enter the Marrow Cleansing Pond. Apart from Duke Chengen¡¯s fourth young master, almost all of them would reach rank-eleven at least. This was also true for half of Duke Yan and You¡¯s scions. Although the Venus Dawn talent was rare, the inability to convert it into truebat strength was rather unconvincing to the masses.

    Ignoring all the matters that would follow, Qianye was now only rank-ten and this caused many a young disciple to extinguish thoughts of seeking him out for a fight. Some of the more radical ones expressed disdain, iming that amoner was still amoner¡ªpossessing talent butpletely useless. They were resentful that he had taken up a quota for nothing.

    But although Zhao Jundu was leading troops outside at the moment, Qianye had that fiend Zhao Yuying near him. Hence, no one was willing to provoke him despite their dissatisfaction.

    What surprised everyone was that Zhao Fenglei, who had been very interested in Qianye all this time, was suddenlycking in enthusiasm. He would find a reason to leave whenever a simr topic popped up, and no one dared inquire further after seeing his gloomy expression.

    The happenings within the Fortune Courtyard were limited to a small circle of people¡ªat least for the time being. As such, Qianye¡¯s days in the Mountain Splitter Courtyard was unexpectedly peaceful and leisurely.

    On Evernight Continent, however, a tempest was brewing.

    Things seemed unchanged, but in truth, the gradually expanding or shrinking borders of the Iron Curtain had finally settled down. The observers from the imperial military confirmed this several times before announcing this shocking information. Everyone knew that this signified the arrival of a great change.

    The little town acting as the empire¡¯s frontlinemand center became fairly busy. From noon onward, legions of soldiers and all types of heavy weaponry rolled out continuously. Very soon, the greater half of the town became quite empty. The high-ranking officer residences located around the small barracks to the north of the city became mostly deserted.

    Li Xitang walked out from the central tent in a hurry with several generals and a dozen or so personal guards behind him. His rushed footsteps came to a sudden halt as he nced over at the heroic man in martial attire standing in the middle of the main road leading out of the camp.

    Lin Xitang maintained hisposure, but his expression sank ever so slightly. Zhang Boqian had already spoken without waiting for the former to say anything, ¡°You¡¯re entering the Iron Curtain.¡±

    The five short words didn¡¯t constitute a question but rather, a fact.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s pair of phoenix eyes were deep and profound. His entire body exuded a suppressive might like the dark clouds pressing down upon the city, so much so that even the weather changed slightly in one part of the sky. Leaden clouds appeared out of thin air and blotted out the rarely seen clear-skies. It seemed as though they were pressing continuously down upon the great earth, making it difficult for people to breathe.

 Volume 5 - 468: Opposition

    [V5C175 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The ten-odd aides were the first to crumble under the suppressive might and were forced to retreat. These were all veterans of a hundred wars, but they didn¡¯t have the slightest ability to resist at this moment. The foreheads of the two Northern Legion generals were drenched in sweat, but they still managed to stand their ground.

    The remaining six champions with golden-cloud-lined uniforms belonged to the Thunder Cavalry of the Imperial Guard. They suddenly moved and assumed their positions around Lin Xitang in a protective formation. It was just that they were well-aware just how futile their actions were. Zhang Boqian wouldn¡¯t even need to make a move himself¡ªhis domain alone was enough to take their lives.

    A sh of lightning passed through Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes. It was as though the heaven and earth would be flipped over the very next moment.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s calm voice broke the stifling atmosphere, ¡°Your Excellency, what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    ¡°Even my Green Sun Zhang n has entered the fray under the Iron Curtain. We should let the juniors let loose and fight their way to fame. There¡¯s no need for you to interfere.¡±

    Lin Xitang stood silently without a single fluctuation in his clear eyes. ¡°What is Your Excellency talking about? I was assigned by His Majesty to take full charge of the bloody battle. Training the youths is only one of the reasons. The resources under the Iron Curtain must not fall into the dark race¡¯s hands.¡±

    Zhang Boqian mocked, ¡°The army has been searching for those void crystals for a long time, hasn¡¯t it? It¡¯s not only under the Iron Curtain that these things can be found. They¡¯ve currently been split between the Empire and the Evernight Council in a three to seven ratio¡ªthat¡¯s the extent of it. What results do you hope to gain with people scheming and dragging each other down even before the battle begins?¡±

    He paused for a moment beforeughing coldly, ¡°As for the item Sky Demon is looking for, it¡¯ll appear on its own after the Iron Curtain is drawn. What are you nning to do inside?

    Lin Xitang sighed lightly as though he didn¡¯t want to argue. ¡°Then what is Your Excellency¡¯s opinion?¡±

    Zhang Boqian sneered, ¡°Since you¡¯re here to oversee the bloody battle, then just sit tight and oversee it. We¡¯ll talk about other things when the Iron Curtain opens.¡±

    Lin Xitang remained silent for a moment before saying, ¡°As you wish then.¡±

    Under the Iron Curtain on Evernight Continent, a humanbat squad was resting at the foot of a thousand-meter stone mountain. It seemed the leader wasn¡¯t even thirty¡ªhis figure was frail, and his aura was mediocre¡ªlikely just a rank seven or eight fighter. But those soldiers with extraordinary strength and imposing killing intent were extremely respectful toward him.

    A champion-level scout brought him thetest news as soon as he arrived at the camp. Li Rui¡¯s expression changed as he read the letter and sighed only after pondering for quite a while, ¡°Regarding many matters in this world, man proposes but god disposes. This means that Lin Xitang won¡¯t be able to enter before the Iron Curtain opens up.¡±

    The scout said, ¡°Prince Green Sun suspects that Lin Xitang will deal with the ns himself, so he wants to block the marshal in the frontline camp. Even though His Majesty dispatched the Thunder Cavalry to apany Lin Xitang, if Prince Green Sun is willful and really starts turning violent¡­¡±

    Li Rui naturally understood those unspoken words. He thus nodded helplessly.

    Zhang Boqian was never one to speak reason. He and Lin Xitang had been political enemies for so many years. In the past, they were restricted by the fact that both were officials of the same pce. But since Zhang Boqian ascended to be a heavenly monarch, even the prestige of the Thunder Cavalry probably wouldn¡¯t be of any use. Li Rui was keenly aware of the situation¡ªhe would have also abandoned everything decisively were he in Lin Xitang¡¯s shoes, even if he had a thousand schemes.

    Li Rui secretly cried out in regret¡ªhe had really wanted to see if the Li family¡¯s ¡°Star Sifter Array¡± could destroy the ¡°Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery¡±! They had been setting this up since the beginning of the bloody battle. They had operated with utmost care and meticulousness to bring the chessboard to this state and were only waiting for Lin Xitang to step within range. Now, however, everything had gone to waste.

    ¡°What does my elder brother think?¡± asked Li Rui.

    The champion scout replied, ¡°My Master and Mister Yan both feel that their attempts to recruit Prince Green Sunst time haven¡¯t failedpletely. Perhaps it is an issue of methods. As long as we have amon enemy, there¡¯s no need for Prince Green Sun to support us entirely. It¡¯s fine as long as his attitude leans toward us a bit.

    Li Rui sighed. ¡°This matter is of great importance and requires gradual nning. The most pressing matter is to find a middle-man capable of talking to Prince Green Sun.¡±

    It was a great development for them that Zhang Boqian was willing to stand out and oppose Lin Xitang in public, but mutualmunication was a big problem. Zhang Boqian had always kept to himself and didn¡¯t even bring a single follower during this trip to Evernight Continent. Naturally, there was no way to deliver information into his hands. This ident arising from many factors caused Li Rui¡¯s murderous plot to lose its function entirely.

    The champion scout listened and memorized all the things Li Rui had said before excusing himself.

    Li Rui himself headed toward the cave where he was resting. In a corner of the cavey aplicated machine, an origin array flickering upon the opened worktable. A wisp of intertwined blue and ck seeped out from his palm and washed over the array like water, causing the flickering lights to go out one after another. Li Rui proceeded to take the machine apart piece by piece after the array had stopped operatingpletely.

    In the depths of the Dark Nation on the other end of the Iron Curtain, there was a majestic castle standing atop a mountain range. There was a wide french window in its top-floor study through which one could see thend thousand miles out as though it were underfoot.

    But the most eye-catching was the sky where a clear demarcating line had cut the firmament into two. One side of it was covered in deep darkness akin to an ancient yet magnificent curtain, while the other side was a lofty azure. A small band of stars akin to a gem-studded belt traversed the skies.

    A ck-haired man stood gazing out of the window. He possessed a pair of sapphire eyes and seemed deathly cold when he wasn¡¯t smiling.

    A knock was heard from the door as a count entered and went down to his knees a dozen or so steps near the man. This was a gesture of utmost reverence for the vampire race. The man didn¡¯t reveal a suppressive might as was normal for most of the supreme vampires who held the fate of many others in his hand. However, no matter how gentle his expression, the count didn¡¯t dare raise his head even a little bit. That was because he hade with fairly bad news.

    The count said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Your Excellency Lord Habs, we received news from the human side that the original operation to ambush and kill Marshal Lin Xitang three dayster has been canceled. The n has failed.¡±

    The current lord of the fifth-ranked Sperger n, Grand Duke Habs, didn¡¯t fly into a rage as the count had expected. This revered excellency had remained on Evernight Continent for over ten days for this operation.

    He only raised his brows with an ¡°Oh?¡±.

    ¡°Go tell my beloved human friends that they have slipped up too many times in this bloody battle. The matter regarding the death of Demonkin Viscount Luther from the Jeruson n has yet to be settled. We should take the time to think carefully aboutpensation before our next operation!¡± At this point, Habs suddenly recalled something. ¡°How goes the marriage between Faras and the Monroe Princess?¡±

    The count shrunk back even more as he replied in a trembling voice, ¡°Still¡­ negotiating¡­¡± But he also knew that this matter had dragged on for a long time. The grand duke wasn¡¯t going to be very happy with this reply.

    However, the count was extremely lucky today. Habs waved his hand dismissively and said, ¡°No matter, the Monroes have always failed to see the situation clearly. The Evernight council is making preparations to deal with Sky Demon and have thrown in a great number of chips. The Monroe n will be begging to join us when that supreme existence wakes up. You may go now.¡±

    Supreme existence! Just who could make a grand duke refer to him like so? The astonished count was drenched in cold sweat as he withdrew respectfully.

    Habs continued gazing out of the window. He muttered to himself while surveying the depths of the Iron Curtain, ¡°Lin, your empress¡¯ family is spending such an enormous price to kill you. Then what difference is there between your race and us descendants of sacred blood?¡±

    Night had fallen on the Western Continent, and there was a chill in the wind.

    Those who were still on the road would subconsciously draw their clothes tighter in order to resist thete-winter cold.

    The atmosphere within the Lucid Calm Pce was as warm as the radiant spring. The pre-set origin array provided a steady stream of warmth, and faint streams of steam would gush out from the corners and behind the pirs to prevent the hall from drying out.

    Princess Gaoyi was resting somewhatnguidly on the couch, and there was a violet gold handwarmer in her arms despite the warmth in the hall. The warmer was exquisitely made, and its surface had been brightly polished¡ªapparently, it was a toy she had yed with for many years.

    Although she lived like a princess every day, it was clear that her face was abnormally pale, and the fingertips rubbing on the hand-warmer were as cold as before. This was an old disease no number of hand-warmers could remedy.

    The old man whom Qianye had met before was leaning over beside the couch, recounting in detail the things that had taken ce in Fortune Courtyard.

    Princess Gaoyi¡¯s brows rose when she heard Duke You¡¯s assessment, ¡°A grand vision, a path to the heavens¡±, but her expression quickly returned to normal. Such a major development only caused her to be moved slightly.

    After listening to everything, Princess Gaoyi said calmly, ¡°My husband has been worried for many years. He should feel reassured now that Qianye possesses such an aplishment.¡±

    A wisp of worry shed across the old man¡¯s face. ¡°But it seems the imperial son-inw hasn¡¯tpletely let go of the matters back then, and there¡¯s no telling what Qianye thinks of it, either.¡±

    Princess Gaoyiughed, ¡°The choice back then was made to save Xi¡¯er¡¯s life and I am her mother. There¡¯s no way I can escape this implication. But so what? It¡¯s enough that Xi¡¯er is finally able to grow up safe and sound.¡±

    The old man¡¯s eyes were someone moist. He cast his gaze downward before speaking in a hushed voice, ¡°I fear that the person behind the matter back then won¡¯t leave things like this. Shouldn¡¯t you inform the imperial son-inw?¡±

    Princes Gaoyi replied indifferently, ¡°If my husband believes me, he¡¯ll naturally be able to see the clues. If he doesn¡¯t¡­¡±

    The atmosphere in the room became tense, and the old man only looked down in silence. The warmth from the origin array rolled through the hall but that which passed over the skin was a chill from the heart.

    Princess Gaoyi spoke only after a short while, ¡°That woman probably never imagined that she would gain nothing at all after all the scheming. In the end, she couldn¡¯t even send the lowest of concubines into the family throughout the years.¡± Her petal-like lips curled up slightly as a faint trace of delight emerged on her distant expression. ¡°The Swallow Cloud Zhao n is a thousand-year n established together with the empire, not something an upstart family like hers formed from marriage canpete with!¡±

    The old man said after some thought, ¡°Princess, this old servant has something absurd to say.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi¡¯s expression calmed down and sighed. ¡°Elder Attendant, you¡¯re someone who has watched me grow up. You can say anything.¡±

    The old man suppressed his voice and said, ¡°This servant thinks Princess should take Young Noble Qianye under your name.¡±

    Even with her powers of concentration, the princess nearly dropped the handwarmer after hearing these words. She pondered deeply and then gradually collected herself before saying, ¡°A bastard son can¡¯t be added to the ancestral registry. Moreover, the imperial son-inw happens to be n lord at the moment, which means that even if his bastard son is added to the Zhao n family register, the matter would have to be reported to the Imperial Court. The entire process is fairly troublesome.¡±

 Volume 5 - 469: Forging

    [V5C176 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    The old man replied, ¡°It¡¯s precisely because things aren¡¯t easy that you should share the burden with the imperial son-inw. The empire is presently going through troubled times, and it will be more difficult for Young Master Qianye to return to his ancestry than before. After all, we have left the imperial capital for many years, and there¡¯s no one reliable left at the noble ancestry archives. Anyone looking to stir up havoc can easily make his move during the bloodline talent assessment and once again destroy Young Master Qianye¡¯s foundation. The imperial son-inw probably hasn¡¯t brought up the matter of Qianye¡¯s return to ancestry because of this.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi nodded. ¡°Indeed. The maternal family inspection won¡¯t be easy to pass, either. There are so many eyes fixated on husband¡¯s n lord position.¡±

    ¡°Blood rtions are strict, and a foster son cannot inherit noble titles. However, there¡¯s still a lot of room for maneuver, and it''s still a much more respectable position than a normal aristocratic descendant. It won¡¯t be a problem to seek a noble title as long as Young Master Qianye umtes enough military contributions. In this way, there will be a path for him to advance and make up for hiscking identity.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°This matter involves too many things. I must listen to husband¡¯s opinion. Moreover¡­¡± She didn¡¯t continue speaking.

    The old man continued after stealing a nce at the princess¡¯s expression, ¡°As this old servant sees it, in addition to the two young masters Junhong and Jundu¡¯s brotherly affection for Qianye, the young miss also seems to be quite fond of him. It¡¯s understandable that she recalls him warmly since, after all, his origin crystal saved her life.¡±

    ¡°Back then, husband only went out just once¡­¡± Princess Gaoyi sighed and said in a lonely tone of voice, ¡°Let¡¯s do it this way, we¡¯ll have Husband prepare everything else for him. I still have some Dark Crystal Threads in my personal storage. Deliver a bundle of it to the Crafts Manor and have them add it to that East Peak. It should raise the weapon by half a grade. Moreover, you should pay some attention these days and see what he might need.¡±

    ¡°This old servant understands. I¡¯ll go and handle it.¡± The old man hesitated for a while before speaking cautiously, ¡°With the Young Miss in her current physical condition, it seems most of the future burdens will fall on Young Master Jundu¡¯s shoulder despite the other Young Masters¡¯ outstanding talents. It¡¯ll be a good thing if he has another brother to support him, moreover, it¡¯s someone he, himself, selected.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi only waved her hand without saying anything.

    The old man nced back as he was leaving through the pce doors and saw the brightly lit originmps in the hall outlining a blurry, unmoving figure.

    After Qianye had rested for two days in the Mountain Splitter Courtyard, the Crafts Manor dispatched a report saying that East Peak haspleted the first round of tempering and was about to undergo an important forging process. Qianye decided to observe the forging process as per Zhao Weihuang¡¯s instructions, and with Zhao Yuying¡¯s penchant for seeking liveliness, she was naturally rearing to tag along.

    Qianye had originally thought that this so-called Crafts Manor was a ce simr to a workshop¡ªhe thought they would specialize in the traditional hand-made production of exquisite superior armaments. He had never expected that after he had gotten on, the car would drive out of the Zhao n gates and deep into the mountains along the winding road.

    It was clear that this mountain road was specially constructed to amodate four heavy trucks at the same time. Qianye saw no small number of trucks shuttling back and forth along the way. Just from the carrying capacity of these trucks, one could see the amount of resources circting through the Crafts Manor each day.

    Qianye was somewhat surprised to see many heavy trucks loaded with ck stones. It was quite unimaginable that the Zhao Can Crafts Manor would actually need to use ck Stones as an energy source. Many simr facilities in the major ns have already abandoned the use of ck Stones and had switched to ck Crystals instead. Some of the more extravagant ces would even use void-crystals.

    For instance, the Song n¡¯s sky-grade workshop which worked specifically for the lineal descendants and higher-ups of the n was powered entirely by a kic furnace constructed around a void-crystal core. Now, that was high-end. ck stone was considered amoner¡¯s power source among the major ns of the empire.

    Thus, they drove for several dozen kilometers along the mountain road before turning around a mountain pass. Appearing before them at this point was a giant natural rock, on one side of which was carved the words: ¡°Crafts Manor¡±.

    As they went on, the view before Qianye suddenly opened up. Only then did he understand that this so-called Crafts Manor actually took up an entire valley and could even be considered a city.

    The guards at the entrance of the valley checked the proof of passage seriously before an attendant boarded the vehicle to guide the way. This Crafts Manor was replete with main roads, small alleys, zas, and street blocks¡ªit could already be considered a city. Who knew how long it would take to find the right ce if not for the guide.

    There was a kic tower at each corner of the Crafts Manor, each almost a hundred meters tall. Their silvery grey metal walls glittered under the sunlight as white steam from poured out continuously into the sky. Qianye couldn¡¯t help butpare this scene to the cities he had seen. There was no need to discuss ckflow with its single kic tower; the difference between the two was like that of a grown man and a child. Only a county capital like Darkblood was barelyparable.

    After seeing the four kic towers, Qianye realized why he had seen so many ck stone trucks along the way.

    The jeep advanced along the road, driving past the tall, lofty buildings and the asional loaded trucks.

    The rumble of machinery in the valley was deafening. The steam and smoke from thebustion of ck stone mixed together to form a giant pir of smoke extending into the sky. The Crafts Manor was like an iparablyrge steel beast¡ªit continuously devoured metal and ck stones, then spat out all types of armaments.

    Thest time Qianye was shaken by a simr scene was when he first arrived on the Qin Continent many years ago. Back then, he was just a young boy who knew not where his futurey.

    They went all the way into the depths of the Crafts Manor and arrived before a giant structure thousands of meters in radius.

    The attendant introduced things along the way, ¡°Young Noble Qianye, this ce is the core area of the Crafts Manor. Your East Peak¡¯s material is special and requires the use of the Kuafu Press here in order to incorporate the Heavenly Dew Silver into it. Miss Yuying¡¯s Mountain Splitter and Young Master Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament were also forged here.¡± [1]

    Qianye and Zhao Yuying followed the attendant through two sets of doors and into an iparablyrge hall. At the center stood a giant press¡ªit was nearly a hundred meters in height with its four supporting pirs stretching all the way to the roof and each of itsponents as tall as a person. Before this steel-castle-like machine, the working craftsmen resembled little ants as they climbed up and down upon it.

    Countless coiling pipelines stretched out from the press and went to every direction.

    A series of rumbles rang out at this moment. Qianye watched as the iparablyrge machine rose up slowly to reveal the press-bed below. Several craftsmen jumped rapidly onto the press-bed and proceeded to paint East Peak carefully with liquid silver.

    This silvery fluid was Heavenly Dew Silver, and just a small can of it was inconceivably heavy. A palm-sized container actually required two strong men to move around. Qianye scanned them with his True Sight and found that the two strong men were rank-eight fighters, and the three craftsmen painting his sword were unexpectedly champions.

    Momentster, the heavy silver had been painted. The craftsmen applied another thickyer of unknown material atop the heavy silver, ced East Peak in its mold, and arranged it atop the press-bed.

    The craftsmen and workers all jumped down and stood outside of the red indicator line as an ear-piercing bell echoed through the hall. After the bell rang three times, the press spewed out arge cloud of steam as the ram descended and smashed heavily onto the press bed. The movement seemed slow but its actual speed was extremely fast.

    The massive machine trembled and along with it the earth and the great hall¡ªit could be considered a huge quake.

    After the ram rose up, the craftsmen jumped onto the press-bed to pry East Peak out of the mold. They then applied the paint and coating material before switching out a brand new mold; this process was repeated several times. Silver stripes gradually appeared on the de¡¯s body asyer uponyer of heavy silver seeped into East Peak.

    During the gap, the attendants took the time to briefly exin to Qianye the principles and functions of the press. The force produced during the ram¡¯s descent was in the tens of thousands of tons. Even with Qianye¡¯s current strength, he would be ttened a meat patty in the blink of an eye if he were to stand on the press bed.

    Nothing could stop such pressure even if it were to descend slowly.

    Since seeding in the cultivation of the Profound Combatant Form, his attacks were growing stronger by the day, while his dexterity was in gradual decline. Qianye seemed to have gained a vagueprehension as he watched this indefensible ten-thousand-ton press¡ªthe more he gazed, the more engrossed he became.

    East Peak showed subtle changes under the pressure as the Heavenly Dew Silver blended continuously into the sword. After a while, the can of Heavenly Dew Silver had been used up, and the craftsmen opened up yet another one. Qianye noticed a special insignia on the seal of the silver can, one he recalled seeing at Princess Gaoyi¡¯s Lucid Calm Pce.

    He turned toward the preparation area and found three cans of heavy silver, all of thembeled with the princess¡¯s insignia. This Heavenly Dew Silver was so heavy and also able to mend East Peak. Its material nature was wondrous and apparently priceless. Judging from the present situation, Princess Gaoyi¡¯s contribution far surpassed that of Zhao Weihuang. This value of this gift was indeed quite high.

    When Princess Gaoyi mentioned the Heavenly Dew Silver, Qianye hadn¡¯t thought that it would be such an amount. What was the reason for this generous gift? Qianye had already guessed it vaguely.

    Zhao Yuying had also noticed the insignias. She immediately patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°It seems those things are from Princess Gaoyi. Will you use them?¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath and said calmly, ¡°Of course I will. Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged but didn¡¯t say anything. She only continued to apany Qianye in watching the forge work.

    Another can of heavy silver was emptied in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, several batches of craftsmen had already been swapped out as even champions would be drained of origin power after operating the press for three or four times.

    The workers and strongmen were just about to open up a new can of heavy silver when a feminine voice suddenly came through from the side.

    Qianye nced back and saw the elder attendant who had led the way that day walking over quickly with several eunuchs in tow.

    One of the eunuchs presented a circr tube wrapped in golden silk as the elder attendant reached out. The old man greeted Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°Young Master Qianye, the princess ordered this old servant to deliver a bundle of Dark Crystal Thread. Adding this material into the weapon can increase its might.¡±

    ¡°Dark Crystal Thread?!¡± Zhao Yuying was greatly astonished.

    ¡°It is indeed Dark Crystal Thread.¡± He opened the tube and carefully pulled out several hair-like crystal threads, flickering with a faint golden glow. These crystal threads were so thin that it looked like they would break in the breeze. Meanwhile, the elder attendant¡¯s senile appearance was an inevitable cause for worry¡ªthe threads seemed as though they would break into several segments should his hand tremble even slightly.

    The Dark Crystal Thread was a natural medium for the transport of origin power. Any weapon would be able to better amodate origin power and gain greater power after assimting them. This bundle of Dark Crystal Thread was even more valuable than the Heavenly Dew Silver.

    Zhao Yuying shot a nce at Qianye and said meaningfully, ¡°The sword¡¯s price is no longer cheap.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°It has a price, and so do I.¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged. ¡°As long as you understand.¡±

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kua_Fu

    Hydraulic Press Jargon: https://beckwoodpress/articles/hydraulic-press-terminology/

 Volume 5 - 470: A Distance Within Reach

    [V5C177 ¨C A Distance Within Reach]

    Qianye bowed toward the elder attendant and said, ¡°I¡¯ll trouble you to thank the Princess for me.¡±

    The elder attendant¡¯s expression was respectful as he nodded with a smile. He then performed a grasping motion in the air, whereupon East Peak flew out from the mold on the press bed andnded in his hand. It took several strong men a great deal of effort to lift East Peak from the mold, but this process was as easy as drinking a cup of water for this elder attendant.

    The elder attendant ced a strand of Dark Crystal Thread on East Peak¡¯s de and circted a secret art, producing a strand of tangible blue mes on his fingertip. The Dark Crystal thread merged into East Peak as he rubbed the ze along the material¡ªit was iparably wondrous. Afterward, the elder attendant followed the same method to incorporate the Dark Crystal Threads into East Peak one by one. By the time thest strand waspleted, his face had turned pale and his aura was fairly weak.

    Such a marvelous secret art naturally involved a great deal of consumption. Even with the elder attendant¡¯s unfathomable strength, his vitality was greatly drained after performing the art several times.

    ncing at the current East Peak, there were many faint silver stripes akin to watery ripples. If one were to keep staring without turning away, he might just be able to make out a number of thin golden lines among them running all the way from the hilt to its tip.

    The elder attendant handed East Peak to the strong men in order to continue the Heavenly Dew Silver Incorporation. He himself saluted Qianye and said, ¡°The matter has beenpleted. This old servant should report back, so I won¡¯t be apanying Young Master Qianye any longer.¡±

    ¡°Take care.¡± Qianye was also warm and polite for this entire time.

    After sending off the elder attendant, the press resumed its world-shaking rumbles anew as it continued incorporating the remaining heavy silver into East Peak. The sword also started to change somewhat amidst the repeated forging. Its original attributes were being reinforced continuously, and it was bing even more indestructible.

    Qianye felt that he had indeed benefitted after watching the forging process for half a day, but there was no longer a need for him to keep on watching. The rumble of the giant press was still echoing in his ears even after he left the factory doors. The strong men and workers around the press had to wear protective earmuffs; only the champion-level craftsmen could do without them.

    The apanying attendant began introducing the history of the Crafts Manor and the origins of this masterpiece among steam machinery.

    After hundreds of years of blood-soaked struggles in pioneering new territory, the Zhao n gradually established itself on the Western Continent and started expanding. It was then that they spent half of the n¡¯s wealth and several years of construction work to build this press. Then with this machine as the core, they gradually established the Crafts Manor which grew to its present state over two hundred years of development. This giant press had undergone several major modifications, and its performance was several times greater than when it was first designed¡ªit was almost like a new steel beast.

    With this press, they were able to process materials they had never been able to or could only rely on high-ranking champions to do so. For instance, the barrels of Mountain Splitter and Blue Firmament¡ªnot only could the Zhao n produce them on their own, but they could even mass produce them if they had enough materials. For a high-grade origin gun, these were coreponents only second to the origin array in terms of importance. The Zhao n was able to use them to trade for high-grade origin arrays.

    Thus, the core descendants of the Zhao n had nevercked a suitable weapon. For instance, young geniuses like Zhao Yuying and Zhao Junghong were already using weapons up to grade six or seven, abreast with the armaments of an imperial regr army corpsmander. If someone from the n was carrying a grade-five weapon, that wasn¡¯t because the Zhao n couldn''t provide for him, but because he couldn¡¯t use a better weapon just yet.

    This press also had an additional important function, and that was to produce the coreponents for airships. Each airship structuralponent was several meters long and some of therger ones could stretch over ten meters. Those forged as a single piece possessed higher holistic performance than the substitute products put together from smaller parts. As such, the Zhao n¡¯s airships were famous in the empire. Not only would they use it themselves, but they would also take on arge number of orders from the imperial military.

    From this, one could see the difference between the various major ns.

    The Song n¡¯s sky grade workshop had several master craftsmen working for them, solely focusing on origin weapons and armaments grade-eight and above. They would even produce grade-nine firearms from time to time. They produced only a small number of exquisite products in pursuit of the high-end route.

    The Zhao n invested a great deal on the Crafts Manor. Apart from that impressive Kuafu Press, there were several other giant machines each weighing over ten thousand tons. In this manner, they were able to produce a continuous stream of air battleships,bat vehicles, and even fortressponents to bolster the Zhao n¡¯s core martial strength.

    The Zhao n private army¡¯s equipment standards andbat strength were second to none in the empire. With the power of a single n, they were able to defend against the dark race army up front, the rebel army at the back, and were even able to take territories from the dark races. It could be said that these aplishments couldn¡¯t be separated from the establishment of the Crafts Manor.

    East Peak¡¯s forging process required a total of three days. Presently, Qianye had already understood the basic significance of this ten-thousand-ton press. upying it for three working days was an extremely rare opportunity, and the price involved was difficult to calcte.

    The Zhao n¡¯s craftsmen were capable of using this press to reforge East Peak and incorporate the Heavenly Dew Silver into it, raising its strength significantly. From another aspect, this ability was out of the ordinary¡ªthe person who had thought of this method must be a master-level character whose skills were not inferior to Elder Lu.

    Qianye thought about a certain possibility while listening to the attendant¡¯s introduction. If one day the Zhao n¡¯s craftsmen were able tobine traditional hand-crafted perfection with industrial mass-production¡ªrecing masters with machines¡ªthey would be able to produce a steady stream of weapons grade-six and above. It would no longer be a dream for everyone to have such a weapon.

    But Qianye soon shook his head with a smile because this notion wasn¡¯t practical at all. Ignoring where the high-grade raw materials woulde from, there first had to be people capable of using these high-grade weapons even if they were produced. A shot from the most ordinary of grade-six guns could drain warriors below the champion rank of all origin power.

    Qianye only understood Zhao Weihuang¡¯s intentions after returning from the Crafts Manor. This journey gave him benefits on the martial dao, but more importantly, he was able to see the craftsmen themselves and the industrial foundations of a major n that had risen along with the empire. It was one of the pirs preventing the big building that was the Zhao n from falling apart. The other pir was the continuous stream of talented people.

    That which Zhao Weihuang allowed Qianye to see was the core secret of the Zhao n; it was also the operating mechanism of the n¡¯s generation. This broadening of experience and knowledge might not have any noticeable use at the present, but it might take Qianye farther in the future.

    Upon his return, Qianye was immediately informed that Zhao Weihuang wished to see him.

    The meeting this time was within a quiet and ancient-style room. Beyond the open door was a pool of jade-green water with brocaded carps shuttling through the aquatic nts. They would asionally swim close to the door where one could easily scoop them up with a stretch of a hand.

    Zhao Weihuang was wearing a dark, wide-sleeved robe as he sat behind a set of tea brewing utensils. The afternoon sun passed over him and cast his outline onto the floor, drawing out some ancient elegance from his tyrannical image.

    Zhao Weihuang sipped a mouthful of tea after Qianye sat down. ¡°Has your champion realm solidified?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s stable now.¡±

    ¡°Right, your origin power attribute is Venus Dawn, and you have also reached the border of origin crystallization. How can it not be stable?¡± At this point, Zhao Weihuang nced at Qianye and said, ¡°Brat, you actually drained the entire store of origin distite. You used up a lot more than Jundu did. Now, the Marrow Cleansing Pond will be unusable for the next three months at least! I, your father, have received no small number ofints from all the branches!¡±

    Zhao Weihuang wore a proud and satisfied expression despite saying this. The ingredients of the origin distite were all extremely rare. Even with the Zhao n¡¯s reserves and foundation, it would take at least two or three months for them to brew a new pond. The exnation given at the moment was that Qianye had encountered an ident in the Marrow Cleansing Pond, and even the origin distite was wiped out because of it. However, this didn¡¯t reduce Zhao Weihuang¡¯s satisfaction in the slightest while receivingints.

    Being able to devour such arge amount of origin distite was also an ability on its own. Any other person would¡¯ve exploded several times over.

    Qianye also found it hard to describe the sensation. He had already been told of the visual phenomena he had produced during the advancement and what order the three dukes had issued.

    He cleared away all distracting thoughts and said, ¡°Really? But I thought it wasn¡¯t quite enough back then. It would¡¯ve been better if there was a bit more.¡±

    ¡°Humph, the nerve of you. Do you think origin distite is water? Do you think there¡¯s as much as you want? The amount you used up is enough to produce ten champions!¡± Zhao Weihuang red at Qianye, but there wasn¡¯t any sign of rebuke in his smile.¡±

    As expected, heughed out loud afterward and said, ¡°My sons are indeed outstanding. Just two of them is enough to drain the entire Marrow Cleansing Pond, haha! Just let those fellows whine andin. Let¡¯s see them bear two equally awesome ones! Heh heh, Haha!¡±

    Qianye sat silently on the side drinking tea, the highnd tea harvested at the end of the windy season emitting its characteristic dry fragrance.

    Zhao Weihuang continued his enjoyment and satisfaction for a while before saying, ¡°You should continue polishing your origin power and forge ahead continuously from now on. Do you have any ns? I¡¯m not sure about the growth of your Song n art. Do you want me to find you another Zhao n cultivation art to try out?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°No need, this one is the most suitable for me at the moment. I n to return to Evernight Continent after East Peak has been forged.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang gave it some thought, then said, ¡°That¡¯s good, too. Seeing as how your origin power has already liquefied even before the advancement, the level of that secret art must be pretty high. The Song n is also a thousand-year n. It¡¯s just that¡­¡± Zhao Weihuang didn¡¯t continue. ¡°Jundu doesn¡¯t want you to join the Zhao nbat squad. But if you want to head back into the bloody battle, I¡¯ll assign a specialized squad for you. We¡¯ll select the core members from the Fire Beacon Corps.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes gazed down at the teacup in his hand. He had long since heard about how many of the Zhao n¡¯s squads had been wiped out under the Iron Curtain. Zhao Junhong had avoided discussing this matter even though he had apanied Qianye to the Western Continent, but Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t one to hide her thoughts. Hence, he learned quite a lot of things in recent days.

    He said calmly, ¡°I don¡¯t need a squad. I¡¯m fine alone.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s eyes narrowed as he scolded Qianye with augh, ¡°What is wrong with you little bastards? It¡¯s the same with Jundu. Back then, he charged alone into the encirclement formed by half a dozen aristocratic families.¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath. These wordsing from Zhao Weihuang¡¯s mouth confirmed certain rumors. ¡°Is the Fourth Young Master alright? That was before his advancement, right?¡±

    At the mention of this, Zhao Weihuang¡¯s expression turned gloomy. He said with a frosty tone, ¡°Jundu was badly wounded, but our Zhao n sons have always lived a life on the battlefield. A little injury means nothing! It¡¯s just that those despicable people are ambushing our Zhao n instead of fighting the dark races. We were unprepared at first and received great losses. Not to mention servants and side-branches, even our lineal descendants have fallen inrge numbers. Jundu¡¯s early ascension is so that he can return to the Iron Curtain and avenge the deaths of our Zhao n scions!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s lowered eyes shed with faint killing intent, but his tone was undisturbed. ¡°So the Fourth Young Master advanced early. Won¡¯t that affect his future?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang sighed. ¡°Jundu produced an ¡®Extremes of Violet Yields Azure¡¯ phenomenon and his future is boundless. It¡¯s just that his advancement was early by a year, and his origin power purity was just a little bit short of perfection. Effects¡­ there certainly will be, but the extent of it isn¡¯t easy to guess.¡±

    Afterward, Zhao Weihuangughed while pping the table. ¡°But Jundu¡¯s military contributions soared after returning to the Iron Curtain. Moreover, he was able to let those bastards see that our Swallow Cloud Zhao n isn¡¯t so easily bullied!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts were aroused by Zhao Weihuang¡¯s words. For a moment, all sorts of feelings welled up in response to the words Swallow Cloud Zhao n.

    These days, he had alsoe to understand some of the Zhao n¡¯s history. This thousand-year-n had produced talents in every generation, and its fame had always been like the midday sun. But all the n scions would join the battlefield aftering of age. They were born in a guarded homnd but usually died wrapped in horsehide¡ªall in order to open up a safe part of the sky for the n and its civilians.

    This brilliant major n born along with the empire was famed for its outstanding bloodline, but flowing within their bones was, in fact, a stream of extremely valiant blood.

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained unchanged as he said, ¡°Can I have a copy of the bloody battle reports?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang frowned. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I want to see just how capable these people are to challenge the Fourth Young Master instead of fighting the dark races.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°So be it. I¡¯ll have someone send it over to you. Just do what you want without restraints. You have your father to prop up the sky even if ites tumbling down!¡±

    Qianye nodded and stood up. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll leave after three days.¡±

    After Qianye left, Zhao Weihuang clicked his tongue and mumbled, ¡°Dammit, this little brat has my exact same temperament. So obstinate! Haha, as expected of my offspring!¡±

    Three days passed by in a sh and the day arrived for him to leave. Qianye had long since packed his luggage. He took a car toward the Zhao n airship port where a high-speed vessel was already waiting for him.

    It was still Zhao Yuying who sent him off. No one else appeared, which was just what he wanted. Qianye had seen, heard, and felt too many things in the Zhao n this time, and he still couldn¡¯t calm down.

    After one journey forth and one journey back, Qianye had gained a crystal fragment and an inscribed token representing his authority in the Zhao n. The token could be used in any Zhao n estate to allocate resources and military strength, and its privileges were only one level below that of Zhao Junhong.

    Qianye had wanted to refuse it at first, but Zhao Yuying persuaded him to keep it. The token was authority in and of itself, but it also signified a responsibility. On the battlefield of life and death, the Zhao n had always allocated resources in favor of the strong¡ªone had to produce results that matched the resources utilized.

    He suddenly recalled the token he had forgotten in a certain corner of Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. That was the one Zhao Jundu had stuffed into his hands when they had first met on the Silentme Steppes. It hadn¡¯t been too long since then, but the countless things that had happened in between made it feel like it was half a lifetime ago.

    Zhao Yuying sent Qianye all the way to the airship doors and gazed deeply into his eyes. She grasped Qianye¡¯s shoulders and shook them as she said, ¡°This time when you go back, kill them mercilessly. Kill all those bastards for this mommy and don¡¯t leave a single one behind!¡±

    Qianye said helplessly, ¡°That¡¯s not too good, is it? Who¡¯s going to fight the dark races if I kill them all?¡±

    Zhao Yuying clenched her teeth and said, ¡°This mommy knows! But don¡¯t you feel that those bastards are even more hateful than the dark races?¡±

    Qianye patted Zhao Yuying hard. ¡°Rest assured, those who have moved against us can forget about running away if I ever encounter them. I want to see just where they can run to under the Iron Curtain.¡±

    Zhao Yuying praised, ¡°Now that¡¯s more like a man! Go first. I¡¯ll get there very soon!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Be obedient and recuperate well. There are lots of opportunities to fight in the future.¡±

    Zhao Yuying red at him and said, ¡°Oh? Now you¡¯ve learned to lecture your sister?!¡±

    Qianye sensed something just as he was about to board the airship and looked up into the distance. An ordinary-looking jeep had appeared in that direction at some point, and a man in full military attire and a pair of dark sunsses was leaning on the car with a cigar in his mouth.

    Although thebat shades covered up half of his facial features, Qianye was able to recognize Zhao Weihuang at a single nce. However, his gaze was attracted by a young girl beside him. That clear, elegant face and almost ephemeral temperament immediately stirred two segments of Qianye¡¯s memory.

    Their adventure in the valley and meeting back in Lighthouse Town rushed out from his heart. It was her¡ªthat young girl! But why would she appear here of all ces?

    Sensing Qianye¡¯s abnormality, Zhao Yuying followed his gaze and saw Zhao Weihuang and Zhao Ruoxi.

    Beside the jeep, Zhao Weihuang flicked the extinguished cigar on the ground and stomped it a couple of times. ¡°It¡¯s time for us to leave.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi pulled the door open and gazed once at Qianye before boarding the vehicle. Zhao Weihuang raised his hand to perform a gesture toward Qianye, then boarded the car and drove away.

    That hand gesture was the imperial army¡¯s military order to kill. From a distance, Qianye could still see the smile and faint trace of pride on Zhao Weihuang¡¯s face.

    The jeep sped into the distance and soon disappeared from sight.

    ¡°Who is that girl?¡± Qianye asked.

    Zhao Yuying replied, ¡°You mean the one beside the n Lord? That¡¯s Zhao Ruoxi.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s¡­ Zhao Ruoxi?¡±

    ¡°Of course, there¡¯s no mistaking it. But this mommy doesn¡¯t like her one bit. She has no other ability apart from being able to use that Red Spider Lily.¡± After saying that, Zhao Yuying felt somewhat embarrassed. She sheepishly added, ¡°Actually, being able to use the Red Spider Lily is also an ability. At least, this mommy can¡¯t beat her right now. But so what? This mommy still doesn¡¯t like her!¡±

    After speaking so much in one go, Zhao Yuying recalled that Zhao Ruoxi was still Qianye¡¯s sister no matter what. It wasn¡¯t too appropriate for her to badmouth thetter.

    Qianye had already suppressed the waves in his heart at that moment. ¡°No matter, I¡¯ve only heard about her but never seen her before. So, she¡¯s Zhao Ruoxi.¡±

    At this moment, the airship had already finished its preparation and was waiting to fly. Qianye entered the cabin after the two of them said farewell once more and took a window seat.

    As expected of a military use high-speed vessel, the airship only shook once before soaring into the air and ascending rapidly; it was fast and stable.

    The ground scenery through the cabin window grew smaller and smaller. It was the same for the Zhao n residence in the distance. The many people and matters he had encountered during this period¡ªZhao Weihuang, Zhao Ruoxi, Zhao Yuying, Princess Gaoyi, even Zhao Fenglei, and Zhao Xiuzhu¡ªhe had left everything far behind.

    The airship turned in the air and began its eleration after adjusting the direction.

    Finally, the Zhao n residence was out of sight.

    Qianye withdrew his gaze and leaned back into the chair, thinking about certain things in silence. So it turned out that she was Zhao Ruoxi...

    The airship traversed the mountains, over thend, and across the sea as it flew toward the eternal night.

 Volume 6 - 471: Developments Under The Iron Curtain

    [V6C1 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    With the passage of the gradually alternating days and nights, the airship arrived at Weiyang City on Evernight Continent. This secondary hub connecting the empire and Evernight Continent was just as bustling as before. Qianye didn¡¯t linger very long this time and only stopped to send Song Zining a letter from the nearest Ningyuan Group branch.

    The airship proceeded toward the Iron Curtain after a brief stop to resupply. Its destination wasn¡¯t ckflow City, but instead the Zhao n¡¯s base in the bloody battle. Qianye replenished his supplies here before returning to the Iron Curtain to join the perilous Zhao n war zone.

    Qianye was resting on the airship with his eyes closed. He didn¡¯t even move a little bit.

    The airship was of exceptional performance, and one could hardly feel any turbulence in the fine weather. He could even cultivate here were it not for the Profound Combatant Form causing too much ruckus during its practice. The void origin power Qianye would draw in would affect the airship¡¯s flight.

    The captain entered the cabin mid-flight to report that they were only a couple hundred kilometers from the destination and that they would arrive in less than two hours. Qianye nodded in acknowledgment. This was the final leg of the journey. It was a smooth ride without any idents along the way.

    Naturally, the biggest reason was due to the Zhao n insignia on the airship. Attacking the Zhao n airship outside of the Iron Curtain was basically suicide.

    The entire vessel shook violently just as the captain was about to return to the control room and Qianye was gradually closing his eyes again. Qianye grabbed ahold of the handrail at lightning speed and managed to fix himself to the cabin wall. The captain, however, was quite unfortunate. He was thrown so hard onto the floor that he was bleeding from his head.

    Qianye didn¡¯t bother to go and support the captain since it was merely a superficial wound and nothing important. He shot over the windows to gaze out and was immediately shocked.

    It turned out that arge area of ck clouds had appeared in the previous clear skies at one point and was rolling over continuously like boiling water. And behind the ck clouds, the familiar aura of Sky Demon was gushing out incessantly.

    Qianye was truly astonished. As someone who had taken part in the bloody battle for a long time, how could he not recognize that the cloud above his head was the familiar Iron Curtain? But the army had clearly announced that the Iron Curtain had already stabilized! Moreover, they were at least hundreds of kilometers from the original location of the Iron Curtain.

    However, the Iron Curtain in the sky was not only expanding rapidly, but Sky Demon¡¯s will was also flitting repeatedly through heaven and earth. Before this terrifying mightparable to the world itself, even someone as powerful as Qianye found it difficult to endure the pressure¡ªeven moving was difficult. And this was only because Sky Demon hadn¡¯t taken notice. There would be no way to move at all after being locked onto by his will.

    Qianye¡¯s blood ran cold. He hade into contact with Sky Demon¡¯s will before on the battlefield. Compared to the present situation, however, it felt like the previous case was caused by an instinctive reaction and not Sky Demon¡¯s actual will. If one were to say that Sky Demon was asleep back then, now he was awake and starting to be active.

    It was at this moment that an iparably frosty will descended upon the cabin and spread to every corner of the vessel. Qianye felt as though he had been washed over by the coldest subzero waters of the ocean. His fingers lost all sensation in the blink of an eye as he fell kneeling onto the floor.

    There was nothing capable of stopping this frosty will as it permeated Qianye all the way into his being. But a dim ck barrier shot out from the Book of Darkness at the most dangerous moment and enveloped his blood core, blood energy, and Wings of Inception, isting them from the prying of the cold will.

    Sky Demon¡¯s will descended in a sh and left just as abruptly. It was like an invisible wave of coldness sweeping through every nook and cranny of the world.

    Qianye¡¯s senses gradually recovered after the departure of Sky Demon¡¯s will, and he got up slowly. But the jolting of the airship grew more intense at this moment. Even its route had changed, and it was beginning to dive toward the ground. Qianye immediately realized that the pilots must¡¯ve been stunned by Sky Demon¡¯s will and lost the ability to move.

    He dragged the immobilized captain lying on the floor beside him and rushed through the cabin doors toward the control room. As expected, the pilots were all paralyzed and twitching on the floor. Some even had blood flowing out of their mouths and noses, their vitality growing weaker by the minute.

    Qianye darted to the console and began operating the control lever. He first increased the thrust and pulled the airship to level before shouting, ¡°Guide the direction. We must leave this ce!¡±

    The captain knew that they were at a critical juncture. He got up with all his strength and began correcting the bearing while telling Qianye how to operate the airship. The airship was finally restored to level flight after descending several hundred meters and gradually began to pull up.

    A big ball of mes rose up at the end of their vision. It was arge airship that had crashed to the ground and gone up in mes.

    It seemed Sky Demon was looking for something and was mainly examining airships flying at high altitudes. The airships were bound to crash without someone as strong as Qianye on board.

    The captain had flown back and forth many times between the Iron Curtain and the Western Continent. He nced out of the window and said with a fairly solemn expression, ¡°How did the Iron Curtain get here all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡± Qianye¡¯s emotions were rather heavy at this time. There were many friends under the Iron Curtain whom he knew and was worried about.

    Just what could¡¯ve happened in the depths of the Iron Curtain for such a drastic change to appear with Sky Demon? But one could easily imagine how much the people under the Iron Curtain would be affected if it was already so bad on this side.

    Qianye steered the airship to a gradual descent and flew toward their destination at an altitude of several hundred meters. He saw two more burning airship wrecks along the way. On the ground, there was a motorcade rendered immobile in the middle of the road. There were also two cars that had rushed off the wayside and had flipped over in the wilderness¡ªseveral figures were strewn around the crash site, their fates unknown.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stop. He flew at full speed with the control level steadily in his grasp and finally arrived at the Zhao n forward base.

    The base was built in a small town. It was well-connected in terms of transportation, and there was no difficult terrain nearby which made it easy for people to pass in and out of the Iron Curtain. But at this moment, Qianye saw the distant town in chaos.

    Hended the airship in an open space outside of the town and headed toward it. The town was in great confusion with people everywhere either copsed or gasping while leaning against the walls. Those who were able to move were mostly running about while carrying those who had been wounded by the impact of Sky Demon¡¯s will to the hospital. The lightly wounded were left in ce.

    Qianye had to spend some effort to find the person in charge of the base amidst the chaos. He requisitioned a jeep, a suit of thetest military uniform, as well as a batch of ammunition and supplies before driving off into the wilderness.

    There was disorder everywhere throughout the battlefield. All low-ranking warriors had copsed to the ground when Sky Demon¡¯s will swept through. Only titled experts were still able to move about. It was fine when a battle was not taking ce, but swathes of soldiers would fall on both sides in certain battlefields where the confrontation was fierce, and the first reaction of those who hade to was to plunge their swords into the closest enemy.

    Countless people died tragically during a short period of time.

    In a certain valley, dozens of warriors who had been locked in an arduous battle all copsed. Even the two champions who had been engrossed in the fight could barely remain standing as they faced off against one another.

    On one side of the battle were Zhao n warriors, while the other was a mixed group made up of severalbat squads, their numbers twice that of the Zhao n¡¯s men.

    That Zhao n champion pushed his heavy sword into the ground and sneered as he stared fixedly at the opponent, ¡°Bai Huicong, you¡¯re not this daddy¡¯s opponent. You can wait for your death after I recover first!¡±

    A peculiar smile emerged on the Bai n champion¡¯s face. ¡°Zhao Youpin, you¡¯ll indeed recover faster than me, but what¡¯s the use?¡±

    At that moment, a small figure suddenly jumped out from the crowd and pounced at the Zhao n champion¡¯s back. A broad dagger was plunged deeply into his back, all the way to its hilt!

    The Zhao n warrior roared wildly. He wanted to erupt with a final burst of power, but his qi vortex was seemingly frozen; even his entire body was paralyzed and immobile. He turned back with great difficulty only to see a beautiful little face.

    ¡°Bai Kongzhao! How can you even move? You¡¯re clearly not even a champion¡­¡± His words hadn¡¯t even ended when the bloody froth from below obstructed his throat.

    Bai Kongzhao leaped about like a sprite. The dagger in her hand rose and fell continuously, taking a Zhao n life with each descent.

    Zhao Youpin¡¯s ring eyes were almost torn apart, but Bai Kongzhao had already cut off his vitality. He could only re with wide opened eyes as he gradually copsed.

    Bai Kongzhao seemed to feel nothing as she faced all the Zhao n warriors¡¯ bitter gazes. There was actually an earnest and focused look on her beautiful little face as she reaped their lives one after another with great coldness and efficiency.

    All of the Zhao n warriors on the battlefield were turned into corpses in the blink of an eye. Even Bai Huicong couldn¡¯t help but feel apprehensive as he watched Bai Kongzhao.

    Scanning her surroundings and finding no more enemies, Bai Kongzhao finally stopped her work. Her little face was flushed, and her breathing was rapid¡ªapparently, she was tired.

    Bai Kongzhao walked over to Bai Huicong and said, ¡°You lot continue forward. I¡¯ll follow from nearby.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Miss Kongzhao.¡± As a champion, Bai Huicong¡¯s position in the n wasn¡¯t low, but he was exceptionally respectful at this moment.

    Bai Kongzhao stood in front of Bai Huicong and casually rummaged through his body. She fished out a white towel with which she cleaned the blood on her dagger. She also found a box of origin bullets which she looked through before putting it away into her pocket. Afterward, she removed Bai Huicong¡¯s sniper rifle, slung it over her shoulders, and finally turned to leave.

    Bai Huicong breathed out a long held-in breath only after her petite figure vanished into the forest. He was actually drenched in cold sweat, and his body was iparably limp and painful from head to toe. When Bai Kongzhao¡¯s hands crept over him just now, he felt as though two lethal vipers were roaming all over him. He didn¡¯t dare move recklessly even as she plundered all his items.

    Bai Huicong was worried those cold, smooth little hands would turn into lethal weapons in a sh if he somehow offended her.

    The Bai n warriors all mbered up one after another, all of them pale in the face. They had never been afraid of taking part in arduous battles, but Bai Kongzhao¡¯s massacre just now had shocked them out of their wits.

    ¡°Everyone alive will get up and clean up the battlefield. We leave in half an hour!¡± Bai Huicong shouted. He then shot a nce at the other surviving squads and said coldly, ¡°All of you will follow me. No one is allowed to leave from this point onward. Or else¡­¡±

    The remaining words needn¡¯t be spoken. After seeing Bai Kongzhao¡¯s massacre, they all understood the oue of disobeying the Bai n.

    After half an hour, thebat squads from numerous families quickly rallied and marched toward the direction where Bai Kongzhao had left.

    This so-called sweeping the battlefield was only picking up supplies and ammunition. That was because, in Bai Kongzhao¡¯s eyes, there was no need to waste time hiding the corpse of an already dead person.

    Deep within the Dark Nation, Zhao Jundu was traveling with a gun in hand. His steps came to an abrupt halt as he snorted lightly, a trickle of fresh blood streaming down the corner of his mouth. He reached out to wipe it and observed the blood on his fingertips before gazing at the Iron Curtain in the sky. ¡°I never thought I would still receive a minor injury. How about you? Are you still alive?¡±

    ¡°How would I dare perish first when even the famous Zhao n fourth young noble was only lightly wounded?¡± A specter-like figure emerged from the woods. It was actually Twilight.

    The two were only ten meters apart, and, to them, an attack at this distance could be considered instantaneous.

 Volume 6 - 472: Each Taking What he Needs

    [V6C2 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s finger on the Blue Firmament was rubbing lightly against the trigger. ¡°You¡¯re powerful, but you can¡¯t stop me.¡±

    Twilight smiled and said, ¡°You came so deep behind enemy lines. Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯lly an ambush to surround and kill you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu sneered, ¡°No ambush can surround me under the Iron Curtain. You¡¯re wee to try if you¡¯re not afraid of your race members dying.¡±

    ¡°Under the Iron Curtain¡­¡± A wisp of helplessness shed through Twilight¡¯s eyes¡ªeyes almost capable of drawing out a person¡¯s soul. Her voice turned softer and deeper as she spoke, ¡°You also know that this is only because we¡¯re under the Iron Curtain. Without it, you might not be my match.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t express his opinion.

    Twilight frowned slightly and said, ¡°Go back then. You¡¯ve done enough. Too many people from every race have died in your hands. If you continue forward, some people will stop you even if they have to pay the price. Don¡¯t think Sky Demon¡¯s will is matchless. Our sacred blooded descendants aren¡¯tcking at all in experts capable of blocking Sky Demon¡¯s avatar.¡±

    ¡°Move,¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s answer was fairly simple.

    ¡°Impossible.¡± Twilight was abnormally resolute.

    The wind in the vicinity suddenly stopped as the two stood in confrontation. A falling leaf froze in the air as though time itself had stopped flowing.

    Zhao Jundu was known as the number one expert among the Qin Empire¡¯s younger generation. He had erupted in one day after many years of umtion and was unbeaten since he had returned to the Iron Curtain. Countless souls had been reaped under his Blue Firmament.

    Twilight wasn¡¯t just a well-known figure among the younger generation of the vampire race, but a celebrated genius in the entirety of the Dark Nation. Her strength had long since reached an outstanding realm, and she had the right to oversee an area under the Iron Curtain. She had fought repeatedly with Zhao Jundu for many days, but neither could deal with the other.

    But previously, they were both sounding each other out and had never exerted their full strength.

    Zhao Jundu had pushed deep into the Dark Nation on his own and was already thousands of kilometers in. His main objective was to kill the experts of the dark race. Meanwhile, Twilight had just reached the count rank and had no choice but to be careful about her movements under the Iron Curtain. Her previous actions had all been fairly restricted. She wouldn¡¯t intervene at all when Zhao Jundu was dealing with the werewolves or arachne, but would always appear when he encountered vampires.

    At this moment, however, Twilight had clearly stated that this was her bottom line and that she would fight him to the death should he cross it.

    This was the first time the two top geniuses from each faction were meeting head-on under the Iron Curtain.

    Havinge so far, Zhao Jundu apparently wouldn¡¯t turn back just because of a threat. His finger tapping lightly and repeatedly on the Blue Firmament moved faster and faster.

    It was at this time that Twilight spoke, ¡°Don¡¯t you think there will be people looking to take advantage of us if we die fighting here?¡±

    Zhao Jundu snorted but didn¡¯t reply.

    Twilight wasn¡¯t angered as she knew his temperament. She only pursed her plump lips before saying, ¡°As I see it, your Zhao n¡¯s main enemies are on the empire¡¯s side. Why are you pursuing us relentlessly without seeking them out to settle the scores? When will your human race learn to see the bigger picture?¡±

    ¡°One must first sweep away external enemies before cleaning up the inside dangers,¡± Zhao Jundu finally spoke.

    Twilight had long since expected Zhao Jundu¡¯s reply. ¡°That¡¯s easy to do. I can¡¯t speak for the other races, but I¡¯ll withdraw all my people and move to another war zone. What do you say?¡±

    Zhao Jundu raised his eyebrows. He then pointed at an eye-catching mountain peak diagonally behind him and said, ¡°East of that mountain peak is my Zhao n war zone. Your men must not step into it. I won¡¯t go farther if you can do that.¡±

    Twilight frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Your war zone is too broad. I won¡¯t be able to exin things if I pull back that far. We will draw the border 250 kilometers east of this mountain, or else there¡¯s nothing more to discuss.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression remained unchanged. ¡°250 kilometers is fine too, but I¡¯ll add another condition. Tell me the names of the people who contacted your side in secret to hunt down my Zhao n warriors.¡±

    Twilight chuckled, ¡°This must be the real reason Fourth Young Noble came so far in, right?¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± Zhao Jundu admitted it openly.

    ¡°Those names are worth a lot of money. Your conditions aren¡¯t enough.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°I helped you kill no small number of opponents along the way.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right! Then it¡¯s a deal.¡± Twilight flicked her fingers with a smile, shooting out a stream of blood which turned into several names in the air.

    Zhao Jundu scanned the names,mitted them to memory, and then left without another word.

    ¡°Wait a minute,¡± Twilight called out to him with a flowing gaze. ¡°Is the Fourth Young Noble leaving just like that? I feel that we might be able to cooperate even more.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said coldly, ¡°I never make deals with the dark races.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a deal. It¡¯s just each side taking what they need. I can shift my men to specific war zones after I pull them back. I¡¯ll also send you information on certain people. In return, if the Fourth Young Master encounters them¡ªwhether they be demonkin, arachne, werewolf, or even vampires¡ªI¡¯m sure you won¡¯t let them leave alive, right?¡±

    ¡°Not interested,¡± Zhao Jundu said indifferently.

    Twilight smiled spuriously. ¡°Then, how about Qianye? Don¡¯t you care about him? I¡¯ve heard no small number of things about him!¡±

    Zhao Jundu finally turned back. There was a sharp killing intent on his beautiful but frosty countenance. ¡°You sure know a lot.¡±

    Twilight met his gaze without backing down. Her deep, seductiveughter was almost like the sirens of legends, capable of causing men to lose their way. ¡°Things I know will only increase. Your human race has nock of smart people hoping to take advantage of us. What say you? If you agree to my conditions, I won¡¯t do anything to Qianye when I meet him in the future.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll discuss thister.¡± Zhao Jundu left only these cold words and left.

    It was at this time that the Iron Curtain in the sky rippled violently. The clouds dispersed in the blink of an eye to reveal a deep starry sky.

    The two stared nkly at the long-lost sky and only came to after a moment. The Iron Curtain in this area had actually disappeared!

    The Iron Curtain was Sky Demon¡¯s domain. Its disappearance meant that his domain no longer covered this area and that his will wouldn¡¯t appear here. This also meant that the restrictions onbat strength had all disappeared.

    All types of implicit hints shed through Zhao Jundu and Twilight''s minds. The atmosphere suddenly became extremely mysterious as they nced at one another.

    Twilight spoke slowly, ¡°My rank seems to be one level higher than yours.¡±

    ¡°A difference in level has no meaning to me.¡±

    Twilight broke into augh, a very dangerousugh no less. ¡°But we¡¯re the same type of people. So, ranks do y a role, and a very big one at that!¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression didn¡¯t fluctuate in the least as he lifted the Blue Firmament slowly. Meanwhile, two beautiful daggers appeared in Twilight¡¯s hands.

    The light in the mountain wilderness suddenly grew dim as a deep grey color spread out in every direction, poised to devour everything. At this moment a beam of green light tore apart the ashen hue and shot into the sky!

    The grey mist and green radiance dispersed in the blink of an eye as Zhao Jundu and Twilight appeared once again. It was just that the two had exchanged positions with their backs against one another.

    Zhao Jundu coughed violently as a fair amount of bloody froth rushed out from his mouth and nose. However, his hand on the Blue Firmament was just as still as before.

    Twilight¡¯s voice was as pleasant as ever. ¡°What do you think about my previous proposal?¡±

    ¡°Deal,¡± Zhao Jundu said coldly, then he hoisted his gun up and left.

    He passed Twilight with due calmness, their shoulders almost brushing against one another. Her fingers moved ever so slightly as though she would make a move, however, she still refrained from doing so in the end and only watched as Zhao Jundu left.

    Twilight¡¯s beautiful face suddenly turned pale after Zhao Jundu¡¯s departure. A streak of scarlet blood slowly emerged on her smooth, exquisite neck. The bloody line was extremely thin, and the cut surface was so smooth that the sides fit almost perfectly together. However, the wound was extremely deep and had cut through almost a third of Twilight¡¯s neck.

    Twilight stoodpletely still as a bloody mist bubbled up around her. The sanguineous line on the side of her neck gradually turned dim before disappearing. The wound was thoroughly healed by virtue of the vampire race¡¯s powerful regenerative ability. Twilight was able to move only at this point. Otherwise, even a small vibration would¡¯ve caused a torrent of blood to gush out of her severed main artery.

    She stood silently for quite a while, her gaze flickering indefinitely as she chuckled to herself, ¡°This oue isn¡¯t so bad! I wasn¡¯t going to kill Qianye anyway, at least not now. Heh, heh.¡±

    Zhao Jundu, who had already gone quite some distance away, paused his steps to look up at the sky. Leaden clouds were aggregating from every direction to reform the Iron Curtain anew. The gloominess of the sky was reflected on his face.

    The change, however, had already urred. From now on, the Iron Curtain was no longer a constant existence; it could disappear suddenly at any moment. Supreme experts like Twilight would be able to utilize their full powers once the restrictive powers of the Iron Curtain were gone. It would be disastrous for Qianye if he were to encounter her at such a time.

    Zhao Jundu hastened his steps and vanished between the mountain ranges.

    Less than half of the surviving dark race forces remained after Twilight pulled back her forces from the area they had agreed upon. This allowed Zhao Jundu to turn his attention to internal enemies.

    It was actually quite ironic¡ªthose who had incited Zhao Jundu¡¯s true desire to kill wasn¡¯t the dark race, but instead the humans. The Zhao n held the Western Continent and was quite a distance away from the territories of the other imperial ns. Their usual enemies were the dark races and rebel armies. They had never gotten embroiled in the several instances of civil strife that had urred in the empire.

    As such, Zhao Jundu had always felt that the dark races were foolish when he heard about how they were halting the war with them due to civil conflicts. How could they ignore a major enemy like the empire and fight bitterly within their own faction? This would only allow the empire to growrger andrger.

    But today, he had gotten a taste of it. As he watched the Zhao n warriors fall under the muzzles of their own countrymen, the mes of fury in his heart burned even brighter than when he was facing the dark aces.

    Qianye, who had been fighting continuously since childhood, had gone through so much more than Zhao Jundu. He had also experienced much more of such rage, so much so that he was no longer angry when encountering these matters.

    He would only retaliate.

    The vehicle he had received from the Zhao n was already drained of fuel and abandoned on the roadside. Qianye was presently running swiftly and silently through the wilderness like a wild beast. He was headed straight into the depths of the Dark Nation.

    The Zhao n¡¯s intelligence regarding the bloody battle was fully granted to Qianye. He had seen the distribution of war zones and gotten a vague idea of every Zhao n unit¡¯s area of activity or destruction.

    Qianye headed south along the intersection of the Zhao n war zone and the Dark Nation borders. This area was the most chaotic and was a ce where anything could happen. Qianye had chosen this route just to try his luck.

    His luck could be considered quite good. Before long, he encountered several Bai n warriors running frantically from two ferocious arachne.

 Volume 6 - 473: Waver

    [V6C2 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The two baron-rank arachne were like two lumps of military contributions in front of Qianye¡¯s eyes. He sped up all of a sudden and charged over, grazing past the Bai n soldiers as he crashed into the arachne.

    The muffled sound of impact almost covered up the resultant screams as the arachne Qianye had collided with was sent flying. Itnded on the ground with a thud and copsed with its eight limbs distorted into various unnatural shapes.

    Qianye took a step forward and quickly arrived beside the other one. He had merely leaned in with his shoulders, but the sturdy arachne body was badly shaken. All of its internal organs shattered, and the arachne grew limp like a loaf of freshly baked bread. At the same time, the vampiric de in his hands was plunged into the vitals on its abdomen.

    Qianye¡¯s hands paused for a moment before pulling out the vampiric de. He then walked over to the other arachne lying on the ground and stabbed it. Only then did he nce over at the Bai n warriors.

    These people were standing nearby. Not only did they have no intention toe over and help, but were even on extreme alert after seeing Qianye ughter the two arachne with rtive ease. They were constantly sizing up the Zhao n insignia on Qianye¡¯s battle armor. It was likely that they would¡¯ve escaped long ago if they weren¡¯tpletely spent. Their exhaustion set in after catching their breaths, and they could no longer even move.

    The major n war zones usually ovepped with one another and would change frequently ording to the circumstances. It wasn¡¯t surprising for a n¡¯sbat squad to appear in another¡¯s war zone. But the Bai, Nangong, Kong, and other ns appearing in the Zhao n warzone wasn¡¯t a negligible matter. Qianye had long since understood the present circumstances from the Zhao n¡¯s reports.

    Qianye knew what was going on after seeing the Bai n warriors in such a state and wasn¡¯t in a rush, either. He finished draining the arachne¡¯s essence blood before drawing the vampiric de out with a shake of his hands. Afterward, he walked toward the other party.

    ¡°Throw all your weapons to the ground or I¡¯ll send you off to apany the two arachne,¡± Qianye said coldly.

    The Bai n warriors nced at one another, but the origin guns were still grasped firmly in their hands, their muzzles aimed at Qianye.

    Qianyeughed coldly as he flicked a finger. An air bullet shot out with a thunderous explosion and pierced through the head of the strongest warrior.

    That person¡¯s face was full of astonishment as he fell backward.

    The others were both shocked and furious. One of them shouted, ¡°You dare kill our Bai n¡¯s people¡­¡± His words hadn¡¯t even ended when another thunderous st rang out and a hole appeared on his forehead. He then fell backward just like the person before.

    The remaining two were shocked out of their wits. They quickly threw down their origin guns and began to remove the other pieces of equipment on their body.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes scanned between the two men and asked, ¡°Where is Bai Kongzhao?¡±

    Anky Bai n warrior paused his hands and drummed up the courage to speak. ¡°How can people like us know Miss Kongzhao¡¯s whereabouts?¡±

    Qianye nced at his flickering eyes before turning coldly to the other Bai n warrior. ¡°How about you?¡±

    The other person was just about to speak when he heard a p of thunder as hispanion¡¯s body toppled over with a bloody hole on the forehead. The warrior momentarily lost his voice¡ªthe dagger he was removing slipped out of his hands and fell onto his foot.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°I don¡¯t have time to listen to lies. Answer the question or die. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to say it. I believe you¡¯re not the only Bai n squad in the area.¡±

    The man replied with a trembling voice, ¡°Thest time we saw Miss Kongzhao was three days ago. She usually appears only when there¡¯s a battle. We really don¡¯t know where she normally goes!¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes and continued, ¡°How did you fall into such a state?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, but Miss Kongzhao stopped appearing for several days straight. Our group grew smaller and smaller as we fought on, this ce¡­¡± The man swallowed hard and nced nervously at the Swallow Cloud Zhao n insignia on Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We didn¡¯t have enough supplies since this isn¡¯t our war zone. In the end, we suddenly encountered a powerful arachne squad and were scattered. Now, only these few people remain from our group.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Bring out your war map and mark out all the ces where Bai Kongzhao has appeared in the recent month.¡±

    The man crouched down and fished out a war map from the tactical backpack he had thrown down earlier. His hand was shaking slightly as he duly marked out the time and ces. Apparently, both Bai Konghzao and the n were a great pressure to him. However, with death so close at hand, he finally chose to provide the information obediently.

    Qianye took the map and asked him quite a few details to confirm that he wasn¡¯t lying. Finally, he said, ¡°You can leave now. You better not let me find you in the Zhao n war zone if you want to live a while longer.¡±

    The man left in a hurry, while Qianye continued observing the map in his hands. A cold killing intent emerged in the depths of his eyes as the areas where Bai Kongzhao had appeared before were slowly outlined in his mind. He crushed the map into shreds with a twist of his fingers, locked onto a certain direction, and soon vanished into the woods.

    Qianye ran hundreds of kilometers in one day and night, experiencing several battles, big and small, along the way. Most of them were rted to the dark races, and only once did he encounter two human squads fighting one another. The Zhao n wasn¡¯t among them, however.

    In all of these battles, Qianye had always intervened with great force and killed his way into the battle with a peerless momentum. He would immediately kill off the strongest dark race member, then he would finish off all the dark race members before turning back to subdue the human squad. When he encountered the two human squads locked in a civil confrontation, Qianye beat up the two leaders ck and blue before proceeding to question them.

    What he primarily sought was Bai Kongzhao¡¯s whereabouts and the situation between the Zhao n and otherbat squads.

    However, the news he obtained all seemed to indicate that thest time Bai Kongzhao had appeared was three days ago. The fights she had taken part in included battles against the dark races, the Zhao n, and even some third parties. Regardless of who her enemies were, they would end uppletely wiped out. She had no habit of leaving survivors.

    Qianye had traveled hundreds of kilometers and passed through a small part of the Zhao n¡¯s northwestern war zone, but he still hadn¡¯t managed to track down Bai Kongzhao¡¯s whereabouts. The information he obtained was shockingly uniform¡ªshe seemed to have vanished into thin air three days ago and had never appeared since.

    Qianye halted his steps as the sky lightened up once more, his brows locked in a frown. An inexplicable notion welled up in his heart. His intuition told him that Bai Kongzhao must¡¯ve sensed his arrival and had thus hidden herself. She might have even gone far away by now.

    As for how Bai Kongzhao had discovered his return to the Iron Curtain, that was a mystery. Perhaps this was a result of hermunication with the will of the Iron Curtain, or perhaps it was by some kind of instinct.

    There were many inconceivable aspects about this demonic little girl. Herbat capabilities and instincts were unimaginably sharp. During their past battles, Qianye clearly held the upper hand in terms ofbat strength but always found it difficult to suppress her. She had always managed to slip away with all kinds of outrageous ticks.

    Since it was possible that Bai Kongzhao had already left this war zone, Qianye decided not to spend time looking for her and, instead, turned around to hunt the other family units in the war zone. He fought across the region, expelling two aristocraticbat squads, destroying one each of the Bai and Nangong n units, and rescuing a Zhao n squad that had fallen into a perilous situation.

    In the series of major battles, none of thebat units from the various families had the ability to fight back against Qianye. Those who resisted or refused to disarm were all killed without mercy.

    Qianye instructed the surviving Zhao n warriors to escort the captives back to the forward base. As for whether the Zhao n would kill them or demand ransom, that wasn¡¯t something Qianye was concerned about.

    The Iron Curtain became unstable during this period, and the overall battle situation had also reached a white-hot phase. On both the dark race¡¯s side and the empire¡¯s, the only ones left on the battlefield at this moment were elites refined through blood and mes. As such, the battles became extremely cruel, and every victory was won with a bloody price.

    Qianye and Zhao Jundu both operated on their own amidst the tangled andplicated circumstances. The trajectories of their movement weren¡¯t always limited to the Zhao n war zone. They would frequently kill their way beyond the borders, even prating deep into the Dark Nation or other war zones. However, they actually never encountered one another.

    Their fearless rampage under the Iron Curtain was akin to dropping two big rocks into the pool. Numerous ripples spread out in all directions and soon affected the vast battlefield.

    On a certain mountaintop, Zhao Jundu was sitting alone on a rock with Blue Firmament in his arms. His battle armor had been torn in many ces, but the warrior attire inside remained undamaged, stained only by traces of gunpowder. His sitting position was solemn, and his back was as straight as a javelin. His handsome face was suffused with a frosty expression as he gazed silently at the boundless wilderness beneath his feet.

    A fair and alluring figure appeared from the distant valley. Zhao Jundu broke into a frown but stood where he was without any movement. Twilight¡¯s shadow approached rapidly like a wisp of smoke and was soon standing on the mountaintop.

    She didn¡¯t mind Zhao Jundu¡¯s visible annoyance at all. She walked over to him on her own and said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ve discovered the Zhang n operating on the other end of the battlefield. I¡¯ll send people to harvest them very soon. In return, I want you to kill the powerful vampire operating in area c13.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said coldly, ¡°I really don¡¯t want to see you.¡±

    Twilightughed enticingly, ¡°This kind of transaction isn¡¯t bad at all.¡±

    ¡°I do not make deals with the dark races!¡± Zhao Jundu interrupted her.

    Twilight¡¯s smile grew even more joyous. ¡°We¡¯ve already cooperated before, and that counts as a deal! Many aristocratic families from your human race are secretly making such deals. If you don¡¯t work with me, won¡¯t you be facing enemies on both sides? Zhao Fourth Young Noble, even though you¡¯re noble and brave, you¡¯ll only be able to keep yourself safe under these circumstances. You probably can¡¯t help others, right? Oh right, I saw Qianye twice recently.¡±

    Zhao Jundu remained silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice, ¡°I absolutely will not be threatened.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a threat. I¡¯m just telling you what you gained from me, and one must always repay for what he has gained. The deal between us doesn¡¯t hurt our interests, nor does it affect the bigger picture, right?¡± Twilight exined patiently. ¡°The bloody battle goes on, and we are still killing our enemies. It could even be said that the number of enemies who died in our hands is greater than that of our opponents. The only thing we need to do during this war is to snatch some profit from the hands of our adversaries and put them into our pockets.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stood up slowly. ¡°What you say seems to be very reasonable, but I have my own principles. Our contact will end here. There will be a fight the next time we meet!¡±

    There was a certain chill to Twilight¡¯s demeanor, but her smile possessed a bewitching allure. ¡°I truly admire Zhao Fourth Young Noble¡¯s resolution. But I¡¯m afraid you still don¡¯t know that I happen to know Qianye¡¯s most recent route of activity.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stared at Twilight for a while with a deep violet in his eyes. He then said with a difficult sigh, ¡°Qianye¡­ has to grow on his own. I can¡¯t protect him forever. Moreover, you might not be able to kill him either under the Iron Curtain.¡±

    ¡°What if I add a condition to look after him asionally? Now that I think about it, Qianye really is a beautiful boy. His temperament is also quite simr to Fourth Young Noble!¡± Twilight smiled. Perception was her forte, and she could often see through even the most subtle changes in the human heart. Her voice grew extremely soft as though she were a witch chanting a hypnotizing spell. ¡°Fourth Young Master, you¡­ wavered just now!¡±

 Volume 6 - 474: The Human Hear

    t [V6C4 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Regaining something after losing it, then losing it again¡ªwhat kind of feeling would that be?

    Zhao Jundu suddenly raised his head, his hesitationpletely gone. At the moment, his expression was clear and sharp. He said word by word, ¡°I refuse to be threatened! If you dare touch Qianye, I will chase you down and kill you along with your n even if you hide on Twilight Continent for the rest of your lives.¡±

    Twilight onlyughed. ¡°Zhao Fourth Young Noble sure is confident.¡±

    Zhao Jundu sneered, ¡°You¡¯ll not be my match in one year. After five years, you won¡¯t even be able to escape if you meet me.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s smile froze but quickly recovered. ¡°Fine, whatever Fourth Young Noble says. My talents may not be as good as yours, but there are people with equal or even greater talents among our sacred-blooded descendants. Ignoring the other ns for now, that vampire in c13 shares my bloodline, and she¡¯s a primo.¡±

    ¡°Primo.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes turned sharp for a single moment as he sized Twilight up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. My primogenitor blood runs much thinner than hers. At most, I can be considered a half-primo,¡± Twilight said with a smile. ¡°She¡¯s one rank lower than me, but in terms ofbat strength, I¡¯m not really confident about killing her. You see, this war zone isn¡¯t safe even if I look on without doing anything.¡±

    Zhao Jundu shot Twilight a cold, silent nce before leaving with Blue Firmament on his shoulders.

    Twilight¡¯s smile became increasingly resplendent as she watched the figure of his receding back. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of displeasure denoting her miscalction. Twilight didn¡¯t have to sessfully persuade Zhao Jundu, either¡ªit was enough to let him know of this news.

    The human heart was a fickle soil. One needed only to nt a small seed to see it grow into an enormous tree one day.

    Far in the distance, Qianye had ascended a certain mountain peak and was scanning the valley below with his falcon-sharp eyes. This cey in the depts of the Bai n war zone, far away from the Zhao n. Qianye had encountered two Bai n squads along the way, both of which he duly routed and destroyed.

    But contrary to expectations, he had never encountered any true Bai n experts all this time. He didn¡¯t find any traces of Bai Kongzhao, either. Bai n recently dispatched a rank-eleven champion to intercept him, but Qianye inflicted heavy injuries on the man in just a few moves. There was no way he could¡¯ve escaped, but Qianye lost the mood to chase him down after seeing the familiar insignia on his imperial army uniform.

    Qianye¡¯s present location was thest stop on his predetermined route. There was nothing he could do if the Bai n experts weren¡¯t appearing even when someone had fought his way deep into their territory. As for Bai Kongzhao, Qianye had actually given up on hunting her down. Trying to assassinate someone with uncanny instincts like her on this vast battlefield was no different from finding a needle in a haystack.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have the slightest intention of hiding his presence as he stood on the battlefield. He wanted his enemies to see him ande knocking on the door¡ªthat way, he could save time trailing them.

    No one from the Bai n came, but instead, he saw a familiar figure. Her movements were abnormally agile, almost like a specter. She was only at the border of the woods below the mountain when she emerged, but had reached Qianye in the blink of an eye.

    ¡°Twilight?¡± Qianye recognized her with a single nce¡ªthat beautiful, eerie, and powerful vampiredy.

    ¡°I¡¯m really happy that you still remember me.¡±

    Qianye sighed somewhat grudgingly and said, ¡°But I¡¯m not happy to see you.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Twilight was apparently quite curious. Her pair of cold, amorous eyes were gleaming brightly.

    Qianye slowly drew East Peak from his back and said calmly, ¡°Because I might not be able to beat you, and I have other things to do. Fighting with you is a big waste of time.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t met for only a while, but your tone of voice seems to have hardened!¡± Twilight teased, but she didn¡¯te as close to Qianye as she did when they had first met. This actually proved that, contrary to her demeanor, she didn¡¯t have that strong of a grasp on the situation.

    Qianye was clearly three entire levels inferior to her. Regardless of the faction, it wasn¡¯t easy to make up for such arge gap with tricks or talents. But for some reason, that sword-wielding youth standing before her was like an abyssal pond, an unmoving mountain peak¡ªshe could sense great danger from him.

    Twilight reached out tob through her hair. This movement caused her chest to bounce a couple of times, inadvertently disying the assets that were capable of looking down on most of thedies in the world. Qianye¡¯s gaze was on her hands, but the scope of his vision always included her chest¡ªit was just that his focus wasn¡¯t on the source of the woman¡¯s allure but, instead, at the location of her blood core.

    Twilight pursed her plump lips and smiled charmingly without the slightest trace of displeasure.

    Qianye¡¯s obsidian eyes were as clear as ever, but a deep azure emerged in the depths of his pupils. At this moment, Twilight¡¯s blood core was already in his vision, and he would be able to decide the best moment to take action once she made an abnormal move.

    ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t need to be so tense. I told you before that there¡¯ll be a reward if you grow stronger, and you didn¡¯t disappoint me. So much so that even I have no confidence in killing you under the Iron Curtain. Such a man is worth rewarding, so I¡¯vee today bearing a little gift.¡±

    With that, Twilight reached out and opened up her five slender fingers, revealing a mass of light on her palm. That mass of light outlined the appearance of a young girl, and it was none other than Bai Kongzhao.

    ¡°I heard you¡¯re looking for this little fellow, are you not?¡±

    ¡°Where is she?¡± Qianye did nothing to disguise his killing intent. However, he was somewhat shaken at the same time because this mysterious woman¡¯s ability to gather information was simply too efficient. There was only one exnation¡ªthere were people working with her on the human side, and that person was of high status and authority. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have gotten this information so quickly and urately.

    ¡°She¡¯s appeared in area a3.¡± Twilight was referring to the empire¡¯s war zone division numbers, which only served to reinforce Qianye¡¯s guess even further.

    Zone a3 wasn¡¯t too far from this ce, but it was quite a ways from the Zhao n war zone. They were basically in two different directions.

    ¡°Why should I trust you?¡±

    Twilight said indifferently, ¡°You have no choice. You can never find her on your own, can you?¡±

    Qianye replied honestly, ¡°That is true, but this reward seems a bit too odd. There¡¯s no reward without service. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re helping me just because I¡¯ve grown stronger.¡±

    ¡°Of course not! We both have our own standpoints in this bloody battle. It¡¯s just that our interests align in this single aspect. That little bastard, I think she¡¯s called Bai Kongzhao, has already killed a fair number of elites from my n. Herbat instincts are too strong and will definitely be a source of trouble should she mature. I believe you also understand this very well.¡±

    Qianye was naturally very clear about Bai Kongzhao¡¯s cunning and ruthlessness. His advancement on the martial dao of breaking through everything with force, apart from coincidence and destiny, also had a little bit to do with Bai Kongzhao. If Qianye went all out at this moment, he would be able to exert the great sea vortex¡¯s shearing force with every movement, enveloping the area all around him. Bai Kongzhao would have no gap to exploit regardless of how keen her intuitions were¡ªshe would only be able to face him head-on or retreat.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s gun technique ¡°True Strike¡± was also the nemesis of people like Bai Kongzhao. But True Strike was an extremely rare and powerful ability, and only a handful of people throughout the empire were able toprehend this art.

    Twilight possessed great strength while specializing in speed and concealment. Although she couldn¡¯t restrain Bai Kongzhao, just from the suppression of their level-gap, she had no need to fear her, either.

    However, the three of them were geniuses of the generation from each faction. How could any other young scion be Bai Kongzhao¡¯s match? One simply couldn¡¯t make a single mistake when fighting against her, otherwise, she would grasp that opportunity to strike back.

    It was precisely because Qianye had recognized this fact that he had made killing Bai Kongzhao his first priority after returning to the Iron Curtain.

    He and Bai Kongzhao had formed a vendetta against one another, but she was extremely adept at making use of the circumstances. Both her exploitation of the Nangong family and the massacre of entire enemy squads during the chaos of civil conflict served to prove one fact¡ªthis person would surely harm the people around them if she wasn¡¯t removed early. For instance, Zhao Yuying¡¯sbat style would bepletely restrained against her. Bai Kongzhao would pose a mortal threat to Qianye¡¯s friends and subordinates once she became a champion.

    Thus, Qianye was ready to jump in even though he knew Twilight might be setting up a trap for him. He felt that no trap would be able to bind him as long as the Iron Curtain remained. This was especially true against the dark races because Qianye possessed a natural bloodline advantage over them in addition to the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance.

    Qianye pondered for a while before saying, ¡°Fine, I believe you this once.¡±

    A radiant smile blossomed on Twilight¡¯s countenance as she blew him a kiss. ¡°This smile could¡¯ve been more direct if you were the same as when we first met.¡±

    To Qianye, this was no doubt a fairly high praise. This was tantamount to her admitting that she could no longer approach him carelessly.

    Twilight turned to leave, while Qianye himself headed toward the a3 war zone. But this time, in order to hasten his journey, Qianye no longer charged ahead like before. He activated Bloodline Concealment after his descent and disappeared into the vast forests.

    Twilight, who was floating through the distant forest, suddenly halted her steps. Qianye had vanished from her perception just now and could no longer be traced.

    She stood quietly for a moment¡ªno one knew what she was pondering. Momentster, she turned and left without making a further attempt to follow Qianye.

    Scarlet was originally a small human town on the borders of Evernight Continent. Those operating here were mostly scavengers, exiled mercenaries, and adventurers who dreamed of easy money. This little town, needless to say, was extremely run-down. By imperial standards, even the maind slum houses were much better than this ce.

    The only thing worthy of praise in this settlement was the tall and sturdy stone wall. At least, it was capable of blocking out vicious beasts and dark race cannon fodder. As for formal dark race soldiers, they would never visit such a remote and run-down ce.

    But this presentable wall could only be considered a hindrance in Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes. That was because the first order he had issued after arriving here was to have it demolished.

    Scarlet¡¯s position was close to the frontline and had thus been chosen as the Bai n¡¯s third forward base. Every forward base corresponded to a war zone, and this one was being personally overseen by him.

    With the Bai n¡¯s strength, constructing a forward base was naturally an easy matter. A dozen or so airships arrived at Scarlet the day after Bai Longjia chose the town and delivered an entire construction squad along with theirrge machinery.

    Before ten days had passed, Scarlet was already looking like a military base model. The airship port had been leveled, and the framework had beenpleted for the storehouse, barracks, and airship hangars as resources poured in continuously from behind. They were even about to build a mobile kic tower to provide the energy requirements of the entire base.

    Bai Longjia stood still within themand room, staring at the sand table while several staff officers nearby adjusted the indicators ording to thetest reports. The sand table¡¯s coverage area was the entirety of the bloody battle.

 Volume 6 - 475: God of Death

    [V6C5 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Although Bai Longjia¡¯s talents weren¡¯t as brilliant as Bai Aotu, it was still a first-ss gift. He had also joined the army at a young age and grew up in the Broken-Winged Angels, a talented soldier capable of both charging on the front lines as well as leading troops. He was deeply valued by the Bai n.

    Although it wasn¡¯t apparent on the surface, the Bai n had long since made preparations for this bloody battle with Bai Longjia managing military affairs in secret. He focused only onmanding the battles against the dark races, and hardly paid any attention to harassing the other families. At most, he would assign some squads to cooperate with Bai Aotu whenever she sent word.

    Bai Longjia treated this bloody battle with great importance. The elders in the n had promised before the battle that should he perform remarkably here, they would fully support him for his advancement in the Broken-Winged Angels. This would allow him to contest the first deputy corpsmander position. Barring a major blunder of some sort, the person holding this position was almost certain to be the next corpsmander.

    His presentbat strength had already reached official standards. What hecked were umted military contributions and connections. Only by bing the deputymander of one of the empire¡¯s ten greatest elite corps could he be considered to have crossed the threshold to the upper echelons of the of the imperial military.

    Bai Longjia observed the sand table with a solemn expression. He could see by means of the small gs therein that over twelve Zhao n squads were in action. This number was far smaller than the Song n¡¯s sixty or so squads, but they were greatly superior in terms of individualbat strength.

    Now that the Iron Curtain was unstable, the situation around this bloody battle could change drastically at a moment¡¯s notice. Bai Longjia had already decided to put this new war zone into operation with the greatest speed because, in addition to the four units already operating in the area, there were six more squads that had been outfitted and would arrive the next few days. At the same time, there were over ten units undergoing preparations and would be able to join the battlefield not long afterwards.

    Before long, this new war zone would be popted with over half of the Bai n¡¯s army. However, Bai Longjia¡¯s ambitions didn¡¯t stop here. He had borrowed resources from the n and utilized his connections in the army to expand hisbat squads. In the end, they were almost catching up to the Song n.

    With the Song n squads¡¯bat strength and the support of the Broken-Winged Angels, Bai Longjia was prepared to kick the Song n off in the shortest time and upy the first ce on the military contribution rankings. This would serve to prove the Bai n¡¯s foundations and his ability to lead troops.

    Bai Longjia had lofty ambitions akin to a rainbow, but things in this world rarely went as one nned. Thetest reports were updated one by one as the staff officer moved the indicators about. Bai Longjia suddenly discovered that out of the three squads he had dispatched to the Zhao n war zone, one had been routed, and the other had gonepletely missing, which meant that it had been wiped out. The only surviving unit was at the border region and still moving outward. Apparently, it was fortunate enough to survive because of its remote location.

    This was a serious blow to them. Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes erupted with a bright gleam as he said, ¡°Wait a minute, what¡¯s going on over there?¡±

    The affairs in that war zone weren¡¯t Bai Longjia¡¯s responsibility, but he knew why these three units had been dispatched across the border. It wasn¡¯t to hunt dark races, but instead to restrict and suppress the Zhao n. Moreover, these three units were the finest the Bai n had to offer in terms ofbat strength¡ªnow, they had been badly damaged, and the actual losses would surely exceed the numbers on paper.

    In addition to the three Bai n units, there was also a Zhang n unit and many others from other aristocratic families. In total, there were over ten units worth of soldiers operating there, almost equal in number to the Zhao n¡¯s own troops. The most important part was that they had reportedly reached a mutual understanding with the dark races. The other faction would supposedly attack the Zhao n in full force while working together with the other armies.

    Although Bai Longjia was instinctively against working with the dark races, it wasn¡¯t within his authority to interfere with these affairs. From what he knew, even Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t the truemander there. There was some other person engineering the entire war.

    But in any case, the three dispatched forces were all elites and descendants of the Bai n. Now that most of them had been lost, even Bai Longjia felt his heart ache.

    The staff officer couldn¡¯t answer Bai Longjia¡¯s inquiry because there were no details on the report. The information from that side was like this all along¡ªonly results and no details.

    Bai Longjia broke into a frown as he recalled a certain matter. ¡°What are Zhao Jundu¡¯s movements?¡±

    Now, this information was something they had. The staff officer replied, ¡°Thetest reports state that Zhao Jundu went deep into dark race territory some time ago and only reappeared recently. These are hisst known coordinates before he went into the Dark Nation.¡±

    The staff officer pointed out Zhao Jundu¡¯s location on the sand table as well as the area from which he entered the Dark Nation. But all of the officers lost their voices after the locations were pointed out.

    Bai Longjia¡¯s heart jumped violently.

    He could see on the sand table that Zhao Jundu had traveled more or less in a straight line. He set out from the Zhao n war zone and cut straight into the Dark Nation. All units in his path had disappeared, including a Bai n squad.

    Zhao Jundu stayed in the Dark Nation for ten days or so, and the report for this period was nk. However, Bai Longjia discovered something abnormal with the situation between the two factions in that area.

    ¡°The vampires in that war zone retreated after Zhao Jundu¡¯s reappearance? If I remember correctly, the vampires should be the main force in that area,¡± Bai Longjia asked.

    ¡°Yes, the vampires from the twelve ancient ns all disappeared. Some reports say that they¡¯ve retreated back to the Dark Nation.¡±

    The truth was more or less unveiled after piecing the reports together. The dark races would only yield to the strong. It was impossible for them to retreat unless Zhao Jundu had inflicted enough damage on them, or it could even be that they could no longer bear the losses.

    It was just that this truth made Bai Longjia go silent for a while. He then said with a sigh, ¡°He¡¯s a god of death!¡±

    The atmosphere in themand room became extremely oppressive. Momentster, Bai Longjia broke the silence to continue asking, ¡°How about Bai Kongzhao? Where is she operating?¡±

    The staff office pointed to the sand table and said, ¡°The most recent information we received was ten days ago. She appeared in this area to join a battle. There¡¯s no more information on her thereafter.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s movements have always been unfathomable, and from time to time, even Bai Aotu couldn¡¯t grasp her whereabouts. Bai Longjia had already gotten used to this. Looking at her area of operation, the girl hadpletely skirted around Zhao Jundu¡¯s assault path into the Dark Nation. Even Bai Longjia couldn¡¯t help but admire her for this.

    The staff officer continued updating the sand table after the Zhao n war zone report had been analyzed. Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes turned austere as he said, ¡°Wait a minute, why is there an empty area here?¡±

    Another nk area had appeared on the sand table from which there were no reports. Moreover, several of their alliedbat squads had also vanishedpletely.

    Even a dumb person would understand what this meant. An unstoppable expert had likely charged in all the way, sweeping through everything in his wake. All obstacles in his way had been casually eliminated.

    Bai Longjia¡¯s expression was heavy as he shouted, ¡°Didn¡¯t we send General Liu over there?¡±

    The staff officers didn¡¯t dare reply.

    General Liu¡¯s name was Liu Xiangyun, a brigadier general from Broken-Winged Angel and Bai Longjia¡¯s subordinate. Bai Longjia had somewhat abused the authority of his position for this bloody battle and mobilized several subordinates andrades from Broken-Winged Angel. With both imperial contributions and bountiful Bai n rewards to earn, these people were naturally quite happy to take part in this battle.

    Liu Xiangyun had already been gone for several days and should¡¯ve returned long ago.

    It was at this time that footsteps rang out outside of the war room. A guard rushed in and said hurriedly, ¡°General Liu has just returned to camp, and he¡¯s badly injured.¡±

    ¡°What? Bring me over to him!¡± Bai Longjia shot up and followed the guard in a hurry.

    An extremely pale Liu Xiangyun was lying on the bed in the medical department with several doctors working busily around him. But judging from their anxious demeanor, they were somewhat helpless.

    Bai Longjia became furious after seeing this. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Liu Xiangyun¡¯s aura was faint, but he was still spirited. Seeing Bai Longjia enter, he said with a slight nod, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing major¡ªjust an injured qi vortex. I¡¯ll be fine after a couple of month¡¯s rest. Sigh, we¡¯ve met a true expert. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t want to kill me. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to return.¡±

    Bai Longjia revealed a cold intent as he asked with a cold voice, ¡°Who is this person?¡±

    Liu Xianyun replied, ¡°A human. I couldn¡¯tst ten moves against him. Even until the end, I was never able to make him draw that heavy sword on his back.¡±

    Bai Longjia frowned. ¡°That powerful?¡±

    Liu Xiangyun was a rank-eleven champion, but a general of Broken-Winged Angel inevitably possessed superiorbat strength surpassing his level. Even Bai Longjia¡¯sbat strength after his rank-suppression under the Iron Curtain was only one level higher than the former¡¯s.

    Liu Xiangyunughed wryly, ¡°This person uses militarybat techniques, but his every punch is backed by world-shaking might. I simply couldn¡¯t fend him off. As I see it, no one else under the Iron Curtain might be able to contend against him.¡±

    After saying these words, Liu Xiangyun grew visibly weaker. Bai Longjia patted thetter¡¯s hand and said, ¡°You rest well now. Describe this person¡¯s appearance for me tomorrow. I want to see just what kind of person would be so bold as to hurt people from our Bai n!¡±

    Liu Xiangyun hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°I saw the Zhao n¡¯s insignia on his body.¡±

    Bai Longjia¡¯s frown grew even deeper. ¡°Zhao n? But isn¡¯t Zhao Jundu in his own war zone?¡±

    Liu Xiangyun shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not Zhao Jundu. That person had a tactical mask on all the time, but I have a feeling that he¡¯s not very old.¡±

    Bai Longjia¡¯s expression sank somewhat because this reply was even worse. The Zhao n had produced yet another unbeatable young expert in addition to Zhao Jundu. After listening to Liu Xiangyun¡¯s description, Bai Longjia couldn¡¯t help but recall the figure who had, one month ago, wiped out a Bai n patrol squad near the Trinity River War Zone.

    Bai Longjia¡¯s tinum pupils contracted slowly. Then, he said slowly, ¡°Old Liu, rest well. I¡¯ll take action tomorrow and find this man personally.¡±

    Liu Xiangyun hesitated for a while before finally saying, ¡°General, forgive my frank words. Under the Iron Curtain, you¡­¡±

    Liu Xiangyun¡¯s words were never concluded, but Bai Longjia had already understood his meaning. The two wererades who knew each other through and through. Apparently, Liu Xiangyun wasn¡¯t too optimistic about this trip.

    It was at this time that another staff officer ran over hurriedly. He approached Bai Longjia and said in a whisper, ¡°General, we received some news just now. We¡¯ve lost contact with the settlement on Dragonthorn Mountain. There¡¯s also no information on the entirebat unit stationed there.¡±

    Bai Longjia almost immediately connected the locations of Dragonthorn Mountain and the other missingbat units, forming an almost straight line which passed through the entire war zone and pointed toward zone A3.

    Bai Longjia calmed down instead after seeing things had developed to this point. The killing intent in his tinum eyes was gradually retracted, and he began pondering with a frown on his face.

    Liu Xiangyun had been in the army for a long time and naturally knew the significance of Dragonthorn Mountain¡¯s fall. He forced himself to sit up and said, ¡°Longjia, since he¡¯s from the Zhao n, it¡¯s possible that he¡¯lle for revenge. You must make preparations in advance.¡±

 Volume 6 - 476: Turning the Tables

    Bai Longjia nodded with a solemn demeanor.

    Bai Longjia was very clear as to their recent suppression of the Zhao n, to which he had also expressed a strong objection. But this was a major affair rted to both the Zhang and Bai ns. How could there be any leeway for questioning? In truth, Bai Longjia¡¯s voice had only traveled as far as Bai Aotu¡ªit wasn¡¯t even conveyed to the elders of the Bai n.

    Earlier on, the Zhao n was indeed caught unprepared and lost a third of theirbat squads. Many n descendants also fell in battle. However, Zhao Jundu had broken through the siege alone at the northwestern war zone and rescued the remaining survivors. This was like a big p to all the aristocratic families¡¯ faces.

    Afterward, Zhao Jundu suddenly left Evernight, and when he returned to the Iron Curtain, he was already a champion whom no one could contend with. This brazen thousand-mile assault and the retreat of the dark race ancient ns proved that no one was his match under the Iron Curtain, whether they were from the empire or Evernight.

    A single Zhao Jundu had turned the tables around the Zhao n war zone in less than a month. The elders from every party, including the person who had been orchestrating things behind the curtains, were likely in extreme distress right now. They probably knew not what to do.

    Meanwhile, Zhao Jundu¡¯s identity was special¡ªhe was virtually the next n lord. Even the Zhao n wouldn¡¯t have anything to say if one could beat him fair and square. But if he were murdered in a plot, the enraged Zhao n would likely retaliate with full force. Moreover, Zhao Jundu had already proven during this ten days in the Dark Nation that traps were useless against him under the Iron Curtain.

    Under such circumstances, the experts overseeing the bloody battle whose levels exceeded the restriction couldn¡¯t move against Zhao Jundu. General Zhao Gongcheng¡ªwhom the Zhao n had dispatched after their second regroup¡ªwas eyeing everyone from outside the Iron Curtain. The fuse of civil war would be ignited once things went past the bottom line.

    The Zhao n was a magnificent n with flourishing military might. It would be an absolute disaster if they were to ignore all consequences and start murdering the younger generation of every family. Should things deteriorate to such a point, even those behind the curtains would be powerless to clean up the mess.

    Bai Longjia sighed internally as he thought of this. A single Zhao Jundu was already troublesome enough, and now, the Zhao n had actually produced another genius. Moreover, from Liu Xiangyun¡¯s description, this person¡¯sbat strength might not be inferior to Zhao Jundu.

    Bai Longjia calmed down entirely and instructed, ¡°Issue mymand, allbat squads are to retreat to base. The units nned to set out will standby for further orders. Send out all our scouts to search for traces of thatbat squad. I want to see corpses even if they are all dead.¡±

    Liu Xiangyun sighed in relief as hey back on the bed.

    Bai Longjia indeed possessed the manners of a famed general. He was capable of judging the situation and didn¡¯t lose his calm for a single moment. His strategy was to contract and consolidate the defensive lines on all fronts, almost giving up on all the strategic points in the war zone. It was a wise move and a necessary one¡ªat least until there was a powerful expert to hold the fort. Facts had proven that spreading their forces was seeking death before this person.

    But who woulde to restrict this emergent expert? Bai Longjia¡¯s first thought was Bai Aotu, but then he shook his head. Her responsibilities were too great. She not only had to stabilize the situation in all of the Bai n war zones but also needed to threaten the dark race experts at the same time.

    Moreover, herbat strength exceeded the limits, and there was a risk of attracting Sky Demon¡¯s avatar if she were to take action. Bai Longjia wasn¡¯t willing to let her take this risk no matter how powerful she was or how urate her origin power control. This ce wasn¡¯t the Iron Curtain border. Once Sky Demon¡¯s avatar had been attracted, she would either die or be heavily injured.

    But Bai Longjia couldn¡¯t think of any other suitable candidate, either. He himself was already past the limit and couldn¡¯t control his power as well as Bai Aotu. It was basically impossible for him to make a move. As for the so-called young geniuses from the various major ns, only a handful of those who had passed the limit dared enter the Iron Curtain, and thebat strength of those who had not were easily imaginable. Meanwhile, the Zhang n¡¯s attitude was ambiguous and would likely avoid stepping into these muddy waters.

    Liu Xiangyun saw Bai Longjia¡¯s dilemma and said after some thought, ¡°General, this matter has already surpassed the scope of your abilities. Why don¡¯t you report it and let those people worry? After all, this is something they stirred up.¡±

    Bai Longjia nodded after a moment of silence. ¡°Very well.¡±

    Being forced to defend was a great difort to the proud Bai Longjia. But since this person was from the Zhao n, it was only natural that he would attack the Bai nbat squads in retaliation. Moreover, Liu Xiangyun had made it very clear that this person had refrained from finishing him off after seeing his Broken-Winged Angel rank¡ªthis made Bai Longjia quite rueful.

    Bai Longjia believed that it definitely wasn¡¯t out of fear for the Broken-Winged Angels that this person had let Liu Xiangyun go. He didn¡¯t have any suitable countermeasures at the moment, either. He could only observe the reports while contracting his defensive lines. At the same time, he sent people to investigate when the Zhao n had produced such a young expert. However, all of this meant that he had to forget about earning military contributions for this month.

    In his distress, Bai Longjia suddenly felt that it was ridiculous. He had alwaysughed at the dark races for their cruel infighting. But now, how were their actions any different?

    Bai Longjia couldn¡¯t help but let out a stifled sigh at the thought of this. His thoughts were only on killing the dark races. The many things taking ce at the moment were actually against his will.

    There were many other people feeling simrly depressed in recent days, but their ambitions were vastly different from Bai Longjia¡¯s.

    At this moment, there were two documents on Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s desk. The thinner one was the statistics for military contributions, while the thicker stack was the casualty list. Thetter wasn¡¯t that thick, but it became quite hefty after adding the battle descriptions andpensations for the remaining family. Nangong Yuanwang was naturally clear that they had lost a third of their current forces in less than a month.

    This degree of loss had dragged troop morale to its lowest. Some squads were even seen avoiding battles, so much so that one unit that had run into Zhao Jundu immediately surrendered without any resistance.

    Dealing with Zhao Jundu had already be a big problem for themanders of the various aristocratic families. The widely-epted solution was to have experts above the level restriction like Bai Aotu or even Nangong Yuanwang take the field and restrict Zhao Jundu.

    It was just that Nangong Yuanwang wasn¡¯t willing to ept this mission after experiencing Sky Demon¡¯s attention that one time.

    Moreover, General Zhao Gongcheng was looking on from the side. As a proud member of the Zhao n, he simply wouldn¡¯t enter the Iron Curtain and was only there to suppress the dark race¡¯s guardian experts. However, he might not just sit idly by if people at the level of Bai Aotu or Nangong Yuanwang moved openly against the Zhao n descendants. Even though Nangong Yuanwang was only one step away from the divine champion level, he really didn¡¯t want to fight with Zhao Gongcheng outside of the Iron Curtain.

    On top of all this suffering, there was Qianye.

    Nangong Yuanwang didn¡¯t just have a deep impression of Qianye¡ªthetter was almost like a thorn in the old man¡¯s heart. He knew Qianye had returned the moment he nced at the descriptions in the report. Moreover, he was now a champion.

    Qianye and Zhao Jundu possessed simr fighting styles. They both liked to act alone and would frequentlyunch long-distance assaults. They were extremely fierce and tyrannical. Their ruckus aside, the Nangong family¡¯s squads were scattered in many areas, and the battle situation was inplete shambles.

    With the Iron Curtain undergoing changes, the bloody battle might being to an end anytime soon. Both factions were already fighting a total war on a smaller scale, and the scale of troops being mobilized was growingrger andrger. Battles for cities and territories were erupting one after another. The empire¡¯s side evolved from individual hunters to group expeditions¡ªnow, they usually required several squads working together in order to win.

    How was the Nangong family going to snatch contributions in a battle situation where everyone was fighting for their own?

    Nangong Yuanwang smashed the table with a loud bang, sending ripples out in all directions which destroyed the greater half of the study.

    The rmed guards rushed in to protect him but were met with a furious roar, ¡°Scram!¡±

    As such, everyone scattered like animals, not daring to remain. Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s temper was bing more and more violent in the recent days. He had a history of killing people at every turn, so who would dare stay behind to seek death? Soon, only Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s frowning figure remained amidst the rubble. No matter how he pondered, there seemed to be no better idea than to have the rear lines form more squads and replenish their military strength. As for the direction of the new forces...

    Nangong Yuanwang¡¯s gaze wandered around the map andnded on a ce further out. He was subconsciously trying to avoid the two murderous stars, Zhao Jundu and Qianye.

    At this moment, the many of those who had received thetest reports were first shocked then furious before finally bing helpless and pensive. The soaring casualty numbers hadpletely surpassed the bottom line they had in mind, but they had no way to deal with it.

    The culprits for all of this were Qianye and Zhao Jundu.

    Very soon, Qianye¡¯s information had also reached these people along with the enmity he had formed with the Nangong family at ckflow City. They soon discovered that they had no way to deal with Qianye, either¡ªjust as they couldn¡¯t handle Zhao Jundu.

    Any force that had moved against the Zhao n would bepletely wiped out the moment they encountered Zhao Jundu. Every appearance of the Blue Firmament would result in an area-of-effect massacre with rarely any survivors. Comparatively, the ones who encountered Qianye fared much better¡ªalthough they were all defeated, those willing to give up resistance were left as captives.

    The lord of an inferior aristocratic family burst out in rage after reading the report. He crushed the paper into fine powder and said furiously, ¡°Two juniors actually dare act so insolently! Do they still have the empire and itsws in their eyes? They actually dare act so brazenly!¡±

    His roar was like thunder which caused the surrounding aides to fall into fearful silence. The Widefield Liu Family had attached itself to the Bai n and invested fivebat squads. Their rewards were bountiful at first¡ªsome descendants even broke through in battle and their futures looked bright.

    That was until Zhao Jundu and Qianye charged over across long distances. The Liu family squads didn¡¯t know when to retreat and, in the end, four out of their five squads werepletely wiped out. It could be considered a great cmity for their family.

    After roaring for a while, the n lord instructed, ¡°Prepare an airship for Scarlet. Sire Bai Longjia has just garrisoned there. He¡¯ll definitely be able to seek justice for us!¡±

    The aide believed the same and immediately left to handle matters, his movements extremely efficient.

    Simr scenes were ying out in several ces. Many people gradually noticed that thetest military contribution rankings were about to undergo drastic changes.

    At this moment, Qianye had no idea about the great waves emerging in the rear, and he couldn''t have cared less even if he did. He arrived atop a mountain and gazed into the distance. Beyond this mountain region was zone a3 where Bai Kongzhao was rumored to be operating in.

    At the same time, a3 was a border region in the bloody battle. It was an area rampant with dark race members who had gained a foothold here. Qianye had yet to go all out in a satisfying massacre since his advancement to the champion rank. The reason he was willing to listen to Twilight¡¯s report and try his luck here was because he had his eyes on the dark race settlement in this area. He was nning to clear the entire area in passing and try toprehend his domain powers in a bloody battle.

    Qianye leaped down from the hill and traversed the woond with unchanging speed, heading straight toward the northwest.

    He had traveled for the greater part of the day when his ears suddenly twitched slightly. He heard indistinct wolf howls in the distant mountains. Several dark figures were leaping through the forest and fast approaching.

    Qianye halted his steps and, with a calm expression, allowed the werewolves to surround himpletely.

 Volume 6 - 477: Oceanic Power

    [V6C7 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    All of them appeared in werewolfbat form. Each and every one of them possessed powerful auras, and the leader seemed to have experienced the passage of many years. Their most striking characteristic was the line of silver fur running down the center of their backs.

    For some reason, the purple blood energy along with its ability rune vibrated all of a sudden. This sensation felt as though they were crying out in joy after seeing a feast. Qianye felt himself enter a state of blood boil for the first time in a long while.

    One of the werewolves sniffed the air. His eyes turned red as he roared, ¡°He has the smell of a vampire on him!¡±

    The other werewolves agreed one by one and emitted continuous howls.

    ¡°Correct!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s indeed that kind of smell! I-It¡¯s a bit simr to that woman!¡±

    ¡°Eat him up!¡±

    The werewolf leader raised his hand to silence the furious howls. He then stared fixedly at Qianye and asked, ¡°This is our Silverback Tribe¡¯s war zone. How dare a stinking vampire enter?¡±

    ¡°Silverback? I heard all of you have been wiped out by Nana.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words enraged all the werewolves. The leader let out a long howl toward the sky before hacking down on Qianye with his battle-axe.

    Indistinct fluctuations suddenly appeared around Qianye. All the werewolves felt an invisible pressure fall upon them¡ªit was as though a mountain had appeared on their backs. This was true tangible pressure. The werewolf leader stopped mid-swing as he had no choice but to resist the pressure with all his might. He could no longer continue hacking.

    Since even he was in such a state, it was naturally much worse for the others. All their bones began to creak and groan as they were crushed under the immense pressure. All of them fell limp to the ground one by one, their bodiespletely deformed.

    Qianye drew his vampiric de and stabbed into the heart of the werewolf in front of him, withdrawing it only after a while. The Silverback werewolf who had been drained of all essence blood fell headfirst onto the ground. The bones in his body snapped continuously as the carcass ttened down in front Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye slowly withdrew his origin power and shook his head. This was the fledgling form of his domain, but Qianye could only release a boundless suppressive force and had no control over its intensity. Just like how he had identally crushed all of the Silverbacks just now.

    This was a domain derived from the Profound Combatant Form. The first step was only to force out a boundless deep ocean, yet it had already surpassed the limits of his control. Qianye reckoned that if he truly formed a great maelstrom, the pressure and shearing forces might even tear himself apart.

    Qianye put away his vampiric de and pressed onward. Before long, a silver-haired youth with blue eyes appeared before him. This person was fairly tall and well built. His bare upper body entuated his perfect physique and seemed to be brimming with explosive strength.

    The young man raised his head and looked down at Qianye from an angle. He then pointed at himself and said, ¡°Zarah, one of the ten silver-haired warriors of the tribe. Was it you who killed my tribesmen just now?¡±

    Seeing this werewolf youth with pride and bravery written all over his face, Qianye didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Perhaps in a tribe with a long history like the Silverbacks, it was indeed an outstanding achievement for him to reach third-rank viscount at such a young age. He was also quite confident in defeating all those at the same realm. Since Qianye was also a third-rank viscount, it was the way of a true warrior for him toe and challenge the former alone.

    It was just that pride and valiance would only turn into ignorant stupidity before Qianye.

    East Peak didn¡¯t even leave its sheath as he pointed at the enemy from afar. Vague ocean waves immediately appeared around Zarah. The werewolf felt as though an entire ocean was pressing down upon him, a force so heavy that even the joints in his legs were creaking and groaning.

    Zarah¡¯s body wavered slightly, but he immediately stabilized himself, the hairs on his mane flying in the air. But all of the muscles in his body were trembling¡ªit would seem he had already exerted his full power. But this brave werewolf warrior let out an unyielding roar as the mes of darkness origin power burned brightly on his body.

    But Qianye wasn¡¯t about to give him the opportunity. He arrived before Zarah in just one step and pped the werewolf on the shoulder with East Peak. The sounds of breaking bones rang out beneath the sword, along with Zharah¡¯s loud cries. He could no longer hold on¡ªhis knees went weak, and he fell to the ground. With a flip of his hand, Qianye plunged the vampiric de into his back.

    Momentster, Qianye withdrew the de and continued his journey. The once valiant Silverback warriors quickly became dried bones on the battlefield.

    Qianye crossed over mountain ridges, traversed the woods, and leaped over rivers. He heard something snap beneath his foot as he arrived on a grasnd by the woods. Qianye looked down and found that an odd green spider the size of a child¡¯s fist had been stomped t.

    He halted his advance and nced over. To his astonishment, countless green spiders had appeared around him at some point. They crawled rapidly through the bushes and swarmed toward Qianye like a tide.

    Prairie Wolf Spiders!

    These spiders were extremely aggressive, and their poison was powerful. Some of them were natural inhabitants of the prairie, but most of them had appeared in the form of servspiders. At this moment, there were tens of thousands of Prairie Wolf Spiders on the grasnd with more appearing continuously from the forest. Even a high-ranking warrior would be in trouble once he had been bitten.

    But using wolfspiders to deal with Qianye was a bad idea. With a single thought, an almost invisible wave of blood rippled outward and extended for several dozens meters before diminishing. Meanwhile, all the wolf spiders in its wake were left with their bellies toward the sky and diedpletely after moving their limbs a couple of times.

    Qianye walked toward the forest at the end of the grasnd. Another ripple of blood shed out as the next wave of wolf spiders reached him. The Wolf Spiders around him were swept clean yet again.

    A furious howl came from the forest, ¡°You¡¯re a vampire? Then why would you massacre our soldiers?¡±

    An arachne of tremendous build walked out from the forest. His upper body was in human form, while his lower body was an arachne¡¯s. He was even one sizerger than Brahms. In his right hand was a giant axe even taller than Qianye, and in his left was an automatic origin gun. One could see his terrifying strength just from those two iparablyrge weapons.

    There were a dozen or sorge servspiders beside him, and all of them seemed to be rank seven or eight. Add to that the endless wolf spiders of all sizes, the enemy lineup was already a sizeable force on the bloody battlefield.

    ¡°I am Badenburg. Today, I shall...¡± The arachne only managed to speak halfway.

    Qianye appeared before him with a single leap and smashed down with East Peak.

    Badenberg instinctively started spraying bullets from his rotating origin machine gun, but the hail of origin bullets all flitted past Qianye. He roared loudly and waved his battle-axe at East Peak as the heavy sword swung down onto him.

    However, the arachne, along with his battle-axe, was pounded t amidst a series of snapping sounds.

    Great ocean waves once again emerged around Qianye, pressing all of the charging servspiders to the ground. Some of the weaker ones were even killed outright. The wolf spiders of varying sizes burst into blobs of meat paste.

    Qianye walked around with his vampiric de and stabbed to death all the servspiders hanging on theirst breaths. Atst, he stabbed the de into Badenberg¡¯s arachnid nucleus.

    Qianye passed through the forest momentster. He arrived at the valley on the other side and continued traveling along his predetermined path.

    Qianye was intercepted many times in the days that followed¡ªArachne Viscount Ford and Sandton, Lambier and Doug from the ancient vampire ns, and even the young demonkin genius Prince from the famed Jeruson n¡ªall of these names were symbolic of status and power in the Dark Nation. They were even a cause for fear.

    But now, all of them had turned into military contributions for Qianye. Moreover, they weren¡¯t able to obstruct his advancement in the slightest. All this time, East Peak never got the chance to leave its sheathpletely. Qianye was invincible once his oceanic powers were unleashed. He would asionally meet a rtively powerful opponent, but they were also turned into meat paste with a smash from East Peak.

    Several days passed by in this manner. Qianye had already swept through the greater half of zone a3 but never saw any traces of Bai Kongzhao. Presently, there was a vampire castle standing before him. This was the first time Qianye was confronted with a choice¡ªto take a detour or to go straight ahead.

    The castle seemed abundant in decorations andcking in defenses. Perhaps they had neglected heavy defenses due to the fact that this area was deep in the Dark Nation hintends and theplex geography made it difficult for big armies to arrive.

    At this moment, there were several long gs hanging on the walls outside the castle, revealing all types of beautiful andplicated decorations as the breeze rustled by. Thergest g hanging at the highest point depicted a violet datura flower in full bloom. This served to announce that this castle was under the control of the Monroe n, one of the twelve ancient vampire ns.

    The feudal ranks represented by these gs signified that there were at least hundreds of high-ranking dark race warriors garrisoned in the territory. The surrounding hundreds of kilometers would remain under this castle¡¯s control as long as it remained standing.

    This castle also happened to be in Qianye¡¯s predetermined route, and he would need to take a long way around to avoid it. Qianye didn¡¯t hesitate for very long. He nced up at the leaden sky before walking straight toward the castle.

    In the castle conference hall, a handsome vampire youth was sitting atop the throne as he looked down on everyone with an inexplicable arrogance on his countenance. There were several rows of warriors standing in the hall. They were mainly made up of vampires, but the other racesbined made up close to half the total headcount. There was nock of titled experts on the front row, and at least several people whose auras were stronger than the youth on the throne.

    This vampire youth was a rank-two viscount. Although he wasn¡¯t the strongest in the hall, he was iparably arrogant and showed not the slightest trace of respect for the experts standing below him. This included a first rank viscount from the same Monroe n.

    He was roaring furiously at this moment, causing his voice to reverberate throughout the great hall and even leak out into the castle corridors.

    ¡°A bunch of useless people! You have so many men yet you can¡¯t even stop a mere human, and so many of ours were killed instead. What will it take for you to finish him off? How many people must we dispatch? Are ten viscounts enough? How about twenty? Do you not feel ashamed to say that you have sacred blood flowing in your veins?

    ¡°He¡¯s a mere rank-ten human, equal to a third rank viscount! You can¡¯t even kill a third-rank viscount! And these are sacred-blooded experts? Geniuses?

    ¡°How much prestige does our Monroe n have left? How much?!¡±

    His roars echoed incessantly. The youth became more and more agitated, so much so that he pointed at the experts below him and berated them one by one.

    Among the dark races, rank was only an alternate expression of one¡¯s strength. Each and every expert had grown up through cruel fights, and there was nock of violent characters among them. Many people turned livid at the moment, and the eyes with which they nced at the youth became suffused with a cruel bloodthirst.

    However, they gradually retracted their animosity and lowered their heads when their gazes fell on the eye-catching violet datura insignia on the youth¡¯s formal attire.

 Volume 6 - 478: Here I Am

    [V6C8 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    This flower was iparably beautiful, but this extremely bloodthirsty flower of terror also symbolized status¡ªa power in the face of which there was no room for disobedience.

    Furthermore, there was an old man with a profound aura standing beside the youth¡¯s throne. He was only an ordinary count, but he was also a true count of the Monroe n, unlike the youth who had only returned to the n because he had awakened his bloodline during his growth process.

    The vampire youth¡¯s face became increasingly flushed as he became more and more riled up. Fury and excitement mixed together, reaching the extremes in the blink of an eye. He leapt out of his seat, pointed at the sky, and sent his hysterical voice ringing throughout the castle.

    ¡°Who? Who will take this lowly human¡¯s head for me? Who will go and defend the Monroe n¡¯s ten thousand years of ancient glory? Go! All of you will go. Find that human! Find him and kill him!!!¡±

    As if in deep response to his words, the earth began to shake and explosions rumbled in the distance. The entire castle was trembling as dust and stones fell continuously from the ceiling.

    The change was so sudden that the entire hall was immediately silenced. People nced at their surroundings in hopes of finding from whence the transformation had arisen. The vampire youth¡¯s hands were still raised in the air, but his expression became frozen¡ªeven his mouth was still open in its previous shape.

    An inexplicable haze and pressure quietly pervaded the air.

    The heavy doors at the castle entrance flew off from its tracks and crashed onto the floor. The several warriors pressed under the metallic structure had long since gone silent¡ªonly a stream of flowing blood from underneath extended outward.

    Qianye calmly walked into the castle with East Peak on his shoulders. He then said slowly, ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I¡¯m already here.¡±

    At the same time, cannon fodder from the dark racebat squads charged morously into the castle courtyard which was wide enough to amodate several horse carriages. Meanwhile, those charging down from the castle stairs were the true dark race soldiers. They arrived like a ck tide and swarmed toward Qianye in manyyers.

    Far off in the distance, a certain figure was traversing the mountains and rivers like a bolt of tempestuous lightning. It was traveling at an inconceivable speed. Its movements were domineering, with every step of its feet producing a big depression on the ground. However, its movements in the air were extremely smooth and would cover dozens of meters with every stretch of its straight torso. It was almost like a bird gliding through the air.

    It would cross over any and all obstruction without the slightest bit of hesitation, even bounding over hundred-meter precipices in a single leap. His route was in an absolute straight line, and at the end of it was the castle Qianye had just stepped into.

    He had just stepped onto a mountaintop when he came to a sudden stop. The transition from extreme action to utter stillness flowed naturally as though the development was what it should¡¯ve been all along.

    There was an isted mountain standing before him, and upon it stood a graceful figure. She was shrouded in faint mist, but that didn¡¯t affect her charm at all¡ªon the contrary, it even added a touch of mystery to her allure.

    The blonde man¡¯s blue eyes were profound as he spoke with a deep voice, ¡°Twilight.¡±

    Twilight responded with a faint smile and called out softly, ¡°William.¡±

    William slowly loosened his cor andughed protractedly. ¡°Are you trying to stop me?¡±

    Twilight chuckled charmingly as she replied, ¡°No, I just want to chat.¡±

    William¡¯s expression blossomed with a radiant and sincere smile. ¡°I don''t talk to old, ugly women.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s smile froze momentarily and only returned to its original state after some contortions. Immediately afterward, she made a grabbing gesture in the air and said, ¡°But I like plucking the fur off of big dogs!¡±

    Big dog was a derogatory term the vampires used to call the werewolves, but William wasn¡¯t angered. On the contrary, he revealed a pondering expression as he looked up at the Iron Curtain above. Both he and Twilight had surpassed the limits of the Iron Curtain. It would surely be an arduous battle with their powers restricted, and there was no telling when the battle would end. Twilight excelled in speed, so the battle could drag out for an indefinite length of time should she entangle him in a protracted fight.

    There was a firm resolution in William¡¯s eyes when he looked back at Twilight.

    Twilight felt somewhat flustered as she forced out the words, ¡°William, what are you doing? Don¡¯t be impetuous!¡±

    ¡°Step aside!¡± With that, William let out a long howl and raised his power abruptly. He rushed past the restriction boundary and showed no signs of stopping.

    ¡°You!¡± Twilight was shocked out of her wits. She had been operating under the Iron Curtain for a long time. How could she not know Sky Demon¡¯s terror? Moreover, why would William go so far as to seek mutual destruction even if he knew that she was scheming something?

    However, William didn¡¯t stop at all. His power rushed up to the count-rank and was still climbing!

    Twilight¡¯sst hopes of getting through by a fluke had disappeared. Her own strength was inferior to William. She would be badly injured, if not killed outright, should she allow William to open up his fullbat strength while hers was kept restricted. A sh of hatred flickered through her eyes as she bit her lower lip and pounced toward William. The distance of a hundred meters was crossed in an instant, and her dagger was already at William¡¯s chest.

    A simple, unadorned twin pistol had appeared in William¡¯s grasp at some point. The muzzle flickered with brilliance as it sted twice at Twilight on the brink of this iing crisis. Twilight¡¯s hair almost stood on end when the series of profound light patterns emerged at the muzzle!

    The timbre of the gun was like thunder and not inferior at all to that of a heavy cannon. The mountain peak under William¡¯s feet was filled with cracks as his feet sank into the rocks no less sturdy than metal alloy. This went to show just how powerful those two shots were.

    Two blobs of green light vanished into the mountaintop where Twilight had been standing before and erupted in an earth-shattering explosion. Rocks, broken trees, and soil flew out in all directions as the entire mountain top was shaved off.

    However, Twilight¡¯s figure vanished just as the origin bullet arrived close to her. The next moment, she was already behind William! Her left hand turned into a w which thrust straight down, drawing five bloody streaks on William¡¯s back.

    But this degree of injury was nothing to William. He waved his gun backward and shot out a beam of condensed light which turned into a de radiance as it shed past Twilight¡¯s body!

    Twilight¡¯s figure was cut through the waist, but it distorted a couple of times before vanishing into wisps of ck smoke. Apparently, it was just an illusion.

    Twilight appeared several dozen meters away and stood in the air, her face somewhat pale. Several strands of hair in front of her forehead had been cut and was slowly floating down. It would seem William¡¯s attack just now hadn¡¯t missed entirely and still managed to make her suffer slightly.

    This all-out attack gave the two a good understanding of the other¡¯sbat strength. All vampires excelled in speed, but Twilight had pushed this attribute to a brilliant extreme¡ªshe was almost able to teleport during the short moment of her eruption. Meanwhile, Twilight¡¯s domain had the effect of confusing the opponent¡¯s senses. Together, her abilities were mysterious and unpredictable.

    However, werewolves weren¡¯t too far off either in terms of speed. They were proficient in melee battles, so it went without saying that speed was an important link in their strategy. William also specialized in crity¡ªhe might not be as swift as Twilight for short distance movements, but his strength and physique were far above the vampiredy.

    The two sides each had their own advantages, and it would be difficult to decide on their rtive superiority on the short term unless they used their trump cards. Moreover, Twilight shockingly found that William might already have advanced to the mighty count rank. This would ce her in a disadvantage.

    Just when Twilight was hesitating, the peace in the sky was torn asunder as leaden clouds billowed and the Iron Curtain bubbled about. Sky Demon¡¯s peerless and frigid intent descended all of a sudden, and a gigantic eye was slowly forming in the sky.

    Twilight¡¯s expression changed drastically, but how could she run away so easily with William around? Even she might find it difficult to escape this tribtion once the eye waspletely opened.

    William suddenly let out a long howl and leaped forward. A sh of intense radiance erupted from his body as he transformed midair into a giant wolf. His speed increased abruptly, covering a great distance in the blink of an eye.

    Sky Demon¡¯s will swept over William¡¯s giant wolf form, however, it only paused slightly before letting him go and turning toward Twilight!

    Twilight was dumbfounded. She suddenly came to and recalled how void existences like Sky Demon were exceptionally lenient toward the various beast races, paying little attention to them even if they were evidently past the level restriction. It was just that there were very little native beasts who grew past rank-ten on Evernight Continent. Everyone had overlooked this loophole.

    Meanwhile, it was rumored that William of the Summit of Peaks possessed an exceptionally powerful bloodline and had awakened an ancient blood never seen in a thousand years. It turned out that William¡¯sbat form was actually an enormous ancient wolf capable of deceiving Sky Demon.

    For a moment, Twilight couldn¡¯t help but be dazed at William¡¯s shamelessness. But how could she have the luxury to be stunned? At the juncture of life and death, a brooch on her chest burst apart, and a drop of translucent ruby-red blood emerged from within.

    The drop of blood transformed into a bloody mist which enveloped Twilight inside. Immediately afterward, a sinister looking beast appeared therein. This hundred-meter-tall giant beast howled toward the sky and leapt straight at the giant pupil, crashing violently into Sky Demon¡¯s gaze!

    The giant beast was sted apart, and the mass of bloody mist vanished into nothingness. However, it was indeed powerful, so powerful that it actually blocked Sky Demon¡¯s gaze for a moment. Only when the mist waspletely dispersed did Sky Demon¡¯s gaze continue forward and fall upon Twilight¡¯s body.

    The figure left standing in ce distorted momentarily before disappearing. Her main body had taken this opportunity to escape, thus avoiding the search by Sky Demon¡¯s will.

    It was just that the quality of the blood collected within the brooch was almost at the origin blood level. After transforming into the giant beast, its might was equal to an attack from a mighty marquis. It was a life-saving measure for Twilight and undoubtedly an item of extreme value. It could be said that half of her entire fortune was in this blood brooch. Now, however, she had no choice but to use up her trump card in order to escape.

    Momentster, Twilight¡¯s figure appeared in a distant forest and nced at the giant eye still hanging in the distant sky. Her face was pale, and the terror in her eyes had yet to fade away. A person with senses as sharp as hers would be much more sensitive to Sky Demon¡¯s suppressive might. The situation just now was a brush with death. Had the sanguineous giant beast failed to block Sky Demon¡¯s vision, the one turning into nothingness would be her.

    But Twilight couldn¡¯t help but feel the pain after recalling the value of this brooch. She gazed at the direction in which William had run away with the mes of fury burning in her eyes.

    But there was no way to deal with William¡¯s cheat-like methods under the Iron Curtain since Twilight couldn¡¯t use the various restrictive measures in her arsenal. William didn¡¯t even need to waste any effort should they meet again. He only needed to attract Sky Demon¡¯s will and run away in his giant wolf form¡ªbut Twilight had no second brooch.

    Twilight suddenly broke into a frown after calming down. ¡°Something¡¯s not right! Why is William here instead of looking after his war zone? Could the Summit of Peaks be up to something?¡±

    At this moment, William was in the form of a giant wolf. With nothing more to fear, he raised his speed time and time again, turning into a sh of silver lightning which tore through the sky.

    Back in the castle, Qianye was walking toward the main staircase with East Peak in his grasp. The cannon fodder and dark race warriors swarmed around him, and the guards on the high ground had alsoe to and were firing continuously.

    As the many different attacks were just about to approach his body, an enormous oceanic wave emerged beside Qianye to cover the entire castle courtyard.

    The ground beneath his feet cracked open, and the fissures spread rapidly in every direction. Every dark race warrior in his domain was immediately pressed to the ground, even the werewolves and arachne, with their superior physiques, were no exception. The iing origin bullets were all deflected and sputtered into the ground around him. Some stray bullets even entered the group of dark race warriors.

    A kic pipeline on the borders of the courtyard was twisted apart by the pressure of the oceanic power. Large amounts of steam were spewed into the courtyard in the blink of an eye, shrouding it in waves of white. The high-temperature steam scalded a fair number of cannon fodder, producing a mixture of miserable cries and the shrill scream of servspiders.

    The steamy courtyard seemed like an immortal dawn, but the stench of blood within was growing increasingly dense.

    Qianye walked out calmly, climbed the stairs with brisk steps, and arrived before the magnificent doors. There he paused for a moment before stepping into the castle¡¯s main hall.

    The vampire youth stood dazed upon the throne. Disbelief was written all over his face as he watched Qianye walk over calmly. He came to after Qianye entered the great hall, but his first order wasn¡¯t to surround and kill. Instead, he asked the elder beside him, ¡°Don¡¯t we have many soldiers outside?¡±

 Volume 6 - 479: Destruction

    [V6C9 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The vampire elder who had worn a calm expression this entire time became fairly serious¡ªit was as though a great enemy was upon them. He replied, ¡°They¡¯re done for.¡±

    ¡°What?! Impossible, we have so many people outside!¡± the vampire youth cried loudly. His fingers were almost twitching as his hand pressed on the gorgeous scabbard and vampiric de at his waist.

    Qianye noticed the vampire youth only after he withdrew his gaze from the old count. His eyes paused slightly on the Monroe n insignia. ¡°Are you the leader here?¡±

    The vampire youth raised his head and said, ¡°Correct! I¡¯m from the ancient Monroe¡­¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when Qianye cut him short. ¡°It¡¯s enough for me to know that you¡¯re the leader. Your name means nothing.¡±

    With that, Qianye grasped East Peak by the handle and drew it slowly. This weapon¡ªmade by Old Lu and tempered by the greatest technology from the Song and Zhao ns¡ªfinally revealed its splendor once again.

    The dark race experts in the entire hall were greatly astonished and vignt. They felt pressure as grave as the mountains and as vast as the seas emerge from this human before them. No one dared obstruct him carelessly because it would surely be earth-shattering no matter where he attacked.

    But Qianye remained still without any movement, and only his body leaned forward ever so slightly as he threw a horizontal sh at the vampire youth on the throne.

    The old vampire¡¯s eyes erupted with a spiritual gleam. ¡°Young Master, be careful!¡± He rushed toward the vampire youth and thrust a fine rapier into the air in front of him.

    There was nothing at first in the rapier¡¯s direction, but a barely visible ripple suddenly appeared and headed straight for the throne with unreduced momentum. The old man¡¯s attack struck the ripples at the veryst moment. An intense bloody light erupted all of a sudden and dyed the hall scarlet!

    During this short moment, all the dark race experts in the hall felt their spirits trembling as though they had fallen into a sea of blood.

    By the time the sanguineous radiance had receded from everyone¡¯s eyes, they saw the old Monroe count flying back to the vampire youth¡¯s side. But even then, he was unable to stand firm and had to take continuous steps backward. The old man¡¯s thin hands trembled continuously as the rapier in his hand crumbled piece by piece like a pile of scrap metal.

    The vampire youth stood before the throne while staring nkly at Qianye, his hand stretched forward as though he wanted to catch something. His eyes were somewhat in a daze as he muttered, ¡°You can¡¯t kill me. My youngest sister is the princess¡­¡±

    His body staggered at this moment and split into two halves¡ªhis lower body was still standing in ce as the upper half slid onto the floor. The throne made of metal alloy emitted a snapping sound as a cut surface appeared on the tall backrest. Then, it gradually slid to the side and crashed onto the floor with a boom.

    Qianye shook his hand lightly. East Peak¡¯s de tip trembled with a resonant hum as it was lowered toward the floor.

    Nirvanic Rend!

    This Nirvanic Rend from East Peak was backed by the power of a half-crystallized champion. Although it didn¡¯t produce any shocking phenomena to draw upon the heaven and earth, it was matchless, concise, and indefensibly sharp.

    No one beneath the Iron Curtain could block this sword strike.

    There were over ten titled dark race experts in the castle hall. Among them were numerous viscounts, even two first-rank viscounts¡ªone werewolf and one vampire. But Qianye ignored all of them and walked on toward the throne.

    The Monroe elder pointed a finger at Qianye and shouted sternly, ¡°The Young Master is dead! No one will live if we can¡¯t kill this person! He can¡¯t unleash that attack repeatedly. Charge together! Kill him!¡±

    The dark race experts in the hall were jolted awake and started to charge over in session. All kinds of abilities sted at Qianye in the form of origin beams.

    Qianye had reached the middle of the hall at this point. A scarlet origin power radiance appeared around him as he held East Peak in both hands and, going down on one knee, thrust it deep into the ground.

    The scarlet brilliance grew ever more vigorous with specks of golden starlight floating within. They rotated continuously around Qianye and started to expand outward at a rapid pace. It soon filled the greater half of the hall as though a small asteroid belt was descending upon Evernight from the top of the world.

    Every single attacknding on these golden specks was continuously dispersed. Many stars vanished in this manner, but an even greater amount of them would emerge afterward.

    ¡°Venus Dawn!¡± The Monroe count¡¯s expression changed immediately as he saw through the origins of the golden starlight.

    He raised his trembling hands with great difficulty, drew the dead youth¡¯s sword, and shed thrice at Qianye through the air. At the same time, he shouted loudly, ¡°Kill him! Anyone who kills him will earn great contributions. Council-grade contributions!¡±

    A council-grade contribution meant that the Evernight Council would appear to reward this person for his contributions. Hence, the eyes of everyone in the hall became bloodshot after hearing these words. They did their utmost to break through the starry light and Qianye.

    But they didn''t notice that a blue light had emerged in the depths of Qianye¡¯s eyes. He was cold, merciless, and showed not the slightest trace of emotional fluctuation.

    Countless bloody threads emerged quietly from Qianye¡¯s body and filled the entire hall in the blink of an eye. The dark race warriors surrounding him werepletely prated.

    Life Plunder!

    This terrifying ability had appeared once again, but the current sanguineous threads were greatly superior both in terms of number and prance. Almost no one in the hall had the ability to resist. Only the first-rank werewolf viscount, with his outstanding strength, managed to cut down the greater half of the threads shooting at him. However, he was still pierced through by several bloody lines and one had even gone through his abdomen.

    The Monroe count beside the copsed throne managed to block almost all of the bloody threads except the one piercing through his left arm. The old count let out a loud cry when Qianye retracted the sanguineous threads. His face went deathly pale as his aura immediately deteriorated. He made a prompt decision at that time and escaped by crashing through the wall behind him, running through all the walls and rooms in his wake. He didn¡¯t even dare nce back.

    There was only one person standing after the countless bloody threads returned to Qianye¡¯s body. It was the first-rank viscount werewolf. He had already transformed into werewolfbat form, so his face wasn¡¯t discernible¡ªonly hisrge mouth opened and closed a couple of times. It was as though he wanted to say something, but his voice just wouldn¡¯te out.

    The werewolf began staggering step by step toward the main doors. It looked like he was nning to run away, but his speed was even slower than an ordinary old man.

    Qianye was still in his kneeling position with the sword in the ground. He remained still andpletely ignored the werewolf struggling toward the door.

    At this moment, the essence blood in his body had reached an unprecedented degree of fullness; it felt as though another drop would cause his body to explode. The blood core was pulsing rapidly, barely able to amodate the massive amount of essence blood brought in by Life Plunder. At the same time, the Song n Ancient Scroll was circting rapidly. The deep dark vortex had already expanded to its limit as it drew in and crushed the iing essence blood to turn them into drops of darkness origin power.

    Although Qianye¡¯s cirction of two chapters had increased several times after his ascension, devouring massive amounts of essence blood from several viscounts left him with a feeling of indigestion. But he could refine the greater half of it after some rest.

    With Qianye remaining still at the center of the main hall and the castle doors within arm¡¯s reach, the werewolf almost seemed to have found a ray of hope. mes lit up in his eyes and even his steps grew somewhat faster. However, he could no longer hold on just as he was about to force himself over the threshold. He fell head first to the floor and could no longer get up again.

    Qianye was still motionless. He activated the Mystery Chapter with all his might in order to digest the essence blood continuously. Conquering this castle meant that he had basically prated the entire zone a3 and very few dark race warriors would remain in this war zone. Although he still hadn¡¯t found Bai Kongzhao¡¯s whereabouts, it could be considered an aplished objective for Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s body finally moved just as the castle bells tolled nine times. It was already deep into the night when he slowly opened his eyes. A tiny pair of golden wings flickered briefly in the depths of his eyes.

    A feather had once again condensed upon the Wings of Inception. This also meant that he could now fire yet another Shot of Inception. With it, Qianye no longer needed to fear anyone under the Iron Curtain.

    His eyes were as deep and blue as the ocean on the eve of a storm. Its luster retracted gradually as he stood up and waved East Peak outward, aiming the de¡¯s point diagonally toward the ground in a guarding stance. He then spoke calmly, ¡°Show yourself since you¡¯ve alreadye.¡±

    A sigh emerged from outside the castle¡¯s main doors. It passed through the courtyard and the hall to seemingly ring beside one¡¯s ears.

    The day and night were only different shades of grey under the Iron Curtain, but there was moonlight pouring down onto the courtyard at this moment. It was like a mass of hazy silver lightparable to flowing water. It also resembled a bewildering mist creeping over the tall wall, the broken gate, the blood-stained earth, and the pile of corpses.

    A tall, heroic-looking blonde youth walked out from the mist and headed straight for the castle hall. The silvery mist resembling moonlight retracted with him as the center and eventually vanished.

    William passed through the dark race warrior corpses. He would asionally stop to flip over a number of werewolf corpses and check on them before continuing forward.

    At the doors to the main hall, William lifted up that werewolf viscount and stared on vacantly. He sighed momentster and said, ¡°Viscount f, I remember him as a truly valiant warrior. I never expected to see him here¡ªand in such a manner.¡±

    Qianye nced at William. ¡°I promised to take care of the werewolves when possible, but I never promised to not retaliate when they¡¯re throwing themselves at me.¡±

    William looked up with a hint of dejection in his eyes. ¡°I know, I only felt that he shouldn¡¯t have appeared here. Just a few years ago, f was stubborn to the point of stupidity, but at the very least, he still followed the ancient traditions of the werewolves. That is not topromise in the face of a generational vendetta.¡±

    William¡¯s words vaguely revealed some of the dark race¡¯s secrets. Qianye understood him without the need to exin.

    The enmity between the werewolves and vampires was no less than their animosity with the humans. f appearing in the Monroe castle to work for the enemy served as indirect proof that the situation around many werewolf tribes wasn¡¯t looking very optimistic. Moreover, these werewolves weren¡¯t natives of the chaotic Evernight Continent but dark race nobles from the upper continents.

    William stood up after reaching out to close f¡¯s still-open eyes. He then nced toward the main hall and said in a meaningful tone, ¡°I had originally thought that I might be toote to retrieve your corpse, or perhaps more optimistically, catch you running away with heavy injuries. I would have never imagined the oue would be like this. Did you finish off all these people?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°There seems to be no one else here.¡±

    William¡¯s eyes scanned the great hall and fell upon the copsed throne on the tform. His brows rose as he pointed at the vampire youth¡¯s corpse and said, ¡°There should at least be a guardian around that notoriously arrogant trash, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there was a third-rank count, but he escaped.¡±

    William¡¯s eyes were no longer as unfathomable as before. His blue-grey eyes almost seemed to be flowing with light as he sized Qianye up from head to toe. ¡°You can already defeat a third-rank count? That¡¯s a genuine Monroe count we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply and only gazed intently at William.

    Under his Eye of Truth, William¡¯s origin power tendency was like a mass of burning darkness. Qianye was somewhat shaken because this signified that William was at least three ranks higher than him.

    But the origin power outside of his body was visible. Qianye noticed that William¡¯s origin power was seeping out of his body, expanding and contracting rhythmically around him. This was abat-ready state in which he couldunch an attack at a moment¡¯s notice.

 Volume 6 - 480: For One Battle

    [V6C10 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    William shrugged after seeing Qianye remain silent. ¡°Very well then! Since you were able to kill so many people, it¡¯s not unimaginable for you to beat a third-rank viscount. But¡­¡±

    ¡°... Regardless of the reason, you killed f.¡± William¡¯s voice suddenly became cold and gloomy. ¡°And I am born of the Summit of Peaks. We must fight now that I¡¯ve seen this! Evernight and Daybreak are eternal enemies.¡±

    Qianye nodded without much surprise. He raised East Peak slowly and said, ¡°True, Daybreak and Evernight will always be enemies.¡±

    ¡°Yes, remember these words!¡± William¡¯s aura rose continuously and reached the Iron Curtain¡¯s limits in the blink of an eye.

    This was the first time Qianye was confronting William head-on. Although William had released his domain and suppressive might back on the Western Continent to prevent him from running away, but he couldn¡¯t feel any excessive danger back then.

    Only now on the eve of their true battle did Qianyee to appreciate William¡¯s terrifying strength.

    His vigor while standing there was not much greater than Nangong Zhen or the Monroe count. After all, the power these restricted experts could exert under the Iron Curtain was limited. However, the pressure brought about by William was many times more powerful than the Monroe count, far from a level Nangong Zhen could ever reach, and even Nangong Yuanwang was a tad bit inferiorpared to it.

    Under the Eye of Truth, Qianye could see darkness origin power flowing along William¡¯s body surface with miniature explosions urring continuously. Apparently, his power would erupt in a terrifying manner the moment he attacked. The darkness origin power in his vision was all muddled even though Qianye knew William might attack at any moment. Thetter actually revealed no offensive intent and thus had no openings to grasp.

    Among all the enemies Qianye had met up until this point, those at William¡¯s standards could be counted on one hand. Perhaps even Twilight was slightly inferior.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was solemn without the slightest hope of getting through this by luck. He respired thrice and circted all the origin power in his body. His blood core also began to pulse as auric me blood flowed through his vessels, filling every corner of his body with explosive power.

    A pair of illusory golden wings unfurled behind him. His Shot of Inception was ready for activation and couldunch a fatal blow at a moment¡¯s notice. Preserving one¡¯s strength in the face of a great enemy like William was equal to courting death.

    Qianye would be easily ughtered once the shot had missed, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to run away either after being defeated by an enemy who was three-ranks higher than him.

    The moment the Shot of Inception was readied, William¡¯s body shook, and the image of a giant golden wolf glimpsed behind him. However, it was quickly suppressed. In that instant, William¡¯s intuition for danger had almost forced out his innate talent form.

    William¡¯s strict expression became exceptionally grave, and even his exposed killing intent had been retracted. His pair of blue-grey eyes were filled with serious concentration. From that point onward, he was treating Qianye as a great enemy worthy of respect¡ªone that he needed to confront with full force.

    William drew his old twin-barreled handgun then stretched out his left hand to don a pair of simrly in bronze-colored gloves. He thus began encircling Qianye with slow steps.

    Qianye, on the other hand, didn¡¯t move at all. East Peak was pointed at the ground without even the slightest vibration, and only a scarlet origin radiance was flowing along the de like water.

    One stationary and the other mobile¡ªthe two thus confronted one another.

    The atmosphere in the castle hall grew increasingly oppressive. After a while, this pressure gradually became tangible. The corpses strewn across the ce began to move. Many decorative objects were vibrating slightly, while some even became twisted and deformed.

    The pressure grew more and more intense. The pipelines in the walls burst open with crackling sounds, spewing outrge amounts of steam. The entire great hall became a sea of hazy white through which one could hardly see anything. Such high-temperature steam could almost scald a person, but Qianye and William felt nothing as they continued their standoff.

    A rumble suddenly came through from behind the castle as the kic tower gradually copsed amidst the explosion. The excessive leakage of steam had finally caused the delicate operations of the kic tower to go past its tolerance, and the long overloaded parts broke apart one by one.

    Qianye and William remained just as before¡ªone stationary and the other mobile.

    None of them had released their domains up to this point.

    Qianye¡¯s domain power was simply too powerful. He could barely activate it with his current strength, let alone perform exquisite transformations. Using it to deal with an enemy like William might cause the attack to backfire. William, on the other hand, had apparently reached a certain level in controlling his power and didn¡¯t need to keep the domain active at all times. It was fine to deploy and expand the domain at the critical juncture. Using it early would just be a waste of energy.

    Even without releasing their domains, the confrontation between the two was already causing the castle to totter on the verge of copse.

    Finally, William halted his steps and slowly raised his gun toward Qianye¡¯s chest.

    The great hall was suddenly filled with green light as two origin bullets shot out at the same time. ¡°Boom!¡± A massive rumble engulfed the entire castle or perhaps even the entire mountaintop. The wall on the other side crumbledpletely to reveal the machine room behind it.

    Therge-scale transmission machines were absolutely deformed and unrecognizable with variousponents shooting out in all directions. A corner of the grey sky was revealed amidst the utterly chaotic scene. This centuries-old castle was actually sted through in one shot.

    William stood silently at the center of the hall. Both gun barrels were somewhat red, a testament that the two shots had been fired at full power.

    But the space in front of him waspletely empty¡ªthe shots had missed. The moment the st rang out, a rotating origin array appeared below Qianye¡¯s feet as he shot into the air. This was the ability Qianye had gained after his ascension to the champion rank: Origin Vault.

    A sudden gust of wind was transmitted from above William¡¯s head. He looked up only to see a giant pinion¡ªwhich two men could wrap their arms around¡ªflying toward him at high speed.

    William pulled back instantly and allowed the gear, with its terrifying momentum, to pass by.

    Qianye had jumped onto the ten-meter-tall steam clock. There he was, grabbing the gears and hurling them out, the pinions screaming sharply as they flew toward William.

    William had just evaded one when all kinds of parts and gears swarm toward him. He was smashed until he was scuttling up and down in misery. In the end, Qianye pried off the clock arm and shot it out like a javelin!

    William discovered that he had been pushed into a corner of the hall after stepping back continuously. He would soon fall into a passive position if he kept on drawing back. He had no choice but to raise his gun and st the clock arm to pieces, but this exhausted the origin bullet he had just condensed.

    This was the opportunity Qianye had been waiting for. He leapt off and floated down like a falling leaf as East Peak finally shed at William through the air!

    This strike was as light as a feather and just as quiet. William¡¯s expression changed drastically. He unleashed an explosive shout as the image of a golden wolf, several meters tall, emerged behind him. At this moment, William could no longer withhold his strength and finally utilized his domain.

    The faint ripples of Nirvanic Rend emerged in front of William, but its iing momentum had be much slower like a ripple upon a reef and even began to change directions. The giant wolf suddenly opened its mouth as if to roar, and wed out to shatter the Nirvanic Rend.

    The ripples of Nirvanic Rend shattered into countless pieces and shot in every direction. Everything they struck was punched in, be it the walls, pirs, pipelines, steel frames, or even machineponents.

    The entire castle building shook and half of it slowly toppled over.

    Shattered rocks were flying everywhere all of a sudden. William and Qianye rushed out from amidst the rubble and rose into the air, standing off against one another from the distance. The two sides exchanged blows only for a short moment, but this was enough to destroy half a castle. In the end, they were, quite surprisingly, an even match.

    William pushed his twin-barreled pistol into his pocket and stretched his neck. ¡°I have to admit that this oue is far beyond my expectations. You still have unused trump cards, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the same?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t deny it.

    William suddenly retracted his domain and said, ¡°It seems that¡¯s all we can do under the Iron Curtain. Let¡¯s stop here!¡±

    ¡°Not fighting anymore?¡± Qianye was somewhat startled.

    William¡¯s radiant smile was restored as he said, ¡°I told you just now, it¡¯s just a battle. I didn¡¯t say we have to fight to the death. Now I have a good reason for appearing here. I can exin things perfectly!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say Daybreak and Evernight are eternal enemies?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not wrong! War is a matter of two factions. It¡¯s indeed rted to you and I, but that doesn¡¯t apply to every situation.¡± William¡¯s magnanimousughter almost sounded a bit scoundrelly to Qianye.

    Qianye red at him for a while, not knowing whether tough or to cry. He returned East Peak to its sheath and asked, ¡°Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    William waved his big hands and said, ¡°I heard about a Monroe settlement here, so I ran over to flip it over.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that simple?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that simple,¡± William replied assertively.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were going to seek justice for Viscount f?¡±

    William said disdainfully, ¡°f? This traitor to the Sacred Mountain is actually willing to serve the Monroes. He¡¯s lucky enough that he didn¡¯t die in my hands.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Then why did you say all those things to me?¡±

    William chuckled mischievously. ¡°Would you have fought me seriously if I didn¡¯t? My hands started to itch after seeing you finish off everyone in the castle. Heh, heh, heehee!¡±

    Qianye was angered speechless after hearing this reason.

    William wasn¡¯t lenient at all when he had attacked just now, especially with that twin-barreled pistol. That was a bona fide count level killing weapon, and even Qianye¡¯s body would¡¯ve been gravely injured if he were struck by it. He was already very close to using the Shot of Inception and might¡¯ve used it if William had pressured him just a bit further. It was just that William hadn¡¯t revealed his trump card, and Qianye also felt he might not win even if he had used it.

    From his unsightly expression, William realized Qianye was quite furious. He scratched his head in an embarrassed manner and said, ¡°That¡­ umm¡­ the fight just now was quite satisfying, wasn¡¯t it? Hehe!¡±

    But that chuckle sounded iparably stiff.

    Qianye had no intention of epting his ¡°hehe¡±. He narrowed his eyes, then nced at East Peak in his hand, sensing the residual power therein. It looked like he really wanted to repeat this entire process.

    Finding his trick ineffective, William blinked his blue-grey eyes and adopted an honest expression. He then flew toward Qianye and said mysteriously, ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice something wrong with the Iron Curtain recently?¡±

 Volume 6 - 481: Invincible

    [V6C11 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Despite knowing that William was trying to change the subject, Qianye¡¯s attention was still drawn. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I received news that those old fellows from the Evernight Council already know what Sky Demon is searching for. They¡¯ve just made up their mind to take action and snatch it.¡±

    This news was so significant that Qianye could hardly believe it for a moment. This should belong to the highest level of council secrets, and William being privy to such information spoke volumes about this count¡¯s status in the realm of darkness. However, why would he tell Qianye such important news?

    Qianye didn¡¯t believe that it was merely due to the friendship between them.

    He frowned and said without mincing words, ¡°Why would you give me such important news? Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll leak it back to the empire?¡±

    William chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ve made a deal before, that you take care of the descendants of Marquis Ross. The present results are much better than I¡¯ve expected. You have to know that Ross is only a branch of the Monroe n, and there were a lot of Monroe main branch members in this castle today.¡±

    Qianye raised his eyebrows suspiciously. ¡°Why is my intuition telling me that your words can¡¯t be trusted at all?¡±

    William seemed as if he had been shot. He waved his hands and looked like he wanted to say something but retracted his exaggerated expression upon seeing Qianye¡¯s darkening face. ¡°Alright, stop overthinking things. It¡¯s only a matter of time before this news is made public, so what¡¯s the harm in telling you a bit earlier? Do you think the Evernight Council can keep the empire¡¯s heavenly monarchs in the dark once they make a move? But it¡¯s best for minor characters like us to steer clear once those big shots start moving. Otherwise, we won¡¯t be able to take it even if it¡¯s just a shockwave.¡±

    ¡°Ah, right!¡± William suddenly thought of a matter and said solemnly to Qianye, ¡°You should leave this region as soon as possible. There¡¯s a dangerous vampire overseer in this area, a woman called Twilight. You should stay as far away from her as possible. If you really need to attack, then don¡¯t hold back in the least. She¡¯s an extremely dangerous woman who¡¯s killed several of my good brothers.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart was jolted. ¡°Twilight? Since that¡¯s the case, why not kill her?¡±

    Williamughed wryly. ¡°How can it be so simple? That woman is extremely crafty and excels in speed. I¡¯m not confident in tying her down in the wild even without the Iron Curtain¡¯s restrictions. Moreover¡­¡±

    At this point, William hesitated for a moment before continuing in a self-deprecating tone, ¡°Moreover, both our identities are special. Once the assassination fails and she escapes, it¡¯ll lead to an all-out racial war between the vampires and the werewolves. With the werewolves¡¯ present situation, it¡¯s best for us to avoid such a war if we can.¡±

    Even William of the Summit of Peaks was emotionally moved like so. This allowed Qianye to appreciate the werewolves¡¯ suboptimal circumstances in the Evernight faction.

    William waved his hands forcefully as if trying to shake away the unhappy thoughts. ¡°Enough on that. These things are meaningless. You, on the other hand, have stirred up quite a lot of trouble. This fellow¡¯s status in the family isn¡¯t low at all despite his ineptitude.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve killed more than one vampire from the twelve ns. It¡¯s nothing to add one more,¡± Qianye replied indifferently.

    William gave it some thought, then nodded. He stopped speaking of this matter and only asked, ¡°So what are your ns now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going back to rest and resupply,¡± replied Qianye. That was only one reason, however. The information William had given him was of extreme importance. He needed to inform his friends immediately and have them make preparations to face it.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t clear about Sky Demon¡¯s strength. From Zhao Yuying¡¯s initial description, it was like a terrifying existence which surpassed the peak experts of both factions. Now that the Evernight Council was looking to contend with Sky Demon and rob its treasure, it was proof enough that they were confident in stopping thetter¡¯s main body.

    At that time, the Iron Curtain would be useless even if it was still there. Without ample preparations, the young geniuses operating under the Iron Curtain¡ªlike Zhao Jundu, Song Zining, and himself¡ªwould be in grave danger.

    William breathed a sigh of relief after discovering that Qianye had no intention to go further in. He nced at Qianye¡¯s tight grip on the sword and said with a whistle, ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so tense.¡±

    Qianyeughed but didn¡¯t rx his hand.

    William didn¡¯t mind, either. He only waved at Qianye and walked away. Qianye didn¡¯t linger for long. He only cleaned up the battlefield briefly before leaving swiftly.

    Before long, news of the dark races¡¯ loss in zone a3 spread throughout the bloody battlefield and astonished both factions. The name Qianye finally rose to the surface and was soon known by the ns and nobility. His long-distance assault had prated an entire dark-race controlled region and killed countless powerful enemies, cementing his invincibility under the Iron Curtain.

    All the major families including the Bai, Song, and Nangong n treated Qianye with the same strategy as they would Zhao Jundu. They privately instructed their forces not to provoke Qianye and to retreat immediately once they encountered him.

    At this point, Qianye had already returned to the Zhao n base and passed the news onto the overseer General Zhao Gongcheng while also catching up on thetest news and exchanging military contributions. His aplishments hadn¡¯t been reflected in thetest military report just yet. ckflow City, on the other hand, had once again be a hot topic, barring the news about how matchless Zhao Jundu was as he shouldered the entire Zhao n war zone.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t willing to be left alone after Qianye headed toward the Zhao n. After a wave of reorganization and expansion, he led Dark me out of ckflow City and started sweeping through the surrounding areas. Contrary to Zhao Jundu¡¯s solitary rampage, the Song Seventh Young Master was followed by arge army as he marched into the Dark Nation in a grand manner.

    Once Dark me started moving, the dark races naturally had to respond ordingly. No matter how matchless an expert was, he still had to return after killing his targets. But wherever the human army went, the regions in its wake would change owners. Thus, the dark race side had to continuously dispatch forces to open up a theater of war on the vastnds west of ckflow City.

    In the end, Song Zining proved that his victory in ckflow City wasn¡¯t a fluke. His strategies seemed to be guided by the gods as he triumphed in every battle, utterly routing great armies several times bigger than his own.

    First, it was the native nobles of Evernight, then the higher bigwigs who hade from the distant continents. Even generals of significant origins¡ªthose on the same level as Demonkin Viscount Luther who was beheaded outside ckflow City¡ªtook the field one by one, but were all defeated in Song Zining¡¯s hands.

    Those famed generals were originally quite arrogant and conceited due to their status and were disdainful toward winning by overwhelming numbers, but after being defeated one after another, they had no choice but to admit that ordinary generals like them were far from being a match for Song Zining¡¯s leadership.

    But Song Zining suddenly retreated just as the dark race was mobilizing a great number of soldiers and experts from various ces to surround and kill the isted Dark me army. As if he had predicted everything, Song Zining withdrew the Dark me army to a strategic location between two mountains and entrenched it there. The dark race scouts on the battlefield actually had no idea how these humans, with their meager speed, had run so far in such a short time.

    The pursuing dark race army arrived to find Song Zining¡¯s army hunkered down in a strategic terrain, throwing them into a difficult dilemma. In the end, they didn¡¯t dare attack despite theirrge numbers and could only retreat unwillingly. With this retreat, the vastnd stretching hundreds of kilometers between ckflow and Song Zining fell in the hands of the empire.

    Up to this point, Song Zining had led an army over hundreds of kilometers and won thirty battles in one month. He had conquered another territory almost the size of Trinity River County.

    Such a military contribution immediately shook the empire, so much so that some people believed Song Zining had the potential to be a military god of the generation just like Lin Xitang. His fame for the moment wasn¡¯t below that of Zhao Jundu.

    What Song Zining gained following this campaign weren¡¯t limited to fame alone; it was also apanied by extreme profits. He had led a great army to open up a new county and ughter the dark races by the tens of thousands. This batch of military contributions was far bigger than those of Qianye and Zhao Jundu who had been fighting on their own. It was big enough to bring about a change to the contribution rankings.

    Should the Song n obtain such a military god, their weak situation would be overturned, and there would be hope of a resurgence. All information rted to Song Zining was immediately dug up by the various major ns. But astonishingly, they found out that Song Zining had long since fallen out with the Song n¡¯s elder assembly, and his personal assets had reportedly been frozen. It was no different from being expelled.

    As such, the Song n became the empire¡¯sughingstock yet again.

    Qianye was happy for Song Zining after seeing the reports, but he also couldn¡¯t help but worry. He immediately wrote a long letter to his friend detailing the Evernight Council¡¯s possible movements and advising Song Zining to return to ckflow.

    Since they could take down a county this time, they could do it again another time. But once the Iron Curtain opened up, it would be disastrous for Dark me without an expert to oversee them. It was unknown just what kind of characters the Evernight Council would dispatch. After all, ten thousand expeditionary army soldiers were only ants before them.

    After concluding his lengthy correspondence, Qianye replenished his ammunition and supplies before setting out once again on his own. He was nning to clear away the hidden dangers in the Zhao n war zone as soon as possible and return to ckflow City.

    During this trip, Qianye nned to meet Zhao Jundu and take down several major settlements between the Zhao n war zone and the dark race territory. The dark racebat squads would surely be driven away without the support of these bases. Even if some experts were able to push deeper in, the impact wouldn¡¯t be too great. This would stabilize the Zhao n war zone and also earn them another batch of contributions during thest phases of the bloody battle.

    Even if the Iron Curtain were to disappear, Qianye and Zhao Jundu could calmly retreat if they worked together.

    Thetest military report detailing Song Zining¡¯s aplishments arrived on imperialnds soon after Qianye¡¯s departure. However, not everyone was happy about Song Zining¡¯s meteoric rise. The atmosphere throughout the entire Song n was fairly odd recently.

    Both young masters and the elders alike refused to talk about affairs rted to the bloody battle¡ªit was as though the nearly one hundredbat squads the Song n had invested didn¡¯t even exist. The subordinates, however, whispered quietly about certain elders smashing their tables and other young masters venting their anger on the servants.

    However, there was always an end to deceiving oneself. The empire was shaken once again when thetest military contribution rankings were announced. The Song n, which had been at the top for a long time, was finally kicked off the throne. Meanwhile, the Zhao n¡¯s rank skyrocketed, jumping several positions to take the top spot in one go.

    This time, the contributions turned in by the Zhao n were equal to thebination of all the ns ranked second to ninth! The significance of this number was extraordinary¡ªit indicated that the Zhao n alone represented half the nation¡¯s power.

    There were also incidental factors in the rankings shift¡ªfor instance, apart from the Song and Yin ns, the contributions earned by the others had all fallen sharply. This was especially true of the Nangong family, which gained next to nothing. People from the upper echelons were very clear as to the reason behind this drastic decrease.

    However, an analysis of the Zhao n¡¯s contributions showed that thergest sum came from Song Zining, followed by Qianye and Zhao Jundu. Moreover, thebination of points from all the otherbat squads couldn¡¯t match either one of the three.

    Song Zining¡¯s exnation was that the Zhao n had offered the highest price. These words caused the attitudes of the various families toward Song Zining to change rapidly, and they began inquiring about the possibility of buying from him. Since even the Zhao n could buy contributions from him, what was stopping everyone else from doing the same?

 Volume 6 - 482: Queen of The Nigh

    t [V6C12 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The various ns also received a delightful piece of information. It would seem that the rich and overbearing Song n couldn¡¯t lower their stance to acquire contributions from Song Zining¡ªthis was just what the other families were hoping for. They didn¡¯t want the price to be raised by a n so destitute that money was the only thing they had left.

    With so many people seeking to buy contributions, there were naturally people who thought of investing in this future martial god. Some suggested putting theirbat squads under Song Zining¡¯smand to have them fight alongside Dark me and split the contributions ording to performance. All kinds of generous conditions were proposed.

    Song Zining¡¯s attitude toward these suggestions was extremely good; he didn¡¯t refuse anyone at all. Soon, a dozen or sobat squads had appeared in ckflow City with more on the way.

    At this moment, Qianye had already entered the Zhao n war zone and was making his final pit stop at a transit base. He was immediately relieved after receiving this news. Song Zining had struck two birds in one stone by tying the various aristocratic families to his chariot. His safety levels had been raised significantly, be it against the dark race army in front or the Nangong family at his back.

    As such, Qianye was finally able to shed his worries as he traced Zhao Jundu¡¯s route of advancement, stepping onto a new expeditionary path.

    News considered good to Qianye might not make everyone else happy, and the Far East Wei n heir who had been guarding the Everwinter Stronghold alone was one of them. He would fly into a rage every time he received news of Song Zining. Later on, the entire fortress could hear their young master spewing profanities.

    ¡°Damn his grandma, what the hell?! If this general were on Evernight Continent, there¡¯d be no room for that sissy to gain so much attention!¡± At the mention of his hated rival, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but send the table flying with a stomp.

    The war between the Far East Province and the dark races had been going on for over a year. Even for such a big event like the Iron Curtain, the Wei n had only dispatched two token units to Evernight. Naturally, the whole empire knew about the battle situation in the Far East Province, and none of the other families moved to disrupt them.

    Meanwhile, Wei Potian had gone through the baptism of countless battles and broken through to the champion rank. Not only did he rack up military contributions, but he was also promoted to a brigadier general in Broken-Winged Angel. This meant that, after the war in Far East Province, he would have the authority to lead an independent army corps, albeit an ordinary one.

    Just like that, Wei Potian was tied down with the important duty of defending Everwinter Stronghold while Song Zining was flexing his muscles on Evernight. This was the most important strategic point in the Jade Gate Pass which connected the Far East Province to the dark race territories.

    After a protracted and evenly matched contest, the dark race army had made no progress at all in the Far East Province. This spring after the ice had melted, the Wei n started fighting back with the support of the empire. Everwinter Stronghold thus became the most important point on the frontlines for the transfer of soldiers and supplies.

    Strictly speaking, Wei Potian¡¯s performance during this period was quite good. The dark race army had besieged the stronghold several times but was ultimately defeated by Wei Potian every time. When the stronghold wall had been sted open, Wei Potian stood guard at the defect and fended off the alternative attacks from five viscount level experts. Finally, the dark races were forced to retreat with their tails between their legs.

    Such an aplishment would be something to write about under normal circumstances, however, the times were special, and all eyes throughout the empire were on the Iron Curtain battles. The bloody battle up to this point had been true to its name¡ªit had turned into a total war with special rules between the two factions, one which affected the hearts of people throughout the empire.

    Under the Iron Curtain, every military deed would be magnified. Thus, Song Zining¡¯s brilliance grew as bright as the midday sun, while the Wei n heir¡¯s meager achievements went unmentioned.

    It was fine if it were any other person. For instance, the n young master cared little no matter how dazzling Zhao Jundu was, but it just had to be Song Zining who was enjoying such limelight. Wei Potian recalled the many things of the past and immediately felt that he had fallen behind. Even when drinking together in the future, he wouldn¡¯t have the face to force Song Zining to chug until he falls dead!

    At the thought of this, Wei Potian had the urge to charge out with his army and raid the dark race army a couple of times. However, his Thousand Mountains specialized in defense and was somewhatcking for breaking through enemy ranks. At this point, General Wei could only sigh while looking at the sky andment about being unable to do anything.

    He was inherently barred from roles that would put one in the limelight.

    Evernight Continent, the deepest parts of the Dark Nation. A withered, slightly-built elder was standing atop a ten-thousand-meter mountain peak. He looked just like an ordinary old man at a nce, and even his clothes were only a bit better than amoner. However, there were arge number of dark race experts standing behind him. Every one of them possessed a powerful aura, yet they were all wearing respectful expressions.

    The old man looked into the distance, his gaze traversing thousands of kilometers into the Iron Curtain. Almost the entire Iron Curtain was within his field of vision, and even that forbidden zone at the center was vaguely visible.

    The old man gazed on silently for an unknown length of time before saying slowly, ¡°The time is about right.¡±

    All the dark race experts behind watched the old man with rapt attention and bated breaths, afraid that they would miss a single small detail. One had to know that the old man¡¯s every word, every particr syble, tone, or even an implicit action would affect the structure of the entire Evernight Council.

    The old man¡¯s words came to an abrupt stop as he seemingly pondered over a difficult decision.

    Momentster, he raised his left hand and pointed at the sky above. ¡°It looks like we need to invite that person over.¡±

    All of the dark race experts were astonished upon seeing the old man¡¯s gesture. The surprise was then followed by deep terror as they lowered their heads in reverence.

    The old man swept his gaze over them. ¡°You may return. Prepare well for the uing war. It won¡¯t be on a small scale like it is now.¡±

    The group of experts responded in the affirmative, then rose and flew away in all directions. Only the old man was left alone on the isted peak, standing off against Sky Demon.

    In the depths of Twilight Continent, numerous vampires had gathered in a certain valley which was, for the most part, a forbidden ground.

    The dozen or so vampires at the front row were of varying appearances. Most of them already had grizzled hair, but every other detail from head to toe was dressed to perfection. Even a cufflink would have to be the masterpiece of a famed craftsman and possessed hundreds of years of history in order to be considered worthy.

    Shockingly, all of these vampires were at the level of vice-duke and above. There were even two grand dukes among them. In an age where most princes were in a long slumber, these grand dukes held the highest level of authority among the vampires.

    There were different emblems sparkling on their cors¡ªa snake wrapped around a rose, a castle amidst brambles, a crown of mes, a bugle of death, and so on¡ªseven out of the Twelve Ancient ns were actually present.

    Here, even a virtuous marquis could only stand at the back row. They had to keep their heads slightly lowered at this moment despite controlling vastnds normally. As for the counts, they didn¡¯t even have the right to enter this valley.

    The valley waspletely silent except for the sound of the wind. So many vampire major characters had gathered here, but none of them uttered a sound. It was as though they were waiting for something.

    The silence was finally broken by the sound of approaching footsteps. Two figures appeared at the entrance to the valley and walked in with constant, measured footsteps.

    The atmosphere in the valley changed suddenly after their appearance. The auras of many vampire bigwigs were suppressed by these two shadows. The space surrounding these figures was slightly distorted, blurring their image and making it impossible to see their appearances clearly. This was due to their excessive strength affecting the stability of the space around them.

    All the vampires, including the grand dukes, edged back one after the other, clearing a path that led to the very center of the valley.

    A marquis in the outer rim trembled all of a sudden as he stared at one of the figures and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Lightless Monarch!¡±

    His voice was just a mumble, but it attracted the attention of the figure on the left who paused slightly to nce back at him. Immediately afterward, a deep, maic voice echoed in the minds of all the vampires.

    ¡°Ah, Julio. It¡¯s you, that little brat. You were but a young baron when we met back then. You¡¯ve actually be a mighty marquis now. In order to reward your efforts, I¡¯ll give you an opportunity to challenge me three hundred years from now.¡±

    Many eyes fell upon Julio¡ªsome of jealousy, and others of schadenfreude¡ªit was impossible to describe all those expressions one by one.

    It was at this time that the grand duke from the Perth n walked out from the crowd to wee the Lightless Monarch and the other figure who had never revealed his face.

    ¡°Honorable Lightless Monarch and Your Respected Highness, please follow me. The ceremony has been prepared.¡±

    The Lightless Monarch nodded and headed toward the center of the valley with hispanion. In the air therein was a mass of constantly rolling darkness.

    The grand duke took the lead and jumped into the darkness. The Lightless Monarch and the other mysterious character followed suit and soon vanished.

    They reappeared in a certain mysterious space the next moment.

    Here, there was no sky, no earth, only up, down, left, and right. There was only boundless darkness in every direction. The misty darkness floating everywhere in this space was actually darkness energy¡ªone so intense that it was almost tangible.

    Ten-odd chains stretched out from the emptiness and connected to an ancient wooden coffin floating in the air. The chains and coffin were made of the same material. They were covered in wooden patterns that glowed with a metallic luster, apanied by an aura of the long years. There were ancient, blood-colored runes pulsing intermittently around it.

    After arriving within this mysterious space, the figures of the Lightless Monarch and the other mysterious person were no longer distorted. Thetter¡¯s true appearance was revealed¡ªhe was demonkin taller than the Lightless Monarch by half a head. His two eyes were shut tight, but a slender third eye with pure, golden pupils was open on his forehead.

    The golden vertical eye was a symbol of Demonkin royalty¡ªhe was just as calm and at ease even beside the Lightless Monarch Medanzo, the primogenitor of the Drac n. He was able to stand with him on equal footing with this bigwig from a n ranked fourth among the Twelve Ancient Vampire ns.

    But this member of the demonkin royalty ced his hand on his chest and performed a salutation after arriving below the coffin, an expression of sufficient respect and modesty.

    ¡°O great Queen of the Night. We apologize for disturbing your long slumber. But now, the Evernight Council requires your power.¡±

 Volume 6 - 483: Return

    [V6C13 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The demonkin stood still after speaking thus, patiently awaiting a response.

    Momentster, a boundless suppressive might escaped from the coffin. It was as though an entire world had awoken to look down upon the three lowly life forms below.

    The grand duke of the Perth n immediately went down on one knee.

    The Lightless Monarch¡¯s face grew even paler. The tworge rings on his index and ring fingers suddenly knocked against one another to produce a light ck.

    That member of demonkin royalty remained in ce and bowed slightly, his vertical eye flowing with shifting brilliance. The space behind his body was somewhat distorted, as though something was raring to charge out. Even his innate totem was about to appear¡ªthis went to show that he was using his full strength and not having as easy a time as he seemed.

    The impact on Medanzo was beyond expectation. He and the Queen of the Night were both born of the same long bloodline, so the effects of her suppressive might upon him were exceptionally profound.

    ¡°What does the council want with me?¡± The queen¡¯s voice was distant and slightly hoarse, but it was inexplicably pleasant to the ears and almost seemed to resonate with the deepest parts of one¡¯s origin power.

    The demonkin spoke respectfully, ¡°Sky Demon has descended upon Evernight Continent once more. The council has confirmed that it is searching for the ancient essence of the void colossus primal chaos. As such, the council has decided to contest with full force. Only you can obstruct Sky Demon and allow us to obtain the primordial essence.¡±

    ¡°That thing is useless to me, but my descendants might need them. I want three parts.¡±

    The demonkin¡¯s expression immediately became quite awkward. In the end, he clenched his teeth and said, ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem!¡±

    Seeing the demonkin agree in a fairly straightforward manner, the suppressive might within the space lessened a bit. The Queen of the Night¡¯s voice rang out once more, ¡°My beloved Medanzo, it would seem we haven¡¯t met for several hundred years. Have you prepared everything needed for my awakening?¡±

    The Lightless Monarch hadpletely recovered his calm. He nodded politely and said, ¡°Revered Lilith, everything has been prepared.¡±

    ¡°Well done. Moreover, put all these expenses on the council¡¯s tab.¡±

    The demonkin¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but turn pale after hearing this. But he broke into a rueful smile immediately afterward because he didn¡¯t dare say anything against her. The price needed to awaken the Queen of the Night, Lilith, from her long slumber, wasn¡¯t just any kind of exorbitant sum. However, this headache was best left for those major characters in the council.

    After the matter was settled, their vision turned into a blur before they were back in the valley.

    The chains within the mysterious space started to rattle, and the ancient bindings around the coffin broke apart and fell off one by one.

    A slender, pale hand with nails as dark as the night stretched out from the boiling blood¡ªit was extremely eye-catching. The part most upsetting to the eyes was that this almost perfect hand was actually missing a pinky.

    Considering the regenerative abilities of the vampires, such a defect shouldn¡¯t have remained. But it was there, there on the body of a great dark monarch who stood at the pinnacle of power.

    This hand grabbed the borders of the coffin, and an inexplicable woman gradually sat up from the blood.

    At this very moment, countless vampires from Twilight Continent above to Evernight Continent below felt their hearts throb.

    On each and every continent, the true powerhouses who stood at the summit of all living beings¡ªbe they from Evernight, Daybreak, or neutral factions¡ªall heard a soft but distant sigh seemingly transmitted over through antiquity.

    That was Lilith, the Queen of the Night, announcing her return.

    A small town in the northern part of human-territory. There was still alternating day and night beyond the Iron Curtain, and the afternoon was when sunlight was at its brightest.

    Lin Xitang was sitting in this study and going over some documents. The sunlighting in through the long french-window flowed over his shoulders and lit up his dazzling silver hair.

    Lin Xitang closed the heavy folder and added it to the stack of already-read documents on the left side of his desk. He then proceeded to open the next one; this thick document was thetest battle report. His hand froze all of a sudden as the paper emitted an almost ear-piercing rustle.

    A person standing on the western balcony turned back in rm.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression as he gazed at the report was calm and emotionless, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. However, from the number of military affairs he had to process each day, one could say that he had been lingering on this page for too long.

    Zhang Boqian walked over and took that military report directly from Lin Xitang¡¯s hands. He browsed through it rapidly and said with an indifferent voice, ¡°Song Zining? Not bad, the Fueled Fire Spear didn¡¯t fall to the bottom after all. As for the Zhao n, they are indeed producing heroes in every generation. This Qianye is truly a rare genius to have aplishments on par with Zhao Jundu despite being born of a secondary residence. Perhaps he will be a pir of the empire ten yearster.¡±

    Lin Xitang spoke not a single word. He stood up slowly and strolled to the other end of the desk whereiny a fairly old wooden box. He didn¡¯t open the cover and only reached out to touch the firm but crude patterns upon it.

    It was at this time that their expressions changed slightly. What on Evernight could¡¯ve rmed these two experts of the empire at the same time?

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s aura soared abruptly into the skies. Lightning and thunder emerged in the clear skies above the small town, the rumble traveling hundreds of kilometers away. A giant cloud formed out of thin air and pressed down upon the walls, revolving slowly as it enveloped the entire town.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s response was quite bad. His face turned pale and his fingers slipped, almost sweeping the wooden box onto the floor. He staggered back unsteadily and had to grab the table to prevent himself from falling over.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s phoenix eyes red up with battle intent as he looked up through the long window. His gaze pierced the tall skies and seemed to traverse a million miles toward that certain ce in the distance.

    Frowning, Lin Xitang walked over to the table with brisk steps where he opened up a nk military order. Zhang Boqian held down the brush in his hand and asked coldly, ¡°What happened just now?¡± The cloud mass above the town was still rotating; Zhang Boqian still hadn¡¯t retracted his aura.

    ¡°Bacsh.¡± Lin Xitang knew he couldn¡¯t hide it. Zhang Boqian, stirred by the aura emitted by the Queen of the Night, had deployed his domain just now. This happened to help Lin Xitang block out most of the bacsh from the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Are you looking to die? You even dare to scry Lilith!¡±

    Lin Xitang didn¡¯t say anything, but he sighed deeply in his heart. He was scrying Song Zining and Qianye just now when the fates were unexpectedly thrown into chaos. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t a heavenly monarch¡ªording to reason, the message announcing the Queen of the Night¡¯s return shouldn¡¯t have reached him at all. However, Lilith¡¯s aura had suddenly appeared for some reason, and the two superimposed matters almost caused a bacsh.

    Seeing Lin Xitang remain silent, Zhang Boqianughed coldly and said, ¡°Try not to court death so often, will you? You haven¡¯t fulfilled your promise to me. You should know what will happen if something goes wrong.¡±

    Nighteye, who was running swiftly through the northwestern wilderness of the dark race territory, halted her steps and fell to her knees, screaming in pain with her head between her hands. She seemed to hear a sigh, followed by boundless pain which almost split her head apart.

    Fortunately, the agony left just as suddenly as it had appeared. She gasped fiercely and felt weak all of a sudden.

    Several vampires who were running along with her were caught unprepared. They rushed out for quite a distance before realizing the change and hurrying back. ¡°Your Majesty, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Nighteye stood up. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s continue.¡±

    The vampires here were all viscounts. They could only obey Nighteye¡¯smands and follow her forward with due swiftness.

    On the other side of the mountain range, far in the distance, a beam of green light surged into the sky. It pierced right through the grey Iron Curtain to stir upyer uponyer of ripples throughout the sky.

    The vampires were shocked upon seeing this might. Someone cried out involuntarily, ¡°Blue Firmament! It¡¯s Zhao Jundu!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s fame wasn¡¯t limited to the empire. In truth, it was even more resounding among the dark races. Earlier on, there were many dissatisfied young geniuses who had gone to challenge and kill this so-called number one genius of the empire. To the dark race members who worshipped absolute strength, there was no better way to prove themselves.

    However, none of those who went to challenge Zhao Jundu returned, regardless of who they were. The entire world of darkness was shaken after he sessfullyunched a long-range assault into the Dark Nation and went backpletely fine. After that, no one else dared challenge him again under the Iron Curtain.

    No one knew who Zhao Jundu was fighting on the other side of the mountain.

    Nighteye immediately said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    A vampire viscount barred Nighteye¡¯s path and said hurriedly, ¡°Your Majesty! That¡¯s Zhao Jundu over there!¡±

    Nighteye frowned. ¡°So?¡±

    An older viscount decided to speak indirectly, ¡°Your Majesty, I heard that Zhao Jundu is already equal in power to a first-rank viscount of the sacred blood. This person¡¯s name rings across the entire human empire and is someone with true ability. Although Your Majesty does not fear him, it¡¯s not wise to attack him all of a sudden. You are, after all, losing out in terms of origin power rank.¡±

    Nighteye nced over in the direction of the battle and said coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything unwise about this.¡±

    Some of the other viscounts were fairly anxious, but they didn¡¯t actually dare block Nighteye¡¯s way. They could only dissuade her continuously, ¡°Your Majesty, you have the potential to surpass the prince-level and is our Monroe n¡¯s greatest safeguard. Even if you wish to kill Zhao Jundu, why rush? Won¡¯t it be the same two yearster?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I only want to take a look.¡± With that, Nighteye¡¯s figure shed past them and shot straight toward the battlefield.

    The viscounts were shocked out of their wits and followed along in a hurry. Should something happen to Nighteye, bodyguards like them would be executed without exception.

    When Nighteye arrived at the summit, she saw two figures locked in an all-out battle in the ins below.

    In Zhao Jundu¡¯s right hand was the Blue Firmament, and in his left was the short Blue River Edge. His expression was calm as the eight streams of violet qi flickered in and out of existence around him. Apparently, his domain had reached a level of perfection.

    A figure was moving so quickly around Zhao Jundu that it couldn¡¯t be seen clearly¡ªonly countless afterimages were left behind in various positions. This person was running around Zhao Jundu at lightning speed, the ck sword in his hand whistling mournfully as he shed at Zhao Jundu like a tempestuous rainstorm.

    The shadowunched dozens if not hundreds of attacks at Zhao Jundu every second. Meanwhile, thetter would only counterattack asionally with the Blue River Edge or a shot from the Blue Firmament. But every retaliatory strike would force the other party into a miserable situation.

    Under the Omniscient Seal, only small scattered shes of red remained of the other person¡¯s domain; it couldn¡¯t even take form. Moreover, his movements would suddenly slow down whenever the eight streaks of violet appeared. At such moments, the Blue River Edge would always appear before him with the utmost mastery and timing. Moreover, whenever the Blue Firmament rumbled, a vast swathe of green water would pour down and envelope the ces where he would reappear, making it impossible for him to evade.

    Nighteye had immediately figured out that Zhao Jundu had theplete advantage in a battle of domains. He had thrown the opponent intoplete disarray, and victory was only a matter of time.

    At this moment, the Omniscient Seal emerged once again to drag that person down, allowing Nighteye and her followers to clearly see the man fighting against Zhao Jundu. Everyone¡¯s expression changed, and a viscount whispered, ¡°His Excellency Faras?¡±

 Volume 6 - 484: No Return

    [V6C14 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Nighteye frowned as her expression immediately turned dark.

    Faras had always been pressuring Nighteye to partner with him and produce descendants with an even more powerful bloodline. Nighteye had joined the bloody battle in order to escape Faras¡¯ harassment, but she hadn¡¯t expected thetter to be so persistent as to chase after her into the war zone.

    But why was he suddenly fighting with Zhao Jundu?

    Zhao Jundu was finding the battle progressively easier as he pressured Faras into a miserable situation. Despite thetter¡¯s superior speed, it was extremely difficult for him to escape the domain¡¯s range. Moreover, the Blue Firmament, with its thousand-meter range, would be waiting for him even if he could. It was a big taboo to turn one¡¯s back at such an enemy.

    This was Zhao Jundu¡¯s true formidable quality. Once he had locked down an enemy, even escaping was a difficult endeavor.

    Faras was extremely depressed and couldn¡¯t help but let out a long frustrated howl. ¡°Dammit! I would¡¯ve killed you countless times if not for this Iron Curtain!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands flickered with brilliance as the Blue River Edge left yet another wound on the enemy. He replied coldly, ¡°You can talk about that after you leave this ce alive. Despite being fairly weak, you¡¯re still a primo. You won¡¯t be allowed to leave this ce alive.¡±

    Faras flew into a rage. His rank was even higher than Twilight¡ªan entire two levels above Zhao Jundu. However, he couldn¡¯t exert his full power because of the Iron Curtain and was instead being beaten into a wretched state.

    But he still possessed a count-grade physique and defense, and his movement arts and speed were also top-notch. He had never taken a square blow from the Blue Firmament since the beginning, and all he had received were minor injuries.

    Zhao Jundu was in no hurry, either. He utilized the Omniscient Seal with superb skill, restricting Faras¡¯s movements at every critical juncture and continuously adding injuries to his body. An umtion of light injuries would gradually umte into a serious one. Zhao Jundu was clearly whittling away and killing him.

    If one were to consider Zhao Jundu¡¯s impression in the hearts¡¯ of dark race experts as tyrannical, then the current battle was one of iparable splendor.

    Faras became more and more astonished as he fought on. He felt his body slowly growing heavier despite its powerful regenerative abilities. ¡°Zhao Jundu, don¡¯t go too far! We¡¯ll just have to die together if you force me into a corner and make me attract Sky Demon¡¯s will.¡±

    Zhao Jundu sneered, ¡°Go ahead and try. Drawing Sky Demon¡¯s attention will only expedite your death.¡±

    Faras became more hesitant instead after seeing Zhao Jundu¡¯s attitude. Up until this point in the bloody battle, it wasn¡¯t impossible to deal with Sky Demon¡¯s will or even his avatar. By virtue of the lessons paid for with the lives of many experts, geniuses from every faction with excessive rank orbat strength¡ªat least all those who dared enter the Iron Curtain¡ªwould possess methods to deceive or even resist Sky Demon¡¯s will.

    Some people were even confident in preserving their lives under the gaze of Sky Demon¡¯s will, the only difference being the price they had to pay. For instance, William and Twilight also possessed such methods.

    Although Faras also possessed a trick to resist Sky Demon¡¯s will, he was already fairly injured at this moment. There was a good chance that he would be killed by an all-out attack from Zhao Jundu the moment Sky Demon¡¯s will locked onto him.

    What then? Zhao Jundu was known as the number one genius in the empire. Since he dared enter the Dark Nation alone under the Iron Curtain, how could he not have methods to protect himself from Sky Demon¡¯s will? How otherwise would he dareunch such long-range assaults at every turn?

    Numerous thoughts shed through Faras¡¯s heart during that split second, and he quickly lost the courage to draw out Sky Demon¡¯s will or raise hisbat strength.

    Nighteye observed the entire scene from the distance and couldn¡¯t help but curse, ¡°Moron!¡±

    A viscount inquired cautiously, ¡°Your Majesty, should we¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish his words. ording to reason, with the rtionship between Nighteye and Faras, it was inexcusable for them to ignore his lethal plight. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t advisable for the Monroe n to offend the Sperger n with their present circumstances.

    But the opponent was, after all, the famous Zhao Jundu. It was up for debate whether this risk was worth taking.

    Nighteye¡¯s creased brows didn¡¯t rx. ¡°Where is his entourage?¡± With Faras¡¯s status and temperament, he couldn¡¯t havee alone to this region bordering the Zhao n. Judging from the battle, it didn¡¯t look like they were exterminated by Zhao Jundu, either. Could it be that he was hiding a way out?

    The battle between Zhao Jundu and Faras was extremely intense¡ªhow could there be any room for hesitation? The eight streams of violet qi soared into the sky and locked Faras down for a split second. It was during that short moment that Zhao Jundu sted him with the Blue Firmament. An azure brilliance struck Faras square in the back, producing a big hole therein.

    Faras shrieked in misery as he was flung onto the distant ground. He was shocked out of his wits¡ªhe wanted to mber up but fell back down whenever he tried. He was a vampire count and a primo, yet he could hardly climb back up after taking a full hit from the Blue Firmament.

    Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t one to leave space for the enemy to catch his breath once he had gone in for the kill. Blue Firmament rose once again and began charging up to deal an additional fatal blow.

    It was at this time that his heart was suddenly ovee with a feeling of danger. Zhao Jundu immediately abandoned the shot and stepped back.

    A zing blood-colored origin bullet flew through the air and brushed right past the tip of Zhao Jundu¡¯s nose. If he were just a split secondte in stepping back, this shot would¡¯ve connected with his head.

    Zhao Jundu nced back to see Nighteye¡¯s figure gradually appear a thousand meters away and was fast approaching. She was holding an enormous ck sniper rifle decorated with dark-golden patterns.

    Nighteye¡¯s movements seemed slow, but every step took her dozens of meters forward. The numerous Monroe viscounts behind her were running with all their might but were left farther and farther behind.

    After taking several steps forward, the sniper rifle in her hand shed with a sanguineous light. It was yet another silent shot.

    Zhao Jundu took one step to the side, effectively evading this shot. However, his expression was fairly serious. He had never been in this situation even when fighting against Faras.

    If not for Nighteye¡¯s shot, he simply wouldn¡¯t have sensed her existence. Moreover, the sniper rifle in her hand was clearly extraordinary¡ªits might was tremendous, yet it waspletely silent. Such an enemy was extremely dangerous on the battlefield.

    Zhao Jundu had just taken half a step when his origin power seemed to boil up, and it felt as though something had exploded in his brain. He was assaulted by an excruciating pain! Zhao Jundu¡¯s vision went dark, and for a split second, all he could see was the pair of blood-red eyes far off in the distance.

    Eye Ability!

    The juncture of life or death drew out the abilities he had gained through blood and mes. He didn¡¯t panic at all. Violet heavenly mes ignited within his eyes as his origin power was circted to the extreme. The violet qi around him transitioned into a faint azure hue which momentarily isted him from Nighteye¡¯s gaze and suppressed the boiling origin power in one go.

    At the same time, he raised Blue River Edge in front of his body. Only a loud sound was heard before the de¡¯s splendor was restrained, and the blood-colored bulletnded right upon it.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s entire body shook as he took several steps back, a streak of blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth. He gazed intently at Nighteye and said with a frosty voice, ¡°Another primo. Very well, you will stay too!¡±

    Astonishment shed across Nighteye¡¯s pupils. She hadn¡¯t expected thebined attack from her sniper rifle and eye ability to be blocked by Zhao Jundu. Since his fight with Faras, Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t revealed the slightest of openings. Hisbat techniques were virtually perfect and wless.

    Zhao Jundu had just finished speaking when he charged straight at Nighteye, but he didn¡¯t forget to fire at Faras along the way.

    Faras, who had been flung to the ground a while ago, had just caught his breath. He was actually extremely vignt. He never let down his guard despite seeing Nighteye snipe Zhao Jundu. Now that an origin bullet was flying toward him, he let out a loud cry and rolled away with all his might. Even so, he was struck by the shockwave and, once again, sent flying into the distance.

    Zhao Jundu sped up abruptly and drew a jade green brilliance through the air with the Blue River Edge. A crescent-shaped radiance flew straight toward Nighteye! Thetter made no attempt to evade. She tossed the sniper rifle to one side and drew her de¡ªat the same time, Zhao Jundu¡¯s image was reflected within her eyes!

    Zhao Jundu let out a muffled groan as he arrived before Nighteye with azure qi surging all over his body. The eight streams of azure qi condensed into pirs which descended through the air and locked her in ce. Despite being further empowered, the Omniscient seal wasn¡¯t able to maintain an advantage. Ferocious beasts formed of blood energy rampaged through the domain, continuously smashing the azure pirs apart. However, the qi would condense anew immediately after being destroyed.

    The two shed fiercely for a short moment before pulling apart to confront one another from afar. Up until this point, the viscounts from the Monroe n hadn¡¯t yet arrived at the battlefield¡ªthis went to show just how swift the exchange was.

    Zhao Jundu slung the Blue Firmament behind him and rubbed a finger along his Blue River Edge. Countless streaks of azure light condensed upon the de and began expanding. Soon, the weapon transformed into a two-meter sword.

    The frosty baleful intent upon the formed de was almost tangible, almost as if it had received the sacrifice of a thousand lives.

    Zhao Jundu held the sword in both hands and fixed his gaze upon it. When he nced back at Nighteye, the violet heavenly mes in his eyes had already been extinguished, reced by emotionless darkness as lightless as the abyss.

    He said with an indifferent voice, ¡°Though both primos, you¡¯re too powerful. If I don¡¯t kill you today, there¡¯s no telling how many humans will die in your hands.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s de pressed down slowly and pointed at Nighteye from the distance. Origin power surged around his body as his soaring azure qi pierced through the firmament. Even the Iron Curtain had to give way ever so slightly.

    The momentum of this strike startled the heavens and caused the earth to weep. It was a fatal blow in one strike.

    In the distance, Faras had just managed to sit up from the ground when he saw Zhao Jundu¡¯s sword stance. His expression turned even uglier than when he received an injury. He had just realized that Zhao Jundu had beaten him half to death without even deploying his full power. Although the Iron Curtain had yed a part in this, the disparity in strength between them was simply too obvious.

    Nighteye calmed down and gazed fixedly at Zhao Jundu.

    Thetter could clearly see his figure reflected in her eyes, but he couldn¡¯t sense the slightest trace of danger. That was true danger¡ªa danger even he couldn¡¯t sense.

    This strengthened Zhao Jundu¡¯s resolution to kill Nighteye, so much so that he could even let the wounded Faras be for now.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯sbat skills were perfect and brilliant, however, Nighteye¡¯s eye abilities didn¡¯t need any openings. Perhaps it could be said that she was able to produce an opening in anyone; it was even more dangerous than powerful divine weapons. If even he came so close to being trapped, how would others fare when they encountered her?

    As such, Zhao Jundu decided to utilize his secret arts and put all of his power behind a single blow.

    This sword strike was called No Return¡ªthe stricken shall live, while the remainder shall fall.

 Volume 6 - 485: Gathering

    [V6C15 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The Monroe viscounts finally arrived at this point, but they stopped several dozen meters away and didn¡¯t daree closer. From this distance, they could already feel the suppressive might of Nighteye and Zhao Jundu¡¯s domains rushing at their faces like sharp des. They would¡¯ve been torn to shreds if they had taken another step forward.

    Faras finally found an opportunity. He quietly mbered up, produced a crystal bottle from his pocket, and poured the single drop of blood within into his mouth. His face was immediately flushed red as if it were burning, but his blood energy recovered by half in an instant.

    However, Faras didn¡¯t join the battle immediately. He cautiously approached the two¡¯s domains and formed a pincer formation in rtion to Nighteye¡¯s position. There he stopped and red fixedly at Zhao Jundu, his expression livid.

    Zhao Jundu and Nighteye were still confronting one another, and neither of the two gave him the time of day.

    Faras wasn¡¯t a useless person, but his luck was just too bad to have encountered Zhao Jundu. At this moment, he had already realized that Zhao Jundu¡¯s potential sword strike was an indefensible killing move.

    But such a powerful attack had toe with a price. The very moment he swung his de, an exploitable opportunity would surely appear in that perfect, gapless stance. If Faras were to join the battle at that point, there was a good chance he could cut down Zhao Jundu on the spot.

    Personally killing the Qin Empire¡¯s number one genius! Such an achievement truly caused one to drool.

    However, all things would, after all,e with a price, and behind this alluring benefity great risk. It was fine if Zhao Jundu¡¯s sh went for Nighteye, but if it were tond on Faras, he would be ughtered on the spot. No one would be able to save him.

    It was during this subtle moment that a chuckle was heard, and Twilight appeared like a wisp of smoke. She nced at the scene before her figure drifted toward the back to block Zhao Jundu¡¯s path of retreat, effectively forming an encirclement with Nighteye and Faras.

    Before Nighteye and Faras could even respond, a sudden change came over Zhao Jundu¡¯s unmoving azure pirs at the same time that Twilight appeared. Its colors dimmed down abruptly and converged with the grey Iron Curtain as though watercolor blending into the canvas.

    Twilight''s expression immediately turned gloomy¡ªshe had clearly sensed Zhao Jundu splitting off a part of his qi to lock onto her despite the extremely unfavorable situation!

    This also meant that, although Zhao Jundu was staring at Nighteye, the earth-shattering attack couldnd on any one of the three.

    Under such circumstances, Zhao Jundu would fall into grave danger immediately uponunching this attack. However, the target of his attack would have no chance to survive, either. Moreover, with Zhao Jundu¡¯sbat strength, his counterattacks on the verge of death would surely attract Sky Demon¡¯s will. At that time, both Twilight and Faras would be easy targets.

    Twilight had already exhausted her life-saving measure and didn¡¯t dare guarantee that she would be lucky enough to escape again. An idea emerged in her mind at which point she suddenly said, ¡°Sister Nighteye, you leave first. Your bloodline is much more powerful than ours. You must not fall here!¡±

    Faras was shaken after hearing this. He gazed deeply at Nighteye with aplicated expression but didn¡¯t say anything. Ignoring the purity of Twilight¡¯s lineage, there was also rtive superiority between primos due to the different bloodlines they had awakened. There were five great monarchs among the second generation primogenitors, so it was only natural that Nighteye who inherited the ck Winged Monarch¡¯s bloodline was stronger than Faras, the inheritor of Prince Firecrown Samael.

    Nighteye looked up and shot Twilight and Faras a nce. The two felt their breaths tighten under Nighteye¡¯s unfathomably powerful eye ability¡ªanyone¡¯s heart would leap before her gaze.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t take the opportunity to attack while Nighteye was looking away, and, instead, he began increasing his energy. ¡°Did you all think you¡¯ve got me cornered?¡±

    The azure qi pirs that had almost merged into the Iron Curtain gradually appeared, and their colors were now even more abstruse. ording to reason, Zhao Jundu had long since surpassed Sky Demon¡¯s limits. However, a patch of the Iron Curtain had been forcibly scattered, and Sky Demon¡¯s will had yet to appear.

    Everyone was rmed and realized they had underestimated Zhao Jundu yet again.

    Faras suddenly shed backward and withdrew over a hundred meters away before letting out a shrill whistle. Responses echoed far in the distance as a dozen or so shadows weaved through the air, arriving on the battlefield in a sh. Merely judging from their speed, it was obvious that these were titled vampire experts.

    They spread out with a ¡°swoosh¡± in response to Faras¡¯s signal and formed a fan-shaped defensive line, effectively surrounding Zhao Jundu and blocking behind them.

    Only then did Faras reveal a sinister smile. ¡°How high is my status? How could I have risked danger alone without leaving a way out?¡±

    Twilight cursed inwardly after seeing the situation, but there was nothing she could do. Zhao Jundu had already locked onto her the moment she appeared and showed no signs of ckening regardless of the situation. Faras could retreat, but she didn¡¯t dare take even a single step back. Otherwise, Zhao Jundu¡¯s earth-shattering strike wouldnd on her body.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s momentum had fully formed at this moment. That single sh was undodgeable and indefensible¡ªwherein fell his will, his de would surely strike.

    The situation fell into a deadlock.

    Zhao Jundu was surrounded in an iparably adverse situation, but no one dared take action in the face of that undischarged killing move.

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze returned to Zhao Jundu once more, her expression as calm as theke on a windless day.

    Comparatively, the expressions of Faras and Twilight were fluctuating somewhat¡ªit was as though they were calcting something. No one knew how long this stalemate wouldst, but whoever moved first would be the one to die.

    Faras was apparently more rxed. He truly enjoyed the feeling of having the situation under his control, so much so that he lit up an aged cigar before raising his hand to issue the attack order. The deadlock would be broken once Faras¡¯ men took action. As for how many of these subordinates would die, it was a negligible losspared to the merits of killing Zhao Jundu.

    But his hand hadn¡¯t evene down when a cough rang out beside everyone¡¯s ears.

    A tall figure appeared over the distant horizon. That person¡¯s cough had actually crossed such a distance and yet it had struck all the vampires below the viscount-rank like thunder, causing them to tremble uncontrobly. Even the weaker ones among the viscounts turned pale for a split second.

    This person crossed great distances with every step and arrived on the battlefield in just a couple of strides, stopping a hundred meters away from the ongoing battle. He was a tall, imposing elder dressed in a ck imperial military uniform lined with gold. Although advanced in his years, he stood tall and straight, and was filled with a vigorous charm¡ªone could easily see that he must¡¯ve been a handsome man during his youth.

    He stood at a distance with his hands behind his back and swept his lightning-sharp gaze over the vampires. There was a cold smile on his face.

    Possessing the best grasp of military intelligence, Twilight¡¯s expression shifted immediately. ¡°Zhao Gongcheng! Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    The person who had arrived was precisely General Zhao Gongcheng, Zhao n¡¯s overseer under the Iron Curtain. Heughed coldly after hearing Twilight¡¯s words, then said, ¡°Why can¡¯t this old man be here? Did you think only the vampires are capable?¡±

    Zhao Gongcheng was a dauntless and seasoned general of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n who enjoyed some fame even in the Dark Nation. Even with the restrictions of the Iron Curtain in ce, Twilight wasn¡¯t willing to fight him head-on at all.

    Zhao Gongcheng suddenly turned to gaze at the distance. A protracted whistle soon emerged from that direction, tearing through clouds and stones alike as it came rolling over. This was undoubtedly an open disy of its might.

    The earth trembled slightly as though it were resonating with that roar of iparable might. Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s expression turned serious as he snorted and proceeded to walk over to Zhao Jundu.

    Twilight¡¯s eyes turned toward Faras and beckoned him. Following a moment of hesitation, thetter ordered several of his subordinates to interfere. He knew none of them could block the old man, but they couldn¡¯t let Zhao Jundu and Zhao Gongcheng rendezvous, either.

    Killing intent emerged in Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s eyes as that distant howl finally arrived before him. All he saw was William¡¯s flying golden hair and the raging mes of darkness around his body before the soaring murderous intent swept over like a flood.

    Zhao Gongcheng broke into a frown and crossed dozens of meters in a single backward step to block William¡¯s path. Apparently, he saw William as the greatest enemy.

    William arrived with torrential momentum and rushed straight into the battlefield without the slightest scruple. Only then did he stop in front of everyone. ¡°Great! Ah... Eh?!¡±

    William¡¯s soaring momentum suddenly froze after seeing the people who were present. His face was full of astonishment, and he couldn¡¯t help but scratch his head as he looked left and right.

    Twilight suddenly cried out, ¡°William, those two are important experts of the empire, council-level contributions! Let¡¯s work together. You hold back that old man first. We¡¯ll kill the other one here, and thene over to help you!¡±

    William¡¯s expression was peculiar as he shot Zhao Jundu a nce.

    Killing intent emerged on Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s countenance. ¡°You can try.¡±

    ¡°Prepare to move!¡± Twilight shot Faras a meaningful nce. The situation at this moment was extremelyplicated, and no one knew what else would happen if they dragged this on.

    But Faras didn¡¯t even see Twilight¡¯s gesture. He was facing the north and gazing over with an astonished expression. He didn¡¯t even notice that the cigar in his mouth had fallen to the ground.

    The extremes of his vision were still pervaded by the eternal darkness of the Iron Curtain. At this moment, however, the horizon was stained by a faint scarlet with countless golden stars rising up from within. It was like the first light of daybreak connecting the sky to the great earth.

    Soon afterward, the stars began stretching over toward them. Starlight formed continuously to the front, yet the ones at the back lingered on for a long time. It was like a river of golden stars flowing straight toward the battlefield at a high speed, and it wasn¡¯t slower than William at all.

    ¡°Venus Dawn!¡± Faras spat out the name with great difficulty.

    The river of stars arrived in the blink of an eye, whereupon Qianye stepped out from the boundless starlight to appear before everyone.

    Qianye was somewhat startled to see so many people actually present on the battlefield. He exchanged a deep gaze with Nighteye as his eyes swept over her. Their ncested for but a brief moment before they both looked away.

    Qianye slowly drew East Peak and shook its edge lightly before walking over to the surrounded Zhao Jundu.

    Twilight and several of Faras¡¯ subordinate viscounts were in front of him, but none of these obstructions could enter Qianye¡¯s eyes. His footsteps were firm and grave. Every step would produce an origin array beneath his foot, sending a protracted shock through the earth.

    Twilight¡¯s brows were locked in a frown as she shot the vampire viscounts beside her a nce. The two third-rank viscounts shot out from each side and engaged Qianye in a pincer formation while shouting, ¡°Halt, lowly human!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply; he didn¡¯t even spare them a nce. Only the tides of a great ocean emerged vaguely around him. The two vampire viscounts froze mid-charge as though they had crashed into an invisible wall. Their faces turned purplish, and their expressions, lifeless. Then, their bodies started to bend under the unbearable pressure as their knees fell to the ground.

    Qianye didn¡¯t stop at all amidst the oceanic might and simply passed through the kneeling viscounts toward Twilight.

    Faint mist started rolling around Twilight¡¯s body and quickly condensed into a milky white color. For a moment, her figure was about to vanish from its ce, but the mist was immediately dispersed aftering into contact with Qianye¡¯s ocean tides.

    This meant that Twilight had been utterly crushed in a battle of domains. She bit her lower lip and cried out, ¡°William!¡±

 Volume 6 - 486: Compelling Migh

    t [V6C16 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhao Gongcheng and William were standing off against one another on the edge of the battlefield. Thetterughed out loud after hearing those words, ¡°I¡¯m holding down this old man right now! But he¡¯s powerful, really powerful. Once he makes a move, I¡¯m can¡¯t guarantee that I¡¯ll be able to obstruct him. It¡¯s quite probable that he¡¯ll fire a couple of rounds at you people.¡±

    Everyone had a weird feeling after these words were spoken. Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s power was unquestionable, but they were under the Iron Curtain, and the two were currently in a deadlock. It was too unreasonable to say that he couldn¡¯t obstruct the enemy. He was almost reminding Zhao Gongcheng that he wouldn¡¯t fight for real and that thetter could do whatever he wanted. He was almost announcing that he was going to throw this match.

    But Zhao Gongcheng had experienced hundreds of battles and faced all kinds of schemes. His expression turned even more austere, and he focused his full attention on dealing with William after hearing those words. Merely from the momentum with which William had entered the scene, it was obvious that he was the strongest Evernight expert here. How could he be easily trusted? William naturally sensed the changes in Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s aura; his expression froze at the unexpected oue.

    Apparently frustrated and angry, William revealed a mouthful of cold, snow-white teeth as he snarled at Twilight, ¡°How dare you order me? Pureblood of the Monroe n, remember to observe proper respect before you surpass me in rank. Moreover, you should forget about your littleughable schemes. You should be thinking about how to leave this ce alive first!¡±

    With that, his exaggerated smile was withdrawn, and his greyish-blue eyes were filled with merciless frost. Twilight¡¯s expression was beyond unsightly. She hadn¡¯t expected William to flip out at such a juncture and even threaten her so brazenly. Although William was more powerful than her as an individual, the vampires had always looked down on the werewolves.

    Meanwhile, Qianye ignored everything happening around him and kept on walking toward Zhao Jundu at a constant speed.

    Twilight¡¯s expression transformed several times as she watched Qianye approach step by step. She knew that the odd heavy sword in thetter¡¯s grasp would descend upon her once those tidal waves enveloped her.

    And she actually had a strong premonition that she couldn¡¯t take this blow even though the other party was only a rank-ten human champion. She herself felt that this premonition was absurd¡ªcould it be that the power of Qianye¡¯s attack had already caught up to Zhao Jundu¡¯s?

    The battle fell once more into a subtle situation. Regardless of their ability to restrain one another, the superior fighting power from both sides still had the ability to incite Sky Demon¡¯s will. In truth, with so many experts present who were past the restricted rank, a chaotic battle might directly attract Sky Demon¡¯s avatar.

    At this moment, however, Twilight¡¯s greatest fear was William.

    Earlier on, William had clearly arrived in anger. Twilight had done so many things behind people¡¯s backs that she wasn¡¯t sure whether or not she was the target. At present, rather than saying William was restraining Zhao Gongcheng, it would be more urate to say that thetter was restraining him. The chances of him making a move against the vampires were greaterpared to the humans.

    Qianye finally looked straight at Twilight with a faint trace of ridicule on his face. However, his feet didn¡¯t pause in the slightest.

    The rolling tides arrived before her chest!

    Twilight clenched her teeth unwillingly before erupting with blood energy, decisively raising it close to the Iron Curtain¡¯s tolerance threshold as she retreated in a sh. Her figure vanished and reformed hundreds of meters away. Only then did she cry out, ¡°Let¡¯s leave!¡±

    Nighteye and Faras pulled back at the same time.

    Qianye had already arrived beside Zhao Jundu at this point and was standing alongside him as he watched Nighteye, Twilight, and Faras retreat in different directions. The vampires had always enjoyed the advantage of speed, and all three of them specialized further in this attribute. In the blink of an eye, their figures had almost vanished over the horizon.

    Zhao Jundu retracted his sword radiance and said indifferently, ¡°That Twilight is one of the few dark race members who likes to y petty schemes. It¡¯s quite a pity that we didn¡¯t get to kill her this time. You have to be careful when you meet her in the future. As for the primo from the Monroe n, her eye abilities are extremely terrifying, but I can see that you need not fear such a skill despite your fledgling domain.¡±

    Qianye nodded. It was at this time that a small ruby hidden within the nearby grasnd burst apart, shooting out a faint strand of blood energy from within. Twilight¡¯s voice echoed in Qianye¡¯s ears once that blood energy emerged.

    ¡°Little Qianye, that fellow is called Faras, and he¡¯s intent on bing Sister Nighteye¡¯s man. He came all the way here just to chase after her and might even force her to go back and marry him! Oh right, he¡¯s also a primo. Finally, remember that you owe me one!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression immediately grew heavy, and killing intent emerged within his eyes. But he nced about and found nothing out of the ordinary with the other people.

    This ruby was apparently something Twilight had thrown down before leaving, and it was a mystery what methods she had used to have only Qianye hear that message. It would seem that her domain, despite being fairly weak, had other unfathomable uses. It was just that Faras escaped too quickly. He retreated with all his might once Twilight had made her move, and had even abandoned his subordinates to their fates.

    Intentionally or otherwise, Twilight had delivered this warning only after everyone had left.

    Qianye suddenly turned back toward William. At this moment, William was the only dark race member left on the battlefield. However, he was in no rush to leave and didn¡¯t pay much attention to Zhao Gongcheng who was eyeing him like prey. He only beamed radiantly at Qianye.

    Qianye was momentarily speechless as he weighed the still-unsheathed East Peak in his hands.

    William immediately shot backward after seeing Qianye¡¯s movements. ¡°Oh my! I came to the wrong ce by ident!¡±

    The three abandoned men nced at one another, but neither Zhao Jundu nor Zhao Gongcheng seemed to have any intention of chasing after him.

    This werewolf count¡¯s strength was unfathomable. The suppressive might of hisbat form alone was far superior to Faras. From this, one could easily tell how impractical it was to try killing him under the Iron Curtain. Moreover, William¡¯s actions since he had appeared were quite weird. After careful thought, it seemed that he wasn¡¯t an ally to those vampires at all and might even be enemies.

    Zhao Jundu nced at Qianye and asked, ¡°You know him?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯ve seen him before. William of the Summit of Peaks, most likely a mighty count.¡±

    It was apparent that Zhao Jundu knew this name. His expression turned somewhat somber as he said, ¡°So it¡¯s him. I heard William already possesses such strength even before maturity. The imperial military¡¯s assessments state that he may grow up to be the Nana of the werewolf race.¡±

    Qianye was dazed by this information. Immature? It wasn¡¯t quite noticeable on the surface, but his temperament indeed resembled a kid. However, the dark race¡¯s external appearances were less often rted to their age and more often to their strength.

    Most of them had their lifetime peak-potential decided at birth by the power and purity of their bloodlines. The four major dark races would all go through long childhood, adolescence, and middle ages. Their powers would develop the fastest during childhood, gradually stabilize throughout adolescence and middle age, and then slowly decline thereafter. Demonkin and vampires possessed secret arts to dy their aging process. This was also the reason why the two races had always maintained the top positions on the Evernight side. For instance, the method employed by the vampires was hibernation.

    Zhao Jundu spoke up at this point and broke Qianye¡¯s reverie, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°You guys leave first. I¡¯ll catch up soon.¡±

    Zhao Jundu sensed Qianye¡¯s killing intent and immediately understood his intentions. He said with a frown, ¡°Are you going after Twilight or the two primos?¡±

    ¡°That primo from the Perth n.¡±

    Zhao Gongcheng said at this point, ¡°This strategy isn¡¯t quite appropriate. That primo doesn¡¯t have any powerful abilities, but he still holds the advantage in rank. Neither you nor Jundu can exert your full power under the Iron Curtain, so it¡¯ll be fairly difficult to kill him. Even Jundu had to start off by agitating him into a head-on battle and use his domain to whittle away at the opponent¡¯s strength before injuring him. Moreover, Qianye, you haven¡¯t acquired the Omniscient Seal. This old man feels that your domain can easily injure him but can hardly make him stay.¡±

    Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s words were pertinent. Qianye replied with a nod, ¡°Many thanks for the general¡¯s reminder, but I have a personal feud with him. Since I¡¯ve encountered him, then I must teach him a lesson even if I can¡¯t kill him.¡±

    Zhao Gongcheng¡¯s brows locked into a frown and seemed as though he wanted to further dissuade Qianye. As he saw it, there was a pretty wide gap between Qianye and Faras. Prince Samael¡¯s bloodline wasn¡¯t as powerful as those of the second-generation primogenitors, but he was still a primogenitor nheless¡ªhis primo couldn¡¯t be overly weak. Since he couldn¡¯t be killed, there was no point in giving him such a lesson.

    Zhao Gongcheng was naturally informed of Qianye¡¯s true identity since he was the overseer of the bloody battle. He didn¡¯t wish for thetter to take such a risk. ¡°Qianye, your talents are superb and will certainly be a supporting pir of the empire one day. As I see it, this primo¡¯s temperament is far inferior to you and Zhao Jundu. He won¡¯t be a problem in the future.¡±

    Qianye nodded in response, but Zhao Jundu butted in without waiting for the former to speak, ¡°Qianye, go if you want to! Changes areing to the Iron Curtain. We¡¯re already assembling the units and will withdraw in turn within the next few days. Go quickly and return fast!¡±

    Qianye felt that it was still Zhao Jundu who understood him better. He responded in the affirmative and turned to leave.

    Zhao Gongcheng was somewhat astonished as he watched Qianye¡¯s rapidly elerating figure. Qianye was using the simplest extreme running method. Despitecking the astonishing momentum he had exhibited during his appearance, one could see that he wasn¡¯t slower than vampires of the same level. This would be reflected in hisbat strength and allow him to cancel out the vampires¡¯ innate speed advantage.

    Only then did Zhao Gongcheng feel relieved. ¡°Eldest Brother said Qianye¡¯s potential is excellent and that his future is boundless. It is indeed the case!¡± The eldest brother he was speaking of was the most senior character among the Xuan-character generation, Duke You Zhao Xuanji. [1]

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°His martial dao is simple, pure, and solely follows his heart. That being the case, we should just let him go if he wants to challenge that primo. I have a feeling that as long as he can catch up, that primo will die in Qianye¡¯s hands.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s words were also a form of exnation to Zhao Gongcheng as to why he had interrupted and overruled his suggestion. Zhao Gongcheng actually didn¡¯t mind it at all. The two thus left the battlefield soon afterward.

    Qianye chased after Faras for an entire night and another half a day. Only by noon on the second day did he find a temporary vampire camp with three viscounts within, all were Faras¡¯s bodyguards from back then.

    Qianye didn¡¯t need tounch a sneak attack against third-rank viscounts like them. An origin array emerged under his foot as he used Origin Vault to traverse a hundred meters andnd squarely in their camp. The suppression of his oceanic force froze the three viscounts stiff, then a p with East Peak knocked them all down.

    Qianye drew his vampiric de and poked one of the viscounts in the face. ¡°Where is Faras?¡±

    The viscount was fairly strong-willed. He sneered, ¡°Seeking death in Sire Faras¡¯s hands?¡±

    ¡°Where is Faras?¡± Qianye repeated.

    ¡°Do it. I shan¡¯t bow to a lowly human!¡± With that, the viscount closed his eyes.

    Note: About the title, a literal trantion would mean ¡°Might of no Battle¡± which, I believe, stems from Tsun-Zu¡¯s art of war where it is stated that ¡°The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting¡±. The title is probably referring to a might so overwhelming that it subdued all enemies without a fight.

    [1] Chinese families usually name children of the same generation with a uniform character.

 Volume 6 - 487: Homecoming

    [V6C17 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]**

    Qianye didn¡¯t spend any more time on this. He plunged the vampiric de into his blood core, withdrew it after a while, and moved onto the next one.

    That vampire suddenly leapt up from the ground and charged straight toward Qianye. The two vampiric fangs in his mouth looked exceptionally sinister. He made no attempt at defense, opting instead to erupt with full force and bite Qianye even if he had to die.

    In truth, humans past the champion level couldn¡¯t be easily infected or be blood thralls. This vampire¡¯s final struggle was because he knew he wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s match at all and simply wanted to cause him some trouble with the toxin.

    Qianye sneered as he threw his fist into the vampire¡¯s mouth, causing several of the viscount¡¯s teeth to fly off with a loud snap. Surprisingly, the two vampiric fangs couldn¡¯t pierce Qianye¡¯s skin at all and were snapped instead.

    Having their fangs broken was one of the most painful ordeals a vampire could go through. The vampire screamed at the top of his lungs as he rolled around in agony. Qianye stepped onto him and pushed the vampiric de gently into his body and blood core.

    Only a single vampire remained.

    This one was fairly timid. He didn¡¯t even wait for Qianye¡¯s interrogation before spilling everything.

    It turned out that Faras wasn¡¯t a piece of meat on the cutting board. As a primo, he had various secret arts at his disposal. Presently, he had abandoned his guards and left on his own after sensing the approach of an inexplicable danger. Qianye had caught up to the three viscounts here because they were the slowest of the lot. Meanwhile, Faras was quite likely thousands of kilometers away, already deep into Dark Nation territory.

    Qianye had never imagined that the stately primo of an ancient n would be so cowardly and timid. But ording to Zhao Gongcheng, Faras was clearlycking inbat experience to such an extent that this mighty count was actually trapped by Zhao Jundu¡ªwho was two ranks below him. He had nearly died under the Iron Curtain on Evernight Continent.

    But now that Faras had already escaped, Qianye had no other choice than to give up chasing after him. With a flick of his hands, the vampiric de stabbed into thest vampire¡¯s core.

    ¡°Y-You said you wouldn¡¯t kill me!¡± The vampire¡¯s eyes went wide as he looked down at the de in his chest, his fingers wing at Qianye¡¯s hand. However, his body quickly grew limp as his essence blood leaked out.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t promise you that,¡± Qianye replied indifferently.

    Qianye left after collecting proof of contribution from the three viscounts and ran toward human territory.

    At this moment, in the distant Dark Nation, Faras expression was unsightly as he stared at Nighteye who had appeared in his path.

    Thetter looked coldly at him, imprinting his figure within her eyes. ¡°Scram back to your n and stop pestering me. Otherwise, I¡¯ll kill you right now!¡±

    Faras forced out a smile and said, ¡°Without our help, is your Monroe n going to face the Perth n alone? The Queen of the Night has awakened, you know.¡±

    ¡°You need not worry about that. Scram!¡±

    Faras¡¯s breathing sped up as he roared, ¡°Do you think the Monroe n will protect you? Without the ck Winged Monarch, how are those old fogeys going to disobey the will of the Queen of the Night? They will surely use you as a bargaining chip in order to maintain the n¡¯s status. Otherwise, how would I have gotten the chance to propose this marriage? If you don¡¯t marry me, are you willing to marry that holy son?¡±

    Nighteye replied indifferently, ¡°I will marry no one.¡±

    Faras sneered, ¡°That¡¯s impossible! You won¡¯t be able to maintain your bloodline alone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my business.¡±

    With that, Nighteye stepped forward and brushed past Faras¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Go, don¡¯t let me see you ever again.¡±

    Faras gazed nkly at Nighteye¡¯s receding figure. Suddenly, he shouted out loud, ¡°Why?! I was willing to give everything to obtain you, including my family name! I begged His excellency Habsburg for a long time before he agreed to support me because this would very likely lead to opposing the Queen of the Night. Why can¡¯t I obtain you even so? Why?!¡±

    Nighteye was slightly startled. All along, only Faras had expressed his intense desire while the attitudes of the Sperger n elders were unknown. That was why the Monroe n still had no idea to this day that Habsburg himself had expressed his consent.

    This would¡¯ve be a fairly important counterweight.

    Grand Duke Habsburg was one of the most brilliant geniuses of the Evernight Faction and might advance to the prince-rank within three decades. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t even reached middle-age. Such a young prince was rare even in the entirety of the dark race¡¯s history. However, that wasn¡¯t all. Rumor had it that he could advance further, even surpassing the second generation primogenitor, Prince Samael. At that time, the long river of sacred blood would gain yet another Great Monarch.

    That was the reason why they were confident enough to ept the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s primo.

    But that was meaningless to Nighteye. She pondered for a moment and said calmly, ¡°For either you or anyone else, it¡¯s toote.¡±

    Faras was dumbfounded and only came to understand momentster. He roared at the top of his lungs, ¡°Who is it? Tell me and I shall kill him! As long as it¡¯s not the holy son, I will kill him!¡±

    But Nighteye didn¡¯t linger. Her figure sped into the distance and vanished into the boundless night.

    Faras stood there in a daze. He suddenly recalled how he had no thoughts of taking action from the moment Nighteye appeared up until her departure. It was true that the Iron Curtain¡¯s limitations were in ce and he was also wounded, but it wasn¡¯t enough to exin why he had lost the will to fight.

    The present Nighteye was different fromst time. Faras felt that he could no longer see through her although she had only increased one rank during this time to be a second-rank viscount. There was still arge gap between her and a mighty count like him.

    Faras was puzzled as he gazed in Nighteye¡¯s direction, his heart filled with a strong sense of unwillingness. ¡°You can¡¯t escape. You¡¯ll fall into the holy son¡¯s hands sooner orter!¡±

    His cries reverberated throughout the wilderness, but no one knew whether or not Nighteye could hear it.

    At this moment, Nighteye seemed to have merged into the night as she sped noiselessly through the darkness. There was a faintly discernible figure in the road ahead¡ªit was Twilight. She couldn¡¯t shake Nighteye off no matter how quickly she ran. On the contrary, the distance between them was slowly growing smaller.

    Twilight suddenly halted her steps and said while gazing at the fast approaching Nighteye, ¡°Sister, you¡¯re chasing after me so relentlessly. Could it be that you have no intention of letting me go?¡±

    Nighteye said coldly, ¡°You know very clearly what you¡¯ve been doing all this time!¡±

    Twilight broke into an exaggeratedugh, then shrugged as though she werepletely innocent. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. I only wanted to see that person, Qianye! He does look quite good and is also quite powerful. Moreover, he¡¯s bing more and more powerful. To be honest, I think I like him too. I¡¯m thinking about how to give him the embrace!¡±

    ¡°Do whatever you want.¡±

    Twilight was startled by the unexpected reply. She chuckled only after a while and said, ¡°Since you say so, then I¡¯ll go ahead with it. But, what will you do if I seed?¡±

    Nighteye replied indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you first, then I¡¯ll kill him.¡±

    Twilight broke into augh. ¡°Kill me? Is that even possible?¡±

    Nighteye remained silent and only gazed coldly at Twilight.

    Twilight sensed an inexplicable pressure afterughing for a while. She gradually stopped her guffawing and said with a serious expression, ¡°Fine, enough with the nonsense. What do you think of my conditions? Since you¡¯ve already refused Faras, you shouldn¡¯t be dumb enough to refuse me, right? You must know that very few among the sacred-blooded descendants can stand up to the holy son¡¯s pressure.¡±

    Nighteye stared deeply into her eyes and said, ¡°I won¡¯t agree to Faras offer, and I won¡¯t ept yours, either. If you speak of this matter again, don¡¯t me me for being impolite.¡±

    With that, Nighteye left, leaving Twilight in a daze. After a while, she shouted at the former¡¯s receding figure, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to follow the holy son?¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t bother to reply as she traveled straight into the distance. Her frail and lonesome figure traveled farther and farther away through the nighttime wilderness, gradually vanishing over the distant horizon.

    Qianye was also running through the wilderness. It had been quite some time since he had encountered anyone. Now that the Zhao n had withdrawn all of its squads, the dark races and the other aristocratic families had no reason to stay, either. Qianye had always maintained good outdoorbat habits and used his True Sight to scan the surroundings intermittently. However, he found not a single sign of life within a thousand meters of him all along the way.

    The Iron Curtain had covered thend for quite some time now, and the two factions¡¯ scope of battle stretched tens of thousands of kilometers. It affected the entire border region between the Dark Nation and human territories, producingrge expanses of charrednd therein. Apart from well-defended cities like ckflow, the other scattered settlements had long since been relocated or destroyed.

    There were also numerous native beasts that had been affected by the Iron Curtain. They frantically attacked everyone they encountered, be it dark race or human. But no matter how much they had mutated, these beasts still weren¡¯t a match for the experts of the two factions, and they were virtually wiped out during the first month of the bloody battle.

    Presently, the world under the Iron Curtain had be a deste silence. The scars of war could be seen everywhere along with sinister white bones and charred, lifeless vegetation.

    Qianye climbed up from a valley and onto a stretching mountain ridge. A wide panorama opened up before him as he reached the highest point. Thend in front of him was the border of the Iron Curtain. The half-grey, half-clear sky was clearly reflected on the great river winding through the ins.

    The sky beyond the Iron Curtain was so clear that one could see beams of sunlight pouring down from the border and onto the river surface. The waves were clear and crystalline with faint golden specks within, almost like a different world from the dark stillness behind him.

    A small city stood upon the river bank. It was quite lively with the passage of man, vehicles, and the asional airship rising overhead. In the distance, one could see groups of buildings resembling scattered viges and towns. However, most of these buildings were different from the ones normally seen on Evernight Continent in that they resembled military barracks. That was the forward base of the aristocratic families.

    One of the Zhao n¡¯s northern war zone forward bases was also located among them.

    Qianye¡¯s brows rxed as he sped up his footsteps and rushed straight down the hill. The tall grey walls of the city grew clearer within his vision after passing through a small thicket.

    Qianye suddenly looked up as if he had sensed something and saw a tall straight figure standing up ahead.

    Zhao Jundu smiled at him and said, ¡°Qianye, wee back!¡± The sharp, spirited countenance of the empire¡¯s number one young genius was akin to the melting of the early snow and was as radiant as a sparkling cier.

    Qianye felt something trickle within his heart. It was his dark but tenacious life. The countless battles, the many life or death situations, the seas of blood, the raging mes¡ªone after the other, he had walked through them, and one after the other, they had faded away.

    He suddenly felt with unprecedented rity that the past¡­ was indeed in the past.

    Either pain or joy, regardless of poverty or fortune, whether banal or exhrating, be it darkness or daybreak¡ªeverything belonged to his past. It was unique and unchangeable. Only the futurey in his own hands, uninfluenced by others.

    Qianye hastened his steps to meet Zhao Jundu¡¯s open arms, and the two brothers finally embraced each other anew after many years of separation.

 Volume 6 - 488: Childhood Education

    [V6C18 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The air was filled with the intense fragrance of wine and roasting meat, thetter originating from the racks fixed above the crackling bonfire. There were people wrestling nearby, and the spectators would asionally erupt in loud cheers. The coarse and morous scene of army celebration was quite simr everywhere.

    Qianyey in the luxuriant crown of arge tree with his hands behind his head, gazing at the deep night sky and the Gemini-¦Á constetion which had taken up a good chunk of the firmament.

    After such a long time under the Iron Curtain, even the scarlet moon would feel like an old acquaintance.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s figure suddenly appeared through the branches and sat down beside him. ¡°Are you trying to avoid the liquor or are you evading the fights?¡±

    ¡°A little of both,¡± Qianye replied honestly. There was a wisp of helplessness in his expression. He had just realized how famous he was among the Zhao nbat squads.

    The Zhao n was a war-like entity. These valiant private soldiers who had survived after several months of fighting in the bloody battle were all veterans of a hundred wars. Since there was usually no status discrimination during such asions, Qianye was able to feel the overwhelming passion of the Swallow Cloud cavalry. After overturning apany¡¯s worth of soldiers in wrestling and drinking with half the crowd, Qianye finally gave up and ran away into the tree.

    ¡°The units will rest and reorganize for five days, then we¡¯ll make further ns ording to the situation of the Iron Curtain and the emperor¡¯s orders,¡± Zhao Jundu continued, ¡°so what are your ns?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going back to ckflow to take a look. The Iron Curtain might be drawn open any day. I fear the Nangong family won¡¯t take such a huge loss lying down.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s Song Zining you''re worried about, it¡¯s unnecessary. The Nangong family is arrogant, but they¡¯re not idiots. They won''t try to kill Song Zining brazenly with all the attention he''s been receiving recently. Elsewise, any chance of them being promoted to a major n in the future will be forfeit.

    Qianye shook his head and said, ¡°It¡¯s me the Nangong family hates.¡±

    Zhao Jundu frowned. ¡°Nangong Xiaofeng¡¯s attack on Zhao Yuying hasn¡¯t been resolved between Duke You and the Nangong family. If they daree to you, I¡¯ll surely let them know that it¡¯s not their turn to take advantage of the Zhao n, with or without the Iron Curtain.¡±

    Qianye realized at this point that Zhao Jundu knew a fair bit about his enmity with the Nangong family. Zhao Yuying seemed not to have mentioned Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s matter, but Qianye had no intention of having the Zhao n take action for him, either. ¡°I can deal with this matter myself.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s solemn expression didn¡¯t rx. ¡°The empire has certain rules. Matters in the bloody battle must stay in the bloody battle. Every family follows thisw on the surface, but an open enemy is easier to deal with than a stab in the back. Since this matter began with Yuying, it¡¯s only natural that our Zhao n steps forth.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought before saying, ¡°I also have a private debt to settle with them. Some things can¡¯t be measured in profit.¡±

    With his level of intelligence, Zhao Jundu was easily able to discern Qianye¡¯s implication. The diplomacy between ns has always been about the pros and cons¡ªeven someone of Zhao Yuying¡¯s status was only a bargaining chip on the negotiation table. The only difference was the value.

    But what would¡¯ve happened to ckflow City had Song Zining not struggled against all odds to produce a miracle? Although they had won a great victory, in the end, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to forget the Nangong family¡¯s actions. Moreover, he wanted to put an end to this enmity in his own way.

    The two quieted down.

    The atmosphere on the distant drill grounds was almost aboil, but only some notes of merriment managed to pass through the exuberant leaves, forming a contrast with the calm silence of this little world.

    Zhao Jundu spoke all of a sudden, ¡°Actually, I disliked you the most when I was young.¡±

    A startled Qianye nced back at him. Zhao Jundu¡¯s wless countenance was almost glowing.

    ¡°The first time I saw my mother crying secretly behind everyone¡¯s backs, I knew it was because of you.¡±

    ¡°You were sitting beside the window back then. A small boy¡­ not much bigger than the flower vase.¡±

    ¡°I pushed you onto the bed and we struggled for a long time. I pushed you down when you sat up, but you would simply get up again. You were so stupid that you didn¡¯t even know how to cry.¡±

    ¡°And you didn¡¯t speak at all until you were two.¡±

    ¡°Father saw me visiting your courtyard all the time and thought I liked you a lot.¡±

    ¡°The first wet nurse who took care of you was quitezy and often didn¡¯t dry your hair offpletely after a bath. One day, you caught a cold and became feverish. Your face was flushed and hot, but you didn¡¯t cry. You only said, ¡®It hurts¡¯.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s words were intermittent and barely formed aplete story. It was almost as if he were talking to himself. His gaze was fairly calm. He stared into the air as though he could see therein the river of time flowing in reverse.

    Qianye listened patiently. That was also his life despite him having no recollection of it.

    The wind whistled through thend of Evernight, and the rustle of leaves grew increasingly loud. Zhao Jundu¡¯s lonely voice became more and more fragmented until it stoppedpletely at one point.

    Qianye left quietly at dawn and returned to ckflow City.

    He could hardly remember the jubnt and morous city before him. It was ten at night when he returned, but the city gates were open to admit the long line of people and vehicles waiting to pay up and enter.

    The interior of the city was brightly lit, and he could vaguely hear the fervent mor of people speaking and even some music.

    The Dark me officer at the gate recognized Qianye as he squeezed through the crowd and immediately performed a salute. ¡°Sire Qianye, you¡¯ve returned!¡± He then pushed open a path for Qianye through the people.

    After stepping into the city, Qianye was so startled by the scene before him that he almost forgot to question the Dark me officer beside him.

    The crowd on the main street leading to the west gate could only be described as jostling. There were numerous stalls selling all kinds of things on each side of the road. There was even a dancer twirling in the middle of the street.

    Qianye was dumbfounded for a moment. He looked up at the sky and found the gloomy Iron Curtain still covering them like a tent. If not for that, he would¡¯vepletely forgotten that ckflow was still within the scope of the bloody battle.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°The Hidden Springs Merchant Group is here! They¡¯ll stay here for three days!¡± The Dark me officer¡¯s voice contained a wisp of undisguisable excitement.

    Life on Evernight Continent was mostly dull and uninteresting. Since its founding, ckflow was only a third-rate city located near the borders. The visiting merchant caravans were mostly those that focused on practicality. Merchants carrying luxury goods were rarely ever seen, to speak nothing of a top-ranked merchant group like Hidden Springs.

    Hidden Springs? That was where Lil¡¯ Seven, Lil¡¯ Nine, and thete Seventeen all came from. Qianye felt a faint stabbing pain in his head.

    Soon afterward, Qianye recalled that it wasn¡¯t just once or twice that Song Zining had persuaded him to visit a major city and watch the Hidden Spring Merchant Group¡¯s performance¡ªand also to buy some quality goods in passing. It was just that Qianye had always refused him. It never urred to him that Song Zining would actually be able to invite Hidden Springs over to ckflow.

    The bloody battle hadn¡¯t even ended yet!

    Qianye¡¯s countenance turned dark as he nced at the bustling street in front of him. ¡°Howe there are so many people in the city?¡±

    It turned out that the people visiting the city grew exponentially after Song Zining epted the aristocratic familybat squads. These were all true noble scions from the upper continents. Even though life in wartime was simple, the goods ckflow could provide were apparently too coarse and scanty.

    These aristocratic descendants naturally weren¡¯tcking in money, and Song Zining had his own way of solving this problem. As such, all kinds of merchant groups arrived in ckflow to do business, and the stream of people only grewrger. The liveliness was pushed to its very peak when the Hidden Springs Merchant Group, roaming the various continents, announced that they would be holding a three-day performance in ckflow City.

    Endless crowds rushed over from the neighboring Trinity River County and other ces, even though ckflow City was located under the Iron Curtain.

    He thought about the dark race army stationed only a couple hundred kilometers away in the 87th mountain region and then nced at the iparably lively street block before him. Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say because this ce didn¡¯t resemble a frontline warzone at all!

    Qianye sighed in relief after entering the gates of the Dark me headquarters. Everything here was still fairly normal and in order. The sentry tower was heavily guarded, and the cold gleam of gun muzzles shed asionally along the highest points on the wall.

    At the doors to the main buildingplex, Qianye encountered Song Hu who had just finished dealing with the military affairs for the day. He then headed over to find Song Zining after discovering that thetter was in the small drill ground adjacent to the armaments storage.

    But Qianye had a weird feeling as he was walking over. It was very rare to see Song Zining cultivating in earnest. Reportedly, his martial dao was born of hisprehension in painting and calligraphy. He rarely even visited the virtualbat facility, let alone practice firearms on the drill grounds.

    The small drill ground was located in front of an auxiliary airship garage to the north of the armaments storage. It was reserved specifically for high-ranking Dark me officials to practice in the open.

    The small field was brightly lit with originmps, and therge doors to the warehouse were wide open. There was a small tow-vehicle parked beside the entrance with all kinds of melee weapons and firearms upon it.

    There was a recliner in front of the car made of a rare type of wood, and the craftsmanship was fairly intricate. The smooth curvatures of its design gave one the feeling that it would be quitefortable to lie down upon it.

    Qianye could already recognize from a distance that the person dozing off on the chair was Song Zining. He waspletely dumbfounded.

    Naturally, there was another person practicing weaponry on the drill ground. There was a mass of white light rotating therein, a melee weapon resembling the long-handled sabers frequently used in frontline charges.

    Qianye watched as the white light spun, shed, and cut. Although the moves were simple, they were iparably smooth and able to move heavy objects with rtive ease. Apparently, the wielder was extremely suited to this type of heavy weapon.

    But why was the white light¡¯s position so low?

    At this moment, the white radiance receded to reveal a small figure. The long de, on the other hand, flew through the air andnded neatly in the tow-vehicle with various weapons on it. No crashing sound was produced at all.

    Qianye gazed dumbfounded at the little figure as a peculiar thought emerged in his mind. Wasn¡¯t there something seriously wrong with Zhuji¡¯s childhood education?

    Zhuji stood in ce as she stroked her somewhat curly hair and straightened her ancient-style skirt. Then, she shot toward Song Zining like a cannonball, climbed onto his knees with great familiarity, and sat down properly upon him.

    Song Zining moved a bit and slowly opened his eyes. A smile of unclear implications appeared on his face as he looked at Zhuji who was sitting so elegantly on his legs as though she were at a banquet. Afterward, he turned toward Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯ve returned?¡±

 Volume 6 - 489: Great Changes

    [V6C19 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Momentster, Qianye and Song Zining sat down in the study. Too many things had happenedtely, be it in the Iron Curtain, the empire, or ckflow City. The two had experienced a fair share of things and would likely require over an hour to catch up .

    Song Zining¡¯s situation was pretty good. He had even gotten in touch with the werewolves Qianye had subdued on his western expedition. The Sharp Fang Tribe was affected by the bloody battle, and only a third of its former poption remained. In the end, they had no choice but to leave their ancestralnd, Green Peak Mountain.

    The werewolf viscount Brudo became much more vignt after his setback with Qianyest time. He had kept his forces concentrated within his core territory and didn¡¯t quite get swept into the bloody battle. This left him with a fair bit of military strength. They also took in the remnants of the Sharp Fang Tribe.

    Qianye remembered William after hearing this news and couldn¡¯t help but sigh inside his heart. Although Song Zining was back in ckflow City at the moment, he had set up numerous defensive positions in all of the regions he had swept through. After the bloody battle had ended and the dark races from the upper continents had left, those ces would be incorporated into the ckflow war zone sooner orter.

    At the same time, the humans would eventually start to flock over¡ªpeople like those merchants on the streets, adventurers, and all kinds of people seeking survival. Perhaps one or several new cities would pop up over the next few years. However, this meant that the living space for the dark races would contract. The general situation would change very little even if Qianye tacitly allowed them to stay in his territory.

    This was the essence of the war between daybreak and evernight. Land resources were a deciding factor in the survival and development of a race.

    But what Song Zining was more interested in was the profits brought about by the war. ording to him, resources and people signified more trade opportunities which would only multiply as the poption grew. As such, a neutral region would be a fairly good development strategy.

    Qianye felt dazzled as Song Zining blurted out a string of numbers. ording to him, the ie from the imperial rewards and those offered by the aristocratic families were just about equal to the Ningyuan Group¡¯s profits, the recent transactions they had grasped the opportunity to engage in.

    Qianyeughed as he recalled the Song n. He also came to understand why that enormous family would slowly reach its current state. The profits from trade were simply too vast¡ªso vast that people started to forget what the cornerstone of business was. They forgot that goods came from resources, that justice was born of strength, and furthermore, that the opposite might not hold true.

    Comparatively, Qianye¡¯s gains from the bloody battle were simple. They were all rare materials he had obtained from the Zhao n, with no shortage of rare medicines required for a champion¡¯s cultivation. But unexpectedly, Song Zining told him that he had no use for them because he had never used supplementary medicines to advance in rank.

    Qianye was quite surprised. There was no such thing as cultivation medicines when the humans awoke origin power thousands of years ago. However, throughout the long passage of time, medicines and machines used to bolster one¡¯sbat strength had almost be second nature.

    At this point, Song Zining asked, ¡°Did you find any other cultivation arts in the Song n Ancient Scroll apart from the Mystery and Glory Chapters?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°There are four or five more chapters, but I simply can¡¯t find the origin power routes and nodes mentioned in there.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Howe?¡±

    Qianye recalled the origin power cirction and control methods he had seen in the Song n Ancient Scroll. Later on, he simply produced the jade booklet and activated them one by one for Song Zining to see.

    Qianye suddenly discovered that the activated secrets within the scroll had increased. He stared puzzled at the jade leaflet for a while before looking up at Song Zining. ¡°I remember you telling me that only those who have awakened Venus Dawn can cultivate the Song n Ancient Scroll.¡±

    Song Zining flipped through the words on the jade leaflet in great detail, then said without looking up, ¡°Isn¡¯t that exactly what your talent is?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. He opened his mouth a bit but actually had no idea how to respond.

    The initial Venus Dawn was an imitation arising from the golden blood energy, but thetter had been refined by the Song n Ancient Scroll. Although he didn¡¯t see his own visual phenomena back at the Zhao n¡¯s Marrow Cleansing Pond, the talent inspection array and the Zhao n¡¯s divine champion experts all concluded that it was Venus Dawn. Were they all mistaken? Even he himself wasn¡¯t too sure at this point.

    ¡°But back then, you said that you had a master calcte¡­¡±

    Song Zining broke into augh and pointed at himself with great satisfaction. ¡°Isn¡¯t yours truly worthy of being called a master?!¡±

    ¡°You mean, you¡­¡± Qianye waspletely dumbfounded.

    It was already past midnight when Qianye and Song Zining left the study.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t rest immediately upon returning to his room. He leaned on the bed for a good while, seemingly deep in thought, as he tossed a jade tablet up and down in his hand. The tablet¡¯s color was rather dim and looked ordinary on the surface. But on careful observation, one would find that its splendor was contracted within and that it was no ordinary item. Surprisingly it was made of the same material as the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    The jade tablet was tossed up once again, and this time, it flew so high that it was almost touching the ceiling. It began disintegrating on its way back down and shattered into motes of lustrous brilliance, which then vanished into Song Zining¡¯s palm.

    The room was immersed in the colors of the night and devoid of any light source. However, a certain radiance flickered several times during this split second.

    The light specks in Song Zining¡¯s palm had more or less disappeared, but what remained of them were still reflected upon his handsome face and outlined his gentle silhouette.

    Presently, a new origin vortex had appeared in Song Zining¡¯s body. He was now rank-eleven.

    The days that followed were a rare respite for Qianye, that was except for the overly morous streets outside of the base. In the end, he still couldn¡¯t escape being dragged over to watch Hidden Spring¡¯s performance. He did, however, manage to refuse the beautiful escorts Song Zining had so graciously offered him.

    Qianye was feeling somewhat restless early this morning. He felt as though something was about to happen, and this sensation persisted into the evening. Finally, he decided to leave the city and take a look, also checking on the dark race army¡¯s movements along the way. Song Zining didn¡¯t protest. He also had this feeling, but he was quite certain that the abnormality wasn¡¯t with the dark race army.

    After leaving the city, Qianye began running through the wilderness and into the depths of the Iron Curtain. However, something made him stop dead on his tracks.

    He looked down at the earth beneath his feet. Nothing seemed out of ce at a nce, but the soil was suddenly moving about everywhere. The countless insects and rodents that had survived the war scuttled out of hiding. They climbed to the surface and were running about inplete disarray.

    In the depths of the earth, a certain indistinct vibration was expanding outwards continuously.

    This vibration was extremely weak, so weak that Qianye might have overlooked it had he not concentrated his perception. But when he tried to sense it, the earth shook violently and all the blood in his body almost froze up!

    The moment that his consciousness came in contact with this vibration, Qianye seemed to have touched an iparably vast will. It was cold, apathetic and ruthless, seemingly belonging to an entity that had existed for countless eons. Before it, Qianye was even less significant than a tiny ant, and the difference between them was like a drop of waterpared to the ocean.

    This vast oceanic will didn¡¯t react at all to Qianye¡¯s touch. Perhaps it was too big or maybe Qianye was just too insignificant.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core and heart began to jump wildly. He immediately withdrew his perception, no longer daring to probe this odd vibration from the depths of the earth.

    This brief moment of contact had drained Qianye greatly and consumed almost all of the essence blood he had in store.

    Qianye was shocked. If his perception wasn¡¯t wrong, this meant that there was an earth-shattering secret hidden in the depths of the Evernight continent. This was perhaps the true reason behind Sky Demon¡¯s appearance and the deployment of the Iron Curtain¡ªa means to announce his territorial im over Evernight.

    However, the contact from just now had clearly proven that this secret wasn¡¯t something a person at Qianye¡¯s level could pry into. That ancient will alone could crush him into pieces upon contact. It would, at the very least, require a divine champion to withstand that ancient will. If one were looking to truly confront it, perhaps only peerless existences like a heavenly monarch or a great dark monarch would have this right.

    But why had that ancient will manifested at this moment?

    Qianye shuddered in his heart as he looked up at the sky. He shockingly saw the all-epassing Iron Curtain waning like the receding tides. It was being reborn in certain areas but most of it had vanished. The starry sky was gradually connecting together to form a single expanse.

    Qianye watched in a daze. He could hardly believe everything he was seeing.

    Had the Iron Curtain actually disappeared?

    This signaled the fall of the curtains over the several-month-long bloody battle, which had imed countless lives from both factions. But upon deeper thought, it probably wasn¡¯t as simple as one would think.

    The Iron Curtain was Sky Demon¡¯s domain¡ªretracting it perhaps meant that he had already found what he had been looking for. But ording to the news William had leaked, the big shots of the Evernight Council probably wouldn¡¯t allow Sky Demon to take that item away so easily. Since the top experts from the evernight side were taking action, those from the human race wouldn¡¯t sit by and watch, either. They would surely think of a way to interfere.

    That being said, wouldn''t the dissipation of the Iron Curtain mean that the experts of the two factions had begun fighting Sky Demon?

    There was no need for tangible pressure; this thought alone was stifling enough.

    At this moment, the ground beneath Qianye¡¯s feet finally started to tremble with increasing intensity. One could actually see the ground billowing! At the same time, countless cracks extended through the earth and seemingly split the wilderness into numerous unrted regions. The chasms weaved and warped through thend, growing progressively longer and wider.

    An ear-splitting rumble erupted a thousand meters in front of Qianye as a segment of thend was suddenly raised. It shot straight upward for several hundred meters beforeing to a stop. Just like that, a precipitous cliff appeared before Qianye.

    Magma burst out from the cracks in the ground and shot a thousand meters into the air before gradually falling down. Large clouds of smoke surged into the air and covered up a small part of the sky.

    Qianye spread his luminous wings and leapt up, rising high into the sky to look down at thend below.

    The entire Evernight Continent¡ªall the way to the extremes of his vision¡ªwas quaking. The numerous cracks were like terrifying injuries scattered in every direction. Some of them were already thousands of meters wide, hundreds of kilometers long, and so deep that one couldn¡¯t see the bottom. Qianye saw some dark race cities split in two with earthen mes gushing out from within.

    Meanwhile, ming clouds gradually appeared up high, recing the Iron Curtain in enveloping the skies of Evernight. The re dyed the entirend with an apocalyptic red hue which shattered the darkness of the night.

    Beams of origin power surged from the depths of the void and passed over Qianye as they rushed into the distance.

    The origin power fluctuations in Qianye¡¯s body actually formed a resonance with the Profound Combatant Form which began circting on its own. He wiped away the cold sweat on his hands but did nothing to stop it. Instead, he attached his consciousness onto it in a bid to follow the Profound Combat Form¡¯s rhythm and take control.

 Volume 6 - 490: Earth-shattering Battle

    [V6C20 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    A barrier resembling a hazy ss suddenly appeared before Qianye. As he circted his Profound Combatant Form, it seemed as though an invisible hand was wiping the mist away to reveal the void realm behind. It was so boundlessly vast that his minuscule consciousness might be devoured at any moment.

    Qianye¡¯s will was like a small boat in the midst of the raging waves. From time to time, he would be tossed upon the waves or pressed into the depths. Those surging tides of origin power were hundreds of meters tall and immeasurably vast. Moreover, no one knew where their origin.

    The fluctuations in the depths of the void had already affected the Evernight Continent. A blood-colored opening had appeared in the sky through which ferocious void origin power was pouring in continuously. Immediately after entering the world of Evernight, the origin power ignited into raging mes which flowed down like an infernal waterfall.

    The thousand-meter stream of flowing fire wasn¡¯t extinguished after falling to the ground and, instead, stretched out in every direction.

    The openings in the sky increased in number as though the world was sustaining numerous injuries. The ming waterfalls fell from the sky and transformed the world into a purgatory.

    Qianye was beside himself as he watched the apocalyptic scene in a daze. Who could withstand such a great cmity between heaven and earth?

    A notion emerged in Qianye¡¯s heart. Could this be a scene produced by the battle between Sky Demon and the dark monarchs of Evernight?

    Time seemed to be moving very slowly, yet it also felt like a mere moment. The origin tides in the void eventually calmed down, the tears in the sky gradually restored themselves, and the earth also stopped trembling. After the void origin power vanished, the heavenly mes on the ground were also extinguished one after another. Looking down from the sky, however, one could still see that charred fissure, a standing monument of the pain Evernight Continent had just suffered.

    Ayer of deep leaden color emerged and swept over from the distant sky. That was a familiar sight Qianye had beheld countless times¡ªthe Iron Curtain. However, the reappearance of the Iron Curtain this time contained an extraordinary significance.

    Could it be that the great dark monarchs had been defeated?

    The Iron Curtain had just swept through half the sky when an iparably resplendent star lit up far far away. It then exploded abruptly and disintegrated into dozens of brilliant specks which flew off in every direction.

    Most of the lights vanished as soon as they emerged, while the remainder only dispersed after traveling for quite some time. Whenever one of them vanished, Qianye could sense an extremely tyrannical aura flicker and disappear.

    While these auras were different from one another, they were inconceivably powerful. Meanwhile, Qianye was still in a wondrous state brought about by the Profound Combatant Form¡¯s contact with the void. Moreover, he was tens of thousands of kilometers away. Even so, he could actually feel the sharp sting!

    In the end, only several streaks of light remained. They flew far across the distance and disappeared over certain areas of the Evernight Continent.

    After which, radiant splendor poured out from the distant star to shoot off in all directions. The peculiar energy was capable of traversing tens of thousands of kilometers, aweing everyone in sight. However, Qianye clearly sensed that this wasn¡¯t a true vision, but a certain type of beckoning. The brilliance was calling upon all the experts of the world and leaving a vision within their consciousness.

    At this time, Qianye¡¯s body shuddered as the Profound Combatant Form slowly ground to a halt, and the faintly discernible corner of the voidpletely receded from his consciousness.

    Qianye retracted the luminous wings that were starting to grow dim and gradually fell back onto the ground. There was a certain revtion in his heart¡ªthe star he had just seen was likely the object Sky Demon sought. For some reason, it had shattered into numerous fragments, many of which disappeared along the way as peerless experts moved to retrieve them.

    As for why the star had shattered, it was likely the result of that earth-shattering battle.

    Wait! There were several of them that hadn¡¯t yet been retrieved! Qianye suddenly recalled how several beams of light weren¡¯t collected by anyone up until the point where they vanished over a certain ce.

    The Iron Curtain spread quickly across the sky and dark clouds rolled over thunderously. Behind the Iron Curtain, Sky Demon¡¯s will once again swept over the heaven and earth. But this time, Qianye could clearly sense an inexplicable wrath within it.

    Sky Demon¡¯s will swept over Qianye, ignoring him and moving rapidly into the distance. Quite shockingly, it was actually moving toward the direction where the final pieces of light had vanished.

    Qianye pondered for a moment before turning back along the road from which he hade. No matter what that light was, it held no significance to the current Qianye. Since even he could see where the lights had vanished, it must be the same for all the experts observing this battle. Moreover, he knew he wasn¡¯t even qualified to approach a battleground belonging to the level of great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs.

    Although ckflow City was thousands of kilometers away, Qianye wasn¡¯t quite sure how widespread the effects of that battle were.

    As Qianye ran back through the wilderness at top-speed, he found all the ces in the wake of those shockwaves had turned intonds of disaster, and even the rivers had changed course.

    However, most people wouldn¡¯t know that the center of this battlefield was already tranquil, and one could see the distant firmament through the huge gaping hole above. It was as though that piece of defective Iron Curtain could never be repaired. Thend beneath had also vanishedpletely, and a bottomless giant vortex was slowly revolving therein.

    Precipitous cliffs surrounded the vortex, but there was no dark mist swirling at its bottom. There were even motes of starlight flickering at the center¡ªit was as though the void were hanging upside down here, and no one knew just how deep it was. There were dozens of figures standing in the air on each side.

    These shadows were as insignificant as pebbles before this peculiar phenomenon of the heaven and earth. However, their auras were like precipitous cliffs and dense peaks capable of connecting the heaven and earth. Even that bottomless vortex didn¡¯t seem like an impassable chasm to them.

    Those were the experts of the empire and Evernight. They stood on different sides with a clear line drawn between them.

    On the Evernight side, the greatest in number were the vampires. Although there were only three demonkin, the auras hidden beneath those wizard robes were among the most powerful present.

    On the empire¡¯s side, Lin Xitang and Luo Mingji¡¯s military uniforms were the most eye-catching. And judging from the positions they had taken up, the experts beside them were probably on the same level too.

    The great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs were absent from both factions. Apparently, they had left to recuperate after Sky Demon was repelled.

    Luo Mingji gazed attentively at the bottomless maelstrom with a frown. ¡°An aura of the void ising from the other end. Might this be a tunnel for spatial transition?¡±

    Duke Wei¡¯s aura was somewhat exhausted after releasing the Myriad Heavens Art three times. ¡°This is the ce of burial chosen by the void colossus itself, so it¡¯s inevitable that there are defenses within. It¡¯s quite likely a natural void channel, but the aura within is simply too violent. My perception was only able to go five hundred meters in before bing obscured by the turbulence within. I have no idea what¡¯s on the other side.¡±

    All eyes fell upon the silent Lin Xitang.

    Thetter said unhurriedly, ¡°It looks like a prismatic turbulence.¡±

    All the experts were visibly moved after these words were spoken. ¡°Prismatic Turbulence¡± was the most dangerous natural phenomenon of the void. Most intercontinental airships encountering it would meet a disastrous fate. During the great battle in which Lin Xitang had risen to the peak of his fame, he had led the Northern Legion to a sessfulndfall through this violent natural phenomenon, consequently rescuing the imperial army from a crushing defeat.

    But if this truly were a prismatic turbulence, it was quite likely a defense mechanism left behind by the void colossus, and the other end of this channel had to be connected to a certain area in the void. The remains of primal chaos that had suddenly vanished during the earth-shattering battle just now were likely there, along with the fragments of primordial essence that had fallen in.

    At this moment, a champion from the empire stationed at the periphery flew over and said with a bow, ¡°Sires, the Evernight side sent word that Grand Duke Habsburg wishes to exchange information with Grand Marshal Lin Xitang. They believe the vortex to be a prismatic turbulence.¡±

    The imperial experts exchanged nces before looking over at the experts on the other side. A dark-haired vampire was approaching together with several others of his kind. He then came to a stop on the invisible line between the two factions.

    Lin Xitang pondered momentarily before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go and listen to what they have to say.¡±

    Luo Mingji, Duke Wei, and the other experts nodded. Under such circumstances, cooperation between the two sides was the fastest way to solve this problem. Sky Demon might return at any moment and with greater momentum. If they couldn¡¯t figure out the situation quickly and form a countermeasure, it was quite likely that they would have to return empty-handed.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s figure flickered a couple of times and appeared a hundred meters from Grand Duke Habsburg. This was also the safe distance between divine champions.

    Grand Duke Habsburg still had several years before entering what would be considered middle-age for vampires, however, he didn¡¯t quite maintain an overly youthful appearance. In truth, although this celebrated dark race genius could be considered handsome, his looks weren¡¯t exactly outstanding by vampire standards.

    Those seeing him for the first time might not have thought this seemingly ordinary vampire was the famous n lord of the Sperger n.

    The vampire followers immediately stepped back several hundred meters when Habsburg raised his hand. He himself suddenly walked forward and arrived ten meters away from Lin Xitang.

    Thetter watched him calmly without any movement.

    Habsburg bowed slightly and said with a smile, ¡°Marshal Lin Xitang, it¡¯s been several years since ourst parting.¡±

    Lin Xitang reciprocated the gesture and replied indifferently, ¡°Your Excellency Grand Duke, that means things have been rtively peaceful between the empire and Evernight.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s smile grew deeper. ¡°Is there no other topic of conversation between us apart from war?¡±

    Lin Xitang pointed at the bottomless maelstrom underneath. ¡°This is a type of prismatic turbulence. The other side of this passage likely connects to a certain ce in the void. If it is indeed the cemetery void colossus designed as his resting ce, it should be on solidnd. It may be a meteorite fragment, a natural enve, or even a minor realm.¡±

    This so-called minor realm was a fragment of a fallen world, and the reason behind their formation remained a mystery to this very day. They would exist as an independent entity within the void and might even be governed by differentws.

    At present, the minor realms from each faction could only be passed down by almighty ancient beings. Apart from the dark race¡¯s ck-Winged Monarch Andruil, there had not been a second person in the recent millennium capable of creating them. Even the demonkin who possessed the highest origin power technology in the world could only maintain and operate these realms. They were incapable of constructing new ones.

    If it was a minor realm on the other end, there was no telling what kind of price they would have to pay in order to enter and figure out the rules.

    Habsburg shook his head and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s not a minor realm, but it¡¯s not much better, either. We think that it might be the notorious wind tunnel.¡±

    This time, Lin Xitang couldn¡¯t help but break into a frown. The wind tunnel was a natural danger zone located in the void between the middle and lower continents.

    He nodded and said, ¡°Thank you for the information, Your Excellency. Someone from our side will go down to scout the way. Let¡¯s discuss further after the situation bes clear.¡±

    Habsburg chuckled when he saw Lin Xitang bringing the conversation to a close. ¡°Lin, I¡¯m more certain than ever of one thing after seeing you today. That little scheme those idiots set up to kill you a while back was probably also a trap for you to kill me.¡±

 Volume 6 - 491: Flaming Crown

    [V6C21 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Lin Xitang didn¡¯t reply to this question. ¡°The hunter and the hunted on the battlefield may switch positions anytime. This isn¡¯t worth mentioning, is it?¡±

    Habsburg nodded. ¡°That¡¯s true. Talking about those idiots is a waste of time.¡± He smiled with a sigh. ¡°Lin, your methods against our dark races are truly ruthless, but you¡¯re even more ruthless toward yourself. I remember thest time you set up a trap to kill me was when you exterminated the Evernight Council¡¯s Lost Paradise No. 3 Laboratory. The bait back then was one of your sons. I heard he unfortunately died.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s calm expression suddenly copsed. A look of pain or otherwise shed through his clear, deep eyes. His voice was as deep as a whisper, ¡°War signifies sacrifice for everyone, including myself.¡± With that, he seemed to have nothing more to say to Habsburg. He simply turned around and left.

    ¡°Lin¡­¡± Habsburg extended his right arm as he called out. There wasn¡¯t a shred of origin power fluctuation in the air, but a strand of silver hair beside Lin Xitang¡¯s ears was blown up by the wind.

    Suddenly, the surroundings alternated between light and dark. The distant skies suddenly turned a deep blue, covered by a widespread neb. This degree of concentration could only be found in the star zones closest to the top of the world.

    The astronomical phenomenon disappeared in the blink of an eye before the firmament reverted to its original state. However, people from the two different factions standing on opposite sides of the vortex became anxious because none of them was a stranger to the visions that had appeared moments ago. It was Li Xitang¡¯s domain, ¡°Celestial Stream¡±.

    All eyes fell upon the two but quickly turned to puzzlement. They had no idea why Habsburg remained motionless, while Lin Xitang had deployed his domain. It didn¡¯t seem like the two had gotten into conflict, either.

    Habsburg seemedpletely unaware of the changes and only gazed at Lin Xitang¡¯s moving silver hair. Beneath the snow-white hair, there were several faint grey strands emitting a lifeless aura of death. ¡°Your injury never healed. You¡¯ll die within ten years if you can¡¯t advance to the heavenly monarch rank.¡±

    Lin Xitang had already returned to his usual calm at this point. He stood sideways and said calmly without looking back at Habsburg, ¡°Ten years isn¡¯t short for humans. We can do a lot of things.¡±

    Habsburg smiled as he flipped his extended palm over to reveal a mass of scarlet light. ¡°I¡¯ll give this to you.¡±

    That was a drop of blood so indescribably red that it was almost dazzling. It seemed to have umted the most intense of vitality but was surrounded by ayer of bubbling sable mist. Upon careful examination, however, one would find that the mist was actually made up of dark mes!

    ¡°That which I control is the darkest mes in the world. Whether it¡¯s on Daybreak or Evernight, there¡¯s no one capable of extinguishing itpletely. That¡¯s why the only one who can heal you is me.¡±

    Lin Xitang finally shot Habsburg a nce. ¡°No need.¡±

    ¡°I have no ns to suggest any conditions.¡±

    ¡°I know, but still no need.¡±

    ¡°I guessed you would say so, but it still feels ufortable to hear in person.¡±

    Lin Xitang turned, took a step, and appeared a dozen or so meters away. But before he could take a second step, he heard a sigh beside his ear, followed by a vast suppressive might spreading out in all directions. The pressure had no enmity or killing intent, but it was magnificent and ancient¡ªit was as though it had undergone the tempering of countless years.

    ¡°Lin, my rank is already a prince, it¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t been crowned just yet.¡±

    As calm as he was, even Lin Xitang was shaken by this news. He turned around abruptly and saw the radiance from that drop of blood¡ªpreviously confined to Habsburg¡¯s palm¡ªslowly expanding outward.

    Under the illumination of the bloody light, Habsburg¡¯s countenance became shrouded in ayer of austerity. An iparably powerful aura inundated the sky above the vortex, pierced into the sky, and shot toward the depths of the distant world.

    Countless mes emerged from the air and, like a waterfall, washed over Habsburg from head to toe. The scene was fairly simr to the dark baptism every dark race member would undergo when they came of age. It was just that above the baptism wasn¡¯t darkness origin distite, but instead, raging ck mes centered around a drop of blood.

    The flowing mes grew increasingly dense. Habsburg¡¯s figure became unclear under the intersecting ck and red hue. Only his silent and restrained countenance was faintly discernible. Suddenly, the flowing mes swept upward to form a ming crown which graduallynded on the ck hair of the Sperger n Lord!

    Habsburg¡¯s eyes gradually opened. His blood energy was as intense as a surging river of blood.

    At this moment, all of the ranked vampires heard a certain calling from the depths of their bloodline. Most of them were still unclear as to its significance and could only feel the jubtion of the long river of sacred blood. Those characters at the level of duke and above stood up solemnly, a uniform imagery projected within their consciousness.

    Within the long river of sacred blood¡ªthe artery of darkness and the source of all vampires¡ªa fifth blood imprint lit up anew. It was a burning crown.

    The experts from the empire¡¯s side approached rapidly once Habsburg released that suppressive might. But they immediately halted their steps because, as experts of simr rank, they were able to sense that the other party had no battle intent. A fight might actually break out if they approached suddenly. Moreover, Lin Xitang was too close to the center of the suppressive might. He would be the one to bear the brunt of the impact if the two sides were to sh.

    Duke Wei said tartly, ¡°This is¡­ the coronation of a prince?¡± He was the eldest within this group, yet even he wasn¡¯t too certain. The humans¡¯ understanding of the vampires was the deepest among the dark races. However, a prince coronation was more or less a legend, even within the vampiremunity.

    A hoarse voice akin to chafing metal rang out as an elderly human divine champion spoke, ¡°The vampires are only disying their might, and Marshal Lin isn¡¯t in danger. We shouldn¡¯t approach for now.¡±

    As Lin Xitang¡¯s colleague over the many years, Luo Mingji was somewhat hesitant. ¡°Why¡­¡±

    The hoarse divine champion said, ¡°The vampires aren¡¯t just demonstrating their might to us. The ones most distressed over the appearance of a vampire crown prince is probably the dark races themselves, especially the demonkin. Look at those three grand wizards from the Evernight Council. I daresay they¡¯re no happier than us.¡±

    Luo Mingji nced over at the other side. The dark race warriors of the vampire race had all gotten down on one knee to express their submission and respect for the prince in front of them.

    The werewolves and arachne were gathered together but, at least, maintained an attitude of sufficient respect. The three demonkin wizards¡¯ figures swayed a bit. It seemed they had been whispering to one another just a while ago. One of them hurriedly pulled back on the cloak that had dropped down below his ear. This small movement was enough to prove the imperial divine champion¡¯s words.

    ¡°What does the crowning of a prince entail?¡± Luo Mingji¡¯s question was also what the other experts wanted to know.

    A prince was a special position in the dark world. They were yet to be called great dark monarchs but possessed at least one special ability at that level. For instance, ordinary divine champions weren¡¯t a match for demonkin princes. Dark princes were just as rare as the great dark monarchs. Vampire princes were also pretty scarce, and most of them were in hibernation. At the very least, there hadn¡¯t been a crowned prince in the thousand years that humans had risen to power.

    Among the twelve ancient vampire ns, the Sperger n¡¯s grand duke had not only advanced to a prince, but he was also crowned directly. This was no less significant than the appearance of a fifth heavenly monarch in the Qin Empire. Not only would this affect the power bnce between Evernight and the empire, but it would also cause an even bigger stir among the four great races and Evernight Council.

    ¡°A crowned prince can contend with a great dark monarch.¡± Lin Xitang¡¯s voice was clear and calm. His figure flickered into being before everyone. This information caused all the expressions of all the experts to grow solemn.

    ¡°As for its effects, the news can¡¯t be hidden for long, so we''ll know within a couple of days,¡± Lin Xitang turned toward the hoarse divine champion and said, ¡°we should immediately send someone into the bottomless vortex to scout the situation ande up with a follow up n before the Evernight Council expresses their stance. What does Provincial Governor Li think?¡±

    ¡°Just as Marshal Lin said.¡± Provincial Governor Li Fangqing nodded in agreement. He was in charge of the military police and was dispatched to Evernight Continent after the bloody battle to perform an inspection. Lin Xitang had asked for his opinion since he was at the scene, but he had no intention to give out orders since the former¡¯s strategies were the top among all marshals.

    At this moment, Qianye, who had been running through the wilderness, felt his heart start racing. He had just halted his steps when his entire body trembled, and the Wings of Inception suddenly unfurled on their own. Golden wings of light rushed out from his back and stretched out to their greatest extent. The Book of Darkness also emerged in the depths of his consciousness, stood up, and flipped open.

    Qianye only felt his vision grow dark and the wilderness around him disappear. His consciousness had fallen into a certain space.

    The massive Book of Darknessy before him, enshrouded in a thickyer of sanguineous light akin to a flowing river. He saw a drop of blood form in the air and fall into the river, stirring up circr ripples across the water surface and forming thirteen seals in its wake.

    However, Qianye soon found something wrong because only twelve seals were formed in the end¡ªthere was only an empty defect above the thirteenth position. His consciousness swept over the seals and found those images were extremely clear. It was as though they were right there before his eyes. He could clearly see the meaning behind those iparably abstruse lines.

    The first one was a slowly blooming rose with a golden serpent head reaching out from the stamen¡ªthe brightest of them all.

    The second was a datura flower with a different color in eachyer of its unfolding petals.

    The third was a peacock with golden mes burning upon its green wings.

    The fourth was a magnificent castle with an ancient aura, and the thorns growing upon its walls spitting out little ck flowers.

    The fifth was a mass of burning mes outlining the shape of a crown.

    At this moment, Qianye suddenly discovered that the twelve seals weren¡¯t all lit up. Half of them were dark and lightless, meanwhile, the fifth seal was gradually lighting up before his eyes.

    The ripples upon the sanguineous river had yet to calm down, and the undtions on the water surface grew more and more intense. Qianye had a peculiar feeling that this river was alive, and it was cheering in jubtion.

    The moment he came into contact with the will of the sanguineous river, Qianye suddenly realized what the scene before him signified.

    That was the origin of all vampires, the very first drop of blood that was the source of all vampire bloodlines. The ripples from its fall condensed thirteen seals, forming the same number of second-generation primogenitors who then went on to found the corresponding ancient vampire branches.

    At this moment, the fiery crown seal had lit uppletely and was emitting a beckon which seemed to havee from antiquity. The dozens of iparably powerful wills along the sanguineous river began resonating and soon formed a raging tide poised to engulf the entire world.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness was suddenly pushed out by this unparalleled tide of blood. The color of blood in his eyes hadn¡¯t entirely receded when he opened his eyes in a daze. Then the figure of a person appeared.

    Song Zining was watching him from dozens of meters away, his expression solemn.

 Volume 6 - 492: Heavenâ€™s Mirror

    [V6C22 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye was startled to see the unfamiliar expression on Song Zining¡¯s face. He then discovered himself floating in the air with his domainpletely unleashed below him. The great ocean waves were surging about like the raging tides and even the earth was undting. There wereyers of sanguineous light upon the ocean surface amidst the rosy clouds and mist, almost like the ebbing tides of the bloody river from his consciousness.

    The great sea and sanguineous mist were stuck close together, yet they were as clear as night and day without the slightest intersection¡ªnot unlike the difference between Daybreak and Evernight.

    Song Zining¡¯s austere expression gradually lost all emotion. His usual smiling demeanor was almost as cold as a mirror. There seemed to be nothing reflected there apart from the world before him.

    Qianye saw himself in Song Zining¡¯s eyes. The domain formed of great ocean waves weren¡¯t tangible, but a powerful origin fluctuation that distorted the air caused his line of vision to fluctuate along with it. Qianye was standing atop the waves, enshrouded in a surging mist of blood, and his Wings of Inception were folded in a protective stance.

    Thump! Qianye¡¯s blood core suddenly pulsed like the beating of a war drum.

    Song Zining started moving and walked over one step at a time. Qianye didn¡¯t sense Song Zining unleash his domain or circte his origin power, but he could no longer track thetter¡¯s position after a couple of steps.

    Qianye didn¡¯t move at all, and very soon, Song Zining had stepped into the range of those great ocean waves. However, Qianye couldn¡¯t feel anything out of the ordinary within his domain. It was as though the person who had walked in didn¡¯t even exist.

    But a change urred as Song Zining continued forward into the bloody mist. A barrier akin to colored ss rose up around him with leaves flying about from within. In the short distance between its point of emergence and where it curled into the ground, the barrier evolved into a realm of thriving and withering, of life and death.

    Qianye took a deep breath as he descended to the ground. Along with his movements, the oceanic domain, the Wings of Inception, and the bloody mist all dispersed one after another. The ss barrier grew even more distinct after their disappearance. It was like a treasured banner over ten meters in diameter locking Qianye and Song Zining tightly within.

    ¡°Zining.¡±

    Song Zining watched Qianye in silence as the coldness in his eyes gradually faded away. ¡°Qianye.¡± By the time that spring-water-like warmth had returned to his eyes, the ss barrier around him also disappeared silently.

    Qianye looked up to watch the final specks of dispersing light and said, ¡°Your domain seems different from before.¡±

    ¡°This is the true domain of the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. After reaching a higher realm, different cultivators will choose one from among the three thousand great daos to walk along and reach three thousand different domains.¡± Song Zining smiled. ¡°This domain is called the Heaven¡¯s Mirror. My heart is as transparent as ss and unstained by mortal desires.¡±

    Qianye listened to Song Zining¡¯s expert words and felt something wasn¡¯t quite right. He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Free from mortal desires? But you have so many women around you. Why do I feel that you¡¯ve chosen the opposite path?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t seem ashamed at all. On the contrary, he said with great confidence, ¡°Experiencing worldly affairs is the way to be free of myriadws, and every drop of rouge is akin to sharping one¡¯s dao stone. I told you not to hang out too much with that Wei n boar. Now, you can¡¯t even understand such a simple profundity.¡±

    Qianye shot him a sidelong nce. ¡°Howe you¡¯re here? How¡¯s ckflow City?¡±

    ¡°The Iron Curtain has been drawn, and the world is undergoing changes. Even a border area like ckflow has felt the tremors, but only a couple of poorly built buildings crumbled,¡± Song Zining said with a smile. ¡°I ran out after you and found you here. But you¡­¡± He shrugged.

    Qianye recalled the scene that had taken ce within his world of consciousness and couldn¡¯t help but turn silent. He had never considered himself a vampire because there were also humans who had obtained the power of darkness. This was especially true on Evernight Continent where demon hunters and roteaters with pure darkness origin power were still battling against the dark races. But what was that just now? Why did he sense the calling of the vampire bloodline river?

    Song Zining patted his shoulder and said, ¡°Qianye, I¡¯ve always wanted to tell you that strength belongs to no specific faction. As long as we¡¯re strong enough, we will be able to control the power and not be its puppet. I¡¯m very happy that you were still lucid just now.¡±

    Qianye nodded solemnly.

    Atop the tallest mountain range on Twilight Continent, within the most ancient of the Perth n¡¯s castles. All of the n¡¯s important characters above the level of marquis were presently gathered here. Even the biggest and most historic hall within the castle seemed somewhat crowded at this point. Just from this fact, it went to show just how powerful and rich this ancient n was.

    The superior vampires were conversing in hushed tones. There was nock of people among them who hadn¡¯t seen each other for centuries. Meanwhile, the coronation of the Sperger n lord, Habsburg, which shook the entire river of sacred blood, was also a topic of endless discussion.

    It was at this moment that an indefensible suppressive might descended quietly upon the people. A projection appeared on the high throne at the end of the hall. Even though no one could see the figure clearly, all the vampires knew she was the bloodline fountainhead of all those present¡ªthe Queen of the Night, Lilith.

    Everyone became silent as they ced their hands upon their chest and fell on one knee, a ceremony of utmost reverence. No one was talking any longer, and even the sounds of breathing were no longer present. Silence was the greatest form of respect in the queen¡¯s presence.

    Lilith gently raised her hand after a while. Only then did everyone dare to stand up.

    This was the first time after Lilith¡¯s awakening that she had convened the n''s upper echelons. Her index finger tapped lightly on the handrest. No one knew what she was pondering about, but none dared make a sound, lest they interrupt her thoughts.

    Momentster, Lilith finally spoke, ¡°How are the Monroes doing?¡±

    A duke in charge of intelligence said respectfully, ¡°The Monroe n¡¯s development was steady throughout the years. The ck-Winged Monarch never appeared again after he went missing, but there were recent clues as to his hidden treasure which rmed a group of people. We also dispatched people to search for it, but in the end¡­¡±

    The duke continuously recounted the things that had transpired in recent years. He spoke so fast that even the marquises could hardly catch up. But this was not a problem at all for the Queen of the Night. Lilith¡¯s awakening was an extremely rare asion, and her time was indescribably precious. Naturally, everything had to be arranged at the fastest possible speed.

    Lilith only sat silently, and no one knew whether or not she was listening. Suddenly, her tapping finger stopped mid-air, and at this moment, the duke immediately paused his narration.

    ¡°You said that the Monroe n has a descendant who¡¯s awakened Andruil¡¯s bloodline?¡±

    The duke immediately replied, ¡°Yes, her name is Nighteye. She was originally the descendant of a small branch family. Later on, she was found to be a primo of fairly pure blood.¡±

    Lilith listened until the end, then said slowly, ¡°Primo, is it? What ability did she awaken?¡±

    ¡°ording to the present information, we believe she should be the owner of the Eye of Destruction. It¡¯s just that she hasn¡¯t manifested it just yet.¡±

    ¡°Eye of Destruction?¡± There was a fluctuation in Lilith¡¯s voice. The temperature in the hall fell sharply as killing intent pervaded the air. Even dukes couldn''t help but tremble under this frosty killing intent, almost falling to their knees along with the other members of the n.

    ¡°Since the Eye of Destruction has appeared, where is the Eye of Control?¡±

    That duke¡¯s face turned pale. It was fairly difficult for him to stand still under Lilith¡¯s killing intent. He forced himself to speak with a steady voice, ¡°We¡¯ve already searched carefully, but up until this day, there are no other n descendants who have awakened the Eye of Control.¡±

    Lilith remained silent for quite some time before her cold voice spread out throughout the great hall. ¡°Have Nighteyee see me.¡±

    Some of those in the hall were immediately delighted after hearing these words. Among them, a young vampire seemed to have made up his mind. His face was full of determination as he took a step forward with a deep bow and said with a clear voice, ¡°Your Revered Majesty, can you spare some of your time to listen to my suggestion?¡±

    Lilith¡¯s brows broke into a frown. The grand duke beside her quickly said, ¡°This is Edward. He¡¯s awakened your bloodline and has been appointed by the council as the Holy Son of our sacred blooded race.¡± This almost meant that this young vampire was Lilith¡¯s primo. The council¡¯s conferment of this title was apparently a gesture of goodwill toward her, recognizing her as the most honored in the entire vampire race.

    Edward, who had been standing far below the throne, felt his face flush red upon hearing this. He was clearly proud and excited. He was never one to lose his cool under normal circumstances, but today was just too special.

    Lilith wasn¡¯t just the Perth n¡¯s primogenitor, but also the most supreme existence for the entire vampire race. In a thousand years, there was only one person who dared challenge her authority, and that was the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil. But even that legendary character never confronted the Queen of the Night directly.

    If Edward could obtain a single word of praise from Lilith, it would be a supreme honor for him. This was especially true since he had awakened her bloodline.

    However, Edward didn¡¯t hear Lilith¡¯s praise as he had hoped. On the contrary, the Queen of the Night snorted coldly, ¡°When did we ever need the council to get involved with our sacred-blood descendants?¡±

    All of those present belonged to different generations of Lilith¡¯s bloodline. Her ire immediately caused the vampires in the hall to tremble uncontrobly.

    But Lilith¡¯s gaze still fell upon Edward¡¯s face as she said indifferently, ¡°What suggestions do you have? Speak.¡±

    Edward tried hard to calm down his boiling blood energy and said as calmly as he could, ¡°This suggestion is also rted to Nighteye. Your Majesty is the second drop in the river of sacred blood, and in the recent millennium, only the ck Winged Monarch¡¯s blood remains unthreatened by you. In the entire vampire race, the blood flowing in my veins is the strongest and purest of your bloodline. Meanwhile, Nighteye possesses the Eye of Destruction, which proves that her bloodline is extremely pure. Hence, my idea is for me tobine with Nighteye. An offspring from this reunion might be integrated with our bloodline and be an exceptionally powerful descendant.¡±

    The Holy Son had been carrying out this n for a long time, but the Monroe n¡¯s power at the moment was also quite significant. Not only did Nighteye herself refuse resolutely, but the Sperger n had also interfered. As such, he hadn¡¯t yet seeded amidst the many obstructions.

    On the other hand, the Perth n was sufficiently old and powerful. Consequently, there were also many factions within it, and not every person hoped to see the Holy Son grow powerful. Presently, those from the other factions could hardly sit still after hearing the Holy Son describe his ns before Lilith.

 Volume 6 - 493: Blood Seal

    [V6C23 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Once Lilith gave the nod, the Monroe n who had lost the ck-Winged Monarch would have no way to defy the will of the Queen of the Night. They would surely deliver Nighteye obediently and, at most, the Perth n would only have to reimburse them ording to the rules.

    The Holy Son had just finished speaking when a duke asked in a deep voice, ¡°What if your offsprings don¡¯t awaken a powerful bloodline?¡±

    That was also a possibility. The vampires¡¯ bloodline inheritance had always been an unsolved riddle. Even some princes with sufficient strength to traverse the void would sometimes produce no experts among their offsprings. On the contrary, some bloodlines that were considered iparably thin and some families that had been passed down for countless generations could also awaken a powerful bloodline out of nowhere. Nighteye was the best example.

    The Holy Son was quite confident in the face of this duke¡¯s question. ¡°If there are no powerful offsprings in a hundred years, I¡¯ll absorb her bloodline directly. With Her Majesty Lilith¡¯s bloodline, I can certainly suppress the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s. At that time, I¡¯ll have gained her bloodline powers and take another step toward bing the next prince!

    Many dukes and Honored Marquises exchanged nces in the dark. Many people were visibly moved. The Holy Son¡¯s n was indeed possible. It was just that not everyone could walk such a path.

    Nighteye was an extremely pure primo of the ck-Winged Monarch. Everyone here, even grand dukes, would most likely have their blood cores destroyed by Andruil¡¯s origin blood should they absorb her bloodline¡ªtheir blood would turn to pus. Presently, only the Holy Son possessed the right and confidence to rob Nighteye of her bloodline power.

    At this point, no one voiced their dissent any longer. Everyone was waiting for Lilith¡¯s decision.

    Lilith said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re not looking to produce a powerful offspring but to rob her bloodline. You n to use it to trace the first drop of blood and finally ignite a blood seal. Am I wrong?¡±

    These words shocked everyone at the scene.

    The Queen of the Night had mentioned two keywords: the first drop of blood and blood seal. Any one of them would shake a vampire to the core. That was a deep-seated reverence from one¡¯s bloodline.

    The vampire race¡¯s first drop of blood was an old legend. The secrets around it, the true vampire primogenitor, had already disappeared within the deluge of time. The primogenitors people knew of, including Lilith herself, were only the second generation.

    Seeking the first drop of blood was the very reason for every vampire¡¯s existence and the direction of their cultivation. The closer one was to the source, the purer their bloodline and the greater their strength. Lilith, as the second drop of blood, possessed indescribable power.

    Meanwhile, each blood seal represented a second generation primogenitor, the origin of the ancient ns. However, some mysterious changes seemed to have taken ce in the Sacred River of Blood throughout the long years.

    Firstly, the thirteenth primogenitor, along with his entire n, had vanished from people¡¯s memories. Even Lilith, who was of the same position, couldn¡¯t tell what exactly had happened. Next, no one had been able to reignite the blood seals after they had faded away with their respective primogenitor¡¯s death!

    The inability to reignite blood seals was a matter more important than the missing thirteenth primogenitor¡ªthis signified that the river of sacred blood was gradually losing its power with the passage of time. Although the change was extremely slow, it might affect the entire vampire race¡¯s survival after tens of thousands of years, just like how those characters who once stood at the apex of the dark worldpletely vanished within the ancient history ns.

    From this, one could see that the Holy Son¡¯s ambitions were indeed lofty and unimaginably grand.

    Before Habsburg¡¯s coronation, igniting a blood seal was only a potential path and people might even ridicule his ambitions in secret. However, he had reignited the ming crown and announced to all of the sacred blooded descendants¡ªeven the entire world of darkness¡ªthat the river of blood was still powerful!

    Edward observed the queen respectfully with mes burning within his young eyes. Speaking of his intentions before Lilith was a gamble with everything on the line.

    If he seeded in gaining Lilith¡¯s support, the Perth n would surely produce a powerful prince. The most attractive prospect was that he might be able to rece the ck-Winged Monarch one day and ignite the blood seal of the flower of terror. This thought alone was enough to stifle everyone.

    Lilith didn¡¯t look at the Holy Son, and, instead, her gaze swept over all the high-ranking vampires in the hall. She then raised her right hand and slowly conjured a drop of blood on the tip of her finger.

    This was just an ordinary drop of blood with nothing out of the ordinary. However, after appearing in Lilith¡¯s hands, the ordinary became extraordinary. All vampires in the hall¡ªfrom the dukes and the Holy Son to the ranked pure-bloods¡ªgazed at the drop of blood in a bid to discover the profundities within.

    It possessed an active vitality characteristic of the vampire race. It was flushed with the hue of abundant life and possessed a wless, consummate form. No matter how one looked at it, it was a standard drop of vampire blood.

    However, the vitality within this drop of blood began to expand, and the energy contained within increased rapidly. It grew from a newborn to a knight, a viscount, a marquis, then to a duke and grand duke¡ªin the end, this drop of bloodpletely solidified and turned into a wless ruby. But contained within its small frame was a terrifying power sufficient to blow this entire castle into the air.

    It was a prince¡¯s blood!

    In Lilith¡¯s hand, this drop of blood hadpleted the entire journey from an ordinary vampire to a prince. It had also reached the endpoint of evolution.

    Even a grand duke had no clear idea about the path ahead. The primogenitors had perhaps already found a path since they possessed powers stronger than a prince. The few whom the darkness and sacred blood had favored the most throughout myriad years had probably found the path, too, allowing them to obtain the strength of a great dark monarch.

    But since antiquity, none of them would speak about the paths they had taken. Even the descendants they had personally embraced were unable to inherit this information through inheritance. There seemed to be a certain mysterious power obstructing them from divulging these secrets.

    Lilith had shown everyone this drop of blood, but everyone, including the Holy Son, wore baffled expressions. They were unclear as to hidden meaning within the Queen of the Night¡¯s actions.

    Lilith¡¯s reaction was fairly calm, neither furious nor disappointed. She simply put away the drop of blood and fell into deep thought.

    Momentster, she asked, ¡°What is Nighteye doing now?¡±

    The Holy Son wanted to reply but was forced to withdraw unwillingly as the duke in charge of intelligence red at him.

    Many vampires exchanged nces. Before the Queen of the Night, it was best to present the most objective truth obediently. It was pure madness to try and mislead her just because she had been in deep slumber for a long time.

    ¡°The council is currently recruiting experts. They¡¯re preparing to explore the bottomless vortex left behind at the center of the Evernight battlefield and plunder the ancient essence. Nighteye has signed up for this. The council attaches great importance to this matter, but they seem to be hesitant about the roster for the first batch. We also have an emissary there; I¡¯ll make immediate arrangements if you wish to see her. We might still make it.¡±

    Lilith¡¯s voice seemed to have gained an ineffable quality. She said slowly, ¡°Seize the ancient essence? She¡¯s nning to use this merit to buy her freedom from the council.¡±

    These words caused everyone¡¯s expressions to turn unnatural.

    Lilith''s expression was unchanged. In fact, even the dukes couldn¡¯t see her appearance clearly and had no idea if her expression had changed.

    ¡°Since that is the case, tell the council to promise her freedom if she sessfully retrieves the ancient essence. Tell them that it is my will.¡±

    The Holy Son¡¯s expression shifted drastically after hearing Lilith¡¯s words, but there was nothing he could do. No one could question the queen once she had made a decision.

    The duke in charge of intelligence was fairly loyal to his post. He added, ¡°There¡¯s another small matter that might perhaps interest you. A while ago, the Sperger n¡¯s primo was also seeking Nighteye¡¯s hand in marriage.¡±

    Lilith replied without any hesitation, ¡°The Young Habsburg. He indeed possesses the power to express his will.¡±

    The duke immediately bowed without further words. People from the Holy Son¡¯s party were all wearing helpless expressions.

    The Queen of the Night¡¯s stance and how she had addressed Prince Habsburg went to show that she had ced the other party at a position where they could talk on the same level. This also meant that she recognized his grasp of the authority formerly belonging to the second-generation progenitor Prince Samael. At this point, the higher echelons on the Perth n were very clear on how they should treat that young prince from now on.

    The geographical change on Evernight Continent brought about by that shocking battle gradually settled down. The bottomless vortex that was several hundred kilometers wide also revealed different sceneries.

    The ¡°prismatic turbulence¡± was gradually weakening. The council and the empire had both dispatched people to investigate and discovered that it was a giant, marine-trench-like valley below. It was thousands of kilometers deep, probably due to the spatial distortion within the area.

    The dense darkness of the vortex had lessened a fair bit, vaguely exposing the de-like tips of the stone forest below.

    In recent days, the council and the empire had mostly kept to their own side and minded their own business. They had reached a subtle state of bnce.

    Nighteye stood at the edge of a cliff as she gazed at the rolling clouds, seemingly thinking about something. At this moment, a vampire count arrived in a hurry. ¡°Your Majesty, I have some news.¡±

    ¡°Good news or bad news?¡± Nighteye asked.

    That Monroe count hesitated for a bit before saying, ¡°Bad news.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve just received news that Viscount Aaron has fallen in battle. I¡¯m sorry, Your Majesty.¡±

    Nighteye turned around like the wind. ¡°What did you say? Aaron? Which Viscount Aaron?¡±

    ¡°Your brother, Second-Rank Viscount Aaron.¡±

    These words snuffed out Nighteye¡¯sst hopes. She gradually calmed down and asked, ¡°Who killed him? Do you have clues?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. This matter was of great importance, so we used a scene recall ability. These are fragments of the scene Viscount Aaron saw before his death.¡±

    The vampire count produced a red ruby and activated it by injecting blood energy. Soon afterward, the stone started to project a series of images.

 Volume 6 - 494: As Strong as a Lie

    [V6C24 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The scene wasn¡¯t very clear and was frequently warped. However, one could see that Aaron was standing before the throne. He was waving his hands about like a deranged man and shouting at the top of his lungs, ¡°Capture him and bring him before me.¡±

    ¡°No need. Here I am.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure soon appeared as he entered the great hall, drew East Peak, and shed at Aaron from afar!

    The scene ended abruptly at this point.

    Nighteye made no movement and continued staring at the lightless ruby in a daze. There was neither anger nor sadness on her face¡ªher expression was seemingly frozen.

    ¡°Your Majesty?¡± the shocked count called out cautiously.

    Nighteye came to only after a while. ¡°Have you confirmed the authenticity of the image? What happened afterward?¡±

    ¡°My apologies, Your Majesty, we were only able to recall the images up to this point. However, we¡¯ve investigated the scene and Viscount Aaron¡¯s body. The oue is indeed that, what you just saw is the truth.¡±

    Nighteye regained her calm. ¡°That means it is indeed this person who killed Aaron?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and we¡¯ve also confirmed his identity. His name is Qianye. He originally held office at the expeditionary army and is the city lord of ckflow City. It would seem he joined the Zhao n during the bloody battle, or, at the very least, he¡¯s working together with them.¡± At the mention of ckflow City, the count¡¯s expression became somewhat unnatural.

    For the dark race warriors who had taken part in the recent battles on Evernight, ckflow City had be a fairly inauspicious name. First, Wei Bainian had forced the dark race army to change routes during the war for the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure. Later on, Song Zining had routed the dark race alliance army alone under the Iron Curtain. Furthermore, people discovered that one of the two rising stars of the empire rampaging through the Iron Curtain was actually also from ckflow City.

    ¡°Qianye,¡± Nighteye muttered softly.

    The count¡¯s expression was one of worry. He was clear how close Aaron and Nighteye were. It could be said that Aaron¡¯s position in the Monroe n was solely due to Nighteye¡¯s unconditional support. Now that Aaron had been killed all of a sudden¡ªnot to mention the pressure Nighteye and the Monroe n had been suffering from all sides¡ªhe was worried that this princess would resort to something foolish.

    He persuaded indirectly, ¡°Your Majesty, this person cannot be underestimated at all. Especially under the Iron Curtain, he might be even more dangerous than Zhao Jundu. There¡¯s no hurry to seek revenge. We will surely be able to make him repay with blood after the Iron curtain disperses.¡±

    Nighteye slowly closed her eyes. ¡°I understand.¡±

    The count¡¯s mood didn¡¯t quite rx. During the past month, Qianye had used the corpses of countless dark race geniuses to prove just how terrifying he was. The Monroe n¡¯s forces deployed to that castle weren¡¯t weak at all, and they also had the terrain advantage. In the end, Qianye had called upon them and wiped them all out. Only the guardian third-rank count managed to escape.

    At this point in the bloody battle, the dark race had long since studied Qianye and Zhao Jundu. Qianye¡¯s level was inferior to Zhao Jundu, and hisbat techniques weren¡¯t as imprable, either. However, the might of his attacks were extremely powerful, a person who walked the path ofplete head-on dominance. There was really no way to deal with this kind of power under the Iron Curtain. Even dark race experts who exceeded the rank-limit could hardly endure a frontal assault.

    As such, Qianye and Zhao Jundu had their own strong points. Anyone below the level of count would surely die after encountering Zhao Jundu. Even escape would be difficult without a secret art. Meanwhile, experts above the count level weren¡¯t willing to bump into Qianye, either, because his strength was simply too depressing to the beholder.

    Nighteye was the most powerful genius of the Monroe n¡¯s current generation. Her developments within the few years of her return made all her elders proud. She was also the bargaining chip for an extremely important deal, so the Monroe n wasn¡¯t willing to see her injured in a sh with Qianye. Moreover, ckflow City was like a cursed ce to the dark races. Even the count himself didn¡¯t want to approach that city.

    Nighteye sighed lightly. ¡°You may withdraw if there¡¯s nothing else to report.¡±

    Dozens of dark race experts were standing silently some distance behind her. At this moment, all of them approached after seeing her gesture. There were vampires among them and also members of other races. Only a couple of them wore the Monroe n¡¯s insignia on their robes, while the rest were direct subordinates of the Evernight Council.

    The count standing in front of Nighteye said anxiously, ¡°Your Majesty, won¡¯t you reconsider? The council isn¡¯t forcing you to enter. The situation inside the bottomless vortex is unclear and iparably dangerous. With your status, there¡¯s no need to take this risk at all. Let those of lowly blood go. No matter who obtains the ancient essence, you¡¯ll have a chance to receive it in the end. At the very least, they can scout the road ahead.¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t reply and only shook her head. Then, she jumped down and vanished into the swirling ck mist.

    Her dark race followers also jumped down. Thest member to enter with a datura flower insignia on his cor said softly as he passed by, ¡°This time, it¡¯s only a scouting mission. We¡¯ll return after passing through the prismatic turbulence. If the n wants to dissuade Her Majesty, they have one more chance.¡±

    The count could only smile wryly at this point as he thought about which elders he should call over.

    ckflow City was just as before, and the atmosphere of jubtion hadn¡¯t been reduced by much. The shocking waves thousands of kilometers away seemed to have strengthened the people¡¯s will to enjoy the present. The Iron Curtain¡¯s reappearance signified that they might not be able to live until the sun rose each passing day. What then was more important than living life to its fullest?

    Qianye stood atop the Dark me sentry tower, gazing down at the city beneath his feet. After witnessing the great battle that had left the continent with a huge scar, he came to a deeper understanding of how frail and insignificant most living beings were. The joy andughter before his eyes might turn into a sea of mes and ashes at the very next moment, just like that dark race city engulfed by earthen mes.

    The drill grounds were somewhat empty since Dark me soldiers had long sincepleted their daytime training. The squad left behind was in charge of weapon experiments, but the sounds they were producing made it seem as though an entire division was practicing.

    On the grounds, a small figure was running, leaping, ducking, and rolling. However, these dazzling movements didn¡¯t affect her shooting at all. Bullets flew out from every possible angle andnded on the targets around her¡ªnone of them missed.

    A group of technicians and craftsmen were busy. Among them, demonkin Percy¡¯s appearance was the most eye-catching. Nangong Xiaoniao was also among them. Her long ponytail would fly behind her as she ran around amidst the arrays and equipment, outlining a graceful arc through the air.

    The rumbling of guns and explosions came to a sudden stop as resounding apuse rang out from the field. All the craftsmen and warriors were cheering. Apparently, they had achieved an important breakthrough with the experiment from just now.

    Nangong Xiaoniao rushed into the field and toward the Highbeard girl, ck Moon. The two then hugged each other while cheering excitedly.

    Qianye¡¯s mood was exceptionally calm as he watched everything happening before him.

    At this moment, he also saw his own world of consciousness. The tides of the Combatant Form were raging below, surging bravely forward without rest, while the misty clouds slowly revolved along an inexplicably profound route in the sanguineous skies above. Daybreak and Evernight, the two extremes of this world were revolving as though they had been in the same state for countless years, magnificent and tranquil, one existing alongside the other.

    Something stirred within Qianye¡¯s heart. At this moment, he seemed to be hearing the voice of the world. The long, ancient voice seemingly echoed right beside his ear¡ªcryptic and profound, yet iparably familiar at the same time.

    He turned around to find Song Zining climbing up the stairs.

    This Song Seventh Young Master¡¯s posture had grown increasingly transcendent after his sessful cultivation of the Heaven¡¯s Mirror. Among the aristocratic family squads stationed within the city, there was a fair number of nobledies with both status and ability who favored him greatly. Whether it was his character or temperament, they found him perfect and simply couldn¡¯t find any fault at all. Even his separation from the Song n had be a merit.

    Song Zining had long since experienced a period of building a business from the ground up. This proved that he had the ability to establish a family estate of his own. If he were still in the Song n, he would¡¯ve be a popr candidate to inherit the n lord position, then it would be impossible for these nobledies to reach him. His present state was the best.

    Song Zining would act like a pristine young master free of mortal attachments in front of people while continuing to ¡°traverse worldly affairs and polish his ss heart¡± in private.

    Qianye had questioned him about this matter. He especially disapproved of him wasting so much time on his appearance and apparel. However, Song Zining replied that this was an era where people were judged by strength, but even more so by face. Hence, external appearances were iparably important. He said that if one day, he paid no more attention to fashion, then it would mean his heart was more or less dead.

    Qianye had no idea how to argue against Song Zining¡¯s preposterous arguments. He simply epted everything and let thetter do as he pleased.

    Song Zining arrived as though he were walking on air; even his gait seemed to be afloat. He arrived before Qianye in the blink of an eye.

    ¡°Any news?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°The great changes a couple of days ago were indeed caused by a battle between Sky Demon and the experts of the two factions. The Evernight side has awakened the Queen of the Night, Lilith, and sent two more great monarchs into battle. On the empire¡¯s side, the leader of the Heavenly Monarchs, the Pointer Monarch, and Marshal Zhang Boqian also participated. The battle involved an area tens of thousands of kilometers wide. Had it not ended with extreme swiftness, the entirety of Evernight Continent might be in danger.¡±

    At this point, even someone as calm as Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath, unable to disguise the intense fascination in his eyes.

    Qianye was greatly astonished after hearing the Queen of the Night¡¯s name. Lilith wasn¡¯t just an ordinary great monarch. She had been the number one expert among the vampires for ten thousand years, so much so that some dark race members believed she was the number one character in the world of darkness. Even the proud and mysterious demonkin maintained a level of respect for her. Now that the Evernight Council had even awakened such a character, it would seem they were intent on winning.

    ¡°Just what is it that the Sky Demon seeks?¡± Qianye had personally witnessed that star being shattered and couldn¡¯t help but feel curious.

 Volume 6 - 495: The Evernight Council

    [V6C25 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Song Zining replied, ¡°It¡¯s the ancient essence of the void colossus, Chaos, a virtually immortal being capable of living for millions of years. One can imagine how terrifying of a force it is.

    ¡°As for what a chaos void colossus is, even the Evernight Faction has very little records, to speak nothing of the empire¡¯s meager knowledge. But other void chaos beast remains have been excavated before on certain continents, and every single one of them is an extremely powerful resource. For cultivators above the divine champion level, it is a path to heaven. In terms of armaments, it is required as a raw material for void forts, heavenly me battleships, weapons above grade ten, and even grand magnums.¡±

    Their current channel of information was the intelligence dispatched from the expeditionary army, information brokers like Lone Ghost, and Song Zining¡¯s contacts among the nobility. They were able to scratch the surface at most. But just these fragments were enough for one to understand why the bloody battle had led up to this great final battle, even surpassing the war for the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure.

    Qianye finally understood why the two factions were looking to seize this object at all costs.

    The Evernight side had even awakened the Queen of the Night. There was no need to talk about how steep a price they had paid. On the empire side, the Pointer Monarch was recognized as the current leader of the Heavenly Monarchs. The day he became a heavenly monarch, the man pointed toward the stars hanging in the southern sky. ¡°To the Southern Dipper in the sky, the Pointer doth ask the way.¡± This became a sign of the empire¡¯s prosperity at the time and also gave him the title, ¡°Pointer Monarch.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch was one who had gone through three dynasties, but he hadn¡¯t appeared in public eyes for over three decades. Some say he had been cultivating an earth-shattering art in istion, while others im that he had been following the 23rd generation emperor¡¯s footsteps toward the summit of this world. Throughout the many years, the only thing people could ascertain was the fact that he hadn¡¯t yet fallen. The price to have him make an appearance probably wasn¡¯t too far off from the dark race¡¯s.

    Even with such a powerful lineup and the two factions working together, they weren¡¯t able to gain the upper hand. They only managed to break the void colossus essence apart, causing it to shoot out in all directions. Most of the fragments fell into Sky Demon¡¯s hands, while the dark races and the empire gained some each. From this, it was obvious just how powerful Sky Demon was. Now that the Iron Curtain had descended once again, it was clear that Sky Demon wasn¡¯t about to give up and was still intent on collecting all of the essence fragments.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Then I guess the uing battles aren¡¯t for people of our level.¡±

    Song Zining said after a moment of hesitation, ¡°I received some secret information. The geography of the continent was transformed after the great battle, and the ancient essence fragment fell into a bottomless abyss. The empire and the Evernight Council will send people in to investigate. Due to the interference of the void turbulence, all who enter will have their origin power dispersed. It¡¯s not urate to say all of one¡¯s origin power because the dispersal is being measured by standard units. As such, the empire is looking to dispatch experts withbat strength exceeding their level.¡±

    Qianye had a premonition about the words that would follow. As expected, Song Zining continued while looking at him, ¡°Zhao Jundu is among them.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t say anything. He gazed toward therge drill ground where the smiths were already dissembling their equipment. Everyone was still immersed in the jubtion of the sessful experiment.

    Song Zining looked over, and his gaze paused on Nangong Xiaoniao. ¡°Oh, right. There¡¯s also someone else you may know in that group, Xu Lang.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s gaze went nk for a moment. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn¡¯t recall who it was.

    ¡°The first senior brother from our batch to graduate from Yellow Springs. Heh, heh,¡± Song Zining¡¯sughter was frosty, ¡°he currently holds a position in Red Scorpion as a brigadier general of the Stinger Camp, a fairly dazzling genius. You¡¯re probably more familiar with the internal structure of the Red Scorpions, so you can probably guess his status and strength.¡±

    Qianye nced back at Song Zining in surprise. The names Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion had both popped up here, and he might even be a former ssmate. Various fragmented names from Yellow Springs emerged in his mind. It seemed as though a corner of his concealed past was about to be revealed under the sun.

    Qianye tried hard to bring his emotions under control and pushed the heavy name back into the depths of his memories. He listened attentively about how Xu Lang had appeared in ckflow for a short while and nodded. It would seem that this senior brother was somehow rted to the Nangong family. Meanwhile, Xu Lang was also a present Red-Scorpion Officer¡ªcould there be a rtionship between him and Nangong Xiaoniao?

    ¡°Zining, are there any other Nangong families apart from the Yishui Nangong?¡±

    Song Zining pondered for a while. ¡°Might be some of the more humble families. Why?¡± He suddenly recalled a past matter. ¡°You asked about ady surnamed Nangongst time. What was her name?¡±

    ¡°Nangong Yuqing,¡± Qinaye replied, ¡°someone asked me to find her or her descendants. I¡¯ve inquired through all avable channels, but still haven¡¯t managed to find anything. Perhaps it¡¯s difficult for outsiders to find out the interior matters of the aristocracy.¡±

    Song Zining replied after some thought, ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll take note of this matter.¡±

    Qianye nodded and then fell silent once more. Song Zining said after a while, ¡°An area five hundred kilometers around the bottomless vortex has been locked down. If you want to go there, it¡¯s best you visit the Zhao n base first. Everything is more convenient with their name.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t answer for quite some time. Later, he said tartly, ¡°Let¡¯s just wait for more information from the imperial military.¡±

    At present, Sky Demon clearly hadn¡¯t given up on the remaining essence fragments, and the council didn¡¯t seem like it would let things be either. That meant the empire was sure to interfere. It was just a matter of what price they were willing to pay. Members of the major ns and elite corps had already entered, so they would surely recruit outside help if they wanted to expand the scale of this operation. With ckflow City¡¯s position in the expeditionary army, they would surely be in the first batch to receive information, if not the very first.

    The wind and clouds were surging on Evernight Continent, and a certain ancient upper continent wasn¡¯t so calm, too.

    Today was an important day for the Evernight Council.

    The most majestic building at the center of the council¡ªa thousand meter-tall pce hall¡ªslowly opened its doors. These doors were two hundred and seventy meters tall but had no machines driving them. It took two honored marquises behind each door pushing with all their strength for them to slowly open.

    The Eternal Hall was where the entire council convened, but its members would usually enter from the side entrance under normal circumstances. Only extremely important ceremonies or the arrival of an extremely important character would warrant the opening of its main doors. They had remained closed for almost a hundred years now.

    The night sky above the great hall was eternal and unchanging. It was said that the seven giants who had formed the council worked together to modify the heaven and earth, causing the sky to be an eternal night.

    Presently, only four of the seven founding magnates remained, yet the sky above the Eternal Hall was still unchanging. In the world of Evernight, the hall and itsnd were among the greatest miracles.

    A bolt of blood-colored lightning descended through the night sky. It fell from the firmament and all the way down to the earth, forming a great sanguineous scar in the air. The number of lightning bolts grew exponentially and, very soon, formed a forest of blood-red lightning within a hundred-meter radius.

    The countless bolts of dense lightning were akin to a living creature. They condensed and encircled one another to form the outline of a spatial door. A bloody hue fluctuated within as a woman with ck hair and ck skirt walked out.

    All beings seemingly missed a heartbeat the moment she appeared in this world. This was an indescribable woman¡ªeven if one were standing before her, it would be hard for him to say whether he had seen her or not.

    Almost no one could remember her appearance, or even say whether she was beautiful or ugly. She was clearly there, but looking at her felt like staring into empty space. However, after closing one¡¯s eye, her image would remain imprinted deep in one''s soul, never to be forgotten again.

    Thisdy was the only one who had left no memory of her appearance in this world, not even a painting. Even major characters with great powers only remembered her flowing ck hair and that evesting ck skirt.

    She was the Queen of the Night, Lilith.

    Several steps made of blood appeared before her, paving a path toward the doors of the Eternal Hall.

    Lilith went down step by step, her every stride seemingly treading upon the heartbeats of all creation. The world waspletely silent for evesting silence was the highest form of respect for the queen.

    She arrived before the doors to the Eternal Hall and gazed quietly above the door. The seven totems symbols there formed a circle, each representing an ancient founding n of the Evernight Council.

    It was just that the n behind one of those totems had vanished forever and two more were already extremely weak, barely struggling to survive on a remote continent. The peerless honor of founding the Evernight Council had long since left them and would likely never return.

    She sighed softly after quite a while and proceeded to enter the Eternal Hall.

    The hall itself was a thousand meters tall with the roof measuring over eight hundred meters from the floor at its tallest point. Presently, there were only a couple hundred seats in this hall capable of amodating tens of thousands of people. Naturally, it looked fairly empty.

    The seats in the hall were all floating in the air. There were over two hundred seats at the lowest level belonging to the ordinary members of the council. On the next level positioned far away from one another in a circle were another 50 seats¡ªthe seats of the senior council members.

    There were less than ten seats above them. These seats were different from the lower ones in that there was a tform under each of them several square meters wide, adding to their grandeur. The Evernight Council Lord and the other big shots were seated here. The council lord¡¯s seat only had a bigger tformpared to the others.

    But that wasn¡¯t the highest level just yet. There were seven mountain peaks above them with corresponding totem insignias carved on them. These seven mountains represented the sevenrge founding ns, but at present, there were only four with seats¡ªthe other three summits werepletely empty.

    Not all council seats were full. In truth, only half of them were upied, and some of the upants on the highest level weren¡¯t true bodies but projections instead.

    All council members stood up when Lilith entered the Eternal Hall. They ced their hands on the chest and lowered their heads in a gesture of respect.

    Without any special movements, she rose into the air and arrived before a throne on one of the seven peaks. Her gaze swept through the entire hall before she slowly took her seat.

 Volume 6 - 496: Doubts of Yesteryear

    [V6C26 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Among the four peaks with seats on them, only two were upied. The figures were all projections¡ªtheir actual bodies weren¡¯t there, but the images looked no different than their corporeal forms. Lilith had also attended the council via projection while she was in hibernation, an indication that she still existed.

    These people were existences on the same level as Lilith, but they all stood halfway up to greet her.

    This movement wasn¡¯t submission but an expression of gratitude. They were thankful for Lilith¡¯s awakening and her obstruction of Sky Demon. This allowed the Evernight Faction to obtain ten odd ancient essence fragments. In the distant future, these items would produce nearly ten duke-level experts or the same number of strategic armaments.

    The council members all sat down some time after Lilith had taken her seat. This session of the Evernight Council thus began.

    Among the seven mountain peaks, four of them corresponded to the vampire, demonkin, arachne, and werewolf races¡ªthe present day four major races. However, the werewolf seat was currently empty. This wasn¡¯t because the werewolves were absent, but because there was no monarch among them capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Lilith.

    The council discussionsmenced.

    First up was the aftermath on Evernight Continent. The bottomless vortex left behind from the battle had been named ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡±, and after several investigations, they had confirmed that this was the void colossus¡¯ second burial ground. Beyond the prismatic turbulence was a boundless stretch of stone forests and ravines leading toward an unknown ce.

    The second piece of information was rted to Imperial Marshal Lin Xitang. Both he and Evernight Council Prophet Weber had performed calctions regarding the ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± but gained nothing from it. However, the council received secret intelligence that Lin Xitang had returned to the empire in secret, reportedly due to the rpse of an old injury.

    This news immediately incited heated debates. Many believed Lin Xitang was trying to trick them and that the empire had discovered something.

    Follow-up reports from within the Great Qin Empire were able to prove this statement. Lin Xitang¡¯s movements were now unclear, but there were unusual movements at the imperial capital. First, the 108 diviners raised by the empire were summoned to the imperial capital, then the royal guard began gathering arge number of death row prisoners from the surrounding provinces.

    This was supposedly in preparation for the empire¡¯s triennial ceremony, but those with discerning eyes could see that this was a prelude to the empire¡¯s highest level sacrificial prophecy.

    After a session of intense discussions, the council decided to have Prophet Weber continue his predictions while also mobilizing several experts proficient in prophetic arts to work together toward a deduction of the Giant¡¯s Repose.

    The Queen of the Night sat atop her high throne. Her eyes were a profound color of blood akin to a boundless sanguine ocean. She only remained silent because all the discussions going on below, even the possibility of a total-war, werepletely insignificant to her and not even worth her attention.

    Only when the council members began discussing the distribution of the ancient essence fragments did Lilith speak, ¡°I require two pieces.¡±

    The Queen of the Night¡¯s sudden words plunged the entire council hall into silence. The council speaker stood up to address the queen and said, ¡°It¡¯ll be as you say.¡±

    With that, he waved his hand and struck out two pieces of ancient essence fragments from the discussion list¡ªthey were now considered inexistent. The discussion then continued for the distribution of the remainder among the various ns.

    Every ancient essence fragment signified the birth of a duke-level expert, a power capable of founding a medium-scaled n; even those powerhouses couldn¡¯t ignore such a massive profit. As the debates grew more and more intense, the undertable deals also increased in frequency.

    Lilith ignored everything going on before her. Her will had long since passed through the distant space and appeared in the depths of Evernight Continent, within an ancient vampire castle.

    Habsburg was seated in a rather spacious chair, facing the Evernight Continent outside of his french window. His expression moved slightly as he stood up with due elegance and bowed toward a corner of the study. ¡°Wee, Your Majesty.¡±

    The figure of a dark-haired woman in dark robes was condensed out of thin air. She raised her hand in equal reciprocation. Although it was just a projected image that had appeared here, it seemed as though a certain ceremony had just beenpleted¡ªone signifying a second-generation primogenitor¡¯s approval and recognition.

    This meeting was fairly short. With their strengths, there was naturally no existence capable of obtaining the slightest information on them.

    When Countess Waverly knocked and entered, Habsburg was still in his seat, facing the vastnds of Evernight Continent. It was as though that revered guest just now had never appeared before. He didn¡¯t look back, but the smiling countess walked over to the young prince with brisk steps. The rustling of her skirt produced beautiful sounds as her arms reached out to embrace Habsburg¡¯s shoulders.

    Countess Waverly sported golden-brown hair and a pair of pure, jade-like eyes. Even among the entire vampire race, she was a famed beauty.

    ¡°My beloved highness, have you finally decided to return to Twilight Continent tomorrow? That¡¯s wonderful. This Evernight countryside is really too boring!¡± The countess¡¯ voice was just as lively as her temperament and as melodious as the nightingales of the whispering woods.

    Habsburg didn¡¯t refuse her intimate actions and only asked, ¡°Any news?¡±

    ¡°The Evernight Council is holding a general assembly, and I happen to know one of their topics of discussion.¡± At this point, Countess Waverly said with some regret, ¡°If Your Highness had returned to the upper continent two days ago, you might have even made it in time for the meeting. Your position this time is enough to enter the inner circle!¡± The Countess¡¯ eyes sparkled brightly. It was as though she had seen delicious blood or beautiful jewels.

    The inner circle of the council was a position every dark race member looked up to, the seat of those council powerhouses. All of them possessed might above the level of a prince and were the true core executives of the council. Each and every one of their words, gestures, and decisions could cause great waves in the world of Evernight.

    Prince Habsburg, after his coronation, naturally possessed the right to take a seat among them. This wasn¡¯t just a boost to the Sperger n¡¯s status; it would likely affect the vampire race¡¯s right to speak in the world of darkness.

    Habsburg¡¯s response was fairly calm, ¡°A topic? What new topic can there be apart from the battle against Sky Demon?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to the prophecy of Giant¡¯s Repose. Both the council¡¯s Master Weber and the empire¡¯s Marshal have failed. It has been said that Lin Xitang was even forced to return to the empire because of an old wound acting up.¡± Countess Waverly chuckled while covering her mouth. ¡°Everyone¡¯s guessing whether this matter is true or if the humans are up to certain schemes, whether the council will fight or continue the truce.¡±

    A knock was heard from the study doors at this moment as a capable-looking virtuous count walked in. He had been Habsburg¡¯s close attendant for nearly a hundred years. Although his rank wasn¡¯t too high, he was an expert in handling various matters and was thus ced in an important position.

    After entering, he said to Habsburg, ¡°This piece of news is indeed true. Marshal Lin Xitang has indeed returned to the empire. He didn¡¯t go to the Northern Legion and instead headed for the imperial capital.¡±

    Habsburgughed unexpectedly. ¡°The demonkin have always been proud of their prophetic techniques and won¡¯t be willing to lose to a human. Those old fellows from the council probably decided to go all out in deducing the secrets of Giant¡¯s Repose, right?¡±

    A bewildered Countess Waverly blinked her jadeite eyes. Habsburg¡¯s attitude was so undisguised that anyone could see the schadenfreude in his demeanor. She asked curiously, ¡°Beloved Highness, could it be that you think this is the empire¡¯s scheme? Are they nning to waste the council¡¯s prophetic powers?¡±

    Her delicate arms had been caressing Habsburg''s chest and arms this whole time. The young prince suddenly let out a meaningfulugh and reached out to press the countess¡¯ hands. This simple movement caused the countess to bepletely immobile. Her beautiful eyes were suffused with puzzlement and terror¡ªeven her ability to speak had been robbed at this moment.

    Habsburg said calmly, ¡°How did you leak the news of my ascension to princehood?¡±

    Countess Waverly¡¯s eyes erupted with extreme rm. She wanted to turn her gaze toward Virtuous Count Lennard behind her, but she couldn¡¯t move her head in the slightest. Habsburg had actually advanced to the level of prince since before the bloody battle, but he had kept it under the wraps. Only the people closest to him knew of it¡ªone was his mistress, Countess Waverly, while the other was his attendant, Lennard.

    Habsburg seemed to have no intention of giving her any chance to exin. ¡°No need to look at Lennard. He¡¯s my descendant.¡±

    The countess finally lost all hope. Everyone knew Habsburg only had pure-blooded progeny and no origin blood descendants. That was because it took 80 to 100 years to condense a drop of duke-level origin blood. Habsburg was fairly young and also in his growing phase. It was understandable why he hadn¡¯t wasted any origin blood to produce a descendant.

    Who would¡¯ve thought his strength would be so terrifyingly formidable? He actually possessed a descendant close to reaching the marquis rank and was still able to be a crowned prince before reaching middle age.

    The countess¡¯ soft bodyy across Habsburg¡¯s thighs just as she had done so countless times in the past. But, at this moment, there was a blob of bloody radiance floating in the air above. At the same time, there were countless strands of blood being drawn out from her back and flowing continuously into the light. Her jade-like eyes werepletely filled with dread and madness.

    Having one¡¯s blood energy drained alive was the slowest and cruelest sentence for a vampire.

    Lennard asked, ¡°Was she working for the council?¡±

    Habsburg said dismissively, ¡°Quite likely. Her body has been tampered with, so I can¡¯t glean much from her memories. But that¡¯s not a big problem, either. Our sacred-blooded race only has a handful of old enemies.¡±

    ¡°But you were forced to be crowned earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°The timing couldn¡¯t have been better. It just so happened that Lilith had awoken from her slumber, and I possessed the right to talk to her.¡± Habsburg smiled. ¡°In truth, I must thank the council. I wouldn¡¯t have had this opportunity if they hadn¡¯t paid such a colossal price.¡±

    Lennard opened up the file in his hand. ¡°I¡¯ve already arranged for the re-investigation of the Lost Paradise No. 3 Laboratory.¡±

    Habsburg replied, ¡°Keep an eye on this matter personally.¡± He hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°There¡¯s something not quite right about Lin Xitang¡¯s reaction when I mentioned this matter to him. Perhaps we were fooled back then and someone else had borrowed the empire¡¯s hand to cause damage. This also means that the things we¡¯ve hidden in the Evernight Council¡¯sboratory have been perceived.¡±

    Lennard nodded with a solemn expression.

    Habsburg stood up and allowed Countess Waverly¡¯s lifeless body to slide down to the floor. The blood energy in the air turned into a ruby-like blood crystal the size of a fist. That was a count-grade vampire¡¯splete essence. With a casual wave of his hand, the crystal flew into Lennard¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°What will Lin Xitang¡¯s expression be like if he discovers that we never found his son¡¯s body when we cleaned up the battlefield back then?¡± Habsburg had personally gone over back then after the battle at that small town had ended. He remembered clearly that the name tag which belonged to Lin Qianye was left hanging on what remained of a young man¡¯s hand.

    Few of the soldiers¡¯ bodies were left intact after that cruel battle. The imperial identity tags were fairly difficult to destroy even with origin mes or water. After every battle, regardless of victory or defeat, the empire would always request the other side to return these name tags so that the fallen soldiers could receive a proper burial. This was a convention.

    The dark races hadplicated feelings toward the race they had raised as livestock for a thousand years. However, they still learned to respect human traditions as the empire gradually became stronger.

 Volume 6 - 497: Ascension Stairway

    [V6C27 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The winds of change blew across Evernight Continent in the days that followed.

    The short-lived bnce around ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± was thoroughly shattered as the Evernight Council issued a mobilization notice. The great dark race army marched toward the surrounding regions and started driving away the humans. Naturally, the empire wouldn¡¯t sit still¡ªtroops were transferred from the surrounding areas as numerous battles broke out against the dark race alliance army. After a number of victories and defeats on both sides, the situation gradually fell into a stalemate.

    The experts from each side fought continuously within a thousand-kilometer area, some seeking to drive the enemy away, while others looking to impede them. The two factions secretly dispatched small elite squads into the Giant¡¯s Repose while, at the same time, trying to kill the other faction¡¯s units.

    Meanwhile, Sky Demon was apparently unwilling to let go of thest fragments of ancient essence. It came back even stronger while the two factions were locked in battle and covered the ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± with the Iron Curtain. At the same time, it released avatars andunched attacks against experts from both sides. In the end, it became a melee between three parties.

    It was at this time that something happened at the Evernight Council. The attempted prophecy they had actuated with great momentum encountered a severe setback. It turned out that the power below the ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± capable of dispersing the experts¡¯ origin power wasn¡¯t a wind tunnel at all¡ªit was actually the chaos void colossus¡¯ remnant will!

    That tremendous existence had fallen millions of years ago, however, it not only formed an immortal essence, but even its will remained perpetual and unextinguished. The master prophets of Evernight all suffered badly aftering into contact with the void colossus¡¯ will. Grandmaster Weber was grievously injured and would require decades to recover. Nearly half of the experts were directly killed by the bacsh, while the remainder were also greatly harmed.

    The Evernight faction¡¯s scrying power had suffered a heavy blow, allowing the empire to quickly overtake them. This wasn¡¯t a trivial matter because it meant that, in futureprehensive operations, the empire could easily interfere with the dark faction¡¯s scrying. Meanwhile, thetter would need to pay a higher price in order to interfere with the empire¡¯s.

    But the Evernight Council wasn¡¯tpletely without gains.

    They obtained two important pieces of information. The first was that the prismatic turbulence above Giant¡¯s Repose was indeed of some other origin. There was a passage in the unknown depths of the stone forest and valleys. Although the world beyond this channel was dangerous, it might not necessarily be lethal. The second was that the effects of the void colossus¡¯ will on experts indeed followed the wind tunnel¡¯s principles. It would form a suppression on experts ording to their standard rank. This meant that high-ranking experts had a greater chance of dying, while those whose ranks were too low would bepletely devoured by the colossus¡¯ will.

    The Evernight Council immediately fell into a dilemma. The ancient essence was indeed a desirablemodity, but there was no telling what kind of dangerousnd awaited them beyond the channel. They might have to recalcte their losses and gains should the expedition lose too great a number of high-ranking experts.

    The results of this calction quickly spread among the higher echelons of the Evernight world, and naturally, also to the empire¡¯s side. There was no shortage of people in the Evernight Faction looking to make deals with the empire.

    At the same time, countless eyes from the Evernight side were on the empire¡¯s movements. At this point, some were already suspecting whether Lin Xitang¡¯s secret return to the empire was a scheme to damage Evernight¡¯s scrying powers.

    However, some abnormal clues had also surfaced on the empire¡¯s side. The 108 diviners all entered the Heaven¡¯s Mystery Pavilion after arriving at the imperial capital, never to appear again. Afterward, all kinds of rare birds, ferocious beasts, and the transferred death row prisoners were sent into the pavilion. None of them returned.

    The Heaven¡¯s Mystery Pavilion, located on the mountain behind the imperial capital, was like a gigantic beast with its bloody maw opened wide. It devoured all flesh and life without rest.

    The Heaven¡¯s Mystery Pavilion opened its doors only after seven days. A inly dressed Lin Xitang walked out with a jade scroll in his hand and passed it to an inner attendant who had been standing in wait for a full seven days.

    That inner attendant was old beyond recognition. His eyelids were dropping down as though he would fall asleep at any given moment. But when he saw Lin Xitang, a spiritual gleam shed through this eyes, seemingly lighting up the entire pavilion for a split second.

    Seeing Lin Xitang pass the jade scroll to him, the old attendant patted away the dust on his body. He then stretched out a pair of aged, spot-covered hands and received the item with great caution. ¡°How should I handle it?¡±

    Lin Xitang appearedpletely transcendent at this moment. Even his voice was ephemeral as though it had fluttered down from the clouds. ¡°Merely present it to His Majesty without fail.¡±

    The attendant replied, ¡°Rest assured, Marshal Lin, this old servant understands. You should take a rest first.¡±

    Lin Xitang added, ¡°This road may be dangerous. Attendant Zhao should be careful.¡±

    Attendant Zhao replied slowly, ¡°Rest assured, Marshal Lin, this servant has been traveling this road for several decades. There shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Lin Xitang nodded and walked down the stairs on his own. His figure seemed rather ephemeral as the wind swept through his silver hair. It felt as though he would be gone with the wind at the very next moment.

    Attendant Zhao also descended the stairs after Lin Xitang had left and boarded a ck sedan. The vehicle drove off with a squad of imperial guards leading the way.

    The car entered the imperial capital main road then took two more turns into a fairly narrow street. Attendant Zhao was seated in the middle of the rear seat with both hands still on the jade scroll and his eyes closed.

    Attendant Zhao¡¯s ears twitched slightly as soon as the vehicle entered the street. He slowly raised his head and opened his eyes.

    A guard captain on the jeep taking point was visibly shaken. He suddenly drew his gun and shouted, ¡°Something¡¯s wrong! It¡¯s too quiet! Sound the rm and charge over!¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when his entire body froze, and a bloody hole appeared on his forehead. The bullet shot through his skull and the throat of the guard behind him. Apparently, the assant was an expert sniper. The driver turned the steering wheel in shock, causing the jeep to skid into a horizontal position.

    Another shot flew over, pierced the vehicle armor, and went right through the driver¡¯s head.

    The imperial guards alighted one after the other amidst the ear-piercing rm and, with the car as cover, began firing back at the dark-robed assants on the rooftops. These guards were all elites, but apparently, there were experts among the assassins. That sniper rifle also possessed terrifying firepower, killing most targets with a single shot and taking out the officers one by one.

    It was at this time that Attendant Zhao lowered the ss windows. The car he was riding on was first-rate, and the ss could withstand sts from grade-five firearms. Opening the window at this moment was undoubtedly a suicidal endeavor.

    As expected, a sniper round whistled over just as Attendant Zhao¡¯s forehead was revealed over the half-lowered window.

    The old attendant raised his hand. His movements were fairly slow, but a pinch of his fingers actually caught the bullet right in front of his forehead.

    This sniper round was quite different from the ones normally seen. The palm-length bullet head was slender but sufficiently heavy, almost like a crossbow bolt, and its piercing ability was extremely powerful. The vehicle armor on the jeep at the front was pierced through like a sheet of paper.

    The bullet was just like heated cheese in the attendant¡¯s hand. It was kneaded into a ball with a rub of his fingers and fell onto the ground outside of the car.

    The dozen or so ck-robed men nced at one another as they erupted with powerful auras¡ªit turned out that they were experts of medium noble rank at the very least! They charged toward Attendant Zhao¡¯s car in quick session. The other ck-robed soldiers were fighting in a suicidal fashion. They fired with all their might without bothering to take cover and kept the imperial guards firmly suppressed.

    Attendant Zhao calmly opened the doors and arranged his sleeves before walking out of the car. He had the jade scroll in one hand and drew a short, jade-hilted dagger with the other as he confronted the charging ck-robed men.

    Attendant Zhao took short steps amidst the siege, weaving back and forth abruptly within inches. The dagger in his hand would draw a ssh of blood whenever it shed past. Even the count-ranked leader fell at the attendant¡¯s feet after suffering three more blows.

    The jade scroll was still firmly held in his hand. He sneered, ¡°A group of ck-blooded bastards dare behave so atrociously at the imperial capital!¡±

    With their leader dead, the remaining assassins weren¡¯t much of a threat and were quickly killed off by the city guards who had just arrived. The initial assessment of their bodies revealed that there were dark race members and rebels among them. This was the standard lineup in the countless assassinations that had happened at the imperial capital.

    Attendant Zhao onlyughed coldly at this oue. If it weren¡¯t for Lin Xitang¡¯s preemptive warning, he would have hardly believed anyone would be brave or foolish enough to perform an ambush at the imperial capital and attempt to seize the prophecy. Immediately afterward, Attendant Zhao entered the imperial pce and immediately sought an audience at the Qiantian Hall.

    The Heaven Hall was where the present emperor handled governmental affairs outside of the imperial assembly. At this moment, the high tform within the hall was enshrouded with lingering dark-green vapors, and the tform, desk, and throne were all hidden behind it. Everything was hazy and barely discernible.

    There was a man sitting upon the throne. His facial features were simrly obscured by the mist.

    Attendant Zhao arrived swiftly below the tform, where he raised the jade scroll in both hands, saying, ¡°Your Majesty, the item sent by Marshal Lin is here.¡±

    There were no movements from the man on the tform. The green mist almost seemed sentient. A strand of it split off and spiraled out in the shape of a hand which took away the jade scroll.

    The man didn¡¯t open it up immediately. He only asked, ¡°How is Marshal Lin doing?¡±

    ¡°The Marshal is fine. He¡¯s gone back to rest now,¡± Attendant Zhao replied with a bow. ¡°This old servant, on the other hand, encountered a small disturbance on my way back to the pce.¡±

    The man listened to the recount before calmly instructing, ¡°Order the imperial guard to kill everyone living on that street. There¡¯s no need for a trial.¡±

    Attendant Zhao pondered for a moment. ¡°This old servant saw a house with the Fenyang family crest on it.¡± Marquis Fenyang naturally wouldn¡¯t live in that area. It was likely a side family or a concubine¡¯s house.

    That man said nothing.

    Attendant Zhao understood his meaning. He bowed once again and said on his own, ¡°None of the residents came out to help us back then. This old servant understands. I¡¯ll issue your orders immediately.¡±

    The battle back then had involved heavy origin firearms. It wouldn¡¯t have been possible to set up such a quiet ambush without the residents facilitating them.

    ughtering everyone living on that street would involve almost a thousand lives, but ack of trial meant that the scope of investigation wouldn¡¯t increase. Imperialws were strict, but they had never passed collective punishments before. After investigations had yielded the perpetrator, that person would be fully responsible for the crime. The Fenyang family would probably not interfere even if that branch was innocent.

    Attendant Zhao withdrew quietly after seeing that the emperor had nothing else to instruct.

    Only then did the man atop the tform slowly unfurl the jade scroll. Eight words gradually appeared on the smooth jade surface: ¡°Land of seven provinces, a stairway to ascension.¡±

    Even the supreme Great Qin Emperor felt his hands tremble after seeing these words.

 Volume 6 - 498: Battle of National Fate

    [V6C28 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Only the emperor knew that Lin Xitang¡¯s return to the capital was mere pretense.

    After returning from the battle with Sky Demon, the Pointer Monarch confessed that they simply had no chance at obtaining the ancient essence had Lilith not obstructed Sky Demon. This went to show just how powerful the Queen of the Night was. She was still unchallengeable.

    When Sky Demon¡¯s main body left Evernight Continent for the void, the Council recruited numerous experts and brought along the Grand Magnum, ¡°Blessing of Darkness¡±, to challenge it. The group was led by Lilith, an ancestor of the demonkin Masefield family, and Crassus of the Eternal me.

    At this point, the empire had actually decided to contract their defensive lines and continue lying low. They only interfered with the ancient essence operation around ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± to prevent them from easily obtaining the fragments.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s n after his return indeed proved effective. Those proud Evernight Council big-shots invested their full scrying powers and incurred huge losses against the void colossus¡¯ will.

    However, Lin Xitang suddenly changed his mind after hearing of the Evernight Council''s results. He quickly entered the Heaven¡¯s Mystery Pavilion and arrived at the same shocking conclusion. Against the will of the heavens, one can only sigh that all living things are too insignificant to make assumptions.

    The other side of the ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± was actually the Ascension Stairway!

    Lin Xitang was able to catch a glimpse of the other end of ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± via a thread of heaven¡¯s mystery. It was a continent floating upon the void, and one could even see a certain upper continent near it.

    That floating continent wasn¡¯t very big, but it was a rarend capable of amodating life. Moreover, its position was close to several upper continents, a strategic point the empire had always yearned for.

    It turned out that the so-called Ascension Stairway¡ªthe omen of the empire¡¯s resurgence¡ªwas here.

    On the second day, the empire introduced a formal reply to the war around ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± of Evernight Continent¡ªa full-scale war.

    The lords of the major ns and aristocratic families were summoned in session, and the transfer of regr army corps proceeded with greater frequency. The true motive of this war was still a secret kept within the core circle of the empire, but the mobilization of troops spread like wildfire among the 300 provinces of the empire.

    As troubled times arise on the eve of resurgence, the decade of peace shalle to an end.

    The Evernight Council reacted swiftly to the empire¡¯s war movements and mobilized all their spy channels in an attempt to figure out Lin Xitang¡¯s deductions. At the same time, the Lightless Monarch Medanzo and the Arachne Warlord Noxus continued to invest great military power toward ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡±. On the empire¡¯s side, Duke Greensun Zhang Boqian held the military authority for Evernight Continent.

    As such, Evernight held the two versus one advantage against the empire. This was the mostmon situation in wars¡ªEvernight held the upper-hand, but it wasn¡¯t overwhelming. That was because surrounding and killing a Heavenly Monarch level expert was beyond difficult. This was especially true for Zhang Boqian who possessed the special ability to cross the skies in an instant. He could run away calmly even if he was no match.

    Apart from that, the two great monarchs weren¡¯t just there to deal with Zhang Boqian. They also served to restrict one another. Otherwise, the werewolves would most likely suffer in Medanzo¡¯s presence, while the vampires casualties would increase if Noxus were to appear alone. The oue was more or less the same with any other great dark monarch, perhaps even worse. The situation might be even more chaotic if more great monarchs were added to the mix.

    ckflow was among the first expeditionary army cities to receive a mobilization order. Along with it came a full share of military supplies and funds. This was a clear message that the ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± would soon turn into a battlefield for an all-out war between the empire and the Evernight Council.

    Qianye started packing things in his room. As expected, the scope of recruitment for those entering the ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± was indeed expanded after the empire announced the total war. Qianye had decided to sign up for it, but Song Zining seemed to have no intention of participating.

    After the two had concluded their discussion of military arrangements for ckflow and Dark me, Song Zining said in an enigmatic tone, ¡°Qianye, go without worries. There is a fortune you must seek, while I have my battles to fight.¡± He leaned back in anguid demeanor. Zhuji was sitting obediently on hisp with one of her little hands grabbing onto his wide sleeve.

    Qianye shot him a suspicious nce. ¡°You didn¡¯t do any scrying, did you? It¡¯s said that divination arts demand a significant price from the performer. The Evernight Council took grave losses this time. Are you sure you¡¯re alright?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Firstly, I never calcte the fate of the nation. Secondly, I never go against heaven¡¯s will. I only check the fortune of those around me, so what¡¯s there to worry? Those fellows have simply enjoyed a high position for far too long. They¡¯ve long since forgotten how unpredictable the might of the heavens is, and don¡¯t know when to back off. Who¡¯s to me if they seek their own death?¡±

    It was just that no one knew who the term ¡°fellows¡± epassed.

    Qianye was already used to his ambiguity. Qianye didn¡¯t linger about after seeing that all matters had been well-arranged. He picked up his tactical backpack, boarded an airship, and left.

    Song Zining watched Qianye leave with Zhuji in his arms, and only looked down after the airship turned into a ck dot. He then lowered his head with a smile as gentle as the spring water. ¡°You see? Your sire is a human. If you don¡¯t learn to act like one, he won¡¯t want you anymore.¡±

    Should any other person hear his words, they would find it fairly odd because Song Zining had used an ancient word. The term specifically referred to the progenitor of an origin blood descendant.

    Zhuji¡¯s little face revealed a mature dejection. She suddenly turned her head around and buried her face in Song Zining¡¯s chest.

    Qianye was weed by a busy scene upon arriving at the Zhao n base. Virtually everyone was rushing about, and every corner of the base was undergoing construction. The western wall had expanded quite a bit after the demolition and reconstruction. Moreover, there was arge scale airship port¡ªseveral timesrger than before¡ªunder renovation.

    Qianye was astonished. This was clearly a sign that the Zhao n was about to transfer its main army over. Could it be that the war had already escted to such a degree? The Zhao n had their own battles to fight on the Western Continent, and their borders weren¡¯t peaceful at all. Despite that, they were actually going to transfer their main army here!

    The guards at the gates apparently recognized Qianye. They quickly ran over and performed a salute. ¡°Young Master Qianye, the elder duke wishes for you to go and see him immediately upon arrival.¡±

    Elder duke? Qianye was slightly shaken. He was even more astonished after finding that the one waiting for him was actually Duke You. Along the way, he saw some familiar faces among the busy soldiers running about their duties. After seeing Qianye, they quickly made way and saluted him, their words full of respect.

    One could see that their reverence for Qianye came from the depths of their hearts and had even reached the point of idolization.

    Very soon, Qianye arrived at themand center at the core of the camp and followed his guide into a certain guest room.

    There, at the center of the room, was an old man standing as straight as a pine tree with his hands behind his back. He was observing the sand table inplete silence.

    Qianye went in and stood silently without interrupting the old man¡¯s thoughts. He had never seen this old man before, but he could actually feel a faint stifling sensation in thetter¡¯s presence. Even his origin power cirction had been suppressed and turned somewhat sluggish.

    This was no small matter. Qianye¡¯s origin power purity had already reached the level of crystallization, not to mention his Venus Dawn was one of the three top origin power types. But there were signs of it being suppressed as he stood behind this old man. This could only prove one point¡ªthis elderly man¡¯s cultivation was far above Qianye¡¯s. Among the experts he had seen throughout his entire life, even Nangong Yuanwang was inferior to this duke.

    The old man didn¡¯t move and neither did Qianye. A fair length of time passed by in this manner before the old man finally turned around. He sized Qianye up with a nod and praised, ¡°You possess this level ofbat strength at such a tender age and, what¡¯s more, a rare, calm temperament. I¡¯ve heard about your achievements before, but gossip often tends to be exaggerated and shouldn¡¯t be trustedpletely. After seeing you today, however, I find that you are even above those rumors. How rare, how rare.¡±

    The old man pointed at the chair beside him. ¡°Sit.¡±

    After taking his seat, the old man said slowly, ¡°This duke is Zhao Xuanji.¡±

    ¡°Elder Duke.¡± Qianye bowed in salutation. His stay at the Zhao n had been fairly rushed and spent mostly in Zhao Yuying¡¯s Mountain Splitter Courtyard. He never saw the elder generation of the Zhao n.

    After meeting this time, Qianye came to a clear understanding of how unfathomable Duke You was¡ªhe might even be above Zhao Weihuang. But why had the number one expert of the Zhao n suddenly arrived on Evernight Continent instead of overseeing the Western Continent?

    As though he had guessed Qianye¡¯s question, Zhao Xuanji replied, ¡°Since you¡¯ve alreadye, you ought to know some things about the general situation on Evernight Continent. In truth, the circumstances are even graver than outsiders believe.¡±

    For some reason, Song Zining¡¯s words as he was about to leave emerged in his mind. He thus proceeded to pay detailed attention to Duke You¡¯s words.

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°The battle with Sky Demon was for the ancient essence of the void colossus. This matter is known to all. The empire mobilizing in full force is also supposedly to seize those fragments of ancient essence. The object has already shattered, but even a small shard contained the profundities of heaven and earth. Fated individuals can take advantage of it to eliminate the bottleneck before the divine champion level and forge a path toward ascension. This time, the generosity of the empire¡¯s recruitment terms are unprecedented, so much so that everyone will be allowed to keep a single shard they have obtained for personal use. There is no need to hand it over.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Even he was moved by these terms. The ancient essence fragment was a divine item for cultivation and also a strategic resource. There was no method to obtain them barring special periods and circumstances. Once one had obtained the fragments, the rewards would be significant whether they were left for personal use or handed over to the empire.

    The humans could use the fragments to achieve the divine champion level and the dark races, a duke. Moreover, thettermonly lived longer than humans and their inheritances were mostly reliant on bloodlines. A duke was already capable of establishing a n on his own, so how could such power be easily given up? This went to show that Giant¡¯s Repose was sure to be a scene of bloody massacre.

    However, he had also noticed the hidden intent in Duke You¡¯s words.

    As expected, Zhao Xuanji continued, ¡°You¡¯re no outsider, so we should let you know some things about the actual secret behind this battle. You must be curious about why this duke is here. The truth is that there¡¯s a different world behind Giant¡¯s Repose, rted to several hundred years of our Great Qin¡¯s national fate, and the empire has decided to go all out and take it. This duke is here to lead the great army and restrict the Evernight side¡¯s power. An arduous battle can¡¯t be avoided should the need arise.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished. The empire had risen for a mere thousand years¡ªwhat concept was several hundred? Zhao Xuanji had sketched this matter in light shades, but Qianye could hear the dense aura of murder in his words. A battle that would be overseen by the number one expert of the Zhao n¡ªhow could such a battle be small? Since even the Zhao n was moving in this manner, the other ns naturally wouldn¡¯t be too different. It would seem the entire empire was mobilizing in full force.

    Qianye asked, ¡°Where is the Fourth Young Master?¡±

    ¡°Jundu entered Giant¡¯s Repose with the first batch. He returned two days ago but went back in yesterday night. This time, it should take longer.¡±

 Volume 6 - 499: Giantâ€™s Repose

    [V6C29 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye¡¯s heart was heavy. If the war truly escted to a national level, not only would the conflict be protracted, but the Giant¡¯s Repose¡ªalong with the world behind it¡ªwould also turn into a fierce battlefield where the dark races and the humans would fight to their deaths.

    At this moment, Zhao Xuanji added, ¡°This time, it¡¯s not just Jundu entering the Giant¡¯s Repose. The eldest, Junyi, has also been summoned. The second and third of the siblings are still recovering from the injuries sustained during the bloody battle, so they¡¯ll remain to fight on the surface.¡±

    Duke You listed several more names. Qianye knew not who they were, but they were probably outstanding descendants capable of standing alongside Zhao Jundu. In the end, Zhao Xuanji added, ¡°Yuying¡¯s injuries will bepletely healed in ten days. She¡¯ll also head in at that time.¡±

    Unable to hold back any longer, Qianye finally asked, ¡°I heard that the Giant¡¯s Repose will suppress the powers of everyone entering it. Now that we¡¯re going in with full force, what if something happens?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji said proudly, ¡°Firstly, a fortune like the ancient essence hase into being and the matter is also rted to centuries of the empire¡¯s fate. How can our Swallow Cloud Zhao n shrink back? Moreover, the journey is indeed perilous, but not a situation of certain death. Under the void colossus¡¯ suppression, the gap between the strong and the weak will grow closer. If one doesn¡¯t even dare take this risk, how can he forge ahead? How can such a person support the Zhao n in the future?¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath in solemn veneration. At this point, he hade to understand Zhao Yuying¡¯s words about how Zhao n scions had to fight their way to power.

    Having stood for a thousand years, the Zhao n indeed possessed certain original characteristics. Even geniuses with a background advantage like Zhao Jundu and Zhao Yuying had to join the battle, to speak nothing of the others. Even if they were to fall in Giant¡¯s Repose, some others would emerge to distinguish themselves. With such a fierce war-like family tradition, those with talent would always have a way up. With all family members being seasoned veterans, there was no need to worry about the n not thriving.

    Zhao Xuanji gazed at Qianye and said in a serious tone, ¡°I¡¯m telling you all of these so that you can understand the overall situation and think it over clearly. I feel that I shouldn¡¯t force you to join the battle especially because I know your life¡¯s experiences. Experts like you with rank-surpassingbat strength hold the advantage under the void colossus¡¯ will, but it still remains that those above the champion level can also enter. Their remaining power after suppression might still be above yours. Moreover, ording to the information Jundu sent back, some special abilities and strengthening equipment were unaffected by the suppression. Such enemies will be fairly difficult to deal with when encountered.¡±

    Qianye listened to everything in silence. He then said without any hesitation, ¡°I¡¯m going to battle.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t agree immediately. ¡°In addition to its treacherous nature, this fight is also fairly different from the bloody battle. Our present information is only limited to the outer rim of Giant¡¯s Repose. No one currently knows what dangers lie at the center nor what thend of national fortune looks like. You have to be clear about all these things.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I understand.¡±

    Zhao Xunaji nodded. ¡°Very well then, this duke will make arrangements to send you to Giant¡¯s Repose. This duke will also head there when the main army arrives. At that time, we might even see some old enemies from the Evernight Council. Heh, heh.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t linger on. He left after saying his farewells and headed over to the military supplies depot to replenish his supplies. He went over to the airship port and boarded the awaiting high-speed airship.

    Momentster, the airship slowly took to the air and left in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye sat within the cabin with his eyes closed and his mind deep in thought. The information provided by Duke You was extremely important. Past the champion level, many people would know one or more secret arts enabling them to erupt withbat strength for a short period. It was fine with viscount level experts because he wasn¡¯t afraid of them no matter how they erupted, but if it were a count, marquis, or even a duke using such secret arts to restore their normal power, even a short moment of recovery wasn¡¯t something Qianye could handle.

    The airship used only half a day¡¯s time to arrive at the borders of Giant¡¯s Repose, where the empire had already established arge base. There were also three other bases around it serving as protection.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were momentarily frozen despite having seen special elite corps headquarters like that of Red Scorpion. He also sighed at the scene before him. The empire¡¯s fully-mobilized troops were able to build a fully-functional base of such scale within three days. One had to know that this was Evernight Continent and not the empire¡¯s nativends.

    This went to show the empire¡¯s determination and expenditure. Just the transport of construction materials alone would require the use of two regr airship fleets.

    Reportedly, the Evernight Council¡¯s base on the other side of the valley was even greater in both scale and numbers. Large batches of dark race experts were hurrying over day and night from the upper continents, and the two factions had even fought several times in the void.

    Before entering Giant¡¯s Repose, Qianye was summoned to the war room along with a dozen other talents from the empire. He was the youngest among them and his level was also the lowest; this naturally raised eyebrows among the others. However, those capable of entering this ce weren¡¯t superficial people, and no one revealed expressions of discrimination.

    The group didn¡¯t have to wait very long before an imperial brigadier general walked into the war room. He scanned everyone with a sharp gaze and said with a powerful voice, ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone is already clear to how important this battle is. This campaign can even be considered a battle of resurgence for the empire. I¡¯ll forego the superfluous words and only convey the empire¡¯s promise to you: as long as you can seize a fragment of ancient essence, whether you leave it for yourself or offer up, the empire will fulfill one of your wishes. The rewards include amnesties and viscount-level noble titles. Naturally, if you¡¯re willing to offer the fragment to the empire, the rewards will be even greater. You might even be able to obtain inherited noble titles! Everyone, rest assured, the empire¡¯s rewards will be more generous than the value of the ancient essence!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s shoulders were shaking after hearing these words. Many were besides themselves with joy.

    After the briefing, Qianye set out toward the Giant¡¯s Repose with those people.

    Even though Qianye had personally witnessed the battle against Sky Demon, he was still overwhelmed by the grandeur of the heaven and earth as he stood at the border of Giant¡¯s Repose. He was barely able to make out the other side despite his superior vision. There, he saw a continuous stretch of dark-race style buildings that made up their base.

    The valley was so deep that the bottom wasn¡¯t visible at all. The ¡°prismatic turbulence¡± had already grown quite thin and was revolving around an area of several hundred kilometers like the mountaintop clouds. It gave one the illusion of standing on the edge of the continent.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have much time for emotions. Before the brigadier general could even finish introducing the information gained from the previous groups, Qianye vaulted a hundred meters out with a single leap and vanished into the cloudy mists below.

    The imperial brigadier general leading the group was bbergasted. Momentster, he turned toward the group and said, ¡°Everyone, you¡­ shouldn¡¯t do that. Climb down along the cliff-side. That¡¯s the safer way.¡±

    Qianye seemed to be falling straight down within the prismatic turbulence. In truth, he had activated his True Sight and found a gap in the raging vortex he could push through. He made small, constant adjustments to his posture as he descended without any mishap. He noticed the cloudy mists grow thinner and almost transparent toward the end of his traversal. He was just about to finish his journey safely when his vision grew dark all of a sudden. It was as though a tremendous will was gradually awakening, and its perception hadnded on Qianye¡¯s body.

    Qianye only felt his body grow heavy as though he were carrying a thousand-ton rock on his back, and even his origin power cirction was no longer smooth. His rate of descent increased as he fell straight down like a stone.

    This terrifyinglyrge will gave Qianye a feeling of great familiarity. He suddenly recalled what it was! That was the vast will he hade into contact with during the battle involving Sky Demon. It turned out to be the remnant will of the void colossus, Chaos. Fortunately, it only brushed over Qianye like before and simply didn¡¯t take notice of him at all.

    But Qianye had to exert his full power just to handle this short pause. The Profound Combatant Form in his body gradually swirled up with daybreak origin power tides of extreme purity as it arduously resisted the heavy pressure. Only when the void colossus¡¯ willpletely turned away did Qianye manage to breathe a sigh of relief. His body erupted with blood energy and the auric me blood rushed out to resist the all-epassing pressure together with the daybreak origin power. The weight on his body was thus reduced significantly.

    A pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye¡¯s back after a moment of further descent. The weight on his body further decreased with less than a third remaining.

    At this moment, Qianye was able to start perceiving his surroundings, albeit barely. Above him was the revolving, vortex-like prismatic turbulence, but the rippling ck mist was growing farther and farther away from him. It was as though he had fallen into a vastnd of fog¡ªeverything around him was hazy, and he could barely see anything. His eyes quickly turned blue, but the Eye of Truth could only probe a dozen or so meters away. Moreover, there was nothing but empty space within its range.

    Qianye was stunned for a moment. However, he decided that he might as well increase his speed of descent since he could control it. He hugged himself, fully spread out his wings, and shot head-first into the depths like a cannonball.

    Before long, Qianye felt something wasn¡¯t quite right. His speed of descent was extremely fast, and he had already descended ten thousand meters. However, he simply couldn¡¯t see any signs of an approaching valley floor.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t flustered. He stopped and waited in ce for a moment. He would surely be able to sense if anyone else from his side had jumped down. Qianye counted his own breath in silence but still couldn¡¯t sense any origin power fluctuation after half an hour.

    His heart sank slightly. He pondered for a moment then started to fly in a circle with his previous position as the center, expanding outward gradually. But it was still a vast hazy world even after expanding to a thousand meters in radius; there was nothing at all.

    Qianye, at this moment, seemed to havended in another world filled with nothing but a boundless field of haziness. Fortunately, he could still feel the weight. The constant feeling of pressure upon him confirmed that he was still within the range of the void colossus¡¯ will.

    As such, he continued rushing toward the bottom of the valley. This time, he didn¡¯t waste much time before seemingly shooting through an invisible membrane. All of a sudden, his perception was no longer limited to a small area and could be extended outward again. Once again, there was air, earth, and sky.

    Earth?!

    Qianye suddenly realized that the ground was actually less than ten meters away from him!

    At such a short distance, Qianye simply couldn¡¯t respond in time no matter how swift his reactions were. He shot headfirst into the ground and smashed out a huge pit.

    This crash wasn¡¯t light at all. Qianyey on the ground for quite a while before slowly mbering up. Fortunately, he had a vampire constitution and his body was fairly strong. Even if he were to crash into a boulder, the one shattering would be thetter. After crashing into that soft, grassy hillock, he was only dizzy for a while. The soil and grass, however, werepletely uprooted and flew off in all directions.

    Qianye withdrew his Wings of Inception, patted the soil off of his body, and climbed out of the big pit. He then stood on solid ground as he nced at the surroundings.

    Hisnding site was a small, gently-sloping hillock covered in ayer of lush, green grass. The scenery from the top was quite spectacr, allowing one to survey all of the surroundingnds.

    The two sides of the hillock were connected to a boundless grassy in, whereas on one side was a dense woods, and the other, a forest of tall stone pirs.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze was captivated by this stone forest. He activated his supernatural eyes once again and discovered a strange mountain faintly discernible in the far distance. Ten precipitous peaks stood like writing brushes¡ªtall, straight, and tidy. It could be said that the scene was impressive.

    But Qianye¡¯s heart was soon shaken because, upon closer inspection, it was not a mountain peak at all. It was clearly the spine of an unknown colossal beast.

 Volume 6 - 500: Opportunity

    [V6C30 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    On the side of ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡± controlled by the Evernight Council, there were experts from various dark races entering in turn. A certain werewolf count hugged his family members one by one, whispered something to a viscount of the council and, with a long howl, leapt off the cliff in his werewolf form.

    Nighteye looked down at the prismatic turbulence from atop a stony cliff jutting half a dozen meters outward. A dozen or so armed guardians adorned with the council¡¯s insignia were standing behind her.

    None of the dark race experts on the side enjoyed such a luxurious lineup, even those who were of a much higher level. The highest number of council experts behind them was three, and some didn¡¯t even have any. The presence of a direct subordinate expert meant that this person had received the recognition of the Evernight Council.

    The two factions had already figured out the rules after a wave of exploration. A primo like Nighteye who possessed an extremely powerful eye ability was simply made for this. Naturally, the council valued her greatly, and there were even some major characters who had their eyes on her. This was evident by the number of guardians around her; the number had exceeded the sum of everyone else¡¯s.

    Nighteye finally awoke from her reverie after standing for a fair length of time and took a step forward. Those council guardians also started moving at this point. Meanwhile, those elders wearing the Monroe family crest were wearing pained expressions¡ªtheir lips moved as though they wanted to say something.

    It was at this time that a hoarse voice arrived from afar, ¡°Please wait, Your Majesty Nighteye!¡±

    A ck dot appeared over the horizon and flew over from above the clouds. The visitor was extremely fast and arrived at the cliffside in a sh,nding softly in front of Nighteye. It was a tall vampire with a pale, slender face. The corners of his eyes and mouth hung down sharply, forming an expression of cruelty and pride.

    ¡°Greetings, Your Majesty.¡± He bowed so deeply that his upper body was almost parallel to the ground.

    Nighteye frowned after seeing the Perth n insignia on him. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Standing before her was a marquis, one who could be considered an important character even on Twilight Continent. His calling upon Nighteye specifically at this moment caused the Monroe n elders to feel anything but assured.

    That marquis gazed deeply at Nighteye before pulling out an odd, cruel smile. ¡°My name is Yuri, and Ie representing the Holy Son. His Majesty the Holy Son wishes to know your thoughts on that matter.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression sank. She was just about to speak when Yuri interrupted her with a waving finger. ¡°Please don¡¯t be in a rush to refuse. His Majesty proposes a new condition. If you¡¯re willing to ept his kind intentions, he¡¯ll guarantee you a shard of ancient essence. With that, your chances of bing a prince in the future will increase exponentially.¡±

    An ancient essence fragment! The Monroe n elders nced at one another, unable to disguise their astonishment. Even if they managed to seize all of the remaining fragments in Giant¡¯s Repose, the number of ancient essence fragments wouldn¡¯t exceed twenty, and the vampires would share no more than six. The Monroe n¡¯s situation was special, so it was likely that they wouldn¡¯t even get a single fragment.

    Now, the Holy Son was actually willing to take out a fragment. That was likely his own share. The sincerity was definitely there.

    Yuri continued, ¡°Additionally, the Holy Son promises that you can retain your Monroe n identity. There¡¯s no need to join the Perth n. Even if you be a magnificent prince in the future, you¡¯ll be a prince of the Monroe n. Lastly, the descendants produced by you and the Holy Son may be distributed between the Perth and Monroe ns alternately.¡±

    The Monroe n vampires were all moved after hearing this. This was especially true for thest two terms because it was of great significance to the Monroe n. Regardless of whether Nighteye became a prince or a grand duke, she would still remain with the Monroe n. This wasn¡¯t just a simple nominal affiliation but also involved the entire string of asset allocations.

    This meant that the Monroe n could still retain their top-three position among the vampire ns. Upon deeper thought, this was a strong signal that the Perth n would give up attacking the Monroe n. With the Queen of the Night awake, there was no vampire capable of defying her will. If Lilith were to attack recklessly, it wasn¡¯t impossible for her to eliminate the entire Monroe n.

    On the contrary, the pure-blooded descendants produced from this union had be rtively unimportant.

    All of the Monroe vampires thus looked toward Nighteye, the anticipation in their eyes fairly evident. This was simply good fortune falling into theirps. The Perth n wasn¡¯t pressuring the Monroe n like before during Lilith''s awakening and had, instead, rxed their conditions significantly. These terms could be considered quite generous even if one were to ignore the old enmity between Lilith and the ck-Winged Monarch and think of it in terms of an ordinary marriage offer.

    However, Nighteye replied instantaneously and without any hesitation, ¡°I refuse.¡±

    Yuri was fairly surprised, and his smiling face became frozen immediately. He gazed at Nighteye momentster and said, ¡°Then, I wish you good luck. I also wish your family good luck. I heard Viscount Aaron just encountered a misfortune. He¡­ won¡¯t be thest.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s face turned pale, and her fingers were trembling slightly. However, she returned the stare without shrinking back and said word by word, ¡°I also wish His Majesty and his rtives good luck!¡±

    A brutal glint shed through Yuri¡¯s eyes with blood boiling in their depths. It seemed as though he would attack at any moment. This short-tempered and violent marquis was known for his cruel methods. Even some of the gentler vampires couldn¡¯t handle his ways.

    But he still retracted his blood energy at the very end. He bowed toward Nighteye, withdrew slowly, and flew away.

    All of the Monroe vampires wore anxious expressions. Nighteye¡¯s refusal of the Perth n¡¯s offer meant that their Monroe n¡¯s situation would be even more difficult.

    An elder with white hair and beardughed wryly as he whispered, ¡°Your Majesty, why didn¡¯t you agree?¡±

    ¡°Why should I agree?¡±

    ¡°The conditions they have set forth are already quite generous. It¡¯s very beneficial for our Monroe n.¡±

    Nighteye let out a mockingugh. ¡°It is indeed good for the Monroe n. Moreover, you people won¡¯t have to sell yourselves, right?¡±

    The somewhat awkward elder exined, ¡°This way, Your Majesty won¡¯t have to risk your life in the Giant¡¯s Repose! ording to thetest news, a third of those who have entered are dead.¡±

    Nighteye said word by word, ¡°I¡¯d rather die in Giant¡¯s Repose than agree!¡±

    The elder¡¯s expression turned rather unsightly. ¡°Even if not out of consideration for our family¡¯s prince, won¡¯t you do it for Count us and your other rtives?¡±

    Nighteye clenched her fist until her fingertips turned slightly blue. She suddenly let out a sigh and said, ¡°Do you know the first thing I¡¯ll do if I agree to the Holy Son¡¯s offer?¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡± The Monroe elder had clearly not thought about this problem.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have all of you killed without exception! You people are not worthy of being the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s descendants. You¡¯re not worthy of the Monroe n insignia.¡±

    The elder was momentarily dazed. If Nighteye really did propose such a term, the Holy Son definitely had the power to make it a reality. After all, the Perth n was already attacking the Monroe n continuously to begin with. The Holy Son¡¯s generous conditions were there to move Nighteye, so it was no problem to kill some people.

    ¡°What do you think? Do you still want me to agree?¡± Nighteye sneered.

    The Monroe n vampires were at a loss for words as their expressions grew increasingly distressed. The others present revealed expressions of disdain. In any case, the Monroe n was still the number two ancient n. However, their disy regarding this matter had been fairly weak since the very beginning.

    The dark races worshipped the strong and revered power. Naturally, they were full of disdain for them.

    Yuri had just left when a fluctuation suddenly appeared in the air. Soon afterward, the space therein became distorted as an imposing old man stepped out from within. His most eye-catching trait was a ruby scepter embedded in the left side of his face.

    The moment he appeared, everyone below cried out in rm, ¡°His Excellency, Darkus!¡±

    Darkus, known as the scepter of blood, was in charge of the Perth n¡¯s external affairs. He had always represented the Perth n in handling rtionships with the other ns or even the other races. He was also the Perth n¡¯s spokesperson in the Evernight Council. That was why, despite being a duke, he was the number one authoritative figure in the n below the prince rank.

    Everyone immediately performed their salutations after his arrival; even Nighteye had to bow in respect. Darkus was the embodiment of the Perth n in the outside world. The reverence was not only toward him but also to his n.

    Darkusnded slowly, stood in front of Nighteye, and gazed at this young vampire who had recently risen to fame. In his eyes, Nighteye was merely a young girl who had juste of age. However, the bloodline power in her body shook Darkus¡¯s blood core ever so slightly.

    This wasn¡¯t rted to the magnitude of one¡¯s power but its level.

    ¡°Nighteye?¡±

    ¡°That is me.¡±

    A peculiar glint shed through Darkus¡¯ eyes, but he spoke slowly without a change in expression, ¡°Her Majesty, the most honored Lilith, has spoken. She promises your freedom and to never get involved in your matters if you can bring back an ancient essence fragment from Giant¡¯s Repose. Are you willing?¡±

    Nighteye trembled as she looked at Darkus with incredulity. The main reason the Monroe n had expressed weakness regarding her matter was due to the Holy Son using Lilith¡¯s name to suppress them. Moreover, the veteran Evernight Council members from the Monroe n knew that the council would likely awaken the Queen of the Night after confirming what Sky Demon was after. That was because, in the entirety of the Evernight world, only Lilith could restrain Sky Demon.

    Now, the Queen of the Night had actually promised not to get involved. This meant that the Monroe n only had the Holy Son¡¯s faction to deal with. This was vastly different from going against the entire Perth n.

    Darkus leaned forward and said softly, ¡°Her Majesty won¡¯t get involved at all. Do you understand?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils became increasingly bright as she replied, ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll definitely obtain the ancient essence.¡±

    ¡°Very good. I believe Her Majesty will be willing to hear of this.¡± With that, Darkus rose into the air and stepped right into the void.

    The Iron Curtain in the sky fluctuated slightly as a frosty intent swept over Darkus, but it was quickly dispersed by his Blood Energy.

    Nighteye had no more hesitations as she walked over to the edge of the cliff and leapt into the clouds.

    Far in the distance, Twilight emerged from the shadows and gazed toward where Nighteye had disappeared. There was aplicated expression as she let out a barely discernible sigh before vanishing once again.

 Volume 6 - 501: Kuanglan

    [V6C31 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    On the other side of the Giant¡¯s Repose, the experts from the empire were climbing down one after the other. At one of the furthest corners, Xu Lang, d in a full set of armor, was performing a final equipment check. This was his second time going down, so he was much calmer than the others. He then produced a sheet of paper from his pocket and opened it up slowly.

    That was a name list. First on it was Zhao Jundu, and second was Qianye. There were also numerous young experts from the empire listed below them¡ªthey were all elites who had already entered ¡°Giant¡¯s Repose¡±. Xu Lang scanned the names from bottom to the top with battle intent slowly igniting in his eyes.

    He crushed the paper into fine powder, walked over to the cliff, and leapt into the cloudy mists.

    Qin Continent, Imperial Capital, just as the eveningnterns were being lit around the bedchamber of the Pepper Pce.

    Numerous pce maids were walking in a line and lighting up the infant-arm-sized candles. The magnificent hall was flowing with light and shadows amidst the flickering candle mes¡ªalmost like a dream realm.

    There was a brocade couch behind the ss bead curtains, upon whichy ady. Her untied raven hair wound over her left shoulder like flowing clouds and fell all the way to the floor.

    Her sitting figure alone constituted a beautiful scenery, her brilliance undimmed by the luxurious ornaments all around her. But there was a faint expression of worry upon that countenance of otherworldly beauty.

    There was arge white cat on her knees, its pair of rolling golden eyes following the pce maids as they moved about.

    The feline¡¯s fur was as white as snow, but thedy¡¯s hands were even fairer. Her fingers¡ªseemingly capable of touching the soul¡ªwas stroking the cat lightly. The spectator could almost feel her hands tickling the heart and would want nothing more than to dig it out to scratch.

    Her eyes were lowered as she gazed at therge cat on her knees. It was as though nothing in the world could catch her attention.

    The cat stretchedzily and rubbed its head against her hand, whereafter it closed its eyes infort.

    There were candleholders of varying designs in every corner of the bedchamber. The pce maids spent quite some time to finish lighting up all of them. The entire process waspletely silent. It was so calm that even the cat¡¯s purr was fairly resounding.

    That was because everyone knew that this painting-like figure loved silence and feared mor. There was only one reason why no one had any objections to the magnificence andplicated rules of the Pepper Pce¡ªshe was Empress Li, mistress of the imperial harem.

    The sky was gradually turning dark, but the bedchamber was flooded with brilliance and as light as day. Being able to illuminate the room with such an ancient tool to the point where one couldn¡¯t find a single shadow went to show just how borately themps were designed.

    This was also one of her anxieties. She couldn¡¯t stand the darkness.

    At this moment, some delicate footsteps were heard from outside of the hall. An elderly inner attendant walked straight over to the curtain with delicate footsteps¡ªit was as though he were treading upon water. At this point, he said with a squeaky mosquito-like voice, ¡°Empress, Teacher Yan seeks an audience.¡±

    Empress Li finally raised her head and nced at the attendant. ¡°Only Teacher Yan?¡±

    That inner attendant¡¯s forehead became drenched in cold sweat. He fell kneeling onto the floor and replied with a trembling voice, ¡°A-Also¡­ Young Noble Kuann hase. This old servant wasn¡¯t trying to hide this matter intentionally. The truth is, Young Noble Kuann said he would have my head if I dared speak half a word!¡±

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re not afraid of me taking your head?¡±

    The inner attendant kowtowed immediately. ¡°This servant has always been loyal and devoted. As kindhearted as you are, I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t take my head.¡±

    Empress Li broke intoughter. ¡°You? Loyal and devoted? Scram and remember to summon all of them.¡±

    Momentster, Teacher Yan and a young man walked into the pce halls. It was just that Teacher Yan, who had always been calm and unflustered, appeared rather helpless and awkward today. He had his head lowered and didn¡¯t dare meet the empress¡¯ gaze.

    Empress Li didn¡¯t look at the young man beside him and only asked Teacher Yan in a gentle voice, ¡°Teacher Yan, it¡¯s already night time. What is so important that you havee to call upon me in such a rush?¡±

    This question caused Teacher Yan to hem and haw, unable to find his words for the moment.

    The young man beside himughed at this moment. ¡°I forced him to bring me here. It¡¯s not his fault. How would he dare to not listen to me?¡±

    All the light in the hall was seemingly attracted to him the moment he spoke. He was half a head taller than Teacher Yan with long limbs and slender digits.

    He possessed a beautiful and almost seductive countenance, especially his pair of soul-seizing eyes. They were almost identical to Empress Li¡¯s. However, Empress Li¡¯s eyes were filled with manyyers of bewildering mist, while his pupils were suffused with cold, sharp sword intent.

    Speaking in terms of appearance, this youth could contend with Zhao Jundu. It was just that Zhao Jundu¡¯s appearance was an elegant and solemn beauty akin to the great mountains and rivers. Meanwhile, this person was like a demon capable of moving a ten-thousand-year-old entity.

    Empress Li frowned slightly and said with great displeasure, ¡°Lan, are you threatening other people¡¯s families again? Teacher Yan is an extremely important person. Haven¡¯t I told you before not to cause trouble? Are you not going to listen to my words anymore?¡±

    These words caused Teacher Yan to feel both thankful and ashamed.

    Li Kuann, on the other hand, didn¡¯t seem to mind at all and only revealed a radiant smile that shamed the candles in the hall. ¡°What¡¯s so serious about this? I only frightened him a bit. It¡¯s not like I actually did anything. Sister, I know my limits. But if he¡¯s not tactful, I can¡¯t be med for whatever happens.¡±

    Empress Li sighed somewhat helplessly. ¡°Since you¡¯re here to see me now, then speak. What do you want again? Let me tell you beforehand, though. You can forget about anything rted to the Evernight Continent.¡±

    The young man, however, said with augh, ¡°Sister, you¡¯re so great. I¡¯m preparing to take a trip to Giant¡¯s Repose.¡±

    Empress Li felt a headache. She rubbed her temples and sighed. ¡°What are you going to do there? That¡¯s a dangerous war zone. Even Marshal Lin was bedridden from the bacsh after scrying about that ce. His Majesty has even opened up the emperor¡¯s medicine store to treat him. You think you can rampage through it with your meager abilities?¡±

    ¡°Heh, heh, divination abilities are just cheap tricks. Good and bad luck can also be reversed by strength. Marshal Zhang Boqian has said that one need only march straight ahead on the great dao. I, Li Kuann, like these words better. Moreover, with opportunities arising amidst the unrest, our Jingtang Li n should also take action. Otherwise, the people of the world will think the only heroes in our vast empire are people like Zhao Jundu and Song Zining.¡±

    Empress Li remained silent for a long time. ¡°What does Teacher Yan think?¡±

    Teacher Yan smiled wryly. ¡°I think Young Noble Kuann will surely go even without your consent. Why don¡¯t you give Kuann that sword to increase his chances?¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°This empress will surely get a share of this ancient essence. Lan, why must you do this.¡±

    Kuann¡¯s eyes were as sharp as a de¡¯s edge. ¡°That¡¯s only one share. I¡¯ll get more by fighting for it in person, and it¡¯s also more meaningful.¡±

    Evernight Continent, the depths of Giant¡¯s Repose.

    Under Qianye¡¯s extraordinary vision, the distant stone forest and grand peak revealed their true nature. The spine of that unknown beast was excessivelyrge with each joint extending into the skies. They were even taller than the stone forest and easily gave one the impression that they were grand peaks.

    Qianye drew a breath of cold air. If even the joints were sorge, how enormous would this giant beast have been when it was alive?

    Those with such a gigantic frame could only roam the void because a single step might crumble the continents and the firmament, causing void origin power to leak onto the continents and inciterge-scale disasters.

    ncing at the stone forest from afar, Qianye suddenly noticed a light flicker for a short moment. That was the ancient essence fragment he had seen before!

    At this moment, Qianye could already feel some of the ancient essence¡¯s aura because of the close distance. Just the mere aura of it was already able to set Qianye¡¯s origin power adrift. It was as though he had reached a certain realization, and a corner of the veil covering the world had been lifted to reveal small bits of profundity rted to the grand origins.

    Qianye took a deep breath and suppressed the astonishment in his heart. Just an aura already possessed such miraculous effects. How wondrous would it be if he were to really obtain a fragment? It was no wonder that even Sky Demon was taking action to seize it.

    At this moment, a ze flickered in the distance as aet fell from the skies and a tyrannical aura erupted the moment itnded on the ground. It then weakened immediately afterward and vanished from Qianye¡¯s perception. He only saw a pir of mes rise in the distance and was then extinguished.

    This was likely an expert from the Evernight side entering this realm. It was just that his luck and strength weren¡¯t very good. He had failed to resist the impact and pressure of the colossus¡¯ will and had thus fallen after igniting his final origin power.

    Judging from the auric me blood that had erupted at the very end, it was likely a marquis level expert at the very least, a noble capable of ruling over a dominion in the vast Dark Nation. He had fallen here at this moment without the chance to even approach the ancient essence.

    This gave Qianye a renewed awareness regarding the perils of thisnd.

    He was surprised once again after thinking about this realm. He nced up and actually saw a deep starry sky with giant shadows moving about slowly at the extremes of his vision.

    Surprisingly, this ce wasn¡¯t an independent space and was, instead, apletend mass floating in the void like the twenty-seven continents. Could it be that his leap had actually taken him through the Giant¡¯s Repose and directly to thend behind it!?

    Qianye thought about his journey through the mist but gained nothing from it. As such, he collected his astonished thoughts and started observing his surroundings. From here on out, the intelligence gained from the two factions was no longer of use; he had to gradually explore on his own.

    Qianye thus activated the Eye of Truth. He spent some time scanning the environs and confirmed that the scenery in the sky wasn¡¯t just a distorted illusion. This ce was indeed andmass in the void, and judging from the shape of the small asteroid belts in his vision, he spected that the size of this ce was far smaller than that of a continent. It could only be called arge ind.

    There were countless such ces in the void between continents. However, most of them couldn¡¯t support life because of their small size.

    Meanwhile, perhaps due to the presence of the void colossus¡¯ will, there was both flora and fauna on thisndmass, at least as far as Qianye could see. It was just that the void colossus¡¯ omnipresent will would indiscriminately attack all intelligent lifeforms on thisndmass. It would take more than just an ordinary genius to survive here.

    The marquis who had just passed away before Qianye¡¯s eyes had used his own life to prove this point. Before this void colossus, the so-called genius experts of the two factions were simply a joke.

    Since even a dark marquis had arrived, there was bound to be others who had entered. There might even be people already investigating the stone forest. Qianye thus hastened his steps and hurried forth without further dy.

 Volume 6 - 502: Sprinting Hunter

    [V6C32 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The journey that followed became fairly protracted. At the outset, Qianye could see the stone forest just by standing atop a hill. In truth, it took him several days to arrive. This was, in part, due to his power being suppressed and his speed, greatly reduced. It could also be attributed to his disordered perception.

    Qianye had already noticed the abnormality of this world from the very first day. Perhaps time itself had been affected by the suppression of the void colossus¡¯ will. Even with the Eye of Truth, he could only expand his visual field, but the distorted perception was unavoidable. Many distant objects appeared quite close, but the true distance was far beyond his expectations.

    From this, it was obvious that this floatingndmass was muchrger than he had initially anticipated.

    At this moment, Qianye had finally arrived before the stone forest. He reached out to touch one of the stone pirs and confirm that he had truly arrived. Then, he leapt up to the top of the pir and found a foothold from which to observe the surroundings.

    Unsurprisingly, he discovered that this forest of stone pirs was much bigger than he had seen from afar. There was no end as far as the eye could see. The colossal skeleton was still far off in the remote distance. It seemed as though several days of running hadn¡¯t reduced the gap at all.

    The deep breath Qianye took atop the stone pir felt like a mouthful of fire.

    The world was, in fact, very cold, and the frigid winds cut right to the bone. Only at this point did Qianye finally discover why people believed this ce to be the wind tunnel. That was the near-tangible remnant will of the void colossus¡ªone would take in a small amount of it with every breath.

    The suppression of the colossus¡¯ will was fairly special in that it contained a wisp of illusory power. People here would have to circte origin power at all times to resist it, lest their perception bes blurry. It was as though time and space had mixed into a formless mass that would fuse and devour one¡¯s consciousness at any moment. Each breath felt like mes even with the resistance of circting origin power, taking quite the effort to stave off the burning sensation.

    This was the true nature of the dangers here.

    Those entering had simply no way to resist the will without sufficient rank and would be devoured immediately. Those with sufficient rank would need to expend the standard amount of origin power to suppress the scorching sensation, but a mere moment of ckening would result in a failure to resist the void colossus¡¯ will. The origin power throughout his body would bepletely ignited, and the person would be burned to ashes.

    Qianye had seen an immted marquis fall to the ground soon after he had entered this realm. That was how he had fallen.

    But after several days of adjustment, Qianye had already limatized to the colossus¡¯ suppression. To him, this was only a matter of reduction in avable origin power and an increase in basal consumption.

    Qianye was just about to jump down from the stone pir when he suddenly noticed a cloud of smoke surging over from the distance. It seemed like something was running toward him. He quickly activated Bloodline Concealment and retracted his aura, hiding himself perfectly.

    After the dust cloud approached, one could see that it was a horde of charging beasts. This type of wild horse had two curved horns on their heads and uneven bone spurs over their shoulder des. They were tall,rge, and looked to be full of power as they galloped, every leap taking them a dozen or so meters away.

    This group of strange beasts charged into the stone forest in the blink of an eye and ran toward its depths.

    An idea popped up in Qianye¡¯s mind. He leapt down from the stone pir andnded soundlessly on thest beast, whereupon he grabbed ahold of its curved horn and plunged his vampiric de through its shoulder.

    The creature wanted to cry out in pain but Qianye had choked its vocal organs, preventing it from making a sound. Afterward, the animal slowly fell limp to the ground as the de drained all of its essence blood.

    The beast pack in front charged on without knowing that one of theirpanions had fallen behind.

    Qianye dragged the creature into a rtively deserted area. This was the firstrge animal he had seen sinceing into this realm. He had found few lifeforms apart from strange nts and oddly-shaped insects, none of which seemed ptable.

    But fortunately, Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm was still effective, and he was able to survive on the supplies inside.

    Qianye found a space between two stone pirs where he could gain shelter from the wind. There, he lit a fire and began roasting the beast meat. He had prepared well for this trip and even brought some condiments which produced an immediate fragrance after they were sprinkled over the meat. Having lived off military supplies for several days, Qianye¡¯s appetite at this moment was extraordinarily good. He finished nearly half the beast in one sitting before he was fully sated.

    Qianye cleaned up the scene briefly before heading deeper into the stone forest. He then looped back via a longer route and concealed himself atop a nearby stone pir.

    Qianye became fairly patient after gaining an initial understanding of how vast this unknown continent was. He was now prepared to engage in a long-term exploration. As for the ancient essence fragments, it seemed like they were mobile because it was no longer at the same ce when Qianye saw the light a second time. Moreover, he couldn¡¯t sense it anymore after entering the stone forest.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have to wait very long before a werewolf flew over at great speed. The werewolf leapt over with great agility in hisbat form and arrived at the ce where Qianye had been roasting meat. The vignt werewolf first circled around the ce, then approached cautiously to sniff the b of roasted meat on the ground. Only afterward did he grab the food and began eating ravenously. Apparently, he was starved.

    This world was sparse in both flora and fauna. Moreover, most nts had a metallic appearance. This signified ack of food for both humans and the dark races, something Qianye had already experienced.

    Although he sympathized with them, it didn¡¯t mean that he would let this werewolf go. Qianye drew the Mystic Spider Lily, installed a silencer, and took aim at the werewolf.

    A light ¡°pfft¡± rang out as blood spurted out from the werewolf¡¯s leg; a fist-sized wound had appeared therein. This shot wasn¡¯t lethal, but it had destroyed the werewolf¡¯s ability to escape. The werewolf roared in agony and was just about to turn around when he was shot on the other leg, then each of his arms as well.

    Qianye only jumped down from the pir at this point and appeared before the werewolf. He walked over to the victim and pressed the scorching muzzle to his temple.

    The werewolf¡¯s eyes were filled with terror as he nodded continuously.

    Qianye gained little from the interrogation that followed. The werewolf came from a small tribe and was the vassal of an arachne count. He himself was a baron equal in power to a rank nine fighter from the empire.

    He was separated from hispanions soon after entering Giant¡¯s Repose and had failed to find so much as a shadow after several days of searching. Even he himself had little idea how he had passed through the ten-thousand-mile Giant¡¯s Repose. The werewolf only remembered how he had slipped while passing through a certain crevice, whereafter he fell through boundless clouds and mists to arrive at the stone forest.

    Qianye referred to the process by which he had arrived here and couldn¡¯t help but frown. It would seem that many parts of the space in Giant¡¯s Repose was distorted. This meant that some people might not find their way here even after prolonged investigations, but it was possible for others to identally fall in. That being said, those who hade in groups were likely to be dispersed.

    The werewolf had received two orders from the Evernight Council. The first was to search for the ancient essence fragments, and the second was to explore they of thend. They were to draft a map along the way and kill as many imperial people as they could.

    No longer able to get anything else out of the werewolf, Qianye pressed him to the ground and plunged the vampiric de into his heart.

    The essence blood from the baron was almost two times the amount from ordinary dark race members of the same rank. Apparently, those capable of moving unobstructed in this world were people with strength well above their peers.

    Qianye fished out an emblem from the werewolf¡¯s body. The depiction upon it¡ªa giant running wolf¡ªwas fairly well-known. It represented the Sprinting Hunter Mercenary Corps. This dark race mercenary band operated on the dark race side and wasparable to elite corps of the empire like Broken-Winged Angels and Red Scorpion. The Sprinting Hunters were mostly made up of werewolf soldiers, but the leader was an arachne marquis.

    Qianye had fought with them before during his time in Red Scorpion and knew how difficult it was to tangle with them. But here, a Sprinting Hunter baron, a high-ranking colonel, was no different from cannon fodder.

    This werewolf was still quite young and likely a well-known genius in his world. But he had fallen here in the end.

    Qianye stood up to gaze at the deep night sky and breathed the scorching air deeply. He then collected his thoughts and made for the void colossus¡¯ skeleton.

    Meanwhile on the surface, an area hundreds of kilometers around Giant¡¯s Repose had turned into an unstoppable battle. Having rallied their forces to a certain degree, the Evernight Council and the empire waged their first major battle one fateful afternoon. Each side had deployed over a hundred thousand soldiers to kill the other. The battle lines were locked in a zig-zag pattern and fluctuating wildly at every moment.

    Even a middle-ranked champion was in danger of falling amidst the chaos. But not only did Song Zining take part, but he had also gained significant fame after two battles.

    The seventh young master hadn¡¯t mobilized dark me across thousands of kilometers. Instead, he had borrowed his fame from the battle of ckflow City to assumemand of the armies of a middle and two lower-ranking aristocratic families. He deployed their experts from the bloody battle for groupbat tactics and roamed the battlefield in search of opportunities.

    Song Zining was never one to fight zealously¡ªhe wouldunch a single attack then leave regardless of sess or failure. After several fights, people found to their astonishment that the best opportunities would always appear around this seventh young noble. Whether it was a tired, half-routed division or apletely unprotected minor unit¡ªall of them would be devoured by his forces.

    There was only one time where he shed against an organized dark race army that locked in battle against an elite division of the imperial regr army. Song Zining had appeared right behind the dark race army tounch a sudden ambush. He broke into the center of the army and worked with the imperial experts to kill the enemy general, thus winning a great victory.

    There were many such examples.

    The Song n seventh young noble weaved through the great chaos of the battlefield like a fish in the water, always managing to gain advantages along the way. But whenever the dark races transferred a great force to wipe him out once and for all, Song Zining would disappear as though he had known in advance.

    The dark race experts could no longer sit still after several repeats of simr incidents and wanted to finish off Song Zining. However, the empire¡¯s experts were also quite strong in number and they naturally wouldn¡¯t watch from the sidelines. Everyone took action to obstruct the attack. Thus, the armies of each factionunched continuous attacks around Song Zining¡¯s unit and several intense battles erupted between them.

    Several weekster, both factions had rued heavy casualties; the cannon fodder squads had mostly died off, and only the elites among elites remained. Under such circumstances, Song Zining¡¯s little army made up of men from several minor aristocratic families became quite the thorn in people¡¯s eyes. But he just had to go deep behind enemy lines to harass them again. It almost seemed as though he had been surrounded by several fierce dark race divisions.

    Even the Arachne Warlord Darkus¡¯ prestige would be threatened if they couldn¡¯t eliminate this little counterfeit army.

    However, the route of Song Zining¡¯s unit was never constant, denying his enemies even the smallest of terrain advantages.

    Song Zining was surrounded once again near the imperial borders after an entire day and night of pursuit.

 Volume 6 - 503: Each Otherâ€™s Troubles

    [V6C33 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    No one expected Song Zining to meet the great army head-on and choose the strongest point to break through the encirclement, the battle line of a first-rank arachne viscount.

    He donned the silver demon mask once again in this battle and charged at the van of the army. His spear made of mysterious metal was brandished with full force¡ªhis figure was akin to a dragon, and his every strike was like lightning as he killed his way into the enemy central army and brought his entire unit through the siege.

    After breaking the siege, Song Zining turned back to act as the rear guard.

    His ck-silver armor had turned scarlet. His robes were drenched in blood, and there was no telling whether it was his own or the enemies¡¯. In the end, his mask was even damaged in several areas, a clear indication of just how dangerous the battle was.

    Song Zining propped himself up on the spear and stood in silence. Before him was half a division¡¯s worth of disorderly dark-race pursuers, and behind him were a dozen human experts who refused to leave along with their main force.

    He was gazing straight ahead, but the dense horde of dark race soldiers wasn¡¯t in his eyes. It seemed as if he was waiting for something.

    The charging dark race warriors came to a sudden halt hundreds of meters away and split apart like a tidal wave, whereupon a vampire count walked out from within. This was an expert capable of overseeing a segment of the battlefield, a testament to how much the dark races had invested for intercepting Song Zining.

    ¡°Surrender and perhaps you¡¯ll receive the honor of the revered prince¡¯s embrace. Otherwise, your life will end on our blood feast table,¡± the count spoke thus. There was a small ming crown insignia on his cor, which meant that he was a member of the Sperger n¡¯s powerful primogenitor branch.

    Song Zining responded by slowly lifting the point of his spear, and the area around him several meters in radius was suddenly pervaded by the chill of autumn and fluttering leaves. Every de of leaf flickered with a sharp glint akin to a de¡¯s edge. It was as though he didn¡¯t mind at all that the other party was a mighty count three entire levels above him. Whether it was in Evernight or Daybreak, such a level gap was likely enough to render many attacks and defenses ineffective.

    Intense blood energy boiled up around the count and gradually took the form of many a fierce beast. They were roaring and galloping as though they would materialize at the very next moment.

    Suddenly, the drawn, melodious hum of a de rang out as an austere sword intent surged into the skies. It was as though a divine weapon had left its sheath. No one knew when, but a certain figure had appeared on the western edge of the battlefield, one with bones seemingly made of sword intent, and muscles akin to white jade. His set of sapphire blue battle-robes was extremely dazzling, much like the sky or the vast oceans.

    The vampire count¡¯s pale eyes hung down ever so slightly to form a grave expression. This person¡¯s manner was iparably ostentatious, and he was a rank-thirteen human champion. Although one level below him, the count could feel a pressure of extreme dangering from the man.

    The stalematested for a mere wink before the count let out a shrill cry and withdrew his rolling blood energy. His figure quickly vanished like mist and reappeared in the midst of the dark race army, then the next moment, he was already hundreds of meters away.

    The count¡¯s sudden withdrawal prompted the dark army to retreat. However, the sword hum reverberated loudly through the area at this moment, much like the dense sound of raindrops during a rainstorm. The dark race soldiers in its wake were cut through the waist like reaped paddy, and blood eventually flowed like rivers.

    That blue-robed youth withdrew his sword stance and watched with a blood-thirsty smile as the routed dark race army fled in disorder. Only afterward did he turn back to size up Song Zining.

    The banner of the imperial army reinforcements appeared on the horizon at this moment.

    Song Zining met the person¡¯s gaze and nodded in acknowledgement. However, he never withdrew his domain or loosened his grip on the spear.

    The young man broke into augh as he sheathed that lustrous sword seemingly carved from crystal. ¡°I¡¯ve always believed that those who learn divination arts are sneaky people. You¡¯re somewhat different, though. You actually dare charge the enemy lines with those ragtag soldiers in tow. Now that¡¯s quite rare.¡±

    These ambiguous words sounded both like praise and depreciation. Song Zining only replied indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s always been a fact that the brave will win in a confrontation between enemies. Divination is no exception to this rule, either.¡±

    The blue-robed youthughed louder, his voice clear and somewhat deep. ¡°But you seem to have the leisure to gaze to the south even while running about through the siege.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes turned cold. He had long since sensed an expert from the Daybreak side following him in the recent days, but thetter wouldn¡¯t reveal himself regardless of the situation. As expected, it was this blue-robed youth. That was why Song Zining hadn¡¯t rxed his vignce although it seemed like this person had appeared to help.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably Giant¡¯s Repose in that direction, and I happen to be headed there. Do you have any important people inside? Tell me,¡± the blue-robed youth watched Song Zining intently and spat out these words in a frivolous tone, ¡°so that I can kill them.¡±

    But Song Zining didn¡¯t show any reaction at all. Even his fingers on the spear didn¡¯t move one bit. With his countenance hidden behind the mask, his eyes becamepletely devoid of emotion. His gaze shifted from the blue-robed youth¡¯s face to his cor, then onto his peculiar sword.

    The young man seemed not to mind Song Zining¡¯s impolite gaze at all. He looked toward the approaching reinforcements and said with some surprise, ¡°Since it¡¯s actually people from the Green Sun Zhang n, I¡¯ll be taking my leave first. But the Song Seventh Young Noble is quite different from the legends. Truly interesting!¡± The young man¡¯s figure moved several dozen meters away with a sh of blue light.

    The reinforcement army arrived at this moment, and it was, as expected, the Zhang n private army. The leader was a thirty-year-old rank-twelve champion. The man ran over promptly and revealed a sincere smile after finding that Song Zining¡ªas well the dozen-odd experts who stayed behind to act as the rear-guard¡ªwere all fine. He greeted Song Zining and then nced over at the blue-robed youth. ¡°Who is that? What a powerful sword art!¡±

    That sword strike from just now had filled the skies with its baleful aura, and even those far away could see the whirlwind of blood. Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°Jingtang Li n, Li Kuann.¡±

    The Zhang n champion¡¯s smile was immediately frozen, and his expression became rather unnatural. No one knew whether he was reacting to the family name or if he had heard of this young man¡¯s name. He then said, ¡°Seventh Young Noble, your squad has already reached the safe zone. You can rest and reorganize at the E3 base. Moreover, that ce isn¡¯t far from Marshal Zhang¡¯s frontlinemand center. He wishes to see you.¡±

    Song Zining slowly removed his mask and said with a smile, ¡°I naturally obey.¡±

    Before leaving, Song Zining nced back at the empty, overcast wilderness. The dark race army had already retreatedpletely, and that blue-robed youth was nowhere to be seen.

    News of Zhang Boqian summoning Song Zining spread fairly quickly. This sent a strong signal because Zhang Boqian wasn¡¯t one to posture. Him willing to meet Song Zining meant that he approved of this new talent. It also signified that he had excluded Song Zining from his n¡¯s enmity with the Song n.

    Everyone felt that Song Zining¡¯s luck was pretty good, but the involved parties probably had different opinions. In an isted corner and away from public eyes, Song Zining was speaking to himself. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve brought me such a big problem, so I guess we can call it even with the troubles I¡¯m about to bring you.¡±

    The situation at the edge of Giant¡¯s Repose was fairly calmpared to the war taking ce hundreds of kilometers around it. The Evernight Council and the empire had both dispatched numerous experts into it. Hence, no one was lingering around it apart from some surveince personnel.

    A frail figure with fluttering shoulder-length hair appeared beside a hidden cliffside. It was the long-lost Bai Kongzhao. At this moment, her white dress was badly tattered, and her skin was dotted with injuries. There was a thick bandage around her abdomen, the edges of which were somewhat soiled from the blood seeping out continuously.

    It would seem that she hadn¡¯t been having an easy time during this period. However, her eyes were just as clear and sharp¡ªit was as though nothing could make her lose spirit.

    The beautiful dagger in her left hand hadn¡¯t yet lost its sharpness and looked to be the product of a famous craftsman. No one knew how this demonkin-style dagger had fallen into her hands, but one could easily guess that the process wasn¡¯t a happy one.

    Bai Kongzhao gazed at the rolling clouds in the valley and jumped down without any hesitation. Bai Aotu¡¯s shadow appeared far in the distance just as her small figure vanished into the misty clouds.

    Bai Aotu gazed in the direction of that precipitous cliff with a frown. Just now, she had sensed a somewhat familiar aura there, but it had vanished in a sh and never reappeared.

    She reinforced her perception but still gained nothing. This wasn¡¯t her specialty, moreover, the interference of the prismatic turbulence below was extremely obvious.

    But Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t about to let something like this bother her. She no longer paid that aura any attention and proceeded to walk forward calmly, her hands hidden within her sleeves and her feet seemingly treading on water. She arrived at the cliff¡¯s edge in the blink of an eye and leapt right down without further dy.

    In the Bai n encampment on Evernight Continent, Bai Longjia was busy assembling thebat squads from the bloody battle. He was extremely busy, building casualty lists, processingpensation to the grieving families, and counting up military contributions. Bai Aotu was neither willing nor capable of performing such tasks.

    However, Bai Longjia had led troops for many years in the Broken Winged Angels and knew very well that these seemingly trivial matters were, in fact, of great importance. It could be said that a unit¡¯s morale was mostly dependent on these minor details. Bai Longjia had no choice but to take on this responsibility since Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t willing to do it, not to mention the Bai n was short on manpower.

    Presently, the bloody battle had alreadye to an end and all kinds of military affairs were piling up like mountains. Bai Longjia was so busy that he had lost track of day and night. It was at this moment that a subordinate came to deliver a letter from Bai Aotu. There was only a single line upon it that read, ¡°Heading into Giant¡¯s Repose. Don¡¯t miss me.¡±

    Bai Longjia was unable to speak for a long time after reading the letter. In the end, he pped the paper onto the table with an ashen expression. He was furious because of Bai Aotu, a rare happening for someone like Bai Longjia who admired his sister greatly.

    It was fine that Bai Aotu had been acting on her own in the past since she could be considered a young genius back then. But in recent years, her strength had risen sharply, and she had made rapid progress on the martial dao. She was already one of the core powers of the Bai n, and, judging from her age and future prospects, it was almost a certainty that she would be the number one expert of the n in the future.

    Entering Giant¡¯s Repose meant that there was a chance she could die, and that would have an unimaginable impact on the Bai n. However, she had never allowed Bai Longjia to question her behavior.

    The conflict between the Bai and Zhao ns had already surfaced after the bloody battle. It was the most critical moment where they had to decide how to deal with the aftermath. Bai Aotu yed a key role in several of the Bai n¡¯s development ns. All of those projects would fall into disorder now that she had run off to Giant¡¯s Repose,.

    After he had calmed down, Bai Longjia ced the letter back into the envelope and resealed it with great care. He then summoned a follower and instructed, ¡°Deliver this to the elder assembly at the greatest speed!¡±

    The follower had followed Bai Longjia for many years and was able to sense the urgency in his unusual tone of voice. He shot off immediately, and, momentster, a high-speed airship rose from the base and flew toward the upper continent.

    Bai Longjia pushed all trivial affairs to one side and proceeded to open a ssified folder. He then flipped through the documents one by one and started making detailed notes. There was no telling when Bai Aotu would return, so these ns had to bepletely redrafted.

    Unknowingly, day turned to night, and night turned to day. Bai Longjia had been bent over his desk for an entire day and night, only drinking some water in between. However, the folder was now filled with tiny dense words¡ªthe entire project had been redrafted.

    Even someone of Bai Longjia¡¯s strength felt quite exhausted at this moment. However, he felt fairly satisfied after looking at the thick dossier as it was the culmination of his recent years of experience in military and politics. It would surely draw a lot of reaction at the elder assembly.

 Volume 6 - 504: Strange Tree

    [V6C34 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Not only were distances farther than usual on this voidndmass, but even the concept of time was quite blurry.

    The human perception simply couldn¡¯t sense the flow of time, and the trajectories of the sun, moon, and stars weren¡¯t the same as on the other continents. The origin-powered field clock was still running, but with the void colossus¡¯ will pervading every part of this world, there was no telling whether the surrounding origin power it relied on for operation was normal.

    Twice did Qianye encounter dark race warriors in the days that followed, all of whom he easily dealt with. The second batch consisted of five opponents who had formed a small unit, and although there was a viscount among them, they were still wiped out with a bit of effort.

    Qianye noticed that the true problems had just begun. Apparently, the experts investigating Giant¡¯s Repose on the Evernight Continent had begun entering this world in session.

    The suppression and distorted perception brought about by the void colossus¡¯ will had reached an extent where it would even affect one¡¯sbat methods. To Qianye, however, this was a minor problem he could easily adapt to.

    The distorted perception was directly reflected in one¡¯s vision and hearing. Everything heard and seen here was slightly different from the real world. Under such circumstances, long-distance sniping was no longer a practical method.

    It wasn''t just Qianye. The dark race experts from the Evernight side had also discovered this rule. People from both factions would charge into meleebat once they were a couple hundred meters from one another.

    By the time Qianye saw three vampires appearing across from him, the other party had also discovered him. These three vampires had long sniper rifles strapped onto their backs, but they had given up using them. Instead, they drew their swords and pistol to charge at Qianye under the cover of thendscape.

    A silver-grey sniper rifle appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand, with which he aimed at one of the enemies.

    The three vampires were sneering. The one who had been aimed at didn¡¯t even bother to evade and merely kept on charging.

    A muffled gun-shot reverberated through the air above the stone forest, and that vampire was sent flying backward as though he had been struck by a giant hammer. There was a big, gaping hole on his chest, and the greater half of his arm had been sted away, leaving only a small strip of flesh connected to his body.

    This shot immediately stunned the remaining two vampires. They were all expert snipers, and they had tried on more than one asion to shoot at opponents from the empire. But their uracy would fall drastically once they were over a hundred meters, and it was virtually impossible to hit targets over two hundred.

    The two parties were over three hundred meters apart when Qianye managed to hit one of them. Was this just coincidence?

    The sniper rifle in Qianye¡¯s hand rumbled once again during that moment of hesitation. The grade-six weapon¡¯s massive firepower directly sted a vampire¡¯s head apart.

    The third vampire was shocked out of his wits after seeing Qianye take aim at him. He immediately turned tail and ran, unable to care about the corpses of hispanions. A single sprint took him a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

    He couldn¡¯t help but nce back as the gun rumbled once again, just in time to see an origin bullet flying out from Qianye¡¯s gun muzzle. The projectile was way off-target as it flew along an erratic trajectory. However, this queer trajectory still led to the vampire¡¯s back at the very end, and the bullet instantly shattered his blood core.

    The blue tint in Qianye¡¯s eyes dispersed after killing thest opponent. His True Sight was useful beyond imagination in this world of distorted perception. The Eye of Truth had gradually regained its powers after Qianye had limatized to the pressure of the void colossus¡¯ will. Presently, he could grasp a true vision of 500 meters in battle.

    After checking the three vampires¡¯ bodies, Qianye unexpectedly discovered that they were all people from the Monroe n. And judging from their insignias, one of them was of a fairly high position. It was just that they were too self-confident and hadn¡¯t expected that Qianye would be able to shoot within a range of 500 meters.

    For some reason, seeing the Monroe soldiers gave Qianye a faint sense of difort.

    Qianye then collected the spoils and was fairly satisfied by the pureblood vampire youth¡¯s sniper rifle. It was also a grade-six sniper rifle, but it was of a somewhat higher quality than the Zhao n¡¯s product, and its firepower was also greater.

    Qianye continued into the depths of the stone forest and toward the beast spine still jutting into the skies far off in the distance. It felt as though he hadn''t gotten closer to it at all, but Qianye was used to it by now. He couldn¡¯t tell how far away the spine was even with his True Sight.

    In the days that followed, Qianye encountered two beast hordes one after the other. One of them was the twin-horned sword bone horses, while the other was made up of dozens of lion-like beasts. It was just that, with origin power equal to a rank-nine fighter, their strength was far beyond that of a lion.

    The dozens of vicious beasts provided Qianye with an abundance of essence blood, so he simply took a day off to convert all of them with the Mystery Chapter before continuing his advance. After the umtion during this period, the Wings of Inception had begun to form the outline of yet another feather. It would seem that the second Shot of Inception would appear after a couple more times of essence blood conversion.

    One could never have too many of a weapon like the Shot of Inception. As such, Qianye had no intention of tampering with the darkness origin power distribution¡ªthe Wings of Inception consumed more than half, and the Book of Darkness took up most of the remainder, leaving only a small amount for the blood energies.

    The world itself was fairly barren, but the creatures possessed abundant essence blood, several times that of their counterparts on the continents.

    The scenery before Qianye¡¯s eyes changed all of a sudden as he walked further on. It was as though he had suddenly reached a different world.

    The ground was no longer the sandy soil of the stone forest. Instead, it was now covered in a thickyer of dark purple material with bright orange spots upon them. Walking on it felt like treading on a living being as it wiggled constantly.

    Qianye knelt down and stabbed it lightly with his dagger, carving a hole on the thickyer of purple. A translucent yellow oil immediately seeped out from the opening, and the cut edges of the wound squirmed like a small, open mouth. The scene was somewhat hair-raising.

    Qianye gathered some of the oil with his dagger and gave it a sniff. Then, he reached out a finger and let some of it stick to his skin. He wasn¡¯t afraid that the material would be poisonous because he already possessed auric me blood in his veins which afforded him immunity to most toxins.

    He felt nothing out of the ordinary after touching the substance, so he tried putting some into his mouth. His test revealed that apart from the fishy taste, this material waspletely edible and contained extremely high amounts of energy. ording to an ordinary person¡¯s consumption rate, a smalldle was enough for an entire day of activity.

    Qianye thrust his de into the soft purple material again and cut open an even deeper wound. As expected, the yellowish oily substance seeped out inrge amounts and eventually glued the wound shut.

    Qianye breathed a sigh of relief because food had been scarce along the journey after he had fallen into this world. He had supplies in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, but it was a limited amount. With the ground full of soft purple material before him, there was no longer a need to worry about food. It was simply inexhaustible.

    But what was this soft purple material and why was it here?

    There was a faint mist rising continuously from the dark purple sludge, through which one¡¯s perception could only reach ten meters. Qianye activated his True Sight and found that his vision had been constrained. He could only see about three hundred meters ahead.

    However, the discrepancy in distance was enough to give Qianye a powerful edge in mid to long distance sniping.

    The vast, unchanging purple ground finally saw some change after a fair distance of travel. A forest appeared in the distance, which, upon closer inspection, was filled with an array of strange nt life. Growing here were huge trees of a simr color to the ground¡ªdark-purple with orange spots¡ªand with giant spherical crowns shaped like beehives.

    Each of these peculiar trees was a hundred meters tall, and the beehive sphere on top was at least dozens of meters in radius. They were covered in a dark-purple meshwork filled with an eerie spectrum of red, orange, and yellows substances.

    After arriving at this ce, Qianye immediately retracted his aura, hid behind arge tree, and observed the surroundings in detail. Only after finding no signs of other creatures did Qianye reach out to touch the tree beside him.

    The tree trunk was rather sturdy and actually produced a metallic echo when knocked upon with the dagger. Sparks flew off when he tried sawing the tree with the serrations on the back of the dagger, but only some faint white marks were left behind on the tree trunk. It was unknown just what material the trees were made of, but their sturdiness had already surpassed metal alloy.

    He thought of something after sensing the vibrations produced from sawing the tree trunk. He activated his origin power and once again knocked on the tree trunk with the dagger. As expected, he sensed the vibrations traveling upward along the tree trunk.

    Qianye activated his True Sight and once again circted his origin power. He ced a hand on the tree trunk and then banged on the tree with his other fist. The heavy blow caused the entire tree to tremble ceaselessly. Meanwhile, in his True Sight, the inside of the tree was raging with vibrations akin to tidal waves.

    The giant tree actually possessed origin power?

    This discovery astonished Qianye. As such, he smashed the tree once more and once again caused it to tremble. Qianye soon gained a basic understanding of the tree¡¯s internal structure from his True Sight¡¯s perception of the vibratory waves.

    There were hundreds of channels inside the tree, and they were capable of transporting origin power just like the vessels of an origin cultivator. Although the origin power within the tree was quite thin, Qianye was able to sense that all of it was in liquid form. In terms of form, it could be considered an origin distite that had been diluted hundreds of times.

    However, it was nevertheless still an origin distite, and this alone made the tree shockingly valuable.

    Moreover, there were honeb-likepartments in the spherical crown of the tree, and a number of them seemed to be gestating something!

 Volume 6 - 505: Comrades

    [V6C35 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush up to the treetop. Instead, he produced East Peak and instilled energy into it. The sword was quickly suffused with a faint scarlet splendor and several silver lines glimmered upon the de.

    East Peak¡¯s might had increased significantly after incorporating the Heavenly Dew Silver and Dark Thread Crystals. It had long since surpassed the standards of an ordinary grade-seven weapon. The trunk of this peculiar tree was sturdy, but it wasn¡¯t at the level of a vehicle te armor. How could it block East Peak¡¯s sh? With just a slight effort from Qianye, East Peak had made a deep gash in the tree-trunk.

    The tree shook briefly as though it were crying out in agony, and ripples spread out rapidly from the dark purple sludge around the roots. The scene was iparably eerie. It looked as though this big tree, including the dark purple substance covering the entire forest, was alive.

    However, with his True Sight, Qianye was able to see that the flow of origin power within was disrupted by the cut, and the circtory system inside was in chaos. That was the reason for the resultant scene. The tree¡¯s root system extended fairly wide, and the origin power waves were being transmitted along it to produce the many ripples.

    A white fluid with a light fragrance oozed out from the gap, emitting strands of origin power in the process. Qianye stuck a finger into the liquid and brought it into his mouth for a taste.

    As expected, it was origin distite!

    It was just that the attribute of this natural origin distite leaned toward void origin power. It fell between Evernight and Daybreak with some bias toward the dark side. Compared to the Marrow Cleansing Pond of the Zhao n, this kind of natural origin distite would require the addition of numerous ingredients and an array of refinements in order to remove the darkness origin power. Only then could it be utilized by Daybreak Cultivators.

    However, it was already quite shocking even in its present state. Even a peak major n like the Zhao n required three months to brew a Marrow Cleansing Pond. This meant that the origin distite produced by a single tree was likely worth several thousand gold coins. Moreover, the forest here was boundlessly vast with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of such trees. This forest alone was worth the empire fighting this war.

    Qianye sighed emotionally. This was only a small area of thisndmass. There might be even more regions with treasures hidden within them.

    It was no wonder that the Evernight Council and the empire could never tire of exploring and conquering new continents. The n and family lords who possessed skill and strategic foresight would also choose to pioneer new frontiers despite the great risk and inevitable sacrifices.

    New territories meant greater resources, and greater resources meant faster development. That was how the human race had gained space and managed to survive in this world covered in darkness.

    At this moment, Qianye suddenly discovered that the transmitted wave had disappeared at a certain point.

    Someone¡¯s here!

    Qianye immediately activated his True Sight and nced over in the direction of the altered vibratory waves. There he saw a shadow flicker and disappear.

    That figure was extremely fast and even Qianye couldn¡¯t capture its tracks. He immediately drew East Peak, withdrew his aura, and walked over in the direction where the shadow had disappeared.

    That silhouette never appeared again in Qianye¡¯s vision and seemed to have left for the next target.

    Qianye sniffed a bloody odor just as he was about to arrive where the shadow had flickered. He hastened his steps and flitted across the dark purple substance without stirring up a single wave.

    Qianye was startled as he circled past arge tree where he discovered several corpses in Zhao n uniform.

    Qianye recognized most of these Zhao n experts. All of them were elites from the bloody battle who had been dispatched to investigate thisnd. Now, they had all died here before they had even reached the core region.

    His expression changed slightly, and it felt as though his internal organs had been doused with cold water. He calmed himself down first without checking the corpses. Instead, he activated his Eye of Truth to scan the surrounding ground and trees one after the other.

    There were strangely few traces ofbat left behind at the scene. However, there was no sign of the Blue Firmament or West Pole Violet Qi, which meant that Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t with them.

    Qianye exhaled lightly as his tense nerves rxed somewhat. He then knelt down and flipped over the corpse beside his feet, whereupon his expression darkened.

    Not only had he seen this person before, but he had also gotten acquainted with him under the Iron Curtain. Qianye had once rescued a Zhao n squad after returning to the Iron Curtain. Back then, the unit was in a precarious situation. As a champion, this person had the power to escape, but he fought on relentlessly against a force many times his own until Qianye arrived.

    It was because of this contribution that he was recognized by the family, who decided to pour resources into nurturing him.

    He didn¡¯t die even whilepletely surrounded under the Iron Curtain. Who would¡¯ve thought he would fall in this eerie forest? He was still so young, yet all of his dreams were now gone with the wind.

    Qianye¡¯s felt an inexplicable weight in his heart like a stone dragging down on it. The cruel bloody battle under the Iron Curtain had polished a batch of elite warriors and also made it easier to acknowledge those fighting alongside each other. Despite the short period of interaction, Qianye had recognized those Zhao n warriors he had fought alongside with asrades.

    Comrade: the weight of this word was even above a friend.

    Qianye ran his hand over the body, then opened up the battle armor to examine the wound. There was only one lethal point on the side of the neck, an extremely clean-cut de wound. The stab was quick, steady, and cut right through his cervical spine to kill him with a single blow.

    It would seem this warrior, named Zhao Shizhong, had encountered an unparalleled opponent. But the problem was that his stab had gone in too easily without giving Zhao Shizhong an opportunity to defend. That was the only way such a wound could¡¯ve been inflicted.

    However, Qianye knew the man¡¯sbat strength fairly well. Between the ranks of dark viscount and count, only someone at the level of Zhao Jundu utilizing his Omniscient Seal domain would be able to kill him instantly in this manner.

    Qianye himself was confident about killing Zhao Shizhong, but not with such a wound or in such a clean manner. It was so clean that there weren¡¯t even traces of a struggle. Could the Zhao n have encountered a major character above the level of marquis?

    Qianye stretched out a finger and pressed on the man¡¯s throat, then gradually moved downward. Strands of origin power shot out from his fingertips and entered Zhao Shizhong¡¯s body. Qianye sensed an abnormality as his finger moved over the corpse¡¯s chest. He pressed down lightly and found the skin below his fingers sink briefly without bouncing back up, thus forming a cavity.

    This cavity wasrger and deeper than those normally formed on corpses. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t caused by a loss of muscle sticity because even the chest bones had caved in. The force behind Qianye¡¯s fingers wasn¡¯t strong, and it was certainly not enough to push the chest wall in. Apparently, the skeleton of the corpse was exceptionally brittle for some reason.

    Qianye pondered for a moment, then said while clenching his teeth, ¡°My apologies, Brother.¡±

    He drew his military knife and cut open the corpse¡¯s chest to inspect the internal organs. The organs exposed after dissecting the chest had all been shattered, and some of them had even turned into formless mush.

    It was clear that Zhao Shizhong had suffered a secret attack. There was no injury on the surface, but the internal organs had all been destroyed. That was why he had lost the ability to resist and suffered a lethal stab. In truth, that stab had only severed hisst opportunity at struggling. His vitality had alreadye to an end when his organs were crushed.

    As a champion, there were no blind spots to his origin defenses, only its strength differed. However, just what kind of attack was able to pierce through a rank-twelve champion¡¯s defenses to destroy his internal organs?

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat as a bad premonition came over him. He recalled that his own Eye Ability: Control was such a power.

    Eye Ability: Control was able to ignore origin defenses and directly affect the other party¡¯s internal organs. However, Qianye had tried it before and found that the power of control wasn¡¯t powerful enough to immediately destroy the opponents¡¯ vital organs. He usually employed this ability to produce openings and thus lead the tempo of the battle.

    But Zhao Shizhong¡¯s killer had directly wrecked most of his organs through his elite champion defenses. This destructive power was so much more powerful than Control.

    Qianye exhaled deeply as a faint sense of unrest suffused his heart, but there was also something in his subconscious mind instinctively preventing him from looking deeper into this. He inspected the remaining corpses and discovered that all of them had died in the same manner. Only the lower level warriors were left with intact organs, killed from the outside in by an obviously powerful opponent.

    The bloody corpses thrown away here had begun eliciting a reaction from the sludge. The substance absorbed the blood continuously like loose sand, and the parts that had absorbed enough blood were squirming about, gradually climbing higher and extending upward along the body. Before long, the soil would cover up the corpsepletely.

    Qianye frowned as the scene before his eyes gave him a feeling of great difort. He recalled his experiences in the ck Forest and felt that this eerie substance might also be able to devour flesh to use as nutrients. He shed open the sludge to move all the corpses to another ce. There, he poured fuel upon them and set them aze. He would rather have his oldrades burn to ashes than see them drown in this sludge.

    Qianye stood beside the fire and watched as the mes raged on. The sludge, apparently afraid of the fire, shifted toward the surroundings. The parts that came in contact with the ze caught on fire but didn¡¯t burn too fiercely.

    After a moment of standing beside the fire, Qianye headed deeper into the stone forest in the direction where the mysterious figure had vanished. At this moment, he was no longer in the mood to explore the secrets of these mysterious trees and only wanted to catch up to the person rted to the death of the Zhao n soldiers.

    The raging mes had already be quite blurry when Qianye nced from several dozen meters away. After advancing further again, he could no longer see the raging pir of mes without using his True Sight. From this, it was obvious that the constraints on perception were especially powerful in these woods.

    Qianye had also wanted to draw enemies over with the mes since his True Sight range was clearly longer than the other people. If someone did approach, he would be the first to discover the enemy andunch a lethal attack. But now, it seemed the effects weren¡¯t so good¡ªeven igniting the giant tree would only allow people within a hundred meters to see the mes.

    Qianye traversed the forest at a constant speed while observing the surrounding movements.

    Hundreds of meters away, a pair of eyes was observing Qianye through a specialized scope, and the center of those bat-shaped crosshairs had been following his head around this entire time.

    However, no gunshots rang out even as Qianye left the scope¡¯s range.

    Nighteye was hidden in the crown of a distant tree, her aurapletely blending into the surroundings. She had a sniper rifle of exquisite craftsmanship in her arms, through which she was observing the surrounding area.

    She slowly got up a while after Qianye¡¯s departure, then disassembled and put away her sniper rifle.

    The scenery beside her became slightly distorted as the silhouette of a demonkin appeared. The vertical eye on his forehead was emitting a faint green light as he shot Nighteye a suspicious nce. ¡°Didn¡¯t you find anything? Why do I feel some abnormal origin power fluctuations there?¡±

    ¡°You can go and take a look if you have doubts,¡± Nighteye replied with a simr coldness.

    That demonkin frowned slightly, then said, ¡°Your Majesty, I meant no offense. Although I have the Unshrouding Eye, I am far from being your match. That¡®s why I am here as support and to protect you.¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯tment on this matter. ¡°You may withdraw.¡±

 Volume 6 - 506: Ambush

    [V6C36 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    That demonkin brought out a sheepskin scroll and outlined a segment of thend with just a few strokes. With that, the map in his hand became slightly enriched.

    After drafting the local geography, he studied it for a while before pointing to a certain location. ¡°We should be here. Let¡¯s move ahead one kilometer and observe again.¡±

    A barely discernible glint shed through Nighteye¡¯s pupils as she nodded in silence and followed the demonkin. The direction they were headed in was precisely where Qianye had gone toward.

    In this strange, vastnd, there was no telling just how many soldiers were cautiously searching for enemies. On one hand, they had to resist the omnipresent suppression of the void colossus¡¯ will, while on the other, they had to wrestle with the distorted perception. It was arduous, to say the least.

    Qianye was rtively at ease and his movements had gradually sped up. He was able to firmly lock onto his direction and advance toward the colossal skeleton even in a forest where everything seemed the same.

    After circling around a certainrge tree, Qianye¡¯s ears twitched ever so slightly as he caught a series of extremely light footsteps. He immediately stood with his back against the tree and nced toward where the footsteps had originated from. Hundreds of meters away, a vampire viscount had appeared through the mist. He held a sword with both hands, the tip of which was pointed toward the ground as he calmly walked forward step by step.

    This was a stance in which he could brandish his sword and attack at any given moment. Apparently, this viscount was no ordinary character. He didn¡¯t bother to hide his movements but instead chose to maintain abat stance at all times. This was confidence, a firm belief that he could easily kill or retreat even when encountering a powerful enemy.

    The widespread purple substance was fairly special, and one could hardly avoid making sounds while walking over them. One would need to maintain flight form in order to advance quietly. However, most champions would emit obvious origin power fluctuations during flight, and the consumption was also too great.

    This second-rank viscount¡¯s choice wasn¡¯t wrong. The only issue was that he had encountered Qianye.

    Qianye had already set up his sniper rifle at this point. He had perfectly hidden his aura with Bloodline Concealment as he ced the crosshairs steadily over the viscount¡¯s blood core.

    In truth, Bloodline Concealment wasn¡¯t a necessity in such an environment because the viscount would need toe within a hundred meters in order to discover Qianye. It was just that Qianye had gotten used to being cautious. Moreover, he could vaguely sense a pair of eyes upon him from time to time.

    Qianye¡¯s fingers had started tugging on the trigger when he noticed a datura flower on the vampire¡¯s cor¡ªthe Monroe n¡¯s insignia. The emblem was somewhat ring as it reflected in his eyes.

    Qianye¡¯s hesitationsted only a split second. He quickly drove away the distractions in his mind and pulled the trigger. The Mithril Bullet of Exorcism drew a blinding silver sh through the air as it flew toward the viscount.

    That vampire viscount was indeed expecting an attack, but not one from a sniper. He swung his sword out of instinct as the silver sh appeared in his eyes and actually managed to hit the sniper round mid-air.

    The instant reaction proved that hisbat arts had reached an extremely high realm. However, the great firepower behind the sniper round caused him to take several steps back and his hand to go numb. The viscount¡¯s expression shifted after that abhorrent silver color appeared clearly in his vision.

    Had this shot connected, he would¡¯ve been gravely injured if not killed. The most frightening point, however, was that he couldn¡¯t sense the enemy at all! The only thing he could do was judge the enemy¡¯s location form the bullet¡¯s trajectory. But what good would that do? The assant had surely left his original position during this short period.

    The blood energy around the vampire viscount grew denser, and a faint image of the datura flower appeared within. He had pushed all of his remaining power to the limits. Another sh of silver appeared at this point, but just as the viscount was about to sh at the bullet, the pressure upon his body grew drastically and almost pressed him onto his knees.

    Domain! The viscount cried out frantically in his heart. But how could anyone deploy a domain under the standard level suppression of this ursed ce? Even he, Armas, one of the Ten Dread Daturas who had possessed a domain since knighthood, couldn¡¯t produce aplete domain here.

    Not only was the suppression of this particr domain substantial, but it also felt as though it had never been weakened by the colossus¡¯ will. Armas was unable to resist this pressure even after pushing his blood energy to the limits. He could only watch with wide-open eyes as the Mithril Bullet of Exorcism sted onto his body.

    Amras flew out a dozen or so meters amidst wretched cries and crashed into arge tree. He fell decrepit onto the ground and never rose again. He hadn¡¯t just suffered the daybreak energy explosion of the exorcism bullet, but also the strand the blood energy Qianye had instilled into it. It took Armas everything he had just to resist the erosion of the blood energy, and even raising his hand became strenuous.

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared from within the mist and walked over quietly to the vampire¡¯s side.

    Armas stared fixedly at Qianye as he ceased his struggle with a smile of relief. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it to be you, Zhao Qianye, one of the empire¡¯s twin stars. It¡¯s not unjust for me to die in your hands. Just do it, it¡¯s very simple, but you won¡¯t get any information out of me.¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a moment. ¡°Do you have anything to say?¡±

    Armasughed ruefully and said, ¡°I do have a question. Why was there blood energy on your Mirthril Bullet of Exorcism? But then again, you probably won¡¯t tell me anyway. Let¡¯s end it here!¡±

    ¡°You were a respectable opponent. Godspeed!¡± Qianye¡¯s East Peak pierced into Armas¡¯ chest and destroyed his blood core.

    Armas was indeed an expert. Although he was iparable to factional geniuses like Zhao Jundu and Nighteye, he was still a first-rate expert. If it weren¡¯t for the suppression of the void colossus¡¯ will, Qianye would have to fight an arduous battle in order to kill him.

    Against such an opponent, Qianye decided to help him preserve a warrior¡¯s dignity¡ªhe neither absorbed the vampire¡¯s essence blood nor pulled out his fangs as proof of contribution.

    Qianye thus left and quickly vanished into the hazy mist. Meanwhile, Armas¡¯ body was left leaning against therge tree as the surrounding purple substance gradually extended over, attracted by the presence of flesh and blood.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts weren¡¯t calm as he continued deeper in. The conversation with Armas just now was short but informative.

    The other twin star of the empire was naturally Zhao Jundu, and this term made evident the Evernight faction¡¯s assessment of them. It could be considered a worthy evaluation since Qianye and Zhao Jundu had rampaged through the Iron Curtain and achieved peerless military sess.

    However, that term Zhao Qianye made it clear that his rtionship with the Zhao n was beyond close and that even the Evernight side had already heard about it. But he should¡¯ve expected this situation long ago since Zhao Jundu had registered Qianye¡¯s name under his secondary residence.

    It was just that he had quietly erased the Zhao surname from his heart. The fierce, war-like Zhao n and their outstanding descendants were an honor to fight alongside. Butpared to the extravagant Zhao Residence on the Western Continent, the tiny ckflow City felt more like home to him.

    Qianye encountered several waves of enemies as he pushed deeper and deeper in¡ªeven a count. But the advantage of his True Sight was evident, and that huge third-rank arachne count was hardly agile. Qianye badly injured him with a single Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang and proceeded to suppress hisckeys with the momentum of a great ocean. East Peak swept across and immediately shed through the arachne¡¯s waist.

    Being severed from his arachnid body was a lethal blow even for a count. With the count eradicated, the remaining barons couldn¡¯t even release their domains and were directly killed by Qianye¡¯s oceanic power. The survivors were all put down with one sh each.

    Qianye took a break after finishing off this group and collecting the essence blood as well as the spoils of war.

    When he had just arrived in ckflow City, Arachne Viscount Brahms was a tremendous entity Qianye could hardly look up at. The arachne might¡¯ve turned ckflow into rubble had it not been for the top-grade defenses of Wei Bainian¡¯s Thousand Mountain. Today, however, Qianye could already fight head-on against an arachne count. Of course, he had also taken advantage of the suppression of the void colossus¡¯ will in order to aplish this.

    Among the four great dark races, the arachne¡¯s essence blood was of the lowest purity but the highest in quantity. These opponents filled Qianye¡¯s essence blood stores by more than half. Presently, Qianye reckoned that his body could amodate an amount of essence blood equal to that of a virtuous count.

    In thisnd filled with danger, every bit of strength might be a life-saving measure at the critical moment. Hence, Qianye was in no rush to go further¡ªinstead, he found a hidden ce to circte his Mystery Chapter and refine all of the essence blood before going on.

    This time, the refinement process took an entire day. The greater half of the darkness origin power was absorbed by the Wings of Inception, while the remainder were split evenly between the Book of Darkness and the dark golden blood energy. The scope of his auric gold blood expanded slightly once more after absorbing the darkness origin power. Qianye would advance to be a second-rank viscount by the time the auric gold blood had been distributed throughout his trunk, and a first-rank viscount when they had covered his limbs.

    The experts from various parties operating in this vast forest had increased progressively when Qianye resumed his advancement.

    No matter how they had passed through Giant¡¯s Repose to enter this world, they would all arrive at locations surrounding this region. Moreover, everyone could see the giant skeleton in the distance, no matter how distant they were.

    Nighteye and that demonkin traversed the forest like specters. As time went by, their aplishments also increased continuously.

    That demonkin wasn¡¯t a nobody. He was a genius expert from the Dark Abyss called Eden and his rank was that of a mighty count.

    Dark Abyss, Masefield, and Jeruson were all famous demonkin families that produced countless experts. One could hardly underestimate someone considered a genius in such a n. His Unshrouding Eye was an excessively powerful ability capable of seeing through many types of concealment, not to mention he could use origin power to amplify its pration effect.

    That was the reason why Eden had been dispatched directly by the Evernight Council to apany Nighteye all along her journey. His real mission was to protect her; supporting her was only secondary.

    The results of their battles in this peculiar world were just as the Evernight Council had predicted. Although the scope of his Unshrouding Eye wasn¡¯t as great as Nighteye¡¯s, it was still two times that of ordinary people. Being specialists in concealment and camouge, theirbined powers were extremely sharp and gapless in the present environment. They would be able to escape calmly even if they were to encounter a true expert.

    Eden halted his advancing steps all of a sudden and gestured toward the left side that he was in charge of. Nighteye turned about quickly and approached rapidly at the same pace. Faintly discernible silhouettes appeared before them in the blink of an eye.

    Three soldiers had made a temporary camp under the tree. One of them stood guard, the other one was dressing his wounds, while the third was cultivating in a cross-legged posture in a bid to recover origin power.

    The three had split their roles ording to reason. They seemed rxed, but the entire area around the camp had been covered by two of the soldiers without any dead angles. The true gap in their surveince was because of Nighteye and Eden¡¯s excessively long visual range.

    Eden gestured toward Nighteye, removed the origin gun from his back, and took aim at the vignt warrior. Seeing that the soldier wasn¡¯t aware of anything, a smile appeared on Eden¡¯s face as he slowly pulled on the trigger.

    It was during the split second before the shot that Nighteye suddenly reached out and pressed down on Eden¡¯s gun muzzle.

 Volume 6 - 507: Another Deal

    [V6C37 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Eden was astonished, but fortunately, his reaction was fast, and he didn¡¯t fire identally. He nced at Nighteye and performed a questioning gesture, to which Nighteye responded by pointing at her own cor, then beckoning him to retreat and go around.

    Eden nced at the three soldiers suspiciously. Two of them were wearing eye-catching Swallow Cloud Cavalry shoulder armor. Eden was no stranger to the Zhao n insignia.

    There were also emblems on their battle armor, but those Eden didn¡¯t quite recognize. However, he didn¡¯t feel that it was important either because it only went to show that their families were just so-so. At the very least, they weren¡¯t strong enough for Eden to remember.

    Eden was hesitant because he didn¡¯t feel that it was a big deal to kill the Zhao n soldiers. However, he didn¡¯t insist as Nighteye gestured once more.

    After all, Nighteye was still the nominal leader of this expedition. Moreover, his rank being higher than Nighteye was only temporary because the bloodline of a primo like Nighteye was even higher than his own. Moreover, she had awakened just recently and was in her rapid growth phase. She would catch up to him before long. As for resources, someone who had received the council¡¯s attention couldn¡¯t becking in this regard.

    The two left quietly, leaving the three camping soldiers with no idea they had just experienced a brush with death.

    After traveling a fair distance, Eden couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Why did we withdraw?¡±

    ¡°Those are Zhao n people.¡±

    Eden was even more puzzled. ¡°I know they¡¯re from the Zhao n and not of a low status, either. But doesn¡¯t that mean we should kill them?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that we¡¯ve killed too many Zhao n soldierstely?¡±

    ¡°So what? The Zhao n is one of the empire¡¯s four major ns and a great enemy of ours. This is a great opportunity to weaken them. Didn¡¯t your brother Viscount Aaron also die in that Zhao Qianye¡¯s hands?¡±

    A barely discernible hint of pain shed through Nighteye¡¯s pupils at the mention of Aaron, but she soon recovered her indifference and went on in silence.

    Eden noticed that he had spoken out of turn. ¡°I¡¯m very sorry.¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°As a scion of the Monroe n, dying in battle is the best way to return to the River of Sacred Blood.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡±

    Nighteye pulled herself together after a period of silent running. ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that the number of people we¡¯re encountering has increasedtely? It looks like we¡¯re already close to the core area. The empire¡¯s twin stars are both with the Zhao n, so we¡¯ll surely meet them at the colossus¡¯ skeleton. Isn¡¯t it better if we don¡¯t have to fight them first?¡±

    Eden seemed to have understood and said with a nod, ¡°It¡¯s indeed so! It¡¯s best if we let those arachne and werewolves take the front line. If needed, the other ns of my race are also fine.¡±

    Qianye and Zhao Jundu had umted shocking military achievements. There was no telling how high theirbat strength would be in this world where origin power was being suppressed, but one could easily guess that they were much more powerful than ordinary people. Even with the rank advantage, Eden wasn¡¯t willing to fight head-on against them unless it was necessary. It was naturally the best if other people could serve as cannon-fodder and whittle away at their strength.

    At this point, Eden seemed to have understood Nighteye¡¯s intentions. Qianye and Zhao Jundu would surely discover something amiss if they killed too many of the Zhao n soldiers, and they would likely be confronted first at the colossus¡¯ skeleton.

    As for what Eden was truly thinking, no one knew.

    As such, the two continued their exploration journey, hunting imperial experts and cautiously exchanging information with the other Evernight exploration teams. When encountering the asional lieutenant-general-level experts, they would take advantage of their visual range and concealment advantages to evade them.

    An entire day passed by in this manner, and even the geniuses of the Evernight faction eventually started to feel tired. Hence, they both agreed to take a break, one keeping watch, while the other rested.

    ¡°Nighteye?¡± It was originally Eden¡¯s turn to rest, but it would seem he was unable to sleep due to certain worries.

    Nighteye asked without looking back, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I heard about some activity from the Holy Son¡¯s side and all of them are targeted at you. This time, they¡¯ve mobilized all of their powers and seem determined to seed.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Nighteye¡¯s tone was calm. It was as though this were a trifling matter of little significance

    ¡°The information I obtained is that Her Majesty Lilith only said that you are free to choose your own path if you managed to obtain an ancient essence fragment. She said she won''t interfere, but that doesn¡¯t mean that others from the Perth n, or even the other ns, won¡¯t take action. The Holy son¡¯s movement this time is an attempt to make you submit before anyone else does.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°And this strange realm is the best ce to do it.¡±

    This time, Nighteye didn¡¯t reply and only remained silent.

    Eden sighed. ¡°My words may be a bit too blunt and I hope you don¡¯t take it to heart. Frankly speaking, I¡¯m not too optimistic about you escaping Edward¡¯s grasp. I¡¯ve known him for hundreds of years, and I understand his character quite well. Edward never does anything without assurance. Now that he¡¯s gone all in, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s fully confident about sess. What about you? How are you prepared to deal with him?¡±

    ¡°I have my own ways,¡± Nighteye replied indifferently.

    ¡°You do?¡± Edenughed helplessly. ¡°We¡¯ve fought side by side for so many days, so I¡¯vee to understand you a little bit at least. Moreover, I¡¯ve seen all of your information after the council assigned me to this mission. You wouldn¡¯t be saying this if you really had a way out. You¡¯d be retaliating against Edward instead.¡±

    Nighteye simply gazed on at the mist in silence.

    Eden sighed once more and said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you already know my intentions at this point. I¡¯d like to extend you an invitation on behalf of the Dark Abyss. You¡¯re wee to join us if you¡¯re willing or if you have no other choice. The Dark Abyss will shelter you. We can assume the pressure even if ites from the Queen of the Night herself.¡±

    Nighteyeughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Am I that valuable? Is this the will of the Dark Abyss or the council?¡±

    ¡°At least it has been approved by that excellency atop the sacred mountain.¡±

    Eden¡¯s words surprised Nighteye who shot a quick nce upward. A supreme existence atop one of the seven sacred peaks stood at the very pinnacle of the dark race. She asked after a moment of silence, ¡°What do you want from me? Marriage?¡±

    ¡°No, we want you to provide us with a drop of origin blood every ten years for three hundred years.¡±

    Nighteyeughed. ¡°That¡¯s an unbelievably rxed demand.¡±

    A single drop every ten years would affect Nighteye¡¯s advancement greatly, but not to the point where she couldn¡¯t move forward. Considering the long life-span of a high-ranking vampire, three hundred years was only enough to reach middle age. Judging from Nighteye¡¯s post-awakening advancement rate, it was still possible for her to reach the prince rank. However, all hopes of a coronation would be severed.

    But bing a crowned prince or even igniting a blood seal on the River of Sacred Blood was easier said than done. Just how many brilliant geniuses had appeared from the Twelve Ancient ns throughout the hundreds of years? There was nock of those with a bloodline purity equal to that of Nighteye¡¯s. But what came of them in the end? Countless geniuses became mediocre at the terminus of their maturity, and few ever achieved the grand duke status.

    The only one who had ignited a blood seal in a thousand years was Habsburg.

    That was why the price Nighteye had to pay for this deal was only an ephemeral hope, so the price couldn¡¯t be considered steep. As for what they were looking to do with the origin blood, that really wasn¡¯t important.

    The uses of a vampire¡¯s origin blood were vast. The power of blood, in and of itself, had the special effect of actuating one¡¯s vitality. They could be made into various types of life-saving measures that were suitable for all races. Moreover, one drop of origin blood every ten years wasn¡¯t enough to produce a descendant, so Nighteye didn¡¯t need to worry about her bloodline being tampered with.

    ¡°I¡¯ll consider it,¡± Nighteye replied. As for whether her words were sincere or if she was merely offering a polite response, only she herself would know.

    Eden said with a nod, ¡°The situation might be worse than you thought. As far as I know, many ancient beings are starting to think about certain prospects after His Majesty Habsburg ignited the blood seal. And among all the awakened primos, your primogenitor origin blood is the closest to the blood seal.¡±

    At this point, Eden spoke no more because he believed Nighteye had already understood. His origin power had recovered, so he rose and continued the journey with Nighteye.

    The two of them were able to lock onto the colossus¡¯ skeleton with great rity, but they were no longer in a rush to go over after figuring out the rules of this mysterious world. On the contrary, they availed themselves to the advantageous terrain to kill more imperial enemies. As such, their path of advancement wound left, right, and even looped backward as they swept through the surrounding area and gradually approached the core area of the colossus¡¯ skeleton.

    After another half a day, Nighteye suddenly hastened her steps and ran over to a distant tree. Knowing that her vision was better than his own and that she had likely discovered something, Eden immediately followed suit while paying attention to the nks.

    Nighteye arrived below the giant tree. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary here, but she frowned silently as she ran her hand over the trunk. Eden also walked over and shot a nce at the tree trunk. He then tapped lightly upon it and said, ¡°There are traces of battle here. These minute abrasions are likely due to an attack.¡±

    With that, Eden scraped off a small piece of dried stain and observed it on his fingers. ¡°Vampire. And it¡¯s from your Monroe bloodline.¡±

    Nighteye drew her sword. A sanguineous light emerged upon the de as she shed open the purple substance below the tree. As she flicked the sludge apart, the bloody radiance on her sword shot out in all directions like a sentient being and began eroding the cut edges continuously.

    The blood energy shot out by Nighteye seemed exceptionally powerful. It quickly eroded the substance and revealed an empty area beneath the tree. There was a dense array of pores in the soil from which the purple substance was gushing out. Currently, the blood energy had cleared the sludge away and was seeping in along the pores.

    Eden¡¯s expression wasplicated. He had tried using demonic energy to erode the substance, but the effects were a far cry from Nighteye¡¯s blood energy. The demonkin¡¯s demonic energy, especially the Deep Abyss n¡¯s demonic energy, had always been known for their corrosive properties. However, even someone of Eden¡¯s caliber could barely handle this purple substance since thetter seemed to possess significant resistance and devouring properties against all types of energy.

    However, Nighteye¡¯s blood energy seemedpletely unaffected by the substance as it swept through everything in its path, refusing to stop until they had beenpletely exhausted.

    Eden saw it clearly. This wasn¡¯t a difference in their origin power quantity, but instead, a gap between their intrinsic quality.

    This kind of mysterious substance was like a natural testing stone¡ªbefore it, the superiority of one¡¯s origin power quality would be evident at a nce. Even a marquis or a duke, no matter how powerful they were, might not be able to exert any meaningful effect on the purple substance if their bloodlines were mottled and far from the grand origin. Their blood energies might even be devoured instead.

    No corpse was revealed after the substance disappeared. Even the bones had beenpletely dissolved in a short time, to speak nothing of the flesh. However, some indestructible items would always be left behind. For instance, some small objects made of metal or other rare materials, including their n insignia.

    Nighteye¡¯s expression changed as she picked up the insignia. The emblem, which served as proof of identity for just a handful of outstanding characters in the n, was made of a special material. She flipped it over and saw the name engraved at the back. Finally, she said with a soft sigh, ¡°It¡¯s Armas.¡±

 Volume 6 - 508: The Silhouette Through the Scope

    [V6C38 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Armas? This¡­ is truly unfortunate.¡±

    Armas was one of the elites who had been sent by the Monroe n to support Nighteye. Although he was only a second-rank viscount, his sword arts were extremely powerful and greatly suited for operating under the suppression of the colossus¡¯ will.

    However, all groups were dispersed once they entered this world from Giant¡¯s Repose. It was just that Eden and Nighteye were located quite close, and were thus able to meet up on the second day. They had been taking their time to roam the surrounding areas without rushing toward the colossus¡¯ remains because they wanted to rendezvous with their teammates. They would be qualified to seize the ancient essence fragment only after umting a certain amount of military strength.

    Unexpectedly, Armas had fallen here without even a corpse remaining. Eden quickly observed the surroundings¡ªbeing able to finish Armas off without signs of an intense battle proved that the opponent was powerful. It might even be one of the empire¡¯s twin stars, and Eden didn¡¯t wish to bump into them at all before reaching the ancient essence fragment.

    Nighteye collected Armas¡¯ items without a word and continued onward.

    ¡­

    Meanwhile, Qianye was also roaming the area, and an increasing number of dark race members had died in his wake as he gradually approached the colossus¡¯ remains. The closer he came to the inner circle, the more dangerous things became, and the greater his chances of encountering the other faction¡¯s experts.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t seen Zhao Jundu yet up to this point. He had, however, bumped into a couple of experts from the imperial noble families. But Qianye liked to move alone so he merely got in touch for a simple exchange of intelligence and parted ways with them.

    It was at this time that Qianye¡¯s ears moved ever so slightly. He quickly leapt onto the closest tree and nced into the distance, from whence came a long, resounding howl.

    This wolf howl hade from at least a kilometer away. This was nothing in the outside world where even the sound of an ordinary beast howling to the moon could travel several kilometers. However, it was truly out of the ordinary in a world protected of the colossus¡¯ will. A howl reaching over a kilometer in range despite the suppression proved how powerful this werewolf was.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned odd because he seemed to recognize this sound. Was that... William?

    Apparently, he was in a fierce battle with someone nearby and had unleashed such a roar at the height of his battle intent.

    Qianye hesitated for a moment but still made his way toward the direction of that howl. However, he maintained a state of bloodline concealment throughout the journey and seemed to have no intention of letting either party discover him.

    Qianye had always felt a good impression toward William¡¯s attitude. Since sharing food with him in that unknown cave in the wilderness, William had treated him more like a friend and less like an enemy. Regardless of his true intentions, it was a fact that he had helped Qianye several times. Thus, he could hardly ignore the werewolf¡¯s kindness despite his natural vignce against the dark races.

    But William was still a werewolf who belonged to the Evernight faction, so they would naturally be on opposite sides if they were to meet under the present circumstances.

    One kilometer wasn¡¯t far at all, but it became a rather long trek with his perception limited to within a couple hundred meters. As he arrived near the scene, Qianye saw the ground virtually overturned and a dozen or so giant trees leaning at odd angles.

    The fight had already ended and William was nowhere to be seen. What surprised Qianye was that William¡¯s enemy was neither an imperial soldier or a vampire. Instead, they were peculiar men the size of a three-year-old child. They possessedrge eyes, small limbs, wrinkled brown skin, and were wielding wooden stakes in their hands.

    There were dozens of such small corpses, and most of them had traces of ws or bites upon them.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes froze at this point. Had William been fighting in his werewolfbat form? Qianye had never seen William¡¯s truebat form at this point. There was only that one time on the Western Continent where thetter had changed into a giant wolf to intercept him. The transformation then had doubled his suppressive might, a testament to how powerful hisbat form was. This also meant that these odd little men were definitely not as simple as they seemed on the surface.

    Qianye drew East Peak and stabbed one of the corpses on the ground. Qianye was surprised to find that there was actually some resistance at the tip before it went into the body. East Peak, at this point, had reached a whole new level after being reforged at the Zhao n. It was just a casual stab, but the sword almost failing to pierce through went to show just how shocking their natural defenses were.

    He picked up one of the short wooden spears and observed it carefully, whereupon an almond-like smell of bitterness wafted into his nose. As soon as he had inhaled this smell, Qianye felt a constant sting on his skin, and the hand holding the spear turned somewhat numb.

    Clearly, this was poison¡ªand an unfathomable venom at that.

    Basically, Qianye¡¯s present constitution and auric me blood afforded him immunity to most toxins. Even the special anti-vampire poisons used by the empire were ineffective on him. Who would¡¯ve thought that this unassuming short spear in front of him was actually carrying such a terrifying poison?

    No wonder William had revealed hisbat form. He needed to wipe out these little men with reinforced speed, lest he got stabbed by their poisoned spears. This was also an indirect proof that even William¡¯s count-level defenses weren¡¯tpletely invincible against their attacks.

    Qianye learned nothing more after a period of research. He was no biological specialist, so he could only judge thebat strength and style of these little men from his past experience. This yielded limited results.

    Qianye picked up a couple of those spears, wrapped them tightly with beast skin, and ced them into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm forter research.

    These corpses would soon be devoured and disintegrated by the purple substance, never to appear again. The forest seemed unchanged, but the appearance of these little creatures proved that this world was much more dangerous than they had previously anticipated. Moreover, where had they evene from?

    Qianye suddenly recalled the beehive-like structure in the crowns of thoserge trees and that there were certain things being gestated in them.

    A puzzled Qianye continued his investigation. Moreover, he kept his True Sight active at all times and didn¡¯t dare rx. Judging from the clues at the scene, William had clearly been ambushed and attacked from all sides by those little men.

    After advancing for some time, Qianye suddenly noticed a certain part of the ground substance bulging up abnormally. He rapidly rushed over and shed it open with East Peak.

    This time, Qianye had added blood energy to the de¡¯s edge, preventing the cut edges from repairing themselves. The blood energy eroded swiftly through the substance and revealed two partially-devoured corpses underneath. Their identities could still be discerned because the ornaments on them were mostly intact. Both of them were aristocratic family experts¡ªone was from the Kong family, and the other was from a certain middle-ranked family.

    The flesh on their chests had been eroded quite a bit. Qianye flicked an air bullet which quickly broke through their damaged chest bones and revealed their internal organs. As expected, their internal organs had all been shattered.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze became solemn, knowing that he was already closing in on this mysterious opponent. Judging from the state of those corpses, it had been less than two hours since that person¡¯s departure. Two hours was enough to go quite far, but not to the point where he couldn¡¯t catch up.

    Qianye flipped through the dead man¡¯s backpack and fished out two boxes of exorcism bullets, then left with hastened steps.

    About an hourter, Qianye poked his head out from behind arge tree-trunk. He seemed to have discovered an abnormality in the crown of a tree at the extremes of his vision.

    Qianye shrunk back behind the tree and climbed upward with the trunk as cover. He then climbed into the spherical treetop and slowly peered out. He moved with such caution that the treetop wasn¡¯t swaying at all.

    That opponent¡¯s ability was simply too strange, so Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to let them gain the initiative. The best way to deal with this kind of opponent was to snipe from stealth and not give the opponent any opportunity to use their abilities.

    There was indeed something strange about the treetop across from him. Qianye couldn¡¯t see anything, but his True Sight had outlined the hazy silhouette of a hiding person.

    The long sniper rifle stretched out inch by inch from beneath Qianye. The weapon had been covered with ayer of purple substance for camouge, but even moving it into firing position took him several minutes.

    Qianye was fairly patient, an attribute he had gained after experiencing countless battles. At this moment, the distance between the two parties had reached the limit of Qianye¡¯s vision. He was still fairly cautious even though he had never encountered an enemy who could see farther than him.

    The Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang in his rifle chamber would strike the target as soon as he could confirm that the other party was a dark race expert. By then, the enemy would be gravely injured if not dead.

    Qianye slowly adjusted the scope. Finally, the image of a treetop came into view.

    At the center of his crosshair was a deep, serene rifle scope!

    It was a scope decorated fully with a vampire ir and aimed right at Qianye. There was no need for a second nce¡ªQianye knew that the opponent¡¯s crosshairs were also on his scope.

    Qianye held his breath!

    He knew not whether he had been discovered or if the other party just happened to be aiming in this direction. For an ordinary person, the only thing in his scope should be a patch of hazy white mist.

    However, Qianye knew she also possessed superior vision. He never saw her face clearly, but merely from that pony-tail and raven-ck hair¡ªjust from that hazy silhouette¡ªhe knew it had to be Nighteye, that person most deeply entangled with his life.

    But, had she also seen him?

    Qianye didn¡¯t move. His line of vision passed through the two crosshairs to reach Nighteye.

    However, that was only an illusion. He couldn¡¯t see Nighteye¡¯s eyes, just as Nighteye couldn¡¯t see his. The crosshairs acted as a bridge for one to see the other, yet they also became a wall preventing them from true eye-contact.

    After recognizing Nighteye, Qianye realized that the mysterious opponent he had been chasing after was her. Only her eye ability would possess such powers of pration capable of piercing the defenses of ordinary champions.

    ¡°Crack!¡± A light sound shattered the silence of the forest. It turned out that Qianye had unknowingly exerted enough force to break the solid bark of that tree. Fortunately, no ordinary person could catch this minuscule sound at such a distance.

    However, the scenery around Nighteye fluctuated ever so slightly¡ªQianye immediately realized there was someone beside her.

 Volume 6 - 509: Unexpected Meeting

    [V6C39 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The person beside Nighteye possessed inferior visual rangepared to Qianye, but his skill in camouge was clearly superior. This person had melded into his surroundings. If not for Qianye¡¯s True Sight capturing a minute change in origin power, it would truly have been difficult to discover his existence.

    With such a person partnered to Nighteye, it was no wonder that even those old veterans had no way to defend.

    Eden stopped moving after adjusting his position. He discovered nothing else apart from a vague sensation born of his intuition. Nighteye was in charge of that direction, and her vision was much greater than his own. Since even she was showing no reaction, then it was likely nothing.

    Qianye only nced at Eden through the corner of his eyes. The focus of his vision had always been on Nighteye.

    Qianye suddenly felt a stifling sensation in his chest as his body gradually turned colder and his heart wracked with an ineffable confusion. He was like a guilty kid standing before his elders. What the grown-ups thought was a minor matter was perhaps the end of the world in the child¡¯s heart.

    Just like Qianye at the moment, he felt his entire world was slowly but surely sinking into the deepest darkness.

    One corpse after another shed past Qianye¡¯s eyes¡ªZhao n soldiers, experts from other aristocratic families, and those iron-blooded warriors of the various army corps. And it wasn¡¯t just people of the empire; those Evernight experts who had died in Qianye¡¯s hands also appeared in his vision, especially the vampires of the Monroe n. The datura flowers they wore stung his eyes so.

    Those gunshots reverberated in his ears, and the tremor as his de entered their bodies felt just as clear to him. Qianye recalled, with great rity, each and every Evernight expert who had fallen to his sword.

    But whether it was for Nighteye or Qianye, every battle, every bit of military contribution, pushed them further from one another. They pushed each other to a distance where they could no longer hold hands as they did in the beginning.

    The crosshairs of Qianye¡¯s scope was still on Nighteye¡¯s own. He needed only to pull the trigger and that origin-infused Bullet of Extreme Yang would st through her scope and through her eye¡ªeven a marquis would be gravely wounded by this shot. Moreover, Qianye could even activate Heavy Caliber and urate Shooting to raise the projectile¡¯s firepower.

    Qianye¡¯s finger on the trigger was bloodlessly pale, not unlike that of a lifeless corpse. The finger was trembling slightly, a situation unbing for a superior marksman like him.

    At some point, Zhao Shizhong, the dead Zhao n warriors, those from the other aristocratic families, Red Scorpion, and those teammates from the 131st Battalion with whom he had fought side by side all appeared around him. Their gazes as they looked down at him from behind pierced through him like red-hot iron nails.

    ¡°Fire!¡±

    ¡°Pull that trigger!¡±

    ¡°Kill her! Now!¡±

    Those voices echoed in Qianye¡¯s ears.

    In his dazzled state, he seemed to have returned to his time in Red Scorpion. That was the final battle where his captain had sent Qianye out through the siege, then turned back to meet the tide of blood-thralls and dark race warriors. The scene of his heroic figure as it was drowned by the dark tide had carved itself deep in Qianye¡¯s heart.

    At this very moment, Qianye realized the gravity of William¡¯s words.

    Daybreak and Evernight are eternal enemies.

    The trigger in Qianye¡¯s hand was as heavy as lead, and tugging upon it felt like hauling a mountain. He almost couldn¡¯t control his breathing and heartbeat as he clenched his teeth and pulled on the trigger little by little.

    At the other end of the scope, Nighteye waspletely still and hidden, her crosshairs still upon Qianye.

    The wind had stopped, and all sounds had vanished. The slowly moving trigger was the only thing left to testify that this world was still alive.

    Amidst the unbearable suffocation, Qianye suddenly banged his head on the tree trunk, allowing the chipped bark to prick him.

    At this point, the trigger had returned to its original position, and his hand no longer possessed the strength to tug on it again. What seemed like ages passed in this manner before Qianye slowly raised his head, retreated down the back of that tree, and left. During the entire process, he didn¡¯t nce even once at the other side and thus had no idea whether she was still there.

    However, Nighteye was still there, and she was just as silent. Whether it was her person or her sniper rifle, there was not the slightest of movement. This also meant that she was still gazing at that ce where Qianye had stayed. What she saw through the scope, however, was a mystery.

    Another good while passed by in this manner. Finally, Eden could no longer resist nudging at Nighteye. Thetter seemed exceptionally sluggish and only turned back after Eden had pushed her a couple of times.

    Eden performed a gesture to move and whispered, ¡°There should be no more prey here, let¡¯s go to another area.¡±

    ¡°...Got it.¡±

    Eden shot Nighteye a puzzled nce¡ªhe felt that there was something odd about Nighteye, but as for what exactly it was, he couldn¡¯t say. And trying to venture a guess from her eternally frozen countenance was beyond difficult.

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared once again after they had left. He slowly ascended the treetop where Nighteye and Eden had been hiding in and proceeded to observe the interwoven branches underfoot.

    With both Nighteye and Eden being specialists in camouge, how could there be any clues left behind? If Qianye had not seen Nighteye through his scope with absolute certainty, he would probably find it quite difficult to ascertain whether or not she had really been here.

    Momentster, Qianye left the treetop with a light sigh and vanished into the hazy mist.

    ...

    In this world suffused with the void colossus¡¯ will, the experts of the two factions soon began encountering and killing one another.

    The battles on the surface around Giant¡¯s Repose were still ongoing. The two factions initiated a second major battle after Song Zining¡¯s sessful break-out. The long-silent Sky Demon suddenly sent seven avatars to rush toward the defensive lines of the two factions.

    An entire seven Sky Demon avatars!

    These avatars attacked indiscriminately. Not to mention those ordinary champions of the division level, even the leaders overseeing the war zone could hardly obstruct them. This development exceeded both factions¡¯ expectations. The two sides immediately toned down their battles and even called a ceasefire in many areas.

    Later on, they saw Sky Demon¡¯s avatars gather in one ce and jump into Giant''s Repose.

    Now, the situation had be fairlyplicated. Without a clear oue from the battle between Sky Demon and the Queen of the Night¡¯s party, there was no way to judge the demon¡¯s movements after the descent of its avatars.

    During the short exchange, both camps discovered that the descended avatars possessed at least the strength of a marquis. But no one could tell whether or not they could erupt with greater power or if they possessed any special abilities when attacking together.

    Sky Demon was a void lifeform with special attributes, and its avatars had naturally inherited its characteristics. Even a dark duke or an imperial divine champion might fall under the coordinated attacks of its seven avatars. Moreover, Sky Demon itself was a type of void colossus, and no one knew whether or not its avatars were subject to the suppression of the other colossus¡¯ remnant will, or to what extent.

    At this moment, Sky Demon became the greatest enemy for both factions. As such, the two factions pulled back in mutual understanding and once again assumed their positions on each side of Giant¡¯s Repose.

    For Evernight, every ancient essence fragment would help them produce a duke or a duke-level strategic weapon. Risking a present duke for a chance at producing another duke was certainly not worth it for them.

    On the empire side, the higher-ups all knew that this was a battle for their national fate. Although they weren¡¯t clear as to their exact objective, they were quite certain that it wasn¡¯t the ancient essence fragments. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t mobilize their divine champions to take this risk.

    As such, the thousand kilometers around Giant¡¯s Repose reached a state of subtle bnce.

    The frontlinemand center of Prince Green Sun, Zhang Boqian, was situated at the highest point of a stretching hill, the empire¡¯s camps spreading out in manyyers beneath his feet.

    Weapons and gs filled the ends of one¡¯s vision, and there was nock of aristocratic private armies among them. The quality of their elite soldiers and gear were evenly matched with that of the imperial regr army, so much so that some of those famed ns might even be superior. This was also a reflection of the Great Qin Empire¡¯s present power distribution.

    A champion of the Zhang n led the way for Song Zining as they passed through several camps and headed for the big tent at the summit of the hill.

    Song Zining¡¯s step paused ever so slightly as they stepped through the tent doors. Zhang Muyi gave him an understanding pat on the shoulder and said, ¡°The enmity of the previous generation has nothing to do with you. Marshal Boqian isn¡¯t one to take it out on the younger generation.¡±

    Zhang Muyi¡¯s words were a clear reassurance. Song Zining turned to smile at him, but his gaze secretly swept over the eastern barracks in the process.

    In addition to Zhang Boqian¡¯s lineal branch ¡°Irond Legion¡±, the Thunderous Cavalry of the Imperial Guard was also present in thismand center. Moreover, their numbers were actually no less than that of the Irond Legion and could be considered a full mobilization. In truth, any martialw enforcement unit apanying a heavenly monarch could only serve to keep up appearances. What then was the Thunderous Cavalry doing here? Were they here to represent the imperial court, or were they here to protect someone?

    Zhang Muyi stopped in front of a certain door. It was fairly quiet here; not only were there no soldiers and officers moving about, but even the guards were absent. He pointed at the main camp up front formed by several tents linked together and said, ¡°Brother Zining should enter alone. I¡¯ll wait for you outside.¡±

    Song Zining nodded and walked in. The decoration inside therge tent was fairly simple. To the left was a solid sand-table, on the right was a conference table for twenty people, and upon the wall was arge map. This was apparently a war room, but there was no one here at the moment.

    A certain feeling emerged in Song Zining¡¯s heart. He stepped through the door on the other end of the tent and reached a courtyard.

    There was an imposing figure standing below a tree. Song Zining nced over and saw a deep void filled with lightning and the grandeur of the heaven and earth itself. He collected his thoughts and bowed. ¡°Song Zining of the Hignd Song n greets His Excellency Prince Green Sun.¡±

    Afterward, he heard Zhang Boqian speak in an indifferent tone, ¡°Go in. Someone¡¯s waiting to meet you.¡±

    Song Zining revealed an astonished expression. However, he didn¡¯t ask further and only walked through the door behind Zhang Boqian. His surprise grew even deeper after seeing the person inside. ¡°Marshal Xitang!¡±

    There was a silver-haired man sitting beside the window, the legendary Lin Xitang who was supposedly bed-ridden at the imperial capital. He was d in in-colored clothes which contrasted with his pale, almost-translucentplexion. However, as his eternally calm eyes shifted over, it seemed as though that frailty was nothing but an illusion.

    In recent years, the Ningyuan group had risen rapidly through the Northern Legion¡¯s suppliers list, especially in the business of firearm origin arrays. Moreover, thepany had almost reached the legion¡¯s core circle after joining the so-called ¡°Operation Divine Silence¡±.

    But, whether it was coincidence or otherwise, this was the first time the owner, Song Zining, had met Lin Xitang.

 Volume 6 - 510: The Distance Between Daybreak and Evernigh

    t [V6C40 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Lin Xitang beckoned Song Zining to sit down. After the two exchanged a couple of words, Lin Xitang asked, ¡°Is the Ningyuan Group your private industry?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Song Zining replied.

    ¡°I heard your heavy machinery nts and a number of other estates around the Mercy County are in trouble. I can help you deal with them if you so wish.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t reply immediately. Instead, he pondered for a while before saying helplessly, ¡°The ancestral n is, after all, where I was born. So, let¡¯s just consider those worldly possessions as payment for raising me.¡±

    Both his tone and expression were rather rxed. It would seem he hadn¡¯t taken the property confiscations to heart at all. It was as though he had never considered the possibility that Lin Xitang¡¯s words just now were a subtle promise. Had Song Zining taken this opportunity to break free from the Song n, he would not only regain all of his personal estates, but he would also receive a share of resources fitting of his inheritor rank. Taking it one step further wasn¡¯t impossible, either.

    Song Zining then made his intentions clearer. ¡°A couple of friends and I have built a small base on Evernight Continent. It is rather insignificantpared to the major ns, but at least, there¡¯s no one to hold us back.¡±

    Lin Xitang withdrew his gaze with a smile. ¡°ckflow is indeed and of miracles.¡±

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°The city lord, Qianye, and I both graduated from Yellow Springs. Five years as a ssmate, and two as a partner.¡±

    ¡°Two years,¡± Lin Xitang¡¯s expression was stirred, ¡°that¡¯s truly rare.¡±

    ¡°Martial Xitang, you probably know how perilous the test is without taking those partner points.¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression turned warmer. ¡°I have already learned divination back then. Although my meager abilities weren¡¯t enough to peer into heaven¡¯s mysteries, it was quite easy to observe a person¡¯s heart. No thought could escape me even if that person doesn¡¯t put it into action.

    ¡°But Qianye never wavered, not even once, no matter how desperate the situation, or how easy the opportunity. Even I might not be able to be able to remain without a single thought. It was I who proposed that we split up after two years of being partners. Myriad life and the three thousand daos only await to be proven, and I didn¡¯t want a friend¡¯s blood on my hand.¡± Song Zining smiled lightly. ¡°I¡¯ve likely incurred your ridicule by showing such weakness as a Yellow Springs graduate.¡±

    Lin Xitang listened in silence, then said, ¡°The Yellow Springs Camp follows thew of natural selection. It¡¯s the right oue that you two were able to walk out of it alive. I heard Qianye is now working for the Zhao n?¡±

    Song Zining replied with a smile, ¡°That can also be considered fate. A ¡®mole house¡¯ of the Ningyuan Group in charge of the Serene South County encountered some trouble. I was in a dangerous situation back then, so I could only ask Qianye to help me. After the delivery, he got into a conflict with some of the Zhao n people, which, in turn, alerted the fourth young noble of the Zhao n. But unexpectedly, the fourth young noble took an interest in him instead.¡± Song Zining said with augh, ¡°This brat has always been quite lucky.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled faintly after listening to Song Zining. This ¡°mole house¡± referred to the double-identity trade channel. Lin Xitang was even clearer than Song Zining regarding the rebel army affairs in Serene South. It was just that such an insignificant matter would only be in the form of a brief summary by the time it had reached him.

    Their conversation ended soon afterward. There was an undisguisable exhaustion on Lin Xitang¡¯s countenance by the time Song Zining excused himself. From this, one could see that the rumors of him suffering a divination bacsh weren¡¯t totally unfounded.

    Zhang Boqian was standing there when Song Zining returned to the courtyard¡ªeven his posture was unchanged. Zhang Boqian looked at Song Zining from head to toe as thetter went over to say farewell. ¡°You can also seek Muyi If you have any troubles in the future.¡±

    This promise held great weight.

    Song Zining exhaled deeply after walking out of the main doors of the central camp and quickly realized his robe was entirely drenched in sweat. He didn¡¯t put up appearances after seeing Zhang Muyi and said with a wry smile, ¡°Marshal Zhang is indeed awe-inspiring.¡±

    Zhang Muyi replied sympathetically, ¡°We still feel the pressure despite frequently receiving Marshal Boqian¡¯s guidance.¡± He then ced a hand on Song Zining¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Come, let¡¯s go for a drink! It¡¯s on me!¡±

    Song Zining agreed with augh. His greatest profit this time was Zhang Boqian¡¯s word. The Zhang n¡¯s expression of goodwill afforded him benefits from many aspects. As for the other matter, that was Qianye¡¯s battlefield, and no one could fight it for him.

    Lin Xitang wasn¡¯t resting when Zhang Boqian walked into the study. Instead, he had gotten up and was gazing out of the window.

    Zhang Boqian nced at him and asked, ¡°You saw Song Zining but didn¡¯t manage to solve the problem?¡±

    Lin Xitangughed. ¡°Song Zining¡¯s words were all true, and his reactions were all genuine. Even the sentiments he revealed weren¡¯t a pretense. But, I still didn¡¯t get all the answers, especially the most important part.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you meet that Zhao Qianye directly?¡±

    Lin Xitang shook his head. ¡°No need. Whether or not it really is him, there¡¯s no benefit in being rted to me at this time.¡±

    Zhang Boqian looked at the marshal for a moment. ¡°In truth, I also want to know who exactly it was that made you suffer such a setback and even forced you to endure it. Outsiders think it¡¯s political, but you and I both know the matter with Red Scorpion had nothing to do with me. I¡¯ve been shouldering this me for long enough. I¡¯m really not used to such injustice.¡±

    Lin Xitang spoke slowly, ¡°That was my fault and no one else¡¯s. Let¡¯s leave all grudges and gratitude until the end of this war of national fate.¡±

    ¡­

    At this moment, Qianye was still on his endless exploration journey through the forest covered in purple substance. A vampire viscount flew out and crashed into a tree trunk before copsing onto the ground. He struggled to mber up but froze in ce immediately after turning over¡ªEast Peak was already upon his neck.

    Qianye looked intently at the viscount and asked word by word, ¡°I¡¯ll let you die swiftly if you tell me what I want to know. If you don¡¯t know or are unwilling to talk, then I¡¯ll cut out half of your blood core and toss it over there.¡±

    The vampire revealed a struggling expression. He then said with a rueful smile, ¡°Since it¡¯s death all the same, why shouldn¡¯t I retain some dignity?¡±

    A damaged blood core was the most serious of injuries to a vampire. Having half of it cut out was a damage they would never recover from; it was certain death. However, their powerful vampire life force would allow them to continue living for a fairly long period and thus extending their torture.

    Qianye, with his keen senses, noticed the vampire¡¯s desire to live. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you wish to survive. I¡¯ll stab your blood core and leave you to your fate. Just don¡¯t let our men see you.¡±

    The vampire¡¯s eyes lit up with hope, but his heart was wracked with hesitation.

    There was hope of survival even if the blood core was stabbed through. As long as he avoided battle and received a drop of origin blood, he could still recover from his injuries. This would lower hisbat strength slightly, but nothing was more important than survival.

    He finally nodded and said, ¡°I hail from the Lakins n, and my mission here is¡­¡±

    Qianye finished listening to his short introduction, then asked, ¡°What do you know about the princess of the Monroe n? Who is with her?¡±

    ¡°You mean Her Majesty Nighteye? I don¡¯t know much about her, but I heard some thingstely¡­¡±

    Qianye finished listening to him and asked a couple more questions. Then, seeing that there was no more new content to be heard, Qianye touched the vampire¡¯s chest lightly with the tip of East Peak¡¯s de.

    The vampire viscount cried out loudly and fell limp to the ground with an expression of agony.

    Qianye indeed left without killing him, but even so, this viscount was bound to die. Although his injury could be healed with a single drop of origin blood, who would run into him in this ursed ce and even give him a drop of origin blood?

    Seeing Qianye leave, the vampire mbered up with great difficulty and staggered toward the exterior. Although the road back was iparably long, there was at least more hope there.

    Half a dayter, East Peak tore through the air like a soaring serpent as it nailed a demonkin to arge tree.

    Qianye walked out from the mist and arrived before the victim. ¡°Answer my questions and I might let you go.¡±

    ¡°Pah! You think a noble son of darkness will submit to you?¡± The demonkin started spitting at Qianye.

    Qianye dodged by moving his head sideways, grabbed East Peak by the hilt, and yanked hard. This movement left the demonkin crying out in misery.

    But this wasn¡¯t the end yet. Qianye circted his origin power and poured it into the de along the crystal threads. The origin power of Venus Dawn shed with the demonkin¡¯s innate demonic qi, resulting in a series of soft explosions!

    The demonkin¡¯s wretched cries immediately grew by an octave, quickly reaching a point where he was screaming his lungs out. He didn¡¯t even manage to hold out for a minute before passing out with his head hanging to one side.

    Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power had undergone refinement by the Glory Chapter. It was pure and extremely close to Daybreak. After entering the demonkin¡¯s body, it was like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil. How could that demonkin endure?

    Qianye waited quietly for the demonkin to wake up and continued the same steps from above. The demonkin was no longer so stubborn after several repetitions and proceeded to answer Qianye¡¯s questions.

    ¡°Barring Her Majesty Nighteye, Count Eden is the next most proficient in camouge. The count hails from the famed demonkin n, Dark Abyss, and a genius whose fame shook the world a hundred years ago. Apart from camouge, he also possesses the ability to corrode enemies. That is, after all, the Dark Abyss¡¯ most proficient bloodline power.¡±

    This demonkin spoke in great detail. Qianye had interrogated several batches of experts from the Evernight faction in recent days and finally confirmed that the Monroe Princess was Nighteye along with some other relevant information. However, core intelligence like the Holy Son¡¯s objectives, preparations, and movements were a mystery even to Nighteye. The others naturally didn¡¯t understand.

    But knowing this much was quite enough. Even if he knew more, what then? Qianye himself had already lost count of how many Monroe n descendants he had killed. Perhaps there were Nighteye¡¯s friends and family among them.

    The distance between Evernight and Daybreak was an insurmountable chasm. Perhaps only a temporary neutral territory like that small trading town could afford them a fleeting intersection in their paths.

    Their next meeting might end with a bullet flying over from Nighteye¡¯s gun, or perhaps her terrifying eye ability would pierce his origin defenses to crush his heart and blood core.

    Qianye was suddenly ovee by an inexplicable loneliness. He pulled out East Peak and didn¡¯t even bother to deal the dying demonkin a finishing blow. In any case, death was only a matter of time for thetter after being scorched by Qianye¡¯s pure daybreak origin power.

    Not long after Qianye had left, the demonkin who was originally on hisst breath suddenly became spirited. The vertical eye on his forehead opened up as an odd, ck toad appeared therein. The toad opened its mouth and poured down a torrent of origin power upon his head.

    The demonkin¡¯s aura immediately grew stronger, and a part of his injuries quickly recovered. He nced toward Qianye with eyes full of hate, but there was also undisguisable terror mixed in. He didn¡¯t dare seek Qianye for revenge no matter how proud he was¡ªall he could do was re.

    The colossus¡¯ remains were no longer something he could vie for, so he simply turned about and prepared to leave.

    The demonkin was immediately startled as he turned about¡ªa young girl had appeared there at some point.

 Volume 6 - 511: A Womanâ€™s Honor

    [V6C41 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The girl was barefoot and wearing a tattered skirt with unhealed injuries on her legs and arms. She possessed exquisite facial features and a pair of vacant but ethereal eyes. She was just like a helpless little creature at a nce.

    But the demonkin¡¯s intuitions were screaming! Moreover, this young girl wasn¡¯t even a champion yet.

    The little girl had a giant, sinister looking de in her hand that was grossly disproportionate to her body, and was carrying a backpack half a head taller than her. There were all kinds of weapons stuffed within the bulging pack with many parts sticking out of it¡ªguns, des, and even an axe.

    Merely seeing this bag of weapons made one¡¯s hair stand on end.

    The demonkin forcibly calmed himself down and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    As a noble son of darkness, his attitude at the moment could be considered quite good. Although the girl wasn¡¯t a champion, he had been beaten to half-death just now and only managed to move normally after utilizing a secret art.

    The girl¡¯s voice was soft, gentle, and ephemeral, akin to music drifting over from afar. ¡°I¡¯m called Bai Kongzhao. I dare say you didn¡¯t want to hear this name.¡±

    The demonkin waspletely shaken. It was just as she had said¡ªit was one of those names he was most unwilling to hear at the moment. Those who had left the deepest impression on the dark races during the bloody battle included the twin stars of the Empire, Qianye and Zhao Jundu, Song Zining, and then Bai Kongzhao.

    She was notorious for the savagery with which she had killed people despite being of a lower level. In the eyes of the dark race scions, this little girl was a demon through and through.

    The demonkin circted his origin power in desperation and pounced at Bai Kongzhao.

    The demonkin had less than a third of his usual strength at this moment. The girl only sidestepped the attack as the giant de in her hand flickered and shed off a part of the demonkin¡¯s calf!

    The demonkin cried out in misery as he fell to the ground, and the unhealed wound on his chest opened up once more.

    Bai Kongzhao dragged the de, dripping with blood, as she approached the demonkin. ¡°I forgot to tell you that no matter what you do, you''ll eventually fulfill my wishes.¡±

    ¡°Y-You, what are you doing?¡± the demonkin cried out in rm. He had already surrendered once to Qianye, so the second time was much easier for him.

    Bai Kongzhao stepped forward and stepped onto the demonkin¡¯s wound as though it were an ident. The pain almost caused him to fall unconscious.

    She pulled back her foot after the demonkin had screamed for a good while, then said, ¡°I want your family''s secret cultivation art.¡±

    ¡°Secret cultivation art?¡± The girl¡¯s demand came as a surprise.

    But, not to mention a human, even the other dark races couldn¡¯t utilize demonkin cultivation arts. Moreover, every n¡¯s art was closely rted to its bloodline ability and family totem¡ªthey were inheritances passed down through the myriad years. The effects would be greatly reduced even if another demonkin n was to cultivate it. For instance, a Masefield scion cultivating the Jeruson n¡¯s secret arts would not be able to produce the special effects of the bloodline totem.

    These secret arts were the key difference between famed demonkin families andmoners. However, they were less secretive about them due to the harsh restrictions involved. Even if these arts were leaked, without the appropriate bloodline, it would take the cultivator twice the effort to obtain half the results.

    As for others studying it for a method to counter them, that was even more of a joke. The demonkin believed themselves to be the sons of darkness¡ªtheir totemic powers stemmed from thews of the world, and their powers were stratified by strength. How could thews of the world be broken? Who could shatter the entire world?

    Bai Kongzhao was clearly a human, so what would she want with their cultivation art?

    However, that wasn¡¯t a problem the demonkin had to consider. What he needed to do was distance himself from the de in the girl¡¯s hands. Hence, he quickly revealed his n¡¯s cultivation arts.

    Bai Kongzhao asked him a couple of questions and then had him repeat the art once more. This went on several times until she had confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the secret art. Then, Bai Kongzhao brought the de shing past him with a shake of her hand¡ªthe demonkin¡¯s head flew into the air immediately.

    ¡°You lied to me!¡± a wretched demonkin head cried out those final words.

    Bai Kongzhao smiled innocently. ¡°Who told you to trust a woman?¡±

    The head fell onto the purple substance with a dull thud. He wanted to say something, but nothing but air came from his throat. The blood that had sprayed onto the substance seemingly awakened a demonic creature. The surrounding substance became active and quickly extended over to envelope him.

    Twilight¡¯s voice suddenly emerged as Bai Kongzhao was bending down to search the demonkin¡¯s headless body. ¡°I agree with these words.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body tensed up somewhat but quickly eased up again. She didn¡¯t stand up. Instead, she turned back to face Twilight in a crouched posture, like a dangerous beast that would go wild at any moment.

    The environment here was Twilight¡¯s home ground. There was no way to tell if the mist lingering around her originated from her body or the surroundings.

    Twilight revealed a charming smile as she nced at Bai Kongzhao. ¡°Actually, we have the same views and even the same enemies, so it¡¯s somewhat of a pity to kill you. But¡­¡±

    Twilight¡¯s words hadn¡¯t even ended when Bai Kongzhao shot a nce toward the former¡¯s back with a terrified expression.

    Twilightughed coldly and had no intention to nce back at all. ¡°Please stop these childish tricks! Both of us can be considered geniuses, so do maintain a fitting level of dignity.¡±

    But Bai Kongzhao¡¯s expression was still one of terror. It was as though she didn¡¯t hear Twilight at all, and neither did she take into consideration the fact that she might be attacked the moment she moved. In this manner, she leapt out all of a sudden and ran away like a little creature. Twilight would lose track of the girlpletely if she allowed thetter to put a couple hundred kilometers between them.

    How could Twilight let Bai Kongzhao escape? While following and observing thetter under the Iron Curtain, she realized that in terms of pure assassination abilities, the danger posed by this girl wasn¡¯t too far off from Zhao Jundu.

    Twilight took a step forward and rushed out several dozen meters as she gave chase. However, a great sense of rm emerged in her heart as she flitted past Bai Kongzhao¡¯s previous location. She immediately changed her direction and shed away horizontally.

    The substance on the ground bulged up and spat out a pir of mes so powerful that even Twilight was flung away. The impact sent her crashing into arge tree before bouncing back.

    Twilight staggered as shended on the ground and almost failed to gain a steady footing. She was both shocked and furious as she nced toward the area in question. The ce had been scorched ck, and even the widespread purple substance was no longer present around the deep, newly-formed pit. Judging from the explosive power, Bai Kongzhao seemed to have hidden seven or eight vampire origin grenades and ignited them at the same time.

    Even Twilight¡¯s eyesight failed to see when Bai Kongzhao had hidden those grenades. She thought back in detail and realized that the girl must¡¯ve hidden them just as she approached the corpse and Twilight appeared. There was a blind spot in Twilight¡¯s vision where it was obstructed by Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body, so she had failed to see thetter¡¯s small movements.

    Twilight nced at the surroundings, but how could she find Bai Kongzhao? The girl had long since vanished into the white mist.

    She stomped in hatred as she realized how she had underestimated this young girl¡ªshe was as venomous as a snake yet as agile as a fox.

    She was just about to give chase when a tyrannical wolf howl emerged from the front. As old rivals under the Iron Curtain, Twilight had a deep impression of William¡¯s voice. She immediately realized that he was fighting with someone, and that the battle was extremely fierce. But they weren¡¯t under the Iron Curtain at the moment, and Twilight had no wish to bump into him without the curtain¡¯s restrictions.

    She had no choice but to halt her steps after calcting the location and direction. ¡°Consider yourself lucky! I¡¯ll let you off this time, but the one in front of you is William. Let¡¯s see if you can deal with that stupid dog.¡±

    Even several Bai Kongzhaos added together wasn¡¯t a match for William in terms ofbat strength. However, her deceiving appearance, her malicious heart, and instinctivebat style made her an extremely troublesome opponent. The one taking a loss might even be William if the two were to run into one another.

    Twilight¡¯s imaginations were quickly filled with scenes of William being tricked repeatedly.

    She couldn¡¯t help but want to go after them, but in the end, she still halted her steps with a wry smile. William was a principled werewolf, and his excessive persistence sometimes made him look stupid. But the most terrible part was that his principles happened to include a certain use, and that was to not listen to anything Twilight had to say. He would only decide whether or not to fight her depending on his mood.

    Normally, he would fight her when he was in a sour mood to let off steam. He would also fight her when he was in a good mood just to celebrate.

    Twilight had always wanted to talk to William and perhaps change this terrible situation. In truth, the Monroe n had always been moderate in their external policies. This was especially true in recent years with all the trouble from both within and outside the n¡ªthey had no wish to go to war with a power like the Summit of Peaks without any profit involved.

    But even Twilight herself had no idea whereiny the problem. Whenever she tried to initiate a conversation, things would always end with a fight. Moreover, it so happened that William¡¯sbat strength was inversely proportional to his brains, and it would never end well for Twilight in a confrontation.

    After suffering several times, Twilight changed her strategy and made William go around in circles with her schemes. There was one time when she almost pushed him into dire straits, but William erupted with unexpected strength and passed through the ordeal unharmed.

    From then on, William would almost always attack Twilight on sight. Last time, he tricked Twilight under the Iron Curtain without the slightest bit of hesitation, causing her to waste a life-saving trump card.

    Some vampires had said before that William was not stupid at all; he was merely toozy to think. They imed that it would be a terrifying matter once a serious enmity had been developed. Twilight had naturally heard such words, but she instinctively refused to ept that a werewolf could be intelligent.

    At present, however, Twilight wasn¡¯t willing to run into William. Sometimes, a stubborn yet extremely powerful fellow like William truly made one feel helpless.

    Twilight gazed deeply in the direction of the howl before turning to leave. She hadn¡¯t gone very far when a blue light shed past the corner of her eyes. She immediately nced back in rm, only to find that the blue light wasing through from a thousand meters away.

    Twilight was shocked out of her wits! That blue glow was a peerlessly sharp sword radiance. However, the current environment was filled with hazy mist. Just how powerful was this brilliance to have extended over a thousand meters?

    Twilight¡¯s expression shifted rapidly. She realized the moment she saw this sword radiance that she wouldn¡¯t be able to block it at all. If it were to strike her head-on, she would be gravely injured if not killed outright.

    This sword radiance was emitting unmistakeable daybreak origin power fluctuations. Apparently, a certain human expert had arrived, and Twilight was certainly not willing to run into him, either. She immediately switched to another direction and moved away rapidly.

    A thousand meters away, where the sword light had originated, an arachne count was staggering backward while covering the wound on his left shoulder. His countenance was suffused with rm, anger, and deep apprehension. He hadn¡¯t even managed to assume arachne-form when he suffered a sword strike that took off his entire left arm and shaved off half his shoulder. His injuries were grave to say the least.

    Li Kuann walked out with gradual steps from the opposite side, his charming gaze fixed upon the arachne. He wore a spurious smile, but the sharp sword intent in his eyes was even more vigorous than the de in his hands.

    The edges of that aqua-blue sword were almost translucent like crystal.

 Volume 6 - 512: Aboriginals

    [V6C42 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The arachne count nced at Li Kuann and then at the sword in his hand, unable to decide which one of them was more terrifying.

    He used whatever remained of his darkness origin power to force out his arachne form, then asked in a husky voice, ¡°Y-You, just who are you?¡±

    ¡°You only need to remember me as Kuann.¡±

    The arachne count thought hard but couldn¡¯t recall which godly person he was. ¡°Young Noble Kuann? I¡¯ve never heard of the empire producing such a top character.¡±

    Kuann smiled faintly, almost illuminating the mountainous woods with his radiance. He rubbed the de in his hands as he said, ¡°Simple, all those who know my name are already dead. Just like you will soon be.¡±

    These words were still lingering in his ears when the arachne count saw a dazzling blue light sh out from Kuann¡¯s de, whereafter he lost all senses as a head flew high up into the sky. The sturdy arachnid body and powerful defenses were akin to thin sheets of paper before this crystalline de.

    At thest moment of his life, he seemed to hear Young Noble Kuann say, ¡°Cutting down a count-level expert is not a dishonor to my ¡®Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace¡¯, albeit barely.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t even spare a nce at the things the count had left behind, apparently toozy to even pick them up. He sheathed the sword and nced in the direction of the wolf howl with battle intent raging in his eyes. ¡°Now this is interesting!¡±

    He walked away in seemingly unhurried strides but vanished into the white mist in the blink of an eye.

    Heroes and formidable characters from all walks of life were converging toward the center of the forest. The shes between one another also became more prevalent.

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush into the forest center. He simply roamed the periphery for several days and observed the experts from the two camps. He didn¡¯t hunt down the dark races deliberately during this period. Instead, he turned his de on the beast hordes and killed two entire packs within a short time.

    These native beasts possessed abnormally abundant essence blood, and with this replenishment, Qianye finally managed to light up the second feather on the Wings of Inception. There was currently a feather on each wing, and both of them seemed more spirited than before, appearing more vivid and no longer illusory.

    Although Qianye could only fire a single Shot of Inception with his current origin power capacity, a day of recuperation would allow him to attack again. This increased his chances of survival when faced with unexpectedly powerful enemies.

    Qianye walked toward the center of the forest after sufficient preparation. The woods at this moment were deathly still, and only the continuous sound of squirming purple substance could be heard. Qianye walked passed one tree after another rather uneventfully.

    Assumably, all those experts who could sense Qianye had already entered the central region.

    But several hundred meters away, Nighteye¡¯s scope followed Qianye silently until his figure had left her vision.

    She put away her sniper rifle and said to Eden, ¡°Nothing here, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Eden nodded. ¡°The time is just about right. We should also be entering the central region now.¡±

    Nighteye packed up her equipment and followed Eden away.

    Some distance away, just beyond the duo¡¯s vision, Qianye was leaning against a tree with his head slightly raised, seemingly deep in thought. However, his gaze was directed toward the direction in which Nighteye had left.

    He heaved a lonely sigh after Nighteye¡¯s departure and continued into the depths of the central forest.

    The experts from all sides considered the void colossus¡¯ remains as the final battlefield. The colossus¡¯ remnant will was the strongest here, and the restrictions suffered were also the most evident. And the greater the suppression, therger the disparity between genius and mediocrity¡ªthe level gap, on the contrary, wasn¡¯t so important here.

    Thus, in the eyes of these proud experts, this was the one true ce to test their genius qualities. Those with inferior strength didn¡¯t even have the right to enter this ce. Fighting in a ce like this was akin to dancing on a de¡¯s edge. A single misstep and one would either fall in battle or be overwhelmed by the void colossus¡¯ will¡ªall origin power in the body would ignite, and the person would turn into a pile of ashes.

    Qianye walked for an entire day before he finally passed through the forest and arrived at the central region whereiny the colossus¡¯ skeleton. Qianye was stunned the moment he stepped out of the forest. Appearing before him was a majestic mountain range extending far beyond his vision, stretching unto god knows where.

    He had prepared himself mentally along this endless journey, but after arriving and basking in the full view of the colossal skeleton, he realized that there were no words to adequately describe his astonishment.

    Qianye¡¯s perceptions recovered immediately after walking out of the forest. The sudden expansion of his vision actually made him a bit ufortable, and it took quite some effort to readjust.

    The stretching mountain range filled his vision entirely, making it feel as though he were standing atop andmass with nothing but mountains. In truth, however, that was only a segment of the void colossus¡¯ spine.

    The mountain was lined with caves of all sizes which seemed to be interconnected from all sides to form a maze-likeyout. Qianye saw some figure shing past the caves, and it was clear that some of them were the ashen-skinned midgets he had seen in the forest. These little fellows were petite but exceptionally dangerous. Their poisoned spears alone formed a sufficient source of distress.

    Meanwhile, there were other creatures locked in battle with the midgets, and some were even hunting the little men down.

    At this point, the void colossus¡¯ lost ancient essence appeared once again, and that innate feeling of beckoning was even stronger than before.

    With his extraordinary visual range restored, Qianye nced into the distance and found several groups of people within his sights. Each of these groups belonged to opposing factions, but now, they were in a peculiar state of bnce and harmony. Apparently, it had been some time since their arrival because a number of them had even set up camp.

    Qianye pondered along the way as he walked over toward the imperial experts. The group, which consisted of rank twelve to thirteen experts, seemed rather delighted upon seeing Qianye. In this strange, dangerousnd¡ªand with the dark race experts eyeing them from nearby¡ªevery addition to their numbers was a source of strength.

    There were four people in the camp, two leading champions of the Kong n and two more from minor aristocratic families.

    The older of the Kong n¡¯s champions revealed an astonished expression as he saw the Swallow Cloud Cavalry insignia on Qianye¡¯s uniform and sized up the heavy sword on his back. ¡°Young Noble Qianye of the Zhao n?¡±

    After seeing Qianye nod, the champions were all delighted, and their expressions grew even friendlier. Here, a character like Qianye would be able to disybat strength far above his level. There had been some friction between the Kong and Zhao ns under the Iron Curtain, but in this terrifyingnd, it was naturally more important to work together against the surrounding enemies.

    From them, Qianye learned more about the situation of the arriving imperial experts. Heter asked, ¡°Why have you all stopped here? Why aren¡¯t you going in?¡±

    The Kong family champion smiled wryly. ¡°You too must¡¯ve sensed that the ancient essence fragment is just within. Do you see those caves? The entire mountain is an eroded cave, and it¡¯s simply a natural maze inside. On top of the inconvenient terrain, those odd aboriginals living in them are quite powerful, and their numbers are endless.

    ¡°We attempted to explore the caves the very day that we arrived here. In the end, we were surrounded by all kinds of beasts and savages before we had gotten very far. We killed countless enemies after an entire day and night of fighting, but it felt as though their numbers had never decreased! Atst, we had no choice but to charge outside with all our might and managed to escape with our lives. However, two of ourpanions never made it out.¡±

    Qianye trembled as he shot a nce at the cave. The Kong family expert wasn¡¯t weak at all, yet even they were pushed into such a corner and lost two men. From this, it was obvious just how dangerous the mountain was.

    Another person spoke, ¡°We asionally see beast hordes and midget tribes entering the mountain in groups, and it doesn¡¯t seem like they normally live here. Were they attracted by the ancient essence?¡±

    Everyone already had some suspicions regarding this, but all expressions grew unsightly now that it had been mentioned. If this guess were true, they would need to kill an endless number of aboriginals in order to seize the ancient essence.

    Additionally, the experts from the Evernight faction weren¡¯t just for show.

    The situation was even worse than Qianye had expected.

    The Kong family championughed wryly and said, ¡°Those setting camp outside have more or less suffered some losses in the mountain, and the neers were warned not to rush in. The two sides here are in a deadlock as they wait for more people to catch up from behind. Entering in greater numbers, regardless of the faction, would serve to lessen the pressure from those aboriginals.¡±

    Qianye nodded. This was indeed a good idea.

    Afterward, Qianye stayed temporarily in the four-man camp. He covered himself in a tactical cape and sat down at a certain corner of the camp, resting and waiting in silence.

    During this period of one day and night, Qianye sensed several wisps of consciousness belonging to experts from both factions. However, they quickly moved along when he retracted his aura and didn¡¯t respond to the probe. Apparently, they were merely checking the situation and bore no hostility¡ªat least for the moment.

    In the face of the pressure from the aboriginals, the hostilities between the two factions came to a tacit pause. The time to kill each other would arrive only after seeing the ancient essence fragment.

    Two days passed by in this manner, and the two camps had each gathered a sizeable force. In the distance, an arachne marquis from the Evernight faction rose first and marched toward that mountain range formed of the colossus¡¯ bones.

    He was like the first domino piece. A chain reaction broke out in a sh as the experts from both factions stood up in quick session and began making for the mountain range at their own pace.

    Qianye suppressed a certain feeling of agitation. He had encountered a number of Zhao n soldiers during this period, but apart from the two champions, the remaining fighters had no way to linger around this mountain range no matter how strong they were. They could only wait outside for follow-up information. However, these people hadn¡¯t seen Zhao Jundu, either.

    Qianye took a deep breath, cleared away the distractions in his mind, and adjusted his body to its optimal state. He then stood up¡ªstill wrapped in his tactical cloak¡ªand headed toward the mountain range at a steady pace, neither in the lead nor dropping behind. There, he chose a random, silent-looking cave and walked into the mountain.

    The entire mountain was aboil as countless battles erupted. With so many experts attacking at the same time, the pressure from the aboriginals had indeed lessened quite a bit.

    There were only a couple of hairless dog-like creatures in the cave Qianye had picked and two more at the end of the curved tunnel. Those ashen-skinned dogs were about to leave at first but turned back barking upon Qianye¡¯s arrival.

 Volume 6 - 513: Chance Encounter

    [V6C43 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Several grey dogs rushed over, but Qianye didn¡¯t take this level of attack seriously at all. A swing of his East Peak was all it took to send them crashing into the cave wall. The entire tunnel shook slightly as the ashen canines fell down one by one, never to rise again.

    Qianye frowned briefly. The sword strike just now had been controlled with extreme precision¡ªhe had intended to incapacitate the entire pack with one move, but he hadn¡¯t expected that nearly half of the origin power on his de would be absorbed by the dogs¡¯ ugly, wrinkly skin. This weakened the force of his attack by a fair bit, and he only managed to kill a single grey dog, while the others were only injured.

    Qianye switched to a different method. Heunched a series of stabs, and this time, he retained the origin power within the de to boost its sharpness. The attack this time was indeed more effective. The dogs fell one after the other, but a small amount of origin power was still absorbed.

    Qianye checked the corpses briefly and confirmed that their weird, wrinkly grey skin possessed the ability to absorb origin power. This was detrimental to those experts who habitually utilized origin power to strengthen their attacks.

    No wonder William had transformed into hisbat form while dealing with those midgets. He was using his sharp ws and pure speed to kill those aboriginals because attacks and weapons that relied on origin power weren¡¯t very effective.

    A group of midgets charged out as Qianye passed a segment of the cave. He quickly drew the Bloody Datura and fired immediately.

    Qianye had used a shrapnel round for this shot because there was simply no room for evasion in this narrow tunnel. Most of the midgets fell within the st radius, but the shot only managed to kill two of them. The rest struggled for a moment before mbering up one after another.

    Qianye quietly switched to the Mystic Spider Lily and fired once again. This time, the shot was supplemented by an illusory effect of the greatest magnitude. The effects seemed better this time around as several midgets fell into confusion, pain, or madness. However, they recovered soon afterward.

    It would seem that the effect of origin guns was fairly limited against these aboriginals. The main issue was that a fair portion of the explosive force had been absorbed by their odd skin. The best way to deal with them was to use sharp or piercing melee weapons that were not too reliant on origin power.

    Qianye drew out his East Peak, and then swung it once more while circting his oceanic force. The effects of this strike were both good and bad¡ªthe midgets were highly resistant to the oceanic power, but were helpless against East Peak¡¯s weight and sharpness. Qianye was able to swat several of them to death with its weight alone.

    A group made up of a dozen or so midgets was swatted to death in three strikes, thus gaining him an effective countermeasure.

    He went deeper in and arrived at a naturally formed hall after a thousand or so meters.

    This cave, a hundred meters in radius and several meters in height, was quite grand with its hanging stctites. Water from an unknown source flowed down along its length and pattered down to the floor. There were numerous stgmites extending upward from the ground with little ponds of all sizes between them. There was a dark underground stream emerging from the center of the cave and winding toward the other end.

    This ce was simply a natural habitat for those aboriginals. The moment Qianye stepped into the hall, he noticed at least a dozen figures flit past to hide in the various corners and shadows. They weren¡¯t afraid at all and were only waiting for the correct opportunity to attack. Qianye hadn¡¯t seen a single docile creature since his arrival in this strange world¡ªeven the herbivorous de-horned horses were extremely ferocious.

    Qianye activated his Bloodline Concealment, retracted his aura, and advanced with the aid of the shadows.

    Qianye had already discovered during the past encounters that most of the aboriginals here relied on their perception of origin power in order to sense their surroundings. Hence, the creatures lost their target once Qianye activated his Bloodline Concealment. They were stunned for a moment before some of them soon walked out and began searching for traces of the invader.

    But these predators soon turned into prey as a massive crocodile-like creature rushed out from one of the holes in the ground. It bit one of the aboriginal creatures into two, then proceeded to gobble it up.

    The cave-hall was thrown into disarray at the crocodile¡¯s appearance, and the aboriginal creatures started fleeing in all directions. Qianye was moved after seeing this rank-twelve wild beast and almost couldn¡¯t resist taking action.

    These native creatures possessed exceptionally dense essence blood. This big fellow was likelyparable to three or four third-rank counts, an amount sufficient to upgrade Qianye¡¯s blood core. He might even be a second-rank viscount after killing this beast!

    But Qianye still held back because the beasts in this ursed world were clearly stronger than experts from outside. Moreover, Qianye couldn¡¯t concentrate on fighting this underground crocodile with so many Evernight experts around.

    The crocodile devoured several other creatures at lightning speed before crawling back into its burrow, apparently satisfied. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill as he nced at the bottomless hole. More importantly, there was more than just one such hole in this hall.

    Qianye circled around the holes with great caution, doing his best to prevent the other wild beasts from discovering him as he made his way to the other side of the hall.

    He discovered a powerful origin power fluctuation in front of him at this moment, whereupon he halted his steps and hid inside a rocky crevice. Most wild beasts in this world sought their prey by identifying origin power. Now that this neer was utilizing a substantial amount of origin power inbat, he would soon be attacked on all sides.

    One part of the cave wall was sted open with a loud boom as two dark race viscounts rushed into the hall. Both the werewolf and arachne were in theirbat forms and seemed to be in a fairly miserable situation. They had probably sted the wall open with an origin grenade because the arachne¡¯srge body was badly suited for movement through narrow tunnels.

    Now, however, these two viscounts were like the sun amidst the darkness. Their iparably dazzling presence quickly attracted the attention of all the fierce beasts in the hall. After stabilizing their footing, the duo suddenly realized that before them was a dense horde of various creatures. There were at least a dozen species in this thousand-strong beast horde.

    After realizing their situation, even the ferocious werewolf couldn¡¯t help but edge back with a terrified expression. Soon afterward, their pursuers arrived through the tunnel behind them. Hundreds of grey-skinned midgets poured into the hall like water from an opened sluice. They charged at the werewolf and arachne, letting out sharp, chaotic cries and waving the primitive yet lethal weapons in their hands.

    It would seem that the two had run out of luck. Certain death awaited them, and Qianye had no intention of sharing their burden. As such, he retracted his aura and slowly made his way out from his hiding ce. He moved slowly along the outer rim in an attempt to circle around toward the other end of the hall and push further in.

    The deadlocksted less than a minute before a fierce battle broke out. As expected of Evernight elites, the arachne and werewolf possessed great fighting power. They erupted with their full power in the desperate situation, bringing out the full extent of their bloodline talents. Swathes of beasts and grey men fell under their de.

    However, there were simply too many beasts of all shapes and sizes. Moreover, the grey-skinned midgets kept swarming in through the broken wall regardless of how many were killed. Arachne and werewolf would surelye to exhaustion at one point no matter how fierce they were. At that time, they would be torn to shreds.

    The great hall fell into chaos amidst the screams of the midgets, the howls of the wild beasts, and the war cries of the arachne and werewolf. There were also mournful wails and miserable screams mixed in from time to time. It was utterly morous. This was rather advantageous for Qianye who was looking to extricate himself from this mess. He hastened his steps as he moved along the cave wall.

    As he advanced, Qianye suddenly caught an origin power fluctuation behind an ordinary looking wall!

    This fluctuation was extremely weak, and he might not have caught it if he hadn¡¯t been maintaining his True Sight. Moreover, at less than two meters from him, the fluctuation was simply too close!

    Without a second thought, Qianye brought East Peak up with both hands and thrust toward the source of the fluctuation.

    The strike was performed in a hurry, but Qianye¡¯s attainments with the basic sword techniques had almost reached perfection. As he assumed a stance akin to wind and thunder, all the silver patterns lit up upon the de and several illusory golden lines erupted with a faint glow.

    The cave wall was like tofu against East Peak which pierced through it in one strike. Qianye felt that he had stabbed something, but the gushing origin power suddenly vanished like a stone falling into the ocean. Soon afterward, he heard a soft gasp of astonishment.

    The cave wall shattered under the raging origin power and crumbled into countless stony fragments, revealing the path behind it. A blue-robed Li Kuann stood there holding the tip of East Peak with one hand while gazing at Qianye in astonishment.

    ¡°Oh crap, I¡¯ve identally stabbed a human.¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes were wide as he, too, stood in a daze.

    The other party¡¯s origin power was iparably cryptic even under True Sight, and Qianye had failed to identify it in his rush just now. He was now able to see clearly that it belonged to daybreak which meant that the blue-robed young man was likely an expert from the empire¡¯s side.

    Being able to catch East Peak in one hand proved that he wasn¡¯t a mediocre person at all. There was a thinyer of frost on his hand which isted it from the de¡¯s edge, but the small trick aside, there was no doubt that he was extremely powerful.

    The atmosphere was fairly subtle as the two locked eyes for a split second. Just as Li Kuann was about to raise his aura, Qianye drew East Peak from Li Kuann¡¯s grasp with a flick of his hand.

    The timing of this retraction was extremely clever, and just as Li Kuann was starting to increase his power, the de broke away from his grasp in one movement.

    ¡°My apologies, it was unintentional.¡± Qianye offered a brief apology, tossed a bottle of medicine to the man, and left in due haste.

    In such a chaotic situation, the threat posed by humans was no less than that of the dark races. Qianye understood this very well after experiencing the bloody battle under the Iron Curtain. Qianye had no wish to seek thepany of an unidentified powerful expert like Li Kuann.

    Li Kuann caught the medicine reflexively and only looked down at his hand after Qianye had left. A faint red line had appeared on his white, jade-like hand. That strike from East Peak had managed to injure his hand after all.

    ¡°A Zhao n member? Interesting!¡± Li Kuann nced at the champion-grade recovery medicine and chuckled.

 Volume 6 - 514: Injury

    [V6C44 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    At this moment, the arachne in the hall was at the end of his strength. He had just stopped moving when countless midgets swarmed over him like a grey tide. The arachne viscount¡¯s massive body was torn and devoured instantly, leaving only some sinister looking white bones.

    Some of the wild beasts were still unsatisfied and turned to the arachne¡¯s skeleton with their shocking biting power. The arachne¡¯s bony frame, that was even harder than steel, was bitten off piece by piece and devoured.

    The werewolf was still fighting, but his once zing darkness origin power had grown fairly dim¡ªhe probably wasn¡¯t going tost very long, either.

    There wasn¡¯t a noticeable reduction in the number of wild beasts and aboriginal midgets. Some of the wild beasts that didn¡¯t make it inside started turning their attention toward the other passages. They were especially restless after failing to share thest prey.

    They soon discovered Li Kuann and surged toward him like a roaring grey tide.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Li Kuann¡¯s eyes revealed killing intent, but the cold smile on his lips never faded away. The ¡°Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace¡± in his hands flickered into sight then quickly vanished. A wave of frost rushed out amidst a sh of blue radiance and enveloped a small part of the cave-hall.

    The wolves charging at the very front were covered in a thinyer of frost and petrified mid-leap. Their bodies flew almost ten meters through the air before falling to the ground in the same posture as when they had touched the frost qi of the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace.

    Several grey wolves crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.

    And it wasn¡¯t just them¡ªthe beast tide behind them was also frozen in the same manner. The numerous beasts slid forward under the inertia and shattered as they crashed into one another.

    Within that split second, everything touched by the frost qi of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace¡ªexcept some of thergest beasts¡ªwaspletely frozen through. Their bodies became iparably brittle and shattered upon touch.

    Even those several meter long ferocious beasts with a lion¡¯s head and six legs slowed down to a crawl and finally sumbed to the frost qi, turning into an unmoving ice sculpture.

    Half of the fierce beasts wreaking havoc in the hall had been eliminated by Li Kuann. However, he was apparently unsatisfied as he broke into a serious frown.

    His original intention was to wipe out all life in the hall, but the aboriginals and beasts possessed exceptional resistance. The might of his sword strike was much lower than he had expected. He discovered that his origin power in frost-qi form had deteriorated over ten times quicker than usual after leaving the de. It was as though the suppression of the void colossus¡¯ remnant will even affected the might ofbat arts.

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyebrows rose. Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace shot out once again to end all life in the hall, including the dying werewolf viscount. Everything was indiscriminately turned to ice. He nced around at the countless passages in and around the hall before leaving in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    However, his pursuit was destined to be unfruitful because Qianye had long since made several turns within the maze and progressed into its depths. With thetter¡¯s ability to restrain his aura and conceal his tracks, even old veterans familiar with mountainous terrains wouldn¡¯t be able to find him, let alone Li Kuann.

    Qianye was running quickly along a narrow but mildly sloped passage when his ears moved ever so slightly. He immediately withdrew his aura and entered a small cave onlyrge enough for himself.

    After a span of several breaths, the tunnel along which he had been walking became suffused with the stench of blood as a group of giant lizard-like beasts with thick scales rushed past. Their heavy footsteps caused even the mountainous ground to tremble¡ªone could imagine just how powerful a collision with them would be.

    Such armored lizards were only rank-eight or nine on their own, but they were apparently unaffected by the void colossus¡¯ suppression. They were like siege tanks inrge packs, their strength greatly magnified within these narrow tunnels.

    This pack of armored lizards was almost a hundred strong, and it took quite a while for them to run past. Qianye waited for a while before climbing out of the small cave and walking back toward where these lizards had appeared.

    It was a byway which he had passed on his way forward. After taking a turn, he came to a fork in the road, then another, and another. Qianye simply picked one at random without much hesitation and arrived momentster at a rather small cave-hall.

    Qianye had just stepped into it when he sensed a sinister gaze fall upon himself¡ªit felt as though there was water flowing past his body, but that was merely an illusion. In truth, most of his concealment and withdrawn aura had been removed at a single nce.

    No greater than a hundred meters away, Eden¡¯s vertical eye was shooting out a faint green light as it locked onto Qianye. Beside him, Nighteye turned the dark muzzle of her sniper rifle toward him.

    An ambush! Qianye¡¯s first reaction was to move away from his original position and roll toward the side.

    In his True Sight, there were two indistinct masses of darkness origin power within the hazy gloom of the hall. One of them was extremely familiar, and despite the shapelessness of the origin power masses, Qianye could outline her silhouette in his heart countless times over.

    As he stood in an unprecedented daze, Qianye heard Eden roar, ¡°Fire!¡±

    Nighteye was seemingly shocked. Her entire body trembled slightly as the sniper rifle rumbled. The origin bullet flew out amidst a hazy glow of blood and tore through the short distance toward Qianye¡¯s forehead.

    Thetter felt his brain go nk for a moment, but his well-honedbat instincts kicked in as the threat of death arrived close at hand and his body did its utmost to assume an evasive stance.

    The st echoed through the cave. Qianye flew backward uncontrobly as though he had been struck by a giant hammer and crashed into the cave wall. His head was spinning, and his shattered consciousness could barely gather itself immediately. All he could see in his eyes were fragments of mottled colors amidst the distorted world. The hand of death was reaching for him.

    Qianye suddenly woke up on the verge of life and death. All illusions vanished, leaving only a single shadow rushing toward him with great speed and killing intent. Qianye leapt up and dived into the nearest cave, tossing two origin grenades behind him as he left.

    Eden had already rushed to the cave entrance at this point, and he couldn¡¯t help but sneer upon seeing the grenades. He swept out his legs in a bid to kick the explosives back to whence they hade. Such a trick would only impede weak soldiers¡ªusing it against someone with the Unshrouding Eye was a grave mistake.

    However, Qianye turned back to re at Eden at this point, and thetter saw his own silhouette reflected within those deep blue eyes!

    All of a sudden, his origin furnace spasmed as though it had been pierced by an invisible needle. The pain therein¡ªan agony unbearable for a demonkin¡ªcaused his entire body to tremble. His feet barely managed to hit one of the grenades, kicking it a couple of meters away, while the other one fell right under his feet.

    He was standing at the dead center of an origin grenade explosion! Eden roared in fury as he curled himself into a bundle and did his utmost to protect himself with darkness origin power.

    Two deafening sts rang out in quick session. The grenade¡¯s power was magnified several times within the small space of the tunnel. The daybreak origin power shockwaves, mes, and shrapnels washed over Eden, pushing him several dozen meters back and toward the wall.

    Eden¡¯s curled up body suddenly stretched out just as he was about to hit the wall. His feet tapped lightly upon the cave wall andnded nimbly on the ground, his movements natural and rxed. Apparently, the close explosion of two origin grenades didn¡¯t inflict any major injuries upon him.

    It was just that his origin defenses couldn¡¯t block out the smoke, and Eden¡¯s face was covered in stony fragments with alternating areas of white and ck. Arge hole had also appeared on hisbat robes, revealing the ck armor within.

    A corner of Eden''s armor on the back had been torn as a shrapnel cut through and nailed itself in his body.

    Eden let out a cold snort, and his entire body became suffused with demonic qi which rapidly eroded the shrapnel. To the demonkin, this demonic qi that was capable of eroding even metal possessed miraculous healing properties. The flesh around the small wound grew back at great speed, and soon, it had healedpletely without even leaving a scar.

    However, Eden¡¯s countenance was somewhat pale, and his aura had grown a bit weaker. It would seem that utilizing his demonic qi for healing in this restricted world posed quite a burden on him.

    Eden¡¯s face was full of anger after being reduced to such an embarrassing state by two grenades. Daybreak origin grenades had always been inferior to vampire grenades of the same grade. In that person¡¯s hands, however, both thending point and timing were spot on, allowing it to exhibit its greatest power.

    That tunnel had already copsed. It wasn¡¯t much of a problem for Eden to clear the stones away, but that person had reacted with such speed even against an enemy ambush. It was more than likely that he had already run off.

    Eden abandoned the useless endeavor and, instead, turned to Nighteye with a sigh, ¡°You were somewhat slow to fire just now.¡±

    Nighteye was expressionless as she lowered the sniper rifle and began loading it slowly. Only afterward did she look up at Eden with her deep, bottomless eyes. Eden gleaned nothing from those bottomless abysses, but her slow movements made one feel that something was indeed amiss.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Nighteye took aim once more, and by the time the gun was lowered, she had already recovered her usual demeanor. ¡°I was thinking about something just now.¡±

    Thinking about something in battle? But as clever as he was, Eden did not continue pressing the matter. If Nighteye didn¡¯t want to borate, there would really be no oue even if he were to force the issue.

    Eden nced in the direction where Qianye had escaped and said regretfully, ¡°He¡¯s an extremely powerful imperial expert, a pity that he got away. But I¡¯m guessing he won¡¯t have long to live after taking that kind of bullet. Let¡¯s go, we can¡¯t stay here any longer. We should keep moving inward.¡±

    Nighteye followed Eden in silence. She had always been one of few words and Eden really didn¡¯t mind that. He kept his Unshrouding Eye open at all times since it possessed the ability to eliminate concealment. It was especially useful in this kind ofplex geography where enemies might be hiding in every corner.

    Qianye ran swiftly along the passage and arrived at a down-sloping cave a thousand meters away. The cave was directed downward with no wild beasts moving in or out of it. After finding a small natural stone-room here, Qianye quickly made some arrangements at the entrance before moving himself inside. There, he sat down heaving with his back against the wall.

    Qianye swallowed two pills in session and sat for a while to recover his stamina. Afterward, he tore open his cor and opened up the armor underneath. The battle robes issued to core descendants of the Zhao n were made up of threaded essence gold, but the blow from just now had punched a sinister hole in the chest armor that was capable of withstanding a st from a grade-five weapon.

    Nighteye¡¯s sniper rifle wasn¡¯t just grade-six; it also contained special effects like armor-piercing and pration, so its might was exceptionally great at a 100-meter distance. Not only did it shoot through Qianye¡¯s battle robes, but it also tore open his origin defenses with rtive ease.

 Volume 6 - 515: Pain

    [V6C45 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Presently, the right side of Qianye¡¯s entire body was so numb that he couldn¡¯t feel its presence at all. In terms of a gunshot wound, this situation could be considered very bad because it signified the presence of an added effect.

    He pried open his chest guard with great effort and looked down at the bullet hole in his right shoulder area. He simply couldn¡¯t see the bullet anymore because the wound had swollen up significantly and closed up the opening. Moreover, the flesh around his injury had turned dark and the skin, almost translucent. Seemingly sentient strands of ck energy could be seen moving about underneath. It was a ghastly sight to behold.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly after seeing the state of his injury.

    That was a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion, one of the most powerful weapons the dark races had against the experts of the empire. This bullet was one of the foremost causes of death among imperial champion-level experts.

    In a battle below the level of marquis, few experts would possess guns above grade-seven, the exception being those with innate talents in firearms. The ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion was the ultimate weapon at this level¡ªits destructive potential against people of the Daybreak Faction was even slightly greater than the effects of the empire¡¯s Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang. It was roughly equal to the Song n¡¯s special ammunition.

    Without immediate treatment, champions rank-twelve and below would either die or have theirbat strength affected for life. The victims were almost sure to be crippled because it was a major injury that would burn off the origin vortex.

    The moment she saw him, the sniper rifle¡¯s crosshairs were ced right over his forehead.

    Qianye sat leaning on the cave wall without rushing to clean his wounds. He looked up at the ceiling of the cave, plucked out a little fluorescent grass from between the crevice, and began chewing on its stem. It was pungent, tart, and slightly numbing. Apparently, even the vegetation in this odd cavern was poisonous, and it wasn¡¯t mild, either.

    However, Qianye just kept on chewing with his eyes on the ceiling.

    In truth, he wasn¡¯t thinking about anything.

    Or rather, he didn¡¯t dare to think, too afraid to put any notions in his empty mind. But even without thinking, he could still feel the agony from the bottom of his heart.

    He wasn¡¯t willing to think about it, but the scene kept shing past his eyes repeatedly. He was discovered by the strange ability of the demonkin¡¯s third eye, and immediately afterward, thetter yelled, ¡°fire¡± before rushing straight at him.

    The sniper rifle in Nighteye¡¯s hands rumbled at almost the same time. Origin bullets were extremely difficult to evade at this distance, and more importantly, Qianye was in a daze at that time.

    It was hisbat instincts that had saved him yet again. It could even be considered miraculous that he managed to evade his vitals. But what of it? It was a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion, so it was a lethal blow wherever the bulletnded.

    This shot had pierced through his defenses and also his heart.

    That night at the small trading town felt just like yesterday. He could still remember how that old arachne behind the counter had been smiling spuriously, egging him on in secret. He recalled her ming passion and the warmth that could scorch everything!

    Was everything just a dream?

    No, it wasn¡¯t. It was, in fact, the truth, but one that had already passed. It was like an ephemeral illusion which had vanished under the rising sun.

    At this moment, the bullet in his chest erupted with a burning sensation. It was like a beast awakened from deep slumber, reminding Qianye with its roar that the world in his senses was iparably real.

    Qianye finally shifted his attention to the wound on his chest and inspected his body. As expected, his daybreak origin power was standing off tenaciously against the ck titanium, but its radiance had grown as dim as the twilight.

    Meanwhile, the Wings of Inception were beating restlessly. With every p, it sent out a gold-suffused mass of blood energy which traversed the daybreak tide with great difficulty. The blood energy entering the near-lifeless body was like a small de of grass poking out amidst a barrennd. The seemingly minuscule effort served to revive a sense of pain in his numbed body.

    Qianye drew his dagger and cut open the putrid flesh around his wound. He performed another horizontal sh and pushed the tip of the dagger deeper, whereupon it came into contact with the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion.

    Qianye twisted his wrist and dug out the bullet along with the surrounding bone, flesh, and blood. The ruthlessness of his actions made it seem like the body wasn¡¯t even his own. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh lightly at this point despite his staunch willpower, and his forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

    Gasping deeply, he leaned on the stone wall as he brought the bullet¡ªembedded within a bone fragment¡ªup for inspection. Even bringing the projectile close would produce a slight tingling in his eyes and skin. It was as though countless tiny particles were shooting at him.

    A smile of mysterious implications slowly appeared on his face as he flicked the bullet toward the wall across¡ªhe no longer wished to see this item. It was a premium ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion, boasting much greater titanium content and firepowerpared to the ordinary versions he had bought before.

    Moreover, it should be considered quite fortunate that his armor, origin defense, and sturdy body had jammed the bullet, preventing it from explodingpletely. Presently, only a third of its ck titanium content had entered his body.

    Qianye looked over his injury, then began shaving off the necrotic flesh with his vampiric de, going all the way until his bones became visible. His chest bone had also been seared ck and dotted with numerous necrotic spots, which Qianye proceeded to scrape off one by one. He was drenched in cold sweat afterpleting this arduous process, and his body felt extremely weak.

    Qianye leaned back and more or less copsed upon the ground where he was baptized in agony as his chest heaved along with the fresh wounds. But at this point, he felt that the pain was extremelyforting.

    The burning sensation in his body didn¡¯t lessen after removing the bullet and continued to flow from the injury toward his four limbs. This wasn¡¯t a misperception, but the actual flow of the permeated ck titanium as it spread within his body.

    The most important thing after being shot by a ck titanium bullet wasn¡¯t the size of the wound because the amount that had seeped into the body was lethal enough for most people. Such a life-extinguishing substance would devastate all life wherever it flowed. Ordinary people didn¡¯t even need to touch it; merely standing beside unsealed ck titanium for some time was enough to extinguish their life force.

    Human champions could struggle for a week or more, but it waspletely meaningless because no amount of medicines could neutralize the substance, not to mention the suppressive effect of daybreak origin power wasn¡¯t quite sufficient. Additionally, all contaminated organs and body parts would suffer irreversible destruction.

    As such, most people would choose to detonate their origin vortex to stop the spread of ck titanium within the body, exchanging survival for asting impairment inbat strength. However, even doing so couldn¡¯t restrain the injury every time.

    In the battles of the past, no small number of imperial experts had chosen to end their lives or die along with the enemy after failing to bring their injuries under control. Few were willing to suffer the protracted pain and watch helplessly as their bodies were destroyed inch by inch.

    Qianyeughed self-deprecatingly.

    The empire also possessed simr weapons in their arsenal, and the Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang was one of them. There were even stronger types of special ammunition, however, these weapons were extremely difficult to produce, and as such, they were tightly controlled by the imperial family and major ns.

    Qianye had often seen how dark race members struck by Mithril Bullets of Annihtion or Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang would die in great agony¡ªand no small number of those bullets was fired from his gun. Their injuries would be charred ck as though they had been scorched by raging mes.

    Right now, it was Qianye¡¯s turn to taste this pain.

    The most painful part of this ordeal was the knowledge that she had personally fired that special ck titanium bullet, and how the bullet hade for his forehead as it flew out of the muzzle. He couldn¡¯t help but think that he wouldn¡¯t be in such pain had the projectile found its mark.

    ¡°Are you still unreconciled?¡± Qianyeughed in self-deprecation as he recalled how he had evaded the bullet instinctively.

    He produced a cigar, applied a drop of military stimnt onto it, and inhaled deeply. He didn¡¯t care at all if his actions would attract enemies.

    The familiar taste pulled Qianye back to his days at Lighthouse Town. Back then, he had been struggling against the torment of the blood poison every day. In truth, Qianye¡¯s situation back then was even more desperate, but he had lived on with great tenacity just for that tiny bit of hope.

    Qianye smoked in silence, watching as the sparks gradually reduced the cigar to ashes.

    ¡°Thump.¡± Qianye banged the back of his head against the cave wall! This immediately punched a cavity in the solid rock behind him and caused the entire wall to crack.

    Blood flowed down the back of his neck and covered him with a velvety warmth.

    However, a me had reignited in the depths of his eyes. He watched as the ming glow burn the cigar to the very end and die around his fingers. The pain on his body¡ªjust like that special stimnt¡ªafforded him greater rity.

    He might have lost a woman, but he still had friends, a brother who was as close as family, and even blood rtions of unknown closeness. There was more than one person on Evernight Continent waiting for him to return safely.

    Intermittent footsteps emerged from the tunnel outside, and Qianye could clearly hear the sounds of uneven breathing. It would seem that the smoke had managed to attract a wild beast. It was and beast the size of a boar that was sniffing its way toward the stone chamber. It had just felt a sense of rm when Qianye suddenly hoisted the hundred-kilogram body into the air and bit into its throat!

    The rolling wave of fresh blood entered Qianye¡¯s stomach and filled it with a bloody tartness. It had been a long time since he had resorted to this primitive method of blood absorption. Perhaps that was why the bloodthirst and brutality of his ancient bloodline had awakened.

    Qianye¡¯s blood surged as the hot blood of that first bite entered his abdomen and his blood core pulsed with great power. He had actually entered a state of immediate blood boil!

    A wisp of auric me blood rushed out from his blood core and rushed toward every corner of his body, alleviating the burning sensation brought about by the ck titanium and retarding its spread.

    ck titanium possessed extreme destructive potential against Daybreak life forms, but its effects were vastly inferior against creatures of Evernight. Qianye¡¯s auric me blood could be ranked fairly high even in the entirety of the Evernight Faction. At this moment, it was using his body as the battlefield to kill off the ck titanium, continuously but gradually devouring this unwee intruder.

 Volume 6 - 516: Battle Line

    [V6C46 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    That fierce beast contained¡ªwithin its body of a mere hundred kilograms¡ªan amount of blood several times that of othernd beasts. The sanguine liquid poured continuously into Qianye¡¯s abdomen, whereafter it was absorbed by his body in its blood-boil state and transformed into abundant blood energy. The energy converged into his blood core which then pumped out strands of auric me blood.

    In the blink of an eye, not a drop of blood was left for him to absorb. Only then did he manage to restrain his severe bloodthirst.

    Qianye tossed the withered beast corpse to the side. That violent and primitive suction of blood also served to vent the depression in his chest. He stood in a momentary daze before checking his injuries once more.

    His injuries had healed several times faster during the blood-boil state. New grantion tissue was growing rapidly on that terrifying wound he had carved on his chest, and the defect had mostly closed up. He fished out a roll of bandage from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and bound up his wound, then moved his arm around to confirm that his movements weren¡¯t being affected.

    The ck titanium in his body had dwindled and lost the ability to spread after what remained of it was mutually consumed by the auric me blood. However, a stubborn portion still remained within his body and would need to be cleared away gradually, but it was just a matter of time.

    The price was aplete expenditure of his blood energy, but sources of blood energy were everywhere in this world of hidden dangers. Qianye also discovered that the Book of Darkness and Wings of Inception seemed to possess intelligence. They would restrict their absorption of blood energy when his body was in danger and refrain frompeting with the blood core. This meant that he could refill his blood energy stores after killing a couple of wild beast hordes.

    Qianye noticed the Wings of Inception while inspecting his body¡ªthis sentient, potential Grand Magnum was pping its wings at this moment. The two fully-formed feathers upon it were vivid and life-like down to its fine barbs.

    Soon, Qianye had finished dressing his wound. He then clothed himself properly and put all kinds of equipment in easily reachable pockets before leaving his temporary shelter.

    The caverns within the mountain opened up in all directions like a giant maze, and enemies could appear from any direction. Even Eden with his Unshrouding Eye had long since withdrawn his pride as he advanced slowly and with due vignce.

    They were merely exploring a segment of spine left behind by a void colossus who had died countless years ago. The void colossus¡¯ entire skeleton was surely beyond the limits of one¡¯s vision if even a single segment of its spine was so big. It might¡¯ve been as big as aplete voidndmass when it was alive. How majestic an entity was this?

    The remnant will left behind by the colossus was even able to suppress countless experts. If the void colossus was a mammoth, the people of the two factions weren¡¯t even ants. Perhaps everyone added together would barely be equal to one of the ant¡¯s limbs.

    Just a corner about the truth of this world was already so shocking. The geniuses of the two factions found, to their shock, that the power they worshipped, strove, and yearned for was nothing before this void colossus.

    Eden felt as though he had returned to being a rookie. He was just as cautious and indecisive back when he had just made his debut on the battlefield.

    A ck shadow suddenly flickered past the end of the tunnel, but there was nothing there when he nced over with the Unshrouding Eye.

    Eden gestured toward Nighteye and whispered, ¡°Wait for my signal. Shoot to kill as soon as I designate the target, no matter what it is.¡±

    However, that which Eden received was not Nighteye¡¯s reply but a cold gun muzzle instead. The sniper rifle in Nighteye¡¯s hand was pressed against the back of Eden¡¯s head, its trigger half drawn. A single tremble of her finger would result in a st.

    A head-shot at such a close distance would kill Eden in a single shot regardless of the type of origin bullet. Even the absence of a physical bullet wouldn¡¯t change the oue.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Eden was frozen with extreme shock.

    ¡°Do not attempt to order me around next time. I will kill you if this happens again!¡± Nighteye spoke word by word. Her undisguised killing intent made it clear that she wasn¡¯t joking at all.

    Eden simply couldn¡¯t make sense of the matter. ¡°This isn¡¯t ordering you, it¡¯s cooperation! Haven¡¯t we always worked together like this since entering Giant¡¯s Repose? We¡¯ll only get far by cooperating in what each of us do best. Don¡¯t forget, those imperial experts aren¡¯t the only ones, Sky Demon¡¯s avatars are here, too!¡±

    ¡°Do not attempt tomand me,¡± Nighteye repeated once more.

    ¡°Fine, fine, I get it.¡± Eden raised his hand and said with a wryugh. He already understood Nighteye¡¯s temper. This contemtingdy was, in fact, extremely obstinate. There was surely no more room for negotiation on something she had repeated twice.

    Nighteye slowly lowered her sniper rifle.

    As the two began their advance once more, an enraged Eden kicked the cave wall and mumbled, ¡°Now, how are we going to fight this battle?¡±

    Nighteye only pretended not to hear.

    Time passed by slowly as experts from various parties gradually pushed into the cavern. The deeper one went, however, the greater their chances of running into a member of the other faction. At the same time, the aboriginals and wild beasts there were even more powerful.

    Outside of Giant¡¯s repose, both factions were pouring in a steady stream of people.

    The ones entering Giant¡¯s Repose at the moment were experts who had been transferred over from variousnds and those who weren¡¯t avable earlier on. The tacit deadlock was still being maintained despite both factions deploying massive forces¡ªsmall frictions urred every day, but no major battles took ce.

    The time for the final battle wouldn¡¯t arrive as long as Sky Demon¡¯s avatars stood intact, and the ancient essence fragment remains unobtained.

    A majestic castle had been erected upon the mountainous terrain on the Evernight-controlled region. A structure that should¡¯ve taken at least half a year to build was finished in less than half a month¡ªthis went to show that a great number of high-ranking soldiers was involved in the construction.

    However, to the tens of thousands of dark race soldiers stationed on the battlefront, it was an honor to be able to participate in the construction of this castle dedicated to Warlord Noxus and Lightless Monarch Medanzo. That was to be the encampment of the two great monarchs.

    Adding the mountain elevation, the castle¡¯s main building stood hundreds of meters above Giant¡¯s Repose. In the main hall on the top floor, Noxus and Medanzo were standing side by side, gazing at the enormous crevice below.

    In truth, both Giant¡¯s Repose and the dark race battlefront, which stretched hundreds of kilometers, was far beyond the limits of an ordinary person¡¯s vision. However, the great monarchs possessed such terrifying power that they could see everything at a nce. Even the empire¡¯s defensive lines couldn¡¯t escape their eyes.

    Naturally, the empire¡¯s overseer, Zhang Boqian, could also see the dark race battlefront.

    An area at the center of the imperial encampment was hidden in a patch of hazy white mist through which even the two great monarchs couldn¡¯t see. A prolonged gaze would reveal a speck of light in the depths of this smokey haze, one that even Noxus and Medanzo weren¡¯t willing to look straight at.

    That was Zhang Boqian¡¯s residence at the center of the white misty clouds. Only a heavenly monarch would have the power to iste a great dark monarch¡¯s vision. That extremely dazzling daybreak radiance seen by Noxus and Medanzo was Zhang Boqian¡¯s grand origin power which had reached the heavenly monarch realm.

    The Evernight faction had been using every means at their disposal to inquire, to no avail, about the battle in which Zhang Boqian had ascended to the heavenly monarch realm. Presently, the two dark monarchs had personally witnessed the quality of the youngest ever heavenly monarch¡¯s daybreak grand origin. That was a light that could dazzle even them.

    The top floor wherein stood two great dark monarchs was thousands of square kilometers wide, over a dozen meters tall, and beautifully designed.

    Their energy outflow would produce intense fluctuations in their surroundings, and while standing together, their power would interweave, causing space to warp and distort. Those below the level of marquis simply couldn¡¯t approach.

    Arachne Warlord Noxus¡¯ human form was an entire head shorter than Lightless Monarch Medanzo. His countenance was clear, virtuous, and intelligent, much like those schrs at the imperial library who buried themselves in books all day¡ªnot a single sign of viciousness or cruelty could be found.

    Noxus was the first to break the silence. ¡°The empire has brought in yet another reinforced regiment. The four battleships in charge of logistics hadn¡¯t gone back, either.¡±

    Medanzo pondered for a moment, then said, ¡°That means the human airship force is no longer weaker than ours. They are still inferior, though, in terms of ground forces and experts.¡±

    Noxus sneered, ¡°Inferior? That¡¯s perhaps true regarding experts, but I don¡¯t feel that their ground forces are at a disadvantage at all. We hold the upper hand on paper, but do you really think thirty percent is that big? Don¡¯t forget that the other side has produced young generals like Song Zining. The human advantage has always been in strategy, and their armies frequently mobilize in unison to coordinate with one another. What about us? We have bigger numbers, but how many tribes actually obey orders and cooperate with one another?¡±

    In the face of Noxus¡¯ criticism, the dark race¡¯s nominal highmander Medanzo broke into a muffledugh, ¡°You¡¯re right! I also believe we need to centralize the authority. Let¡¯s do it this way, from tomorrow on, the Dark Hunters will join the Windwalker Legion and remain under theirmand. What say you?¡±

    Noxus¡¯s expression changed slightly. The Dark Hunters was the most elite arachne unit. Their numbers were small, but their fighting power was significant, and they were capable of adapting to all kinds of terrain. It could be considered one of the few trump cards in Noxus¡¯ hands.

    Less than ten people in the entire arachne race had the right to mobilize them. Medanzo looking to seize control of the Dark Hunters struck a nerve within Noxus.

    Thetter snorted deeply. ¡°The Windwalker Legion is just an ordinary corps that can¡¯t even be considered elite. What qualification do they have tomand the Dark Hunters? The reverse is a better choice! Why not have them join the fifth army corps?¡±

    Medanzo looked down at Noxus with a nefarious smile and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t we have the Dark Hunters and the Windwalker Legion fight in an isted battlefield? Whoever wins gains the right tomand.¡±

    A sharp glint shed through Noxus¡¯ eyes as he said word by word, ¡°Lightless Monarch Medanzo, with all due respect, are you trying to incite a war with the arachne at such a time?

 Volume 6 - 517: A New Danger

    [V6C47 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°How would I ever dare?!¡± Medanzo¡¯s smile was inexplicably fake.

    ¡°It¡¯s true that the Queen of the Night has awakened, but we¡¯ll definitely apany your race if things are taken too far. The arachne are not werewolves!¡± Noxus refused to back down and didn¡¯t hold back his words at all.

    Medanzo stared at Noxus for a while, then turned back toward Giant¡¯s Repose as though nothing had happened.

    The Windwalker Legion was one of the most famous vampire corps. It consisted mainly of the fourth-ranked Drac n, and the ninth-ranked Mammon n, but those from other ns were also recruited. The issuey in the fact that the Windwalker Legion was arge unit with over ten thousand regr members, while the Dark Hunters was a special unit with less than a hundred men. Pitting them against one another in a sealed battlefield would naturally result in the Dark Hunters being wiped out amidst the sea of enemy soldiers.

    Medanzo¡¯s attempt at seizing control over the Dark Hunters seemed like a jest, but how could existences who had reached their level crack senseless jokes. Their every word contained deep implications. Should Noxus make an inappropriate reply, Medanzo might really turn the jest into reality and really seize control of the Dark Hunters.

    Noxus dropped the topic after seeing that Medanzo wasn¡¯t pushing this matter any further, albeit with a gloomy expression.

    Medanzo spoke all of a sudden, ¡°The humans are mobilizing too many soldiers! Two-thirds of the current forces is enough if they¡¯re only looking to confront us and split the profits proportionately like before. The current scale is already enough to fight a head-on battle with us.¡±

    Noxus sneered, ¡°Oh they can for sure, but they might not necessarily win. Don¡¯t forget they only have Zhang Boqian, while there¡¯s both you and me on our side. What? Has Zhang Boqian¡¯s previous visit to the Twilight Continent scared the revered Lightless Monarch Medanzo?¡±

    Extremely dense blood energy surged from Medanzo¡¯s body as he turned to stare at Noxus with an incisive gaze.

    Not only had Zhang Boqian charged into the Twilight Continent alone back then and caused a great ruckus, but he had also charged back out through the encirclement, injuring several people along the way. This matter was like a ruthless p on the face for the vampires. The Twelve Ancient ns almost became theughingstock of the entire Evernight faction.

    This was especially true of Medanzo¡¯s Drac n which was situated in Zhang Boqian¡¯s path; their casualties were abnormally high. Two of their dukes received heavy injuries in quick session and were forced to hibernate in the Blood Pond for survival, while another virtuous count perished in battle. Medanzo was exploring the void back then. Everything was over by the time he had rushed back after receiving the news. This remained a regretful matter for him ever since.

    Medanzo was naturally furious now that the old scars were being peeled mercilessly. However, the two peak characters of Evernight withdrew their power after a momentary stand-off. They hadn¡¯t met for many years now and, after an initial probe, still felt apprehensive of one another. Both of them felt that there was no need to go all out with daggers drawn.

    On the ground below, a newly arrived group of several dozen soldiers attracted their attention. They immediately figured out the group¡¯sposition with a sweep of their consciousness. That was a powerfulbat squad led by the Perth n¡¯s Holy Son Edward, two marquises, and five counts. Their destination was Giant¡¯s Repose.

    In the eyes of outsiders, Edward¡¯s every movement represented Lilith¡¯s will. His arrival on Evernight Continent and personally entering Giant¡¯s Repose thus attracted Noxus¡¯ attention.

    With Holy Son Edward''s high status, there was simply no need for him to take this risk. He would surely advance to the duke rank as long as he lived on. This was the most appropriate path for him to take. Moreover, the Queen of the Night had received five Ancient Essence Fragments, and such an item had no additional effect when used repeatedly on a single person.

    ¡°Is Edward here on Lilith¡¯smand?¡± Noxus thought. The arachne warlord couldn¡¯t be med for thinking this. Edward¡¯s authority in the Perth n was equal to a duke, and even a prince could hardly mobilize him. Only Lilith could make him bend his head in submission.

    Noxus¡¯ gaze gradually turned cold as it fell upon Giant¡¯s Repose. Could it be that there were other unknown secrets in there apart from the ancient essence fragments?

    Meanwhile, Medanzo¡¯s eyes moved back to the white mist at the center of the imperial defensive lines. He showed little interest after learning of Edward¡¯s identity and was only puzzled over why the empire was focusing so much manpower here. Was it only to maintain strategic bnce at the battle of Giant¡¯s Repose?

    The Evernight Council¡¯s scrying abilities had suffered greatly, so they could only rely on reports to judge the general situation. Unfortunately, it was much more difficult to receive military intelligence during a state of war. He might be able to figure out the empire¡¯s intentions if only he could know how many and which divine champions had arrived.

    But Medanzo felt much calmer after confirming that Zhang Boqian was here alone.The Eternal me and the Queen of the Night were still searching for Sky Demon to engage in a decisive battle, so the empire would have no choice but to maintain sufficient military power in the void as a deterrence. They shouldn¡¯t be able to spare more people to aid Zhang Boqian.

    Medanzo shot a disdainful nce at Noxus. The arachne could be considered great soldiers on the battlefields, but they weren¡¯t even as good as werewolves in strategic maneuvers. At least, those big dogs could be dispatched to gather some intelligence.

    ¡­

    A worm-like creature was boring out of the ground in a certain dark, damp cave. It was several meters wide, and just the part above the ground was a dozen meters long. There was no telling just how long it was beneath the ground.

    It possessed neither eye nor nose, only arge mouth filled with sharp teeth at the top of its head and several dozen feelers with which to sense its surroundings.

    Therge, slow worm seemed harmless at a nce, but Qianye had seen it more than once and knew that this was a terrifying grade-twelve creature.

    Its delicate-looking skin was, in fact, extremely sturdy and possessed miraculous effects in absorbing origin power. Qianye had tried sting it with an origin grenade, but the explosion only left a small wound the size of a table. An injury of this size was more or less negligiblepared to its gigantic build.

    The giant worm searched for its prey in vain but soon gave up after its endeavor turned out fruitless. Just as it was about to shrink back into its burrow, Qianye leapt down silently from the roof. His hands were both on East Peak which fell promptly upon the Giant Worm¡¯s body. The heavy sword pierced right through the creature¡¯s body and nailed itself into the ground.

    The giant worm struggled with all its might, kicking up huge shockwaves in the vicinity with shattered rocks flying out in all directions. However, most of its body was still under the ground with no way to rush out all of a sudden. And the more it struggled, the greater its damage.

    Qianye kept East Peak in a steady grip with one hand as he drew a vampiric de with the other. He then stabbed ruthlessly into the giant writhing body and absorbed its essence blood frantically.

    The strugglested for well over ten minutes before the worm gradually weakened, and it took half an hour before it lost all signs of life. Qianye was drenched in sweat as he pulled out East Peak and the vampiric de. He simply sat down beside the giant worm carcass, lit up a cigar, and finished it in silence. Only then did he rise up and vanish into the depths of the dark cavern.

    Killing the giant worm provided Qianye with vast amounts of essence blood which, in addition to his umtions in recent days, sufficed to replenish all of the blood energy he had lost. What he needed to do now was to find a secluded ce to cultivate, convert the essence blood, andpletely heal his injury.

    However, Qianye just couldn¡¯t wipe away that destion in his heart. The wounds on the body had healed, but the stubborn injury in his heart was still dripping with blood.

    The battles around the void colossus¡¯ skeleton had reached a climax. Meanwhile, the troops outside of the skeleton were already beginning to enter the forest area. They were astonished by the peculiar forest at first, but they gradually limatized. It was just that some of them felt restless and kept on ncing at those beehive-like treetops.

    They couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that there was something there. However, the intelligence gained from the first batch of people stated that these spherical trees looked odd but were actually harmless. The greatest danger within this forest was the enemy faction because, in this world of warped perceptions, those with special abilities could easily kill their opponents.

    Even so, those squirming spherical bodies still made one¡¯s hair stand on end. These people had no idea that those treetops were silent when the first group had passed through.

    A group of arachne soldiers led by a second-rank viscount was traversing the forest. While running hastily, they looked up toward a certain ce on the treetop. Those spherical treetops were vibrating greatly. The orange parts were bulging up all over as though something was struggling to break out of it. The scene was enough to instill great rm in one¡¯s heart.

    The arachne viscount suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and kept on going forward. It was at this time that a small silhouette leapt out from the treetop and fell to the ground with a loud cry. The arachne viscount immediately lifted his arachnid abdomen and shot out a spiderweb to engulf the little thing.

    Only then did he see clearly that it was a grey-skinned midget less than one meter tall. It was iparably ugly with creases all over its body and saliva flowing out of its mouth as it struggled loudly within the web.

    The arachne¡¯s sharp web produced several cuts on the midget¡¯s skin, but the creature still managed to tear it apart one strand after the other. Later on, the midget simply knelt down and started chewing on it. Its dripping saliva actually eroded the spider web in a puff of white smoke and broke it.

    The arachne viscount¡¯s expression was one of shock. He waved his hand violently and shouted, ¡°Forward march, double time!¡±

    But the surface of the treetops broke apart rapidly, spewing out those little men. They mbered up immediately after falling to the ground and rushed for this group of arachne.

    An arduous battle ensued. The arachne finally managed to finish off several dozen midgets at the price of two fallenrades. The bodily fluids of these grey-skinned little men contained a fierce poison. Even the arachne, who were fairly resistant to poison, couldn¡¯t hold out after being bitten. Meanwhile, the arachne poison had an evidently reduced effect and only served to slow down their movements.

    The arachne viscount¡¯s face was ashen. He had never expected these weak little lifeforms to be so difficult to handle. His elite subordinates hadn¡¯t died in a battle with humans, but in the hands of these queer life forms instead.

    He suddenly looked up after hearing something. His countenance was immediately ovee by shock!

    Dozens of treetops in the vicinity started to shake as more little men sprayed out. A tide of grey madness formed in the blink of an eye andpletely drowned out this group of arachne.

    Simr scenes were ying out continuously in other parts of the forest. The beehive-like structures on those treetops had all opened up. However, most of them were nowpletely empty as the creatures within broke out of their shells.

 Volume 6 - 518: Difference

    [V6C48 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye walked slowly through a certain part of the cavern, dragging East Peak along behind him and carving a deep mark on the ground. He wasn¡¯t going very fast, but the demonkin in front simply couldn¡¯t shake off his close pursuit.

    The demonkin suddenly tripped and rolled over several times. He mbered up as quickly as he could, but Qianye was already standing before him at that time.

    The man¡¯s gaze was full of dread and fear. The third eye on his forehead was tightly shut with blood flowing out continuously¡ªhe had most likely been blinded.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m a descendant of a famed n. My family won¡¯t let you off if you dare kill me. The noble¡­¡±

    This demonkin didn¡¯t manage to utter his n name before Qianye¡¯s vampiric de pierced into his chest. His mouth opened wide and his trembling hands grabbed onto the dagger hilt, hoping to prevent it from pushing deeper in.

    However, Qianye¡¯s hand was as steady as a mountain andpletely immovable. The victim finally passed away amidst extreme pain and terror.

    Qianye waited a while before pulling out the vampiric de. He then turned toward a cave on the side and said, ¡°Come out.¡±

    There was only one exit to that cave. The person inside came out knowing that it was no longer possible to hide. It was a young vampire girl with short hair. The girl did her utmost to stare fixedly at Qianye, but the trembling hands on her sword betrayed her emotions.

    Qianye shot her a nce. ¡°A baron actually dares toe here to join the liveliness?¡±

    ¡°M-My level may be low, but I¡¯m¡­¡±

    The vampire girl had just finished speaking when Qianye cut her short, ¡°Wait a minute.¡±

    The girl watched in astonishment as Qianye walked over to her and removed something from her cor. ¡°Okay, you can continue.¡±

    ¡°I-I¡­¡± The girl stammered, not knowing what to say. Since Qianye could so easily remove an object from her cor, it meant that he could just as easily slit her throat.

    But she was filledpletely with an unknown sense of dread during this process. Her entire body was as stiff as a rock, and she couldn¡¯t even lift her hands. All she could do was watch as Qianye removed her family insignia.

    Qianye sniffed lightly and asked, ¡°You have a cigarette?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± What she brought out weren¡¯t just cigarettes but cigars of the highest quality. From her appearance, it was truly difficult to tell that she actually liked such things.

    Qianye fished one out, pinched off the end, and gave it a sniff. He then said with an approving nod, ¡°Truly a high-quality item. You have a light?¡±

    The vampire girl trembled as she brought out a dedicated lighter and passed it to Qianye. Thetter lit up the cigar and inhaled deeply, only breathing it out after a while. ¡°I was wrong, this is premium quality.¡±

    The girl forced out a smile and said, ¡°It should be.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I¡¯m in a good mood, you may leave now. This is not a ce for you.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll be going now.¡± The girl nced at Qianye once before rushing away, afraid that he would change his mind.

    ¡°Hey! The exit is that way!¡± Qianye¡¯s voice spooked the girl so badly that she almost tripped over a stctite. She quickly turned toward the direction Qianye was pointing to and soon vanished into the maze-like passages.

    Qianye inhaled once more as he opened his left hand, in which sat a bronze-cast datura flower. However, only a mass of copper waste remained when he clenched his hand and opened it once again.

    Qianye dropped the bronze ball with a flip of his hand and continued his journey into the depths of the cavern.

    The passage before him was exceptionally deep, and the far end was covered inplete darkness. There was no light, and it also seemed like there was no road. Qianye¡¯s steps were firm as he moved on and gradually merged into the darkness.

    The vampire girl kept on running, passing one cave after the other. She was too flustered to stop and observe her surroundings. Forks appeared repeatedly in the road ahead, and all of them looked exactly the same. The geography seemed to be leading up at one point then down at another. After a while, she no longer had any idea which one would lead to the exterior.

    Moreover, what made her even more terrified was the feeling that something in the darkness had been following her all along. She even felt a chilly wind on the back of her neck as though something was blowing on it.

    She ran faster and faster before suddenly turning around. As expected, there was someone behind her!

    It was a human male. He didn¡¯t look too old at a nce and possessed a handsome but gloomy countenance. His eyes gradually narrowed as he gazed at the girl.

    The young girl¡¯s heart beat faster and faster. It felt as though a venomous snake were breathing down her neck. She collected her thoughts and gripped her sword tightly. The fine sword, now pointed at the man, trembled constantly and emitted a buzzing sound. This was a brilliant sword technique with almost no openings. The man¡¯s pupils constricted ever so slightly as he watched on.

    That person didn¡¯t approach further. He watched the girl like a cat watching a mouse and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of me?¡±

    The young girl regained her courage after a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m not!¡±

    The man found her reaction surprising. He pondered for a while and asked, ¡°Then why were you so afraid of that person who took your cigar?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s different,¡± the girl replied honestly.

    Facing Qianye felt as though she had met a natural predator. Her entire body was frozen stiff, and she didn¡¯t even dare move a single finger. Although she also felt an unbearable pressure from this young man before her, she could still go all-out against him and at least die a true warrior¡¯s death.

    That was the difference.

    This reply seemed to have infuriated the young man. He drew his dagger with a cold smile and said, ¡°The biggest difference between me and him is that he let you go and I will turn you into a corpse. Remember my name, Xu Lang, as you go to hell!¡±

    Xu Lang attacked as quick as lightning and hacked down at the vampire girl¡¯s head. The army dagger in his hand, barely half a meter long, descended with the weight of a giant hammer.

    The vampire girl swung her de up to block at the critical moment. The trembling de tip dispersed some of Xu Lang¡¯s origin power and actually managed to parry his sh. Both her sword technique and her reaction time had reached a high standard, and the only thingcking was herbat experience. She would surely be an expert in time as long as she remained alive.

    The parry surprised Xu Lang quite a bit. He could no longer remember when it was that a rank-nine soldier hadst blocked his strike. Since bing a champion, there had been very few rank-nine warriors capable of fending off a single blow from him. Presently, he had already ascended again and was very close to reaching rank-thirteen.

    However, the girl failed to block a second blow, and her origin defenses were shattered by the enormous power. Xu Lang sent her sword flying with a flick of his dagger and pressed the edge against her neck.

    But he wasn¡¯t the least happy, and the darkness on his countenance grew even heavier as he stared at the girl. His eyes were filled with scarlet threads as he reached a near-berserk state.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have left any regrets during my champion advancement if it weren¡¯t for my poverty. Nor would I have failed to kill a mere baron in one blow! I would¡¯ve left Zhao Jundu in the dust if only I could¡¯ve used the Marrow Cleansing Pond!¡±

    Xu Lang¡¯s deranged voice reverberated through the tunnels. His trembling de scraped the girl¡¯s skin, causing fresh blood to flow down her white neck. Xu Lang¡¯s face flushed red after seeing the blood. He was both angry and excited, and his voice also turned hysterical.

    Perhaps the joy of being able to throttle yet another young genius to death in this uninhabited ce caused him to let go of all pretenses. He poured out all the things he had kept in his mind for so long. It was fine to chat with a dead person anyway.

    ¡°When I visited the Zhao n to borrow their Marrow Cleansing Pond back then, I was prepared to ept any and all conditions! But they refused me without even bothering to find an excuse. Those old fellows will pay for their arrogance sooner orter! The day I, Xu Lang, be a supreme character of the martial dao, is the day the Zhao n disappears from the empire!¡±

    The vampire girl was no longer afraid at this point as she nced at Xu Lang with an expression of pity and mockery. ¡°It turns out that you¡¯re just a coward.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± Xu Lang¡¯s eyes almost spat out mes.

    ¡°I said you¡¯re a coward, and you¡¯re still dreaming aboutpeting with that person from just now?¡±

    Xu Lang suddenly broke into a twistedugh. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll let you understand how this coward will treat you.¡±

    Xu Lang whispered into the girl¡¯s ear, ¡°I¡¯ll y your skin, punch a dozen holes in your blood core, and then put it back in ce. Do you understand?¡±

    The young girl couldn¡¯t help but shudder because that was extreme torture for a vampire. A repeatedly punctured blood core would no longer heal¡ªnot even the blood pond could help. Moreover, putting the core back into ce would allow it to reconnect and maintain vitality, extending the vampire¡¯s suffering from the yed skin. She wouldn¡¯t even be able tomit suicide.

    Torture methods targeted at vampires mostly made use of their powerful regenerative abilities to extend the period of agony.

    The vampire girl didn¡¯t beg for mercy despite her fear. She only said one word, ¡°The Monroe won¡¯t let you go.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Xu Langughed once again. He had recovered his refined demeanor at this moment, at least on the surface.

    He dragged the young girl away to find an isted cave for the torture. There was still time before the final battle, and he had no intention of crossing swords with all the experts in advance. Hiding in the shadows to deliver a decisive blow¡ªthat was Xu Lang¡¯s style.

    He had just passed by a fork in the road when Xu Lang felt a peculiarity in the environment. A wisp of ck light shone onto his body, destroying his state of concealment and weakening his protective origin power. Greatly shocked, he shed behind the vampire girl and used her to block the sable beam.

    Eden walked out from a dark corner, his vertical eye shing with dark light. ¡°Leave her and scram!¡±

    ¡°It seems this fellow is important to you.¡± Xu Lang¡¯s grip turned even tighter.

    Eden sneered. ¡°She¡¯s just a vampire and not even a viscount. What importance can she have? It¡¯s just that killing you is a matter of time, so I don¡¯t mind letting you live a while longer.¡±

    Xu Lang replied coldly, ¡°Is that so? Kill me? I¡¯d love to see you try.¡± His gaze fell behind Eden, wherein stood ady with jet ck hair and eyes. Xu Lang had only then discovered her presence.

    His expression turned to one of shock after seeing her appearance and the golden datura insignia on her cor. ¡°Monroe Princess!¡±

    Xu Lang had nned to fight it out if it were Eden alone since cross-level battles were second nature to him. However, it would be suicide with Nighteye added to the equation.

    The man red at Eden for a while and shouted, ¡°Very well, she¡¯s yours.¡± He pushed the vampire girl over, performed some distractive movements, and shed into one of the tunnels behind him in a state of concealment.

    But a surging chill emerged at the end of that tunnel, and the walls became filled with blue frost.

 Volume 6 - 519: The Final Momen

    t [V6C49 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Li Kuann walked out calmly in a cloud of frosty mist. ¡°Retreating without a battle? You¡¯ve thrown away our empire¡¯s face. Now that I¡¯ve arrived, the two over there can forget about leaving.¡±

    Eden grabbed the staggering vampire girl and pushed her behind him. He then pointed toward a tunnel on the side and indicated for her to leave first. He then said with augh, ¡°You despicable and treacherous humans haven¡¯t grown much in power over the millennium, but your bragging abilities seem to have made quite a lot of progress. I, Eden of the Dark Abyss, am right here. How do you n on making me stay?¡±

    Li Kuann slowly drew his sword. The cavern was immediately suffused with a deep chill the moment that translucent crystalline edge appeared, causing the temperature to plummet. The cave walls became covered in icicles in the blink of an eye.

    Eden lost his calm at the sight of this sword. ¡°A grade-eight sword!¡±

    Weapons at grade-eight were so powerful that they would evidently affect their surroundings. The frost energy in this de was akin to the tides¡ªits vast area of effect and power made it seem like a domain unto itself. Apparently, it was a product at the pinnacle of grade-eight.

    Eden and Nighteye would find this de difficult to deal with even if it were in Xu Lang¡¯s hands. Li Kuann was not only superior to thetter in terms of origin power, but his cultivation arts alsoplimented the sword quite well. It was capable of bringing out the weapon¡¯s full might.

    Eden took a step forward, blocked Nighteye behind him, and said, ¡°I¡¯ll obstruct him and you look for an opening to attack him. Run first if you have the chance.¡±

    Li Kuann saw all of their movements. He shook Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace and said, ¡°You wish to escape?! I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be that easy!¡± At this moment, the frost energy had extended in all directions and frozen everything within several hundred meters.

    Everyone found, to their astonishment, that not only did they have to resist the frost within this area, but even circting their origin power had be difficult. Difficult origin power activation would affect one¡¯s speed, making it difficult for Eden and Nighteye to escape. It was clear from how this frost energy was actually able to affect origin power cirction that the effects weren¡¯t from Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace alone¡ªLi Kuann¡¯s own domain was also in y.

    Eden¡¯s expression turned solemn. It would take a rare genius level character to utilize domains in this ursed ce.

    ¡°Off with your heads!¡± Cold Moon Embrace swept out in a crescent arc, shooting several ribbons of aqua-blue radiance toward Nighteye and Eden. These light ribbons condensed from frost energy were iparably beautiful. They left cuts on everything they passed, and cut through several centimeters of stone like tofu.

    Eden let out a loud cry as the air several dozen meters around him became suffused with ck mist. A fierce contest ensued as it came into contact with the frost energy, and the two powers eroded one another amidst sizzling noises.

    Only a part of the aqua-blue brilliance was canceled out before it flooded in and tore apart the ck mist. It then pressed on with undeterred momentum and arrived before Eden in the blink of an eye.

    Thetter was greatly rmed because he had never imagined that he would lose so quickly in a contest of domains. He was caughtpletely off-guard and could only activate his origin defenses to defend against the onught of the blue light.

    It was at this time that Li Kuann felt a sharp pain in his chest. His origin power fell into chaos, and the blue radiance attacking Eden actually lost control.

    Li Kuann roared loudly and erupted with origin power. The frost energy overflowed like a hazy mist and suppressed the abnormality in his body. At the same time, he raised Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace to his forehead.

    A dark origin bullet tore through the air like a specter. It made not the slightest of sounds and even the origin power around it was indistinct. Li Kuann¡¯s might¡¯ve overlooked this lethal attack had it not been for his domain enveloping the entire area.

    The round bullet flew toward the almost translucent edge of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace and split into two even beforeing into actual contact. The remnant halves of the projectile flew out to either side of Li Kuann¡¯s face and punched into the cave wall.

    Li Kuann lowered his sword gradually with a sharp glint in his eyes. ¡°This is¡­ an eye ability? Marvelous! Now that¡¯s someone worthy of being my opponent. But you¡¯re too weak right now. Leave and we shall fight again when you¡¯ve matured. But I¡¯m only letting you go this once, you can only me your bad fortune if you run into me again!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s the princess of the Monroe n. You can¡¯t let her go!¡± Xu Lang cried out from behind.

    ¡°Scram! I don¡¯t need you to tell me what to do!¡± Li Kuann didn¡¯t leave Xu Lang any face, and neither did he pay any heed to thetter¡¯s uniform and Red Scorpion insignia.

    Xu Lang¡¯s expression turned ashen and roared furiously, ¡°This is war! Not one of your little games! If you don¡¯t kill her now, who knows how many imperial soldiers will die during her growth? There¡¯s no mercy in war!¡±

    Li Kuann replied coldly, ¡°What do you know about true war? The oue of this war is currently decided in a confrontation between the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs. In the future, it will hinge upon the sword in my hand. As long as I can further sharpen my de, any number of cannon fodder like you is worth sacrificing.¡±

    Xu Lang shouted, ¡°Who are you?! How dare you speak such words?!¡±

    Presently, he was a general in Red Scorpion and a respected character in the imperial army. When had he ever suffered such treatment? Even the arrogant n descendants wouldn¡¯t criticize an elite corps general to his face. That was because doing so would end up offending not just a single officer but the entire military.

    Li Kuann shot him a nce and broke into augh. ¡°You¡¯d naturally know if you were capable enough. I can tell that you¡¯ve been muddling along since you don¡¯t even know who I am. You still dare to run your mouth here? This young noble is in a good mood after encountering a future opponent, so I¡¯ll spare you today. Now scram! You¡¯ll find out who I am after advancing a couple more ranks.¡±

    Xu Lang wasn¡¯t expecting such a response. His face soon turned from one of anger into terror.

    Li Kuann¡¯s words weren¡¯t without reason. Xu Lang had only touched the outer border of the military circle. Compared to the understanding of the noble ns, his knowledge was merely at the level of an outsider. There were many deeper things he didn¡¯t quite know, especially when it came to the imperial family. This thought served to reduce his wrath as he stood there pondering his options.

    Li Kuann paid no more heed to him and nced back at the other side¡ªEden was preparing to leave, but Nighteye remained motionless. He said with a frown, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you leaving? This young noble might change his mind after a while.¡±

    At this time, a fishy wind arose from a distant tunnel. The blood energy therein was so intense that it was nauseating. This blood energy was filled with the stench of death and decay, a stark contrast from Nighteye¡¯s which was fragrant, sweet, and full of vitality. It could even be said that they were pr opposites.

    A raspy voice echoed from the direction of the blood energy. ¡°It¡¯s no use even if you change your mind. Now let¡¯s see if you yourself can leave!¡±

    The blood energy grew denser and denser until the rolling tides of blood came into view. It shed fiercely with Li Kuanlgan¡¯s frost energy, and the two began consuming one another. A domain battle had broken out even before the neer had revealed himself.

    The oue was more or less a draw. Li Kuann¡¯sbination of domain and sword energy held a slight advantage. However, the blood energy covered a greater area and turned the tables in terms of quantity.

    Marquis Yuri walked out from amidst the rolling tides. The sword intent in Li Kuann¡¯s eyes grew brighter after seeing the rose and snake insignia on his cor. A marquis of the Perth n couldn¡¯t be underestimated, regardless of the situation. The sword intent on Li Kuann¡¯s body surged boundlessly as he became one with the sword, turning into a murderous weapon of tangible coldness.

    In a showdown between experts at their level, everything in their domains would be destroyed indiscriminately. Both Eden and Xu Lang released their own domains as they retreated quickly amidst the collision of blood and sword energies. Although their domains were destroyed immediately after taking form, the moment of obstruction allowed them to escape sessfully.

    A fierce battle erupted abruptly but also ended in a sh.

    Frost and blood energies pervaded every corner of the cavern within a hundred-meter radius. During the moment shorter than a blink, both domains constantly broke down, repaired themselves, shattered, then restored themselves again. This went on several times. Li Kuann and Yuri were fighting arduously at the center of the domain, but nothing could be seen clearly apart from the destruction and rebirth of the red and blue energies.

    Nighteye stood silently at the border of their colliding domains. Dense blood energy lined with faint golden threads rippled around her body. Although her domain was only enough to cover the area she had been standing in, it stood unyieldingly against the onught of the red and blue energies.

    Within the domain was a fierce lion-like beast with several ribbons flying wildly behind its head. This beast formed of blood energy seemed quite spiritual. It darted around like a bolt of lightning, shing apart the blood energy and sword intent that managed to invade her domain.

    Li Kuann and Yuri separated from their fierce battle.

    The former shot a nce at Yuri, then sheathed Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace, and left with a heavy snort. Xu Lang, who had been watching from a distance, also left after seeing that there was nothing he could do.

    Yuri remained standing in ce, but the arrogant expression he had worn during his appearance was gone, reced by a serious countenance. His face became much more rxed after Li Kuann¡¯s figure vanished into the distant tunnel.

    A clear winner wasn¡¯t decided in the battle just now. Both of them felt rather apprehensive of the other, so they decided to stop fighting and go their own ways.

    The rtionship between the factional experts had undergone some subtle changes under the looming shadow of Sky Demon¡¯s avatars and vicious aboriginals. They no longer sought to kill each other at all costs and would also try to reduce meaningless losses when evenly matched.

    Eden breathed a sigh of relief after Li Kuann had left. However, he kept his eye on Yuri as he walked over to Nighteye. Apparently, he hadn¡¯t rxed his vignce at all.

    Yuri nce at Eden and said, ¡°Your Excellency Eden, I have something to say to Her Majesty Nighteye. It¡¯ll be best if you step back.¡±

    Eden had no intention of leaving. ¡°On the contrary, I think I need to listen to what you have to say. Moreover, my presence might prevent certain idents from happening.¡±

    Yuri stared fixedly at Eden with a bloody murderous intent leaking out from his eyes. The former hadn¡¯t withdrawn his domain at this moment, and, although he hadn¡¯tunched a direct attack, the pressure was enough to cause Eden¡¯s expression to shift slightly. Yet, thetter remained standing in ce despite the great effort involved.

    Yuri¡¯s momentum suddenly rxed as his killing intent dissipated. ¡°Ie representing the Queen of the Night and the Holy Son. Are you still intent on listening?¡±

    ¡°The will of the Queen of the Night isn¡¯t necessarily useful against my Dark Abyss,¡± Eden replied.

    Yuri¡¯s smile became eerily distorted. ¡°The same can be said for you. The Dark Abyss or even the will of that revered person on the sacred mountain might not necessarily be useful against our sacred blooded race.¡±

    Eden¡¯s expression sank. As a pureblood demonkin born of a famed n, he had never put the other races in his mind. Were it not for this strange world and the council mission at hand, he might¡¯ve fallen out with Yuri despite his strength.

    Nighteye stopped Eden and said, ¡°Your Excellency Yuri, you probably weren¡¯t on the Giant¡¯s Repose roster. So, pray tell, what is the Holy Son¡¯s message?¡±

 Volume 6 - 520: Bloody Presen

    t [V6C50 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Very smart, no wonder you have the Holy Son¡¯s constant attention and Her Majesty Lilith¡¯s favor.¡± Yuri¡¯s smile felt sinister no matter how amiable he was. ¡°His Majesty Edward asked me to tell you that he¡¯ll be entering Giant¡¯s Repose very soon and that you still have time to reconsider his offer. The time¡­ is twenty-four hours.¡±

    Nighteye replied immediately, ¡°There¡¯s no need to think it over, I refuse.¡±

    Yuri sized Nighteye up with narrowed eyes like a butcher would his prey and bowed deeply. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t regret it. His Majesty Edward has prepared a special present for you¡­ and it¡¯s something worth looking forward to.¡±

    Yuri fell back all the way until the end of the tunnel before turning to leave. That exaggerated etiquette of his left one under grave pressure.

    Eden spoke after a fair length of silence, ¡°Your Majesty Nighteye, I hope you¡¯ll consider my previous offer. I¡¯ll contact the overseeing elder outside once you agree. It¡¯ll be useless even if Edward himself arrives.¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t refuse immediately this time and only stood with her head lowered. Finally, she said with a barely discernible sigh, ¡°No, thank you, Your Excellency Eden.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t use honorifics with me in the future.¡±

    ¡°Very well, Eden. I wish to be alone for a while, so let¡¯s part ways here.¡±

    Eden was startled. ¡°But¡­¡±

    He stopped speaking after seeing Nighteye wave her hand. Thetter gazed into his eyes and shook her head slowly. She then left and vanished into the darkness of the cavern.

    Quite a while after her departure, Eden fell kneeling to the ground as though he had lost all strength and smashed the sturdy rock with his fist.

    The battles in the depths of Giant¡¯s Repose grew fiercer by the day, and the rumbles of battle could be heard at all times. Enemies lurked in every corner. The beasts and aboriginals no longer appeared in swarms, but those that did appear were abnormally powerful and difficult to handle. These creatures were exempt from the suppression and possessed high resistance against origin power attacks from either faction.

    But no matter how powerful the wild beasts were, they were a far cry from the factional experts in terms of tricks, techniques, and killing experience. As such, the battles mostly ended with the wild beasts suffering defeat. The path to the core region, on the contrary, became the smoothest leg of the journey.

    But the good fortune ended before long. What caught up to them from behind weren¡¯t the promised reinforcements but an endless tide of wild beasts.

    There was only a fine line between heaven and hell.

    There was alternating day and night in this suppressed world, but only endless bloody nights remained in these interweaving caverns. All experts were struggling to kill the inexhaustible wave of beasts and aboriginals. The fangs of the reaper were everywhere without a single respite to be found¡ªall they could do was kill repeatedly.

    The experts of Evernight and the empire were fighting back to back for the very first time, setting aside factional differences in the face of death. But not everyone had truly let go of the enmity. Many a time, therade from just now would turn into an enemy even before the beasts had been killed off.

    The beast tide receded after what seemed like an endless period, and almost everyone was left in utter exhaustion.

    The extreme silence within the deformed cavern was terrifying and broken only by the asional sound of dripping water. There were still beasts running past the nearby tunnels from time to time, but all of them avoided this area subconsciously. It was perhaps due to the intense stench of blood hanging in the air or possibly by virtue of their instincts.

    There was a tiny me pulsing in the depths of the cavern.

    Qianye was smoking with his back against the cave wall. Little over a day had passed since he was injured by the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion, and the wound was no longer seeping blood. However, the other ces on his body were in a far worse condition.

    The military uniform on his body was no different from a ragged loincloth, one from which he could wring out blood. The battle armor inside was full of scratches, but fortunately, there was no lethal damage. The most eye-catching was that badly mangled wound on his thigh.

    East Peak had been casually tossed aside randomly. The de¡ªtainted by neither dust nor blood¡ªwas now suffused with ayer of dark red, likely by virtue of excessive exposure to blood.

    There was a beast head rolling around under his military boot. It was the size of a bull¡¯s head with its lidless single eye wide open. One could see, under the faint light from Qianye¡¯s cigarette, that the entire cave floor was littered with beast corpses, and some were even stacked atop one another. The mere sight was enough to make one shudder.

    The heat of the tobo lingered around Qianye¡¯s lips, and the blood within his body was almost aboil.

    Life Plunder was indeed a peerless killer weapon while fighting against the beast tide. But despite the overflowing essence blood, Qianye was in no mood to operate the Mystery Chapter at the moment. After that bout of extreme massacre, Qianye only wanted to sit quietly without thinking and watch the smoke rise from his cigarette.

    However, the blood energy in his body initiated a state of blood boil on their own and began absorbing the essence blood via the most primitive of methods. The energy flowed little by little through his veins to repair the wounded organs and flesh.

    The me finally burned out. Qianye threw the cigarette stub away, picked East Peak up and headed toward the depths of the tunnel.

    At the center of a different cave-hall, Nighteye was scanning her surroundings. The hall here was exceptionally wide, but no beast had appeared here¡ªsomething was fairly abnormal. Nighteye simply stood there as though she were waiting for something.

    A resounding p echoed through the wide hall as a man dressed in ck formal attire entered. The insignia on his cor depicted a bloody rose with a small golden snake at its stamen. He wore a ck mask which exposed only his sharp chin underneath.

    ¡°Beloved Nighteye, you¡¯re just as beautiful as the half-moon. Truly makes it difficult for one to control himself.¡±

    Nighteye shot him a nce and said coldly, ¡°Your Majesty Edward, I¡¯m humbled by your praise.¡±

    Edward opened his arms and said with an exaggerated tone, ¡°Believe me when I say that I¡¯ve prepared a present for you. It¡¯ll definitely surprise you!¡±

    ¡°I look forward to it.¡±

    Edward pondered for a moment. He then raised his hand but paused halfway and asked, ¡°Before I hand you this precious gift, I wish to know what your thoughts are on my offer.¡±

    ¡°I refuse.¡± Nighteye had always been concise with her words.

    ¡°Oh! Truly sad!¡± Edward pointed toward his chest and sighed deeply. He then said with a snap of his fingers, ¡°Darling, you leave me with no choice but to give you that present.¡±

    Footsteps rang out in the passage beside them as two rows of vampire elites walked into the hall with a certain man in tow. That person appeared extremely weak and was unable to walk on his own. He was being half-carried and half-dragged by two vampire warriors. His drooping head was covered in a ck helmet, and his face couldn¡¯t be seen clearly.

    Edward walked over to the man and removed the helmet. Nighteye gasped in shock despite her best efforts to remain calm.

    That was Count us, Nighteye¡¯s father!

    ¡°Edward!¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice was full of anger and even somewhat shrill.

    Edward removed his own mask to reveal a handsome countenance characteristic of the vampire race. It was just that there was a hint of madness in his brilliant, ruby-like eyes. He extended an arm toward Nighteye and said, ¡°Beloved, what do you think of this present?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s chest heaved fiercely, and it took her great effort just to calm down. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Edward kept on smiling just as before. ¡°You¡¯re very clear as to what I want. Ah, no matter, I¡¯m very patient and respectful toward mypanion. I. Want. You. To. Marry. Me.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t¡­¡± Nighteye hadn¡¯t finished speaking when Edward cut her short.

    ¡°My dear, do not refuse me in such a hurry. That¡¯ll hurt my feelings. Ah, I understand. It must be that this present isn¡¯t sincere enough. Let¡¯s do it this way, I¡¯ll decorate the gift a little bit, just a bit.¡±

    With that Edward pried open us¡¯ mouth and shot a strand of blood energy into his throat. Agitated by the energy, us roared like a beast, revealed his vampiric fangs, and bit down on Edward¡¯s finger.

    However, thetter¡¯s pale hands were as solid as a metal alloy that had been refined countless times. us¡¯ fangs simply couldn¡¯t punch through the skin. Edward pinched one of the fangs with his finger and exerted some force, shattering the front half of the fang with a loud crack.

    us emitted a cry of iparable agony as his body spasmed in pain. He then fell unconscious momentster. An injured fang was one of the greatest torments for a vampire.

    Even the expressions of the Perth n members turned unnatural after seeing this. All vampires could sympathize with this pain.

    Edward, however, had no intention of letting us off so easily. His fingers grabbed onto the remaining portion of the fang and said indifferently, ¡°Dear, have you finished considering? I¡¯m looking forward to this little ¡®modification¡¯!¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s body was trembling. Suddenly, her eyes erupted with a sanguineous light and Edward¡¯s figure appeared within her pupils.

    Thetter turned pale all of a sudden. The blood energy on his body erupted with great ferocity and formed a pir of surging blood energy which almost reached the ceiling.

    Nighteye emitted a muffled groan and staggered backward with her eyes shut, a stream of blood trickling down the corner of her eye.

    Two streaks of fresh blood flowed down from Edward¡¯s nose as he gradually scattered the pir of blood energy. He produced a handkerchief to wipe his face. The madness in his eyes increased after seeing the bright red stain on the white cloth.

    Nighteye forced herself to open her eyes. At this moment, there were countless tears and bloody strands in her near-perfect eyes. Only her pupils remained just as deep and abstruse as before.

    Edward didn¡¯t touch the clearly wounded Nighteye. Instead, he pried open us¡¯ mouth anew and used his blood energy to draw out thetter¡¯s vampiric fang, which he then pinched lightly with his fingers.

    ¡°My beloved, you must know that your attitude is very important to me. The results will bepletely different if you¡¯re willing to cooperate. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t want to force you unless absolutely necessary. But my patience is limited, and it¡¯s almost at the very end now. Can you give me a final answer before I shatter these fangs? Yes or no?¡±

    The pain from the wound roused us from hisa. He saw Nighteye in his daze and immediately became sober. ¡°Leave quickly, don¡¯t mind me!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.

    Nighteye¡¯s face was filled with unbearable agony. She clenched her teeth and said, ¡°The Monroe won¡¯t let you off!¡±

    Edward broke into augh. He patted us¡¯ drooping head and said, ¡°For whom? Him? A rural noble from Evernight Continent? Hehe, haha!¡±

    Edward suddenly stoppedughing and said coldly, ¡°Dear, this joke isn¡¯t funny. Now, reply!¡±

    Nighteye nced at us who was struggling in great pain. She closed her eyes with a pained expression and said lightly, ¡°I¡­¡±

    It was at this time that a gunshot rumbled through the cavern, and a beam of ck light pierced through us¡¯ chest with the momentum of a thunderbolt. That was an extremely powerful origin bullet, one which immediately reduced the count¡¯s blood core to nothingness.

    Freed of his torment, us¡¯ expression rxed as he looked up at Nighteye with his remaining strength. He couldn¡¯t produce any sound, but one could still read hisst word from the shape of his lips. ¡°Go!¡±

    Eden rushed out from the darkness and fired a frantic volley of bullets toward Edward. At the same time, his domain pushed toward the Perth n warriors. He rushed past Nighteye and left a single word, ¡°Run!¡±

 Volume 6 - 521: Brief Encounter

    ¡°But¡­¡± Nighteye¡¯s reaction was sluggish after experiencing such drastic developments. She didn¡¯t even have the time to cry, and only looked at Eden without knowing what to do.

    Eden roared, ¡°Go! They won¡¯t dare kill me as long as you escape!¡±

    Nighteye shot a deep nce at the demonkin. She then clenched her teeth and rushed into one of the maze-like passages behind her, quickly bing one with the darkness after activating bloodline concealment.

    Eden was assigned to her directly by the Evernight Council and was also an important character from the Dark Abyss. Even someone of Edward¡¯s status would have to think twice before moving against him¡ªbut that was on the premise that Nighteye could escape. Should thetter fall into Edward¡¯s hands, however, he would no longer have anything to fear because dead men tell no tales.

    In the cavern hall, Edward roared in extreme fury as he watched Nighteye disappear.

    At this moment, the Perth n soldiers couldn¡¯t even look up under the suppression of Eden¡¯s domain. The higher ranking experts¡ªtwo counts and a marquis¡ªwere standing behind the group and couldn¡¯t push through immediately.

    The three immediately took action upon hearing Edward¡¯s roar. One of the counts knocked the crowd away and made a beeline for Eden. The domain seemed to have little effect on him. The count focused his attention upon Eden¡¯s origin bullets, poised toplete this sprint with as little damage as possible.

    However, the hail of bullets made sharp turns in the air, at least half of them converging on the count¡¯s body. The impact sted his badly mangled body away and even exposed his blood core. The attacks came fairly close to killing him.

    Although no vampire was willing to admit it, this was the difference between a vampire count and that of a famed demonkin n.

    The other marquis and count had gone around the disorderly crowd and toward the other end of the hall in an attempt to chase after Nighteye. However, they were frozen in ce after seeing the might of Eden¡¯s focus fire. Not many in the room could withstand such an onught while being suppressed by the colossus¡¯ will¡ªeven that marquis didn¡¯t dare make an attempt.

    Edward¡¯s expression turned ashen. He could no longer afford to wait for his subordinates to drain Eden¡¯s ammunition. He leapt up, shrouded in near-tangible blood energy, and charged into the ck domain filled with both true and illusory origin bullets.

    Edward, as a Holy Son, was indeed powerful. A full eruption of his blood energy materialized countless avians and beasts which promptly engaged the sentient ck energy in Eden¡¯s domain. The ck mist which had originally enveloped half the hall was quickly weakened.

    Although Eden did his utmost to twist the majority of bullets toward Edward, the projectiles barely managed to shoot through his protective blood energy. The remaining momentum was only sufficient to tear his clothes and leave a superficial wound.

    A peculiar smile of mockery appeared on Eden¡¯s face as Edward¡¯s hand was just about to grab his shoulder. He held onto his gun with the left hand while his right fist shot toward Edward¡¯s w.

    But just as the two were about to make contact, Eden opened his right hand to reveal a ck prism-shaped crystal. It was merely the size of a finger with strands of ck energy rolling about within. Upon closer inspection, however, one would find that those were actually ck mes!

    Edward¡¯s eyes went wide as he cried out in rm, ¡°You¡¯ve gone mad!!!¡±

    He abruptly retracted his hand and leaned his upper body backward, almost losing his bnce in the process. Edward used every ounce of strength to stop his charge and shift sideways, but it was toote.

    The ck crystal shot out from Eden¡¯s hand, and the ck mes within were jolted awake. The drifting wisps of me condensed first into an ember, then burst out violently. The transparent crystal fell apart amidst an eruption of garish prismatic colors, and the ck mes spilled out over a ten-meter radius around them.

    These mes¡ªakin to mist and muslin¡ªwere inexplicably odd. They draped over Edward, who hadn¡¯t yet escaped the area, and covered the right half of his body. This caused him to discard all semnce of dignity and emit a mournful wail¡ªthe pain was clearly excruciating.

    The blood energy gushing out from Edward¡¯s body condensed around him like a pir. However, the defensive measured seemedpletely ineffective and even intensified the immtion like adding fuel to fire. Yet he had no choice but to continue quenching his thirst with proverbial poison because he simply couldn¡¯t afford to let the mes touch his body.

    The Perth n soldiers nearby who had touched the ck me fell down silently and curled up into a charred mass. They didn¡¯t even have the chance to cry out.

    A first-rank viscount struggled to release his blood energy, but the scarlet defensive barrier flickered out of existence. Soon, raging mes poured out of his nose and mouth, followed by his entire body. Apparently, he could no longer endure the suppression of the void colossus after being gravely injured by the ck mes¡ªhis origin power had ignited.

    ¡°Origin mes! Wrath of the Abyss!¡± The Perth n marquis standing close to the cave wall recognized the origin of the ck mes. He was so shocked that he pulled back a fair distance from the gauze-like ck fire.

    This origin me, known as the Wrath of the Abyss, was specific to the demonkin race. Reportedly, it was born from nothingness and capable of scorching an expert¡¯s soul. Disregarding these legends, the truth was that it was a special type of me fueled by origin power, the bane of all experts with formidable stores of energy. In theory, it was somewhat simr to the void colossus¡¯ suppression.

    This me was extremely precious even for a famed Demonkin n. How could touching it be so easy? Regardless of whether there were other factors in y, even the Holy Son Edward didn¡¯t dare touch too much of it. He could only put his life on the line and attempt to neutralize the Wrath of the Abyss with his blood energy.

    The Wrath of the Abyss would die quickly without any origin power to burn. The hall quieted down momentster, but that first-rank viscount had been reduced to ashes and several other warriors had turned into charcoal.

    Edward mbered up with great difficulty. The great half of his expensive robe had been destroyed, with ck marks left behind in many ces where the Wrath of the Abyss had touched him. He walked over to Eden and lifted the demonkin up with one hand. His eyes were nearly spewing mes as he growled like a wild beast and his vampiric fangs stretched out.

    Eden¡¯s situation was even worse than Edward¡¯s. He had copsed on the ground with the greater half of his body burnt ck and couldn¡¯t even struggle when Edward lifted him up. Even so, he gazed at thetter and broke into a heartyugh.

    Edward endured his thirst for blood and finally retracted his fangs. ¡°It¡¯s quite the miracle that you weren¡¯t burned to death.¡±

    Edenughed hoarsely. ¡°That¡¯s the special privilege afforded to a son of darkness.¡±

    ¡°Are you not afraid of death?¡± Edward said through gritted teeth, but he knew he had asked a dumb question.

    Edward might¡¯ve possibly escaped had the Wrath of the Abyss not expanded to the point where Eden himself was swept in. Thetter had used himself as bait, and it was a miracle that he hadn¡¯t died.

    Edward found it rather difficult to deal with such an opponent. He stared fixedly at Eden for a moment before tossing him onto the ground. Then he issued an order without looking back, ¡°Nighteye couldn¡¯t have run far with that injury, split up and go after her. She must be captured alive!¡±

    The remaining dozen or so Perth n vampires responded in unison and charged into the tunnel where Nighteye had vanished. The marquis didn¡¯t leave with the pack and instead walked over to Edward¡¯s side. ¡°Your Majesty, since we¡¯ve already arrived, the first priority should be to deal with Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. Shall I stay behind?¡±

    ¡°No! You give chase and I¡¯ll deal with Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. It¡¯ll be enough of an exnation for those Evernight geezers as long as we kill one.¡±

    The marquis¡¯ expression turned serious. He knew that Edward had already made up his mind but still made an attempt at persuasion. ¡°Your Majesty, you won¡¯t need to use that item if I stay behind. Moreover, there are also profits to be gained from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar¡­¡±

    Edward shook his head slowly. ¡°Nothing is as important as Nighteye!¡±

    The marquis no longer insisted on his n. He only bowed slightly and ran into the darkness on the other side of the hall.

    Edward fished out a small crystal box with a neat row of ruby-like origin blood crystals within. He took out one of the four crystals and swallowed it promptly. Momentster, his blood energy was rapidly strengthened and his wounds were healed.

    Edward nced back at Eden just as he was about to leave. After a moment of hesitation, he tossed thetter an origin blood crystal and said coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t let me see you again.¡±

    Eden flipped over and caught the iing origin blood crystal with great difficulty. He swallowed it and began to rest with closed eyes.

    At this moment, Qianye was walking along a seemingly endless cavern. Here, even the origin sundial andpass seemed to have lost their function. Just like the surviving experts of both factions, he was depending on instinct and the asional reaction to the ancient essence fragment to confirm his direction forward.

    Qianye heard the rumble of an origin gun as he turned into a certain tunnel apanied by an intense blood energy fluctuation. He paused momentarily, but even abination of his perception and Eye of Truth failed to detect any signs of another race. Apparently, two groups of vampires were killing one another.

    Qianye felt curious because one of those auras felt somewhat familiar. His heart filled with dread, he retracted his aura and sneaked over.

    It was in a fairly small cave that he saw two figures locked in a fierce battle and moving so fast that their silhouettes appeared illusory. The entire cave, a hundred meters in radius and a dozen or so in height, was their battlefield. They even ran along the walls and hung from the roof as they fought.

    The vampire race¡¯s terrifying agility, speed, andbat arts were being deployed without restraint. Thebatants were both masters of their craft.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes froze because one of them was so familiar that her figure would appear in his consciousness even without looking¡ªit was Nighteye! He had just stepped through the edge of the tunnel when the oue of that battle became evident.

    Nighteye emitted a muffled groan as a spurt of red and gold gushed out from her shoulder. Her opponent also flew back uncontrobly and came to a stop only after crashing into the cave wall. For a while, that person couldn¡¯t even stand straight.

    Nighteye turned and fled without the slightest pause. It seemed her injuries weren¡¯t light at all. She had rushed past within ten meters of Qianye but actually failed to discover him hiding in the shadows.

 Volume 6 - 522: Chase

    [V6C52 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The vampire fighting with Nighteye was a first-rank viscount. He was indeed higher than Nighteye by one rank and thetter was wounded, but being able to chase after her all the way and even injure her meant that he was a genius whosebat strength surpassed his rank.

    Secondster, the viscount mbered up and nced at his surroundings. Then, with a coldugh, he ran into one of the tunnels without dy. It was likely that he knew a tracking art and could clearly judge Nighteye¡¯s movements. At the first fork in the tunnel, he rushed straight into the tunnel via which Nighteye had left.

    The viscount had just rushed past a group of stctites when a sense of rm overwhelmed his heart and he immediately halted his steps! Before him, East Peak had appeared in utter silence and sealed his path forward. Had he been slightly slower to react, he would¡¯ve rushed head-first into that jet ck heavy sword.

    The viscount, drenched in cold sweat, slowly turned his head. Only then did he see the young human and the hand holding East Peak. He was vignt and focused at this moment but didn¡¯t dare make a single move. The other party having arrived so close without his notice proved that he was extremely powerful.

    Qianye sized the vampire up from head to toe, his gaze pausing slightly on the cor insignia. ¡°Why is the Perth n hunting down the Monroe n?¡±

    ¡°It seems you know quite a lot about us sacred-blooded scions! Then you should know that, no matter who you are, the Queen of the Night¡¯s business isn¡¯t something you humans can interfere with. Now let me go and I¡¯ll pretend this never happened!¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°I have zero interest in your internal strife, rest assured¡­¡±

    The vampire viscount sighed quietly in relief. He felt, for some reason, an inexplicable pressureing from this young human, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even rally himself for a surprise attack. It was certainly for the best now that Qianye didn¡¯t want to interfere.

    But Qianye¡¯s words that followed were: ¡°I¡¯m only interested in killing you.¡±

    A tremendous pressure descended upon the viscount as though the ocean were weighing down upon him. The wounded vampire could even hear the vague rush of ocean waves as his legs gave in, and he nearly fell kneeling onto the ground.

    A faint whistle rang out as East Peak fell from above!

    The Perth n viscount raised his sword with both hands in a frantic attempt to intercept the iing de. His sword, clearly an extraordinary item, remained intact even after the sh. However, the immense pressure exerted by East Peak wasn¡¯t something the vampire could resist. Both man and de were smashed down,pletely deforming the viscount¡¯s sword as well as his head.

    Qianye plunged his vampiric de into the viscount¡¯s blood core, thoroughly ending his life.

    He searched through the dead viscount¡¯s body and found some origin grenades, crystal currency, and even a drop of origin blood. Although its quality was only mediocre, it was still a valuable item nheless. Qianye put everything away and followed the path Nighteye had taken.

    Thetter was indeed fast. Her remnant aura had already grown so faint during this short period that Qianye might¡¯ve lost her if not for his True Sight. It was fortunate that he had ended the battle quickly without wasting much time on the Perth n viscount.

    Qianye began to frown after a while. Judging from the newest traces along the way, Nighteye¡¯s speed was gradually decreasing, a clear sign that her injuries were acting up. However, that didn¡¯t mean she could be easily caught up with.

    Nighteye intentionally passed through the territories of powerful beasts. Qianye might¡¯ve been stopped midway if it weren¡¯t for him possessing the same Bloodline Concealment ability which allowed him to move past without rming them. This was akin to walking on the razor¡¯s edge because everyone would slip up at one point.

    Nighteye was fighting a powerful wild beast when Qianye caught up to her. Apparently, she had been discovered.

    It was a massive lizard-like creature with a thick shell on its back which moved with great agility despite its enormous body and used its long tongue to attack.

    Nighteye changed directions with extreme speed and grasped the opportunity to release a volley of shots. However, her bullets had their trajectories shifted and flew toward the creature¡¯s shell. She managed to remove several scales, but it was nothing but a scratch to the meter-thick shell.

    It turned out that this rank-fifteen beast was able to exert a distortion field around its body and deflect iing attacks. It could almost be considered an unconventional domain. Moreover, its shell¡ªas thick as the te armor installed upon the city walls¡ªmade it even more difficult to handle.

    Moreover, its tongue could shoot out hundreds of meters at lightning speed and was extremely sturdy. Nighteye shed at it several times but only managed to leave a number of negligible wounds while she herself was almost stabbed numerous times.

    Qianye knew at a nce that Nighteye wasn¡¯t a match for this beast even in her peak state. His ownbat style, on the other hand, happened to restrain such heavily armored creatures. But even so, the oue was uncertain because the level disparity between them was simply too great.

    It was at this time that the giant beast¡¯s tongue suddenly warped toward a strange angle¡ªrolling back and switching from a stab to a whip. This time, Nighteye was caughtpletely off-guard and struck squarely in the back. She was flung out like a cannonball and crashed violently into a cave wall, nearly sinking into it.

    Qianye hesitated no longer. The Twin Flowers appeared in a sh and merged into one as the golden wings behind him unfurled to the extreme. It was actually a golden feather that shot out from the muzzle!

    Shot of Inception!

    All sound and light within ten thousand meters were snuffed out and drained by the shot. Every living being felt an ineffable restlessness. It was as though they had heard the opening of death¡¯s doors, yet it also felt like they had harkened to the blessings of heaven. That was an inexplicable experience.

    Allbatants engaged in fierce battles within ten thousand meters became absent-minded for a split second.

    William, in his giant wolf form, staggered and missed his mark, biting into the coarse stone pir in front of him and snapping it in half. The imperial lieutenant general who was fighting with him stared on with an odd expression.

    That stone pir was so thick that it would take at least two men to wrap their arms around it. William¡¯s wolf form was only the size of a wild wolf¡ªone that could be found anywhere on Evernight Continent¡ªyet he was able to bite through such a thick stone pir.

    This imperial lieutenant general was a shrewd veteran. He immediately turned and fled while William was busy spitting out the stone pieces in his mouth. His actions could be considered decisive and efficient. By the time William had finished cleaning the debris from his mouth, his opponent had long since vanished. He was momentarily dazed at the sudden development and soon let out an unhappy roar.

    In another direction, Bai Aotu¡¯s urate fist-strike halted midway, and that misty Sky Demon avatar on the other side also came to a standstill. This resulted in Bai Aotu¡¯s fist barely grazing thetter¡¯s body.

    However, the momentum of that strike continued forward and punched a hole through the cave wall. The defect was at least dozens of meters deep, and its edges were as smooth as a mirror.

    Sky Demon¡¯s avatar twisted around in a weird manner, much like a person turning to nce at that hole. The distortion suddenly intensified as it scattered and reformed into a wisp of smoke which then shot into the defect produced by Bai Aotu¡¯s fist strike and vanished in the blink of an eye.

    Bai Aotu was also startled. She hadn¡¯t expected that the Sky Demon avatar, which she had chased down so brazenly, would escape at this point. But her reactions were as quick as lightning. Her left hand rose and sted another wave of fist energy into the cavity, eliciting an indistinct cry of misery from its depths. It would seem that the strike had found its mark.

    However, Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t happy at all. Even though the avatar had been badly wounded, the fact remained that she had allowed it to escape.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s expression was frosty as she nced toward a different direction. If there was a way to catch a bird¡¯s eye view of the entire cavern, one would see that she was looking in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    She would have certainly struck the avatar and gravely injured it if not for that bizarre moment of palpitation. Her loaded left hand would then force it to remain here for eternity. Now, the avatar had escaped sessfully and it wouldn¡¯t be so careless the next time.

    Bai Aotu pondered for a moment but still couldn¡¯t figure out what that palpitation was about. Moreover, there was a hint of power in it that caused her to feel apprehensive. As bold as she was, Bai Aotu decided against going in that direction in the end.

    In a different battlefield, another one of Sky Demon¡¯s avatars, as well as Zhao Jundu who was facing it, slowed down ever so slightly. The avatar recovered first and immediately pulled back in a bid to leave the ce. It had never once managed to extricate itself since the beginning of the battle. That blue light de in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands filled it with dread, and it was unwilling to so much as touch it.

    But just as the avatar was stepping back, the once calm environment began to surge with violet energy. Two pirs of violet me¡ªthe top parts suffused with a tinge of azure¡ªappeared behind its back. The Sky Demon avatar didn¡¯t have enough time to react and crashed right into them, screaming wretchedly as it was burned between the interlocking pirs.

    It would seem that Zhao Jundu¡¯s violet qi was able to deal exceptional damage to Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. Even the ck mist that formed its body was ignited by the violet me pirs.

    Arrows of ck mist shot out in every direction as the Sky Demon avatar screamed and struggled. The violet me pirs were immediately punched full of holes, and the entirendscape was on the verge of copse. But at this moment, a wave of blue radiance washed over like a copsing wall and enveloped the avatar.

    The avatar¡¯s screams increased by an octave. A ck figure half its original size shot out from the blue light and vanished into the depths of the tunnel.

    A pale Zhao Jundu remained standing in ce as his face became abnormally flushed for a split second. He was ambushed by the avatar while exploring the cavern, but Zhao Jundu¡¯sbat technique was known for being almost wless¡ªthere wasn¡¯t a single advantage to take. The only problem was that the Sky Demon avatar managed to retain its fullbat strength in this suppressed world, and the level difference between the two was too great.

    Disadvantaged as he was, Zhao Jundu fought calmly and without a single opening. His recovery was even quicker than Sky Demon¡¯s avatar when that throbbing sensation arrived. He immediately availed himself to the opportunity and used the Omniscient Seal to heavily injure the avatar. However, chasing it down or destroying it was beyond his power.

    A light flickered in Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes as he looked toward the source of that throbbing sensation¡ªno one knew what was going through his mind. Momentster, he turned around and chose a path far away from the source.

    Meanwhile, in the cave where Nighteye was attacked by the giant beast, Qianye was flung backward. The Twin Flowers turned dim and became shrouded in ayer of haziness.

    The feather of inception turned into a beam of golden light which shot through the giant creature like an indiscriminate arrow. The shell Nighteye was helpless against could do nothing at all to block the assault.

    The giant beast¡¯s body began to swell up, soon reaching a point where there were cracks all over its body and countless beams of light were shooting out from between the breached skin. Soon afterward, a circle of golden light spread out silently and washed over the entire cavern.

 Volume 6 - 523: The First Drop of Origin Blood

    [V6C53 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The beast roared within the golden light as the ceiling of the cave cracked apart and pieces of rock fell like rain. Even the walls had been split open¡ªmany old passages were blocked up, while new gaps opened through the shifting walls.

    An unconscious Nighteye fell out from the wall, crashed into the golden wave of light, and was flung away. Qianye was shocked out of his wits. He used hisst bit of strength to rush over and caught Nighteye just as she was about to fall into a broken stone pir. Then, the two copsed onto the ground.

    Qianyey facing upward and gasped like a fish out of water. It felt as though his lungs were on fire and the air was burning. His vision was blurry, and it felt as though his body had disconnected from his consciousness¡ªhe couldn¡¯t even feel his limbs, to speak nothing of moving.

    The quaking finally passed by, and the giant beast lying beneath the rubble hadpletely lost all signs of life. Even its tenacious body seemed to have shriveled up.

    At this moment, Qianye could no longer find an ounce of strength. All of his origin power and blood energy had been drained clean by the Shot of Inception. The might of this attack had increased yet againpared to when he had used it in the ck Forest, but the drain on his origin power and blood energy was also terrifying. Even with Qianye¡¯s current strength, he waspletely drained in the blink of an eye.

    However, the most dangerous moment had just arrived. The colossus¡¯ will had never been more distinct. That was a tremendous existence transcending the entire continent. It felt as though the entire sky hade crashing down upon Qianye. Before the void colossus¡¯ will, each and every individual consciousness was like a grain of sand being gravitated toward its vastness. Once assimted, Qianye would forever cease to exist.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s emotions were exceptionally mild, free of all love, hate, me, and enmity. He felt a certainprehension flow into his heart as he gazed at that different world in the void¡ªthe meaning of existence, the importance of power, and the significance of all the glimmer he had seen through the darkness.

    As the all-devouring void was gradually stained with darkness, those glimmering lights were the only existences that refused to be snuffed out. Qianye could even sense a gentle warmth. Although life was bitter and unfair at the outside, he had also gained many precious things through the hardship.

    The will to live was born of the things one possessed, and the pursuit of power was so that one could protect them.

    It was at this moment that the Book of Darkness appeared and opened of its own volition. Strands of origin power spread out from the pages, containing both darkness and daybreak. The two extreme attributes were entirely different from one another, yet miraculously harmonious¡ªjust like that moment at dawn where the eye of daybreak would open upon the dark night.

    The book of darkness emitted a deep, abstruse fluctuation which isted the void colossus¡¯ will and protected the consciousness flickering like a candle in the wind.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body was like an arid farnd absorbing every bit of rain and dew with an insatiable appetite. Very soon, his blood core began pulsing anew and pumped out several strands of auric me blood. The ground was also rippling with the tides of the Combatant Form. Only at this point did Qianye recover the ability to move.

    The cave waspletely silent. Qianye turned around with great difficulty and found Nighteye still unconscious in his arms. During the critical moment just now, Qianye had fallen down while shielding her in his embrace. He couldn¡¯t see her face¡ªonly the beating of her heart and the rise and fall of her body as she respired. He could sense that she was still alive.

    Qianye gradually mbered up, taking care not to jolt Nighteye too much. He shifted himself toward an intact wall and propped his exhausted body upon it before examining Nighteye¡¯s condition.

    Her brows were locked tightly together even while unconscious. Apparently, she was still suffering. Her aura was in chaos, and there were traces of fresh blood from her eyes trailing down her somewhat dazzling skin. It was a painful sight to behold.

    Qianye reached out and gently wiped off the stains from the corner of her eyes. The blood was bright red and still somewhat warm. Her snow-white skin appeared from below wherever his fingers passed. Theck of an injury meant that all the blood had flowed out from her eyes.

    Qianye¡¯s trembling hands grew weak all of a sudden. He didn¡¯t quite dare continue the inspection out of fear that he would see those injuries. He had walked a bloody path through Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion¡ªnot a day passed by where he wasn¡¯t embroiled in the mes of war and experiencing bloody spectacles. However, Qianye was still afraid at this moment.

    After a moment of pause, Qianye¡¯s hands moved downward to inspect her body. All the problems on Nighteye¡¯s body became evident in his True Sight. She had broken several ribs when she was whipped into the cave wall. There were also some abrasions, scars, and some shallow de wounds. They were likely caused during the chase or perhaps when she was struck by the energy wave from the Shot of Inception.

    These were all minor injuries. Even broken ribs and damaged internal organs would only require a couple days of recuperation for a vampire. Her most serious injury, however, was on the blood core.

    Her blood core was currently very unstable and beating erratically. Qianye sensed abnormally dense levels of vitality therein, and with his True Sight, he could see strands of garish blood seeping out continuously from the surface.

    This wasn¡¯t a good thing. It was a sign that the blood core had been heavily damaged and could no longer contain the origin blood within. Add to that the injuries to her eyes, it was clear that she had just faced an extremely powerful enemy and suffered a bacsh from her eye ability.

    It was the same situation back when Qianye had met Zhao Jundu on the Silentme Steppes. It was just that Zhao Jundu had held back intentionally, so Qianye wasn¡¯t badly injured.

    But that wasn¡¯t the case for Nighteye. Her present condition made it clear that her foundations had been injured. Without timely intervention, not only would she suffer a slow death from the damage to her blood core, but her eyes would also be permanently damaged, leading to a loss of her eye abilities.

    Qianye¡¯s hands were as cold as ice, and his movements were somewhat rigid as he slowly tidied Nighteye¡¯s clothes. He then produced the origin blood crystal he had obtained from the Perth n viscount and poured it into Nighteye¡¯s mouth. Nighteye¡¯s face immediately regained some color after the origin blood entered her mouth, and her knitted brows rxed slightly, apparently relieved of her suffering.

    Some hope was ignited in Qianye¡¯s heart. He ced a hand on Nighteye¡¯s chest and sensed that wisp of origin blood seeping into her veins. There, it erupted with vitality in a bid to awaken the innate regenerative abilities in her body.

    However, it was like pouring a ss of water into ake. The tiny ripples produced therein were quickly drowned out. The injured blood core was still beating with great difficulty, every contraction causing some vibrant blood to seep out along with a wisp of her vitality.

    Qianye forced himself to calm down as he rummaged through Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. He fished out a dozen or so blood crystals and crushed them one by one, sending the blood energy stored within them into Nighteye¡¯s body. But what could mere blood crystals do when even origin blood couldn¡¯t reverse her injuries?

    Qianye slumped down helplessly and buried his face into Nighteye¡¯s hair. If even origin blood was useless, the only effective measure left was the blood pond. But there was no telling how long it would take to even walk out of this mountainous void colossus skeleton, to speak nothing of the vastnds beyond it. How was she to get back to Evernight?

    In his restlessness, Qianye nced up at the giant beast corpse lying beneath the rubble. He carefully removed Nighteye from his knees and walked over with his vampiric dagger drawn. He felt rolling waves of essence blood pour into his body as the de sunk in.

    Although the Shot of Inception had destroyed most of the beast¡¯s origin power, the remaining essence blood was still fairly abundant. The warmth and satiation brought about by the absorption calmed Qianye¡¯s troubled heart.

    He didn¡¯t activate the Mystery Chapter, allowing the dark golden and purple blood energies to devour the essence blood in the most primitive way. A sudden notion rose from the depths of his mind¡ªit didn¡¯t belong to his memories, but it felt true.

    Qianye was somewhat startled. He instinctively grabbed onto those fragments and pulled them out from his consciousness. It was as though he had opened up a certain valve, and the gushing sanguineous flood almost sent him reeling. There was something in Qianye¡¯s consciousness by the time he had sobered up¡ªsomething that could be considered an inheritance.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts and emotions were in utter chaos at this moment. He knew without any exnation that this was a memory from the River of Blood, the source of all vampires, as it flowed through the currents of time. He had witnessed it once during Sky Demon¡¯s battle.

    A dazed Qianye was jolted awake by a certain fragrant scent. He quickly turned back and saw Nighteye¡¯s chest heaving rapidly. The aura of her breath was gradually burning up, and the fragrance was being emitted from it.

    This wasn¡¯t a good sign. Apparently, her injuries were worsening so quickly that her body was attempting to enter hibernation.

    She could still restrain her injuries consciously when awake, however, a prolonged period ofa would break the bnce of self-recovery, causing all her hidden injuries to erupt at the same time. Hence, the body would initiate a state of hibernation in order to protect itself. This was a natural method of healing for a vampire. But without external aid, such a hibernation might stretch hundreds or even thousands of years.

    Qianye walked over to Nighteye and knelt down beside her. He picked up her hands and sped them in front of her chest¡ªthey were just as pale, just as cold. It would be prohibitively difficult to rouse her in such an injured state, and it was likely that her injuries would worsen once awakened. The best external healing force, with the exception of a blood pond, was origin blood¡ªone which belonged to a higher, more powerful bloodline.

    The most suitable vampire at the scene was perhaps Qianye himself.

    Qianye stared fixedly at Nighteye¡¯s beautiful face, and for the first time, his resolute eyes turned blood-red while fully conscious. His pupils were like rubies of the highest quality, sparkling, translucent, and without the slightest bit of impurity.

    His blood core was emitting a powerful and muffled pulsation, every beat seemingly pounding on the heart of this world. The entire cavern was once again suffused with a trembling hum as a drop of origin blood condensed at the center of his blood core. It was garish, spirited, and full of vitality. Moreover, there was a golden crystal floating at its center.

    That was Qianye¡¯s origin blood, his very first.

    The knowledge he had gained from the River of Blood was vast, but it wasrgely fragmented. He had obtained the method to condense the blood but didn¡¯t know how to extract it. But that wasn¡¯t important because every problem had a primitive solution to it.

    Qianye first reached out to gently touch Nighteye¡¯s face. Afterward, he removed his clothes and armor to reveal a muscr upper body.

    Qianye then drew his dagger and plunged it into his chest.

 Volume 6 - 524: Pursuers

    [V6C54 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The sharp de tore through his skin, piercing right into his chest and cutting his blood core open before finally stopping at its center. A drop of blood with a golden crystal at its core flowed out along the shining de and fell into Nighteye¡¯s mouth.

    The blood energy around Nighteye immediately grew dense and even formed a faintyer of red mist over her body suffused with specks of golden light. Nighteye¡¯s breathing gradually stabilized after a while, and the frightening scent disappeared.

    Qianye inspected her once again and heaved a sigh after seeing that her blood core was, following a significant replenishment of power, already beginning to heal. He nced around and found an isted space behind a newly formed gap in the wall. One would need to pass through the great hall and a half-obstructed passage in order to reach it.

    Qianye tried to pick Nighteye up, but his face turned pale and his legs gave in before he could even stand up. He nted an elbow to the ground to prevent himself from falling onto Nighteye. He used the other hand to try propping up his body but almost copsed onto the ground. The body he would always have full control of, even under extreme conditions, felt rather unfamiliar today. It had grown excessively weak.

    This was the oue of a heavily injured blood core. Qianye took a deep breath and waited for the sudden lightheadedness to pass. This movement caused the wound on his chest to burst open, staining his undone jacket in blood.

    Qianye coughed hard a couple of times and spat out a good amount of bloody froth as he pressed on the wound with his hand. The dark golden and purple blood energies in his body seemed to have sensed the trauma. They jumped out of their runes and swam around the blood core, spitting out wisps of vitality in a bid to restore the tear on its surface.

    Qianye felt slightly better after a while, and the bleeding on his chest had stopped. However, the wound to his blood core wouldn¡¯t heal so easily. He stood up little by little and moved Nighteye into that hidden space.

    Heid her down t in afortable position and wiped off the dirt on her face. He gazed at her in silence for a while before picking up East Peak and moving back toward the hall with great difficulty.

    Qianye found a dark corner within the serene hall and sat down with his back against the wall. He rummaged through Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm and fished out a box of cigarettes. He cut it open with his military knife, added some strong military-use stimnts, and lit it up.

    His hands trembled uncontrobly. Even these simple movements were fairly difficult to perform because his weakness hadn¡¯tpletely faded away. Presently, Qianye had realized the pain of a wounded blood core. It felt as though he were falling helplessly into a bottomless hole.

    Qianye brought the cigarette to his mouth and inhaled deeply. A sharp heat poured into his lungs and made him cough several times, but the excessive amount of stimnts immediately lifted his spirits.

    A Perth n viscount was running along the maze-like passages. He would stop time and again to observe the traces on the wall and ground. He seemed excited as Nigtheye¡¯s tracks increased in number. This meant that her injuries were worsening and that he was closing in on her position.

    Nighteye had been badly wounded by Edward. He would already have caught up if not for her ability to pass undetected through the territories of powerful beasts. Being an expert in stealth, the viscount had left the other experts of his race in the dust and, despite his mediocre strength, caught up alone.

    He couldn¡¯t help but reveal a cruel grin when he thought about how a great contribution would soon to fall into hisp.

    ¡°Bang!¡± The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground shocked the viscount out of his wits. That was because he actually hadn¡¯t sensed any signs of life at the end of the tunnel. His reactions weren¡¯t slow at all as he halted his steps urgently and dashed into the shadow behind a stone pir. He then nced toward the end of the tunnel after hiding himself well.

    The area in front was just as dark as the other underground tunnels with only a type of unknown fungus emitting a faint fluorescence. The light was so faint that it made little difference from pitch darkness. Even the vampire viscount, with his innate night vision, found it difficult to see the end of the tunnel clearly.

    There was a heavy sword nted at the center of the tunnel and behind it stood a person. At this distance, the viscount could barely make out the silhouette of a man, but he couldn¡¯t see what race he belonged to.

    The viscount had maintained stealth the entire way and had immediately hidden after being rmed by the sound. ording to reason, the other party shouldn¡¯t have found himself, and his appearance here was likely just a coincidence.

    But this tunnel was the end of a winding road, and judging from the distribution of the fluorescent mushrooms, it was a cave hall beyond. This also meant that he had to pass through in order to catch up to Nighteye.

    The viscount didn¡¯t want to invite extra problems for himself, but it would seem he had no other choice. He calcted the distance, drew his handgun, and gradually instilled it with origin power.

    Qianye lit up a cigarette at the end of the tunnel and said after inhaling deeply, ¡°Stop hiding, I saw you since ages ago.¡±

    The vampire viscount was momentarily shocked. The other party was speaking in themonnguage and was likely a human, judging from his ent and word choices. But he shouldn¡¯t have been found out since vampires had greater perception methods in dark environments and their sensory range was also much wider.

    The handgun was no longer an effective means now that his movements had beenpromised. The viscount simply walked out of the shadows with his sword drawn and returned his gun to the holster. ¡°I wanted to let you die quickly at first, but you decided against it yourself. So, don¡¯t me me for being cruel. I¡¯ll give you a chance, answer truthfully. A vampire girl with ck hair and eyes passed by here just now. Have you seen her?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t assume abat stance even after seeing the viscount approaching fast. He pointed behind while smoking and said, ¡°You mean Nighteye? She¡¯s just over there.¡±

    The viscount was delighted. ¡°Really? How far? How¡¯s her condition?¡±

    The vampire spewed out a series of questions, but he noticed something was amiss when he saw Qianye¡¯s spurious smile. ¡°You¡¯re a human! How did you know her name? What do you know?¡±

    Qianye inhaled once more. ¡°I also know that you don¡¯t need to know all that.¡±

    The viscount¡¯s expression sank as he said coldly, ¡°I also think that yourst cigarette is taking too long.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you mean this cigarette? It has a lot of uses.¡± Qianye revealed a pure smile.

    The viscount¡¯s heart was overwhelmed with a sense of rm as the faint sounds of crashing waves filled his ears and an inexplicably tremendous pressure descended upon him. With a loud cry, the blood energy around him flickered out of existence and his knees fell to the floor.

    Qianye raised East Peak with one hand. Then, within the viscount¡¯s terrified gaze, he saw a sword falling onto his head and cleaving him into two.

    The sword continued its descent and sunk deep into the ground. Qianye didn¡¯t pull it back out, either. He simply let go of the hilt and arrived beside the corpse with his vampiric de drawn. Unfortunately, the urate sword strike had shed the viscount¡¯s blood core into two. He would be able to absorb a third of the essence blood at most no matter how quickly he acted.

    Qianye shrugged and reminded himself to make some modifications to his sword stance in the future. Even so, this essence blood still alleviated his weakness quite a bit, allowing the dark golden and purple blood energies¡ªthat had started slowing down from the overconsumption¡ªto catch their breath. However, he was quite a ways from reaching a state of blood boil.

    The cigarette me in his fingers reached the end at this moment. Qianye flicked away the butt and lit up another one as he leaned on the wall. Each cigarette was a dose of stimnt, keeping his exhausted body in abat-ready state.

    A sudden, raspy voice arrived through the hallway. ¡°What horrible table manners, which n descendant are you?¡±

    The voice appeared unexpectedly. Its distance was difficult to gauge, and there was no person in sight. However, Qianye didn¡¯t look surprised at all¡ªit was as though he had long since noticed this person hiding on the sidelines.

    He was just as calm and collected. Holding the cigarette in his left hand, he spun the vampiric de around his right hand before returning it to its sheath. He then ced his right hand on East Peak without lifting it up. ¡°It¡¯s good enough that there¡¯s food in this ursed ce. Who cares about table manners?¡±

    A stern-looking old man walked out from the shadows. His apparel was spotless despite the long period ofbat, and every jeweled button was brightly polished.

    This was an old-fashioned vampire. The Perth n insignia on his cor was built of colored gems, clearly the work of a master craftsman. He looked at Qianye with an eye of disdain, but there was also a hint of apprehension within.

    The vampire elder had arrived at just about the same time as that viscount, but thetter naturally couldn¡¯t sense him. He had intended to let the viscount go up first and test the waters, but he had never expected him to be cut down in one strike. He had no time to even lend a hand.

    The more the count looked, the more puzzled he became. He had thought at first that Qianye was a human because his sword strike was clearly powered by daybreak origin power. But next, he saw Qianye absorb the viscount¡¯s essence blood with his vampiric de. He almost thought his perceptions had been warped by this world, but Qianye¡¯s reply confirmed that he had seen correctly.

    Then there was only one possibility left. The other party was a halfbreed between a vampire and a human¡ªhe had awoken his sacred bloodline, but his daybreak origin power hadn¡¯t been swallowed up just yet. This conjecture increased the disdain in the vampire count¡¯s eyes because halfbreeds had little roles in the vampire society. They might possess some strange abilities, but they were destined never to break through to the rank of count and above.

    ¡°I¡¯m Count Robinson of the Perth n. Who are you and what is your rtionship with Nighteye? Hand her over and I¡¯ll grant you a swift death.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°The Perth n people sure love muttering to themselves.¡±

    ¡°I never joke.¡± Robinson¡¯s expression was frosty.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like ying around, either.¡±

    ¡°Tell me where Nighteye is, or else¡­¡±

    ¡°No need for that, make your move!¡±

    Fury shed across Robinson¡¯s expression. He produced a scarlet rapier which, with a shake of his hand, began to tremble and emit a resounding chorus.

    Qianye smiled as he slowly drew out East Peak and raised its unassuming edge, each movement backed by a might as condensed as the mountains.

    An ineffable palpitation emerged once again in Robinson¡¯s heart. He had always been a prudent person and was famous for his intuition. Feeling something odd, he nced at Qianye¡¯s expression and noticed something hidden within that smile. It seemed as though he was pleased about something.

    Robinson immediately halted his steps and stared fixedly at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re injured.¡±

    Qianyeughed radiantly. ¡°Anyone can see that.¡±

    Robinson¡¯s brows locked into a frown as he sneered, ¡°It looks like you want me to attack immediately because you¡¯ll be copsing on your own after a while.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s wait it out.¡± Qianye was calm and collected.

    This, on the contrary, made Robinson lose his confidence. He looked on suspiciously, hesitant on whether he should retreat or advance. In truth, he wanted to stall for time.

    Just as he was pondering over what to do, a chill arose from behind Robinson¡¯s back. It was as though a line of ice was climbing up along his spine, all to the way to the back of his head. For a moment, he could hardly tell whether it was a real chill or an illusion born of killing intent.

    Robinson turned rapidly and shot a backward nce.

 Volume 6 - 525: Challenge

    [V6C55 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    A blue clothed figure appeared on the other end of the passage¡ªproud and cold like snow falling upon lone mountain peak.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite smart, he didn¡¯t want to wait at first. But you¡¯re also quite unlucky because I¡¯ve arrived,¡± said Li Kuann.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Robinson¡¯s expression was solemn. He had never heard of such a character on the empire¡¯s side. A clear expert like Li Kuann should¡¯ve been well-known among the dark races.

    Li Kuann had no intention of replying. His eyes swept past the count and fell upon Qianye. ¡°I never forgot about how you wounded my handst time. I¡¯m really looking forward to this attack, so don¡¯t waste it on rubbish like him.¡±

    Robinson was furious for he had never suffered such a humiliation before. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that I¡¯m from one of the oldest sacred-blooded ns¡­¡±

    ¡°I know, I know... Perth n, right? I might take it seriously if your Holy Son or a marquises, but a fellow without much potential like you is trash in my eyes.¡±

    Robinson spoke no more. He shook his sword and walked over toward Li Kuann inrge strides. This was a humiliation to his n name, a dishonor which he must wash clean with blood.

    Li Kuann raised Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. Ripples surged upon its edge as a cloud of light blue frost shot toward Robinson.

    A flood of blood energy boiled upon thetter¡¯s sword as he roared and charged at the frost energy.

    The splendid red deluge was immediately frozen upon contact. The formless blood energy actually transformed into icicles and quickly fell down in sheets.

    Robinson¡¯s expression was pale, and the red in his eyes had grown indiscernibly faint. Half his body was covered in white mist which immediately condensed into a thinyer of ice. His blood energy was more or less wiped out during the exchange just now, and even his main body had suffered grave injuries. It was aplete defeat.

    Li Kuannughed in the face of Robinson¡¯s dismal expression. He seemed reserved but was, in fact, full of arrogance. ¡°I haven¡¯t even gone all out!¡±

    Robinson found it difficult to even speak. ¡°You! If it wasn¡¯t for that sword¡­¡±

    ¡°Sword?¡± Li Kuann waved Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace about. ¡°You can¡¯t afford this sword even if you pour out your entire family¡¯s wealth¡­ which means you¡¯re still trash. Otherwise, why didn¡¯t you bring a better weapon to fight with me?¡±

    Robinson red furiously. He moved his legs forward with great difficulty in a bid to fight it out with Li Kuann, but he could only let out a miserable cry just after the first step. Sanguineous mes erupted out from his arms and legs as his blood energy ignited.

    ¡°The colossus¡¯... will¡­¡± Robinson hadn¡¯t even finished when he fell to the ground in the form of a bloody torch.

    Li Kuann nced over at Qianye with an enigmatic smile. ¡°You¡¯re Qianye of the Zhao n, right? It¡¯s our turn now.¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly as he sized up this unfathomable opponent. He was extremely handsome, and theck of a soldierly ir, he made up for with his charm. His smile was akin to rippling water, almost as if it could speak and drag one¡¯s soul away.

    But one would find, upon closer inspection, that there was no smile in his eyes. The rolling brilliance therein weren¡¯t ripples but sword intent and murderous will.

    ¡°You¡¯re from the empire?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s frown locked even tighter. ¡°Now isn¡¯t the time for us to fight each other, don¡¯t you think? It¡¯s not toote to fight after we leave.¡±

    ¡°You intend to deal with the dark races first?¡± Li Kuann broke into augh. ¡°Such words can only deceive idiots. There is nock of infighting on either side at any given time. Enough with the nonsense. I, Li Kuann, will fight you today whether you like it or not!¡±

    Qianye said no more. He simply grabbed East Peak in both hands and raised it slowly, lighting up all the silver patterns in the process. Li Kuann¡¯s sword intent proved that his character was just as stubborn as his martial path. Such a person would hardly change his mind once it was made up.

    Li Kuann frowned as he watched the restrained origin power upon the de. The tip of his sword swayed briefly as a tin beam of blue light shot toward East Peak¡¯s edge. ¡°Ding!¡± It was as though two divine weapons had traded blows. East Peak trembled incessantly amidst a surge of scarlet origin power and drifting golden radiance.

    Qianye was greatly astonished. The attack just now was extremely fast, and the tyrannical frost energy nearly shattered East Peak¡¯s origin power. Li Kuann¡¯s frost attribute was slightly inferior to Venus Dawn, but the quantity was overwhelming. A mere probe had nearly caused Qianye to drop his sword.

    Li Kuann frowned. ¡°You¡¯re indeed wounded and quite seriously at that. How are we to y if you can onlyunch a couple of sword strikes?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face was expressionless, but in his heart, he was rather curious about Li Kuann¡¯s identity. Gauging his current status in a single ranged attack was no small matter. Apart from possessing an ability simr to True Sight, it was also likely that his rank was extremely high.

    Li Kuann¡¯s frown rxed soon afterward. ¡°Oh well, I won¡¯t take too much of an advantage. Let¡¯s begin!¡±

    With that, he shed at Qianye¡¯s throat from afar¡ªhe wasn¡¯t the least concerned about thetter¡¯s response. Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace had barely moved when a blue sword radiance arrived before Qianye.

    This strike was just too fast. Even Qianye, despite his speed and reaction, didn¡¯t have time to evade. He relied on his basic sword techniques and the instincts he had honed through many life and death battles to barely parry the blue lighting for his throat.

    The blue light shattered with a ¡°ding¡±. It was just a small piece of ice, but it shook Qianye from head to toe and sent him staggering backward. A thinyer of frost emerged on his body, but unlike Robinson, they were all broken down by a jolt of his body. It was as though he had been covered in snowkes.

    This wasn¡¯t just apetition of origin power, but rather, it involved him breaking through the icy shackles with his powerful physique. Li Kuann¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Interesting!¡±

    Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace was swung several times in the blink of an eye, each sh as quick as lightning. Blue light filled Qianye¡¯s eyes as the sword energy arrived before him. No number of sword techniques and predictions would be effective against such a frequency of attack. Qianye simply closed his eyes¡ªhe stopped looking at the dazzling radiance and relied solely on his instincts to deflect them.

    East Peak waved back and forth in Qianye¡¯s hand in a rather awkward and disorderly manner. But as it happened, he managed to block all of the iing sword energy.

    ¡°Excellent swordy!¡± Li Kuann praised.

    He advanced with his sword raised, each step taking him ten meters forward, and soon had his de at Qianye¡¯s nose.

    This move was virtually indefensible. Qianye had East Peak tightly in his grasp but had no way topete against Li Kuann in speed. He simply ignored the iing stab and swung East Peak at the man¡¯s waist. This was a move that would end in mutual destruction. Li Kuann would stab through Qianye¡¯s head, but he himself would be shed through the waist.

    Li Kuann suddenly let go of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace and swatted East Peak with his hand. This caused the lightless heavy sword to swerve to one side as though it had been pressed down by a great force. His movements were as agile as lightning, as smooth as the flowing rivers and clouds. His hand, afterunching the palm strike, resumed its grip on the thrusting sword. It was as if the de had never paused its advance.

    Qianye exerted power from his wrist and, borrowing from the momentum of Li Kuann¡¯s palm, sent East Peak toward the ground. There, he swung the de sideways toward thetter. Li Kuann¡¯s legs might not remain should East Peak so much as graze them.

    After weighing the pros and cons, Li Kuann had no choice but to take a step back and evade the iing sword. But how could he be pushed back so easily? He reached out to guide Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace amidst the shifting footwork. The blue sword of ice left his hand once again, this time, spinning through the air and shing toward the back of Qianye¡¯s head. At the same time, he tread forth once again after evading East Peak and attacked Qianye with his bare hands.

    At this moment, Li Kuann and Cold Moon¡¯s embrace were like two coordinated experts attacking Qianye together from different directions.

    Qianye paid no heed to the icy de falling upon him. Instead of pulling back, he threw himself at Li Kuann and exchanged a dozen or so moves before sidestepping the assault from behind. Along the way, Qianye folded his hand backward and moved East Peak into a horizontal parry. It was as though he had eyes on the back of his head.

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t rx at all and immediately went after Qianye. He tapped Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace lightly just as his silhouette was shing past and actually sent the sword toward Qianye in a spinning sh.

    This was a battle Qianye had never experienced. Li Kuann and Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace would split off from time to time, thetter spending more time out of its owner¡¯s grasp than within. But no matter how he touched Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace¡ªbe it with his fingers, shoulders, or even his sleeves¡ªit would always sh at Qianye from unimaginable angles as though it had gained sentience.

    At this moment, man and sword had transformed into two separate entities. They surrounded Qianye and attacked him from all sides, effectively suppressing his space for variation and evasion.

    Qianye responded steadily, attacking and retreating naturally within the small space. He wanted to knock down Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace on several asions, but the movements of this man and sword were simply too fast and too bizarre. He was never able to form aplete counterattack.

    Perhaps Li Kuann was even slightly inferior to Zhao Jundu in terms of technique. He had yet to reach a state of consummation like thetter, but he was simply too fast and his crystal sword, too sharp. His origin power was also very deep, and its attribute was strange, to say the least. Qianye could hardly make use of the openings even after finding them¡ªthus, his openings were no longer openings.

    The two exchanged hundreds if not thousands of blows in the span of a breath. A plethora of secretbat arts blossomed like flowers in Li Kuann¡¯s hands. The constant disy was almost stifling.

    Qianye¡¯sbat style was rtively coarse and unadorned. All he used were variations of the militarybat techniques and basic sword arts. Most of the time, they couldn¡¯t even be considered techniques because he seemed to be blocking and punching randomly.

    However, this seemingly clumsy method managed to block all of Li Kuann¡¯s attacks, albeit barely. Even when there were times he couldn¡¯t block, he would use a mutually destructive move to force Li Kuann into defense.

    At the height of their battle, Li Kuann and his sword were like two masses of blue light which revolved around Qianye, their torrential assault akin to the endless flow of the Yangtze River. Qianye, on the other hand, stood tall and unmoving like a mighty boulder in white-water.

    ¡°Great swordy! This move is excellent! How interesting!¡± Li Kuann praised repeatedly.

    After reaching a point of intoxication in battle, Li Kuann shed back and stood ten meters away. He gazed at Qianye in a leisurely manner, without even a drop of sweat on his forehead. Qianye, however, was panting heavily, his face pale and his aura much weaker than before.

    Li Kuann suddenly asked, ¡°Why do you look like you just damaged your foundations?¡±

    Qianye remained silent. He stared fixedly at Li Kuann as he ced a hand on the heavy sword sticking into the ground at an incline.

    This was the most terrifying enemy he had ever encountered. Even Zhao Jundu might be inferior to him because of the difference in rank and weapon, yet he was only about Zhao Yuying¡¯s age.

 Volume 6 - 526: A Great Favor

    [V6C56 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Li Kuann spoke while shaking his head¡ªit seemed like he was talking to Qianye, but it also seemed like he was muttering to himself, ¡°You¡¯re too wounded and weak, it¡¯s not interesting to kill you now. You¡¯ll be a good opponent after a couple of years. I¡¯ll let you have this, cultivate it well. I¡¯lle to find you after a year. If you¡¯re still not my match at that time, you might as well die under Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace!¡±

    With that, Li Kuann flicked over an object which Qianye duly caught. He was quickly astonished after seeing what it was.

    It was a tube carved from a whole piece of jasper, and upon it was the depiction of a phoenix perching on a parasol tree¡ªclearly the work of a master. There were four ancient words below it: Stillwater Rebirth.

    The legendary Stillwater was so weak that it couldn¡¯t even keep a feather afloat, but it was exceedingly clean and could purify every form of defilement. The content of the tube naturally wasn¡¯t this legendary material, but it made little difference to the people.

    The object in the tube, named after the legendary Stillwater, was one of the empire¡¯s few sacred medicines. It possessed the miraculous power to regenerate flesh from bones and repair one¡¯s martial dao foundations. And due to a special requirement in its production, it was said that the Jingtang Li n¡¯s inherent talent was necessary to concoct it. Even the imperial family couldn¡¯t duplicate it. Only a small number of this Li n secret medicine was produced each year.

    Qianye flipped the tube over and, as expected, found a familiar n insignia at its base. A simr crest could be found on a certain belt-shaped defensive tool in his spatial ne. The original owner of that belt, Li Xu, had worked together with the vampires to attack the Ningyuan Group caravan.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown when he recalled how this young man had announced himself as Li Kuann. He would have to be a lineal descendant of the Jingtang Li n to be able to bring out such a priceless item.

    Li Kuann observed all of Qianye¡¯s movements, then said, ¡°I heard you¡¯re friends with Song Zining?¡±

    Qianye was just thinking about the caravan Song Zining had used as bait when Li Kuann brought up thetter¡¯s name. Qianye looked up cautiously at Li Kuann, his expression solemn.

    Li Kuann seemed to find Qianye¡¯s reaction amusing. ¡°I saw him before I came here. Speaking of which, he¡¯s only rank eleven and hisbat strength is slightly inferior to you. But he actually dares lead a thousand ragtag soldiers deep behind enemy lines and has the ability to charge back out afterward. He was only surrounded after arriving close to the imperial defensive lines.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was extremely cold at this point. The short period of interaction has allowed him to understand this blue-robed youth¡¯s temperament slightly. His words proved that he had likely watched with folded hands as Song Zining fought an arduous battle. Moreover, the Jingtang Li n had taken part in robbing the Ningyuan Group caravan back then¡ªwas that just a coincidence?

    Li Kuann broke into augh. ¡°Now you¡¯re truly filled with killing intent! You have to know that this ursed ce is no different from the Iron Curtain. There are no consequences to killing anyone. When I met Song Zining, he was already spent and surrounded by a Perth n count. I clearly helped him out of a predicament, but he never lowered his guard against me.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression rxed slightly upon hearing this. It was just that he didn¡¯t understand at all what Li Kuann¡¯s intentions were.

    Qianye waspletely exhausted at the moment¡ªif Li Kuann had evil intentions, he needed only to attack in full force to cut him down. But the man had given him a priceless medicine instead. If he had no malice, then why did he drag the conversation over to Song Zining? What deeper meaning was there to all the stealthy actions taken by the Jingtang Li n?

    Qianye sighed lightly, no longer willing to continue this odd conversation. He waved the Stillwater in his hand and asked directly, ¡°Why?¡± This little bottle was, in fact, iparably heavy. It was worth countless times more than the entire ckflow City.

    Li Kuannughed, ¡°I told Song Zining that I¡¯ll be going down to kill you, but now I¡¯ve changed my mind.¡±

    Qianye asked with a frown, ¡°Why?¡±

    These two questions naturally represented different meanings, but no one knew whether or not Li Kuann had caught on to it. ¡°I require people to apany me partway as I ascend on the path of the sword and to serve as a grinding stone for my de. ¡®Stillwater Rebirth¡¯ is indeed scarce, but that depends on who it is used for. I¡¯d rather use it to prepare some grinding stones for myself rather than let those trash collect it. And you happen to be someone qualified.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression recovered its calm. ¡°But it¡¯s still too valuable.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s smile grew somewhat mysterious. ¡°There are two more reasons. Firstly, someone told me that this item will be of great use here and that it would benefit me greatly. I feel that now is the time he had spoken of. Secondly, since you know how precious this Stillwater is, then you must know that this is me saving your life, so doconsider it a favor owed. That favor will have been repaid if you die in my hands one day.¡±

    Qianye stared at Li Kuann for a while before putting the Stillwater away. ¡°Very well.¡±

    Thetter was somewhat surprised at his straightforwardness and the interest in his eyes grew even deeper. ¡°You and Song Zining are quite different from how the rumors make you out to be.¡±

    Qianye did not reply.

    Li Kuann did not continue on this topic after seeing Qianye¡¯s silence. ¡°Stand aside, I¡¯ll be going now.¡±

    Qianye stood in ce and pointed at the side tunnel behind Li Kuann. ¡°Go another way.¡±

    ¡°But this road is the shortest, I¡¯m not a fan of detours.¡± Li Kuann¡¯s expression was cold.

    ¡°Take another road, this one isn¡¯t convenient.¡± Qianye remained unmoved.

    ¡°I won¡¯t need to take another road if I cut you down, will I?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Qianye¡¯s hand on East Peak was just as firm as when the two had first met.

    The staredownsted for a while before Li Kuann spoke slowly, ¡°There¡¯s something at the end of this path, correct?¡±

    Qianye stood firm, his expression unchanged.

    Li Kuann gazed intently at Qianye in a bid to see through him and find the secret at the end of this tunnel. His suddenughter was unexpectedly suffused with a bit of craftiness. ¡°... Or perhaps it¡¯s someone?¡±

    The question fell upon him all of a sudden. He and the Perth n count had already ended the topic about Nighteye when Li Kuann arrived. But that barely discernible fluctuation in the depths of his eyes failed to escape Li Kuann who had achieved great sess in the sword dao.

    A well-prepared smile emerged upon his lips as he stretched out two fingers. ¡°Then, you owe me two favors.¡±

    Qianye clenched his teeth and nodded slowly.

    Li Kuannughed loudly as he picked a random fork in the road and left. Hisughter was still reverberating through the halls even after he had gone far away.

    Qianye felt his body covered in cold sweat after Li Kuann¡¯s departure. It felt like he was on the verge of copse. The confrontation just now looked easy, but it was fraught with grave peril. Li Kuann was simply too powerful, and the only thing Qianye had was the Shot of Inception. However, the other party was as quick as a thunderbolt. It was a major problem whether or not the shot would hit.

    Qianye fished out the Stillwater and found it rather heavy in his hand. This item was iparably valuable regardless of Li Kuann¡¯s true intentions. At this moment, at least, Qianye didn¡¯t feel that two favors were enough to trade for this medicine.

    He looked, in a daze, at the intricate carvings on the tube before opening the cap and swallowing the contents. It felt as though he had been drenched in sweet nectar¡ªhe almost heard a buzz in his ears as fine rain drizzled within his body. Even his flesh felt like it was opening up to bask in the illusory grace.

    The daybreak tides that had reached rock-bottom rose up once more and were flowing gently like a deluge of spring rain. His nourished flesh was like the new earth after a harsh winter; each and every muscle fiber was regenerating.

    This wondrous state seemed to persist for a long while, but it also felt like a fleeting instant. When Qianye opened his eyes, the greater half of his injuries had been healed, and even the lingering ck titanium had been eliminated. Only the injury to his blood core was unhealed.

    The effects of ¡°Stillwater Rebirth¡± were indeed miraculous. The two favors he owed Li Kuann were simply too great.

    Qianye shook his head as he picked East Peak up and returned to the great hall where Nighteye was sleeping. He walked over to her side, knelt down, and watched her in silence. It was as though he wanted to carve that perfect countenance into the depths of his heart.

    Momentster, Qianye opened her cor and cut a small hole over the position of her blood core. A stream of golden mes erupted as the pure Venus Dawn came into contact with her blood energy! However, this cauterized the flesh around the injury and effectively sealed it.

    Nighteye¡¯s brows locked into a frown. Apparently, it was fairly painful to have her wounds closed via a collision between daybreak and darkness origin powers, but she didn¡¯t wake up. It seemed no amount of mor could rouse her after the initial repair of her blood core.

    Qianye sensed the situation within Nighteye¡¯s body and found that it was just as he had guessed. That drop of origin blood wasn¡¯t enough topletely heal her blood core. It had saved her life, but without an energy supplement like the blood pond, she wasn¡¯t even certain to regain her present strength. Perhaps her entire life¡¯s progress might halt here.

    Qianye was unexpectedly calm as he reached out and stroked her cheek. Nighteye was asleep, but Qianye could almost sense her thoughts. That pain in her chest wasn¡¯t the only reason for the lingering darkness in her expression.

    She was an extremely proud woman with countless aspirations, but all of her hopes had been destroyed so suddenly. Qianye knew she would surely take her life rather than spend what remained of it in mediocrity.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core pulsed as another drop of origin blood formed within it. This time, a river of blood seemingly appeared within those boundless memories and flitted past like a bird skimming over the water. A drop of newly condensed blood appeared at Qianye¡¯s fingertips.

    Qianye dripped it into the wound on Nighteye¡¯s chest. A wisp of golden me leapt up therein but was extinguished soon afterward, leaving ayer of amber-like substance which sealed the wound. Nighteye¡¯s breathing grew rapid, and her body temperature shot up as though she were lying in raging mes. Her skin turned red as she tossed, turned, and finally let out a loud cry.

    The cry was apanied by a spurt of blood! Immediately afterward, Qianye heard a low but powerful sound beating steadily like an ancient drum.

    The sound of her beating blood core!

    Qianye was delighted as he listened to the beat and sensed Nighteye¡¯s blood energy soaring rapidly. This drop of origin blood was surprisingly effective, and her blood core¡¯s regeneration had increased several times over.

    Qianye stepped out of the small rockypartment and sat down in the main hall, waiting silently with East Peak in his arms. Time quickly passed by. The sounds of fighting came through from time to time, but there were no more uninvited guests.

    After one day and night, Qianye noticed that Nighteye¡¯s breathing had calmed down and the beating of her blood core gradually eased up. As if he had sensed something, Qianye stood up and walked over to the stone room. He merely observed from afar, but the Eye of Truth told him that Nighteye¡¯s injuries had fully healed and that she would wake up any time.

    At this point, Qianye turned around calmly, picked up East Peak, and slowly left this cavern hall.

    He didn¡¯t look back at all on his way out.

 Volume 6 - 527: Endless Battle

    [V6C57 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Nighteye slowly opened her eyes and gazed nkly at the cavern roof for a while. But then recalling the matters that had led up to her loss of consciousness, she leapt up in rm and nced cautiously at her surroundings.

    She immediately found herself halfway in the air, then fell back down, unable to control her body. Nighteye instinctively reached out to support her falling body just as she was about to hit the ground. However, the rock-solid ground seemed to have be iparably soft. Her hands actually sunk right in and formed two deep holes in the ground.

    Startled, Nighteye tried moving each part of her body as she stood up. Only then did she notice that the unbearable tingling everywhere on her body wasn¡¯t the pain from her heavy injuries but the sensation of her bodily tissues regenerating rapidly. Her blood core was beating with great power and without the slightest sign of injury.

    Nighteye was startled. Where were her injuries? Where were those injuries that made her so dejected that she wanted to die? She had run away with all her might simply because she didn¡¯t want Edward to get his way so easily. But she knew that she would hardly ever recover.

    However, after repeated inspections, she found her body better than ever. Her blood core was even stronger than it was before the injury, and it seemed as if many parts of her body had been remodeled¡ªmany of her bodily functions had been upgraded substantially.

    This could be considered a miracle. One had to know that Nighteye had already soaked in the Monroe n¡¯s blood pond after awakening the primogenitor¡¯s bloodline, and her body had long since received a holistic upgrade. She had only obtained the identity of a princess afterpletely activating her bloodline. How could such a body be upgraded again? Just what had happened while she was unconscious?

    Nighteye found, to her astonishment, that a dark golden blood energy had appeared at some point in her pool of golden origin blood. For a moment, this aura¡ªcertainly not from the Perth n¡ªcaused her entire body to turn cold. Only a vampire expert above the duke level would be able to invade her primo bloodline. Had a certain n taken advantage of the chaos?

    She nced around at a loss but found that the surroundings, apart from the asional drop of water, werepletely silent.

    Nighteye took a couple of steps toward the broken wall and saw the disorderly cave-hall. Although some of the walls and passages and changed, that giant beast corpse at the center proved that it was still the battlefield where she had fallen unconscious.

    Nighteye collected her thoughts and once again observed the abnormality in her blood core. This time, she discovered that the foreign dark golden blood energy was existing harmoniously with her own, showing no signs of one devouring the other¡ªit was as though they were born of the same origin. The golden blood energy would make way as thetter slowly roamed about. It was like a king inspecting his subjects and soldiers.

    Nighteye was greatly astonished. The golden blood energy was her primogenitor bloodline, the foundation of her status as a princess. Now, this foreign blood energy was actually forcing it to make way. This meant that the grand origin of this blood energy was even higher than a primo of the ck-Winged Monarch. It wasn¡¯t the Perth n¡¯s blood energy, either, so where had ite from?

    It was as though something major had happened while she was asleep. Nighteye tried hard to recall, but her memories were all nk. After a moment of thought, she concluded that she had entered a brief state of hibernation due to her heavy injuries. Hibernation to heal injuries was the deepest form of sleep for a vampire¡ªthey simply couldn¡¯t be roused, nor would they sense the situation of the outside world.

    Nighteye walked over to the corpse of the giant beast. The enormous creature was now less than half its size after being drained of all its essence blood. She found the charred wound where an unknown power had dealt it a lethal blow and also where the vampiric de had absorbed its essence blood.

    But the more she saw, the more baffled she became. The vampiric de was naturally from someone of the same race, yet she couldn¡¯t tell which n¡¯s secret art had dealt that lethal attack. After scanning it several times over in great curiosity, Nighteye couldn¡¯t even tell which faction the power belonged to.

    She stood dazed for a while before the void colossus¡¯ all-epassing will woke her up. She had little time for hesitations in this strange world fraught with danger.

    Nighteye pondered while exercising her arms and legs¡ªshe needed to adapt to her new state as quickly as possible. She suddenly paused at one point and looked down at her chest. Most of her buttons had been undone to reveal a patch of snowy white skin. That was precisely where her blood core was.

    Her skin was just as white and soft as before, but Nighteye still felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. She ced her hand on her chest and found her blood core pulsing faster and her heart inexplicably flustered.

    It was as though¡­ as though something very important was moving away from her. Her mind wentpletely nk, overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. But she still couldn¡¯t figure out what it was that she had lost.

    Nighteye stood silently for a moment before she finally managed to calm her emotions and tidy up her clothes. She condensed a mirror before her with blood energy and observed herself. Only then did she realize that her face was fairly clean, without the slightest bit of dirt and blood that would usually remain from a fierce battle. It felt as though a warm, gentle hand had wiped off the dust and grime.

    She sighed lightly and shattered the sanguineous mirror, along with that beautiful figure within. Then, she chose a random path and started walking toward the depths of the cavern.

    Perhaps due to her chaotic emotions, Nighteye only checked the cave-hall and didn¡¯t discover the two corpses lying in the adjacent passage.

    At a point several hundred meters away, Qianye was walking through a passage with East Peak in tow. The de, as heavy as a mountain, carved a deep groove in the ground, and Qianye, who was dragging it along, looked like a snail shouldering that mountain.

    Qianye¡¯s condition was neither good nor bad. ¡°Stillwater Rebirth¡± had healed the greater half of the injuries he had umted in the recent days, but this was only at a physical level.

    The Profound Combatant Form couldn¡¯t absorb void origin power within this special world, but with the form and his Venus Dawn, he needn¡¯t worry about theck of daybreak origin power. But after losing two drops of origin blood, his blood core had almost stopped beating, and the blood energies had returned to their runes to hibernate. No one knew when they would recover.

    Meanwhile, the colossus¡¯ pressure meant that hisbat strength would fall drastically.

    Qianye walked forward steadily. He would be greatly disadvantaged if he were to head to the core region of the colossal skeleton in his current state, but he had no intention to back out at this stage.

    There was really no telling if the way back was safer than forward. Up until now, Qianye had seen countless experts both from Evernight and the empire, but he hadn¡¯t received news of Zhao Jundu at all.

    Another thing that worried him was the news he had received from Li Kuann. Presently, Qianye had understood what Song Zining meant by saying ¡°you have your fortunes to seek¡± and ¡°I have my battles to fight.¡± Now that Song Zining was fighting on the surface, how could he give up on his battlefield so easily?

    In a cave a thousand meters away, Eden was sitting with his back against the stone wall. Half of his body was so badly charred that the sight was almost unbearable. But his aura was rather calm, and, at least, he was in no immediate danger. He had only lost the ability to fight.

    A second-ranked viscount from the Perth n was sitting across from him. He was ring at Eden with a stern expression, clearly unhappy about the present situation.

    This viscount was summoned back by Edward to protect and keep an eye on Eden. This was quite a troublesome chore. Moreover, Eden¡¯s attack just now had killed several of their nsmen. Yet, not only was he unable to kill this demonkin, but he also had to prevent the passing beasts from eating him up. How could the viscount be in a good mood?

    Eden, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened his eyes and looked around momentarily. He then cast his gaze upon the viscount andughed. ¡°Do you think Edward has already found the ancient essence fragment by now?¡±

    The vampire¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Eden spoke on his own, ¡°You vampires think you¡¯re so noble when, in truth, you can¡¯t be farther from the council¡¯s core. Judging from your reaction, it would seem even Edward hasn¡¯t told you about the true uses of the ancient essence.¡±

    The vampire was furious at first, but these words rmed him. ¡°Does that mean you know?¡±

    Eden replied, ¡°I hail from the Dark Abyss and I also hold office in the council. How can I not know? But I don¡¯t need to hide it from you, either, because it won¡¯t be a secret much longer. The ancient essence can help us dark scions jump to the duke rank, the main reason being the void colossus¡¯ remnant soul fragment. It allows us toprehend the profundities of the void energy and take a critical step forward.¡±

    ¡°That I know.¡±

    Eden smiled mysteriously. ¡°But what you don¡¯t know is that simply watching the essence from the side would also grant great benefits.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± The viscount shot out of his seat.

    Eden mocked. ¡°There¡¯s more. Apart from the ancient essence fragments, don¡¯t forget that Sky Demon is also a void colossus. Killing his avatars would bring about great benefits. Otherwise, why would the marquises from both factionse to this ce and even shoulder the burden of killing Sky Demon¡¯s avatars? Doesn¡¯t it feel like the avatars are even more important than the ancient essence fragment? That¡¯s because taking part in such battles would afford the same chances of upgrading one¡¯sprehension.¡±

    The viscount¡¯s expression was twisted and green veins were pulsing all over his neck, apparently at his limits. He seemed to have understood that Edward leaving him here to watch Eden meant that he wasn¡¯t thought of very highly¡ªhe would have no share at all in the truly good stuff.

    The vampire viscount picked Eden up by the cor and shouted, ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡±

    Eden looked disdainfully at him and said, ¡°Do I need to?¡±

    The viscount was petrified, and his silent face was flushed red. There was really no meaning in using such easily verifiable information to sow dissension. Moreover, Eden and Edward were pretty close before this fall-out, both of them being characters of equal status. Under normal circumstances, this viscount wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to curry favor with Eden.

    However, Eden¡¯s expression changed all of a sudden. He seemed extremely astonished and stared fixedly behind the viscount as though he had seen a ghost.

    That vampire viscount wasn¡¯t young, and he was a veteran with amplebat experience, either. He thought at first that it was Eden tricking him into turning around, but after some thought, he realized that Eden couldn¡¯t even stand up on his own. How could he attack?

    Soon, the viscount heard a tapping sound in his ears. He quickly pushed Eden to the side and quickly assumed abat stance. He turned back just in time to see a fist-sized silver grenade flying toward him.

    ¡°Daybreak shbang!¡± Such a thought flitted through his mind as a ball of white light erupted in front of him. The viscount was immediately blinded, and it felt like countless burning needles were piercing into his eyes. He broke out in a miserable scream as he rolled about with his eyes covered.

    Bai Konghzao appeared like a specter, but she didn¡¯t approach the viscount. Instead, she fished out a certain object and tossed it over. The screaming viscount suddenly leapt up and, with a sh of his vampiric de, cut the iing object into two.

 Volume 6 - 528: Sky Demonâ€™s Avatar

    [V6C58 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The item Bai Kongzhao had tossed out was a silver can. After it was cut open, a shower of milky-white fluid rushed out amidst a dense surge of daybreak origin power. Upon closer inspection, it was actually liquid mithril, and its concentration wasn¡¯t low at all.

    The vampire viscount was fast to react, but he couldn¡¯t open his eyes at the moment. He was drenched from head to toe, and his body immediately burst into mes, his flesh corroded inrge patches. This time, he was truly crying out in misery.

    After being pushed away, Eden had been sitting with his back against the stone wall and watching with folded arms. At this moment, he opened his mouth and blew out a wisp of ck energy. The viscount was still rolling about on the ground, but the ck energy shot straight into where his blood core was. It immediately burnt arge hole amidst sizzling sounds and prated all the way to his back¡ªthe blood core was naturally decimated in the process. That was a trump card Eden had kept until the very end.

    Eden¡¯s aura withered a fair bit after shooting out the ck energy. He nced at Bai Kongzhao and said with a wryugh, ¡°You¡¯re Bai Kongzhao, I assume. Curse it, I never expected to meet you in the end. If you¡¯re going to kill me, then make it fast because you won¡¯t be getting any information out of yours truly. If you torture me, then I¡¯ll simply end my own life.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao didn¡¯t move at all after throwing that silver can. She gazed nkly at the viscount with those ethereal eyes until Eden spoke to her. Only then did she ask incredulously, ¡°Am I that terrifying?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Eden replied.

    Bai Kongzhao pondered for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Makes sense I guess, everyone around me seems to be apprehensive. Why didn¡¯t you use thatst attack on me? Do you really hate him more than you hate me?¡±

    Eden broke into augh. ¡°Sometimes, racial enmity leaves a deeper impression than factional differences.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao nodded seriously as though she had understood. ¡°But why do I get the feeling that you used it on him because you thought it wouldn¡¯t work on me?¡±

    ¡°I knew I can¡¯t hide it.¡± A sh of astonishment emerged in Eden¡¯s eyes as he admitted with augh.

    Bai Kongzhao thought about it for a while. She then walked over to rummage through the viscount¡¯s badly damaged body and found a drop of origin blood. Afterward, she dragged her shockinglyrge backpack over, fished out a couple of decorated bronze boxes, and tossed everything to Eden.

    Eden¡¯s expression froze. He was no stranger to the patterns on the boxes because all of them belonged to the major demonkin ns and families. Naturally, they contained the best of demonkin medicines within them. This time, even the wellposed Eden revealed an astonished expression, but he only pondered for a while before swallowing the origin blood and medicines.

    The demonkin medicines were indeed extremely effective. Momentster, Eden¡¯splexion regained some of its color, and the charred crust on his right hand crumbled after a few movements. He nced over at Bai Kongzhao and asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want the ancient essence fragment. You¡¯ll help me.¡±

    Eden said after some thought, ¡°I can only say I¡¯ll try my best.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    Eden was somewhat puzzled after seeing Bai Kongzhao¡¯s clear-cut actions. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll turn hostile after I recover and kill you immediately? With these medicines and some time, I¡¯ll quickly recover most of my strength.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao wore an innocent expression, but her reply made Eden feel an uncontroble chill. ¡°You can do that, but you won¡¯t be able to kill me. And as long as I survive, I¡¯ll haunt you forever,¡± she paused for a moment, then said with a naive tone of voice, ¡°and you¡¯re not that dumb.¡±

    Edenughed. ¡°It is indeed so. Very well, I agree to help you. There¡¯s no need to swear an oath to my totem.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao pointed to therge back full of weapons behind her and said, ¡°Take your pick and help me carry itter on.¡±

    Eden opened the bag and found arge variety of weapons within¡ªhis eyelids twitched briefly at the sheer numbers. Just how many people had died in the hands of this innocent-looking little demon? He broke into a frown after noticing that most of them were characteristic demonkin weapons and couldn¡¯t help but nce up at Bai Kongzhao. Thetter looked back at him with her head tilted, her eyes just as dreamy and ethereal.

    The two silently gazed at each other for a good while before Eden lowered his head to continue his inspection. Momentster, he had a double-barreled handgun in his grasp as he hoisted the bag and walked over toward a certain tunnel. Bai Kongzhao followed from behind. Her frail, specter-like figure gave one the feeling that she had been miserable and lonely since birth.

    It was thest leg of the journey.

    Experts from all sides were already close to the deepest parts of the underground world, and danger levels were at their peak. Thest part of this journey was apparently going to be dark and long.

    Qianye stood up slowly beside an arachne corpse. This spider was huge and one could tell at a nce that he was fairly powerful, but he had died in Qianye¡¯s hands nheless. In this underground cavern, the arachne¡¯s massive build that was made to raise their fighting power became a hindrance instead.

    All of its essence blood had be Qianye¡¯s, but the process of conversion had be quite slow. After losing two consecutive drops of origin blood, the purple blood energy becamepletely dormant within its ability rune, and the dark golden blood energy was moving at a much slower pace. The unsightly wound on his blood core was still there, and, without the nourishment of the auric me blood, Qianye had to spend lengthy periods to escape his exhaustion and weariness.

    However, Qianye was no longer depressed at this moment. On the contrary, he was more resolute than ever. He produced a dose of stimnt and, without bothering to drip it into a cigarette, injected all of it directly into his vein. The overdose of stimnts felt as though every corner of his being was bathed in mes. Origin power gushed out continuously from his energy vortex along with a sense of high pleasure. This moment afforded Qianye an illusion of omnipotence.

    But Qianye¡¯s obsidian eyes maintained a state of constant rity even while his body was immersed in the pleasure brought about by the drug, staring fixedly at the other end of the tunnel. Judging from experience, the pitch darkness ahead led to the end of a passage, and there should be no forks in the road ahead. In Qianye¡¯s eyes, however, the rolling darkness almost seemed to be alive.

    Qianye thrust East Peak into the ground and drew his Twin Flowers. Then, he loaded an extreme yang bullet before taking aim at the darkness.

    A muffledugh rang out as a ck mist broke away from the darkness and flowed over toward him. Its shape was changing constantly¡ªsometimes a human, and sometimes a beast¡ªbut that peerless, tyrannical aura remained constant no matter how it transformed. A terrifying suppressive might enveloped Qianye from a fair distance.

    Qianye¡¯s knee joints emitted a crisp sound as his legs gave way. He almost fell to his knees, but he gritted his teeth and, little by little, stood up against the pressure.

    Merely from this terrifying pressure and familiar aura, Qianye knew that the wiggling darkness in front of him was Sky Demon¡¯s avatar.

    Meeting an avatar under such circumstances could be considered horrible luck. In fact, with the exception of a handful of experts from each side, everyone else could only me their bad luck for running into Sky Demon¡¯s avatar.

    After standing straight, Qianye was thinking about fighting it out with the avatar when an unfamiliar voice rang out inside his consciousness. ¡°Submit to me, be my ve, and I shall grant you power¡­ and eternal life!¡±

    Was this Sky Demon¡¯s voice? Qianye was startled. This was his first timeing into contact with Sky Demon¡¯s sentient will. Even under such perilous circumstances, Qianye still managed to recall how that traitorous will had enticed him back when he was exploring Andruil¡¯s hidden depository. Did they think power and eternal life were at the pinnacle of one¡¯s pursuits?

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qianye seemed hesitant.

    Sky Demon¡¯s avatar seemed somewhat impatient. It strengthened its suppressive might and roared, ¡°Kneel, or die!¡±

    Qianye suddenly drew his gun at lightning speed. A pair of wings unfurled behind his back and filled the passage with a golden brilliance!

    Sensing extreme danger, Sky Demon¡¯s avatar released a shrill cry and dark mist bellowed around him, poised to devour space itself. But the golden feather shot into the darkness with a trail of beautiful mes. It then turned into countless specks of golden light and merged into the ck mist that was Sky Demon¡¯s avatar.

    At almost the same time, Sky Demon¡¯s avatar burst into mes from the inside out and transformed into an iparably scorching ball of mes.

    Qianye thrust East Peak into the ground in front of him and hid behind it. Then, gripping it tightly, he sent whatever remained of his daybreak origin power into the de.

    East Peak droned and trembled as it emitted a faint glow which shielded Qianye just before the rolling deluge of mes washed over him.

    The stream of mes sunk ever so slightly under the suppression of the oceanic power, however, the domain he had gone all-out to release was quickly destroyed in the mes, and the glow on East Peaksted but a short second before shattering. All he could do was rely on the broad de to provide what little protection it could afford.

    As if it had sensed the iing danger, the Book of Darkness silently activated and formed a flickering barrier of light around Qianye. His silhouette grew warped, blurry, and it was almost as though he didn¡¯t exist on this ne.

    The torrent of mes produced from thebustion of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar split itself into two and converged again behind the barrier of light without the slightest pause. One would be inclined to believe that the mes werepletely unaffected had he not seen it with his own eyes.

    Thebustion of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar was naturally fierce, but it ended just as quickly¡ªthe entire processsted mere moments. Qianye looked up slowly after thest wisp of me had died out.

    Theplex tunnels around him hadpletely disappeared, reced by arge hall hundreds of meters wide. Qianye was standing at the center of this hall, and just in front of him was where Sky Demon¡¯s avatar hadbusted. The entire hall¡ªbe it the floor, walls, or ceiling¡ªhad been transformed into a sheet of crystal.

    The mes born of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar actually burned arge space in the void colossus¡¯ skeleton. One had to know that these caverns and stctites had never beenpletely destroyed despite the battles between all these experts. From this, it was obvious just how terrifying Sky Demon¡¯s avatar was before its death.

    Qianye felt secretly relieved at how lucky he was. Had he not made the prompt decision to use up thatst Shot of Inception, he probably wouldn¡¯t havested a single move against the avatar. Moreover, due to his silent blood core, his darkness origin power was one level lower than his daybreak energy. The Shot of Inception had actually left him that portion of daybreak origin power during its charge, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to unleash his domain, either.

    Qianye wiped the cold sweat off his brows. He still couldn¡¯t grasp the principles of the Shot of Inception very clearly, and only felt that his luck was pretty good. Judging from the scene in front of him, it would seem that the Shot of Inception was particrly damaging to Sky Demon¡¯s avatar¡ªafter all, it had even managed to ignite thetter from the inside out. Now, this was an interesting discovery. Who knew if Andruil had designed the Wings of Inception specifically to deal with the void colossi?

    Qianye was propped up on East Peak, gasping for breath, when he suddenly discovered something shining where Sky Demon had died. He dragged himself over and picked up an irregrly shaped ck crystal.

 Volume 6 - 529: Ancient Essence

    [V6C59 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The crystal was fairly hot to the touch. The surface was dusky, but it could be rubbed away like the embers in a dying me.

    Qianye nced at the surroundings and concluded that this crystal was something left behind from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. Ignoring everything else for the moment, the mere fact that it could survive the ming torrent proved that it was extraordinary. He carefully wiped away the ashes and found that it was surprisingly soft. However, a light pinch proved that it was iparably sharp and quickly cut through his skin.

    Qianye¡¯s body, at this stage, was nothing to scoff at. Cutting through his skin might not be easier than slicing a metal sheet, but this soft, scorching piece of crystal was able to aplish this with rtive ease. Immediately afterward, it transformed into a stream of mes which drilled right into the opening.

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. At the same time, an unprecedented pain rushed from his palm toward his heart, and the agony knocked him out on the spot.

    Qianye woke up again from the pain after an unknown length of time. He couldn¡¯t help but curl up into a ball, trembling uncontrobly. He forced his eyes open, but the world was a blur to him¡ªit was as though a cloud of light and shadow were roaming about in his vision. Moreover, he had lost all sensation, so much so that he couldn¡¯t figure out if he was lying on the ground or floating in the air.

    Puzzled, Qianye tried his utmost to clear his vision, but the patches of light and dark broke up into numerous smaller ones with even greater color variations. The rapid transition sent him reeling. He closed his eyes topose himself, and the scene around him gradually came into view when he opened them once again.

    He was still in the same world, but the feeling it gave Qianye was drastically different¡ªeverything in his vision had turned rather illusory. It felt as though he could tear away their external appearance with a bit of effort and reveal their true nature. But no matter how hard he tried, that was as far as he could go. The next step was simply impossible.

    Qianye suddenly realized what he was seeing. The scenery before him was simr to his True Sight, that was to say, a sight that could see the flow of origin power. It was just that, this time, the sceneid out before him wasn¡¯t an ordinary world.

    At the same time, an unfamiliar memory appeared in Qianye¡¯s consciousness. The numerous flickering scenes appeared one after the other. Those were fragments of Sky Demon¡¯s memories, the scenes from within the void.

    In Sky Demon¡¯s memories, the void was somewhat different from how the humans understood it. It wasn¡¯t an expanse of nothingness, but a turbulent flow of void origin power instead. These currents were invisible to the naked eye, and only a small part of them would run into one another, colliding and exploding in the process. Most of them followed their own trajectories despite appearing rather chaotic at first nce. If one were to push through these paths, they would serve as a safe route for travel. Sky Demon¡¯s ability to teleport tens of thousands of kilometers away was born of this principle.

    After Qianye figured this out, he found that these scenes weren¡¯t merely visual. There were actually some tactile sensations, which he was able to sense by virtue of his foundations in the Profound Combatant Form. Although minuscule, it was like a key which threw open the doors to the void world.

    All of Qianye¡¯s senses slowly recovered. He grabbed ahold of East Peak¡¯s hilt and stood up against the will of his exhausted, aching limbs.

    It seemed that this odd, warm crystal was a relic left behind after the death of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. And because it was a part of Sky Demon itself, one could use it to peer into the secrets held by that powerful existence. This was an object simr to the ancient essence fragment.

    Sky Demon was clearly inferior to the ancient void colossus, but to the experts limited to either daybreak or darkness since birth, its strength, memory, andprehension of the world were all invaluable knowledge. It was no wonder that those marquis-level reinforcements had reached a tacit agreement to focus on the avatars as their primary targets. It turned out that fighting with these alien entities would yield great benefits.

    In truth, both factions had restricted this secret within a certain scope because they were afraid that young experts with insufficient strength would seek the avatars and throw away their lives. Qianye¡¯s case was aplete ident. If not for his Shot of Inception¡¯s restraining effect on the Sky Demon avatar, there was really no telling whether or not he would¡¯ve escaped alive.

    After assimting the crystal, Qianye recalled that his True Sight was fairly simr to Sky Demon¡¯s vision. If he could raise it by a couple more levels, he might just be able to see or perhaps evenprehend the world in Sky Demon¡¯s memories.

    That being said, it would seem that both the Eye of Truth and Wings of Inception were powerful tools created to control the void world. Only then did Qianye realize the true value of Andruil¡¯s inheritance¡ªthe ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s treasure was originally prepared for an expert above the duke level.

    Qianye checked the surroundings before leaving the area in due haste. The Shot of Inception and the avatar¡¯s subsequentbustion were simply too conspicuous and had likely drawn a fair amount of attention. No one knew how these people would react. Qianye was worried that the aura of his Wings of Inception would be recognized by the dark races, especially the vampires. For now, it was still quite safe as long as he didn¡¯t run into a count-level expert.

    Close by, Bai Aotu only shot a single nce in the direction before rushing forward. There was a mass of ck mist fleeing at full speed in front of her. The color of this avatar was much fainter than the one Qianye had encountered. Apparently, it had suffered grievous injuries.

    Zhao Jundu was sitting atop a mountain-sized beast with Blue Firmament in his arms. A crystal the size of a human head was emitting a dense mist upon his palm. As it gradually decreased in size, Zhao Jundu¡¯s aura slowly grew deeper and more mysterious.

    Edward¡¯s face was ashen as he ran through the seemingly endless cavern passages, killing every living being in his wake¡ªeven experts of the Evernight faction were not an exception.

    Xu Lang slowly appeared in the shadows of a certain tunnel. An expression of pain and hesitation appeared on his face as he looked toward the dark depths. The waves of beckoning therein proved that the ancient essence fragment was close by, an irresistible allure to all experts who hade into this strange world.

    But the experts of both factions were all closing in on the central region, and a great battle over the essence was inevitable. Xu Lang was very clear that his strength was only middling amidst the crowd of marquis-level experts, and that his chances of victory were fairly slim.

    Moreover, there were reasons why he had entered Giant¡¯s Repose with the first batch. Xu Lang had already touched the edges of the empire¡¯s upper echelons. Although it was merely the outer rim, he had indeed reached higher ss. During this short period, he had seen apletely different nature of power, wealth, and status. It could be said that his life had entered apletely different phase the moment he stepped into that circle.

    All of it would be gone if he were to die here.

    Xu Lang was finally hesitant after facing all of these thoughts. Would it be worth betting a wonderful life and future for a measly chance at victory? After repeated deliberations, he decided to remain in the shadows.

    There was still a chance even without making an appearance. He might be able to take advantage of the wounded experts after they win the ancient essence.

    There was nock of people with the same thought in both factions. Only a small number walked unhesitantly into the depths of the cavern.

    As he walked on and on, Qianye suddenly raised his head in rm and gazed into the distance. He could sense an extremely powerful fluctuation through the solid wall actually resonating with a certain part of his body. Then, a wave of intense grief washed over him.

    These emotions of sorrow¡ªbrought about by the dissipation of an ancient object¡ªinvoked a mysterious fluctuation in him which, once again, resonated with three more locations.

    These emotions didn¡¯t belong to Qianye but were instead shreds of remnant will left behind by Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. Apparently, Sky Demon avatars had also been killed in those locations. At this moment, Qianye mysteriously became aware that five out of seven avatars had dispersed.

    Qianye appeared thoughtful¡ªif the avatars all left behind remnant wills and they were all assimted, wouldn¡¯t it mean that using the powers one hadprehended from the avatar would alert all the others?

    But this wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. Those who could kill an avatar, regardless of the methods used, were true geniuses of each faction. Even if they did not boast unparalleled talents, they certainly possessed unmatched luck.

    Such a person would surely seek the highest levels of power, a path much longer than the one today. Their true battlesy in the future, so they likely wouldn¡¯t fight to the death unless it was necessary. Judging from the rtive positions Qianye had just sensed, it was clear that everyone had the same thought.

    Qianye pondered as he walked on and, in the absence of any abnormal sensations, happened to step into a giant natural cave. The world in front of him went alight as a radiance as bright as the sun descended from above¡ªthe shining light made it difficult to even open one¡¯s eyes.

    Startled, Qianye squinted his eyes and looked up. Had it not been for the absence of any dangerous sensations, he would¡¯ve been inclined to back out immediately.

    There, at the center of the cave ceiling, was an irregrly shaped piece of crystal. That was precisely the source of that warm, sunshine-like brilliance. Qianye found his thoughts speeding up as the light showered onto him and the strands of void origin power flowed into his body. It was inexplicablyfortable.

    ¡°The ancient essence!¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t expected himself to suddenly run into an ancient essence fragment. There was no reaction at all in the surroundings. It was as though his arrival had activated it.

    Qianye leapt up to grab at the ancient essence.

    His vignce, at this moment, had been cranked up to the extreme. In truth, this jump was only a test. Having absorbed the embers of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar, Qianye knew that such essences weren¡¯t easy to collect.

    The energy contained within them was tremendous, to say the least, and apanied by a strong impact from the will of its main body. Those with insufficient strength would not only fail to obtain the essence but also suffer a bacsh. Even for those who were powerful enough, a rash assimtion would result in a brief period ofplete defenselessness, and that couldn¡¯t be more dangerous in this underground world where enemies might be lurking in every corner.

    A ¡°click¡± resounded in Qianye¡¯s ears before he had even grasped the energy movements of this ancient essence fragment. At the same time, he felt the origin power around him turn chaotic, the telltale sign of a sneak attack. Shaken, Qianye immediately circted his origin power and halted his ascending momentum, freezing himself midair.

    A sanguineous origin bullet brushed past Qianye¡¯s forehead and sted into the ceiling near the ancient essence fragment. The glow of the resultant explosion caused even the sun-like radiance to flicker slightly, a clear proof of its power.

    Qianye turned about mid-air andnded firmly toward the visitor.

    An old vampire was standing nearby. He wore a treacherous countenance, a meticulously groomed beard, and the purple datura flower on his cor flickered under the light of the ancient essence fragment. Both his hands on the pistol were shrouded in lingering blood energy, and judging from the density, he was likely a count.

    The Monroe count spoke first, ¡°Go, imperial boy. You¡¯re still young and there are many opportunities for you in the future, this ancient essence fragment isn¡¯t for you.¡±

 Volume 6 - 530: That Troublesome Love

    [V6C60 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply. He drew East Peak, beckoned the count, and simply stood there in silence. He was bathed in the light of the ancient essence fragment and could absorb the void origin power from within to replenish his stamina. The vampire count would surely lose in a protracted fight.

    As expected, the count¡¯s expression sank. ¡°You¡¯re courting death.¡±

    He fired off a shot at a speed indiscernible to the naked eye, the bullet arriving before Qianye within a split second.

    Qianye was able to clearly make out the trajectory with his True Sight since this vampire count had no special skills in marksmanship. He evaded the shot just by leaning to the side. Swordsmanship was the count¡¯s true talent¡ªa wisp of incisive blood energy followed the shot, apanied by the cold sh of a de¡¯s edge.

    Qianye felt a cold sensation sweep past his forearm, followed by a subtle pain. That was sword energy! He pulled back a dozen meters in an instant, borrowing the momentum to swing East Peak diagonally. The sounds of a dozen shing swords coalesced into one.

    ¡°Good swordsmanship!¡± The count¡¯s expression turned even more sinister. He sniffed briefly all of a sudden and reached for the sword¡¯s edge.

    The vampire count¡¯s all-out attack had cut through Qianye¡¯s skin, and a drop of blood was hanging upon the de¡¯s tip. This red, almost-animated drop of blood was emitting a fantastic fragrance that caused all the blood energy in his body to turn restless.

    The count raised the sword to his mouth and slowly licked the blood clean with his long tongue. His eyes turned red as he praised, ¡°Great taste!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown. The Monroes weren¡¯t the strongest among the primogenitor ns, but this count¡¯s bloodthirsty expression was no different from that of a vampire on the eve of a blood feast.

    The vampire count thrust his sword into the ground and produced an exquisite vampiric de from his chest pocket. The copper bat-wing crossguard upon it had been polished until it was shiny, and its corners, rounded. Apparently, it possessed a long history or perhaps even a family heirloom.

    The count slowly revealed his vampiric fangs and said, ¡°Brat, I should be making you into a descendant, but unfortunately, your blood tastes too good. I really don¡¯t want to miss such a feast!¡±

    Layers of origin patterns appeared as he rubbed his fingers slowly over the vampiric de edge. The vampire¡¯s red eyes were overflowing with excitement. He particrly enjoyed a human¡¯s fear before bing his food, but Qianye was abnormally calm and didn¡¯t seem startled at all. This dealt a serious blow to his appetite.

    The vampire count growled and pounced at Qianye with great speed. Thetter shed out with a backward step, shifting East Peak into the count¡¯s inevitable path at the exact moment.

    But the count had no intention of taking a different route. He swatted East Peak away with a swing of his hand and, at the expense of a bone-deep wound on his palm, managed to plunge his vampiric de into Qianye¡¯s abdomen.

    The vampire count immediately entered a state of blood boil as the hot essence blood flowed into his body. The supreme pleasure caused him to let out an uncontroble moan.

    However, at this moment, a vampiric edge appeared in Qianye¡¯s grasp. It pierced straight into the count¡¯s chest and through his blood core. Thetter looked down at the de which had sunk down to its hilt, thoroughly puzzled as to how his defenses had grown so fragile that even an inferior human champion could pierce through it.

    The blood flowing out of his wound was ck and putrid as though it had been rotting for several days.

    ¡°You¡­ your blood¡­¡± The count finally understood, but it was toote. His strength leaked out like flowing water, and his entire body fell limp onto the ground.

    Qianye let go of the vampire without drawing blood through his vampiric de. He slowly pulled the count¡¯s dagger from his abdomen and threw it onto the ground. He then removed the badly damaged inner armor and bandaged his wounds tightly.

    After doing all of that, Qianye looked toward a certain direction and said, ¡°Come out.¡±

    Nighteye walked out of the darkness and nced at the corpse on the ground. ¡°Yet another from my n has died in your hands.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°We were enemies to begin with. I kill vampires, you kill imperial soldiers. Isn¡¯t it why we enter the battlefield?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression was somewhat nk. ¡°You¡¯re right, I killed many Zhao n people. Isn¡¯t that right, Zhao Qianye?¡±

    ¡°My name is Qianye. Surnames hold no meaning.¡±

    Nighteye took a deep breath and gazed at Qianye with eyes full of resolution. ¡°Whether or not your surname is important, you¡¯re still an imperial. As long as you live, there¡¯s no telling how many of my nsmen will die under your de!¡±

    Qianyeughed casually. ¡°So?¡±

    Nighteye said word by word, ¡°So, I must kill you here! Your glory, stained with the blood of our sacred-blooded scions, shall end today!¡±

    There was some helplessness in Qianye¡¯s smile as though he were reminiscing about something. ¡°Are you going to fight to the end with me so soon? That fateful night wasn¡¯t so long ago.¡±

    There was no emotion on Nighteye¡¯s countenance. ¡°That night means nothing. All living beings will mate, and that is merely instinct. And I remember telling you not to run into me on the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I said the same.¡± Qianye was fairly emotional. Then, he heard yet another familiar phrase.

    Nighteye said, ¡°Evernight and Daybreak are eternal enemies. There¡¯s no other oue!¡±

    Qianye nced at Nighteye with a sigh and saw his figure reflected within her eyes. His vision grew dark as a wave of excruciating pain wracked his entire body.

    Qianye reacted immediately by activating Eye Ability: Control. He saw her face turn slightly pale as the figure in her eyes warped and disappeared. Qianye¡¯s retaliation was far weaker than Nighteye¡¯s, but it unexpectedly interrupted her eye ability.

    Qianye rolled away and shed behind a stone pir. His silhouette had just vanished into the shadows when an origin bullet sted a hole at his previous location.

    Qianye pressed his back against the cold cave-wall and looked at where the bullet hadnded. He could smell ck titanium from the residual smoke. Although this wasn¡¯t a ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion, these high-grade origin bullets were also infused with ck titanium to raise its destructive power against humans.

    Qianye pressed a hand onto his blood core¡¯s position as a wave of intense pain came through from his chest. The price of resisting Nighteye¡¯s Eye of Destruction was significant, draining whatever was left of his blood energy. The wound on his blood core was badly shaken and opened up slightly.

    Nighteye stood in silence without the slightest bit of aura leaking out of her body. There was no way to lock onto her with the exception of direct vision. Guns drawn, her figure flickered through the smoke and rushed toward the pir behind which Qianye had been hiding.

    However, the ce waspletely empty. There were some drops of blood where he had been hiding along with a spinning grenade.

    Daybreak shbang!

    Nighteye was more than familiar with this anti-vampire weapon, but it was toote to evade.

    A mass of dazzling light erupted in the hall. For a moment, everything turned into a blurry field of white light.

    When the light finally dispersed, Nighteye was kneeling on the ground with her hands crossed in front of her face to block the intense light. Without opening her eyes, she swung her right hand backward and fired thrice in quick session. A certain silhouette nearby shook and broke into several pieces.

    Nighteye leaped up and nced over in rm, only to find that it was a slender, human-shaped stctite. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s aura hadpletely vanished, and no one knew where he had hidden himself.

    A dense color of blood emerged in her eyes as she scanned the entire hall, her muzzle closely following her gaze.

    However, following a sudden click, a mass of light erupted once more from the pile of shattered rocks! Qianye had actually hidden a shbang within that stctite.

    The light arrived too sudden, and Nighteye was a split second toote in closing her eyes. She let out a light groan and couldn¡¯t help but raise her right hand to shield her eyes. But during this process, her left hand swung to the side and fired three more shots.

    She finally heard Qianye¡¯s groan amidst the gunshots.

    After her regaining consciousness, Nighteye¡¯s eye ability and perception seemed to have upgraded. Qianye¡¯s aura waspletely restrained and difficult to capture, but East Peak hadn¡¯t calmed downpletely from the previous battle¡ªNighteye had traced the minuscule origin power upon it to judge Qianye¡¯s position.

    Thetter ran along the cave wall at lightning speed and fired several rounds from his Mystic Spider Lily. Nighteye¡¯s figure was almost a blur as she shed continuously with her eyes closed.

    Even so, every bullet seemed to brush past her clothes. Apparently, Qianye¡¯s marksmanship had reached the level of a master. Such a pursuitsted only a split second¡ªNighteye¡¯s vision was adversely affected by the shbang and her perception was slightly off, causing one of her steps to fall behind. A flower of blood blossomed on her calf as she was struck.

    The wound was neitherrge nor deep, however, the pain was several times that of an ordinary gun. Even Nighteye, with her staunch character, couldn¡¯t help but let out a miserable scream. This was one of Mystic Spider Lily¡¯s special abilities which weakened the enemy by magnifying pain and forming illusions.

    With great decisiveness, Nighteye hurled a grenade between the two of them. The explosion and powerful origin shockwaves disrupted all perception, causing them to lose track of each other.

    This firefight was extremely ruthless. Whether it was in terms of weapons used or the arts deployed, the two had already reached the extremes of theirbat abilities. A slight miscalction would result in heavy injuries.

    Qianye exhaled deeply inside a natural gap between the cave ceiling. His breath immediately suffused the surroundings with a fragrance. It was rather simr to the one Nighteye had emitted when her blood core was wounded, but his scent was much deeper.

    Without the need to look, Qianye knew that the wound on his blood core had opened up a bit more. He had been shot twice, and a tingling sensation was spreading out continuously from his wounds. That was a sign of spreading ck Titanium. Although it was only a tiny amountpared to the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion, Qianye had no more auric me blood to neutralize it, as such, its effects were simr to that of a slow poison.

    Qianye gasped deeply and continuously, counting down in his mind. He leapt out of his hiding ce at the count of ten and tossed a grenade amidst rapid movements.

 Volume 6 - 531: That Unyielding Love

    [V6C61 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The sh and subsequent explosion filled the entire cave, turning the entire world into a blinding haze of white. Only the sounds of continuous gunshot and explosions could be heard. Qianye and Nighteye moved rapidly within this hellish environment, their bullets flying through the smoke as though they had eyes of their own.

    At this point, both parties were fighting with their instincts. The slightly weaker one would be torn apart by the torrential attacks of the other.

    The two quickly sought their own hiding ces after the intense battle. They rested with their backs to the rock wall, waiting for the next opportunity.

    Qianye and Nighteye discovered each other¡¯s positions as the continuous explosions died down. It turned out that they were leaning against each side of a giant rock.

    Sounds of clicking metal rang out at the same time as the two began reloading and changing equipment at the same time. At this point, under the suppression of the colossus¡¯ will, their remaining strength was only enough for one decisive battle.

    Momentster, the cave became quiet once again and all noise disappeared. Only the ancient essence on the ceiling would sprinkle down a silent yet mysterious brilliance upon the two of them.

    At this moment, as though connected in mind, Nighteye and Qianye rushed out at the same time and saw one another.

    There was less than ten meters between the two, more or less the thickness of this giant rock.

    This short distance, however, was like a bottomless chasm of fate, built upon factional differences and enmity. It almost seemed uncrossable.

    Qianye gazed at her, and she stared at him. Each appeared in the other¡¯s eyes¡ªthey were both as calm as a wavelesske surface, and only their reflected images formed an endless channel.

    Qianye was naked from the waist up with a bloody patch expanding rapidly on that bandage around his abdomen. There was only East Peak in his hands, but this heavy sword had only truly awakened during the fierce battle. The de¡¯s edge pulsed with radiance, and one would feel a mountainous pressure just by looking at it.

    Meanwhile, Nighteye had also abandoned her de and handguns, leaving only that sniper rifle in her grasp. This astonishingly long rifle wasn¡¯t a melee weapon, but at this distance, it would produce a shocking effect if she could justnd a hit. There would be no second shot.

    At several meters distance, Qianye could feel a faint prickling sensation on his skin. That was the powerful radiation characteristic of ck Titanium. Apparently, Nighteye¡¯s sniper rifle was loaded with a reinforced ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion.

    Qianye closed his eyes and sensed the aura of death rushing straight at him. When he opened them once more, there was no more emotion, only a cold, deathly azure. Nighteye¡¯s figure was still there, but it was only a ck and white silhouette.

    ¡°Come, onest round to decide life or death,¡± Qianye stated simply.

    ¡°The one to die will be you.¡± Nighteye slowly raised her sniper rifle and aimed at Qianye¡¯s forehead.

    Thetter felt the skin on his forehead twitch, caused by the stimtion of a powerful killing intent. There were countless lines dancing about in Qianye¡¯s True Sight, all of them converging back on that lethal point on his forehead. It was just like Zhao Jundu¡¯s ¡°True Strike¡±.

    Apparently, Nighteye had activated a certain secret art which served to automatically calibrate the shot once fired. This also meant that the final destination of that bullet was his forehead no matter how he dodged. The only way to survive was to deploy a defensive energy stronger than the firepower of this bullet.

    But defending was thest thing Qianye wanted to do right now.

    East Peak let out a clear hum as he shook his wrist. The de rose into the air and froze above Qianye¡¯s head. The still de increased in momentum as the sound of ocean tides echoed around him.

    Qianye felt his own consciousness rising continuously, so much so that it felt like he had broken through the barriers of the world and flown into the void. Sky Demon¡¯s memory fragment finally merged into his body at the juncture of life and death to be a part of his very being.

    As his understanding of void origin power gradually increased, Qianye¡¯s momentum also became extensive and profound. The great ocean waves roared louder and louder, gradually forming the sound of the tides.

    Qianye¡¯s left hand rose slowly. He grabbed the hilt with both hands and remained motionless with his eyes closed.

    This sword strike, onceunched, would possess the might of the mountains and seas!

    The cavern waspletely silent. All life had gone into hiding under the powerful aura of the twobatants¡ªeven the origin power in the surroundings had stopped flowing.

    Only the ancient essence fragment was sprinkling light, warmth, and void origin power. It suddenly pulsed and let out crackling noises, much like a spark falling onto a pile of firewood.

    This noise broke the silence and affected the aura of the two.

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils lit up as she pulled hard on the trigger. Meanwhile, Qianye let out a thunderous roar as he stepped forward and hacked down on Nighteyes'' head!

    This strike couldn¡¯t be considered fast, but it was so powerful that dodging was difficult and evasion was near impossible. The muzzle of Nighteye¡¯s rifle quickly approached Qianye¡¯s forehead.

    And the trigger finally reached the end!

    The world turned silent once again, and even East Peak was frozen mid-swing. The only sound echoing through the cavern was a light click, the sound of an empty gun.

    A fair length of time passed by, but the gunshot Qianye had been expecting never came.

    When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw Nighteye looking back at him with a vacant expression.

    ¡°Fire! Why aren¡¯t you firing?!¡± Qianye roared in anger.

    Nighteye¡¯s gun-hand trembled, and a pitch-ck bullet slipped out onto the ground.

    That was the bullet, the source of deadly threat Qianye had sensed before. She had kept it in her hand all along, while the chamber of the rifle was empty.

    Qianye felt a wave of dizziness as exhaustion washed over him. East Peak, which had been frozen mid-air, fell with a loud bang and pierced deep into the ground.

    Inexplicable anger and fear welled up in Qianye¡¯s heart. He grabbed Nighteye¡¯s cor, dragged her toward him, and shouted at the top of his lungs, ¡°What the hell are you doing? Are you courting death?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s voice was just as calm. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the same?¡±

    Qianye wanted to retort, but Nighteye pushed herself into his arms and sealed his mouth with her own.

    At this very moment, both of their minds were nk.

    They separated briefly after an unknown length of time, gasping deeply like fish that had been washed ashore. Their eyes darted about, afraid to look straight at one another. Only their arms were locked tightly together¡ªso tight that it was almost stifling.

    Atst, Nighteye spoke, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you sh down?¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you load that bullet?¡±

    At this point, there was no longer a need to speak. The choice they had made at the juncture of life and death was clear proof of their feelings.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Nighteye suddenly pulled away ,but a startled Qianye reached out and drew her back into his arms.

    Nighteye red at Qianye and said, ¡°Stop fooling around! We still haven¡¯t finished the important business!¡±

    She stood up, leapt toward the ceiling, and snatched the ancient essence fragment before returning to Qianye¡¯s side.

    ¡°Absorb it, now!¡±

    Qianye caught the fragment subconsciously. However, he nced at Nighteye without any movement.

    Without waiting for him to say anything, Nighteye said, ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, my condition right now is much better than it looks. This thing is useless to me now.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought and reckoned that was the case. Qianye had already noticed while he was healing Nighteye that her blood energy rank was extremely high. Moreover, the conferment of the princess title involved stringent rules. Only scions with the potential to reach the prince rank were addressed as such.

    Nighteye¡¯s bloodline was already quite powerful. Now that she had been healed with two drops of origin blood from Qianye, she was certain to reach the duke rank in the future. This piece of ancient essence would only be gilding the lily.

    Qianye hesitated for a while. ¡°I don¡¯t really need it, either, but my brother can use it.¡±

    But Nighteye reached out and covered Qianye¡¯s mouth, preventing him from speaking on. She looked into his eyes and said seriously, ¡°I seized this ancient essence fragment, so it¡¯s mine. Are you going to fight me for it?¡±

    Qianye shook his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s it! So it¡¯s mine and whatever I say, counts. You will absorb it, now! Immediately!¡±

    Nighteye was serious¡ªa sense of pressure and even killing intent began to appear around her.

    Qianye pushed her hand away and said helplessly, ¡°I really feel that it won¡¯t be able to exert its full effects on me.¡±

    The Profound Combatant Form and the ember from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar had brought him knowledge. Meanwhile, the Song n Ancient Scroll was vast and unfathomable, capable of breaking through most ordinary bottlenecks in cultivation. Song Zining¡¯s reminder that night had helped him find a new chapter, most likely the path beyond the Mystery and Glory chapters. He hadn¡¯t even found the time to cultivate and assimte these things, so adding the ancient essence fragment had little meaning.

    However, Nighteye wouldn¡¯t back down. She looked into his eyes and said word by word, ¡°Qianye, I¡¯m a woman, and you¡¯re the only one in my eyes. I don¡¯t give a damn about brothers or friends. Since this ancient essence fragment is mine, I¡¯ll only let you use it. If you don¡¯t, then I¡¯ll destroy it now!¡±

    At this point, Qianye raised his hands in defeat. ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll use it, alright?¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t rx at all. She pushed the essence into Qianye¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Use it now, I¡¯ll keep guard.¡±

    Nighteye got up toward the weapons she had dropped and fully equipped herself once again. She hoisted her sniper rifle once more and, this time, actually loaded the ck Titanium Bullet of Annihtion into the chamber.

    Qianye raised the ancient essence fragment with both hands, sensing its fluctuations and gradually adjusting his body to it. From his experience with absorbing the ember of Sky Demon¡¯s avatar, he knew that a clear head was critical to maintaining consciousness during the influx of great power.

 Volume 6 - 532: Side by Side

    [V6C62 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    A cry of astonishment rang out at this moment. ¡°Ancient essence!¡±

    Qianye and Nighteye both nced over, stunned, as Xu Lang walked out from the shadows and appeared at the entrance to the cave.

    Xu Lang could hardly avert his gaze from the ancient essence fragment in Qianye¡¯s hands, nor could he disguise the longing and greed any longer.

    The two didn¡¯t move at all, but Nighteye¡¯s sniper rifle shifted ever so slightly. Now, it looked like she was aiming at Qianye.

    Xu Lang retracted his gaze with great difficulty and scanned the situation within the cave. The messy cave and lingering embers were proof that a fierce battle had taken ce here. ncing at Qianye¡¯s injuries, he could see an aura of ck titanium from two of his wounds, and the bandage around his abdomen was seeping blood.

    Xu Lang drew hisbat knife and said in a deep voice, ¡°So, you¡¯re Zhao Qianye of the Zhao n? From now on, you¡¯re under mymand. Bring that ancient essence fragment over and work with me to kill that Monroe Princess. I¡¯ll report your contributions when we return to the empire.¡±

    Qianye also sized up this young man in imperial uniform from head to toe. He had seen his fair share of the expression on the other party¡¯s face¡ªfrom the street gangs of Darkblood City to the aristocratic ns near the bloody battle contribution exchange point. Avarice, in the face of great fortune, had devoured all intelligence and bottom lines. They were willing to try any method of reasoning.

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°Why does this superior¡¯smand sound so different from the ones I received beforeing down here?

    Xu Lang¡¯s expression sank as he said coldly, ¡°As an imperial general, I¡¯m naturally authorized tomand on site. Are you refusing orders?¡±

    Qianye simply didn¡¯t believe the ancient essence fragment would enter the imperial storehouse afternding in Xu Lang¡¯s hands. That was quite the clumsy excuse. He stood up slowly with one hand on the essence and the other on East Peak. ¡°The strong reign in this ce. The thing you want is here,e and take it if you want.¡±

    Xu Lang narrowed his eyes. ¡°Zhao Qianye, you¡¯re betraying the empire!¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Empire? Do you dare say that outside? There were quite a few people looking to snatch things from the Zhao n. It looks like you¡¯re one of them. I¡¯ll remember you.¡±

    Xu Lang¡¯s expression grew even gloomier, and his aura rose continuously as he walked over to Qianye. ¡°All the more reason to not let you go, not that I had that intention, to begin with.¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Qianye was somewhat curious as he scanned the Red Scorpion insignia on the man¡¯s uniform.

    ¡°A dying man doesn¡¯t need to know my name,¡± Xu Lang replied. He nced at Nighteye midway and said, ¡°Monroe Princess, you¡¯re quite badly wounded too, it seems? There¡¯s still time to leave now, else the next to die will be you.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze flickered. The wound on her thigh was emitting a smell of fresh blood and seemed to be recovering at a very slow pace. She shot Qianye a nce, gauged Xu Lang¡¯s dense, almost-tangible origin power, then slowly retreated to the side.

    Xu Langughed loudly as he walked toward Qianye inrge strides. The dagger in his hand trembled continuously, emitting a frosty drone. But his next step hadn¡¯t even fallen when an excruciating pain emerged in his chest, almost causing him to stumble and fall.

    Xu Lang¡¯s reaction wasn¡¯t slow, either. He managed to barely stabilize himself by erupting with full origin power and stabbing his de into the ground. Even so, his mouth was already filled with the stench of blood.

    The man reacted instantly¡ªthebat instincts he had honed over the years allowed him to leap away and evade the follow-up attack. However, his heart spasmed inexplicably just as he was exerting strength to jump into the air. This pain wasn¡¯t as bad as the previous episode, but it caused his movements to deviate and his strength to fall short.

    An odd whistling sound echoed within the cavern. Qianye stepped forward after activating his eye ability and swept East Peak across Xu Lang¡¯s waist.

    Thetter cried loudly and attempted to block with his military knife, but since he was in the air at the moment, he had nowhere to exert his strength. Arge chunk of Xu Lang¡¯s dagger was chipped off while he himself was sent flying away.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have much origin power left after the fierce battle with Nighteye, but no ordinary person could take abination of East Peak¡¯s power and his own.

    Xu Lang straightened himself mid-air, fell abruptly, andnded on his feet. However, his soul almost flew away when he nced back and saw Qianye and Nighteye with their twin guns aimed at him. The gun muzzles shed as they released a fierce barrage at him!

    Dodging bullets was a mandatory skill learnt by all imperial soldiers. Xu Lang immediately judged the bullet trajectories and took a step sideways, prepared to take one shot in order to evade the rest. But an odd pain appeared again in his heart just as he was taking the step. He still failed to suppress his body¡¯s reflexes despite having experienced this once, and his footstep slowed down ever so slightly.

    This minute difference caused Xu Lang to take an extra hit. Meanwhile, that origin bullet suffused with ck energy made a sharp turn through the air and sted into Xu Lang¡¯s body. That was an origin bullet instilled with ck titanium!

    In truth, Xu Lang¡¯s judgment when he showed himself wasn¡¯t wrong. Qianye and Nighteye were both something of a spent force, and the bullets they had shot out were ordinary in firepower. But Xu Lang¡¯s defenses were instantly shattered after taking three sessive hits¡ªespecially the bullet infused with ck titanium, which caused him to feel a chill all over his body. He made a prompt decision to dive into a tunnel and escape.

    The gunshots continued to rumble. Qianye and Nighteye stood side by side as they fired a second barrage into the tunnel. Soon, a roar of pain emerged from the other end of the tunnel¡ªapparently, Xu Lang had been struck.

    ¡°Zhao Qianye! You¡¯re colluding with the vampires, the empire will not let you go!¡± Xu Lang cried out hatefully, his voice trailing off into the distance.

    Nighteye nced at Qianye. ¡°Will it be any trouble?¡±

    Qianye holstered the Twin Flowers and said, ¡°No matter, it¡¯s uncertain which one of us will be causing trouble for the other after returning to the empire.¡±

    The two nced at one another. That feeling of mutual understanding as they fought side by side was indeed fascinating.

    Qianye had also discovered the differences between their eye abilities. Nighteye¡¯s eye ability possessed great destructive power and could shoot through defenses¡ªits power, however, would gradually weaken after the pration. Moreover, its activation consumed a significant amount of energy and required time to activate.

    Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s Eye Ability: Control was much weaker in terms of attack power. However, its origin pration was above Nighteye¡¯s, its energy consumption was small, and its activation, fast. Qianye had used the ability two times within the few seconds of their battle with Xu Lang. Both of them affected his movements at the most critical junctures and led to his quick defeat.

    Perhaps that was the true usage of the Eye Ability: Control.

    Qianye no longer dyed after this matter had passed and, under Nighteye¡¯s protection, began absorbing the ancient essence fragment. The process was fairly smooth this time, perhaps due to his experience in absorbing Sky Demon¡¯s remnant crystal. A fair portion of the void colossus¡¯ impact was canceled out by Sky Demon¡¯s memories.

    When Qianye came to, he discovered that his external injuries had disappeared, and the greater part of his blood core injury had healed. A finger-sized crystal had grown out of the wound and sealed it.

    This crystal was integrated into the blood core. However, its nature was different from the blood core and crystalline granules within¡ªit was, however, simr to the ancient essence fragment. Qianye observed it for quite a while but still couldn¡¯t figure out if it was a part of his blood core.

    Only at the prince rank would vampire blood cores crystallize and turn into amber. Qianye had never seen a blood amber, but he knew, from the memories he had obtained from the River of Blood, that this didn¡¯t look like one.

    Qianye put this matter to rest and began inspecting the state of origin power within his body. The ancient essence fragment contained vast amounts of void origin power. It split into two after entering his body and began replenishing both daybreak origin power and blood energy at the same time.

    The energy contained within the fragment was tremendous. A single cycle of meditation had brought Qianye¡¯s origin power and blood energy back to their peak states, while the remainder were absorbed by the Book of Darkness. This mysterious book was like a bottomless abyss, capable of amodating any amount of energy. The ancient runes upon it appeared once again after the ancient essence fragment waspletely absorbed.

    Qianye opened his eyes and saw Nighteye sitting nearby with her sniper rifle in her arms, her expression calm, rxed, and even looked somewhat happy. Qianye finally inquired about the issue that had been lingering in his heart, ¡°Why were you seeking death at first? Is this rted to the Perth n?¡±

    ¡°Then how about you? Why didn¡¯t you attack?¡± Nighteye replied.

    Qianye sat in a kneeling position and pulled Nighteye until she was facing him¡ªtheir eyes locked and no longer running away from one another. ¡°You¡¯re very clear why I did that, now answer my question.¡±

    Nighteye sighed lightly and said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed rted to the Perth n.¡±

    Afterward, she recounted everything. Qianye¡¯s eyes were filled with sharp killing intent as he listened to how the Holy Son Edward had used various methods to pressure Nighteye. His hand on Nighteye¡¯s shoulder gripped tighter.

    Nighteye caressed Qianye¡¯s face with a sigh. ¡°Don¡¯t be rash. Neither of us is a match for Edward at the moment, not to mention he has the Perth n behind him and¡­ Her Majesty Lilith.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°How about the Monroe? They can¡¯t ignore this, can they?¡±

    ¡°Such a thing wouldn¡¯t happen if the ck-Winged Monarch was still here. But things are different since everyone knows Lilith hates Andruil with a passion. Now that she¡¯s awakened from her long slumber, the entire vampire race will submit to her will, and the Monroe n is no exception. The only one who could go against her in the past several thousand years was the ck-Winged Monarch.¡±

    ¡°So, they¡¯ll hand you over?¡±

    Nighteye nodded in silence.

    ¡°What are your ns now?¡±

    A lost expression appeared on Nighteye¡¯s face. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. Father has also¡­ returning is no longer an option. Perhaps I¡¯ll go to the neutral region.¡±

    Qianye recalled Nighteye¡¯s words and caught a certain key point. ¡°There might be a chance if you hand the council an ancient essence fragment, right?¡±

    Finally, Nighteye couldn¡¯t hold back under Qianye¡¯s brilliant gaze. ¡°You could say that. Lilith promised to return my freedom if I can bring back an ancient essence fragment.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you give it to me?!¡± Qianye was upset.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you understand? Lilith only said she won¡¯t interfere, she won¡¯t care whatever Edward does.¡± At this point, bitterness appeared in Nighteye¡¯s pupils. ¡°I don¡¯t n to return even if the Monroe n can protect me. There¡¯s really no one who cares about me apart from my father. Those rtives of mine, all they want is to make use of my status to scheme for profits.¡±

    Qianye drew Nighteye into his arms and stroked her soft, ck hair. He said only after a while, ¡°Come with me!¡±

 Volume 6 - 533: Return

    [V6C63 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°The empire? That¡¯s impossible! I¡¯m a scion of sacred blood.¡± Nighteye¡¯s pupils went wide.

    Qianye was already quite clear. He said slowly, ¡°Evernight isn¡¯t the empire proper. We won¡¯t go to the core, human-controlled areas and instead live in the border regions. There are a lot of hybrids there, as well as humans who possess darkness origin power. No one will know you¡¯re a vampire as long as you hide your blood energy and not go all out.¡±

    ¡°What will I do every day if I don¡¯t fight?¡±

    Qianye looked into Nighteye¡¯s pupils and said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll go and fight, you wait for me at home.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Nighteye wanted to argue, but after seeing Qianye¡¯s gaze and hearing such words, she felt herself melting and at a loss for words.

    She buried her face in Qianye¡¯s chest and said softly, ¡°Have you thought this through? No secret can be kept forever. We¡¯ll surely be discovered one day, and you¡¯ll be dragged into this mess when that timees.¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re found out, then I¡¯ll take you even further away. The world is so big, and there are twenty-seven continents in total. There must be a ce for us to live.¡±

    Nighteye was silent for a long while. Then, she said longingly, ¡°What kind of life will it be?¡±

    Qianye asked with augh, ¡°Can you cook and wash?¡±

    Nighteye gave it some thought and said with some uncertainty, ¡°I¡¯m guessing our food preferences should be more or less the same?¡±

    Qianye broke into augh, and Nighteye jabbed at Qianye after she came to.

    Qianye tightened his arms around her and kissed her forehead lightly. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely protect you.¡±

    ¡°I believe you.¡±

    The two remained in each other¡¯s arms for a moment before setting out on their search for a path upward. They were prepared to leave this underground cavern world.

    Intense origin fluctuations woulde through asionally from the depths of the cavern, sometimes shaking the entire tunnel. Apparently, the true experts were going all out in battle. There was one thing inmon about the ces where these intense fluctuations hade from¡ªthere was a mysterious will beckoning all life toward it. Qianye knew clearly that it was the aura of the ancient essence fragment, especially after having seen it shatter during that great battle.

    He was drenched in cold sweat upon realizing how lucky they had been just now.

    For some reason, the ancient essence fragment they had encountered was never truly activated and its aura didn¡¯t spread very far. As such, it didn¡¯t quite rm anyone except for Xu Lang who happened to be nearby. Otherwise, their chances of victory would be slim at best even if they were to work together at their peak states.

    Qianye and Nighteye both had the ability to conceal their bloodlines. They retracted their auras and passed through several wild beast territories without encountering any danger. They did encounter experts from Evernight and the empire from time to time, however, these people were eager to participate in the battles deeper in. Add to that the fact that they couldn¡¯t sense anything special on the duo, most of them would simply pass by without incident.

    The journey back was much faster than the journey in. They started encountering some straggling beasts after reaching the surface, but dealing with them was a cakewalk for Qianye and Nighteye. Finally, on a certain moonlit night, they left the mountain range formed by the void colossus¡¯ skeleton.

    That odd forest was just as silent as before. The dark purple substance on the ground was no different, either¡ªit was soft when stepped upon, but that was the extent of it. There weren¡¯t any abnormal signs to be found.

    However, Qianye and Nighteye both knew that it was only a facade. Countless corpses had turned into nutrients under this purple substance and ultimately be a part of it.

    Qianye and Nighteye maintained a hundred meters distance between them and took point in turns. At this distance, they could keep each other in sight and also discover enemies through the dense suppression of this forest. Meanwhile, the enemies would likely only find one of them, allowing the other to deal a fatal blow from the nk.

    Qianye was walking ahead when he looked up at a distant tree. The spherical treetop was broken in many areas. Some had already grown back, but many of the honeb-like structures were open, and whatever was growing inside them, gone.

    The two nced at one another as they recalled the wave of fierce beasts and aboriginals that had caught up to them halfway into the cavern. A strange, sinister feeling came over them when they looked back at this forest.

    Despite the stifling sensation, their journey through this misty forest was fairly peaceful as they no longer encountered any beasts or aboriginals. Furthermore, with their visual range, the two were able to circle around the asional low-level scouting party they came across. Qianye even recognized a couple of descendants from one of the Zhao n¡¯s vessel families, with whom he had interacted before and obtained some new information regarding the two factions.

    Dayster, they passed through the woods and walked out of the stone forest. Qianye climbed onto high ground and observed the surroundings. Three gs immediately appeared in his vision¡ªtwo of them belonging to the Evernight Council, and the third, to the empire¡ªwith a base of operations below each g. Although Qianye had already received news of this, he was still astonished by how these long stretches of defensive structures had appeared in such a short time.

    It turned out that there were void tunnels in the depths of Giant¡¯s Repose on Evernight Continent, but because this was a floating continent, these tunnels were more or less one way. Experts apart from heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs had no way to return on their own.

    As such, the two factions began constructing bases after figuring out the spatial characteristics, the Evernight faction constantly maintaining a 2:1 advantage over the empire.

    Qianye checked the surroundings and found a fairly concealed area. There, he produced some clothes for Nighteye to change into. She was now d in a hooded cape and warrior¡¯s attiremon among aristocratic family attendants¡ªeven her sword and guns were swapped out for imperial made armaments.

    Bloody bandages covered her arm, legs, and two areas of her face. After pulling the hood over her head, only her dark hair and eyes could be seen. And it just so happened that these features were fairlymon among the people of the empire.

    The fully-constructed base of operations, with its flying g, was somewhat calm and cheerlesspared to therge-scale constructions going on around it. There were dozens of imperial soldiers standing guard in front of the main gates and numerous high-speed airships parked in the airship port behind them.

    Thezy soldiers around the gates became vignt as Qianye and Nighteye approached. Weapons were quickly aimed at the two while the multi-barreled auto-cannons on the walls also turned toward them.

    ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡± the guard shouted from afar.

    Qianye produced the identity token provided by the military upon his departure. He then pointed toward the Swallow Cloud Cavalry insignia on his shoulder and said, ¡°Zhao n, Qianye.¡±

    In the recent days, the base had taken in a fair number of experts scattered within the bewildering forest¡ªsome were too injured to continue fighting, while others had retreated soon after entering the cavern.

    As such, the guard didn¡¯t find their arrival very strange. He asked casually while receiving the identity token and Zhao n insignia for inspection, ¡°Does Young Noble Qianye intend to go back immediately or wait for the Zhao nbat squad¡¯s return?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯ve aplished my mission and I¡¯m also wounded. So I¡¯ll be returning immediately.¡±

    The soldiers were astonished after hearing Qianye¡¯s words, but no one inquired further into it. That word, ¡°mission aplished¡±, wasn¡¯t something that could be spoken so casually. To experts like Qianye who had been recruited to enter Giant¡¯s Repose, this so-called mission aplished meant that he had either obtained an ancient essence fragment or killed a Sky Demon avatar. Either one of them was a great military contribution and involved highly ssified information.

    The guards here had naturally received strict orders regarding this. The guard finished his inspections quickly and said, ¡°General Hu is in charge of these matters, you can go and meet him directly.¡± With that, he looked at Nighteye and asked, ¡°Is this your attendant?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qianye nodded. Then, he asked without batting an eyelid, ¡°Has anyone else from the Zhao n returned?¡±

    The guard replied, ¡°The eldest young noble and his attendants came to resupply a couple of days ago but left soon afterward.¡±

    The Zhao n eldest young noble was Zhao Junyi, the eldest of the four siblings. Beforeing here, Qianye had heard Duke You mention that Zhao Junyi and Zhao Jundu had entered Giant¡¯s Repose together.

    Qianye was slightly relieved to discover that the Zhao n people weren''t all aggressive warmongers and that their movements were strategically nned. Although he hadn¡¯t heard any news of Zhao Jundu along the way, he knew that thetter should be safe from how the n had divided the roles.

    The guard returned Qianye¡¯s identity token with both hands and had one of the guards bring Qianye and Nighteye to meet the person in charge of the base.

    He was a Brigadier General of the imperial regr army surnamed Hu. The man was fairly mild in his manners and handled all the necessary procedures rather quickly. He, of course, understood that a character on the recruitment list like Qianye was an outstanding genius of the generation. Since thetter had walked out alive, it meant that his future was boundless¡ªthe general naturally didn¡¯t want to leave a bad impression.

    An hourter, a high-speed airship was ready for take-off, and the brigadier general personally saw them onto the airship.

    The airship rose into the air and shot into a massive vortex, vanishing therein. That was the void tunnel leading to Giant¡¯s Repose on Evernight Continent.

    Qianye¡¯s perceptions were restored after a brief wave of dizziness. The airship rushed out of Giant¡¯s Repose andnded at the border of the ravine. It then turned back after Qianye and Nighteye had disembarked.

    After the airship disappeared into the ravine, Qianye asked Nighteye, ¡°Have you memorized the ce?¡±

    Nighteye nodded. They had agreed to rendezvous in a secluded valley outside of ckflow City.

    ¡°Very well, wait for me there. I¡¯ll arrange everything.¡± With that, Qianye hugged her tightly and let her go. He watched until her figure vanished into the wilderness before heading toward the imperial camp.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished as he gazed at the endless battlefront before him. The empire hadn¡¯t finished assembling their forces when he entered Giant¡¯s Repose. He had more or less guessed the scale of this war from how big the Zhao n forward base was, but seeing it personally allowed him to feel the empire¡¯s determination to take action.

    It was just that the battle for the ancient essence fragments was near its end. So when was this ¡°battle of national fate¡± Duke You had been talking about going to take ce?

    The imperial base stretched along a series of hills, replete withyer uponyer of ramparts, cannon towers, watchtowers, and ted walls. It was just like a fortified city. Qianye submitted his proof of identity at the gates and was duly led toward the Zhao n camp.

    The Zhao n had mobilized arge batch of their private army, overseen by Duke You Zhao Xuanji himself. As an army that was both strong and revered, their camp was located close to Zhang Boqian¡¯smand barracks, a testament to their celebrated status.

 Volume 6 - 534: Afterword

    [V6C64 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye was greeted with the intense smell of gunpowder as he entered the Zhao n camp. Everywhere, there were soldiers performing drills or changing guard duty. The various military vehicles parked in the open had traces of recent fighting, and countless technicians were working on and around them.

    Qianye had noticed a certain detail¡ªat least half of the camp in front of him was made up of light-armored mobile barracks. Additionally, the military engineers were in the process of converting the rest of the field army tents into mobile barracks. Qianye turned toward the other private army encampments nearby and found the situation to be more or less the same.

    War was inherently akin to burning money, and these semi-permanent defensive structures cost significantly more than temporary ones. It seemed not only did they expect the war tost fairly long, but they would also continue to garrison here some time afterward. This meant that the empire might¡¯ve changed its policy of not garrisoning the regr army on Evernight Continent.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was full of doubt as he followed the solder leading him into the core area of the Zhao n camp. The circle of tents in front were the residences of Duke You and the other high-ranking Zhao n leaders. They looked rather in and unadorned from the outside, almost the same as an ordinary barracks.

    Duke You was handling some official documents when Qianye knocked and entered. There was a tall pile of already-processed documents to his right, and an entire two stacks of documents to his left.

    Zhao Xuanji put down the pen and nced at Qianye. A happy expression appeared in his eyes as he stood up and said, ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re back safely. It looks like your journey this time went smoothly.¡±

    Qianye performed a salutation and said, ¡°I have indeed gained some rewards. I was fortunate enough to aplish a mission but was wounded in the process. I was in dire straights at the time and I never found the eldest and fourth young masters, either. So, I had no choice but toe back first...¡±

    An astonished Zhao Xuanji walked out from behind the desk and beckoned Qianye to sit down. ¡°Youpleted a mission?¡±

    ¡°I killed a Sky Demon avatar.¡± This was the answer Qianye had prepared.

    Even the duke who had experienced countless winds and waves throughout his life couldn¡¯t help but be startled.

    The main objective of the empire¡¯s recruitment of experts to enter Giant¡¯s Repose was to explore the area and kill those from the Evernight faction. They were guaranteed contributions as long as they came back with relevant intelligence. That was why Duke You was already quite happy to see Qianye return safely. As for the two missions, one could still try his luck in finding an ancient essence fragment, but killing Sky Demon¡¯s avatars was the job of those marquis level experts who had gone inter.

    Zhao Xunji said with a serious expression, ¡°This matter is extremely important. Can you confirm it?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t lie about such an important matter.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji¡¯s expression rxed as he nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you. I only ask because killing a Sky Demon avatar would be quite difficult for you. Do you have any proof?¡±

    ¡°Sky Demon¡¯s avatar left behind a scorching crystal after it died. I didn¡¯t know what it was, so I identally absorbed it.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji asked in concern, ¡°You absorbed it? What did you feel? Was there any difort?¡±

    ¡°I felt rather unwell during the absorption process, but after that, my perception toward void origin power increased greatly. I also saw some memory scenes, most likely rted to Sky Demon.¡± Regarding this, Qianye spoke the truth.

    Even the subtle Zhao Xuanji was visibly moved after hearing this. ¡°You actually obtained Sky Demon¡¯s memories? T-That¡¯s a perfect absorption! Good, very good!¡±

    Qianye focused his mind to search for Sky Demon¡¯s remnant will within his body. Soon, a mysterious fluctuation spread out from his body¡ªvast, distant, and suffused with the sorrow of the vicissitudes.

    Zhao Xuanji suddenly waved his hand. Strands of sharp origin power shot out from his fingers and pierced into the vital points on Qianye¡¯s body. The five origin powers were of different attributes. Three of them were purely daybreak, but one was a dark purple energy which actually contained neutral origin power. Thest one was true void origin power¡ªit was formless and invisible, yet it was the most powerful, even more so than the remaining fourbined.

    The five wisps of origin power shot out at lightning speed and without the slightest of warning signs. Qianye only noticed something was wrong when the sharp energy reached his body. He reacted almost instinctively by lowering his elbow to meet the iing void origin power. As for the other four, he could only rely on his body to defend against them.

    A sound akin to muffled thunder echoed within the room as Qianye flew backward along with the sofa, his face flushed red. Fourrge holes had appeared on hisbat robes to reveal the red skin underneath.

    Qianye seemed quite miserable, but the truth was that he had broken down the lethal void origin power. Zhao Xuanji had held back with his sudden attack, but even so, it would be quite shocking if people were to know that these four finger strikes hadn¡¯t torn through his skin.

    Zhao Xuanji nodded in delight and couldn¡¯t help but offer praises. ¡°Not bad, not bad at all! Being able to figure out the finger with true power behind it means that your perception of void origin power is extremely sharp. With this kind of awareness, you¡¯ll get twice the results for half the effort. The aura you imitated just now was Sky Demon¡¯s, right?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°Then there¡¯s no problem. Those who havepleted a mission in Giant¡¯s Repose must go and meet Grand Marshal Zhang Boqian for a final confirmation. Marshal Zhang has taken part in the battle against Sky Demon, so he can confirm it just from that aura.¡±

    Meet Zhang Boqian? Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and it took him some effort to maintain his calm. Could the Bloodline Concealment hide his secrets from the eyes of a heavenly monarch? Moreover, the current Qianye possessed not only blood energy but also had condensed a blood core. There was no way to exin this with mixed darkness origin power.

    Zhao Xuanji spoke again while Qianye was deep in thought, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not important whether you killed the avatar on your own or you happened to encounter a badly wounded one. The most important thing is theprehension you received during the battle and the perfect assimtion of the essence. This is a rare opportunity that hardlyes by even in a hundred battles.¡±

    Qianye remained silent because he knew what Zhao Xuanji would say next.

    As expected, the duke said with a solemn expression, ¡°Qianye, since you have this fortune, our Zhao n will nurture you without holding back. As long as you serve wholeheartedly, the n will provide all the resources you need before the divine champion rank!¡±

    Qianye nced at Duke You and said in a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯ll try my best.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t an answer Duke You expected. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°Qianye, I know you may still be holding a grudge for what happened back then. It¡¯s not too appropriate for me to talk about Weihuang¡¯s familial matters, but you¡¯re such a superior candidate both in terms of talent and character, so this duke will speak a bit. Qianye, blood always runs thicker than water. This familial rtionship can¡¯t ever be broken. Moreover, Zhao Weihuang wasn¡¯t wrong back then.¡±

    Qianye remained silent because Duke You¡¯s opinion would align with most people¡ªonly he himself knew that it wasn¡¯t so. He hadpletely put down his grievance aftering to know the reason for his origin theft. Meanwhile, he had gained certain things in his difficult life that were more important than familial rtionships¡ªpeople he would live or die with¡ªa lover, brothers, andrades.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to exin much. ¡°Duke, that may be the principle, but everything needs time. No matter what, I will try my best. Of this, you can rest assured.¡±

    Zhao Xuanjiughed happily. ¡°That is indeed the case. You don¡¯t need to rush, either, just let nature take its course. Oh right, Weihuang is careless in nature and usually forgets everything once he starts fighting. You can alsoe to me if you can¡¯t find him in a hurry. This duke is still able to handle some minor matters.¡±

    Qianye sighed in his heart after hearing this. He could only say, ¡°Thank you, Duke.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji waved his hand. ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. You earned everything by bathing yourself in blood.¡±

    The duke didn¡¯t detain him much longer and ordered some men to lead Qianye away to rest.

    Qianye received a single room in the officers¡¯ barracks. There, he requested some food, pen, and paper to start writing his battle report. The world under the void colossus¡¯ suppression¡ªits geography, flora, fauna, weather, and its effect on foreign individuals¡ªevery bit of intelligence was crucial to the empire.

    After filling up three papers, Qianye started feeling somewhat restless. He couldn¡¯t help but feel afraid when he thought about his meeting with Marshal Zhang Boqian the following day. The person he was most worried about was Nighteye who would be waiting for him, all alone, outside ckflow City. If he failed to return after a long period, what would she think? What would she do?

    But Qianye couldn¡¯t let other people send a message. Even if he could send a message, what would he say? There was no way to foretell what would happen on the morrow.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was in chaos when a guard outside called out loudly, ¡°Young Master Qianye, General Song Zining seeks a meeting!¡±

    ¡°Zining?!¡± Qianye stood up, recalling what Li Kuann had said in the cavern. Had Song Zining reallye to fight at Giant¡¯s Repose? When did he be a general?

    Qianye pushed the door open and, as expected, found Song Zining standing outside. He was d in a ck and gold general¡¯s uniform which added a martial tone to his handsome countenance. There were two beautiful female officers beside him, and both were majors with impressive figures.

    The Seventh Young Noble never changes. He still had beauties beside him even in the imperial camp.

    Qianye was startled as he looked at Song Zining. ¡°That¡¯s an imperial army uniform.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°I hold a temporary position in the imperial military, so it¡¯s only natural I wear their uniform.¡±

    ¡°But when did you join the imperial army?¡±

    Song Zining broke into augh. ¡°It¡¯s only a temporary post. I¡¯m helping Marshal Zhang Boqian do some odd jobs, and this identity facilitates things. That¡¯s why the marshal gave me this uniform.¡±

    He was given a brigadier general rank and staff-officer status after a casual request? Qianye was speechless.

    Thetter shot a nce at the two female officers beside Song Zining and said, ¡°Zining, you arrived at a good time. I happen to have something to talk to you about.¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°I also have some things to say to you.¡± He then pped the two girls on the butt and said, ¡°You two go back and rest first, I wish to talk to my brother here.¡±

    The two female officers nced coldly at Song Zining, then shot ming res at Qianye. It seemed as though they wanted nothing more than to devour Qianye on the spot. Afterward, they left unwillingly along with the Zhao n soldier who had led them here.

    Speechless at their bold actions, Qianye nced at Song Zining in puzzlement. Thetter had always been a romantic, but this was a real battlefield and an army under Zhang Boqian¡¯s control. How could such characters appear here?

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s gaze, Song Zining exined with a shrug, ¡°This has nothing to do with me. They were already in the army when I joined, and I only got to know themter on. Actually, they¡¯re both from aristocratic families, and their backgrounds are quite impressive. They only joined the army to get to know some young heroes and settle a major life event. Are you interested? I¡¯ll ask them out tonight if you have any ideas.¡±

 Volume 6 - 535: Shouldering

    [V6C65 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye waved his hand helplessly. He was toozy to retort because Song Zining would always find a way to lead the conversation in weird directions. ¡°How did Marshal Boqian allow them into the camp?¡±

    Song Zining broke into augh. ¡°Marshal Boqian is also human, and the leader of the first-ranked Zhang n at that. Letting them into the army was a negligible matter, yet it could earn the support of the families behind them. Why should he not do it?

    Qianye stared on nkly.

    Song Zining knew what Qianye was thinking. He patted thetter¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by the rumors. Marshal Boqian has always charged head-first into battle without scheming because he never needed to. He is strong enough to mow down everything in his way, but how could he have surpassed countless experts of the generation and be a heavenly monarch if he is only a brute? Don¡¯t try to act smart and y tricks when you meet him tomorrow.¡±

    Qianye had understood somewhat. Song Zining had likely rushed over because he had gotten word of the uing meeting with Zhang Boqian and was afraid of Qianye¡¯s identity being exposed. But how was he to hide his secret in front of a heavenly monarch? Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s useless even if I did, right?¡±

    There was a serious expression on Song Zining¡¯s face because he had no good method, either. At first, he was hoping Qianye could report heavy injuries and only turn in his token, but this path was no longer feasible now that Duke You had already seen Qianye.

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°In truth, I have half each of daybreak and darkness origin power in my body. The daybreak portion is even somewhat bigger. Marshal Boqian can¡¯t convict me from that as long as I don¡¯t reveal my blood core, right?¡±

    Despite saying that, both of them knew things weren¡¯t that simple. Song Zining had seen Zhang Boqian before and was very clear about his earth-shattering pressure. However, what he was most worried about was a different person. ¡°Qianye, do you know who I met thest time Marshal Boqian summoned me?¡±

    Qianye was visibly moved when Song Zining spoke Lin Xitang¡¯s name, and his thoughts were thrown into chaos. He remained in a daze for quite some time after listening to Song Zining¡¯s recount before saying, ¡°Then, will I see him this time?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no telling if he¡¯ll appear or not. The empire¡¯s official statement ims that Marshal Lin is recuperating at the imperial capital. His arrival here is top-secret, and even someone at Duke You¡¯s level wouldn¡¯t know.¡±

    Qianye calmed down as he thought about the matter all around. ¡°Zining, you were summoned by Marshal Zhang but actually met Marshal Lin. This means he suspects that I never died in that Red Scorpion operation. He wants to confirm my identity through you.¡±

    At this point, Qianye let out a soft sigh and said seriously, ¡°Actually, this isn¡¯t a big secret at all. You didn¡¯t have to take this risk.¡± Song Zining didn¡¯t lie to Lin Xitang. He only yed a small trick and avoided giving away a definite confirmation. Such a method was extremely dangerous before a character like Lin Xitang because the strength difference between them was too significant. There was no such thing as a fair conversation.

    Song Zining onlyughed because he knew Qianye would understand his intentions. Thetter was pure and frank, but certainly not dumb. His perception at the critical juncture was fairly sharp and would always cut right to the key points. ¡°In truth, I¡¯m a bit puzzled why he didn¡¯t summon you directly.¡±

    Qianye scratched his head and asked, ¡°Zining, do you think¡­ he knew I was from the Zhao n back then?¡±

    The room became silent. There were too many possibilities behind his question that would cause one to tremble after being quietly drawn in.

    It was Qianye who broke the silence first. ¡°Well, what will be will be, we¡¯ll know everything tomorrow. Oh, and one more thing, I met Li Kuann in Giant¡¯s Repose and he especially mentioned your meeting on the battlefield. The feeling I get from him¡­ I have no idea if he¡¯s friend or foe. But his sword dao is indeed powerful, and I¡¯m not his match right now. Where did this Li Kuann pop up from? Why haven¡¯t we heard of him at all if he¡¯s so powerful? Did he harm you when you two met?¡±

    ¡°Li Kuann? You met him? What happened exactly, tell me in detail!¡±

    Seeing Song Zining so serious, Qianye recounted the process of his meeting with Li Kuann, including the matter about Stillwater Rebirth.

    Song Zining¡¯s brows were locked tightly at first but actually loosened up after listening to Qianye¡¯s story. He then broke into a mischievousugh and put his arms over Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re so capable, Stillwater Rebirth is a priceless treasure. You actually epted such a precious gift from ady. How do you n to repay this favor in the future? By devoting your heart to her?¡±

    Lady?! Qianye stared at Song Zining with an astonished expression. He never saw any semnce of ady on Li Kuann.

    Song Zining waved his finger and said with a smile, ¡°Very few know of this matter, but Li Kuann is the youngest daughter of the current imperial father-inw, probably twenty years apart from the eldest.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s mouth fell open but didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was radiant as he spoke on, ¡°She¡¯s indeed a bit older than you, but that¡¯s not important. An older principal wife is more capable of holding formation. Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t have any life or death feud with the Jingtang Li Family. They might¡¯ve had other ns during that incident with the caravan, and my damage was only coteral. This little upset definitely won¡¯t affect your rtionship.¡±

    Qianye could no longer listen on. He shut Song Zining¡¯s noisy mouth with one hand and said in a distressed manner, ¡°Why do you drag anything and everything toward a nonsensical direction. Moreover¡­ I already have a woman.¡± He hesitated for a while before briefly describing his matter with Nighteye.

    Song Zining was visibly moved. He jumped out of his seat and cried out, ¡°What?! You call her Nighteye, isn¡¯t that the Monroe Princess?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°That¡¯s her.¡±

    Song Zining took in a breath of cold air. ¡°You want to bring back the Monroe n princess?! Are you mad?¡±

    There was an unprecedented resolution in his eyes as he said, ¡°There¡¯s nock of dark races living in the empire, especially vampires.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression had turned extremely solemn. Apparently quite restless, he stood up and paced about the room continuously. ¡°Those are either ves or expendable small fries. That¡¯s why the empire doesn¡¯t bother with them. But how can it be the same for the Monroe Princess? Once people know of her existence, who knows how many people will be tempted to seize her? Have you ever thought about what you¡¯ll do once you¡¯re found out?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take her to a neutral zone if worsees to worst.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly stopped in front of Qianye and looked straight into his eyes. ¡°Do you remember that I promised to kill you personally if you ever be a vampire ve?¡±

    Qianye faced Song Zining¡¯s stern expression and said, ¡°Of course I do, but I¡¯m very much sober right now. I¡¯m not under control or being manipted in any way.¡±

    The two stared at each other silently for a good while. Song Zining began spewing out a string of profanities, something he rarely, if ever, did. ¡°Damn your grandma, you¡¯re not being controlled by blood energy and your brain isn¡¯t damaged, yet you actually want to do something like this. What is this if not madness?¡±

    He suddenly grabbed Qianye¡¯s cor and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Damn it, don¡¯t tell me this is true love!¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought and said, ¡°That seems¡­ to be the case.¡±

    Song Zining shook Qianye¡¯s cor repeatedly with an exasperated expression and almost shouted into his face, ¡°You go and fight those dark race sons of b*tches all day, and then youe back and tell me you¡¯re in love with a vampire?! You and the Monroe princess, the primo of one of the thirteen vampire primogenitors, are in love? T-This, how should I say it? It¡¯s too damn cool! Isn¡¯t this something I should be doing?¡±

    ¡°Erm, right, right¡­ Huh?!¡± Qianye was feeling quite depressed at first because he would also find it difficult to ept if it were someone else. He waspletely stunned after hearing thest two words, even though he was quite familiar with Song Zining¡¯s unusual temperament.

    Qianye suddenly recalled that they were in the middle of the Zhao n camp. All the garrisoned soldiers had probably heard Song Zining¡¯s dreadful, almost deafening shout just now. This was no small matter!

    Song Zining seemed rather pleased as he snapped a finger, causing a faint banner-like wall of light to flicker around them. Several floating leaves appeared in the air and revolved around his fingers before disappearing toward the corners of the room.

    ¡°This young master has long sinceid down a domain. No more than five people in this camp can listen in on my words!¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean there are still five people?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.

    Song Zining red at him and said, ¡°Those people have too many things to pay attention to. How can they be in the mood to eavesdrop on us?¡±

    He suddenly adopted a serious expression and released Qianye¡¯s cor. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re going to abandon your brothers and friends in the empire for a woman, even if she¡¯s a vampire?¡±

    Qianye tried to exin, ¡°I¡¯m not abandoning anyone. Didn¡¯t you say that us brothers will build a big neutral nation?¡±

    Song Zining said furiously, ¡°I didn¡¯t say that just so you can elope with a woman!¡±

    Song Zining resumed his smile without waiting for Qianye¡¯s reply. He then dragged Qianye close by the cor and said with augh, ¡°But that¡¯s apletely different matter if it¡¯s the Monroe princess. Not to mention going to the neutral zone, even building a nation on the Twilight Continent will be worth it. Well done! As expected of my chosen friend!¡±

    Qianye was betweenughter and tears in the face of Song Zining¡¯s shifting attitude. He wanted to exin that he was forced by the circumstances and that Nighteye had no other way out. But he was stoppered yet again before he could speak.

    ¡°Qianye, we¡¯re brothers regardless. You can¡¯t take all the benefits for yourself. Doesn¡¯t the Monroe princess have some outstanding sisters? You have to introduce me to them!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t believe his ears. His head was spinning at this moment, and he replied instinctively, ¡°There¡¯s one younger sister, I think, the name¡¯s Twilight. Her bloodline is also pretty good, but she¡¯s already a count¡­¡±

    Song Zining pped his fan open and waved it a couple of times. ¡°I like it!¡±

    Qianye massaged his forehead. Even he had no idea why Song Zining had dragged the topic to such an odd ce. He continued helplessly, ¡°Listen to me first, that Twilight is extremely cunning and ruthless. She even tried toy a trap for Zhao Jundu during thest bloody battle.¡±

    The seventh young noble didn¡¯t mind this at all. ¡°When have I ever been afraid of danger?¡±

    Qianye was speechless. He only felt his breath stuck ufortably in his chest.

 Volume 6 - 536: Meeting

    [V6C66 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Song Zining¡¯s flippant smile disappeared. ¡°Have you decided?¡±

    Qianye sighed in his heart and nodded firmly.

    Song Zining also calmed down at this point. After some thought, he shot Qianye a nce filled with unclear implications andughed. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve grown up.¡±

    It seemed Song Zining had already thought about the matters that would follow. Without waiting for Qianye to say anything, he said, ¡°As the princess of the Monroe n, Nighteye¡¯s basic information is definitely within the empire¡¯s records, including her portrait. Most people on Evernight Continent have no ess to these reports, but the situation at present is special. There are too many imperial experts here, so she can¡¯t appear directly.¡±

    Song Zining pointed to himself with his fan. ¡°I need about three or four days to make some arrangements. The battle here just ended, so it¡¯ll be some time before they can start another one. This gives me some free time. I¡¯ll take a couple of days off to apany you back to ckflow City. When do you n to return?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat hesitant. ¡°Zining, just tell me the relevant contacts. This matter is too dangerous, you shouldn¡¯t take part.¡± He had indeed wanted to ask Song Zining for a method that would allow Nighteye to live permanently in humannds, but he didn¡¯t want to get him involved directly since it was a forbidden matter.

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°You still know what danger is?!¡± He paused for a while, then continued, ¡°The imperialws are strict, but it doesn¡¯t convict people associated with the offender. Rest assured, I¡¯ll be able to extricate myself if something happens.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s words stoppered Qianye. He was too familiar with Song Zining¡ªthat expression and tone made it clear that he was really angry.

    Song Zining regained his calm as he nced at Qianye¡¯s bewildered and painful expression. ¡°You still have to get through that meeting with Marshal Boqian, no one can help you with that. If everything goes smoothly, I¡¯ll be waiting for you in ckflow City five days from now.¡±

    Qianye nodded slowly.

    Song Zining said, ¡°It¡¯s settled then. I¡¯ll be going now, I still need to apply for a leave.¡± He turned back before stepping toward the door and said, ¡°We¡¯re still brothers, regardless. If somethinges up, we¡¯ll naturally shoulder it together.¡±

    With that, Song Zining pushed the door opened and left.

    Qianye sat in a daze for a fairly long time as the night crept to every corner of the unlit room. The sounds outside the window eventually died down until only the wind remained. Soaked in the darkness, Qianye calmed down at one point and entered a state of meditation required for cultivation.

    He didn¡¯t control anything intentionally and merely allowed the Glory and Mystery chapters to operate slowly in tandem. Only at this point did Qinaye discover the profundity within¡ªthese two chapters could both refine the remnant energy from the void colossus¡¯ essence. The Mystery chapter produced darkness origin power, while the Glory chapter produced daybreak origin power.

    As for tomorrow, it could only be left to fate.

    The entire night passed by in cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, it was dawn. The curtain of the night was still hanging high in the skies of Evernight Continent. However, the imperial camp was already full of noise as the soldiers rose for their morning drill.

    Two Zhao n guards were already waiting outside by the time Qianye had finished washing and walked out of the room. He followed them onto a car which soon drove toward Zhang Boqian¡¯smand camp atop the hill.

    The vehicle had just passed the camp gates when Qianye felt a weight on his body. It was as though a curtain were hanging down from above and isting the camp from the outside world. Qianye was startled because this domain was somewhat simr to Sky Demon¡¯s Iron Curtain. It didn¡¯t cover tens of thousands of kilometers, but its sealing properties were likely superior.

    Qianye tried releasing his perception toward the invisible barrier but found that it was immediately repelled¡ªthere was no chance at all for retaliation. Like a bird in a cage, even his consciousness couldn¡¯t fly out, and this feeling made him extremely ufortable. The pressure on him was also gradually increasing. It had grown from being barely discernible to the weight of a giant rock.

    Qianye looked toward the central tent in shock. If all of this hade from Zhang Boqian, then this legendary imperial character¡¯s might was truly as deep and profound as the oceans. Merely standing in his domain¡ªone which only served for istion and scanning¡ªwas stifling.

    At this moment, the car jolted to a stop. Qianye followed everyone down, and he saw a door in front of him. This ce was clearly more peaceful than the rest of the camp¡ªthe guards were pretty sparse, and there were no ordinary soldiers among those moving about. All the officers hurried along the way without stopping to talk.

    Qianye nced at the surroundings and found that the soldiers who had apanied him on the car werepletely fine. It seemed as if they couldn¡¯t even sense the powerful pressure.

    The officer leading their group was a colonel from the imperial army staff office. After noticing Qianye¡¯s pale expression and sweating forehead, he asked in concern, ¡°Young Noble Qianye, are your injuries still unhealed? I¡¯ll bring you to the infirmary after your meeting with the marshal. The military has moved an entireboratory over here, so the quality of medical care should be better than the various ns.¡±

    Qianye waved his hand and said weakly, ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m just a bit nervous since it¡¯s my first time meeting Marshal Boqian.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only natural! I¡¯ve been in the army for over a decade, but I can only catch nces of the marshal from afar. I¡¯m simply not qualified to meet him face to face!¡± At this point, the colonel¡¯s expression was full of yearning. Qianye was the only one in their group who would meet Zhang Boqian; everyone else seemed rather envious.

    Qianye forced a smile but didn¡¯t continue the topic.

    The guards behind this door were all from Zhang Boqian¡¯s Irond Legion. The colonel had to remain here afterpleting the handover procedure with the guards, while someone within would lead them toward their respective destinations.

    Qianye noticed that the two people who hade to lead them in were both champions. As expected, their uniforms were lined with rolling cloud patterns which he had heard of but never seen. They were the imperial guard, the Thunderous Cavalry.

    It grew increasingly quiet as they went deeper in; there were no more people moving about the area. Qianye finally arrived before arge tent, to which the silent Thunder Cavalry gestured.

    Qianye took a deep breath and stepped into the tent through the open right-side door. The interior was quite spacious at a nce.

    This was a domed tent frequently used as themand center for imperial field army corps and could easily fit forty to fifty people. At this moment, there was a desk at the center currently upied by a person and a tallmp behind him. Illumination was still necessary at nine o''clock in the morning on Evernight continent. A fierce origin me burned within themp, flooding the desk area with light and causing a shadow to flicker upon the man¡¯s face.

    Despite him sitting, one could see the imposing outline of his figure.

    His hair, loose over his shoulders, painted a character so unrestrained that it hardly looked like he was in the army. However, that soldierly aura rushing at one¡¯s face was tainted with the faint smell of blood. He was gazing at the golden cup in his hand, thinking about something.

    A name popped up in Qianye¡¯s mind the moment he saw him: Zhang Boqian!

    Without announcing Qianye, the Thunderous Cavalry guard went back to stand with hisrades in silence. Startled, Qianye walked over and stood ten meters away from Zhang Boqian.

    The man seemed to not have noticed the movement before his eyes and kept on gazing into the cup without so much as a movement. Qianye could only stand there quietly.

    But as he stood there, the pressure on him gradually increased, and even his flow of origin power turned sluggish. At this moment, he was like a person who had fallen into the water but had no power to struggle. All he could do was sink slowly into the despairing embrace of the dark ocean floor.

    Qianye finally moved. He nced toward the Thunder Cavalry guards standing at the corner of the room, but all of them were standing ramrod straight without the slightest of abnormalities. Meanwhile, Qianye was finding it difficult to even breathe. The pressure on his body was so heavy that he could almost hear his bones creak and groan.

    Could it be that the Thunderous Cavalry were so strong that they could ignore the pressure of Prince Greensun¡¯s domain? However, Qianye knew that was impossible.

    His breathing grew increasingly urgent, and his entire body was drenched in sweat. Arge bead of sweat fell from his forehead and fell to the ground with a light rap.

    The silence in the tent was thus broken.

    Zhang Boqian finally looked up and cast his gaze upon Qianye. ¡°They¡¯re fine because they simply cannot sense my domain. You, on the other hand, were able to sense it and even hold out to this point. It can be considered a rare case.¡±

    The pressure on Qianye¡¯s body was drained as Zhang Boqian began to speak. He couldn¡¯t help but heave a sigh of relief, much like a fish back in the water.

    As Zhang Boqian gazed at Qianye, his eyes were unfathomable and without the slightest of fluctuations. Qianye felt that he could hide nothing before these two pupils¡ªit was as though his entire being was transparent and all his secrets were being brought to light.

    Qianye could only stand solemnly and wait for the fateful judgment.

    Zhang Boqian put down the golden cup in his hand and pondered deeply. Momentster, he said, ¡°You indeed killed Sky Demon¡¯s avatar, quite the moldable talent. Men!¡±

    A Thunderous Cavalry guard arrived beside him and asked, ¡°What orders does the marshal have?¡±

    ¡°Check what reward he deserves.¡±

    The Thunderous Cavalry guard was quite adept in military affairs. He replied immediately, ¡°Killing Sky Demon¡¯s avatar will reward either a custom-made grade-seven origin firearm and a set of corresponding ammunition, a grade-six named melee weapon produced by a master, or a set of grade-six battle armor produced by the imperial family workshop.¡±

    The list he could pick from was quite long, but Qianye cut him short, ¡°Can I leave this military contribution forter use?¡±

    The Thunderous Cavalry guard was startled. ¡°The reward list this time is unprecedented and contains no small number of premium products, even some equipment used by the Imperial Guard. This isn¡¯t something normally seen.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I thank your good intentions, sir, but I hope to record this forter use.¡±

    At this point, Zhang Boqian said indifferently, ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, you may withdraw.¡±

    Since even Zhang Boqian had spoken thus, the Thunderous Cavalry guard could only return to his previous position with an immediate salute. Qianye was led back out by the same two guards who had led him in.

    Qianye could hardly believe what had happened as the heavy door and the colonel came into view. He had actually walked out just like that? Qianye knew Zhang Boqian had seen through all of his secrets, but thetter had allowed him to leave safely without saying anything.

    Was there a plot in all this? But Qianye quickly denied this outrageous thought. Just what kind of person was Zhang Boqian? Why would he need to y tricks on him? The man¡¯s temperament had always been devoid of convolutions. He would promote those he liked, and p those he didn¡¯t to death. How could he be an exception?

    But what was going on right now? Zhang Boqian clearly paid Qianye attention, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have spent so much time on him.

    Qianye¡¯s doubts as he left were even stronger than when he had arrived, so much so that he suspected whether Zhang Boqian had seen through everything. There was also a small knot in his heart¡ªhe didn¡¯t know whether he was relieved or disappointed that he didn¡¯t get to meet that person.

 Volume 6 - 537: Epilogue of Giantâ€™s Repose

    [V6C67 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhang Boqian stood up as Qianye¡¯s car left the external camp gates and walked through a side door. Lin Xitang was standing in the open passageway with his back against a cast-iron rack, looking at the ground without much focus.

    As Zhang Boqian arrived before Lin Xitang, his gaze fell upon the grey hue under thetter¡¯s silver hair. He asked slowly, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to meet him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good for things to end here. This oue isn¡¯t bad.¡±

    ¡°Why did you go to the dumpster on Evernight Continent back then?¡±

    ¡°It was by chance.¡±

    ¡°Then what aboutter on?¡±

    Lin Xitang looked up in a daze.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was indifferent, but his eyes were resolute. Apparently, he wasn¡¯t about to let this matter drop without a clear answer.

    Lin Xitang couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°The matterster on are, of course, not just chance. How can there be so much coincidence?¡±

    Zhang Boqian was somewhat angry as he said with a deep voice, ¡°Lin Xitang, you should be clearer than me as to which matters you should and shouldn¡¯t meddle in. Don¡¯t think that your divination art can read everyone. Wasn¡¯t thatst lesson with the Queen of the Night not enough? Are you looking for even more enemies?¡±

    Lin Xitang remained silent for a moment, then said softly, ¡°I was indeed wrong in this matter, but it¡¯s over now.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s anger subsided as he looked on. ¡°So, it turns out you also have selfish motives.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled helplessly without anyment.

    At this moment, the light and shadows around them flickered briefly as the originmps in the corridor were extinguished in session. The sunlight showering down from the courtyard swept away part of the dark corner and cast a shadow over another.

    It was dawn over Evernight Continent.

    Qianye felt extremely tired after returning to the Zhao n camp and wanted nothing more than to take a long nap. Meeting and exchanging a few words with Zhang Boqian felt even more tiring than a battle against a powerful enemy. The exhaustion wasparable to the Shot of Inception.

    But Qianye had too many things he needed to do. He only went back to his room and washed his face with cold water before calling upon Zhao Xuanji.

    Thetter was sitting behind a tall stack of documents just as before¡ªthere seemed to be no end to those papers. Qianye had heard a fair number of rumors about Duke You during this period and understood that he was a person who attended to every detail personally.

    Qianye recounted his meeting with Zhang Boqian briefly. Zhao Xuanji appeared quite happy with how things had gone and immediately offered words of encouragement. The marshal wasn¡¯t one to do something as senseless as making one wait in vain; his willingness to spend this much time proved that he had taken notice of Qianye. This would be greatly beneficial to Qianye¡¯s future.

    Qianye could onlyugh wryly. He said immediately after Zhao Xuanji had finished speaking, ¡°Duke, I n to return to ckflow City for a while if there aren¡¯t any major events in the near future.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji asked with a frown, ¡°Right now? How about your injuries?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re no longer a hindrance,¡± Qianye replied, ¡°I heard military airships can¡¯t be used for private business, so I¡¯ll just take thend route.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji¡¯s frown rxed slightly as he inquired, ¡°Oh right, why did you save up the contributions? The rewards this time contain quite a lot of premium quality equipment. For instance, their custom-made grade-seven guns are better than the ones produced by the Zhao n. It shouldn¡¯t be too far off from Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament.¡±

    Qianye had long since prepared an answer to this question. ¡°I already have a good weapon. Moreover, my origin power is soaring rapidly these days, and I should be able to use grade-eight weapons sooner orter. I thought it¡¯s better to save up the contributions and request a grade-eight itemter on.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not a bad thing for young people to aim higher. Very well, you may go but remember to be back in ten days no matter what.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He then visited the quartermaster for an off-road vehicle and left the imperial army camp for ckflow City.

    While Qianye was speeding across the endless wilderness, the fierce battles in the cavern world of Giant¡¯s Repose wereing to an end.

    Bai Aotu stepped over an arachne marquis¡¯ body to retrieve an ancient essence fragment from the cave wall and tossed it into a special bag. Stored within a differentpartment in the bag was a crystal left behind by Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. The waves of heat it was emitting could even ignite ck stone, but the bag was made of a special material which remained unaffected by the heat and could even block out external probes.

    At this moment, there were no more enemies around as Bai Aotu retraced her path. She sensed several tyrannical auras near the edges of her perception range, and they had also discovered her. However, they were apprehensive of her power, and as such, everyone simply went their own way.

    One of those powerful auras deteriorated sharply after everyone had left. Within a certain cavern, Eden was drenched in sweat as he sat down slowly. For a while, he didn¡¯t even have the strength to stand up.

    Across from him, Bai Kongzhao was gazing intently at the ancient essence fragment in her hands. Both Eden and Bai Kongzhao felt quitefortable as they basked in the gentle light pouring out from it.

    Eden asked after catching his breath, ¡°Where did you find that medicine? It can actually let me feign a marquis¡¯ aura. This is a bit too tyrannical.¡±

    ¡°This kind of medicine arouses one¡¯s potential at the expense of vitality. You can imitate the aura of a marquis because you¡¯re a count. This kind of life-saving item isn¡¯t rare in the slums.¡±

    ¡°Life-saving?¡± Eden was puzzled. He simply couldn¡¯t figure out how this violent drug with severe side-effects could be used to save lives.

    Bai Kongzhao nced at him and said matter-of-factly, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s a life-saving medicine. People in the slums have neither good weapons, cultivation arts, nor bloodline powers. They can only fight with their lives on the line. That¡¯s why, to them, this medicine is a life-saver in emergency situations. No matter how great the side-effects are, that¡¯s a matter that can be left forter.¡±

    Eden hadn¡¯t expected this kind of reply. He asked after a moment of silence, ¡°Where are these slums that you speak of?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao recited a couple of areas. Eden had a vague impression of only one ce, an underground market in dark race territory. The poor civilians living there were mostly dark race members and a small number of mix-breed humans.

    ¡°You grew up in such a ce?¡±

    ¡°No, the ce where I grew up is even worse, but¡­¡± She didn¡¯t finish her sentence.

    Eden possessed the basic tact and manners of a famed demonkin n. ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t ask anymore. What do you n to do now that you¡¯ve gotten what you want? My words still stand, do it quickly if you¡¯re taking my life.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao shot a nce at Eden, but the focus of her gaze clearly wasn¡¯t upon him. Instead, it fell far away in the unknown distance. She came to after a long while and said, ¡°I want your n¡¯s secret art.¡±

    ¡°Impossible,¡± Eden refused immediately.

    Bai Kongzhao stood up and walked toward Eden. However, that which arrived wasn¡¯t the ughter he had been expecting but instead half an ancient essence fragment. She had somehow split the ancient essence into two, and the piece she had tossed to Eden was even slightly bigger than the one in her hand.

    Eden caught the object and cast a puzzled nce at Bai Kongzhao. ¡°This isn¡¯t like you at all.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao waved the ancient essence fragment in her hand. ¡°I only need this much.¡±

    With that, she stuffed the fragment into her backpack and walked away into the tunnel leading outside.

    Eden shouted at Bai Kongzhao¡¯s receding figure, ¡°Hey! We can only be considered even, don¡¯t think I owe you a favor!¡±

    Bai Kongzhao raised a middle finger without looking back. ¡°So garrulous, not like a man at all.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Eden felt stifled.

    Perhaps Bai Kongzhao didn¡¯t need any more of the ancient essence, but this fragment was extremely important to Eden. With this fragment, he would be able to recoverpletely from the wounds he had received during his battle with Edward. Even his bloodline foundations might take a leap forward.

    Eden nced at the ce where Bai Kongzhao had disappeared. Then, his emotions became ratherplicated when he recalled the giant backpack filled with demonkin weapons.

    In a different area, Edward¡¯s face waspletely ashen. He had two Sky Demon crystals in his hand as he smashed a fist into the stone wall. This venting strike immediately left a ten-meter hole in the wall and nearly forced out a new passage.

    But he was quite clear that any amount of anger was useless. Nighteye had likely escaped at this moment and even might¡¯ve left Giant¡¯s Repose. Meanwhile, he had failed to find even a single ancient essence fragment. Sky Demon¡¯s avatar, on the other hand, he encountered twice, but their crystals werepletely useless to him. The only thing he could do with them was to reward his subordinates.

    But in Edward¡¯s heart, all of his subordinatesbined wasn¡¯t half as important as himself. As such, gaining two Sky Demon crystals was no different from returning empty-handed.

    ¡°Eden!!!¡± Edward uttered a name through gritted teeth. If it weren¡¯t for Eden, how could he have fallen to this state? He would¡¯ve forced Nighteye into submission already.

    Edward grew increasingly furious as he thought about it, but a chill emerged in his heart at the same time. Others might not know, but Edward clearly saw the frost in Lilith¡¯s eyes when she heard that it was the council who had bestowed him the title of Holy Son¡ªher gaze had almost frozen his soul.

    Dragging an ancient essence fragment in her left hand, Li Kuann pointed Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace at the enemies in front¡ªtwo werewolves and an arachne¡ªand said in a carefree tone, ¡°You lot,e at me if you want this thing. Stop being so cowardly!¡±

    The ones confronting Li Kuann were counts and, at least on the surface, on par with her in terms of strength. However, they felt a vague sense of fear and actually didn¡¯t dare go forward.

    Li Kuann and Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace had killed their way to fame during thest part of the journey. All who had fallen under the crystal edge were famous experts of the various races. These three dark counts didn¡¯t feel confident at all despite holding the advantage in terms of numbers.

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t going to wait, though. She simply charged over toward them with a powerful chill erupting around her body.

    The arachne count finally let out a loud roar. He quickly retreated with the two werewolves in tow and soon vanished into the maze-like tunnels.

    Li Kuann let out a long, domineeringugh and swaggered out with the ancient essence fragment behind her.

    In a different tunnel, Zhao Jundu was walking steadily with Blue Firmament strapped to his back. He wasn¡¯t working together with the Zhao n squad during this operation, and few people from both factions had ever encountered him.

    At this moment, there wasn¡¯t a single emotion on Zhao Jundu¡¯s frosty yet handsome countenance. It was as though nothing in the world was rted to him and battles were merely battles. No one knew his actual aplishments. The only proof he had was a crystal from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar in his backpack.

    In the majestic castle at the center of the Evernight Council battle line, Lightless Monarch Medanzo let out a heavy snort. His fury sent the blood and qi of all the dark race soldiers in the camp into turmoil and caused their origin power to scatter. It was inexplicably ufortable. The weaker soldiers and cannon fodder copsed in droves, some of them never to rise again.

 Volume 6 - 538: Risk

    [V6C68 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The door was pushed open at this time, and in came Noxus. Eyes narrowed, he stared at the silhouette of Medanzo¡¯s tall back and sneered, ¡°This war is going badly, to say the least. I really must see how you¡¯re nning to exin this to the council.¡±

    Medanzo snorted and replied coldly, ¡°Why would I need to exin anything to a group of trash? Don¡¯t forget that you also have half themanding authority here.¡±

    Noxus let out a sinisterugh. ¡°But you hold the highestmanding authority in name. After all, one simply cannot sully the honor of the Queen of the Night. This battle result will probably make Her Majesty Lilith rather... unhappy, don¡¯t you think? If I were you, I might head over and pit myself against that Zhang Boqian and see just how capable that newly promoted heavenly monarch is.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression was gloomy, but he refused toment. How could he not see the instigation in Noxus¡¯ words? But there was hardly any way for him to retort. He really might¡¯ve fought it out with Zhang Boqian if it wasn¡¯t for Noxus eyeing him. However, Medanzo knew that if he were to be gravely injured at this point, Noxus wouldn¡¯t mind sending him into a long hibernation in the blood pond.

    In the eyes of these experts who had lived for millennia, the so-called bigger picture wasn¡¯t a bnce in power or a contest of heroism. To these dark monarchs, the biggest aim was to stay alive and deal a fatal blow to the other at the slightest opportunity.

    Medanzo and Noxus had shed countless times since the beginning of the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose, but neither could do anything to the other.

    Meanwhile in the imperial camp, Zhang Boqian, who was resting on the couch, suddenly opened his eyes. ¡°Those little fellows have done pretty well!¡± He got up to dress and disappeared outside of the quiet room.

    The courtyard of the main tent was different from when Song Zining had visited back then. The dense leaves of the eucalyptus seemed to have grown even more luxuriant within a short ten days, its numerous aerial root standing out oddly in the dry climate of Evernight Continent. From afar, it looked like a hanging curtain was hiding the tents from view until only the hatchways were visible on the domed roofs.

    However, after stepping through it, one would find apletely different scene. The hundred-meter open space was actually filled with a pool of rippling blue water and lingering curls of milky-white steam. This area was clearly warmer and more humid than the outside, forming an inexplicable scene of elegance. Apparently, this was arge origin array.

    There was a small pavilion at the center big enough for only a table and fourmps. Lin Xitang was sitting on one side of it and pondering deeply with a chess piece in his hand, his hair¡ªa mixture of grey and silver¡ªhanging loose behind him.

    Across him was a kind-looking man in his fifties with a square face, big ears, and a chubby build. From the outside, this person looked more like a merchant from the continent than a soldier. Gu Tuohai was two years Lin Xitang¡¯s senior, but the traces of age on his facial features were much deeper.

    Zhang Boqian appeared in the pavilion with a flicker. He shot a nce at the chessboard before picking up a ck piece from Gu Tuohai¡¯s chess box and mming it into arge, white-dominant area of the board. The cement of this piece would produce a fierce melee sh no matter how Lin Xitang were to respond.

    Thetter let out a long sigh and returned his white piece to the box. ¡°This again¡­ You were never my match yet you always have to disrupt the game... not to mention never by the rules, either. So what if you get an extra turn? You¡¯ll still lose in the end.¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied indifferently, ¡°An extra turn might not turn the tables, but it¡¯ll eventuallye after snatching two or three. Your strategies are admittedly quite excellent, but not everyone will y by your rules. Now you¡¯ve grown so bold that you¡¯re getting involved with Lilith. Are you looking to die?¡±

    Zhang Boqian was talking to Lin Xitang, but Gu Tuohai was the one feeling most awkward at this moment. He said with a cough, ¡°Prince Greensun, I have naturally attempted to dissuade this matter, but how can Xitang be willing to listen to me?¡±

    Zhang Boqian shot a nce at Gu Tuohai. ¡°Doctor Gu, the reason His Majesty had you move the entire Reed Formation over here is to heal his injuries, correct? Not to kill him. Patients should recuperate quietly and not get involved in other things. You¡¯re a doctor. Must I remind you about suchmon knowledge?¡±

    Gu Tuohai¡¯s face turned red but said nothing. Zhang Boqian¡¯s tone was calm but suffused with killing intent. This Prince Greensun wasn¡¯t one to listen to reason. Arguing with him was akin to courting death¡ªa meaningless death. No matter how strong this Gu Tuohai character was, he certainly didn¡¯t want to die. Moreover, he didn¡¯t really approve of Lin Xitang¡¯s risky move, either.

    Lin Xitang sighed. ¡°Boqian, I was the one who suggested this n, so it¡¯s only natural that I execute it. This battle is rted to our nation¡¯s fate, so it¡¯s fine for one to do a bit more.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said coldly, ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who knows divination in this empire. Since it¡¯s rted to the national fate, you should let those bastards sharing your authoritye to the front lines. Don¡¯t tell me you want to take all the credit on your own?¡±

    Lin Xitang could onlyugh wryly at Zhang Boqian¡¯s sarcastic words. He then diverted the topic and said, ¡°You must have something to say when you came over.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression rxed a bit at the mention of proper business. ¡°Those young fellows have done pretty well this time.¡±

    Lin Xitang stood up with a smile and said, ¡°That¡¯s great news! How many moldable talents did you find?¡±

    ¡°Bai Aotu has paved a straight path to the divine champion level, it¡¯ll only be a matter of time afterward. Zhao Jundu indeed lives up to his name. My nephew, Munian, is a bit inferior to those two, but still managed not to sully the family name.¡± Zhang Boqian listed the names of a few more from other aristocratic families, then said, ¡°Additionally, Li Kuann also gave me a delightful surprise.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression was somewhatplicated. ¡°That person is definitely not bad. How about Song Zining? He¡¯s fought several fierce battles under your banner.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said indifferently, ¡°He¡¯s smart but too scheming, always looking to make use of others to seed. Just like you, he¡¯ll encounter great obstructions along the path to the top.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong about this. Song Zining and I arepletely different.¡± Lin Xitang shook his head. ¡°Boqian, sooner orter, you¡¯ll suffer for underestimating the power of divination.¡±

    Zhang Boqian sneered. ¡°It¡¯ll be a small loss at most. My retaliation at that time will be that person¡¯s demise.¡±

    Their debates regarding this matter had never yielded any results. Lin Xitang spoke no more about this and only said, ¡°This matter will be much easier since the young ones have performed beyond expectation, so the opportunity to mobilize is right before us. I¡¯ll make the necessary preparations first. Then, I¡¯ll have to trouble Brother Tuohai to send me back to the imperial capital.¡±

    ¡°Not a problem.¡± Gu Tuohai couldn¡¯t help but sigh upon seeing how half of Lin Xitang¡¯s silver hair had lost their luster.

    Thetter didn¡¯t mind, however, and simply returned to his room after exchanging farewells. Gu Tuohai was also about to leave, but his body was suddenly frozen, bound by a powerful, formless force.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes were on the blue water and curling mist as he asked tly, ¡°Any changes at the imperial capital that I should know of?¡±

    Gu Tuohai¡¯s expression shifted slightly, and he couldn¡¯t help but look in the direction where Lin Xitang had left. He knew not how Zhang Boqian had figured out that Lin Xitang was hiding some things from him. Gu Tuohai hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°Three of Lin Xitang¡¯s body doubles have died at the capital.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was unexpectedly calm. ¡°Does His Majesty not care?¡±

    Gu Tuohaiughed wryly. ¡°No one can dissuade Xitang on something he¡¯s decided. When has His Majesty ever managed to outtalk him?¡±

    Zhang Boqian snorted coldly. ¡°What is the actual situation with his injury? Is there really no way to recover from the darkness origin mes of the ming crown?¡±

    ¡°The darkness origin me can chill one to the bone when it acts up, but in truth, its existence has always been canceling out a part of the bacsh from the reverse divination.¡±

    ¡°Reverse?!¡± Zhang Boqian seemed to have understood Gu Tuohai¡¯s unspoken implication. ¡°Is there any other method to remedy it?¡±

    Gu Tuohai hesitated for a long while before whispering, ¡°That there is, but all of them are forbidden techniques.¡±

    Zhang Boqian stood silently with his arms behind him. ¡°The so-called forbidden is a ruleid down by humans. If others can create rules, so can I!¡±

    Gu Tuohai said after a moment of silence, ¡°Prince Greensun, please consider it carefully.¡±

    Zhang Boqian, with a wave of his hand, released Gu Tuohai from his bindings. The pale man immediately turned to leave but turned back after taking a couple of steps. ¡°Xitang won¡¯t be willing.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s tone caused one to tremble. ¡°He might not have a choice in this matter.¡±

    Qianye was driving rapidly through the wildness and toward ckflow City. The journey was fairly peaceful, and oftentimes, there wasn¡¯t a single person around. The asional hunters and dark race stragglers would avoid him after seeing the imperial regr army insignia on his car.

    The empire and Evernight Council were confronting one another at this moment. Experts were as abundant as the clouds and champions as numerous as the rain. No one¡ªno matter how greedy or ruthless¡ªwould dare to make a move against the regr armies of the two factions.

    As such, Qianye arrived at the rendezvous point after several days. It was a deste valley surrounded byplex geography and several tunnels weaving in and out, all of which made for an extremely suitable hiding ce.

    Qianye parked the jeep at the entrance and walked into the valley on foot. At the center of the valley was a small stream which snaked dozens of kilometers before merging into arger river.

    Nighteye was sitting on its bank and fishing with some makeshift equipment. However, her thoughts clearly weren¡¯t on the line. She didn¡¯t move at all despiterge fish biting several times, allowing the creatures to escape the hook and swim toward freedom.

    Qianye sat down beside her. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°This ce is very simr to where I lived when I was young. There was a simr valley near my father¡¯s castle where I loved to y. After I grew up, most of mybat training was also done in that valley,¡± Nighteye spoke calmly.

    Qianye reached out and pulled Nighteye into his arms. ¡°Past is past, we should be thinking about living a new life. In the near future, we¡¯ll definitely make that so-called Holy Son pay a steep price!¡±

    Nighteye nodded, but her expression betrayed her skepticism. Qianye didn¡¯t continue either because such things were better executed once one was strong enough. There was no practical meaning in spouting fierce words.

    Nighteye leaned her head in Qianye¡¯s arms and closed her eyes. ¡°Say, do you think I can live in the empire?¡±

    ¡°You definitely can.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try. But¡­ will you get tired after seeing me every day?¡±

    ¡°Impossible,¡± Qianye said with a smile.

    Nighteye spoke no more, and the valley regained its silence.

    After a long while, Qianye patted Nighteye lightly and said, ¡°Time to go, I have a friend waiting for us! That¡¯s my good brother, you can look for him if you¡¯re in trouble and I¡¯m not around.¡±

    Nighteye said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll follow you from now on. What trouble can there be?¡±

    The two walked out of the valley and, after half a day¡¯s drive, arrived at a small town outside of ckflow City.

 Volume 6 - 539: Mask

    [V6C69 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Fighting had never ceased around ckflow City since the beginning of the bloody battle. Most of the small towns had been abandoned since the residents had moved to fortified cities. Those that were still inhabited had, in truth, be grey markets or bases for adventurers, mercenaries, and hunters.

    The small town appearing before Qianye had been reduced to rubble. Most of the buildings therein had been burned down, and only a couple remained intact. There was a scarlet g fluttering from a certain rooftop¡ªit was decorated with a sinister-looking human head that was half flesh and half bones.

    This g was a sign of war, normally used by adventurers or mercenary groups to announce their territory and deter the approach of any other power. Those who dared raise such a g under present circumstances were probably not easy to mess with.

    Qianye frowned upon seeing the half-skull g. He signaled an approach request with his heamps and drove slowly into the town za.

    The journey was fairly quiet. There wasn¡¯t even a mouse in the rubble, and no sentries appeared to block their way, either. However, Qianye¡¯s sniper senses caught many cautious eyes lurking in the shadows. He and Nighteye soon alighted and knocked on the door of a fairly unscathed building.

    The doors opened and out walked Song Zining. The seventh young noble was dressed like an adventurer and looked surprisingly kick-ass with bullets, knives, and guns of all sizes strapped to his body. It was a stark contrast to his usual refined temperament. The first word he said after seeing Qianye was, ¡°You¡¯rete.¡±

    Qianye looked at the origin sundial and said, ¡°It¡¯s only five minutes.¡±

    ¡°Late iste, even if it¡¯s just one minute. Come in, everything¡¯s been prepared.¡± Song Zining beckoned Qianye and Nighteye into the building, then locked the door behind them.

    The interior was a decently-sized living room,plete with a firece and furniture. The original owner of this building must¡¯ve lived a ratherfortable life. Nighteye and Qianye were both d in hunter apparel. The former observed the surroundings after entering before removing her hood and protective goggles. She then flung her ck hair back and tied it into a ponytail.

    Song Zining stood to the side and watched Nighteye in silence. No one knew what he was thinking. After Qianye and Nighteye had removed their cloaks, he said, ¡°Is this Her Majesty the Monroe Princess?¡±

    Nighteye turned to gaze at him with deep, unfathomable eyes.

    Song Zining¡¯s line of sight was drawn in by the boundless depths therein, and his entire body felt as though it had fallen into a bottomless abyss. Trembling, he took a step back with hazy green origin power flickering around his body and leaves fluttering about like rain. Only then did he manage to extricate himself.

    Nighteye¡¯splexion turned pale for a split second but quickly recovered.

    Qianye noticed something was amiss. He took an immediate step forward and raised East Peak between the two of them, breaking the formless traction.

    Both Song Zining and Nighteye¡¯s abilities were ethereal, profound, and mysterious. No one knew whose aura had moved first, but it had quickly escted to an unintended exchange of blows.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was somewhat stern as he nced at Nighteye, and he intentionally avoided meeting her gaze. Nighteye, on the other hand, lowered her eyes and no longer looked at Song Zining.

    Thetter shot Qianye a deep nce and said, ¡°Go in, everything has been prepared. I believe it¡¯ll help the two of you in the future.¡±

    The room inside had been modified and the dining table at the center had been made into a worktable. It was filled with tools and drugs of all descriptions, the greater half of which Qianye didn¡¯t recognize.

    There was afortable chair near the window wherein sat an old man. He was fat, short, and fairly ugly. He was currently resting with his eyes closed and, at the same time, moving his fingers in a certain mysterious rhythm.

    ¡°This is Master Lu Ju, a true expert in the field of disguise. Being able to invite him here is our fortune.¡± Song Zining performed an introduction.

    Lu Ju spoke after hearing Song Zining¡¯s words, ¡°It¡¯s indeed your fortune! If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that I have some use for the subject¡¯s special status, how can a little fish like you be worth my time?¡±

    Although most talented people were more or less entric, this master¡¯s words seemed to specialize in making people unhappy.

    Qianye¡¯s brows twitched, but he said with a nod, ¡°Many thanks, sir.¡±

    Lu Ju snorted and said while rocking his crossed legs, ¡°What a stiff thank you!¡± Qianye and Nighteye both frowned upon hearing this.

    Song Zining walked up at this point and pulled Qianye behind him. ¡°This brother of mine isn¡¯t good with words, but he¡¯s extremely powerful in battle. He recently ughtered a dozen or so Evernight nobles, so the killing intent is rather thick around him. Sire, I hope you¡¯ll undertake this task with full effort. I¡¯ll surelypensate you well.¡±

    Lu Ju snorted in a show of arrogance before standing up slowly. However, Qianye¡¯s sharp eyes noticed how the man¡¯s face had twitched slightly upon hearing of the dozen ughtered Evernight nobles.

    Lu Ju walked over to Nighteye and sized her up from head to toe. ¡°Is this the one?¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Song Zining replied.

    ¡°Very well, sit down here and don¡¯t move.¡±

    Nighteye took her seat as instructed. Lu Ju then took her hand and used a golden needle to pierce her finger. However, this prick actually failed to break her skin!

    Lu Ju was visibly moved but soon recollected his thoughts and swapped out the needle for a finger-sized one. The point of the needle was actually a nting edge¡ªthis was more of a chisel than a needle.

    Qianye¡¯s expression shifted, and he wanted to speak out. However, Song Zining seemed to have anticipated this and quickly pressed him back.

    Lu Ju¡¯s hands were trembling slightly from the exertion before he managed to cut open Nighteye¡¯s skin with this tool and a drop of round blood appeared on the tip of the needle. He carefully ced the blood into a long test tube and watched the changes with bated breath.

    The test tube was filled with a transparent fluid. A red hue immediately spread out as her blood fell in, growing more and more intense. In the end, the entire test tube turned into a garish red and then began to boil.

    Some gold appeared gradually during the boiling process, and the entire fluid turned golden momentster.

    Lu Ju was trembling in excitement as he gazed at the golden blood. ¡°Primogenitor blood! True primogenitor¡¯s blood!¡±

    Qianye was somewhat puzzled at the man¡¯s excitement. At this time, Song Zining exined from the side, ¡°Master Lu Ju¡¯s ancestors once possessed a vampire bloodline, but it has more or less been diluted at his generation.¡±

    Qianye came to a realization. It turned out that Lu Ju was a mix breed. But judging from how the vampire bloodline had been swallowed up by his human lineage, one could conclude that his ancestor wasn¡¯t of a particrly powerful stock. Whether it was in Evernight or in the empire, mixed breeds belonged to the lowest tier in society.

    Lu Ju poured the contents of the test tube into a metallic vat on the ground. He then picked off a dozen or so medicines from the rack and poured them in. Finally, the fluid turned transparent like water, its contentspletely obliterated.

    After everything was done Lu Ju walked over to a different basin of liquid, soaked his hands into it, and started washing them with the utmost care. He wore an expression of great concentration as he scrubbed even the fingernail gaps. It was as though he were performing a certain ceremony.

    Lu Ju raised his hands only after a good while. No one knew what liquid he was washing in, but after leaving the basin, his hands more or less dried off without having to wipe them.

    He bowed toward Nighteye and said, ¡°Your Majesty please close your eyes, I¡¯ll be offending you slightly.¡± The man¡¯s former rudeness and arrogance were nowhere to be seen, and he was as reverent as an ordinary vampire serving a superior.

    Startled, Qianye nced at Song Zining, but thetter was acting as if he had predicted everything beforehand.

    Nighteye closed her eyes. Lu Ju¡¯s hands flitted across her face and head like the wind. Those coarse fingers were abnormally agile as they pressed over her skull bone positions.

    Lu Ju produced a drawing board after withdrawing his hands and began drawing a portrait with loud strokes. He presented the image to Nighteye and said respectfully, ¡°This is the appearance I can change you into, are you satisfied?¡±

    Qianye also saw the portrait. The person in it possessed a simr facial outline but looked like apletely different person. Even Qianye could hardly recognize her.

    Lu Ju had used just a couple of strokes to draw something so vivid, graceful, and lifelike. He wasn¡¯t the least inferior to Song Zining in this regard.

    Nighteye looked at the picture attentively and made a fair number of suggestions. Lu Juplied with all of them and produced a dozen or so drafts before he received Nighteye¡¯s nod of approval. It would seem that any woman would split hairs when it came to appearance, regardless of status and situation.

    Afterward, Lu Ju exined to Qianye and Nighteye what he was about to do. It turned out that Lu Ju would produce a mask in ordance with the portrait. The special part about it was that this mask was actually alive, operated by origin power, and wouldst for several years. This kind of mask could hardly be described with the words realistic.

    As long as one didn¡¯t run into an expert above the divine champion level, ordinary secret arts and probes simply couldn¡¯t see through Lu Ju¡¯s mask. The mask would be sensed as living flesh and a part of Nighteye¡¯s body.

    This method qualified him as a master of disguise.

    Qianye had no idea where Song Zining had found this Lu Ju, but he knew that the price probably wasn¡¯t small. Moreover, thepensations involved were usually special.

    ¡°Your Majesty, please lie down on the worktable. You¡¯ll feel some pain in a while, do you need anesthetics?¡±

    ¡°No need,¡± Nighteye replied.

    Nighteye soony down on the worktable, beside which Lu Ju had arranged hundreds of small knives in neat rows. Thetter opened his icebox, carefully produced a thin p of skin, and ced it on Nighteye¡¯s face.

    Seeing that Lu Ju was beginning to work his craft, Song Zining dragged Qianye outside so as to not disturb the process.

    The two stood in front of the firece. There, Song Zining passed Qianye a cigarette and lit one himself.

    Qianye had rarely seen him smoke and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Something worrying you?¡±

    ¡°A bit.¡± Song Zining exhaled deeply.

    ¡°What about? Is it rted to me?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°What else? Don¡¯t you know how much trouble you¡¯ve stirred up?¡±

    Qianye replied after a moment of silence, ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°You clearly do not!¡± Song Zining resumed his silence after roaring at Qianye. Thetter didn¡¯t speak and only gazed at the burning cigarette in his hand.

    Song Zining finished smoking the entire cigarette before saying, ¡°I¡¯ve investigated that Monroe princess and received a lot of rming information. Being conferred the title of princess meant that she¡¯s awakened Andruil¡¯s bloodline. The ck-Winged Monarch and the Queen of the Night, Lilith, didn¡¯t have a good rtionship in the past. Moreover, it¡¯s said that the Perth n Holy Son, Edward, is hell-bent on having her as his partner. He certainly won''t let this matter rest now that she¡¯s run away with you. And this isn¡¯t even the most terrible part. The crux of the matter is that the Queen of the Night is awake.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I know.¡±

    Song Zining grabbed Qianye¡¯s cor and said in furious but suppressed voice, ¡°You know?! And you still brought her back?! Do you think you can hide from the Holy Son and the Queen of the Night just because you¡¯re on Evernight Continent? What do you want to do now? Head into the imperial hintends?¡±

 Volume 6 - 540: An Ordinary Life

    [V6C70 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye pped Song Zining¡¯s hand away and roared, ¡°Of course not! If we go into the imperial hintends, there won¡¯t be any chance to escape once her identity ispromised. I know it¡¯ll be troublesome with her around, but I just can¡¯t let her marry that goddamned Holy Son! If we can¡¯t find a footing on Evernight, I¡¯ll take her to the neutralnds. If that Holy Sones chasing, I¡¯ll just fight to the death with him.¡±

    Song Zining gazed deeply at Qianye and sighed. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s another news that I never managed to figure out. Before the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose, the Queen of the Night personally decreed that she would promise Nighteye her freedom if she can bring back an ancient essence fragment. But now she¡¯s here with you.¡±

    Qianye was sent into a daze as he thought back to the ancient essence fragment and recalled how Nighteye had forced him to absorb it.

    Song Zining noticed the change in Qianye¡¯s expression but didn¡¯t continue this topic. ¡°Those are problems from the outside, but there are also troubles within the empire. I just received news from the expeditionary army that someone in the military is investigating you.¡±

    ¡°Red Scorpion?¡± Qianye¡¯s gaze turned cold. Red Scorpion was a wound in the depths of his heart, a bloody scar in his memories.

    Song Zining said, ¡°But there¡¯s no need to worry for the time being since the identity I prepared for you back then should still be effective. They won¡¯t find anything important for now, but if they dig hard enough and with enough effort, they¡¯ll eventually find something wrong with that identity.¡±

    Some killing intent immediately appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°The investigation will eventually lead to you and I if they are intent on getting to the bottom of this.¡±

    Song Zining tapped lightly on the windowsill and said, ¡°This young master will y with them when the timees. But Qianye, you have to recall who you¡¯ve offended that might be investigating you from within the military.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. As a matter of fact, he only had true enmity with the Dong family, Gu Liyu, and Xu Lang.

    Song Zining nodded after obtaining the three names and spoke no more.

    The two stood side by side in front of the window andpsed into a moment of silence.

    Momentster, Song Zining said slowly, ¡°Qianye, we¡¯re brothers. I¡¯ll always share your troubles no matter how great they are.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to reply for the moment and merely nodded in response.

    The operation went on for well over an hour before Lu Ju opened the door and said weakly, ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    Within the room, Nighteye was turning left and right in front of the mirror, seemingly unustomed to theplete stranger in the reflection. She touched her face, but it didn¡¯t feel like a mask at all. The most magical part was that the mask also possessed a sense of touch no different from her own skin.

    Her hair had been dyed and now had a slightly different color¡ªthere was now an amber luster within her ck hair. Even Song Zining and Qianye were startled when she turned around. They would¡¯ve mistaken her for a different person if it wasn¡¯t for the simr aura.

    Nighteye quickly retracted her aura and entered a state of Bloodline Concealment. Her blood energy vanishedpletely, leaving her with only the aura of an ordinary person. In this state, even Qianye would find it difficult to recognize her on the spot.

    Lu Ju arrived with a basin of clear water and said, ¡°The mask can be taken off by soaking your face in water.¡±

    Nighteye dipped her face in water as instructed, and, momentster, a sheet of skin peeled off from her face. There were a dozen or so fine, hair-like tentacles underneath the mask, floating about like a jellyfish.

    Nighteye then picked up the mask and ced it once again on her face.

    Her facial features became distorted, then grew clearer as the tendrils gradually pierced into her skin. The entire process was nothing short of magical. What surprised Qianye the most after listening to Lu Ju¡¯s introduction was how these tentacles could pierce into her skin and provide sensation. One had to know that Nighteye¡¯s body was only slightly inferior to Qianye¡¯s in terms of tenacity. Lu Ju even had to use a chisel-like needle in order to prick her finger and retrieve a drop of blood.

    Thetter had integrated her blood into the mask. This facilitated its graft by allowing Nighteye¡¯s body to recognize it as a part of her bloodline. Just from this, it was clear that Lu Ju¡¯s fame as a master was well-deserved. One could only imagine the price Song Zining had to pay in order to recruit his services.

    Lu Ju walked around Nighteye several times and said continuously, ¡°Perfect, this is true perfection! This is the masterpiece of a lifetime. Who can see through my masks from now on?¡±

    Qianye approached Song Zining and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me this Master Lu Ju specializes in making masks for vampires?¡±

    Song Zining replied softly, ¡°You¡¯re right. He¡¯s an expert in making masks for vampires, the quality is far better than with humans and demonkin.¡±

    Qianye gazed at Lu Ju withplicated emotions. This old man making masks for the vampires was, needless to say, a way to infiltrate the empire. Killing this fellow would prevent many a vampire from sneaking in. But how could he take action after the man had just helped Nighteye craft a mask?

    Song Zining seemed to have understood Qianye¡¯s dilemma. ¡°There are many people like him. Kill one and another will take his ce. Moreover, we owe Master Lu Ju for helping us this time. Qianye, I think you¡¯ve been fighting so much that your brain is no longer clear.¡±

    Lu Ju packed up his tools and walked out with an old leather trunk. Song Zining said with augh, ¡°Master Lu, I¡¯ve already prepared an airship for you in ckflow City. You can set out immediately. Someone wille and pick you up once you arrive on Transcendent Continent. Rest assured, everything has been arranged for you.¡±

    Lu Ju nodded, his fat face full of smiles. ¡°There should be no problem if it¡¯s the Seventh Young Noble¡¯s arrangement. Haha!¡±

    Song Zining opened the door and said, ¡°This way, Master Lu!¡±

    Lu Ju didn¡¯t move and, instead, said reverently, ¡°No! You first, Your Majesty!¡±

    Nighteye had long since be ustomed to moving at the forefront. However, she didn¡¯t move this time. Instead, she stood beside Qianye and allowed him to take the lead. Qianye was still looking left and right when she nudged him lightly from the back. Only then did he follow out.

    Lu Ju was dumbfounded and only came to after quite a while. Qianye had never left much of an impression on him since the very beginning, but quite unexpectedly, this supreme vampire princess was actually prioritizing him.

    The group boarded their respective off-road vehicles and drove back to ckflow City.

    After an uneventful journey back, Lu Ju naturally boarded the airship Song Zining had arranged for him, while Nighteye followed Qianye back home.

    Qianye¡¯s residence was quite simple at first. It was an ordinary house beside the Dark memand center with crude interior decorations. Qianye was always out fighting and rarely stayed for long periods in ckflow City, as such, he didn¡¯t quite care about the quality of his lodgings.

    But that wasn¡¯t Song Zining¡¯s style. During the couple of days that he had returned in advance, Song Zining had already ordered his men to clear out a secluded little house for Qianye to live. There were severalrge trees around it to offer shade and a small pond in the courtyard which added a touch of poetry.

    A wide living room greeted them as they stepped through the main doors. High-quality smokeless ck stones crackled within the firece. The ze therein washed the entire room with a warm light but without any undesirable smell.

    There were a circr sofa and a table at the center of the room,plete with a thick rug underneath. There were also some fruits and a couple of books arranged on the short table.

    The strong ambiance of a cozy life filled their senses. Apparently, Song Zining had put quite a bit of effort into it.

    There were all kinds of utensils in the kitchen, and the pantry was full of ingredients. Nighteye¡¯s expression lit up, and even Qianye couldn¡¯t help but want to show off some cooking skills.

    It was already dinner time at this moment. Nighteye immediately said, ¡°I¡¯ll make dinner.¡±

    ¡°Together.¡± Qianye smiled.

    The two removed theirbat uniforms and entered the kitchen,ughing heartily from time to time as they recounted the interesting things in their lives.

    Nighteye was proficient with twin des, but the kitchen knife looked rather clumsy in her hands. Thatrge fish in her left hand also kept slipping about and seemed even more difficult to tackle than the most terrifying of enemies. Nighteye seemed to have no clue as to what she was doing and more or less ruined the fish in just a few cuts, nearly hurting her own hand in the process. Her hand, however, was sturdier than the de¡ªthe cut only left a white mark on her skin, while arge piece of the kitchen knife was chipped off.

    Qianye broke into augh after seeing her work. He took the kitchen knife from Nighteye¡¯s hands and picked up one of the fish pieces. The knife seemed to havee to life in Qianye¡¯s hands. As the de danced about, slices of paper-thin fish fell down onto the te like a pile of snow. In the end, only a clean fishbone remained in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    Nighteye was bbergasted.

    Qianye knocked on her forehead with augh. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Nighteye was still a youngdy at heart, so her face was filled with excitement and anticipation. ¡°You can cook?¡±

    ¡°Have you forgotten where we first met?¡±

    Nighteye replied without a second thought, ¡°An extremely run-down bar, and one of horrible taste at that. Why?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He knocked Nighteye¡¯s forehead once again and said, ¡°Hey, that¡¯s my bar. And what¡¯s that about the bad taste?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really horrible!¡±

    Dinner waspleted amidst theirughter¡ªa number of imperial style side-dishes and a bowl of soup. Qianye brought out a bottle of wine and poured a cup for each of them.

    The two sat down across the table and smiled as their eyes met. The table of food was finished in an instant. However, Nighteye was still hungry and looking at Qianye with eyes full of anticipation. In the end, Qianye gave up and ran to the kitchen to make more food.

    Perfectly content, Nighteye sunk into the sofa after eating her fill. With a light kick, she pushed Qianye toward the kitchen to do the dishes.

    Momentster, Qianye walked back into the living room after cleaning up and saw Nighteye engrossed in a book.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t yet flipped through the books on the tea-table since returning home. As such, he walked over to the sofa and asked, ¡°What are you reading?¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t reply. She turned back, pulled Qianye down by the neck, and kissed him.

    This ignited the entire living room like a torch tossed into the ammunition storage.

    Qianye picked Nighteye up, no longer able to hold back all the recent emotions that had been suppressed by anxiety. Nighteye also flipped about smoothly and crossed her legs around Qianye¡¯s waist. He then employed a peerless movement technique which somehow brought them to the main bedroom in just a couple of steps. There, he pressed her violently onto the bed!

    The gentle night breeze was a bit chilly, but the small house was spewing fire from its windows.

 Volume 6 - 541: The Clouds of War

    [V6C71 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The volcano gradually stopped erupting after quite a while. The twoy side by side on the bed,pletely exhausted after the countless battles.

    Nighteyey in Qianye¡¯s arms, her eyes warm and gentle as she traced a finger along Qianye¡¯s muscr chest.

    The moon was hanging high up in the sky. Its light washed over the swaying leaves, through the window and upon them. Everything was exceptionally calm andforting. Qianye felt an indescribable sense of peace and rxation. His eyes felt leaden as sleep crept upon him, and soon, he fell into dreand.

    Nighteye seemed rather alert. She called out lightly, ¡°Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°We have a home now, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Qianye could no longer hold on and fell into deep sleep. Nighteye had a smile on her face. Her hands were ced behind her head as she shifted into a morefortable position. There, shey in silent contemtion.

    Evernight Continent was still dark during the morning hours of the empire as a number of upper continents were blocking out the sun¡¯s rays. One could see the glow of dawn only over the distant horizon.

    However, daily life in human territory followed the imperial capital¡¯s timeline. Hence, the seventh young noble was already here to visit at this time.

    Nighteye was the first toe down and let Song Zining through the door. Thetter was apanied by Nanhua. Nighteye had already donned Lu Ju¡¯s mask and retracted her aura, so she looked no different from an ordinary young girl at a nce.

    Unable to disguise her curiosity, Nanhua stared at Nighteye from every angle.

    She shared a close rtionship with Song Zining. She also had some understanding of Qianye after fighting shoulder to shoulder with him in battle, but the more she learned, the more mysterious she found him to be.

    Qianye¡¯sbat strength was rising by leaps and bounds, and it felt like he would advance to entirely new levels every once in a while. Even Song Zining, whom she both admired and adored, was slightly inferior. On the other hand, Qianye¡¯s appearance had a hint of vampiric handsomeness to it¡ªthebination of strength and gentleness would put most of those so-called beauties to shame.

    Qianye seemed almost perfect apart from being weak in speech and socializing. Oftentimes, she felt curious about the type of girl such a person would keep beside him.

    Nanhua herself had a number of outstanding sisters. She had talked to Song Zining about bringing them over to hang out with Qianye, but her request was denied. It would seem that Qianye already had someone on his mind. So, she was quite curious as to what kind of extraordinarydy this person would be.

    Now that Qianye had returned and brought a young girl to live with him, it would be weird if Nanhua wasn¡¯t curious. As such, she immediately followed Song Zining after hearing thetter would eat breakfast at Qianye¡¯s ce.

    Nanhua¡¯s curiosity increased all the more after seeing Nighteye. From her aura, this girl with ck hair and eyes seemed rather limited in herbat strength, at most rank eight or nine. The majority of people in the empire were destined never to break through to the champion rank, and rank nine could be considered their peak¡ªbut Qianye was no ordinary person.

    In this world where strength was most revered, those who could stand beside rising stars like Qianye and Song Zining were either of impressive status or they had to be equally strong. Otherwise, they would always feel like a mismatch.

    Nighteye¡¯s current appearance was merely pretty and agreeable. After all, their original intention was to be as low-key as possible. An astonishing countenance at the level of her original features would only attract meaningless problems.

    But there was actually an odd temperament around her. Her eyes were calm, deep, and seemed as though they could contain the entire world. Nanhua straightened her sitting posture¡ªfor some reason, she felt inferior and ineffably nervous. There was a whole bunch of questions in her mind, but she couldn¡¯t even express a single one.

    Song Zining, on the other hand, was rather at ease; it was as though he had walked into his own house. He was soon talking to Nighteye with great familiarity, discussing the recent major events in the empire. Nanhua found this conversation rather odd because Song Zining had only ever talked about poetry and romance with beautifuldies. With his talents in art and proficiency in all forms of revelry, he could naturally hold a splendid conversation with just about anyone.

    Now, however, he was actually talking about national and military matters. Among them, he talked in great detail about the recent war at Giant¡¯s Repose, especially the battles he had personallymanded. A copy of this conversation could be mistaken for a military intelligence report.

    Moreover, what puzzled Nanhua was that Song Zining and Nighteye were talking like equal peers orrades. This wasn¡¯t how the seventh young noble usually treated women.

    Qianye walked down the stairs at this point. Song Zining immediately shouted, ¡°Qianye, go make breakfast. We¡¯re all starving!¡±

    Astonished, Qianye red hard at Song Zining and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you bring a whole team of chefs over? Why are you here for breakfast so early in the morning?¡±

    Song Zining said matter-of-factly, ¡°How can those chefs cook as well as you? Do the chores, quick!¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to give in. ¡°You¡¯ve never eaten my food before, how would you know if it¡¯s good or not?¡±

    ¡°I smelled the dinner you were makingst night, but I held back for the entire night and came running only in the morning. That¡¯s already being quite considerate! Enough, go to where you belong and don¡¯t disturb the serious business here.¡±

    Song Zining got up while speaking and pushed Qianye into the kitchen.

    Qianye suddenly thought of something and cried out, ¡°Wait a minute! What¡¯s that about smelling our foodst night?¡±

    ¡°Where there are trees, there¡¯ll be leaves.¡± With that, Song Zining closed the kitchen door and locked Qianye inside.

    Momentster, thetter had produced a bountiful breakfast. It was just that his re toward Song Zining was sharp and contained a hint of killing intent. But how could Song Zining be afraid of him? He merely ignored everything.

    Smelling the fragrance, Nanhua immediately jumped out of the sofa in joy and rushed into the kitchen. Song Zining followed closely behind and took his ce at the table to await the uing battle.

    The four swept the table clean like a tempest, even Nighteye wasn¡¯t reserved at all. Their attacks were strong and ruthless, leaving those slightly slower with no food to grab.

    Song Zining could no longer escape his misfortune after the meal as Qianye dragged him into the kitchen to do the dishes. Only Nighteye and Nanhua were left chatting in the living room.

    The two men who had stormed through the bloody battle weren¡¯t having such an easy time with the dishes. Song Zining said while working, ¡°Qianye, what are your ns from here on out? Continue umting military contributions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I heard one can exchange an amnesty order with enough contributions.¡±

    Song Zining naturally understood why Qianye wanted this order. ¡°Then, will you continue fighting for the Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t thought that through. Depends on the situation and opportunities I guess. Duke You asked me to return in ten days.¡±

    Song Zining hesitated for a while. ¡°If you really want contributions, I have an immediate opportunity. I just received news that the empire is preparing for a great battle against the Evernight Council in Giant¡¯s Repose.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°A major battle, what else is there to fight for?

    ¡°To seize the entrance to Giant¡¯s Repose. Haven¡¯t you gone there before? What¡¯s it like inside?¡±

    Qianye said while recalling things, ¡°There¡¯s a void tunnel at the bottom of Giant¡¯s Repose that connects to another world. It looks like a floating continent in the void. The ce is quiterge, but the environment there is special. There¡¯s a forest where trees grow saturated with origin distite. I wonder if the empire is looking to seize that?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not very clear about that. I only know that the battle is rted to that floating continent. Moreover, the level of participants is really high.¡± He put down the bowl in his hand and looked toward Qianye with a frown. ¡°The contributions in this battle are quite bountiful, but it¡¯ll also be very dangerous. I don¡¯t rmend taking part in it.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve given it a lot of thought, but I need enough contributions to get an amnesty order. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to rest easy since it¡¯s rted to Nighteye¡¯s safety. I have to continue fighting no matter what.¡±

    Song Zining fell into apse of silence. ¡°Amnesty order¡­¡± But he didn¡¯t continue speaking and merely said with a nod, ¡°Very well then, we¡¯ll return to the imperial camp two dayster. Take care of yourself, don¡¯t die.¡±

    Qianye nced at the living room and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    The present moment was a short interval between major battles. The investigation in Giant¡¯s Repose had yet to end, and the people from both sides hadn¡¯t returned. The two factions needed some time to assess the results of their exploration and the value of that passage into Giant¡¯s Repose. As such, the battlefield was more or less calm for the time being.

    The Evernight side had begun retreating in session. ording to usual practice, the battle below Giant¡¯s Repose had more or less ended now that the ancient essence fragments had been split. As for the territory, the Evernight Continent was too barren for a longer-term upation. It was scarcer in both darkness and daybreak origin powerpared to the upper continents and was usually used by the two factions as a temporary battleground.

    However, the empire¡¯s movements were the exact opposite. The atmosphere wasn¡¯t rxed when Qianye and Song Zining returned to the imperial camp. The entire camp was suffused with an austere atmosphere with new troopsing in continuously and an airship war fleet was approaching from the distance.

    After taking in this scene, Qianye understood that Song Zining was correct. The empire had no intention of retreating and, on the contrary, was pouring in more troops in preparation for a major battle.

    Qianye was also somewhat doubtful. The empire was currently at an advantage and reinforcements were on the way, but the battles weren¡¯t exactly decided by ordinary soldiers. Especially in a battle overseen by heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs, the oue of the conflict would likely be decided by a fight between experts.

    Presently, the other side had Medanzo and Noxus. No matter how outstanding Zhang Boqian was, the chances of a newly ascended heavenly monarch winning against two enemies weren¡¯t so great. Moreover, the war this time was a bit special. Although the Queen of the Night and the Eternal me were fighting Sky Demon in the void, they could still be considered part of this battle. Even if Zhang Boqian could win against the two great dark monarchs, what could he do when the Queen of the Night returned from the void?

    Even Song Zining wasn¡¯t clear about this point, but he had a different opinion. Since the empire had invested so heavily here, they were likely well-prepared. As for what that hidden ace was, that was the highest of state secrets.

    After returning to the imperial camp, Song Zining headed to the staff office, while Qianye returned to the Zhao n camp. Thetter discovered that the Zhao n had also transferred troops over from the Western Continent. Apparently, the empire was intent on winning this battle.

    In that majestic castle on the other side of Giant¡¯s Repose, Medanzo and Noxus had set aside their prejudices. They were standing side by side, gazing at the imperial camp.

 Volume 6 - 542: Vanguard

    [V6C72 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°The humans are amassing troops and their ground forces already hold the advantage. Just what are they nning to do? Are they really nning to fight an all-out war?¡± Noxus said.

    Medanzo replied slowly, ¡°Perhaps they¡¯ve discovered something in Giant¡¯s Repose.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we should stop our retreat and summon back our troops.¡±

    Medanzo shook his head. ¡°Let those who have retreated be since the first batch has almost reached the higher continents by now. And we still have a fair number of troops on our hands. What game can these people y with the two of us here? Even if they have some schemes up their sleeves, Her Majesty Lilith will rush over immediately.¡±

    Noxus¡¯ expression was gloomy. ¡°Humans have always been cunning. They have naturally prepared for anything we can think of. I fear Her Majesty won¡¯t be able to arrive in time when something happens.¡±

    Medanzo sneered, ¡°All schemes will crumble before the power of the Queen of the Night.¡±

    Noxus sighed with deep implications. ¡°That¡¯s not a certainty!¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression sank, but he didn¡¯t re up and only looked at Noxus coldly. All familiar people would know that the Lightless Monarch was truly angry. However, it would seem his anger couldn¡¯t intimidate Noxus. The arachne warlord remained unmoved and kept on gazing contemtively at the imperial camp.

    Two small ck airships were ready for takeoff at an imperial airship port reserved solely for high-ranking officers. They were rather small in size, but the sleek outline and metallic-looking sails made them look rather outstanding. Furthermore, the cloud as insignias upon them proved their status as warships of the Thunderous Cavalry.

    At this moment, the entire airship port and its surrounding areas were in a state of high alert, guarded only by members of the Thunderous Cavalry. Even Zhang Boqian¡¯s Irond Legion wasn¡¯t allowed entry.

    Lin Xitang walked out from the passage connecting to the main tent. He was d in wide-sleeved robes with silver hair dancing in the wind. There was something transcendent and ethereal about him. Gu Tuohai boarded the airship with Lin Xitang and stood together with him beside the cabin windows. Meanwhile, Zhang Boqian was nowhere to be seen.

    The airship slowly took to the skies with great stability. As the airship ascended, one could gradually see the entirety of the imperial camp, Giant¡¯s Repose, and even the vague outline of the Evernight camp on the other side.

    Gu Tuohai sighed with a worried expression. ¡°I hope everything goes smoothly and that there are no more disruptive factors.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled. ¡°It is an overt plot this time. Even if they¡¯ve made a guess, they definitely won¡¯t believe it. At that time, they¡¯ll surely fall into my trap and the empire will seize control of the political situation.¡±

    Gu Tuohai didn¡¯t seem so happy and said with the same miserable look, ¡°Even if that is the case, your trap won¡¯t be able to kill her. There will be a time when she breaks out.¡±

    Lin Xitang was apparently quite confident. ¡°By the time she breaks out, it will be toote.¡±

    Gu Tuohai stomped his feet. ¡°Urgh! That¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying. Won¡¯t you be affected once she breaks through?¡±

    ¡°No need to keep these small matters to heart.¡±

    Gu Tuohai red at him. ¡°How is getting involved with the Queen of the Night a small matter?¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled without replying. The airship continued its ascent and soon sped away into the distance.

    Qianye was standing in the Zhao n camp at that time, about to meet Zhao Xuanji. He suddenly looked up and saw two airships take to the air from Zhang Boqian¡¯smand camp. With his eyesight as a long-range sniper, he was able to barely make out the cloud as insignia on them.

    Qianye was slightly moved at heart. Others may think that the Thunderous Cavalry around Prince Green Sun¡¯s main tent only represented the imperial court, but Song Zining had met Lin Xitang there. The imperial guard was here to protect the marshal. Qianye sighed inwardly at the thought of that person, but he kept moving forth and followed the guard into Zhao Xuanji¡¯s tent.

    Zhao Xuanji stood up upon seeing Qianye. ¡°How went your business?¡±

    ¡°Everything has been handled, so I¡¯ve returned to report back in.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji nodded. ¡°You returned at the right time, I have a matter I can¡¯t quite decide on. Our Zhao n private army, in addition to an airship fleet, is ten thousand strong at the moment. All airship fleets are ced under imperialmand, so we¡¯ll ignore that for now. The remaining forces are split into thousand-man battalions of three types, namely vanguard, field, motorized. Currently, Jundu is in charge of a motorized battalion and Junhong leads a fields battalion. I¡¯m heading five battalions myself, but there are currently three battalions without a suitable leader. I was wondering if you wish to wield one of them?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t give an immediate reply and asked instead, ¡°Why do we have to advance with the army this time?¡±

    Tactics on a major battle were different from smaller operations. Normally, wars involving greater than ten thousand soldiers would be strictly differentiated into fights between experts and troops.

    Champions like Zhao Jundu and Qianye¡ªwho possessed long-range sniping abilities and overwhelming personalbat strength¡ªwould usually roam the battlefield independently, seeking opportunities to assist the assault, behead the enemy leaders, or even to produce openings for more powerful experts. This is the best way to utilize their strength.

    Moreover, only talented generals such as Zhao Junhong and Song Zining knew how to lead soldiers. Since even Zhao Jundu was keeping a battalion by his side, this campaign was apparently different from the norm.

    ¡°Good question, this battle is indeed unlike the usual ones.¡± Zhao Xuanji walked over to the military map on the wall and drew an advancement path with his fingers. Qianye was immediately astonished because the imperial vanguard was to charge straight into the Evernight Council¡¯s main camp!

    ¡°As you can see, the target this time is precisely the Evernight Council¡¯s main camp. The imperial army will mobilize in full-force and shan¡¯t stop until the dark race army has been driven out of Giant¡¯s Repose. Both sides will invest all the soldiers they have into this battle and the level of danger will be much higher than before. Marshal Boqian will also join the battle. Assigning troops to each of you serves firstly to strengthen our army and also to protect you from idents.¡±

    Qianye came to an understanding after listening to Zhao Xuanji¡¯s exnation. Staying in the army would prevent them from running into duke-level experts who could easily kill them in passing.

    In a war of this scale, the chaotic situation could change in the blink of an eye. Anything could happen with experts from both sides roaming everywhere. Even talented young geniuses like them might encounter a tragic death since their levels weren¡¯t sufficient¡ªand a dead expert would be nothing more than a fond memory.

    Qianye pondered for a moment and said, ¡°I¡¯m willing to lead a vanguard battalion.¡±

    It was Zhao Xuanji¡¯s turn to be startled. ¡°Vanguard? Are you sure?¡±

    The vanguard will be assigned the important task of charging the enemy defenses. It was the most bitter, tiring, and dangerous position in the army. In addition to the true elites, the vanguard battalion would normally be formed of penalized soldiers and sometimes even cannon fodder.

    Usually, the generals in charge of the vanguard battalions were either thosecking in background and advancement potential, or battle-crazed opportunists who had their eyes on the crowning contribution, seeking a rise to fame in one battle.

    Qianye, at present, was already considered a core candidate for the n to groom. It was somewhat inappropriate for him to join the vanguard.

    Zhao Xuanji pondered for a while and said, ¡°Qianye, yourbat style is indeed suitable for charging the enemy camp. However, you have to look into the future. This duke feels that a field battalion will be more fitting. Your sniping abilities also make you a good candidate for the motorized battalion.¡±

    ¡°I wish to join the vanguard, please allow me!¡± Qianye sped his hands and bowed.

    Zhao Xuanji¡¯s brows knitted tightly and only rxed after a long while. ¡°So be it, the young are indeed impulsive, and I can¡¯t stop you by force anyway. This duke will allow it since you made such a request yourself. From now on, you¡¯re allowed to enter the Zhao n¡¯s armory and withdraw whatever you need. The battle will start any time now, be prepared.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Duke!¡± Qianye left to prepare after expressing his gratitude.

    The Zhao n was indeed a major n with deep foundations. The temporary armory set up in the camp wasn¡¯t small at all, and there was no small number of high-quality grade-six guns within. Qianye picked a grade-six sniper rifle, a grade-six assault rifle, and a multi-purpose military knife. He then picked out a grade-five armor and relevant ammunition before leaving the armory.

    At this moment, Qianye was armed to the teeth and his equipment from head to toe was several hundred kilograms in weight. But Qianye walked back to his own room without the slightest hint of hindrance. The Zhao n soldiers who had carried the equipment out for him were dumbstruck. After using East Peak habitually, Qianye didn¡¯t mind this bit of weight at all.

    Not long after he had returned, Qianye received the official assignment order to the vanguard battalion. This time, the Zhao n private army had two vanguard battalions, each made up of a thousand men. One of them would be led by Qianye, while the other would be under themand of a champion from the Zhao n¡¯s side branch.

    Qianye went forth to his assigned vanguard battalion after receiving the order.

    The vanguard battalion barracks were located together in a certain corner of the Zhao n camp. A jeep carried Qianye all the way to the camp gates, where he hopped off and headed toward the camp. Even from the outside, Qianye could hear the exceptional mor within¡ªincessant shouts,ughter, and curses¡ªit would seem the soldiers within were performing their drills.

    The major who had driven him here poked his head out of the car and said, ¡°Sire Qianye, this is the ce. Good luck!¡±

    With that, the major drove away. His words clearly had a different implication, but Qianye didn¡¯t take it to heart. He walked toward the barracks and presented Zhao Xuanji¡¯s military order.

    The two guards gazed at Qianye with peculiar expressions and even a hint of schadenfreude. One of them quickly led Qianye inside, but their respect was simply too artificial and insincere.

    Qianye followed the guard in and saw two bare-chested warriors were wrestling in a small, sand-filled wrestling ring in a corner of the drill grounds. The two fighters locked in battle possessed impressivebat strength, and their techniques were as polished as they were fierce¡ªquite likely a high-grade secret art of the Zhao n. The hundred or so warriors around them were cheering loudly and even cing bets.

    There was a burly man beside the wrestling ring and the stubble on his face was like a bed of iron nails. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest as he watched the match with great interest. The burly man sensed Qianye¡¯s approach and nced up with an austere expression.

    Qianye¡¯s brows knitted together, puzzled as to why this burly man was so hostile. His temperament had clearly changed only after recognizing who Qianye was. Most of the Zhao n private army was transferredter from the Western Continent, but there were several hundred veterans among them who had joined the bloody battle. Qianye believed that those who had fought under the Iron Curtain wouldn¡¯t be so hostile against him for no apparent reason.

 Volume 6 - 543: Suppression

    [V6C73 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye had seen no small number of factional conflicts in the army, so he immediately decided to respond with indifference. He walked over to the wrestling ring and proceeded to spectate in silence.

    The winner quickly became evident. One of them activated a secret art, rapidly increasing his strength and gaining an overwhelming advantage. He pinned the opponent to the ground in the blink of an eye. However, his mighty statested a mere minute before turning iparably weak.

    The spectators immediately broke into a mor. Some were furious, while others were delighted as they began settling the money¡ªone had to honor his bets. In the blink of an eye, another two men began rolling their sleeves for the next fight.

    Qianye finally spoke at this point, ¡°We stop here. Everyone from the vanguard battalion, assemble on the drill grounds!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t loud but it reverberated throughout the entire barracks. Even those in the living quarters could hear him clearly. Everyone was visibly moved because this was no trifling feat. Some unbridled soldiers nced at Qianye coldly and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes swept over all the soldiers of the vanguard battalion. ¡°I¡¯m the newly appointedmander of the first vanguard battalion. What? Does no one here recognize me? Not even one?¡±

    Everyone looked away subconsciously wherever his gaze fell. Since Qianye had remembered them, they were likely veterans from the bloody battle. They could still y dumb before he asked, but they couldn¡¯t just pretend to not know now that the question was on the table.

    The situation instantly became frosty, and the drill grounds became deathly silent. No one replied, and no one assembled.

    Qianye didn¡¯t seem to be in a rush, either. He even lit up a cigarette and began smoking in silence. It looked as though he was thinking of something.

    However, prolonged silence instilled greater anxiety in everyone¡¯s hearts. Those who hade from the Western Continent had only heard the rumors, but the veterans of the bloody battle knew this god of murder very well. It was just that the situation before them was the Zhao n¡¯s internal business, and to these descendants and mercenaries, Qianye was the real outsider.

    At this moment, Qianye listed his possible opponents in the Zhao n. Up until this point, the only person he had openly offended was Zhao Fenglei, and, perhaps, people from the Duke Yan lineage.

    However, the enemies in the dark weren¡¯t a certainty. Zhao Weihuang had risen from the side branch to im the n lord position, and now, Zhao Jundu was rampaging through all adversity¡ªthis alone was enough to gain them countless enemies. Qianye was registered under their branch, and without any special status like Zhao Junhong, it was no wonder he would be discriminated against.

    Moreover, the major ns had nevercked internal conflicts. Perhaps Qianye had never offended anyone, but merely taking up a slot in Zhao Jundu¡¯s secondary residence had inadvertently blocked off many a person¡¯s futures. This was reason enough to form a deep enmity.

    Qianye suddenly felt a bit frustrated. He had no interest at all in schemes and political struggles. He requested to be assigned to the vanguard because he wanted more contributions and to reduce the Zhao n soldiers¡¯ casualties in the most dangerous areas. Someone was looking to stir up trouble with a war at hand, and this filled Qianye with disgust.

    A simple and naive notion appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind. He wanted to exchange his military contributions for an amnesty order as soon as possible so that Nighteye could leave safely if her vampire identity was one day exposed.

    The cigarette in his hand was finished in the blink of an eye, but still, no one responded. Qianye flicked the cigarette butt onto the ground and crushed it with his foot. ¡°I will ask again, is there no one here from the vanguard battalion?¡±

    This was a shedding of all pretenses, no longer a situation ordinary soldiers could handle.

    The imposing man across the wrestling ring finally spoke, ¡°Young Noble Qianye, all the brothers originally from the first vanguard battalion have applied to join the second battalion. It¡¯s only normal that there¡¯s no one here to reply.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes finally fell on the man and sized him up from head to toe. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The man replied, ¡°My name is Zhao Guanwei. I¡¯ve been fighting on the frontlines on the Western Continent. I¡¯ve fought many wars against the rebel army and the dark races, and I¡¯ve also seen some counts and whatnot. Fortunately, I managed to keep my life. I never had the time to participate in the so-called bloody battle since it¡¯s just a battlefield for the young to polish themselves. I only came to experience Evernight Continent after the empire mobilized its forces.¡±

    Zhao Guanwei¡¯s words were quite polite but actually implied that the bloody battle was, due to the level restrictions, a child¡¯s game and not a true battle.

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank as he looked coldly at Zhao Guanwei. He decided not to give him any more face.

    Qianye had experienced numerous life and death situations in the bloody battle. Comrades and brothers had fallen in droves as the Zhao n suffered great casualties. It was a battle led by the younger generations of the two factions, a conflict befitting of its name. The level of cruelty involved was no less than the frontlines of the imperial army.

    Those experiences, those people who had beenid to eternal rest, how could they suffer Zhao Guanwei¡¯s humiliation?

    Qianye exhaled deeply and said with a finger pointed at Zhao Guanwei, ¡°The main point of the army is to be able to charge and kill enemies. We shall talk with our fists, whoever loses shall scram out of the camp. I want to see what makes a rank-eleven champion confident enough to block my way!¡±

    Zhao Guanwei was momentarily astonished because he had never expected Qianye to be so direct. After listening to Qianye¡¯s words, heughed furiously and said, ¡°Very well, since a rank-eleven champion is not qualified, I¡¯ll see what a rank-ten like you can do!¡±

    With that, he walked over inrge strides and stood firmly ten meters away from Qianye, flexing his wrists. ¡°Your daddy won¡¯t take advantage of you, I¡¯ll be using these bare hands to teach you a lesson. Use whatever weapon you have!¡±

    Zhao Guanwei folded his sleeves to reveal two alloy armguards. The armor was fairly thick and heavy, with several sharp barbs sticking out from them. They could be used as weapons as well as shields. He apparently favored close-quarterbat, and most of his skills were likely rted to these armguards.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t bother to argue who was trying to gain an advantage. With a sheathed East Peak in hand, he arrived before Zhao Guanwei in a single step.

    Qianye pierced East Peak into the ground before Zhao Guanwei, sheath and all. This simple movement produced a thunderous sound which reverberated throughout the entire drill ground.

    All the vanguard soldiers at the fore were sent stumbling under the suppression of this oceanic might and copsed in droves. Only the most valiant of experts remained standing, but snapping out of the shock, they too pulled back with pale faces.

    Zhao Guanwei, who had suffered the brunt of this attack, went red in the face, his bones creaking and groaning. He could barely stand and didn¡¯t even have the power to move his hands. The other soldiers only suffered the peripheral shockwaves, while over half of the power was focused on Zhao Guanwei¡¯s body. One could easily imagine the pressure he was under.

    Qianye had held nothing back with this attack and was rather surprised to see Zhao Guanwei still standing. With a push of his hand, however, East Peak began falling toward the man like a heavenly pir.

    Faint ps of thunder resounded in the air when the de moved. Following an idea that had popped up, Qianye added a wisp of void origin power into East Peak which dramatically increased the might of this push.

    Zhao Guanwei was visibly moved. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and attempted to block East Peak as though his life depended on it. However, it only served to slow down the unstoppable descent of the de. Zhao Guanwei roared thrice, each shout causing his face to flush red, but he still failed to block East Peak. His knees made crackling sounds as he finally fell kneeling onto the ground, no longer able to endure. His hands, at the moment, hung limp and powerless to his sides.

    This suppressive move looked simple, but Qianye had actually activated the relic from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar and utilized some of the origin power techniques he had gained from the ancient essence fragment, greatly increasing his power. Not only did he press Zhao Guanwei firmly to the ground, but he also destroyed his origin defenses.

    Qianye stopped East Peak mid-air with a flick of his hands. Then, a segment of the de moved out of its sheath and pressed firmly against the side of Zhao Guanwei¡¯s neck. A slight movement could chop the man¡¯s head off.

    ¡°How was it?¡± Qianye asked indifferently.

    Zhao Guanwei¡¯s expression was dismal. He had never expected such a rapid and miserable loss. His mouth moved several times before he clenched his teeth and said, ¡°I¡­ lost!¡±

    ¡°Very good!¡± Qianye put East Peak away and said, ¡°Since you¡¯ve lost, then pack up your bags and scram. As for where you¡¯ll go, talk to the duke yourself. It¡¯s none of my business.¡±

    Zhao Guanwei mbered up and finally spat out a mouthful of blood. He red hatefully at Qianye and said, ¡°Great, we¡¯ll see what you can do!¡±

    He shouted at the vanguard battalion soldiers in the vicinity, ¡°Brothers who are willing to follow me, let¡¯s go. If this ce won¡¯t keep us, there are surely other ces we can go to!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained unchanged as he allowed Zhao Guanwei to finish speaking. Then, East Peak moved at lightning speed and tapped lightly on his abdomen before pulling back.

    The de shot out like a bolt of lightning but was as heavy as a bolt of lightning when it was pulled back. This light tap left Zhao Guanwei hugging his abdomen with a dumb expression. Then, he gradually fell kneeling and curled up into a ball without the power to even cry out.

    ¡°Trying to incite a mutiny? You¡¯re courting death!¡± Qianye sneered as he looked up at the soldiers. There were a number of people who had stepped out when Zhao Guanwei issued the call to action. They all turned pale as Qianye scanned their faces one by one.

    ¡°Battalions defying orders to form their own groups, this is the first time I¡¯vee to know just howx the Zhao n¡¯s military management is.¡± Qianye¡¯s words caused everyone to turn even paler.

    Zhao n¡¯s military management was extremely strict and orders had to be obeyed without questions. Zhao Guanwei dared provoke Qianye in the guise of a friendly match because he had umted countless contributions in addition to a strong backing. The others had no such confidence. They might not even be able to keep their lives if Qianye were to continue.

    These people were drenched in sweat when Qianye¡¯s eyes moved away from them. It felt as though they had escaped from death itself. ¡°Whoever dares take a single step out of the vanguard battalion without my orders will be charged with desertion and killed on the spot.¡±

    The entire scene turned silent¡ªeven the high-ranking officers had their heads lowered.

    Qianye¡¯s battle with Zhao Guanwei was an establishment of his might¡ªa demonstration of his power¡ªbut the two sentences after that proved that he was notpletely ignorant about running an army. Defying orders and desertion in war weren¡¯t just major crimes. To private soldiers of the major ns, it might even involve their families.

 Volume 6 - 544: Direction

    [V6C74 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Seeing no one defying his orders, Qianye¡¯s gaze fell back on Zhao Guanwei. The man was flung high into the air with a flick of his de, crashing outside the battalion gates and coughing up several mouthfuls of blood.

    Qianye paid him no more heed. He turned back to the soldiers and said, ¡°The entire unit will assemble. Those who fail to arrive on time will be punished ording to militaryw.¡±

    Once the order was issued, an officer blew two short and one long bursts from his whistle, a sign of urgency. The camp was aboil as the warriors rushed out from their respective barracks and poured into the drill grounds, instantly forming two neat square formations. The quality of the Zhao n¡¯s private army could be seen from the speed of their assembly¡ªthey were even faster than the imperial regr army.

    Qianye nodded when the troops had assembled and casually picked a young soldier to lead him to the main tent, leaving the two battalions on the drill grounds with no orders.

    ording to militaryw, these soldier¡¯s couldn¡¯t leave without any order, and neither could they move about. All they could do was to stand silently in the drill grounds.

    Qianye seemed to have forgotten the two battalions after going into the tent and did not issue any order thereafter.

    It was soonte in the night, and the soldiers had stood there for nearly ten hours. Although the strong Zhao n warriors were far from tired, it was inevitable that their hearts would be filled with frustration and restlessness. However, they knew that this was Qianye¡¯s punishment for defying orders. It was quite possible that they would have to stand until dawn.

    It was at this time that several of Zhao Xuanji¡¯s personal guards entered the camp and came straight into the main tent. ¡°Duke You orders you to meet him immediately.¡±

    Qianye put down the map in his hand and followed the soldiers to meet Zhao Xuanji.

    At this moment, the duke wasn¡¯t working on military affairs as usual but fiddling with a set ofplicated tea instruments. He gestured for Qianye to sit down upon his arrival and ced a cup of tea before him. Then, he himself picked up a cup of tea and began tasting it in earnest.

    The tent was so quiet that one could hear the drop of a needle. Duke You did not speak, and neither did Qianye. The two of them just sat there in silence.

    Zhao Xuanji took an entire half an hour to finish this cup of tea. Then, he put the cup down lightly and looked up at Qianye. ¡°Guanwei is a fierce general who¡¯s joined the battlefield since his adulthood. He¡¯s remained on the Western Continent frontlines for ten years, killed countless enemies, and umted many contributions. Many of the vanguard battalion soldiers are his old subordinates. It¡¯s normal for you to be at odds with him, but why the need to beat him up so badly and kick him out of the vanguard battalion?¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have been wounded any less had I lost, nor would I be able to remain in the vanguard battalion. The war is right in front of our eyes. I hate people like him who try to take advantage of the times to pick fights. Since he proactively sought trouble, I have no reason to show mercy. I don¡¯t care who the mastermind is.¡±

    Zhao Xuanjiughed. ¡°You don¡¯t think it¡¯s Duke Yan¡¯s idea, do you?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°There¡¯s really no need for this if it were you or Duke Yan. You could have just blocked me from leading the troops.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji hadn¡¯t expected Qianye to be so direct. He looked on nkly but then shook his head with augh. Then, he heard Qianye continue, ¡°I only want to umte military contributions, I have no interest in knowing who the orchestrator is.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji pondered for a while before saying with a smile, ¡°Fine then, this matter shall end here. I¡¯ll have some men teach those little fellows from Duke Yan¡¯s residence a lesson. Things won¡¯t end so easily if they stir up trouble again. As for Guanwei, he perhaps does have some selfish motives, but he certainly won¡¯t make mistakes regarding important matters. If this duke¡¯s guess is correct, it should be due to some past favors.¡±

    ¡°That will be for the best.¡± Qianye¡¯s tone was indifferent, neither angry nor thankful.

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°The current Zhao n descendants don¡¯t know your identity. It''s inevitable that they would be resentful after seeing the preferential treatment you''re receiving. But not knowing has its advantages since it can lessen other untoward matters. Qianye, this duke has something on his mind. I hope you can tell me the truth.¡±

    ¡°Please ask, Duke.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji spoke, ¡°What exactly are you pursuing with the Zhao n?¡±

    Qianye responded with a question. ¡°What is the purpose of the duke¡¯s question?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t pretend, either. ¡°Our Zhao n grooms its disciples ording to their abilities and aspirations, both in the choice of secret arts and the direction of their development. On one hand, it serves to prevent one from walking down the wrong path, while on the other, it avoids wasting n resources. You¡¯ve missed the best period to build a foundation, but with your talents and Zhao Jundu¡¯s care for you, you will definitely y a role in the Zhao n¡¯s future. Your ambitions for the future are rted to how we nurture you today.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel moved after hearing this. Zhao Xuanji¡¯s intentions were more sincere than simply piling up resources on him.

    At this point, the duke poured himself another cup to allow Qianye time to think. ¡°Our Zhao n youths are full of heroic talents, but only Zhao Jundu and you are a cut above the rest. Even Yuying is slightly inferior. The Zhao n will likely belong to you two brothers ten years down the road. This duke must mention, however, that due to your birth status, the n lord¡¯s position will surely fall to Zhao Jundu.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows twitched. ¡°Truth be told, I have never thought that far, and neither do I seek power within the Zhao n. For now, all I want is to umte military contribution.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji found this fairly surprising and said with raised eyebrows, ¡°Contributions? It seems you seek a reward from the empire. No matter what it is, why not tell me right now? There isn¡¯t a lot this duke can¡¯t do.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°That¡¯s for the future, and it might not actually happen. So, it¡¯s a bit too early to speak of it at the moment.

    Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t force the matter. ¡°Fine then, make sure you know your own limits. Feel free to speak your thoughts regarding the war, I¡¯ll help you as much as I can.¡±

    ¡°Many thanks for the duke¡¯s kind intentions.¡±

    Qianye excused himself after performing a salute.

    A middle-aged man walked out from the curtain behind Zhao Xuanji. His face was fair, well-groomed, and appeared rather schrly. Zhao Xuanji, however, stood up respectfully to wee him. ¡°Teacher Yan, what do you think of this child?¡±

    This Teacher Yan said contemtively, ¡°This child is calm in the face of events and remainsposed even before you. He¡¯s really not simple both in terms of strength and temperament; he¡¯ll surely be an outstanding character in the future. However, there are too many secrets on him, and he must be used with caution before knowing more.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s notpletely so, I feel that this child is someone who cares about rtionships. The first time he fought for the Zhao n was because of his friendship with Zhao Yuying. All this time, he has sought neither status nor power from the Zhao n.¡±

    Teacher Yan replied, ¡°That is the main reason why the n¡¯s restraints on him are weak. One has to know that, since antiquity, only blood rtionship is the key to loyalty.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji sighed. ¡°This matter can¡¯t be forced. Let us see as we go. Oh right, how goes the situation on that side?¡±

    Teacher Yan said with an embarrassed sigh, ¡°I feel ashamed, but that side refuses to leak anything at all. I schemed for many days but found no opportunity to nt any spies or gain any information. That brother of mine is so much more capable in this aspect. I¡¯m sorry to say that I¡¯ve failed the duke¡¯s request.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°This is nothing, Teacher Yan is a genius in other areas. This duke still has much to rely on you in the future!¡±

    Teacher Yan was both regretful and touched. He sighed deeply and said, ¡°My little brother betrayed our ancestral teachings and submitted to the other side. I¡¯m also partially responsible for this, sigh! I can only hope he¡¯ll see the light soon and not fall deeper in.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji nodded. ¡°This matter can¡¯t be rushed. We can only make gradual ns and hope he returns quickly. How about the military strategy in the past couple of days?¡±

    ¡°A general outline has been formed and only some finer details remain to be hammered out within Marshal Boqian¡¯s office. I¡¯ll let you see it early tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°Good, then I¡¯ll leave Teacher Yan to your business.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji returned to his desk after the man excused himself. He casually picked up a document and began reading it in detail. He looked as though he was fully concentrated on his work, but in truth, there was a small voice ringing in his ears.

    ¡°Reporting to the Duke, the younger Mister Yan is under heavy guard on the other side, and recently, they dispatched twice the number of men to protect him. We simply couldn¡¯t find the chance to take action. I suspect someone from our side has leaked information. It can¡¯t be that coincidental otherwise.¡±

    This voice was actually a wisp of origin power sent directly into Zhao Xuanji¡¯s ears. Even someone sitting directly across from him wouldn¡¯t be able to hear.

    The duke flipped through the documents and issued an order without a single movement of his lips. ¡°Continue scouting. Take immediate action once there¡¯s an opportunity. Kill him without fail!¡±

    After that, Zhao Xuanji added coldly, ¡°At all costs!¡±

    ¡°This subordinate understands!¡±

    The origin power fluctuation gradually faded away, along with the voice hidden within. The tent grew silent once more as though nothing had happened.

    At this moment, Qianye had returned to the vanguard battalion where he finally issued an order for the soldiers to return to their quarters and rest. With the great battle before them, it was fairly important to keep the soldiers in top shape. The disciplinary action would stop here.

    It was already close to midnight by the time Qianye issued this order. At this time, two visitors arrived at the vanguard battalion. Apparently, most of the Zhao n soldiers recognized these two, and even several of the officers were visibly moved.

    One of them was Zhao Jundu¡¯s aide who had brought Qianye a chest full of bothmon and secret medicines, while the other was Zhao Junhong himself. He didn¡¯t seem to have any business in particr. He merely sat for a while in Qianye¡¯s tent and chatted with him over a cup of tea before taking his leave.

    Qianye still wasn¡¯t sure of their purpose up to this point, but he felt a warmth in his heart amidst the wryughter. Duke You naturally learned of this matter soon afterward, but the guard withdrew quietly after seeing no reaction from Zhao Xuanji.

    The imperial main camp grew quiet in the days that followed and no more airship fleets arrived.

    The storm was soon to arrive.

 Volume 6 - 545: War

    [V6C75 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye was sitting quietly and cultivating the Profound Combatant Form as a formless origin vortex revolved slowly behind him. It was as though the extreme pressure had ripped the void open and strands of void origin power were pouring into the maelstrom for Qianye to absorb.

    As he was cultivating, the void shuddered violently and grew extremely unstable. The influx of origin power grew increasingly violent as more and more fractures appeared. The once stable vortex was now fluctuating wildly. Affected by the turbulence, a pale Qianye let out a muffled groan with blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

    Qianye was fairly shocked at this point. He quickly stopped the Profound Combatant Form and managed to calm down only after all of his origin power had been retracted. The Profound Combatant Form was so powerful that a single ident would result in immediate injury when mild, and foundational damage when severe.

    Qianye stood up in bewilderment, unable to understand why these sudden changes had urred. A sudden thought stirred in him as he opened his True Sight and nced toward Zhang Boqian¡¯s main camp.

    In his True Sight, he could see a mass of intense light in that direction. Zhang Boqian¡¯s origin radiance was like the midday sun, and wherever it fell was his domain.

    At this very moment, however, Qianye actually saw two suns, and the new one was even stronger than Zhang Boqian¡¯s.

    Startled, Qianye hurriedly retracted his True Sight. He didn¡¯t dare cast another nce at themand center.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare look again regardless of whether his True Sight could be discovered or not. Those two masses of light were so intense that he might¡¯ve been scorched blind had he continued looking for a couple more seconds.

    Qianye had avoided spying on other people in this imperial camp where experts were as numerous as the clouds. It was only because he had suffered agitation during cultivation and was nearly wounded that he traced the source back to themand center. In the end, he had discovered something truly shocking.

    The new origin radiance was even more powerful than Zhang Boqian. No doubt another heavenly monarch had arrived. It was said that a heavenly monarch¡¯s might could cover thousands of kilometers, but only today did Qianye personally experience a power that was even capable of stirring up the void. No longer daring to circte the Profound Combatant Form, he merely sat in silence to adjust himself and gradually calm down his surging blood.

    In the centralmand tent, a tall, thin man with brows growing down to his cheeks suddenly opened his eyes and nced toward Qianye¡¯s location. ¡°Boqian, your army is truly filled with concealed talents.¡±

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t seem to mind it at all. ¡°That little fellow is indeed a bit talented, even I¡¯m quite surprised. Marshal Lin Xitang also gave him a good evaluation.¡±

    The long-browed elder said, ¡°Oh? At first, I felt that this little fellow¡¯s origin power is a bit strange, as if tainted by a certain shadow. But since Lin Xitang has already seen him, then I guess he should be quite alright. These children might be able to rece us old bones when they grow up.¡±

    Zhang Boqianughed indifferently. ¡°The Pointer Monarch honors them too much.¡±

    The old man only replied with augh, ¡°Since I¡¯ve already arrived, shall we begin? My arrival can¡¯t be hidden for very long.¡±

    ¡°My thoughts exactly.¡± With that, Zhang Boqian stood up to summon a general and instructed, ¡°Issue mymand, all units will move out as nned. The entire army will attack!¡±

    The old general trembled as he responded in affirmation before leaving in due haste. Momentster, the long, deste re of a bugle resounded throughout the entire imperial camp.

    The long peaceful camp immediately jumped into action as assemblymands were issued in every division. The well-prepared army mobilized with great speed¡ªthe first unit had left camp before an hour had passed, followed by a great tide that was the main army. They moved along the edges of Giant¡¯s Repose and circled around it like a torrent of steel poised to assault the Evernight main camp.

    A dense fleet of airships took to the air soon after the main army had moved out and, like dark clouds, blotted out the entire sky.

    Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were charging forth on a magnificent scale.

    Zhang Boqian and the long-browed elder were in the air, observing all movement within a thousand-meter radius.

    The former was standing with his hands behind his back. His eyes were profound, and the roar ofndslides and tsunamis could be heard between his breaths. The surrounding origin power fluctuated with the rhythm of his breath, and the affected area was gradually expanding outward.

    The long-browed old man was calm and collected, but he couldn¡¯t help but sigh emotionally as he watched the airship fleet in the sky and the snaking army on the ground. ¡°Thest time this monarch witnessed such a scene was over a decade ago. Time sure flies, our generation has turned into old men in the blink of an eye. The empire is the realm of the young, but this monarch will still feel overwhelmed with emotions even if I see such a lineup thirty yearster.¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied with augh, ¡°Your Excellency has led many generations of troops, what kind of lineup have you not seen before? Come to think of it, my first battle back then was also under yourmand. Oh look, old friends have arrived.¡±

    A ck cloud and a bloody mist rose up at the same time from the Evernight front lines, traversing the ravine with great momentum as they rolled toward the imperial camp.

    The old manughed unfathomably. ¡°Boqian, it looks like they really don¡¯t think much of you.

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t reveal any killing intent after hearing this. On the contrary, the smile on his face grew even wider as his deep, void-like eyes flickered with lightning.

    The old man added, ¡°Since they¡¯re alreadying to us, why don¡¯t we go and wee the guests?¡±

    ¡°Agreed!¡±

    The bloody mist and ck cloud were the embodiment of Medanzo and Noxus¡¯ domains. The two were as gloomy as still water as they flew out at full speed, arriving at the center of the ravine in the blink of an eye. However, two men suddenly appeared in the air in front of them and blocked their path¡ªthetter group had arrived first despite setting outte.

    One of them was Zhang Boqian¡ªthe two dark monarchs were already expecting him¡ªbut they were visibly moved after seeing the long-browed elder. ¡°Pointer Monarch! Why are you here?¡±

    Pointer Monarchughed kindly. ¡°Why can¡¯t this monarch be here?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in the outer void?¡± Medanzo said with a stern voice.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to report my whereabouts to the Lightless Monarch,¡± the Pointer Monarch replied with a smile.

    The expressions of Medanzo and Noxus were fluctuating rapidly. ording to reason, the imperial heavenly monarchs should be at the void borders to prevent the Queen of the Night and the Eternal me from ambushing imperialnds. Now that the Pointer Monarch was here, could it mean that an ident had urred on Lilith¡¯s side?

    This notion shed through both Medanzo and Noxus¡¯ hearts, but their reactions were vastly different.

    Medanzo was both shocked and furious. After all, the status of the vampires would fall precipitously should something happen to the Queen of the Night. One needed only to look at the werewolves to know what fate would await them after losing a seat on the sacred mountain.

    Meanwhile, Noxus¡¯ expression was much moreplicated. He couldn¡¯t quite ascertain things from Zhang Boqian and the Pointer Monarch¡¯s expressions. If Lilith really had encountered an ident, it would be good news for the arachne.

    The vampires had firmly suppressed the arachne for tens of thousands of years. Even if Lilith¡¯s problem wasn¡¯t enough to lose her that seat on the sacred mountain, it would be great news for them if she couldn¡¯t appear for a long time. It wasn¡¯t as simple as a difference in honor and dignity between the two races, but it also involvednd, resources, and special privileges.

    But all of this had to be left forter as the war at present had to be fought first. Medanzo and Noxus shot each other a nce before flying high up into the air, followed closely by Zhang Boqian and the Pointer Monarch. The four supreme experts flew higher and higher until they vanished above the skies.

    A battle between people at their level was too powerful, and the affected range was too vast. It might cause irreversible damage to thend if they were to go all out in battle. One could see the seriousness of such an oue from how the battle with Sky Demon changed a vast area ofnd on Evernight Continent.

    As such, the experts from each faction would head into the void for an all-out battle. Unlike the void colossi, they had descendants and rtives on the continent¡ªfighting there would benefit no one.

    Medanzo and Noxus were now at a disadvantage after the sudden appearance of the Pointer Monarch, the most powerful human expert at present. It wasn¡¯t a problem for the two dark monarchs to escape¡ªthey would be slightly injured at most. But they were quite clear that the imperial troops on the ground held the absolute advantage and that the Evernight Council¡¯s army was in precarious position.

    Meanwhile, on the ground.

    Qianye was in a jeep, watching as the scenery on each side passed by him. Following close behind themand-vehicle was a convoy made up of dozens of transport trucks. For some reason, the duke didn¡¯t assign anothermander after the incident with Zhao Guanwei. Currently, Qianye had well over a thousand soldiers from two battalions under hismand.

    The soldiers and officers of the vanguard battalion recovered their elite qualities after the appearance of Zhao Jundu¡¯s aide and Zhao Junhong. There were no more problems thereafter.

    No one caused any problem for Qianye at all, not even other battalions or the logistics sector where conflicts could easily ur.

    Qianye recalled that clumsy provocation and Duke You¡¯s high evaluation of Zhao Guanwei. He had a vague feeling that the person behind the scene wasn¡¯t just trying to push him out. It was quite likely that he was also trying to target Zhao Jundu.

    At this point, Qianye shook his head and cleared away those distracting thoughts. He instead focused his attention on the operation at hand and did his best to memorize each and every detail. He had received instructions for this operation just as he was about to leave. It detailed the order of mobilization, the routes of advancement, designated positions, and targets.

    The most important thing at present was the war.

    This time, the imperial army had turned out in full strength, leaving behind only the craftsmen, logistics team, and less than ten thousand soldiers. The rest were all charging majestically toward the Evernight main camp.

    ording to the n in his hand, the imperial army would circle around the entire valley that was Giant¡¯s Repose, and fall into formation outside of the Evernight main camp. Afterward, they wouldunch an all-out attack on the following day. The Zhao n private army was in the second part of the line-up and would be in charge of defense upon arrival. He was to block any counterattacks from the Evernight army first andunch an attackter on.

    At this moment, a sh of light appeared outside the window, followed by rumbling explosions. Qianye cranked open the window and nced out to find arge ball of fire in the air. It fell into the bottomless ravine, exploding continuously and shooting out fragmented debris in all directions.

    That was a burning airship, but the mes on it were so intense that he couldn¡¯t see which faction it belonged to. The destruction of this vessel seemed to have opened up the gates of disaster as balls of me lit up repeatedly in the sky.

    One airship after another caught on fire, burned up, and either exploded or came crashing down. The airspace above Giant¡¯s Repose had turned into a killing zone with an unending stream of vessels from both sides charging into the fierce battle.

    Qianye focused his gaze from a distance and was finally able to make out the destroyed vessel¡¯s affiliation¡ªit was an Evernight battleship. For every imperial airship destroyed, two would fall from the Evernight faction.

    This was the first time Qianye had experienced a war of such scale. For a moment, he was deeply shaken.

 Volume 6 - 546: Vanguard

    [V6C76 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The empire had thrived for thousands of years, but its most sessful area was withrge mechanized weapons, even surpassing the Evernight faction both in terms of city defenses and airship warfare. The empire held a particr advantage in terms of single-airship firepower. Hence, the Evernight side had to depend on their advantage in the number of experts to fill this gap.

    However, the two great monarchs from the Evernight side hadn¡¯t appeared during this battle, and the less powerful experts were soon dominated by the well-prepared empire. The Evernight airship fleet thus suffered grievous losses.

    A couple of hours into the battle, the Evernight side had lost one entire airship fleet, but even then, airships from both sides continued to pour in. They weren¡¯tpletely unprepared¡ªthey had two sub-fleets hidden in a distant base to serve as reserve units. What they didn¡¯t expect was that the empire would have a hidden ace in the form of three sub-fleets parked out in the void.

    The troops on the ground were still charging forth. Qianye soon closed the window and looked straight ahead, collecting his thoughts.

    Rolling smoke and dust rose over the horizon. That was the thirty-thousand strong vanguard unit of the regr army, halfposed of imperial soldiers, and the remainder upied by Zhang n private soldiers. Zhang Boqian, as themander-in-chief of this operation, had assigned his own private army to the vanguard unit. Even the ns who held a grudge against the Zhang n couldn¡¯t help but admire his dedication.

    Qianye passed an order for the entire battalion to maintain formation and pay attention to their distance from the main army vanguard and adjacent units. Afterward, he lit a cigarette and allowed himself to enter aplete state of rest. Constant rumbling explosions came from above, but Qianye still managed to rx his spirit, slow down his thoughts, and eventually enter dreand¡ªhe had actually fallen asleep in such a situation.

    After an unknown length of time, an intense rumble woke Qianye up followed by the shrill sound of a descending cannon shell. However, the round failed toplete its mission as a sniper atop the jeep fired several rounds in session and caused it to ignite mid-air.

    The explosion took ce several hundred meters from the ground, yet the vehicle was badly shaken and its windows shattered. From this, one could see how great its firepower was.

    Qianye tidied his hair which had been messed up by the shockwave. Then, with a light tap on his seat, he flipped out of the window with great agility and arrived on the roof to observe the surroundings.

    A series of shrill whistles filled the sky as a torrent of cannon shells fell toward Qianye¡¯s vehicle. ¡°Issue mymand, perform independent evasive maneuvers!¡±

    A senior officer immediately stood up and waved the relevantmand gs. The motorcade behind them immediately spread out and, at the same time, spat out tongues of mes from their roofs. The constant shes of origin power moved forth like arge to intercept the descending shells.

    ck plumes of smoke exploded in the air amidst deafening rumbles as the heavy-cannon shells were sted apart one after another. There was also a fair number that managed to break through the interception fire, leaving deep pits on the ground wherever theynded.

    A military transport made a sharp turn but still failed to evade the iing shell. It was struck directly and transformed into a ball of mes. The soldiers within were flung out in all directions like broken dolls. Only a small number of officers managed to extricate themselves, while the rest werepletely disfigured.

    Qianye broke into a frown. A single shot had taken the lives of dozens of elite soldiers, and even among the vehicles that hadn¡¯t been struck, there were casualties sustained from stray bullets during the evasion process. But less than a hundred had died while passing through the artillery blockade. This could already be considered an exemry performance, unquestionable proof of the Zhao n private army¡¯s quality.

    Qianye stood firmly on the roof of the car with a scarlet origin glow flickering around him; he would reach out to intercept the falling cannon shells from time to time. Seeing his actions, the other powerful vanguard battalion officers also leapt onto the roof and activated their origin defenses to protect the advancing motorcade.

    Qianye nced far into the distance and saw balls of light rising up at the extremes of his vision. The vanguard unit had spread out at the designated point and formed a temporary line of defense from which they were fighting against the Evernight army. The Evernight side had invested a great number of troops in their defensive line, much more than the empire had in the vanguard. Apparently, they wanted to push the frontline back before the Imperials had gained a foothold.

    Qianye immediately issued an order after seeing this. ¡°Full speed ahead!¡±

    The jeep engine roared frantically as it sped forward over the rugged wastnd. The vanguard battalion cars all elerated after seeing themand vehicle speed up and whizzed toward the frontlines.

    Qianye leapt off the jeep several kilometers away from the battlefield and charged forward at full speed. Upon seeing this, themunications officer on the jeep grabbed the re gun and fired a signal re in Qianye¡¯s direction. The bullet swayed upward and drew out a blue line through the sky. All qualified imperial soldiers would know that this was a signal re used specifically by the Zhao n.

    The vanguard battalion¡¯s cars stopped thousands of meters away from the battlefield. All warriors alighted and ran toward their designated positions in a staggered formation.

    The cannon fire in the air grew so dense that even the earth was trembling. The deafening explosions rumbled continuously as bomb craters appeared left and right.

    Soldiers of the Zhao n vanguard battalion were veterans of many battles. They leapt from one crater to another, using the transformedndscape to hide themselves during the advance. Some soldiers would be flung away from time to time, but most of them merely fell to the ground and managed to scramble up soon afterward.

    These veteran soldiers possessed great individual fighting power and were equipped with high-quality armor¡ªeven the cover bombing couldn¡¯t pose a great threat to them. They were mostly left with light wounds unless the shell fell right beside them.

    At the foremost, Qianye had already charged into the imperial vanguard unit. One of the Zhang n generals was startled when he saw the Zhao n insignia on Qianye¡¯s uniform. ¡°You guys came so fast!¡±

    Qianye had no time to reply as East Peak shed out to block in front of the general''s chest. Arge ball of origin me exploded on the de, tainted with strands of ck energy¡ªit was a powerful sniper round.

    The Zhang n general lost all color. Had Qianye not blocked that shot for him, it was likely that the bullet would¡¯ve pierced through his armor and opened arge hole on his chest.

    The general had no time to thank Qianye under the urgent situation. He grabbed the assault rifle nearby and, with two bursts, made a sieve out of the distant vampire. Only after pressing the trigger did he have the time to express his gratitude. ¡°Thanks, brother!¡±

    Qianye said with a wave of his hand, ¡°No need, we drink after the fight!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t linger around at all and sped toward a group of charging arachne. The oceanic power pressed half the arachne onto the ground as he took their captain¡¯s head with a sweep of East Peak.

    Qianye rushed time and again into the most dangerous of ces. Each time, he would arrive in the enemy¡¯s midst with unparalleled speed, suppress them with his oceanic might, and take the head of their most powerful expert. He killed with incredible speed and defeated numerous dark race units in the blink of an eye. The stress on the defensive line was immediately eased up.

    At this moment, the Zhao n vanguard battalion arrived at the scene in quick session and moved toward Qianye in formation.

    Qianye drew his Twin Flowers and downed several dark race soldiers in front of him. He then turned back and roared, ¡°Form a defensive perimeter here. Front row, assist in the attack. Back row, deploy defenses!¡±

    He had just given the order when a sense of rm arose in his heart. Immediately afterward, a vampire origin grenade appeared at his feet, seemingly out of nowhere. Qianye was sent flying from the intense explosion and soon crashed onto the distant ground due to East Peak¡¯s weight.

    For a moment, Qianye could only hear the explosion ringing in his ears and see stars in his eyes. The blood energy and origin power in his body were in turmoil. That wasn¡¯t just an ordinary origin grenade, but one with the ability to disrupt daybreak origin power.

    As powerful as his body was, he could hardly mber up on the spot.

    Qianye soon felt someone dragging him backward. Several Zhao n soldiers had appeared around him and were firing with all their might to cover their retreat.

    Then, another vampire hand grenade exploded. It didn¡¯t have any added effect like the previous one but managed tond squarely in the midst of the soldiers. The warriors evaded with all their might but failed to escapepletely from the st radius. The great half of them fell in an instant with only one managing to mber up and fire back.

    Qianye only saw things up to this point before he was dragged into a bomb crater. Soon, he felt a slight pain at his neck as though he had been bitten by a bug.

    The potential attack to his vital area activated all of Qianye¡¯s instinctive defenses. He immediately became sober and sat up with his handgun pointing forward.

    Beside Qianye was a young soldier. He was already a major in the army despite his tender facial features. At this moment, he had a syringe in his hand and was looking at the bent needle in a daze.

    This was the Zhao n¡¯s specialized life-saving medicine, one with thebined effects of healing, stimtion, and blood restoration. Its effects were much better than those issued by the imperial regr army. Even within the Zhao n private army, only officers and special units like the vanguard battalion would receive a quota.

    The medicine was specially designed for critical situations. Its needle was constructed from the same alloy used to make origin gun barrels and possessed the ability to pierce through standard armor. This saved time during emergencies by removing the need for a proper injection site to deliver the medicine.

    What caused the youth to be bbergasted was that the needle bent out of shape after sticking into Qianye¡¯s bare skin, leaving nothing more than a red spot.

    Seeing what had transpired, Qianye took the medicine from the major, pinched off the needle, and swallowed the contents in one gulp. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± With that, he leapt out of the crater.

    Qianye held the Bloody Datura in one hand and East Peak in the other. At the same time, he activated his Bloodline Concealment and began roaming through the battlefield under the cover of the thick smoke. He ignored several good opportunities for an ambush because the most important mission right now was to find the stealthy enemy who had tossed that grenade.

    That person was too dangerous. He managed tounch a sessful sneak attack even under Qianye¡¯s sharp senses. The empire would suffer greater casualties if he couldn¡¯t deal with this person as soon as possible.

    Before long, a grenade appeared nearby as though it had floated up from underwater. The st sent two imperial lieutenants flying into the air along with several soldiers and effectively silenced the heavy machine gun they were operating.

    During this short moment, Qianye caught a ripple-like origin power trajectory in his True Sight. Apparently, that was the origin power which had delivered the grenade to its designated location. However, the source of this trajectory was filled with mist, and no life-form could be sensed therein.

 Volume 6 - 547: Behind the Curtains on the Front Lines

    [V6C77 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye didn¡¯t hesitate in the least despite failing to sense anything there. He produced several grenades and hurled them out at full force. The explosives crossed several hundred meters in the blink of an eye and sted into the dense cloud of smoke like a cannon shell.

    A cry of rm emerged from the mist, followed by the appearance of a silhouette trying to escape the st¡ªbut it was one step toote. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s grenades fell in a particr pattern which locked down a ten-meter area around the person. The shockwaves from the consecutive explosions swept the person back in.

    Only a miserable cry was heard before the figure rushed back out, covered in mes from head to toe. But his movements faltered after taking two steps out as an origin bullet tore through the air and took away half his head.

    Qianye blew on the smoking-hot barrel and walked over to the corpse.

    It was a demonkin. The remaining half of his head was still frozen in an expression of pain and astonishment, apparently unable to believe that he would be discovered.

    As a mere baron, he was neither powerful nor pivotal in a factional war of this scale. But a number of his sinister abilities held destructive potential when coupled with powerful grenades, and this far surpassed his own strength.

    Had the dark races been less particr about bloodlines and personalbat strength¡ªif they had only made an exception and assigned him a number of super-powerful ck titanium grenades¡ªthe casualties on the empire¡¯s side would be unimaginable.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t bother to search the body. He fired swiftly from the Bloody Datura and killed off all threatening enemies in the vicinity. This handgun in Qianye¡¯s grasp had actually fired from the range of an assault rifle, and many of the dead dark race soldiers didn¡¯t even know where the bullets hade from.

    Those killed by Qianye were all core enemy experts, middle-ranking officers of the Evernight army. And with these people dead, the troops under them fell into immediate chaos. It was at this time that a fierce hail of bullets swept over these low-ranking soldiers and cannon fodder, mowing them down row by row. The stronger ones were then surrounded and killed by the vanguard battalion soldiers.

    Before long, the tables had turned in the area Qianye was in charge of. The dark race warriors in the area had been routed and were fleeing in scattered groups.

    Qianye nced at the surroundings and found no enemy in sight. He had just breathed a sigh of relief when he felt something off with his shoulder. He reached for the source of difort and found two bullets there. Only then did he look down and discover that he had been struck several times. Some of the bullets had been blocked by his armor and origin defenses, but a couple of others had left wounds of varying degrees on his body.

    These were merely surface injuries, so Qianye paid them no heed. He simply injected a dose of stimnts and rushed toward another part of the battlefield to beat up the dark race squads there. A shrill whistle echoed through the air just when Qianye was considering whether he should charge into the enemy camp.

    He looked up and, with his superior vision, saw a dozen or so ck dots approaching from the sky. Heavy cannon shells!

    But these shells hade from the empire¡¯s side and were headed for the middle of the Evernight army.

    These were the empire¡¯s heavy cannons! Since even the heavy artillery corps had arrived, it was likely that the elite cavalry was already nking the enemy.

    Qianye became spirited. The morale of the imperial soldiers also rose dramatically, and some even cheered with open arms. Meanwhile, fear and chaos descended among the dark race units that had been pushed back several times by Qianye.

    Qianye grasped this short-lived opportunity. He raised his sword and shouted ¡°Follow me!¡± as he charged headfirst into the dark race formation. His oceanic power and Nirvanic Rend quickly produced a wide empty space in front of him.

    The vanguard battalion soldiers were dauntless veterans to begin with. Seeing how powerful Qianye¡¯s single assault was, many of them found their blood boiling as they followed Qianye into the dark race formation. Origin guns weren¡¯t satisfying enough in a melee fight since they had to be charged up. Many people discarded their assault rifles and charged in with daggers drawn.

    The Zhao n private army assumed their own formation in battle, and Qianye grew ustomed to their tempo after pushing several hundred meters in. He now focused only on charging ahead and left the other sides in their hands. Thus, their vanguard battalion charged through the tempest and rampaged through the dark race army. They inflicted heavy casualties among the dark races, and rolling waves of blood would flow wherever they went¡ªno one could stop them.

    In just a short while, Qianye had led the army to a point where he could no longer see the other imperial soldiers. He nced about and found himself deep within the enemy formation, just a short distance away from breaking through the entire enemy ranks. However, empty areas were likely to draw the concentrated fire of the Evernight camp¡¯s cannons. As such, Qianye killed his way through the encirclement and led the vanguard battalion back to the imperial formation.

    This excursion was like walking through an uninhabitednd. Before Qianye, all of the dark race army¡¯s formations fell apart and descended into chaos. This quickly eased the pressure on the imperial frontlines.

    Whistles rang through the air yet again from the dozens of imperial heavy cannons. At this moment, a rain of fire fell from the sky as the imperial airships arrived. These airships had finished off their opponents and rushed over to provide support for the ground troops.

    The imperial defensive line had solidified, and their heavy artillery was pounding down on the Evernight side. Finally, the signal to retreat emerged from the enemy camp. The dark race soldiers pulled back from their front lines in misery, suffering attacks from the heavy cannons and airships along the way. Although their experts were fine, the low-ranking soldiers and cannon fodder suffered grievous casualties¡ªthetter had been wiped out almost entirely.

    The Evernight faction had used over half of their forces in this battle. Over a hundred thousand dark race soldiers swarmed over the vanguard in a bid to defeat them before they could gain a foothold. The Zhao n private army and the other major n armies added together numbered less than fifty thousand, yet they had managed to stem the tide of the dark race assault andst out until the main imperial army had beenpletely deployed.

    With the loss of this battle, the Evernight main camp was bound to fall. That majestic but hastily-built castle wasn¡¯t a military stronghold. It looked grand, but the defenses in many areas weren¡¯t well constructed. After ample preparations, the imperial main army would charge into the Evernight camp and wrest control of Giant¡¯s Repose in one go.

    Qianye didn¡¯t charge after them blindly after hearing their retreat signal. He looked back and found that the casualties of the vanguard battalion weren¡¯t very significant. Everyone was in high spirits, but many of them were wounded and low on origin power.

    The vanguard battalion had never stopped fighting since arriving on the battlefield. Not only had they destroyed the enemies in their own defensive zone, but they had also finished off many enemies from the neighboring ones. Their contributions could be considered rather splendid.

    Qianye raised a hand to stop the muscleheads who wanted to give chase. He then nced toward the Evernight main camp and said, ¡°Vanguard battalion, return to the defensive lines and remain on alert! No one leaves without my order!¡±

    Military orders had to be obeyed without question. The soldiers thus moved toward the imperial vanguard unit, found their own battle positions, and began constructing defensive structures there.

    Qianye¡¯s mission, as well as that of the imperial vanguard unit, was to arrive first on the battlefield and establish a defensive line there. This would facilitate the deployment of the arriving army. It could be said that they had already over-fulfilled their duty. A premature advance would greatly increase their casualty rates.

    Qianye suppressed his somewhat restless mood and waited patiently in the defensive line. He longed to do battle, but his grasp of the bigger picture wasn¡¯tcking at all. He knew that the defensive line was critical to the safety of the arriving imperial army and couldn¡¯t be lost. In a battle where each side was fielding hundreds of thousands of men, killing a couple more soldiers on one¡¯s own had little impact on the war as a whole.

    The imperial main army soon arrived, and the various types ofbat vehicles and heavy cannons moved into position. The military engineers who arrivedst began constructing temporary camps immediately upon their arrival.

    However, they had justid down the framework when Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice reverberated throughout the battlefield. ¡°What are those camps for? Attack immediately!¡±

    The temporarymanders and generals were all startled. But naturally, no one dared to go against Zhang Boqian¡¯s personal orders. They immediately split up to dispatch their respective troops¡ªthe bugle sounded as military orders moved down the various ranks and eventually reached the soldiers.

    Song Zining looked rather unremarkable in the imperial army since a brigadier general was nothing amidst the sea of general epaulets in the staff office.

    However, his authority wasn¡¯t one to be trifled with. There was a sand table in front of him with the designation of each unit marked out upon it. At this moment, a staff officer handed Song Zining a military order he had just written. Thetter ran his eyes over it and pondered slightly before moving the unit designations on the sand table.

    The assistants nearby immediately recorded Song Zining¡¯s moves, which were then converted to military orders for dispatch.

    After the generals had confirmed the attack targets and troops to ept the mission, the corresponding order would arrive in the hands of Song Zining¡¯s group. Thetter would then dissect the mission to confirm the order and details of each squad.

    There were five such sand tables in the staff office headquarters, which meant that Song Zining held the concrete power to mobilize one-fifth of the forces. Although the direction and target of these units had already been determined, there were many small things that needed some work.

    At this moment, Song Zining made a few casual moves and switched Qianye¡¯s unit to the second echelon. It would be his turn to attack only after the Evernight camp¡¯s outer perimeter had been broken through.

    Although the military contributions on the surface would be a bit less, the Zhao n warriors would gain precious time to catch their breaths and more or less recover some strength.

    These were only detailed adjustments, and it was well-justified because Qianye¡¯s vanguard battalion had justpleted an assault. The entire staff office was so busy that they seemed to be flying about, and thus no one noticed this small detail.

    Song Zining revealed an implicative smile after seeing the military order being sent out. His gaze then fell upon the Nangong family¡¯s designations. He reached out and ced them in a gap on the frontlines.

    The assistants nearby recorded these changes and drafted a military order for Song Zining to check. Thetter scanned it briefly as usual before nodding in confirmation. Thus, the order was finally issued.

 Volume 6 - 548: An Unavoidable Game

    Chapter 548: An Unavoidable Game [V6C78 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The empire¡¯s fledgling camp was bustling with activity as squads of soldiers rushed out from the grounds and set out toward their designated targets. Behind them was a half-constructed camp with all its paused construction machinery.

    The Nangong family had dispatched an entire division into battle. Despite therge numbers, their soldiers couldn¡¯t be considered elite. This was quite abnormal for the Nangong family who had always wanted topete with the four major ns. In truth, the Nangong family was set back significantly after the bloody battle with their losses grossly outweighing the profits. They had no choice but toy low and preserve their young descendants.

    The two elders in charge couldn¡¯t help but smile at one another after receiving the order. They felt quite fortunate because they had also been eyeing that space in the defensive line. The military power there was quite weak, and thend around it was even more so. Although there was little in terms of cover, it would allow them to deploy forces with greater ease.

    The Evernight main camp was nothing more than a temporary base. Moreover, the dark races¡¯ nning had always been inferior to the empire¡¯s, and their defenses, usually insufficient. The base would be there for the taking as long as the formation of dark race troops were routed. This disadvantage, at that time, would no longer be a disadvantage.

    Easy missions like this where they could harvest contributions were simply wonderful. The two Nangong elders set out for the designated area immediately and without the slightest bit of hesitation.

    The situation on a battlefield of this scale could change in the blink of an eye, and others would have taken the good stuff if they werete. They would have nothing to say at that point.

    The imperial army moved without pause under the night sky. Several dozen streams of steel flooded toward the Evernight main camp.

    The Nangong family squad overtook one unit after another and charged at the Evernight camp like a pack of hungry wolves.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even set out at this moment. ording to the order, he would have to wait another half an hour before setting out. Qianye stacked two crates of ammunition in passing and lit up a wrinkled cigarette on the embers near his feet. The glow of the burning cigarette flickered in the darkness as he inhaled slowly.

    Most of the vanguard battalion soldiers were sleeping soundly on the floor, seizing the moment to get through the exhaustion that followed the usage of stimnts. The raging mes and explosions in the distance had no effect on these old veterans.

    Time passed by slowly. All of a sudden, the origin sundial in Qianye¡¯s hand began to ring. Qianye silenced the rm and called out in a deep voice, ¡°Time¡¯s up. Prepare to leave!¡±

    The soldiers who were in deep sleep just a while ago leapt up to organize their equipment. Not long afterward, they were in formation and ready to go. Qianye boarded a jeep and set out first toward the Evernight camp. The soldiers of the vanguard battalion boarded the transport vehicles in neat rows and were soon following behind themand vehicle.

    mes lit up in the mountainous vicinity of the Evernight main camp, illuminating even the deep colors of the firmament. Tens of thousands of soldiers were killing one another with no care for their own safety. Numerous lives were snuffed out in the mes of war with each passing moment.

    Although there were no powerful defensive structures in front of them, the battle was more arduous than the imperial generals had thought. The Evernight side seemed to have entered a state of frenzy. From the ranked experts above to the ordinary soldiers below, each and every one of them was fighting with their lives on the line. When things became desperate, they would choose to end in mutual destruction rather than retreat.

    At this moment, the faces of the two Nangong family elders were ashen as they intercepted the deluge of cannon shells in the sky. They managed to detonate one shell after the other, but these feats were quickly draining their origin power.

    At this moment, an officer with blood all over his face ran over and shouted, ¡°Elder! Reinforcements, we need reinforcements at the front!¡±

    The elder, who was taking a short break, shot to his feet. ¡°Didn¡¯t I just send twopanies over there?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re dead! All dead! Those ck-blooded bastards have all gone crazy. Now, several hundred of our brothers are trapped inside, I must have more reinforcements to get them out!¡±

    The elder roared furiously, ¡°The enemy numbers less than a thousand. I gave you three thousand men and a thousand more in reinforcements. Howe you only have that many left?¡±

    The officer replied, ¡°It¡¯s definitely not just a thousand, there¡¯s simply no end to them at all. Moreover, their heavy cannons keep on firing without a care for their own men. It feels like all cannons are sting at us!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you two morepanies. Use whatever means you can think of, but you must secure that passage for me!¡±

    The elder was left seething after the officer left with the troops. With nothing else to vent on, he kicked hard at the nearby wall and caused arge segment of it to copse.

    From a bird¡¯s eye view, one would find that the mes of war covering the Nangong family¡¯s area was the fiercest and most tenacious. Every step they took forward was paved with the lives of their own men.

    The other battlefronts were progressing much faster. Some of them had broken through rapidly and were beginning to press on the main camp, while others had turned sideways to outnk the defending army in the adjacent areas.

    The fierce battlested for several hours before the defenses at the Evernight main camp finally copsed. The Nangong family killed off thest dark race soldier there and managed to step into the Evernight main camp. However, the two elders had no joy on their faces. Their lips trembled as they observed the corpses strewn across the battlefield. They wanted to curse out loud, but no words escaped their lips.

    They had suffered unceasing cannon fire from the beginning and all the way to the end. If it weren¡¯t for the two elders and several champions taking turns to shield the troops, their casualties would¡¯ve been even higher. There was no telling if they could even take this segment of the wall.

    The dark race cannons poured down in torrents without distinguishing between friend and foe. The greater half of the Nangong soldiers were sted to death while tangling with the enemy. Even a rank-nine fighter could hardly escape injuries¡ªthe umtion of which would lead to sure death on the battlefield.

    The Nangong family had paid with the lives of thousands of men in order to take down this seemingly fragile defensive line and had lost over half their troops. It could be said that their unit had been badly damaged and would need a long time to recover its fighting capacity.

    This motorized private army was all the force the Nangong family could muster. They had never expected to be beaten up so badly at the outset. The main family couldn¡¯t transfer any more soldiers from the upper continents or else their core defenses would be affected.

    The two elders were both furious and heartbroken. They couldn¡¯t understand why the dark race cannons would fire so fiercely. From the intensity of the bombardment, it was quite likely that most, if not all, of the cannons in the enemy camp were concentrating their fire on that small zone. In other words, the Nangong family had soaked up the greater half of the enemy¡¯s defensive firepower.

    ¡°Elder, what do we do now?¡± an officer inquired.

    The two elders nced at one another and said helplessly, ¡°Rest and reorganize on the spot. Rescue the wounded.¡±

    The officer¡¯s expression was also helpless. Rest and reorganization meant that they would have no more opportunity to join theter battles. Be it military contributions or spoils of war, the true profitsy at the very end. Stopping here was barely passable and signified that the Nangong family wouldn¡¯t be able to recoup the losses they had suffered.

    But over half of their forces were dead, and there was also arge number of wounded soldiers who would die from worsening injuries if they weren¡¯t treated in a timely fashion.

    At this point, many people were suspicious as to why the fight in this particr segment of the battlefront was so fierce. The other sectors managed to break through the unreasonably weak Evernight defenses, while some never even saw a single cannon shell.

    The two elders exchanged somber nces as they recalled that military order at the same time.

    At this moment, the heightened activity in the temporary imperial camp hade to an end. Thest unit had left half an hour ago, leaving behind only themand center and a token defense force. The others that remained were nonbat personnel like engineers and doctors.

    Song Zining had slipped out of the staff office and into a deserted tent. There he was enjoying his secret stash of wine in thepany of two intimate female officers. The twodies¡¯ alcohol tolerance was rather mediocre. They had only downed a cup or two when their faces grew flushed¡ªno one knew if the alcohol had intoxicated the person, or if it was the other way around.

    One of the beauties said, ¡°Alcohol is prohibited in the army. You¡¯re quite the bold one!¡±

    Song Ziningughed heartily. ¡°Trysts are also prohibited in the army. You two are pretty gutsy too.¡±

    The other young girl red at Song Zining. ¡°You seem to be in a good mood today, did anything happen?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I figured out a certain principle,¡± Song Zining said with a smile.

    ¡°A principle? What about?¡± The girls were both curious and expectant as they would always hear profound words from Song Zining.

    ¡°This principle is rted to power,¡± he continued without keeping them in prolonged suspense, ¡°power is a wonderful thing. With it, one can do some things others cannot. For instance, I was able to sneak some wine in and you two were able to mix your way into the imperial camp.¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    Song Zining pushed a ss of wine over the table and watched as it fell over the edge and shattered on the floor. He then said with augh, ¡°With enough power, one can send other people toward a cliff with a flick of his finger, then push him over with a light tap. Stupid people might not even know what happened.¡±

    ¡°Then what about smart people?¡±

    Song Zining said with augh, ¡°Smart people will, of course, be able to guess the reason. Why otherwise would they be called smart?¡±

    One of the girls pondered while looking at the shattered ss on the floor and sighed contemtively. ¡°Say, do you think it''s better to be dumb or smart?¡±

    The other girl replied, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s better to be smart!¡±

    Song Zining shook his head and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s better to be dumb. The smart person will have no choice but to jump down knowing full well that it¡¯s a cliff in front of him. Such is the true benefit of power.¡±

    The first girl sighed again. ¡°That is indeed so. Just like us, we clearly know that our future marriage holds nothing but suffering, yet we have no choice but to jump into it.¡±

    Song Zining was startled as he hadn¡¯t expected her thoughts to have drifted in that direction. But what level of character was the seventh young master? He immediately changed the subject and made the girls happy again.

    In truth, Song Zining was thinking about that map of the Evernight camp. Most of the enemy heavy cannons had been found out and marked upon it.

    Judging from the distribution of the cannons, it was obvious that many of them had been moved to defend against the empire¡¯s vanguard unit. The main imperial army, under Zhang Boqian¡¯s orders, hadunched an all-out attack immediately after arriving at the front lines. As such, the defending Evernight army simply had no time to shift these heavy cannons back into position. This caused the cannons¡¯ coverage areas to be fragmented, and many defense lines were left uncovered.

    Meanwhile, the area assigned to the Nangong family was the ce of maximal fire coverage. As matters stood, no one knew whether or not the Nangong family generals had guessed the reason, but just as Song Zining said a while ago, it made little difference.

 Volume 6 - 549: Attack

    [V6C79 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    At this moment, the Evernight main camp was covered in raging mes, and their battle line was shrinking rapidly toward the center. The units charging at the foremost were only a couple hundred meters away from the majestic castle. Some of the long-range snipers could already hit the castle at this range.

    Qianye was already closing in on the castle as he led the Zhao n vanguard battalion in a rapid charge. The assault along the way was exceptionally smooth and proceeded without so much as a decent trace of resistance. But Qianye saw at least three imperial units along the way that had clearly gone through arduous battles¡ªfallen soldiers were strewn across the ground and the survivors,pletely exhausted.

    Coincidence or otherwise, the squads charging in front of Qianye happened to lose their fighting capacity just below the castle.

    With no time to linger, Qianye kept on marching until he was three hundred meters from the castle. Only then did hemand his soldiers to assumebat positions and prepare for the assault.

    All important enemy sites were marked clearly on the military orders issued to individualmanders. Among them, the castle where the great dark monarchs were stationed served as themand center of the entire Evernight camp. Aplete victory would be achieved only after taking this fort.

    A strong urge to charge out emerged in Qianye¡¯s heart as he gazed at the abysmal castle and the dark mist surrounding it. He was just about to step forward when he recalled the thousands of soldiers behind him. Without the support of someone like him, the vanguard soldiers of the two battalions would be ughtered should they encounter an Evernight expert. The Evernight army had suffered grave casualties up to this point, so all those who had survived were inevitably powerful experts.

    Qianye decided to observe once more and wait for a good opportunity. It was at this time that another thousand-man squad charged out from the side. The soldiers had Zhang n insignias on their uniforms, and their leader was the champion whom Qianye had saved during the previous battle.

    The Zhang n general was delighted upon seeing Qianye. He arrived beside Qianye under cover of thendscape and said, ¡°What a coincidence, I have never expected to run into you here! I didn¡¯t get the chance to thank you properly back then, my name is Zhang Shiduo.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Qianye.¡± Qianye shook the man¡¯s hand.

    Zhang Shiduo shot a nce at the castle standing against the night sky. ¡°This ce won¡¯t be easy to attack. Shall we go together?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Zhang Shiduo was just about to speak when a sudden whistling sound emerged from up front. The bullet almost grazed past his scalp after he had lowered his head. Zhang Shiduo jumped up halfway and fired a burst of bullets toward the wall, whereupon a sharpshooter fell down with a miserable cry.

    The man crouched down once more and spewed out a series of curses before resuming their detailed discussion of the assault.

    ¡°Brother Qianye, it looks like the brothers under yourmand are proficient in close quarterbat. I have more snipers in my group. How about this? We¡¯ll provide cover fire first while you go and take down that position over there. Then, my men will scale the building. See that tower over there? As long as I can get there, I¡¯ll be able to suppress a good portion of the ck bastards in the castle.¡±

    Zhang Shiduo was nearly forty and possessed enoughbat experience to form a solid n in the blink of an eye. He was a rank-twelve champion proficient in mid-range sniping and could use an assault rifle to exert the effectiveness of a heavy cannon. If he were allowed to reach a high vantage point, it would surely affect the entire battlefield.

    Qianye shot a nce at the northwestern sentry tower and, with his True Sight, saw a dark shadowy mass. Apparently, it was an extraordinary expert.

    Qianye pondered for a while and said, ¡°There¡¯s an expert in the sentry tower, but it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll go and finish him.¡±

    ¡°Expert?¡± Zhang Shiduo opened up an ammo box, produced three Extreme Yang Bullets, and loaded all of them into his assault rifle. He said while patting the gun, ¡°No need to risk your life, just force him out. He can¡¯t dodge my bullets within a hundred meters.¡±

    Qianye nced at the assault rifle and couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit pained. ¡°Three Extreme Yang Bullets? Isn¡¯t that too wasteful? It¡¯s just a third-rank count.¡±

    Zhang Shiduoughed heartily. ¡°Brother, you¡¯re still young. Bullets are there for one¡¯s use, it¡¯ll be a true waste if you die without shooting them.¡± With that, he patted Qianye hard on the back and said, ¡°Remember, draw him out. Don¡¯t risk your life.¡±

    Qianye smiled.

    At this point, some other imperial squads were arriving little by little with some choosing to circle around the castle instead. Fierce cannon fire had broken out on the eastern side of the fortress. A certain squad had apparently started fighting without waiting for all members to arrive, eager for contributions.

    Qianye listened intently to the sounds of battle.

    Zhang Shiduo was also paying attention. ¡°What a fierce battle. They¡¯ve charged onto the walls just like that!¡±

    The timbre of the origin guns was especially clear in Qianye¡¯s ears, so much so that they had suppressed all the other sounds on the battlefield, including the heavy artillery fire. Zhang Shiduo, as a rank-twelve champion, couldn¡¯t discern the sound produced by void origin power. Qianye, on the other hand, was especially sensitive to it after absorbing Sky Demon¡¯s embers and the ancient essence fragment.

    Someone capable of using void origin power in a casual firefight was apparently no ordinary expert. But the worst part was that they were all users of darkness origin power, and needless to say, they were experts from the Evernight side.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°They¡¯re about to lose.¡±

    Zhang Shiduo was startled. ¡°Lose? How can it be so fast?¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when the sounds of fighting died down on the other side of the castle. Apparently, the soldiers who had climbed up onto the walls had encountered terrible fates. A mysterious atmosphere descended on the battlefield as the stirring imperial squads became cautious.

    Killing intent shed in Qianye¡¯s eyes. He was just about to stand up when Zhang Shiduo grabbed ahold of him. Thetter shook his head and said, ¡°Wait for fire-support.¡±

    ¡°Fire-support?¡± Qianye had never experienced arge scale battle before, but he decided to wait a while since Zhang Shiduo had said so.

    Before long, the loud whistle of heavy cannon shells broke the silence around the castle. Continuous explosions echoed in the sky as the shells were intercepted and ignited mid-air.

    The imperial cannons didn¡¯t stop, however, just because of this minor setback. They fired with even greater ferocity, and toward the end, hundreds of them even began firing in a volley. It seemed the artillery squads had moved their short-range cannons over to be able to muster such a bombardment.

    Explosions filled the air as numerous airships arrived over the castle for an aerial bombardment. It was at this time that awork of fire appeared in the sky and flew past one of the airships at great speed.

    That airship spat out tongues of me, and very soon, it ignited into a ball of fire which fell slowly toward the ground. Several burning men jumped down from the airship. Their sharp screams echoed through the skies but quickly reached abrupt ends.

    The airship¡¯s wreckage crashed head-first to the ground amidst a series of loud explosions. Another of fire appeared over the castle and shot toward another battleship at unbelievable speeds. This ship met the same fate.

    The imperial airships turned back upon seeing the impossible situation, but the fire appeared once again to ignite the slowest airship in the fleet. Only afterward did it return to silence.

    The mings didn¡¯t look like gun or cannon fire. It was likely the secret art deployed by a certain expert. It was exceptionally powerful, and even a battle airship couldn¡¯t block a single strike from it. If this ming were to descend upon Qianye¡¯s squad, it was quite likely that less than ten people out of the twobined battalions would survive.

    This was proof of Zhang Shiduo¡¯s veteran experience. Qianye¡¯s entire force would¡¯ve been wiped out had he attacked rashly just now and ran into that ming.

    A single attack capable of destroying a battleship¡¯s defenses meant that the user was likely a mighty marquis at least. There was no way to kill such an expert with a swarm of ordinary soldiers. Without a powerful expert to restrict him, that person might be able to retreat calmly after performing a massacre.

    Qianye grasped East Peak tightly with a frown on his face. The expert in the castle was indeed powerful, but pack hunting tactics were important on a battlefield. Although Qianye wasn¡¯t his match, he was confident enough to participate in a joint attack.

    Zhang Shiduo pulled Qianye back once more. ¡°Don¡¯t be rash, there are experts in the army in charge of dealing with them.¡±

    Qianye suppressed his battle intent and continued waiting.

    The imperial heavy cannons were now firing with greater ferocity, almost pouring their wrath into the barrage. The defending army in the castle was clearly beginning to feel some strain. It was at this time that the fiery appeared once again. It didn¡¯t move but simply froze in the air, protecting half the castle underneath.

    The cannon shells would be ignited as soon as they passed through the. Less than a tenth shot through from the edges, but they were intercepted with rtive ease.

    Even so, the imperial heavy cannons fired continuously for an entire quarter of an hour in a bid to exhaust that expert¡¯s power. The cannon fire came to a sudden stop just as everyone, including Qianye, was starting to wonder if it would ever end. Soon afterward, the sound of a bugle¡ªone representing the order tounch an all-out attack¡ªreverberated throughout the battlefield.

    After hearing the signal to attack, a restless Qianye immediately jumped out from behind cover and made a beeline for the castle like a specter. Zhang Shiduo also rose and fired several tracer rounds from a special handgun. Beams of light struck the sentry tower as well as a number of dark firing points on the wall.

    These shots served as a target marker. The Zhang n warriors immediately opened fire, sending countless streams of fire toward the designated locations with shocking uracy. Some of those firing points were immediately silenced, while the others were suppressed. Seeing the opportunity, the soldiers of the Zhao n vanguard battalion charged toward the castle. They didn¡¯t just sprint blindly over but crisscrossed through cover while maintaining heavy firepower.

    Qianye rushed for the sentry tower. His target was the hidden expert upon it. Qianye no longer hid his aura after arriving near the castle and locked firmly onto the opponent.

    The sentry tower was filled with rolling waves of darkness. The shadowy figure sitting within the darkness opened its amber eyes and muttered in a raspy voice, ¡°A little rank-ten bastard? How bold!¡±

 Volume 6 - 550: Assailing the Castle

    [V6C80 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The shadowy figure in the sentry tower slowly stood up. He grabbed the longsword leaning on the chair and moved up the stairs to intercept Qianye at the top of the tower. However, an inexplicable sense of extreme danger welled up in his heart. He suddenly nced sideways, and there, he saw ayer of green bulging up from the surface of the wall.

    Time seemed to slow down as an azure origin bullet tore through the sentry tower and flew straight toward him.

    This bullet appeared without the slightest of warning signs, almost as though it had materialized out of thin air. A perilous notion emerged in the shadow¡¯s mind¡ªhe knew he couldn¡¯t evade this bullet no matter what. In the end, he managed to suppress these thoughts through sheer willpower and moved his body with every bit of strength he could muster. He shifted his vitals out of the way but couldn¡¯t evade the shotpletely. The greater half of his thigh was blown away amidst his miserable cries.

    However, the sense of danger grew even more intense. Enduring the pain, he leapt up with his remaining foot and shot through the roof of the sentry tower.

    But when he nced upward, all he could see was the iing East Peak!

    Qianye swung horizontally and cut the shadow into two. He was somewhat startled by the easy victory and couldn¡¯t quite figure out why this count would deliver his head up like this. Only when he saw the missing leg did Qianye realize that someone had already made a move before him.

    He looked in every direction but couldn¡¯t find the person who had lent him a hand. Equal measures of admiration and cautiousness lingered in his heart¡ªhe hadn¡¯t sensed that origin bullet even with his sharp senses and True Sight. Apparently, it was a special firearm ability.

    In the shadows far away, Zhao Jundu lowered the Blue Firmament and made a forward gesture. A dozen or so elite soldiers appeared from the darkness and quickly followed Zhao Jundu toward the back of the castle.

    At this moment, Zhang Shiduo had discovered that things hadn¡¯t gone quite as nned. He jumped onto the tower and couldn¡¯t help but be a bit startled after seeing the vampire count¡¯s corpse. He quickly gave Qianye a big thumbs up.

    After losing the defenses of this sentry tower, the area below soon became a melee battleground for imperial and dark race warriors. Seeing the urgency of the battle situation, Zhang Shiduo quickly set up his assault rifle and said to Qianye, ¡°Draw any powerful enemies you meet out into the open. I¡¯ll deal with them!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Qianye agreed, leapt down the sentry tower, and sped toward the depths of the castle.

    He ordered the vanguard battalion to upy the wall and sentry towers first. Then, they were to take control of the castle periphery and push in gradually. Ordinary soldiers yed little role in the battles inside the castle. They would only be ughtered should they run into a true Evernight expert.

    Zhang Shiduo rubbed his stubble after hearing Qianye¡¯s arrangements, feeling that this youth¡¯sbat style was rather novel. He quickly ordered his own squad to cooperate with the Zhao n¡¯s vanguard battalion¡ªthisbination of melee assault and long-range firepower left no room for suspense in this segment of the battlefront.

    Qianye arrived deep in the castle grounds and before the tiered main building. The castle was constructed along the mountain slope and consisted of over tenyers from top to bottom. Additionally, the interior of the entire mountain had been hollowed out and turned into aplex maze of tunnels.

    This majestic castle was no doubt the work of a master, one who had perfectlybined vampire and arachne architectural styles. Judging from its scale, it could only be bigger than Zhang Boqian¡¯s centralmand camp; furthermore, it was built from scratch within ten-odd days. Just from the speed of its construction, one could see just how many experts were assigned to its construction.

    The battle within the castle was abnormally arduous and far surpassed Qianye¡¯s expectations. Fights had broken out in every room and every corner of this city-sized castle. There was conflict in all of its passages and streets, staining them with the blood of experts.

    Since stepping into the castle, Qianye felt that there was simply no end to the enemies. Bullets would fly out from every unexpected corner, and enemies would fall one after another before him. However, the battles seemed to go on perpetually.

    Qianye kicked open the door and rushed into a certain room. The ce was surprisingly free of traps and enemy ambushes, the first ever since his arrival here. He immediately felt like the luckiest person on earth.

    From the intricate furnishings, it was likely that the room belonged to a vampire noble. There was a pot of soup on the kitchen stove which was still warm to the touch.

    There was a painting in the study depicting a group of vampires riding through the snowy woods, drawn in a frosty art style characteristic to vampires. One of them was d in a viscount¡¯s attire and wore a rather gentle expression that was different from his cold peers.

    It would seem that this small room was the viscount¡¯s residence. Experts were as abundant as the clouds in this castle of the two great dark monarchs, and even a viscount could only upy a small room.

    Qianye searched the ce once and sat down at the study desk to flip through some of the books. Most of them were about history and literature, studies that were popr among vampire nobles.

    But Qianye came across two tranted imperial books. One was a history book, while the other was a tragic story about two star-crossed lovers who couldn¡¯t be together due to familial enmities and about how, in the end, they sacrificed themselves in the name of love.

    Qianye slowly put the book down and felt somewhat different when he looked at the room once more. He could see that the owner of this room loved his daily activities and had made this ce his home.

    Judging from the daily necessities, there was also a female owner here. It was just that no one knew whether or not she was obligated to join the battlefield. But virtually all dark race members were soldiers, and even some of the older children might be valiant warriors. This vampiredy might not be an exception.

    In truth, it wasn¡¯t that Qianye hadn¡¯t witnessed such scenes before. However, he never had the time to pay attention to these things, and his hatred for the dark races obscured his vision.

    Perhaps due to Nighteye or otherwise, he could now see certain things he never could before.

    Qianye¡¯s exhausted body recovered some origin power after a moment of rest. He stood up and returned to the door. This brief respite had ended¡ªthe battles had to continue, and the killing must go on.

    Qianye suddenly retracted his aura at the door and stepped sideways. The room door was shattered by a heavy axe which nted itself in the ground. The werewolf soldier lost his bnce after missing his target and almost stumbled into the room.

    Qianye pped his back with East Peak and pressed him firmly onto the ground before plunging a vampiric de into the werewolf¡¯s back.

    The werewolf gradually weakened as the rolling waves of hot blood threw Qianye into a state of blood boil and his stamina recovered rapidly.

    Qianye withdrew the de and wiped it on the dead body. He suddenly thought of something and flipped the werewolf soldier over to reveal a young, handsome face.

    By Evernight standards, someone with this level ofbat strength at such a young age possessed great future prospects. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have appeared in the two dark monarchs¡¯ castle. This warrior¡¯s career had just begun when it was ended abruptly by Qianye.

    Qianye stood up slowly. His expression and emotions had calmed down once again as he pushed all of these thoughts to the back of his head. After walking out of the room, he once again became that peerless god of death who had rampaged through the bloody battle.

    The constant battles that followed soon drained Qianye of his origin power. He thus charged into a nearby room to catch his breath, however, his eyes froze up at this point. There was another door inside which likely lead to the main bedroom. The aura of fresh blood was seeping out from the cracks in the door, and from a single whiff, he could tell that it was human blood.

    Qianye collected his remaining origin power and opened the door violently. The spectacle caused all of his blood to rush to his head!

    There were a dozen-odd imperial corpses in the room, some of which had died recently. These corpses had been bitten and mutted until only the bones remained. This room was a miniature blood feast.

    Qianye also saw some Zhao n insignias among the remains. From the traces left behind in the room, it was clear that this blood feast was being held to vent anger and not to sate one¡¯s appetite.

    Qianye stood silently for a while. Then, he produced an incendiary grenade, buried it under the pile of corpses, and closed the door. Raging mes flew out behind him as he left, turning the ce into a scene right out of hell.

    It was at this time that he felt a massive impact from the side which sent him flying several meters away. Qianye leapt up almost immediately, darted into a nearby tunnel, and hid himself behind a weapons rack.

    He felt a scorching pain on his shoulder, and his hand was drenched with blood when he reached out to touch the injury. He was in no rush to treat his wounds¡ªhe tossed out another incendiary grenade first and produced a sea of mes to deter any pursuers. Only then did he began inspecting himself.

    He had been shot just now, and this origin bullet possessed massive firepower. It sted right through his armor, tore open his tenacious flesh, and badly mangled his flesh. Even some of his bones at the site of injury had been shattered. Fortunately, this bullet had been specially constructed to favor firepower and contained no ck titanium. Otherwise, Qianye would be in deep trouble right now.

    The shot came so silently that Qianye hadn¡¯t sensed it up until it came into contact with his body. It would seem that other perceptive abilities were ineffective against the danger¡ªhe would need to activate True Sight.

    However, the entire battlefield was filled with narrow passageways and experts fighting everywhere. Add to that the constant origin power interference from the surroundings, it would be beyond difficult to trace the assant unless he attacked again.

    This was certainly a special ability and one that was extremely dangerous on the battlefield. Qianye recalled that the demonkin who had died in his hands also possessed a simr ability, allowing him to transport grenades stealthily. Qianye naturally possessed the ability to deal with him in a one-on-one fight, but it was a different story amidst the confusion of the battlefield.

    Qianye thought long and hard. Just what kind of ability could hide origin grenades and bullets from his perception? From his experience with the previous demonkin, he had a vague feeling that it had something to do with void origin power.

 Volume 6 - 551: Counter-Kill

    [V6C81 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Demonkin were known as sons of darkness, the favored children of this world. They were inherently more sensitive to void origin powerpared to the other races, and had an easier time ascending to higher ranks. It was just that this race couldn¡¯t proliferate quite as easily. Their low reproductive power and long maturation periods were the only things stopping them from taking over the world of Evernight.

    Qianye felt as though he had grasped something at this point. He produced an origin bullet and tried instilling a wisp of void origin power into it. As expected, the projectile became barely discernible after the power seeped in.

    Qianye pressed the origin bullet into the chamber because what he knew at the moment was enough. He would mull over the details after the battle. He recalled the fragment of Sky Demon¡¯s memory and had a feeling that this ability would reappear in his hands one day. On the other hand, Qianye also gained the ability to deal with such power after proving his theory.

    Qianye activated his True Sight to nce at his surroundings as he sensed an incisive killing intent behind his back. His expression turned austere¡ªthere were six masses of dense darkness origin power scattered about within a hundred meters of him, all viscount-rank experts at the least, and even two counts.

    It was a trap!

    The locations where he had engaged in melee battles shed through his mind one by one. Qianye quickly realized that he had fallen into the dark race experts¡¯ encirclement. But he had already experienced countless desperate situations. He calmed down immediately and reached habitually into his pocket for a stimnt.

    However, he found that his pockets were actually empty, and there weren¡¯t any suitable medicines in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, either. Only at this point did Qianye realize that he had used up all of his medicines and stimnts. This went to show just how fierce the battles had been.

    He was out of supplies, but this filled Qianye with greater battle intent.

    He gradually activated his void origin power and instilled some of it into East Peak. Under conscious observation, Qianye could feel the Dark Thread Crystals expand, absorb, and recover. It filled him with a mysterious sensation¡ªit was as though East Peak hade alive and was breathing.

    Afterward, East Peak¡¯s existence grew much fainter in Qianye¡¯s perception. Its power was barely at the level of a rank-nine fighter¡¯s even after he had instilled the greatest extent of origin power. In its current state, East Peak¡¯s tremendous might was likely to be overlooked in hand to handbat.

    Qianye suddenly erupted with power afterpleting his activation and pierced his sword into the ceiling. The stone board was extremely brittle against East Peak and was pierced through in one blow. Qianye shot straight upward like a rocket, traversing three floors and appearing in front of an arachne viscount. There, heunched a horizontal strike at its massive body.

    The arachne had already transformed into its half-spiderbat form at this point¡ªits second-rank viscount aura was deep and profound. He stared on at the broken ground with an astonished expression and at the shadowy figure which soon rushed out from it. The arachne could hardly evade in the face of the sudden development and simply swung his battle-axe in an attempt to block this blow from East Peak.

    The arachne¡¯s entire body shook violently as the weapons collided. Qianye appeared as light and flexible as a feather, but this sword blow carried the weight of a mountain!

    The arachne viscount only heard an ear-piercing whistle before his battle-axe was bent out of shape. The sounds of shattered bones emerged from his arms as his elbow joint moved to an abnormal angle. East Peak arced through the air and shed down, cutting through two of the arachne¡¯s limbs in the process.

    Qianye was in no rush to finish the enemy off. Instead, he activated his oceanic power and quickly suppressed the surroundings.

    The arachne copsed to the ground, hardly able to endure the pressure with his limbs cut off. Qianye raised East Peak from the ground, and as the dended, the arachne viscount¡¯s head flew high into the air. Only at this point did Qianye move close and plunged the vampiric de into his body. The waves of fresh essence blood raised his spirits.

    All of this happened in an instant. In his True Sight, Qianye could see that most of the origin power masses within a hundred meters were approaching this ce. But it was already toote¡ªthe dust had settled over the battle here.

    Qianye actuated his origin power and rapidly expanded his domain, causing the Oceanic Might to grow iparably heavy. Even the sturdy castle structures began to sway under the pressure andrge cracks appeared in the ceiling in the blink of an eye. Arge stone b soon fell to the floor with a loud boom.

    The castle architecture in a ten-meter radius around Qianye began to copse. Curses and cries of surprise rang out as those who had lost their hiding ces jumped out from the rubble.

    The entire roof fell through with a rumble, revealing the dense ink-colored sky of Evernight. Instead of retreating, Qianye shot through the roof and leaped into the air.

    Several figures in the surrounding rubble followed him up into the air andunched simultaneous attacks. Their grasp of timing wasn¡¯tcking at all.

    The copse just now only dyed their steps ever so slightly. As veterans of countless battles, these dark race experts managed to quickly regain their calm. The weakest among them were viscounts, while the leader was a demonkin count. With Qianye¡¯s current strength, it would be difficult for him to even escape, much less contend against them.

    The demonkin count¡¯s figure flickered and his vertical eye erupted with a mysterious light as he lunged at Qianye. A giant starry-eyed python also materialized above him and sprayed out a stream of ck energy.

    The demonkin¡¯s expression was sinister because this ck energy could exert a paralysis effect without even covering up the target uppletely. What the count didn¡¯t quite understand was why Qianye would give up his advantage and jump into the air. He was simply asking to be encircled.

    It was during this time of urgency that three crisp gunshots rang out in the night sky. Several bright lines tore through the darkness like ming whips and struck the three viscounts to the lower left side of Qianye.

    The three dark viscounts cried in misery. Two of them covered themselves in blood energy and finally managed to suppress the mes of the refined silver bullet. However, thest third-rank viscount was slightly inferior. The fire on his body burned with increasing ferocity until he fell into the rubble in the form of a ming ball.

    Zhang Shiduo had noticed the dangerous situation from atop the sentry tower and produced an opening for Qianye with three consecutive shots.

    Qianye, who had just evaded the ck energy in the air, let out a secret sigh. After all, he and Zhang Shiduo weren¡¯t that familiar. Their level of cooperation couldn¡¯t be that great. In truth, Qianye had hoped Zhang Shiduo would focus all three shots on the demonkin count and gravely injure the strongest enemy. As for the others, Qianye didn¡¯t care much about them at all since he could finish them all off mid-air.

    In other words, Qianye simply had no intention of running away. Instead, he wanted to take this opportunity to counterattack.

    Qianye had no time to care about the missed opportunity. He quickly moved East Peak to block the count¡¯s attack, then drew the Twin Flowers¡ªa pair of luminous wings unfurled behind him as the handguns sted the python totem into oblivion.

    Zhang Shiduo¡¯s expression changed immediately upon seeing that Qianye hadn¡¯t retreated from the opening and was instead exchanging blows with the count.

    He could do nothing more at this point. Ordinary champions could only produce one shot at this level of firepower before needing to recover. The three consecutive shorts just now was born of Zhang Shiduo¡¯s special ability, which meant that it was already his limit. He wouldn¡¯t be able to fire another shot at the viscount level for another fifteen minutes.

    However, the fierce battle around him forced him to stop thinking too much. The sentry tower he was on was an extremely important vantage point, and the dark race warriors weren¡¯t willing to give it up. At this moment, a new wave of attacks had broken out below. The melee and ranged warriors of the Zhang and Zhao ns were fighting for their position, inch by inch.

    Zhang Shiduo couldn¡¯t help but curse, ¡°Goddammit, that Zhao n brat!¡± Then, he picked up a heavy hand-cannon and began hammering a dark race squad that was attempting to climb the tower.

    In the air, Qianye and the demonkin count were already entangled in meleebat, and the surrounding viscounts were beginning to grow restless now that the distant sniper was silent. They had just pounced toward Qianye when they heard the sound of great ocean waves crashing down upon them. A heavy pressure descended from the sky and made it difficult for them to even remain in the air.

    During their momentary pause, Qianye¡¯s eyes locked onto the demonkin count and let out a furious roar. He swung East Peak down without any semnce of defense, seemingly poised to end the battle in mutual destruction.

    The demonkin was shocked out of his wits. He had already realized that East Peak was no ordinary sword and that there was no way his body could endure a straight blow. He was of noble status and held the advantage in battle. Why would he want to go down with the enemy? It wasn¡¯t worth it even if he could trade a blow for this human¡¯s head. The count had no choice but to withdraw the sword aimed at Qianye¡¯s ribs and block East Peak with his full power.

    However, the count¡¯s figure appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes as their des met. The demonkin felt an abrupt pain in his chest which effectively weakened the power he was able to exert. An earth-shattering pressure passed through his sword as he was sent flying like a cannonball and crashed into the rubble.

    Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Might weakened as he chased after the count, allowing the other viscounts to regain their mobility. These experienced warriors rushed toward the ruins in a bid tounch a pincer attack after realizing that Qianye¡¯sbat strength was inferior to the demonkin count. He possessed exceptional single-target attack power but wouldn¡¯tst long in a drawn-out siege.

    However, they had just begun moving when the air was filled with a frosty blue and everything became covered in ayer of ice. Both the demonkin and vampire viscounts found their weapons frozen. ck mist and blood energy erupted momentarily as they did their utmost to expel the blue air.

    Li Kuann¡¯s resonant voice rang out behind them, ¡°You lot, where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    The numerous viscounts turned back through the chill, but their movements had slowed down several times over. They saw Li Kuann stepping through the air and a subsequent blue splendor sweeping over from her.

    The aqua blue radiance arrived noiselessly and as ephemeral as a dream. However, a sense of extreme danger welled up in their hearts¡ªan instinctive reaction to a life and death crisis. Some immediately activated their life-saving secret arts without the slightest bit of hesitation, while others prepared their final abilities.

    As expected of people close to the great dark monarchs, these viscounts were able to make rapid decisions at the moment of life and death.

    It was at this critical moment that a green light appeared in the air and shot through the frost energy like a fish in the water. All the dark race viscounts felt as though a needle was piercing into their foreheads when the green energy appeared. Their bodies trembled, and all their secret arts were interrupted midway.

    This moment of hesitation was lethal. The frost sword energy flitted past silently and froze all of the viscounts¡ªtheir movements, their expressions, everything came to a standstill as ice covered their bodies. The newly formed ice sculptures then copsed into the rubble one after another.

    There was no joy on Li Kuann¡¯s face despite having killed several viscounts in one sh. On the contrary, she looked toward the distant sky with a stern expression. Zhao Jundu stepped through the air with the exceptionally eye-catching Blue Firmament in his hands.

    Li Kuann red daggers at Zhao Jundu. ¡°Who asked you to interfere!¡±

 Volume 6 - 552: The River of Blood Appears Again

    [V6C82 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Violet mes flickered in Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes as he met Li Kuann¡¯s gaze. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to, either, but I was worried some of them would escape your sloppy attack.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyes turned even harsher. ¡°These trash were merely struggling at death¡¯s door, not enough to escape this young master¡¯s hands. There¡¯s really no need for you to take the trouble.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stood in the air with no immediate intention of leaving. He asked in a seemingly careless manner, ¡°Is that so? I wonder which of them Young Noble Kuann intended to kill first?¡±

    ¡°Of course the two demonkin,¡± Li Kuann replied without hesitation.

    Zhao Jundu was rather surprised. ¡°Oh, Young Noble Kuann is so vigorous. You¡¯re even willing to sustain some injuries, I take it?¡±

    Both of them saw very clearly how the two demonkin viscounts were attempting to activate a secret technique. They were trying to escape in the direction where Qianye and the demonkin count were fighting. The other three vampires, on the other hand, intended to counterattack and force Li Kuann to yield a way out. They were ready to ignite their blood cores if they had no way of escaping, trading their lives for a heavy blow to the enemy.

    If Li Kuann intended to kill the demonkin, she would have to take on the attacks of the three vampires. The former¡¯s origin power level far surpassed that of his opponents, but she¡ªlike all other human champions¡ªdid not specialize in defense. Even after taking the high-grade armor and origin defenses into consideration, she could hardly avoid injuries in the face of the three viscounts¡¯ final attacks.

    Only after hearing Zhao Jundu did Li Kuann realize the problem in her words just now. Sheughed loudly a couple of times and said, ¡°Just who do you think this young noble is? How can a couple of vampires injure me?¡±

    At first, Li Kuann thought her forced situation would elicit mockery from Zhao Jundu. She could hardly believe her ears when thetter nodded and said, ¡°I guess that¡¯s true.¡±

    For a moment, Li Kuann was at a loss for words, and the two stood facing each other in silence.

    Both of them were top figures among the younger generation of the empire, known not only for their prowess inbat, but also for their sharpness and intelligence. After the shortpse of silence, both of them noticed something off about the other¡ªit seemed none of them had the intention to leave.

    Zhao Jundu was the first to speak. ¡°The enemy is running rampant in the castle. Please feel free to join the other battles.¡±

    Li Kuann said with a heartyugh, ¡°This ce has amanding view over the entire ce. This young noble wishes to observe the battle situation. On the other hand, why is the Zhao Fourth Young Noble wasting time here?¡±

    At this point, both of them nced at the rubble. As heaven-bestowed geniuses, they quickly caught onto one another¡¯s intentions despite the subtlety of their movements.

    There was a seemingly bottomless hole in the rubble. No one knew just how many floors Qianye and the demonkin count had punched through, and the berserk origin power in the depths of the hole made it impossible to probe the situation.

    Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann had heard about each other for a long time. They didn¡¯t quite think the other party would go so far as tounch a sneak attack, but neither was willing to leave their back open to the other given the current rtionship between the Zhao and Li ns. Thus, the situation fell into an impasse.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s tone turned cold. ¡°Young Noble Kuann, I¡¯ll be frank. Qianye is from the Zhao n, so I¡¯m going down to take a look. It¡¯s inappropriate for you to remain here, please leave.¡±

    Li Kuann said with a coldugh, ¡°Qianye never sold himself to the Zhao n. When did he be one of yours? Any price you can offer, this young noble can match. Moreover, I insist on enjoying the scenery here. What can you do about it?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression sank as the Jade River¡¯s edge extended outward. A chill filled the air around Li Kuann and gradually condensed into frost patterns.

    At this moment, Qianye and the demonkin count were fighting in the depths of the castle. Amidst the rubble, East Peak could hardly exert its full strength, and the demonkin¡¯s sword had also be more or less a burden. Despite still holding onto their weapons, both parties were actually fighting with punches and kicks for the most part.

    The demonkin couldn¡¯t help butin after a few exchanges. Every part of Qianye¡¯s body was as hard as steel. Every blow¡ªbe it a shoulder-bash, head-butt, elbow strike, or knee attack¡ªfelt as though he had bumped into a mountain.

    The demonkin count was soon seeing stars. The bones in his body were cracking loudly, and one of his little fingers had been bent outward.

    The demonkin count was clear that his weakness was the opponent¡¯s strong point, but he had no way to turn the situation around. He couldn¡¯t find the opportunity to extricate himself from Qianye¡¯s torrential melee attacks, and their domains were also equally matched. The count felt as though he were in the depths of the ocean. It took him quite the effort just to stay afloat in the face of this massive downward pressure. It was impossible for him to rise into the air and put a distance between them.

    The demonkin watched as his defenses weaken and start to fall apart. In his despair, the demonkin opened his vertical pupil once more, but this time, his golden eye was filled with traces of blood.

    The starry-eyed python emerged again and spat out a mouthful of thick ck energy which enclosed Qianye within. The demonkin turned pale after this ck energy appeared. Wrinkles extended all over his face as though he had aged hundreds of years in an instant. His aura had also grown iparably feeble.

    There was a mad sense of tion in his eyes as he stared at the squirming ck energy. This was the essence of his entire life¡¯s cultivation, a power akin to the sting of a honeybee. He himself was not far from death afterunching this extremely powerful attack. Even an expert three levels higher than him would turn into a skeleton in just a few minutes.

    The demonkin propped himself up and looked on with wide eyes. He had to watch Qianye turn into a corpse before passing away.

    The ck energy began squirming violently all of a sudden as several beams of dark golden light shot out. They revolved around the ck energy like sharp des and produced a series of openings on it. Fresh blood flowed out from the demonkin¡¯s vertical pupil and quickly flowed into his eyes¡ªhe could hardly believe what he was seeing in the scarlet world.

    That ck energy, the umtion of his life¡¯s talents, was actually a type of special origin power just like the dark golden light. This implied that his demonic qi had failed utterly in a contest of origin power. In the entire human camp, only a handful of the most powerful legendary bloodlines was capable of this.

    A pair of hands appeared through the ck energy and tore it into two! That mass of squirming ck energy let out a miserable cry as though it was sentient, and the demonkin¡¯s body also began to tremble, seemingly suffering the same agony.

    Qianye¡¯s robes were in tatters as he walked out of the demonic qi¡ªseveralrge holes had appeared on his armor, revealing the badly mangled flesh underneath. But after winning the contest of origin power, these were merely superficial wounds that would heal in no time.

    As expected, a dark golden light emerged around Qianye¡¯s body. The dense golden mist around his injuries washed off the remnant demonic qipletely, and his bone-deep wounds began growing back rapidly. There was no way this kind of regeneration would appear on a human.

    The demon trembled as he pointed at the dark golden light. ¡°You, you¡¯re not human! Vampire, primo!!! You despicable¡­¡±

    Only at this point did the demonkin count discover that the dark golden light wasn¡¯t daybreak origin power¡ªit was blood energy! A type of blood energy he had never heard of before. Its quality was so high that it could easily crush his innate demonic qi. Being powers from the same side, the resistance of demonic qi to blood energy was even stronger than that of daybreak attributes.

    The demonkin¡¯s loud voice came to a screeching halt as Qianye took a step forward and plunged his vampiric de into the former¡¯s origin furnace. The count¡¯s expression was full of shock, hatred, and unwillingness, but he could no longer produce a single sound. The color in his eyes gradually dimmed. At this moment, inky blood dripped down from his vertical pupil as he passed away.

    A drop of essence blood flowed through the vampiric de.

    This drop of blood was so heavy that Qianye could almost feel his vampiric de sink downward. It felt as though a drop of burning quicksilver had entered his body, causing his blood to boil wherever it passed. Even the dark golden blood energy became iparably excited and immediately entered a state of blood boil.

    Qianye opened his mouth to spit out the impure air in his chest, but he actually spat out a fireball instead!

    Qianye felt as though every corner of his body was burning. That drop of essence blood from the count had dissolved in the raging blood and merged into his flesh. Qianye¡¯s blood core began pulsing under its stimtion. Wisps of golden blood poured out continuously and spread throughout his body.

    An unbearable sensation of numbness emerged suddenly from his blood core. It was as though something was about to sprout from the earth after the heavy rain.

    Qianye focused his consciousness into his body and saw new crystals being formed continuously in the depths of his blood core. The blood core itself, as well as the crystalline granules embedded on it, were also growingrger and had expanded by a third at the very least. The ancient essence fragment which was blocking the outlet had shrunk slightly. Apparently, a part of it had been absorbed by the blood core.

    The scorching sensation in Qianye¡¯s body slowly calmed down after the blood core¡¯s growth drew to a close. He moved his body around and found himself full of explosive strength. A casual swipe of his hand immediately snapped off a sturdy stone b as though it were tofu, which he then crushed into fine powder between his fingers. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t exerted strength consciously during this entire process.

    ¡°Ba-dump!¡± The abrupt systole of the blood core sent Qianye into a daze¡ªhis consciousness seeped into a familiar space, and the River of Blood appeared before his eyes. Apanied by a wisp of profound power, countless inheritances and knowledge poured into his mind with tidal momentum.

    Above the ruins, the expressions of Li Kuann and Zhao Jundu transformed drastically as they looked up at the sky. It was as though a mysterious doorway had opened above the firmament and in the void with an inexplicably ancient aura of grim savagery pouring down from it.

    This aura caused even people like them to tremble. It was cold, powerful, and stained with the passage of millions of years.

    At this moment, on the distant Twilight continent, the ss in Habsburg¡¯s hand suddenly shattered, and the scarlet wine within sshed onto his exquisitely crafted clothes. Something like this happening to Prince Habsburg of the ming Crown went to show just how shocked he was.

    The hall fell into a deathly silence as all eyes fell onto Habsburg. The brief fluctuation in ming Crown¡¯s blood energy was like an invisible storm which almost stifled the guests in the hall.

    There was a prestigious vampire elder in the group closest to Habsburg. Although only a marquis, he was a family attendant who had watched the prince grow up. Amidst the solemn atmosphere, only he dared take two steps forward before asking, ¡°Your Majesty, what is the matter?¡±

    Habsburg nced around and saw everyone looking at him. He pondered for a moment and then said, ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is good news or bad news. I sensed the aura of the River of Blood just now, but it remains a mystery who actually activated the power of the sacred river.¡±

    The hall erupted in immediate mor!

    [1] Now this is a tricky one. The literal trantion is ¡°feel free to do what you want¡±, but it¡¯s clear here that Zhao Jundu is asking Li Kuann to leave in an overly polite manner.

 Volume 6 - 553: Inheritance of the River of Blood

    [V6C83 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The River of Blood was the fount of the vampire race¡¯s power. However, it had started falling into a gradual silence at some point, especially in the thousand years that the humans had risen to power. Even the awakening of a primo could hardly produce any ripples on the Sacred River.

    This was an extremely dangerous sign because, if the river were to fall into a slumber, the entire vampire race would suffer a gradual decrease in power. Although high-ranking vampires couldn¡¯t see any obvious effects on the short term, the core characters of the race had already noticed some clues. For instance, the Queen of the Night¡¯s hibernation periods were growing longer and longer.

    Habsburg¡¯s sessful ignition of the ming Crown blood seal shook the entire world of darkness. The ripples of this incident had only just begun, and there were many undercurrents not only among the vampires but even in the Evernight Council. It was during this subtle period that the river of blood was actually activated again.

    The Sacred River breaking its silence was good news to the entire vampire race. Moreover, those who had been recognized by the river would usually be a grand duke at least. However, there was some risk in this for the Sperger n because it would be terrible if this person were from an enemy n.

    This was what Habsburg meant by good news and bad news.

    Some keen people noticed that none of the dukes had noticed the Sacred River¡¯s resonance this time, and even Prince Habsburg couldn¡¯t discern this person¡¯s identity. This was usually impossible. Just who was this person?

    It was at this time that many people thought of a certain person¡ªEdward of the Perth n. If one were to ask who among the vampires had the greatest chance of gaining the recognition of the River of Blood, then the answer could only be the Holy Son who had inherited Lilith¡¯s bloodline. The Perths had upied the first ce among the ns for ten thousand years¡ªit wasn¡¯t good news for the others if they were to produce yet another grand duke.

    The hall graduallypsed into silence as more and more people thought of this point.

    Habsburg spoke again at this point, his deep voice reverberating in everyone¡¯s blood core like the toll of a bell, ¡°Regardless of who gained the recognition of the River of Blood, it means that the river is awakening, and this is good news for all scions of sacred blood. We have no reason to be afraid, whichever n that person is from!¡±

    Habsburg had always worn a mild demeanor in front of others, but his deep, maic voice tonight had stirred the bloodlines of everyone present. All gazes were filled with passion.

    A duke walked out from the group and rushed to the throne inrge strides. There, he knelt down on one knee with his head lowered and his hand on his chest. ¡°Your Majesty Habsburg, the Zorma n¡¯s bloodline is at yourmand!¡±

    The vampires in the hall were shocked because this was a ceremony reserved for great dark monarchs. Even if this duke had wanted to express his loyalty, it was still somewhat excessive.

    Habsburg¡¯s expression was calm. He had actually epted the gesture!

    Those qualified to attend this banquet were all important characters from the Sperger n and its allies. Well-known experts from vassal and branch ns had also been invited. Many people realized, upon witnessing this spectacle, that this young, low-key prince was about to reveal his splendor from tonight onward.

    Vampire elders who had a thousand years of experience felt a vague notion arise in their hearts. Could Habsburg¡¯s eptance of this gesture mean that his potential hadn¡¯t reached its end? In their wildest imaginations, they wondered if the ming Crown could hope for their first ever great dark monarch? These thoughts caused their blood¡ªwhich had been frozen by the erosion of the vicissitudes¡ªto boil anew.

    Habsburg remained on the throne for a while even after the guests had dispersed. Then, his figure flickered and vanished into thin air, soon reappearing in another part of the castle.

    The sky of Twilight Continent was exceptionally beautiful. The intersection of the night sky and the continent wasn¡¯t pitch darkness but a mixture of dark green, gold, and violet. The moon was gradually rising through their midst, leaving behind a trail of bright colors as it climbed into the sky.

    Habsburg stood in silence as he gazed at the void millions of kilometers away. His perception had increased sharply during the brief moment of his resonance with the Sacred River. During this time, he discovered that only a mirage remained of his vague reaction to the darkness origin me.

    That wisp of darkness origin me was an old injury he had given to the imperial marshal, Lin Xitang. But this abnormal reaction wasn¡¯t because Lin Xitang¡¯s wound had healed, otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be an illusory projection left behind. There was currently a significant rank-gap between him and Lin Xitang, and not much could escape his senses. The only exception was an all-out use of his heaven¡¯s mystery.

    During that short moment, Habsburg came into contact with the vast power that was obstructing his senses. It was a supreme might capable of drawing upon the stars, a profundity even great dark monarchs couldn¡¯t exceed.

    Just what was Lin Xitang doing?

    A bad premonition came over Habsburg as he thought of the fierce battle on Evernight Continent. But whatever the empire¡¯s n was, it was already toote to do anything¡ªthat great power capable of blinding his senses had already taken form.

    In the void outside of Evernight Continent,rge tempests of origin power had covered up thousands of kilometers of the sky. The Lightless Monarch¡¯s expression changed as he nced subconsciously toward the distance. It was during this split second of distraction that a fine beam of starlight arrived from an unknown distance and stabbed at his forehead.

    Greatly rmed, Medanzo shed sideways with blood energy pouring out around his body and barely managed to dodge this beam of starlight. The beam was so powerful that it easily pierced through Medanzo¡¯s blood energy, destroying all that it passed by. A giant hole had soon appeared in the sanguineous cloud.

    This blood energy was the power of Medanzo¡¯s grand origin and could hardly recover once destroyed. He would need to gradually restore them through cultivation in the future. How could it be a simple matter to destroy the blood energy born of Medanzo¡¯s grand origin?

    The starlight practically brushed past Medanzo¡¯s body and left a small hole on his swallowtail coat. The monarch¡¯s expression was beyond unsightly. It looked as though he wasn¡¯t injured, but in truth, his losses were in the destroyed blood energy.

    An old man with long, floating brows walked out from the void. ¡°Medanzo, you actually dare be distracted while fighting me. Isn¡¯t that a bit too conceited? That blow just now is probably worth a decade of cultivation.¡±

    Medanzo broke into augh. ¡°The River of Blood suddenly awakened just now and caused me to be distracted. This means one more from our race has gained the power of the Sacred River. A grand duke at the very least is about to appear, or perhaps even a prince. Pointer Fogey, are you still happy about that little advantage just now?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s expression was solemn because if Medanzo¡¯s words were true, it wouldn¡¯t be as simple as the vampires gaining a grand duke. Among all the dark races, humans and vampires were considered natural enemies because low-level vampires and blood-thralls consumed humans as food. Inparison, there was no such natural hostility with the other three major races.

    The River of Blood turning silent was merely a conjecture since humans knew next to nothing about it. Even in the Evernight Council, only those in the inner circle and the powerhouses on the sacred mountains could sense the changes. The two consecutive resonations of the River of Blood proved that the source of all vampire bloodlines was very much still active. Just like how the empire had produced numerous talents during its resurgence, the River of Blood would bring about aprehensive increase in the vampire race¡¯s overall strength.

    But someone of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s status wasn¡¯t so easily affected. He immediately pushed his worries aside and said with an indifferent smile, ¡°The River of Blood is a thing for the future. Sending you into hibernation for three hundred years will do for now.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression turned frosty. ¡°That depends on whether you have that ability!¡±

    The battle in the void resumed once more. Meanwhile, in the sky above the Evernight castle, Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann had also reached the end of their patience. Zhao Jundu¡¯s aura was already suffused with killing intent when Li Kuann suggested, ¡°Let¡¯s go down together, I¡¯ll go first and you follow.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Zhao Jundu replied without any hesitation.

    Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace lit up in Li Kuann¡¯s hand. She was just about to charge into the ruins when the chaotic aura below transformed sharply. A dark golden beam of light pierced through the rubble and shot straight into the sky, resonating with the unfathomable aura of the River of Blood.

    Fortunately, Li Kuann reacted quickly and managed to halt her movements. That beam of dark golden light brushed past her forehead and severed a few strands of her hair inplete silence.

    Even someone like Li Kuann who had experienced the wind and waves of this world was drenched in cold sweat. Everything happened so suddenly that she didn¡¯t have the time to discern what that light was.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression shifted ever so slightly. The dark golden light had appeared without the slightest bit of warning¡ªhe neither sensed its approach nor learned of its nature. He shot a nce at Li Kuann before walking past her and leaping down into the ruins.

    Thetter¡¯s expression was solemn as she jumped down after Zhao Jundu. The likelihood of an extraordinary expert in the depths of the ruins prompted the two to put their personal dispute and familial enmities aside.

    At this moment, in the depths of the ruins, Qianye¡¯s consciousness had just exited the River of Blood. The countless memory fragments in his mind caused him to feel dizzy.

    Things were different from when he had seen the River of Blood via the Book of Darkness. The contents of the current memory fragments contained the inheritance and knowledge of the vampire race. Many of them were discordant with themon knowledge Qianye knew. One mysterious piece of information caught his mind especially.

    Amidst the countless inheritances in the shape of scarlet blood drops, only one was dark golden in color. Upon contact, this drop of blood immediately transformed into numerous pieces of information which merged into his consciousness.

    This was an ancient vampire rank system, one that was quite different from the one Qianye knew. For instance, in this system, the auric me blood was a characteristic of the viscount grade. Only those who possessed auric me blood could be considered true vampire nobles. Without it, one couldn¡¯t cross the threshold of higher ranks regardless of blood energy levels.

    As for counts, all the blood in their body had to be in the form of auric me blood, and marquises were required to have a fully-crystallized blood core.

    This system was of a much higher level, especially regarding the differences in the quality of blood energy. ording to this ssification, most of the vampire viscounts and counts Qianye had seen in the past weren¡¯t even nobles. They were merely upstarts with some authority and status.

    Even ording to this strict ranking, Qianye had be a second-rank viscount after absorbing the demonkin¡¯s essence blood and was only one step away from bing a first-rank.

    One drop of demonkin essence blood was actually enough for him to cross one major rank. This was no small matter! Qianye had never killed such a high-ranking demonkin before. He wasn¡¯t quite sure if this was just a coincidence or if all demonkin essence blood had such great effects for vampires.

    If that were the case, the rtionship between vampires and demonkin had just gotten that much more interesting. It was definitely not as simple as things seemed on the surface.

 Volume 6 - 554: An Exchange of Favors

    [V6C84 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    While pondering, Qianye put away his vampiric edge and performed a quick search through the demonkin count¡¯s body. In the end, he removed an object simr to a family crest and gave it a brief look. Painted upon it was a dark swamp with an odd tree growing in the middle.

    Qianye had never seen this picture before. However, the demonkin have always been a mysterious bunch. With the exception of those widely-known ns, the others stuck to their ancestralnds and rarely made contact with the outside world. He collected only this emblem since he found nothing else of interest.

    It was at this time that Qianye sensed something. He reached out to grab East Peak and stabbed the demonkin¡¯s origin furnace. The blow crushed the flesh around the origin furnace and wiped away all traces of the essence blood loss.

    Qianye breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized the two iing auras as Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann. He suppressed his already receding blood energy into his blood core and circted the Profound Combatant Form. Very soon, a dense flow of daybreak origin power washed through all of his vessels.

    Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann appeared before Qianye in the blink of an eye. Both of them were astonished upon seeing the demonkin count¡¯s corpse lying on the ground. As geniuses of the martial path, they quickly guessed the flow of the battle after ncing at the traces of battle in the vicinity.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression once again turned indifferent as he gave Qianye a nod. Li Kuann, on the other hand, sized Qianye up from head to toe. Her gaze turned increasingly sharp and became suffused with an aqua blue color. The battle intent in them was unmistakable.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression turned cold as he took a step forward and put Qianye behind him. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Li Kuannughed loudly. ¡°This fellow owes me two favors and has to fight to the death with me in the future. This young noble requires such grinding stones on my path forward. I thought I would need to wait several more years, but it seems he can give me a small surprise even now. Now, I¡¯m itching to have a go.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said coldly, ¡°Since Young Noble Kuann needs grinding stones, what do you think about me?¡±

    ¡°Just so-so,¡± Ki Kuann answered unceremoniously, ¡°a fight with you won¡¯t help my martial path at all.¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into a frown. He had to admit that Li Kuann¡¯s idea was reasonable. The two of them were actually quite simr on the martial path¡ªboth of them sought perfection in terms ofbat arts and paid particr attention to origin power control. It was just that Zhao Jundu¡¯s path focused on purity and perseverance, while Li Kuann sought destructive potential. Qianye waspletely different from the two of them. As one leading the charge and overpowering all obstacles in his wake, he was definitely a better sparring candidate.

    It was at this time that Qianye spoke, ¡°I indeed owe him two favors. I won¡¯t shy away from this showdown.¡±

    Zhao Jundu raised his hand at Qianye in a rare moment of anger. ¡°You, shut up!¡± He then looked at Li Kuann and said word by word, ¡°Count those two favors on me and cancel that battle.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute¡­¡± Qianye wanted to protest, but a mass of violet mist appeared under his feet. His body was immediately restricted, making it impossible for him to even speak. The violet mist trembled a couple of times as Qianye struggled with the might of a tidal wave. However, its color quickly grew deeper and transformed into a bleak azure. This time, Qianye couldn¡¯t move anymore.

    Li Kuann watched the scene with a spurious smile and said calmly, ¡°Two favors from the Zhao n fourth young noble is too much.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled,¡± said Zhao Jundu.

    Li Kuann tidied up her loose hair and said in azy tone, ¡°I have no need for two favors, but one feels like a loss to me. If you really want to take his ce in his matter, I want to add another condition.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    ¡°All in all, I met Qianye because of Song Zining, we have a deal if he also owes me a favor.¡±

    ¡°Song Zining?¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes narrowed. The chill around him grew denser as he nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Will he agree?¡± Li Kuann couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit curious at Zhao Jundu¡¯s clear-cut answer. Qianye and Song Zining were good friends from what he had heard, but there was little rtionship between the Zhao and Song ns. If he hadn¡¯t heard wrong, this dazzling Zhao n fourth young master wasn¡¯t a big fan of the carefree Song Zining. How then was he going to persuade Song Zining?

    Zhao Jundu said coldly, ¡°He has no choice.¡±

    The corners of Li Kuann¡¯s eyes twitched ever so slightly. ¡°Fine then¡­¡±

    Qianye, who had been standing on one side, could no longer endure. His Oceanic Might activated and, apanied by a loud boom, shattered together with the Omniscient Seal. Qianye shouted immediately after escaping the bindings, ¡°That¡¯s not fine!¡±

    Both domains had shattered at the same time. Even so, surprise shed through Li Kuann¡¯s eyes upon seeing Qianye escape Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal. She suddenly said to Zhao Jundu, ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied immediately, ¡°Okay.¡± As he was speaking, he reached out to rub Qianye¡¯s temples. This massage-like action was actually apanied by a tyrannical power which once again silenced Qianye.

    At this very moment in the imperial camp, Song Zining was sneezing constantly just as he was about to put on his ck silver mask. His expression was stern as he broke into a round of cursing, ¡°Goddamit! Who¡¯s scheming against this young master?!¡±

    In the depths of the ruins, Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann each had their own thoughts. Just like that, an agreement was reached amidst Qianye¡¯s protests. The two, who had just struck a deal, grew silent as they nced at one another and then at Qianye¡¯s depressed expression.

    Qianye had also stopped speaking. He knew Zhao Jundu¡¯s character and that it was useless no matter what he said at this point. All he could do was to find Li Kuann in secret afterward.

    Zhao Jundu was the first to break the silence. ¡°Qianye, did you kill that demonkin?¡±

    Qianye had long since prepared an answer. He replied calmly, ¡°Yes, he was destined to lose a melee fight in such a narrow space.¡±

    This exnation was fairly reasonable, and it also fit well with their observations. Most demonkin weren¡¯t power-types. Their physical strength was, just like all dark races, somewhat stronger than a human of the same rank, but the gap was rather limited. Their main advantagey in the use of various innate talents.

    Additionally, Qianye¡¯s strength and martial path made him a terrifying opponent during the short moment of his eruption. The less space for maneuver there was, the more focused the damage would be. Having fallen into such an environment with no way to extricate himself, it would be a wonder if the demonkin hadn¡¯t encountered misfortune.

    ¡°Did you discover any powerful enemies in the vicinity?¡± Li Kuann inquired. She was still highly suspicious about that golden beam of light.

    Qianye replied, ¡°There was a dark count nearby when I was encircled, but he never made an appearance.¡± This was clearly not the answer Li Kuann wanted.

    Zhao Jundu said decisively, ¡°No time for all that. Since we were fortunate enough to run into each other, let¡¯s move together from here on out.¡±

    Li Kuann smiled as she carved a rough sketch of the castle on the wall with her sword energy. ¡°The main building is over there, we can get in by opening up a path to the right.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s ¡°us¡± clearly didn¡¯t include Li Kuann. He shot a nce at the blue-robed youth but decided not to bother arguing with her. He simply raised his hand, drew a path on the sketch with a sh of violet energy, and said, ¡°Fine, each of us will scout one path and advance at the same time. The other two will move to assist when one encounters a powerful enemy¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s kill our way to the top floor as quickly as possible, there¡¯s a marquis there. The fiery used to intercept the airships was his doing, but he should be quite exhausted by now. We might be able to swallow this big fish with the three of us working together. Let¡¯s go, others might take the credit if we¡¯rete.¡±

    The three formed a temporary unit with Zhao Jundu taking point, Li Kuann in the middle, and Qianye bringing up the rear. With that, they rushed out of the ruins and charged toward the main castle building.

    Such a lineup could be considered invincible on the battlefield. The trio quickly became well-coordinated after a couple of fights. Once in battle, Zhao Jundu would use his Omniscient Seal to restrain the enemy while Li Kuann followed up with her sword strikes. Truly powerful enemies who managed to survive Li Kuann¡¯s blows would encounter Qianye¡¯s East Peak.

    No matter how many experts there were on the Evernight side, even the squads led by virtuous counts would be ughtered without exception. The three rampaged through the battlefield and made straight for the castle roof. There, they finally met their opponent after climbing the final stairway.

    It was anky vampire elder with perfectly groomed snow-white hair. His face was rather long with an extremely chiseled facial outline that left a strong impression. There were frills on his shirt and a small ¡°Z¡± embroidered on his ck bow-tie.

    He stood before the great hall on the top floor with a gentle smile on his face. He didn¡¯t seem like someone who hade to fight to the death but instead resembled a courteous person weing old friends.

    Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann¡¯s expressions changed upon seeing this vampire. Thetter slowly tightened her grip on Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace and said, ¡°Julio.¡±

    Julio revealed a smile and said gently, ¡°For an opponent whom I¡¯ve never met before to remember my name under such circumstances, I am truly overjoyed. This is a great honor. Oh, I might¡¯ve made a mistake, I¡¯ve probably met one of you before.¡±

    Julio nced at Qianye with a contemtive expression, but apparently, he couldn¡¯t recall anything in the end. Shaking his head in self-deprecation, he said, ¡°Even my memory has deteriorated, it would seem I need to return to the blood pond for a nap.¡±

    Li Kuann sneered, ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be necessary. I think it¡¯s better you return to the River of Blood.¡±

    Julio nodded pensively. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea, either.¡±

    Zhao Jundu spoke at this point, ¡°It¡¯s meaningless to stall for time.¡±

    Julio broke into augh. ¡°Stalling? No, my young friends. It¡¯s indeed meaningless to do so. Neither the Lightless Monarch nor Noxus will being to our rescue. Everyone in this camp has been abandoned from the moment your most powerful heavenly monarch joined the battle and the Queen of the Night did not appear.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with a frown, ¡°Then why not make way? We will not stop you if you leave now.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t show any signs of protest, either. They were very clear that a dark race marquis was one matter, and that a mighty marquis was another altogether. Meanwhile, existences like Julio and Nana were on apletely different level.

    Even if Julio had exhausted most of his blood energy during the aerial defenses, he could still take one of them down with him during the final struggle.

    Jiulio revealed neither joy nor anger upon hearing this. On the contrary, he let out a long sigh and said slowly, ¡°We will always encounter battles like this where we can¡¯t give up despite knowing the oue. This is the fate of a warrior, the inescapable destiny of a sacred-blooded scion.¡±

    The trio shot each other a nce. They knew that a battle was imminent, and it was clear from Julio¡¯s tone that he was determined to die in battle.

 Volume 6 - 555: Shoulder to Shoulder Battle

    [V6C85 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye took a step forward and arrived in front of Julio. He was half a stride ahead of Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann.

    ¡°Qianye,e back.¡± Zhao Jundu held his Blue Sky Edge horizontally. A meter-long azure glow materialized to block Qianye¡¯s way.

    Qianye pressed the de lightly with his hand and said, ¡°This is the most optimalbat position for me.¡±

    This actually made sense¡ªif only the level-disparity wasn¡¯t that great, and if only the opponent wasn¡¯t Julio. Qianye¡¯s defenses were the strongest out of the three. Add to that his Oceanic Domain and East Peak¡¯s heavy sword characteristics, he was the best candidate to fight the enemy head-on. But presently, no one believed him to be capable of receiving an all-out blow from Julio.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand on the de didn¡¯t move at all. The green radiance therein flickered as he said in a deep voice, ¡°Move back.¡±

    Li Kuann said with raised eyebrows, ¡°You must know that I don¡¯t have any more Stillwater Rebirths. Take it easy, if you die this time, it¡¯s over.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I know.¡± He slowly raised East Peak as the Profound Combatant Form circted inside his body. In a few breath¡¯s time, faint sounds of thunderous tides emerged around him.

    ¡°p, p, p¡±. Julio apuded. ¡°Not bad, you have talent and guts. Now, even I can¡¯t bear to kill you immediately.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m afraid you might not be able to.¡±

    Julio removed his gloves. ¡°Is that so? I¡¯m worried about that, too.¡±

    It was at this time that violet mes ignited around Zhao Jundu, and eight pirs of fire began revolving close to his body. An illusory shadow of Julio appeared to the right of Zhao Jundu. It reached out to w at thetter but gradually retracted its hand and disappeared after touching the pirs. It was really just a shadow because Julio was still standing in ce as if he had never moved at all.

    Li Kuann was currently standing to the right of Zhao Jundu. Her expression shifted slightly because she simply hadn¡¯t sensed the attack. It was fortunate that the assault was aimed at Zhao Jundu. If the target were her, she definitely wouldn¡¯t be as calm.

    ¡°Deceptions!¡± Li Kuann snorted coldly as Cold Moon¡¯s embrace flew up and shot an aqua blue beam of light at Julio¡¯s forehead. This sword strike was as quick as it was straightforward, so much so that one couldn¡¯t see any special abilities in it. To Li Kuann¡¯s path of the sword, the smaller the movement atunch, the greater the might of her attack.

    Julio only raised a right hand in front of him, seemingly poised to block the sword energy with his body. But just as the blue radiance was about to arrive, the marquis¡¯ hand immediately turned transparent and faded away. The blue sword energy flew around Julio as though it had lost its target and finally shot into the wall beside him.

    Julio¡¯s right hand then appeared anew as though nothing had happened.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression transformed once more. This time, she had finally seen that Julio¡¯s maneuver wasn¡¯t a secret art. He had simply drawn her sword energy away by means of an amazingbat art. This sounded easy, but in truth, those with an inferior strength andbat arts might even lose their lives in the process.

    However, Julio had performed it so effortlessly. It seemed as easy as shaking water off of one¡¯s hand.

    Only Qianye hadn¡¯t moved since the very beginning. It was not that he didn¡¯t want to but that he couldn¡¯t. A wisp of Julio¡¯s blood energy had locked onto him from afar and would shoot into his heart at the first sight of an opening. Qianye had a strange feeling that Julio was focusing the greater part of his attention on him, and this made it difficult for him to rush into action.

    Beads of sweat appeared on Qianye¡¯s forehead under the immense pressure. This was strange because his strength was the lowest of the three. Julio had no good reason to focus so much attention on him unless he knew about the Shot of Inception. But Qianye hadn¡¯t exposed himself even in front of a high-ranking divine champion like Duke You. He didn¡¯t believe Julio could see through his secret.

    Julio was also looking at Qianye, but there were no clues to be found in the vampire¡¯s eyes.

    The stalematested mere moments before eight ming pirs suddenly appeared around Julio. The mes immediately turned azure after their appearance and caused all origin fluctuations within a hundred meters to turn stagnant. Everyone found it momentarily difficult to circte their origin power, but the sensation soon receded.

    This was Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal. He was able to exercise such precise control over it that Qianye and Li Kuann were exempt from its disturbance despite being in the area of effect. Li Kuann couldn¡¯t help but sigh after her origin power regained its flow. At her level on the martial path, she was very clear what this meant.

    Most domains couldn¡¯t differentiate friend and foe. That was why a fight between high-level experts was difficult to supplement with numbers. Normally, only experts above the level of divine champion possessed the power and control to minimize their domain¡¯s effects on allies. But Zhao Jundu could already do this at rank-twelve. He was truly deserving of his fame as the empire¡¯s number one in the younger generation.

    The appearance of the Omniscient Seal reduced the mysterious ambiance around Julio, and his movements were no longer as unfathomable. Li Kuann trod forth with Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace glowing in her hand. But this time, she was no longer shooting frost qi. She had opted to maximize her advantage by concentrating power on the sword edge as she moved about and shed at Julio like a raging tempest.

    Qianye finally made his move. Roaring, he raised East Peak high up and shed down without any fancy moves! The sword descended on Julio¡¯s current position. Qianye cared not whether the target would evade¡ªhe only delivered an all-out strike free of distracting thoughts.

    East Peak fell noiselessly, and the greater part of the de pierced into the stone floor as though it were tofu. As expected, that sword strike didn¡¯t find its target, but Julio couldn¡¯t flicker and reappear in his original position as he had before. Instead, he was forced to take two steps back in order to evade the strike.

    This was the first time Julio had stepped backward since the battle had begun. He finally revealed an astonished expression, his gaze on Qianye tinged with admiration and regret.

    Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann became spirited after seeing Julio retreat, and their attacks grew all the more violent.

    The Omniscient Seal¡¯s range didn¡¯t change at all, but Zhao Jundu pulled back all of a sudden. He stood at the threshold of the corridor with the Blue Firmament in hand and took aim at Julio.

    The vampire¡¯s expression changed slightly, and the skin on his forehead began twitching. His figure flickered several times, but his forehead was still tingling. He simply couldn¡¯t shake off that pin-prick sensation. Julio recognized this as the sensation of being locked onto. What surprised him, however, was the fact that he couldn¡¯t extricate himself regardless of the evasion or secret arts used. A name popped up in his heart: ¡°True Shot.¡±

    True Shot was a skill both factions could possess, and its might was inversely proportional to the chances of it appearing. The most terrifying part of True Shot was that its firepower would increase depending on the shooter¡¯s strength.

    Julio recognized the Blue Firmament in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands. He wasn¡¯t willing to take on this shot at all, regardless of the type of bullet in the chamber. However, evading a powerful skill like True Shot was easier said than done.

    Naturally, True Shot wasn¡¯tpletely indefensible. As long as Julio maintained high-speed movement, some minor deviations would appear in Zhao Jundu¡¯s lock on him. This was enough to evade the vitals. But high-speed movements under the suppression of the Omniscient seal involved significant blood energy expenditure. Even a marquis wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out for long.

    The best way to deal with Blue Firmament was to charge into a melee battle, but Li Kuann and Qianye wouldn¡¯t give him such an opportunity.

    Li Kuann pushed her speed to the limits until she was practically flying around Julio. Streaks of blue splendor poured out from Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace and spiraled around the vampire marquis. Qianye¡¯s attacks, on the other hand, were bold and powerful. East Peak was as heavy as a mountain and every sh from it would always force Julio to move about. One could still trace him while he was moving. He was, on the contrary, more elusive while standing in ce.

    In this manner, Qianye, Zhao Jundu, and Li Kuann attacked in perfect coordination¡ªrestraining, attacking, and seeking the opportunity to deal the final blow. For a while, the two parties were evenly matched and none of them could deal with the other.

    Qianye and Li Kuann hadn¡¯t used their own domains. On one hand, it was to avoid a conflict in origin power, while on the other, it was because Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal was able to restrict Julio the most. With the marquis¡¯ unimaginable speed and unfathomable arts, the trio probably wouldn¡¯tst long if there was no suppression at all. Zhao Jundu never joined the battle, but the drain from constantly maintaining the domain didn¡¯t lose out to that of Qianye and Li Kuann at all.

    But everyone knew that this situation was only temporary because more imperial reinforcements would arrive as time went on. Julio would likely fall in battle if he didn¡¯t break out of the siege right now. But the vampire seemedpletely calm with no sign of anxiety or fear. It was almost as though time wasn¡¯t on the empire¡¯s side.

    Qianye became increasingly suspicious as he fought on, but he didn¡¯t dare split his attention to anything else. Julio had been defending all the time, but it would be terrifying if he were to find an opening andunch a counterattack. The highest-ranked among them, Li Kuann, was four levels below the marquis. They might not be able to take a single blow from Julio unscathed, even if his attack was merely a spent force.

    Finally, Julio seemed to have decided that the Omniscient Seal was too much of a restraint. Following a low growl, blood energy suffused a hundred-meter radius around him and began to fight back against Zhao Jundu¡¯s azure energy.

    In a sh between two domains, the azure energy held the upper hand, but the blood energy was far greater in quantity. The azure glow barely held out for fifteen minutes before growing thinner and thinner. Soon, the Omniscient Seal arrived on the verge of copse.

    Qianye let out an explosive shout as the oceanic vortex formed within him. The tyrannical force of his Oceanic Might poured out onto the battlefield, shattering both the Omniscient Seal and Julio¡¯s blood energy domain. The oceanic vortexsted a mere moment after destroying the two other domains before it, too, dispersed. Qianye¡¯splexion immediately turned pale¡ªthe energy consumption from fighting a domain battle beyond his rank was simply too great.

    The three domains had just vanished when an icy blue frost immediately covered the scene, and Julio¡¯s newly increased speed grew stagnant once more. Li Kuann had taken action at the precise moment and used her own domain to once again restrain Julio. The timing was perfect.

    Zhao Jundu finally made his move as Julio¡¯s movements slowed down briefly.

    Blue Firmament rumbled as an azure trajectory appeared through the air. The bullet practically arrived at Julio¡¯s chest after leaving the chamber!

    Despite Julio¡¯s rapid reaction and evasion, he only managed to barely move his vitals out of the way. He let out a muffled groan as blood sprayed out from his shoulder.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s aura fell after this shot, but he lifted Blue Firmament once more and took aim at Julio¡¯s blood core.

    The battle once again fell into a deadlock.

    At this moment, all of them had noticed the gunfire outside of the castle had grown sparse, and the artillery had more or less stopped firing. There were sounds of imperial squads quickly approaching from the distance.

    All of a sudden, the wall behind Julio copsed backward¡ªdoor and all¡ªrevealing an empty hall. Numerous deep fissures had appeared on the floor, and the nearby walls were filled with cracks. The entire building seemed to be on the verge of copse following their fierce battle.

    Meanwhile, a petite figure was standing in the distant wilderness of Evernight Continent. There were hundreds of corpses lying around her, and judging from their clothing, they were all imperial soldiers. There were several generals among them and even a lieutenant general.

 Volume 6 - 556: Glancer of Fates

    [V6C86 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The only bright color on her pale body was her red lips which formed an odd contrast with her frail appearance.

    There was blood dripping down her fingers. Her aura was calm, not at all like someone who had just experienced a fierce battle. However, there was anxiety written all over her face, and the billowing of her robes in the wind seemed to outline her loneliness.

    Several figures appeared over the distant horizon and zoomed over at great speeds. Merely from their agility, one could see just how powerful they were. Even so, their running stature appeared somewhat frantic.

    The girl¡¯s expression turned even more worried, but she forced herself to remain in ce until those people arrived before her.

    Those who had arrived were all vampires. Judging from their insignias, they were all from the twelve ancient ns, but there wasn¡¯t a single person from the Lightless Monarch¡¯s Drac n. This was clearly out of the ordinary since this battle was being overseen by Medanzo and Noxus. ording to convention, their direct lines should be the main force here.

    The vampires revealed fearful expressions as they arrived in front of the young girl and saw the surrounding scenery. They all fell to one knee and said respectfully, ¡°Greetings, Your Excellency Nana.¡±

    Nana¡¯s worried expression grew deeper. ¡°Where¡¯s Julio?¡±

    The leader among the vampires said hesitantly, ¡°Sir Julio stayed back to guard our retreat. He asked us to tell you not to wait. He¡¯ll leave the battlefield on his own and meet you on Twilight Continent.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t the n, why did he have to stay back?¡± Nana asked.

    The vampire replied, ¡°It¡¯s probably because the Monroe n¡¯s squad was left behind as rearguard¡­¡±

    Nana¡¯s expression turned resolute as she nced toward Giant¡¯s Repose. ¡°You leave first, I¡¯m going to look for him.¡±

    ¡°Your Excellency, you mustn''t. The Evernight camp has fallen. Their frontlines were already attacking the castle when we pulled back, and even our dukes have left the battlefield. The human divine champions are surely heading toward the main camp. You¡¯ll be walking right into their hands if you go now!¡±

    ¡°Move!¡± All the vampires were pushed away with a jolt of her blood energy.

    The leader gritted his teeth as he blocked Nana¡¯s path and shouted, ¡°Sir Julio will definitely charge out. The Lightless Monarch can return to save him no matter how many imperial experts there are. You must not go!¡±

    Nana sneered, ¡°Lightless Monarch? Any other monarch will surely return to save their men, but him? Humph! Meanwhile, Julio¡­¡±

    Nana didn¡¯t continue because she understood Julio all too well. He wouldn¡¯t leave the battlefield until the veryst moment.

    That vampire blocked Nana¡¯s path once again. ¡°Your Excellency, you must return with us. This is Sir Julio¡¯s will, as well as that Majesty¡¯s!¡±

    ¡°No one can order me! Scram!¡± Nana¡¯s shout erupted with the full force of her superior bloodline. All of the vampires fell limp to the ground and could only watch as she ran toward Giant¡¯s Repose.

    The vampires looked at one another. One of them said with a wry smile, ¡°How are we going to exin this? What¡¯s wrong with Nana?¡±

    An older vampire sighed. ¡°You lot don¡¯t know, but Her Excellency Nana was drifting about the outside world when she was young. She had almost died when Sir Julio found her during a patrol mission. He was the one who saved her and raised her. Nana returned to the Mammon n only after awakening her bloodline.¡±

    All the vampires knew Julio and Nana shared a good rtionship and always worked together. But none of them knew there was such a story behind them. Although Nana¡¯s strength had gradually surpassed Julio¡¯s in recent years, it seemed she still considered him her father at heart.

    The wind on the Evernight Continent was different from Twilight Continent. It was deste, cold, and contained a constant chill that would seep into one¡¯s heart. This caused the running Nana to tighten her clothes subconsciously.

    The words Julio had spoken to her before setting out on this expedition emerged in her mind: ¡°The mes of hope have been ignited in our hands. We mustn''t let it die.¡±

    It was then that Julio made her stay back in the reserve army and barred her from joining the exploration party. Nana didn¡¯t quite understand it back then because there shouldn¡¯t be any danger at all in this battle. How could Evernight lose with the Queen of the Night on their side?

    Moreover, even if there was danger, divine champions and marshals were the only ones who could pose a threat to them. What was there to fear? But she decided not to force the issue so as to set Julio at ease.

    Who would¡¯ve thought a great battle would erupt once more just as the races were beginning to retreat? Things took a drastic turn for the worse, and even the Evernight main camp had fallen to the humans. Nana suddenly realized that Julio must¡¯ve stopped her from joining the battle because he had a certain premonition.

    Nana ran faster and faster, but her heart grew colder and colder.

    Julio had a mysterious ability which only a handful of top characters from his bloodline knew of. This outstanding marquis possessed the ability to listen to fate. Since he was a young viscount, he would often see fragments of the future through the dense mist.

    At the same time, Julio was a man of great intelligence and would often be able to deduce the future through these fragments. He wasn¡¯t a diviner or a prophet, but one who could nce at fate.

    Nana knew Julio was never happy because he could see fate but had no power to change it. Julio¡¯s periods of happiness had been short-lived ever since discovering the awakened Nighteye on Evernight Continent. Later on, he grew more and more despondent.

    Nana had never understood why Julio was in low spirits, but on this cold, wintery night, she seemed to have understood a bit.

    She suddenly trembled as a chill scuttled out from her blood core and froze every inch of her vessels¡ªshe suddenly realized that Julio wasn¡¯ting back. Nighteye¡¯s blood rtives were all dead. As the one who had guided Nighteye¡¯s awakening, all connections rted to her would disappear with his death. No one else would be able to find her.

    No one knew that Nana and Julio had discovered Nighteye together. Julio hadn¡¯t mentioned her name at all when he brought Nighteye back to the Monroe n.

    Back then, Nana had thought that Julio didn¡¯t want to share the merits of discovering a primo. His strength growth had stagnated back then and would need to rely on the ancient blood pond in order to advance. Nana didn¡¯t mind this at all. She was still very young and far from the peak of her life. Her strength was already growing by leaps and bounds without relying on external powers. Even if that weren¡¯t the case, she would still be willing to give it to Julio.

    Now, she finally understood that Julio had kept her behind the curtain because he had foreseen this day.

    Nighteye¡¯s sudden disappearance shook the entire vampire race. ording to what Nana knew, there was a storm brewing among several ns, including the Monroe, poised to target the Perth n. It was just that the Queen of the Night had always been tyrannical and proud. How could she lower her head under this pressure?

    At this moment, Nana was filled with hate for Nighteye. She couldn¡¯t understand what was so important about this primo that Julio had to sacrifice himself just to hide her traces.

    Vague fluctuations of origin power arrived from the distance. Nana immediately knew that those were shockwaves produced from a battle between experts. The distance they had covered proved just how powerful thebatants were. Although she couldn¡¯t discern their aura from such a distance, who else could it be except Julio since all the Evernight dukes had retreated already?

    Nana sprinted toward the battlefield at lightning speed,pletely ignoring the expenditure of blood energy.

    In the Evernight central camp, the top floor of the castle had turned into an even ground. Even the great hall from which the two great dark monarchs used to observe battles wasn¡¯t spared.

    Julio stood amidst the rubble with an unfathomable smile on his face. He was still standing straight despite being wounded all over.

    Seven or eight imperial experts had surrounded Julio with Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann as their leaders. Qianye had retreated to the outer rim at this point. He stood there with his sword pointed at the ground, staring at Julio inplete stillness.

    Qianye had pulled back to catch his breath afterunching a round of frantic attacks. An increasing number of top imperial experts arrived as more and more battles were won outside¡ªsoon, the battle had turned into a siege. But for some reason, Julio had no intention of running away.

    One of the imperial experts flew up from below in a bid tounch a sneak attack from behind. However, Julio immediately turned around to face him. His speed was so fast that it seemed as though he had been facing that direction all along.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes lit up. The raging pirs of violet me turned azure, increasing the restriction on Julio by two times. However, it was toote¡ªJulio tapped lightly on the expert¡¯s forehead before returning to his original position.

    The victim¡¯s expression froze as he took a few shaky steps forward. Then, a cloud of blood erupted from the back of his head.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was livid. ¡°Trash! Always failing!¡±

    This expert, a rank-fifteen champion, was a veteran general from the Jingtang Li n. The man had acted rashly in order to seize merits but waspletely helpless before the wounded Julio. His head exploding was equal to giving Li Kuann a p.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t any better. His Omniscient Seal was effective, but it was still broken through at the critical juncture. This was due to a disparity in rank, not something that could be easily remedied.

    But Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann were well-experienced in battle. They quickly calmed their emotions and began searching for openings once more.

    Julio seemed to be ignoring all the experts around him. He only looked up into the sky with his hand on his chest, his mouth opening and closing as though he were uttering something.

    Qianye felt something peculiar in his chest. Without a second thought, he raised East Peak and hacked down at the air in front of him.

    A scarlet beam of sanguineous light flew through the air, flickered around Qianye¡¯s sword, and shot into his chest. This beam possessed immense prative power. It shot right through his armor, tore through his skin, and drilled into his body.

    Just as before, the imperial experts only saw who Julio had attacked after the strike had connected.

    Everyone was surprised because they had seen the might of Qianye¡¯s heavy sword. No one at the scene was confident about taking it head-on, not to mention breaking through its momentum. It was quite likely that no one here could defend against this strike.

    Mighty Marquis Julio couldn¡¯t be underestimated no matter how heavy his injuries were. The six imperial corpses on the top-floor served as ample testament.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression changed sharply as he released the charged-up shot without waiting for a suitable opening. Julio seemed to have overdrafted his power just now, so much so that he was one step too slow. Ultimately, the marquis failed to sh away and suffered a square shot.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t follow up after the shot, neither did he look back at the results of the battle. He charged over immediately and stood in front of Qianye. Unexpectedly, Li Kuann also let go of the opening and was looking back at the two.

    Qianye¡¯s situation was much better than everyone had expected. He was pushed several steps back by the sanguineous beam but managed to gain his footing by thrusting East Peak into the ground. He remained gasping for a moment before looking up and gesturing that he was alright.

 Volume 6 - 557: Julioâ€™s Fate

    [V6C87 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Everyone felt surprised because, up until this point, Julio¡¯s attacks had always killed in one hit. The imperial experts felt spirited because this signified that the marquis was almost exhausted.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze, however, waspletely different. Only he knew that this bloody brilliance was extremely weak in damage despite its great prative powers. It even seemed to contain a drop of fresh blood within.

    Julio¡¯s blood energy was helpless before the dark golden blood energy and was devoured in the blink of an eye. Most of the blood energy Qianye had spent on contending against the demonkin count¡¯s demonic qi was quickly restored. Was that a drop of origin blood?

    Qianye was rather puzzled at this point. Theoretically, origin blood was just as toxic to humans as ck titanium, but the erosion wasn¡¯tpletely irreversible. On the other hand, vampires could only condense so many drops of origin blood in their lifetime¡ªthat was the source of their power and bloodline inheritance. In terms of value, it was thousands of times greater than ck titanium. No one had heard of vampires using origin blood tounch attacks.

    In truth, this drop of blood looked more like a probe. If Qianye didn¡¯t have blood energy or if his blood energy was inferior to Julio¡¯s, he would be in much greater trouble.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t understand. This was the first time he had run into this illustrious vampire marquis, so why would Julio sound him out with blood energy?

    The imperial expertsunched sessive attacks after Julio was wounded by Zhao Jundu¡¯s shot, but most of them returned empty-handed. Only Li Kuann¡¯s sword barely struck the man.

    Blood energy rushed out violently around Julio. It poured out of Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal and continued expanding outward, causing all the experts to step back. Everyone had to fall back ten meters before barely managing to block the erosion.

    Qianye stepped forth with his sword raised and was just about to use his Oceanic Vortex to resist when a frowning Zhao Jundu pulled him backward. He nced back after having his unformed momentum dispersed and saw that Zhao Jundu¡¯s face had lost even more colorpared to when his domain was broken.

    It was at this time that a beam of peerless killing intent descended from above and enveloped the entire battlefield.

    Julio¡¯s body trembled as he looked down at his chest where arge cavity had appeared out of nowhere. The defect prated all the way to the back, and the blood core that should¡¯ve been there had vanished.

    Outside of the ruins, a white-robeddy with an austere expression descended slowly from the sky.

    Bai n, Bai Aotu.

    Her iparably tyrannical punch had shot through Julio¡¯s chest from afar and destroyed his blood core.

    Julio didn¡¯t seem sad at all in the face of sure death. His eyes weren¡¯t on his killer, either. Instead, he looked up at the sky with open arms as though he wanted to embrace something. At this moment, it seemed as though Julio¡¯s gaze had prated this world and reached the end of the void¡ªa world perhaps no one knew about.

    Julio¡¯s eyes gradually dimmed as his body copsed slowly. His body spat out a fierce sanguineous me at the moment of its demise. The ignition of all the remaining blood energy produced a raging ze which rendered the body to ashes. There wasn¡¯t a trace to be found.

    This famous marquis, who could even overwhelm some veteran dukes, had finally met his end here.

    However, most of the imperial experts surrounding Julio weren¡¯t happy at all. They were filled with a type of inexplicable emptiness.

    Julio had exined his fame with his action during this arduous battle. He had held out until the very end under Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal, Li Kuann¡¯s sword strikes, and Qianye¡¯s heavy blows, in addition to the siege of imperial experts. He hadn¡¯t made a single mistake up until the very end where his blood energy waspletely exhausted.

    Julio had proved, with his life, what perfection meant inbat. It could be said that he had once again won the respect of his enemies.

    But such a person had actually died to such an attack. Bai Aotu¡¯s fist smashed Julio¡¯s final defenses and crushed this mighty marquis.

    This sullied the dignity of Julio¡¯s death¡ªnot a fitting end to his final battle.

    Qianye felt disappointed and frustrated as he watched thest of the ashes being blown away.

    Many experts turned to Bai Aotu in anger. They had just experienced a fierce battle, so their killing intent was at the peak¡ªeven someone as notorious as Bai Aotu didn¡¯t seem as terrifying right now.

    One of the generals shouted, ¡°Bai Aotu, what¡¯s the meaning of this. Are you trying to steal merits?¡±

    Many people turned livid at this point. They had struggled on the verge of life and death, losing manyrades in the process. Bai Aotu, however, had appeared at thest moment and took Julio¡¯s life in one blow. No one could believe she wasn¡¯t trying to rob them of merit.

    A mocking expression appeared on Bai Aotu¡¯s face. ¡°Do I need this meager contribution? Go and share it among yourselves. I only lent a hand because you people can¡¯t seem to finish it.¡±

    These words offended everyone at the scene. Li Kuann had never suffered such treatment before. Her expression turned frosty as she said, ¡°We can deal with this even if you don¡¯t appear. It makes no difference, so stop meddling next time!¡±

    Bai Aotu shot Li Kuann a nce filled with undisguised killing intent, but thetter had no fear of her. ¡°What? You want to kill me? I bet you don¡¯t have the guts for that. It¡¯s not the Bai n¡¯s turn to overpower the empire.¡±

    Bai Aotu stared at Li Kuann with an indifferent expression. ¡°I have no use for empty statuses, and nobility isn¡¯t reason enough to bind me. If only you weren¡¯t an opponent worth looking forward to, what does it matter if I kill you now? If you¡¯re not satisfied, we can fight once we¡¯re both at the divine champion realm. It¡¯s meaningless to bully you now.¡±

    Li Kuann was startled for a moment, but she replied immediately with narrowed eyes, ¡°Fine, we shall fight it out when the dayes! You think you¡¯re the only genius in the empire?¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s settled,¡± Bai Aotu replied.

    Li Kuann turned toward Zhao Jundu. ¡°What say you?¡±

    Thetter replied indifferently, ¡°Not interested.¡±

    ¡°Not interested? Why?¡± Li Kuann clearly found the answer surprising.

    Zhao¡¯s hand remained firmly on Qianye as he said apathetically, ¡°None of you are my match after I be a divine champion, so it makes no difference whether or not we fight. In my eyes, there are only two geniuses in the empire at present, and one of them is me.¡±

    Li Kuann was already finding his words annoying, but she couldn¡¯t resist the urge to ask, ¡°Who¡¯s the other one? It can¡¯t be me, can it? This... ahahaha... this is a bit embarrassing! Who would¡¯ve thought an icy demon like you can be cute too, sometimes.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but the other genius is also from my Zhao n.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s smile was immediately frozen, and she couldn¡¯t help but spew out a series of profanities. ¡°Damn your grandpa! The second one is also in your Zhao n? Wait a minute, don''t tell me it¡¯s this little fellow?¡±

    Seeing Li Kuann nce over at him, Qianye immediately called out, ¡°It¡¯s not me!¡±

    Li Kuann said furiously, ¡°Damn you, who else is there but you!¡±

    All eyes fell upon Qianye in a sh, filling him with the urge to curse too.

    It was at this time that a rush of blood energy appeared in the distance. Its intensity and sharpness were far above that of Julio.

    ¡°Julio!!!¡± The blood energy arrived rapidly apanied by a sharp cry, parting the imperial army wherever it passed. No one could block its path.

    The visitor seemed to have sensed something after the shout. The small figure within the blood energy trembled and soon began to chant in a deep, mellow voice. Large swathes of imperial soldiers fell as the mournful tune ended, and arge empty space appeared around her.

    One of the military officers shouted at the top of his lungs, ¡°It¡¯s Nana! Full retreat! Full Retreat! Do not approach her! Snipe her from afar, afar!¡±

    This was the most appropriate response to deal with Nana. Numbers were meaningless against her because her song was the most terrifying killer weapon. However, long-range sniping wasn¡¯t quite effective against this agile vampire, either¡ªunless it was an ability like Zhao Jundu¡¯s True Shot.

    Nana¡¯s notoriety was far above Julio¡¯s, but the empire had received no news about her participation in this battle. Her sudden appearance was destined to change the battle once more.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s expression changed rapidly. Her ordinary demeanor erupted with a brilliance one could hardly look straight at. ¡°Now this is the kind of contribution I need.¡±

    With that, she left to meet Nana in battle with her robes fluttering in the wind. None of the imperial experts followed along when Bai Aotu charged out. It wasn¡¯t merely because she had offended everyone, but because she had announced that she was going to fight Nana. Anyone who interfered would be her enemy.

    Nana and Bai Aotu were soon standing off against one another. The former¡¯s eyes were filled with rolling blood energy as though they were made of sanguineous rubies. ¡°Where¡¯s Julio?!¡±

    Bai Aotu replied calmly, ¡°He¡¯s dead, I smashed his blood core just now. If you hade ten minutes earlier, you would¡¯ve seen how he had died.¡±

    The blood energy in Nana¡¯s eyes turned a deep violet as she let out a shrill cry, ¡°Then you will die!!!¡±

    Nana rushed out in the blink of an eye. One could hardly make out her figure¡ªit was as though she had be briefly invisible. Bai Aotu also moved at the same time, meeting the enemy head-on without any evasive movements.

    Time seemed to have paused the moment thebatants came into contact, then resumed a momentter as they flitted past one another. Apart from a handful of people, none of the spectators saw their exchange clearly.

    Nana turned around like a cloud in the wind and left at inconceivable speeds. Li Kuann¡¯s expression changed upon seeing that Nana¡¯s speed was actually above her own. The former¡¯s speed advantage would surely be suppressed if the two were to engage in battle.

    Zhao Jundu shook his head as he put down his Blue Firmament. Although the battlefield was within firing range, the battle had ended too quickly for him to fire.

    Several powerful daybreak origin auras were zooming over from the distant horizon. Those were the imperial divine champions who had just finished their battles.

    ¡°This is just a small lesson. I, Nana, of the Mammon n will make you pay! You will all regret your actions this day!¡± Nana¡¯s voice reverberated throughout the battlefield as her figure vanished into the vast night sky.

    She paved a path of blood as she left, killing thousands more imperial soldiers who hadn¡¯t yet made it to a safe distance in time.

 Volume 6 - 558: Undeserved Calamity

    [V6C88 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Bai Aotu stood silently in ce without giving chase. Her body jolted fiercely as Nana¡¯s voice arrived from the distance and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood¡ªher face had lost all color.

    She didn¡¯t linger, either, and turned to leave soon afterward. Many imperial soldiers were puzzled as they watched her receding figure, wondering who had won the exchange just now.

    Nana¡¯s retreat dropped the curtains on this great battle. With the fall of the Evernight primary camp, the dark race experts withdrew, and Giant¡¯s Repose finally fell into imperial hands.

    The follow-up squads from the empire soon entered the camp and began the clean-up operations, while those who had been fighting through the night like Qianye returned to base to rest.

    Qianye followed Zhao Jundu as he gathered the n soldiers back to base, but they parted ways there. The battle had just ended, and Zhao Jundu was already exhausted. He only told Qianye to rest well before heading off into istion.

    Qianye, however, didn¡¯t cultivate. Hey on the bed gazing at the roof as he reyed the battle bit by bit. This was the first time he had joined a battle of such scale. Many of the developments during the battle were things he had never actually seen before.

    The ns widely epted as the most powerful¡ªthe Zhang and the Zhao n¡ªhad charged at the forefront during the assault on the Evernight camp. Regardless of how the Song n had performed during the bloody battle, their private army was still fitting of a major n during this campaign. The high-ranking aristocratic families were below the ns in terms of military power and the missions they had to undertake, but they were still far above the other lower-ranking nobility.

    One could see the empire¡¯s policy from the military arrangements in battle. That was to maintain a direct rtionship between status, authority, and responsibility. Those with higher status would have to take on more critical duties and responsibilities.

    Personalbat strength was the focus of the bloody battle and the exploration of Giant¡¯s Repose. There would be small squads at most. The situation was mostly about taking advantage of opportunities and interfering with one another. But the all-out factional war observed the rules of the empire that had existed since its founding. Perhaps it could be said that Marshal Zhang Boqian had decided to adhere to them.

    The four ns forming the spearhead wasn¡¯t the empire¡¯s attempt at weakening the ns. In truth, most of the empire¡¯s regr army and elite corps were under themand of the imperial court. The imperial army corps and their experts had joined one after another during this battle¡ªtheir losses were far above that of the four major ns.

    Hence, in the eyes of the empire, this was a form of fairness.

    After figuring this out, Qianye was full of admiration for the founding ancestor of the empire who hadid down this rule. The imperial n¡¯s dauntless spirit was evident behind this rule¡ªthey had the confidence that they would not lose their supreme status no matter how many losses they had suffered in this battle of national fate.

    In truth, the imperial n had produced countless heroes, and there was never a weak and incapable emperor. This was especially true of the Martial Emperor who had ushered in a flourishing era. He was almost the great ancestor¡¯s equal both in schrly and martial achievements. During the thousand years after the War of Daybreak, the imperial n had never fallen amidst the great wind and waves.

    At this time, someone outside the tent called out to him, ¡°Young Noble Qianye, your documents have arrived.¡±

    Only then did Qianye recall how he had asked a subordinate officer to find some documents on the empire¡¯s military system. He had only fought in small skirmishes before, but now that he was looking to earn military contributions, he would have to engage in a fair number of major battles. He really needed to familiarize himself with the empire¡¯s military system.

    Following Qianye¡¯s invitation, a young captain entered with a thick stack of documents which he duly ced on the table. He then performed a respectful salute before withdrawing. Qianye remembered this captain¡¯s face. He was one of the soldiers who had responded when Zhao Guanwei wanted to draw people away. But his attitude had changedpletely after a fierce battle.

    Only a hundred or so vanguard soldiers had died during the assault on the Evernight main camp This was less than a third of the usual losses. Qianye had led the entire assault at the forefront and even participated in the final castle raid. His tangible aplishments inbat won the respect of all the soldiers in the vanguard battalion.

    After sending the captain away, Qianye sat down in the tent and began going through the military regtions one after the other. He had gained a substantial understanding of the military system after reading through thesews.

    After reading through several books, the tent curtain was pulled open, and Li Kuann walked in without so much as a greeting.

    Qianye was startled upon seeing her. ¡°Howe you¡¯re in the Zhao n camp? They let you in?¡±

    Qianye knew Li Kuann was from the Jingtang Li n. The current empress¡¯ family was currently in a fierce conflict with the Zhao n and very close to shedding all pretenses. It was quite inconceivable for Li Kuann to enter the camp without rming Duke You.

    Li Kuann said without a care, ¡°This young noble snuck in.¡±

    ¡°This¡­ isn¡¯t too appropriate is it?¡± Qianye felt rather awkward.

    ¡°So what? All the powerful people are in isted cultivation and the rest won¡¯t discover me. Eh? What are you reading?¡± With that, Li Kuann picked up a couple of the books and flipped through them. She then said in astonishment, ¡°What¡¯s the point in reading these boring things? It¡¯s not like they¡¯ll increase your fighting power. Oh right, why aren¡¯t you cultivating?¡±

    This question wasn¡¯t easy to answer. Qianye¡¯s blood energy had advanced during the battle and once again surpassed his daybreak origin power rank. He could no longer continue advancing his darkness powers.

    On the other hand, his Profound Combatant Form required the absorption of void origin power. Zhang Boqian and the other unknown heavenly monarch would surely cause turbulence in the void during their return. He had learned his lessonst time, so he naturally wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake before finding a way to prevent this.

    Seeing Li Kuann¡¯s curious expression, Qianye gave the matter some thought and figured he had nothing to hide regarding his daybreak cultivation. ¡°My cultivation art absorbs void origin power, so I don¡¯t dare cultivate right now. The turbulence during Marshal Zhang Boqian¡¯s return will affect me significantly.¡±

    Li Kuann was shocked. ¡°You can already absorb void origin power?! It seems Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t lying. Goddammit!¡±

    Qianye could no longer hold back. ¡°Miss Kuann, your constant cursing might damage your image.¡±

    Li Kuann said in astonishment, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t sell Song Zining out. ¡°With your identity, there¡¯ll surely be people who know.¡±

    Li Kuann gave it some thought and found that it was quite reasonable. Many people at the level of Zhao Jundu and Bai Aotu should know of this. It was just that they didn¡¯t want to point it out.

    Li Kuann immediately felt awkward after her identity was exposed and somewhat toned down her wild manners. She sized Qianye up from head to toe and said, ¡°Will I be unable to defeat you once you be a divine champion?¡±

    How could Qianye speak the truth regarding this? He immediately replied, ¡°How can that be? I¡¯m not even sure if I will be one.¡±

    Li Kuann was all smiles as she patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Now that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about! I wanted to fight you after hearing Zhao Jundu¡¯s words, but I¡¯ll let it slide since you make me so happy.¡±

    Qianye felt cold sweat appearing on his forehead. It wasn¡¯t for fear of fighting with Li Kuann but her style. One had to know that this was the Zhao n camp. Not only did Li Kuann sneak in, but she was also looking for a fight¡ªthis was a sure way to produce great waves. With her character, a small matter would eventually be a big issue. There was really no telling how many people she would implicate.

    Qianye decided to go along with her to prevent trouble. ¡°Indeed, indeed, with young noble Kuann¡¯s status, there¡¯s no way you¡¯ll fuss over minor matters, right? Let¡¯s talk about exchanging pointers in the future. It¡¯s not too convenient here, so I think you should go back first.¡±

    Li Kuann waved her hand in a carefree manner. ¡°What¡¯s with that respectful address? Just call me Kuann. I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡± She didn¡¯t linger at all after saying that and quickly opened the tent curtain to leave. What she didn¡¯t expect to see was Zhao Jundu standing right outside, looking at her with cold eyes.

    Even the habitually unrestrained Li Kuann was shocked out of her wits. ¡°Y-You, howe you¡¯re here?¡± Her voice contained a trace of guilt.

    Zhao Jundu said coldly, ¡°The Zhao n isn¡¯t big, but it¡¯s not a ce anyone can juste and go.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted and retorted unwillingly, ¡°Fine, you¡¯re so awesome, alright? This young noble will leave right away.¡±

    ¡°Hold it.¡± Zhao Jundu held her back.

    Li Kuann halted her steps with a chill on her face. ¡°What? Does the Zhao fourth young noble intend to teach me a lesson?¡±

    Qianye walked out of the tent after hearing themotion and couldn¡¯t help but hold his palm to his face after seeing the tense situation. These two were both proud and arrogant fellows who wouldn¡¯t yield at all. Add to that the background enmity between the Zhao and Li ns, it was quite likely that they would start fighting after a couple more words.

    He really wanted to go back into the tent and pretend he didn¡¯t see them, but in the end, he decided to butt in, ¡°Young Noble Kuann was here to see me for a chat, it¡¯s nothing important.¡±

    Zhao Jundu looked at Qianye and sighed. He pulled thetter back with an unquestionable demeanor and scolded him, ¡°What do you know?!¡± He then turned toward Li Kuann and said with a deep voice, ¡°Young Noble Kuann, you and I both know what your identity is, but Qianye doesn¡¯t. If some nderous lies surface for some reason, a small family like ours can¡¯t withstand the mes of that bigshot¡¯s fury.¡±

    The smile on Li Kuann¡¯s face became rather forced, but she gathered her emotions and said, ¡°What¡¯s the big deal? Is there a need to make it so serious?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression was solemn as his beautiful countenance became so cold that it could almost injure people. ¡°If Qianye suffers from this, I¡¯ll make sure that a good number of your people pay the price.¡±

    Li Kuann raised her hand and said, ¡°Fine, I understand. I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡± She suddenly said just as she was about to turn around, ¡°Zhao Jundu, your weakness is too obvious. If that¡¯s the case, I really don¡¯t want to wait until you be a divine champion.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°You and I both seek consummate perfection in ourbat arts. However, do you really think a weakness is an opening?¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡± Li Kuann raised her brows in curiosity. She broke into a sudden frown as though she were pondering something, and then left without a single word.

    Zhao Jundu sighed in relief as he watched her receding figure. ¡°I owe you two favors, don¡¯t hesitate to speak up if you have anything you need.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t look back. She only raised a finger and said, ¡°You owe me one and Song Zining owes me one. Oh right, what does he have to say about that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± There was no hesitation at all in Zhao Jundu¡¯s reply.

    ¡°Okay, I believe you.¡± With that, Li Kuann¡¯s figure disappeared with a sh.

    Zhao Jundu stood there for a moment before turning back to re at Qianye. ¡°Behave in the future and don¡¯t provoke everyone! I can¡¯t watch over you every day.¡±

    Qianye only felt that he had been struck by an undeserved cmity. It was clearly Li Kuann who had sought him out¡ªwhen had he ever provoked anyone? ¡°The Zhao n and the empress¡¯ family are at odds, but I think Li Kuann isn¡¯t so bad. Was there really a need to take things so far?¡±

    Zhao Jundu red at him and said, ¡°What do you know? All in all, Li Kuann is trouble incarnate. Stay away from her. Period. I¡¯m going to find Song Zining.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± Qianye wanted to say something about how they had exchanged favors without his consent, but Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t give him the opportunity.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to demand a favor from him.¡± Thetter vanished with a flicker of violet energy as soon as he had said these words.

 Volume 6 - 559: Scheme

    [V6C89 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye took a couple of steps after him but Zhao Jundu was nowhere to be found. Only then did he discover that he didn¡¯t quite know where Song Zining¡¯s tent was in this new camp. He couldn¡¯t help but scratch his head as he went over to Duke You¡¯s aide-de-camp to inquire about the staff office¡¯s location.

    Zhao Jundu was much faster. A sh of violet energy flitted through the camp and soon arrived before the centralmand camp. Momentster, he found Song Zining in a separate tent within the staff office area.

    Song Zining was standing before the desk,posing a painting of a fierce tiger under the moon. Thest brush stroke fell just as Zhao Jundu entered the room. He nced at the serious looking Zhao Jundu and said, ¡°I knew a bad guest woulde today. Speak, what do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want a favor from you to give to Li Kuann.¡± Zhao Jundu got right to the point.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned beyond ugly. ¡°Can¡¯t you demand something else? Does it have to be her?¡±

    ¡°It must be her.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not! It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know her identity.¡± Song Zining refused decisively.

    Zhao Jundu flexed his fingers and said, ¡°I¡¯m not here to negotiate. I¡¯m only here to inform you.¡±

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°You want to attack? Do it, I won¡¯t even fight back. This is the centralmand area. You¡¯ll also get into trouble if you kill me.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes were suffused with frost as he thrust a finger at Song Zining¡¯s throat. Thetter didn¡¯t evade at all, so much so that he didn¡¯t even activate his origin defenses. Zhao Jundu¡¯s finger barely stopped at Song Zining¡¯s throat and produced a small red dot therein. Just a slight forward push would have punched a hole through his throat.

    Anger shed through Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes as he said, ¡°I never expected the stately Song n seventh young noble to actually be so shameless.¡±

    Song Zining broke into augh. ¡°Likewise, likewise. So the Zhao Fourth Young Noble also has times where he can¡¯t quite force people to do things. Speaking of which, it¡¯s quite the honor to be able to act shamelessly before you.¡±

    ¡°You must give Li Kuann this favor.¡±

    Song Zining smiled calmly. ¡°I don¡¯t even know how much this favor of mine is worth, but why haven¡¯t you given her one?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡±

    An ¡°Ah¡± escaped Song Zining¡¯s lips as he clearly wasn¡¯t expecting this. He retracted his frivolous attitude and said with a serious expression, ¡°You do know how much trouble this will be, don''t you? And you still dare gift her a favor? Naturally, you and I aren¡¯t the same. Your name is clean, but the same can¡¯t be said of my reputation. How will I dare get involved in this trouble?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°It was Qianye who owed her these favors at first.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°Qianye?! What did Li Kuann originally want? Why did he ask you to shoulder it for him?¡±

    Zhao Jundu discerned some clues from these words. ¡°Do you know how Qianye came to owe her these favors?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°Qianye used a bottle of her ¡®Stillwater Rebirth¡¯ while exploring Giant¡¯s Repose. I would have never expected Li Kuann to make such a tant demand. There probably aren¡¯t a lot of things that would strike her fancy.¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into a frown as he briefly recounted the exchange of favors. Song Zining¡¯s expression suddenly became mysterious as he muttered, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem if it¡¯s just a life and death battle¡­¡±

    Zhao Jundu cut thetter short without the slightest bit of hesitation. ¡°No, Qianye mustn¡¯t get involved with the Jingtang Li n.¡±

    The two stared at each other for a good while before Song Zining finally sighed. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll agree.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded and turned to leave.

    ¡°Wait a minute,¡± Song Zining stopped him, ¡°my favor has to be worth something, right? Aren¡¯t you going to give me any benefits at all?¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t even look back. ¡°Is the dignified Seventh Young Noble asking for money?¡±

    Song Zining said indignantly, ¡°Why can¡¯t I? I still have a family to feed.¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t slow down his footsteps at all. He just pretended not to hear anything.

    Song Zining chuckled. ¡°Looks like Qianye¡¯s status in the Zhao n is just so-so. Rather than have him live a sneaky life¡­ why not return him to me?¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced back with a cold glint in his eyes.

    Song Zining seemed to not have noticed the frosty killing intent. He simply opened his folding fan with a swoosh and closed it back after a couple of ps. ¡°My meager properties might not be impressive in your eyes, but Qianye is still half an owner here. It should be much better than being someone¡¯s restricted vassal...¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when a violent gale blew into his face. A muffled bang rang out as Song Zining was struck in the abdomen and flung out of the tent.

    Zhao Jundu was startled because he knew how much force he had applied. He had attacked rapidly and withdrawn the force just as fast¡ªit was enough to inflict pain, but not to the extent of blowing the victim flying. Such a development wasn¡¯t possible even if Song Zining didn¡¯t use his defenses. Zhao Jundu stepped out of the tent with a frown.

    Themotion wasn¡¯t that great, but it wasn¡¯t non-existent, either. There were asional passers-by in the distance, but none of them stopped to look. However, there were four or five high-ranking Zhang n officers, two of whom Zhao Jundu knew personally.

    Zhang Muyi roared furiously as he helped Song Zining up. ¡°Who dares fight in themand center?!¡± He was shocked into silence as he nced back at the person walking out of the tent.

    A handsome and spirited major general reacted much faster than Zhang Muyi. He had already taken a step forward before Zhao Jundu had even exited the tent, blocking Song Zining as well as hisrades behind. ¡°Brother Jundu.¡±

    Zhao Jundu reciprocated the gesture. ¡°Brother Munian.¡±

    This person was the leader of the Zhang n¡¯s younger generation, Zhang Munian. Although not as celebrated as Bai Aotu and Zhao Jundu, he was still the central pir of the family.

    Zhang Munian nced back at Song Zining¡¯s sorry figure and inquired in a puzzled tone, ¡°Was there some misunderstanding between you two?¡±

    Zhao Jundu immediately realized that he had fallen into Song Zining¡¯s scheme.

    Zhang Munian wasn¡¯t one to meddle in other people¡¯s affairs, much less that of the Zhao and Song ns. However, his current tone made clear his intentions to mediate this matter, meaning that Song Zining had a certain level of importance before him. It would seem that the rumors were true¡ªthis seventh young noble had not only entered Zhang Boqian¡¯smand but also gained the recognition of the Zhang n¡¯s younger generation. Even Zhao Jundu had to acknowledge the man¡¯s expertise in the ways of the world.

    The reason behind this scheme today was very clear. Almost all of Song Zining¡¯s military contributions during the bloody battle had gone to the Zhao n. Although it was under the pretext of a deal, there were definitely some who were in doubt of his stance. Now that he was in open conflict with Zhao Jundu in the presence of the Zhang n¡¯s core descendants like Zhang Munian and Zhang Muyi, all of his previous connections to the Zhao n would be wiped away.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining¡¯s breakaway from the Song n was already an open secret among the upper echelons of the empire. As a capable young expert with no affiliation, he would likely receive much more attention from the Zhang n thereafter.

    Zhao Jundu sneered in his heart. Song Zining¡¯s favor was indeed difficult to secure. Despite his ire, he could only sigh in admiration at thetter¡¯s opportunistic move. Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t immediately respond to Zhang Munian¡¯s question but stared intently at Song Zining instead.

    Song Zining smiled wryly and said, ¡°It¡¯s just a private matter, nothing important.¡±

    Zhang Munian turned toward Zhao Jundu and said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I hope brother Jundu can, for the sake of my humble self, ept Song Zining¡¯s apology.¡±

    Zhao Jundu scanned Song Zining coldly. ¡°Fine, we¡¯re even now.¡±

    Song Zining had achieved his objective and heard the implication in Zhao Jundu¡¯s words. But even then, he didn¡¯t reveal a single opening and merely stood up with his eyes lowered. Zhang Munian¡¯s expression grew even more rxed upon seeing Zhao Jundu¡¯s unexpectedly amodating attitude. The two were old acquaintances, so they naturally proceeded to exchange pleasantries.

    At this moment, a certain person rushed in from outside the camp. Zhao Jundu and Song Zining recognized Qianye¡¯s silhouette from afar and couldn¡¯t help but nce at one another.

    Song Zining shrugged and said with a resigned tone, ¡°I¡¯ll exin it to him.¡± With Qianye¡¯s appearance, Song Zining quickly realized that this so-called exchange of favors was done against Qianye¡¯s will. Since he had already taken advantage of Zhao Jundu, he might as well y the good guy until the end.

    Foregoing how Song Zining exined matters to Qianye, the imperial armymenced a cleanup operation throughout the entire battlefield in the days that followed and began building temporary defensive measures in preparation for a counterattack. The entire army was extremely busy. People at Qianye¡¯s level, on the other hand, had nothing to do for several days except recuperate. He would be able to check his contributions after the battlefield had been cleaned up and the casualties confirmed.

    Something actually puzzled Qianye quite a bit. The empire had paid a steep price to conquer the Evernight camp, so ording to reason, they should be building solid defenses here to seek long-term entrenchment. But all Qianye saw were temporary structures, which made it clear that the empire had no intention of staying here for long.

    Even Song Zining, with his position in the staff office, hadn¡¯t heard anything about the policies of those Zhang n bigshots. Qianye didn¡¯t understand it, but he had no desire to get to the bottom of things, either. His current mission was to start cultivating his daybreak origin power as soon as possible in order to maintain a bnce between the two sides.

    In the void outside of Evernight Continent, a long rainbow stretched across half the continent and fell into an ancient castle atop Mount White.

    This ce was a millennia-old castle located in the depths of the Dark Nation. The human race didn¡¯t even have written records of that ancient era. The passage of time had left unerasable traces on the old castle but still hadn¡¯t managed to cause its copse. On the contrary, it grew increasingly grand due to the expansion and renovations carried out by the sessive generation of vampires.

    The main building of the castle was a longplex of interconnected buildings covering the highest peak of the mountain, and it was connected to the four lesserplexes on the surrounding mountaintops via archways and airships.

    Every archway spanned thousands of meters over the bottomless ravine below, supported entirely by massive air-battleships which never moved the whole year round. From a distance, it looked nothing short of a miracle.

    There was a passage on top of the mainplex which stretched hundreds of meters toward a moderately-sized za. Both structures, however, were floating above the deep abyss without any airship support.

    There were dozens of vivid statues around the za¡¯s periphery, and presently, there was an airship approaching it slowly. This za was surprisingly an airship anchorage. It was just that the port here was thousands of meters in the air.

 Volume 6 - 560: Unverifiable News

    [V6C90 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The mooring airship was a small but dignified vessel whose walls were decorated with relief images and exaggerated decorations¡ªeven its sails hadplex pleated edges. It was an extreme embodiment of the vampire race¡¯s extravagance and love of magnificence. Carved upon the ship was the depiction of a great dipper array, the insignia of the sixth vampire n, the Reagan n. Moreover, the gold-lined violet color signified that the passenger upon it was a duke.

    The airship had justnded and opened its doors when a bloody light suddenly appeared over the distant clouds and descended rapidly like a falling star.

    A wild wind kicked up over the za, the atmosphere was thrown into chaos, and even the sky seemed to darken for a split second. The just-stabilized airship was tossed up by the gale and flung hundreds of meters away. Several people were tossed out of the open cabin doors and fell into the dark abyss amidst dismal screams.

    A faintly discernible silhouette flew out from the airship to catch the crew that had fallen out. He then arrived above the za.

    ¡°Who was trying to make things difficult for me?¡± that person said in a deep, thunderous voice.

    The tempest on the za receded, and the blood color at its core dispersed, revealing Medanzo¡¯s figure. ¡°It¡¯s me. What? Are you trying to fight me for this space, Skadi?¡±

    Skadi, the fifth duke of the Reagan n, was shocked out of his wits. He immediately drew back and offered his greetings, ¡°So, it¡¯s His Majesty Medanzo! Please forgive my offense!¡±

    Medanzo might not be the most powerful among the vampires, but his wrath and vengeance was notorious on Twilight Continent and even in the Evernight Council. But this time, Medanzo merely waved his hands and didn¡¯t make things very difficult for Skadi.

    Skadi withdrew to the edge of the za and put his nsmen down there. Moreover, he signaled the airship not to approach. He simply stood in ce waiting silently for Medanzo to leave first.

    Medanzo didn¡¯t step away immediately and, instead, looked up at the ancient insignia above the castle. There was a sanguineous full-moon against the backdrop of the River of Blood. That was themon emblem representing the vampire race. The bloody moon represented the first drop of blood, the source of all the vampire ns.

    Below this emblem were the insignias of the twelve ancient vampire ns. No other vampire n had the honor of being listed alongside them, no matter how powerful they were.

    This was the Castle of Mount White, the biggest vampire main camp on Evernight Continent. It was also a base of operations jointly owned by all vampires.

    Medanzo¡¯s eyes fell on the rose and snake insignia at the fore before moving along one by one until the Drac n¡¯s thorned castle at the fourth ce. His gaze lingered the longest upon the Monroe n¡¯s flower of terror.

    Medanzo then walked forward. His expression sank as his eyes swept over the statues on the floating za. The Lightless Monarch¡¯s mood would turn sour every time he came to this ce.

    Those carvings were the vampire princes of each generation. Many of their past deeds had faded into history along with the lost memories of their second generation primogenitors. Only their sculptures and nametes remained, protected by these ancient runic arrays.

    But merely their existence here proved that they had once experienced glory because not every prince was qualified to have his sculpture raised on this za. Each and every one of them was the pride of the heavens, and they were people whose might was recognized by all ns, including their enemies.

    There were only two sculptures of living vampire princes. One was naturally the Queen of the Night, but the other wasn¡¯t Medanzo¡¯s¡ªit was the Azure King Renault.

    In truth, Renault¡¯s position used to be upied by the statue of the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil hundreds of years ago. His statue was eventually reced due to the monarch¡¯s irreconcble fall-out with the Queen of the Night and his prolonged absence. Thus, strictly speaking, this statue wasn¡¯t sufficient to stand side by side with that of Lilith¡¯s.

    Even so, Medanzo wasn¡¯t able to have his own sculpture ced on this za, neither would there be a ce for him here in the foreseeable future.

    Medanzo¡¯s face was overcast as he entered Mount White Castle without sparing another nce at those statues. The vampires he met along the way respectfully stood aside and made way for him. Medanzo may not be the strongest monarch, but he was one people couldn¡¯t afford to offend.

    The great dark monarch walked all the way to the central hall in the mainplex. There, he sat down on the iron throne which symbolized supreme authority and felt his mood improve somewhat. There were no other vampire monarchs at Mount White Castle right now, otherwise, he might not necessarily be able to take this seat.

    At this moment, news of the Lightless Monarch¡¯s arrival had spread throughout the entire castle. The high-ranking vampires here arrived in quick session to seek an audience.

    Medanzo¡¯s expression quickly improved after seeing the dozen or so vampires in the great hall. All the vampires, except those from the Drac n, withdrew when he waved his hand.

    Medanzo waited until only his men were left within the hall. ¡°What are the casualties for the battle on Evernight Continent?¡±

    A marquis replied, ¡°Your Majesty, we¡¯ve onlypleted an initial casualty count. The detailed numbers will require a couple more days. ording to our calctions, Evernight lost over half the troops. Two-thirds of the nobles above viscount rank managed to escape in the end, but Mighty Marquis Julio fell in battle. Her Majesty Nana charged-in to rescue him but was heavily wounded. Currently, her whereabouts are unknown.¡±

    Medanzo shot to his feet. ¡°Julio died in battle?!¡±

    The lights in the entire hall dimmed down as blood energy raged about like the tides. All those below the marquis-rank felt their blood churning. They could hardly remain on their feet as they personally experienced the Lightless Monarch¡¯s shock and wrath.

    As the focus of Medanzo¡¯s attention, the marquis delivering the report was deeply affected by the blood energy. For a brief moment, he could hardly even speak.

    Medanzo soon noticed his loss ofposure. He slowly withdrew his blood energy and asked with a snort, ¡°How did Julio die?¡±

    The marquis spoke with great effort, ¡°Some people personally witnessed the marquis being surrounded by imperial experts and had his blood core shattered in the end. Her Majesty Nana wanted to save him, but it was already toote when she arrived. As for why Marquis Julio chose to fight to the death¡­ this¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t say anything more. Back then, a demonkin had hidden himself outside of the Evernight camp and witnessed the entire battle. However, the divine champions of the Great Qin Empire were fighting against the dark race dukes outside of the battlefield. Those leading the ground forces were, at most, lieutenant generals. How had Julio failed to escape under such a disparity in strength?

    Medanzo¡¯s expression was gloomy. ¡°Who saw it? Bring him here!¡±

    The marquis replied with an ufortable expression, ¡°This¡­ Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Medanzo cut the man short without waiting for him to finish, ¡°I really cannot understand how you can let the witness go without proper interrogation.¡±

    The marquis¡¯ voice was evidently softer as he said, ¡°Your Majesty, the one who saw Julio¡¯s final battle is Count Eden of the Evernight Council. He hails from the Dark Abyss and holds considerable status in their n. We¡¯ll encounter quite a lot of problems if we interrogate him just like that.¡±

    The Marquis spoke with tact, but everyone, including Medanzo, knew what he meant. The famous Dark Abyss was a massive entity whose strength was even above the Drac n. Moreover, they also had a great monarch watching over them. Even Medanzo wasn¡¯t willing to offend such a n for no good reason.

    Medanzo realized that he had some recollection of this count. ¡°Eden? That little demonkin who obtained an ancient essence fragment?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty,¡± the count said cautiously. ¡°It¡¯s indeed that lucky fellow, but what he obtained was only half an ancient essence fragment. Our Twilight, on the other hand, obtained aplete piece.¡±

    Medanzo felt frustrated all of a sudden. ¡°When did Twilight be ours?¡±

    The marquis spoke softly, ¡°She can be ours as long as you¡¯re willing.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve had some contact with Twilight before, and she¡¯s willing to join you. Naturally, she requires a smallpensation.¡±

    Medanzo said coldly, ¡°She contacted you of her own ord?¡±

    This caused the marquis to break into cold sweat. He hurriedly fell on one knee and said, ¡°She really came to find me on her own. Please forgive me!¡±

    Medanzo, quite unexpectedly, didn¡¯t flip out. He pondered for a while and said, ¡°She¡¯s very smart and I don¡¯t like smart people. However, I also want a descendant with some brains. Agree to all her demands. I will also grant her a drop of origin blood as an additional reward.¡±

    These words caused the entire hall to be rmed. Some of them immediately objected, even at the risk of angering Medanzo.

    The Lightless Monarch could only produce one drop of origin blood every one hundred years. If he gave Twilight this drop of blood, the sessors who had been waiting painstakingly for almost a hundred years would have to wait yet another century.

    Medanzo sat in silence until the sounds in the hall had died down. ¡°I gave you all a whole three minutes to express your opinions. Now, who else still wants to talk?¡±

    The great hall wentpletely silent. At this point, everyone hade to understand that Medanzo had already made his decision and no one would be able to change his mind.

    This time, Medanzo waited ten whole minutes, and the great hall was plunged into ten minutes of silence. Seeing that no one was speaking, he looked toward the previous marquis. ¡°Tell Twilight of my decision. I believe she¡¯ll choose wisely.¡±

    The marquis bowed. ¡°As youmand.¡±

    Medanzo became silent once more. The entire hall was also deathly still since no one dared disturb the monarch¡¯s thoughts. He spoke again only after a good while, ¡°Did anyone else apart from Eden see how Julio died?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, Your Majesty. Eden has a special ability, and his rank is a count. It¡¯s said that his actual strength is even greater. That was why he could remain there without being discovered. Other people don¡¯t have this ability.¡±

    ¡°Eden¡­¡± Medanzo¡¯s eyes narrowed in silence.

    The marquis grew increasingly astonished because, judging from Medanzo¡¯s demeanor, it looked like he wasn¡¯t about to give up on interrogating Eden. If that were to happen, the results would be extremely serious.

    After weighing the matter back and forth, Medanzo finally said, ¡°Forget about Eden. You lot, investigate in detail who Julio was in touch with recently. That¡¯s all, you may leave.¡±

    The Drac n vampires sighed in relief as they withdrew one after the other.

    Only that marquis remained. ¡°Your Majesty, are we investigating his movements and contacts to¡­¡±

 Volume 6 - 561: Eye of the Storm

    [V6C91 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    This marquis was Medanzo¡¯s trusted aide and also his descendant. Hence, Medanzo told him bluntly, ¡°Julio was the only connection to Nighteye. Now that he¡¯s dead, there¡¯s no way to lock onto her whereabouts for the short term. You must go and investigate who he came in contact with before his death. Perhaps we can find a substitute medium in him. I allow you to use every method at your disposal.¡±

    ¡°Nighteye? The Monroe Princess? Is she so important that we need to mobilize such resources?¡±

    Medanzo snorted, ¡°Her importance is beyond your imagination. Don¡¯t ask why because that¡¯s not something you should know. Go now and get the job done!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± The marquis left the main hall after performing a salutation, his heart filled with unease. He was very clear that this order would produce great waves because everyone ranked below Count Eden was within the investigation range.

    The marquis was very worried that Medanzo would expand the range if they failed to find any clues¡ªafter all, at that time, it would no longer just be an internal affair of the vampires. But this great dark monarch¡¯s will had always been firm and unshakeable.

    Only Medanzo was left in the hall at this moment. The Lightless Monarch¡¯s domain gradually spread out and plunged the entire hall into rolling waves of darkness.

    The death of a mighty marquis wasn¡¯t a small matter since it involved the distribution of his territories, but that was usually the extent of it. Julio, however, was simply too special¡ªeven more so in this period. It could be said that he was irreceable.

    Julio possessed the ability to nce into the workings of fate and was also the person who had discovered Nighteye¡¯s awakened primo bloodline. He was the one and only medium who could find Nighteye via secret arts. With his death, Nighteye¡¯s whereabouts would be shrouded in mystery.

    Medanzo was preparing to seize Julio after this battle and use every secret art at his disposal to search for Nighteye¡¯s whereabouts. Under the suppression of Medanzo¡¯s power as a second generation primogenitor, even dying wouldn¡¯t be an option for Julio¡ªnot until he had fulfilled his duty as a medium.

    Names appeared in the dark monarch¡¯s mind one after the other, but they were all rejected. Most of the famous prophets on the Evernight side had fallen for the empire¡¯s trick before the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose and ended up badly wounded. They would require a long period of recuperation.

    The remainder weren¡¯t quite capable enough. The few who possessed the ability were of extraordinary status, and most of them from famed demonkin ns¡ªeven Medanzo couldn¡¯t force them.

    Nighteye¡¯s bloodline was simply too powerful. She was a primo of the ck-Winged Monarch, one with a mysterious connection to Andruil.

    The most terrifying thing was that Andruil had vanished for so long, yet his seal on the River of Blood had never died out entirely¡ªit only dimmed.

    Nighteye was merely a primo in the past no matter how much of a genius she was. But with Habsburg¡¯s ignition of the ming Crown seal and the reactivation of the River of Blood, the significance of a primo who had awakened the pure bloodline of a second generation primogenitor became grossly different. This was even more so to Medanzo.

    The Lightless Monarch whispered in the dark hall, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely find you, wherever you are.¡±

    The imperial army rested for several days straight. Qianye used this opportunity to fully refine the origin blood he had obtained from the demonkin count and Julio. Any additional free time went to studying the memory fragments he had obtained from the River of Blood. However, he still couldn¡¯t understand why the vampire marquis had shot out that drop of origin blood even afterpletely refining all of it¡ªthere seemed to be nothing special about it.

    A brief period of peace fell upon Giant¡¯s Repose, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for a certain corner of the void.

    This so-called void wasn¡¯tplete nothingness. In addition to the floating continents and celestial bodies, there were all kinds of impurities and energies moving about randomly within it.

    For instance, there was a void storm thousands of square kilometers wide between the upper and middle continents, spinning rapidly in the shape of a funnel. The frantic movement of energy had even materialized in the form of serpentine lightning bolts that would sh through space from time to time. It was as though the void was being torn apart, reconnected, and torn again.

    The silhouette standing outside of the vortex seemed extremely minusculepared to that terrifying entity. It seemed as though it would be crushed any moment by the thunderstorm.

    Habsburg had stood here for an unknown length of time. Both his looks and aura looked mediocre at a nce¡ªonly his eyes were filled with a sanguineous mist, like a raging river running through it.

    There was an extremely calm location in the eye of the storm wherein an airship, hundreds of meters long, was hovering. There were no insignias on the vessel, but its design and the many cannons sticking out in every direction like sharp thorns indicated that it was a Great Qin battleship. Moreover, it was a high-end model that had never been used before on the battlefield.

    Habsburg walked forward slowly. The storm capable of tearing entire continents apart was nothing more than a curtain before him. He passed through with rtive ease without even stirring up any reaction.

    After entering the eye of the storm, he discovered that the tranquil space here had actually been frozen, and that the void storm was actually rotating in ce. This abnormal phenomenon confirmed Habsburg¡¯s conjecture¡ªregardless of whether it was man-made or natural, the empire was definitely making use of it. As for the application, it was to affect the void turbulence and cause subsequent chaos in the nearby space.

    Habsburg was no expert in this field, and he wasn¡¯t too clear about the principle behind it. But he knew that the Queen of the Night and the Eternal me were fighting Sky Demon several thousand kilometers away. This was likely the reason why the Evernight coalition had lost the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose. The turbulence here had cut off the transmission of information, preventing the Queen of the Night from rushing back in time to help them.

    Habsburg continued toward the imperial airship after passing through the storm. There was a powerful consciousness constantly scanning this space, but Habsburg had no intention to hide his presence, either. He simply allowed the origin fluctuations to sweep over his body.

    Two of the empire¡¯s heavenly monarch¡¯s had appeared on Evernight Continent, while the other two were guarding the borders. The most powerful aura on the airship belonged to a high-ranking divine champion. A divine champion was merely a divine champion no matter how powerful he was. Meanwhile, the sinister-looking cannons on the airship were no different from toys to Habsburg.

    He stood in the void, waiting in silence.

    After a fair length of time, a figure suddenly appeared within several hundred meters and walked over as if he were treading on level ground. The silver-haired man was dressed in long robes, wide sleeves, and it looked as though he were riding the wind. Only upon closer inspection could one see that most of his hair had be a lifeless grey color.

    Habsburg spoke, ¡°You can¡¯t injure me even if you self-destruct. That me of darkness in your old wound contains my origin blood. The power within should be enough to mitigate most of the power from your self-destruction.

    Even someone as calm as Lin Xitang couldn¡¯t help but halt his steps in a startle. ¡°Prince, you seem to havee toote. The battle at Giant¡¯s Repose has concluded, and this storm eye has no more use.¡±

    Habsburg replied, ¡°My name isn¡¯t on the list in the war. I only came to verify my guess.¡±

    Lin Xitang replied, ¡°The war hasn¡¯t ended yet.¡±

    Habsburg broke into augh. ¡°So what? There is indeed an important war for me, but it has nothing to do with the conflict between the empire and the council. It¡¯s¡­ the Holy War.¡±

    Lin Xitang frowned. This so-called Holy War was an internal conflict among the dark races. The empire had also received some news about the waves surfacing among them, but it wasn¡¯t to the point where a civil war would break out.

    This situation wasn¡¯t necessarily a good thing for the empire. The dark race civil wars normally afforded the empire some time to recover and strengthen itself, but this time, the empire had mobilized with the determination to win. This might cause the dark world to unite against amon enemy and pour all of their enmity onto the empire.

    Lin Xitang said, ¡°It''s meaningless to talk about this. There might be people from the empire willing to ally with you, but I¡¯ll never be one of them.¡±

    Habsburg shrugged. ¡°Marshal Lin, never say never. Have you never thought about why the humans look so much like vampires and demonkin? Even the ancient races of the sacred mountain, the werewolves and the arachne, require great power in order to transform. But humans possess this supreme form since birth despite a mere 1200 years of their civilization.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression sank. People from both factions had raised this obvious issue before, but no clues had been found even after extensive research. Everyone had a different theory with no substantial proof to back them up. ¡°Is there even an answer to this question?¡±

    Habsburg replied, ¡°There is no answer, but there are coincidences.¡± He didn¡¯t continue.

    Lin Xitang understood that Habsburg wouldn¡¯t divulge the most important parts of the information without an alliance. He pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Did youe here just to say these things?¡±

    Habsburg suddenly nced back. A hole appeared on the tempest wall and through it came a bolt of lightning. That was a small, single-passenger boat with dazzling runes flickering around it.

    Habsburg''s silhouette vanished and reappeared above the storm in the form of a sanguineous mass of mes.

    He shook his head with augh, and despite the distance, his voice echoed in everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°Marshal Lin, you¡¯re truly a genius among geniuses to be able to use my origin me to resist the bacsh from your divination arts. But this method will only whittle away at your spiritual power, and that isn¡¯t something so easily repaired in this darkness-filled world.¡±

    Zhang Boqian put away his spatial boat and arrived beside Lin Xitang. He abruptly turned around after hearing those words and gazed sharply at Habsburg.

    Thetter bowed slightly and said, ¡°Marshal Lin, nothing in the world is eternal. Perhaps there wille a day where we can fight against amon enemy.¡± With that, the young prince vanished silently in the same manner as when he had appeared.

 Volume 6 - 562: Classified

    [V6C92 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]The imperial camp at Giant¡¯s Repose gradually calmed down as time went on. It looked like so on the surface, but the battle-ready state in the base was never lifted. It seemed the empire wasn¡¯t about to bring in more troops, but they had no ns to withdraw the current army and nobility, either. Additionally, no one knew that Zhang Boqian and the Pointer Monarch had secretly returned to Giant¡¯s Repose.

    The two entered Giant¡¯s Repose directly. That pressure capable of throwing one onto a distant continent was nothing before the heavenly monarchs. The pervasive white mist couldn¡¯t obstruct them, either.

    After traversing the white mist for a while, the Pointer Monarch pointed toward a certain direction and said, ¡°I think what we¡¯re looking for is in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Good, let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    The two turned and flew along the mountain peaks in the middle of the ravine at a steady pace. With their strength, they shouldn¡¯t be that slow even with the void colossus¡¯ suppression.

    The Pointer Monarch apparently had the strength to spare. He was flying slowly as though he were strolling through the garden and enjoying the scenery. Zhang Boqian¡¯s impatience was already evident in his expression. His attitude didn¡¯t change in the least because of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s status.

    The Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t turn back, but hardly anything could escape his perception at his level of strength. Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was no exception.

    Seeing the marshal¡¯s deepening impatience, the Pointer Monarch broke into augh. ¡°Boqian, Noxus wouldn¡¯t have escaped if you weren¡¯t in such a rush.¡±

    The vampire monarchs were the most difficult to kill, hence, the Pointer Monarch and Zhang Boqian had actually nned to surround and kill Noxus first. But that thousand-year-old arachne somehow discovered it, and in spite of his status, he actually ran away even before the winner was evident.

    Zhang Boqian used his special ability to chase him into the depths of the void but came back empty-handed in the end.

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t react very strongly after hearing the Pointer Monarch¡¯s words. ¡°That¡¯s nothing important. He won¡¯t escape so easily next time.¡± His words were extremely arrogant, but those who really knew Zhang Boqian would understand that they weren¡¯t just baseless ims.

    Zhang Boqian had shown astonishing talent on the martial path since he was just a champion. Those who had fought with him frequently found that he would always find ways to restrain them in subsequent rematches. It was just that the more powerful he became, the fewer enemies there were around him. Most times, he would only need to suppress his enemies with origin power.

    The Pointer Monarch said with a smile, ¡°Boqian, I¡¯m not ming you. I was also the same when I was young. I favored using the quickest, most direct methods to finish off the enemy. Only at this age did I realize that there are too many things in this world that are worth observing and too many profundities worth exploring. Even in enemies, there are many things we should learn and ponder on.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said calmly, ¡°Thank you for your guidance, but this is my temperament and I can¡¯t seem to change even after so many years. I guess things are different for each phase of life. Right now, I like finishing opponents off on the spot and can¡¯t force myself to do otherwise.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch nodded. ¡°It¡¯s indeed difficult to force a change.¡±

    The two finally stopped before a steep cliff with a deep crevice running along the precipice. Upon closer inspection, the peak beneath their feet was actually the fossilized remains of a colossal beast. One could barely make out the silhouette of its skeleton from between the gap.

    Wave after wave of the void colossus¡¯ consciousness was flowing out from this skeleton. It would seem that the power pervading the entire Giant¡¯s Repose originated here.

    ¡°Thank you, Your Excellency.¡± Zhang Boqian knew that their easy journey was actually due to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s efforts. Not to mention any other person, even Zhang Boqian himself wouldn¡¯t be able to find the true source of the colossus'' will with such ease.

    The Pointer Monarch said with a smile, ¡°It was a small effort. It was both easy and difficult at the same time.¡±

    Zhang Boqian frowned as he studied the skeleton that was hundreds of meters long. ¡°Is this the skeleton of the void colossus? It certainly doesn¡¯t look like it.¡±

    It wasmon knowledge that the strength of a void colossi was proportional to its size. Even though the consciousness was unmistakablying from this skeleton, Zhang Boqian found it hard to believe that a small void colossus would possess such a terrifying power capable of nketing the entire continent.

    The Pointer Monarch smiled in silence. He merely stretched a finger out and shot a wisp of unassuming white energy which duly struck the skeletal cliff.

    This energy was only as thick as a finger, but the struck precipice fell apart like an avnche along with several hundred meters of the skeleton. Everything turned into flowing sand and trickled down to the earth. In the blink of an eye, the entire bony frame had turned into a pile of sand flowing down into the ravine below.

    A round stone covered in blueish-grey lines emerged from the midst of the shifting dirt. It was from within that the void colossus¡¯ consciousness arose.

    Even someone of Zhang Boqian¡¯s courage and insight couldn¡¯t help but draw in a breath of cold air. He flew over to the stone and reached out to touch it. ¡°Is this the void colossus¡¯ eye?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s smile was gone. ¡°I would assume so, but ording to legends, the void colossus Chaos possessed hundreds of them.¡±

    The two fell intoplete silence. Apparently, the skeleton before them was merely a clone of the void colossus which had inherited a single eye. Even so, the remnant will within was enough to lock down the entire Giant¡¯s Repose and maintain this passage toward the voidndmass. It was hard to imagine just how powerful it was alive.

    At this moment, the two heavenly monarchs were puzzled. Did the void colossus Chaos really belong to this world?

    ¡°Are we bringing this back?¡± Zhang Boqian inquired.

    The Pointer Monarch pondered for a moment. ¡°Bringing it back might not be a good thing for the empire. Let¡¯s just destroy it as nned and let Chaos¡¯ will return to its main body. It¡¯s better we don¡¯t invite more trouble during these difficult times.¡±

    Zhang Boqian nced pensively at his feet.

    The Pointer Monarch sighed upon seeing this. ¡°The main skeleton of the legendary Chaos lies at the core of Evernight Continent. But judging from the result of the children''s¡¯ investigation, just a few segments of its spine can already lock down an area the size of seven provinces. From this, we can see just how powerless we are to approach it. Old fellows like us have no hope of exploring it in our lifetime. You might have a chance of investigating it if you can progress further.¡±

    With that, the Pointer Monarch raised his right hand, but Zhang Boqian stopped him. ¡°Let me.¡±

    The former¡¯s brows rose. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of being stained by its tyrannical karmic aura?¡±

    The void colossus was so powerful that even its will couldn¡¯t be erased after millions of years. There was no telling how many traces it had left behind in the depths of the void. An expert destroying its remnant-will might invoke a mysterious resonance of memory. Should this expert, while exploring the void, approach certain locations containing traces of the void colossus, he would likely encounter great danger or even suffer unexpected bacshes.

    Zhang Boqian said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ll be in charge of the empire¡¯s wars during this period. It can¡¯t do anything to me as long as I don¡¯t venture too far into the void.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t insist. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then do it.¡±

    The round stone immediately turned to dust following a light p from Zhang Boqian. The sky was suddenly filled with leaden clouds, and the atmosphere turned dark grey. Countless beams of grey light flew out from the pulverized stone apanied by colossal roars. The beams encircled Zhang Boqian with furious growls as though they were trying to remember his aura. In the end, they shot down into the ravine and vanished into the ground.

    Zhang Boqian stood calmly. He didn¡¯t bother to employ any defensive measures against the remnant will.

    The Pointer Monarch sighed upon seeing this. ¡°They aren¡¯t wrong about you, Boqian. You¡¯re indeed the empire¡¯s hope for resurgence. Your boldness alone puts us old fellows to shame.¡±

    Zhang Boqian remained indifferent to both praise and criticism.

    An entire half a day went by before the void colossus¡¯ consciousness dispersedpletely and returned to its main body in the depths of the continent. The ravine of Giant¡¯s Repose appeared the same as before. Only those entering the mist would know that the passage toward the voidndmass had disappeared. It was no longer possible to cross over from Evernight Continent and visit the strange stone formations, forests, and underground caverns.

    The passage¡¯s demise formally drew the curtains on the empire¡¯s military affairs.

    Several dayster, Qianye finally received an order to appear at themand center. Marshal Zhang Boqian would personally appraise his contributions and issue the rewards.

    Prince Greensun¡¯s so-called appraisal was but a formality as the contributions had long since been audited. But the opportunity to meet the grand marshal and receive rewards was, in and of itself, indicative of his great individual contributions.

    Song Zining made a rare appearance at Qianye¡¯s tent that night. The two sat down for a moment in idle chatter before a flowing light appeared within the tent, along with numerous des of ephemeral leaves. Song Zining hadid down his domain and isted external perceptions.

    But this time, the Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art had just taken shape when Qianye sensed a faintly discernible fluctuation prate the ss-dome of this domain and quietly envelope the tent. This fluctuation was extremely obscure. Had Qianye not absorbed the void colossus¡¯ essence and made rapid progress in his sensitivity to void origin power, he very likely wouldn¡¯t have sensed its existence.

    Just from this, Qianye knew that the source of this fluctuation was at least a character at the same level as Zhao Xuanji. Only a divine champion would be able to utilize void origin power to such a degree.

    Song Zining winked meaningfully at Qianye, indicating that he had also sensed the abnormality.

    The former then spoke in a mysterious voice, ¡°Qianye, what I¡¯m going to tell you is the ssified information of the highest grade that I received from a covert channel. You cannot tell anyone no matter what.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured.¡± Qianye knew that Song Zining was posturing, but that serious expression made him want to chuckle.

    Song Zining rolled his eyes at him while speaking in a rxed tone, ¡°Very well then. I heard that the empire is about to initiate a major battle, and their target is the voidndmass you just explored. Reportedly, this is the true battle of national fate.¡±

    ¡°Battle of national fate?¡± Qianye was astonished because Zhao Xuanji had mentioned this before the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose. It seemed Song Zining wasn¡¯t just messing with the eavesdropper after all.

 Volume 6 - 563: Trap

    [V6C93 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye had been to the core region of the voidndmass and also knew the value that floating continent held. The forest producing origin distite alone was enough to incite a war. Even so, he didn¡¯t feel that thisndmass was worth the empire going all-out for.

    Just like many of the soldiers on the frontline, Qianye became increasingly aware of the Evernight faction¡¯s power as his own strength increased. At times, he even wondered if the empire could really win this war.

    The answer to this problem was quite simple¡ªthey couldn¡¯t¡ªat least not under the current circumstances.

    If one were to view the Great Qin Empire as a race, then it would be roughly equal to the arachne and werewolves on the other side. It would surely be wiped out if the races of the Evernight Council were to work together. It was just that, for the people at the highest echelons, the bnce of power and their sense of priority wasn¡¯t just simple mathematics.

    The dispute between the seven sacred-mountain seats of the Evernight Council had gone on for tens of thousands of years. Presently, only three supreme beings and four major races remained, but their feud had only grown deeper with no end in sight. Comparatively, the empire¡¯s emergence could barely even count as a rising threat.

    In the past thousand years, the Evernight side had often used the empire to weaken their opponent¡¯s movements. The empire, on the other hand, had beat them at their own game by inciting hatred between the dark races and thriving within these political gaps. And that was how the nation had developed to its present stage.

    However, the Great Qin was currently going all out. It was difficult to say whether the other side would put aside all differences and unify against amon enemy. If that were the case, the empire might very well lose its main territory.

    Qianye¡¯s first reaction was just like most people. He felt that the empire should continue its proven strategy of limiting the war to certain regions, especially since both regr and aristocratic armies needed to recuperate after the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose.

    The upper echelons, however, seemed to be considering things from a different angle. Qianye couldn¡¯t discuss this matter in-depth, either, now that the walls had proverbial ears in them.

    Song Zining added, ¡°This is a good opportunity if you want to earn military contributions. I¡¯ll do my best to help you secure a position, but you have to be prepared because strength is still the priority in the army.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I understand.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about when ites to you. Oh, and one more thing, guess who¡¯s the other Heavenly Monarch who fought together with Marshal Boqian.¡±

    This piqued Qianye¡¯s curiosity because he really didn¡¯t know. From the intensity of the origin glow in his True Sight, however, this expert seemed to be even more powerful than Zhang Boqian. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The Pointer Monarch.¡±

    ¡°Pointer Monarch!¡± Qianye was astonished. It was actually the number one heavenly monarch of the empire! No wonder the dark monarchs were defeated so quickly.

    Inasmuch as Qianye could remember, the Pointer Monarch hadn¡¯t taken part in any recent battles. His existence was mostly used to restrain the top experts of the Evernight faction. Reportedly, only the Pointer Monarch could contend against them.

    ¡°You must¡¯ve heard many things about his excellency, but there¡¯s definitely one thing you don¡¯t know. Do you want to hear?¡± Song Zining said mysteriously.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Human heavenly monarchs were the idols of all young warriors, and Qianye was no exception. He was naturally very interested in their news.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Song Zining opened his fan with a smile but didn¡¯t speak immediately.

    Zhang Boqian and the Pointer Monarch were ying chess in the centralmand tent. It was currently Zhang Boqian¡¯s turn to y, but he only held the white piece in the air without putting it down. Across the board, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s brows twitched ever so slightly. Zhang Boqian had remained in this position for a quarter hour now. Even someone of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s mental tranquility felt that thetter was taking a bit too long, especially since he knew Zhang Boqian wasn¡¯t thinking about his next move.

    Song Zining could no longer maintain the suspense after seeing Qianye cracking his knuckles with a menacing expression. ¡°The Pointer Monarch has a granddaughter about toe of age at the end of this year. This is a good opportunity, I heard his excellency loves this granddaughter a lot. No military contribution is out of reach if you can marry her. You can retire half a decade early!¡±

    Qianye was astonished. He had never expected that Song Zining¡¯s principle of life-changing dowries applied to even the Pointer Monarch¡¯s granddaughter.

    Meanwhile, in the main tent. Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression became somewhat awkward. His right hand fell unconsciously and dropped the white piece at some random position.

    The Pointer Monarch shook his head and scolded with a smile, ¡°This little bastard is quite crafty. I heard his divination style is simr to Xitang¡¯s back in the day. He must¡¯ve calcted that I¡¯m listening in on their conversation, yet he still dares to y tricks on me. Quite bold, I say. Boqian, your army is truly a ce of hidden talents.¡±

    This was the second time the Pointer Monarch had spoken these words, but Zhang Boqian simply acted as though he hadn¡¯t noticed the different implications. ¡°Song Zining has the protection of his divination arts, but that other kid seemed to have noticed something. His energy fluctuated a little bit when my perception entered the domain.

    The Pointer Monarch muttered, ¡°Now that¡¯s interesting. If he¡¯s already so aplished in void origin power at this level, his future attainments will be boundless.¡±

    At this point, the Pointer Monarch broke into augh as if he had realized something. ¡°We seem to have fallen for their trick! We have retracted our perception after being found out, but now that I think about it, their earlier conversation is probably just to coax us. The conversation afterward is likely their actual topic.¡±

    Despite saying that, the Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t release his perception again. People of their status could hardly continue eavesdropping after being discovered¡ªit was too embarrassing.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s focus returned to the chessboard. ¡°How important can the childrens¡¯ matters be?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily true. Which of us didn¡¯t go through their age? For instance, you also did quite a lot of big things before you were even thirty.¡±

    Back in the tent, Qianye¡¯s expression and tense body rxed.

    Song Zining also seemed to be feeling better as he said with a smile, ¡°I already know who¡¯s listening on us. It¡¯s not a big issue. Now, back to important matters.¡±

    With that, his expression turned serious. ¡°Do you remember I told you about someone investigating you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what of it?¡± Qianye¡¯s heart tightened slightly, but he actually wasn¡¯t that nervous. He felt that the only thing he couldn¡¯t let people know was his half-vampiric constitution. With his increase in strength, it had be prohibitively difficult for people to figure out any clues¡ªunless someone were to cut him open and see the blood core.

    Song Zining seemed to have understood Qianye¡¯s thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. I had utilized some of that wild boar¡¯s family resources to prepare an identity for you back then¡ªeven your supposed fellow vigers were arranged seamlessly. But the other party has invested sufficient resources this time and actually sent someone to investigate locally.¡±

    This time, Qianye knew things weren¡¯t normal. A fake was a fake. No matter how perfect the disguise, a gap would definitely appear with enough digging. He began to ponder who would be so interested in him. There were even more suspicious aspects in his recent rtionship with the Zhao n¡ªwhy would this person do things the hard way?

    Song Zining¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°I¡¯ve already sent someone to investigate just who is curious enough to dig past the Song and Wei families¡¯ lines.¡±

    He had crafted Qianye¡¯s history with great finesse, putting Qianye under the Song n¡¯s vassal branch while registering his birthce as a small border town under the Far East Province¡¯s control. This also meant that the person flipping through these documents would alert both ns at the same time. Even with such a deterrent measure, the other party had still chosen to continue the investigation.¡±

    Qianye sensed something strange in Song Zining but just couldn¡¯t put his finger on it. He nced up at thetter and said, ¡°Then that person you sent¡­¡±

    ¡°All of them are veterans, there¡¯s nothing to worry about their skill and loyalty. I also instructed them to¡­ should the chance arise¡­¡± At this point, Song Zining made a ughtering gesture.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Since the other party already knows they will rm both you and the Wei n, won¡¯t they be well-prepared? Perhaps your men won¡¯t be able to handle everything.¡±

    Song Zining was somewhat rmed. ¡°This, I didn¡¯t think of.¡±

    He stood up and paced about the tent for a dozen or so times before saying, ¡°If that¡¯s really the case, the other party isn¡¯t just targeting you, they¡¯re also targeting me. I might need to take this trip personally. That means I won¡¯t make it back in time for the battle of national fate.¡±

    ¡°This war is a good opportunity for both you and I. Is there a need to abandon it?¡± Qianye objected.

    Song Zining had already revealed his leadership talents and obtained a position of power as a military staff officer. If he continued disying his skills, there was a good chance his temporary post might be a permanent one. Not many in the empire could achieve this at his age.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The opponent this time has bad intentions. I¡¯ve already investigated many times before but failed to even find a general direction. I¡¯m worried he will take advantage of this war to stir up something to harm us. I¡¯m prepared to go over personally and finish him off once I find him. We must nip the problem at the bud.¡±

    Qianye finally ascertained what was wrong with Song Zining¡¯s impatience. As such, he stood up and put a hand on thetter¡¯s shoulder, preventing him from pacing about.

    In response to Song Zining¡¯s questioning nce, Qianye said, ¡°Zining, have you thought about whether the other party is trying to lure you over?¡±

    Song Zining looked on nkly.

    Qianye continued, ¡°You said you couldn¡¯t find any clues. Does that mean you¡¯ve already tried your divination arts?¡±

    Song Zining nodded with a serious expression.

    ¡°If you failed to capture the person but obtained some important clues, will you continue your divination with it as a medium?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression changed sharply and revealed some disappointment.

    Qianye said, ¡°I don¡¯t know much about divination, but I do know that using it on overly powerful existences will result in a bacsh. If those clues you find lead to a certain major character and the other party happens to sense it via a secret art... he probably won¡¯t hold back under such unknown circumstances. At that time, the true enemies won¡¯t even need to take action to injure you.¡±

    Song Zining exhaled deeply while knocking on his head. ¡°You¡¯re right, this is probably the route I would¡¯ve taken. The scenario you mentioned have never urred to me, this is very abnormal.¡±

    ¡°Zining, you were overly anxious just now.¡± Qianye suddenly thought of something. ¡°Is the other party already disrupting you?¡±

    ¡°Quite likely.¡± Song Zining had quickly recovered after discovering the abnormality. He rubbed his chin and said, ¡°This matter is getting more and more interesting. Just who is the other party? Laying down such an intricate scheme for me¡­ what an honor.¡±

 Volume 6 - 564: The Invisible Hand

    [V6C94 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Who was their enemy?

    Qianye naturally had no answer to this question. Song Zining pondered for a while and said, ¡°If, for some reason, I require a more powerful fighting power, can I ask Nighteye? Herbat strength will definitely be helpful.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Qianye replied decisively.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was just as before. It was as though this refusal wasn¡¯t a matter worth mentioning. ¡°Very well, I understand. I was asking just in case.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to call me if you need help. It¡¯ll be very dangerous if Nighteye¡¯s identity is revealed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯ll be dangerous all the same.¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a problem as long as we find a good opportunity and act efficiently.¡±

    The biggest problem for Qianye while fighting in the empire was that he couldn¡¯t use powerful moves like Life Plunder. The Shot of Inception, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t quite discernible in terms of aura. But even so, he would still need to weigh things carefully before using it. Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion specialized in concealment and assassination arts. Even though there might be changes in their style on the battlefield, they had never abandoned these skills.

    Song Zining onlyughed. ¡°Let¡¯s y it by ear. Okay, I¡¯ll be leaving now; any longer and those two will be curious.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not at the level where we can grab their attention, are we?¡± Qianye asked, puzzled.

    ¡°Ourbat strength is naturally not enough, but an isting barrier popping up in their perception range is a different matter. They might actually spare us an extra nce. Naturally, they won¡¯t pay us much attention as long as we aren¡¯t involved in spying, intelligence, or matters rted to the imperial court.¡±

    Qianye could no longer feel that vague fluctuation after Song Zining¡¯s departure. It would seem thetter¡¯s guess was quite close to the mark.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining exhaled deeply after leaving Qianye¡¯s tent and rubbed his temples. His expression was still mild and gentle, but his indifferent eyes gave away some of his worries.

    Song Zining had recovered from his uncharacteristic state of anxiety following Qianye¡¯s reminder. After that, he thought a bit deeper about this matter. The schools of divination in the empire could be counted on one¡¯s hands¡ªthey were even rarer than high-ranking champions.

    The person behind the curtains had utilized this fact to set him up. This method was simply too vile. Unless¡­ they had scried Qianye first and actually failed! It would seem that they had figured something out along the way and wanted to produce an opening.

    The night was calm. Qianye didn¡¯t cultivate that night and only went on withprehending the memory fragments from the River of Blood. With increased understanding of this inherited knowledge, his utilization of blood energy also improved.

    The focus of this study at the moment was how to withdraw and hide his blood energy, and it so happened that there was knowledge in the inheritance pertaining to this. These methods were used by the vampires of ancient times to approach their prey and hide from powerful predators.

    The secret arts he had obtained from the inheritance were simr to Bloodline Concealment. After cultivating it to the end, he would be able to control his blood energies at a deeper level and even disguise his blood core. But on the other hand, perhaps due to their era, these techniques weren¡¯t as detailed as Bloodline Concealment. They were slightly inferior in terms of technical skill.

    But afterparing the two, Qianye felt that the inheritance from the River of Blood was clearly more powerful. If he could even hide his blood core, what else could be used to detect the presence of his blood energy? Bloodline Concealment, on the other hand, seemed to be making up for itsck of power with finesse.

    Bloodline Concealment might be better at his current stage, but it might not be able to hide all of his blood energy after he had advanced to the Marquis or Duke ranks. The inherited secret art would be quite useful at that time.

    Qianye tried using a secret art to retract his blood energy but discovered that only the ones on the surface were drawn into the depths of his vessels; that was all he could muster. But the effects were better when the two were used together.

    He pondered back and forth but decided to use only Bloodline Concealment in front of Zhang Boqian. It hadn¡¯t been too long since theirst meeting¡ªif it was effective back then, it should be effective this time, too.

    The night went by in this manner.

    At dawn the next day, the Evernight Continent was still shrouded in darkness when the deste bugle resounded throughout the base and woke the entire camp from their deep sleep. Soon, several res of different lengths emerged, summoning the generals of each barracks to themand center.

    Close to a hundredmand vehicles rushed toward the central camp. These vehicles had emblems of the imperial army or the aristocratic ns painted on them in a disy of glory.

    There were several from the Zhao n who would receive rewards today, but only Qianye was on themand vehicle with Duke You, while the others followed behind in a single car. As for Zhao Jundu, he had his own private car and guard squad.

    Qianye felt numerous fiery gazes upon him when he boarded the vehicle.

    The Zhao n motorcade thus drove out of the barracks and toward themand center. He encountered numerous aristocratic and military convoys along the way. From this, he was able to see the difference between them. Most of the aristocratic motorcades weren¡¯t nearly as big as the Zhao n¡¯s, and some of the smaller ones only had one car. This signified that none of their people were qualified for awards. As such, only their n lord or captain hade to attend the ceremony. Upon seeing the Zhao n motorcade, most of the other vehicles slowed down and moved to the side in a disy of courtesy.

    Zhao Xuanji smiled while stroking his beard. ¡°Qianye, their etiquette wasn¡¯t because of this duke¡¯s rank or out of consideration for the Zhao n¡¯s power. It mostly stems from the Swallow Cloud Zhao n¡¯s contributions in this war. You also have a share in this.¡±

    An inexplicable sensation slowly arose in Qianye¡¯s heart as he looked at the cars giving way to them.

    The majestic gates of themand center were already in sight when a motorcade rushed out from a branch road. This convoy had no intention of stopping and didn¡¯t even reduce their speed when passing by. They even sped up in order to get ahead of the Zhao n.

    Even Qianye was somewhat upset, to speak nothing of the Zhao n warriors.

    That motorcade belonged to the Everpeace Bai n.

    The Bai n¡¯s position had always been behind the Zhao n, but everyone knew they were never satisfied and had been trying hard every year to surpass thetter. But overall, there weren¡¯t any other outstanding young descendants apart from Bai Aotu.

    They did have Bai Longjia. Due to his steady mindset, the major characters of the n believed that he might be able to mature slowly. In the eyes of the Zhao n, however, he was just about at the level of Zhao Junhong and even slightly inferior to Zhao Yuying. There was no way he could catch up to geniuses like Zhao Jundu and Qianye.

    The Zhao and Bai ns had never been harmonious, and this time, they had nted the seeds of new hostility during the bloody battle. Even though it was said that the enmity under the Iron Curtain would remain therein, the smell of gunpowder between the two ns only seemed to grow more and more intense each day.

    Internal strife was naturally impossible during the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose. But, all this time, the two families who held adjacent war zones had beenpeting¡ªintentionally or otherwise¡ªin military contributions. Bai Aotu killing Julio at thest moment of the castle assault was also to establish dominance before Zhao Jundu and Li Kuann.

    That being the case, how could the Zhao n be willing to make way for the Bai n¡¯s motorcade?

    The road toward themand center wasn¡¯t very wide and could barely amodate two convoys traveling side by side. With the two sides striving to get ahead, the collisions between the two motorcades grew in frequency, and the people gradually lost control of their temper.

    At this time, a jeep rushed up from behind and drove alongside Zhao Xuanji¡¯s vehicle. The other car window was lowered to reveal an old, kind-looking face with half-greyed hair. The elder smiled with great sincerity upon seeing Zhao Xuanji and greeted with narrowed eyes, ¡°Brother Xuanji, long time no see.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji reciprocated in a simr tone, ¡°Brother Songnian, didn¡¯t we just meet at Duke Ding¡¯s birthdayst year?¡±

    A wisp of green shed past Bai Songnian¡¯s face. ¡°Is that so? Oh my, my age is getting the best of my memory. I even forgot about that. How have you been doing?¡±

    ¡°Just as before, not that great but not so bad, either. It¡¯s good enough if I don¡¯t get angered to death by the younger generation.¡±

    ¡°Which of the youngsters is giving Brother Xuanji a headache? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s thatss Yuying, haha!¡± Bai Songnianughed heartily, then added, ¡°Speaking of which, Yuying isn¡¯t young anymore. Won¡¯t you think about my suggestion? My family¡¯s Longzhan has made great progress in recent years and might barely be considered a match for Yuying.¡±

    It was Zhao Xuanji¡¯s turn to wear a darkened expression. ¡°No rush, Yuying has a bright future ahead of her.¡±

    ¡°The future needs time toe. After all, Yuying is still a bit young. Not to mention her, even our Bai Aotu has encountered so much wind and rain. If not for her good fortune, she might¡¯ve fallen halfway.¡±

    Bai Songnian¡¯s insinuating words unted Bai Aotu¡¯s sess while hinting that the Zhao n¡¯s geniuses might fall halfway. It could be considered rather malicious.

    The words struck Zhao Xuanji¡¯s nerve. The Zhao n was too proud during the bloody battle and lost numerous young descendants due to theirck of preparation. There was no telling how many more would have died if not for Zhao Jundu and Qianye¡¯s iparable momentum. And the Bai n was clearly one of the perpetrators.

    Zhao Xuanji¡¯s expression was unsightly. He clearly knew that Bai Songnian was deliberately provoking him, but there was nothing he could do in this verbal spar.

    The Zhao n had produced numerous talents with more than just one divine champion in every generation. However, it just so happened that the current thirty-year-old generation was slightly weaker than the rest. There really wasn¡¯t anyone they could bring out topete against Bai Aotu. Zhao Jundu¡¯s absolutebat strength might not catch up to Bai Aotu, either¡ªat least before he reaches the divine champion realm.

    Zhao Xuanji snorted and said responded slowly, ¡°The younger generation have their own fate. There¡¯s really no need for us, old people, to worry. That being said, why is Brother Songnian in such a rush?¡±

    Bai Songnian said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s of course for the rewards. I hope to get there early and grab a good seat so that I can watch all the talented kids from every family. Oh right, Brother Xuanji, is the kid beside you that Qianye who¡¯s so famous recently?¡±

    Seeing Bai Songnian ncing at himself, Qianye said with a bow, ¡°I am indeed Qianye.¡±

    Bai Songnian sized him up from head to toe with eyes as sharp as needles, hoping to see through him. However, Qianye had long since prepared for this¡ªthe origin power in his body surged with a trace of void energy and locked Bai Songnian¡¯s gaze outside of his body. Thetter¡¯s perception couldn¡¯t even gain an inch of ground.

 Volume 6 - 565: Ceremony Part 1

    Chapter 565: Ceremony (Part 1) [V6C95 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The startled Bai Songnian revealed an expression of clear astonishment. He had never imagined that a youngster would be able to block his discerning gaze so nonchntly.

    He might be able to pierce through Qianye¡¯s origin defenses with greater effort, but he was a character on the same level as Zhao Xuanji¡ªit would be too shameless for someone of his status to try again after failing the first time. Moreover, Zhao Xuanji was casting a gaze of ill-intent at him. Was he supposed to exin to this old rival that he had failed to see through a youngster in one try?

    As one who had experienced numerous winds and waves, Bai Songnian quickly recovered from his loss ofposure. A smile reappeared on his face as he nodded. ¡°Indeed extraordinary and deserving of the Zhao n¡¯s courtesy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡± Qianye¡¯s brows rose slightly as he epted this tentativeplement. His attitude was neither servile nor overbearing.

    The Bai and Zhao n motorcades arrived side by side at themand center and parked in the open space outside of the gates. All vehicles apart from those of Zhao Xuanji and Bai Songnian had to stop here¡ªeven Zhao Jundu and Bai Aotu weren¡¯t exceptions.

    A high tform had been constructed in thergest drill grounds at themand center. The atmosphere was solemn with Irond Guards standing around the area inrge numbers.

    Powerful aristocratic leaders like Zhao Xuanji naturally sat at the center of the tform, while the lesser nobility and leaders of second-rate army corps were seated at the periphery. The others could only sit within the drill grounds, but Qianye and the others had seats in front of the tform. There was an area there marked out ording to the rankings of the nobility.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s seat on the tform was empty, but even so, no one in the field dared cause a mor. Most of the familiar ns would only exchange greetings at most, with hardly anyone engaging in lengthy discussions. Apart from that, the only thing to do was wait silently for the ceremony to begin.

    Qianye stood for some time within the Zhao n lineup before he heard the long cry of a bugle horn. The bold melody reverberated throughout the camp for a good while before receding.

    The three bugle calls followed by three drumbeats shook the hearts of everyone present¡ªit was as though a boundless might had descended upon them.

    Qianye looked up at the stage after sensing something. There, he saw that a heroic man had suddenly appeared in the central seat. The man was merely sitting there, but Qianye felt as though there was a tall mountain peak rushing at him¡ªhe could hardly breathe for a short moment.

    Zhang Boqian spoke as the drums had faded away. ¡°From the bloody battle to the end of the campaign at Giant¡¯s Repose, it can be said that the empire had stood united against the enemy and made great contributions. Since its foundation, our Great Qin Empire has always rewarded contributors generously. Today, this monarch will award the meritorious soldiers in His Majesty¡¯s stead, so that they can be viewed as the role models of every army.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t that clear and resounding, but it washed over the entire imperial camp and rang clearly in everyone¡¯s ears. Moreover, his voice wasn¡¯t limited to the imperial camp¡ªit grew sharper and sharper as it spread out in all directions, ending in a rumbling thunder far in the distance.

    In the wilderness outside of the camp, dozens of figures popped out from under the ground and within the grass. They rolled about on the ground in great agony, blood flowing out of their noses and mouths until theirst breath. These were spies the Evernight side had left to collect intelligence. They were well-hidden at first, but who would¡¯ve thought they would lose their lives in this manner?

    At this moment, an Irond Legion soldier delivered a tray with arge bowl of strong wine on it. There were other people shuttling between the soldiers on and below the tform, distributing wine to everyone.

    Zhang Boqian stood up and raised his bowl. ¡°It¡¯s said that a general conquers at the expense of myriad lives. Our glory today was actually bought using the fresh blood of countlessrades. Before we proceed with the bestowments, I would like to drink with all of you as an offering for the departed.

    The audience was solemn as they followed Zhang Boqian¡¯s ritual and emptied the bowl of strong wine.

    The bowl of alcohol felt like fire as it entered Qianye¡¯s stomach. During his momentary daze, the faces of pastrades crept into his blurry vision. For a brief moment, his entire being was filled with a bleak chill that caused him to sigh.

    With that, Zhang Boqian returned to his seat and a champion beside him delivered a list of names. Zhang Boqian scanned the list and said with a nod, ¡°The awards this time will tally up the contributions from the bloody battle, Giant¡¯s Repose, and for storming the Evernight main camp. What does everyone think about this?¡±

    No one expressed any objection¡ªneither those on the stage nor the ones below. Not all of the aristocratic descendants had taken part in three battles. This arrangement was inevitably disadvantageous to some, but they couldn¡¯t find the reason to object since those who had fought in every battle faced the greatest risk. Moreover, it was certain that the emperor had read about this arrangement already. Even if there were some who wanted to object, they wouldn¡¯t dare voice their opinion on such an asion.

    Zhang Boqian waited for a while, but the scene remained deathly silent. He then said, ¡°First ce, Bai n¡¯s Bai Aotu. First-ss merit.¡±

    These words caused the Bai n to break into thunderous apuse. On the stage, Bai Songnian¡¯s eyes had narrowed into a straight line. He cupped his hands in every direction to ept everyone¡¯s congrattions.

    The Bai n¡¯s grandeur at this moment was peerless.

    A first-ss merit required one to kill an honored marquis. However, these characters were more or less the most powerful dark race leaders on the battleground. None of the other side¡¯s main generals had fallen in the three battles, so it was likely that Bai Aotu had umted merit by killing at least two marquis-level dark race experts and other enemies of the same level.

    Even so, it was enough to look down on the entire army.

    The empire¡¯s awards were generous, to say the least. She could exchange a grade-eight origin firearm or some other reward of simr value.

    Bai Aotu was, as before, dressed in in, white clothes. She took firm steps onto the tform and received an inscribed jade tablet from Zhang Boqian. This token was proof of her contributions and could be used at the imperial armory to exchange for items.

    The Bai Aotu in Qianye¡¯s expression was someone who could hardly be moved unless the earth and sky were to fall apart. But her hands were trembling slightly as she stood in front of Zhang Boqian to receive the tablet. Apparently, she was beside herself at this moment. This surprised everyone on and below the stage, including Qianye.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s loss ofposurested for but a short moment. Her eyes quickly regained their rity, and a tyrannical vigor rose again around her body. It was just that this power appeared rather weak in front of Zhang Boqian, much like a small tree before a majestic peak.

    Even so, the major characters on the stage nodded in quick session. Bai Songnian looked all the more pleased and seemed unable to keep his mouth closed. As a heavenly monarch, Zhang Boqian¡¯s suppressive might was shocking even if he was simply standing there without any deliberate action.

    Being able to release one¡¯s vigor in front of him¡ªeven just a wisp of it¡ªwas no easy feat. Bai Aotu¡¯s future prospects had been widely proimed by the Bai n. This disy of strength before the army and ns caused Bai Songnian¡¯s expression to be filled with radiance.

    Naturally, not everyone was praising Bai Aotu. Some of the ns that didn¡¯t get along with them exchanged meaningful nces. It was considered bad manners to forcefully release one¡¯s power in front of a superior expert¡ªa narrow-minded individual would have already been offended by her.

    No matter what people above and below the stage were calcting, Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression remained the same. There was neither anger nor praise. It was as though Bai Aotu was no different from any other soldier in the drill grounds.

    Zhang Boqian said with a nod, ¡°You must serve the empire more in the future.¡±

    A short speech of encouragement was customary after bestowing the award. Zhang Boqian¡¯s words only followed tradition without any additional praise. This inevitably caused Bai Songnian to feel some disappointment. But he calmed down after some thought because this was Zhang Boqian¡¯s natural disposition¡ªhe never showed favor toward anyone.

    Someone duly led Bai Aotu back after she had put away the jade tablet.

    Afterward, Zhang Boqian announced, ¡°Second ce, Zhao n¡¯s Zhao Jundu. First-ss merit.¡±

    This announcement immediately kicked up a great mor.

    Zhao Jundu truly rose to fame toward the end of the bloody battle, and his ascension to the champion rank was only a couple of months ago. Due to the presence of the Iron Curtain, the participants in the bloody battle were mostly below the count rank. As such, the contributions were limited no matter how many of them he killed. There were indeed marquises operating in Giant¡¯s Repose, but it wasn¡¯t possible for Zhao Jundu to kill these opponents at rank-twelve.

    Although everyone admitted that Zhao Jundu was extraordinarily talented, he was still too young, and his origin power rank was limited. Many people couldn¡¯t believe that he was in the rankings at all, much less ranked second.

    The empire¡¯s first-ss merit required one to kill an honored marquis. In order for Zhao Jundu to obtain this contribution, he must¡¯ve used sheer numbers to meet this requirement. Such arge number of kills proved that those at the same level might not evenst a couple of moves against Zhao Jundu.

    Hearing his name being called, Zhao Jundu stood up calmly and adjusted his clothes before walking onto the stage. Soon, he was standing before Zhang Boqian.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s pose raised a hubbub of whispers upon and below the stage. This illustrious Zhao n fourth young master had rarely appeared in public since his level-suppression five years ago. Hence, very few had ever seen him in person.

    All eyes lit up after seeing him personally. Both Zhao Jundu¡¯s appearance and temperament were beyond outstanding. Be it his allies from the Zhao n or his enemies, everyone offered silent praise. They felt that his bearing alone was deserving of his title as the number one character among the younger generation.

    Zhao Jundu, however, was frowning as he stood in front of Zhang Boqian. He could feel an invisible pressure upon him which made it difficult to even breathe, not to mention speak. Zhang Boqian wasn¡¯t deliberately containing his power today. Just the vigor overflowing naturally from him was enough to make Zhao Jundu feel a certain pressure. It was as though a mountain was falling slowly onto his back.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s origin power became fully activated on its own, poised to resist at all costs. His body trembled all of a sudden as a wisp of azure energy rushed into the sky and condensed therein, receding only after quite a while.

    All those seated nearby were veteran experts with great insight. Someone immediately praised, ¡°What a powerful azure energy!¡±

    Zhang Boqian gave Zhao Jundu an extra nce and said with a slight nod, ¡°Good foundations, keep up the good work. Do not be arrogant or be distracted by material gains, always maintain an unmoving heart.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression shifted slightly as he performed a military salute. ¡°Thank you for your instructions, Your Majesty.¡±

    Zhang Boqian spoke no more and simply handed the jade tablet to Zhao Jundu. The words ¡°first-rank¡± were inscribed on the tablet. It was just that the golden characters were lined with a silver border, to differentiate it from a true first-rank merit.

    Zhang Boqian only spoke a couple of extra words, but this caused everyone¡¯s expression to change quite a bit.

 Volume 6 - 566: Ceremony Part 2

    Chapter 566: Ceremony (Part 2) [V6C96 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t say much to Bai Aotu even though she was first ce¡ªthe difference in treatment was clear. Moreover, the azure energy which had shot out from Zhao Jundu was the legendary Extreme Violet Yields Azure. He was even one level higher than Bai Aotu in terms of origin power purity.

    The audience offered their congrattions upon seeing Zhao Jundu receive Zhang Boqian¡¯s favor. Zhao Xuanji calmly returned the gesture without any excessive delight. This caused Bai Songnian¡¯s smile to turn a bit unnatural.

    Everyone began noticing that the two people activating their aura in front of Zhang Boqian was no coincidence. It was likely a public test from Prince Greensun.

    The recipients would naturally feel Zhang Boqian¡¯s might when standing in front of him. Dealing with such a power was reliant not only on one¡¯s origin power cultivation but also his talents. This so-called talent wasn¡¯t an intangible topic of discussion¡ªit involved one¡¯s origin power attribute, purity, and various innate abilities. One¡¯s cultivation and future potential would be forced out by the heavenly monarch¡¯s might. There was simply no way to fake it.

    After Zhao Jundu had returned to his seat, people began paying more attention to the recipients that woulde afterward. There were over a hundred candidates this time, but no more than twenty would go on stage to receive the rewards.

    Zhang Boqian shot the list a nce and said with a constant expression, ¡°Third ce, Zhao n¡¯s Qianye. Second-ss Merit.¡±

    The entire scene fell silent for a moment, and then broke into an uproar. No one had imagined that the third ce would alsoe from the Zhao n, much less a rank-ten champion.

    All those paying attention to the rising stars of the empire would know how Qianye had risen to fame during the bloody battle, but when all was said and done, he was only rank ten. His feats made sense under the limitations of the Iron Curtain, but it was already fortunate enough for him to return alive from Giant¡¯s Repose¡ªhow could he have made so many contributions?

    In battles throughout history with a focus on individual fighting power¡ªlike the Iron Curtain battle and Giant¡¯s Repose exploration¡ªthe lowest rank qualifying for receiving a reward on stage was usually twelve.

    After all, the so-called killing enemies above one¡¯s level had its limits. One capable of killing an enemy three levels higher could be considered a genius among geniuses. For instance, Zhao Jundu¡¯s domain during the final battle was able to restrain a rank-seventeen mighty marquis. This was enough to be a legend.

    Moreover, there were no shortcuts to life and death on the battlefield. No matter how talented a person or how profound hisbat arts were, it was impossible tost long without enough origin power. Even the chances of running away were slim. Qianye¡¯s reward was justifiable if it was only for the bloody battle, but it wasn¡¯t at all possible after adding in the exploration of Giant¡¯s Repose and the final battle.

    But not only was Qianye invited onto the stage, he was also ranked third.

    The empire¡¯s second-ss merit required one to kill a marquis. As a rank-ten champion, it was naturally impossible for Qianye to do that. This meant that he had umted enough contribution points just like Zhao Jundu. The rank of enemies he could kill was even lower than Zhao Jundu¡¯s. It must¡¯ve been a terrifying number of kills.

    A certain person¡¯s countenance shifted after performing a detailed calction. Some others recalled that Qianye might¡¯ve obtained something in Giant¡¯s Repose. Whether it was obtaining an ancient essence fragment or killing a Sky Demon avatar, people simply couldn¡¯t believe it. Even if everything could be attributed to luck, that, in and of itself, was also one of his strengths.

    Qianye¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but skip a few beats even though it wasn¡¯t the first time he hade before Zhang Boqian. At this moment, Prince Greensun¡¯s gaze was deep, clear, and unexpectedly mild. However, Qianye felt as though he werepletely naked and was being seen through from inside out¡ªit was inexplicably ufortable.

    Soon, just like Bai Aotu and Zhao Jundu, Qianye felt the invisible pressure around Zhang Boqian. It was even more pronounced than his first meeting with the marshal. He felt the pressure on his body growing heavier and heavier until all of his bones were creaking and groaning. In the blink of an eye, his blood was surging, and his face was flushed red¡ªhe wasing close to coughing up blood.

    Unexpectedly, the darkness power deep within Qianye¡¯s body couldn¡¯t move in the least. It was as though they were terrified by Zhang Boqian¡¯s vigor. Both the dark golden blood energy and the Book of Darkness remained dormant, and even his blood core was in a state of deathly stillness.

    In his astonishment, Qianye didn¡¯t know whether he should be celebrating his escape from being found out. But if this were to continue, he would very likely copse under the might of this heavenly monarch. It was at this moment that the origin vortex in his chest sped up its rotation, and the countless crystalline granules therein dissolved into the stagnant origin tides.

    Qianye trembled as his origin power began to boil, and it felt as though his face and body were being branded. His body was soon covered from head to toe in scarlet origin fire, and within the ze were specks of pulsing golden starlight.

    ¡°Venus Dawn!¡± someone gasped.

    Bai Songnian nced at Zhao Xuanji with an odd expression, but thetter¡¯s countenance was as still as an old well. Even Bai Songnian was reacting in this manner, to speak nothing of the others who were seeing this for the first time. Everyone felt that their horizons had been broadened, and that this trip wasn¡¯t a waste.

    It was no secret that Qianye possessed Venus Dawn. It was also because of this that the Zhao n had given him such preferential treatment. But hearing of it was one matter, and seeing it personally was another entirely. Only after witnessing the scene with their own eyes did the masses acknowledge Qianye¡¯s talents and potential.

    At this point, the top-three awards had already been decided. Although the Zhao n hadn¡¯t taken the top position, it had upied both second and third ces. Moreover, both the recipients had disyed outstanding talents that were even superior to Bai Aotu¡¯s by a small margin. It could be said that the Zhao n had still suppressed the Bai n in this fierce contest.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes rested on Qianye for quite some time. He nodded momentster and said, ¡°Not bad, but you have to try harder in the future. You must know that origin power is the source of myriad power. Being too low is never a good thing.¡±

    These, too, were words of encouragement. They were far off from the ones Zhao Jundu had received, but they could be considered favorablepared to Bai Aotu¡¯s. To be able to converse with Zhang Boqian, even if he was just stating Qianye¡¯s shorings, was proof of thetter¡¯s extraordinary qualities. It could be said that Qianye had taken half a step past the threshold of a divine champion.

    A genius with great potential who was even younger than Zhao Jundu! Moreover, Qianye was reportedly a member of Zhao Jundu¡¯s secondary residence, but he never moved into the n. This meant that he was still an external general who wasn¡¯t tied permanently to the Zhao n.

    The major characters of the aristocratic families began shooting sparks from their eyes. Even if Qianye couldn¡¯t be a divine champion in the future, he was enough to be the biggest fighting force in their ns.

    Most of them began calcting what kind of methods they should employ and what kind of investments they should make in order to make Qianye switch allegiances. The Zhao n lord¡¯s daughters would never marry into andowning household, much less a civilian. This was a tradition people had always renounced. But this gave the other aristocratic families some space to maneuver.

    However, not everyone had thoughts of appreciation. There were some who had lowered their eyes in order to hide their killing intent. Despite all that, Zhao Xuanji remained calm as though he couldn¡¯t sense the undercurrents flowing all around him.

    Qianye received the jade token and noticed that it was a little bit smaller than the first-ss merit.

    After him, seventeen other people ascended the stage one by one to receive the award. It was just that Zhang Boqian said nothing much to them¡ªeveryone was told to serve the empire better in the future.

    Twenty awards had been given out after a while.

    Zhang Boqian looked about and said in a deep voice, ¡°The empire had stood for thousands of years and fought countless battles. Our forebears had fought the dark races for every inch of the four continents. There were seven major ns during the empire¡¯s founding and nine at its most prosperous era, but today, we¡¯re left with only four. The path of the strong is never constant. The rewards today will be the foundation of tomorrow. I hope everyone can rely on these rewards to pioneer new territory and be nobility!¡±

    The entire army felt its blood boiling after hearing Zhang Boqian say these words. The rallying cheers spread out like a tsunami and echoed throughout thends of Evernight.

    The Zhao n¡¯s fame had once again shaken the empire during this ceremony. Anyone hearing about this had to say that they were all well deserving of their name. As for the Bai n, everyone felt that they were still inferior to the Zhao n.

    For some reason, Li Kuann¡¯s name wasn¡¯t on this list. Qianye thought about it and figured out she wasn¡¯t willing to appear in public. Thetter was proud and unrestrained but not hateful. Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out why Zhao Jundu and Song Zining were avoiding her like the gue.

    As expected of the leader of the four major ns, the Zhang n had four people in the top-twenty, exceeding the Zhao both in number and points.

    This list was a vague disy of the strength of each n and family. The Zhang and Zhao ns were still able to look down on the world, followed closely by the Bai n. The Song n¡¯s weakness was exceptionally pronounced. Only one made it onto the stage at the end of the list. Moreover, that person was a son-inw from a side branch and not of lineal descent.

    As for Song Zining, he didn¡¯t enter Giant¡¯s Repose during the exploration, andter on, he was mostly handling military affairs at themand center. Although there was surely a reward for him, he gained no fame in terms of individual contributions. Those who had seen the seventh young noble on the front lines found it to be a pity. However, with Song Zining¡¯s attainments in the divination arts, it wasn¡¯t impossible for him to be promoted via other means.

    After the conferment, Zhang Boqian issued amand, ordering the entire army to retreat from Evernight Continent over the next three days. The army was to return to the maind, while the aristocratic private armies would resume their former posts. With that, the entire army became busy as the soldiers began packing up all the armaments and camping equipment. The activity never stopped from dawn to dusk. It was a proverbial scene of weapons being stowed away and horses, set free.

    Qianye remained alone in his tent for an entire day. He held the jade token in his hand with firmly knitted brows.

    Song Zining had revealed that the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose was only the prologue to the battle of national fate. The campaign for the flying continent was the true battle. This caused Qianye to feel restless.

    This so-called battle of national fate would be on apletely different scalepared to the limited battles from before. Just like their assault on the Evernight main camp this time, rolling steel would flow as the great army moved. There was no individual action here. One could only move forward continuously until death or exhaustion. With Qianye¡¯s current rank, it was too early for him to rampage through the battlefield¡ªeven Zhao Jundu could barely count as capable.

    Anything could happen in the chaos of the army, and even a hero might be done in by a nameless enemy grunt. It was just that Qianye needed to umte contribution points, and there was no better opportunity than this. He became determined at the thought of this and immediately summoned a guard to apany him to themand center.

 Volume 6 - 567: Armed to the Teeth

    [V6C97 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye arrived smoothly at themand tent after stating his identity. There, he turned right after entering and advanced straight ahead to arrive at a series of warehouses. These warehouses formed a separate camp of its own and were guarded by the Thunderous Cavalry as well as Zhang Boqian¡¯s private army.

    Qianye leapt down from the jeep and shot a nce at the warning sign hanging at the gates. There wererge, scarlet words on the board that said: ¡°Warehouse Area. Trespassers shall be beheaded.¡±

    An officer walked out upon seeing Qianye¡¯s approach and proceeded to size him up briefly. Then, the man¡¯s expression changed all of a sudden as he said, beaming, ¡°General Qianye, what brings you to the armory?¡±

    Qianye had received the rank of brigadier general after the awards ceremony but wasn¡¯t attached to any army corps just yet. This was done ording to convention¡ªthe elites from aristocratic private armies could hold an office in the imperial military and enjoy resources from both sides.

    Although Qianye¡¯s brigadier general status was stillcking in official documents, this officer was apparently quite discerning and simply wouldn¡¯t stop addressing Qianye as general.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking to exchange contributions.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem. I¡¯ll bring you to see General Han.¡±

    Momentster, the officer led Qianye to the office of Armory Manager Han Dezhong. Qianye didn¡¯t engage in lengthy conversations here. He ced the jade tablet directly on the desk and exined his intentions.

    Han Dezhong was muttering irresolutely to himself when his aide cut in, ¡°General, the army is on the eve of withdrawing, and all of the armaments in the storage have been sealed. It¡¯s not convenient to bring them out again.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank upon hearing this.

    The rewards for this battle were different from the norm with a fair number of rare items on the list. It was just that Qianye had been nning to save up for an amnesty order, so he didn¡¯t consider them. He hesitated a bit after his discussion with Song Zining before finally deciding to exchange the umted contributions for a set of powerful weapons that would aid his massacre in the battle of national fate.

    He hadn¡¯t expected the armory to have finished packing up when there was clearly one day left before the designated departure time. Moreover, those superior rewards had to be stored and maintained with special means¡ªhow could they be mixed with those ordinary armaments? This aide was either exceptionally afraid of trouble or seeking to cause trouble for Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank ever so slightly as his eyes grew sharp. He had encountered his fair share of hardships and besiegements during the bloody battle¡ªprobably more humans had died in his hands than the dark races. Equipped with such experiences, Qianye was no longer one to be taken advantage of so easily. Moreover, he had the Zhao n behind him so no one could bully him even if he made a scene.

    Han Dezhong scanned Qianye¡¯s face and felt his heart tremble upon seeing thetter¡¯s expression. He immediately turned back and shouted, ¡°What the hell are you saying? A military reward is no small matter! Bring the contribution booklet over. No matter what General Qianye selects, you will bring it to him even if you have to open up a sealed crate!¡±

    The aide was startled, as though he hadn¡¯t expected Han Dezhong to flip out in such a manner. He shot Qianye an angry re before leaving the tent to retrieve the exchange catalog.

    This aide was in his early thirties, and despite being a colonel, he didn¡¯t seem to have much respect for Han Dezhong. This was rather surprising to Qianye.

    After the man had left, Han Dezhong smiled wryly at Qianye and said, ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry to have let you witness this sorry joke. As a person of humble birth holding an unimportant post, I can hardly keep those n scions in check.¡±

    Qianye appeared thoughtful but didn¡¯t reveal anything. ¡°Which n is that colonel from?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s surnamed Bai.¡±

    Qianye nodded as he came to understand why this person had wanted to make things difficult for him. This was actually a small matter because there was little the man could do apart from adopting a hostile attitude. He didn¡¯t have the power to deny Qianye from exchanging his contribution.

    Momentster, the man returned with a stack of documents and ced it on the table. Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in the ordinary rewards at all, so he just picked up the first-rate reward list. In truth, Qianye had already seen this booklet and had a general idea of the things listed in it.

    Qianye had more or less formed a n after flipping through it once more.

    His second-ss merit could obtain a standard grade-seven weapon or resources of simr value. Moreover, Qianye had contribution points from killing Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. Adding everything together would allow him to obtain a special grade-seven firearm. This wasn¡¯t a small reward at all because even Zhao Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament and Zhao Yuying¡¯s Mountain Splitter were only standard grade-seven weapons, albeit the best in their grade.

    Those from ordinary low-ranking aristocratic families might not be able to touch a grade-seven weapon in their life. Moreover, those without the right connections would never find such a weapon even if they had the money.

    Qianye gave the booklet a once-over and came to a conclusion. He had Han Dezhong confirm his registered contribution points and then pointed at a picture on thest page of the catalog. ¡°I want this one.¡±

    Han Dezhong was puzzled. ¡°You really want this?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s choice was a grade-seven sniper rifle named Thunderbolt. This weapon was known for its massive firepower and range¡ªits might wasn¡¯t far off from a grade-eight weapon when fired at full charge with the addition of the sharpshooter¡¯s skills. The problem was that this weapon was merely a sniper rifle with no other special abilities. It had no other merits apart from its firepower and range.

    At the grade-seven level, the weapons¡¯ foundational arrays were powerful enough to add numerous special abilities. Not to mention premium weapons like Blue Firmament and Mountain Splitter, even those produced by the empire¡¯s master craftsmen had many performed ns one could choose from. For instance, the skill ¡°Windrider¡± could increase the marksman¡¯s movement speed by several times, allowing him to run at least several kilometers before wearing off. It was a valuable asset to snipers for escape and changing positions.

    Some sniper rifles allowed the marksman to retract his aura. The effects were simr to Bloodline Concealment, albeit not asplete. These abilities were just examples out of the many others. Special firearms like these were used to reinforce a sniper¡¯s strength or to make up for his weakness. One had to know that cultivation would be more and more difficult at higher ranks, and most people who had reached this level were at the end of their progress. As such, they needed toplement their weaknesses with the addition of different origin arrays.

    Qianye replied, ¡°Yes, I want this.¡±

    Han Dezhong made no more attempt at dissuasion after seeing Qianye¡¯s insistence. ¡°There are indeed a couple of Thunderbolts in the armory, so I can dispense it right away. If you want other special models, however, you really might have to wait a while.¡±

    With that, Han Dezhong ordered the aide to retrieve the weapon. Qianye felt quite peaceful after the aide left begrudgingly.

    Qianye had half of his contribution points left after picking a Thunderbolt. He slipped over to thebat armor page and picked a set of special grade-five armor called ¡°Iron Wall¡±. This armor¡¯s design was already mature. Its unique feature,pared to the ordinary version, was a significant increase in defense at the expense of a twofold weight increase. However, its thickness remained the same.

    Even using East Peak was a cakewalk for Qianye¡¯s constitution and strength, much less this Iron Wall.

    Han Dezhong¡¯s eyelids couldn¡¯t help but twitch after seeing Qianye pick this armor¡ªafter all, it wasn¡¯t fit for a sniper at all. It could be considered a piece of heavy armor even for gueri soldiers or closebat assault teams. It was simply too heavy for a sniper.

    But considering the case with Thunderbolt just a while ago, he decided not to say anything.

    What Qianye liked was the Iron Wall¡¯s defensive powers. With such an armor on him, he was practically impervious to sporadic attacks under grade six.

    He still had points left even after picking Thunderbolt and Iron Wall. Hence, he exchanged a set of handgun attachments capable of increasing firepower by twenty percent. The Twin Flowers¡¯ firepower was indeed falling behindpared to Qianye¡¯s constant progress in origin power and blood energy. It was just that these guns had been personally modified by Andruil to hold the Wings of Inception, so there might be more secrets hidden within. He couldn¡¯t throw them away no matter what.

    The Twin Flowers were grade-five firearms, but its firepower was at grade six afterbining them into one and using the Wings of Inception. Installing this attachment would boost its firepower to the peak of grade-six and close to grade-seven. Its basic output could be considered sufficient as a defensive weapon in battle.

    The items Qianye wanted weren¡¯t overly rare or custom-made; most of them were in stock. Han Dezhong didn¡¯t drag things out, either. He immediately produced all the reward items and handed them to Qianye.

    Qianye had cleared out his contributions by the time he had left the armory, but it could be said that he was now armed to the teeth.

    Another day passed by, and the time arrived for the entire army to withdraw.

    Countless airships rose from the imperial main camp following the call of a lingering bugle. They assumed formation at different altitudes in the air and, afterward, left one after another. At a nce, the air was filled with hundreds of airships, and it was as though the entire sky was fully packed.

    Even for many old veterans from the regr army, it was the first time they had witnessed such a powerful scene.

    The first batch of airships would carry the imperial regr army back to their garrisons. Unexpectedly, even more airships took to the air after the departure of the first batch. These were the war vessels of the aristocratic ns and families, poised to return the private armies to their homnds.

    The aristocracy was far superior to the imperial regr army both in the scale or number of airships.

    Thest to take flight were the clumsy cargo airships. These vessels were even greater in number, and when they rose into the air, it was as though the entire sky was filled with the shadows of those behemoth vessels. The rumbles of their engines spread far and wide like rolling thunder, causing the valley of Giant¡¯s Repose to tremble unceasingly.

    These cargo airships were all carrying heavy goods and a great deal of spoils which the Evernight army had left during their hurried retreat. This logistics fleet looked spectacr but actually possessed no fighting power. These big fellows would easily be live targets if they were to encounter an enemy war fleet.

    Even so, they were being escorted by a disproportionately small fleet with no rearguard. If the Evernight side were tounch a sneak-attack from the rear, they would surely be able to produce great results.

    However, not even a shadow appeared from the Evernight faction up until the cargo fleet vanished over the horizon.

    Qianye knew it wasn¡¯t that the imperial fleet had no rear guard. There was actually one person at the very end¡ªit was Prince Greensun, Marshal Zhang Boqian.

 Volume 6 - 568: Going Home

    [V6C98 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The battle here had ended, but Qianye didn¡¯t n to return to the Western Continent with the Zhao n. ckflow and Dark me were his foundation, and he also had Nighteye there.

    Qianye was worried he would have to exin a lot when he went to say his farewells to Zhao Jundu. Quite unexpectedly, the usually headstrong Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t object this time.

    Qianye even obtained some secret information about the Zhao n from him. It turned out that only the descendants who had performed the great sacrificial ceremony could be considered a true core member. They had to leave a wisp of their bloodline aura at the ancestral array, allowing the family to know should some ill fate befall them outside. Additionally, it would allow the n to find their whereabouts via a secret art.

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this secret. He quickly understood how the Zhao n had found Zhao Weihuang and Yeji¡¯s hiding ce. Then, he realized another problem¡ªthat ancestral array could record and trace one¡¯s bloodline aura, but what if it had other functions?

    Zhao Jundu had only granted Qianye protection as his subordinate. At first, he had no intention of making thetter fight in the Zhao n¡¯s name despite the n¡¯s dangerous position on the rankings. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t because of Qianye¡¯sbat strength but because Zhao Jundu had made some guesses¡ªmaybe he was worried about something?

    He then thought about Duke You¡¯s implicative actions, be it his undisguised praise in public or his mention¡ªintentionally or otherwise¡ªof how Qianye didn¡¯t have the right to inherit the n lord position. Qianye, who wasn¡¯t quite fond of theseplicated human affairs, could onlyugh ruefully.

    Qianye wiped away theplicated thoughts in his mind as the imperial fleet moved further away. He hopped onto the jeep behind him, started the engine, and began driving toward ckflow City.

    Evernight Continent was fairly calm now that the recent battles had ended, and Qianye enjoyed an uneventful journey on his way back to ckflow City. Although signs of war could be found everywhere throughout the city, most of the broken defenses had already been repaired, and the city interior was bustling with activity. The crowds everywhere could be attributed to the two hundred thousand people who had stuffed themselves into a city made for half that number.

    Located within the Iron Curtain, ckflow became an important hub during the early phases of the bloody battle asrge batches of mercenaries and hunters made this city their frontline supply base. When the organized armies arrived during theter stages, the residents of the surrounding towns and viges had no choice but to flock into the city in search of safe harbor.

    ckflow had gained quite the reputation following Song Zining¡¯s siege defense and expansion battles. In the end, no more dark races were willing to throw their lives away here, and this increased the number of people seeking refuge in ckflow City. All kinds of traveling merchants were thus attracted to the city, and the market here became even more prosperous.

    For some reason, Song Zining refused almost no one¡ªall those willing to pay taxes were allowed into the city. Fortunately, he had made ample preparations and stocked up on arge supply of grains. Otherwise, it would¡¯ve been quite difficult tost through the final leg of the bloody battle.

    There were craftsmen working all over the city walls when Qianye arrived. They didn¡¯t just repair and reinforce the walls, but had also raised two cannon tforms big enough to hold stronghold cannons.

    All of the original stronghold cannons in ckflow had been modified by Nangong Xiaoniao, allowing the cannon-fire to cover all sides of the city. Now, with the addition of two such cannons, the city defenses would increase sharply. If that demonkin Viscount Luther were to attack again right now, his army would likely suffer great losses under the barrage of these stronghold cannons.

    As Qianye drove into the city, he found that the city guards weren¡¯t sloppy at all. They stopped him ording to the rules, despite the Imperial Regr Army insignia on his vehicle, and only let him pass after seeing clearly that it was Qianye in the driver¡¯s seat.

    The streets of ckflow City were morous. Song Zining had drawn in dozens of tradepanies back then, and as of the moment, the entire city was a dazzling lineup of signs. The number of major tradingpanies had increased by severalfold. Just on the main street alone, there were half a dozen storefronts that were undergoing renovation and would soon be open for business.

    Law and order were well-maintained despite the liveliness. Everyone, be it the unrestrained mercenary hunters or the arrogant aristocratic descendants, would reveal reverent expressions upon seeing the Dark me patrols¡ªno one dared sh with them.

    This was the fruit of Song Zining¡¯s efforts. The seventh young noble had curbed all unrest with an iron fist during the bloody battle and even beheaded several Nangong family scions. Toward the end, no one dared risk their lives to test his methods out.

    Although most human settlements outside had been destroyed, ckflow could no longer be considered a single city. The empire and Evernight were tied in the bloody battle, but things in the ckflow Region weren¡¯t the same. Song Zining had won every battle during the initial phase while Qianye rampaged across several dark nation warzonester on. At this point, no one from the Evernight side was willing toe over to this area.

    Meanwhile, the greater part of Count Stuka¡¯s territory adjacent to the ckflow war front had already fallen into Dark me¡¯s hands¡ªeven the arachne count¡¯s castle had been upied. They had only three viscount territories left, and each of them was cut off from the other. These territories were only able to hold onto their sovereignty because Dark me had been stretched too thin and there wasn¡¯t enough military power to spend on thesends.

    Seeing the recruiting posters pinned on each side of the main road, Qianye knew Song Zining¡¯s ambitions hadn¡¯t reached their end. Otherwise, why would he need to recruit so urgently after the war had ended? Dark me would have no part in the empire¡¯s next battle as it would take ce on the floatingndmass. Neither Qianye nor Song Zining had the money to transport the three-divisions worth of Dark me soldiers there.

    The entire city had more or less turned into arge construction site, but the headquarters was still the same. Qianye turned past a street block and saw the majestic Dark me buildingse into view. However, he didn¡¯t head in that direction and instead drove straight home.

    There were some changes in the courtyardpared to thest time. The most eye-catching was the appearance of arge tree whose leaves had covered up most of the courtyard, producing an exceptionally tranquil atmosphere.

    Nighteye was sitting in the courtyard with a book in her hand and a te of fruits beside her.

    Nighteye looked up with a smile as Qianye sat down at the table. ¡°You¡¯re back?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m home.¡±

    Nighteyeughed. ¡°It¡¯s good to have you back, I¡¯ll make dinner.¡±

    Qianye replied hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s better I do it!¡±

    Nighteye red fiercely at Qianye and snorted. However, she still followed Qianye into the kitchen in the end.

    This vampiredy was shockingly untalented in the kitchen. Even with the same ingredients and methods, the things she made were simply¡­ ¡°different¡±. Qianye had already given up teaching her since no amount of practice seemed effective. He would just do it himself as long as he had the time.

    Qianye asked while sorting out the ingredients, ¡°Why is there a new tree in the courtyard?¡±

    Qianye had developed a certain suspicion toward leaves due to Song Zining¡¯s increasing proficiency with the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. He would always feel numerous eyes lurking among the branches.

    Nighteye replied nonchntly, ¡°Young Noble Song Zining asked someone to bring it over, saying it would help block out the sun and clean the air. So, I just had someone nt it in the courtyard.

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Zining sent it over?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what of it?¡±

    Qianye asked in rm, ¡°Did you feel anything off these days?¡±

    Nighteye gave it serious thought but shook her head afterward. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then, did you feel like someone¡¯s staring at you in the dark when you go out?¡±

    This time, Nighteye said with a nod, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qianye clenched his teeth and roared furiously, ¡°It looks like this brat is looking for a beating!¡±

    Nighteye seemed puzzled. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Qianye felt something wasn¡¯t quite right, so he asked in greater detail, ¡°Who¡¯s peeking at you?¡±

    Nighteye replied without much thought, ¡°Nangong Xiaoniao¡±. [1]

    ¡°Ah? It¡¯s her?¡± This answer surprised Qianye.

    ¡°Yes, she¡¯se over to peek at me several times, but I didn¡¯t pay her any attention. One night, she even snuck into my room.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. Nangong Xiaoniao was a genius in origin arrays but more or less a klutz in other matters.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what she wanted, either. I paid her no attention and only watched in silence. But¡­¡± Nighteye couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, ¡°¡­ she actually wanted to climb in through the small venttion window. She managed to squeeze half her body in, but became stuck midway.¡±

    At this point, Qianye recalled Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s massive chest. Climbing through the hatchway was indeed going to be difficult with such a figure.

    ¡°Then?¡± Qianye asked curiously.

    Nighteye looked at Qianye with a spurious smile and said, ¡°Of course, I had to help her down. It was quite a difficult endeavor. She even popped three buttons in the process.¡±

    Qianye felt an rming premonition in his head. Why was it exactly three buttons?

    But Qianye had experienced numerous crises throughout this life. His expression didn¡¯t change in the least as he inquired, ¡°Oh, what then?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. She wouldn¡¯t say anything no matter what I asked. Her face was so red that even I wanted to take a bite at her!¡±

    This was indeed Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s temperament. Thinking about her distress at that moment, it was already quite fortunate that she didn¡¯t pass out.

    At first, Qianye thought this topic would end here¡ªhe knew Nangong Xiaoniao couldn¡¯t cause a big fuss. With her temperament, she would only be bullied afternding in Nighteye¡¯s hands.

    As for what Nighteye did after that¡ªwhether she had taught the girl a lesson or let her go¡ªQianye neither cared nor wanted to know. Almost all the higher-ups in Dark me knew of Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s crush on Qianye, and the less such matters were mentioned the better.

    But Nighteye hadn¡¯t finished yet. ¡°That window was really too small and her skin was identally scratched when I was helping her down. Come to think of it, the smell of her blood is somewhat unusual.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious. He touched Nighteye¡¯s ck hair and asked, ¡°Are you feeling any thirst?¡±

    Nighteye red at him and said in a resentful tone, ¡°Do you think I¡¯m one of those with impure blood? Those who¡¯ve awakened a primogenitor bloodline will never feel any thirst. Apart from during important ceremonies, we don¡¯t drink any blood, either. Blood without origin power is useless no matter how much we drink, and the taste isn¡¯t good, either.¡±

    Qianye sighed in relief. Although he hade to know some of these things from the inheritance of the River of Blood, he was still somewhat worried about Nighteye. He only felt relieved after hearing her say all of this in person.

    It wasn¡¯t impossible even if Nighteye did need to drink blood¡ªthere was nock of bandits and robbers on the Evernight Continent as well as captives and death-row prisoners.

    However, as Qianye saw it, those powerful creatures like mutant beasts, werewolves, and arachne were able to provide a greater amount of essence bloodpared to humans. Moreover, their blood contained more high-quality origin power.

    It was just that intelligent races all possessed a certain thing called belief. It had taken root in the heart since youth and practically be a part of one¡¯s life. Qianye had mentioned indirectly that he could find a way to procure some essence blood from werewolves, arachne, or powerful beasts.

    To his surprise, Nighteye reacted fiercely and almost fell out with Qianye. To her, being tainted by werewolf blood was like a great humiliation. Seeing Nighteye¡¯s reaction, Qianye made the wise decision of avoiding this matter. Later on, he left to take part in the war.

    Now that they had reunited, he recalled how Nighteye hadn¡¯t absorbed essence blood for quite a while. Qianye was still a bit worried even though she felt no thirst for fresh blood. The dark races had their own methods of cultivation, but plundering was the fastest way to make progress¡ªthis was especially true for the vampires and arachne. Comparatively, the demonkin resembled humans in that cultivation was more important than hunting.

    Qianye asked her several questions and only felt relieved after confirming that she would be alright for the time being.

    At this moment, Nighteye said, ¡°That Nangong Xiaoniao is a bit strange, you have to be careful.¡±

 Volume 6 - 569: Lot in Life

    [V6C99 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Qianye was puzzled. As he saw it, it wasn¡¯t easy to find a creature more harmless than this clumsy fellow.

    ¡°I picked up the scent of an ancient vampire in her blood. Although very faint, she definitely has an ancient vampire bloodline.¡±

    ¡°What? Really?¡± Qianye was shocked.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t have been wrong.¡± Nighteye was serious.

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank as he fell into silence.

    Nangong Xiaoniao was born in the Nangong family, and her ancestors were also lineal descendants. How could a vampire bloodline have appeared? It was fine if her bloodline was thin, but that wasn¡¯t the case¡ªthere was, after all, a chance she could awaken. By that time, Nangong Xiaoniao would gradually turn into a vampire. After all, human bloodlines were inherently weaker and would usually face defeat in such a struggle.

    Qianye had been fighting with the vampires for ten-odd years. It had also been several years since he himself had obtained blood energy¡ªit could be said that he was extremely clear about its power. At the thought of this, his heart was once again thrown into turmoil. A human with mixed vampire blood like Nangong Xiaoniao would be put to death immediately after being discovered.

    But the girl had always been giving her all for ckflow City. If not for her, Song Zining might not have had such an easy time defending the city. In addition, it was more than likely that she was ignorant of her own condition. Under such circumstances, how would Qianye treat her ording to thew?

    From a different perspective, Qianye himself possessed blood energy and had even formed a blood core. Moreover, he had a vampire primo beside him and the princess of the Monroe n at that.

    Nighteye watched him in silence. No one knew what she was thinking.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Who else knows about this?¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°Probably no one else.¡±

    Qianye sighed in relief and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good. Don¡¯t tell anyone else.¡±

    A wisp of delight appeared in the primo¡¯s eyes. However, she didn¡¯t allow Qianye to notice it and merely nodded in response.

    But Qianye¡¯s eyes remained locked in a frown. A vampire bloodline was a lethal danger regardless of its thickness. Fortunately, it seemed her bloodline was extremely thin, else Qianye should¡¯ve sensed it during their long period of interaction.

    Nighteye hesitated for a while and said, ¡°Qianye, Xiaoniao¡¯s matter isn¡¯t that simple. I sensed a little bit of primogenitor aura from her.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Qianye was shocked. This astonishment was even greater than when he was informed of Xiaoniao¡¯s vampire bloodline. Any matter or person rted to a primogenitor could only mean great trouble.

    Qianye calmed himself down and asked, ¡°Do you know which primogenitor?¡±

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s our Monroe n primogenitor, ck-Winged Monarch Andruil. Although the aura in Xiaoniao¡¯s blood is extremely thin, I¡¯m sure that I¡¯m not mistaken.¡±

    ¡°Andruil? Nangong?¡± A sh of lightning tore through Qianye¡¯s mind. He suddenly recalled how Andruil had wanted him to find Nangong Yuqing¡¯s descendant back when he had obtained the monarch¡¯s inheritance.

    Back then, Qianye had investigated the Nangong family¡¯s history but found no one by the name of Nangong Yuqing. Afterward, Qianye asked Song Zining for help, but thetter also returned empty-handed. Hence, Qianye came to the conclusion that this person wasn¡¯t rted to the Nangong family or that she was someone from a very distant branch. The Nangong family had existed for many generations and had hundreds of thousands of branch descendants. How was he to find her among them?

    As such, Qianye paid this matter little heedter on; he would naturally find traces of her if he was destined to. But he had never ever expected that she would be rted to Nangong Xiaoniao.

    Qianye pondered for a long while. In the end, he felt that he needed to talk to Nangong Xiaoniao about this matter. As such, he exined his intentions to Nighteye and left to call upon the young girl.

    Nangong Xiaoniao was in her workshop when Qianye found her, fully focused on installing an intricate piece of machinery. There were dozens of parts lying around her despite the assembledponent being even smaller than a thumb.

    Qianye brought Nangong Xiaoniao out of her working trance with a cough.

    ¡°Qianye, y-you¡¯re back¡­¡± Nangong Xiaoniao stammered. She was already anxious after seeing Qianye.

    ¡°What are you working on?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t in a rush to get down to business since this matter was simply too significant. He was afraid the girl wouldn¡¯t be able to ept it all of a sudden.

    ¡°I¡¯m installing a control core. It can integrate many operations, and will sharply decrease preparation time for the stronghold cannons.¡± Nangong Xiaoniao quickly regained normalcy at the mention of her profession.

    Even Qianye, who only had a superficial knowledge of these things, could tell just how intricate theponent in her hand was.

    ¡°Not bad!¡± Qianye offered his heartfelt praise.

    ¡°Ah, t-thank you.¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was, again, at a loss for words.

    Qianye sat down across Nangong Xiaoniao and said slowly, ¡°Xiaoniao, I have something important to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Is it about you and Sister Nighteye? I already know. You don¡¯t need to tell me anymore!¡± Nangong Xiaoniao cried out, almost as if she were venting her feelings. She then lowered her head and refused to look at Qianye.

    Qianye was startled. He then said with a sigh, ¡°It¡¯s not about that. It¡¯s about you.¡±

    ¡°Me? What¡¯s up with me?¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was surprised.

    Qianye hesitated for a while but finally decided to get to the point. ¡°Xiaoniao, do you have a vampire bloodline?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao trembled all over before gradually looking up to meet Qianye¡¯s gaze. At this moment, she was unexpectedly calm. ¡°So you already know? Is that why you don¡¯t like me?¡±

    ¡°This has nothing to do with liking you or not. So it seems you already know about it.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniaon nodded. ¡°Actually, this matter is no secret in the Nangong family. My family wouldn¡¯t have deteriorated to such a state if it wasn¡¯t for this.¡±

    At this point, Nangong Xiaoniao revealed a dismal smile and said, ¡°Since you already know, are you nning to kill me or drive me away?¡±

    ¡°Neither.¡± Qianye shook his head. ¡°Is there a woman called Nangong Yuqing in your ancestry?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao gasped. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Qianye knew he had guessed correctly after seeing Xiaoniao¡¯s reaction. It was just that Nangong Xiaoniao was also born of the Nangong family¡¯s main branch. Why then couldn¡¯t he search for Nangong Yuqing¡¯s data?

    Nangong Xiaoniao managed to calm down momentster. Thereafter, she hid nothing from Qianye and told him everything he asked.

    Nangong Yuqing was a genius of the younger generation during her childhood. The Nangong family, during that period, was only a middle-ranked aristocratic family. Their power and influence back then were far from today¡¯s, but n Lord Nangong Canghai¡ªNangong Yuqing¡¯s grandfather¡ªwas a man of great ambitions.

    Despite her young age, Nangong Yuqing was not only talented in the martial path but also extremely beautiful. As such, Nangong Canghai had the thought of marrying her into the imperial family. It was just that Nangong Yuqing went out to experience the world when she was fifteen and vanished thereafter¡ªeven the n experts apanying her were nowhere to be found.

    The Nangong family had used everything at their disposal to search for her but produced no results in the end.

    Nangong Yuqing made no contact for many years. When she returned to the family many yearster, there were already two children at her side.

    This matter was a great humiliation to the Nangong family, but Nangong Yuqing refused to reveal the father no matter how she was interrogated. Nangong Canghai, in his anger, was prepared to put the two children to death. Just as he was about to take action, he found that the two children were of great talent and possessed powerful vampire bloodlines.

    This put Nangong Canghai in a difficult position. In the end, though, he decided to let them live. He imprisoned them in a forbidden ground and studied them. Nangong Yuqing was also captured, and a gag order was issued throughout the n. No one was allowed to talk about matters rting to her.

    Ten years passed by in the blink of an eye. Nangong Yuqing had more or less been forgotten, and her children had grown up. Eventually, they began to produce offspring under the control of the family. However, the vampire bloodline grew thinner and thinner with each generation until it almost disappeared by the third.

    Nangong Canghai had reached the end of his life at that point. As such, he released the offspring of the two children and ced them under the care of a distant branch family¡ªup until present times.

    ¡°My ancestor is the elder brother of the two children. I¡¯m the only one left of my generation.¡±

    Only at this point did Qianye understand why he couldn¡¯t find any information about Nangong Yuqing in the Nangong family¡¯s documents. It turned out that they had erased all traces of her since a long time ago and treated her as deceased.

    However, something in Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s words caught Qianye¡¯s attention. ¡°What research was Nangong Canghai doing?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao clenched her teeth and said, ¡°He wanted to find a way tobine humans and vampires!¡±

    Qianye was astonished.

    Blood thralls were the mostmon type ofbination, while the other was to receive the embrace. The vampire bloodline had the advantage in both of them and would eventually assimte the human one. Just as Andruil had told Qianye back then, the growing primogenitor bloodline would, sooner orter, devour his human genealogy.

    Presently, Qianye had a rough understanding of the reason behind this. It was because the vampire bloodline¡¯s power was far above the human counterpart. A human might be able to maintain his intelligence after obtaining a drop of essence blood via the embrace, but he would still turn into a vampire in the end.

    ¡°He¡¯s mad!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao shook her head. ¡°No, he¡¯s not. What he wanted wasn¡¯t powerful warriors but the vampires¡¯ life.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned odd. ¡°He wanted immortality?¡±

    Even dukes couldn¡¯t remain immortal. Thetter part of a vampire¡¯s long life was spent mostly in hibernation. If they didn¡¯t count the years spent in hibernation, their lifespan wasn¡¯t that much longer than that of the arachne and werewolves.

    There was no shortage of people looking to extend their life by utilizing vampire bloodlines. Nangong Canghai definitely wasn¡¯t the first, nor would he be thest. Looking back at history, it would seem that his gambit inevitably failed in the end.

    Nangong Yuqing¡¯s two children were able to retain their ego despite possessing a vampire bloodline. At a nce, it looked like a perfect bloodline fusion, but unfortunately, these children didn¡¯t live any longer than ordinary humans, and their vampire bloodline also grew thinner and thinner in their descendants. All signs indicated the fact that their father¡¯s bloodline power wasn¡¯t strong. Perhaps he was just a low-ranking vampire?

    But Qianye felt inexplicably odd after listening to this. If the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil¡¯s bloodline wasn¡¯t powerful, then how many other powerful bloodlines were there?

 Volume 6 - 570: Trifles

    [V6C100 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    It was just that too long a time had passed. The truth had vanished into the river of time, never to surface again.

    To Qianye, Nangong Xiaoniao was Nangong Yuqing¡¯s descendant, and that was enough. He could finallyplete the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s request.

    ¡°Xiaoniao, these things are for you.¡± With that, he brought out two boxes and ced them on the table.

    ¡°Are these presents for me?¡± Nangong Xiaoniao opened the first box and cried out in surprise, ¡°Grade-seven gun!!!¡±

    The presents Andruil had left Nangong Yuqing were naturally the best items of the grade. In terms of individual quality, it was right up there with Zhao Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament. However, the weapon was too advanced for Nangong Xiaoniao. A rookie like her who wasn¡¯t even a champion had no way to use it. Not to mention using it to kill her enemies, a single shot might drain all of her origin power and leave her with injuries.

    Nangong Xiaoniao, as someone from the Red Scorpion, understood this principle quite well. Hence, she felt rather awkward after the initial surprise and delight. Possessing a great weapon but being powerless to use it was the most painful experience for every soldier.

    She then opened up the second box and found two grade-six daggers inside. She could already tell¡ªfrom the flowing radiance of the origin array on the des¡ªthat they were good weapons. Unfortunately, however, Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s level was still too low to make use of them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush, there¡¯s more.¡± Qianye avoided exining the source of these items or whether Nangong Xiaoniao could use them at all. He ced two more metallic boxes on the table. One could tell, at a nce, that they were made of high-grade materials.

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s hands trembled as she opened the boxes. She gasped softly once more after seeing the contents.

    As a genius level character in the field of machines, she could naturally see how special the craftsmanship of the mithril bullets was. Moreover, they were very likely designed for the grade-seven gun. If she could study them in detail, her own skills in building firearms would take a leap forward.

    Additionally, there was a box full of liquid mithril. Such amodity could be used to barter in the high-end material market, and its value alone was enough to buy Dark me. Nangong Xianiao was very familiar with the market prices and immediately converted the value into mechanical and high-grade origin arrayponents. The total was enough to build a grade-eight sniper rifle, even with a bit of wastage factored in.

    Among origin guns at the same level, those with a bigger frame would naturally consume more materials. Only a machine gun would consume more materials than a sniper rifle. But machine guns were extremely rare among origin firearms, and the reason was simple¡ªnot many people had enough origin power to fire an origin machine-gun.

    Nangong Xiaoniao looked up. ¡°Do you want me to make you a grade-eight gun?¡±

    ¡°Grade-eight? Of course not. These things are all for you. Even if you can build a grade-eight gun, it¡¯ll be for you to use.¡±

    ¡°For¡­ m-me?¡± Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s little mouth fell open. She simply didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°It¡¯s yours,¡± Qianye stressed.

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts. These things belong to you, don¡¯t think about anything else.¡± Qianye had considered everything beforeing to see Nangong Xiaoniao. In the end, he felt it was best not to tell her the origin of these items.

    ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s Identity was too sensitive. Be it in the Evernight Faction or on the Daybreak side, it was enough to attract the attention of major characters. The current Nangong Xiaoniao could hardly keep herself safe, and Qianye didn¡¯t have the power to protect her, either.

    Nangong Xiaoniao had always listened to Qianye obediently, and this time was no exception.

    Qianye pondered for a while before reminding her, ¡°Do not let anyone see these things. If you need to exchange them for materials, ask Song Hu to do it via separate channels.¡±

    Qianye only felt relieved after Nangong Xiaoniao agreed. She was currently in ckflow, a region that was more or less Qianye¡¯s private territory¡ªeven the expeditionary army had to keep their orders in moderation. Following Song Zining¡¯s painstaking development, Dark me had also be thergest force in the Trinity River County. Anyone wishing to extend their reach into the area would have to calcte their losses first.

    Qianye still felt a hint of worry before leaving. ¡°Did anyone in Red Scorpion or the Nangong family ever mention your life and bloodline?¡±

    ¡°No, why?¡± Nangong Xiaoniao was puzzled.

    ¡°I see, that¡¯s good. It¡¯s nothing.¡± Qianye gave her some more warnings before returning home.

    But something kept weighing on his mind, and he didn¡¯t even have much appetite for dinner. Nighteye observed all of this and asked, ¡°Is there something on your mind?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I have a feeling that this matter isn¡¯t as simple as it seems. For instance, why did Nangong Yuanbo act that way despite his status, and why did those people behind Red Scorpion treat her so favorably? Moreover, her talent in machines and origin arrays is so terrifying that one can hardly usemon sense to exin it.¡±

    Nighteye said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it. Xiaoniao¡¯s bloodline is so thin that only I can discover it. You¡¯ve interacted with her for such a long time, but you didn¡¯t discover it, either. Moreover, ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s bloodline isn¡¯t only about power. There can be countless variations. For instance, the Bloodline Concealment ability should more or less appear in her. I was also wounded and bleeding when I met you back then, but you didn¡¯t realize I was a vampire.¡±

    ¡°I hope that is the case.¡± Qianye sighed, but there was still a shadow in his heart.

    Qianye¡¯s time in ckflow City was short. ording to the information from Song Zining, the empire was secretly mobilizing soldiers from the elite corps, major ns, and high-ranking aristocracy. Before long, this momentum would spread to the middle and lower-ranking aristocratic families, and after which, it would evolve into an all-out movement.

    Although Qianye¡¯s merits from the many battles weren¡¯t enough to gain him a noble rank, his military rank had already reached the brigadier general level. He would be notified with the second batch, at thetest. Hence, he would have to seize the moment to spend more time with Nighteye as well as reform Dark me, train personnel, and set up defenses.

    ckflow City¡¯s defensive region had expanded nearly ten times toward the west, adding an area more or less the size of a county to its territory. Thisnd containedplex geography and inhospitable environments wherein a fair number of dark race tribes was concealed¡ªthis included the tribe of Werewolf Viscount Brudo.

    Although the werewolves had submitted to Qianye, they still couldn¡¯t appear openly in human territory. Otherwise, hunters and mercenaries would swarm over like sharks drawn to blood.

    The troublesome part was that most of thisnd belonged to the arachne count Stuka. This also meant that there were very few humans living here apart from ves and livestock.

    But there were also advantages to this. The mineral veins here could be considered quite abundant, and there seemed to be other undiscovered resources, too. ording to Zhao Yuying¡¯s projection, there was a valuable iron crystal vein here.

    However, the war had just ended in the region. What Qianye needed to do most right now was consolidate thend¡¯s defenses. He needed to fortify the strategic points Song Zining had found and garrison troops there. Only then would he be able to digest the expanding warzone. He had no choice but to push back the mining operations. Dark me had contributed greatly during this period, and the rewards from the empire alone were enough tost them the next year.

    As the core base of operations of the region, ckflow City also needed to expand. This was Song Zining¡¯s forte. He had left detailed ns for the city¡¯s expansion before going back to the empire.

    This n would expand the city¡¯s area twofold and amodate up to two hundred thousand residents. The defense system was designed personally by Nangong Xiaoniao. She had given up the traditional method of fighting from the walls in favor of a highly mobile system consisting of powerful defensive firepower centered around the stronghold cannons.

    There was really no need to expound on the advantages of this system. It was just that the cons were also quite evident¡ªthe cost. Powerful motorized firepower involved a lot of money for both instation and maintenance. Such a budget was simply impossible for ordinary expeditionary army divisions. There was a popr saying in the expeditionary army that went, ¡°Cannon shells cost more than human lives.¡±

    ckflow was only able to maintain such an extravagant system with the support of Song Zining¡¯s Ningyuan Group and the military rewards earned by Qianye.

    But there were, of course, two sides to everything¡ªtherge military budget also brought about an unexpected benefit to the city. The mercenaries and hunters had always possessed keen eyes, and many of them intentionally moved their bases to ckflow City after seeing the defenses here.

    That was also the reason why the city was growing more prosperous by the day, and with it, Dark me¡¯s coffers. These mercenaries and hunters were exceptionally unrestrained in their spendings since they had no idea where they would die tomorrow.

    All in all, the current ckflow City was already developing vigorously despite the scars left by the war. Some of the old residents of Evernight Continent were alreadyparing ckflow to the ancient city of Darkblood. A new ckflow would appear in front of Qianye before long, but he would probably be on another battlefield at that time.

    Apart from normal development, Qianye also discovered some special arrangements Song Zining had left behind. This seventh young master had gathered the most experienced of Qianye¡¯s long-term followers¡ªincluding Duan Hao, Lil¡¯ Seven, and Lil¡¯ Nine¡ªto form a team that could almost be described as extravagant.

    This squad wasn¡¯t very big, but it was definitely well-equipped. Moreover, its fighting-power was even greater than that of the imperial regr army. Song Zining had even prepared two airships for them. Although a bit old, the vessels were still capable of transporting this unit hundreds of kilometers in one day.

    Such a group was simr to the elite corps of the imperial army system. Qianye had always been puzzled as per its uses. At least in the current phase, it was more important to digest the tenfold expansion ofnd in the ckflow region.

    Qianye knew he was vastly inferior to Song Zining in terms of training soldiers. Thetter must¡¯ve had other intentions. As such, he made no further inquiries after observing its name and equipment list.

    The next couple of days went by in a busy but simple manner. Only after taking over Dark me and ckflow City did Qianye realize that the mercenary band business he had believed to be so troublesome wasn¡¯t even worth a mention. Presently, the stack of documents being delivered to his desk each day numbered in the hundreds. Just looking through them alone took up a good chunk of his time, to speak nothing of making decisions.

    Qianye was already feeling quite distressed after just a few days. He was also filled with admiration for Song Zining who could handle all these things in an orderly fashion. There was only one thing he didn¡¯t quite understand¡ªthis seventh young master hadn¡¯t sacrificed his time with women at all and would even be seen writing or drawing from time to time. How then did he manage to finish all of these trifles?

 Volume 6 - 571: New Battles

    [V6C101 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Fortunately, Song Zining had also established an efficient management system. Song Hu and Duan Hao were both adept in general affairs. Those who had been following Qianye like Lil¡¯ Seven, Lil¡¯ Nine, and bloodline seedlings like the Wu Shiying siblings were also maturing by the day¡ªthey had a perfectmand of their duties. All of this saved Qianye from too much embarrassment.

    The days of peace didn¡¯tst very long. An imperial emissary soon arrived to deliver the recruitment notice. Qianye¡¯s name wasn¡¯t in the military department¡¯s register since he was still registered in the expeditionary army system and hadn¡¯t officially joined the Zhao n private army. As such, the recruitment order was of a voluntary type.

    The recruitment offered a fair degree of freedom¡ªshould Qianye choose to go, he would have the freedom to choose a warzone to fight in. He would also be allowed to join any of the major army corps, or join an aristocratic private army to fight in their name.

    Presently, the geography of the voidndmass had been more or less ascertained and divided into seven warzones. Moreover, these areas were currently unupied. ording to imperial tradition, a third of all thend conquered and held onto until the end of the war would be the pioneer¡¯s property.

    A new, empty territory was a highly attractive prospect for any aristocratic family. One had to know that opening up new territory was at the top of military contributions. Toward the end of this war, new aristocratic families might spring up,ndowning households could be promoted to aristocracy, and even a major n might emerge.

    To those with ambitions, this seven-province-wide voidndmass was a stairway to heaven.

    Qianye was already well-prepared by the time he received the recruitment order. He had already made ample preparations in ckflow City and had nothing left to worry about. As such, he boarded a military airship with the emissary that very evening.

    The airship didn¡¯t travel straight toward imperial territory. It made several stops and detours to pick up other people on Evernight Continent before heading into the void.

    There were seven passengers on the airship including Qianye, each and every one of them possessing profound auras. These people had also received simr recruitment orders since they didn¡¯t belong to any aristocratic n or regr army corps. Two of them were reportedly from the expeditionary army, but Qianye had never heard of their names before. Even their garrisoned warzones sounded rather unfamiliar.

    The atmosphere inside the airship was gloomy, not unlike the lull before the storm. No one in the cabin exchanged pleasantries and only scanned each other with sharp gazes from time to time.

    It couldn¡¯t be seen on Qianye¡¯s face, but Qianye was secretly on-alert since stepping through the cabin doors. He could smell, from these people, an aura simr to his own¡ªit was the strong scent of ughter. There was actually a rank-fifteen champion among them. Solely in terms of origin power-level, he was already at the level of a lieutenant general, right up there with the vicemander-in-chief of the expeditionary army.

    In a barrennd like Evernight Continent, a champion was enough to lead a division and act as the pir of a city or warzone. Surprisingly, there were so many unknown experts here. This went to show that the expeditionary army and the localndowning sses weren¡¯t as weak as they seemed. This discovery caused Qianye to be more vignt.

    The airship flew several days amidst the stifling atmosphere, traversing the remote void and finally arriving at the imperial maind.

    Qianye walked out of the airship into an iparably bustling world where the roar of engines almost drowned out all the other sounds. There were dozens of airships around him with soldiers currently moving in and out of them. In the distant sky, hundreds of war vessels were shuttling about.

    ¡°Get off! Stop tarrying!¡± A lieutenant colonel howled from the ground, waving his hand frantically at Qianye¡¯s group.

    The man was using his maximum volume since, otherwise, his voice would¡¯ve been drowned out by the engine sounds. Qianye was rather understanding of this fact and didn¡¯t mind theck of manners. He simply walked over to the designated location to report in.

    But not everyone was as easygoing. The one who hade out from behind Qianye was a rank-twelve champion, a rank capable of leading two army corps in the expeditionary army. That person stood in front of the lieutenant colonel with narrowed eyes and red at thetter¡¯s throat with a cold, venomous gaze. It was as though his hand would pierce into those green veins at a moment¡¯s notice.

    But the lieutenant colonel wasn¡¯t afraid at all, and there was even a hint of disdainful provocation in his eyes. He spat loudly and sneered, ¡°What? You wish to attack me? You¡¯re wee to try!¡±

    That champion flew into a rage, and even his expression grew rather twisted. He produced a wisp of origin power from his fingertips amidst the sizzling sound of corrosive venom. However, he decided against taking action in the end and only shot a fierce nce at the military emblem on the soldier¡¯s chest.

    The lieutenant colonel had no intention of stopping at all. He spat again, and this time, it almost hit the other party¡¯s glistening shoes. ¡°So you do have some sense! Your entire family will die without a burial if you dare touch me!¡±

    The champion¡¯s face was livid as he red deeply at the lieutenant colonel and left inrge strides.

    Thetter¡¯s rank wasn¡¯t high, and hisbat strength was also mediocre. But his identity was quite sensitive since he was an officer in the employ of the imperial military. No matter how powerful people like Qianye were, there would always be reasons as to why they were hiding on Evernight Continent.

    Qianye had neither the intention of getting himself involved nor did he want to watch the liveliness. He simply walked away on his own to the report-in area reserved for generals. There were only a handful of people there, so Qianye¡¯s turn arrived very quickly.

    The plump lieutenant colonel behind the desk flipped through the register for quite a while after Qianye reported his recruitment number. He eventually found Qianye¡¯s data with some difficulty and scanned through it briefly. Then, he shot up from his desk and asked in a delighted voice, ¡°You¡¯re General Qianye?¡±

    ¡°It is I.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel was all smiles as he said, ¡°Shiduo is my brother! He¡¯s mentioned more than once about how you saved him on Evernight Continent. Please tell me if there¡¯s anything you need during your stay here, our Zhang n does have some say here.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled. This lieutenant colonel was clearly not so young and already looked to be about fifty years old. If he hadn¡¯t broken through the champion rank at this point, there was very little hope for it afterward. It would also appear that he was clear about his situation. Just from the clear outline of this belly, it was quite clear that he had already given up on cultivation.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that valiant Zhang Shiduo would have such a brother? And their age difference wasn¡¯t small. either.

    Regardless, Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t refuse a friendly gesture. With the war looming over the horizon, every bit of help¡ªeven if it was just providing information¡ªwas a good thing to have.

    That lieutenant colonel introduced himself as Zhang Shiming. He had served the imperial military for over twenty years. Hisbat strength was mediocre and his future was limited, but his Zhang n background and tactful personality opened many doors.

    Zhang Shiming recalled, after talking for a good while, that he hadn¡¯t finished his main business. He quickly registered Qianye¡¯s information and passed him a booklet, as well as an identity token. Afterward, he brought out a simple map of the camp and said, ¡°General, your residence is here.¡±

    Qianye checked the location and found that the generals¡¯ residences were in a fairly good location. The barracks was built around a smallke, and there was also a forest to the side.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Qianye put the things away and left for his own barracks.

    The dormitory¡¯s location was quite good, with a wide view and the gleamingke surface just outside the window. But as this was a military camp, the facilities inside weren¡¯t luxurious at all¡ªeverything was limited to the bare necessities. Qianye had never paid much heed to these things since he would only be here for a couple of days. He would have to go to war as soon as he was assigned to a mission.

    Qianye put down his small luggage. All the misceneous items apart from East Peak and Thunderbolt had been packed into a single tactical backpack. Naturally, his real stash of rations was in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, and it was enough tost him an entire month out in the wild.

    Afterward, Qianye opened the small booklet and began reading in detail. This pamphlet was printed quite recently and contained the map of the voidndmass. Although a lot of the details were missing, the main regions had all been drawn in.

    It was easy to aplish this. Expansion and exploration on the voidndmass never stopped even after the imperial army withdrew from Giant¡¯s Repose. Later on, they had dispatched a number of small elite squads to scout out thend. This rough map was the fruit of the reconnaissance units¡¯ extensive efforts and sacrifice; the casualty rate among them was as high as thirty percent.

    The empire had destroyed the tunnel connecting Giant¡¯s Repose to the voidndmass, so the only way to get there was via airship.

    The pressure sapping constantly at the experts¡¯ origin power vanished after Prince Greensun destroyed the remnant will of the Void Colossus Chaos. Now, airships could finallynd on it.

    The floating continent was located between the upper and middle continents, closer to imperialnds. The Dark Nation continents were quite a distance away. This also meant that the empire held a distinct advantage innding airships on it.

    At this point, Qianye suddenly realized the reason behind the capture of Giant¡¯s Repose and why the empire was so interested in the strange world behind it. All of his questions were answered at this moment.

    It would seem the well-prepared empire had gained the upper-hand over the Evernight Council with its apparently inferior information system. Their bases on the floating continent were destined to be lost after the destruction of the tunnel behind Giant¡¯s Repose.

    The gap in airship technology between the Evernight Council and the empire wasn¡¯t that big to begin with. Evernight¡¯s four major races emphasized on training experts for war¡ªwhen needed, the vampires would produce blood thralls and the arachne would use their servspiders. As for demonkin, they rarely ever amassed soldiers. Werewolves, on the other hand, would appear in the form of tribes. Under such situations, the dark races paid little attention to low-ranking warriors. They were even less inclined to invest resources onrge machinery used specifically to assemble these inferior fighting forces.

    Qianye flipped to the next section of the booklet. Their objective this time was to clean out the aboriginal lifeforms on the floating continent and defend against dark race attacks.

    Apart from the border defenses forces, all of the other imperial army corps would take turns to ascend this continent and join the war. At the same time, the major ns had been assigned corresponding primary attack positions in order to maximizebat strength¡ªthe four major ns would be responsible for one warzone each. Several other aristocratic families, like the Nangong, would be assigned together to one warzone.

    As for the other aristocracy, they would be allowed to choose whichever warzone they wanted.

    Qianye put down the booklet slowly and walked to the other side of the room. There, he saw a hundred-meter long airship descending slowly at the extremes of his vision. Mountains of supplies had piled up beside the airship port, and even the endless, snaking motorcade couldn¡¯t quite ship them away on time.

    The massive airship was the empire¡¯srgest Roc-ss airship that could transport thousands of soldiers in a single run. And there were seven or eight more of such vessels circling in the air, awaiting their turn tond.

 Volume 6 - 572: Old Friends Reunite

    [V6C102 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    This ce was Yuanshui, a small city at the borders of the empire. Presently, it had been modified into a massive frontline base that was almost asrge as the one at Giant¡¯s Repose. There were three such cities to Qianye¡¯s knowledge¡ªthe imperial army would set out from each of these cities and march toward the voidndmass via three different routes.

    Additionally, there were countless more armies rushing over from the imperial hintends. No one knew how many of these soldiers would return after this war.

    Qianye¡¯s ears twitched just as his thoughts were wandering about. He noticed some barely discernible footsteps approaching rapidly. This person¡¯s movement skills were fairly good and managed to merge his steps into the natural sounds of the wind and waves. He might not have discovered it if his vampire constitution and senses hadn¡¯t been heightened following sessive upgrades.

    The footsteps were very fast and soon arrived outside the door. Qianye broke into a frown as he sensed some danger from it. Now, this wasn¡¯t amon urrence¡ªit signified that the person outside possessed exceptional strength.

    Countless notions appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind. He went through all of his enemies one by one, but none of them should have the guts to attack him in the imperial camp. Qianye moved toward the door like a feather and waited in silence.

    The visitor¡¯s origin power erupted violently, and the door was shattered with a boom as the person crashed in!

    Qianye reacted instantly, raising a sheathed East Peak and pping down on the intruder¡¯s back.

    The air in the room turned stagnant as East Peak moved¡ªit was as though the space here had been frozen solid. This door-crasher growled as he sensed the danger. A bright yellow light burst out from him, within which was projected the vague silhouette of numerous mountain ranges.

    It felt as though East Peak had pressed down on a firm, slippery object that just wouldn¡¯t transmit external force. Then came a powerful rebound force, poised to push East Peak to the side.

    As a veteran of many battles,bat had more or less be an instinct for Qianye. He exerted greater force after discovering the abnormal sensation in his hands. Origin power poured into the de like a raging tidal wave. Qianye¡¯s origin power was several times greater than his peers and he also had trained in the Profound Combatant Form; hence, these tides were extremely fierce and tyrannical. The exertion caused the intruder to let out an odd cry as his origin defenses tottered on the verge of copse and the mountains in the yellow radiance shattered.

    Qianye suddenly pulled back after seeing that the other party could no longer hold out and his origin defenses were about to crumble. ¡°Potian, you¡¯re growing bolder by the day. You actually smashed my door.¡±

    That person swayed about for a while before regaining his footing. It was none other than Wei Potian. He was wearing the standard general uniform made of ck and gold. It was just that his shoulder guard was decorated with the emblem of the Far East Wei n.

    ¡°How did you discover me?¡± Wei Potian¡¯s face was a bit pale, but he wasn¡¯t in too bad of a condition. After all, Qianye had held back and didn¡¯t smash open his Thousand Mountains on the spot.

    ¡°You¡¯re like an elephant when you run. How hard can it be to sense you?¡± Qianye replied unceremoniously.

    Wei Potian scratched his head with a puzzled expression. ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Not many people can discover me when I hide myself, not even on the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°Not many means there are still people who can.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not right!¡± Those who can sense me are usually three ranks higher. That¡¯s a count-level character at least.¡± Wei Potian pondered hard.

    Actually, Wei Potian¡¯s concealment ability was quite good. They were currently in a silentke-side camp. If this situation were to ur on the battlefield, it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to discover his movements.

    Qianye had never imagined that this wild boar who would usually thrash about with his Thousand Mountains had actually learned tounch sneak attacks.

    Wei Potian¡¯s brainstorming yielded no results. True to his character, he quickly stopped investing too much mental effort. His expression turned into one of satisfaction as heughed out loud. ¡°How¡¯s that? My Thousand Mountains improved, didn¡¯t it? This time, you couldn¡¯t break it!¡±

    Heughed a couple of times, but upon seeing Qianye¡¯s spurious smile, his boisterous ¡°haha¡± shrunk into a ¡°heh heh¡±, and then trailed off. In the end, Wei Potian said furiously, ¡°Y-You, held back?¡±

    ¡°Not a lot,¡± Qianye spoke the truth.

    ¡°Not a lot means you still did! Goddammit!¡± Wei Potian¡¯s content quickly turned into depression.

    Qianye gave it some thought and said seriously, ¡°Your Thousand Mountains really did improve a lot.¡±

    But Wei Potian didn¡¯t cheer up. ¡°No matter how much it improves, I just can¡¯tpare to you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words weren¡¯t just tofort Wei Potian. This time, Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains was no longer just firm but also contained some flexibility. This would increase his defensive power dramatically, even against the same level of origin power. Moreover, Wei Potian¡¯s rank had increased to eleven and was one rank higher than Qianye¡¯s.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s greater improvements, he really might not be able to break through the Thousand Mountains.

    Their topic of conversation changed after an exchange of greetings.

    Qianye and Wei Potian were happy to be reunited, but Qianye also found it strange. ¡°Is the Wei n required to take part? Has the war ended in Far East Province?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, but the situation has stabilized, and there¡¯s no difference whether or not I¡¯m there. I don¡¯t want to stay locked up in there for too long and die of boredom! That little gigolo Song Seven is living the life. He goes everywhere he wants each day. This daddy is here to experience what it feels like to charge at the head of the army and rampage through a thousand miles.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help butugh after hearing this. The Far East warfront was at the border, so the battles were mostly fought around the forts. And with Wei Potian¡¯s arts and talents, he was destined to fight at a defense region. It sounded like the heir of Marquis Bowang wasn¡¯t too satisfied with this lot and wanted to change the situation.

    Wei Potian was speaking heroically, but both of them knew it wasn¡¯t that simple. Song Zining¡¯s aplishments involved outstanding strategy and a fair degree of luck. It just so happened that this luck was always on the side of Song Zining and his Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. The same, however, couldn¡¯t be said of Wei Potian. This was also why Wei Potian was indignant.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was solemn. ¡°They¡¯re even recruiting troops from the Far East Wei n. Is this battle that important?¡±

    ¡°Far East is but a single province, but this voidndmass is a battle of national fate, so of course, it¡¯s different. Moreover, we¡¯ve fought those ck blooded bastards for over a year but never gained the advantage. Maybe they¡¯ll also need to transfer troops over when the war here picks up the pace.¡±

    Qianye nodded. It would seem the situation in other parts of the empire were more or less the same.

    Wei Potian whisked out a map and spread it out on the table. He then pointed to a point on the map and asked, ¡°Qianye, which warzone are you going to this time? Are you still with the Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll choose to hunt independently.¡±

    Wei Potian whistled. ¡°Ambitious! I like that. I¡¯ll go with you after making arrangements for my troops.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m fine with that, but are you sure you can leave your private army?¡±

    Wei Potian raised his hands. ¡°Why not? Uncle Bainian is the real leader. I may be a good soldier, but a good general I am not.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you admitting to being inferior, especially in leading troops.¡±

    Wei Potian shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s just to prevent Song Seven from stepping over my head. Now I¡¯ve joined the battlefield, and for such a long time, too. There¡¯s no room for boasting in that ursed ce. Talking big will lead to death, and that¡¯s not very high on my wishlist. I don¡¯t want my subordinates to die, either, so I keep my boasting limited. Losing to Song Seven is really nothing. That brat is annoying, but there¡¯s really no shortage of people who are even more hateful.¡±

    With that, Wei Potian knocked on the map and said, ¡°Our Wei n¡¯s warzone is there!¡±

    Qianye nced at the location. ¡°Land of Frost? That¡¯s not a good ce.¡±

    It was the only hignd on the floating continent covered in frost year round. In addition to the adverse weather conditions, the empire hadn¡¯t found any valuable resources there, either.

    However, Wei Potian had a different opinion. ¡°You¡¯re wrong, this ce is a great ce. The most ufortable ces on the battlefield are where you¡¯ll encounter the least enemies. I¡¯m fine either way, but that¡¯ll allow many of my subordinate brothers to survive. Enough with these things. I¡¯lle find you after I settle down in the Land of Frost.

    ¡°Not a problem.¡± With that, Qianye pointed on the map and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be operating around these parts during the early phases.¡±

    The area he had pointed out was the strange forest covered in purple substance. Later on, the empire named it Misty Woods.

    The value of the natural origin distite in Misty Woods hadn¡¯t yet been determined, but the empire had already noticed its dangers. Even with the information provided by the experts who had explored this ce during the search for ancient essence fragments, the exploration teams who had arrivedter on were still wiped out in this area.

    ¡°This kind of ce makes me really ufortable,¡± Wei Potian said with a frown. He hated the ce since, without Qianye¡¯s True Sight, his visual range was no different from an ordinary expert.

    But to Qianye, this was the most favorable environment. Qianye hadn¡¯t encountered anyone during the previous exploration of Giant¡¯s Repose with a longer visual range. Nighteye was the only exception.

    Moreover, the empire¡¯s investigation revealed that the Misty Forest was much bigger than the area Qianye had passed through. It was probably distributed around the underground world formed of the void colossus¡¯ spine. All in all, one would have to pass through this area in order to get to the central region. There was no need to worry about theck of battles here.

    Wei Potian mumbled andined for a while, but gave up after seeing Qianye remain unmoved. It would seem that thetter had no intention of changing his destination.

    The geography of the voidndmass wasplicated. There were deserts, wastnds, forests, prairies, and mountain ranges. Moreover, they had also found a giant underground river flowing through the entire continent. The empire had divided the floatingndmass into seven regions depending on the geography and natural paths.

    Under such circumstances, there was no way the empire could lock down the entirendmass and keep the dark races out. The strategic focus of this operation wasn¡¯t to prevent them fromnding but to reduce their strength with a fleet battle in the void, and then fight a territorial battle with them onnd. The aim was to bleed the dark races repeatedly until they were forced to abandon thisnd.

    This strategy signified theing of a protracted war.

    Wei Potian suddenly recalled something. He moved toward Qianye and said in a hushed tone, ¡°My old man said this war mightst quite a while, so ammunition will be in short supply toward the end. I got my hands on two crates of mithril bullets, you can have one.¡±

    ¡°No need. I¡¯ve already made preparations.¡±

    Only then did Wei Potian notice the sniper rifle and armor lying in the room. His eyes lit up immediately. ¡°Thunderbolt? Iron Wall? You actually have such good items?! Did the Zhao n give them to you? Their treatment isn''t bad, I must say.¡±

    Wei Potian had said thus because neither Thunderbolt nor Iron Wall was something ordinary experts could buy. Even his armaments, as the heir of the Wei n, were only a bit better.

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I exchanged them with military contributions, but the Zhao n does treat me quite well. I received a lot of resources from them.¡±

    Wei Potian nodded. ¡°Then I won¡¯t insist anymore. Heh, heh! Major ns are always richer than us aristocratic families. It¡¯s fine to let them fork out a bit more.¡±

    Wei Potian recalled something at this point. ¡°Oh, right. Who¡¯sing from the Zhao n this time? Is that troublemaker Zhao Yuying here?¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when a loud voice echoed outside the door. ¡°Who¡¯s so concerned about this mommy? Are you looking for a beating?¡±

 Volume 6 - 573: Battle in the Void

    [V6C103 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Yuying?¡± Qianye was delighted to hear this voice. Wei Potian¡¯s expression, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t too good. His words just now clearly weren¡¯t leading to anything good. It could be said that his luck was extremely bad to have been caught red-handed like this.

    Zhao Yuying entered inrge strides with the eye-catching Mountain Splitter on her back. Despite walking energetically, her aura was well-contained, and her footsteps, silent. Qianye was worried at first because she hadn¡¯t appeared on the battlefield at Giant¡¯s Repose. Now it would seem that she had not only healed after the long recuperation, but her strength had also increased.

    Wei Potian revealed an embarrassed smile upon seeing Zhao Yuying and began shifting his feet toward the window. Apparently, he was nning an escape route. However, Zhao Yuying aimed that terrifying cannon toward the window and shouted, ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going? Get back here!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression rapidly fluctuated. He wasn¡¯t too confident about taking a st from Mountain Splitter at such a short distance. All he could do was obey and move back to the center of the room.

    Qianye¡¯s eyelids twitched as he hurriedly stepped in front of Wei Potian. With Zhao Yuying¡¯s character, it was quite possible that she would open fire. Even though a st from Mountain Splitter wasn¡¯t enough to heavily injure Wei Potian, it would most certainly destroy this residence.

    Zhao Yuying rolled her eyes at Qianye as she put down her cannon. ¡°You¡¯re always ying the good guy!¡±

    Qianye sighed in relief and quickly changed the topic. ¡°Yuying, why are you still lugging that thing around in the military camp?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in a state of war right now, and battles can break out anytime. It¡¯s more convenient to keep it near me,¡± Zhao Yuying spoke with righteous confidence, but the two men were drenched in cold sweat¡ªready to fight anytime in the imperial main camp? Who was she going to fight?

    At that point, Qianye recalled that the Zhao n camp wasn¡¯t in this camp and asked curiously, ¡°Isn¡¯t the Zhao n supposed to set out from Suyang City? Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Zhao Yuying sat down at the table and said while ring at Qianye, ¡°It¡¯s possible that we¡¯ll have to fight the Evernight fleet beforending on the floating continent. A battle in the void is no joke, and you¡¯ve never fought one before. What if you¡¯re done in by someone? So, I came over with a battleship. You should just stick with me when the timees.¡±

    Wei Potian butted in. ¡°Just one? Why don¡¯t you travel with our Wei family¡¯s fleet? We can take care of each other.¡±

    This time, Zhao Yuying epted the gesture without much resistance. Despite her odd temperament, she was quite serious in such matters.

    The three discussed their uing n before leaving to make final preparations.

    The Wei family fleet was in the second batch that would set out two dayster. Zhao Yuying¡¯s airship was more or less her private vessel, so it was arranged in the rear. The time for departure arrived in the blink of an eye. Having finished all of his preparations, Qianye boarded the airship with Zhao Yuying.

    Momentster, the bold call of a bugle echoed through the skies. Numerous imperial high-speed airships spread out in all directions to guard the skies above Yuanshui, followed soon by the primary battleships. The massive, dark vessels took to the air as though there was no weight on them.

    This was the empire¡¯s third fleet, in charge of escorting the giantnding crafts toward the floating continent. The entire fleet assumed formation in the air, changed directions, and flew into the depths of the void. Only then was it time for thending fleet to ascend.

    Thending fleet was made up of nearly a thousand airships of different types. At this moment, they were like a flock of zooming birds¡ªcountless in numbers and of all shapes and sizes. They rose up and assembled in different parts of the sky.

    Two imperial regr army corps set out from Yuanshui City, along with two high-ranking aristocratic families and a dozen or so smaller ones. There were many morendowning households and independent experts of unknown affiliation. There was a certain degree of order among the main army corps, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the aristocracy. All kinds of airships were flying about chaotically and gathered into an uproarious mass.

    The third imperial fleet seemed to have expected this. They especially left a small patrol squad to guide and assemble these aristocratic families in different air regions. Even so, half a day had passed before they began flying toward the third fleet in formation.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s airship was a highspeed corvette, an upgrade of the standard model the Zhao n was building for the empire. Its performance was much better than airships of the same grade.

    Qianye knew the journey was long. He remained in his own cabin after boarding the airship, cultivating and adjusting his condition to its peak. Zhao Yuying had also discarded her disorganized style and was seizing the moment to cultivate.

    One day and one night passed in flight. Thending fleet¡¯s formation had loosened into a long snake, and some of the aristocratic families were even struggling to keep up with the others.

    Qianye was cultivating when the ship¡¯s rms rang out. He suddenly opened his eyes, shot up, and grabbed Thunderbolt. Only then did he remember that he was still in the void and that Thunderbolt was useless here.

    Hence, Qianye put the sniper rifle down and ran toward the bridge.

    Zhao Yuying was already in the captain¡¯s room at the moment, gazing intently into the distance.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°An Evernight ambush squadron,¡± Zhao Yuying replied in a hurry.

    Through the windows, Qianye could see the distant fleet of sinister-looking Evernight ships. Their bodies were round with long frames sticking out in each direction, making them look like spiders from a distance. The most eye-catching were the sharp spikes on their bodies. These thorns weren¡¯t just used to scare people¡ªtheir function was to tear apart the enemy airship in a close quarter fight.

    One would know at a nce that the fleet belonged to the arachne. Their airship technology was only a bit better than the werewolves¡¯, but they were durable and cheap to construct.

    The arachne ambush squadron was made up of dozens of airships. They sped up abruptly as the two fleets came into each other¡¯s view and spread out toward the imperialnding vessels.

    Although the two sides were disproportionate in numbers, the imperial side consisted mostly of transport airships with no firepower. There was only a small number of true escort battleships. Some of thendowning households had used cargo airships as a stopgap measure, causing them tog behind the primary fleet and the entire formation to stretch longer.

    Zhao Yuying stared at an arachne battleship zooming in from the front and shouted, ¡°That one, follow it!¡±

    That arachne warship was over twice asrge as their corvette, but the fearless Zhao Yuying ordered the captain to give chase. Through the windows, one could see the imperial escort ships advancing one after another, leaving only a few to guard thending party.

    The Zhao n¡¯s corvette held the obvious performance advantage, leaving the other imperial airships in the dust and closing in on the arachne fleet. Very soon, it was a mere thousand meters away.

    The corvette shook violently at this moment as it shot out a two-meter-long metallic crossbow bolt¡ªthe projectile glowed with a sinister hue as it flew toward the arachne warship. The arachne warship¡¯s eight trestles quickly lit up with origin power and, with a couple of swift movements, dragged the massive airship into a sharp turn to dodge the arrow. From a distance, this giant airship was as agile and life-like as an arachne warrior.

    The corvette fired once more under Zhao Yuying¡¯smand, but it grazed past the arachne airship.

    ¡°Useless!¡± Zhao Yuying smashed the helm with her fist.

    The arachne warship seemed to have realized the Zhao n corvette¡¯s power. It decided not to engage the ship on its tail and, instead, leverage its agility to maintain a constant distance between them. It soon charged into a group ofnding vessels belonging to low and middle-ranked aristocratic families. This squadron consisted of a dozen-odd cargo airships of varying models, and only a couple of which were lightly armed.

    The arachne battleship rushed up barbarically and passed through the obstruction of the armed airships after taking a few hits. It swerved around and crashed fiercely into a transport airship, and then moved on without slowing down. Those sharp barbs were like des and produced several long defects on the transport airships.

    A row of cannons stretched out from the arachne battleship¡¯s side. A volley of shots struck the damaged areas on the transport ship, causing a series of wild explosions inside.

    Seeing the spray of raging mes, even an amateur like Qianye understood that the transport was done for.

    A spring of the arachne airship¡¯s eight legs sent the airship flying toward the next transport. The transports spread out to evade but they were simply too slow to get away from the pursuit.

    ¡°Trash! A group of rubbish!¡± Zhao Yuying was furious. Her corvette had already fired four or five ballista rounds, but most of them were dodged. Only one of them connected and left minor damage on the arachne battleship.

    The explosion of every transport ship signified the deaths of hundreds of soldiers. A flying champion might be saved after rushing out of the airship, but the other soldiers would fall into the void along with the burning vessel.

    The one in charge of this arachne battleship was apparently an expert. It darted about with great crity and would always dodge the attacks from behind at thest moment. It seemed to have no intention of getting tangled up with Zhao Yuying¡¯s corvette.

    Qianye observed the arachne battleship carefully and discovered that there were origin arrays at the ends of its limbs. They would push the battleship in a different direction every time ripples of light appeared around them. From a distance, it looked very much like arge spider treading over water.

    On several asions, Zhao Yuying wanted to man the cannons herself, however, the captain might not necessarily be able to catch up to the arachne warship without her instructions. Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes were sharp and she had ample experience in this field, allowing her to project the opponent¡¯s movements from very subtle changes.

    Qianye observed for a while and discovered that the Zhao n corvette¡¯s speed, braking power, and firepower were well above the arachne battleship, but was less agile. The situation on the battlefield at this moment had be rather chaotic. There were burning airships everywhere and transports flying off in all directions, the perfect time for these arachne airships to shine.

    Qianye formed an idea after getting the knack of things. He walked over to Zhao Yuying and said, ¡°You pilot, I¡¯ll man the cannons.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Okay! You lot, take Qianye to the cannons!¡±

    As Qianye disappeared through the gangway leading to the cannon tform, the captain said in a soft voice, ¡°Miss, young noble Qianye has never used a ship cannon before, has he? Is this appropriate?¡±

    Zhao Yuying sneered, ¡°Even if he misses every shot, it can¡¯t be any worse than you trash!¡±

    The captain¡¯s face turned red and no longer dared say anything.

    It actually wasn¡¯t that the Zhao n warriors weren¡¯t capable. It was just that the one controlling the arachne battleship was a true expert. Such a person was more than capable of driving a regr army battleship if he were on the empire¡¯s side.

 Volume 6 - 574: Bai

    [V6C104 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye scuttled into the cannon turret and took the ce of the previous operator. Afterward, he quickly learned the operation under the instruction of thetter.

    The corvette¡¯s ballista wasn¡¯t tooplicated¡ªthe difficultyy in the fact that the ballista bolt wasn¡¯t too fast in its initial phase. The long travel time gave the opponent sufficient time to evade. The arachne had been using this weakness to dodge the projectile time and again.

    But the giant ballista cannon required little in terms of origin array and gunpowder, while offering higher range than a normal origin cannon. Hence, it was the weapon of choice for high-speed vessels like this corvette.

    Qianye moved the control stick after learning the ropes. The massive cannon turret turned ordingly and pointed toward the nearby arachne battleship.

    ¡°Young Noble Qianye...¡± The cannoneer beside him was stunned after seeing Qianye move the turret with his own strength.

    The turret was several tons in weight and required origin arrays to aid in its movement. The cannoneer¡¯s movements were slower because he had to first activate the arrays then adjust the direction. That was also the reason why it was difficult to aim at the agile arachne airship. But Qianye had actually moved the turret with brute strength to the shock of everyone around him.

    In Qianye¡¯s hands, this heavy turret was just like an ordinary cannon on the city wall. Its turning speed was several times faster than the norm. He then took aim with bated breath and stomped on the pedal. The entire ship shook violently a ballista bolt flew out once more!

    The cannoneers around Qianye adopted weird expressions after it was fired. That was because Qianye¡¯s aim wasn¡¯t just a little bit off; it was dozens of meters away from the arachne battleship. That arachne battleship wouldn¡¯t even need to adjust its course because the projectile wasn¡¯t going to hit.

    As expected, the arachne battleship moved slightly to the left but quickly returned to its previous course without moving toward the ballista bolt.

    The cannoneers and reloaders went silent. They were all descendants from Zhao Yuying¡¯s main branch, so none of them dared say anything out of consideration from Qianye and Zhao Yuying¡¯s status.

    Qianye didn¡¯t seem to think there was anything wrong with his aim. He stomped again on the pedal as soon as the reloader had installed a new bolt. This time, his aim was slightly better¡ªthe projectile flew past the arachne battleship from above. Although the vessel was shocked out of its wits, the bolt was still a dozen or so meters from hitting.

    Qianye, seemingly oblivious to his bad marksmanship, took aim once more.

    At the bridge, Zhao Yuying cried out excitedly, ¡°Well done!¡±

    This shocked the captain quite a bit. Zhao Yuying turned to him and roared, ¡°What are you gazing at? Speed up!¡±

    The captain raised their eleration to the max out of reflex, but there were still doubts in his heart. The arachne battleship¡¯s flexibility was far above the corvette¡¯s. Increasing their speed would only make it easier for the former to shake them off. This had happened several times already.

    But the captain soon found that their distance from the arachne battleship was decreasing rapidly. The cannoneers and reloaders around Qianye had also noticed what had happened. It turned out that Qianye¡¯s poorly aimed ballista bolts were always aimed toward where the arachne battleship was about to go.

    The arachne battleship seemed to have be anxious. Its two following turns became extremely evident, and it was forced back in each attempt. Presently, it was almost flying in a straight line.

    The deciding factor in a straight line was pure speed. This oddly shaped arachne battleship was far from being the Zhao n corvette¡¯s match. In the blink of an eye, the two airships hade within five hundred meters of one another! They were so close that Zhao Yuying had the impulse to rush out with Mountain Splitter and st the enemy ship.

    Qianye finally aimed straight this time and fired another bolt which struck the arachne battleship¡¯s wing. The main body of the ship was intact, but one of its limbs was shattered and the one adjacent became immobile.

    This cannon shot caused the arachne battleship to lose some crity, much like a spider that had lost a limb. However, the effect wasn¡¯t too pronounced.

    Qianye fired yet again. The project that seemed like it would miss at first actually connected as the arachne battleship swerved to evade an airship wreck. This time, it sted away two more limbs, and the worst part was that the three damaged limbs were all on the same side. The arachne battleship became slow, clumsy, and unstable.

    Qianye was no longer required for dealing with this crippled enemy. The Zhao n¡¯s well-trained crew were perfectly sufficient for the job. The corvette simply flew around the arachne warship continuously, peppering the arachne battleship with all kinds of weapon and cannon fire. At the same time, it evaded the enemy¡¯s counterattack with great agility.

    Qianye fired once more from the ballista and destroyed several of the arachne battleship¡¯s side cannons, drastically decreasing its firepower.

    And hence, the arachne battleship¡¯s fate was sealed. Even so, arachne vessel armors were known for their sturdiness and durability. The vessel endured for quite a while under the Zhao n ship¡¯s bombardment before finally exploding.

    The corvette circled the wreckage once to confirm that all of the passengers were dead before turning toward a different fight.

    After the initial chaos, the escorts left behind by the imperial third fleet finally reacted. They formed squadrons of threes that worked together to finish off the arachne ambushers. Thepatibility of imperial ship sses, theirbat strategy, and superior training became evident as the arachne assants were destroyed one after the other.

    The arachne could no longer endure after losing half their fleet and began to retreat. However, it was no easy matter to pull back at this point. Many of the aristocratic fleet escorts were powerful high-speed battleships that were even faster than the enemy. The battle finally came to a close after a series of pursuit battles and the destruction of the four battleships the arachne had left as rearguard.

    Qianye remained seated inside the primary turret. He had destroyed two and badly damaged one arachne battleships in this fight. For someone operating the guns for his first time, it could be considered quite a glorious achievement.

    But Qianye wasn¡¯t that happy as his eyes fell outside the cabin window. Embedded there was a piece of twisted steel that had nearly pierced the cabin. Half of the steel te had been charred ck from the mes, and there was even a broken, simrly charred arachne limb stuck to it.

    That steel te was likely embedded in the armor te outside of the cannon tower and hade extremely close to piercing through. If that had actually happened, Qianye, who was inside the turret, would be in grave danger. With the speed and velocity at which the metal te had flown over, Qianye would need to use East Peak in order to have a chance at blocking it. He would¡¯ve been gravely injured otherwise. But there was only enough space in the turret for a single operator, and it wasn¡¯t even possible to stand. Where would he get the space to swing East Peak?

    The scale of this battle couldn¡¯t be considered too great, but it had allowed Qianye to truly experience its dangers and cruelty first hand. A single person was too weak and, more often than not, helpless in the face of those origin cannons and giant ballistae.

    Another difference betweennd and airshipbat was the casualty rate. Ordinary soldiers had no way to survive in the void once the airship had exploded. The fate of champion-level experts, on the other hand, depended on their luck.

    Those arachne airships, for instance, had at least a viscount-level expert overseeing them. But this ambush was squad was clearly outnumbered¡ªno matter how much individual fighting power they possessed, they were still surrounded by enemies in every direction. There was no way for them to receive reinforcements after the destruction of their battleships.

    Qianye had seen at least three or four dark race experts jump out from the destroyed airships. But where were they to run amidst the imperial fleet? In the end, they were ughtered one after the other.

    No arachne couldst under the bombardment of the ballistae made specifically to pierce thick airship armor. They were sted into pieces no matter how sturdy their bodies were. Only characters at the divine champion level could control the flow of battle on their own. Most champions would be considered fortunate if they could preserve their lives.

    No matter how skilled Zhao Yuying¡¯s piloting skills and no matter how good Qianye¡¯s aim were, all they could do was tangle with a couple of airships. The effect on the battle as a whole was almost negligible.

    It was inside this turret that Qianye first experienced just how minuscule a single person¡¯s power was in the vast void.

    After the battle ended, the transport fleet cleaned up briefly before setting out again on the remainder of the journey, leaving an array of floating debris in the void. The empire had lost dozens of transport vessels during this cruel battle. Nearly ten thousand soldiers on them were foreverid to rest without ever reaching their intended battlefield.

    Half of the lost airships belonged to low-ranking aristocratic families and the remainder tondowning households andmoner families. Even so, the losses in personnel were true and real.

    The arachne losses weren¡¯t anything to scoff at, either. In the end, that elite squadron lost over half of its members, a casualty ratio that could be considered grave. Moreover, themander of the first airship Qianye destroyed was not at all below Zhao Yuying in terms of control and skill.

    Qianye walked out of the turret and returned the position to its original operator. He then walked up to the bridge and gazed out. At the ends of his vision, he could see the Wei n¡¯s fleet advancing rapidly. The Wei n was one of the two high-ranking aristocratic families in the fleet, but the size of their fleet was only ranked fourth in the armada. Far East Province was still in a state of war, so they had to leave enough airships there to safeguard thend.

    But the Wei n fleet¡¯s formation was well-organized despite their small numbers. Apparently, they were all well-trained elites. Both their airships and transports were at the same grade as those currently in use by the regr army. In the battle just now, the arachne immediately made the wise decision to avoid this piece of hard bone.

    On the other side, the airships carrying soldiers from the mid to low ranking aristocratic families andndowning households were much less presentable. They didn¡¯t possess that faint killing intent, either. It would seem this period of fierce battle in the Far East Province had brought the Wei n more than just losses¡ªit had also baptized their soldiers in the mes of war. It was no wonder why some insightful people would give up theirfortable lives in the interior of the continents to pioneer newnd in war-torn ces.

    Just like that, the massivending fleet marched on through the silent void.

    Equipped with the experience of a previous ambush, the imperialnding fleet lowered their overall speed and maintained a tight formation. And after paying the price of blood, even the most arrogant and unrestrained of warriors came to understand the cruelty of the void battlefield. As such, they obediently followed the instructions of the guide vessels from the third imperial fleet and no longer acted on their own.

    The third imperial fleet didn¡¯t dispatch additional escort vessels even after this battle. That terrifying main armada was nowhere to be found.

    On the bridge, Zhao Yuying handed the work to the captain and arrived beside Qianye. ¡°Great work! Next time, I¡¯ll feel assured to let you go alone.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m a kid.¡±

    Zha Yuying red at him and said, ¡°Back then, this mommy has even seen you butt-naked.¡±

    At the mention of this topic no one knew was true or not, Qianye could only raise his hands in defeat. ¡°Fine, fine, whatever you say goes.¡±

    Zhao Yuying lit up a cigarette, and then tossed one to Qianye. ¡°What were you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t smoking prohibited on the airship?¡±

    Zhao Yuying looked at him disdainfully. ¡°Who cares? This mommy is the boss here.¡±

    ¡°Can other people smoke, then?¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t dare! Whoever dares smoke, this mommy will break his leg. That is unless he can beat me.¡±

    Qianye looked over at Zhao Yuying and saw a righteous look on her face. Apparently, she found nothing wrong with her double-standard rules. All she knew was that others couldn¡¯t use her as an example.

    ¡°Yuying, why isn¡¯t the escort being increased even though we suffered an ambush?¡±

    The void was iparably vast, not to mention the ce they were headed to was a newly discovered floating continent. Their current flight route wasn¡¯t even a fixed path, so encountering the dark races here was too much of a coincidence. It was clear that the Evernight side had locked onto thisnding fleet and there were more battles toe.

    Zhao Yuying spat out a ring of smoke and watched it rise into the air. She then patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. There won¡¯t be any reinforcements.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°But with the current escort strength, just one more arachne fleet is enough to inflict grave losses.¡±

    Zhao Yuying sneered, ¡°So what? You think those major characters up there care about such little losses? To be honest, most of the people in this fleet are nothing more than cannon fodder. We can¡¯t rely on them to conquer the floating continent. Even people like you and I... we may be part of the core fighting power, but we¡¯re not yet the deciding force.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows locked even tighter. He understood Zhao Yuying¡¯s implications, and it wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t know this logic. However, it was truly ufortable to know that so many well-trained soldiers were being abandoned just like that.

    Zhao Yuying said after seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, ¡°Half of the key to winning this war lies with the floating continent. The bosses of those imperial fleets are probably eager to finish off the main Evernight armada. It¡¯s of no importance to them even if the entirending fleet is lost because, as long as the enemy armada is gone, the floating continent will fall into imperial hands sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°This entirending fleet is a bait?!¡± Qianye felt that it was inconceivable. One had to know that this was an army made up of tens of thousands of soldiers.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible about this. How can this be called a battle of national fate if the bait isn¡¯t big enough?¡± Zhao Yuyingughed coldly.

    Qianye gradually calmed down and sighed. ¡°If you and I were in their shoes, we¡¯ll probably make the same decision, won¡¯t we?

    Zhao Yuying looked outside the window and said calmly, ¡°The day you do such things without speaking about it is the day you grow up.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heartbeat sped up ever so slightly as a figure with silver hair appeared before his eyes. Now that he was beginning to see more and more imperial reports from various routes, he would always look subconsciously for news of that person. Qianye didn¡¯t really know what he was looking for, but his heart would tighten whenever he saw news about the man missing from various events due to injuries.

    Qianye sighed after a moment of pondering. ¡°I¡¯m probably not suited for leading armies. My ce is probably on the frontlines, charging into the enemy.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression became gloomy as though she had recalled something. ¡°No one wants to be the general, but someone always has to sit in that position. And those at the top aren¡¯t necessarily happy, either.¡±

 Volume 6 - 575: Boarding

    [V6C105 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye¡¯s emotional stir sent the two into apse of silence.

    The massivending fleet crawled on through the void. Several ambushes appeared along the way, but the assants were mostly small squadrons and their fighting power couldn¡¯tpare to the first arachne fleet.

    Even so, the series of assaults caused thending fleet to lose a dozen or so airships. Again, thousands of soldiers were put to eternal sleep in the cold void. However, the Evernight side¡¯s losses were even worse than the empire¡¯s¡ªthis reached a point where no more ambush squadrons appeared toward thest day.

    The journey appeared fairly long. Even the high-speed corvette Qianye was on had been refueled when the floating continent finally appeared in the extremes of his vision.

    Gazing over from the bridge, the voidndmass, at the moment, was nothing more than a speck of light the size of a fingernail. In truth, it was arge continent of seven provinces. Even though the continent had alreadye into vision, it still took thending fleet half a day¡¯s time to approach it.

    Specks of fire could be seen asionally in the distant darkness of the void. Qianye learned from Zhao Yuying that the imperial fleet was fighting the Evernight Council¡¯s allied fleet, and that each burst of light signified the explosion of a battleship. Only the explosions ofrge battleships could be seen over such distances. The destruction of lighter vessels could only be seen by people like Qianye who possessed extraordinary vision.

    Even so, Qianye had seen over a dozen fireballs within a short period of time. It would seem that the battle situation in the distance was exceptionally fierce.

    At this moment, the imperial guide airship issued a light signal. An rm immediately rang out on the corvette as the captain roared in his hoarse voice, ¡°All hands to battle stations! We¡¯re going to charge through the warzone and perform a forcednding!¡±

    The corvette immediately broke into a mor as the resting crew jumped up and ran to their posts. At the bridge, Zhao Yuying arrived beside the captain and stood there gazing into the distant void. Meanwhile, Qianye left the bridge and headed toward the turret where he belonged.

    Like a flock of startled birds, the barely organized imperialnding fleet quickly dispersed and darted toward the floating continent. At this moment, almost all of the transport ships were elerating at the fastest speed possible. This made evident the performance levels of each ship¡ªthe ones at the fore were more or less able to catch up with the guide ships, while thosegging at the rear were no different from sluggish cargo vessels. In truth, most of them really were cargo ships that had been slightly modified.

    The turret¡¯s view window had undergone simple repairs, but the tear above was still there. Through the window, Qianye could see numerous Evernight airships swarm over like sharks drawn to blood.

    There were many imperial battleships following this group of sharks, but they weren¡¯t in a rush to obstruct the enemies. They merely roamed around the periphery instead,unching fierce attacks from time to time.

    The imperialnding fleet immediately became a chaotic mess. The transport captains steered away with all their might to avoid the iing swarm of bloodthirsty enemies, all the while cursing at the imperial fleet. Some desperate transports releasedrge clouds of steam in an attempt to hide their tracks. However, things in the void were different from the continents. How effective could a steam cloud be amidst the vast emptiness?

    Zhao Yuying, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t one to stand around and watch the liveliness. The corvette spun around lightly, locked onto a vampire battleship, and charged right over. That vampire battleship was slender, elegant, and almost one and a half times the length of the Zhao n ship¡ªapparently, it was a destroyer ss vessel. Even so, Zhao Yuying still engaged it without the slightest worry. She kept teaching Qianye how serious fleet battles were, but she was the craziest one on the battlefield.

    Thousands of meters away, the vampire destroyer¡¯s twin cannon turrets rumbled at the same time and fired two rocket-sized ballista bolts. Moreover, the shots were fired from the left and right, slightly restricting the corvette¡¯s evasive maneuvers.

    Just this method alone proved that the operator of the enemy ship wasn¡¯t simple. Additionally, the vampire destroyer was still approaching rapidly. The corvette was now in a precarious situation against an enemy that outssed it in both armor and firepower.

    The vampire destroyer could even board them because the enemy captain, as well as their warriors, held the level advantage.

    However, this Zhao n corvette happened to be an exception. With both Qianye and Zhao Yuying present, even the crew of a cruiser or battleship would find it difficult to hold the advantage.

    The corvette deftly evaded the enemy volley, but this maneuver unwittingly brought the two vessels closer. Meanwhile, the vampire destroyer sped up deliberately after stopping its primary cannons, clearly about to board.

    Qianye aimed several times at the destroyer¡¯s critical points, but knowing Zhao Yuying¡¯s intentions, he had no choice but to hold back. A couple of shots weren¡¯t enough to destroy the opponent, but it might anger them and cause them to stop trying to capture the vessel.

    After a brief chase, the corvette was locked onto by the vampire destroyer¡¯s anchor guns. Numerous grappling hooks flew out soon afterward¡ªthe steel cables tightened with a buzz as the destroyer pulled the corvette in and bound the vessel to itself.

    All of a sudden, a sword pierced through the cabin door where the two ships were connected. The de then circled around the door and practically sawed it off. The thick, sturdy cabin doors flew out and fell to the floor with a loud boom.

    An arrogant-looking vampire elder appeared at the cabin door, a viscount as denoted by the decorations on his uniform. He was followed by ten vampire warriors equipped with heavy armor and axes. In this narrow space, each of them looked like a fortress made of steel.

    The vampire viscountughed coldly after boarding. ¡°I might let you live as ves in my castle if youy down your weapons and surrender immediately. Otherwise¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when his eyes suddenly went wide!

    Zhao Yuying suddenly walked out from a passage and raised Mountain Splitter to his chest. At this moment, the brilliance gathering at the cannon¡¯s muzzle even caused his blood core to tremble!

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s movements weren¡¯t fast, but the vampire viscount still couldn¡¯t react in time. He watched as the cannon shell, suffused with an aura of death, emerge from the muzzle in a sh of light. He wanted to run but it felt as though his legs were submerged in a swamp. He lifted one leg with great difficulty, but the projectile had reached his chest before he could even put it down.

    With a loud boom, a gaping hole appeared on the cabin wall as well as on the vampire¡¯s body.

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t hold back at all and only stopped after firing several rounds in one go.

    When the origin tempest dispersed, one could see that the boarding point on the corvette had more or less been sted apart. The damage on the destroyer was even more terrifying¡ªit looked as if it had taken a st from a cruiser.

    Amidst the rubble, the vampire viscount¡¯s upper body had disappeared and several corpses were scattered around him. These vampire assault warriors simply had no way of enduring the might of Mountain Splitter, especially since the hand cannon¡¯s damage was greatly amplified in this enclosed space.

    Inside the vampire destroyer, the captain was sitting with a ss of red wine in hand and gazing at another battlefield. The current boarding procedure was but a negligible matter to him. A corvette¡¯s captain would, ording to his experience, be a rank-nine fighter at most. The person he had sent was his aide, a third-rank viscount from a family with a long history. Thetter was even apanied by six high-ranking warriors who specialized in meleebat. How could they not win?

    When the abrupt explosion took ce, it was far beyond the captain¡¯s imaginations. Under the fierce swinging, the wine in his ss spilled out and stained his intricately crafted suit.

    ¡°Goddammit!¡± He stood up while cursing furiously, curious as to what had just happened.

    But then he walked over to the window and almost fainted when he saw the massive hole in the airship¡¯s side. He soon came to and roared, ¡°Rider, that trash. What the hell is he doing?!¡±

    With a defect of this degree, it would be lucky if they could return to Twilight Continent in one piece, much less do battle. It turned out that capturing an imperial corvette had destroyed the captain¡¯s dreams of harvesting military honors and great riches.

    ¡°W-What¡¯s going on?¡± The vampire captain¡¯s hands couldn¡¯t help but tremble, so much so that he didn¡¯t even notice the wine was spilling onto his body.

    It was at this time that Qianye¡¯s voice arrived from behind him. ¡°Simple, you provoked someone you can¡¯t afford to.¡±

    ¡°Who goes there?!¡± The vampire captain turned around just in time to see the window in front shatter as a slender figure walked into the bridge as though he had trod through the void.

    The metallic goblet fell to the floor with a ng as the captain¡¯s hands trembled uncontrobly. That was a shivering from the depths of his blood core¡ªfor a brief moment, the captain felt as though he had seen a prince.

    Qianye stood silently in front of the captain, the floor beside him littered with corpses. Even the captain himself had no idea how his subordinates had copsed.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes grew increasingly mysterious as he gazed at the captain¡ªmuch like a bottomless abyss. The blood and qi of this vampire waspletely visible to him, and there was simply no secret to speak of.

    ¡°A second-rank viscount.¡± Qianye felt that the hadn¡¯t faced a second-rank viscount seriously since the bloody battle.

    ¡°You should address me as excellency. Call me Your Excellency Phillips.¡±

    ¡°Dear Mr. Phillips, a mere second-rank viscount has no right to call himself an excellency, at least not in front of me.¡±

    Phillips was furious. ¡°You¡¯re insulting the dignity of an ancient n!¡±

    ¡°Ancient n? Too bad you¡¯re not from the twelve.¡±

    Phillips drew his sword with a ng. ¡°I¡¯ll use your blood to wash away your rudeness!¡±

 Volume 6 - 576: Requisition

    [V6C106 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Pity?

    This feeling of being pitied made Phillips extremely ufortable. He pounced toward Qianye with a low growl, aiming for thetter¡¯s chest with his de. However, he had just taken a step out when he noticed strands of dark golden mist rising up around Qianye.

    Philips¡¯ eyes immediately went wide in shock because, in his eyes, this wasn¡¯t a mist at all. It was blood energy¡ªa dark golden blood energy of unknown rank!

    Philips¡¯ blood core had more or less stopped beating at this moment. His instincts from the depths of his bloodline told him that the level of this dark golden blood energy was far beyond his imagination.

    It looked, on the surface, as though Phillip¡¯s movements had paused only slightly, but this momentarypse was enough to threaten his life. Phillips did his best to activate the blood energy on his body and fight back against Qianye. However, a nearly-indefensible pressure fell upon his body and made it difficult for him to even move. Soon, East Peak flew over and pierced through his chest with rtive ease, effectively destroying his blood core.

    With the fall of its two viscounts, this destroyer lost the ability to resist and was ughtered in the blink of an eye.

    The Zhao n warriors on the corvette hacked off the anchoring cables one by one and set their vessel free. This vampire destroyer was so badly damaged that it would hardly be of any use in the battle toe. Hence, Zhao Yuying had abandoned it decisively. She would decideter¡ª when the battles in the region were over¡ªif it should be left as space junk or if it should be towed back and scavenged.

    Qianye returned to the corvette and watched the destroyer drift away. The Zhao n vessel had also suffered considerable damage and was no longer suitable forbat¡ªeven a war-monger like Zhao Yuying understood this. She ordered the ship to turn about and fly toward the floating continent.

    At this moment, more and more airships from the Evernight side wereing into view. A fierce battle broke out around the empire¡¯s massivending fleet with vessels going up in mes every minute. The corvette swung wildly amidst the shockwaves as metallic fragments from unknown locations pounded on their hull, some even piercing through the armor.

    But in the end, the corvette¡ªby virtue of its high performance and Zhao Yuying¡¯s skills¡ªmanaged to evade several waves of opponents looking to take advantage of the situation. After teaching these people a lesson they wouldn¡¯t easily forget, the corvette sessfully traversed the firing line and rushed into the floating continent.

    The Zhao n vessel staggered toward an imperial airship port and more or less smashed to the ground. The impact sent pieces of hull-armor flying off in every direction, nearly smashing a maintenance vehicle.

    A number of imperial technicians rushed over as Qianye and Zhao Yuying walked out. A brigadier general clicked his tongue while looking at the battered hull. ¡°You guys are quite lucky to havee back alive! How did the battle go?¡±

    ¡°We destroyed a vampire destroyer and some other small fries,¡± Zhao Yuying said in a carefree manner.

    The brigadier general wasn¡¯t all that powerful, but he had served in the army for many years. His expression shifted immediately since he knew the weight of Zhao Yuying¡¯s words. The man then asked while knocking on a piece of the corvette¡¯s nearly-detached armor. ¡°This isn¡¯t easy at all, how did you destroy it?¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged. ¡°Easy! They wanted to board our ship, but I finished off the boarding team and Qianye killed the captain. The end.¡±

    The brigadier general couldn¡¯t close his mouth for quite a while. ¡°They actually wanted to board your ship? What a bunch of unlucky fellows.¡±

    But the brigadier general appeared puzzled when his gaze fell upon Qianye. He was very clear that a vampire destroyer captain would be a third-rank viscount at the very least. How had Qianye finished off the captain on his own? It looked like the job was pretty clean, too, judging from his current appearance.

    The brigadier general had formed an initial evaluation of Qianye and Zhao Yuying¡¯s strength. Hs attitude immediately became much more respectful as he asked, ¡°What are your ns after this?¡±

    Zhao Yuying looked up at the fierce battles in the sky and asked Qianye, ¡°Interested in harvesting some more contribution points?¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°Why not? But our corvette here looks like it needs serious repairs.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes fell upon a readied imperial destroyer and said, ¡°We¡¯ll use that one!¡±

    The brigadier general was shocked out of his wits. ¡°That won¡¯t do! That one is the third fleet¡¯s reserve team. It might have to enter the battlefield at a moment¡¯s notice!¡±

    Zhao Yuying produced a set of documents from her pocket and stuffed it into the general¡¯s hands. ¡°I hereby requisition this ship for the Zhao n. Here¡¯s the order.¡±

    The brigadier general scanned the papers and found that it was indeed a writ of requisition. He smiled wryly and was just about to say something when Zhao Yuying cut him short. ¡°The battle is already in this state. What¡¯s the point of a reserve force?!¡±

    ¡°But¡­ please wait a while.¡± The brigadier general was anxious upon seeing Zhao Yuying walk toward the destroyer. He followed in a hurry in a bid to block her way.

    Qianye happened to pass by the man at this moment. As such, he reached out and patted the man¡¯s shoulder with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s settled, then.¡±

    The brigadier general remained frozen in ce without so much as a movement. He could only watch as Qianye and Zhao Yuying walk over with the Zhao n crew in tow and took control of the destroyer. The brigadier general finally let out a muffled groan as the airship took to the skies. He staggered back with a flushed face and nearly stumbled to the ground.

    Shocked out of their wits, the soldiers nearby ran over to help him up. The brigadier general panted deeply for a while before calming down his boiling origin power. He then muttered with overwhelmed emotions, ¡°So powerful!¡±

    His eyes were already full of fear and trepidation when he looked up again at the leaving destroyer.

    Qianye¡¯s casual pat just now had sent a wisp of origin power into the man¡¯s body. This sent thetter¡¯s origin power into a boil and tormented him for a fairly long time. It was destroyed by the brigadier general in the very end, but this process cost thetter ten times the origin power.

    Just this contrast alone allowed the brigadier general to realize that their strengths were onpletely different levels despite having the same military rank. It would be extremely easy for Qianye to kill him if he wanted to.

    This brigadier general was from the third imperial fleet. The officers from the airship fleets had eyes on their heads and always viewed thend army corps with disdain. They weren¡¯t interested in the elites of the major ns, either. But in the face of Qianye¡¯s suppressive power, he finally knew what it was to fear and respect.

    An officer nearby asked while looking at the vanishing airship, ¡°Now what do we do?¡±

    The brigadier general turned gloomy as he nced at the requisition order in his hand. ¡°We can only hope that they can earn enough contributions to shut the superiors up. Otherwise, they¡¯re going to have a big problem on their hands.¡±

    The officers looked over at the requisition order withplicated expressions.

    There were several types of requisition orders in the empire, and most of them were used by the army to forcefully acquire resources and supplies in urgent situations. But the one Zhao Yuying had handed him was the most special type¡ªit was one which allowed the Zhao n to requisition resources, equipment, and personnel from the imperial army.

    The one in Zhao Yuying¡¯s hands represented medium authority, just enough to conscript a destroyer. Such orders naturally didn¡¯t exist in abundance. Those that did were strictly controlled in the hands of major ns and the top few aristocratic families. In the past, these orders were used by the imperial court to rope in and reward the major ns. After all, the regr army corps were all forces belonging to the imperial court, at least in name.

    But the use of these orders would always result in great dissent from the relevant army corps, not to mention that the current requisition target was an airship fleet whose status wasn¡¯t at all inferior to the elite corps.

    The destroyer flew into the skies and quickly vanished from everyone¡¯s vision. Many officers on the ground couldn¡¯t help but shake their heads.

    But at this moment, arge cruiser arrived in a shaky descent. There were several broken parts on the ship spewing out mes. ¡°Prepare for rescue!¡± the brigadier general shouted with narrowed eyes, and then rushed toward the cruise with his subordinates in tow.

    On the tower of the airship port, a general with an imposing demeanor was standing before the window with an ashen yet cryptic expression. This old lieutenant general was the vicemander-in-chief of the third fleet, the one in charge of this specific airspace. His expression shifted abruptly as the nced back and shouted, ¡°Why has No. 36unched? I don¡¯t recall ordering it into battle!¡±

    His subordinate darted away quickly and soon returned with news. He ced a piece of document in front of the general and said, ¡°No. 36 has been requisitioned by the Zhao n and forced into the air. Their aim is very likely to take part in the battle.¡±

    Yang Li banged the window with his fist and roared furiously, ¡°Mischief! This is real mischief!¡±

    He grabbed the requisition order and nearly tore it apart in his fury. However, he suppressed his anger after giving it some thought. He looked at the document and suddenly broke out into coldughter. ¡°These ns are really getting out of hand. They actually dare extend their hands into our third fleet. Someone!¡±

    An aide immediately stepped forward. ¡°What orders do you have sir?¡±

    ¡°Pack this carefully and send it over to General Lu.¡±

    The aide¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°Yes sir, I¡¯ll deliver it without fail.¡±

    Yang Li sent the aide away with a wave of his hand. Then, he stared fixedly toward the void with frosty eyes.

    At this moment in the void, Zhao Yuying was standing in the bridge and scanning the vast space for potential targets. Meanwhile, Qianye had entered the turret and was operating it with great familiarity. Imperial destroyers were each outfitted with two ballistae and one high-power origin cannon as the main weapon. There were also a number of auxiliary weapons.

    This was a bit troublesome for Qianye since there was simply no way for him to operate two ballistae at the same time. Hence, no matter how urate he was, the power he could add was rather limited¡ªand this was only a destroyer. This would be even more pronounced on a battleship. The might of a single person was truly minuscule in a true fleet battle.

    The destroyer made a sharp turn in the air and locked onto an arachne battleship. Zhao Yuying¡¯s timing was spot on because that arachne battleship couldn¡¯t see their approach. It had just destroyed a transport, and its line of vision was blocked out by the me.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t miss such an opportunity. He fired three consecutive shots at the greatest speed, two of which found their mark and sted away the arachne airship¡¯s steering limbs. Zhao Yuying also grasped this opening to lock firmly onto the crippled enemy. At this point, there was no longer a need for great aim as the cannoneers simply poured out their maximum firepower onto the enemy ship. Before long, the arachne destroyer was in mes¡ªit gradually sunk down, and then stopped moving in the void.

    Zhao Yuying ordered the ship to stop firing and speed up. Their ship flew past the arachne battleship and sped into the distance.

 Volume 6 - 577: Accomplishmen

    t [V6C107 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye nced at the burning arachne battleship as they passed by, but until the very end, he found no one climbing out from within. Apparently, the crew had all died inside.

    Qianye moved about restlessly as a sense of ufortable helplessness arose in his heart. A force made up of an arachne viscount and hundreds of elites couldn¡¯t be considered weak at all on a ground battlefield¡ªone would need to spend some time in order to finish them off. Such a force had currently perished in the blink of an eye, and he hadn¡¯t even seen what they looked like.

    Qianye quickly recollected his thoughts and turned toward a different direction.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s control of the ship was extremely decisive. She began elerating madly just as a squadron of three Evernight battleships appeared in the distance. If she hadn¡¯t elerated in advance, it was quite likely that they would¡¯ve been surrounded already.

    Zhao Yuying circled far around the enemy and charged diagonally into an area popted with imperial airships. Even so, the three Evernight battleships were still on their tail. Qianye turned the turret around and aimed at the enemy from afar, observing their movements all the while.

    Two out of the three battleships were vampire models, while the third was an arachne type. Among them, the arachne airship¡¯s movements were the most erratic. However, the arachne battleship left an intense trail of origin power in Qianye¡¯s True Sight and slowly painted a clear picture of its movements.

    Qianye stomped down on the foot pedal all of a sudden, sending a three-meter-long ballista bolt flying into the void. It was just that the projectile¡¯snding point was an empty void¡ªthere was nothing there at all. Its proximity to the arachne battleship was only rtive.

    This st surprised even Zhao Yuying. She muttered to herself, ¡°Did he misfire?¡±

    However, that arachne battleship made a sudden leap and actually moved into the bolt¡¯s trajectory!

    The giant metallic bolt easily punched through the battleship¡¯s armor and drilled right into its core region. Afterward, the origin arrays on the bolt started to flicker, ultimately ending in a shocking explosion.

    The arachne battleship was merely of the corvette ss¡ªits speed was immediately reduced after being struck by Qianye. Much like a wounded beast in the chaotic battlefield, it was soon locked onto.

    Qianye¡¯s shot seemed to have alerted the other two vampire destroyers. The two ships lowered their speed at almost the same time and soon left to seek other targets.

    The imperial destroyer wasn¡¯t battle-crazed. It only kept on flying forward and quickly increased the distance between them.

    The intense airship battles continued for an entire day beforeing to a stop. The vessel was full of injuries when Zhao Yuying ordered the ship to descend, but owing to its powerful armor, the imperial battleship hadn¡¯t suffered too great a damage.

    Zhao Yuying and Qianye walked down from the destroyer together. The former grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulder andughed, ¡°Little Five, it looks like we should really build an airship for you. All we need to install is a single high-output cannon.¡±

    Hearing this, the Zhao n staff behind them were filled with embarrassment and admiration. The imperial officer in charge of recording contributions had already rushed over. Everyone, including the original captain of the airship, was tongue-tied and their expressions transformed rapidly. They kept stealing nces at Qianye from time to time.

    During this fierce battle, this destroyer alone had destroyed or crippled two Evernight cruisers and three corvettes. This aplishment could be considered quite glorious. Meanwhile, the ship¡¯s own damages were almost negligible¡ªit would be able to fly once more after some repairs.

    In addition to Zhao Yuying¡¯s piloting skills, Qianye¡¯s cannon skills had also reached great heights. He was only in charge of a single turret, but his hit rate was almost three out of four. Additionally, most of the kills were achieved in Qianye¡¯s hands. He had even set a record of firing three times in a row against thest opponent.

    At dawn the next day, the horizon had only lit up slightly when the third fleet vicemander-in-chief arrived at themand tower. The battle had already ended at this point, and the airship port was filled with all kinds of battleships, transports, and soldiers who had just disembarked. The scene was one of utter disorder with in-repair and refueling vehicles everywhere.

    Seeing this scene, Yang Li couldn¡¯t help but snort loudly. This caused the temperature in the room to fall by several degrees. A military officer who had followed Yang Li for a long time reported, ¡°General, those are all airships belonging to the aristocratic families. They simply park wherever they want regardless of what we say.¡±

    Yang Li¡¯s expression turned dark as he said with a snort, ¡°These bloodsuckers are like insectstching onto the empire!¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish the sentence, but his aides all knew the meaning. Yang Li was born from a humble family and had to climb all the way through the ranks to where he was now. He had always believed the major ns to be more bugs than pirs of the empire. It could be said that he detested the ns greatly.

    At this moment, Yang Li thought of something. ¡°Where¡¯s the No. 36 that was conscripted yesterday? How¡¯s it doing?¡±

    The officer flipped through the records and said, ¡°It has returned from battle yesterday with light damages. It¡¯s expected to be redeployed after simple repairs. This is No. 36¡¯s contribution status.¡±

    Yang Li saw clear hesitation in the officer¡¯s eyes. He immediately red at the man and shouted, ¡°Give me that. What¡¯s there to hide?¡±

    The officer could only pass the register over. Yang Li snatched the document and scanned it briefly before his expression transformed drastically. He then flipped it back and forth several times before handing it back to the officer.

    Thetter said hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯ve already checked with the crew, the contributions are in order.¡±

    Yang Li snorted deeply and tossed the register onto the table. ¡°Lucky bastards, let them be then.¡±

    ¡°How about General Lu?¡±

    Yang Li pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Send their contribution report to him. General Lu doesn¡¯t like people hiding things.¡±

    An officer stepped out to perform the task. Another person asked after he had left, ¡°General, if we do that, won¡¯t we have failed to grasp their weak point?¡±

    ¡°They used a requisition order, so there¡¯s no weak point to begin with. But they¡¯re making a big mistake if they think they can do whatever they want just because of their aplishments. This is a battlefield where massive armies are converging. It¡¯s all too easy for a handful of headstrong fellows to encounter an ident,¡± Yang Li said calmly.

    There was an airship base not too far from the port. Despite being built very recently, it wasrge, well-equipped, and almost like a small city. This was the temporary base of the imperial third fleet, and also the primary base for this entire war.

    At this moment in a building at the center of this base, there was a short, middle-aged general with short hair enjoying his breakfast at the dining table. Compared to his general rank, this breakfast was simply too crude and not much better than that of the lower-ranking officers.

    He consumed his food at a steady rate while listening to the aide¡¯s report, but he paused ever so slightly as the report arrived at No. 36¡¯s aplishments.

    The clever aide stopped his report for fear of interrupting the general¡¯s thoughts.

    Momentster, the general stuffed the potato that had been hanging in the air for some time into his mouth. ¡°Nice fighting, but this makes me hate them even more. Continue.¡±

    The aide sighed in relief as he flipped over to the next page and continued reading. He was also a man of humble birth. Although working for themander-in-chief of the third fleet was a promising future with unique opportunities, he was constantly walking on thin ice.

    At this moment, Qianye and Zhao Yuying had left the airship port to report-in to the imperial main camp nearby. With Zhao Yuying¡¯s identity and status, she was able to procure a batch of military vehicles to transport herself, Qianye, and the apanying Zhao n soldiers to the imperial main camp.

    Along the way, Zhao Yuying asked again, ¡°Qianye, are you really not following me?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Individual hunting suits me better.¡±

    Zhao Yuying said with a frown, ¡°This isn¡¯t the bloody battle or Giant¡¯s Repose. This is a real war with no limits, do you understand? You might encounter marquises or even dukes in a battle of such scale. Even I will have to run in such circumstances, not to mention you. Operating with the army will reduce your opportunities a bit, but it¡¯ll be much safer.¡±

    This was the umpteenth time Zhao Yuying had taken great pains to dissuade Qianye, so he had no choice but to tell the truth, ¡°I don¡¯t need safety, I need more contributions.¡±

    ¡°Why? What do you need them for?¡±

    For some reason, Qianye felt uneasy whenever the topic of contributions was brought up. It felt as though something bad was about to happen, and this caused his expression to be unnatural. Zhao Yuying, of course, wouldn¡¯t let go of this and kept on pressing the question.

    ¡°I need military contributions, the more the better. I have a feeling it¡¯ll be useful to meter on.¡±

    Zhao Yuying red at Qianye. ¡°Military contributions are only to exchange for wealth and status. What other use is there? What do you need that the Zhao n can¡¯t give? A noble rank might be difficult, but there¡¯s still room for maneuver. Moreover, you¡¯ve been in enough battles to know that dead soldiers don¡¯t get any contributions.¡±

    Qianye could only raise his hands in defeat against Zhao Yuying¡¯s verbal siege. ¡°Fine, fine, I know. I¡¯lle find you once I encounter any danger. Is that alright?¡±

    Zhao Yuying epted his response reluctantly, but couldn¡¯t help but lecture him some more, ¡°Little Five, even Little Four is operating obediently with the main force. You have to know that he¡¯s much stronger than you.¡±

    Qianye nodded in agreement. Just like that, the jeep finally drove into the imperial main camp amidst Zhao Yuying¡¯s non-stop talking.

    Qianye parted ways with Zhao Yuying near the barracks. The empire had different arrangements for independent hunters.

    Under the guidance of a female major, Qianye arrived at arge tent filled with all kinds of resources. A number of officers were working busily behind a temporary workbench.

    A lieutenant colonel picked up the register and asked, ¡°General Qianye?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

 Volume 6 - 578: Lobbying

    [V6C108 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    With a nod, the lieutenant colonel ced two bags¡ªone big and one small¡ªon the counter. ¡°You have chosen to engage in independent hunting. These are your supplies as per imperial military regtions. They have also been adjusted ording to your requests. In addition to food, water, and standard supplies, you also have twenty sniper rounds and fifty handgun rounds. I¡¯d like to remind you, however, that these bullets contain only a minimal amount of mithril. Don¡¯t pin your hopes on these bullets when fighting against major Evernight experts.¡±

    Qianye nodded to express he had understood.

    The lieutenant colonel pointed toward the small package and said, ¡°This here contains standard medicines and stimnts provided for free. You can apply separately if you require goods of better quality or greater numbers, we still have enough supplies in store. It goes without saying that you¡¯ll have to pay. Both imperial currency and military contributions are epted.¡±

    Afterward, the lieutenant colonel gave Qianye some basic information.

    The vanguard squad that had been hiding nearbynded right after the empire destroyed the passage in Giant¡¯s Repose. This caught the Evernight people unprepared and dealt a more or less destructive blow to their base.

    The empire quickly gained the initiative and proceeded to construct bases in six of the seven provinces. Meanwhile, the dark races quickly dispatched duke-level fighting powers to hold their remnant of a base and take control of that war zone. However, their location was pretty bad and surrounded by three imperial warzones.

    It would be for the best if Qianye could collect evidence of his kills during the hunting process. However, it was also fine if the battle was too intense and he couldn¡¯t find the time. The empire wouldpare the numbers with their spies and decide his contributions. This rule was a rule known among all veterans, and Qianye was also familiar with it.

    Additionally, as an expert engaging in independent hunts, Qianye could move freely through the warzones and return to the base anytime to rest and resupply. But at that point, all supplies will have to be paid for or exchanged with contribution points.

    Qianye listened impatiently to the end, and was just about to excuse himself when the lieutenant colonel said in a whisper, ¡°General Qianye, do you have any special warzone you¡¯re interested in?¡±

    Qianye noticed the implications in the man¡¯s words. ¡°I don¡¯t understand very well. Is there any other difference apart from the geography?¡±

    The officer was all smiles as he said, ¡°Of course there is! And it¡¯s not small, either. You know that all those brave enough to choose independent hunting are true experts. Currently, all the major ns in charge of their own warzones have announced special terms for those willing to operate in their warzone. This includes the imperial court.¡±

    In truth, this was equivalent to an additional bonus. This was the first time Qianye had heard about such an opportunity, so he was fairly interested. ¡°Which ns have announced such conditions?¡±

    Seeing that the topic had piqued Qianye¡¯s interest, the lieutenant colonel immediately became spirited. ¡°It¡¯s not too convenient to speak here. General Qianye, pleasee with me, we¡¯ll talk somewhere else.¡±

    Qianye nodded and followed the lieutenant colonel to a secluded little tent. The man brought out a notebook and flipped to one of the pages. ¡°The ones with special conditions are the imperial n, the Bai n, the Song n, and the Li family. A total of five war zones.¡±

    ¡°The Li family?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel pointed upward and said in a suppressed voice, ¡°It¡¯s indeed the Li n of the current empress. They¡¯ve invested greatly this time.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose sharply. ¡°Is that so? Can you tell me more?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel replied, ¡°The Li n has allied with several other aristocratic families to take down the most dangerous Misty Wood. Any confirmed kill within the Li n warzone will be awarded resources of equal value to the contribution. Additionally, if the umted contributions reach the count level, the Li family will award an additional batch of count-grade resources.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat moved at this point. This meant that killing a count in the Misty Wood was equal to killing three counts. It was indeed an attractive deal that would pique the interest of many, but it went without saying that greater rewards also came with greater risk. The Misty Wood was a ce hated by most experts. A mist capable of locking one¡¯s perception was indeed nauseating.

    Qianye asked calmly, ¡°What about the other families?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel snuck a peek at Qianye but became disappointed upon seeing the indifference. But he still drummed up his spirit and exined, ¡°The conditions set forth by the other families aren¡¯t bad, either. For instance, the Song n will offer a set remuneration each month in addition to the one hundred percent bonus. The pay will depend on the person¡¯s origin power level.

    The Song n¡¯s warzone was called the Full Moon ins. Half of this ce was t ins, while the other half was filled with mountainous geography. The environment here was rtively better than the Misty Wood. The most attractive part of the deal was still the monthly payment since just hanging out on the battlefield would earn them money. This meant a lot to experts seeking survival.

    Qianye at first felt that the Song n was just beingzy, but after some thought, he realized that having enough experts in their warzone was, in and of itself, a form of deterrence. Moreover, these experts would still have to fight once the dark races arrived at the Full Moon ins. Otherwise, what was the point of them being here?

    In this manner, the Song n would be able to obtain a sizeable territory on this floating continent as long as they could hold onto Full Moon ins. The geography of this ce wasn¡¯t advantageous for the defender, however, everything had its pros and cons. They of thend here was easier for future development.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but shake his head at the thought of this. The Song n had nevercked money, but using it to attract experts all the time wasn¡¯t a proper n for the long term. At least, their own experts would be unknowingly suppressed and the n descendants would gradually lose their bloodlust.

    The lieutenant colonel continued with his introduction. The offers from the other families were more or less the same apart from the Bai n offering their full range of battle armors. The Bai n was known throughout the empire for producing high-quality armor. With two out of the empire¡¯s three primary silken gold mines under their control, the n¡¯s silken gold armors were always in high demand. One couldn¡¯t buy it with money alone.

    The imperial n¡¯s offer was rtively simple¡ªa twofold increase in contribution points. However, this was the hardest part of all because contribution points could be directly exchanged for resources in the imperial treasury. Only the imperial court could make such an offer. Other families were only able to hand out rewards of equal value.

    Naturally, this made no difference if one didn¡¯t require special equipment from the imperial armory. Most of those choosing to work for the imperial court weren¡¯t eyeing resources but connections. Likely due to Lin Xitang¡¯s influence, the current emperor¡¯s promotion of talents focused little on status. For instance, there was nock of experts from side branches and small families in the Thunderous Cavalry, evenmoners and those fromndowning families. With great enough performance and contribution, that honored person might even bring him under his wing¡ªthis meant so much more than intentionally seeking protection.

    The offers from every family had beenid out on the table. Qianye pondered in silence, repeatedly weighing the pros and cons in his heart.

    The lieutenant colonel observed Qianye¡¯s expression, then said with a cough, ¡°General Qianye, why not listen to my opinion if you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Qianye smiled at the man and said, ¡°Nothing could be better. Pray tell.¡± It would seem this person had yed lobbyist many times already¡ªthe only question was for which family.

    The lieutenant colonel paused for a moment before saying, ¡°General Qianye, I¡¯ve heard much about your aplishments, they¡¯re truly admirable. In my opinion, we¡¯re fighting to kill enemies of the empire regardless of the location. Why not just pick the warzone offering the most resources? Only with enough resources can you obtain better equipment and progress further in this war. For survival, if nothing else.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Which family do you rmend?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel spoke with great confidence, ¡°The Misty Wood is the best battlefield!¡±

    A sharp glint shed briefly through the depths of Qianye¡¯s eyes. Almost no one knew of his advantage in the Misty Wood. Nighteye should be the only one who¡¯s most clear about this. How then did this lieutenant colonel find out?

    The man seemed to have sensed Qianye¡¯s momentary killing intent. He immediately broke into a shiver and said hurriedly, ¡°General Qianye! I have no other intentions.¡±

    Qianye gazed at him in silence, waiting for an answer.

    This brief moment caused the lieutenant colonel to be drenched in cold sweat. He said with a wry smile, ¡°Sire, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ve sided with the Li n and received benefits from them. But it¡¯s because of this connection and my current position that I know the Li n¡¯s sincerity is the deepest. At least, they had made the biggest bet out of everyone, so there¡¯s no fear of them holding back their power.¡±

    Qianye nodded secretly. A ce like the Misty Wood wasn¡¯t something just anyone could swallow. In fact, it made more sense if the imperial n, Zhang n, or Zhao n wanted this warzone.

    The lieutenant colonel wiped away some cold sweat after feeling the pressure lessen. ¡°General Qianye, the Misty Wood is indeed dangerous, but from a different perspective, the most dangerous ce is also the safest. I heard you¡¯re matchless in meleebat, isn¡¯t Misty Wood the best ce for you to show your skills?¡±

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°Matchless in melee? The nerve of you, I don¡¯t want to hear any more about this. But it looks like you¡¯re quite attentive toward me!¡±

    The lieutenant colonelughed along. ¡°This little one¡¯s position is all about collecting and organizing information. This is within my scope of duty.¡±

    The man¡¯s tone had grown several times more humble than the outset. Apparently, he had suffered quite the scare. But this lieutenant colonel was no slouch, either, to actually be able to sense Qianye¡¯s emergent killing intent.

    Qianye said in an unperturbed manner, ¡°The most dangerous ce is also the safest, huh? These words are best left to deceive rookies. Sincerity, however, is a pretty good reason. Anything else there?¡±

 Volume 6 - 579: Contrac

    t [V6C109 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The lieutenant colonel was immediately delighted. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to go, I can guarantee that the Li family will offer another portion of remuneration to your satisfaction. Additionally, your pay and supplies will be carried out at the level of a lieutenant general!¡±

    ¡°Lieutenant general?¡± Qianye broke into augh. ¡°That¡¯s quite the honor. I¡¯m only a brigadier general after all.¡±

    At this point, Qianye had already realized that this lobbyist was working ording to a priority list, one containing the independent experts the Li n wanted to recruit. Whether the rank of lieutenant general was official or just nominal, one would need to reach rank fourteen at least. But Qianye¡¯s current origin power was only at rank ten¡ªthe Li family¡¯s treatment could be considered a sufficient disy of respect.

    The lieutenant general immediately replied, ¡°Everyone knows ranks are just numbers. Only the Song n is dumb enough to offer payments ording to level.¡±

    ¡°But the Song n warzone is indeed not bad,¡± Qianye said while looking at the map, ¡°where are the dark races now?¡±

    ¡°ording to thetest report, they may appear anywhere. We¡¯ve already won the battle in the void, but¡­¡± at this point, the lieutenant general paused sightly before continuing, ¡°the imperial fleet suffered too great of a loss. It could even be considered a miserable loss. ording to what I know, the current imperial fleet no longer has the power to lock them in outer space. All they can do right now is escort ournding fleets and weaken the enemy as much as possible with disruptive ambushes.¡±

    Qianye nodded. This oue was well within expectations, or perhaps even a bit better than most people had surmised.

    The empire¡¯s airship fleet was known to be better than the Evernight side¡¯s overall, but the advantage wasn¡¯t that evident¡ªit was at most a slight upper hand. Presently, the Evernight Council was already on high alert. The fierce sky battle yesterday was only the beginning of this war. Their main army would soon arrive in an unending stream.

    ¡°The war has already begun. What is your decision?¡± the lieutenant colonel asked cautiously.

    Qianye pondered for a moment. ¡°What else can the Li family offer me?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel said in a delighted tone, ¡°Please wait a while. I¡¯ll go and bring a n elder here to negotiate face to face.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes narrowed¡ªit turned out that this person was from the Jingtang Li Family after all. The lieutenant colonel felt a wisp of frosty qi sweep past his neck as he was about to exit the tent. However, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to do anything at such a time. He simply sat down and began flipping through the most recent battle reports.

    Before long, a brigadier general withpletely white hair walked into the tent. He saluted Qianye upon entering and said, ¡°My name is Li Yanshou, a humble elder of the Li family. I also hold office in the imperial army logistics department. General Qianye is highly promising despite your age. It will be our Li family¡¯s fortune if you¡¯re willing to operate and hunt in the Misty Wood.¡±

    Qianye smile faintly. ¡°The Misty Wood isn¡¯t a good ce, the environment is much more suited for the dark races.¡±

    Li Yanshou replied calmly, ¡°It is indeed so. That is why our Li n is also bringing out sufficient sincerity. In addition to themon bounty offered to everyone, we¡¯ll also provide you with a monthly remuneration of two thousand gold coins or resources of equal value.¡±

    These conditions were simr to the Song n¡¯s, and the aim was to bind experts to their warzone. Judging from these numbers, the Jingtang Li n was treating Qianye as they would an expert three levels higher. It could be said that their respectful attitude was impable. It was just that Qianye had a mysterious sensation after recalling the rtionship between the Zhao n and the Li family.

    Perhaps his thoughts were reflected on his face. Li Yanshou added, ¡°Moreover, once you umte a marquis-worth of contributions, we¡¯ll hand out an additional bonus equaling that of a count. Finally, some of the Li family¡¯s medicines that aren¡¯t avable to outsiders will be provided to you. I believe everything is negotiable apart from one item.¡±

    Qianye asked with a smile, ¡°How about Stillwater Rebirth?¡±

    Brows raised, Li Yanshou paused for a good while before saying, ¡°I was referring to that one. But if you really want it, it¡¯s not out of the question after you¡¯ve umted a marquis-worth of contributions.¡±

    Qianye nodded. It would be fairly suspicious if Li Yanshou had agreed on the spot. His hesitation raised the trustworthiness. ¡°With such conditions, I¡¯m afraid your n won¡¯t have much left to gain.¡±

    Li Yanshou stroked his beard with a smile. ¡°Our Li n will have made a profit if we can hold Misty Wood. The little profit at present doesn¡¯t count for much. You also know that the post-war evaluation andnd allotment will be decided ording to each n¡¯s contributions. This is a true pioneering of newnd.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I have a condition.¡±

    Li Yanshou listened with a serious expression.

    ¡°I want half my earnings in Misty Wood, including the Li family¡¯s rewards, to be paid in military contributions. Moreover, they must be recorded under my own name and not the Li family¡¯s.¡±

    The smile on Li Yanshou¡¯s face immediately disappeared. He stared deeply at Qianye and said word by word, ¡°General Qianye, if we cannot report these contributions under the Li family¡¯s name, it means that our n will take a big loss in the post-war assessments. This will be a disadvantage to us during thend allotment process.¡±

    Qianye had no intention of giving in. ¡°Holding Misty Wood is the greatest contribution, others aren¡¯t important.¡±

    Li Yanshou stared intently at Qianye, and thetter looked back without backing down.

    After a period of deadlock, Li Yanshou said, ¡°Our Jingtang Li Family isn¡¯t so short-sighted as to break our promises. Regardless of your background, as long as you join our warzone, you¡¯ll receive a level of respect befitting a guest elder of our Li family. All benefits will go to you even if the contributions are under the Li family¡¯s name, this I can perfectly promise. You don¡¯t need to worry about this. How can we establish ourselves in the empire if we don¡¯t even have this level of trustworthiness!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was solemn. He didn¡¯t feign ignorance, either, regarding the implications within the man¡¯s words. ¡°If I ept the Li n¡¯s monthly remuneration, I naturally won¡¯t leave your warzone, either.¡±

    Li Yanshou¡¯s facial muscles twitched in an unnatural manner. He said after a long while, ¡°We can only record the part you¡¯ve earned yourself under your name. Otherwise, we¡¯ll be losing too much in terms of contributions.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Then, what about that bonus after umting a marquis-worth of contributions?¡±

    Li Yanshou remained silent for a while. ¡°General Qianye, our Li n has made so many concessions. Shouldn¡¯t you be expressing some sincerity?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°This is what you ought to do. I can promise I¡¯ll earn at least a mighty marquis-worth of contributions.¡±

    Li Yanshou¡¯s expression shifted slightly. He then said after a momentary pause, ¡°General Qianye indeed lives up to his name. Since you¡¯re so confident, this old man will agree to these conditions on behalf of the Li family.¡±

    Both parties had reached a general agreement at this point. The lieutenant colonel soon appeared with a contract which he ced in front of Qianye. Apparently, it had been prepared beforehand as well. Qianye looked through the uses in great detail before signing his name on the contract.

    Li Yanshou¡¯s expression returned to normal after seeing Qianye pen down his name and gradually became delighted. Soon, the lieutenant colonel arrived with an additional batch of ammunition and handed it to Qianye¡ªthis could be considered an advance payment. This time, they were no longer standard issue ammunition but true Mithril Bullets of Exorcism. There were a full thirty rounds, proving that the Li n was indeed offering Qianye resources worthy of a guest elder.

    Next up, both parties hammered out the finer details. The war wasn¡¯t too urgent at this point, so Qianye nned to recuperate for a couple of days. He intended to adjust himself to his peak state before heading toward Misty Wood on the Li n¡¯s airship.

    Qianye returned to his tent after both parties hade to an agreement. There were still some doubts regarding the Li n¡¯s abnormal solicitation, but he didn¡¯t dwell on it too much. The Misty Wood was the war zone he had already selected on his own. This paper contract was only there to maximize his profits. As for other problems, that which muste woulde eventually.

    The scenery on the floating continent was vastly different from Evernight Continent. The weather here was quite simr to the imperial maind, just a bit on the colder side. However, the sky was remarkably clear, and the sun showered the continent with radiant light, bringing life to every corner of thend.

    The voidndmass after the disappearance of Giant¡¯s Repose was rather charming.

    Qianye, however, wasn¡¯t in the mood to enjoy all of this. He was fully invested in cultivating because every little bit of increased strength was important on the eve of war.

    However, it was just past noon when a crisp voice was heard outside of Qianye¡¯s tent, disrupting his energy flow and effectively bringing him out of his cultivation state.

    Standing outside of the tent was a major of the Li n who said hurriedly upon seeing Qianye, ¡°The dark racesunched a sneak attack on Misty Wood an hour ago. Currently, the battle situation and the size of enemy forces aren¡¯t clear. Please head over to the base and consider joining the battle when needed.¡±

    Qianye had long since made preparations for this. He didn¡¯t dy this time and simply ran toward the airship with this major.

    Along the way, Qianye saw a fair number of airships scrambling into the air and flying off in every direction.

    The major noticed Qianye¡¯s gaze. ¡°The dark races attacked more than one ce. There werending forces in every war zone. Additionally, there seem to be reinforcements arriving at their forward base.¡±

    ¡°Where is our airship squadron?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still fighting against the Evernight fleet in the void, we don¡¯t know yet what the situation is.¡±

    In truth, judging from how the dark races were alreadynding, it would seem that the imperial fleet wasn¡¯t doing too good up there.

    The airship wasn¡¯t too far away, so Qianye hastened his steps and hopped onto the ramp. There were already five or six people sitting inside the ne, and judging from their apparel, it was clear that they were experts like Qianye who had been recruited by the Li family.

    All eyes fell upon him when he arrived at the cabin door. Among them, some were probing and some were observing, while others were provoking or revealing their might. There was even a gaze filled with killing intent.

    Qianye red back unceremoniously and found a thin man with a cold expression at a corner of the cabin. He was d in a camouge suit without any military ranks or affiliation insignia.

    The man¡¯s appearance was very ordinary. The most eye-catching was his strangely vertical eyes. He grinned and cursed at Qianye soundlessly.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned cold and his eyes, a deep blue. The snake-like man¡¯s origin fluctuations had nowhere to hide under Qianye¡¯s True Sight. His rank was thirteen, an expert equal to a count on the Evernight side¡ªno wonder he was so arrogant.

    But Qianye had no recollection of this man¡¯s face and was puzzled as to why he was so hostile.

 Volume 6 - 580: Entering the Fores

    t [V6C110 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The man stared into Qianye¡¯s blue eyes and felt as though he had been plunged into icy water. His faint yellow hair stood on end as he shot up from his seat.

    He stared fixedly at Qianye and screamed, ¡°What are you looking at?!¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°What are you shouting for?¡±

    The sinister looking man was furious. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s hand was on East Peak, and his eyes were filled with an austere killing intent. He had scanned the enemy with his unrestrained True Sight and found that there was nothing to fear. The fellow was three ranks higher than himself, but his origin power wasn¡¯t at all that consolidated.

    Seeing that a conflict was about to break out, the Li family expert in charge of the airship stood up to smooth things over. ¡°Everyone is about to berades on the same battlefield. A little bit of enmity shouldn¡¯t be kept to mind in the face of a greater enemy!¡±

    The sinister man thus found an opportunity to back down. He retracted his origin power and said with a snort, ¡°I really don¡¯t know how a little brigadier general can be so high and mighty.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°If you keep provoking me, you¡¯ll find out how a brigadier general will kill you.¡±

    The evil-looking man shot up once more, but the Li family expert pulled him back in a hurry. He then spoke privately with the man for a good while before finally managing to push him back to his seat.

    At this moment, the airship shook momentarily as it took to the skies and flew toward the battlefield. The atmosphere inside the craft gradually became stifling. Qianye had no intention of fighting against imperial experts before the great war, so he turned away and sat down in an empty seat.

    Beside Qianye was a woman seemingly in her thirties. She possessed fairly good looks, but the dense smell of blood around her served to remind everyone that she wasn¡¯t one to be provoked.

    Qianye nced at her and asked, ¡°Can you tell me who that idiot just now is?¡±

    Thedy looked deeply into his eyes and said, ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, you should be Qianye, right? That fellow is called Du Li. I don¡¯t know where he popped out from, but it looks like the Li family ns to have him lead a mechanizedbat squad. Heh, heh, he¡¯s truly an idiot to provoke you upon sight.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t just thisdy¡¯s gaze that had fallen on Qianye¡¯s body. Many who heard his name turned toward him with subtle expressions.

    Qianye was one of the fastest rising stars of the empire, however, his name back then was tied to the Swallow Cloud Zhao n. One could call them the Zhao n¡¯s twin stars instead of the empire¡¯s. Now, however, he had appeared on the Li n¡¯s battleship, and judging from how the Li family steward had chosen to dissuade Du Li, it would seem they attached great importance to him.

    ¡°He¡¯s a rank-thirteen expert, you know, almost a lieutenant general.¡± Qianye shrugged in a natural manner, almost as though he hadn¡¯t noticed all the gazes on him.

    ¡°What¡¯s so great about rank-thirteen? I heard there are true dark counts in your kill records.¡±

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s just a lowest-ranked count.¡±

    Everyone nearby felt the urge to beat Qianye up after hearing him make light of the matter. Even for an imperial warrior of the same level, achieving such a record was something to be proud of.

    In truth, most people who heard about this didn¡¯t quite believe Qianye could kill a dark count on his own. But one of the sources of this news was the Li family¡ªsomeone from the n was reportedly present during the kill. And the tense rtionship between the Li and Zhao ns served only to increase the reliability of this news.

    On the other end of the cabin, Du Li and another warrior were conversing with the Li n officer. The man¡¯s expression transformed rapidly¡ªapparently, he was being told of Qianye¡¯s origins and past aplishments. But he didn¡¯t seem apprehensive at all, and neither did he seem to have any intention of apologizing. He only cast asional cold nces at Qianye.

    The high-speed airship flew for nearly two hours and finally arrived at the base at the borders of Misty Wood. This base was constructed through the joint efforts of the Li family and a number of high-ranking aristocratic families. There were three such bases in the Misty Wood, but this one was thergest of them all.

    After the airshipnded near the outskirts, Qianye exited first and observed the surroundings. What he saw was a temporary camp capable of amodating ten thousand men. The soldiers who had arrived earlier were frantically setting up a new barracks that would hold yet another ten thousand soldiers.

    Additionally, there was a giant transport parked on one side of the airship port and a dozen or so high-ranking warriors unloading arge metallicponent from it. Qianye immediately recognized it as a key kic towerponent. It would seem the Li family, with its great ambitions, was actually about to build a kic tower here. Apparently, they had considered this ce as their own territory and wished to build a permanent base.

    The Misty Wood was only a thousand meters away. There were hundreds of soldiers grouped into numerous patrol squads, shuttling in and out of the forest. There were even more soldiers building defensive positions behind them, while traces of battle were bing evident toward the front.

    Qianye walked down the ramp and asked the awaiting officer, ¡°Has the dark race appeared?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a small group rushed out just now and has been destroyed. But the group is made up of arachne, vampires, and werewolves.¡± The officer appeared worried.

    It wasn¡¯t just Qianye¡ªall of the other independent experts had serious expressions on their faces. Regardless of the size of the dark race force, the simultaneous appearance of multiple races¡ªespecially the werewolves and vampires¡ªmeant that there was a powerful character or force leading them. That was the only way to suppress the tension between the races.

    ¡°Do you know their affiliation?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know yet, those dark race soldiers have no insignias on their bodies.¡±

    Qianye nodded and nced toward Misty Wood. ¡°Give me a portion of water and rations. I¡¯m going in right away.¡±

    The officer was surprised. ¡°Right now? Do you not need to rest?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡±

    The officer¡¯s orders were to fulfill the wishes of these independent experts as much as possible. He was also ordered not to interfere with their movements without explicit orders. As such, the man asked no more and immediately sent two nearby soldiers off to make the arrangements.

    Qianye walked over to the barracks area, strolling through a temporary road while observing the nearby construction work.

    The Li family camp was only starting to take shape. It was far from the majesty of the third imperial fleet¡¯s base camp, but the basic arrangements were already visible. The camp didn¡¯t just have an airship base but also facilities for repairs and maintenance. Additionally, there were four foundational structures forrge anti-aircraft cannons.

    Just from the construction of this base, one could tell that there were a fair number of talents in the Li family. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t find any problems.

    Right after Qianye passed through the barracks area, two soldiers ran over carrying a backpack half the size of a man. ¡°These are the supplies you requested. There¡¯s enough food, water, and supplies tost ten days.¡±

    Qianye took the bag and shot a nce at the Misty Wood. ¡°Have your men cover me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, general.¡±

    A voice rang out from behind just as Qianye was going to pass through the battlefront and enter the Misty Wood. ¡°Wait a minute.¡±

    Qianye looked back and found thatdy with whom he had chatted briefly on the airship.

    She moved like the wind and arrived beside Qianye in a couple of steps. There, she nced implicatively at Qianye¡¯s Thunderbolt and said, ¡°I¡¯m Zhu Huan, a rank-eleven warrior specializing in meleebat. What do you say we work together? I feel that we can coordinate quite well.¡±

    Qianye shook his head without even thinking. ¡°No, I like operating alone.¡±

    Zhu Huan said, ¡°Perhaps you might need someone to watch your back.¡±

    Her words had a hidden meaning to them. Qianye looked up in Du Li¡¯s direction and said calmly, ¡°I have eyes in the back of my head. Most of those who try to approach me from the back became corpses.¡±

    Zhu Huan frowned. Thedy had her own sense of pride and thus no longer insisted on working together. She only said ¡°good luck¡± before turning to leave.

    But Qianye pointed a finger at Du Li and said, ¡°You, on the other hand, should be careful of that person. Your n to work with me might have offended him.¡±

    Zhu Huan sneered, ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of him.¡±

    ¡°His eyes are a bit strange,¡± Qianye reminded.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Qianye nodded and ended the conversation here. He then turned toward the Misty Wood and soon vanished into the dense mist. Du Li nced in Qianye¡¯s direction after thetter had disappeared, his eyes full of hatred and killing intent.

    At this moment, there was only a rank-ten champion following him. With Qianye and Zhu Huan¡¯s lead, the other experts all chose their own paths. This destroyed Du Li¡¯s hopes of gathering everyone into abat squad.

    Returning to the Misty Wood, Qianye felt that the restrictions on his perceptions had weakened by quite a bit. Perhaps the disappearance of the void colossus¡¯ will had lessened the suppression here.

    Even so, his perception range was still limited to five hundred meters, and this was due to the various vampire-ability increases that came with his ascension to rank-two viscount. His True Sight had also received a corresponding upgrade.

    But a five-hundred-meter range was quite enough amidst theplicated geography of the forest. There was almost no firing line that spanned five hundred meters anyway.

    Qianye judged that a human expert of the same level would possess a perception range of ny meters, and the dark races, around one hundred. Qianye still held a massive advantage in the Misty Wood.

    He didn¡¯t linger about near the border but charged directly into the depths of the forest. He ran non-stop for several kilometers and made sure no one was on his tracks before putting all his supplies into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. Then, he rearranged his gear and brought himself to an optimalbat state.

    Qianye soon activated Bloodline Concealment and gradually melded into the mist. He then made his way forward patiently.

    Before long, he heard the sounds of breaking tree branches. This was abnormal within the Misty Wood. The forest was covered in purple substance, so walking on it made almost no sound. Moreover, those giant, hundred-meter trees had almost no branches on them. This sound could only havee from a person brushing past something while moving through the woods.

 Volume 6 - 581: Emergence

    [V6C111 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye¡¯s steps were soundless as he sneaked toward the source of the sound. He stopped moving when he was three to four hundred meters from his objective and nced about at this surroundings. There, he picked a tree and slowly climbed onto it, slowly poking his head out at the top. His suspicion came as no surprise since that sound could very well be a trap.

    Qianye activated True Sight and saw the mist gradually thin out along his line of sight. The silhouette of a temporary dark race base came into view several hundred meters away.

    The many shadows moving about in the camp consisted of dozens of warriors, and there was indeed a mixture of arachne, werewolves, and vampires.

    The arachne were few in number, but there were seven or eight giant servspiders, recognizable from their greenish-grey colors. The one with somewhat shorter limbs was a type of forest spider. It would seem the dark races had invested greatly into this project¡ªthey were using forest spiders as a supplementary vehicle to send the werewolves and vampires into battle.

    It was just that this Misty Wood wasn¡¯t an ordinary forest at all. Even though the disappearance of the void colossus¡¯ will allowed ordinary soldiers and servspiders to enter the forest, the purple ground substance was still a significant source of trouble for them.

    Moreover, ces with perception interference like Misty Wood contained a type of natural pressure. The servspiders were clearly restless. The sound Qianye had heard just now was an arachne wing at a tree in agitation.

    The servspider only calmed down when an arachne inside the camp shouted sternly. At this moment, a worried-looking vampire walked over and exchanged a couple of words with the arachne. The vampire baron gazed up at the hundred-meter trees around them, his expression growing heavier as he stared at the elliptic treetops.

    He finally waved his hand and shouted, ¡°Stop resting and pack up camp. We¡¯re leaving this ursed ce.¡±

    All the dark race warriors looked at the vampire baron in astonishment. They had gone through an arduous march and were just about to camp and rest. Moreover, they weren¡¯t even quite sure of the direction. Where were they supposed to go?

    The baron¡¯s expression grew heavy all of a sudden. He reached for the handgun at his waist, but his head exploded into a bloody mist before he could draw his weapon.

    Soon afterward, a crisp thunderous sound arrived from afar.

    All the dark race warriors leapt up in a split second. Some of the werewolves sped toward the source of the gunshot sound while others climbed onto the treetops in an attempt to find the enemy from high-ground. The only two arachne among them began nking the tree, emitting a series of cries and instructing the servspiders to use theirrge bodies to form a barrier up front. As for the vampires, they covered each other¡¯s advance as they moved toward Qianye.

    Qianye had no intention to change positions. Thunderbolt roared continuously in his hand, sting one dark race soldier after the other into corpse fragments. Thunderbolt¡¯s massive firepower could even injure a viscount in one round. It was simply an overkill to use it on these blood knights.

    The lucky survivors rushed out a hundred or so meters, but they were stunned after failing to find traces of the enemy after checking every tree. Thunderbolt¡¯s cries never stopped, and each roar would signal the loss of a life.

    For a moment, neither the ferocious werewolves nor the sinister vampires understood where the enemy was hiding. Insofar as they knew, even the powerful demonkin snipers would only have about a hundred meters of range in the Misty Wood.

    But sniper rounds were still flying in from the thick mist ahead of them. Each shot would take down at least one of them no matter how they dodged or sidestepped the projectiles.

    Facing a sniper with a range of more than two hundred meters was pure suicide in the Misty Wood. As the two arachne who had stayed behind in the camp fell down one after the other, the remaining dark race soldiers discovered that all those above rank six in their midst had been killed off.

    With only low-ranking soldiers remaining, they were quite likely to be killed even if they could surround the sniper. The soldiers instantly stopped hesitating and began to scatter in all directions.

    Qianye sighed upon seeing the enemies running away in different directions. He put Thunderbolt away, drew his vampiric de, and started chasing them down one by one.

    Even though Qianye¡¯s speed and vision were far superior, he still lost track of the remainder after hunting down seven or eight of them. He gave up on chasing them down and, instead, traced his steps back to the battlefield to clean up and collect proof of contributions. Afterward, Qianye quietly erased his traces and continued into the depths of the Misty Wood. As for the corpses, they would turn into nutrition for the entire forest.

    Qianye subconsciously chose to go in the direction where thest werewolf had vanished from his line of sight. He thought of something along the way. This dark race squad seemed to be fairly experienced¡ªthey managed to prevent themselves from being wiped out even after losing their high-ranking warriors. Clearly, they were the elite of the elite.

    Although these well-trained soldiers weren¡¯t very high in level, they definitely weren¡¯t expendable cannon fodder, either. They might even hold leading positions in a couple of bases. At the thought of this, Qianye raised his speed to the max and focused on differentiating the faint traces the enemy had left behind. The environment in Misty Wood was special. That purple substance could devour everything, so there wouldn¡¯t be any tracks left behind after a while.

    Qianye shot through the woods like a cheetah. He had run over ten kilometers when he suddenly saw a werewolf warrior lying still beneath arge tree.

    ¡°Oh crap,¡± Qianye cried out in his heart. The werewolf had already died, his neck mangled by some unknown beast. Qianye had no more time to switch targets, which meant that this trail hade to a dead end.

    The werewolf had just lost its life. Its fresh blood dripped down constantly and converged into a scarlet flow upon the ground. The surrounding purple substance, agitated by the blood, began squirming and climbing onto the werewolf¡¯s limbs. Before long, it would digest the werewolfpletely¡ªeven the hardest of metals was only a matter of time.

    Qianye cursed his misfortune as he took a couple of steps to the side, evading the squirming substance and ncing around at his surroundings. He arrived very quickly but hadn¡¯t heard anyone or anything moving within 100 meters. The fellow that had torn the werewolf¡¯s throat was likely still hiding nearby.

    It was at this time that the mist behind Qianye billowed and a grey shadow jumped out from within. It shed toward Qianye with a speed so fast that it felt like a gust of wind in one¡¯s face.

    Qianye moved slightly to the side and blocked the attacking shadow with his left hand. Thetter attacked viciously and bit down on the arm with shocking force. Qianye was wearing the Iron Wall armor and its apanying armguard, but thetter was already creaking loudly. It might¡¯ve been deformed had Qianye not circted his origin power immediately.

    The shadow was a wolf-like mutant beast with long limbs and dark grey fur all over its body. This creature could merge perfectly into the environs of the Misty Wood. Its bite was strong enough to leave fang marks on metal alloy and snap ordinary steel. It was no wonder that even a werewolf warrior¡¯s strong body couldn¡¯t resist the attack and had its throat bitten through.

    But being able to bite through a metal rod didn¡¯t mean it could bite through Qianye¡¯s arm. With his constitution as a high-ranking vampire and the addition of his origin defenses, Qianye would only suffer some broken skin even without armor.

    Qianye didn¡¯t recall seeing such a creature thest time he entered the maze cavern. It was faster, better at hiding, and deadlier than the ones he had seen before¡ªeven an arachne below the viscount level might not be able to resist its biting power. Had such creatures appeared in great numbers during thest battle, the casualty rates of the two factions would¡¯ve been even higher.

    Qianye reached out and grabbed its neck urately and strangled it with great force, crushing all the bones therein. However, the beast¡¯s life force was exceptionally tenacious. Its jaws on Qianye¡¯s arm didn¡¯t loosen until its skull waspletely crushed.

    Looking at the two rows of deep fang marks on his arm guard, Qianye named this creature shadowhound. He drew his vampiric de and plunged it into the beast¡¯s body. Immediately, a wisp of peculiar cold essence blood flowed into his body.

    Although the quantity of energy within this essence blood wasn¡¯trge, the quality wasparable to that of a dark viscount. It was just that the cold aura in its essence blood was a type of poison¡ªordinary vampires absorbing it would suffer a bout of serious sickness. Qianye wasn¡¯t affected because the Song n Ancient Scroll could refine essence blood containing darkness energy and purify it in the process.

    Qianye tossed the shadowhound corpse to the ground and watched the purple substance devour it. His heart was filled with a gloomy shadow.

    This shadowhound was only at the level of an esquire, but here in Misty Wood, its overallbat strength was equal to that of a werewolf baron. Its essence blood was at the level of a knight. This also meant that itsbat strength was far above that of its rank.

    This battle would be more arduous than expected if the aboriginals in the central cavern began exhibiting such changes.

    Qianye continued forward for a while beforeing to a sudden stop. He reached out to knock on therge tree near him, sending ripples outward continuously and, at the same time, forming a clear image in his mind. There was a peculiar, quick vibration in the treetop resembling a rapidly beating heart.

    Qianye leapt onto a treetop and cut open the bark with his vampiric de, revealing the lifeforms inside those septate, beehive-likepartments. Their bodies were still in their embryonic forms, but their hearts had developedpletely. The contrast made them exceptionally eye-catching.

    The problem was that these embryos evidently belonged to different races. Some were midgets whom Qianye had seen, some were creatures like the shadowhound, and others looked like bugs¡ªbut no one knew what they would turn into after emerging from their cocoons.

    This odd scene caused Qianye to inhale deeply, his hand dropping involuntarily in the process. The sharp de produced a gash in the bark that was even bigger and deeper.

    The tree below let out a sharp howl as though it were in pain! The sound transmitted far and wide, causing the fluids in the tree trunks to roll and boil. The half-developed embryos all melted, and the air was soon filled with the scent of decay.

    Qianye felt a spell of dizzinesse over him. The smell actually contained a powerful poison, but it was quickly neutralized by the auric me blood in his body.

    In response to the tree¡¯s cries, a dozen or so nearby trees began trembling and let out roars of unknown significance.

    In Qianye¡¯s True Sight, he could see vast amounts of energy pouring into the tree trunks. The dozens of energy fluctuations therein grew stronger and stronger until they condensed numerous silhouettes within. Apparently, those terrifying creatures were about to emerge from their cocoons.

 Volume 6 - 582: Rescue Part 1

    Chapter 582: Rescue (Part 1) [V6C112 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye immediately jumped off the tree. There, he circted Bloodline Concealment and vanished from the dangerous area like a spirit.

    Not long after Qianye had left, one of the giant treetops burst open and shot out dozens of mutant beasts¡ªamong them were shadowhounds and ten-odd midgets. These creatures began searching for the enemy immediately afternding, but Qianye had long since left. How could there be any traces of him?

    Afterward, one tree after another opened up and sprayed out creatures. In the blink of an eye, thousands of fierce beasts and midgets had appeared and began searching through an area several kilometers in radius.

    Far in the distance, Qianye was leaning on the trunk of arge tree. A fair length of extreme running had likely taken him out of harm''s way, so he made a decisive stop and began catching his breath. Maintaining one¡¯s stamina was the foremost priority in this dangerousnd. The surroundings¡ªbe it the eerie giant trees or the all-epassing purple substance¡ªwere calm. This proved that his Bloodline Concealment was effective in hiding him from this dangerous forest.

    Even so, it remained that this forest was bing increasingly dangerous. With these aboriginals around, ordinary soldiers entering the area would simply bemitting suicide. Even the imperial regr army was no exception. Ordinary warriors were no match for hundreds of mutant beasts in an environment with less than ten meters of visual range. Even Qianye might not be able to retreat safely if he were to go deeper in.

    Qianye¡¯s heart felt heavy upon thinking about the independent hunters who hade with him. But this matter had its pros and cons because the forest was just as perilous for the dark races. Observing the trend of past battles, the dark races would hold the advantage in the early and middle phases of a skirmish. Hence, this situation wasparatively more advantageous for the empire.

    Qianye ate and drank afterward, then took a short nap in a treetop before setting out again. He spent great effort to adjust his route and finally arrived at the south-western edge of the Misty Wood. He nned to cut through here and enter the Full Moon ins in the other side.

    That was the Song n warzone.

    There was no way Song Zining would be operating with the Song n. However, Qianye had never been to the Full Moon ins before, so he wanted to explore and take a look at the Song n¡¯s strength.

    This war was sure to go on for a long time. He had to take control of the situation as much as possible earlier on, at least for the area he was operating in.

    Several days passed by in a sh. Qianye had traveled hundreds of kilometers in the Misty Wood and annihted two dark race scouting parties along the way. He had also killed off hundreds of mutant beasts and aboriginal midgets. Comparatively, it felt like thetter were giving Qianye a far harder time than the dark races.

    But this was merely an illusion. The true difficulties would arrive when the true dark race experts had entered the battlefield.

    Qianye had also encountered three groups of imperial experts. Perhaps they, too, had discovered the fangs of this forest; all of them were advancing in groups of three to five. They did not possess Qianye¡¯s visual range and thus couldn¡¯t discover his traces. Qianye had no intention of contacting them, either.

    Qianye finally walked out of the Misty Wood at noon that day. Appearing before his eyes was a billowing hill region nketed in green trees. The river far in the distance looked like a sapphire ne strung around the mountains.

    From a distance, it was nothing less than a beautiful painting of the mortal world. The Song n really knew how to pick a good location. Beyond the hilly region was a nd covered in a cushion of green grass that seemed to expand toward the horizon.

    But in Qianye¡¯s eyes, there was nothing of merit in the Full Moon ins apart from the good scenery. ording to the information at hand, there were no strategic resources to speak of and neither was it an important defensive position.

    However, everyone knew that this floating continent would be embroiled in the mes of war for many years toe. Even if the empire could win this single battle, the Evernight faction wouldn¡¯t easily admit defeat.

    And there was really no telling what kind of deals were going on behind the scenes regarding the distribution of the seven regions.

    Qianye climbed a hilltop and nced about at his surroundings. The view here was open and expansive. Add to that his superior vision of one thousand two hundred meters, Qianye managed to take in the entire geography around him.

    The Song n was building defensive structures around a hilltop. The location was well thought-out and could easily exert control over a ten-kilometer area. Additionally, several other hill-tops were also undergoing construction, and judging from the shape of the structures, they seemed to be sentry towers. Hence, a defensive line was gradually taking shape.

    Judging from thepleted defensive points of this pace, they were likely made to defend against attacks from the Misty Wood. Meanwhile, two airships were patrolling the entire warzone from the air.

    It would seem the Song n had made ample preparations. After all, they had the money to spare. Even if they couldn¡¯t produce talented people, they would still be able to gain an advantage by hiring more.

    Qianye brought out his map and found his current position. From there, he advanced along the forest border toward the Northeast and soon arrived at the Bai n region after several hundred kilometers. The area here was adjacent to the dark race forward base and warzone, making it a dangerous zone.

    Qianye gave it some thought after closing the map and finally decided to spend a couple of days at the Bai n war zone. He wanted to take a look since it wasn¡¯t too far off, and he wouldn¡¯t mind getting his revenge if he happened to run into Bai Kongzhao along the way.

    The Bai n war zone was an elevated desertnd with several valleys stretching across it. The deepest among them fell over a thousand meters down and looked like a number of wounds stretching across the ground. The geography of this hignd was fairlyplicated. The numerous valleys split the hignd into numerous areas and made transportation extremely difficult. Some were so wide that the only way across was via airship.

    The region was scarcely suited for habitation, but the initial surveys revealed rare mineral veins in the depths of the ravines. Judging from they of thend, extraction was likely going to be quite troublesome.

    But to the Bai n who made a living off of producing high-end armors, these veins would no doubt serve as wings for the proverbial tiger.

    The stretch ofnd between the Song and Bai ns was fairly quiet. Qianye didn¡¯t encounter any scouting parties during the two days he had spent covering this distance. When he walked out from the Misty Wood once more, a steep incline filled with stones and gravel appeared before him.

    The slope stretched dozens of kilometers and gradually climbed over a thousand meters high.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare act recklessly. He climbed the incline slowly and soon arrived at the peak where the view before him expanded rapidly.

    A deste aura rushed at his face as a boundless desert appeared before him, decorated with tall peaks piercing thousands of kilometers into the sky.

    The sudden expansion of vision caused Qianye to hold his breath. It was at this time that a dark shadow flitted past the ground, apanied by a deep rumbling from above.

    Qianye looked up and saw, a thousand meters in the sky, a gigantic airship emerging from the clouds.

    It was a giant vessel hundreds of meters in length, and its backside was unfolded in many ces as though it were made up of many leaves¡ªthe shape was as beautiful as it was peculiar.

    Such shapes and colors usually signified that it was a vampire vessel. Moreover, its size and beauty were almost stifling¡ªquite likely the battleship of a major character. Perhaps it was an honored marquis or even a duke.

    Qianye was shaken at heart. He immediately fell to the ground and hid in the shadows of a giant rock. To an expert of that level, the distance of a thousand meters was hardly an obstruction. Moreover, Qianye had no way to deal with that gigantic vehicle up in the air. It would be meaningless to resist once he was found out.

    Arge group of airships appeared through the clouds after the gigantic airship had passed by. Their density was enough to blot out a part of the sky!

    This was a fleet made up of hundreds of battleships. The outer-rim was made up of vampire battleships of all shapes and sizes, protecting the hundred-odd spherical transports in the center. Qianye had seen this type of transport many times on the battlefield. They looked clumsy and ugly on the outside, but would immediately spit out a barrack¡¯s worth of dark race soldiers oncended.

    This kind of arachne transport-ss was called woond beast, a vessel that was both reliable and cheap to produce. The most terrifying aspect was its transport capacity which far outshone the empire¡¯s airships.

    Close to a hundrednding vessels meant that a force tens of thousands strong was about tond. Such a massive force appearing directly in the middle of theirnd meant that the Bai n was in for quite the misfortune.

    ¡°Goddammit, what is the imperial fleet doing?!¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud.

    He watched the terrifying fleet fly past with an ugly expression. He couldn¡¯t make up his mind whether he should join the battle alongside the Bai n. This fleet was, for the most part, intact which meant that it had suffered little obstruction in the void. Against such a fighting power, it wouldn¡¯t make a lot of difference even if he rushed over.

    Just as he was hesitating, the dark race airships flew overhead andnded not far away.

    At this moment, dozens of airships from the Bai n scrambled into the air and rushed toward the enemy fleet despite the adverse odds.

    Several of the Bai n¡¯s vessels fell from the sky upon first contact. The remainder advanced against the hail of cannon shots in a bid to push past the line of fire and reach those clumsy airships.

    Any soldier with some experience would understand that tens of thousands of enemy soldiers would emerge if these airships were allowed tond. These Bai n airships had no intention of returning alive and simply rammed into the transports when the situation was dire.

    Dozens of brilliant fireballs appeared in the sky.

    An airship that had charged into the midst of the Evernight fleet was exceptionally nimble. It opened uprge holes on the enemy transports with great uracy but soon burst into mes amidst the concentrated defensive fire.

    Even so, it adjusted its course and crashed straight into a transport ship. Apanied by a violent explosion, the woond beast fell down into the canyon below and broke into pieces along the way.

    Qianye stared intently at the dazzling light. He almost seemed to be able to see the captain stand up in the fierce ze and change the ship¡¯s trajectory with due calmness. In silence, he briefly organized his gear before darting toward the battlefield.

    At this moment, the only thing in Qianye¡¯s heart was the battle in front of him. Nothing else was more important.

 Volume 6 - 583: Rescue Part 2

    Chapter 583: Rescue (Part 2) [V6C113 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Several kilometers were covered in the blink of an eye. The battle in the air had already ended at this point with hardly any of the Bai n airships remaining. The ground was covered in ck charred pits and the burning ruins of airships. The casualties on the Evernight side were minimal with a loss of forty-odd transports, little more than a third of their entire group. Ten thousand soldiers had been reduced to ashes before they could evennd.

    In front of them was a half-constructed Bai n stronghold. Numerous streams of mes shot out from the turrets andshed at the enemies in the sky like zing whips.

    Therge Evernight battleships had all retreated into the air and out of the turrets¡¯ reach. Additionally, there were seven or eight smaller high-speed airships looping about at low altitudes, pouring shells into the stronghold while evading defensive fire.

    A small vampire battleship made a sudden mistake during evasion and was struck by one of the ming streams. The impact caused it to shake violently and tumble dozens of times through the air. How could the ming stream let slip such a good opportunity? It chased the vessel down and struck it several times over, finally causing it to explode.

    The violent origin power explosion kicked up powerful winds in the air, and one could almost smell the gunpowder from afar. The other vampire airships scattered like startled birds and flew high into the sky, effectively evading the range of defensive fire.

    At this moment, the massive vampire airship slowly arrived above the stronghold, and its hull opened up to reveal a ck cannon. Quite unexpectedly, this vessel only had one air-to-ground weapon, but its muzzle was shockinglyrge¡ªalmost, in and of itself, as big as a regr battleship.

    The patterns on the vampire battleship lit up one after another and waves of light ripped toward the heavy cannon like tidal waves. The radiance at the muzzle grew brighter and brighter until finally, a mass of light several meters in diameter shot out and fell onto the camp below.

    Qianye stared at the light in a daze. He could hardly believe that this was an origin shell fired from a battleship. The origin cannons and shells installed on regr warships were only about a meter in size. The kic power consumption of the cannons would climb with the increase in caliber until the ship could no longer withstand the load.

    The shell¡¯s descent was so slow that it seemed rather unreal, almost as if one could reach out and pluck it from the sky. Even without using True Sight, Qianye could see that the air around the shell was warped and distorted¡ªone could imagine how powerful it was.

    A coarse voice resounded in the Bai n stronghold and rang out like thunder, ¡°Focus all fire on that cannon shell, ignore everything else!¡±

    Several turrets adjusted their aim and fired at the terrifying origin shell with all their might. Judging from the intensity of the ming streams, it seemed the cannoneers no longer cared about overloading their weapons. They knew, simply from the momentum of this cannon round, that it had to be stopped from hitting the stronghold at all costs.

    The origin shell was rapidly weakened and grew smaller and smaller until it finally exploded with a loud bang several dozen meters from the ground. Even so, the impact overturned numerous barracks, and the resultant heat waves ignited the wooden materials and ammunition in the air.

    The shell had been sessfully detonated in advance. Although it had caused a certain degree of damage to the stronghold, it was still within eptable range.

    But before the Bai n soldiers could heave a sigh of relief, an earth-shattering rumble emerged from the borders of the stronghold, and a pir of mes erupted from one of the turrets. Several cannon operators were also thrown into the air and transformed into balls of me. The turret could no longer withstand the load, and its origin array had self-detonated.

    The vampire airship in the sky began preparing for a new round of attacks. After several minutes of charging up, another cannon shell fell down sluggishly. This time, it wasn¡¯t just the cannon turrets, but even the experts were taking action. All kinds of origin bullets and beams flew into the sky to chip away at the nightmarish projectile.

    There were no additional losses when the shell exploded this time, but no one could muster a smile. Qianye had already discovered that the stronghold turrets were all teetering on the verge of copse, and the experts had also exhausted much of their origin power. The next defensive wave would surely be even more difficult.

    At this moment, a wave of horrified gasps rang out in the stronghold. The vampire warship in the air was actually charging its cannon once more and preparing to fire anew!

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank to the bottom. He finally understood why this massive vampire warship only had one origin cannon. This powerful cannon was actually able to fire continuously!

    Finally, the vampire warship shook violently as it fired at the stronghold below. This final shot also distorted and deformed the muzzle¡ªit had apparently been ruined and could no longer fire. What Qianye could see, those in the Bai n fortress could see the same. Morale soared as the defensive turrets fired at the iing shell like there was no tomorrow.

    The defensive turrets in the stronghold also blew up one after the other after thest shell was detonated mid-air. In the end, only two of them remained barely functional, and the experts in the stronghold had also consumed most of their origin power.

    The vampire airship didn¡¯t leave right away. It hovered above the battlefield looking down at the ground.

    A crisp bugle call rang out through the wilderness and was soon drowned out by loud roars.

    ¡°Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!¡± The lookout pointed outside the wall and shouted at the top of his lungs.

    While the entire stronghold was busy dealing with the vampire warship, the surviving transport vessels hadnded outside the stronghold and released tens of thousands of dark race soldiers. The true elites were still assembling the troops at the back, while the worthless cannon fodder rolled over the earth like a tidal wave.

    Tens of thousands of cannon fodder formed the first wave which crashed into the Bai n stronghold. After three rounds of bombardment, most of the Bai n¡¯s current defenses had been destroyed, and they had lost many cannon turrets. The walls alone were hardly enough to defend against the dark race warriors who could jump several meters in one leap.

    Qianye climbed atop a tall slope and observed the battle ahead. The wave of cannon-fodder charging at the Bai n stronghold was rather different from the ones of the past. There were actually many low-ranking warriors mixed in within them, including werewolves, vampires, and arachne.

    After a moment, Qianye¡¯s austere expression turned even colder. Judging from the method of their advancement, the cannon-fodder weren¡¯t being used to hide elites but as true expendable resources. All veterans with sufficient experience knew what this meant.

    The Bai n soldiers on the walls fired with all their might. Rows of bullets and origin shells shot out and cleared out arge area in the tide, but the enemy numbers were simply too great. The death of a few hundred had very little overall effect.

    Several hundred soldiers jumped into the air as the grey tide crashed fiercely into the stronghold. Therge servspiders rammed violently into the walls. Their potential had been awakened by a secret art during the charge, sharply increasing their strength and causing them to feel no fear in the face of danger.

    The Bai n soldiers were, of course, familiar with the destructive potential of these spiders. The high-ranking officers focused their fire at them and reduced their numbers by half during the first charge.

    But the remaining servspiders rammed forward brainlessly, each leaving depressions on the embedded armor tes. Then, with a couple of pulls, the steel tes came off one after the other.

    Without the protection of the steel tes, the walls became extremely fragile before these awakened servspiders. A couple of rounds of ramming soon caused the framed wall to copse entirely. Several defects soon appeared in the stronghold walls, through which the cannon fodder swarmed in immediately.

    But just as they thought they would be able to engage the human soldiers in meleebat, the dark races discovered yet another wall inside. The ground shook and steam machinery rumbled as numerous steel tes descended to seal the doors shut.

    Thousands of Bai n soldiers appeared on the walls and took aim at the dark race warriors. Additionally, some of the soldiers on the front wall also turned back to form a pincer stance.

    Atop one of the stronghold towers, Bai Longjia pointed his sword forward and shouted, ¡°Fire!¡±

    Countless ck holes appeared on the ground between the two walls and spat out raging mes. The short space between the two walls was soon turned into a purgatory. Meanwhile, the soldiers on the outer wall fired with all their might, mowing down the burning dark race soldiers one after the other.

    At this point, the regr dark race army had finished assembling outside the wall and was charging at the wall from a dozen or so directions. An impressive number of cannon fodder still remained even after being caught unaware and suffering severe casualties. Themanding dark race nobles were able to assemble a new assault wave without spending too much time.

    Smoke and flowing blood filled the outer wall of the stronghold as the Bai n warriors fell to overwhelming enemy numbers.

    The battle quickly escted and small battles were taking ce in every corner of the battlefield. The asional dark race squad would manage to charge into the interior but were then surrounded and destroyed by the Bai n soldiers.

    The vampire airships in the air weren¡¯t willing to be left out, either, and began lowering their altitude to bombard the stronghold. The Bai n experts retaliated constantly¡ªtheirrge bore origin sniper rifles and special armor-piercing rounds were able to threaten the corvettes. There were even a couple of handheld cannon rounds mixed in. These were big weapons capable of piercing through a small to medium sized airship. Soon, the vampire warships no longer dared toe too close.

    The mes of battle spread quickly into the interior of the fortifications. The tidal wave of dark race soldiers pushed in and began fighting the Bai n soldiers on every road and in every room.

    There were only a couple thousand Bai n soldiers inside the stronghold¡ªthey were greatly disadvantaged in terms of numbers. On the other hand, there was no telling how many powerful experts were overseeing the battle from the vampire warship. Hence, they didn¡¯t hold the advantage, either, in terms of experts.

    Despite the impending crisis, a calm Bai Longjia was still issuingmands from the tower, using what motorized troops he could muster to fill the gaps in the defensive line.

    The entire Bai n apparently had great faith in Bai Longjia as theypleted their assignments to the letter. Each and every defensive line grew shaky as time went on, but quite miraculously, none of them had copsed just yet.

    At this point, the dark races had to pay a steep price for every forward step, and their casualty rates began to soar. However, the order to attack was still being issued one after another, and the expressionless Evernight overseers urged wave after wave of soldiers toward the front lines.

    At this moment, the Bai n stronghold was like a bloodthirsty meat-grinder, crushing the soldiers of both sides to pieces.

    A wisp of anxiety had appeared in Bai Longjia¡¯s eyes, but his face remained unflustered as he continued to issuemands.

    The experts from both sides hadn¡¯t entered the battlefield just yet, so there was no final showdown. But the cannon fodder and ordinary soldiers couldn¡¯t decide the final oue no matter how grave the casualties were.

    At this moment, an old vampire was sitting with his back against the throne, gazing at the images being transmitted via the origin array. This wizened elder¡¯s face was dark and gloomy, almost as though he were a zombie that had climbed out of the grave.

    All of a sudden, those lifeless and turbid eyes suddenly focused on a point on the battlefield. He then raised a skeleton-like arm and tapped lightly in the air, erging the image on that part of the battlefield.

 Volume 6 - 584: Rescue Part 3

    Chapter 584: Rescue (Part 3) [V6C114 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The vampire¡¯s fingernded toward the rear of the dark race formation. In front was the broken outer wall of the stronghold through which numerous dark race soldiers were squeezing in. A steady rain of origin bullets, grenades, and cannon shells were flying out from within the stronghold to mow the enemy soldiers down but could hardly slow down their charging momentum.

    Within the chaotic crowds, there was an unassuming figure marching along with the dark race army. He was a bit more nimble than the surrounding warriors and managed to gain a speed advantage after traveling several hundred meters¡ªbut that was the extent of it.

    From the surface, he looked to be a vampire blood knight. If one had to point out something wrong with him, it was the fact that the dark race soldiers around him were all falling down for no good reason.

    The vampire elder watched him intently for a while before adjusting the image to disy the distribution of origin power. Hence, a flickering red light appeared on the knight¡¯s body, the representation of blood energy. Its quality wasn¡¯t that good, either, and more or less the same as others of the same rank.

    The vampire elder¡¯s brows locked even tighter. That blood knight¡¯s squad was already approaching the Bai n outer walls. The entire disy was filled with dazzling lights and origin explosions with a multitude of dark race soldiers either charging, dodging, or falling down¡ªhe could hardly make out anything else amidst the chaos.

    The elder pondered as he moved his fingers and switched the scene to another corner of the battlefield. Here, a beautiful human girl had just scuttled out of the rubble and arrived behind two werewolves. There was an exceptionally broad cleaver in her hand with which she swung casually and cut open the necks of the two werewolves.

    This swing was delivered with monstrous speed. The two charging werewolves couldn''t even react in time and only discovered that they had been attacked after their necks had been cut through. But the grave injury to their vitals caused them to copse to the ground, spasming helplessly as their blood flowed out.

    The damage caused by this strike was unsalvageable, but it wasn¡¯t enough to kill immediately, either. The key issue here was that the girl wasn¡¯t even trying to make them suffer more. She was only conserving as much energy as possible.

    The inertia of therge cleaver didn¡¯t end there. Itpleted its remaining trajectory arc in the air and spun the girl¡¯s frail body along with it, projecting a direct view of her face on the image. The vampire elder¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but contract. This young human girl was considered beautiful, even by vampire standards. However, her methods actually caused him to feel a faint chill in his heart.

    The old vampire¡¯s fingers brushed past her image, eliciting a faint white glow from the girl¡¯s body. However, there were strands of ck energy mixed in within.

    The milky white glow was naturally daybreak origin power, and that was a normal thing¡ªthe strange thing was the ck energy. The old vampire had recognized it as demonic energy of the demonkin. How could it appear on her body? Was this yet another mixed-breed?

    It was at this time that the old man seemed to think of something and moved the image back to the strange blood knight from a while ago. Thetter was just leaping over a wide patch of ruins, but he seemed unable to control his momentum uponnding and crashed into an arachne. The half-human spider was actually sent staggering backward from the impact.

    The arachne¡¯s human half spun around and red at the blood knight, but he didn¡¯t rage. He kept silent because he understood, from the collision just now, that thetter was much stronger than himself.

    The blood knight ignored everything and simply rushed toward the outer wall. The arachne was just about to take a step forward when his movements turned sluggish all of a sudden. He swayed unsteadily for a while and finally copsed, never to get up again.

    At this point, the vampire elder could no longer remain silent. He waved a hand and said in a raspy voice, ¡°Tell Russel to bring that strange child to me.¡±

    A vampire count nearby bowed with the utmost respect. ¡°As youmand.¡±

    The elder spoke no more and only continued to observe the blood knight.

    In the battlefield, Qianye had made his way to the frontlines and his ears were filled with shouts and explosions. He moved close to the backside of a high-ranking vampire warrior and tapped lightly on his back. An extremely sharp origin power cut through thetter¡¯s armor and skin. The attack left an indiscernible wound and, at the same time, injected a wisp of purple blood energy into it.

    The area between the outer and inner stronghold walls was and of death. The air above was covered in a hail of bullets while swords shed upon the ground. That high-ranking vampire warrior sensed Qianye¡¯s aura but paid little attention to a small collision from arade before pouncing toward a nearby Bai n soldier. But as he activated his blood energy, his entire body trembled and slowly copsed to the ground.

    Qianye was just about to approach a werewolf in the same pattern when a sense of uneasiness arose in his heart. He turned back all of a sudden and saw a vampire expert in ck armor flying rapidly toward him. His blood energy was almost aboil and dotted with flickering specks of golden fire.

    Auric me blood!

    His sparse golden stars were a far cry from Qianye¡¯s own, but the presence of auric me blood was a telltale sign that the transformation had begun. The actualbat strength of this iing vampire count was well above his rank.

    Qianye was confident in dealing with ordinary counts, but he wasn¡¯t so sure about an expert with auric me blood. He stopped trying to hide his tracks and darted forward diagonally, soon turning into a blurry shadow.

    However, that vampire count quickly adjusted his direction and made a beeline for Qianye. Be it the dark race soldiers or Bai n warriors, everyone along the way was sent staggering back by the impact.

    At this point, Qianye realized that he had beenpromised, although he couldn¡¯t figure out just how the other party had discovered him amidst the chaos of battle. But he had already crossed the battlefield ording to n and would be able to enter the Bai n battlefront in just a few steps.

    Qianye scanned the battle situation around him, adjusted his steps, and shed behind a broken wall in the ruins.

    The vampire count sneered upon seeing this. He raised his speed abruptly and charged toward Qianye. He ignored everything along the way¡ªnot to mention broken walls and rubble, even intact buildings were crashed through.

    The sudden appearance of a vampire count drew the attention of the Bai n with several snipers atop the stronghold turning their aim toward him. Atop the tower, Bai Longjia looked down at the count and then nced around him as though he had recalled something. The Bai n general issued no special orders and simply allowed the vampire to charge toward the frontlines.

    Russel charged toward the ce where Qianye had disappeared and erupted with blood energy, destroying the entire patch of rubble. Stone and metal fragments flew out in all directions, prompting the soldiers of both factions to run for their lives.

    But Russel didn¡¯t rx at all, and the blood energy around him grew even denser. As expected, a sword flew toward him right through the dust cloud.

    It was an unassuming heavy de. There were faintly discernible origin patterns on its body which meant that it was no ordinary sword¡ªbut that was the extent of it. Those origin patterns acted like receptacles for origin power but showed no signs of erupting with great might.

    A shield appeared in Russel¡¯s grasp with a swing of his left hand, with which he sought to block East Peak¡¯s assault. The man¡¯s build was far bigger than that of ordinary vampires, and his shield was as tall as an ordinary person. A slight shift was enough to defend his frontsidepletely.

    The vampire count wasn¡¯t on pure defense¡ªhe crashed forward as the shield appeared, poised to knock Qianye over with absolute force. Countless negligent opponents had been wounded by Russel¡¯s heavy first strike, which exceeded the power of an arachne.

    Qianye made no motion to evade. The Dark Thread Crystals on his de flowed with increasing speed and power. He let out an abrupt roar before shing down at the center of the giant shield!

    This de was a perfect coordination between his origin power and powerful constitution¡ªthe damage was unprecedented.

    An ear-piercing metallic screech resounded as the de and shield came into contact. A faint ring of origin power rippled outward and spread to all directions. All the soldiers within several dozen meters, who had failed to escape in time, fell to the ground. They covered their ears in agony as fresh blood flowed out from between their fingers.

    Russel¡¯s body was greatly shaken. His face became bright scarlet, and he couldn¡¯t help but take two steps back. Qianye¡¯s blood energy also welled up as he, too, took two steps backward.

    They were actually an even match!

    Extremely shocked, Russel revealed half a face from behind the shield and stared fixedly at Qianye. Having received orders to intercept Qianye, he naturally understood that the other party was abnormal. That was why he hadn¡¯t held back at all with his attacks. But he had never imagined that the other party would be able to fight on equal grounds against him.

    For creatures of either camp, strength was often directly proportional to body size. Russel possessed extraordinary talent¡ªhis strength was no weaker than an arachne of the same level, and his physique was also much bigger than ordinary vampires. This person before him wasn¡¯t short, but his build was clearly quite frail. Could this mean that his origin power level was far superior?

    Russel shook his head inwardly and refuted this possibility. The origin power instilled within the attack just now was of the void attribute. Although its factional affinity was unclear, he could say with certainty that the other party was only at the viscount rank.

    At this moment, Qianye wasn¡¯t as calm as he seemed on the surface. He stood with the de as support and did his utmost to hide the slight trembling of his hands. That exchange just now was one of those rare asions in which he had failed to overwhelm the opponent with force. The only reason Qianye hadn¡¯t taken a loss was because he had umted his power in advance and East Peak was superior to the man¡¯s giant shield. It was an advantage in weapons.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core was beating wildly in his chest. Almost all his blood transformed into a stream of golden mes, transporting great power to every inch of his body. The intense numbness brought about by the collision vanished and new power gushed out continuously.

    Qianye sensed his power rising. At the same time, he could sense every inch of his body and every little minute detail was under his control. This kind of sensation was quite wondrous and almost intoxicating.

    Russel¡¯s simple crash had actually caused Qianye¡¯s auric me blood to increase in level. It was now quite close to filling his entire body. At that stage, upgrading to a first-rank viscount would only be a matter of time.

    But after the current fight, Qianye knew he wasn¡¯t this count¡¯s match. He might have a chance if he couldnd a Shot of Inception, but that would draw a lot of unwanted attention in such a battlefield¡ªespecially that of the giant warship above.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Russel opened his mouth slowly as a sh of doubt ran through his mind.

 Volume 6 - 585: Pincer

    [V6C115 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]With Qianye¡¯s auric me blood rising drastically at such a close distance, even his Bloodline Concealment couldn¡¯tpletely suppress his overflowing aura. Russel was, after all, a mighty count. It was only natural that he would sense something fishy.

    Qianye quickly caught his breath and pulled back as though he were gliding on water. He had shed away several dozen meters in a couple of steps.

    Russel¡¯s eyes flickered with a sharp sanguineous glint as he gave chase. He sneered upon seeing Qianye enter yet another ruined building and proceeded to charge straight over, poised to destroy the rubble just like before.

    A ghost-like figure flew in through the window just as Qianye turned to move behind a broken wall¡ªthe two almost collided.

    He was truly shocked because he hadn¡¯t sensed the other party¡¯s aura at all, so much so that he subconsciously wanted to ignore the shadow that had just flitted past. This caused his speed to slow down by a small margin. The girl in front of him clearly hadn¡¯t sensed Qianye, either. His auric me blood had already calmed down at this moment and Bloodline Concealment had once again covered up his untoward aura.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly as a clear countenance was reflected in his eyes.

    Bai Kongzhao hadn¡¯t expected to meet Qianye here, either. Her movements actually slowed down a bit, and her face was ovee with astonishment. Even her mouth couldn¡¯t close tight due to the surprise.

    Before Qianye could decide whether or not to finish her off in passing, a tyrannical momentum pressed down and sent debris flying in every direction. Nothing could be seen clearly in the dust. The force from Russel¡¯s charge had destroyed the half-broken building even before his arrival.

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s figure became hidden in the dust, but Qianye saw her look toward Russel with eyes full of hunger just before vanishing. It was the look of a traveler seeing hot food after walking through the desert for many days.

    ¡°Is she looking to ambush me or that fellow?¡± A thought emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind.

    With that mountainous force bearing down upon him, Qianye had no choice but to erase all distracting thoughts and face Russel once more. This time, he no longer fought head-on against thetter. His sword strikes were like the wind as he hacked repeatedly at therge shield, shifting rapidly between light and heavy blows. At the same time, he was also retreating.

    Russel began feeling iparably awkward before long¡ªhis giant shield couldn¡¯t exert any force, and there was nowhere to utilize his great strength. All he could do was press forward with the attack and give Qianye no gap to escape.

    Russel charged straight through all the obstacles along the way. Right in front was a pile of debris. The building there had copsed thoroughly, and there wasn¡¯t even a broken wall left behind, only half a pir.

    Qianye leaped upward just as Russel¡¯s giant shield arrived. However, his body suddenly became as light as a feather and drifted a dozen meters away along with the surging origin tides.

    Russel was once again ovee by the difort of having his force misdirected. But he was already starting to adapt¡ªthe movements with which he retracted his shield were growing stable, and his gait was almost unaffected. He proceeded to deliver a kick and shattered the broken pir into many fragments.

    However, he discovered something wrong after performing the kick. Looking down, he found an opening on his alloybat boots with fresh blood flowing out of it. The wound was so deep that even white bones were visible.

    Russel strode forward out of habit, but a heart-wrenching pain welled up from his foot at this point. He let out a painful howl as his right leg went limp, and he fell on one knee.

    But Russel possessed amplebat experience. He didn¡¯t rx his guard even under such an abrupt situation and immediately felt something wrong. He raised the giant shield in front of him and swung his greatsword toward his back.

    Bai Kongzhao crouched down just as Russel¡¯s greatsword swung past her spine and shed off half of her long, dancing hair. The air was suddenly filled with countless strands of hair.

    But the sword in the girl¡¯s hand continued forward at a peculiar angle and drilled into the gap between Russel¡¯s armor, leaving a moderately-sized wound on his back.

    Bai Kongzhao then used both her hands and legs to retreat like a crawling bug, the tip of the sword was now stained with blood. The wound on Russel¡¯s foot was also her handiwork.

    The vampire turned back and stared fixedly at Bai Kongzhao with mes spewing out of his eyes. A dazzling sanguineous light welled out from his eyes and stabbed at Bai Kongzhao¡¯s pupils.

    Marite! This used to be a deviant art used by high-ranking vampires to control experts from their vassal families. Even if it couldn¡¯tpletely take control of another¡¯s mind, it would still inflict unbearable pain and terror. However, after the War of Daybreak, this kind of art gradually disappeared and became an innate skill for a small number of high-ranking vampires.

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s face only revealed a brief sh of surprise after being struck squarely by Marite. Afterward, she ran away even faster and soon vanished into the rubble. She was actually unaffected by the skill!

    Russel was startled for a brief moment. This innate skill was one of his aces for dealing with the Daybreak faction. He wouldn¡¯t have used it on a rank ten human if he wasn¡¯t on guard against her fighting techniques. But it had actually failed?

    During the moment of his distraction, the giant shield in his hand trembled violently and almost flew out of his grasp. Fortunately, he reacted fast and quickly brought it back under control.

    Qianye was already attacking from the front. East Peak swung about in a full arc and smashed fiercely onto the shield.

    This time, the sound of impact was exceptionally deep, and the destructive power was just as terrifying. All debris in a ten-meter radius flew into the air and broke down into powder.

    Qianye¡¯s strike this time was delivered horizontally. Russel¡¯s ankle had just been injured, so he couldn¡¯t quite take the brunt of this blow and was pushed back several meters.

    A light shed in Qianye¡¯s eyes upon seeing that he had swept thetter back. He quickly charged forth and crashed right into the vampire count¡¯s shield.

    This time, the attack was effective beyond expectation. Russel¡¯s posture wasn¡¯t quite right and his center of gravity, unstable. In an instant, he was sent staggering backward by the barbaric impact. Russel had just taken two steps back when he suddenly recalled something and cried out in rm! Without wasting even a moment to think, he moved the giant shield behind him to block the vitals therein.

    As expected, therge shield was just in ce when it began shaking in Russel¡¯s hands amidst a series of dense rapping sounds. It was unknown how many attacks he had suffered at that moment.

    Qianye took several steps backward at the end of his attack momentum before managing to dissolve the violent impact. When he had regained his footing, East Peak was pointing toward the ground, and the patterns were lighting up one by one, poised tounch the next killer attack.

    On the other side, Bai Kongzhao rushed forward, kicked at the shield with both feet, and flipped away. Shended a dozen or so meters away, staring at Russel¡ªwho was curled up behind his shield¡ªlike a tasty delicacy.

    Atop the tower, Bai Longjia had been paying attention to this battle all along. He waved his right hand and shouted, ¡°Fire!¡±

    Several gunshots rang out at almost the same time as the order. High-caliber sniper rounds traversed the battlefield and exploded on Russel¡¯s body. His heavy armor could hardly defend against these armor-piercing sniper rounds, which duly opened up severalrge holes on his body.

    Russel¡¯s bloody energy churned and raged as a hazy bronze hue appeared on the giant shield. He was still quite calm despite the ambush. He rapidly moved away while remaining on guard against Qianye and Bai Kongzhao. At the same time, his eyes flitted across the battlefield and noticed that a number of Bai n warriors were closing in.

    A feeling of danger welled up in Russel¡¯s heart. Roaring, he smashed the ground with his fist and sent numerous sanguineous waves rippling outward. Dozens of fierce beasts of varying shapes and sizes took form from the blood energy and pounced toward the nearby Bai n warriors.

    A blood leopard with long hair on its back shed past a Bai n soldier at great speeds. Swaying unsteadily, thetter dropped his gun and grabbed his throat with every ounce of his strength, desperate to stop the gushing fresh blood. His eyes were full of shock, up until he gradually copsed. Meanwhile, the leopard had already darted toward another soldier and bitten the back of his neck.

    The tens of beasts formed of blood energy rampaged everywhere. In the blink of an eye, they had taken the greater part of the surrounding soldiers¡¯ lives. Russel¡¯s domain appeared fairly well-developed and suited forrge scale battlefields.

    Qianye, who had been waiting for an opportunity all along, made his move after seeing Russel release his domain. A beam of silent sword energy shot toward Russel.

    Nirvanic Rend!

    Qianye had been practicing the Nirvanic Rend for many days. His present attack didn¡¯t contain a shred of worldly, aura and even the sword energy itself was barely discernible. However, the origin power consumed was almost one and a half times that of the past. One could imagine how powerful this attack was.

    Russel was currently operating his domain while evading sniper fire. At this moment, he suddenly felt the approach of mortal peril, but he had no time to move his shield. All he could do was shrink back on one knee and cover the vital areas on his head with his arms. Powerful blood energy erupted over his body as his domain became almost tangible. It was as though a blood pond several meters in diameter had appeared here.

    Without any warning, the blood energy domain was split into two. Several blood beasts didn¡¯t have the time to evade and were simrly sliced into two, turning back into blood energy which merged into the domain.

    Russel slowly lowered his arms. He heard a light ng as his armguard split into two and fell to the ground. There was now a cut on each of his arms, as thin as red threads and hardly visible to the naked eye. But Russel¡¯s current movement caused the injury to burst open and reveal a terrifying bone-deep cut.

    This sword-strike had only cut through half of the bones in Russel¡¯s arms. Qianye was greatly surprised that it couldn¡¯t even cut down the arms entirely, but he thought of something upon seeing the metallic glint on Russel¡¯s bones.

    The domain was also shed open with a single strike. It recovered almost instantly, but the blood energy was now much thinner, and several of the beasts had vanished entirely. Deploying a domain on the battlefield had its pros and cons. The bad thing was that one¡¯s origin power would be quickly depleted if the domain was targeted by enemy experts.

    Russel¡¯s blood beast domain wasn¡¯t of a low level, and he had never expected Qianye to sh it open in one strike¡ªthis had led to his grave injuries.

    Following Bai Longjia¡¯s orders, several Bai n experts arrived and attacked Russel at the same time.

    Although this transfer had rapidly increased the pressure on other defensive lines, Bai Longjia had already realized that this Russel was no ordinary character. Against such an overwhelming enemy force, the fall of this stronghold was only a matter of time. Killing this blood count would allow them to recoup some of the losses.

    In the sky, ripples finally appeared in the vampire elder¡¯s seemingly dead eyes. ¡°Have Russel return. That little fellow might take action if this goes on.¡±

    At this moment, a dark room appeared in the image in front of him. There were explosions and shes visible outside the window while dust and mortar dropped down constantly from the roof.

    There was a simple wooden chair at the center of the room, and upon it sat a woman in white clothes. Her eyes were lowered as though the raging battles outside had nothing to do with her.

    This woman was Bai Aotu.

    In the image, the light in her hands was growing brighter and brighter. Apparently, she was already gathering energy and couldn¡¯t wait to attack.

 Volume 6 - 586: Long Battle

    [V6C116 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The count nearby issued themand before returning to the elder¡¯s side. He shot a nce at the image and appeared somewhat surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the Everpeace Bai n¡¯s Bai Aotu? Does she dare attack knowing full well that you¡¯re here?¡±

    The vampire elder squeezed out a shiver-inducing smile. ¡°To these little fellows, I¡¯m probably just a name in their history books. After all, living humans who had interacted with me can be counted on one hand.¡±

    The vampire count sneered, ¡°These short-lived humans still dare contend against our sacred-blooded race!¡±

    The vampire elder appeared lost in thought for a moment. ¡°Humans... they¡¯re a weird race. Their short lives aren¡¯t even enough for our kids to mature, but their top experts are no less powerful than ourselves. How could the eternal darkness allow such beings to exist? I truly do not understand.¡±

    The old man said emotionally, ¡°Not to mention me, those supreme excellencies or even Her Majesty might not be clear about their secrets.¡±

    The count had clearly never heard such words before. He stared nkly for a moment before blurting out, ¡°That¡¯s impossible, right?¡±

    The old man broke into augh. He didn¡¯t pay particr heed to the count¡¯s somewhat disrespectful words and only stared at Bai Aotu. ¡°She¡¯s already extremely powerful despite being just a kid. She might be able to escape even if I attack personally, especially in this rocky terrain. The Everpeace Bai n¡¯s most outstanding scion will surely have some life-saving treasures on her.¡±

    The count said meaningfully, ¡°You won¡¯t let her escape if she does attack Russel, will you?¡±

    The old man chuckled. ¡°Russel for Bai Aotu? That is quite the bargain.¡±

    The count¡¯s expression froze and turned pale. The old man had clearly understood his meaning, but the tone of his reply caused the former to shiver.

    The old man let out a sudden sigh. ¡°But I won¡¯t use Russel to trade, and neither will I use you.¡±

    The count was puzzled. He said nothing despite his astonishment and only bowed deeply at the old man.

    The elder reached out to move the imagery, switching through many ces on the battlefield.

    At this moment, in the stronghold on the ground, Russel had already received his orders. He retracted his domain, hoisted his shield, and began edging back slowly. At this moment, thousands of dark race soldiers behind him had been driven toward the Bai n battlefront in a suicidal attack¡ªseveral dark race warriors were falling every single second.

    The Bai n losses were rtively smaller due to the cover of their defensive structures. However, they were also bleeding little by little. The already brittle defensive lines began wavering in the wind and rain. The only reason the army morale hadn¡¯t copsed already was because they werepletely surrounded and had no other path of retreat.

    During the retreat, Russel ced his defensive focus upon Qianye while sparing a bit of extra attention for Bai Kongzhao. As for the other Bai n warriors, none of them could enter his eyes.

    Qianye didn¡¯t chase after him, either. The vampire count¡¯s level and defenses were both superior to him, and he also possessed auric me blood. Had this battle continued, it would only be a drawn-out stalemate despite the Bai n¡¯s fire-support. Qianye¡¯s East Peak had struck out many times at full-force but only managed to leave some marks on the man¡¯s giant shield. At present at least, there was no way to break it apart.

    A Bai n officer arrived hurriedly after Russel had fallen back into the dark race army. Qianye exchanged a couple of words with him before diving back into the dark race army, a tide of blood apanying him wherever he went.

    Bai Aotu suddenly stood up within that small, dark room. She clenched her fists as her flickering gaze pierced through the wall toward Russel¡¯s direction. But in the end, she didn¡¯t take action and merely let the man retreat back to the rear lines.

    She had a vague feeling that a pair of eyes were staring at her and that this existence would take action the moment she moved. She had been holding back since the beginning of the battle because she was waiting for themander aboard the vampire warship to appear.

    Only a battle between experts could decide the final oue of the battle.

    Bai Aotu loosened her fist and finally sat down on the wooden chair with closed eyes. She had to wait because that was the only thing she could do.

    The killing continued along the stronghold walls. The blood there had umted into countless streams which crawled over the gravel. More and more soldiers fell down and corpses began to pile up.

    Qianye no longer remembered how many lives he had taken. Eventually, East Peak, which had always been like an extension of his own arm, grew heavier and heavier. Swinging it began to take more and more effort. Most of the time, he would drag the de on the ground while using the vampiric de to kill the enemy soldiers. He would only use the heavy de when encountering powerful enemies.

    A werewolf leaped high into the sky and pounced onto Qianye. The massive impact caused him to fall to the ground. One man and one wolf tumbled several times on the ground before Qianye managed to push him away and mber up.

    The vampiric de in Qianye¡¯s hand had pierced into the lunging werewolf¡¯s heart inches before contact. And while rolling on the ground, the werewolf¡¯s massive body helped him block out the dark race line of fire.

    The only problem was that the wolf¡¯s blood had sshed all over Qianye¡¯s face, and his vision was now filled with a hazy red. Qianye wiped his face with all his might and gradually regained rity of vision.

    Unknowingly, there were only three Bai n soldiers left in the vicinity. There was an entire reinforcedpany here when he joined the battle.

    Qianye took a step back in order to evade a burning metallic frame that was falling down, nearly tripping over something in the process. He looked down and found that it was a werewolf body, and that dark red fur looked rather familiar to him¡ªit was a werewolf who had died to his sword awhile ago.

    There was more than just one corpse around him. The stacked carcasses of the dark race and Bai n soldiers almost filled the battlefield.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but let out a couple of coughs as a sweet, fishy smell welled up from his throat. It was a sign ofplete physical exhaustion, something he hadn¡¯t felt for a very long time.

    His origin power hadn¡¯t hit rock bottom, but his physical body had been overdrafted since most of his kills were against ordinary dark race soldiers. Toward the end, he was more or less holding this segment of the defensive line on his own.

    The fights were fairly mechanical¡ªhe would kill an enemy in one strike then move onto the next. Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t retreat because once he had taken a step back, the enemy forces would charge in through this line and bypass arge part of the defensive line. Even more lives would need to be sacrificed in order to stopper this hole.

    It was just like how things were going on in the other segments of the stronghold¡¯s defensive line.

    Qianye exhaled lightly with a wry smile. He then felled a charging cannon fodder before observing the situation in his surroundings. He was too close to the Bai n defensive line to use Life Plunder.

    In truth, with the shadow of that giant warship looming over him, Qianye didn¡¯t even dare use his vampiric de to draw blood. He could only absorb a small amount of blood energy under the cover of close quarterbat, but this was far from enough. He simply couldn¡¯t meet the requirements for a state of blood boil.

    All he could rely on at this point apart from his vampiric constitution were the few doses of military-use stimnts he had left.

    On the western side of the battlefield, Bai Longjia had just swooped down from the tower to kill two dark race viscounts. Immediately afterward, he rose and flew back onto themand tower. There was a pair of snow white wings pping slowly behind him and blood dripping down from his tinum gloves. At this point in the battle, the Bai n had no more mobile forces left and even the general himself had to enter the battle.

    Bai Longjia paused ever so slightly as he stepped into the tower. He cast his gaze toward the giant warship in the sky and then at Qianye¡¯s battlefield.

    After gazing there for a moment, he beckoned his personal guards and pointed at Qianye. ¡°You three, reinforce that area with a small squad.¡±

    The guards affirmed themand and sped down the tower, leaving very few figures on the lonely tower.

    Someone nearby said hesitantly, ¡°Second Young Master, you need to leave some men near you.¡±

    Without bothering toment, Bai Longjia gazed at the distant Qianye and asked, ¡°Did the reports from below say he¡¯s that Qianye from the Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°He ims to be Qianye, but the insignia on his uniform is from...the Jingtang Li n.¡±

    Bai Longjia stared nkly at the guard captain and saw that the other party was equally puzzled. The Zhao n warzone wasn¡¯t adjacent to the Desert Valley, so it was surprising for Qianye to appear here. It did make some sense if he had arrived from the Jingtang Li n¡¯s Misty Wood.

    After a short break, the dark race soldiersunched yet another wave of attacks. Hence, Bai Longjia could no longer afford to be distracted and proceeded to assume control of the battle once more.

    Qianye had just stabbed a stimnt into his leg when a charging battle cry rang out from the front. He couldn¡¯t help but mumble some profanities and raise his spirits. He killed off several dark race soldiers in session and managed to push back the advancing troops.

    ¡°General Qianye, we¡¯reing!¡±

    Qianye looked back and found that his so-called reinforcements only included three people with decent fighting power. Moreover, they were all wounded. However, they were different from the other soldiers in that they were wearing the decorations of the Broken-Winged Angels in addition to Bai n insignias. They were probably Bai Longjia¡¯s personal guards.

    Upon seeing them, Qianye realized how grave the Bai n¡¯s situation was. Even themander¡¯s personal guards had been dispatched¡ªthis meant that Bai Longjia really had no more manpower. But with the Bai n¡¯s foundations, why had no reinforcements arrived even at this point? The dark racending force would need to be colossal for the other Bai n strongholds to be under simr attacks. No matter how secretive their hidden aces were, it should be time to bring them out.

    These thoughts spun through Qianye¡¯s heart, but he didn¡¯t ask about them. He simply pointed toward the front and shouted, ¡°Follow me, we¡¯ll go do those bastards in!¡±

    On the verge of life and death, a single ¡°follow me¡± was best able to lift the soldiers¡¯ spirits. The Bai n soldiers around him responded with a loud roar as they charged into the enemy formation behind Qianye, starting a fierce massacre.

    The dark races also knew fear and exhaustion. Wherever he went, Qianye was followed by a rain of blood, along with flying limbs and flesh. At this moment, he was even more terrifying than a giant warbeast. The troops were finally ovee by fear and receded like the tide. Themanding officer¡¯s shouts had no effect at all apart from revealing his position.

    Qianye drew the Twin Flowers and, without fear of wasting origin power, sted that officer¡¯s head off. And hence, the dark race assault was once again pushed back.

    He retreated into the inner walls of the stronghold and found a space where he could put down his feet. There, he leaned on a surviving wall and found some respite.

    It was at this time that a lingering metallic frame crashed downward, and Bai Kongzhao walked out from behind. She was now less than ten meters from Qianye.

 Volume 6 - 587: A Bitter Stop

    [V6C117 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]The girl appeared rather miserable with numerous wounds of all sizes over her body. Her white dress had been dyed a dark purple¡ªthere was no telling how much of that blood was her enemies¡¯ and how much her own.

    Bai Kongzhao was also startled upon seeing Qianye.

    This time, her deep eyes were not filled with the excitement and killing intent, only exhaustion. Just like Qianye at the moment, she was simply tired of all the killing.

    This was the first time Qianye had seen Bai Kongzhao in this state.

    However, her expression was still a bit awkward to the vignt Qianye. He shook slightly as he drew East Peak from the ground, his image reflected upon the de.

    He looked rather fine at a nce, that was apart from the blood stains, soot and naturally, some minor wounds.

    Qianye frowned slightly. He had seen many of this girl¡¯s expressions but in truth, all of them were merely a facade. In Qianye¡¯s eyes, she was a machine made solely for the purpose of killing¡ªher expressions and emotions were all a means to this end. Other than that, there was only emptiness and solitude within that beautiful, fragile shell.

    But at this moment, there were some changes in Bai Kongzhao. That subtle but odd expression seemed to contain a shred of human emotion.

    A deep azure filled Qianye¡¯s eyes as he openly scanned Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body. Under his True Sight, he saw an origin vortex spinning slowly in the girl¡¯s body, but surprisingly, there were strands of ck energy mixed in with the white. Dark energy was supposed to be absolutely ipatible with daybreak energy, but the two existed harmoniously in her.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel shocked upon seeing this. Song Zining had investigated Bai Kongzhao before. The Bai n¡¯s assessment of this girl was that, despite her unmatched talents inbat, it would be prohibitively difficult for her to cross the champion threshold due to her innate constitution. Hence, Bai Kongzhao was expected to be a talented assassin and a sharp killing de but hardly an expert capable of assuming great responsibilities.

    But during this short period, Bai Kongzhao had advanced to the rank of champion. Her upgrade was even faster than Qianye.

    He looked down at East Peak and casually turned the de around, producing a blurry image of the girl upon it. This was the first time he had felt a killing intent without any sense of threat. Qianye actually wasn¡¯t afraid of danger, and the only ones capable of moving him were friends.

    Bai Kongzhao sized Qianye up as she dragged the disproportionately long sword on the ground¡ªit looked as though she could hardly bear the burden. That sword was an arachne weapon of excellent craftsmanship and materials, a grade six weapon at least. However, the edge was now lined with nicks and a part of its edge was even missing. Just by looking at this de, one can imagine how many dark race soldiers had died in her hands.

    There were no changes in her¡ªshe was still that girl apanied by death and murder. The only difference was that her targets this time were the dark races.

    Qianye suddenly noticed a familiar fluctuation from Bai Kongzhao¡¯s body, a type of mysterious resonance. A brief exploration revealed that the resonance originated from his undigested void essence. Qianye immediately understood how Bai Kongzhao had passed through her bottleneck and risen sharply in power.

    The girl seemed to have lost her usual sensitivity to danger and simply remained in ce without any movement. She carefully observed Qianye from head to toe before her gaze finally arrived on the vampiric dagger in his hand.

    Qianye noticed this. A high-ranking vampiric de was also a powerful weapon that was hard toe by. Humans could hardly bring out its full power, but it was still quite normal for people to switch melee weapons several times during such an intense battle. A random vampiric edge wasn¡¯t inferior to the standard military knife. The key difference was that the vampiric ability¡ªwhile a mere decoration to humans¡ªcould be put to its full use in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    Although Qianye didn¡¯t dare absorb blood openly under the eyes of the masses, a small amount of essence blood would still enter his body after killing so many enemies. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s expression was rather odd¡ªhad she discovered something?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown secretly. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s ck energy was also suspicious and surely of unorthodox origins. He couldn¡¯t point out what exactly was wrong, but it was still a type of darkness origin power.

    The two gazed silently at one another before Bai Kongzhao edged back slowly. Her long sword carved a deep scar in the ground as she moved step by step toward the eastern defensive line.

    Qianye leaned on the wall with his eyes closed, waiting for the next wave of attackers.

    The seconds turned to minutes as the clock ticked on, but the battlefield was silent. The stronghold suffered no more enemy assaults.

    The old man on the vampire airship remained silent for a long while. Finally, he said, ¡°Pull back and set up camp. We''ll see how things go tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Pull back?¡± The vampire count was astonished. Why would they retreat when the stronghold was just within reach.

    The old man replied indifferently, ¡°If the Bai n people aren¡¯t dumb, they¡¯ll give up their stronghold obediently. Why must I waste more of our people¡¯s lives?¡±

    ¡°But...¡± The count didn¡¯t know what to say. They were going to spit out the fat piece of meat that was already in their mouth, and this feeling was inexplicably awkward.

    The old man had no intention of exining. He merely closed his eyes and buried himself into the throne. Not daring to speak more, the count bowed and left to carry out his orders.

    The consolidated dark race army did notunch another tidal wave of attacks on the stronghold. Instead, they retreated in an orderly manner, much like the tides in the deep ocean.

    Bai Longjia heaved a sigh of relief on the tower and performed a gesture representing the order to remain on standby. The orderlies ran toward every corner of the stronghold andmanded all squads not to act on their own. Even though the dark race army had retreated, the Bai n forces had been more or less crippled. They simply had no ability to pursue and attack.

    Bai Longjia¡¯s chest was filled with a stifling sensation after the long inhtion, and all of a sudden, he spat out the mouthful of blood. His aides were greatly rmed and hurried over to help him.

    Bai Longjiaposed himself and waved his hand. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Invite Qianye over, and my sister too.¡± Then, he proceeded to issue more orders for the reorganization of troops and the repair of defenses.

    Momentster, Qianye arrived in one of the few intact buildings in the stronghold. He sat there in silence, looking at Bai Longjia who was sitting across from him. Bai Aotu, on the other hand, upied an entire couch at the other end of the room and was resting with her eyes closed.

    Bai Longjia was just about to speak when he began coughing fiercely, calming down only after a good while. He looked at Qianye with a wry smile and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been busy with administrative jobs throughout the years and my cultivation hasn¡¯t improved at all. I was wounded in a single battle today, what an embarrassment.¡±

    Qianye met Bai Longjia¡¯splicated gaze with his calm, limpid obsidian eyes.

    The deepest impression he had of Bai Longjia was in Darkblood City. Back then, the man had faced two dark race experts of the same level¡ªa human-faced arachne and William¡ªto buy time for the rookies of Broken-Winged Angel to escape.

    Qianye smiled faintly, ¡°That¡¯s not true. General Bai is a skilled veteran inmanding troops. Your presence in this battle is superior to that of a general.¡±

    Bai Longjia shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s what the textbooks say. Troop control may turn small battles around, but the general situation calls for powerful experts to oversee the situation. Otherwise, any number of experts can only dy the inevitable.¡±

    The Bai n might not have been able to hold out until the end if Bai Aotu hadn¡¯t been present to keep that expert in the giant warship in check. Even then, the war situation would¡¯ve crumbled if that expert hadunched a reckless attack and Bai Aotu couldn¡¯t block him.

    At this point, Bai Aotu finally opened her eyes and said coldly, ¡°Longjia, you should delegate some of the responsibilities in your hand. You still need to spend some time cultivating. What does your currentbat strength even amount to? You¡¯ll never be themander of the Broken-Winged Angels at this rate.¡±

    Bai Longjia said helplessly, ¡°Sis, I wouldn¡¯t have taken them up at all if I could delegate.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your own choice.¡± Bai Aotu closed her eyes again and spoke no more.

    Bai Longjia turned to Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°Qianye, I really must thank you for holding down an entire defensive line. Otherwise, our losses would¡¯ve been even more miserable.¡± With that, he stood up and bowed deeply at thetter.

    Qianye was startled. He moved out of the gesture¡¯s way and said, ¡°It was just a coincidence. I¡¯m here to hunt independently and was just walking about to familiarize myself with they of thend when the vampire fleet appeared.

    Bai Longjia still finished his salutation before sitting down. Qianye¡¯s words were calm, but Bai Longjia knew clearly that it was virtually a suicide to join the battle against such arge fleet¡ªbut Qianye had still arrived regardless. Not only had he restrained a high-ranking fighting force like count Russel, but also kept guard over an entire defensive line. This kind of contribution couldn¡¯t be judged merely by the number of enemies killed.

    Bai Longjia pondered for a moment and said, ¡°I still have to express my gratitude for lending our Bai n a hand in the face of such perils. Please tell me if you have anything you need. I¡¯ll do everything in my authority to aplish it.¡±

    Bai Aotu opened her eyes at this point. Her gaze was akin to bolts of electricity and actually produced a faint stabbing pain on Qianye¡¯s body. It hadn¡¯t been that long since they hadst met, but it would seem thisdy had grown stronger yet again.

    By Aotu was somewhat moved when she saw Qianye sitting calmly without even a shift in expression. ¡°All the grievances between you and the Bai n will be wiped away. We¡¯ll see what happens in the future.¡±

    Qianye knew Bai Aotu was referring to the bloody battle. He was still unclear whether or not the Bai n had a hand in Bai Kongzhao¡¯s collusion with the Nangong family, but he had certainly killed no small number of Bai n experts when he fought for the Zhao n during thetter part of the bloody battle.

    With Zhao Jundu¡¯s identity and status, no one would dare seek revenge against him in public, but an expert of unclear affiliation like Qianye could easily be a target to take it out on. But her words still contained a shade of threat at the very end. The past would be let go, but new matters were still up for discussion. Forming new enmity on the battlefield was still a possibility.

    Qianye didn¡¯t take this warning to mind. He only smiled indifferently and said, ¡°That¡¯s fine. We shall talk about the future when the timees.¡±

    How could Bai Aotu not know the meaning in Qianye¡¯s words? She stood up with a snort and left on her own.

    Bai Longjia rubbed his forehead while exining, ¡°Even my sister can¡¯t settle the enmity between the Zhao and Bai ns.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°The Zhao n¡¯s standpoint has nothing to do with me.¡±

    Bai Longjia scanned the Jingtang Li emblem on Qianye¡¯s shoulder but didn¡¯t inquire about it. Instead, he exined his ns, ¡°The current state of battle has already exceeded my expectations. After a reorganization, I¡¯ll issue an order for all troops to retreat in half a day.¡±

 Volume 6 - 588: Reward Beyond Expectation

    [V6C118 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Qianye raised his brows. ¡°You¡¯re not keeping this stronghold?¡±

    Bai Longjia replied while shaking his head, ¡°We can¡¯t hold it. That expert in the central warship is unfathomable. He might even be a glorious marquis. The only reason he didn¡¯t join the battle was because he couldn¡¯t ascertain the real situation. My sister had remained hidden and countered his probes with her suppressive might. But this won¡¯t work a second time.¡±

    He added, ¡°The dark race army is now regrouping after a steep loss of their elites in the first assault. It¡¯s precisely the best time for a retreat. Otherwise, there¡¯s no telling how many of the current survivors will get back alive.¡±

    It turned out that none of the Bai n¡¯s experts apart from Bai Aotu and another elder were in the vicinity. The current disparity in forces was too great. If the one in the airship was a duke, even Bai Aotu and the elder together wouldn¡¯t be able to win.

    Moreover, most of the Bai n¡¯s garrisoned troops had fallen and the sub-fleet stationed here had been practically wiped out. Such a loss could be considered grave even for the Bai n. It would no longer be limited to a single warzone if this went on¡ªeven the empire¡¯s foundations might be shaken.

    Bai Longjia didn¡¯t mince words in front of Qianye. He said bluntly, ¡°We¡¯ll lose this territory if the Zhao n suddenly attacks us at this time and we can¡¯t stop their airships.¡±

    Qianye only smiled withoutmenting on this matter since he had little interest in the civil conflicts on the empire. The Bai n should¡¯ve expected themselves to be in equal peril one day when they took action against the younger generation of the beleaguered Zhao n.¡±

    Bai Longjia sighed in his heart as he changed the topic of conversation, asking Qianye if he was willing to fight alongside the Bai n. If thetter were to agree, he would double the normal recruitment terms.

    Qianye was startled. ¡°General Bai, that¡¯s four times the military contributions. Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll empty your coffers?¡±

    Bai Longjia replied without any hesitation, ¡°You¡¯re worth the price.¡± Qianye¡¯sbat strength was far above his rank and capable of supporting an entire battlefront. His contribution to the battle as a whole couldn¡¯t be calcted just by kill count.

    Qianye became briefly absent-minded as he recalled a long-forgotten matter. When he had first met Bai Longjia was during the recruitment in Xiangyang City. Their disparity in status back then was so great that Qianye only managed to nce at that elite-corps bigshot from afar. He could hardly even remember what Bai Longjia looked like. The only thing he remembered was thement the man had written on his file. But those things were no longer important.

    But regardless of how he viewed the Bai n, his agreement with the Li n came first. He had no intentions of breaching the contract and thus wouldn¡¯t stay behind.

    Bai Longjia noticed that Qianye wasn¡¯t quite interested in the terms he had offered and also realized that it wasn¡¯t an issue of money. ¡°It¡¯s best you leave with us when we retreat. The dark race army this time isposed of mixed races. And judging from the scale, there should be at least six or seven experts above the count level. It¡¯ll be dangerous for you to travel alone.¡±

    Everyone knew that a mixed dark race alliance would usually contain more experts. Qianye hesitated for a while but didn¡¯t refuse immediately. Bai Longjia was speaking of normal circumstances, but Qianye could mix into the dark race army with Bloodline Concealment. It wasn¡¯t too hard for him to break out of the siege.

    Bai Longjia didn¡¯t push the matter after seeing that Qianye was weighing his options. He summoned an officer and made some brief inquiries before turning back to Qianye. ¡°How about we convert your contributions to this defensive battle first? We¡¯ll refer to the Bai n¡¯s current recruitment terms for independent experts and sum up the contributions as a virtuous count. Tell us whatever you need¡ªweapons, medicines, or other resources.¡±

    ¡°Virtuous count?¡± That was a first-rank count. The rewards somewhat exceeded Qianye¡¯s expectations.

    Qianye had no ns to decline, though. He pointed at the tattered Iron Wall on his body and said, ¡°I heard the Bai n¡¯s armor craftsmanship is the best in the empire. If possible, please get me a new set of armor.¡±

    ¡°No problem. If I¡¯m not wrong, the one you¡¯re wearing is the empire¡¯s standard Iron Wall armor, right? But that¡¯s a heavy armor.¡±

    Qianye stretched out his hands and flipped it over to reveal an arm full of scratches and bite marks. The most eye-catching were the deep fang-marks near his elbow that had almost pierced through the armor.

    ¡°It would¡¯ve gone through if not for the heavy armor,¡± Qianye replied.

    Even Bai Longjia couldn¡¯t help but inhale deeply upon seeing the state of this armor. He turned to an officer and said, ¡°Bring the set of armor in my tent.¡±

    The officer was startled. ¡°General, but that¡¯s your spare armor!¡±

    Bai Longjia shot the man a cold re. The officer left immediately, without daring to say anything.

    Only then did he turn back to Qianye and said, ¡°Our builds are more or less the same. You should be able to wear my armor. That one is so heavy that I can¡¯tst long in battle wearing it. It should be a better fit for you since you can fight for so long wearing Iron Wall.¡±

    Momentster, the officer returned with a box and opened it to reveal a set of silvery-white armor.

    This battle armor appeared rather light, tight-fitting and resembled a light armor through and through. It could even be worn underneath one¡¯s robes. The armor was made up of countless tiny leaflets akin to dragon scales, each filled with intricate veined patterns and faint golden speckles amidst the silver.

    Qianye could tell from a nce that the armor had silken essence gold incorporated into it.

    There was a beast-head relief on the front of the armor and a dazzling pair of folded wings at the back. Add to that its bright silver color, one would see the bearer even amidst an army of ten thousand.

    Qianye picked the armor up from the box and weighed it in his hand. It was heavier than Iron Wall, and this was only a chestguard. Wouldn¡¯t the entire set reach a thousand kilograms?

    Only then did Qianye realize why Bai Longjia wasn¡¯t quite willing to don it. Every movement made in this armor would drain one¡¯s strength. It would only prove cumbersome except in perilous situations like charging the enemy lines.

    Bai Longjia said from the side, ¡°This armor is called Young Dragon, and it was custom-made for me at first. Certain materials were added in the pursuit of better defense which unexpectedly caused it to weigh too much. Although it includes a weight-reducing array, activating it also requires one to spend origin power.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this too valuable?¡± Qianye frowned. Young Dragon was a grade-six masterpiece whose performance wasn¡¯t that far off from a grade-seven standard armor¡ªsome of its functions and effects were even superior. This set of armor could already trade for a standard grade-eight origin gun. In terms of value, it had far surpassed Qianye¡¯s contribution points.

    Bai Longjia waved his hands. ¡°I¡¯ll need to break through to rank-fifteen at least in order to wear this armor. My recent cultivation is too slow because of the misceneous responsibilities in my hands. It¡¯ll just be a waste in my hands. If you don¡¯t feelfortable, you can take it as a favor you owe to the Bai n. I hope you can lend us a hand in times of peril.¡± This was asking Qianye to fight for them again.

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°The Bai n is the Bai n, you are you. These things are two different matters. I¡¯ll definitely do my best if you ever need help. I can also help the Bai n if the enemies involved are from the dark races.¡±

    Bai Longjia couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly.

    Time was of the essence at this moment since the Bai n was about to retreat, so Qianye didn¡¯t dy the matter and simply changed into Young Dragon. The sparkling silver colors gave him a feeling of inexplicable awkwardness. How was he to hunt with such a shiny get up? Everyone would be able to see him from far away, and no amount of Bloodline Concealment would help. Qianye immediately asked the quartermaster for some paint and dyed the armor an unassuming grey. Only then was he barely satisfied.

    The Bai n stronghold was busy but orderly. Within just a couple of hours, all preparations to clear out had been made. From this, one could see the quality of the Bai n units and Bai Longjia¡¯s management.

    In the end, Qianye decided to retreat along with the Bai n private army. He owed Bai Longjia a small favor after taking his Young Dragon.

    At dusk, what remained of the Bai n army finally began to retreat, leaving the ruined stronghold behind along with arge batch of unnecessary supplies. Most of their ten thousand soldiers had fallen or suffered injuries¡ªonly over a thousand were left when they left the stronghold.

    Some of themanders were dissatisfied at first. They wanted to defend the stronghold and wait for the Bai n to send troops over. However, they received news, during their retreat, of another sizeablending party heading toward them at full speed.

    No one voiced their opinion after hearing this. If they were to cling onto the stronghold, not to mention a single Bai Aotu, even all the elders of the Bai n working together would only result in death.

    That Bai n elder, called Bai Tianfeng, revealed an unsightly expression upon seeing this piece of intelligence. ¡°What is that imperial fleet doing?! They even let twonding parties descend intact. What¡¯s the use of having them around?¡±

    Qianye also had the same doubts. ncing around, he saw most of those nearby were also quite discontent. Even Bai Longjia had a gloomy expression.

    Their anger was more or less justified. Thebination of twonding parties meant that a dark race force ten thousand strong would amass in Desert Valley. Moreover, there were at least two glorious marquises leading them. If unfortunate, it might be two dukes instead.

    The war had just begun, but the dark races had already mobilized such arge force. This proved that they were determined to obtain the Desert Valley. These twonding parties were likely just the vanguards, and a stream of armies would follow for sure. Whether it was by strategic nning or sheer luck, Bai Longjia¡¯s decision to retreat was the correct one.

    Under these circumstances, the Bai n had fallen into an awkward state. There was no way they could reim Desert Valley with their own strength. As such, they would surely be at a disadvantage during the distribution of territoriester on.

    The atmosphere around the retreating army became stifling. Qianye sat silently within the central force. His mood was somewhat better since he saw neither Bai Kongzhao nor Bai Aotu.

    They finally encountered the Bai n reception party after half a day¡¯s travel. The Bai n¡¯s warzone was close to the Song n¡¯s, and there was amon forward base at their border. However, the base was within Song n territory, so it brought the Bai n a lot of inconveniences.

    Qianye had no good impression of thetter. Neither did he want to know why these two ns were sharing a base despite their friction in the bloody battle. Since they had arrived in a safe area, Qianye bade farewell to Bai Longjia without even entering the base to resupply.

    Bai Longjia understood that he couldn¡¯t stop Qianye, so he sent him off personally. Just as Qianye was about the leave, the former asked, ¡°Did you see Potian recently? He¡¯s alsoe to join the battle this time.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I traveled with the Wei n fleet during thending phase.¡±

    Bai Longjia nodded but said nothing else.

    Qianye headed toward the southwest after leaving the Bai n squad. The Desert Valley area was vast. It would seem that the dark race army had confirmed their attack target well beforehand because there weren¡¯t any patrols or scouts at all except around strategic points. Qianye then ran back into the Misty Woods without encountering any obstructions.

    Surprisingly, Qianye felt a sense of safety after his senses were restricted to within a couple hundred meters. This forest was a natural battleground for him.

    Qianye found a random tree to sit beneath and brought out a map. He looked through it for a moment before his brows became knitted together.

 Volume 6 - 589: Dismissal of Authority

    [V6C119 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The empire had used every scheme at its disposal to seize the initiative on the voidndmass, but it was bing increasingly difficult to maintain this advantage.

    The imperial capital, tens of thousands of kilometers away, wasn¡¯t quite peaceful, either. A storm had risen in the imperial court regarding the organization of military and administrative affairs. Within a short period, many years of umted corruption, fake contributions, and supply embezzlement were exposed, and the supposedly nefarious feudal lords ofnds big and small were swept clean.

    The major ns restrained their own descendants while looking on with folded arms. The present emperor¡¯s maternal family was hardly prominent, and the empress¡¯ n had been reced many times. This major move¡ªthe first since his ascension to the throne¡ªwas undoubtedly just to consolidate his power. Centralizing in the name of resurgence wasn¡¯t quite usible. The cause became righteous enough only by borrowing the momentum of national fate.

    Today was yet another court assembly. A solemn array of retainers, generals, and nobles were standing in neat rows within the Rising Cloud Hall. The aristocracy here wasprised entirely of dukes and n lords, all of them serious, calm, and majestic.

    There were many new faces among the government officials of the cab and generals of the military department. Although positioned closer to the rear, the sharp determination of those new powers in their forties was fairly eye-catching. Additionally, there was anothermon characteristic¡ªthey weren¡¯t of high birth status. Many of them came from aristocratic side branches or evenmoner families.

    Despite being an imperial marshal, Zhang Boqian wasn¡¯t in the general¡¯s lineup. Instead, the man¡ªd in a gold and ck prince clothing¡ªstood at the head of the aristocratic group. As a heavenly monarch, Zhang Boqian was above all the other feudal lords. The other four heavenly monarchs had long since retired from military affairs and naturally wouldn¡¯t appear in imperial court, either. It was only natural that he upied the leading position for the aristocracy.

    There was another just like him who wasn¡¯t standing with the generals¡ªthat empty leading position in the civil officers¡¯ lineup belonged to Lin Xitang. The marshal hadn¡¯t appeared for several court assemblies in a row due to an exacerbation of old injuries. However, from all the new faces that had appeared in Rising Cloud Hall, it was obvious that the trusted confidant of the emperor was only absent from court but not from governmental affairs.

    As the discussions in court went on one after the other, the atmosphere in the hall grew increasingly stagnant. Some of those who were sensitive to politics and statecraft had begun to sense that something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    The results of all the discussions today¡ªinvolving civil, military, defensive, and territorial issues¡ªappeared to be following a certain policy: ancestralw.

    This principle wasn¡¯t wrong in and of itself. The imperial court and the major ns had ruled thend together since the founding of the Great Qin Empire. The empire had prospered because they hadid downws to govern their own areas and stabilize their own positions. But time inevitably eroded the human heart and whittled away at their integrity. No matter how good a legal code was, it was no different from beingwless if one couldn¡¯t follow it.

    Subjects who had pioneered new territory during the founding of the empire could shelter three generations of descendants. Thew also stated that both aristocratic descendants andmoners would receive equal rewards for their aplishments. But as for how practical this rule was, everyone in the hall had different opinions of it.

    This, however, wasn¡¯t the focus of this assembly.

    ¡°Heavenly monarchs have never led armies. ording to this convention, we should begin reforming the empire¡¯smand zones.¡± A young inspector closed the thick report in his hands after reading thest sentence.

    Rising Cloud Hall was plunged intoplete silence.

    All the suggestions in court today seemed to be reaffirming the ancestralw. And those words at the end were directed at Prince Greensun, Imperial Marshal Zhang Boqian.

    The tradition of heavenly monarchs not leading armies began during the founding era of the empire when the founder¡¯s half-brother, Prince Whiteriver, gave up his military rights after ascending to the heavenly monarch rank. Since then, it became conventional for heavenly monarchs to oversee wars but not get involved in individual military affairs.

    It was just that, during the Martial Emperor¡¯s resurgence era, a sixty-year cycle was usually required for a human expert to reach the heavenly monarch rank. Moreover, administrative duties would interfere with cultivation. Hence, those with the potential to be a heavenly monarch would rarely take up duties in court. This tradition had also been more or less forgotten.

    In truth,pared to the heavenly monarch not leading the army, it was the redistribution ofmand zones that caught everyone¡¯s attention. That was a substantial redistribution of power.

    The current imperial armymand zones corresponded to the ten present marshals of the empire. A marshal was currently the highest military office in power and had power over the regional army¡¯s recruitment, training, deployment, and resource allocation. That was more or less equal to the rights granted to the aristocracy. That was also why a n lord couldn¡¯t serve as a marshal at the same time.

    Meanwhile, the inspector, who had just thrown out this huge bomb, seemedpletely oblivious as to the waves his report would kick up. He turned around without fear and faced Zhang Boqian¡¯s cold gaze head-on.

    All eyes in the Rising Cloud Hall fell upon the two.

    The right-envoy of the cab inspectorate, Fang Qingkong, was in his early forties and could be considered rather young amidst the nobles in the hall. However, his voice and future prospects werepletely irrelevant to his appearance. This person looked refined and mild on the outside, but his methods were sharp and cruel. Even the military police were afraid of him. After joining the inspectorate, he had made a controversial announcement that he was going to serve as Marshal Lin¡¯s rabid hound.

    But such a person had survived for seven years and had even risen from a minor position to the third-in-power at the inspectorate. There might be more people after his life than Li Xitang¡¯s.

    Zhang Boqian shot Fang Qingkong a nce before looking away as if he hadn¡¯t seen anything. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you want my marshal¡¯s seal, but have Lin Xitange and take it himself.¡±

    The entire Rising Cloud Hall was deathly still. Even the sounds of breathing were barely discernible.

    Everyone knew Zhang Boqian¡¯s character very well and that his reply would be shocking. But no one had expected him to agree so easily to such an important matter. The marshal had never feigned civility. If he said it was fine, then it was fine. For a moment, no one knew what kind of expression to wear¡ªbe it those who had chosen to stay out of this matter, those who wanted to take advantage of the situation, or those who had nned to pick a side.

    Fang Qingkong reacted quickly. ¡°What will we have left to do if Marshal Lin attends to everything personally?¡±

    Zhan Boqian replied indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re not qualified to even court death.¡±

    At this time, the voice of the emperor emerged from the mist behind the heavy curtain and reverberated throughout Rising Cloud Hall. ¡°The cab shall submit a written report of today¡¯s discussions. Undecided matters shall be negotiated by the cab, military, and imperial n. Assembly dismissed.¡±

    The officials performed their ritual bows and left amidst the tolling bell. Only at this point did they split into small groups and began discussing in private.

    The twin pirs of the empire had different political standpoints since stepping into the imperial court. And their differences only grew deeper and deeper after Zhang Boqian was conferred the title of prince¡ªthings had eventually reached the climax during the bloody battle.

    Many officials were clear that Zhang Boqian had no special orders when he arrived on Evernight Continent and was only there to restrain the imperial n¡¯s obvious intentions. Hence, Lin Xitang was also dragged over to Evernight. The situation broke down at that point and the imperial n became divided¡ªone of them even betrayed Lin Xitang. If not for the appearance of Giant¡¯s Repose drawing the court¡¯s attention to faction conflicts, there was no telling how things would¡¯ve developed.

    Most people had guessed that Li Xitang would retaliate once he was free to do so. But no one had expected him to push Zhang Boqian into a corner by suggesting to remove thetter from office.

    Upon deeper consideration, however, this matter was likely to receive little external obstruction. As usual, the Zhang n had monopolized everything in the war at Giant¡¯s Repose. Hence, even those aristocratic families on their side wouldn¡¯t want to see the n grow in power. At most, they would remain neutral.

    As for the redistribution ofmand zones Fang Qingkong had suggested, this matter would have to be carried out sooner orter. Because the war against the Evernight faction was sure to be a drawn-out battle, the empire¡¯s defense system would also need to be adjusted ordingly. But to bring up this matter together with Zhang Boqian¡¯s dismissal was indeed an admirable move.

    Fang Qingkong¡¯s personality was indeed disgraceful, but how he had faced Zhang Boqian today was enough to impress many top powers.

    Duke Wei sighed emotionally before Duke You, ¡°Is the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery that miraculous? Li Xitang has always been an excellent judge of character. How rare is it for such a talented person to be so loyal.¡± He then thought of something. ¡°Sigh, how unfortunate! That child from the Song n is walking closer and closer to the Zhang n.¡±

    Duke You knew that Duke Wei liked Song Zining even before thetter had gained fame. When all of ckflow City¡¯s contribution points went to the Zhao n, he had even made roundabout inquires as to whether they were looking to recruit the young man.

    But Song Zining had risen too quickly and his separation from the Song n caught everyone unprepared. There were also rumors that Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t on good terms with him. By the time everyone else had woken up from the confusing news, Song Zining was already holding amanding position in Zhang Boqian¡¯s administrative department. Recruiting him right now was no longer possible with simple benefits or threats.

    At the mention of Song Zining, Duke You Zhao Xuanji thought of Qianye. The secret report he had received that morning made him thoroughly depressed. So what about geniuses? The Zhao n had nevercked them. But looking at Zhao Weihuang¡¯s sons and daughters¡ªnone of them spared one from worry.

    At this moment, in the faraway Zhao n camp, a secret report with the same contents had been ced upon the meeting table. Seated on the top of the table was the eldest among the Zhao siblings, Zhao Junyi. He was the one who resembled Zhao Weihuang the most. He had been living in the army since hising of age, and his bearing was very much that of a soldier.

    He nced at his two younger brothers before holding his gaze on Zhao Jundu. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why is Qianye¡¯s name on the Jingtang Li Family¡¯s guest officer list?¡±

    The one who replied was actually Zhao Junhong. He flipped through a number of secret reports on the table and replied calmly, ¡°Qianye is an excellent sniper who possesses superior visual range, so the geography of Misty Wood suits his skills perfectly. Moreover, he¡¯s ranked so far up among the guest officers. The Li family must¡¯ve given him much greater rewards than the norm.¡±

    Zhao Junyi frowned deeply. His second brother¡¯s reasoning was all fine and well for any other independent expert, but it wasical when applied to Qianye. Zhao Junyi himself had never met this half-brother before¡ªneither was there anything to like or dislike. But it was different for Zhao Jundu who had stirred up great winds and waves in the n for Qianye.

 Volume 6 - 590: Fading Note

    [V6C120 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhao Junyi was somewhat annoyed. He was supposed to be performing the final checks on the airship at this moment and then taking off after two hours. He had rushed back in a hurry after seeing the newest intelligence. As the recognized future leader of the Fire Beacon Corps, his trip this time was only to escort the Zhao n transports. He would return to guard the Zhao n territory for the remainder of the national war.

    Zhao Junyi nced at his origin sundial and said, ¡°Old Two, stop beating around the bush. Do you two think father is so far that he won¡¯te to this floating continent?¡±

    Zhao Junhong smiled wryly. He was just about to reply when Zhao Jundu stood up and said coldly, ¡°Qianye can do whatever he wants to do. I¡¯ll take responsibility for everything if father asks.¡± With that, he got up and left the tent.

    Zhao Junyi¡¯s expression sank. He mmed the table and said, ¡°Zhao Guanwei¡¯s matter hasn¡¯t even been settled yet. Why is Old Four covering this Qianye?¡±

    Zhao Guanwei¡¯s matter seemed to have ended at that time. However, it stirred up quite a lot of trouble within the n and badly affected Duke Chengen¡¯s lineage. Back then, Qianye had badly injured the man and kicked him out of the camp. This caused quite a bit of bacsh in the n regardless of the reason behind his actions.

    In the end, it was because Zhao Guanwei¡¯s rtionships were deep. Although his bloodline was far removed from the three dukes¡¯ lineages, he was still a bona fide Zhao n descendant. He had trained and cultivated the Zhao n¡¯s arts since youth and joined the private army aftering of age, umting many contributions in battle. Add to that his upstanding and frank personality, he was rather popr among the various branches of the n.

    Someone like Zhao Guanwei would always be a dependable cornerstone of the mid to lower tier forces in any branch. He was also a target of recruitment for many parties, and the Duke Chengen branch attached a fair bit of importance to this person. But now, not only had they failed to recruit him, but the two parties had even be hostile.

    Zhao Junhong actually calmed down and resumed his normal expression. ¡°Zhao Guanwei has always maintained a good reputation. But since he was willing to ignore the bigger picture and stir up trouble for Qianye on the frontlines, it shows that he has already been bought by the people from Duke Yan¡¯s side. Even if it¡¯s because of an owed favor as the rumors say, that favor must¡¯ve been fairly big. We had no chance of roping him in from the start.¡±

    Zhao Junyi¡¯s expression rxed.

    Zhao Junhongughed. ¡°In the end, Qianye only served as a shield for fourth brother. His reaction was great, even I might not be able to do better if I were there.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s methods appeared drastic, but in truth, the two sides had already be antagonistic the moment Zhao Guanwei stepped out. Conciliation would¡¯ve had no effect on him anyway. It would only serve to encourage the other Zhao n soldiers to take chances. Only a thunderous response could suppress all adversary with military might.

    Zhao Junyi himself was a leader of armies and knew the pros and cons in this matter. His expression finally eased as he muttered, ¡°The n elders will surely ask about Qianye fighting for the Li n. Have you two prepared a response?¡±

    ¡°Brother, don¡¯t worry. Who can find fault with the exnation I gave previously? If they¡¯re so capable, why don¡¯t they recognize little brother officially? Moreover, it¡¯s unsure what those elders are nning. There are already people outside investigating Qianye¡¯s movements during the years he was missing.¡±

    Zhao Junyi¡¯s brows jumped up with a peculiar expression. It looked like he wanted to say something but was hesitant.

    Zhao Junhong sneered, ¡°Do you know what our uncle Duke You said to Qianye after the matter with Zhao Guanwei? First, he told Qianye that the Zhao n would belong to Jundu and him after ten years. The second part was that due to Qianye¡¯s birth status, the n lord¡¯s position would only belong to Jundu. Uncle really thinks so highly of us brothers. At least, Duke Yan¡¯s side isn¡¯t showing any signs of giving up.¡±

    Zhao Junyi¡¯s brows knitted tightly. These words sounded like a man cing high hopes on the younger generation, but it was actually nting the seeds of conflict between brothers. ¡°Did Qianye tell you all of this?¡± Someone who would pass on these words wasn¡¯t quite simple, either.

    It was unknown what Zhao Junhong was thinking. He simply shook his head and said, ¡°No.¡±

    Zhao Junhong didn¡¯t offer further exnation. The one who had passed the message was Song Zining. He himself felt Qianye trusted Song Zining too much. No wonder Zhao Jundu wanted to beat thetter up upon sight. But the Song seventh young noble was indeed intelligent. It just so happened that this well-known trickster loved stirring up strenuous and unrewarding incidents between the brothers.

    Zhao Junyi gave it some thought and said, ¡°Let it be. Fourth brother must have his own ns regarding Qianye, so we¡¯ll leave it at that. The present situation is ratherplicated both inside and outside of the n, and it¡¯s best if he can stay outside for the time being. I¡¯ll talk to father when I return to the Western Continent.¡±

    Zhao Junhong asked all of a sudden, ¡°Brother, has the family never received any news of Qianye in the past ten years?¡±

    Zhao Junyi paused for a long while without replying.

    Zhao Junhong continued, ¡°Qianye¡¯s martial path stems from Yellow Springs. That isn¡¯t a ce just anyone can enter, but we can¡¯t seem to find out who sent him in. How many people are there in the empire that even we can¡¯t touch?¡±

    Qianye was trained in Yellow Springs, so there was no way his origin theft would¡¯ve escaped the instructors¡¯ eyes. The powers behind Yellow Spring were tangled andplicated. How could such a major discovery be silent from both the Zhao n¡¯s friends and foes?

    Zhao Junyi tapped on the table with his fingers and said after a long while, ¡°It¡¯s been said that Marshal Lin Xitang¡¯s foster son is a Yellow Springs graduate, but he died less than a year after joining the army.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t think Qianye has brought this matter up on his own, has he? Since fourth brother doesn¡¯t even want to get him involved in the internal disputes of the n, why the need to unearth the past?¡±

    ¡°Lin Xitang?!¡± Zhao Junhong lowered his eyes to hide the wisp of frostiness within. He then said with a nod, ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    At this moment, Lin Xitang was seated in a jeep at the imperial capital, gazing absentmindedly at the omnipresent white outside the window.

    The four seasons here were fairly clear cut. It was presently winter time, and the snowfall had been rather heavy since noon, pressing down upon the roadside trees until they were on the verge of copse.

    Fang Qingkong was kneeling on one knee beside the seat and hadn¡¯t moved since boarding the vehicle¡ªhe wouldn¡¯t make a single sound if Lin Xitang did not speak.

    The marshal¡¯s ceremonial motorcade slowly drove on and arrived before a set of majestic kic towers. This was merely the energy center of a certain street block, yet it was almost asrge as a medium-sized city. Apparently, the residents here were of extraordinary status.

    Lin Xitang said gently, ¡°Qingkong, you shouldn¡¯t have done that.¡±

    Dissolving Zhang Boqian¡¯s office was a proposal. It should¡¯ve been personally submitted to court by Lin Xitang, but he hadn¡¯t made it to the recent court sessions due to an exacerbation of his injuries. Fang Qingkong made no excuse and only lowered his body even more.

    Lin Xitang sighed. ¡°You¡¯re only one step away from bing a divine champion. If you can step through this threshold, your future won¡¯t be limited to just being an inspector. Bing a duke or a minister isn¡¯t out of the question. How many people have been stopped here due to limited talents? You, on the other hand, have a good chance of breaking through within two years. Why would you provoke Prince Greensun at such a time?¡±

    Fang Qingkong¡¯s methods had always been vicious, and it was entirely due to his strength that he was able to survive up until now. He was trained in the Northern Legion¡¯s reconnaissance battalion, but no one had ever imagined that a suicide warrior specializing in assassination would be able to reach the threshold of a divine champion. No wonder even someone like Lin Xitang, who had met so many geniuses, was full of regret.

    Fang Qingkong said softly, ¡°Someone has to do the dangerous things, and it shouldn¡¯t always be you.¡±

    Lin Xitang only said one sentence, ¡°Qingkong, don¡¯t let this happen again.¡±

    Fang Qingkong replied, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression was indifferent. ¡°If you feel indignant, go back to the army and umte more contributions for a couple of years. You might even be able to fight for amander¡¯s position. To be honest, it¡¯s a waste of your talents to be working as an inspector.¡±

    Fang Qingkong¡¯s face paled. ¡°Qingkong won¡¯t ever do it again. Please don¡¯t transfer me away.¡±

    The car trembled slightly and came to a stop. There was a majestic building at the end of the road with green roof tiles, ck eaves, and a sign that said Greensun. The style was an imitation of the ancestor¡¯s handwriting¡ªan inscription gifted to the first Prince Greensun form the founding emperor.

    Lin Xitang left the car and his followers outside and walked up the stairs on his own. The Greensun Manor guards apparently recognized the marshal and had already received orders. They only performed salutations upon seeing him¡ªno one stood forward.

    Lin Xitang looked up to check the direction before heading deeper into the building, passing through many doors along the way. Eventually, the view before him widened as he arrived at the edge of a drill grounds.

    There wasn¡¯t a single person along the corridors. In the drill grounds, however, a mass of sword radiance was glowing even more brightly than the reflection of the heavy snow. The sword energy therein forced the snow to remain suspended in the air, yet there was no sound at all¡ªonly the faint rustle of the powdery snow.

    As the sword radiance receded, an ancient-looking ck de appeared at the center of the grounds.

    The Zhang n¡¯s Sword Rain Formation, Fading Notes.

    Zhang Boqian returned to the corridor where a table, wine, and cup had been prepared. There was a cup full of golden spirit, but he didn¡¯t touch it. Instead, he picked up the jar and poured the contents into his mouth. A good part of the alcohol spilled out, and the air was soon filled with a rich aroma.

    Lin Xitang walked over to pick up the cup and took a sip. A stream of burning mes fell into his chest.

    Zhang Boqian ced a seal the size of an infant¡¯s fist on the table. The jade green object was carved in the most ordinary of square shapes, but the origin arrays that formed the seal patterns represented the will of one of the highest military authorities in the Great Qin Empire.

    Zhang Boqian pushed the seal toward Lin Xitang. His attitude was fairly casual as though this were just an ordinary seal.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression froze for a short while. After a brief pause, he produced a palm-sized box and handed it to Zhang Boqian.

    Thetter didn¡¯t open the box just yet and only flipped it in his hands.

    It was so silent that only the sound of falling snow could be heard. Lin Xitang broke this stillness and said, ¡°This is the Omen of Fortune you asked for.¡±

    ¡°Omen of Fortune¡± was a type of divination art. Reportedly, the diviner would draw upon the power of the stars to form various diagrams on a jade known as ¡°Fortune¡± to divine the seeker¡¯s questions. Additionally, the diviner wasn¡¯t privy to the seeker¡¯s question. This divination process was beyond mysterious, so much so that it was considered a form of entertainment instead of a traditional divination art.

    The jade box suddenly broke down into fine powder in Zhang Boqian¡¯s hands, which then vanished without a trace as they spread into the air.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s perpetually calm countenance was filled with astonishment.

 Volume 6 - 591: A Difficult Opening

    [V6C121 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°That¡¯s not the type of fate I want.¡± Zhang Boqian flicked the jade seal with a raise of his hand, causing it to fly up andnd in Lin Xitang¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°Boqian!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in such a rush to consolidate power, as if you¡¯re worrying there isn¡¯t enough time. But even the war of national fate won¡¯tst ten years. What exactly are you nning?¡±

    Lin Xitang was startled.

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t wait for him to reply. ¡°What you really want to control isn¡¯t the imperial army but the void continent, right? But this time, I won¡¯t let you have your way.¡± With that, he left inrge strides.

    Lin Xitang remained in ce. Finally, there was a slight shift in his expression.

    Over half an hourter, Zhang Boqian was back in his room, reading through thetest reports. He walked over to the map of the floating continent and pondered for a long while. Both the military and Zhang n¡¯s military intelligence proved that the empire¡¯s situation on the void continent wasn¡¯t looking great.

    The Evernight council had reacted swiftly after taking a number of major losses at Giant¡¯s Repose and poured inrge forces. Meanwhile, the empire would need to do a lot of adjustments before they could muster more reinforcements.

    A personal guard entered after knocking and delivered a metal box that had been sealed shut. ¡°News from the ck Market.¡±

    Zhang Boqian nodded in response and waited until the guard had left before tearing the box open. Inside was a translucent piece of circr crystal. Crystal media weremonly used by the dark races, but then again, forbidden life-prolonging arts were mostly from the Evernight faction.

    Zhang Boqian instilled a wisp of void origin power into it. A drop of fresh blood slowly condensed upon the surface of the crystal and quickly transformed into a ck me¡ªthe ze surprisingly contained the aura of the Sperger n¡¯s current lord. It was interesting how an unassuming reward he had instructed his men to post on the ck market had actually received such a valuable response.

    His brows trembled ever so slightly as he recalled the spiritual mending Habsburg had mentioned in the Eye of the Storm. It would seem he wasn¡¯t speaking without prior thought. This vampire prince was probably not as low-key as he seemed on the surface. His antennae seemed to stretch quite far into human territory. What then were his intentions in revealing his strength?

    The projection gradually vanished, and the crystal soon regained its lustrous rity. Zhang Boqian pinched the crystal and instilled a drop of daybreak origin power into it. The crystal shattered to formed a prismatic bubble, and at the same time, a piece of hidden information shot out.

    That was a consciousness from Prince Habsburg himself. ¡°Lin Qianye is still alive.¡±

    The void continent, tens of thousands of kilometers away.

    Qianye had no idea that he had be the focus of attention for those near and far. Gazing at the map of the voidndmass and studying thetest battle situations, he was ovee by the feeling that the empire¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t great.

    Desert Valley was adjacent to the dark race¡¯s Crimson Fjord. Now they were amassing arge force in order to push the Bai n out of Desert Valley for good and link their two warzones together.

    The two zones were also connected to the Misty Wood, but Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to explore the Crimson Fjord without concrete information on enemy activity. It would be bad if he were to run into an Evernight expert.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon an area to the west of the Crimson Fjord. There was a giantke there, named cklight Lake by the empire. The body of water stretched hundreds of kilometers and was practically an ind sea. The area around it was the cklight warzone.

    This cklight warzone was the Zhang n¡¯s garrison. Locations closer to the Crimson Fjord were naturally more dangerous. As the number one n of the empire, the Zhang n¡¯s boldness was extraordinary. They immediately picked cklight warzone and proceeded to monitor the Evernight faction¡¯s activities from there.

    Although the Crimson Fjord was currently upied by the Evernight faction, it was also included in the distribution of imperial warzones. The ce was personally headed by the Imperial Court, a testament to its determination to take down the ce.

    The empire¡¯s initial n to force the dark races into a single warzone appeared optimistic overall. But the quick fall of Desert Valley allowed Qianye to realize that the war might even be more arduous than he had imagined.

    Qianye operated in the Misty Wood during the several days that followed, killing three dark race scouting parties. But even adding all of that was merely equal to two barons¡ªit could be said that his harvest was quite poor.

    Half a month passed by with nothing much to do. Qianye decided to head back to the Li n base to report in. On the other hand, he could also withdraw his sry and supplies.

    The Li n base hadpletely transformed when he arrived. The entire camp was now surrounded by a ten-meter wall with cannon turrets erected every hundred or so meters. The two giant towers behind the camp surprised Qianye even more. The Li n had actually constructed two kic towers of the city-grade.

    Now, this was a steep investment. It also proved their determination to im this territory for the n.

    Qianye proved his identity at the gates and entered.

    This base was built to amodate five regr divisions, a total of 75,000 soldiers. It was more or less a small city. There were several areas in the base where the construction work was still ongoing. At a nce, however, the armories, defensive structures, vehicle nt, and airship port all seemed fairly lofty.

    Qianye stopped beside a map erected near the main road and noticed that the entire base was well-organized and designed as a military fortress. He quietly memorized the locations of some open facilities before heading straight for the briefing tent at the side of the camp.

    This was where the Li n issued intelligence, missions, and rewards. Beside the briefing tent was the armory which had been stocked with mountains of resources. Most of the rewards could be withdrawn directly from this warehouse, but it went without saying that the most premium items weren¡¯t stored here. Those would need to be shipped over from the main continent.

    There were severalrge halls in front of the briefing tent, corresponding to different levels of experts. Qianye walked past the two tents for sub-champion level hunters and entered the third one.

    This mission hall was much smaller than the other two, but the decoration was morevish. There was a small bar at a corner of the tent, served by peerless beauties. The drinking men therein could hardly move their eyes away from those lightly swaying hips. From time to time, someone would stuff some coins into thedies¡¯ bosoms or grab them gently from behind.

    Qianye only scanned the bar briefly before walking further into the hall. The ce was separated into many small rooms which offered excellent privacy.

    Qianye walked into one of the empty rooms. The decoration inside was simple and graceful. Behind the desk across from Qianye sat a female officer in the prime of her life, her customized uniform bringing out the best of her figure.

    Her eyes lit up as Qianye entered. She stood up to lead Qianye to his seat and asked, ¡°How can I be of service to you?¡±

    Qianye ced his identity tablet on the table. ¡°I¡¯m Qianye, here to submit contributions and check for new intelligence.¡±

    The officer¡¯s eyes grew even brighter after seeing a general¡¯s golden sword insignia. She stood up and fished out a small booklet from the shelf behind her. She then leaned toward Qianye and said in a gentle voice, ¡°This is thetest battle report, one of the highest level. You can read it here but you can¡¯t take it away.¡±

    The words were spoken very slowly, and from Qianye¡¯s angle, he could already see the entirety of her chest. Despite having seen many beauties, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but secretly praise her fiery figure¡ªonly Nangong Xiaoniao might be able to surpass her.

    Qianye only smiled faintly in the face of this obvious hint and picked up the intelligence booklet. In the past, he wouldn¡¯t have minded a casual romance to wipe away the fatigue of a long battle. But now, Qianye only had Nighteye in his heart¡ªthatdy who was quietly waiting for him to return home.

    The female officer wasn¡¯t discouraged at theck of response and simply sat back with a dignified attitude. Apparently, she was looking to take Qianye down by ying hot and cold.

    Qianye seemedpletely oblivious to the female officer¡¯s fighting spirit as he scanned the report. His expression turned serious after flipping through a few pages.

    The battle in the void had been growing in cruelty and intensity as the Evernight Council dispatched their fleets continuously. Connecting all of the battle reports together, one could see that the imperial fleet had somehow lost their initiative and had been forced to consolidate their troops for a showdown against the Evernight main fleet.

    Such battles had broken out dozens of times during this half-month period and both sides had suffered losses. The empire was holding the overall advantage, but the shocking death toll proved that it was a close victory at best.

    At this moment, the empire¡¯s primary airship fleet was already struggling to handle the enemy assaults. They simply couldn¡¯t spare the forces to deal with enemynding parties. That was also the reason why the twonding squads that had appeared in Desert Valley werepletely intact.

    It was just that the imperial airship fleet¡¯s loss of control in the void had caused the ground battles to be iparably difficult.

    The Bai n suffered the brunt of the impact. They hadn¡¯t even gained a stable foothold when they were uprooted by overwhelming enemy forces. The damage wasn¡¯t limited to the fortress in which Qianye had fought¡ªthe other forward base in the warzone didn¡¯tst long, either. Presently, the Bai n hadpletely withdrawn from the Desert Valley.

    The neighboring cklight Lake didn¡¯t have it easy, either. Threending squads had arrived there in the recent period. Add to that the tens of thousands of soldiers dispatched from Crimson Fjord, the enemy forces in cklight Warzone now numbered fifty thousand.

    The Zhang n was powerful, but even they had already suffered tens of thousands in casualty since the beginning of these arduous battles. As expected of the empire¡¯s number one n, they were able to hold out fearlessly in the face of an enemy force several times stronger.

    However, the Evernight Council had mobilized a force far exceeding everyone¡¯s expectations¡ªeven the Zhang n might lose cklight Warzone if a fundamental reversal didn¡¯te soon.

    Qianye¡¯s expression grew even more serious as he flipped on. The overall report was that the empire was being suppressed in half of the territories they had initially upied, and the Evernight side¡¯s reinforcements were showing no signs of stopping. At this point, the scale of dark race forces on the void continent was fairly close to the empire¡¯s.

    Even Qianye knew that the empire would need at least a month of mobilization and logistic preparation in order to provide more reinforcements¡ªand that was on the premise that there were soldiers left to send without affecting maind defense.

 Volume 6 - 592: Ineffable Enmity

    [V6C122 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Qianye was deep in thought after putting down the battle reports. One could see the characteristics of each major n from the current situation.

    The Zhang n was just as tyrannical as before, taking the sole lead in the cklight warzone without seeking any help from the other aristocracy. The Bai n, too, aimed for the skies by seeking to dominate Desert Valley on its own. It too didn¡¯t invite the other nobility to form alliances, only opting to offer high bounties to independent experts like Qianye.

    However, the Evernight faction¡¯s offensive was much fiercer than anyone had expected. Even the Zhang n could barely stabilize the situation. The Bai n was even worse¡ªthey had effectively lost their frontline fortress in a single battle.

    Comparatively, the Song n was hidden behind the Bai n. They continued recruiting on arge scale, apparently seeking to pave the way to a new territory with gold coins.

    The Zhao n¡¯s course of action was thought-provoking. It was a rare asion in which they didn¡¯tpete with the Bai n. Not only did they pass on a strategically positioned warzone like Desert Valley that was rich in mineral resources, but also chose to settle in one of the most remote warzones. At the same time, they were just as arrogant and aloof, inviting only a number of powerful aristocratic families to garrison therein. The Yin family and Wei n were among them.

    Additionally, the Zhao n was in no rush to push further in afternding. Instead, they began constructing threerge fortresses in a tight formation and seemed to be adopting a defensive stance.

    As for the imperial court, they shouldered the most difficult of warzones, the central underground maze region and the Crimson Fjord where the dark race base was located. Their ambitions were just as great.

    The situation at the Jingtang Li n¡¯s warzone wasplicated. The Misty Wood¡¯s entire scope was actually shaped like a loop which encircled the central underground maze region and was thus adjacent to almost all the warzones.

    The unique environment made it difficult to deployrge armies here. However, it was a haven for expert hunters. Additionally, the empress¡¯ family revealed their lofty ambitions once again by inviting a great number of aristocratic families and experts, turning almost no one away. The power they had concentrated had, at least on paper, surpassed the Zhao, Bai, and Song ns¡ªonly inferior to the Zhang n and imperial court.

    Qianye felt fairly anxious after observing the current situation. Pessimistically speaking, the cklight Warzone would eventually fall should the dark races keep up this momentum. With little terrain advantage to rely on, the Full Moon ins wouldn¡¯tst long, either. In the end, the entire imperial army might be pushed back to the Zhao n warzone and thereafter enter a war of attrition. The Misty Wood, on the other hand, was a natural battleground for experts. The battles there might actually go on until the very end.

    Sighing lightly, Qianye returned the report to the female officer and asked, ¡°Where do I exchange contributions?¡±

    ¡°Please follow me.¡± Thedy led Qianye toward an area at the back where several officers were seated at the entrance of a warehouse. They were in charge of registering and submitting proof of contribution.

    The rules regarding the inspection of contributions was a familiar process. Qianye didn¡¯t say much and only passed his backpack over. Within it were objects for identity verification like vampiric fangs and identity insignias.

    His contributions had been tallied up after a while, and the person in charge passed Qianye a list saying, ¡°A total of six barons worth of contribution points. Please take a look and see if it¡¯s correct.¡±

    Qianye waved his hand and said, ¡°No need. That¡¯s more or less all of it.¡±

    The batch he had submitted was his harvest in the Misty Wood, most of them were kills he had racked up when he had just arrived on the floating continent. Compared to the raging battles in the other warzones, the Misty Wood appeared exceptionally calm. Qianye only encountered two patrol squads and no other decentbat squads.

    ¡°Do you wish to deposit our points or exchange them right away? ording to the rules, if you exchange now, you can exchange for materials at the rate of two fourth-ss merits.¡±

    Qianye had long since formed an answer. ¡°Convert all of them to Mithril Bullets of Exorcism, half between sniper and handgun rounds.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    The warehouse was just behind the contribution registration room and ammunition wasn¡¯t an overly valuable resource. Four boxes of mithril bullets soon appeared in front of Qianye, a total of ten sniper and twelve handgun rounds.

    Qianye was fairly satisfied after checking the inventory. The Mithril Bullets of Exorcism provided by the Li family were fairly high in quality¡ªthey were at least twenty percent more expensive than the ones provided by the empire. Just this alone would equate to a twenty percent rise in contribution points. It would seem the Li family was prepared to do something big.

    He was just about to pack things up when a sinister voice rang out from behind, ¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t Sire Qianye? You must¡¯ve had a great harvest! Why don¡¯t you widen my horizons?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t need to turn back to know that it was Du Li.

    At this moment, Du Li was walking into the contribution exchange area with a couple of others. The men behind him possessed deep auras corresponding to three or four origin vortices. Du Li¡¯s cultivation wasn¡¯t that bad, either, but judging from how he was walking along the side, it was obvious that his position wasn¡¯t that high.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t seen any of the others aside from the man, but that wasn¡¯t strange, either. With how wide and populous the empire was, there was no telling how many powerful independent experts there were. It was just that this group was powerful enough to raise eyebrows.

    Du Li broke into augh as his gaze fell upon the ammunition box. ¡°Oh, Sire Qianye, am I seeing things? Are these refined silver bullets?¡±

    Mithril and Refined Silver wasn¡¯t on the same level at all¡ªone could differentiate between the two at a nce. How could anyone make a mistake?

    Qianye remained calm as he ced the bullets into his bag and nced over at Du Li. ¡°Do I need to teach you how to tell bullets apart?¡±

    Du Li¡¯s smile froze and was soon consumed by a surge of fury. He sneered, ¡°Qianye, I¡¯m trying to give you some face here. How can you have the cheek to exchange a mere fourth-rate merit? Everyone is from the same warzone, so you should scram if you don¡¯t have the skills. Stop wasting your days here. We don¡¯t need useless people!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes swept past these people, paying special attention to their bulging backpacks¡ªit would seem their harvest was extraordinary. These five people had formed a group and were operating together.

    After seeing what was going on, Qianye shot Du Li a nce and said, ¡°How I fight is none of your business.¡±

    Du Li¡¯s face turned green. He could no longer hold back and proceeded to block Qianye¡¯s path with his gun drawn. They were so close that their noses were almost touching.

    Killing intent was practically gushing out of Du Li¡¯s eyes. Qianye, on the other hand, was rather calm and had a smile on his face. On closer inspection, however, one would find a frosty intent hidden within the smile.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Are you looking to die?¡±

    Blood gushed up Du Li¡¯s face. He was just about to flip out when arge burly man from his group dragged him back.

    Du Li was on par with that burly man in terms of origin power rank, yet he was being hauled around like a helpless little chicken.

    That burly man wasn¡¯t quite prominent at first among the five. Qianye nced over at this point and felt his vision being filled with a bright radiance¡ªit was as though a bright bolt of lightning had shed past. Even the spectators nearby were almost blinded and had to take a couple of steps back.

    Qianye remained in ce without the slightest change in his expression. Only his eyes flowed with a blue light akin to the deep seas, but the hue quickly receded without forming any seasprays.

    The burly man was somewhat surprised, and his gaze became serious. He sized Qianye up from head to toe before saying, ¡°Isn¡¯t it somewhat inexcusable for someone of yourbat strength to gain only this much?¡±

    Qianye nced back at the burly man. Thetter¡¯s heart trembled, and for some reason, he felt as though he had been seen through entirely.

    At this point, the blue in Qianye¡¯s eyes receded. ¡°It¡¯s my business how I fight. You just mind your own business.¡±

    Killing intent flickered in the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°Fine! You be careful if we ever meet on the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°Same to you.¡± Qianye left after offering the same warning. Intentionally or otherwise, he shot Du Li a nce as he passed by.

    Thetter watched Qianye¡¯s figure depart, feeling weird from head to toe. Then, he suddenly realized that Qianye¡¯s gaze was akin to looking at a dead man.

    Di Li began stomping about in anger after realizing this, but he shrunk back obediently as the burly man looked over.

    After leaving the exchange area, Qianye recalled the locations of the open facilities and proceeded toward a certain corner of the camp. This area was clearly different from the other parts. The atmosphere here was much more rxed and morous. Not only were there bars and inns, but there was even a brothel and an arena. Apparently, it was provided for guest experts to rx.

    Qianye walked in with confident steps and ordered a bottle of wine. There, he began drinking slowly as he waited for sundown¡ªnight time was when he would go out to battle once more.

    He hadn¡¯t sat very long when ady appeared in front of him. It was Zhu Huan.

    ¡°I heard you provoked Lu Sha. Why?¡± Zhu Huan inquired.

    ¡°Lu Sha, who¡¯s that?¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t heard of this name before.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know him? Oh, I understand now. It must be Du Li stirring things up in the middle!¡± Zhu Huan pped the table.

    ¡°Oh? Who is that?¡± Someone Zhu Huan had mentioned so seriously had to be skilled, but Qianye¡¯s tone was still quite indifferent.

    ¡°Lu Sha has been famous for a long time. He was already a notorious mercenary and bounty hunter decades ago, known for being vengeful. At one point, he had hunted down a target for four whole months just because of a small trade argument and killed off all of his family members.¡± At this point, Zhu Huan¡¯s eyes were full of fear.

    She grabbed Qianye¡¯s ss and emptied it. ¡°Work with me. We might have a chance at killing him if we work together.¡±

    Qianye ordered another bottle with a smile and poured a ss for Zhu Huan. ¡°There¡¯s no rush for that. Tell me more about this Lu Sha.¡±

    Zhu Huan didn¡¯t hesitate to exin the entire situation.

    Lu Sha was the burly man Qianye had met just now. His operation area was fairly wide, and he had left his tracks behind in many a warzone, but he visited Evernight Continent quite often. ording to Zhu Huan, Lu Sha was a typical bounty hunter and independent mercenary¡ªcold-blooded, cruel, and very strong.

    There were even cases of him killing above his level. The worst part was that Lu Sha wasn¡¯t alone but had a squad he had been working together with for over ten years. This unit had even beheaded counts during this period. One had to know that count-rank casualties weren¡¯t high except inrge battles or other special circumstances. At such a level, winning against one didn¡¯t equate to killing one.

    Du Li was also a member, but he was just an ordinary one. Be it from past aplishments or Du Li¡¯s attitude from just now, it was clear that Lu Sha¡¯sbat strength was far above what it seemed on the surface.

    Zhu Huan stalked for a long while but found Qianye still as calm as ever. His eyes were somewhat cloudy from the alcohol and seemed like he wasn¡¯t paying attention to all of this.

    She stared nkly for a moment, and then banged fiercely on the table. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re doing?¡±

 Volume 6 - 593: Hidden Worries

    [V6C123 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The bang attracted the attention of everyone in the bar. Zhu Huan stood up and shouted, ¡°What are you all looking at? Go back to your own drinks!¡±

    Her shout was exceptionally effective in causing everyone to turn away.

    Such a scene caused Qianye to turn slightly serious, and a wisp of curiosity emerged in his limpid, obsidian eyes. ¡° It looks like they¡¯re afraid of you?¡±

    Zhu Huan replied curtly, ¡°They¡¯ll be afraid of you, too, if you bring back the head of a second-rank viscount. Do you still think I¡¯m not worthy of fighting alongside you?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat surprised. It wasn¡¯t too easy for a rank-twelve human to kill a second-rank viscount in the unfavorable environment of Misty Wood. Zhu Huan was indeed incredible to be able to bring back the head of a second-rank viscount.

    But he still shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m used to fighting alone.

    Zhu Huan had nothing to say at this point. She only red at Qianye with eyes full of fury, but quite surprisingly, did not flip out. ¡°Then what are you wasting time here for?¡±

    ¡°Waiting.¡±

    ¡°Waiting for dusk.¡±

    Zhu Huan felt baffled. ¡°What are for?¡±

    ¡°To hunt.¡±

    ¡°Hunting in the dark? You¡­¡± Zhu Huan was about to go insane. Most of the dark races possessed night vision and thus held the advantage in night battles. Even an experienced hunter like her wouldn¡¯t choose to fight at night.

    Qianye only smiled without replying.

    Zhu Huan gave it some thought and said, ¡°Is it to guard against those people?¡±

    Qianye still didn¡¯t reply. It was fine if she chose to exin it that way. He finished his wine in one gulp and said, ¡°It¡¯s dark now. Time for me to leave.¡±

    Zhu Huan gazed at Qianye¡¯s receding figure. She stood up as though she wanted to say something but sat back down in the end.

    The sun was located at the very summit of this world, and it wasn¡¯t every day that one could see it on this floatingndmass. The rhythm of day and night, though, was no different from other continents.

    Atop the base wall, Du Li exhaled deeply and turned back. ¡°Boss, are we going to let him leave just like that?¡±

    Lu Sha stood there like a statue with his arms crossed. Only after a long while did he speak in a deep voice, ¡°This Qianye might contend with us at the top of the leaderboards.¡±

    Du Li was evidently stunned as he blurted out, ¡°Him? That little rank-ten bastard? This is a real war with no level restrictions.¡±

    ¡°This person isn¡¯t easy to deal with, and I heard his rtionship with the Zhao n is quite deep. Do not provoke him casually in the future. Do I make myself clear?¡± Lu Sha red at Du Li at this point, causing thetter to shrink back.

    Du Li said hesitantly, ¡°The Li family¡¯s reward for the first ce is that item. Does the brat really have the ability to fight us for it? Every one of us is three levels higher than him!¡± He wasn¡¯t quite satisfied after thinking about it. ¡°Why would the Zhao n¡¯s peoplee here? Why would the Li family offer him such a high sry?¡±

    Qianye was ranked shockingly high on the Li n¡¯s recruitment list. His rank-ten level was indeed quite offending to the eyespared to the bountiful rewards offered to him. Du Li was surely not the only one who was dissatisfied. It was just that those who had survived long enough to enjoy such aplishments weren¡¯t stupid. None of them was willing to provoke someone with such aplicated background for no reason.

    Lu Sha remained silent for a moment. ¡°Nothing is certain in this world, but he won¡¯t live long if he dares fight us for Stillwater Rebirth.¡±

    Qianye was walking through the dark night at a leisurely pace. He had long since noticed several gazes on him when he stepped into the forest.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t thinking too much when he chose Misty Wood, but he decided to ept the offer in passing since the Li n was so keen¡ªhe could just wait and see what would unfoldter on. Qianye had been worrying about how Song Zining was supposedly disrupted by a divination art and wanted to draw some of the bad currents onto himself if he could.

    Now, there really were some fish caught in a direct hook. Compared to the fiery battlefield of the void continent, Du Li, Lu Sha, and Zhu Huan couldn¡¯t even be considered a small wave. Qianye¡¯s eyes were on the starry skies of Evernight. Only those dazzling names from the dark nation could enter his sights.

    The Misty Wood seemed perpetually unchanging. Even after an intense battle had leveled a thousand-meter area, the purple substance would soon nket thend once more. Those destroyed trees would grow back anew in the span of a few days and once again thrive hundreds of meters in the air.

    Presently, the shoot of a newborn tree was just rearing its head from the ground substance in front of Qianye. It looked very much like a bamboo shoot.

    The ground within a hundred-meter radius was wiggling amidst the sound of flowing water. Qianye knelt down and ced his hand on the substance, constantly releasing his perception. That kind of energy-rich origin distite was flowing beneath the substance, gushing over from the surrounding trees.

    The sprout grew taller and taller at a rate visible to the naked eye, and before long, it was several meters tall. At this rate, a new giant gree would appear before three days had passed. At that time. This entire forest area would return to its usual state, and the traces of battle would vanish entirely.

    Qianye retracted his aura and stopped breathing entirely, maintaining a state of perfect stealth. Only in this state would the Misty Wood ignore him, and only then would he be able to see the growth of this tree.

    After watching for a moment, Qianye released some of his aura and allowed the forest to sense his presence.

    An odd scene appeared at this point. That madly climbing tree stopped its growth, but the origin distite under the purple substance was still gushing over. This caused the basal substance to bulge high up like a huge balloon and bury the new shoot.

    Such a change came as a surprise to Qianye. At first, he had thought he knew everything there was to know about the Misty Wood¡ªhe would have never expected to encounter such a scene. It would seem that this floating continent was still hiding a lot of secrets despite the absence of the void colossus¡¯ will.

    Qianye¡¯s surprise hadn¡¯t even ended when he sensed something wrong behind him. He thus made a sideways dive and shed ten meters away.

    Several spears whistled over and nailed themselves where Qianye was just now. Dozens of little midgets were charging over amidst loud cries and began hurling spears at Qianye when they arrived within a hundred meters.

    Qianye didn¡¯t care about a handful of midgets. The key was how they had appeared without any prior warning. Sensing something, Qianye looked up at a couple of trees in the distance¡ªthey were rustling constantly as one midget after the other climbed out to charge at him.

    Qianye made an immediate decision to flee, activating Bloodline Concealment at the same time. He would soon be surrounded by hundreds of these little creatures if he hadn¡¯t run away. At that point, he would be in a precarious situation no matter how skilled he was inbat.

    Qianye threw his pursuers off entirely after running a dozen or so kilometers. The midgets and beasts circled around the area several times before finally giving up.

    Qianye felt relieved after confirming the safety of his surroundings. He checked a giant tree and made sure that there was no abnormal activity before climbing onto the lowest branch. He had run at high-speed while maintaining Bloodline Concealment and full awareness of his surroundings. The consumption involved in this short ten-kilometer journey was almost equal to a battle.

    Qianye produced a stimnt and stabbed it into his arm. In and where enemies were lurking in every corner, he needed to be at peakbat strength at all times.

    However, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown after the stimnts entered his body. The one he had used was a standard military-use stimnt which could recover about ten percent of an ordinary champion¡¯s origin power. Qianye¡¯s, on the other hand, was already so dense that it was starting to crystallize. In terms of quantity, he was four or five times superior to his peers. A single dose would only restore two to three percent, but that was still better than nothing.

    He still had stimnts exchanged from the Li family in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm¡ªthey could restore twice the amount at twice the rate. However, the four times efficiency came with a price tag that was sixteen times more expensive. Moreover, they were frequently out of stock.

    Ordinary stimnts were already useless to Qianye, and even the high-efficacy ones had limited effect on him. They only provided a slightly better effect than him circting his Profound Combatant Form. But Misty Wood was filled with dangers and certainly not a good ce for cultivation.

    The only choice left for him was to absorb blood energy. Although Qianye hadn¡¯t absorbed blood energy intentionally during the major battle at the Bai n, he still had imbibed arge amount amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood. One could see from this how killing and devouring was the fastest route for the dark races to raise their power.

    If he could refine the essence blood, his auric me blood would spread throughout his entire body and allow him to be a first-rank viscount. And this was a first-rank viscount by ancient standards.

    But Qianye did not dare because the Song n Ancient Scroll emphasized the bnce between yin and yang, between movement and stillness. The true meaning was that one would need to maintain the bnce between daybreak and evernight. Otherwise, the oue would be unimaginable if an imbnce were to ur.

    Currently, Qianye was only one step away from bing a first-rank viscount, but his daybreak power remained at rank-ten. The difference between the two was well over a level, and the effects of this discrepancy were also bing evident.

    Recently, it seemed as though he had returned to the time when he was just infected by ck blood. He would feel inexplicably fidgety at times¡ªit was as though a fierce beast was raging in his chest, and the only way to calm it down was to kill. Massacre even brought about a faint sense of euphoria. And this¡­ wasn¡¯t a good sign.

    His advancement rate actually made sense because his origin power capacity after each level was much greater than that of ordinary people. His origin vortex had even crystallized after bing a champion, adding much to his consumption.

    He had been fighting one major battle after the next since the beginning of the bloody battle. Even though he had obtained the Profound Combatant Form, Qianye never had the time to sit down and cultivate it. All of this had led to his current situation.

    However, what worried Qianye the most wasn¡¯t the loss of bnce or the resultant destruction of his body. Qianye was able to pry into some of the vampire race¡¯s bloodline secrets after obtaining the knowledge fragments from the River of Blood. Only then did he discover that Andruil¡¯s words might being true.

    Regardless of where his dark golden energy hade from, it was gradually stepping along the path Andruil hadid out.

    The dark golden blood energy¡¯s power and purity were even superior to a primo like Nighteye. He might actually awaken a primogenitor bloodline if it were to develop to the end. At that point, his human bloodline would be overwhelmed, and he would finally turn into a pure-blooded vampire.

 Volume 6 - 594: Storm Pearl

    [V6C124 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Qianye¡¯s daybreak talents had suffered greatly after the theft of his origin crystal. Lin Xitang had evaluated himprehensively¡ªhis inherent talents were first-rate but dropped to fourth-rate after taking his body into ount.

    Presently, all the hidden injuries in his body had been healed, and his talents were widely believed to be Venus Dawn. Qianye himself had always been doubtful, however. He had no confidence that such a Venus Dawn could defy the assimtion of his primogenitor bloodline.

    The only method Qianye could think of was to raise his daybreak origin power as much as possible and use it to suppress the darkness. Optimally, the former should be one level higher than thetter to be free from the influence.

    This meant that he would have to find a way to use up the present store of essence blood instead of assimting it. Fortunately, the Wings of Inception and Book of Darkness were both major consumers. It was just that their usual source was the essence produced from the Mystery Chapter. Qianye had no idea whether they could directly absorb essence blood.

    Qianye tried to establish a connection with the Book of Darkness and Wings of Inception in his consciousness. Then, he split the essence blood in his body into two parts and channeled it toward them.

    The Wings of Inception immediately devoured half of the essence blood like a whale swallowing the river. Its current feathers materialized even further as a new one began to form. The Book of Darkness, on the other hand, was much slower. It absorbed the essence blood strand by strand as though it were picking out the best parts.

    Qianye was in no rush, either, and waited patiently.

    An entire hour passed by before the Book of Darkness managed to absorb the remaining half of the essence blood. Qianye opened his mouth and shot out a stream of dense ck energy, almostparable to a ssh of ck ink. It actually sizzled and eroded the purple substance afternding, and soon, even the ground underneath hade into view.

    It didn¡¯t end there¡ªthe scope of this ck mist¡¯s corrosion continued to expand, turning everything it touched into a pool of ck. Arge pit¡ªtwo meters deep and several meters in radius¡ªappeared before Qianye in the blink of an eye.

    This corrosive power was twice as powerful as that of the impure toxins usually expelled after cultivation. This rmed him quite a bit.

    One had to know that this purple substance wasn¡¯t so simple since it possessed powerful corrosive properties of its own. Apart from some extremely rare metals, there was virtually nothing it couldn¡¯t devour. It went without saying that its natural resistance to erosion was also powerful. But now, it waspletely helpless against Qianye¡¯s ck energy, and arge area of substance was destroyed in mere moments.

    The ck energy was born of the Book of Darkness. The essence blood he had provided the book came from thousands of dark race warriors of differing levels¡ªit was nothing less than a mish-mash of blood. Moreover, it hadn¡¯t been purified by the Mystery Chapter. In the end, the Book of Darkness turned out to be quite picky and continuously spat out the impurities during the absorption process. At times, the book would even remove half of a low-grade essence blood in the form of impurities.

    But Qianye had never imagined that this ck mist of condensed impurities was so toxic. Judging from its present destructive power, even an Evernight count would be badly wounded if struck.

    Beads of sweat appeared at the tip of his nose after recalling how the ck energy had stayed in his body for an entire hour. He suddenly thought of something¡ªcould he have gained a killing move? If he could store the ck energy for a period of time and shoot it out during battle, even a high-ranking dark race expert might suffer if caught unprepared.

    Qianye soon discarded this attractive thought, though. The reason being that such a toxin was no different from a ticking time bomb. If for some reason Qianye lost control of it, even his vampiric constitution might not be able to endure the corrosion, and he would melt into a puddle of ck liquid just like the purple substance.

    He shook his head and continued observing the situation inside his body. The Wings of Inception wasn¡¯t as picky as the Book of Darkness, and neither did it care whether the iing essence was pure or mixed. It epted and devoured all the essence blood thrown at it.

    The wings on the dark golden blood energy became more vivid, and a third feather was starting to form. A little bit more essence blood, and he would be able to form the third Shot of Inception, which would equate to three lifesavers in the battles toe.

    After temporarily getting rid of the excess essence blood, Qianye ced his attention back to the Book of Darkness. He wondered if there would be any changes to the book after absorbing so much essence blood.

    The Book of Darkness trembled slightly as his consciousness arrived and gradually flipped open.

    ...

    In the southern territory of the imperial maind, a magnificent city stood near the coast¡ªits name was Waterfront City. A great number of sails stood towering over the harbor, and a steady stream of airships was shuttling about the four airship ports to its side.

    There was an independent district to the southwest of Waterfront City. This dazzling and inexplicably luxurious section of the city was upied by a continuous array of mansions.

    At this moment, several people were seated around a table in a peaceful courtyard, enjoying the tea and scenery. However, there seemed to be a hidden storm brewing around them.

    A man in his thirties ced his cup down and said in a deep voice, ¡°Things don¡¯t look good over on the void continent. The Evernight Council¡¯s reaction was faster and fiercer than anticipated. Fifth brother, your current office is with the imperial fleet, right? How is the situation there?¡±

    Across him was a man of simr age. He was tall and strong, but his countenance was stained with traces of hardship that made him look even older than his elder brother.

    At this moment, he said with a grave expression, ¡°My sixth fleet was originally the reserve force among the reserve forces. We aren¡¯t at full strength at all and only have one-third of the troops and ships stated on paper. But I just received orders to transfer capable personnel, form a sub-fleet, and head toward the floating continent battlefield.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expression shifted. The calm and handsome leader muttered, ¡°Even Old Five¡¯s fleet is being mobilized. That means the war on the floating continent is doing quite badly and that the news of the main force suffering grave losses is true. We should also prepare ordingly.¡±

    Someone to his left said, ¡°Has Eldest Sister sent any news?¡±

    The leader shook his head. ¡°The imperial harem cannot interfere in politics, even the empress can¡¯t pry into state secrets. Moreover, there are eyes and ears everywhere in the pce, and our previous move against Lin Xitang has alerted them. It¡¯s best for her to avoid arousing suspicion at such a time, lest someone gets ahold on her.¡±

    With that, he nced at everyone and said proudly, ¡°Besides, our Jingtang Li n has so many talents, and our fortune is improving by the day. Why would we need to trouble the eldest sister? Although the battle on the void continent is bound to be difficult, it¡¯s a good chance for us to break the deadlock and take a step forward. As long as we do well here, the status of major n isn¡¯t out of reach!¡±

    This person was the Li n¡¯s current lord, Marquis Wanghai, Li Tianshi. The man was only in his forties and still full of youth and vigor. Being able to sit here in this courtyard also meant that he was a core member of the Li n. At a nce, these people were all in their thirties and forties¡ªLi Tianshi could be considered the eldest here. A scene like this wasn¡¯tmon in aristocratic families.

    The main executives of the aristocracy were mostly made up of people from two generations. It was already quite rare for someone to be a n lord before fifty. There was usually nock of people in their sixties, seventies, or even some centenarians. Song n¡¯s Song Zhongnian, for instance, was actually the nominal n lord, but most of the rights were still in Duchess An¡¯s hands.

    If one were to discuss this matter in earnest, Zhao n¡¯s Zhao Weihuang was considered a young expert because he was less than fifty years old. Even so, he was still a couple of years older than Li Tianshi. In addition, the Zhao n¡¯s authority had to be shared between Duke Yan and Duke You, so the n lord¡¯s power was clearly weaker. Even Zhang Boqian had inherited the title of Duke Dan only several years after he became a marshal¡ªeven so, he was notorious for ignoringmon administrative affairs.

    As such, a family like the Jingtang Li n was indeed rare in the empire.

    These people sitting in the courtyard possessed different temperaments. They were all handsome and elegant. The Jingtang Li Family was prominent in neither politics nor military before bing the empress¡¯ family. In truth, only the upper echelon nobility knew that this family was famed for its divination arts and one of the most ancient inheritances. Their descendants were slightly different in that they possessed a somewhat transcendent demeanor about them.

    Perhaps it could be said that this was why the Li family had thrived amidst the outstanding people since antiquity.

    Li Cunjian, who was in charge of the 6th Fleet, felt inspired by the n lord¡¯s words. However, heughed wryly and said, ¡°Eldest Brother, you have a point there, but the void continent isn¡¯t so easy to conquer. That Misty Wood we¡¯ve upied is connected to many major battlefields. It¡¯ll surely turn into the main stage for experts during thetter parts of the war.¡±

    Li Tianshi¡¯s expression was unchanged. He said calmly, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, we can depend on independent hunters to calm the situation during the early andte stages. Our family will take over during thete phase. We¡¯ll surely be able to hold out through these difficult situations.¡±

    At this moment, someone else sighed. ¡°These outsiders aren¡¯t just arrogant, the resources they¡¯re consuming is also significant. It¡¯s only been one month, but the numbers are already quite sizeable. At this rate, our family coffers will be emptied in half a year.¡±

    Li Tianshi also seemed quite distressed at the mention of this. He sighed. ¡°Spending all this money is still better than paying with the lives of our Li n descendants. The number of experts willing to join our Li n is less than expected even though we offered such a high reward.¡±

    Li Cunjian cut in, ¡°A ce like Misty Wood isn¡¯t for normal people. If it were me, I¡¯d rather go and dig around the central maze instead of staying in that ursed ce.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Everyone here possessed impressive strength and naturally had the same thoughts.

    Li Tianshi pondered for a moment. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, we should pay even more attention! We¡¯ll offer an additional choice in the three-monthly prize offered to the top-ranked expert. Put the Storm Pearl up for grabs in addition to the Stillwater Rebirth. The same goes for the next three months!¡±

    ¡°Storm Pearl!¡± Li Cunjian blurted out. ¡°Our n managed to refine only twelve of them in the past ten years, and we only have three of them left. Are we really going to take two and put them on the rankings?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Li Tianshi¡¯s eyes lit up with an eerie glow. ¡°Stillwater Rebirth is used to save lives and has no immediate effect on those independent experts. Holding onto it will inevitably cause a cmity one day. The Storm Pearl, however, is different. It can break any bottleneck below the divine champion level and raise one¡¯s cultivation rank. Who wouldn¡¯t desire it?¡±

    ¡°Moreover, there are too many people in the n seeking the Storm Pearl. We¡¯ll be offending people no matter who we choose to give it to. Why don¡¯t we just release it like this? Those who want it can fight for it on the rankings! That¡¯ll save us a lot of trouble.¡± Li Tainshi¡¯s tone contained a trace of unhappiness. It would seem being pressured from all sides wasn¡¯t a good feeling.

    Everyone nced at each other, and even the usually extreme Li Cunjian didn¡¯t know what to say.

 Volume 6 - 595: Refinemen

    [V6C125 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Everyone at the scene trembled at the thought. Releasing these two Storm Pearls would definitely cause a huge wave. They would surely be able to attract countless experts, but whether or not the Li n could control the ensuing chaos was a different matter.

    Someone brought up the subject again after a fair moment of silence. ¡°At first, we needed two more years to collect the rare ingredients for this batch of Storm Pearls. It was only because of His Majesty¡¯s need that the imperial warehouse supplied us with them.¡± He paused for a while and said in a probing manner, ¡°Eldest Brother, I also heard that this was on Lin Xitang¡¯s advice?¡±

    Li Tianshi shot him a nce. ¡°Yes, the Storm Pearls are involved in the changes to the floating continent. But it''s enough that you know, do not speak of it. Lin Xitang doesn¡¯t need to use such a material object to deal with our Li family. Don¡¯t overthink things.¡±

    That person was still doubtful. ¡°The War of National Fate isn¡¯t looking good. Since Lin Xitang was injured during the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose, could it be that his divination arts aren¡¯t urate?¡±

    No one responded to these words. Everyone had different thoughts reflected on their faces.

    Li Tianshi¡¯s bearing was calm and unperturbed. ¡°This man, Lin Xitang, you can dislike him all you want, but you can never underestimate him. Moreover, battles have always been influenced by timing, numbers, factional fortune, and the influence of peak characters. Be it Evernight or Great Qin, who would dare speak of being urate?¡±

    That person opened his mouth but downed a cup of tea after realizing that he had no words to say.

    After a pause, Li Tianshi continued, ¡°Even if there are no changes to the floating continent, what does our Li family have to lose? The Storm Pearl can increase the rank of any cultivator below the divine champion level by one. Just this effect alone is enough to make people covetous.¡±

    Someone sighed in dissatisfaction. ¡°But we spent so much effort on them. Are we going to give it away just like that?¡±

    ¡°If two Storm Pearls can get us the Misty Wood, then it¡¯s not a loss. This is the key to our upgrade to a major n.¡± As someone leading armies, Li Cunjian was fairly clear to this fact. Soon afterward, he sneered, ¡°Even if those outsiders can obtain such a treasure, they would need to be alive to use it.¡±

    Everyone suddenly realized something.

    Li Tianshi said, ¡°It¡¯s settled then. Oh right, call back Little Nine and give him a new identity and name. Have him go to the floating continent to contest for contributions.¡±

    ¡°Call Qingyun back?¡±

    Li Tianshi nodded. ¡°Yes, his talents are inferior, and his hopes of bing a divine champion are slim. He might be able to take thatst step with the help of the Storm Pearl. I can¡¯t openly favor him, but giving him such an opportunity is justified. With this fortune and future luck, he might just be able to cross over that threshold.¡±

    Everyone nced at each other and nodded slowly.

    High-ranking aristocratic families had the ability to restrain divine champions, but in order to upgrade to a true major n, they would need a real divine champion to hold the fort. The Li family had already made preparations for this. But things aren¡¯t constant among the aristocracy¡ªthe danger of falling down in times of weakness was always looming over the horizon. With the Song n¡¯s awkward situation serving as an example, everyone knew that there was no such thing as too many opportunities for their scions.

    Li Tianshi¡¯s arrangement of hitting many birds with one stone was naturally good. It was just that snatching food from a pack of wolves wasn¡¯t that easy. Even after sess, the path to bing a divine champion was long and hard.

    Li Qingyun was, since his youth, intelligent and loved martial arts. He would learn and master every technique almost instantly. His temperament was brutal, his killing intent was strong, and his attacks, always unrestrained. At the same time, he was even a bit stronger than Li Kuann. His weakness, however, was his inferior talents, and even the Li n couldn¡¯t find a secret medicine capable of transforming himpletely. Hence, his case had always been considered a matter of regret.

    Li Tianshi scanned everyone, and after seeing no objections, he said, ¡°Then everything is settled. Start spreading the news.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions turned serious as they affirmed the instructions. They knew that a storm would ensue before long.

    Li Tianshi remained motionless after everyone had left. Only when a man in his forties entered the courtyard did he stand up and bring him into the study.

    Within that elegantly decorated room, there was a person arranging a chessboard on his own. The man was d in simple clothing and appeared to be in his twenties at a nce. Upon careful observation, however, one would find that he wasn¡¯t as young as he seemed on the surface.

    Li Tianshi greeted, ¡°Brother-inw.¡± He then turned toward his follower. ¡°All the intelligence has been gathered, yes? Report directly.¡±

    The follower opened the document folder in his hand and said, ¡°There¡¯s been progress in all of the matters Elder Rui has instructed us to investigate.¡± As the matter wasn¡¯t tooplicated and the follower was also a talented individual, the report was delivered clearly in just a short while.

    ¡°This means Lin Xitang has indeed left the imperial capital during the battle at Giant¡¯s Repose.¡± Li Rui¡¯s eyes fell upon the chessboard as he calmly ced another piece. ¡°He went to the Greensun Manor yesterday? How bold. What is the marquis¡¯ opinion?¡±

    Li Tianshi sat formally and looked down at his hands on his knee. ¡°It¡¯s improper for us to cause any more disturbances during the war of national fate. The waves around the floating continent will only increase.¡±

    Li Ruiughed as he threw the two white pieces in his hand into the box. ¡°Winds and waves aren¡¯t a problem. How can there be a tidal wave without a storm? Never mind, leave the struggle between orthodoxies to us old fellows. You youngsters focus on expanding outward! Have you made preparations for the redistribution of military zones?¡±

    Li Tianshi replied, ¡°Uncle Fangqing has been transferred to the war department. With the addition of a couple of other people, our participation in the army leadership will be quite expansive. His Majesty¡¯s imperial guards will also recruit two lieutenant generals from our family. Unfortunately, things happened too fast, and we didn¡¯t have the time to produce any marshal candidates.¡±

    The redistribution of military zones wasn¡¯t just about removing a couple of marshals. There would be drastic changes from the military to regional administration. General Li Fangqing was the Jingtang Li Family¡¯s highest-ranking member in the military world. He was currently the localmander in charge of the military police. This was a position of great power, but in the end, those managing internal affairs were inferior to the generals overseeingrge warzones.

    Li Rui said, ¡°Our family¡¯s roots in the army are too thin. We might not be able to obtain stable military authority even if we expose our divine champion power two years in advance. It¡¯s great that we were able to obtain more active offices, but we must pick the right people to enter the imperial guard.¡± He gave it some thought and said, ¡°I¡¯m rather concerned about your siblings, especially Lil¡¯ Lan.¡±

    Li Tianshi¡¯s calm expression suddenly shifted, and his brows couldn¡¯t help but knit together.

    Li Rui looked up at his expression and said, ¡°Even you don¡¯t know how Lil¡¯ Lan became rted to those two little fellows?¡±

    Li Tianshi smiled wryly. ¡°Little sister probably met Zhao Jundu while exploring the central cave in Giant¡¯s Repose. Song Zining, on the other hand, has always been moving with the main army, and he had remained in Prince Greensun¡¯smand centerter on. If she had really gone to the Zhang n¡¯s camp... there¡¯s no way we wouldn¡¯t know that.¡±

    Li Rui also revealed a helpless expression. ¡°She¡¯s really been spoiled!¡± That was what he said, but one could hardly hear any me in his words.

    Li Tianshi¡¯s smile turned even more rueful. Their little sister was a child their father had gotten at an old age and had thus received much of the elders¡¯ affection. All the siblings, including Empress Li, had pampered her like they would, a daughter. However, she had always been cold and detached despite her intelligence and great talents, eventually growing up to be such a person. They truly had no one else to me for this.

    But this matter was simply too delicate¡ªit was fine if nothing happened, but it would be difficult to handle once something hade up.

    ¡°Lil¡¯ Lan is causing too much trouble this time. You¡¯d better keep an eye on her,¡± said Li Rui. ¡°We can ignore Song Zining, but that Zhao Jundu is a different matter. He¡¯s the son of the eldest Princess, someone younger by an entire generation. Moreover, during the fight for orthodoxies back then, Duke Xuanyuan, Zhao Xuanyun, supported the Eastern Tranquility Tower in contending with us, causing both sides to suffer. This led to that nobody Lin Xitang¡¯s meteoric rise. The orthodoxy is our Li n¡¯s foundation. There¡¯s no reconciliation between us and the Zhao n.¡±

    Li Tianshi¡¯s expression froze. He hadn¡¯t expected Li Rui to take a child¡¯s mischief so seriously. He gave it some thought before asking, ¡°I heard that the alliance the elders were trying to form with Prince Greensun didn¡¯t go very well. What happened after that?¡±

    Li Rui frowned upon hearing this. ¡°His Excellency Zhang refuses toment. He neither agrees nor refuses. I¡¯ll discuss this matter with the empress when I visit the imperial capital this time.¡±

    Li Tianshi lowered his gaze in contemtion.

    Li Rui stood up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll set out tonight.¡± He didn¡¯t leave via the main doors but went into the bedroom instead. There, he moved a hanging flower pot, and following which, the bookcase moved away to reveal a dark passage.

    Before going in, Li Rui suddenly turned back and said, ¡°Marquis, you¡¯re a man of great skill and strategy, one most fitting to lead our family to power. But sometimes, you shouldn¡¯t act on emotions.¡±

    Li Tianshi sat in ce for a long while. The aide beside him also remained seated as straight as a pir.

    ¡°Zhi Jie, is Lil¡¯ Lan still in isted cultivation?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it has been said that the Young Miss has gained some insights on the path tobat perfection. This time, she¡¯s going to remain in istion until she fullyprehends that Hidden Snow Stance.¡± Presently, most of the family servants only knew that the n lord had a young brother. This aide knew because he was the son of Li Tianshi¡¯s wet nurse and had been following him since a young age. He could hardly change his address after all this time.

    Li Tianshi asked again, ¡°What exactly is Marshal Lin¡¯s situation?¡±

    The follower replied, ¡°There were rumors a while ago about him being injured during the divination of Giant¡¯s Repose, but that¡¯s false information released by the Northern Manor. There really is something wrong with his body, but the situation is unclear.¡±

    Li Tianshi nodded and dismissed the aide. He sat there for quite a while after the aide left before walking over to the window, his gaze traversing all obstructions tond on the mountain and sea.

    The Jingtan Li n¡¯s divination art was an ancient inheritanceparable to the long history of the four major ns. Despite being set back quite badly during the battle of orthodoxies back then, the n remained a colossal entity and was an honored guest to many an imperial n member and nobility.

    However, every entity had its strengths and weaknesses. The Li n¡¯s overall strength had always been lingering around the top tier of the aristocratic families. They were still a fair distance away from upgrading to the status of a major n.

    Although the two factions had been fighting constantly, the empire had been internally peaceful for quite some time, so it wasn¡¯t that easy for the Li family to pioneer new territory. If they were to follow normal procedures, the family would hardly be able to take that next step in Li Tianshi¡¯s entire lifetime.

    Li Tianshiughed all of a sudden. A me flickered in his eyes as he muttered to himself, ¡°Those with influence but no power will always rely on others. How can I allow myself to be restrained so? War of national fate? Heh!¡±

    The spread of news in the empire was both fast and slow. Usually, it would take months for things at the border to reach the imperial capital, but big news would spread throughout the major ns in a single day. Before a single day had passed, the Storm Pearl¡¯s appearance on the Li n ranking awards had reached the desks of every n lord.

    Numerous undercurrents started flowing immediately.

    Qianye, who was on the distant floating continent, had no idea what this so-called Storm Pearl was. Even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t pay too much attention to it. This Storm Pearl could upgrade one¡¯s talent potential below the divine champion rank, but it was useless for Qianye.

    He cultivated the Song n Ancient Scroll which was poles apart from the orthodox principles¡ªthere wasn¡¯t any bottleneck to speak of. The only thing he needed to do was maintain the bnce until the two parts had reached the apex and then proceed to explore the primal chaos realm mentioned in the outlines.

    Additionally, what Qianye wanted from this war weren¡¯t resources but purely contribution points.

    At this moment, Qianye was paying rapt attention as he opened the Book of Darkness.

    Beneath the thick cover was a familiar list of contents. The same words were written upon it: Refinement.

    The table of contents flipped over in response to Qianye¡¯s consciousness. There, the mass of rolling darkness turned into human figures demonstrating swordy.

    Qianye was beyond familiar with this move. It was one of his killing moves¡ªNirvanic Rend. However, the Nirvanic Rend at this moment was no longer the same as before. It had be much clearer, and there was a sharp sword intent rushing at his face. This meant that the move had been further perfected, and its might had grown significantly.

    Qianye seemed to have understood something and tried flipping the page over. As expected, a new page had appeared after Nirvanic Rend. There was also a sword-wielding figure here, holding the de with both hands and dealing one strike in each of the eight directions around it.

    This move was much simplerpared to Nirvanic Rend. However, the concept of the de wasn¡¯t normal. It was simple and unadorned yet dignified. Every blow possessed a might capable of splitting the skies and parting the oceans. That suppressive pressure rushing out at his face caused Qianye to feel stifled!

 Volume 6 - 596: Sweeping Calm

    [V6C126 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye focused his mind and finally recovered from the suppressive might of the sword.

    As the sword stance condensed within the Book of Darkness, its basic arts also appeared within Qianye¡¯s consciousness. He promptly memorized its moves and patterns of force application, then began pondering a different issue¡ªthe profundities of the Book of Darkness.

    It was when Qianye was practicing the basic sword stances that the Nirvanic Rend had appeared. At that time, his foundations were stable but had no powerfulbat art inheritances. He had East Peak in hand but no mighty killing move. Hence, the Book of Darkness had condensed Nirvanic Rend from hundreds of basic sword stances, forming a move that best suited Qianye and East Peak. This move would surely be weaker in any other person¡¯s hand.

    A new move had appeared at the moment and it was clearly made for groupbat. Connecting this to the most recent experiences, Qianye came to the conclusion that his recent lethal battle against the dark race¡ªin addition to being hunted down by fierce beasts and midgets¡ªhad triggered the Book of Darkness to produce this killing move.

    This sword strike was simr to Nirvanic Rend in that its momentum was massive. One could see at a nce that it was made solely for East Peak¡ªlighter swords would never be able to produce such a powerful attack.

    However, there were many unclear parts in this newly refined move. Qianye pondered the move repeatedly andpared it to the cultivation process of Nirvanic Rend, finally realizing that the sword arts produced by the Book of Darkness weren¡¯t perfect. Its overall power was more or less equal to a major n¡¯s secret arts.

    An inheritance of this level couldn¡¯t be considered excessively valuable since it was avable to all lineal scions and other important descendants. There was a higher level of core inheritance above this. For instance, Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal was one of the Zhao n¡¯s core inheritances, and its power was clearly superior to the arts refined by the Book of Darkness.

    But arts like Nirvanic Rend produced by the book had a fair amount of room to grow. This required Qianye¡¯s constant cultivation andprehension to bring it up step by step. Presently, Nirvanic Rend¡¯s might had grown significantlypared to the outset and was edging closer to the level of those secret major-n arts.

    After pondering about this, Qianye came to a general understanding of the requirements involved in the Book of Darkness¡¯ refinement process. It required not only essence blood but also a trigger. At the same time, there was also an upper limit. Nirvanic Rend wouldn¡¯t have been sparked If he hadn¡¯t practiced the basic sword moves. If he hadn¡¯t engaged enemies in arge scale battle, the current move wouldn¡¯t have be avable. He would need to analyze this new-found power in depth to reach a state of perfectprehension.

    This meant that the Book of Darkness was only giving Qianye a pointer at the critical juncture. This result greatly discounted from the book¡¯s perceived uses, but it was still extremely important nheless.

    The secret arts of the major ns came mostly from the first awakening of daybreak origin power and had gone through 1200 years of polishing. If Qianye had to fumble about on his own, who knew how long it would take for him to figure out a move like Nirvanic rend?

    Qianye pushed his emotional thoughts away and began studying the new sword technique.

    This move shed in the eight directions¡ªboth its technique and origin power cirction methods were fairly concise. The keyy in its outstanding power and surging aggression. Runic words had emerged on the Book of Darkness during Nirvanic Rend¡¯s birth, but there was nothing this time. Perhaps it was due to theck of essence blood or some other reason.

    Qianye pondered for a while. ¡°Let¡¯s call it Sweeping War¡ªno, let¡¯s name it Sweeping Silence.¡±

    War and Order, just one word¡¯s difference had changed the concept entirely. It felt as though merelying up with the name improved one¡¯sprehension by a level.

    Momentster, he had grasped the basics of Sweeping Silence. As such, he got up to try out the new move.

    With East Peak in hand, Qianye focused his mind, calmed his energy, and shed straight forward with a sudden shout!

    The origin power in Qianye¡¯s body discharged abruptly like flowing water. East Peak grew several times heavier¡ªmoving it was almost like carrying a small mountain. This single strike drained a good chunk of Qianye¡¯s origin power. The second strikeshed out toward his left front side. At this point, half of his origin power had been depleted. He barely managed to finish half of the third swing when East Peak sank down and pierced diagonally into the ground and the sword momentum dispersed like clouds in the wind.

    Qianye had long since known that Sweeping Silence wouldn¡¯t be that easy but the results still astonished him greatly. There were eight strikes in Sweeping Silence to cover every direction without leaving any openings. A single strike to erase all life¡ªthat was the true meaning of Sweeping Silence. Ignoring its power, for now, the consumption was truly shocking. Even someone with Qianye¡¯s cultivation could barely produce three swings?

    Qianye heard a series of pitter-patter at this moment. He immediately looked over and found the source of this sound. To the front and left of him, the purple substance within a ten-meter radius had been nketed in ayer of grey, its original vitality nowhere to be found.

    Arge swathe of purple substance began to transform into a deathly ashen hue with countless minute cracks appearing on the surface. Soon afterward, the affected substance turned into a puff of smoke and scattered into the air, revealing the naked soil beneath.

    The ground didn¡¯t recover either. Traces of dense sword intent weaved through the ground¡ªeven a mouse might be cut into ten-pieces if struck.

    There was a giant tree ten meters in front of Qianye. Its branches trembled constantly amidst life-like cries of mournful agony.

    By the time Qianye looked over, a grey line had already appeared on its body. It stretched out rapidly, and soon, turned into a wide grey belt. Afterward, this belt broke apart and shattered into countless air-borne fragments which slowly fluttered down.

    The giant tree trembled with greater intensity as though it were in great pain. The giant trees nearby also began to shake and scream.

    Qianye was still in a daze when he suddenly thought of something. He quickly looked up at the treetops and found the lifeforms there struggling with all their might, on the verge of breaking out of the membranes.

    Moreover, it wasn¡¯t just the giant tree. All the other trees nearby were also in the same state.

    This scene was inexplicably eerie and caused Qianye to sweat profusely. Before he could make a decision, the surrounding treetops opened up, sending thousands of midgets and beasts raining down.

    How would Qianye dare to stay after seeing this? He immediately picked up East Peak and fled as the thousands of creatures chased after him like a rolling tidal wave.

    Qianye ran with every ounce of strength he could muster, no longer caring about hiding his aura. His main reason for cultivating the Sweeping Calm was to deal with such situations. But now, he couldn¡¯t even calm a single direction¡ªall he could do was run for his life.

    He had expended his daybreak origin power at the moment, but he still had his blood energy. Add to that his ancient first-rank viscount constitution and speed, he was able to flee like the wind. He finally managed to throw off the pursuers after an unknown length of time. But he didn¡¯t dare act too recklessly. He kept on running for several dozen kilometers after the sounds behind him had vanished before stopping to rest.

    Qianye leaned upon a giant tree and finally managed to catch his breath, his heart still beating fast as he recalled the tidal wave of beasts. He then nced around at the giant trees nearby and was ovee by odd emotions.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t stayed in Misty Wood for very long during hisst excursion into Giant¡¯s Repose. He had passed through quickly and arrived at the central caverns.

    As far as Qianye could remember, he had fought a couple of battles in this ce and also damaged the giant trees during the process. However, the giant trees showed no reaction back then. For some reason, the forest produced arge wave of creatures only when all the experts had entered the cavern maze. These creatures poured into the underground caverns and caused the two factions to suffer severe casualties.

    Qianye rested for a while and stood up after recovering a fair amount of origin power. Then, he reached out to knock on the tree beside him.

    Just as before, there wasn¡¯t the slightest reaction and the peculiar tree top was also excessively quiet. If Qianye hadn¡¯t witnessed it many times, he would find it hard to believe these treetops were actually gestating so many creatures.

    Qianye circled the giant tree a couple of times as a notion gradually formed in his heart. No matter what had caused this forest to be so dangerous, he could make use of it. If even he himself had to run so miserably from the tide of creatures, his opponents among the dark races and the empire would naturally find it pretty difficult to handle. Additionally, they probably didn¡¯t have Qianye¡¯s speed and skills like Bloodline Concealment¡ªif he could manipte the forest well, this ce would be their grave.

    Qianye had lost track of his bearings after the frantic run and had no idea where he was. But the Misty Wood was circr in shape, so he would surely find a way out as long as he kept going in one direction. At that point, he could use the outside geography to find out where he was.

    Qianye advanced in a certain direction. After half a day, he suddenly heard faint soundsing from up ahead. He quickly halted his steps, retracted his aura, and approached the source under cover of the giant trees.

    Everyone¡¯s perception within the Misty Wood was grossly limited. Being able to hear sounds meant that the other party was within a thousand meters. Qianye¡¯s senses indeed far surpassed that of ordinary experts, but he didn¡¯t dare act carelessly as this was a war of national fate. There were experts everywhere, and there should be nock of those possessing secret arts or special talents in this regard.

    After moving close to a hundred meters forward, a row of silhouettes finally appeared in his True Sight. These figures were moving in a strict arrangement with their steps falling in tandem. They were actually in battle formation amidst such a densely forested area.

    Several dozen wolves roamed the area around the central squad. Upon closer inspection, those were werewolves inbat state, standing guard on the periphery. A number ofrge arachne brought up the rear of the formation, followed by a dozen or so woond spiders loaded with cargo.

    Rustling sounds echoed through the forest. Qianye looked down and found a fist-sized spiderling crawling past his feet and into the distance. These spiderlings were the eyes and ears of the arachne and were frequently employed as scouts on the battlefield.

    But Qianye, who had activated Bloodline Concealment, was no different from a lifeless tree or rock to them.

    That spiderling was only the first. Tens of thousands of critters swarmed over in a dense formation and moved forward along with the army.

    Qianye stood still and quietly gauged this squads¡¯ numbers.

    It was a force of close to a thousand soldiers. It was perhaps not too great in terms of numbers but the members were all soldiers of the dark race regr army and its core was made up of vampire warriors. Such a force would be apanied by tens of thousands of cannon fodder on the battlefield. Back when Luther had attacked ckflow City, his force was more or less the same. Moreover, thebat strength of Luther¡¯s main squad might even be slightly inferior to the one here.

    Without a need for further assessment, Qianye knew that this bone was too difficult to chew on. Moreover, a disciplined force like this surely possessed great fighting power, likely on par with elite imperial corps like Red Scorpion and Broken-Winged Angels.

    Qianye made no movement. Only when the entire force had passed by did he lift his leg and stomp thest spiderling to death. The dozen or so spiderlings around him sensed something wrong and immediately became restless. They began moving about in all directions, but they couldn¡¯t sense anything even when crawling over Qianye¡¯s feet.

    By the time Qianye moved his foot away, the spider had already turned into meat paste and its fluids had fallen onto the purple substance. This immediately stirred up a reaction and the purple substance began to wiggle as it absorbed the spiderling¡¯s blood. However, the other spiders didn¡¯t stir up a reaction.

    Now, this wasn¡¯t normal.

 Volume 6 - 597: Interception

    [V6C127 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye had already discovered during thest war that this world, especially this forest, was hostile to all outside life-forms. Back then, it was expressed more evidently in the form of the void colossus¡¯ suppression.

    The suppression had vanished at the moment, but ordinary creatures still couldn¡¯t survive in this forest. For instance, an ordinary beast would copse from exhaustion after a while and be nutrition for the forest.

    However, the servspiders raised by the arachne appeared to be unaffected, and that was peculiar. Qianye hadn¡¯t seen these palm-sized scouting servspiders before during thest war. Now that arge number of such low-level spiders had appeared, it was clear that the dark races had already figured out some of the secrets of Misty Wood and managed to dissolve a part of the forest¡¯s hostility. If this guess were true, it would mean that Misty Wood was no longer a fair battlefield¡ªit was leaning toward the dark races. In other words, the dark races had obtained the initiative in adapting to the forest. From the point of practicalbat, being able to use servspiders meant that the dark races would have an edge in terms of preparedness.

    Qianye sighed to himself; this wasn¡¯t good news at all. Qianye¡¯s superior vision was his greatest advantage in Misty Wood. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have chosen this hostilendscape as his battlefield. If he were to lose this advantage, the only thing left for him would be an arduous battle.

    The servspiders would expand the dark race¡¯s perception range, but at least for now, it would seem the warriors themselves hadn¡¯t received any buffs.

    Qianye waited in silence for a while. Only after the squad had vanished entirely did he calcte the distance and circle around to its front. There, he found a good sniping position to wait in ambush. He brought out Thunderbolt and proceeded to push a mithril bullet into the chamber.

    As expected, the squad soon appeared through the distant mist. Qianye waited patiently. At less than five hundred meters, he didn¡¯t even need to aim and merely relied on True Sight to lock onto a vampire at the center of the squad.

    Judging from the intensity of his blood energy, he was likely a third-rank viscount. Although he wasn¡¯t the leader of this squad, he was at least themander of the vampire soldiers.

    Qianye held his breath and activated Heavy Caliber and urate Shooting. Only when the bullet was enshrouded in ayer of origin power did he pull the trigger.

    The thunderous timber of the sniper rifle broke the pervasive silence of the Misty Wood and spread to half the squad. The vampire had just activated his blood energy and was trying to figure out where the danger wasing from when arge hole appeared on his head¡ªalmost half his brain had been sted away.

    Qianye cursed inwardly. Although the shot had struck directly, the vampire viscount¡¯s instinctive evasion had caused his vampiric fang to be sted to pieces. Viscount-grade fangs didn¡¯t just serve as proof of contribution but were also of great value in and of themselves.

    Despite all of that, his movements didn¡¯t slow down in the slightest. He loaded a new bullet and took aim at the arachne at the back who was evidently taller than his peers.

    Another gunshot rang out. The arachne baron could hardly believe what had happened as it nced down at the gaping hole in its chest and gradually copsed. The arachne¡¯s heavy armor had been pierced through by a single mithril bullet.

    Qianye pushed in yet another round and moved the muzzle slightly before mes spat out from the muzzle yet again. This time, an arachne that was attempting to assemble the troops fell down in response.

    Thunderbolt rang out time and again. Qianye had fired ten rounds in the blink of an eye, felling a high-ranking warrior with every shot.

    Only at this point did the dark races manage to confirm Qianye¡¯s position. It wasn¡¯t because they were slow to react, but because the servspiders remained unresponsive to Qianye. The warriors'' senses were in chaos within the Misty Wood as most of them could only sense within a hundred meters¡ªthe gunshots sounded to them like they wereing from every direction.

    But this squad was indeed well-trained. They began retaliating immediately after figuring out the trajectory of the iing bullets. Countless origin bullets whistled through the air, forming streams of fiery light which badly damaged the treetop Qianye was hiding in. Many of the chambers were destroyed with dark yellow fluids flowing out from within.

    But the dark races¡¯ attacks didn¡¯t trigger any response from the giant trees. There weren¡¯t any beasts or midgets in the broken chambers, either.

    While cursing at the forest¡¯s preferential treatment, Qianye fired two more rounds and killed the two werewolf knights charging at the front. Only after that did he descend calmly and run into the depths of the forest.

    Just a single assault had dealt massive damage to the dark race. Qianye¡¯s initial targets were all top-ranked warriors, including a third-rank viscount and a knight at the lowest. Although the ordinary warriors were unharmed for the moment, the death of most of their middle-ranking officers would inevitably lower their overall fighting power.

    Qianye ran at a steady pace, allowing the pursuers to gradually catch up to him. At the foremost were dozens of werewolves, followed closely by vampires.

    Qianye looked back with a cold smile. It wasn¡¯t surprising that the werewolves made up the bulk of his pursuers since the bewildering forest affected vision and hearing more than it did the sense of smell. The only problem was that the forest would devour everything, so the smell would only linger for a while.

    During a pursuit, however, the undispersed scent would be a guidingmp, and this was the werewolves¡¯ specialty. Comparatively, the vampires were a bit slower and thus gradually fell behind.

    Qianye stopped all of a sudden and faced the iing werewolves with the Twin Flowers in hand.

    The dozens of werewolves were in theirbat forms. Their eyes turned red, and their howls pierced through the mist as they suddenly discovered Qianye right in front of them! They didn¡¯t have the time for careful thought and merely pounced at Qianye out of instinct.

    A continuous stream of gunshots rang out through the Misty Wood. The different timbers of Mystic Spider Lily and Bloody Datura weaved together to form a beautiful melody of death.

    Using these two grade-five handguns wasn¡¯t much of a burden for the current Qianye. He moved as quick as lightning. Lock, load, and fire¡ªeverything happened in one smooth flow. One could hardly see the movement of his hands through the hail of bullets. The charging werewolf elites fell in droves, all of them struck in the vitals, and were either dead or gravely injured.

    Even the fierce and bloodthirsty werewolves couldn¡¯t help but fall into chaos at this point, and their charge was disrupted momentarily.

    Qianye quickly put away his guns, tossed out several vampire grenades, and left. The continuous explosions obstructed the pursuers behind him. By the time the smoke had dispersed, Qianye was already nowhere to be found.

    Copsed werewolvesy strewn across the ground. Most of the dead had fallen to gunshots, while the remainder were mostly injured by shockwaves from the grenades. A vampire baron walked over at this point. His expression was one of tant disgust as he flipped the injured werewolves over with his sword to check their wounds.

    Momentster, the inspection waspleted. The vampire baron removed his blood-stained gloves in silence and tossed them onto the face of the dark brown werewolf at his feet. ¡°Leave them all here.¡±

    The injured werewolves snarled furiously. The surviving werewolves weren¡¯t satisfied, either, and began encircling him.

    The baron wasn¡¯t lenient at all. His sword flew up all of a sudden and stabbed at the hearts of the two closest werewolves, grinding them to pieces with a twist of his hand. He then scanned the surviving werewolves with cold eyes and said, ¡°Who else wants to die?¡±

    The survivors were already few in number, and their leader had also been killed by Qianye. At this moment, all they could do was edge away from these vampires and howl in discontent.

    The gravely injured were abandoned and would soon be nutrients for the forest. With their injuries, they could hardly control the leakage of origin power, and they would soon be drained by the forest. This wasn¡¯t a problem one could solve with bandages. If they weren¡¯t left behind, a portion of their group would need to split off and escort them out of the forest. Otherwise, death was the only oue for them.

    ¡°Clean up the battlefield and set out immediately. You all should know the oue if we don¡¯t arrive at the destination by noon!¡± the vampire baron shouted thus and turned back toward the main squad with his subordinates.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t gone very far and soon arrived near this squad once more. He was going to chew this hard bone bite by bite. Compared to the forest, such an elite squad would be able to disy several times more fighting power if allowed onto the battlefield.

    Qianye didn¡¯t climb onto a tree this time and merely hid behind the giant trunk. This deprived him of visual advantage but would allow him to leave the battlefield much faster. Their high-ranking officers were dead anyway, so the only thing left to do was whittle away at their strength.

    Qianye¡¯s movements were slow, gentle, and contained an odd cadence within. Even though he was gradually activating Thunderbolt¡¯s origin array, the origin power aura only lingered around him and didn¡¯t seep outward. This trick also stemmed from his Bloodline Concealment, allowing his weapon to also remain obscure.

    The mithril bullet gradually heated up as origin power surged within the array. Very soon, the umted power had reached a critical point.

    A thunderous rumble echoed once more through the woods as the mithril bullet left the chamber. This time, the vampire baron at the center of the squad hadn¡¯t even heard the sound when his head burst into a bloody mist.

    Qianye felt a simr pain at the loss of two more vampiric fangs.

    He pressed another bullet into the chamber and got ready to strike another target. This time, it was an arachne knight, but there wasn¡¯t much aiming to do against such a huge target. Thunderbolt swayed ever so slightly as the crosshairs locked firmly onto the arachne¡¯s nucleus.

    Arachne below the viscount level didn¡¯t possess fully developed nuclei. ordingly, their defenses were also far weaker than one with a mature nucleus. Qianye¡¯s shot would badly injure the arachne as long as it could pierce through the heavy armor. And being injured in Misty Wood meant death.

    A sense of extreme danger welled up in Qianye¡¯s heart as the mithril bullet left the muzzle. He immediately leapt sideways without pondering deeper. However, his body had just started to move when a force akin a sledgehammer-blow struck his back. His entire body was flung out, and he couldn¡¯t help but spray out a mouthful of blood in the air.

    This blood was bright red and actually contained golden specks of light within it. The dense vitality immediately caused the surrounding purple substance to grow restless.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank because he had actually spat out auric me blood! It would seem his injury was grave.

 Volume 6 - 598: Shadowy Pursui

    [V6C128 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Qianye fell to the ground with a plop. However, he had no time to pay attention to the pain at his back as he shed behind a different tree with a flip of his body. His figure had just disappeared when yet another bullet chased after him and struck the tree, producing a meter-wide hole therein. A giant tree that would take several men to wrap their arms around was almost pierced through.

    The firepower of this shot caused Qianye to shiver. It was quite fortunate that his reactions were fast enough¡ªthe situation would¡¯ve been dire if he were struck directly.

    Qianye rolled backward under the cover of the giant tree and switched locations a couple more times before stopping to observe his injuries. The firepower behind this shot was so powerful that even Young Dragon had been pierced through, producing a bowl-sized opening where it had struck.

    If it were still Iron Wall on his body, the shot might¡¯ve injured his heart already. Qianye felt his back burning as though several red-hot nails were piercing into him. Apparently, there was ck titanium in this bullet, and the amount was also quite significant.

    Qianye gritted his teeth as he broke several syringes and poured the contents onto the wound. At the same time, he injected four stimnts into his neck where the medicinal effects would appear the fastest. After doing all that, Qianye listened to the dark race¡¯s movements briefly and tossed out several origin grenades. Two of them were hurled toward where the sneak attack hade from, while the remainder made for the rest of the dark race squad.

    The violent explosions sent the dark race warriors into chaos, and a woond spider was even sted into the air. Those trying to evade and those attempting to pursue crashed into one another, resulting in a scene of utter confusion.

    An explosion also urred in the direction of the assant, but there wasn¡¯t even a trace of that person at that location. Instead, a figure appeared on another side of the battlefield. That person lowered his sniper rifle with an unsightly expression and uttered, ¡°Crap!¡±

    The grenade explosions hadn¡¯t reached him in the slightest, but his vision was now full of blood energy, mes, and flowing origin power¡ªeverything was in chaos. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s silhouette and aura had long since vanished.

    He leapt up and flitted across the purple substance at unimaginable speeds. In the blink of an eye, he had circled around the disorderly squad to arrive at Qianye¡¯s location. However, all he could see now was a field of hazy mist without a single living being. It was at this time that he suddenly noticed a familiar shadow sh past the corner of his eye.

    He turned back abruptly only to see the silhouette traverse the chaotic battlefield and vanish into the distance. All the while, the surrounding dark race soldiers remained oblivious to his presence.

    He instinctively recognized this shadow as the target of his assassination and took aim at lightning speed. However, he could no longer see anything in his scoped vision. Only a faint trail of origin power remained, and even that was dispersing rapidly amidst the chaotic environment.

    He didn¡¯t fire blindly, opting instead to rx his trigger finger and slowly lower the gun. Under a hood behind the scope was a countenance no less handsome than that of a vampire. This was precisely the demonkin count whom Qianye had met briefly on the battlefield.

    ¡°You won¡¯t escape.¡± Eden looked down at the rifle in his hand. It was a firearm crafted in pure demonkin fashion¡ªodd yet beautiful, sinister yet elegant. There were exquisite arrays carved onto the two-meter-long rifle, and some of itsponents were already priceless in terms of materials, let alone the rifle itself.

    Eden¡¯s expression was somewhat odd as he nced at his beloved gun. ¡°Even this can¡¯t kill you? Just who are you?¡±

    The grade-seven rifle in Eden¡¯s hand was called ¡°Shadow Carol¡±, a weapon that could be considered famous in the Dark Abyss. This gun¡¯s history could be traced back a thousand years. Every time a change of owners had taken ce, a demonkin grandmaster would perform adjustments on the weapon ording to the talents of the new owner. In terms of firepower, it was well above Zhao Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament.

    Eden was able to fully control its might only after bing a mighty count. That direct hit just now should¡¯ve killed any human champion below rank fourteen on the spot, but not only had the other party survived, he even had the power to counterattack and run away. This kind of defensive power was even greater than Eden himself.

    The demonkin collected his thoughts and raised his right hand. Several hazy figures appeared around him in the blink of an eye.

    ¡°Chase him down and kill him.¡± Eden¡¯smand was clear. Those figures bowed and stepped back into the omnipresent shadows of the Misty Wood.

    Eden didn¡¯t follow them. Instead, he proceeded to observe the surroundings little by little, not letting even the most minute of details escape his eyes. He soon arrived at an empty spot where Qianye had spat out the mouthful of blood.

    The purple substance on the ground was squirming fiercely. Eden had witnessed such a scene many times, and couldn¡¯t be clearer about the corrosive and devouring characteristics of the substance. Blood that hadnded on it would be swallowed clean in the span of a few breaths, and the billowing of the substance meant that the blood contained an abundance of origin power. On the one hand, it proved how powerful Qianye was, while on the other, it went to show that he had been badly injured.

    Eden observed briefly and was just about to leave when a sudden notion urred to him¡ªhis steps came to a halt and his eyes widened as they returned to the squirming purple substance.

    Instead of weakening, the billowing of the substance grew increasingly violent. In the end, the rolling waves expanded to several meters in radius. There was little chance Qianye would¡¯ve sprayed blood over such a wide area, even if he was badly injured. The intensity was the greatest at the center, but the substance gradually fell instead of rising up, almost revealing the soil beneath.

    The ground substance wasn¡¯t devouring the blood. On the contrary, it was being corroded.

    Eden was immediately rmed. The Evernight faction, especially the demonkin ns, had long since studied the Misty Wood. There were only a handful of reasons this phenomenon could ur, and the most likely scenario was that Qianye¡¯s blood contained substances with even greater corrosive properties than the purple substance.

    It was because Eden understood the principle that he found it hard to believe what was happening. The Dark Abyss where Eden grew up specialized in corrosive and poisonous energy, and he himself was an outstanding young member of the n. Even so, his own corrosive energy was inferior to that of the purple substance. How then had a human achieved this?

    There was another possibility¡ªthe quality of origin power in Qianye¡¯s blood was so high that the purple ground substance couldn¡¯t devour it, and all it could do was neutralize it on the spot. In this scenario, therge scope of billowing ground substance signified that several dozen times the amount was being exhausted to eliminate Qianye¡¯s blood.

    Wouldn¡¯t that mean this fellow was a genius of the generation?

    An eerie me flickered through Eden¡¯s eyes. This was all the more reason not to let the other party escape, but he wasn¡¯t in such a rush to hunt Qianye down just yet. He paced about for a brief moment and shouted, ¡°Men!¡±

    A faint shadow appeared nearby and bowed. ¡°I await yourmand.¡±

    ¡°I remember this is the Li family¡¯s warzone, right? Find a way to contact that person and tell him to kill the fellow from just now. Tell him that, as long as he does this job well, the things he desire won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    The figure bowed respectfully and faded away into the mist.

    Eden looked up at the sky and sighed. ¡°Dying to one¡¯s own people is no fitting end for a warrior. So... you¡¯d better die obediently under my de.¡±

    Dozens of kilometers away, Qianye was running at full speed, changing his forward route from time to time. Hazy silhouettes kept appearing around Qianye which attacked his vitals with grey beams of light. These shadows almost seemed to appear out of thin air with no set pattern. Their attacks were as quick as they were ruthless, forcing even Qianye into a miserable state as he was struck from time to time.

    A shadow appeared once more at Qianye¡¯s backside, and the grey light in its hand stabbed at Qianye¡¯s wound. This attack was extremely crafty and ruthless. Qianye didn¡¯t have the time to evade and merely used his vampiric de to press the powerful attack downward, causing it tond on his waist.

    The grey light¡¯s true form was revealed as a dagger of unremarkable design. But the de actually cut open Young Dragon and left a wound on Qianye¡¯s body. Although the injury to his skin was merely the length of a finger, it went to show that the other party had the strength to harm him.

    These eerie shadows were actually able to keep up with Qianye at his full speed. It was true that thetter had been injured, but these shadows couldn¡¯t be underestimated, either.

    After a brief moment of running, a cold gleam appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes as he came to an abrupt halt.

    The four shadows reacted instantly and stopped at the same time, quickly forming an encirclement around him. However, the extreme inertia also brought their figures out of concealment.

    ¡°Four, huh?¡± Qianye scanned the scene with eyes like lightning. He had already formed a general idea.

    The four silhouettes pounced at him without the slightest hesitation, their daggers all aimed at Qianye¡¯s vitals. Thetter brought East Peak into his grasp with a backhand motion and unleashed a loud roar. With both hands on the de, he brandished it like a mountain peak andunched three consecutive strikes.

    Sweeping Calm!

    To be precise, his attack could only cover three directions. However, the four shadows couldn¡¯t move a single inch after East Peak appeared¡ªit was as though a mountain were bearing down upon them.

    Three shadowy figures were cut into six parts where the three strikesnded. Having escaped a direct blow, the fourth silhouette finally managed to throw himself at Qianye, its dagger aimed at Qianye¡¯s back. However, thetter made no attempt to evade and allowed the de to connect. The dagger was extremely sharp and managed to pierce through Young Dragon once more. Additionally, this blow hade straight for him at full force. The tip of the de sunk into his flesh, and eventually, half the de, too.

    But Young Dragon was a heavy armor made for Bai Longjia himself and thus possessed fairly powerful defenses. At this point, the shadow found that he no longer had the strength to push the de in¡ªneither could he pull it back out.

    Qianye grabbed ahold of the figure with his left hand and dragged it into his embrace. At the same time, he grabbed East Peak with his right hand and ced the edge upon the shadow¡¯s neck. Then, a light press of the de sent its head flying away. Qianye also kicked the body away to prevent any final counterattacks.

    The battle began quickly and ended just as fast. In the blink of an eye, the four shadows had be corpses at Qianye¡¯s feet.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t feeling too great, either. He momentarily gasped for breath before removing the de in his back, sending a stream of ck blood gushing out from the wound. Qianye made no attempt to stop the blood immediately. He merely watched until the grey fluid had flowed outpletely and the blood had turned red. Only then did he close the wound and stop the flow of blood.

    At this time, the hazy corpses were gradually bing clearer. Qianye was surprised because this situation wasn¡¯tmon even among the dark races. No matter how strong an expert was, they would lose their concealment abilities upon death, thus revealing their original forms.

    These eerie figures had been cut down by Sweeping Calm or beheaded, yet their energy was taking so long to disperse. Apparently, their strength wasn¡¯t mediocre at all.

    Qianye crouched down to inspect them and, as expected, found some remnant demonic origin power. This proved that these shadows were all demonkin. There weren¡¯t any insignias on them, but judging from the coordinated attack just now, they were very likely from the same n.

    These eerie shadows were clearly trained as hidden killers and shared great teamwork be it in terms of tracking or assassination. Qianye had to pay a steep price in order to kill all of them in one go. His origin power was on the verge of exhaustion. At the moment, he had no more hidden aces to y except the Shot of Inception, and his newly obtained Young Dragon was already half-destroyed.

    The real powerful expert hadn¡¯t caught up to him just yet, but he probably wasn¡¯t too far off.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have much time to think before the ground substance beneath his feet began to tremble. He cried out in his mind as he suddenly recalled a problem¡ªthe giant trees in the vicinity were all trembling, and the treetops were bulging up. It would seem the creatures inside would break out any second.

 Volume 6 - 599: Malice of the Fores

    [V6C129 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Only then did Qianye remember that using Sweeping Calm in the forest would elicit a powerful reaction. He could no longer care about anything else¡ªhe grabbed the shadowy figure¡¯s dagger, cut off a segment of its robe, and fled promptly.

    It could be said that Qianye had escaped even faster this time. The dozen or so aboriginal midgets lost their target uponnding on the ground. They proceeded to roam the area numerous times but eventually dispersed after making no progress. Qianye ran for several kilometers in one sprint and only managed to breathe a sigh of relief after finding no one on his tail. Thereafter, he reduced his speed and left at a steady pace.

    The area had just calmed down when Eden appeared at the scene. He observed the nearby treetops cautiously, and then examined the four demonkin corpses with an expression ofment. These shadowy warriors possessed greatbat strength and were adept in hunting and assassinations, a rare resource even for a major n like the Dark Abyss. Their birth and bloodline belonged to a small demonkin tribe. Their reproduction was scarce, and not all of their descendants were born with talents for stealth. Additionally, the costs for grooming and equipping them was phenomenal.

    Eden¡¯s potential had increased greatly after absorbing a part of the void essence in Giant¡¯s Repose, increasing his status and importance in the n. He was already a mighty count at this point. At such a rank, he was bound to upy an important position in the future as long as he didn¡¯t fall in battle. Hence, the n had specially assigned four shadow guards to him for this battle. Who would¡¯ve thought all of them would be wiped out in one go?

    The purple substance on the ground was fluctuating gently like a breeze caressing theke. Eden knew the insatiable substance had smelled the scent of blood and was preparing to devour the corpses. He immediately moved forward to study how the shadowy figures had died, hoping to find a way to restrain Qianye next time.

    However, Eden had just taken a step forward when plopping sounds rang out around him. Countless midgets and beasts were breaking through the membranes on the treetops¡ªmany a pair of red eyes were ring at him.

    Eden nced about at his surroundings and found numerous giant trees were all swaying about. He was greatly astonished to find that the once-calm forest was now filled with killing intent. Although he had no fear for these beasts and savages, he couldn¡¯t quite deal with so many at the same time. There were already hundreds of them in his vision, and many more were still jumping out from the treetops.

    He would probably be surrounded if he didn¡¯t leave right now.

    Just the beasts and natives alone couldn¡¯t get into Eden¡¯s sight¡ªwhat he really feared was Qianye. From what the demonkins had discovered about the forest, Eden quickly realized that the reactions of the purple substance and trees had been dyed. He couldn¡¯t confirm whether Qianye had yed some trick here. Things would get rather interesting if the other party was hiding in ambush.

    Austere killing intent flickered in Eden¡¯s eyes when he recalled how Qianye had caused such a great damage with a standard sniper rifle. There was a limit to what a mass-produced weapon could do, no matter how high its grade¡ªthe exceptional aplishment could only be attributed to the sniper¡¯s strength. Human sniper techniques had always been a great danger to the dark races. The damage inflicted by a powerful sniper in battle might even exceed an army squad.

    Eden reaffirmed his resolution to kill this enemy at all costs, but the only choice he had at this moment was to retreat. He could do nothing but watch as the purple substance engulfed the four shadowguards. He didn¡¯t even have the time to retrieve the equipment from the other three corpses.

    Qianye didn¡¯t turn back and attempt a surprise attack. His condition at the moment was fairly bad, and he was in no shape for further battle. His daybreak origin power had bottomed out, and his blood energy was fully engaged in resisting the corrosive properties of the ck titanium. He might not even have the power to fire a Shot of Inception should he encounter another powerful enemy.

    Qianye stopped after running about a hundred kilometers and found a safe ce to rest. He leaned back after sitting down. However, the moment he did, he couldn''t help but bounce forward with a muffled groan¡ªthe pain from identally pressing the wound on his back was extraordinary.

    Even after a good while, the wound on his back had healed only slightly as the remnant ck titanium was impeding the regenerative process. The auric me blood had stopped the ck titanium from spreading further in and was slowly neutralizing the destructive energy within it. However, it would still require some time for the injury to heal.

    Qianye slowly removed his armor and rejoiced unconsciously as he observed therge hole at its back, as well as the dozen-odd de marks. If it hadn¡¯t been for Young Dragon¡¯s extraordinary defenses, he really would¡¯ve fallen in the hands of those shadows.

    Qianye pondered for a moment before producing a box of ammunition from Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. This was old stock from long ago that had been sitting in a corner all this time. It was fortunate that he hadn¡¯t thrown it away.

    Qianye removed all the gunpowder from the ammunition and sprinkled it on the wound. Then, he struck the two metallic casings together at high speed, igniting a meter-tall ze on his back. Even with his level of tenacity, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but let out a groan.

    The mes went out in a sh, but the flesh around his wound was already charred ck. Qianye then fished out his vampiric de and proceeded to carve out the burnt parts, causing a great amount of fresh blood to seep out of the injury. At this moment, the necrotic flesh around the ck titanium-corroded areas had been cleaned out, and the regenerative capabilities of his flesh restored. The blood stopped flowing in the blink of an eye and new grantion tissue emerged as the wound gradually closed up.

    Qianye exhaled deeply after cleaning the wound on his back, feelingpletely drained. Beads of sweat were dripping down from his forehead as though he had just walked out of the water. There were several other stab wounds at his back, but those weren¡¯t as important. The smaller injuries would recover naturally after the bleeding from his main injury had been staunched.

    Qianye brought out the dagger he had picked up from one of the grey corpses and examined it. The de was built in a straight design and could be used to stab opponents with great prative power. The material also contained ck titanium¡ªthe amount was too small to have any effect on Qianye, but it would still affect the healing process more or less.

    Additionally, the dagger was made of precious materials and its quality could marginally qualify as a grade-six weapon. Add to that the ck titanium within, its price should be fairly high¡ªthe sales value in the market should equal a grade-seven origin gun.

    Weapons containing ck titanium were at least 1.5 times more valuable in the imperial ck markets, far surpassing mithril-containing weapons. This seemed odd at a nce since ck titanium was used to deal with daybreak life forms, but this price was quite logical after some thought since there was nock of in-fighting among the humans. Moreover, ck titanium was produced entirely within dark race territory and could be considered one of the rarest materials.

    The grey robe appeared simple at a nce, but in truth, it was filled with origin arrays. Fabrics capable of housing origin arrays were already expensive, to begin with, and those arrays were extremely rare ones that could improve stealth and restrict one¡¯s aura. The value of this grey robe was likely even greater than the dagger.

    These shadowguards were already far above Qianye in terms of equipment and also possessed powerful abilities. It was no wonder they had managed to force Qianye into a miserable state. It was just that their luck was quite bad to have encountered Sweeping Calm. The demonkin race, as a whole, was mediocre in defense. Moreover, these shadowguards had raised their concealment and assassination abilities to the extreme, leaving much to want in terms of head-on confrontation. Qianye¡¯s heavy armor and sword happened to counter them quite well.

    Qianye could still feel vague spells of pain from his back as though he had pulled on something. A tingling sensation would appear from deep within his bones from time to time, provoking an urge to scratch it. This was a sign of his injuries healing at a rapid rate.

    In order to divert his attention, Qianye thought back to the entire process of the battle just now, and his brows gradually became knitted together.

    Numerous signs pointed toward the fact that the assant was fairly close to Qianye in terms of concealment and sniping abilities. Moreover, the other party¡¯s patience in waiting for the perfect opportunity was frightening. Judging from the distance of the shot and the ineffectiveness of Qianye¡¯s counterattack, it could be concluded that the difference in visual range between them was fairly limited.

    The Misty Wood had be that much more dangerous with such an enemy around.

    Fortunately, the enemy hadn¡¯t caught up to him along with the four shadowy figures. Qianye could judge the other party¡¯s strength from the information at hand. From how the assant had produced two consecutive shots of such firepower, he had to be a demonkin count at the very least¡ªeven if he waspletely drained after the attack.

    Qianye trembled at the thought of this. The demonkin possessed greaterbat strength than warriors of the other races at the same rank. It definitely wasn¡¯t a good thing to be targeted by one.

    Attempting to use the Profound Combatant Form to absorb void origin power was also problematic. Ignoring whether or not the forest would react, it would also be courting death if a powerful dark race expert sensed the fluctuations in void origin power. Qianye only had a limited number of drugs and stimnts in stock. Moreover, their effects were gradually diminishing with his increased strength.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh in secret. It would be great if he could devour daybreak origin power like he could, darkness.

    But he soon broke into augh. The Profound Combatant Form was already a top-grade art in terms of cultivation speed. Add to that the purification powers of the Song n Ancient Scroll, it could be said that there was barely any weak point in his cultivation¡ªyet here he was, being greedy for more.

    Qianye inhaled deeply and calmed down his restless emotions to cultivate. The Combatant Form wouldn¡¯t be noticeable as long as he didn¡¯t exceed the fifty-cycle threshold. Although it was much slower, a night of cultivation should help him recover his origin power.

    It was at this time that a faint silhouette suddenly emerged beside Qianye as a small, purple snake shot up from the ground to bite Qianye¡¯s hand.

    With Qianye¡¯s attention elsewhere, the serpent managed to seed in its ambush. But how could he let the assant go after taking such a loss? He quickly caught the creature with a flip of his hands.

    The little snake struggled with all its might, squirming about from head to toe and biting Qianye¡¯s hand once more. However, thetter¡¯s hand had been enforced with blood energy at this point¡ªit was shrouded in a faint golden glow and even harder than steel. There was simply no way for the little critter to bite through.

    Qianye was somewhat startled as he felt a sudden numbness at his wrist. Looking down, he saw a red dot there where the snake had broken through his skin on the first bite. This numbing sensation was no stranger to Qianye. It was a sign of being poisoned.

    Auric me blood circted in response to Qianye¡¯s will and burned the greater part of the toxins beneath his skin. The remainder was condensed into a drop of translucent liquid and expelled from the breakage. What surprised Qianye was how this little serpent had produced such an extremely powerful venom.

    He had never seen snakes before in Misty Wood. This little creature was as quick as lighting and equipped with powerful venom. Although rather weak on its own, even a rank fourteen human expert might have to retreat if thousands were to swarm over at the same time. Otherwise, the results would be disastrous if bitten a couple of times with no time to expel the poison.

    This wasn¡¯t a good thing for humans because the dark races were much more resistant to poison. The demonkin, with their demonic energy, were even more impervious to toxins. Their poison resistance was only slightly inferior to Qianye.

    ¡°The malice of this forest is really bing more and more evident.¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown.

 Volume 6 - 600: Ambush Part 1

    Chapter 600: Ambush (Part 1) [V6C130 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The changes to the Misty Wood weren¡¯t advantageous to humans. The dark races were much better at resisting poisons, and the demonkin had demonic energy which rendered them impervious to toxins. Add to that the special environment in the Misty Wood, the humans were obviously handicapped here.

    Qianye nced over at the snake. It was entirely purple and resembled the ground substance down to its irregr shades. One could hardly detect it crawling over the ground, much less Qianye who wasn¡¯t paying particr attention.

    This creature wasn¡¯t among the species recorded during thest exploration. Qianye couldn¡¯t recall anything simr either in his memories. Apparently, it was something produced by the Misty Wood. The serpent was so small that dozens if not hundreds of them could be gestated in a single chamber. It wasn¡¯t impossible for tens of thousands of them to appear from a single giant tree.

    Qianye squished the snake to death, tossed it onto the ground, and watched it get devoured by the purple substance. His heart grew heavier and heavier with worry.

    The wound on his hand didn¡¯t need any treatment. It began closing up on its own and waspletely healed after a while. In terms of regeneration, his vampire constitution and auric me blood were far superior to an ordinary human body.

    Qianye scanned his arm unintentionally and was suddenly rmed, ¡°Poison? Wait a minute!¡±

    He suddenly remembered something else at the mention of poison. He looked back at the giant tree he was leaning on and shed it open with his military knife. The tree sap began flowing out in a steady stream.

    Qianye cupped the clear fluid with his hands and drank it in one gulp. There was a faint, almond-like bitterness to it, but in it was also a hint of fresh sweetness.

    A wisp of origin power emerged as the sap entered his stomach, spreading slowly toward every part of his body before being absorbed into the origin vortex¡ªthe entire process was inexplicably soothing.

    The gash in the tree grew back after leaking several mouthfuls of sap, but this amount was already equal to a high-efficacy stimnt. This meant that a couple of jars of this sap could rece an entire night¡¯s cultivation.

    In addition to its special geographical position on the floating continent, this was also one of the reasons why the Misty Wood was so valuable. The sap of these terrifying giant trees could be absorbed directly like diluted origin distite.

    It was just that the imperial research department¡¯s analysis had found that there was a mild toxin within it. Although the low content meant that it would need to umte for some time before the effects be evident, there was no direct antidote for it in either faction.

    Present studies also showed that human experts below the divine champion level couldn¡¯t expel this poison with their origin power. The effective origin rank in the Evernight faction, however, was unknown. These results meant that ordinary people imbibing this sap would result in a continuous build-up of toxin within the body, and the eventual re-up of which could be life-threatening.

    It was no easy matter to dissect an unknown toxin. The Li n¡¯s intentions to upy the Misty Wood was perhaps because they were confident in their family¡¯s medicinal development, and that they could unravel this toxin. At that time, the entire Misty Wood would be a boundless storehouse of origin distite.

    Qianye, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t worried about the toxin. He could feel the liquid break down into origin power after entering his body, and countless minuscule mes would flicker upon it aftering into contact with his auric me blood. The origin power entering his vortex would be purer after the toxins had been eliminated by the auric me blood.

    Just to be safe, Qianye cut the tree only once and used a canteen to catch the sap, and only when it had closed up did he cut once more. Then, he would finish each canteen after it had been filled. The purification effects of the auric me blood became more evident this time, likely due to therger amount of intake. All impurities and toxins had been swept clean, leaving only pure origin power.

    The giant tree began healing at greater speeds after repeating this process several times. Qianye understood that the sap loss had reached the tolerance threshold¡ªhundreds if not thousands of beasts would appear if he kept on draining the sap.

    But there was no shortage of trees here that he could switch to. Qianye nced up and felt that the endless stretch of forest had turned into a field of giant supplements.

    This nourishment was extraordinary.

    An hourter, Qianye rose and left after his origin power was restored. This time, he chose to head back. That dark race expert who could control the shadowguards was too dangerous. Now that he had solved the problem of restoring his origin power, Qianye had no intention of letting the other party walk out of the forest in one piece.

    Meanwhile, Eden¡ªin the form of a shadow¡ªwas moving quietly past the giant trees. He would circle around the tree at times, while floating over the branches during others. Two dark race squads were advancing rapidly nearby, and one of them was the one Qianye had ambushed. It had suffered heavy casualties but was still continuing its advance after reorganization. Meanwhile, Eden roamed the periphery like a hunter.

    Qianye didn¡¯t appear again, either. They were two-thirds of the way to their destination, but Eden¡¯s mood didn¡¯t improve in the slightest.

    The four dead shadowguards pressed upon his heart like four giant rocks¡ªthe shot had clearly struck the other target¡¯s vitals, so why hadn¡¯t he died? Thetter had even killed four of his powerful subordinates. Even in the Evernight faction, he was confident that his shot could injure a marquis.

    It wasn¡¯t good news for them if the empire had dispatched a marquis-level expert to hunt in the forest. But marquises of either faction were all well-known figures whose movements were closely watched. Even count-rank experts with extraordinary strength were well-recorded.

    Eden continued escorting the army forward amidst the doubt and uneasiness. For a moment, he had wanted to send news back and seek assistance from the experts of the n.

    But he had just lost four shadowguards without gaining any detailed information on the enemy. The internalpetition among the demonkin was fierce. Hailing from an orthodox lineage and possessing great talents, Eden¡¯s position in the Dark Abyss had climbed sharply after obtaining the void essence. As his power and resources increased, so did the number of his opponents.

    Eden walked on and on but came to a sudden halt before a translucent line. Just one step further and he would¡¯ve stepped onto it. It was a thread belonging to an arachne, but just a single thread could hardly capture anything.

    It was just that the function of this trap was highly abnormal.

    The abrupt reduction in speed caused fluctuations to appear around Eden¡¯s silhouette, revealing some traces of his position.

    ¡°Oh crap!¡± Eden was greatly rmed and even his hair stood on end.

    A speck of light tore through the air from afar. Judging from its silver body and the lights surrounding it, Eden knew that this was a Mithril Bullet of Exorcism with added special effects.

    This shot was so sudden that Eden didn¡¯t have the time to evade¡ªall he could do was twist his body frantically. A handgun appeared in his grasp at the same time, which he fired promptly in the direction of the attack.

    The sniper round arrived in the blink of an eye. Eden let out a muffled groan as blood sshed from his shoulder and his entire body flew several meters backward.

    He gritted his teeth through the intense pain while rolling behind a giant tree. There, he fished out a medicine tube and sprayed it onto his injury, effectively stopping the flow of fresh blood. Eden once again entered a state of concealment and rushed out from behind the tree.

    The Misty Wood was entirely silent and almost as if nothing had happened¡ªonly the lingering timbre of a gun echoed through the trees. The two squads a few kilometers away werepletely oblivious to the incident and kept marching on.

    Eden gritted his teeth and moved in the direction of the assault like a ghost. Momentster, he found the location where Qianye had been hiding. The purple substance there was still squirming. This meant that his counterattack had connected and drawn blood.

    ¡°He¡¯s injured, too?¡± A sharp glint appeared in Eden¡¯s eyes. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll y a game of attrition with you!¡±

    Eden examined the surrounding areas but, of course, found nothing. He wasn¡¯t disappointed at this, either, and only went after the main army in due haste.

    This squad was on its way to take part in a joint operation and was thus carrying a fair amount of special supplies, including medicines for use by experts above the viscount level. There were also specially trained medical staff among them. An hourter, a fully treated Eden once again left the squad to search and hunt.

    At this point, imperial forces only appeared sporadically within the Misty Wood without any mobile bases. Moreover, there were no supply bases in this area due to its proximity to dark race controlled territory. Unlike Eden who had the support of an entire squad, Qianye seemed to be acting on his own without any troops or partners. However, this clear advantage didn¡¯t give Eden much assurance.

    The two exchanges orchestrated by each of them proved one point¡ªthe gap between the two was minimal be it in terms of concealment abilities or destructive power. Neither could kill the other for a while. This made trading blows a viable option. This strategy was naturally risky, but Eden had never been one to fear taking risks.

    In the depths of the Misty Wood, Qianye stopped to rest after confirming that he had thrown Eden off his tail. There was also a gunshot wound on his shoulder he needed to clean.

    He heaved a sigh of relief after removing his shoulder-guard and picking out the ck bullet inside the wound. He didn¡¯t throw the bullet away but, instead, put it away inside a radiation-proof box.

    This bullet also contained a fair amount of ck titanium. This projectile likely wasn¡¯t cheap¡ªnothing containing ck titanium was. Qianye wanted to bring it back because this amount of ck titanium could be exchanged for several mithril bullets or one extreme yang bullet.

    After cleaning his wounds, Qianye shook his head with a wry smile.

    It would seem that the expert had grown more wary of sneak attacks after the death of the four shadowguards. In addition to the extreme defenses of his armor, the weapons he had used were also quite extravagant. It was still within eptable range for a grade-seven sniper to st through heavy armor, but for a casual st from a handgun to prate Young Dragon, what grade would it need to be? It might even be at grade eight.

    This confirmed Qianye¡¯s guess about the dark race expert¡¯s level. The other party was definitely a count and very likely one withbat strength exceeding his level. Unfortunately, the other party wasn¡¯t entirely revealed even after being injured. The intelligence openly provided by the empire wasn¡¯t that detailed, either.

    It was just that each and every one of the assant¡¯s bullets contained ck titanium¡ªthat was really too sickening. He was practically spraying out crates and crates of gold coins. Being struck by such a bullet was an ordeal even for Qianye¡¯s vampiric constitution. Any other human champion would¡¯ve been finished by now.

    Qianye had finally experienced the extravagance of a demonkin major n. Even the empire¡¯s richest Song n dwarfed inparison. The young masters of the Song n possessed limited cultivation levels. They couldn¡¯t use a grade-seven gun even if they could afford it since a single shot would drain thempletely.

    Encountering such an enemy was truly an upsetting development.

 Volume 6 - 601: Ambush Part 2

    Chapter 601: Ambush (Part 2) [V6C131 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye fished out arge water bottle from Andruil¡¯s space and poured the spring-water-like sap into his mouth. The injury on his shoulder quickly closed up and began to heal. Momentster¡ªhis wounds gone and his origin power restored to its peak state¡ªQianye ran back without the slightest hesitation.

    Eden¡¯s all-out attack couldn¡¯t kill Qianye, but simrly, Qianye¡¯s sniping had a limited effect on Eden. The key reason was still the fact that Thunderbolt was greatly inferior to Eden¡¯s extraordinary sniper rifle. But Qianye had a n¡ªif he couldn¡¯t kill in one shot, then all he needed was to strike a couple more times. In other words, Qianye was looking to exchange blows with the other party.

    As the battles on the floating continent grew in ferocity, Evernight Continent enjoyed a rare moment of tranquility¡ªfew, if any, skirmishes took ce.

    The two factions had always been fighting to and fro on that abandonednd, but the recent years have seen the least peace of all time. It all started with Andruil¡¯s treasure, and then the bloody battle and Giant¡¯s Repose. Armies of millions had gathered on the continent toward the end, far surpassing the scale of a local battle.

    The Evernight Continent of today had merely returned to its previous routine. The hunters lucky enough to have survived the wars could now explore the wilderness in rtive safety. There were still a fair amount of valuable resources to be found around the battlefields. As such,rge numbers of scavengers swarmed over every corner of the wilderness like ants. Some of the braver ones even snuck into the ruins of the Evernight main camp.

    ckflow City was no longer as bustling as it was during the war. The hyena-like mercenaries had all but left, for without battles, there were fewer opportunities for riches. However, development projects had beenunched in the new territories pioneered by the Dark me independent battalion. With ckflow City acting as the main base and frontline transit hub, there were still many opportunities for business.

    The scale of Dark me had changed drasticallypared to the past. Their numbers had surpassed thirty thousand following several expansions, and its core warriors had all been baptized by the mes of war. The headquarters had also been expanded time and again, gradually bing a city within the city. Naturally, only twelve thousand soldiers were recorded in the expeditionary army¡¯s registers.

    There was a small, elegant courtyard in a secluded corner of the headquarters. This was Qianye¡¯s residence, currently upied by Nighteye alone.

    It was currently a rare moment where one could see the sunshine. The beams waved through the leaves and lit up the courtyard with flickering golden spots. Nighteye was reading a book in the courtyard with a warm pot of tea sitting on the small table beside her.

    She was dressed simply in a shirt, trousers, and a pair offortable low-heeled shoes. The disguised mask was still upon her face, hiding her true appearance. Even so, there was still a natural grace about her¡ªit didn¡¯t quite register upon first nce but would attract everyone¡¯s eyes after some time.

    A knock suddenly echoed from the outside, and soon, Song Zining walked in and sat down across from Nighteye.

    Thetter only nced up once at him before looking back at her book. ¡°Weren''t you supposed to be at the front lines?¡±

    ¡°It makes no difference. The next phase of this war is a loss either way.¡±

    Nighteye nced toward him with a frown. Song Zining¡¯s demeanor was one of thoughtlessness¡ªhe couldn¡¯t be less concerned about the country or its people.

    He waved his fan about and said unhurriedly, ¡°ckflow City is the real family property. We earned all the money here with our own hands. Is there even a need to discuss which one is more important?¡±

    ¡°I heard yourmander-in-chief this time isn¡¯t so easily fooled.¡±

    ¡°You mean His Majesty Prince Greensun? I didn¡¯t try to fool him. Whatever he asks, I reply truthfully. Moreover, my rank is just nominal, no one even recruited me. It¡¯s not toote to join the battle after making ample arrangements here. All recent battles are bound to be lost anyway. Wouldn¡¯t I be staining my undefeated name if I go now?¡± Song Zining made no attempt to disguise his smile.

    At this moment, he glimpsed at the leather cover of the book in Nighteye¡¯s hands. ¡°Imperial History? You¡¯re actually reading this. Looks like you¡¯re looking to stay for a while in the empire?¡±

    Nighteye nodded.

    Song Zining looked over at the teapot nearby. He produced a can of tea-leaves with a flip of his hand and said, ¡°This is great stuff. Yours truly spent quite a lot of effort to get it. But it can¡¯t be stored for very long and is best consumed as soon as possible.¡±

    Nighteye nced at the can. ¡°You didn¡¯te over just to deliver a gift, did you?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile didn¡¯t disappear even after being called out. He promptly acted on the opportunity without a shred of embarrassment. ¡°I indeed have a request. If I encounter some trouble in the future, I hope you can help me out once.¡±

    Nighteye looked up at Song Zining. Her eyes werepletely unfathomable¡ªSong Zining shivered at the sight of his own figure within them, and his smile grew rather unnatural.

    Nighteye stared at him momentarily before lowering her gaze once more. ¡°That, I can promise you. What else?¡±

    Song Zining felt greatly relieved after Nighteye¡¯s gaze left his body. He leaned forward in a rxed manner and said, ¡°There''s something else that¡¯s very important. I heard Your Majesty has a sister called Twilight? C-Can you introduce her to me?¡±

    Nighteye was fairly astonished. ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Seeing Song Zining full of confidence, Nighteye didn¡¯t know what to say. She remained silent for a while before saying, ¡°She¡¯ll definitely join the war on the floating continent. There, you¡¯ll get the opportunity to make her acquaintance. However¡­ this opportunity might not be very safe.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, I won¡¯t do anything to her. She¡¯s definitely safe!¡± Song Zining smiled while pping his fan.

    Nighteye was speechless. ¡°I¡¯m more worried about you.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just a vampiredy. How can yours truly fail to conquer her?¡± The seventh young master¡¯s fan danced swiftly.

    Nighteye merely chuckled¡ªshe had no special feeling toward the term vampiredy. Song Ziningughed awkwardly for a moment before quickly putting away his frivolous demeanor. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll leave you to your reading. I¡¯m off to attend to other matters.¡±

    Nighteye finished her current chapter after Song Zining left before looking over at the can of tea leaves on the table. This can was made from specialized materials, metallic on the outside while the interior was coated with jade. The contents couldn¡¯t be pried upon with one¡¯s perception. A receptacle capable of isting the senses was also capable of preserving the aura within. It was fairly suitable for holding top-grade tea leaves.

    Nighteye¡¯s slender fingers ran over the can and popped open the lid.

    However, there were no tea-leaves inside. Instead, it was filled with ruby-like crystals. A tinge of blood shed through her eyes upon seeing the high-grade essence blood¡ªshe had been starved for too long.

    Momentster, Song Zining sat down in his office at the Dark me headquarters. The sun was flowing in through the window, imparting a hint of warmth to the entire room.

    Song Zining sat in silence, seemingly thinking of something. He shook his head momentster and muttered, ¡°Qianye, this bastard only knows how to bring me trouble! Let it be, this young master has been practicing the ancient art, Jasper Heart, ofte. I¡¯ll start by practicing it on you two and reluctantly calcte your fortunes.¡±

    He ced an old wooden box on the table and spread out both his hands. All of a sudden, ayer of hazy green light flowed past his palms. The lid opened up as though an invisible hand were controlling it, revealing three jade slivers within. All of them were glistening with an intense jadeite hue, but their corners were round and smooth¡ªwho knew how many masters these items had seen?

    Song Zining waited until the origin glow on his hands had faded away before bringing out the three jade slivers. His gaze flickered as he tossed the slivers onto the table, but just as he was about to read their positions, one of the jade slivers broke into two!

    Song Zining was dazed momentarily, but then he let out a sudden groan as blood streamed out of his nostrils.

    His countenance was pale as he wiped away the traces of blood in silence.

    A knock came from the door at this moment.

    ¡°Enter.¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice had recovered its calm, and the blood-stained handkerchief was now pressed beneath his palm.

    The visitor was Song Hu. He walked over in brisk steps and ced a suitcase onto the table. ¡°Seventh Young Master, I think you need to take a look at this.¡±

    Even the usually unflustered Song Hu was trembling as he ced the object down. One could see just how important it was.

    Song Zining rose and opened the case. What came into view was an entire suitcase full of ck-colored stones, dotted with sparkling crystals upon them. Song Zining¡¯s eyes constricted as he said, ¡°Is this neutral crystal iron ore?

    ¡°Yes, Young Master.¡±

    This ore could be refined into crystal iron of different attributes, and its most important use was in the production of gun-barrels for firearms above grade four.

    ¡°Where did you find this?¡±

    ¡°On the border of the werewolves¡¯ former territory. There¡¯s a ck stone mine there which our men had dug through. This crystal iron mine was found below.¡±

    ¡°Is this the ck stone mine Yuying specifically mentioned?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Song Zining got up and paced about in silent contemtion. Back then, Zhao Yuying had investigated the ore veins here in great detail and pointed out several potential locations where there might be special apanying ore veins.

    Song Zining finally found some free time after Qianye left for the floating continent. On one hand, he needed to stabilize ckflow¡¯s territories, so he dispatchedrge patrol units to kill the roaming dark race soldiers. He waspletely merciless toward these troublemaking mercenaries. On the other hand, he sent people to the ces Zhao Yuying had mentioned and had them perform extensive surveys. Now, the investment had finally paid off.

    This new crystal iron ore vein was over a hundred meters below the ck stone ore vein, and they had to drill through a thick rockyer before finally discovering it. Judging from the samples here, the quality was superb¡ªit was likely a rare, high-grade ore vein.

    Momentster, Song Zining finally came to a firm decision. ¡°Issue an immediate order. Organize people to extract the ore at full force. Also, restructure Dark me¡¯s forces and send a division of troops to guard it. I¡¯ll arrange a new batch of equipment for this division.¡±

    ¡°Seventh Young Master, won¡¯t everyone notice if we do this?¡±

    Song Zining said firmly, ¡°Can¡¯t care about that much. Do it as quietly as possible, but it¡¯s a race against time. We won¡¯t need to be afraid of anyone if we can produce another regr division.¡±

    Back in the Misty Wood, Qianye had lost track of time. He was currently holding his breath and slowly moving the barrel of his gun toward a giant tree at the edges of his vision.

    There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary there, but in his True Sight, he could make out a wisp of faintly discernible darkness origin power.

    ¡°Is it left or right this time?¡± Qianye pondered in secret. The muzzle shifted a couple of times before finally pointing to the left.

 Volume 6 - 602: Ambush Part 3

    Chapter 602: Ambush (Part 3) [V6C132 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Boom!

    Thunderbolt lived up to its name¡ªevery shot rumbled like a bolt of thunder. Within the scope, the left side of that giant tree exploded violently. Arge defect was produced therein as the bullet pierced through the tree and flew into the mist.

    A ck shadow flickered on the right side of the tree and vanished into the mist.

    ¡°Damn, I picked wrong again.¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but curse as he put Thunderbolt away.

    There was no need for a second nce. Qianye could confirm that the fleeing shadow was that dark race assassin. This miscalction had sent them back to square one¡ªthings would, once again, be decided by who discovered the other party first.

    The two had been entangled for several days, continuously switching roles between hunter and prey. However, neither could deal with the other. Qianye had realized by now how dangerous this opponent really was.

    All in all, Qianye held a slight advantage. He would sometimes discover that Eden had gone to great lengths to set up traps, using his followers as bait. That one time, Qianye was forced to pay a steep price after killing the other party¡¯s subordinates and was badly wounded.

    Believing he would have the advantage from there on out, Eden left the main force and chased after Qianye. However, he had never imagined that Qianye would be back at his peak state after a single night¡ªhe was nearly killed in an ambush.

    For several days now, neither of them had been able to escape the other.

    Eden escorted the two dark race squads to the edges of Misty Wood but did not follow them out. The mobilization of dark race forces was yet to bepleted, and there would be several more squads taking this path in the days toe. He couldn¡¯t allow Qianye to massacre everyone unscrupulously, otherwise, the loss of elites here would surpass that of an open battle.

    Eden staying was exactly what Qianye wanted. The dark race forces gathering this time had far exceeded his expectations. It would be a one-sided massacre on the battlefield if an expert like Eden were to hunt alongside an organized force. The Li family independent experts¡ªat least the ones Qianye had seen¡ªwouldn¡¯t even be able to run after encountering Eden.

    Just like that, the two of them kept each other in check as they tried to kill one another. Unwittingly, they had alreadye to understand each other very well.

    Qianye¡¯s visual range extended farther than Eden¡¯s, and although this range was only fifty meters or so, it afforded him an undeniable advantage. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s physical defenses and recovery were much better.

    However, Eden had his own advantages too¡ªhis concealment abilities were superior to Qianye¡¯s while his hunting skill was about equal to Qianye¡¯s. In the end, it was that heavy sniper rifle, Carol of Shadows, that gave him the edge. Although Qianye had barely survived a single shot from it, he certainly wasn¡¯t looking forward to another round.

    Yet another short exchange ended up being fruitless.

    Qianye fled immediately after missing a shot. He circled around after running several kilometers and slowly approached the origin location.

    It was at this time that a small dark race squad appeared in the vicinity. It was made up of about a hundred men, mostly arachne and werewolves. This was a standardbat squad. It was quitemon to see werewolves and arachne forming teams on the battlefield.

    The arachne were Qianye¡¯s favorite prey, even more so than vampires. These gigantic creatures were like living targets for a long-range sniper.

    The leader was an arachne baron, a fairly valuable target. The tank-like arachne had a greater impact on the battlefieldpared to werewolves of the same rank.

    This target was quite attractive to Qianye because he could finish it in one shot. At a distance of five hundred meters, Qianye hardly needed to activate any special abilities to prate its heavy armor and kill it immediately.

    But¡­ was this really an ordinary squad?

    Qianye didn¡¯t pull the trigger even after thest servspider vanished from his sight. He was waiting, waiting for a more valuable target¡ªEden.

    What arrived though wasn¡¯t Eden himself but his bullet. Qianye immediately leapt ten meters away from his location upon sensing the danger. The tree he had been hiding behind was sted open by a ck bullet, which duly chased after him without any reduction in momentum.

    This projectile had clearly been bolstered with a special effect. Its firepower was far greater than the past shots and made straight for its target even after piercing through the tree.

    It was just that Qianye¡¯s body sunk down all of a sudden from the air, leaving its original trajectory and escaping the lethal shot. Uponnding, he made no attempt to search for Eden and simply sped toward a random direction.

    After a lengthy battle, both sides hade to understand each other quite well. Qianye knew he would find nothing if he had rushed over¡ªperhaps what awaited him would be a second ambush.

    Qianye felt a slight pain on his arm as he was running. He looked down and found that arge splinter had lodged itself in one of the old defects in his armor, producing a shallow break on his skin.

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a small victory for you.¡± Qianye easily removed the splinter. This kind of injury was a little more than a mosquito bite, and it would heal on its own without any dressing.

    After Qianye vanished into the Misty Wood, a distortion appeared up on one of the nearby trees as Eden¡¯s figure appeared. He didn¡¯t give chase immediately and, instead, sat down on the spot. There, he fished out a ck crystal bottle and took a mouthful of its contents before his paper-pale face regained some color.

    This was a medicine for demonic energy recovery. A single bottle could restore Eden¡¯s demonic energy to its peak state in a matter of minutes¡ªa life-saving measure if you will. Naturally, the price of such items had always been proportional to their efficacy.

    Eden had never imagined he would encounter such a difficult opponent. He had used up most of his recovery medicines. This type of special drug couldn¡¯t be obtained via ordinary military supplies; he would need to return to the n or apply to the Evernight Council.

    But he couldn¡¯t spare its usage because Qianye¡¯s recovery speed was shocking. Had he not seen it for himself, Eden would hardly be inclined to believe a human could regenerate so quickly. Things might take a turn for the worse if he couldn¡¯t restore his demonic energy ordingly. The role of hunter and prey might switch at any time.

    Since that first fateful shot, they had chased each other continuously for over ten days and ten nights. Eden could rely on secret arts and medicines to restore his demonic energy, but there was hardly any way to recover from the physical and mental drain. He wanted nothing more than to hug his gun and sleep for a couple of days.

    After putting away the crystal bottle, Eden nced back at the depths of the forest. He had a vague feeling that Qianye had already circled back and was approaching from that direction.

    As the sense of danger intensified, Eden couldn¡¯t help but curse loudly, ¡°Goddammit, does this fellow not know fatigue?¡±

    The reply came in the form of a thunderous gunshot.

    Eden descended with a back-flip, nning to roll behind a giant tree to the southeast uponnding. However, it turned out that his luck wasn¡¯t great. He felt a burning pain to his leg, followed closely by the scent of burning flesh.

    Mithril! Eden immediately activated a secret art to seal the wound and then fled in due haste. This time, he fell into a precarious situation as he was hunted down for an entire half-day. In the end, he barely managed to escape by taking advantage of a beast horde erupting from the giant treetops.

    Eden threw himself onto the purple substance after a sessful escape¡ªhe didn¡¯t want to move a single finger. At this moment, his hair was in disarray and hisbat attire was beyond ragged. The demeanor fitting of a demonkin scion was nowhere to be found.

    Eden flipped over and gazed at that odd, intertwining tree trunk, as well as the perpetual mist in the air above. Even though his vision was twice better than his peers at the same level, he still couldn¡¯t see the guiding stars located at the top of this world.

    Breathing heavily, he reached into his pocket to caress a piece of crystal and the simple figure carved upon it. Eden didn¡¯t need to use his eyes to envision that figure¡ªcold, proud, and perfect. If anyone were to see the depiction on the crystal, they would find that it was the portrait of a youngdy. It was Nighteye.

    No, I can¡¯t fall here. I¡¯ll die! There¡­ there are too many things I need to do. Eden gritted his teeth as he sat up and nced at the charred injury on his leg. Then, he rose and limped away. ck smoke appeared around him before fading away along with his figure.

    Qianye walked out of the mist momentster. In his azure-suffused eyes, a wisp of ck energy emerged to indicate Eden¡¯s direction of departure.

    ¡°He can still run?¡± Qianye was quite surprised. He understood Eden just as well as thetter did him. He knew that thetter had been badly injured during the pursuit and had surmised that he would copse around this ce. How did he still have the strength to run?

    Qianye hesitated for a while but decided not to give chase immediately. Instead, he sat down to catch his breath and restore some of his stamina. Qianye wasn¡¯t quite worried about running out of origin power, but the long period of high-pressure hunting and sniping had taken a toll on his physical stamina, and there was no effective shortcut to restore thetter.

    Qianye¡¯s shot just now was an all-out attack. He had activated the full extent of his True Sight and added every special effect at his disposal into the attack. He had wanted to kill Eden in one strike. Quite unexpectedly, however, the results still deviated somewhat from Qianye¡¯s calctions.

    The dark hue between the trees quickly faded away as Eden¡¯s demonic energy was devoured by the forest. Qianye tracked Eden down for a while but had to give up after finding no more clues.

    Qianye was naturally regretful¡ªa victory couldn¡¯t have been closer, but Eden had escaped in the end. Valuable targets like Eden were beyond rare. He was clearly from a famed demonkin n, and his rank should be between a mighty-count and a virtuous-count. Such a character would usually be surrounded by a great number of guards with only a few ever appearing solo.

    After losing this opportunity, Qianye would likely not encounter such a prey for a long time. He couldn¡¯t help but shake his head as he gazed at the mist hanging between therge trees. It was time to return to base.

    Eden had probably lost interest in fighting to the death with him after receiving this grievous injury. He was almost certain to retreat from this battlefield.

    The Misty Wood was just like before, but the two parties had made use of the environment to its limit during their many days of battle. Presently, Qianye could make use of even the most minute of changes in the surroundings.

    Qianye¡¯s return journey was rather quick. He traversed hundreds of kilometers in a little more than a day and appeared outside of the Li n base. If one were to connect his trails, it could be seen that his route was perfectly straight.

    Compared to when he had left, the Li n base was even more bustling. The camp-grounds that were still under constructionst time had been put to use. However, yet a new barracks was under construction to amodate the influx of more people.

 Volume 6 - 603: Return to Camp

    [V6C133 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye was covered in dust, and nothing more than rags were left of hisbat robes. His armor wasn¡¯t any better, and that was only because Young Dragon¡¯s materials were sufficiently robust. The grey paint Qianye had applied had peeled off in many areas, revealing the silvery white underneath¡ªthe mottled color was no different from the wall of an old house.

    There was a routine checkpoint set up before the barracks area to verify the identity of the visitors.

    While waiting, Qianye discovered that the designation number of the guards there had changed. Perhaps they had been transferred away or their squad had some other use for them. Either way, it wasn¡¯t a good thing for ordinary soldiers. There was no better position than a base guard during times of war.

    Following the short line forward, he suddenly noticed some bullet holes and shrapnel marks on the walls. Traces of battle could still be seen although a good part of the wall had been repaired and repainted.

    ¡°Was there a dark race attack?¡± Qianye inquired.

    A veteran replied, ¡°It wasst week, several dozen vampires and arachneunched a raid. Their firepower was rather fierce. Just look at those walls, they were just rebuilt.¡±

    Even the camp walls were demolished? Qianye¡¯s heart sank. The Li family¡¯s construction standards were on the level of a military city. It wasn¡¯t just the superior height¡ªthese walls would be fairly difficult to demolish without the use of siege weaponry or, perhaps in this case, high-ranking dark race experts.

    ¡°How are the casualties?¡±

    The veteran sighed. ¡°Over two hundred men died. Most of them were ordinary soldiers. Thepany in charge of guarding this barracks was virtually wiped out the moment the attack began.¡±

    ¡°How about the generals?¡±

    At the mention of this, the old veteran smiled helplessly. ¡°A number of them came, but what was the use? Reportedly, there were at least two counts on the other side.

    Qianye figured out the situation after a brief chat. It was a brief dark race raid. The assault team wasn¡¯t big, but theirbat strength was exceptional. There were two squads moving through the camp gates when the enemy arrived, resulting in confusion and heavy losses.

    The dark race forces retreated after a single wave, but not before killing a Li family brigadier general who hade to help. Afterward, they pulled back into the Misty Wood and disappeared.

    No wonder new turrets and watchtowers had been ced around the camp gates. Qianye looked up at the new equipment, but truth be told, the ten-meter-tall weaponry offered him no greater peace of mind. They were little more than decorations to targets beyond their visual range. They were mostly there to providefort to the lower-ranking warriors.

    At this moment, the young guards picked up their pace under the urging of the old veteran and quicklypleted Qianye¡¯s inspection. Thetter didn¡¯t inquire further and only entered the base.

    The old guard¡¯s gaze followed Qianye¡¯s receding figure until it disappeared into the base. Only then did he look away with a sigh.

    The young guard beside him was rather curious. ¡°Old Liu, you¡¯ve never been so careful around those major generals. Howe you¡¯ve changed this time? I¡¯m telling you, you would¡¯ve been promoted to a staff officer by now if it wasn¡¯t for your bad temper. Why would you need to watch the gate with us rookies?¡±

    That Old Liu red at him and spat, ¡°Those major generals are nothing. There isn¡¯t even a designation number on their empty rank emblems. Who knows how they snaked their way in. But that one just now isn¡¯t the same, he¡¯s definitely a fierce character! Don¡¯t be fooled by his brigadier general rank. He¡¯ll make short work of those major generals in a real fight.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± The young guard was skeptical. Qianye¡¯s emblem was a true military rank, but that emblem depicting a bloodstained bay and flintlock was too unfamiliar. The young guard couldn¡¯t recall any imperial corps with that emblem.

    ¡°Did you notice how unusual his armor was? Those nicks and gaps had a blue glow to them. That kind of alloy is a premium item only generals can use. Just think about what kind of person he is, to be wearing such armor? And what kind of enemy would it take to badly damage such an armor? That being said, he¡¯s practically uninjured. What kind of strength is that?¡±

    The young guard was in a daze. ¡°He¡¯s really that powerful?¡±

    The old veteran snorted, ¡°As I see it, those arrogant so-called generals won¡¯t even get through his armor.¡±

    Off in the distance, Qianye had no idea that a part of his strength had been gauged just from the glint on the cut edges of his tattered Young Dragon.

    What greeted him as he walked through the barracks gates was a scene of wreckage and the hundreds of military engineers at work. However, the scene of destruction was simply too vast, covering two entire street blocks. The chore of clearing it up would take several more days.

    After seeing the traces of this battle, Qianye understood that the old veteran just now wasn¡¯t exaggerating. It had to be a count at least¡ªand definitely not one like Stuka whosebat strength was at the very bottom¡ªto be able to cause such destruction.

    The dark races even reached this ce? Qianye once again sensed the seriousness of the situation.

    He then thought about the batch of elites Eden was escorting. It was clear that the dark races were nning something big in the Misty Wood. The entire Misty Wood would fall into dark race hands if the Li n base were uprooted. At that time, the central cavernous maze would naturally be Evernight territory, and the only area underplete imperial control would be the Zhao n warzone.

    Qianye passed through the barracks and paused briefly in front of the new signboard to memorize theyout of the base. Then, he headed over to the contribution exchange area. The road along the way was bustling with activity and packed with all kinds of military vehicles. It would seem that the Li family was clear about their situation and had responded rapidly by summoning a steady stream of preformed army corps.

    The area for independent hunters was still the same, but Qianye saw a fair number of new faces there. It would seem the Li family was recruiting experts with all their might.

    Qianye had no opinion about these potentialpetitors. More manpower meant that they could share some of the pressure from the dark races. His fight with the young demonkin expert proved one thing¡ªimperial contribution points weren¡¯t that easy to earn. Every point came at the risk of one¡¯s head.

    The inner hall was full at the moment, and there were even some people queueing up in the waiting area. Qianye¡¯s turn came only after a good while.

    Qianye felt a gaze from behind as he entered the room, even eliciting from him a mild tingling pain. But he paid little attention to this and only closed the door, effectively isting the stare. The Li family¡¯s generous bounty had attracted many experts from the four corners of the empire. No one knew how many powerful experts had hidden themselves among these people.

    In the hall, a number of people were walking out after concluding their business. A youth with prominent eyebrows couldn¡¯t help but pause briefly when he saw Qianye¡¯s figure disappear beyond the door.

    Someone beside him detected the abnormality. ¡°Young Master, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    The young man frowned. ¡°Go and investigate who that person is. There¡¯s a familiar smell on his body, perhaps he has the thing I want. Oh, and don¡¯t make a big fuss.¡±

    That person looked at the room, memorized the door number, and said, ¡°Rest assured, Young Master, I¡¯ll bring you the results after you finish lunch.¡±

    The young man nodded and left with his entourage. His words weren¡¯t loud, and the hall was full of mor, so no one noticed this interlude.

    After entering the single room, Qianye saw a female officer in her thirties. Capable and astute, she finished registering several documents in a sh before turning toward Qianye. ¡°Sorry for the wait, there¡¯s been too much work recently. How can I help you?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I want thetest intelligence, especially the Evernight faction¡¯s movements in Misty Wood. I also wish to register some contribution points, including high-grade equipment.¡±

    ¡°Equipment? Can I take a look?¡± With that, the female officer brought out two folders containing the most recent intelligence and ced it in front of Qianye.

    Qianye opened the document and said while flipping through it, ¡°That won¡¯t do, the item is fairly special and your origin power is insufficient. You might be injured if you touch it.¡±

    The officer¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s a ck titanium weapon?¡±

    Qianye was startled. He hadn¡¯t expected this female officer to know that much. But he had already nned to sell the shadowguard daggers to the Li family, so there was nothing to hide. ¡°Indeed. The weapon¡¯s quality is very high, it¡¯s best you don¡¯t touch it.¡±

    After confirming her guess, the female officer stood up and said respectfully, ¡°An item of that grade is beyond my authority to register. Please wait a while, I¡¯ll invite General Weishi over.¡±

    That female officer moved like the wind and soon returned with a capable-looking middle-aged man.

    Qianye had seen this person. Li Weishi was born of the Li family and his extraordinary ability brought him all the way to the general position. But with his origin power level and side-branch origins, that was likely the limit unless he could break through once more.

    Li Weishi was full of smiles as he entered. He greeted Qianye passionately and whispered, ¡°I heard you have some good stuff?¡±

    After Qianye nodded, Li Weishi immediately sent the female officer away and locked the door. Qianye brought out and opened a box made for isting radiation, revealing the two daggers within.

    ¡°Umbral Edge?!¡± Li Weishi¡¯s voice trembled. He had apparently recognized the origins of the two des in Qianye¡¯s possession.

    Qianye shot Li Weishi a nce after thetter cried out the name of the demonkin shadows¡¯ daggers. This meant that the demonkin assant¡¯s identity was more or less in reach.

    Qianye pushed the box toward Li Weishi. An origin glow had already lit up on thetter¡¯s body when the des were revealed. The glow of the barrier wasn¡¯t quite stable, however¡ªthe surface in contact with the daggers was clearly rippling.

    Li Weishi was delighted as he picked up the dagger and ran a finger over it. Ayer of ck smoke emerged from his fingertips. ¡°It¡¯s indeed high-purity ck titanium! Good de!¡±

    Li Weishi ced the daggers back into the box and closed the lid reluctantly. ¡°General Qianye, these two items require further assessment to confirm their detailed value. It¡¯s not me making things difficult for you. The value is just too high, So the matter must be dealt with cautiously. The confirmation and dispatch will take some time.¡±

    This request was within reason. Qianye said with a nod, ¡°Then, convert them to imperial military contributions and register them under my name.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem.¡± Li Weishi was full of smiles as he formed an origin power seal on the metallic box. Then, he summoned his subordinate outside the door and carefully ordered him to deliver the des to the armory.

 Volume 6 - 604: New Missions

    [V6C134 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye paid no further attention to Li Weishi¡¯s movements and continued flipping through the reports. The exchange and registration of contributions was an important issue. No matter how valuable or pure the two ck titanium daggers were, they couldn¡¯tpare to the Li family¡¯s prestige. It was unlikely that they would y any tricks here, especially when they were in such desperate need of manpower.

    ¡°General Qianye, is there anything else you need?¡± Li Weishi turned back enthusiastically.

    Qianye flipped over a page and arrived at the sketch of a certain demonkin with his name and rank listed on the side. Moreover, the depiction was rather blurry.

    Eden of the Dark Abyss. Count. Five-star swordbearer of the Evernight Council¡¯s Dark Sun.

    Qianye looked at this drawing¡ªthe rank in the data was a bit lower, and the sniper rifle here wasn¡¯t quite the same as the one that had attacked him in the Misty Wood. However, the man¡¯s standing posture, as well as the style and decorations on his sniper rifle was inexplicably simr.

    The most important part was that his movements were depicted with great vividness¡ªalmost as though the artist had seen the demonkin before¡ªyet his facial features had been blurred. This spoke volumes of the other party¡¯s powerful concealment abilities.

    ¡°General Li, is there any further intelligence regarding this demonkin?¡±

    Li Weishi shot a nce at the picture and replied immediately, ¡°Yes, there is. This demonkin is quite the character. I¡¯ll go and get the data.¡±

    Li Weishi walked in momentster and ced a sheet of paper in front of Qianye. ¡°This intelligence isn¡¯t cheap at all, but we¡¯ll provide it for free on ount of the two des.¡±

    ¡°That demonkin fellow you¡¯re interested in is rather famous in the Dark Abyss, and he¡¯s still a young man by their standards. He serves the Evernight Council as a member of Dark Sun. That shows just how outstanding he is. Oh, and he reportedly obtained a portion of void essence during thest battle, so it¡¯s very likely that he¡¯s grown even more powerful in the recent period.¡±

    Qianye nodded as he examined the document. There was a clear portrait of him in this report, which itself seemed like a file set up for important dark race characters. It recorded Eden¡¯s family background, bloodline, and previous posts, but the contents were very vague. What Qianye wanted to know were things like his rank, innate talents, andbat specialization, none of which was provided here.

    Li Weishi¡¯s exnation contained much more information than the document. Hence, Qianye put the file down and proceeded to listen to the man.

    ¡°In truth, this Eden has indeed grown more powerful. One of ourbat squads encountered him in the forest a while ago, and a great battle ensued. The results were disastrous. Reportedly, he specializes in sniping but isn¡¯t weak at all in meleebat, either. That surviving champion suspects that his visual range is significantly longer than ordinary people but has no grasp on how much.¡±

    Li Weishi shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine if it¡¯s just a visual range advantage, but if he has an edge in all senses, this ursed Misty Wood will be his home ground. In that case, we might have to ask the imperial army to send someone to suppress him.¡±

    Qianye knew that this wasn¡¯t quite feasible. Considering the unstable situation in every part of the floating continent, they would have to pay a steep price in order to request help from the imperial military. At the very least, their contribution points would be reduced significantly. The Li family would probably choose to trade human lives for this enemy.

    Qianye asked, ¡°How long ago was that.¡±

    ¡°Twelve days ago.¡±

    Qianye did some calctions and found that it was probably soon after Eden entered the Misty Wood. The timeline fit rather well.

    He gave it some thought and said, ¡°This person¡¯s strength is almost at the level of a virtuous count, and he uses a heavy sniper rifle that¡¯s at least grade seven. Both his sniper rifle and handgun have the ability to pierce through defenses and heavy armor. His vision in the Misty Wood is at least two times longer than an ordinary person. As for his other senses, it is unclear.¡±

    Li Weishi¡¯s expression grew dark¡ªa dark race expert roaming the Li n warzone was a big problem. Suddenly noticing something, he asked, ¡°You¡¯ve encountered him?¡±

    Qianye nodded lightly.

    Li Weishi was astonished, and the way he looked at Qianye immediately changed. He, of course, knew that Qianye was powerful, but he didn¡¯t believe Qianye would be a match for such an enemy. But now, the two had indeed run into one another, and Qianye not only returned in one piece but was also free of any grievous injury. Li Weishi felt that the Li family¡¯s assessment of Qianye should be raised yet again.

    The general immediately inquired about Eden¡¯s weaponry. Qianye naturally hadn¡¯t seen the handgun¡¯s external appearance, but the eye-catching sniper rifle wasn¡¯t hard to describe. Li Weishi¡¯s expression transformed time and again as he tapped into his memory. ¡°Carol of Shadows!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a famed gun?¡± Qianye was curious because all famed demonkin and vampire armaments had a long history to them. Their bearers, of course, weren¡¯t ordinary people, either.

    Li Weishi¡¯s attitude toward Qianye was now respectful on top of being cordial. ¡°The information you brought back is fairly important! I must go and adjust the recent warning levels. You can call on me directly if you have need of high-level intelligence in the future!¡±

    Qianye returned Eden¡¯s records to Li Weishi and watched him leave in a hurry. Umbral Edge, Carol of Shadows¡ªit would seem this demonkin called Eden wasn¡¯t a minor character, but the Li family¡¯s understanding of the mysterious demonkin was also quite thorough!

    However, there was still no detailed intelligence about his innate talents and abilities¡ªafter all, it wasn¡¯t so easy to obtain information regarding these weapons, either. They even had a clear sketch of his face. Qianye suddenly felt as though he had seen this countenance somewhere, but he couldn¡¯t quite remember where.

    At this moment, several sharp gazesnded on Qianye as he stepped out of the door. Qianye collected his thoughts and nced back at them, but those people seemed to have no intention of retracting their fiery stares. The temperature in the room fell slightly and the mor faded away¡ªeveryone had sensed the abnormality in the atmosphere.

    The two parties gazed at one another but took no action, eventually going on to mind their own businesses. It was like the first meeting between two fierce beasts where they would probe one another cautiously.

    Among them, there was a smiling chubby baldhead who gave Qianye exceptional pressure.

    Qianye concluded his exchange and resupply business in due haste. He had just left the area when a female officer arrived and said, ¡°General Qianye, the n has just issued a new mission. Please follow me, an elder will exin it to you personally.¡±

    ¡°Mission?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s notpulsory, but there will be an extra payment forpleting it. Additionally, the family will set up a contributions ranking starting from this month. There will be extra rewards for those who have umted a high amount of contributions.¡±

    Qianye frowned after hearing this. In truth, both the imperial army and the major ns would issue certain missions to outsiders during drawn-out wars, using steep remunerations to attract experts capable ofpleting them. These missions were usually quite dangerous or required certain special abilities toplete. Of course, it was also possible that they were only trying to reduce enemy numbers and lessen the pressure on the warzone.

    Qianye had no special opinion about the mission as he had seen many such recruitments during his time as a hunter on Evernight Continent. However, something like the contribution rankings would only spell trouble.

    Qianye was soon brought to a conference room in the warehouse area. There were a number of experts sitting here, including Lu Sha whom he had metst time. Qianye picked a random seat and proceeded to wait with his eyes closed.

    During the several minutes of waiting, Qianye sensed a number of gazes sweep past his body. Most of them were merely trying to examine him just as he would, the others. However, there was one containing a trace of malice lingering around Qianye¡¯s vitals.

    A cold smile appeared on Qianye¡¯s lips. East Peak shot up all of a sudden and pressed violently toward a burly man in the distance. Thetter couldn¡¯t even react before the sheathed de arrived at his face.

    ¡°What¡¯re you¡­¡± The burly man only managed to finish half his sentence before he was stoppered. He crossed his arms in a desperate attempt to block East Peak, but the pressure from that heavy sword was akin to a toppling jade mountain. The burly man felt as though he had braced himself against a boulder instead of a sword.

    The chair below the burly man shattered, and he himself was pressed t on the floor and began sinking in inch by inch.

    The man¡¯s arms creaked and groaned, but the pressure suddenly dispersed just as his bones were about to shatter. East Peak returned to Qianye¡¯s side with the lithe grace of a fallen leaf.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes never opened from the beginning to the end, and even his posture didn¡¯t change much. Everything happened so fast that most of the people in the room couldn¡¯t even react in time. The small number of people who hadn¡¯t paid much attention to Qianye were now looking up.

    Qianye cared little about everyone¡¯s reaction. His eyes were still closed as he said indifferently, ¡°I have a bad temper, so keep your eyes to yourself. I would¡¯ve dug them out if we were on the battlefield.¡±

    The room fell silent as Qianye¡¯s words seemed to be directed at everyone in the room.

    Those who had the right to sit here were mostly unyielding characters. However, they were also experts who had experienced hundreds of battles and quickly realized how strong Qianye was¡ªthis rank-eleven hulk of man had failed to block a single move, to speak nothing of retaliation. An advantage in words meant nothing in the face of absolute power.

    Furious and too ashamed to remain in the room, the burly man simply mbered up and left. However, there was an old man standing at the door at that point.

    ¡°Scram!¡± the man roared as he charged straight ahead.

    This time, it was as though he had crashed straight into an iron wall¡ªthe entirety of his origin power crashed back into him. The burly man was sent into an immediate daze and began seeing stars. He swayed about for a few moments before slowly copsing to the ground.

    The old man walked slowly into the conference room and, with a wave of his walking stick, swept the burly man to a corner of the room like a pile of trash.

    ¡°Why the rush to leave since you¡¯ve alreadye? This old man is Li Tianquan and I do some misceneous tasks for the Li family.¡±

    All expressions turned serious upon hearing his name.

    This was a Li n elder whom the outside world was familiar with, and one of the few characters from the older generation who held great authority.

    Li Tianquan wasn¡¯t sloppy at all. Announcing his name spared him the trouble of greeting everyone, and he immediately proceeded to deliver the missions. Most of these assignments were rted to hunting certain targets, with the only difference being a slight increase in rewards for hunting dark race warriors below viscount rank. Additionally, there was an increase in the scope and prices regarding the acquisition of various resources and spoils of war.

    Having worked before in the army, Qianye knew just by looking at these missions that the Li family¡¯s frontline situation wasn¡¯t too great. If not for the urgency of the situation, no one would list killing ordinary warriors as a mission objective.

    The acquisition of resources and spoils of war was likely a strategy of ¡°supporting war with war¡± as the Li family, with its sizeable workshops, could recycle and reuse them. The several new workshops on the other side of the camp were likely constructed to this end.

    A number of special missions on the next page, however, intrigued Qianye quite a bit.

 Volume 6 - 605: To War Once More

    [V6C135 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The Li family had drawn out several areas on the frontline for defensive missions. Rewards would be dispatched for keeping the number of dark race forces passing through the designated area below a certain threshold. Moreover, these missions would adopt a weekly cycle, which only made the offers more attractive.

    Upon seeing these mission parameters, Qianye recalled the organizedbat squad Eden was escorting. Such arrangements meant that the Li family had also discovered the dark races¡¯ transport route and methods. But judging from the mission patterns, it would seem that the Li family nned to rely on independent experts to open the battle instead of investingrge numbers from their private army.

    The independent experts at the scene hadn¡¯t received first-hand intelligence like Qianye, but they weren¡¯t fools, either. Everyone knew that a mission with such bountiful rewards involved great risks. It had never been easy to earn money from the aristocracy. For a moment, there were no replies at all in the hall.

    Li Tianquan didn¡¯t seem to mind this development. He said with a smile, ¡°The first-ce on the contribution rankings three months from now will be allowed to choose either Stillwater Rebirth or Storm Pearl as his reward.¡±

    ¡°Storm Pearl? What¡¯s that?¡± Many people, just like Qianye, had never even heard of the name. But judging from how the Li family had ced it on equal value with Stillwater Rebirth, it should be an item of great value.

    Seeing everyone¡¯s puzzled looks, Li Tianquan said calmly, ¡°Its main purpose is to raise the talents of any expert below the divine champion level by one grade and remove any bottlenecks.¡±

    mor erupted within the room as numerous unfamiliar origin power auras surged into the air, quickly turning into killing intent.

    Most of the other people here were seasoned experts who had more or less reached their cultivation bottlenecks. They were destined to remain there unless they encountered special opportunities.

    With their ranks, it wasn¡¯t difficult for them to gain an important position in a minor family in the interior continents. Who would be willing to give up their peaceful days and risk their lives here if they didn¡¯t need to chase after that faint hope for a breakthrough?

    Lu Sha was the same. He had been stuck at rank fourteen for many years now. Although there was still some hope for his advancement, there had been no signs at all of his sixth origin vortex taking shape. That so-called glimmer of hope was iparably minuscule.

    Li Tianquan appeared satisfied at everyone¡¯s reaction. ¡°Although breaking through bottlenecks is great, it is but one of the uses of the Storm Pearl. Our Li family has some talent with divination. After observing the recent situation, we feel that this item might have other important uses. Even if you can¡¯t use it yourself, there¡¯s a good chance you can trade it for exorbitant prices.¡±

    With that, a smiling Li Tianquan nced over at a number of people here, including Qianye. These were people who hadn¡¯t reacted strongly after hearing the effects of the Storm Pearl.

    Most experts were still affected by the surprise brought about by the Storm Pearl¡ªsome of them might or might not have noticed Li Tianquan¡¯s small movements. However, thetter had already turned around and left, without giving everyone the opportunity to raise questions. Only a Li family champion stayed behind to register the missions.

    The room became silent as everyone nced at one another under the tense atmosphere. People had already heard rumors of the Li family offering Stillwater Rebirth as the first prize, but it was little more than a valuablemodity for those without a special need for it. They would have to think twice whether or not it was worth risking their lives for.

    But things were no longer the same with the appearance of the Storm Pearl. People didn¡¯t pay much attention to that mysterious use Li Tianquan was talking about, but no one here could say that they wouldn¡¯t ever hit a bottleneck before reaching the divine champion level.

    One of them suddenly stood up and pointed at the map the Li n champion had just hung on the wall. ¡°I want this defensive region!¡±

    Everyone came to at this point. They quickly realized that picking a good defensive region quickly was the best way to collect contribution points. With how vast the battlefield was, they might not even encounter any dark race soldiers at all if they were fortunate enough. Besides, they could just hide if the enemy was too powerful. At most, they would fail the mission. There wasn¡¯t anything to lose.

    As clever people, everyone swarmed over to pick a defensive region. The Li family had arranged ten regions of different sizes and locations with their corresponding contribution points listed beside them. Everyone picked regions outside of or at the borders of Misty Wood, despite their slightly lower contribution points.

    Qianye gave it some thought, and then picked up a brush and drew a circle on one of the designated regions¡ªone that was deep within Misty Wood. Qianye wasn¡¯t familiar with those independent experts, and neither did he have the intention of making their acquaintance. He simply epted the mission and left.

    The remaining experts began discussing in hushed tones after his departure.

    ¡°Yet another one who¡¯s not afraid of death. He actually picked the Misty Wood!¡± One of them seemed to know the details.

    Someone else asked, ¡°Brother, what do you think is going on?¡±

    Everyone had already picked a defensive region, so the man didn¡¯t keep the listeners in suspense. ¡°Reportedly, those ck-blooded bastards have already unraveled a part of the Misty Wood¡¯s secrets. That¡¯s why casualties in this ce have been very high recently. Do you understand now? Very soon, this damned forest will be the dark races¡¯ home ground!¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expression turned apprehensive. As veterans of a hundred wars, each and every one of them understood what this signified.

    ¡°The Li family¡¯s money is bing harder and harder to earn.¡± Someone sighed.

    Dayster, an airshipnded at the airship port. This vessel was about the size of a medium escort vessel and fairly ordinary looking. There were several rusted and broken areas that hadn¡¯t been repaired. It was a mystery how the airship had even arrived in one piece. The people inside, however, seemed perfectly fine and made a beeline for the main base camp as soon as they had alighted.

    One of them was entirely concealed under a cloak, just like any random hunter. He walked all the way into the central camp where outsiders weren¡¯t allowed and then into Li Tianquan¡¯s office. Only there did he remove the hood and proceeded to observe the elegant furnishings therein.

    It was as though this ce were his own house. He picked up a jade artifact and examined it briefly before going over to fiddle with another vase.

    The door opened at this point and in came Li Tianquan. Thetter was immediately startled upon seeing this person.

    The man was in his thirties and fairly ordinary looking, so much so that he could blend into the bustling city crowds almost immediately.

    He possessed short brows and small eyes. His greyish pupils had neither killing intent nor any radiance in them. His build was on the shorter side with contours no different from an ordinary person. All in all, this man was beyond ordinary¡ªone would find such people everywhere among the lower-ss society of the empire.

    The person was nonchnt upon seeing Li Tianquan. He duly put down the vase and picked up a teapot from the desk. Tossing the object up and down in his hands, he said with a spurious smile, ¡°Second Elder, you tidied up this ce quite well! If I wasn¡¯t so sober right now, I would''ve thought I¡¯d entered the pce.¡±

    This teapot was Li Tianquan¡¯s most beloved item. As a work of Master Tongzhi, the pot had seen hundreds of years of history and had long since gone out of production. One could count this artisan¡¯s surviving works on one hand.

    Li Tianquan¡¯s heart spasmed continuously as he watched the teapot bounce up and down. However, he resisted the urge to flip out and said, ¡°Young Master Qingyun, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°I came to take a look at the mission status, and also check in passing if everyone in the base is doing their job.¡±

    Li Tianquan was somewhat astonished. Li Qingyun¡¯s temperament was indeed odd, but he wasn¡¯t one to create unnecessary troubles. The nature of this trip seemed to be somewhat of an inspection, so why hadn¡¯t he heard anything about this? ¡°I wonder whose idea this is?¡±

    ¡°Eldest Brother, not the elder assembly. Does Second Elder have a different opinion?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t dare.¡± Li Tianquan clenched his teeth.

    ¡°Fine then.¡± Li Qingyun ced the teapot back on the table, allowing the second elder a measure of relief.

    Li Tianquan produced a map from the cab and unfurled it on the table. This map was much more detailed than the version provided to external experts. There were dozens of areas on it arranged in a circr pattern, effectively protecting the Li family base from afar.

    There were names and dates marked down on most of the areas, signifying that someone had epted the mission. Some areas had an eye-catching ck star upon them to show that an important dark race character had appeared before.

    Li Qingyun¡¯s expression rxed after seeing these. He flipped through the recent military contribution records but found no dazzling characters. ¡°Eldest brother has already put forward two batches of rewards, why are there no decent people in the list?¡±

    ¡°There are a few. That Qianye, known together with Zhao Jundu as the twin stars of the empire during the bloody battle, is also on the guest warrior list.¡±

    ¡°Qianye? That one from the Zhao n?¡± Li Qingyun raised his brows but didn¡¯tment further. He flipped through the records and arrived on Qianye¡¯s page. ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    Li Tianquan smiled. ¡°The bloody battle was a special situation after all. How can it be the same here? No matter how talented he is, he¡¯s only rank ten at the moment. It¡¯s already quite good that he¡¯s alive after entering Misty Wood a couple of times.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s evaluation was fairly pertinent. Since the beginning of the war, the Li n had lost no less independent experts than the other major ns. This was especially true in the recent ten or so days where the dark races had started transporting troops through the Misty Wood¡ªeven the Li n base had suffered the impact.

    Some disappointment shed across Li Qingyun¡¯s face. ¡°Just rank ten? And I thought I¡¯d found an interesting opponent.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s gaze flickered as he said calmly, ¡°It won¡¯t be hard for Young Master Qingyun to find opponents. News of the Storm Pearl has been released, so every major n will send their people over before long. Such a giant bait will surely hook them in.¡±

    Qianye noticed some changes after returning to the Misty wood. The forest¡¯s hostility seemed to be increasing continuously, but in Qianye¡¯s eyes, these terrifying giant trees were endless sources of medicinal distite.

    Qianye cut open the bark of a giant tree and filled a bottle with sap. He then found a quiet ce to drink it all up and proceeded to extract origin power via the Glory Chapter.

    Momentster, the sap turned into pure daybreak origin power under the effects of the Song n Ancient Scroll and entered the origin vortex. At this time, Qianye felt a swelling sensation in his chest as though a huge lump had appeared therein. However, everything was normal when he looked down.

    This was a sign that his origin vortex was reaching its limits and could no longer amodate any more origin power. The next step was to open up a second origin vortex in order to keep up with his growing origin power. Qianye would reach rank-eleven pretty soon.

    It was only a single level advancement, but Qianye¡¯s origin power was so dense that it was already forming crystalline granules. The addition of a new origin vortex would increase his energy capacity to several times than that of an ordinary champion.

    Qianye was in no rush since his advancement was sure to ur naturally at this point. He pressed on into the depths of Misty Wood where his defensive region was.

    Qianye¡¯s trip this timested a full twenty hours. He paused quite often and cultivated whenever there was a safe area. After drinking countless bottles of tree sap, a new fledgling vortex was beginning to take shape and was on the verge ofpletion.

    The Misty Wood was the same as before¡ªthose seemingly quiet giant trees, the odd-colored ground substance, and the constant, disruptive mist. Even with ten or so days ofbat experience here, Qianye still needed to use special origin equipment to adjust his route from time to time. Otherwise, he would gradually lose his bearing.

    He came to a sudden stop. This time, he didn¡¯t need any aid to feel the increasing sense of danger.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± Qianye, who had been traveling and cultivating at the same time, felt rather unhappy at being disturbed. He drew the Twin Flowers and fired continuously into the mist.

 Volume 6 - 606: Obstinate Enemy

    [V6C136 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    A dense rain of bullets flew over, however, a surge of demonic energy actually emerged from the forest and flushed away the projectiles. Thereafter appeared a silhouette with a long sniper rifle strapped to his back.

    ¡°It¡¯s you?!¡± The two spoke at the same time. Although theirnguages were different, it didn¡¯t deter them from understanding one another¡¯s words and emotions.

    Qianye¡¯s joy regarding his imminent breakthrough had been wiped away entirely. Meanwhile, that pained expression on Eden¡¯s face revealed his gloomy mood.

    The many days of sleepless battles had long since be an endless torture for the two opponents.

    Qianye simply picked a random defensive region from the vast Misty Wood, and it was quite a distance from theirst battlefield, too.

    There was a dagger in Eden¡¯s right hand, while his left hand was shrouded in ck demonic energy. At a nce, thetter almost looked like a round shield. There were two obvious bullet marks on his chest te, but the bullets hadn¡¯t prated his armor.

    Apparently, his hurriedly activated defenses had blocked the attacks from the Bloody Datura and Mystic Spider Lily. Moreover, he was prepared to counterattack at melee range.

    The demonkin¡¯s so-called frail constitution was only rtive to the other dark races. It didn¡¯t mean a human could easily take advantage of it. Many demonkin were also quite powerful in melee battles by virtue of their odd but powerful abilities¡ªthese skills weren¡¯t any less troublesome than human secret arts.

    Dark Abyss was one of the famed demonkin ns. The corrosive power of their primary talents had inflicted distress upon countless enemies on the battlefield. Sometimes, a cloud of demonic energy would mow down a swathe of enemies. Moreover, it also served to diminish some of the special effects produced by human champions.

    Eden was an important character in the Dark Abyss and the Evernight Council. What he relied upon wasn¡¯t just his outstanding bloodline and his inborn talents¡ªhe was just as remarkable in meleebat.

    The ambush this time hade at a fairly short distance, no longer within optimal sniping range. Since the other party couldn¡¯t even st through his defenses, Eden decided to eliminate the enemy at melee range instead of using a roundabout method.

    This course of action couldn¡¯t be more correct. In truth, the only problem was that he had encountered Qianye this time.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon Eden¡¯s de. Thetter¡¯s expression shifted yet again, almost as if the dagger was suddenly heating up in his hand.

    The reason was simple. Melee battles might not be Eden¡¯s weak point, but against Qianye with his heavy sword and armor, weak had be a gross understatement. The two had only ever engaged in a single meaningful close-quarter battle. Back then, Eden was nearly hacked into two along with his de. From then on, he had made it his top priority to stay away from Qianye¡¯s melee range.

    But now, they had arrived at an awkward distance.

    The two nced at one another but neither made the first move.

    Qianye was moved¡ªthis was the first time he had seen Eden clearly in full view. His first reaction was that the Li family¡¯s sketch was about 80% urate, and then a sense of familiarity emerged once again. He felt as though he had seen this demonkin somewhere.

    Eden made the prompt decision to flee. Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t let such an enemy escape so easily.

    It was almost like they had gone back to several days ago. The two once again started their unending entanglement.

    Perhaps an evenly matched opponent was the best grinding stone. Both parties felt that the other was bing more and more troublesome. Every battle was iparably perilous¡ªa slight mistake would leave eachbatant with a new injury.

    Although Eden could hardly retaliate in meleebat, he could now block a couple of blows from Qianye. This was a stark contrast from the first exchange where he was almost killed. This difference was enough to give him some space to maneuver and extricate himself from melee range.

    But simrly, Eden¡¯s hiding abilities were no longer as effective as before. It was bing difficult to maintain an optimal firing distance for the Carol of Shadows. Several times he had been discovered by Qianye even before he could pull the trigger. What ensued was a frantic tempest of counterattacks, effectively turning the hunter into the hunted.

    Several days went by in this fashion. Qianye was starting to feel fatigued in both body and spirit. His aura was also growing empty, and he needed to rely on the Glory Chapter even after drinking the giant tree sap. Otherwise, the absorption would be reduced drastically.

    But a battle could break out at any moment¡ªa few minutes of cultivation time had be an extravagant activity. Moreover, there were significant risks involved.

    Qianye was just nning to take a break when he suddenly turned back and saw Eden not so far away.

    This was also a side-effect of their prolonged conflict. The safe distance between them was shrinking day by day¡ªthey would usually discover each other at the same time, and at a distance that was neither fit for sniping or meleebat.

    For Qianye, he couldn¡¯t break Eden¡¯s defenses without merging the Twin Flowers. However, the time it would take tobine the guns was enough for Eden to escape. Eden¡¯s handgun, on the other hand, did possess enough firepower, but that powerful heavy sword would descend upon him should he fail to injure the other party sufficiently.

    This encounter was no different. Qianye had in his hand a piece of dried meat, a part of the empire¡¯s standard field rations. Eden was holding onto a bottle of medicine and had just finished applying the contents to half of his wounds. The demonkin scion¡¯s external appearance was even more miserable than Qianye. There were dark circles around his eyes, and his cheeks were sunken. Moreover, there were several bleeding wounds on his body that hadn¡¯t yet healed.

    The two didn¡¯t move immediately and proceeded to standoff in silence.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Qianye spat out the remaining meat in his mouth. Eden poured the remaining medicine onto his wounds and ced a hand on his handgun.

    Qianye was often more cautious of those handguns than that ridiculously shaped sniper rifle. In Eden¡¯s eyes, there was a sense of great danger emerging from Qianye¡¯s body. It was as though a primordial beast were hiding within.

    Qianye had also noticed how the safe distance between them was shrinking constantly. This meant that both of them were walking on the razor¡¯s edge¡ªthepetition was no longer just about strategy and techniques, but also involved a great deal of luck. And thetter was the most unreliable of resources on the battlefield.

    Qianye pondered briefly whether or not he should just use the Shot of Inception and finish off this powerful enemy. However, Eden¡¯s abilities were growing endlessly, especially the ability to extricate himself from being targeted and flee at great speeds. Qianye wasn¡¯t quite confident that he could strike Eden squarely, at which point he would be at the mercy of the enemy.

    Both sides were apprehensive. After a while, they retreated at the same time and faded into the mist. Since neither was confident about their chances, it was best to restart the round and see who would be the hunter.

    Theirbat styles had changed unknowingly. They were no longer going all out with their lives on the line but patiently probing each other from afar. Both of them would retreat after missing a shot.

    Theirbat skills were also being tempered on the verge of life and death. Presently, any small movement by one of them would be promptly detected and countered by the other.

    They were like brilliant chess yers. They kept sounding out their opponents repeatedly but produced no killing moves. They simply couldn¡¯t find the right opportunity, and neither would they give one to their opponents. The end result was the exhaustion of stamina without any serious injuries.

    Perhaps they themselves hadn¡¯t quite noticed how theirbat skills were improving by leaps and bounds. Their battle, at this point, could already be called a form of art.

    Qianye had gradually formed a strategy¡ªwhat he had to do in order to finish Eden off was to pay the price to approach melee range, and then end the game with a Nirvanic Rend. This price, however, was bound to be a grievous injury. But Eden was no slouch, either. He definitely wouldn¡¯t give Qianye this opportunity.

    Not long after retreating, Qianye rushed back toward the battlefield. This time, he made no attempt at concealing his aura, making himself a prime target for Eden and his heavy sniper. Qianye believed that Eden wouldn¡¯t let such an attractive target pass by.

    It was indeed extremely enticing. Eden hesitated several times but finally decided to take action. He knew that this was a trap, and he had no intention of going too deep. He didn¡¯t expect to kill Qianye in one shot, either¡ªit was enough if he could injure the other party and tip the scales slightly in his favor.

    Although he didn¡¯t want to admit it, Eden knew that they were no longer evenly matched, and this only worsened after he was injured. Qianye¡¯s defenses were ridiculously powerful, and his regenerative abilities were almost unbelievable. If this were to go on, he would have to either admit defeat and retreat, or be the loser in this blood-letting strategy.

    Blood sprayed out from Qianye¡¯s body following the crisp rumble of a gunshot, the impact throwing his entire body back by a meter. But Qianye neither rushed forward as Eden had expected, nor did he draw East Peak. Instead, the Twin Flowers appeared in his hand and merged into one.

    An area of crystalline ripples appeared on Qianye¡¯s palms. There were vaguely enchanting flowers pulsing in and out of view, seemingly on the verge of blooming.

    A sense of extreme danger emerged in Eden¡¯s heart. What he saw wasn¡¯t the beautiful scene of the merging Twin Flowers, but instead, the aura in Qianye¡¯s body awakening like a primordial beast.

    Eden couldn¡¯t care about anything else and fled immediately with a loud hiss. He erupted with power and pushed his speed to the extremes, covering a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. He was virtually flying at this point, leaving behind billowing waves of demonic energy.

    A beam of light appeared silently on his trail. Nothing in the way could stop it, be it the giant trees, the purple substance, or the mist¡ªeverything vanished quietly, just like the shrinking demonic energy.

    The light quickly devoured the demonic energy trail, but Eden¡¯s fleeing figure deviated slightly at this point. The light brushed past his body in silence and produced a hole in the giant tree trunk up front.

    Even so, Eden didn¡¯t manage to evade the entirety of the attack. The armor on his arm waspletely destroyed, and arge patch of his flesh was charred ck. The dark area soon turned into a greyish white powder which quickly scattered in the wind. Arge part of his arm had actually been shaved off, even revealing the bones.

    Eden howled loudly as his demonic energy erupted yet again. The threads of energy shot toward the front where they formed a hexagonal tunnel of sorts. This peculiar tunnelpletely ignored the trees and branches in the vicinity, as though it had appeared in a different dimension altogether. Eden moved twice as fast after stepping into this tunnel and soon vanished into the distance.

    When Qianye arrived, all he saw were a few strands of undispersed demonic energy.

    ¡°Demonic Traversal! Goddammit!¡± Qianye halted his steps hatefully.

 Volume 6 - 607: Demonic Traversal

    [V6C137 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Demonic Traversal was an ability exclusive to the demonkin. It formed a special passage with demonic energy, within which the demonkin¡¯s speed would increase dramatically, allowing him to move over a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. It was indeed a unique life-saving measure.

    This skill was powerful but rare¡ªQianye himself had only heard of it but never witnessed it personally. Unexpectedly, Eden possessed this ability and even used it to escape the Shot of Inception.

    Qianyepared the ability to Spatial sh, the ability he had inherited from Andruil yet still couldn¡¯t use to this day. He couldn¡¯t help but feel that he needed to be more cautious of demonkin special abilities. Spatial sh was a direct crossing through space, while Demonic Traversal was a spatial tunnel which ignored the environment. Both of them were profound abilities that touched upon the principles of void origin power and space.

    Even though Qianye had seen the entire process of Demonic Traversal¡¯s emergence and activation, there were still many parts he didn¡¯t quite understand. He couldn¡¯t find an immediate way to interrupt this skill, either. However, such a powerful ability would surely involve significant levels of consumption. With his current injuries, Eden would surely need to withdraw from the battlefield and recuperate for some time.

    Qianye himself wasn¡¯t feeling great, either. In addition to missing the Shot of Inception, his origin power and blood energy were also at rock bottom. He didn¡¯t dare chase after Eden at this point. Moreover, he needed to find a ce to recuperate, lest other people take advantage of the situation.

    Qianye sighed. The more he battled the dark races and encountered an increasing number of high-ranking experts, the more he realized how vast this world was and how minuscule his own existence. He wondered where the pinnacle of strength was and what the scenery was like at the apex.

    He had just turned about when a crisp sound emerged from within his body¡ªit was as though something had just shattered. In the blink of an eye, Qianye¡¯s perception of the surrounding origin power became much clearer, and what remained of this origin power was cheering in jubtion. It felt as though his every breath was capable of devouring the origin power in the surrounding air.

    Qianye examined his own body and, as expected, found a new origin vortex taking shape.

    This new fellow was rather frailpared to the first full vortex, only a little more than a swirling mist. However, origin power several times its volume was pouring into it, much like rivers flowing into the sea. This small vortex was seemingly connected to a boundless ocean¡ªit simply devoured everything thrown at it.

    It would seem that the fierce battle with Eden just now had shattered thatst barrier and paved the way for the condensation of a new origin vortex. Qianye had finally taken thatst step and reached rank-eleven with his daybreak origin power. It was something he knew woulde, but that didn¡¯t stop him from feeling delighted.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Qianye took a couple of steps back and, to his great surprise, found the giant Carol of Shadows lying on the ground. There was also a tactical backpack about ten steps away, onto which the purple ground substance was already creeping.

    Qianye rushed over to pick up the weapon and backpack before they had been swallowed up. Apparently, Eden had offloaded all of his equipment before entering Demonic Traversal. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but admire Eden¡¯s sharpness¡ªhad he been just a little bit hesitant, he wouldn¡¯t have escaped the Shot of Inception. At that point, not to mention equipment, even his head would¡¯ve been left behind.

    Qianye picked up the Carol of Shadows and examined it thoroughly inside out before trying it out. This weapon was clearly demonkin specific since its activation mainly required demonic energy. Although other types of darkness origin power like blood energy could also activate it, the firepower would be greatly reduced.

    But this sniper rifle was more powerful than Thunderbolt even after this discount. After all, Thunderbolt was merely a grade-six standard weapon of the imperial army. It was significantly inferior to the demonkin masterpiece at the peak of grade-seven. One could sell the Carol of Shadows¡¯ barrel and buy several Thunderbolts.

    Qianye¡¯s mood improved greatly after picking up the sniper rifle. ¡°At least it¡¯s not aplete loss.¡±

    Qianye tried using both the dark golden and purple blood energies. In a surge of inspiration, he also instilled his daybreak origin power into the gun. Not only did the patterns on the gun light up, but the radiance was also fairly bright. It was just that the temperature rose sharply all of a sudden, turning the weapon into a piece of red-hot metal seemingly on the verge of explosion.

    Shocked out of his wits, Qianye quickly pulled back his power. Demonkin origin arrays were indeed extraordinary. Ordinary dark race guns were only difficult to activate with daybreak origin power, but this famed demonkin weapon actually contained a self-destruct mechanism. Qianye wondered if the array could be remodeled.

    Eden would probably be absolutely furious if he knew how Qianye was messing around with his gun. The Carol of Shadows was made specifically for demonkin use. Using any other darkness origin power to activate it would reduce its firepower and increase its consumption. If possible, Eden was more than willing to redeem this sniper rifle with ¡°Scarlet Moonlight¡±, a vampire sniper rifle at the peak of grade seven. He would even throw in two boxes of ck titanium sniper rounds.

    Qianye was naturally unconcerned about Eden¡¯s emotions. A different question emerged in his mind as he nced at the Carol of Shadows. Perhaps due to the differences in origin array, factional attributes were more evident in weapons of a higher grade. This was especially true for the weapons produced by the demonkin, a race widely epted as possessing the highest array technology.

    So, howe there wasn¡¯t any factional limitation with the legendary Grand Magnums? Then, what was the medium for activating the grand magnums if not origin power with attributes? Was it void origin power? What was the path he would need to take in order to fully release the power of the Wings of Inception?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t continue these thoughts since he was in a dangerous area. He stowed the Carol of Shadows into Andruil¡¯s space and opened up the tactical backpack. Eden really didn¡¯t disappoint Qianye¡ªthe items inside, while sparse in number, were of great quality and value.

    Two scopes of different sizes that could reveal origin power attributes, two boxes of ck titanium sniper rounds, and four boxes of ordinary sniper rounds. Additionally, there was also a spare handgun barrel.

    The box containing the ck titanium bullets wasn¡¯t very big. Judging from its external appearance, it likely held three rounds. Qianye felt waves of stabbing pain on his face when he opened it¡ªit was clear how high the ck titanium content was.

    Qianye nced at them briefly and found that the bullets were a translucent ck with swirling ck gas within. He closed the lid quickly even though he wasn¡¯t afraid of its effects.

    Qianye had guessed why Eden was here in the Misty Wood. These sniper rounds contained several times more ck titanium and were suited to dealing with human experts above the marquis level, which was, to say, major characters like generals. They would even prove quite troublesome for divine champions.

    Eden himself was quite powerful. His specializations in concealment, sniping, and long-range vision made it possible for him to kill a human general.

    However, he would¡¯ve never imagined that his premium equipment would fall into Qianye¡¯s hands in the end. Those armor-piercing rounds were fairly ordinary, but that was only in rtion to the six ck titanium bullets¡ªthey were still items Qianye couldn¡¯t quite afford. In terms of value, a single shot was akin to igniting a grade-four origin gun; only someone like Eden would use such ammunition.

    Qianye loathed Eden¡¯s extravagance during their fierce battle, but now, he felt how good it would be if the other party were even richer than this. Qianye¡¯s killing intent diminished for a brief moment. He felt that it might be better to rob the man and let him go, rather than killing him outright. That way, he would be back with more top-grade equipment during their next battle.

    But Qianye¡¯s smile vanished after a while. That was only a random thought¡ªtrying to ¡°fatten a sheep¡± on the battlefield was a surefire way to invite disaster. Only wilderness hunters would y such a dangerous game.

    He put away all of the equipment and medicines into Andruil¡¯s space. Then, he counted the time and realized that his defensive mission for the week had beenpleted¡ªit was time to go back and receive his pay.

    Qianye¡¯s entanglement with Eden had mostly urred within his area. Knowing Qianye¡¯s destructive potential, thetter had purposely kept the dark race squads away from their deaths. Qianye had also cut down all the small scouting parties that had wandered in, so his record here wasn¡¯t bad at all.

    Tallying contributions was something better done early thante. As such, Qianye set out on his return journey.

    Meanwhile, in the Desert Valley. A new dark race fortress had appeared where the Bai n¡¯s base once was.

    At this moment, a hundred-meter transport ship was slowly descending from above. This vessel was fairly peculiar in appearance and looked much like an ugly box with protruding corners.

    This went againstmon knowledge. Among the dark races, the vampires and demonkin were known for their love of beauty. Anything rted to them, from buildings to weapons, was known for their elegance and beauty. Even the imperial nobility paled inparison.

    Eden appeared over the horizon just in time to see this colossal vessel descend. It didn¡¯tnd at the airship port but instead lowered itself at an odd angle into an empty space beside the city.

    Afternding, the transport ship¡¯s exterior opened upyer byyer, revealing several preconstructed buildings within. It turned out that the airship¡¯s walls were all convertible.

    Then, the four corners of the airship stretched upward and stopped only after reaching a height of several hundred meters. The protective tes at the top then opened up to reveal numerous dark cannons.

    Four anti-air sentry towers thus appeared in the blink of an eye.

    Hundreds of arachne warriors scuttled about, removing the heavy ship parts with the help of their servspiders. Afterward, these heavy tes were installed on the nearby fortress walls. There was only a framework at first, but it immediately became a sturdy fortification once the airship tes were installed.

    A new fortified structure rose up in the area as the giant airship was gradually and continuously broken down into itsponents.

    Soon, yet another giant airship appeared in the air andnded in the empty space on the other side of the fortress. At this rate, a new fortress would bepleted in the blink of an eye, and it was even bigger than the one the Bai n had constructed from before.

    There were tens of thousands of ves andborers inside the fortress. A simr number of cannon fodder were also being urged toplete some of the detailed jobs. Even though the building hadn¡¯t yet beenpleted, its style was already fairly evident. It was part-demonkin-part-vampire, with the former being dominant.

    A small squad ran over immediately after Eden¡¯s arrival.

    The captain immediately recognized him. ¡°Your Excellency Eden, what happened?¡±

    Eden said in a cold voice, ¡°Stop bbering and take me over for treatment!¡±

    The captain trembled all over. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± He drove the other warriors off the car, invited Eden onto the vehicle, and drove rapidly toward the first-aid area.

    On the way, they passed by another jeeping from the other side of the road.

    The driver and passenger seats were upied by a demonkin and vampire respectively. There were two beautiful vampiredies giggling at the back, their bodies almost stuck to the two up front. The dark races¡¯ discipline on the battlefield was far inferior to humans, and they were more or less free when there were no battles to fight. Naturally, the prerequisite to freedom was that one had to be strong enough.

    When the two vehicles passed by, that demonkin suddenly cried out in an exaggerated manner, ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t that Eden? Howe you¡¯re in such a bad shape? Is this really the Eden I know? Haha, it looks like your arm is broken, will you even survive?¡±

 Volume 6 - 608: The Art of War

    [V6C138 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]Eden patted the captain¡¯s shoulder, signaling him to stop the car. Then, he turned back and said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m alive and well, at least I¡¯m doing much better than you.¡±

    That demonkin sneered, ¡°But your arm is wasted! You call that well? Very well, we¡¯ll just pretend you¡¯re fine. How is your contribution status? How many major characters did you finish off?¡±

    Eden was momentarily frozen. He actually had other objectives during this excursion, but a fierce battle had ensued after encountering Qianye¡ªhe had very nearly lost his life. If one were to discuss contributions, he had indeed nothing to show.

    Of course, the demonkin on the other side knew that Eden had encountered a human expert. His questions were deliberate. Heughed loudly and continued poking merciless fun at thetter. ¡°It looks like Sir Eden¡¯s contribution this time is not being killed, haha!¡±

    Eden¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Narcis! Just wait for me to recuperate. I¡¯ll be waiting in the arena to teach you how not to get beaten to death.¡±

    Narcis¡¯ eyes narrowed. ¡°Fine with me, that¡¯s just what I want! I¡¯m very willing to lose to you in the arena. That¡¯ll probably add some shades of honor to the glory of the Dark Abyss. But how long do you need me to wait? Ten days? Twenty days?

    ¡°Two days is enough.¡±

    ¡°Very well, two days it is then.¡± Narcis made no more provocations and simply drove away.

    After driving for a while, the vampire youth beside Narcis asked, ¡°There are many variables in the arena, are you confident?¡±

    Narcis appeared rather rxed. ¡°I¡¯ve fought Eden many times in the arena, and it¡¯s usually my victory. Moreover, I have just awakened a new totemic ability. It¡¯ll be just right to try it out on him. I¡¯ll let those old fellows understand that only our Masefield is the number one n!¡±

    Eden encountered no other trouble after this brief interlude and promptly received medical treatment.

    He had been on guard against Qianye¡¯s peculiar attack back then. Not only did he activate Demonic Traversal but also used every defensive method at his disposal. Although his wounds looked frightening, the damage was only physical¡ªthere were no hidden injuries to his origin power and bloodline. He should be fine after a day of rest.

    A majestic castle had been constructed at the center of the fortress. The hexagonal main building was well over a hundred meters in height, capable of looking down on the entire fortress.

    The roof of the building had been opened up entirely to form a gigantic, fully-furnished office. If there were an Evernight historian present here, he would find that the decorative weapons and armors here were all named, signifying the legends and history behind them.

    There was an old man in ck robes standing in front of the window with a metallic tablet in his hand. The origin arrays on this item were currently projecting a chaotic ball of shifting light.

    This ball of light held no special meaning in the eyes of an ordinary person¡ªthey were nothing more than a chaotic weave of radiant lines. In the eyes of this old demonkin, however, every line was filled with great significance. The information within was flowing too fast for an ordinary eye to discern.

    The ball of light flickered for a moment before fading away. The old man ced the metallic tablet back onto the table and fell into silent contemtion. The sphere of light had transmitted the battle reports from the floating continent during the past few minutes, including the most recent major incidents.

    ¡°Men.¡± His deep voice hadn¡¯t yet faded away when two demonkin experts walked in, ready to receive their orders.

    The old man hesitated for a while before asking, ¡°What is Eden doing? Why does he have no contribution points at all?¡±

    One of the demonkin noticed the dissatisfaction in the old man¡¯s voice and quickly began reporting Eden¡¯s most recent movements. ¡°Additionally, Young Master Eden has arranged for a fight in the arena with Narcis of the Masefield n.¡±

    ¡°He encountered an evenly matched human expert, did he? That¡¯s not a bad thing. He does need this kind of tempering.¡± The old man¡¯s expression rxed somewhat. ¡°Moreover, he knows how to use this kind of method to set the opponent back and redeem his fame. I guess he¡¯s not a disappointment after all. Tell him I¡¯ll visit the arena the day after tomorrow.¡±

    The two demonkin excused themselves with a bow.

    At dusk on the third day, the arena was filled to the brim. Reportedly, even some true powerhouses had arrived to watch the match. This wasn¡¯t just a battle between Eden and Narcis¡ªit was also a sh between the Dark Abyss and the Masefield n.

    Narcis was d in an armor of ck and violet; in his grasp was a long, double-edged pike. Eden brought no special equipment. He wore the Dark Abyss¡¯ traditional ck armor and was equipped with twin des.

    The toll of a bell echoed, signifying the start of the battle. Eden shot toward the opponent like a ck arrow, determined to start off with a strong exchange of blows. Narcis was infuriated at this disdainful action. His pike flickered through the air like a dark violet snake and shot toward Eden¡¯s origin furnace¡ªa killing move right off the bat.

    However, thetter¡¯s momentum remained unchanged. With atch and a twist of his twin des, the halberd rose uncontrobly into the air. Eden, at this point, was only a few meters away from Narcis. One moment, he was dealing with the halberd, but in the next, he was already sting Narcis with a torrent of attacks.

    Iparably sharp de intent rushed at thetter¡¯s face¡ªit was as though they would cut into his flesh the next instant.

    ¡°How the...¡± Narcis was both shocked and furious. A beam of violet demonic energy shot promptly into the air, forming a totemic image resembling a giant scorpion.

    The scorpion had just taken form and raised its stinger when it was swept away and crushed by Eden¡¯s tempestuous assault. It didn¡¯t even have the time to reveal its might.

    The dual-ded halberd flew into the air andnded at the other end of the arena. Eden¡¯s twin des pressed hard against Narcis¡¯ neck, pressing him down and allowing him no room for retaliation.

    Narcis quivered as he snapped out of the shock and noticed Eden¡¯s intentions. His face turned pale as he roared, ¡°Y-You! Don¡¯t even think about it!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Eden¡¯s smile appeared callous and cruel. His twin des pressed down without hesitation, sinking little by little into Narcis¡¯ flesh. The des would eventually cut off his head if thetter did not kneel.

    Eden¡¯s voice echoed clearly in Narcis¡¯ mind.

    ¡°Do not forget that we are in a life and death battle, and this is the Dark Abyss¡¯ territory. What does it matter if I kill you? Nothing but an expensivepensation. Don¡¯t worry, though. I¡¯ll take good care of Isabe after your death. Despite how busy I am, I¡¯ll make sure there¡¯s always a male scent on her bed.¡±

    ¡°Isabe will never follow you!¡± Narcis roared.

    Eden was just as frosty. ¡°Is that so? Without you, how long can a little tribal girl remain aloof? She¡¯ll follow me obediently after a month at most. I won¡¯t even need to use any tricks. Of course, you¡¯ll be a corpse by then, so you can¡¯t bet with me.¡±

    Narcis was livid. The des were as cold as a ten-thousand-year-old cier, pressing down constantly and causing fresh blood to flow down his neck. In the end, his knees weakened and fell hard onto the floor.

    Upon the tform reserved for major characters, some were satisfied, some were sighing, while others were furious.

    Eden put away his twin des and left without sparing Narcis a single nce. A demonkin expert stopped him at the exit and said, ¡°Your Excellency, Elder Preston wishes to see you.¡±

    Eden followed the man in silence and, momentster, arrived at the top floor of the castle.

    That demonkin elder was standing before the window, gazing hard at the boundless sky.

    Eden¡¯s mouth moved a couple of times before finally calling out, ¡°Father.¡±

    The old man turned around in evident delight. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened a while back, nor do I care. But yourbat techniques have improved by leaps and bounds. In terms ofbat arts, you¡¯re already approaching the elder-level. This means that yourprehension of demonic energy has finally touched the borders of the grand origin. Now, that¡¯s a power befitting a son of darkness! Those who cannot reach this level have no right to receive its blessings.¡±

    Eden¡¯s face was lowered and his expression, hidden.

    The old man continued as though he didn¡¯t see anything. ¡°You did well this time, all your losses will be shouldered by the n. Since you¡¯ve lost the Carol of Shadows, we¡¯ll grant you Tribute of the Abyss.¡±

    Eden was astonished. He said after a moment of hesitation, ¡°It might be difficult for me to use the Tribute of the Abyss right now.¡±

    ¡°It might be now, but you¡¯ll get used to it very soon.¡± This old man arrived in front of Eden and patted his shoulders. ¡°With the potential you¡¯ve shown, it¡¯s not difficult at all for you to reach the Marquis rank, but my expectations for you will go well beyond that. Do you understand?¡±

    Eden lowered his head. ¡°I understand.¡±

    The old man nodded and allowed Eden to withdraw.

    Even after closing the door, Eden¡¯s heart was filled with the details of his exchange with Narcis. An opponent with whom he was evenly matched before had fallen so easily under his de. Moreover, thetter had reportedly awakened a new totemic ability. Eden felt everything was a bit surreal. How had hisbat arts improved to such a realm in one short month?

    But Preston¡¯s attitude proved everything because Eden knew his father¡¯s temperament very well. The man had never offered such praise in the past century, no matter what he achieved, not even when he was selected to be a member of Dark Sun out of tens of thousands of people.

    However, another shadow emerged in his heart. Just how powerful was that person who had forced him to flee with a broken arm? Eden¡¯s joy vanished in the blink of an eye and turned into coldness.

    ...

    Meanwhile, everything was peaceful on Qianye¡¯s return journey.

    It was just that a small problem would pop up in his head from time to time. Why had Eden appeared in that particr region of Misty Wood?

    Judging from his gear, Qianye had thought he was here to assassinate high-ranking human champions. However, he felt that something was off after giving it some thought¡ªwith Eden¡¯s identity and the dark race¡¯s usual style, he should be apanied by a squad.

    Qianye was already very familiar with the process of registering contributions. Qianye was one of the earliest independent experts the Li family had recruited, so all the registration staff recognized him.

    While confirming his registration, Qianye was shocked when he saw the mission distribution map on the wall. He reached out to point at the map and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the situation on the Bai n fortress¡¯ side?¡±

    The logistics officer looked up at the map and said, ¡°What else? The Bai n has been driven out. I heard the ck-blooded bastards have built a new base there and the group that attacked us came from that fortress. The Bai n people are truly useless.¡±

    Qianye paid no heed to the officer¡¯s continuousints. The Li n¡¯s extravagant expenditure in recruiting experts was proving effective. Their contribution points were climbing steadily, and they even managed to repel a number of dark race assaults. As such, they became a dazzling force among the empire¡¯s weakening forces.

    It was inevitable that the winners would be overbearing. Naturally, their people held a disapproving mindset regarding the four major ns. The Bai n¡¯s loss at the Desert Valley was so fast and embarrassing that it had be a hot topic of discussion. As for the Song n, they had long since be the target of many an ambitious high-ranking aristocratic family. The Li family wasn¡¯t even interested in discussing them.

    Qianye listened absent-mindedly to the officer¡¯s exnation of recent developments while looking carefully at the map.

 Volume 6 - 609: Calm Before the Storm

    [V6C139 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye paid extra attention to the densely packedbels denoting the temporary sentries and supply bases from each faction. Such locations were the first to change with the flow of the battle. It almost seemed like the information from different time-frames hade together.

    However, Qianye still managed to discover that the dark races setting out from the Bai n fortress would have to pass through his designated area in order to reach the central caverns.

    Going around wasn¡¯t impossible, but there were some areas nearby where new beast tides had erupted, as well as a supply base being contested by the two warring factions. Given that Eden hadn¡¯t foreseen that he would encounter Qianye here, it was only natural that he would choose this route.

    Did this mean that Eden was headed to the central caverns?

    ording to the empire¡¯s publicized intelligence, the central caverns held no valuable resources and was even more dangerous.

    The empire had formed teams to explore the caverns after the disappearance of the void colossus¡¯ will. These people discovered several new species of beasts in the depths of the cavern, none of which had been reported before by the previous batch of experts. Those of the highest level among these creatures posed a threat even to lieutenant generals.

    All in all, apart from its central location on the void continent, it was an area with no special value.

    Qianye didn¡¯t doubt the uracy of this report because the imperial court hadn¡¯t invested a lot of forces there despite iming it symbolically. The empire still had no idea how the beasts inside were proliferating¡ªthere seemed to be no end to them no matter how many were killed. Ordinary squads entering the caverns would soon suffer grave casualties and be wiped out by the fierce beasts.

    But the battle with Eden had proven that the dark races¡¯ understanding of the void continent was different from the empire¡¯s¡ªthey seemed to understand more in certain mysterious fields. And from a different perspective, there might be other unknown secrets here since the Void Colossus Chaos had chosen this continent as his burial ground.

    Qianye didn¡¯t continue very far down this line of thought, though. These were all spections without a shred of proof to them. He didn¡¯t feel that it was appropriate for him to discuss these matters with the Li family people.

    At this moment, the quartermaster had already finished the registration process. The review process wasn¡¯tplicated¡ªthe Li family had a supervision system to evaluate the progress of these missions. Among them, some of the casualty reports and special intelligence came from the Evernight side. The uracy of a double verification was fairly high and usually free from dispute.

    The quartermaster checked the new performance evaluation handbook recently issued by the Li family. He then marked excellent under Qianye¡¯s name and said, ¡°The defense has been recorded. You havepleted one week currently. Do you have anything else you wish to turn in?¡±

    ¡°Others? Hmm... no.¡± Qianye shook his head. He had the Carol of Shadows, but only a fool would trade such a weapon in.

    ¡°No? Heh, heh, lucky fellow!¡± The quartermaster¡¯s expression was somewhat odd.

    Qianye understood what he was thinking. Under the present situation, the dark races garrisoned in Crimson Fjord had been using the Misty Wood as a transport route. Normally, even people from the forest border would encounter some battles, and battles meant spoils. Most experts who hadpleted their defensive missions would have some proof of contributions to turn in¡ªthe more they submitted, the more intense their battles must¡¯ve been.

    Qianye, on the other hand, had been assessed as excellent for this mission but had nothing in his hands. This naturally meant that no dark race forces had passed through the area and that he had gained a bountiful reward with rtive ease.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to exin, and neither did he care about other people misunderstanding. There was no telling how many of the Li n¡¯s experts in the surrounding areas would¡¯ve died if Qianye hadn¡¯t bumped into Eden and kept him entangled there.

    The Li family¡¯s supervision staff mightter obtain information from the Evernight side, but a mere logistics officer like this person probably had no ess to it.

    Qianye heard someone shouting in the distance just as he was about to walk out of the registration area. ¡°What did you say? A dog-sh*t rank-ten brigadier general¡¯s basic sry is even higher than your daddy here? Is your Li family blind?¡±

    This man¡¯s voice was fairly resounding, and his origin power was deep. A single roar of his not only reverberated in the hallway but also spread out pretty far. Qianye frowned because thebination of rank ten and basic sry could only be referring to him.

    The terms offered to him by Li Yanshou were indeed generous. In truth, the entire first batch including Du Li and Zhu Huan enjoyed better rewards.

    But the influx of experts into the Li family warzone had increased sharply following the announcement of the contribution rankings and the offer of Stillwater Rebirth and Storm Pearl. It was only natural that those arrivingter wouldn¡¯t receive the same treatment.

    The Li family had yed this to their advantage. Although they needed to recruit arge number of independent experts, they didn¡¯t blindly increase individual rewards and instead relied on an incentive mechanism to achieve their objective. The Li family seemed to have invested a priceless reward on the surface, but the numbers were no longer that ridiculous after taking into ount the number of new independent experts. They might not have been able to recruit so many experts if the only thing on the offer was increased gold coins.

    Even so, each person¡¯s basic terms were supposed to be highly confidential. There was indeed a guest warrior list earlier on and Qianye¡¯s name was ranked pretty high on it. It was also very likely the source of Du Li¡¯s iprehensible hostility. But now, the documents rted to the participating experts had formed a thick stack and could hardly fit in a single volume. Howe someone was targeting him at such a time?

    Qianye paused his steps. He had a sudden urge to look over but merely shook his head in the end. He had no intention of dealing with a brute who had been incited by someone else. It was better to wait for the mastermind to show himself before deciding on a course of action. Since he had epted the Li n¡¯s recruitment, he had no fear of such troubles.

    As such, Qianye continued toward his next destination, the workshop area. Young Dragon had been badly damaged in these two battles. Its origin arrays had been destroyed and required repairs. Additionally, the chestguard Wei Potian had gifted him had always been left inside Andruil¡¯s realm, the silken essence gold in it was also a top-notch material.

    The workshop area was vast and made up of a dozen or sorge factories. All of them were connected together to share the workload. Just the energy source of this workshop zone required tworge kic towers. One could see that the Li family was prepared to stay here for the long term and develop this ce into asting base of operations. Their current set up made it easy to transform the base into a central provincial city in the future.

    Someone approached Qianye as soon as he walked into the armor section. The young man greeted him enthusiastically after seeing the brigadier general stars on Qianye¡¯s uniform, ¡°How can I be of service?¡±

    Qianye pointed at the alloy box in his hand and said, ¡°I have a damagedbat gear that needs repairs.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem, please follow me. Sir, you¡¯re rather fortunate because today happens to be Master Zhu¡¯s duty.¡±

    The young man brought Qianye to a workshop inside the factory and knocked on the door. ¡°Master Zhu, there¡¯s a general who needs his armor repaired.¡±

    An impatient sound erupted from behind the door, ¡°Do you need to call on me for something so trivial as repairing armors? This daddy is busy! See if my disciples have time to work on it.¡±

    The young man was momentarily embarrassed after being refused at the door. He then made another attempt. ¡°Master, this person is a general, won¡¯t you at least take a look?¡±

    ¡°Scram!¡± The reply was fairly clear-cut.

    Qianye spoke up at this time, ¡°My armor is a bit special, I fear your disciples won¡¯t be able to handle it.¡±

    ¡°How damn special can it be?!¡± It would seem this master was used to hearing such descriptions and had no intention of being polite.

    Qianye didn¡¯t get the time to study Young Dragon¡¯s craftsmanship and material back then, but he knew one of the main materials used in its production. ¡°It¡¯s made of blue steel.¡±

    ¡°Blue steel?!¡±

    ¡°Pssh!!!¡± A gush of steam emerged from below as the door slid gradually toward the side. A rush of heat emerged amidst the flickering glow of mes¡ªthis ce was practically a forge.

    The mes inside the workshop furnace were roaring, and a small pot of metallic liquid was boiling on top of it, spitting out prismatic colors from time to time.

    That Master Zhu wasn¡¯t exactly tall but possessed wide shoulders and a sturdy build. Presently, he seemed no longer in the mood to pay any attention to that pot of liquid metal. The man rushed over and immediately threw out a barrage of questions. ¡°Where is that armor? Was it made by the Bai n?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t find Mater Zhu¡¯s reaction strange. What surprised him was how the man had mentioned the Bai n right off the bat.

    ¡°It¡¯s indeed a Bai n product, but how did you know?¡±

    Master Zhu replied impatiently, ¡°Can it be more obvious?! Blue steel is an alloy invented by the Bai n. Although the form has already been publicized, the production of some of the most important elements is in the Bai n¡¯s hands. They are the only ones who haveplete mastery over blue steel even after so many years. Blue steel produced by any other source is evidently inferior.¡±

    Qianye passed the armor box over and said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed a Bai n product.¡±

    ¡°Quick, let me see!¡± Master Zhu grabbed the box. He didn¡¯t seem that strained by the iparably heavy case, either. He opened up the box with one hand and retrieved the damaged armor from within. He gasped as his eyes fell upon an engraving on a certain corner of the armor, ¡°Bai Songhe!¡±

    Qianye had no recollection of this name, so he inquired casually about it. In the end, Master Zhu red at him and scolded, ¡°Do you not even know Master Bai? He¡¯s a true master in the armor field. I, Zhu Ruhuo, am nothingpared to Master Bai.¡±

    Zhu Ruhuo took out each piece of Young Dragon at the door, holding them as he would a precious treasure. He only looked straight at Qianye after examining the entire set of armor, but his expression at this moment seemed much kinder than before.

    Qianye asked, ¡°Can it be repaired?¡±

    Zhu Ruhuo put the armor back into the case with due care. He continued staring at each veined pattern, line, and defect¡ªas though this charred, mottled, dark-silver armor was the most beautiful thing on earth.

    Zhu Ruhuo came to only after Qianye repeated the question. ¡°Of course, but I¡¯ll need time.¡±

    ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°Ten days, no, I mean three months!¡±

    The young man who had brought Qianye here seemed like he wanted to say something. Qianye knew what was going on even without him saying anything¡ªclearly, this Master Zhu was looking to figure out Bai Songhe¡¯s forging techniques instead of repairing the armor.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t angry, however. He merely said, ¡°I only have one day.¡±

    ¡°How can that be enough?! I won¡¯t even have time to take a look!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was static. ¡°If you can¡¯t, I¡¯ll just look for someone in the Bai n.¡±

    Zhu Ruhuo opened his mouth but no words came out. He then revealed everything after a while. ¡°Judging from the damage it has sustained, the origin array can only be restored to 80% of its previous effectiveness even if you go back to the Bai n. One day isn¡¯t enough for you to get there and back.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Do you mean the weight-reduction array? That¡¯s not important, just repair the defensive array well.¡±

    Zhu Ruhuo looked over the armor in detail and muttered, ¡°A day¡¯s timeframe is rather tight, but I might be able to do it if I ignore the auxiliary array. Come back tomorrow at this time! Consider yourself lucky, brat. I happen to have two pieces of blue steel on my hands. For the sake of this armor, I¡¯ll only charge you for the material and not the other supplementaryponents. But I have a condition, you can only send the armor to me for repairs in the future.¡±

    This came as a delightful surprise to Qianye. He thus agreed to Master Zhu¡¯s terms and left the workshop area.

    The day that followed was a time of rare leisure for him. He slept soundly for the entire night, and the next day, there was actually no continuation to that loud voice from the exchange area.

    However, storms were always preceded by such lulls.

    At noon the second day, Qianye felt so bored that he went to replenish his field supplies and headed over to the exchange area to check on the status of the two Umbral Edges.

    Humans rarely used ck titanium weapons directly. Most of them would find a way to extract the ck titanium and utilize it for other applications. The assessment and extraction would happen at the same time.

    More unfamiliar faces had appeared in the area. It seemed the Li family¡¯s recruitment momentum never lost its momentum. Moreover, theplications between personnel only increased along with the influx of new experts.

    Qianye saw several small squads of three to five. These people were dressed simply, but it was difficult to hide their gear and style. It would be rather fishy if these people were experts living off of bounties.

    The work efficiency here was pretty high. Qianye learned that the spoils he had obtainedst time had already been registered. However, he frowned upon checking the contribution points under his name.

    One of them was a third-rate merit, more or less equal to killing a first-rank viscount. The contribution points were a bit less but that was within reason. Qianye had been fighting continuously with Eden both times, so he had no time to hunt. He only managed to cut down a couple of unfortunate enemies who appeared in his path. Later on, there weren¡¯t even any scouting partiesing his way.

    However, the points awarded for the two Umbral Edges was outrageously low. Although Qianye didn¡¯t quite know the actual ck titanium content of the two daggers, he still remembered their purity. He reckoned they would him at least a third-rate merit. Add to that the extra reward for obtaining special weapons, these two daggers should be worth a superior third-rate merit at least.

    ¡°Can I see the details? The numbers seem to be wrong.¡±

 Volume 6 - 610: Duel Part 1

    Chapter 610: Duel (Part 1) [V6C140 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The logistics officer sounded rather surprised. ¡°Of course, but the contribution points are routinely checked by specialists. There shouldn¡¯t be any mistakes.¡±

    He stood up and retrieved a booklet from atop the shelf. He then flipped through it on the table and produced all the details regarding enemies killed, missionspleted, and items traded-in.

    Qianye didn¡¯t check the other parts and only picked up the items paper and saw that the record was for two melee weapons. The contribution for them was standard fourth-rate merit. This number discrepancy was too great.

    There was no change in Qianye¡¯s expression as he pointed at the submitted weaponry section. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    The officer scanned it briefly and said with a frown, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that? Did you not trade-in two weapons? Those are the contribution points rewarded to you.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Qianye smiled coldly.

    The logistics officer was unhappy. He pointed forcefully at the book and said, ¡°Our Jingtang Li Family has always maintained our reputation! You better consider your own status if you want to cause trouble here. Scram now! There are people waiting behind you!¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°I said, scram...¡±

    The officer hadn¡¯t even finished his words when he was kicked right in the stomach. He was flung backward, shooting right through the wall behind him andnding in the warehouse.

    The sudden development caused the entire exchange area to fall into silence. Momentster, a few of the Li family warriors snapped out of their daze. They pushed the people away and rushed over to the scene with their guns pointed at Qianye.

    Qianye calmly took a seat and said, ¡°Bring Li Weishi over. Moreover, don¡¯t point your guns at me or something bad will happen.¡±

    The soldiers nced at one another and dispatched one of their men in due haste. Qianye simply sat there in silence, but the temperature in the surroundings fell sharply. One of the soldiers began to shiver. He subconsciously lowered his muzzle a bit and also shifted the front sight away from Qianye. The other soldiers followed suit.

    Some people poked their heads out of the rooms nearby, but none of them came over to inquire. At this moment, there were some experts who hadn¡¯t yet left the exchange area. It would seem they had stayed behind to observe the developments.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Looks like his contributions have been stolen.¡±

    ¡°How can such a thing happen?¡±

    Many experts had serious expressions on their faces. Disputes regarding contribution points weren¡¯t rare¡ªfrom minor quarrels between individuals and squads to major conflicts betweenbat units and army corps, all kinds of problems could arise.

    However, the situation between independent experts and aristocracy was different. They weren¡¯t servants or vassals, so they had no part in the usual benefits offered by the n. They were risking life and limb on the battlefield just for those points and rewards. No one would be willing toe back and find their remuneration denied. This was something everyone dreaded.

    The Li family¡¯s reputation was fairly good. Although they weren¡¯t entirely free of disputes, they were still able to deal with them quickly. This was the first time something this big had happened. As such, everyone was merely observing and whispering amongst themselves.

    Qianye¡¯s ears trembled slightly as he caught a certain conversation. ¡°Ha, I knew he¡¯d make a big fuss. That makes things much easier. We now have a lot of ways to deal with him.¡±

    The voice was very soft,but Qianye¡¯s senses had increased sharply after absorbing the void essence and Sky Demon¡¯s embers. Add to that his prolonged training in the suppressed environments of the Misty Wood, his perception had now reached a whole new level. He heard this malicious yet familiar voice very clearly.

    Qianye turned around immediately and gazed over to the source of the sound. There, he saw two people looking over at him with a hint of Schadenfreude. One was Du Li, and the other was a middle-aged man wearing a Li-family insignia.

    Du Li was fairly rmed after seeing Qianye look over at them. Afterward, his expression grew fierce as he performed a ughtering gesture at Qianye.

    Thetter waspletely indifferent to Du Li¡¯s provocation and simply looked past the man. He did, however, nce at the middle-aged man from the Li family. Clearly feeling uneasy, the man let out a dry cough and left the exchange area.

    Momentster, Li Weishi arrived in a hurry. He first sent the soldiers surrounding Qianye away and then said in a hushed voice, ¡°I was going to exin this matter to you personally, but you found out before I had a chance.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows and shot a nce at the hole in the warehouse wall. His attack wasn¡¯t very powerful, but that unfortunate officer had to be carried away by the other Li family soldiers.

    Li Weishi was drenched in cold sweat. He said with a wry smile, ¡°That person¡­ doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. Please follow me, this ce isn¡¯t suitable.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Judging from Li Weishi¡¯s tone and manner, it was unlikely that the officer just now was entirely ignorant. But since the former was so polite, Qianye decided to listen to his exnation and not cause more trouble.

    Qianye had just stood up when a burly man blocked his path. He stared intently at Qianye and said, ¡°Are you that rank-ten brigadier general with the best pay?¡±

    He pronounced the words rank-ten pretty loudly and caused many people to look over. Everyone wore strange expressions because this news had been circting for quite some time. To independent experts, their price wasn¡¯t just about money¡ªit also signified their status. A gross ¡°unfairness¡± was more or less like a p to their faces.

    Qianye finally locked eyes with the burly man standing in his way. If he didn¡¯t remember wrong, this was the fellow who was shouting at the exchange area a couple of days ago. He possessed a sturdy, muscr build which strained hisbat attire. His chest was covered in ck hair, and his every pore seemed to be emanating an aura of danger.

    Qianye shot a nce at Li Weishi, and then turned back to the burly man. ¡°What does my pay have to do with you?¡±

    The man took a step forward and stared at Qianye with great ferocity. ¡°What are you implying!?¡± This burly man was rank-eleven, and he was usually the winner against many of his peers. He thus felt that he had no reason to back down.

    Qianye sneered, ¡°What I mean is, you don¡¯t have the qualifications!¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when the sound of ocean tides filled the exchange area. Apart from a handful of experts, everyone began to stagger under the great pressure. The Li family¡¯s ordinary soldiers all fell to the ground.

    The burly man in front of Qianye was flushed red. His knees creaked and groaned as though they would fall to the ground any moment. He was hanging on by sheer willpower.

    Qianye¡¯s control over his domain had improved after his advancement. How could this muscr man hold out when most of the pressure from the Ocean Vortex was focused upon him?

    Qianye lifted the man up by the neck before finally dispersing his domain power.

    The man felt as though a steel hoop were tightening around his neck. He couldn¡¯t even breathe, his chest was on the verge of exploding, and his face was so red that it might start dripping blood.

    He desperately attempted to activate his origin power, but no matter how hard he tried, the usually formidable strength in his veins seemed to have be powerless¡ªit was immediately and unreasonably shattered uponing into contact with Qianye¡¯s origin power. With no origin power to use, the burly man could only try to push Qianye¡¯s hands away. But his deathbed struggle couldn¡¯t move Qianye at all.

    Everything happened so fast that Li Weishi himself wasn¡¯t spared. He took two steps backward and had just stabled his footing when he saw the burly man in Qianye¡¯s grasp. He cried out hurriedly, ¡°General Qianye, let¡¯s just talk things out!¡±

    Qianye shook the burly man in his hands like a dead chicken and said, ¡°The one who doesn¡¯t want to talk nice is this person, isn¡¯t it?¡± He swept his gaze over the experts who were still standing and added, ¡°Sometimes, rank means nothing.¡±

    The expressions of those experts changed rapidly. However, after seeing that man struggling in Qianye¡¯s hand like a fish out of water, their countenances returned to normal and they quickly averted their gazes.

    Qianye nced over at Du Li and said coldly, ¡°Du Li, do you not n to collect your dog? I don¡¯t mind cleaning it up if you don¡¯t want it.¡±

    Du Li was trying to evade eye-contact at first, but there was nothing he could do since Qianye had called him out by name. He gritted his teeth and walked over to Qianye, ¡°Speak your terms.¡±

    ¡°Simple, fight me in the arena. Let me vent my anger.¡± Qianye¡¯s tone was calm.

    Du Li¡¯s expression turned livid. ¡°Vent? Are you saying you¡¯re sure to win?¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°Oh, afraid now? I guess that¡¯s a given since I¡¯m already rank-eleven.¡±

    Du Li¡¯s expression shifted yet again, but the situation at present prevented him from saying no. If he were to withdraw from this challenge, he would never be able to raise his head again in thismunity. ¡°Fine then, don¡¯t you regret it! I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯m not some nameless pawn!¡±

    People nearby could discern the implications in Du Li¡¯s words because Lu Sha¡¯s group was indeed well known. His words had already betrayed his weakness, but many experts still felt apprehensive because a pack of wolves was always more dangerous than a single wolf on the battlefield.

    Li Weishi felt helpless. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°General Qianye, it¡¯ll be best if you don¡¯t blow this matter up. They have a major character behind them.¡±

    ¡°Major character? Oh, do tell me more about it after I finish this fight.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words blocked all of Li Weishi¡¯s intended words. He nced at Qianye¡¯s expression and sighed secretly, but he gave up on dissuading him.

    Such news traveled extremely fast. There were already quite a lot of spectators by the time Qianye had Du Li arrived at the arena, and many others were still rushing over.

    Ten minutes remained until the battle, but there were already people taking their seats on the high tform. It would seem this duel had rmed the entire base.

    Qianye sat down at the side of the arena with his eyes closed. He neither moved nor engaged in any other form of preparation. Du Li, on the other hand, appeared restless¡ªhe kept performing a set of special movements, drawing upon his body and activating his origin power.

    Qianye suddenly opened his eyes as a certain group appeared on the tform and met the gaze of a young man therein.

    That man appeared rather mediocre apart from the pair of bright, slender eyes. His demeanor was calm and admittedly quite amiable as he smiled at Qianye.

    The glint in Qinaye¡¯s eyes receded. He simply nodded and closed his eyes once more.

    The guard behind the young man approached and whispered, ¡°Young Master Qingyun, do you need his data?¡±

    Li Qingyun rubbed his chin. ¡°That person is quite interesting. Let¡¯s see his information.¡±

    The guard acted in due haste and soon returned to hand a number of folders to Li Qingyun.

    Li Qingyun scanned the document and said to a middle-aged general nearby, ¡°Heh, heh, so this is Qianye. Second Elder, are you really going to act that fast and establish your might with one of the empire¡¯s twin stars? Our Li family is currently in the midst of recruiting talents, don¡¯t you think this course of action is rather inappropriate?¡±

 Volume 6 - 611: Duel Part 2

    Chapter 611: Duel (Part 2) [V6C141 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The middle-aged general was Li Tianquan¡¯s trusted aide. He wasn¡¯t very happy after hearing Li Qingyun¡¯s unduly frank words, but he couldn¡¯t act out, either. He said with a disdainful snort, ¡°What twin stars of the empire? How can a child¡¯s game like the bloody battle be taken seriously?¡±

    Li Qingyun smiled. ¡°He won¡¯t be a kid after a couple of years. You can say what you want here, but who dares say that in front of Zhao Jundu?¡±

    The middle-aged man was livid¡ªhe, of course, did not dare speak to Zhao Jundu in this manner. Not to mention thetter¡¯s background and future potential, he was currently capable of using his domain to contend with a marquis five levels above him. How many people would dare challenge him?

    Seeing that the battle was already about to begin, Li Qingyun asked, ¡°Is Second Elder noting? I think this battle is worth watching.¡±

    The general said disapprovingly, ¡°What¡¯s interesting about a fight between these inferior fellows? It¡¯s enough with me here. There¡¯s no need for the second elder toe personally.¡±

    Li Qingyun sized him up from head to toe and chuckled. His expression was fairly amicable, but the middle-aged general quickly became awkward. Li Qingyun¡¯s meaning was quite clear¡ªhe wasn¡¯t qualified.

    However, the general was still a Li family member. He couldn¡¯t be clearer about the barbarism and cruelty beneath Li Qingyun¡¯smon external appearance. One mustn¡¯t be fooled by his bearing and tone because he might just attack and draw blood the very next moment. The middle-aged general suppressed his anger, pretending not to see the disdain in Li Qingyun¡¯s eyes.

    Soon, Lu Sha¡¯s group also arrived among the spectators.

    Arms folded, the man watched Qianye with a gloomy expression¡ªmuch like a fierce beast on the verge of turning violent. The others weren¡¯t that quiet. The group arrived in a boisterous manner, spouting indirect insults in local dialect butter escted to profanities.

    Hearing these directly addressed vulgarities, Qianye finally opened his eyes and beckoned toward the group. ¡°If any of you want to fight,e up one by one after this fight. We shall fight to the death, how about it?¡±

    The voices on the other side became silent as those people nced at one another with uneasy expressions.

    Perhaps they didn¡¯t quite put Qianye in their eyes before, but everyone understood after he restrained the burly man from the exchange area in one move. None of them were very confident about fighting Qianye. They knew they could easily win a fight against the burly man, but such a clean victory was almost impossible.

    Qianye¡¯s challenge at the moment was already giving them the advantage of a tag battle¡ªthe only thing left was to attack at the same time. These mercenaries were vicious and manipting in nature, but it was simply too embarrassing to gang up on Qianye under the eyes of so many.

    Lu Sha only spoke up at this point, ¡°You lot shut up. If you have so much strength, use it on the battlefield.¡± With that, he strode over and took his seat.

    The group stopped talking, albeit resentfully and found their own seats around Lu Sha. This was an expression of their weakness, but it afforded them their only way out.

    Qianye paid no more heed to Lu Sha¡¯s group. He walked into the arena with the bugle call and nted East Peak into the ground. The arena floor was built of coarse rocks, but a casual thrust sent his unassuming heavy sword half a meter into the ground¡ªalmost as though he were cutting through tofu.

    Qianye¡¯s appearance on the stage stirred up a round of discussions. It turned out that he had brought no other weapon apart from East Peak, so much so that he wasn¡¯t even wearing any armor. He was d in ordinarybat attire, the defensive stats of which was virtually non-existent.

    Du Li also walked into the arena. Compared to the sparsely equipped Qianye, it could be said that the former was armed to the teeth. He had a halberd with three square des in his left hand, a double-barreled handgun at his waist, and an origin bow strung to his back. There were also daggers strapped to his thigh and back. There was even an origin grenade hanging below his chestguard.

    The bugle call rang out once more to signal the start of the battle.

    Du Li stared at Qianye with strands of blood popping up in his eyes, and said in a sinister tone, ¡°Qianye, your daddy here has been tolerating you for a long time! I¡¯ve hated you since I first set eyes on you. You robbed me of the limelight, you robbed me of my contributions, now you want to rob me of my position? Come, I¡¯ll let you see how different a fight to the death is from your fancy duels!¡±

    Du Li screamed thus as he charged at Qianye, his halberd whistling toward thetter¡¯s heart. The halberd had barely moved when a meter-long green radiance shot out from its tip¡ªit was clear that Du Li had gone all out with the first move.

    The radiance shed out with great momentum, but Qianye showed no signs of movement even as it approached his chest. It seemed as though the attack would draw blood in the very first bout!

    The audience was watching with bated breaths, but their vision blurred all of a sudden¡ªit looked as though Qianye had moved, but it also felt as though he hadn¡¯t. The torrential attack from the spear shifted away and pierced into empty space, almost as though Du Li had stopped the attack at thest moment. However, everyone knew that wasn¡¯t possible.

    Du Li¡¯s charging momentum hadn¡¯t stopped when the spear missed its mark. He should¡¯ve had the strength remaining to switch to another move, but there was an unexpected force drawing him in from the front, forcing him to continue his charge toward Qianye.

    Qianye was unmoved, almost as though nothing had happened just now. He only took half a step forward and leaned in ever so slightly. There was suddenly a muffled thud¡ªDu Li was sent flying and only managed to find his footing after staggering several steps back.

    The arena turned silent all of a sudden because no one had imagined this oue.

    Li Qingyun was tapping on the armrest. His finger froze for a short moment before continuing its original rhythm.

    Du Li¡¯s face was drenched in blood and his head was in a daze¡ªhe had no idea what had just happened or what he had crashed into. He wiped away the blood and found Qianye still standing in ce. It seemed as though thetter hadn¡¯t even moved a finger. East Peak was also sitting where it was at the very beginning, entirely unused.

    Du Li gritted his teeth¡ªthe stench of blood sent him into a state of ferocity, a stark difference from his cautious attitude when he took the stage. He tossed the halberd away, drew his two daggers, and pounced at Qianye with lightning speed. He unleashed a tempestuous flurry of attacks upon closing in, his twin des transforming into masses of light which flew around Qianye incessantly.

    Those below the champion level couldn¡¯t even keep up with his movements.

    This round of wild attacks revealed Du Li¡¯s true strength. They were extremely vicious and urate, short but deadly. If this were on the battlefield, the enemy would likely fall into a perilous situation after being suppressed by such attacks. Even people more powerful than Du Li might suffer if they were caught unaware.

    However, the spectators once again felt their vision turn blurry. The edges of Qianye¡¯s figure became fuzzy as though there were many superimposed projections of him.

    Many people rubbed their eyes, while others became alert and quickly reinforced their vision with origin power. Only then did they realize that nothing was wrong with their vision. Qianye¡¯s movements were simply too fast and minute¡ªthere wasn¡¯t a bit of wasted distance. This left afterimages in the eyes of the less powerful.

    At this moment, Qianye was paying attention to the battle before him.

    It would seem that there were some deviations to his senses. On the one hand, he felt that Du Li¡¯s attacks should be fairly powerful. He recalled that this strangely hostile fellow wasn¡¯t aplete idiot; at least his strength was worthy of his rank. But at this moment, Du Li¡¯s attacks were slow and full of openings despite their great momentum.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even need to use his militarybat arts. All he needed to do was smack the opponent at his weak point, and the entire attack would break down.

    Qianye took a sudden step forward and somewhat passed through the storm of des. He merely leaned into the enemy and raised an elbow before the man was sent flying backward once more.

    An idea urred to Qianye as he watched Du Li moving away. Amidst the boundless knowledge he had received from the River of Blood, a certain rune emerged on the water surface.

    An almost invisible red thread shot out from beneath his feet. It stretched dozens of meters in the blink of an eye and overtook Du Li who was still flying through the air.

    Qianye then slid forward as though being pulled by an invisible force, leaving numerous afterimages in different stances. He caught up to Du Li in a single step and pushed him into the ground by the back of his neck before standing up.

    Those after images had appeared at almost the same time and vanished within moments of each other.

    The greater part of Du Li¡¯s body had sunk into the rocky arena floor, where he remained motionless. No one knew whether he was alive or dead.

    Qianye stood silently as though he were pondering about something. Meanwhile, the entire arena was silent¡ªthere wasn¡¯t a single cheer, shout, or curse. It was as though everyone was afraid of disturbing this young man.

    Li Qingyun¡¯s finger paused for a long while beforeing down onto the armrest. He was more delighted than surprised as he sighed. ¡°What skill, what skill! I won¡¯t be lonely anymore!¡±

    With that, he stood up and left without even ncing back at Qianye. One of the experts following him unintentionally looked over at the chair. The entire seat¡ªfrom armrest to back¡ªwas filled with countless cracks, but somehow, it was holding its original shape without crumbling.

    Momentster, the arena was stillpletely silent. People didn¡¯t know whether they should cheer, shout, or react differently. The warriors here had all experienced many battles, but they had never witnessed such an exchange. Every detail made them suspect what they had just seen.

    In truth, Du Li had made a fair bit of name for himself be it in terms of contributions or duels. He had won a lot of spars among those of the same level, proving once more the strength of Lu Sha¡¯s group.

    However, the battle just now involved no intense sh between origin powers, neither was there a contest between des. The spectators hadn''t even seen their techniques clearly when the battle ended.

    Qianye finally woke up from his reverie. He shot a nce at the man embedded in the floor and said to the dazed judge, ¡°Send all of his equipment to me.¡±

    Lu Sha stood up all of a sudden and shouted, ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this amon rule?¡± Qianye looked up at Lu Sha and said indifferently, ¡°Of course, the rules can also be changed by those with bigger fists. If you think I¡¯m going too far,e down here and fight to the death with me.¡±

    Lu Sha¡¯s expression was gloomy. Qianye had defeated Du Li too easily¡ªespecially thatst movement technique felt like he had walked through the air. It was true that champions could fly, but how powerful must one be to be able to step through the air and maneuver at will?

    At the thought of this, Lu Sha took a deep breath and stood firmly in ce, suppressing that intense desire to challenge Qianye to a fight.

    Qianye didn¡¯t force him, either. ¡°You can challenge me anytime before I walk out of the door.¡± With that, he walked out of the ring with East Peak in tow.

 Volume 6 - 612: Negotiation

    [V6C142 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Lu Sha¡¯s legs were nailed firmly to the floor until Qianye¡¯s figure gradually disappeared. His face spasmed a couple of times, but he didn¡¯t issue a challenge until the very end.

    As a mercenary and a bounty hunter, Du Li¡¯s equipment represented over half of his entire fortune. He wouldn¡¯t be able to recover from this loss for several years if Qianye were to take them all away. Moreover, hisbat strength would also weaken. But Lu Sha, at this point, understood that he would suffer even greater losses if he epted the duel.

    Qianye paused slightly as he walked down from the ring. The spectators were still dispersing at the moment¡ªthe gazes upon him, both friendly and hostile, were filled with cautiousness.

    He gazed around at his surroundings but couldn¡¯t find Li Weishi¡¯s figure at all. As such, Qianye decided not to wait anymore and simply headed on toward his living quarters. His clean victory here seemed to have messed up the mastermind¡¯s calctions. Now that Li Weishi¡¯s original pretext had be void, who would be the next one to step in?

    On his way back, Qianye threw his dispute with the Li family to the back of his head. His current thoughts were upied by the new ability he had seeded in activating just now. This was the very first time he had been able to use Spatial sh with his own power.

    After seeing Eden¡¯s Demonic Traversal, Qianye kept thinking about that powerful ability which had brought him away from Adruil¡¯s inheritance realm.

    Today, an inheritance rune containing knowledge about spatial powers had suddenly appeared in the River of Blood. This allowed him to activate the power of Spatial sh. His trajectory at the moment was still visible and the range wasn¡¯t very long, but after growing stronger, he would one day be able to move through space at will.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but chuckle after recalling the battle with Du Li. Had hisbat arts reached such a level? It would seem the battle with Eden wasn¡¯tpletely without rewards¡ªthis kind of benefit was much more useful than contribution points.

    In the end, Qianye only had one thought¡ªbetween him and Zhao Jundu, who would win in a contest ofbat techniques?

    At this time, two Li family warriors were barring Qianye¡¯s path forward. They said respectfully, ¡°General Qianye, Elder Li Tianquan wishes for you to see him.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat surprised after hearing this name. He knew Li Tianquan was the Li family¡¯s highest-ranking supervisor in this base. Now that such a character had appeared directly, he would likely obtain some answers regarding his suspicions.

    Li Tianquan¡¯s office door was fairly stylish with dark golden motifs set against the light red family colors¡ªtruly an exquisite piece of work. Such a product could only have been produced in the empire. It would seem that these doors had been shipped over from the maind.

    If even the door was so, what else need be said about the interior? Qianye had been to the offices of Duke Chengen and Duke You back at the Zhao n, but even so, he couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished at the extravagance here.

    One could see that most of the decorations here were old antiques. Moreover, they weren¡¯t just old¡ªthey also possessed historical significance. But this wasn¡¯t too odd though because the Li family had risen to power with medicines and divination arts. Any one of them, if well managed, would bring in vast amounts of wealth.

    The beautiful clerk who brought Qianye into the room reported in a pleasant voice, ¡°Second Elder, General Qianye has arrived.¡±

    Li Tianquan was behind his desk at the moment, reading through a thick stack of documents. He didn¡¯t look up after hearing the announcement and merely pointed a finger at the seat in front of him. ¡°Sit.¡±

    Li Tianquan kept on reading after Qianye had taken his seat¡ªit was as though the documents were so important that they needed to bepleted the very next minute. However, picking this time to work on urgent tasks was clearly a show of power.

    Qianye remained calmly seated, and even his eyes did not wander. In truth, he was continuing the line of thought that was previously disrupted by the Li n soldiers and thinking about Zhao Jundu¡¯s techniques.

    Roughly a quarter hourter, Li Tianquan looked up and nced at Qianye. What he saw, to his surprise, was thetter sitting there with his thoughts on a mental journey somewhere else.

    He snorted coldly and said, ¡°General Qianye, you¡¯re making things very difficult for me.¡±

    Qianye returned his attention to Li Tianquan only at this moment. ¡°Oh? About the fight today, I was the one who was provoked first, there were many people at the scene who saw this. Moreover, I refrained from taking his life for the sake of the Li family. Where did I make things difficult for you? Could it be that even the Li family has to back down against the person behind Du Li and Lu Sha?¡±

    Li Tianquan could barely control his expression. He had never imagined Qianye¡¯s temperament would be so different from the reports¡ªthis silent young man who usually kept to himself was actually so sharp with his words.

    But how could Li Tianquan be led astray by this topic? He pped a stack of documents in front of Qianye and said, ¡°General Qianye, please don¡¯t divert the topic. Take a look at this first.¡±

    Qianye flipped through the records and saw that they were allints, mainly about the mismatch between his terms and strength. Thoseints, genuine or otherwise, imed that a brigadier general enjoying such terms was fishy regardless of the reason.

    Qianye only read a few lines before pushing the documents back with due calmness. ¡°This contract was signed between me and the Li family. Does it have anything to do with outsiders?¡±

    At this point, Qianye said with a chuckle, ¡°Moreover, those fellows won¡¯t dare speak out again from now on, at least not to my face.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression sank after receiving yet another unconventional reply. ¡°Qianye, the Li family has treated you with respect, but don¡¯t think for once that this old man is easily fooled.¡± With that, he brought out yet another set of documents and banged it on the table. ¡°How will you exin this?¡±

    Qianye picked it up and saw that it was his contribution records, the monthly contributions rankings, and rewards list. Qianye was below average on the rankings, but on the rewards list, he was ranked third due to his basic sry.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any problems here.¡± Qianye pushed the documents back. He had an idea what Li Tianquan was trying to do.

    The old man sneered, ¡°You received so many resources from the Li family, so you really should be making an eptable level of contributions, don''t you think? You¡¯ve only earned a meager number of contribution points since the battles began. If you can¡¯t give me a satisfactory exnation, judging fromst month¡¯s results, the lightest judgment would be a dereliction of duty. It won¡¯t be excessive to say that you¡¯re avoiding battle.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment. Li Tianquan¡¯s excuse in pressuring him was reasonable but not entirely solid. The contract he had signed with the Li family had a use regarding guaranteed contribution points. Even if they wanted to look into his contribution amount just after the war had begun, he could still argue from this point.

    But Qianye was toozy to dispute. Since Li Tianquan was grasping his fault here, he had surely prepared other excuses. It was better to listen to his actual objective.

    As such, he said, ¡°Elder Li, did you not know that Ipleted thest defensive area mission? As for the low contribution points, it¡¯s because I¡¯ve been fighting with the Demonkin Count Eden from the Dark Abyss.¡±

    Li Tianquan sneered, ¡°I¡¯ll naturally send people to confirm the defensive mission. Where¡¯s the proof? Do you want me to believe that a rank-ten, fine, rank-eleven champion can fight a demonkin count for half a month? Heh, heh.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t a need for further words. That heh, heh at the very end was enough to exin Li Tianquan¡¯s attitude. The demonkin¡¯sbat strength was conventionally higher than their peers from other races. It wasn¡¯t excessive for a count born of a famed demonkin n to possessbat strength one level above his rank. This meant that Li Tianquan refused to believe Qianye¡¯s exnation.

    ¡°Proof?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t angered by the disdain on Li Tianquan¡¯s face. On the contrary, he said with a smile, ¡°Where are the two Umbral Edges I traded inst time? Those weapons belong to the Shadowguards of the Dark Abyss. Don¡¯t tell me the Jingtang Li Family can¡¯t even obtain such basic intelligence?¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s emotions vanished from his countenance, leaving only ayer of coldness. He picked up a teapot and fiddled around with it while saying, ¡°Qianye, speak the truth. How did you obtain this contract? Who¡¯s the middleman? What benefits did he get from you? Our Li family¡¯s rules are absolute, we won¡¯t let anyone destroy it. As long as you tell me everything, this old man will reward you in secret. Of course, we have to lower your terms on paper in order to appease everyone.¡±

    Qianye was rather surprised at this. In the end, it turned out that Li Tianquan was doing this for internal conflict?

    Although there were many doubtful points in this, Li Tianquan was clearly using him to establish his might. On the one hand, it would set back his opponent in the family, while on the other, it would improve his reputation with the independent experts.

    Qianye was one of the two stars of the empire. Not many experts would dare provoke him openly even if they were dissatisfied¡ªthey probably didn¡¯t even have that notion anymore after witnessing his swift victory in the arena. If Li Tianquan could suppress Qianye, he naturally would¡¯ve subdued the others. This afforded him endless benefits in supervising this growing body of independent experts.

    But Qianye had no intention at all of bing a stepping stone. ¡°You don¡¯t need to take such a roundabout action if you wanted to breach the contract.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s countenance fell as he shouted, ¡°Qianye! Do you think this old man has no way to restrict you?!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression also turned gloomy upon hearing this undisguised threat. ¡°Elder Li, there are no idiots here. Just speak frankly.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Li Tianquan brought out another document and ced it in front of Qianye. ¡°Sign this and we¡¯ll forget about the bribery.¡±

    Qianye picked up and scanned the document. It was a new mercenary contract which halved his current remuneration and removed all extra rewards.

    In addition to that, there were many new obligations. For instance, the Li family would have the right to assign him mandatory missions. The duration was five years, during which he would not be able to work for any other power.

    This was no longer an independent expert contract. The unconditional assignment use was enough to make him a vassal of the family.

    A cold mocking smile appeared on Qianye¡¯s lips. He tore the contract up in front of Li Tianquan and pped the pieces onto the table. ¡°Elder Li, you have to be very clear. It was the Li family who begged me toe. At most, I¡¯ll just leave.¡±

    Li Tianquan had never imagined Qianye would shed all pretenses like so. ¡°Qianye, this is the Li family¡¯s domain. Do you think you can do as you wish? Do you really think this old man can¡¯t wipe you out?¡±

    Li Tianquan was absolutely furious as he said thosest words, and his voice grew as loud as rolling thunder.

 Volume 6 - 613: Lesson

    <strong>Chapter 613: Lesson <strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>[V6C143 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]</strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong></strong>

    This shout came abruptly and was extremely tyrannical. A wisp of origin power shot out of Li Tianquan¡¯s mouth and flew toward Qianye.

    Thetter felt his ears ringing and his vision turned ck. His entire body was trembling and even his organs had suffered the impact, especially the two origin vortices. The newly formed one was spun about rapidly and even showing signs of imminent dispersal.

    But Qianye¡¯s reaction came about naturally. The greater part of the iing origin power was negated by his powerful constitution. The auric gold blood inside revolved continuously, crushing and incinerating the invasive origin power in the blink of an eye.

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression was awkward after seeing that Qianye merely went pale and didn¡¯t even cough up blood.

    Qianye recovered right away. His eyes were filled with killing intent as he ced a hand on the Twin Flowers. ¡°Elder Li, are you trying to kill me?¡±

    Li Tianquan shot a nce at the Twin Flowers. ¡°You would be a corpse by now if this old man wanted to kill you. Do you think your little gun can break through my skin? This is only teaching you a lesson. You have to know that our Jingtang Li Family is not a ce for you to be impudent.¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°That¡¯s quite the lesson. You were aiming straight for my origin vortex. Why don¡¯t we go to the military police for analysis? Let¡¯s see which army¡¯s disciplinary action would strike at a soldier¡¯s foundations.¡±

    Li Tianquan realized that Qianye wasn¡¯t about to back down and was instead bing even tougher. He said in a gloomy tone, ¡°General Qianye is indeed too young. This is the frontline and this old man is the supervisor here, so I have the right to act as I see fit. So what if you file aint? Do you think the military will believe you without any evidence?¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes. ¡°The military¡¯s attitude isn¡¯t important. There are other people interested in your family¡¯s handling of rewards.¡±

    The two locked gazes and the atmosphere in the room almost froze up entirely.

    Everyone was well aware that ¡°other people¡± meant the independent experts who were here for the rewards. Their judgment of matters required no proof. Since they could call Qianye¡¯s payment into question just from rumors, they would likewise be worried about their own rewards not being honored. It wasn¡¯t quite possible that the Li family was targeting Qianye alone.

    After a while, Li Tianquan put the teapot he had been fiddling with on the table. His expression also rxed somewhat as he said, ¡°Since you¡¯re unwilling to admit to your mistake, our Li family isn¡¯t that unreasonable, either. I¡¯ll give you one more month. Your terms will remain as before during this period, but don¡¯t me me if you can¡¯t get into the top three during this time. Not only will we cancel your contract and dock all your contribution points, but the rewards already issued will also be reimed aspensation. What say you?¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°Elder Li is truly calctive! But what if I manage it?¡±

    ¡°If you can do it, then this old man will take it upon himself to add thirty percent to your rewards. If you can take the first ce three monthster, I¡¯ll give you both the Storm Pearl and Stillwater Rebirth.¡±

    Qianye was startled after hearing this. He quickly realized that Li Tianquan was so generous because he simply didn¡¯t believe in Qianyepleting these conditions.

    Qianye replied, ¡°Since Elder Li has such high hopes for me, then I won¡¯t leave in such a rush. I¡¯ll be staying two more months to reap the contribution points. Stillwater Rebirth is quite useful for me.¡±

    Li Tianquanughed, ¡°You¡¯re quite confident.¡±

    Qianye did notment. He soon got up and said with a cold smile, ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, I hope Elder Li won¡¯t go back on his words.¡±

    Li Tianquan hadn¡¯t even finished his ¡°I never go back on my words¡± when Qianye banged the door in his face. He was so angry that green veins were popping up on his face.

    The bookshelf beside Li Tianquan rotated after Qianye left and out walked a young man. ncing in the direction of Qianye¡¯s departure, he said with a frown, ¡°This brat is so arrogant. Why didn¡¯t you cripple him, Second Elder?¡±

    Li Tianquan shook his head slowly. ¡°This child¡¯s background is tooplicated. It¡¯ll indeed be troublesome if he stirs up trouble here.¡±

    The young man said disapprovingly. ¡°Even his rtionship with the Zhao n isn¡¯t clear. Why else would he run over to the Misty Wood? It''s probably because he can¡¯t stay with them.¡±

    Li Tianquan said cautiously, ¡°This child¡¯s objective is unclear. Let¡¯s let him stay for a couple of months. There¡¯s no way he can turn things around entirely. Moreover, there¡¯s no other ce like the Misty Wood. It¡¯ll be hard to track him down after he leaves this ce.¡±

    The young man broke into a frown. Finally, he said, ¡°I hope Elder Li doesn¡¯t forget our deal,¡± and left.

    Li Tianquan sat down slowly after the man left. His hands grabbed the armrest subconsciously as he recalled the matters from just now.

    The old man no longer concealed his emotions as there was no one left around him. He clenched his teeth in anger with green veins popping up on his face. This was his true nature, a far cry from the well-controlled demeanor he had maintained in front of the young man and Qianye.

    The short exchange with Qianye just now had made him extremely uneasy. It was as though arge de was hanging right above his neck. In his sixty years of life, he had never experienced a situation that had gone so awry.

    Qianye¡¯s identity wasplicated and his motives were unclear. Li Tianquan had no ns to get himself involved in this type of trouble. He only wanted to inflict a hidden injury on Qianye¡ªone could easily imagine the eventual fate of a lone, injured person amidst the encircling wolves.

    After seeing Qianye, he had found the urge to deal the killing blow more than just once. However, a certain premonition of danger kept lingering around him. As a family proficient in the divination arts, their members, even those who weren¡¯t prophets, enjoyed a sharper premonition than ordinary people. This sense of danger prevented the cautious Li Tianquan from acting out.

    Now that he thought about it, that sense of danger became even clearer¡ªthis caused his hair to stand on end.

    Li Tianquan was greatly astonished because this sense of menace was even capable of causing his heart to waver. He immediately focused on suppressing his apprehension. He thought back to the details of that moment but still couldn¡¯t find anything abnormal¡ªall that was left was the repeated scene of Qianye putting his hands on his revolver.

    ¡°What damn use can a grade-five gun have?¡± Li Tianquan was puzzled. Although his roar back then hadn¡¯t achieved its desired effect, he was able to sound out Qianye¡¯s true strength via it. It was roughly between rank thirteen and fourteen. This kind ofbat strength was no less powerful than martial geniuses like Li Qingyun and Li Kuann, and only slightly inferior to Zhao Jundu.

    It was just that the ability to fight against people of a higher level was only useful during mid to lower levels. After reaching the end of one¡¯s potential with sessive upgrades, the more important factors were technique, experience, secret arts, and even luck. Around the divine champion level, rank suppression was akin to an insurmountable moat.

    Li Tianquan had been at rank-seventeen for a long time¡ªhe wouldn''t be entirely helpless even against an old monster like Nangong Yuanwang. With a basic level of only rank eleven, Qianye would be totally suppressed if a fight were to break out between them. So where did that sense of dangere from?

    Li Tianquan gave it some thought and decided that he would dedicate more time to the divination arts, lest his ns get disrupted again in the future.

    Qianye heaved a sigh after walking out of the camp. It felt as though there was a huge rock pressing down on his chest¡ªit was incredibly ufortable.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of this matter, but it was indeed nauseating. It was beyond Qianye¡¯s expectations, however, that Li Tianquan didn¡¯t attack him at the very end. He had his hands on the Twin Flowers this entire time and could hardly resist the urge to go back and st the man with the Shot of Inception.

    Qianye sneered secretly as he recalled his confrontation with Li Tianquan. He was already prepared to just walk away. At most, he would lose the few things that had been confiscated. But now, he nned to stay and take first ce three monthster¡ªhe wanted to see how Li Tianquan would handle things at that point.

    The Storm Pearl had never been offered to the public before, but Stillwater Rebirth was an item with a definite price tag. Even a n elder like Li Tianquan would have his heart broken to take out a Stillwater Rebirth from the family warehouse.

    There was a pair of eyes paying rapt attention to the main road leading out of the camp. Seeing Qianye walk out of the camp, that person immediately came back to report. Li Qingyun¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change after listening and simply kept on tapping the armrest. He suddenly asked, ¡°About the information from the workshop, his armor is from the Bai n?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and it¡¯s the work of Bai Songhe no less,¡± the follower continued in a whisper, ¡°Old Bai¡¯s pieces are all well known. It won¡¯t be hard to find the source.¡±

    Li Qingyun smiled, ¡°Bai n, Zhao n, haha, I haven¡¯t seen such an interesting person in a long time. Does Second Elder know about this?¡±

    The follower replied, ¡°Even if he didn¡¯t before, he¡¯ll probably find out this afternoon.¡±

    Li Qingyunughed once again. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that old bastard really embezzled someone else¡¯s items?¡±

    The follower felt somewhat uneasy. ¡°Ninth Young Master, shall we...¡±

    Li Qingyun¡¯s smile disappeared and his expression turned indifferent. ¡°Let¡¯s just watch from the sidelines. Second Elder is indeed selfish, but he isn¡¯t stupid. Contribution points are a different matter, but this armor, he won¡¯t dare touch.¡±

    He paused for a moment and then said with a smile, ¡°Although I am curious if Zhao Jundu wille out of the Zhao n war zone for this, that really isn¡¯t the way to seek humiliation.¡±

    The one beside him was Li Qingyun¡¯s trusted aide, but even he didn¡¯t dare continue this topic. Seeing that Li Qingyun had nothing else to say, he excused himself after a while.

    Qianye had long since sensed the eyes on him when he walked out of the main camp, but such things weren¡¯t unusual for him. He paid it no heed and simply walked on.

    A certain person charged out from the side at this point, seemingly hurrying forward with his head lowered. It also looked like he was lost in thought and didn¡¯t notice Qianye.

    That person wasn¡¯t weak at all¡ªhe promptly sensed someone on the road ahead but seemed to have no intention of stopping or moving away. Instead, he spat out some profanities and sped up.

    Qianye also happened to be in a bad mood, so he immediately halted his steps and waited for that person toe crashing in.

    A muffled thud rang out as a sh of origin power lit up the camp doors.

 Volume 6 - 614: Hunting

    [V6C144 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye stood calmly in ce without the slightest of movements. The man who had crashed into him took several steps back before managing to find his footing. His vision turned blurry and some fresh blood seeped out of his mouth. This full-force collision felt as though he had crashed into a mountain, theplete rebound of force inflicting heavy injuries upon him.

    ¡°You dare bump into me? This daddy will kill you...¡± That man looked up and rubbed his eyes. The profanities he was spitting out stopped midway as Qianye¡¯s face came into view. He immediately bowed down with an awkwardugh and apologized repeatedly, ¡°Sire, Qianye! This little one didn¡¯t know it was you.¡±

    He edged back while speaking and then turned to flee.

    Qianye remembered this person. He was a lone hunter from the Transcendent Continent, rank-eleven in origin power.

    Qianye felt better after seeing the other party turn deferent and flee in defeat. It would seem the series of actions he had taken to establish his might¡ªespecially beating up Du Li¡ªwas fairly effective. The top seats of the aristocracy might not put this in their eyes, but these mercenaries and bounty hunters who licked blood from the de on a daily basis would only submit to the strong.

    On the way back, Qianye bumped into someone unexpected, Du Li. At this moment, the man was half lying in the back seat of a jeep, his face as pale as a ghost and his breathing irregr.

    The jeep hade from the direction of the military hospital. It would seem Du Li had justpleted his treatment, but his injuries were clearly not light seeing as how he needed a car to drive him back.

    Du Li became quite tense when Qianye intercepted the car with a raise of his hand. He moved toward the other side subconsciously while staring at Qianye. ¡°Y-You, what are you trying to do? We¡¯ve already fought.¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I just wanted to see if you¡¯re doing okay. I didn¡¯t go too hard on you back then.¡± Qianye smiled.

    Du Li squeezed out a smile, one that was even uglier than weeping. ¡°I¡¯m quite well.¡±

    How was that well? He had received a bunch of internal wounds when Qianye smashed him into the floor. Although it wasn¡¯t enough to take his life, he would have to suffer for quite a while.

    Qianye nodded in response and asked indifferently, ¡°Where are my spoils?¡±

    Du Li¡¯s expression shifted, but this time, it was clearly due to the physical pain. He said through gritted teeth, ¡°I gave all of my belongings to the Li family people and asked for them to be handed to you. I followed all the rules!¡±

    ¡°I was just asking.¡± Qianye left with a smile.

    Qianye cultivated for an entire night and day after returning to his residence. There, he purified the origin power he hadn¡¯t yet refined with the Glory Chapter. At this point, Young Dragon had also been repaired. As such, Qianye collected his equipment and left the base once again.

    No one knew whether it was a twist of fate or just pure coincidence. On the third day after entering Misty Wood, Qianye felt something in his heart while gazing at the mist in front of him¡ªhe knew he had encountered Eden yet again.

    The Misty Wood was such a vast ce. The battlefront between the two factions was iparably long, now stretching thousands of kilometers after the connection of four warzones. Yet, these two had actually met again.

    However, neither of them attacked right away. They only stood in silent confrontation with the Misty Wood between them.

    Qianye knew that Eden had also found him. Up to this day, he still had no idea how thetter had been able to discover him. The same applied to Eden.

    Qianye raised Thunderbolt but lowered it again after a moment of hesitation. He had already locked onto Eden¡¯s location, but their reaction speed was enough to dodge a shot from around a hundred meters, to speak nothing of several hundred. The only way was to catch the other party unaware.

    This shot would surely miss and once again initiate a battle with no definite end in sight.

    Tangling with Eden came with great benefits despite the loss in contributions. At the very least, wrestling along the fine line between life and death improved Qianye¡¯sbat strength significantly. There were even new revtions which became evident in his fight with Du Li.

    Solely in terms of daybreak origin power, Du Li¡¯s cultivation actually lived up to his rank. His origin power capacity was even greater than Qianye¡¯s, but this minor advantage didn¡¯t help him at all in battle. Qianye had beaten the man until he had no ability to retaliate¡ªto be exact, he didn¡¯t even manage to block a single attack.

    However, the benefits weren¡¯t without any seque. Qianye recalled the contract and two ranking papers Li Tianquan had brought out. He was naturally unwilling to withdraw for no reason amidst the criticisms. He decided to have a go at the rankings since he had no way around this matter anyway. Moreover, he was determined to take first ce.

    Qianye didn¡¯t care much about politics, but he wasn¡¯t ignorant about it. He had a vague feeling that Li Tianquan¡¯s reason for targeting him so wantonly¡ªin addition to someone pressuring him from behind¡ªwas that the Li family¡¯s war situation was going too smoothly. They had exceeded their targets for contribution points with low casualty rates, and all of this was credited to Li Tianquan, further solidifying his position.

    At least half of this was through Qianye¡¯s efforts. He knew best how terrifying an expert with superior visual range and stealth proficiency was in this Misty Wood.

    If he were to keep fighting against Eden here, he would have no opportunity at all on the rankings.

    ¡°What if¡­¡± Qianye shook his head. He didn¡¯t continue thinking along this line, but he didn¡¯t attack, either.

    It was as though they had reached a tacit understanding. Eden made no move without any action from Qianye, but he was definitely still in the area.

    Eden touched the Abyssal Tribute in his hand as his father¡¯s words echoed in his ears.

    ¡°Tempering yourbat strength is a good thing, but your current results in battle are uneptable. I won¡¯t be able to speak out for you in the next elder conference if you don¡¯t produce good results in the next battle. Although I hope my direct descendant can obtain a higher candidate¡¯s position, taking that seat without sufficient strength is just courting death.¡±

    Eden was greatly concerned about the elder conference at the Dark Abyss where the sessors¡¯ positions would be discussed every three years.

    The elders would form a standard cut-off point ording to the performance of all peers and remove those who contributed below that point from the sessor¡¯s list. This would shrink the pool of sessors and allow resources to be focused on nurturing the remaining experts.

    At this point, Eden was only ranked in the upper-middle among all the candidates. He was in a fairly dangerous region where he could be kicked out of the list at any moment. This was, of course, rted to his young age and Elder Preston¡¯s hands-off method with his descendants. But regardless of the reason, the sessor cut-off point wouldn¡¯t be reduced for anyone.

    The floating continent was the only ce where he could harvest enough contribution points before the conference. All the others in the list, apart from the first-ranked sessor, had joined this battle, and Eden had unfortunately fallen to the bottom during this period of time.

    Rage flickered in Eden¡¯s eyes at the thought of this and threads of blood spread out continuously therein. If it wasn¡¯t for the prolonged entanglement with Qianye, how could his arch-enemies have trampled over him? For a moment, Eden had the urge to st Qianye with the Abyssal Tribute and snatch back the Carol of Shadows in passing.

    But his rationality stopped the finger on the trigger. Eden knew very well that the opponent was outrageously powerful and growing at a rapid pace.

    He had chased down Qianye during the first battle and nearly took thetter¡¯s life. In thest battle, however, it was Eden running for his life. The circumstances back then were unusual, and Eden was quite sure that the other party couldn¡¯t fire that inconceivably powerful shot at will. Despite all that and no matter how much he was loath to admit, the other party¡¯s progress was indeed superior to his own.

    This was a miracle often enjoyed by the frail human race. Those short-lived creatures would develop at a rapid pace during their brief lifespan. Even the gods of darkness couldn¡¯t tell them the reason for this.

    Eden slowly lowered his Abyssal Tribute and, after onest nce at Qianye¡¯s direction, left toward another.

    Qianye was somewhat surprised, but he had no intention of stopping the man. The Misty Wood was definitely big enough to hold the both of them. After Eden disappeared, Qianye picked up his Thunderbolt and headed in the direction of the central caverns.

    He knew that things were different this time. The two of them might not start fighting even if they were to meet again on the battlefield. When they do engage in their next battle, it would likely be a fight to the death.

    After being freed of Eden, Qianye¡¯s fortune instantly took a turn for the better. He ran into a small dark race squad not long afterward.

    This squad was well-equipped and consisted of over five hundred soldiers of mixed races. It was an elite hunting unit of the Evernight Faction, targeting small imperial parties and independent experts.

    The leader was a third-rank arachne viscount. This was a reasonable lineup¡ªthose special scouts with over two hundred meters of visual range at the center prevented rank twelve or thirteen human experts from taking action. Only experienced hunters above rank-fourteen would be able to chew on this hard bone. Even then, they would have to n everything out carefully.

    But such rules were useless against Qianye. He had already locked onto the arachne viscount from five-hundred meters away. By the time Thunderbolt¡¯s timber reached the dark race soldiers¡¯ ears, that viscount¡¯s waist had been sted open. Its upper body had beenrgely disjointed from the impact, and only a small part remained connected to its trunk.

    The arachne¡¯s vitality was so powerful that it hadn¡¯t yet died even after such an injury and might actually recover with timely intervention. However, Qianye¡¯s shot was intentional¡ªalthough the arachne wasn¡¯t dead yet, it had been deprived of all fighting power.

    Afterward, Qianye put the Thunderbolt away and rushed over. He roamed about within a hundred meters of this squad, firing continuously with his Twin Flowers and killing all high-ranking warriors. The separated revolvers possessed greater firing speed and minimal consumption, greatly suitable for dealing with such a situation. Even if he couldn¡¯t kill some of them on the spot, it was enough to disable them temporarily.

    One baron, three knights, and several esquires fell under the continuous bombardment. Qianye remained hidden within the mist all this time, denying them the opportunity to retaliate. That baron was a fierce character strong enough to challenge a viscount, yet he copsed to the ground after taking three shots and could no longer mber up.

    The entire squad¡¯s fighting capabilities copsed within moments, and only at this point did Qianye draw East Peak and charge into the fray. With a flicker of his silhouette, he had arrived in the midst of the dark race warriors using Spatial sh.

 Volume 6 - 615: Mutation

    [V6C145 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Just as Qianye¡¯s figure flickered into existence, his face turned pale and East Peak sunk downward in his hand. He couldn¡¯t help butugh self-deprecatingly¡ªhe had been so eager to try the technique out that he had forgotten all about its terrifying consumption. The Spatial sh invented by Andruil required one to be at the marquis-level to activate, and the one Qianye hadprehended was a toned down version of it. Using it at a slightly longer range almost drained him of all blood energy.

    The dark race warriors were in chaos after suddenly losing track of the enemy¡¯s movements. They came to momentster only to find that Qianye was somehow standing in their midst. Despite their astonishment, all the dark race warriors red over at him with cruelty and bloodthirst in their eyes. As they saw it, this human was walking to his death.

    But just as they were about to raise their des and spears, they felt their bodies grow extremely heavy as the roar of crashing tides echoed in their ears. Everyone¡¯s vision turned blurry, filled by a weave of countless red threads.

    Only a dozen or so dark race warriors remained standing around Qianye after the oceanic suppression and Life Plunder. It wasn¡¯t because these people were strong, but because they were lucky¡ªthe limited threads from Life Plunder hadn¡¯t stabbed into them.

    At the center of the battlefield, Qianye took a deep breath before his figure flickered past the survivors, killing them one by one.

    In the blink of an eye, there was no one left on the entire battlefield. Qianye left out a light sigh as his face flushed red and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His blood was aboil with vitality and suffused with specks of burning golden light.

    This batch of dark race soldiers was made up of elites, and the essence blood in them was much greater than ordinary soldiers of the same rank, some even twice as abundant. That arachne viscount¡¯s essence blood was almost equal in quantity to a first-rank viscount. Apparently, they were soldiers with outstanding talents and promising future prospects. Unfortunately, however, they encountered Qianye and were dulyid to rest within the Misty Wood.

    Life Plunder couldn¡¯t distinguish friend from foe, nor could it take the level of threat into ount. It would seek out targets with the greatest vitality within its range and attack them. That was why a fair part of the threads hadtched onto the arachne viscount. The other barons, knights, and even esquires who were struck lost the ability to escape or retaliate. All they could do was watch as the sanguineous thread entered their body and robbed them of their essence blood.

    It was precisely due to this reason that even Qianye would sometimes find it hard to endure if the absorbed essence blood was too abundant. This caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood, one full of vitality and essence. He felt a bit morefortable afterward, but his body still felt somewhat bloated like a filled balloon.

    He looked down to observe himself, but there were no noticeable changes. That sensation of fullness was merely an illusion. After a while, a part of the essence blood was distributed to various parts of his body, while the rest was absorbed by the Book of Darkness and Wings of Inception. The feeling of difort thus faded away naturally.

    Qianye cleaned up the battlefield in due haste. Killing such a squad came with abundant profits¡ªthe contribution points alone had surpassedst month¡¯s total.

    Apart from that, the elite squad¡¯s equipment and supplies were much better than ordinary units. After flipping through them, Qianye wanted nothing more than to take all the gear away. But even Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm couldn¡¯t fit so many things.

    He first collected proof of contribution, and after that, he only picked up things that didn¡¯t take much space like ammunition and blood crystals. As for weapons, he only packed up the ones belonging to soldiers above the knight level.

    Armors took up too much space, so Qianye only removed the arachne viscount¡¯s armor and helmet. Although they could hardly be used by humans, the materials alone had substantial recycling-value and thus warranted a space within Andruil¡¯s realm.

    After spending quite a bit of effort here and just as he was about to leave, Qianye suddenly turned back and found a sprout poking out from the purple substance. Moreover, it was growing taller at a visible rate.

    This giant tree sapling reached the height of a person in the blink of an eye and was growing twice as fast as the one he had seen before. The odd thing was that the crown of this tree was actually scarlet red and contained specks of gold.

    Qianye felt a chill shoot up to his head because this tree was growing out from where he had spat out the mouthful of essence blood. After seeing this eerie giant tree, how could he dare let it mature? He neither had the scientific spirit nor the curiosity to know what the fully grown tree would look like.

    To Qianye, the current Misty Wood was already dangerous and troublesome enough.

    He leapt up on the spot and swung East Peak horizontally, cutting the young tree through the middle. Where the de fell, Qianye could feel that the tree trunk was much sturdier than ordinary giant trees. If it were to grow as tall as the other giant trees, Qianye wasn¡¯t sure if he could cut it in one hit.

    After the young tree was cut down, it let out a blood-curdling scream of anguish followed by a fountain of blood spraying out from the cut end.

    Qianye was astonished as he stared at the cut tree trunk. For a moment, he couldn¡¯t quite tell if this thing was ultimately a nt or a living creature. The sapling¡¯s cry spread far and wide, instantly awakening all the giant trees in the vicinity. Their tree trunks began squirming, and the chambers bulged up continuously. It was clear that the fierce beasts and midgets within were about to break out at any moment.

    Qianye nced about at his surroundings and found that the range of activation was exceptionally wide¡ªeven the trees at the end of his vision were swaying. Qianye felt as though he had been plunged into cold water. How would he dare linger here? He simply turned tail and ran at full speed.

    Even someone with Qianye¡¯s speed couldn¡¯t escape entirely and was still surrounded by the beasts. Fortunately, he was already at the edge of the beast tide. After pressing a swathe of beasts down with his oceanic pressure, Qianye finally charged out of the encirclement by relying on his sharp de and thick armor.

    After extricating himself from the beast tide, Qianye activated Bloodline Concealment and various other concealment abilities at great cost. He then ran out hundreds of kilometers without daring to rest. Even when he finally managed to sit down under a giant tree, he still felt somewhat fearful after recalling that boundless, omnipresent beast tide.

    Checking his surroundings briefly and finding that it was fairly safe, Qianye leaned back against a giant tree and began circting the Mystery Chapter to refine the essence blood. It had been some time since hest cultivated it. Now that his daybreak origin power had reached rank-eleven, it was finally time to upgrade his suppressed blood energy.

    Large amounts of essence blood were drawn into the vortex by the chapter. There, they were crushed, purified, and transformed into darkness origin power which would then be absorbed by his blood core. The blood core would pulse strongly after each absorption and pump out a drop of auric me blood.

    Qianye paid rapt attention to his internal environment and saw that the auric me blood in his vessels was growing denser. It had already spread to most parts of his body with only the most peripheral capiries remaining, and there wasn¡¯t much ordinary blood left throughout his body.

    By the time the entirety of his cirction had transformed into auric me blood, Qianye would¡¯ve reached the peak of the viscount rank. Of course, that was ording to the ancient standards stated in the River of Blood.

    The night passed by fairly quickly. Qianye ended his cultivation and stood up once again after all of the essence blood had been converted. He was in great spirits, and his entire body was full of strength and vitality. He once again checked his equipment and resources before leaving his temporary resting ce to continue his hunt.

    In the days that followed, Qianye encountered several dark race scouts and hunting parties. At times, he would encounter two in a single day. The continuous high-intensity battles caused Qianye¡¯s store of ammunition to dwindle like snow under the raging sun. Very soon, he waspletely out of supplies.

    On the other hand, his contribution points and spoils of war were increasing at a rapid pace. Currently, he was no longer interested in knights¡¯ weapons and only picked up those above the baron level. As for that set of arachne armor, he had no choice but to sacrifice it to make space for other valuable spoils¡ªnow in its ce was aplete set of demonkin light armor.

    This was the first time Qianye felt that Andruil¡¯s realm was too small and how great it would be if it were twice asrge. However, even a space ten times asrge wouldn¡¯t be able to fit all the spoils.

    Only Qianye was capable of engaging in such a high-efficiency ughter. The oceanic might and Life Plunderbined could be considered a godly area of effect weapon. Once activated, he could clear out an area ten or so meters in radius.

    Most of the dark races¡¯ operational units in the Misty Wood consisted of roughly a hundred soldiers. This happened to be the best applicable range for Qianye¡¯s strategy¡ªall of them were virtually annihted in a single blow.

    This time, Qianye¡¯s contributions had multiplied by several times before ten days had passed. Barring an abrupt change in harvesting rates, Qianye reckoned he would be in the top three by now and climbing to the first ce was only a matter of time.

    It went without saying that the environment of the Misty Wood yed a vital role in his aplishments. Outside of the woods where the senses were less suppressed, Qianye would have to spend quite a bit more effort in order to exterminate the dark race¡¯s high-ranking warriors. His recovery advantage wouldn¡¯t be that evident, either. The most important issue was still the aftermath.

    The traces left behind by Life Plunder were best hidden from the higher-ups of the dark races, and it just so happened that the purple ground substance in the Misty Wood would swallow them all up.

    Qianye soon discovered that the closer he was to the central caverns, the higher the chances of encountering more powerful dark race forces. Sometimes, he would even encounter targets who were so powerful that he had to retreat quietly.

    Qianye suspected that the dark races were nning to enter the cavern maze on arge scale. Who knew what secretsy within?

    While Qianye was pushing steadily toward the central caverns, a group of Li n warriors had set up a temporary camp to rest.

    Within a fine t at the center of the camp, a young man in his twenties was frowning as he looked at the map in his hand.

    This was a map of the Misty Wood. In this world covered in purple substance and giant trees, every direction was the same to the naked eye.

    The Li family had tried many methods to prevent getting lost. In the end, they found that the most effective way was to install tes engraved with different numbers on the giant trees and use those numbers to calcte their coordinates.

    The young man bore the arrogance of an aristocrat, but there was also a lingering seriousness about him.

    At this moment, an old general with white hair who was standing beside him said, ¡°Young Master need not worry. This unfavorable phase is likely temporary. How can things always go as smooth asst month? There¡¯s definitely a ce for you in the top three of the rankings.¡±

    These words did nothing to rx the youth¡¯s expression. Thetter only said with a sigh, ¡°What¡¯s the use of top-three? I still won¡¯t be able to surpass Brother Qingyun. I, Li Jingzhan, am also a hero of the generation, yet I still have to make way for him.¡±

 Volume 6 - 616: Changes

    [V6C146 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    At this moment, the old general said, ¡°Young Master Jingzhan, Young Noble Qingyun¡¯s power is outstanding, but he hasn¡¯t secured victory just yet. Otherwise, why wouldn¡¯t the family just give him the Storm Pearl directly? What¡¯s the point of setting up these rankings? It¡¯s surely because they¡¯re worried about public outrage.

    ¡°Moreover, thebat squads dispatched by the various ns will be arriving in a few days. The profits this time have moved many people, and with how big the empire is, there are hidden tigers and dragons everywhere. Who knows which expert would jump into the fray? Young Master, muddy waters are a good thing. As I see it, we need to try hard in harvesting contributions and not go back so soon. That way, our contributions won¡¯t be publicly known.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll only drag things out a bit, what¡¯s the use?¡± Li Jingzhan was apparently vexed.

    ¡°There might be some changes if we drag it out for a bit. For instance, if Young Noble is really interested and has umted enough contributions, we could consider switching allegiance to the third branch. Why would we need to stay suppressed under the second?¡±

    Li Jingzhan¡¯s expression transformed radically. In the end, he said through gritted teeth, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s do it that way!¡±

    It was at this time that a mor arose outside of the tent. Li Jingzhan looked up and shouted, ¡°What¡¯s with the ruckus? Scandalous!¡±

    A personal guard rushed into the tent despite Li Jingzhan¡¯s angry re and cried, ¡°Young Master, things don¡¯t look good. There¡¯s a beast tide charging over!¡±

    Li Jingzhan shot up and delivered a prompt p. ¡°What¡¯s so big about a beast tide? I¡¯ve killed no small number of them, haven¡¯t I? Set up the autocannons and ughter them.

    Li Jingzhan had brought hundreds of elites from the Li family private army. He hade well-prepared with ample firepower and ammunition. Thebat strength of this unit had long since been proven in battle. They had annihted three dark race hunting sub-parties in the past month¡ªat least in terms of head-count, these sub-parties weren¡¯t inferior to Li Jingzhan¡¯s group.

    As for beasts and midgets, their main threaty in their numbers and indefensible poison. Organized elite troops were the nemesis of these creatures¡ªas long as there was sufficient ammunition,rge bore autocannons could practically mow them down.

    In order to deal with these beast hordes, Li Jingzhan had brought six high-speed autocannons and vast amounts of ammunition. In the past month, the storm of metal spewed out by these cannons had killed at least several thousand midgets and beasts.

    Li Jingzhan heard the familiar rumble of the autocannons. As far as he could remember, the stream of mes would mow downrge swathes of beasts as though they were grass.

    However, the personal guard didn¡¯t back down even after being struck. He kept on shouting, ¡°Young Master, it¡¯s not the same this time! Run quickly!¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when his expression froze. Afterward, he looked down to find a spear tip poking through his chest.

    It was a wooden stake, the mostmon type found throughout Misty Wood. After birth, the midgets would cut down the leaves and branches of the giant tree and sharpen them into wooden spears. Afterward, they would use a mixture of their own saliva and some unknown nt juice to coat the stake in poison. And thus the powerful poison that brought both factions no end of trouble was born.

    Li Jingzhan¡¯s eyelids twitched as he nced at the spear tip, and his brain wentpletely nk.

    He was very clear about this personal guard¡¯s strength and was also familiar with the grade of his armor. Even Li Jingzhan himself would need to attack seriously in order to pierce this guard¡¯s armor, but now, it had been pierced through by a wooden spear right in front of him.

    In his memory, the spears thrown out by these midgets could barely cut through the chainmail of his guards. They were far from being capable of prating the entire body.

    A whistle rang out at this point as another spear shot toward Li Jingzhan. Thetter responded at lightning speed, immediately drawing his sword and cutting the projectile into two. But just this movement caused the sword to tremble and emit a low drone. The strength behind the spear was so powerful that Li Jingzhan swayed slightly backward.

    Both shocked and furious, the man shed the tent open and rushed out.

    In a short moment, the entire camp was already in ruins. Many soldiers had been nailed to the ground by the iing spears. Some of the stakes had pierced right through their shields and into their chests.

    The air was filled with whistling sounds as numerous spears flew in from the distant woods andnded in the camp. One beast after another charged out from the mist with several human figures moving in their midst.

    ¡°W-What are those things?!¡± Li Jingzhan was shocked as he looked at the iing beasts and aboriginals.

    These native entities retained their familiar appearance, but they were no longer midgets. They had grown to twice their previous height and were nowparable to a young human. There were numerous red veined patterns on their bodies with golden specks mixed in. Moreover, those that possessed more golden specks were evidently more powerful.

    The beasts had also grownrger than before and also possessed the same pattern of red veins and golden spots. Their speed, strength, and build all saw a sharp increase¡ªeven the autocannons could only produce bloody holes on them, a far cry from the past where they would be sted into a bloody mess.

    Ten meters away, a boar-shaped mutant beast was charging against the hail of bullets, and it only died after taking a dozen shots from the autocannons.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Li Jingzhan¡¯s hands and feet turned cold. He was truly at a loss about what to do.

    The beasts and midgets charging over weren¡¯t exactly great in number¡ªonly several hundred in total. However, theirbat strength had undergone aplete transformation and was enough to drown their entire squad.

    At this moment, the old general dragged Li Jingzhan away and fled in the opposite direction of the beasts.

    ¡°No, let me go. My soldiers are still in the camp.¡± Li Jingzhan struggled.

    ¡°They¡¯re lost, Young Master. You must live today in order to make a strongeback in the future!¡± The old general allowed no exnation as he towed Li Jingzhan away.

    Before long, the morous camp became deathly silent.

    ¡­

    Meanwhile, a human squad was advancing silently along the borders of the Misty Wood. Judging from their direction, they were traversing the Misty Wood and headed for the Song n warzone. The group was mostlyposed of Li family private soldiers with a mixture of mercenaries and adventurers among them.

    There was a big, fierce-looking man at the center of the group. His lightning eyes, from time to time, scanned the identical forest on either side.

    A middle-aged man with a fairplexionughed after seeing this. ¡°Sire Li is too cautious. This area is fairly peaceful, and the dark races rarely if ever appear here. Even if they do, they won¡¯t have an expert overseeing them. If they really dare appear before us, they¡¯ll just be offering more contributions to you.¡±

    The burly man¡¯s expression rxed slightly. ¡°That might be the case, but we can¡¯t be careless. I heard there¡¯s a demonkin count operating in the area.¡±

    The middle-aged man sneered, ¡°Those are just rumors. Besides, our troop strength is no longerparable to the past. Even the two counts who attacked our base never dared to appear again. It¡¯s been so long since the beginning of this conflict. If there really is some kind of expert, how can those youngsters from the family return safely every time? As I see it, the dark race fellow in charge of this area must be a useless cker, count or not. He¡¯s probably not worth mentioning.¡±

    The burly man said with a smile, ¡°You have a point there...¡±

    He had just finished half his sentence when the middle-aged man fell backward and half his head flew into the air.

    Even someone of the burly man¡¯s strength couldn¡¯t help but be startled. He then came to, drew his gun, and roared, ¡°Enemy attack!¡±

    Just after shouting thus, his entire body flew out as though he had been struck by an invisible hammer. When he crashed to the ground, the armor on his chest had been shattered, and the flesh there, badly mangled.

    The burly man mbered up, but before he could celebrate how the thick armor had allowed his heart to remain intact, he discovered something wrong. He looked down at the blood flowing out of his injury and saw that they were ck. Moreover, his origin power was being drained at a rapid pace.

    ck titanium!

    This name emerged in the man¡¯s thoughts. Immediately afterward, he saw a calm and elegant figure traversing the manyyers of defense set up by the soldiers. Wherever that silhouette passed by, all the warriors there¡ªregardless of their rank andbat strength¡ªwould freeze up and gradually fall down,

    The burly man¡¯s vision was turning blurry. He could no longer see clearly how the veteran warriors under hismand had died.

    The shadow arrived before him in the blink of an eye.

    The man struggled indignantly. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The man uncovered his hood to reveal a handsome countenance that did not belong to the human race. His lips moved slightly into a mocking smile as he said, ¡°I¡¯m that useless cker you guys were talking about, Eden of the Dark Abyss.¡±

    This name formed the burly man¡¯s final memory.

    ...

    The Li n base was recently bing livelier by the day with squads from various aristocratic ns and families surging into the base. Thesepeting units were each more well-equipped and powerful than the next.

    The leaders were all core characters of the aristocracy, and they only had one objective here¡ªthe Storm Pearl. Before their departure, their family heads had ordered them to obtain one at all costs.

    In the several days that followed, Li Tianquan waspletely upied with work. He was troubled but delighted because, from his past experience in managing such major activities, he could tell that his authority in the elder assembly would definitely take a step forward. Moreover, the Li family was the host this time around, and the Storm Pearl was their property, so all the other aristocratic families were fairly deferent toward him. Li Tianquan was up in the clouds these days and had almost forgotten his position.

    The arriving aristocratic familybat squads all required lodging, food, and supplies¡ªthese administrative arrangements kept Li Tianquan frantically busy. Fortunately, these squads didn¡¯t stay very long and would head into the Misty Wood after a brief period of organization. And only after most of them had entered the forest did Li Qingyun bring his own squad into the woods.

    The true struggle for the contribution rankings had just begun. No matter how experienced the independent hunters were, they were hardly a match for the well-trained private armies of the aristocratic families.

    Even Qianye could only take a detour whenever he encountered a thousand-strong army¡ªat most, he would be able to harass them with sneak attacks. But this kind of attack wasn¡¯t helpful for umting contributions, and the reason was simple, there was no way to collect proof of contribution even after killing the targets.

    However, most of thebat squads dispatched by the aristocratic families were made up of their core forces. A group of five-hundred soldiers could easily digest such an enemy squad.

    Little over a month remained until the three-month deadline, but the various aristocratic families, including the Li n, didn¡¯t really care about the independent experts currently upying the top of the board.

    Only the Zhang and Zhao didn¡¯t send abat squad to the Misty Wood. These two ns have always upheld their status and would never take part in such private contests. Moreover, the war was in a critical stage. The Zhang n had managed to hold out for a fairly long time, but they were pretty much spent at this point. Reportedly, they were being pushed back with every skirmish, and most of their warzones had fallen into enemy hands.

    It was said that the Zhao n had disregarded their past enmity and dispatched a motorized unit to the cklight warzone to reinforce the Zhang n. Those two colossal powers had their eyes on the main battlefield, not even sparing a nce for the things taking ce here.

    Li Tianquan was naturally dissatisfied. He felt that the two ns were too arrogant and didn¡¯t put the empress¡¯ n in their eyes. However, his status wasn¡¯t high enough to express his dissent for them. The n lord and Marquis Seagazer, Li Tianshi, made noment on theint he had submitted about this matter. This became a small knot in the midst of his happiness.

    At dawn this day, Li Tianquan had the rare leisure to brew a pot of good tea as he began looking through the recent battle reports. He had just turned a single page when he heard an urgent knock on the door.

 Volume 6 - 617: Contribution Overload

    [V6C147 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression sank as he shouted, ¡°What¡¯s with the ruckus!¡±

    The female clerk who hade in replied fearfully, ¡°Young Master Jingzhan has just returned to base. He¡¯s badly wounded and unconscious.¡±

    Li Tianquan shot to his feet in great rm. ¡°How did that happen? Didn¡¯t he bring an entire unit of elites? What were they doing?¡±

    ¡°Young Master Jingzhan¡¯s troops have been wiped out entirely. General Hong suffered grave injuries in order to bring him back.¡±

    ¡°Where is he? Take me to him!¡± Li Tianquan said urgently.

    ¡°Elder, there¡¯s another news¡­¡± The clerk was hesitant.

    ¡°Speak quickly!¡± Li Tianquan shouted impatiently.

    ¡°We just received news that the squad transporting resources to the Song n have encountered an ident, only a few people managed to escape.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Li Tianquan was shocked out of his wits. He grabbed the clerk¡¯s hand and said, ¡°That squad was being overseen by Li Ke, wasn¡¯t it? Where is he? Take me to him!¡±

    ¡°ording to the survivors, he¡¯s already fallen in battle.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s vision darkened and his body swayed unsteadily. He supported himself on the table and collected his thoughts before asking, ¡°He fell in battle?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the escapees witnessed Sire Li Ke being beheaded.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression went pale and he could even smell some blood in his throat.

    Li Ke was one of the few core powers of the Li family. He was both strong and clever, a true general who could shoulder great responsibility. He would have already reached an important position if only he weren¡¯t born from a side branch. Most importantly, Li Ke was an important fighting force for Li Tianquan¡¯s branch. The man¡¯s death was a huge loss to thetter.

    Li Tianquan forced himself to remain calm. ¡°How could someone of Li Ke¡¯s strength be ughtered so easily? Who is the enemy? How many of them were there?¡±

    The clerk lowered her voice. ¡°The enemy only consisted of ten or so men. They rushed straight for themander and won the battle in one stroke. The leader is a demonkin, and it was him who had injured the general first before beheading him. This demonkin calls himself Eden of the Dark Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Demonkin count... Eden¡­¡± Li Tianquan recited the familiar name. He suddenly recalled Qianye¡¯s recount about fighting a demonkin count for the greater part of thest month. What was that count¡¯s name again?

    Li Tianquan tried hard to remember, but he just couldn¡¯t recall it in his frustration. Back then, he simply didn¡¯t believe Qianye would be able to keep a demonkin count upied. He was even less inclined to believe that the area had been free of passing dark race squads due to the fight between Qianye and the demonkin.

    His heart burned in rage as he thought about how Li Ke had died yet half of his subordinates had run back. ¡°Issue my order! Seize the escapees and put them to death on ount of desertion and harming the general!¡±

    The clerk was shocked out of her wits upon hearing this order. No longer caring about the rebuke she might receive, she said hurriedly, ¡°Elder, shouldn¡¯t we investigate clearly before convicting them?¡±

    She spoke rather tactfully, but Li Tianquan quickly realized his mistake. Putting hundreds of soldiers to death¡ªeven if they really were deserters¡ªwas a huge matter. Even the second elder didn¡¯t have this authority. It would have to go through the elder assembly or be approved by the n lord.

    That was true in principle, but without any ce to vent, the mes in Li Tianquan¡¯s heart burned even more violently. In the end, he diverted all of his anger onto Qianye. ¡°Little animal, you must¡¯ve set the demonkin on us! Otherwise, Li Ke wouldn¡¯t die such a miserable death!¡±

    However, he could only keep these thoughts to himself. Li Tianquan took a deep breath and recovered an elder¡¯s dignity. ¡°Where are the escapees? Bring me to them. Additionally, bring all of that demonkin¡¯s information to my office, don¡¯t miss a single thing!¡±

    Li Tianquan left in a hurry, stirring up quite a lot of waves in the base. The Li family had never suffered such severe casualties before since the beginning of this war. They had lost a great general and hundreds of private soldiers in a single day. Although the death of mercenaries wasn¡¯t a big issue, the Li family would still have to fork out considerablepensation to their families. Otherwise, who would be willing to risk their lives for the Li family?

    Li Tianquan¡¯s hatred for Qianye grew along with the casualties. He knew full well that he was merely taking it out on thetter, but he couldn¡¯t control himself. What Li Tianquan didn¡¯t know was that his theory was, for once, correct.

    These losses were only the beginning. Bad news rolled in almost every day in the period that followed. The weaker squads were destroyed immediately, while even the stronger ones were asionally attacked. Most of the casualties were rted to a single name: Eden.

    Only at this point did the people truly understand how terrifying this demonkin count was. Especially within the Misty Wood, there was virtually no way to deal with him.

    As the person in charge, Li Tianquan convened several meetings to analyze the battle reports and research strategies to counter Eden. The reports regarding thetter were fairlyplete, but the more they analyzed him, the more they felt that only experts at rank fifteen, sixteen, or perhaps even higher, would be a match for this demonkin.

    But in the Misty Wood, a pure increase in origin power rank didn¡¯t equate to an extension in perception range unless they possessed special sensory talents. ording to current reports, Eden¡¯s visual range was over four hundred meters, a number which only gave rise to more despair.

    The meeting inevitably fell into an impasse. Could it be that the only way to deal with this demonkin count was to invite a divine champion to take action? This wasn¡¯t a good idea at all because if a human divine-champion were to oversee the Misty Wood, the Evernight side would dispatch dukes in response. The battle would then escte prematurely with neither side being well-prepared.

    While the Li family¡¯s base was in utter chaos, Qianye hadpletely yet another hunting session.

    Unlike Eden, the squads that encountered Qianye rarely had any survivors. He only attacked squads with a hundred or so people, harvesting nutrients both for himself and the purple substance.

    His current expedition hadsted half a month and Andruil¡¯s realm was now full to the brim. After doing some math, he reckoned that his current contributions were enough to exchange for a standard second-rate merit, which should be equal to killing a mighty count.

    It was definitely time to go back. He finished hisst cigarette in silence and tossed the butt onto the body of a werewolf at his feet. Then, he began walking in the direction of the base.

    Back on Evernight Continent, outside of ckflow City. A convoy was approaching from the distance. There were only five cargo trucks in this motorcade surrounded by over twenty escort vehicles. The guard officer at the city gates had long since noticed the Dark me insignia on the vehicles but still performed a strict inspection process nheless.

    It just so happened that the gate captain was familiar with one of the captains on the convoy. He couldn¡¯t help but point at the cargo trucks and ask, ¡°What¡¯s in there is so important that we need an entire regiment to escort it?¡±

    The captain waved his hand and said in a hushed tone, ¡°Quiet! It was sent over from Wolf City. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s in the car, either. The higherups won¡¯t allow anyone to discuss these goods. Reportedly, only Chief Duan knows what¡¯s in there apart from the werewolves.¡±

    The guard was rmed. ¡°Is Chief Duan in the convoy?¡±

    ¡°Of course! The chief himself is overseeing this. Do you understand now?¡±

    Duan Hao was a veteran whom Song Zining had brought over from the Ningyuan Group and could be considered the most direct of subordinates. He had also received a great deal of resources and grooming from Song Zining.

    Duan Hao had also gained much from the continuous fights during the Bloody Battle. The life and death situations back then allowed him to break through several sessive bottlenecks and be a champion. This almost made him the number one expert in Dark me below Song Zining and Qianye. Duan Hao¡¯s talents were fairly limited, and the farthest he could reach might be rank eleven or twelve. However, champions born from the battlefield usually possessedbat strength far greater than their ranks.

    The convoy this time was actually being escorted by Duan Hao personally. From this, one could see just how important it was.

    The gate captain didn¡¯t dare ask more. Hepleted the inspection in due haste and let the motorcade in. The convoy only remained in the city for half an hour before heading toward the airship port. Momentster, a high-speed airship took to the skies and left rapidly.

    An officer in the guard tower put down his binocrs and gazed pensively at the fading airship. Then he recorded something on a piece of paper which he then hid away carefully.

    It was soon night and the end of this officer¡¯s duty. He didn¡¯t return to the barracks after the change of guards and, instead, headed toward the bustling business district. Lone low-ranking officers like him weren¡¯t rare in Dark me. When they weren¡¯t on duty, most of them would go out to find some entertainment instead of staying in the dorms

    This officer hesitated for a while before heading into a small bar. There he sat down in a corner, ordered a bottle of wine, and began drinking slowly.

    Before long, a charmingdy came to sit across in front of him. She shot a nce at the brand of wine and said, ¡°Won¡¯t you buy a round for me? I like this wine.¡±

    The officer sighed as he held thedy¡¯s hand, which she pulled back with a frown. This unassuming action left a small sheet of paper in her hands. Momentster, the two parted unhappily after failing to negotiate a price.

    Thedy lingered in the bar for a while but soon left in boredom. She observed the surroundings carefully before heading to a small inn nearby. There she entered a small room on the second floor and passed the paper to a man in his thirties.

    The man possessed clean facial features and an elegant temperament which seemed rather out of ce in the morous, crude but lively Evernight Continent.

    He opened the paper under themplight and read every word in great detail.

    Not daring to disturb him, thedy just sat nearby without anything to do. The sound of rumbling machinery outside the window was constant, and the air was suffused with the smell of rust and steam. There was no way to keep that disgusting smell out even with the window tightly closed. The woman¡¯s brows knitted tightly as she wrinkled her nose with an unhappy expression.

    The man nced over after reading the paper. ¡°There¡¯s no helping it. Now that we¡¯re here, all we can do is endure the inconveniences.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t we switch to another ce? This ce is too close to the kic tower,¡± the womanined.

    ckflow City¡¯s kic tower utilized ck stone as fuel, a model that had been discontinued on the maind since over a hundred years ago. A report about its loud noise, constant steam leakage, and low energy conversion efficiency could fill an entire document.

    But the good thing about it was that it wasn¡¯t a picky eater. Even the lowest quality of ck stones would make it move, and it was also very durable. For instance, this big machine less than a hundred meters away from the inn had exceeded its lifespan for god knows how many years. But it was still running, and from the looks of things, it should keep running for many more years toe¡ªthe only things required were frequent repairs and maintenance.

    This kic tower was responsible for powering the old city section. The one Song Zining had built with his own money was naturally safe within Dark me walls. Its kic output was used solely to power the base and city defenses.

    The area around the kic tower naturally became a slum. The lowest rung of ckflow¡¯smoner society and the inferior mercenaries didn¡¯t quite mind this environment. Only here would they be able to afford the food and rent. In truth, most of the cities in third or fourth-rate defensive regions were at the level of ckflow City¡¯s kic tower area. That was the true living standards of the abandonednd.

    The man burned the paper and pondered for a moment. ¡°This is the second batch this month. Hmm... Wolf City¡­¡±

 Volume 6 - 618: Robbery

    [V6C148 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The man fished out a map. The markings upon it were extremely detailed, much more so than the expeditionary army¡¯s version and only slightly inferior to those of Dark me¡¯s high-ranking officers.

    He nced toward ckflow City¡¯s northwest¡ªthere were several new mines in the newly annexed region, all of them ck stone, copper, and iron mines. These minerals weren¡¯t worth much, and just the transportation costs to the major human cities on Evernight Continent far exceeded their value.

    The man mumbled, ¡°Mine¡­ mine¡­ don¡¯t tell me they¡¯ve found some rare ore vein near Wolf City? This is big news!¡±

    The woman sighed after hearing this. ¡°Unfortunately, one can only enter and not leave the Wolf City. Only direct subordinate forces of Dark me are allowed free movement. I haven¡¯t yet managed to rope in people from those squads. Do you want to mobilize those moles?¡±

    The man smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. There¡¯s more than one way to find out just what they¡¯re shipping. You run back and tell those big shots to keep an eye on the airships leaving ckflow City, especially the high-speed ones. They¡¯ll know what to do.¡±

    Two dayster, at Dark me headquarters. Song Zining was listening calmly to Song Hu¡¯s report.

    ¡°Young Master, we¡¯ve gone through two sweeps, but the spies from other powers keep increasing. Even if we do another round of cleaning, I¡¯m afraid it won''t be easy to wipe out those mice.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Let them be, just guard the core area well. It¡¯s not like we can kick every suspicious person out of the city. We¡¯ll ignore them as long as they behave.¡±

    With Dark me¡¯s rapid expansion, it was inevitable that they would recruitrge numbers of lower-ranking mercenaries and adventurers. These fellows would usually be ruffians and scoundrels whenever they were back in the city, but one couldn¡¯t deny that they were fairly strong. With some training, they would be qualified soldiers who could be sent directly to the battlefield.

    After numerous battles, the current Dark me had recruited over ten thousand mercenaries and adventurers in total. The other powers had naturally nted several spies among them, amon move among the aristocracy. Normally, these people were only useful for collecting information and wouldn¡¯t take things too far.

    Song Zining¡¯s policy was to either scatter these people and assign them to unimportant guard and patrol positions or concentrate them in training. As for the critical city defenses and the newly constructed Wolf City, all of them were garrisoned by Dark me veterans.

    The new Wolf City constructed on Count Stuka¡¯s territory was even more tightly sealed. No mercenary or trade convoy was allowed to approach¡ªsimply crossing the cordon was considered a challenge.

    Song Hu reported a number of other everyday affairs, to which Song Zining only nodded. He was supposed to be fairly rxed at this moment, but his expression turned somewhat odd all of a sudden.

    Song Hu soon understood the reason¡ªa little girl appeared behind Song Zining, where she grabbed ahold of his hair and climbed nimbly onto his head. There, shey down like a cat that had found its litter.

    Song Hu tried his best not to chuckle. He pretended not to see Zhuji as he continued his reports.

    But Song Zining was no longer in the mood to listen¡ªhe grabbed Zhuji off of his head, pressed her onto hisp, and spanked her once with his folding fan. ¡°How many times have I told you not to climb onto my head!¡±

    Zhuji moved her limbs about and turned to Song Zining with a wronged expression. ¡°Mama.¡±

    Song Hu sprayed out the mouthful of tea he had just sipped.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned dark as he covered Zhuji¡¯s little mouth with his hand. However, he pulled back almost immediately with a loud cry of pain¡ªthere was now a neat row of distinct tooth-marks on his hand.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was, for theck of a better word, marvelous. He had already circted origin power to protect his hand, but it was still bitten through. This wasn¡¯t the first time this had happened, either. Moreover, Zhuji was always precise with her bite. No matter how much origin power Song Zining used for defense, she would always go through it in one bite and leave tooth-marks on his hand. However, she would never actually puncture his skin and make him bleed.

    At this point, it was clear that serious discussions could no longer continue. Song Zining cut the conversation short and asked, ¡°When will the next batch leave?¡±

    ¡°It should be three dayster.¡±

    ¡°Three days... I can¡¯t wait that long. The military has dispatched a formal transfer order, and I must head to the void continent battlefield tomorrow. You¡¯ll be in charge of the goods from now on. Remember, be very careful.¡±

    After giving him several reminders, Song Zining allowed Song Hu to withdraw. Then, he picked up Zhuji, put her on the table, and spanked her several times with his fan. ¡°That attitude of yours never changes!¡±

    After the round of beating, a helpless Song Zining found Zhuji enjoying the activity with her eyes closed. He hadn¡¯t held back at all with the disciplinary action just now, and the force was more than enough to break an adult man¡¯s leg. Yet this strength was little more than a massage to Zhuji.

    Song Zining wiped the sweat off his brows and tapped Zhuji on the head with his fan. ¡°I must say, you¡¯re nothing like a baby arachne! My strikes just now were enough to break even a grown arachne¡¯s limbs.¡±

    Zhu Ji looked back at Song Zining with wide, vacant eyes. She simply had no idea what an arachne was.

    Song Zining could onlyugh wryly. Zhuji had shed her shell once upon birth, and just a while ago, she had undergone yet another metamorphosis, raising her physical attributes to the next level. The former was already at a loss about how he should evaluate her.

    However, Zhuji¡¯s intelligence growth wasn¡¯t obvious. She was still like a three-year-old human child and had awakened neither race¡¯s traits or inheritances.

    Song Zining boarded a high-speed personal airship at dawn the second day. His only luggage apart from his weapons was Zhuji.

    At present, no one below the champion rank could handle the little girl. Only a handful of people like Nanhua could suppress her back in Dark me. Zhuji¡¯s growth had far surpassedmon sense¡ªsuch speed of awakening was unheard of, even among dark race members in their maturation phase. The most worrying part was that her intelligence wasn¡¯t maturing ording to her strength.

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t foretell what kind of racial inheritance and memory she would obtain after her final awakening. Naturally, he didn¡¯t dare leave her in ckflow City. The seventh young noble had secretly cursed Qianye countless times for washing his hands off of this matter.

    Another two dayster, yet another airship left ckflow City and flew toward the interior of the Evernight Continent.

    In the bridge, a wizened-looking captain was nervously observing the surrounding airspace. The young assistant beside him said with a smile, ¡°We¡¯ve run this route for too many times, and nothing¡¯s ever happened before.¡±

    ¡°What do you know? When has Evernight ever been peaceful?¡± the old captain scolded.

    The assistant wasn¡¯t quite convinced. ¡°It¡¯s already a miracle if those bandits can get their hands on an airship. How will they dare approach our warship with their rundown vessels? Not to mention them, even three or four of the expeditionary army¡¯s hundred-year-old models aren¡¯t our match.

    The old captain remained unmoved and kept on observing the airspace.

    The assistant nced over at the fully equipped Dark me officer and asked in a whisper, ¡°Uncle Liu, what exactly do you think we¡¯re shipping? Why are there so many escorts?¡±

    The old captain red at him. ¡°Have you forgotten Seventh Young Master¡¯s rules? Stop asking about things you shouldn¡¯t know.¡±

    The assistant left mumbling in embarrassment.

    It was at this time that an officer sudden shouted, ¡°This is bad! We¡¯re being followed!¡±

    The old captain¡¯s expression turned serious as he rushed over to the cabin windows to observe. Several airships were rushing out from the clouds nearby and approaching rapidly. It was clear that these vessels were hostile.

    Merely judging from their speed, the people in the bridge knew they couldn¡¯t escape. The enemy airship at the van was long and slender with two ps on each side akin to swaying fins. Surprisingly, this vessel was one of the empire¡¯s cutting-edge destroyers.

    The captain¡¯s expression was stern as he shouted, ¡°Battle stations!¡±

    ¡°B-But...¡± The assistant¡¯s expression immediately turned ashen. He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the airship gradually turned about under the captain¡¯s control and took aim at the attacking fleet.

    Momentster, the entire sky was filled with dense, rolling smoke as the airship bearing Dark me¡¯s insignia fell burning to the ground. Its wreckage was scattered everywhere.

    The highspeed destroyer descended slowly and from it walked out a man in his thirties.

    Looking over at the two ck cavities on his airship, he sighed. ¡°They actually caused such damage with that broken ship of theirs. I really wish to meet this enemy.¡±

    But he shook his head after ncing at the wreckage before his eyes. No one from the Dark me side had emerged during the exchange, which meant that there were no champions on board. With the vessel in such shape, there was no way the people inside could¡¯ve survived.

    The man pointed forward and said, ¡°Search the ship carefully, don¡¯t let anything suspicious slip by!¡±

    A hundred soldiers poured out of the airship and spread out into the battlefield to inspect the wreckage. These soldiers possessed powerful auras and their movements were well-coordinated, but there was no military insignia on their armor. Clearly, they were trying to hide their identity from other people.

    After a while, a certain officer arrived before that man. ¡°General, we found this.¡±

    Sixrge crates were being carried over from behind the officer. These crates didn¡¯t look very big, but they were, in fact, extremely heavy. Six high-ranking warriors were required to move a single box.

    The crates themselves were made of high-quality alloy which allowed them to survive the airship crash. It was just that their surfaces were now uneven and somewhat deformed.

    The man walked over with his dagger drawn, circted his origin power, and hacked off one of the locks. He then opened one of the crates to check the contents but closed the lid with a gasp immediately afterward.

    ¡°General, what¡¯s inside?¡± An officer nearby was curious.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to know. Enough, our mission has been aplished. Load all the crates onto the airship and clean up the battlefield. We¡¯re leaving.¡±

    That night, a number of people were sitting around a table inside a secret chamber. All of them were staring at a piece of ore with burning eyes.

    A long whileter, a young man exhaled deeply and said, ¡°Such high-quality crystal iron ore is indeed rare. Crystal iron only forms under high temperature and pressure in environments abundant in origin power. Normally speaking, the higher the quality, the greater the reserves in the ore vein. This mine is extraordinary, to say the least!¡±

 Volume 6 - 619: Wealth Moves Hearts

    [V6C149 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    A middle-aged man nearby was studying every detail of the ore with a magnifying ss. ¡°Not just that, the formation of crystal iron ore might be apanied by other rare minerals. Look at these yellow spots. If I¡¯m not wrong, this is terran gold.¡±

    All eyes burned up upon hearing this name.

    Terran gold was an ore which appeared alongside other ores without a set pattern¡ªthere was no way to figure out which ore vein would produce it. Its addition to an alloy would significantly raise the quality of the end product, and it was also amon material used in origin armaments at grade six. At grade seven and above, it bes a necessity. However, the production of terran gold was sparse with all known mines being divided up by the giants of each faction.

    If this ore vein contained terran gold, just a finger-sized piece was enough to build a basic grade-eight weapon.

    ¡°I was wondering why the Ningyuan group epted so many orders for top-grade weaponry. It turns out that they¡¯ve obtained a vein of crystal iron ore. We wouldn''t have discovered this secret if we weren¡¯t asked to keep an eye on ckflow City.¡±

    ¡°This ore vein is likely within the ckflow warzone, very likely around the locked-down Wolf City.¡±

    ¡°Shall we take action, right away?¡±

    The old man sitting at the center had said nothing since the beginning. At this point, he said slowly, ¡°We can¡¯t attack just like that. Song Zining has already secured a seat in Prince Greensun¡¯s advisory group, but that¡¯s likely because of his proficiency in currying favor. I heard Zhao Jundu had caused trouble for him before, and it was Zhang Munian who had stepped in to smooth things out. One has to know that thetter is Prince Greensun¡¯s nephew! We¡¯ll have nothing to argue with if we attack rashly and somehow offended his excellency. This n is impossible.¡±

    The youngest person in the room was anxious. ¡°It¡¯s such arge vein of crystal iron ore! Don¡¯t tell me we can only look on helplessly as it falls into the brat¡¯s hands? Even if¡­ even if¡­¡± Ultimately, he didn¡¯t dare say it out loud, no matter how brave he was.

    It was at this time that the middle-aged man put down the magnifying ss. He then said with a smile, ¡°Elder Shi is only saying we can¡¯t step in personally. In other words, we can¡¯t let other people know it¡¯s us; there must be no evidence leading back to ourselves. But that isn¡¯t too hard, either. This ursed Evernight Continent maybecking in everything else but definitely not in bandits and mercenaries.¡±

    The young man was startled. ¡°How are we going to use those useless mercenaries?¡±

    The middle-aged man smiled. ¡°They¡¯re indeed useless, but our men aren¡¯t. Moreover, we can recruit more of those who aren¡¯t trash.¡±

    The young man came to a sudden realization.

    At this time, the old man said, ¡°We can leak some of this information to the expeditionary army headquarters. Those old bastards are all carrion vultures. They have no reason to let such a big piece of meat go.¡±

    ¡°But won¡¯t we have to share the crystal iron mine then?¡±

    The old manughed calmly. ¡°This piece of meat is too big for us to swallow on our own. We¡¯ll still have to split some of it either way. In truth, it¡¯s fine to share ownership of the mine on the condition that the products can only be sold to us.¡±

    The middle-aged man praised, ¡°Wonderful n! Those expeditionary army people are veterans at robbery.¡±

    A certain person in the group seemed hesitant. ¡°Those expeditionary army big shots are wily old foxes. I fear they won¡¯t dare touch someone rted to Prince Greensun.¡±

    The old man said with augh, ¡°Wealth moves the heart. Evernight Continent is a ce outside of thew, and they¡¯ve been local emperors for so long. Why wouldn¡¯t they dare? Moreover, even if they want to sit by and do nothing¡­ what if there¡¯s evidence already pointing toward them? Do you think they¡¯lle down for a slice of the pie or wash themselves of it?¡±

    Everyone was enlightened. Their gaze toward the old man was full of admiration and enthusiasm.

    ¡­

    Qianye turned many gazes upon returning to base.

    The base had grown livelier once more with an endless stream ofbat squads moving through the entrance. The base in the distance was still in the process of expanding, almost as if there would never be enough space and facility for everyone. The arrival of forces from the major aristocratic families caused the in-camp poption to almost double. This increased basic demands by several times.

    The noisy crowd actually quieted down after seeing Qianye approach. This momentary change was fairly noticeable. Some didn¡¯t recognize Qianye, but they could still feel the sharp killing intent rushing at their faces.

    Qianye calmly epted their gazes as he walked into the base inrge strides. Even more gazes fell upon Qianye¡¯s back¡ªthe box there was as tall as its owner, but the burden seemed not to affect him in the least. Hence, people couldn¡¯t quite guess what was within it.

    Only when Qianye had passed by did everyone feel their bodies lighten, almost as though an invisible boulder had been lifted. Many true experts were overwhelmed. ¡°What a powerful killing intent! Just how many people has he killed?¡±

    The ambiance around the gates was soon restored, and the brief pause from just now was soon drowned out by the flow of people. Many people subconsciously chose to avoid topics rted to Qianye.

    The flow of people in the base was too great. Qianye couldn¡¯t quite adapt to the situation on the main roads because he would subconsciously analyze the people¡¯s openings and vitals as soon as they approached him. This had be a reflexive habit for the past half a month.

    He could no longer recall how many times he had killed his way into the dark race armies. There were enemies in every direction with countless des, daggers, and origin bulletsing for him every second. Later on,bat and counterattack gradually became a part of his instincts. Every casual attack from him was as simple as it was lethal, cutting down even the most powerful of enemies in one strike.

    However, this habit was now proving a bit troublesome. At this moment, there were a dozen or so aristocratic families stationed in the base, and there was no shortage of experts among them. Although Qianye was focusing his full attention toward the front, he would naturally react once he had found an opening on someone else. The more powerful the target¡¯s cultivation, the more evident his reaction.

    Those veteran champions came close to activating their fullbat powers out of reflex, feeling as though a prehistoric beast had locked onto them. Qianye discovered that something wasn¡¯t quite right after walking a hundred meters¡ªhe began hiding his power and did his utmost to ignore the iing crowd. Only in this manner did he manage to avoid causing a disturbance.

    Qianye soon arrived at the exchange area where he headed toward an empty counter.

    The logistics officer there looked up and cried out involuntarily, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

    That plump face caused Qianye to frown slightly. What an unpleasant coincidence! This person was the officer whom Qianye had knocked overst time. His expression was fairly wretched, and it would seem that his displeasure didn¡¯t just appear after seeing Qianye. He was probably in a bad mood to begin with.

    Qianye got straight to the point. ¡°I wish to exchange contribution points, and these are the supplies I need. I¡¯ll be leaving right away.¡±

    ¡°Right away?¡± The logistics officer¡¯s countenance transformed into a less unsightly version as he picked up the list and inquired. Normally, even squads of experts would need to recuperate for some time.

    The environments of the ursed Misty Wood made people feel stifled even without doing battle.

    ¡°Yes, immediately,¡± Qianye replied.

    The officer shrugged. ¡°It seems you¡¯re trying quite hard for the rankings. Let me offer you a warning: the waters here are deep. You¡¯d better not get involved without sufficient background.¡±

    ¡°Understood, thank you.¡±

    The officer shot up from his seat after ncing at the list. ¡°So many?!¡±

    His loud voice attracted a lot of gazes. There were a dozen or so half-open reception counters in the area, and most of them were currently upied.

    Qianye nodded in confirmation. ¡°Yes, I need these. That¡¯s not considered a lot.¡±

    ¡°T-This isn¡¯t a lot? Are you nning to behead a count on your own?¡± The officerughed wryly.

    The numbers on the military supply list Qianye had passed him were simply too big. For instance, he needed a hundred Mithril Bullets of Exorcism from every type and five hundred standard mithril containing handgun bullets.

    As for Thunderbolt rounds, he needed thirty of them, five of which had to be Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang. The demand for an entire aristocratic family squad wasn¡¯t that much higher than him. The main issue was that Qianye was alone.

    The logistics officer couldn¡¯t help but ask again, ¡°Umm¡­ Sire Qianye, are you sure you need that much ammunition?¡±

    The officer was fairly tactful in his words. High-grade origin guns imposed a significant drain on the user¡¯s origin power. Even champions at rank thirteen might not use that many bullets in a dozen battles. As the officer saw it, Qianye could use this stock for half a year.

    Qianye didn¡¯t offer any exnation and merely replied with a smile, ¡°Yes, I want that much.¡±

    The logistics officer wiped the sweat off his forehead. ¡°These numbers are beyond my authority. I¡¯ll need to report this matter to a superior officer and gain his approval. Please wait a while.¡±

    Qianye nodded and proceeded to sit down quietly.

    Momentster, the logistics officer returned with a thin colonel. Thetter asked after sizing Qianye up from head to toe, ¡°You¡¯re Qianye?¡±

    Qianye replied with a frown as the man¡¯s tone was apparently quite rude, ¡°I am, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    The colonel¡¯s smile was somber. ¡°General Qianye¡¯s ammunition request is rather significant. However, our Li family¡¯s armory is well-stocked and it¡¯s not as if we can¡¯t provide this amount. But how are you going to pay for this batch of ammunition? Gold coins, weapons, or contribution points?¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought before replying, ¡°Contributions.¡±

    The value of this batch of ammunition was nothing to scoff at. Qianye didn¡¯t have that many gold coins on him. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t received a satisfactory exnation regarding the two Umbral Edgesst time. It was only natural that he wouldn¡¯t put more high-end weapons into the Li family¡¯s hands.

    In any case, there were so many aristocratic families in the base and none of them werecking in wealth. He could just find a couple of random families to sell all his equipment.

    The colonel was disappointed after hearing this response because, without gold coins passing through his hands, he would no longer have the opportunity to shave off some benefits.

    The colonel gestured for the logistics officer to bring the registration book. He then flipped through the pages and said, ¡°General Qianye, the contribution points under your name isn¡¯t enough to pay for the ammunition.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Contributions? Oh, I have some here.¡± With that, he lifted the box beside him and banged it onto the table. The counter made of hardwood actually cracked open from the impact. From this, one could see how heavy the box was!

 Volume 6 - 620: Contribution Conflic

    t [V6C150 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°T-This¡­¡± The logistics office walked up and opened the box. In the end, the contents poured out with a crash and almost buried him.

    ¡°So many! Howe there¡¯s so many!!!¡± the logistics officer eximed as he struggled free.

    He had just seen what it was that had crashed onto his body. They were vampiric fangs, werewolf skins with totemic tattoos, demonkin heads, arachne nuclei, etc. All of them were things that could serve as proof of contribution. Of course, a good part of them were military insignias representing the dark racebat squads.

    Just like imperial soldiers, high-ranking dark race warriors possessed tokens of identity. These insignias were highly durable and wouldn¡¯t bepletely destroyed in most cases, hence their value as proof of contribution. Especially inrge-scale wars, it wasn¡¯t a great idea to go around carving heads and body parts after eliminating every squad.

    What shocked everyone was the sheer number of these insignias. There were so many of them that the logistics officer¡¯s calves were buried in them¡ªthere should be thousands of them at the very least.

    Even for an all-out war, this was an outstanding number. One had to know that only regr army soldiers possessed insignias. These troops were the core of the organized armies and would always be apanied by numerous rookies and cannon fodder. On the Evernight side, a standard ten-thousand-strong army consisted of little over a thousand regr soldiers.

    Even if the troops passing through the Misty Wood were all elites, they would still be apanied by cannon-fodder and ordinary soldiers. They might not number in the tens of thousands, but such a squad was more than enough to beat most aristocraticbat squads. Moreover, one could see a fair number of high-grade insignias in this small mountain, not to mention spoils representing dark race nobility like their vampiric fangs.

    The colonel was shocked out of his wits after witnessing this scene. He calmed himself down with great difficulty and shot a nce at Qianye. His expression seemed ratherplicated, but the evil in his eyes grew even more intense.

    The colonel kicked the logistics officer and shouted, ¡°Stop staring, get all free personnel here and start counting!¡±

    The logistics officer snapped out of his reverie and bolted away. He returned with a dozen or so men after a brief moment. These people were quite familiar with the registration process, yet it still took over an hour of concentrated effort. Finally, the proofs of contribution were all counted and filled into the register.

    Qianye would check on them from time to time and was quite satisfied to find no big discrepancy in the appraisal. These were all skilled staff¡ªdespite the asional fluctuation in grade, there weren¡¯t any obvious errors like a viscount fang being appraised as a baron¡¯s.

    The colonel watched on with his hands folded and his back leaning on the wall, his eyes flickering with malice. His expression changed evidently as he picked up the register and gave it a nce. The final numbers had far exceeded his expectations. This meant that Qianye¡¯s targets were all high-ranked experts and not cannon fodder.

    The colonel suddenly fished out a pen and drew a line across the column containing the insignias Qianye had collected. Owing to the sheer number of emblems Qianye had submitted, this column represented almost half of his total contribution points.

    ¡°These contributions are temporarily on hold.¡± The colonel ordered as he passed the book back. The logistics officer¡¯s expression froze up, but he actually said nothing on the spot.

    ¡°Hold it!¡± Qianye reached out and held the booklet. ¡°Why are these contributions not counted?¡±

    ¡°Why? Do you need to ask why?¡± The colonel sneered. He sized Qianye up from head to toe with an unfriendly expression.

    A cold intent emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Of course I must ask.¡±

    The colonel said in a rxed tone, ¡°Your insignias add up to a thousand-strong squad at least. Don¡¯t tell me you won them all on your own? Perhaps you picked them up from somewhere? Maybe these insignias aren¡¯t authentic at all. We must investigate this matter thoroughly before issuing your contributions.¡±

    At this point, the colonelughed coldly. ¡°The empire¡¯s contributions are a serious matter. They are only rewarded to warriors who fight for the empire with their lives on the line, not something just anyone can falsify!¡±

    Qianye pointed slowly at the ground. ¡°This is the Misty Wood, you know. Do you dare say that one more time?¡±

    The colonel froze up. ¡°So what if it¡¯s the Misty Wood?¡±

    The identity insignias of the regr armies weren¡¯t easy to forge. Moreover, the main use of such objects is to count casualties on the front lines, so there wasn¡¯t a need to forge them, either. And the Misty Wood was no ordinary battleground because the purple substance would swallow everything clean after a while. Even high-grade weapons weren¡¯t an exception, to speak nothing of an alloy te. There was no possibility of picking anything up.

    There was no way the colonel had thought this through since he was only spouting a random excuse.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Do you also not count other people¡¯s insignias?¡±

    The question was intentional. In fact, there were two aristocratic families submitting insignias for registration. The process there was naturally quite smooth.

    The colonel was furious. ¡°I suspect your insignias are suspicious. Are you deaf? Did you not hear me?¡±

    Qianye replied slowly, ¡°That means, the Li family is nning to embezzle these insignias and contribution points?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words caused the entire exchange area to turn silent. He hadn¡¯t raised his voice, and his tone was also quite calm. However, his voice echoed clearly in everyone¡¯s ears.

    The colonel was shocked. The mes of rage surged up as he shouted, ¡°What are you doing? Are you trying to incite trouble?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained unchanged, and his tone was just as calm. ¡°You¡¯re not counting these insignias. Does this mean the Li family is looking to embezzle them?¡±

    This time, Qianye¡¯s voice was filled with origin power. The windows surrounding the exchange area shattered, and his voice traveled far across the base.

    Countless gazes were drawn toward this ce and people began crowding near the exchange area. These words were just too sensitive. Up to this point in the war, the expansion of dark race forces had far surpassed the empire¡¯s expectations, and they would soon enter a phase involving organized armies. There was a fundamental difference between a single viscount and a viscount leading a hundred elites. If insignias weren¡¯t being counted, what¡¯s the point in fighting?

    Moreover, arge number of insignias was more convincing as proof of contributionpared to submitting proof for a small number of experts. This proved that an elite squad of the Evernight army had been wiped out, and its value far exceeded the death of disorganized warriors with empty titles.

    The bigger the crowd, the angrier the colonel became. His finger trembled as he pointed at Qianye. ¡°Y-You, are you mad?! I¡¯m telling you, nothing good wille out of blowing things up. This daddy here will find someone to kill you!¡±

    Qianye looked on with cold eyes. He was about to speak again, and this time, his origin power was rippling outward with great momentum¡ªapparently, the entire base would hear him this time.

    The colonel¡¯s expression grew pale. He suddenly cried out, ¡°Robbery at the exchange area, seize him!¡±

    It would seem his authority was quite high normally. Despite the chaos, several soldiers nearby responded to his call and moved toward Qianye.

    The colonel himself took several steps back. He secretly drew his handgun and stared intently at Qianye with a sinister expression, waiting for thetter to attack. Qianye could be easily framed once he had killed or injured one of the guards¡ªeven killing him on the spot wasn¡¯t out of the question.

    In the off chance that Qianye didn¡¯t resist, the colonel had ns to bring him into an isted cell where he would be forced to confess to whatever thetter wished. The colonel was looking forward to Qianye¡¯s gunshot because that would give him ample reason to pull the trigger. There was a high-caliber ck-titanium bullet in his handgun. The target would surely be crippled, if not dead outright.

    Qianye remained still as the guards rushed over. His gaze was firmly on the colonel, looking at him as he would, a dead person.

    A sudden shout emerged from outside at this critical moment. ¡°Hold it!¡±

    This roar was infused with intense origin power and came surging in like thunder. Even the frames of the shattered windows weren¡¯t spared¡ªall of them rattled, cracked, and fell down. For a moment, even those with high cultivation felt their heads spinning. The Li family soldiers naturally couldn¡¯t endure the impact. They were sent into immediate disarray and almost copsed to the ground.

    Soon, a figure rushed in between Qianye and the guards.

    The guards had barely regained their footing when they saw, to their great shock, the person who had just arrived. ¡°Elder Steward!¡±

    The one who had arrived was Li Weishi. He had never offended anyone during normal times. Who would¡¯ve thought a single shout from him possessed so much power.

    The man hadn¡¯t given Qianye a satisfactory exnationst time, but he didn¡¯t seem to have any bad intentions, either. Qianye said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re pretty fast.¡±

    Li Weishiughed wryly, ¡°I ran over with all my might after hearing your voice. Things would¡¯ve gotten serious if I had gotten here just a bitter.¡±

    Qianye nced around and said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s not that small now, either.¡±

    Li Weishi¡¯s turned pale after checking his surroundings. There were several aristocratic familybat squads in the exchange area looking over thoughtfully and with interest. There were many people rushing over from outside, and even the entrance had be fully congested.

    Li Weishi¡¯s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. He bowed hurriedly toward the crowd and said, ¡°It was just a small misunderstanding just now. Please give our Li family some face and disperse here.¡±

    The audience broke into spirited chatter¡ªthey seemed to have no intention of meddling, but it would seem they weren¡¯t nning on leaving, either. Speaking frankly, many among the aristocracy were attendants and lineal scions of great status. These people had no need to give the Li family excessive respect.

    Li Weishi saw that the situation wasn¡¯t quite right. He observed the scene thoroughly and then pointed at the small mountain of insignias. ¡°They¡¯re all yours?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    Astonishment shed through Li Weishi¡¯s eye, but he soon calmed himself and shouted at the colonel, ¡°Li Ji, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    The colonel said with a cold smile, ¡°He collected so many insignias in such a short period. Of course, I have to investigate things thoroughly. Who knows where he picked them up from...¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when Li Weishi pped the man with a bang. This attack was so fast and powerful that it sent the colonel into a daze.

    The man held his face with a nk expression. ¡°Y-You, you dare hit me?!¡±

    Li Weishi shouted with a stern voice, ¡°You¡¯ve thrown away the Li family¡¯s prestige entirely! Scram immediately! Pack up your things and return immediately to the family. You won¡¯t get away so easily the next time I see you!¡±

    After the reprimand, Li Weishi¡¯s anger subsided, but his voice remained stern. ¡°Do you think the second elder will protect you still? Even he will have to face consequences if this matter blows up.¡±

    The colonel was livid. He red fiercely at Li Weishi and said through gritted teeth, ¡°You, just you wait. This matter won¡¯t end here. I¡¯ll definitely y with you once I get back!¡±

    Li Weishi sneered, ¡°Anytime.¡±

 Volume 6 - 621: Suppressed

    [V6C151 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The colonel hurriedly left because continuing this conversation would only result in his humiliation. He red at Qianye in rage and was surprised to find that Qianye was also examining him in due seriousness.

    ¡°What the hell are you looking at?¡± The colonelshed out.

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Nothing much, just memorizing that face of yours.¡±

    These words were spoken calmly, but everyone understood the meaning within. Killing one another was, of course, impossible in the Li family base. However, Li Ji¡¯s outlook didn¡¯t look too great if they were to meet again in the wilderness or on the battlefield.

    The colonel quickly turned pale, and he gripped his handgun even tighter as he hurried away. Judging from the direction, however, he seemed to be headed straight for the main camp, clearly to call upon the second elder.

    Li Weishi nced askance at the colonel¡¯s receding figure with obvious killing intent in his eyes. Afterward, he turned about and asked, ¡°Have General Qianye¡¯s contribution points been counted?¡±

    The dumbstruck logistics officer broke into a sweat. ¡°It¡¯s beenpleted. We only need General Qianye to confirm!¡±

    Qianye signed the booklet immediately since he had nothing to dispute after adding the insignias back into the sum.

    Only at this point did Li Weishi have the time to nce at the results. The numbers there startled him to no end¡ªit was almost as though his eyes had gone blurry.

    Qianye had actually collected an inferior first-rate merit during the most recent hunt. This contribution was equal to killing a mighty marquis of the Evernight faction. Qianye naturally had no way to kill a character of such a level, but it was exactly because he had umted kills to such an extent that Li Weishi was even more astonished.

    Li Weishi had naturally seen Qianye¡¯s information and remembered quite well that thetter had umted a second-rate merit during the bloody battle. That was already a terrifying number, yet this time, he had harvested a first-rate merit in less than a month!

    The man was clear as to what this meant¡ªit was nothing short of a one-sided ughter. It could be said that the iron curtain battle had exaggerated the aplishments of those geniuses who were unmatched among their peers. However, there was no such advantage in the Misty Wood.

    At the thought of this, Li Weishi¡¯s back was drenched in cold sweat. He felt relieved that he had acted quickly just now and handled things decisively. Otherwise, even the defensive forces of this base wouldn¡¯t be able to capture him if they had broken out in hostilities. Qianye would definitely be able to break out of the encirclement and the situation thereafter would be unsalvageable. Moreover, none of this was taking into ount hisplicated background.

    Li Weishi¡¯s attitude became even more polite after seeing direct proof of Qianye¡¯sbat strength. Under his supervision, the entire registration process waspleted smoothly. The crowd nearby also dispersed gradually since there was nothing more to see. There were, however, a few who stayed behind in an attempt to rope Qianye into theirbat squads.

    That box wasn¡¯t merely proof of Qianye¡¯s contributions. It was also a testimony of Qianye¡¯s ferocity in harvesting aplishments. Any group capable of recruiting him would likely be undefeatable on the rankings.

    Soon, someone came forth through the crowd and said, ¡°General Qianye, would you be interested in joining our Yuanyin Lu Family? Although our Lu family is only a lower rank aristocratic family, we¡¯re willing to support you with the entire strength of our family. Anything is negotiable as long as you can help us take first ce on the rankings! Moreover, our family has a pair of sisters only sixteen years of age and at the prime of their youth. We can offer them to you. Eh? General, don¡¯t go¡­ General!¡±

    Li Weishi acted promptly and dragged Qianye out of the crowd.

    Qianye noticed at this point that he had misjudged Li Weishi. This branch family member appeared fairly mediocre and his origin power seemed have reached the end of its potential, however, its purity was far above the standard.

    Even those at the same level would be easily pushed to the side with a light nudge. In terms of purity, the man was alreadyparable to people at Zhao Jundu¡¯s level.

    Li Weishi ran about with Qianye in tow and finally managed to escape the aristocratic families. The man panted a couple of times after reaching a quiet ce and said with a wry smile, ¡°Brother Qianye, our Li family has indeed wronged you this time. Please don¡¯t take it to heart. How about this? You go back and rest first, and I¡¯ll bring the things to you personally at night. Additionally, I¡¯d also like to drink with you as an apology.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s nothing major. I¡¯d bet the second elder ordered him to cause trouble for me.¡±

    Li Weishi sighed indignantly. ¡°Li Tianquan¡¯s branch is acting unscrupulously in their quest for power! Now that things have escted to this point, I won¡¯t let them go so easily. The matter today has harmed our Li family¡¯s clean reputation. If I can manipte things correctly, I might be able to kick Li Tianquan back to the family.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No rush, I have a bet with the second elder. If I can take the first ce on the rankings, both the Stillwater Rebirth and Cloud Pearl will be mine.¡±

    Li Weishi said with a nod, ¡°I heard about that too. Li Tianquan was so intent on driving you away that he has made this matter rather well-known. He hopes, by doing this, to prove how arrogant and ignorant you are. Heh, heh, Qianye, you don¡¯t need to take a bet made in anger so seriously!¡± At this point, he seemed to recall something all of a sudden. ¡°Y-You¡­ don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re seriously going for the top rank?¡±

    Qianye only smiled.

    Li Weishi was somewhat stunned, and his intended response trailed off into an awkwardugh. Although he had lost a fair bit of authority after Li Tianquan¡¯s arrival, something as major as the contribution rankings couldn¡¯t be hidden from him.

    The contributions Qianye had brought back were indeed significant, so much so that he was arge margin ahead of the others. There were some squads that still hadn¡¯t returned just yet, but most of the others were already back for supplies, including two of the Li n¡¯s units. The contributions these people had submitted were a far cry from Qianye¡¯s¡ªit was already quite good if they could squeeze out a second-rate merit.

    However, theseplete squads were at least several dozens strong. How could the contributions harvested by entire squads be less than Qianye alone?

    The deadline was forty days away, but Qianye could go back to do battle all the same. If his performance was just as crazy on his next return...

    Li Weishi trembled. He didn¡¯t dare continue the thought, but the possibility still emerged in his mind.

    Could it be that Qianye would really take the first ce on the boards?

    The notion was indeed outrageous. Even a slim chance was shocking because one had to know that Qianye was but a single person.

    Li Weishi maintained his smile as he apanied Qianye to his residence. After which, he left with many thoughts in his mind.

    At dusk, Li Weishi arrived as promised with a heavy box of ammunition in tow. He was also apanied by a number of other aristocratic family members.

    One could tell from his expression that he wasn¡¯t that willing to bring these people over, yet it seemed he couldn¡¯t refuse them outright, either. Those people hade to buy dark race weapons from Qianye. They had witnessed the ruckus at the exchange area during the daytime and naturally realized that Qianye had only turned in proof of contribution and no weapons.

    Seeing as how he could bring out so many insignias, it was quite likely that he would have some high-grade goods in hand, no matter how difficult they were to carry.

    After hearing of their intentions, Qianye brought out a number of daggers without hesitation. Among them were two Umbral Edges, three vampiric des, and a knife¡ªall of them were more or less equal in quality.

    The guests were fairly satisfied since the items were fairly high-grade despite the small number. Moreover, they were good items of vampire and demonkin make. It was reasonable that Qianye couldn¡¯t carry too many weapons back on his own. These people didn¡¯t linger around after the deal was struck and promptly excused themselves after reaching an agreement regarding future purchases.

    Qianye gained a small fortune after selling the weapons, with tens of thousands of gold coins in his wallet. Li Weishi had wanted to speak when Qianye promised to give these people priority in selling dark race weapons, but he chose to remain silent after recalling the two Umbral Edges.

    Qianye was quite satisfied with how appropriate Li Weishi was in his behavior, and the two exchanged some basic pleasantries before Qianye saw the man out.

    Qianye didn¡¯t remain in the base for very long. He didn¡¯t even stay the night before leaving the base and once again vanishing into the Misty Wood.

    It was deep into the night, but the lights in Li Tianquan¡¯s office were still glowing brightly. He was pacing about in his room amidst the fragments of torn paper and shattered chinaware. He had shattered several of his beloved porcin items in a fit of anger.

    However, this did little to reduce the fury in his heart. If anything, the heartache intensified his wrath even more.

    That colonel called Li Ji was from his wife¡¯s branch of the n and the two lineages were closely rted. This person was usually quite handy, but he had failed so bad this time and actually stirred up such a big fuss.

    The Li family¡¯s contribution rankings were under great scrutiny this time as it involved the Storm Pearl and Stillwater Rebirth. Who would dare y tricks under such a situation? His promise with Qianye was already pushing it.

    Yet, this Li Ji had actually attempted to cross off Qianye¡¯s contributions. The man had likely acted after observing Li Tianquan¡¯s intentions, and it could be considered his merit if done in a clever manner. However, things would be practically unsalvageable if they were blown out of proportions.

    Speaking frankly, it was also because of Qianye¡¯s shocking aplishments. If the Li family dared bully such an expert today, there was no telling which aristocratic family they would take advantage of tomorrow. Although it was a fact that the Li family didn¡¯t think much of the other nobility, this wasn¡¯t something one could just put out in the open.

    These aristocratic families sharedplicated rtionships due to their marital and lineal rtionships. It wasn¡¯t difficult at all for them to spread the word about this matter. At that time, public mor would override the truth, and there was no telling how much of these rumors would reach the n lord¡¯s ears.

    At the thought of this, Li Tianquan secretly rejoiced about Li Weishi¡¯s appropriate handling of the matter. Otherwise, if the two sides were to break into a fight, their Li family¡¯s reputation would hit rock bottom even if they could sessfully capture Qianye. At that point, his status as second elder would¡¯ve reached the end.

    Li Tianquan was both relieved and furious. He snorted loudly and eximed, ¡°This little animal again!¡±

    He became increasingly furious as he thought about it. ¡°How dare this Qianye be so bold as to cause such a mor? Does he think Li Tianquan is so easily taken advantage of?¡±

    ¡°Men.¡±

    Li Tianquan had regained his calm and was back behind the desk when the timid clerk walked in. ¡°Clean up this ce and bring those people over.¡±

    The young clerk¡¯s face went slightly pale. She was apparently quite apprehensive as she reconfirmed the order. ¡°D-Do you mean those people?¡±

 Volume 6 - 622: Invitation

    [V6C152 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Li Tianquan responded impatiently, ¡°Of course! Be quick about it!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The clerk was clearly trembling as she left. It would seem she wasn¡¯t quite willing toe into contact with these people.

    Qianye didn¡¯t go very far after leaving the base. He promptly went to a blind spot where no one could observe him and ced the box of ammunition into Andruil¡¯s realm while producing two crates from within. He then coated the containers with ayer of tree sap and hid them in one of the tree-trunks.

    The giant tree¡¯s sap would fool the forest into thinking that the box was a part of the tree, effectively preventing it from devouring thetter. This was something Qianye discovered identally. It was just that this kind of preservation wouldn¡¯tst very long since the sap was only effective for a couple of days.

    After setting things up, Qianye checked the time and hurried back to the Li family. This time, he stopped at the borders of the Misty Wood where he could make out a dozen or so people under the hazy sky, seemingly waiting for something.

    Qianye observed briefly before walking out of the Misty Wood and toward these people.

    The leader of this group was a chubby middle-aged man, whose eyes lit up upon seeing Qianye. He quickly stepped forward and said fervently, ¡°General Qianye is indeed trustworthy and prompt. Haha, I can¡¯t say it feels good to wait in this damned ce.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t exchange pleasantries with the man and only said, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    He brought the group in a circle through the Misty Wood for half an hour before finally arriving beneath the tree where he had prepared the crates. Qianye leapt onto the treetop, retrieved the crates, and ced them in front of the chubby man.

    The man¡¯s anxious eyes lit up as he opened the container. Unable to contain his joy, the chubby man rubbed his hand and said repeatedly, ¡°Good, good! All great stuff!¡±

    Although the highest rank Qianye had killed this time was only a first-rank viscount, all of them were Evernight faction elites with nock of famed n scions among them. He couldn¡¯t collect all of their equipment, so the ones he did bring back were the cream of the crop.

    The chubby middle-aged man picked up a vampiric de and appraised it carefully. ¡°This craftsmanship and material, I haven¡¯t seen such goods in a long time. Look at these patterns, everyone, it¡¯s not something you¡¯ll find just anywhere. This vampiric de should be from the Lakins family, and quite likely from its main branch, too. Just these decorative motifs alone will raise its price by thirty percent!¡±

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, a vampiric edge was only differentiated by material and quality¡ªthose decorations looked all the same to him. Qianye also came to admire the man quite a bit. ¡°Mister Lu has good taste.¡±

    The chubby middle-aged manughed. ¡°Our Yuanyin Lu Family has been doing this business for centuries. It¡¯s merely an inherited ability to make a living, nothingpared to the big things you do, Brother Qianye! Have you considered my offer from yesterday? Our Lu family is in need of a core pir of support like you. As long as you¡¯re willing toe to us, not only will we betroth the n lord¡¯s daughter to you, but we¡¯ll also throw in the two sisters I mentioned yesterday as concubines.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat astonished. ¡°Aren¡¯t those sisters one of your elder¡¯s granddaughters?¡±

    ¡°So what if they are? This is a serious matter rted to the next hundred years of the n¡¯s growth, not to mention that a concubine marriage can¡¯t even be considered a sacrifice. If there are any other girls you like in our family, they¡¯ll be included as concubines, too.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. All the aristocratic families he had met were of the same view¡ªthey were willing to sacrifice anything or anyone for their ns. Of course, the ones to be ceded were usually the less important members and branch families. The true top-seats were always waiting to enjoy the fruits of these sacrifices. This time, the Lu family was even willing to let go of their elder¡¯s granddaughters¡ªthis was truly a big investment.

    ¡°The Lu family is very kind, but is all of this worth it just for first ce on the rankings?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t too sure about the actual effects of the Storm Pearl, but even if it was worth more than Stillwater Rebirth, there had to be some limit to it. Otherwise, how could it have been put up for grabs? The ownership of such treasures was usually decided behind the curtains following brief shes between powerhouses. There was hardly any news of them under normal circumstances.

    The Lu family, regardless of its strength, was also a part of the aristocratic lineup. It also possessed hundreds of years of umtion despite only being a lower-ranked family. Qianye felt that it was a bit too excessive for them to promise a wife and apanying concubines just to recruit amoner of unknown origins.

    The middle-aged man replied with augh, ¡°The rankings mean nothing to us. We¡¯re only here to join in on the fun and see if there¡¯s any profit we can gain from it. The main point for us is to do business. Stillwater Rebirth is fine, but the Storm Pearl is simply too much for us, we have no intention of taking it. There¡¯s no way to keep such a thing safe even if we can snatch it. It¡¯s a different story for General Qianye, though!¡±

    The chubby man¡¯s eyes shone brightly as he sized Qianye up from head to toe, almost as though he were appraising a rare object. A chill ran down Qianye¡¯s spine¡ªhe had a feeling the other party would¡¯ve pounced over if he weren¡¯t apprehensive of Qianye¡¯s strength.

    Despite that, the chubby man continued examining Qianye thoroughly as though he were appreciating a treasure under a magnifying ss. ¡°General Qianye, marriage is but the root of self-preservation. If you¡¯re willing to work sincerely for our family, you¡¯ll not only receive the same treatment as our lineal descendants, but you¡¯ll also be able to enter the elder assembly depending on your aplishments. Your next generation will inherit your rights, and after three generations, their status will be no different from the Lu family scions. They can even strive for the n lord¡¯s position.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t rare for the aristocracy to recruit experts by letting them join the family, but sons-inw would, at most, be allowed to establish a branch family. It was impossible for them to join the contest for the n lord position. The Vastnorth Zhang n was of the same roots as the Greensun Zhang n. This was the reason why they had separated themselves from the main family back in the year. The Lu family¡¯s willingness to make such a promise to Qianye was a great disy of their sincerity.

    But Qianye shook his head in the end. ¡°The matter is too far ahead, let¡¯s discuss thister.¡±

    The middle-aged man wasn¡¯t annoyed at the polite refusal, and neither did he give up. ¡°Indeed there¡¯s no rush, please take your time to think about it for a while. Do visit our Lu family if the opportunity arises and meet our n lord¡¯s daughter, as well as the other sisters. Perhaps you might change your mind at that point.¡±

    The man¡¯s subordinates didn¡¯t stand idly by while the two were chatting away. Led by three elderly stewards, they took out the items one by one and appraised them. These people seemed extremely familiar with the work and were very likely the backbone of the family business. After the prices had been approved by Qianye, they registered the weapons and packed them up once more.

    The equipment were in a huge mess since he had never tidied them up after getting his hands on them. The stewards felt great pain at the sight of this. They cleaned and maintained each piece with care before packing them into specialized boxes.

    Qianye looked over them briefly, but he no longer paid them much attention after finding that the prices offered were quite fair.

    The middle-aged man spoke quite a bit in an attempt to persuade Qianye, but he changed the topic promptly after seeing that thetter had no intention to yield. ¡°Sire Qianye, if you¡¯re satisfied with our cooperation this time, I wonder if you¡¯d consider selling future goods to us too? I guarantee the price will be fair and there shall be no slip-ups¡­ unlike the Li family.¡±

    This chubby man was quite shameless¡ªQianye quickly went from brother to sire now that he had something to request.

    Qianye gave it some thought and nodded. He felt that it would be convenient for him to have a fixed channel through which to dump his spoils of war.

    Momentster, the equipment had all been checked and Qianye emerged tens of thousands of gold coins richer than before. Naturally, the Lu family man paid him in high-purity ck crystals. Otherwise, just the bulk of these gold coins would be quite significant.

    After the conclusion of the deal, Qianye pointed them back in the direction of the base while he himself left for the woods. After the Qianye¡¯s silhouette vanished, the chubby man broke out in cold sweat and could hardly stand still.

    One of his followers came to support him and asked in a whisper, ¡°Master, are we just going to let him go?¡±

    Arge part of the Lu family¡¯s underground business involved the trade of dark race weapons, withpanies on every major content. Devouring other underground businesses wasn¡¯t a rare urrence for them. This subordinate used to be a bandit before he was subdued by the Lu family and could be considered a fierce character who had taken many lives. The man was quite covetous since tens of thousands of gold coins was a couple of month¡¯s work for an entire trade caravan.

    However, his question only brought him a p. The fatty shouted, ¡°Did you get kicked in the head by a mule? Didn¡¯t you ever stop to think if you, Liu Laosan, can afford to offend someone who can bring out that many weapons? Not to mention we¡¯re in the Misty Wood, he only needs one hand to deal with ten of you even if we were outside of the forest.¡±

    Liu Laosan was startled upon hearing this. He asked while covering his pped cheek with one hand, ¡°Master, do you mean he robbed all these weapons by himself? How is that even possible? Is he even human?¡±

    The chubby man from the Lu family sneered, ¡°Didn¡¯t you see? Even the Li family can¡¯t deal with him. Otherwise, how can it be our turn to get this deal?¡± The Lu family had bought these equipment at a price twenty percent higher than the Li family¡¯s. However, some of the special equipment could¡¯ve been converted to contribution points with thetter, so it was hard to say who had profited off of this deal.

    The followers remained quiet in fear. There were some who had the same thoughts as Liu Laosan, but the notion had been dispelled entirely at this point.

    The middle-aged man shouted, ¡°Stop thinking about other stuff, let¡¯s move out. Be wary on the road or it¡¯ll be your own fault if you get ughtered by those ck-blooded bastards!¡±

    The subordinates began packing up to leave. Everyone was excited and their steps were brisk after thinking about their bonuses for this bountiful harvest.

    The Lu family squad gradually walked away, but no one actually noticed Qianye standing on a treetop a couple hundred meters away. He heard the interesting conversation and couldn¡¯t help but smile¡ªthis Lu fatty was a smart person, and it might be possible to work more with him in the future.

    Qianye leapt up and glided through the woods like a bird, and when he graduallynded, it was on the branch of another giant tree. There, he tapped his feet lightly and flew yet again into the distance.

    The Bai n¡¯s old castle had been reconstructedpletely into a dark race fortress. Within the majestic main building, Elder Preston of the Dark Abyss was reading a thick stack of battle reports with a stern expression.

    His subordinate forces had suffered great casualties¡ªover a thousand regr soldiers had fallen and even a number of his n members.

    One had to know that the Dark Abyss was a famed demonkin n, and the core descendants they had brought outside to train were barons at least. It wasn¡¯t difficult for a baron from a famed n to kill ordinary third-rank viscounts. Moreover, their demonkin secret arts should¡¯ve allowed them to escape with their lives in the face of an unbeatable enemy.

    But now, there were three sets of casualty reports. This meant that three n members had forever returned to the deepest dark. The demonkin couldn¡¯t procreate very easily, however, every n member with superior bloodline possessed great potential.

    There weren¡¯t many instances of such casualties in the most recent decade, even in all-out battles against the empire.

    He tossed the death reports to one side and picked up another list. This was a document on Eden¡¯s contributions. Preston finally revealed a smile after seeing the solid record. Eden had grown valiant following humiliation and had almost caught up to his brothers in less than a month.

 Volume 6 - 623: Abnormal Traces

    [V6C153 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    But this small happiness wasn¡¯t enough to lighten his worries. Preston¡¯s brows furrowed as he once again picked up a battle report. His many years of experience and the intuition the demonkin were so proud of told him that there was something hidden within this report¡ªsomething that warranted his full attention.

    Qianye almost forgot the flow of time in the dozen or so days that followed. His life strayed little from searching, hunting, cleaning up the battlefield, and then cultivating to restore his origin power. These details rotated continuously as though they would never end. Add to that the fact that all of this was happening in the uniform environment of the Misty Wood, the stifling sensation almost made one go crazy.

    Qianye never slept and only used cultivation to substitute for rest. The endless supply of origin distite in the Misty Wood afforded him boundless growth in origin power for as long as he could keep digesting it.

    And the battles¡ªbe it against dark races or fierce beasts¡ªbrought him vast amounts of blood energy. After suffering a couple of times, Qianye was fairly careful in using Life Plunder. At least, he no longer made the earlier mistake of using Life Plunder after arriving in the midst of a group with Spatial sh¡ªthe amount of essence blood drawn from a hundred elites brought him to the verge of bursting.

    The other reason Qianye didn¡¯t sleep was because his eyes would be filled with images of the dark racebat squads the moment he closed his eyes. He saw countless swords and spears rushing at him while the sounds of gunshot and ughter echoed in his ears. Only by keeping his eyes open could he extricate himself from these illusions. Yet, once he opened his eyes, all he could see was a scene of unchanging giant tree and mist¡ªthat was even more depressing.

    Time went by in this fashion, and the soldiers in the Misty Wood only grew in number. It was as though there was no end to them. Moreover, the number of powerful experts had also increased. Qianye even encountered two fellows on the same level as Eden. He had no choice but to retreat after a short exchange because the enemy reinforcements had arrived.

    At one point, he was fortunate enough to encounter a small patrol squad of a couple dozen soldiers. Qianye naturally helped himself to them without holding back. The baron-level captain¡¯s shield caught Qianye¡¯s attention as he was cleaning up the battlefield.

    This shield had actually blocked a stab from his vampiric edge. Apparently, it was made of extraordinary materials. One had to know that the vampiric de Qianye had been using was so sharp that it could pierce through most heavy shields.

    Qianye didn¡¯t spend too long sweeping the battlefield and duly ced the shield into Andruil¡¯s realm. Just after raising his hand, he was startled to find that Andruil¡¯s realm was now full.

    ¡°Time to go back.¡± A notion emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind.

    ¡°How many days has it been since I came out?¡± The moment this query emerged, Qianye knew that something was wrong with him.

    It would seem the unending battles, the unchanging forest, and the otherwise silent ambiance had unknowingly ced too much pressure on him. This phenomenon was quitemon among soldiers, especially veteran warriors who had been fighting year round on the front lines.

    It was also quite easy to deal with it. All one had to do was leave the battlefield for a while and get some rest. Returning home, for instance, was a good way to recover from this state.

    Qianye decided to leave after discovering his problem.

    The road back to the base was much longer than he had anticipated. It would seem he had unknowingly ventured deep into the Misty Wood and was quite close to the central caverns. The forest was just as monotonous, but Qianye noticed a small ck dot on the branch of a giant tree hundreds of meters away.

    At this distance, ordinary people simply couldn¡¯t see this nail-sized dot of ck and red. However, Qianye¡¯s superior vision could clearly tell that it was a half-dry drop of blood.

    Seeing blood in the Misty Wood was proof that a battle had taken ce not long ago. Otherwise, the blood would¡¯ve been broken down by the mist even before it could dry out.

    Qianye retracted his aura and faded into the mist before gradually approaching the area. He had encountered several battles during his time in the forest, but he would only lend a hand if the empire¡¯s side was in danger and leave quietly in any other situation. It was fine if there wasn¡¯t a contribution ranking to consider, but now, he might be mistaken for stealing contribution points if he were to jump into battle. Moreover, Qianye wasn¡¯t too keen on dealing with these aristocratic families anyway.

    He moved like the wind and soon arrived near the giant tree, where traces of a recent battle appeared before his eyes.

    The scene here was bitter with corpses strewn about everywhere and hundreds of soldiers left dead from each faction. Judging from their apparel, there were viscount grade experts from both factions who had fallen here.

    It was likely an encounter between an aristocratic family squad and a small subunit from the Evernight side. However, the two sides had fought a desperate battle ending in mutual destruction. At the very least, Qianye didn¡¯t find any traces of arge force in the vicinity. It would seem there were very few survivors since there wasn¡¯t anyone to clean up the corpses of those high-ranking experts.

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush into the battlefield and remained in his hidden state, deep in thought.

    The situation before him wasn¡¯t normal. The empire and Evernight were indeed irreconcble, but it was another matter if this hatred was brought onto individual people.

    Normally, parties in a random encounter would start to retreat once a certain level of losses had been incurred; very rarely would they fight to thest man. After all, the battle in the Misty Wood was a battle of attrition and not a key battle in some major war. There was no need to fight to thest man. One side would be wiped-out only when the disparity between the two parties was too great.

    If Qianye were themander, he would choose to lead the squad into breaking out of the encirclement, and then seek another opportunityter. Creating an advantage, an ambush, or fighting again under better circumstances was something a qualified general would do.

    Qianye circled around the battlefield and, as expected, found many fishy ces. There were many corpses here that had copsed outward. It seemed as though they were running away when they were killed off one by one.

    Expressions of extreme terror were stered across their dead faces. Old veterans of the battlefield would rarely reveal such expressions even when encountering a deadly situation.

    The weirdest part was that these abnormal corpses consisted of both imperial and Evernight soldiers. There were two werewolves who had died in a fairly miserable state¡ªone of them had its entire spine pulled out of the body.

    Qianye frowned as he nced back at the battlefield and found many corpses that had been dismembered. This was especially evident with the few viscounts from the Evernight side and one of the human champions. The corpses had been cut up into several pieces and were connected only by a bit of skin which served to barely maintain their shape.

    There was something wrong with this battle!

    It wasn¡¯t that both parties had fought to their deaths. It looked more like they had been attacking someone together but were wiped out instead. Just what kind of power would force the two factions to team up?

    There was only one answer in the Misty Wood. It was a mutant beast birthed by the forest.

    The beasts and midgets of the past were significant in number and possessed powerful attacks. However, they were usually quite weak and a single champion could cut downrge swathes of them. It was just that the midgets were extremely fast and their spears were poisonous. Even champions could hardly hold out after a couple of stabs.

    However, there were no signs of a beast tide on this battlefield at all. If these two units had really encountered beasts, they should be fairly few in number. It might even be a single powerful beast.

    Judging from the battlefield, the duration of the battle wasn¡¯t very long. Qianye estimated that even he wouldn¡¯t be able to outdo this assant in a fight against two hundred people. This meant that this beast¡¯sbat strength wasn¡¯t inferior to his own.

    This wasn¡¯t good news at all.

    ording to reason, even if the forest could produce such powerful beasts, the number should be fairly low. But time and again, this void continent had broken everything that was reasonable.

    Qianye maintained his hidden state and remained on the periphery of the battlefield. He had no intention of rushing into the battlefield to collect spoils of war. Excessive greed before fully understanding the situation was akin to courting death.

    Moreover, with the passage of time, he found something out of ce on the battlefield. The entire ce was littered with corpses and there was blood flowing everywhere. Yet, the response of the ground substance was exceptionally slow.

    After a while, the restless purple substance stretched out in every direction and absorbed all the blood. After seeing this, Qianye became even more patient and cautious.

    A quarter hour passed by before the purple substance finally moved toward the corpses. Only at this point did Qianye feel relieved and began moving toward the battlefield. The wounds on the corpses were helpful in determining the power of this unknown foe.

    Qianye had just taken a couple of steps forward when he felt a chill creep up from his legs. He jumped up without a second thought and barely escaped therge cleaver flitting past his previous position. He would¡¯ve lost both limbs if he had been just a little bit slower.

    Qianye¡¯s constitution was much stronger than an ordinary person, but that cleaver seemed quite sinister even from its outward appearance and was poised to cut right through him.

    The cleaver was grasped single-handedly in a white, tender hand. Soon, a familiar silhouette scuttled out from beneath the corpses and followed up with another sh into the air.

    A naive, innocent countenance was reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes¡ªit was Bai Kongzhao again! This odd girl was like a ghost that just wouldn¡¯t pass on. It felt like one would run into her everywhere.

    Qianye was in the air when he discovered that the angle of that sh was extremely clever¡ªit was bound to make him suffer whether he attempted to evade or retaliate. The best way was to attempt a close evasion, but there was a big chance that he would be injured.

    A minor flesh wound didn¡¯t seem like much, but Qianye had fought Bai Kongzhao countless times. He knew very well that she was the most dangerous of wolves. Evenrge prey would eventually fall after umting many small injuries.

    However, Qianye was no longer the same as before. After seeing through Bai Kongzhao, he immediately swung his arm onto the back of the cleaver.

    As expected, Bai Kongzhao¡¯s cleaver shifted to a different angle, ready to receive Qianye¡¯s iing arm with the sharp edge.

    With a sharp ck, Young Dragon¡¯s armguard was actually cut open with the ease of cleaving through rotten wood. This cleaver¡¯s sharpness was unimaginable! When the de cut through the armor and into Qianye¡¯s arm, he finally realized that the sharpness of the de was only one aspect. The origin power attached to it was fairly odd¡ªthebination of hardness and sharpness raised the might of this attack more than twofold.

    However, this was but a small mishap. Qianye erupted with sudden speed, and his arm vanished from under the edge. His palm seemed to emerge through the void as he grabbed the cleaver and made a sharp turn. Borrowing the momentum of this movement, his vampiric de flickered toward the girl¡¯s abdomen.

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s expression paled, but on the verge of life and death, she once again revealed her iparably powerful survival instincts. She abandoned her cleaver decisively and retreated without the slightest bit of hesitation. Qianye¡¯s vampiric de hadn¡¯t managed to stab very deep when she broke free of it.

    Qianye sneered as he nced over at the fleeing Bai Kongzhao. A thread of virtually indiscernible blood stretched forward and quickly arrived behind the girl.

    However, Qianye¡¯s entire body was sent reeling the moment he activated Spatial sh. His blood energy and origin power were aboil as though he were in a void tempest, causing him to lose control entirely.

 Volume 6 - 624: Enemy in the Woods

    [V6C154 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye staggered and spat out a mouthful of blood.

    There was golden brilliance burning in it, apanied by floating crystalline granules and strands of ck energy. This wasn¡¯t just auric me blood¡ªit also contained a fair amount of crystallized daybreak origin power and a mixture of ck energy from unknown sources.

    But this mouthful of blood ejected the fierce impact in Qianye¡¯s body. He felt much better after the expulsion, and his boiling origin power and blood energy gradually calmed down.

    Gazing at the vast, misty forest, Qianye gave up on chasing after Bai Kongzhao.

    During this ambush, Qianye had only sensed Bai Kongzhao only when thetterunched her attack. It was evident that this young girl had the ability to conceal her presence in this eerie forest, and it wasn¡¯t inferior to his own. Even her vision was probablyparable to his.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s body was once again sent into turmoil and another mouthful of blood sprayed out. Even his internal organs were showing some signs of damage.

    Qianye was greatly astonished. At first, he thought his excessive cultivation in the recent days had left behind some seque, but now, it would seem that there were other reasons. He quickly suppressed the abnormality in his body and left in due haste. Only after reaching a safe ce did he dare stop to inspect his condition.

    Qianye was astonished after finding out what was wrong. The blood energy and daybreak origin power in his body were rejecting a peculiar wisp of essence blood¡ªBai Kongzhao¡¯s blood.

    Qianye had gotten so used to killing these days that he would habitually draw blood whenever he used his vampiric de. Hence, a small part of Bai Kongzhao¡¯s essence blood had flowed into his body through the vampiric de.

    The real problem was with this essence blood.

    All the essence blood Qianye had absorbed in the past¡ªregardless of race and species¡ªwould be crushed by the Song n Ancient Scroll. Even if they weren¡¯tpletely refined on the spot, there had never been a problem due to the suppression of the dark golden and purple blood energies. Qianye almost couldn¡¯t tell whether the blood was from a human, a dark race member, or a beast.

    However, Bai Kongzhao¡¯s essence blood was different. The aura it gave off was like a ming star¡ªboth his daybreak origin power and dark golden energy would erupt upon contact and lose control entirely. It was as though they were going all out in an attempt to destroy the power being emitted from that essence blood.

    However, the dark golden blood energy and venus dawn that used to firmly suppress darkness and daybreak origin power respectively could hardly exert their power now. They were never able to destroy the few wisps of weak aura, and on the contrary, their reaction increased in intensity until the blood energy and daybreak origin power started conflicting in Qianye¡¯s body.

    The most powerful blood energy was the dark golden one. It was at the same level as his daybreak origin power which appeared in the form of Venus Dawn. The two of them were the top powers of each attribute, so the destruction caused by the sh between them was extremely violent. It inflicted injuries on him almost immediately.

    Qianye had never imagined such a scenario. He exerted great effort to lock down a strand of the Bai Kongzhao¡¯s essence blood with his Eye of Truth and scanned it repeatedly. He discovered that the contents were fairly odd¡ªit was like a cocktail of many different origin powers with an attribute that fell between daybreak and Evernight.

    Moreover, it was the exact opposite of pure and more like a collection of impurities and toxins. Even the impurities the Book of Darkness had spat out when it was first fed with essence blood seemed a bit purer than her origin power. This also meant that Qianye absorbing her essence blood was akin to devouring a strong poisonparable to ck Titanium.

    There was naturally a solution once the root of the problem was known. Qianye chose the crudest and simplest method, spitting out yet another mouthful of blood and expelling Bai Kongzhao¡¯s remaining aura along with it. This added more injuries to his wounded body, but this type of simple damage was easier to recover from. He would be fine after half a day.

    He couldn¡¯t help but feel a tad curious about how Bai Kongzhao had cultivated such an origin power. Not only did her body not copse, but she even broke through her bottleneck and stepped into the champion rank.

    Qianye continued back to the base after recovery. He believed the girl, with her bestial instincts, wouldn¡¯t appear before him again. Bai Kongzhao wouldn¡¯t even be able to escape once she had been locked onto by Spatial sh.

    The journey wasn¡¯t too peaceful. Qianye encountered two more battles in less than half a day, but he passed quietly by since the empire¡¯s side had the advantage in both of them. Worry surfaced in his heart, however, because the strength and frequency of Evernight attacks were clearly increasing. It would seem that they had made much progress in the void and in open battles, allowing for more forces to enter the Misty Wood.

    The environment here wasn¡¯t suited forrge battles since a stretched battlefront could be easily whittled down by an expert with superior range. A thousand-man squad was already the limit.

    But the area was located around the central caverns, and the neighboring warzones were all strategic points that had to be contested. Presently, the Evernight side was employing arge number of small squads to bleed the empire and finally suppress the Li family.

    As expected, Qianye encountered the third battle before half a day had passed. This time, the battleground was less than ten kilometers away from the base¡ªit could be said that the enemy was almost at the doorstep.

    When Qianye arrived, the empire was being beaten back and the situation was dire. The humanbat squad had only a couple dozen men left and were barely holding out under the cover of the giant trees. Meanwhile, there were hundreds of dark race soldiers forming a loose encirclement around them. The formation was fairly neat, and the soldiers were attacking one wave after the other.

    The encirclement existed only on three sides and the fourth was almost empty, yet the beleaguered soldiers seemed to have no intention of breaking through from that point. Clearly, there was a great danger in that direction.

    His guess was soon proven as a series of brief gunshots arrived from that direction. A human soldier was sent flying and his body was torn apart in the air.

    Qianye was shaken. It was actually a rare origin machine gun! Few people were willing to use origin machine guns because the consumption rate was outrageous. But one had to admit that the burst of destructive power from an origin machine gun was indeed overwhelming¡ªeven handheld cannons were somewhat inferior.

    That fellow using the origin machine gun was quite brutal, throwing his enemies into the air with a whip of fire andshing them into pieces. His origin power seemed bottomless. He had already torn three soldiers apart, yet he seemed to have no intention of stopping.

    The survivors weren¡¯t weak at all but simply had no chance in the face of such an opponent. The only difference was how long they could struggle against him.

    Qianye knew he had to do something about this. He thus circled around the battlefield and sneaked toward the gunman. Very soon, the target came into view¡ªa tall and sturdy-looking werewolf with a terrifying machine gun as big as a small tree-trunk. He was firing on his feet, spitting out streams of mes from the gun muzzle.

    From the firing distance, one could see that this fellow¡¯s visual range was over four hundred meters, only slightly inferior to Eden. An expert like this was undoubtedly terrifying in the Misty Wood.

    Qianye produced Thunderbolt and, without the slightest hesitation, pressed a Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang into it. A gunshot rang out like rolling thunder and echoed through the thick mist. However, the timbre faded extremely fast and could hardly be discerned after several hundred meters.

    The refined silver bullet tore through the air and sted the target¡¯s body apart. Not to mention a werewolf count, even an arachne count wouldn¡¯t be able to take a refined silver bullet loaded with auxiliary abilities. If this shot could hit a vital area, there was no doubt that the werewolf would be gravely injured. And there was virtually no difference between injured and dead when fighting against Qianye in the Misty Wood,

    However, the werewolf¡¯s brown hairs all stood on end when the bullet was several dozens meters from him. His eyes immediately turned bloodshot as he turned toward the iing projectile.

    Tens of meters would take no more than a brief moment for a powerful sniper round. The werewolf count let out a loud roar as ck-green origin mes leapt up around his body and actually pushed the mist apart. Then, he threw a fist straight at the iing bullet!

    It was as though a small, golden sun had risen in the Misty Wood. The fierce daybreak origin power was akin to rolling waves of fire which washed over the werewolf¡¯s body. The strong, near-liquefied origin power produced green fumes upon contact and even burst into mes. The werewolf¡¯s bare body was quickly charred ck andrge patches of his origin power were also extinguished.

    The werewolf was in so much pain that he let out an earth-shattering roar. Qianye could hear him clearly despite being five hundred meters away.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was cold. He loaded a second Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang and fired right from the hip. He knew that the first round had failed to injure that count and that the wound to his arm was merely surface damage.

    The second shot was fired so quickly that the werewolf had no time to evade¡ªneither was he expecting it. He threw the origin machine gun away and crossed his arms in front of his chest in a bid to resist the iing attack.

    Yet another golden sun erupted. This time, the intense mes of daybreak origin power were more focused and even nearing white-point as they spilled over the count¡¯s body.

    The werewolf¡¯s armguards shattered, and his entire body was pushed back several meters by the st. His legs dug two deep trenches in the purple substance, revealing the deep brown soil underneath.

    The werewolf count was in fullbat stance. There were golden mes of daybreak origin power flickering upon his brown fur, yet he didn¡¯t make a single sound¡ªonly the fangs extending out of his mouth made known the fury in his heart.

    Qianye was somewhat surprised. This was the first time he had seen someone shatter a refined silver bullet with his fist and block a shot with his body.

    In terms of constitution alone, this werewolf was simply too strong, far stronger than any dark race count Qianye had seen before. Not to mention demonkin and vampires, even arachne counts like Stuka who possessed an innate advantage in terms of physique were grossly inferior. Perhaps only William of the Summit of Peaks would beparable.

    However, Qianye noticed that the enemy¡¯s left arm had been twisted into an unnatural angle. Clearly, the bones there had shattered.

    Without the slightest hesitation, Qianye fished out yet another Refined Bullet of Extreme Yang and loaded it into Thunderbolt. If the enemy wouldn¡¯t go down in two shots, then he could just fire three or four times until the enemy¡¯s defenses had been broken.

    The werewolf stared intently in Qianye¡¯s direction before howling at the sky. With a single movement of his hand, the origin machine gun that had fallen to the ground returned to his grasp. Afterward, he simply turned away and disappeared quickly into the mist. Following his howl, the attacking dark race soldiers also receded like the tides.

 Volume 6 - 625: Assassination

    [V6C155 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye¡¯s expression was serious, but he had no intention of giving chase. Although he had badly injured the werewolf count, the other party was unexpectedly powerful and had retreated with great decisiveness. He was also very fast. There was arge number of dark race soldiers remaining, and all of them were still capable of fighting. Moreover, there was bound to be a weing party in that direction.

    Especially that origin machine gun in the werewolf count¡¯s hand, it was a premium item above grade-seven. Qianye wouldn¡¯t meet such a weapon head-on unless he was crazy. He shrugged, somewhat regretful that arge batch of contribution points had escaped right under his nose. This mighty count was surely a famed character in the Evernight world. Killing such a person would him great rewards, but it also went without saying that his status on the Evernight side was the same.

    After confirming that all the enemies had retreated, Qianye walked over to the routed squad and inquired, ¡°Is everyone alright?¡±

    The leader was a man barely in his thirties. His cultivation rank was rank twelve, and his strength was more or less in the same range. The damage to his tattered armor and clothes could hardly conceal the exquisite quality of their make¡ªit was clear that the man was an aristocratic scion.

    He stepped toward Qianye while wiping away the blood on his face. ¡°Still alive, but as you can see, the situation isn¡¯t good at all. We had a hundred and twenty men when we set out. In the end, we were chased back all the way until they finally managed to surround us here. We have¡­¡±

    His expression grew even uglier after ncing back at the battlefield. ¡°Sixteen left.¡±

    This number made him so indignant that he couldn¡¯t speak for a while. He only came to when one of his aides nudged him from behind, after which he said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m Kong Fangyuan of the Kong family. I haven¡¯t asked for this benefactor''s esteemed name. We will definitely express our sincere thanks after returning to base.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m called Qianye.¡±

    Kong Fangyuan was startled. Then his face became full of smiles as he said, ¡°So, it¡¯s General Qianye! I¡¯ve long since heard of your aplishments. Now, after personally seeing it, yourbat strength is far stronger than the legends make it out to be.¡±

    Kong Fangyuan asked after the pleasantries, ¡°How¡¯s that wolf? Is he dead?¡±

    ¡°I shot him twice but he still escaped.¡±

    Kong Fangyuan¡¯s expression was one of lingering trepidation. ¡°Escaped? This¡­ sigh¡­ that means endless troubleter on.¡±

    Qianye nodded with a simrly solemn expression. There might not be another opportunity like this if they were to meet again on the battlefield. No one would want to run into him since he might even be more dangerous than Eden. Eden¡¯sbat experience could be considered quite extensive among the famed n scions, but this werewolf count clearly lived and breathed battle.

    At this point, the human warriors emerged from hiding and began cleaning up the battlefield and treating the wounded. At the same time, they gathered the bodies of the dead and removed some keepsakes from them.

    The Misty Wood was a natural grave. At this point, most imperial soldiers had epted the fate of being devoured by the purple substance after their death. After all, mostbat squads weren¡¯t capable of bringing their dead back to the base.

    The living were mostly injured, and a number of them critically so. Meanwhile, there were over forty corpses in total, and there was no way to reassemble the remains of the unfortunate ones torn apart by the origin machine gun.

    Qianye noticed a couple of familiar faces among the living. It was actually Lu Sha¡¯s group. All of them were badly injured, and one of them had even turned into a corpse.

    Seeing Qianye frown, Kong Fangyuan nced back along Qianye¡¯s line of sight and suddenly realized what the matter was. ¡°General Lu is under our Kong family¡¯s employ for this war. I might not have held out until now without them, nor would I be able to see General Qianye.¡±

    Qianye looked away without making anyment. Disregarding past resentments, Lu Sha¡¯sbat strength was indeed extraordinary. Moreover, he was well-experienced on the battlefield, especially groupbat. Kong Fangyuan had great foresight and charisma, but hiring this group most likely involved a substantial amount of money.

    They couldn¡¯t remain in ce for long since no one knew when the dark race would return. Although Qianye had wounded the werewolf count, there was more than just one group in the Misty Wood. Everyone could feel the pressure caused by the recent increase in Evernight forces.

    In the end, both Qianye and Kong Fangyuan personally joined the cleaning and collection process. Qianye bent down and picked up a head¡ªits face was no longer recognizable and there was no telling where the body was. There was a chain underneath the head, the charred portions of which the purple substance had started to envelop.

    Qianye grabbed the ne and dragged it out of the wiggling substance. That was a silver photo locket that could be opened up, and there was a photo of a beautifuldy inside. This love¡ªdestined never to bear fruit¡ªfelt somewhat heavy in Qianye¡¯s hand.

    Qianye gave the ne to a junior captain of the Kong family. Thetter said while receiving the ne, ¡°This is Xiaolei, a pretty good fellow. I thought he would be able to inherit my positionter on, but now¡­¡±

    There were simply too many of these cases; there were already a dozen of them here. These minuscule people led their own personal lives, lives in which they were the main characters. Their death meant the copse of entire worlds.

    At this moment, Kong Fangyuan began urging everyone to hasten their movements. They would have to leave in five minutes at most. There wasn¡¯t enough time to clean up all the corpses. All they could do was put them in a more dignified position so that they could rest easy.

    Kong Fangyuan appeared quite calm on the surface, but he was actually scared out of his wits. He didn¡¯t want to linger a moment longer.

    Qianye nced about, but in the end, he ced that head together with the other corpses, allowing the young man to rest together with hisrades. Afterward, Qianye nned to say goodbye to Kong Fangyuan and excuse himself. Although they were going back to base all the same, Qianye was more ustomed to operating alone.

    He had just gotten up when he sensed someone approach and pat his shoulder. At the same time, that person called out, ¡°Qianye.¡±

    The voice as unfamiliar, but it seemed to contain a type of cadence which calmed the mind and released tense emotions. Qianye suddenly felt a cold sensation at his back just as he was turning around¡ªa de pierced quietly through his armor and into his back.

    Qianye turned back to find a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He was someone from Lu Sha¡¯s group, the most unassuming one. His presence was so faint that Qianye might not have recognized it if he weren¡¯t standing here.

    At this moment, there was astonishment written all over the man¡¯s face. Seeing Qianye look back, he grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulder with one hand and attempted to push the knife in with the other, poised to bury the de up to its hilt.

    ¡°Why?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was cold.

    The man rxed somewhat after feeling his dagger reach the end¡ªa sinister expression soon appeared on his face. ¡°A major character has offered a big bounty for your life. It¡¯s just that simple. If you want to me something, then me it on how you offended people you shouldn¡¯t have!¡±

    He pulled the dagger out somewhat, twisted the de to a different angle, and thrust it back in. Qianye¡¯s expression paled as he let out a muffled groan.

    The man frowned. ¡°What a thick armor! But you still have to die.¡±

    Young Dragon was fairly strong. The man wanted to stab from a different angle, but the rotation was rather limited. Even so, he was quite sure that the injury was enough to threaten the target¡¯s life.

    That was it? He almost couldn¡¯t believe how smooth things had gone.

    Even his breathing became hurried after thinking about the massive rewards he had been promised.

    Kong Fangyuan couldn¡¯t react immediately. He stared on nkly for a moment before shouting, ¡°What the hell are you doing?!¡±

    Lu Sha took a step forward and blocked Kong Fangyuan¡¯s path. ¡°Young Master Kong, this is the will of a major character, I suggest you overlook this matter. Otherwise, your Kong family won¡¯t handle it if that person gets angry.¡±

    The Kong family was also an old aristocratic family. There weren¡¯t a lot of families who could restrain them. Kong Fangyuan¡¯s heart sank as these names shed through his mind. His face grew stern as he shouted, ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn. Qianye saved all of us so I will not allow you to treat him this way. Move!¡±

    Lu Sha didn¡¯t step aside, however. ¡°Young Master Kong, if you¡¯re intent on being stubborn, us brothers will have to offend you and send you on your way.¡±

    Kong Fangyuan¡¯s expression was furious. ¡°You dare?!¡±

    Lu Sha only smiled without replying, but the answer was written clearly on his face.

    Kong Fangyuan felt a sudden chille over to him. Lu Sha¡¯s group was cruel, ruthless, and powerful¡ªthis, he had seen along the way. His core subordinate fighting force had suffered grave casualties during the chase and could no longer suppress these evil wolves.

    Kong Fangyuan struggled back and forth. The order to open fire lingered at the tip of his tongue for a long while but never escaped his lips until the very end. Lu Sha let out an evilugh as he took a couple of steps back, his hand still on his dagger. He then turned around and roared, ¡°Kill him quickly, what are you waiting for?¡±

    But only an interrupted sound emerged from behind him. ¡°Boss, save me!¡±

    Lu Sha was greatly astonished to find his brother¡ªwho should¡¯ve had Qianye under control¡ªwas now in a perilous situation. Qianye had half turned around to grab the man¡¯s wrist and was moving to choke him with the other hand. In order to avoid the desperate retaliation, that person had no choice but to loosen Qianye¡¯s shoulder and block the hand reaching for his throat.

    The two thus entered a contest of strength.

    That stab to the back was supposed to be lethal. Moreover, it should be fairly difficult for Qianye to exert strength in his half-turned posture. Under such circumstances, he should¡¯ve been at a disadvantage even with a desperate counterattack. Even Lu Sha himself would rather ignite the origin grenades on his body and take the assant down instead of counterattacking.

    However, Qianye¡¯s hand was firmly approaching the opponent¡¯s throat. Meanwhile, thetter¡¯s hands were trembling continuously. Two of his fingers were somewhat syed outward, an indication that he couldn¡¯t quite hold on to the dagger after being gripped by Qianye.

    At this moment, the person contending against Qianye was feeling extremely bitter. He was actually an assassin¡ªhis ce was tounch an all-out attack from the shadows. Qianye had never sensed the iing danger both during the approach and the attack. This proved just how powerful his talents were.

    He was quite capable of eliminating a sniper on the battlefield, but he was no warrior¡ªa close-up struggle wasn¡¯t his forte. The situation at hand was rather perilous because Qianye¡¯s strength was unimaginable. In his eyes, even an arachne count couldn¡¯t be any stronger.

    That hand moving toward his throat seemed as though it was being driven by a steam engine¡ªthe force behind it was almost indefensible. He activated his origin power with all his might and could almost feel his origin vortex groaning from the overdraft. However, that hand was only slowed down slightly.

    His de-hand had lost all sensation, and the bones therein were emitting loud crackles¡ªit was the sound of his bones shattering under the pressure.

    He could hardly even talk at this point because he waspletely suppressed by the iing force. He feared that this breath would very likely be hisst. Once Qianye¡¯s hand reached his throat, those neck bones of his would shatter like chinaware.

    He couldn¡¯t understand. ording to his experience, anyone who had suffered two stabs like this would be powerless to even struggle.

    At this moment, the intense pain from his wrist had reached his arm, and he could no longer feel his palms. The hilt of the de was still in his hand, but he had no strength to control it.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Seeing that something wasn¡¯t quite right, Lu Sha roared and charged over immediately.

 Volume 6 - 626: Conclusion

    [V6C156 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye suddenly lifted the assassin and switched ces with him, effectively blocking Lu Sha with thetter¡¯s body.

    The moment of this switch was so well-timed that Lu Sha had no choice but to halt his charge. The man felt his eyes go blurry as the two switched ces, almost as though countless red threads had filled his vision. Afterward, his brother¡¯s vitality faded rapidly and soon became indiscernible.

    Qianye¡¯s hand sessfullytched onto the assassin¡¯s throat and crushed his neck bones.

    ¡°You dare?!¡± Lu Sha¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. He released an earth-shattering howl of anger as he pounced over to Qianye, throwing a punch straight at his chest.

    At the same time, origin power gushed out of the ground all around Qianye and formed dozens of sharp, interweaving thorns, effectively creating a zone of death. Lu Sha¡¯s domain, Inferno of Thorns, was abination of both attack and restraint. Although it couldn¡¯t deal a dazzling fatal blow, it was iparably functional in battle.

    Qianye moved back with great agility as the thorns broke out of the ground¡ªhe escaped the domain in just a few steps. Dozens of thorns brushed past Qianye, but none of them managed to strike him.

    Lu Sha¡¯s expression was serious. His brother who had carried out the assassination was holding an extremely rare armor-piercing weapon. It was impossible for Qianye not to be injured since even a heavy armor like Young Dragon had been pierced through, and he could also see that Qianye¡¯s aura was gradually weakening. Even so, Qianye still managed to extricate himself from the Inferno of Thorns with great ease.

    This caused Lu Sha to hesitate ever so slightly. He didn¡¯t know whether he should set up another Inferno of Thorns because the attack was stationary after activation. The origin power would¡¯ve been for naught if Qianye were to dodge it again.

    Quite unexpectedly, Qianye didn¡¯t flee after escaping from the domain, and neither did he draw his sword. Instead, he tossed out several grenades and produced an explosion between the two, temporarily preventing Lu Sha from moving out. Afterward, Qianye suddenly nced back at the approaching Du Li with a spurious smile.

    Thetter had circled over to Qianye¡¯s back the moment Lu Sha attacked, prepared to deal a fierce blow. He had never expected that Lu Sha¡¯s domain wouldn¡¯t even be able to hold Qianye down for a moment. Moreover, Qianye had sensed him approaching despite being in a precarious situation¡ªit was as though he had eyes at the back of his head.

    Qianye¡¯s pair of obsidian eyes were akin to deep, bottomless darkness. Looking at them for prolonged periods would reveal countless undercurrents of danger within them. The key was that Qianye¡¯s current expression was exactly the same as when he took down Du Li in the arena back then.

    At that time, thetter had been utterly defeated. Moreover, he still had no idea how he had lost up until the very end. He had woken up from the countless nightmares gued by those bottomless eyes. That battle had be a demon in his heart.

    It was as though the past had reappeared before his eyes at this moment. Du Li froze up entirely and could do nothing but watch as a sword appeared in Qianye¡¯s hands. The man woke up from his reverie only when the de was raised up high, whereupon he let out a shrill scream and fled immediately!

    Du Li¡¯s horrible performance surprised Qianye. He was toozy to determine whether Du Li was pretending to be weak or if he was too weak to stand a single blow. A blue glow appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes. Du Li, who had just started running, tripped violently and staggered forward.

    Eye of Control!

    This dy was sufficiently fatal with East Peak following suit from behind his back. Then, Qianye put away his de and turned toward Lu Sha who had just walked out from the grenade explosion.

    Du Li was still running frantically. He had covered hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye and had almost escaped everyone¡¯s field of vision. He almost seemed to be oblivious about the big dent in his back armor. After taking several steps further, he spurted out a mouthful of blood containing pieces of shattered organs, swayed about, and then copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Du Li!¡± Lu Sha was still one step toote despite crossing through the grenade explosion. He was ring so hard that his eyes were almost torn apart. He drew his sword, moved toward Qianye inrge strides, and shed down.

    A circr ripple appeared in the ground substance beneath their feet and spread out for dozens of meters as East Peak shot up to block Lu Sha¡¯s de.

    Qianye took several steps back before East Peak shot up yet again and aimed at Lu Sha. Thetter wasn¡¯t feeling so great, either, after the forceful exchange just now¡ªhe had also taken several steps back before managing to stabilize himself. He could hardly hide the shock on his face.

    Lu Sha had long since known that Qianye had only two origin vortices and was much inferior to himself. However, he had actually failed to gain an advantage in the direct, head-on collision just now.

    Lu Sha¡¯s eyes red with killing intent as he pounced forward again without hesitation. This time, he attacked without holding back at all. Qianye was still young and had boundless potential, while he was sure to reach a bottleneck sooner orter. Now that the two parties had broken out in a life and death battle, he might not have another chance if he failed to make use of this opportunity.

    East Peak turned about in Qianye¡¯s palm, and the sword tip formed a crescent-shaped arc. The de almost seemed weightless as he met Lu Sha in battle.

    A storm kicked up with the twobatants at the center, sweeping over hundreds of meters in distance. The trees affected by the ripples swayed continuously, and even the sacs on the treetops were beginning to react. Apparently, the midgets and beasts therein were on the verge of breaking out.

    Even though Qianye¡¯sbat arts were nearing perfection at this point, he still felt the pressure on East Peak growing increasingly heavy. As expected of a true expert who had been famous for nearly twenty years, Lu Sha¡¯sbat arts were simple and down-to-earth. There were very little variations, but his powerful blows would alwayse for the enemy¡¯s weakest point. Moreover, he himself revealed very little openings.

    Lu Sha¡¯sbat techniques were tempered through countless life and death encounters. Every swing of his de was as heavy as a sledgehammer. An opponent like this was truly difficult to handle¡ªhis origin power was abundant, his strength was ample, and his speed, agile. Although he wasn¡¯t at the top in each attribute, he didn¡¯t have any weaknesses, either.

    Vast amounts of origin power crashed, swept, and exploded in this fierce battle, pushing the other people hundreds of meters away. There was simply no way for them to take part.

    Kong Fangyuan was drenched in cold sweat despite being well-guarded by the loyal guards from his main branch. He had never imagined that Lu Sha was actually hiding his true strength.

    Only now did he start to regret not listening to his n uncle¡¯s dissuasion. Hiring someone like Lu Sha was simply too dangerous. Even his entire squad at full power might not be the man¡¯s match. If it wasn¡¯t for the werewolf count chasing them down all the way without giving them time to breathe, this group might¡¯ve turned the tables on them and be the masters instead.

    Qianye also far exceeded his expectations. As expected of someone who had been offered the best terms in the Li family, he was able to fight so fiercely even after an ambush.

    During the intense battle, Qianye and Lu Sha pulled away all of a sudden and faced each other from ten meters away.

    Kong Fangyuan¡¯s eyes twitched hard because there were thorns and brambles throughout the battlefield. It would seem Lu Sha had tried his utmost, while Qianye¡¯s domain had never appeared since the very beginning. Judging from the situation, it looked like Lu Sha was being suppressed. However, Qianye didn¡¯t care about the thorns in his hasty retreat.

    Kong Fangyuan saw a sharp thorn tear through Qianye¡¯s leg guard and leave a cut on his calf.

    Kong Fangyuan knew very well how powerful Lu Sha¡¯s thorns were. They had even cut through an arachne viscount¡¯s legs during one of the previous battles, but it left only a small cut on Qianye. There wasn¡¯t even any blood.

    A fountain of blood poured out of the wound on Qianye¡¯s back as they stood in confrontation, gushing several meters outward. The color of the blood contained a tinge of abnormal green to it.

    Lu Sha finally smiled as he sneered, ¡°It would seem my brother didn¡¯t die for nothing. You¡¯re indeed difficult to deal with, but you will go down today to apany my brothers!¡±

    ¡°To kill them all over again?¡±

    Lu Sha¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°You can¡¯t control the damage anymore. I can exhaust you to death in another quarter hour. If you have anyst words, say them quickly. Maybe I¡¯ll help you if I¡¯m in a good mood.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m not in the mood to listen to yours, though. Goodbye.¡±

    Lu Sha had been guarded against a big move from Qianye. Startled upon seeing thetter throw East Peak to the ground and draw his twin handguns, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°You think I¡¯ll let you finish charging your gun?¡±

    The two were but ten meters away¡ªthis was a distance he could cover in one sprint and also within the range of his domain and origin power. It was a situation least suited for firearms because most people wouldn''t even have the time to charge up.

    Much of Qianye¡¯s information had been dug up as he rose to fame. For instance, his rise to power on the Evernight Continent was as a long-range sniper. However, a sniper required distance to bring out his full power. That was also why Lu Sha was willing topletely offend the Kong family and finish Qianye off here.

    Lu Sha realized something from how Qianye had sniped that werewolf count. Once this opportunity was missed, it would be fairly difficult to even find Qianye in this ursed environment. Even if they could chase him down, the damage caused by a super long range sniper was unbearable.

    Lu Sha had no idea why Qianye wouldmit such a mistake, but he was never one to let go of the enemy¡¯s foolishness. The origin vortices in Lu Sha¡¯s body revolved at its highest speed as a deep, almost-tangible origin power rushed out from his arms.

    A scarlet mist suffused with golden specks rose up around Qianye and turned increasingly brilliant. The glow filled everyone¡¯s vision in the blink of an eye, preventing them from seeing anything else! At the same time, a pair of luminous wings spread out behind Qianye as he merged the two guns into one. A spot of light lit up at the muzzle, and it actually stifled both conflicting origin powers in the field for a split second.

    The light scattered momentster, and everyone finally regained their sense of vision.

    Lu Sha¡¯s face was filled with horror as he looked down at the round hole on his chest. The defect was merely the size of a fist and went straight through his back. One could see the flesh and organs within his body, but there was nothing where his heart was supposed to be.

    Those remaining organs were still moving, but there was no longer any life force in them. They were only maintaining their form and wiggling due to the inertia.

    Gradually, these moving organs turned ashen white and broke down into a pile of powder in front of Lu Sha. Thetter struggled briefly, but this caused a cloud of ashen mist to erupt from the hole¡ªthis dust was what remained of his heart.

    Lu Sha looked up and stared intently at Qianye. ¡°You¡­ can¡¯t escape. I¡¯ll be waiting for you down there.¡±

    Qianye put away the Twin Flowers and watched Lu Sha in silence.

    The man hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he slowly fell down, never to move again. He hadn¡¯t underestimated his enemy¡ªwith the power he had mustered at the very end, even a shot from a grade-seven gun, fired by someone at his level, would only be able to break his defenses at most.

    Unfortunately, though, he was facing the Shot of Inception.

 Volume 6 - 627: Buying Life

    [V6C157 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye walked slowly toward Lu Sha¡¯s corpse and shed down all of a sudden, effectively removing that wide-eyed head.

    Kong Fangyuan couldn¡¯t help but cry out as the man¡¯s head flew into the air. He was, after all, a lineal young master of the Kong family. Although he was experienced in his own right, he had rarely seen such killing methods.

    After the cry, Kong Fangyuan felt his chest burn up ufortably, almost as though he had been holding his breath underwater for a long time. He exhaled deeply and took another deep breath before feeling somewhat better.

    It turned out that he had been holding his breath since the Shot of Inception had appeared. A powerful aristocratic scion like him could sense just how terrifying the shot¡¯s destructive power was. In the end, he was petrified on the spot and came to only just now.

    Then, the other soldiers of the Kong family regained their wits and nced at Qianye with expressions of rm.

    The forest was suddenly silent, so silent that it was stifling.

    The surviving Kong family soldiers surrounded Kong Fangyuan subconsciously. After all, Lu Sha¡¯s group was under the Kong family¡¯s employ. Now that they had died in Qianye¡¯s hand, there was no telling if thetter would consider them aplices and finish them off. Although the Kong family soldiers hadn¡¯t joined the attack when Qianye was ambushed, they didn¡¯t try to save him, either. They merely stood watching on the side.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even look at the people from the Kong family. He produced a first-aid medicine from his pocket and sprayed it onto his wound, before injecting a shot of stimnt into his neck. Qianye looked up at Kong Fangyuan only after dealing with his injuries.

    Kong Fangyuan¡¯s heart trembled upon seeing theck of expression in Qianye¡¯s eyes. He said helplessly, ¡°All of this is a misunderstanding!¡±

    ¡°Misunderstanding?¡± Qianye repeated the question while looking at the man with a wooden expression.

    Beads of sweat rolled off Kong Fangyuan¡¯s forehead. It was already quite an ordeal for him to maintain a smile and prevent his voice from going off-key. ¡°It is, of course, a misunderstanding. Our Kong family has no enmity toward you.¡±

    A young soldier behind Kong Fangyuan was indignant. He took a step forward and shouted, ¡°What our family¡¯s young master says is naturally the truth. Don¡¯t forget that our Kong family isn¡¯t easy to provoke, either.¡±

    He had just started speaking when an old veteran covered his mouth and dragged him to the side. Afterward, he said something to the young man with a serious expression. That young soldier¡¯s face was red, and he was clearly dissatisfied. However, he said nothing more after receiving strict orders to stop speaking.

    Kong Fangyuan let out a sigh of relief at this point¡ªhe was feeling quite indignant despite the humble attitude just now. Then, he noticed all the dead and wounded people behind him. Finally, he realized how few those capable of fighting were. How would he dare to y things hard? With Qianye¡¯s aplishments in the Misty Wood, he wasn¡¯t afraid of being surrounded at all. That was ignoring Qianye¡¯s earth-shattering attack from just now. Kong Fangyuan knew that he couldn¡¯t evade this powerful shot even with his many guards.

    At a time like this, the Kong family¡¯s name waspletely useless. Qianye only needed to finish them off entirely, and all traces of the deed would vanish before long. Who would know it was he who did it? Kong Fangyuan was quite practical in this area. No amount of prestige was as important as survival.

    Qianye remained silent for a while before speaking, ¡°You say you have no bad intentions. Where¡¯s your sincerity?¡±

    ¡°Sincerity¡­ Ah! Yes, sincerity!¡± Kong Fangyuan pped his forehead in sudden realization.

    He said nothing more and immediately removed the gun from his waist. He handed the weapon to Qianye with both hands and said, ¡°This is my personal firearm. Its name is Misty Cold. The craftsmanship is not bad and there¡¯s a story behind it as well. The gun has always been a treasure of our Kong family, and I only managed to obtain it two years ago because of a great contribution to the n. It¡¯s just that my strength is insufficient to use Misty Cold freely. I saw just now that general¡¯s twin revolvers are just a bitcking. Treasures need to be held by worthy heroes, so I would like to gift this gun to you, hoping it¡¯ll help strengthen your might! I hope the general won¡¯t forget our Kong family in the future, even if you don¡¯t remember me.¡±

    These words were spoken with great sincerity, almost as though they came from the very depths of his being. Qianye might¡¯ve believed them had he not been standing here all this time. These aristocratic scions were indeed extraordinary in certain aspects. Everything they say seemed like the truth, and even Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth couldn¡¯t discern their authenticity.

    Misty Cold was built in a simple yet elegant single-barrel design. The flowing clouds decorating the gun¡¯s body were marvelous, clearly the work of a master. The gun¡¯s shape was simr to the Red Spider Lily, but it looked somewhat more ephemeral. Of course, that was just aparison of external appearance¡ªMisty Cold had nothing on the Red Spider Lily when it came to the intrinsic spirit. One was a weapon at the peak of grade seven, while the other was a Grand Magnum of the generation. There was nothing topare between them.

    Arrays had already developed to the point where there were all kinds of origin powered firearms; moreover, theirplexity was only increasing by the day. However, the most primitive single-barrel gun had never fallen into disuse since simplicity allowed for greater upgrade potential. Hence, there was nock of famed guns left in the world, and most of them possessed formidable special powers.

    As Kong Fangyuan¡¯s beloved weapon, this Misty Cold was naturally special. In addition to its extraordinary artistic value, a shot from it would engulf the surrounding thirty-meters in surging clouds¡ªthe scene was extremely romantic, almost as though the shooter were standing in a dreamy immortal realm.

    This wasn¡¯t just for decoration, though. In truth, these clouds could suppress all origin power within its range. This was a powerful weapon in groupbat and seemed to be extremely effective in clearing away minor enemy troops. However, its true use was domain suppression. The clouds produced by this gun was highly damaging to domains. If twobatants of the same realm were to cross swords, the one holding Misty Cold would gain a considerable advantage.

    Kong Fangyuan bringing this weapon out was a huge sacrifice¡ªhe was buying his life.

    Qianye took Misty Cold and yed around with the gun before putting it away. It was a good gun indeed. The weapon itself was at the peak of grade seven, but its special ability was worth even more.

    At full force, Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex would break down enemy domains that were even slightly inferior. Misty Cold thus held little meaning for him. Moreover, the Twin Flowers was a set of weapons personally modified by Andruil, and there might be other secrets hidden within them. Just the fact that this gun could bear the Shot of Inception without sustaining damage was worth looking into. Qianye had no intention of switching them out.

    These things, Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t tell Kong Fangyuan. Even if he couldn¡¯t use it personally, he could give it to other people. Qianye felt that the gun was fairly suited for Song Zining. This seventh young master was always quite specific about grace, regardless of time and ce. This might be one of the reasons why Song Zining couldn¡¯t beat Qianye in recent years¡ªmore often than not, he was wiping the floor before he could finish posturing.

    Qianye could imagine Song Zining waving his fan in one hand and holding Misty Cold in the other. Winds and clouds would stir around him, filling the area with an ephemeral ambiance. Who knows, maybe Song Zining¡¯s origin power would even increase if there was a group of beauties cheering him on at that time.

    Ah, it would be even more interesting if Wei Potian was in that scene. With him as an antagonist, it would set off the seventh young master¡¯s godly elegance even more.

    At the thought of this, an odd notion appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind. Would Song Zining drag Wei Potian into battle just because of this?

    Unbeknownst to Qianye, Song Zining was on an airship far away. He was reading a battle report and analyzing all the names there one by one.

    He had just reached Wei Potian¡¯s page. The Wei-n heir had produced great results during this time. At least, it was enough for his name to appear on the report. Comparatively, Qianye¡¯s report was missing from the imperial military¡¯s records because he was hunting for the Li n as an independent expert.

    Song Zining opened and closed his folding fan repeatedly, seemingly deep in thought. ¡°Mm, this fellow has some redeeming qualities after all. He¡¯s managed to train his Thousand Mountain to a stage where it possesses both form and soul. It¡¯s rather eye-catching when he uses it. This young master¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves domain has great sceneries, and I¡¯m onlycking a decorative mountain.¡±

    Qianye had no idea that his random guess was spot on, and neither did he know that Song Zining had even deeper ns.

    ¡°This wild boar has thick skin, so it¡¯ll be great to have him block dangerous attacks at the front.¡± Song Zining¡¯s thoughts were full of evil intentions.

    In the Misty Wood, Kong Fangyuan sighed in relief after seeing Qianye ept Misty Cold. The muscles on his face were no longer as tense. Things were still negotiable as long as Qianye was willing to take the item¡ªat the very least, his life was ensured.

    As expected of an aristocratic scion, he immediately struck while the iron was hot. ¡°I wonder if General Qianye has any other instructions?¡±

    Qianye searched the remains of Lu Sha¡¯s group Instead of replying. However, he found nothing of value on them, nor did he find any proof that a ¡°major character¡± was trying to kill him. It was easy to imagine that such information wouldn¡¯t exist on paper.

    Qianye pondered for a moment beforeing to a conclusion. He already had a good idea of who it was behind this assassination and might still be able to find some clues back at the base. As long as he could confirm who the target was, it was up to him how to seek revenge¡ªproof wasn¡¯t all that important.

    Qianye pointed at the corpses of Lu Sha¡¯s men and asked, ¡°Would Young Master Kong be interested in their gear?¡±

    Kong Fangyuan was startled for a moment. ¡°Yes, of course!¡±

    Kong Fangyuan understood after some thought that Qianye wanted to toss the weapons to him. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t convenient for him to deal with the equipment, or maybe he just wasn¡¯t in the mood to do so. Qianye¡¯s own gear wasn¡¯tcking. Young Dragon and East Peak were extraordinary items, so he probably wasn¡¯t interested in Lu Sha¡¯s belongings. This much was clear from Qianye¡¯s indifference toward Misty Cold.

    The fact that these items couldn¡¯t impress Qianye didn¡¯t mean they were inferior. The entire fortune of these lone experts was in their equipment, which were all grade six to grade seven. After all, they needed to be alive in order to spend the money they earn. There was really nothing special about the grade seven ones, but some of the grade six items were premium goods with special abilities. Thetter might prove to be powerful weapons when used correctly in the battlefield and were thus more useful than ordinary grade-seven gear.

    Kong Fangyuan himself couldn¡¯t use them, but it was very well suited for the elite experts under him. So, he immediately agreed to it.

    There was also a different reason for this¡ªKong Fangyuan knew that Misty Cold wasn¡¯t enough to buy his life since Qianye could take the weapon all the same after killing him. Now, things were just about right after taking these items in.

 Volume 6 - 628: Discussing Contributions Again

    [V6C158 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Kong Fangyuan thought quite highly of himself and refused to believe that his life could be measured with money. However, it had always been an unwritten rule for thousands of years that aristocratic descendants of every grade had a value attached to them. This consensus allowed the human aristocracy to preserve their strength despite the in-fighting and prevent rtionships from openly deteriorating despite the civil strife. Naturally, this was up until the point where the enmity could be controlled.

    Kong Fangyuan knew his own status and approximate value. A Misty Cold plus a sum of money was indeed enough to express his sincerity.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know this rule, but he felt Kong Fangyuan was showing enough good faith. He might form an actual feud with the Kong family if he continued squeezing him. In any case, there was no major hostility between the two of them¡ªa minor punishment like this was enough.

    Without the need for Kong Fangyuan¡¯s instructions, some of his subordinates stripped Lu Sha¡¯s group and proceeded to appraise the equipment one by one. As per Kong Fangyuan¡¯s instructions, the price they offered was more than just fair¡ªit was roughly thirty percent above market price. On his own, it would¡¯ve been considered quite good if Qianye could sell them for eighty percent of the market price. The fifty percent discrepancy was the extra money paid for the man¡¯s life.

    Qianye had noints about this arrangement. All in all, Kong Fangyuan owed him two lives, so it was fine to let him bleed a bit.

    All of these came down to tens of thousands of gold coins for the equipment on Lu Sha¡¯s group. Kong Fangyuan hadn¡¯t brought that much cash since he was here to hunt. Pooling together everything he and his subordinates had at the moment, the man paid half of this amount on the spot with ck crystals and special ammunition. The other half was promised in the form of a letter of debt, which he penned personally. A part of the remainder would be paid in the form of a feudal industry while the rest Qianye could withdraw from any Kong family estate.

    This move was quite clever and well thought out as it would increase Qianye¡¯s ties to the Kong family. These dealings would also make it convenient to develop a good rtionship with him, hence owing money wasn¡¯t a bad thing as long as they didn¡¯t renege on the promise. Qianye was now a valuable target worth roping in, and failing that, they could still request his help in certain matters.

    Qianye paid no heed to Kong Fangyuan¡¯s intentions. Thetter¡¯s handling of matters was considered fair and ¡°sincere¡±, and any future rtionship would only provide him with extra connections. Qianye¡¯s spatial ne had been filled to the brim with spoils, and he currently needed the means to dump them¡ªthe Yuanyin Lu Family alone wasn¡¯t quite enough. Moreover, Qianye didn¡¯t want to put his trust in a single family. As for those sisters they had mentioned, Qianye wasn¡¯t interested at all since he already had Nighteye.

    After concluding the deal on good terms, Qianye said his farewells and walked into the forest. The Kong family managed to breathe a sigh of relief only after he was gone¡ªeveryone was drenched in cold sweat.

    Qianye¡¯s steps faltered after distancing himself from everyone and confirming that he wasn¡¯t being followed. He nearly fell to the ground as the wound at his back opened up and blood sprayed out like an arrow.

    The injuries on Qianye¡¯s body weren¡¯t as light as they seemed to be. The stab to his back was fairly serious because the assassin had poured all of his origin power into Qianye¡¯s body, a force simr to igniting an origin grenade. It was that man¡¯s killing move. Indiscernible yet extremely powerful, any ordinary champion would¡¯ve had his organs shattered in a single stab. Even if they didn¡¯t die on the spot, they would hardly have any strength left to retaliate.

    However, Qianye possessed a vampire''s constitution which afforded him much greater strength in every part of his body. Solely in terms of physique, it could be said that he was no longer human. That final Shot of Inception had added injuries on top of injuries and deprived Qianye of the ability to continue fighting.

    It was just that Qianye was just as calm as before. Not only did he apply medicine to his injuries in front of the Kong family entourage, but he also stayed behind to check the corpses and even went on to negotiate with Kong Fangyuan. All this time, he seemed to be quite calm and showed no signs of urgency, leading the Kong family members to believe that Qianye¡¯s wound was stable.

    After leaving them, the healing of Qianye¡¯s wounds was only a matter of time. With the wild beasts and tree sap in the Misty Wood, there was a virtually endless supply of both essence blood and origin distite. It was only natural to recover quickly under such circumstances¡ªhe waspletely fine after one day and night.

    Qianye set out on his return journey immediately after his injuries had been dealt with. This time, he was prepared to have a good talk with this ¡°major character¡±.

    The flow of people through the Li family base gates was just as bustling. It was just that there was a fair number of injured soldiers among them, a testament to the escting cruelty of the war. Qianye saw an opening near the airship port used specifically to store the coffins of fallen soldiers. The wooden caskets sat silently on the empty grounds, awaiting their turn to return to the empire.

    There were almost a thousand coffins in the area, and the scene was inexplicably lonely and somber. After running into the Kong familybat squad, Qianye understood that even aristocratic units wouldn¡¯t be able to bring back all of their dead. This also applied to the private armies¡ªthey would even have to leave the corpses of main family scions if the situation was too dire.

    A thousand caskets here meant that ten times this number had died in the Misty Wood. Qianye was somewhat startled to find that the war had unknowingly escted to such a state.

    After experiencing numerous unpleasant situations during the exchange of contribution points, Qianye went straight to Li Weishi and brought him along for the process.

    Li Weishi smiled along the way and said, ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t need to worry. The n lord sent people over to teach the second elder a firm lesson after that matter blew up. He¡¯s much more reserved in his actions right now. At the very least, he won¡¯t make the same mistake again since it would give the n lord a good excuse to strip him of his status.¡±

    Qianye nodded, however, he knew that Li Tianquan must hate him to the bone for this and the Li family¡¯s overall impression of him wouldn¡¯t be that great, either. They had admonished the second elder mainly because the huge fuss had affected the Li family¡¯s prestige, but not because they were remorseful about how Qianye was treated. In other words, Li Tianquan was punished for bad management and not for being unjust.

    Qianye didn¡¯t point out the details behind this matter and only followed Li Weishi to the contribution exchange area. There, he once again mmed that man-sized box onto the ground and drew everyone¡¯s immediate attention. People crowded over with a swoosh, some even ignoring their own exchange business.

    Li Weishiughed wryly upon seeing the situation. ¡°Brother Qianye, do we really need to be so high-profile?¡±

    His initial idea was to bring Qianye into the internal area and find an isted room to count the contribution points. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would stop in the public exchange area.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Qianye was nonchnt.

    Li Weishi couldn¡¯t say much after seeing Qianye¡¯s insistence and had no other choice but to summon a number of logistics officers. Qianye¡¯s trunk was extremely heavy, and no one knew how much proof of contribution he had stuffed inside. It was better to have more hands on site than not.

    Countless proof of contribution burst out as the box was opened¡ªthere was virtually every kind one could think of.

    A dozen-odd officers spent an hour counting them, and the rechecking process took just as long. After working well past noon, everything was finallypleted and registered into the books.

    Li Weishi nced at the booklet and almost jumped off his seat. ¡°T-This¡­ how is this possible?¡±

    ¡°Too little?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Li Weishi¡¯s face twitched somewhat. ¡°Little? It¡¯s too much! Did you pige a mighty count¡¯s castle?¡±

    ¡°More or less.¡±

    Li Weishi almost wanted to cough up blood at Qianye¡¯s reply. He felt that it was impossible for Qianye to raid a count¡¯sir no matter how powerful he was. Even if he was indeed capable of this, there weren¡¯t any strongholds in the Misty Wood for him to raid.

    But the words first-rate merit written on the registration booklet were as clear as day. They were deeply imprinted into his heart and simply wouldn¡¯t go away.

    What kind of person could kill his way to a first-rate merit in such a short time?

    The dark races weren¡¯t sheep waiting to be ughtered. On the contrary, they were even fiercer than leopards and tigers¡ªcountless imperial experts hunting for contribution points had fallen in their hands. Li Weishi held an important position in the Li family and was thus privy to a fair amount of secret intelligence. Throughout the empire¡¯stest round of battles¡ªincluding those under the Iron Curtain¡ªfirst ce Bai Aotu had obtained a standard first-rate merit, and second ce Zhao Jundu, an inferior first-rate merit.

    Thinking about how Qianye had actually umted enough for a standard first-rate merit, it could be considered terrifying.

    Li Weishi¡¯s heart trembled. At first, he thought he had been overestimating Qianye, but now it would seem that he had actually been underestimating him. There was a reason to everything¡ªno matter how Qianye had obtained these contributions, it meant that he had the ability to suppress most of the other aristocratic families in the Misty Wood on his own.

    Judging from this, Qianye had already reached Zhao Jundu¡¯s level, and he was bound to reach the divine champion rank in the future.

    Li Weishi hands slipped at the thought of this, and the registry fell onto the table with a bang. He came to after a while and said self-deprecatingly, ¡°How embarrassing, I was actually shocked.¡±

    But the surrounding crowd was actually drowned in absolute silence. All of them stared fixedly at the booklet withplicated emotions.

    The words first-rate merit had been revealed to everyone when the book fell just now.

    Countless eyes fell upon Qianye, but this time, only a few of them were gazes of jealousy. The rest were all expressions of apprehension and contemtion.

    The current situation was different from before. With the arrival of numerous imperial aristocratic families, the dark race side had also increased their troop strength. The difficulty of harvesting contribution points had increased countless timespared to when the base was first established.

    It might¡¯ve been possible that Qianye¡¯s previous inferior first-rate merit involved some loopholes, but this time, his contributions were simply too great. Everyone felt embarrassed afterparing their own to his.

    Qianye was an independent hunter who didn¡¯t belong to any aristocratic family. Even though he wore an army general¡¯s rank, there was no actual affiliation. All the aristocratic family members were wary of such experts who acted on their own and possessed greatbat strength. People weren¡¯t willing to offend these people because they were free of restrictions and could do anything once they were desperate. The aristocracy involved many families and industries, and there were sure to be less defended ces. The problems involved weren¡¯t small once they were targeted by an independent expert.

    Ordinary n scions might dare challenge Zhao Jundu because thetter had the Zhao n behind him. His support was also his binding; he couldn¡¯t just kill anyone without good reason. Things were different for someone like Qianye. There was no telling if or when he would start a massacre following a brief conflict. That was the type of person the aristocracy feared the most.

    Those capable ofing here with theirbat squads were the core members of their respective families. These people simply exchanged a couple of nces before radiant smiles appeared on their countenance.

 Volume 6 - 629: Trade

    [V6C159 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye¡¯sbat strength had long since exceeded the scope of the aristocracy¡¯s control. Ordinary families would need to mobilize in full force and n an ambush in order to kill him. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s aplishments and data proved that long-distance raids were his forte. Such an expert might still escape despite being hunted by many experts. Failing to kill him was akin to sowing the seeds of destruction¡ªa lower-ranked aristocratic family might just disappear under the constant assassinations and ambushes that would follow.

    As such, the aristocraticbat squads present quickly assumed a friendly standpoint. Even if they couldn¡¯t rope him in, it was important that they didn¡¯t offend him.

    Qianye nced at Li Weishi with a smile. ¡°Oh? Even Elder Supervisor Li has such a moment?¡±

    Li Weishi smiled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s not the first time since I met you. What are your ns now?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°With Supervisor Li here, I won¡¯t trouble myself with these matters. I have some time, so I¡¯ll be visiting some people.¡±

    Li Weishi nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine, leave the things here to me.¡±

    Qianye said goodbye and left the contribution exchange area.

    Li Weishi was someone who had seen countless winds and waves throughout his life. How could he lose hisposure to such an extent that he would drop the register on the floor? It was done deliberately to let all the aristocratic families see how much contribution points Qianye had harvested. This would serve as proof and effectively deter Li Tianquan from tampering with the numbers.

    This wasn¡¯t a small favor at all, and Qianye remembered this well. His opinion of the Li family was thus divided¡ªhe decided it best to consider each of them individually and not lump everyone together.

    Many people followed Qianye as he walked out of the exchange area. Some of the more reserved people invited him to pay a short visit to their family camps, while the impatient ones stated their offers right on the street.

    Qianye neither refused nor epted any of these offers. He only told them that he would remain in the base for a few days and that they should discuss things slowly. This was something he had learned from Song Zining. He was a raremodity at the moment, so there was no harm in putting things off forter. These aristocratic families were sure to keep raising the price tag. Even if Qianye had no intention to ept their recruitment, there was really no harm in understanding his own worth.

    Qianye went over to the main hall to check thetest battle reports and listen to the experts¡¯ chatter before heading toward the main camp.

    At this moment, Li Tianquan was preparing a pot of good tea. For some reason, however, he felt restless and kept making mistakes in his fire control. The tea produced in the end seemed no different from his usual batch but the taste was actually inferior, and this slight difference tasted extremely bad to Li Tianquan.

    He picked up the teapot in his frustration and wanted to smash it against the wall. However, his hand froze halfway in the air¡ªhe had tossed countless teapots this month, and the one in his hand was the only good pot he had left. He would have nothing left to use if he broke this one.

    Li Tianquan suppressed the surging blood in his heart and gradually lowered his hand. At this moment, there came a knock on the door, followed by the gentle voice of a female clerk. ¡°Elder, Qianye wishes to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± The teapot fell to the ground and shattered.

    Qianye didn¡¯t wait for a response. He simply walked in on his own and smiled indifferently after seeing the shattered teapot on the ground. ¡°Elder Li seems to be in a bad mood?¡±

    Li Tianquan could no longer conceal his impatience. He said with a cold snort, ¡°How can this old man be in a good mood after seeing you?¡±

    Qianye pulled a chair over and took his seat. ¡°But my mood is pretty good when I see you.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression sank, but he didn¡¯t flip out immediately. Instead, he turned to the clerk and said, ¡°You leave first and close the door. No one is to enter without my order.¡±

    The clerk had an odd expression on her face. The second elder liked things neat and tidy, but now there were pieces of broken chinaware all over the floor. It was rare for him to leave such a mess uncleaned. But thedy knew her ce and understood that this wasn¡¯t something she should be curious about. She thus left obediently and closed the door to the room.

    Li Tianquan returned to his desk and calmly took his seat. ¡°What business does General Qianye have with this old man?¡±

    Qianye looked straight at Li Tianquan. ¡°Lu Sha is dead.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s entire body jolted as he lost hisposure entirely. He remained silent for a long while before asking, ¡°How did he die?¡±

    ¡°I killed them, not a single one escaped.¡±

    Li Tianquan broke into augh. ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°They attacked me because a certain ¡®major character¡¯ wanted my life.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression remained unchanged. He said while stroking his beard, ¡°That¡¯s also normal. They were a group of fugitives to begin with. They won¡¯t take action without benefits.¡±

    Qianye decided not to argue against Li Tianquan since he was trying so hard to wash his hands of this matter. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll excuse myself.¡±

    The elder was startled. ¡°Did youe here just to tell me this?¡±

    ¡°Elder Li is an intelligent person, so I felt that telling you this much was enough. But since Elder Li wants a clear answer, I¡¯ll just speak frankly. Who do you think is more powerful? Me or Lu Sha¡¯s group?¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression was livid. ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? Are you trying to threaten me?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Lu Sha¡¯s group died in my hands. Whatever they can do, I can do so much better. Don¡¯t forget that they were a group of three, whereas I am on my own.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression turned downcast and his robes fluttered about without any wind. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re my match with that puny cultivation of yours?¡±

    Qianyeughed coldly. ¡°I might not be at the moment, but it¡¯s not that easy for you to kill me, either. Your current cultivation and status are rather high, so I can¡¯t touch you for the moment. But you¡¯ll surely slip up one day¡ªyou still need to eat and rest after all. It just so happens that I know some sniping. It might take three years, five years, or even a decade, but unless you stop appearing in public from now on, I¡¯ll definitely find the opportunity.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression was terribly dark. It would indeed be a thorny problem if he were targeted by someone like Qianye.

    At this point, Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Even if you hole up in your house and nevere out, you still have family members.¡±

    Li Tianquan was both shocked and furious. He leapt out of his seat and shouted, ¡°You dare?!¡±

    Qianye looked straight at Li Tianquan without shrinking back. ¡°Since you want my life, why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡±

    Li Tianquan stared intently at Qianye with origin power surging throughout his body. The six vortices were as dazzling as miniature suns.

    Qianye remained seated as before. He only had two origin vortices and their glow was somewhat weaker than the old man¡¯s. Yet under the great pressure, they still remained unextinguished, so much so that they didn¡¯t even sway.

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression shifted rapidly between fury and hesitation. He couldn¡¯t make up his mind, but it seemed he would attack at any moment.

    Qianye, on the other hand, was sitting calmly¡ªclearly, he had already made preparations to fight.

    But Li Tianquan was, after all, someone of high status. He quickly regained his calm and went straight to the point. ¡°Are you so confident that you can escape from my hands? Moreover, what if you do escape? Do you think the Li family will let you off if you touch my family? You will be hunted down and killed even if you run into the void!¡±

    This was the way the aristocracy did things. If their descendants were killed by amoner or an independent character, they would hunt the assant down with full force and not stop until they had captured this person, either alive or as a corpse. Some were cruel enough to involve the target¡¯s family members and would vow to wipe out their entire lineage. Such methods were naturally effective in deterring a fair part of the solitary experts.

    However, Qianye wasn¡¯t moved by this. ¡°That¡¯s a possibility, of course, but it¡¯s unsure how many of your offspring will remain alive at that time. Moreover, such a matter will surely spread far and wide. How much of your Li family¡¯s prestige will remain? The Li family might not let me off, but how much better will your fate be? At the very least, you¡¯ll lose your family and your status.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression was beyond unsightly. His handling of Qianye¡¯s case wasn¡¯t appropriate at all. It was fine if he could keep things under control, but the Li family¡¯s reputation would hit rock-bottom if it were to blow up. As the source of all this, Li Tianquan would definitely be held responsible. Not only would his authority be revoked, but it was also quite likely that he himself would be sent to the battlefield. There, he would fight unto his death as a final contribution to the family.

    It was easy to climb to a high position, buting back down was hard. For someone like him, losing power was even more ufortable than losing his life. Even if the n lord was lenient enough to let him live out his old age, it would be a life no different from death. With such an oue, it was no different from mutual destruction even if Qianye was hunted down by the Li family.

    Li Tianquan was naturally indignant. He was a character of such high status, and in his eyes, Qianye¡¯s life waspletely worthless. How could he be willing to go down together with thetter?

    Li Tianquan finally calmed himself and said, ¡°What do you want? Speak openly.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Lu Sha¡¯s group was professional if nothing else and paid with their lives in order toplete this mission. Hence, although I¡¯m still very much alive, you should still pay them. I¡¯ll reluctantly receive this payment in their stead.¡±

    Li Tianquan was dumbfounded as he had never expected Qianye to make such a demand. His first thought was about how brazen this Qianye was to seek remuneration after killing Lu Sha¡¯s group, but then again, he felt that things were easier if all Qianye wanted was money.

    Just as Li Tianquan was thinking, Qianye added, ¡°Oh right, Lu Sha¡¯s group sacrificed themselves in the line of duty. ording to the rules of the trade, you have to pay gratuity.¡±

    Li Tianquan had just recovered his calm when these words caused a fishy smell to well up in his throat¡ªhe almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Qianye! Don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°You know what Lu Sha¡¯s group would do if they were alive and had not received their money. Not to mention trading blood for money is a great deal for Elder Li. Money spent can be earned again, people like us should value our lives more.¡±

    Li Tianquan was livid. In the end, he clenched his teeth and said, ¡°I can give you the money, but this matter ends here!¡±

    Qianye smiled radiantly. ¡°This matter ends here.¡±

    These words were spoken with great stress. He believed Li Tianquan would understand his intention.

    The elder stood up and moved a painting on the wall behind him. He then tapped a couple of times on the wall to open up a secret door. Li Tianquan took out a suitcase and said through gritted teeth, ¡°It¡¯s all here.¡±

    Qianye opened the case and found pieces of high-purity ck crystals arranged in neat stacks. A rough estimate of their value would be sixty to seventy thousand gold coins. Even selling the equipment on Lu Sha¡¯s group didn¡¯t fetch as much money. A single deal was equal to their group¡¯s entire fortune¡ªno wonder these people were willing to offend the Kong family in order to kill him.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± Qianye closed the box and patted it a couple of times before making for the door. He turned back just before leaving, almost as though he had just remembered something. ¡°Oh right, Elder Li, I almost forgot to tell you that I brought back quite a lot of contribution points this time. You should make sufficient preparations in advance, lest you fail to honor our wager and ruin the Li family¡¯s reputation.¡±

 Volume 6 - 630: Merits

    [V6C160 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression turned pale after Qianye left, and a bad feeling arose in his heart. The Storm Pearl was a limited object, of which there wasn¡¯t a single extra stock. There were still reserves of Stillwater Rebirth in the n, but Li Tianquan would need to inform the family in advance. How could he take one out just like that?

    The second elder sat dazed for a moment before he shot up and summoned the clerk. ¡°Fetch the contributions register, immediately!¡±

    However, the female clerk was already holding a booklet. She said with a strange expression, ¡°Elder, the logistics department just delivered a report about an abnormality in contributions. Please take a look.¡±

    Li Tianquan grabbed the register and flipped it open. His countenance turned deathly white upon reaching Qianye¡¯s page. Unable to calm his surging emotions, he let out a muffled groan and sprayed out a mouthful of blood.

    By the time Qianye returned to his residence, the suitcase in his hand had long since be an empty container, which he tossed to a random corner. The huge volume of ck crystals had gone into Andruil¡¯s space as that was the single safest ce at hand.

    Qianye didn¡¯t remain long in his room and, instead, visited the Yinyuan Lu Family¡¯spound.

    It just so happened that the middle-aged man fromst time was also there. He rushed out immediately upon seeing Qianye, his loud voice arriving first before the person. ¡°Brother Qianye, you¡¯ve finallye! Have you thought about it? I¡¯m telling you, those sisters are top-grade. You must bring them into your room at all costs, you definitely won¡¯t regret it.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. This fatty¡¯s voice was so loud that everyone in the courtyard could hear him. Many youngsters immediately looked over with unfriendly expressions. Apparently, they had long since admired these two beauties. But the Lu family wasn¡¯t an important aristocratic family, and their power was fairly limited. Not to mention Zhao Jundu, their descendants were much inferior evenpared to Zhao Junhong. Hence, these youths could only look on with expressions of pain and envy, yet no one rushed up to court death.

    Qianye apanied the fatty into the courtyard. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say they¡¯re one of your elder¡¯s granddaughters? Aren¡¯t you afraid you¡¯ll be enemies with him by handing the girls out like presents?¡±

    The fattyughed loudly. ¡°That old man has been hoping to climb higher by relying on these two granddaughters. He even hopes to split off and form a new branch. How can I let him do as he wishes? I¡¯ve been arguing with him for several decades already, so an additional problem or two is nothing to us. Besides, he¡¯d be more than happy that I deliver his two precious granddaughters to you!¡±

    Qianye remembered that the man had introduced himselfst time as Lu Zhongyou. He was also a so-called elder of the family and held an important position.

    After finding their seats in the room, Lu Zhongyou asked with a fervent tone, ¡°Brother Qianye, do you have new goods already?¡±

    Lu Zhongyou was delighted to see Qianye¡¯s nod. ¡°It hasn¡¯t even been a month! But that¡¯s not a problem. I¡¯ve made ample preparations and transferred all the funds I can.¡°

    ¡°A bit more thanst time.¡±

    Lu Zhongyou gasped. ¡°Even more?¡±

    Although the batch of goods they had received from Qianye wasn¡¯t that big, the quality was extremely high¡ªit was almost equal to half a year of their family¡¯s trade volume in terms of value. Lu Zhongyou thus made a steep investment by transferring all avable resources over, but that wasn¡¯t entirely to buy from Qianye. They were also looking to do business with the other families. After all, there would be simr spoils of wars with the return of everybat squad. As long as the price was fair, they were willing to convert the things they couldn¡¯t use to gold coins or other resources.

    But he had never imagined Qianye would obtain another batch of goods in around one month¡¯s time. Lu Zhongyou wiped the sweat off of his brows, both shocked and delighted at heart.

    ¡°How do we collect?¡±

    ¡°Wait for me at the same ce tonight, I¡¯ll take you to the goods,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Tonight?¡± Lu Zhongyou¡¯s expression shifted slightly. Going into the Misty Wood at night wasn¡¯t an idea he was too fond of. In that ursed ce, one could hardly see ten meters ahead in the day time, much less in the night. It was no different from being blind.

    Qianye nced at the time. ¡°Yes, tonight. We set out in three hours.¡±

    From their previous experience, Lu Zhongyou guessed Qianye was still storing gear likest time. They indeed needed to rush if that were the case because no container couldst very long in the Misty Wood. A chest truly capable of withstanding the corrosion of the ground substance would be even more expensive than the weapons inside.

    Lu Zhongyou made up his mind. ¡°Tonight it is then!¡±

    At night, Qianye met up with the Lu family people outside of the base and apanied them to the ce where he had hidden the equipment. Everything went smoothly since they had worked together before, and the pouch full of ck crystals which Lu Zhongyou had prepared beforehand entered Qianye¡¯s wallet. Lu Zhongyou couldn¡¯t stop smiling on his way back. With this transaction, he could ensure well over a year of the Lu family¡¯s supply of goods. At this moment, his mind was full of thoughts about how many new stores he could open up, as well as how much of the profits he could share. He was thinking whether his earnings were enough to buy some new properties where he could settle those peevish little demonesses.

    Qianye, at present, had over two hundred thousand in gold coins and ck crystals, half of theming from Lu Sha¡¯s group¡ªthe spoils, their payment, and death gratuity. Even with Li Tianquan¡¯s status and power, this amount was almost half of his entire life¡¯s savings.

    How could the elder have so much money on him? It was quite likely that a substantial part of the money he had coughed up was from the base¡¯s operational budget. He would have to go through the trouble of filling up the gap afterward, but that wasn¡¯t of Qianye¡¯s concern.

    Qianye calcted his profits on the way back. He was currently holding a standard first-rate merit. With the addition of the bonus offered by the Li family, it would be a superior merit with enough to spare. A superior merit of the empire required one to kill an honored marquis or the corresponding number of enemies. This was the highest merit one could achieve by means of umtion. Above that was the sky merit.

    Conventionally, one would need to kill a duke to obtain a sky merit, and it couldn¡¯t be umted. The true meaning of this so-called sky merit was to capture the enemy in one fell swoop and shake the heavens. The fall of any duke was a big thing¡ªthe rewards involved were also enough to make one go crazy. Reportedly, the empire had built a special treasure-house to hold the rewards given out to people with a sky merit. This treasury was designed by the founding emperor himself, with the sessive emperors enriching its stock. There were already countless treasures inside.

    Sky merit wasn¡¯t something those below the divine champion rank could touch. umting a superior merit was already the highest summit an imperial general could reach. In ordance with usual procedures, Qianye could request a promotion without waiting for this war to end and join the ranks of the regr army. In light of his contributions and aplishments, it was possible for Qianye to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general as an exception and serve in the military department. He could also join an army corps or take up office in certain warzones. However, Qianye would only receive a secondary position since he was neither raised in the army nor proficient in strategy. Even so, this could be considered an instant sess since he would have formally reached the upper echelons of the imperial military.

    To others, this was a path to the heavens¡ªeven people like Zhao Yuying and Bai Aotu wouldn¡¯t abandon this opportunity. With the support of their ns, they would soon be able to control an army corps once theirbat strengths had caught up. With clever maniption, this army corps would gradually be their own private force¡ªat the very least, it would be a foundation for building one¡¯s own army in the future. A ssic example of this was Zhao Weihuang¡¯s Fire Beacon Corps.

    Perhaps only people like Zhao Jundu¡ªwho had their sights on bing a heavenly monarch since the very beginning¡ªwould pay so little heed to leading an army corps.

    The path to the heavens for other people was an infernal road to Qianye. How could a key military position be granted without investigating the recipient¡¯s background? This query was an important process that would be controlled directly by the military¡ªeven the four major ns could hardly interfere. A mishap was bound to happen after a thorough investigation since Qianye had countless secrets on him, and that was to say nothing of Nighteye.

    After arriving at the base, Qianye suddenly noticed amotion at the gates.

    A beam of flowing light shot out from the forest borders and arrived outside the base. It didn¡¯t stop there, however, and seemed like it was poised to jump over the gates.

    Qianye saw this from a distance and thought, ¡°Things are about to get messy.¡±

    As expected, the dozens of defensive towers in the base lit up at the same time. They shot out beams of snaking electricity, which duly weaved together to cover the base in a of light.

    This was a protective barrier which served both as a defensive measure and to restrict aerial movements, a system usually deployed in major imperial cities on the main continent.

    Flight was forbidden over the base apart from speciallybeled airships. It wasmon knowledge that all entry and exit was via the main gates, but the person driving the light seemed to have forgotten about the barrier in his hurry. By the time the barrier had risen, the beam of flowing light could no longer hold back its momentum.

    That person shouted furiously, ¡°Open!¡± The light sped up like a burninget and crashed straight into the barrier.

    Ripples appeared on the screen of light, which began fluctuating with great intensity. At this moment, several kic towers in the base emitted sharp whistles and spat out rolling clouds of steam. The power output increased abruptly in order to calm down the almost-copsing barrier.

    A pained roar was transmitted from the light as it bounced back and copsed onto the ground in front of the base. It was a man drenched in blood and with wounds all over his body. He was clearly putting his life on the line by hurrying in such a manner. He mbered up soon afternding, and at that time, Qianye saw that he was holding a person in his arms. The figure was fairly petite and likely a woman.

    Beams of light rose up from the base as numerous silhouettes arrived at lightning speed. All of them were Li family experts in charge of guarding the base.

    The experts were startled upon seeing the man. ¡°Brother Liu! What happened?¡±

    That man didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Lil¡¯ Zhen! Save her, please!¡±

    An expert of the Li family immediately issued an order. ¡°Let them pass quickly! Have the hospital make preparations to save Brother Liu and Madam Liu.¡±

    That expert surnamed Liu breathed a sigh of relief, but his head fell limp before he could express his thanks.

 Volume 6 - 631: Collapse

    [V6C161 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Brother Liu! General Liu!¡± The experts of the Li family examined him carefully, but then they looked at each other and shook their heads.

    Qianye saw everything from nearby. He simply didn¡¯t know how to describe the feeling in his heart. The man who had copsed was above Lu Sha in terms ofbat strength and yet he was injured to such a degree. He might not have died at the gates if he hadn¡¯t rushed back so desperately.

    Qianye looked to the side and saw a group of people waiting to enter the base. This group contained over thirty people¡ªall of them were wounded and half had to be carried back. A young warrior was sitting on a hand cart and gazing into the distance. His body was covered in bandages, and one of his legs was missing. Ordinary soldiers couldn¡¯t afford the treatment for such an injury, not even those in the aristocratic private armies. His entire life was destined to be apanied by crutches. The guards at the gate were checking those seeking entry in great detail, and not even the wounded were an exception. No amount of injury could stir any fluctuation in their eyes. Qianye knew that it wasn¡¯t because these soldiers were cold-blooded, but because they had witnessed this scene so many times that they had be numb to it.

    Qianye stood outside the base for a while, but he only saw squads on the return and none going out. This was a stark contrast to the endless stream of departing squads when the aristocratic families had started flocking to this base.

    Seeing this, Qianye felt a faint gloominess emerge in his heart.

    He didn¡¯t return to his residence after returning to the base but went to the merchant district instead. Now that there were a lot of aristocratic families in the base, the demand for trade was naturally high. The Li family was quite adept in this regard¡ªthey drew out an area in the base for different parties to do business.

    Probably due to the war, business inside the trade district was quite sparse. There were more soldiers here selling items than thoseing to browse the wares. Qianye strolled through random stalls, asionally picking up some items to see.

    Many different things were on sale in the trade district¡ªfrom weapons and ammunition to various kinds of mutant beast organs, one could find almost everything here. One of them was even selling the sapling of a giant tree. It was just that Qianye had seen how these trees developed and thus immediately knew that it was fake.

    Under normal circumstances, many independent experts would sell their spoils here. The problem was that Qianye had so many spoils on him that no one could devour the entire batch. It was much easier to sell it in one batch to the Lu family who dealt primarily in dark race weapons.

    Qianye left the trade district with a barrel of tree sap in his backpack. This item was everywhere in the forest¡ªa huge barrel cost only a thousand gold coins, and half of that value was attributed to the barrel. Not just any container could hold this tree sap.

    The tree sap wasn¡¯t sold as origin distite on the market, but instead as a natural poison. Moreover, it was poison for use against humans. Everyone was stunned after seeing Qianye buy a barrel of it and quickly adopted expressions of tacit understanding.

    After returning to his residence, Qianye put down the item and went to the bar instead of cultivating. He was nning to have a drink and rx his tense nerves.

    The bar was packed to the brim. The powerful bass seemed to be beating on the people¡¯s hearts and causing their blood to boil. This bar was one of the many bars in the base. As the war took a turn for the worse, the bar¡¯s business became more and more lively. Many people found excuses to drink: surviving, about to die soon, or to enjoy the present.

    Qianye pushed himself past a bandaged soldier and several almost-nakeddies to arrive at the bar. There, he tossed a gold coin onto the bar and said, ¡°Give me something strong, anything.¡±

    The man at the bar shot Qianye a deep nce before picking up the gold coin and cing a cup on the bar. Then, he added over half a dozen types of strong alcohol, poured some unknown white liquid into it, and ced it in front of Qianye.

    Qianye didn¡¯t drink it immediately. He sniffed it a bit and said, ¡°So much stimnts?¡±

    The man behind the counter shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t help it. Too many brothers have died these days, and this is the only way to make them feel a bit better.¡±

    Even for a bar running on the Li n territory, the stimnts used here weren¡¯t of good quality. This white liquid was the lowest grade of stimnts which contained a fair bit of impurities. That was actually the reason why it was addictive and excitatory. It was just that the euphoria brought about by the impurities had no healing effects.

    The amount of stimnts in this cup was enough to make an ordinary person copse. To Qianye, however, it was only enough to give him a floating sensation which was just right for rxing the soul and one¡¯s emotions.

    Qianye raised his ss and finished the drink in one gulp. Then he ced the cup and another coin onto the counter. ¡°One more.¡±

    An almost unnatural redness came over Qianye¡¯s face following two sses of alcohol. The mor around him drifted away and became less distinct.

    This was the kind of feeling he wanted.

    It was at this time that the entire bar quieted down, and the contrast in volume almost made people feel that the music had stopped.

    The silence onlysted for a short moment before the mor exploded once more. The sudden eruption of voices was almost deafening!

    Everyone was shouting. There was no telling if their expressions were of excitement or terror, but they were definitely fierce.

    The tipsy Qianye only caught a couple of keywords amidst the loud cries:

    ¡°The Zhang n has lost.¡±

    Everyone in the cafe rushed out, leaving only Qianye and the man behind the counter. Even the servers had vanished.

    The bartender continued washing his cups as though it was the only thing he knew in the world.

    Qianye finished the drink and sighed. ¡°This war isn¡¯t going to be easy.¡±

    ¡°It never was,¡± the man replied.

    At this moment, Qianye recalled the empire¡¯s definition of this war¡ªthe war of national fate. There was no telling how many people were having the same thought.

    The Zhang n was like the midday sun since Zhang Boqian reached the pinnacle and obtained the title of Prince Greensun. They had never lost a single open battle. Even the Evernight Council couldn¡¯t gain the upper hand despite awakening the Queen of the Night. The empire had held the upper hand since the bloody battle and the fight for void essences.

    How could the Zhang n have lost?

    It was almost as though the empire would never lose with Prince Greensun in the field and Marshal Lin doing the nning.

    Qianye suddenly stood up and walked out of the bar.

    The base was in utter chaos. There were people running about on the streets. Everyone only had one topic to discuss, and that was how the Zhang n had lost.

    An rm suddenly went off amidst the chaos, and a vigorous sound enveloped the entire base under the support of origin power. ¡°Maintain order, do not panic! Thetest report will be announced very soon. Everyone, please exercise restraint! Those who sow disorder intentionally will be executed without exception!¡±

    Several Li family experts flew into the air with their origin power released unrestrainedly. People eventually calmed down under their repeated warnings and were now waiting for thetest battle report.

    The Li family didn¡¯t make everyone wait for long. Momentster, several dozen soldiers arrived and began posting the reports in visible ces within the base. At the same time, Li Tianquan appeared above the base and said, ¡°This old man is Li Tianquan! Everyone, please remain calm. Our Li family base will not disassemble. The contribution rankings will go on as usual, and all rewards will be issued ording to their original agreements.¡±

    These words calmed everyone down a fair bit.

    Qianye recalled the geography of the floating continent. The Zhang n¡¯s defeat opened up the Zhao n behind it. On the other side was the Song n, but everyone knew they wouldn¡¯tst very long. The Evernight army¡¯s main forces were focused on the Zhang n¡¯s side with less than a third posted toward the Song n and Li family. Even so, the Song n was fighting a bitter battle and its fall was only a matter of time.

    With the Zhang n defeated and the Song n soon to follow, only the Zhao n warzone remained of the empire¡¯s foundations. There simply wasn¡¯t any leeway left. The Li n was still able to hold out because of the contribution rankings and the fact that armies couldn¡¯t be deployed in the Misty Wood. But with the Zhang and Song n both gone, the Li family base would be left hanging alone and suffer attacks from three sides. At that time, the Li family would also have to retreat toward the Zhao n if they couldn¡¯t stand the pressure.

    That was the cause of the previous chaos.

    Listening to Li Tianquan¡¯s words, however, it would seem the Li family was intent on entrenching themselves in the Misty Wood and fighting to the death here. This relieved many people, but there were also some who didn¡¯t feel quite confident. Who knew if the Li family was speaking the truth or just cating them?

    The battle reports were posted in due haste and one of them wasn¡¯t too far from Qianye. The content of the report was fairly concise. It exined that the dark races had been continuously increasing in number. It stated that the Zhang n had abandoned their fortress after a month of continuous siege and were retreating to the Zhao n warzone to regroup.

    Qianye squeezed out of the crowd after looking at the report and duly headed toward his residence. He passed by a hurriedly walking person on the way, but thetter soon turned back with a surprised expression and called out to Qianye.

    Li Weishi had a worried expression on his face and seemed somewhat startled after seeing Qianye¡¯s countenance. ¡°General Qianye, are you leaving?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s about time.¡±

    Li Weishi sighed. ¡°That¡¯s good, too. With the Zhang n gone, the war here won¡¯t be easy to fight. You better hurry if you¡¯re going back to the maind. There¡¯s a cargo ship heading back tomorrow. I¡¯ll go and talk to them and see if they can make space for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going back to the empire, only changing warzones.¡±

    Li Weishi was immediately startled. ¡°Changing warzones? There¡¯s nowhere left right now, only the Zhao n.¡±

    In truth, the Song n warzone was still intact. However, the Full Moon ins were too difficult to defend, and the Song n¡¯s strength was bottom among the four major ns. Even those peak aristocratic families could beat them. So in everyone¡¯s eyes, the Full Moon ins were already as good as lost.

    ¡°You¡¯re really going to the Zhao n?¡± Li Weishi couldn¡¯t help but ask after seeing Qianye remain silent.

    Qianye nodded.

    Astonished, Li Weishi put in great effort to dissuade him. ¡°Going to the Zhao n now is like heading to your death. Why not just remain here if you want to fight? At least there¡¯s the Misty Wood to shield you here and the dark races won¡¯t go all out with their attacks. There¡¯s a lot of room for action. Additionally, it¡¯s only one week from the contribution rankings. You¡¯re in the lead right now, but others might flip the tables. It¡¯s working for the empire all the same wherever you are.¡±

    Qianye only smiled in response to Li Weishi¡¯s persuasion and went back to his room. The man sighed deeply, his mood inexplicably gloomy.

    At this moment, two jeeps¡ªpainted in the colors of the Count of Giantfield¡¯s Yun family¡ªwere whistling toward the airship port. The cars were fully packed and carrying only simple luggage; apparently, the people on them were prepared to retreat.

    The news had just been released and yet many people were already wavering. The well-informed responded rapidly and had even finished packing because those who werete might not be able to leave. No matter how useless Li Tianquan was, he at least knew that the airship ports were under his control.

    Seeing the Count of Giantfield¡¯s entourage leaving, Li Weishi sighed with a wry smile. ¡°Everyone¡¯s smart!¡±

 Volume 6 - 632: Forced Summon

    [V6C162 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    There was a wide region between the Zhao and Bai n warzone. The geography therein was diverse with hills, intersecting valleys, and towering stone forests. There were rivers flowing through these ravines, but the rapid flow and shallow reefs made even the most seasoned swimmers feel apprehensive about going in.

    This vast area was a natural battleground. Theplicatedndform made transportation difficult, and even the most versatile of trucks couldn¡¯t get through. That was why neither the Zhao nor Zhang ns had built major strongholds here. There were only small fortifications.

    At this moment, there was a unit moving toward the Zhao n along the simple road on the valley floor. The squad was made up of several hundred people, yet there were only a dozen or so trucks among them, mostly filled with heavy equipment and wounded people. Hence, most of the soldiers could only advance on foot.

    Many of the walking soldiers were also covered in bandages, some with blood seeping out of them. Almost every vehicle was littered with bullet holes¡ªthe most unfortunate one had no roof over the driver¡¯spartment and only had half a bo left. A good jolt would cause the truck to spit outrge amounts of steam, causing the people to wonder when the car would break down entirely.

    The trucks and warriors wore the insignia of the Zhang n. Apparently, they had just withdrawn from the frontlines. Although it looked like they had just experienced a bitter fight, the troops still maintained a basic marching formation and there were no signs of low morale.

    Under the officer¡¯s orders, a truck and dozens of soldiers split off from the main unit. They began constructing defensive structures on a nearby hill, while the main army kept marching forward. Everything was executed in an orderly fashion. These details made it clear that the Zhang n private army was manned by elites, even though it wasn¡¯t all that famous.

    After traveling another ten kilometers, dozens of people split off again to build a defensive sentry while the rest kept moving forward. A small mountain appeared over the horizon with the vague outline of a castle atop it.

    The Zhang n officer picked up the binocrs and brought the castle into clear view. This wasn¡¯t a small settlement but a fort capable of holding thousands. There were several military gs flying atop its walls, and the officer¡¯s expression finally rxed a bit after seeing the words Swallow Cloud Zhao n on one of them. He sighed deeply and ordered, ¡°Send word back to the general immediately. Tell him that we¡¯ve reached the Zhao n warzone.¡±

    The captain beside him disembarked from themand vehicle, retrieved a motorcycle from the backpartment, and drove back along the same way. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared over the end of the visible road in a cloud of dust.

    At this moment, in the nearby fortress, there were seven to eight generals squeezed into a small conference room. Apart from the two from the imperial regr army, the rest were all wearing the colors of the Zhao n or the Fire Beacon Corps. This didn¡¯t lower the deterrent effect, however¡ªif anything, the pressure was rising. Everyone knew that the fighting power of the Zhao n and the Fire Beacon Corps was above even the imperial regr army.

    Positioned between the two parties was a lieutenant general with graying hair. At this moment, he was staring at the map on the table with a deep frown. To his left and right were young, stern-looking men¡ªthey looked to be barely in their thirties but were already wearing the stars of a major general. Of the generals in the room, there were actually two more below thirty years of age, and one brigadier general among them was only twenty-three. The remainder were also in their thirties with rarely anyone over forty.

    Only the two major generals belonging to the imperial regr army were around fifty years of age. Their gazes toward the contemting lieutenant general were full of reverence.

    Zhao Zhuoyan, the Fourth Young Master of the Duke Yan Lineage, had been on the battlefield since he was sixteen. To date, he has over twenty years of campaign experience with little if any losses throughout his career. It was just that his style had always been reliable and as steady as a rock¡ªdefinitely not as eye-catching as Zhao Weihuang¡¯s tempestuous approach to things. But be it in terms ofbat strength or aplishments, Zhao Zhuoyan wasn¡¯t one to be trifled with.

    Him being in charge of the Zhao n warzone on the floating continent was a testament to his abilities.

    Although Zhao Zhuoyan wasn¡¯t that famous, many in the imperial army knew of him. They were also clear that he was the most headache-inducing of opponents.

    The two imperial officers scanned the other Zhao n generals, their gazes lingering quite a while on the major general to the left of Zhao Zhuoyan. Then they looked at one another and saw deep apprehension in each other¡¯s eyes.

    Zhao Junhong was one of the Zhao n¡¯s four young nobles and could be considered one who had made a name since a young age. His fame wouldn¡¯t just stop there if it wasn¡¯t for Zhao Jundu being too dazzling. What surprised everyone was that Zhao Junhong¡¯sbat strength had kept up with his outstandingmanding abilities. He had broken through continuously and was actually rank-twelve at the moment, standing shoulder to shoulder with Zhao Jundu.

    The one sitting next to him was Zhao Junsu. He was just in his twenties yet was already a brigadier general. The four young nobles of the Zhao n were all champions at this point. They had grown from being protected by the n to people who could shoulder great responsibilities.

    On the other side was Zhao Fenglei. Although he was a fair bit older, that was onlypared to Zhao Junhong and Zhao Junsu. Regardless, he was also a major general at this point and had a ce among the young experts of the imperial army. The Zhao n still possessed Zhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi, and Zhao Yuying who more or less made up the core power of the n in this generation.

    And that was the Zhao n¡ªsaying they were a n of many talents was a gross understatement.

    At this moment, the silent Zhao Zhuoyan finally looked up at everyone around him. ¡°Rescuing the Zhang n involves our nation¡¯s fate. I believe there¡¯s no need for me to exin this. We will use Junhong¡¯s strategy for this battle. Failure is not an option! Any squad that slips up will be punished ording to militaryw. There shall be no tolerance!¡±

    Shaken by Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s stern voice, everyone expressed assent in loud voices.

    On the map, one could see nine fortresses in the vast area between the Zhang and Zhao n warzones, vaguely sectioning the battlefield into nine parts.

    Zhao Zhuoyan spoke, ¡°Now that the Zhang n has been defeated, the dark races certainly won¡¯t stop here. Their main army is on the chase and they¡¯ll likely advance by splitting into different routes. These nine fortresses are important¡ªwe must dy the dark race army as much as we can and allow time for the Zhang n to retreat into our defensive zone. Apart from the three first-line strongholds, the others must hold out for three days. I will organize reinforcements to provide support three dayster.¡±

    All eyes fell upon the nine fortresses. Even those who weren¡¯t familiar with military affairs would know how difficult it must be to hold the dark race army with these hastily built fortifications. It was a lethal mission, to say the least.

    Seeing everyone¡¯s serious expression, Zhao Junhong said with a radiant smile, ¡°This battle isn¡¯t entirely hopeless. To the dark race army, chasing the Zhang n is more important than uprooting tiny fortresses. As long as we can withstand the first wave of attacks, the opponents will only leave a small restraining squad and shift the main army away to continue their chase.¡±

    The two imperial generals nodded with relieved expressions.

    These nine fortresses were of the utmost importance to this operation. Zhao Zhuoyan looked around and said, ¡°Generals, you may choose which fortresses you want.¡±

    Everyone frowned and fell into silent contemtion. Choosing a fortress depended not only on oneself but also on the generals nearby. In a fierce battle, a sessful defense would depend on how well neighboring strongholds could work together and cover each other¡¯s backs. The three first-line fortresses would meet the enemy first and thus required two generals assigned to them. After aplishing their mission, the first-line defense forces would retreat to the second-line strongholds and join them, and so on and so forth.

    It was at this time that Zhao Junsu stood up and was just about to point at the first-line strongholds.

    Zhao Zhuoyan didn¡¯t wait for him to speak before saying, ¡°Junsu, you will defend stronghold number seven.¡±

    Zhao Junsu was startled. ¡°Why?¡±

    Number seven was on the third line of defense, closest to the Zhao n base. It was also where the pressure was the lightest of all. Although there would surely be nking dark race squads, their strength was far inferior to the main army in pursuit of the Zhang n forces.

    Zhao Zhuoyan said with a serious expression, ¡°This is war, not a child¡¯s game. You¡¯re not strong enough to hold the first-line fortress.¡±

    Zhao Junsu was livid and somewhat indignant, but Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s authority was absolute. The former couldn¡¯t go against an issued order in public. Thus, he had no choice but to sit down with a gloomy expression.

    Following Zhao Junsu¡¯s first move, a number of other generals started picking their defensive positions. Zhao Zhuoyan would guard the central point on his own, facilitating his coordination with the surrounding areas. Zhao Junhong, Zhao Fenglei, and the two imperial major generals picked the first-line fortresses.

    It was at this time that Zhao Fenglei spoke up, ¡°No matter what arrangements we make, the entire defensive line is still quite frail. We don¡¯t have enough hands!¡±

    Zhao Zhuoyan replied calmly, ¡°Zhao Yuying will arrive tomorrow with two generals from the n.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei shook his head. ¡°Even with Yuying, it¡¯s still far from enough.¡±

    How could Zhao Zhuoyan not see what even Zhao Fenglei could? He said with a slow sigh, ¡°There¡¯s no other option. The dark race army is vast, and even the Zhang n has been defeated. How can there be any easy fights? The imperial fleets in the void are also locked in a bitter confrontation with the enemy. We¡¯ll only be able to breathe easy when they manage to win and stop the dark races from sending more troops in.¡±

    What if they lost? The possibility urred to more than one person, but they didn¡¯t want to continue thinking about this. The defeat of the imperial fleets would bring about the eventual annihtion of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the void continent¡ªperhaps only a handful of aristocratic disciples and powerful people might escape.

    Zhao Fenglei suddenly said, ¡°This war is important, yet our Zhao n hasn¡¯t been putting all of its power to use.¡±

    These words drew all attention onto him. Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s expression remained unchanged and no one could really tell what he was thinking. ¡°What makes you say that?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei sighed. ¡°Have you all forgotten about Qianye?¡±

    Zhao Zhuoyan frowned slightly but said nothing.

    Zhao Fenglei continued, ¡°With Qianye and Zhao Jundu disrupting the dark races from the outside, their army will be distracted from an all-out siege on the strongholds. Our defensive pressure will also decrease a fair bit.¡±

    Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s brows rose slightly, but he sighed in the end. ¡°Qianye chose to be an independent hunter and is now fighting in the Li family warzone. He is, after all, not our Zhao n member and he does not hold office in our army, either. I have no authority to transfer him.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei sneered. ¡°How is he not our Zhao n member? He¡¯s registered to our fourth young master¡¯s secondary residence. Besides, we¡¯re struggling with our lives on the line here while he¡¯s fighting for his own rewards over there. Isn¡¯t that too inexcusable? I think desperate times call for desperate measures. For the bigger picture, I suggest we issue a conscription order andmand him to return immediately!¡±

    Zhao Junhong shot up from his seat and roared, ¡°You can¡¯t!¡±

 Volume 6 - 633: Sacrifice

    [V6C163 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Why not?¡± Zhao Fenglei retorted.

    Zhao Junhong red at him before turning to Zhao Zhuoyan. ¡°Everyone knows that Qianye is already at the top of the Li family rankings and thepetition is drawing to a close. The moment at present is the most critical. If Qianye can keep on killing and hold the leading position, we¡¯re talking about a Storm Pearl and a Stillwater Rebirth!¡±

    Everyone in the room drew in cold breaths. Even without considering its hidden effects, the one known to everyone was enough to make everyone go crazy for it. Not to mention bing a divine champion, who here would dare say they could cultivate to rank-seventeen?

    Aplicated expression shed through Zhao Fenglei¡¯s eyes. ¡°No matter how good the thing is, that¡¯s just Qianye¡¯s own profit. What does it have to do with our Zhao n or the bigger picture? For the bigger picture, for the entire Zhao n, is it not proper for Qianye to make a small sacrifice?¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s chest heaved slightly, but he managed to maintain his calm. ¡°General Zhuoyan has spoken, Qianye isn¡¯t our n member and we have no authority over him. What reason do we have to make this sacrifice?¡±

    Zhao Fenglei chuckled spuriously. He looked at Zhao Junhong and said in a drawn-out voice, ¡°This Qianye¡­ is he really not from our Zhao n? Heh, heh, people from the Duke Chengen Residence indeed look after each other, the rumors aren¡¯t wrong. But what¡¯s so special about this Qianye that your branch favors him so much?¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression gradually turned cold and his gaze, increasingly sharp¡ªhe was waiting for Zhao Fenglei to say the important words. It would seem thetter had caught wind of certain things. There was no telling how much he knew about Qianye¡¯s true identity. If he dared speak carelessly, Zhao Junhong would have sufficient reason to seize him on the spot.

    But Zhao Fenglei stopped there with a crafty glint flickering in his eyes. He didn¡¯t continue down this path and, instead, said frivolously, ¡°Besides, it¡¯s just a mere Storm Pearl¡­¡±

    Zhong Junhong could hold it no longer. He banged the table all of a sudden and roared, ¡°A mere Storm Pearl?! Not to mention the fact that it¡¯s a priceless treasure, have you in your thirty years of life ever earned one? You don¡¯t even have the ability, so what gives you the right to boast shamelessly here?¡±

    The harsh words drowned the conference room in silence. No one had expected the calm and gentle Zhao Junhong to speak without leaving any face. Moreover, it was against Zhao Fenglei, Duke Yan¡¯s hope and future sessor.

    Zhao Fenglei was bbergasted. His blood and qi surged inside him¡ªhe could hardly believe what he had just heard.

    The two imperial generals nced at one another before sitting straight up and gazing motionlessly at the table in front of them. It was as though there was a stunning beauty or a peerless weapon therein. This was the Zhao n¡¯s family affair, and the ones in confrontation were two of the most influential people in their younger generation¡ªbeing dragged into an undeserved cmity was thest thing they wanted.

    Zhao Fenglei came to only after a while. He pointed at Zhao Junhong and almost couldn¡¯t form his words. ¡°You! You, you actually said such things to me? Do you still have our Duke Yan Residence in your eyes? Have you no consideration of our Duke Yan Residence¡¯s prestige?!¡±

    Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good at all. He was, after all, Duke Yan¡¯s son and themander-in-chief of the void continent war. Zhao Junhong¡¯s words also made him lose face.

    Zho Junhong only sneered, ¡°Did you care about the Duke Chengen Residence just now? Besides, if even someone of your ability bes Duke Yan, I still have no need to give you any face!¡±

    These words were resolute and decisive¡ªZhao Fenglei was absolutely livid and couldn¡¯t even speak. He only repeated the words, ¡°Good, good! Remember your words well!¡±

    If it were anyone else, Zhao Fenglei would¡¯ve long since issued a challenge because he would have to beat the opponent up in order to vent his anger. Even if he went too far with his attacks or used an underhanded move, he could use his status to suppress everything. However, Zhao Junhong was no ordinary person. Thetter¡¯s position a couple of years ago was inferior to Zhao Fenglei, but he had risen meteorically in both military affairs andbat strength during recent years. His status was now slightly above Zhao Fenglei¡¯s.

    This was what Zhao Fenglei hated the most because many of his dominant methods were now useless.

    Zhao Zhuoyan let out a cough and said in a deep voice, ¡°Enough, what a scandal! Haven¡¯t you two lost enough of the Zhao n¡¯s face?¡±

    Zhao Junhong snorted and sat down slowly. Zhao Fenglei also went back to his seat¡ªhe seemed angry, but he was actually relieved at the chance to exit the stage.

    Zhao Zhuoyan looked at Zhao Junhong and said, ¡°Junhong, this battle is indeed important. This isn¡¯t about letting go of past enmity, but can you perhaps tell Qianye toe and reinforce us? If he returns, our chances of sess will increase by twenty percent.¡±

    As themander of the army, Zhao Zhuoyan felt quite tempted by Zhao Fenglei¡¯s suggestion. He was themander in name when, in truth, he was merely in charge of the actual battle¡ªthere was Duke You Zhao Xuanji overseeing the operation as a whole. He might be reced anytime if the battles didn¡¯t go smoothly.

    Zhao Junhong merely sneered. ¡°My words still stand. Bring out a Storm Pearl if you want to summon Qianye. Otherwise, I won¡¯t get involved and don¡¯t even think about asking me to send word. As for pressing him into service, heh, heh, try it if you dare!¡±

    Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s expression was ugly, but he said nothing. Zhao Fenglei, on the other hand, was furious. He banged on the table and roared, ¡°Your Duke Chengen lineage is full of selfish people who can¡¯t see the bigger picture! It was the same with Princess Gaoyi back then, and today, it is no different with the young generation. Are you going to take responsibility if the battle situation crumbles?¡±

    Zhao Zhuoyan immediately shouted, ¡°Silence! How dare you spout nonsense about the princess?!¡±

    Zhao Fenglei repeatedly said yes but then added, ¡°I was only indignant about the injustice.¡±

    Back then, Duke Yan¡¯s son, Zhao Zhuofeng, had also sought Princess Gaoyi¡¯s hand in marriage, but the results were as everyone knew it. Zhao Weihuang married the princess and finally founded the Duke Chengen lineage.

    That was the reason why the Duke Yan Residence and the Duke Chengen Residence had always been at odds.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s expression was as gloomy as a cold river. Although he was young, he had been leading great armies for a long time. At this moment, he steeled his expression with an austere dignity and said, ¡°Speaking of the battle, humph! The battle situation won¡¯t deteriorate if everyone here has the will to fight to the death and doesn¡¯t think about fleeing midway. As for how our Duke Chengen lineage does things, it¡¯s not Zhao Fenglei¡¯s turn to offer criticism.¡±

    Seeing Zhao Junhong¡¯s unyielding attitude, Zhao Zhuoyan heaved a sigh and made to drop this subject. All the other generals had nothing to say, either. Many people recalled how the Duke Chengen lineage still had Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi¡ªthe two siblings were simply too dazzling, so much so that people had subconsciously stopped thinking of them as people from the younger generation.

    Zhao Fenglei was unsatisfied. ¡°Since Junhong is so confident about this battle, I¡¯ll drop the matter of pressing Qianye into service. I take back my words. However, for the bigger picture, I suggest we still send a letter to Qianye and describe the situation here. Let¡¯s see if he¡¯s willing toe back of his own ord. How¡¯s that?¡±

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s eyes were filled with killing intent. It seemed as though he was about to stand up, but he resumed his seat in the end.

    Zhao Fenglei¡¯s words seemed very reasonable and contained no trace of coercion. However, Zhao Junhong knew Qianye¡¯s character¡ªthetter would discard everything at hand and return once he received such a letter. Zhao Fenglei¡¯s scheme was extremely clever. It could be said that he had grasped Qianye¡¯s weakness and disallowed Zhao Junhong from acting up. It would be too excessive if thetter were to oppose even this.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡± The meeting came to an end with Zhao Zhuoyan¡¯s announcement.

    Zhao Junsu was seething as he exited the conference room with Zhao Junhong. Among the four young masters, he was the most easily angered and always the one who couldn¡¯t keep his calm. ¡°Second Brother, Zhao Fenglei is really intolerable! But it looks like he understands Qianye too much. This isn¡¯t quite right!¡±

    Zhao Junhong was surprised upon hearing this and suspicions emerged in his heart. Zhao Fenglei had no rtionship with Qianye, except that one conflict¡ªhow could he grasp Qianye¡¯s character so well? Could there be someone behind him giving him pointers?

    Once the suspicions arose, they were difficult to erase.

    ¡­

    Meanwhile, Qianye was running at a constant speed through the forest. All of a sudden, a wide panorama opened up before him and his visual range extended rapidly. It turned out that, unknowingly, he was already out of the Misty Wood.

    Qianye looked around and saw nothing but a continuous string of mountain ranges. He could hardly tell where he was. It would seem that his course had more or less deviated after running through half the Misty Wood in two days. However, everything was easy aftering out of the Misty Wood. With such a wide visual field, he was sure he would find a Zhang or Zhao n unit very soon.

    After Qianye left, the Li n base was in utter chaos. Not to mention catching an airship, there wasn¡¯t even an exhaust pipe left in the base since all of them had taken off. Some of the aristocraticbat squads hade with their own airships and were now transporting their important characters to the rear lines. Meanwhile, the Li family¡¯s own airships had also scrambled to avoid being hijacked.

    The other aristocratic families might not dare to rob the Li family of their airships, but thetter had their share of undisciplined scions¡ªthese people might do anything in order to save their lives. Li Tianquan had ordered the airships to guard the airspace over the base as a precaution against these descendants.

    The confusion was only temporary, though. Everything went back to normal after those major characters and noble young masters were gone. The hunting and killing went on just as usual. After all, these side branch disciples, mercenaries, and hunters who sought a living on the battlefield were destined not to leave this ce. Even if they wanted to leave, there was no airship for them to use.

    Qianye called on the familiar Lu family, but Lu Zhongyou refused resolutely after hearing that he wanted to go to the Zhao n warzone. Qianye couldn¡¯t find any other airship, either, so he simply left the base and traversed the forest on foot.

    Qianye was just trying to discern the direction after walking out of the Misty Wood when he heard a miserable scream. Soon, a familiar, tender figure was reflected in his eyes, moving like lightning as she leapt through the rocks and crevices. There would be a scream every time shended¡ªthe victims, judging from the sound, were werewolves and vampires.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted as he recognized that girl engaging in a mad ughter. It was Bai Kongzhao!

 Volume 6 - 634: Running to the Battlefield Part 1

    Chapter 634: Running to the Battlefield (Part 1) [V6C164 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye crouched down and used the crevices to approach like a specter.

    Perhaps because she was immersed in the killing, Bai Kongzhao didn¡¯t seem to notice Qianye¡¯s approach. Her opponents weren¡¯t only limited to the dark races¡ªthere was also a small group of imperial experts at the center of the battlefield. As she passed by one of the colonels, the girl¡¯s agile handsnded lightly on his neck. This action, as gentle as a lover¡¯s caress, actually ¡°plucked off¡± the man¡¯s head in the blink of an eye.

    The entire processsted but a moment, and the imperial colonel simply had no time to react. He hadn¡¯t even noticed Bai Kongzhao¡¯s approach and was busy firing at the dark races.

    Close to a hundred dark race soldiers had upied the periphery, half-surrounding the twenty-some imperial soldiers at the center and nketing them with fierce gunfire. However, lives were taken indiscriminately with Bai Kongzhao¡¯s sudden appearance¡ªbe it friend or foe, dark race or imperial, they were all cut down in droves. No life was allowed to exist around her. It was as though she had no particr motive and was just here for the massacre.

    Qianye inhaled deeply and brought out the Carol of Shadows for the first time. He pressed a ck titanium bullet into the chamber and slowly instilled some blood energy.

    The Carol of Shadows gradually began to react and awaken from its slumber. The dark jade-green patterns on its body lit up, but its barrel remained akin to the bottomless depths¡ªa color so dark that it almost seemed sentient.

    Delighted to find that his blood energy was effective, Qianye sped up the instation andpletely activated the Carol of Shadows.

    After the activation, Qianye felt that the rifle¡¯s body became a part of his own limb. He could even increase his perception range by releasing it via the gun. He closed his eyes, yet he could ¡°see¡± everything within 100 meters by virtue of the Carol of Shadows.

    Qianye came to realize that the Carol of Shadows yed a part in why Eden was able to match the Eye of Truth¡¯s visual range inside the Misty Wood.

    Although both were grade-seven firearms, the Thunderbolt was simply not at the same levelpared to the Carol of Shadows. As a mass-produced imperial weapon, the former had no special abilities and only relied on its great firepower to barely count as a grade-seven gun. Moreover, it had many shorings. For instance, its loud rumble was how the name came to be. On the battlefield, the sniper would have to move after each shot because even the roar of artillery couldn¡¯t hide the sound of the Thunderbolt.

    Qianye had once experienced the firepower of the Carol of Shadows with his own body. He knew that it was far above the Thunderbolt and at the peak of grade-seven. It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t draw out its full power with his blood energy, but even that was enough to deal with Bai Kongzhao. The young girl was famous for her terrifying instincts and talent in murder, not her strong constitution.

    Qianye¡¯s perception reached out from the Carol of Shadows, and the moment it touched the young girl, Qianye pulled the trigger!

    The Carol of Shadows let out a deep, eerie rumble, not unlike the chant of a chorus. As though it were shrouded in shadows, the bullet was blurry and barely discernible as it flew toward the girl¡¯s back.

    This sudden attack wasunched from less than eight hundred meters away. The moment the bullet left the chamber, Qianye knew that it was over for Bai Kongzhao.

    For a split second, Qianye felt a certain emptiness and reluctance in his heart. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s effect on the battlefield was no less than Qianye¡¯s. If only she was willing to fight for the empire, she would surely be a supporting pir of the nation one day. Unfortunately, she had always killed for no good reason with little discrimination between friend and foe. She was no different from a lunatic, one who couldn¡¯t be left alive no matter what.

    Qianye¡¯s reluctance was just like a bubble, which burst in the blink of an eye. He was just about to put the Carol of Shadows away when he was suddenly startled.

    At death¡¯s door, Bai Kongzhao actually sensed the iing peril and turned toward Qianye. At the same time, her body twisted with all its might and folded at a strange angle.

    A shower of blood burst out from her shoulder, half of which, at this moment, was already nowhere to be seen. The little girl was flung over ten meters away and fell to the ground like a broken doll.

    The girl bounced up immediately afternding and sped away immediately. Her speed seemed unaffected in the least.

    Qianye was dumbfounded as he watched Bai Kongzhao disappear from his vision. He didn¡¯t give chase because he couldn¡¯t catch up at such a distance. Moreover, Bai Kongzhao¡¯s concealment abilities were one of the best Qianye had ever seen. She could just hide randomly within thisplicatedndscape, and thetter would hardly be able to find her.

    Qianye shook his head as he put away the Carol of Shadows. That sniper round just now contained ck titanium. Even though she didn¡¯t die on the spot, there wasn¡¯t much time left for her to live. The scourge was finally gone, yet Qianye didn¡¯t feel much relief.

    He collected his thoughts in due haste and rushed into the battlefield. He rushed straight into the group of dark race soldiers with his Twin Flowers rumbling continuously. Qianye¡¯s marksmanship had also increased along with hisbat arts¡ªevery shot from the Twin Flowers struck the enemy¡¯s vitals. Every crack was apanied by the fall of a dark race soldier, regardless of their level.

    An extremely angry arachne baron charged at Qianye while waving his war axe.

    But thetter didn¡¯t even look at him before shooting backward. The baron fell on his back while spraying bloody mist from his mouth¡ªneither the powerful body nor heavy armor could stop a bullet in the mouth. The Bloody Datura¡¯s strengthened firepower immediately shattered the lower part of the arachne baron¡¯s face.

    Qianye raised his left hand and followed up with another shot. This attacknded at the exact same spot, blowing away whatever was left of the arachne¡¯s brains.

    As the most powerful expert in the squad, the baron was the only one whom Qianye needed two shots to kill, more or less preserving his status as an expert.

    The arachne baron¡¯s death destroyed the morale of all the other dark races. They left a dozen or so men to bring up the rear while all the others fell into a retreat.

    Qianye sneered. He nned to circle around the rearguard and hunt down the escapees beforeing back to deal with the former, just like how he had done countless times in the Misty Wood. No one could escape from Qianye¡¯s hands.

    However, the remaining dark race soldiers were all prepared to die. After seeing that they couldn¡¯t hold Qianye, they began going after the surviving imperial soldiers in a suicidal manner. In the blink of an eye, several imperial soldiers fell under their crazed attacks.

    Qianye sighed as he had no choice but to turn back and assist the human squad. Otherwise, there would be less than ten of them left by the time he had returned from his hunt.

    With Qianye¡¯s return, all the dark race soldiers met the same end no matter how fierce they were¡ªall were sted to death in one shot. In the blink of an eye, he had wiped out all of the soldiers who had stayed behind and gone on to chase the escapees.

    Momentster, Qianye killed two of the fleeing squads and began chasing after the third. There were two more small units he had to let go because they had fled too far.

    The current unit was entirely made up of werewolves. At this moment, they were running swiftly in their wolverine forms, yet the distance between them was shrinking rapidly because Qianye was much faster. The enemy came into range of the Twin Flowers within mere moments. Qianye raised his right hand and aimed the Mystic Spider Lily at one of the fleeing werewolves. Once struck, the illusion of pain from this shot would also affect nearby werewolves and disrupt their speed.

    An abrupt sense of warning emerged in Qianye¡¯s heart just as he was about to pull the trigger, and he dived forward without a second thought.

    A bullet whistled over and struck Qianye¡¯s back diagonally! Young Dragon¡¯s backte caved in immediately. Moreover, the bullet tore the armor connections and sent it flying into the distance. Qianye spun through the air due to the massive kic force and then mmed onto the ground, shattering a giant rock in the process.

    Qianye immediately spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. However, he performed a quick roll and assumed a half kneeling position¡ªat this point, the Carol of Shadows was already in his hand, pointing in the direction of the assault. Bai Kongzhao was standing behind a huge rock, gazing nkly in disbelief. A shot she had believed to be a certain hit had actually deviated.

    Her right arm hung limply to the side, and her shoulder was wrapped tightly with a piece of her dress. In her slightly trembling left hand was a sniper rifle much taller than her self. One could easily imagine the price she would have to pay for operating with one hand a sniper rifle that was capable of sting Qianye away. If she wasn¡¯t already a champion, the recoil from this gun would¡¯ve crushed her left shoulder.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted somewhat¡ªhe noticed that the sniper rifle in Bai Kongzhao¡¯s hand was exceptionallyrge and its body, as elegant as it was sinister. Shockingly, it was a firearm of demonkin make. The tall, slender demonkin favored such two-meter long rifles.

    Seeing that Qianye could still stand, Bai Kongzhao fled like a startled rabbit with that huge gun in tow. Soon, she had vanished among the rocks.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give chase because he didn¡¯t have that ability. His body had just suffered a powerful impact and even the organs that had been strengthened by his vampiric constitution were slightly out of ce. This kind of shock wasn¡¯t much to Qianye, but intense movements would damage his innards further and inflict heavy injuries.

    Qianye stood up slowly and put the Carol of Shadows into Andruil¡¯s realm before inspecting his body. The true damage was in the organs, but with his regenerative powers, all he needed was half a day¡¯s rest. Apart from that, there were only surface injuries that required no special attention. It was just that Young Dragon waspletely deformed, and wearing it was too ufortable. Qianye had no choice but to take off his chest te.

    Perhaps out of fear that she wouldn¡¯t be able to kill Qianye, Bai Kongzhao had used a kic round instead of an armor piercing round. She sought to use thetter¡¯s powerful impact to damage the opponent, an effective method against heavily armored opponents. Even against abat vehicle with specially reinforced armor, the passengers inside would die from the impact once struck. Had this shotnded on any other human champion with heavy armor, his body would¡¯ve turned to mush even if the armor remained intact.

    Qianye sighed as he looked at therge segment missing on the armor. It was really uncertain if the armor could be repaired again. If not for this Young Dragon, Qianye would¡¯ve fallen into mortal danger on several asions¡ªhe might¡¯ve fallen during his first exchange with Eden. But now after suffering continuous damage, this battle armor had more or less reached the end of its life. Even after repairs, its defensive power might not be as good as before. Any further damage and it would need to be sent back to the furnace to be reforged.

    At this time, a sudden thought came over Qianye. That huge sniper rifle in Bai Kongzhao¡¯s hand seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Where did she get it from?

 Volume 6 - 635: Running to the Battlefield Part 2

    Chapter 635: Running to the Battlefield (Part 2) [V6C165 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    At the very least, she didn¡¯t have that cumbersome demonkin firearm when she was ughtering people a while ago. Perhaps she had hidden it somewhere nearby and taken it out just now. The other possibility was that she had a spatial item just like Qianye.

    This wasn¡¯t good news at all. At least in battle, the variables would increase boundlessly. An ufortable feeling arose in Qianye¡¯s heart¡ªthere were too many surprises to this Bai Kongzhao.

    Qianye returned to the previous battlefield since the surviving dark race soldiers had already fled too far. The captain of the survivors limped over and bowed deeply at Qianye. ¡°Thank you, General, for saving our lives! If you need us in the future, our entire Lifelight Ji Family will not refuse!¡±

    Qianye epted the man¡¯s gratitude with a nod. ¡°Where is this ce? What¡¯s the situation up ahead?¡±

    The man surnamed Ji said bitterly, ¡°Our family was fighting alongside the Zhang n at first and managed to construct Dusk City. But there were simply too many of those ck-blooded bastards! They actually assembled an army of two hundred thousand to besiege us. We went from sixty thousand men to forty thousand, and then soon there was only around twenty thousand left. Seeing that we can no longer hold on, the general and Duke Wei allowed smaller families to leave for the Zhao n territory first. The general will lead the Zhang n army into a retreat at an opportune moment.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed. He was also trained in the army, so he knew very well how cruel this return journey was going to be with a dominant army on their tails.

    The general this man spoke of was the empire¡¯s current General of Ambitious Might, Zhang Junshu. He was the second son of the Zhang n lord, and by seniority, Zhang Boqian¡¯s cousin. The Zhang n¡¯s current might could be attributed to Prince Greensun, but its stable position as the top major n for the past 30 years was half due to this General of Ambitious Might.

    The defeat at Dusk City was already a decided oue. Zhang Junshu allowed the smaller families to flee while he himself held the rear. This was putting himself in a dangerous position. Hence, everyone ranked below the man surnamed Ji was full of gratitude at the mention of the general.

    The Lifelight Ji Family could hardly be considered an aristocratic family. It was merely one of the more powerful ones among thendowning households. Mustering over a hundred elites for the void continent battle could be considered full mobilization for them. If all of these people were to die, the Ji family would hardly be able to rise again from the setback. They would need several generations of talents in order to restore their strength.

    Zhang Junshu¡¯s decision prevented these smallndowning households from being wiped out, but the price for this would have to be paid by the Zhang n.

    Qianye was silent.

    Although the imperialws prioritized those with authority and rank, it had always been the major ns who held the rear on the battlefield while the smaller families retreated first. In the recent millennium, however, this rule was gradually fading away as the aristocracy fought and schemed against one another. Everyone was shifting their problems onto other people. The bloody battle was a prime example of this.

    The Zhang n might be tyrannical in its actions and have problems here and there, but at the most important juncture of the war of national fate, they still followed the traditionsid down during the founding of the empire. This alone was worthy of respect.

    Qianye then inquired about Bai Kongzhao¡¯s attack. The man¡¯s expression turned fierce as he said through gritted teeth, ¡°Who knows what¡¯s wrong with that lunatic?! She just popped out of nowhere and started killing indiscriminately. I heard this has happened many times already, but there are very few survivors when she attacks, and that slut Bai Aotu keeps protecting her with all her might. There¡¯s never a definite answer to this. Who would¡¯ve thought we would run into her today. We would be corpses already if we weren¡¯t lucky enough to meet General Qianye.¡±

    At this point, he was feeling pained, apprehensive, and fortunate. It was like gaining a second lease on life to have escaped alive from Bai Kongzhao¡¯s hands.

    Qianye asked a couple more questions and realized that he was at the border of the Zhang and Zhao n warzones. Not too far in the southeast was the designated location where the Zhao n would cover the Zhang n¡¯s retreat. Reportedly, the Zhao n was already building fortifications there to impede the dark race army step by step.

    But the Zhang n would have to depend on itself between Dusk City to the designated area.

    Qianye quickly came to a decision. He said to the man surnamed Ji, ¡°Leave all your extra ammunition with me.¡±

    The man was astonished. ¡°Y-You¡¯re going to¡­¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply and only pointed in the northwest direction¡ªthat was where the Zhang n was fighting.

    The man felt hot blood rush to his head. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you!¡±

    However, Qianye only shook his head in silence. The man immediately understood without Qianye having to point it out for him. That wasn¡¯t a battlefield he could go to.

    Momentster, a lone Qianye headed toward the north, toward that battlefield of blood and fire.

    At this moment, far to the north, the Zhang n army was surging toward the south. It was a massive deluge of steel and iron, consisting ofbat vehicles of all shapes and sizes. The ck smoke and steam merged together to form an odd smog of ck and white which shrouded the entire motorcade within.

    Less than a hundred meters above the convoy were dozens of airships flying slowly forward at the same speed as thend forces.

    At the bridge of the central airship, Zhang Junshu was standing before the windows and gazing at the receding silhouette of Dusk City.

    This super fortress was built through thebined, all-out efforts of the Zhang n and many other aristocratic families and could amodate a hundred thousand soldiers. Currently, it had fallen into a sea of fire with pirs of dense smoke curling up into the sky. One could see everything from dozens of kilometers away.

    With Zhang Junshu¡¯s eyesight, he could even see many ck specks of different sizes dancing around the sea of mes. Those were the dark race airships doing their utmost to curb the mes.

    The Zhang n warzone possessedplicatedndforms. Theke area close to the Misty Wood was rtively t and only filled with sand dunes. The part stretching toward the Zhao n warzone saw a sudden rise in elevation with winding shores, rapids filled with gravel, and a mountain range along the snowy line akin to a flying hawk.

    As such, there was only one way down south and its entrance was blocked by Dusk City. The elevation difference in other regions was too great, and there were even ces with active ciers¡ªnot at all suitable for marchingrge armies.

    This path seemed to have been formed countless years ago by cial flow from thend of frost. On the two sides were steep cliffs hundreds if not thousands of meters tall which snaked to the south for hundreds of kilometers. The narrowest points were only a thousand meters wide, but the widest borders were tens of thousands of meters apart.

    Such a cier would be considered majestic even on a vast continent, but they were notpletely unheard of. It was just that this floating continent was merely the size of seven provinces. A cial remnant of such scale was rather out of ce here. It was so long that it looked like the entire Land of Frost had been toppled over.

    The bottom of this cier today was rather t and many ces had been obviously reconstructed with origin arrays. As the frantic Zhang n army traveled within their range, even the clumsiest of their trucks would see increased speeds. This served to increase overall troop movement speeds by thirty percent.

    The army resumed its normal state after passing through several kilometers of this array zone. Afterward, explosions urred sessively on the route they had left behind. Countless rocks and giant pits blocked the smooth road once more.

    At this moment on the other side of Dusk City, the hundred thousand strong dark race army could only stand and watch the sea of mes, unable to approach in the slightest.

    Hundreds of different airships shuttled back and forth over Dusk City, sprayingrge clouds of grey powder into the mes in a bid to control the congration. However, a hundred vessels seemed rather weak before this burning fortress. They could hardly do anything against the raging fire even after a long while.

    Outside of the mes, tens of thousands of dark race soldiers were closing in on the ground, extinguishing the mes in front of them little by little. However, every tree branch and every piece of stone in this city seemed to be on fire. Their forward progress was extremely slow, and it would probably take at least a couple of days for them to extinguish all the mes in the city.

    An airship appeared over the horizon at this moment, and the eight appendages on its side proved that its master was an arachne.

    This terribly fast warship arrived before Dusk City within moments andnded slowly. Along with this vessel came an invisible pressure¡ªbe it the dark race soldiers standing in formation or those extinguishing the mes, no one could withstand it. The sudden copse of arge number of soldiers sent the formation into chaos.

    Numerous bugles rang out which duly signaled the army to disperse in the four directions, having them move away from the pressure zone and clearing an area for the airship tond.

    However, the warship only hovered hundreds of meters above the ground as a dignified voice echoed throughout the area, ¡°Why are you not advancing? It¡¯s already been half a day of dy.¡±

    Dozens of vampires from the dark race army rose into the air. There was an elder among them whose hair had turnedpletely gray and the wrinkles on his face,parable to the mountains and valleys.

    He could no longer retain a youthful exterior. Apparently, his long life as a vampire was already nearing its end. However, the blood energy surrounding him was so intense that it was almost tangible¡ªit was as though rolling waves of blood were lingering around him. He did nothing to hide his terrifying strength as a glorious marquis. A single step forward would take him through the threshold of a duke. Those were the people truly in control of the Evernight faction.

    But the old marquis¡¯ blood energy was suddenly restrained and began contracting rapidly as he approached the airship. In the end, only a thinyer of it barely remained on his body. At this moment, he was several hundred meters away from the airship. What little remained of his blood energy would be pushed into his body if he were to go within a hundred meters.

    The dozens of vampires surrounding the old marquis had long since fallen behind. They couldn¡¯t even go within a thousand meters. The pressure might send them falling to the ground if they pushed any closer.

    This was the most realistic difference between them and the Arachne Grand Duke Ardak, the Weaver of Nightmares.

    The old marquis spoke, ¡°Your Excellency Ardak, we¡¯ve been doing our utmost to put out the mes, but¡­¡±

    Ardak cut the marquis short unceremoniously, ¡°No buts! I only see you fellows buzzing about like headless flies while a hundred thousand soldiers sit around with nothing to do. Why not go around the two sides of the city or st a path through the center.¡±

    The old marquis replied, ¡°All avable airships have joined the extinguishing effort since we need to preserve Dusk City as much as we can. But the crafty humans seemed to be prepared for this. It¡¯s almost like the entire city¡¯s foundations wereid with ck stone. It¡¯s truly difficult to control once the mes have broken out.¡±

 Volume 6 - 636: Duke Weiâ€™s Choice

    [V6C166 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The impatient arachne duke cut the old marquis short. ¡°I don¡¯t care what difficulties you have. Right now, I only want to know how long it''ll take before you can go through.¡±

    ¡°At least a day.¡±

    ¡°One day?!¡± Ardak¡¯s thunderous roar covered an area of ten kilometers. Several of the weakest vampire experts simply couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure of the duke¡¯s wrath. They were immediately knocked unconscious and fell from the sky.

    Ardak didn¡¯t even spare those falling vampires a nce. ¡°One day is enough for those human bugs to crawl into another warzone! You have one hour! You must open a passage within one hour!¡±

    ¡°But, we need the city intact.¡±

    ¡°Intact? Whose stupid order is that?¡±

    The old marquis replied, ¡°It¡¯s Her Majesty¡¯s will.¡±

    Ardak suddenly fell silent. Without any prefixes, this ¡°Her Majesty¡± spoken of by the vampires could mean only one person¡ªthe Queen of the Night, Lilith.

    Momentster, Ardak said coldly, ¡°I heard your queen has encountered an ident and is soon going into a deep slumber. Do you think her orders can control me at such a time?¡±

    The old marquis was extremely unyielding in this matter. ¡°Her Majesty has not yet gone into a deep slumber. Additionally, no matter what state she¡¯s in, the Queen of the Night is not someone you canment on so casually.¡±

    The arachne duke snorted but didn¡¯t continue making things difficult for the old man. He might perhaps be able to criticize Lilith a bit if he could step into the monarch realm¡ªbut that was the extent of it. After all, the arachne weren¡¯t demonkin. Even that person on the sacred mountain of the Evernight Council wouldn¡¯t easily get into a conflict with the Queen of the Night.

    Seeing the situation at hand, Ardak realized that he couldn¡¯t easilymand this hundred-thousand-strong army led mostly by vampires. Going back to the main camp for a transfer of authority would also take the greater part of the day¡ªthe enemy would¡¯ve escaped by that time.

    ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of the imperial forces?¡± Ardak inquired.

    The old marquis exined without hiding anything, ¡°Themander is the General of Ambitious Might, Zhang Junshu, and the overseer should be Duke Wei.¡±

    There was suddenly a fluctuation in Ardak¡¯s voice. ¡°Duke Wei? He¡¯s also here?¡±

    The old marquis replied, ¡°Yes, Duke Wei intercepted us personally during ourst assault. That was how the imperial army managed to immte the entire city. I¡¯ve fought him before, so I can¡¯t be mistaken.¡±

    Ardak remained silent for a while. Then, he broke into augh which shook several more vampires out of the air. ¡°Good, very good! I¡¯ll have to see how much that brat has grown in these years!¡±

    A person appeared in front of the vampire marquis amidst theughter. Three meters tall and d in iron-grey robes, the duke looked down on all the vampires like a giant.

    There were several rings on the three fingers of his left hand, and the egg-sized gems on them were extremely dazzling. The gazes of several vampires fell uncontrobly onto the rings, soon falling deeper and deeper¡ªit was almost as though their souls were being drawn in.

    The old marquis quickly expanded his blood energy and engulfed the dazed subordinates. ¡°Do not look at the grand duke¡¯s hand!¡±

    Ardak finally looked straight at the old marquis. ¡°You¡¯re old but still quite good.¡±

    The creases on thetter¡¯s face grew deeper as he said with a wry smile, ¡°Thank you for the praise.¡±

    Ardak gazed in the direction where the imperial forces had escaped. He let out a sudden howl and flew into the distance in due haste, all the while apanied by thunderous rumbles.

    In the blink of an eye, Ardak¡¯s body expanded to be a giant ten-meter spider with a metallic glow flickering around his body.

    The tips of his eight limbs shot out countless threads which weaved together to form a silk road over the burning Dusk City. Ardak¡¯s massive spider body flickered continuously, each sh taking him a thousand meters away. In mere moments, he had disappeared at the extremes of one¡¯s vision.

    Only at this point did the silk road gradually disperse.

    A shrill voice suddenly rang out from the warship, ¡°Grand Duke, how about the warship?!¡±

    Ardak¡¯s response floated over from the horizon. ¡°Too slow. Just follow me at your own pace!¡±

    The massive warship climbed slowly and merged into the clouds. Then, it traversed the surging mes and chased after Ardak¡¯sst known direction.

    A count nearby spoke after the arachne grand duke¡¯s airship had vanished from their view. ¡°A single ship chasing after them? The humans are probably well-prepared for this. Their airship fleet isn¡¯t that weak.¡±

    The marquis¡¯ expression remained unchanged. ¡°His Excellency Ardak has great umtions, how can wepare to him? He can build another after losing his ride, but it¡¯ll take us a couple of decades to recover from the loss of our fleet.¡±

    That count revealed a sinister smile. The arachne duke¡¯s ship naturally wasn¡¯t on the same level as ordinary warships, especially since it was muchrger than standard vessels. The cost of that single ship was equal to half a vampire fleet.

    Duke Wei finally yed the chess piece he had been mulling over and ended the game. Then, he said calmly, ¡°An old friend ising. I¡¯ll go meet him.¡±

    Zhang Junshu gazed into the distance. Although he couldn¡¯t see anything, he could feel a tremendous power rising over the horizon¡ªit was as though a tempest was brewing therein.

    ¡°Duke, your status is of great importance. You should be careful about everything. Why not just stay in the army?¡± Zhang Junshu made no effort to hide the worry in his heart. As an expert only one step away from the divine champion rank, he could tell that the rapidly approaching aura was even stronger than Duke Wei himself.

    Thetter stroked his beard and said, ¡°Junshu, none of us dukes got our titles through inheritance. You have to remember that killing on the battlefield is the role of our generation.¡±

    ¡°Duke¡­¡± Zhang Junshu wanted to dissuade further.

    Duke Wei raised his hand and said, ¡°Speak no more. Besides, it¡¯s not as if I¡¯ll die without a doubt. Don¡¯t diminish the might of an imperial soldier in front of all our troops.¡±

    With that, Duke Wei brushed his sleeves and rose into the air, soon appearing in the sky outside of the airship. His elegant figure seemed to be walking calmly through the air, but soon he had disappeared over the horizon.

    The dense clouds in the sky hung lower and lower until it was almost pressing onto the airship. Zhang Junshu remained silent, seemingly lost in contemtion.

    Momentster, a p of thunder resounded over the horizon. The distant explosion arrived in the blink of an eye, flooding the atmosphere with the rumble of rolling thunder. No other sound could prevail! Many of the weaker soldiers began seeing stars. Their limbs went limb, and some of them almost fell off the military transports.

    Fortunately, there were old veterans assigned to each truck who were still able to move despite the sudden thunder. These men quickly grabbed those who were about to fall and pulled them back into the car at the nick of time.

    After the thunder had passed, even the earth began to tremble and wind speeds increased several-fold. The airstream kicked up sand and gravel which struck vehicles and passengers alike. The small stones would even leave red spots after striking one¡¯s skin.

    The airship fleet swayed wildly in the turbulence. Some of the smaller ones were tossed about like a raft in the raging sea, looking as if they would capsize at any moment. Even thergest cargo ships could hardly stabilize themselves amidst the constant rocking.

    Fortunately, the Zhang n forces were all elites, and the captains were all true experts in their trade. They didn¡¯t panic even under such disastrous conditions and did their all to control the airship¡¯s bnce.

    Zhang Junshu issued an immediate order after seeing that the situation wasn¡¯t quite right. The smaller airships broke away from the fleet and rose rapidly into the air, allowing them greater space to maneuver.

    The gale in the skies never stopped, and the tremors in the earth came wave after wave, flipping numerous trucks into the air.

    At such a time, even the old rank four veterans could only grab onto the carriage to avoid being thrown out of the car. Once outside, they would be swept up by the hurricane-like airflow and flung away.

    A yellowish glow began flickering from the central airship at this point. Numerous runes appeared to form the faint outline of a barrier which quickly enveloped the entire warship, isting it from the devastating winds.

    Zhang Junshu gazed at the distant skies, his expression as dark as the gloomy skies.

    Those at the bridge had gone through hundreds of battle, but even so, they couldn¡¯t help but be apprehensive after seeing the earth-shattering developments. A major general asked, ¡°General, this¡­ could it be¡­¡±

    Zhang Junshu sighed deeply. ¡°You¡¯re right, the duke is already fighting the enemy.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expression changed.

    Those who could stand beside Zhang Junshu at this moment were all important generals of the Zhang n and the empire. All of them had experienced fighting in great wars, and most of them had seen battles between divine champions. They were even more astonished because Duke Wei had only taken action a couple of times despite overseeing the army for so long. One had to know that even the duke¡¯s all-out attack probably wouldn¡¯t produce such power.

    If this world-shaking change wasn¡¯t caused by Duke Wei, it was naturally due to the enemy. From this, one could guess that Duke Wei wasn¡¯t just at a disadvantage¡ªhe was very likely in a precarious situation.

    Zhang Junshu¡¯s clenched fist rxed and then tightened once more with crackling sounds.

    Ordinary soldiers were useless in a battle between divine champions. Just the shockwave from the impact was enough to kill an entire squad, not to mention those below the champion rank couldn''t even approach once an expert¡¯s domain had been deployed.

    Even if the entire army were to go forth and provide assistance, the result would be a close victory at best. The duke might be able to escape, but it would be game over once all the experts in the Zhang n private army had fallen. This elite private army of a hundred thousand elites was half under Zhang Junshu¡¯smand. At present, there was less than twenty thousand of them remaining.

    These people were the final batch. If they could be brought back and new soldiers were added to the framework, another elite army could be built in half a year. But there would be nothing left if they were all used up here.

    Duke Wei would rather fight Ardak alone without Zhang Junshu¡¯s assistance because he knew that this squad and its experts were the foundation of the Zhang n. Once lost, the damage would be significant. Moreover, if the duke were to fall here while protecting the Zhang n¡¯s lifeline, the entire Greensun Zhang n and perhaps even Prince Greensun himself would do their utmost to protect Duke Wei¡¯s descendants.

    This was a difficult decision to make, but that was exactly Duke Wei¡¯s choice.

    Zhang Junshu banged his fist hard on the table and roared, ¡°Go and help the brothers on the ground. We must make haste! The faster we leave, the sooner the duke can escape the battlefield!¡±

    All the generals responded and charged out. It was just that the phenomena in the distance pressured heavily upon everyone¡¯s hearts. This was a sh between two absolute powers, and Duke Wei was the one to intercept proactively. The chances of his escape were slim at best.

    It was at this time that a colonel charged into the bridge. ¡°The peripheral airships have discovered an unidentified vessel approaching. It¡¯s suspected to be the warship of the Arachne Grand Duke Ardak!¡±

 Volume 6 - 637: Trap

    [V6C167 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhang Junshu turned back all of a sudden. ¡°Really?¡±

    The colonel affirmed, ¡°Our brothers have memorized the pictures well, we can recognize it even if the ship turns to ash!¡±

    Zhang Junshu inquired again, ¡°How many warships?¡±

    ¡°Just one!¡±

    A cold glint appeared in the general¡¯s eyes. ¡°Good! A grand duke¡¯s airship is almost as valuable as a fleet. Issue the order! Remove the disguises and attack in full force. We shall make that airship stay as revenge for our duke...¡±

    At this point, Zhang Junshu¡¯s voice tapered off, but everyone nearby understood his intentions. Their eyes were filled with tears when they roared in unison, ¡°Yes, Sir!¡±

    The Zhang n ground forces pressed ahead while its entire fleet turned toward the north.

    Ardak¡¯s airship was flying through the dense northern clouds at great speed. Countless giant spider webs would flicker in and out of existence around the vessel, allowing its eight long limbs to glide upon the illusory threads. It was akin to a gigantic spider charging toward its prey at lightning speed.

    Anky arachne stood at the bridge, observing the projection of the imperial fleet in the air in front of him.

    Judging from the direction of the imperial fleet, he knew they were targeting him. The arachne marquis said with a shrillugh, ¡°They¡¯re trying to contend with the duke¡¯s airship with a mere patrol warship and a group of rubbish vessels? Ha, even their cargo ships have charged out. Have they resigned themselves to their fate? Hehe, Haha!¡±

    A young viscount chimed in, ¡°True. This subordinate has been in the army for so many years, yet I¡¯ve never seen cargo ships that dare charge at a warship. Could it be that they¡¯ve made some breakthrough and developed some powerful weapon? Huh? T-Those cargo ships¡­¡±

    As the imperial fleet approached rapidly in the projection, its gship and escort vessels began to change shape while the smaller patrol airships and transports spread out toward the periphery. This left the three old cargo ships in a prominent central position.

    These ships elerated continuously, not only catching up but even overtaking the gshipter on. This wasn¡¯t the speed of a cargo ship at all!

    The captain marquis took a step forward and stared fixedly at the transforming imperial fleet. A highspeed warship charged out from both sides of their formation, leading a small squad of gunships each to cut off the arachne warship¡¯s path of retreat.

    The marquis scanned the two sides briefly before his gaze fell upon the three cargo ships.

    The imagery before his eyes suddenly flickered as beams of runic light filled his vision. After the light receded, numerous minute explosions urred on the cargo ships¡¯ outer shells which fell offyer byyer, gradually revealing the solemn contents within.

    The arachne battleship¡¯smand room turned silent¡ªeven the captain was dumbfounded, and the only manifestation of his emotions was his trembling fingers.

    An entire three battleships! Each and every one of them was a war vessel capable of supporting a sub-fleet!

    The three battleships along with Zhang Junshu¡¯s gship was a force capable of contending with an organizedbat fleet.

    Warships of the Evernight dukes were mostly at a level above battleships. They held an obvious edge when fighting against a single imperial battleship but would usually be disadvantaged against two. Against three, however, it was already quite good if they didn¡¯t lose immediately.

    Moreover, the arachne airship had rushed in on its own without any escort ships nearby. Their most powerful expert wasn¡¯t on the ship, either. One could easily imagine their fate after being surrounded by a fleet.

    The arachne marquis realized a lot of things when the three battleships appeared at the same time, including why the imperial fleet in outer space had performed so badly with openings everywhere. He understood why they could barely maintain the situation and wasn¡¯t willing to engage in a showdown with the Evernight fleet.

    Those crafty humans had actually hidden three battleships here, not revealing them even after theirnd forces were beaten back. Apparently, this was to lure the Evernight airships in and destroy them all in one fell swoop.

    The imperial fleet was barely sufficient in overall strength since the outset. Now that they had diverted three battleships away, theirbat strength had naturally weakened. Being able to hold out without being routed proved that theirmander was a great general.

    He had indeed realized the truth, but no one would feel good after running straight into a trap.

    The viscount beside him also came to a realization. ¡°These damned humans! Their target was never the ground fortress but our fleet!¡±

    As long as the empire could deal heavy damage to the Evernight fleet, they would be able to reestablish dominance in the void and lock down the continent. At that time, the dark race army on the voidndmass would be deprived of support, while reinforcements and supplies would flow in continuously from the empire. The dark race army stationed on thend would eventually be wiped out.

    The viscount was sharp and possessed great strategic insight. Unfortunately, they were in dire straits at this moment and the marquis¡¯ mood was beyond bad. He grabbed the viscount¡¯s throat after hearing the analysis and roared, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that earlier? It¡¯s nothing more than rubbish now!¡±

    An abrupt earth-shattering rumble caused the entire warship to sway violently and the lights in the bridge to flicker on and off. The warship had been hit, and the damage wasn¡¯t small. It was very likely a shot from the enemy vessel¡¯s main cannon.

    The marquis¡¯ expression was hideous. An abrupt force from his hand sent a mist of blood spraying onto the control station¡ªhe had actually torn the viscount apart!

    After venting his anger, the marquis issued three consecutive orders, ¡°Turn, elerate, and retreat!¡±

    It was just that he understood quite well that the third order might nevere to fruition.

    In the imperial fleet, Zhang Junshu¡¯s furious roars were heard by the entire fleet. ¡°Kill that spider! For the empire!¡±

    All of the imperial fleet cannons fired in the blink of an eye. Countless beams of resplendent mes erupted upon the almost thousand-meter long airship as the high-power ballista bolts rushed into the airship, almost like a school of fish returning to the sea.

    On a distant mountaintop, Qianye was observing this rare scene while shielding his eyes from the flying gravel.

    ¡°What a spectacr sight!¡± Qianye sighed. This kind of aerial battle was so rare that he had never even seen one before. He felt that it was somewhat of a pity that he could only observe from afar.

    Ordinary people might not be able to see anything through the tempest, but Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth could make out the distant situation via the patterns of origin power distribution. What he saw, however, was only the outline and not the details.

    A battle not inferior to those in the void had erupted thousands of meters in the air. Countless origin power waves weaved together and filled the firmament with the aura of death.

    An airship akin to a giant whale was maneuvering through the air, surrounded by dozens of warships of different sizes. They cruised about like a group of sharks and would go in for a bite whenever an opportunity presented itself.

    Meanwhile, outside of Qianye¡¯s visual range, the Zhang n army was advancing with great difficulty. They moved little by little through the wind and dust, edging toward their final base of operations. The environment made it difficult to march quickly, but this was doubly true for the dark races who relied solely on their own strong bodies. They hadn¡¯t nned ahead like the empire or prepared heavy transports for troops.

    These vehicles couldn¡¯tpete with the dark races in short sprints, but over hundreds of kilometers and especially under the interference of bad weather, thetter couldn¡¯tpare to the tireless trucks that needed nothing but ample fuel.

    Hence, the Zhang n soldiers were hoping that the storm would continue. The longer this tempeststed, the more distance they could cover ahead of the pursuers.

    Far off in a different direction was the heart of this tempest.

    Both the daybreak and darkness origin powers there were in an extremely violent state. The constant shes and explosions destabilized the sky, causing deep gashes to appear from time to time. These void crevices were hundreds of meters long and could destroy almost anything. Void origin power would gush in like the tide whenever they appeared.

    The floatingndmass was just like therger continents. Void origin power couldn¡¯t exist in a stable state within the internal space close to the ground. Much like adding cold water to burning oil, a terrifying storm would ensue once the two came into contact.

    Even with the Eye of Truth, Qianye could only see countless wisps of chaotic origin power. The transformations urring each moment were so rapid that even his perception couldn¡¯t grasp them. He couldn¡¯t judge the situation of the battle at all. All he could distinguish was that two divine-champion-level experts were engaging in a fierce battle and that the daybreak origin power side was at a disadvantage. Thetter was like a candle in the wind that would be extinguished at any second.

    Qianye was secretly worried, but he quickly suppressed the thought. A battle of that level wasn¡¯t something he could get involved with.

    Qianye nced once more at the routed Zhang n army and could already feel some powerful dark auras moving in their general direction. Apparently, the burning city could only block the main dark race army but not their pursuing experts.

    These experts naturally wouldn¡¯t dare mount a frontal assault, especially since the Zhang n¡¯s main force was being escorted by an airship fleet. However, they would harass the retreating party constantly and decrease their forward momentum. Naturally, these powerful fellows wouldn¡¯t miss the opportunity to attack the airships, either, should the chance arise. In arge-scale battle, the most important deciding factor, apart from divine-champion-level experts, was the ability to control the flow ofbat.

    The Zhang n army was like a giant elephant which, despite its size, was wounded and bleeding. The blood along the way seemed to have attracted a pack of evil wolves¡ªwhether or not these wolves could be driven away would decide if this giant elephant would reach its destination.

    That was Qianye¡¯s battlefield.

    It was just that there were few imperial experts who could arrive in time to hunt these wolves. The majority of independent experts were gathered in the Misty Wood, but the dark races had been reinforcing the region constantly in recent months. It would be rather difficult for these experts to pass through the forest in a hurry.

    Meanwhile, the pack of wolves wasing together and their numbers had far surpassed that of the hunters, so much so that they could even drown out thetter.

    Qianye put the damaged Young Dragon into Andruil¡¯s realm and changed into a set of light armor to facilitate his stealth and hunting. He adjusted hisbat apparel, put away East Peak which he had been using to stabilize himself in the tempest, and leapt off the mountain peak.

    Within the tempest, Qianye drifted upward instead of falling down. He was like a small boat amidst the billowing waves. This was a tempest induced by origin power, and hence its paths weren¡¯t random like natural storms. Qianye could discern the routes of surging origin power to judge their path and adjust his own flight trajectory ordingly. He drew a curved and crooked tract through the air as he flew forward, parallel to the Zhang n army.

    Just as Qianye was borrowing the power of the tempest to fly, a strong throbbing sensation arose in his heart. The violent storms weakened without a warning. It was like a sea full of giant waves turning calm during a squall.

    Instead, an enormous vortex appeared at the center of the sea, bringing with it a boundless terror that far surpassed the raging waves from before.

 Volume 6 - 638: Mortal Emperor

    [V6C168 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    After losing the power of the tempest, Qianye fell straight down like a stone in the water. At this moment, his palpitation intensified and his entire body froze up¡ªhe actually couldn¡¯t move!

    Any other person might¡¯ve been knocked out under the earth-shattering suppressive might. This wasn¡¯t rted to strength. It was akin to how myriad beasts would be ovee by fear when meeting the beast king.

    However, Qianye¡¯s body only froze up for a few seconds before the dark golden blood energy and Venus Dawn were awakened at the same time. His blood core began pulsating with great power, pumping the auric me blood to every part of his body. His two origin vortices also spun rapidly in a bid to spray out a steady stream of crystal-infused daybreak origin power.

    ¡°Bang!¡± The flexible armor on Qianye¡¯s body was torn to pieces and hisbat robes, reduced to tatters. However, the golden blood energy was roaming throughout his body amidst the strands of surging sunlight-like origin power. This forcibly shattered the suppressive might binding his body.

    Qianye spat out a mouthful of blood the moment this invisible pressure was broken. This mouthful of auric me blood was mixed with countless crystalline granules. The auric me blood ignited aftering into contact with the daybreak origin power crystals, quickly turning into a mass of mes which shot into the sky.

    Qianye immediately felt rxed after spitting out blood, and the mountainous pressure upon him disappeared. In truth, the pressure was still there, but Qianye¡¯s rolling blood energy and origin power had isted him from it. The pressure could no longer affect him.

    Under the sweeping invisible pressure¡ªperhaps in order to deal with the immediate mortal peril¡ªthe dark golden blood energy and Venus Dawn were actually showing signs of merging together. They seemed to be working together to resist the formless suppression.

    Qianye flipped about andnded lightly on his feet. He suddenly thought of something and nced far into the sky.

    All he saw was a beam of white lighting in from the distance and speeding toward the horizon. It crossed the firmament all of a sudden and vanished into the center of the storm.

    That was precisely where the Arachne Grand Duke and Duke Wei were engaging in battle.

    Everything in the path of that white light, be it the dense clouds or flying debris, would shift to the side. The scene was akin tomoners retreating frantically upon seeing the emperor.

    They weren¡¯t destroyed but merely pushed back to make way for the beam of light. This formed a natural realm around the path of this radiance.

    Qianye was both puzzled and shaken as he observed this scene which defied allmon sense. Qianye was also helpless before this supreme majesty which seemed to be on par with the heaven and earth themselves. If he were in the path of this light, there was no doubt that he would also be pushed back involuntarily. The only reason Qianye was able to break through the restriction was because he was far away from the source and needed only to deal with the remnant waves. Even so, he had to activate the entirety of his blood energy and origin power in order to break free.

    A sudden p of thunder assaulted the world. The tremendous sound wave became the only sound left in this realm. As the sonic waves arrived, Qianye was sent into a stunned daze despite the attenuation offered by his blood energy and origin power. Blood trickled down from his mouth and nose.

    Qianye staggered back but remained on his feet. He couldn¡¯t quite tell whether that was a p of thunder or the roar of the Evernight expert inside the tempest. Qianye was both shocked and delighted because that roar was filled with pain and anguish, hysterical even. Apparently, that expert had been gravely wounded.

    Could that white light be...?

    Qianye suddenly recalled a legend about the imperial family.

    At this moment, there was a lone boat floating on the distant horizon. With an azure body and ck tent, it looked no different from any ordinary vessel. Yet, the naturally elegant contour gave away its extraordinary qualities.

    The storm had reached where it was, yet the lonely boat wasn¡¯t affected in the slightest. The flying gravel and sand couldn¡¯tnd on it, either. Once close by, they would circle around the boat, reconverge behind, and continue their original trajectory¡ªit was iparably mysterious.

    It was as though this lone boat didn¡¯t belong to this world. It remained untouched by the storm and undiscerned by the people.

    There were several people on this boat. The one standing at the foremost was a young man with a dignified countenance. He was holding an astonishingly long origin gun which was aimed at the center of the tempest. The white beam of light just now was fired from it.

    That origin rifle was over two meters long with the vivid relief of a flying serpent, the emblem of the Great Qin imperial family, coiled around it. However, the diagram therein was different from those widely-known in themon world. The flying serpent on the firearm had ninerge scales on its back and none on any other part of its body.

    Five out of the nine scales each disyed a human figure¡ªsome ring furiously, some in deep thought, others inherently dignified¡ªeveryone had a different bearing, but all of them possessed facial features somewhat simr to the young man holding the gun.

    The white light had already receded at this point, but the young man remained stationary. It was as though the river of time had stopped flowing.

    After a moment of silence, a middle-aged man with a long beard sighed. ¡°Repelling all evil and revered by myriad life! Such might is indeed worthy of the name ¡®Mortal Emperor¡¯!¡±

    The young man had a smile on his lips. ¡°All of this is due to the all-out efforts of the ancestors.¡±

    Another old man spoke, ¡°The past emperors¡¯ efforts indeed formed the foundation of this Mortal Emperor. However, the fourteenth prince is actually able to activate it at such a young age. This is truly rare throughout history. One day in the future, the person to appear on the sixth scale is very likely to be your highness.¡±

    Everyone was shaken by these words, and a dazzling light shone in the fourteenth prince¡¯s eyes. Only the emperor had the right to wield Mortal Emperor and use his grand origin power to nurture it. The implications in the elder¡¯s words were self-evident.

    But the glint in the fourteenth prince¡¯s eyes quickly receded, his gaze bing as gentle and peaceful as before. ¡°I only barely activated Mortal Emperor by a lucky fluke. How can I darepare myself to the ancient ancestors? Please make no more mention of leaving my imprint on the flying serpent.¡±

    The old man didn¡¯t quite agree, however. He stroked his beard and said with augh, ¡°Everything will happen naturally when the conditions are right. Those with intentions will know even if we don¡¯t mention it. Moreover, your highnessunched an attack at the critical moment and saved Duke Wei¡¯s life. Such a contribution cannot be suppressed. Being modest alone isn¡¯t enough during this important war of national fate, one must forge ahead with boldness and vigor.¡±

    The fourteenth princeughed wryly. ¡°Ignoring the future for now, today¡¯s deed was only possible because of Marshal Lin¡¯s nning and the protection of everyone here. How can I boast about it like so?¡±

    ¡®Mortal Emperor¡¯ started to tremble just as the group was going back and forth with their modest arguments. The flying serpent''s eyes, which hadn¡¯t opened even during the shot into the tempest, blinked slowly and proceeded to stare at a point on the ground below. Soon, boundless imperial might surged up from the serpentine body and formed an illusory image of arge snake overlooking the earth below.

    It was full ofbat intent and poised to engage in a fight to the death, almost as though it had encountered its arch nemesis.

    Mortal Emperor¡¯s unusual change rmed everyone on the boat. However, none of them had witnessed such a scene before and knew not what they should do.

    The fourteenth prince let out a sudden cry the moment the serpent opened its eyes¡ªall he could feel was his origin power being drained. He had already expended the greater part of his origin power when he activated ¡®Mortal Emperor¡¯ a while ago. Now that he was being drained once more, it felt as though his origin vortices were about to be dragged out of his body. Who could withstand this? Soon after crying out, his vision darkened and he fell down unconscious.

    Mortal Emperor lost its source of origin power after the fourteenth prince¡¯s copse. Soon, the giant flying serpent in the air let out an indignant roar as it gradually dispersed.

    Greatly shocked, the people on the boat quickly lifted the fourteenth prince to examine his condition. They felt somewhat relieved after finding out that he had fallen unconscious due to over-exhaustion. Such an injury was an incurable disease to an ordinary person, but the imperial family possessed both capable people and spiritual medicines. It wouldn¡¯t be too hard to heal the prince.

    The bearded middle-aged man wore a deeply concerned expression. ¡°Just now, Mortal Emperor seemed to be confronting something.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions changed.

    Mortal Emperor was one of the ten Grand Magnums of the generation. Its firepower had been increasing little by little with the sessive upgrades by the emperors. Although the imperial family hadn¡¯t announced it openly, many people privately believed that this firearm was the most powerful in the world.

    The old man was the leader of this group. He pondered for a while and said, ¡°With His Majesty unconscious, there¡¯s no one capable of using the Mortal Emperor. We shouldn¡¯t remain here for long, let us leave.¡±

    No one voiced their dissent. As such, the boat made an agile turn and vanished over the horizon in a sh¡ªit was almost as though the vessel had never appeared here.

    At this moment, Qianye was standing amidst the boundless rocky wastnd, his luminous wings spread out behind him as he gazed at where the flying serpent had appeared before.

    Qianye had sensed an indescribably powerful suppressive might just now. The difference from before was that this might contained an intent to do battle and kill. Moreover, it was directly targeted at Qianye. Although he couldn¡¯t see the illusory image of the flying serpent in the air, Qianye could feel a primordial giant creature staring at him.

    This wasn¡¯t a contest of levels at all. The aftershock from the suppressive might nearly injured Qianye a while ago. Now that he was being directly targeted, the formless suppression shattered his origin power and blood energy, sending him paralyzed to the ground.

    It was at this time that the hiding Wings of Inception unfurled behind him. A faint radiance engulfed Qianye and actually resisted the invisible monstrosity in the air.

    The conteststed mere moments before the suppressive might in the air dispersed, followed by an angry roar full of discontent. The voice was akin to rolling thunder.

    What was going on?

    The series of events was too much for Qianye to take in at once, but the inexplicable change in the Wings of Inception gave him a faint idea. He didn¡¯t get the time to ponder in detail before arge shadow appeared in the air and came whistling down toward him.

    Shocked out of his wits, Qianye shed over ten meters to the side.

    The ck shadow smashed into the ground with a loud bang, sending dust and gravel flying everywhere. The object carved out a shallow pit in the ground. After the dust had settled, Qianye found a huge arachne lying inside the hole. Judging from its sizeable frame and powerful darkness origin power, it was at least a count.

    It was just that there was something wrong with the arachne. It hadpletely reverted to its spider body with its eight stiff limbs moving about randomly. It simply couldn¡¯t mber up because the darkness origin power in its entire body was in chaos. It looked up at Qianye and gasped uncontrobly. ¡°Y-You, how can you still move?¡±

    These words reminded Qianye. He recalled how he had nearly lost the ability to move when the suppressive might descended upon him. The arachne before him didn¡¯t have auric me blood, Venus Dawn, nor the Wings of Inception. Hence, it had lost the ability to move and fallen straight down beside Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s expression became somewhat abnormal as he looked at the arachne count who had just fallen down from the sky.

 Volume 6 - 639: Forward

    [V6C169 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The arachne count¡¯s expression became weird as he realized the situation. Immediately putting on an act despite his fears, he shouted, ¡°Y-You,e over if you dare!¡±

    He struggled with all his might in a bid to gain somebat distance but was entirely numb and powerless. Mortal Emperor¡¯s remnant power was still hanging in the air at this point. The spider moved its eight limbs about, mbering up briefly, and then falling back down again. Not to mention running away, he couldn¡¯t even stand up straight.

    Qianye produced his vampiric de with a flip of his hand, but then he also picked up East Peak, feeling that it was better to y it safe.

    When Qianye removed his vampiric de from the arachne¡¯s back momentster, the entirety of thetter¡¯s essence blood had be his. He walked around the corpse and removed its equipment and backpack, duly stuffing them into Andruil¡¯s space and sighing in relief.

    This was the easiest count he had ever killed throughout his life. The deed ended with just the vampiric de without having to use East Peak at all. The kill was easy, and the rewards were bountiful.

    At the count level, one¡¯s internal and external armors were all extraordinary items. The arachne¡¯s armor, which usually specialized in defense, wasn¡¯t too far off from Young Dragon. Even if it didn¡¯t quite fit Qianye at the moment, he could recycle the materials for a small fortune. The other items included an origin hand-cannon, several handguns, and a battleaxe, which took up a good part of Andruil¡¯s space.

    After collecting the spoils, a thought urred to Qianye while sensing the remnant suppressive might in the air. If even an arachne count couldn¡¯t resist this power, didn¡¯t this mean that the other lower-ranked dark race warriors would hardly survive?

    This was clearly the best moment to deal a good blow to the forces chasing after the Zhang n.

    Qianye¡¯s spirits rose immediately. He shot out like a bolt of lightning and began searching the surrounding areas. The tempest hadn¡¯t died out yet, but Qianye relied on East Peak¡¯s weight to remain unaffected by the storm.

    This search yielded great results¡ªwithin moments, Qianye had ¡°picked up¡± five viscounts of various ranks. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t encounter another count until the end.

    Counts were much stronger than viscounts¡ªit could be assumed that they would¡¯ve recovered by now even if they were stunned at the outset. That one arachne was simply too unlucky to have fallen right beside Qianye. There was really no one to me for such a misfortune.

    By the time the storm had settled and the remnant suppression in the air had receded, Qianye had gained much without any effort.

    At this point, Qianye had already confirmed the doubt inside his heart. It was likely an imperial family member who had attacked using the Mortal Emperor, one of the ten grand magnums. This legendary gun was different from the Red Spider Lily in that it wasn¡¯t known for its destructive power, but rather the suppressive might capable of subduing all life. The Red Spider Lily was a gun capable of shattering one¡¯s soul, while the Mortal Emperor was a holy weapon for groupbat.

    There were very few in the empire capable of activating the Mortal Emperor, and there were even fewer known instances of its attackpared to the Red Spider Lily. The title ¡°revered by all life¡± was naturally an exaggeration. But the attack today had engulfed the heaven and earth with such suppression that even a count was deprived of all fighting power. Such an awe-inspiring might wasn¡¯t really too far off from the words ¡°revered by all life¡±.

    It was just that the Mortal Emperor had a weakness¡ªits suppression couldn¡¯t discriminate between friend and foe, forcing all those with weak cultivation in its area of effect to prostrate.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but think of something after the remote confrontation between the Wings of Inception and the Mortal Emperor.

    All this time, he hadn¡¯t used the Wings of Inception very often. Recently, he had been saving it for use as a killing move with the Shot of Inception. As for augmenting a gun¡¯s firepower with the Wings of Inception, normal firearms couldn¡¯t withstand this power at all, while the Twin Flowers attracted too much attention.

    However, Qianye found a renewed interest in the Wings of Inception after seeing the Mortal Emperor¡¯s abyssal might. He wanted to know what the final version of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s masterpiece would look like. The only problem was that nurturing the Wings of Inception required vast amounts of essence blood and origin power. There was no telling how many years it would take to see any results.

    Qianye rose into the air and nced at his surroundings. He saw the cloud of dust covering the distant horizon. Apparently, the Zhang n was still pushing ahead through the valley floor without ever stopping. They had clearly prepared for this by seating all the soldiers on heavy transports¡ªthe people might be affected by the Mortal Emperor, but the heavy trucks and airships were not. The advancement would continue as long as the machines were still in running condition.

    Even after scanning the area with his True Sight, Qianye couldn¡¯t find any dark race activity within his field of vision.

    That single attack from the Mortal Emperor had not only injured that Evernight expert, but also intimidated most of the dark race soldiers. Apart from the few unlucky fellows that had fallen into Qianye¡¯s hands, the rest were still hesitant and panicked. They were chasing after the Zhang n army to hunt, but now, it was possible that they would be the prey instead. It was only natural that they wouldn¡¯t poke their heads out before figuring out the situation.

    This period was extremely precious for the Zhang n as it afforded them some time to cover more distance. It was just that the time procured wasn¡¯t that great. In every factional battle, the higher powers of the empire and Evernight basically kept each other in check. Now that the empire had utilized the Mortal Emperor, the Evernight Council wouldn¡¯t just sit idly by. They might have other experts at the same level rushing over to the scene.

    At that point, the dark race experts who had chosen to go into temporary hiding would realize the situation and continue their pursuit.

    Those who dared to intercept the Zhang n were apparently experts in the field who possessed various methods of concealment. At least when they weren¡¯t moving, Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth couldn¡¯t find their whereabouts.

    Qianyended and soon found a good hiding ce. There, he retracted his aura and began refining the recently obtained essence blood in preparation for the uing battle.

    Within the Zhang n gship, Zhang Junshu stood solemnly before Duke Wei, and behind him, all the Zhang n generals were present in a single file. Everyone was standing silently.

    Duke Wei¡¯s demeanor was schrly and calm. It was just that he seemed slightly dispirited and dark mes flickered from time to time in his eye.

    Zhang Junshu suddenly performed a military salute and said, ¡°Junshu won¡¯t ever forget your grace in this lifetime. The entire Zhang n will also etch what you did today into our memories!¡±

    With Zhang Junshu¡¯s cultivation level, he could naturally see that Duke Wei¡¯s injuries were extremely severe despite theck of external wounds. There was so much darkness origin power rampaging throughout his body that one could see it in his eyes. This was a damage to his foundations¡ªeven if he could fully recover one day, there was no longer any hope for him to advance any further.

    For a character like Duke Wei, how could he not have the desire to progress? But a heart full of lofty aspirations had been reduced to dust after today¡¯s battle.

    Duke Wei smiled naturally. ¡°These are small matters, why all the fuss? Prince Greensun is the empire¡¯s treasure. A small sacrifice on my part doesn¡¯t count for much. Besides, not only did I return with my life, but even my cultivation is intact. What else can this duke ask for? You, on the other hand, must be careful. I probably won¡¯t be of much help on the road ahead.¡±

    Zhang Junshu said in a deep voice, ¡°Rest assured, even if the Zhang n can¡¯t make it to the end, we will make those ck bloods pay several times the price!¡±

    At this moment, a bearded general under Zhang Junshu chimed in, ¡°Humph! We can definitely finish this journey if those Zhao n people had a greater sense for the bigger picture and sent their men to provide support.¡±

    Zhang Junshu roared, ¡°Shut up! When was it your turn to criticize strategy in front of Duke Wei?! I would¡¯ve punished you ording to militaryw if not for the uing battle!¡±

    The bearded man mumbled, ¡°This general said nothing wrong. Those Zhao n people really know how to blow their own trumpet, but they picked the warzone furthest from action aftering to the floating continent. We¡¯ve been fighting for our lives on the front line and have lost so many brothers. Yet, there¡¯s still no reinforcement in sight.¡±

    The bearded general was clearly dissatisfied, and the other generals also wore expressions of discontent. In truth, this matter was quite simple¡ªthe Zhang n had always been the first among the four major ns and the Zhao, second. It was only natural that the members of the two ns didn¡¯t like one another.

    Zhang Junshu shot Duke Wei a nce and sighed. ¡°These fierce bastards only know how to charge the enemy and are quite shallow when ites to strategy and statecraft. We¡¯ve humiliated ourselves in front of you.¡±

    With that, Zhang Junshu roared, ¡°A group of useless bastards, you know so little except for fighting and killing. No one listened when I asked you to read up on strategy. Scram! Go and reflect on what you did wrong! With the way you people are, you¡¯ll lose even your pants against the Zhao n people.¡±

    Zhang Junshu¡¯s authority in the army was absolute. Seeing him truly furious, all the generals under him no longer dared retort and withdrew in fear.

    After the generals were dismissed, Zhang Junshu said with a wry smile, ¡°What a joke we¡¯ve made you watch.¡±

    Duke Wei sighed. ¡°Actually, they are not to me. Even I would never have foreseen today¡¯s situation. The Zhao n chose that ce much earlier on, which means they have long since foreseen our disadvantage in the early battles. Thus, they have focused on building up the rear instead of rushing into battle. The one who made this strategic decision must be a person of great talents! It¡¯s fine if the person is Duke You, but I fear there might be someone else. That would mean every generation of the Swallow Cloud Zhao n is producing great talents, and their rise will be inevitable.¡±

    Zhang Junshu¡¯s expression changed slightly after thinking about this. He couldn¡¯t help but lower his voice and inquire, ¡°Duke, could it be that even Boqian didn¡¯t expect this to happen?¡±

    To every member of the Zhang n, Prince Greensun was an omnipotent character who made no mistakes. The marshal had picked the Zhang n warzone personally. Now that they had been beaten back by the dark races, didn¡¯t this mean that Zhang Boqian had lost to the Zhao n in terms of strategy?

    Duke Wei seemed to have guessed the man¡¯s thoughts. ¡°General, you¡¯re overthinking it. It¡¯s very likely that the prince doesn¡¯t care much about this momentary setback. Defeating the opposing great dark monarch is the bigger picture!¡±

    Zhang Junshu became optimistic and agreed repeatedly.

    As the routed Zhang n army crawled on through the bottom of the valley, dozens of squads split off to both sides to intercept the harassing dark race experts. It was just that they were rtively weakpared to the enemy hiding around them¡ªit was likely that these smallbat squads would never return.

    The chilly wind whistled across the boundless wastnd and through the valley.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes inside a serene cave and spat out an arrow of ck energy. At this moment, he had more or less refined the essence blood inside his body and auric me blood filled all his bones and limbs. He was at the very peak and only one step away from a breakthrough.

    At this moment, a gust of cold wind rushed into the cave, carrying a mournful cry from the distance.

    ¡°Has it begun?¡± Qianye checked the time and walked out of the cave.

 Volume 6 - 640: Reunion

    [V6C170 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The mountain winds rushed at Qianye¡¯s face as he walked out of the cave. The breeze contained an eerie chill along with the faint scent of blood and gunpowder.

    He nced over and found that the mes of war had ignited everywhere¡ªthend was filled with lingering smoke as rumbling sounds echoed continuously in the ears. At the end of his vision, a tall peak shook a couple of times before its gradual copse. The impact filled the air with dust and blotted out half the sky.

    Further out was the valley in which the Zhang n was advancing.

    Countless ck dots were approaching rapidly from over the horizon. There were individual experts as well as extremely fast airships. However, these smaller vessels appeared sporadically with no organized formation, leaving immediately after dropping offbat squads. They simply didn¡¯t dare approach the Zhang n¡¯s primary fleet.

    The human side seemed rtively frailpared to the enemies rushing over like a swarm of bees.

    Qianye leapt up and approached the closest battlefield in due haste.

    It was a hilly region where a group of human warriors was holed up on a rocky mountain, frantically resisting the dark race¡¯s attack. Hundreds of dark race warriors had surrounded the peak whileunching fierce attacks. There were thirty or so people halfway up the mountain, including a second-rank viscount who was observing the summit battle with his hands behind his back.

    There were only twenty or so human soldiers. Be it in terms of cultivation or number, they were far inferior to their adversary, but they made up for this with great coordination and teamwork. Apparently, they were well-experienced in organizedbat.

    The ten at the front, wielding swords and shields, locked down the iing dark race soldiers. Those at the back were raining bullets into the enemy group with no regard for their origin power consumption. Dark race soldiers were mowed down one after another. This small squad was actually halting the advance of a force many times their size.

    Despite the bad situation, the overseeing viscount was in no rush to take action. He had also concentrated most baron and knight level experts around him instead of having them charge at the peak. Otherwise, the situation on the mountain wouldn¡¯t be in a deadlock like this.

    He nced toward the sky from time to time as though he was waiting for something.

    A thousand meters away, Qianye was crouching behind a pile of rocks with his crosshairs locked onto the viscount. After realizing that thetter was waiting for something, Qianye decided to wait and see what they were nning.

    After a while, the defense atop the mountain started to falter. The dark race¡¯s casualties were also increasing gradually.

    That viscountughed coldly and said, ¡°It seems the humans will not waste their ammunition for such trash. In that case, we have no need to keep them alive. Let¡¯s go!¡±

    The viscount let out a long howl¡ªhis body swelled up rapidly and his ck fur grew longer. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into his werewolfbat form with a bloodthirsty glint in his gaze.

    However, his long howl soon came to an abrupt halt. His body was violently jolted forward and nearly fell to the ground. At this point, everyone saw a cloud of blood and flesh bursting out of his back. Having lost the support of his now-broken neck, the werewolf¡¯s head hung down limply.

    None of the werewolf viscount¡¯s subordinates hade to even after he was gravely wounded. During the moment that they were petrified, the heads of two more barons suddenly burst open, and then the knights also fell down one after the other. Only at this point did the lucky survivors hear gunshots in the distance. However, the timbre of a sniper rifle wasn¡¯t that distinct amidst the battles taking ce everywhere.

    Qianye put away the Thunderbolt, checked the battlefield once more, and left. With the leader killed and over half the experts cleared out, the dark race squad fell into chaos. Even if the people atop the hill couldn¡¯t win, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for them to escape. The dark race force in the area was too big. Qianye had no intention of spending too much origin power on soldiers beneath the champion level.

    Qianye was just picking out his next battlefield when he suddenly turned around and stared toward a certain point in the east. He had sensed there an extremely familiar origin power fluctuation.

    He arched his body and shot through the rocky mountain terrain like a beast, approaching the location under the cover of thendscape.

    Momentster, Qianye climbed atop a hill and looked down at the battlefield below.

    There was a natural valley between two hills. The topography here wasplicated with rocks jutting into the sky and numerous caves along the cliffsides, a natural battleground through and through.

    This ce was supposed to be a barrennd with only a few weather-resistant shrubs. However, a verdant oasis seemed to have appeared right in the middle of the battlefield. Thendscape was splendid with numerous ancient trees reaching into the sky and their falling leaves spinning about. There was even a rainbow peeking through the foliage from time to time, nothing short of a paradise on earth.

    There was a clear spring glistening under the sunlight at the center of the oasis, beside which stood a decorative rock. If one had to point out something out of ce in this scenery, it would be this yellowish rock. There weren¡¯t any carved lines or exquisite pores on it, and it was no different from a stone one would find anywhere. Yet, it stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the beauty of this almost fantastical ambiance.

    The oasis in the barrennds was exceptionally distinct, making it near impossible for people to overlook it. That yellow rock was the most eye-catching of all, especially since it was moving about instead of standing still.

    Qianye knew at a nce that the leaders of the two armies were locked in a battle of domains. It was just that the projection of such life-like visual phenomena was extremely rare.

    This so-called battle of domains meant that the two parties were fighting for control over the origin power in the environment. They were drawing upon the power of the world for their own use, empowering their bodies and attacking their opponents. However, visual phenomena would emerge when the origin powers controlled by eachbatant came into conflict. This was a scene formed of different domains.

    But what was with this oasis? It was simply too realistic! Could it be that those waves and grasses possessed offensive capabilities?

    Qianye had a faint guess about what was going on after seeing the numerous leaves. His eyes turned blue as he nced back at the oasis. The Eye of Truth swept away the domains¡¯ interference on his senses, allowing him to see the entire battlefield clearly.

    Hundreds of soldiers were risking life and limb to kill one another on the battlefield¡ªmost of them were dark race warriors with less than a hundred humans present. Where the battle was the fiercest, ten viscounts had four human champions surrounded. One of the four possessed a jade-like countenance, a highly refined temperament, and his robes fluttered in the wind as he waved the folding fan in his hand. Quite shockingly, it was the Song n¡¯s seventh young noble.

    However, he was equipped with neither armor nor weapon at this moment. He didn¡¯t have his silver mask on, either. He was ying about with his fan, opening and closing it lightly as though he was enjoying the scenery on a spring hike. How was this like a life and death battle at all?

    Beside Song Zining, a tall and sturdy youth was roaring loudly. His every action was full of vigor and made up of significant movements. He alone had seven or eight of the viscounts tied down, and two among them were even at rank two. He was truly dauntless.

    He had long since fallen into a disadvantage against the multitude of enemies, howling in pain whenever he received the asional wound. Despite the cries, however, the fellow would jump back into the fray and continue entangling the enemies. Who else could this thrashing fellow be if not Wei Potian?

    The other two human champions were only rank-eleven, yet they could each intercept a third-rank viscount and enter a deadlock. There was a viscount on the other side who hadn¡¯t yet entered the battlefield and was, instead, confronting Song Zining across the battlefield.

    But Qianye immediately discovered that the viscount wasn¡¯t standing idle. His expression at the moment was serious, and the blood energy around him was almost aboil as he engaged in a desperate struggle of domains against Song Zining. All manners of beasts rushed out from his blood energy and pounced at Song Zining, but those vicious beasts would immediately sink into the central pond after appearing.

    The blood beasts seemed to not know how to swim. They struggled with all their might after falling in, but their ultimate fate was to sink into the waters, never to appear again.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised at this point. How could beasts formed of blood drown? The pond that was supposed to be illusory was actually drowning creatures? This scene went against allmon sense!

    Qianye stopped thinking about it soon afterward. The situation below was fairly urgent. There was no telling how long Song Zining and Wei Potian had been trapped there. They looked like they could still hold on, but the situation was beyond perilous. The duo¡¯s origin power glow, in his True Sight, was already fairly dim. That was an early sign of exhaustion, which meant that they might copse at any moment.

    Qianye had no time to think about how these two long-time rivals had fallen into such a situation. He produced the Carol of Shadows¡ªa pair of luminous wings spread out behind him as a golden luster coated the long sniper rifle.

    He aimed briefly and pulled the trigger. The Carol of Shadows trembled ferociously, and the barrel jumped up from the recoil despite Qianye¡¯s powerful arm strength. A mass of faintly visible light shot out from the muzzle, passed through an opening in Song Zining¡¯s domain, and struck the back of a viscount.

    Song Zining, who was walking on the grassy fields at this moment, found his expression shifting rapidly. He gripped his folding fan so hard that he nearly broke it. He had clearly sensed a mass of extremely powerful darkness origin power st into his domain. Both the timing and position of the shot was just right¡ªit entered via a small opening in his domain without being impeded in the slightest.

    It was a true expert!

    Song Zining¡¯s hair stood on end. He discarded his folding fan and spun about like a de to evade the vampire viscount with whom he was fighting. Then, with a wave of his hand, he brought the silver spear box lying nearby into his grasp.

    The spear box would open up just by pressing a button. However, in the eyes of true experts, that brief moment of retrieval was enough to kill him several times over. On the verge of life and death, Song Zining¡¯s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. He gripped the spear box tightly as origin power seeped out of his body and caused the high-quality alloy to break apart. That spear made of a mysterious material was now in his hand.

    However, the origin bullet had already crossed the greater part of the domain. Song Zining broke out in cold sweat as he sensed the aura of darkness origin power close at hand. He inhaled deeply and was just about to ignite his origin power when his breath came to an abrupt stop. He watched as the origin bullet passed by him in an arc and struck the back of a viscount.

    That werewolf was justunching fierce attacks around Wei Potian when his upper body exploded all of a sudden. A shower of blood poured down toward Wei Potian.

    Song Zining¡¯s thoughts spun about like lightning as he pointed a finger forward with a second thought. The near-perfect domain suddenly became full of openings. As expected, another faintly discernible bullet arrived through one of the openings and tore another dark viscount into two halves.

    After being reinforced by the Wings of Inception, the Carol of Shadows¡¯ firepower wasparable to a grade-eight firearm. How could a mere third-rank viscount withstand a shot from it?

    At this moment, the dark races also realized that something was wrong. The vampire viscount contending with Song Zining was both shocked and furious. ¡°Retreat!¡± He took the lead in leaving Song Zining¡¯s domain and fled.

    No ordinary sniper was capable of reaping a third-rank viscount in one shot under two shing domains. Such destructive potential should belong to a count at the very least. The viscount had already used up over half of his energy against Song Zining. How would he dare to stay and be the third target?

    However, he had just rushed out of the domain when he saw a certain person blocking his path.

    The vampire viscount revealed a violent expression after realizing how young this person was. ¡°Scram!¡± he shouted while elerating and soon crashed straight into the human.

    Qianye made no attempt at evasion. He only strode forward and shed squarely with the iing enemy.

    A muffled bang ensued. The vampire viscount staggered backward several steps, his vision filled with dancing stars. Following the pure collision devoid of fancy moves, not only did Qianye not retreat but even took a step forward. A swing of East Peak sent the viscount¡¯s head flying into the sky.

 Volume 6 - 641: Picturesque Vista

    [V6C171 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    With the leader dead, the remaining warriors became less of a match. The first-rank viscount fleeing Song Zining¡¯s domain didn¡¯t mean that the others could extricate themselves as easily. In the short moment that they were thrashing about like headless flies, Qianye had already charged into Song Zining¡¯s domain. He brandished his de like the wind and cleaved vampire and werewolf alike with a single sh each. In the blink of an eye, he had killed off all the viscounts Wei Potian had been holding off.

    ¡°Qianye, you¡­¡± Song Zining was just about to speak with a stunned expression when Wei Potian cut him short, ¡°Stop bbering and start saving people.¡±

    The battle was still ongoing both within the domain and outside.

    Many of the lower-ranked dark race warriors couldn¡¯t see the situation inside the domain and were still surrounding and attacking the humans. Song Zining immediately expanded his domain and isted the battlefield. Following which, Qianye and Wei Potian killed off all the remaining enemies, not leaving a single one behind. But their kills added together couldn¡¯t catch up to Song Zining. His Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art Domain was extremely effective at killing cannon fodder. Those flying leaves were akin to butcher¡¯s knives, capable of drawing life with a mere brush.

    The subordinates naturally took over after the general situation was settled. Only then did Qianye find the time to ask, ¡°Howe you two are here?¡±

    Song Zining red at him angrily and said, ¡°What? Are you the only one allowed toe?¡±

    Wei Potian red furiously at him and said, ¡°Damn his grandma! If not for this damned strategist¡¯s lies, why would this daddy run over here to suffer?¡±

    Qianye was startled. It would seem that these two fellows were still at odds, but Song Zining wasn¡¯t too happy with him, either, and he had no idea why. Qianye wasn¡¯t too reserved in front of these two brothers. ¡°What I meant is, why are you two together? And, Zining, what did I do to offend you?¡±

    Wei Potian spat loudly and stomped the ground. ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t pay him any attention. This fellow is just jealous! He couldn¡¯t kill that viscount after fighting for half a day, but you lopped off his head immediately. It¡¯d be odd if this narrow-minded bastard doesn¡¯t feel depressed! Working with him is thest thing I¡¯d do if he hadn¡¯t tricked me.¡±

    Wei Potian was clearly furious. He would¡¯ve attacked immediately if it were any other day, but he only red at Song Zining for now. The Wei Potian of today already possessed the calm bearing of a great general and was no longer the impatient brat from before.

    Qianye was still unclear why these two were together, but he soon figured it out after asking a couple more questions.

    It turned out that Song Zining had called upon Wei Potian on the very day the Zhang n¡¯s defeat was announced. After an extravagantly embellished analysis of the situation, he pointed out that the Zhang n¡¯s sessful retreat to the Zhao n warzone was extremely important for the war as a whole and stated that he just had to take part in this crucial point in the war. It was just that, despite the spirit, he was too weak to carry it out. He was willing to let go of all past enmity at this important juncture and work together with Wei Potian to snipe down the dark race pursuers, hence protecting the Zhang n¡¯s retreating army.

    Wei Potian had led troops for many years and immediately realized that Song Zining¡¯s words made sense. Although he wasn¡¯t that happy with thetter, he had to admit that this little pimp was great at strategy and that the two of them wouldplement each other¡¯s weaknesses in battle. As such, he finally agreed.

    Wei Potian always acted with great decisiveness. He immediately transferred two hundred elites and drove a high-speed airship right into the middle of the battlefield. They came at just the right time and ran straight into the pursuit parties. They had started fighting immediately uponnding and had gone through several battles in a row.

    From Wei Potian¡¯s badly damaged armor, the wounds of all sizes all over his body, and the group of less than a hundred Wei n warriors, Qianye could tell just now fierce the battles had been. Over half of the Wei n¡¯s soldiers had died in less than a day. No wonder Wei Potian¡¯s mood was so sour.

    Wei Potian seemed to have guessed Qianye¡¯s thoughts. He snorted coldly and said, ¡°People die in battle. I came here fully aware that I might not ever return, and my brothers aren¡¯t afraid of dying, either. But if this fellow had exined things clearly and given me half a day¡¯s time to prepare, far fewer of my men would¡¯ve died. Just ask him what the hell is wrong with his ursed domain!¡±

    Song Zining was mumbling beside them, ¡°Speed is a crucial asset in war, how can we wait for half a day?¡± But after hearing the words ¡°domain¡±, he immediately looked away with an awkward expression. Then, he began waving his fan as though he were enjoying the scenery.

    Qianye immediately realized that something was wrong. ¡°Zining, what¡¯s wrong with your domain?¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t discovered anything wrong with Song Zining¡¯s domain. He only felt that it had be increasingly lifelike, and it was even capable of insting perception. He simply couldn¡¯t understand why Wei Potian was so angry because the domain was almost miraculous.

    Wei Potian snorted, ¡°Ask that gigolo!¡±

    At this point, Song Zining could no longer pretend to be gazing at the scenery. He let out a dry cough and said nonchntly, ¡°It¡¯s nothing big. It¡¯s just that, umm, I needed a decorative mountain in my domain so I had him fill in temporarily. Afterward, Iined a bit because that rock looks so worn-out.¡±

    Wei Potian turned back in abrupt fury. ¡°What the hell do you expect? This daddy won¡¯t bicker with you on the battlefield, but your ursed domain didn¡¯t even do a fart¡¯s worth of damage back then. How many of my brothers died because of you?!¡±

    Qianye was surprised at this point. Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art Domain was mysterious, unfathomable, and filled with myriad transformations. Every leaf in the domain was known to be able to kill¡ªhow could it be so weak? Solely in terms of domains, the Song seventh young master was at the peak of the empire¡¯s younger generation; it wasn¡¯t that much weaker than Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal.

    Song Zining said in an embarrassed manner, ¡°This¡­ is a long story.¡±

    He pulled Qianye over to the side and exined in a whisper. Only then did Qianye realize that Song Zining¡¯s ambitions were too great, nning to forge an illusory world of myriad visual phenomena. If he had seeded in this path, a boundless, vivid realm would appear around him at a single thought, and further advancement would allow for these illusions to be reality. At that point, the domain would be filled with mysterious principles¡ªdrowning enemies with a ss of water or setting them aze¡ªhe would be able to transform heaven and earth with a single thought. It was a near heaven-defying method.

    It was just that this path was too difficult. Qianye could imagine that there was no way to produce such a level of domain without reaching the heavenly monarch level. Even at that level, the chances weren¡¯t that great. Seeding in such a domain was probably even harder than bing a heavenly monarch.

    As expected of someone who had imed to be an ¡°observer of the great dao and the future¡± since back at the Yellow Springs, his ambitions were at the very end of the road, way beyond a heavenly monarch. This kind of aspiration made Qianye, who had to calcte every bit of essence blood and origin power, feel ashamed.

    At this point, Wei Potian, who was eavesdropping from the side, could no longer hold back. ¡°Dog shit illusory world and myriad changes! All of this is just a backdrop to impress girls and set up his grandeur. This gigolo only has women in his eyes, how can there be any bullshit great dao and mysterious principles!¡±

    Qianye was startled as Song Zining stamped his feet and said, ¡°Ahhh! Brother Wei, you and I can be consideredrades who have fought side by side. Is there a need to bare everything?¡±

    ¡°What nerve! If you hadn¡¯t been doing all those weird things, your domain wouldn¡¯t have been this weak and fewer of my brothers would¡¯ve died!¡±

    Qianye finally realized what was going on as the quarrel continued. Song Zining¡¯s cultivation had soared rapidly in the recent period, reaching rank-twelve and obtaining a new level ofprehension in his Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. However, the seventh young master didn¡¯t choose to increase the destructive potential of his domain and instead chose to derive the true world. As Wei Potian saw it, this kind of fancy illusory effect was entirely useless.

    During the half a day of battles, it was indeed true that Song Zining could trap the enemy easily but had no power to kill them. For instance, he had trapped the strongest enemy¡ªthe first-rank viscount¡ªduring this battle but was powerless to do anything more. All the actual killing was left to Wei Potian¡¯s subordinates. Wei Potian, on the other hand, felt that Song Zining should¡¯ve been able to defeat a first-rank viscount immediately. Yet, they were in a prolonged deadlock after the deployment of their individual domains. If Qianye hadn¡¯t arrived when he did, Wei Potian would probably have sumbed under the beleaguerment. At that point, Song Zining¡¯s fate wouldn¡¯t be any better.

    After figuring things out, Qianye still couldn¡¯t tell who was right or wrong. He could only pat Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder and say, ¡°Let it be, Zining has also tried his best. Besides, his domain can interfere with enemy perception and will probably prove useful in the future. We¡¯re still on the battlefield right now, let¡¯s continue this discussion after the war.¡±

    Wei Potian had nothing left to say after Qianye consoled him so. All he did was re hard at Song Zining.

    Seeing that the current storm had passed by, Song Zining came over and sized Qianye up from head to toe, from left to right.

    Qianye was suspicious after being looked all over. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Song Zining pped his fan a couple of times. ¡°Qianye, if I didn¡¯t see wrong, you just knocked that viscount back, right?

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Song Zining retrieved his fan. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? What¡¯s the matter?!?! That¡¯s a first-rank viscount we¡¯re talking about! And you just sent him flying?¡±

    Vampires boasted a much stronger constitution than humans of the same level. Be it in strength or speed, they were far above the human race. However, Qianye¡¯s blood energy had also reached the level of a first-rank viscount. Moreover, it was ording to ancient standards. How could an ordinary first-rank viscount be his match? Hence, a direct collision had sent the opponent flying immediately.

    That vampire viscount had never imagined he would fail to bump Qianye away. In the end, he was caught unprepared and beheaded.

    Song Zining knew Qianye was a vampire, but his constitution which came from the purple blood energy was a deeper secret. Qianye made no further exnation and only said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal to send him flying?¡±

    ¡°How can that be normal?¡± It was Wei Potian who joined the conversation. He had also shed with this viscount before but was almost sent flying instead. Naturally, he knew how powerful this opponent was. Comparatively, Qianye¡¯s strength was simply inhuman.

    Thetter felt somewhat troubled and was just about to find an excuse when he heard a sharp whistle above him. He looked up only to find a small airship rush out of the clouds and drop unsteadily toward the ground.

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes were sharp. He observed the airship model and cried out, ¡°Not good! That¡¯s a Zhao n airship!¡±

 Volume 6 - 642: Enemy

    [V6C172 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Let¡¯s go check!¡± Qianye rushed toward the fallen airship immediately.

    That airship was swaying about unsteadily while spouting dense smoke and mes. Qianye arrived first on a hill and saw another airship rush out of the clouds with the autocannons on either side of its hull roaring constantly. Countless shells formed two ming whips whichshed at the Zhao n airship repeatedly.

    A figure jumped out of thetter vessel when it was several dozen meters from the ground. Uponnding, this person rolled sideways to reduce the impact and stopped in a half-kneeling position. There was a shockinglyrge origin cannon under her arm, the muzzle of which was aimed at the airship in pursuit.

    ¡°Boom!¡± A mysterious blue light flew out from the cannon and struck the airship almost immediately. The firepower of this st was astonishing¡ªit actually prated the airship and sent blue mes spewing out of the other end of the vessel.

    The Evernight airship began spinning about as though it were drunk. Soon, dense smoke began gushing out of the vessel, followed by several ming dark race warriors jumping out from within. However, the ship was still several hundred meters from the ground. They fell straight down like stones in water, bounced a couple of times, then stopped moving.

    At this moment, the cabin doors were kicked open as a tall man flew out from within. His entire body was on fire but the surging origin power around his body soon extinguished the ze. The blood energy around him leapt up like mes as he looked down at the people on the ground!

    ¡°Sh*t!¡± Qianye cried out in secret. He had immediately figured out that the man in the air was a second-rank count, a formidable opponent through and through.

    The one on the ground was ady, her ponytail dancing in the air as the shockwaves from the ship¡¯s explosion rushed at her. Strands of hair brushed past her face, but she didn¡¯t blink at all¡ªshe quickly locked onto the opponent and fired yet another round!

    That vampire count was like a demon as his figure flickered through the air, duly evading the iing shell.

    Qianye had already taken out the Thunderbolt, but he put it back down after considering the circumstances. Chances of the shot being dodged were quite high as the distance was already close to the maximum range of the sniper rifle.

    As someone who had killed no small number of Evernight experts, Qianye quickly formed a strategy. He approached the battlefield rapidly in a bid to outnk the count before he became more vignt.

    However, Wei Potian let out a frantic roar and rushed out before Qianye could put his ns into action. ¡°Yuying!¡± Song Zining also cried out in rm as he rushed out, spear in hand.

    Their charge caused the vampire count to turn back immediately, alerting him of the group¡¯s presence.

    Qianye could only give up on his ns for an ambush and rush into a head-on fight. He had long since noticed that the woman who had escaped from the airship was Zhao Yuying. She could easily hold out for a length of time even against a second-rank count, but that Wei Potian just had to rush out like an angry bull. Even the normally calm Song Zining was following suit¡ªthis truly puzzled Qianye.

    There were battles taking ce everywhere in this area, and the entire scene was as chaotic as it could be. Seeing Wei Potian charge forward with Song Zining on his tail, Qianye intentionallygged behind to guard their backs. One had to know that Qianye couldn¡¯t be the only sniper in such a ce¡ªthe vampires and demonkin both possessed talents in this field.

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t distracted at all. She kept her focus on the count in the sky in a bid to lock him down. Meanwhile, the count sped toward her in an erratic pattern.

    Wei Potian screamed at the top of his lungs, ¡°Hey, hairless old bat,e at Grandpa Wei if you dare! See how I¡¯ll smash you into bat pie!¡±

    That count shot Wei Potian a cold nce. However, he didn¡¯t quite fall for his taunt and only kept on charging toward Zhao Yuying.

    Wei Potian bellowed loudly. There was nothing he could do since speed wasn¡¯t his forte. He wouldn¡¯t be able to intercept the count on time, no matter how hard he tried. At this moment, Song Zining, despite starting offte, easily overtook Wei Potian and shot toward the vampire count. He was moving so fast that he looked almost like a beam of silvery light.

    Wei Potian was greatly worried. ¡°You¡¯re courting death with that speed!¡±

    Song Zining paid no attention and continued at his full speed, not even bothering to release his domain. If that count were to attack Zhao Yuying first, it was very likely that he would receive a heavy blow from behind.

    An inexplicable sense of danger arose in Qianye¡¯s heart. ¡°Be careful!¡± he called out immediately after observing the surroundings. A silver shadow was charging over from a thousand meters away and making a straight line toward Song Zining!

    The iing assant had hidden himself so well that even Qianye hadn¡¯t discovered his traces. It was just that the former could no longer conceal his presence during the attack, allowing Qianye to sense him.

    In the blink of an eye, Wei Potian changed directions and arrived between Song Zining and the silver light. Origin power surged around him, materializing into numerous mountain peaks and blocking the enemy.

    The silver shadow crashed right into Wei Potian. The mountainous projections copsed with a resounding thump and Wei Potian was sent flying dozens of meters away. However, thetter managed to mber up immediately afternding. Origin power gushed out once more, and the many mountain peaks were soon reformed. He stared at the opponent with all due seriousness because he knew he had met a powerful enemy.

    A tall, soldierly man appeared as the dust and origin radiance settled on the battlefield. ¡°William!¡± Qianye called out in astonishment.

    The silvery shadow that had just arrived was William. No wonder it was so powerful and nearly broke apart Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains. Seeing who it was, Qianye slowly drew East Peak and walked toward the enemy.

    Although he had worked together with this werewolf count before, that was a personal, under-the-table deal. Moreover, they were now on the floating continent where the two factions were in an all-out war. He had no choice but to set aside their past rtionship.

    William seemed somewhat helpless after seeing Qianye. He arched his body slightly and removed a silver shield from his back with one hand while a heavy battle-axe appeared in the other.

    Werewolves were most proficient in meleebat. Although Qianye¡¯sbat arts had improved significantly in recent days, he didn¡¯t dare underestimate William. At the very least, Qianye still had no grasp on how powerful William¡¯s actualbat strength was. Hence, he didn¡¯t attack and simply held the sword across his chest in a defensive posture. He knew that the key to this battley in him keeping William upied, while Zhao Yuying, Song Zining, and Wei Potian worked together to kill that vampire count. Afterward, they coulde back and help him drive William away.

    Thetter didn¡¯t attack, either, and only stared on like a tiger watching his prey. No one knew what he was thinking or waiting for.

    The battle on the other side raged on while the two of them were in a deadlock. The vampire count charging at Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t quite expect that thetter would throw herself at him instead of evading. She used that heavy handheld cannon like an iron rod and smashed it toward his head!

    This attack looked nothing more than a move from a local thug, but it camepletely unexpected to the count. Seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s aggressive attack, he shed sideways out of reflex. Who would¡¯ve thought Zhao Yuying would refuse to let go? The hand-cannon spun sideways and swung once more at his waist. She proceeded tounch a flurry of violent attacks both physically and verbally. ¡°Chasing after this mommy, eh? Break my airship, will you?! Old bat, this mommy isn¡¯t surnamed Zhao if I don¡¯t beat you to a pulp!¡±

    The vampire count was both furious and shocked. He had never expected this beautifuldy to attack like a hoodlum and was thus momentarily disadvantaged. Song Zining and Wei Potian arrived at this point, and under the trio¡¯sbined attacks, the count could find no more chance to retaliate.

    The vampire count would soon be defeated just as Qianye had anticipated. However, thetter didn¡¯t dare to be careless because William was mysterious, powerful, and possessed the ability to turn the tables on his own.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t see a shred of worry or anxiety in the werewolf¡¯s eyes, and on the contrary, it seemed like he had everything under control. Qianye suddenly thought of a possibility¡ªdid he have other reinforcements or a hidden ace?

    It was at this time that Qianye felt the origin power to his right side fluctuate slightly. He immediately jumped backward as a sniper round whistled right past him.

    After missing the first shot, another bullet flew out from the distance and made straight for the airborne Qianye¡ªthe timing of this shot was extremely clever. Unable to dodge, Qianye raised East Peak horizontally and deflected the iing sniper round. The relentless assassin fired several more shots, each and every one of them aimed at his vitals.

    However, Qianye had alreadynded and gained much more space to maneuver. His body swayed ever so slightly, suddenly stepping forward and backward as he narrowly evaded the origin bullets.

    ¡°How is this possible?!¡± The assant¡¯s figure appeared in the distance as she cried out in disbelief.

    Her shots were indeed at a master¡¯s level, but Qianye was already guarded against her. Moreover, he could see and deduce the bullet trajectories with his Eye of Truth. It was only natural that he would evade them easily.

    Realizing that she was helpless against Qianye, the assassin rushed over and shouted in a stern voice, ¡°William! Why are you not attacking? Are you trying to defect?¡±

    William shrugged helplessly. ¡°Hey, this isn¡¯t a simple opponent. How can I attack carelessly?¡±

    ¡°William! If you don¡¯t attack right now, I¡¯ll report this matter to the duke when we return. Even if the Summit of Peaks can protect you, those two tribes will definitely die!¡±

    William¡¯s expression changed slightly as he walked over with a sigh.

    Qianye had already recognized the distant sniper as Twilight. In his memories, however, the vampiredy¡¯s strength was far inferior to William¡¯s. Howe her position at the moment seemed to be higher? Qianye thought of something at this point. ¡°That¡¯s Twilight, isn¡¯t it? I remember her strength is nothing to write home about. Howe she¡¯s riding on your head now?¡±

    William seemed to have lost all enthusiasm. He waved hisrge hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about those annoying things. Come, Qianye, it¡¯s been a while. Let¡¯s fight! Let me see how strong you¡¯ve be.¡±

    William was just about to attack when the scenery in front of him transformed¡ªthere was suddenly a lush, giant tree blocking his path to Qianye. How could there be a tree in this ursed ce? During that moment of surprise, William suddenly lost track of Qianye.

    Meanwhile, Qianye saw severalrge trees and shrubs appear around him and immediately realized that it was Song Zining¡¯s domain. At this time, he heard thetter¡¯s voice echo beside his ears, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Soon, Qianye felt an invisible power leading him to a certain direction. Qianye followed this guiding force, knowing full well that it was the power of Song Zining¡¯s domain.

    The invisible energy shifted repeatedly and along with it, Qianye¡¯s direction of movement. The cooperation between the two gradually came close to perfection.

    Qianye ran several hundred meters in the blink of an eye and soon the scene in front of him transformed back to a destendscape. Song Zining appeared from behind a giant rock, with Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian in tow. With everyone ounted for, Song Zining said, ¡°Follow me, quick!¡±

    He actually started running toward the Zhang n army. Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian also followed closely. Qianye looked back and saw a verdant forest sticking out from the surroundings like a sore thumb¡ªwith the vampire count and William still trapped inside.

 Volume 6 - 643: Counterattack

    [V6C173 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    With the help of Song Zining¡¯s domain, Qianye and the others managed to assemble and escape toward the Zhang n army.

    The battlefield was absolutely chaotic at this moment¡ªwith the sessive arrival of the dark race elites, one could run into an enemy at any given moment. Flying through the air under such circumstances was nothing short of suicidal, so all they could do was run on the ground.

    As for the Wei family¡¯s private soldiers, Song Zining had already ordered them to find an advantageous position to defend and await reinforcements.

    After running for a fair distance, Song Zining¡¯s face became abnormally flushed as he spat out a mouthful of blood. ¡°My domain has been destroyed.¡±

    Wei Potian looked straight into Song Zining¡¯s eyes and said unwillingly, ¡°Your domain has some uses after all.¡±

    Qianye, however, felt that it was much more than just a bit useful. Being able to trap so many powerful enemies on its own after the operator had fled was simply unbelievable.

    If one were to im Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Might as the extreme of destructive might, then Song Zining¡¯s domain was the apex of ingenuity. The two had developed in very different directions and was thus difficult topare. Themon quality was that they were at the pinnacle among experts of the same level.

    Several figures came rushing over from the distance. In addition to the vampire count, Twilight, and William, there were several other viscount-grade experts. Additionally, two high-speed airships emerged from the clouds and began charging at them.

    However, Song Zining¡¯s domain had put several thousand meters between the two parties. Both he and Zhao Yuying specialized in speed. Wei Potian was the slowest of the bunch, but Qianye quietly gave him a lift from behind, allowing him to remain on Song Zining¡¯s tail. The distance thus increased gradually.

    Seeing that the four were about to escape, that vampire count unleashed a shrill howl and actually rose into the air. He flew forward at great speeds, quickly closing the gap between them.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression changed. ¡°He¡¯s courting death! Let¡¯s speed up. Qianye, stop helping him secretly. Take Wei Potian and run!¡±

    Qianye nodded as he finally unleashed the entirety of his great power. Darting about through the mountainous terrain, he covered ten meters with every step and was soon far off into the distance.

    Song Zining remembered to unleash his domain only after a momentary daze. A strong wind kicked up around him and Zhao Yuying, pushing the two forward and increasing their speed by twenty percent. Although he couldn¡¯t beat the vampire count¡¯s flying speed, the difference was quite slim and thetter couldn¡¯t catch up so easily. Qianye, on the other hand, was simply too fast. He hadpletely suppressed Song Zining¡¯s domain, and the distance between them was only growingrger andrger¡ªtwo hundred meters, five hundred meters, and in the blink of an eye, a thousand.

    A dead leaf flew past Qianye¡¯s eyes and out of it came Song Zining¡¯s flustered voice. ¡°Qianye! Don¡¯t run that fast or we¡¯ll really lose him!¡±

    Startled, Qianye quickly slowed down his footsteps and waited for Song Zining and Zhao Yuying to catch up. Then, they maintained a hundred meters of distance from one another. Strong winds surrounded the duo¡ªit would seem they were at their limits because none of them had the breath to speak. No more flying messenger leaves appeared, either.

    The distance between the escapees and the pursuers gradually shortened. The vampire count¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and his blood energy was aboil, leaving a stream of rolling red clouds as he flew through the sky. The two parties passed over several hills and ran dozens of kilometers. Soon, the Zhang n¡¯s frigates could be seen over the distant horizon.

    It was at this time that one of the warships suddenly spun about and flew over. Its speed was abnormally fast and soon arrived within several kilometers of Qianye¡¯s group. Afterward, the entire vessel trembled as it shot out a giant arrow suffused with dark-green radiance!

    The arrow was two meters long and as quick as lightning. The recoil from the shot jolted the airship and caused its speed to decrease drastically¡ªone could see just how powerful it was!

    Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted. He had immediately sensed that this giant ballista was extraordinary and that its true weight far exceeded its appearance.

    The vampire count was shocked out of his wits upon seeing the huge projectileing straight at him. He screamed oddly and made an all-out attempt to sidestep the attack. However, the ballista bolt made a turn, locked back onto the count, and sted onto him!

    Following a miserable scream, the vampire count exploded into a cloud of bloody mist. The giant ballista bolt also erupted with dazzling silvery brilliance. This light caused the mist to produce clouds of ck smoke as though it had been sshed with strong acid.

    A pained scream emerged once again from the sanguineous mist as a red gaseous mass shot out of the silvery light and flew into the distance. Qianye immediately saw through the gas with his True Sight and found that it was actually hiding the count¡¯s blood core.

    The count was indeed difficult to deal with and seemed to possess an abundance of secret arts. He was able to flee even after being sted until only his blood core was left. No wonder Zhao Yuying was hunted down.

    He might¡¯ve really escaped if he were up against any other opponent. Then, he might be able to reform a new body at the blood pond. He could only me his bad fortune for meeting Qianye and his True Sight. Thetter lifted the Thunderbolt, locked onto the blood core after a brief aim, and sted it to smithereens.

    The airship circled about to confirm the oue before flying back to join the fleet.

    The blood core¡¯s destruction was marked by an immediate rain of scarlet, which dyed arge area of the destend. Watching the sttering blood droplets, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Yuying, what exactly did you do that made him hate you so much? He was hell-bent on killing you even at the cost of his life.¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged. ¡°This mommy didn¡¯t do much. I just destroyed all of the other transport and supply vessels in his sub-fleet.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Yuying rubbed her chin pensively and said, ¡°By the looks of it, his entire family must¡¯ve been on those transports. I might¡¯ve wiped them all out in one fell swoop.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very possible,¡± Song Zining chimed in. He said while pping his hands, ¡°Okay, we should rest a while first. We still have to go back and help those Wei n soldiers. Someone¡¯s going to fight it out with me if more of them die.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was solemn. It was rare to see him not in a rush to argue with Song Zining. ¡°It looks like we won¡¯t have that chance. That werewolf alone might be beyond our power.¡±

    The seriousness in Wei Potian¡¯s voice was evident. It was clear that he treated those men seriously, but there were experts converging upon them. Even after finishing off the count, they were still no match for the hunting party. William alone waspletely unfathomable. After a period of fighting alongside one another, Wei Potian understood Song Zining and Zhao Yuying quite well. He knew that they might not win against William even when working together, not to mention there was also Twilight and her powerful subordinates. No one knew how many more dark race experts were on their way.

    Wei Potian knew that the oue would be dire once they had been surrounded.

    At this moment, Qianye patted Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°I¡¯ll keep the werewolf busy, I¡¯ll count on you guys for the others.¡±

    ¡°Impossible,¡± Wei Potian cried out reflexively.

    It wasn¡¯t just Wei Potian, both Song Zining and Zhao Yuying were also looking at Qianye. The sh just now was brief, but they had all realized just how terrifying William was. In a one-on-one battle, only Song Zining might have a chance at escaping because of his domain.

    Qianye raised a hand, stopping Zhao Yuying who was just about to speak. ¡°What Zining said is true, now is not the time to hide our powers. Rest assured, just leave the werewolf to me and deal with the other people.¡±

    Song Zining knew that now was not the time to drag things on. He made a prompt decision and said, ¡°Very well, let¡¯s do it your way.¡±

    The four turned around and charged back into the fray.

    William was running across thend at a leisurely pace. It didn¡¯t seem like he was on the battlefield at all. On the contrary, it looked like he was stretching his limbs under the radiant afternoon sun. Twilight¡¯s expression was ashen as she ran along in silence. There were vampire warriors appearing frequently behind them, forming a wide arc to outnk the targets.

    She turned to William and said with a harsh tone, ¡°They¡¯ll reach the fleet if this goes on! Why aren¡¯t you chasing?!¡±

    William saidzily, ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m not running any slower than you are, though.¡±

    Twilight ground her teeth in ire. One could easily see that William wasn¡¯t trying hard at all. She, on the other hand, was already at her limits. The only way left to go faster was to fly into the air, but she really didn¡¯t want to court death in a sniper-infested ce like this.

    With a livid expression, Twilight began thinking about how she should report William after the battle. She just had to make him feel some pain.

    William¡¯s expression changed as he suddenly reduced his speed. Twilight, who was lost in her own thoughts, quickly shot ahead. She turned back and shouted with a furious expression, ¡°What now?!¡±

    William¡¯s steps gradually came to a halt, after which he proceeded to stare forward with a serious expression. Only then did Twilight realize that a dense mist had appeared in front and cut off the road ahead.

    Qianye walked out slowly from the mist. ¡°William, I really didn¡¯t want to meet you under such circumstances.¡±

    William scratched his head and sighed. ¡°Me neither, but what can we do? This is unavoidable.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Since we can¡¯t avoid it, then let¡¯s get down to business.¡±

    William¡¯s eyes lit up after some thought. ¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯s time to try fighting you. We¡¯ve never had a proper battle before.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression transformed rapidly. She was used to being the focus of all attention, but now, these two men were actually ignoring her. It was just that Twilight, for some reason, felt something inexplicable in Qianye¡ªit was actually a vague feeling of trepidation. Hence, she decided to endure the humiliation and allow them to fight it out. Everything else could be decided after seeing how strong Qianye was.

    William was fairly straightforward. He rushed toward Qianye inrge strides and immediately threw a punch at his chest.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was serious. He reached out with both hands and leaned sideways, effectively locking William¡¯s fist. The two thus entered a deadlock.

    Twilight, who was watching from the side, nearly spat out blood. What the heck was this?

    William¡¯s punch was neither fast nor powerful; there wasn¡¯t even any origin power. It was no different from an ordinary person who didn¡¯t know how to fight. Qianye¡¯s defense was also beyondmon and couldn¡¯t even be considered a basic self-defense technique. Any random dark race warrior could leave Qianye in the dust in terms of aggressiveness and might.

    How was this a battle between the two top young experts of each faction?

    As it happened, the two were disying an abundance of expressions¡ªWilliam¡¯s face was flushed red as though he was using all of his strength, and Qianye¡¯s expression was one of solemn concentration. It was almost as though that attack to his chest was a peerless divine art requiring his full power to defend against.

    Did they have to act so tantly?! It almost seemed as though they were afraid of not being found out.

    ¡°So powerful!¡± William just had to cry out as he retreated to the side. By the looks of it, he had already fought enough.

    Qianye was also shameless. He actually said in a serious tone, ¡°You too.¡° Judging from his expression, it almost looked like those words came from the bottom of his heart.

    In her anger, Twilight felt all the blood rush to her head and even her vision went dark.

 Volume 6 - 644: Indictmen

    t [V6C174 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°William, will you fight or not?!¡± Twilight screamed.

    The werewolf shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t I just fight?¡±

    The vampire viscounts nearby all nced at one another with odd expressions. They had never expected someone of William¡¯s status to act so shamelessly. Twilight seemed to have a grasp on William¡¯s weakness and could yell orders at him, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the others. William¡¯s position among the werewolves was extremely high, and his status in the entirety of the Evernight world was also on the rise. A mere vampire viscount offending him might die without even knowing how¡ªthere was already a fair amount of vampire blood on William¡¯s hands.

    These viscounts weren¡¯t from the Monroe n and had no obligation to risk life and limb for Twilight. They simply stood by to watch the joke.

    Twilight¡¯s face was so pale that even her lips were gradually losing color. This was a sign of her reaching the extremes of fury. She suddenly switched to a bewitching smile and said in a gentle voice, ¡°William, please kill him.¡±

    Not uttering menacing words was her true threat. It was amand with no room for negotiation.

    Unexpectedly, William simply wouldn¡¯t acknowledge her. ¡°I can¡¯t do it, you can try if you want.¡±

    Twilight took a deep breath and sneered. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be rooting for you.¡± William actually retreated to one side, ready to watch the show.

    Twilight quickly calmed herself down since getting worked up before the battle was a major taboo. There was no longer an ounce of anger in her when she turned back to Qianye. However, her calmness was thoroughly broken by a few words from Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re not my match.¡±

    Twilight couldn¡¯t help but sneer. ¡°Have you forgotten how you were toyed with?¡±

    William¡¯s eyes lit up instantly. He stared fixedly at Qianye¡ªwritten all over his face was the fierce determination to rify what this ¡°toying¡± was all about.

    The other viscounts, however, were unconcerned. A vampire could have, in her long life, as many lovers as there were stars in the sky. Twilight was still young and justing of age by vampire standards, but it wasn¡¯t all that strange for her to have something going on with an outstanding man from a different race.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye¡¯s reply was: ¡°Then all I can say is that you¡¯re improving too slowly.¡±

    Twilight was so angry that she was trembling. She was immensely proud of her talent, and it was indeed something that couldn¡¯t be questioned. In the entire vampire race, perhaps only Nighteye and Edward possessed a better bloodline. At most, there would be a couple others who were on the same level. Even then, Nighteye¡¯s was a bloodline that had awakened muchter on.

    Who would¡¯ve thought a widely epted genius of the vampire race and Evernight world would actually be questioned for her slow improvement?

    Twilight suddenly decided to capture Qianye and give him the embrace instead of killing him. That way, she would be able to torture and humiliate him to her heart¡¯s content for many years toe. That was the only way to vent her anger. For some reason, this notion grew ever more intense after taking root and became almost unstoppable.

    Twilight wasn¡¯t in a rush to attack. Instead, she opened the zipper in front of her chest and revealed a significant part of her cleavage. ¡°I¡¯ll treat you well after we go back. You¡¯ll definitely not forget it for the rest of your life.¡±

    Two swords left their sheaths with a ng and appeared in Twilight¡¯s grasp. She then walked over to Qianye, the tall heels on her boots producing metallic sounds along the way.

    However, she only managed to take one step forward and could no longer take another. Qianye had East Peak pierced into the ground with his hands resting on the hilt, while his calm gaze shifted toward Twilight.

    Twilight suddenly shed several meters away to evade Qianye¡¯s eyes, but thetter looked over once more. The vampire girl¡¯s expression shifted yet again as she lowered her body to avoid that sweeping gaze. She struck her swords into the ground and used the force to retreat backward.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze arrived at her previous position, and he seemed slightly surprised to find Twilight missing. He looked up and soon found that thetter was now ten meters away.

    At this moment, dozens of meters separated Qianye and the fairly awkward looking Twilight. This distance was already enough for firearms, but she had already drawn her swords, a clear indication that she was going to teach Qianye a beautiful lesson in meleebat. Now that she hadn¡¯t even managed tounch a single sword strike, how could she be so shameless as to open fire? One had to know that Qianye hadn¡¯t moved at all. His gaze alone had forced her to scuttle about and pull back dozens of meters.

    Twilight soon discovered that there was no safe ce within a hundred meters as Qianye¡¯s abstruse eyes looked over at her once again. Within moments, Twilight felt like she had fallen into an icy abyss, almost as though she had been discovered by her archnemesis. She leapt into the air with a scream and switched directions several times in quick session. However, Qianye¡¯s gaze would follow her wherever she went.

    Twilight suddenly flipped backward and retreated several dozen meters,nding over a hundred meters away this time. Afterward, she fled immediately without looking back and soon vanished into the hills.

    The viscounts stared on nkly and only came to after a good while. Twilight had actually fled? She had actually escaped after Qianye nced at her a couple of times?

    They almost couldn¡¯t believe their eyes. William, on the other hand, was much faster to react. He pointed a finger at Qianye and said in a heroic manner, ¡°Come, I am your opponent.¡±

    William remained in ce despite his imposing words. Qianye turned back with a serious expression and waited cautiously for the werewolf to make the first move. In any case, he had three people on his side which was more than enough to deal with the vampire viscounts.

    The vampires saw Qianye and William in a deadlocked confrontation with neither making the first move. Before they could realize what was going on, the scenery before them changed to that of a different world¡ªall of them had been swept into Song Zining¡¯s domain.

    Within the domain, Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian were like tigers charging into a flock of sheep, mowing down all the enemies as though they were chopping vegetables. Afterward, Song Zining retracted his domain and faced William with a serious expression.

    ¡°Song Seven, why aren¡¯t you trapping that fellow with your domain? We can go up and do him in!¡± Zhao Yuying stared at William with a fierce expression.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°My domain can¡¯t trap him.¡±

    William nced at the group a couple of times and eximed as though he had just remembered something, ¡°Oh my, it¡¯s time for dinner, I must go back to eat. The good thing about joining the council¡¯s squad is that the food is really not bad!¡±

    Qianye pointed at the copsed viscounts and said, ¡°There¡¯s one alive over there, are you going to ignore him?¡±

    William revealed a radiant smile. ¡°What does their fate have to do with me? It¡¯s Twilight who chose to flee and leave them to their deaths.¡±

    At this point, William smiled meaningfully at Qianye.

    Perhaps others might not have noticed it, but in William¡¯s eyes, there was a barely discernible thread of blood extending to wherever Qianye¡¯s gaze fell. Twilight was frantically avoiding this sanguineous line, not daring to let it touch her at all. The beam still caught her in the end, which was why she had fled regardless of everything.

    William¡¯s description of her fleeing the battle was fairly evil because, in truth, she could be considered to have fought a big battle against Qianye.

    Seeing that William wasn¡¯t concerned about Twilight¡¯s subordinates, Qianye only waved his hand and said, ¡°Okay then, go back and eat well. Eat one more portion in my stead.¡±

    William said with a brilliant smile, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll pack some food for you the next time we meet.¡±

    Qianye shook his head immediately. ¡°No, it¡¯s best we don¡¯t meet again.¡±

    ¡°Cold bastard.¡± William sighed. He then turned to leave in a lonesome manner.

    Zhao Yuying and the others were drenched in cold sweat and only managed to sigh in relief after he had left. The scene was inundated with faint pressure when William was around. This kept them in a tense, pre-battle state all this time. It was hard to maintain such a state for very long¡ªZhao Yuying and Wei Potian might¡¯ve lost control and attacked if William were to make more idle chatter.

    Wei Potian wiped the sweat off of his brows. ¡°Qianye, what was that just now. Did you guys really fight?¡±

    Qianye nodded seriously. ¡°Twilight is powerful, but William is so much stronger.¡±

    Zhao Yuying snorted. ¡°Powerful my a*s! This mommy doesn¡¯t see anything great about him. Ahh!¡±

    She was walking over to Qianye at first, poised to grab and interrogate him about recent events. However, the ground gave way about ten meters from Qianye. She had actually stepped onto empty air!

    Zhao Yuying was caught unprepared and fell head-first toward the ground. She reacted quickly, releasing her origin power downward and using the resultant force to rise into the air. However, she had just unleashed her power when a cloud of dust exploded underneath and enveloped herpletely. Zhao Yuying let out an astonished cry, but she kept on flying upward and finally left the range of the dust cloud. It was just that she was now covered in dirt.

    She wiped away the grime on her face and began checking for signs of an enemy assault. However, she waspletely stunned when she looked down.

    Arge pit, several meters deep, had appeared around Qianye. That crater stretched out several dozen meters with Qianye at its center. Only the area below his feet remained intact, which made it seem as though a stone tform had been erected inside the pit.

    This was a mountainous region with hard rocks beneath the ground. The group had passed by here a while ago and was very sure that the ground was solid. How could such arge pit have appeared?

    Zhao Yuying realized things after a momentary daze. ¡°Was this... left behind during your exchange with William?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Yes. What¡¯s unfortunate is that Twilight escaped.¡± He was apparently quite regretful of this.

    Zhao Yuying was speechless. Qianye and William¡¯s fight looked entirely silent on the surface, but the overflowing shockwaves had actually reduced such arge area of rocks into powder. Just how powerful were these two fellows?

    After some thought, the smile on Zhao Yuying¡¯s face became unnatural. ¡°I might not be able to win against you anymore.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that possible? You¡¯re more powerful than everyone.¡± Qianyeughed.

    ¡°Nonsense! This mommy knows herself, at least.¡± Zhao Yuying snapped back. Despite saying that, the smile on her face actually revealed her thoughts.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we need to save Potian¡¯s men. Leave the discussions forter,¡± said Qianye. Knowing full well that time was of the essence, the three quickly cleaned up the battlefield and left.

    Within a faraway valley was a temporary dark race camp. The base was quite big with numerous dark race experts moving in and out at all times.

    Upon returning, Twilight ignored everyone and remained locked inside her room. It was just that the frequent sounds of things being smashed could be heard from within. As it happened, an insensitive person knocked on the door at this point.

    ¡°Scram, don¡¯t disturb me!¡± Twilight shouted furiously without opening the door.

    However, the person outside didn¡¯t leave. ¡°Your Excellency Twilight, the marquis wishes to see you. Someone has used you of fleeing without a fight and leaving numerous powerful subordinates to a meaningless death.¡±

    Twilight opened the door violently. ¡°Who? I will kill him!¡±

    ¡°That would be Sir William.¡±

 Volume 6 - 645: Ambushed

    [V6C175 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Momentster, Twilight walked out of the marquis¡¯ chamber with an ashen expression. The meeting just now couldn¡¯t be considered a happy one because she was scolded immediately after entering the chamber. Although the marquis didn¡¯t really convict her of desertion, he didn¡¯t let her off that easily, either. She was held responsible for the men who went with her but never returned, and would have her contributions docked ordingly.

    In the end, the marquis told her that he would¡¯ve thrown her in the dungeon if not for her value somewhat exceeding that of the viscounts added together.

    Half of this summons was upied by rebuke and the remaining half with humiliation, leaving no face at all for Twilight. Thetter was born of the Monroe n, but this identity was useless in front of a demonkin marquis who, himself, hailed from a famed n.

    Twilight returned to her room afterward and locked herself inside.

    This matter soon spread throughout the camp and became a hot topic of discussion. In the world of darkness where strength was most revered, fleeing from battle was certainly a bad reputation to have. Moreover, many people were secretly delighted to see powerful experts facing problems. It was just that they didn¡¯t dare express it openly and only dared gossip behind her back. After all, the marquis was the only one who could firmly suppress Twilight.

    At dinner time, William appeared outside of the mess hall in a leisurely manner. He had never beente to a meal before. Judging from his messy, golden hair and vacant expression, it was clear that he had been napping until now and hadn¡¯t even woken uppletely. It was his instincts that had dragged his body to the mess hall.

    He hadn¡¯t entered the doors when Twilight¡¯s cold voice emerged from behind, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    William¡¯s body jolted as he sobered up. He refused without even looking back, ¡°No.¡±

    Twilight gritted her teeth. ¡°Bullsh*t! Are youing or not?¡±

    William replied immediately, ¡°Not going, it¡¯s dinner time.¡± It was just that his imposingness had grown a bit weaker while saying so.

    Twilight said coldly, ¡°You¡¯ve crossed my bottom line. It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re not going, but I might do something out of anger.¡±

    William smiled wryly and scratched his head with a sigh. In the end, he followed Twilight to her residence.

    Thetter locked the doors and sat down. After a moment of silence, she said, ¡°William, are you trying to shed all pretenses?¡±

    William threw himself into the sofa and shrugged. ¡°I was just teasing you. Isn¡¯t dealing with superior characters your specialty? This isn¡¯t a big matter anyway. It should be fine after exining things a bit, right? Who knew things would turn out this way?¡±

    Twilight stared at William in silence.

    William suddenly sat straight and said in a hushed, curious voice, ¡°I heard you didn¡¯t exin anything to the marquis and admitted to all usations. Why take this trouble?¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with you?¡± Twilight¡¯s voice rose subconsciously.

    Williamughed, ¡°What I meant is, are the secrets of Spatial sh that important?¡±

    These words exploded in Twilight¡¯s ears like thunder. She shot out of her seat and blurted out, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°There are no small number of records about it at the Summit of Peaks,¡± William replied.

    Twilight¡¯s expression fluctuated several times as she slowly resumed her seat. ¡°This is indeed a secret, but the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance is simply too ephemeral. No one can say who will obtain it. Hence, the value of this secret is much greater than the lives of your two tribes. If you stir up trouble again, I¡¯ll kill them immediately.¡±

    William¡¯s smile disappeared and his expression turned solemn. ¡°I¡¯ll have no more apprehensions if you kill them. Sooner orter, I will kill you! You can only pray that you cultivate quickly enough, or perhaps that you can run fast enough.¡±

    ¡°Even the Summit of Peaks can¡¯t protect you if you kill me.¡± Twilightughed.

    William shrugged and said frivolously, ¡°So? You¡¯re already dead by that time.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression froze.

    William wasn¡¯t wrong. Even if they could wipe out William''s entire tribe in retribution, what was the point if she was dead? In Twilight¡¯s eyes, she was the most important. Not to mention a single William, she wouldn¡¯t be willing even if the entire Summit of Peaks were buried with her. William¡¯s words struck right at her weakness.

    The two fell into an immediate deadlock since both had their own apprehensions.

    Momentster, Twilight said slowly, ¡°You¡¯ve nearly broken through the limits of my patience this time.¡±

    William acknowledged her words. It was just that hiszy demeanor didn¡¯t quite express any sincerity.

    She said coldly, ¡°Kill Qianye the next time you see him. If you keep holding back, don¡¯t me me for not putting up with you. I might not kill the entire tribe, but what can you do if I kill a couple of them?¡±

    This time, it was William¡¯s turn to turn silent.

    After a while, he said, ¡°Let me give you some advice. There are contributions to be reaped everywhere, why must you embarrass yourself? That exchange I had with him back then was a real battle.¡±

    Twilight was momentarily astonished. She wanted to ask more about it, but William had already left.

    She sat in a daze, recalling her brief exchange with Qianye. William¡¯s words had confirmed the guess she had back then. Those red threads were a characteristic feature of Spatial sh. Once touched, Spatial sh would activate and Qianye would appear behind her in the blink of an eye¡ªan earth-shattering attack would then follow. Since Qianye was capable of exchanging a head-on blow against William, then it was very possible that Twilight wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand a single move from him.

    But why would Qianye know Spatial sh?

    Twilight sat restlessly. She wished to capture Qianye and interrogate him but wasn¡¯t too confident in being able to do so. Presently, she had also lost the courage to fight him head-on. If what William said was the truth, then Qianye¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t one Twilight could block. Since she couldn¡¯t block the attack, the only method left was to evade. However, against Qianye and his Spatial sh, constant evasion was nothing more than a joke.

    Why would Qianye know Spatial sh? This question repeated in her heart.

    At this point, Qianye had already broken through several dark race interceptions and sessfully reached the Wei n private soldiers. This batch of warriors was indeed made up of elite troops¡ªthey had been able to hold out until now under the overwhelming siege. Thebat strength they had disyed was far above their ranks on paper.

    There were less than a hundred soldiers left of the Wei n army when Qianye¡¯s group arrived. Meanwhile, the dark race soldiers before them had paid several times this price in casualties.

    Qianye brought the surviving Wei n soldiers away and slowly closed in on the Zhang n army under the cover of the night.

    ording to Song Zining¡¯s strategy, they would have to retreat into the range of the Zhang n fleet once things didn¡¯t go well. That fleet was their greatest guarantee for reaching the Zhao n warzone and the greatest deterrent against the dark race experts. The giant ballista that had killed the vampire count, Qianye had neither seen nor even heard of before. It would seem that the Zhang n and the empire hadn¡¯t been idle all these years¡ªthey had secretly invented quite a few good items.

    Borrowing the deterrent power of the fleet, the squad would turn toward the southwest and enter the Zhao n¡¯s first-line fortifications. There, they would bolster the defenses and guard the area tightly. Only when the dark race army arrived and things were looking dire would they retreat to the next line of fortresses. They would have to drag the dark race army down with theyered defenses and sniping to allow the Zhang n army to retreat into the Zhao n base.

    ording to Song Zining¡¯s predictions, the path toward the fleet should be an easy journey. With William and Twilight pushed back, the dark races here had no powerful experts they could bring out. Even if someone came, they wouldn¡¯t be Qianye¡¯s match. The only way to stop the four people here was to transfer arge number of experts and surround them. However, such a transfer would take quite a lot of time. The Wei n¡¯s private soldiers had received a great boost in speed from Song Zining¡¯s domain, not leaving any chance for the dark races to call for reinforcements.

    The earlier part of the journey was indeed as smooth as Song Zining had predicted. Qianye took point alone and broke through several obstructions along the way. The numerous viscount leaders, be they arachne or werewolves, fell under Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh and East Peak¡¯s sh. They couldn¡¯t even take a single strike and were ughtered immediately. Once the leaders were dead, the dark race squads usually became inferior to the human ones. Soon, they were killed to the point of scattering in all directions.

    On thend, Qianye led the Wei n private army like a sharp de, cutting apart the dark race¡¯s defensive lines with unstoppable momentum. In just under two hours, they had traveled dozens of kilometers and destroyed several defensive lines. At this point, Qianye started to feel somewhat strained and tired.

    An inexplicable sensation arose in his heart just as he was killing yet another arachne viscount. In truth, his instincts weren¡¯t really ringing any rms. He only felt something wrong in the flow of origin power but couldn¡¯t quite point out where or what was wrong.

    While Qianye was dazed, the nearby Wei Potian suddenly let out a loud roar. The Thousand Mountains erupted violently and covered a ten-meter area around him with illusory peaks. He took a swift step forward and blocked Qianye¡¯s backside.

    Wei Potian¡¯s entire body trembled as the mountains crumbled one after another. The technique famed for its great defensive prowess had been destroyed in an instant, while he himself was thrown backward amidst a gush of blood.

    Qianye suddenly turned around to see a speck of light glittering in the distance. An origin bullet wrapped in dark energy was flying over at great speeds. Qianye had quickly judged the target, but all he had the time to do was shout, ¡°Careful!¡±

    Song Zining and Zhao Yuying were both embroiled in a fierce battle at this point. They felt a chill in their hearts after hearing Qianye¡¯s cry. They only sensed the iing danger at that point and looked over at the flying bullet. Zhao Yuying pounced forward without a thought and rolled onto the ground with the enemy in front of her. One could see from this how experienced she was in battle and war. Her instinctive movement was correct and rapidly executed.

    Song Zining stared nkly for a brief moment as the enemy in front of him was blown apart and a slender origin bullet charged out through the flesh and blood. At this point, he could no longer dodge.

    The enemy¡¯s strategy was extremely sinister. The shot struck their own men before attacking the enemy¡ªit was practically indefensible. However, this Song seventh young master was a character with many outstanding methods. He could no longer evade and his domain had no effect on the bullet, but at the moment of imminent peril, the folding fan which he carried at all times suddenly flew out and spread open in front of him.

    The folding fan was shattered with a ferocious bang, and the impact sent Song Zining flying backward, his clothes torn and his face full of blood. However, he managed to mber up after falling to the ground and was apparently uninjured. It was just that he nced at the pieces of the folding fan in deep heartache.

    Only at this point did the rumbling gunshot arrive.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was gloomy as his body flickered out of existence and appeared hundreds of meters away. His shadow flickered several times over the span of a thousand meters, leaving lingering afterimages along the way. He was almost as fast as an origin bullet!

    Qianye pushed Spatial sh to its limits with no attempt at hiding its power. He was truly furious.

 Volume 6 - 646: Chase

    [V6C176 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Two shadows rushed out of the ground to intercept Qianye halfway through his charge. One of them had miscalcted Qianye¡¯s speed and missed the attack. The other one was fairly experienced. He actually managed to pinpoint Qianye¡¯s location in an instant and blocked the path from up front.

    Qianye was absolutely furious to find that someone had actually dared block his path¡ªintentionally or otherwise. Qianye shouted with a deep voice, ¡°Courting death!¡± East Peak rose up and shed horizontally!

    This strike was unleashed from a fair distance. That vampire viscount revealed a cold smile and seemed to have no intention of dodging the empty attack. Clearly, he didn¡¯t have Qianye¡¯s distant sword strike in his eyes.

    However, his vision blurred all of a sudden as Qianye¡¯s figure faded and reappeared right in front of him.

    East Peak¡¯s swing was no longer an empty attack but a true killing move. The de swept past, cutting both vampire and sword into two. Qianye then sped away without even sparing a second nce for the divided corpse.

    The vampire¡¯s upper body was able to hover in the air for a moment. He seemed to be muttering some unintelligible words as he watched the lower part of his body falling to the ground. After a while, his upper body also dropped toward the ground. A first-rank viscount¡¯s powerful life force meant that he wouldn¡¯t lose his life for a while. But even if he were rescued and regenerated in the blood pond, all he would retain was his life¡ªhis strength would fall drastically. To a true Evernight expert, this fate was perhaps even worse than death.

    Even after his body had fallen to the ground and his exquisite face was buried in the soil, that vampire viscount was still mumbling, ¡°How could this happen?¡±

    He was proficient in many kinds of secret arts. Especially againstbat arts like Nirvanic Rend, he could evade or destroy the strike at will. He should¡¯ve been able to take it head on, even¡ªthe only cost should¡¯ve been some injuries. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would arrive in front of him in the blink of an eye? How could a distant attackpare to East Peak¡¯s consolidated power?

    Just like that, a first-rank viscount with great future potential was cut down into the soil.

    The other person looking to intercept Qianye was also a first-rank vampire viscount. He stood dumbstruck and trembling as he watched Qianye¡¯s receding figure. If only he was more exquisite in hisbat arts, he might¡¯ve been able to intercept Qianye urately. If that had happened, there would be two first-rank viscounts on the ground instead of one.

    He suddenly felt that being weak wasn¡¯t so bad after all.

    Qianye paid no attention to the other enemy at all. He could kill a mere first-rank viscount any time¡ªsooner orter made no difference. The important matter was to catch up to the sniper. That person¡¯s attack came without the slightest of warning and even Qianye waspletely unaware of it. This showed that the assant¡¯s sniping skills were already above Eden¡¯s.

    Moreover, Qianye hadn¡¯t managed to lock onto this person up until this point. He was merely chasing after the target from the vague traces of leftover origin power fluctuation. The slightest of dys would likely throw him off. Such an enemy had to be killed off early or there would be endless troublester on.

    The two shots had injured Wei Potian and Song Zining, and this angered Qianye even more than when he himself was shot. Moreover, the first st was clearly aimed for him. Wei Potian had sensed it for some reason and had taken the bullet for him at the critical moment.

    The fleeing assant seemed to have sensed Qianye¡¯s pursuit. The person¡¯s aura became more cryptic and the routes taken grew more twisted. Qianye felt quite strained and almost lost the target on several asions. He had no choice but to slow down a bit, lest he charges past the target.

    During the game of cat and mouse, Qianye gradually formed a vague idea of who this assassin might be. Throughout his life, Bai Kongzhao was the only one who had ever forced him into such arduous chases.

    He hade fairly close to catching her on several asions in the past, but she would always escape narrowly for various reasons. This time, Qianye was determined to remove this scourge even at the expense of exposing his Spatial sh.

    Bai Kongzhao seemed to know that a great disaster was upon her. She suddenly raised her speed¡ªthis would inevitably leave more traces, but it would also make things difficult for Qianye. A single slip-up would allow her to throw Qianye off.

    However, Qianye spared no blood energy for this chase. As soon as he had a feeling that he was about to be thrown off, he would immediately use Spatial sh to intercept her from the front. Just like that, Qianye gradually forced Bai Kongzhao to circle back.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were filled with an ice-cold blue color, knowing that this was the beginning of the end of Bai Kongzhao. She was no longer able to increase the distance between them and would be locked onto sooner orter. Qianye was determined to use Spatial sh immediately upon discovering Bai Kongzhao, rushing to her side and unleashing a Sweeping Calm. At that time, East Peak¡¯s omnipresent edge would kill her no matter how she tried to evade.

    At most, she would be able tounch a desperate final attack. Qianye was prepared to receive that attack and deny her any opportunity to escape. His entire body, at this moment, was already filled with auric me blood and no weaker than an ancient-n count. Bai Kongzhao would be able to injure him at most, but it was really too difficult for her to kill him.

    Qianye grew more patient at this point. He circled rapidly around Bai Kongzhao and, little by little, tightened the noose around her neck. Experienced hunters always exercised greater caution because a cornered prey was the fiercest.

    All of a sudden, a base camp appeared over the distant horizon. All camps appearing at this juncture were merely temporary bases¡ªthe problemy in the fact that this base wasn¡¯t small at all. Moreover, it was of human make.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with a sense of rm. He immediately sped toward the base, in a bid to get between it and Bai Kongzhao. As expected, the girl also started sprinting and made a beeline for the camp, even foregoing her concealment.

    Even after such a long hunt, this was the first time Qianye had seen her frail figure. She was incredibly swift as she drifted toward the camp like a wisp of smoke. Qianye¡¯s heart sank. Under an all-out eruption, Bai Kongzhao¡¯s speed increased sharply to several times her normal pace. She had gone all out in an effort to throw Qianye off her tail.

    Qianye immediately activated Spatial sh. When his figure reappeared, he had closed the gap between them. Bai Kongzhao was fast, but Spatial sh could be considered matchless in short sprints. Qianye was bound to catch up to her before she could run into the camp.

    It was at this time that soaring energy erupted from the base¡ªmuch like the awakening of a primordial beast, a pair of blood-thirsty eyes locked onto Qianye.

    Thetter was greatly rmed. He immediately halted his charge and instilled all the origin power he could muster into East Peak.

    At this moment, a fist shot out from the middle of the camp.

    The fist was slender, bony, and of a sickly pale color. The bony joints were so distinct that they looked like a carved sculpture, almost unrealistically so.

    The fist was surreal both in Qianye¡¯s mind and in reality. The base was several thousand meters away from Qianye, but his vision was filled with this single fist. He couldn¡¯t even see the owner.

    This fist rose up gently and came drifting over. From the moment of its appearance, it had locked onto Qianye¡¯s chest. The fist-intent was clear and undisguised, intent on letting the target know of its arrival and that it was undodgeable¡ªthis overbearingness was beyond rare.

    The majestic attack traversed the mountains andnd, carrying with it a grand momentum and boundless power. It was actually seeking to crush everything in its path.

    Qianye knew that the other party would follow up with another attack even if he were to dodge; the only way was to use Spatial sh. However, the fist¡¯s area of effect was toorge and Qianye had just learned the art. He still needed to use sanguineous threads to guide his movements instead of truly stepping through thin air. Even if he could escape the enemy¡¯s lock-on with Spatial sh, he would¡¯ve lost any initiative he might¡¯ve had.

    At the juncture of life and death, Qianye calmed down all of his emotions and discarded all thoughts of running away¡ªthere was no astonishment, no anger, no confusion. His bodynded firmly on the ground as he raised East Peak into the sky!

    The sword trembled lightly a couple of times as his iplete Sweeping Calm shed out. At this moment, the several desbined into one and, under the pressure of this great enemy before him, unleashed the most powerful sword strike of his life.

    This strike sought no variations whatsoever¡ªonly pure destructive might!

    The fist duly arrived,pletely ignoring East Peak and making for Qianye¡¯s chest with no attempt at evasion. Then, it collided with East Peak¡¯s attack.

    That moment, Qianye felt as though he had shed at a mountain, a mountain crashing into him at great speeds. ¡°Boom!¡± Qianye¡¯s vision grew dark, and the world spun around him as he was sent flying backward.

    In the end, that fist never managed to hit its target and only froze in the air. Soon, a woman dressed in wide-sleeved robes appeared in the air. It almost seemed like the fist and thedy were two separate entities.

    Bai Aotu!

    She frowned slightly as she looked at her fist. A blood scar had appeared therein, which soon tore open to reveal the flesh within and then the bones. Then, it left a deep cut extending halfway through the four finger bones before stopping.

    Her bones were actually suffused with faint azure color. The jasper-like hue was a stark difference from those of ordinary people.

    Her frown grew even deeper after observing the wound on her hand. It was almost as though she couldn¡¯t understand why her fist couldn¡¯t hit its target. She seemed to recall Qianye only at this point and looked over.

    Thetter had flown out a hundred meters beforending on the ground. There, he slid back over a dozen meters before stopping. Observing his body briefly, Qianye discovered that most of the bones in his body had been injured. There were more than ten fractures, and his organs had been torn in several ces. His only constion was that his crystal-filled blood core was fairly resilient and only slightly damaged.

    Qianye coughed a couple of times, which exacerbated the damage to his internal organs. He would spit out arge mass of bloody froth with each cough. He couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly in his heart¡ªhe had been gravely injured in a single strike with no ability whatsoever to retaliate.

    East Peak had fallen to his side and was stuck tilted in the soil. Qianye supported himself on the hilt and stood up slowly. ¡°As expected, it¡¯s you.¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s countenance was expressionless. ¡°Naturally, but it¡¯s quite odd that my fist couldn¡¯t kill you. It seems you have a lot of secrets.¡±

    Qianye stared intently at Bai Aotu while leaning on his sword. He then broke into a suddenugh and said, ¡°You want to kill me?¡±

    ¡°Not that much, actually, all I need is another punch if I want to do it.¡± Bai Aotu was very calm. It was almost as though she was talking about something that didn¡¯t concern her at all.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying¡¯s voice rang out in the distance, ¡°Qianye!¡±

    She rushed over and was surprised to see his chest and clothes drenched in blood. ¡°What happened? Who injured you?¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye, Bai Aotu replied, ¡°That would be me.¡±

 Volume 6 - 647: Opposition

    [V6C177 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhao Yuying waspletely fearless against the notorious Bai Aotu. ¡°Bai Aotu, are you a rabid dog? Must you bite everyone on sight?¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s face was expressionless. ¡°He dares trespass on our base. I¡¯m in the right even if I kill him. He escaped with his life now, but he won¡¯t be that lucky next time.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was startled. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Bai Kongzhao who injured Potian and Zining. She escaped to this ce.¡± At this point, Qianye looked up at Bai Aotu and sneered, ¡°No wonder she fled here, she knew there would be help.¡±

    At this time, a light breeze kicked up around them as Song Zining approached from the distance. His clothes were torn and the wounds on his body hadn¡¯t been dressed. The two deep cuts on his face made his handsome face look somewhat sinister.

    Zhao Yuying nodded. ¡°Got it, let me handle things.¡±

    With that, Zhao Yuying pointed at the hovering Bai Aotu and shouted, ¡°Bai Aotu, hand over Bai Kongzhao! The matter of you injuring Qianye won¡¯t end here. There¡¯ll be someone to discuss this matter with you.¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s lips revealed a faint smile of mockery. ¡°Hand over Kongzhao? For what?¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression sank. ¡°She injured the heir of the Far East Marquis Wei and Song Zining. Are you still trying to protect her? Can you afford to protect her?¡±

    Bai Aotu sneered, ¡°A mere Wei n heir, what if he¡¯s injured or even if he¡¯s dead? There¡¯s not one person in the entire Wei n who is my match. If that¡¯s all you have to say, then you can leave now.¡±

    Bai Aotu nced at Song Zining. ¡°Song Seven, how are you going to suppress me? With the Song n?¡±

    The threat and mockery in these words were so undisguised that even someone of Song Zining¡¯s calibre felt his expression change. However, he soon revealed a gentle smile and said with cupped fists, ¡°How can I use such a big entity like the Song n? A small matter like this doesn¡¯t require outside help. I¡¯ll deal with it slowly, in my own way. Everything will be dealt with sooner orter.¡±

    Bai Aotu noticed the determination in his words. She finally looked at him and said with a nod, ¡°Not relying on the n, now that¡¯s rare. Very well, I¡¯ll be waiting for you. Come find me anytime.¡±

    These words caused Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression to turn unsightly. Bai Aotu was mocking her for relying on the Zhao n to suppress her. However, she was a bold character who had been ying this game for many years. How could she be frozen here? ¡°Bai Aotu, you alone can¡¯t handle the matter of Qianye¡¯s injuries! If you won¡¯t hand her over, then stand aside. This mommy will search herself!¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s calm face finally showed some anger. ¡°I do want to see how I won¡¯t be able to handle it.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then you can try if you dare.¡± With that Zhao Yuying walked toward the camp inrge strides.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°If you dare trespass upon our base, then I will not hesitate to kill you!¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed loudly. ¡°Spare me the nonsense, these are just leftover excuses. Do it, if you have the skills. Then we¡¯ll see if our Zhao n will speak reason or destroy your Bai n immediately.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s identity was special. If Bai Aotu were to kill her, Duke You Zhao Xuanji would personally hunt down Bai Aotu. Moreover, the Zhao n had always been famed for their fights against foreign enemies, not to mention Zhao Weihuang held arge army under hismand. Once this matter was known, the Fire Beacon Corps would arrive on the Bai n territory within a matter of days.

    It was just as Zhao Yuying had said, the major ns couldn¡¯t care less about such a far-fetched excuse.

    However, Bai Aotu¡¯s eyes narrowed and were actually filled with killing intent. This woman had always been a crazy character. She hadn¡¯t held back at all against Qianye, and now, she was about to attack Zhao Yuying.

    Somewhat surprised, Qianye quickly dragged Zhao Yuying behind him. He then released East Peak and drew the Twin Flowers. If they were to go all-out right now, he still had a Shot of Inception that he could use. Although the attack wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill Bai Aotu, it could still inflict grave injuries on her, allowing the others to escape with their lives.

    Song Zining grabbed Zhao Yuying and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be rash.¡±

    Zhao Yuying said furiously, ¡°That slut Bai Kongzhao is hiding inside. I must go and see!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s most definitely escaped. You won¡¯t find anything even if you search the ce.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was about to speak again, but Qianye stopped her. He then turned to Bai Aotu and said, ¡°I shall remember that punch. From today on, we have a death-feud between us. Do you still intend to let me go?¡±

    Bai Aotu sneered, ¡°I have too many people seeking revenge against me. I really don¡¯t mind one more. You can seek me out anytime, but at that point, things won¡¯t just end with a single punch.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°I might identally injure people while hunting Bai Kongzhao in the future. Your Bai n people had best stay away from her.¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s brows knitted together. ¡°I will have your life if you dare touch a single person from the Bai n! Humph! If not for the war at hand, you people can forget about leaving.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qianye stared deeply into Bai Aotu¡¯s eyes. No longer bothering to spar verbally, he simply turned and left. Song Zining followed silently from behind. A highly discontent Zhao Yuying, however, raised a middle finger at Bai Aotu before leaving.

    Thetter had her eyes closed as though she hadn¡¯t seen anything.

    The three left in silence, each with their own thoughts. Zhao Yuying soon realized that Qianye wasn¡¯t moving very fast. She asked in a hurry, ¡°Qianye, are you really injured?¡±

    Qianye smiled wryly. ¡°I have over a dozen broken bones. Bai Aotu didn¡¯t hold back at all with that punch.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was greatly astonished. She pounced over and began checking Qianye from head to toe. Thetter¡¯s entire body was riddled with wounds at this moment, and her careless groping caused him to let out a painful groan and nearly copse. The former was shocked out of her wits, immediately realizing how serious Qianye¡¯s injuries were.

    Qianye propped himself to his feet and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. The damage looks serious, but there¡¯s nothing lethal. I¡¯ll be fine in less than three days.¡±

    Zhao Yuying felt relieved after hearing this. Soon, she began cursing Bai Aotu through clenched teeth.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Yuying, you can¡¯t act that way again, no matter what.¡±

    Song Zining chimed in, ¡°What¡¯s the point in betting yourself against a thirty-year-old woman? She¡¯spletely nuts. Even ten Bai Aotu¡¯s won¡¯t be enoughpensation if you were injured.¡±

    Both of them had noticed that Zhao Yuying was taunting Bai Aotu intentionally. If she had attacked, whether she killed Zhao Yuying or injured her, Duke You and the entire Zhao n wouldn¡¯t take this lying down. They would mobilize the entire n to suppress her and force the Bai n to give an exnation.

    The aim of their advice was the same, but there was a stark difference in speaking skills. Song Zining¡¯s words made Zhao Yuying beam. She red fiercely at Qianye and said, ¡°You must learn from Song Seven! You have no idea how to make your sister happy!¡±

    The heavy atmosphere lightened up after this. Song Zining asked, ¡°Qianye, what are your ns?¡±

    Qianye had been thinking about this all the while. ¡°Bai Kongzhao must be killed. If the Bai n people wish to stop me, then I will kill them together. As for Bai Aotu, I will find her in a couple of years to settle the score. But that¡¯s my own matter, I do not wish to drag others into it.¡±

    Song Zining made noment. ¡°Sister Yuying, what about you?¡±

    Zhao Yuying ground her teeth. ¡°This mommy can¡¯t wait that long! Since that crazy Bai Aotu actually went against the rules and dared to attack Qianye, we have no need to hold back against her. Be it an ambush or joint-attack, everything¡¯s fair game as long as we can kill her!¡±

    Song Zining praised, ¡°I understand that feeling! But, what about now?¡±

    Zhao Yuying red at him. ¡°Stop it with the boot-licking. You¡¯re too young to be wooing this mommy. For now, we¡¯ll use whatever method we can, of course. You don¡¯t have any n resources to use at the moment. Even if you can, the Song n can¡¯t suppress the Bai n. Our Zhao n isn¡¯t the same, however. She injured Qianye, so the Bai n must give the Zhao n an exnation. Soon, I¡¯ll personally have grandpa talk to the Bai n. I don¡¯t believe Bai Aotu will dare separate herself from the Bai n for this. If she does, though, I¡¯ll definitely have someone kill her!¡±

    Song Zining looked over at Qianye with a frown. ¡°Qianye¡¯s public identity might not be enough, but this is a viable method; the Bai n will keep Bai Aotu at bay for a while at least.¡±

    Song Zining reached for his waist at this point, wanting to open his folding fan and strike a pose of elegance and intelligence. However, there was nothing there. Only then did he recall that his life-saving fan had been destroyed during Bai Kongzhao¡¯s ambush and began gnashing his teeth in anger. He discarded all semnce of elegance and said, ¡°Bai Aotu has offended no small number of people throughout the years. There have also been a lot of incidents regarding Bai Kongzhao. There are a lot of people who want to see Bai Aotu dead. Her crazed actions betray her desperation, and it shows that she can only rely on her unscrupulousness to control the situation. So, we might as well give her a push from behind. Sometimes, a single straw is all it takes to break the camel¡¯s back.¡±

    Zhao Yuying said with a frown, ¡°borate.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°It¡¯s quite simple, frankly. We don¡¯t need to hide the things that happened today. We can just let it spread.¡±

    Zhao Yuying pondered with locked brows and gradually came to understand the reasoning. ¡°You¡¯re saying that our Zhao n should lead everyone in this suppression?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. It''ll be a costly victory at best with just the Zhao n alone, and there might even be people gloating over this. But if we borrow the power of the crowd and have the Zhao n lead the charge, it¡¯ll hurt the Bai n¡¯s foundations. Even lofty mountains will eventually sumb to repeated erosions.¡±

    Qianye realized everything only at this point. It turned out that Song Zining wasn¡¯t targeting Bai Aotu, but the Bai n itself. This fellow had always been ruthless, and now, that fan had really made him hostile.

    After some thought, Zhao Yuying felt that the n was feasible. ¡°We¡¯ll do it your way, then.¡±

    The three were no longer fit for battle at this point, and Zhao Yuying was carrying Qianye on her back. After some discussion with Song Zining, they went back to rendezvous with Wei Potian and headed straight for the Zhang n fleet. Zhao Yuying utilized her status to find a ce on one of the warships, where they settled Qianye and Wei Potian in.

    The four of them together could be considered a powerful lineup on the current battlefield, with enough power to kill even a dark race count. But now, three of them had been wounded and Wei Potian¡¯s injuries were especially severe. This abnormal situation caught the attention of many people. Zhao Yuying was never good at hiding things, so she revealed everything after some inquiries.

    In the blink of an eye, the entire Zhang n fleet came to know that the Bai n was actually causing internal strife and how they had incapacitated several powerful warriors at such a critical juncture.

 Volume 6 - 648: The Bigger Picture

    [V6C178 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Bad news always traveled exceptionally fast. Before a day had passed, this news had spread throughout the void continent. Bai Aotu¡¯s movements this time were simply too tant, actually provoking the Zhao n, the Song n, and the Wei n at the same time. Moreover, she seemed to be heading toward irreparable damage in a truly unusual trend. In the past, Bai Aotu was only tyrannical and not insane¡ªat the very least, she was still reasonable. The matter this time had blown up so big that she might not be able to handle it alone. Many conspiracy theorists became excited and began guessing what major movement the Bai n was going toe up with. There might even be an upheaval in the empire.

    There was a small but strong fortress on the western border of the Zhao n warzone. Void turbulences would ur from time to time in this ce since it wasn¡¯t too far from the edge of the void continent. ording to reason, it wasn¡¯t a ce suitable forrge scale battles at all. But right now, the Zhao n warzone and the Li family base in the Misty Wood were the only ces where the empire could dig in for defense. The dark races were apparently clear about this point. Dark race experts had appeared frequently around the Zhao n area during this period, infiltrating, scouting, and trying to find a weakness in local defenses. The zone¡¯s proximity to the edge of the continent made it optimal for small airships to fly in. Hence, dark race activity was exceptionally high here.

    A ring siren rang out from the top of the fort. A motorcycle had appeared on the distant wastnd. It made a rapid beeline for the base, dragging a long, serpentine cloud of dust behind it.

    The guards on the turrets immediately turned the ballistae and loaded them with homing bolts made to deal with experts. One who could ride a bike at such speeds wasn¡¯t an ordinary expert at all. Ordinary people might die from the vibrations even if they didn¡¯t fall to their deaths.

    The two anti-air rapid-fire cannons also lowered their muzzles toward the iing rider.

    One of the guard officers was observing the potential intruder through his binocrs. He raised a hand to silence the rm and shouted, ¡°Fourth Young Master is back!¡±

    With that, the ballistae and rapid-fire cannons resumed their original defensive positions without the slightestpse in vignce. From this, one could see how well-trained the Zhao n private army was.

    The bike galloped forward amidst loud roars, smashing through the remains of an airship with a loud boom. It shot out through the dust and metallic fragments, circled about, and soon came to a screeching halt in front of the fortress gates.

    Zhao Jundu, d in azure armor, jumped off the gigantic motorcycle and tossed two werewolf heads to the approaching subordinate. ¡°Take care of these and submit them together at the end of the month.¡±

    After that warrior left in due haste, several more experts came running over and pushed the motorcycle into the fortress. This massive thing was several tons in weight and was impossible to move without several people working together.

    Zhao Jundu asked while walking into the fortress, ¡°Any news recently?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel in charge of intelligence replied, ¡°Fourth Young Master, there is indeed news about Miss Yuying and General Qianye.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s brows rose up. ¡°Go on!¡±

    The soldier summarized the incident between Bai Aotu and Qianye¡¯s group. Zhao Jundu¡¯s calm expression gradually disappeared, reced entirely by an icy chill.

    The fortress wasn¡¯t very big, so Zhao Jundu soon reached his office and sat down behind the desk. The lieutenant colonel was well prepared since she knew that the situation was special. The officer quickly produced two sets of documents and ced them on the table. ¡°These are reports on the injuries of General Qianye and the Wei n heir.¡±

    Zhao Jundu looked over them in detail, especially Qianye¡¯s. This report was penned by a military doctor of the Zhang n fleet and sent directly to the Zhao n.

    Zhao Jundu put the report down slowly and said, ¡°This injury, humph! It seems Bai Aotu didn¡¯t hold back at all.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel was somewhat surprised. The Zhao n army¡¯s traditions had always encouraged officers to speak directly, so the lieutenant colonel expressed her doubts immediately, ¡°If Bai Aotu hadn¡¯t held back, wouldn¡¯t General Qianye have died there?¡±

    Zhao Jundu shot her a nce. Having nothing to hide in front of his trusted aide, he said with a coldugh, ¡°Everyone¡¯s underestimating Qianye. With his current strength, it¡¯s not surprising for him to take a hit from Bai Aotu.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel was astonished at how highly Zhao Jundu evaluated Qianye. Bai Aotu¡¯s strength had risen meteorically in recent years, allowing her to kill experts above her level as though she were cutting vegetables. She was known as the number one character under the divine champion rank. She probably couldn¡¯t sweep through every opponent under the divine champion rank just yet, but those who could contend against her were all well-known experts in their forties and fifties. How could they throw away their reputation and fight a bloody battle with her just for this title? Moreover, they might not win for certain even if they did, and their good names would be ruined at that point.

    Even so, it was enough to show just how strong Bai Aotu was at this moment.

    Qianye could actually take a blow from her without dying. Didn¡¯t this mean that hisbat strength wasn¡¯t too far off from her? One had to know that he was even one year younger than Zhao Jundu.

    At the thought of this, the lieutenant colonel felt somewhat restless at heart.

    Zhao Jundu kept his eyes lowered, paying hardly any attention to the officer¡¯s thoughts. After a moment of contemtion, he said, ¡°Before I came here, both dukes and my father told me that the war is rted to our national fate and that everything should be for the bigger picture. Ha! What bigger picture? How am I supposed to take the bigger picture into consideration when there are peoplepletely ignoring it?¡±

    The shocked officer said hurriedly, ¡°Young Master, don¡¯t be rash! The bigger picture is still the most important. Moreover, it¡¯s not suitable for you to argue with Bai Aotu at the moment.¡±

    Zhao Junduughed at the tactful wording of her message. ¡°You¡¯re thinking that I¡¯m not Bai Aotu¡¯s match at the moment, right? I know that very well. She¡¯s ten years older than me, and this gap isn¡¯t something that can be bridged within a couple of years.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel had just sighed in relief when Zhao Jundu spoke, ¡°Bring me a letter of challenge!¡±

    The officer was anxious now. ¡°You just said you¡¯re not suited to fight her at the moment!¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with a faint smile, ¡°Not now, three yearster I will fight her to the death. She¡¯s ten years older than me, so even if she doesn¡¯t cultivate for the next three years, she would still have a seven-year lead. If she doesn¡¯t even dare to ept this challenge, then she can kiss her title goodbye.¡±

    The terms of this challenge might be even more upsetting to her than being killed.

    ¡°Young Master, isn¡¯t three years too early?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°Why would it be called a life and death battle if there¡¯s no risk? Just write as I say.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel rushed away, leaving Zhao Jundu to gaze out of the window on his own. Staring toward the ends of the wilderness where the sky met the earth, he chuckled to himself, ¡°I must see what the true greater picture is to you people. Is it Bai Aotu or me, a potential heavenly monarch?¡±

    A majestic fortress had long since been erected in the central region of the Zhao n warzone. The n had begun its construction since the very first day theynded on the void continent, and the work was still ongoing to this day. The fortress was farrger than the Li family base in both its scale and surface area. The base could amodate hundreds of thousands of soldiers and had over ten high-grade kic towers. This was more like a city than a fortress.

    The stronghold was named Indomitable, a clear disy of the Zhao n¡¯s lofty aspirations.

    Indomitable wasn¡¯t a lone city. There were ten interdependent fortresses of all sizes built around it, all of them connected to Indomitable via underground tunnels. Moreover, they were equipped with emergency energy pipelines that would allow them to borrow Indomitable¡¯s power grid when necessary. The entire defensive system could be considered near invulnerable.

    It was a mystery whether they were truly far-sighted or if there were other reasons, but the stronghold was built to a scale of five hundred thousand soldiers. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t an entirely military structure¡ªthere were numerous areas suitable for residential use and even an expensivendscape garden in the central region, replete with mountains and rivers. There was also an origin array for controlling the weather. The temperature was mostly controlled by the super-heated steam and icy water running through the pipelines, but even so, the cost of such a construction project was likely quite significant. This was doubly true when everything had to be built during such a short time-span.

    There were only ten vis in this core region, each with their own beautiful sceneries. Only four of these residences had been upied at the moment, namely the imperial family, the Zhang n, the Song n, and the Zhao n themselves.

    The possession of these vis was very detailed. There was no need to exin about the imperial family and the Zhang n¡ªtheir strength was far above the other aristocracy, so it was only natural that they each held one vi. The Zhao n, being the owner, had long since upied a serene area surrounded by mountains and rivers. As for the Song n, the reason they were able to move in so soon was due to their fortune. They had squeezed their way in by offering Zhao Xuanji a price he simply couldn¡¯t refuse.

    All the major ns would definitely go all out in situations like this since it was a disy of status and identity.

    At this moment, in a small building close to theke, Zhao Ruoxi sat leaning against the window. She had her chin on the windowsill as she gazed at the green waters with a bored expression.

    ¡°Young Miss, it¡¯s time for your medicine.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s ears moved slightly upon hearing Uncle Wang¡¯s voice, but her body remained stationary.

    Uncle Wang repeated the words patiently, ¡°Young Miss, it¡¯s time for your medicine.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know!¡± Zhao Ruoxi got upzily and mumbled in dissatisfaction. ¡°This medicine is so disgusting. Am I not in possession of endless power? Why must I take such drugs?

    ¡°The medicines are beneficial in digesting this endless power. Moreover, it will protect the young miss¡¯ body and reduce the injuries when you fire the Red Spider Lily.¡± Uncle Wang had lost count of how many times he had spoken these words.

    ¡°Put it on the table first.¡± Zhao Ruoxi looked dejected, but then loud cracking sounds emerged in front of her.

    Uncle Wang ced the medicines onto the table and turned back to check what was going on. There, he saw Zhao Ruoxi cracking nuts on the windowsill with the butt of an ancient-looking gun.

    The calm Uncle Wang couldn¡¯t help but feel his eyelids twitch a couple of times. Wasn¡¯t that exquisite looking handgun the Red Spider Lily?

    Uncle Wang resisted the urge to rub his eyes. He calmed himself down and looked once more before confirming that the Zhao n young miss was indeed using a grand magnum to crack pine nuts.

    This¡­ national treasure was being used to smash nuts? Not to mention nuts, the Red Spider Lily couldn¡¯t be damaged even if one were to smash rocks with it. Even so, this filled Uncle Wang¡¯s heart with an inexplicable sensation, and he couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh.

    Zhao Ruoxi finished smashing a handful of nuts before arriving at the table. There, she stared at the steaming medicinal stew as she popped the nuts, one after the other, into her mouth. It was clear from that tight frown on her little face that she already knew no number of nuts could overpower the taste of the medicine.

    At this moment, Uncle Wang said, ¡°Something happened recently that might interest the Young Miss. Qianye shed with the Bai n a while ago and was wounded by Bai Aotu.¡±

    Uncle Wang hadn¡¯t even finished when Zhao Ruoxi shot out of her seat and clenched her fist tightly. ¡°Bai Aotu?! She¡¯s courting death!¡±

    Uncle Wang coughed lightly. ¡°Young Miss, the entire process was like this...¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was simply unable to listen. She clenched her teeth and said, ¡°Where¡¯s Bai Aotu, right now?¡±

 Volume 6 - 649: More Than One Madman

    [V6C179 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    No matter how calm Uncle Wang was, he could no longer remain indifferent at this point. All he could do, though, was dissuade her, ¡°Young Miss, you mustn¡¯t be impetuous regarding this matter.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes were filled with an ominous glint. ¡°I can¡¯t? Then when can I be impetuous? Just tell me where Bai Aotu is.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Uncle Wang wore a helpless expression. He didn¡¯t want to say, but then he saw Zhao Ruoxi waving the Red Spider Lily about. He knew he couldn¡¯t stop her if thess wanted to escape. In the entire city, perhaps only Duke You could intercept her.

    Uncle Wang had to say, ¡°This is a long story, the details aren¡¯t that simple.¡±

    Next up, he described the entire sequence of events to her. Moreover, he sorted out the entire story and exined all the pros and cons very clearly. He spoke in great detail since this matter was quite important to the entire Zhao n.

    After investing a whole lot of words, Uncle Wang said, ¡°So, this matter arose from Bai Kongzhao alone. As for Bai Aotu, perhaps she was just protecting her subordinate without knowing what she had done. All of the aristocracy is doing such things, the only difference is the degree.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Wang, are you trying to dissuade me from seeking Bai Aotu out? Do you think I can¡¯t win?¡±

    Uncle Wang sighed. ¡°Young Miss, this is not how you use a national treasure. Moreover, we¡¯re currently at an important period. The entire warzone requires you and the Red Spider Lily. Besides, it¡¯s best if you don¡¯t use the weapon if you don¡¯t need to, it¡¯s not good for your body.¡±

    ¡°So what if it¡¯s a national treasure? It¡¯s mine now that it¡¯s in my hands, I¡¯ll use it however I want! Tell those old fellows for me, Bai Aotu isn¡¯t the only madman in this world!¡±

    Uncle Wang was shocked out of his wits. He suddenly reached forth to grab the girl. He had clearly caught Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s wrist, but all of a sudden, only a red spider lily remained in his hand. This flower of theherworld faded away in an instant and actually became an open pine nut in Uncle Wang¡¯s palm.

    Uncle Wang stood frozen for a short moment before heaving a deep sigh. He leapt right out the window and shot away at great speeds. He knew where Zhao Ruoxi was going, but he wasn¡¯t too sure if he could catch up to her.

    At this moment, Qianye finally opened his eyes within the cultivation chamber of an airship. He had just finished a segment of training.

    His current cultivation was mainly for the purpose of healing his injuries as the damage to his origin power was minimal. The most important part was that his origin vortices at the moment were in a semi-crystalline state, filled with small crystal granules. Origin power in this state was countless times more resistant to external damage. Bai Aotu¡¯s punch was enough to shatter an ordinary cultivator¡¯s origin vortex and destroy his foundations, but it inflicted little damage on Qianye. The true damage was focused on his physical body.

    However, with his blood core intact and auric me blood flowing throughout his body, he would fully recover in three days. He really wasn¡¯t lying to Zhao Yuying when he stated his recovery period.

    It was just that this step requiredrge food intake to supplement his nutrition and energy. Qianye thus left the cultivation chamber and went to the kitchen. There, he devoured several portions of food before heading over to visit Wei Potian.

    The Wei n heir was lying on the bed, bandaged from head to toe. There were severalyers of wound dressing at his waist.

    Qianye sat beside the bed and pressed lightly on the bandage out of habit. ¡°Does it still hurt?¡±

    Wie Potian squealed like a butchered pig, and then said furiously, ¡°Of course it hurts!!! Can¡¯t you be more gentle? Moreover, this is the seventh time you¡¯vee to visit me!¡±

    Qianye pped his forehead after recalling that it was his seventh time here. He was healing while cultivating¡ªafter a forty-minute cultivation session, he would eat arge meal to supplement his energy expenditure and then visit Wei Potian. Every time he came, he would subconsciously pat Wei Potian¡¯s injuries and ask how he was doing. In other words, he woulde and torment thetter every hour.

    Wei Potian sized Qianye up from head to toe. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°Your strength has increased again. It seems you¡¯re about to recover from your injuries, right? Damn, what kind of body is that? Your injuries were clearly worse than my own. Howe you¡¯re jumping about after just a day when this daddy still has to lie here obediently?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re missing arge chunk of flesh and several ribs. How is that not serious? Just lie there for me. You¡¯ll need a week of rest, more or less.¡±

    Wei Potian was dissatisfied. ¡°I should¡¯ve learned some of the Yin family¡¯s secret arts. That should help me recover faster.¡±

    ¡°That will dy the progress of your Thousand Mountains. That shot would¡¯ve taken your life if your defense was just a bit weaker.¡±

    Wei Potiany back down and said, ¡°Ah, I feel so bored. This ursed ship doesn¡¯t even have one beautiful nurse or doctor. In fact, there¡¯s no one attractive at all.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°When did you be Song Zining?¡±

    Wei Potian rolled his eyes. ¡°Yours truly is also a man, and every man likes beautifuldies. Speaking of which, is that gigolo fine? To be honest, I no longer hate him that much after seeing those two scars on his face.¡±

    Qianye broke his reverie once more. ¡°You know Zining, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll spend a small fortune to remove those scars. You can forget about that.¡±

    Wei Potian sighed, and then suddenly became silent. Momentster, he said, ¡°Qianye, are you willing to let this matter be?¡±

    Qianye replied slowly after a moment of silence, ¡°If you¡¯re speaking about Bai Kongzhao, I¡¯ll kill her sooner orter. She¡¯ll have a harder time escaping as time goes on. As for Bai Aotu, it¡¯s only a matter of time before I catch up to her. If it¡¯s just to kill her, I don¡¯t really need to wait until I can fight against her fair and square. However, I¡¯ve been thinking if I should do that in the face of a powerful enemy.¡±

    Wei Potian fell into a rare period of contemtion after hearing this. Later on, he exhaled deeply and said through gritted teeth, ¡°I want nothing more than to beat her up right away!¡±

    It was just that one could hardly have that chance without reaching the divine champion level. By the time Qianye reached the divine champion level, Bai Aotu might¡¯ve taken the next step forward. As for Wei Potian, it was truly beyond difficult for him to reach the divine champion. He probably had no hope of beating up Bai Aotu in this lifetime.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s gloomy expression, Wei Potian broke into augh. ¡°It¡¯s fine, Qianye, don¡¯t put this small matter to heart. The people of the empire will be the judge of who¡¯s right or wrong in this matter! Our Wei n has always pioneered new territories for the empire¡ªthe countless men who died on the battlefield cannot be humiliated like so. Countless other aristocratic families will be spooked if the Bai n doesn¡¯t give us a satisfactory exnation. This ordeal isn¡¯t that easy to pass.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression rxed into a faint smile. It was just that the smile was somewhat forced and looked even uglier than a weeping face.

    Wei Potian said in a carefree manner, ¡°I told you it¡¯s fine! I¡¯m only missing some flesh, it¡¯ll grow back in a couple of days. You don¡¯t think this heir has no money for treatment, do you?¡±

    Wei Potian made it sound easy, but things weren¡¯t that simple. That shot had removed most of the flesh at his waist, almost a third of it in fact. This kind of injury would make him weak for a period of time even after it had healed.

    ¡°You rest well, I¡¯m going out for a walk.¡±

    ¡°Wait! Qianye, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going toe here and smack me again after an hour? This daddy will die from the torture instead of the gunshot!¡±

    Qianye pretended to swing his hand again, eliciting a weird cry from Wei Potian. Only then did he say with augh, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, my injuries are more or less healed. There¡¯s no need to cultivate anymore today.¡±

    Qianye walked along the corridor after leaving the sickroom, deep in his own thoughts. This was a high-speed transport ship in charge of logistics and supplies. The vessel was massive, and the internal walkways were fairly wide. It wasn¡¯t a problem for four or five people to walk side by side. In fact, this corridor could allow a small truck to pass through.

    Hence, Qianye subconsciously ignored the person who had appeared up ahead since the two were on different sides of the wide corridor.

    But Qianye had just taken a few steps forward when he discovered that his path ahead was being blocked. That person had, for some reason, shifted his path. Qianye was still trembling faintly as he made to calm the fluctuating blood energy and origin power in his body. He was at the extremes of fury and had trouble controlling himself. At the moment, he would find it difficult to control the mes of his fury whenever he saw Wei Potian¡¯s injury.

    Qianye stepped sideways reflexively to evade the iing person, but the man mirrored his action and blocked the path once more. At this point, Qianye finally realized that the man in front was here to cause trouble for him.

    All of a sudden, Qianye¡¯s felt livelier. A troublemaker had appeared just when he needed to vent his anger.

    The tall, burly man asked, ¡°You¡¯re Qianye?¡±

    Qianye spoke not a single word. His eyes fell upon the man¡¯s brigadier general rank and Bai n insignias.

    Seeing Qianye silent, the person sneered, ¡°How is someone like you worthy of being in conflict with Miss Aotu? She¡¯s already being quite merciful by not killing you in one punch. Yet, you actually dare to frame her?! Are the Zhao n¡¯s dogs so lowly? Today, I, Bai¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished his words when Qianye suddenly looked up. The gaze struck like lightning and actually elicited a sharp pain in the man¡¯s eyes! Just as he was about to shift his eyes away, thetter felt something akin to an iron hoop tightening around his neck. The force actually made it impossible for him to breathe!

    He looked down to find that Qianye had taken him by the neck and was gradually raising him into the air. Thetter hadn¡¯t locked down his origin power, but the strength in his hands was outrageous. The pure physical strength had shattered his origin defenses and was causing his neck bones to crackle, almost as though they would crack at any moment.

    Although he could still move at will, the only thing this Bai n brigadier general could manage was to try pulling away Qianye¡¯s fingers, lest his neck really gets crushed. However, those five fingers wouldn¡¯t budge at all no matter how hard he tried, and his face was gradually turning purple.

    His eyes were full of astonishment, but he couldn¡¯t utter any words. As someone born of the Bai n, his eyesight was sharp¡ªhe could see that Qianye hadn¡¯t used any origin power at all. Thetter had managed to render himpletely helpless with physical strength alone. What kind of monster was this?

    Qianye walked toward the end of the corridor inrge strides, kicked open the emergency door, and hurled the fellow out of the ship.

 Volume 6 - 650: Come out and Accept Your Death!

    [V6C180 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    At this moment, the captain¡¯s voice rang out from behind Qianye, ¡°This... what¡¯s going on?¡±

    The captain ran over to the windows. The airship was only a hundred or so meters from the ground. This height wasn¡¯t enough to kill an imperial brigadier general. That Bai n man had crashed into the ground and was now mbering to stand up. With his origin power cultivation, he really shouldn¡¯t have fallen so miserably. It would seem Qianye had done something to make him fall straight down.

    The captain heaved a sigh of relief and said helplessly, ¡°General, was there really a need to do this? Such a conflict will only benefit the dark races.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°I really have no interest in bullying the young fellows before dealing with Bai Aotu, but I won¡¯t take things lying down if some insensitive fellows rush out in front of me.¡±

    This captain was also a brigadier general. He was of the Zhang n, so his stance in this conflict was neutral. However, he naturally leaned toward the Zhao n since thetter was providing them with full support. He knew that the Bai n brigadier general wouldn¡¯t return to the airship after such humiliation, and in fact, he felt that it was better that way. At least, there wouldn¡¯t be another conflict¡ªbeing caught in the middle wasn¡¯t easy.

    It was at this time that the airship trembled all of a sudden. One could see, through the open doors, two high-speed airships splitting off into the distance.

    The captain shook his head and sighed. ¡°Two more ces needing reinforcements. The frequency is pretty high today. Dammit, things wouldn¡¯t be so bad if the Bai n people hadn¡¯t caused such trouble!¡±

    At first, Qianye¡¯s group of four and the Wei n private soldiers made up a fairly powerful force on the battlefield. While William was sitting the fight out, they were able to drive Twilight away and kill off all of her subordinates. It was only natural that they would sweep through virtually every other dark race squad in their way. After all, marquis level characters wouldn¡¯t join such petty battles.

    But now, Qianye and Wei Potian were badly wounded, and Song Zining was also injured. The only one in their group who could fight was Zhao Yuying. Theck of high-end fighting power suddenly increased the pressure on the Zhang n fleet. That much was evident from the number of fire-support mobilizations.

    In truth, Song Zining¡¯s injuries weren¡¯t that serious. It was just that the seventh young master had his own thoughts in this matter, holing up in his room and pretending to recuperate. ording to him, how could he stress the Bai n¡¯s tyrannical behavior if his injuries weren¡¯t serious? Moreover, despite his light injuries, the two wounds on his face seemed quite terrifying. At a nce, he almost seemed to be in a worse conditionpared to Wei Potian.

    However, Song Zining didn¡¯t remain idle, either. He had served in the Zhang n¡¯s advisor department before and was familiar with people from every level of the army. After hearing that he had been injured, many generals and leaders rushed over to visit him. Very soon, Song Zining¡¯s room was buzzing with activity and guests. He had already exined the process of their battle over ten times in just half a day, and he did not forget to curse the Bai n every time he did so.

    Qianye closed the cabin doors after the high-speed warships had left. ¡°How long will it take to reach the Zhao n defensive region? How urgent are things?¡±

    The captain wore a worried expression. ¡°This segment of the journey isn¡¯t that important. After reaching the Zhao n¡¯s fortification area, however, the fleet will need to return for supplies. The dark race army should¡¯ve caught up already at that point. That would be the most critical period.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I see, I¡¯ll go and get some rest then.¡±

    ¡°You need to recuperate well with your injuries. I¡¯ll have someone send some medicines over in a while.¡±

    Qianye returned to his chambers and continued cultivating to elerate his recovery. The truly difficult battles would follow after reaching the fortress region.

    The transport airship swayed continuously, and the faint sounds of rumbling explosions could be heard from the outside. The warships in charge of fire-support were up to their ears in work since everyte support meant the destruction of abat squad.

    At such a time, Qianye could only hide in the cultivation chamber to heal his injuries. This only added to his loathing of Bai Aotu.

    ¡­

    Meanwhile, in the Bai n camp, Bai Kongzhao was sitting across from Bai Aotu.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you won¡¯t trouble Qianye anymore? What¡¯s going on this time?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao was just as slender as before, but she seemed slightly taller. Her messy, long hair was curled and slightly withered. Her skin was sickly pale and almost translucent, vaguely revealing the green veins underneath. Her face and hands were filled with numerous small wounds. Some had almost healed, but a fair number of them were new. Only her pair of eyes were filled with unchanging mysteriousness and beauty.

    After hearing Bai Aotu¡¯s words, the young girl replied, ¡°I wasn¡¯t targeting Qianye this time, I was trying to kill Song Zining. I saw an opportunity, so I took it.¡±

    ¡°Song Zining?¡± Bai Aotu frowned. ¡°Is he that powerful?¡±

    No one understood Bai Kongzhao¡¯sbat and survival instincts better than her. If this girl said there was an opportunity, it meant that the target had zero chance of escaping her fatal blow. There had only been one exception all this time, and that was Qianye.

    However, Bai Aotu had just seen Song Zining and knew that he had only suffered some flesh wounds. This meant that Bai Kongzhao had failedpletely.

    Thetter said after some thought, ¡°He¡¯s much more powerful than I anticipated, and he also had a life-saving fan. In terms of value, that fan should be equal to his second life. It can be said that I¡¯ve already killed him once.¡±

    Bai Aotu nodded in agreement. Such life-saving treasures were extremely rare, and it wasn¡¯t excessive to say that they were priceless¡ªthere would be huge waves whenever one of them was produced. The empire had once paid half an elite corps in order to obtain a life-saving treasure capable of stopping a divine champion¡¯s attack.

    Hence, Bai Kongzhao¡¯s attack was equal to having killed half a Song Zining.

    The young girl said, ¡°Moreover, Qianye is so much more powerful than I expected. His chase stopped me from firing another shot. If you weren¡¯t here, I don¡¯t think I could¡¯ve escaped. I¡¯ll avoid him in the future and not give him a chance to capture me.¡±

    Bai Aotu frowned in silence. She only spoke momentster, ¡°Kongzhao, you¡¯re still a human when all is said and done. Why are you doing this?¡±

    ¡°For survival and for the empire.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Bai Aotu¡¯s lightning gaze stabbed at Bai Kongzhao. Thetter faced her calmly without any intention of backing away.

    ¡°What¡¯s the specific reason?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao ced an ordinary looking crystal in front of Bai Aotu. Thetter¡¯s eyesight wasn¡¯t something an ordinary person couldpare to. She said in shock, ¡°An origin crystal fragment?¡±

    The crystal fragment was actually hiding an origin powerparable to the raging seas, along with exuberant vitality. It was just that the origin power attributey between darkness and daybreak. Its uses were limited in the eyes of normal people.

    Aplete origin crystal possessed more than just vast amounts of origin power¡ªit contained innate abilities. Usually, such skills were extremely powerful and could raise one¡¯sbat strength from the foundation up.

    It went without saying that the one in Bai Kongzhao¡¯s possession did not contain any innate abilities, only an early framework of it. If Bai Kongzhao was sessful in her future cultivation, she would be able to develop a powerful ability of her own.

    Bai Kongzhao pointed at the origin crystal fragment and said, ¡°This is the downpayment for killing Song Zining.¡±

    An origin crystal fragment was actually a mere deposit? Bai Aotu picked up the crystal and observed it in detail. Then, seeming to have realized something, she said, ¡°Could this be the kind of power you need?¡±

    The girl nodded. ¡°They have two more fragments and will give them to me once I kill Song Zining. With these three fragments, I can be stronger and also keep on living.¡±

    Bai Aotu let out a rare sigh. ¡°Who are they?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the true mastermind behind this. All I know is that they¡¯re from the Song n.¡±

    Bai Aotu sneered. ¡°Song n! They¡¯re still doing this at such a time. It looks like there¡¯s no longer any cure for their stupidity.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you said you¡¯re doing this for the empire, what¡¯s with that?¡± Bai Aotu inquired.

    ¡°I know some people on the Evernight side. They¡¯re willing to provide me an opportunity to kill one of their counts as long as I kill Song Zining. There¡¯s also this.¡±

    With that, Bai Kongzhao ced a sniper rifle in front of her, along with a rectangr rod made of blue metal.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°This is a demonkin sniper rifle and likely one from a famed n. This piece of metal... is this a heart of serene blue?

    ¡°Yes, this is a heart of serene blue that the dark races delivered. If I kill Song Zining, they¡¯ll process this into an origin gun core to rece the one in here.¡±

    Bai Aotu picked up the sniper rifle and studied it repeatedly. Her gaze lingered for a fair length of time on a line of decorated text depicting the weapon¡¯s name and the artisan¡¯s signature. Any weapon with such a signature was a premium product above grade-seven.

    Bai Aotu put down the rifle and said, ¡°Then it¡¯ll be a grade-eight gun, can you use it?¡±

    ¡°I can manage if I get the remaining origin crystals.¡±

    The tent fell into silence. Bai Aotu watched the young girl for a long while before sighing lightly.

    The girl sat quietly with a somewhat vacant expression, almost as though she didn¡¯t know what to do or what she had done wrong. Perhaps her heart was extremelyplicated, or maybe it was truly simple, so simple that all she knew was to survive and be stronger. Her only reason for bing stronger was to survive.

    Bai Aotu didn¡¯t know what to say. In the end, she said slowly, ¡°These things will bring you a lot of trouble, keep them to a minimum in the future. I can¡¯t be there to help you shoulder your problems every time. You¡¯ll have to rely on yourself in the future.¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± Bai Kongzhao seemed not to understand.

    Bai Aotu didn¡¯t continue the conversation. She merely waved her hand and said, ¡°Go now, it¡¯ll be toote if you don¡¯t leave quickly.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao was just about to say something when she jumped up like a startled cat and suddenly turned around. Then, she grabbed the sniper rifle and origin crystal, rushed out of the tent, and soon disappeared from sight. However, she didn¡¯t forget to salute Bai Aotu before leaving.

    Thetter sat quietly with renewed calmness.

    It was at this moment that a delightful sound resounded throughout the Bai n camp. ¡°Bai Aotu, get out here and ept your death!¡±

    This voice was full of anger, yet it was inexplicably pleasant to the ears.

 Volume 6 - 651: Hunting

    [V6C181 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Bai Aotu stood up slowly and walked out of the tent. At this point, the entire base was already in an uproar. The Bai n champions had rushed out of their tents to see who was so bold as to issue challenges in Bai n territory.

    They were surprised to find a young girl hovering in the air. Her countenance was suffused with an ephemeral beauty that made one¡¯s heart ache. She was wearing a long dress, as was usual for nobledies. She wore very little in terms of ornaments, but what truly shone was the grand-master level craftsmanship of her attire.

    For a moment, the many valiant soldiers couldn¡¯t believe their eyes. It was actually a young girl who had kicked down their door? There wasn¡¯t a shred of origin power on her body. Not to mention origin vortices, there wasn¡¯t even an origin node.

    But how could someone without origin power hover in the air? Many people recalled how vampires and demonkin used certain methods to reverse their age. For instance, the Queen of the Night would appear in the human world as a young girl. Perhaps this person was the same?

    However, most of the champions in the Bai n were well-informed. Two of them who had recognized Zhao Ruoxi performed salutations and said, ¡°So, it¡¯s the Young Miss of Duke Chengen paying us a visit.¡±

    As the current owner of the Red Spider Lily, Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s identity in the empire was special and not at all inferior to a duke. The Bai n champions had to greet her courteously first and foremost.

    She paid no attention to the two brigadier generals and merely kept her radiant eyes on Bai Aotu.

    Bai Aotu had long since figured out that it was Zhao Ruoxi, and her heart sank upon seeing thetter in such a state. She knew things weren¡¯t going to end well.

    As expected, Zhao Ruoxi had no intention to speak to her at all. She simply raised the Red Spider Lily and took aim at Bai Aotu. Red spider lilies bloomed in front of thetter, forming a mysterious connection which had seemingly locked onto her. Whether Bai Aotu chose to dodge or flee, she would never be able to escape the attack from the Red Spider Lily. All she could do was forcibly resist the blow.

    Bai Aotu had never imagined Zhao Ruoxi would attack on sight and without so much as a word. She herself was unbridled and impetuous, but she wasn¡¯t really crazy. Her expression changed drastically, and her figure flickered about continuously in an attempt to break the Red Spider Lily¡¯s aim.

    However, she stopped evading almost as soon as she had begun. Just a brief test showed her that she couldn¡¯t escape the Red Spider Lily. Back then, even the Evernight Council Member, Ge Shitu, had to flee with grievous injuries, not to mention Bai Aotu who wasn¡¯t even a divine champion.

    Additionally, Bai Aotu saw that red spider lilies were blooming throughout the base, decorating the entire camp as though it were and of fantasy. The scenery was beautiful, but that was a weapon of murder. If Bai Aotu were to evade, the brunt of Red Spider Lily¡¯s power would fall onto the soldiers in the camp. Although the weapon didn¡¯t specialize in area-of-effect damage, there weren''t any true experts in the Bai n base. The shot would likely wipe out the hundreds of soldiers who were still in the camp.

    Anger washed over Bai Aotu¡¯s face. ¡°Such malice at a young age!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s lips rose into a sweet smile. ¡°Anyone can criticize me, but you cannot. Just try evading and see if you can manage it. It¡¯s fine even if you can, I¡¯ll fire again after wiping out your men.¡±

    Bai Aotu sneered. ¡°You don¡¯t dare to actually fire.¡±

    Her words hadn¡¯t even trailed off when her expression underwent a drastic shift. The red spider lilies around her began to wilt. At the same time, it seemed as though a floodgate had been opened inside her body. Her vitality gushed out into the void and was soon devoured by the violent origin powers therein.

    In a sh, Bai Aotu was both shocked and furious. She had never imagined Zhao Ruoxi would really fire.

    Even someone as arrogant and unbridled as she was felt helpless as the red spider lilies started to wither. The Red Spider Lily¡¯s attack was mysterious, unfathomable, and indefensible. Even an Evernight Council member had suffered badly in its hands, to speak nothing of Bai Aotu.

    The moment the other shore flowers started to wilt, a loud roar echoed throughout the skies, ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±

    Immediately afterward, a gigantic hand covered up Bai Aotu along with the entire base. Within the colossal origin power projection, the rate with which the flowers withered was greatly dyed. However, they were withering still and every wilting petal produced arge defect in the hand.

    More than half of the flowers remained, yet the hand was already on the verge of copse. Just as the Bai n was about to suffer grave losses, a snort suddenly appeared in the air. A shower of origin arrows rained down, striking all the flowers and effectively destroying them. Soon, all the red spider lilies had disappeared.

    Only then did the Red Spider Lily¡¯s attack pass by.

    But the Bai n soldiers had all been affected¡ªtheir faces were pale and their auras, empty. Many of them could no longer stand firm and fell limp onto the ground. Even Bai Aotu felt some instability in her origin power.

    A stout old man appeared in the air. His originally amiable face appeared flustered and exasperated at this moment. He hovered in front of Zhao Ruoxi and said, ¡°The Red Spider Lily is a national treasure. How can you use it for private reasons?! You¡­¡±

    Even someone of his subtlety couldn¡¯t find the right words to describe the present situation. One could see from this just how angry he was.

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hands were trembling. Attacking with the Red Spider Lily had exhausted most of her origin power, but she bit hard into her bleeding lips, unwilling to pass out.

    She wasn¡¯t paying the slightest attention to what the old man was saying. She merely stared at Bai Aotu and raised the trembling Red Spider Lily once more. Thest bit of color on her face disappeared, and her vitality was like a candle in the wind as more red spider lilies appeared in the vicinity.

    She was actually going to fire again!

    A sigh rang out behind Zhao Ruoxi as a hand reached out and pressed on the Red Spider Lily. Uncle Wang appeared behind her and said, ¡°Young Miss, you can¡¯t use the Red Spider Lily again today.¡±

    The gun¡¯s radiance actually retracted under Uncle Wang¡¯s grasp, and the other shore flowers vanished before they had been fully formed.

    But Zhao Ruoxi struggled with all her might. ¡°Don¡¯t stop me! I must kill that bitch from the Bai n! I¡¯ll kill whoever tries to stop me!¡±

    Uncle Wang looked as though his heart was aching. ¡°Young Miss, you can¡¯t use it again today. If you really must, it makes no difference if wee back tomorrow.¡±

    The old man across them was startled. ¡°This... Old Wang, although you¡¯re with the Zhao n now, you should still recognize past friendships, right?¡±

    Uncle Wang pretended not to hear those words. He took the gun from Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hands and put it away into its box. Then, he opened up a thick nket and wrapped it around the girl. Thetter was still struggling, but she was just an ordinary girl without the Red Spider Lily. How could she escape Uncle Wang¡¯s grasp?

    Zhao Ruoxi was dissatisfied. She red at the old man and shouted, ¡°I know he¡¯s a Bai n elder.¡±

    The old man looked awkward. ¡°I¡¯m not just an elder, this duke is¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t even finish his words when Zhao Ruoxi looked up and shouted, ¡°He¡¯s far from capable of stopping my Red Spider Lily! Your Majesty Prince Greensun, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re working with the Bai n to suppress our Zhao n?!¡±

    Immediately after these words were spoken, the entire world came to a frozen stop. No one could move! Zhao Boqian¡¯s metallic voice rang out from the sky, ¡°The Red Spider Lily is not yours, and this is not how it should be used.¡±

    Many Bai n warriors realized what had just happened. It turned out that Prince Greensun had wiped out all the other shore flowers with his ephemeral attack.

    ¡°What¡¯s in my hands is mine!¡± Zhao Ruoxi had no intention of speaking reason.

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t show himself and only said, ¡°If you keep causing trouble, I¡¯ll ask Weihuang to take you back to the Western Continent.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s momentum weakened. She had no intention of going back now that she was on the void continent. Moreover, her father was the only one she had ever been afraid of.¡±

    She said with a shifting glint in her eyes, ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯re going to protect the Bai n, is that it?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said with a snort, ¡°Young brat, you want to trap me with words? This matter today shall end here, your two ns can deal with this matter afterward. There¡¯s just one thing of importance, we are fighting a war of national fate, and this monarch is in charge here. I will not be polite to whoever affects the war as a whole! At that time, no one will be able to protect you lot.¡±

    The world was no longer frozen after these words were spoken. Everyone knew that Prince Greensun had left.

    The Bai n elder nced over at Zhao Ruoxi and Uncle Wang with a sigh. ¡°Fortunately, nothing happened today. Let¡¯s stop this matter here, what say you?¡±

    ¡°As it should be.¡± Uncle Wang nodded and left with Zhao Ruoxi.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Zhao Ruoxi called out to Uncle Wang. The Bai n people were apprehensive, not knowing what she was going to do. Just now, she had opened fire immediately without so much as a word. Everyone was clear that she was someone who would do just about anything.

    Zhao Ruoxi paid no attention to those people. ¡°This void continent isn¡¯t fun. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll go out hunting!¡±

    Uncle Wang replied calmly, ¡°Young Miss, what do you wish to hunt?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi uttered a name through gritted teeth, ¡°Of course it¡¯s that slut, Bai Kongzhao!¡±

    ¡°This servant understands.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi added, ¡°This Young Miss is in a bad mood. When I¡¯m in a bad mood, my aim goes way off. I might identally injure whoever appears near my prey!¡±

    With that, she left together with Uncle Wang. The Bai n soldiers looked at one another, not knowing what to say.

    identally injure? Among the Ten Grand Magnums, the Red Spider Lily was the only one that couldn¡¯t injure anyone identally.

    The old man gazed at Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s receding figure and said to Bai Aotu, ¡°Follow me, I have something to ask you.¡±

    This fat old man was actually the current Bai n lord¡¯s cousin and the one who had inherited the Duke Ning position, Bai Songhe. Be it in terms of cultivation or status, he was on the same level as the two dukes of the Zhao n. Now that he had spoken, Bai Aotu had no choice but to follow him into the main tent.

    Bai Songhe took the central chair without offering Bai Aotu a seat. His smile disappeared, reced by an awe-inspiring presence, as he said, ¡°Speak, how far are you going to go for this Bai Kongzhao?¡±

    Bai Aotu said with a frown, ¡°I just wounded Qianye. So what if she has personal affairs with him?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Bai Songhe pped a stack of documents on to the table. ¡°That Qianye¡¯s identity is not that simple! This duke has long since received information that he¡¯s actually Duke Chengen¡¯s illegitimate son. This intelligence was issued long ago, don¡¯t you ever look at them?¡±

    Bai Aotu was startled. ¡°Even then, he¡¯s just a bastard. Besides, I¡¯ve never been interested in these trivial n affairs.¡±

 Volume 6 - 652: Trade Pieces

    [V6C182 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°You cannot support the entire Bai n before bing a divine champion! Even if you do, the Bai n cannot escape us old fellows! So, you should think more about the n even if you¡¯re not interested in its affairs!¡± Bai Songhe said furiously.

    Bai Aotu sat expressionlessly and in silence. However, anyone could see that she wasn¡¯t really listening to the old man¡¯s words at all.

    Bai Songhe was helpless against her. He forced himself to suppress his anger and asked, ¡°Did you tell Bai Kongzhao about those things?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    Bai Songhe nodded and his expression eased up a bit. ¡°That is the foundation of our Bai n¡¯s continued existence. No one must know about it apart from a small number of people. Just let Kongzhao¡¯s matter be. Since you say she has extraordinarily rarebat talents, then it won¡¯t be a problem for her to escape Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hunt. A young miss like her will tire of the game after a couple of days.¡±

    Bai Aotu replied indifferently, ¡°Kongzhao doesn¡¯t need my help to begin with.¡±

    Bai Songhe said with a nod, ¡°That¡¯ll be for the best. This period is the most important since several major businesses have reached the critical juncture. Try to avoid trouble as much as you can. As for those who dare threaten our Bai family, we¡¯ll show them sooner orter!¡±

    Bai Aotu asked, ¡°I heard the Zhao n is allying with a group of aristocratic families to suppress us?¡±

    Bai Songhe red at her. ¡°What a rare sight for you to care about the n. The Zhao n¡¯s movements are faster than you think. Reportedly, they have already submitted this matter to the imperial court. They will band together to indict us. Humph!¡±

    ¡°Is it urgent?¡±

    ¡°This matter is neither big nor small. How can anything be trivial in court? But at least we can drag this out for several months before an oue is reached.¡±

    Bai Aotu nodded. Clearly, she wasn¡¯t interested in further discussion. Bai Songhe sighed and, before leaving, reminded her several times to not cause trouble.

    It was at this time that a follower rushed over with an urgent report for the two. Bai Songhe was astonished after opening the letter. ¡°Zhao Jundu wishes to engage in a life and death battle with you in three years!? This¡­ this is also because of Qianye!?¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s expression was solemn.

    Bai Songhe remained speechless for a long time. Then, he left the tent with a long sigh. This matter was already out of his control. The fierce reactions of Zhao Ruoxi and Zhao Jundu meant that an all-out war between the Bai and Zhao n was not far away. Especially Zhao Jundu¡¯s challenge, it was meant to force himself and Bai Aotu into a corner. Regardless of the oue of that battle, the two ns would most likely fall into an all-out conflict.

    Bai Songhe said nothing because, at this point, the Bai n wasn''t yet prepared for this.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was roused by a gentle bell within the cultivation room. He gradually stopped his Profound Combatant Form and walked out. There, he found two soldiers waiting for him. ¡°General Qianye, we will be arriving in ten minutes.¡±

    Qianye nodded and duly returned to his room to collect his luggage and weapons. At this point, the ship trembled, and the roar of engines increased sharply as the rear cabin doors opened.

    The transport ship at the moment was hovering several meters from the ground withoutnding. There was a gentle slope below leading to a fortress on the nearby hilltop, one of the three first-line strongholds of the Zhao n.

    Almost a hundred soldiers jumped down from the transport ship and began marching toward the fort. Qianye also leapt out andnded firmly on the ground. The vessel didn¡¯t linger even for a moment. It took to the air with a loud whistle and had soon receded into the distance.

    Song Zining followed Qianye from behind, towing a military backpack almost as tall as he was. Just how had he gotten so many things during this period? Qianye was somewhat curious because he remembered Song Zining was empty-handed when he boarded the ship.

    ¡°What are those?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°Supplies for the fort defense, mostly ammunition and food.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°We have to prepare food?¡±

    Song Zining rolled his eyes. ¡°If only I wasn¡¯t out of space, I even nned to take some water. Did you think the following battle will be that easy? Why else would the Zhao n fellows build three defensive lines? They¡¯re not idiots.¡±

    Qianye nodded in agreement. It wasn¡¯t that he had underestimated the difficulty of this battle, but because he had already stocked up on supplies within Andruil¡¯s Realm. He wouldn¡¯t skimp on this preparation even if he had to sacrifice space for spoils.

    The two had just started toward the fortress when violent explosions rang out far in the distance. The transport ship that had just left burst into mes and suddenly lost some altitude. Several high-speed airships rushed out of the clouds at this point. Although they were only a tenth in sizepared to the massive transport, their attacks were extremely powerful. Cannon shells and ballista bolts rained down on the transport¡ªit was like a whale surrounded by a school of sharks.

    Qianye was greatly rmed. ¡°Potian is still on the ship!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s recovery was far inferior to Qianye¡¯s; he would need to rest for at least a week. As such, it was arranged for him to return to the rear lines with the transport. Who would¡¯ve thought the dark race pursuers would arrive so quickly? They actually appeared before the imperial transport could leave.

    Qianye started running toward the battlefield immediately, but Song Zining pulled him back. ¡°That wild boar is very lucky, he won¡¯t die that easily. Moreover, the Zhang n isn¡¯tpletely unprepared. Don¡¯t be rash, let¡¯s wait and see first!¡±

    mes erupted continuously on the transport ship and its outeryer gradually came off. However, only half of it was due to the dark race attacks, while the other half was removed voluntarily. After shedding its shell, the transport¡¯s speed increased by a level. Moreover, there were numerous cannons and giant ballistae hidden under the shell. In an instant, the transport turned into a fierce, spiked beast. Its surging firepower suppressed the enemy ships until they could hardly breathe, taking down two high-speed warships in the blink of an eye.

    The remaining dark race vessels were like startled animals, quickly distancing themselves from the transport that had revealed its sinister side. The transport wasn¡¯t too eager to battle, either. It simply left with a much greater speed than when it came.

    Only then did Qianye feel relieved. Song Zining said, ¡°See? Those major characters up there aren¡¯t that easy to deal with. They have been waiting for this day. The Zhang n army¡¯s retreat was actually a bait to draw the dark race experts to their deaths.¡±

    ¡°But our casualties aren¡¯t small at all.¡± Qianye felt that the death toll on both sides was more or less the same during this retreat. Of course, Qianye had no idea that the Zhang n had destroyed a grand duke¡¯s airship by using hidden battleships.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Our casualties are mostly limited to ordinary soldiers with little future potential. The Evernight side has been losing elites with great future prospects. This trading of pieces is a gambit, and the advantage we win right now will only be evident after several years.¡±

    Qianye was speechless and could only let out a sigh. This kind of exchange was simply too cruel. Too many soldiers had died in front of Qianye in this short, two-day period. All of them were people full of life, yet they were being yed as chess pieces in the hands of the bigshots. The bitterness of the trade pieces was on full disy along the Zhang n¡¯s bloody retreat path.

    Song Zining said with a soft sigh, ¡°I didn¡¯t quite understand in the past, but I realized a bit after following Marshal Zhang for a while. In truth, this kind of trade has been going on since a thousand years ago. The reason the empire was able to get this far is due to the sessive generations of trade-pieces constantly umting these small advantages for us. It is indeed cruel, but it is also necessary.¡±

    The two chatted while walking. Just as they were about to enter the fortress, Qianye turned back suddenly as though he had sensed something. They saw, over the distant horizon, a massive dark cloud surging over in their direction. Qianye¡¯s powerful eyesight had already discerned that it wasn¡¯t a dark cloud but a horde of dark race airships.

    The thousand Evernight airships blotted out the sun as they swarmed over. Even someone of Qianye¡¯s calm couldn¡¯t help but waver upon seeing a fleet of such scale. Song Zining also lost his calm and blurted out, ¡°Howe there are so many?!¡±

    He had held back from the next sentence, but some insensitive person from among the soldiers cried out, ¡°Has the imperial fleet been defeated?¡±

    At that moment, terror washed over the imperial soldiers. If the imperial fleet had been defeated in the void, it meant that none of them would be able to return to the imperial maind. All they could do was fight to the death on this void continent.

    Qianye was just about to say something after seeing the chaos spread among the soldiers, but someone beat him to it. A man jumped onto a rock and roared, ¡°What¡¯s with the panicking!? If the fleet has really been defeated, all we need to think about is giving those ck-blooded bastards a good beating!¡±

    This was a burly man with a thick beard and several scars on his face. Apparently, he had gone to hell and back several times. He tore open his shirt to reveal a hairy chest and the crisscross of scars upon it.

    ¡°As long as those bastards daree, we will just do them in! I wee anyone who will stand with me. I speak no empty words, but I promise you this! If we can¡¯t walk out of the battlefield alive, then I¡¯ll be the one to die at the foremost!¡±

    The burly man didn¡¯t say much and half of his speech was upied by war cries. However, every word struck the soldiers¡¯ hearts. In a sh, morale took a turn for the better as an increasing number of soldiers started shouting together with him.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, this burly man was a new champion. His only origin vortex was dim and his origin power, sparse and impure. Apparently, there was no hope for him to ascend. It was already his life¡¯s fortune to be able to form a single vortex.

    But such people were the true warriors on the battlefield withbat strength far exceeding their cultivation. They were the pirs of the army capable of shouldering the most arduous of battlefields.

    Qianye sighed in his heart. ¡°Zining, are such people also chess pieces for trading?¡±

    Song Zining revealed a bitter smile. ¡°The best of its kind, in fact. If I were themander-in-chief, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to push him out for a trade at the critical juncture.¡±

    Qianye could only remain silent. He nced over at the approaching Evernight fleet and hastened his steps toward the fortress.

 Volume 6 - 653: Fierce Battle

    [V6C183 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The Evernight fleet blotted out the skies as they swarmed over at speeds that far exceeded expectations. Qianye had just entered the fortress along with the other reinforcement troops when the dark race¡¯s high-speed assault airships arrived nearby.

    Qianye leapt onto the fortress wall, produced Thunderbolt, and took aim at a vessel. It was just that the sniper rifle¡¯s range was limited and its firepower would diminish at long distances. Hence, Qianye could only wait for the enemy airship to approach.

    It was at this time that the kic tower inside the fortress let out a loud whistle. The shrill cry represented a forceful release of steam, and it was even trembling as it operated in an overloaded state. The rapid-fire cannons and giant ballistae within the turrets roared loudly as a dozen or so projectiles interweaved in the sky, firmly protecting the airspace above the fortress.

    The dark race assault airship was struck repeatedly by the fiery whips, causing balls of me to burst out upon its body. Some of the airship¡¯s parts woulde loose amidst the rumbling explosions and fly out in all directions.

    Very soon, two assault airships began rolling about under the barrage of fire and fell burning to the ground. There, they crashed into the hills with violent explosions. More assault vessels were roaming about the fortress in search of an attack opportunity. However, the anti-air defenses were exceptionally fierce. The rapid-fire guns spat out an endless stream of metal and mes which danced violently in the air. Meanwhile, the four giant ballistae were like cold-blooded killers. They would fire a single bolt from time to time and strike down the vessels beyond the cannons¡¯ range.

    These giant ballistae possessed terrifying firepower and had homing capabilities. Basically, every bolt would destroy an assault airship.

    Seeing the crates of bolts stacked beside the ballistae, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but praise, ¡°The Zhao n is really going all out this time! These homing bolts cost a small fortune. Even our Ningyuan Heavy Industries can¡¯t produce them.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye suddenly reached out and pressed him to the ground. He also pped the ground at the same time, sending out shockwaves in all directions and causing the soldiers in a ten-meter radius to fall down.

    At this time, a peculiar shrill whistle rang out in the sky, and a dozen or so high-caliber autocannon rounds grazed past their heads. These shots carved outrge craters and kicked up clouds of stone dust.

    Song Zining looked up to find an assault airship fly past above them. It had actually broken through the defensive fire and arrived in the air above the fortress. The several autocannons below the vessel fired with all their might, raining bullets onto the soldiers inside the fortress.

    If not for Qianye¡¯s quick reaction, the string of shots just now would¡¯vended on Song Zining¡¯s body. The seventh young master didn¡¯t put these high-caliber autocannon rounds in his eyes, but it would be quite the painful experience. He might even suffer some light injuries if he was unfortunate.

    To ordinary soldiers, however, these autocannon rounds were rather terrifying. Qianye had toppled most of the soldiers nearby and saved them from the strafe, but those standing further away weren¡¯t so lucky. A rank-one soldier was immediately torn in half with blood and gore flying everywhere.

    Qianye had already lifted the Thunderbolt and locked onto one of the autocannons sticking out of the vessel. However, heter put down the rifle without firing.

    As expected, a giant ballista on one of the turrets turned around and fired. Therge bolt drew a beautiful arc in the air before shooting into the rear-end of the airship. This caused thetter to roll out for over a hundred meters before bursting into a ball of mes.

    The fortress was in chaos at this point. The new soldiers who had just arrived encountered a fierce battle before receiving any defensive assignments.

    Qianye leapt onto high-ground and started shouting loudly, sending the vacant soldiers to their defensive positions or to help the wounded. Numerous champions were doing the same thing, and that bearded man from before was one of them.

    The Zhao n had spared no resource in the fortress¡¯ anti-air defenses. The density of firepower here was several times that of the most powerful fortress Qianye had ever seen. Such a deployment was enough to cover a medium-sized city, but the Zhao n had stuffed it into a temporary, thousand-man fortress.

    The dark races clearly hadn¡¯t expected the firepower in the fortress to be so fierce. Their assault airships suffered heavy casualties in a short period as one vessel after another burst into mes and fell off the skies. After losing over half their forces, the remaining airships could no longer hold out and had to flee the fortress.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank somewhat as he climbed onto the city wall and gazed far into the distance. This fortress was at the center of the first defensive line. He could see the Zhang n army snaking away from within a nearby valley. Even with the dark race army only a few kilometers away, their marching speed remained the same¡ªthey neither sped up nor fell into confusion. The army was like a precise piece of machinery rumbling away toward a farawaynd.

    At this moment, the dark race fleet was gradually pushing closer. After suffering heavy casualties to their assault force, the fleet sent over ten warships toward the fortress. The vessels this time were different from the small, agile assault vessels which measured no more than thirty meters from bow to stern¡ªthey were allrge, hundred-meter-long warships. They were mostly of the corvette ss by imperial standards, with two belonging to the destroyer ss.

    The defensive firepower of the fortress was somewhat insufficient against these warships. Even the giant ballistae that seemed capable of destroying everything just now needed three strikes to destroy the foremost corvette.

    Just as the Evernight fleet was about to arrive above the fort, an attack group split out from the main fleet, circled around the fortress and went after the Zhang n army. The current retreating forces of the Zhang n were no longer protected by an airship fleet.

    It was at this moment that an imperial fleet rushed out from the dark clouds in the sky. This group wasn¡¯t very big, but it was made up of elite, high-speed warships. The vessels ignored the battle around the Zhao n fort and, instead, made a beeline for the Evernight main fleet.

    The Evernight fleet looked massive, but in truth, most of them were transport and supply vessels. They were bound to suffer heavy casualties if the imperial squadron was allowed into their formation. Themander of the Evernight fleet wasn¡¯t a simpleton, either. On the one hand, he mobilized warships to intercept the iing force, intent on stalling them at all costs. Meanwhile, he summoned back the sub-fleet chasing after the Zhang n and ordered the transports to scatter. Within moments, therge fleet had spread out into several parts, each handling their own tasks in an orderly fashion.

    However, the elite imperial assault force rushed straight into the heart of the Evernight fleet. It stabbed into the enemy force like a ferocious wedge and began stirring them up from the inside. Immediately, hundreds of warships broke into an all-out battle less than a thousand meters from the ground. The scene was unbearably chaotic¡ªone transport after another burst into mes, and some even exploded on the spot.

    At the critical juncture, all the dark race transport ships opened their cabin doors and poured the soldiers out, regardless of the altitude. Some transports even started dumping soldiers several hundred meters from the ground. High-ranking soldiers might not die at such a height, but the less powerful ones, including the cannon fodder, would perish without a doubt.

    ¡°Ruthless!¡± Song Zining eximed.

    Although the Evernight fleet¡¯s actions inflicted great casualties upon their troops, the effects were instant. In a short moment, the transports had dumped all of their passengers and left the battlefield. These empty transports had no more value to the imperial assault force. Thetter wasn¡¯t made up of air to ground gunships, so they had no effective way to wipe out the soldiers nketing the ground below them. At most, they would strafe through them with autocannons when the opportunity arose.

    The imperial squadronmander was a decisive man. He immediately assembled the airships, paid a steep price to tear open a passage at the rear of the Evernight fleet, and retreated at full speed.

    This aerial battle was as bitter as it was brief¡ªboth sides lost hundreds of airships in a short period, and the stretching hills below were dotted with smoking wrecks. The abrupt attack caused the Evernight fleet to suffer dearly, the greatest loss being the dozens of fully-loaded transports that had exploded mid-air. Tens of thousands of soldiers and cannon fodder had lost their lives without ever reaching the ground.

    The hilly wilderness below was full of dark race soldiers. Everything was in chaos¡ªthe dumping left wounded soldiers everywhere, with no shortage of corpses among them. In total, the dark race had lost over forty thousand soldiers, an entire twenty percent of the forces they had deployed here.

    However, most of the dead soldiers were cannon fodder, and the casualty rate among high-ranking soldiers wasn¡¯t that high. Hence, the decline in their fighting power wasn¡¯t as significant as one would expect.

    Right after the first imperial fleet had left, the next appeared through the clouds. This one didn¡¯t jump into the fray, however, and only wandered around the periphery. Apparently, they were looking to harass and dy the enemy airships. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t mind going in for a bite should the opportunity arise.

    The Evernight fleet wasn¡¯t careless at all. Themander split off several small airships and a segment of the troops on the ground, approximately ten thousand in number, and ordered them to assault the fortress. He paid no attention to the designation of these soldiers or whether they were properly equipped.

    On the other hand, the Evernight forces mobilized all avable high-speed warships to confront the imperial fleet from a distance. As for the other soldiers, they were ordered to reorganize their ranks. Just like that, the chaotic battlefield miraculously began showing some signs of order.

    The imperial fleet didn¡¯tunch an attack. The void fleet was a crucial domain rted to the fate of the entire battle and couldn¡¯t afford to suffer rash damage.

    Looking at the dark race soldiers swarming over, Song Zining let out a deep sigh. ¡°This battle won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote for regrets since we¡¯re already here.¡± With that, Qianye picked up a multi-barreled machine gun and opened fire.

    The gatling gun roared loudly as it spat out a hail of bullets into the enemy forces from a thousand meters away. The soldiers on the defensive line were startled¡ªwasn¡¯t he firing from too far away? Although the gatling gun¡¯s maximum range was indeed a thousand meters, how was one able to aim at such a distance?

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t care about all that. The dark race soldiers in the distance fell down in droves as his guns screamed on. Just how high was his uracy!?

 Volume 6 - 654: Wear Down

    [V6C184 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Upon detailed observation, Qianye¡¯s aplishment wasn¡¯t as glorious as it seemed because those he had mowed down were mostly worthless cannon fodder; the damage was fairly limited against regr soldiers. As for those high-ranking warriors, they weren¡¯t the least hindered even if they were struck from such a distance.

    But Qianye kept on strafing, mostly targeting the cannon fodder. The gatling gun in his hand swayed from side to side, and this movement seemed to give each bullet its own urate trajectory toward the target.

    Such a divine shooting skill was being used to deal with cannon fodder?

    But the true veteran soldiers soon realized what was going on. The cannon fodder weren¡¯t valuable at all and, at most, could be used to deal with civilians and ordinary people. Their only fate was to be ughtered after rushing into the fortress and encountering the elite guards there. However, high-ranking dark race warriors would hide among the cannon fodder in search of opportunities tounch a lethal blow. Sweeping away the cannon fodder was equal to mowing down the wild grass, their favorite hiding ce. This greatly reduced the threat they could pose.

    The old veterans immediately followed suit, picking up machine guns or high-caliber sniper rifles and firing at the iing cannon fodder. The other soldiers didn¡¯t think too much but were quite adept at imitating the seniors. Gunshots rang out atop the fortress wall as a hail of bullets poured down onto the dark race squads.

    On Qianye¡¯s side, even seven or eight veterans added together couldn¡¯t catch up to his kill count. These people soon realized just how terrifying Qianye¡¯s marksmanship was.

    The dark race cannon fodder fell in droves. There were thousands of corpses behind them by the time they had reached the walls. A bitter struggle of attack and defense ensued as the foremost warrior came into contact with the walls.

    The gatling gun barrels were red hot due to the continuous fire and almost unusable now. Even then, there were still a number of soldiers beside Qianye providing him with ammunition. Seeing that the dark races had arrived below the city walls, Qianye tossed the machine gun to one side and kicked open a crate of grenades. He removed the safety pins at lightning speed and, with a sweep of his origin power, sent them scattering down the walls.

    ¡°Boom!¡± Shrapnel flew out in all directions, covering almost every angle below the walls and sending the dark race soldiers reeling. A rank-five werewolf warrior lunged at Qianye, but his body was full of injuries and several pieces of shrapnel could be seen stuck beneath his fur.

    Although these grenades were primarily for use against cannon fodder, the condensed explosion increased their firepower exponentially. Even a high-ranking warrior was seriously injured.

    The werewolf warrior bared his sharp fangs and bit fiercely at Qianye¡¯s neck. Against such a primitive attack, thetter didn¡¯t even need to look at the target. He simply drew his vampiric de and stabbed at the werewolf¡¯s heart.

    The werewolf¡¯s corpse fell down the wall with a thud. Qianye didn¡¯t bother to draw out the vampiric de and simply left it in ce. At this moment, two more dark race warriors jumped onto the walls. It was just that Qianye had arrived in front of them before they could even find their footing, and a cold gleam shed in his hands as two vampiric des entered the invaders¡¯ chests.

    For a moment, the dark race warriors outside were all shaken and hesitant to advance. Qianye wasn¡¯t in a rush, either. He jumped down into the fort, retrieved his vampiric de from the werewolf¡¯s corpse, and duly sheathed it. Then, he leapt back onto the wall and retrieved the other daggers one by one. Only after doing all that did Qianye gaze out into the distance.

    The defensive line beneath him was filled with dark race corpses. After tossing down the remains of the three high-ranking warriors, Qianye actually had no more enemies to deal with.

    In truth, the three high-ranking warriors and the hundreds of soldiers under them made up apletebat unit. The cannon fodder made up the bulk of the forces and low-ranking warriors served as the framework of the army, while the high-ranking ones searched for opportunities to kill important enemy characters. The tactic seemed coarse, but it was very practical. Moreover, in the hearts of most Evernight leaders, there was really no need for moreplicated strategies. The oue of the battle would be decided by the experts¡ªthat was the perpetual rule since antiquity.

    At this moment, Qianye had naturally be the core of a defensive line stretching dozens of meters. In response to his instructions, the soldiers hurriedly brought a new gatling gun and several crates of hand grenades onto the wall. Moreover, some soldiers put the daggers they had collected beside him, and there was no shortage of vampiric des among them.

    Qianye set up the gatling gun and began firing madly. In the blink of an eye, he had half-disabled anotherbat squad charging toward him. Immediately afterward, he used two crates of hand grenades to clean the floor before fighting the high-ranking warriors. Regardless of their race or level, these enemies couldn¡¯t even evade in front of Qianye and were stabbed one after the other with his vampiric des.

    ¡°It works that way too?¡± On the neighboring battlefront, Song Zining was dumbfounded as he watched Qianye quietly stab the enemies¡¯ vitals with the vampiric des, and then pick them back up unhurriedly. He almost couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    He knew Qianye¡¯s biggest secret. Most imperial generals liked to keep vampiric des on them merely because they were sharp and beautiful. In Qianye¡¯s hands, however, these des were able to exhibit their full power!

    This also meant that Qianye was collecting essence blood, and he was doing so right under the eyes of all the imperial soldiers. It was precisely because he was doing it so openly that no one suspected him.

    Even so, Qianye¡¯s actions were extremely risky, and only Song Zining knew why he was doing it. Qianye had figured out that this battle was going to be iparably arduous. That was why he was measuring every ounce of strength like a miser and grasping any chance at replenishment.

    At this moment, an abnormality urred in the battle situation in front of Song Zining. Several hundred dark race soldiers under the wall began wandering about like headless flies. These dark race soldiers didn¡¯t respond to attacks and were intent on killing one another.

    The seventh young master was standing elegantly on the fort wall and even had the leisure to wave his folding fan. This fan was a new one, no longer that priceless life-saving treasure.

    He looked carefree and calm. The dark race soldiers below were trapped in his domain and looked all too easy to kill. However, Song Zining¡¯s origin power was also being drained continuously. Moreover, in terms of effectiveness, it wasn¡¯t at all superior to Qianye¡¯s carpet bombing.

    Qianye shot a nce at Song Zining, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel both annoyed and amused to see him posturing in a leisurely manner. Suddenly, he let out a loud roar, ¡°Careful!¡±

    This shout, backed by the power of Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex, jolted Song Zining. Thetter was also quite outstanding. He immediately sensed the iing danger and bent sideways like a broken willow, his feet still firmly nted on the ground. With a loud boom, a fist-sized bullet flew over and brushed past him.

    This shot arrived all of a sudden and without prior warning signs. Just from the caliber, one could already see how powerful it was. Song Zining was drenched in cold sweat because he knew he would be injured on the spot if the projectile had found its mark.

    The marksman was merely a couple hundred meters away from Song Zining. However, he immediately merged into the dark race horde after firing. It would seem that his concealment skills were quite extraordinary.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. Song Zining¡¯s wall-top posturing was simply asking to be shot. Fortunately, he was also a decisive person. He immediately pulled away his white robes to reveal thebat attire underneath. He also tossed the fan to one side and blended into the group of imperial soldiers.

    The sniper who had fired at Song Zining just now was a viscount at the very least. That shot was apparently quite costly and could be considered a waste even against an officer. Now that Song Zining had hidden himself among the soldiers, that person could no longer fire again.

    Qianye sighed at the assassin¡¯s foolishness. That person would be found out sooner orter under Song Zining¡¯s domain. If he didn¡¯t fire now, there would no longer be another chance, and that was unless he stayed far away from the walls. However, Qianye understood the dark races quite well. Thepetition and infighting between them could only be worse than those amongst humans. How could these fellows resist the temptation to approach the fort?

    Qianye decided to help Song Zining out. With a wave of his hand, a crate of grenades flew over to Song Zining¡¯s defensive line and carpeted a ten-meter area in explosions. This cleared out the entire area and left the few high-ranking warriors sticking out like sore thumbs.

    The seventh young master excelled in beating enemies when they were down. He immediately made an appearance and took a step forward. With a light wave of his hands, several floating leaves flickered past the enemy soldiers and slit open their throats.

    At this moment, a sudden roar echoed through the dark race army, closely followed by the call of a bugle. What followed was a drastic change in the attacking party.

    Countless dark race soldiers and cannon fodder flooded toward Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s defensive line. The assassins hiding within the troops no longer conserved their origin power, either. Sniper rounds started flying toward the two at every moment. There were even assault airships flying in at low-altitudes, immediately putting more strain on the barely sufficient aerial defense.

    This all-out attack deprived Qianye and Song Zining of any gap for conversation. The enemy was attacking madly.

    Song Zining could no longer conserve his power. His domain was deployed in full force, turning a hundred-meter area around him into and of death. However, the dark race soldiers kept pouring in without any regard for their lives. Even someone of Song Zining¡¯s finesse couldn¡¯t kill that many enemies in a short time. In the blink of an eye, there were hundreds of dark race soldiers inside his domain, but the problem was that his domain could only trap and not kill.

    Song Zining knew he was in trouble. He didn¡¯t even get the time to withdraw his domain before numerous beams of darkness origin power erupted from below. One domain after the othernded on Song Zining¡¯s own, the sudden collision kicking up a tempest of origin power which soon burst out in all directions.

    Song Zining¡¯s domain held out for a while but was soon crushed amidst the tempest. He immediately turned pale and spat out a mouthful of blood, badly injured from the forceful destruction of his domain.

    The dark race soldiers beneath the walls were also swaying unsteadily. They had also suffered grave casualties from the tempest, and several viscounts had to be dragged away from the battlefield. They had worked together to destroy Song Zining¡¯s domain, but they were also badly wounded in the process and could no longer fight.

    However, the dark races held an absolute advantage. Why would they be afraid of a trade when they could rece the lost viscounts with ten new ones?

 Volume 6 - 655: Slaughter and Harves

    t [V6C185 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Seeing Song Zining retreat with injuries, Qianye made a prompt decision to leap into the swarm of dark races below the wall. The might of his Oceanic Vortex erupted in full force, eliciting miserable cries from the dark race soldiers within a several dozen meters radius. The low-ranking soldiers were immediately crushed to the ground. The cannon fodder were deformed and perished quickly under the great pressure. Finally, the high-ranking warriors were able to struggle for a bit, but they could only hold out for a couple of moments.

    Only ranked experts could resist the power of Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex, albeit barely. Just like that, the three rtively calm viscounts became evident in their midst.

    Qianye stepped forth and shed out thrice with East Peak, each strike in a different direction. And everywhere his de fell, a viscount would fall¡ªthere was no escaping his strike no matter how they struggled or dodged.

    Qianye immediately grew weaker after the three strikes. He wasn¡¯t overzealous for battle, either, and simply jumped back into the fort.

    That which Qianye had used was the sword art he hadprehended, Sweeping Calm. The move was simply too tyrannical, and up until this point, Qianye could only unleash three strikes. He was still a long way from calming the eight directions. After going all-out just now, Qianye felt an emptiness inside him as he returned to the fortress¡ªhe had already exhausted most of his origin power.

    But Qianye¡¯s ughter of the three viscounts had intimidated the dark race army below the walls. No one dared give chase when he returned to the walls.

    Qianye stood atop the fort and gazed coldly at the enemies. Countless dark race warriors were intimidated by his aura and actually didn¡¯t dare approach the fortress. As such,an odd, empty space appeared below the walls.

    At this point, a cold but majestic voice echoed through thend, ¡°A bunch of useless trash! I¡¯ll give you one hour to take that fortress or else everyone will be put to death.¡±

    The voice was cold and mechanical without the slightest of emotions. His tone was iparably natural even when he was talking about putting a ten-thousand strong army to death. Who knew how many simr orders he had issued in the past?

    However, the backbone of the fortress defense force was made up of Zhao n elites. Among them were a fair number of officers brought in from the Fire Beacon Corps. These people had fought countless battles against the dark races, so how could mere words scare them?

    The dark race warships attacking from the skies were struck repeatedly. Two corvettes burst into mes at almost the same time and fell to the ground.

    That voice snorted deeply in anger. Soon afterward, a beam of prismatic light shot out from themand vessel and traversed thousands of meters toward the fortress.

    At this moment, another clear voice rang out in the sky. ¡°Attacking the juniors? What skill! Come,e,e, Zhang Xuandao is looking forward to a battle!¡±

    These words hadn¡¯t even ended when a figure rushed out of the imperial fleet and into the clouds. A green figure also flew out from the Evernight fleet and followed suit. Dark clouds suddenly billowed in the skies as the two divine champions began fighting.

    Now that even the general was in action, the subordinate experts didn¡¯t dare remain indifferent. They immediately pressed their armies on andunched a fierce attack. They also split off an army to circle around the fortress and chase the retreating Zhang n forces.

    Qianye had just caught his breath when the dark races once again swarmed over like tides. Moreover, this time, they were extremely fierce and attacking with reckless abandon. Right from the start, origin bullets, cannon shells, and ballistae poured onto the wall like rain. In the blink of an eye, the soldiers beside Qianye had fallen in droves.

    Qianye had just raised a heavy shield when he heard sounds akin to rain striking banana leaves¡ªthe density of bullets was almost unbelievable. Even someone of Qianye¡¯s strength could feel his hands trembling somewhat.

    He stretched out a leg and flicked a crate of hand grenades. His free hand then blurred into countless afterimages as he removed the safety pins. The dozens of explosives froze for a split second in the air before they were sent flying with a single wave. The grenades exploded in the air, sending a rain of shrapnel pouring into the soldiers below. This effectively mowed downrge swathes of enemies.

    ¡°Grenade!¡± Qianye roared. Two Zhao n veterans immediately rushed over with two crates of explosives and ced them in Qianye¡¯s reach. Afterward, they ran back to fetch more. However, they were only halfway when a stream of bullets sent them flying off the wall, never to rise again.

    The battle was extremely intense at this stage. Qianye watched the soldiers beside him fall one by one as he tossed out crate after crate of grenades. Every time thoses of firepower flickered into existence, a small area would be cleared out in the dark race army.

    At first, the ranked officers and high-ranking soldiers would attempt to block Qianye¡¯s grenades. However, there were simply too many grenades exploding at the same time. They gave up on intercepting them after a couple of tries.

    At the height of the battle, Qianye reached back for grenades but found nothing. There were only empty crates around him, and there weren¡¯t any soldiers, either. He was the only one left defending this stretch of the wall.

    He gave up defending the segment at this point, and with a quick roll, he soon vanished behind the fortress walls. Following his retreat, dozens of high-ranking dark race warriors rushed onto the wall, prepared to charge into the fortress. But they felt a chill run through their vitals before they could take the next step, and soon, their vitality began flowing out rapidly.

    Several of the stronger warriors looked back with difficulty. Only then did they realize that Qianye had appeared amongst them at one point. The sword in his hand looked rather slow but had actually stabbed through their vitals in the blink of an eye. The dark race warriors who had charged up the walls thus lost their lives.

    Qianye swung the sword sideways and swept the petrified corpses down the wall. Then, he looked around at the surroundings.

    A dozen or so airships were roaming about in the skies. Most of them were small, agile vessels since the bigger ones had been called back to tangle with the imperial fleet. The fortress guns were extremely fierce in firepower. Two turrets had been destroyed already, but the defensive fire remained stable due to the all-out activation of the hidden rapid-fire cannons and ballistae. Several ming whips formed a ming which struck repeatedly at the Evernight warships.

    At this moment, the fortress had been surrounded by the dark race army. Most of the walls had been breached, and the enemy soldiers were pouring inside like tides. However, the Zhao n defense forces were well-experienced in war. The fortress walls were merely the first line of defense. The fortress itself was like a giant maze. After entering it, the dark race invaders found themselves under attack from all sides. Zhao n soldiers would appear from every door, every window, and every rooftop.

    Even with a natural advantage in terms of physique, the high-ranking dark race soldiers couldn¡¯t handle the beleaguerment. Their casualties began stacking up rapidly.

    The wall under Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s guard were one of the few segments that hadn¡¯t been broken through. The soldiers around them were fighting and slowly retreating toward the two.

    At this moment Song Zining had already jumped into the fray. The spear in his hands shuttled about like a silver dragon, spitting out a faint glow from its tip. The attacks were so sharp that none of the high-ranking warriors could take a single hit. Even those swept by the rear end would find their bodies cut open. The ranked warriors had it easier, but they still couldn¡¯t block an all-out thrust from him.

    Song Zining was surrounded by countless floating leaves. Most of them were illusions, but a couple of them would turn into sharp des from time to time and reap the enemies¡¯ lives.

    Song Zining¡¯s smile was nowhere to be seen, and his expression was as calm as still water. He ughtered with all his heart, the silver spear and domainplementing one another wlessly.

    It seemed like Song Zining¡¯s killing efficiency was much greater than Qianye''s, but he had already used up all his killing moves. Even his domain was only deployed in its most basic form in order to reduce consumption. At the same time, it was also to prevent the dark race expertsunching a focused attack on his domain.

    Meanwhile, Qianye looked somewhat miserable. In fact, that was the case since the very beginning. He had mostly relied on grenades and various gunpowder weapons to defend against the iing enemies. He had only expended origin power when he was killing the three viscounts, while most of the time, he merely relied on his powerful physique to kill enemies. Hence, his strength had been well conserved.

    Seeing the dark races gain momentum, Song Zining finally ordered the soldiers around him to retreat into the fortress¡¯ interior, while he remained to guard the rear. A river of blood flowed below his spear as he entrenched himself at every step of his gradual retreat. The path leading to the fortress walls was filled with dark race corpses after Song Zining had passed through.

    The battle was at its fiercest when Song Zining suddenly felt the pressure on him decrease sharply. The soldiers in front of him fell down one after another. He looked back and saw Qianye on a certain high ground, the gatling gun in his hand spitting out tongues of me and clearing out arge area in front of Song Zining.

    Song Zining immediately retreated into a small alley and brought his subordinates toward a cannon turret. The cannon turrets and kic towers in the fortress were the most important areas, and the defenses were exceptionally powerful. They were more or less a fortress within the fortress. The Zhao n defenders had set up powerful units to guard these nodes. Song Zining was naturally clear about all this, so he went to support one of them immediately after retreating from the wall.

    With the fortress wall lost, the pressure on the defense side increased exponentially. Qianye was already half-mad with all the fighting. The entire fortress was his battlefield, and anything could be his weapon. He appeared unpredictably here and there; from east to west. When the great army assembled and charged into the fortress, Qianye threw caution to the wind and used his Oceanic Vortex and Life Plunder to clear out an entire area. Meanwhile, Spatial sh and Sweeping Calm became the nightmare of every Evernight expert. Even a first-rank viscount would be killed on the spot without enough time to react.

    Within moments, the casualty rates skyrocketed among the dark races. If there were any statistical reports at this time, the numbers would be enough to shock themander.

    The dark race experts finally became more vignt after the repeated deaths. They no longer dared to attack wantonly and, instead, paid rapt attention to their surroundings. They would suddenly turn back to guard against Qianye¡¯s sudden appearance.

    The experts were pivotal in the assault. Once they became apprehensive, the entire dark race momentum started to fall.

    At this point, Song Zining was standing atop one of the turrets and looking down at the entire fortress. However, Qianye was already insane and was simply fighting by instinct. He had long since stopped contacting Song Zining, and thetter couldn¡¯t find him, either, as he shed about the battlefield.

    Although he couldn¡¯t find Qianye, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but draw in a breath of cold air after seeing all the corpses appearing out of nowhere on the battlefield.

 Volume 6 - 656: Retrea

    t [V6C186 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The battle was fierce beyond expectations since the very beginning. Even Qianye himself had never expected himself to fight to such a degree. At a nce, there were dark races everywhere and their war cries filled the ears. East Peak didn¡¯t need any intricate moves¡ªevery raise and sh was guaranteed to reap something. Additionally, the space avable for Spatial sh was also shrinking rapidly. That wasn¡¯t a big problem, though, because he didn¡¯t really have much blood energy left to use it.

    Attacks came from all directions, including overhead. The cannon turrets in the fortress fell one after the other, and the surviving assault warships finally gained the opening to attack the ground forces. However, it was really hard for them to find any targets at this point because the fortress was already filled with dark race soldiers. All they could do was focus on the remaining turrets.

    The sessive use of Spatial sh had gradually drained Qianye¡¯s blood energy. Although his vampiric de and Life Plunder brought inrge amounts of essence blood, he had no time to refine them. All he could do was allow the blood core to digest them little by little to replenish his losses¡ªit was utterly inadequate.

    Qianye¡¯sbat style changed after sensing his body weakening. He pounced directly into the midst of the enemy, plunged East Peak into the ground, and proceeded to engage in a melee brawl. His body swayed hard upon impact, much like a reed in the wind. Every collision would give him the force to head toward another target. Only when encountering ranked enemies would he draw East Peak and kill them with peerless momentum.

    Just like that, he kept on killing and killing. Several batches of enemies had switched out around him, but he simply refused to copse. A werewolf viscount spotted a potential opening in this. Hence, he mixed in with the low-ranking warriors and approached Qianye tounch a sneak attack. But he never expected Qianye¡¯s domain to erupt at that point, pressing the nearby low-ranking warriors into the ground. Immediately afterward, East Peak swept horizontally and cut that lone viscount right through the waist.

    This attacked caused the dark race morale to crumble. The call of a bugle arrived from the distance, beckoning the tide of dark race soldiers to recede from the fort. The airships in the sky also turned away. Most of them were already burning and would likely crash if they kept on fighting.

    This was the first time the dark race army had halted their attacks since the beginning of the battle.

    Qianye turned back and saw Song Zining waving at him from atop a cannon turret. He thus warped about and borrowed the force to flip himself onto the turret. Qianye was currently forced to conserve his stamina, even with small movements like this.

    There was still an intact rapid-fire cannon and a giant ballista atop the turret, firmly guarded by dozens of soldiers.

    Song Zining was leaning on the ballista at the moment. He had removed his armor to reveal a messy wound on his leg, where a piece of an exploding assault airship had pierced into it and almost stabbed right through.

    Seeing Qianye appear, Song Zining called out to him with a weak smile, ¡°Qianye,e help me. Remember to be gentle, you must be gentle, AH!!!¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished when Qianye grabbed the splinter and dragged it out. He had applied a vibratory force to the piece of metal which effectively destroyed the flesh stuck on it. This facilitated the extraction and prevented any further damage. Despite that, the process was so painful that it made Song Zining go pale.

    At this moment, there were already stimnts and medicines delivered to them. Qianye helped Song Zining dress his wounds and ended everything with a couple of stimnt shots. There were no longer any military doctors around as thest of them had just fallen in battle. All they could do was help each other deal with injuries.

    In addition to his legs, there were over a dozen wounds of all shapes and sizes on Song Zining¡¯s body. The robes inside were all stained red as he removed his protective armor. These injuries looked quite terrifying, but every veteran knew how to handle them. Qianye flipped Song Zining over and shed open hisbat robes, revealing the bloody mess on his back.

    ¡°Endure it a bit.¡± The words hadn¡¯t even trailed off when Qianye quickly pulled out two pieces of shrapnel from Song Zining¡¯s back.

    Thetter was caught off-guard and couldn¡¯t help but let out a miserable cry. The seventh young master wasn¡¯t as fragile as other aristocratic scions and was fairly capable of enduring pain. However, Qianye¡¯s attack was so fast that he simply had no time to mentally prepare himself.

    Qianye paused briefly before extracting yet another one, and this time, Song Zining made no sound. He exhaled deeply only afterward and said, ¡°It feels like we¡¯re back in Yellow Springs, but back then, it was me taking care of you. Speaking of which, you were really weak back then!¡±

    Qianye snorted as he grabbed ahold of thest piece of shrapnel. ¡°Your alcohol tolerance was also quite bad back then. I wonder who it was that drank too much and was bound naked in the drill grounds after the military instructor found out.¡±

    This was one of Song Zining¡¯s few ck spots in history. Moreover, it seemed the shadow it left behind in his heart wasn¡¯t small. He quickly lost his calm and cried out, ¡°You better forget this matter as soon as possible!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s going to be quite hard.¡± Qianye¡¯s replies had always been short and concise.

    Song Zining was embarrassed and furious. ¡°Qianye, I¡¯m warning you. This seventh young master isn¡¯t easy to provoke!!!¡±

    Thergest shrapnel in Song Zining¡¯s back was suddenly pulled out amidst more wretched cries.

    ¡°How long have we been fighting?¡± Qianye asked casually. He had been fighting in a half-mad state just now and had long since forgotten the time.

    Song Zining gave it some thought and said, ¡°Three hours, give or take.¡±

    ¡°The first wavested three hours?¡± Qianye sighed. This far exceeded his expectations. This also proved just how mad the dark race offensive was. If it wasn¡¯t for the heavy casualties to their viscount grade core fighting force, the dark race army might continue fighting until the entire fortress had been destroyed.

    Qianye looked back at the fortress below and saw nothing but ruins. The wall was all but destroyed with no potential for temporary repairs. Arge part of the stronghold had be a frightening mix of corpses and rubble. There were a number of Zhao n soldiers among them searching for survivors. No one cleaned up the battlefield because the lucky survivors were taking this precious time to rest and wait for the next wave of attacks.

    Qianye had formed a general idea with just a nce. He lowered his voice and asked, ¡°Our casualty rate should be over half, right?¡±

    Song Zining nodded and replied in a simr tone. ¡°It¡¯s sixty percent to be precise.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to survive the next wave at this rate. What do we do?¡± Qianye inquired.

    The situation was so bad and even Song Zining had been wounded so gravely. Qianye alone couldn¡¯t hold the entire fortress.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t in a panic. ¡°We do need a change of ns. I¡¯ve requested reinforcements from the rear, support should arrive soon.¡±

    Qianye nodded as he sped up his movements, removing several other pieces of metal from Song Zining¡¯s back in one go. Thetter couldn¡¯t help but let out a cry despite his endurance. ¡°Qianye, you remember this!¡±

    His cries were soon drowned out in the sharp whistles and violent explosions urring in the sky. Several assault airships were rushing over under the guidance of two corvettes, drawing the curtains of battle once more. On the ground, the reorganized dark race army arrived like the rolling waves. The entire fortress was soon drowned by the dark race tide.

    Qianye patted Song Zining to indicate that he was done. Afterward, he jumped off the cannon turret and smashed into the dark race horde like a boulder. Everyone around him copsed in an instant.

    The ughter had begun once more.

    This time, the dark race assault was even more violent. This time, viscount grade experts operated in groups. After pushing Qianye back, they began uprooting the cannon turrets in the fortress. The new tactic was apparently quite effective¡ªtwo turrets were destroyed in the blink of an eye and the situation became extremely perilous for the humans.

    However, this wave of attacks had just rolled out when a peculiar whistle echoed in the sky, and numerous high-speed imperial airships appeared on the battlefield. They possessed great firepower and managed to destroy over half of the Evernight assault airships in a single volley. The remainder could only flee in desperation.

    The dozens of cannons on these warships bombarded the ground ferociously and soon paved a pathway of corpses. The airships moved rapidly and soon arrived in the air above the fortress. One of them quickly descended and hovered above the fortress. Another high-speed transport quickly opened its hatch and released numerous mini-airships from within.

    These small vessels looked rather crude and could barely fly straight. Some of them even swayed about and crashed to the ground. Once on the ground, the dark races swarmed over in an attempt to capture it. However, these airships erupted in an earth-shattering explosion just as they were tightly surrounded by dark race soldiers!

    Blood, flesh, and limbs flew everywhere as numerous ming balls arose on the battlefield,ter turning into rolling smoke. After the explosion calmed down, numerous spaces had been cleared out on the battlefield¡ªthousands of dark race soldiers had been turned to ash.

    After witnessing this scene, the dark race soldiers who were about to rush toward the remaining small airships were frightened. They didn¡¯t dare approach and only shot at them from afar.

    The warships hovering in the air opened up their doors and threw down dozens of cables. The Zhao n soldiers on the turrets climbed up the cables rapidly and in an orderly fashion. In the blink of an eye, all the warriors on the turrets had more or less boarded the ship¡ªthey even had the leisure to load those expensive ballistae onto the ships.

    Song Zining boarded the warship atst and shouted, ¡°Qianye, quick!¡±

    Qianye scaled a cannon turret from the outside, leapt out dozens of meters, and grabbed onto a cable. With some more effort, he was soon standing inside the airship.

    The airships quickly left the battlefield, leaving only a single airship to bring up the rear. Momentster, that powerful airship crashed, burning, into the Evernight army below. The explosion that followed was tremendous.

    Even though the ship was minimally staffed, there were at least dozens of people on them. These soldiers were aware that they were destined to fall, but they still charged at the enemy without a second thought.

    The airship waspletely silent, including Qianye and Song Zining. Everyone was gazing at the ball of fire receding into the distance.

    The retreat this time was extremely efficient. It was as though the surviving defenders had been snatched back from the bloody maw of the dark race army. At almost seventy percent, the casualty rate among the ordinary soldiers was fairly high. However, the force of officers and champions wasrgely intact. Most importantly, the two most important people in the fortress had returned safely. In the eyes of the upper echelon, this was called ¡°basically no loss in fighting-power¡± and could be considered a victory for the defense force.

 Volume 6 - 657: Evernight Rankings

    [V6C187 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The dark race army¡¯s attack was exceptionally fierce. ording to the original n, the first line fortress had to hold out for one day at least. In the end, they were forced to withdraw to the second line within a matter of hours. However, due to Qianye¡¯s presence, the defense forces were able to kill numerous enemies. The death toll among ranked nobles, especially, was far beyond expectations and caused a huge setback to the dark race army.

    The two defensive line fortresses weren¡¯t too far. Amidst the silence, the high-speed warships soon arrived at the central second-line fortress. Here, they unloaded the soldiers and experts still capable of fighting, along with the ballistae they had retrieved from the front lines.

    At first, Song Zining was supposed to retreat to the rear along with the wounded, but he insisted on staying and actually assumed the post of defense-force captain. This wasn¡¯t a good office to hold at such a time because the highest officer in the fortress would have to hold fast until the very end. He would only be able to withdraw after the retreat order had been issued.

    There were several other major generals, but he was the only one who had experience working under Zhang Boqian. Just like that, he obtained this fiery position.

    Thest fortress had fallen too quickly, and the retreat was also fairly decisive. Hence, the Zhang n army had only just passed through when Qianye arrived here.

    Standing on the fortress walls and watching the leaving Zhang n army, Qianye sighed. ¡°Can we really win the war on this void continent?¡±

    ¡°We definitely will.¡± There was no hesitation in Song Zining¡¯s reply.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t sure where Song Zining got his confidence from. At least up to this point, the empire was being beaten back repeatedly. The Song n being driven from its territory was just a matter of time. The situation in the void was also extremely dire. Reportedly, the imperial fleet no longer dared to engage in a showdown with the enemy.

    How was one able to win under such circumstances?

    Song Zining pointed above. ¡°With Marshal Lin¡¯s strategy and Marshal Zhang overseeing things, how can we ever lose?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat astonished. He spoke only after a while, ¡°I never expected you to be so confident in them. This can be considered¡­ idolization, even?¡±

    Song Zining admitted with a shrug, ¡°I guess.¡±

    Qianye looked carefully at Song Zining, hardly able to believe his worship.

    At this moment, severalbat squads ran out of the fortress and began burying some things in the ground. Qianye inquired, ¡°What are they burying?¡±

    ¡°Mines, I ordered them to.¡±

    Qianye was momentarily speechless. This was an ancient weapon which dated back thousands of years ago. Presently, they could only be found in deste ces like Evernight Continent and only in its most remote battlefields.

    Song Zining only smiled in the face of Qianye¡¯s doubts. ¡°I thought of this after seeing you use hand grenades to good effect. They can be considered giant mines.¡±

    Song Zining ordered one of his men to bring over his so-called mine. It was called that, but it was actually a contraption made of cannon rounds, hand grenades, and a detonator. The firepower looked quite impressive, and moreover, they were buried in a dense array outside the fort walls, one every ten meters or so.

    Song Zining returned that ¡°mine¡± to the soldier and said to Qianye, ¡°Not everyone can toss grenades like you. At least, this young master can¡¯t. So we have to find this kind of dumb method. Fortunately, the Zhao n is well-stocked; even cannon-rounds and hand grenades are in ample supply. They delivered a literal boat-load of them once I brought it up.¡±

    Qianye understood after seeing this mine that Song Zining was imitating his method of killingrge swathes of low-ranking warriors to reveal the high-ranking enemy. If thetter happened to be standing at the center of the explosion, his fate would be simr to being sted by a heavy cannon. The enemy casualty rate was sure to rise sharply.

    At this moment, the dark race army was flowing through the valleys and hills like the tides. The three first-line fortresses were like charred pieces of stone washed away in the deluge. The pressure on Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s fortress was the greatest, yet they were thest to fall. The dark races had also suffered grave losses in taking down that fortress, probably greater than the other twobined.

    After arriving at the second-line fortress, Qianye and Song Zining only enjoyed a couple of hours of peace before the dark race army came charging once more.

    The battle was exceptionally arduous, almost unprecedentedly so.

    Even with the willpower Qianye had gained from Yellow Springs, he felt himself somewhat shaken by the endless ughter. Qianye was besieged from all sides soon after the battle had begun¡ªdark race soldiers were everywhere as far as the eye could see. Murder had more or less be an instinct at this point. Qianye¡¯s brain had already stopped thinking¡ªhe found himself dodging, blocking, attacking, and killing purely by reflex.

    It felt like there was no end to the fighting.

    After an unknown length of time, Qianye suddenly felt the pressure around him ease up and the dark race soldiers around him be sparse. At this moment, he looked toward the sudden sound of rumbling engines and saw two familiar imperial airships circling in the air. Their hatches slowly opened and several cables were dropped down.

    Only at this point did Qianyee to. Was it time to retreat again?

    ncing around him, there was nothing left but rubble. The buildings in the fortress had been destroyed, and there were corpses everywhere. There was no way to differentiate between the mixed remains of the dark races and imperial soldiers.

    The warship, just as before, suppressed the dark races with its fierce firepower while the survivors quickly boarded the vessel. A familiar figure appeared near the hatch¡ªZhao Yuying was kneeling near the door and firing with reckless abandon. She spared no origin power as she rained explosives onto the high-ranking warriors the airship had missed.

    As the fortressmander, Song Zining followed tradition and boarded the ship with thest batch. He appeared quite strained when grabbing the cables. The cleanbat robes he had changed into before were now stained with blood. Apparently, he had gained several new injuries.

    Qianye also began approaching the warship while killing the enemies that had slipped through along the way. He couldn¡¯t help but frown after seeing Song Zining climbing the cable with great difficulty.

    For those on the Evernight side, Song Zining was the best kind of sniper target. The moment this thought emerged in his mind, Qianye saw a flickering light through the corner of his eyes. Qianye realized instantaneously that this was a sniper round¡ªone sporting extreme firepower.

    In a split second, Qianye¡¯s blood core expanded to its limits and shrank. This intense fluctuation shot vast amounts of blood energy into his cirction, and surging power burst out from every small corner of his body!

    With a loud bang, the ground beneath his feet cracked and sank, forming a huge pit in the blink of an eye. Qianye shot into the air like a cannon shell, crashing into a cannon tower and speeding up further from the impact before flying toward Song Zining.

    On the warship, Zhao Yuying had also seen the iing sniper round. She put down her hand cannon and reached out to pull on Song Zining¡¯s cable. However, she was some distance away and couldn¡¯t make it no matter what.

    Song Zining had also sensed the iing danger, but he was devoid of strength at the moment. He simply had no strength left to defend against the shot since holding on to the cable was already taking everything he had. The seventh young master was still able to smile on the verge of death. He raised his right hand with some effort¡ªapparently, he was going to wave at Zhao Yuying, or perhaps he wanted to wipe away the dirt on his face, so as to die with some dignity.

    Time seemed to stop for a brief moment before suddenly returning to normal.

    Qianye suddenly appeared behind Song Zining, allowing the sniper round to strike him squarely in the back. The massive force which ensued caused the two to collide. Qianye grabbed onto a cable with one hand while catching Song Zining with the other. Then, with a loud roar, he erupted with every ounce of strength he had and rushed into the cabin.

    Zhao Yuying picked up her hand cannon and fired several rounds toward the source of this attack, firmly suppressing that terrifying sniper. Having aplished the rescue mission, the airship rose into the air, closed its doors, and left.

    A mound of dirt gradually arched up amidst the rocks outside the fortress as a vampire count appeared through the soil. With an angry snort, he shook off the dirt and gravel from his body as he gazed at the receding airship.

    As a true powerhouse, he had been hiding in the shadows since the beginning of the battle and never took action. Everything was for that perfect opportunity just now. Who would¡¯ve thought that the certain kill would be foiled by Qianye?

    On the Evernight bounty rankings, Song Zining¡¯s position among the younger generation targets was only below Zhao Jundu. In the eyes of the Evernight Council members, this young man who possessed great personal strength, as well as outstanding leadership talents, was ranked far above Qianye. None of them wished to see another character like Lin Xitang appear in the empire. Just one was already enough to make them suffer deeply.

    As for Qianye, he was momentarily quite resplendent during the bloody battle, but the bigshots felt that his resources and potential were both limited. The bounties for many of the major n scions were ranked above him, not to mention those promising princes and princesses from the imperial family.

    This was a shot he had been charging up for a long time, and it was also his unique ability. After firing such a powerful shot, he would be unable to battle for many days toe. He was naturally quite upset that the shot had missed its intended target and struck Qianye instead. After all, Song Zining¡¯s bounty was high enough to move everyone¡¯s hearts, while Qianye¡¯s was less than a third of it.

    However, he couldn¡¯t help but shiver after recalling Qianye¡¯s lightning-fast movements and demon-like aura. He had a vague feeling that killing Qianye wasn¡¯t so bad, either, because if he were to encounter Qianye face-to-face on the battlefield, there really was no telling who would win. At this point, he couldn¡¯t help but curse the useless people from the Evernight Council for their erroneous intelligence on Qianye and the subsequent low bounty.

 Volume 6 - 658: Just Like Before

    [V6C188 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The airship sped away, leaving the fortress drenched in raging mes. Within the cabin, Qianye put Song Zining down without a word. Thetter seemed to be in great spirits after his brush with death. He said with augh, ¡°It would seem this young master is quite lucky. I receive help from distinguished people wherever I go.¡±

    But Qianye didn¡¯t respond to his corny joke and, instead, slumped gradually to the floor.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t seem to mind, however. ¡°Have you copsed from exhaustion?¡± But he pounced over anxiously after seeing Qianye unresponsive. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Zhao Yuying appeared behind Song Zining and grabbed his shoulders. ¡°He¡¯ll really die if you keep shaking him.¡±

    Song Zining forced himself to calm down and let go of Qianye. Watching Zhao Yuying lift Qianye up, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression was solemn and evidently distressed. She reached out several times to touch Qianye¡¯s back but pulled back midway. She struggled a couple of times but seemed unable to muster the courage. She finally exhaled deeply and said to Song Zining, ¡°Qianye¡­ took that shot for you. Come here and check his back!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s vision darkened.

    He had just realized that he had forgotten where that lethal shot had actually gone. That bullet carried might akin to the oceans and was no weaker than an attack from a marquis. How could an expert capable of firing such a shot ever miss?

    Song Zining was much more decisive than Zhao Yuying in such situations. He clenched his teeth, slowly flipped Qianye over, and exposed his back.

    There was a bowl-sized injury on Qianye¡¯s back. It didn¡¯t look that big at a nce, but it was so deep that even his spine was visible. Moreover, half of his backbone had been eroded!

    Normally, such an injury wasn¡¯t hopeless for a true expert. However, the flesh and blood around Qianye¡¯s wound were showing no signs of regeneration. This made Song Zining feel as though his heart had fallen into an icy cavern.

    He was very clear just how powerful Qianye¡¯s vampiric constitution and regenerative abilities were. These wounds should be growing back at a visible rate under normal circumstances, and yet they werepletely motionless at the moment. To Song Zining, this was even more terrifying than a normal human¡¯s gory wound being eroded by blood energy. This meant that Qianye¡¯s body was currently losing vitality.

    As expected, clear fluid began seeping out from the wound, and the naked flesh gradually turned an eerie pale color. This, as far as Song Zining could remember, was the sign of a superior vampire nearing his death.

    How could it be so easy to take an all-out attack from a powerful vampire count?

    At this point, Song Zining suddenly calmed down. He nced meaningfully at Zhao Yuying before carrying Qianye into one of the rooms.

    She followed him in, puzzled as to what Song Zining wanted to do. She had sensed something dangerous in thetter¡¯s eyes just now.

    After putting Qianye down, Song Zining walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, effectively blocking Zhao Yuying¡¯s line of vision. Then, he scanned the wide cabin of the airship. There were Zhao n soldiers wherever his eyesnded. Most of them were soldiers who had defended the second-line fortress with him, and some were warriors from the first who had retreated to the second.

    Most of them were injured. Some were lying down and others were sitting, but all of them were silent¡ªeven the injured ones held back their groans.

    After ncing around at the blood-soaked soldiers who had fought alongside him, Song Zining let out a sudden sigh; he still couldn¡¯t bear to do it. As such, he turned back into the room and closed the door.

    Song Zining pulled back his left sleeve under Zhao Yuying¡¯s bewildered gaze. The two fingers on his right hand streaked over his left wrist, immediately producing a deep wound and a gush of blood!

    Zhao Yuying was shocked out of her wits and came fairly close to crying out. She stared at Song Zining with wide eyes, unable to understand his self-harming action. Song Zining also looked up at her with aplicated expression.

    Zhao Yuying suddenly felt a chill in her heart. She actually felt a sense of extreme danger from Song Zining, and the feeling was almost lethal!

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t in good condition at the moment. He had beenpletely drained in the two consecutive defense battles, and his entire body was riddled with wounds. Normally speaking, Zhao Yuying could knock him out with a single finger at the moment. Even at his peak, Song Zining wasn¡¯t really her match. But now, Zhao Yuying could actually feel an illusion of mortal peril.

    Song Zining only shot her a single nce before looking back down. He ced his wrist over Qianye¡¯s wound, letting the blood gush down into it. His blood was a deep scarlet¡ªthere was a faint mist rising around it and was apanied by a rxing fragrance.

    Zhao Yuying was astonished to find that Song Zining had instilled his blood with origin power! His current state was extremely weak. Instilling origin power like this was clearly overdrafting his vitality.

    The hot blood filled with origin power immediately formed a small pool over Qianye¡¯s wound. The pale flesh around it soon gained some color after being soaked in the sanguineous liquid.

    Song Zining¡¯s left hand remained fixed in the air. Fresh blood gushed out from his wrist like spring water and poured onto Qianye¡¯s body. The flow was so fast that, in the blink of an eye, Song Zining¡¯s face became pale and his lips began to lose color.

    In no time, a small basin¡¯s worth of blood had been cast into Qianye¡¯s wound. The pale flesh became flushed with color, but the pond of blood didn¡¯t expand. All of the new blood had actually been absorbed.

    Qianye moved ever so slightly; that lifeless body had finally gained a wisp of vitality.

    As a knowledgeable person, Zhao Yuying understood everything at a nce. She gasped. ¡°Qianye, he¡­ he¡­¡±

    Song Zining looked up at her and said indifferently, ¡°Everything that has happened to him, he never had a choice in anything. In my eyes, Qianye will always be a human. He will always be Song Zining¡¯s good brother.¡±

    The shock was so great that Zhao Yuying was dazed for a moment. She had finally realized the reason for Song Zining¡¯s strange killing intent. Humans and dark races were ultimately irreconcble. The first reaction of an imperial soldier upon seeing a tainted human would be to kill him.

    If Zhao Yuying were to show any abnormal movements, Song Zining would¡¯ve fought her with everything he had.

    Zhao Yuying was exceptionally intelligent. How could someone capable of reaching such a position at her age be dumb? She had guessed the cause and effect in the blink of an eye.

    She suddenly reached out to grab Song Zining¡¯s wrist and sealed the wound on it. This movement was as quick as lightning. The raging origin power quickly overpowered Song Zining¡¯s body and immobilized him.

    Thetter, despite being prepared, couldn¡¯t evade the move and was quickly apprehended. All that he had nned was instantly destroyed.

    Zhao Yuying dragged Song Zining away and stretched out her own hand. With a slight shake, she tore open her own wrist, sending an arrow of blood into Qianye¡¯s wound.

    Her blood was different from Song Zining¡¯s. Mist rose straight up from the fluid and shot toward the ceiling like a cloud. The origin power within it was far superior to a top-grade origin distite, not something Song Zining¡¯s couldpare to.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s origin power cultivation was above Song Zining¡¯s to begin with. Moreover, she had conserved her strength and was at her peak state. As such, the origin power in her blood was several times richer. Qianye¡¯s entire body jolted when her blood entered the wound. The necrotic flesh quickly sloughed off, and new tissue pushed out from underneath, almost as though they were hungry for more of her blood.

    Song Zining was struggling with all his might, but he quickly calmed down after seeing this.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s blood poured out like a pir. She turned back to Song Zining in dissatisfaction and said, ¡°In my heart, Qianye will always be the Lil¡¯ Five I held in my arms back then. And you! You want to fight me with your meager strength? This won¡¯t end here, see how I¡¯ll deal with you afterward!¡±

    Song Zining quickly switched to a resplendent smile and began fawning on her. ¡°Sister Yuying is so valiant and powerful, how can I everpare?¡±

    Zhao Yuying suppressed the boot-licking with a snort and looked back at Qianye.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s entire body was trembling fiercely, and the flesh around his wound was already growing back. It was at this time that loud thumps, akin to the beating of a drum, echoed throughout the airship cabin¡ªQianye¡¯s blood core was beating once again.

    With his blood core revived, Qianye soon regained his vitality, and therge transfusion he had received from Song Zining and Zhao Yuying sent him into a state of blood-boil. The flesh around his wounds grew back at a stunning rate; even the damaged bones were being repaired.

    Qianye let out a groan as he slowly regained his consciousness.

    ¡°It¡¯s enough.¡± Song Zining signaled Zhao Yuying to close the wound on her wrist. Zhao Yuying had lost over half her total blood in a short period. If this went on, even someone of her strength would be in mortal danger.

    Qianye opened his eyes. After regaining consciousness, he was surprised to find himself in a state of intense blood-boil. He remembered being gravely wounded before losing consciousness, and even his blood core had lost its vitality. What was going on?

    Qianye saw Song Zining and Zhao Yuying as he struggled to stand up. He understood what had happened after noticing the wounds on their wrists and just how pale their faces were.

    Qianye suddenly felt something rolling about in his throat. He wanted to say something, but no words escaped his lips.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression stiffened. ¡°This mommy doesn¡¯t know anything, and I don¡¯t want to listen to boring things, either. Look for someone else if you want to discuss anything. See you!¡±

    Qianye looked at Song Zining in surprise. The seventh young master said elegantly, ¡°This young master is badly injured and exhausted in both mind and body. It¡¯s just the right time to find a couple of beauties and discuss the principles of life and the profundities of the great dao. Don¡¯te and disturb me if you have nothing important.¡±

    With that, the two left without giving Qianye any opportunity to speak.

    ¡°You two¡­¡± Gazing at their receding backs, Qianye didn¡¯t quite know what to say.

 Volume 6 - 659: Dilemma

    [V6C189 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Within the airship, Zhao Yuying and Song Zining sat down in a secluded room. The smile on her face disappeared as soon as the doors were closed. Her expression was gloomy, and there was inconceble killing intent in her voice. ¡°When did it happen? Who did it?¡±

    Song Zining sighed softly. ¡°I guess it can be considered an ident. As for the cause of this mishap, no one really knows, not even Qianye himself. Of course, at the very root of it all is what the Zhao n did to him.¡±

    Zhao Yuying snorted. ¡°The matters of his childhood have already been solved, but what¡¯s with that ident you mentioned?¡±

    Song Zining quickly recounted how Red Scorpion had been ambushed and wiped out. Zhao Yuying had no idea what to say after listening¡ªall she could do was heave a long sigh. As an imperial soldier, it was only right and proper to fight on the battlefield. Even someone of noble birth like Zhao Yuying, who was only inferior to the princes and princesses, had to risk life and limb in war.

    Since the founding of the empire, the noble scions had always been on the first line of the bloodbaths. If not for the foundations built upon the bones of previous ancestors, how could humans have risen amidst the beleaguerment of the dark races? How could they have founded an empire on Evernight Continent and walked forward step by step until today?

    Since Qianye had joined the Red Scorpion, it was only natural that he would go into battle. The two factions had been fighting for well over a thousand years, and no tactic was excessive between them. Cases of people falling into traps and being surrounded were asmon as there were stars in the skies. Zhao Yuying had also heard about that battle, but that was too long ago. It was no longer possible for her to perform an in-depth analysis as to the reason. Even if she could, it was quite possibly just a case of being ensnared and losing the battle.

    The stifling sensation in Zhao Yuying¡¯s heart didn¡¯t disappear even after knowing the reason. On the contrary, it felt worse. Qianye had been using some secret art to conceal his vampire bloodline, but idents were bound to happen in the long run. It was fortunate that she and Song Zining were around this time. What would he do if it were any other person? People of the empire knew of only one approach against vampires...

    The more she thought, the more vexed she became. She suddenly red at Song Zining and said, ¡°When you were saving Lil¡¯ Five just now, were you thinking of killing me if I get in the way?¡±

    Song Zining was shocked out of his wits as a gust of malice rushed into his face. He quickly made to exin, ¡°Everything is for Qianye.¡±

    But Zhao Yuying clearly hadn¡¯t grasped the focus of this conversation. Her eyes lit up brighter and brighter as she stared at him. ¡°You think you can finish off this mommy here?¡±

    Only then did Song Zining feel something wrong. ¡°Of course not! Sister Yuying, listen to my exnation. Don¡¯t be violent!¡±

    How could Zhao Yuying be willing to listen? She had already pounced over at that point. Song Zining¡¯s wretched cries reverberated in the room, and then spread far and wide.

    The highspeed airship flew rapidly and soon arrived at the third-line fortress. There, it hovered about momentarily and unloaded hundreds of soldiers before flying back toward the Zhao n.

    In the fortress below, Zhao Fenglei rushed out of the main building and gazed at the receding airship with a gloomy expression. He grabbed a nearby soldier and shouted, ¡°Where¡¯s Yuying? Wasn¡¯t she on the airship?¡±

    That soldier who had juste down from the warship replied, ¡°Miss Yuying has been injured and can no longer fight. She¡¯s gone back with the airship.¡±

    Zhao Fenglei was startled. ¡°Injured? How can she be injured?¡±

    ording to their original n, Zhao Yuying was supposed to support the second-line fortress ande back to defend thest fortress. It could be said that she was quite safe before the defensive battle. Zhao Fenglei had pulled a lot of strings behind the scenes in order to make this happen. The other reason was for the opportunity to fight side by side with her.

    How could that soldier have an answer to this question? Zhao Fenglei felt frustrated and couldn¡¯t resist venting his anger. ¡°Useless!¡±

    That soldier¡¯s face turned red and his tightened fists trembled ever so slightly.

    This was a warrior who had taken part in the entirety of the second defensive battle. It could be said that he had gone through hell and back. Now that they had arrived at the third fortress, they were about to go through yet another perilous battle. These soldiers, from any perspective, could be considered iron-blooded loyalists. Yet, they were being insulted like so for no good reason. How was he to endure it? However, Zhao Fenglei was Duke Yan¡¯s descendant, and as such, it wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to retort. For a moment, all the Zhao n soldiers nearby became restless; everyone felt deeply for the soldier.

    Zhao Fenglei woke up after seeing the reactions of the nearby soldiers. He clearly understood that he had gone too far just now. But he had always been obstinate and proud¡ªhe simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to apologize to a soldier in front of so many people. As such, he turned around and went back into the main building with a snort.

    At this moment, Qianye, Song Zining, and Zhao Yuying were cultivating on the airship. Qianye had activated a state of blood boil and repaired his body, but his blood energy and origin power had hit rock bottom. Zhao Yuying and Song Zining were both in an injured state due to an excessive loss of blood. They needed to grasp this time to recover. The former looked fine, but because the blood used to treat Qianye was instilled with origin power, she was more or less drained at the moment. She was in no state to fight and had no choice but to retreat with the airship.

    Momentster, Qianyepleted his cultivation and walked out of the cabin room. There was no essence blood for him on board, and the Profound Combatant Form was so forceful that it would surely interfere with the airship¡¯s flight. Hence, he had nothing much to do after recovering some origin power.

    Qianye saw Song Zining waiting outside when he opened the doors. ¡°Zining? Why aren¡¯t you recovering?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°They¡¯re just minor injuries, it¡¯s not urgent. I have something to say to you.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What¡¯s so important you would have to put off your healing? Do you think I don¡¯t know how bad our injuries are?¡±

    Song Zining had already been injured during the fortress defense battle. Now that he had lostrge amounts of blood and origin power, his condition could only be worse than Qianye''s. However, he said with a serious expression, ¡°Let¡¯s go in first.¡±

    After Qianye had locked the door, Song Zining sat down on his own with sweat on his forehead. Qianye was deeply surprised. ¡°This is?¡±

    ¡°Due to fright.¡± Song Zining smiled wryly. He calmed himself down and continued, ¡°Fortunately, it¡¯s Yuying who¡¯s nearby. If it were anyone else, I would have no choice but to attack. As for what would happen afterward, even I have no idea.

    ¡°Yuying knows now?¡±

    ¡°How can she not after giving you half her blood? It¡¯s fortunate that her feelings for you are special, and she didn¡¯t even hesitate one bit. Even a real sister can¡¯t be any better.¡±

    Qianye sighed lightly. If not for the sincerity of Zhao Yuying, Jundu, Junhong, and Ruoxi, how could he be willing to forget the past and return to the Zhao n?

    Song Zining was somewhat restless in his seat, so he simply sat up and paced about in the room. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking back and forth just now. The more I think, the more I get the feeling that the two battles you¡¯ve fought werepletely abnormal. That¡¯s not the way a human fights at all!¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°That¡¯s the most efficient and sustainable fighting method. If I kill a couple more enemies, some of my brothers won¡¯t have to die.¡±

    Song Zining raised his voice all of a sudden. ¡°Nonsense! Do you think there are no other knowledgeable people? Those champions who have been fighting with the vampires since a young age will surely recognize that ssicalbat style frequently used by high-ranking vampires. What if there are people with bad intentions among them? What do we do if someone happens to figure you out?¡±

    Qianye could only smile wryly. ¡°How can I think so much at the juncture of life and death? Besides, if I hadn¡¯t used my vampire powers, you would¡¯ve died long ago. That shot would¡¯ve torn you into two if it had connected.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± This formed a knot of anger in Song Zining¡¯s heart. Momentster, he was still helpless and could only say, ¡°In any case, you have to minimize your use of vampiric powers in the future, just in case.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve killed so many dark races. Will anyone suspect me just from my style? There are only Zhao n soldiers around in these few battles.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he was interrupted by Song Zining. ¡°Zhao n soldiers? Let me tell you the truth. Regarding your case, I never even trusted Zhao Yuying until just now, let alone other people!¡±

    Qianye opened his mouth but had nothing to retort.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was solemn. ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t me me for being wordy. I know from my experience throughout the years that anything bad can and will happen. There¡¯s no such thing as being too cautious regarding your case.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me I have to sit by and watch my brother fall in battle?¡±

    Song Zining pointed at himself and said loudly, ¡°You¡¯re also my brother! What do I do after your identity ispromised? How about Nighteye? How about Yuying? Have you thought about them at all? If you are being hunted by the empire, should we stop them?¡±

    Qianye was dumbfounded once more.

    ¡°Think hard on this!¡± Song Zining left with these words.

    ...

    ckflow City was bustling with activity. Everyone was moving about outside during this rare sunny afternoon, filling the city with considerable liveliness.

    The small courtyard in a corner of the Dark me headquarters was a rare haven of serenity. Nighteye was sitting in the yard, seemingly engrossed in the book she was holding. The sun¡¯s rays almost seemed to produce a faint halo as they fell upon a corner of her forehead.

    At this moment, a knock on the gates disrupted the silence therein.

    Nighteye got up to open the gates and was quite surprised to see the visitor. ¡°Nanhua? Didn¡¯t you leave with Song Zining?¡±

    It was Song Zining¡¯s main femalepanion for the recent period. She said with a smile, ¡°I heard he¡¯s going to fight a huge battle this time. I¡¯ll only be causing trouble for him if I go. It¡¯s better to just wait for him here since he¡¯ll surely return.¡±

    Nanhua¡¯s words revealed a bit of bitterness. Who in this big city didn¡¯t know how much of a yboy the seventh young master was? He was surrounded bydies wherever he went. Her current status brought her more pity than admiration.

    Nighteye chuckled. ¡°I was so surprised that I forgot to invite you in. Come in and have a seat. It just so happened that we have some good tea.¡±

    With that, Nighteye picked up an exquisite teapot and poured a cup for the guest. The jade-green beverage drew a green arc from the spout and into the cup. Nighteye¡¯s steady hands kept the stream connected between the two containers.

    Nanhua suddenly eximed while watching Nighteye, ¡°You¡¯re so beautiful!¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡± Nighteye looked up, somewhat puzzled. She had been wearing the mask all this time. In terms of beauty, it could only be said that she was in the upper-middle range, a far cry from the superior level.

    Nanhua stared at Nighteye with a mesmerized expression and mumbled, ¡°The feeling you give me, is so, so beautiful.¡±

    Nighteye observed herself and confirmed that she hadn¡¯t activated any ability for charming humans. In fact, she had never used such skills before and was rather surprised at why Nanhua would say so.

    What she didn¡¯t know was that¡ªduring this period in which she was pretty much just reading in peace¡ªthis feeling of serenity and her own imperious aura had merged into the elegance of a true supreme vampire.

    She had no need to rely on appearances because her every little action was naturally magnificent.

 Volume 6 - 660: Surprise

    [V6C190 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Nighteye herself hadn¡¯t noticed this. With her temperament, she wouldn¡¯t pay it much attention even if she did. She truly enjoyed these days of peace, and the only thing that made her restless was her concern for Qianye. However, such longing and worry were the most fascinating parts of life.

    Nighteye merely smiled after hearing Nanhua¡¯s praise but didn¡¯t take it very seriously. Meanwhile, she kept on talking with thetter.

    Nanhua was quite the chatterbox. She discussed anything and everything while giggling from time to time. Apparently, she was quite the spritely little girl. It was just that she was born arrogant, and a ce like ckflow City, to her, was inferior even to a frontier stronghold¡ªit was practically inhospitable. The citizens of the city, including the hunters and mercenaries who made a living here, weremoners who had nothing to do with her. The only reason she was living here was Song Zining. She was naturally quite delighted, now that she had found someone she could chat with.

    As they continued their conversation, Nanhua suddenly said, ¡°Do you know? Not just in ckflow City but the entire county, the only ones I look up to are Zining, Qianye, and now, you. I don¡¯t feel like talking to any other person!¡±

    Nighteye also knew, by now, that Nanhua was the princess of a remote vassal nation. These countries were attached to the empire in name but actually functioned independently. Such countries were usually located around warring regions, where the empire used them as fences to buffer the dark race onught. Hence, although they weren¡¯t exactly revered, they weren¡¯t inferior to imperial aristocratic families in terms of strength. One could imagine how prideful Nanhua had been back in her country. Such words were more or less the highest praise she could offer to another person.

    Yet, Nighteye merely smiled. That was all.

    Back in the vampire race, her status was supreme and only second to the Holy Son Edward. In terms of bloodline potential, she wasn¡¯t inferior to thetter at all. It was widely epted that the Queen of the Night¡¯s bloodline was stronger than the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s, but the purity of Edward¡¯s awakened bloodline was fairly limited. Meanwhile, Nighteye had been epted as possessing the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯splete bloodline. Nighteye¡¯s potential was rtively better.

    Topare, only a few princes, princesses, and other top-ranking characters of great status and talent, like Zhao Jundu and Song Zining, had the right to be discussed alongside her. For the princess of a small vassal nation to meet Nighteye, it would depend on thetter¡¯s mood.

    But Nighteye had long since left these things behind. Her current identity was Qianye¡¯s woman, a youngdy looking forward to a peaceful and ordinary life.

    Nanhua said after a while, ¡°Zining is quite concerned about you. He especially sent word a while ago, asking me to check if you¡¯re doing well. He actually asks quite often about you and the majority of his letters are talking about you.¡±

    Nighteye hadn¡¯t noticed the peculiarity in Nanhua¡¯s voice. She merely asked, ¡°Oh, Zining wrote? Any news about Qianye?¡±

    ¡°I heard he¡¯s really awesome. His achievements are so glorious that he has suppressed most of the veteran experts.¡± Nanhua¡¯s eyes lit up at the mention of Qianye, but they were soon filled withplicated emotions after seeing Nighteye¡¯s expression.

    ¡°He isn¡¯t injured, is he?¡± Nighteye¡¯s concern clearly wasn¡¯t his contributions.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything about that, but don¡¯t worry, Qianye¡¯s so powerful that even Zining admires him so much. What can ever happen to him? You have to worry about something else, though!¡± At this point, Nanhua covered her mouth and giggled oddly.

    Nighteye was puzzled. ¡°What must I worry about?¡±

    Nanhua said with a smile, ¡°Of course, you have to worry about others taking away your Qianye! There seem to be quite a lot of people who fancy him recently.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± Nighteye was somewhat surprised. The thought had never crossed her mind. However, she soon replied with a smile, ¡°Isn¡¯t it good if people like him? But Qianye won¡¯t change.¡±

    Nanhua said, ¡°You seem quite confident. Ah, but you do have the right to be confident. I can¡¯t think of anyone else who is a good match for him.¡±

    Nanhua talked for quite a while before finally leaving.

    After returning to her residence, her maid delivered yet another letter from Song Zining. The contents of the message inquired about Nighteye as usual. This caused a shadow to descend upon Nanhua¡¯s countenance. However, Nanhua couldn¡¯t help but get a certain subtle feeling after thinking about Qianye.

    Whether he was in ckflow City or anywhere else, Song Zining would always be a dazzling existence. But when standing beside Qianye, people like Nanhua could feel that thetter was like an iceberg. Only a small part was revealed on the water surface, while the portion below waspletely unfathomable. Moreover, that visible tip alone was only slightly dimmer than Song Zining.

    Nanhua couldn¡¯t help but feel a certain apprehension when she was in front of Qianye.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining was pacing about restlessly in the airship cabin. With how fast the airship was, they would arrive at their destination in half an hour. Yet, this short period was already making him impatient.

    Song Zining sat down at this desk and began writing a letter, the opening of which was once again Nighteye¡¯s condition. But after writing a couple of words, he tore the paper with a ruefulugh. That was because he had just sent a letter a while ago. Writing another one would allow people with intentions to guess his thoughts.

    However, the unrest in his heart grew in intensity. He thus ignored his injuries and began calcting the heavenly mysteries. Despite the obvious signs of uneasiness, the divination of the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art returnedpletely hazy without any particr direction.

    They were on the void continent where the two factions were fighting fiercely both on the ground and in the void. And behind the curtains, the diviners from both factions were fighting in a distant, invisible battlefield. There was chaos everywhere around the floating continent and throughout the void. Even Lin Xitang himself might not be able to produce results without serious preparation, to say nothing of a wounded Song Zining.

    The other oue was the decrease in the experts¡¯ instinctive sensitivity to danger.

    Song Zining respired deeply, forcing himself to calm down and rearrange his thoughts. After serious contemtion, he still couldn''t find what was wrong. He also realized that he had lost his calm from being over concerned. It was precisely because he knew how important Nighteye was to Qianye, and just how sensitive her identity was, that he had lost his usual level-headedness.

    The entire airship jolted as they began decelerating amidst the loud roar of the engines. Knowing that they had arrived at their destination, Song Zining calmed himself down, adjusted his appearance, and walked out of the cabin unhurriedly. Regardless of the situation, the seventh young master had to be perfect in public.

    Qianye also walked out of his room after noticing the deceleration.

    The warship had stopped at a ry base at the borders of the Zhao n territory. Here, they would unload the wounded and return to support the fortresses with fresh troops and supplies.

    Qianye was greeted by a busy scene after walking out of the airship. A group of soldiers approached the warship in an orderly formation, while the rest awaited the arrival of other vessels. Resources were piled up into small mountains beside the airship port with dozens of trucks shuttling back and forth to load them. A few high-ranking officers simply picked up some of the supplies that were left behind and carried them onto the airship.

    There was someone waiting to guide Qianye to his room and to get a physical checkup. Qianye was considered heavily injured at the moment, but, in truth, most of his wounds had healed. He was only deficient in blood energy and origin power.

    Hence, Qianye canceled the infirmary visit and only requested a cultivation chamber to recover his origin power.

    That officer left swiftly to make the necessary arrangements. A jeep whistled past at this moment with Song Zining and Zhao Yuying waving at him from within. Unlike Qianye, these two needed to lie obediently in the hospital for a couple of days.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying¡¯s aura was weak and her face, pale. The weakness she had been suppressing all this time had finally started showing. Even she couldn¡¯t endure losing all her origin power and half her blood in one go.

    Qianye felt as though something had crashed into his heart. By the time he came to and was just about to wave back, the jeep had already gone pretty far.

    The Zhao n people moved with great speed and efficiency. The cultivation chamber had been prepared before half an hour had passed.

    Qianye followed the officer through half the base and finally arrived at the training area. He had just gone through the gates when an orderly ran over and hurriedly saluted Qianye. ¡°General Qianye, the fortress has fallen! General Zhao Junfang wants you to join the strategy meeting!¡±

    Qianye was astonished and could hardly believe his ears. ¡°Fallen? Thest line?¡±

    ¡°It is indeed thest line fortress.¡±

    Qianye cried out, ¡°Impossible! It¡¯s only been such a short time!¡±

    It had been less than three hours since their retreat from the second line fortress. They were traveling by air, while the dark race army was marching on foot. They would need to spend over an hour on the road. This meant that the third line fortresses had onlysted an hour or so even if the dark race army had marched forward without regrouping andunched an immediate attack.

    In response to Qianye¡¯s doubt, the orderly said assuredly, ¡°The report isn¡¯t wrong! Please join the meeting immediately!¡±

    Qianye followed the orderly to the main building, his misgivings growing ever more intense along the way.

    Disregarding all other factors, Qianye was well aware just what kind of aplishments he had rued in thest two defensive battles. He had gone all out with the killing, ughtering more high-ranking dark race warriors and superior experts than every other personbined. To be entirely frank, Qianye had single-handedly doubled the dark race army¡¯s losses.

    With such losses, even a duke¡¯s army would be in pain right now. It was impossible to im that their fighting power hadn¡¯t decreased at all. On the other hand, the Zhao n¡¯s third-line defensive force was the most powerful. With the bolstered defensive force and the attacking party being weaker than anticipated, it shouldn¡¯t have been a problem for them to hold out for a day at least. How could they have fallen in one hour?

    The Zhang n army simply didn¡¯t have the time to cover much distance and was still in a perilous situation.

    After arriving at the meeting room, Qianye saw that Zhao Yuying and Song Zining had both arrived. Additionally, there were a couple of other imperial generals. The person in charge was a lieutenant general with white hair. Qianye recognized him as the basemander, Zhao Junfang. The man was from the Fire Beacon Corps, one who had assisted Zhao Weihuang closely for many years. He was extremely well-known, even in the Fire Beacon Corps where so many talents were assembled.

    At this moment, he was reading a battle report with an ashen expression. Momentster, he banged the report onto the table and roared, ¡°A useless brat who only knows how to discuss war on paper! Disrupting our Zhao n¡¯s important matters!¡±

 Volume 6 - 661: Dare You Fight?

    [V6C191 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    After the generals had looked over the report, some were furious, some were shocked, and others were puzzled. Qianye was filled with lingering doubts after reading it. The report stated that the central fortresssted a mere half an hour before the defensive line was torn apart by the dark race army.

    The loss of the central defensive line was so fast that the Zhao n didn¡¯t have sufficient time to dispatch airship support. When the battlefront copsed, the airships that were supposed to provide support were stillnding at the rear base with Qianye and the others on board.

    The loss of the central fortress immediately caused the pressure on the two sides to increase sharply. They remained steadfast despite being surrounded on all sides, up until the Zhao n¡¯s urgently dispatched airships arrived to rescue them.

    However, this hurried retreat operation wasn¡¯t as safe as thest two. Four out of the six mobilized warships were actually shot down. Only two barely managed to make it back in one piece. In just a short while, casualty rates among the two side-fortresses had reached well over half the total with most survivors being heavily injured. Their valor was the only thing that had kept them hanging on until the end.

    An intense smell of blood seemed to be gushing out of this short battle report.

    After a brief moment of silence, Zhao Yuying inquired, ¡°How many people came back from the central fortress?¡±

    This question was like a giant rock that shattered the awkward silence, touching upon a topic no one wanted to discuss.

    After experiencing two defense battles, Qianye was very clear that retreating from a crumbling defensive line without air support was merely a daydream. The central defense force had surely been wiped out.

    It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t understand how such arge force could¡¯ve been defeated so quickly.

    Zhao Yuying, who was originally supposed to join the defense forces, was suddenly injured. However, she had assigned numerous champions of equalbat strength in order to supplement the fortress defenses, all of them valiant generals under themand of Duke You. Meanwhile, Zhao Fenglei was also being supported by several of Duke Yan¡¯s powerful experts. At least on paper, the defense force led by Qianye and Song Zining paled inparison to their lineup.

    Zhao Junfang stood with his hands behind his back and no expression on his face. He waited for quite a while before replying, ¡°Most of the defense forces have fallen.¡±

    Zhao Yuying stood up. ¡°Most? That means some of them managed to escape?¡±

    She was concerned about this matter because most of the defense forces there were men from the Duke You Residence. Moreover, there was an elder who had taken care of her since she was a kid.

    Zhao Junfang¡¯s voice was solemn, and every word he spoke pounded upon the hearts of the audience. ¡°A total of seven people escaped, Zhao Fenglei and six others from the Duke Yan Residence.¡±

    Everyone with ess to secret intelligence revealed different expressions. They all knew the central fortress¡¯ defense force lineup. The Duke Yan Residence had dispatched a total of six champions, a total of seven together with Zhao Fenglei.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s voice trembled. ¡°How about people from our Duke You Residence?¡±

    Zhao Junfang shook his head. ¡°No news.¡±

    Everyone knew that he was just being tactful because the absence of news here was the worst kind of news. How could a handful of champions escape from deep within the enemy army?

    Zhao Yuying cried out, ¡°How did those people from the Duke Yan Residence escape!?¡±

    Zhao Junfang¡¯s brows locked into a frown. ¡°That, I don¡¯t know either.¡±

    One of the generals sneered, ¡°It¡¯s not hard to guess. They must¡¯ve hidden a high-speed airship in the fortress and escaped quickly as soon as they saw the enemy troop strength.¡± The words escaped were stressed quite deeply.

    Zhao Junfang roared, ¡°This is a serious matter, do not make wild guesses.¡±

    That general was from the Duke You lineage. He wasn¡¯t afraid of Zhao Junfang and continued with a coldugh, ¡°If my guess is correct, then the origins of this airship and how it got into the fortress without any records¡­ these things really need to be addressed.¡±

    Conventionally, airships were a strategic weapon¡ªany mobilization or transfer required the approval of the regionalmander. At the very least, a report had to be submitted regarding its movements. With a small, high-speed airship in the fortress, anyone could tell that it was themanding officer¡¯s escape route. How could the soldiers have the morale to fight to the death?

    The presence of such an unregistered airship proved that there was a slip-up among the higher echelons of the Zhao n. To be precise, the Duke Chengen Lineage which Zhao Junfang represented couldn¡¯t escape responsibility. Hence, that general from the Duke You Lineage wasn¡¯t polite at all. After all, their branch had suffered the greatest losses.

    After hearing this, Zhao Yuying calmed down and simply sat there in silence. Everyone familiar with her would know that she was the most dangerous in this state. Her temporary silence meant that an earth-shattering explosion would soon follow.

    In the face of such a grave matter, Zhao Junfang had no choice but to suppress his anger and exin, ¡°Whether or not there¡¯s an unregistered airship remains to be investigated. However, I can guarantee with my forty years of military contributions that our Duke Chengen lineage wasn¡¯t aware of this.¡±

    Since Zhao Junfang had spoken thus, that general had nothing more to say. He simply returned to his seat with a snort.

    Zhao Junfang scanned all the generals in the room. ¡°We have an important matter at hand. We must not let the dark race army take one step past this fortress. This battle is rted to the Zhao n¡¯s entire war strategy, so we must ask you to fight with everything you have.¡±

    Most of the people here were lineal descendants. The only unrted ones, Qianye and Song Zining, were also deeply rted to the n¡ªthey naturally wouldn¡¯t shirk away at such a critical time.

    Zhao Junfang appeared thankful after seeing no one object. He said with a wave of his hand, ¡°It would seem many of you are still injured. I¡¯ll open up our strategic resource storage and dispatch the reserve medicines. It should be of some help.¡±

    Everyone became more spirited after hearing this. The Zhao n¡¯s secret medicines were naturally rare premium goods. A good part of them was obtained directly from the Li family and couldn¡¯t be found on the market. With these medicines in hand, their survival rate would increase by thirty percent at the very least.

    Now that morale was high, Zhao Junfang waved hisrge hands and shouted, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, everyone should go back and rest. At dawn tomorrow, we shall fight to the death with the dark races!¡±

    It was at this time that everyone felt the room tremble ever so slightly. The vibrations grew increasingly evident, and soon, even ordinary soldiers could feel it. What exactly was making the main building shake so hard?

    The more impatient generals rushed over to the windows and saw a massive shadow fly past.

    They looked up in astonishment to find a warship flying past the fortress, followed by a dozen or sorge transports. Only at this point did the ring rm ring out in the fortress.

    Some of the generals quickly confirmed that the vessels belonged to the Zhao n, but this fleet had never appeared in the reports and no one knew where they were from.

    Just as the generals were bewildered about what to do, the door to the conference room swung open and in walked Zhao Jundu. ¡°No need to assemble.¡±

    Zhao Junfang was surprised. ¡°Why?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°Too slow, I¡¯ll personally lead the army into battle and meet the dark race army at dusk. I¡¯ll beat them into a retreat.¡±

    Zhao Junfang was shocked even more. ¡°Fourth Young Master, this¡­ isn¡¯t it too sudden? Your safety is more important than a temporary win or loss!¡±

    Zhao Junfang spoke quite tactfully. One of the other generals from the Duke Chengen lineage was much more straightforward. ¡°Fourth Young Master¡¯s future is boundless. You¡¯re a future pir of the empire! Why would you take such a risk for the Zhang n¡¯s routed army? It¡¯s not worth it!¡±

    The other generals also spoke words of dissuasion. Even the generals from the Duke You lineage echoed their sentiments. Everyone was worried that Zhao Jundu wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the numerous experts of the dark races. After all, Zhao Jundu was still young and his cultivation was far from having reached its peak.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes swept across the generals. ¡°Are you worried that I won¡¯t be a match for the enemies?¡±

    ¡°Well, of course not. It¡¯s just that¡­¡± Zhao Junfang didn¡¯t know how to word his concerns, but he was intent on stopping Zhao Jundu. The fourth young master wasn¡¯t just the hope of the Duke Chengen lineage but also the entire Zhao n¡ªperhaps even the future pir of the empire.

    Zhao Jundu suddenly broke into augh. ¡°You think I don¡¯t dare fight just because I might not be a match?¡±

    While the generals were looking at one another wondering what to say, Zhao Jundu pointed at Qianye and said, ¡°Qianye, follow me into battle!¡±

    Qianye replied without a thought, ¡°Very well.¡±

    Song Zining jumped up and said furiously, ¡°Are you crazy!? Qianye has been wounded so badly, how can he enter the battlefield?¡±

    Zhao Jundu shot Song Zining a nce and said, ¡°Youe too.¡±

    Song Zining seemed quite unhappy. ¡°This young master has his own ns, I don¡¯t need you to give me instructions! Besides, we aren¡¯t the same. This matter is¡­¡±

    Zhao Jundu suddenly appeared beside Song Zining and ced a hand on his shoulder. Violet light flickered in his eyes as he suppressed Song Zining¡¯s sentence halfway. ¡°Then that¡¯s settled.¡±

    A serious Song Zining struggled with all his might, but he was still quite weak at the moment. How could he be a match for Zhao Jundu? Compared to when they had met at the Song n many years ago, the present Zhao n fourth young master¡¯s actions no longer contained a trace of mortal aura. The Omniscient Seal revealed no visual phenomena as it suppressed Song Zining with a single thought. Most of the generals didn¡¯t even notice that Zhao Jundu had used the seal.

    No matter how Song Zining struggled, he couldn''t escape Zhao Jundu¡¯s grasp, nor could he speak a single word. Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t allow him to exin anything, either, and simply dragged him away. Song Zining was furious because Zhao Jundu¡¯s method was clearly aimed at destroying his elegant image. How could he possibly endure this?

    Whether he could bear it or not, he had no other choice before the unreasonable Zhao Jundu.

    Zhao Yuying suddenly stood up. ¡°How about me?¡±

    Zhao Jundu shot her a nce and said, ¡°You rest here. You¡¯ll be causing trouble even if youe with me.¡±

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t afraid of Zhao Jundu at all. She broke out in sudden anger and said, ¡°When has this mommy ever caused trouble?! Hey Lil¡¯ Four, make things clear before you go!¡±

    But Zhao Jundu had already stepped through the doors with Qianye and Song Zining in tow, only leaving behind a violet me to seal the door.

    No matter how agitated she was, it remained that Zhao Yuying was currently quite weak. How could she break Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal? She was naturally sealed behind the door, stamping her feet and spewing threats¡ªbut what good would that ever do?

    It was twilight in the blink of an eye. Zhao Jundu had finished organizing his troops, and the dark race army had appeared on the distant horizon.

    Watching the ck outline surging over like the tides, Zhao Jundu nced at Qianye and asked, ¡°Dare you fight this battle?¡±

 Volume 6 - 662: Strike at The Sharpest Poin

    t [V6C192 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Dare you fight this battle?

    In the face of this question, before the iing ck tide¡ªan army tens of times their own¡ªQianye felt a surging feeling in his chest. He simply drew East Peak and thrust it into the ground in front of him!

    The heavy sword entered the ground and towered like a mountain!

    ¡°Very Good!¡± Zhao Jundu let out a drawnugh. He raised his hand toward the enemy central army and said, ¡°I¡¯ll open a path for you!¡±

    With that, he removed Blue Firmament from his back. Ayer of azure radiance lit up on the gun as his aura surged wildly. In the blink of an eye, he had shot beyond rank-twelve and was showing no signs of stopping.

    ¡°Fourth Young Master!¡±

    ¡°Young Master, please reconsider!¡±

    ¡°You must not!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s volcanic aura elicited gasps of astonishment from around him. The shocked generals attempted to dissuade him but were quickly stopped by a ring of violet mes. All they could do was watch Zhao Jundu¡¯s aura rise unhindered.

    At this point, Even Song Zining couldn¡¯t keep his calm. ¡°Are you crazy? This will affect your future foundations!¡±

    However, Zhao Jundu replied calmly, ¡°Heavenly Monarch is too far away, while the enemies are right before us!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts! If I don¡¯t dare go all-out in battle just for some pure origin power, what¡¯s the use of it?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice was clear and sonorous, much like the ring of a gong. The Blue Firmament in his hand grew brighter and brighter until a boundless blue sky began to materialize in the firmament above him!

    Everyone lost their voice after seeing this shocking visual phenomenon. Any form of dissuasion was already toote at this point.

    The dark race army seemed unaffected by this and simply kept marching on. Tens of thousands of cannon fodder and low-ranking warriors charged madly at the van. They had already lost their intelligence and sense of fear, and neither did they value their bodies. The only thing left in them was killing intent and blood-thirst.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand was unbelievably steady as his finger pulled back on the trigger.

    A werewolf at the foremost crossed a thousand meters like a bolt of lightning and swiped his ws at Zhao Jundu. In his bloodshot eyes, those sharp ws would tear thetter apart. However, his eyes were suddenly filled with a boundless blue light and nothing else.

    The blue light gushed forward like a great river, extending thousands of meters with Zhao Jundu as its source. It traversed the dark race army and headed straight for the core of the iing army.

    Heaven and earth turned silent, and it was almost as though all sound had ceased¡ªthere was only a deluge of blue light in everyone''s eyes. Only when the brilliance slowly faded away did the countless frozen dark race soldierse into view. They were in their charging postures as if they had been fixated within that moment and time had stopped flowing.

    All these petrified soldiers fell down silently at the exact same moment. A broad, open road had actually appeared amidst the vast sea that was the dark race army.

    Only then did everyone understand what he meant when he said ¡°let me open up a path for you¡±. Everyone held their breath for a brief moment.

    The Blue Firmament suddenly broke down into ashes and was scattered in the wind. This famed weapon that had apanied Zhao Jundu throughout his life could no longer endure its owner¡¯s power, reaching its end in the most resplendent manner possible.

    Qianye¡¯s voice rang out amidst the silence. ¡°My turn.¡±

    Before everyone could react, Qianye had already charged out at extreme speeds. He was like a bolt of lightning charging down the path Zhao Jundu had paved for him and straight into the heart of the enemy forces.

    Qianye¡¯s speed was so fast that the dark race army couldn¡¯t respond on time. Only when Qianye was halfway did the two sidese together, effectively sealing the passage and trapping Qianye inside.

    However, Qianye neither lingered about nor changed directions. He actually continued killing his way straight into the central army.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s entire body had transformed into a weapon. Any part of his body would produce a killing blow aftering in contact with the enemy. Later on, he raised East Peak and shed down with earth-shattering momentum. There were no variations; only peerless strength which cleared the path thirty meters ahead of him.

    Seeing this barbaric and tyrannical blow, the virtuous demonkin count who was sitting calmly in the central army shot to his feet. He then pointed at Qianye and let out a shrill cry.

    Those solemn-looking personal guards in the central army began to move out. They charged ferociously at Qianye like a wave of flowing darkness.

    Qianye didn¡¯t avoid the ck-armored personal guards and simply met them head-on, both man and sword charging into their midst. Countless threads of blood flickered briefly around him as he rushed out of the ck squad.

    Most of the personal guards turned sluggish and began to stagger as though they were drunk. A small number of them looked about, baffled, as though they had no idea what had just happened. They couldn¡¯t find any trace of Qianye, either.

    The demonkin count¡¯s eyes went wide open with bewilderment. Within that brief moment just now, Qianye¡¯s almost empty aura saw a sudden and dramatic increase¡ªLife Plunder was just that tyrannical.

    Seeing Qianye reach his peak state once more, the count had no choice but to leave his seat and charge at the iing enemy.

    At this moment, massive amounts of blood energy were rolling inside his body with nowhere to go. It almost felt like his body was swelling up without limits and would soon burst at the seams. When the count charged over, a terrifying aura locked Qianye down and prevented him from leaking his blood energy.

    Under pressure from both within and outside, Qianye¡¯s blood core began to pulse strongly, pumping auric me blood to every part of his body. Qianye¡¯s auric me blood was already distributed throughout his body, to begin with. Now, thest few gates had been flushed down, causing the auric me blood to merge together and suddenly ignite!

    A loud explosion rang in Qianye¡¯s ears as an inexplicable surge of strength gushed out from every corner of his body. In the deepest parts of the void, a vortex appeared in the legendary River of Blood as countless bits of knowledge rushed into Qianye¡¯s soul like a raging waterfall.

    This was an indescribable sensation¡ªit was as though he could grasp everything in the palm of his hand or shatter the worldly barriers with his strength. This was the power of an ancient count!

    A thread of faintly discernible blood appeared in the air, extending from Qianye¡¯s feet to the demonkin count and going thrice around him.

    During the moment of the river¡¯s awakening, the demonkin count felt an unrestrainable sense of terror grip his heart¡ªhe almost couldn¡¯t control himself. Meanwhile, Qianye, who was several dozen meters away, flickered out of existence and suddenly appeared in front of him!

    Within moments, Qianye flew thrice around the demonkin count and rose into the air as though he werepletely weightless. He performed an agile spinning sh andnded on the ground dozens of meters away. His movements in the air were graceful and quick, but hisnding was extremely heavy. With a muffled boom, the ground beneath his feet sank into a huge pit.

    The demonkin count let out an iparably mournful wail as his body split into four parts¡ªfresh blood soon sprayed high into the air.

    The scion of a famed demonkin n and the vanguardmander of the dark race army, Virtuous Count Aurelius Caesar Truman, thus fell in battle.

    Everything happened too quickly, so much so that most people could only look on with their mouths wide open. One had to know that the enemy was a demonkin virtuous count¡ªwhich was, to say, a first-rank count. He was actually killed just like that!?

    The only one who made any movement was Song Zining. Face ashen, he drew the sword of a nearby Zhao n warrior and rushed forward. However, just as he was passing by Zhao Jundu, thetter reached out and locked him in ce.

    ¡°What are you doing!? I must go and save Qianye!¡± Song Zining shouted.

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°Qianye does not need to be rescued. Besides, you¡¯ll die if you go now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my business if I die, nothing to do with you! Move away!¡±

    Zhao Jundu watched Song Zining with a spurious smile. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the stately Song n seventh young master, the empire¡¯s future god of war, is such an impetuous fellow.¡±

    The dark races had recovered from their initial shock while the two men were speaking and gradually started closing in on Qianye. However, owing to the intimidation he had exerted by killing a virtuous count in one move, none of themunched the first attack.

    Song Zining was both anxious and furious. ¡°Zhao Four! I¡¯m not from your Zhao n, you can¡¯t control me. Let me go!¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled vaguely with a purple glow in his eyes. The Omniscient Seal hadpletely immobilized Song Zining.

    It was at this time that a giant pir of darkness rose over the distant horizon. It soon turned into a violent tornado connecting the heaven and earth. Many people cried out secretly. Despite numerous dark race experts being pinned down, there was actually a duke-level expert overseeing this pursuit operation!

    The distant aura wasn¡¯t at the stage where it could shake the heaven and earth¡ªperhaps he was merely a vice-duke. However, a vice-duke was also a duke.

    At the center of the dark race army, Qianye stood up and gazed at that terrifying cyclone pressing down toward him. Then he nced back and saw Zhao Jundu and Song Zining.

    Qianye turned back and took a deep breath. A faintyer of golden mes suddenly appeared on East Peak as he raised his de and walked straight toward the dark tornado,pletely ignoring the massive army in the way.

    Song Zining cried out loudly, ¡°Qianye,e back!!!¡±

    His clear voice spread far and wide. Not only did it cover the entire battlefield, but even the distant duke could hear him.

    However, Qianye neither turned back nor slowed down his footsteps. No one could escape from a duke¡ªthe only way out was for someone to fight him head-on and keep him upied. Qianye knew that Zhao Jundu and Song Zining were behind him. That was why he chose to meet that all-destructive vortex head-on.

    Song Zining became silent. Darkness flowed within his body as he prepared to activate a secret art. The raging violet mes flickering around him began showing signs of being extinguished. At this point, streams of azure mes shot up from each direction. This served to stabilize the tottering mes somewhat, but they still remained fluctuating.

    Being able to force the azure mes out of Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal and force the empowered seal into instability spoke volumes about Song Zining¡¯s strength.

    Looking at the figure of Qianye¡¯s back, Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes were filled with a mysterious glint; no one could measure his thoughts at the moment. He suddenly reached out to pat Song Zining¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°He¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    The sky behind the army suddenly dimmed down. The ragingherworld river emerged in the darkness with red spider lilies blossoming and wilting within its waters.

    The tornado of darkness let out an exasperated roar, ¡°Red Spider Lily! You actually brought the Red Spider Lily!¡±

 Volume 6 - 663: Just Beyond the Door

    [V6C193 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    In the face of theherworld river and flowers, the unwilling dark tornado hesitated for a brief moment, and then retreated over the horizon. He couldn¡¯t find, in him, the determination to challenge the Red Spider Lily that had severely wounded Ge Shitu.

    With the dark duke gone and its vanguardmander killed, the dark race army morale ultimately copsed and their forces began to retreat. However, the tens of thousands of cannon fodder and low-ranking warriors had already been incited into a state of bloodlust. These soldiers were urged toward the Zhao n formation instead of running back.

    Without the support of high-ranking experts, no amount of cannon fodder could escape the fate of being ughtered by the Zhao n¡¯s well-trained troops. In just a brief moment, the charging cannon fodder and low-ranking warriors had all fallen¡ªthey didn¡¯t even reach the formation. But this obstruction allowed the dark race army to pull backpletely and begin its gradual retreat. Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t chase after them, either. In his eyes, clearing these soldiers out was only a matter of time, no matter how many of them there were.

    Song Zining only regained his freedom at this point. ¡°So you¡¯ve already prepared the Red Spider Lily as backup. You really wanted to see me be aughingstock, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said unhurriedly, ¡°Ruoxi just used the Red Spider Lily a while ago. She doesn¡¯t have the power to use it again.¡±

    Song Zining was astonished. It turned out that Zhao Jundu was bluffing all along. If that dark duke had thrown caution to the wind and stood up to the challenge, wouldn¡¯t it be terrible?

    Zhao Jundu paid no more attention to Song Zining and simply walked up to the front of the army to meet the returning Qianye. Thetter felt his heart skip a beat, almost as though he had been seen through from head to toe. He halted his steps in astonishment and stood several meters away from Zhao Jundu.

    Conventionally, Qianye¡¯s contribution of charging into the central army and ying the enemymander was above Zhao Jundu¡¯s. However, thetter, as themander, didn¡¯t offer him any praise; he didn¡¯t even say anything. Only a wisp of violet energy flickered in his eyes as he nodded at Qianye and turned back to the army.

    With a deep frown, Qianye followed Zhao Jundu back to the camp.

    ¡°Withdraw the troops and summon the airships.¡± After issuing these orders, Zhao Jundu sat firmly with his eyes closed. He spoke no more, almost as though he had fallen asleep.

    The Zhao n soldiers were puzzled as to why Zhao Jundu was like this. Could it be that Qianye¡¯s ughter of the enemymander wasn¡¯t efficient enough? But Qianye had cut down that virtuous count in one blow, so how much cleaner could it be? Even if Qianye could cut down two counts in one blow, there weren¡¯t any more of them for him to kill. However, Zhao Jundu¡¯s prestige in the army was significant and no one dared interrupt his silence.

    Song Zining dragged Qianye to one side, pping his fan continuously with one hand and doing something in his sleeve with the other. Every repetition would increase his aura by a bit.

    Qianye frowned upon seeing this. With his keen eyesight, he had naturally realized that Song Zining was using a certain secret art to activate his origin power andbat strength. But the battle had already concluded; why would he need to raise hisbat strength in such an expensive manner?

    Song Zining moved extremely fast. Before Qianye could stop him, he had already finished his secret art and reached his peak state.

    The silhouettes of the warships appeared over the distant horizon, and soon, they had arrived above the Zhao n army. Several vessels slowly lowered themselves and loaded the three thousand Zhao n warriors on the ground.

    Song Zining followed Qianye onto the ship, picked a random room, and sat down with his eyes closed. Qianye sat down beside him, still puzzled about why he was activating his origin power even now.

    At this time, Zhao Jundu walked past the door while patrolling the ship. He shot a nce inside and said as though he could read Qianye¡¯s mind, ¡°He¡¯s afraid I¡¯ll suppress him again.¡±

    With that, Zhao Jundu left in a leisurely manner, leaving behind a fuming Song Zining.

    After all of the warriors had been loaded, the warship slowly took to the air and flew back to base.

    The dark races had destroyed the Zhang n fortress and chased their army across thousands of kilometers. Countless battles big and small had broken out along the way, even destroying the nine fortresses the Zhao n had built so painstakingly.

    However, the sharp assault was thwarted by Zhao Jundu, and the war machine came to a screeching halt. This long-distance chase had finallye to an end¡ªa phase of it at least.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s fame rose once more following this battle, edging one step closer to the apex. When the distant Zhang Boqian heard about his words ¡°heavenly monarch is too far off, while the enemy is right in front of us¡±, the marshal said, ¡°The heavenly monarch realm is just beyond the door.¡±

    The empire was sent into an uproar following this evaluation.

    If Zhao Jundu could achieve the heavenly monarch rank and the Pointer King hadn¡¯t fallen at that point, the empire would have six heavenly monarchs at the same time. Retracing history, thest time the empire possessed such an impressive lineup was during the founding war. Back then, led by the founding emperor, the seven heavenly monarchs ushered in a dazzling era. They opened up thend of daybreak in the darkness of Evernight,ying down a thousand years of foundation for the empire.

    Would the empire see a second resurgence after the Martial Emperor?

    To speak nothing of hisbat strength, Zhao Jundu¡¯s breadth of mind during thatst battle had left all the other heroes in the dust. One simply couldn¡¯tpare him at the same level.

    Additionally, Zhao Ruoxi had arrived from the west with Red Spider Lily in hand and had scared a duke away without even firing a single shot. Her splendor wasn¡¯t inferior at all to Zhao Jundu. It was just that no one knew why Zhao Ruoxi was capable of firing the Red Spider Lily and could only attribute it to her innate talent. Hence, she had never been used as aparison to other young geniuses¡ªit was simply impossible to do so.

    Perhaps because Zhao Jundu and Zhao Ruoxi were too resplendent, not many people mentioned Qianye. However, those who had personally witnessed him break into the enemy central army couldn¡¯t understand just how he had ughtered the enemymander.

    The process of moving around the target thrice and ending him with a single sh was too unimaginable. No one could figure out how to praise him even if they wanted to.

    In the blink of an eye, those paying extra attention noticed something. The three who had orchestrated this reversal¡ªZhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi, and Qianye¡ªwere all from the younger generation of the Duke Chengen lineage. Meanwhile, Zhao Junhong had long since revealed his talents in leading armies. Unknowingly, the Duke Chengen branch¡¯s youngsters could already uphold great responsibilities and alter the flow of the battle in this war of national fate. How could they even be described as youths anymore?

    If not for Prince Greensun of the Zhang n being at the peak of his power, the Duke Chengen lineage would be the number one among the nobility. They might even be able to produce a fourth duke in the n.

    It was a well-known fact in the empire that the Zhao n produced geniuses and heroes in every generation. However, the current generation was simply too outrageous.

    Some people could no longer sit still.

    Storms were brewing among the upper echelons on the empire, but it waspletely unrted to the soldiers returning from the faraway battle. It was just that the atmosphere on the airship was fairly odd, even though they were returning in triumph.

    Zhao Jundu had spent this entire time in his room, sitting silently with his eyes closed. He wasn¡¯t cultivating, either, and no one knew what exactly he was thinking. Song Zining was just as silent. The origin power in his body surged at full power as though he were readying himself for a big battle. One thing inmon between them was that neither spoke to Qianye.

    Qianye would be cultivating calmly if things were as before. However, he had broken through to the count realm in battle and connected with the River of Blood. The moment he calmed down, his brain would be filled with knowledge pertaining to the ancient vampire inheritances. The information was so expansive that his brain felt like it was about to explode¡ªhow was he to cultivate?

    ording to his past experience, he would need several days in order to store the inherited information and slowly digest them. This short flight thus became a fairly long excursion.

    The airship reached base in half a day¡¯s time, where it stopped briefly to resupply before flying toward the Zhao n¡¯s base of operations on the floating continent, the city of Indomitable.

    Indomitable¡¯s airship port was of massive scale, capable of allowing several airships tond and take-off at the same time. The sizeable fleet finishednding in just two batches.

    After walking out of the airship, Qianye saw severalbat-vehicles in the vicinity, along with hundreds of solemn-looking soldiers. However, there wasn¡¯t such a scene near other airships. They were clearly here to protect something or someone. But who on this airship¡ªbe it Qianye himself, Song Zining, or Zhao Jundu¡ªrequired such protection?

    An officer wearing an eye-catching Li n insignia walked down from one of thebat vehicles. With a shiny, silver box in hand, he walked briskly over to Qianye and performed a salute. ¡°General Qianye!¡±

    The brigadier general seemed both nervous and excited as he stood before Qianye. He raised the box toward Qianye and said in a loud voice, ¡°General, your Storm Pearl!¡±

    Qianye was startled. Although it hadn¡¯t been very long, so many things had happened that it felt like an eternity. He had already forgotten the matter of the Storm Pearl almost entirely.

    This Storm Pearl, Qianye remembered, was highly significant to the Li family. Whoever owned the Storm Pearl would have a profound impact on the Li family¡¯s safety. Qianye had gone to battle on his own, fighting throughout the Misty Wood and crushing all of the aristocratic families beneath his feet to reach the top of the leaderboard.

    The Li family had external experts among them, as well as those born of humble origins. The status of these people was the lowest in the family, almost like foundation stones. Now, all of them saw hope in Qianye, realizing that evenmoners could achieve great things and suppress the nobility.

    Later on, Qianye¡¯s upbringing was also spread among the people. Countlessmoners felt their fighting spirit reignited after hearing that he was an orphan who had grown up in the dumpster. That brigadier general was also of humble origins, one who had fought his way from a foot soldier all the way up to a general¡¯s rank. Hence, he was also rather excited upon meeting Qianye.

    Taking possession of the case, Qianye suddenly discovered a problem. He asked awkwardly, ¡°This¡­ just what is this Storm Pearl used for?¡±

    That brigadier general couldn¡¯t give him an answer. ¡°General, you will be informed when the time is right. For now, I only know that the time isn¡¯t too far off.¡±

    That brigadier general respected Qianye, but they were still on the Zhao n territory. The Zhao had never liked the Li family since Empress Li had reached her current position by stepping on the imperial concubine Zhao. A well-informed general said in a peculiar tone, ¡°Is this pearl genuine or fake? In any case, we¡¯ve never seen one. No one would know even if your Li family has switched it out.¡±

    Another generalughed. ¡°Even if they had swapped it, they still sent some kind of pearl over, didn''t they? It¡¯s much better than just confiscating it.¡±

    The brigadier general from the Li family felt quite awkward. He wanted to retort but couldn¡¯t find the right words. He was aware of certain secrets and knew that many people had indeed wanted to confiscate the pearl. When all was said and done, the leaderboards were in the Li family¡¯s hands. It was a simple matter if they wanted to tamper the numbers. Anything was better than having the prize go to the Zhao n.

    The number of people with this idea wasn¡¯t few. Naturally, these people all had aristocratic backgrounds. After all, some of thebat squads weren¡¯t too far behind Qianye on the rankings¡ªa couple of tricks would allow them to pocket the Storm Pearl. However, during these delicate times, the Li family lord announced that no one shall make any form of modification to the rankings, effectively curbing any and all disputes.

    The brigadier general had nothing to say since he knew of all these things.

    At this point, Song Zining said with a coldugh, ¡°Since the fourth young master has spoken already, who would dare touch his things?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s figure froze for a moment. He turned toward Song Zining and said through gritted teeth, ¡°So noisy, it looks like suppressing you wasn¡¯t enough!¡±

 Volume 6 - 664: So Dumb, Its Cute

    Chapter 664: So Dumb, It''s Cute [V6C194 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The Li family brigadier general left hurriedly after handing Qianye the Storm Pearl. Although no one knew what the pearl¡¯s real function was, it wasmon knowledge that the object was a priceless treasure. Qianye simply passed the Storm Pearl to Zhao Jundu for safekeeping since he had no time to keep watch every day. It could be assumed that no one in the n would dare steal the fourth young master¡¯s things.

    After handling the affairs rted to the pearl, a lieutenant colonel arrived to lead Qianye to his residence. Qianye¡¯s assigned lodging was quite close to the area reserved for the aristocracy. The environment was beautiful, secluded, and was entirely free from the ambiance of war. Walking through the gates, Qianye realized that it was an independent courtyard with a high-grade cultivation chamber attached to it. In the military-focused city of Indomitable, this kind of treatment was clearly above that of a brigadier general and almost at the level of a lieutenant general.

    After looking through the courtyard, Qianye asked, ¡°Are you sure this ce is for me?¡±

    ¡°I am. General Qianye has made great contributions, so this kind of treatment is only right and proper. Someone will arrive to adjust the cultivation chamber array for you very soon. You¡¯ll be able to use it by nightfall. Additionally, there¡¯s a manual in your room on Indomitable and its functions. There are also men posted outside of the courtyard, simply call for them if there¡¯s anything you need. I¡¯ll excuse myself now if there¡¯s nothing else.¡±

    After the lieutenant colonel had left, Qianye sat down in front of the window with his eyes closed and began to rest. He wasn¡¯t in a big rush to cultivate at the moment. The most pressing issue was to digest the knowledge he had gained from the river of blood and meditate over histest battle experiences.

    Qianye had a strong suspicion in his heart that the demonkin count was deeply affected by the river of blood. Thetter was so apprehensive that his reactions had slowed down significantly, allowing Qianye to kill him in one move. Otherwise, he would have to use all of his trump cards, including the Shot of Inception, in order to finish off the opponent.

    Qianye was bewildered about something. If the River of Blood could intimidate the demonkin like so, how had this race with no evident advantage in manpower or top-experts managed to suppress the vampires and upy the top position in the Evernight world?

    From the two times he hade into contact with the River of Blood, he could tell that the vampire race would exist as long as the River of Blood remained. Hereiny the problem¡ªwhat exactly was the River of Blood? Just where was it? How was it guiding the vampires and their inheritances? Why was the gap between the present-day vampire ranks and the ancient ones sorge?

    No one could give him an answer to these questions. Perhaps Nighteye might be able to, but Qianye didn¡¯t want to remind her of the past or arouse any memories rted to the vampire race. It would be for the best if she could live on in the empire as a peaceful, ordinarydy.

    The reason Qianye was fighting so hard was because he wanted to use his contributions to build a safe harbor for her. Status, power, ranks¡ªthese things weren¡¯t important at all for Qianye. However, he would fight for them if they could ensure him a peaceful life.

    At the thought of Nighteye, Qianye¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but skip a bit. He spread out a sheet of paper in a bid to write a letter to her, but he didn¡¯t really know what to say after picking up the pen. The paper was by no means big, but it seemed impossible to fill no matter how many words he spoke.

    Qianye picked up the pen and dropped it again countless times, but couldn¡¯t leave a single word on the paper. At this moment, the thin pen felt countless times heavier than East Peak, and even holding it was quite exhausting.

    After a fair period of torment, Qianye clenched his teeth and emptied his mind. He decided he would write anything that came to mind.

    ¡°The battle is finally over, and I can take a short break. Life here is fairly simple with almost no changes day to day. But the ce I¡¯m staying right now is quite nice. There¡¯s a pond of clear water under the bright sunlight. I should bring you here to see.¡±

    He could no longer stop once he had begun, and very soon, he had unknowingly filled seven to eight sheets of paper with his correspondence. Only after using up all the paper did Qianye realize he had written too much. There was no mention of the war in the letter; only the little day-to-day matters and things he had heard or seen.

    Qianye folded the thick stack of letters and barely managed to stuff it into the envelope. Then, he rang the bell beneath the table and summoned an orderly to deliver the letter.

    A tall, elegant female lieutenant entered the room. Seeing the envelope that was close to bursting at the seams, she was first surprised and then broke into an audible chuckle.

    Qianye said in a slightly awkward manner, ¡°This¡­ I¡¯ll trouble you to deliver this. It¡¯s a bit heavy.¡±

    The lieutenant suppressed her giggle as she made to receive the envelope from Qianye¡¯s hands. Looking at Qianye¡¯s odd expression, she couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°General!¡±

    Qianye replied vacantly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°You need to let go!¡±

    Only then did Qianye realize that he had been grabbing onto the envelope. Without him letting go, even several champions wouldn¡¯t be able to pry the letter away from him, to say nothing of a lieutenant.

    Qianye released his grip hurriedly. The short moment of fluster caused thedy to giggle endlessly.

    The lieutenant raised the letter in her hands and said, ¡°General, please rest assured. I¡¯ll definitely have it delivered safely.¡±

    Qianye nodded and watched as she left through the door. After closing the door, he let out a long sigh and realized he was drenched in sweat.

    This was his first letter to Nighteye. From picking up the pen to having it sent, the entire process was rather difficult. It was even more arduous than killing a virtuous count, and perhaps even as tiring as killing a marquis.

    After taking the effort to calm down the irregr beating of his blood core, Qianye suddenly recalled that the female officer from just now was too powerful for a lieutenant. But after some thought, he couldn¡¯t quite recall how high her cultivation was. Was it rank three, six, or possibly even rank-eight?

    After this thought, Qianye found, to his surprise, that he actually hadn¡¯t seen through her strength¡ªthis wasn¡¯t normal at all. As the owner of the Eye of Truth, Qianye¡¯s eyesight wasn¡¯t something ordinary people couldpare to, even when he wasn¡¯t channeling its powers. Being able to escape Qianye¡¯s perception meant that this female officer possessed secret arts superior to the core scions of a superior aristocratic family.

    But Qianye felt more relieved after further thought. This was Indomitable, the core of the Zhao n¡¯s forces, and also the empire¡¯s final base of operations on the floating continent. It was only natural for the Zhao n to have hidden agents distributed among the personnel. This female officer must be such an agent who had been transferred in from some other ce. With how big the Zhao n was, it was normal for Qianye not to know her.

    After walking out of the courtyard, that lieutenant was greeted by a man dressed in imperial uniform but without any n insignias.

    She passed the letter in her hand to the man and said, ¡°Deliver this letter to the intended address. Do this personally and without fail.¡±

    The person performed a salutation. ¡°Understood, I will handle it appropriately.¡±

    Thedy nodded. ¡°Be on your way then, don¡¯t dy.¡±

    That man stepped back and vanished in the blink of an eye. His movement arts were as eerie as they were agile. Despite his strength, he was iparably respectful toward the female officer and actually didn¡¯t dare turn around in front of her.

    This champion¡¯s strength was outstanding, but thedy didn¡¯t put him in her eyes at all and merely kept on thinking about her own matters. Soon, she broke into a charming smile, and the distant frost on her face came melting down. ¡°He¡¯s so different from what the documents say! He¡¯s so dumb, it¡¯s cute!¡±

    The dark race main army paused its chase after the vanguard forces suffered a major setback. At this moment, the Zhang n army had already reached the Zhao nnds. The enemy could no longer catch up even if they wanted to. The dark army had sustained this pursuit for over a long distance with neither rest nor reorganization¡ªno race, no matter how strong, could handle such exhaustion. Naturally, they didn¡¯t want to run into the Zhao n¡¯s long-entrenched fortifications. Hence, they simply pulled back from the barren region and began regrouping their forces. Their next arrival would be an all-out battle with the Zhao n.

    This gave the Zhao n''s defensive region a rare period of calmness. The floating continent also saw a short respite from the ongoing mes of war.

    At this moment, the Zhao n¡¯s defensive region was the empire¡¯s only intact warzone. Half of the Song n¡¯s Full Moon ins had been upied, and the Li n was struggling to hold onto the Misty Wood. Presently, Eden had already be everyone¡¯s nightmare. His aplishments amounted to half of all human losses in the Misty Wood. Anybat squad running into him, no matter from which family it was, was bound to suffer a disaster.

    Since the imperial aristocratic families were formingbat squads, Eden¡ªas the scion of a famed demonkin n¡ªwasn¡¯tcking in subordinates, either. He now led a group of close to a hundred elite soldiers in the Misty Wood. Not to mention his absolute visual range advantage, he could even take out isted aristocraticbat squads in head-to-headbat. He was individually powerful and backed by a famed n. There was nothing the Li n could do against this kind of near-wless existence.

    Only at this point did the people from the Li n remember the advantages of having Qianye around. The others were able to enjoy an easy hunt because Qianye had been keeping that demonkin busy.

    Perhaps the most distressed person in the entire base was Elder Li Tianquan.

    Casualty rates among the aristocracy were rising by the day, so much so that some of the forces were wavering about whether or not they should continue this fight. No matter how bountiful the Li family¡¯s rewards were, there was no point if the elites of their respective families were all dead. As for the Storm Pearl, it was indeed a priceless treasure, but there was only one in each phase. Only the few families at the top of the pyramid stood any chance. There was only one person like Qianye, and even then, it waster revealed that he had the support of the Zhao n.

    As such, many aristocratic familybat squads began considering a retreat. This wasn¡¯t less rming to Li Tianquan than a bolt of lighting out of the blue. He was privy to the core secrets of the family and understood what these aristocratic families, who hade for their leaderboard, meant to them. Without these forces holding the fort, how could the Li n defend such arge warzone on their own?

    Once they had lost the warzone, the Li family would have no choice but to retreat to the Zhao n warzone like the Zhang and Bai ns. On one hand, it was expected for guests to follow the wishes of the host. On the other hand, the Zhao n¡¯s fighting power wasrgely intact, and it would be all too easy for them to deal with these routed aristocratic forces. Hence, all the aristocratic families would look to the Zhao n to lead.

    The others were fine, but the Li family had fallen out with the Zhao n during the fight for the empress¡¯ position. Handing control over to the Zhao n was thest thing they wanted to do. Moreover, whether or not they could hold the Misty Wood was rted to a hundred years of their Li n¡¯s prosperity and decline. If they could defend it until the end, the Li n would be an aristocratic family that had managed to protect every inch of theirnd, just like the Zhao. This also meant that they would be second, if not first, in terms of contribution and rewards. At that point, they would have reached the threshold of a major n.

    If the Misty Wood was lost, Li Tianquan¡¯s elder position woulde to a definite end, regardless of the family¡¯s future.

 Volume 6 - 665: Reading Until Dawn

    [V6C195 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Thus, Eden¡¯s existence caused a much greater headache for Li Tianquan than for any other aristocratic family. It could be said that the contribution rankings would soon scatter in the winds if this scourge wasn¡¯t removed. Even if they could hold out with the Storm Pearl for now, they wouldn¡¯t be able to reach the very end.

    The true reason the Li family had brought out two Storm Pearls was to attract imperial experts to fight for them. The Li family¡¯s current lineup wasn¡¯t enough to cover a battlefield asrge as the Misty Wood.

    Two Storm Pearls was nothing if they could obtain the Misty Wood. What treasure couldpare to the family¡¯s chance at being promoted to a major n?

    This was the Li family¡¯s hundred-year n. Li Tianquan would be condemned throughout history if things were ruined by his hands. Moreover, there was no telling when things would go south. Even now, there were already people secretly moving to impeach him.

    He had never imagined that such a good battle situation would be ruined by a single Eden. But what could he do? Li Tianquan knew his own abilities¡ªeven if he took the field personally, it would probably end with him being killed by Eden.

    Eden¡¯s advantage in the Misty Wood was simply too great. The aristocratic families had proven this fact with a mountain of corpses. Eden¡¯s vision in the forest was at least four to five hundred meters, a range sufficient to throw everyone into despair.

    The more he felt distressed about Eden, the more he hated Qianye. How could things have deteriorated to such a state if thetter were still here to confront Eden?

    At the thought of this, Li Tianquan couldn¡¯t help but curse, ¡°Little animal who can¡¯t see the bigger picture!¡± Then, he threw the teapot in his hand to the floor.

    A maid entered silently, cleaned the room, and left just as quietly. Recently, Li Tianquan would smash a couple of teapots each day, and almost everyone around him had gotten used to it.

    Li Tianquan¡¯s mood improved quite a bit after smashing a teapot. He had switched to using cheaper teapots now so that he wouldn¡¯t feel a heartache every time.

    But of course, the problem remained unsolved despite the destruction of chinaware. Regarding the release of the Storm Pearl, he was going to confiscate Qianye¡¯s reward at first. That would save him the trouble of modifying the leaderboards. The reason he had prepared was that Qianye had left the warzone in advance.

    This reasoning was somewhat forced because Qianye had only left a few days ahead of time. Besides, even if he did leave early, his position on the ranking couldn''t be broken. Those ranked below him risked life and limb during thest week and fought with everything they had. However, none of them managed to shake Qianye¡¯s ce.

    This also meant that the results were the same even if Qianye allowed them to run free for an extra week. One had to remember that Qianye was fighting with Eden during the earlier phases.

    Although there were many people with the same thought, there was also a substantial number of people who were against him. These people were clear that the current Li n couldn¡¯t even deal with Eden¡ªhow were they going to handle Qianye?

    Just as the arguments were at their peak, Zhao Jundu suddenly sent word to the Li n: ¡°If you don¡¯t cough up the Storm Pearl, I¡¯lle and get it with my army!¡±

    These words left not the slightest leeway nor face for the Li family. The Li family from top to bottom was in turmoil. Zhao Jundu was merely a kid in the eyes of many elders¡ªhow dare he act so arrogant? How could his words represent the Zhao n? Some people immediately cried out, ¡°We¡¯re the empress¡¯ n, why must we fear a fight with the Zhao?¡±

    In truth, even Li Tianquan looked down upon those who shouted the loudest. If a battle were to break out, these people would be among the first to run. Not to mention other things, how many of them had actually joined the battlefield after all this time on the floating continent?

    At this moment, the Li family lord suddenly announced that the Storm Pearl must be handed to Qianye without dy. Moreover, he had used his yearly veto-power to bypass the elder assembly and finalize this order.

    Criticisms immediately echoed throughout the family. Many old fellows cried bitterly and banged their heads on the wall to express their shame for the n lord¡¯s decision.

    As expected, the noisiest ones were the ones who had never fought. Most of the people who had been in the Misty Wood kept their silence because only they knew the meaning behind those cold numbers depicting Qianye¡¯s contribution points. It wasn¡¯t just his unfathomablebat strength¡ªit implied just how many imperial lives were preserved because of him.

    Before long, however, Zhao Jundu fought that earth-shattering battle and Zhang Boqian¡¯s evaluation of him was spread throughout the empire. The Li family¡¯s criticisms all disappeared, and all those who had been crying and cursing out loud seemed to have forgotten about all that they had done.

    Li Tianquan had another problem on his hands. He had once announced that he would add Stillwater Rebirth to Qianye¡¯s prize if he could take first ce on the rankings. This matter caused a huge ruckus, so everyone knew about it. Li Tianquan really couldn¡¯t renege on his words right now.

    But the problem was, where was he going to find a Stillwater Rebirth?

    A divine life-saving medicine like Stillwater Rebirth was naturally priceless during times of war. The Li family¡¯s current stock already had owners to them, and even the ones under production had been reserved. How could there be any extra portions for Li Tianquan to gamble?

    The only way Li Tianquan could think of right now was topensate Qianye with something of equal value. However, even his entire family¡¯s fortune wasn¡¯t enough for a Stillwater Rebirth.

    This worry was enough for him to smash a dozen more teapots.

    Compared to the floating continent, the chaos of the Evernight Continent felt like a holynd. It was so calm that one would hardly be able to adapt.

    It was afternoon, the sunniest time of the day on Evernight Continent. Nighteye was in the courtyard reading a book when her brows suddenly creased together. She nced at the gates.

    A light knock came from the door at that moment. The rhythmic tap was neither too fast nor too slow, and merely maintained a constant frequency.

    After some thought, Nighteye got up to open the doors. There, she saw a man in his thirties, d in an imperial military uniform devoid of military ranks or insignia. Nighteye had never seen him before, but unrted personnel weren¡¯t allowed in the Dark me Headquarters.

    This man looked calm on the surface, but he was like a raging volcano inside. His origin power surged wildly, and his gaze was practically overflowing with killing intent.

    A single meeting told Nighteye he was someone who had walked through seas of blood and mountains of corpses, the most dangerous kind of person. Moreover, she couldn¡¯t see through this man¡¯s strength at all, only that he was a champion. Nighteye¡¯s eye ability leaned toward ughter and was a bit different from Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth that could see through the world. Hers was somewhatcking in the perception department.

    But Nighteye was dazed for only a moment. She immediately said with a smile, ¡°Do you need anything?¡±

    The man was also startled upon seeing Nighteye, almost as though he hadn¡¯t expected to see this ordinary looking girl with no origin power. He asked in uncertainty, ¡°Is this General Qianye¡¯s residence?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is. But Qianye isn¡¯t home.¡±

    The man sighed in relief. ¡°That¡¯s great, Ie bearing a letter from General Qianye.¡±

    With that, he very carefully produced Qianye¡¯s letter from his pocket. He seemed afraid of causing even the slightest damage to it.

    After receiving the letter, Nighteye smiled upon recognizing Qianye¡¯s writing on the envelope. ¡°It¡¯s written by Qianye, thank you! Do you want to sit for a while?¡±

    The man exhaled. ¡°No, thank you. I must report back.¡±

    With that, he bowed deeply at Nighteye and left. In the blink of an eye, he had made a turn around the corner and vanished.

    Nanhua arrived hurriedly at that moment, brushing past that man along the way. She actually shivered as though she had sensed something, but by the time she hade to, the man had already disappeared.

    Nanhua stood at the courtyard gates and asked, ¡°Did that mane to see you?¡±

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°Qianye wrote me a letter, and that man brought it to me.¡±

    ¡°Delivering a letter!? Such a person delivering a letter? This¡­ isn¡¯t this too extravagant?!¡± Nanhua found it unbelievable. She felt that the man¡¯s strength was as deep and unfathomable as the ocean.

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°I don¡¯t know. The letter was written by Qianye, and that¡¯s enough for me.¡±

    Nanhua said, ¡°Qianye¡¯s writing? That bastard finally writes you a letter. How many months has it been!?¡±

    Nighteye smiled faintly. ¡°The battles over there must¡¯vee to a pause. He won¡¯t be telling me all this if he¡¯s busy fighting every day.¡±

    Nanhua sighed lightly. ¡°He¡¯s afraid you¡¯ll be worried about him? How blissful!¡±

    Nighteye epted these words with a calm nod.

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t disturb you anymore. You take your time reading the letter. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen one that thick.¡± Nanhua left with a chuckle.

    Nighteye returned to her room, opened the letter, and began reading through it in detail.

    The letter was about the special ces Qianye had visited recently. After describing the ce in detail, he would always add ¡°I should bring you here to see¡±. Perhaps he himself hadn¡¯t noticed it, but these words were the most repeated in the entire letter.

    The letter was like a stack of clumsy travel notes. It sounded like his footsteps had covered every corner of the floating continent, and that he wanted to bring her to see all the pause-worthy ces.

    Just like that, she kept on reading and reading, revealing a knowing smile from time to time. She read until the sun had set, thenterns were lit, the stars filled the sky, and up until the first rays of dawn broke through the horizon.

    By the time the light dawn washed over the Evernight Continent, that man had returned to the floating continent and was standing before the mysterious woman. ¡°I managed not to disgrace yourmand.¡±

    He was looking quite miserable at this moment¡ªhis uniform was torn in many ces, and there was an evident scratch mark on his face. Clearly, traveling back and forth between the voidndmass and Evernight continent was extremely arduous.

    As though she hadn¡¯t seen his condition, the female lieutenant merely nodded and said, ¡°You may leave.¡±

    The man bowed respectfully, exited the room, and locked the doors behind him. He didn¡¯t leave immediately and, instead, stared vacantly at the closed doors. Only after a long while did he breathe a long sigh and vanish into the darkness.

    This door had never opened for him, and it never would.

    Inside the room, thedy sat silently before a thick stack of documents. It was a mystery what she was thinking. The information in front of her was only rted to two people: Qianye and Li Kuann.

    Her finger brushed over Li Kuann¡¯s name as she whispered, ¡°I¡¯ve returned. Come fight me again, let me see how you¡¯ll win this time.¡±

 Volume 6 - 666: Wait For my Arrival

    [V6C196 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    In the depths of the void, a magnificent vampire warship warped silently away, heading toward the barely discernible floating continent in the distance.

    In front of the cabin windows stood a thin man. He was tightly wrapped in a beautiful ck robe, almost as though he was afraid of the chill. A dozen or so vampires of extraordinary bearing stood in hispany. They wore, on their cors, insignias depicting a snake coiling around a golden rose. This was the emblem of the number one vampire n, the Perth n, and also the symbol of the Queen of the Night.

    One among them was as stout as a steel tower. This vampire of extraordinary build took a step forward and said, ¡°Holy Son, we¡¯ll be arriving at the floating continent soon¡­ but are we really going against the Evernight Council¡¯s orders?¡±

    The man at the window turned about slowly, revealing his deathly pale countenance and the sanguineous mes burning in the depths of his sunken eyes. Judging from his facial features and frame, he was very likely the vampire Holy Son, Edward. Compared to the past, however, he had be evidently emaciated and was nothing more than skin and bones right now. Moreover, he was trembling uncontrobly.

    Even though Edward looked frail enough to be blown down by the wind, a sh of bloody lightning seemed to flicker through the void when he turned about. Many of the vampires took an involuntary step back and only the strongest ones could barely remain in ce.

    ¡°Ignore those old fools. They¡¯ve lived for far too long, and they no longer have any guts.¡± Edward¡¯s voice was hoarse and grating to the ears.

    That burly man said, ¡°But you¡¯re still undergoing punishment. You won¡¯t be able to exert your full strength.¡±

    Edward let out a hoarseugh. ¡°Zhao Jundu¡¯s cultivation is weaker than me to begin with. In my current state, we can be considered barely equal. If I don¡¯t even have the courage to fight a weak human on equal grounds, how can we be considered a sacred race? How can I be considered a Holy Son?¡±

    The vampire race¡¯s pride and aloofness were notorious throughout Evernight. After hearing these words, all the vampire experts at the scene saw their eyes turn a bloody color and almost entered a state of bloodboil.

    ¡°Eh?¡± One of the vampires pointed outside the window and eximed, ¡°W-What is that?!¡±

    In the direction he was pointing at, there was a warship so slender that it looked like a willow leaf. Its silhouette was elegant despite theck of ornaments. It traversed the void in utter silence. If it wasn¡¯t for everyone being experts here, they might¡¯ve thought the airship wasn¡¯t moving at all.

    This specter-like airship would flicker asionally, shifting its bearing every time it did so and moving a set distance forward. A short distance one could see in the void was actually rather far. The important part was that this airship''s peculiar movement reminded all the vampires of a certain legend gathering dust in their memories.

    ¡°Could it be¡­ that airship?¡± The viscount¡¯s voice was trembling.

    No one made fun of him because even the Holy Son Edward found his breathingbored.

    A certain count broke the silenceter on. He said slowly, ¡°There¡¯s only one airship that moves in this manner, and that airship¡¯s owner has never changed before.¡±

    Edward finally spoke, his voice tinged with undisguisable bitterness. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the Demoness from the Masefield n.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it rumored that she¡¯s been slumbering in the depths of the void?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the other legend. It has been said that her awakening means she¡¯s broken through the demonkin¡¯s sky gate.¡±

    These words silenced the entire ship.

    Those capable of standing here were the core powers of the vampire race and were privy to many secrets unbeknownst to outsiders. They were also aware of what the sky gate, the final bottleneck of the demonkin, signified.

    At this time, there was a simr thought going back and forth through their hearts. Could it be that, after a thousand years, the demonkin race was about to produce a new great dark monarch? Even though this great monarch was a thing of the distant future, it was enough to topple the Evernight Council¡¯s power distribution.

    Besides, the Demoness had always been shrouded in legends. It wasn¡¯t entirely impossible for her to add a seat to the highest echelons of the council. Such a possibility, no matter how small, was enough to shake the entire world of Evernight.

    That was because it could produce a fundamental subversion in the council¡¯s thousand-year-old lineup.

    Regarding her legends, no one had doubted that she would awaken in the end, but no one expected it to happen so quickly, either!

    The period from the beginning of the rumors to her awakening was less than a decade. Ten years was only a brief moment in the long lives of the dark races.

    An invisible gaze was projected at them from the distant airship. In that split second, all the vampires felt as though an icy wave had washed over them. Even their blood cores froze for a moment.

    Edward was, after all, the Holy Son of the vampire race¡ªhe suddenly erupted into a mist of purple blood which enveloped all the vampires and resisted the invisible tide. However, his blood energy fluctuated violently and its color quickly dimmed down. Apparently, he was quickly being drained and wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out for very long.

    Fortunately, the icy tide left just as quickly as it had arrived. It vanished in the blink of an eye without leaving the slightest of traces. Only the pale faces and trembling bodies of the vampires remained as proof of its existence.

    Edward recovered his humanoid form and stood in silence, his expression extremely solemn.

    An unyielding viscount said in anger, ¡°Unforgivable! She actually attacked us for no good reason. Your Majesty, let me take the warship and fight it out with her. You go back first and avenge me after your penalty is over!¡±

    Everyone echoed his sentiments, determined to fight to the death. That sudden attack just now was quite shameful for them. As members of the number one Perth n, how could they endure such humiliation?

    They couldn¡¯t allow the Queen of the Night¡¯s prestige to fall below that of the Demonkin.

    However, Edward wasn¡¯t angered; on the contrary, he only gazed out of the window in a daze. He only sighed momentster. ¡°That wasn¡¯t an attack, she only shot us a nce.¡±

    A ¡°nce¡±?

    All the vampire experts were speechless. This was a level they simply couldn¡¯t touch. Even the fiercest of them no longer dared to mention a fight to the death.

    Fighting to the death and throwing away one¡¯s life were two different things. They didn¡¯t even have the right to fight a proper battle against her.

    Edward shook his head. ¡°Her strength isn¡¯t as great as you think. It¡¯s just that¡­ let it be, you lot won¡¯t understand anyway.¡±

    There weren''t any ordinary people among those standing here. They all understood the meaning in Edward¡¯sment. Regarding the person on that faraway spectral ship, the weaker she currently was, the more terrifying she would be.

    The spectral ship kept moving along its original trajectory toward the floating continent.

    The interior of the warship was filled with primal chaos. Intense darkness suffused the entire area, shrouding everything in sable. The ck hue wasn¡¯t an illusion, either¡ªit was a genuine existence formed of extremely pure darkness origin power.

    The entire airship interior was filled with darkness origin power.

    A sudden mechanical voice rang out therein, ¡°Young Miss, the vampire race Holy Son, Edward, is on your list. Do you want to go and fight him?¡±

    A shadow emerged from the depths of the darkness, rather hazy and seemingly condensed from darkness origin power. However, the vague outline of her silhouette was enough to make people feel parched.

    She moved as though she were levitating and slowlynded in front of the cabin windows. ¡°Edward is suffering from a blood ignition penalty, not worth our time at all. That ce is where I must go.¡±

    Her fingers pointed to the void continent.

    The voice conversing with her was mechanical yet gentle and warm. ¡°What exactly is there?¡±

    ¡°The future heavenly monarch of the human race. It¡¯s worth taking a look even if the humans are just blowing their own trumpets, right? Their race rarely talks big.¡± She remained silent for a while and said, ¡°Additionally, I have a feeling that my true, destined nemesis is there.¡±

    ¡°How surprising, are you referring to that future heavenly monarch?¡±

    ¡°Maybe yes, maybe not.¡±

    This was the first time since her awakening that she couldn¡¯t confirm something rted to her.

    Just like that, the spectral ship flickered on toward the floating continent.

    ¡­

    The members on duty had all arrived at the great hall of the Evernight Council. Those who couldn¡¯te were represented by projections. The meeting today was exceptionally important, and there was only one topic¡ªthe possibility of a sixth human heavenly monarch.

    The dozens of top characters from Evernight were discussing this matter. A storm of origin power swept through the hall as countless powerful intents conversed in the darkness. They couldn¡¯t be med for their loss ofposure because everything that had happened recently was simply too shocking.

    Thest time humans enjoyed such glory, the Great Qin Empire was born. Even with one less heavenly monarch, it would be the seconding of the Martial Ancestor if one of the six proved himself an outstanding character. Although the Pointer Monarch was the strongest human expert in name, he was gradually aging and had no hope of advancement.

    Originally, Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t powerful enough to enter the sight of these Evernight bigshots. However, his performance throughout this period was simply too perfect. He had managed toy low whenever he should and take action wherever it was warranted. At a nce, it looked like his actions then would affect his future foundations, but if he didn¡¯t even dare do battle at such a critical juncture, what was the use of all that pure origin power?

    That which Zhao Jundu had disyed was true perfection; even his breadth of mind was just as impressive.

    It was harder to evaluate such a person. The Evernight bigshots argued back and forth but found themselves unable to reach a conclusion regarding Zhao Jundu¡¯s future prospects. Would he barely reach the heavenly monarch stage? Was he destined to surpass Zhang Boqian? Or would he fail to advance altogether?

    There was no clear verdict since every theory had its own merits and supporters. Gradually, a certain voice, likely belonging to a duke-level expert, started to gain ground. That was to forcibly kill Zhao Jundu and effectively nip the danger at its bud. Most supporters of this n were those who believed Zhao Jundu¡¯s aplishments wouldn¡¯t be inferior to Zhang Boqian.

    There were also those who opposed this. The empire was vast, its citizens were as abundant as sand, and geniuses kept popping up from everyyer of society. How were they going to kill them every day?

    Just as the arguments were at their peak, a cold voice suddenly rang out amongst them, ¡°Have you not considered the possibility of Lin Xitang bing a heavenly monarch?¡±

    These words silenced the entire hall.

 Volume 6 - 667: Dark Currents

    [V6C197 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Everyone looked toward this voice and saw the newly ascended prince¡ªthe one who had ignited a seal in the River of Blood¡ªHabsburg of the ming Crown.

    His position in the council had risen by leaps and bounds after igniting the seal. However, he spoke so rarely that people had almost forgotten his existence.

    But he had actually spoken such astonishing words during the meeting. Many people knew that Habsburg had dealings with Lin Xitang before. They immediately began wondering whether he knew something.

    At the level of a council member, no one would speak lies so easily. In addition to strength, reputation was also something valued by the true bigshots.

    A white-haired elder spoke only after a while, ¡°We indeed cannot exclude such a possibility, but we need to verify it.¡±

    Everyone fell into silence at this point. Verify? How were they to verify this?

    In the recent twenty years, the empire¡¯s Twin Paragons had always been at the forefront of the factional conflict. Since Lin Xitang¡¯s rise to fame, the Evernight Council had lost count of how many times they had suffered in the man¡¯s hands. Be it in terms of scheming, war, or divination, countless characters from the council had taken the field but failed to gain an advantage.

    Comparatively, they were more willing to fight Zhang Boqian. One could still fight a satisfying battle against Prince Greensun, but it was hard to fight against Lin Xitang even if they wanted to¡ªthey would always suffer losses for baffling reasons.

    This was the most distressing point for the council members. If they had gone to verify whether or not he had ascended to the heavenly monarch rank, it was more than likely that they would be tricked instead. The odds favored them suffering a loss instead of obtaining key information.

    At the thought of this, many eyes fell upon Habsburg. This matter was his suggestion, so it was expected for him to handle it. However, Habsburg of the ming Crown sat entirely still with no intention of epting this mission. It was as though someone else had spoken those words just now.

    The Arachne Warlord Noxus, who was presiding over the meeting, knocked on the table after a moment of inexplicable silence. ¡°We shall return to the original topic, do we need to carry out preventive measures regarding Zhao Jundu?¡±

    Heated debates arose once more, with one group insisting that they couldn¡¯t allow the humans to do as they wished, while the other arguing that the dignity of the council¡¯s bigshots had to be maintained. Attempting to assassinate a young genius was simply too low a move; was the Evernight Council so afraid of the empire? Even if the humans really produced another Martial Ancestor, the council¡¯s three dictators were enough to suppress him.

    As the arguments reached the fiercest point, someone sneered, ¡°We¡¯re arguing back and forth here, but it looks like those little fellows can no longer sit still. Quite a few of them should¡¯ve run off to the floating continent, right?¡±

    ChapterMid();

    ¡°There are indeed seven or eight of them headed there, likely to challenge Zhao Jundu.¡±

    At this moment, an arachne duke sneered at the demonkin grand duke sitting across from him. ¡°To challenge Zhao Jundu? That¡¯s not all, is it? The Demoness of your race suddenly awakened at such a time. What exactly does that mean? I thought I heard that the void was her home ground.¡±

    The families who had juniors headed to the void continent became apprehensive. Their thoughts turned about quickly¡ªthey began contacting their subordinates outside of the council, seeking to confirm news of their juniors.

    The major races within the Evernight faction had been in conflict for over ten thousand years; it could be said that nothing was going too far for them. The Masefield Demoness¡¯ advantage in the void was matchless, and even stronger experts would usually lose to her there. If she were to hide in the void and ambush some of the young experts who were on their way to the void continent, she could bring about a generational death for their families. Those who dared to challenge Zhao Jundu at this point were the most prominent geniuses of the Evernight faction¡¯s younger generation. If they were killed, there might not be any other opponent for her for the next couple of decades.

    This wasn¡¯t a blind guess. The demonkin race¡¯s intention to control the Evernight world had been growing increasingly evident in recent centuries. It was just that the enmity between the races was simply too deep for any chance at cooperation. For instance, the werewolves and vampires would never work together against the demonkin. The vampires and the arachne looked harmonious, but things weren¡¯t as simple as they looked on the surface. There were all kinds of battles going on behind the scenes, each attempting to bring the other party down a notch. All of them were hoping to take second ce first before challenging the first.

    The Masefield grand dukeughed in the face of the arachne¡¯s criticism. ¡°We really don¡¯t need to scheme in order to kill the two spiderlings from your family.¡±

    The arachne duke was furious. He shot up from his seat and shouted, ¡°Does that mean you really intend to attack?¡±

    The demonkin wasn¡¯t shaken by this. ¡°I¡¯m not sure about other things, but I do know that your little spiders aren¡¯t worth her time.¡±

    This was undisguised disdain. Apparently, he didn¡¯t even view these arachne scions as worthwhile opponents¡ªtheycked even the qualifications to be potential rivals. The arachne duke secretly sighed in relief because his two descendants indeedcked the ability to fight back against the Masefield Demoness. Judging from the pride the demonkin had formed over ten thousand years, they certainly wouldn¡¯t attack the arachne scions after saying so.

    The debates continued from dawn until dusk but no consensus was reached. None of the races were willing to give in regarding such important matters. It wasn¡¯t umon for the arguments to go on for several days.

    There was nervousness amidst the tranquility in Indomitable. Airships came and went every day, moving vast amounts of resources and troops into the stronghold. The Zhang n had imed its territory in the inner circle of the city and started building dedicated fortresses outside. Soon, the other aristocratic families followed suit¡ªthey tacitly acknowledged the Zhao n¡¯s leading position as they began constructing all kinds of facilities nearby. Even the Li family had picked an area inside the city to construct a courtyard. It was just that they didn¡¯t build independent fortresses outside the city, a firm disy of their determination to hold the Misty Wood.

    Indomitable was transforming with each passing day as the fortifications outside of the city rose steadily. All the families made steep investments, utilizingrge numbers of airships and even mobilizing experts for the construction project. At this rate, a new cluster of fortresses would appear in a matter of days.

    The inner region of Indomitable was rtively quiet. This was where the highest ranking officers and aristocracy lived, and the facilities here had long since been constructed.

    Early in the night, Qianye entered the cultivation chamber as usual and activated the origin array, prepared to begin his cultivation for the day.

    Before long, the room was suffused with white mist that almost dripped on one¡¯s hands. This wasn¡¯t steam but the daybreak origin power condensed by the array. The aggregation of origin power on the void continent was much quicker than on the main continents. However, the energy here was contaminated with a fair amount of void origin power¡ªit couldn¡¯t be absorbed directly and had to be refined via special arrays.

    Such a refinement array was fairly expensive and only avable for a handful of important people. If Qianye¡¯s treatment was still at the brigadier general grade, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use this chamber at all.

    After taking his seat in the chamber, Qianye began circting the Profound Combatant Form. It had been several months since he had the time to cultivate at ease. He could supply his origin power requirements with tree sap back in the Misty Wood, but his daybreak origin power cultivation had stagnated after leaving it.

    Just like the days prior, an origin vortex would gradually form and expand as he circted the Profound Combatant Form. The suction force produced therein would draw upon the origin power in the vicinity. Within the cultivation chamber, the mist formed of daybreak origin power started to spin and was gradually absorbed into his body.

    Momentster, the white mist in the chamber grew sparse as the newly formed origin power was continuously absorbed into his body. It wasn¡¯t enough for use at all.

    At this moment, a colonel in the control room shot up from his seat and eximed, ¡°Why is it like this again?¡±

    All eyes moved instantly toward him.

    On the projection in front of him was a simplified diagram of the entire inner city. There were close to a hundred light spots, each one representing an origin array. This number was the result of many years of umtion since even the Zhao n could only produce a number of them each year. A small number of them were provided by the imperial n and other aristocratic families. Since they were a precious strategic resource, the Zhao n had included supplementary arrays during their instation to measure their condition at all times.

    At the moment, most of the nodes on the projection were blue, indicating that they were normal. A small number of them were different shades of yellow which indicated that these arrays were converting origin power at close to full capacity. However, there was one node that was bright red and flickering continuously¡ªthis signified that the origin array was overloaded and might suffer damage.

    All the officers in the room crowded over after seeing this. ¡°How can this be? Just how many people did they stuff inside?¡±

    All origin arrays had an upper limit to their operation, but they should have no problem serving an expert at the rank of lieutenant general or even higher. Only those close to or at the divine champion level could cause them to be overloaded. However, experts at that level were all major characters. They usually possessed their own cultivation facilities and weren¡¯t likely to use these cultivation chambers.

    Apart from Duke You Zhao Xuanji, there weren¡¯t any divine champion level experts either in this area. Duke You¡¯s residence wouldn¡¯t be on the surveince grid, either. Then, who was this person? Who was actually pushing the highest-grade origin array to its limits?

    The greatest possibility was that some people were secretly sharing this cultivation chamber meant for a single expert above the lieutenant general rank. This was a fairly serious crime because even middle and lower ranking aristocratic families couldn¡¯t afford the price of a single array.

    In the face of his colleague¡¯s guess, the colonel responded helplessly, ¡°I¡¯ve sent people to check a couple of days ago. There¡¯s only one person in there.¡±

    ¡°A single person?!¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?¡±

    ¡°Could that person havee over secretly? Why did we not receive any news?¡±

    Gasps of astonishment rose and fell in the room. As this was the core region of the Zhao n, it would be a serious matter if any divine champion level expert were to sneak inside.

    Someone asked amidst the cries of surprise, ¡°Who is this person you speak of?¡±

    The identity of the residents in each courtyard was supposed to be a secret, and most of the officers in the control room didn¡¯t have ess to this information. However, that voice seemed to contain a bizarre power, which forced the colonel to reply subconsciously, ¡°General Qianye from the Fourth Young Master¡¯s residence.¡±

    Trembling, the colonel suddenly woke up after saying this. Leaking secrets was a major crime especially during these important times, one that could lose him his head. He got up quickly and saw a female lieutenant walking away.

    Only after she had left through the door did the colonel remember something. Why was there a lieutenant in the control room?

 Chapter 668: Visitor

    [V6C198 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The colonel looked around and found his colleagues still in heated discussion, but none of them seemed to have noticed the lieutenant. It was as though thisdy had never existed before.

    This eerie incident left the colonel both terrified and bewildered. Momentster, even he himself could no longer ascertain whether or not this mysterious lieutenant had ever appeared before.

    Qianye waspletely ignorant about what had happened at the control center. At this moment, he was focused on circting the Profound Combatant Form and preventing the vortex in his body from its continued expansion. Qianye knew that the origin array buried under the floor was already being overloaded. However, he knew that the array was still a fair distance away from its absolute limit since no origin power flow could escape his True Sight. It looked somewhat dangerous at the moment, but there was no danger of damaging the array at all.

    The real difficultyy in the control of the Profound Combatant Form. The deeper his cultivation, the more he could feel the might of the Profound Combatant Form. This art¡ªderived and perfected by the Martial Ancestor¡ªassumed the form of an ocean vortex, drawing upon the origin power of the heaven and earth. Its tyrannical power was beyond imagination. Once Qianye had cultivated it to a profound level, the culmination of his nine origin vortices would be able to tear open the void and allow him to absorb void origin power.

    Even though Qianye had only condensed two origin vortices, he could drain all the origin power within a hundred meters if he went all out¡ªeven the void origin power would be affected. There were several courtyards within this one hundred meter range, upied by people of no lesser status¡ªthings would be quite problematic if he did that.

    Once Qianye was closer to the divine champion rank, he would drain all of the origin power within a thousand meters. At that point, he might be the only one in an entire fortress who could cultivate.

    Qianye had read through many ssics and also asked Song Zining to collect information¡ªit was confirmed that he was the only one apart from Zhang Boqian who could cultivate the Profound Combatant Form. Naturally, the fewer the people who knew about this secret, the better. As such, Qianye had been controlling the form cautiously and restricting its range within the walls of his courtyard, lest he invites more trouble.

    However, it was fairly difficult to control such a tyrannical form. Qianye was investing his full attention, yet it felt like he was holding up an ocean. He didn¡¯t dare get distracted at all.

    During this subtle moment, some ripples formed on the steadily circting origin vortex. The ripples looked quite small, but they were acting upon an origin vortex capable of tearing through the void. A small deviation could culminate into a major disaster.

    Qianye¡¯s heart shook. He immediately used his full power to stabilize the whirlpool of origin power and barely managed to get through the danger.

    However, the vortex moved again for some reason and formed an ocean spray.

    Once was eptable, but a second episode of the same nature immediately alerted Qianye. He calmly maintained the Profound Combatant Form but secretly activated his True Sight in the process.

    No origin power transformation could hide under his True Sight. Qianye soon noticed a barely discernible wisp of origin power appear and point toward the eye of his origin vortex. This origin power was extremely obscure. Qianye wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if his perception wasn¡¯t several times superior to his peers.

    This origin power possessed peculiar properties. It pulsed in and out of existence as though it were a part of the void. However, there was a terrifying power contained within it, capable of inducing a faint reaction from Qianye¡¯s ocean vortex.

    It almost seemed to be interested in Qianye¡¯s origin vortex, and even circled it a couple of times in a constant attempt to approach it. However, the origin vortex would react whenever this foreign energy closed in, quickly utilizing great power in a bid to crush this unknown origin power. That wisp of origin power would sense the attack every time and run away immediately.

    Qianye maintained the stability of the oceanic origin vortex and contended patiently with that mysterious origin power. Thetter made repeated attempts at probing the heart of the whirlpool.

    But how could Qianye give it that opportunity?

    After the two had circled about for a while, that wisp of origin power gradually grasped the rhythm of his origin vortex and began pushing toward the center. However, this was an intentional opening created by Qianye to draw it deeper. He would then destroy this intruder by fully activating the vortex.

    Just as Qianye was waiting to act, a cold tide arrived from the skies and shot past his body. The arrival of this tide caused the Profound Combatant Form to escape his control entirely, erupting with full force as though it had just encountered a powerful enemy.

    With a loud boom, the roof of Qianye¡¯s cultivation chamber was pulverized and scattered in all directions. The walls crumbled under the terrifying pressure, which expanded rapidly to the main building and even the courtyard fence, crushing everything in its wake.

    In the blink of an eye, a shallow pit several dozen meters in area appeared around Qianye. The courtyard he was in had vanished entirely, and only the cultivation chamber foundations were left intact. The effects weren¡¯t limited to his courtyard alone¡ªthe surrounding ones were also caught in the disaster, with most of them left half-destroyed.

    Themotion was too great. The owners of the surrounding courtyards all flew into the air and were bewildered upon seeing the rubble below.

    That terrifying destructive pressure had appeared suddenly like a raging tsunami and destroyed everything in its path. Even though the people living in the area were all true experts, this void rending power shook them deeply and even made them apprehensive.

    This was the core area of the city, and there were innumerable guards stationed here, both secret and otherwise. In a sh, several Zhao n experts emerged from the darkness and sealed off the scene.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the rubble.

    Two Zhao n experts flew toward Qianye and inquired about the course of events. Their attitude was fairly polite since they had already recognized him. Disregarding his rtionship with the Zhao n, his personal aplishments alone were enough to demand respect. They didn¡¯t dare rush to conclusions.

    At this moment, Qianye had barely managed to curb the explosive power of the Profound Combatant Form. He stood up, looked around at the rubble around him, and said awkwardly, ¡°I seem to have lost control of my origin power during cultivation.¡±

    Everyone at the scene was an expert. They had immediately discerned that the source of the problemy with Qianye. They had, at first, thought that he had lost control while practicing a certain powerfulbat art. After hearing that it was actually his cultivation art that had lost control, everyone¡¯s expression became quite spectacr.

    What kind of cultivation art could go out of control like this? That tempest of origin power just now was quite withdrawn in its power. It seemed to be limited within a couple dozen meters, but in truth, it was really terrifying. The impact was enough to seriously injure a person if he were caught off-guard.

    A force capable of rending the void¡ªwhat did this entail? It wasn¡¯t an issue of how much origin power, but the level it was at. Many lieutenant generals might have deeper origin powerpared to Qianye, but it was impossible for them to tear through the void.

    In the wake of such a terrifying loss of control, it could be considered light if half of one¡¯s bones were fractured. However, they saw Qianye stand up calmly without so much as a wound on his body. This caused everyone to freeze up.

    The major ns enjoyed a thousand years of inheritance, and no one knew just how many secret arts they possessed. Qianye had risen meteorically in recent years, and the only reason he wasn¡¯t so dazzling was because he was somewhat overshadowed by Zhao Jundu¡¯s brilliance. Any other aristocratic family would surely pour all resources at their disposal into nurturing him. Hence, it wasn¡¯t particrly surprising for Qianye to have obtained some secret arts or forms from the n.

    Things seemed more usible at the thought of this. The people¡¯s gazes becameplicated by envy and jealousy. However, to be able to cultivate up to this point, they were all quite aware of their own abilities. Although Qianye¡¯s secret art was peerless in might, one could tell at a nce that it wasn¡¯t something just anyone could cultivate. If they were to train in it, they might be crushed to a pulp before achieving anything.

    The Zhao n experts searched through the rubble and found that the cultivation array under the chamber was fortunately intact. The arrays in the neighboring courtyards weren¡¯t affected, either. These arrays made for aggregating and refining origin power were the most valuable assets. Comparatively, the courtyard buildings weren¡¯t even worth mentioning.

    Thus, the incident passed by just like that. Someone led Qianye to a different courtyard which would be his new residence. The other experts with damaged courtyards couldn¡¯t enjoy this kind of preferential treatment. All they could do was live somewhere else until their residences had been repaired. They didn¡¯tin, though, since Zhao Jundu had already spoken of this matter personally. No one was willing to offend the future sixth Heavenly Monarch for such a small issue.

    After everyone had dispersed, that female lieutenant gradually appeared from the darkness. She stood not too far from the crowd, but no one could discover her presence.

    She gazed at the destroyed courtyard with a tinge of disappointment and muttered to herself, ¡°One who can release but can¡¯t control. How can such a person be worth paying attention to? Kuann, I hope you don¡¯t disappoint me again.¡±

    However, there was a certain doubt lingering in her heart, and she kept on gazing silently at the remains of the cultivation chamber for a long time.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was dark as he arrived at the new courtyard and sat down inside the cultivation chamber. The tide of frost just now was the true reason he had lost control of the Profound Combatant Form. However, it was neither visible nor tangible, and even harder to grasp than the wisp of obscure origin power¡ªQianye didn¡¯t even know what it was.

    Since he started cultivating the Profound Combatant Form, Qianye had known that this was an art developed by the Martial Ancestor. Even the ancestor himself never managed to cultivate it to the end; he was only able to reach the divine champion stage with it.

    Just who was it that had made the form lose control?

    Thus, the night quickly passed by in puzzlement. The same female lieutenant came to deliver a letter at dawn, but she turned to leave after handing him the letter. This time, Qianye discovered that he actually couldn¡¯t discern her strength!

    The first one to hide from Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth was Nighteye. She possessed the primogenitor¡¯s bloodline, and her Bloodline Concealment was something Qianye knew very well. The next was Song Zining; he couldn¡¯t iste himself from the spying, but he could mislead and disrupt the process. Zhao Jundu, on the other hand, had never concealed his own strength before. He was confident enough to allow everyone to see him clearly. He would let his opponent know that his loss was only right and proper.

    But thisdy actually rendered his Eye of Truth ineffective. Apparently, her secret arts were absolutely shocking¡ªthere was no way she could be a mere lieutenant.

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose sharply as he gazed at her receding figure. He realized that the appearance he was seeing might not be real, either. If that were the case, her appearance altering abilities must be truly out of the ordinary.

    Qianye shut the courtyard doors after her figure had disappeared and opened the letter.

    There were only a few lines on the paper:

    ¡°The promise of life and death draws near. General, how goes your preparations? I shall visit you shortly and see everything for myself. Li Kuann.¡±

 Chapter 669: Auspiciousness Descends from the Heavens

    [V6C199 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Li Kuann?

    Qianye immediately recalled that lightning-fast sword of ice, that mirage-like blue robe, and that friend-cum-foe, Li Kuann. It was just that Zhao Jundu had already blocked that life and death battle for him, so why was she calling on him now?

    Qianye actually had no interest at all in a showdown on the eve of such a great battle. He would rather use any extra strength he had against the dark races. Was the enemy assault not serious enough? Even the Zhang n had been beaten back.

    On the other hand, a madman like Li Kuann might do just about anything. One couldn¡¯t speak reason with her. Additionally, with her powerfulbat strength and the Li family as support, she had long since gotten used to causing trouble¡ªalmost nothing could restrain her.

    It was just that her actions seemed to go against her promise with Zhao Jundu. With the fourth young master¡¯s temperament, he might actually bring the army to the Li family to ¡°debate¡± this matter.

    The moment he thought of this, Qianye threw the notion to the back of his head. Zhao Jundu took pretty good care of him, but he couldn¡¯t keep relying on this brother for everything.

    Moreover, Qianye¡¯sbat arts had been refined in fire after going through a perilous battle with Eden and not too far off from Zhao Jundu himself. After formally reaching the level of an ancient vampire count, his body was being upgraded by the auric me blood with each passing day.

    Hence, he started looking forward to his meeting with Li Kuann.

    Qianye began thinking of something as he put the letter down. Just who was this lieutenant?

    On the other side of Indomitable, an ashen-faced Song Zining rushed into the Zhao n camp and made straight for Zhao Jundu¡¯s central army. At every checkpoint, he only needed to sh his identity token to be allowed through. In truth, the seventh young noble was currently quite famous on the floating continent, if not throughout the world, and most of the Zhao n soldiers recognized him. The inspections were only formalities born of obligation and duty.

    He faced obstruction only when he reached Zhao Jundu¡¯s office. However, Song Zining lifted the female secretary up with a wave of his fan, put her down behind him, and then entered the room.

    Zhao Jundu was reading a battle report behind his desk. He said without even looking up, ¡°Bullying my secretary, what standards! Are you going to take responsibility for her?¡±

    ¡°The standard of your words is really not impressive!¡± Song Zining mocked unceremoniously.

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re doing quite a lousy job with nurturing your temperament. At this rate, your cultivation will drop in a couple of years.¡± Zhao Jundu seemed to be in a good mood.

    Song Zining noticed that he was indeed too anxious. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and said, ¡°What¡¯s with Li Kuann?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you don¡¯t know! Why is she here to find Qianye?¡±

    Zhao Jundu finally looked up calmly and said, ¡°Oh you¡¯re talking about that. You¡¯re pretty well-informed, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Song Zining replied furiously, ¡°Rubbish! She wasn¡¯t hiding it at all. What¡¯s so strange about me knowing about it? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know.¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled indifferently. ¡°Of course, I know. But it¡¯s nothing serious, don¡¯t fret about it.¡±

    ¡°Nothing serious my ass! Haven¡¯t you already settled things with her?¡±

    ¡°Of course I have, but the thing I settled was the life and death battle. I don¡¯t care about anything else. Li Kuann didn¡¯te here to fight to the death, either. She only wants to swap pointers.¡±

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°Swap pointers? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know about her sword arts. More than one person has died ¡®swapping pointers¡¯ with Li Kuann.¡±

    Zhao Jundu leaned onto the chair and looked at Song Zining with a spurious smile. ¡°In any case, it¡¯s fine as long as no one dies. It¡¯s fine even if he¡¯s beaten ck and blue. Speaking of which, it¡¯s pretty strange for you to be so concerned!¡±

    Song Zining stared at Zhao Jundu for a long while. His face sank upon seeing that thetter had no intention of giving in. ¡°Do as you wish! But if something really happens, don¡¯t me me for what I¡¯ll do.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°You probably can¡¯t do anything to the Li family with your current power.¡±

    Song Zining was just about to step outside the door, but he stopped upon hearing these words. He responded slowly, ¡°I really don¡¯t have a lot of merit, but I do like to hold grudges.¡±

    With that, he left, banging the door loudly behind him.

    A frosty smile appeared on Zhao Jundu¡¯s lips. ¡°You dare m my door? Looks like you don¡¯t know how vengeful I am. Men!¡±

    The female officer entered after hearing his summons. ¡°What are your orders?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°Collect a list of all the unmarried girls from our family.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it immediately.¡± The secretary left, puzzled as to why the fourth young master would want this list. It would seem he was looking to arrange an engagement for a certain young noble? However, the fourth young master had never been interested in such matters. Could it be that he had finally thought it through and was about to start preparing for his session?

    Within the office, Zhao Jundu was tapping lightly on the table. He pondered for a moment before breaking into a suddenugh and muttering to himself, ¡°Be obedient or I might just let Yuying marry you!¡±

    After leaving the Zhao n camp, Song Zining ran back to his office and summoned his trusted aides for a secret meeting. Soon, these subordinates left in a hurry. An intelligencework thus sprang to life, collecting all information regarding Li Kuann¡¯s visit.

    The Song Zining of today didn¡¯t just hold the status of a Song n young master. He had long since gained his own agents and influence.

    Presently, the young geniuses from back then were already capable of wielding great power on their own.

    Zhao Jundu was publicly recognized as a person who could handle great responsibilities, and Song Zining had also revealed outstanding talents. He was already qualified, albeit barely, to manage the defense of several counties. Qianye wasn¡¯t as famous, but judging from how he could ughter a virtuous count, he was beyond qualified for the lieutenant-general rank. The only issue was that his origin power cultivation was still somewhatcking.

    Comparatively, the older Song Zicheng still needed to borrow his status as a Song n young master to do everything, and he would likely need to continue doing this for many years toe.

    Song Zining mobilized his informationwork without the slightest bit of hesitation, but Li Kuann had arrived much faster than anticipated.

    At dusk, a slender and magnificent airship appeared over the horizon and flew rapidly toward Indomitable. Li Kuann stood as calm as an ancient well, her hands sped behind her back as she gazed at the approaching city.

    The tender maid standing behind her asked, ¡°Just who here is worth traveling tens of thousands of kilometers for? You even set aside such important matters.¡±

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°You don¡¯t understand, I muste.¡±

    The maid pouted. ¡°Even though I don¡¯t understand war and statecraft, I can tell what¡¯s good and bad. It must be those senseless fellows causing problems again.¡±

    Li Kuann said with augh, ¡°It is indeed rted to those people, but this time, it is I who wanted toe and see a certain person.¡±

    ¡°Who is it that you have to rush over to see?¡±

    ¡°A dumb but interesting fellow.¡±

    The maid¡¯s eyes lit up as she cried out, ¡°Oh ho ho, this is the first time I¡¯ve heard you give such an evaluation. I really must see this person.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression instantly turned wooden. ¡°Are you looking to die?¡±

    The maid wasn¡¯t afraid of her at all and only kept on giggling.

    The airship sped forth at full speed and arrived above Indomitable. The other airships patrolling the airspace approached the vessel but returned to their routes after seeing a certain insignia, allowing the airship to fly right above the city.

    Apparently sensing something, Li Kuann leapt head first off the airship and shot toward the city like aet.

    ¡°Ah! Wait for me!¡± the maid cried out and actually followed suit. She made a couple of turns through the air and flew toward Indomitable.

    In the courtyard, Qianye was feeling quite restless. He tried to cultivate several times, but he didn¡¯t dare activate the Profound Combatant Form in this state of mind. The reason for him losing controlst night hadn¡¯t been made clear yet, and he just couldn¡¯t get that icy tide out of his mind.

    Song Zining had told Qianye before that there were countless experts from both sides disrupting the heavenly mysteries of this floating continent. This rendered most divination arts ineffective, and even he himself couldn¡¯t calcte anything. For ordinary warriors, it would affect their sensitivity to danger and cause their state of mind to fluctuate.

    But that was for ordinary soldiers¡ªhow could it affect those with great willpower like Qianye, Zhao Jundu, or even Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian?

    Yet for some reason, this abnormal problem had happened to Qianye. This made him restless and even unable to cultivate.

    After several unfruitful attempts, Qianye had no choice but to leave the cultivation chamber in frustration. Not to mention the great war going on at the moment, the level of his own blood energy had far surpassed his daybreak origin power once again and was in urgent need of bncing. How could he not be frustrated after encountering problems at such a juncture?

    Qianye returned to his room and produced a box of divination sticks. He quietly circted his origin power as Song Zining had taught him and threw the tokens onto the table. With his skill in divination, there probably wouldn¡¯t be any proper results. He wasn¡¯t hoping for anything and was simply doing it to kill time.

    The inscribed sticks fell onto the table and, quite surprisingly, formed an exceptionally clear symbol.

    Qianye was startled¡ªwhen had his divination skills be that impressive? Could it be that he had some talent in this field? He nced over at the table and became somber almost immediately.

    The meaning of the symbol was: ¡°Cmity descends from the heavens.¡±

    Even someone with firm willpower like Qianye felt rather upset after seeing such a result.

    Qianye raised his hand and was just about to sweep the sticks off the table when a loud noise arose from the courtyard. Soon, the earth began to quake violently, the shockwave kicking up a tempest in the room which threw open all of the doors and windows.

    Qianye released his origin power reflexively. This shielded an area several meters around him, effectively blocking out the iing dust and gravel. After the dirt had settled, Qianye saw a slender silhouette standing in his courtyard, with hands sped behind and a shallow pit beneath the feet. Apparently, this person had just fallen down from the sky.

    He didn¡¯t need to look clearly. Just from those blue robes and that temperament resembling an unsheathed sword, Qianye knew that Li Kuann had arrived. ¡°So, it¡¯s you!¡±

    Li Kuann was baffled by his sudden words, but she soon noticed the divination symbol on the table.

    As a highly intelligent person, she soon realized what was going on. Her face turned livid as she muttered through clenched teeth, ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m the cmity?¡±

 Chapter 670: Please Leave

    [V6C200 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye nced at the divination sign, and then at the frosty Li Kuann. He realized instantly that he had been seen through and that any exnation would only be in vain.

    He did try to salvage the situation despite his inexperience. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it that way. Yes, it wasn¡¯t intentional. You fell down from the sky after all.¡± He wasn¡¯t quite aware of the worsening situation and that Li Kuann¡¯s expression was bing increasingly unsightly.

    A crisp voice suddenly rang out, ¡°What fell from the sky?¡±

    Another good-looking figure appeared in the courtyard. That maid was a step slower but still made it in time to hear Qianye¡¯sst words.

    Li Kuann could no longer hold back. Her sword left its sheath with a ng and shot toward Qianye¡¯s throat. ¡°Enough with the nonsense! One of us shall die today!¡±

    The de flickered like a bolt of lightning even before the shout had ended, denying Qianye any chance of exining. Its speed was simply inconceivable and exceeded the limits of human perception. Even with Qianye¡¯s speed, he could only see a cold gleam in front of him before a chill crept up his neck.

    ¡°Was I struck?¡± He was shocked.

    A blow to the vitals! How could this strike be so fast? Despite the speed, Qianyeter sensed that the force behind it was fairly weak. However, he didn¡¯t have time to analyze the attack during that moment of astonishment and only pulled back rapidly.

    One sword to seal the throat! Li Kuann was supposed to be gloating at the moment, but her eyes went wide instead. The girl behind her also let out two continuous gasps of surprise and stared at Qianye as though he were a ghost.

    Her first cry was because Li Kuann hadunched that sudden attack. The second one was due to Qianye, and the reason for her astonishment was the same as that of Li Kuann¡ªthere wasn¡¯t a single wound on Qianye¡¯s throat, not even a red mark.

    Li Kuann had never intended to kill Qianye. That sh was only intended to leave a fine cut on his neck and make him realize how powerful she was. She had controlled the force extremely well, and it was just enough to break through a rank-twelve champion¡¯s origin defenses. Although Qianye was only rank-eleven, hisbat strength wasn¡¯t inferior to an ordinary lieutenant general. This amount of force was just right.

    She had never imagined that this sh to the throat would fail to even cut through his skin.

    This oue was too unexpected. If this were a real life and death battle, Li Kuann¡¯s miscalction of Qianye¡¯s defenses would have resulted in her falling into dire straits. Qianye could easily grasp this opportunity to trade injuries with her.

    She was indeed outstanding in the sword arts, but the Li family arts had never been known for producing strong physiques.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression sank after the initial shock had passed. ¡°Well hidden! Take a couple more strikes from me!¡±

    She threw another strike at Qianye¡¯s neck without even finishing her words. The speed of this sh was no longer as outrageous as the first. Instead, it was more abstruse, and the origin power on its edge was more intense, glowing a faint blue. Although Li Kuann was merely holding an ordinary sword, the addition of her frost origin power made it extremely sharp. It wasn¡¯t a problem for her to easily cut down werewolves and arachne.

    He could let the first sh be, but Qianye¡¯s expression fell with the arrival of a second attack. He took two steps back, grabbed East Peak from the weapon rack, and performed a retaliatory thrust.

    As soon as Qianye moved, Li Kuann followed suit without a second thought and kept her aim upon Qianye¡¯s throat. But she had just taken a step forward when her neck tensed up. East Peak had arrived at her throat and was fairly close to touching her skin!

    Li Kuann was shocked out of her wits. Her long hair spread out, tearing the ribbon she was wearing into countless pieces! She circted her origin power at full capacity and retreated at great speeds. Even then, she was just barely able to dodge that iing de.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was rather pale after escaping this cmity, and beads of sweat were faintly discernible on her forehead.

    The attack was simply too uncanny. She had no idea how it had appeared or how to defend against it. Had itnded on her throat, her entire neck would¡¯ve been blown apart. She still felt somewhat apprehensive after thinking about it.

    East Peak arrived once again before she had recovered from her shock. After missing the target¡¯s throat, Qianye flicked the de up with a shake of his wrist and went for Li Kuann¡¯s left shoulder. Before the sharp edge had even arrived, thetter could feel her entire body grow heavy¡ªit was as though an invisible force was pouring down upon her.

    Her expression transformed several times. The might of this withdrawn blow was extremely terrifying, and even giant boulders would be pulverized with a light tap of Qianye¡¯s de. Li Kuann knew for sure that her origin defenses couldn¡¯t take a blow from East Peak.

    The helpless Li Kuann could only retreat and evade the brunt of the attack, and then it took a dozen or so counterattacks to eventually regain her ground. She disyed the full extent of her lightning-fast sword arts, hacking frantically at Qianye before finally managing to suppress him.

    However, Qianye had both hands on the de and his full concentration on the battle. Stabbing here and shing there, his actions looked chaotic and random. Yet, it just so happened that his movements blocked all of Li Kuann¡¯s attacks. He even managed to throw in a counterattack from time to time, forcing Li Kuann to take several steps back in each instance.

    The more they fought, the more Li Kuann was shaken. Qianye¡¯s disorderly strikes would alwaysnd at the most critical moment¡ªit was fast when warranted, and slow when required. There was neither any waste in origin power nor any oversight in grasping opportunities.

    After a moment of fighting, Li Kuann suddenly realized that this was an early sign of great sess inbat arts.

    This shook her heart, causing her movements to slow down ever so slightly. How could Qianye let go of this opportunity? East Peak shot straight at her chest almost instantly!

    This strike wasn¡¯t very fast, but it was extremely heavy¡ªalmost like a rolling deluge of sand and mud.

    Li Kuann blocked reflexively, but the two des hadn¡¯t even touched one another when her sword began to creak, groan, and bent out of shape.

    She was greatly astonished, but there was not enough time to retreat¡ªall she could do was take the blow head on. However, the true weight of Qianye¡¯s strike was only evident in such a head-on exchange!

    Seeing Li Kuann in danger, the maid cried out and charged in from the side, shing down at East Peak with a dagger in each hand. She only revealed her true strength at this point¡ªshe was a rank-twelve expert.

    Her des bounced back upon shing with East Peak and very nearly flew out of her hands. The maid¡¯s face turned pale and lost any semnce of color. Yet, East Peak rose up instead of being pushed down. It appeared beside the young girl¡¯s neck with a flicker and lightly patted her cheeks before pulling back.

    This strike transitioned rapidly from the extremes of power to the utmost gentleness without the slightest of signs. It was as though the entire process was right and natural.

    The maid stood there in a daze. She came to only after a while and suddenly broke into a loud wail. Her sobs were fairly loud, but her feet remained nailed to the ground, not daring to move even a bit. Apparently, she was frightened out of her wits.

    This obstruction caused Qianye¡¯s strike to be fruitless. Since the opportunity had been lost, he simply retreated and, with East Peak pointed toward the ground, stood to wait for a new round of attacks.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was livid. She suddenly clenched her teeth and performed that lightning-fast attack once again.

    However, Qianye was prepared this time¡ªEast Peak rose vertically in front of him and effectively blocked the violent shes of lightning. The sword radiance came in a steady stream and suppressed Qianye¡¯s defenses to within a meter of him. Nheless, it just couldn¡¯t break through this final line of defense.

    It was at this time that a barely discernible wisp of origin power appeared and made for the back of Qianye¡¯s neck. Even from a distance, he could feel a vague stabbing pain from the needle-like origin power.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t be more familiar with this origin power; it was the mysterious energy that had deprived him of tranquilityst night. And now, this person was ambushing him from the darkness. Although there was no evident malice, such actions were truly hateful and Qianye couldn¡¯t help but want to give this person a lesson.

    After contending with this origin power for half a night, Qianye knew its nature quite well¡ªit was extremely sharp but not so resilient. As such, he acted as though he were ignorant about the new assant, allowing the origin power to arrive behind his head.

    Just as it was about to stab into his skin, Qianye suddenly threw his head backward and gave it a headbutt, forcibly shattering that needle-like origin power with his head.

    A muffled groan came from outside of the courtyard. The sound was pretty soft, but the three here were all experts; even that young maid was a rank-twelve champion. As such, they heard it clearly and realized that someone hadunched an ambush. Not only had the attack failed, but the assant had also suffered in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression changed immediately after hearing this voice. She suddenly stepped back and said furiously, ¡°Who told you to meddle?!¡±

    A fleeting voice emerged from outside the walls. Its direction¡ªand even the gender of its owner¡ªwas difficult to discern. ¡°I just wanted to see how much you¡¯ve grown, but who would¡¯ve thought a certain person would be in such an unsightly state despite the grand entrance. You¡¯ve really thrown the Li family¡¯s prestige down the drain.¡±

    These words weren¡¯t polite at all and left no face for Li Kuann. Her expression immediately turned frosty, pale, and almost translucent. This added a tinge of allure to her originally handsome face.

    Not willing to take this lying down, thetter shouted, ¡°He wouldn¡¯t be able to act so unbridled if I had the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace!¡±

    The person outside the courtyard broke into augh. ¡°It was you who insisted on discarding a good weapon in favor of amon sword, just so you could show off your improved techniques.¡±

    Li Kuann was livid and her chest heaved fiercely from the anger. She had been stoppered quite badly, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the discontent maid beside her. The eloquent littless spoke up immediately, ¡°Even so, our family¡¯s young noble still managed to hold the upper hand, unlike a certain someone who failed a sneak attack and even suffered from it. You have the cheek to criticize others with such meager skills?¡±

    That person was dumbfounded for a brief moment but eventually spoke in a cold voice, ¡°When was it your ce to talk here?¡±

    The maid wasn¡¯t afraid at all and even raised her voice. ¡°Oh? Now you¡¯re using status to suppress people since you can¡¯t argue logically. I¡¯m only a servant, I might not understand a lot, but I do know reason. Do tell me if I said anything wrong!¡±

    The two parties forgot Qianye as they bickered back and forth.

    Thetter could no longer endure this. With a shake of his East Peak, he said, ¡°If you two have no intention to fight with me, then please head back now. My ce is too small to entertain people like you. Anyter and it won¡¯t be easy to clean up this mess.¡±

    His words weren¡¯t very polite. Li Kuann was about to re up, but she suddenly noticed several figures rise up in the distance, all of them Zhao n experts. They had finally noticed something wrong here and wereing over to check.

    Although she wasn¡¯t afraid of them, it would be quite troublesome if she were to be entangled here. Hence, she shot Qianye a hateful nce and muttered, ¡°Good, very good. Just you wait!¡±

    She then leapt out of the courtyard and flickered out of view. The maid was a bit slower, yet she didn¡¯t forget to make faces at Qianye and was still giggling on her way out. That mysterious person never appeared until the very end, and no one knew when it left.

 Chapter 671: Aide at The Gates

    Knock KnockWho¡¯s there?Your aide here.Aide who?Aide hoped you would tell me.

    [V6C201 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The battle had long since ended by the time the patrolling experts arrived. Due to the high level ofbat arts used by both parties, there were very few traces of battle in the courtyard. The baffled Zhao n experts inspected the ce several times over but couldn¡¯t discern anything.

    Toward the end, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Everyone, you¡¯ve been looking for so long, have you found anything?¡±

    These words were clearly mocking them. The captain¡¯s face went red as he came up with a vague answer, ¡°This... we¡¯recking in experience, so we need to examine everything carefully. Additionally, we found no traces of that person you said was hiding outside of the courtyard.¡±

    Qianye actually understood that mysterious person¡¯s ability. That person definitely wouldn¡¯t leave any clues behind, at least not any that these Zhao n people could find. But no one would be in a good mood after being challenged to a fight out of the blue and almost getting shed at the throat.

    Seeing that these people were intent on investigating, Qianye could no longer bear it. ¡°Everyone, I think you should just let it be. You won¡¯t find anything even if you keep looking. The defenses in the core region are truly strict, heh, heh.¡±

    The experts wore awkward expressions but still checked the scene thoroughly before leaving. Qianye had already told them that the visitor was, in fact, Li Kuann, but things involving such characters were beyond their decision-making ability. It would require at least one of Zhao Jundu¡¯s status to determine how to proceed. These people could only gather as many clues as they could to facilitate the superiors¡¯ decision.

    Back in the room, that ¡°cmity falls from heaven¡± divination sign was still sitting on the table. Qianye wanted to sweep them all flying with his sword. However, he put the de down after some thought and put the divination sticks away.

    After several consecutive interruptions, Qianye¡¯s mood was no longer suitable for cultivation. He simply went into the courtyard to recall and carefully analyze the moves he had experienced during his fight with Li Kuann.

    Thetter¡¯s sword strike was simply too fast. Even a spark flying off the flint wasn¡¯t enough to describe its speed¡ªeven Qianye could only see its radiance flicker once before the de was in front of his eyes. He would find it difficult to counterattack if Li Kuann were to go all out. All he could do was defend passively and prevent himself from falling into a disadvantage, all the while waiting for the opponent to err.

    The cons of this overly passive strategy were fairly evident. Li Kuann¡¯s attack power seemed unimpressive during their battle, but that was because she was merely using an ordinary sword. Her might would increase several-fold with Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace in her hands. Qianye wouldn¡¯t dare engage in a direct defense at that point; he would have to retreat immediately and search for a different opportunity.

    Thus at the moment, he was looking for a way to break this technique, else he would have to retreat once Li Kuann arrives with her famed sword.

    He tried out several moves during his analysis, shing left and right in a fairly clumsy manner.

    At this moment, a gentle chuckle came through from outside of the courtyard. ¡°What ugly sword forms, is this really the one young miss has taken a fancy to?¡±

    Qianye had long since noticed the two young girls in aristocratic apparel. They were standing on a nearby wall where they could see everything in Qianye¡¯s courtyard. It was just that they were standing on someone else¡¯s walls. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s moves were simply in their nascent stage at the moment, so it was useless even if they saw him. No one would know what he was practicing unless they had seen Li Kuann¡¯s rapid sword.

    It was fine if they were just looking, but now they were evenmenting on him. Moreover, their words were riddling¡ªwhich young miss was it, and when did she start fancying Qianye?

    These maids were merely rank five or six. Their power might not be low in a middle-ranking aristocratic family, but in Qianye¡¯s eyes, this meager strength wasn¡¯t impressive at all. At the very least, they were worlds away from being able to see through his sword arts. Such weaklings were actuallymenting on him from afar¡ªthey were truly a bitcking in judgment and upbringing.

    The two girls showed little signs of respect for Qianye. Pointing and sniggering in private, they spent quite a while here before leaving.

    Qianye shook his head, pushed this small interlude to the back of his mind, and continued analyzing the sword technique. Since Li Kuann was from the Li family, her rtionship with the Zhao n couldn¡¯t be that great. Unraveling their sword art was of utmost importance right now. Even though it was unlikely for her to kill Qianye, thetter¡¯s rtionship with the Li family wasn¡¯t really great, and he would very likely suffer if he ran into other Li family experts who knew this sword art.

    In truth, Qianye wasn¡¯t entirely without a solution. His Oceanic Vortex, the iplete Sweeping Calm, Spatial sh, and the Shot of Inception¡ªall of them could overpower and even heavily injure Li Kuann. But using a domain involved twice the effort for half the results and Sweeping Calm was a technique for use in perilous junctures; even Qianye himself couldn¡¯t control the strike once it had been unleashed. Thest two were both vampire secret arts that couldn¡¯t be easily revealed. As such, Qianye had to solve this problem purely in terms of technique.

    In one of Indomitable¡¯s small alleyways, Li Kuann was walking at a steady pace with that young maid in tow. Her gait looked quite calm at a nce, but her hands were sped firmly on the hilt of her sword and her fingers were slightly pale. Apparently, she had overexerted herself.

    Upon reaching the middle of the alley, a slender figure appeared to block the other end of the path.

    Li Kuann had long since known that she would appear. The former sneered as her gazended on the person¡¯s imperial lieutenant uniform, ¡°A stately young miss of the Ji family is actually here pretending to be a lieutenant. What¡¯s the point?¡±

    The lieutenant replied calmly, ¡°Somewhat better than a fellow who refuses to use a divine weapon and was then beaten ck and blue.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyes narrowed and waves of chill started to drift around her body. ¡°You might not win against me even if I don¡¯t use Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. Besides, the opponent I failed to take down was Qianye and not you.¡±

    The lieutenant¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Since you¡¯re so confident, why don¡¯t we fight right now?¡±

    Li Kuann hadn¡¯t even replied when the maid cut in, ¡°Do you have any shame? Our young master has just gotten out of a big battle. Just say it If you¡¯re trying to fight a tag-battle, what¡¯s the point of being secretive?¡±

    The lieutenant¡¯s eyes finallynded on the young girl and suddenly turned into an amber color!

    The maid let out a cry of surprise and hid behind Li Kuann. Nheless, her movements were a tad too slow, and those amber eyes managed to lock onto her.

    The lieutenant¡¯s eyes turned back, and then she said with a smile, ¡°I was wondering who it was! So it¡¯s the Kong family¡¯s young miss! You were also a bit famous back then, but you vanished for over half a year. You¡¯d actually run off to the Li family to be their maid. This is truly surprising. Don¡¯t tell me the Kong family wants to join the Li family so much that they even gifted their genius daughter away?¡±

    The maid was livid. ¡°T-This is my own business. It has nothing to do with the Kong family! Stop spewing nonsense. I¡¯m only ying around, nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Ah okay, I understand.¡± The lieutenant nodded repeatedly. Judging from her expression though, she didn¡¯t seem to buy it at all.

    The indignant maid was stomping her feet and was just about to argue further when she was stopped by Li Kuann. Thetter said calmly, ¡°Lil¡¯ Xuan, hand this matter to me. It¡¯s been a while, I also want to know what she¡¯s learned from the old ancestor.¡±

    The lieutenant smiled spuriously. ¡°You really want to fight right now?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?!¡±

    The lieutenant, though, wasn¡¯t in such a hurry to fight. She suddenly changed the topic and said, ¡°I find that person quite interesting. He¡¯s actually worth young noble Li traveling tens of thousands of kilometers and putting off such important matters. You¡¯re even willing to offend Zhao Fourth. All of this just for a match? Even I don¡¯t dare provoke the man so easily. Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s a future Heavenly Monarch.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression sank. She shouted, ¡°What I do is my business. You don¡¯t need to care.¡±

    The lieutenant kept talking on her own, ¡°Speaking of which, Qianye is really so dumb and cute despite his inferior status. His talents aren¡¯t bad, either. He might not be my match, but he¡¯s a bit stronger than you are. Thinking of it that way, he can almost be considered a match for me. What say you?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s replied with a furious expression, ¡°Wishful thinking! He¡¯spletely unrted to you.¡±

    The lieutenant smiled mysteriously upon hearing this. She looked fixedly at Li Kuann and said, ¡°Why are you so nervous?¡±

    ¡°I am not!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Enough with the nonsense, are you fighting me or not?¡±

    The lieutenant stretchedzily and said, ¡°Of course not, I have more important things to do. Who has the time to fight with you?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression shifted rapidly. ¡°What are you up to this time?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I just recalled that a certain someone doesn¡¯t have a personal bodyguard yet. I¡¯m going to try getting that position.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Li Kuann uttered through clenched teeth, ¡°Do you have nothing better to do?¡±

    The lieutenant smiled treacherously. ¡°What can you do? Oh right, he¡¯s almost a lieutenant general now. My current rank is a bit too low. I should change it.¡±

    With that, she actually tore off her rank insignia and reced it with a major¡¯s. All the while, she made no effort at concealing her actions.

    Li Kuann was dumbfounded.

    She had actually brought different rank insignias; even an idiot would know she had nned this in advance. Who would be so senseless as to prepare multiple sets of different rank badges?

    Li Kuann took a step forward and looked like she was about to attack. The opponent, though, was much faster, and her figure immediately flickered out of existence.

    The former nced about at the entrance of the alleyway, but how could she find any trace of thatdy? Li Kuann was very clear about her and knew that there was no way she could catch up to that woman in theplex city environment.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was single-mindedly devoted to practicing the sword. He eventually noticed some slight improvements, and he now had a vague idea how to deal with the Li family¡¯s rapid de. He would be able to make substantial improvements soon at this rate. At that point, he wouldn¡¯t be forced to defend passively when fighting Li Kuann again.

    It was at this time that a knock resounded on the door.

    The sound came suddenly and without the slightest of warning signs. Even Qianye, with his powerful perception, couldn¡¯t sense who it was beyond the gates. The knock was clear, but it felt to him that there was no one outside. He couldn¡¯t sense any aura at all.

    Qianye had experienced something like this a while ago. Origin power in full cirction and blood core pulsing, he took a deep breath and quickly brought himself to a battle-ready state. Then he picked up East Peak and opened the courtyard gates.

    The one standing outside was the female lieutenant. It was just that she had be a major at the moment.

    She beamed radiantly and said, ¡°Imperial army major Ji Tianqing reporting in. From today on, I¡¯ll be your personal aide!¡±

    The sudden news almost stupefied Qianye. How could he allow a person of unknown origins follow him every day? He thus replied calmly, ¡°Where are the appointment papers from the military department?¡±

    Ji Tianqing pped her forehead. ¡°Oh my, I almost forgot about that.¡±

    She reached into her pocket and fished out an empty appointment paper. Then, she filled it out right in front of him and passed it over. ¡°Here!¡±

 Chapter 672: Nothing to Lose

    [V6C202 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Even though the scene was rather odd, Qianye still took the assignment letter and looked it over.

    This was a genuine assignment letter. The patterns on the specialized paper were characteristic to the military department¡¯s documents, and the seal therein contained its own origin array that could be easily discerned by experts of any level.

    He would¡¯ve believed the document to be entirely genuine had he not seen thedy fill it out right in front of him.

    ¡°This... this appointment order.¡±

    ¡°What? Could it be fake?¡± Ji Tianqing asked with a puzzled expression, almost as though she had no idea how it had appeared.

    Qianye truly did not know what to reply.

    From a certain perspective, the papers were real and immediately effective. However, Qianye simply couldn¡¯t think of them as genuine.

    The annoyance was stuck in his chest without anywhere to vent. This felt even worse than being sted by Zhao Yuying¡¯s cannon.

    Qianye did learn a few things after mingling with Song Zining for a long time. ¡°This... I often need to switch battlefields during fights. My aide-de-camp needs to be stronger and someone of a higher rank. I¡¯ll ept if the military department has a better-suited candidate.¡±

    These words were rather artistic. Asking the military to dispatch a new person over sounded simple, but the entire process was quite convoluted and required numerousyers of inspections. Moreover, certain people would definitely poke their noses into such personnel changes. In this manner, Ji Tianqing wouldn¡¯t be able to conclude this matter in one month no matter how influential she was. And a monthter, she probably wouldn¡¯t even know where Qianye had run off to.

    This was the secret art of dying¡ªdragging things out until things naturally became unfeasible.

    Just as Qianye was secretly praising himself, he saw Ji Tianqing reveal a mocking smile. ¡°So, it turns out that you want someone of a higher rank. That¡¯s easy!¡±

    With a flip of her hand, a handful of military rank insignias appeared miraculously on her palm. Then, she asked, ¡°How about a lieutenant colonel? Colonel? Or would you rather have a brigadier general or major general?¡±

    With every rank she mentioned, she would fish out the corresponding insignia, going all the way up to a major general. This was Qianye¡¯s rank at the moment. A lieutenant general insignia then appeared in her hand, which she dangled in front of his eyes.

    Qianye smiled ruefully. ¡°Am I supposed to be your aide instead?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be the aide. Just tell me which rank you want me at, speak quickly!¡±

    Qianye finally understood that this cmity was hardly avertable. He smiled wryly and said, ¡°Just stick to major. Put away those... things.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it? Make way then!¡± Ji Tianqing pushed Qianye aside with a satisfied expression and walked into the courtyard.

    A surprised Qianye followed her as she toured all the rooms here. He watched as thedy picked a room adjacent to his own and tossed her backpack onto the bed. ¡°I¡¯ll be staying here.¡±

    ¡°Eh... live?¡±

    ¡°Of course, your personal aide has to live with you. Why else would it be called personal?¡± Ji Tianqing said matter-of-factly.

    ¡°This... it¡¯s not quite appropriate.¡± Qianye looked rather miserable. He had a feeling things were wrong on so many levels.

    ¡°How so?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s mind was in chaos. He tried his best to sort out his thoughts and said, ¡°For one, I don¡¯t know your origins.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to. It¡¯s enough that I know about you.¡±

    Such a tyrannical answer choked Qianye half-dead. Yet, he was still struggling. ¡°Tianqing, look, you must be from an influential family. Staying with me like this will harm your reputation.¡±

    ¡°Ho! You¡¯re afraid that I won¡¯t be able to marry?¡±

    ¡°No...¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Ji Tianqing pped his shoulder and said, ¡°Rest assured, it won¡¯t affect me. Even if I can¡¯t marry anymore, I still have you, right?¡±

    Qianye stood dazed for a while before saying, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m already taken.¡±

    Ji Tianqing looked at him with a spurious smile. ¡°You had to think for a long time.¡±

    Qianye was about to go mad. ¡°No! I...¡±

    ¡°Enough, there¡¯s no need to exin. I totally understand!¡± Thedy waved her hand stylishly and brought an end to this topic.

    Qianye wanted to exin but didn¡¯t know what to say. He was startled not because of her words, but because of her pat on the shoulder. To his surprise, he had been caught off-guard and was actually struck.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s background was mysterious, to say the least, with no way to make sure if she was friend or foe. That was why he had kept his guard up this entire time. Yet thisdy had managed to p him on the shoulder under such circumstances¡ªthis wasn¡¯t normal at all.

    Qianye thought back to that move and gradually discovered the profundity within. Her move resembled nature itself and was blended into the heaven and earth. It felt like a falling leafnding on his body, something that would fall off naturally. Neither his origin power nor blood core showed any signs of reaction because they couldn¡¯t sense any threat or enmity.

    The truth, however, couldn¡¯t be further away. That palm could¡¯ve transformed into a devastating killing move beforending on his body. The ability to perform a rapid shift in power wasn¡¯t rare among experts at this level; even Qianye himself could do it.

    If Ji Tianqing had harbored malicious intentions, she could¡¯ve heavily injured Qianye with that move just now. It wasn¡¯t because her origin power cultivation was profound, but because that palm was simply too mysterious and subtle. It was an entire level above Li Kuann¡¯s swift de and Qianye¡¯s Nirvanic Rend or even his Sweeping Calm.

    Qianye felt a serious headache after seeing that Ji Tianqing had settled in on her own and began sorting out her luggage. He then discovered yet another problem: where did that backpacke from?

    Momentster, Qianye gave up his futile struggle and watched resignedly as thedy set up her room. What¡¯s odd was that she kept moving her luggage in and out, going so far as to walk around the courtyard while carrying her quilt. She had exhibited an increasing number of peculiar behaviors since their first meeting, but the former had a feeling she wasn¡¯t a senseless person¡ªall her actions definitely had meaning to them. Hence, that which he couldn¡¯t understand, Qianye could only pretend he didn¡¯t see.

    The sanguineous sun was about to set at this moment, dying Indomitable with ayer of golden red.

    Such beautiful scenery, however, did little to improve the mood of certain people. Two figures were standing on a distant kic tower, their clothes fluttering in the wind.

    Just as before, it was the maid, Kong Xuan, who was extremely gloomy. She said through gritted teeth, ¡°She¡¯s actually not out yet! Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s going to freeload dinner there? Must she really take advantage even for food?¡±

    Li Kuann simply stood there and watched inplete silence. The distance was significant, but with their strength, they could see even a small ant crawling through the courtyard.

    She had seen most of what Ji Tianqing had been doing, but the indistinct parts almost seemed as though she had vanished from sight.

    The duo knew that the woman was demonstrating her power¡ªshe was sending a message that they would only be able to see what she wanted them to see.

    The scarlet of Twilight filled the sky as the silhouettes of two giant celestial bodies began taking shape in the sky. It was dinner time.

    But dinner hadn¡¯t even begun when Kong Xuan became furious. Even her voice was trembling as she said, ¡°What¡¯s she doing?! She¡¯s actually carrying a quilt around! Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s going to stay there?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s sorting out her room,¡± Li Kuann replied calmly.

    ¡°Does she need toe out into the courtyard for that?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s doing it for us to see.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s interested in watching her tidy up her room!¡± Kong Xuan said spitefully. Then she realized what was going on and cried out, ¡°Her room? She¡¯s really going to stay there!? That slut!!!¡±

    ¡°Your words mean disrespect to the elder prince, it¡¯ll be bad if others hear it. Speak of it no more.¡± Li Kuann¡¯s voice was as cold as ice.

    ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t say it anymore. But how could the elder prince raise such a cheap person!? How can you be so calm after seeing her so arrogant?¡± Kong Xuan was stomping about in anger.

    Li Kuann gazed toward the distant Ji Tianqing who hade out into the courtyard and was waving at them. ¡°This matter is unrted to us, and there¡¯s no need for us to pay attention, either, since there are people who¡¯ll obstruct her. Don¡¯t forget that Zhao Fourth is here. We don¡¯t have the power to stir up trouble in his domain right now. This matter will surely reach his ears.¡±

    Kong Xuan sighed. ¡°Zhao Fourth? His reaction might not be what you expect.¡±

    A somewhat startled Li Kuann replied, ¡°Ji Tianqing is acting so unbridled. With how much the fourth young noble favors Qianye, how can he not interfere? If he appears, no one short of the elder prince can force him to give way.¡±

    Kong Xuan grabbed Li Kuann hatefully and tugged firmly at her belt. ¡°You must¡¯ve gone dumb from practicing the sword so much.¡±

    ¡°What did I say wrong?¡± Li Kuann was baffled.

    Indomitable was constructed entirely by the Zhao n. Naturally, nothing in the city would escape their eyes. By the time Ji Tianqing finished tidying up her room, the matter had already arrived on Zhao Jundu¡¯s desk in the form of a report.

    However, it wasn¡¯t because the Zhao n¡¯s efficiency was so miraculous. Rather, Ji Tianqing had taken nearly an hour to finish everything, repeatedly airing out all the pillows, quilt, and nkets in the courtyard.

    Zhao Jundu spent an entire five minutes on the report, reading it over and over again. Song Zining, who was sitting just across from him, spent the five minutes observing the former¡¯s expression.

    Song Zining asked immediately after Zhao Jundu put the report down, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled indifferently. ¡°It¡¯s fine to eat the meat that¡¯s been delivered to one¡¯s door.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Song Zining felt that he had misheard.

    Then, Zhao Jundu added, ¡°Even if something happens, the one suffering a loss isn¡¯t Qianye.¡±

    ¡°What about morals?¡± Song Zining wanted to say this but swallowed the words back down. He knew he might get a taste of the Omniscient Seal again if he said something wrong. Even so, he couldn¡¯t help but mock, ¡°Even someone like you can be a heavenly monarch?¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled. ¡°Why not? Yourprehension of the great dao iscking!¡±

    The sun had finally set over the western horizon, and dinner delivery was already on its way. It was at this time that a motorcade rushed quickly through the streets and arrived before Qianye¡¯s gates.

    The convoy was made up entirely of magnificent looking off-road vehicles. Only the nobility could form such a motorcade on the floating continent.

    A somewhat chubby middle-aged man walked down from among the vehicles. He was apanied by several attendants and had the look of faint arrogance characteristic to those who had been in power for a long time. ¡°Wee in the name of Count Peacegranter, to seek a meeting with General Qianye. It¡¯s like this, our master has a single daughter who¡¯s just turned sixteen this year, ady of great upbringing, beauty, and rank-three in origin cultivation. Tomorrow night is a wonderful time for a dinner banquet if the general has time for it. This subordinate has prepared everything, and the young miss will also attend.¡±

    ¡°Ah!?¡± The matter was so sudden, and the middle-aged man had spoken very clearly. It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t understand why such a thing would happen to him. Usually, it was Wei Potian or Song Zining who would encounter them.

    Thinking that Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand, the middle-aged man said with a smile, ¡°Now that I¡¯ve seen you today, I feel that young miss and the general are a good match. You don¡¯t need to be in a rush, either. Wait until tomorrow night, and you¡¯ll find a wonderful fate.¡±

    ¡°Can you repeat that?¡± Ji Tianqing somehow appeared from behind Qianye with a cold smile.

 Chapter 673: Killing Inten

    t [V6C203 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    ¡°Why must I repeat myself?¡± The middle-aged man was puzzled at first, but soon became arrogant when he saw Ji Tianqing¡¯s rank insignia. ¡°And who would you be? Is it the ce of a mere major to speak? Which corps are you from? I must report this to Count Peacegranter and make sure you receive ample punishment from your unit!¡±

    ¡°Go ahead! Do it if you have the ability. I¡¯m from the 17th Army Corps, the name¡¯s Li Kuann. Remember me well. You muste or else you¡¯ll be embarrassing Count Peacegranter.¡± Ji Tianqing spoke rapidly. Qianye failed to stop her before she had blurted everything out.

    The middle-aged man was trembling from anger. He pointed at Ji Tianqing and said, ¡°Good, what a bold Li Kuann! I won¡¯t bicker with you today out of consideration for General Qianye. Just wait and see!¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll be waiting!¡± Ji Tianqing cried out while stomping her feet.

    The middle-aged man said angrily, ¡°General Qianye, you must control your subordinate well!¡±

    Qianye had no choice but to reply, ¡°This... she¡¯s my aide, not a subordinate.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference!?¡± the middle-aged man replied. He then cupped his hands at Qianye and said, ¡°General, about tomorrow¡¯s appointment, I hope you¡¯ll be present.¡±

    Qianye said helplessly, ¡°I¡¯m afraid tomorrow night is not a good time. The fourth young noble requires my presence for a military discussion.¡±

    The middle-aged man said in surprise, ¡°Fourth young noble? Do you mean His Excellency Zhao Jundu?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression became entirely different. ¡°Then, general definitely cannot spare the time. I¡¯lle again another day to arrange a different time. How about it?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely attend another day.¡±

    The middle-aged man left in satisfaction.

    After Qianye closed the courtyard doors, Ji Tianqing sized him up from head to toe and said, ¡°How unexpected, you look so honest yet weaved such a smooth lie. You¡¯re a natural at this!¡±

    Qianye smiled wryly. ¡°I only wanted to make him leave. Just who is Count Peacegranter? Howe I¡¯ve never heard of him before?¡±

    Ji Tianqing pouted. ¡°Me neither! Who knows which tiny ce they popped up from.¡±

    The emergence of such a matter baffled Qianye. Why would this Count Peacegranter suddenly want to arrange a marriage with him? Moreover, the attitude was so urgent and fiery¡ªthey had even forgone what little bit of aloofness that a noble family should have. Judging from his designation, he should be a regional count at least.

    Within the departing convoy, the middle-aged man¡¯s temper hadn¡¯t yet died down. He kept on shouting, ¡°Too insolent! A mere major dares to act like this! Is there such a thing as etiquette andw here? My anger won¡¯t subside if we don¡¯t take down that Li Kuann!¡±

    One of the advisors in the car said after some thought, ¡°The 17th army corps¡¯ main camp is not far from Jingtang. Li Kuann, this name sounds quite familiar, could she be rted to the Li family?¡±

    The middle-aged man was surprised, but he refused to ept the possibility. ¡°I know a lot of people from the Li family, including a fair number of their young nobles and misses. I¡¯ve never heard of such a person before. She¡¯s just an aide, how high can her position be?¡±

    The people beside him echoed the sentiment. Someone immediately suggested a n to deal with Li Kuann. It was just that everyone tacitly avoided mentioning the 17th army corps and Qianye. Neither the former nor thetter was an entity Count Peacegranter could easily provoke.

    Within the courtyard, Qianye and Ji Tianqing were seated across one another and drinking tea. One had to admit that Ji Tianqing was truly aplished in the art of making tea. The beverage she had produced was as clear as water but suffused with a distant fragrance. A sip of it sent Qianye into a vacant daze. He only knew it was delicious but couldn¡¯t quite point out how so.

    An entire pot only yielded two cups, but the finished drinks left a rich aftertaste. Qianye didn¡¯t ask how valuable this tea was, lest he invites more emotional distress.

    After imbibing a cup of tea, Qianye remained silent with his eyes closed. The fragrance was almost tangible and was coursing through his body. Everywhere it went, his origin power in the vicinity would increase in purity¡ªthis astonishing tea actually had the effect of refining origin power! It was just that the energy within Qianye¡¯s body had already been condensed by the Glory and Mystery chapters, so there wasn¡¯t much room for improvement. The miraculous effect of this cup of tea wasn¡¯t as powerful as the Song n Ancient Scroll, either, so there was little effect on Qianye, if any.

    Momentster, the tea fragrance dispersed and Qianye opened his eyes. He felt a sudden jolt in his chest as he involuntarily blew out a mouthful of air. This lingering breath condensed in the air and shot out like an arrow. It was extremely pure with specks of gold within it, and actually filled the room with fragrance. This was a characteristic of daybreak origin power that had been purified to the extreme.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes lit up as she stared at Qianye like a monster.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body felt rxed after exhaling, and his origin power seemed to be even more active than before.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Did you know, those who spit out grey energy after drinking this tea can be considered geniuses with boundless potential, people worthy of all-out grooming. You, you actually spat out a mouthful of Venus Dawn! I really want to cut you open and see what you¡¯re made of inside.¡±

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. This mysterious fellow possessed astonishingbat strength and endless tricks up her sleeve. She really might do what she said just now.

    Qianye fiddled with the teacup, the walls of which were as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing, and muttered, ¡°Tianqing, I don¡¯t know who you are and where you¡¯re from, and it¡¯s fine for me not to ask. But can¡¯t you let me see your real appearance?¡±

    Ji Tianqing broke into augh. ¡°I can¡¯t even tell you about my background, much less show you my appearance. I might just scare you because I¡¯m too ugly. Just treat me as a little major.¡±

    ¡°How can that be? But, whatever, do as you wish.¡± Qianye stood up and left, shaking his head all the while.

    He had already thought things through. Ji Tianqing¡¯s identity was definitely astonishing, and she seemed to be somewhat rted to Li Kuann. There was no way the Zhao n and Zhao Jundu wouldn¡¯t know about such a personing to Indomitable. That being said, there should be no problem with her background since they had allowed her to move freely.

    Qianye simply set this matter aside because the more important matter at hand was to cultivate hisbat arts. With the battle poised to resume at any given moment, every minute and every second was a valuablemodity.

    Qianye walked into the courtyard with East Peak in hand and moved a couple of chairs over to act as obstructions. Then, he focused his attention and power into a gradual thrust.

    Ji Tianqing was in high spirits after seeing Qianye practicing his sword. Sheid out a table in the courtyard, replete with snacks and drinks, and proceeded to watch Qianye train. Her attitude was serious, almost as though she were watching an important y.

    Qianye¡¯s willpower was firm. He naturally paid no attention to the disturbance and merely ignored her existence during his practice.

    After watching a couple of moves, Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re trying to unravel the Li family¡¯s swift de? This, I like!¡±

    She was no longer calm at the mention of breaking the Li family¡¯s sword arts. She quickly abandoned her food, jumped into the field, and began studying how to unravel the move with Qianye.

    Ji Tianqing was highly knowledgeable and knew a little bit about every family¡¯s secret arts, especially the Jingtang Li Family¡¯s secret sword techniques. Moreover, her line of thought was bold, imaginative, and full of clever ideas. With her participation, Qianye¡¯s speed of unraveling the technique sped up significantly. At this rate, he would be able to somewhat deal with Li Kuann¡¯s strike within a couple of days.

    A cold voice arrived from outside the courtyard just as the two were engrossed in their practice. ¡°If you have so much time, why not use it against the dark races instead?¡±

    Qianye nced over in astonishment and saw Li Kuann turning away with a frosty expression.

    Ji Tianqing added to the confusion by shouting, ¡°Dealing with foreign aggression requires internal peace! Better eliminate a scourge like you first!¡±

    Li Kuann was evidently shaken, but she managed to control herself and left without attacking.

    Qianye sighed internally. Comparatively, Ji Tianqing seemed more of a cmity than Li Kuann. It was just that he could only think this and not say it out loud.

    The night went by analyzing the sword. The sun had just risen when the courtyard doors were kicked open and in walked Zhao Yuying, apanied by unbridledughter.

    The two sword practitioners turned to nce at her at the same time.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression changed rapidly upon seeing Ji Tianqing. ¡°Howe it¡¯s you!?¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression turned odd. She took a step and hid behind Qianye, saying, ¡°You¡¯re mistaken, it¡¯s not me.¡±

    ¡°Who can it be if not you? Ah?¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s mouth was agape as she gazed at the girl who had emerged again from behind Qianye. Thetter had transformed into someone else entirely and was now wearing the face of a young, delicate girl.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression was a mixture of puzzlement and delight. ¡°Fine, fine, it¡¯s not you. Qianye,e here.¡±

    Following his arrival, Zhao Yuying asked Qianye in a whisper, ¡°How did you get involved with her?¡±

    ¡°How should I know? She appeared out of nowhere to report in as my aide-de-camp and even wrote up an appointment paper on the spot,¡± Qianye said innocently.

    Zhao Yuying looked at him with eyes full of sympathy. ¡°So it¡¯s like that! Then this sister can¡¯t help you. Take care of yourself! One more thing...¡±

    She lowered her voice once more and said mysteriously, ¡°Remember, do not drink with her no matter what!¡±

    Qianye nced speechlessly at Zhao Yuying. At such a distance, Ji Tianqing could hear her no matter how much she lowered her voice. It seemed more like she was pushing the two into a drinkingpetition instead. But Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t a fool¡ªhow could she fall for such an obvious trick?

    After saying this, Zhao Yuying said to Ji Tianqing, ¡°Okay, I did not see you, you did not see me.¡±

    Thetter nodded immediately, ¡°Of course! See youter!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be best if we never meet again!¡± Zhao Yuying mumbled as she left, filling Qianye¡¯s heart with a sensation of being abandoned to his fate.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes were filled with a dreadful glow after Zhao Yuying had left. ¡°It sounds like your alcohol tolerance is higher than mine?¡±

    ¡°How can that be!?¡± Qianye denied it immediately and decisively. He really didn¡¯t want to provoke Ji Tianqing. Regarding alcohol, Qianye had never experienced beingpletely drunk, but drinking a lot was still ufortable. He would usually feel strange after overconsumption and do things he normally wouldn¡¯t.

    However, Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t so easily convinced. She patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°We drink tonight! It¡¯s settled, call Yuying and the others over as witnesses.¡±

    ¡°I have something I need to do tonight.¡± He grasped at whatever he could despite knowing the futility.

    With a shake of her left hand, an empty military order appeared in her grasp. ¡°Tonight¡¯s mission is to drink! Do I need to issue a military order?¡±

    What else could he say? There was nothing he could do except resign himself to fate.

    It was at this time that Wei Potian¡¯s voice rang out from outside the courtyard. This fellow was full of vigor¡ªhis voice had arrived even before the person had appeared. ¡°Qianye! You awake? You have ns tonight? Scrap them even if you do! Come with me and I¡¯ll introduce you to some beautiful girls! How¡¯s that? Your brother is wonderful, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    Soon, a killing intent arose in the courtyard.

 Chapter 674: We Drink Tonight!

    [V6C204 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Qianye¡¯s senses were sharp, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Wei Potian. How could he, in his high spirits, sense the subtle changes in the surrounding? He stepped into the courtyard whileughing loudly. Very quickly, his guffaw came to a screeching halt as he stared at Ji Tianqing with a vacant expression.

    Thedy had never moved from her ce, but she did not exist at all in Wei Potian¡¯s perception. It was still the same even when they were standing face to face. This kind of sensation was almost illusory.

    Wei Potian rubbed the back of his head. Then, he actually closed his eyes, rubbed them, and opened them again. This time, he didn¡¯t just see Ji Tianqing but could also sense her existence perfectly well. Whether it was in his eyes or perception, Ji Tianqing was just an ordinary major with a mediocre foundation. He even suspected she had been promoted as an exception.

    He rubbed his eyes hard, but this ordinary-looking Ji Tianqing was still standing there just as before. Her appearance was fairly ordinary¡ªdelicate and pretty but not exactly beautiful. There wasn¡¯t anything outstanding about her cultivation, either. The peculiarity from just now was nowhere to be found.

    This time, Wei Potian was baffled. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me I¡¯m seeing things? I slept quite wellst night.¡±

    Unable to bear it any longer, Qianye dragged the man into the courtyard and pushed him into a chair. ¡°What are you doing here without recuperating obediently?¡±

    ¡°This daddy¡¯s wounds have healed long ago. How can this little injury hinder me? It¡¯s just that my movements aren¡¯t very smooth yet. It doesn¡¯t affect anything.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Even your movements are strained. Go back and recuperate well. We¡¯ll talk more after a couple of days!¡±

    ¡°Recuperate my ass! I¡¯m going to get sick from the boredom. I¡¯m going to get moldy if I don¡¯t drink. You¡¯re not allowed to go anywhere tonight, you must drink with me. I¡¯ll introduce you to some beautifuldies. They¡¯ve wanted to know you for a long time! And all of them are young misses from aristocratic families!¡±

    Growing increasingly excited as he spoke, Wei Potianpletely ignored Qianye¡¯s expression. He grabbed thetter¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Heh, heh! This time I can finally let you have a taste of what I went through back then!¡±

    It was at this time that Ji Tianqing suddenly ¡°appeared¡± in Wei Potian¡¯s vision. Moreover, her existence grew extremely strong and became almost impossible to ignore, immediately grabbing Wei Potian¡¯s attention.

    The fellow felt that something was wrong, but had no idea what it was. He said to Qianye, ¡°She is...¡±

    ¡°My aide-de-camp dispatched by the military department,¡± Qianye exined thus, hoping Wei Potian would understand the illogical part in all this.

    ¡°Aide? Your aide? A mere major!?¡± Wei Potian threw Qianye¡¯s painstaking effort down the drain.

    ¡°Ah, eh?¡± Ji Tianqing smiled harmlessly and even looked a bit wronged¡ªit was almost as though she was frightened of Wei Potian.

    Qianye sighed in secret and reached for East Peak¡¯s hilt. He was prepared to engage in a big fight if he had to, on the off chance that Ji Tianqing suddenly attacked. Qianye already had a fair understanding of her strength after sparring with her for some time.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s most terrifying aspect was her secret art¡ªit was both wondrous and extremely powerful. In terms of grade, it was far superior to any inherited art Qianye had ever seen. Qianye might be able to take advantage of his powerful physique to endure a sudden attack from her, but Wei Potian definitely couldn¡¯t.

    Just as Qianye was in an entirely guarded state, Wei Potian suddenly reached out and patted the girl¡¯s shoulder, saying in a sympathetic voice, ¡°How can a little major be this fellow¡¯s aide? I don¡¯t think this is a good position. This bastard fights like there¡¯s no tomorrow, you won¡¯t survive long if you follow him! Not to mention a major, even a major general like me was nearly killed.¡±

    His boasting was truly a bit overboard, and Qianye couldn¡¯t help but set him back a bit. ¡°Aren¡¯t you still some distance away from being a major general?¡±

    Wei Potian kept up his big talk. ¡°Just one step away, I can cross over anytime.¡±

    What could Qianye say in the face of Wei Potian¡¯s heroism when thetter was treating a promotion like eating and drinking? After a heroic speech, the fellow said to Ji Tianqing, ¡°This position is simply courting death, you can¡¯t stand here for long. How about this? We seem to be fated. You cane to me, and I¡¯ll secure a less dangerous post for you in the Wei n¡¯s private army. Your origin power is fairly mediocre and sparse, definitely not suited for the front lines.¡±

    This plot twist was too sudden. Ji Tianqing was momentarily startled and could no longerunch that killing move she had been preparing just now. She suddenly performed a smiling salute and said, ¡°Many thanks to the Wei n heir!¡±

    ¡°How did you know who I am?¡± Wei Potian couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    ¡°You¡¯re so famous, who wouldn¡¯t know you? It¡¯s very normal that you don¡¯t know me. It¡¯s enough that I know you.¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head, feeling that this major was quite cute. Heughed out loud and said, ¡°Ah, is this daddy here so famous? Well, that¡¯s not impossible. Hehe, Hahahahaha!¡±

    After the dumbugh, Wei Potian pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Enough with the rubbish, we drink tonight!¡±

    ¡°Wait, I have something to do tonight.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s settled!¡± Wei Potian thus swaggered off.

    After the man left, Ji Tianqing also smacked Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said in an unquestionable tone, ¡°We drink tonight!¡±

    Qianye shook his head helplessly. It would seem the night¡¯s activity was a cmity he simply couldn¡¯t escape.

    At Indomitable¡¯s airship port, a rather magnificent looking airship was in a slow descent. There were numerous traces of damage to the vessel¡¯s body. Apparently, its journey here wasn¡¯t all that peaceful.

    The moment this airshipnded, an officer came up and checked the family emblem imprint. After the registration procedure, he said to the middle-aged man who had just walked out of the airship, ¡°Is Marquis Smallmountain doing well? If it wasn¡¯t for the elder saving me back then, I wouldn¡¯t be here today.¡±

    The middle-aged man replied with a smile, ¡°The elderly marquis is doing quite well. He¡¯s been cultivating single-mindedly these days in hopes of breaking through a major bottleneck. That¡¯s why I was sent to escort the young miss in his stead.¡±

    The Zhao n officer asked curiously, ¡°This is a ce of war. Whatever shall we do if something happens to the young miss?¡±

    ¡°The business here is important, so we have toe even despite the perils.¡±

    The middle-aged man wasn¡¯t willing to say anymore. The Zhao n officer could only let it be although he was still quite curious.

    Eventually, the middle-aged man and his entourage went on their way and his airship was towed to its parking spot. At this moment, another airship issued anding signal. The officer¡¯s eyesight was keen enough to see the family emblem on the vessel. ¡°Count Yian? Howe he¡¯s here too?¡±

    At this moment, Song Zining was in his office, reading a report with a deep frown on his face. ¡°Marquis Smallmountain and Count Yian are also here? What kind of liveliness are they here for?¡±

    For many years, Marquis Smallmountain had been in secluded training in order to break through to the divine champion rank. He simply paid no heed to the matters of the mundane world. Meanwhile, Count Yian was a regional count who was supposed to be upied in a fierce war against the dark races¡ªhe couldn¡¯t even spare any troops for the void continent battle. It was probably not a coincidence that these two forces had arrived in quick session.

    Song Zining flipped through even more reports and saw that a total of nine minor aristocratic families hade to the floating continent, with even more scheduled to arrive in theing days.

    The seventh young master studied the information regarding these families over and over before putting the documents back on the table. He muttered to himself with a frown, ¡°Could they be here for that? Just who leaked this information?¡±

    At this moment, a shadow flitted past his window. Yet another airship was descending slowly toward the airship port.

    Simrly, a shadow spread across Song Zining¡¯s heart.

    The vast wilderness of the floating continent was no longer as deste as in the past as arge patch of fortresses rose up around Indomitable. Those giant workshops the Zhao n had set up beforehand yed an important role, bringing to life the distinctrge-scale production that the Zhao n was known for. They churned out a steady stream of basicponents required for the construction of defensive structures and delivered them to all the construction sites. This gave an exponential boost to their working speed.

    At present, even the aristocratic families who harbored grudges against the Zhao n couldn¡¯t help but admit that thetter had quite the foresight. While everyone was busy iming cities andnd on the frontlines, they had been constructing fortifications and production lines in the rear. Without these giant workshops, the fortress clusters wouldn¡¯t have beenpleted so quickly.

    The dark race army contracted to the borders of the wilderness after suffering defeat in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands. They retreated almost up to the point where they had started chasing the Zhang n army and reorganized for several days before advancing once more.

    Although the great dark race army had begun moving forward, it was still far away from Indomitable. Their small units made up of independent experts, however, had already reached the vicinity to scout and harass¡ªsigns of their activity could be found everywhere.

    A frail, ghost-like figure swept through the undtingndscape of the wilderness. Just as she was running past a yellowed bush, a werewolf suddenly rushed out and bit at her neck!

    The young girl leaned forward and passed right by the werewolf¡¯s bite before sprinting ahead. Meanwhile, the werewolf staggered as though he were drunk¡ªhe struggled for a good while before falling to the ground, blood pouring out from below his copsed body.

    The girl kept on running as before, but there was a trace of blood on her disproportionatelyrge cleaver.

    She looked back time and again as she fled, her face full of terror. As she ran on and on, she took a sharp turn around a giant rock and vanished behind it. She appeared, momentster, over a thousand meters away, her shadow so faint that only a patch of haziness remained. There, she changed directions once more and faded away into the distance.

    The only one who could flee in such an eerie manner was, of course, Bai Kongzhao. At the moment, her face was pale, and her clothes were tattered. The visible portion of her legs was filled with scratches and wounds. Apparently, she had been running in quite a miserable state without any opportunity to rest.

    That werewolf wasn¡¯t the only one in the wilderness. There were quite a few dark race members scattered throughout the area. Those with sharp senses would asionally sense Bai Kongzhao and quickly reveal their desire to hunt her down. This wasn¡¯t normal because Bai Kongzhao would usually emit a faintly discernible aura of terror that intimidated most of the dark races.

    Now, though, she no longer dared to release her aura of massacre and had no choice but to endure the harassment of the dark races. Apparently, she was so terrified of her assant that she didn¡¯t dare expose even a little bit of her aura, lest she be found out. She was also exhausted and could no longer maintain a perfect state of concealment.

    Just like that, she snaked haphazardly across the wilderness.

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s figure suddenly appeared in the wilderness just as Bai Kongzhao disappeared over the horizon. With the Red Spider Lily in her grasp, she was humming a rxed and delightful tune as she flew at a steady pace.

    She was flying straight forward at first but soon made a sharp turn toward a different direction. Coincidentally, Bai Kongzhao also changed directions far off in the distance.

 Chapter 675: The Distance Between Wolf and Dog

    [V6C205 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    If one were to listen carefully, he would hear that Zhao Ruoxi was singing, ¡°Little white sheep,e into my bowl...¡±

    She was like a youngdy on a spring tour, floating unobstructed through the wilderness. Red spider lilies would appear and wither one after the other, each of them propelling her forward.

    Off in the distance, Bai Kongzhao was still running rapidly. Her speed hadn¡¯t decreased in the slightest, and her concealment capabilities have been brought out to their extremes. She would sprint at full speed once the environment was suitable and go into concealment when it was easier to leave traces. Her innate talents for flight used to render Qianye helpless, often leaving him with nothing to show after chasing her over long distances.

    Yet this time, she had met her bane. She couldn¡¯t deceive her assant no matter how she hid or disguised herself, and as soon as she changed directions, Zhao Ruoxi would sense it and give chase ordingly.

    Thetter wasn¡¯t fast. Theck of origin power made her physical body inherently weak and unable to withstand the intense fluctuations in speed. However, her chase¡ªunder the support of the Red Spider Lily¡ªnever stopped. And once Zhao Ruoxi had locked onto a target, her terrifying intuition would always point her in the right direction, never losing track of the prey.

    This was an ability born of theherworld river¡ªall living beings would ultimately return to the embrace of its waters, regardless of their changing fates.

    At this moment, the wilderness had already be the dark race¡¯s yground. Numerous dark race experts were hiding in all corners of the ins, waiting for opportunities to pounce at passing humans. Many of them would feel a deep-seated chill in their souls upon seeing the flowery river and instinctively avoid her.

    However, there were always a couple of them who were not afraid of death. These were existences at the lowest-level among those roaming the wilderness. They simply couldn¡¯t experience how terrifying theherworld flowers were. Thest thing they saw as they pounced at Zhao Ruoxi was a withering red spider lily¡ªjust before their lives left them.

    Even the most berserk of dark race members would sober up in the face of arade¡¯s corpse. As such, a wide area around Zhao Ruoxi became devoid of all dark races.

    Bai Kongzhao had done everything in her power, but the distance between her and Zhao Ruoxi only inched closer. She was indeed extremely talented in many areas, but she was still a long ways from being able to contend against the Red Spider Lily.

    Bai Aotu¡¯s figure suddenly appeared near Zhao Ruoxi, moving alongside her from about ten meters away.

    The woman was, as usual, d in a wide-sleeved robe and moving as though she were stepping on water. As her cold eyes nced over, several dozen red spider lilies appeared around Zhao Ruoxi and blocked the former¡¯s line of sight. Meanwhile, Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s speed also decreased a bit.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Zhao Ruoxi immediately turned toward Bai Aotu, and sparks flew as their gazes collided. Neither was willing to yield to the other.

    Without the slightest hesitation, Zhao Ruoxi raised the Red Spider Lily and took aim at Bai Aotu. Withst time¡¯s precedent, everyone knew that she would fire without the slightest hesitation.

    Yet, Bai Aotu had no n to back down. She formed a fist with her right hand and began emitting strands of sharp, needle-like energy. If Zhao Ruoxi were to fire, she would retaliate instead of defending, resulting in a situation of mutual damage.

    It was at this time that Uncle Wang¡¯s silhouette gradually appeared in the air. The moment he emerged, Bai Aotu¡¯s fist energy took a sharp turn and pointed toward the old man. Bai Aotu¡¯s expression changed slightly as she realized that this strike, no matter what she did, would onlynd on Uncle Wang¡¯s body. Thetter would surely be injured, but Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s shot would also take a good chunk of her life, if not entirely.

    ¡°Young Miss, please go on with your hunt. This servant will handle things here,¡± said Uncle Wang.

    Zhao Ruoxi nodded. ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll go kill that little slut first, and thene back to settle the score with her.¡±

    Uncle Wang bowed and watched her leave while Bai Aotu stood frozen. She red at the old man as she realized that she actually couldn¡¯tunch an attack. He was clearly nearby, but his existence seemed both real and empty at the same time, shifting several times each moment. Should she attack, her fist would quite likely strike empty air.

    Just from this alone, Bai Aotu quickly dispelled her contempt and recognized the other party as a powerful enemy. There was no telling how long a fight between them wouldst. Even if she did win, it would only be a close one, and she would die all the same once Zhao Ruoxi returned.

    Bai Aotu shouted with a solemn expression, ¡°Such ruthlessness, are you really looking to fight our Bai n?¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s position in the Bai n was quite high, and she could even make decisions regarding small-scale wars. However, an all-out war with the Zhao n wasn¡¯t something she could determine. Hence, her words were somewhat reduced in imposingness.

    Yet, Uncle Wang¡¯s reply was also beyond expectations. ¡°This servant has received instructions from the fourth young master. I shan¡¯t hold back from a fight with whoever disrupts the young miss.¡±

    Bai Aotu was startled, but she quickly sneered, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me Zhao Jundu can decide the military affairs of the entire n?¡±

    ¡°The current fourth young master can.¡±

    Bai Aotuughed. ¡°Are you trying to scare me?¡±

    Uncle Wang smiled. ¡°General Bai is wee to try if you don¡¯t believe me. You must know that some act berserk and others work decisively, but the results aren¡¯t very different.¡±

    Bai Aotu¡¯s fists trembled slightly and her face turned pale. She hesitated for a good while but still couldn¡¯t make up her mind in the end. A war between the Zhao and Bai ns would certainly shake the empire, and even the imperial family would have to interfere. Now that the empire was engaging in a war of national fate, this conflict would definitely invite powerful interference and be forced into a quick conclusion. At that point, Bai Aotu would be the source of all hostility, and the Bai n would hardly be able to protect her, no matter how important her status was. Bai Kongzhao would have no way out of this, either.

    Moreover, the matter of waging war against the Zhao n wasn¡¯t something she could decide.

    Zhao Ruoxi had already gone far away during that moment of hesitation. Bai Aotu clenched her teeth and said in a cold voice, ¡°Fine! The Zhao n better remember this, and you too!¡±

    Uncle Wang replied in a tone befitting of one who had seen through the ways of the world, ¡°This old life is worthless. If general wants it, you can take it any time.¡±

    Even Bai Aotu could do nothing against someone like Uncle Wang. There was nock of characters like him in the major ns, but none as unfathomable as he was. It really wasn¡¯t worth it for a major n scion like Bai Aotu to pit her life against this kind of warrior who had no fear of death.

    The former spoke no more and immediately turned to leave. Uncle Wang¡¯s figure also faded away once she was gone.

    A tall, handsome man soon appeared over the distant horizon, one so radiant that he looked like a big boy who had juste into contact with the mortal world. He wore a baffled expression as he gazed at the surroundings and said, ¡°That¡¯s strange. Howe there¡¯s not even a damned shadow? Where did they go? We were clearly supposed to meet up here.¡±

    This person was precisely William. He gazed over at a short but steep hill and said, ¡°It¡¯s definitely here. Where are the ckback and Sharpfang tribes? Howe they¡¯re not here yet? And here I was thinking that getting lost and runningte were my specialties.¡±

    Puzzled, William sprinted toward the small hill. He felt increasingly cheerful as he ran, especially since there was no one in the vicinity and he could gallop to his heart¡¯s content. He had raised his speed to the extremes, yet he still wasn¡¯t entirely satisfied. He simply leapt into the air with a long howl and transformed into a giant wolf, bolting toward the small hill like a sh of lightning.

    William¡¯s entire body jolted ferociously as he arrived at the bottom of the hill. He forcibly braked his charging momentum, his ws drawing deep trails on the ground as he did so. His mane was practically standing on end as he stared at aherworld flower that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

    This flower had appeared out of the blue less than a meter away from William¡¯s nose.

    At this point, the red spider lily was trembling ever so slightly and was on the verge of withering. However, it froze miraculously at the veryst moment as though time itself had stopped around the flower.

    William made no movement and only stared fixedly at its stamen with bated breath, almost as though he was afraid that the flower would continue wilting.

    The Red Spider Lily¡¯s name was far more resplendent among the dark races than it was in the empire. The main reason for that was because the other shore flowers were the bane of the dark races but slightly weaker against humans born of daybreak origin power. Even someone as strong as William didn¡¯t dare act recklessly.

    At this moment, the werewolf¡¯s entire body was in a state of absolute stillness¡ªhis heart had stopped beating, his blood was barely flowing, and even his body temperature had fallen temporarily to match his surroundings. This level of control over the body was truly outstanding, yet he could only freeze the withering of the flowers and not stop it entirely.

    The deadlocksted mere seconds but William was already having a hard time hanging on. Large beads of sweat slowly rolled down his nose as the flower in front of him once again started to sway. Moreover, several more spider lilies appeared in the vicinity.

    While William was crying out in bitterness, a voice full of delight arrived from overhead, ¡°What a cute dog!¡±

    The moment he heard this voice, the werewolf knew that it was an ordinary young girl without a shred of origin power. ¡°Oh no!¡± he cried out in his heart. He transitioned from the extremes of stillness to rapid movement in a sh, leaping forward and putting himself between the voice and theherworld flowers. This movement caused the red spider lilies to wither. His fur stood on end as he let out a low growl, prepared to resist the impact of the flowers with his strong body.

    Seeing that the flowers were starting to wilt, William subconsciously closed his eyes with a mournful whimper. He was all too clear as to the terror of the red spider lilies¡ªthis shot would likely leave him on the verge of death, and even then, he might not be able to save the girl behind him from the impact.

    However, the frightening spiritual erosion did not appear, and the red spider lilies also disappeared all of a sudden. It was as though none of them had ever appeared in the first ce. Soon afterward, William felt his mane being grabbed as a pair of small hands turned his head around. Thus did a small, beautiful face, surrounded by a faintyer of mist, appear in his vision, and those eyes of hers were so clear that it shook his heart.

    ¡°What a cute dog!¡± she said once more.

    William¡¯s hair stood up as he roared impetuously, ¡°I¡¯m a wolf!¡±

    But he quickly realized that he couldn¡¯t speak since he was in his giant wolf form; all that came out was a long howl. William was a proud son of heaven who hailed from the Summit of Peaks¡ªhow could he endure such humiliation? His reputation would be ruined if people were to know of this.

    William thus decided to burn his boats by changing back to human form and inform the other party of the truth. Just as he was about to do so, however, he suddenly noticed the gorgeous handgun hanging from the little girl¡¯s waist¡ªit was the nightmare of all Evernight citizens, the Red Spider Lily. William quickly realized that this girl was, in fact, the wielder of the grand magnum, Zhao Ruoxi.

    The roar that had rushed up to his mouth shrank back, and he closed his eyes resignedly.

    Zhao Ruoxi, on the other hand, seemed to have no intention of letting him go just like that. She pressed his head down and rubbed it with all her might. Then she tugged at his hair while crying, ¡°So cute! So cute! It has golden hair! What a nice texture!!!¡±

    William finally noticed that, despite herck of origin power, the girl¡¯s strength was nothing to be trifled with. He hesitated for a while, but after shooting another nce at the Red Spider Lily, he chose to close his eyes and let the girl do as she pleased.

    It turned out that the distance between a wolf and a dog... was a single Red Spider Lily.

 Chapter 676: The Appointment at Nigh

    t [V6C206 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhao Ruoxi sighed in satisfaction after ravaging him for quite a while and finally loosened her demonic ws. William¡¯s bright, silky hair was now a puffy mess. He himself looked somewhat withered in spirit andy quietly on the ground. That little demoness Zhao Ruoxi looked quite pure, but her strength was nothing to scoff at.

    She suddenly eximed in surprise as she remembered to chase after Bai Kongzhao. She flew up into the air, nced around, and quickly locked onto a certain direction. Then, she said with a frown, ¡°Ah, so far already?¡±

    After escaping Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s clutches, William mbered up immediately in a bid to escape. However, the girl activated the Red Spider Lily while hovering in the air, causingherworld flowers to bloom one after another. And, intentionally or otherwise, several of them happened to bloom near William. Seeing the swaying flowers, William had no other choice but to lie down on the ground, whether he was willing or not.

    Uncle Wang appeared once more. ¡°Young Miss, why are you hesitating?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi pointed in a certain direction. ¡°That little slut is about 500 kilometers in that direction, I¡¯m thinking about whether I should give chase or not.¡±

    William stood up in shock, but the words he wanted to say only appeared in the form of howls and barks. Even if he was howling to the moon, all Zhao Ruoxi would hear was a series of bow-wows.

    William knew what was in that direction. There was a new major fortress being constructed in there, one which the dark races were nning to use as their frontline base of operations against the Zhao n¡¯s fortress cluster. The overseers of such a big operation were all at the marquis level, and there was definitely a vice duke behind them.

    No matter how powerful Zhao Ruoxi was, she was still reliant on the Red Spider Lily¡¯s power. It would be difficult for her to escape if she were surrounded deep within dark race territory.

    Yet William didn¡¯t know how to stop her. He stood up on his hind legs in a rush, bit the hem of Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s dress, and dragged her back to the ground.

    ¡°Eh? Big doggy, you don¡¯t want me to go?¡±

    The moment he heard this, William felt a strong urge to drill into the ground. Unfortunately, he was a wolf and not an arachne¡ªhe had no talent in this regard.

    Fortunately, Uncle Wang was there to save him at the right moment. ¡°Young Miss, dark race activity in the area is quite high ording to thetest intelligence. The fourth young master is also too far away for a timely rescue, should you encounter danger there.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi gritted her teeth. ¡°Do we just let that little slut go?¡±

    Uncle Wang smiled, ¡°Although her talents are quite strange, young miss happens to be her natural predator. She doesn¡¯t know that yet, however. You need only return to Indomitable and wait. She¡¯lle back on her own before long.¡±

    ¡°Fine! At that time, I¡¯ll definitely kill her many times over!¡± Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes were frighteningly bright.

    Uncle Wang nodded. ¡°Next time, she won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve changed my mind.¡± Zhao Ruoxi made a surprising remark. There was a shocking glow on her countenance as she said, ¡°It¡¯ll be too easy for the Bai n if I kill the little brat just like that. Only by letting her live will the Bai n interfere, and only then will I have a reason to use the Red Spider Lily on them. I must kill a couple of batches of Bai n people before doing that slut in. Only then will I feel better!¡±

    ¡°Young Miss, this will really incite a war between the two ns,¡± Uncle Wang reminded.

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s little face turned cold. ¡°So? Fighting wars is fourth brother¡¯s business.¡±

    William was dumbfounded after hearing this. Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s attitude was clearly going to drag Zhao Jundu into the water. This evil demoness wouldn¡¯t even hesitate to trick her own brother, to speak nothing of other people.

    William suddenly felt his golden mane tighten. For the first time in his life, he felt that his silver-wolf form was a bit too shy.

    Uncle Wang added with a smile, ¡°I guess so, the fourth young master will deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go back first. I heard a lot of people will be gathering for a drinking contest tonight. It¡¯ll be quite lively.¡±

    William finally heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that the demoness was going back. It was time for this unknown giant dog to return to the woods. As such, he quietly turned around and attempted to edge away in a stealthy escape.

    Then... his mane tightened as Zhao Ruoxi lifted him into the air.

    Uncle Wang said with a cough, ¡°Young miss, this dog...¡±

    ¡°Cute, isn¡¯t he!? I¡¯m grabbing him back for a few days to y. In any case, he¡¯s indestructible no matter how I y with him, right doggy?¡±

    William had no answer, and neither did Zhao Ruoxi need one. She simply grabbed him by the mane and flew back toward Indomitable.

    Close to dusk, the many lights of Indomitable had sprung to life, painting the city in colors akin to a river of stars. With the war close at hand, this period was the final moment of peace. The cluster of fortresses outside the city was being built day and night, while people in the city indulged in merrymaking. No one dared to im they would survive the final battle, so all they could do was enjoy the good times while they could.

    Wei Potian¡¯s courtyard was brightly lit. A roasting rack had been set up at the center, with a young cow slowly rotating upon it. The fragrance of roasted meat filled the air, and the atmosphere was just right.

    There was an entire row of barrels leaning against the courtyard walls, all of them filled with strong liquor. Just from these ten barrels of intense spirits, one could see that Wei Potian¡¯s aspirations weren¡¯t small at all. He was intent on wiping away the embarrassment he had suffered during the elite corps recruitment.

    He had lost to Qianye in a fight back then, but he had long since stopped considering it a humiliation. On the contrary, it became an honor for him instead. This was even more so after Qianye ughtered a virtuous count¡ªhow many people dared say they had fought Qianye and lived to tell the tale?

    Hence, the Wei n heir had decided to seek his revenge at the drinking table, although this road was just as difficult.

    There were several beautifuldies in the courtyard, frolicking and asionally whispering quietly among themselves. They would steal nces at the gate from time to time with eyes full of anticipation.

    These girls were all lineal daughters of aristocratic families. Their family backgrounds provided them with afortable life but also bound them¡ªforming marital connections between influential families was their inherent fate.

    In their hearts, Qianye¡¯s aplishment of beheading a count on the frontlines couldn¡¯t catch up to the other rumor. Reportedly, Qianye was very beautiful, even more so than the Song n¡¯s seventh young master.

    The youngdies were currently as close as sisters, but as the time drew closer, the ambiance between them began to see subtle changes. There were now some sparks flying amidst theughters and conversations.

    Wei Potian checked the arrangements in the courtyard once more. He felt an indescribable sense of worry as his eyesnded on the wine barrels. He hesitated a bit but finally summoned his servants and said, ¡°Go and get a couple more barrels!¡±

    The servant was shocked. ¡°More? How many?¡±

    ¡°As many as you can muster. Those fellowsing tonight are fierce people!¡± Wei Potian then kicked the dazed servant out of the courtyard.

    The night was growing deep, and the time for revenge was drawing closer, yet Wei Potian¡¯s heart grew heavy for some reason.

    Just as he was staring vacantly, he felt a heavy p on his shoulder which nearly sent him sprawling into the ground.

    ¡°Ho? Not bad! You actually took a p from this mommy here. You¡¯ve improved!¡± Zhao Yuying appeared out of nowhere and began praising him incessantly. Then, she pped him again, causing Wei Potian¡¯s face to change colors.

    ¡°Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°I came after hearing you have drinks here. What? Do you not wee me?¡± Zhao Yuying said carelessly.

    Wei Potian whispered, ¡°Sis, keep your voice down. There are quite a few people watching us.¡±

    Zhao Yuying looked back and found a group of young girls in the courtyard, all of whom duly performed their greetings. ¡°Greetings, Young Miss Yuying.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was wild in front of familiar people, but she still had to keep up ady-like appearance in front of strangers. She returned the gesture and said, ¡°You¡¯re all... daughters of those counts, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The girls introduced their backgrounds in session, all of them count and marquis families. It was just that the empire was vast¡ªthere was no shortage of marquis families and an even greater number of counts. Every family was doing its utmost to expand, resulting in an almost innumerable number of daughters and granddaughters. One could tell just by looking at Zhao Yuying that she wasn¡¯t memorizing any of them.

    Even so, she was the direct descendant of Duke You and also a well-known expert of the Zhao n. The youngdies were content since it was already an honor that she would return the greeting.

    After the formalities, Zhao Yuying dragged Wei Potian to the side and asked, ¡°What are these brats here for?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re here to see Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Marriage? What¡¯s the use of that? Why not just flip Qianye over and get it done with.¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s thinking was indeed unique.

    Wei Potian smiled wryly. ¡°Sis, just think about it, who can beat Qianye right now? Much less flip him over? Even you might not be able to do it. These girls only want to try their luck, what if Qianye likes one of them?¡±

    Zhao Yuying snorted loudly. ¡°They¡¯re all weak as hell! Even if Qianye agrees, this mommy doesn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°The man in question will being soon, so we¡¯ll leave it to him to decide. Today is just the beginning. Just watch, there¡¯ll be even more in theing days.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was puzzled. ¡°Howe? When did Qianye be such a hotmodity?¡±

    Wei Potian nced at her helplessly, toozy to even exin. Zhao Yuying gave it some thought and also realized the reasonter on.

    It was at this time that the courtyard doors were opened and someone walked in. The servants at the door seemed entirely oblivious to this person¡¯s existence.

    Wei Potian¡¯s face turned ugly after seeing that the guest was actually Song Zining. ¡°Why are you here? I don¡¯t ever recall inviting you.¡±

    Song Zining had gone through countless storms, and his face was as thick as a well when required. How could he trip up at such a small trial? He waved his fan lightly and said with a smile, ¡°I heard there¡¯s a distinguished gathering here and many friends will be present. How can I note? What¡¯s more, a certain person can¡¯t handle alcohol yet always talks big. He must be trying to avoid me after losingst time. How can I let him off so easily? Of course, I must flip him over once more and let him see my power!¡±

    Wei Potian was furious. ¡°When have I ever lost to you? Hold it right there and make things clear! If not, we can duke it out tonight and settle the dispute in front of everyone! I just don¡¯t believe I can¡¯t outdrink Qianye and deal with a gigolo like you.¡±

    Song Ziningughed out loud. ¡°Blow! Keep blowing your own horn.¡±

    Wei Potian was even more furious. He instantly ordered his men to bring wine,pletely oblivious to the fact that he was being tricked.

    With Song Zining and Wei Potian standing together, the young misses to the side saw their eyes light up. The seventh young master was well-known for his good looks and romantic lifestyle. Wei Potian wasn¡¯t as exquisite as the former was, but he was masculine, bold, and admirable.

    The girls looked back and forth between them but couldn¡¯t figure out which one was better.

    It was at this time that a servant cried out in a loud voice, ¡°General Qianye has arrived!¡±

    With a swoosh, all of the girls looked toward the courtyard gates.

 Chapter 677: Woof

    [V6C207 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    A fiery scene weed Qianye as he walked into the courtyard. The eyes of the nobledies were practically aze, and neither of them showed any intention of concealing their desire for him. If gazes contained literal heat, they could¡¯ve refined him by now.

    Needless to say, Qianye¡¯s appearance¡ªinfluenced by his ancient vampire bloodline¡ªwas a level higher than Song Zining. All this time, Qianye had been killing constantly on the battlefield, and the people around him were mostly shaken by his terrifying aplishments andbat strength. They had naturally overlooked how he looked since that was the most useless thing in war¡ªit wasn¡¯t as though the enemy would hold back because he was handsome. The attacks would go on all the same, just as they should.

    However, these nobledies had lived sheltered lives and had never been to the battlefield. Their cultivation talents were fairly mediocre, with the better ones among them being at rank five or six. Further cultivation would only be for their appearance and lifespan. The higher their origin power cultivation, the longer they would live and the more beautiful they would be.

    These young girls didn¡¯t know much about Qianye¡¯s military feats. They knew he was really powerful, but had no concrete idea just how much. Qianye¡¯s cultivation and military rank put him among the best in the younger generation but not at the very top. After all, there was a Zhao Jundu above him. Hence, all of this brilliance had less impact on thempared to his pure-blooded vampire looks.

    The courtyard fell silent.

    However, Qianye felt a chill from behind him¡ªit crept up along his spine like a knife, threatening him openly and barbarically.

    Ji Tianqing suddenly appeared beside him, almost as though she had always been there. Yet, none of those in the courtyard knew how she had emerged, not even Wei Potian.

    In a moment, Ji Tianqing became the focus of all gazes. Especially those nobledies, they simply couldn¡¯t understand how this ordinary-looking major would appear here. If she were someone who did odd-jobs, how would she dare to stand beside Qianye? Imperialws were strict when it came to ranks, and every level had a corresponding etiquette to observe.

    ¡°This is my aide, Major Ji. She was directly appointed by the imperial military.¡± Qianye¡¯s introduction was simple and clear-cut.

    Wei Potian had seen thedy before and thus said, ¡°Join us since you¡¯ve alreadye! In any case, there¡¯s a lot of wine tonight. No one is allowed to leave the courtyard without falling to the ground!¡±

    Since Wei Potian had spoken thus, the others stopped doubting Ji Tianqing¡¯s existence.

    At this point, the young calf had been roasted. The chef began carving the meat, and soon, dish after dish arrived on the table. Barrels of liquor were opened up, and the amber spirits were poured into the sses on the table.

    Momentster, with the feast fully prepared, everyone took their seats.

    Wei Potian¡¯s face was full of solemn determination as he took the main seat, his eyes locked onto Qianye. This was his single greatest enemy for the night.

    Qianye looked at the cup in front of him with a miserable expression. The container in front of him was simply toorge, no matter how he looked. He reckoned not many people in the empire would want to drink strong liquor with a beer ss.

    Ji Tianqing took the seat beside Qianye as usual. She seemed quite pleased with her high profile behavior and seemed to have no fear of the murderous gazes cast by the young nobledies. Song Zining was on Qianye¡¯s right. With his position as the seventh young master, no one would fight him for this position if he wanted it. The only one who would dare to do so was Zhao Yuying, but thetter had taken a seat beside Wei Potian, one that was furthest away from Ji Tianqing.

    The nobledies all wanted to sit beside Qianye, but they had to keep up their posture under public eyes. During this short moment of dy, Ji Tianqing and Song Zining had actually taken up the best seats to the left and right of him. The thickness of their skin was truly dumbfounding.

    With everything in order, Wei Potian officially announced that the battle royal had begun. His opening speech was oddly simple, so much so that it could be summed up in two words: ¡°Bottoms up!¡±

    Wei Potian finished the drink in one heroic gulp. Naturally, the others weren¡¯t willing to be left behind¡ªZhao Yuying finished the ss as though she were drinking water. Song Zining drank elegantly, and even the way with which he held the ss was quite specific. Yet, his speed wasn¡¯tcking at all, and the ss was dried in the blink of an eye.

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t in a rush to drink and simply sat there observing Qianye. Thetter was sipping the drink with a pained expression, almost as though he were drinking medicine. His face was already flushed after finishing half the ss. At this rate, it seemed like he would more or less copse after finishing it.

    A smile emerged on Ji Tianqing¡¯s face as she raised the ss and finished it immediately.

    One after the other, the nobledies followed suit. Drinking was a necessary skill for them, so they had long since received relevant training. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯tg behind at such a time.

    The true battle began only after the first round.

    The liquor was truly strong, and Qianye began swaying about after finishing a big ss of it. Unfamiliar people were secretly delighted after seeing this, but the others only felt a headache. This was especially true for Wei Potian¡ªhe felt his brows twitching when he recalled his defeat at the tavern. Qianye had been swaying about since the very beginning and kept on swaying all the way until everyone had copsed.

    Wei Potian gritted his teeth and was just about to move forward with the courage of a charging general when he saw a beautiful girl walk toward Qianye. Blushing slightly, she looked at him in the eyes and said, ¡°My name is Yue Jinrong, and Marquis Smallmountain is my grandfather. Please allow me to toast the general. I¡¯ll drink first as a sign of respect!¡±

    With that, she finished the ss before Qianye could respond, highlighting a trace of heroism amidst her beauty.

    ¡°Good!!! I¡¯ll apany the toast!¡± Wei Potian cried out and dried his ss.

    The nobledies cursed Yue Jinrong inwardly for her craftiness. It was quite clear that Qianye couldn¡¯t drink and might copse after this cup. How would he remember who was who after waking up on the morrow? It was quite likely that he would only have some impression of the first one to toast him.

    Qianye raised his ss. Knowing that he had no choice but to finish it, he gradually swallowed the liquor despite the dizziness and returned to his seat.

    All the nobledies¡¯ eyes brightened upon seeing Qianye upright; they felt that they still had a chance. Everyone rose from their seats with the same thought and nearly bumped into one another. Killing intent appeared in their gazes.

    Just as they were locked in a stalemate, the banquet was filled with a sudden chill as Li Kuann¡¯s icy voice rang out in the area, ¡°Why did no one invite me to the liveliness?¡±

    She appeared out of the blue, d in her usual blue robes and wearing an icy expression.

    Thedies¡¯ eyes lit up and some even covered their mouths to avoid crying out. Li Kuann¡¯s near-enchanting beauty was even superior to Qianye¡¯s. Moreover, her icy attitude brought her attraction to the next level.

    Wei Potian rubbed his head and said in a vexed tone, ¡°You... this... how can I not invite you if you wanted toe? I¡¯ve honestly never heard that you liked to drink!¡±

    Everyone from the aristocratic inner-circle knew that Li Kuann had set her heart on the martial path and tended to ignore everything else. Such a person naturally had no interest in drinking parties and might even be offended if someone were to invite her.

    Li Kuann shot a nce at Qianye and Ji Tianqing. ¡°Since even they are willing to drink, this young master has nothing toin. The wine table is also a battlefield, it¡¯s not a bad idea topete using liquor as des.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes narrowed as her gazended on the icy blue de on Li Kuann¡¯s back. She chuckled. ¡°You finally decided to use the good sword? At least you¡¯re not entirely stupid.¡±

    These words brought the youngdies¡¯ attention to the sword. All of them had good eyesight and could tell that this de was an extraordinary item. Such a divine weapon highlighted Li Kuann¡¯s qualities even more.

    Some of the clever ones also discovered that Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t as ordinary as she seemed. Her words proved that she didn¡¯t fear Li Kuann at all.

    Thetter said nothing. She simply grabbed a barrel and filled threerge bowls with the strong liquor, taking one for herself and cing the other two in front of Qianye and Ji Tianqing. ¡°The sses are too small for satisfaction. Use these! Bottoms up!¡±

    Li Kuann raised the bowl and finished her drink without waiting for a reply.

    Qianye gazed vacantly at the bowl and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Why must you bring me into a fight between you two?¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°I just don¡¯t like you!¡±

    Ji Tianqing was all smiles as she ced a hand on Qianye¡¯s shoulder and leaned in. ¡°See? He doesn¡¯t like you, so why not destroy him? It¡¯s just a bowl of liquor!¡±

    ¡°Just a bowl of liquor!? My ass!¡± Qianye wanted to curse thus, yet he couldn¡¯t bring himself to voice it out loud. After all, Li Kuann herself had finished the bowl first. His thoughts were already floating about at the moment, so much so that he didn¡¯t notice Ji Tianqing leaning onto him entirely.

    Thetter¡¯s smile froze all of a sudden, and she shot away from Qianye at lightning speed. There was a red spider lily blooming where her hand was just now. Had she continued hugging Qianye¡¯s shoulder like so, that shore flower really would have withered on her hands.

    A beautiful voice filled with killing intent rang out in the air, ¡°Keep your ws hidden and don¡¯t throw them about carelessly!¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes narrowed as she looked up to find the airborne Zhao Ruoxi. The former¡¯s pupils contracted slightly and along with them, her killing intent. ¡°So it¡¯s the young miss of the Zhao n. Why the need for all this? It¡¯ll only hurt your elegance.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi smiled sweetly. ¡°It¡¯s good enough that this young miss looks good. There¡¯s no need for elegance, especially when dealing with certain people. It¡¯s not like we can eat it anyway.¡±

    Ji Tianqing froze up momentarily, but she soon came up with a retort, ¡°You can¡¯t decide beauty from just a brief moment. Who knows if I¡¯ll be more beautiful tomorrow? Right?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxinded slowly and her smile became even more sinister. ¡°Tomorrow is a different matter. I look better tonight and that¡¯s enough for me.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression darkened. Before she could do anything, however, she felt a sudden chill lock onto the back of her head. Clearly, this was the work of Li Kuann, preventing her from changing her appearance.

    Ji Tianqing knew she couldn¡¯t do anything under Li Kuann¡¯s restraint. She could only sit down while gnashing her teeth, her smile nowhere to be found.

    At this point, Qianye hadpletely sobered up after seeing Zhao Ruoxi and that silver wolf she was carrying in her hands.

    He looked again and again, finally confirming that it was indeed William and not a random wolf. Silver wolves were rare, to begin with, and one with a golden mane was virtually unique.

    ¡°This, this is...¡± Qianye pointed at William, not knowing what to say.

    ¡°A big dog I found outside. I brought him back because he¡¯s so cute,¡± replied Zhao Ruoxi.

    ¡°Big dog!?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    William: ¡°Woof!¡±

    Qianye immediately banged his head on the table.

 Chapter 678: Chaotic Battle

    [V6C208 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Fortunately, almost no one noticed Qianye. Zhao Ruoxi was ring at Ji Tianqing, and thetter was guarded against Li Kuann. Meanwhile, Li Kuann had to pay attention to Zhao Ruoxi despite keeping Ji Tianqing in check, since the rtionship between their families wasn¡¯t great. The three fell into a deadlock as they strived to keep each other restrained.

    The one with the most freedom here was Zhao Ruoxi. Seeing Ji Tianqing turn obedient, she tossed William to the side with a snort and walked over to Song Zining. ¡°Move aside!¡±

    At this point, Song Zining had figured out that something was wrong. He shot a sympathetic nce at Qianye before shing away toward Wei Potian.

    The Zhao n young miss took her seat beside Qianye and raised a ss. ¡°Let¡¯s drink!¡±

    Ji Tianqing looked over, raised her ss, and finished it with a smile on her face. Her expression, however, was quite cold as she stared at Zhao Ruoxi.

    Li Kuann also finished her ss and sat down beside Ji Tianqing. The moment she sat down, thetter immediately became more tangible, and that unfathomable sensation around her quickly disappeared. Thereafter, she was just a young girl who truly existed in reality.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s smile grew stiff. She turned around and nced silently at Li Kuann, but thetter only snorted without paying her any heed.

    ¡°Brother Kuann, won¡¯t you drink a ss?¡± Ji Tianqing provoked.

    Li Kuann naturally wouldn¡¯t refuse the toast, quickly rising to the back and forth challenge. Soon, the two had imbibed half a dozen sses between them.

    For some reason, Zhao Ruoxi also jumped into the fray and the three began downing the liquor as they would water¡ªactually, one would be hard-pressed to drink water at this rate. At the height of their battle, Li Kuann simply stood up, and the other two pushed Qianye aside since he was obstructing their face-off.

    Wei Potian was badly shaken. He quietly summoned his subordinates and had them secure another batch of spirits. Having experienced first hand what it meant to be ¡°fierce¡±, the subordinate ran away swiftly to do his job.

    Wei Potian sighed in relief only after seeing the increased alcohol stock in the courtyard. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder as Song Zining¡¯s sarcastic voice arrived, ¡°Wasn¡¯t the Wei n heir going to wipe away his past embarrassments? Are you scared already? The mes of battle haven¡¯t even reached you!¡±

    After being incited by Song Zining, Wei Potian shouted explosively, ¡°With which eye did you see me acting scared? Enough with the nonsense,e! Let¡¯s drink! If I let you go today, my surname isn¡¯t Wei!¡±

    Song Zining picked up the ss and emptied it in one go. ¡°I¡¯m not betting anything. A sure-win bet like that is meaningless!¡±

    Wei Potian flew into a rage. He sat down in front of the table, filled up a row of sses, and shouted, ¡°Come and drink if you have the guts! Stop acting like a woman!¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t even replied when Zhao Yuying became upset. She sat down and grabbed him over, saying, ¡°Speak, what¡¯s wrong with being a woman?¡±

    The three engaged in a melee¡ªZhao Ruoxi, Ji Tianqing, and Li Kuann¡ªnced over immediately.

    The taste of being red at by these people didn¡¯t feel too good. Wei Potian was self-important and arrogant, but he still knew his limits. He understood fairly well that he couldn¡¯t defeat any of thesedies in a fight. As such, his heroic spirit vanished on the spot. He raised his ss and said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll punish myself with three sses of wine!¡±

    After seeing this oue, Zhao Ruoxi and the other two reverted their attention to their opponents.

    Zhao Yuying, though, wasn¡¯t about to let Wei Potian off so easily. She grabbed thetter and forced him to drink repeatedly, while Song Zining fanned the mes from the side. Perhaps it was due to the inappropriate ttery or perhaps because Zhao Yuying simply felt that he was annoying, she also dragged him in eventually, thus beginning a chaotic three-way battle.

    The people in the courtyard were split into two groups, each engaging in a bitter fight. Meanwhile, all the nobledies were left out of the fun. In the end, these young girls, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, actually jumped into the battles on their own. Things ended with them sprawled across the ground after just a short while.

    Qianye and William surprisingly left outside of the tempest, at least for the moment. Wei Potian, Song Zining, and Zhao Yuying had all suffered in Qianye¡¯s hands, so they avoided him subconsciously. Meanwhile, those on Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s side all possessed terrifyingbat strength. They soon lost interest in the swaying Qianye and proceeded to ignore him, since none of them wanted to knock him outpletely.

    Qianye was all too happy about the respite. He dragged William to the side as though he were ying with the dog and whispered, ¡°Howe you¡¯re here!?¡±

    William remained unmoved and simply pretended not to understand.

    ¡°William! Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know who you are!¡± Qianye exposed the fellow directly.

    William: ¡°Woof!¡±

    Qianye felt his vision darken. ¡°You! Do you feel no shame! Look at yourself! Where is that William who once sought a truce between werewolves and humans? Where did he go?¡±

    William: ¡°Woof! Woof! Woof!¡±

    Qianye finally lost all hope and felt a certain firm belief crumbling in his heart. It was at this time that a soft body suddenlytched onto him from behind.

    Qianye was just about to struggle free when he heard Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice in his ears, ¡°Why are you talking to the dog instead of drinking?¡±

    Qianye was drenched in cold sweat. He turned back and found Ji Tianqing¡¯s flushed face. Her watery eyes were wandering about but seemed to be in somewhat of a daze. Her appearance had be a bit blurry, and a different face was appearing vaguely in its stead. Apparently, she had drunk too much and wasn¡¯t really paying attention to Qianye¡¯s odd behavior from just now.

    This allowed Qianye to sigh in relief. However, he couldn¡¯t help but feel pissed at William who was feigningplete ignorance. He suddenly grabbed a bone and brought it to the werewolf¡¯s mouth.

    This time, it was William¡¯s time to be dazed.

    The wolf growled with a fierce expression, but Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of him at all. He pointed in Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s direction with one hand while moving the bone closer with the other.

    William was so furious that his fur was standing on end! But his explosive temper and courage receded after seeing Zhao Ruoxi, who was still drinking with Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing, looking at him curiously. He simply turned around and made to leave.

    However, Qianye dragged him back by the mane and waved the bone in front of his face, waiting for a chance to stuff it into his mouth.

    Qianye ultimately underestimated William. Thetter suddenly lowered his head and bit Qianye¡¯s leg! This bite was extremely powerful with nothing held back, and the sharp fangs actually emitted metallic sounds as they nailed into Qianye¡¯s leg.

    ¡°You, you actually!!!¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t describe his shock.

    Ji Tiangqing interfered at the right moment, dragging William by the mane and away from Qianye. She then tossed the dog to a corner of the yard and said to Qianye, ¡°Enough ying with the dog, back to proper business!¡±

    The proper business Ji Tianqing was talking about was drinking. By the time Qianye rejoined the battle, he found that the situation was no longer the same. The people were no longer split into two groups but mixed into one confused lump. Zhao Yuying was forcing Song Zining to drink, and Wei Potian was contending with Li Kuann. Meanwhile, Zhao Ruoxi was hunting down everyone in the field and catching whoever she could. Adding Qianye and Ji Tianqing to the mix, the scene became a supreme mess.

    Surprisingly, a big dog appeared in their drinking battle at one point. William was ultimately not satisfied with being left alone and wanted to flex his drinking muscles. Unfortunately, his abilities were mediocre at best, and those left standing in the courtyard were all fierce people capable of handling several of him at any given time. William was already on his back after a single round, foaming from the mouth and with his limbs facing the sky. Li Kuann tossed him into a wine barrel in passing and closed the lid on it.

    As the battle progressed, Wei Potian, Song Zining, and the others fell down one by one. Qianye only felt the people around him gradually decreasing and the supply of alcohol dwindling. It was now taking considerable effort to find drinks.

    Time flowed faster as people became drunk. In the blink of an eye, Qianye was standing in the courtyard and ncing vacantly at his surroundings, his opponents nowhere to be seen. He took a step forward and felt something dragging his feet. He found, upon looking down, that it was Wei Potian. The Wei n heir¡¯s body was covered in footprints, and his snores echoed like rolling thunder. Zhao Yuying was resting on the nearby table with Song Zining lying at her feet.

    On another side, Zhao Ruoxi, Ji Tianqing, and Li Kuann were huddled up together atop several nobledies. It was a mystery who it was that had yed such a trick. In terms of evilness, though, Li Kuann was the simplest of the three, while the other two were more or less evenly matched.

    Facing such a situation, Qianye didn¡¯t quite know what to do. He was gradually sobering up at the moment and wanted an opponent to go for yet another round. However, intentionally or otherwise, no one in the courtyard would wake up no matter how hard he tried.

    It was truly lonesome with no one around.

    All of a sudden, Qianye remembered Nighteye in the distant ckflow City. Due to her identity, she might not be able to witness such a scene in her lifetime. This also meant that perhaps Nighteye was fated to nevere into contact with his circle of friends.

    Qianye sighed deeply as he raised a ss toward ckflow City and finished it in silence.

    At that very moment, Nighteye was reading a book in the courtyard. As if sensing something, she looked to the sky with a warm smile and sipped her tea before turning back to her book.

    Within the city of Indomitable, Zhao Jundu was sitting on the windowsill and gazing at the dazzling stars. No one knew what he was thinking.

    Ady d entirely in ck appeared quietly in the room. ¡°Young Noble, what are you thinking about?¡±

    A smile appeared on Zhao Jundu¡¯s lips. ¡°The drinking party there seems to be quite lively. I was thinking if I should go and join them. I¡¯ll definitely beat them all if I go now, haha!¡±

    ¡°Then, you should go!¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°That won¡¯t do. There will be a lot of guests tonight. How can I give them an unforgettable wee if I¡¯m not around?¡±

    ¡°You mean Edward¡¯s people? Just a piece of trash serving a penalty, you can leave him to me.¡±

    Zhao Junduughed. ¡°No, I¡¯m waiting for a different person. I can¡¯t leave her to you.¡±

    Thedy immediately became curious. ¡°Just who is it?¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t reply and merely kept gazing at the night sky. At the ends of his vision, there was an exceptionally bright star.

    That night, the stars in the sky resembled a piece of embroidery. Countless stars fell down onto the floating continent like a meteor shower.

    Every one of those meteors was a warship.

    On one of those airships, a young demonkin was standing beside the cabin windows and looking at the approachingndmass, a pale me flickering within his eyes. A demonkin beside him said, ¡°Young master, you must be careful. It¡¯s best if you can avoid Zhao Jundu.¡±

    The young demonkin remained silent for a while before saying, ¡°Since Her Highness, the Demoness, has awakened, it won¡¯t be my turn to deal with Zhao Jundu. The old fellows have already reached a tacit agreement not to take action for this battle. That being the case, who else should I be afraid of?¡±

    ¡°Young Master, you have to be careful of Edward.¡±

    ¡°Him? Heh, heh¡±

 Chapter 679: Land of Joy and Peace

    [V6C209 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Stars fell like rain, akin to an endless stream of fireworks.

    The young demonkin on the airship stared at the void continent but did not issue the order to advance. One ship after the other passed by him as they rushed toward thend. However, he remained still all the while, and the demonkin behind him stood just as silently.

    Finally, one of them lost his cool. ¡°Young Master, won¡¯t it be toote if we don¡¯t go now? There aren¡¯t a lot of contribution points involved, but there is still a fair amount to be gained. Moreover, I fear that it¡¯ll be disadvantageous to your cause if you fall behind during the critical moment.¡±

    The young demonkin smiled. ¡°Did you all think the contributions this time will be so easy to obtain?¡±

    The other demonkin didn¡¯t quite agree with this. ¡°Apart from Zhao Jundu, who else among the younger generation is your match? Even Zhao Jundu himself is a tad too young right now. He could be considered frightening after several more years, but he¡¯s only in his twenties at the moment.¡±

    The young demonkin shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re underestimating the difficulty of this matter. The humans have been contending against the sacred races for so many years and are still expanding. How can they be so simple?¡±

    One of the demonkin snorted immediately. ¡°It¡¯s all because of those vampires! If these bloodsuckers hadn¡¯t been thinking about recing us every day, how could humans have reached their current state?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless to say these things. Nothing has changed in the past ten thousand years and it won¡¯t ever change in the next ten thousand years.¡± The young demonkin pointed to the void continent with a smile. ¡°Do you all know why we¡¯re fighting against the younger generation of the human race?¡±

    Frowning, the others fell into deep thought.

    The young demonkin said slowly, ¡°You¡¯ll know before long so there¡¯s no need to hide this. The Great Maelstrom will appear again soon, and this battle will determine half the quota of people heading there.¡±

    ¡°Great Maelstrom?!¡±

    ¡°Half the quota?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why would we use this kind of method to decide the quota?¡±

    mor broke out in the cabin.

    Seeing how the young demonkin didn¡¯t reply, the others also realized that this was a secret they had no right to know. They quickly calmed down and gazed at the distant void continent.

    Airships of all shapes and sizes flitted past and vanished into the void continent.

    The atmosphere in Indomitable also became mysterious. The warning lights on the anti-air turrets around the city turned yellow. This meant that their defensive capabilities had been disabled, and it would take a while for them to reboot. Meanwhile, all of the kic towers in the city began to rumble. They began pumping out a constant stream of kic energy while spewing outrge amounts of steam that shrouded the city in vapor.

    Very soon, the kic towers reached a critical state, yet no one knew where the vast amounts of energy had flowed off to.

    Within the control room, Zhao Jundu was gazing at the night sky with a serious expression. Stars were falling like rain in that direction.

    A middle-aged brigadier general walked in quickly and performed a salute. ¡°Fourth Young Master, all turrets have been shut down and the fortress defense output has been raised to the maximum. Everything has been arranged ording to your instructions, but are we really going to do this?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s lips curved up into a good-looking smile. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Indomitable is our central military hub. The entire war on the void continent will fall into a precarious situation if we lose it. Wouldn¡¯t it be dangerous if we let those dark races into the city and they somehow lose control or cause intentional destruction?¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled as he looked down at the sleeping fortress below. ¡°How can a fortress be as important as the younger generation of the Evernight faction? I¡¯ll just round them all up if they dare break the agreement. So what if the city is ruined or even if the void continent is lost? Ten yearster, we¡¯ll be able to gain a firm foothold on a differentnd, and within a hundred years, we¡¯ll be able to im a new continent for the empire.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Jundu turned back and said to the brigadier general, ¡°This is the true meaning of the war of national fate!¡±

    Shaken at heart, the general bowed solemnly and said, ¡°This general has learned much.¡±

    After the brigadier general left, that mysterious, ck-robeddy appeared in the room once more. ¡°Young Master, everything has been arranged and the first batch of dark races have entered the city. However, people on our side aren¡¯t in good condition. Shall I wake them up?¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh. ¡°You mean those drunkards? Let them be. This also proves that we¡¯re working ording to the agreement without any special preparations.¡±

    Thedy remained hesitant. ¡°Young Master, they¡¯re really drunk. I fear there will be casualties in case of an ambush.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°If they let their guard down thinking Indomitable is and of joy, peace, and revelry, there¡¯s nothing to feel sorry about their deaths.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Thedy was surprised.

    Zhao Jundu smiled after suddenly recalling something. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate those fellows, they might give us a big surprise. Especially Lil¡¯ Five, did you all think I was treating him so well just because he¡¯s my brother?¡±

    ¡°Eh...¡± Thedy was hesitant to speak.

    ¡°If you want to say anything, just say it!¡± Zhao Jundu seemed to be in a good mood at the moment.

    Thedy replied softly, ¡°We really thought it was just because he¡¯s your brother.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s smile froze upon his face.

    Momentster, he red at the woman and said, ¡°It looks like I¡¯ve been treating you lot too well.¡±

    The woman chuckled with her mouth covered. ¡°No way.¡±

    Qianye was leaning on the wall of Wei Potian¡¯s courtyard. He had poured himself yet another ss and was drinking his worries away.

    In truth, he couldn¡¯t tell what he was distressed about. It was just that he had a certain inexplicable emotion that was gradually expanding. ncing at the people strewn across the courtyard floor, he realized he had inadvertently defeated everyone again. Surely, some of them woulde to challenge him when they woke up on the morrow.

    It turned out that being peerless was so lonesome.

    Qianye broke into augh, feeling that it wasn¡¯t bad to let loose his mood every once in a while. It was almost as though he could have a taste of the heavenly monarch realm in advance. No, in truth, heavenly monarchs weren¡¯t peerless. Perhaps only the martial ancestor or the founding ancestor would be able to enjoy this kind of mental state. Who would¡¯ve thought he would be able to garner such achievements in the domain of alcohol instead of on the battlefield?

    The liquor in the ss was soon gone. The wine no longer had any special taste in Qianye¡¯s mouth. Currently, it was only little more than slightly sweetened water¡ªit could neither intoxicate him nor quench his thirst.

    Qianye suddenly thought about ckflow City. That was his home, and there was someone there waiting for him to return.

    Amidst his thoughts, Qianye suddenly looked up and found a blurry silhouette on the wall. He could only make out that the other party was a werewolf as it had melded almost entirely into the shadows. Just from this, one could tell that the intruder was someone proficient in stealth and ambush.

    The shadow wolf trembled ever so slightly as his gazended on Wei Potian, immediately recognizing him as the Wei n heir. Thetter¡¯s position on the Evernight rankings wasn¡¯t low at all, and evenparable to Qianye¡¯s own. This wasn¡¯t entirely due to hisbat strength, but partly because of his status. As the heir of the Far East Wei n, Wei Potian¡¯s identity was much more important.

    The werewolf looked to the side and, to his shock, found Zhao Yuying. Thetter was someone who had made her fame much earlier than Wei Potian, and she was superior to him in both status andbat strength. Now that she was so drunk, this was a golden opportunity granted by the heavens!

    Bringing Wei Potian¡¯s head back would gain him fame among the werewolves, and returning with Zhao Yuying¡¯s was enough to gain the attention of the Evernight Council bigshots. If he could bring both, it would cause a huge sensation throughout the world of Evernight!

    The werewolf made a beeline for Zhao Yuying. He naturally wanted to pocket the biggest source of contributions first. It was just that he stopped after taking a single step forward. His head was swimming as he stared at the person lying below the table.

    Howe Song Zining was also here? How was he supposed to calcte the contribution points!?

    The assassin felt that his brain was not enough to do this calction.

    During that moment of hesitation, a number of powerful auras appeared above the courtyard.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± the werewolf cried out in his mind. He had actually forgotten, for a brief moment, that he wasn¡¯t the only one who had entered Indomitable. Although he was the luckiest of them all, the others assaulting the city were geniuses of their respective races. There was nock of characters with sharp senses, and the most terrifying among them could even cover the entirety of Indomitable with their perception. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t hard for them to sense that many of the empire¡¯s young experts were gathered here.

    Disregarding the racial hostility, these fellows wouldn¡¯t hold back at all in fighting for contributions. Moreover, they would harm one another without hesitation should the opportunity arise.

    The werewolf rushed immediately toward Song Zining at the thought of this. Thetter was one of the highest ranked characters and was worth so much more than Zhao Yuying. The assant had given up on scooping up all the rewards and decided to focus on the single highest bounty.

    The moment the shadow wolf sprinted forward, all the other Evernight experts in the vicinity also made their move. They had sensed the werewolf¡¯s actions and, at the same time, realized the situation within the courtyard. Although they couldn¡¯t quite see Song Zining from their angle, they knew that the werewolf wasn¡¯t an idiot. Since he was ignoring Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying for someone under the table, it was clear that the target was someone more valuable.

    These young experts had all grown up amidst battle and ughter. How could they miss out on such an opportunity? Some of them immediately made for Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying. The two strongest ones charged tacitly toward the table, one headed for Song Zining, while the other intercepted the first werewolf. The two weakest ones, however, pounced at the group ofdies heaped up in the courtyard.

    None among these girls was on the rankings list, but since they could drink in this courtyard, it could only mean that they were people of some status. Anyone from the major ns was valuable, even the pretty girls.

    The two young experts consoled themselves in such a manner.

    Just as they were about to reach the girls, Ji Tianqing opened her eyes all of a sudden. Her gaze was entirely unfathomable, almost like a bottomless abyss. The arachne gazed involuntarily into her eyes¡ªin that split second, he felt as though he had fallen into an icy cavern, as though he were a small beast being targeted by its natural predator. An indefensible sense of terror swept through his soul!

    A sharp cry of misery echoed throughout the entire city of Indomitable, breaking the silence of the night.

 Chapter 680: Savagery

    [V6C210 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The scream not only tore apart the silence over Indomitable but also dispelled Ji Tianqing¡¯s intoxication and blurry vision. After the shock, she found an arachne in its true form, trying desperately to climb over the wall and escape.

    Ji Tianqing instinctively reached out and grabbed one of the arachne¡¯s hind legs and shouted, ¡°Little spidey, where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    The arachne have always been known for their berserk strength. This particr one didn¡¯t sport a massive build, but its body was fully covered in a shiny, ck exoskeleton. The arachne of this tribe had always been known for their speed and power. In Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands, however, it was as weak as a real spider. Ji Tianqing simply picked it up and mmed it into the ground, breaking its arachnid limbs amidst crackling sounds. Then she tossed the disabled creature to the side.

    After doing this, Ji Tianqing seemed to remember something all of a sudden. She looked down at herself and gasped, ¡°My image!¡±

    She quickly retracted her terrifying aura, and at the same time, her facial features turned illusory as she attempted to hide her countenance. A sudden chill spread through the courtyard at this moment. Li Kuann watched her with an expression of ridicule and said, ¡°What image do you have left?¡±

    Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace left its sheath as soon as she got up, and its edge outlined an aqua blue sword radiance which trapped numerous Evernight experts within its range.

    The moment the blue light appeared, several dark race experts called out, ¡°Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace, why is this sword here?¡±

    They didn¡¯t know Li Kuann, but they most certainly knew her sword. Moreover, any person capable of using this sword undoubtedly knew one of those two terrifying sword techniques.

    ¡°A trap!¡± Many of the Evernight experts had the same thought, and their morale decreased sharply.

    The very first werewolf to arrive in the courtyard was the fastest. He immediately swiped at Song Zining¡¯s neck. With a force that could easily cut through vehicle armor, taking the head of a drunken Song Zining should be as easy as plucking fruit. He had clearly struck thetter¡¯s neck, but it somehow felt like his ws had sunk into mud. It was fairly difficult to even move his hand.

    The shadow wolf attacked anxiously, knowing that Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann might turn to him any moment. Yet, no matter how many times he attacked, all he could see was his w moving forward slowly.

    It was at this time that the scene in front of him warped and shattered, revealing a badly shorn wooden table and a ground filled with intersecting w marks. Song Zining was no longer in his original position and was instead standing somewhere nearby with a smile on his face.

    The shadow wolf understood that everything he had seen just now was just an illusion.

    Zhao Yuying sat up all of a sudden and roared with fiery eyes, ¡°Can¡¯t you all let this mommy sleep in peace?!¡±

    After sobering up, she quickly discovered that the courtyard was full of Evernight experts. Her spirits rose as she stood up to do battle.

    At this moment, however, all of the Evernight experts suddenly turned about and fled over the walls, vanishingpletely in the blink of an eye. The sudden changed caused Zhao Yuying¡¯s hot blood to cool down and left herpletely dumbfounded. She couldn¡¯t decide immediately which Evernight expert to chase since they had run off in different directions. All of them had vanished into the night while she was standing in a daze.

    Li Kuann retracted her de in a leisurely manner, seemingly quite satisfied after checking the blood hanging on her de.

    Zhao Yuying felt an inexplicable difort well up within her. Soon, she turned about and saw, in the courtyard, an overturned arachne with its limbs all broken. Being all too familiar with this technique, sheshed out at Ji Tianqing, ¡°You¡¯ve gone too far! This mommy can bear with you for everything else, but I won¡¯t tolerate you taking my opponent! I won¡¯t be polite if there¡¯s a next time!¡±

    Ji Tianqing was naturally unfazed by the threat. Perhaps she felt that she had already ruined her image by tearing an arachne apart and didn¡¯t quite care anymore. She simply raised a middle finger at Zhao Yuying and said, ¡°Ho? No need to be polite with me. Come, repay the debt fromst time first and we can talk.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was immediately stoppered up. Her momentum gradually deted all the way until it hit rock bottom.

    Zhao Ruoxi also woke up at this moment. She jumped lithely to her feet and staggered off from atop the nobledies. Everyone in the courtyard was a genius with eyesight as sharp as lightning; how could they not notice the girl carelessly stepping on all the nobledies? Two of them were about to wake up but were stomped back into oblivion. Everyone who had some enmity with Zhao Ruoxi felt a chill run down their spine. Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t too good, and that sense of triumph over Zhao Yuying had vanished entirely.

    The Zhao n young miss lifted her skirt and said while ncing about at the surroundings. ¡°Oh, fighting again? I¡¯ll leave you guys to it, I won¡¯t be joining.¡±

    With that, she flew up amidst a flurry of illusory red spider lilies and drifted away. At this moment, despite the wind and storms throughout Indomitable, no one dared to provoke Zhao Ruoxi and her other shore flowers.

    The atmosphere in the courtyard rxed considerably after she had left. However, killing intent spread out once more as Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann red at one another.

    The two snorted at the same time and flew away in different directions. Having already picked their respective targets, Song Zining and Zhao Yuying left to hunt on their own. In a sh, the only ones left were Qianye and the snoring Wei Potian.

    Qianye was still leaning on the wall and watching everything in silence. It wasn¡¯t because he was excessively calm but because he was still a bit tipsy and his reactions were considerably slower. He had wanted to take action when the shadow wolf went for Song Zining and the arachne pounced toward Ji Tianqing, but his body couldn¡¯t keep up with his thoughts.

    In truth, it wasn¡¯tpletely due to his sluggish reactions. It wasrgely due to the fact that Qianye didn¡¯t feel any danger from all of this. His senses at the moment were quite strange¡ªhe felt that Song Zining was an extremely sharp de that was cleverly hidden, one that would bloody anyone who tried to touch it carelessly. Meanwhile, Ji Tianqing, Zhao Ruoxi, and Li Kuann were like live volcanoes that might erupt with a gentle breeze. Anyone approaching them was simply looking to die.

    Qianye shook his head fiercely in a bid to shake off the intoxication. It was at this time that he noticed a gap in one of the wine barrels, through which a pair of shining eyes was sizing up the surroundings.

    ¡°He¡¯s awake too.¡± Qianye walked over to the barrel and thumped down on the cover, locking William firmly inside the barrel. He wasn¡¯t quite satisfied yet after doing this, so he picked up a bone and tossed it into the barrel. Then he sealed the barrel cover shut, leaving a furious William roaring inside.

    Then, Qianye leapt onto the wall and observed his surroundings with his azure eyes. Under his True Sight, dozens of powerful darkness origin powers lit up throughout the city. He picked a random opponent nearby and flew away in that direction.

    As he was leaving the courtyard, Qianye vaguely remembered doing something that infuriated a certain someone. However, he could no longer recall the details.

    Back in the courtyard, Wei Potian finally couldn¡¯t stand the mor. He opened his eyes with a yawn and found the courtyardrgely empty. He saw the nobledies heaped up in a corner of the yard and mostly unharmed¡ªthat is apart from the small footprints all over them.

    There was no one else.

    Wei Potian held his head with his hands and couldn¡¯t help but curse at the head-splitting pain. It was at this time that a loud bang echoed through the courtyard, causing him to jump up in shock. He turned around and saw arge silver dog bursting out of a wine barrel.

    Wei Potian remembered that it was the dog Zhao Ruoxi had carried over. It was just that the canine¡¯s silvery fur was stained with liquor and it looked like it had gone through a nightmare. Thinking about how savage thosedies were, Wei Potian was filled with sympathy for the beautiful dog and wanted tofort it.

    How tofort a dog wasmon knowledge. Naturally, Wei Potian reached out and grabbed a bone.

    However, the big dog suddenly vanished from his sight. Soon, Wei Potian felt a heavy blow to the back of his head and cked out.

    William finally let out a long breath and nced disdainfully at Wei Potian. He shook his mane and was just about to howl. But he remembered that it wasn¡¯t quite right and quickly swallowed it back.

    The werewolf finally remembered what day it was today. It was the day on which the appointed battle would begin. He was also qualified to join the showdown between the younger generation of the two factions, so he knew that the young experts of the Evernight faction would appear here. He had reached the battlefield on time, but the fashion of his arrival was simply too humiliating. Hence, all he wanted to do was find a way to leave this ursed ce.

    Moreover, after the battlest night, William already knew that the council¡¯s information was disastrously outdated. They had grossly underestimated those savagedies, and even Song Zining and Wei Potian were much stronger than their reports had stated. As for Qianye, it would be an understatement to say that the information on him was excessively discordant.

    William¡¯s anger red up at the thought of Wei Potian. He jumped up onto the fellow, stomping on and leaving a flurry of w marks on him. Only then did he feel slightly better. A stately Summit of Peaks member had been kidnapped by Zhao Ruoxi and bullied twice by Qianye. Now a mere Wei Potian wanted to feed him a bone!?

    Spewing curses in his heart, William leapt onto the wall and was just about to leave when he heard a weak cry from behind. ¡°Sir William, please save me!¡±

    The werewolf turned around and saw the immobilized arachne in a corner of the courtyard.

    The arachne was just about to call out again, but it shockingly recalled how it had witnessed the entire process of William¡¯s misery.

    William changed into his human form. He stared at the arachne and said slowly, ¡°I remember you. The Red Tail Tribe died in your handsst year, didn¡¯t it?¡±

 Chapter 681: Grudge

    [V6C211 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    The arachne was greatly astonished. In his eagerness to seek help, he hadpletely forgotten about this little grudge. Had he known that William was rted to the Red Tail Tribe, he would¡¯ve sent a signal immediately and asked the top experts of their race to save him. Even though he would have to pay a steep price for this, it was much better than losing his life.

    The arachne exerted force in his abdomen and bounced up from the ground, firing a mass of red light into the sky.

    But William¡¯s figure flickered and caught the red re in his palms. Then, he appeared before the arachne with a cold smile and gazed silently at him.

    ¡°You, you can¡¯t kill me! This is the rule of this battlefield. We¡¯re not allowed to kill one another!¡± The arachne was so flustered that he couldn¡¯t even speak clearly.

    William smiled coldly and said, ¡°Who said I¡¯m going to kill you? There¡¯ll be others to do that for me.

    ¡°Y-You, what are you doing?!¡±

    William transformed into his werewolf form amidst the arachne¡¯s shocked screams. He then bit the spider and flew off into the night sky.

    The silver wolf ran like a bolt of lightning. He crossed half of Indomitable in the blink of an eye and soon passed by the Zhao n main camp.

    Although the mes of battle were spreading everywhere throughout Indomitable, the main camp was shrouded in silence. None of the dark race experts approached the eye of the storm at this point, and William was the first to pass through.

    Several frosty killing intents rushed into the sky as thetter shot past the camp, akin to giant des piercing into the sky. However, William made several agile turns in the air and evaded all of them. He then opened his jaws and threw the arachne into the camp below before swaggering off.

    The arachne unleashed an earth-shattering wail as it fell into the Zhao n camp, but the cries vanished halfway through. It wasn¡¯t just the voice, though, as even his figure disappeared in the blink of an eye. The Zhao n camp remained as quiet as before, much like a dark whirlpool in the depths of the ocean, silently devouring everything that passed through it.

    Within the main camp, that mysteriousdy stood up and said with a cold voice, ¡°Actually daring to pass over Young Master¡¯s head, I¡¯ll go teach him a lesson!¡±

    She had just started moving when Zhao Jundu raised his hand to stop her. ¡°This much is fine. He was kind enough to deliver contribution points to us, after all.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°He was tormented quite ruthlessly. It¡¯s fairly normal for him to be resentful,¡± Zhao Jundu said with a smile.

    Thedy didn¡¯t insist on the matter and merely asked, ¡°What should we do with the arachne?¡±

    ¡°Turn him into raw material,¡± Zhao Jundu replied indifferently.

    Following this scene, several powerful and mysterious consciousnesses shed in the skies above Indomitable. However, this exchange wasn¡¯t between the empire and Evernight.

    ¡°Amiro! What¡¯s the meaning of this? You¡¯re going against our agreement! Are you nning to go to war with our race?¡±

    ¡°Noxus, William didn¡¯t kill your men. Look clearly, he died in the hands of the human race. Even his injuries were inflicted by humans.¡± This consciousness was tremendous and not at all inferior to Noxus. Actually, it was even slightly stronger.

    The arachne warlord said coldly, ¡°Who was it that intercepted the rescue signal?¡±

    ¡°A piece of trash that had its legs broken before even doing anything. Saving him is such a waste.¡±

    Noxus was petrified because these words were true. ording to Evernight Traditions, even if that arachne were rescued, the humiliated Noxus would dispatch him to the most dangerous of battlefields until he was finally dead. However, he felt indignant about conceding to the werewolf just like that. The arachne overlord was just about to continue his argument when the Lightless Monarch Medanzo¡¯s consciousness appeared and isted the other two.

    ¡°This is not the time to be fighting. Don¡¯t you feel that the oue of this battle is bing unpredictable?¡±

    They were paying attention to the situation at all times and naturally understood what was going on. Although the young experts of the Evernight faction held a clear advantage in terms of numbers, there were three people on the empire¡¯s side killing them as though they were splitting bamboo.

    Ji Tianqing killed enemies with her bare hands and moves that couldn¡¯t be any more ordinary. However, she was strangely powerful and anyone encountering her would be torn apart. Meanwhile, Li Kuann was a different level of extreme. The Cold Moon Embrace in her hand was unbelievably fast. Her opponents would only see a sh of blue before receiving more than a dozen sword strikes. With that extremely sharp de and her exquisite sword arts, it could be said that she was invincible.

    They could ept their performance¡ªalthough their names weren¡¯t well known, the empire and Evernight had been fighting for countless years, so these powerhouses could more or less guess their identities.

    Yet there was one more Qianye, and even these great monarchs couldn¡¯t quite see through him. Qianye¡¯sbat style was practical, unfanciful, and he was actually using the Military Combat Technique that one could find everywhere. Even his sword arts were mostly made up of basic techniques. Nheless, these techniques became boundlessly powerful in Qianye¡¯s hands, beating all the enemies ck and blue within just a couple of moves. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the ones participating in this battle were all geniuses with numerous life-saving measures, there was no telling how many people would¡¯ve died in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    A certain consciousness fluctuated in the sky. ¡°He¡¯s the one who killed Truman.¡±

    The great monarchs immediately started to pay more attention to him, but there was ayer of mist on Qianye which prevented them from seeing everything. Noxus let out a cold snort and said, ¡°It¡¯s a disruption art again! Trying to y such tricks in front of me?¡±

    Noxus¡¯ consciousness turned into an invisible spear which shot toward Qianye!

    Qianye sensed the invisible spear the moment it was shot out. He looked up instantly, his short hair flying about under the stimtion of this dangerous premonition. A tremendous threat of death descended from the sky, and it was a force he simply couldn¡¯t contend with!

    In a sh, Qianye pushed East Peak into the ground, drew the Twin Flowers and took aim at the sky. A deep, ancient and mysterious aura rose quietly from his body and confronted the descending consciousness from afar. At this moment of life and death, the Shot of Inception was the only thing that could afford him a faint chance at survival.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Noxus¡¯ astonishment had just arisen when a certain consciousness appeared in the air. It sted the spear of consciousness with tyrannical momentum, immediately shattering it!

    Noxus let out a muffled groan. Without waiting for the former to speak, Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice echoed through the air, ¡°Noxus, I don¡¯t mind sending you on your way if you dare break the rules again.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you being too savage?! The council definitely won¡¯t let it slide if you dare attack.¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied calmly, ¡°That¡¯s a matter for the future. For the moment, though, I¡¯ll make sure you never go home. Additionally, all those in the city can forget about going back too.¡±

    Noxus¡¯ vigor weakened by a few notches. He had been utterly defeated in a confrontation of consciousnesses just now. Moreover, Zhang Boqian¡¯sbat arts had always been peerless and tyrannical, usually deciding victory and defeat in a matter of moments. Noxus might be able to escape from other people, but he would surely die if he were to engage Zhang Boqian. This was the reason Zhang Boqian alone was enough to restrict several dark monarchs in most major wars.

    On the other hand, it was Noxus who had attacked first and broken the rules. There had been countless instances wherein the two factions had reneged on agreements and incited subsequent hostilities. However, they had to take the location into consideration. Currently, numerous young Evernight experts were deep in enemy territory. If these experts were to fall because of him¡ªespecially the Masefield family¡¯s Demoness¡ªthe Eternal me would probably never forgive him even if he was able to escape the ce.

    Amiro¡¯s voice rang out at this moment. ¡°This battle is rted to the Great Maelstrom. Let us not interfere since this is a battle between the young ones.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Zhang Boqian replied.

    The skies once again became silent, while the battles in Indomitable grew ever more intense.

    At this moment, most of the imperial experts had realized that there was an enemy invasion going on and started joining the battles one after the other. It was just that they weren¡¯t adequately prepared, and the enemy forces consisted of powerful young experts of the Evernight faction. Casualties started to appear in a short while with people sustaining heavy injuries and even dying in battle.

    Viewing the battle as a whole, though, the dark races were gradually falling into a disadvantage. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were simply too savage, and Qianye wasn¡¯t too far off, either, despite his low profile kills. After his brief standoff against Noxus, no one dared look down on his militarybat arts anymore.

    In addition to the three, Zhao Yuying and Song Zining were also doing remarkable work. They firmly suppressed all the enemy experts at the same level until they almost couldn¡¯t retaliate. Meanwhile, Wei Potian who was estimated to cause quite a lot of trouble for the Evernight faction never appeared.

    Since the dark race experts rushed into Wei Potian¡¯s little courtyard, it was as though they had poked a ho¡¯s nest. Numerous savage monsters were released into their midst and began hunting these experts down in all directions.

    With the gradual increase in casualties among the Evernight experts, the three great dark monarchs could no longer watch on. Amiro said with a cold smile, ¡°At first, it was supposed to be decided with a showdown between the Demoness and Zhao Jundu. But you people just had to interfere and insist on sending people over. How does it feel now? These contributions aren¡¯t easy to snatch, are they?¡±

    Medanzo sneered, ¡°As the Lord of the Summit of Peaks, not only did you not make any effort, but your men even tried to harm people from our side. You better think about how to exin this to the council.¡±

    Amiro said indifferently, ¡°You better look after your own first. If something happens to Edward, you¡¯ll have a lot of exining to do in front of the Queen of the Night.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s heart tightened at the thought of this. Edward was currently undergoing punishment. Although his strength was still a cut above the empire¡¯s younger generation, things were now different following the appearance of unexpected variables like Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing. It would be hard to say who would win if he were to encounter them. Even Qianye might very well cause him to suffer a setback. Even Medanzo himself felt shaken by the ancient aura that had risen during the former¡¯s brief confrontation with Noxus.

    He spoke no more and turned his attention back to Indomitable, focusing on Edward who was about to enter the battlefield.

    Within the main camp, Zhao Jundu ced a long, azure gun case onto the table and opened it slowly.

 Chapter 682: Bloodburn Firesource

    [V6C212 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Meanwhile, in Indomitable, Qianye had just sent an arachne flying with a swing of his sword. The strength he had applied was just right and not the slightest bit of origin power was wasted. That arachne crashed into the nearby roof, causing the small building to copse.

    The spider wanted to mber up from amidst the ruins, but the space around him became evidently warped, and a powerful pressure caused his movements to turn sluggish. Moreover, several streams of origin mes shot out from the rubble and burned the arachne until he was screaming in agony.

    All of this was born of the city¡¯s defensive arrays. The greater the damage caused to the buildings of the city, the more powerful the retaliation would be. The attacks from these arrays weren¡¯t lethal to the experts, but they could produce considerable disruption. In a battle between experts, however, even a small gap like this might be life-threatening. After discovering this fact, the experts on each side became oddly cautious and did their best to restrain themselves from damaging Indomitable, even down to its grasses and trees.

    Just like that, the fightsrgely became apetition betweenbat arts. This was clearly disadvantageous for the arachne and werewolf who were used to violentbat. These were human home grounds, so it was unavoidable that they would encounter some fancy tricks that gave the hosts some edge. On the other hand, this was also a means for the empire to protect the city of Indomitable. If the Evernight experts took the opportunity to cause unrestrained destruction in the city, the losses would exceed the gains.

    What really depressed the Evernight experts was that there were characters like Qianye in the Empire.

    In terms of strength, he wasn¡¯t any weaker than the arachne while hisbat arts were exceedingly well-refined. The arachne and werewolves who were less proficient in technique would be sent flying after a few moves and crash into the nearby rooftops. He used this method to weaken his opponents then take advantage of the situation to defeat them.

    At this moment, that arachne had just managed to stand up with great difficulty. Its arachnid body was full of injuries and charred on the abdomen, producing the scent of roasted meat. Without waiting for him to regain his footing, East Peak shed through the force field of the defensive array and cut off two of his limbs.

    The arachne cried in misery as the remaining six limbs lit up with a scarlet glow. Soon, six beams of red light shot into the night sky and beyond. He then rose into the air as if he were being pulled up by six spider webs and quickly vanished into the night sky.

    This escape was simr to Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh but a tad lower in grade. Its sudden activation left Qianye helpless, and all he could do was stare on nkly as his target fled the battle. In truth, this arachne was extremely powerful, so much so that his tenacity was above Qianye¡¯s own. A full-force sh from East Peak only managed to cut off two of his limbs, while the strike would shave off all four limbs on one side of an ordinary arachne.

    Qianye shook his head and picked a vampire as his new target. Among all the races, it could be said that Qianye was the most familiar with the vampire race. With the knowledge from the River of Blood as foundation, Qianye more or less understood all vampire abilities. Hence, it was less likely for them to be able to flee from him.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness had just locked onto an opponent when he sensed something else and quickly turned toward a different direction. There, a mass of extremely powerful blood energy was spreading out slowly, imprinting its suppressive might in the minds of all human experts.

    This was a challenge to all human experts!

    After the appearance of this blood energy, the disadvantaged Evernight experts rapidly converged on it, almost as though they had found a supporting pir. Shaken, most of the human experts stopped to look about. This allowed their opponents to extricate themselves and form a new defensive circle below the blood energy.

    Qianye was no stranger to this blood energy. It belonged to the Vampire Holy Son Edward whom he had once encountered in the central underground caverns. However, Edward¡¯s blood energy was oddly weaker than it was back then, and there was a wisp of purplish-ck energy hidden in the depths of his blood.

    The hidden blood energy was beyond peculiar, which seemed to be attached to Edward¡¯s own blood energy like a burning me. Thetter was doing its utmost to resist but couldn¡¯t save itself from gradually burning away. Without resistance, his blood energy would bepletely ignited. Hence, he had no choice but to spend a third of his power to retard the burning blood energy.

    Many experts with powerful perception discovered Edward¡¯s situation and immediately felt that it was a good opportunity. Qianye, on the other hand, recalled an ancient punishment method he hade to know from the River of Blood: Bloodburn.

    This punishment had to be performed personally by a great dark monarch, using a drop of his own blood as the firesource. The recipient would suffer immense pain and, at the same time, would have to resist the ignition of his blood, lest all his blood energy burst into raging mes. This kind of resistance was mostly effective depending on the quality of the recipient¡¯s blood energy.

    Edward darede to Indomitable in such a state and even challenged the imperial experts. One could easily imagine how outstanding his blood energy and bloodline talents were.

    There was also a different significance to the Bloodburn punishment. The great monarch¡¯s firesource would burn away most of the recipient¡¯s blood energy, but it would also leave one of greater purity for him. The entire process was simr to the Song n Ancient Scroll Qianye was cultivating, but it was more tyrannical and effective. Once the recipient had suffered through the punishment period, all of his blood energy would be refined and his power would reach the next level.

    Additionally, the great dark monarch¡¯s firesource would remain in the recipient¡¯s body after the punishment and be a part of his bloodline. From a certain perspective, this was simr to gaining a bit of the monarch¡¯s inheritance.

    It was unknown which great dark monarch the purple dark energy came from, but judging from Edward¡¯s current situation, it should be fairly easy for him to get through this ordeal. Once he had gotten through it, he could very well be a prince and the humans would gain yet another powerful foe.

    ¡°We can¡¯t let him return!¡± That was the thought of many a human expert. Everyone surged with battle intent and thought of ganging up on the target.

    But Edward¡¯s blood energy continued to spread out quietly in the sky, almost as though he didn¡¯t know that he had be everyone¡¯s target or perhaps he simply had no fear.

    Zhao Yuying mumbled something unintelligible as she stuffed a brightly colored shell into her cannon. Song Zining stood beside her while waving his folding fan, each movement causing the scenery around the girl to warp and blur considerably. He had already deployed his domain to protect Zhao Yuying. The origin hand cannon was powerful, but it also involved a great deal of consumption. She would be quite weak in the short moment after firing and thus needed protection.

    Edward remained immobile even in the face of Zhao Yuying¡¯s hand cannon.

    Someone was even faster than Zhao Yuying. A blue radiance appeared all of a sudden and flew around Edward at unbelievable speeds. Cling-ng sounds spread out everywhere like a drawn-out melody!

    After the sound had passed, Li Kuann appeared in the air several dozen meters away. Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace was trembling slightly, and the brilliance on its edge had darkened a bit. She looked a bit pale as she stared fixedly at Edward. Apparently, she had sustained slight injuries.

    Most of the human race experts looked on nkly, unable to understand what was going on. Zhao Yuying and Song Zining, on the other hand, looked quite serious. Qianye broke into a frown as he thrust East Peak into the ground. He had seen it very clearly just now¡ªLi Kuann had used her peerless swift de tounch hundreds of attacks. Edward, covered in a ck cape, appeared amidst the blood energy and merely stretched out a single hand. His fingers flicked or tapped at the iing sword with equal speed, effectively repelling the entirety of Li Kuann¡¯s assault.

    Compared to the central maze, he was now sporting dark golden fingernails that were several centimeters long. No one knew if these fingernails were natural or a certain kind of weapon, but they could actually contend against the sharpness of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace.

    Ji Tianqing suddenly appeared beside Edward and thrust her hands into the blood energy. Thetter snorted as he swung a w at her, grabbing her two hands with one of his own. The two were in a momentary deadlock, much like a wrestling match, when Ji Tianqing unleashed a sudden shout and her hands jolted sharply. No one knew what powerful secret art she had used but Edward let out a muffled groan and the blood energy around him dissipated almost by half.

    However, Edward¡¯s fingers struck like lightning, tapping several times on her hands. Ji Tianqing retreated several dozen meters with a startled cry and stood off against the Holy Son from a distance, her face as pale as a sheet. Apparently, she wasn¡¯t feeling too good.

    Edward didn¡¯t say anything, either, and merely snorted. Blood energy billowed around him, and soon, he had recovered to his peak state.

    Qianye cried out in secret at the unfortunate turn of events. He had realized that Edward would have no choice but to retreat as long as one could drain his blood energy to the point where it was insufficient to deal with the firesource. Otherwise, he would burst into mes and die immediately.

    Li Kaunn had stood aside while Ji Tianqing was attacking and seemed to have no intention of interfering. Thetter had also been hiding nearby and didn¡¯tunch a pincer attack during Li Kuann¡¯s assault. In the end, both of them ended up slightly inferior to Edward in a confrontation. Although the gap was small, they had no hope of winning.

    If the two of them had worked together, Edward would be fleeing with heavy injuries by now. But the two of them just had to insist on their principles and weren¡¯t willing to work together no matter what.

    ¡°This is the battlefield, not the arena!¡± Qianye screamed indignantly in his heart.

    Qianye hade to ept Song Zining¡¯s principles after a prolonged period on the battlefield. As long as one could kill the enemy, any method was fair game. They clearly had the opportunity to work together and finish off the enemy just now, but Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were still thinking about their prestige. This simply left one dumbfounded.

    But Qianye also knew that he couldn¡¯t influence these two arrogantdies. He could only rely on himself if he wanted to kill Edward. Only Qianye understood how terrifying Edward would be after escaping the blood sentence.

    After Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann failed to gain the advantage, the human race experts didn¡¯t think about anything else and quicklyunched a group attack. Countless fireworks lit up around Edward, but the vampire¡¯s figure flickered about and actually evaded all the attacks. The frightening speed he revealed at this point was even above Li Kuann¡¯s! No wonder he dared to challenge all the human experts on his own.

    Qianye drew the Twin Flowers after making up his mind to kill Edward with the Shot of Inception. Although it might very well reveal his secret, letting the Holy Son go would bring about the deaths of countless imperial experts in the future. Qianye¡¯s friends and brothers might also be among these people.

 Chapter 683: Afraid of Death

    [V6C213 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Within the Zhao n main camp, Zhao Jundu was opening the gun box. He retrieved the weapon¡¯s body and a deep azure barrel, which he then assembled together. His attitude was calm and collected.

    Thedy beside her said, ¡°Must we watch that idiotic vampire act so arrogant?¡±

    Zhao Junduughed. ¡°What, are your hands itching now? What¡¯s the point in bullying a sick kid?¡±

    The woman clearly felt wronged. ¡°How is he a kid? I¡¯m sure he¡¯s over two-hundred years old by now. Why don¡¯t you shoot him first and let him know who¡¯s boss?¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t mess around. The one I¡¯m waiting for is the Masefield Demoness. If she doesn¡¯t take action, I can¡¯t, either. Don¡¯t let your thoughts stray off, I need you to watch my back when the Demonesses.¡±

    Thedy whispered, ¡°There are so many people in the camp. I¡¯m not that important, am I?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied calmly, ¡°I won¡¯t feel at ease with the others.¡±

    After a moment of silence, she responded with a strong nod.

    Zhao Jundu continued assembling his gun in a leisurely manner. After locking the barrel in, he sat down toward the window and slowly took aim at the vast night sky.

    Just as the muzzle was pointed at the night sky, the world underwent an abrupt change¡ªeveryone in the city heard a coldugh akin to the sound of shattering ice.

    A certain point in the night sky quickly lit up¡ªcountless specks of light converged into a belt of light and, traversing the immeasurable distance, shot toward Zhao Jundu. Wherever the icy radiance passed, space itself would be torn asunder as it drew upon the fierce void origin powers in the vicinity. The icy light thus grew exponentially in power, its power reaching an inconceivable state by the time it had arrived at the sky above Indomitable, almost capable of leveling the entire city!

    The moment this icy radiance shot through the sky, many experts became absent-minded. They felt that this was an attack from a great dark monarch because utilizing void origin power was a characteristic of their level.

    At this moment, many experts gazed at the dazzling, almost illusory beam of flowing crystalline radiance. No one could drum up the will to resist this attack, and neither did they know how to.

    Edward¡¯s countenance lost all color. He tightened his cape subconsciously as he gazed at the icy radiance traversing the night sky, his eyes full of bitterness.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann nced at one another for the first time. Their eyes exchanged numerous thoughts in but a sh, but they still couldn¡¯te up with anything to avert this crisis.

    Zhao Ruoxi appeared silently on the top of a tall tower. She bit her lips as she raised the Red Spider Lily but just couldn¡¯t pull the trigger. An invisible and indefensible force had descended from the sky, restraining both man and gun, preventing them from moving a single inch.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice rang out beside her ear, ¡°This isn¡¯t something you should meddle in.¡±

    ¡°But!¡± Zhao Ruoxi struggled with all her might but still couldn¡¯t move or speak.

    At this moment, Zhao Jundu¡¯s hair flew about as he rose up and hovered in the air. There, he held his gun with a single hand and faced the iing icy radiance; there wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of fear in him. A world with clear skies and vastnd appeared behind him, forming myriad visual phenomena!

    ¡°No!!!¡± Thedy in the room screamed her lungs out. She rocketed into the night sky in hopes of blocking Zhao Jundu.

    Thetter merely waved his left hand, immediately shrouding the woman in ayer of green light and effectively locking her mid-air. In the face of this icy crystalline radiance¡ªwhich brought with it the might of the heaven and earth itself¡ªZhao Jundu let out a longugh and said, ¡°This attack is naturally peerless! But you can also forget about returning in one piece after I open fire!¡±

    The gun in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand lit up with an azure glow. The brilliance gradually intensified and soon merged together with the visual phenomena behind him.

    The shot hadn¡¯t been fired, but everyone knew that it would be earth-shattering!

    At this moment, Qianye looked up at the night sky. The flowing crystalline radiance expanded in his eyes and almost filled the entirety of his vision. Qianye was perhaps¡ªjust like the monarchs of both factions¡ªone of the very few people who understood just how powerful this flowing crystalline brilliance was.

    This attack, Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t take it on.

    Simrly, the Demoness wouldn¡¯t be able to handle that single shot Zhao Jundu had been preparing for many days.

    The moment he understood this point, the blood core in his chest unleashed the most powerful beat since birth.

    Thump! An intense sound akin to the beat of a drum rang out in everyone¡¯s ears. It was as though the very first war-drum of the Evernight world had sounded once more.

    Apart from the most powerful experts, everyone¡¯s hearts throbbed along with the sound of this drum.

    The night lost its color, the icy radiance was no longer as dazzling, and the white clouds were also frozen in time.

    The night turned to day in everyone¡¯s eyes, simply because of...

    ...A pair of slowly unfurling luminous wings.

    The wings upied the entire world. People could no longer see anything else¡ªneither Qianye nor the three beams of light that had shot out from his hand.

    Those were feathers, the three most beautiful and garish feathers in the life of a peacock.

    The shooting icy radiance fell into an abrupt stagnation, its brilliance weakening time and again until only a small amount of the luminescence remained. Then, it shot forward like a ne made of stars.

    For the very first time, Zhao Jundu was stunned and even forgot to open fire.

    The luminous wings behind Qianye closed up around him, covering his body like a lover¡¯s hands. Then, he continued flying into the air like aet and crashed into the flowing icy radiance.

    In a split second, the entire sky was filled with stars falling like rain, like tears.

    Back in ckflow City, the book ¡°A Brief History of the Empire¡± dropped down from Nighteye¡¯s hands. She herself fell onto the table, knocking away her favorite tea set, which duly shattered on the ground beside the table.

    She felt a sudden pain in her heart, an agony so great that she couldn¡¯t even breathe.

    The day turned back to night on the void continent as the luminous wings disappeared. Seemingly in deep sleep, Qianye shot backward and drifted to the ground like a falling leaf.

    A distant, cial sigh arrived from beyond the night sky as the Demoness spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. While she was in a daze, gazing at the dissipating sanguineous pearls, her body suddenly began to break down as well.

    Within Indomitable, Song Zining fell onto his back with blood streaming out of the corner of his mouth. Wei Potian, on the other hand, was still in deep sleep. It was just that his grip tightened on the ss he was holding, and the shattered pieces were piercing into his flesh. Yet, the Wei n heir waspletely unaware of the pir of blood gushing out therein.

    ¡°Ah!!!¡± Zhao Ruoxi finally cried out and raised her gun into the air. ¡°If you don¡¯t let go, I¡¯ll make sure you never see the Red Spider Lily again.¡±

    A heavy sigh rang out in some unknown location.

    Zhao Ruoxi finally obtained her freedom. She raised a middle finger into the air and shouted with all her might, "What nerve! Do you feel no shame calling yourself a prince?¡±

    In the ends of the void, Zhang Boqian was sitting with his hands on his knees. He sighed once more, but no one heard him.

    Lin Xitang suddenly appeared in front of him. More than half of his silver hair had turned white. His smile was still capable of overturning all life, but at this moment, it was suffused with a tinge of helplessness.

    After a long moment of silence, he said, ¡°They¡¯re still young. They¡¯ll understand when they grow up that even heavenly monarchs are afraid of dying.¡±

 Chapter 684: I Shall Return I

    t [V7C001 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Knowing that the general oue had been decided, those consciousnesses on the firmament receded like the tides.

    The general direction of this battle had been decided, but the details had yet to be carved out.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t check on Qianye. Instead, his gaze fell upon Edward and that azure rifle shifted its aim onto the vampire Holy Son.

    A serious expression shed through Edward¡¯s eyes as he subconsciously tightened his cloak. That shot was originally prepared for a showdown with the Demoness. How was he supposed to take on such an attack?

    Edward discovered that his peerless speed was useless before Zhao Jundu¡¯s gun. He wouldn¡¯t be able to evade this shot no matter how he dodged. Only at this point did he recall that terrifying ability of the empire¡¯s number one genius¡ªTrue Shot.

    The only way to break True Shot was to flee into the void before the shot was fired, using space itself to break Zhao Jundu¡¯s lock on him.

    Edward looked behind him and saw all the young geniuses of Evernight standing behind him. There were vampires among them, as well as demonkin, werewolves, and arachne. Edward, as a marquis, was the only one who could escape with the help of the void. Once he had done so, however, none of the others would be Zhao Jundu¡¯s match. Not many could even deal with Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann.

    Edward pulled his cloak tighter and his eyes burned with sanguineous mes. He stared at Zhao Jundu¡¯s gun and decided to take the attack head-on instead of running away.

    Somewhat surprised, thetter asked with a cold smile, ¡°You¡¯re actually not running away? Are you so confident about taking a shot from me?¡±

    Edwardughed wryly. ¡°Not at all. But I am, after all, the Holy Son of the vampire race and descendant to the Queen of the Night. How can I flee at such a time?¡±

    Zhao Jundu pondered for a while before lifting his gun. ¡°You may leave.¡±

    Edward was greatly astonished, but he didn¡¯t linger about for long. The Holy Son looked deeply into Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes before flying away into the dark night. The other young experts didn¡¯t dare remain after he was gone and quickly followed suit.

    That young demonkin in the depths of the void stood in solemn silence. After a good while, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s return.¡±

    All the demonkin behind him were stunned. One of them quickly stepped forward to dissuade him, ¡°Young Master, wouldn¡¯t this mean an utter defeat for us? Those quotas...¡±

    The young demonkin sighed. ¡°Zhao Jundu hasn¡¯t fired that shot yet. I have no confidence in taking it on.¡±

    The demonkin looked at one another. Apparently, they hadn¡¯t expected their young master to evaluate Zhao Jundu so highly. An elderly demonkin said in a deep voice, ¡°Why not force Edward to waste Zhao Jundu¡¯s attack? Even the Holy Son can¡¯t refuse as long as you take out thatmand token!¡±

    The old man¡¯s voice was full of malice, yet it moved all the other demonkin and caused them to echo his sentiments. A vampire who had gone through the blood sentence would mean great trouble in the future¡ªit was best to finish him off here and now.

    The young demonkin revealed a helpless smile. ¡°You have all underestimated Zhao Jundu. He definitely won¡¯t use that shot on Edward. He¡¯s saving it for me.¡±

    ¡°He knows we¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°How can that be?¡±

    The young demonkin shook his head. ¡°Regardless of the method, he surely knows I¡¯m here. Let us leave, I cannot aplish a mission which even Her Majesty the Demoness has failed.¡±

    Under hismand, the warship turned around quietly and left through the void.

    Zhao Jundu never so much as nced at the Evernight experts near him. He only stood in the air and continued gazing at a certain direction in the void. Momentster, his aura gradually receded as he returned to the ground.

    Qianye was currently in a bizarre state. He was floating toward the ground like a falling leaf, almost as though his body were an illusion with neither weight nor substance. Countless people wanted to sense and even touch him, but their perceptions could only find an empty space there. It felt like Qianye simply didn¡¯t exist.

    A number of people among the crowd suddenly moved toward Qianye, but Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann quickly overtook them. At the moment, the two were also somewhat puzzled and couldn¡¯t judge Qianye¡¯s situation. They couldn¡¯t even tell if Qianye¡¯s figure here was real.

    How were they to catch him when they couldn¡¯t even sense him?

    Seeing Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann overtake them, those moving people halted their steps and wanted to move back into the crowd. After observing everything clearly from above, Zhao Jundu suddenly raised his hand and tapped at the air. Beams of azure light flickered past those people, cutting them right through the waist! Their faces were full of shock, bewilderment, terror, and anger, but they couldn¡¯t even cry out.

    All the imperial experts were dumbfounded at the sudden development. Many people realized that these people had evil intentions, but no one had expected Zhao Jundu to be so ruthless and tyrannical in his actions. Moreover, he had no intention of hiding anything, either.

    ¡°Add them to the list of casualties.¡± The fourth young master paid no heed to the peoples¡¯ expressions.

    Countlessherworld flowers blossomed below Qianye. Zhao Ruoxi stood in the sea of flowers and gently reached out to catch his falling body.

    The flowery demarcation conveyed a clear message¡ªthat anyone daring to approach would die. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann looked helplessly at one another before stepping back. Few in the entire base would dare to stand beside the red spider lilies, and their cultivation wasn¡¯t at that level just yet.

    Zhao Jundu, however, descended straight into the flowery sea. Several equinox flowers blossomed around him the moment he moved. However, the unknown azure gun in his hand flickered, shooting out beams of green light and effectively sealing the lilies.

    Seemingly sensing the change, the Red Spider Lily cried out in Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s hand, and dozens more flowers appeared in front of Zhao Jundu. As the flowers blossomed, Zhao Jundu¡¯s movements immediately slowed down and his entire figure became t. It was as though he had been sealed in a mirror.

    The rifle in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand shed brilliantly, and the near-tangible azure radiance pushed opened space itself. Zhao Jundu¡¯s figure became full once more as he jumped out of the warped dimension and appeared in front of Zhao Ruoxi. Nheless, this exchange dulled the radiance on his rifle, while the Red Spider Lily remained unchanged. The winner had already been decided in this short moment.

    ¡°Scram!¡± Zhao Ruoxi clenched her teeth and pointed the Red Spider Lily at Zhao Jundu¡¯s forehead.

    Thetter sighed softly as he pulled the gun away. ¡°This isn¡¯t how you use a magnum.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s much better than not firing!¡±

    Zhao Jundu said meaningfully, ¡°The enemy isn¡¯t limited to the ones that have just escaped. Not firing is the wiser choice.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was clearly puzzled. She didn¡¯t understand the meaning behind his words, and at this moment, she didn¡¯t want to, either. She only looked down at Qianye, but tears started falling as she did so.

    Qianye was lying there quietly as though he were in deep sleep. There wasn¡¯t a single injury from head to toe, and even the small wounds he had gotten from fighting were gone. It was just that there was no breath, heartbeat, or any signs of life at all. His lustrous skin made him look like an iparably exquisite but lifeless work of art.

    Zhao Ruoxi was helpless. In all her young life, she had never encountered or even heard of such a condition. She looked up at Zhao Jundu subconsciously because, as far as she could remember, there was nothing this fourth brother couldn¡¯t do. This time, however, she only saw a serious countenance through her blurry tears.

    The girl was anxious because she had never seen such a solemn expression on Zhao Jundu¡¯s face.

    ¡°Life, life...¡± she muttered to herself. All of a sudden, she drew the vampiric de at Qianye¡¯s waist and thrust it at her own chest.

    Shocked, Zhao Jundu reached out at lightning speed and caught her wrist. However, her action was just too sudden¡ªthe tip of the vampiric de had already stabbed through her clothes and cut open her skin.

    ¡°What are you doing!?¡± Zhao Jundu roared.

    Zhao Ruoxi struggled frantically. ¡°That origin crystal in my body is his. He¡¯ll wake up if I return it to him!¡±

    Zhao Jundu raised his voice. ¡°That¡¯s useless!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care!!!¡±

    Amidst the struggle, several red spider lilies appeared on Zhao Jundu¡¯s body and sealed his movements for a brief moment. Zhao Ruoxi then snatched the vampiric de, closed her eyes, and stabbed her chest once more!

    The de indeed struck flesh, but Zhao Ruoxi felt no pain, only the sensation of warm, dripping blood.

    She looked down and found that the dagger had gone through Zhao Jundu¡¯s hand instead of her chest. Thetter¡¯s fingers were tightly closed around the de that had pierced into his palm, preventing it from moving a single inch. After being weakened by the Red Spider Lily, Zhao Jundu¡¯s body was almost no different from that of an ordinary person. A fountain of fresh blood was gushing out from the wound and pouring down on Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s body. A bloodstain was expanding rapidly on her dress.

    ¡°Ruoxi, it¡¯s really useless.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice was gentle.

    ¡°I know... but, what should I do?¡± Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s tears fell like rain and mixed with Zhao Jundu¡¯s blood.

    ¡°Qianye will be fine. Leave him to me, no one can take him away in front of me.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice was soft yet filled with unquestionable resolve.

    After a moment of hesitation, Zhao Ruoxi nodded and let the de go. The other shore flowers in the vicinity also disappeared along with theherworld river.

    Zhao Jundu removed the vampiric de from his palm and returned it to the sheath at Qianye¡¯s waist. He then turned around and ordered, ¡°Send the young miss and Qianye to my ce. Make sure no one disturbs them.¡±

    The moment he stood up, Zhao Jundu was once again themander, that young genius of the empire who was destined to be a heavenly monarch.

    He didn¡¯t clean the wound on his hand just yet. Instead, he allowed the blood to drip down and watched as it fell to the floor.

    Momentster, Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°I heard the Li family owes Qianye a Stillwater Rebirth, and it just so happens that he needs it right now. Send someone to retrieve it.¡±

    A Zhao n champion took a step forward. ¡°I¡¯m willing to undertake this task!¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded silently. Swift and fierce, the champion flew straight for the airship port without even waiting for a car.

    Everyone knew that this journey wouldn¡¯t be easy, and Zhao Jundu made no mention of what needed to be done if the Li family were to put off delivering the medicine.

    The city of Indomitable became solemn all of a sudden.

 Chapter 685: Path to Heaven

    [V7C002 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    High up in the void, Lin Xitang was offering words of praise, ¡°This child Jundu knows when to advance and retreat. He¡¯s gradually revealing the characteristics of a great general, not bad at all.¡±

    Zhang Boqian snorted. ¡°Protecting his people instead of killing enemies with all his heart, he resembles you quite a bit on this point!¡°

    Lin Xitang smiled faintly. ¡°Will those old fogeys really sit still if he had killed all those little fellows? It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t understand this. What¡¯s the point of bringing it up? If this spreads, people will think you¡¯re narrow-minded.¡±

    Zhang Boqian only gazed at a certain ce in the endless void. Lin Xitang also turned and left without further conversation.

    At this moment, the dazzling twin paragons of the empire seemed to have forgotten someone, and it seemed more or less intentional.

    Although the Twin Paragons made no mention of him, news of this battle spread across the empire at unbelievable speeds. Two dukes observing this battle witnessed and confirmed the Demoness¡¯ icy radiance and Zhao Jundu¡¯s peerless might.

    However, the icy radiance was actually broken by Qianye, and thetter had even inflicted injuries on the Demoness. This was inconceivable! Although Qianye did enjoy some fame in the empire, he ultimately couldn¡¯t get into the eyes of those major characters¡ªmany people still didn¡¯t know who Qianye was. Before long, news arrived from the Evernight side about how the Demoness had nearly died and her body dissipated. She had no choice but to return to the depths of the void to rest and reform her body anew.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was reportedly alive. It could be said that their battle had ended in a draw.

    This news sent the empire into an uproar.

    At this point, the name Qianye truly entered the eyes of the empire¡¯s highest echelons. Only at this point did people discover that they had no idea what Qianye¡¯s primary cultivation art was, and no one knew what secret art those three earth-shattering luminous feathers belonged to.

    On the same day, a well-groomed elderly man without a single hair on his face was bowing before the Pointer Monarch, who happened to be reading a scroll under a tree.

    The Pointer Monarch eventually put down the scroll in his hand. ¡°Steward Li has no need to be so formal. You¡¯re Empress Li¡¯s attendant and I am but an old man, no need to be so polite¡±

    Steward Li was a slightly chubby man. His forehead was drenched in sweat after hearing these words. He wiped away the perspiration and said with a wry smile, ¡°Elder Prince, please don¡¯t make fun of me. I was only able to benefit a bit from watching the empress grow up. I¡¯m certainly not that capable. The only thing I can boast of is a bit of diligence and devotion.¡±

    Seeing the eunuch in such a state, the Pointer Monarch stopped putting on airs. ¡°What business does Steward Li have?¡±

    The old man said while bowing deeply, ¡°The empress has obtained some information about the battle on the floating continent that she wishes for you to assess.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s brows moved slightly. ¡°I heard there were quite a few surprises in this battle. I¡¯ve been wanting to know more about it, too. Please tell me, Steward Li.¡±

    The old steward recounted thest battle at Indomitable in great detail. His words were soft but also fast and clear. Moreover, he exined all the fine details without missing a single thing, almost as though he had witnessed everything personally.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s expression became serious. He simply got up and paced about the courtyard after hearing how Qianye had broken through the icy radiance with the three luminous feathers, shattered the flowing light with his body, and heavily injured the Demoness with some unknown method. He exhaled deeply after a good while and said, ¡°Yet another path to the heavens!¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± The jade te in Steward Li¡¯s hand fell to the ground and shattered.

    Momentster, a frantic Steward Li finally arrived at Empress Li¡¯s residence. A clear voice came through from within the chambers before he had even entered. ¡°Uncle Li, why are you in such a hurry?¡±

    By the time he was standing before the empress, Steward Li was panting and sweating all over. Without waiting to catch his breath, he whispered, ¡°Empress, you can¡¯t me me for being so anxious! The elder prince¡¯s evaluation is a path to the heavens!¡±

    Empress Li was leaning on the handrest at first and ying with arge snow-white cat, her five fingers even fairer than the creature and almost translucent. After hearing of this, however, she slowly sat up without any change in expression, and that big cat leapt off Empress Li¡¯s arms with a pained cry and ran behind the chair.

    Steward Li kept his head lowered. He shot a nce at the snow-white cat but quickly reverted his gaze to the floor in front of him.

    ¡°This path to the heavens is referring to Qianye?¡±

    ¡°This servant believes so.¡±

    ¡°How are Qianye¡¯s injuries? Has he awakened?¡±

    Steward Li replied hurriedly, ¡°This... this servant does not know. Qianye was hidden away by Zhao Jundu after that battle, and no one has been allowed near him since. With Zhao Ruoxi watching over him, the ce is truly watertight, and no one really knows what his situation is.¡±

    Empress Li said with a frown, ¡°Can¡¯t you make a prediction from that icy radiance?¡±

    ¡°Empress, you might not know this, but the Demoness¡¯ status in the Evernight faction is extremely high. None of our assets on the other side can even approach her. How can they know what kind of art she was using and how powerful it was. This... we really cannot deduce it.¡±

    Empress Li pondered for a moment, her jade-like fingers tapping on the handrest all the while. Seeing this, Steward Li said, ¡°If the Empress thinks this Qianye might be harmful, this servant can arrange some people to... take advantage of this opportunity.¡±

    Empress Li woke up from her reverie. She then shook her head and sighed lightly. ¡°I¡¯m the Empress of Great Qin after all. I have to think more for the empire. Qianye might be a pir of the empire in the future, so just let him be. We should even give him some help when he really needs it.¡±

    The steward said in astonishment, ¡°But the Zhao n might very well produce two heavenly monarchs at this rate!¡±

    Empress Li smiled faintly. ¡°So what if they do? They can¡¯t flip the empire over even if they do have two heavenly monarchs. As for our Li family, as long as we forge ahead diligently, there will be a day when we be a major n. It¡¯s not as if there¡¯s a set limit to the number of major ns. There was much more than four during the empire¡¯s founding.¡±

    The steward replied, ¡°The Empress is wise!¡±

    Seeing Empress Li wave at him, the steward excused himself from the pce hall. He seemed to be thinking about something as he walked through the doors, but eventually, he shook his head and left in a hurry.

    Critical news always traveled faster than anticipated. Somehow, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s evaluation of Qianye had spread throughout the empire within a single day.

    A path to the heavens¡ªthese words shook the empire through and through.

    It was different from Zhao Jundu¡¯s ¡°heavenly monarch realm is just beyond the door¡± in that ¡°path to the heavens¡± referred to an inheritance. It meant that the secret art Qianye was cultivating could bring him to the heavenly monarch realm. Although it was a mere possibility, that in and of itself would allow Qianye to establish his own family. If he could develop it well, he might even be able to found a major n. Just by virtue of this evaluation, Qianye would be able to cross over the major-n threshold which countless aristocratic families could only dream of.

    The empire had enjoyed a thousand years of inheritance¡ªarts that could bring one to the heavenly monarch realm weren¡¯t limited to just the imperial family and the four major ns. Many of the high-ranking aristocratic families also possessed them. The only difference was the difficulty level. Nheless, Qianye had already proven with this battle that he was fairly capable of such a feat and that he could support an aristocratic n.

    Moreover, Qianye was able to contend with a legendary demonkin genius at such a young age. The inheritance in his hand was definitely of extraordinary value.

    In the blink of an eye, countless gazes were cast upon the city of Indomitable.

    How could the Zhao n adopt a nonchnt attitude? That very dawn, Duke You Zhao Xuanji appeared personally at Indomitable to oversee the camp in which Qianye was resting. The Fire Beacon Corps on the Western Continent also made an urgent mobilization. Zhao Weihuang transferred, to the floating continent, two of his four greatest generals along with two of their most powerful legions, all of whom traveled day and night to get there. Such a movement meant that most of the Fire Beacon Corps¡¯ elites were now concentrated on the floating continent. Not to mention the fact that Zhao Ruoxi and her Red Spider Lily was also nearby.

    Such a strict defense meant that not even a fly could get close to Qianye.

    Within the imperial military department, a handsome man in his thirties was seated at his desk, his head in his hands as he listened to the detailed report about the battle at Indomitable. With regards to time, his report was a tadter than that of the imperial family and the empress. However, his intelligence already included the Pointer Monarch¡¯s evaluation. One could see from this just how high his position in the military was.

    He was d in a lieutenant general¡¯s uniform, but hisbat strength was merely that of a brigadier general. Holding powerful office without depending on personal strength could only mean two things¡ªhe was either an outstanding strategist or a person of noble birth. From his current position, the former was more likely.

    After listening to the report, he said, ¡°Heh, another heavenly monarch? One n with two heavenly monarchs, how is the empire going to function like this? What¡¯s the point of centralization?¡±

    These words were fairly serious. The subordinate delivering the report held his breath, not daring to speak.

    The man wasn¡¯t expecting his subordinate to provide an opinion, either. ¡°Qianye¡¯s injuries are fairly serious, and the key to his recovery very likely lies with Stillwater Rebirth. The closest portion in stock is with the Li family¡¯s Li Tianquan. Send someone to meet the second elder, tell him to resist the Zhao n¡¯s pressure and not hand over the medicine. We¡¯ll give him all the support he needs as long as we don¡¯t need to show ourselves in public.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    After the subordinate left, this new noble of the imperial military pressed a bell on the table and summoned his aide. ¡°Prepare my car, I shall visit the Minister of the Right.¡±

    It could be said that Li Tianquan was in a state of alternating joy and worry in recent days, so much so that even the worsening battle situation had been thrown to the side.

    The Misty Wood had almost be the home ground of the Dark Races. The independent hunters under the Li family¡¯s employ could no longer survive alone in the forest and had no choice but to formbat squads. This had its own disadvantages¡ªthe price of increased protection was that they encountered more fierce battles.

    With the daily rise in casualties, the aristocratic families who were eyeing the rankings started to sound a retreat¡ªmore than one had transferred their fighting power to Indomitable. The defense system there was obviously more mature, and the umted forces of the Zhang, Zhao, and Song ns formed a stable defensive force.

    But these things had been pushed to the side in Li Tianquan¡¯s heart, and his head was fully upied by a single name: Qianye.

    A faint clinking sound lingered constantly around his office. Li Tianquan looked down to find that the teapot in his hand was jumping about, and the lid was striking the body as it did so. This sound was quite harsh in the old man¡¯s ears, as he could tell from the sound that this pot wasn¡¯t quite at the premium-quality level. But he had already smashed all the good ones, so only such goods remained avable to him.

    The ringing caused him to be increasingly frustrated, yet he couldn¡¯t get rid of it. That was because the shaking had nothing to do with the pot but his hand. Since Li Tianquan found out about the battle at Indomitable¡ªabout the oue of the battle between Qianye and the Demoness¡ªhis hands had been shaking uncontrobly so.

 Chapter 686: Withholding

    [V7C003 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Li Tianquan had never imagined Qianye would be able to fight to the point where both he and the Demoness were heavily injured.

    As someone who had worked his way to the second-elder position, the old man was neither stupid norcking in background and knowledge. Even though he had never seen the Demoness in person, that couldn¡¯t stop him from deducing herbat strength. This Demoness was even capable of forcing Zhao Jundu into a corner¡ªthis wasn¡¯t someone Li Tianquan could go up against.

    Yet Qianye had fought her to the point of mutual injury!

    Didn¡¯t this mean that Qianye could kill Li Tianquan just as easily? The elder couldn¡¯t help but tremble when he recalled how he had almost broken into a fight with Qianye.

    His right hand was trembling not only from terror but also from anxiety and not knowing what to do. The first thought that came to his mind when the news arrived was that he couldn¡¯t let Qianye live! If Qianye were to be powerful in the future, the Li family might not be able to withstand the pressure; they might very well toss him out as a sacrifice and sue for peace.

    The current Li Tianquan was no longer as bold and fearless as he was in his youth. He now had power, a family, and an extravagant life¡ªthe only thing he didn¡¯t have was the courage to fight to the death. That actually was the case for many high-ranking people. It was just that they didn¡¯t need to face such difficult circumstances.

    The old man turned back and nced at the giant painting on the wall. Behind this drawing was a secret cab containing the Stillwater Rebirth. The second elder had spent great effort in order to settle his bet with Qianye, and even then, he was only able to afford it because the Li family had given him a 50% discount.

    The Li family¡¯s public excuse was to uphold their family honor. No one could tell just how much of it was due to Zhao Jundu¡¯s pressure and because Qianye had ughtered a virtuous count.

    At this moment, there was someone from the Zhao n in the guest room to the left of his office¡ªthis person hade to ask for the Stillwater Rebirth. To the right of his office, however, was someone who hade to dissuade him from handing over the medicine. Thetter¡¯s identity was mysterious, but his status was extremely high. This shrewd old man had long since figured out the people behind this man.

    That lobbyist stated several conditions that moved Li Tianquan deeply. The most important one among them was that the big-shot would support him in the imperial court should he one day seek to establish his own family.

    Their only request was not to hand over the Stillwater Rebirth.

    That was the reason Li Tianquan was so torn. He had already realized that even the bigshots in the imperial court were taking action to prevent Qianye¡¯s recovery. Didn¡¯t this mean that Qianye¡¯s status had reached a level of being debated in the imperial court?

    From the remote contention between the magnates of the imperial court, Li Tianquan could already sniff out the importance of this Stillwater Rebirth. It was very possible that Qianye¡¯s survival depended on it.

    Then, should he hand it over or not?

    At this very moment, Li Tianquan really wished that the life-saving medicine wasn¡¯t in his hand. That way, he wouldn¡¯t have to make such a choice deeply rted to life and death.

    It was just that he had no time to meditate on this. A sudden explosion rang out outside, causing the entire office to tremble and dust to shower down from the ceiling. A small piece of splintered wood fell right on top of Li Tianquan¡¯s head.

    The old man was furious. ¡°What¡¯s going on!?¡±

    The secretary entered anxiously and said, ¡°Elder, that Zhao n person has started to break things. He¡¯s saying he¡¯ll tear the whole ce down if you don¡¯t give him an answer soon.¡±

    Li Tianquan was absolutely infuriated, but he broke out intoughter instead. ¡°Fine, fine. This is simply not putting the Li family in his eyes. Let¡¯s go, this old man wishes to see how he¡¯ll tear down this building in front of me.¡±

    Before Li Tianquan had even left, the entire building began swaying and astonished cries rang out inside the building.

    Within the guest room, that Zhao n general stomped down with a cold smirk on his face. He didn¡¯t even bother to look at the Li n soldiers around him. This strike was akin to a giant beast stomping the ground¡ªthe building shook and the walls started to crack, but the floor itself remainedpletely intact. This was the Zhao n¡¯s famous ¡°Earthshaker¡±. After training it to a high level, a single stomp could damage all buildings and walls within a hundred meters, while the area right below the wielder remained mostly undamaged.

    Li Tianquan finally burst through the dust cloud and appeared at the door. ¡°What audacity! A mere brigadier general dares act so atrociously here? This old man would¡¯ve killed you in one blow if not out of consideration for the Zhao n!¡±

    This matter caused a huge ruckus in the middle of the base. Dozens of spectators had gathered nearby in the blink of an eye and their numbers only kept on growing. The Li family officers had wanted to clear them out at first, but they soon found out that the people who had arrived were elders and stewards of the aristocratic families.

    Whether or not they could keep the Li family stronghold intact was reliant on their willingness to stay and fight. The single Storm Pearl was gradually losing the ability to court these nobles amidst their heavy casualties. Besides, there was only one storm pearl left, and it wasn¡¯t a certainty who would be able to obtain it. As such, the Li family people had toy low and keep these aristocratic families happy.

    In the face of a furious Li Tianquan, this Zhao n warriorughed fearlessly. ¡°This daddy Duan Chengpeng is a coarse man and my cheap life isn¡¯t worth anything. Since I¡¯vee here, I have no intention of going back alive! But I want to ask you one thing, where did you get the damn gall to embezzle the life-saving medicine that our Zhao n is rightfully demanding? Where are your Li family¡¯s prestige and trustworthiness? Are they not worth as much as a single Stillwater Rebirth?¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s face became as dark as a pot. ¡°Nonsense! That Stillwater Rebirth isn¡¯t in my hands!¡±

    But he hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Duan Chengpeng cut him short. ¡°Haha! Have you no shame? The medicine is clearly in your office. How about we go there now and this daddy will find it for you?¡±

    Li Tianquan was at a momentary loss for words. He cursed in his heart upon realizing that someone close to him was spying for the Zhao n. Otherwise, how could this Duan Chengpeng know about such a secret matter? Moreover, this man looked coarse on the outside but was fairly clever and devious. He had acted crude and waited for Li Tianquan to speak out before throwing this information onto the table. This instantly pushed Li Tianquan into a dangerous corner.

    Under the eyes of so many people, how could Li Tianquan dare to let Duan Chengpeng enter his office and search? Moreover, there was no way he could y tricks under so many eyes.

    His expression transformed repeatedly, but he remained steadfast with his words. ¡°What a joke! This is the Li family! Not to mention a mere brigadier general, even Duke You himself doesn¡¯t have the right to search my ce!¡±

    Duan Chengpeng¡¯s expression turned solemn. ¡°Does this mean Elder Li is adamant on withholding the Stillwater Rebirth? Heh heh, the life of our family¡¯s General Qianye, Elder Li should be clear as to how important it is! Can you shoulder that responsibility?¡±

    Li Tianquan hadn¡¯t expected Duan Chengpeng¡¯s words to be so incisive, pinning all the me on him in a single word. Li Tianquan had more or less understood how much Qianye¡¯s life was worth. How would he dare to assume this responsibility? ¡°Nonsense! Stillwater Rebirth is our family treasure. How we distribute it is entirely our business. Moreover, General Qianye has been fighting for king and country, this old man has nothing but admiration for him. Why would I want to harm him?¡±

    Duan Chengpeng sneered. ¡°Elder Li, I¡¯ll cut the bullshit short. You¡¯re very clear about this matter, dying is tantamount to conspiring. If you don¡¯t hand the medicine over now, it¡¯s equal to making an enemy out of our Zhao n. I hope you will think this through because there¡¯s no way to reverse this enmity once it has been formed. This vendetta shallst unto death!¡±

    Li Tianquan red back. ¡°You¡¯re going too far! What if the Zhao n is powerful? Our Li n isn¡¯t that easy to bully, either. Men! Capture this person!¡±

    The Li family soldiers looked at one another. They were fairly hesitant but had no choice since it was a direct order. The spectating aristocratic families hadn¡¯t expected the situation would deteriorate so quickly. The Zhao n visitor had left no room at all. It would seem this Stillwater Rebirth was critical for Qianye, and it also went to show that thetter was in a perilous situation.

    There was actually no dispute as to the owner of this Stillwater Rebirth. Everyone at the scene knew of the bet between Li Tianquan and Qianye. With the second elder¡¯s position and status, it was only right for him to keep his promises. Now that he was withholding the medicine, it was clear that he had ulterior motives.

    But this matter involved a conflict between the Zhao n and the Li family; how could these aristocratic families dare to get involved? Even if they did interfere, the final decision had to be made by their respective n lords. Hence, everyone simply stood on the sidelines and observed the changes.

    Seeing the Li family soldiers closing in on him, Duan Chengpeng pounced forth with augh, shouting, ¡°Today, I shall sacrifice my blood to the g. The fourth young master will raise this war banner and avenge me another day! Scoundrels, do not forget that the fourth young master has a shot left to fire!¡±

    Duan Chengpeng¡¯s cries were followed by thunderous rumbles and whistling winds that echoed throughout the base!

    The main building trembled amidst the explosions and half-copsed in the end. When the dust scattered, people saw Li Tianquan standing in the air and looking down at the rubble below, his hands trembling slightly.

    Duan Chengpeng remained stationary in the rubble, his fate unknown.

    Li Tianquan couldn¡¯t resist taking action at thest moment and heavily injured Duan Chengpeng. However, the man didn¡¯t die in the end because the elder didn¡¯t dare deliver the final blow.

    Those with discerning eyes knew that the difference between killing and injuring wasn¡¯t that great¡ªhe was dying Qianye¡¯s treatment all the same. This was sure to incite the Zhao n¡¯s thunderous wrath. With Zhao Jundu¡¯s character, it could be said that war was inevitable. Yet, people didn¡¯t quite understand why things had turned out like this. Li Tianquan was a bit domineering, but he wasn¡¯t a stupid person. His behavior was akin to the Li family fully offending the Zhao n. This wasn¡¯t something a mere elder could decide.

    Many people started to read deeper into this.

    ¡°Capture this arrogant man and lock him up.¡± Li Tianquan¡¯s voice was calm, but he was fairly nervous at heart. Additionally, he could hardly conceal his trembling despite hiding his hands in his sleeves.

    With this matter concluded, the aristocratic family members soon dispersed. The Zhao-Li conflict was a matter of great importance, so they had to report this as quickly as possible and seek instructions.

 Chapter 687: Feelings

    [V7C004 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Li Tianquan¡¯s heart still couldn¡¯t calm down even as he watched Duan Chengpeng being carried away. On the contrary, he felt himself in a state of greater suspense and restlessness. As such, he got up to meet that mysterious lobbyist.

    This person was a lean middle-aged man with a meticulously groomed beard. Seeing the old man enter, he put down the jade object he had been fiddling with and said with a smile, ¡°Elder Li, why the panic?¡±

    Li Tianquan gathered his thoughts and said wryly, ¡°This matter is simply too serious. How can I calm down? That person¡¯s promise won¡¯t change, will it?¡±

    The middle-aged man appeared somewhat unhappy. ¡°Elder Li can choose not to believe me since my status and words are insignificant, but that seal I brought can¡¯t be faked. It¡¯s also something you¡¯ve verified. Whatever I say is that person¡¯s opinion. Moreover, he had personally spoken those words, I neither added nor removed a single letter.¡±

    Li Tianquanughed. ¡°That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great! Please don¡¯t me this old man for being cautious. The Zhao n people are simply too arrogant and fearless! It would be a major problem if they bring the fight to our doors.

    The man surnamed Liao paid little heed to this. He merely said while stroking his beard, ¡°No matter how insolent the Zhao n is, they still have to follow certain protocols. This empire is not surnamed Zhao.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Li Tianquan nodded repeatedly, quickly calming down.

    The middle-aged man shot a nce at him and said indifferently, ¡°The sire has long since gained fame throughout the world and his words hold enormous weight. He has already promised thus, yet Elder Li isn¡¯t doing his part in a clear-cut manner. This can¡¯t be justified, can it?¡±

    Shocked, Li Tianquan said in a trembling voice, ¡°What must this old man do?¡±

    The middle-aged man said calmly, ¡°Simple, Elder Li should hand that Stillwater Rebirth to me. I will then disappear, removing any proof that the medicine was ever in Elder Li¡¯s hands. Even if the Zhao n wishes to me someone, they can¡¯t me you.¡±

    Li Tianquan forced a smile. ¡°This... allow me to think about it.¡±

    Mister Liao¡¯s smile was rather insincere. ¡°You¡¯ve already reached such a stage, what would you need to think about? Unless Elder Li feels he has a chance to redeem himself with the Zhao n? But then again, the one who should be anxious right now is you, not me. Establishing a new aristocratic family is no joke;nd, residents, resources, and military power, you can¡¯tck any of that. Even that character has only two patches of suchnd. Do you have any idea just how many people are eyeing them?¡±

    At this point, Mister Liao cupped his hand, a gesture used when seeing the visitor out. ¡°Please take your time to think about it.¡±

    Li Tianquan said, ¡°Thank you for your advice, this old man will give you an answer very soon.¡±

    Mister Liao¡¯s countenance turned gloomy after Li Tianquan left the room. Apparently, he hadn¡¯t expected the cat-and-mouse ploy to be ineffective. He cursed the old man for being a spineless buffoon as he pushed open the door and left.

    Before long, Mister Liao appeared outside the stronghold prison. At this moment, he had changed his appearance and even his original aura had transformed. He produced an order token and waved it in front of the guard. This was an elder-level insignia, so the guard didn¡¯t dare block his path as he went in.

    After entering the dungeon, Mister Liao waited for the prison officer toward whom he made a mysterious finger gesture. The officer¡¯s expression changed slightly but quickly reverted to normalcy. He called for a prison guard and instructed him to show Mister Liao around the prison chambers.

    The stronghold prison was deep in the ground. It was simple but firm and well-guarded. Mister Liao remained calm as he walked by each of the prison chambers, pausing asionally along the way until he came to a special cell. This room was covered in origin arrays¡ªit was sturdy, and the arrangement inside was fairlyfortable. Duan Chengpengy unconscious on the bed, but there was a faint medicinal aroma around him. Apparently, he had been given treatment and sedatives to aid his recovery.

    Mister Liao stood there for a moment and casually flicked his finger. A wisp of origin power shot out in the form of a grey needle and disappeared into Duan Chengpeng¡¯s body. His actions were so well-concealed that the prison guard beside him wasn¡¯t aware of what he had just done.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen everything, let¡¯s go,¡± he said indifferently, and then followed the guard out.

    The walk from the secret room to his office wasn¡¯t long, but Li Tianquan felt that the journey was simply endless. At this moment, Duan Chengpeng¡¯s words echoed in his mind, ¡°The fourth young master has a shot left to fire!¡±

    After finally returning to his office, a conflicted Li Tianquan stood gazing at the painting on the wall.

    Newly established aristocratic families were usually assigned to border areas. As the lord of thend, the family was in charge of defending it. Throughout the thousand years, countless aristocratic families had fallen to the dark races and beast tides before they could gain a proper foothold. The territory offered by that major character was easy to defend and close to an important imperial military ground; reinforcements could arrive within days in critical situations. Moreover, that major character had promised to garrison several battalions of elite soldiers in hisnd for three years. This would allow Li Tianquan to get through the most difficult period of his endeavor.

    Such a term was more than just generous¡ªit was well thought-out and thorough in every aspect. It was impossible for Li Tianquan not to be moved. There would still be some risks within the three years since these elite battalions might not be able to repel every dark race assault. But which aristocratic n hadn¡¯t risen through dangers of blood and fire? When all was said and done, Li Tianquan was still the second elder of the Li family. How could he shrink back from such an opportunity?

    It was just that he had a vague feeling that this Mister Liao wasn¡¯t as simple as he looked. Why would that major character need to offernd if the only thing at stake was Qianye¡¯s life?

    This piece of territory was highly valuable. Not to mention a Stillwater Rebirth, it wasn¡¯t enough even if he were to throw in a Storm Pearl.

    There was an unwritten rule in the empire¡ªif one were to move his family to the border areas to pioneer new ground, his old feuds would have to be set aside temporarily. The vendetta could only be resumed several generationster, after this n had gained stable footing. This also meant that neither the Li family nor the Zhao n could pursue him during these years. Otherwise, they might incur the wrath of all the other aristocratic families.

    That, however, was under normal circumstances. There would always be exceptions to the rule. What if Zhao Jundu were to attack regardless of everything? That character in the imperial court was, after all, in the wrong. Would he be willing to contend against the future Heavenly Monarch for an upstart aristocratic family? Ignoring whether or not that person¡¯s authority wouldst forever, he would still need to think about his descendants even if he did remain in power.

    Zhao Jundu had broken the rules more than once for Qianye. That was exactly the reason why Li Tianquan couldn¡¯t feel relieved.

    The Stillwater Rebirth in his secret cab was like a volcano. Even stepping closer to it made him feel stifled.

    It was at this time that the office doors were flung open. A stream of cold air rushed in, causing Li Tianquan to shiver uncontrobly.

    He hadn¡¯t even turned around when Li Kuann¡¯s voice rang out behind him, ¡°Second elder, why are you so restless?¡±

    Shocked, Li Tianquan turned around and said with a forced a smile, ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s just a small matter. Why has virtuous nephew arrived all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°I came to get something, I¡¯ll leave right afterward.¡±

    Li Tianquan¡¯s expression rxed a fair bit. ¡°What item is so important that you had toe and get it personally? Why didn¡¯t you just send someone?¡±

    Li Kuann said indifferently, ¡°I won¡¯t feel at ease leaving it to others.¡±

    ¡°Oh, just what is it? Don¡¯t hesitate if you need my help.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s lips rose slightly into a spurious smile. ¡°I do need second elder¡¯s help, I want the Stillwater Rebirth.¡±

    ¡°Stillwater Rebirth!?¡± Li Tianquan was shocked out of his wits. He took a while to collect his wits before saying, ¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t tell me...¡±

    Without waiting for him to finish, Li Kuann said, ¡°Correct, I¡¯m getting it for Qianye.¡±

    Li Tianquan was first startled and then furious. ¡°Kuann! Do you know that Qianye will be a great enemy of our Li family? How can we hand him a treasure like Stillwater Rebirth? How can you be so muddle-headed?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s brows rose up as she said in a cold voice, ¡°Doesn¡¯t this Stillwater Rebirth rightfully belong to him? I only came to pick it up for him. What else does second elder want to say?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Li Tianquan suddenly realized that the other party was no longer addressing him as second uncle but second elder instead. That being the case, he simply adopted a stern expression and said, ¡°The circumstances have changed. It is his, no doubt, but I didn¡¯t say when I would give it to him. I can¡¯t decide such a major issue on my own. We need to wait for a nod from the n lord and the empress.¡±

    Li Kuann ced her hand on the hilt of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. ¡°Not handing it over, eh? Then see how many moves you canst under my sword!¡±

    Li Tianquan was terrified. His origin power cultivation was far ahead of Li Luann, but thetter possessed a divine weapon and was trained in the Li family¡¯s most powerful sword arts. He wasn¡¯t too confident about a victory if they were to fight. Moreover, Li Kuann¡¯s identity was special. Even if he could beat her, he wouldn¡¯t dare injure her. How then was he supposed to fight this battle?

    ¡°Kuann, the n lord and the empress won¡¯t let you off for your mischief!¡± Li Tianquan shouted in a stern voice.

    Li Kuann smiled coldly. ¡°I¡¯ll naturally talk to my sister about it. She understands my feelings quite well, so there¡¯s no need to the trouble the second elder regarding this. Besides, it¡¯s not certain how long you can remain in your position. Now, move!¡±

    A line of blue appeared out of thin air, bringing with it a sharp, austere chill as it made for the elder¡¯s forehead.

    The attack was extremely abrupt. Li Tianquan activated his origin power in full force and used it to move his body. Only then did he manage to barely evade this strike. However, the blue glow didn¡¯t disappear¡ªit shot straight into the wall and broke the door to that secret cab.

    Li Kuann took a step forward, picked up the Stillwater Rebirth, and put it away. She then left without even ncing at Li Tianquan.

    The second elder was left stunned. Gazing at the empty secret cab, he could feel all his fame, power, and influence leaving him.

 Chapter 688: Heavenly Mystery

    [V7C005 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    After a long while, Li Tianquan suddenly thought of something. He rushed out of his office and ordered his men in a hurry, ¡°Go to the prison and bring Duan Chengpeng here!¡±

    It was at this time that one of his aides rushed over. ¡°Second Elder, things don¡¯t look good! That Duan Chengpeng suddenly...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him, speak!¡± Li Tianquan had a feeling that something bad was up.

    ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±

    Li Tianquan felt his vision go dark as a sweet scent gushed up from his stomach.

    Outside of the base, Li Kuann had just turned into a streak of blue and was about to speed up when a slender figure appeared to block his path.

    ¡°Where are you rushing off to, Young Noble Kuann?¡± that person said calmly.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are. Get out of the way or you¡¯ll die for nothing!¡±

    The manughed out loud. ¡°I was born of a humble family, and this life of mine isn¡¯t worth much, my death certainly won¡¯t mean anything to you. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m fairly learned in tactics andbat arts despite myck of talent. I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to spend some effort to kill me.¡±

    Li Kuann spoke not a single word. With a shake of her right hand, Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace appeared in her grasp and several beams of blue light shot toward Mister Liao.

    Thetter raised his sleeves to reveal a sword in each hand. The des moved like the wind and actually blocked all of the blue beams.

    Li Kuann revealed sharp killing intent as sheunched a lightning fast strike that went straight for Mister Liao¡¯s forehead! The second exchange told her that the opponent was definitely a powerful enemy. Hence, sheunched a rapid attack without the slightest bit of hesitation.

    This Mister Liao didn¡¯t have Edward¡¯s ability, but he blocked his vitals with one hand while shing at Li Kuann¡¯s legs with the other. He made no effort to block the de radiance of the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace.

    Li Kuann was slightly astonished, realizing that this Mister Liao was determined to trade injuries in order to dy her journey. So much so that he wasn¡¯t afraid of losing his life in the process.

    Li Kuann naturally wasn¡¯t willing to trade injuries with him. As such, she withdrew her strike to block the man¡¯s attack and followed up with dozens of wild attacks.

    Mister Liao met transformation with invariance, defending himself securely with one sword while attacking the enemy with the other. Whenever he fell into a dangerous situation, he would shift toward a stance of mutual injury, effectively blocking the entire series of swift de strikes. This inadvertently revealed his solid foundation in the sword arts.

    Her heart filled with concern, Li Kuann became increasingly anxious as she fought on. She took a deep breath as frigid energy appeared around her body, poised to unleash a killing move and quickly disable the enemy.

    It was at this time that Mister Liao¡¯s expression changed drastically, and his body made an eerie sideways shift. A small hand appeared out of nowhere andunched a flurry of several ws and ps. If not for the mysterious man¡¯s movement technique, he would¡¯ve been struck by this ambushing hand.

    Ji Tianqing appeared out of thin air and said to Li Kuann, ¡°Go, I¡¯ll deal with this henchman.¡±

    The proud Li Kuann actually didn¡¯t object to this. She shot a nce at Ji Tianqing and said, ¡°I¡¯ve known you for so many years, but this is the first time you¡¯re not annoying.¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. ¡°After helping you once, I can beat you up with a clear conscience when wepete next time.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyes twitched briefly. ¡°Have you ever won against me before? And you know what, I take those words back.¡±

    While the two were chatting, Mister Liaounched several frantic attacks, but all of them were duly blocked by Ji Tianqing. All he could do was watch as Li Kuann disappeared into the distance.

    After Li Kuann was gone, Ji Tianqing¡¯s innocent smile disappeared as she sized Mister Liao up from head to toe as a predator would his prey. She then reached into her pocket, seemingly about to fish something out.

    As someone who knew a lot of secret information, Mister Liao was immediately shocked out of his wits. Now that Ji Tianqing was about to use a weapon, how could he dare stay behind? He immediately turned and fled with a loud cry.

    Following a cold glint in Ji Tianqing¡¯s hand, Mister Liao let out a miserable cry and blood sprayed out of his back. However, the man didn¡¯t turn back and kept on running at full speed. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished over the vast horizon.

    Ji Tianqing was a bit astonished, not expecting the cautious man to run without even knowing what she was reaching for. She knew it was already toote to give chase.

    She muttered to herself with a regretful expression, ¡°What a pity! I could¡¯ve exchanged him for some good stuff!¡±

    Back in Indomitable, Zhao Jundu was standing before the window with his rifle beside him, gazing at the vast skies and thinking about something. He had been standing here since Qianye copsed from his injury and hadn¡¯t moved an inch since.

    Thatdy appeared behind him and said in a gentle voice, ¡°Young Master, you should rest.¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t turn back. ¡°It¡¯s not time yet.¡±

    ¡°Both Duke You and Duke Chengen¡¯s legions have arrived, haven¡¯t they? Moreover, Miss Ruoxi is also standing guard. Nothing will happen.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°I¡¯m here to observe an oue. I must see who dares to scheme against Qianye at such a juncture.¡±

    The woman hesitated for a moment, and then said tactfully, ¡°Young Master, you know the current situation and just how broad his implications are. Some people do have unfathomable motives, but there¡¯s no need to retaliate immediately.¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh. ¡°I¡¯m not that boorish. Although those people are powerful, I have no need to fear them once I cross over the threshold of heavenly monarch. I can afford to wait, but the same can¡¯t be said for them.¡±

    Puzzled, the woman asked, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, why don¡¯t you conceal your actions?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°Why must I? I must let them know that Zhao Jundu is someone who remembers his grudges. That¡¯s the only way we can make them apprehensive. If they refuse to restrain themselves despite all that...¡±

    After a brief pause, Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice turned cold. ¡°The day I be heavenly monarch is the day I uproot them all!¡±

    The woman opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but no words came out.

    Zhao Jundu suddenly took a step back. Surging frost energy poured in from the window as Li Kuann stepped in and stood before Zhao Jundu.

    ¡°Here.¡± Li Kuann passed a box over, her tone fairly stern.

    Zhao Jundu asked as he opened the box, ¡°Stillwater Rebirth?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was about to offer his thanks but Li Kuann cut him short, ¡°No need, our Li family doesn¡¯t owe people.¡±

    With that, she jumped out through the window and disappeared from sight. She left so fast that it almost looked like she was running away.

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh. ¡°This fool!¡±

    He passed the box to thedy and said, ¡°Since it¡¯s here, then let Qianye use it. It¡¯ll just be a waste otherwise.¡±

    Thetter found Zhao Jundu¡¯s tone odd. ¡°Young Master, is this medicine not useful for Young Noble Qianye?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°It¡¯s better than nothing.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you send people to demand the drug from the Li family?¡±

    ¡°This thing rightfully belongs to Qianye, so we must use it on him. Even if it¡¯s a waste, that¡¯s our Zhao n¡¯s business.¡±

    Thedy inquired, ¡°Young Master, then Qianye¡¯s injuries...¡±

    Zhao Jundu sighed lightly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do either, only that bastard might know something.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Song Zining.¡±

    The woman was rather astonished. ¡°Song Zining? That mysterious pretty-boy? What ability does he have? I can destroy him with one hand!¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°Regarding Qianye, we can only rely on that mysterious fellow.¡±

    The woman seemed somewhat dissatisfied, but she could only ept since Zhao Jundu had said so. ¡°Fine, since that fellow is so important, I¡¯ll keep an eye on him and see what he¡¯s up to.¡±

    ¡°Okay, go.¡± Zhao Jundu turned back to gaze at the night sky once more.

    Momentster, the woman came back. ¡°I¡¯ve already used the Stillwater Rebirth, but...¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    ¡°Young Noble Qianye seemed to regain some vitality, but it¡¯s not very distinct. Could it be that the medicine isn¡¯t effective?¡±

    Zhao Jundu had long since expected this. He sighed. ¡°Stillwater Rebirth can only do so much. With it, Qianye can at least hold out for a while longer. And there¡¯s been no news of Duan Chengpeng all this time. Go and see how he¡¯s doing.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Master,¡± thedy replied. ¡°But rest assured, Young Master, those Li family people don¡¯t have the courage to kill a Zhao n general!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°The Li family naturally doesn¡¯t, but what if the assant is someone else? I wasn¡¯t thorough enough with the arrangements regarding this matter. Go and investigate his fate as soon as possible.¡±

    Thedy affirmed the order and asked in a murderous tone, ¡°What if someone interferes?¡±

    ¡°Do as you see fit.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    The woman seemed to recall something before leaving. ¡°Young Master, I went to see Song Zining just now. He has shut himself in his room, performing divinations all day. I have no idea what he¡¯s doing, but judging from his expression, it¡¯s not going all too well. Shall I drag him over and interrogate him about what he¡¯s doing?¡±

    Zhao Jundu gave it some thought before saying, ¡°Song Seven likes to y petty tricks, but he¡¯s rarely careless regarding important matters. Just leave him be.¡±

    The woman left the room with a bow and vanished into thin air.

    In the core region of Indomitable, Song Zining had isted himself for one day and night within a side residence. He neither ate nor drank, and wouldn¡¯t even open the door for Zhao Yuying.

    At this moment, there weren¡¯t many divination tokens left on the table as most of them had shattered over time, a clear disy of the results. There were also countless tokens flying about in the air, each of them formed from flying leaves. The ones on the table together with the ones in the air formed theplete divination pattern.

    The floating leaf-tokens were dying anding back to life. Several of them were breaking down into a shower of light at every given moment while more were being formed out of thin air. Countless invisible currents were surging through the air and crushing the tokens into powder.

    One could imagine how hard it was to deduce the heavenly mysteries on this floating ind. A single mistake and one could end up contending with the likes of Lin Xitang and the Evernight grandmasters. Despite being cautious, Song Zining felt like he was dancing in a forest of des, his body littered with wounds within mere moments.

    More and more of the tokens in front of him were being destroyed. He was so close, yet it looked like he was going to fail again. A fierce expression shed across his face as he coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the tokens.

    A p of thunder rang out through the air, and the divination pattern finally took shape.

    Song Zining¡¯s long hair hung in a mess behind him. And, among the strands hanging in front of his eyes, there was a single white-hair that was especially eye-catching.

 Chapter 689: A Single Lifeline

    [V7C006 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    The divination had taken form, but Song Zining was left in a daze for some reason. He sighed after a long while. ¡°So, this is where the single lifeline lies. Ah Qianye, I hope you don¡¯t kill me when you wake up.¡±

    After sitting for a while, Song Zining got up and reduced the divination tokens to powder before stepping out of the room.

    His step hadn¡¯t evennded when a small mountain of a shadow appeared out of nowhere and crashed right into him. Song Zining was quickly thrown back into the room and fell on his back.

    That man¡¯s steps didn¡¯t even falter. He uttered an ¡°oh my¡± as he looked into the room and cried out, ¡°Zining? Howe you¡¯re so weak?¡±

    Song Zining mbered up, feeling as though half the bones in his body had been crushed. ¡°Shut up, you wild boar! Don¡¯t you know how to knock beforeing in?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even get the chance to knock before you were sent flying. Wow, there¡¯s so much blood!¡± Wei Potian eximed. Only now did he see the bloody spots on Song Zining¡¯s chest.

    Thetter finally stood up and arranged his clothes. ¡°This is my own blood, nothing to do with you.¡±

    Wei Potian heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good. And here I was thinking about why you were so weak.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression changed all of a sudden as he looked at Wei Potian, almost as though he had seen a te of peerless delicacies. Scared, Wei Potian took a step back and said, ¡°W-What are you doing?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was one of unprecedented solemnity. He suddenly bowed down and said, ¡°Potian, I need your help with something.¡±

    Wei Potian was scared witless. He waved his hands repeatedly and said, ¡°Although you¡¯re annoying in many ces, you¡¯re admittedly better than most people. We¡¯ve fought side by side in many battles, so just say what you need. I¡¯ll do whatever I can.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a deal then?¡±

    ¡°Why of course! When has this daddy reneged on his words?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great. Potian, I heard your Wei n has many assets in the Evernight faction. I need them.¡±

    Wei Potian was greatly astonished. He pushed Song Zining away and said decisively, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it! Our family spent a hundred years pushing these moles in. I don¡¯t have the right to mobilize them, either. Not even my father¡¯s words count without a nod from the elder assembly.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°I know, but it¡¯s not hard to obtain the token of the elder assembly. Your father isn¡¯t here on the floating continent, either. As long as it passes from your hand, who can say it wasn¡¯t issued by him?¡±

    Wei Potian was even more astonished. ¡°Y-You want me to forge my father¡¯s order!?¡±

    ¡°And the elder assembly¡¯s token,¡± Song Zining added.

    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Wei Potian sized Song Zining up from head to toe, wanting to see what was wrong with him.

    However, Song Zining¡¯s expression was ice-cold, with nothing especially out of the ordinary. Yet his words made the Wei n heir want to go mad.

    Wei Potian grabbed his cor and roared, ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re saying? Even if I¡¯m willing to abandon this heir position and indulge in your madness, do you know how valuable these spies are? How do you expect me to gamble the Wei n¡¯s future?¡±

    Song Zining pped Wei Potian¡¯s hands away and said, ¡°Does that mean you might ept?¡±

    Wei Potian charged about several times like a mad bull and mmed the wall with his fist. ¡°Yes! Goddammit, yes! This daddy has beaten you more than a couple of times throughout these years, but I have never really seen you so serious. I know you won¡¯te and beg me if it isn¡¯t a life or death situation. But you must tell me what all of this is about? Even if I¡¯m tricked, I have to understand what¡¯s going on.¡±

    Song Zining paused for a brief moment before saying, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll tell you. This is rted to Qianye. I need your spies to help me collect some vital information.¡±

    ¡°Qianye!?¡± Wei Potian was stirred up.

    Song Zining said while pressing Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder down, ¡°Calm down! You only need to mobilize your spies and collect information. You don¡¯t need to take part in anything else. If you¡¯re careful, you won¡¯t even lose those spies.¡±

    ¡°My ass! How can I be missing in anything rted to Qianye!? Do you think this daddy here is someone who doesn¡¯t care about his brothers?¡±

    Song Zining looked at him for a while and sighed, his expression full of austerity. ¡°Not letting you in is for your own good. You¡¯ll understandter on.¡±

    Wei Potian was thoroughly puzzled. ¡°What exactly are you nning to do? Goddammit, so mysterious and suspenseful!¡±

    Song Zining shook his head, unwilling to speak further about it.

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t get any information out of the man at all. In the end, he could only ask, ¡°So what information do you need? You have to tell me that at least.¡±

    ¡°I need information on the ancient blood pond.¡±

    ¡°Ancient blood pond?¡± Wei Potian was startled again.

    By nighttime, the Wei family¡¯s secret intelligence system was set into motion. Several ssified orders were dispatched to farawaynds via certain channels. This operation utilized almost all of the Wei family¡¯s hidden powers, and this immediately attracted the attention of many other aristocratic families. It was just that the Wei n¡¯s movements were decisive, rapid, and made use of expendable arrangements that were scrapped after serving their purpose. As such, most aristocratic family investigations came back empty-handed.

    Meanwhile, Song Zining boarded an airship under the cover of the night and left the void continent silently.

    Despite his silent departure, there were many eyes on a famed character like him. They had noticed him the moment he stepped onto the airship. This news soon spread to people with specific intentions.

    A small fortress outside of Indomitable was bustling with activity in the depths of the night. There was a small building inside this fortress that looked rather dark from the outside but was well-illuminated in the interior. Dozens of people were currently busy here, sorting through all kinds of intelligence.

    If someone familiar with military affairs were present, they would see that numerous young elites of the empire had gathered here. It was just that they weren¡¯t in their military uniforms. This also meant that the building was actually a headquarters, or to be precise, the headquarters of a certain faction in the military.

    This base of operations wasn¡¯t that well-hidden, but there were no less than ten such intelligence bases scattered around the city, all of them belonging to aristocratic families and court powers. The Zhao n more or less turned a blind eye to them as long as they didn¡¯t cause trouble within the city.

    Within one of the offices was a military officer¡ªhe looked quite handsome, but there was a hint of malice in his expression. At this point, he was reading through the reports one after the other without the slightest hint of tiredness on his face. At this moment, an officer entered and ced a file on his desk. ¡°Colonel Gu, this is the report we just received. Please take a look at it.¡±

    The colonel¡¯s hands stiffened somewhat as he took the report. He read it over several times, muttering to himself with a serious expression, ¡°Song Zining¡¯s leaving all of a sudden? Where is he going? What is he doing?¡±

    He suddenly thought of something after a moment of contemtion. He rushed out of the office, ran upstairs, and tapped lightly on a certain door.

    ¡°Enter¡± A sinister but dignified voice came through from inside.

    The colonel entered, ced the report on the table, and said respectfully, ¡°General, Song Zining¡¯s sudden departure must be rted to Qianye. It¡¯s very possible that he¡¯s gone to Evernight Continent. We must strengthen our surveince over there and even mobilize that person if needs be.¡±

    The office was crudely decorated, but the man behind the table filled the room with austere killing intent. He was an average-looking man in his thirties without any facial hair, the type that would blend perfectly into amoner crowd. Perhaps because he wasn¡¯t disguising himself, there was a gloomy chill emanating from his entire body, which suffused the air with an intense, almost-tangible aura of death. Everyone staying in the room would find it unbearable after just a short while.

    The colonel turned somewhat pale after standing there for a while and the color faded from his lips.

    Intentionally or otherwise, the man behind the desk nced up at the man¡¯s arm and said calmly, ¡°Are you sure your judgment isn¡¯t due to past grievances?¡±

    His voice was calm and gentle, but the colonel felt goosebumps all over his body, almost as though he had been licked by a venomous snake. ¡°Liyu has never forgotten the enmity, but I wouldn¡¯t dare let my personal business affect the job. This has nothing to do with my hatred for him.¡±

    The man observed the colonel silently until sweat fell like rain from thetter¡¯s forehead. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, send Xu Lang to Evernight Continent. You should also go over and help the general.¡±

    The colonel replied spiritedly, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Liyu, if you do things well and manage to grasp Qianye¡¯s weakness or even finish him off, recing your arm isn¡¯t out of the question. Then, you won¡¯t be stuck at the threshold of the champion rank. I¡¯ll help you arrange a good marital connection after you break through, or if you would prefer, that young miss of the Yin family is also an option.¡±

    Gu Liyu fell immediately to his knees and even his voice was trembling. ¡°Thank you, sir, for granting my wish! Liyu will repay your kindness with his life.¡±

    That man smiled. ¡°Everything is for the empire and the emperor. Go now, I¡¯ll send people to inform General Xu and have him meet up with you on Evernight Continent. Additionally, I¡¯ll allow you to use some of the resources over there. However, the mission must seed, understand?¡±

    His heart trembling, Gu Liyu lowered his head and said, ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good, you may go now.¡±

    After walking out of the office, Gu Liyu was drenched in sweat and nearly copsed. He had to lean on the wall and catch his breath for a while before recovering. He would feel extreme difort every time he went into this office, especially that newly formed arm of his¡ªthe aching and numbness was almost like torture. However, in that roomy his long-awaited opportunity to power, nobility, and that girl whom he hated to the bone yet still couldn¡¯t forget¡ªYin Qiqi.

 Chapter 690: Why is it you?

    [V7C007 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    ckflow City was brightly illuminated in the darkness of the nocturnal Evernight Continent.

    Perhaps because the two major factions had been focusing their war efforts on the void continent, the dark races close to ckflow City had long since contracted their waterfront. Not to mentionrge scale battles, even scouting parties and skirmishes were a rare sight.

    Things had fallen into a rare calm in the recent months, allowing ckflow City to prosper and attract streams of people through its doors.

    A high-speed airship broke through the void andnded straight into ckflow City. The airship was abnormally fast¡ªlike a diving bird, it arrived at the center of the airship port in the blink of an eye. Even the guards could hardly react on time.

    The officer in charge of the airship port ran over. He was knowledgeable enough to know that this kind of airship wasn¡¯tmon even in the entirety of the empire. Only the nobility could enjoy such a vessel.

    By the time he arrived, the airship doors had opened and out came a calm Song Zining.

    This officer was also from Song Zining¡¯s branch. He quickly approached, saying, ¡°Seventh Young Master, you¡¯re back.¡±

    Song Zining inquired, ¡°Anything out of the ordinary?¡±

    ¡°Everything¡¯s normal.¡±

    Song Zining gave him a nod and headed back into the city. Despite his calm gait, it took him only a few steps to walk out of the airship port and disappear into the city.

    The officer came to an abrupt halt since he couldn¡¯t catch up. He simply couldn¡¯t understand why the usually calm seventh young master was in such a rush today.

    Within a serene courtyard in the Dark me Headquarters, Nighteye was sitting quietly just as before. However, instead of a book and a teacup, she was now holding a dagger as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing. This vampiric de was called Crimson, of which there were less than three, even in the entirety of the Monroe n. And as their former princess, Nighteye had the right to wield one.

    She had never used the de sinceing to ckflow City, and this was the first time in many months that the de had seen the light of day.

    Nighteye used a white-cloth to gently clean the sharp edge of the de. A scarlet ripple ran along the sharp surface, almost like the flow of essence blood.

    At this moment, a gentle, rhythmic tap came from the courtyard gates. Song Zining walked in and was slightly startled upon seeing Nighteye cleaning her de.

    She didn¡¯t look up at him and merely kept her focus on the weapon. ¡°Who injured Qianye?¡±

    The long exnation Song Zining had prepared for her went up in smoke. He said after a brief moment of silence, ¡°The Masefield Demoness.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s hands trembled slightly for a moment. She then asked calmly, ¡°The Demoness has awakened? But why Qianye?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly and had no other choice but to recount everything. After some thought, he added, ¡°From what I know, the original n didn¡¯t include Qianye. No one had imagined something like this would happen.¡±

    Without further words, Nighteye put the cloth down and ran her finger along the de. The sharp edge brushed quietly past her skin, taking with it a drop of blood and leaving behind a fine red line.

    The silence in the courtyard was suffocating. Song Zining took a deep breath but couldn¡¯t quite relieve this stifling sensation. ¡°You... aren¡¯t you going to ask about Qianye¡¯s condition?¡±

    ¡°Since it was the Demoness, there¡¯s no need to ask.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Song Zining wanted to say something, but he just couldn¡¯t bring himself to speak.

    ¡°I know, people who scheme and strategize can fail, too.¡±

    ¡°That is indeed the case, but...¡± Song Zining was hesitant again.

    ¡°But what?¡± Nighteye inquired.

    The seventh young master inhaled deeply. ¡°I wanted to say that, nning is for the man, aplishing it depends on the heavens. If we never scheme, there will be neither mistakes nor aplishments. Yet, how can we refrain from acting in order to avoid these things? All action is apanied by a chance of failure.¡±

    ¡°So you mean mistakes are expected, that you people will never be wrong.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t know what to say. He sighed deeply after a while. ¡°What do you me us for?¡±

    ¡°You people knew nothing about the Demoness and yet you let Zhao Jundu meet her in battle?¡± Nighteye didn¡¯t continue speaking, but her intentions were clear. If it wasn¡¯t for this arrangement, there wouldn¡¯t be a final showdown between Qianye and the Demoness.

    Song Zining was momentarily speechless.

    He wanted to say that it wasn¡¯t his idea, but as one of Zhang Boqian¡¯s staff officers, he was more or less privy to certain rumors. Perhaps because his words didn¡¯t carry enough weight, or maybe he was overconfident in Zhao Jundu¡¯s ability, Song Zining didn¡¯t choose to stop them. In truth, he wasn¡¯t very clear about the actual arrangements, either, much less the secret agreements.

    Nighteye put Crimson back into its sheath and put it away. Finally, she looked up at Song Zining and said, ¡°You can now say what you want to say.¡±

    Under her clear gaze, Song Zining felt that he had never faced such a difficult dilemma before. The words kept rolling about in his throat, but he simply couldn¡¯t say them.

    Nighteye revealed a smile of unknown significance¡ªit was mysterious and beautiful, yet there seemed to be ayer of burning frost underneath it. ¡°Qianye¡¯s recovery might require the ancient blood pond. What have you prepared for me?¡±

    ¡°Intelligence and support arrangements.¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice was gloomy.

    ¡°Intelligence will suffice, but support? Heh, heh. When will I get it?¡±

    Song Zining produced a sheet of paper with several locations and names on it. ¡°These people will provide assistance on Twilight Continent. The method of contact has been listed here.¡±

    Then, Song Zining fished out a map. He drew a snaking trail upon it and marked out several key points. This was the retreat path he had nned for Nighteye and the ces where he had arranged reinforcements.

    One could see Song Zining¡¯s determination from this path. He had mobilized arge number of his undercover assets and was willing to pay any price to help Nighteye throw off her pursuers.

    Song Zining¡¯s gaze wasplicated. ¡°I think you¡¯ll understand my intentions, I cannot go with you.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Nighteye cut him short. ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°You need to arrive on Twilight Continent in two days. Someone there will provide you with all the necessary information. The airship has been prepared, it¡¯s the one I arrived on.¡±

    ¡°That means I should set out now.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± This word was like a stone. It took Song Zining great effort to cough it up from this throat.

    Nighteye went into her room and returned with a backpack. It would seem she had already made preparations and packed her things up. Only then did Song Zining notice that Nighteye wasn¡¯t d in her usual dress but, instead, herbat attire.

    There was no more need to say anything at this point. In silence, Song Zining apanied Nighteye out of the room and boarded the car with her. Then, just as silently, he saw her onto the airship.

    The airship quickly took to the skies and shot into the void. In the blink of an eye, it had vanished into the depths of the night sky.

    Song Zining stood in silence for a long while. This was perhaps the most difficult choice he had made in his lifetime.

    In the several days that followed, Song Zining shuttled about between the continents, spending most of his time in the void. Whenever he arrived in a certain ce, he would meet some people, mobilize some resources, and make some arrangements. With the constant extension of his footsteps, the ripples he was stirring up gradually umted into waves, and these waves became great tides by the time it reached the Evernight faction.

    Within the Evernight world, some families discovered that their surroundings were no longer as peaceful. Some found that their enemies had discovered their weakness, some had secret operationspromised, while others saw their past schemes ineffably leaked. All in all, none of these things were enough to cause any serious harm, but it was indeed sufficient to make things troublesome for them.

    If one were to connect all of the independent cases together, they formed a vague string that pointed toward Twilight Continent.

    Naturally, Song Zining¡¯s frantic activity couldn¡¯t escape those who were paying attention. With every step he took, information regarding his activity would arrive on the desks of those powerful characters.

    The incidents were indeedplicated, seemingly random and unrted at a nce. However, these characters had held power for a long time and had seen countless schemes. They knew immediately that there were a fair number of cover-ups among them. Some of the events existed for the sole purpose of misleading them.

    Knowing was one thing, but analyzing the confusing tangle of clues was another.

    After seven days, Song Zining once again returned to ckflow City. This time, he did nothing but sit in front of the window, gazing at that giant shadow in the night sky. At this point, he had done all he could do and the only thing left was to wait for the results.

    He also knew that no matter how meticulous his preparations or how perfect the reinforcements were, there was one fact he couldn¡¯t change¡ªthere was nothing he could do to help regarding the most critical link of this endeavor.

    That was the holynd of the vampire race, the resting ce of the Queen of the Night, and the home of the thirteen vampire ns. Reportedly, there were secrets hidden in the deepest parts of the Twilight Continent rted to the ancient river of blood and the first drop of blood. Even Zhang Boqian, with his void traversal abilities, hadn¡¯t set foot on Lilith¡¯s domain when he infiltrated the Twilight Continent.

    Not to mention Song Zining, even Lin Xitang himself was helpless against the deepest, darkest region.

    In this area which the empire knew nothing about, there were countless ancient vampires in deep slumber. Despite knowing the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art, Song Zining knew that he would never be able to return if he were to step into that ce.

    The mission wasn¡¯t to throw away one¡¯s life but to awaken Qianye. Hence, Song Zining could only pin his hopes on Nighteye. Now that she had set foot on Twilight Continent, the only thing he could do was to pray for her.

    This feeling of helplessness was truly unpleasant. The current Song Zining envied Wei Potian quite a bit. The simple-minded Wei n heir had the privilege of being angry when he should,ugh when he wanted, yet he rarely thought about why he was being angry or happy. Life was always easier for those who could think less.

    At this moment, Nanhua walked in with two sses and a bottle of wine.

    Song Zining frowned but said in a gentle voice, ¡°It¡¯s quitete, why are you not resting?¡±

    ¡°I knew you were in a bad mood, so I came to apany you for a few sses.¡±

    Song Zining was rather surprised, but he knew alcohol was the best solution to his worries.

    And hence, he picked up the ss.

 Chapter 691: Still in Love

    [V7C008 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Unexpectedly, the alcohol tonight suited his taste very well. The seventh young master had nevercked good clothes and wine, but what he liked to drink wasn¡¯t the expensive type. It was a kind of cheap, strong alcohol that tasted very simr to the one they had gotten drunk on back at Yellow Springs.

    It was a mystery how Nanhua had found out Song Zining¡¯s tastes, but she had brought such a wine tonight. Song Zining thought about it when he raised the ss, and but his amazing memory registered having mentioned it to her vaguely at one point. He hadn¡¯t imagined she would remember it until now.

    Greatly moved, Song Zining made an exception and didn¡¯t send her away. The two thus drank in silence. Perhaps due to the exhaustion and pressure, he revealed a moment of weakness and wanted someone to apany him for a while.

    The bottle was soon emptied. Nanhua quietly got another one and put it on the table. She neither spoke nor asked him anything; all she did was apany him in drinking. As they drank on, a clear drop of water fell into the wine ss. She rubbed her eyes without saying anything and kept on drinking with a smile.

    In the blink of an eye, several empty bottles had piled up around the two. Despite being quite capable, neither of them was in the mood to resist the alcohol and thus began to drift into intoxication.

    Song Zining finally spoke in a gloomy voice, ¡°Do you know? I¡¯ve known Qianye for a long time. He was really dumb and stubborn, but he was also the only one in Yellow Springs I can count on to have my back.

    ¡°Qianye was never smart, never.

    ¡°He¡¯s so stupid that he took a shot for me and almost died because of it. Haha!

    ¡°I would¡¯ve died twice over if that bullet hadnded on me.

    ¡°This is the second time in this war that he had almost died. No, perhaps he¡¯s already dead. There probably won¡¯t be any chance for him to do dumb things again.

    ¡°How terrible would it be if only the intelligent people remained in this world?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t know what or how long he had been speaking. Tiredness came over him in the end and he fell asleep right on the chair. He hadn¡¯t slept a wink since going into isted divination on the floating continent.

    Nanhua was also staggering as she dragged Song Zining onto the bed andy him down properly. Then, she curled up on his arm andy there waiting for sunrise.

    At dawn, the first rays of light had already fallen upon the main Qin continent while Evernight remained submerged in darkness. ording to imperial tradition, it was dawn for the whole empire once the capital sees daybreak.

    Nanhua, who had been lying still the whole night, mbered up in the darkness and nced at the man beside her. Song Zining was still asleep. He was simply too tired¡ªfrom his body down to his heart and soul. Moreover, he had made all the arrangements he could beforeing back to ckflow. All that was left was to wait for the results and Nighteye¡¯s return.

    Nanhua bent over and, with eyes full of reluctance, kissed Song Zining¡¯s forehead. She then got up resolutely and left, closing the door gently behind her.

    At this time, ckflow City was already starting to turn lively with people starting up their morning business. The gasmps kept the bustling streets as bright as day. Nanhua had changed into ordinary clothing and now resembled a female hunter one would find everywhere in the city. As though attracted by the aroma, she walked into one of the shops that had opened early.

    There was already someone dressed in a simr manner sitting in one of the corners. Through the unbuttoned leather jacket, one could see pockets of all shapes and sizes, carrying numerous types of firearms and ammunition. It would seem his life hadn¡¯t been all that good, judging by how worn his coat was. Then again, that was the case for most hunters¡ªwhy else would they remain in this profession? In fact, most patrons of this cheap breakfast shop were suffering some form of frustration.

    The continuing expansion of Song Zining¡¯s mining industry brought about a boom in ckflow City¡¯s economy. Currently, the ie of a Ningyuan Heavy Industry guard had exceeded that of an ordinary hunter. This undoubtedly attracted the lower-level ones because a guard would be provided with standard equipment and the job was mostly safe, a stark contrast to the perilous life of a hunter. Hence, many hunters from the nearby towns came over to ckflow to try their luck here.

    This, in turn, increased ckflow City¡¯s safety in a positive feedback loop.

    Nanhua was weed by several wolf-whistles as she went in. Despite having covered up most of her beauty, her temperament was still head and shoulders above ordinary female hunters. However, many of them shrugged and turned away when she sat down at the corner table. Apparently, the man sitting there was a powerful fellow.

    That hunter finally looked up, revealing a handsome face with bright, clear eyes. It was just that there was a giant horizontal scar on his face, ruining his handsomeness and making him look rather sinister.

    Seeing Nanhua sit down, he pushed over a bowl of steaming soup and said, ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived.¡±

    The thick, meaty stew and the small pieces of hard biscuits were enough to fill a burly man with a good appetite. Moreover, it could keep one full for the remainder of the day, hence gaining the love of many a hunter and adventurer.

    Normally, Nanhua wouldn¡¯t even look at such basic food, but now, she picked up one of the broken biscuits and started eating it with the stew.

    The scarred man said, ¡°Long time no see, I never thought we would meet here. What is this if not fate?¡±

    Nanhua¡¯s movements stopped for a moment, and then she said with a self-deprecatingugh. ¡°Fate? Ha, perhaps.¡±

    With that, she swallowed the hard biscuit as though she were venting. Soon, tears started streaming down her face as she ate.

    The scarred manughed wryly. ¡°It looks like you still love him.¡±

    Nanhua nodded. ¡°Correct, he¡¯s been the only one, and my heart hurts all the more right now.¡±

    The scarred man sighed softly as he patted Nanhua¡¯s arm. Thetter¡¯s hand trembled somewhat, but she didn¡¯t pull away. However, the scarred hunter didn¡¯t go further after seeing this. Instead, he picked up the jug nearby and poured a ss of water for himself, his hand trembling as he did so.

    Nanahua¡¯s eyesnded on the man¡¯s left hand. ¡°Still not recovered?¡±

    ¡°How can it ever recover? You know how expensive an arm that can both cultivate and grow is, don¡¯t you? My role in the army is minuscule, how can I ever afford that? Let it be, it¡¯s been so long that I¡¯ve gotten over it.¡± The scarred man seemed quite carefree.

    Nanhua retracted her gaze and said, ¡°What would you do in my shoes?¡±

    The hunter smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t really amount to much so I¡¯m satisfied just to get by. If I were you, I¡¯d just stay by his side and count the days. Isn¡¯t he treating you pretty well right now? It¡¯s just that the seventh young master¡¯s ambitions are lofty and not something a person like me canpare with.¡±

    Nanhua¡¯s face turned pale. ¡°True, the world in his heart isn¡¯t limited to just a vassal nation, probably not even a continent. I, I am nothing in his heart, he has so many women around him.¡±

    ¡°Thosedies are but passing smoke and cloud, the seventh young master will probably forget them by the next day. Why must you pay them so much attention? Rest assured, I¡¯m quite certain he doesn¡¯t like those ordinary women.¡±

    But Nanhua¡¯s face turned even paler and her fingers trembled slightly. ¡°You don¡¯t understand, it¡¯s like a sh to my heart whenever a woman appears near him. After such a long time, my heart has been cut into too many pieces to put back together. Besides, he doesn¡¯t even have a vassal nation in his eyes, what is one vassal nation princess to him? There are so many princesses in each of them. In fact, I¡¯m nothing more than an ordinary woman to him, the type he simply doesn¡¯t like.¡±

    The scarred man sighed. ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it. I can¡¯t think of any woman more outstanding than you are.¡±

    ¡°I thought so too in the past, but that¡¯s no longer the case now. I saw a certain person, a woman who shouldn¡¯t even exist in this world.¡±

    ¡°Is she very beautiful?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all, but I knew when I saw her that she doesn¡¯t need to be.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s such a person?¡± The scarred man seemed surprised.

    Nanhua said nothing and only kept on crying in silence. As though he had understood something, the scarred hunter also stopped asking questions.

    Nanhua finally stopped her sobbing and said, ¡°I¡¯ll agree to this, but I also have a condition.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Kill that woman too!¡±

    The scarred man asked in astonishment, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the seventh young master has alreadyid hands on her?¡±

    ¡°No, and he won¡¯t be able to, either.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because he simply won¡¯t, it¡¯s Qianye¡¯s woman.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Qianye... no wonder.¡± The hunter¡¯s expression shifted at the mention of this name.

    Nanhua didn¡¯t notice the change. She clenched her teeth and said, ¡°No one will get what I can¡¯t! I¡¯ll destroy him, and before that, I¡¯ll destroy everything he holds dear. Everything!¡±

    Her volume rose subconsciously as she spoke. The scarred hunter waved his hand and formed an origin power barrier, which served to contain the sound inside. Seeing him perform such a technique, many of those who had nced over shivered in fear and no longer dared to look on. They even stopped chatting amongst themselves.

    The scarred man said to Nanhua, ¡°This matter isn¡¯t impossible. You know our power, there¡¯s little in the empire we can¡¯t do. But, you need to tell me everything you know.¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± Nanhua agreed immediately.

    Song Zining gradually opened his eyes around noon. Everything that had happenedst night was nk in his head. He sat up and was surprised to find that he simply couldn¡¯t recall anything. He couldn¡¯t help but groan because his head felt heavier than a rock.

    Song Zining nced at the surroundings and felt somewhat relieved that he was in his bedroom. It was just that the ineffable intoxication gave him an uneasy feeling.

    It was at this time that the door opened and in walked Nanhua with a tray of hot breakfast. Apparently, the food was freshly prepared just now.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake? I¡¯m just in time then. I made you breakfast,¡± Nanhua said with a smile.

 Chapter 692: Sincerity

    [V7C009 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    The days that followed were filled with tranquility¡ªckflow was just as lively, and the construction work in Wolf City wasing to an end. The numerous mines there have beenpleted and were starting to producerge amounts of ore. The number ofrge transport fleetsing and going from ckflow City had increased from one a month to three.

    It turned out that there was more than just ck stone near the original Wolf City. They found ck crystals and several more ore veins, including rare elements of tactical value and firearms-grade metals used to make powerful alloys.

    With these resources, they could even set up a workshop to manufacture origin gun barrels. That was exactly what Song Zining had in mind. A steady stream ofrge machinery had been arriving in Wolf City in recent days, including four kic towers.

    Song Zining had nothing better to do these days except drinking tea, reading books, and examining battle reports. From time to time, he would y a game of chess with Nanhua¡ªhe was calm, rxed, and almost like an immortal. Perhaps due to the rxed atmosphere, there was a noticeable change to Song Zining¡¯s countenance. That handsome face was once again suffused with a lustrous glow.

    Nanhua apanied Song Zining almost all the time. She read, yed chess, and even trimmed weeds in the courtyard with him. She would enter the kitchen herself during mealtimes, cooking porridge and a number of side dishes. As a princess, her skills in cooking weren¡¯t exactly great. Yet, this seventh young master who had tasted all the delicacies throughout the empire didn¡¯t fuss over it. He would finish everything delightfully and even discuss with her how to make the dishes tastier and the porridge more fragrant.

    These days, to Nanhua, were like a dream.

    The girl wanted to speak up many times, but she would change the topic whenever Song Zining asked her. He had encountered such a scene many times as the yboy was always surrounded by beauties. Not to mention having someone to apany him day and night for such a long period, it was even rare for him to be with a singledy for the whole night. It was well-known among the nobledies that he liked to sleep alone.

    Hence, anyone the seventh young master especially favored would be somewhat unnatural, just like Nanhua. Song Zining didn¡¯t pay particr attention to her behavior.

    Several days passed in this manner. Song Zining finally collected his luggage and left for a couple of days, and then returned to ckflowter to continue waiting.

    He still didn¡¯t feel at ease, so he went to check on all of his arrangements and confirm that all preparations were in order before returning to ckflow City. With how strict his methods were, he really didn¡¯t need to review everything as this only made his secrets more prone to leaking. Even so, Song Zining felt restless for some reason and couldn¡¯t help but check everything once more.

    Nanhua quickly prepared tea and snacks for him when he returned to his residence. Song Zining sat down under a tree and began slowly sipping his tea, yet his mind had long since wandered off to the distant Twilight Continent.

    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± asked Nanhua.

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Nothing, but this tea is a little bit over-steeped.¡±

    ¡°Ah, let me brew a new one.¡±

    Song Zining stopped her and said, ¡°No need, this is good enough.¡±

    Nanhua nced at him withplicated emotions. She wanted to say something but then hesitated several times. In the end, she only let out a long sigh.

    Song Zining looked at her with aforting smile, but his thoughts were all on Twilight Continent. A virtual scene had formed in his mind where Nighteye was rushing out of the dark race territory with vast numbers of pursuers and experts on her tail.

    As she ran along the designated path, the spies and reinforcements Song Zining had set up would mobilize to obstruct, mislead, or split off the hunters, concealing Nighteye¡¯s tracks as she escaped to the border of the continent. There, she would board the prepared high-speed airship and escape Twilight Continent.

    This scenario had yed out hundreds of times in Song Zining¡¯s mind. Every detail, down to the movement of each spy and each variable, was carved deep in his heart. It was during these idle thoughts that Song Zining slowly patched up the openings, preparing for and formting backup ns for all kinds of scenarios.

    That was the impregnable truth as proved by the future god of strategy. Since his training at Yellow Springs, Song Zining understood that talent was only a stedder toward the top and that one ultimately had to rely on himself to climb higher.

    While Evernight Continent was enjoying tranquility and peace, the mes of war had once again ignited on the floating continent. After a long period of reorganization, the dark race army finally marched over the vast wilderness and formally entered the Zhao n territory. They set up camp a hundred kilometers from Indomitable and began constructing defensive structures to contend against the imperial fortress clusters.

    As both armies mustered their forces, thebined armed forces in and around Indomitable surpassed the million mark.

    On the other side of the void continent, the dark race forces were finally free to turn their spearhead toward the Full Moon ins. They routed the Song n forces in a single battle and pushed them out of the ins. Moreover, they chased down the retreating forces until what remained of them was driven into Indomitable.

    At this point on the floating continent, Li family¡¯s Misty Wood base was the only other ce that was barely hanging on. For some reason, Eden¡¯s appearance frequency in the recent period fell sharply, allowing the tottering Li family and the aristocracy to breathe a sigh of relief. Yet, the Li family members couldn¡¯t smile at all because, judging from Eden¡¯s past disy, his disappearance could only mean one thing¡ªhe was about to break through.

    The original Eden had already forced them to the brink of copse. Things would only get worse if he were to break through.

    With war drawing ever closer on the floating continent, the void had long since be a scene of carnage with massive burning airships falling down every day from the sky.

    In order to secure the supply chain to Indomitable and seal off the dark races¡¯ reinforcements, the imperial fleet had moved out in full force. Even the first imperial guard fleet had finally moved out to sh against the Evernight Council¡¯s own armada, forcing them into a 1:2 exchange on the first battle.

    Following this heartening news, the other imperial fleets, as well as thebined vessels of the aristocracy, began moving out one after the other. All of them fought battles worthy of the history books and slowly began to tip the scales back in the empire¡¯s favor.

    Airship battles were usually followed closely by ground battles. On the verge of a decisive battle, countless reports flew into the imperial capital and split off into three channels, namely the military, the imperial pce, and the coalition of major ns.

    The torrent of reports flowing into the military department would be sorted out ording to their importance level and directed to the various departments in an orderly fashion. However, if someone were to observe the system as a unified whole, they would find that the battle reports from the floating continent weren¡¯t flowing to the executive departments. Except for the battles taking ce in the void, the intelligence regarding them wasn¡¯t actually reaching the decision makers.

    This could only mean one thing¡ªin the eyes of those authoritative figures, the battle on the floating continent itself wasn¡¯t the most important.

    The top-floor conference room of the military department was suffused with lingering smoke. The scent resultant from the mixture of tobo and tea was inexplicably odd.

    The conference room had thirty seats, but only seven of them were upied at the moment. The upants were mostly old men¡ªthere was even one who was so old that his skin was covered in age-spots and the smell of decay pervaded the air around him. His eyes were half-closed, and his pupils were as turbid a stagnantke. It truly made one suspect whether he was conscious at all.

    But this old man with one foot in the grave was sitting at the very center of the conference hall. There were three central seats in total, and his seat was on the side while the other two were empty. This meant that this elderly person, at the moment, was the core character of this meeting.

    Upon careful observation, the other six people were also major characters wielding authority over great domains. Together, they could basically decide the direction of the entire military department.

    There was a thin folder, containing but two pages of text, in front of the seven men. The paper was covered in writings and notes. Just for these two papers, the true major characters of the empire had been engaging in an urgent discussion for an entire day and night.

    The contents of the document couldn¡¯t be simpler. It was just a list of names along with their respective age, gender, cultivation arts, aplishments, and background.

    The people spoke up one after the other and each had people they supported. Some of the names had been scratched off, while others have been highlighted. With the increase in highlighted names, the atmosphere in the conference room became increasingly serious¡ªdebates ensued, and there was even one instance of a quarrel.

    After one quarrel, there was a second and the process quickly expanded, splitting all the major characters into two sides. The arguments sent sparks flying in all directions. Some started throwing out threats of war, but how could the other party be afraid? Neither side was willing to give in, and it seemed like a fight would break out any time soon.

    It was at this moment that the drowsy old man at the center knocked lightly on the table. The rapping was fairly gentle, but it caused the entire meeting room to quiet down. The two sides, who were on the verge of a fight, sat down while ring at one another.

    The old man finally spoke, ¡°We have obtained twice the expected quota for the Great Maelstrom. All of this is because those little brats did well. If you people can even quarrel over such arge quota, then wouldn¡¯t you need to fight a couple of wars over the previous estimation?¡±

    The hall remained deathly silent. Momentster, another old man let out a cough. He was fully d in imperial uniform, but there was no rank insignia on it. This person had been smoking one cigarette after another while the two parties were in a heated argument just now. One could see just how addicted he was to tobo.

    He said slowly, ¡°The opportunity is rare, and it also happens to coincide with the empire¡¯s resurgence. Every family wants to take this opportunity to grow and expand so that they can work better for the empire. There¡¯s nothing wrong with this. But the quota is limited, so not everyone can go into the Great Maelstrom. The only right way is for us to see just how sincere the ns and families are.¡±

 Chapter 693: Stab in the Back

    [V7C010 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Everyone fell into a state of frowning contemtion. At this point in the discussion, people were actually quite aware of the gap in the quota. The issuey in the fact that no one knew how many years it would take for the Great Maelstrom to appear again; thest time was several decades ago. Additionally, there were rumors flying about that the Great Maelstrom this time was going to be several timesrger than the past. Immediately, all the ns and aristocratic families with enough qualifications began making their move, hell-bent on securing more quotas.

    These matters could no longer be kept secret after the battle at Indomitable, and many families began taking action after learning of the reason behind the fight. Hence, there were as many parties expressing their ¡°sincerity¡± as there were carps in the river. This method definitely wasn¡¯t enough to decide the quotas.

    A dignified, burly man said with a snort, ¡°Sincerity? Those who are sincere to me might not be sincere to you. How are we topare? It¡¯ll just be confusing. If we really do use sincerity as the foundation, don¡¯t you think some of the aristocratic families need to supplement their ¡®sincerity¡¯?¡±

    Several people in the conference room broke into a frown. Just as this person had said, sincerity was a vague concept that was hard to measure. If one¡¯s sincerity could be changed, it would add countless more variables to this discussion. Those in the lead naturally didn¡¯t want extra issues, but those who hadgged behind wished to turn the tables.

    Everyone¡¯s expression was different as they made rapid calctions. There weren¡¯t many quotas left, so it was time to bring out their hidden aces.

    The old man scanned everyone again with his turbid eyes. Even though he had one foot in the grave, people were shaken from his gaze. Their expressions transformed drastically, and even some of their chairs started to crack.

    The environment in the conference room changed immediately. Everyone retracted their daggers-drawn attitude and looked toward the old man. The old man¡¯s gaze reminded them that he was a true apical character of the empire. Their authority seemed fairly humble in the presence of the current emperor¡¯s granduncle¡ªone of the two heavenly monarchs of the imperial family¡ªthe Longevity Monarch.

    Longevity Monarch said in a slow, shaky voice, ¡°The journey to the Great Maelstrom is only to train divine champions. Is it really so important that you people must push aside the war of national fate?¡±

    An old man wearing a marshal¡¯s uniform sneered, ¡°War of national fate? Humph, it¡¯s just Lin Xitang¡¯s slogan. Someone of paltry experience poisoning his majesty all the time. Now, the war has deteriorated to such a state and they¡¯re about to be kicked out of the floating continent. What did the empire gain apart from straining its citizens, coffers, and soldiers?¡±

    The old man sitting across from him said, ¡°Marshal Lu, you can¡¯t say that. Xitang has proven his skills since youth and has rarely been defeated in so many years. His achievements in the divination arts have reached great heights. The war has just begun, and it¡¯s too early to judge.¡±

    Marshal Lu snorted coldly. ¡°Who can turn the tables after reaching such a state?¡±

    The old man across him let out a drawn-outugh. ¡°You, Lu Jun, might not be able to do it, but that doesn¡¯t mean Lin Xitang can¡¯t. I think it was right before your eyes that Lin Xitang won the war and gained fame on Transcendent Continent, haha!¡±

    Lu Jun was livid and began seething in fury. Back in the year, he was the armymander for the war on Transcendent Continent. Lin Xitang was fairly young back then, with only an auxiliary division under his name. Yet, he had dared to go into battle with his rabble of an army. He hadmanded his troops unpredictably in the several battles that followed, winning every fight as though he were aided by the gods themselves. He managed to hold back a dark race army ten times in size, which allowed the imperial army to reorganize and finally drive the enemy out of Transcendent Continent.

    That battle established Lin Xitang¡¯s reputation as a divine strategist of the empire and paved a straight path to his rank as a marshal. It could be considered the battle in which he had risen to fame. It was just that the more resounding Li Xitang¡¯s name was, the uglier it was for Lu Jun.

    The conference room fell silent once again following a sigh from Longevity Monarch. ¡°The war of national fate has received His Majesty¡¯s recognition, there¡¯s no need for further debate. We¡¯ve spent too much time on the matter regarding quotas, and it is imperative that we reach a conclusion. In any case, we¡¯ve already hammered out most of the candidates, and the remaining slots won¡¯t really affect the bigger picture. It will be midnight in one hour, and our discussions will stop there.¡±

    One hour? The time limit was simply too tight.

    Frowning, Lu Jun made up his mind and said, ¡°Regarding the quotas, I have an idea about how we can free up one slot.¡±

    One slot meant one chance to achieve the divine champion rank. That was the reason why these major characters were gathered here. Everyone¡¯s eyes fell onto that man.

    Lu Jun said, ¡°We should discuss again the quota of Zhao n¡¯s Qianye.¡±

    Everyone was shocked. That burly man banged the table and said furiously, ¡°Nonsense! We have so many quotas today because Qianye risked his life to meet the Demoness head on! Now, you have designs on his quota? Do you have no shame? Is that how a marshal should act?¡±

    Lu Jun had long since prepared for this question. He retorted with a calm expression, ¡°With Qianye¡¯s current condition, can he still use that quota? Moreover, the Zhao n already has Zhao Jundu and Zhao Yuying, must we give them a third slot? Are you sure?¡±

    The imposing man roared with a solemn expression, ¡°That¡¯s your idea, not mine! This will shake all the heroes of the world. Who will be willing to risk their lives for the empire in the future?¡±

    Lu Junughed. ¡°It¡¯s not that serious, is it? Qianye can¡¯t use that quota anyway. That¡¯s why we need to discuss it again. Besides, one more quota means one more divine champion. Must I say how beneficial it¡¯ll be for the empire? Duke Yan shouldn¡¯t overthink things.¡±

    At this moment, another old man said while stroking his beard, ¡°There¡¯s also a Storm Pearl in that Qianye¡¯s hands. This object will absorb void origin power once inside the Great Maelstrom and transform into an origin crystal. In terms of value, it is not below a divine champion at all. But the level and power of the crystal produced depend on who carries it into the Great Maelstrom. With Qianye¡¯s current condition, it doesn¡¯t look like he has any use for the Storm Pearl.¡±

    Many people fell into contemtion since the value of an origin crystal was indisputable. A single origin crystal wasn¡¯t inferior to a standard divine champion in its worth. Now that Qianye was in a deepa, it would seem that the owner of this Storm Pearl was again up for discussion.

    Yan Zheng was furious, but he alone couldn¡¯t argue against everyone else. As such, he looked toward the Longevity Monarch, but the old man¡¯s eyes were closed and even his head was lowered. No one knew if he was awake, but it was evident that he had no intention of interfering.

    Zhao Jundu gradually opened his eyes as the first light of dawn appeared over Indomitable. He sat there with his hands on his knees, as firm as an unmovable mountain.

    Thatdy appeared behind him and said, ¡°Everything has been prepared. From now on, no one will disturb Young Noble Qianye.¡±

    Zhao Jundu exhaled slowly. ¡°What I fear isn¡¯t the enemy in the light.¡±

    Thedy was both startled and puzzled. ¡°You mean...¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t give a straight answer. ¡°It¡¯s about time we receive the news.¡±

    Thedy didn¡¯t know what he was talking about. At this moment, a guard walked over and said, ¡°Young Master, an urgent report from the military.¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t even stand up as he received the urgent report. He didn¡¯t open it in a rush either, and merely said, ¡°Where is that person from the military?¡±

    The guard replied, ¡°He¡¯s waiting in the hall for Young Master¡¯s response.¡±

    With a nod, Zhao Jundu opened the urgent message and read through it. Despite his improving subtlety, Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression changed after reading the report, and his killing intent caused the temperature in the room to plummet.

    The report wasn¡¯t long, but Zhao Jundu spent quite a long time to finish reading it. Afterward, he handed the report to thedy and said, ¡°Take a look.¡±

    The woman wasn¡¯t as calm. She only shot a nce at it before flying into a rage. ¡°Outrageous!!!¡±

    Zhao Jundu regained his calm and said indifferently, ¡°This matter is within expectations, but I hadn¡¯t expected them to take things so far.¡±

    ¡°Qianye risked his life to push the Demoness back and bring about a great victory. That was the sole reason we have so many slots! Now Qianye hasn¡¯t even died yet, but they¡¯re all in a rush to snatch his quota and Storm Pearl? Do they have no shame?¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head before sighing. ¡°Shame, for some people, is as heavy as the mountains. For a handful of others, however, it¡¯s worth nothing. How can itpare to a quota?¡±

    The woman said through gritted teeth, ¡°Do they really think going into the Great Maelstrom will bring them a divine champion? If it were so easy, won¡¯t there be divine champions all over the empire? They wouldn¡¯t be worth much at all.¡±

    Zhao Jundu had calmed down entirely at this point. ¡°To some people, it¡¯s the difference between hope and despair.¡±

    The woman seemed to have guessed something. She snorted, ¡°Only those useless Song n people can be so desperate. The Bai n isn¡¯t any better, either, their old fellows won¡¯t live much longer than Duchess An.¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh. ¡°Making absurdments about the empire and politics isn¡¯t a small crime.¡±

    Thedy sneered. ¡°I¡¯ll kill whoever dares to report me!¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t continue with this topic. Instead, he asked, ¡°Is Qianye doing well?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s stable, no changes at all.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°All is well then. We won¡¯t be getting that quota back, but no one can take away the Storm Pearl.¡±

    ¡°But who will do the infusion?¡± Apparently, she knew some secrets about the Storm Pearl.

    ¡°If he doesn¡¯t wake up, then I will.¡±

    This answer surprised thedy. As someone who knew Zhao Jundu¡¯s character well, she realized that the young master had made a decision no one could change.

    All she could do was sigh to herself. ¡°How do we respond to the military?¡±

    Zhao Jundu had long since made preparations. ¡°Summon that messenger.¡±

    Momentster, a brigadier general and a lieutenant stood in front of Zhao Jundu. Dispatching a brigadier general to deliver a letter showed how important this matter was.

    This officer was one who held office in the military, and his status was much higher than others of the same rank. Before Zhao Jundu, however, no general could put on airs. He bowed respectfully and said, ¡°Has General Jundu read the urgent report? No matter what your thoughts are, please instruct me so that I can report back.¡±

    Zhao Jundu waved the report in his hand. He then rubbed his hands together with a smile, effectively reducing the missive into fine powder!

    ¡°Urgent report? What urgent report? I haven¡¯t seen it.¡±

    The brigadier general¡¯s head went nk.

 Chapter 694: Ancient Origin Blood

    [V7C011 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    ¡°General Jundu, please don¡¯t joke like this.¡± The brigadier general was drenched in cold sweat.

    The lieutenant colonel, on the other hand, was full of vigor. ¡°Zhao Jundu! Don¡¯t think you can do whatever you want just because you have the Zhao n supporting you!¡±

    The lieutenant hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the brigadier general dragged him back and reprimanded, ¡°Shut up! This is no ce for you to speak!¡±

    Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t grateful, however. He revealed a spurious smile as he said, ¡°When have you people heard me joke? Besides, why would I need to rely on the Zhao n to deal with you little fellows?¡±

    The brigadier general had sensed the weird atmosphere and dared not say anything despite the taunt. With a bow, he left hurriedly with the lieutenant in tow.

    After the dazed personnel from the military had left, the woman asked in puzzlement, ¡°Those two are just small fries. It¡¯s no use making things difficult for them, is it?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is. No matter what reply I give, it means that I¡¯ve read the urgent missive. As a member of the empire, I have the duty to obey the order regardless of its dogshit contents. But now, since I¡¯ve not read this order, then whatever I do is up to me. Heh heh, if I didn¡¯t need them to go and report back, I¡¯d even make it so that I never saw them.¡±

    ¡°But this won¡¯t bring back Qianye¡¯s quota, will it?¡±

    ¡°That is true, but I¡¯ll remember whoever tries to swallow Qianye¡¯s quota and repay him ten times over in the future.¡±

    Thedy sighed. ¡°I wonder when young noble Qianye will wake up.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s always hope. Hasn¡¯t Song Zining made the necessary ns already?¡± At this point, Zhao Jundu stood up with a frown and said, ¡°This won¡¯t do, his resources are limited, and he doesn¡¯t have that many experts to mobilize. It might not be enough even with the Wei n. You go and investigate what histest arrangements are and keep watch nearby. Give him a hand when needed, no need to hold back this time!¡±

    Thedy left with a bow.

    The room quickly turned cold after her departure. For some reason, Duan Chengpeng¡¯s face appeared in his eyes. By the time this subordinate was sent back, he had already be a cold corpse. Although his expression had been restored, one could still see the extreme anger and unwillingness before his death.

    Zhao Jundu reached out subconsciously to grab his gun, but there was only empty air therein. Only then did he realize that this new firearm he had yet to name was undergoing nourishment at the moment and not at his side. He silently retracted his hand but couldn¡¯t quite suppress the vague anxiety in his heart.

    It was just that the Li family had stated clearly that they would punish Li Tianquan ording to thew and give the Zhao n a satisfactory answer. At the same time, they had also dispatched experts to investigate and found that Duan Chengpeng was killed by another person. There was both proof and reason to this response, and moreover, Li Kuann had also delivered the medicine first. Hence, Zhao Jundu had no choice but to wait patiently for the Li family¡¯s next move.

    Mister Liao had calcted well, but he hadn¡¯t expected the Li family¡ªas proficient as they were in medicine and divination arts¡ªto see through his arrangements. The family¡¯s attitude also far exceeded his expectations.

    In the depths of the Twilight Continent¡ªthat vast region where no human had ever set foot¡ªstood a tall peak jutting into the clouds. Atop a mountain so straight that it looked to have been carved out with a knife stood a majestic castle. It was somewhat of a miracle even in the Evernight world where experts were as abundant as the clouds.

    The long years had painted this castle with intense ck color, with a hint of shiny gold peeking out on the well-worn corners of the walls and steps. Apparently, this castle was made of metal.

    In the depths of this fortress, there was a single throne at the end of a giant hall. Moonlight shone in from the stained-ss windows and illuminated the seat, highlighting its singr existence.

    There was an ancient-looking elder seated upon the throne¡ªhe wore a tall crown and his body was as shriveled as a skeleton. Eyes closed and his head propped up on his hand, it almost seemed like he was dozing off. There wasn¡¯t a single person within these cold, deste halls. The tightly shut doors were covered in rust and locked together with chains as thick as a beast¡¯s leg.

    Time itself seemed to be stagnant within this hall, almost as though no power could produce any change therein.

    Just when it seemed like everything in the chamber was eternal, a quake spread through the hall. The tremors were gentle at first but grew more intense as time went on, causing dust and rust to fall down from the roof. From time to time, the swaying chains would strike against the main doors amidst startling rumbles.

    The skeleton-like ancient monarch sensed the trembling and slowly opened his eyes. There were no pupils in his eye-sockets, only two pools of turbid blood. He looked down slowly after waking up, and his gaze pierced through every obstacle as it scanned the castle below. He flew into a rage with a single nce, and his roars echoed throughout the entire mountaintop. ¡°Blood pond! Who destroyed my blood pond!?¡±

    He pulled on a chain beside the throne, and an ear-piercing bell echoed throughout the castle. However, there was a sudden cracking sound on the third pull as one of his fingers broke and fell to the floor. Only then did he look down at his hand and realized that he must¡¯ve used too much force; even his arms were starting to crack. Only a thinyer of skin and flesh remained.

    The ancient monarch had no choice but to slow down his movements, lest his shriveled up body receives more injuries. He tried standing up, but his creaking leg bones deprived him of the courage to do so. The man unleashed a long, shrill scream in order to summon his nsmen.

    Momentster, the chained door began to retract into the walls along aplicated path. This process was bothplicated and long, causing the ancient monarch to feel extremely anxious, yet he was helpless to do anything. This step was to ensure that no one could harm the ancient being during his deep slumber and wasn¡¯t something that could be skipped.

    The doors finally opened and several dozen vampires entered while carrying a bronze coffin. The old monarch¡¯s tone changed after seeing the container. ¡°That¡¯s it? This level of origin blood will take me seven days to recover!¡±

    The leader of this group, a marquis, fell to one knee. ¡°Your Majesty, that¡¯s because the ancient blood pond has been destroyed, and the highest-level of origin blood are now gone. This is the only back-up origin blood we have in the castle.¡±

    ¡°Then, why are you all here instead of chasing down the culprit!?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, this matter is extremely odd, the timing of the attack was just too perfect. I felt that my top priority wasn¡¯t to chase down the invader but to protect your safety.¡±

    The old monarch began to ponder after his anger subsided. ¡°You mean the one who destroyed the blood pond isn¡¯t from the other races?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the invader was wounded during the escape and left some blood.¡±

    The ancient monarch stretched out a shriveled hand. ¡°Bring it here!¡±

    The marquis passed a ck cloth stained with drops of blood. The old man sniffed the object briefly, and his voice immediately turned gloomy. ¡°This is the scent of the Monroe n.¡±

    All the vampires in the hall wore different expressions. It was a fact that the Monroe had been suppressed by the Queen of the Night, but it was still a behemoth to the twelfth-ranked Carlton n. Moreover, it was rumored that the Queen of the Night was back in deep slumber after the war for the floating continent. This meant that the suppression on the Monroe n would lighten, giving them greater freedom of movement.

    The marquis replied, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not the Monroe n. Maybe another n hired someone with Monroe blood to do it.¡±

    The ancient monarch¡¯s voice was frosty. ¡°Someone with a top-grade Monroe bloodline with the ability to sneak into the depths of our castle... What level of character do you think this person is? How can someone like that be working for another n?¡±

    The marquis couldn¡¯t reply.

    The ancient monarch said in a deep voice, ¡°The blood pond has been destroyed, and this matter can¡¯t be hidden for long. Since that¡¯s the case, we should simply cause a big fuss about it. The Queen of the Night isn¡¯t asleep just yet.¡±

    The marquis replied, ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. I¡¯ll make arrangements to go after the culprit and inform the other ancient ns. Do you think we should push back the schedule for two days?¡±

    ¡°Why!?¡± The monarch¡¯s tone was somewhat angry again.

    ¡°Your Majesty, your recovery time is a bit longer than usual. It¡¯ll be bad if someone were to grasp the time and ambush you during that time.¡±

    The ancient monarch was a bit surprised. He looked on with narrowed eyes and said after a good while, ¡°Send people from our n for the time being. Afterward, inform all the powers after three days.

    Three dayster, a certain news shook the entire core region of the Twilight Continent. The Carlton family¡¯s ancient blood pond had been destroyed, and the ancient origin blood therein, stolen.

    Before long, all the ns began to react, expressing great anger toward this behavior. It went without saying that the ancient blood ponds were highly important to people beyond the marquis rank. It was the best way to recover when wounded, and it was also the only method to survive at the end of their life-span.

    Powerful ns like the Perth and the Monroe possessed more than one ancient blood ponds, while the Carlton could only maintain one. Reconstruction would probably require several decades. The n would weaken significantly during that period, and they wouldn¡¯t be much stronger than the big non-ancient ns.

    Due to the importance of these blood ponds, all the ancient vampire ns¡ªincluding the Monroe¡ªresponded in a uniform manner, and even dispatched their core members to join the search. Naturally, the Monroe n denied all the allegations.

    Just like that, a great covered the core region of the Twilight Ccontinent and expanded rapidly to cover half of thend.

    There was a faintly discernible figure moving rapidly across the vast ins of the Twilight Continent. Nighteye kept her body bent among the swaying grasses and shrubbery as she ran into the distance.

    Her ck tight-fitting clothes were torn in many ces¡ªher skin under some of them had healedpletely, while others were still a bloody mess. Even a person of her constitution could hardly hold on after running continuously for several days, not to mention the several battles along the way. Nighteye simply had no strength left to heal those wounds. Even so, some of the smaller ones had regenerated on their own, a clear indication of how powerful her bloodline was.

    All of a sudden, her legs went limp and she nearly fell to the ground. Nheless, that fiery ancient origin blood in her arms gave her the strength to continue running further away.

 Chapter 695: The Last Step

    [V7C012 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    The pursuers were getting closer and closer. Several airships whistled past the distant horizon, carrying soldiers to cut off her forward path. Meanwhile, on thend, numerous vampire squads had spread out like ripples on ake.

    Arge hunting had begun to form within just a few days. Despite the primogenitor bloodline that made her peerless in the same realm, Nighteye gradually started to feel the mounting pressure.

    Soon, a long, narrow valley appeared in front of her. Nighteye became spirited as she recognized one of the important areas Song Zining had mentioned repeatedly. She dived in without a second thought and made straight for the bottom.

    Several dozen vampires were hot on her trail. Just as they reached the bottom of the ravine, however, the entire area began to tremble. The valley walls actually began to crack and copse!

    A shrill sound wave echoed through the air at this point. The vampires, who had just taken flight, fell back to the ground, where they were soon buried by the endless stream of falling rocks and debris.

    Nighteye had rushed out of the other end of the valley at this point. She looked back at the dust-filled ravine and felt a wave of renewed confidence.

    In the blink of an eye, she had charged through several blockades. She had lost track of the time and location by this point¡ªall she knew was that she was not far from the borders of the Twilight Continent. Yet, this was where things became increasingly dangerous.

    It was at this moment that an imposing vampire count appeared in front of her, standing in the midst of several corpses. Apparently, the support team Song Zining had arranged for her had been wiped out on the spot. The count stretched out his hand and said, ¡°I want half of the ancient origin blood.¡±

    ¡°Dream on!¡± Clenching her teeth, Nighteye charged in with her swords drawn.

    Momentster, the vampire count was kneeling on the ground with a shocked expression. ¡°Eye of Destruction, Eye of Destruction...¡± He mumbled while clutching his chest but soon fell face-first into the dust.

    The corpses of the count¡¯s dozen or so subordinates were also lying around him.

    A pale Nighteye thrust her des into the ground¡ªshe looked down, grabbed the hilt sticking out from her ribs, and slowly pulled out a dagger. The moment the de left her body, she couldn¡¯t help but let out a muffled groan.

    The primo shot a nce at the bloodstained dagger in her hand before throwing it away. The thrust hade all too close to piercing her blood core. However, the count failed to deal that final blow before his own blood core was crushed by the Eye of Destruction.

    Nighteye found some high-grade blood crystals on the count, the contents of which she duly poured into her injury. Then she bound the wound tightly before making her way toward the continent¡¯s edge.

    One day and night went by in a sh. The edge of the continent was growing ever closer, but Nighteye¡¯s progress was also slowing down. Fights broke out often as vampire warriors rushed out from time to time. Nighteye¡¯s consciousness had grown heavy¡ªher blood core was groaning from the overload, and all her injuries were starting to sting.

    The ancient origin blood began to feel scorching hot, emitting an almost irresistible enticement. Nighteye would recover immediately if she could absorb this ancient origin blood. To a gravely injured vampire, this was an inherent allure born of the body and soul.

    Nighteye touched the ancient origin blood subconsciously. Yet in the end, she pulled her hand back with great willpower and continued dragging her leaden body into the distance.

    A small vige appeared far up ahead. Nighteye remembered that this was thest transition point, whereiny thest link Song Zining had arranged for her. After this point, his men would escort her on the final leg of the journey to the hidden location and bring her back to the empire via high-speed airship.

    But Nighteye discovered something wrong with the distant vige. It was quiet, so quiet that it looked dead. Such viges on the border of the Twilight Continent were beyond thew, a ce where all kinds of people gathered. It wouldn¡¯t even be a surprise if there were groups of humans here. There were simr grey areas on every continent. Perhaps the reason for their survival was because they were living gold channels for the higher echelons.

    Nighteye halted her steps and gazed at the vige with a frown.

    At this moment, a small voice called out from nearby, ¡°This way, this way!¡±

    Nighteye turned around and saw a shabby-looking youth waving at her from behind a tree. Nighteye realized that he was one of Song Zining¡¯s men. All the key characters in this operation cultivated a secret art that would respond to a piece of special jewelry on Nighteye¡¯s body, allowing both sides to identify one another. Otherwise, with her Bloodline Concealment, there was no way these support teams would be able to sense her arrival.

    As Nighteye walked over, that youth said anxiously, ¡°Something¡¯s happened. Seventh Young Master¡¯s ns have beenpromised, and our people have been killed. I only survived because I came to meet you outside the area. Go with me, we might just make it if we head straight for the airship port!¡±

    Nighteye realized that her uneasiness this entire way had finally been confirmed. Unwittingly, a mysterious chill had slowly crept into her heart.

    She pondered for a while before producing the ancient origin blood and handing it to the youth. ¡°Give this to Zining, this is the thing he wants. Go now!¡±

    The young man was astonished. ¡°How about you?¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°If we leave together, no one will survive. Remember, this thing in your hand is more important than me.¡±

    The young man understood the urgency of the situation. As a decisive person, he immediately put away the ancient origin blood and bowed toward Nighteye before flickering out of existence. His silhouette was already several dozen meters away when it reappeared, speeding off into the distance. If not for Nighteye¡¯s extraordinary vision, she would¡¯ve lost track of him beyond a hundred meters.

    The primo turned to the silent vige with frosty eyes.

    There seemed to be nothing wrong with the ce apart from the excessive silence, the empty streets, and theck of any signs of life.

    Nighteye stopped in front of a short house and gently pushed its doors open. The unlocked door duly opened up, revealing a simplemoner¡¯s house within. The furnishings were fairly ordinary¡ªthere was a werewolf totem in one corner of the room and something was still cooking on the stove, but the mes had long since died out.

    The werewolf family was sitting at the table, prepared to partake in their simple dinner. Yet time was frozen at this moment, almost as though the werewolves, young and old, had all fallen asleep.

    Nighteye scanned the ce and knew that none of them were alive. Even among the ancient vampire ns, it would take an extremely tyrannical secret art to reap life in an instant.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t enter the house and walked to a different one instead.

    The houses nearby were all upied by werewolves, and it would seem all of them had lost their lives in a sh.

    Nighteye headed toward the center of the vige and finally found traces of battle. She picked up a stone club along the way and shook it gently. The stone weapon immediately broke down into a shower of fine dust. It would seem the battle here was short but intense. The affected area wasn¡¯trge, but everything in its range was involved¡ªeven a stone club struck by the shockwave was reduced to fine powder. There was no way to disguise traces of such a battle.

    Nighteye suddenly looked up toward the small square at the center of the vige. There were several wooden poles there with corpses strung upon them. This was amon scene in grey areas, but Nighteye¡¯s gaze fell upon the corpse of a certain woman.

    Her skin was slightly dark, but her face was delicate and her figure, slender¡ªady who was fairly pleasing to the eye. It seemed as though she could erupt with great power at any given moment, but now, she had lost all signs of life. Not even the vampires¡¯ ancient blood pond could revive her.

    At this point, Nighteye finally broke into a frown. This woman reminded her of the empire¡¯s number one genius, Zhao Jundu, whom she had only seen once. Although quite faint, his aura on her couldn¡¯t escape Nighteye¡¯s notice.

    A gentleugh rang out in the vige as a well-groomed man walked out. ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived. It¡¯s fortunate that I didn¡¯t have to wait too long.¡±

    Nighteye couldn¡¯t help but take half a step back after seeing this middle-aged man. The feeling he gave off was like a snake¡ªcold, moist, slippery, and, at the same time, extremely dangerous.

    The middle-aged man praised with open arms. ¡°Your entire n was like an art, there¡¯s really no word to describe it. In truth, it¡¯s truly admirable to be able to n out an escape path on Twilight Continent with such limited resources and time. Just from this scheme alone, one can see that Song Seven¡¯s reputation as the next divine strategist isn¡¯t undeserved. You see it, don¡¯t you? ording to the n, you should already be on an airship back to the empire. A perfect n indeed! If only I had not appeared...¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I¡¯m the leader of the fifth central militarymand, Li Fengshui, and currently a general in rank. I hope my identity is worthy of weing Miss Nighteye.¡± [1]

    Nighteye scanned the surroundings. A dozen or so people had appeared at some point and surrounded her. These people were different in appearance and stance, but they were simrly sinister and powerful. Every one of them gave Nighteye a vague feeling of danger.

    ¡°Why are you waiting for me here?¡± Nighteye inquired.

    With victory in his grasp, Li Fengshui didn¡¯t mind revealing some information. ¡°Because you¡¯re... important. Although I don¡¯t know why the seventh young noble would expend so much resources to do this, your identity alone is important enough for us. As for why you¡¯re here, we have enough time to chat about it slowly.¡±

    Nighteye looked at Li Fengshui and sneered, ¡°It seems like you¡¯re confident about capturing me?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Li Fengshui revealed a sincere smile that waspletely devoid of malice.

    However, his smile soon froze up as his image was reflected in Nighteye¡¯s pupils.

    The man¡¯s eyes quickly became bloodshot, and an odd redness shed across his face as his heart began beating wildly. He acted immediately, reaching out to grab a nearby subordinate and using him as a shield. It was unknown what kind of secret art he had used, but Li Fengshui¡¯s image in Nighteye¡¯s pupils suddenly became that of the subordinate.

    The soldier¡¯s face suddenly turned scarlet, and his eyes bulged out¡ªapparently, he was suffering great agony and terror. He opened his mouth to spit out a mixture of blood and organ fragments before falling limp. It was clear that he would no longer survive.

    [1] This Li different from the Li family.

 Chapter 696: Meaningful Things

    [V7C013 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Nighteye felt somewhat lightheaded from the massive drain that came with activating the Eye of Destruction. In her current state of near-exhaustion, this came as a great burden. Having failed herst-ditch assault, Nighteye pulled herself together quickly, removed the image in her eyes, and nced back at Li Fengshui.

    How could Li Fengshui be where he was before? There was only that military expert whose innards had been crushed.

    Nighteye had just sensed danger when she suffered a heavy blow to the back. An extremely cold origin power broke apart her faltering blood energy and went straight for her blood core, effectively freezing it in the blink of an eye.

    The primo staggered for a while but slowly copsed in the end. Li Fengshui withdrew his right hand from behind her, but his fingers were trembling involuntarily and there was an inconceble terror in his eyes.

    ¡°As expected of the vampire princess, she¡¯s truly powerful.¡± Li Fengshui¡¯s voice was somewhat shaky.

    One of his subordinates said, ¡°No matter how powerful she is, didn¡¯t she fall in your hands in the end? How could she even have the chance to attack if you weren¡¯t already injured?¡±

    ¡°This injury...¡± Li Fengshui¡¯s expression was unnatural as he shot a nce at the hanging corpse of the woman. He then said while shaking his head, ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. I can¡¯t help but feel terrified when thinking back about it. If not for the three backup ns and sessful ambush, she might have turned the tables on us. Heh! Who would¡¯ve known the Zhao n was hiding such an agent?¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s you, general, who was one step ahead of them and gained a big victory!¡±

    Li Fengshui was expressionless. ¡°The deciding factor for this battle was intelligence, not strength. It just so happened that strength is the true key to oveing enemies. I¡¯d rather have the strength to overwhelm adversaries than having to resort to intelligence. I¡¯m unfortunatelycking in power and will never be able to break through that cultivation bottleneck.¡±

    He sighed lightly. ¡°We can¡¯t stay here for long, let¡¯s set out.¡±

    The group thus departed swiftly from the small vige.

    Momentster, silhouettes flickered continuously in the vige square as arge number of high-ranking vampires appeared one after another. The leader, anky old man, sniffed around and said, ¡°She was here just now.¡±

    ¡°She couldn¡¯t have gone far,¡± another old man said regretfully.

    ¡°Indeed not far, but we won¡¯t make it.¡± A shorter marquis pointed at the night sky where a star was moving rapidly away.

    These marquis-level characters all possessed shocking eyesight and were able to discern the airship pulling away from the continent¡¯s borders. Just from its unbelievable takeoff velocity, they knew that there was no way to catch up. A warship of such speed was rare even in the entire Evernight world.¡±

    ¡°So close.¡± The leader was clearly pained.

    ¡°How could she have escaped if the Carltons had spoken up sooner?¡±

    ¡°Heh heh, the Lightless Monarch has probably found a target to vent his anger.¡±

    The high-ranking vampires didn¡¯t have the slightest intention of giving chase and only continued chatting in the vige.

    Outside the floating continent was arge vampire fleet crowded around a massive vessel at its center. This giant airship was twice asrge as the empire¡¯s biggest regr airships and resembled a small castle in its magnificence. This was the Lightless Monarch Medanzo¡¯s ship, a craft he had spent thirty years to build and upgraded continuously over the millennium.

    In the Bridge, Medanzo was listening to a subordinate¡¯s report, his expression transforming drastically throughout the process. ¡°Nighteye? S-She¡¯s appeared again?¡±

    The count replied hurriedly, ¡°There should be no mistake. The pursuers have confirmed her identity several times and Bloodline Concealment is an ability exclusive to her. She has also used the Eye of Destruction several times during the interception.¡±

    ¡°Continue.¡± Medanzo had seemingly regained his calm, but he knocked over the golden goblet while reaching out for wine.

    The cup fell with a ng and sprayed the red liquor all over the floor. In the blink of an eye, all eyes fell upon the rolling goblet for a moment and then moved away. Two vampire maids shed past them like the wind and had soon cleaned the ce spotless. A new receptacle was soon ced at the monarch¡¯s side, filled with rich wine.

    This was a small matter, but how could someone as strong as Medanzo fail to even hold his cup? One could imagine just how shocking this matter was to him.

    That count continued reporting but ced the focus of the recount on the chase, opting to gloss over all the other major issues.

    ¡°What? They let Nighteye escape!?¡± Medanzo couldn¡¯t believe his ears. Soon, an invisible tempest began to brew in the hall. All the vampires felt their blood core beating faster and faster.

    That count¡¯s face was as white as paper. ¡°Yes, they were half an hour toote to catch her.¡±

    Finally, Medanzo could no longer hold back his anger. ¡°Half an hour, only half an hour!!! Those useless Carlton people!!! Why did they not release the news sooner? These bastards just had to drag it out for two entire days!¡±

    A marquis below the throne seemed to have a good rtionship with the Carlton n. He drummed up his courage and said, ¡°Your Majesty, with their blood pond destroyed, the Carltons are in their weakest state. It¡¯s normal for them to be cautious.¡±

    Medanzo snorted loudly. ¡°Nonsense! How can a mere ancient blood pond be as important as Nighteye! These ignorant bastards have dyed my business!¡±

    Seeing the monarch¡¯s wrath, that marquis no longer dared to say anything.

    The Lightless Monarch eventually suppressed his roaring anger and said, ¡°Does that mean Nighteye has fallen into human hands?¡±

    ¡°From the traces left behind at their departure point, the ones who had brought her away seem to be from the human military.¡±

    ¡°Military?¡± Medanzo frowned at the thorny problem. Even someone of his status couldn¡¯t casually provoke such a massive entity. Bringing Nighteye back from the hands of the military was close to impossible.

    He tapped lightly on the handrest and said after a long silence, ¡°Activate our channels over there and contact those people. See if they can find a way to bring Nighteye back. No price is out of the question!¡±

    Shaken upon realizing Medanzo¡¯s resolution, the vampires in the hall affirmed his order.

    In the void, a certain airship had shed its disguise and revealed its true nature as a high-speed vessel. It streaked across the void like a sh of lightning and rapidly left the Twilight Continent.

    Li Fengshui stood beside the cabin windows, thinking about something. An aide arrived near him with words of ttery. ¡°General, you managed to capture the vampire princess this time. Your contributions are surely at the very peak. Perhaps the empire will have a new marshal before long.¡±

    Li Fengshui said with a smile, ¡°The imperial marshal position has always been for divine champions, and this rule has never been broken before. How can the threshold of a divine champion be so easy to cross? If it were that easy, I wouldn¡¯t be stuck here for so many years either.¡±

    The aide wouldn¡¯t stop with his toadying, nor was he embarrassed about it. ¡°But your service this time isn¡¯t ordinary. It should be enough for the imperial family to bestow you that treasure, right? Just one or two drops should be enough to help you break through.¡±

    Li Fengshui said indifferently, ¡°That treasure is extremely limited and only a couple of drops are produced every year. Every drop has been reserved, how can it be my turn?¡±

    The aideined, ¡°But your contribution this time...¡±

    Li Fengshui said while pointing upward, ¡°Those characters up there will definitely take a cut. Besides, all of you have been following me for many years despite your own aspirations. How can I not share the bounty with everyone who risked their lives for today¡¯s sess?¡±

    Caught unprepared, the aide¡¯s voice choked up. ¡°General...¡±

    Li Fengshui waved his hand. The warmth in his eyes disappeared and was quickly reced by a sinister chill. ¡°I¡¯m not in a rush to cash in this contribution, though. The Monroe Princess¡¯ value is far greater than you and I can imagine. Whatever the military and his majesty have to offer isn¡¯t nearly enough.¡±

    The aide was started. ¡°You mean, you won¡¯t hand over the prisoner? But, isn¡¯t this a great opportunity to overturn the Zhao n?¡±

    Li Fengshui smiled indifferently. ¡°What good does it do to overturn the Zhao n? We¡¯ll just be helping the Minister of the Right.¡±

    ¡°But your enmity with the Zhao n...¡±

    ¡°Heh heh, how I repay them for that depends on how much they¡¯re willing to pay.¡±

    The aid nodded in half-understanding. ¡°Then, where do we head now?¡±

    ¡°The void continent.¡±

    The subordinate was shocked out of his wits. ¡°Void continent!? Isn¡¯t that right under the Zhao n¡¯s eyes?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also under the eyes of the entire empire,¡± Li Fengshui added. ¡°I refuse to believe they dare to do anything under public eyes. Humph, the heavenly monarchs will never forgive them for colluding with the vampires!¡±

    Realizing the situation, the aide praised, ¡°General is indeed far-sighted!¡±

    Li Fengshui said with augh, ¡°Nighteye should be awake by now. Come, we should go and see her.¡±

    Nighteye finally woke up after an unknown length of time. The scene that entered her eyes was a cold cabin room with neither furnishings nor decoration. She tried moving about but found that her body had lost all senses, retaining only a weak response. Her blood core was still bound tightly by that frigid origin power. It would beat only once in a long while, just enough to maintain her vitality.

    She struggled a bit once more but felt a sharp paining from her hands. Only then did she discover the two special stakes piercing through her wrists and nailing her firmly to the armrest.

    ¡°These nails aren¡¯t ordinary items. Not to mention the materials, it takes five years just to make them. It¡¯s made of the most premium refined silver, and truth be told, each of them cost as much as a small airship,¡± Li Fengshui said as he pulled a chair over and sat across from Nighteye.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t struggle anymore and merely said, ¡°You think quite highly of me.¡±

    Li Fengshuiughed out loud. ¡°No treatment is too excessive for the Monroe Princess. I was quite astonished when I first received the intelligence. Only when I almost died to your Eye of Destruction was I able to confirm that you¡¯re the long-missing princess. Who would¡¯ve thought you had hidden yourself in the empire, in that small ce on Evernight Continent?

    Nighteye replied calmly. ¡°This is something you¡¯ll know sooner orter. There¡¯s no meaning in talking about it.¡±

    ¡°Very well! Then we¡¯ll talk about meaningful things.¡± Li Fengshui leaned forward and said word by word, ¡°I want... Qianye¡¯s path to the heavenly monarch realm.¡±

 Chapter 697: The Chaos Millstone

    [V7C014 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    ¡°Path to Heavenly Monarch?¡± Nighteye clearly had no idea what Li Fengshui was saying.

    The man raised his brows. ¡°You don¡¯t know? Oh, right... perhaps you haven¡¯t heard about the Pointer Monarch¡¯s assessment.¡±

    Afterward, Li Fengshui recounted the situation at Indomitable and about the Pointer Monarch¡¯s evaluation.

    Then he rubbed his hands and said word by word, ¡°So, what I want is that Path to the Heavenly Monarch realm.¡±

    Nighteye only smiled.

    Li Fengshui wasn¡¯t discouraged, however. ¡°Don¡¯t say it¡¯s impossible just yet. You can say that I¡¯ve studied Qianye¡¯sbat records in great detail. That¡¯s definitely not an aplishment an ordinary human can produce. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s rate of advancement is simply unbelievable, and hisbat strength far exceeds his level. In the past, I would¡¯ve believed the empire had produced a true genius, but how can I continue to think so after knowing that the woman beside him is the Monroe Princess?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not clear about Qianye¡¯s matters. He¡¯s never told me about his cultivation matters.¡±

    Li Fengshui stared into Nighteye¡¯s pupils for a while before sighing. ¡°This matter is enough to exchange your freedom. There¡¯s still time, so please take a while to think about it. My patience has a limit, though. Don¡¯t make me do what I don¡¯t want to do. Okay then, we¡¯ll discuss something else now. For instance, why you went to the Twilight Continent, what you did there or retrieve.¡±

    ¡°I only went to take a look.¡±

    ¡°Was it really that simple?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Li Fengshui stared into Nighteye¡¯s pupils once more and said after a long while, ¡°Miss Nighteye, I¡¯ve told you before not to test my patience. Perhaps you don¡¯t understand how powerful the Fifth Central Command is or what we really do. Let¡¯s put it like this, centralmands one through four added together can¡¯tpare to half of the fifth. Besides, this is where the empire has the greatest number of methods against the dark races, and we specialize in vampires.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°This, you don¡¯t need to doubt.¡± With that, Li Fengshui flicked his finger, and a wisp of origin power struck the spike piercing her left wrist.

    The nail let out a sudden crackle after being agitated, and its outeryers fell off to reveal a core that resembled red-hot iron. Green smoke emerged from Nighteye¡¯s wrist as the pure daybreak origin power scorched her flesh. The pain induced far surpassed the limit a vampire was capable of enduring. Her body was spasming as her blood core contracted to its limit¡ªshe soon released a miserable cry before passing out.

    Nighteye woke up again after an unknown length of time and saw that she was no longer in the simple cabin. Instead, she was now in a prison cell built of limestone, a chamber just as cold and damp as before. There was an iron ring nailed onto the wall, stained with rust and ck grime. With her vampiric senses, Nighteye knew at a nce that the stains were actually a mixture of blood and flesh fragments.

    The iron door creaked open and in walked Li Fengshui.

    ¡°Where is this ce?¡± Nighteye inquired. Speaking made her realize how hoarse she was, almost as though scorching hot sand had been stuffed down her throat. It was inexplicably painful.

    ¡°We¡¯re on the void continent, at the center of the battlefield, the city of Indomitable. This is a secret stronghold of the military. The word secret doesn¡¯t quite describe this ce, though, because everyone knows this is imperial military domain.¡± At this point, the man said with a smile, ¡°Even if people know you¡¯re here, who would dare enter and bring away a vampire?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s heart sank somewhat. She had familiarized herself with the empire¡¯s history and gained a basic understanding of its system. This prison was only a half-concealed stronghold, but attacking this ce was tantamount to attacking the military, a crime no different from treason. Unless everyone rted was silenced, the perpetrator and his entire family would be executed, even if he had support from a major n.

    The disappointment onlysted a mere second, however. ¡°I have no intention of leaving here alive.¡±

    Li Fengshui was momentarily startled. He then said while shaking his head, ¡°It¡¯s too early to think that way. We still have time to discuss many things.¡±

    He drew a chair over and sat down in front of the primo. ¡°Now let¡¯s discuss what you¡¯ll exchange for your freedom?¡±

    ¡°Freedom?¡± Nighteye smiled mockingly.

    ¡°Freedom, true freedom. No hidden injuries, no hunting you down. How you came in is how you¡¯ll leave. That kind of freedom.¡±

    ¡°Fine, then what price must I pay to obtain this ¡®freedom¡¯?¡±

    ¡°The path to the heavenly monarch realm, or an object of simr value,¡± said Li Fengshui.

    It was at this time that a knock came from the door. Li Fengshui said with an upset frown, ¡°Who is it? Enter.¡±

    One of his aides walked in. He was somewhat apprehensive after seeing the general¡¯s unhappy expression, but he braced himself and whispered something in thetter¡¯s ear. Li Fengshui¡¯s expression changed somewhat. He nced over at Nighteye before nodding, and then dismissed the aide with a wave of his hand.

    He once again sat down in front of her with a serious expression. Only after a long while did he let out a long sigh. ¡°This isn¡¯t good news. Do you want to know?¡±

    Nighteye said with a smile, ¡°Of course, why wouldn¡¯t I? Can there be anything worse?¡±

    Li Fengshui smiled wryly. ¡°There is indeed and it¡¯s extremely bad. A major character on the Evernight side has asked for you.¡±

    ¡°A major character?¡±

    ¡°A true powerhouse, a great dark monarch. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know which one.¡±

    Nighteye stared nkly at the man. She really couldn¡¯t recall which dark monarch would want her so badly. Although she had awakened the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s primogenitor bloodline, she was only someone with potential after all. She wasn¡¯t that important from the viewpoint of the entire vampire race. At the very least, she was far inferior to Habsburg of the ming Crown who had ignited a blood seal on the river of blood.

    What surprised Nighteye was that Evernight actually had such deep ties with the imperial military. They could even pull off such a transaction.

    Li Fengshui remained silent for a moment before saying, ¡°I thought we still had some time, but now, that seems not to be the case. The one who sent word this time is also a true powerhouse of the military, at least he¡¯s far above me. The person from the Evernight faction has surely paid a price far beyond our imagination. As I see it, this price is enough to trade for a princess and even another holy son. So, let me ask you this; what do you have on you that he¡¯s willing to pay such a price?¡±

    Nighteye smiled wryly. ¡°What makes you think I¡¯ll know?¡±

    Li Fengshui nodded. ¡°I believe you. Whatever the Evernight person wants might not be useful to me anyway. Nheless, you should know that your fate won¡¯t be any better afternding in his hands. What he wants is a living Nighteye, in other words, an intact blood core. I¡¯ll give you one more opportunity. As long as you do this, we¡¯ll let you go. Wherever you go after this is your business.¡±

    ¡°Oh? There¡¯s something that good?¡± Nighteye was skeptical.

    Li Fengshui said seriously, ¡°I can swear on my future great dao, this promise shall be delivered.¡±

    ¡°What is this about?¡±

    ¡°Testify that it was Qianye and the Zhao n who hid you in Evernight Continent.¡±

    ¡°That simple?¡±

    ¡°Just that simple!¡± Li Fengshui said decisively.

    Nighteye contemted for a moment before saying, ¡°This isn¡¯t enough to topple the Zhao n.¡±

    Li Fengshui was apparently surprised. ¡°You understand quite a lot about the empire! But no one says we have to topple the Zhao n. It¡¯s enough as long as we can deal them a heavy blow and remove most of their territories and industries, making it difficult for them to recover within a few decades.¡±

    ¡°What good does it do for you?¡±

    ¡°For me, nothing... but it¡¯s beneficial to that bigshot above me. Your existence proves that many things are beyond my control.¡± Li Fengshui sighed.

    ¡°What about Qianye?¡±

    Li Fengshui replied, ¡°Him? He¡¯ll naturally be put to death for colluding with the vampires. He¡¯s already unconscious andcking in vitality. Who can even save him? It makes no difference whether or not he¡¯s put to death.¡±

    Nighteye said immediately, ¡°I won¡¯t agree to this.¡±

    Li Fengshui was startled, almost as though he couldn¡¯t believe his ears. ¡°What!? Why? For Qianye?¡±

    Nighteye closed her eyes without replying.

    Frowning, Li Fengshui persuaded her, ¡°Why must you do this? Qianye will surely die, and we¡¯re only borrowing him to attack the Zhao n. Why must you give up your only chance at survival for a dying man? Is it worth it? You¡¯re the vampire princess, you¡¯ll live for a thousand years after you mature.¡±

    Nighteye looked to be asleep andpletely unresponsive.

    Li Fengshui sighed deeply. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t hold back anymore. The fifth department has a secret guardian art called the Chaos Millstone made specifically for vampires. The thing to be crushed inside the millstone is a vampire¡¯s soul! The pain of having one¡¯s soul crushed is much worse than the two refined silver nails. Moreover, more and more of your soul will shatter with each passing day. In the end, you¡¯ll not only forget about Qianye but even who you yourself are. At that point, no one can save you even if you agree to cooperate. As untalented as I am, I have cultivated this art to the seventhyer and can grind your soul for an entire seven days!¡±

    ¡°Seven days, is it?¡± Nighteye revealed a smile.

    Li Fengshui discovered that things weren¡¯t quite right, almost as though he had overlooked something. However, he could no longer stop halfway at this point, and neither did he have the time to slowly assault her heart.

    Li Fengshui¡¯s expression sank as he stretched out his right hand. Soon, a greyish-green mass of lifeless origin power began rotating upon it.

    Nighteye closed her eyes and ignored the scene.

    The general clenched his teeth and pressed his hand on Nighteye¡¯s forehead!

    A mournful wail soon tore through the prison cell, spreading far and wide. Everyone who heard the sound felt their hearts seize for a split second.

    Under the night sky, a high-speed airshipnded in the City of Indomitable. Song Zining walked out of the vessel, boarded a military vehicle, and made straight for the Zhao n main camp.

 Chapter 698: Awakening

    [V7C015 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Momentster, Song Zining stood before Zhao Jundu with an exhausted face.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s gaze was like a sharp de stabbing into Song Zining¡¯s eyes, and it wasn¡¯t very friendly.

    Song Zining waved the ck box in his hand and said, ¡°This thing is extremely important, any dy might produce a lot of variables. Does the fourth young noble really want to waste time here?¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t move aside immediately. ¡°It¡¯s rare to see the seventh young noble so tired. Isn¡¯t your Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art known to be evenparable to the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery? How did such an oversight happen?¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°The heaven¡¯s will is difficult to gauge, how can anyone grasp itpletely? Even Marshal Lin himself makes mistakes sometimes, not to mention a small fry like me.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes fell on the box in Song Zining¡¯s hand. ¡°What is this thing?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°With the fourth young noble¡¯s current status, it¡¯s best you do not know. You only need to know that I definitely won¡¯t harm my brother, Qianye.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stood aside to make way, saying, ¡°Yuying¡¯s inside right now.¡±

    Song Zining nodded and entered.

    As he was passing by, Zhao Jundu suddenly said, ¡°A friend of mine died due to your carelessness.¡±

    Song Zining sighed lightly. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely get to the bottom of this matter afterward.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said nothing else. He didn¡¯t look back, either, and merely allowed Song Zining to enter the hall beyond.

    Within a lofty side-hall, Qianye was lying atop a jade tform. He looked fairly peaceful with his hands in front of his chest, almost as though he was in a deep slumber. Only those at the level of Song Zining and Zhao Yuying could sense the flow of vitality in Qianye¡¯s body¡ªit was extremely weak and would only pulse once in a long while.

    Zhao Yuying was seated beside the tform, her eyes deep and serene. No one knew exactly what she was thinking. Only Song Zining¡¯s arrival breathed some life and hope into her expression.

    The seventh young master arrived in front of the tform. There, he removed Qianye¡¯s hands and unbuttoned his shirt, baring his chest underneath. He ran his fingers over Qianye¡¯s thorax and sighed. ¡°I remember he had a frightening scar here during our days at Yellow Springs, yet now it¡¯spletely gone. Sigh, it has been so many years but the training grounds feel just like yesterday. We¡¯ve all grown up in the blink of an eye.¡±

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t say anything. She watched as Song Zining opened the wooden box and produce a blood-red crystal the size of a fist. He kept the crystal suspended with an origin power vacuum, not daring to touch it at all.

    There was a wisp of purplish-ck blood energy at its center swimming about like a live creature.

    Song Zining held his breath as he kept the crystal above Qianye¡¯s chest and slowly made to put it down.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Zhao Yuying called out to him all of a sudden.

    ¡°What is this?¡± she inquired with an expression full of trepidation. The pressure from this seemingly sentient crystal made her reluctant to approach it. Yet, Song Zining was about to put it on Qianye¡¯s body?

    ¡°Ancient origin blood, the core of an ancient blood pond,¡± Song Zining replied calmly.

    ¡°Ancient origin blood?¡± Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t as calm as the other fellow. ¡°Ancient origin bloods have their own consciousness. How can Qianye suppress its will in his current state? Won¡¯t he turn into a monster if you give him such a thing!?¡±

    ¡°I believe in Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Believe?! It¡¯s hard to tell if he even believes in himself! Song Seven, you aren¡¯t joking, are you?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no other way, is there?¡± Sighing lightly, Song Zining removed his origin power and allowed the blood-red crystal to fall upon Qianye¡¯s chest.

    ¡°But...¡± Zhao Yuying wanted to stop the man, but she was wracked with hesitation.

    It was just as Song Zining had said, there was no solution to Qianye¡¯s current condition. Even Zhao Xuanji could only sigh after checking on him. Perhaps a heavenly monarch level character might have some way to save him, but with Qianye¡¯s special situation, how would they dare show him to one?¡±

    The ancient origin blood had already fallen onto Qianye¡¯s chest while she was hesitating. It softened up immediately upon contact and produced numerous tentacles, all of which piercing into his body. The ancient origin blood actually unleashed a bestial roar, almost as though it had tasted just how delectable the flesh and blood was. It then transformed into dozens of sanguineous threads that drilled into Qianye¡¯s body in the blink of an eye.

    A shocked Zhao Yuying subconsciously reached out to grab it but was one step toote. The mass of ancient origin blood had vanished into Qianye¡¯s body, leaving naught but a few red spots on his skin.

    ¡°This...¡± Zhao Yuying had no idea what to do. Song Zining hadn¡¯t expected the ancient blood to be so terrifying, either, and his face was ashen. Nheless, the origin blood had already entered Qianye¡¯s body and would soon attack his blood core. At this moment, there was nothing they could do but wait for the results.

    Qianye seemed to be in pain as his entire body shook violently. Within his body, dozens of sanguineous threads had nailed themselves into his blood core and were looking to make their way inside. Even though the core was studded with countless crystalline fragments, the threads kept pushing in little by little.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression grew increasingly tense. It was at this moment that a bleak, ancient aura appeared in the chamber, causing the duo to feel as though they were on a deste continent that was devoid of all life. The image of a thick, ck book materialized above Qianye, and a faint cry of a dying ancient beast echoed through the void the moment this tome appeared.

    After the anguished wail trailed off, the image of that old ck book also dispersed and Qianye¡¯s pained expression regained its previous calm.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Zhao Yuying asked with cold sweat hanging from the tip of her nose. The aura from that book caused her to palpitate even more than the ancient origin blood.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°How should I know? Apparently, it¡¯s not a bad thing. It must be one of Qianye¡¯s secrets.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was now calm. Momentster, a thunderous beat of a drum reverberated through the side hall, and Qianye¡¯s chest heaved wildly as he slowly opened his eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± Zhao Yuying cried out in joy and threw herself onto Qianye, squeezing and kneading him from head to toe. ¡°Now tell this mommy, do you feel unwell anywhere? Ah, right, are you hungry?¡±

    Qianye extricated himself from Zhao Yuying¡¯s grasp and mbered up with great difficulty. He nced vacantly at his surroundings and said, ¡°Where is this? Is the battle over?¡±

    ¡°It was over long ago! You¡¯ve been unconscious for nearly one month!¡± Zhao Yuying red at Qianye and said furiously, ¡°You, why would you need to risk your life like that?¡±

    Qianyeposed himself and slowly recalled the battle that day. He said after seeing no one else in the chamber, ¡°It¡¯s notpletely intentional. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m different from you guys, I might not necessarily die if I take the Demoness¡¯ attack, but Jundu would¡¯ve perished without a doubt.¡±

    ¡°You call this not necessarily dead?¡± Zhao Yuying wanted to say something, but her words turned into a sigh toward the end. Qianye¡¯s vampiric constitution made his body much stronger than that of an ordinary person. Despite her higher origin power cultivation, even Zhao Yuying was far below him in terms of physical tenacity. Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯tpare with Qianye, either, if he were to discard the power of the Omniscient Seal.

    A muffled drumbeat echoed through the room yet again, almost causing the entire side hall to tremble.

    Song Zining shot him a nce. ¡°Can¡¯t keep the ancient origin blood in check?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No, the consciousness of the origin blood has been wiped away, but I need to adapt to this newfound power. Wait... did you say ancient origin blood? Where did you get one?¡±

    Qianye had inherited much knowledge from the River of Blood and knew that the ancient origin blood was the core of an ancient blood pond. There were two ways to obtain this precious blood. One was to take it from the River of Blood¡ªthis was an extremely difficult endeavor even before the river disappeared. Today, perhaps only a handful of the most powerful ns like the Perth and Monroe possessed such a blood pond. The other method was to use a bit of ancient origin blood as the primer and have a high-ranking vampire extract his own origin blood into the pond. Then, after many years of integration and purification, it would gradually evolve to be ancient origin blood. The cores of most ancient blood ponds today were made in such a manner.

    Regardless of the method, ancient origin blood was the most precious treasure of the vampire race. It was absolutely priceless. Why then did Song Zining have ancient origin blood in his hands?

    Qianye sensed his blood core once more. At this moment, he hadpletely absorbed the ancient origin blood that had its consciousness wiped out by the Book of Darkness. The crystalline bodies in the blood core had grown to the size of a finger. The entire blood core had now be a framework of flesh and crystals, and the power within it had risen by an order of magnitude. That lingering ancient aura proved that the blood he had absorbed just now was indeed ancient origin blood.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was somewhat odd. ¡°This matter is veryplicated, I¡¯ll tell you in detail after a while. You should check on your body first.¡±

    Qianye nced suspiciously at Song Zining before lying back down on the jade tform. After the absorption of the ancient origin blood, the transformation of his blood core would also induce a corresponding physical upgrade. Qianye indeed required some time to reforge his body anew.

    As Qianye activated his blood core, streams of auric me blood poured out from the blood core and rushed to every corner of his body. Wherever it passed, his muscles and bones would begin to grow madly while the old tissue died out inrge patches. Qianye¡¯s entire body seemed to be undergoing aplete transformation from head to toe.

    At this moment, strands of dark golden blood energy seeped out around Qianye and his skin was wiggling continuously, almost as though countless insects were crawling beneath it. His eyes were shut, his brows were locked together, and his teeth were clenched tight¡ªapparently, he was in extreme pain. Yet, his aura was climbing constantly and bing more and more intimidating.

    Zhao Yuying stared nkly at the blood suffused Qianye withplicated emotions. She had beheaded countless vampires throughout her life, and it had already be a reflex to attack on sight. Yet now, her brother was before her, surrounded by a blood energy of unprecedented terror. Although she already knew this as a fact, Zhao Yuying was still ovee by a feeling of disillusionment. It was as though the only reality she had ever known was shatteredpletely.

    Song Zining shot a nce at Zhao Yuying and said firmly, ¡°Qianye is a human at heart, this has never changed before!¡±

    Zhao Yuying forced a nod and suppressed those feelings.

    One day and night passed by as the setting sun rose once more. When Qianye woke up a second time, he was no different from a normal person, only his eyes had grown more abstruse. He duly circted Bloodline Concealment, sweeping away all the blood energy around his body and storing them into his blood core. Now, no one could find even a vampire shadow around him.

    Qianye stood up and said while flexing his body, ¡°Sis, tell me what happened during this period.¡±

 Chapter 699: Such an Empire

    [V7C016 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Zhao Yuying replied, ¡°There are indeed some things you should know, but don¡¯t feel too worried after hearing them.¡±

    Afterward, Zhao Yuying told Qianye about how his quota for the Great Maelstrom had been retracted and how the imperial military had demanded the Storm Pearl.

    Qianye tidied up his clothes and said slowly, ¡°The quota is useless anyway if I don¡¯t wake up, but the Storm Pearl is something I exchanged with my contributions. ording to what you said, the item is equivalent to an origin crystal in the Great Maelstrom. It¡¯ll be a divine-champion level power if given to someone with ample foundation. How can the military take away such an item? What are they offering to trade with?¡±

    This time, Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t know what to say and only spoke momentster, ¡°They didn¡¯t say anything about an exchange. They¡¯re simply requisitioning it.¡±

    ¡°Requisition!?¡± This was also the first time Song Zining had heard of this.

    Song Zining was, after all, someone familiar with politics and schemes, unlike Qianye. After the initial surprise, he felt something was off about this and fell into deep contemtion.

    Qianye himself wasn¡¯tpletely ignorant, either. ¡°Requisition, huh? How did the Zhao n respond?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about the quota for now, but Lil¡¯ Fourth has blocked the matter of the Storm Pearl.¡± Zhao Yuying patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the quota, either, we¡¯re already investigating who obtained your slot. At that time, no matter who it is, he¡¯ll have to give us a good exnation! Besides, with your current condition, it makes no difference whether or not you go to the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was naturally implying how Qianye, with his Venus Dawn origin power, would have no problem crossing the divine champion threshold. Thetter, though, wasn¡¯t as rxed. He nced at Song Zining and saw a simr graveness in his expression.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you two? Why such an expression?¡± Zhao Yuying was puzzled.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Yuying, things aren¡¯t that simple. It¡¯s puzzling why the military would choose to probe us at such a time? Then again, the military itself is veryplicated and definitely not a single patterned entity. We need to find out who¡¯s orchestrating all of this. Yuying, you must be very careful if you go into battle these days. Try to take a risk-averse approach to everything.¡±

    Zhao Yuying hadn¡¯t expected Song Zining to be so serious. Although she wasn¡¯t quite willing, she still nodded in the end. She had to admit that Song Zining was indeed gaining fame in recent years and had the makings of a future divine strategist. In terms of strategy, she was still a level below him.

    Song Zining continued, ¡°But there¡¯s no need to be overly worried because the Zhao n probably has a response ready. As I see it, Duke Chengen¡¯s transfer of the Fire Beacon corps to the floating continent is a clever move.¡±

    Zhao Yuying calmed down quite a bit, but Song Zining felt a different pair of eyes staring intently at him. The gaze was so piercing that he felt uneasy all over. In the end, Song Zining could no longer feign ignorance and had to turn toward Qianye.

    ¡°Zining, where did this ancient origin bloode from?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Obtained coincidentally...¡± Song Zining only spoke halfway before stopping. These words might be able to fool other people, but not Qianye who had inherited many vampire secrets. There was no way he could gloss over this.

    As expected, Qianye wouldn¡¯t let this matter go. He said word by word while staring at Song Zining, ¡°An ancient origin blood is the core of an ancient blood pond. Which n¡¯s blood pond did ite from?¡±

    Not knowing where to start, Song Zining¡¯s smile became rather unnatural.

    Having been friends for so many years, Qianye knew something wasn¡¯t quite right after seeing Song Zining act like this. Just what was this information that it could reduce the calm seventh young noble to such a state?

    Qianye suddenly felt an indefensible chill pervade the depths of his heart. This ineffable sense of terror took hold of his will and caused him to go weak¡ªhis legs faltered, and he almost couldn¡¯t stand firmly.

    Zhao Yuying suddenly stepped between Song Zining and Qianye. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°Song Zining reached out and, slowly but firmly, pushed Zhao Yuying away. ¡°No, let me.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Qianye stopped Song Zining, and then tightened his clothes around him. Only after the chill had somewhat subsided did he say, ¡°Okay, I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°This ancient origin blood came from the twelfth ancient vampire n, the Carlton n. Their main camp, the Frostbronze Castle, lies in the depths of the Twilight Continent where no human can ever enter. The one who retrieved this blood for you is Nighteye.¡±

    Finally, Qianye heard the name he wanted to hear the least at this moment. Song Zining¡¯s voice suddenly became ephemeral to him¡ªthe sound seemed to being from far away and everything he said sounded unreal. Qianye¡¯s consciousness faltered. He listened in a daze, not knowing what he himself was thinking.

    ¡°All the men I set up there were wiped out. Only a single person escaped and brought this origin blood back to us. However, he wasn¡¯t able to bring back Nighteye.¡±

    ¡°Right now, it has been said that she¡¯s in the hands of the imperial military.¡±

    Qianye came to only after a long while. ¡°Nighteye is in the military¡¯s hands...¡±

    His eyes went wide. ¡°Military!? Did you just say she¡¯s in the military¡¯s hands?¡±

    Song Zining nodded in silence.

    Qianye took a step forward and grabbed Song Zining by the cor. ¡°Nighteye is in military hands?¡±

    Song Zining nodded.

    ¡°You know her. Nighteye, she...¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Why did it turn out this way?¡±

    Song Zining said with a wooden expression, ¡°My arrangements were somehow leaked and discovered by someone in the military. They mounted a sneak attack at thest juncture and kidnapped Nighteye.¡±

    An incisive glint flickered through Qianye¡¯s eyes as he grabbed Song Zining by the neck and lifted him off the ground. ¡°Who told Nighteye to retrieve the ancient origin blood?¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°You made Nighteye go to Twilight Continent alone, just to retrieve this ancient origin blood!? You let her sneak into Frostbronze Castle on her own!? Even without the military¡¯s ambush, how confident were you that she¡¯lle back alive?¡±

    ¡°No more than thirty percent.¡± Song Zining spoke the truth.

    ¡°You dared to set this up with less than thirty percent chance of sess?¡±

    Song Zining did not reply. Qianye¡¯s hand tightened around Song Zining¡¯s neck, causing his face to flush red, then purple.

    Zhao Yuying could no longer bear to watch. She reached out to grab Qianye¡¯s hand and shouted, ¡°Zining did this to save you!¡±

    Qianye finally loosened his trembling hands, allowing Song Zining to fall onto the ground. ¡°Save me? Using Nighteye¡¯s life to gamble for mine?¡± There was a tinge of despair in Qianye¡¯s voice.

    He inhaled deeply for a couple of times but failed to control his shaking hands. ¡°What does the imperial military want? Who are they targeting? Is it me or the Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s the Zhao n, perhaps it¡¯s both.¡±

    ¡°Where is she now?¡± Qianye roared loudly, and a beam of dark golden blood energy shot toward Song Zining as he did so.

    Thetter felt his head go light and replied subconsciously, ¡°She¡¯s in the city.¡±

    The moment he said this, Song Zining understood that things weren¡¯t going to end well. He blocked Qianye¡¯s path and shouted, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Qianye walked out on his own and said, ¡°Nothing, get out of the way!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t go!!!¡± Song Zining was almost screaming as he blocked Qianye¡¯s path.

    ¡°You can¡¯t control me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy! Nighteye is a vampire princess!¡±

    ¡°I know that, and you do, too!¡±

    Qianye knocked Song Zining back several steps, but thetter jumped forward again and grabbed Qianye from behind, screaming at the top of his lungs, ¡°It¡¯s no longer the same. Her identity has beenpromised, and she¡¯s already in military hands! You won¡¯t be able to save her if you go now. You¡¯ll only harm her!¡±

    Qianye finally stopped. ¡°Then how do we save her?¡±

    Song Zining replied anxiously, ¡°A trade! Everything can be exchanged for sufficient benefits. I¡¯ve already made arrangements and we¡¯ll see the results very soon. Trust me!¡±

    ¡°How about the amnesty writ? Why have you not mentioned that?¡±

    Song Zining hesitated for a while. ¡°Nighteye¡¯s identity is special. I heard a major character from the Evernight faction wants her. The amnesty order... might not be effective.¡±

    Qianye clutched his chest over the blood core. He could feel a tearing pain within but couldn¡¯t point out where it wasing from. He took a deep breath and said, ¡°Song Zining, I can¡¯t wait that long. Besides, I don¡¯t quite believe in your method, either.¡±

    With that, he continued forward. His strength had reached unbelievable levels after being transformed by the ancient origin blood, and even someone of Song Zining¡¯s power couldn¡¯t help being dragged along.

    ¡°Qianye! Breaking her out like that is high treason! At that time, no one can save you anymore!¡± Song Zining cried out.

    Qianye finally halted his steps. He remained silent for a moment before bursting out in suddenughter. ¡°I contributed so much for the empire, yet how does this empire treat me? Such an empire... I have no qualms about betraying it!¡±

    An abrupt power gushed out from his body and pushed the other two away. With a wave of his hand, the Twin Flowers and East Peak flew from the corner of the room and into his grasp. His silhouette exited the hall in a single step and flickered out of existence.

    A startled Song Zining rushed out of the hall and shouted, ¡°Find a way to stop him!¡±

    Zhao Yuying rushed out and came across Zhao Jundu who had just appeared from the corner.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± he asked.

    Zhao Yuying stopped for a moment and said, ¡°It has nothing to do with you. It¡¯s best you don¡¯t know or get involved.¡±

    With that, she dashed out of the main doors and vanished into the night. Gazing at the empty gates, Zhao Jundu summoned one of his subordinates. ¡°Follow Yuying and report everything that happens to me.¡±

    After the subordinate dashed away, Zhao Jundu sat down on a chair that had appeared behind him out of nowhere. He ced the azure rifle on his legs and waited quietly for the news.

    Qianye walked continuously through the night. His gait was rxed and didn¡¯t look to be in much of a hurry. Yet, every step caused his silhouette to flicker and reappear over ten meters away¡ªit was an inconceivable speed in practice. Zhao Yuying had only rushed out two street blocks when she lost track of him.

    She stopped all of a sudden. Just as she was wondering what to do, Song Zining suddenly appeared beside her and whispered, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the military stronghold.¡±

    Zhao Yuying realized that Qianye would have to head to the imperial military stronghold in order to save Nighteye. That ce¡¯s location in Indomitable was no secret, either.

    Yet that was precisely the reason why it was so problematic.

 Chapter 700: Breaking Through

    [V7C017 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Qianye swiftly circled the city with the Zhao n main camp as the center. Most of the people he passed by weren¡¯t even aware of his presence. He would stop and ask the asional Zhao n soldier regarding the whereabouts of the military stronghold.

    The location of the imperial military wasn¡¯t a secret. At least, it was no longer one in these couple of days. Add to that the fact that Qianye¡¯s status among the Zhao n private army was high, he was able to obtain the exact location he wanted fairly quickly.

    Qianye weaved through the street blocks and houses to finally arrive before an unassuming courtyard.

    Thepound wasn¡¯t that big at first, but it had been restructured by connecting the adjacent courtyards together. It was now asrge as half a street block. Located at the core region of Indomitable, the ce was strictly defended and even had two cannon turrets erected within it. Taking into ount the soldiers on patrol everywhere, one could say it was armed to the teeth. Although there was no signboard on the gates, anyone could tell that it was an important area.

    Qianye was somewhat startled as he stood before the courtyard because there were actually two Red Scorpion soldiers among the guards on the wall. Judging from theirbat strength, these fellows were either rookies or had just escaped their rookie-hood. But there were actually Red Scorpions here?

    Feeling somewhat emotional, Qianye looked to another ce and saw the cannoneer on the turret wearing the insignia of the Broken-Winged Angels. Such a courtyard actually involved two elite corps and ones that didn¡¯t get along at that. Apart from the imperial family, the only other entity capable of this would be the imperial military.

    Qianye arrived before the courtyard doors in a single step and asked the guard, ¡°Is this the military¡¯s stronghold?

    In the guard¡¯s perception, this question was exceptionally natural and familiar. He subconsciously replied, ¡°Of course, Sir Li Fengshui is overseeing this ce personally.¡±

    The guard felt something was wrong immediately after saying this.

    The level of Qianye¡¯s current vampire bloodline was extremely high, but he had never before used its innate ability of charming humans. Hence, the effect onlysted a split second, and it could only be used on low-ranking warriors.

    After obtaining his answer, Qianye¡¯s gaze toward the gates turned increasingly cold.

    ¡°Lil¡¯ Five! Stop!¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s voice arrived from afar. She was already running over at top speed, but she sped up even more due to the anxiety of seeing Qianye at the stronghold doors.

    Time seemed to slow down for a split second as Qianye nced at her. He then turned to the gate and sted it apart with a square fist!

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yuying had just rushed past a street block and was still dozens of meters away from Qianye.

    She suddenly realized that it wasn¡¯t time that had slowed down¡ªit was her. Qianye was too strong. This kind of distinct yet time-slowing cadence only appeared because his speed and strength were at a level she would never reach.

    ¡°Qianye!¡± she screamed once more. She wanted to charge forward, but the road ahead became so much longer than before and was now filled with countless trees and shrubs. The swaying leaves actually possessed a sharp intent which caused Zhao Yuying to slow down instinctively.

    Song Zining appeared beside her and blocked her with an outstretched hand. ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡±

    ¡°But Lil¡¯ Five is inside!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote!¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression turned cold as she roared, ¡°Move aside or I¡¯ll break your domain!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes were filled with bitterness. ¡°Yuying, you¡¯re not just Qianye¡¯s sister but also Duke You¡¯s lineal granddaughter. You¡¯re a core character of the Zhao n and a future leader. If you go inside, will you stop Qianye or help him?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was at a loss for words because it was exactly as he had said. Even if she herself didn¡¯t pay much attention to it, her actions represented the Zhao n to a certain degree in the eyes of outsiders. In terms of status, she was right behind the three dukes and Zhao Jundu. In fact, even Zhao Junhong was below her.

    Qianye had charged straight into the military stronghold to seize Nighteye, and his crime was already at its extremes. If Zhao Yuying were to go in and help him, she would bring a catastrophe upon the Zhao n. If not, how could she have the heart to stop him?¡±

    ¡°But, Lil¡¯ Five...¡± Zhao Yuying stared nkly at the courtyard, tears welling up in her eyes.

    The explosion reverberated throughout the entire courtyard and shook all the buildings down to their floors, walls, and roofs. The unbelievable shockwave from that one punch soon covered every corner of the courtyard, activating the dozens of defensive arrays therein. The entire ce fell into chaos amidst the fluctuating origin radiance.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up all of a sudden. Amidst the activated arrays, he finally sensed a familiar aura¡ªNighteye was here!

    ¡°Enemy assault!¡±

    ¡°Battle stations!¡±

    Cries rang out amidst the chaos in the courtyard, and the two cannon turrets quickly turned their muzzles toward the direction of themotion. The cannon spat out tongues of me, and the high rate of fire caused the projectiles to turn into streams of metal which locked down Qianye¡¯s path.

    As expected of the Broken-Winged Angel elites, the cannoneers¡¯bat strengths were far above their recorded ranks. They reacted urately in the blink of an eye by locking down Qianye¡¯s path and restricting his range of movement. This bought time for theirrades to react.

    Qianye felt a faint prick at his back. He was quite familiar with this sense of danger and knew that two Red Scorpion soldiers had locked their stingers onto him. Moreover, they were charging up skills simr to Heavy Caliber and urate Fire.

    The other soldiers were only a bit slower than the Red Scorpion and Broken-Winged Angel elites. They emerged like bamboo shoots after the spring ring, upying the rooftops, walls, and every other advantageous terrain. Meanwhile, in the courtyard, there was arge number of warriors rushing out from the building with even more gearing-up in the rooms and basements.

    In the blink of an eye, the entire military stronghold had turned into a tiger¡¯s den.

    The shattered pieces of the courtyard gate were just fluttering down at this moment.

    Qianye took a sudden step forward, crashing straight into the fiery stream from the cannon turrets! In mere moments, he had taken hundreds of autocannon rounds, the severe impact of the st causing him to sway slightly. With a deep growl, he actually rushed out of the ming stream and shot through the courtyard toward the second set of gates.

    Qianye¡¯sbat robes were riddled with bullet holes, and several of the projectiles were embedded in his flesh. Yet all of them scattered onto the ground with a shake of his body.

    All the guards were stunned, and themanding officers almost forget to issue the interception order. The two autocannons used to defend the military stronghold wererge caliber weapons with an especially high rate-of-fire, and the ammunition was also specially made to prate origin power defenses. Even Li Fengshui wouldn¡¯t be able tost that long under the barrage.

    Yet, the two intersecting torrents of fire had only scratched him!?

    The cannon turrets were manned by top shooters from the Broken-Winged Angels. They remained startled for only a split second before sending the ming whips after Qianye. In the blink of an eye, they hadnded several dozen more shots on his back.

    Thetter had no intention to evade. He borrowed the forward impact to st through the gates and rush into the inner courtyard.

    The moment he stepped in, a dagger each went for his back from the left and the right. This attack was well-coordinated¡ªthere were no openings to speak of, and the method was extremely vicious. The de edge was suffused with origin power and was capable of destroying everything... almost everything.

    Qianye didn¡¯t evade this, either, and simply used his body to resist the two des. This time, the daggers did pierce into his body, but they couldn¡¯t reach any deeper after a couple of centimeters. The assants felt that this wasn¡¯t a body of flesh and blood but instead a piece of strong metal alloy. They felt that things weren¡¯t going quite as nned and wanted to abandon their weapons and flee. However, East Peak whizzed over and sent them flying through the air, bones cracking and blood gushing out of their mouths. They fell to the ground with heavy injuries and could no longer get up.

    Qianye continued onward after crippling two champions in one strike.

    The second courtyard was merely a dozen or so meters long, but countless masses of origin power erupted on Qianye¡¯s body during this short distance. The soldiers on the walls were going all-out. A hail of bullets descended upon the intruder and exploded on his body. These soldiers were either from elite corps or fairly close in terms of power¡ªevery shot was fast, fierce, and ruthless.

    Qianye traversed the courtyard through the torrent of bullets. With a single punch, the second courtyard, along with its gate tower, was sted apart. The soldiers on top were sent flying from the impact and copsed entirely uponnding.

    Some injuries finally appeared on Qianye¡¯s body. Although most of the injuries would close up on their own, there were simply too many bullets. The wounds would close and then open up once more, turning from small scratches to light injuries.

    Qianye seemedpletely oblivious to the wounds on his body. He didn¡¯t stop to rest after sting the gate tower and charged straight into the inner courtyard.

    The inner courtyard was already filled with soldiers from Broken-Winged Angel and Red Scorpion, all equipped with heavy shields and sharp des. As Qianye stepped into thepound, one campion from each army corps walked out to block his path.

    Qianye was somewhat dazed after ncing at the Red Scorpion champion. The Tiger Scorpion Battalion¡¯s insignia was carved on that brigadier general¡¯s armor. That was the first unit Qianye had been assigned to after joining Red Scorpion. Later on, the Tiger Scorpions werepletely wiped out at the battle in that small, unknown city. Who would¡¯ve thought the battalion had been reformed after so many years?

    Despite his sentiments, Qianye knew that the true fighting power of the two elite corps couldn¡¯t be measured with simple ranks. On theplicated battlefield, it was nothing out of the ordinary for one of these elites to fight against two opponents of the same rank.

    The Broken-Winged Angel champion roared, ¡°Zhao Qianye, you¡¯re trespassing an important location of the imperial military. Is this a rebellion?¡±

    This question was fairly intentional. Qianye¡¯s eyes turned cold as he shouted, ¡°My surname is not Zhao. Now, scram!¡±

    The shout hadn¡¯t even trailed off, but Qianye had already taken a step forward.

    That Broken-Winged Angel champion roared and thrust his sword at Qianye¡¯s heart. Meanwhile, the Red-Scorpion champion circled around and swung his heavy sword at the intruder¡¯s back.

 Chapter 701: Gloss Over?

    [V7C018 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Qianye grabbed at the heavy sword with one hand while ignoring the deing for his chest. With a raise of his hand, East Peak shot in the direction of the assant¡¯s chest!

    The Broken-Winged Angel champion was shocked out of his wits. He had clearly seen how powerful Qianye¡¯s body was just now. It wasn¡¯t a certainty if he could even wound Qianye in such an exchange, but there was no doubt that the other party¡¯s de would reap his life.

    The elite champion ultimately valued his own life, drawing his sword back in an attempt to parry East Peak. The sword was bent entirely out of shape, almost as though it had been struck by lightning, while he himself was flung away. Even then, East Peak moved swiftly and managed to tap his chest before pulling back and shing at the Red Scorpion soldier.

    The Broken-Winged Angel champion cried wretchedly as an arrow of blood flew out of his back. That light tap from the heavy sword had left a prating wound through his chest.

    Qianye had grabbed the Red Scorpion general¡¯s heavy sword with his left hand. Despite the blood flowing out from his fingertips, thetter couldn¡¯t move his de a single inch no matter how he circted his origin power¡ªit was as though the weapon had been welded permanently to the hand. However, the dauntless man ignored East Peak and focused on driving his origin power, determined to thrust the de into the enemy at all costs.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was calm as East Peak shed down like a mountain. Just as the Red Scorpion general was about to be shed into two, he twisted the de with a shake of his hand. The sh turned into a p which sent the Red Scorpion general flying. With how powerful East Peak was, the swat duly shattered the man¡¯s origin defenses and rendered him incapable of furtherbat.

    Qianye had defeated two elite-corp champions in just a few moves, but the soldiers in the courtyard didn¡¯t move a single inch. None of them were intimidated.

    He halted his steps, scanned the soldiers before him, and said in a deep voice, ¡°Move aside! Do not throw away your lives!¡±

    A series of ps rang out at this moment. The soldiers moved to either side as a fully armored Xu Lang walked into the courtyard. ¡°So you do know how to spare soldiers. Who would believe that a famous Twin Star of the Empire would be colluding with the vampires, and even forced his way into the military stronghold?¡±

    Xu Lang arrived in front of Qianye and slowly drew a pair of daggers from his waist. ¡°I hear you were also from Yellow Springs. Just as well, I shall let you see how inferior you are to the first-ranked graduate of the training camp.¡±

    The des danced in Xu Lang¡¯s hands as though they had a life of their own. The handsome smile on his face gradually became twisted as he stared at Qianye, suffused with indescribable madness and malice.

    Qianye only had one word for him: ¡°Scram!¡±

    Xu Lang¡¯s smile froze instantly and his eyes were filled with killing intent. Following a shrill cry, one of his daggers came for Qianye¡¯s throat while the other went for his abdomen!

    Just as before, Qianye made no attempt to evade. East Peak shot toward Xu Lang¡¯s chest in a move of mutual destruction.

    With a loud cry, Xu Lang retracted his des and parried the iing sword, borrowing the force to leap ten meters back and draw away from Qianye.

    However, he had misjudged Qianye entirely. A weapon as heavy as East Peak was actually as light as a feather in thetter¡¯s hands. The de only flickered once before arriving in the man¡¯s face and was actually no slower than his daggers!

    Xu Lang was greatly astonished. Subconsciously, he used one de to defend while thrusting the other at Qianye¡¯s heart, hoping to force thetter to defend. However, he regretted this decision immediately. Qianye had fought his way through all obstructions in a mutually destructive manner, and no one had seen him defend. Despite holding grade-seven daggers, Xu Lang wasn¡¯t confident about taking down the enemy and his unbelievably strong body in one stroke. On the other hand, Qianye¡¯s sword strike was sure to take his life.

    As expected, Qianye didn¡¯t even spare a nce for the iing attack. East Peak deflected Xu Lang¡¯s dagger with rtive ease and thrust at his chest.

    The fellow alumnus twisted his body and barely managed to evade the attack. He then pounced at Qianye like a leopard, his two daggers each going for the vitals. Thetter, however, shed backward without even looking and easily pushed the man back once more.

    Xu Lang¡¯s advance and retreat were as quick as lightning, and his de had turned into streams of flowing light. Apparently, he had pushed his movement arts to the extreme. Every time, he wouldunch attacks at Qianye¡¯s vitals from unimaginable angles, yet he would always be pushed back with a single strike. In the asional meeting of des, the massive impact would force Xu Lang to retreat and reform his attack momentum. In the blink of an eye, the man was reduced to a battered and exhausted mess.

    Qianye had made no defensive move since the very beginning, choosing instead to adopt mutually destructive stances. East Peak was as heavy as a mountain and as swift as lightning. How could the human flesh withstand a blow from it? Not to mention a direct stab, Xu Lang might not even be able to take a graze from it.

    The battle between the twosted for mere moments, but those with good eyesight could already see that Xu Lang was at a disadvantage. He could still hold out by virtue of his movement skill, but just barely. Having spoken so big just now, the man was rather embarrassed at the current state of affairs. Yet, Qianye simply wouldn¡¯tpete in movement orbat arts with him. He instead opted to trade injuries with every blow, which seized Xu Lang by his Achilles¡¯ heel.

    In the end, Xu Lang couldn¡¯t help but take a gamble. Instead of parrying Qianye¡¯s iing sword, he stabbed at thetter¡¯s wrist with one dagger while thrusting the other at his abdomen.

    The strike to Qianye¡¯s wrist caused East Peak to drop abruptly. Xu Lang brushed past the sword at this moment and sunk half a dagger into Qianye¡¯s belly.

    A sinister smile appeared on his face as he twisted the de with all his might, hoping to expand the wound. Only at this point in the battle did he manage to sigh in satisfaction. But he suddenly noticed Qianye¡¯s expression¡ªit was just as calm and even contained a fair bit of mockery.

    Qianye loosened his grip and allowed East Peak to fall to the ground. Then he formed a fist and swung it squarely into Xu Lang¡¯s face!

    At that moment, the man finally understood what pure power meant.

    Xu Lang¡¯s entire face caved in, sending a mixture of tears, snot, and blood flying in all directions. His vision lit up with different colors, but he could no longer see clearly as the entire world spun around and upside down. He soon crashed into something, and finally, thebination of pain and dizziness caused him to ck out.

    Qianye¡¯s face was somewhat pale after pushing Xu Lang back. He extracted the dagger stuck in his abdomen and tossed it casually to the ground. Then, he picked up East Peak once more.

    The defeat of three consecutive officers still wasn¡¯t enough to affect the morale of the elite corps. They unleashed a loud roar and stepped forward, effectively reducing Qianye¡¯s movement space. Then, numerous spears shot out like venomous serpents and stabbed into Qianye¡¯s body. These spears were specially made to pierce through origin defenses, and the tips contained ck titanium. This was a weapon made to fight humans and not the dark races.

    The arrival of the spears caused Qianye to stagger and his aura to weaken a bit.

    The faint whistle of the ocean began to echo in the air, filling all hearts with the terror of life and death. Even the most resolute soldiers of the elite corps couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of dread.

    However, the whistling vanished in the blink of an eye. Qianye scanned everyone at the scene and shouted, ¡°Scram!¡±

    He stomped down at almost the same time, causing the entire street block to tremble. The soldiers nearby stumbled from the impact, and the weaker ones were flung away immediately. The walls and buildings in the courtyard fell apart immediately, and even the ground itself caved in to reveal the underground chambers below.

    Bricks and debris flew out from the rubble as several figures rushed out from the ground andnded in front of Qianye. One of them was indeed Nighteye. She lookedpletely exhausted at the moment¡ªher hands hung limply beside her body with long nails running through her arms, wrists, and ankles. If it wasn¡¯t for a fat, burly man holding onto her, there was no way she could even stand up.

    Nighteye looked up and finally saw Qianye. She stared nkly for a good while before saying, ¡°Qianye?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he operated the Eye of Truth and looked at Nighteye. He immediately felt as though he had fallen into an icy cavern and even his blood core was frozen.

    Nighteye¡¯s blood energy was scattered and fragmented. It was still flowing, but much like a torn cloth, it seemed difficult to repair. Moreover, that feeling she was giving off was as though something was missing. She wascking in spirit, much like a vivid painting that had lost its colors.

    Comparatively, the damage from the six stakes didn¡¯t count for much.

    ¡°Qianye, why are you here? Leave, leave quickly!¡± Seemingly recovering her memories, Nighteye grew anxious.

    Qianye said in a trembling voice, ¡°Why did you be like this? What did they do to you?¡±

    Nighteye thought hard and said hesitantly, ¡°I think it¡¯s called the Chaos Millstone?¡±

    It was at this time that a cold, gentle voice rang out nearby. ¡°General Qianye is indeed peerless and valiant, as expected of someone who had gained the elder monarch¡¯s praise. I¡¯m full of admiration.¡±

    Only at this point did Qianye notice that there was another middle-aged man nearby. He was fair, well-groomed, and gave off an aura of icy darkness. He was like a venomous snake, difficult to notice whenying still but definitely lethal.

    Li Fengshui squinted his eyes. ¡°But has General Qianye thought of the consequences of causing such a huge fuss? This is the imperial military. Attacking us is tantamount to treason! In the end, though, General Qianye is an extremely rare talent. If you¡¯re willing to join the imperial military, I¡¯ll guarantee today¡¯s incident will be glossed over and no one will look into it. What say you?¡±

    The blue in Qianye¡¯s eyes faded away and was soon reced by a scarlet red. He let out a burst of mournfulughter and said, ¡°Gloss over and not look into today¡¯s incident? You guys might not follow up on this matter, but I most certainly will!¡±

    A barely discernible thread of blood connected Qianye on one end and circled Nighteye and the fat man on the other.

    Li Fengshui realized something was wrong¡ªhe raised his palm and chopped at the thread like a de, but he was one step too slow. His vision blurred as Qianye shot past and flew around the two targets.

    The burly man let out a miserable cry as his arms flew into the air. Qianye sent the man flying with a sideways ram and reached out to grab Nighteye. But a slender, white hand appeared at this moment and pped his hand away. The moment their palms came into contact, Qianye trembled all over¡ªthe frigid origin power was like a sharp needle, which traveled through his body and assaulted his blood core. During the split second of pause, Li Fengshui appeared and dragged Nighteye away.

    In his anxiety, Qianye¡¯s blood core pulsed madly. His blood energy and origin power mixed together to erupt like a volcano, effectively destroying this invasive origin power.

    Qianye pushed on instead of retreating, unleashing a violent palm strike to meet Li Fengshui¡¯s own. Thetter felt as though a stream of moltenva had poured into his body. This indefensible power caused his half-healed injuries to re up¡ªhis face flushed red for a brief moment but quickly became as pale as a sheet.

    He pointed a finger at Qianye and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Y-You, you¡¯re also...¡± He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a mouthful of blood gushed out of his mouth.

 Chapter 702: Farewell

    [V7C019 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Li Fengshui reached backward and pulled out a flexible de from his back, unleashing a rain of sword radiance as he did so. Countless blows were exchanged before he managed to suppress East Peak and cause it to pierce into the ground. Just from this fight, one could see Li Fengshui¡¯s sword-art was many times superior to that of people like Xu Lang.

    Despite managing to push Qianye back temporarily, Li Fengshui spat out yet another mouthful of blood. He grabbed Nighteye and retreated swiftly, shouting, ¡°Stop him! Stop him!¡±

    Countless warriors swarmed forward and used their bodies to erect a barrier in Qianye¡¯s path. A shrill rm finally rang out and broke through the silence of Indomitable.

    The military general felt no relief upon seeing Qianye surrounded. He dragged Nighteye back continuously until he had arrived on the street behind the courtyard.

    Qianye slowly drew East Peak out of the ground and dragged the armless man over with the tip of his de. ¡°What is the Chaos Millstone?¡±

    With a sword at his chin, the burly man temporarily forgot about the pain from his arms. His eyes went wide as his Adam¡¯s apple rolled up and down. Staring at the sword, he immediately blurted out everything he knew, ¡°It¡¯s a technique against vampires, capable of rending their souls. The higher the user¡¯s cultivation, the longer and slower the process. Ordinary vampires won¡¯tst even half a day before admitting to everything.¡±

    ¡°Rend the soul?¡± Qianye now understood why Nighteye was vacant, sluggish, and much like a colorless painting.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Following a shake of Qianye¡¯s de, the fat man¡¯s head flew high into the air, and blood gushed out like a spring.

    Li Fengshui was shaken because, while killing the fat man, Qianye¡¯s gaze was constantly upon him the whole time.

    Theyers of soldiers in the way did not give Li Fengshui any sense of security. This fat, burly man was the first person Qianye had killed since entering the military stronghold.

    This flying human head signaled a beginning.

    Li Fengshui cried out while moving back, ¡°Qianye, there¡¯s still time if you mend your ways right now! Killing an imperial soldier means treason!¡±

    He wanted to drag Nighteye away, but thetter had somehow found the strength to nail herself to the ground and simply wouldn¡¯t budge. The general activated his power several times but simply couldn¡¯t pull her away.

    A ferocious glint flickered in Li Fengshui¡¯s eyes as he pped Nighteye¡¯s back. The six long nails began to glow red in response to the surge of origin power. The daybreak origin power lit up the refined silver like the true mes of the sun and caused the surrounding flesh to turn a charred ck.

    Nighteye screamed wretchedly, but the moment her voice came out, she forced herself to endure it instead. However, her body grew weak and was duly towed away by Li Fengshui.

    Qianye calmed down all of a sudden. The mes in his eyes had died out, and his aura faded away¡ªhe was as still as a lifeless object. Only those eyes fixed upon Li Fengshui were gradually suffused with blood.

    ¡°Lil¡¯ Five, stop!¡± Zhao Yuying¡¯s voice arrived from the distance, but this sound was illusory at best in Qianye¡¯s ears.

    Gazing at the tiered formation of soldiers in front, Qianye said in a cold, emotionless voice, ¡°Scram.¡±

    But those standing before him were veterans of hundreds of battles who, after receiving a direct order, would charge on even against a great dark monarch. Not only did they not retreat, but instead, they closed in on Qianye like a wall of steel.

    Thetter tread forward. With just a single step, he had elerated to the point where no one could see him clearly. He then crashed straight into the formation like aet!

    Following a loud boom, the earth shook and trembled, sending dozens of soldiers flying into the air¡ªtheirbined formation couldn¡¯t even block a single ram. East Peak hummed loudly as Qianye flicked away thest ten or so soldiers blocking his path. He then rushed out of the blockade inrge strides!

    The window of a roadside building shattered as a smokey silhouette brushed past Qianye. Following a number of ¡°pfft¡± sounds, several bloody holes appeared on thetter¡¯s body. Yet, his body only swayed a bit before continuing his charge toward Li Fengshui.

    Meanwhile, anky man materialized dozens of meters away. The de in his hand was rather dim, but it was so sharp that even Qianye¡¯s body couldn¡¯t resist its stabs. There was no joy or satisfaction on the man¡¯s face despite gaining the upper hand; only terror. He looked down at his body only to find a red line running through his chest and abdomen, along which he was soon split into two.

    Qianye had received several of the man¡¯s attacks during that brief exchange, but he had only returned one sh and easily cut the enemy in two.

    Two muscr champions walked into the street, wielding a giant axe and a heavy sword respectively. Apparently, this man and woman were both proficient in brute strength.

    Qianye sped up as he went and arrived before the duo in just a couple of steps. Then he rammed straight into them.

    Another loud rumble ensued. Two new bone-deep wounds appeared on Qianye¡¯s body as he shot through the two champions and swaggered off.

    The giant sword and axe fell to the ground with a loud ng. Those champions fell kneeling onto the ground with their heads hanging, never to rise again. Blood seeped out silently from underneath and flowed through the entire street block.

    Qianye saw Li Fengshui not so far in the distance, retreating constantly under the protection of ten or so guards. This distance was within the range of Spatial sh.

    Qianye was just about to step out, but he stopped to nce at a nearby house, at the window of which stood a fair young man. He was wielding a short-barreled origin gun equipped with a bay. His origin power aura was strong, at least much more so than the three soldiers up ahead. Yet, his face was filled with terror and even his hand was trembling. He turned pale upon making eye-contact with Qianye and couldn¡¯t help but take a step back.

    This young man had witnessed all the battles clearly. Qianye had forcibly received every attack with his body and reaped every assant¡¯s life with a single counterattack. Hence, the youth was clear that fighting against this person meant death. He had held office in the military for many years, taking countless lives and torturing many others to death. He had always believed that he was already used to life and death. Only when the grim reaper was standing clearly before him did he understand the terror thaty between these two words.

    Qianye looked away, paying no more attention to the enemy who had lost his wits. His eyes turned azure as he looked toward Li Fengshui.

    At this moment, his reliable aides were either badly injured, dead, or terrified. He suddenly realized that there were no more generals under him that he could use. He roared loudly, ¡°Red Scorpions, hear mymand. Stop him at all costs!¡±

    Several Red Scorpion warriors rushed out and threw themselves at Qianye, seemingly in a bid to force mutual destruction. Qianye¡¯s pupils constricted as he moved East Peak lithely and pped away these soldiers one after the other. In the end, Qianye didn¡¯t have the heart to kill these oldrades.

    It was at this time that Li Fengshui approached like a specter. He pped a Red Scorpion soldier¡¯s back, and the two connected enemies rammed into Qianye together.

    Caught in surprise, Qianye raised a hand to block the iing assault. He only felt a stream of cold energy pierce into his body like a needle which duly began attacking his blood core and heart. Li Fengshui¡¯s origin power was extremely sinister and almost as if it was made to restrain blood energy. Even the dark golden blood energy had a hard time obstructing it. Fortunately, the effect of his Venus Dawn origin power wasn¡¯t bad and barely managed to protect his vital organs. However, the blood core wasn¡¯t within its protective range. Several origin needles struck the blood core, causing Qianye to turn pale and spit out a mouthful of blood.

    After gaining the upper hand, Li Fengshui returned to his original ce like a ghost and grabbed Nighteye¡¯s neck. ¡°Qianye, I¡¯ll kill her if you don¡¯t stop! You lot, go and break his arms!¡±

    Qianye remained motionless and merely stared at the Red Scorpion officer in front of him. His body was turned into a channel for Li Fengshui¡¯s attack on Qianye¡ªall of his organs had been destroyed by the frigid origin power, and even his bones had been liquefied. The man slowly fell limp and his body waspletely deformed. The frozen expression on his face went to show the extreme agony he had suffered before his death.

    Dozens of elite soldiers swarmed over once more, approaching Qianye cautiously but resolutely. Two courageous warriors raised their axes and chopped down at Qianye¡¯s arms.

    Thetter exhaled suddenly. With a wave of his right hand, East Peak drew a circle which quickly engulfed the ones charging at the front.

    A bloody mist hung in the air as the soldiers fell one after the other. Even before their death, they couldn¡¯t believe Qianye had actually attacked them.

    ¡°Whoever blocks me again, dies.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was calm, but everyone could sense the clear killing intent within it.

    Even the Broken-Winged Angels and Red Scorpion soldiers became hesitant for a moment. After all, dying in battle and throwing away one¡¯s life werepletely different concepts.

    Qianye looked up and stared at Li Fengshui, imprinting thetter¡¯s image in his eyes! Greatly rmed, the imperial general swung his palm at the refined silver nails on Nighteye¡¯s body!

    Mists of blood filled the street as, one after the other, the soldiers in the way swayed about. They didn¡¯t copse immediately, nor did they realize that they had just lost their vitality. Qianye¡¯s figure shot through the sanguineous mist to appear in front of Li Fengshui and Nighteye.

    Li Fengshui¡¯s hand froze all of a sudden! But he was also a veteran of the battlefield¡ªhe immediately dragged Nighteye in front of him and blocked Qianye¡¯s line of sight. At the same time, he circted his origin power to disperse the invisible force controlling his body.

    The man was extremely vicious. After regaining his freedom, heunched another palm at the nape of Nighteye¡¯s neck, a strike that would have beheaded her if it hadnded.

    At this moment, Qianye was looking into Nighteye¡¯s pupils. Her eyes were just as clear, calm, and resolute¡ªfilled with undisguised passion and love.

    ¡°Trust me,¡± Qianye whispered. The next moment, East Peak flew up and pierced into Nighteye¡¯s abdomen, all the way to its hilt.

    Li Fengshui¡¯s expression stiffened, and his hand stopped midway, no longer able to continue down. He lowered his head and saw East Peak shot through Nighteye¡¯s body and into his own abdomen. Boundless blood energy poured out like a great river and surged into his body.

    Li Fengshui staggered backward, covering his wound with one hand while pointing at Qianye with the other. ¡°Y-You, you¡¯re colluding with the vampires. Your crimes are unpardonable! No one can save you now, not even the Zhao n! The empire may berge, but there¡¯s no longer a ce for you! It¡¯s no use even if you save Nighteye. Her soul has been half-destroyed. She¡¯ll eventually forget you and the past. She won¡¯t remember anything!¡±

    Qianye carefully drew his sword out from Nighteye¡¯s body and used what remained of his shirt to bind the wound tightly. Only then did he turn back to Li Fengshui.

    At this moment, the ring rm had woken up the entire City of Indomitable, and everyone was arriving at the scene in quick session. There were nobles, people from the army corps, and naturally those from the Zhao n. Everyone gazed at this scene in astonishment, unable to immediately figure out what had happened.

    ¡°Colluding with vampires?¡± Qianye drew Nighteye closer. He then cut open his own chest all of a sudden, revealing the constantly beating blood core. His voice echoed throughout the entire city of Indomitable. ¡°Here! Here¡¯s another vampire!¡±

    Li Fengshui was startled for a moment, and then his expression shifted drastically. Suddenly, he could no longer suppress the blood energy inside. His chest burst open violently and sted away almost half of his body. He reached out as if to grab something, but his fingers only caught empty air. The man finally copsed, yet up until thest moment of his life, he wasn¡¯t willing to close his eyes.

    ¡°Qianye, you...¡±

    Without waiting for Nighteye to speak, Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯ll rush out of this ce with you. We shall be together from now on, and no one will ever separate us again.¡±

    East Peak let out a long whistle as Qianye carried Nighteye into the air, traversing the skies like aet and emitting a brilliance that rent the deepest darkness of the night.

 Chapter 703: Meaning of Intention Part 1

    Chapter 703: The Meaning of Intention (Part 1) [V7C020 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    High above Indomitable, Song Zining was standing in the air and looking down at the entire city.

    At this moment, the city was brightly illuminated and filled with the constant echo of ear-piercing rms. There were waves rising everywhere in the city, each representing abat squad or aristocratic private army.

    The tides gushed toward the city center whereiny the center of this tempest. Meanwhile, a sharp de was cutting through these waves with indefensible momentum and making its way out of the city.

    Song Zining¡¯s figure flickered out of existence and soon appeared before Zhao Yuying. There, he named a few streets and said, ¡°Block those ces and allow no one to pass!¡±

    Zhao Yuying was somewhat startled. Seeing Song Zining so serious¡ªand her own mind being in a state of turmoil¡ªshe agreed without even asking about the details.

    The seventh young master¡¯s silhouette disappeared once more. He was using his domain powers to move rapidly. The effects were almost simr to Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh, but the range was much shorter and the drain was exceptionally high. Nheless, Song Zining couldn¡¯t care less about the costs at this moment. He flickered rapidly throughout the city to finally reach a street in its periphery, where he proceeded to wait in silence.

    A group of aristocratic family soldiers arrived in a hurry and were surprised to find Song Zining standing at the street entrance.

    Thetter shed his military insignia and said calmly, ¡°Everyone, wait here and listen to mymands. This ce is an important location where the rebel is likely to pass through. We shall station ourselves here and prevent him from escaping.¡±

    As private soldiers from a lower-ranking aristocratic family, they were greatly astonished upon seeing Song Zining¡¯s major general insignia. One of them cried out after recognizing Song Zining¡¯s identity, ¡°This is the seventh young noble, one of Marshal Boqian¡¯s staff officers!¡±

    The private army unit no longer had any objections regarding Song Zining¡¯s arrangement. They didn¡¯t really want to intercept Qianye, to begin with. They were already shocked out of their wits from hearing the distant sounds of fighting and were trying to look for a ce to hide. Not everyone was blinded by their will to gain merits¡ªone had to be alive to be able to contribute.

    Before long, two more such squads came along this street and were simrly stopped by Song Zining.

    The aristocratic family squads chatted amongst themselves and found that everyone¡¯s way of thinking was fairly simr. They soon felt deep admiration for Song Zining. As expected of Marshal Boqian¡¯s staff officer, he could even make escaping a fight sound so dignified. Reportedly, Qianye was on a killing spree and all those who had gone to intercept him had suffered grave casualties.

    Just as everyone was discussing this matter spiritedly, the sound of footsteps echoed in the empty street ahead. Each and every tap rapped on the hearts of everyone present, causing their hearts to beat along with it. In just a few steps, all the soldiers¡ªincluding the two champions¡ªfelt their bodies grow weak, and they couldn¡¯t help but clutch tightly at their chests as their breathing becamebored.

    Qianye arrived from the ends of the street, carrying Nighteye in one hand and holding East Peak in the other. It didn¡¯t seem like he was in much of a hurry, but he arrived before Song Zining in just a few steps and his gaze fell on the soldiers behind thetter.

    Almost as though they had been struck by lightning, these warriors trembled after making eye contact with Qianye. The others lowered their heads in trepidation, no longer daring to look into his eyes. However, those at the front row saw Qianye¡¯s East Peak when they looked down¡ªfresh blood was flowing along the de and dripping off of its tip. That light dribbling sound caused what little fighting spirit and resistance they had to crumble. They didn¡¯t even dare to run.

    Soon, Song Zining took a step forward and barred the two streets behind him with outstretched arms. ¡°This path is blocked.¡±

    Qianye stared deeply into his friend¡¯s eyes. In the end, he didn¡¯t charge in forcibly and instead vanished into a different street.

    The group of private army soldiers caught their breath only a long while after Qianye had left. Only aftering face to face with Qianye did they realize just how terrifying he was. Just the aura around him was enough to bring them to the verge of copse. At this moment, they felt that the seventh young noble was indeed deserving of his fame to be able to push Qianye back so calmly. This was what it meant to subdue armies without a fight.

    The group of soldiers surrounded Song Zining and drowned him in ttery.

    Qianye was startled as he crossed two street blocks and turned toward a certain street. In front of him, Zhao Yuying was standing at the street entrance with her handheld cannon and dozens ofbat-ready Zhao n elites gathered behind her.

    Zhao Yuying was shaken when she saw Qianye. ¡°Lil¡¯ Five.¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°General Yuying, are you going to stop me?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was at a loss. She shook his head and said, ¡°No, but Zining asked me to guard this ce.¡±

    Qianye frowned. This crossroad was fairly simr to thest one, and just like before, Zhao Yuying was also blocking two of the roads, leaving only one path open.

    Qianye walked toward the only remaining path. Some of the restless soldiers behind Zhao Yuying wanted to raise their weapons, but she quickly suppressed them with a stern re. Most of the Zhao n soldiers, however, remained still and only watched him leave. Qianye¡¯s prestige in the n was fairly high. Although he was now burdened with the crime of treason, most of these soldiers simply couldn¡¯t find the will to fight him.

    It was at this point that a squad in pursuit of Qianye rushed out from the other end of the street. The mob, formed from abination of aristocratic families and imperial soldiers, numbered close to a hundred people, and its members were d in starkly different attires. They were clearly here for the contribution. Under the leadership of a champion, they started chasing after Qianye upon catching sight of him¡ªit was almost as though they had been injected with chicken blood.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned cold. He halted his steps, turned about, and shed a perfect arc through the air. The champion was over thirty meters away when this sh arrived, and the others behind him were even further away.

    Upon seeing this sh, however, the champion cried out in rm and threw himself to the floor, no longer caring about dignity and whatnot. A wave of formless sword energy grazed past the champion¡¯s head and left a deep groove through his back, causing blood to fly out like a scarlet g!

    The champion had reacted in time, but the mob behind him wasn¡¯t as fast as he was. The soldiers charging at the front were cut down in quick session, and some were even bisected on the spot!

    The ones behind immediately halted their steps as the smell of blood woke them up from their dreams of making it big. They quickly recalled Qianye¡¯s miraculous achievements on the battlefield. It was just that Qianye¡¯s aplishments back then were umted while fighting against the dark races, and hence, the impression wasn¡¯t as deep as the present scene.

    Qianye had, with a single Nirvanic Rend, badly injured a champion and killed a dozen or so pursuers. He didn¡¯t even look back afterunching that attack. Instead, he continued running toward the end of the street, soon vanishing around the corner with Nighteye in tow.

    After witnessing this sh, those Zhao n soldiers who had wanted to try their luck turned pale and were drenched in cold sweat.

    At this moment, inside the Wei n courtyard, Wei Potian was thrashing about like an ant atop a burning pot. Yet, no matter what he did, he couldn¡¯t break through the defensive line formed from the Wei family¡¯s experts.

    ¡°Let me out! I can¡¯t do much anyway! What the heck are you people doing?¡± Wei Potian roared.

    There was a grand chair ced outside of the courtyard, upied by none other than Wei Bainian. With him guarding the courtyard personally, there was no way Wei Potian could take a step outside. After hearing the heir¡¯s words, Wei Bainian said with a sigh, ¡°Qiyang, you forged the n lord¡¯s order and elder assembly¡¯s token, costing us most of our assets on Twilight Continent. We haven¡¯t even settled this matter, what other problem are you thinking of stirring up? Keeping you in confinement for seven days is already being very lenient.¡±

    ¡°Seven days! Everything will be toote after seven days!¡±

    Wei Bainian said indifferently, ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re intent on getting involved in Qianye¡¯s matter?¡±

    ¡°How can Qianye betray the empire? It must be a trick! Those bastards from the military department...¡± Wei Potian cursed loudly. Only afterward did he notice his slip of the tongue and said hurriedly, ¡°Ah, I mean, how can I get involved in such matters? I just wanted to go and take a look at the liveliness outside.¡±

    Wei Bainian wasn¡¯t moved at all. ¡°Seven days, not one day less.¡±

    Meanwhile in the Zhao n main camp. Zhao Ruoxi¡ªd in a long, wide-sleeved robe¡ªwas slowlybing her ck hair. Two maids were helping her with the grooming, but their eyes never left the young miss¡¯ hands.

    Zhao Ruoxi suddenly spoke, ¡°You two are quite bothersome, do you know that?¡±

    The two maids felt an ineffable chill run through their bodies as aherworld flower blossomed before each of them! Gazing at the representation of the underworld river, the girls were shocked out of their wits and couldn¡¯t help but scream out loud.

    In a secret chamber several rooms apart, there was an exquisite gun-box with numerous locking seals upon it. Three old men were seated around this container with an origin array beneath each of them. These interconnected arrays were working together to suppress the gun at the center.

    Just as the maids¡¯ screams arrived faintly from the distance, several other-shore flowers began to wilt inside the room. The origin arrays lit up brightly and soon reached the extremes of their capacity. Before the three old men could react, the arrays burst into mes and were destroyed. The elders¡¯ clothes even caught fire from the sudden ze of origin power.

    How could these origin mes be the same as ordinary fire? The three went pale from fright and had no choice but to suppress the congration with the full extent of their origin power. It was at this moment that the gun box burst open and the magnificent firearm within flew out. It shot through several walls and soon appeared in front of Zhao Ruoxi.

    The girl reached for the gun with a somewhat crazed expression and leapt out of the window.

    However, a smooth, snowy-white hand appeared just as she was about to reach the exit. This slender handnded gently on the Red Spider Lily.

    The dozen or soherworld flowers carrying Zhao Ruoxi faded away and the Red Spider Lily quickly lost its glow, almost as though the gun had fallen asleep in the embrace of that gentle hand.

    Zhao Ruoxi fell after losing her support, but another jade-like hand caught her and helped hernd firmly on her feet.

    Zhao Ruoxi eximed in rm, ¡°Mom!?¡±

    Princess Gaoyi was dressed in in clothes without any makeup or decorations, yet none of these could hide her temperament and noble demeanor. She sighed while stroking the Red Spider Lily. ¡°This is not how you should use this gun.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi looked down and said through gritted teeth, ¡°But they¡¯re going to kill Qianye!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s sure to die if you go out with the grand magnum.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi was astonished. ¡°Why?¡±

    Princess Gaoyi said with a sigh, ¡°How can those people stay still if even the Red Spider Lily has taken to the field?¡±

 Chapter 704: Meaning of Intention Part 2

    Editor-san can¡¯t make it on time today, so I did a recheck on my own and published the chapter. This chapter will be reced with an edited version as soon as it¡¯s avable.Chapter 704: Meaning of Intention (Part 2) [V7C021 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Zhao Jundu was waiting for someone at this moment. Soon, a Zhao n guard led anky young man before him.

    The fourth young master said without looking up, ¡°You work for Song Zining?¡±

    This young man was a fairly light-hearted person. In front of Zhao Jundu, however, he felt as though a deep ocean were pressing upon him and had to adopt a respectful attitude. ¡°This servant has been working for the seventh young master for quite a while, I just came back from Twilight Continent a while ago.¡±

    Zhao Jundu seemed somewhat moved. He shot a nce at the man and said with a nod, ¡°You¡¯re quite capable to havee back alive. Speak, what news do you bring me?¡±

    The young man leaned forward and whispered a name into Zhao Jundu¡¯s ear.

    Thetter rose from his seat and nodded. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is, follow me.¡±

    Momentster, several military vehicles charged out of the Zhao n main camp. Once past the main gate, they split off and drove away in many directions. These vehicles were immediately locked onto by several shadowy figures who proceeded to tail them under the cover of the night. There were even more people in the darkness with their eyes upon the Zhao n main camp, guarding against a diversion strategy.

    It was at this moment that a beam of green light rushed out from the camp and shot toward the north. This azure radiance was much like a rainbow, traversing the sky at inconceivable speeds. Those people watching in the dark cried out in rm. They had been guarded against all activity inside the Zhao n camp but never imagined Zhao Jundu would y such a card. Thetter had actually shot into the air without the slightest bit of concealment.

    Although everyone had sensed Zhao Jundu¡¯s departure, who could catch up to his extreme speeds? It didn¡¯t take a lot of thinking to know that Zhao Jundu would¡¯ve finished whatever he had set out to do by the time this news was delivered.

    The fourth young master arrived in the northern parts of the city in the blink of an eye. This area was already close to the periphery, not so far away from the city walls.

    By the time that azure light faded, Zhao Jundu hadnded with that young man in tow and upied a certain crossroad.

    The two had justnded when hundreds of soldiers rushed over from the other end of the street. This squad was made up of rare elites from the military. They were all expressionless and practically spilling murderous intent. One could see at a nce that these were all veterans who had killed their way out of mountains of corpses and oceans of blood. Unlike men from the aristocratic private armies, these soldiers were decorated with the insignias of the imperial military. Apparently, they were direct subordinates of the military, and there were also some hailing from the elite corps.

    A hundred soldiers led by two champions, one of them a major general, made for a fairly generous lineup. They were surging with killing intent as they marched along the street. After charging halfway through the street, however, the major general raised his right hand and brought the entire squad to an urgent stop.

    The order to halt was simply too urgent¡ªsome of the weaker soldiers couldn¡¯t control their momentum and crashed into the ones in front beforeing to a stop.

    That major general began to sweat as he stared at the distant Zhao Jundu. ¡°We¡¯re on a mission to hunt a vampire spy. We hope General Jundu will let us pass.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly. ¡°What a coincidence, I¡¯m also here to capture a vampire traitor.¡±

    The major general was startled. ¡°You¡¯re going to capture Qianye? General Jundu, please don¡¯t joke...¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished his words when his expression changed drastically. Zhao Jundu¡¯s gaze¡ªfilled with a sudden killing intent¡ªfelt like a sharp knife on his vitals. The officer sensed a chill run through his entire body, almost as though he were hanging on the verge of life and death. He was so nervous that he couldn¡¯t even speak.

    Zhao Jundu stroked the rifle in his hand. ¡°What do you think you are that I would joke with you? A general might have that qualification, but you? Heh.¡±

    The major general¡¯s face turned red, but he couldn¡¯t find the right words to retort. He was very much certain that Zhao Jundu was filled with killing intent just now. Perhaps the intent wasn¡¯t directed at him, but provoking the fourth young noble was definitely not a wise move. At this moment, Indomitable was in utter chaos, with all those who had gone after Qianye suffering grave casualties. There would be no proof if Zhao Jundu were to kill them and push the me onto Qianye.

    It was at this moment that Qianye walked out of a nearby street. He wasn¡¯t surprised to find the imperial soldiers on his trail but was startled upon seeing Zhao Jundu.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned azure as he tightened his grip on East Peak. Dark golden blood energy appeared around him once more, and several invisible threads of blood stretched out in every direction. Zhao Jundu had been kind to Qianye in the past, but there was no way he could help him at this point¡ªat least not openly. In fact, seizing Qianye on the spot was the most beneficial course of action for the Zhao n.

    At this moment, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to fight against Zhao Jundu at all. A victory against thetter wasn¡¯t certain even in his peak condition, to speak nothing of his current wound-riddled state. Hence, Qianye was prepared to use Spatial sh right off the bat and leave the battlefield. This was thest time he could activate this ability, after which, he would have to kill his way out of the city step by step. Nheless, there was no more time to think about all these things.

    Zhao Jundu took aim immediately after seeing his brother. His movements flowed naturally¡ªthere was a clear rhythm to it, yet it was also inconceivably fast, and the muzzle was already at Qianye¡¯s forehead before anyone could react.

    The moment this projectile left the firing chamber, an azure resplendence ripped through the night and a deep suppressive might filled the entire area, leaving everyone below the champion level trembling uncontrobly.

    The origin bullet passed between Qianye and Nighteye. It flew a mere finger¡¯s breadth from either of them but ultimately didn¡¯t connect. Instead, it sted a nearby three-storeyed building apart. One could imagine just how powerful this shot was. The bullet turned into a beam of azure light which obliterated the entire building, leaving only a few supporting pirs. The brilliance didn¡¯t stop there, either, and went on to shave off the ground floor of every building in the street block!

    Having lost its supporting structure, that three-storeyed house suddenly copsed. The upper two floors of this building, along with a belfry, smashed into the military squad and buried several people in the rubble.

    The two champions managed to evade in time. They cried out in shock and anger, ¡°General Jundu, what¡¯s the meaning of this?!¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°A slip of the hand.¡±

    The major general felt his chest tighten, and he almost vomited blood. How could the number one genius of the empire slip up? This excuse was simply too absurd.¡±

    The other brigadier general dug out a couple of people from the debris but was startled when he reached the bottommost person.

    This colonel had been struck square in the chest by a copper bell, causing his entire thorax to cave in. Apparently, he was so intimidated by Zhao Jundu¡¯s shot that he had failed to circte his origin defenses in time.

    The brigadier general recalled that this colonel was called Gu Liyu. The man¡¯s strength was mediocre at best, but he was full of cunning and schemes, a favorite subordinate of Li Fengshui. Now that the general had died, it would depend on his luck whether or not he could make aeback in the military¡ªthere were simply too many sub-champion fellows like him. For now, at the very least, this brigadier general had no intention of ming Zhao Jundu for this ¡°idental injury.¡±

    It would seem the major general was also of the same mind; he only shot a brief nce at Gu Liyu and paid no more attention to the man. The most important thing right now was Qianye. However, Zhao Jundu¡¯s stance was unclear¡ªhad that ¡°slip of the hand¡±e for him instead, the one lying on the ground would be him and not Gu Liyu.

    Qianye eximed in surprise as his gaze fell upon Gu Liyu. He hadn¡¯t forgotten this man who was his archenemy back in the year. Who would¡¯ve thought they would meet again under such circumstances? Judging from the situation, however, it would seem Gu Liyu was here to hunt him down. It was also very likely that he was involved in Nighteye¡¯s capture.

    Qianye raised East Peak and flicked the de¡¯s edge with his finger. The heavy sword emitted a long hum akin to the cry of a dragon. This reverberating sound resonated with the bell on Gu Liyu¡¯s chest, which soon erupted with a deafening toll.

    Gu Liyu screamed in agony as he spat out a stream of blood and shattered internal organs. The man turned deathly pale and fell limp to the ground. Apparently, his innards had been crushed and even the imperial family¡¯s secret medicines wouldn¡¯t be able to save him.

    The major general was livid. ¡°Qianye, you dare kill an imperial officer! Your crime is unpardonable! You won¡¯t escape the empire¡¯s pursuit no matter where you run!¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°Officer? I even killed a general just now. I don¡¯t mind adding another major general to the list if you keep chasing me.¡±

    Only then did that major general recall how Li Fengshui had died in Qianye¡¯s hands and realized the difficult situation he was in. The way Qianye had killed Gu Liyu was so unfathomable that he couldn¡¯t figure out its profundities at all. This could only mean one thing¡ªQianye¡¯s understanding of techniques and secret arts was far above his own.

    However, there was a life-saving straw in the field. The major general cried out, ¡°General Jundu!¡±

    Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t careless regarding this matter. He aimed Qianye once more and gradually unleashed his killing intent. Qianye frowned somewhat because he could clearly sense that the murderous intent was aimed at him. He stepped sideways instinctively and passed between Zhao Jundu and the military pursuers on the other end of the street.

    Azure light flickered as several bullets left the chamber in quick session. However, Qianye¡¯s silhouette shed about haphazardly and evaded all the projectiles.

    ¡°Slipped.¡±

    ¡°Dammit.¡±

    ¡°My bad.¡±

    Seemingly frustrated at missing, Zhao Jundu¡¯s attacks grew increasingly powerful with each shot fired. The green light rampaged through the area and practically leveled half the street block. The flowing brilliance almost shot through that brigadier general, who dropped promptly to the ground in fright and didn¡¯t dare move anymore.

    By the time Zhao Jundu lowered his gun, the entire ce was in shambles and Qianye was nowhere to be found.

    That major general was livid. He stared coldly at Zhao Jundu and said, ¡°General Jundu, you colluded with the rebel and allowed him to escape. What punishment does this deserve?¡±

    ¡°Punishment?¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s smiled disappeared and was quickly reced by a frigid, murderous will. He raised his gun all of a sudden, and an origin bullet whistled out! In a sh of green light, arge part of the major general¡¯s torso vanished into thin air.

    ¡°Y-you actually...¡± The major general pointed at Zhao Jundu with a shocked expression. Even on his deathbed, he had never anticipated a fatal attack from Zhao Jundu.

    The nearby brigadier general turned pale and cold sweat dripped down from his forehead. ¡°General Jundu, t-this...¡±

    Zhao Jundu said coldly, ¡°This person harbors unfathomable motives and has been executed for falsely using a superior. Humph! This general merely had a slip of the hand. How can I allow treacherous people to make thoughtless remarks about me?¡±

    ¡°This...¡± The brigadier general didn¡¯t dare say anything. Another word and a certain brigadier general might very well be added to the list of executed people. He could only curse inwardly about how he hadn¡¯t seen any slip of the hand just now.

    Zhao Jundu snorted, ¡°If I don¡¯t kill a few, some people will really think the entire military is theirs to do as they wish!¡±

 Chapter 705: Embracing the Vast World

    After passing the final line that was Zhao Jundu, Qianye discovered that the walls of Indomitable were just in front of him. Charging out of the military stronghold and killing his way here, Qianye had gone through countless arduous battles. In order to quickly break through the battlefield and the encirclement, he had adopted a constant stance of exchanging injuries, in a bid to defeat every enemy in the shortest time possible. At this point, even his ancient vampire constitution could hardly keep up with the strain. The injuries on his body only grew in number as their healing grew slower.

    The city wall was just in front of him, but Qianye couldn¡¯t feel any delight. Indomitable wasn¡¯t a solitary city¡ªbeyond this wall, there were hundreds of fortresses of all shapes and sizes. Moreover, thend outside was so vast and open that a pursuing army could easily surround him before he could get very far. It was fine if he were alone, but he had Nighteye with him at the moment. The vampire princess was extremely weak¡ªshe wasn¡¯t much stronger than an ordinary human at the moment, and the six refined silver nails in her body weren¡¯t helping, either. Qianye didn¡¯t dare remove them rashly for fear of hidden poison and contraptions.

    After waiting for his stamina to recover somewhat, Qianye took a deep breath and leapt upward. He tapped the wall several times along the way and finally reached the top with the help of this borrowed force.

    His eyes lit up immediately after ascending the wall. There was a brightly lit area not so far off in the distance¡ªit was actually an airship port! At this moment, the ce was fairly busy with numerous airshipsnding and taking off in the area, and there was a military gunship patrolling the air.

    Qianye scanned the entire port and was quickly attracted by a certain airship parked at a corner of the tarmac. This grey vessel was long and slender, and came with three masts. It was clearly of an old design, yet it gave off a sense of absolute agility.

    The airship was very familiar. Qianye recognized it as the premium-quality vehicle Song Zining had custom-ordered for personal use. This vessel¡¯s most outstanding quality was its speed¡ªits three origin sails were reportedly the same model as the ones on Marshal Lin¡¯s airship. Hence, its speed in the void was simply iparable.

    Qianye was just about to run toward the airship port when he slowly turned back, ovee by a sense of rm.

    A hundred meters away, a dignified-looking old man materialized from the darkness. The moment he appeared, he became the center of the world, and all the drifting origin power in the vicinity began to rotate around him. Even the origin power around Qianye gravitated toward the old man.

    This person was d in an imperial uniform. There weren¡¯t a lot of decorations on his well-fitted attire, but there were two crossed scepters embedded in his cor.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils shrank upon recognizing the symbol of an imperial marshal.

    After fleeing all this way, he had finally encountered a true bigshot. It was just that Qianye didn¡¯t quite know which marshal this elderly person was.

    Qianyeughed coldly. ¡°It seems people think quite highly of me. Even a marshal has taken to the field.¡±

    The old man showed no expression at all. ¡°It¡¯ll be the empire¡¯s shame if we let a lowly vampire like you escape. Hence, this marshal has no choice but to take this trouble. I won¡¯t cause trouble for you if you give up willingly. If you insist on struggling, however, this marshal has all too many methods for humiliating you, and even the Zhao n will lose a fair bit of face. At that time, death will be an extravagant hope. As for that vampire princess in your arms, I have my own uses for her, no need for you to worry.¡±

    The word ¡°uses¡± caused Qianye¡¯s eyes to turn a bloody red! Even though he hadn¡¯te into contact with thismunity, he had heard of how the imperial nobility ¡°used¡± beautiful vampiredies.

    The joints in Qianye¡¯s sword-hand crackled. He took a deep breath to suppress the inherent vampiric fury and stared deeply at this old man, carving his image into the mind. ¡°Thank you for your advice. If I somehow survive, I shall return one day to ask you for guidance and to see what uses your friends and family have!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice was calm, but his words contained an unalterable resolve. The old man was shaken as he recalled Qianye¡¯s past deeds, knowing that such a person might really cross the divine-champion threshold.

    The man¡¯s heart was secretly filled with a frosty intent, and his determination to kill Qianye grew even stronger.

    He produced a pair of silver gloves and equipped them. Then, with a loud roar, he threw a punch at Qianye from a hundred meters away.

    A silver fist shot out toward Qianye like a bolt of silver lightning. It had barely taken form when it arrived in front of its target! Only then did a shrill whistle fill the air, the sound of the fist intent traveling through the atmosphere.

    This punch caused the entire segment of Indomitable¡¯s walls to tremble, with pieces of stone falling off continuously.

    In the face of this earth-shattering punch, Qianye reacted at lightning speed. Thebined Twin Flowers was already in his hand when the fist intent took shape. He fired dozens of rounds in the blink of an eye, eachnding squarely on the fist intent.

    However, how could a divine champion¡¯s attack be so easy to block? Without the Shot of Inception, the ten sts only managed to dim the attack slightly, and eight parts of its power still remained.

    Moving the gun into his left hand, Qianye lifted East Peak and quickly executed Sweeping Calm. Three strikes merged into one and shed onto the iing fist.

    The silver fist intent weakened once more and even paused for a split second. But then it actually recovered its momentum and sted at Qianye!

    With a determined expression, Qianye crossed his arms to protect the vitals in his chest, poised to take on the imperial marshal¡¯s all-out punch with his vampiric body.

    It was at this moment that a small figure suddenly appeared. Like a bolt of lightning, it crossed the distance of a hundred meters at the moment of imminent peril and crashed into that silver fist!

    ¡°Boom!¡± The impact was tremendous. Finally, the wall Qianye was standing on could hold out no longer. It caved in with a loud rumble, revealing a huge defect therein. Qianye could hardly find his footing and was pushed back repeatedly by the tempest of origin power.

    At the core of the tempest, the collision had thoroughly dispersed the silver fist intent. That small figure popped out from the explosion and crashed into Qianye¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Zhuji! What are you doing here?¡±

    Little Zhuji looked up, appearing rather dizzy and lightheaded. ¡°Mommy told me toe.¡±

    Mommy?

    As though he had sensed something, Qianye looked up toward a distant location. There, at the extremes of his vision, he saw Song Zining turn away and disappear into the night.

    He then looked down at Zhuji. Apart from being dazed, thess was actually unharmed. Although Qianye had already reduced half of the silver fist¡¯s power, this little fellow being able to scatter the fist intent meant that her constitution wasn¡¯t far off from Qianye¡¯s own.

    The old man¡¯s face turned livid upon seeing that his attack had turned out fruitless. The revolving origin power around him began to elerate as his body absorbed vast amounts of energy like a bottomless abyss. The silver brilliance around his hands became increasingly fierce, almost as though two silver suns had risen in the dark night. Without a doubt, this was an earth-shattering attack!

    Just as the punch was about to be unleashed, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye and his figure flickered out of existence.

    Astonished, the old man looked everywhere but couldn¡¯t find so much as a shadow. Having lost his target after a full power-umtion, the man felt extremely distressed and ufortable. He let out a muffled groan as the silver light on his fist scattered, and a stream of fresh blood seeped out from the corner of his mouth.

    How could the elder be satisfied with this oue? He flew up and expanded his perception to cover a thousand meters. Qianye had no way to hide while carrying a wounded Nighteye.

    However, his search came up empty-handed after sweeping the area several times, almost as though Qianye had vanished into thin air. Both rmed and furious, the old marshal scanned the area in great detail once more and found an extremely faint wisp of blood energy. His heart skipped a beat when he gazed at the direction of this trail and saw the airship port. However, he still refused to believe Qianye could actually escape right under his eyes and sneak into the airship port. Hence, he only expanded the scope of his perception and continued scouring the immediate area.

    At this moment, Qianye had arrived beside Song Zining¡¯s airship under the cover of the shadows. Just now, Qianye had taken advantage of the time the old marshal was umting power to activate hisst Spatial sh. With the amplification of the Wings of Inception, he managed to travel over a thousand meters in a single step and fled sessfully into the airship port.

    The silver airship sat silently on the ground. Qianye destroyed the lock on the cabin doors with a swing of his sword and pushed his twopanions in. Then, he entered the cabin himself and locked the door with a vampiric de.

    Qianye rushed straight into the control room after boarding the vessel. He heaved a sigh of relief¡ªas expected of a premium-quality item, the vessel was highly capable and easy to control. It was so much simpler to operate than ordinary airships.

    Airship operation was a required subject for all high-ranking imperial officers. Qianye flipped all the control switches in quick session. As the origin array drove the engine into a full roar, he was delighted to find that the vessel was fully fueled and easily capable of reaching another continent.

    Qianye pushed on the control lever and brought the engine to its maximum output, causing the high-speed airship to take off with a sudden jolt.

    The airship¡¯s movements were immediately discovered by the guards who were on high-alert. Ear-piercing rms echoed throughout the airship port¡ªsoldiers rushed over one squad after another, and the gunship in flight turned about to intercept the ascending vessel.

    ¡°You take over!¡± Qianye instructed Nighteye on the basic controls before rushing out of the control room. He soon arrived at the deck turret and activated its autocannon.

    This airship was equipped with multi-barreled autocannons at the front and arge ballista at the back. For its size, the airship was somewhat over-geared in terms of firepower.

    The autocannon barrels started to spin as Qianye stomped down on the foot pedal, spitting out a stream of metallic mes which stopped the guards in their tracks. Then, he turned the ming whips toward the high-speed airships that were just about to take off, causing them to fall back to the ground amidst a shower of debris.

    It was at this time that the airship jolted fiercely. A ballista bolt flew out from the rear end of the vessel and, amidst a surge of silver radiance, sted the patrolling gunship that had justpleted its turn mid-air.

    Qianye nced back to find that Zhuji had run over to the ballista turret and actually scored her first hit.

    At this moment, the turrets surrounding the airship port began to open fire, quickly weaving a of firepower in the sky. Without the need for Qianye¡¯s instructions, Nighteye elerated the vessel continuously and charged straight into the fiery!

    The silver airship prated the torrential fire like a phoenix rising from the ashes and sped into the boundless void.

    The airship sped up continuously after unfurling its three sails, leaving the floating continent further and further behind it. In front of themy the endless void... as well as a vast new world.

 Chapter 706: Hundred-day Love

    The journey beyond the floating continent wasn¡¯t just a smooth-sailing void. The most powerful fleets of the Evernight and imperial factions were gathered here, raging fierce battles every day.

    However, themanders of the two evenly-matched parties were fairly cautious and had kept most of their forces concentrated. Even the reconnaissance vessels in the periphery were only mini-ships¡ªfrail but agile and, most importantly, expendable. Their greatest fear was being devoured whole by the enemy force while scattered.

    That was precisely why the breakout was unexpectedly quite smooth. By the time the imperial fleet received the relevant intelligence, it was already toote to dispatch interception parties. All they could do was order the few scouting vessels already in the area to stop the escapees. After shooting down two of these airships in a short but fierce battle, the remaining imperial vessels finally retreated. They could only watch as the silver airship unfurled its three origin sails and shot into the distance.

    Qianye looked back, and through the burning wreckage, he could still vaguely make out the void continent.

    Thinking about it, his time there wasn¡¯t that long, but he had participated in the greater part of the war of national fate. That was where he had fought and bathed in blood, where existed his brothers, sisters, and friends, as well as enemies both in the light and in the dark.

    Yet today, everything had been left in the past. Everything would soon be a memory.

    At this point in time, there was still a question in Qianye¡¯s heart, or rather, a sigh. ¡°Why is there no ce for me in such arge empire?¡±

    Nheless, what hase to pass hase to pass, and it was useless no matter how much thinking he did. Qianye walked into the cabin and set the airship on constant speed and course. Then, he carried Nighteye into a room and ced her on the bed.

    ¡°It¡¯ll hurt a bit, bear with it.¡±

    Nighteyey quitefortably on the bed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just do it.¡±

    Qianye asked while stroking the nails lightly, ¡°What function do these things have?¡±

    ¡°It looks like they¡¯re made to burn blood energy with the refined silver inside.¡± Nighteye sighed lightly. Qianye took advantage of that moment of distraction to pluck out the nail from her shoulder.

    He examined the nail briefly before cing it on one side. Nighteye¡¯s wound had been charred ck, and the flesh therein, burnt extensively.

    It didn¡¯t quite show on his expression, but he felt quite pained inside. Nighteye, with her primogenitor bloodline, should be fairly close to Qianye in terms of regenerative powers. Yet her wound was showing no signs of healing. This meant that she had been tormented to a state of extreme weakness.

    Nighteye grunted softly as the nail in her other shoulder was pulled out.

    Comparatively, the ones in her wrists and ankles were more difficult to remove. Qianye lifted her leg and stroked her ankle lightly, carefully observing the interior condition. He asked during the examination, ¡°Are you unwell in any other ce other than the refined silver nails?¡±

    Nighteye gave it some thought. ¡°Not much except the Chaos Millstone.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart tightened after hearing this name, but he pretended nothing was wrong. ¡°What exactly are the effects?¡±

    ¡°Painful, very painful. So painful that I wanted to give up and kill myself. But with these nails running through my body, I couldn¡¯t use the power of my blood core and thus I couldn¡¯t die, either. As for other things, let me think... I think I¡¯ve forgotten a lot of things.¡±

    While Nighteye was focused on recalling her past, Qianye removed the two nails from her ankles at lightning speed. This time, he used a bit of origin power during the extraction process, producing a high-speed vibration that broke down a thinyer of flesh around the nail. Only then did he manage to pluck the nail out smoothly.

    Nighteye¡¯s brows locked tight due to the pain, but the pain seemed to have cleared up her head. ¡°Most of them should be trivial things, but my memory is bing increasingly blurry. It seems I can only remember things within a hundred days.¡±

    ¡°Only a hundred days?¡±

    Nighteye sat up and ced her hands around Qianye¡¯s neck. She then looked into his eyes and said, ¡°Yes, only a hundred days. But, I won¡¯t ever forget you.¡±

    Qianye drew her gently into his arms. ¡°I won¡¯t let you forget me, either.¡±

    Nighteye chuckled. ¡°How are you going to make me not forget?¡±

    ¡°Simple, I¡¯ll chase you anew every day. That way, you won¡¯t forget me even if you have only one day of memory.¡±

    The room turned silent¡ªexcept for the crisp metallic sound produced by the refined silver nails as they touched one another.

    Momentster, a knock came from the cabin doors. The only other person on this ship was Zhuji.

    ¡°Come in.¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he heard a loud boom. As though it had been kicked off by a giant beast, the door flew off its hinges and shot toward Qianye.

    Qianye reached out to stop the iing object, but the massive impact caused his hand to shake ever so slightly. This force was enough to put a dent in the airship¡¯s outer shell.

    Zhuji stood outside the door with her little mouth wide open, almost as though she was in shock. There was a metallic crate in her hands and a red mark on her forehead.

    Qianye flipped over the door in his hand and found that there was, indeed, a dent the size of her head.

    For a moment, he didn¡¯t quite know what to say. This sturdy alloy cabin door was both fire and st resistant, capable of isting the room from external attacks. Yet now, it had been destroyed by a headbutt from this small Zhuji. Thetter only had a small red mark on her forehead, and even that disappeared in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye soon recalled how the girl had shattered the divine champion¡¯s punch a while ago. Even though he had already reduced the iing force by a fair bit, he still couldn¡¯t shake off the sudden headache from the realization.

    Back in the year, he had left the little girl to Song Zining because he didn¡¯t know what to do with her. Zhuji possessed the traits of an arachne at birth, imprinting the first friendly adult she saw as her mother. Qianye had taken advantage of this nature to confirm Song Zining¡¯s maternal position. Who would¡¯ve thought Song Zining would pass the ball to him just as he was escaping the empire?¡±

    ¡°Zhuji, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Looking at the damaged door, the little girl said with a timid expression, ¡°I-I broke something again.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. In the end, he beckoned her over and asked, ¡°What¡¯s that in your hands?¡±

    Zhuji nced at Nighteye while passing the crate to Qianye. ¡°I think this beautiful sister needs these.¡±

    Thetter opened up the crate and found neat rows of high-quality blood crystals within. To the extremely weak Nighteye, these things were much better than any number of supplements.

    Thinking of something, Qianye asked, ¡°Where did you find them?¡±

    ¡°Inside the ship. The smell is so distinct that I smelled them immediately. There are two more crates over there, I¡¯ll fetch them.¡±

    With that, Zhuji ran out without waiting for Qianye¡¯s reply. Soon, the airship trembled once more, followed by an explosive sound¡ªit would seem this littless was either breaking doors or tearing down walls. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t open up a different path on her way back. Otherwise, there was no telling whether or not this ship could hold out.

    Zhuji had a crate in her hands and another hanging from her mouth. The metallic crate seemed as soft as freshly baked bread in her mouth, with two rows of deep fang marks let upon it.

    Qianye took over the crates and pointed to a corner of the room. ¡°Stand there. Don¡¯t move or make a sound, understand?¡±

    Little Zhuji nodded obediently and did as she was told.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Nighteye wasn¡¯t quite happy.

    ¡°Lie down like a good girl!¡± Qianye tapped lightly on Nighteye¡¯s forehead and pushed her into a supine position. Then, he picked up her wrists and slowly activated his origin power.

    The nails through her wrists were the most troublesome. They had been in there for so long that they were stuck to the nearby bones.

    Qianye released his origin power for a short moment, activating the two nails and causing the surface to split open. The very moment the refined silver core was exposed, Nighteye¡¯s wrists began to emit sizzling sounds and streams of green smoke. Meanwhile, Qianye plucked out the two nails the instant the stuck flesh started to burn.

    Nighteye groaned softly¡ªher face turned pale, and her smile seemed rather weak. Now that her bindings had beenpletely removed, tiredness began to wash over her, and she could hardly keep her eyes open.

    Qianyeid her down on the bed and put two blood crystals in her hand, allowing her to absorb them slowly while asleep.

    Nighteye fell into a deep sleep once she wasid down¡ªthis was the best way for her to recover from her grave injuries. Qianye pulled a nket over Nighteye before beckoning to Zhuji and bringing her to the control room.

    Once inside, Qianye raised his awareness sharply, afraid that the little fellow would break something again and it would be toote to cry at that point. However, Zhuji was exceptionally obedient and human-like once she entered the control room.

    Qianye sat down across from her and asked, "Why do you open doors like that?"

    Little Zhuji seemed puzzled. "Mama didn¡¯t teach me how to!"

    Qianye felt his vision darken¡ªthisss really didn¡¯t know how to open doors! He took a while to collect his thoughts before inquiring once more, "Then what did Mama teach you?"

    "Many many things! I was so tired from all the learning, and I never got to rest!" She began recounting with a pained expression.

    Qianye listened on and found that Song Zining had arranged an entire range of sses for Zhuji, from the operation and maintenance of origin guns all the way up to the use of airship weapons. Moreover, there were sses for all kinds ofbat techniques stuffed between her weaponry education. The remainder of Zhuji¡¯s daily life involved sleeping and eating, things a true spiderling should be doing.

    The only thing a young, inherently-powerful arachne with a noble bloodline needed to do was eat and sleep well. They would naturally be powerful during their growth phase. Hence, Zhuji¡¯s childhood¡ªin the eyes of an arachne¡ªwas doubtlessly miserable. She actually had to learn so many things!

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but curse Song Zining secretly for training Zhuji into a fighting machine. She was fairly knowledgeable about all things rted to fighting, almost as though she had finished walking the path Qianye had taken in just one year. However, she knew nothing apart from that, not even how to open a door. In her little brain, the wall was just as weak as the door, so there was no need to take a detour. It was much faster to punch right through it!

    After asking a couple more questions, Qianye found, to his amazement, that Zhuji could even drive an airship. And it wasn¡¯t just civilian vessels; she could even operate military battleships. As such, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but silently curse Song Zining once more.

 Chapter 707: Neutral Lands Part 1

    Chapter 707: Neutral Lands (Part 1) [V7C024 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Regardless, Little Zhuji was an unexpectedly capable helper. It was just that she needed quite a bit of training regarding daily life.

    Qianye stood in front of the controls, pulled out the flight map, and adjusted a new course. The silver airship soon drew a beautiful arc in the void as it flew toward the Western Continent.

    Qianye had wanted to head to Evernight Continent at first, but after some thought, he felt that the n wasn¡¯t quite viable. Firstly, the airship had a limited flight distance. After all, this vessel wasn¡¯t one made for intercontinental travel, and it would be quite difficult for it to cross over two major continents. Even if he did somehow make it to Evernight Continent, it would be too difficult to restock such high-grade ck crystal fuel.

    Additionally, Qianye had caused so much stir with his revolt that it was sure to spread across the entire country very soon. Some people from the imperial military would naturally have thought of setting him up in ckflow City, waiting for him to walk into the trap. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh when he thought about ckmoon and all of his other subordinates from Dark me. All he could do was hope that Song Zining would be able to make suitable arrangements.

    Qianye sighed once more as he recalled Song Zining and then the three crates of blood crystals on the airship. These things couldn¡¯t have appeared out of thin air, and no human would stock up on these things for no good reason. Perhaps Song Zining had already arranged for these crystals to be loaded onto the airship when Qianye rushed out of the Zhao n camp.

    The silver airship traversed the void in silence. Qianye sat in the control room, gazing at the unchanging void in front of him. This was the first time he had felt so lost. He had left the empire and everything he was familiar with, not knowing what the road ahead had in store for him.

    At this moment, the cabin doors opened and in staggered Little Zhuji. In ordance with Qianye¡¯s request, the littless had finally learned to open doors instead of tearing through walls. She was holding arge food box and eating randomly from it, but she didn¡¯t look all too spirited.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is it not tasty?¡± Qianye asked.

    Little Zhuji nodded with all her might. ¡°I just don¡¯t feel full eating these things!¡±

    Qianye was startled for a bit. Zhuji had been going in and out for a while now, eating several boxes of food. These rations were made for long-distance flights¡ªeach of them weighed several kilograms and was easily capable of feeding ten men. Zhuji had eaten her own weight in food, yet her belly was bulging only slightly. Who knew what kind of belly she had grown?

    ¡°What do you usually eat then?¡±

    ¡°Meat and shiny crystals! They¡¯re really tasty, especially the crystals. They¡¯re both pretty and delicious.¡±

    Qianye inquired further and finally understood that Song Zining had been feeding her wild beast meat, and sometimes even void beast meat along with their extremely rare crystal cores. These food contained an abundance of energy. Zhuji was still in her youth and didn¡¯t know cultivation. The only way for her to increase her origin power was through food. No wonder she wasn¡¯t full no matter how much of these ordinary rations she ingested.

    It was just that beast meat and crystals were fairly expensive, be it on the Evernight side or the empire¡¯s.

    Qianye felt a sense of pressure on him. It would seem that raising this little fellow wasn¡¯t going to be that easy.

    At this moment, there was no way Qianye could help Zhuji procure the things she liked to eat. Beasts did exist in the void, but many of them were at the level of Chaos and Sky Demon, entities capable of contending against the Queen of the Night. Even the weakest among them possessed the power of a divine champion. With this little ship and Qianye¡¯s current strength, the wisest course of action upon encountering such creatures would be to flee as far as one could. Who would dare have designs on their meat?

    Hence, Qianye could only rub Zhuji¡¯s head and ask her to endure the hunger.

    It was at this moment that the cabin doors opened and Nighteye entered the room. Qianye walked over hurriedly and said, ¡°Won¡¯t you sleep a while longer? You haven¡¯t recovered very well.¡±

    Nighteye leaned into Qianye¡¯s arms and ced her head on his shoulder. She snuggled against him for a moment before saying, ¡°I can¡¯t fall asleep, so I wanted to be with you for a bit.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart softened, and he let out a soft sigh. The two of them hadn¡¯t stayed together very long since the day Nighteye had followed him to the empire. Qianye was embroiled in constant battles, moving from battlefield to battlefield and harvesting countless contributions. In the end, he had even tipped the scales at Indomitable with his own power. Unfortunately, things rarely went as one wished¡ªall he wanted was a simple life, yet even that was but an extravagant hope.

    Qianye inspected Nighteye¡¯s injuries and found that they were slowly beginning to heal. Only then did he feel some relief and helped her into a seat. He himself went to adjust the airship¡¯s course and inspect its status and surroundings.

    Nighteye merely sat in silence, watching Qianye as he went about his business and carving all of it into her mind.

    After half a day, the silhouette of arge continent finally appeared in front of them. Qianye seemed fairly anxious. He instructed Zhuji to inspect the surroundings while he himselfpared the airship routes and steered the vessel toward a remote corner, all the while avoiding the local patrol squads.

    In a fairly isted region of the Western Continent, there was a run-down little town in the middle of the wilderness.

    A faint whistle rang out suddenly in the air. An airship flew over and made a full circle around the town before finally making itsnding.

    Noticing thending airship, the peoplezing about on the town stood up in quick session, their hands subconsciously moving to their weapons.

    The airship retracted its sails andnded rather violently. Soon, Qianye kicked open the cabin doors, lowered the ramp, and walked out.

    A gust of sandy wind stung him as soon as he had gotten out of the airship, forcing him to cover his face briefly.

    After the sandy winds had passed, a number of cloaked muscr men walked over. The leader, a bearded man, spat out the sand in his mouth as he sized Qianye up from head to toe. ¡°Brat, we don¡¯t wee skinned bastards here!¡±

    ¡°Skinned?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand.

    The bearded man pointed at the imperial army insignia on the airship and said, ¡°That¡¯s what I meant. We in this ce don¡¯t wee imperials, just as we don¡¯t wee Evernight people.¡±

    Qianye quickly understood that this was a grey area, and people here disliked the colors of either faction.

    However, Qianye was different from before¡ªthe moment he charged into the imperial stronghold, he knew that he would have to grasp his own fate thereafter. He took a step forward to arrive before that bearded man and said calmly, ¡°Rules are made by people. Naturally, people can change them too. Now that I¡¯ve arrived, I have no intention of leaving.¡±

    The bearded man¡¯s expression changed sharply. The origin power in his entire body surged as he said coldly, ¡°No one has ever dared to act so unbridled here!¡±

    He grabbed at Qianye, but he hadn¡¯t even raised his hand when a heavy blownded on his stomach. His body made a full circle in the air before smashing into the ground. The man wanted to mber up, but Qianye tapped his back lightly with a still-sheathed East Peak, effectively smashing him deeper into the ground.

    Qianye looked up at the others and said indifferently, ¡°It looks like I¡¯m going to be the first person to act unbridled here. Go bring your boss here. If he doesn¡¯te, I really don¡¯t mind leveling this ursed ce!¡±

    The bearded man was far superior to all the others in this group, yet Qianye had dealt with him like he would a little kid. The others quickly understood that all of thembined wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s match. Hence, they immediately ran back into the town to report this matter.

    Momentster, a middle-aged fatty rushed over with dozens of people in tow. He was startled upon seeing Qianye, and even his expression changed gradually.

    A tall young man jumped out from behind the fatty, aimed an origin gun at Qianye¡¯s head, and started cursing, ¡°Who do you think you are? Why are you not kneeling after seeing our boss? I will blow your head off if you keep f*cking bbering!¡±

    Only after the string of curses had been delivered did Qianye move his wrist ever so slightly, flicking a stone into the air and whacking it lightly with his sword. This fist-sized stone screamed through the air at a speed faster than an origin bullet and sted that young man¡¯s head apart!

    ¡°I don¡¯t like people aiming their guns at me, I really don¡¯t like it,¡± Qianye said calmly.

    The middle-aged man jumped up and shouted at the subordinates behind him, ¡°Stop, just f*cking stop! Throw all your guns to the ground. This daddy will chop down whoever picks up their gun!¡±

    Everyone was astonished. However, this middle-aged fatty¡¯s prestige was beyond high, and all of his men threw their weapons to the ground obediently. The man was already full of smiles by the time he had turned back. He jogged to Qianye and asked cheerfully, ¡°You¡¯re... General Qianye?¡±

    Qianye was somewhat surprised. ¡°You recognize me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do! How can I not!? Your name resounds through the empire. There might not be many people who can stand shoulder to shoulder with you in the future. How can I not recognize such a figure?¡±

    Qianye smiled spuriously. ¡°That makes things easier, but I think you¡¯ll regret recognizing me after a few days.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s smile froze momentarily but recovered just as fast. ¡°You surely jest, general. What business do you have in such a small ce?¡±

    ¡°I want to go to the neutralnd. I heard you have a channel there?¡±

    The middle-aged man was startled and left with a fluctuating expression. All his subordinates also looked at one another with odd looks on their faces.

    At this moment, the fatty happened to see Qianye¡¯s insincere smile and realized that this was a fierce person capable of ughtering the entire town. Drenched in cold sweat, the man said with a bow, ¡°Since General Qianyemands it, this lowly one will definitely aplish this task no matter what. Pleasee and rest in town first, we must discuss the details.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He called Nighteye and Zhuji over, and then followed the middle-aged fatty into town. Seeing Qianye only apanied by a weakdy and a five-year-old child, killing intent emerged in some of the destitute and evil characters. However, the fatty seemed to have sensed the changes¡ªhe turned back and red firmly at these people, forcing them to lower their heads.

    There were also some among them with sharp perception. They felt that something was wrong in the way Zhuji was looking at them, yet they couldn¡¯t quite put their fingers on what was out of ce. Later on, a number of people recalled that it was the look of a predator looking at its prey. Nheless, theyughed it off in self-deprecation, feeling that they had gone soft in the head. How could such a young girl look at them as though she were looking at food?

    After entering the town, the fatty led Qianye to the grandest courtyard in the middle of town and offered him a proper seat. Only then did he ask cautiously, ¡°You said you wanted to go to the neutralnds?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°What identity do you wish to go with? Allow this lowly one to remind you that it won¡¯t be wise to go with your imperial identity. Some of the major characters there hate the empire with a passion.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Then I¡¯ll just go with a civilian identity.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, you won¡¯t be able to bring your airship over.¡±

 Chapter 708: Neutral Lands Part 2

    Chapter 708: Neutral Lands (Part 2) [V7C025 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qianye expressed neither surprise nor anger and merely gazed at the fatty in silence.

    Thetter began to sweat. He bowed until his back was about to break and said, ¡°General, it¡¯s not that this lowly one wants to trick you out of your airship. The situation there is indeed somewhat special. Your airship is noticeably a special imperial model, and I know no ordinary person can fake it or buy it. The only ones who can drive such an airship into neutral territory are imperial emissaries. It¡¯s really not suitable if you wish to enter quietly as an ordinary person.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°You¡¯re quite the considerate person. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The fatty replied hurriedly, ¡°This lowly one is Chen Xuan. It¡¯s an honor to work for you.¡±

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s fine even if I drive the airship straight into neutral territory, isn¡¯t it? Even if something does happen, it has little to do with you.¡±

    Chen Xuanughed wryly. ¡°Please don¡¯t joke, sir. This lowly one doesn¡¯t know why you want to go to neutral territory, but even if youmitted something in the empire, you still have family and friends over there. If nothing else, the Zhao n is still on the Western Continent! Why would I sell my life to the empire without any benefits? When your friends and enemiese knocking at my door in the future, I can¡¯t afford to offend them, either! If you drive your airship in, you¡¯ll have to fight a battle with the guard fleet before reaching your destination.¡±

    Qianye nodded slightly. Regardless of whether the fatty was speaking the truth or not, these words were true. He had long since heard that the neutralnds¡ªwith itsplex geography¡ªwas easy to defend but difficult to attack. Without special status, even imperial ships would suffer an attack if they were to appear there.

    Next up, the fatty exined in detail some of the taboos regarding the neutralnds and made arrangements for Qianye¡¯s uing journey. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s airship was sold to Chen Xuan at a discount. Although the base price was set at market value, one could see from Chen Xuan¡¯s happy face that he had earned quite a bit from this transaction. In fact, such high-speed airships were limited in production and simply couldn¡¯t be bought on the market. Those in possession of such a vessel were all wealthy and respectable characters.

    Most of the money gained from the airship was used to purchase beast meat. It also came as a pleasant surprise that there was a piece of genuine void beast meat in Chen Xuan¡¯s storeroom.

    With over half a day left before departure time, Qianye nned to take a stroll around the town with Nighteye. As for Zhuji, the little fellow couldn¡¯t even open her eyes after finally getting a full meal. So, she opted to stay behind in the room to sleep. The fatty especially arranged for several people to stand guard, but Qianye knew that these guards weren¡¯t so much to protect Zhuji as they were to protect the townspeople.

    The town wasn¡¯t very big, but there were numerous stores selling wares from both factions. There was nock of rare materials on sale, but hardly anything could enter Qianye¡¯s eyes at this point. After a trip around the town, all he bought were pieces of jewelry for Nighteye.

    Qianye was struck by a sudden sense of familiarity as he passed by a crudely decorated weapons store. Seemingly recalling something, he soon walked in with Nighteye in tow.

    This narrow shop was made up of a storefront at the entrance and a small workshop deeper inside. Thetter room was tightly packed, consisting of a small workbench, a cab of raw materials, and two beds. There was a five-year-old boy dozing off at the front counter, while a short old man with thick sses was pounding away at a paper-thinponent on the workbench.

    Qianye simply waited in silence until the old man had finished working. Only afterward did he speak, ¡°Great Master, we meet again.¡±

    The young boy behind the counter finally woke up and was frightened out of his seat. The old man, however, removed his sses and walked over to Qianye. After leaning in for a closer inspection, he said as though he had recalled something, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°It¡¯s me. That ¡®bullet¡¯ you made for me back in the year helped out a great deal. But...¡± Qianye pointed at the extremely crude workshop, ¡°what happened to your trade?¡±

    The old manughed wryly as he beckoned to the two to sit down. ¡°What else? I offended an aristocratic family, so there¡¯s nowhere else I can live.¡±

    ¡°A wanted order?¡±

    ¡°Of the highest grade.¡± The old man smiled ruefully.

    ¡°Howe? You¡¯re only selling things.¡±

    ¡°Someone used my bullet to kill that family¡¯s direct descendant. Those people couldn¡¯t catch the culprit so they bribed the military and issued a wanted order for me. I had no choice but to hide here to escape those hunters. Moreover, I no longer dare to sell those kinds of bullets.¡±

    Qianye sighed after hearing the story. Imperial warrants were easy to issue but difficult to remove. Forcibly canceling a warrant meant a direct confrontation with the family that had issued it. With a bounty on his head, the old man could hardly take a step into imperial territory. Those hunters didn¡¯t just kill dark races for a living¡ªwanted imperial fugitives also made up a good part of their ie.

    Compared to thest time, the old man seemed to have aged ten years and was already tired after a brief conversation.

    Qianye thought of something. ¡°Do you want to head into the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°Neutralnds?¡± The old man was startled. He soon shook his head with a wryugh. ¡°Don¡¯t you know how expensive a single ticket there is? How can I afford it?¡±

    ¡°I happen to be going there, and there¡¯s still room on board.¡±

    The old man finally looked up. ¡°You¡¯re going into neutral territory?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± The old man donned a pair of special sses and sized Qianye up from head to toe. ¡°It might not be easy to eke out a living there with your current strength.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Qianye was curious about the spectacle in the old man¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Just a small toy. It¡¯s somewhat more sensitive to origin power.¡±

    Qianye picked up the sses and wore them. His vision turned blurry, but the origin power in the vicinity became dazzling. Through these sses, Qianye could see the seven origin nodes in the old man¡¯s body even without his Eye of Truth. In addition, he could see no origin power reaction from Nighteye. He himself looked like he had eight origin nodes¡ªthe rest of his power had been hidden away by Bloodline Concealment.

    ¡°Oh, such a thing exists. Not bad.¡± Qianye passed the sses back, and then looked about and picked up a finger-sized stick of alloy. Rolling it casually between his fingers, he quickly turned the piece of metal into a ball.

    The old man¡¯s eyes widened!

    This was an extremely sturdy metal used in making origin bullet shells, yet Qianye had rolled it into a ball with his bare hands. The old man had never seen such strength even among high-ranking champions.

    He immediately understood that Qianye had hidden his powers. Also, that quiet girl beside him seemed to have no power at all, but it was the first time the old man had seen that kind of calm demeanor.

    After pondering for a while, the elderly craftsman finally made up his mind. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you! Give me some time, I need to pack up.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll send someone to pick you up before we set out.¡±

    After leaving the weapons shop and having explored the entire town, Qianye returned to Chen Xuan¡¯s courtyard to wait for the airship.

    A vulgar-looking man entered a side-building of the courtyard, jogged his way to Chen Xuan, and whispered something in his ears.

    The fatty was drinking tea at the moment. ¡°He wants to take that old man?¡±

    The man replied, ¡°Yes! Leader, the old man must have some secrets on him. Otherwise, why would Qianye bring that one person among all the others in town? We can¡¯t let that old man leave so easily!¡±

    Chen Xuan¡¯s expression fluctuated a fair bit. Apparently, he was quite conflicted about this matter, but in the end, he sighed. ¡°Let him go.¡±

    The vulgar-looking man wasn¡¯t expecting such a reply. ¡°Leader, are we really going to let him go? This might involve arge sum of money!¡±

    Chen Xuan snorted, ¡°You need to be alive to spend your wealth.¡±

    The man whispered with a cruel expression, ¡°Leader, that Qianye must¡¯vemitted a serious crime in the empire to be hurrying into neutral territory. Why don¡¯t we work together with the nearby towns and take him down? We¡¯ll earn a huge fortune if we hand him to the empire. Maybe we won¡¯t need to do this line of work anymore after this.¡±

    The muscles on Chen Xuan¡¯s face twitched a couple of times. Momentster, he pped the armrest hard and said, ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Leader!!!¡±

    Chen Xuan closed his eyes. ¡°No means no. I know better than you just what kind of trash those in the neighboring towns are. Those bastards might not even be my match. Do you really think we can take down Qianye with just numbers?¡±

    The man was about to speak again, but Chen Xuan stopped him with a wave of his hands.

    Night soon fell upon the continent. An old airship took to the air and flew into the vast skies. At the other end of its flight path was a world that existed between the two great factions, a haven for experts and fugitives alike¡ªthe chaotic neutralnds.

    At this moment, Indomitable was in a state of tension and solemnity. One airship after the other descended into the city and out came countless wooden-faced officers. Soon afterward, these people boarded the readily awaiting off-road vehicles and swaggered off.

    The defensive arrangements around the airship port were stricter than before, and the number of guards had increased twofold. However, those who looked carefully would find that there were soldiers wearing the insignia of the imperial military in addition to the Zhao n soldiers¡ªthe airship port of Indomitable was now being co-managed by the Zhao n and the military.

    Yet, not only did the patrolling soldiers from each side not greet those from the other, sparks seemed to fly off whenever their eyes met.

    Within the Zhao n camp, Zhao Jundu was seated with his eyes closed, his face expressionless.

    The two generals sitting on either side below him seemed rather furious. One of them said angrily, ¡°These bastards from the military are too unbridled! They immediately fought for control over the airship port after arriving here. That aside, they actually dare summon the fourth young master to a court hearing. Just who do they think they are?¡±

    The other person banged the table. ¡°Indomitable was built entirely by the Zhao n. It has nothing to do with the imperial military.¡±

    ¡°Those bastards were hiding when the fighting was fierce, now they all pop up one after the other.¡±

 Chapter 709: Reminiscence

    [V7C026 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Listening to theints of his subordinates, Zhao Jundu finally said, ¡°Enough, it¡¯s useless to speak further about this. A general died in my hands, after all, so they need to put on a show. Otherwise, how can they cate the masses?¡±

    One of the generals said, ¡°Sigh! Everything would be fine if the fourth young master had been a bit more ruthless and killed all of them.¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled faintly. ¡°These are troubled times. Intimidating lowly people is right and proper, but it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to start a massacre. It brings no benefit to the greater picture.¡±

    Since Zhao Jundu had spoken thus, the generals couldn¡¯t say anything else. One of them did mumble in dissatisfaction, ¡°Duke Chengen won¡¯t be that easy to deal with!¡±

    Within arge courtyard in the core region of Indomitable, a fully-armored Zhao Weihuang passed through many a corridor to finally arrive at a building by the water.

    Princess Gaoyi was sitting by the window. She didn¡¯t even turn back upon hearing the door open and merely kept on gazing at the pond outside.

    Zhao Weihuang sat down across from her with a rather embarrassed smile.

    The princess poured a cup of tea for herself, took a sip, and looked out of the window once more. From the beginning to the end, she didn¡¯t spare so much as a nce for the Zhao n lord. Zhao Weihuang wanted to pour himself a cup of tea but quickly realized that there was no second teacup¡ªnot on the table, not in the entire room. Hence, he had no choice but to retract his hand with a dry cough.

    Gaoyi kept gazing out of the window, almost as though she would sit like this forever.

    The more silent she was, the more restless Zhao Weihuang became. Gone was the demeanor of the man who could intimidate the entire Western Territory, or the temperament of the one who could potentially rece Lin Xitang and crush the rebel army.

    ¡°That... Heh heh...¡± Zhao Weihaung still couldn¡¯t bring himself to speak. Princess Gaoyi¡¯s non-responsiveness stuffed all the words he had prepared back into his stomach. All he could do was keep onughing awkwardly.

    In the end, Princess Gaoyi could no longer stand to watch thisughing man. She red fiercely at him and said, ¡°Shameless!¡±

    Full of smiles, Zhao Weihuang said politely, ¡°It was truly fortunate that you were here this time. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi was somewhat helpless against Duke Chengen¡¯s cheekiness. She red at him once more and said, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Ruoxi and Jundu, do you think I would pay attention to your mess?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, you¡¯re right.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi sighed. ¡°That kid, Qianye, is bold and impetuous. He¡¯s exactly like you in this respect.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang wore a rather awkward expression. ¡°I was only like that when I was young.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi snorted before adding, ¡°But that child is devoted and loyal, unlike a certain someone.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang felt even more embarrassed. All he could do wasugh dryly because he didn¡¯t know what else to say.

    The princess put down her teacup and said, ¡°This matter has blown up quite a bit. I came over because those people are really quite unreasonable, but this is merely the beginning. All I can do is make the imperial family stay out of this matter. What are your ns?¡±

    At the mention of war and politics, Zhao Junhuang immediately sat straight, and his dignified temperament sprang out once more. ¡°Those little bastards from the military actually want to summon Jundu for a court hearing, so I¡¯ll let him go. It¡¯s easy to invite someone over, but it won¡¯t be so simple to send him back. With Jundu absent from the front lines, the responsibility of his defensive region will be handed to the people from the military. I really want to see how long they canst there.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid Jundu will suffer in their hands?¡±

    Zhao Weihuangughed with an almost metallic voice. ¡°If they dare touch a single hair of Jundu¡¯s, I¡¯ll beat the yolk out of those old things.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi frowned in displeasure. ¡°Vulgar! You¡¯re always so presumptuous and never think about the consequences. This is a matter rted to the nation and army!¡±

    Zhao Weihuang sneered, ¡°This daddy has never seen those people ce national matters in their eyes. All they have in their brains are dirty things that can¡¯t be brought into light. Since they want to blow up this case, then this daddy here will make it even bigger! Go and defend Jundu¡¯s battlefront if they have the ability. This daddy wants to see how capable they are on the battlefield. Damn their grandmas, back in the year...¡±

    Just as his heroism was reaching its zenith, Zhao Weihuang suddenly noticed Gaoyi looking at him with a spurious smile. His haughtiness deted just like a cat drenched in water, quickly reced by an awkwardugh. ¡°Well, I also did a lot of dumb things back then.¡±

    ¡°Only dumb things?¡± the princess inquired.

    Zhao Weihuang immediately felt quite distressed. Howe his answers were always wrong when it came to questions like these. He rubbed his hands andughed awkwardly for a long time, but he couldn¡¯t squeeze out a proper response.

    Fortunately, Princess Gaoyi didn¡¯t intend to make things too difficult for him. ¡°That child, Qianye is really not bad. He saved Ruoxi back then, and now he¡¯s saved Jundu again. Even I can¡¯t help but like him. This ¡®not bad¡¯, however, is referring to his character. Qianye¡¯s talents, as I see it, aren¡¯t at all inferior to Jundu¡¯s, how can they be described merely as ¡®not bad¡¯? Right now, I¡¯m really curious, just what kind of mother was able to give birth to such a child?¡±

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s expression fluctuated drastically, and even his awkward chuckle had stopped. He held his breath and stared at the ground in front of him, almost as though there was some kind of rare treasure hidden underneath it.

    Princess Gaoyi said with a faint smile, ¡°That child, Ruoxi, is acting a bit weird these days. As her father, you really should pay more attention to her. Don¡¯t just focus all your attention on the western battlefront. If I hadn¡¯t arrived on time, I fear she really would¡¯ve fired the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang was astonished. ¡°What, really?¡±

    Princess Gaoyi sighed but said nothing else.

    Zhao Weihuang stood up. ¡°That won¡¯t do. I must have a talk with thatss!¡±

    With that, the Zhao n lord left hurriedly without waiting for the princess to reply, almost as though he were running away.

    In an isted chamber, Zhao Ruoxi sat quietly on the couch, her face expressionless. The Red Spider Lily was ced in a faraway secret chamber under the watch of three n elders. It was just that everyone knew this was merely a formality¡ªthese people couldn¡¯t do anything if the eldest miss wanted to activate the grand magnum.

    It was a wonderful thing if one did not take her intentions into ount. It went to show that her control over the Red Spider Lily had risen once again. But now, everyone in the residence was apprehensive, worried that their young miss would do something wild.

    Zhao Weihuang walked into the isted chamber and sat down across from Zhao Ruoxi. ¡°Ruoxi, your mother and I both feel that we need to talk.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi didn¡¯t even look up. ¡°What about?¡±

    ¡°Eh, that...¡± Zhao Weihuang fell into a state of distress. He was so focused on escaping just now that he had forgotten to ask what exactly was wrong with Zhao Ruoxi.

    The little girl finally looked up with a dangerous glint in her eyes. ¡°Dad, don¡¯t run over to me for cover just because you¡¯re afraid of mom¡¯s admonition.¡±

    Zhao Weihuang¡¯s steps faltered, and he almost tripped. Realizing that he had lost quite a bit of face, the n lord said with a stern expression, ¡°You¡¯re still so young, what do you know? There¡¯s no problem between your mom and I. What is there to admonish?¡±

    ¡°No problem, is it? But there¡¯s Big Brother Qianye!¡±

    Zhao Weihuang almost copsed.

    He forced himself to sit straight and said in a serious tone, ¡°Ruoxi, you¡¯re not a kid anymore. Qianye, you, Jundu, Junhong, and Yuying, all of you seem to be getting along well. Isn¡¯t that great? Moreover, the matter of the past is long past. It¡¯s a convoluted tale that can¡¯t be summed up in a few words.¡±

    However, Zhao Ruoxi was clearly not that easy to fool. ¡°If it can¡¯t be summed up in a few words, you can use as many as you like.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Weihuang felt that he could no longer continue this conversation. He snorted deeply to express his dissatisfaction, and then he quickly left the isted chamber. Only after leaving the room did he remember that he hadn¡¯t quite found out what about his daughter was weird.

    The imperial military¡¯s stronghold in the city had undergone initial reconstruction. Moreover, it had expanded to cover an entire street block this time. Large batches of warrior craftsmen worked around the clock to rebuild the structure, their various transport and construction vehicles frequently blocking the nearby streets in the process.

    This ce was just a temporary stronghold at first, but now, it had expanded so much that it was affecting many of the nearby aristocratic families. Yet, no one expressed objection. The person in charge before was only a brigadier general since Li Fengshui hadn¡¯t revealed himself to the public. That was no longer the case; after all, the person in charge now had be a former imperial marshal.

    Within the urgently constructed building, the old man who had attempted to ambush Qianye was pacing about with his hands behind his back. Meanwhile, a brigadier general was reading a letter out loud, causing the old man¡¯s expression to be uglier with each line pronounced.

    Although this brigadier general could also be considered an expert, his voice began to tremble upon seeing the old man¡¯s darkening countenance. After all, the other party¡¯s strength hadn¡¯t declined a lot despite having left his marshal position. Be it now or in the past, Wu Daoyu¡¯s name was one that could shake an entire region.

    When the brigadier general finallypleted his task, Wu Daoyu halted his steps and asked, ¡°Done?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Wu Daoyuughed coldly. ¡°Bring that Zhao n person over. I must ask him what right they have to impose such conditions on me.¡±

    The brigadier general ran out swiftly and returned with another brigadier general. This man, seemingly in his thirties, looked fairly capable and resolute. After entering, he performed a military salute and stood as straight as a gun, silently awaiting Wu Daoyu¡¯s question.

    The old man¡¯s eyes narrowed when he noticed the messenger¡¯s Fire Beacon Corps Insignia. ¡°They say Duke Chengen is an expert in leading troops, and that the Fire Beacon Corps is full of talented men. Now, I can see that these ims aren¡¯t exaggerated. What is your name?¡±

    The Zhao n brigadier general said with a bow, ¡°This lowly one is Zhao Chengyi.¡±

    Wu Daoyu squinted unnoticeably. ¡°You¡¯re surnamed Zhao? Which residence are you from?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m registered to the Duke You Residence, but I¡¯m actually from a side branch and not of lineal descent.¡±

    A gloomy darkness shed across Wu Daoyu¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re from the Duke You residence but you also work for the Fire Beacon Corps. Mm, very well. I hear Duke Chengen is also in the city, did he send you here?¡±

    Zhao Chengyi replied, ¡°This lowly one is here on Duke You¡¯s orders, I believe it¡¯s stated clearly in the letter.¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression sank as he unleashed his abyssal aura. This alone was enough to suppress the two brigadier generals until they were pale in the face and tottering on the verge of copse. ¡°This seat finds it curious. With Duke You¡¯s vision and judgment, how can he bring up such outrageous conditions? I suspect there are vile people ying tricks.¡±

    How could a divine champion¡¯s suppressive might be so easy to withstand? Zhao Chengyi¡¯s legs creaked, groaned, and it seemed like he would be forced to his knees pretty soon.

    However, the man only red back with wide, bloodshot eyes, refusing to kneel even if it would cost him his life. Although he couldn¡¯t speak at the moment, Zhao Chengyi stared fixedly at Wu Daoyu with a smile of undisguised mockery.

    The old man felt his eyes twitching. If he were to keep up the pressure, Zhao Chengyi might very well receive heavy, or even irreversible, injuries. He knew that he couldn¡¯t actually wound this Zhao n general because that would immediately anger the n¡ªand neither Duke You nor Duke Chengen was a saint.

    At the thought of this, Wu Daoyu retracted his momentum. But he hadn¡¯t expected Zhao Chengyi to break intoughter. ¡°Even you won¡¯t dare to injure me here!¡±

 Chapter 710: Old Mate

    [V7C027 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Absolutely furious, Wu Daoyu¡¯s aura began to surge. ¡°How dare a mere brigadier general act so unbridled before this seat?¡±

    Zhao Chengyi, however, remained unmoved. ¡°I am indeed a brigadier general, but I have a different identity at the moment. I¡¯m a Zhao n emissary! When did the military be so tyrannical that you can threaten to kill an emissary even before a proper conversation!?¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s brows flew up in his flourishing anger. Nheless, what Zhao Chengyi said wasn¡¯t wrong¡ªwounding a Zhao n brigadier general waspletely different from injuring a Zhao n emissary.

    The brigadier general from the imperial military was fairly quick-witted. He stepped in swiftly to smooth things over, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s talk it over nicely! People from our military were injured after all, so it¡¯s not wrong for Marshal Wu to be angry. Nheless, since General Zhao is an emissary representing the Zhao n, we should listen to what he has to say and understand their intentions.¡±

    With a snort, Wu Daoyu shook the letter in his hands and said, ¡°Does your Zhao n have no people left? Why must I defend this battlefront just to summon Zhao Jundu to court?¡±

    Zhao Chengyi ignored the mockery in Wu Daoyu¡¯s words and replied in a serious tone, ¡°General Jundu is known as the number one genius of the empire, the one and only. Who can rece him?¡±

    Wu Daoyu was petrified¡ªhe wanted to retort but didn¡¯t know where to start. Zhao Jundu¡¯s status as the number one genius was a publicly epted fact. Some people were surely dissatisfied, but no one could find a genius on par with him.

    Wu Daoyu paid no more attention to this matter. Instead, he said, ¡°Then, what¡¯s the meaning of this use? Why must this seat personally negotiate with the Zhao n?¡±

    Zhao Chengyi said in a clear voice, ¡°What kind of status does our fourth young master have? He¡¯s peerless in talents and has imperial blood running through his veins. How can anyone summon him at will? Not just anyone can decide such an issue. The Zhao n¡¯s highest authority in Indomitable is Duke You. If you wish to summon Young Master Jundu, you¡¯ll need his consent.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Chengyi revealed a cold smile. ¡°With Marshal Wu¡¯s status, it¡¯s only proper that you pay a formal visit to Duke You.¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s anger exploded once more. ¡°This marshal represents the imperial military! Don¡¯t tell me I can¡¯t evenpare to Duke You?¡±

    Zhao Chengyi revealed yet another cold smile. ¡°You? Representing the military? Haha! Calling you a marshal is simply a gesture of respect. I¡¯ve never heard of an ex-marshal representing the imperial military.¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s countenance became ashen, and killing intent spilled out of his twitching eyes.

    Zhao Chengyi paid him no attention. ¡°The empire is built upon hierarchy and seniority. If you don¡¯t pay Duke You a formal visit, don¡¯t tell me the duke should be calling on you instead? If I remember correctly, that spar between the marshal and Duke You back in the year didn¡¯t go all that well.¡±

    Despite Zhao Chengyi leaving him some face, the old man¡¯s expression grew even more unsightly. The spar back then indeed didn¡¯t end well¡ªit was an utter andplete loss on his part. His mood was far from good, now that his old wounds were being dug up.

    Eventually, Wu Daoyu suppressed his embarrassment and said, ¡°Is Duke You in charge of the Zhao n? Why did this seat hear that Duke Chengen has also arrived?¡±

    Zhao Chengyi replied, ¡°You want to spar with Duke Chengen? But the duke will only remain for a few days before returning to his important duties in guarding the western region. Additionally, Princess Gaoyi has also arrived. Does Marshal Wu wish for an audience with her, too?¡±

    Wu Daoyi¡¯s expression transformed rapidly. ¡°Since Duke Chengen is so busy, this seat won¡¯t disturb him. Early tomorrow morning, I shall call upon Duke You.¡±

    Zhao Chengyi said with a bow, ¡°That¡¯ll be for the best. This general shall withdraw then.¡±

    After Zhao Chengyi¡¯s departure, Wu Daoyu said to the brigadier general, ¡°Invite Marquis Rong over.¡±

    Momentster, a graceful middle-aged man with a thin beard entered the room. Upon seeing the marshal, he cupped his hands with a smile and said, ¡°Howe you suddenly remembered me today?¡±

    Wu Daoyu was all smiles as he moved forward and held the man¡¯s hands. ¡°I have a matter I need your advice on. What are the imperial family¡¯s movements regarding this matter?¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s smile became somewhat mysterious, and he merely smiled without speaking.

    Wu Daoyu shot a meaningful nce at the nearby brigadier general, who quickly presented a palm-sized box. The middle-aged man nced inside and found a finger-shaped gem within, a translucent blue stone without the slightest bit of impurities. He immediately became delighted and his smile became so much more cordial. ¡°Oh my, I¡¯ll feel bad about this.¡±

    The man kept saying how bad he felt, but he was fairly swift in putting the item away. After stowing the item in his bosom, he said, ¡°I¡¯m only a small character in the imperial court, one who has to obey orders from the people above. This time, though, I did hear some news regarding his matter.¡±

    ¡°What news?¡± Wu Daoyu had a bad feeling about things.

    ¡°The lords won¡¯t interfere in this case.¡±

    This sudden news astonished Wu Daoyu. ¡°How can it be?¡±

    The middle-aged man sighed. ¡°I also didn¡¯t understand at first, so I asked about it. I was fortunately able to obtain the inside story since my rtionship with the lords is quite good, and I pay my respects to them regrly.¡±

    ¡°Please borate, Marquis Rong.¡±

    The middle-aged whispered, ¡°Qianye is Qianye, Zhao Jundu is Zhao Jundu. Does Marshal Wu understand?¡±

    Wu Daoyu frowned. ¡°But that¡¯s irrelevant, Qianye is clearly a vampire.¡±

    The middle-aged man said with a sigh, ¡°These things are both relevant and irrelevant. Whatever you do to capture a vampire, you¡¯re in the right. But if you want to touch Zhao Jundu, that¡¯s an entirely different issue, and a big one at that! Now that Princess Gaoyi has made an appearance, the lords are finding it hard to say anything. All they can do is stay out of this matter. Well, that¡¯s all I can say. Farewell!¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression sank after the middle-aged man left. ¡°Damn this Zhao Jundu, he¡¯s already thought this through!¡±

    The brigadier general asked cautiously, ¡°Are you still going to meet Duke You tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I must go. Where will we put the military¡¯s face if we don¡¯t bring Zhao Jundu to court? So what if this marshal has to hold back my temper for a while?¡±

    The brigadier general hesitated for a while before saying, ¡°Marshal Wu, the Zhao n is adamant that we take over Zhao Jundu¡¯s defensive line. Do you think there¡¯s anything fishy going on?¡±

    Wu Daoyu sneered, ¡°They¡¯re definitely trying to scare us off, but this marshal has also killed his way through many bloody battles in the past, why should I be afraid of such a war? Go and make arrangements to transfer more troops over. This seat will see just how powerful the dark race assault is!¡±

    The brigadier general left swiftly.

    Only after his subordinate had left did Wu Daoyu reveal a downcast expression. He was no match for Duke You back in the day, just as he wasn¡¯t confident about fighting Zhao Weihuang at present. Thetter had been defending the western territory all this time, fighting bitterly against the dark races and rebel army throughout the years. His strength had increased exponentially and was probably well beyond the early divine champion level. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the number of marshals in the empire was fixed and the Western Theater was being managed by Lin Xitang, Zhao Weihuang would probably have be a marshal already.

    Additionally, the military was so full of impediments and factions that even the Longevity Monarch wouldn¡¯t dare say he couldmand everything. Wu Daoyu was on the frontline against the Zhao n because this Minister of the Right liked to control things from behind the curtains, rarely, if ever, appearing in the spotlight. Now that the imperial family had washed their hands off of this matter, the situation was now equivalent to the Minister of the Right contending directly against the Zhao n. The old marshal immediately felt a great amount of pressure upon him. With just a single mistake in such a situation, other people from the military would jump out to cause trouble, without even waiting for the Zhao n to take action.

    In the vast expanse of the void, a rundown airship was traveling at a fairly sluggish pace.

    Qianye walked into the control room and felt hopeless upon seeing that barely-moving dot on the flight map. He had grown used to the imperial vessels in the recent period as well as Song Zining¡¯s iparably fast airship. Now this ship was as slow as a snail and not much faster than a heavy cargo ship.

    ¡°How long until we reach the neutralnds?¡± Qianye had lost count of how many times he had asked this question.

    The captain was a tall, sturdy man with a long beard, always with a shiny, dark red pipe in his mouth. ording to him, it was just amon habit, but Qianye had heard before that the pirates who roamed the void liked this kind of pipe. A rare pipe was supposedly the sign of a pirate¡¯s status.

    Hearing Qianye¡¯s question, the captain said with a smile, ¡°In a couple of days.¡±

    Qianye had heard this reply so many times that his ears were about to grow calluses. Since the day they had set out up until this day, the captain had always given him the same reply. ording to the route map, it would take at least seven or eight days to reach the border of the neutralnds.

    A loud bang rang out at this moment. mes suddenly erupted from a corner of the console, followed by dense smoke. Once the control panel started to malfunction, one of the engines outside also stopped moving. The bearded man ran over with a frown and stomped on the malfunctioning machine, and then punched it a couple of times. Soon, the console miraculously recovered and the engine also began moving once more.

    The captain turned back to Qianye andughed. ¡°Small problems like this can be solved with a few thumps, no need for repairs.¡±

    Looking at the man¡¯s footprint, that darkened control panel, and the empty void outside, Qianye felt that things weren¡¯t really that safe after all.

    The captainughed awkwardly. ¡°It¡¯s fine, when has Red Pipe¡¯s ship ever broken down? This old fellow has been following me for twenty years, there¡¯s nothing more reliable.¡±

    Qianye nced at the rust-mottled cabin roof, the dozens of levers on the console, and then at the kic pipelines that had been patched repeatedly. No matter how he looked, he just couldn¡¯t believe that the ship was only twenty years old.

    The captain scratched his head a couple of times. ¡°It¡¯s like this, the ship was already 140 years old when I got her.¡±

    Seeing the odd look in Qianye¡¯s eyes, Red Pipe said, ¡°She¡¯s old but very sturdy, much stronger than those little ships with thin hulls. You really profited from buying this old mate, I tell you. Your silver ship may be beautiful, but it¡¯s really no use in the neutralnds. It¡¯ll go down with a single st.¡±

    Qianye simply couldn¡¯t stand any more of this trumpet-blowing. ¡°The ballista on that silver airship is enough to sink this antique thing.¡±

    The captainughed. ¡°You can¡¯t be so sure about that.¡±

 Chapter 711: Promise to Accompany

    [V7C028 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Qianye didn¡¯tment on the captain¡¯s words, but he knew just from looking at the route map that his high-speed airship couldn¡¯t reach the neutralnds. The path there wasn¡¯t a straight line, either. Although their current airship was old, it was a model made for intercontinental travel and should have no problems driving to their destination.

    Qianye left the control room. He soon arrived at a room one floor below and knocked on the door. This was where the old man nicknamed Great Master was staying. The already narrow cabin room was filled with numerous crates and hardly had any ce left to set foot. These containers were filled with instruments¡ªthe old man was loath to part with them and insisted on piling everything up in his quarters. Hence, Qianye could only stand after entering.

    ¡°What do you think of this ship?¡±

    ¡°Not bad.¡±

    The Great Master¡¯s words surprised Qianye quite a bit. He simply couldn¡¯t figure out what was so good about this two-hundred-year-old antique.

    ¡°This ship has been remodeled in many key areas. The main structure, for instance, has been reinforced many times over. I¡¯ve also looked at its engines, they have a very high capacity. This airship should be able to fly really fast even with anotheryer of armor.¡±

    ¡°Really fast?¡± Qianye was fairly skeptical.

    ¡°At least fifty percent faster than the current speed!¡± the old man replied confidently.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, it made no difference even if this turtle moved fifty percent faster. But the old man said, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate this difference. This means that this airship is faster than most cargo and civilian airships, even with armor. Airship chases in the void typically go on for several days, and every little bit of advantage will be magnified countless times.¡±

    The more Qianye listened, the more he felt that this was a pirate ship¡ªexcept the captain had stopped doing this line of work. Perhaps Red Pipe had decided to stop temporarily and then resume his trade after arriving at the neutralnds. Nheless, Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in all that. It was fine as long as the man delivered him to his destination.

    After a brief chat, a sudden mor arose outside the room, and a loud bang emerged as though something heavy had fallen to the floor. Then, the entire ship shook briefly.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed as he rushed out of the room immediately. There was only one fellow on the ship who could cause such a ruckus¡ªZhuji.

    Qianye¡¯s silhouette flickered, reaching the rear end of the ship in just a couple of steps. There, he saw arge dent in the cabin walls and a young crew member embedded within it. Zhuji was standing not far away, tearing down one of the cabin doors. These doors were made of twoyers of steel, each as thick as a finger, with sound and fire-proof materials sandwiched in between. Yet, in the little girl¡¯s hands, they looked as soft as cakes.

    Judging from the situation, Zhuji was picking up something handy with which to smash the young man into paste. Although she could just as easily tear him apart on her own, the cleanlyss seemed quite hesitant to soil her hands.

    The door came off fairly quickly. Zhuji raised her newfound weapon high above her head and hurled it at the young man.

    Qianye reached out and duly blocked the iing cabin door, his hands trembling ever so slightly in the process. One could see from this just how powerful Zhuji¡¯s attack was. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s obstruction, the young man would be torn apart, along with severalyers of cabin walls behind him. The attack might¡¯ve even smashed through the airship¡¯s outer wall.

    The bearded captain was naturally alerted of such a loud ruckus. He came over in a hurry but was one step slower than Qianye. Upon seeing the captain, that young man immediately became spirited and cried out with a trembling voice, ¡°Boss, save me! She¡¯s trying to kill me!¡±

    Qianye discarded the cabin door in his hand and asked in a gentle voice, ¡°Zhuji, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Zhuji replied, ¡°He made sis angry.¡± What exactly the man did, though, the little girl didn¡¯t exin. All she said was that he had entered Nighteye¡¯s room.

    But that was enough for Qianye. He looked back at Red Pipe and said calmly, ¡°Daring to have designs on my woman, you people are quite bold.¡±

    The captain shivered somewhat under Qianye¡¯s gaze but still said, ¡°My men have always been well-behaved. This youngster has followed me for three years and is a fairly reliable person. He can¡¯t have done something like that.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Are you saying that Zhuji is lying?¡±

    The young man called out at this moment, ¡°It¡¯s her! She¡¯s lying, I didn¡¯t do anything. Boss, save me! She¡¯s not human, she¡¯s a demon!¡±

    The bearded man seemed rather conflicted, but he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°This matter is unclear, we need proof...¡±

    Qianye cut him short, ¡°Will you do it, or should I do it?¡±

    The captain¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Wait! We should make things clear first!¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I guess you want me to do it. There¡¯s no proof regarding this matter, and there¡¯s no need for one. I trust my people.¡±

    The captain growled, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that this is my ship!¡±

    ¡°Makes no difference,¡± Qianye stated the truth.

    The captain¡¯s voice became cruel and cold. ¡°I¡¯ve been in the long-distance shipping business for thirty years, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ve never done a losing deal. But all these years, I¡¯ve never abandoned any of my brothers!¡±

    Qianye remained unmoved by this. ¡°Then you¡¯d better make an exception today or I¡¯ll toss you out.¡±

    The captain¡¯s beard twitched and his momentum fluctuated wildly. Apparently, he was quite conflicted at the moment and might attack any time soon. Qianye, on the other hand, was standing calmly without the slightest trace of origin power around him.

    It was at this moment that thetter turned back and saw Nighteye appear at the cabin door. Supporting herself on the wall, she said, ¡°He entered my room but probably wasn¡¯t expecting Zhuji to be there.¡±

    The young man cried out in his anxiety, ¡°It¡¯s not like that! Boss, they¡¯re both lying...¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes gradually turned blue with the captain¡¯s figure reflected clearly within them. ¡°You¡¯ve heard everything, right? My patience is running out.¡±

    The captain¡¯s countenance transformed drastically. He suddenly shouted, ¡°Men, throw him out!¡±

    The other crew members were all surprised. One of them said, ¡°Boss! This is our ship, I think that woman might be lying...¡±

    With a snort, Qianye made a pressing motion in the air, sending that person flying backward with the momentum of a bullet exiting the barrel. He was soon buried in the wall at the end of the corridor, his chest sunken, and his life, lost.

    The captain cried out in astonishment, ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°All of you should know that it¡¯s not important who this ship belongs to. Don¡¯t get stupid ideas that you shouldn¡¯t get, and don¡¯t say things you shouldn¡¯t say.¡±

    Shocked and apprehensive, the captain kept repeating, ¡°Fine, fine!¡±

    He turned back and shouted, ¡°What are you all staring at? Toss him out!¡±

    The surviving crew members stepped forward timidly and carried the heavily injured youth away. Momentster, a miserable cry was heard from the deck¡ªthen everything became silent once more.

    Inside the room without a door, Nighteye and Qianye were sitting face to face. She held his hand gently and said, ¡°You really didn¡¯t need to do that. Weren¡¯t you thinking about recruiting Red Pipe? Now you can¡¯t anymore.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°These things aren¡¯t important. I won¡¯t tolerate anyone who wants to harm you, even if he¡¯s just thinking about it!¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°Stupid.¡±

    Qianye dragged her into his arms and said, ¡°I was stupid in the past, but I¡¯m going to try to be clever from now on. I need to control everything in my hands. Only then will I be able to give you a quiet life.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want anything as long as I can stay by your side.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The cabin room waspletely silent. Nighteye asked while shifting her posture, ¡°Why did you want to recruit Red Pipe?¡±

    ¡°They have a ship and they know the way. I wanted them to head to Evernight Continent and bring back everyone from Dark me who wants to follow us to the neutralnds. I¡¯m actually quite worried about them.¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°They should be fine with Song Zining on their side. If it¡¯s something even he can¡¯t handle, then you won¡¯t have a better method, either.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Qianye sighed.

    At this moment, some squeaky crunchy sounds rang out behind them. Qianye looked back and saw little Zhuji hugging a huge piece of beast meat, her cheeks puffing up as she chewed on it with great ferocity. The meat was deep-frozen for easy storage and as hard as a rock, yet Zhuji was making crisp sounds with every bite. It seemed as though nothing could remain intact under the assault of her little teeth.

    Qianye and Nighteye looked at each other and smiled¡ªthey knew that the littless was throwing a tantrum. Qianye walked over and patted her head, asking, ¡°Does it taste good?¡±

    Zhuji¡¯s little face deted. ¡°Not good!¡±

    The little fellow had been following Song Zining all this time and had learned to appreciate exquisite food. Chewing on frozen meat wasn¡¯t her style, even if it was the meat of a fierce beast.

    Qianye pped his forehead. ¡°Then, cook it first before eating.¡±

    Thess immediately passed the meat to Qianye, indicating that he should cook it. Qianyeughed helplessly as he received the meat and entered the kitchen. Zhuji followed closely behind and climbed onto a stool to watch Qianye cook.

    Qianye picked up his chef¡¯s knife and began preparing his ingredients. His de moved like the wind, cutting the frozen meat into several thin slices which he tossed into the pot with other ingredients. A dish was thus produced. Qianye had been fighting everywhere all this time and had little time for other matters. It had been quite a while since he had cooked. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t feel too green because his basic skills were still there.

    Since he had already begun, Qianye decided to put on a full disy of his abilities. Before long, a table full of food had been prepared, some of which he delivered to the old weapons master.

    This meal was full of warmth. The littless was still hungry after sweeping through half the table. Qianye quickly realized that this little fellow had a bottomless abyss for a stomach and that there was almost nothing that could fill her. Only when she began swaying about sleepily was she truly full.

    After dinner, Qianye tucked the sleepingss in and finally obtained some peace and quiet. He and Nighteye sat holding each other, gazing at the stars outside the window. They felt that growing old like this wouldn¡¯t be all that bad.

    At this very moment, the ckflow City Qianye was so concerned about was burning in the mes of war. mes surged into the sky throughout the city as explosions filled the air. An airship whistled past above the city, its two ballistae blowing up one of the city¡¯s cannon turrets and causing it to slowly topple over. Large amounts of steam gushed out from the broken pipelines and brought an area dozens of meters around it into a world of white mist.

 Chapter 712: Misfire

    [V7C029 ¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    The airship hadn¡¯t gone far when one of the cannon turrets suddenly opened fire at an unbelievable rate. It spat out a stream of mes that whipped at the airship¡¯s body, setting it aze and causing airship parts to fly off in all directions. The vesselsted only a while before staggering toward the ground and bursting into a ball of mes.

    The turret turned toward a different direction andshed at yet another airship. This time, the effects were even more evident, causing the target to explode in the air!

    However, the destruction of two airships couldn¡¯t turn the tide of the entire battle. There were dozens more airships in the air above ckflow City, includingrge gunships with thick armor. They hovered beyond the turrets¡¯ firing range, bombarding targets within the city with their ten-meter-long cannons.

    Within the Dark me Headquarters, Duan Hao and Song Hu were gathered in front of the defensive map with serious expressions. Explosions echoed ceaselessly outside the window, sometimes causing the entire main building to shake from the impact. asionally, dust and debris would fall from the ceiling.

    The defensive map was already filled with markings. Those familiar with the map could see from these symbols that ckflow City¡¯s defenses were full of holes and just barely hanging on¡ªthe only intact defensive line was the one around the Dark me Headquarters.

    At this moment, a soldier charged in and shouted in a hoarse voice, ¡°The eastern cannon tower has been destroyed! There are no more turrets in the entire eastern sector, the defenses won¡¯tst long like this!¡±

    Duan Hao¡¯s brows locked into a frown. ¡°I¡¯ll head over with the reserve unit!¡±

    Song Hu dragged Duan Hao back and said while shaking his head, ¡°This is thest reserve squad we have! It must stay at the headquarters, and you can¡¯t go, either.¡±

    ¡°But their men will charge in if the eastern sector falls!¡± Duan Hao roared.

    Song Hu was fairly calm. ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that their airships have no insignias on them? They¡¯re unwilling to reveal their identity. This means they¡¯re either here with a big army, prepared to level the entire ckflow City, or they only brought a limited number of soldiers and will leave after plundering their targets. If it¡¯s the former, you won¡¯t make a difference even if you go. If it¡¯s thetter, you don¡¯t need to go.¡±

    ¡°You mean...¡± Duan Hao said with a frown.

    Song Hu said in a serious tone, ¡°They need to pass through the greater part of ckflow City to reach us. There are so many hunters and mercenaries in the city right now. It¡¯s time to borrow their strength to resist the enemies; even those civilians can y a role. I¡¯ve already ordered the men to distribute weapons.¡±

    Duan Hao replied, ¡°Those hunters are little more than mobsters, and the civilians have no fighting power at all. The casualties will be tremendous if you pit them against those elites and private army soldiers. Our own men are more reliable at such a time!¡±

    Song Hu banged the defense map and said, ¡°What does their casualty rate have to do with us? We only need to defend the Dark me Headquarters. It¡¯ll be our victory if we can hold out until the Seventh Young Master returns.¡±

    At this moment, the sky outside the window lit up abruptly as an orange-red cannon shell shot into the air and struck an armored gunship high up in the sky. The vessel tilted from the impact and began smoking from its rear side. It didn¡¯t get the time to flee before another projectile sted its body. Finally, the airship could no longer maintain flight and slid sideways toward the ground outside the city.

    This cannon¡¯s firepower was simply too great and its shells, too eye-catching. Immediately, all the airships in the sky turned toward its source and, despite the heavy defensive fire, began attacking it at all costs.

    Song Hu¡¯s expression changed. ¡°It¡¯s ckmoon and Miss Nangong! Go and protect them!¡±

    Duan Hao crashed through the window and made a beeline for the cannon tower.

    The hidden turret was covered in explosions and mes from the concentrated fire, but its heavy cannon kept on firing at an extraordinary speed. It had sted over ten times in a short while and downed two more airships; its uracy was well-over fifty percent. Nheless, the number of battleships in the sky were simply too great. In the end, the cannon tower copsed with a boom, no longer able to withstand the iing barrage.

    Two fair silhouettes rushed out from the ze as Darkmoon fled the sea of fire with Nangong Xiaoniao in tow. Duan Hao rushed over, protecting the two with his origin power as they retreated back to the Dark me Headquarters. The two didn¡¯t stay long after retreating to the main building and, instead, ran to a different ce via a secret underground tunnel.

    Momentster, another of Dark me¡¯s turrets received a sudden boost in firepower, increasing both their firing rate and power by half. The fierce cannon-fire immediately destroyed an airship, and by the time the turret was destroyed, it had downed at least four enemy vessels.

    Song Hu added a stroke to the defense map, striking out yet another eye-catching cannon tower symbol. The pressure in his heart increased further as he observed the dwindling number of special symbols.

    At this moment, in an airship hovering outside of ckflow City, the atmosphere was just as serious. A middle-aged man was standing in themand room with his hands behind his back. There was nothing resembling a smile as he looked down at the burning city, and all the other people in the chamber held their breaths in silence.

    An officer walked in at this moment. There was a hint of sweat on his forehead as he said, ¡°Fleet Commander Xu sends word. ckflow City¡¯s defenses are much fiercer than expected, and the fleet has suffered severe losses. Requesting permission to retreat and reorganize.¡±

    The middle-aged man in front of the window replied coldly, ¡°Denied! Have him continue the attack until the veryst ship!¡±

    The officer left with the order. The middle-aged man observed the battle for a while longer before turning back slowly. ¡°This is your so-called taking the city with a flip of the hand? This kind of firepower, these special cannons, you probably won¡¯t find a lot of them even in the imperial capital. Why is there no news of them at all? What were all the spies you sent into the city doing? Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t collect any information without Nanhua?¡±

    The group lowered their heads, not daring to utter a word.

    The middle-aged man said calmly, ¡°Concentrate the assault! Break open a segment of the city wall and send all the squads in. There¡¯s no need to return if you can¡¯t take ckflow City.¡±

    No one dared disobey the order at this moment. Momentster, dozens of transport ships flew toward ckflow. Theynded outside the city despite the defensive fire and unleashed the squads within.

    In the blink of an eye, the mes of war rose up high and spread throughout ckflow City. The soldiers who had been ordered to fight to the death had nothing left to fear and fired at virtually everything alive. Meanwhile, the mercenaries, hunters, and civilians struggled desperately to resist them. Fights broke out everywhere in a brief moment, and the battles were iparably fierce.

    At this point, an officer walked into themand room and said, ¡°General Lu sends word. He¡¯s taken down Wolf City and wiped out the defending forces. Currently, he¡¯s investigating the mines in the city, lest the remnant soldiers destroy it.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s countenance recovered only after hearing this news. Before long, however, another officer ran into the room. ¡°Urgent report! The defense forces in Wolf City have sted the mines. General Lu is trapped inside, his fate unknown!¡±

    The middle-aged man was visibly moved. ¡°They copsed the mine!?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sire.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s eyes twitched. He said through gritted teeth, ¡°What a man this Song Seven is, so ruthless!¡±

    Everyone here knew how valuable the mine in Wolf City was, and it was precisely the reason for their surprise attack. It could be said that the mine was a priceless asset that would be cherished and protected. No one had expected Song Zining to actually copse the mine because the explosion would very likely destroy the ore vein inside. His ruthlessness regarding this matter filled everyone¡¯s heart with a hidden chill.

    The middle-aged man suddenly became restless, feeling as though something was about to happen. It was at this moment that a ball of mes rose up over the distant horizon as a reconnaissance airship fell to the ground. He could vaguely make out, through the mes, several airships flying toward ckflow City, and judging from their silhouette, these were the imperial military¡¯s cutting-edge models.

    It was clear that these battleships weren¡¯t friendly. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have destroyed the scouting vessel on sight. Although the airships surrounding ckflow were greater in number, they were a mish-mash of many different types, and most of them had been damaged by the restraining defensive fire. There weren¡¯t many airships that could contend with the fast-arriving vessels in terms of individual fighting power.

    As the battleships closed in rapidly, the mes lit up the insignias on their hulls. The people in themand chamber gasped. ¡°Ningyuan Heavy Industries!? Those are Song Seven¡¯s ships? Howe he has so many battleships?¡±

    It wouldn¡¯t be too surprising for him to have numerous old model airships. However, these were the empire¡¯s newest types, and not many people could maintain such a fleet. Being able to assemble such an airforce went to show that Ningyuan Heavy Industries¡¯ current state had far exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations.

    After the initial shock, the middle-aged man quickly became alert. The oue would be unimaginable if they were nked by this fleet. He immediately issued an order, ¡°Send a signal, order all the battleships to retreat from ckflow City and assemble at the designated locations. Move the gship forward and intercept Song Zining¡¯s fleet!¡±

    The orders were passed rapidly. The gship turned around first and faced off against Song Zining¡¯s fleet with three other airships.

    Song Zining appeared at the helm of the first battleship, but he didn¡¯tunch an immediate attack. Instead, he let out a burst ofughter, his voice reverberating throughout the battlefield. ¡°Which sire is so enthusiastic as to visit ckflow City personally? Why not show yourself and allow Zining to wee you personally?¡±

    The middle-aged man in the gship pondered for a moment before walking out onto the deck. ¡°Seventh Young Noble¡¯s wisdom is akin to the seas. Your meticulous nning makes one sigh in admiration. But this is the vampire Qianye¡¯s estate where remnants of his race might be hiding. I wonder how you are associated with them? I heard you had a close rtionship with Qianye in the past. Could it be that you¡¯re colluding with vampires as well?¡±

    Song Zining sized the man up and said, ¡°So it¡¯s the Kong family¡¯s third elder. I¡¯ve long since heard that you have great aspirations and are unwilling tog behind others. Meeting you today, however, I feel somewhat surprised. With your status and identity, howe your airship has no insignias on it? Don¡¯t tell me there are other people inside apart from the Kong family.¡±

    The third elder¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Of course not. We¡¯re all from the Kong family.¡±

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°That might not be the case! As I see it, there might be a fair number of bandits and ruffiansmitting outrageous crimes in the name of the Kong family. It¡¯s fine if I didn¡¯t see them, but now that I¡¯ve run into such lowlifes, I naturally cannot let them be! The Kong family¡¯s innocent reputation must not be sullied!¡±

    ¡°The Kong family¡¯s honor is my business, there¡¯s no need for the Seventh Young Noble to trouble yourself.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°That works, too. There are surely vampire remnants here, and I¡¯m going to clear them out. So, I won¡¯t dy the third elder¡¯s business anymore, farewell!¡±

    The third elder had a bad instinctive feeling. Without even waiting for him to say anything, several powerful ballista bolts shot through the air in a burst of light. Judging from the radiance around the bolts, they were armor-piercing projectiles made to sink battleships!

    Shocked out of his wits, the third elder flew upward and evaded the ballistae. He could do that, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the gship behind him. After suffering three consecutive rounds, explosions rang out one after the other amidst the dense smoke, and the vessel¡¯s speed slowed down significantly.

    Song Zining¡¯s voice arrived from the distance. ¡°You bumbling idiots! How can you cause the ballistae to misfire!?¡±

 Chapter 713: Trembling Hands

    [V7C030¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Misfire?

    The Kong family elder simply didn¡¯t have the time to curse Song Zining for his shamelessness. He was frantically instructing the gship to evade the next wave of attacks. His airship, albeit bigger than Song Zining¡¯s, had already suffered serious damage and would certainly be destroyed if it were to take two more salvos.

    With the gship in motion, the battleships following it all did the same, opening up the flight path toward ckflow City.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t entangle with them at all. Instead, he made a beeline for the city and, in turn, the assault fleet¡¯s rear.

    The third elder¡¯s hands turned cold. Only now did he realize that Song Zining had no intention of negotiating and was intent on wiping out his forces. ording to the normal rules of the aristocracy, the leaders of both parties would engage in a round of conversations and attempt to negotiate¡ªattacking on sight was an inferior course of action. Yet it just so happened that Song Zining didn¡¯t y by the rules. Heunched a sneak attack upon arrival, heavily damaging the third elder¡¯s airship and thereby removing the greatest threat.

    The current operation was led by the Kong Family, consisting of abined force of several allied aristocratic armies. Although they held the advantage in airship numbers, the vessels were all old models and some were just quickly-remodeled cargo ships. They knew that Dark me was somewhat of an elite force, but in the end, it was just part of the expeditionary army. In the eyes of the aristocracy, the expeditionary army was little more than trash¡ªhow could theypare to the private armies?

    No one had ever expected Song Zining to suddenly appear with several cutting-edge battleships. Their mishmash of old airships was far inferior, to begin with, in terms of firepower. Now that they had also lost their formation, whaty before the seventh young master was a flock of sheep waiting to be ughtered; they couldn¡¯t even escape if they wanted to.

    The only airship capable of suppressing Song Zining¡¯s was the third elder¡¯s gship. Unfortunately, however, it had already lost the ability to fight.

    A fleet battle immediately erupted above ckflow City. Song Zining was like a wolf jumping into a flock of sheep, destroying three airships just in the first round of attacks and plunging the scene into chaos. Some members of the opposing force wanted to counterattack, while the others wanted to escape. There were even a few turning about in ce, not knowing what to do.

    The fleet belonged to several aristocratic families. This didn¡¯t quite show in a smooth battle, but the disadvantages of having several leaders emerged in times of crisis¡ªthe fleet quickly fell into chaos since everyone had their own idea. It was also because Song Zining¡¯s attack was too quick and fierce that they had no time at all to react. Additionally, the third elder was also isted outside of the battlefield and helpless to provide instructions.

    At the same time that changes took ce in the sky, so did things develop on the ground. A hidden heavy cannon began to open fire all of a sudden, sting those hovering airships with a barrage of special orange-red shells. The cannon was just as powerful as it was urate, with virtually every shot finding its mark. A single shot could seriously damage an ordinary airship, and two would destroy it.

    The tables turned in the blink of an eye as the airships on the third elder¡¯s side suffered heavy casualties and finally began to disperse. Song Zining¡¯s fleet also split up and began chasing down the fleeing airships. His own battleship gradually closed in on the third elder¡¯s gship as a measure of deterrence.

    Knowing that the oue of this battle had been determined, the elder felt greatly exasperated. He had more than once wanted to charge forth and fight to the death, but Song Zining stood there with his spear, without an ounce of fear on his face. In the end, the elder wasn¡¯t certain whether or not there was an expert on board waiting to ambush him. After some contemtion, the man still couldn¡¯t drum up his courage. All he could do was snort angrily and issue the order to retreat.

    With the airships in retreat, the thousands of soldiers who had charged into ckflow city were more or less abandoned, and there was no telling how many from Wolf City would be able to escape. Add to that the loss of half their airship fleet, the oue was akin to cutting up the third elder¡¯s heart.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t go after the third elder¡¯s retreating airship and merely watched as it vanished over the horizon. Only afterward did he issue the order to return to ckflow City.

    Song Zining ordered the battleships to hover over the Dark me Headquarters as a deterrent while he himself jumped into the base. At this moment, Song Hu and Duan Hao came out to meet him. In addition, a young girl jumped out from behind a heavy cannon turret on the rooftop andnded in front of Song Zining.

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°I knew it would be you. Who else but a Highbeard can fire a cannon so urately?¡±

    The young girl was the Highbeard, ck Moon. Somewhat bashful after receiving such a praise to her face, she said, ¡°It¡¯s not all me, the main factor is how powerful Sister Xiaoniao¡¯s modified cannons were. The others wouldn¡¯t be that urate or long-ranged.¡±

    Smiling, Song Zining knocked her head with his folding fan. ¡°Let¡¯s go in first.¡±

    At this moment, there were battles going on in every part of the city¡ªsome of those desperate private soldiers had already surrendered, while the others had been pushed to a corner. Song Zining paid them no heed because he considered these people dead.

    Song Hu followed from the side and whispered, ¡°Seventh Young Master, many of those private soldiers have revealed their identities in hopes of favorable treatment. Some others are arrogant and demanding to be ransomed. There are a number of mid-ranking aristocratic families among them, what do you think we should do with them?¡±

    Song Zining stood still and opened up his folding fan, which produced a crisp yet distant sound. ¡°So many mid-ranking aristocratic families, now that¡¯s a rare sight. Do you think we can afford to make enemies out of them all?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Song Hu replied immediately. Song Zining¡¯s forces at the moment were simply too small. Not to mention contending with a high-ranking aristocratic family, he wasn¡¯t even a match for a random mid-ranking one.

    Song Zining smiled faintly. ¡°Since we know that we can¡¯t make enemies out of them, we should just pretend we never saw them, understand?¡±

    Song Hu¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Understood.¡± Then, he turned and left.

    Momentster, Song Zining was standing in themand center, looking up at the city defense map¡ªit was fairly different from how he knew it. The map was now full of symbols and rushed markings, a testament to the drawer¡¯s mood. Every X indicated the destruction of a stronghold or cannon tower, and a straight line meant that a segment of the wall had been destroyed. Looking at this map, one could almost see just how intense the battle had been. asional gunshots could still be heard inside the city, along with explosions and miserable screams.

    Song Zining turned to Duan Hao with a sigh. ¡°You panicked. It would seem your temperament hasn¡¯t improved during this time.¡±

    Duan Hao¡¯s face turned red. ¡°The situation was urgent at the time. If not for the numerous special cannons Miss Nangong had set up, we might not have held out until your arrival.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°How about Xiaoniao? Is she okay?¡±

    ¡°Miss Nangong joined the battle and received light injuries when the turret came under attack. She¡¯s now receiving treatment. but there should be no major issues.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good then, where¡¯s Nanhua? Bring me to her.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Duan Hao led Song Zining out of themand center and down to the third basement floor. This was Dark me¡¯s most heavily-guarded prison, located deep under the ground. Even Song Zining himself could hardly escape if he were locked here.

    ¡°Did she resist?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Duan Hao replied.

    Song Zining remained silent for a moment and then sighed. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    Song Zining spoke little along the way until he reached the solitary cell in the deepest parts of the structure. This cell was fairly wide, but all those who approached this ce would feel difort. That was because the arrays therein had scattered all of the free origin power in the vicinity, preventing people from absorbing or drawing upon it. After being locked up like this for a long period, the captive¡¯s origin power would gradually disperse and, along with it, any resistance.

    Nanhua sat silently in the center of the room. There was nothing out of the ordinary apart from her loose hair, and it didn¡¯t look like she had been tortured, either.

    She looked up upon hearing footsteps. Her eyes lit up as she rushed toward the bars and said, ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived.¡±

    Song Zining sighed lightly as he gestured for Duan Hao to open the door. Duan Hao was apparently worried. ¡°Seventh Young Master, please be careful,¡± he said while ring at Nanhua. Then, he slowly withdrew and left the floor.

    Song Zining was calm and unguarded as he stood in front of Nanhua. He merely gazed at her and asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you escape when Duan Hao came to capture you? He¡¯s not your match at all.¡±

    Nanhua smiled sadly, ¡°I can escape from Duan Hao, but I can¡¯t escape your assassins, can I? That way, you won¡¯t have to see me when I die, am I right? I refuse to do that, I refuse to escape!¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Why do this? Things will be easier for both of us this way.¡±

    Nanhua shook her head. ¡°No, things will never be easy for me, so I won¡¯t let you have it easy, either. I will die in front of you, in your hands. That way, you won¡¯t forget me no matter how many women you have in the future.¡±

    Song Zining remained silent for a while. Later on, he said, ¡°Out of all the women, you¡¯re the one who understands me the most. Perhaps, there might never be another person like you. With how smart you are, you should already know that I¡¯m already moved. Why would you need to do all of these?¡±

    Nanhua said through clenched teeth, ¡°You¡¯re only moved. In the future, you¡¯ll, at most, have a ce for me in your heart. What I want is your entire heart! If I can¡¯t get everything, I¡¯d rather not have it!¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°There is no one that can upy my entire heart.¡±

    ¡°Yes, there is. Nighteye can.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. He soon said with a faint smile, ¡°Nighteye is Qianye¡¯s lover and Qianye is my friend through life and death. I can risk my life to save Nighteye, but that¡¯s for Qianye. I really have no other intention, and that¡¯s final.¡±

    ¡°It might not be Nighteye in particr, but one on the same level. Your ambitions are grand, and only a unique woman can truly win your heart. No matter who that person is, it won¡¯t ever be me!¡±

    Song Zining sighed, tacitly agreeing to Nanhua¡¯s words.

    Thetter walked over to Song Zining and said softly, ¡°Hug me, then kill me.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s hands trembled, but he didn¡¯t respond.

    Nanhua looked up into Song Zining¡¯s eyes. ¡°This is myst request.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps...¡±

    Nanhua covered the seventh young master¡¯s mouth and said, ¡°No perhaps! What I did caused Nighteye¡¯s soul to be rent andpromised Qianye¡¯s identity, forcing him to flee the empire. I am unredeemable. I don¡¯t want to die in the hands of an unknown assassin without even seeing your face. Please do it.¡±

    Song Zining brought Nanhua into his arms and gently caressed her long hair. A cold gleam appeared in his somewhat trembling hands, one of his folding fan¡¯s spines. Then, he lightly patted the girl¡¯s back, sending the frosty glint into her body and directly piercing her heart.

    Nanhua¡¯s body trembled. She broke into a frown at first, but her expression soon rxed and turned into a sweet smile. ¡°It hurt a bit because your hands were trembling, but that makes me so happy!¡±

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t say a single word and only hugged Nanhua tightly.

    ¡°If only your ambitions weren¡¯t so high, and I wasn¡¯t so greedy... how good would that be?¡± Nanhua¡¯s voice grew softer and softer. With her head buried in Song Zining¡¯s arms, the youngdy fell into a deep, deep sleep... never to rise again.

 Chapter 714: Home

    [V7C031¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    After several days of flying through the void, the seemingly constant starry skies finally saw some changes¡ªa continent appeared vaguely in the distance.

    During his first long-distance flight, Qianye finally realized just how terrifying the void was. The space here seemedpletely empty, but void storms would ur at any time and without warning. Airships without special reinforcement might very well be torn apart if they were swept into the center.

    Additionally, there were small floating meteorites in the void and some of them were as fast as bullets. Once struck, they would leave deep pits on the ted armor.

    The biggest threat in the void wasn¡¯t pirates but void beasts. A chance encounter wasn¡¯t so bad, but death was almost certain for those who identally charged into a nest. Red Pipe, however, was highly capable. Although the route he had picked was curved and roundabout, the ship never encountered a single void beast along the way and managed to arrive safely in the neutralnds.

    The neutralnds sounded like a continent, but in fact, it was made up of many smallndmasses. Thergest one among them was merely the size of the floating continent on which Qianye had been fighting.

    This ce was a fair distance away from the other continents, almost like an abandoned corner of the world. Countless smallndmasses were moving around the sun in extremelyplicated orbits. Someone had once spected that the neutralnds weren¡¯t formed naturally; instead, they came from the breaking down of a certain or continent during an era preceding the fall of the Void Star. However, this spection remained an unproven theory.

    This ce was far from theyered continents at the center, and hence the intense temperature fluctuations. Disaster-level storms would sweep through often, and many of thendmasses could not support any vegetation. Not to mention human habitation, even the most adaptive arachne couldn¡¯t live very long there.

    It was precisely because it was difficult to survive that neither the empire nor Evernight were interested in this ce. To those who couldn¡¯t live in either faction, however, this ce was their only haven. In the very beginning, those who could arrive in this ce were the most powerful people, and it just so happened that they were also the most ferocious of men. As time passed, the ce became a mixture of various characters whose only purpose was to survive in the neutralnds.

    Due to the rampaging storms and theplexity of thendmass orbits, traveling between the inds here was a dangerous business. Only veteran captains couldplete such trips by virtue of their deep experience, and Red Pipe was one such captain. His choice was a medium-sizedndmass on which existed thergest port in the neutralnds and also the first transit point for neers¡ªhuman neers, that is.

    As the old airship slowly approached the dock, a group of well-built men in shabby clothes swarmed over and surrounded the exit.

    Red Pipe appeared at the cabin doors and waved his hand. ¡°Go, there aren¡¯t any goods this time. I only need a couple of people.¡±

    The people at the docks dispersed immediately after hearing this. Only then did those standing at the back get the chance toe forward. Most of them were old people and children. There were a few middle-aged men, but they were thin, emaciated, and looked rather sickly.

    Qianye and Nighteye had no luggage, and the only crate they had was packed full of frozen beast meat. On the contrary, it was the old ¡°Great Master¡± who had an entire five boxes with him, all of them extremely heavy. Qianye tied three of the containers together and carried them himself, while five other people were chosen to move the rest.

    Walking past the long dock, Red Pipe brought Qianye to a certain three-storeyed brick building. This was the most magnificent structure in the airship port. Its main hall was fairly wide but currently packed full of people. mor and chaos rushed at one¡¯s face along with the smell of sweat and body odor, causing Qianye to frown somewhat. Nighteye, with great foresight, had long since shut off her perception.

    The bearded captain took the lead and headed to the counter at the end of the hall. Whoever blocked his way he wouldsh at them with his whip or simply kick them out of the way. Those who were attacked would mostly scuttle to the side after seeing that red pipe in the captain¡¯s mouth, not even daring to utter a word. Only a fierce-looking man with a face full of knife scars red back at the captain.

    Red Pipe smiled coldly and performed a cut-throat gesture at the scarred man. Those in the vicinity began crying out in excitement while the scarred man¡¯s expression became rather unsightly.

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Qianye asked someone nearby.

    That person shot a nce at Qianye and said disdainfully, ¡°You must be new? You¡¯ll know after a while. This is a showdown challenge¡ªthose who are dissatisfied will fight to the death, and those who don¡¯t dare can scram to the side and shut up.¡±

    Qianye quickly realized what it was. Who would¡¯ve thought the neutralnds pursued such an undisguisedw where the strong reigned supreme.

    Not daring to engage in a battle with Red Pipe, the scarred man turned and left. Those in the vicinity sighed in regret.

    With the scarred man gone, those left in the hall quickly opened up a path. Countless eyes fell upon Qianye¡¯s group, and all of them were unfriendly.

    After arriving at the counter, Red Pipe tossed a gold coin onto the counter and said, ¡°Help my friends here register.¡±

    The man behind the counter was an elegant looking young man. He put away the money swiftly and picked up his pen, inquiring Qianye, Nighteye, and the old man about their identities. Qianye stated a random name, but the old man said his name was Cui Yuanhai. Qianye was somewhat surprised that he would use his real name.

    As though he understood Qianye¡¯s thoughts, the old man said, ¡°I¡¯m too old to keep running. I don¡¯t want to go anywhere else after arriving here.¡±

    The young man produced three bronze tokens with their names carved upon them and tossed them to Qianye. ¡°This is your proof of identity. Naturally, it has no other major use. If you¡¯re not willing to reveal your real identities, you can also rob a couple of tokens, no one will care. In this ursed ce, anything in your hands is yours.¡±

    He fished out yet another bronze te and ced it on the table. ¡°If you want to survive here, you have to earn or rob it yourself. This is a ticket to the Eastern Desce. You¡¯ll get a room on the ship, barely enough for your group and things. If you want better arrangements you¡¯ll need to pay more. They¡¯re short of people on the Eastern Desce, so they¡¯re offering fairly good terms. You¡¯ll get a piece ofnd there so long as you¡¯re willing to go. You can ask for morend if you think your share is too small, but that way, you¡¯ll die earlier.¡±

    Qianye knew nothing about the neutralnds, but to him, it was the same everywhere. Hence, he reached out to take the bronze te, but the young man pressed the te beneath his palm with a meaningful smile and wouldn¡¯t let go.

    Qianye gave it some thought and realized the point. ¡°How much?¡±

    The young man revealed a brilliant smile. ¡°Smart! I like talking to smart people. Fifty gold coins and this ticket is yours.¡±

    There were many currencies flowing about in the neutralnds¡ªimperial gold coins, ck crystals, Evernight silver coins, blood crystals, demonic cubes¡ªeverything was fair game. Qianye produced a pouch and weighed it in his hands before passing it over. ¡°Forty-seven is all I have.¡±

    The young man snatched the pouch and stuffed the bronze te into Qianye¡¯s hands. ¡°That¡¯s enough, that¡¯s enough!¡±

    Qianye knew he had overpaid, but he didn¡¯t mind since taking a loss was unavoidable as a first-timer. After asking where the airship was parked, Qianye headed to the docks with the others in tow. Red Pipe remained leaning on the counter without any movement. His job had beenpleted after sending Qianye here.

    The smile on the young man¡¯s face disappeared entirely as Qianye left the hall. A middle-aged man who had arrived from the side watched Qianye¡¯s receding figure and said, ¡°He¡¯s just a rank-eight fellow. Do you really need to send him to that ce?¡±

    The young man nced at Red Pipe. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say he¡¯s hidden his strength? How much did he hide?¡±

    Red Pipe didn¡¯t answer this question. He took two deep puffs from his pipe and said, ¡°That isn¡¯t important. If he¡¯s hidden enough, it¡¯ll just cause more trouble for those people. Isn¡¯t that good? The Wolf King isn¡¯t that easy to deal with.¡±

    The young man revealed a mysterious expression unbefitting of his young age. ¡°You¡¯re still just as evil. Perhaps we should reconsider our next cooperation.¡±

    Red Pipe pointed at the pouch of gold coins and said, ¡°You earned quite a bit too, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    The young man weighed the pouch in his hand. ¡°But I suddenly feel that this money is going to be troublesome.¡±

    On the other end of the docks, Qianye had finally found his airship, an ancient-looking vessel. Many of its steam pipes were on the outside, and its two chimneys were puffing out rolling ck smoke. The airship could barely fit its massive steam engine¡ªno one knew how much space there was left for passengers.

    Such an antique airship was a rare sight even on Evernight Continent.

    Qianye handed over the bronze ticket and obtained permission to board. The cabin was, as expected, quite small. After stuffing the boxes in, the group could only remain standing. It was fine for Zhuji since the littless could sleep in any position, even upside down. So, she jumped directly onto the ceiling and fell asleep in a hanging position. The old man sat on the boxes while Qianye and Nighteye simply went up to the deck, prepared to spend the journey there.

    The time to set sail arrived pretty soon. Hissing and screaming, the airship left the dock with great difficulty and drove away.

    Even though the flight was betweenndmasses, it took an entire two days to arrive at the destination. This was an exceedingly big piece ofnd at the periphery of the neutralnds. Looking at it from the void, Qianye reckoned it was the same size as the floating continent, or maybe a bit bigger.

    Throughout the journey, Qianye at first wanted to ask about matters rted to the Eastern Desce, but everyone¡ªfrom the captain down to the crew¡ªavoided the topic and weren¡¯t willing to utter a word regarding it. Even when Qianye offered them a couple of gold coins, the money was stuffed back into his hands.

    However, Qianye did manage to obtain some basic information. Most of the Eastern Desce was covered by a hugeke¡ªonly a fourth of its surface area wasnd, while the rest was water. Theke was sorge that it extended thousands of kilometers and could rightly be called a sea. That was why the Eastern Desce was also called the Eastern Sea.

    The ancient airship gradually approachednd. Qianye and Nighteye stood at the bow, gazing at the mysterious but dangerous-lookingnd. Nighteye suddenly leaned on Qianye¡¯s shoulder with a sigh.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Gazing at the fast-approaching continent and its vast, deep sea, she said, ¡°I have a feeling that this will be our home.¡±

    Qianye held her tightly and said, ¡°Very well, then this shall be our home!¡±

 Chapter 715: Little Nes

    The airshipnded in a simple little city. Then, the group switched to a truck and traveled for half a day to finally arrive at a small town. This small town was located near the shores of the Eastern Sea, and one could already hear the waves from a good distance away.

    Several people walked out from the town as the truck came to a stop. Among them was a tall, burly man¡ªhis clothes were unbuttoned despite the chilly weather, putting his thick chest-hair on full disy. He shot a nce at Qianye¡¯s group, his gaze resting much longer on Nighteye. ¡°So you¡¯re the neers, huh? We¡¯ve already left you a piece ofnd, and there¡¯s also space in town. You can choose to build a house here or live on your allottednd. Naturally, no one will stop you from doing both as long as you have the money. You need to remember one thing in order to live in this ce: pay taxes!¡±

    Seeing Qianye nod, the burly man said in satisfaction, ¡°Good, I like smart people. Lil¡¯ Knife, bring them to their ce.¡±

    Anky young man jumped nimbly onto the roof of the car and said while banging the driver¡¯spartment, ¡°To the ck Grove, drive!¡±

    The ck Grove was, just as its name suggested, a dark green color bordering on ck¡ªeven the leaves had a deep green hue to them. Despite being daytime, everything looked dark and gloomy from a distance. On a rainy day, the interior of the grove might be as dark as night.

    The car drove through the border of the woods. Qianye looked around and sensed nothing but an aura of death. There were neither beasts nor birds here, and even the sound of insects was nowhere to be found. The world here was pervaded by a deathly stillness, one unaffected even by the rumbling engine of the truck.

    They drove for dozens of kilometers before passing through the forest and arriving at a wide-opennd. The area beyond the woods was a gentle slope, below which was a vast rugged in filled with stones, and further from that, the boundless Eastern Sea. Its waves were gentle and never too fierce, but the restrained momentum beneath this facade filled one with an inevitable feeling of suffocation.

    There was a river off in the distance, flowing into the Eastern Sea. The scenery on the other side of it, however, was covered by a thickyer of fog, and even Qianye couldn¡¯t see very far through it.

    Lil¡¯ Knife arrived near Qianye and said while pointing forward, ¡°From this ce to that river is yournd. If you think that¡¯s not enough, you can im as muchnd as you want beyond the river. A word of caution, though, not many in town have been to the other side of the river, and those who tried to explore further have nevere back. Onest thing, try to stay indoors when the mist rises and avoid going about in it.¡±

    After saying all that, Lil¡¯ Knife fished out a thin booklet and ced it in Qianye¡¯s hands. ¡°Everything on this list can be sold for money or used to deduct taxes. Well, that¡¯s all I have to say. I hope you brought enough to eat. If not, you should go back to town now and buy some. No one will go outdoors at night, and you¡¯ll have to go hungry.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife jumped back onto the truck after Qianye expressed that he had understood everything. The vehicle rumbled once more and made a difficult turn before vanishing into the ck Grove.

    Qianye looked at this territory once again¡ªthend spanned from the ck Grove to the sea, and stretched all the way to the distant river, an area several dozen square kilometers wide. At this moment, the sky was gradually turning dark, and the waves in the ocean were growing louder. Judging from the reef-likendscape, it was clear that the ins would be drowned in water during high-tide.

    After observing the surroundingndscape, Qianye chose a nearby hill and decided to build his home there. Although Lil¡¯ Knife made no mention of the ck Grove, intuition told him to stay as far away from it as possible. Additionally, there were also unknown dangers in the sea. It was the little river that gave Qianye the best feeling.

    Setting up camp was a basic skill known by every elite corps member. Qianye was extremely familiar with the process since his days in Red Scorpion. With no more strangers nearby, there was no longer a need to be too cautious. Qianye thus headed toward the forest with Zhuji in tow, prepared to gather some wood.

    ¡°Wait, I have instruments here,¡± the old man shouted.

    ¡°No need.¡± Qianye waved his hands and walked toward the grove.

    Feeling helpless, the old man brought out his gear, dug a hole, and began gathering firewood to light a bonfire.

    After arriving at the forest edge, Qianye picked a tree thick enough to barely wrap one¡¯s arms around it and pped it a couple of times. His pats contained a hidden force that jolted the entire tree, causing a shower of leaves to rain down from above. The shockwaves echoed continuously inside the trunk, causing it to tremble and eliciting a mournful sound akin to a weeping girl.

    Qianye had, from these vibrations, sensed that the roots of these trees were all linked together. Moreover, the vitality within the wood was fairly high, almost as though they weren¡¯t merely trees. However, the trees in the ck Grove paled inparison to the giant trees of Misty Wood.

    Qianye whipped out East Peak from his spatial locket and swung it horizontally, snapping therge tree at the base.

    The tree fell down with a rumble. Just as it was about to hit the ground, a small figure flickered into view and propped up the trunk.

    That tree trunk was dozens of meters long, and Zhuji looked just like a kitten beneath it. It was just that this little cat was actually lifting the massive tree and didn¡¯t look strained at all while doing so. Eager to contribute, the little girl began running back to camp as soon as she had gotten ahold of the tree.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He quickly called her back, shed off the branches and leaves, and cut the timber in half before letting Zhuji carry it back.

    He had originally intended for Zhuji to carry the logs in two separate batches, but the little fellow wasn¡¯t willing to take that trouble. With a whip of her wrist, her hands shot straight into the sturdy tree trunk, and just like that, she ran back to the camp carrying tworge pieces of wood.

    Back at the camp, the old man was cleaning arge fish which Nighteye caught from the river. The flow of water there was somewhat rapid, and Nighteye had yet to fully recover. Nheless, she simply stood at the shore, gazing at the flowing water. When arge fish was reflected within her eyes, it flew out of the river andnded in her hands.

    The Eye of Destruction that had once shaken the entire Evernight world was now being used to catch fish. If those dukes and princes were to know of this, they might wake up from their blood ponds in anger.

    To Nighteye, however, this was just the way the Eye of Destruction should be used. She carried the fish back to their camp and handed it to Cui Yuanhai. After all, she had long since lost all confidence in her own cooking skills.

    The old man volunteered to undertake this task, cleaning the fish and preparing to cook a good pot of stew.

    It was at this time that the old man saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance. He was immediately stupefied when he saw two long pieces of wood barreling toward them like dragons.

    He dropped the fish in his hand and pounced over to his box, where he fished out an origin gun and took aim at the iing logs. But that shaking muzzle made one suspect whether or not that shot would even connect.

    Fortunately, the old man¡¯s vision wasn¡¯t too bad and managed to see the tiny figure carrying the two logs. But seeing her wasn¡¯t any better than not seeing her¡ªhe was immediately petrified and even dropped the gun he was holding.

    Zhuji rushed back to the camp and threw the logs onto the ground. She then rushed over in good cheer upon seeing the big fish, picking it up and sniffing it cautiously with a frown. ¡°This is edible, I guess?¡±

    Afterward, almost as though she had lost interest in the fish, Zhuji ran back to the ck Grove to carry more logs.

    But Zhuji¡¯s assessment meant that the quality of this fish was almost catching up to that of fierce beasts. The old man and Nighteye exchanged a nce, realizing that this ce wasn¡¯t as peaceful as it seemed on the surface.

    As the sky turned darker, the light from the bonfire grew even more brilliant. The fish stew had been boiling in the pot for some time. The soup had turned a milky white, and its fragrance pervaded the air. The logs had formed a tall pile on one side of the camp, but Zhuji was still hard at work, shuttling back and forth with therge objects. It was almost as though the littless didn¡¯t know what it meant to be tired. Toward the end, Qianye simply bundled up several logs and had her carry them back in one go.

    A whileter, the earth itself began to tremble as Qianye himself ran back with several dozen logs. His feet might¡¯ve sunk into the ground if he hadn¡¯t utilized origin power¡ªthere was no way he could run like this. His forehead was covered in sweat after hauling so many logs back at once.

    The old man waved at Qianye, calling him over for dinner. Therge pot of fish soup and the hot biscuits made for a pretty good dinner. It was just that Zhuji wasn¡¯t that interested. The little girl sat enjoying the warmth of the fire and eventually started to doze off. After a single full meal, she could go for several days without food or water¡ªall she needed was sleep unless there was something especially delicious. The fish was indeed tasty, but the energy content was inferior to the meat of fierce beasts and thus didn¡¯t attract her very much.

    After having dinner, Qianye swung East Peak and cut the logs into wooden nks. With how proficient he was with the de, the nks he carved were all of the same length and thickness¡ªhis products were even more urate than those cut by machines.

    After forming the wooden nks, Qianye picked a level ground and began hammering the pirs into the ground. This time, East Peak became a hammer, and with a casual p, the wooden piles were driven into the ground almost entirely. Just like that, two wooden houses appeared before midnight, one for the old man and one for himself.

    At this moment, the moon was high up in the sky and the cold lunar radiance was reflected on the surging waves, turning them into rippling silver. Qianye sat leaning on a wooden couch, from where he could gaze at the scenery in the ocean. Nighteye had fallen asleep in his arms, the flickering ze in the brazier outlining her beautiful silhouette.

    On the side, Zhuji was fast asleep while hugging Qianye¡¯s leg.

    The frosty winds rose and gradually filled the ce with bone-chilling cold. This was a special characteristic of the neutralnds, and especially that of the Eastern Desce. It was scorching hot in the day and extremely cold at night.

    The tides rose higher and higher, gradually covering the rocks on the shore. As the moon rose higher, the waters in the river also began to surge and churn, almost as though there was something constantly swimming and rolling within it.

    As the gale blew past the ck Grove, the rustling leaves emitted a sound akin to howling ghosts. Those listening closely would know that it wasn¡¯t just the howling wind. There were vague growls hidden within the ghastly sounds, as well as the mournful wails of those on the verge of death. It was just that no one knew if these cries came from wild beasts or humans.

    Qianye had scanned the ck Grove with his True Sight during the daytime but found no abnormal signs within his visual range. But now, there were bestial howlsing from the forest.

    The sea was even less calm. The waves on the distant ocean were chaotic, withrge shadows appearing on the surface from time to time. One could also hear rustling sounds from the beach, almost as though some small creatures were crawling along it.

    The two wooden huts stood out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of the night¡ªlight shot out from the windows and gaps in the wall, illuminating and forming a small realm of warmth around them.

    A pair of amber eyes opened amidst the waves, staring at the two wooden huts. The ferocity within those eyes, however, had suddenly receded and was quickly reced by deep apprehension. Afterward, it sank deep into the sea and vanished thereafter.

    In its vision, a beam of dark golden energy was shooting out from the log cabin and into the skies, shaking the wilderness in every direction.

 Chapter 716: Encounter

    [V7C033¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    The sun had risen once again after the uneventful night.

    The day and night here were different from Evernight, with each upying half of each day. Qianye walked out of the log cabin under the faint light of dawn. He stood near the river for a while before returning with several big fish. In terms of catching fish, the Eye of Control was definitely better than its counterpart.

    After cleaning his catch and hanging them outside the house, Qianye brought out the booklet Lil¡¯ Knife had left behind and began reading through it in detail.

    Life in the Eastern Desce wasrgely dependent on the Eastern Sea. Seas are always abundant in natural resources, and the neutralnds were no exception. There were dozens of marine produce listed in the booklet, making up almost two-thirds of its contents.

    For instance, there was a type of snail that could be found among the shoal rocks with numerous golden lines running along its shell. The mollusk was merely the size of a finger, but its taste was exquisite and it served as a delicacy on the dining table of many a major character. This kind of sea snail wouldn¡¯t live past a single day after leaving the waters of the Eastern Sea and needed to be nourished with origin power at all times to keep it alive. Hence, the greater the distance from the sea, the higher its price. The price of this golden-threaded snail would rise over ten times in the core regions of the neutralnds. It wouldn¡¯t be too strange for prices to jump a thousand times back in the empire or Evernightnds.

    In the Eastern Desce, most new pioneers would make a living gathering these creatures. Half a month ofbor was enough to pay one¡¯s taxes.

    The lower he got down the list, the more Qianye felt that the Eastern Sea was a treasure trove. Just in the shallow sea region, there were more than ten types of rare shellfish in addition to several types of sea turtles and their eggs, both of which had medicinal uses. One could harvest blood corals deeper in the ocean, and a finger-sized piece of it was enough to pay half a year of taxes.

    Additionally, there were many rare ores lying on the seabed that could be fished up, provided one was lucky enough. There were also numerous fish species living close to the shallow sea region, and all of them were bona fide fierce beasts. Hence, it could be said that fierce beast meat could be found everywhere in the Eastern Desce and the prices were fairly cheap. Not everyone, though, could hook up a fierce-beast-level fish. Without being a champion and the aid of the origin power in the environment, the fisherman could very well be the food for the fish.

    The river was also abundant in produce and ore beds. Qianye also found, to his surprise, that the wood from the ck Forest was also on the list, and the price was considerably high. Three whole logs or two logs carved into nks equaled a month of taxes. At this point, Qianye realized that the ck Grove wasn¡¯t as calm as it seemed on the surface. There were sure to be unnoticeable dangers within¡ªwhy else would they offer such prices?

    Moreover, the roots of the trees in the ck Grove were interconnected and might have some other use. For instance, they might be able to produce mutant beast tides to clear out intruders, just like those in the Misty wood. Otherwise, why would the price difference between log and nk be so great?

    However, Qianye had carved at least ten logs into nksst night and had ten or so of them piled up nearby. Yet, he didn¡¯t notice any movement from the forest at all. Could it be that the forest was smart enough to know that Qianye wasn¡¯t easy to provoke?

    Qianye pondered while rubbing his chin and felt that it was definitely a possibility. A killer weapon like East Peak was indeed invincible against the wood. It could be that he had been too fast with his logging, and that had intimidated the ck Grove. Of course, he couldn¡¯t exclude the possibility that the forest was preparing for arge-scale counterattack.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t really too concerned about the counterattack of the ck Grove. This kind of mysterious zone wasn¡¯t much of a threat to him as long as he didn¡¯t go deep into its center. With regards to fierce beasts, there weren¡¯t many that wouldn¡¯t go weak in the knees after seeing Zhuji, even the mature ones.

    Soon, he had reached thest page wherein was recorded a number of legendary treasures. Finding one of them would raise one¡¯s status and treatment by several levels, including the right to live in the core region andnd a job with a major power. There was even a chance to obtain one¡¯s own floating ind and be its ruler.

    Qianye had never seen any of the things on the list, nor had he even heard of them. However, the booklet contained detailed descriptions about these items to prevent people from missing them. And having nothing better to do, he decided to keep on reading about them.

    Thus, the description regarding thest two treasures jumped into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Thunderous me Crystal: Effects are simr and just slightly inferior to a corresponding origin power crystallization, originates from the great maelstrom, very rare.¡±

    ¡°Marine Lotus: Effects mysterious and unclear, originates from the great maelstrom, only ever found once.¡±

    Qianye was no stranger to the words ¡°great maelstrom¡±, but he knew almost nothing about it. However, judging from how much attention both factions were paying to the quotas, it was clear that there were great fortunes there not inferior to the void essence from the depths of the floating continent.

    There was also a great maelstrom in the neutralnds?

    If that were the case, the abundance of resources here was probably even more significant than he had imagined. Why had the empire and Evernight not made a move on such a ce? Perhaps there were otherplications in this story.

    Qianye stowed the booklet away and rekindled the bonfire. He then cleaned a big fish and began cooking more fish stew. Qianye¡¯s skills were much better than the old man, and before long, the spreading aroma had even attracted the sleeping Zhuji.

    Nighteye walked out of the house and began helping Qianye set the table. Just like that, a hearty breakfast was soon ready.

    After consuming his morning meal, Qianye began making the house furniture. Most of his work involved producing wooden nks while the more detailed crafting was left to Nighteye and the old man. Household furniture was a piece of cake for the maker of the ¡°bullet¡±.

    Little Zhuji was sent to catch fish by the riverside or pick up golden-threaded snails by the beach. In truth, she waspletely unsuited for such detailed work, but Qianye wanted to give her something to do. Catching fish and searching for things also served to train her hunting skills.

    A whole set of furniture waspleted in just one morning. Later on, Qianye added a workshop to the old man¡¯s house and built a standalone kitchen nearby. A basic home thus took form.

    The night was just as calm and everyone apart from Qianye slept soundly.

    When dawn arrived, Qianye headed to the small town to exchange some tools and supplies. Beforeing to the neutralnds, he hadn¡¯t expected to have to build an entire house on a plot of emptynd. Hence, there were many misceneous necessities he hadn¡¯t prepared. He had a lot of supplies on Andruil¡¯s space, but most of them were ammunition, medicines, and pieces of spare armor. He had only prepared a small amount of ordinary water and food for emergencies. He naturally didn¡¯t want to use up arge amount of precious space on daily-use articles.

    They were sent here by truck, but he could only walk on his way back. It just so happened that Qianye wanted to probe the ck Grove, too. So, he strapped a bundle of wooden nks to his back and traveled along the border region.

    This time, perhaps because he was carrying the wooden nks, Qianye felt something off the moment he entered the ck Grove. Themunication between the trees grew denser than before, and the leaves would sometimes sway against the wind in an attempt to turn toward Qianye. The ground trembled slightly as the entire forest beganmunicating with one another via the root system.

    Qianye¡¯s intuition told him that he had drawn the forest¡¯s attention.

    A sentient forest? Equipped with his experience in the Misty Wood, Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of this forest. The Misty Wood could suppress the perception of all trespassers to within ten meters¡ªbeing able to warp the environment to such a degree, now that was truly frightening. In truth, both factions had suffered grave casualties from the beast tides. Up to this point, none of them had managed to clearly understand how this forest hade into existence.

    The ck Grove couldn¡¯t be that powerful, no matter how mysterious it was.

    As Qianye went on, he suddenly noticed a ck silhouette in front of him, almost as though someone was running through the woods. It was extremely fast and quite adept at hiding amidst the leaves. Add to that the absence of footsteps while running, it would be hard for any ordinary person to notice.

    Qianye activated the Eye of Truth and switched to origin power vision, immediately bringing the shadow¡¯s trajectory into focus. What surprised Qianye, however, was that the ck shadow¡¯s origin power leaned toward neither daybreak nor evernight and, instead, the void attribute. Who would¡¯ve thought this shadow would possess some characteristics of a void creature?

    Qianye became interested, but he pretended not to have sensed the other party¡¯s movements and kept on walking steadily. That ck silhouette probed several times and gradually approached Qianye.

    Just as it was at its closest to Qianye, thetter smashed the nearby tree with his fist, sending out a wide-reaching shockwave. The origin power within the forest resonated with the shockwave and immediately grew chaotic. That ck shadow was also affected by the disturbance and became petrified. Realizing that things weren¡¯t looking good, it wanted to struggle and break free, but the very next thing it felt was Qianye¡¯s hand around its neck.

    It was actually a young woman. Her petite body was as slender as a young girl, and her skin was of a somewhat darker shade, glistening with moisture. She was d in clothing stitched together from beast skin and was wearing metallic rings both on her wrist and neck. The strange part was that these rings made no sound when they struck against one another.

    Thedy struggled with all her might. Her strength somewhat surprised Qianye because it was definitely not the power of a human. But Qianye was someone who could grapple with arachne, so how could such resistance get into his eyes? He swung the captive through the air and mmed her to the ground, stunning her on the spot.

    The girl eventually mbered up with great difficulty and red at Qianye with ferocious eyes. Qianye crouched down in front of her and asked, ¡°Can you not speak?¡±

    He asked repeatedly in the imperial, vampire, arachne, and even themon-usenguage but obtained no response. Just as Qianye was about to give up, she suddenly swung her hands together, striking the metallic rings together and emitting a crisp sound.

    Origin power surged along with the soundwaves, causing Qianye to grow dizzy and his vision to darken. He remained calm in the face of this sudden development. Supporting himself on the ground, he unleashed a deep roar and activated the power of his oceanic vortex. The surrounding space became congested with a strong pressure, under which even the giant trees began to creak and groan.

    Qianye felt a faint vibration at the edge of his domain and nothing more thereafter. That odddy had escaped out of his domain in the blink of an eye. As expected, by the time Qianye had recovered and opened his eyes, there was no longer anyone near him.

    However, the malice of the woods gradually became more evident.

 Chapter 717: Indigenous Race

    [V7C034¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Qianye got up and moved about, dispersing the numb sensation throughout his body. The ability that woman had used just now was origin oscition, a power simr in nature to the one Qianye had used on the trees. However, the precision of her technique far surpassed Qianye¡¯s level.

    As far as he could remember, the Yin family¡¯s secret arts were famous for their origin oscition powers. It was just that the origin power requirements were too great and the cultivation was difficult¡ªa sessful cultivator would hardly appear in several generations. Hence, the Yin family had always been hovering around the high-ranking aristocratic family status. They had little chance of a promotion or a demotion.

    This strange girl was around about grade six in terms of origin power, yet she could already produce a resonance in Qianye¡¯s origin power. The strength of her origin oscition was inconceivable. It could be assumed that this was a result of her environment and those peculiar metallic rings.

    Qianye made no attempt to give chase. Thatdy didn¡¯t leave any traces of her movements, and the origin power aura had disappeared entirely under the effects of the origin oscition and oceanic might.

    The road thereafter wasrgely uneventful, and Qianye arrived at the little town once more. The two guards at the gates wore peculiar expressions when they saw Qianye carrying the wooden nks¡ªit was almost as though they were looking at a dead man. After exchanging a brief nce, one of them asked, ¡°You¡¯re here to pay taxes or exchange for items?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡±

    ¡°Very well, follow me then.¡± One of the guards led Qianye inside and headed straight toward thergest building in the town. Everyone who saw Qianye and his nks revealed shocked expressions, and some of them even gasped softly. But under the eyes of the stern town guards, no one dared to engage in private discussions.

    That building was, in fact, a market. There were dozens of stalls inside, peddling all kinds of wares. The tax office, which upied about two stalls worth of space, had been squeezed into a corner. Qianye ced the wooden nks and a small pouch on the tax counter. The shrewd-looking old man behind the counter felt his face twitch upon seeing the wooden nks. His greediness became even more evident after opening the pouch.

    The bag was filled to the brim with golden-threaded snails, the fruits of Zhuji and Nighteye¡¯sbor. These snails were naturally adept at hiding, and it wasn¡¯t so easy for ordinary people to find them. At first, little Zhuji wasn¡¯t that good at searching, but a disaster descended upon the golden-threaded snails on the beach after Nighteye taught thess how to use her nose. The arachne¡¯s sense of smell was almostparable to the werewolves.

    The old man said while dragging the pouch toward him, ¡°This isn¡¯t quite enough to pay for the taxes, but seeing as how you¡¯re a neer, I¡¯ll take it easy on you and clear your taxes for the month.¡±

    The man¡¯s hand had only reached halfway when it was pressed down by Qianye. ¡°You must¡¯ve made a mistake.¡±

    The old man began screaming as though someone had stepped on his tail. ¡°Me? Wrong? I¡¯ve been collecting taxes here for decades. How can I be wrong? Brat, I¡¯m telling you, let go of my hand! Or else, my nephew will teach you how to conduct yourself!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained wooden, but his grip grew tighter and tighter. The old man was only about rank four, so how could he withstand this force? As his old bones began to creak and groan, the man began shouting at the top of his lungs, ¡°Men! Kill him! He¡¯s refusing to pay taxes!¡±

    Two guards surrounded Qianye from either side and smashed at his head with their spiked iron rods. If the attacks had really connected, anyone below the champion rank would surely suffer heavy injuries.

    Qianye plucked the weapons from the guards with a wave of his left hand, and then he picked up the guard to his left and smashed him into the one on his right. A cringe-worthy thud echoed through the room as the two collided head to head, knocking both out on the spot.

    Qianye held the two rods together and twisted them into a single long staff. These two rods were ordinary weapons, but they were as thick as a fist. The spectators gasped upon seeing Qianye crush them into a single piece.

    The old man had even forgotten to stow the pouch away despite having regained his freedom.

    Qianye grabbed the old man¡¯s hand and pressed it on the counter. ¡°If you want to cheat people of their money, you better look at who that person is first. And you people, you¡¯re working for a sry, not selling your lives out. Don¡¯t throw your lives away just for this.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words stunned the guards who had just arrived. This person was clearly no saint, and the killing intent on him was very real. Their sry was indeed not worth throwing their lives away for.

    Qianye spoke no more. He lifted the truncheon he had just made and swung it down on the old man¡¯s hand!

    The elder let out a resounding scream of misery, but he simply couldn¡¯t pull his hands back. It was as though they had been bound in ce by steel cuffs. Just as the hands were about to be crushed into a pulp, someone grabbed ahold of the weapon and managed to stop it just above the old man¡¯s hands.

    Qianye looked back and found that it was Lil¡¯ Knife, the young man who had guided him to his newnd. Despite his young age, his origin power was quite impressive at rank eight. Qianye¡¯s expression was cold as he sent his origin power crashing through the rod, impacting the young man several times in quick session.

    Lil¡¯ Knife felt as though he had been smashed by a giant hammer¡ªevery wave caused his face to turn red, and toward the end, his handsome face had be a purplish red. Just when it looked like he was about to cough up blood, the shockwaves suddenly disappeared.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°It would seem the taxes you described yesterday are far less than the actual amount. Howe the tax policy has been changed in a single day?¡±

    It took great effort for Lil¡¯ Knife to calm down his energy, and his eyes were full of apprehension as he gazed at Qianye. He knew that the other party had shown mercy, else he would¡¯ve been gravely injured for certain.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that Qianye could kill him in a single burst, if he so wished.

    ¡°Are you nning to cause trouble here? Don¡¯t forget that this is the Wolf King¡¯s territory!¡± Lil¡¯ Knife threatened.

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°The Wolf King won¡¯t want his subordinates to pocket his money, either. Besides, no matter whose territory this is, he can¡¯t stop anyone from dying in their homes at night, can he?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Lil¡¯ Knife red at Qianye but was discouraged to find that thetter was unmoved. Thetter¡¯s threat was real¡ªLil¡¯ Knife wouldn¡¯t have the power to retaliate if Qianye were to break into his home at night. Things ran pragmatically in the neutralnds, and no one would spend time on a dead person.

    Hence, Lil¡¯ Knife chose to lower his head. He pointed at the old man and said, ¡°This is my uncle. Can you overlook this matter once out of consideration for his old age? We¡¯ll halve your tax this month.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t drag things out, either, and simply tossed the rod to the ground.

    The old man still stowed the pouch away, but this time, he came back with ten or so imperial gold coins. This money exceeded Qianye¡¯s original estimation. ording to Lil¡¯ Knife, the golden-threaded snails Qianye had brought were of great quality and was thus worth this price.

    ¡°Shall we find a ce to drinkter on? Tell me what you need to buy and I¡¯ll arrange things for you,¡± said Lil¡¯ Knife.

    ¡°Okay.¡± It just so happened that Qianye wanted to chat with someone and learn more about the power distribution in the Neutralnds.

    Momentster, the two sat down in the tavern and downed a few sses of alcohol. The slight intoxication made their conversation much more casual.

    Qianye gained a general understanding of the neutralnds after some conversation. Thends were, at first, the territory of pirates, fugitives, and indigenous races, but the influx of experts from the two factions changed the power bnce. The dominant races at present were humans, werewolves, vampires, arachne, and indigenous races. The arrival of the mysterious vampire expert and his Shattered Moment caused the vampire race to rise in power, gradually bing the number one race in the neutralnds.

    However, the rtionship between the races was much moreplicated than the two major factions. For instance, the Eastern Desce was a human domain, but its leader, the Wolf King, was a werewolf. During a great war thirty years ago, he was defeated and subdued by the human race¡¯s greatest expert, Zhang Buzhou. Just like that, he was dispatched to the Eastern Desce to watch over it.

    Zhang Buzhou¡¯s subordinates weren¡¯t limited to the Wolf King alone. There were many other dark race experts under hismand, even somewhat more than their human counterparts. It was also the same for other powerful dark race experts¡ªthey had men from many different races in their employ, with nock of humans. Only the indigenous race was pure because they saw every other race as enemies. This was a fact that had never changed before.

    In the neutralnds, factions were no longer the basis for dividing power. Strength and territory were the only unchanging standards.

    The Eastern Desce was extremely vast. The Wolf King only upied half thend here, and only a small part of it was currently habited. Not to mention the others, just the terrifying temperature difference between day and night was enough to deter the weak, ordinary humans. In the Eastern Desce, pioneering newnd in the wilderness was everyone¡¯s main target. It was just that progress hadn¡¯t been all that great after so many years.

    After gaining a general understanding of the situation, Qianye changed the topic, ¡°What¡¯s so dangerous about the ck Grove?¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife said with an awkward expression, ¡°What did you see?¡±

    ¡°Just tell me what you know.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife knew he couldn¡¯t gloss over this. ¡°The ck Grove is quite strange. Its coverage area often changes, and the indigenous races always appear wherever the forest is. They have a vendetta against us, and it¡¯s not just toward humans¡ªthe same goes for the vampires, werewolves, and every other external race. For instance, the Dreand Kingdom on the central continent used to be their capital. All the indigenous people there were wiped out when the kingdom was built.

    Qianye nodded. This kind of story was fairlymon in the pioneering history of the empire.

    Lil¡¯ Knife continued, ¡°There¡¯s a mysterious connection between the ck Grove and the indigenous people. Whoever chops the trees there will rouse the race¡¯s ire and might even be hunted down.¡±

    ¡°Then, why do you have the ck Grove lumber in the tax list?¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife answered awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯s like this. Wood from the ck Grove is of the highest quality and will never rot even if left for a hundred years. It is a great material for building airships and sailing ships.¡±

    ¡°And the ignorant neers who had felled the trees there will be targeted by the indigenous races, so they¡¯ll have no choice but to seek your protection.¡± Qianye smiled coldly.

 Chapter 718: Snack

    [V7C035¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    Lil¡¯ Knife rubbed his hands uneasily. ¡°That is indeed the case for other people, but it definitely won¡¯t affect you. How can these indigenous people be your match?¡±

    Qianye might¡¯ve been deceived if he hadn¡¯t encountered this race. After his brief meeting with that woman, however, Qianye realized that these natives might pose a big problem. No race capable of controlling void energy was easy to deal with.

    Qianye had no intention of causing trouble for Lil¡¯ Knife, and neither was there any use in doing so. He believed the intimidation was enough to force them to y by the rules. If these people still refused to take a step back, he didn¡¯t really mind waking them up by killing a few people in the night.

    Mercy was meaningless in the neutralnds. People were more likely to take advantage of it instead.

    By the time the two had drunk and eaten to their heart¡¯s content, the goods Qianye needed were also ready. The most important item among them was a truck. The vehicle seemed to be five parts new, and Qianye found that the importantponents were fairly well-maintained. As such, he epted the car and had the crates loaded onto it. A part of them was food and the remainder were machine parts, steel rods, alloy tes, etc. Additionally, half of the truck was filled with ck stone to use as fuel.

    A whileter, Qianye left the little town on his new truck. The engine wheezed and trembled as it slowly hauled the heavy vehicle forward, puffing out steam from time to time. This truck was an old design from over a century ago and could no longer be found in the empire. Yet one could find such vehicles everywhere throughout the neutralnds, and they were fairly popr with the local popce.

    Qianye finally understood why he would often see these antiques in the neutralnds. This car, for instance, was fairly old, but its construction was simple and its operation, stable. Repairing it was also fairly easy. All but the dumbest people could learn to maintain most of itsponents at home, the engine being the only exception.

    Most intricate arrays simply couldn¡¯t function under the harsh environment of the neutralnds. Some of the famous imperial battleships models would hardly be able to start their engines here, not to mention activate their special abilities.

    After Qianye¡¯s departure, Lil¡¯ Knife hurried over to meet the leader of this small town, a burly man named Iron Bear.

    Iron Bear was on a reclining chair, enjoying the warm sunlight. There was a teacup in his left hand while his right hand was fiddling with a blood-stained dagger¡ªthe scene was a gross mismatch.

    Lil¡¯ Knife walked over to the burly man and whispered something in his ears. Iron Bear said with a frown, ¡°He almost made you cough up blood just by attacking with his origin power? His strength isn¡¯t bad then, might even be a champion.¡±

    ¡°Champion?¡± Lil¡¯ knife was somewhat bbergasted. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same as your level? This little one can¡¯t handle that much.¡±

    Iron Bearughed coldly as he crushed the dagger in his right hand into a steel ball, the sharp edge causing no damage at all to his skin. He tossed the ball to the ground and said in a sinister tone, ¡°This daddy is a rank-eleven champion, not ten. Besides, so what if that brat is at the same level? Those imperial champions are so squishy that it¡¯s like they never grew any balls. Didn¡¯t that rank-twelve guy we metst time die in my hands?¡±

    Feeling quite relieved, Lil¡¯ Knife proceeded to shower the man with ttery. Iron Bear red at him unhappily and said, ¡°If you had invested more in cultivation, you¡¯d be a champion too by now. Now, look at you! Besides, I know all too well about the mess you¡¯re caught up in. Looking to make a quick buck is fine, but don¡¯t cause trouble for me. Otherwise, it¡¯s too easy for this daddy to find another bootlicker.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife chuckled mischievously. ¡°There are a lot of people who can do bootlicking but not many with a good sister.¡±

    Iron Bear¡¯s expression changed immediately. He red at Lil¡¯ Knife and said, ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense around your sister!¡±

    Iron Bear¡¯s expression recovered only after seeing Lil¡¯ Knife nod. ¡°You little brat, you¡¯re all about schemes and tricks.¡±

    Little Knife smiled mischievously. ¡°My greatest dream is to take your ce after you retire. What¡¯s the point of going through so much hardship?¡±

    Iron Bear said with a humph, ¡°Speak, what exactly do you want? You have designs on that young man?¡±

    ¡°The woman with him is of the highest grade!¡±

    ¡°Tempted?¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife shook his head. ¡°No, that¡¯s not something I can touch. Even a little bit of contact might invite disaster.¡±

    Iron Bear nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it. Otherwise, I¡¯d have to teach you a lesson in your sister¡¯s stead. Enough with the crap, what are your thoughts?¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife pondered for a while and said, ¡°That brat has hidden his powers quite well, but he¡¯s still a neer. After all, he even chopped the trees from the ck Grove. I caught the scent of special wood from his body, which means he¡¯s chopped down more than just a few trees and may even be building something like a log cabin. There are quite a lot of idiots like him. That being said, why don¡¯t we sound him out?¡±

    ¡°You mean, you want to use that thing on him? Wouldn¡¯t that be a waste?¡±

    Little Knife said, ¡°I have a feeling that these people are somewhat strange, I won¡¯t feel easy without probing them. Boss, think about it, the other side made no special mention of them when they arrived. The only thing they said was that we should give them a bit morend. This isn¡¯t normal! Even if the other side hadn¡¯t figured his power out, they must¡¯ve gotten some background information at least.¡±

    Iron Bear nodded after a moment of contemtion. ¡°Makes sense. Now that I think of it, it feels like those people are trying to defraud us. Fine! Maneuver the beasts and test him out.¡±

    ¡°If he can¡¯t even handle the beast horde and natives, we can just...¡± Lil¡¯ Knife didn¡¯t continue speaking and only made a cut-throat gesture.

    It was near sundown by the time Qianye got back to the log house, and a chill was fast spreading in the wind. The road back from the little town was only ten or so kilometers, but Qianye had to drive almost three hours. He was practically speechless about this old truck. From a different perspective, though, this car hadn¡¯t malfunctioned after jolting its way through a virtually unpaved region. Now, that was fairly rare.

    There were numerous sacks near the log cabin, filled with seashells of all shapes and sizes that Zhuji had caught. Her interest in fishing for things had increased greatly after learning to use her sense of smell. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t know how to swim very well, otherwise, she might¡¯ve gone into the deeper parts of the ocean.

    Nighteye was sitting outside the house, processing the wooden nks. One after the other, she cut them open and sharpened them on one end. These stakes would form the basicponents for building a fence. It would seem she was nning to divide thend into two courtyards. The vampiric de in Nighteye¡¯s hands was Qianye¡¯s. Had it any sentience, the grade seven dagger would probably kill itself after finding out that it was being used to carve wood.

    Seeing the several wooden nks being trimmed into shape, Qianye understood that Nighteye had recovered a good portion of her strength. With the high-grade blood crystals Song Zining had arranged for her, full recovery was only a matter of time¡ªprobably just a couple of days more. It was just that the body could recover easily, but there was no way to heal the soul. With the formation of new memories, Nighteye was gradually forgetting all that she was in the past.

    She could only remember a few of the most important events of her past, for instance, about the Monroe n and Andruil. This was a recollection that came from the bloodline and thus wasn¡¯t affected by the soul.

    After returning home, Qianye passed the parts in the truck to the old man while he himself began working with Nighteye to build the courtyard fence. With his help, the construction business became exceptionally fast, and by the time night arrived, the two log cabins had been surrounded by a yard. He even added a second floor to the log cabin while he was at it.

    At nighttime, Qianye brought Zhuji back to the courtyard from the beach. Just as he was about to go back, he suddenly discovered a human silhouette in the forest. By virtue of his morning experience, Qianye felt that it might be one of the natives who hade to seek revenge for his logging activities in the ck Grove. The origin oscition attack, however, would only work as a surprise attack. Now that Qianye was guarded against it, he needed only to activate his origin defenses to disperse most of the attack power.

    Hence, he paid it no heed and continued home with Zhuji. He knew very well by now that these indigenous people liked to hold grudges. If he killed one of them, there would likely be no end to his troublester on. Fortunately, the house was a fair distance from the ck Grove. If these natives dared leave the woods andunch an attack, Qianye wouldn¡¯t mind giving them a painful lesson.

    But that figure didn¡¯t leave the ck Grove and, instead, tossed out a metallic can. The container flew for several hundred meters before falling to the ground. There, it burst open immediately and began emitting strands of white smoke.

    Qianye broke into a slight frown. He dragged Zhuji into the courtyard and closed the gates behind him.

    The first thing he did afterward was tell the old man to hide in the basement. Thetter was the least powerful among them, and a mere shockwave could injure him. Feeling relieved after hiding the old man, Qianye jumped onto the rooftop and began scanning the area around the ck Grove.

    The white smoke spread out rapidly and soon covered several kilometers in radius.

    Momentster, the ground began to shake and the ck Grove was filled with the roars of beasts. The howling was akin to the raging tides and likely belonged to a horde of fierce beasts, numbering in the hundreds.

    The tightly-packed beast horde soon rushed out of the ck Grove and made for the smoke-covered area. These creatures became iparably restless after entering the smoke, and soon, the newly constructed courtyard nearby became a ring target for them.

    The beast horde charged out of the smoke amidst fierce roars and went straight for the little courtyard. Qianye stood on the rooftop with a cold smile, gazing at the distant forest where he knew the true mastermind was hiding.

    As expected, many figures suffused with void origin power appeared in the ck Grove. It would seem a fair number of natives had gathered here.

    Qianye¡¯s cold smile became even more apparent as he pointed at the beast horde and said, ¡°Zhuji, snack-time!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called collecting ingredients!¡± Little Zhuji protested. She was quite picky now and only ate things cooked personally by Qianye¡ªnot even the old man¡¯s dishes were good enough.

    After issuing a brief protest, her petite figure crashed right through the fence and charged into the beast horde.

 Chapter 719: True Danger

    [V7C036¨C In Life and In Eternal Rest]

    With a loud boom, Zhuji¡¯s charge actually broke the iing beast horde into two halves. The beasts right in front of Zhuji were sent flying into the air. Grabbing and tossing randomly, the little fellow threw dozens of fierce beasts around. By the time they had fallen back down, the unfortunate creatures were either dead or incapacitated.

    Later on, when thess had gotten into the mood, she simply picked up a rhinoceros by its hind legs and began smashing the other beasts with it. This creature was two meters tall, weighed several tons, and its skin was as sturdy as metal. Yet, it had no room for struggle afternding in Zhuji¡¯s hands and was soon seeing stars.

    Zhuji let loose her voice and unleashed a shrill but sweet-sounding cry. Her voice might sound cute to ordinary people, but most beasts would turn limp and copse.

    Most of these fierce beasts, however, had been agitated by the white smoke and didn¡¯t quite sumb to Zhuji¡¯s threat. At this moment, a sad, distant tune of a flute arrived from the forest. Its melody was as peculiar as it was ancient and reminded everyone of the vicissitudes of time.

    Upon hearing the tune, many of the intimidated beasts mbered up once more. A part of them pounced at Zhuji while the others circled around the little fellow and made for the camp. The group at the van was made up ofrge, thick-skinned beasts with great strength. Not to mention a frail log cabin, they might even be able to level a castle made of limestone and steel.

    Judging from the movement of these beasts, Qianye understood that the natives were aiming to destroy his newly built home. In the eyes of the beasts and indigenous people, this area was probably their territory. Now that a neer had suddenly built a base here, it was only natural for them to not ept it.

    Zhuji was, after all, still a kid and somewhatcking inbat experience. A careless move allowed a panther-sized beast totch onto her leg and drag her to the ground. Many beasts swarmed over at this point and sank their sharp fangs into the little girl, attempting with all their might to tear her apart. With Zhuji temporarily suppressed and tied down, the remainder of the beast horde marched past and made for the camp.

    At this point, Nighteye walked out from the hole Zhuji had made and faced the iing horde. There was only a single vampiric de in her hand.

    Qianye was rather worried¡ªhe knew Nighteye had recovered somewhat, but in his heart, he still saw her as the weakdy whom he had just rescued from the military stronghold, one who could barely even walk.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and reappeared near Nighteye. His golden blood energy only shed briefly before all the beasts in the vicinity fell prone to the ground.

    Unable to stop the inertia, some of the giant beasts carved out long ditches in the ground as they came to a sudden stop. Those in the front had just stopped when the ones at the back crashed into them, sending the beast tide into a chaotic tumble that covered the entire area.

    A silver panther-like fierce beast scuttled through the crowd and pounced at Nighteye, aiming straight for her throat! Those free of the golden blood energy¡¯s intimidation were all rare mutant breeds. This silver panther was extremely fast and actually caught Qianye unprepared.

    Qianye was shocked because he wouldn¡¯t be able to unsheath East Peak in time. He opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of origin power, in an attempt to kill this mutant species with his pure Venus Dawn energy. This method would pose a huge drain on origin power¡ªeven someone of his level could only manage a few such attacks.

    He had just opened his mouth when a gentle satin-like hand covered his mouth, stopping his origin power from shooting out. Nighteye shot Qianye a nce and said with a smile, ¡°Stupid!¡±

    She waved her other hand at Qianye, in which the silver panther was hanging by the neck, immobile and with its four limbs hangingidly.

    Nighteye was the Monroe Princess for a reason. Combat had more or less be an instinct after the awakening of her bloodline, and she wasn¡¯t inferior to Qianye in terms ofbat technique¡ªbeasts like these were a walk in the park for her.

    A fierce beast d in thick armor charged toward them with its head lowered. Nighteye rose with the wind, stabbing the beast lightly as she flew past the creature. The de went straight for the beast¡¯s vitals and pierced in all the way to its hilt. She ran alongside the creature for a moment before leaping toward the next beast. The armored beast galloped for several hundred meters before its legs went limp, and it copsed with a boom.

    Nighteye moved so lithely that it seemed like she was weightless, jumping from one beast back to the other. Whichever beast she touched would fall to the ground soon afterward. Watching her fight was like enjoying a dance¡ªit was inexplicably pleasing to the eyes.

    On the other side, Qianye was moving inrge strides. His movements were simple and crude¡ªevery swing of East Peak would mow down arge swathe of beasts.

    At this point, it almost seemed as though Qianye and Nighteye had forgotten Zhuji.

    On the other end of the battlefield was a small mountain of beasts huddled up together, and below them, Zhuji was tearing and dragging at the creatures to no avail. She struggled with all her might at first, but her little face became more and more depressed after the fruitless struggle. In the end, she began to cry loudly. However, she only let out a single wail before stopping. Her eyes gradually transformed into an amber color and her pupils became vertical.

    With a sudden scream, her little hands drew back from the mouths of two giant beasts. This dragging force was so great that it sheared off several dozens of the beasts¡¯ teeth, leaving the beasts howling in agony. Zhuji hated them to the bone¡ªshe grabbed one of them by the upper jaw while pressing its mandible down with her feet. The simultaneous pull and stomp forcibly tore the beast¡¯s head apart!

    She followed the same pattern and finished off several other giant beasts. The fierce creatures finally felt fear and began to disperse, hoping to flee from this terrifying enemy.

    After several fights in session, Zhuji began swaying about and almost tripped over. Her young age meant that her tenacity and stamina were still limited.

    Seeing Zhuji unable to hold out, Qianye finally lost his patience. He pointed East Peak at the forest and said coldly, ¡°Eithere out or scram! Otherwise, I¡¯ll not only wipe out this group of wild beasts but also chop down this forest!¡±

    Several figures shed within the ck Grove, but it was unknown whether or not they understood Qianye¡¯s words. Meanwhile, Lil¡¯ Knife and Iron Bear¡ªunder the cover of leafy cloaks¡ªwere staring at the battlefield with their mouths wide open.

    Lil¡¯ Knife touched Iron Bear and said softly, ¡°Boss, that kid seems to be quite fierce. Why don¡¯t we just let it be?¡±

    Iron Bear said with a serious expression. ¡°No rush, let¡¯s watch for a while longer.¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t discover us, will they?¡±

    Iron Bear snorted. ¡°The ck Grove can interfere with people¡¯s perceptions, and we¡¯re also quite far away. How can he see us? So what even if he does? We¡¯ll just fight him!¡±

    Iron Bear was full of vigor, but Lil¡¯ Knife wasn¡¯t quite confident about the odds.

    Qianye repeated his words once more, but he revealed a cold smile after seeing no reaction from the forest. Countless red threads flickered around his body for a brief moment. Momentster, all the beasts nearby began to stagger as though they were drunk and fell down one after the other. Qianye crossed dozens of meters in a single step and arrived in the midst of yet another group of beasts. The same sanguineous threads flickered around him and annihted all the creatures therein.

    Such a killing method shocked the natives in the ck Grove, startling them for a short moment. The hurried tune of a flute emerged from the woods soon after. As though they had just received a great amnesty, the beasts all tucked their tails between their legs and escaped toward the ck Grove.

    The flute tunes became increasingly urgent, full of anxiety and anger. As Qianye listened closely to the flute, the Book of Darkness in his consciousness flipped continuously, and a secret art soon appeared on its pages at the expense of arge amount of essence blood.

    Qianye raised East Peak and flicked its edge with his finger, emitting a clear, prative sound. This silent note was actually quite simr to the tune of the flute. It resonated with the sound waves from the flute and caused them to rise abruptly. Soon afterward, a gentle pop rang out as the flute cracked apart. A faint cry of misery erupted from the forest, followed by a series of furious screams. Several of the figures inside the forest ran to its edges and waved their weapons at Qianye.

    Qianye sneered and raised a middle-finger at them. Although this gesture wasn¡¯t applicable everywhere, the disdain in his action was noticeable by all intelligent creatures.

    The silhouettes in the forest became increasingly furious and seemed to be on the verge of rushing out. At this moment, however, the figure of a young girl dragged them back into the forest one by one. Qianye remembered this girl¡ªshe was the young girl he had encountered in the forest during the day. It would seem she was shocked quite badly back then and thus refused to let her tribesmen rush to their deaths.

    Since the natives weren¡¯t willing to do battle, Qianye didn¡¯t n to eradicate them, either. Moreover, he wanted to leave them with a false impression that the forest was a hindrance to him. In truth, Qianye¡¯s vision was five hundred meters even in the Misty Wood, making this ck Grove no different from an ordinary forest. If these natives made any big movements with the support of their woond advantage, Qianye was prepared to directly kill their leader and give them an unforgettable lesson.

    With the natives gone, the surviving beasts also fledpletely. The ground near the courtyard was littered with fierce beast carcasses, at least a couple hundred of them. This solved the food problem for Zhuji and the others¡ªthe only issue was how to store them.

    Qianye took advantage of the frigid weather at night to open up the ice cap on the river and brought back arge piece of ice. He then threw all the carcasses onto the pile of ice and began digging arge pit, prepared to build a food storage chamber. Apart from a few dozen well-preserved carcasses, Qianye nned to ship the rest to town and sell them. Most of the beasts here had been drained of essence blood by Qianye and Nighteye, which greatly subtracted from their value. But the merchants buying the meat wouldn¡¯t know this, and neither would it affect the taste of the meat¡ªit was just that Zhuji wouldn¡¯t spare a second nce for them.

    The battle that night could be considered a thorough victory and Zhuji was showing signs of advancement. But Qianye didn¡¯t feel relieved at all. It would only take three fully-equipped champions to stop this level of a stampede.

    This threat didn¡¯t quite match the sense of danger Qianye was feeling. To him, the current attack wasn¡¯t even a threat at all. The true enemy was hiding in the depths of the ocean.

    It was yet another sundown and the town had grown quiet¡ªapart from the only tavern in the settlement, most areas were now empty. The chill in the air grew more intense with the rising wind, driving away the warmth of the daytime in its entirety. The water that had umted on the ground was quickly turning to ice.

    By midnight, the frostiness of the wind cut right to the bone. No one below rank six would dare go outdoors at such a time. Lil¡¯ Knife walked out from the tavern at this moment, wrapped in a thick cloak that left only his eyes exposed to the outside. Even so, he shivered when the wind blew past and came close to tripping over.

 Chapter 720: The Path of Death

    He sped up his steps while cursing the damned weather. At this moment, the bright me of his home hearth was exceptionally attractive to him. Lil¡¯ Knife nned to add a piece of Dark Grove firewood into the firece after getting home. A single piece of it was enough to warm up the house for the entire night. He wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy such a luxury if not for greenhorns like Qianye.

    Lil¡¯ Knife soon arrived home. Light and warmth rushed at his face as soon as he entered, as well as the sight of his beautiful, smart wife, preparing tea and snacks in the living room. The fact that she was still awake and waiting for him filled Lil¡¯ Knife¡¯s heart with warmth.

    However, he was startled upon entering the living room because there was someone sitting there, and a man no less!

    He was instantly ovee by fury. With a shake of his right hand, a thin, hiltless de appeared in his grasp. This knife was the source of his nickname, a de that had slit all too many throats.

    Hearing the iing footsteps, the man in the living room turned about calmly. Lil¡¯ Knife¡¯s hands shook upon seeing the man¡¯s face. His de fell out of his hands, yet he didn¡¯t even notice it. ¡°It¡¯s you?!¡±

    The one in the living room was, of course, Qianye. After witnessing this neer¡¯s divine might as he made short work of the beast horde, Lil¡¯ Knife had given up entirely on any designs he might¡¯ve had before. Now that Qianye had suddenly appeared in his house, the man quickly recalled his warning from that day.

    At this moment, there was no doubt in Lil¡¯ Knife¡¯s heart, only bitterness. ¡°What he said was actually true.¡±

    Qianye nced at the knife on the ground and said, ¡°You dropped your knife.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife smiled wryly. ¡°Will that even make a difference?¡±

    With that, Lil¡¯ Knife sat down beside the table and looked straight at Qianye. ¡°Do what you want to me, but let her go. I kidnapped her back in the year, she knows nothing.¡±

    Qianye said with a faint smile, ¡°It¡¯s no use ying hero in front of me. I can¡¯t let her leave and spread the news. An unknown murderer is the best kind of threat.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife turned pale. ¡°Iron Bear won¡¯t let you go.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll go find him after dealing with you.¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife was shocked. ¡°You! You know aboutst night?¡±

    Qianye revealed a spurious smile. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Lil¡¯ Knife grabbed his head and said, ¡°We didn¡¯t want to kill you. W-We were just testing you out.¡±

    ¡°Using a beast horde and the natives? Not a bad way to probe someone, I must say. If they seed, it¡¯ll save you a lot of work, won¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°No, of course not. We¡¯ve already gotten an idea of yourbat strength. This kind of probe will give you some difficulty at most, nothing lethal.¡±

    ¡°Why would you want to sound me out?¡±

    ¡°We wanted you to form an enmity with the natives and attract their attention. That way, you¡¯d need to rely on our support to survive. Additionally, Iron Bear hopes you can take root in that ce, buffering the threats from the sea and the other shore.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there in the sea and the other shore?¡±

    ¡°A mist will sometimes rise there, a very special kind, you¡¯ll understand when you see it. There¡¯s a kind of creature in that mist. No one knows what it looks like because no one hase out alive after being surrounded by the mysterious fog. Additionally, true high-ranking fierce beasts will appear when the mist arises, and those are nothing like the trash from yesterday. The only one in town who can fight them is Iron Bear, and even he needs fire support from the town to push those beasts back.¡±

    Qianye nodded seriously. Qianye had a good idea of Iron Bear¡¯s strength¡ªthe man could be considered a fierce general even in the imperial elite corps. Those who could oversee an entire region in the neutralnds were all powerful people.

    Qianye leaned closer and said, ¡°Time¡¯s up. Now tell me, why shouldn¡¯t I kill you?¡±

    The woman wanted to say something, but Lil¡¯ Knife stopped her with a re. He then pondered for a while before saying, ¡°In the future, we won¡¯t make things difficult for you, ever again. Your taxes can be halved; that¡¯s the very minimum. Also, you¡¯ll get fair prices throughout the town. You might be able to get more out of Iron Bear, but this is the best I can do.¡±

    After saying that, Lil¡¯ Knife closed his eyes. ¡°I know these conditions don¡¯t count for much, just do it.¡±

    But that throat slit he was waiting for didn¡¯t arrive. Instead came a reply, ¡°Deal.¡±

    ¡°Ah, impossible!¡± Lil¡¯ Knife jumped out of his seat.

    Qianye got up and patted the woman¡¯s shoulders. ¡°She bears your child, this is the only reason you¡¯re alive.¡±

    Both delighted and surprised, Lil¡¯ Knife hugged the woman tightly. Watching Qianye about to leave, he called out hurriedly, ¡°Tell Iron Bear to think more about my sister, otherwise, he¡¯ll do stupid things!¡±

    Qianye smiled but left without making anyment.

    Momentster, Qianye was standing within therge residence at the center of town. He closed the door behind him, blocking out the biting chill as well as all the guards strewn across the grounds.

    In front of him, Iron Bear was struggling to mber up, and there was blood seeping out of his mouth as he red at Qianye with eyes full of hate. He charged over again with a loud roar, the muscles in his body pulsating as though there were snakes moving beneath his skin.

    He swung his fist after arriving in front of Qianye, eliciting a crisp bang as an umbre of ripples spread out from his fist.

    However, Qianye raised East Peak and brushed Iron Bear¡¯s fist away with the hilt. Then, he borrowed the momentum to spin the heavy de about, smacking the man¡¯s belly with the sheathed de.

    This time, Iron Bear had no more power left to fight or even lift his head for that matter. But there was still an unyielding glint in his eyes. ¡°The Wolf King won¡¯t let you go!¡±

    Qianye crouched down in front of the man and said calmly, ¡°Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m more useful to the Wolf King than you? Why would he want you instead?¡±

    Iron Bear¡¯s expression turned ugly. In the end, this position of his was something he had robbed from the previous town mayor several years ago. His predecessor had been tossed into the Eastern Sea¡ªeven his remains were nowhere to be found.

    ¡°You¡¯re just a neer,¡± Iron Bear squeezed out a single sentence.

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯ll be the experienced one as long as I kill the old-timer, you for instance. It¡¯s just that simple.¡±

    Iron Bull lowered his head. ¡°Do it. Remember to drag the men outside into the house afterward. Otherwise, they¡¯ll freeze to death.¡±

    ¡°Ho? You seem to cherish your subordinates quite a bit. Do you think someone who cane to such a ce will fall for that?¡± Qianye asked expressionlessly.

    Iron Bear sighed. ¡°This ce will still have you after I die, but if you leave one day, this town will be finished without those guards. There¡¯ll be no one to stop those natives.¡±

    ¡°Do you have anything to tell Lil¡¯ Knife¡¯s sister?¡±

    Iron Bear became enraged. With strength from god knows where, he stood up, roaring, ¡°I¡¯ll tear you apart if you dare touch a hair of hers.¡±

    But he only managed to move a couple of steps before falling to the ground.

    Only then did Qianye say, ¡°That¡¯s what Lil¡¯ Knife asked me to tell you.¡±

    Iron Bear wasn¡¯t stupid¡ªthe man¡¯s determination to fight to the death receded after realizing what was going on. He sighed. ¡°Indeed, those words would¡¯ve fallen on deaf ears if you hadn¡¯t beaten me ck and blue. Fine, speak, what do you want me to do? I¡¯ll do anything, even if it costs me my life, but you must promise to take care of my wife and kids if I die.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need subordinates yet. But, I want detailed information on the Great Maelstrom and the two products thate from it.¡±

    Iron Bear was astonished. ¡°You want to go to the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    Qianye quickly grasped the important message. ¡°That means those in the neutralnds can go to the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    Iron Bear nodded and said with some measure of arrogance, ¡°To be precise, the only fixed pathway to the Great Maelstrom is in the neutralnds. People from other ces like the empire and Evernight can only enter via temporary passages.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat astonished. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why do humans and dark races note to rob this ce? Can the neutralnds withstand thebined assault of the two factions?¡±

    Iron Bear replied, ¡°Rob? How can it be so easy!? We¡¯ve done in the expeditionary fleets from the empire and Evernight more than once. When the timees, the entirety of the neutralnds will defend thends as a single entity. Besides, you think we¡¯re putting up a fight alone? There are hundreds of small nations supporting us.¡±

    ¡°What else is there?¡± Qianye inquired.

    With how valuable the Great Maelstrom was, the two factions didn¡¯t hesitate to fight a battle like the one that had taken ce in Indomitable. If there really was a stable passage, then both the human heavenly monarchs and dark race great monarchs would surely take action to obtain some more quotas. They wouldn¡¯t let the neutralnds hog all the profits.

    Iron Bear knew quite a bit, too. Being closely questioned by Qianye, he replied in a rather embarrassed manner, ¡°The passage in the neutralnds is actually not that easy to use. It¡¯s highly unstable despite existing perpetually. I heard that even divine champions and marquis won¡¯tst long in there during violent fluctuations. Hence, we always recruit a batch of people on death row each year to enter the passage and see if any lucky bastard would make it back alive. Tens of thousands have entered the passage throughout the years, but only twenty have ever returned alive.¡±

    Now that was more reasonable. So it turned out that this passage was a path of death; no wonder the two factions weren¡¯t interested.

    ¡°Continue to collect more information regarding this matter, the more details the better. Additionally, I also want more detailed intelligence on the natives.¡±

    Iron Bear agreed. ¡°Are you nning something big?¡±

    Qianye smiled while shaking his head. ¡°What I want is to prevent others from doing something big to me.¡±

    Iron Bear understood some things but was still puzzled about some others. However, Qianye had already turned to leave.

    After watching Qianye¡¯s silhouette disappear in the distance, Iron Bear summoned his men and instructed them to move the guards in the courtyard to somece warm. It was well past midnight by the time he had finished all the arrangements. A chilly wind blew over, and the biting cold caused Iron Bear to shiver abruptly.

    He suddenly realized that Qianye was only wearing a single unlined garment, yet he was able to move unrestrained in this kind of frigid weather.

    Iron Bear shivered once more at the thought of this.

 Chapter 721: Duel of Words

    In a corner of the City of Indomitable, there was a small, unassuming building under heavy protection. The guards had sealed off all the roads around it and the rooftops nearby had been outfitted with two ballistae¡ªnot even a fly could get past the blockade.

    A series of off-road vehicles arrived beneath the building. One could see, from their insignias, that the people getting off from them were all important characters.

    Momentster, a car painted in the colors of the military stopped in front of the small building and out of it came Wu Daoyu and another general.

    That general looked around at the defensive power around them and felt somewhat astonished. He whispered as they began walking into the building, ¡°Marshal Wu, howe the Ancestral Fortune Pce is here with such a big lineup?¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression was quite unsightly. ¡°The proof is irrefutable in this case. No matter whoes, there¡¯s no way they can turn the tables.¡±

    The general replied hurried, ¡°That¡¯s true, that¡¯s true.¡± But the worry on his face was unconceble. Clearly, he didn¡¯t feel that things would go so easily.

    The duo arrived at the second floor and was led into the parlor.

    At this moment, there were eight people in the small room. They were allmanding characters from the nobility stationed at Indomitable. The only families that hadn¡¯t arrived were the Zhao and Zhang.

    Wu Daoyu took his seat and snorted, ¡°What arrogance!¡±

    The general quickly prodded the man. Only then did Wu Daoyu realize that his criticism just now also involved the Zhang n. Nheless, he only responded with a snort. The marshal had always exhibited himself as upright and frank, so he had no intention of taking back his words.

    Momentster, the people from the Zhang and Zhao ns arrived. The Zhang n was represented by a middle-aged elder who held the rank of Marquis Mountainpass, a position just right for the event. Meanwhile, the Zhao n fielded Zhao Junhong, which rather surprised everyone present.

    This Zhao n young master was the least heard of among the four and had only started to disy his brilliance in the recent years. Although his steady and capable style had garnered the recognition of many people, he was still too young andcking in both contribution and powerpared to others at the scene.

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s face was full of dissatisfaction upon seeing Zhao Junhong, but the other aristocratic families werergely unmoved. The Zhang n elder even greeted him at the door.

    After everyone was present, a well-groomed man in his thirties walked out from the interior, greeted everyone with cupped hands, and then stood to the side. Soon afterward, a man with a meticulously trimmed beard, slender brows, and a noble demeanor walked in and greeted everyone with a smile.

    Astonished, everyone stood up and bowed. ¡°Prince Rui!¡±

    Prince Rui nodded in response and picked a seat near the periphery. He then gestured for everyone to sit down, saying, ¡°No need for formalities. I was bored at the imperial capital, so I asked the emperor for some random errands and took this opportunity for a stroll. I¡¯m only here to spectate today. The actual matters will be decided by Sire Sun Chao from the Ancestral Fortune Pce.¡±

    Sun Chao bowed expressionlessly and said with a monotonous voice, ¡°This officer is Sun Chao of the Ancestral Fortune Pce, here on orders to investigate Zhao Jundu¡¯s alleged collusion with the vampires.¡±

    Two people in the audience were whispering to one another. ¡°Howe the Ancestral Fortune Pce is taking action this time?¡±

    The other person replied, ¡°Are you dumb? Zhao Jundu is the child of Princess Gaoyi and thus has imperial blood running through his veins. It¡¯s only right and proper for the pce to appear.¡±

    The first person finally understood, and then fell into contemtion.

    The Ancestral Fortune Pce had always been a noble existence. They only paid attention to matters rted to the imperial family, and ordinary ministers might never even see people from the pce in their lifetime.

    Zhao Jundu was indeed the son of a princess, but his imperial bloodline was neither too strong nor weak. Sun Chao, on the other hand, looked like a man with a heart made of steel and stone. Assigning such a person to handle this matter was indeed very thought-provoking.

    The audience returned to their seats, each with their own thoughts. Most of them had assumed a neutral stance beforeing here, prepared to watch the debate between the military and the Zhao n. To be precise, it was a contest between the Zhao n and the minister of the right.

    However, the appearance of the Ancestral Fortune Pce and Prince Rui himself made things a lot more interesting. Those at the scene began thinking whether they should take sides.

    Prince Rui nced at Zhao Junhong and nodded with a smile. This action put a new thought in the minds of many spectators.

    Wu Daoyu wasn¡¯t willing to let the situation develop toward his own disadvantage. He immediately began speaking, ¡°Qianye is known as a human but is, in truth, a vampire. This evidence is irrefutable. Zhao Jundu had epted Qianye into his secondary residence for a long time now. With the Zhao n¡¯s power, how can they not know that a vampire had been hiding amongst them? What is this if not a collusion!? ording to the imperialw, those who collude with the vampires aremon enemies and should be put to death. It¡¯ll be difficult to cate the masses without executing Zhao Jundu.¡±

    These words were powerful and resonating, but all the aristocratic families remained expressionless, almost as though they were all deaf.

    Zhao Junhong smiled faintly. ¡°Our Zhao n has pioneered newnd for the empire and killed countless enemies. How many of our ancestors have died on the battlefield? If everyone starts making groundless usations about negligible matters and speak without thinking, how can there be any loyal subjects left? I, on the other hand, want to ask Marshal Wu what he was doing at that time?¡±

    Wu Daoyu jumped up from his seat. ¡°A mere junior dares dishonor me? You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    With that, he raised his right palm and made to chop down. With the marshal¡¯s strength, Zhao Junhong would have no power to resist if the attack were tond on him. Nheless, the Zhao n young master seemed to be devoid of all fear. Throughout the entire process, he merely gazed at Wu Daoyu with a mocking smile.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s perseverance seemed to have surprised the old man. Killing intent emerged suddenly in his eyes as he chopped down with his palm.

    The moment his right hand moved, all members of the nobility were astonished. Who would¡¯ve thought the man would actually take action at such a time? Even those with a mind to interfere were caught off-guard.

    Zhao Jundu was as calm as ever and seemed to have no intention of evading.

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s palm had only reached midway when the berserk origin power swept toward Zhao Junhong. The preceding palm winds were like sharp des which cut through his billowing robe. A number of people shot up from their seats, unable to sit still.

    The vicinity turned calm all of a sudden. Wu Daoyu quickly discovered that a barrier as gentle as flowing water had appeared in his way, and it felt like his wrist was being dragged away by a certain hand. The energy from his furious hack had actually disappeared without a trace.

    The malice in Wu Daoyu¡¯s heart vanished when he turned around and saw Prince Rui¡¯s hand in the air¡ªit was he who had pressed down the palm strike. This caused Wu Daoyu to be apprehensive.

    Prince Rui had no grand ambitions. He had always lived a poetic life of freedom and was always kind to everyone he ever met. That was why few people were ever fearful of his name. However, Wu Daoyu realized from this exchange that the other party possessed astonishingbat strength.

    Now that the prince had taken action, Wu Daoyu knew that it was inappropriate of him to get entangled in this matter. He snorted loudly and said, ¡°This marshal will sell Prince Rui a favor this time, but there will be no forgiveness if any more juniors dare to speak nonsense!¡±

    Zhao Junhong, however, wasn¡¯t about to give the man the opportunity to extricate himself. He stood up, brushed his torn robes, and said to Sun Chao, ¡°My mother is Imperial Princess Gaoyi and hence I am also of imperial blood. When was andowning household member ever allowed to assault an imperial descendant? Sir Sun, please rule on this!¡±

    Wu Daoyu was furious upon hearing the words imperial descendant. He stood up once more to retort, but Sun Chao spoke up at this point, ¡°This official is here on imperial orders, not to watch a childish y. If anyone else dares to attack in front of me, there is no longer a need to continue today¡¯s discussion.¡±

    The moment he said these words, many people trembled and felt their eyes ringing.

    Wu Daoyu was shocked. Just from the origin power contained within these words, he knew that Sun Chao was not far from the divine champion realm. Looking again at his current age and status, his future was destined to be boundless. There really was no need to offend such a person at this moment. Besides, there was also Prince Rui overseeing the overall situation. Wu Daoyu cursed inwardly at the thought of this. Not to mention forcing a verdict, it would be difficult for him to even suppress the other party.

    Zhao Junhong smiled coldly. ¡°Why is Marshal Wu in such a rush to kill me? Don¡¯t tell me you have a guilty conscience?¡±

    Frowning deeply, the man roared, ¡°This marshal has nothing to feel guilty about!¡±

    Zhao Junhong suddenly raised his voice. ¡°Then how will you exin the many vampire girls hidden in Marshal Wu¡¯s residence!? How long have you been colluding with the vampires!?¡±

    Caught off-guard, Wu Daoyu said in desperation, ¡°Nonsense! Which residence doesn¡¯t have vampire ves and servants?¡±

    After blurting out these words, the old marshal immediately realized he had made a mistake. Keeping vampire and demonkin girls was indeed a general trend throughout the empire and it was true that many households did have them. But, how could it be brought up in public?

    As expected, the other aristocratic families wore unassociated expressions, and some of them even moved their chairs away from Wu Daoyu.

    Sun Chao remained expressionless all the while. He was just about to speak when a loud explosion arrived from outside the window and the entire building trembled slightly.

    Everyone here was an expert. Someone immediately said, ¡°Ny kilometers, Northwest!¡±

    An explosion arriving from ny kilometers away meant that there were true experts doing battle.

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression changed all of a sudden and was just about to get up but ultimately decided to sit back down. His little actions, nheless, couldn¡¯t quite escape the eyes of the masses.

    Sun Chao¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Indomitable is thest bastion of the empire. How did we let the enemy beat us to this ce? Who¡¯s in charge of the area?¡±

    Many people revealed peculiar expressions at this point¡ªWu Daoyu¡¯s countenance was dark and Zhao Junhong snorted coldly with his eyes closed. In the end, Sun Chao turned to the Zhang n elder with a frown. ¡°Brother Zhang, can you tell me?¡±

    The Zhang n elder returned the greeting and said calmly, ¡°This ce was, at first, General Jundu¡¯s defense sector. After the general was detained for the hearing, the imperial military dispatched troops to take over the defensive duties. That battlefront was two hundred kilometers away at first, but the dark races haveunched a furious assault in thest seven days and pushed our forces to their current position.

    Wu Daoyu could no longer endure. ¡°The dark races are only attacking my sector,pletely ignoring the nearby Zhao n strongholds. How could this happen if the Zhao n isn¡¯t colluding with the enemy?¡±

    Zhao Junhong sneered, ¡°Have you no shame calling yourself an ex-marshal? Jundu¡¯s defensive line is naturally the most dangerous and pressurednd. My fourth brother never lost a single inch ofnd when he was in charge. Howe you¡¯ve lost over a hundred kilometers of territory in a single week? ording to what you¡¯re saying, defending one¡¯s post is treason and being pushed back is justice? This brings us to ask, Marshal Wu, how many times have you been beaten back and how many times have our Zhao n defended our posts?¡±

    At this point, Zhao Junhong paused momentarily, and then rebuked with a wave of his sleeve, ¡°Such an incapable person holding an important position and biting everyone around instead of fighting the enemy. What a bitter disappointment to all of the nobility!¡±

    Wu Daoyu nced about and saw all themanders of the aristocratic families looking at him with unusual expressions. As someone born to andowning household, it was inevitable that he would think somewhat highly of himself after killing his way to his current position, his methods mostly fierce and cruel. He had also umted enmity with some of the aristocracy and naturally retaliated in kind after reaching a powerful position.

    He had never imagined that Zhao Junhong would grasp and attack a single faux pas of his, going so far as to drag all of the aristocratic families into this.

    After a moment of back and forth debates, Wu Daoyu actually fell to a disadvantage. Not only was Zhao Junhong¡¯s logic watertight, but he would alsounch surprise attacks from time to time, causing great embarrassment for the old marshal.

    All the representatives here were scheming people with deep foresight. After hearing Zhao Junhong¡¯s earlier words, it was only natural that they didn¡¯t look favorably upon Wu Daoyu. But that was the extent of it¡ªstirring up these muddy waters with just a few words wasn¡¯t all that easy. After listening on, however, their eyes began to glow, realizing that there was actually such a talented person in the Zhao n in addition to Zhao Jundu.

    As someone destined to be the next n lord, Zhao Jundu was indeed too high of a starting point. Most of the aristocratic families simply didn¡¯t have a suitable marriage candidate for him. That was not the case for Zhao Junhong. His position would grow increasingly subtle the more talented he was, and all aristocratic scions knew this. As such, many people began aiming to recruit him as a son-inw.

    The people at the scene had been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder for quite some time, and this prolonged association allowed them to understand quite a lot about one another. A single nce was enough to tell what the other party was thinking. All parties were lost in their own thoughts and actually tossed the present case to the back of their minds.

    To them, the current case was nothing more than a farce.

    Qianye¡¯s origins were unknown, yet he was able to receive much attention from a heaven-bestowed genius like Zhao Jundu. Just when Qianye¡¯s fame was at its zenith, the military found out that he had a vampire lover and he himself revealed his own identity during the chase. The former half of the story was somewhat eptable, but the wild usations against the Zhao n that followed were so full of loopholes that one could hardly stand to watch. Not knowing which n¡¯s scheme this matter was, even the aristocratic families who wanted to speak up didn¡¯t know where to start.

    As such, the important characters here weren¡¯t interested in the process at all. They were merely waiting for the oue of the wrestle between the Zhao n and the power that had perpetrated this. The potential engagement, however, would mean an alliance. That was an important core strategy for the family that couldn¡¯t be handled negligently.

 Chapter 722: The Real Trap

    The dispute here hadn¡¯t yete to an end when a loud noise was heard once more, and the distance seemed even closer. Clearly, the enemy forces were closing in.

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression fluctuated repeatedly, and the uneasiness in him grew by the minute. Just from listening to the sounds, one could tell that the dark races had fielded people at the level of an honored marquis, perhaps even a vice-duke. The situation on the frontlines was no doubt extremely critical. Yet, he had no choice but to remain here and bicker with Zhao Junhong¡ªthis feeling was inexplicably depressing.

    At this moment, every moment wasted meant that the casualties on the front line would increase in severity. The defenders fighting there were Wu Daoyu¡¯s lineal descendants and personal forces, the foundation of his status in the military. It would be a lie to say that he wasn¡¯t feeling a heartache. Yet, Zhao Junhong was clearly not going to let this matter drop, and with both Prince Rui and Sun Chao present, he couldn¡¯t storm off regardless of how dissatisfied he was.

    Seeing no easy end to the debate, Sun Chao broke into a frown. He raised his hand to stop the two parties and said, ¡°This official hase to a conclusion. There is not enough evidence to prove the Zhao n¡¯s collusion, this matter cannot be settled by a single party¡¯s words. Zhao Jundu¡¯s killing of a military major general, however, is verified. Even if this person was attempting to frame a superior, the crime itself does not warrant death. This matter shall be further investigated.¡±

    Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression sank somewhat, but this oue was still within his expectations. ¡°How about Qianye, then? Don¡¯t tell me his vampire identity can¡¯t be confirmed?¡±

    These words were rather unpleasant to the ears, but Sun Chao acted as though he didn¡¯t hear anything and merely continued in his calm voice, ¡°Qianye possesses a blood core, this is something many people saw. Moreover, he had trespassed a restricted area and seized the vampire princess. His crimes are unpardonable. Although he has since fled the empire, he cannot escape his punishment just like that. Since this matter had arisen from the military, the military shall take the lead to assemble a team and chase down the fugitive. Does anyone have any objections? Oh right, during the operation, make sure to gather information on the mastermind behind him.¡±

    This decision was right and proper. Although Sun Chao¡¯s final words were quite harsh to hear, Wu Daoyu ultimately couldn¡¯t point out what was wrong. He thus agreed to the verdict.

    Zhao Junhong¡¯s eyes lit up as he lowered his gaze with a calm expression.

    Up next was Zhao Jundu¡¯s case. Sun Chao said, ¡°Zhao Jundu did kill a general, but thetter was also in the wrong. We are on the verge of war at the moment and thus everything will go ording to priority. This investigation shall be dyed. The military department will terminate this hearing, allowing Zhao Jundu to return to the front lines and redeem himself with contributions. His punishment shall be decided on how much he had aplished during the war. Does anyone have any objections?¡±

    Wu Daoyu was just about to speak but, in the end, decided to swallow his words. Although he wasn¡¯t exactly satisfied, he knew it was useless to keep Zhao Jundu locked up. Besides, even if he was punished, there was no way a princess¡¯ son would be made to pay for a major general¡¯s life with his own.

    With the imperial family around, he would have to keep Zhao Jundu well fed and provided for¡ªthere was really no way he could do anything to this prisoner. Wu Daoyu didn¡¯t quite have the courage to assassinate him, either. There was no way he would walk out of Indomitable alive if the Zhao n were to find out.

    From another point of consideration, he had already suffered enough hardship while defending Zhao Jundu¡¯s sector. The dark races keptunching fierce attacks on his battlefront, pushing him back repeatedly at every turn and piercing into the outskirts of Indomitable like a wedge.

    This kind of assault could easily be countered if the Zhao n private armies on either side were to nk the enemy. It would also lessen Wu Daoyu¡¯s pressure. Yet, the Zhao n had hunkered down without the slightest of movements. The dark races also seemed to know that the Zhao n wouldn¡¯t attack¡ªthey ignored the sides entirely and charged straight in with great arrogance.

    Wu Daoyu criticized the Zhao n many times, but they would always respond by saying that it wasn¡¯t their defensive zone.

    Everyone knew about the enmity between the Zhao n and the Minister of the Right, represented by Wu Daoyu. All the aristocratic families understood the reason why the Zhao n wasn¡¯t moving their troops, hence everyone simply maintained a uniform state of silence.

    Many of Wu Daoyu¡¯s generals had fallen in the past seven days, including a third of his entire force. Morale was at an all-time low and might break down at any moment. Wu Daoyu had to oversee the battle personally many times and even join the battle in order to calm the situation. However, the defenses he had worked so hard to stabilize had been broken once again while he was busy wrangling here.

    Seeing Wu Daoyu keep his silence, the other aristocratic families made no objection, either. All the leaders were busy thinking about the Ancestral Fortune Pce¡¯s decision to let the military hunt Qianye down¡ªwas this a half-hearted measure or were they giving the military a chance to silence the target? Could it be that they wanted to follow the trail and find out who the real mastermind behind this matter was?

    But who would¡¯ve thought Zhao Junhong would stand up at this point. ¡°This matter isn¡¯t appropriate! Jundu is one of the pirs of the empire and a crucial factor in the uing war. If any scoundrel or corrupted minister can bring false charges against him, how is he to fight this war? The person trying to frame Jundu during these unusual times must have other motives and is very likely an Evernight spy. If killing such a person is a crime, won¡¯t all the warriors of the empire feel disheartened?¡±

    Wu Daoyu roared furiously, ¡°Zhao Jundu is just a junior, how can he be considered crucial?¡±

    Zhao Junhong sneered, ¡°The defensive line never shrunk a single inch in Jundu¡¯s hands, but it¡¯s practically crumbling in yours. If you want to know why he¡¯s crucial, that is the very reason!¡±

    Wu Daoyu had nothing to say. The dark races wouldunch asional assaults when Zhao Jundu was in charge, but the true experts would always be intercepted by Duke You. The ex-marshal could barely hold out against experts capable of fighting on par with Duke You, hence his repeated defeats.

    But how could he say that out loud?

    Seeing that the two parties were about to start bickering again, Sun Chao raised his hands and stopped them from talking. ¡°Since the Zhao n has objections, then this official can no longer decide on this matter. I shall return to the capital right away and seek a verdict from my superiors. While this matter awaits a decision, Zhao Jundu shall remain in confinement and the military will be responsible for his defense sector.¡±

    Wu Daoyu felt his vision grow dark and his hands turn cold. He had never imagined that this was the real trap.

    The Zhao n was clearly borrowing the dark race¡¯s hand to bury all of his subordinate forces under the walls of Indomitable. At that time, Wu Daoyu¡¯s wings would be clipped¡ªalthough he still possessed his personalbat strength, his enemies would surely grasp the opportunity to rob him of his authority in the military. With his power gone, what was the use of being a divine champion?

    Moreover, this utter defeat meant that his value to the Minister of the Right would diminish greatly. His dreams of regaining his marshal rank might very well remain a dream.

    Sun Chao said nothing else. He stood up immediately and left for the airship port with his subordinates. Apparently, he was going to rush back to the imperial capital to seek imperial instructions. Wu Daoyu wanted to chase after the man, but his footsteps faltered, knowing very well that nothing he would do could change the oue and that it would only add to his embarrassment.

    Zhao Junhong arrived beside Wu Daoyu and apanied thetter in watching Sun Chao¡¯s receding figure. He then said in a leisurely manner, ¡°Marshal Wu, Duke You is the one overseeing the entire battle around Indomitable. He has long since issued a strict order that whoever loses their defensive zone and allows the dark races to reach the city shall be punished by martialw. There¡¯s less than half left of your defensive zone.¡±

    Wu Daoyu snorted coldly. ¡°This marshal answers to the military, there¡¯s no need to heed Duke You¡¯s orders.¡±

    Zhao Junhong said indifferently, ¡°Marshal Wu must be more familiar with the imperial martialw than I am. It¡¯s just that if you dare resist when the timees, the execution will extend to your nine generations.¡±

    Wu Daoyu felt a chill creeping into his heart. Nheless, he wasn¡¯t willing to allow a youngster to gain the upper hand. ¡°If that day everes, I¡¯ll make sure to drag you along.¡±

    Zhao Junhong only smiled without making anyment. ¡°Oh right, since the military has been tasked with hunting down the vampire Qianye, I must remind you to dispatch a sufficient number of experts. Otherwise, where will you hide your face if they all get wiped out? And where will the Minister of the Right hide his face?¡±

    Wu Daoyu was startled. ¡°How much do you know?¡±

    Zhao Junhongughed out loud. ¡°How can I know anything? The ce Qianye charged into was the military stronghold, you should know more than I do. Marshal Wu, take care!¡±

    Wu Daoyu didn¡¯t act up as he usually would as the scene of Li Fengshui¡¯s corpse floated into his eyes.

    Thetter¡¯s body was full of blood and his organs had been crushed to smithereens. Although the man was already wounded beforehand, only he himself knew the degree of his injury. This officer of the Fifth Central Command was extremely crafty and it was difficult to tell if his movements were fake or real. No one could say for sure if he was truly ever wounded.

    If Li Fengshui was only lightly injured, and Qianye had managed to kill him despite the hostage situation, that would mean the vampire fugitive¡¯sbat strength was fairly terrifying. Then, recalling how Qianye had actually escaped from right under his nose, Wu Daoyu¡¯s expression grew ever more serious.

    If he dispatched too few experts, it would be equal to sending them to their deaths. If he arranged for a lineup that was sure to win, it would drastically reduce his fighting power in Indomitable. If he were to somehow lose the defense line, the Zhao n would surely cause trouble for him. Without a doubt, he would lose ayer of skin even if he managed to survive the ordeal.

    He was now stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea with no good n in mind.

    At this point, Prince Rui walked over and said to Zhao Junhong, ¡°You¡¯ve grown up so much during this time. When I met you for the first time, you were still being breastfed, haha! Come, apany for a drink.¡±

    Zhao Junhong replied, ¡°How can I refuse your excellency¡¯s invitation?¡±

    Seeing Prince Rui and Zhao Junhong leaving together, how could Wu Daoyu not know that the Ancestral Fortune Pce was here for the Zhao n? He had made ample calctions but never expected that Qianye would be able to escape from right under his nose. Additionally, Zhao Jundu had seized this opportunity to pin the responsibility on him.

    Suppressing Qianye was fine, but it was different for Zhao Jundu. Even the Minister of the Right himself wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything against this Zhao n young master in the current case.

    A great n was utterly defeated just like that. After much thought, the key factory in the imperial family¡¯s change in attitude. Wu Daoyu gave it some deeper thought and realized that the imperial family had tipped the scales merely by dispatching the Ancestral Fortune Pce and a single Prince Rui. The thought of this caused the old man to feel a bone-deep chill from the night breeze.

    ...

    In a side-room within the Wei n mansion, Wei Potian was bundled up in a cape and sleeping soundly. This chamber was shabby and cold, with no furnishings except for a table and some chairs, not even a stove for the depths of the cold night. There was a teapot and a crude porcin cup sitting on the table, and the tea within thetter was already starting to frost over.

    Such a crude environment was, of course, not the Wei n heir¡¯s bedroom but where he was kept under house arrest. He was only allowed to leave three times a day to visit the toilet and stretch his limbs.

    The night was indeed chilly, but it could do little against the Thousand Mountains cultivator, Wei Potian. Wrapped in whatever he could find, the Wei n heir was snoring as loud as a thunderstorm. Even the two tremors that rmed the entire city of Indomitable couldn¡¯t wake him up. It almost seemed like the man was determined to sleep until sunrise even if someone were shouting in his ears.

    The doors to the room creaked open at this point and a mysterious silhouette flickered inside. The guards outside the door sensed nothing¡ªthey yawned repeatedly and soon fell asleep against a corner of the wall.

    That shadow arrived beside Wei Potian¡¯s bed and shook him. ¡°Wake up.¡±

 Chapter 723: Behind the Curtains

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t respond. That shadowy figure used more force and flipped the sleeping fellow over, but the Wei n heir kept on snoring thunderously.

    At this moment, the clear moonlight shone through the windows and illuminated the intruder¡¯s silhouette¡ªit was Song Zining. Seeing that this thick-skinned boar was refusing to wake up even when his ears and hair were being pulled, thetter raised his hand to deliver a p, but he gave it some thought at thest moment and broke into a coldugh. Instead of the p, the seventh young master picked up the teapot from the table, melted the ice with his origin power, and poured it into Wei Potian¡¯s nose.

    The snoring Wei Potian happened to suck all the water in. This time, he jumped out of his bed as though he had been pricked in the butt, coughing until his face and ears were all red.

    Wei Potian suddenly realized that there was someone else in the room and was furious to find that the intruder was Song Zining. He pounced forward abruptly and went straight for thetter¡¯s neck. ¡°I knew it was you! You never have any good intentions!¡±

    Song Zining made no motion to evade. A single question, ¡°Do you want to save Qianye?¡± was enough to stop Wei Potian¡¯s hands midair.

    ¡°Of course! But how are we going to do that? Who knows where he¡¯s run off to?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very simple, help me run a small errand.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°You¡¯re going to trick me again, aren¡¯t you? Last time, our Wei n¡¯s spies were all wiped out and I was almost removed from my heir position. If not for my supreme talents and unprecedented speed in cultivating the Thousand Mountains, I might¡¯ve been in big trouble!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I save Qianye?¡± Song Zining retorted.

    Wei Potian was stoppered. ¡°But Nighteye...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s inevitable and the oue isn¡¯t so bad now, is it?¡±

    Wei Potian was doubtful. ¡°What exactly do you want me to do? I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t me me for not recognizing friendship if you dare to trick me!¡±

    Song Zining said with a disdainful expression, ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time you¡¯ve said this.¡±

    Wei Potian was just about to act up when Song Zining, with a mysterious look on his face, passed him a box and whispered, ¡°Go to this ce after a while and put the box on the ground. You¡¯ll also gain benefits when the timees.¡±

    With that, Song Zining exined the exact location. Wei Potian was full of doubt as he listened¡ªthat area was the central zone where the two armies had been skirmishing and had long since been plowed through by the mes of war. There was no way there could be anything special there.

    Wei Potian had his doubts, but upon seeing Song Zining so insistent, he began gathering his equipment while mumbling something about bad friends. As for this so-called benefit, he didn¡¯t believe half a word of it. After suffering so many times, he was very skeptical to believe Song Zining¡¯s promises.

    Momentster, Wei Potian managed to slip out of the Wei n courtyard with the help of Song Zining¡¯s domain and ran toward the designated location.

    At this moment, the night was dark and the strong chill assailed all travelers. However, the night wasn¡¯t calm at all¡ªone could see raging mes rushing into the distant sky and hear the asional sound of cannon fire. Wei Potian nced at the zing region and broke into a frown. ¡°They¡¯ve already broken through to this ce? Strange, that shouldn¡¯t have happened!¡±

    What the Wei n heir was seeing was the military¡¯s defensive zone. He was no idiot¡ªas a good leader himself, Wei Potian knew at a nce that Wu Daoyu was being beaten back miserably. The former had been under house arrest in the recent period and received no news from the outside world. Naturally, he didn¡¯t know anything about Wu Daoyu¡¯s miserable defeats.

    Very soon, Wei Potian found the ce Song Zining had told him about¡ªthat lone bald tree looked exceedingly eye-catching in the empty area.

    The Wei n heir walked around it several times but found nothing strange about it. Was the ce Song Zining mentioned rted to this tree? He studied it from every direction for a good while but ultimately discovered nothing from it. Hence, Wei Potian tried knocking on the trunk. Just as his hand was about tond on the tree, a female face suddenly appeared on it! The pale face and its two bloodshot eyes stared intently at him!

    Wei Potian was shocked out of his wits. He unleashed a loud cry and jumped backward. At this moment, he heard a breeze from behind him as a silvery shadow jumped down from the tree and stomped on his head, immediately knocking the Wei n heir out cold.

    The silhouette came into vision after the target¡¯s copse. It turned out to be William.

    At this point, the tree began to crack and out of it came a sweet, graceful woman. The woman who had just scared Wei Potian half-dead was actually Twilight. As the woman spread her hands out, the ancient tree shattered into pieces and returned to the earth as dust. This art looked simple, but it was extremely useful and practical. Especially in Twilight¡¯s hands, the disguise was almost real and could be considered a powerful secret art.

    She had conjured an ancient tree with this art just now and hid herself and William within it. This ended up tricking Wei Potian through and through.

    William shook his fur and walked around while ncing at Wei Potian. He suddenly tore open thetter¡¯s pocket, revealing a box within. Seeing the seal on the container, William reached out to grab it, but only then did he remember that he couldn¡¯t quite pick things up in his wolf form.

    Twilight walked over and said, ¡°What¡¯s this? Let me see.¡±

    Her words caused William to be anxious. He moved forward to pick up the box with his mouth but, unexpectedly, felt the skin around his neck tighten as Twilight grabbed him by the mane. He was just inches away from the box but couldn¡¯t reach it.

    William was furious after having his golden mane pulled. A deep aura of peril instantly filled the surrounding air and caused Twilight to go pale. William had just turned about when the clever Twilight let go of the prize and took a couple of steps back, raising her hands to indicate that she had no bad intentions.

    William, however, wasn¡¯t about to fall for this. He growled while revealing his white fangs, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll let you off out of consideration for our cooperation, but your shares will be deducted by twenty percent. Next time, I¡¯ll tear off your arms!¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression was ugly. Apparently, she hadn¡¯t expected William to react so intensely. Yet, the other party¡¯s strength had increased by leaps and bounds¡ªhe was clearly superior to her at the moment and also happened to restrain her strong points. As such, she had no chance of winning if they were to break into a fight. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that ce couldn¡¯t be touched, it wasn¡¯t intentional.¡±

    William shook his golden mane with a snort. ¡°I won¡¯t let anyone touch me there!¡±

    But Twilight didn¡¯t hear the mumbling in William¡¯s heart. ¡°There are some people I can¡¯t do anything against even if I¡¯m touched. In any case, that¡¯s because I can¡¯t win, it¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t try.¡±

    At the thought of this, William¡¯s mood calmed down quite a bit and his stare toward Twilight grew sharper. Twilight said in rm, ¡°What are you trying to do? I¡¯m warning you, twenty percent is my bottom line, no more than that! Otherwise, I¡¯d rather break up this arrangement.¡±

    ¡°Thirty percent!¡± William said without any hesitation, denying all chances of questioning him.

    Twilight gritted her teeth and swallowed her anger. ¡°Fine, thirty it is.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just go with twenty.¡± After saying that, William shook his mane in great satisfaction and turned back to the little box.

    From anger and humiliation to surprise and delight¡ªthe contrast was simply too great. Twilight remained startled for a while before realizing that William was just ying with her. During that brief moment of realization, she was so angry that she wanted to say ¡°I don¡¯t want that ten percent!¡±, but ten percent wasn¡¯t a small amount. The price of acting cool was simply too high, so she ultimately decided to swallow the anger.

    But the indignance of being wronged was almost unbearable. Just as she was seething in her mind, she noticed William looking at the box without any movement. She suddenly understood what was going on. With her hands behind her back, she skipped over to where William was and said in an intentional, drawn-out tone, ¡°No hands? Can¡¯t open?¡±

    William¡¯s mane puffed up in anger, but it wilted again after a while, along with his momentum. Transforming into a giant wolf was indeed a rare talent. The only disadvantage was, as Twilight said, the inability to even open a box.

    Twilight calmly picked up the container in front of William and, under thetter¡¯s helpless gaze, blew off the dust and flicked it with her fingers, seemingly quite satisfied and leisurely throughout the entire process. Only when William let out a low growl did she begin theplicated opening procedure, chuckling all the while. Afterward, she dangled her slender fingers in front of William¡¯s eyes.

    The werewolf, of course, wasn¡¯t about to be polite with her. He swiped at her hand, forcing Twilight to shrink back in a hurry. Having missed its target, William¡¯s swipe struck the ground and caused the earth several dozen meters around them to tremble.

    Twilight wasn¡¯t frightened by this; she just took her sweet time opening the box. William didn¡¯t mind it, either, and pushed hisrge head closer, almost butting heads as the two watched the box slowly open.

    There was a single crystal within the box, in which a drop of golden blood was sealed. This was an ordinary drop of sanguineous liquid and not essence blood.

    Twilight¡¯s expression grewplicated as she watched the golden threads congealing inside the blood. This golden thread was her life¡¯s ambition¡ªor perhaps it could be said that every vampire¡¯s ultimate dream. That was proof of a pure bloodline, a faint glimmer of hope for swimming up the River of Blood and following in the footsteps of the second generation primogenitor.

    Twilight asked with unclear emotions, ¡°Is this her blood?¡±

    Williams sniffed at the crystal and said, ¡°That is Nighteye¡¯s blood, there¡¯s no doubt about it.¡±

    Twilight said with a forcedugh, ¡°Since the item is right, it¡¯s time to execute the next phase of the n.¡±

    William began circling Wei Potian once more. Finding his actions strange, Twilight asked, ¡°You know him? An enemy?¡±

    ¡°A great enmity!¡± William said through gritted teeth.

    Twilight flipped Wei Potian over and studied him for a good while but found nothing worthy of making William hold a grudge against him. There were few opportunities to breed hostilities between people of such different levels.

    Yet, no matter how she asked, William simply wouldn¡¯t tell her how the vendetta was formed. William was determined to bury that dark phase of history in the depths of his heart.

    Twilight got up and said, ¡°This fellow is as dumb as dumb can be, and his strength is also mediocre. I have no idea how the people on the other side are thinking. They actually want to give him such a big share of contributions? Is this kind of person even worthy of cultivation?¡±

    William replied, ¡°Humans have always been a crafty lot, there¡¯s no need for us to worry about what they¡¯re thinking. It¡¯s fine as long as weplete the transaction ording to the agreement. Although the Zhao n has sent word that they won¡¯t field any troops as long as we stay away from their defensive zone, who knows when their promise will end? We are nowhere near as powerful as those old fellows from above. We should leave this ce quickly once our business isplete.¡±

    Twilight shrugged and made no more objections. She then kicked Wei Potian on the butt and said, ¡°You lucky bastard.¡±

    With that, her figure began to blur and emit arge mass of bloody mist. By the time the mist receded, there were a dozen or so corpses on the ground. These were warriors of many different races, and the most eye-catching among them was a demonkin.

    Twilight produced a high-quality leather cylinder sealed with dark golden iys and stuffed it into the demonkin¡¯s hands.

    After setting everything up, she and William left hurriedly through the night.

 Chapter 724: Ploy

    The duo ran through the night at the speed of lightning. William shot a nce at the primo with an impatient expression¡ªthetter was running with every ounce of strength she had, gritting her teeth as she did so. Even then, she was barely able to keep up with William. There was no helping it because William, in his giant wolf form, was superior in both speed and eleration.

    All of a sudden, William came to a screeching halt. Twilight also followed suit and unleashed arge cloud of blood energy, causing both man and wolf to fade out of existence. A mound of earth appeared in their ce with half a pit dug into it.

    At a nce, it looked like a half-constructed fortification, the kind one could see everywhere in the area.

    At this moment, the sudden sound of engines echoed through the forest, growing louder and louder as several motorcycles shed past. But even when they were at the closest point, the sound of the engines wasn¡¯t as loud as one would expect it to be. Apparently, they had installed an origin array capable of suppressing sound.

    The group of motorcycles, suffused with frosty killing intent, soon vanished into the night.

    William and Twilight remained in their disguised state without making any rushed movements. Their extraordinary senses told them that this was the Zhao n¡¯s mounted patrol squad, a unit famed throughout the Evernight faction for the quality of their members. Moreover, several of these squads would work together in unison and they had secret methods ofmunicating with the main army. Once they had encountered an enemy, reinforcements would arrive within a short period and suppress the enemy.

    Now, they had only seen a single mounted patrol squad, and there was no telling where the others were. Most importantly, there were powerful Zhao n forces stationed nearby with arge number of experts among them. William and Twilight were strong, but they didn¡¯t want to stir up trouble at the moment¡ªthey weren¡¯t here for a fight. Things would really turn ugly if Duke You were to be alerted of their presence.

    They had nothing better to do while hiding, so Twilight asked, ¡°Howe you refuse to turn back into human form after arriving near Indomitable?¡±

    ¡°Because there¡¯s no need to.¡±

    Twilight wasn¡¯t about to fall for that. ¡°No need? You can¡¯t even open a box?¡±

    ¡°I have you, don¡¯t I?¡± William remained headstrong.

    Twilight snorted coldly. ¡°I only forced myself along the way. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve already made ns to use my hand for opening boxes and crates?¡±

    William¡¯s expression remained the same. ¡°I thought the humans would deliver it in a bag.¡±

    Twilight waved the little box in her hand, speaking in an exaggerated manner, ¡°A drop of blood? In a bag?¡±

    ¡°What? Do you have a problem with that?¡± William growled with eyes full of killing intent.

    ¡°Nope, no problem at all. That¡¯s very normal. This thing is best transported in a bag!¡± Knowing that she was inferior to the other party, Twilight¡¯s attitude had been fairly pragmatic all along.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s right.¡± William snorted.

    Twilight produced her own vampiric de, a mysterious little dagger as wide as a finger with a near-transparent edge. She fished out Nighteye¡¯s blood from within the box andpared it to her de. With a flick of her wrist, she quickly split the crystal and blood into two parts, and then shaved off two thin pieces of crystal to seal the cut edges.

    After that, Twilight passed the crystal with more blood in it to William and said, ¡°This is fine, right?¡±

    William nodded slowly.

    The vampire primo waved the crystal in her hand and said, ¡°Any less and it won¡¯t be enough for our race¡¯s divination master to use his secret arts.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure the Lightless Monarch can invite that old fellow to oversee the ceremony?¡±

    Twilight said assuredly, ¡°There¡¯s no doubt. This is so important to him that he was willing to pay a huge sum to the humans in exchange for Nighteye. Now that we have a rare clue on her, how can he trust anyone else? This blood is only enough for a single divination.¡±

    William mumbled, ¡°Why is he so fixated on Nighteye? This isn¡¯t right! It might be more logical if it¡¯s one of the Monroe n¡¯s princes we¡¯re talking about. You¡¯re not hiding anything from me, are you?¡±

    Twilight smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯re overestimating me. I haven¡¯t really switched over to Medanzo¡¯s side right now. How can he tell me something so important?¡±

    William said after pondering for a while, ¡°I guess that¡¯s true, let¡¯s just go ording to n.¡±

    Twilight asked in a curious tone, ¡°What preparations have you made on your side? You should know that the old fellow Medanzo invited isn¡¯t that simple. I heard he was on par with Lin Xitang before he was injured.¡±

    William said through clenched teeth, ¡°I know that! He was the reason the several werewolf tribes were found out and killed, not leaving even a single descendant!¡±

    Twilight knew about this part of history. She said with a sigh, ¡°That¡¯s inevitable. Although your Summit of Peaks holds the most ancient of orthodox bloodlines, the weakness is simply too evident. The more different werewolf bloodlines there are, the more powerful your ultimate secret art. That¡¯s why everyone would want to wipe out those solitary powers with special bloodlines given the chance.¡±

    A low growl emerged from William¡¯s throat. Apparently, Twilight¡¯s words had struck the wound in his heart.

    William said coldly, ¡°That¡¯s why I need that old man to die! Now that we¡¯re working with the humans, the old man is sure to take the bait. He¡¯s not fully healed yet at the moment and is sure to die if he dares to use his divination arts!¡±

    Twilight couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Just who is it that you¡¯ve found? Even the great werewolf shaman doesn¡¯t have this power.¡±

    William finally said, ¡°The great warlock of the demonkin race.¡±

    Twilight was astonished. ¡°The Warlock of Cmity?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Twilight regained her calm as she said, ¡°If it¡¯s him, then it¡¯s fairly doable. How did you even get in touch with him?¡±

    William replied calmly, ¡°The demonkin have always been quite enthusiastic about weakening the vampire race.¡±

    Twilight gave it some thought and said, ¡°This won¡¯t do! You must¡¯ve gained huge benefits from this deal, I¡¯m losing out here.¡±

    William shot her a nce. ¡°This is something that will greatly weaken your vampire race, don¡¯t you have anything to say about that?¡±

    Twilight said calmly, ¡°This is nothing. Didn¡¯t we also betray the demonkin in our plot? Besides, even the Warlock of Cmity will have to pay a certain price to take that old man¡¯s life. Most importantly, I¡¯ll only dare go over to the Lightless Medanzo¡¯s side after the old man is dead.¡±

    At this point, one patrol squad after the other appeared and passed them by. Seeing the mounted patrols gone, Twilight retracted the disguise and left hurriedly with William.

    Wei Potian eventually woke up after the duo had left the human defensive zone and felt as though he was in a different world. The location was clearly the same as before, but he was surrounded by deceased dark race members, including a demonkin. Judging from the distribution of the corpses, it looked as though Wei Potian had suddenly encountered these soldiers and fought a huge battle, wiping out the enemy forces before falling unconscious in the end. Yet, he didn¡¯t remember fighting anyone before he was knocked out.

    As for that ancient tree from his nightmares, it was nowhere to be found.

    Wei Potian jumped up with a loud cry, but this movement exacerbated the sharp pain from his buttocks. He was rather puzzled¡ªhe remembered vaguely about the pain behind his head, but why was his buttock also in pain?

    Wei Potian rubbed his butt and found that it was fortunately still whole. He was rather thick-skinned and the pain subsided quickly after circting the Thousand Mountain a couple of times, so he paid no more attention to it. He walked over to where the old tree was and looked around carefully. However, there wasn¡¯t the slightest trace of this tree having ever existed¡ªnot to mention the huge trunk, there wasn¡¯t even a splinter on the ground.

    Dissatisfied, he drew his sword and dug a huge pit, but there wasn¡¯t even half a root left in the earth. This time, Wei Potian even started to doubt his own memories. Add to that the appearance of that female face, the entire process was eerie and almost unreal.

    Wei Potian looked back and spied the leather cylinder Twilight had intentionally left behind. The object wasn¡¯t just beautiful but was also emitting a continuous stream of origin power, almost as though it was hoping to be found out.

    Wei Potian picked up the cylinder and fished out a paper capable of storing origin power. He was greatly astonished the moment he unfurled this scroll because the detailed intelligence of a demonkin marquis¡¯ warzone was depicted on it!

    The special paper could store energy and project a three-dimensional map of the warzone once activated. Be it in the empire or Evernight, this kind of map was the highest level of its kind, and no one below the rank of lieutenant general could eveny eyes on it.

    If the intelligence here was true, its value would be significant. The empire could use this to their advantage to utterly route the enemies in this warzone, just like how the dark races were beating down on the military¡¯s battlefront. In the hands of a marshal like Lin Xitang, the humans could even formte a n to lure out and kill the marquis overseeing this area.

    Wei Potian felt giddy about the meat pie that had dropped into hisp, and a huge one at that. Merely handing in this warzone map was enough for him to be promoted to a lieutenant general. Even if he couldn¡¯t be given the actual rank due to theck ofbat strength, actual authority and clearance could be granted in advance.

    What Wei Potian was actually thinking was, ¡°Haha, no more house-arrest!¡±

    Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t aplete idiot. Knowing that these corpses had appeared so mysteriously, how could he not search them? After the investigation, however, he found nothing valuable apart from a viscount¡¯s proof of rank.

    He didn¡¯t need anything else, either. The demonkin viscount himself was the best proof of the map¡¯s origins.

    Not wanting to linger too long in this eerie ce, Wei Potian picked up the demonkin¡¯s corpse and marched toward Indomitable.

    The return journey went rather smoothly, and he arrived back at the Wei n courtyard without alerting anyone.

    After jumping over the wall, Wei Potian was immediately bbergasted. He gazed at that inherently impressive middle-aged man and finally squeezed out a single word, ¡°Dad.¡±

    Marquis Bowang snorted. ¡°You dare run about even during confinement. It seems the family rules are now useless.¡±

    His words sounded quite calm, but it was suffused with a deep chill as well as disappointment. Realizing the abnormality in his father¡¯s tone, Wei Potian could no longer care about his suspicions regarding his undeserved reward. He quickly passed the map over and said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t running about. I went out and reaped a huge contribution.¡±

    Marquis Bowang was clearly skeptical as he took the map and gave it a nce. However, his expression changed drastically upon seeing the contents. He observed the map for a good while before saying, ¡°T-This... is this real?¡±

    ¡°You just need to match the information with the frontline reports.¡±

    Marquis Bowang took a deep breath and said, ¡°No need, it¡¯s definitely genuine.¡±

 Chapter 725: Quiet Life

    As the ruler of a province, Marquis Bowang held significant position and authority. The Far East Wei n had already recovered after sessfully fending off a dark race offensive and things were looking better by the day. Hence, despite the small scale of investment on the floating continent, the marquis understood the defensiveyout of Indomitable fairly well. Just a nce at the peripheral deployments was enough for him to discern its location and authenticity.

    This defensive map held great significance and urgency. As for how it was obtained, that was no longer as important.

    Marquis Bowang said decisively, ¡°Follow me to the Zhao n main camp!¡±

    At this moment, the one overseeing the entire war was Duke You, a man as capable as he was old. Knowing right away after seeing the map that this matter couldn¡¯t be dyed, Zhao Xuanji made an immediate decision. One order after the other went out to the aristocratic families. Momentster, the troops in the city began to mobilize and numerous airships took to the skies.

    Such a major movement couldn¡¯t be concealed. Seeing that most of the troops were from the Zhao n private army, many an astonished aristocratic family began seeking information on what had actually triggered such an operation.

    The battle reports only arrived at dawn.

    The Zhao n and some of its allies moved out in full force to attack a demonkin warzone. The n had utilized every resource at their disposal for this campaign, and it could be said that they had gone out in full force. Zhao Xuanji had even borrowed one of the imperial sub fleets guarding the void to provide cover fire.

    The battle went surprisingly well¡ªthe Zhao n army cut through the enemy forces like a hot knife through butter, encountering almost no resistance along the way. Many of the enemy¡¯s defensive points weren¡¯t even active when the airship fleet¡ªby virtue of the intelligence on the defense map¡ªdecimated them in advance. The demonkin marquis in charge of the warzone brazenly joined the battle, but he was made short work of by a pincer attack from Zhao Xuanji and Prince Rui. In the end, he had to flee with grievous injuries.

    After punching through the warzone, Duke You didn¡¯t continue fighting overzealously. Rather, he slowly assembled his forces under the cover of the airship fleet and pulled back to his original battlefront.

    This battle was so fast and sudden that even the other defense zones didn¡¯t manage to react. The dark race army was still fixated on assailing the military¡¯s defensive area, advancing over ten kilometers in half a night and killing Wu Daoyu¡¯s subordinates in droves. The man felt his heart bleeding, but there was nothing he could do. It was toote to request reinforcements from the military, and all he could do was hold on until thest man.

    Clearing out the entire demonkin warzone in one battle was a shocking achievement. The rumors about the Zhao n¡¯s reluctance to do battle were automatically destroyed, and many people began to ponder deeply about Duke You¡¯s ability to mobilize an imperial fleet at the critical moment.

    One more day passed by before news began to spread that the key to this victoryy with the warzone map that the Wei n heir had brought back. Numerous versions of the story began to fly about¡ªthere was one iming that he had charged deep into enemy territory and snatched the map from the enemy centralmand, and another about how he had sneaked past a thousand kilometers of enemy defenses to steal the information.

    Since Wei Potian had made such a big contribution, next up was naturally the Zhao n who would receive numerous rewards from both the military and the imperial family. In the several days that followed, Wei Potian was fully upied by the many award ceremonies and dinner banquets. He would be dragged into a different wine party before the hangover from thest had passed. Eventually, he had no idea where he was anymore.

    In a short period, the Wei n heir¡¯s fame had reached its zenith and almost looked as if it might surpass that of Zhao Jundu¡¯s.

    It really was no surprise because that map was highly valuable. With its aid, Zhao Xuanji not only managed to wipe out a marquis¡¯ entire force but even baited the enemy leader out and injured him. The demonkin marquis managed to escape in the end, but he was gravely injured¡ªhe would probably never recover even if he had survived. It could be considered the removal of a powerful enemy from the Evernight faction.

    Among the four races, the demonkin¡¯sbat strength would quickly surpass the other three races in thetter stages. A demonkin marquis¡¯bat strength was at least on par with that of werewolf and arachne mighty marquises. Additionally, the demonkin possessed mysterious abilities and secret arts that made fighting them quite a headache-inducing endeavor. No one was willing to fight against such an enemy. As such, to the overall battle on the floating continent, finishing off a demonkin marquis could be considered great progress.

    In the end, Wei Potian was awarded a marquis worth of contributions which, to him, was like a golden meat pie that had fallen into hisp. To be honest, all he had done was run an errand and pick up an item on his way back. At most, one could add the hour of unconsciousness to hisbor and the mysterious kicks to the butt.

    Doubtlessly, all of these was part of Song Zining¡¯s n. This filled Wei Potian with a bit of worry in addition to the present delight. He refused to believe that Song Zining would be that kind¡ªthere must be some sort of trap behind the sweet bait.

    The empire had always awarded contributors generously. Additionally, Wei Potian¡¯s status was special and the Wei family was also a target of recruitment for many powers. Hence, his benefits this time were quite abundant. In addition to the military¡¯s pure contribution points, the imperial family had also awarded him a number of rare treasures, enough to forge himself a set of battle armor. Besides, these treasures possessed special synergy with his Thousand Mountains. Apparently, they had been specially picked out for him.

    The Zhao n¡¯s private rewards were simrly bountiful¡ªthey actually gave him a small high-speed battleship. Despite being a basic model, the present sent the Wei n heir over the moon.

    What puzzled Wei Potian was the fact that Song Zining never appeared again after that night, and no one knew where he had gone.

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t be muddle-headed from the unexpectedly ample rewards. After some thought, he decided to return to Far East Province and manage the war over there. The battle around Indomitable was bing increasingly odd, with who knows how many powers wrestling behind the curtains. He knew that this was no longer the ce for him. Besides, the Wei n had little benefit in this war and Qianye had already deserted the empire. For a brief moment, Wei Potian felt truly downhearted and wanted nothing more than to leave this ce immediately.

    On a lone peak a thousand kilometers away from Indomitable, Bai Kongzhao was standing on a cliffside and gazing at the starry skies. No one knew what she was thinking.

    Bai Aotu climbed up step by step. She then arrived beside the young girl and dropped a backpack at her feet, saying, ¡°The things you want are here.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Startled, Bai Aotu said with a smile, ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve heard you say thank you, but these words are really quite cold. You still don¡¯t consider yourself a part of the Bai family.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t belong to anyone, not even myself. I have no idea why I¡¯m alive, either, perhaps it¡¯s purely the will to survive.¡±

    ¡°Are you leaving?¡±

    Thess nodded. ¡°I can no longer find any sense in remaining here.¡±

    ¡°There is war here, countless experts and enemies, even some that you simply cannot handle. Isn¡¯t that reason enough to stay? If you want to kill, there are innumerable soldiers in the dark race army.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it.¡± The girl shook her head, her eyes inexplicably vacant. ¡°I suddenly feel that there¡¯s no longer any meaning to killing. Those people are no longer a threat to me, and killing them won¡¯t make me feel any safer. Right now, I really don¡¯t know what I want to do.¡±

    Bai Aotu remained silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Must you really go? Is it because of Zhao Ruoxi?¡±

    The young girl shook her head. ¡°No. I know she wants to kill me and she can kill me if she wants, but I have an inexplicable feeling that there is no longer anything for me to do in this ce. My destiny is far far away.¡±

    ¡°Have you thought about where you¡¯re going?¡±

    ¡°The neutralnds,¡± thess replied without any hesitation. It would seem she already had an answer.

    ¡°Because of Qianye? Are you still going to kill him?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s eyes were full of bewilderment. ¡°Him? Perhaps, perhaps not. I only feel that I need to go and take a look there.¡±

    ¡°The neutralnds suit you very well. Then, I wish you good luck.¡±

    The young girl revealed a smile of self-derision. ¡°Good luck shouldn¡¯t belong to someone like me.¡±

    ¡°Neither I,¡± Bai Aotu replied indifferently.

    The young girl picked up her backpack and waved at Bai Aotu. ¡°I¡¯m leaving now.¡±

    Just before jumping off the cliff, Bai Kongzhao looked back and said, ¡°Although I¡¯m not from the Bai n, I like this name. I¡¯ll keep on using it!¡±

    She then leapt off the cliff and fell straight down, eventually fading away into the vast wilderness.

    Only a good whileter did Bai Aotu leave in silence.

    Life in the neutralnds was surprisingly calm. Qianye¡¯s daily job consisted of digging pits and renovating the house. After that great battle, East Peak had no more martial uses¡ªit quickly became a shovel for digging through soil and a saw for chopping trees.

    After several days, a rather impressive looking courtyard had begun to take shape. The walls had been fully constructed,plete with a lookout tower and two big houses each upying half of the interior. On the other side was a storeroom. Only a small part of it was visible on the surface with the remainder being an underground icehouse.

    The old man had already set up his workshop. At the moment, he was mostly producing equipment for daily use and spare parts for ancient machines, which gave him a sense of aplishment.

    Nighteye and Zhuji would go out to hunt every day while scouting the surrounding areas in passing. The environment on the other side of the river was no different from this side, but a widespread mist hung in the air less than ten kilometers from the riverbank. Neither Nighteye nor little Zhuji entered it because they could feel a vague sense of danger from within it.

    That night, the sky was starting to grow dark and the temperature was quickly dropping. The little courtyard, however, was full of warmth as the flickering ze drove away the rising cold.

    There were already several dishes on the dining table, filling the room with their delicious aroma. One could tell at a nce that it was Qianye¡¯s work. The door opened at this point and in walked Nighteye. Squealing in delight upon seeing the dishes, she quickly shook away the frost on her cloak and took her seat at the table.

    Qianye walked out from the kitchen with a huge bowl of soup in his hands, adle in his mouth, and a te on his head.

    He put the soup down on the table and nced about. ¡°Where¡¯s Zhuji?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s gone down to the sea, but she should be back soon since it¡¯s dinner time,¡± Nighteye replied.

    ¡°I guess so. No matter how yful this little girl is, food is still the most important thing to her. She¡¯ll return after a while,¡± Qianye said with a smile.

    At this moment, the doors flew open with a bang and Zhuji rushed inside with a lobster even bigger than herself, crying, ¡°Extra dish, extra dish!¡±

 Chapter 726: Uninvited Gues

    Qianye and Nighteye nced at one another. In the end, Qianye said with a cough, ¡°Put down that... thing, first. Be careful.¡±

    The ocean was the source of true danger. At first, Qianye and Nighteye weren¡¯t worried about Zhuji because the girl¡¯s body was extremely sturdy and almost as strong as Qianye¡¯s own. Ordinary sea beasts weren¡¯t her match at all¡ªthey could hardly even bite through her skin. Additionally, the arachne were different from the werewolves who were inherently bad in the water. There was even a subspecies called water spiders. There was no telling how much of this water spider bloodline Little Zhuji had, but at least the recent days had proven that she was a natural fighter under the water.

    Hence, Qianye and Nighteye became more supportive over her going underwater, only warning her not to enter the deep-sea regions. After seeing this lobster, however, their expressions changed somewhat. Zhuji was quite obedient. She tossed the lobster onto the ground and stepped on it before the creature could turn around and retaliate. The stomp caused the creature to howl in agony and its shell to let out creaking noises.

    The two adults exchanged a nce. Nighteye drew her vampiric de, crouched down in front of the creature, and tapped its head with the de. ¡°Where exactly are you from? Can you speak ournguage?¡±

    Little Zhuji became dazed. ¡°It can speak?¡± Qianye and Nighteye had told her that she couldn¡¯t eat anything that could ¡®speak¡¯. This development put her in an extremely bad mood.

    Clearly quite terrified of the vampiric de in Nighteye¡¯s hands, the lobster began making hissing noises. Even if the lobster was an intelligent creature, its natural anatomical structure made it difficult for it to learn human speech.

    Nighteye used the de to flick off a translucent scale from its body. This carapace clearly had a locking mechanism near its edges that would fasten it tightly to the lobster¡¯s body.

    Qianye was also quite interested in the object. He took the scale and observed it for a while before crushing it in his hands. The scale bent out of shape amidst creaking noises, but it actually didn¡¯t break apart. One could see from this just how sturdy it was.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a natural shell but a type of armor.¡± Qianye studied the lobster and removed dozens more of such scales. After everything was pieced together, a neat, translucent lobster shell was formed.

    The lobster became much less imposing after having its shell removed. Ity prone on the ground, blowing some bubbles in silence.

    Nighteye knocked the shell on its head and said, ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to speak, we can make a good soup out of you.¡±

    The lobster looked like it didn¡¯t know what soup meant and merely remained limp on the ground.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, there was a clear flow of origin power in the creature, and the pathways were quite different from that of ordinary fierce beasts. Although its disguise was quite realistic, the origin fluctuations within grew stronger under Nighteye¡¯s threat. It could hide its identity from other people, but no small changes could escape Qianye¡¯s notice.

    Apparently, this lobster was not just intelligent but highly so.

    After several fruitless attempts, Nighteye also became somewhat impatient. She tapped on the lobster¡¯s skull and said coldly, ¡°Since you¡¯re not willing to speak, I¡¯ll just take it as you can¡¯t speak.¡±

    It was at this time that the lobster suddenly erupted with extreme power. It tossed Zhuji away, bounced up from the ground, and shot straight toward Nighteye like a cannonball! The horn on its forehead flickered with a deep blue brilliance¡ªthe glow of origin power!

    As fast as the lobster was, he was still slower than Qianye and Nighteye. Thetter pulled back to evade that rock-crushing attack, while Qianye caught the creature from the back, freezing it mid-air.

    The lobster¡¯s body flickered with origin power as it bent its body in a bid to struggle free. Despite being very powerful, it couldn¡¯t escape Qianye¡¯s palms after being caught. The exoskeleton started to creak and groan, almost as if it would start to crack the very next moment.

    Finding no way to escape, it shot out several of its whiskers with a loud cry, aiming for Nighteye¡¯s abdomen! These whiskers were iparably sharp and the force behind them was no weaker than a bullet.

    The attack came abruptly, but it still couldn¡¯t do anything to Nighteye. Her vampiric de drew out several beams of light as she deflected all of the iing projectiles.

    This attack, however, infuriated Qianye, who quickly increased the force from his hand and crushed the shell with a loud crack. Soon afterward, a dark golden blood energy advanced along the creatures spine and assaulted its brain. The lobster unleashed a miserable scream, its limbs swinging about randomly as its origin power disappeared.

    Qianye threw the creature to the ground with a snort. ¡°Courting death.¡±

    The lobster¡¯s mouthpiece moved about and suddenly produced a harsh, peculiar speech, ¡°You people dare invade the sea, you will die. All of you will die!!!¡±

    Doubtlessly, this was humannguage, and in addition, it was the official imperialnguage. This also happened to be themon speech used throughout the neutralnds.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of the lobster¡¯s threat. He had even betrayed the empire, so what could this little fellow from a corner of the neutralnds even do? Fearlessness was one thing, but this mysterious creature¡¯s origins was something he needed to confirm.

    ¡°Throw this thing into the ice-room. I¡¯ll go to town tomorrow and see if anyone knows its origins,¡± Qianye said.

    Affirming the instructions, Nighteye picked up the lobster and left. Little Zhuji still wasn¡¯t sure what had just happened. She followed Nighteye with a sour expression, mumbling, ¡°No more extra dish.¡±

    The little fellow wouldn¡¯t even take a bite out of anything Qianye and Nighteye had absorbed with their vampiric des, or things that had been attacked by blood energy. As she saw it, Qianye killing this lobster with his blood energy was akin to destroying a good dinner. However, the lobster had already proven its intelligence, so Qianye wasn¡¯t going to let her eat it either way.

    Momentster, the four sat down for dinner. The old man, who had been silent this whole time, said with a worried expression, ¡°Maybe I should set up some ballistae and reinforce our defenses? Perhaps we should also move further away from the sea.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°It¡¯s the ck Grove behind us. Staying too close to it isn¡¯t a great idea, either. We¡¯re currently a fair ways from the ocean. Don¡¯t worry, those aquatic creatures will have theirbat strength halved onnd.¡±

    The old man¡¯s countenance improved a bit, but he still wasn¡¯t quite assured. ¡°Zhuji shouldn¡¯t go to the sea anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± the little fellow replied while eating intently.

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°Elder Cui is right. Zhuji, you can¡¯t y in the ocean in the future, understand?¡±

    Begrudgingly, Zhuji promised to stay away.

    After dinner, the old man returned to his room to rest. Habitually sleepy after eating her fill, little Zhuji climbed onto the sofa with difficulty and fell asleep.

    After cleaning up the dinner table, Nighteye didn¡¯t retire as she normally would. Instead, she dragged Qianye over and sat down together. ¡°You haven¡¯t cultivated for some time.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I need to maintain a bnce between my daybreak and darkness origin powers. The problem is, my blood energy is developing too fast, so I need to cultivate daybreak energy. I¡¯ll start training after you recover.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m mostly healed now.¡±

    ¡°Without the ancient blood pond, you¡¯ll still need some time to fully recuperate. This is your weakest period. My cultivation can wait.¡±

    Nighteye sighed lightly. ¡°My strength is probably at the level of a third-rank viscount right now. I-I don¡¯t want to dy you.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°There are a lot of things I can do without cultivating. Nighttime activities can also increase one¡¯s strength.¡±

    Nighteye sighed once more. ¡°You¡¯re just like that, always making me feel like a burden.¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly and pulled Nighteye into his arms. ¡°Who dares say our Monroe Princess is a burden? Be a good girl and recover first. After you¡¯re healed, I¡¯ll need you to protect me while I¡¯m cultivating.¡±

    Only after Nighteye fell into deep sleep did Qianye tiptoe out of the room.

    There were several conditions for a vampire¡¯s recovery¡ªsufficient blood energy or essence blood, and sleep. Nighteye had absorbed enough essence blood from those fierce beasts during theirst battle. All that was left was to slowly regenerate in sleep. Vampires possessed fairly powerful regenerative potential, but Li Fengshui had used arge number of medicines that inhibited her blood energy and blood core. Even until now, these effects hadn¡¯t worn off entirely.

    Qianye walked out of the room, picked up a piece of wood, and began carving it in the courtyard. The heavy East Peak was as light as a feather in his hands. Every stroke of the dended at the right time and ce, soon forming the outline of a wooden vase.

    Next up, Qianye calmed his mind and began carving flower patterns on the vase using East Peak as a carving knife. The wood from the ck Grove was both hard and sturdy, but the sword cut through it like tofu. A slight increase in strength would very well cause the vase to crack into two.

    The night was quiet and time passed by in silence. Qianye had lost track of how many strokes he had made, but the vase had be extremely exquisite and detailed. The carvings on the vase depicted the scene where Nighteye first arrived at the Red Spider Lily. [1] This work of art was about to bepleted, yet Qianye hadn¡¯t made a single mistake throughout the entire process.

    Perhaps because its wood was being carved, the ck Grove emitted a continuous howl, apanied by the asional eerie roar. However, none of these could affect Qianye. Every night, the Dark Grove would roar, but Qianye only paid attention to his own business. One after the other, household utensils and decorative items, among other things, were produced by East Peak.

    Regardless of whether the forest was seeking to express a threat or protest, neither beast tide nor native warriors appeared again. It would seem that they were intimidated by Qianye¡¯sst massacre.

    The night, however, wasn¡¯t entirely lonesome. There was a pair of eyes staring at Qianye from the sea, and it was the same every night.

    There were no proper words to describe those eyes. Despite being separated by arge expanse of seawater, it could see Qianye¡¯s every little move and refused to ignore even the slightest of details rted to him.

 Chapter 727: All Ou

    At first, Qianye would make asional mistakes, sometimes even splitting the object into two. East Peak was simply too heavy and excessively sharp. It could easily crush the ck wood without any extra force. But soon, his mistakes grew less and less frequent. Just the night before, that mysterious existence could still sense some minute deviations of the sword tip. Tonight, however, the de was already moving with the utmost perfection.

    At this point, the mysterious being in the sea realized that Qianye¡¯s heart had calmed down entirely. A true confrontation was about toe.

    As dawn arrived, Qianye nced at the vase in his hand with great satisfaction. His recent practice of carving before the ocean was, in truth, a process of training his sword technique and intent. At least in terms of sword technique, Qianye felt that he had no more room for improvement. He took the vase into the house and ced it on a rack. Afterward, he went to the ice-room and hauled two frozen beasts carcasses onto the truck. Seeing that there was a lot of empty space left, he pondered for a while, and then put the two beast-tusk sculptures he had carved into a case and tossed them into the truck.

    These two sculptures were just random stuff Qianye had made because he had nothing better to do, and there were minor defects on both of them. The space inside the house was limited, so he couldn¡¯t arrange too many of his handicrafts there.

    The car rocked and swayed for a good two hours before reaching the small town. This pace was slower than Qianye moving all the goods by himself, but this kind of leisurely travel was refreshing to him and allowed his tense nerves to rx.

    The atmosphere in town was somewhat different. The townspeople were sweeping the streets and clearing out the rubbish.

    Qianye called out to one of them and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°They said there¡¯s a big charactering down from above. We need to clean the ce up, lest that person gets upset.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. What kind of character?¡±

    That person shrugged. ¡°How should I know? In any case, I heard he¡¯s pretty important.¡±

    In the neutralnds, these so-called important characters usually referred to people with greatbat strength. In thiswlessnd, the powerful characters were the ones who could decide the life and death of the weaker ones.

    Realizing that he wasn¡¯t going to get much out of these people, Qianye put this matter to the back of his mind and proceeded with trading his goods for fuel andponents. He then loaded his haul onto the antique vehicle and drove back to his home.

    One day passed by in peace¡ªZhuji and Nighteye went to bed early after dinner while the old man continued working on histhe. This kind of quiet life suited him very well and filled him with new inspiration. ording to him, Qianye would be able to use a type of extremely powerful bullet very soon.

    Qianye secretly dismissed the ims and was more satisfied that the old man had something to strive toward. As for origin bullets, nothing could be as powerful as the Shot of Inception. Yet, the old man was determined to make it, so Qianye would support him as much as he could.

    Night arrived and it was once again entirely silent. Qianye picked up a piece of wood and walked out into the courtyard. This time, he didn¡¯t stop in front of the gates but went all the way to the seaside.

    The ocean at night was deep, distant, and the surging tides filled the air with a stifling sensation¡ªwho knew what secrets were hidden underneath the boundless depths of its waters?

    Qianye had no idea why he hade to the seaside. It was almost as though something there was calling out to him, but with how strong he was at the moment, few existences could subconsciously affect him like this.

    Qianye investigated the ce thoroughly, but that feeling from just now had vanished. He paid no more attention to it and simply sat down on one of the rocks to do his carving.

    The surging waves roared under the night sky, crashing repeatedly onto the shoal rocks and spraying white foam into the air. Qianye had long since gotten used to the sound of crashing tides. Not to mention the waves, he wouldn¡¯t be affected even if someone were shouting in his ears.

    Qianye cut open the wooden pir and split it into several segments. Then, he picked a random piece and began carving upon it, leaving the rest sitting on one side.

    It seemed like the night would pass by peacefully, just like before.

    All of a sudden, a big wave crashed onto the beach with a resounding roar. Startled, Qianye felt his de deviate ever so slightly, chipping off half the fledgling sculpture and ruining it entirely.

    Qianye broke into a frown¡ªafter some thought, he put down the ruined work and proceeded to carve another piece.

    The tides grew louder and louder, almost as though the Eastern Sea was restless and agitated. Another crack was heard as East Peak lost control and split the wood into two.

    Qianye pondered for a moment before making a third attempt. Before long, East Peak sank down unexpectedly and chipped off a big piece of the wood.

    His eyes immediately turned blue. This time, he clearly saw a wisp of void origin power appear out of nowhere and push East Peak away from its intended trajectory. No matter how slow Qianye was, there was no way he wouldn¡¯t know something was off about these repeated failures. He shot a nce at the ocean and had a vague feeling that this was a kind of confrontation.

    Qianye picked up a piece of wood and kept on carving. As expected, a wisp of void origin power appeared before long and began to affect East Peak¡¯s movements. With how proficient he was in sword techniques, dealing with this intrusive force became easier now that he could see it. He was able to cancel out the draw of the void origin power with just a bit of force from his wrist. East Peak thus steadily shaved out a t wooden board and went on with its carving.

    The mysterious existence in the sea seemed dissatisfied with the oue. Soon, yet another wisp of origin power appeared beside Qianye in an attempt to tug at his sword. This, he duly crushed with the de, yet a third materialized all of a sudden. The East Peak began to drift upward and caused a big piece off of the wood to break off.

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose slightly. He discarded the ruined material and began anew with another segment. This time, the mysterious existence was no longer polite¡ªone strand of void origin power appeared after the other, moving unpredictably and at varying speeds. Now that Qianye was guarded, his wrist shook repeatedly as he dissolved the invasive energy in quick session.

    However, at this moment, a wisp of void origin power appeared behind him and triggered a resonance with East Peak. The resultant vibration caused the carving in Qianye¡¯s hand to explode and shatter¡ªhe had lost again.

    This time, Qianye wasn¡¯t in a rush to y. He meditated for a moment on how the origin power had resonated with East Peak before picking up his next piece.

    The night passed by exceptionally fast, and soon, it was dawn. The great ocean gradually became calm and the mysterious existence had left quietly. At this point, there was a pile of wasted lumber at Qianye¡¯s feet. He had gone back home several times during the night to replenish the stock. From this, one could see just how many times he was defeated.

    By midnight, Qianye had already pushed his sword techniques to the extreme. It could be said that his every move was wondrous and blended perfectly with nature itself. Yet, there was no end to the wisps of void origin power¡ªthey would often appear at the same time, working synergistically in aplicated pattern that was almost impossible to grasp. At that point, it was no longer a situation where one could rely solely on sword arts.

    Despite knowing that this mysterious entity was trying to overwhelm him with force, Qianye pretended not to notice and simply refused to activate his origin power and blood energy. He relied solely on his physical strength and exquisite sword techniques to deal with the iing disruption. At this moment, his skills had already reached their zenith, and it was no longer easy to make any progress. This remote contest with the mysterious ocean existence, however, was a great chance for him to sharpen himself. Qianye thus devoted his entire heart into wrestling with this mysterious character.

    Only when the entity departed at dawn did Qianye realize that the time he could hold out against the onught had grown much longerpared to midnight. Although the improvement was only by a few seconds, it was still indicative of solid progress.

    He wasn¡¯t quite sure about the mysterious being¡¯s intentions, but his benefits were very real. Shooting a nce at the color of the sky, Qianye picked up all the ruined pieces of wood and returned to the courtyard. These damaged carvings couldn¡¯t be wasted because they would make for high-quality firewood.

    At night the following day, Qianye once again felt the mysterious calling after Nighteye and Zhuji had gone to bed. As such, he picked up East Peak and headed to the sea with the lumber in tow.

    The first round was no different fromst night¡ªQianye gave it everything he had but was still defeated, and the wooden sculpture in his hand turned to sawdust. Not discouraged in the slightest, he was just about to begin the second bout when he nced back, feeling that something was wrong.

    The nocturnal scenery seemed no different from the norm, but Qianye¡¯s powerful vision caught sight of the forest moving, its borders extending forward for over ten meters beforeing to a stop. Some of the trees were really moving, while others were sprouting up from the ground. With how fast the ck Grove could grow, these saplings would probably reach full development in one day.

    A theory appeared in Qianye¡¯s heart¡ªthe ck Grove¡¯s expansion was because he had lost the round just now.

    This idea emerged out of nowhere, almost as though it was the only thing right and proper. Despite having no way to prove this, his instincts told him that it was the truth.

    When he nced back at the ocean, Qianye had grown much more serious. It would seem that this mysterious existence wasn¡¯t satisfied with a simple contest and wanted to raise the stakes. If Qianye were to lose, the courtyard he had built would soon be devoured by the ck Grove.

    Although he could stop the ck Grove by chopping down its trees, Qianye knew that the existence in the sea would interfere personally if he were to do that. It could already do whatever it wanted just by utilizing void origin power. Qianye understood that this was a terrifying existence at least at the level of a duke.

    Hence, he made up his mind and picked up yet another piece of wood, paying great attention to it this time around. Things were indeed different under pressure. Qianye held out for the longest time during this bout and managed to finish most of the carving before he was defeated.

    Perhaps out of respect and recognition, the forest only advanced a little bit this time.

    At this rate, though, the ck Grove would upy half of the emptynd in one night, and in three, Qianye would have to move to the other side of the river¡ªthe only other option being the sea. It was already quite clear that neither the Eastern Sea nor the ck Grove was habitable.

    Qianye once again faced the ocean and picked up yet another piece of wood. As East Peak made its first carving, the faint sound of ocean tides echoed around Qianye, almost overpowering the roar of the Eastern Sea itself.

    Several wisps of origin power appeared in session, but all of them were crushed immediately before they could affect East Peak.

    At this point, one could say that Qianye had gone all out and activated the domain powers of his Oceanic Vortex.

 Chapter 728: Competition

    The mysterious entity in the ocean was so astonished that it couldn¡¯t react for a while. After a period of silence, eight wisps of void origin power appeared around Qianye, and they were much sturdier than the ones in the past. The energy managed to resist the power of the Oceanic Vortex and even tug on East Peak.

    This attack appeared so abruptly that it caused the de to jolt away from its intended track. However, dark golden blood energy flickered around Qianye¡¯s body and suppressed the movement with extreme force, effectively resisting the round of attacks.

    The mysterious entity naturally wouldn¡¯t give up. Almost ten such strands of origin power appeared again in quick session and charged straight for Qianye. Yet, the might of the Oceanic Vortex suddenly vanished at this point¡ªaffected by the sudden loss of a target, the surging power of the iing attack flew off in all directions.

    Qianye had won this round!

    The two parties thuspeted repeatedly. Qianye used his domain with great mastery, causing it to appear and vanish at will. During critical moments, he would activate his blood energy for a burst of power, forcibly suppressing the draw of the void origin power. For a moment, the mysterious existence could do nothing against Qianye.

    Momentster, Qianye¡¯s final sh fell and the carving waspleted!

    This was the first time Qianye had won in thest two nights. Looking at the exquisite sculpture of little Zhuji in his hands, he sighed in relief. He was drenched in sweatpleting this little sculpture was no easier than fighting a powerful enemy in a bloody battle, and it could be said that he had used up all of his trump cards except for the Shot of Inception.

    Even so, it was only a close victory with Qianye¡¯s hands almost slipping on several asions. There was no way he would¡¯ve won if it wasn¡¯t for the support of the dark golden blood energy that allowed him to suppress the pull of the void origin power.

    Qianye carefully ced the sculpture to the side, taking advantage of this time to take a break and recall the process of this contest.

    The mysterious entity had indeed used several wisps of void origin power, but it had controlled its power to just above Qianye¡¯sbat strength. It could be said that the creature didn¡¯t use overwhelming force to suppress him but fought him fairly instead. Qianye had won this round with great difficulty and there was also a measure of luck involved. The next round would very likely be a loss for him.

    Purely in terms ofbat strength, that mysterious entity had reached a level where every random move was one with nature, and its standards were even higher than Zhao Jundu¡¯s. Qianye had never seen such a high level in all of his life. After some thought, he felt that only people like Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang might reach such a stage.

    After winning this round, the parts of the ck Grove that had stretched out receded entirely, even clearing out some space in the original forest area. However, an urging intent soon arose from the deep darkness to challenge him.

    Qianye slowly picked up a new piece of wood and began a new round.

    As expected, this round was his loss, and so were the two that followed. After three bouts, an abnormal redness appeared on Qianye¡¯s face and his blood core began pulsing intensively. His chest tightened, and he almost couldn¡¯t lift East Peak up.

    Exhausted of both origin power and blood energy, Qianye was no longer capable of doing battle after the three rounds. The previous night, he hadn¡¯t used his origin power and merelypeted in technique. He was naturally fine, no matter how long the contest went on. Tonight, however, was a truly grueling battle, and Qianye was already like an arrow at the end of its flight by the time it was midnight.

    He looked back and saw that the forest had pushed forward and covered up half thend. Clenching his teeth, he increased the pulsation of his blood core with all his might and picked up another piece of wood.

    However, the mysterious existence had already noticed Qianye¡¯s weak state. It transmitted the intention to stop before returning to the sea.

    Qianye heaved a long sigh and was already on the brink of copse. He could see that the ck Grove had upied arge patch of the emptynd, but there were only new sprouts there. Moreover, they stopped growing after reaching a meter in height.

    Qianye understood that this was the mysterious entity showing mercy. If he were to lose theing night, then these sprouts would grow into giant trees and his new home would soon be devoured by the ck Grove.

    What was the mysterious existence¡¯s motive? Qianye pondered back and forth but simply couldn¡¯t find an answer.

    At dawn the next day, both Nighteye and the old man were shocked to find that the forest had expanded rapidly. After learning of the reason, however, Nighteye didn¡¯t seem so worried. ¡°We can just move to town if needed.¡±

    Cui Yuanhai shook his head. ¡°It might not be that simple. ording to Qianye¡¯s description, that thing can find us all the same even if we move.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t it be fine if we just defeat it?¡± Zhuji offered a solution.

    Qianye rubbed her head and said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re right, we just need to beat it.¡±

    The summons was heard once more as night finally arrived. Qianye thus arrived at the shore and began a new round.

    In the blink of an eye, the moon was high in the sky and the clock had struck past midnight. Drenched in sweat and panting, Qianye propped himself up on his sword. The fatigue was even worse than the previous night, but there were now twoplete sculptures standing on the shoal rocks.

    Qianye had fought a total of five rounds in half a night and won two of them¡ªthere was probably no need to exin the difficulty involved.

    The rewards granted for winning were much greater than what he would lose when defeated. Hence, the ck Grove duly spat out a portion of thend it had invaded.

    Qianye noticed something after the mysterious entity¡¯s departure¡ªa fifty-kilometer area around thetter was devoid of any beasts, likely due to its intimidating aura. Moreover, the mysterious entity wouldn¡¯t allow any other person to affect Qianye before the next round. This was the safest moment for him and a good opportunity to cultivate.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t cultivated his daybreak origin power for a long time. Now that he had finally found a suitable environment, he sat down on the rocks by the ocean and slowly circted his Profound Combatant Form.

    The moment the form was activated, an origin vortex formed around Qianye that was much bigger than the one back on Evernight Continent. Despite barely having taken shape, it was already over a hundred meters and growing fast.

    Therger the vortex, the stronger and faster the void origin power would be drawn in. Qianye was fairly apprehensive because he had never controlled such a big origin vortex before. As such, he quickly restrained his origin power and prevented the vortex from expanding further.

    It was at this time that sudden crisp sounds rang out around Qianye, almost like the shattering of teacups. Several voidcerations had appeared around him, with violent void origin power gushing out through them.

    Qianye discovered that the spatial construct of the neutralnds was fairly unstable. The pressure from his origin vortex could easily tear the fabric apart and draw out void origin power through the gaps. With severalcerations spitting out origin power at the same time, a small origin storm soon formed around Qianye. The pressure therein made Qianye feel as though he were shouldering a mountain¡ªeven his spine was beginning to creak and groan.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the sturdiness of his body beingparable to the ancient vampires, there was no way he would¡¯ve been able to withstand it. Any random human below the divine champion rank would be crushed into a meat-pie.

    Qianye understood at this point that physical strength was the true bottleneck of the Profound Combatant Form.

    This more than a hundred meter vortex was faster than anything Qianye had experienced before in terms of absorption rate. In just one hour, Qianye was already filled to the brim and almost overflowing with void origin power. Back on Evernight Continent, he would need several days of ordinary cultivation in order to absorb his full capacity.

    Void origin power was extremely violent. Even Qianye, with his powerful constitution, didn¡¯t dare to absorb too much. He gradually withdrew the Profound Combatant Form and followed up with the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Glory Chapter, refining the newly harvested void origin power into daybreak.

    Refining the void origin power was a tedious task that couldn¡¯t be rushed even if he wanted to. Time passed by unknowingly during cultivation, and soon, the sky had turned a milky white and the clouds of dawn had decorated the Eastern Sea with ayer of gold. The rippling waves were like specks of gold rushing to get to the shore.

    At this moment, the two origin vortices in Qianye¡¯s body were filled with golden origin power, and the crystalline granules within resembled pieces of fragmented gold orbiting the center. This scene resembled the ocean in the outside world. After the two vortices were filled by the constantly refined origin power from the Glory Chapter, a third began to take shape and absorb the external energy.

    The formation of a third vortex was imminent and natural. The process would be officiallyplete in a few days when he had finished refining all of the void origin power in his body.

    Qianye retracted the Glory Chapter and slowly opened his eyes. He was facing the ocean, at this moment, with the break of dawn looming overhead. A sudden feeling of vastness overwhelmed his heart¡ªthe pressure he had been feeling for many days was swept away as he spat out a mouthful of impurities amidst the faint sounds of rumbling thunder.

    Qianye stood up and went back to the courtyard. A new day had begun.

    A shadow flickered briefly through the ck Grove and hid away immediately upon seeing Qianye. Thetter was somewhat surprised because it was rare to see the natives moving about in the daytime, not to mention so close to the courtyard too. However, Nighteye hadrgely recovered and there was also Zhuji around. The natives would probably suffer quite badly if they wanted to assault their walls.

    Qianye turned his gaze away and suddenly realized that the other side of the river had cleared up a fair bit. The lingering mist had somewhat receded, revealing arge patch ofnd.

    Could it be that winning against the mysterious entity would also cause the mist to shrink? If that were the case, it could only be good news.

    Qianye began cleaning ingredients for breakfast after returning to the courtyard.

    At this moment, the little town was almost new¡ªthe streets were squeaky clean, and the piles of rubbish that used to be everywhere had vanished without a trace. Iron Bear was waiting at the gates with all of his subordinates.

    The roar of an engine filled the air as an airship arrived andnded outside the town. The vessel, embedded with arge number of beast tusks, looked fairly sinister, and the deep azure-colored insignia on it depicted a wolf¡¯s head with bloody fangs.

    Even Iron Bear couldn¡¯t help but feel apprehensive upon seeing the wolf head insignia because it was a representation of the Wolf King. Those who could put such a crest on their ship naturally shared an extraordinary rtionship with the ruler.

    The airship doors were kicked open and out walked anky young man with a charming face. He had golden rings on his nose and the jewels embedded in them were sparkling brightly under the sun. He looked around at the surroundings and said, ¡°What kind of run-down ce is this!?¡± He then nced at Iron Bear and added, ¡°And there¡¯s a group of crappy people too.¡±

 Chapter 729: Im Busy

    The young man jumped off the airship, his nail-studded boots producing a swoosh as theynded firmly on the ground. He was d in a leather suit, and beneath his unbuttonedpel was a ck shirt with arge wolf-head embroidered on it. The bloody fangs on it were exceptionally eye-catching¡ªit was almost as though he wanted everyone to know about his rtionship with the Wolf King.

    There was a row of daggers within the lining of the man¡¯s clothes, ranging from des as thin as a finger to serrated ones as thick as a forearm. He made no move to hide these daggers and, on the contrary, was even showing them off.

    A dozen or so youths in ck leather suits, all of them sporting the crest of the wolf king, jumped off behind this person.

    The young man walked over to Iron Bear and said frivolously, ¡°So, you¡¯re the leader here?¡±

    ¡°I am. May I know your name?¡± Iron Bear asked cautiously.

    The young man patted his chest and said proudly, ¡°I¡¯m Xue Ding, you might not recognize me, but you must¡¯ve heard about me before. The Wolf King is my foster father!¡±

    Iron Bear was startled. Everyone knew the Wolf King was a werewolf¡ªthis fellow before him was clearly human, yet he had recognized the Wolf King as his adoptive father and was even so proud about it. As for the name Xue Ding, he had never even heard of it before. But regardless, the Wolf King was the ruler of the Eastern Sea, an expert Iron Bear had no hope of catching up to. His adoptive son wasn¡¯t someone Iron Bear could afford to offend.

    As though he had noticed Iron Bear¡¯s expression, Xue Ding walked over and said while tapping on Iron Bear¡¯s chest, ¡°What, do you suspect that I¡¯m pretending?¡±

    A strong whirlwind kicked up around the two, sending Little Knife and the others around them reeling and unable to find their footing.

    Iron Bear¡¯s expression changed drastically. He could clearly sense four powerful origin vortices in Xue Ding¡¯s body, whirling violently like a blue-green tempest.

    After Xue Ding¡¯s disy of power, Iron Bear immediately collected his thoughts and dared not reveal any opinion.

    The young man pointed to his group of ck-robed youths and said, ¡°These are the ck Wolf Guards, my personal guard force as well as a recement for the Wolf King¡¯s Guard.¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King seems to favor you quite a bit.¡± Iron Bear offered a stiff ttery.

    Xue Ding, however, seemed to be enjoying it. He said, following a burst of loudughter, ¡°My foster father indeed treats me well. Now, do you still doubt my identity?¡±

    Iron Bear began to sweat. ¡°I don¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t dare. Who would dare offend the Wolf King¡¯s people in the Eastern Sea?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you understand.¡± Xue Ding patted Iron Bear¡¯s shoulder and walked into the town. ¡°This ce is quite run-down, but I¡¯ll improvise. Prepare something for me to eat and then let¡¯s see if there¡¯s anything fun to y with.¡±

    ¡°Everything¡¯s ready, please follow me.¡±

    Iron Bear led the entourage into the small town. In order to establish their might, these ck Wolf Guards kept their auras fully released. A dozen or so rank-eight warriors was enough to intimidate the forces of this town¡ªeven Iron Bear himself would have to pull back before them.

    Xue Ding stopped a passing young girl and groped her a couple of times. He then pushed her away, saying, ¡°No flesh at all.¡±

    The girl hurried away as though she had just escaped from death, triggering a bout ofughter from the ck Wolf Guards. Most of the townsmen simply watched on. Some of them seemed angry but didn¡¯t have the courage to speak out. The four powerful origin vortices on Xue Ding¡¯s body were like four mobile storms that could easily crush anyone in the town.

    Xue Ding soon arrived at Iron Bear¡¯s residence and simply took the central seat. Meanwhile, Iron Bear ordered his men to serve up the wine and food, which more or less filled the entire table.

    Xue Ding¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting it, but this little ce has some really good stuff!¡±

    He pulled out a dagger, used it to fork arge piece of meat into his te, and then began chewing on it. While eating, he said in an ambiguous tone, ¡°This is really not bad! This taste, mm, this isn¡¯t the iron-horned rhinoceros. It¡¯s the meat of a ughter-bull, and a violent one at that! I only get to eat such good things at my adoptive father¡¯s ce.¡±

    Xue Ding offered so much praise that Iron Bear could no longer remain calm. He hadn¡¯t expected the man to evaluate this roasted meat so highly. To be honest, he couldn¡¯t really identify the creature¡¯s species when Qianye had brought a creature that looked like a cross between an armored bull and an iron rhino. There were simply too many species of beasts in the neutralnds. Thinking that it was an ordinary beast, Iron Bear had handed it to the kitchen for the wee feast.

    While eating, Xue Dingined incessantly about Iron Bear¡¯s chef for wasting such a high-grade ingredient. Iron Bear hadn¡¯t realized anything, but Little Knife quickly caught onto the man¡¯s hint. ¡°There¡¯s still arge piece of this meat in the kitchen. I¡¯ll have someone pack it up and deliver it to your airship.¡±

    ¡°This boy is smart, he knows that I¡¯m eager to eat this.¡± Xue Dingughed while patting Little Knife¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Why not follow me in the future? I like smart people. You can choose to be a ck Wolf Guard.¡±

    Little Knife replied with a smile, ¡°I thank Young Noble Xue for his favor, but my wife is pregnant right now. I¡¯ll join you once she¡¯s given birth.¡±

    ¡°Very well, it¡¯s decided then. I¡¯ll be waiting for you!¡± Xue Ding was apparently quite heroic.

    The banquet went on until the sun began to set over the Eastern Sea and only ended after it was dark. Xue Ding was fairly satisfied with the food and immediately promised to half the town¡¯s taxes this year. Iron Bear was overjoyed at this development because the reduced taxes would enter his own pockets.

    Iron Bear woke up only after a couple of pokes from Little Knife, quickly inviting Xue Ding to take a stroll around the town and take whatever struck his fancy.

    The young man was greatly pleased and offered praises to Iron Bear and Little Knife for their thoughtfulness. He then went off to walk around.

    The little town was rather poor and barren¡ªonly a couple of local products interested him, and nothing imported could really catch his eyes. There were, however, some pretty girls in town, including a few proactive ones shooting flirtatious nces at Xue Ding, hoping to hook up with the Wolf King¡¯s foster son. The man didn¡¯t reject anyone, either. He would grope everyoneing his way before pushing them aside. It would seem he had no intention of bringing them back to his room.

    ¡°Eh?¡± He suddenly picked up a wooden sculpture along the way, one depicting a tall beast with slender limbs and a row of de-like spikes stretching from head to toe. Vivid and lifelike, the wooden creature was full of energy and seemed like it would injure the onlooker at any moment.

    ¡°de beast? There¡¯s actually such a beast here? To have returned alive after encountering a de beast, this is no simple man!¡± Xue Ding said while fiddling with the sculpture.

    Iron Bear didn¡¯t remember where this sculpture hade from, so he pulled the peddler over and quietly asked him about it.

    ¡°It¡¯s from the neer, he probably carved it himself. I saw that both the artwork and material were good, so I wanted to sell it deeper ind,¡± the vendor replied honestly.

    Xue Ding¡¯s expression eventually changed as he caressed the veins on the sculpture. After hearing the peddler¡¯s words, he sneered, ¡°This knife-work is well beyond good. This person might not be too far from me in terms ofbat skills. Given a de, he can easily kill everyone in this town!¡±

    Iron Bear¡¯s expression changed slightly. He couldn¡¯t tell the quality of the artwork, but he knew Qianye¡¯s strength was far above his own. With Xue Ding¡¯s character, the former knew that trouble was not so far off.

    As expected, the young man said, ¡°He¡¯s a neer, you say? Where does he live now? This is an interesting fellow, one worth visiting.¡±

    Iron Bear replied, ¡°He lives a bit far, and it¡¯s already dark right now. You know, the journey there might not be very convenient.¡±

    Xue Ding sneered, ¡°Just some natives, you think I fear them?¡±

    An idea quickly came to Iron Bear. ¡°Very well then, I¡¯ll arrange two cars for you. That ce is a bit far and we need to pass through a segment of the ck Grove to get there.¡±

    ¡°ck Grove?¡± Xue Ding¡¯s expression shifted slightly. He was clearly somewhat apprehensive about it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be passing through its borders,¡± Iron Bear replied.

    ¡°Oh, that should be fine then.¡± Xue Ding seemed quite relieved.

    While they were prepping the vehicles, Little Knife dragged Iron Bear over and asked in a whisper, ¡°Are you really going to bring them over? That neer isn¡¯t so easy to deal with.¡±

    Iron Bear replied in a deep voice, ¡°I know that, of course. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to bring this bastard over. We can¡¯t deal with him, but do you think Xue Ding can¡¯t? Even if that really is the case, there¡¯s no way he can stay in the Eastern Sea after offending the Wolf King¡¯s foster son.¡±

    Little Knife was astonished. ¡°That¡¯s not too appropriate, is it? That fellow is no saint.¡±

    Iron Bear snorted. ¡°This is my territory, and I won¡¯t allow anyone stronger than me to exist here.¡±

    Little Knife wanted to dissuade the man, but he withdrew after a moment of hesitation.

    Momentster, a motorcade set out in the night and began driving toward the shores of the Eastern Sea.

    The caravan didn¡¯t travel very fast and was especially cautious as they were passing through the ck Grove. Even Iron Bear, who had been living here for so many years, didn¡¯t dare to be careless. However, they were delightfully surprised to find that the ck Grove had shrunk quite a bit. Iron Bear clearly remembered that the forest borders stretched a lot further when he was here thest time.

    Although he had no idea why the forest would contract, this was definitely a good thing. For some reason, though, there was a feeling of uneasiness in his heart.

    The motorcade passed through the ck Grove before long. Only then did Xue Ding heaved a sigh of relief, saying, ¡°How can you be so scared of such a short road?¡±

    ¡°The ck Grove used to be muchrger.¡±

    Xue Ding nodded after listening to this exnation.

    The journey after passing through the ck Grove was a t expanse. The motorcade thus sped up and, very soon, Qianye¡¯s little courtyard hade into view.

    Xue Ding jumped out of the car and walked toward the courtyard. All of a sudden, he saw a silhouette by the seaside. His eyesight wasn¡¯t poor¡ªeven from a long distance away, he could see that this person was shaving a piece of wood with a de nearly two meters long, almost as though he were carving something.

    ¡°Is that him?¡± Xue Ding inquired.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the man!¡± Iron Bear replied.

    Xue Ding stopped the ck Wolf Guard with a wave of his hand and walked toward the shore alone. Soon, he had arrived behind Qianye.

    Qianye kept on carving single-mindedly, paying attention to neither his surroundings nor Xue Ding.

    Xue Ding clenched his fist and said in a cold tone, ¡°Are you looking down on me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m busy.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t look up. He was busy wrestling with the mysterious existence in the ocean. How could he have the leisure to nce at this pompous fellow?

 Chapter 730: Speaking Loudly

    The more Qianye acted this way, the more Xue Ding couldn¡¯t see through him. The man walked around him several times and sized him up from head to toe, yet he couldn¡¯t see through Qianye¡¯s true strength. Xue Ding immediately became apprehensive and cautious.

    The mysterious entity didn¡¯t really slow down the speed of its void origin power all this while, only choosing to avoid contact. It would even use the new guest as a cover from time to time, jumping out from behind him to resonate with East Peak.

    Qianye faced myriad variations with steadiness and kept on carving as usual. That mysterious existence was already nearing its limits. It could see Qianye¡¯s sculpture nearingpletion yet could no longer summon any more void origin power to stop him.

    Both parties were going all out, wrestling like wild beasts. How could they pay any attention to the fly buzzing about nearby?

    But this hateful fly simply refused to leave and looked fairly eager to try his hand. It almost seemed like he would attack at any moment.

    By the time Xue Ding had circled around him for the seventh time, Qianye could no longer endure. He stopped what he was doing, nced at the man, and released a wisp of his aura. Then, he went back to his carving, the first sh shaving off a piece of wood as thin as a cicada¡¯s wings.

    In Qianye¡¯s mind, this was like swatting down with his hand. Although it wouldn¡¯t kill the fly immediately, it should be enough to drive it away. A clever insect would leave as far away as it could.

    Yet unexpectedly, Xue Ding suddenly broke into augh after sensing Qianye¡¯s aura. Toward the end, he wasughing so hard that he couldn¡¯t stand straight. He held his stomach with one hand and said intermittently while pointing at Qianye, ¡°T-Two origin vortices? Were you trying to scare me? Haha, haha!¡±

    Qianye was also startled. Only then did he remember that he was in the neutralnds and not at the Bloody Battle or Floating Continent where he had risen to fame. Back in the empire, even the Evernight soldiers knew of his strength¡ªthose below the virtuous count rank would slip away quietly after catching sight of him on the battlefield.

    As Qianye saw it, a rank-thirteen human was a target he could almost kill with one p. He had already disyed his strength to the opponent, so thetter should make himself scram and save his own skin.

    Having nothing better to do at the moment, one of the ck Wolf Guards tried to kick down the courtyard door. It could be said that the attack contained just the right amount of power and not too violent. The gates flew open with his kick, but the wooden materials remained intact. Therge hole he had been expecting did not appear.

    The puzzled ck Wolf Guard looked at his foot and then knocked on the door. He had never seen such sturdy material in his entire life. He lifted his foot, took aim at the door, and tried kicking once more.

    ¡°Bang!¡± His foot connected with the other door, and this time, there were some results, albeit barely. The wooden gate became somewhat crooked, yet there wasn¡¯t even a single crack upon it.

    Just as the ck Wolf Guard was starting to doubt his very existence, one of his peers patted his shoulder and whispered, ¡°Hey look, there¡¯s a beautifuldy over there!¡±

    That ck Wolf Guard looked up and saw Nighteye and Zhuji in the courtyard. The former was holding arge fish and scaling it in a leisurely manner. Little Zhuji was clinging to the tableside and watching therge creature, swallowing from time to time.

    Nighteye only looked up once when the doors were kicked open. Thereafter, she paid no more attention to the group and continued fixing her fish. The little girl, however, seemed to have lost her fish-gazing mood and charged toward the gates, frowning.

    The lightning-fast dash actually kicked up a whirlwind in the courtyard! The group of ck Wolf Guards felt their vision turn blurry as Zhuji vanished from sight. Then, a gust of wind blew them into an unstable mess, sending a couple of the weaker ones rolling on the ground.

    The group lost their colors, but little did they know that their greatest setback had yet to arrive. By the time Zhuji reappeared, she had returned to her original position. However, it was Nighteye who had dragged back the unwilling little girl by the cor.

    ¡°Be good and keep on watching the fish.¡± Nighteye knocked Zhuji on the head.

    Thess nodded resentfully. She then turned to the ck Wolf Guards with a fierce re, thinking about how she would teach this group a lesson.

    Meanwhile, the guards had just recovered with great difficulty. They couldn¡¯t help but nce at one another, puzzled as to what had just happened. Did Zhuji move or did she not move?

    They had their own methods of dealing with this. One of the ck Wolf Guards cried loudly, ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s a great beauty over here!¡±

    Xue Ding hadn¡¯t finishedughing at this moment. He replied impatiently, ¡°How can there be a beauty in such a ce? Have you never seen women before?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve really never seen one like this!¡± the ck Wolf Guard cried out.

    Xue Ding shouted back while waving his hand. ¡°Whatever, just let it be! This young master wille and evaluate her after dealing with this dumb brat.¡±

    Two of the ck Wolf Guards stayed behind to prevent Nighteye from escaping, while the rest hurried over to cheer for Xue Ding.

    ¡°Brat, I¡¯ll ask you one more time, do you despise me so much?¡± Xue Ding reached out to pat Qianye¡¯s shoulder but his hand froze midair. His heart began beating wildly, and his petrified expression soon turned into awkwardness.

    East Peak emitted a crisp sound at this moment. Itss sharp point trembled slightly, turning the nearly formed sculpture into sawdust.

    Qianye had lost this round. Including the current bout, it was four losses against one win for today. A good situation had been ruined just like that.

    This time around, Qianye¡¯s expression toward this fly was no longer so kind.

    Astonished, Xue Ding took a step backward but soon realized that he had lost his momentum by doing so. Embarrassed and angry, he roared, ¡°Try my Windsplitter Strike!¡±

    An azure whirlwind appeared around the young man, sweeping in everything within several dozen meters as he hurled a punch at Qianye. There were several faint wisps of azure origin power whirling around his fist¡ªapparently, its might was extraordinary.

    Qianye opened his left palm and grabbed at Xue Ding¡¯s iing fist. When the two came into contact, strands of origin power flew out from the man¡¯s fist and began spinning rapidly around Qianye¡¯s palm. The energy was like a chainsaw, attempting to cut into the body.

    This astonishing origin power was so sharp that it could crush steel. Countless people had been injured by this fist, crippled before they could even react. Some even had their entire arms crushed.

    Seeing that Qianye hadn¡¯t activated his origin defenses, a smile appeared on Xue Ding¡¯s face. However, that grin froze soon after it was formed.

    Qianye grabbed the iing fist with rtive ease. That azure origin power did its utmost to cut through his skin, even producing screeching metallic sounds in the process. Yet, Qianye¡¯s arm remained intact except perhaps for some barely discernible red marks.

    Xue Ding¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. For a moment, he couldn¡¯t help but doubt whether this Qianye was still human or not.

    But Xue Ding was still a skilled warrior who could react swiftly. Following a loud roar, he sted Qianye with every ounce of origin power he had in store, hoping to overwhelm the opponent with his two-level advantage in cultivation.

    Azure origin power gushed out from his four origin vortices and transformed into a blue-green tempest. Qianye was calm and fearless in the face of this iing attack as faint sounds of roaring waves echoed around him. He was going to sh against the enemy with the might of his Oceanic Vortex.

    As the azure storm dispersed, Xue Ding¡¯s vision went dark and it felt as though he had been struck in the chest by a sledgehammer. He staggered several steps backward before barely finding his footing, letting out a muffled groan as fresh blood streamed down his nostrils.

    ¡°Y-You, howe...¡± He only managed to utter half a sentence before going mute.

    Qianye also took two steps back, but he quickly stabilized himself by thrusting East Peak into the ground. He seemed perfectly normal except for a bit of pallor.

    Xue Ding stared intently at Qianye, waiting for something to happen. However, Qianye¡¯splexion recovered swiftly thereafter and his aura picked up once more.

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Xue Ding cried out.

    The sh just now was a direct confrontation between origin powers¡ªthere was simply no room for any tricks. The young man had thought that he could heavily injure Qianye in one blow, but unexpectedly, his azure tempest was scattered instead. Qianye didn¡¯t seem to be feeling all that well, either, but it was a fact that Xue Ding had beenpletely suppressed.

    At this moment, Qianye felt somewhat helpless at heart. After five consecutive rounds against the mysterious existence, his origin power and blood energy had been mostly depleted. What little remained of his origin power was barely enough to activate his Oceanic Vortex and scatter the opponent¡¯s azure tempest. If he were in his peak state, a single blow was enough to heavily injure Xue Ding and a follow-up sh would take his life.

    Even now, it was only a matter of increased effort. Despite being drained of origin power, he could still kill this fly all the same by relying on his powerful constitution and exquisite sword arts.

    At the thought of this, Qianye exerted force through his right hand and picked up East Peak.

    Xue Ding broke into a shiver and immediately fell back to hide amongst his ck Wolf Guards.

    Qianye was somewhat astonished¡ªthis fellow¡¯s perception toward danger was truly shocking and might very well be a type of innate talent.

    Xue Ding had retreated, but someone else was rearing to go.

    Sensing the killing intent, Qianye shot a nce at Iron Bear. ¡°You brought him here?¡±

    ¡°So what if I did? You¡¯re out of origin power, aren¡¯t you?¡± he said coldly while drawing a scimitar from his waist.

    Little Knife pulled the man back and begged, ¡°Won¡¯t you reconsider?¡±

    Iron Bear swept his subordinate away and said with a sinister smile, ¡°What is there to think about? If I don¡¯t finish him off now, how can there be such a good opportunity in the future?¡±

    Xue Ding saw the advantage in this situation. Waving his hand at the ck Wolf Guards, he said, ¡°Go, all of you!¡±

    The guards looked rather imposing as they lined up behind Iron Bear. Thetter felt even bolder now and began moving toward Qianye inrge strides.

    Qianye smiled coldly. ¡°It seems you¡¯ve forgotten the lesson from before.¡±

    ¡°No, I remember it very well. That¡¯s why I¡¯m unwilling to let go of this opportunity. There should only be one person in this town who can speak loudly, and that¡¯s me, Iron Bear!¡±

 Chapter 731: No Need to Endure

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have given a damn as long as the one you¡¯re speaking loudly to isn¡¯t me,¡± Qianye said while caressing the de. ¡°Now what? You want to kill me?¡±

    Iron Bear clenched his teeth. ¡°Of course! You¡¯re running on empty now. What are you going to fight me with!?¡±

    With that, he leapt up and shed down at Qianye with the scimitar, a shade of dark energy appearing on its de edges. It was an all-out attack right off the bat!

    ¡°I can kill you even without origin power!¡± Qianye parried the iing sh horizontally. A violent jolt ran through Iron Bear¡¯s body as the two des came into contact, and he was flung backward. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s arm only sank a little bit.

    Xue Ding, who had been watching from the side, shrunk back and drew a breath of cold air. With his great insight, he could clearly tell that Qianye¡¯s block just now contained no origin power. He was able to throw Iron Bear away with pure physical strength.

    What kind of monster is this!?

    It was only natural that he would be astonished because, as far as he could remember, even the Wolf King¡¯s own son was far weaker than Qianye.

    The impact sent Iron Bear¡¯s qi and blood into turmoil, and his shaken vortices could no longer mobilize origin power smoothly. He hadn¡¯t even managed to catch his breath when Qianye spun East Peak around and arrived in front of him.

    Shocked out of his wits, Iron Bear quickly made to deflect East Peak with his scimitar. Yet even with three vortices¡¯ worth of origin power, the iing de remained as heavy and immoveable as the oceans. It traveled along its original trajectory and soon arrived before the target¡¯s throat. Iron Bear fled in desperation and barely managed to escape the attack by retreating ten meters away.

    With a twist of Qianye¡¯s wrists, East Peak drew an arced line and spun back toward Iron Bear¡¯s neck. The man did his utmost to block the iing sword with his scimitar,nding a dozen blows on East Peak in quick session. However, Qianye would disperse the force with a slight shake every time the defensive blows arrived. East Peak eventually closed in on Iron Bear¡¯s throat via its curvaceous directory.

    Thebat arts Iron Bear used to be so proud of werepletely useless at the moment¡ªan ordinary stab from Qainye was enough to force him into dire straits, taking every ounce of his power just to dispel it. Thetter¡¯s strength was also inconceivable, and every blow from him felt like a blow from a sledgehammer. Iron Bear could barely parry the attacks even with origin power.

    East Peak seemed almost weightless in Qianye¡¯s hands as it danced constantly around Iron Bear. The burly man¡¯s expression grew increasingly serious until, at one point, his eyes went round, and he let out a miserable cry.

    A dozen or so streams of fresh blood gushed out from his body as his two lower legs flew off. He fell to the ground with a thud, his weapon stuck in the ground nearby.

    East Peak slowly came down and pointed at Iron Bear¡¯s chest.

    ¡°What do you think now?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Iron Bear was livid. Following a brief moment of hesitation, he threw caution to the wind and roared, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely kill you given the chance, but you can¡¯t kill me. You don¡¯t dare! I¡¯m one of the Wolf King¡¯s men. With his son standing witness here, the Wolf King won¡¯t let you off if you kill me.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°Are you saying you want me to silence everyone here?¡±

    Xue Ding¡¯s expression became unsightly. He red fiercely at Iron Bear, but he was clever enough to retain his silence, lest he unduly provokes Qianye. Although the young man had no clear understanding of this person¡¯s character, he could at least see that this was no merciful saint.

    Iron Bearughed out loud, but the action opened his wounds and blood began flowing like a fountain from what remained of his legs. He groaned from the pain and could no longer keep onughing. After catching his breath, he said through clenched teeth, ¡°You can¡¯t escape even if you kill everyone here. The Wolf King only needs to send people here to find out that the Young Master died in your hands. You won¡¯t be able to escape no matter where you flee to!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes were filled with killing intent.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Little Knife pounced over and held onto Iron Bear. ¡°What he said isn¡¯t wrong. There¡¯s no way to hide this matter if you kill him now. Life here is good, so why throw away your future? If you let us go, I swear that we will let this matter be and never bring it up. Iron Bear is no longer a threat to you in this state.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s lips curved up into an enigmatic smile. ¡°Are you telling me I should bear with what happened today?¡±

    Little Knife replied solemnly, ¡°You can¡¯t stand against the Wolf King, so you must endure!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Unfortunately, I no longer have the intention to tolerate anything the moment I came to the neutralnds.¡±

    Little Knife was astonished. The words ¡°No!¡± hadn¡¯t even escaped his lips when East Peak came down and pierced through Iron Bear¡¯s heart!

    Qianye nced at Little Knife as he drew his sword out. ¡°Were you a part of this?¡±

    The man remained silent, but Xue Ding decided to cut in, ¡°It has nothing to do with him. He even tried to stop Iron Bear from bringing me here.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Moving East Peak away from Little Knife¡¯s shoulder, he said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll let you off.¡±

    Afterward, Qianey sized Xue Ding up from head to toe. ¡°It¡¯s a bit surprising that you would speak for him.¡±

    Xue Ding¡¯s replied with a calm expression, ¡°This is what it should be, what¡¯s so odd about it?¡± His next words, however, revealed his true intentions. ¡°To be honest, maybe you and I can still remain neutral. We had no past enmity, am I right?¡±

    ¡°Does that mean you¡¯lle backter for revenge?¡±

    Xue Ding seemed a bit hesitant. ¡°I¡¯m still a bit unconvinced since I lost my foster father¡¯s face. I have a brother who¡¯s much more powerful than I am. Perhaps he¡¯lle to you for a spar.¡±

    ¡°Just for a spar?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a spar if he loses. If you lose, however, it¡¯ll be a matter of life and death,¡± Xue Ding replied truthfully.

    Qianyeughed indifferently. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the honest one? I¡¯ll let you off today in light of your candor, but whoever kicked my gates must leave a leg here.¡±

    Xue Ding was fairly ruthless¡ªwith a wave of his hand, an azure wind-de shot out and severed that ck Wolf Guard¡¯s leg.

    ¡°We leave!¡± Xue Ding didn¡¯t linger afterpleting Qianye¡¯s demand. He immediately led the ck Wolf Guards onto the car and left in due swiftness.

    After the guests left, Qianye shook his head and returned to the courtyard.

    ¡°Will they be back?¡± Zhuji asked.

    Qianye touched her head. ¡°Of course.¡±

    Zhuji seemed to be in high spirits. ¡°Then, can I attack when theye back? Fighting beasts all the time is boring, they¡¯re so dumb.¡±

    ¡°You should grow up first and keep fighting beasts. As for dealing with people, let¡¯s talk about that in a couple of years.¡± Qianye flicked Zhuji lightly on the forehead.

    ¡°It¡¯s more interesting to fight things that can talk!¡± Zhuji was clearly dissatisfied.

    Nighteye hugged little Zhuji, saying, ¡°We should start training her in realbat arts. This is the neutralnds and not the empire. You can¡¯t keep watch over her all the time.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, but where do I find an arachne inheritance or secret art? How can I teach her something I don¡¯t know?¡± Qianye felt a headache brewing.

    This was indeed a distressing problem. Although Zhuji hadn¡¯t expressed a lot of arachne traits, she was still hatched from an arachne egg. There was no way an arachne egg could produce a werewolf, could it?

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we capture an arachne and have it do the teaching?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°That can be done. I¡¯ll search for one after I finish dealing with the problems here.¡±

    After finding an initial solution to Little Zhuji¡¯s education, Qianye had to deal with the issue regarding the Wolf King. Xue Ding couldn¡¯t be considered a problem to Qianye; he could kill the man in one blow if needed. The true enemy was still his foster father.

    Qianye knew nothing about the Wolf King, but one could imagine his strength from how he had dared to challenge Zhang Buzhou. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to suppress the entire Eastern Sea, either. As for whether this matter would rm the Wolf King, it really depended on how Xue Ding decided to handle things.

    After a moment of contemtion, Qianye once again arrived near the sea and shot a beam of dark golden blood energy into the sky. Before long, the voice of that mysterious entity echoed around Qianye, ¡°Are you trying to call out to me, or is this a challenge?¡±

    ¡°There might be some disruption to our sparring in the future.¡± Qianye truthfully recounted the matter about Xue Ding and the Wolf King.

    ¡°Wolf King, humph!¡± The mysterious entity was indifferent. A beam of void origin power shot toward Qianye, saying, ¡°Use this method to summon me. I will hear it as long as you¡¯re on the shores of the Eastern Sea, regardless of the location. Additionally, if you can win three rounds against me in one night, I¡¯ll grant you the right to enter the mist. Thereafter, the will of the mist will cause you no harm.¡±

    After absorbing that wisp of void origin power, a certain secret art appeared in his consciousness. It would allow him to whistle a special note and call out to the mysterious entity.

    This was just what Qianye wanted. Sparring with the mysterious existence was a critical part of hisbat art training. At this stage, Qianye could already sweep through all opponents at the same level with hisbat techniques alone. It was beyond difficult to find a suitable training partner.

    The right to traverse the mist was fairly valuable because, even now, Qianye could still feel a sense of danger from its depths. The mist more or less covered most of the opposite riverbank and was one of the three great obstructing factors preventing humans from exploring the region¡ªthe other two were the ck Grove and the Eastern Sea itself.

    It was just that the right to pass through the mist wasn¡¯t so easily earned. How could it be so easy to win three rounds out of five?

    Life remained constant in the days that followed. Now that Nighteye was gradually recovering from her injuries, Qianye spent the night sparring with the mysterious existence and the daytime cultivating the Profound Combatant Form near the shore.

    After three days, Qianye sessfully condensed his third origin vortex and reached rank-twelve.

    Qianye had a habit of taking a break after each advancement. Without cultivating, he simply sat by the sea and lost himself in thought. This was Duke You¡¯s advice back in the year¡ªone should remain still after advancement, calming the heart and mind. This served to solidify the cultivator¡¯s foundations and prevent adverse effects on their future potential.

    After a period of peaceful rxation, Qianye slowly expanded his perception. The veil of the world faded away as the origin power in the surroundings came into view¡ªthere were no more secrets.

    Once again, Qianye found out that the void origin power in the Eastern Sea was much denser than on the shore. Moreover, it grew stronger and stronger toward the depths of the ocean. At this rate, the deepest parts of the ocean would probably be no different from the void itself. Could there be a void beast in the depths of the water?

    Qianye was starting to be curious about the identity of this mysterious existence.

    At this moment, Xue Ding¡¯s airship flew past the western borders of the Eastern Sea andnded in a barbaric-looking city. He jumped down the vessel and ran straight toward the city¡¯s north.

    The northern district was upied by a huge residence, one so big that it could be considered a small town instead of a house. Xue Ding charged through the door and into the courtyard, crying, ¡°Big Brother, save me!¡±

 Chapter 732: Itâ€™s him

    This shout resounded in the air and spread to every corner of the residence, yet it couldn¡¯t be heard at all outside of thepound. One could tell Xue Ding¡¯s standards just from this move.

    A stone-cold voice arrived from behind the courtyard. ¡°Come in, no need to shout so loud. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re going to die.¡±

    Greatly delighted, Xue Ding ran through the hallways into the rear residence. Apparently, he was quite familiar with this ce.

    What greeted him after passing through the courtyard and entering the rearpound, was arge drill grounds filled with all kinds of weaponry. There was a half-naked male standing in the field with arge battle axe in hand. Tanned and well-built, the man¡¯s muscles were like pieces of steel, containing explosive amounts of power within them. Xue Ding ran over to that person and stood respectfully before him, ¡°Big Brother!¡±

    The man finally looked up and said coldly, ¡°You¡¯re the Wolf King¡¯s foster son, I really don¡¯t dare to ept this address. Say what you must, I¡¯m about to cultivate.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. I met a person, and he actually provoked me. So, I exchanged a couple of moves with him. I wasn¡¯t his match, however, and had to pay with one of my subordinate¡¯s legs to escape.¡±

    The man sneered, ¡°He provoked you? I¡¯m more inclined to think you¡¯re the one who picked a fight. I told you before that the neutralnds are full of hidden experts. There are countless powerful experts all around. You think you can do whatever you want just because you¡¯re hugging the Wolf King¡¯s thigh and calling him foster father?¡±

    Xue Ding¡¯s face turned red. ¡°I had no choice. If I didn¡¯t recognize him as my adoptive father, the Wolf King might not let our family go.¡±

    The man¡¯s face turned gloomy. ¡°Not let go? No matter how powerful the Wolf King is, do you think he dares kill all the races in the Eastern Sea? Humph, if he dares to do that, the one to die first will be him.¡±

    Xue Dingughed along. ¡°The Wolf King is crazy, why would you want to contend with him? I only wanted to help the family in my own way. I¡¯m no use, either way, and the family has you, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Enough excuses. Since you¡¯ve recognized the Wolf King as your adoptive father, you¡¯re no longer a member of the Xue family.¡±

    ¡°Even if I¡¯m no longer a Xue family member, you¡¯re still my big brother!¡±

    The man responded with a snort, but his expression softened somewhat. ¡°The Wolf King has so many sons, grandsons, and foster children. All of them are your siblings, why not go to them for help?¡±

    Xue Ding let out an embarrassedugh. ¡°How can those people count as my siblings? They can¡¯t wait to see me die early. Of course, the same goes for me. If they know of this matter, they¡¯ll surely report it to foster father, I mean, the Wolf King. When the timees, he might kick me out for being useless, and all my efforts will be wasted.¡±

    The man ced his axe back on the weapons rack. ¡°Your inferior skills have naught to do with me. If you can¡¯t beat him, why not cultivate more and go back for a rematch? Even if you have learned nothing from the Wolf King, I¡¯ve taught you at least three of our family¡¯s nine secret arts. Yet you still managed to lose? Is his origin power a lot higher than you?¡±

    Xue Ding whispered awkwardly, ¡°He only has two origin vortices.¡±

    ¡°Rank eleven? You can¡¯t even beat someone who¡¯s at rank-eleven?¡± The man was astonished.

    ¡°This... yes, it would seem so.¡±

    The man stopped on his way into the building and mumbled, ¡°Interesting, but do you really want me to go and challenge someone at rank eleven?¡±

    Xue Ding replied hurriedly, ¡°How can it be called challenge? It¡¯s merely teaching him a lesson, helping me vent my anger against this arrogant fellow. One of my subordinates lost a leg, how can I convince my men if that brat isn¡¯t beaten up?¡±

    The man pondered for a moment. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m a bit interested too. I¡¯ll pay him a visit.¡±

    Xue Ding was delighted. ¡°With Big Brother taking the scene, it¡¯ll be a piece of cake.¡±

    Thousands of kilometers away, on the edges of the continent, was an ancient castle. Facing the endless void alone, it looked nothing short of bleak and deste.

    The structure, with its thick, tall walls, was built entirely ofrge stones. The windows were long and narrow, and the outer walls were mottled from the many years of exposure to the wind and frost.

    The Eastern Sea was one of the biggest inds in the neutralnds, yet it was far smaller than any of the twenty-seven major continents. It was even less stable than the floating continent where the two factions were currently at war due to theck of a protectiveyer.

    Not far from this castle, one could see the dense rolling clouds and shes of lightning. At times, a thunderbolt would streak across the skies and strike at the cliff, sending pieces of stone drifting into the void.

    Perhaps due to the many years of lightning strikes and raging winds, the stones on the precipice had turned dark and contained pieces of crystals within them. This kind of crystalline object born from the invasion of void origin power would fetch a sky-high price in external markets.

    Since the castle was built on the cliff, its mottled walls also suffered from the wind and lightning.

    On the higher floors of the castle, a young man with long, hanging hair was standing before the french window and admiring the scenery outside. After a long while, he said with a sigh of satisfaction, ¡°Only destruction lies at the end of the world. These words are so well-spoken!¡±

    As he returned to his seat, the sh of lightning outside clearly outlined his facial features. He picked up a ss of wine and said while slowly savoring the contents, ¡°Anything of note recently? Speak!¡±

    There were a few people waiting on him in the room. They each stepped forward and began reporting the major happenings throughout the Eastern Sea. Apparently, they had their respective assignments because the things they recounted were all from different fields.

    The young man listened carelessly and without much interest, even more so for things outside of the Eastern Sea. Momentster, it was an old man¡¯s turn to speak and his topics were all rted to the Wolf King.

    As he listened on, the young man suddenly became alert and interrupted, ¡°Wait, so you¡¯re saying Xue Ding went out for a while, but instead of returning to Wolf King Castle, he went to the Xue family instead?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°Yes, he went to visit Xue Wu.¡±

    Another person snorted. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the Xue family isn¡¯t content yet?¡±

    The young man stopped him by raising his hand. ¡°This is probably unrted to the Xue family. This convenient brother must¡¯ve suffered a loss and wanted his big brother to help him regain some face.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t he seek out Your Highness, instead? Xue Wu isn¡¯t your match at all.¡±

    The young man revealed a charming smile. ¡°You can¡¯t be sure about that. The Xue family¡¯s secret arts are fairly powerful. In my current state, I might not win against Xue Wu in a fight. However, the fragility of the human body is their fatal weakness. After my body matures in a few years, Xue Wu? Heh heh, he won¡¯t even have the qualifications to fight me.¡±

    The people at the scene immediately offered their praises. ¡°The longer the maturation period of the Wolf King¡¯s inheritance, the greater one¡¯s potential. Your Highness¡¯s growth has reached thirty years. This kind of talent is no different from His Majesty the Wolf King¡¯s back in the year.¡±

    The young man waved his hand. ¡°I¡¯ve told you people so many times to stop calling me highness. ording to Evernight tradition, even my father can¡¯t be addressed in such a way, let alone me.¡±

    ¡°Your future prospects are not below the Wolf King, it¡¯s only right to call you Your Highness.¡±

    The young man sighed while covering his forehead, almost as though he was feeling helpless. ¡°Whatever, do what you want. Sigh!¡±

    He stood up after the men hadpleted their reports and stretched his body. ¡°It¡¯s too boring here, time to go out and about. Check where that brat Xue Ding is headed, I¡¯ll follow him and see how things go.¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°I¡¯ll arrange a guard squad.¡±

    ¡°What guard squad?!¡± The young man waved his hand impatiently. ¡°Even if there¡¯s someone in the Eastern Sea who can defeat me, do you think I can¡¯t escape? Besides, who¡¯ll dare attack me after finding out my identity?¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    The elder wanted to say something but was cut short by the young man. ¡°I¡¯m the son of the Wolf King, one with the right to hold an Evernight title. If I don¡¯t even dare to travel alone in my father¡¯s territory, wouldn¡¯t that be a huge embarrassment for His Majesty? Am I no better than those convenient siblings?¡±

    Seeing the prince furious, the men no longer dared to offer words of persuasion and left the room one after the other.

    ...

    Qianye¡¯s life was just as peaceful and calm¡ªafter consolidating his realm for a couple of days, he began cultivating once more. This time, he chose to go into the waters of the Eastern Sea instead, and began cultivating the Profound Combatant Form on one of the rocks jutting out of the sea.

    Qianye noticed the difference once the form came into effect. Vast amounts of void origin power were pulled into the just-formed origin vortex, forming a small origin storm around him. The energy around him was drained in the blink of an eye, but more of it gushed out of the ocean to fill in the gap.

    The speed of absorption was already faster than on the shore even without pushing the origin vortex very hard. At this moment, the vortex was far from the point where it would tear the void apart.

    Qianye suspected that the Eastern Sea was a peerless holynd for cultivation. People must¡¯ve discovered this throughout the years, so why wasn¡¯t anyone cultivating in the ocean?

    What Qianye didn¡¯t know was that the void origin power here was extremely violent¡ªeven the dark races couldn¡¯t absorb it, not to mention humans. Qianye¡¯s body had been remodeled by the auric me blood and was at the count-level even by ancient vampire standards. As such, he sensed nothing special after absorbing the energy here. Any other ordinary vampire count would burst apart with a shattered blood core after absorbing such void origin power.

    The expansion of his origin vortex became much harder in the sea as pushing the vortex into rotation felt like he was pushing against the actual seawater. One could imagine the force required to drive a hundred-meter vortex inside the water. However, Qianye also benefitted in the form of insights into domain control.

    The first cultivation session in the sea filled him to the brim in less than an hour. Qianye thus retracted his Profound Combatant Form and opened his eyes¡ªhe was shocked by the scene before him.

    The seawater in a ten-meter radius around him had disappeared and the seabed, revealed. Meanwhile, the disced water had umted into a ten-meter wall around the empty space and was slowly revolving around it. The moment he retracted the form, however, the force rejecting the water quickly disappeared and the wall of water came crashing down on Qianye.

    Momentster, a dripping wet Qianye crawled onto the shore. In a moment of carelessness, he had been swept into the depths of the ocean and had to rely on East Peak¡¯s weight in order to reach the bottom and walk back to the beach.

    Qianye wiped away the water from his face and plucked a starfish that was stuck on his head. Before he could even open his eyes, however, he heard someone say, ¡°It¡¯s him!¡±

 Chapter 733: Good Match

    ¡°Huh?¡± Qianye looked toward the source of the sound.

    There was a small airship hovering in the air nearby and on its bow was Xue Ding, pointing at Qianye and shouting excitedly.

    This airship was clearly made in a rather elegant human design. There weren¡¯t too many of such models in the neutralnds since producing a small engine wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounded. Due to the special environment of the neutralnds, the engines had to be designed differently. Not to mention the origin array, just the materials alone had surpassed continental standards. This kind of mini-engine was enough to buy arge airship back on the continents.

    Possessing a small, new-model airship in the neutralnd was enough to prove one¡¯s wealth and status, and it wasn¡¯t a small fortune, either. At the very least, the Wolf King¡¯s foster son couldn¡¯t afford one yet.

    The airship descended rapidly. When it was about a hundred meters above the ground, a figure jumped out of the aircraft andnded in front of Qianye.

    It was a steadfast looking man in his twenties¡ªwell-tanned skin, pointy short hair, and d in tidybat robes without armor.

    He sized Qianye up from head to toe before reaching out to Qianye, saying, ¡°I¡¯m Xue Wu, Xu Ding¡¯s big brother before he recognized the Wolf King as his adoptive father.¡±

    Qianye was entirely drenched and looked rather miserable. However, he paid no heed to these things and simply reached out to shake Xue Wu¡¯s hand.

    The moment their hands came into contact, Xue Wu tightened his grip. ¡°Eh?¡± Afterward, he proceeded to observe Qianye with an expression of astonishment. The feeling he had gotten just now was akin to gripping a mountain. His entire force bounced back, unable to shake Qianye in the slightest.

    Qianye calmly retracted his right hand and said, ¡°You can call me Qianye.¡±

    Xue Ding called out from the side, ¡°So you¡¯re called Qianye, nice name. Unfortunately, you¡¯ve bumped into my brother today and it no longer matters what you¡¯re called! In light of your not-so-bad appearance, this young master might forgive you if you apologize to me and carve me a sculpture. But don¡¯t even think about fooling me regarding the carving, nothing can hide from my eyes!¡±

    ¡°You shut up!¡± Xue Wu berated.

    Xue Ding shrunk back and immediately became silent. It seemed he was quite respectful and afraid of his brother.

    Xue Wu said to Qianye, ¡°We¡¯ve incurred your ridicule. This brother of mine was never strictly disciplined as a kid.¡±

    With that, Xue Wu¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°Regardless, he¡¯s still a member of the Xue family unless hemits a serious crime. No outsider may bully our people. Since your origin power is lower than mine, fighting you will lower my status. This is the neutralnd, we only look at results and not the process.¡±

    Qianye remained unmoved. ¡°So it¡¯s not a spar?¡±

    Xue Wu said, ¡°No need to worry, I won¡¯t take your life. Since you demanded a leg from one of my brother¡¯s men, I¡¯ll just break one of your legs in return. This will serve as a lesson for you.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye slowly drew East Peak, leaving the sheath nted in the ground, and his energy began climbing.

    Xue Ding was astonished upon sensing Qianye¡¯s aura. ¡°Y-You¡¯re already rank-twelve? You ascended so quickly?¡±

    Xue Wu broke into a frown as he unleashed his powerful aura, an equivalent of five origin vortices. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between rank eleven and twelve? Your cowardice shames the Xue family!¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Xue Ding donned a pair ofbat gloves and said, ¡°I¡¯ll join in, too! What I lost was the Wolf King¡¯s prestige, nothing to do with the Xue family.¡±

    Frowning, the elder brother red fiercely at Xue Ding, but thetter ignored him with a mischievous smile and began nking Qianye from the side.

    Qianye pointed East Peak at the ground, caring little about the addition of a second opponent. Now that he was at his peak levels in both stamina and blood energy, an opponent like Xue Ding wasn¡¯t a problem at all. Only fighting the mysterious ocean entity would use up Qianye¡¯s reserves so quickly.

    Xue Wu was astonished to find Xue Ding so insistent on nking Qianye. He knew that this brother¡ªdespite his flippant attitude¡ªwas highly sensitive to danger. This was something even he couldn¡¯t match. Could it be that this Qianye possessed certain tricks that could endanger their lives?

    Qianye also shot an impatient nce at Xue Ding.

    Thetter¡¯s intuition toward danger was indeed quite sharp. While not dangerous, this kind of opponent was highly unlikeable. As for Xue Wu, the pressureing off of him was far above Xue Ding¡¯s despite being only one level higher. Apparently, he was a warrior with solid foundations and powerful secret inheritances.

    The dark golden blood energy had swum out from Qianye¡¯s heart and the Wings of Inception were beginning to spread out. There, a single, bright feather was trembling gently.

    After sounding the opponent out, Qianye intended to use the Shot of Inception to secure a quick kill and then turn back to deal with Xue Ding. Killing the younger brother would take minimal effort, but Qianye had no intention of letting him go. This kind of highly sensitive bastard might cause trouble for him in the future if left alive.

    At this point, the courtyard doors were flung open and Nighteye walked out from within. ¡°Count me in.¡±

    ¡°Why did youe out?¡± Qianye frowned.

    ¡°I want to fight alongside you!¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already recovered.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t managed to stop her when Xue Ding jumped over to block her way. His eyes were shining brightly as he took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down his surging emotions. ¡°Hey beautiful, why didn¡¯t I discover your exciting gracest time?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you were busy running for your life.¡± Nighteye left him no face.

    Xue Ding said with an awkward smile, ¡°This time, it¡¯s different.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s smile became even more dazzling. ¡°It will be no different this time, you better think harder about how to save your worthless skin.¡±

    A dagger appeared in Nighteye¡¯s grasp and danced about between her agile fingers.

    Xue Ding looked infatuated, but Xue Wu¡¯s expression changed rapidly. ¡°Vampiric de? You¡¯re vampires?¡±

    ¡°Anyone can use a good de,¡± Qianye replied coldly.

    Xue Wu replied, ¡°Indeed a good de, a good fit for her.¡±

    Qianye waved East Peak at the man. ¡°This one is even better.¡±

    Xue Wu scanned both man and sword with his razor-sharp eyes. ¡°It is indeed a good de, but you¡¯re not a good match for it.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned a faint blue. ¡°Not a good match. Are you referring to the sword or the woman?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡±

    Qianye caressed East Peak with his hand, saying, ¡°These are the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°Only results speak for whether one is a match or not.¡±

    Xue Wu shouted, ¡°Good, then I shall wait for your results!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even made his move, but Nighteye was already furious. Xue Wu¡¯s silhouette appeared in her eyes as her figure flickered past the brother.

    A sense of extreme danger welled up in Xue Wu¡¯s heart. He made to pull back without further thought but found that his body was extremely sluggish. The restraining force came from all directions, almost as though he were wrapped up in spider webs. The controlling power wasn¡¯t that strong, but it appeared out of nowhere and disrupted his bnce, almost causing him to trip and fall. His leap traveled a mere ten meters in distance and still couldn¡¯t escape the range of Nighteye¡¯s gaze.

    The man felt as though arge hand had grasped his heart and was twisting it violently. He let out a loud cry and spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Qianye appeared quietly in front of Xue Wu and knocked once on each of his legs, fracturing all the bones therein.

    Xue Wu cried out once again and almost fainted from the pain.

    Qianye shot a nce at Nighteye, who shrugged at him with a cute smile¡ªshe was so beautiful that Qianye was somewhat dazzled.

    This was the first time the Eyes of Destruction and Control had worked together against a powerful enemy, and the results were exceedingly good. Xue Wu didn¡¯t even realize what had happened, neither did he get the chance to disy all of his powerful secret arts before he was flipped over.

    However, three was still a Xue Ding nearby. The young man was already drenched in sweat and stammering. How would he dare toe up and attack?

    ¡°Oh right, you¡¯re supposed to be my opponent.¡± Only at this point did Nighteye remember this person¡¯s existence.

    ¡°Beauty, ah no, great beauty, don¡¯t be in a rush to attack!¡±

    Xue Ding hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a sh arrived at the speed of lightning. It was so fast that he couldn¡¯t even see the trajectory. Xue Ding wasn¡¯t simple, either¡ªhe immediately utilized a secret art to increase his speed and moved back over ten meters away.

    Even so, he was still a moment toote. He felt a chill sweep past his face and was subsequently shocked out of his wits. Crying all the while, he felt around with his hand, hoping to find where the wound was. His legs were trembling so hard that it looked like he was about to die.

    Nighteye was startled and, for a moment, even forgot to deal the finishing blow.

    Xue Ding groped about but simply couldn¡¯t find where the injury was. Then, he howled loudly, ¡°My nose ring!¡±

    The two gem-studded rings on his nasal  had vanished.

    At this point, even the man who had copsed on the ground could no longer bear to watch. Xue Wu roared furiously, ¡°Shut up! Look at you! You¡¯ve lost all of the Xue family¡¯s face!¡±

    Xue Ding replied instinctively, ¡°Nonsense! What I lost was the Wolf King¡¯s face.¡±

    Deeply angered, Xue Wu had wanted to berate the younger brother again when a cold voice suddenly arrived from the distance. ¡°The consequences of throwing away the Wolf King¡¯s face are dire.¡±

    Hearing this voice, Xue Ding¡¯s expression changed drastically. He gasped. ¡°Gary!?¡±

    Xue Wu was much calmer and only somewhat surprised.

    A brown-haired young man walked out from the forest with a struggling native in his grasp. This person was tall, handsome, and had a trace of bloodlust in his expression. Gary tossed the native to the ground after exiting the woods and stomped the unfortunate victim¡¯s head apart.

    After the act, he kicked the dead body into the ck Grove and said with a sinister smile, ¡°These lowly native rubbish even dares to ambush me? Unfortunately, just a few of them isn¡¯t enough for me to kill. Well, that¡¯s also fine since there are a lot of people here. I¡¯ll take my time killing them!¡±

    Xue Ding forced a radiant smile and said, ¡°Big Brother, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Gary licked his lips, and his smile became much more sinister. ¡°Oh my little brother, I followed you here of course!¡±

    The words little brother were heavily stressed.

    Xue Ding¡¯s expression turned wretchedly pale.

 Chapter 734: Three Moves

    If Gary had followed him all the way, he might¡¯ve heard and seen certain things he shouldn¡¯t have. As one of the Wolf King¡¯s two most important sons, Gary¡¯s position wasn¡¯t one Xue Ding couldpare to. There wouldn¡¯t be any problems even if he were to kill thetter.

    This was the value of the so-called foster son. In the eyes of the Wolf King, all of his foster sons added together couldn¡¯tpare to a single Gary.

    Gary looked at the man who had copsed on the ground and said, ¡°Xue Wu? You¡¯ve also lost?¡±

    Xue Wu looked away with a snort but didn¡¯t reply. Despite his pride, he knew very well that Gary was someone he couldn¡¯t afford to offend lightly. As such, all he could do was remain silent. Xue Ding, however, was quick with his wits. He ran over to Gary with an expression of sorrow, saying, ¡°Brother, theyid down a trap and sneak attacked us. That was why they managed to wound Big Brother, no, I mean Xue Wu. I wasn¡¯t able to react in time to warn him. I was just preparing to teach them a good lesson when you arrived!¡±

    Gary shot a nce at Xue Ding, doing nothing to disguise the disdain in his eyes. ¡°Even Xue Wu has been defeated, yet you want to teach them a lesson?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so scary about a rank-twelve fellow? Besides, don¡¯t I have you?¡±

    Gary shot a condescending nce at Qianye. To him, humans were inherently weak and simply not a match for werewolves. For the third-rank count, Gary, a rank-twelve human was someone he could easily kill. He was shocked upon seeing Nighteye, however¡ªhis long hair flew up on its own and his body arched forward slightly with a threatening growl.

    Gary first sensed a powerful threat and became instinctively cautious. Then, after seeing her appearance, an explosion urred in his brain and his body became scorching hot.

    ¡°You¡¯re a vampire!?¡± As a werewolf of considerable talents, Gary was instinctively sensitive to vampires. He sniffed hard and said with great certainty, ¡°You are a vampire! Who would¡¯ve thought that there¡¯d be such a powerful vampire in the Eastern Sea!¡±

    The werewolves and vampires had a vendetta between them that had gone on for tens of thousands of years. Thetter race rarely appeared in the werewolf-ruled Eastern Sea¡ªthe more powerful ones would move under cover, while weaker ones would suffer a treatment even worse than that of humans.

    Gary stared at Nighteye, saying, ¡°Youe with me and be my woman. Then I might just let this trash go.¡±

    ¡°Might?¡± Nighteye¡¯s expression seemed quite strange.

    Gary said proudly, ¡°Letting him go or not will depend on my mood. If you¡¯re obedient enough, perhaps my mood will take a turn for the better.¡±

    The vampiric de jumped between Nighteye¡¯s fingers as she sized the man up. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel embarrassed saying such things with your little strength?¡±

    Gary broke into a frown. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem for me to defeat you with my strength. This is the neutralnd and not Evernight. Don¡¯t think you¡¯re nobler than us werewolves just because you¡¯re a vampire! I¡¯ll have you know that my bloodline is enough to be ranked toward the front even in the Evernight faction. My father has said before that I might even pass the test of the Summit of Peaks if I were in Evernight.¡±

    Speechless, Qianye and Nighteye looked at one another.

    If William wasn¡¯t boasting, he was the Summit of Peak¡¯s number one genius in the recent generation and one with the greatest hope to ascend the holy mountain. Even then, William¡¯s glorious image in Qianye¡¯s eye melted away rapidly with a single ¡°Woof!¡±

    As a primo with the purest bloodline in this generation, Nighteye¡¯s standards were on the same level as William. Meanwhile, Qianye had refined his bloodline once more and entered the ranks of the ancient vampires.

    Now that Gary was boasting about his talents, it gave Qianye and Nighteye a strange feeling. They sized him up repeatedly from head to toe but just couldn¡¯t see which part of him was close to William.

    Gary held his head high and waspletely oblivious to the fact that his figure had been reflected in Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s pupils. Even if he did, he would only think that they were normal reflections.

    Nighteye seemed interested and Zhuji was poking her head out from the courtyard, hoping to join in on the fun. Qianye, however, wasn¡¯t in the mood. After the initial intrigue for the idiot had passed, the only thing that remained was surging anger.

    Gary was looking at Nighteye as though she were his toy, almost as if it was an honor that he was willing to take her home. This angered Qianye thoroughly.

    He picked up East Peak, walked over to Gary, and said with a cold voice, ¡°ording to you, you¡¯re a genius among werewolves?¡±

    Gary patted his chest and said proudly, ¡°How many people have you heard of bing a count at this age? Besides, I haven¡¯t passed my growth phase just yet. I still have more growth potential!¡±

    He only discovered what was wrong after saying this. ¡°What do you mean by ording to me? I am a genius!¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°Unfortunately, you have no more opportunity to disy your talents.¡±

    Gary almost couldn¡¯t believe his ears¡ªhe remained stunned for a good while before bending over in roaringughter. He caught his breath only after a good while, and then started walking toward Qianye while putting on a pair of wed gloves. ¡°Lowly human, you have truly enraged me. I¡¯ll tear you apart slowly and not let you die a quick death. And before you die, I¡¯ll let you see just how I¡¯ll y with this vampire!¡±

    Qianye exhaled deeply. His eyes turned a flowing blue color as he said coldly, ¡°At first I thought I could kill you in three moves, but now it seems I might have to use a couple more.¡±

    Garyughed wildly. ¡°Three moves? Lowlives will be lowlives, what else do you know apart from boasting?¡±

    Gary felt his body sink all of a sudden, almost as though there was a mountain pressing down on him. This pressure increased in the blink of an eye amidst the faint echo of ocean tides. Despite werewolves being known for their strength, Gary felt extremely strained at the moment and couldn¡¯t even perform a jump.

    The moment this pressure started climbing, Gary saw Qianye raising his sword, and an inexplicable sense of danger overwhelmed him as the de reached its highest point!

    The werewolf was, after all, the recipient of a powerful inheritance. He roared loudly at the critical moment, swelling in size and transforming into his werewolf form. This filled him with explosive strength and granted him the ability to move with a certain degree of freedom. He leapt away with all his strength, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process¡ªone could see from this just how fierce his strength was.

    Gary jumped about repeatedly and zig-zagged ten meters away in a sh.

    Meanwhile, Qianye faced myriad changes with steadiness, shing thrice in front of him. Gary, who had already jumped a fair distance away, cried loudly and fell on his face, blood spurting out continuously from an oblong wound on his right leg. He flipped over and forced himself to stand up despite the pain. He was just about to make a second escape attempt when his body froze up.

    Qianye had quietly appeared at a distance where East Peak could pierce through Gary at a single thought.

    ¡°T-This is impossible!¡± Gary still couldn¡¯t believe the truth in front of his eyes. Xue Ding was thoroughly dumbfounded on the sidelines, while Xue Wu remained silent.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re not so bad, a bit stronger than I expected.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just a rank-twelve human! Besides, I¡¯m the Wolf King¡¯s son, my bloodline is countless times more powerful than yours! I won¡¯t lose, I refuse to be defeated!¡± Gary roared continuously. His body grewrger and his aura soared rapidly, but there was blood seeping out of his fur and gushing out from the wound on his leg. This kind of strength-increasing secret art came at a heavy price.

    ¡°The werewolves will never lose!¡± Gary bounced up with a battle cry and wed at Qianye!

    Thetter neither made to evade or even use his sword to parry the iing blow. All he did was stretch out his left hand to grab the swiping w.

    Gary¡¯s legs were nted in the soil. His hair was all puffed up, and there was a constant growling from his throat as he began to wrestle with the opponent.

    Qianye was as calm as an immovable mountain. Xue Ding, though, cried out in surprise, ¡°Oh no! He has sharp ws!¡±

    Gary shot the young man a fierce re. Xue Ding was startled at first, but then a dangerous gleam flickered through his eyes as he slowly arched his body. Apparently, he would go all out once there was an opening.

    The broken-limbed Xue Wu produced an origin gun from his pocket and aimed it at Gary. Although it was fairly difficult to bring out the full power of an origin gun in the neutralnds, Xue Wu¡¯s aim was to restrain Gary and create an opportunity for Xue Ding to attack.

    Seeing that the two brothers were looking to attack Gary at the same time, Nighteye loosened her grip on the vampiric de.

    But the scene of Qianye falling to an ambush did not appear as expected.

    Qianye remained calm and simply kept on wrestling with Gary. The de on thetter¡¯s gloves dug into Qianye¡¯s hands, but his all-out exertion only managed to grave the skin.

    Xue Ding¡¯s eyes went round¡ªhe was so shocked that he couldn¡¯t say a single word. Gary couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. He increased his exertion until his eyes almost popped out but still couldn¡¯t deepen the wound.

    At this moment, Qianye let out a ¡°Heh¡± and began exerting power. His five fingers gradually came together, causing the bones in Gary¡¯s right hand to crackle continuously. The groan soon developed into a miserable scream as the w waspletely deformed and became almost unrecognizable.

    Qianye twisted his five fingers and crushed Gary¡¯s hand into pieces before letting go.

    The wolf prince fell kneeling with a painful thud. His right w was now swollen all the way up to his arm. Such an injury wasn¡¯t manageable even for the werewolves¡¯ regenerative abilities¡ªonly abination of famous doctors and valuable medicines would be able to heal it.

    Qianye struck three fingers at Gary, saying, ¡°Three moves.¡±

    The werewolf trembled continuously and red at Qianye with eyes full of hate. He wasn¡¯t afraid after seeing thetter raise his sword. Instead, he said, ¡°I¡¯m the Wolf King¡¯s son. If you dare touch me, my father will find and kill you no matter where you run off to and your woman will join my collection of countless toys! At that time, you will be the ones wallowing in regret about not kneeling in front of me sooner!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± East Peak streaked past Gary with a shake of Qianye¡¯s wrist, sending the former¡¯s left arm flying out.

    The werewolf prince fell to the ground with a miserable scream. He pressed upon the wounded right w in this process and cried out wretchedly once more.

    The pain of losing a limb was so intense that even the fierce werewolves couldn¡¯t easily endure it. Qianye had no intention of letting the man go, though¡ªhe quickly removed both of Gary¡¯s lower limbs, leaving only a crushed right arm attached to his body.

    Gary could no longer mber up at this point. His re was filled with a terrifying ferocity that was inherent of all werewolves. Qianye, however, had seen too many of such violent characters and didn¡¯t put this enemy on his mind at all.

    He turned back to face Xue Ding and Xue Wu.

 Chapter 735: Inheritance

    Seeing Qianye nce over, Xue Wu put down the origin gun in silence¡ªhe had given up any notion of resistance.

    At first, Xue Wu felt that it was somewhat ineffable, and he wasn¡¯t really satisfied that he had been attacked in a pincer stance. But after seeing Qianye defeat Gary in three moves, he quickly realized the difference between them.

    The most important point was that Qianye was only rank-twelve in origin power, two levels lower than Xue Wu and one below Gary. Hailing from a family with a long history, Xue Wu¡¯s knowledge and eyesight were anything but ordinary. He knew that, below the easy victory,y an excessively rare potential. If Qianye could defeat the werewolf prince in three moves now, it was likely that he would only need half a move after a couple of years.

    Xue Ding, though, wasn¡¯t as resolute¡ªhe immediately jumped up and assumed a defensive stance, only realizing his blunderter on. He quickly removed his gloves, tossed them to the ground, and said with raised hands, ¡°Sir Qianye, it¡¯s a misunderstanding. It was really a misunderstanding just now! That werewolf is our enemy, you see, and we were just nning to kill him.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Now that¡¯s weird. Aren¡¯t you the Wolf King¡¯s foster son? Why would you want to kill your brother?¡±

    Xue Ding knew that he would be damned if he replied wrong. He threw caution to the wind, saying, ¡°I am indeed the Wolf King¡¯s adopted son, but the king has more than ten such sons. These so-called adopted sons are actually high-ranking cannon fodder. We¡¯ll be put to death all the same if we don¡¯t do our job well. I performed poorly this time, contacted my original family without permission, and said bad things about the Wolf King behind his back. Any one of these is enough for capital punishment. The oue would be disastrous if we let Gary go back alive.¡±

    The Xue brothers had indeed shown killing intent while Qianye was fighting Gary and seemed like they were looking for an opportunity to attack. He thus nodded in recognition of Xue Ding¡¯s words.

    Qianye did have some questions, though. ¡°Contacting one¡¯s old family is also a crime?¡±

    This time, it was Xue Wu who replied, ¡°The Wolf King is a werewolf. Sinceing to the Eastern Sea, he has continuously recruited his kind in order to suppress the other races. He didn¡¯t dare to overtly bully the human race, but he has been secretly trying to whittle away at our strength, his first targets being the major families in the Eastern Sea with long lines of inheritance. Our Xue family had offended the Wolf King before and remains a nail in his eyes.¡±

    Qianye shot a nce at Xue Ding. ¡°Yet you still became his foster son?¡±

    Xue Ding replied hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s all for the family! The Wolf King¡¯s foster sons are sourced from the talented younger generation of each family.¡±

    After learning of the reasoning behind all this, Qianye said, ¡°Kill Gary and you two may leave.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s demand was clever¡ªsomeone of Gary¡¯s identity probably had certain secret arts on his body. If he were to die, and given a certain direction, it might be possible to divine the killer. If the Xue brothers dared betray Qianye in the future, thetter needed only to tell the truth. At that time, it wouldn¡¯t be just the two brothers; even the entire Xue family would be in danger.

    Sure enough, the Xue brothers also understood this. Their inheritance and knowledge wasn¡¯t something ordinary people couldpare to.

    The duo showed no hesitation after hearing Qianye¡¯s demands. With his origin gun, Xue Wu sted what was left of Gary¡¯s body into the air, whereupon Xue Ding jumped up and struck him behind the back of his head. Numerous strands of azure origin power appeared at the point of contact and crushed Gary¡¯s neck bones.

    After killing Gary, Xue Wu quietly circted his origin power to connect his broken bones. Meanwhile, Xue Ding packed up the remains of Gary¡¯s body and tossed them into the Eastern Sea. Afterward, he dug out the soil stained with the werewolf¡¯s blood and threw them into the ck Grove.

    After doing all this, Xue Ding said, ¡°Gary killed numerous natives and stirred up a lot of trouble. After we throw his blood-stained soil into the forest, the natives there will know that he has died and thus no longer cause trouble for you. The Eastern Sea and the ck Grove are always the best ces to remove remains. Even the Wolf King himself doesn¡¯t dare to go too deep.¡±

    The special environment of the neutralnds was a kind of knowledge in and of itself.

    By the time Xue Ding hadpleted these things, Xue Wu had already finished connecting his broken bones. He could already stand and walk, albeit with some difficulty. He arrived in front of Qianye and bowed deeply, saying, ¡°Your Majesty Qianye, by letting us brothers go, you ensured our Xue family¡¯s continuation. I¡¯ll forego a verbal expression of gratitude. Our Xue family possesses a bit of power and properties in the neutralnds. If you need our family¡¯s help, we¡¯ll do our absolute best to help you!¡±

    These words were spoken with great sincerity. This, however, stupefied Xue Ding. ¡°Big Bro, did you just call Qianye His Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    Be it in Evernight, the empire, or the neutralnds, the word majesty involved a strict meaning that couldn¡¯t be abused. Even the arrogant Gary didn¡¯t dare call himself so because, otherwise, it would only incur ridicule instead of respect.

    Xue Ding had always respected this brother of his and knew that there must be a good reason for this, as opposed to senseless ttery.

    It was just that he began to sweat after recalling the significance of the term ¡°Your Majesty¡± and about how he had provoked this person twice.

    Seeing that everything had been handled appropriately, Qianye dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

    Xue Wu bowed. ¡°We¡¯ve done our best to remove all traces, but Gary is one of the Wolf King¡¯s two most favored sons. He will definitely investigate the cause of his death.¡±

    Qianye knew that this was a warning of goodwill, hinting that he should leave this ce.

    Qianye only nodded without furtherment.

    The Xue brothers didn¡¯t linger on and left rapidly on their airship.

    Nighteye arrived beside Qianye after the people had left. ¡°Your killing intent was so heavy. It¡¯s rare to see you this way.¡±

    ¡°Gary shouldn¡¯t have made a move on you. There¡¯s no way I could¡¯ve let him off.¡±

    Hugging Qianye from behind, she said with a slight sigh, ¡°There will be many people who will take a fancy to me. Can you kill them all?¡±

    Be it in terms of bloodline, appearance, or status, Nighteye was coveted by many. Even with the Monroe n¡¯s protection, she was still targeted by the likes of Edward and Faras. Now, the Lightless Monarch Medanzo had also expressed his interest in her bloodline.

    While they were hiding in the empire, Nighteye still managed to invite trouble despite her beauty being concealed by a mask.

    Additionally, they were in the neutralnds at the moment. This was a ce withoutw and order, only violence and ferocity¡ªanything one wanted could be obtained via robbery, and rules only existed for the strong to bind the weak. Once in public eyes, Nighteye would attract countless insects like amp in the cold winter night.

    Qianye had already thought about this problem. He said with a shake of his sword, ¡°There will indeed be a lot of people who have designs on you, but I will kill whoever dares to take action. One day, I will let you walk openly in the neutralnds!¡±

    ¡°Sigh, you dummy...¡± Nighteye hugged him even tighter.

    There was a lone mountain on the shores of the Eastern Sea. On it stood a tall, fierce-looking man who was gazing at the vast waters, deep in thought.

    At this moment, a series of heavy footsteps arrived from behind as a werewolf elder ascended the peak. He tapped the ground with his wooden staff and bowed deeply. ¡°Great Chief!¡±

    The man didn¡¯t look back. ¡°How many times have I told you? Here, I am called Wolf King.¡±

    The old werewolf replied, ¡°Since the old chief¡¯s return to the holy mountain, you have always been the tribe¡¯s great chief in our hearts.¡±

    The Wolf King spoke slowly, ¡°I have been the Wolf King since losing to Zhang Buzhou. Only when I can personally wash away this dishonor will I be the true great chief!¡±

    ¡°That day isn¡¯t far off.¡±

    The Wolf King did notment on this. Instead, he asked, ¡°Any news?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t found Young Master Gary¡¯s whereabouts. We have, however, found out that hest went to the southern desce and that the journey was rted to the Xue family.¡±

    The Wolf King turned around rapidly, surging with killing intent. ¡°Xue family? Are they still restless?¡±

    The werewolf elder replied hurriedly, ¡°Great Chief, you cannot touch the Xue family! Killing some ordinary humans is fine, but you need a solid reason to touch a big family like the Xue. Otherwise, there will be undesirable involvements.¡±

    The Wolf King said coldly, ¡°Gary is dead. Now, is that reason enough?¡±

    The werewolf elder replied, ¡°Is Young Master Gary really dead? He has gone out to hunt on his own before, and there¡¯s usually no news of him for the greater part of the month.¡±

    The Wolf King whispered, ¡°I gave him a drop of inheritance blood, and now, I can no longer sense it. As such, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s dead.¡±

    ¡°You gave him inheritance blood!? This...¡±

    The werewolf bloodline was special. As their cultivation rises along with their life, there was a chance of them producing a drop of inheritance blood. The main purpose of this was to extend the growth phase of their descendants. To those of the Wolf King¡¯s bloodline, extending the growth phase meant a direct improvement in potential.

    It was naturally difficult to obtain something as powerful as inheritance blood. Even with the Wolf King¡¯s cultivation, he had only produced three such drops in his entire life. Giving Gary a drop meant that he had already chosen him as the sessor. Now that the prince had died, it brought the Wolf King double the pain.

    ¡°Go and investigate where Garyst appeared. Use whatever method is avable to find out the culprit! Additionally, there¡¯s no need to leave any human alive in the area. Have them apany my son in death!¡±

    ¡°Your wish is mymand, Chief.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s tone rxed a bit at this point. ¡°Any news from Zhang Buzhou? It¡¯s been about ten years since he went into isted cultivation.¡±

    The werewolf elder said with a wry smile, ¡°It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know, that person has always been cautious and also quite proficient in divination. He won¡¯t reveal such an important matter even to the people closest to him. How can we know? Besides, this person¡¯s secret arts are bizarre and powerful. He will know if one so much as speaks his name. Only you can utter it without a care.¡±

 Chapter 736: Surviving Fish

    The Wolf King remained silent for a while. ¡°If Zhang Buzhou wasn¡¯t powerful, how could my father have died in his hands? How could I have fallen into such a state, bearing the burden of this humiliation every day?¡±

    ¡°Great Chief, lying low today is for your rise to power tomorrow.¡± The werewolf elder repeated a word of ancient wisdom that had been passed down through the tribe.

    The Wolf King replied, ¡°I know. You go and deal with Gary¡¯s case first.¡±

    The werewolf elder didn¡¯t leave immediately. Apparently a bit hesitant, he said, ¡°Great Chief, our movements in recent days have attracted the attention of those from the other side. They mighte and sound us out. You must be cautious.¡±

    The Wolf King sneered, ¡°No doubt, they have designs on my position. But Zhang Buzhou has always been merciless and only looks at profit. Since I took this position, the submitted taxes and resources have more than doubled. As long as we pay our duties, no one should even think about getting my seat. Besides, do they think they can do well in my position with their meager abilities? A group of idiots who can¡¯t even govern their own area well... it¡¯s the same whatever position they are in.¡±

    The werewolf elder felt relieved upon seeing the Wolf King so confident and duly went on his way down the mountain.

    After the Xue Brothers left, Qianye¡¯s life became peaceful once more. However, his contest against the mysterious sea entity didn¡¯t go so well¡ªhe had only managed one victory a day for several days straight, causing the ck Grove to reach further and further toward the beach. Fortunately, the mist would stop at the river and not cross over no matter how much it surged and rolled.

    Qianye reflected on the results and finally tipped the scales back in his favor, winning two rounds this night. Only then did he manage to breathe a sigh of relief.

    Because he had been cultivating all this time, the unexchanged materials had piled up into a small mountain. He thought about it and realized that it was time to pay his taxes again. Additionally, there had been no movements after Iron Bear¡¯s death, so he went to town to see how things were going.

    Loading a small sack of golden threaded snails and two logs, Qianye boarded the old car and drove toward the small town.

    With the continued expansion of the ck Grove, the road toward the small town was now mostly through the forest. After Xue Ding threw the blood-stained soil into the forest, the natives therepletely vanished and never appeared again. Passing through the ck Grove was like traversing and of death; it was devoid of all vitality.

    The truck moved slowly, but it was stable, reliable, and never malfunctioned. After bumping along for an hour, Qianye finally left the forest and arrived in the periphery of the small town.

    The moment he left the ck Forest, Qianye could smell the stench of blood in the air. Frowning, he sniffed the air and found that the blood was mostly from humans. There was a small number of other races mixed in, but there was almost no werewolf scent at all. The stench was fairly intense, meaning that at least dozens of people have died here.

    Qianye jumped down from the truck and went over to the small town.

    Everything looked normal from outside of the town apart from the fact that the guards were gone. Gazing inside, one could see that the streets were empty without so much as a human shadow. In the blink of an eye, this simple yet lively ce had turned into a ghost town.

    Qianye stopped after entering the small town. He touched the gates and found ayer of dark purple substance on his hands. He immediately knew that this was dried blood.

    Looking down, there was a puddle of dark liquid not far from his feet. It looked like sewage but was, in fact, blood that had mixed in with the dirt.

    Just as calm, Qianye walked deeper into the small town.

    This was the main road leading into town, lined with stores left and right. Now, however, their doors were closed, and the atmosphere was suffused with deathly silence.

    Qianye pushed open one of the doors and looked inside. There was no one there and the goods were in a mess¡ªsomeone had apparently gone through everything. He broke into a deep frown as an intense rotten stench assaulted the senses.

    ¡°Bang!¡± At this moment, one of the nearby racks nearby burst open and a dark figure pounced over.

    Qianye leaned backward and easily dodged the attack. This ck wolf was muchrger in buildpared to its peers, clearly one of the wargs raised by werewolves. The creature hadn¡¯t even reached its target when Qianye grabbed it by the waist and snapped its spine.

    The warg rolled about, crying in agony. Qianye looked around the store indifferently and left after confirming there was nothing noteworthy here.

    The warg¡¯s pained howls echoed through town, eliciting numerous reactions. House windows shattered throughout the town as the wargs hiding in them appeared in quick session. A number of them caught sight of Qianye and immediately charged over with great ferocity.

    There were still bits of human flesh and clothes in their teeth, and the stench of human blood hung deeply around them. All of this filled Qianye with an instinctive loathing for these creatures.

    Several of the pouncing wargs flew past Qianye, missing their target entirely. The moment theynded on the ground, their limbs flew off from their bodies in a gush of fresh blood. The creatures rolled about in pain, their howls filling the entire town.

    The remaining wargs in the area were intimidated by the cries of their peers. They lowered their bodies with their tails between their legs and didn¡¯t dare charge forth for the moment. However, they couldn¡¯t sense any danger from Qianye, and this made them quite hesitant about their next course of action. They had no idea whether or not they should pounce forward and tear this human apart.

    The animals might be hesitant, but Qianye had no intention of letting them go. Beams of sword intent flew out with each shake of East Peak, sending the pack intoplete disarray. In the blink of an eye, all of the wargs had lost their limbs without exception.

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡± A furious roar rang out from the town center as a young werewolf charged out. Eyes bloodshot upon seeing the miserable wargs, he pounced at Qianye with great ferocity.

    Thetter sighed lightly, murmuring to himself, ¡°There really aren¡¯t a lot of werewolves as cute as William.¡±

    The young werewolf¡¯s vision blurred. He fell limp in front of Qianye, overwhelmed by the paining from all over his body. Yet, he couldn¡¯t feel his limbs at all, and only after looking down did he realize that his arms and legs had been cut off. He let out a long, mournful howl in his terror and pain.

    Qianye picked up the young werewolf and walked on, arriving at the za in the blink of an eye.

    The entire square had turned into a pool of blood. There were hundreds of wooden poles around the area, each running through a human whose blood flowed down the pir and into the sanguineous pond.

    The impaled victims were all residents of the small town, many of whom Qianye knew. There were a few unfamiliar faces, too, likely unfortunate peddlers and traders who happened to be here during the massacre.

    It had been a good while since the mass murder, and most of the people on the stakes had perished. Only a few stronger ones were left hanging on theirst breath, but most of their legs were a mess of flesh and blood. There were even some with only white bones remaining¡ªeven an idiot could see where the flesh had gone after seeing the pack of wargs.

    Just as humans enjoyed the meat of fierce beasts, the flesh of humans with high origin power was a delicacy to these wargs.

    Qianye tossed the limbless young werewolf into the pool of blood, eliciting yet another cry of misery from him.

    The doors to what used to be Iron Bear¡¯s residence flew open as numerous werewolves charged out in quick session. The leader, a valiant middle-aged lycanthrope, let out a low growl and stared at Qianye with bloodshot eyes.

    However, he soon realized that he couldn¡¯t gauge Qianye¡¯s strength at all. How could a human capable of cutting off a werewolf knight¡¯s limbs have no origin power at all? At the thought of this, he quickly suppressed his fury and shouted, ¡°Who are you? You actually dared to injure a knight under the Wolf King¡¯s directmand. Do you not know who the master of this region is?¡±

    Qianye did not reply to the question. ¡°Are you the ones who killed the people here?¡±

    The middle-aged werewolf replied, ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s son, Gary, died in this region. ording to the rules, all humans living here will be buried together with him.¡±

    ¡°Rules? Whose rules?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s rules! What, do you want to oppose the Wolf King? Brat, you must be tired of living. I¡¯ll give you a quick death if you chop off your arms and legs now. Otherwise, I¡¯ll impale you to the wooden stakes and have the wargs chew at you for a couple of days before letting you die!¡±

    "The Wolf King¡¯s rule, is it?¡± Qianye¡¯s words hadn¡¯t even trailed off when the werewolves felt a sudden pressure descend upon them, almost as though there was arge rock pressing down upon them. The weakest among them couldn¡¯t stand straight and fell kneeling onto the ground. The middle-aged werewolf was also stunned for a good while before he managed to circte his power and recover his mobility.

    By that time, however, Qianye had already shed past him, around the za, and returned to where he was standing before.

    The middle-aged werewolf felt a sudden pain in his chest, following which, a wave of weakness swept across his entire body. He looked down and found that East Peak had pierced through his chest at one point and shattered his heart. He simply couldn¡¯t grasp Qianye¡¯s movements, so much so that he didn¡¯t even know when the de had entered his body.

    Qianye looked into his eyes and said word by word, ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s rules don¡¯t apply to my ce.¡±

    The middle-aged werewolf said ferociously, ¡°Just you wait, the Wolf King won¡¯t ever let you go. It will be the end for you once his personal guard arrives.¡±

    Qianye sent the werewolf flying with a shake of his hand,nding him squarely on one of the sharp stakes. Werewolves had a fairly strong vitality and would remain alive several days even without an intact heart. This advantage, however, would now be the source of his suffering.

    The other werewolves had long since copsed. The middle-aged man himself was merely a third-rank viscount, so there was no way his subordinates could take even a single blow. Qianye especially left a survivor, from whom he learned about the entire matter in general.

    The Wolf King had somehow found out about Gary¡¯s death and, in his anger, had dispatched his personal guard to search this area. The people in town thus became the target of the Wolf King¡¯s anger. It wasn¡¯t just this settlement, though. There were two more such towns within a hundred kilometers that would fall to the same fate.

    After killing all the residents of the town, the Wolf King¡¯s guard left to continue their search for Gary¡¯s remains. Naturally, there was only one oue for the humans they encountered along the way.

    This viscount remained to guard the town with a handful of subordinates and see if there were any fish that had escaped the. What came in the end, though, was a man-eating shark.

 Chapter 737: Inheritance

    Qianye went around the small town and finished off the remaining wargs one after the other. Naturally, those he had cut down before wouldn¡¯t live long either.

    After doing all of this, Qianye leapt onto the building and cut down the Wolf King¡¯s war banner. He then picked up a wooden board, preparing to carve his own insignia and hang it on the building.

    On one hand, it was to announce that this little town was his territory, while on the other, it was to tell the Wolf King that everything was his doing and that there was no need to take it out on other people. Naturally, he wasn¡¯t dumb enough to tell the Wolf King his own identity. How much thetter knew would depend on how capable his subordinates were.

    The design of this crest, however, gave Qianye quite a bit of a problem. He first carved a vortex in the ocean to represent his Profound Combatant Form. Then, he added the depiction of a rising sun which signified daybreak origin power.

    Now that daybreak had been represented, a token of the other side became necessary. At the thought of this, Qianye added a pair of luminous wings on the sea. The Wings of Inception was Qianye¡¯s most powerful aces and something absolutely vital to him. After drawing the Wings of Inception, he carved the symbol of his ancient vampire inheritance, a sanguineous river stretching through the air.

    This wasn¡¯tplete yet, so Qianye added a book in one corner of the emblem. The book of darkness was so mysterious that even the ck-Winged Monarch only managed to obtain the first volume. He gave it some thought, and then added a scroll atop the ck tome. The Song n Ancient Scroll had been crucial throughout his development.

    He finally managed to add everything in, but the insignia had be aplicated mess that even Qianye himself couldn¡¯t bear to see.

    As such, he shattered the wooden board and found a new one to start his design anew. However, it simply didn¡¯t feel right no matter which one of the representations was removed. In the end, Qianye carved, scrapped, and carved again¡ªhe produced over ten rough drafts in total, yet no proper solution was formed.

    In his anger, Qianye simply drew an X on the board and stuck it onto the roof. As for the true war banner and insignia, Qianye decided to let Nighteye do the design since it couldn¡¯t be rushed.

    After leaving the small town, Qianye left the old truck and ran back to his courtyard directly. He then assembled Nighteye and the old man to tell them of today¡¯s situation and seek their opinion.

    Cui Yuanhai seemed worried. ¡°Although we know nothing about the Wolf King¡¯s strength, rumors suggest that he should be at least as strong as a divine champion. In terms of Evernight¡¯s ranking system, he might be a vice-duke or at least an honored marquis. Quite frankly speaking, you two might not be a match for this kind of power. As for this old man, I¡¯ll be aplete burden. Only certain death awaits if you need to take care of me, too.¡±

    This analysis was within Qianye¡¯s expectations. He turned toward Nighteye and asked, ¡°What about you? What do you think?¡±

    Nighteye was as calm as still water and seemedpletely unworried about this matter. ¡°We fight of course. We let loose and fight him until the Wolf King can take it no more and retreats from this ce of his own ord.¡±

    Qianye nodded. This was also his intention.

    Cui Yuanhai was astonished. ¡°You two want to fight the Wolf King? Are you crazy?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°We¡¯re not crazy. It¡¯s not like we want to fight the Wolf King, it¡¯s the Wolf King who forced us to do battle. These are the neutralnds, so backing down blindly isn¡¯t the way to go.

    ¡°But we can move to other ces. The neutralnds are so big and the Wolf King can only control so many ces. We can easily find another ce where he can¡¯t reach us and live our lives in peace. With your great talents, you two can slowly contend with the Wolf King in just a few years. Why rush things?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Even if we leave, the Wolf King can hunt us down just as easily. So, we must teach him a painful lesson before we leave and make him forget about chasing after us. Only then will we be safe.¡±

    ¡°What are your ns?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Simple. First, we¡¯ll wipe out his personal guard squad. Then, I¡¯ll hunt down his subordinates in the wilderness. As long as it isn¡¯t the Wolf King himself, everyone else will find it hard to escape my assassination.¡±

    Cui Yuanhai shook his head. ¡°The Wolf King will personally take action if you kill enough of his men. What will you do then?¡±

    Qianye exchanged nces with Nighteye. ¡°I should be able to escape.¡±

    ¡°Should? Humph, there are too many things that should be. What if you can¡¯t escape?¡±

    Qianye spoke no more. Instead, he opened up a map of the Eastern Sea and began looking through it in detail. After a moment, he pointed to a location on the map and said, ¡°Old Cui, we¡¯ll send you to a nearby port city. The area is more or less neutral, so you should settle in there first. We¡¯lle and pick you up after our battle with the Wolf King shows some results. There¡¯s an airship port in town, I can send you over now.¡±

    Knowing that he would be nothing but a burden, Cui Yuanhai didn¡¯t object to this. As a master-level craftsman in weapons and origin bullets, his knowledge of machines was fairly deep and it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to pilot an airship.

    ¡°How about Zhuji?¡± The old man inquired.

    ¡°She¡¯ll follow us.¡±

    The three continued to discuss some of the finer details until midnight. Only then did Qianye remember that he had forgotten about his spar with the mysterious entity. It seemed to know Qianye was busy tonight, hence, it didn¡¯t remind him of their seaside match.

    At the thought of the mysterious entity, Qianye suddenly recalled how their fights in the past few days had been exceptionally difficult. It was extremely hard to win even one battle back then. Consequently, the ck Grove had expanded without restraint and blocked the path to town entirely.

    Qianye could freely pass through it, but other people might suffer after entering the woods. Perhaps it was because of this reason that the werewolf guard squad hadn¡¯t discovered Qianye¡¯s residence. Even if the people in town had been forced to speak of Qianye¡¯s location, the Wolf King¡¯s Guard probably didn¡¯t dare enter the depths of the forest and chose to forget him instead.

    Did this mean that the mysterious character was helping in secret?

    Qianye still had no idea what this entity¡¯s true appearance was or what its intentions were. In the face of such a major issue as the Wolf King, he naturally couldn¡¯t entrust it to this existence.

    The night was deep¡ªCui Yuanhai was asleep, and little Zhuji hadn¡¯t woken up from her many days of slumber. There were only Qianye and Nighteye in the room.

    ¡°Wait a minute, I have something to give you?¡± Qianye called out to Nighteye.

    ¡°What is it? A present?¡± Nighteye was curious.

    ¡°I guess it would count as one!¡±

    Qianye fished out his vampiric de and produced a cut to his wrist. Then, he squeezed out several drops of blood from the barely open wound. The liquid had specks of gold within them and almost seemed to be on fire. The drops of blood eventually converged into a crystalline drop of blood which fell onto Qianye¡¯s fingertips.

    Qianye raised his hand and tapped Nighteye on the forehead.

    Thetter had no idea what Qianye wanted to do, but she could feel a sense of ancient bleakness from the blood that caused her bloodline to tremble slightly.

    Those drops of blood vanished once Qianye¡¯s hand came into contact with Nighteye¡¯s forehead. There wasn¡¯t a single trace left on her skin, almost as though nothing had ever happened before. As the drops of blood disappeared, Qianye¡¯splexion became somewhat pale and his aura also weakened a bit.

    Turning abruptly pale, she closed her eyes tight as her body trembled abruptly.

    The trembling gradually calmed down after a good while. She then opened her eyes and said incredulously, ¡°Spatial sh?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is the ck-Winged Monarch Andruil¡¯s ultimate secret art. Youe from the Monroe n and have awakened his bloodline, so you should be able to use this technique.¡±

    Nighteye still hadn¡¯t recovered from the shock. She reached out to touch her forehead, but the blood had left no trace during its entry and her skin was perfectly intact. No matter how she felt around, she couldn¡¯t find any sign of this blood.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± After a long while, Nighteye gave up and asked directly.

    ¡°This is a method used by ancient vampires to transfer secret arts. Using a drop of essence blood as medium, one can fully bestow an inheritance and experience on the other party.¡±

    ¡°Why do you know this?¡± Nighteye couldn¡¯t find such a transfer technique in her blurry memories.

    ¡°This is the knowledge I gained from the River of Blood.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t try to hide anything.

    ¡°You¡¯vemunicated with the River of Blood!?¡± Although she had forgotten a lot of things, she knew that suchmunication was a huge thing for a vampire.

    ¡°Yes, is there any problem?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it feels like... No, I don¡¯t remember anymore.¡± Nighteye tried hard to recall, but she simply couldn¡¯t remember why a connection to the river was so important.

    The ancient art of essence blood transfer instilled in Nighteye all of Qianye¡¯s findings regarding Spatial sh, saving her the process of exploration andprehension. Spatial sh was actually an extremely powerful secret art for traversing space. Theoretically, anyone with powerful darkness origin power could use it. However, those with the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s bloodline were especially suitable for the technique¡ªthe effects produced would be countless times more powerful than those with ordinary bloodlines.

    Vampires from other bloodlines¡ªor even other dark race members¡ªcould obtain Spatial sh, but the effects were limited. From what Qianye had seen, if Eden were to use Spatial sh, the effects would be far inferior to his own Shadow Traversal. Additionally, there was a high probability of a bacsh that might very well take his life instead.

    For such dark race members, Spatial sh¡¯s real valuey in the fact that there was no limit to it. The greater one¡¯s darkness origin power is, the more powerful this art would be. Perhaps in the hands of a great dark monarch, this secret art would be able to disy its true worth. Shadow Traversal¡¯s limit was at the honored marquis rank. There would be no additional effect no matter how high one¡¯s level was after that.

    Nighteye possessed the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s bloodline and had also been bestowed with the inheritance by Qianye. Hence, her speed in cultivating Spatial sh was extremely fast, taking only one night toplete the entire process. It was just that she had just recovered from her injury and was still one step away from the count rank. Her usage of the art was still a bit inferior to Qianye¡¯s.

    Now that both of them possessed Spatial sh, their chances of survival would increase greatly even against the Wolf King. The ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s core inheritance was indeed boundlessly powerful.

    Qianye then fished out the Carol of Shadows and gave it to Nighteye.

    Upon seeing this rifle, Nighteye¡¯s expression became somewhat odd. ¡°This is Eden¡¯s gun, why is it in your hands?¡±

    ¡°You still remember Eden?¡± Qianye snorted.

    Nighteye immediately exined in a loveable manner, ¡°I think he¡¯s saved me before, that¡¯s why I remember him more clearly. I also remember a lot of things with you!¡±

    Qianye snorted once more but didn¡¯t press on. ¡°You can have this gun. Although it¡¯s not as smooth to use, its firepower is not bad.¡±

    ¡°How did you get this?¡±

    ¡°Humph, I encountered Eden on the battlefield, so I gave him a good beating and took his gun. Unfortunately, he escaped in the end.¡±

    Nighteye made noment and ignored Qianye¡¯s fixed stare.

    After a moment of deadlock, Nighteye suddenly broke into augh. She reached out to caress Qianye¡¯s hair and asked, ¡°Tell me the truth, what were you thinking just now?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking I should¡¯ve beaten him even harder!¡± Qianye ground his teeth.

    ¡°You¡¯re so dumb.¡±

 Chapter 738: Ambush

    The night went by with Qianye packing up his things in preparation for his imminent hunt.

    Cui Yuanhai walked out of his little hut and, with great effort, tossed Qianye a huge origin gun. ¡°The environment here is special, and ordinary guns can¡¯t exert their full power. I built a new one in recent days that can be considered grade-seven. Use this for the time being. It might not befortable to use, but it¡¯s better than having nothing.¡±

    What the old man had given him was a product full of violent aesthetics¡ªthe muzzle was the size of a fist, the barrel was as thick as a finger, and the body of the firearm itself was built of steel and covered in origin arrays. It was just that the patterns on the arrays were so coarse that their function could only be considered a basic grade-five.

    The mechanical parts of the gun were simple and primitive, with the loading and ejection both manually operated. There wasn¡¯t a single support function to be found. There should be no problem even if one were to use this clumsy but sturdy weapon like a hammer.

    This origin gun¡¯s overall design was fairly ancient, probably simr to weapons from over three hundred years ago. However, only weapons of such barbaric design could be used freely in the neutralnds. Without special protection, intricate arrays simply couldn¡¯t withstand the erosion of the void origin power here and would be destroyed before long. A weapon like the Carol of Shadows could withstand the erosion due to its valuable materialposition, but even so, it would still suffer some reduction to firepower.

    Perhaps only the Ten Grand Magnums would be able to exert their full power in the neutralnds.

    The old man hauled a wooden chest over and said, ¡°This box is full of origin bullets for this gun.¡±

    Qianye opened up the chest and saw rows of physical origin bullets inside. He didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry when he saw that the projectiles were asrge as a hand grenade. Perhaps only Zhao Yuying might love this gun.

    The shorings of this weapon were also quite obvious. Apart from its cumbersome operation and difficulty in carrying, its range was only over a hundred meters. The origin arrays Cui Yuanhai had installed were all for increased firepower. There was simply no consideration for uracy and range. Then again, there was simply no need for uracy within a hundred meters. With Qianye¡¯s marksmanship skills, he could hit anything just by pointing at it.

    As an oue of pursuing extreme firepower, this weapon was even more destructive than Zhao Yuying¡¯s Mountain Splitter, and it was even more powerful at closer range.

    ¡°Pick a name for it,¡± Qianye said.

    Cui Yuanhai shook his head continuously. ¡°Absolutely not! If it wasn¡¯t for this ursed ce, how could I have built such a... thing. If this spreads, my life¡¯s reputation will bepletely destroyed.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t force the issue. At this point, Nighteye had returned with an airship from the small town. Qianye loaded the old man¡¯s luggage onto the airship along with necessary equipment and local products like wood and golden-threaded snails. After all the preparations wereplete, Cui Yuanhai took to the air and left.

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine over there, won¡¯t he?¡± Nighteye sounded somewhat worried.

    ¡°I hope so. After all, the Xue family has some power in Port City. The old man will pay them a visit after arriving there. If those two fellows are smart enough, they¡¯ll take care of the old man in our stead.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°The Wolf King has probably connected Gary¡¯s death to the Xue family. Besides, the two of them are of the younger generation and have limited influence on the family¡¯s policymaking. If the Wolf King really targets the Xue family, they might actually toss the two kids out to ensure survival.¡±

    Qianye was greatly impressed. ¡°You¡¯re awesome!¡±

    Nighteye shot Qianye a nce. ¡°Of course, I didn¡¯t read the Comprehensive History of the Empire for nothing.¡±

    Seeing this, Qianye felt that there was something wrong but couldn¡¯t quite point out what it was. Eventually, Nighteye chuckled while covering her mouth. ¡°What, are you thinking that I¡¯m no longer easy to deceive?¡± Only then did hee to a realization.

    Nighteye had been slowly recovering from the physical and mental damage since Qianye saved her from the imperial military. He had gotten used to her being weak and relying on him for everything. He was even secretly worried when she tried to fight against Xue Ding.

    During this period, Qianye had forgotten that Nighteye was once the princess of the Monroe n, a primo with talents exceeding even the Holy Son Edward. The titles Holy Son and Princess weren¡¯t decided based on the nobility of one¡¯s bloodline. They needed to prove themselves in cultivation and in battle to qualify for their respective roles.

    Even though they require a degree of protection for their maturation phase, it wasn¡¯tplete istion. The ancient ns would arrange for suitable enemies to polish their scions. Nighteye was dispatched to the battlefield soon after joining the Monroe n. This could be considered protected training, but Nighteye managed to prove herself with her outstanding rate of advancement.

    At the Holy Son¡¯s level, there would be no more protection. He needed to be able to uphold great responsibilities and oversee an entire region on the battlefield.

    None of the dark races¡¯ famed geniuses were simple characters, and Nighteye was no exception.

    After thinking about this, Qianye was filled with an inexplicable sensation. Sometimes, he would rather she stay as a weak girl that needed his protection, but that wasn¡¯t the case in reality.

    Qianye suddenly recalled Song Zining¡¯s words. ¡°Don¡¯t ever find a woman so intelligent that you can¡¯t deceive her.¡±

    It would seem the seventh young master was speaking from his own experience.

    After making ample preparations, Qianye and Nighteye traveled through the forest and arrived at the small town. Qianye had killed the werewolf viscount, as well as the wargs¡ªit was about time the Wolf King¡¯s Guard realized something was wrong here.

    Aplicatedndscape like the small town was the most advantageous for Qianye and Nighteye.

    At this moment, there was a werewolf elder in the town square. He was so old that he couldn¡¯t stand straight and had to lean on a staff for support. His greyish white hair was decorated with three feathers, and there were colored cloth-strips wrapped around the ordinary-looking staff in his hand.

    People familiar with Evernight History would recognize this as the attire of the ancient werewolf tribes from tens of thousands of years ago. It was just that only members with prestige and power would be able to don such feathers as decoration. The greater the number of feathers, the higher his status. Three feathers meant that this werewolf was at least an elder in the tribe.

    At this moment, the werewolf viscount was on his veryst breath, meeting this werewolf elder for thest time.

    The old werewolf waved his staff, shooting out several beams of light that converged into the viscount¡¯s corpse. This radiance was rather mysterious, causing the viscount¡¯s body to regain some vitality. Thetter moved slightly, opened his eyes, and looked up with great difficulty. However, his eyes were full of puzzlement and he couldn¡¯t even speak. Apparently, the body had regained some life, but his consciousness was already dead.

    The werewolf elder pulled back his staff. He was already drenched in sweat after this brief moment of work, and the creases on his face seemed to have grown deeper. Watching the viscount¡¯s immobile body, he stamped down with his staff and cursed, ¡°Useless thing!¡±

    Werewolves possessed powerful vitality and would be able to hold out for a period of time even with their vitals shattered. Qianye had impaled the werewolf on the pole in order to torment him and send word back to the Wolf King¡¯s Guard.

    Who would¡¯ve thought the werewolf couldn¡¯t stand the pain and, having lost all desire to live, passed away after a short while. In the eyes of the brave werewolves, the inability to withstand pain was a ssic sign of cowardice.

    At this point, a werewolf soldier walked over and passed a wooden board to the elder, saying, ¡°We found this on the roof where the original war banner was. Maybe it¡¯s a symbol?¡±

    The werewolf elder looked at the simple X on the board and eximed, ¡°What the heck is this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably a war banner, totem, or a crest. We also found these.¡±

    The werewolf soldier brought back some broken wooden boards. They had already reconnected them to the point where one could make out the fantastic drawings and runes on them. These wooden boards were of the same shape and size as the one on the roof, which led to them guessing that this was perhaps a certain war banner.

    The werewolf elder looked at them for a long while before saying, ¡°How ugly! You¡¯ve actually managed to find these things, but did you find any clues regarding this person?¡±

    The werewolf soldiers whispered, ¡°He didn¡¯t leave any scent at all. Additionally, the stench of blood here is so intense that it interferes with our perception. We¡¯re also a bit too close to the ck Grove.¡±

    ¡°Useless things!¡± The old werewolf cursed again, but he knew that the neutralnds deeply affected the werewolves¡¯ sense of smell. The ck Grove, especially, was a nightmare for their race.

    The ck Grove could absorb any and all smells. Even werewolves with the sharpest olfactory senses would only smell one thing there¡ªthe scent of the ck Grove. Additionally, if the grove were to suffer an attack, it would emit a type of irritating smell. Such gases had no effect on Qianye, but it was a nightmarish odor for the werewolves and their sharp senses. The weaker ones would find their noses swollen, red, and painful for many days.

    Thus, the werewolf elder couldn¡¯t think of a good idea despite his anger. All he could do was have his subordinates continue their search. They needed to find clues even if they had to flip the entire town over.

    One of the werewolves kicked open the door to a certain house. He then entered with his long saber in tow and began checking everywhere. The stench inside was so strong that he trembled after entering the room. During this brief moment of distraction, he felt a chill from his back as a vampiric de entered his heart.

    Drained of essence blood, the werewolf soldier copsed without a sound. He didn¡¯t even get the chance to call out. Qianye appeared from behind like a specter and left the house to hide inside another.

    Dozens of soldiers had already spread out to search the small town. The elder, on the other hand, was pacing around the square. He couldn¡¯t help but feel fidgety and restless, almost as though something bad was about to happen. But he was old, so old that his once sharp intuition had be somewhat dull.

    At this moment, hidden within the shadows, a gun muzzle was slowly following him around.

 Chapter 739: The Last Clue

    The rumble of the origin gun shattered the silence of the small town. The werewolf elder pulled back as soon as the sound appeared, but he was still one step too slow. Amidst a shower of blood, his right arm flew off from his body and fell to the distant ground.

    The elder withstood the pain and reached for his wooden staff with a trembling hand. It would seem that this old wooden staff was even more important to him than his life.

    Gunshots rang out once more as the werewolf elder¡¯s left arm was also sted off. His aged body fell hard on the ground and couldn¡¯t mber up for a good while.

    In a nearby house, Nighteye put away the Carol of Shadows, drew her dagger, and stabbed the door at lightning speed! The dagger shot through the wood all the way to its hilt.

    A miserable cry was heard from the other side as a werewolf w pierced through the wooden door and grabbed Nighteye¡¯s wrist. However, the hand gradually weakened over the course of a few breaths as its owner copsed to the ground.

    Nighteye put away her vampiric de and jumped out of the side window, soon vanishing into the small alleyways. She had just left when a melon-sized grenade flew into the room and sted the building apart.

    The sound of gunshots and explosions threw the entire town into chaos. The werewolf soldiers knew the explosions came from the guard squad¡¯s grenades, but the gunshots were extremely foreign.

    Several werewolf warriors eventually returned to the square and found, to their great astonishment, their elder struggling in a pool of blood. They went over to support the old werewolf, but thetter stared anxiously at the wooden staff and said, ¡°Quick, bring me my staff!¡±

    Seeing what remained of the elder¡¯s arms, the soldiers couldn¡¯t help but wonder how he would even use the staff after they had brought it back. But since it was the elder¡¯s orders, one of the soldiers ran over to where the staff was. Just as he was about to reach down, however, a gunshot echoed through the town, and his head was duly sted apart. The headless body swayed briefly before falling slowly to the ground.

    No small amount of blood sprayed onto the wooden staff. The surprising thing was that the staff seemed to havee alive at this point, wiggling as it absorbed the flesh and blood. Even the colored cloth wrapped around it was doing the same.

    At the sight of this, the elder became even more anxious and urged the werewolf soldiers to bring the staff back and hunt down the sniper.

    The soldiers secretly felt a chill upon seeing this flesh-devouring staff. Nheless, one of them braced himself and walked over to the staff. It was just that a gunshot rang out once more as he bent down, and yet another head was sted apart.

    The elder saw the barely visible color of darkness in the air and said with an ugly expression, ¡°Demonkin, it¡¯s the demonkin! Howe there are demonkin here?¡±

    The demonkin were extremely rare in the neutralnds, but the remnant shadow hanging in the air contained an indisputable demonkin aura. The other dark races wouldn¡¯t use their weapons at all because the firepower would be reduced by a steep margin.

    The werewolves still couldn¡¯t find Nighteye from the sound of the gunshot alone. She would add the special ability ¡°Reverberate¡± with every round, causing the timbre to echo all around the ce and preventing others from pinpointing her location. But soon, the remnant demonkin energy track eventuallypromised her hiding ce.

    Under the elder¡¯s instructions, several werewolf soldiers pounced toward the sniper nest¡ªsome crashing through the windows, some through the door, and some through the roof. There wasn¡¯t so much as a shadow of Nighteye¡¯s after they arrived inside, though. What greeted them was a pile of origin grenades on the table.

    A massive explosion shook the entire town as the building and many others around it were ttened. Even though the soldiers who had charged in were quite powerful, they couldn¡¯t quite escape the tragedy at such a close range. Those who had gone through the roof were flung several dozen meters into the air.

    Nighteye watched all of this from close by before vanishing into one of the small alleyways. Before leaving Evernight, as the princess of the vampire race, Nighteye had actually fought more werewolves than she had humans. She was also very familiar with their habits inbat.

    When the explosion took ce, the werewolf elder¡¯s expression turned extremely unsightly. He suddenly howled at the sky, summoning all of the surviving soldiers.

    Several long howls responded from different parts of the small town.

    The elder¡¯s expression turned even more ashen because the number of responses was too few. This number was enough to make one feel flustered. So many werewolf soldiers had scattered into the town, but most of them had seemingly vanished, almost as though they had fallen into the jaws of a colossal beast. In addition to the ones who had been sted to death, there were at least fifty more warriors, but now, there weren¡¯t even ten responses.

    The elder¡¯s eyes began to twitch as he scanned the infernal town. He let out a short cry, one so mournful that it sounded like a ghost howling.

    That was themand for the survivors to retreat and scatter at all costs, leaving behind all spoils andrades for a chance at survival.

    Several werewolves charged out of the small town and fled in different directions. Following a gunshot, one of the werewolves fell down while the rest took the opportunity to flee from the Carol of Shadow¡¯s range as quickly as they could.

    Nighteye, who was half-kneeling on the rooftop, lowered the sniper rifle and watched as the werewolves left. These were the ones she had intentionally let off so that they could deliver news of this battle.

    In the central za, Qianye picked up the wooden staff and walked over to the elder. The cane became quite obedient in Qianye¡¯s hands and had stopped wiggling and devouring despite being drenched in blood.

    Qianye crouched down in front of the elder and asked, ¡°Why do you value this staff so much?¡±

    The elder snorted once but made no reply. Judging from the subconscious anxietying off of him, though, one could tell that the weapon was extremely important.

    The pain of having his limbs severed tormented the elder, but he didn¡¯t even moan once. Qianye frowned upon realizing that he wouldn¡¯t find out anything from this person. An unyielding enemy like this was worthy of respect but also quite troublesome.

    After pondering for a while, Qianye flicked a wisp of blood energy into the elder¡¯s wounds. His face became contorted, and his body trembled continuously from the agony. Yet, he made no sound up until he passed out from the suffering, to speak nothing of begging for mercy.

    Nighteye arrived at this point, saying, ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡±

    Qianye waved the staff. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get anything out of him, but he seems to value this item a lot, there must be some secret hidden within it. I don¡¯t think I can make him talk.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep this staff for now. We¡¯ll get the information sooner orter. Even if he doesn¡¯t talk, someone else will.¡±

    Qianye nodded and ced the wooden staff into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. He then pped the old werewolf lightly behind the back of his neck, duly shattering his skull bone in the process. This kind of injury would stop the elder from recovering his consciousness even if someone else were to stir up his vitality.

    After doing all of that, Qianye and Nighteye left the small town and vanished into the ck Grove.

    Just a few dozen kilometers away from the small town, there was a giant airship hovering at a low altitude. The battleship, covered inrge steel spikes, looked rather sinister. The style of this airship seemed to have remained in the era where airships were first invented. There were no powerful origin cannons back then, nor were there any homing ballistae. Ramming into the enemy ship was one of the most basic methods ofbat.

    The entire top-level of the battleship was a massive control room. There was anky werewolf with a sinister expression sitting in the ancient-looking chair at the center of the chamber. His hair was of a peculiar red shade, as were his eyes.

    The werewolves who had escaped from the small town were on one knee before him, reporting what had transpired there in great detail.

    The werewolf on the seat spoke slowly, ¡°Demonkin? Are you sure there was a demonkin?¡±

    The werewolf soldier replied, ¡°That was Elder Gillette¡¯s judgment.¡±

    ¡°Very well then. That old fellow might be useless, but his eyesight can be considered fair. If he says it¡¯s a demonkin, then it is a demonkin. The demonkin have actually appeared in such a remote ce. Men, bring me the map.¡±

    Two servants brought a map over and unfurled it in front of their master. The geography surrounding the small town wasbeled on the map¡ªalthough it was coarsely made, one could still make use of it.

    The red werewolf stared at the map for a good while before saying, ¡°Tell me, where do you think that demonkin is hiding?¡±

    One of the werewolf elders replied, ¡°We¡¯ve searched the entire area, this is the only ce left.¡±

    ¡°The ck Grove?¡±

    ¡°ording to the people in town, there used to be a road by the forest leading to a piece ofnd where some neers have settled down. However, they are humans and not demonkin.¡±

    The werewolf frowned. ¡°Ask them clearly!¡±

    The werewolf elder replied awkwardly, ¡°This... Sir Bloodbeard, the people in town have been killed long ago. There¡¯s no one left to ask.¡±

    Bloodbeard made noment and continued staring at the map for a good while. ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with this map. The path here has been sealed off by the ck Grove.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir. If we want to investigate that ce, we must pass through the ck Grove.¡±

    ¡°Humph, through the ck Grove? I¡¯m not interested in that. Let¡¯s go back if there are no more survivors here.¡±

    The werewolf elder said in astonishment, ¡°Sir Gilette¡¯s corpse is still there, as well as the Staff of Revival!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, let¡¯s go over to the town and take a look.¡±

    Momentster, the massive airship arrived above the small town and dozens of werewolf warriors jumped down. They searched the town rapidly, but only found Elder Gillette¡¯s corpse¡ªthere was neither a trace of the Staff of Revival nor any valuable clues.

    On the battleship, Bloodbeard was gazing at Gillette¡¯s body, especially his severed limbs. ¡°There are signs of demonic energy, but it might not necessarily be a demonkin. But, we¡¯ll just report things as is. Humph, there¡¯s not even a small clue, we¡¯re dealing with a veteran!¡±

    ¡°Sire, shall we expand the scope of our search?¡±

    Bloodbeard didn¡¯t answer and merely looked out of the window. Through the ss, he could see the death-suffused forest in the distance. From this angle, he could see a mist rising from the forest, covering hundreds of meters of airspace above it.

    Seeing this mist, Bloodbeard¡¯s pupils contracted. ¡°No need, we¡¯ll return.¡±

 Chapter 740: Methods

    ¡°Return? This... Sir Bloodbeard, it won¡¯t be too appropriate for us to go back. Those people might take this opportunity to attack you.¡±

    Bloodbeard didn¡¯t seem to mind, though. ¡°Let them try, I¡¯ll just push this matter into their hands if they do. Humph, I don¡¯t believe they can remain calm after the loss of the Staff of Revival. I¡¯ll let them have this contribution!¡±

    The werewolf elder pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Do you mean to say this matter isn¡¯t that simple?¡±

    Bloodbeard revealed a sinister smile. ¡°It¡¯ll be extremely difficult. Gary is dead, Gillette is dead, yet we have no idea who our enemies are apart from the fact that they might be demonkin. And even that is just a possibility. Additionally, I feel that the recent changes in the ck Grove are quite peculiar. It might be rted to this case.¡±

    The elder nodded in due seriousness.

    Bloodbeard said, ¡°That¡¯s why we should let them do it.¡±

    ¡°But Sir, it¡¯s been a long time since you¡¯ve made contributions. Your rankings...¡±

    Bloodbeard smiled. ¡°Rankings are rtive. Even if I stay right where I am, my rankings will shoot up if others fall. Besides...¡±

    He paused for a moment at this point. ¡°Dead people have no ranks.¡±

    Momentster, therge airship collected its soldiers and flew away.

    Atop one of the trees in the ck Grove, Nighteye lowered the Carol of Shadows. ¡°Howe they¡¯re gone? I sensed a fairly powerful fellow inside, at least a virtuous count.¡±

    Qianye appeared quite serious as he said, ¡°He must¡¯ve given up because he sensed something wrong. This fellow¡¯s senses are quite sharp, he¡¯ll be a troublesome opponent.¡±

    Nighteye said after some thought, ¡°This kind of talent is quite rare even in Evernight. Yet, we have encountered two such people in the outskirts of the neutralnds. Is it a coincidence?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it isn¡¯t, it¡¯s possible that such talents aremon in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°True, they¡¯d probably die pretty fast without it.¡±

    Qianye gazed at the vanishing airship and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and see if there¡¯s anything in town we can use or recycle. We need to be prepared because the next person toe won¡¯t be so easy to handle.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a certainty. Did you notice? The Wolf King¡¯s men are quite simr to the expeditionary army. His subordinates are mostly half-independent and don¡¯t belong to any single force. As long as they¡¯re safe, they wouldn¡¯t care about anyone else¡¯s death. Actually, the same goes for Evernight under most circumstances. So, the next force might be simr in strength, at most a bit more powerful.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°You have a point, but the necessary preparations must still be done.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, let¡¯s bring Zhuji next time.¡±

    ¡°Zhuji? No, she¡¯s too young.¡±

    ¡°Arachne can hunt since birth. Now is the best time for her to learnbat arts. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep an eye on her.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought but agreed in the end. Surely, his understanding of arachne couldn¡¯tpare to someone who had grown up on the Evernight side. Little Zhuji really did need more polishing. The arachne could fight since birth because they had evolved through millions of years of cruelty. Those who couldn¡¯t do so had gone extinct along the river of time.

    Several dayster, within the totem room of the Wolf King¡¯s main camp. The atmosphere here was austere¡ªeveryone was treading lightly, and even the wargs were hiding in the shadows with their tails between their legs.

    That roar just now had echoed within a hundred miles, a testament to just how furious the Wolf King was. One would only have himself to me if he were to trigger the king¡¯s wrath.

    The Wolf King was seated upon the high throne in the totem chamber, the steel hand rest of which had already been twisted out of shape.

    ¡°Demonkin, you¡¯re telling me it¡¯s the work of demonkin!? Did I raise such a bunch of trash? This is the Eastern Sea, how can there be any demonkin!?¡±

    Bloodbeardy prostrated on the ground, not daring to raise his head. Several werewolf soldiers nearbyy badly mangled and didn¡¯t even look like werewolves anymore. These were the soldiers who had survived the ordeal in that small town. Now, they had burst apart under the furious Wolf King¡¯s aura.

    After an episode of roaring and raging, the Wolf King managed to calm down a bit. The werewolf elder on one of the side seats said, ¡°Great Chief, Gillette sent this information on the verge of his death. It¡¯s likely true.¡±

    The Wolf King seemed fairly respectful of this elder. He forced down the mes of his fury and said, ¡°Great Elder, how can there be any demonkin in the Eastern Sea? What kind of demonkin woulde to this damned ce?¡±

    The great elder replied, ¡°You can¡¯t be so sure. There are demonkin operating in the Spider Emperor¡¯s area.¡±

    The Wolf King seemed somewhat upset at the mention of the Spider Emperor.

    A werewolf general below said, ¡°Humph, that old spider used to be called Spider King but changed his name to Spider Emperor when our great chief received the title of Wolf King. Absolutely shameless.¡±

    The Wolf King said while gripping the hand rest, ¡°That old spider is still a bit stronger than I am. It¡¯s his business what he wants to call himself, no need to pay him any attention.¡±

    The general was unsatisfied. ¡°How dare he call himself Spider Emperor when he doesn¡¯t even dare to challenge Zhang Buzhou!? He might not be the great chief¡¯s match in a real fight.¡±

    The elder shouted, ¡°Enough! Are you trying to make the chief fight the Spider Emperor?¡±

    The general replied hurriedly, ¡°That wasn¡¯t my intention.¡±

    The Wolf King said indifferently, ¡°Fighting him is fine, but there¡¯s no benefit to that at the moment. It¡¯s a different story altogether if he¡¯s sending demonkin over to stir up trouble in my territory.¡±

    The great elder said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush to a conclusion without any proof. We can¡¯t be negligent about such a major issue. In my opinion, Master Heaven¡¯s Eye owes you a favor, it¡¯s time to use it.¡±

    The Wolf King frowned. ¡°Gary is already dead, do we really need to?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the Staff of Revival.¡±

    The Wolf King pondered for a long while. He nodded in the end and gave the great elder a chipped jade token. ¡°You go, I don¡¯t want to see that old bastard.¡±

    The great elder put the jade token away and stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll set out immediately, you¡¯ll receive news by tomorrow night.¡±

    ¡°Take my airship, it¡¯ll be faster.¡±

    One dayter, the Wolf King¡¯s airshipnded a thousand kilometers away on a lone ind in the middle of a vast swamp.

    This ind was thergest of its kind in the wends. There was a cluster of crude wooden huts in the center, with strings of white skulls hanging from the eaves and rattling oddly in the wind.

    The great elder walked down from the airship and arrived at one of the huts. There, he knocked on a fist-sized skull embedded in the door.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± A shrill voice came from the hut.

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s emissary.¡±

    The wooden door opened and behind it appeared a stooping olddy. She sized the great elder up with her lizard-like eyes, saying, ¡°Where¡¯s that little wolf? Why didn¡¯t hee?¡±

    The great elder said, ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s status is no longer the same after challenging Zhang Buzhou. I hope you can change how you address him.¡±

    A glimmer shed through the old woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯ll call him Wolf King out of consideration for Zhang Buzhou, okay?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s sessor has died, we want to know who did it.¡±

    The old woman nced unhappily at the werewolf soldiers behind the elder. ¡°Where are the offerings? These? Little Wolf, no, the Wolf King should know that I like children under the age of three.¡±

    The elder said indifferently, ¡°The Wolf King says you owe him a favor.¡±

    The old woman stared at the elder with a vicious expression, but thetter simply wouldn¡¯t budge. In the end, she opened the door and said unwillingly, ¡°How long ago was that? He still remembers it?¡±

    The elder ordered the soldiers to remain outside while he himself entered the hut. Soon afterward, the door shut tight on its own.

    The elder produced a crystal bottle filled with blood. ¡°Master Heaven¡¯s Eye, this is the Wolf King¡¯s blood.¡±

    The old woman snatched the bottle away with a greedy expression. ¡°This is barely enough, barely enough!¡±

    The elder made no attempt at exposing her. ¡°If it¡¯s enough, then please begin. I¡¯m in a rush to report back.¡±

    Heaven¡¯s Eye arrived at the side building and ced a bunch of odd things like spiders, unknown herbs, and pieces of rotten meat into a stone basin. She brought a huge bucket of beast blood and poured it in as well. After all the preparations had beenpleted, she carefully poured three drops of the Wolf King¡¯s blood into the brew. Then, she quickly closed the bottle tight with a pained expression.

    The elder couldn¡¯t watch on. ¡°Master Heaven¡¯s Eye, I think it might not be enough. Won¡¯t you add a few more drops?

    ¡°How can it not be enough? The Wolf King¡¯s bloodline is so powerful. Three drops are enough. As long as the other party is still in the neutralnds, they won¡¯t be able to escape my secret arts. The only problem is how strong their bloodline is. It should be no problem if the culprit isn¡¯t a duke¡¯s descendant.¡±

    The great elder was quite skeptical. ¡°Then please perform your arts.¡±

    Heaven¡¯s Eye went around the stone basin, dancing madly while mumbling unintelligible incantations.

    The dancing went on without end. At one point, the old werewolf let out a dry cough and said, ¡°This... Great Master, I¡¯ve been working as a shaman in the tribe for over a hundred years. Let¡¯s just skip the ceremonial parts.¡±

    Heaven¡¯s Eye red at him. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so sooner?¡±

    She sat down on her knees in front of the basin and closed her eyes, once again praying for something. This time, the blood in the receptacle began to move and soon reached a boiling point. However, the things that had been ced inside the basin remained motionless at the bottom, almost as though they were a thousand tons in weight.

    In the eyes of the werewolf elder, the small frame of Heaven¡¯s Eye seemed to be hiding a vast ocean. The darkness origin power within her surged continuously into the stone basin and showed no signs of ever stopping.

 Chapter 741: Counterattack

    The elder was shaken; he had realized that this greedy, ugly, old woman¡¯s reputation wasn¡¯t undeserved. Just that abyssal darkness origin power alone was at the marquis level. Add to that her peculiar and treacherous secret arts, this olddy was the type of enemy people weren¡¯t willing to encounter.

    The bloody color in the basin quickly faded away, giving way to a clear liquid as smooth as a mirror. Following a loud shout from Heaven¡¯s Eye, the water flowed out and became a true mirror¡¯s surface.

    On the reflective surface, Nighteye and Qianye were talking about something face to face.

    ¡°Is it them?¡± The elder¡¯s tone was clearly skeptical. As he saw it, the two youngsters were simply too young¡ªeven if they were humans, known for their short lives and early maturation. It was hard to believe such young people could kill the Werewolf Genius Gary as well as the experienced Gillette and his guard force.

    There was only one possibility in his heart. These two must be vampires or demonkin who had maintained their youthful appearance, when in reality, they were a couple hundred years old.

    Heaven¡¯s Eye was also startled. ¡°Wait a minute, this result is a bit strange. I can sense that they are extremely young. Such surging vitality and aura cannot appear in those old fellows.¡±

    It was at this time that Qianye and Nighteye seemed to have sensed something. Their figures began emitting ripples which quickly blurred the projection.

    Heaven¡¯s Eye immediately muttered a short incantation and pointed a finger at the basin. A drop of near-ck blood fell into the receptacle, returning the image to rity.

    The elder was somewhat anxious, but he was also afraid of disturbing Heaven¡¯s Eye. All he could do was wait with bated breath.

    The old woman heaved a sigh of relief after seeing the image be clearer. ¡°It¡¯s alright, their bloodlines are extremely weak, only a bit stronger than ordinary people. If the Wolf King¡¯s blood you gave me is genuine, I doubt they¡¯re rted to Gary¡¯s death. They¡¯re simply too weak, too weak.¡±

    The elder said, ¡°Perhaps they used some kind of hidden secret art. Do you have any way to see their race?¡±

    Heaven¡¯s Eye nodded and let out a bestial growl, one full of extreme agony. Her eyes were shut tight, but the skin on her forehead opened up and an eerie third eye appeared amidst the flesh and blood. The eyeball spun about continuously as it scanned the outside world.

    Heaven¡¯s Eye let out a mournful cry as she reached into the basin and threw several drops of ck blood into it.

    Seemingly attracted by the ck blood, the strange eye¡¯s line of sightnded on the mirror surface. It suddenly expanded in size, shooting out a faintly-discernible ripple of darkness that entered the mirror and vanished on the other side.

    This was the Heaven¡¯s Eye, the source of her name.

    Seeing this pulsating eyeball, even the werewolf elder who had seen so much massacre and peculiarities couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill creep into his heart.

    At this moment, Nighteye and Qianye were ncing about the courtyard. They had both sensed something staring at them¡ªa cold, moist, and evil vision akin to a snake slithering over one¡¯s skin. It was inexplicably disgusting and ufortable.

    Both of them activated Bloodline Concealment the moment this sensation came into contact with their bodies, retracting their auras in a bid to disrupt the other party¡¯s judgment. They managed to extricate themselves briefly from this sensation, but before long, the invisible sensation grew even stronger and continued to cast its gaze upon the duo.

    This time, they knew for sure that something was up.

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils grew blood-red, while the depths of Qianye¡¯s eyes surged with a deep blue shade. The two scanned their surroundings with their eye-abilities, hoping to find the source of this hidden line of sight.

    The two looked up at the sky at almost the same time. A mass of darkness had gathered in the air at one point. It seemed formless and intangible, almost like a blotch of floating ink.

    Despite possessing the same True Sight, Nighteye¡¯s blood energy was somewhat weakerpared to Qianye¡¯s. In her vision, she could make out a ball-shaped object hiding in the cloud of darkness and suspected that it might be an eye. In Qianye¡¯s eyes, however, he could see the projection of a sinister-looking eyeball looking down at them from above.

    The gaze was almost tangible as it scanned Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s bodies repeatedly, trying to peer into the secrets within.

    Being swept over by this kind of gaze was akin to being licked all over by a lizard. It was even more ufortable than before.

    Nighteye wasn¡¯t sure about what to do. She picked up the Carol of Shadows and opened fire, but the origin bullet passed through the projection without affecting the eyeball in the slightest.

    Qianye put down the origin gun in his hand after seeing Nighteye¡¯s fruitless shot. He suddenly recalled¡ªfrom the knowledge he had gained from the River of Blood¡ªa method to deal with such peculiar lifeforms.

    Without a second thought, he drew the Twin Flowers, unfurled his wings of light, and shot a beam of dark golden blood energy into the hovering eyeball! And there was a feather flickering inside the blinding light.

    To deal with this mysterious, hidden enemy, Qianye used the Shot of Inception without the slightest bit of hesitation. Even as an unfinished product of the ck-Winged Monarch, the Shot of Inception was incredible in many ways, including the ability to traverse space and chase down the source.

    The feather passed through the eyeball all the same, but it soon vanished into the air. That eyeball began to swell, reaching several times its original size and revealing an expression of utter horror!

    A faint howl of misery rang out in the air as the eyeball burst open like a bubble and vanished. The sky above the small courtyard cleared up once more, almost as though nothing had happened here before.

    In the depths of the swamp, Heaven¡¯s Eye screamed loudly as a dark golden feather shot out of the mirror and pierced into the mysterious eyeball!

    The eye contracted rapidly, struggling to the point where there was flesh and blood spraying out of it. Yet, it still couldn¡¯t escape destruction in the end. It exploded with a loud bang, spraying blood and fluid all over the house.

    Heaven¡¯s Eye fell backward with a miserable cry. There was now arge, ghastly cavity on her forehead.

    The werewolf elder was shocked out of his wits. He waited for a long while and only approached cautiously after seeing no movement. Heaven¡¯s Eyey copsed on the ground, her aura fading rapidly from the marquis rank down to that of a count. She wasn¡¯t just injured on the forehead, but her closed eyes were also bleeding and most likely unsalvageable.

    Heaven¡¯s Eye had fallen unconscious from the grave injuries. Although the great elder was a shaman in the tribe, there was little he could do against such damage. All he could do was hope Heaven¡¯s Eye would have sufficient vitality to recover.

    Now that the old woman had already found the necessary clues, her fate was of no importance in the great elder¡¯s eyes.

    The elder waved the cane in his hand, shooting out a stream of ck sand. The particles turned into a ck mist in the air which soon outlined the image of Qianye and Nighteye. Afterward, he pointed out that the two had special bloodlines and was likely supported by a powerful expert. In the end, they had heavily injured Heaven¡¯s Eye via an unknown method and even destroyed her third eye.

    When the ck mist dispersed, a watery mirror formed in a pond within the ancient totemic castle, and the elder¡¯s message appeared therein. The werewolf attendant nearby recorded the information immediately and delivered it to the Wolf King.

    This was a secret art used by ancient werewolf tribes to transmit information. They could transmit messages immediately as long as the two sides were on a singlendmass. However, there were extensive limits to this secret art. In addition to the high cost of maintaining this channel, cultivating the art itself was extremely difficult. Fewer and fewer people were willing to pay this steep price when it provided no benefits to one¡¯sbat strength. At this point, only the great elder had a grasp of this secret art in the entirety of their tribe.

    At this moment, the Wolf King was seated on the throne, looking through the information delivered by his subordinate. His gaze rested quite a while on the words, ¡°Their actual age is quite young, their identity and race are unclear¡±, before passing the report to his aides.

    After the aides had seen the report, the Wolf King said, ¡°What do you all think?¡±

    Anky, grey-furred general said, ¡°Since it¡¯s only two young bastards, some other person must¡¯ve attacked and injured Master Heaven¡¯s Eye. That person is most probably the demonkin who killed Gary and Elder Gillette, and then snatched away the Staff of Revival. As I see it, they probably haven¡¯t escaped just yet and are probably hiding behind the ck Grove!¡±

    Bloodbeard said, ¡°From what I saw that day, the natives might have a hand in this. If the one behind these two is indeed a demonkin, how could they have formed a rtionship with the natives? The demonkin and the natives have always been arch enemies.¡±

    The werewolf general said in apparent displeasure, ¡°Guessing this and that, won¡¯t you find out the truth once you pass through the ck Grove? So spineless!¡±

    After suffering such a mockery, Bloodbeard lowered his head and no longer spoke.

    Another werewolf elder said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed quite difficult for us to pass through the ck Grove, but there are also other ways to force them to appear.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°What do you have in mind?¡±

    The werewolf elder said, ¡°Simple, rewards! You just need to offer a generous reward for all the people of the Eastern Sea to cause trouble for those two. At that time, the one behind them will have no choice but to make an appearance. As for the ck Grove, there are so many races in the neutralnds, there are quite a few that can traverse the forest without problems.¡±

    ¡°Very well, rewards it is then. Three hundred thousand gold coins each alive, or one hundred thousand each dead. Those who bring valid information will receive five thousand gold coins.¡± The Wolf King could be considered rich and overbearing.

    However, the werewolf elder said, ¡°That¡¯s not enough.¡±

    ¡°Not enough!?¡± The Wolf King frowned. He wasn¡¯t even willing to fork this much out if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that this news had spread and he needed to recover his face. He also wanted to know what the enemy was nning behind the curtains. His idea remained the same¡ªGary was already dead. No matter how valuable he was in the past, his worth became zero the moment he lost his life. The only thing valuable to him at the moment was his prestige and power.

    The werewolf elder seemed to have noticed the king¡¯s displeasure. ¡°Great Chief, you stillck a general under your wing. There are so many empty areas without supervision. Why don¡¯t you pick one out and use it as a reward?¡±

    All the werewolves in the totemic hall were moved, and even Bloodbeard looked up.

    The Wolf King was quite surprised, but he fell into contemtion after seeing his subordinates¡¯ reactions. Momentster, he shouted, ¡°Fine! Let¡¯s add a general¡¯s position to the rewards!¡±

    Within moments, the discussions in the hall died out and were reced by deathly silence. Amidst this stillness, however, there were undercurrents flowing like surgingva.

 Chapter 742: Dark Hand

    Generals under the Wolf King¡¯s employ possessed solid authority. They were like feudal lords¡ªin addition to leading troops, they would also rule semi-independently over a corresponding administrative region. The stronger ones could take over multiple general positions and obtain several times thendpared to others.

    As a position signifying true power and territory, this reward caused the eyes of all the generals under the Wolf King to turn red.

    The elder who had suggested this reward stayed behind after the generals had withdrawn. The Wolf King asked him, ¡°Is it really worth investing so much for two kids and an unconfirmed plot?¡±

    The elder said confidently, ¡°It¡¯s definitely worth it. Great Chief, a human once said that, in order to maintain their bloodthirst, war wolves need to be thrown the asional piece of meat and made to fight among themselves.¡±

    The Wolf King immediately became angered. These words were an insult to the werewolves who considered all wolverines half their people.

    The elder, on the other hand, was quiteposed. ¡°Great chief, these words really do make sense from the viewpoint of any other race. The more generals you have under your control, the more stable your territories will be. Don¡¯t you feel that the overall momentum has slowed down in recent days? Our expansion to newnds have slowed down, and most of the enemies inside have been cleared out. To be frank, your generals have already eaten their fill, and a full wolf cannot fight well.¡±

    The Wolf King nodded slowly. ¡°You have a point there. As long as there¡¯s a gap between them, the ones at the back will start feeling hungry even if they¡¯re already full.¡±

    ¡°The great chief is wise.¡±

    The Wolf King pondered for a moment. ¡°Contact some mercenaries and have them bring back a demonkin from the old spider¡¯s ce. I have a use for them.¡±

    ¡°Great Chief, are you nning to fight the Spider Emperor?¡±

    The Wolf King sneered, ¡°I will have more generals now. If I don¡¯t go to war with that spider, must I start splitting my own territory with them?¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Even if there is a problem, don¡¯t we still have Zhang Buzhou?¡± the Wolf King said calmly.

    The elder was shaken at the thought of a certain possibility, but he didn¡¯t dare say anything.

    The Wolf King added, ¡°Oh right, I have one more thing I need you to do.¡±

    The elder couldn¡¯t hide his astonishment as he moved closer to the king and listened closely to his instructions. He then left in a hurry, leaving the Wolf King alone in the totemic hall.

    In the southern parts of the destends, Qianye¡¯s aura immediately returned to normal and even became somewhat withered. Nighteye supported him and said while looking into the sky, ¡°What was that thing just now?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either, but it looks like a secret art capable of spying over long distances. There¡¯s probably a mixture of divination arts involved, otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have found us like this.¡±

    ¡°Is it rted to that entity in the sea?¡±

    Qianye pondered deeply. ¡°Unlikely. That eye was emitting an evil darkness origin power and apanied by a damp, rotten aura. I have a feeling it¡¯s someone from the Wolf King¡¯s side, a powerful person proficient in divination.¡±

    Nighteye seemed a bit worried. ¡°You used up your trump card, right? Are you okay?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m currently full on essence blood and can reform a new Shot of Inception in two day¡¯s time. The one spying on us is fairly powerful, I don¡¯t think I could¡¯ve killed them without the Shot of Inception.¡±

    ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Since we¡¯ve been discovered, it¡¯s time to pack up our things and run.¡±

    The closer to the hintends of the Eastern Sea, the more flourishing thends would be. Humans had upied vast territories here, and the most prosperous were the northern central regions. There were three ratherrge cities, two near the sea and one deeper ind, linking the coast and the continent together.

    The regions to the south were more deste. In remote areas, one would only find a small town after traveling hundreds of kilometers. The interesting part was that there was less and less human habitation toward the northwest borders, whereiny the Wolf King¡¯s Totemic Castle and their tribal viges.

    That ce used to thrive, but it gradually fell into decline after the Wolf King took up roots in the Eastern Sea.

    The two seaside cities were called Tidehark and Seagaze, both of them human settlements. There were a number ofrge human families in those cities directing the cities both from the surface and in the dark.

    The Xue family was one of the five major families of Seagaze City.

    The Xue family¡¯s ancestral home was located in the northwestern part of the city, upying an entire four street blocks like a smaller city within the city. There was a majestic building at the center of this courtyard which served as the ancestral hall of the family. At this moment, Xue Ding and Xue Wu were kneeling at the center of the smoky hall, not daring to even look up. There were hundreds of memorial tablets in front of them, arranged in manyyers upon the altar. Kneeling here, everyone would feel as though they were being observed by countless forebears.

    As a hall where the heroic spirits of the ancestors were put to rest, the entire ce was filled with protection and blessing for the descendants.

    At this moment, a mor arose beside the hall and the overseeing elder became evidently unhappy. In the blink of an eye, over ten people charged into the main hall and made straight for the gates. There were two young men carrying an elder, shouting with anxious expressions, ¡°Quick, call for the sage doctor!¡±

    The old man appeared withered in appearance. There were bloodstains on his chest, and he was still coughing up blood every now and then. It was just that the blood was purplish, dark, and contained an intense rotten smell that made one nauseous.

    This group charged out of the hall at lightning speed. At this moment, a middle-aged man entered. The overseeing elder grabbed him and asked, ¡°What exactly is wrong with the great elder?¡±

    That middle-aged man greeted the fifth elder with a bow, and then red fiercely at Xue Wu. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s the disaster caused by the two bastards who don¡¯t know the immensity of heaven and earth. Who knows what they did, the Wolf King actually asked Heaven¡¯s Eye to search for the culprits. If it wasn¡¯t for the great elder personally guarding the ancestral hall with his divination arts and blocking her Heaven¡¯s Eye, who knows how much trouble the family would suffer! But how can that vicious woman be that easy to contend with? The great elder suffered injuries that might even leave long-term seque. Sigh!¡±

    Sighing was the only thing the fifth elder could do. That middle-aged man red at Xue Wu, saying, ¡°At first, I thought you had great talents and will be the future pir of the family. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d be so troublesome? Humph!¡±

    Xue Wu kept his head lowered and made no attempt at defending himself. Xue Ding¡¯s head was so low that it was almost touching the ground.

    The middle-aged man snorted and left with a wave of his sleeve. The fifth elder let out a long sigh, saying, ¡°Little Wu, your ninth uncle wishes you well. His temper has always been like this, so don¡¯t take it to heart. But this time, your handling of this matter was indeed inappropriate. If Heaven¡¯s Eye had searched for another time, I¡¯m afraid even the great elder would¡¯ve suffered misfortune. Fortunately, the heavens were looking after us, and the old woman stopped using her art after a single wave.¡±

    Xue Wu nodded in silence.

    Xue Ding nced at Xue Wu and finally said, ¡°This matter has nothing to do with big bro, I was the one who stirred up this trouble. In order to help me...¡±

    Xue Ding hadn¡¯t finished speaking when the fifth elder cut him short, ¡°I know the story clearly, but the elder assembly¡¯s decision will not change. Xue Wu will remain isted in the ancestral hall for three years, forbidden from taking a single step out.¡±

    ¡°Why!? This is all my fault!¡± Xue Ding cried out.

    A dignified voice rang out from behind, ¡°It¡¯s to protect the Xue family and Lil¡¯ Wu.¡±

    Astonished, Xue Ding immediately performed his greetings. ¡°Grandfather, I mean, n Lord.¡±

    The elder who had just walked into the hall looked imposing and healthy. Despite having a head full of white hair, his gaze was so sharp that it was almost tangible. He said while staring at Xue Ding, ¡°It¡¯s no longer important whose fault it is. What¡¯s important is that the Wolf King knows that Gary¡¯s death is rted to the Xue family. That gives him an excuse, Zhang Buzhou won¡¯t say anything if he uproots our Xue family.¡±

    Xue Ding was dissatisfied. ¡°But in the end, we¡¯re humans and that Wolf King is of a different race! How can Heavenly Monarch Zhang watch him suppress us humans? Isn¡¯t this going too far?¡±

    ¡°Heavenly Monarch Zhang, heh! Even if Zhang Buzhou has really be a heavenly monarch, do you really think it changes anything? He only knows about himself. Human or werewolf makes no difference as long as the person works loyally for him!¡±

    ¡°That... n Lord, big bro is in istion, but what about me? When shall I return to Totemic Castle?¡±

    The old man snorted. ¡°Return? Who says you¡¯re going back?¡±

    ¡°Ah, people are going to start suspecting me if I don¡¯t go back.¡±

    The fifth elder said, ¡°You think no one suspects you now? You think your movements were watertight, but the Wolf King already knows that Gary left the castle to follow you. Anyone can trace you two from these clues. Do you really think you can survive the Wolf King¡¯s methods?

    Xue Ding¡¯s expression changed. As the Wolf King¡¯s foster son, he knew quite well about the king¡¯s methods. He would be crippled even if he could survive the ordeal.

    The fifth elder spoke again, ¡°Since Gary was actually killed by the young man, we should take the initiative to take him down and receive the Wolf King¡¯s rewards. This will also extricate the Xue family from this mess.¡±

    After hearing this, thepletely silent Xue Wu suddenly looked up. ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    The fifth elder was rather unhappy about being interrupted. ¡°Why not? Since he used such a method to deal with you two, our Xue family can do the same to them! Don¡¯t tell me you wish to repay him for not killing you?¡±

    Xue Wu replied, ¡°No, I was afraid that the Xue family will suffer a cmity.¡±

    The fifth elder was startled, and then broke into a suddenugh. ¡°Our Xue family has been passed down through so many generations, how can it fall in the hands of two children? Didn¡¯t you say the pair was only rank twelve or thirteen?¡±

    Xue Ding had to chime in, ¡°Fifth Elder, those two are extremely powerful. Theirbat strength far exceeds their cultivation.¡±

    The fifth elder snorted. ¡°Can theirbat strength exceed your grandfather?¡±

    This time, Xue Wu and Xue Ding became quiet. The Xue family lord was only one step away from the divine champion rank and could easily suppress Qianye and Nighteye. However, they still didn¡¯t feel happy about it.

    The old n lord coughed. ¡°It¡¯s meaningless to debate about this. From tomorrow onward, Xue Ding will also remain in the ancestral hall to cultivate and leave only after three years. Tell outsiders that we don¡¯t know about their whereabouts.¡±

    It was at this moment that an attendant ran in. ¡°Our branch family in Port City sent word. There¡¯s someone seeking protection under the two young master¡¯s names.¡±

 Chapter 743: Pay With Your Life

    The ancestral hall went silent. The eyes of the n lord and fifth elder fell upon Xue Ding and Xue Wu. The two brothers had little contact since Xue Ding became the Wolf King¡¯s foster son, and most of them were in secret. Who would have a rtionship with them and coincidentallye to seek help at such a time?

    As smart people, both the n lord and elder had already gotten an idea after listening to the report.

    Xue Ding said hurriedly, ¡°Wait.¡±

    However, the fifth elder had already started speaking. ¡°As I see it, we should seize that man first. Things will be troublesome if he falls into the Wolf King¡¯s hands.¡±

    ¡°How can he fall into the Wolf King¡¯s hands? Port City isn¡¯t under his jurisdiction!¡± However, Xue Ding¡¯s argument received no response.

    The Xue n lord nodded, saying, ¡°We should indeed capture him first and observe.¡±

    Xue Ding could only sigh as the matter had already been decided.

    ...

    Qianye and Nighteye took their sweet time packing their things, spending almost the entire night. The courtyard wasn¡¯t big, but there were many small things inside. The only thing truly valuable was the store of beast meat in the ice room and the wood used to build the house. However, the two found many little things they were reluctant to leave behind. For instance, wooden sculptures, handmade furniture,mps, etc. There were so many little things here filled with good memories.

    Qianye had never imagined he would be so attached to trivialities.

    Yet this wasn¡¯t a move but a long journey, so they couldn¡¯t put them away. After repeated deliberation, Nighteye decided to take away a wooden sculpture of Qianye running through the wilderness while carrying her on his back. She simply had to have this carving despite some ws in the knifework.

    After everything had been cleared away, Qianye ced piles of firewood around the small courtyard¡ªthis home would be no more after igniting them.

    ¡°I feel a bit reluctant,¡± Nighteye said softly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll build you an even better er on.¡±

    Nighteye sighed gently. ¡°Dummy, that¡¯s not the same.¡±

    ¡°What else can we do then?¡± Qianye was bewildered.

    Nighteye said hesitantly, ¡°Nothing, wherever you go, I¡¯ll follow. That¡¯s enough.¡±

    Qianye was still puzzled. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you along of course, that¡¯s a given.¡±

    ¡°Mm, okay.¡±

    Qianye found Nighteye¡¯s thoughts to be quite strange, but he was no Song Seven. Grasping ady¡¯s thoughts wasn¡¯t his specialty, so he decided not to spend more thought on this. He ignited the torch and tossed it into the firewood pile. The ck Grove wood burst into raging mes that surged into the sky.

    The flickering ze projected its light upon the two, pulling their shadows further.

    As the fire reached its peak, Qianye said with a sigh, ¡°Let¡¯s go, there¡¯s no need to look further.¡±

    Nighteye nodded. She had already etched the mes into her mind and had no wish to see their home reduced to embers.

    Qianye halted his steps at this moment and, without a moment of hesitation, sted a nearby shadow with Cui Yuanhai¡¯s giant gun!

    This was the gun¡¯s maiden st. Its rumble reverberated through the ck Grove and even echoed on the Eastern Sea. A shockwave spread out in all directions, causing the nearby mes to lean to one side.

    Despite his strong constitution, Qianye found his ears ringing from the sudden st. This was no gun! In terms of soundwaves, even a heavy cannon couldn¡¯t get louder than this.

    The origin mes that spat out from the muzzle were several meters long, forming an iparably magnificent fire dragon. That origin bullet itself was engulfed in mes as it smashed the target like a shooting star.

    Following a cry of astonishment, a figure shot away from the shadows and, at the brink of crisis, produced a round shield to protect his body.

    The bullet sted onto the shield, tearing it into many pieces. Naturally, the owner wasn¡¯t in better shape. He let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground like a kite with its strings cut.

    Nighteye flitted past Qianye like a specter, a strange wiggling shadow reflected in her eyes. A wretched cry rang out from the distance as two men stumbled out of the shadows. They began rolling on the ground with their hands tightly clutching their chests.

    Qianye pulled back the bolt and shook out a smoking, fist-sized round. Then, he pushed a new shell inside and closed thetch.

    Seeing Qianye ready to shoot, a human silhouette moved across the distant treetop and fled into the distance. This person had lost confidence in his hiding abilities after seeing hispanions being injured one after the other.

    However, Qianye took his sweet time reloading because he was waiting for this moment. In a sh, he activated the Eye of Control, and that person¡¯s legs were yanked back violently as though they had beenssoed!

    The person had already jumped into the air at this point. How could he have the ability to change directions midway? He immediately fell headfirst to the ground and was sent into a daze.

    Terrified, he struggled with all his might and finally managed to untangle the invisible rope around his ankles. He had just mbered up when a gun of shocking size and firepower appeared in front of his eyes.

    ¡°Bang!¡± Qianye smashed the target¡¯s head with the gun, effectively knocking him out. The old man¡¯s gun was indeed quite sturdy¡ªit could pound a mammoth unconscious and still remain intact.

    By the time Qianye had dragged this person out of the ck Grove, Nighteye had alreadypleted a brief circuit through the forest. She shook her head at Qianye, indicating that there were no other enemies.

    Qianye threw the unconscious fellow down and went to observe the other three. Two of them had lost their lives to the Eye of Destruction. Qianye knew from touch that their innards had been crushed despite them looking fine on the surface. The fellow who had suffered a direct shot from Qianye wasn¡¯t in great condition, either. A shard from the shield had torn through half his neck, and it would seem he was on hisst breath.

    Seeing that the three were no longer able to hold on, Qianye returned to the unconscious fellow while shaking his head.

    Nighteye and Zhuji were crouching beside him. The former was observing hisbat robes while the littless was sniffing his pockets apparently in search for food.

    Qianye looked through his possessions and saw that most of them were ammunition, food, and medicines. There was nothing on him that could discern his identity. Those with such a habit were either assassins or mercenaries on secret missions. These people were most afraid of having their identities found out.

    Finding nothing from his belongings, Qianye kicked the man awake.

    ¡°Let me!¡± Zhuji took the initiative to jump up and stomp on the man violently. Her small body descended like a cannon-shell, immediately eliciting a cry of misery from the man as he woke up. He quickly curled into a ball, almost like a cooked shrimp.

    This person was just about to jump to his feet after sobering up, but Zhuji stomped him t with one foot. His bewildered expression fluctuated rapidly, and it looked like he would lose consciousness very soon.

    ¡°Zhuji, get down! You¡¯ll stomp him to death!¡± Qianye pulled the girl away by the neck. This little fellow was strong enough to tear beasts in half. How could ordinary people endure? Fortunately, this fellow was a champion of outstanding constitution. That was the only reason he hadn¡¯t been stomped to death.

    After sobering up with great difficulty, his eyes were full of terror upon seeing Zhuji again. He subconsciously wanted to draw away from this little demon.

    Qianye pressed down on his shoulder, preventing him from moving an inch. ¡°Speak, what were you here for?¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes shifted about¡ªhe was just about to speak when Qianye strengthened his grip, causing the former¡¯s shoulder bones to creak and groan. He only loosened the force after eliciting several screams.

    After a period of gasping, the man asked, ¡°Where are mypanions?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all dead, and that¡¯s the only reason you¡¯re alive.¡±

    ¡°All dead?¡± His mood hit an all-time low.

    Qianye gave him some time to think and only watched in silence.

    This was a man in his thirties, d in night-timebat robes, and sporting a champion¡¯s cultivation. He couldn¡¯t be considered outstanding, but his judgment, decision, and reaction in battle were quite good. Even when he was knocked out cold by Qianye, he still managed to instinctively evade and counterattack. It was just that Qianye was too fast, far beyond the limits of his reaction.

    After calming down, the man sighed. ¡°I knew this bounty wouldn¡¯t be that easy to take, but I never imagined it would be this hard.¡±

    ¡°Bounty?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s bounty, it has spread all across the Eastern Sea.¡± He shot a nce at Qianye and Nighteye. ¡°You two are the targets.¡±

    ¡°Are there any drawings?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and very life-like ones, too. However, this little princess is not in it.¡± He trembled a bit after looking at Zhuji. It would seem her shadow in his heart was even greater than Qianye¡¯s own.

    Qianye naturally wasn¡¯t jealous of Zhuji. ¡°What kind of rewards are being offered? Let¡¯s hear it.¡±

    ¡°The bounty says anyone capturing Gary¡¯s murderers will obtain six hundred thousand gold coins and those who kill the targets, two hundred thousand. Even those who provide information can obtain five thousand. Additionally, those who kill or capture the targets will be a general under the Wolf King.¡±

    ¡°General? borate.¡± Qianye frowned.

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s generals can rule over a territory, levy taxes, build cities, and recruit soldiers.¡± Seeing that Qianye wasn¡¯t clear about the status, the man exined things in detail.

    Qianye inquired more about the forces each general possessed and said to Nighteye, ¡°It¡¯s almost like the expeditionary army.¡±

    ¡°But their territories are muchrger,¡± Nighteye added.

    Qianye turned to the mercenary and said, ¡°Such a heavy bounty, were you guys gunning for six hundred thousand or two hundred?¡±

    The mercenary smiled wryly. ¡°How can we have that kind of ability? I knew at a nce that this reward isn¡¯t something we could swallow. It was just that our mercenary squad happened to be operating in the area and we were quite experienced in stealth. So, we wanted to confirm the reports and take those five thousand gold coins.¡±

    ¡°Five thousand? Isn¡¯t that too little?¡± Qianye mocked.

    ¡°For small mercenary bands like us, five thousand gold coins is equal to two years of ie. Our usual missions are just as dangerous and we risk our heads all the same. As such, we wanted to take a chance here, who would¡¯ve thought...¡±

    At this point, the mercenary gazed into the distant night whereiny his threepanions.

    Qianye asked him more questions until he was certain there was no more information to be obtained. In the end, he let go of the man and said, ¡°Go, tell those mercenaries and assassins that you are thest one to leave our hands alive. Those who want this bounty will have to pay for it with their lives!¡±

 Chapter 744: Warning

    There was some disapproval in the mercenary¡¯s eyes despite his verbal deference. The neutralnds were filled with hidden talents, and there were countless among these assassins and mercenaries who possessedbat strength exceeding their cultivation. There were even some special abilities that could erupt with extreme power in special environments.

    How could one kill off all these people? Even if Qianye was a fierce tiger, how could he withstand the onught of a wolf pack? This mercenary and his team didn¡¯t count for anything in the neutralnds.

    Of course, he wasn¡¯t stupid enough to say this out aloud. The most important thing at the moment was to escape with his life. He might even get the five thousand gold coins since Qianye wanted him to spread the message anyway.

    He mbered up slowly. He saw that Qianye had no intention of attacking and was just about to leave when Nighteye said, ¡°Wait, take off your clothes.¡±

    The mercenary trembled, and then said in an evidently panicked voice, ¡°T-This isn¡¯t too appropriate, is it?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°You don¡¯t need to leave anymore if you keep pretending. Any other person can send this message!¡±

    The mercenary discarded any thoughts of getting through by a fluke and took off hisbat attire. There was a look of pain on his face as he handed his clothes to Nighteye.

    ¡°What function does this suit have? Why does it enable you to move through the ck Grove?¡±

    The mercenary replied honestly, ¡°This is a product of Alloy Labs, capable of isting the natives¡¯ perception. Those who wear it won¡¯t attract the forest¡¯s attention as long as we don¡¯t cause any damage. Such a suit costs three thousand gold coins at the very least, and is the only reason why our group dares to operate in the forest.¡±

    At this point, he nced at Qianye with an odd expression.

    Noticing the change, Qianye asked, ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    ¡°Uh, y-you two caused quite a bit of destruction during the battle. Why didn¡¯t the forest react at all? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re natives?¡± After saying this, the mercenary shook his head. ¡°Impossible, natives won¡¯t destroy the ck Grove and will even protect it at all costs.¡±

    Qianye picked up a piece of burning wood and passed it to the mercenary. ¡°Look.¡±

    The mercenary sniffed the item and said in astonishment, ¡°It¡¯s wood from the ck Grove!¡±

    He nced over at the burning estate and suddenly thought of a possibility. ¡°You mean the entire ce was built from this wood?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply to the man¡¯s question. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Rockwell, known as ck Mosquito in the mercenary world.¡±

    Qianye patted the man¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°When you go back, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll know what you should and should not say.¡±

    Rockwell left slowly and only hastened his steps after he was certain the two weren¡¯t chasing after him. He thought back to Qianye¡¯s words¡ªthere wasn¡¯t any threat in them, but he could still feel a chill run down his spine. He knew he might have to spend the rest of his life in hiding if he were to speak too much after going back. Otherwise, he would likely lose his head someday.

    Nighteye patted Zhuji. ¡°Go, remove theirbat robes.¡±

    The little girl pouted. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go? Why must I do all the tedious stuff? I¡¯m still young!¡±

    Nighteye broke into augh. She knocked the girl¡¯s head lightly and said, ¡°Then what kind of job do you think is easy?¡±

    Zhuji¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Fighting! I want to beat up people who can talk!¡±

    ¡°Off to work you go, I¡¯ll let you fight next time.¡± Nighteye coaxed the girl off to work like she would a kid.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°It looks like we have to let her join the next battle.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still young!¡± Nighteye wasn¡¯t quite satisfied.

    ¡°She¡¯ll join secretly even if we don¡¯t let her. Do you think she¡¯ll watch obediently from the side? She¡¯ll definitely remember your words.¡±

    ¡°Ah, this...¡± Nighteye didn¡¯t know what to say. In the end, she said, ¡°Kids these days...¡±

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°You must¡¯ve been pretty disobedient when you were a kid.¡±

    ¡°No way! I¡¯ve always been ady!¡±

    The Monroe princess, with her Eye of Destruction, was the incarnation of ughter itself. After reaching the duke rank in the future, or even higher, herbat strength would be head and shoulders above the other major characters. Such a person was actually calling herselfdy-like?

    ¡°Stop reading useless books in the future,¡± Qianye chided.

    ¡°Fine!¡± Nighteye replied with a harmless-looking smile.

    Qianye had no way to deal with her. He went over to collect the spoils from the three enemies and began studying the unusualbat robes. These robes were weaved from special materials and constantly emitted a mellow fragrance that wasn¡¯t easily discernible. Qianye discovered that this smell was simr to the core of the trees in the forest. That was probably the reason why the natives would overlook those wearing such clothes, thinking they were part of the forest.

    The remainder were gold coins, munitions, and supplies¡ªthere was nothing special about them. Qianye and Nighteye had no use for thesebat robes, but they would make for a small fortune when sold. The profits from dealing with this small mercenary band were quite good. Fighting and robbing was indeed the fastest way to fortune.

    After organizing the spoils, Nighteye asked, ¡°What¡¯s the next step?¡±

    Zhuji was also looking intently at Qianye and there was ample reason for this. The next battle would be her first formal battle. To this little fellow, it was almost like aing of age ceremony and proof that she was now a qualified warrior.

    Qianye brought out a map and studied it for quite some time. Yet, he still couldn¡¯t form a n.

    They knew little about these destends beyond the area around the small town. What they knew about the Wolf King and neutralnds came from the residents of the town and the Xue Brothers. They knew little apart from that. Although they had found some maps on the mercenaries, one could imagine the difficulty of forming an operation n based on unfamiliar geography and names.

    Qianye was somewhat regretful at this point. He should¡¯ve kept Rockwell around and asked him about the surroundingnds.

    Nighteye drew her finger across the map, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s walk along the outer rim of the ck Grove toward the northwest. Since those mercenaries are rushing over, there¡¯ll be a sequence to their arrival. That¡¯ll make it easy for us to destroy them one after the other.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment. ¡°How do we know if they¡¯re here for us or not?¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°The Wolf King has already turned this area into a no-man¡¯snd. Why else would assassins and adventurerse here? All we¡¯ll meet here are the Wolf King¡¯s forces and mercenaries who want our lives. We can¡¯t be wrong in killing them.¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    Nighteye looked at him and said, ¡°I thought you¡¯d stop me because we might meet some unfortunate bloke who¡¯s just stumbled into the area!¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°It¡¯s as you said. It¡¯s their misfortune to have stumbled in. Getting killed is also their misfortune.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit unlike you.¡±

    ¡°All those who want our lives will say it¡¯s a misunderstanding after falling into our hands. I won¡¯t risk putting you in danger for this so-called kindness.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s gazended on the map, almost as though she didn¡¯t dare look at Qianye. ¡°Then, let¡¯s set out.¡±

    The quiet forest suddenly became quite morous as rumbling explosions and gunshots echoed from time to time.

    Three faintly discernible figures were advancing slowly along the border of the ck Grove. They moved at a certain distance from one another but remained close enough to help each other out at the critical juncture. Apparently, it was a tacit understanding that had been born through countless battles.

    The man at the front formed a sudden gesture. The three men halted their steps at the same time and retracted their auras, leaving only faint hazy shadows. The leader remained in concealment for a moment before moving slowly toward the border of the forest. There, under the cover of an ancient tree, he poked his head out to observe.

    Upon looking, his aura was immediately thrown into chaos and his figure became much clearer than before.

    The twopanions were astonished and immediately assumed abat stance. On the battlefield, a brief moment of carelessness could produce extremely serious consequences.

    Fortunately, nothing happened, and the leader managed to contract his aura once more after that shortpse in control. He gestured at the other two toe and see.

    The two arrived at the forest borders and hid behind the tree before looking out, exercising the utmost caution under all circumstances.

    Despite being prepared, they almost lost theirposure at the sight.

    On a hill outside of the forest, there were dozens of wooden stakes with a corpse each hanging from it. These people were uniformly equipped and likely belonged to a single organization. It was the insignia on their attire that shook the three.

    They retreated into the depths of the forest and gathered around a tree. There, they brought out a writing board each and beganmunicating rapidly.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Predator Mercenary Corps!¡±

    ¡°Right, I saw their leader¡¯s corpse.¡±

    ¡°Judging from the number of corpses, it seems they werepletely wiped out here.¡±

    ¡°Are they here for the bounty?¡±

    ¡°Why else would anyonee here?¡±

    ¡°That means they probably died to the targets.¡±

    ¡°Very likely. By putting them on disy like this, are the targets trying to warn the other hunters or provoke the Wolf King?¡±

    ¡°Both, I guess. Someone who dared to kill Gary won¡¯t put the Wolf King in his eyes.¡±

    ¡°We need to reassess the risks involved.¡±

    ¡°My opinion is to retreat.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    Aftering to a consensus, the three put away their writing boards. Their figures gradually faded as they made to re-enter stealth and leave this dangerous forest.

    Unexpectedly, a voice rang out beside their ears at the same time. ¡°I don¡¯t agree.¡±

    Shocked, the three looked over at the same time and saw Qianye standing not so far away, staring at them with a spurious smile. That gun in his hand filled their hearts with fear and trepidation.

 Chapter 745: Failed Education

    The three were veteran killers¡ªone of them erupted with power and charged toward Qianye, while the other two sped toward the sides in different directions.

    The leader¡¯s charge was actually a feint. He shot out an almost-transparent thread which nailed itself to the side of arge tree. With that, he performed a sudden change in direction and escaped into the depths of the forest. This turn was extremely sudden, and that string was made of an unknown material capable of withstanding the extreme force. The lead assassin¡¯s mid-air shift was even faster and more agile than stepping through the air with origin power.

    Seeing that he had left Qianye behind, the killer had just begun to heave a sigh of relief when a ck shadow smashed down from above. Just before losing his consciousness to East Peak, there was only one thought on his mind: ¡°Howe he¡¯s so fast!?¡±

    The other two killers had already faded into the forest at this point. They weren¡¯t far off, but it was extremely difficult to spot them with the naked eye. However, in Qianye¡¯s True Sight, the origin fluctuations outlined two slowly moving figures.

    It would seem this kind of concealment state would slow them down by a fair bit. Qianye quietly went after them and disabled them one after the other.

    In the blink of an eye, the three assassins had been tossed onto an empty space beside the forest. These people were quite strong, and it would have taken Qianye a bit of effort if they had tried to fight head-on. However, Qianye¡¯s True Sight happened to be the bane of all concealment abilities, allowing him to take them all down with rtive ease.

    Nighteye appeared from a different direction and shot a nce at the three assassins. ¡°It seems these three have a bit of fame.¡±

    Qianye said while searching through the captives, ¡°They seem to be rather well off, judging from their wealth. They have fifty high-purity ck crystals and a number of other stuff.¡±

    ¡°How do we handle them?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we deal with them just like we did with the Predators. Our troubles should lessen quite a bit after killing these bastards, right?¡±

    ¡°Mm, I¡¯ll go prepare the wood then.¡± With that, Nighteye walked into the forest.

    She had just passed by an ancient tree when the scenery there blurred briefly. A figure came into being and dropped onto Nighteye.

    He made not a single sound or leaked even a bit of aura during the attack. He was like a natural predator whose fangs would only be revealed after the lethal strike.

    Just as the attack was about to seed, Nighteye¡¯s figure flickered out of existence.

    Spatial sh!

    The move was so sudden that the hidden fourth assassin couldn¡¯t react in time. He crashed to the ground in an awkward fashion and his figure became a bit clearer. A feeling of inexplicable danger welled up in his heart at this point. He looked back and found Nighteye a hundred meters away, the Carol of Shadows in her hand aimed straight at him.

    The assassin didn¡¯t have time to evade before the gun rumbled and the origin bullet tore through the air toward him.

    Unable to escape, the man could only cover himself in his cape and take the shot head-on. He then used the impact to elerate and escape into the depths of the forest. Weapons like the Carol of Shadows would suffer a considerable loss in firepower in the neutralnd. It could only wound and not kill unless it struck the target¡¯s vitals directly. The assassin held nothing back at this moment of life and death. He unleashed his rank fourteen origin power and ran like a bolt of lightning.

    He was so fast in the woond terrain that even a rank sixteen expert couldn¡¯t quite catch up to him. This was his life¡¯s greatest guarantee of survival. Escaping immediately after failed assassinations allowed him to assassinate powerful experts again and again. The assassin group¡¯s name, ¡°Impossible Triangle¡±, was mostly earned by this person. Outsiders would never know that the organization actually consisted of four people and not three. The constantly hidden fourth person was the true expert and key person.

    Within moments, the unnamed assassin had rushed out over a thousand meters. Only then did he manage to sigh in relief because there was no way the two youngsters could catch up to him at such speeds. He wanted to change directions after a while and leave the ck Grove.

    The two youngsters were quite odd. They werepletely at home in these woods and even more well-adapted to the environment than he was.

    Before he could slow down and change directions, however, a sudden rumbling sound arrived from behind him as the giant trees began to shake violently. The swaying ancient trees formed a straight line that seemed to being for him!

    The assassin nced back and saw a small figure emerge from the forest. After stomping on an ancient tree, she would shoot forward almost a hundred meters toward the next where she would bounce forward once more.

    The trees in the ck Grove needed two grown men to encircle hand in hand. They were firm and sturdy in nature, requiring a lumberjack almost half a day to chop one down. Yet such trees would bend backward with each of this girl¡¯s stomps, nearly breaking apart in the middle!

    That little girl was flying over like a cannonball. This violent method of movement was even faster than his own!

    The killer was shocked out of his wits. He could no longer care about hiding his aura and unleashed his full speed to run for his dear life.

    He had a thousand regrets in his heart, knowing that he shouldn¡¯t have epted this business. Everyone knew that werewolves couldn¡¯t enter the ck Grove. Hence, he was enticed by the massive bounty, thinking that the Wolf King was helpless only because the two youngsters had taken advantage of the environment.

    There was an old saying in the neutralnds: ¡°There is no free lunch.¡± The Wolf King¡¯s willingness to fork out such a massive bounty naturally meant that these two youngsters were worthy of this reward. The ck Grove was only one of the reasons. With the king¡¯s current status, how hard could it be to find experts from the other races who could enter the forest?

    The little girl on his tail wasn¡¯t on the bounty list, but the speed and power she was disying were absolutely shocking. The only thing this assassin could hope for was that her stamina wouldn¡¯tst that long.

    It was at this time that his vision blurred as Qianye and Nighteye appeared to his left and right, sealing off all paths of escape.

    Nighteye had appeared dozens of meters away, but Qianye was only a couple of meters out! At such a short distance, the two were destined to crash into one another the moment Qianye appeared.

    The unknown assassin braced himself and rammed straight into Qianye. Although physical strength had never been his forte, the target seemed rather frail and was simply standing there without moving.

    A muffled thud echoed through the area as the two crashed into one another. The unknown assassin felt as though he had crashed into a mountain. The world spun about, and his vision blurred as he rolled a dozen meters backward. Meanwhile, Qianye was still standing there,pletely unmoved. Only his feet had sunk a bit deeper into the ground.

    The assassin struggled to jump up. He hadn¡¯t even gotten the time to marvel at Qianye¡¯s strong constitution when he saw that young girl barreling at him like an artillery shell!

    Failing to dodge in time, he took a square headbutt to the stomach. For a moment, he felt as though he had been sted by a grade-eight handheld cannon. What remained of his origin barrier was shattered on the spot, and his body was bent into an unnatural angle. The next thing he heard was the crisp sound of his spine breaking!

    ¡°My spine was broken from the ram?¡± The unknown assassin could hardly believe this oue. He drew his dagger and stabbed fiercely at Zhuji¡¯s back, hoping to sever her spine in retaliation.

    The descending de tore through the armor and reached Zhuji¡¯s flesh. But the moment it touched Zhuji¡¯s skin, the assassin felt as though he had stabbed at the most premium of hide armor¡ªit was exceptionally difficult to push the de even a single inch further. And her origin power, while weak in capacity, was of an unknown but extremely powerful attribute. Each unit of hers could counter two of his own, disrupting any ns he had of expanding the wound by means of origin power.

    The unknown assassin was quite powerful, after all. He eventually managed to push through the thinyer of flesh and reach Zhuji¡¯s spine. But his dagger produced a crisp metallic sound at this point and could no longer make any progress.

    The assassin was overwhelmed. ¡°Her bones are even harder than my dagger?¡±

    At this moment, he was already rolling on the ground with Zhuji. Soon, the little girl raised her head and butted the man¡¯s chest, causing it to cave in entirely.

    Zhuji raised her head and smashed down once more, but this time, she was stopped by Qianye.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, he won¡¯t survive anymore. It won¡¯t look good if you pound him again.¡± With that, Qianye picked Zhuji up and tossed her to Nighteye, saying, ¡°This is the oue of yourbat training?¡±

    Nighteye caught Zhuji and knocked her lightly on the head. ¡°This is your vital area, you have to protect it. Don¡¯t use it as a weapon, you hear?¡±

    Zhuji seemed to aggrieved. ¡°But isn¡¯t the head the hardest part? I haven¡¯t encountered anything I couldn¡¯t smash with it.¡±

    Nighteye knocked her head once more and pointed at East Peak. ¡°Have you tried headbutting that?¡±

    Zhuji sized the sword up from top to bottom and said with some uncertainty, ¡°I¡¯m... not sure. Maybe? I haven¡¯t tried before, so I don¡¯t know.¡±

    The unnamed assassin was on hisst breath when he witnessed this scene. Just what kind of monster was this girl?

    On the verge of his death, he would probably pass with grievances if he knew Zhuji could actually withstand the aftershock of a divine champion¡¯s all-out attack.

    Qianye didn¡¯t mind the assassin¡¯s death since he wasn¡¯t interested in the man¡¯s identity, only the spoils. As the leader of the four-man team, the things he had on him were more valuable than the other threebined. Apparently, the group¡¯s resources were gathered on him.

    The greatest reward obtained was a type of sturdy, transparent thread. There was an entire roll of it stretching over a hundred meters. Although Qianye didn¡¯t know much about this string, he could guess its value just from the materials alone.

    On the other side, Nighteye was trying to educate Zhuji to no avail. It seemed more like she was consoling the young girl instead of reprimanding her. They were indeed a bit different because Little Zhuji was showing an increased tendency toward instinctivebat, while Nighteye¡¯s style focused more on elegance. It was Qianye who asionally went into a hacking and smashing frenzy.

    By the time Qianye had finished counting the spoils, Nighteye was still teaching thess. Qianye could no longer watch from the sidelines toward the end. ¡°Wait until we reach Port City, I¡¯ll prepare a weapon for her.¡±

    ¡°Weapon?¡± Nighteye reacted after some thought. Arachne also used weapons. One could only me Zhuji¡¯s body for being so strong it was usually enough for her. There was never a need for a weapon.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to Port City?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go see the old man, I¡¯m worried about him. But first, let¡¯s wait a couple of days before that.

    ¡°We need to teach these greedy mercenaries a lesson or they won¡¯t know when to restrain themselves.¡±

 Chapter 746: Origin Power is Everything

    In the period that followed, the ck Grove of the southern wilderness became a life-devouring ckhole. It was a one-way trip regardless of how many people arrived here. The wooden stakes erected on the forest borders only grew in number, and the corpses flying on them seemed to be telling a tale of the forest¡¯s terrors.

    No one, from lone assassins to hundred-men mercenary corps, could escape this fate.

    For a time, even the greediest and most bloodthirsty of criminals began to hesitate because one would need to be alive to receive the reward. Now that things had reached such a state, everyone understood that the two youngsters were fitting of the reward. Other famous characters couldn¡¯t help but secretly weigh how much the Wolf King would be willing to offer if they were in Qianye¡¯s shoes. The results weren¡¯t always satisfactory¡ªsome were worth a few thousand and others, twenty. To be frank, those worth over fifty thousand wouldn¡¯t be doing such risky businesses.

    In the neutralnds, every gold coin of bounty was worth its value.

    But these mercenaries and assassins were like hungry vultures. They were unwilling to give up despite being clear about the situation. They held onto the fantasy that Qianye would grow tired and make a mistake under thebined assault of the wolf pack. If they were lucky enough to encounter a heavily wounded Qianye, it would change their lives forever. This was worth gambling for.

    Some shrewd people believed Qianye couldn¡¯t have produced such aplishments. They felt that the youngsters were only there as bait, while the true expert was waiting in the shadows.

    All kinds of guesses and conjectures were made. It was just that all these mercenaries and assassins kept them a secret, unwilling to exchange information amongst themselves. Everyone was afraid of losing this vast amount of wealth to another.

    The situation in the Dark Grove fell into an eerie calm as all squads deliberately maintained a fair distance from the forest. After all, those who could fight freely in the woods were rare¡ªmost of them had already entered the woods long ago and be hanging corpses.

    Two weeks thus went by peacefully. Things were so calm that many realized that something was wrong. They began talking to each other and found that there hadn¡¯t been a single battle in the recent period. Only then did they realize that Qianye might¡¯ve left.

    That was only a guess. They still didn¡¯t dare act carelessly because they would be targets if this were a trap. As such, the cautious mercenarypanies began exploring the area little by little. At this rate, their investigation would take half a day and still not cover the entire forest.

    Qianye and Nighteye were already in Port City as the situation in the ck Grove fell into an impasse.

    The old airship was puffing clouds of steam and emitting ear-splitting rumbles as it swayed toward the airship port. About ten meters from the ground, the unsteady descent turned into a freefall, and the airship mmed into thending tform. The impact was no different from a crash, but the sturdy vehicle somehow remained intact even after such anding.

    The airship doors opened up and the passengers walked out of the airship one after the other. Despite experiencing this massive jolt, many of the passengers seemed fine and their expressions, unchanged. Apparently, all of them were used to riding such old airships. Some started vomiting after exiting the airship, desperate to squeeze their stomachs out.

    The guards nearby nced disdainfully at those who were throwing up. ¡°More newbies.¡±

    An old veteran said meaningfully, ¡°Newbies are good.¡±

    A couple of other soldiers broke into an evilugh.

    However, there were also some exceptions among the neers?¡ªNighteye and Qianye for instance. Their physical strength allowed them to endure the rolling of advanced high-speed airships for an entire day, not to mention this little jolt.

    After walking off the airship, Nighteye nced into the distance. ¡°That¡¯s Port City?¡±

    Qianye also looked over at the surroundings and said, ¡°This should be it. There are only grasnds and farms in the surrounding areas.¡±

    ¡°This rundown city isn¡¯t much better than that small town of ours. Well, there¡¯s a small area over there that¡¯s well built.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Interesting, half of it is built in the vampire style and the other in human fashion.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Leave that for when we¡¯re free. We need to find the old man first.¡±

    The guards and passengers nearby were stunned upon hearing their casual conversation. Everyone looked in the same direction, but all they could see was a faint mist hanging in the air. Being able to see a couple hundred meters could already be considered great eyesight.

    Port City was quite misty and would often be shrouded in it in the mornings and evenings. The mist rising from the Eastern Sea, regardless of thickness, possessed the ability to inste perception. The stronger one¡¯s cultivation and perception, the farther one could see through the mist. That was why the eyesight test had always existed throughout the history of the neutralnds. Numbered targets would be ced inside the mist when it arose. The further away one could see, the better one¡¯s perception and eyesight. Many major powers would use this method to choose snipers and scouts.

    However, this test was usually performed in a thin mist. Otherwise, no one could see very far, and it would be harder to differentiate the distance. The highest historical record for this test was only a thousand meters.

    The airship port was covered in a thin mist at this moment. Port City was over a thousand meters away, and the city lord¡¯s mansion and the noble districty even further. Yet Qianye and Nighteye could both see them so clearly. Didn¡¯t this mean that their visual acuity had set a new record in the Eastern Sea?

    The two began walking toward Port City while chatting casually. Watching their receding figures, the soldiers were first shocked, and then their expressions became odd. One of the young guards spat loudly, saying, ¡°They must¡¯vee here before and know what the city looked like. It¡¯s probably an act!¡±

    The veteran said calmly, ¡°Theirbat strength isn¡¯t low. Why would these important characters need to act in front of small fries like us?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. Maybe they want someone else to see their act.¡± The young soldier wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± The old veteran seemed lost in thought.

    Nighteye¡¯s surprise wasn¡¯t unwarranted. Port City¡¯s status was simr to ckflow City in itster stages, virtually a nation of its own. It was located at the junction of many powers, and while nominally belonging to Zhang Buzhou, everything was decided solely by the hereditary city lord. They needed only to submit a set amount of tax each year.

    Such a city with tens of thousands of citizens was actually quite run-down. Arge area of the ce was filled with small shacks, not even five-story buildings. Although the small town near the ck Grove had been destroyed, one could squeeze it into the shabbiest slums in Port City, and it would still fit in. Only the noble district, which upied one-fourth of the city, was more or less presentable. Even there, the highest building was only six floors high. Be it in terms of empire or Evernight standards, this Port City was no different from a junkyard. No wonder Nighteye was so astonished.

    Evernight enjoyed a long heritage that far exceeded the empire, with nock of grand, ancient architecture. Take the vampire race for instance¡ªeven a castle built by thest-ranked among the ancient ns would be a magnificent sight to behold. Any small town in the core region of Evernight would be better developed than Port City.

    Entering the city, Qianye was assaulted by a wave of liveliness. There were shops lining every road and street, with young staff everywhere weing customers into their stores. The stream of people was rather impressive, and the city, almost unbearably crowded. Everyone seemed to be in a great hurry, as evidenced by their bodynguage.

    Qianye had never encountered such a bustling ce apart from a few of the most thriving imperial cities. He stopped a passerby and asked, ¡°Is there any celebration going on? It¡¯s so lively.¡±

    The man sized Qianye up from head to toe and said with a snort, ¡°What celebration? It¡¯s like this every day, so ignorant!¡±

    Qianye wanted to ask more, but that man waved his sleeve impatiently. ¡°Are you done yet? I¡¯m dealing with several gold coins with every wave of the hand. How can I have the idle time to answer your questions. My time is precious, country bumpkin!¡±

    The passerby left hurriedly, almost as though he had an important duty on his shoulders?¡ªit seemed as if world peace depended on his style.

    Qianye was left dumbstruck and only came to after a while. He took a look at himself. Doubtlessly, he was d in warrior¡¯s attire and sported a weapon belt as well as a backpack. That was the standard hunter¡¯s outfit, a fashion that could be seen everywhere in the city. He looked about but couldn¡¯t quite figure out what had made the other party look down on him so badly.

    Perhaps that person was a hidden expert with outstanding eyesight who knew at a nce that Qianye was from a small town in the southern wilderness.

    Just as he was thinking randomly, Qianye saw Nighteye giggling cheerfully.

    As such, Qianye dispensed with the posturing and humbly asked her for guidance. Just what about him had given away his identity as a country bumpkin. Or was that person a divination master who knew he had grown up in a dumpster?¡±

    Nighteye pointed at Qianye¡¯s body while giggling radiantly.

    Qianye observed his equipment once more but still couldn¡¯t find the problem. As such, he had no choice but to ask with a thick face.

    Seeing Qianye checking his attire, Nighteye bent over inughter. ¡°What I meant is... look at your origin power level.¡±

    Qianye was immediately enlightened. To avoid unnecessary troubles, Qianye had modified his appearance and used Bloodline Concealment to retract his aura. In the eyes of other people, he was only a rank-three fellow. People of such rank made up the bulk of the imperial army, and it was the minimum threshold to enter the elite corps. In the neutralnds, however, they were a dime a dozen. There was only one reason for this¡ªthe weaker ones couldn¡¯t survive here.

    After all that fuss, that passerby was also one of those people who measured heroes in terms of origin power. Moreover, he could only see through the surface.

    Qianye shook his head, not knowing whether tough or to cry. ¡°Oh well, let¡¯s find a ce to stay and look for the old man.¡±

 Chapter 747: Shocking Change Part 1

    Qianye and Nighteye found a random hotel and quickly settled in. In ordance with Port City¡¯s bizarre architectural style, these so-calledrge hotels upiedrge areas ofnd, but they were far from elegant.

    The furnishings inside them were simple, crude, and nowhere near exquisite. From the walls and floors to the furniture, almost everything was made of wood. There was little to no decoration in the establishment, but it could still be considered quite clean. Qianye was at first worried that Nighteye wouldn¡¯t get used to it¡ªvampires were famous for favoring good taste and pleasure after all. Yet she said nothing about it and quietly settled her luggage in.

    Qianye still felt a bit odd about the hotel¡¯s simplicity. He walked around the room, touching and knocking on the walls. The echo from it was vacuous, meaning that the walls were hollow.

    ¡°Strange.¡± From the reverberations, Qianye sensed four metal pirs hidden in the four corners of the room. He walked to a corner and poked a hole in the wall with his finger, eliciting a metallic ding.

    As expected, the room was supported by a metallic frame, which was almost a rarity in the neutralnds. This would sharply increase the construction costs of this building. Even in the highly industrialized empire, metallic frames would only be used in military facilities and rarely in civilian architecture. This hotel had used such a valuable framework, and yet, its decorations were so crude¡ªthis was inconceivable.

    Qianye was just about to knock on the wall again when a sudden roar erupted from the room next door. ¡°Why the hell are you knocking? Will you let me sleep or what?¡±

    Qianye was startled, not expecting the sound-proofing to be so bad. But he thought more about it and realized hollow walls probably couldn¡¯t iste sound. He was thinking about apologizing, but the string of unbearable profanities caused his expression to turn gloomy.

    Eventually, the man wasn¡¯t satisfied with just verbal abuse. The door to Qianye¡¯s room flew open and a half-naked man with dense chest hair rushed inside. ¡°Your ruckus has disturbed my afternoon nap, how the hell do you want to die?¡±

    The first thing he saw after entering the room was the vampiric de Nighteye had ced on the table.

    Although the dagger was still sheathed, the exquisite decoration on its exterior was enough to draw his attention. The fine patterns carved upon it were even finer than hair¡ªeven people who were unfamiliar with the goods could tell that it was of extraordinary value. The craftsmanship of the sheath alone would be worth thousands of gold coins even if the de inside was a kitchen knife.

    The burly man¡¯s breathing became heavy.

    His eyes shifted about as he cried, ¡°Isn¡¯t this my knife!? Howe it¡¯s here? How bold! You actually dare to steal my knife! You¡¯re going to rot in prison for this. Return the knife and apologize to me. Maybe I¡¯ll let you off if I¡¯m in a good mood.¡±

    He was already reaching for the vampiric de while spouting all of this.

    Qianye and Nighteye exchanged nces. From the very beginning, this man had been running a one-man show without giving them the chance to talk. Looking at this fellow who had ignited only four origin nodes, Qianye really couldn¡¯t figure out where he had gotten all that confidence from. To avoid unnecessary problems, Qianye and Nighteye had restrained their aura to rank six after arriving at Port City.

    Rank six could be considered a moderate power level in the neutralnds, easily capable of working for a major power as a small unit leader. Such a rank was the focus of recruitment for many factions and would allow one to live a fairlyfortable life anywhere. Even as a hunter, there would be no shortage of groups to take them in. Traveling at this level would reduce petty troubles without drawing too much attention. This man, however, seemed to be an exception.

    Toozy to spend time on a rank-four fellow, Qianye immediately caught the man¡¯s hand and gripped tightly.

    The burly fellow felt as though his hands had been locked by an iron hoop. In a sh, his bones started to creak and groan, eliciting a miserable scream akin to a pig being butchered.

    Qianye had no intention of being lenient. He added more power to his grip and crushed all the bones in the man¡¯s hand before kicking him out of the room. The burly chap smashed into the pir outside, sending the entire hotel trembling from the impact.

    This ruckus caused many people to crowd over. Seeing the burly man lying on the ground, someone whispered with a tinge of schadenfreude, ¡°Oh? He¡¯s finally encountered someone who¡¯s even more unreasonable?¡±

    A nearbypanion tugged at him, saying, ¡°Speak less. Are you looking for even more trouble?¡±

    The manager of the hotel rushed over with a couple of guards. Upon seeing the man copsed on the ground, he said to Qianye with a cold expression, ¡°Why are you causing trouble here?¡±

    ¡°Me? Causing trouble? I¡¯m still wondering if this is a hotel or a bandit hideout.¡±

    The manager¡¯s expression changed drastically. Before he could act out, however, the burly mbered up, shouting, ¡°You dare attack me? Just wait and see! My brother is the vice-captain of thew enforcement unit. You¡¯re dead meat!¡±

    The people around weren¡¯t too surprised. Apparently, they all knew about this man¡¯s identity. Most seemed to feel sympathy for Qianye, but there were naturally those who took delight in his plight.

    Port City¡¯s power structure was no different from an independent city¡ªthe city lord wasparable to a king, the city guard defended against external threats, and thew enforcement unit was in charge of maintaining internal order. A vice-captain in thew enforcement unit was at least rank eight or above. As for the captain, only a champion could shoulder the rank. In terms of strength, a vice-captain was capable enough to be the guard captain or deputy-mayor of a small rural town.

    This man was relying on his identity to run about unbridled.

    Qianye paid him no attention and merely stared at the manager. ¡°How will youpensate me for my losses?¡±

    The manager was startled. He then said with a cold smile, ¡°Wait till the captaines, I¡¯ll pay whatever he says I should pay.¡±

    ¡°No need to wait, I¡¯ve arrived.¡± Anky man walked into the hotel, followed by severalw enforcement soldiers. A hotel attendant beside him was pointing at Qianye and saying something. This favor-currying fellow was fairly clever and had run over to deliver a report as soon as the incident took ce.

    Thenky man¡¯s eyes turned cold. He walked over to Qianye, sized him up from head to toe, and said, ¡°I¡¯m Ding Shiheng. May I know what my brother did to offend you that you would attack him so violently?¡±

    The burly man cried out from the side, ¡°Brother, they stole my dagger and injured me. They don¡¯t care about you at all, they said it¡¯s useless even if the captain himselfes!¡±

    Ding Shiheng red at him. ¡°Shut up, you useless thing! You¡¯ve shamed me thoroughly. Why aren¡¯t you off to treat your wounds?¡±

    A sweep of his razor-sharp gaze immediately sent the idle onlookers scattering. It would seem this vice-captain was so notorious that no one was willing to provoke him. Although many people wanted to see what the knife in question looked like, the choice between satisfying one¡¯s curiosity and offending the vice-captain was a no-brainer.

    After reprimanding his brother and driving away the crowd, Ding Shiheng said to Qianye, ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside?¡±

    The vice-captain was a man of refined manners, and this was exactly what Qianye wanted. ¡°I have the same thought.¡±

    Qianye shut the door after Ding Shiheng had entered the room, cutting off the vision of the guards and hotel manager.

    Ding Shiheng¡¯s eyes fell upon Nighteye after entering the room. He stared vacantly for a brief moment before his gaze was attracted by the vampiric de on the table. Both Qianye and Nighteye had altered their appearances. Thetter had assumed the appearance of an ordinary woman, but the grace and elegance of her every movement was undisguisable. Despite just sitting there, she was suffused in august purity.

    In contrast to her internal temperament, the vampiric de was an unadorned enticement. As someone in an important position, Ding Shiheng¡¯s knowledge was quite broad¡ªjust the craftsmanship of this dagger was enough to incite a cold gasp. The item would be of extraordinary value, even if the patterns on the sheath were mere decorations. If they were part of an origin array... Ding Shiheng didn¡¯t even dare to keep on imagining.

    Ovee by greed, he said subconsciously, ¡°This de is of unclear origins, perhaps even stolen from somewhere. I must take it back for a detailed investigation, and you two will also follow me.¡±

    He had spoken these words so many times that he could recite them all in his dream. Then, he reached for the dagger as he normally would. After getting his hands on the item, the chances of him coughing it back up were slim at best.

    Qianye became neither rmed nor angry as imagined. Instead, he said indifferently, ¡°No matter the origins, I don¡¯t think you can swallow it.¡±

    Ding Shiheng was furious after hearing these words. He banged the table and was just about to cause trouble when he saw Qianye emit a terrifying origin power which came crashing down upon him. An unbearable pressure caused his knees to go weak and fall to the ground. But things didn¡¯t end there¡ªthe kneeling man¡¯s body continued to inch toward the ground. He used his hands to prop up his creaking skeleton, but he was still unable to withstand this frightening pressure.

    Ding Shiheng was a knowledgeable man. He knew he would be utterly crushed once he was prone on the ground without the support of his bones and origin power. As such, he struggled with all his might to keep himself propped up while begging for mercy.

    After several times of begging in vain and just as he was about to cough up blood, that terrifying pressure slowly faded away. This was the exact moment when all his origin power was used up and he was about to die.

    He looked up quietly and was astonished to find Qianye sitting calmly nearby. Then, he noticed the room was perfectly intact, and even the floorboards beneath him were undamaged. It was as though the mountainous force just now was just an illusion.

    The instant realization thoroughly wiped away Ding Shiheng¡¯s intentions to bring thew enforcement unit in. Even the chief of the enforcement unit might not be able to control so much weight with such precision. He would surely be punished if he were to provoke an enemy like Qianye for personal benefits.

    He didn¡¯t dare get up without Qianye¡¯s instructions and simply remained on his knees, saying, ¡°All of this is because of my brother¡¯s blindness. I¡¯ll break off one of his arms after getting back and bring him to you for an apology.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°I think you¡¯d rather bring thew enforcement unit back instead, am I right?¡±

    Ding Shiheng was drenched in sweat. ¡°My men are all outside, but no number of them is enough.¡±

    ¡°Skip apologies, I have something I need your help with.¡±

    ¡°Please speak, Sire.¡±

    ¡°Help me find a man, an old man named Cui Yuanhai who came to Port City a while ago.¡±

    Ding Shiheng felt relieved after hearing this. ¡°Just leave it to me!¡± A local ruffian like Ding Shiheng was the perfect candidate for finding someone in Port City.

    Just as Qianye was about to exin Cui Yuanhai¡¯s characteristics to him, the entire building began to shake!

 Chapter 748: Shocking Change Part 2

    That was a major quake. Not just the room, but the entire hotel and even Port City itself was shaking. Cracks spread all over the walls as dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.

    Qianye rushed over to the wall and looked out. At the extremes of his vision, he could see the sheds in the slums starting to crumble. These crudely constructed shacks simply couldn¡¯t withstand the might of the rocking earth.

    ¡°Earthquake?¡±

    Ding Shiheng wasn¡¯t rmed at all. He merely shook his head and said, ¡°It¡¯s not an earthquake, just the earth dragon turning over. It¡¯ll be gone soon.¡±

    As expected, the shakingsted only a few minutes before gradually subsiding. Even so, the number of copsed buildings in Port City weren¡¯t few in number, and most of them were located in the slums.

    In fact, the entire of Port City was fairly simple in decor. If it wasn¡¯t clearly indicated, Qianye would find it difficult to tell the slums apart from the normal city area. Only the noble¡¯s district around the city lord¡¯s mansion looked like a proper major city. The demarcation became more evident after the quake because most of the copses took ce in the impoverished areas and rarely in the city districts.

    After therge quake, people immediately became busy. Some began cleaning up the rubble, while others collected reusable materials and cared for the injured¡ªeverything was carried out in proper sequence. The order amidst the chaos went to show that such incidences were amon urrence here. Even people at the lowest level were used to them and knew how to deal with the aftermath.

    These shacks were so roughly built that they were nothing more than a couple of poles and a roof-frame. The walls and roofs were all made of thin wooden sheets, which reduced the damage if they were to copse. It was also easier for others to rescue those buried under the rubble. Moreover, shacks like this would take less than a day to build.

    The hotel Qianye was staying in and the much better-built courtyards nearby were all supported by steel frames. Such a quake would, at most, cause them to tilt slightly¡ªsomeone with rank four cultivation could set them straight and fix them in ce. As for the walls and ceilings, they were even easier to repair and even ordinary people could do it. Additionally, the furniture was also of the simplest type, so that there wouldn¡¯t be much losses in case they were destroyed.

    After the quake had passed, there was a knock on the door. The person said from outside the door, ¡°Everyone, please don¡¯t be rmed. Someone wille to repair your walls very soon, everything will be done before dinnertime.¡±

    After saying that, the attendant headed to the next room to inform the guests there.

    The earth was still rocking gently at this point. Qianye, with his sharp senses, noticed that the exposed ground was rippling gently like water. Although barely discernible, it was clearly not something an earthquake should have.

    ¡°Earth dragon? What is that?¡± Qianye was more wary than interested in this existence capable of shaking the entire city.

    This was no secret in Port City. Ding Shiheng replied without the slightest bit of hesitation, ¡°That¡¯s the legendary giant creature hiding in the depths of the earth. Some say it¡¯s a void colossus, but no one has ever seen it before. It¡¯ll turn over or get restless every once in a while. This time, it was only turning over gently. When it gets restless every few years, the quake willst several days and copse half the city.¡±

    Qianye finally understood why the architecture in Port City was so odd¡ªthey were specifically designed to avoid the need for reconstruction. Apparently, only the city lord manor and the buildings in the noble district were permanent. Even if the others were built with steel frames, they could hardlyst through the yearly tremors.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up with a blue tinge as he gazed back at the city lord¡¯s manor. In his True Sight, there was a faint glow of origin power covering the buildings in the noble district¡ªthere was a protective force field protecting them. The radiance on the city lord¡¯s manor was the strongest as there was a light barrier covering the entire structure. They actually had an origin constructed htere, a significant expenditure even by empire standards.

    Seeing these things gave Qianye a new impression of Port City¡¯s strength. One would need sufficient power to support such wealth in the neutralnds.

    At this moment, arge number of people converged onto the street and began pushing their way out of the city.

    ¡°What are they going to do?¡±

    Ding Shiheng said, ¡°They¡¯re all off to hunt. Whenever the earth dragon flips over, some special lifeforms will be driven out from the depths of the ground. Rainbowfish and spiked rats, for instance, can only be caught during this period.¡±

    Rainbowfish and spiked rats were the regional specialties of Port City. Not only did they taste great, but they could also strengthen one¡¯s origin power perception and consequently improve cultivation speed. This delicacy was almost irresistible to the demonkin and thus became an important smugglingmodity.

    Additionally, some other rare species would be driven from the depths of the earth to its shallowyer. This was their only opportunity at capturing them. At this point, Qianye understood why people were willing to stay in Port City despite needing to reconstruct their houses every few years.

    Qianye inquired further about the power distribution in Port City, and then let Ding Shiheng leave after obtaining sufficient information.

    As expected of a local bully, Ding Shiheng arrived at the hotel at noon the following day. His arrogance disappeared immediately after entering the room. The man stood respectfully in front of Qianye, his eyes never straying toward Nighteye and Zhuji.

    The news he had brought caused Qianye to break into a frown. ¡°You¡¯re saying that an old man fitting this description dide to Port City but disappeared the next day after meeting the people from the Xue family?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I mobilized all my assets but still couldn¡¯t find his whereabouts. Some of my sources are guessing...¡± Ding Shiheng stole a nce at Qianye. The Xue family was, after all, a massive entity to him and even simple matters would beplicated after getting involved with them.

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Reportedly, there were some abnormal movements among the Xue family guards that day. That¡¯s why some think that they might¡¯ve captured Elder Cui.¡±

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Did you confirm this with someone from the Xue family?¡±

    Ding Shiheng said carefully, ¡°Sire, the highest contact someone of my status can have is no more than the lowest-tier members of the Xue family. They know nothing about this matter. This means that either the Xue family has nothing to do with this, or it is a secret even within the family. If it is thetter, then this lowly one is powerless to do anything.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well, I understand. Tell me the location of the Xue family, and if possible, get me a map of the Xue family residence.¡±

    Ding Shiheng stood up and said, ¡°This lowly one will go immediately.¡±

    By evening, Ding Shiheng had already delivered the residence¡¯s map. One had to admit that this local tyrant was fairly adept at handling matters.

    With the location and map in hand, the preparations were already sufficient. Qianye and Nighteye left the hotel in the dead of the night and vanished into the darkness.

    The Xue family residence was naturally in the noble district, but it wasn¡¯t veryrge, only threepounds in total from front to back. This so-called notrge was only rtive to other cities. It was still a bonafide mansion in Port City. In the noble district, every building was connected to a shock-protection array. Even if it was just for face, they couldn¡¯t let their mansions suffer damage. Hence,rge mansions would involve terrifying consumption rates.

    Qianye had already learned beforehand that the ones living in this mansion belonged to a branch of the Xue family, with the main family dispatching people to assist them. The Xues owned a fair number of estates and industries in and around Port City, all of which were managed from this ce.

    Qianye stood not far away, sizing up this residence.

    The mansion was tall, wide, and built in a fairly imperial fashion. It was just that the entire structure was a tenth in scalepared to true aristocratic families, nowhere near the Zhao n¡¯s half city-sized residences.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in and see.¡± Qianye beckoned to Nighteye as he leapt into thepound.

    Qianye had learned from Ding Shiheng that the most powerful person in this Xue mansion was the branch family head Xue Haiyang. As a rank-thirteen champion, he was more than enough to protect the interests of the Xue family in Port City.

    It was alreadyte at night and many areas of the residence had gone dark. There were some guards patrolling the area in addition to two hidden sentries. This kind of defensive structure was loose but allowed for no gaps, denying evil mercenaries and adventurers any opportunity they could take advantage of. None of this could deter Qianye, however. He leapt soundlessly over a group of guards and entered the residence.

    Nighteyended beside him and, after scanning the courtyard, pointed toward the main building.

    Qianye nodded. He arrived before the door, and following a sh of red light, the vampiric de in his hand had sliced through the lock. Only the faintest of sounds was produced in this process, but it was enough to rouse the person inside from his sleep. ¡°Who goes there!?¡±

    Qianye pushed the door open while Nighteye shed into the room like a bolt of lightning and held her vampiric de against the man¡¯s neck.

    The person on the bed was a man in his forties. He had just propped himself up halfway when his entire body froze. The vampiric de was so sharp that it had left faint red lines on his neck even before actuallying into contact.

    There was a rather beautifuldy beside him who hadn¡¯t woken up just yet. She merely turned around, revealing a fair, well-rounded body that was entirely unclothed.

    The man remained calm and said in a deep voice, ¡°I¡¯m Xue Haiyang, the lord of this Xue family branch as well as an officer of the main family. May I ask what business the two of you have with me?¡±

    Qianye locked the door behind him. ¡°Mr. Xue, whatposure, what courage! Since that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll not beat around the bush. I have a friend called Cui Yuanhai. He¡¯s in your hands, right?¡±

    At the mention of this name, Xue Haiyang¡¯s expression shifted drastically. Hisposure was quickly reced by shock as he eximed, ¡°You¡¯re the ones wanted by the Wolf King!¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King is rather generous. If it wasn¡¯t for him, I wouldn¡¯t even know that my head was worth so much.¡± Qianyeughed.

    Xue Haiyang¡¯s heart sank. He nced at the vampiric de at his neck and said with a wry smile, ¡°It turns out you two are vampires.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°She is, I am not, but that¡¯s not important. Mr. Xue, are you trying to stall for time? You should know that it¡¯s meaningless.¡±

    Xue Haiyangughed ruefully. ¡°I know, you even dare to kill the Wolf King¡¯s son. There¡¯s no way you¡¯ll put a small character like me in your eyes. Cui Yuanhai did pay me a visit, but this matter was too important, so I had to report it to the main family. The main family¡¯s response was to seize the man and watch him strictly.¡±

    ¡°Where is he now?¡±

    Xue Haiyang whispered helplessly, ¡°Probably kidnapped.¡±

 Chapter 749: News

    ¡°Kidnapped?¡± Qianye raised his voice slightly. ¡°You¡¯re from the Xue family. Who would dare kidnap people from your hands? Or do you really think I¡¯m that easy to deceive?¡±

    Xue Haiyangughed ruefully. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have believed it if it didn¡¯t really happen. Here¡¯s what happened, we invited Elder Cui over here quite smoothly, and he wasn¡¯t injured, either. Additionally, his equipment truly broadened our horizons. As he was an important character, who also happened to be rted to you, we weren¡¯t quite confident in ensuring his safety. So, I dispatched some of my best subordinates along with Elder Cui to mix in with a merchant caravan, hoping to send him to the main family.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡± Qianye knew that Xue Haiyang was acting out of prudence. Even if he hadn¡¯t sent Cui Yuanhai away immediately, he would certainly do so after hearing of Qianye¡¯s exploits in the Dark Grove.

    ¡°Then, the caravan was robbed midway. No survivors.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Who did it?¡±

    An entire caravan had been robbed and killed¡ªas a powerful family in the neutralnds, it wasn¡¯t usible if the Xue family didn¡¯t even have a clue.

    Xue Haiyang seemed hesitant, but the slight movement of the vampiric de on his neck greatly facilitated his obedience. ¡°The clues at the scene point to the Throne of Blood, but in truth, I suspect it¡¯s the work of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demon.¡±

    Qianye fell into silent contemtion.

    Xue Haiyang¡¯s suspicion was reasonable. The Throne of Blood was the main camp of the vampires in the neutralnds. Unlike the other mixed races, the higher echelon of the Throne of Blood was made up of only high-ranking vampires. The one on the throne was at the grand duke level many years ago, but there has been news that he had long since ascended to be a prince. His rank, however, was only secondary. The most important point was that the Grand Magnum, Shattered Time, was in his hands. With a magnum in his possession, he was gradually able to contend with heavenly monarchs and dark monarchs. Even Zhang Buzhou wasn¡¯t as famous as he was.

    However, that person on the Throne of Blood was in the central region of the Neutral Lands and had no interest in a deste ce like the Eastern Sea. The forces of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demon, however, were adjacent to the Wolf King¡¯snds. They had been trying to wrest control of Port City for many years now.

    As for Moonlight Demon, it could be considered the stronghold of all deviants and fugitives. Even in thewless neutralnds, their reputation was the worst of the worst. Everyone was troubled by thesewless, arrogant and unyielding evildoers. It was difficult to predict their operational habits¡ªthere was nothing they wouldn¡¯t do.

    Only a power at this level would be able to wipe out a Xue family caravan so quietly, leaving no survivors behind.

    ¡°Did you find Cui Yuanhai¡¯s corpse?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Xue Haiyang¡¯s reply gave Qianye a bit of hope.

    Realizing that he could get no more information, Qianye said with a cold smile, ¡°Your Xue family is quite bold. I let your people offst time, but not to mention repaying me, you actually dared to capture my men. How do we settle this score!?¡±

    Xue Haiyang¡¯s expression shifted drastically. In the end, he said, ¡°The Xue family¡¯s roots lie in the Wolf King¡¯s territory. We cannot offend the king and harm the entire family for you.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Offending me might not be better than offending the Wolf King.¡±

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s calm face, Xue Haiyang suddenly recalled his massacres in the ck Grove. As a person who had seen the winds and waves, he said, ¡°We didn¡¯t want to harm Elder Cui, either. We invited him over politely and without causing him any distress. The Xue family suffered the greatest loss regarding the attack on this caravan. We¡¯re actually the victims here.¡±

    Qianye continued to stare at Xue Haiyang in silence.

    The man knew that he couldn¡¯t get past this with words alone. ¡°We were indeed in the wrong regarding this matter. I¡¯ll represent the Xue family and offer youpensation for this mistake.¡±

    ¡°Compensation!? Haha.¡± Qianye sneered, ¡°Not to mention my rtionship with him, how are you going to pay for a grandmaster who can build grade-seven weapons and ammunition?¡±

    Xue Haiyang¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°Grade-Seven!?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    Xue Haiyang was livid. He said in frustration, ¡°I should¡¯ve known earlier! Dammit! Those equipment were definitely not for use in middle-ranking guns! Why didn¡¯t I give it more thought?¡±

    He calmed himself down and gritted his teeth. ¡°There must¡¯ve been a spy in the family who recognized the equipment. Otherwise, how can it be so coincidental? Only a handful of people are privy to this information. I already have a faint idea of who it is!¡±

    ¡°Seize that person, I must meet him,¡± Qianye said as he beckoned for Nighteye to retract her de. He was confident in getting information out of the person as long as a meeting could be arranged.

    Xue Haiyang was finally able to stand up. The first thing he did was knock the woman beside him out cold. Only afterward did he get off the bed to dress. He called out through the door, ¡°Men, summon Xing San to the side hall. I have something to ask him.¡±

    The guard replied, ¡°Master, Captain Xue left yesterday, saying he¡¯ll be away for a few days on a secret mission.¡±

    Xue Haiyang¡¯s expression turned ugly all of a sudden. He said with a deep snort, ¡°Withdraw, all of you!¡±

    The first thing he saw aftering to was Qianye¡¯s frosty face. This shook him badly for a moment.

    ¡°Mr. Xue, you don¡¯t think I¡¯m that easy to drive away, do you? Why don¡¯t you take the time to think why I did what I did at the ck Grove?¡±

    The corpses belonging to hundreds of mercenaries and assassins hung from wooden stakes in the ck Grove. It had almost be a local attraction because there was nock of famous people among the dead. Xue Haiyang was not stupid. Understanding Qianye¡¯s intentions after some thought, he uttered, ¡°Establishing might.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you know.¡± The meaning behind his words showcased his intention to make an example out of the Xue family.

    Xue Haiyang responded immediately, ¡°The Xue family will definitely give you an exnation regarding this matter. I¡¯ll do my best to get to the bottom of this matter and inform you immediately once I have any news. Additionally, this is just a small token of my respect, please ept it. I only have this much in my hands, but I¡¯ll mobilize more resources as soon as possible topensate you.¡±

    Xue Haiyang produced an exquisite wooden box from a secretpartment in his bed and presented it to Qianye with both hands. The container was filled with neat rows of high-purity ck crystals and was worth at least fifty thousand gold coins.

    ¡°The Xue family is quite rich, but this isn¡¯t enough.¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s not enough, the bulk of it is yet toe.¡± Actually, Xue Haiyang¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t very good as he said this.

    Qianye nodded and shot Nighteye a nce. The vampire princess rubbed the de edge with her finger, producing an eerie red glow upon it. Then, she stabbed Xue Haiyang in the stomach!

    The strike was as fast as lightning. At the same time, Xue Haiyang sensed a terrifying aura surging up from Qianye and suppressing his every movement. All he could do was watch as the vampiric de entered his body.

    Nighteye withdrew the de after this stab and didn¡¯t finish the man off. Although the de had left, Xue Haiyang could feel a wisp of burning energy left behind inside his body. Moreover, it dispersed into several streams that drilled into his limbs and organs, where they went into dormancy.

    Xue Haiyang gasped. ¡°Blood poison! The blood poison from an ancient vampire n!¡±

    Knowing what this poison was proved just how knowledgeable he was. That was also the reason why his expression was ashen as he looked at Nighteye like he would a demon.

    There were ways to dispel the blood poison left behind by ordinary vampires, but that of the ancient ns formed the foundation of their bloodline power. It was countless times more powerful than ordinary blood poison. It was useless even if Xue Haiyang was several ranks more powerful.

    Meanwhile, when the poison would re up and whether it could be retracted would depend on the source¡¯s control.

    Xue Haiyang seemed to have aged ten years in the blink of an eye as he fell back into the chair.

    Qianye naturally had no sympathy for the man. He said coldly, ¡°Mr. Xue, I¡¯ll be waiting for the remainingpensation. Additionally, I have some things I need you to help me with. I hope you won¡¯t refuse.¡±

    Xue Haiyang responded with a wooden nod and watched as Qianye and Nighteye left.

    While the two were running side by side through the night, Nighteye said softly, ¡°Elder Cui isn¡¯t someone you can trade forpensation money.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I know. This is just an early price the Xue family has to pay. They won¡¯t know how to handle things if I don¡¯t have them feel the pain. After finding the old man, humph!¡±

    It was alreadyte at night, but there were still many lively ces in Port City. Many taverns were still open and full of patrons, most of whom were drunk and boasting about their gains during the day. This was a unique characteristic of Port City¡ªthe people here would earnrge amounts of wealth every time the Earth Dragon flipped over.

    Qianye and Nighteye appeared at the doors of a certain tavern. This establishment was located inside a small, dark alley, and the darkmp at its entrance gave off an eerie sensation. The ce seemed rather cold and deserted even when the entire city was in good cheer.

    Qianye looked up at the rusty jug hanging on the doors before entering with Nighteye.

    There were a few tables with guests inside. Some were sprawled over the table, drunk, while others were sitting together and whispering amongst themselves. The waiters delivering alcohol were all strong, burly men suffused with intense killing intent. The man behind the bar was leaning forward with his hands on the counter and observing the entire tavern.

    Qianye and Nighteye sat down at a table. They were briefly frozen as their gazes moved past the man behind the counter. They could see that the man¡¯s tattoos contained the blood of various races, including humans and vampires.

    A muscr man arrived beside the table and said, ¡°What¡¯s your order?¡±

    Qianye put two gold coins on the table. ¡°Two sses of your most expensive alcohol.¡±

    The burly man put the gold coins away and said in a sinister tone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but two gold coins is only enough to buy one.¡±

    ¡°I thought I heard it was one gold coin per ss.¡±

    ¡°The price has risen.¡±

    ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    ¡°Just now!¡±

 Chapter 750: Whereabouts

    Qianye looked into the burly man¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°I only have two gold coins and I want two sses. What do we do?¡±

    The burly man¡¯s smile became cruel and bloodthirsty. ¡°Then, you¡¯ll get neither coin nor ale.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh, the glow of his eyes turning sharper by the moment. ¡°Is that so?¡±

    At this moment, the tattooed man behind the counter said in a hoarse voice, ¡°ckwolf, enough.¡±

    The burly man roared back ferociously, ¡°Why must I?¡±

    The tattooed man¡¯s expression sank. ¡°What, you even dare disobey me now?¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re clearly strangers.¡± ckwolf red at Qianye and Nighteye, saying, ¡°Consider yourselves lucky. You¡¯d better scram after you finish drinking.¡±

    Qianye had lost his patience due to ckwolf¡¯s repeated provocations. ¡°Are you trying to court death with that meager strength of yours?¡±

    ckwolf¡¯s face flushed red. He stared fixedly at Qianye with bloodshot eyes, filled with madness and bloodthirst.

    However, a tattooed handnded on his shoulder at this moment. A chill spread out from this hand and engulfed ckwolf in frost, not only restraining his movements but also extinguishing his anger.

    The tattooed man dragged ckwolf back with one hand and put a tray on the table with the other. It was just that the two sses on it seemed to be filled with ordinary beer.

    ¡°Everyone here calls me Bloodyshirt. As for what my original name was, I¡¯ve forgotten it myself. Young man, how should I address you? Who introduced you to this ce?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m called Zhao Ye, a nameless little character. I heard from Ding Shiheng that this ce is the most well-informed in the entire Port City.¡±

    Bloodyshirt said, ¡°So it¡¯s that bloodsucker. You must¡¯ve spent quite a bit to obtain information from him. Fine, what do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°The whereabouts of a certain person and the origins of a creature.¡±

    Bloodyshirt smiled. ¡°I¡¯m quite proficient in searching for people, but I¡¯m no master regarding creatures. Tell me first, who did you want to find?¡±

    ¡°Xue Xingsan, the guard captain of the Xue family. I want to know where he is right now.¡±

    All the people in the tavern were rmed upon hearing this name, and ckwolf¡¯s gaze became suffused with killing intent. Bloodyshirt, on the other hand, said indifferently, ¡°Turns out it¡¯s someone from the Xue family. This won¡¯t be cheap.¡±

    ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°Three thousand imperial gold coins.¡±

    This was a massive sum in terms of information. To be frank, this money was enough to hire a good assassin and kill Xue Xingsan many times over.

    As expected, he¡¯s either trying to take advantage of the fact that I¡¯m a stranger. Either that, or he wants to make me back off.

    Bloodyshirt stared at Qianye with an indescribable glint in his eyes.

    Qianye banged three high-purity ck crystals on the table. ¡°I¡¯ll buy it.¡±

    Apart from a couple of people, all the others in the tavern stood up. Numerous fiery gazesnded on the three pieces of ck crystal. There were also eyesnding on Qianye¡¯s backpack from where the three ck crystals came from.

    ¡°Good, satisfying!¡± Bloodyshirtughed loudly as he reached for the bounty. However, he couldn¡¯t take the crystals back because Qianye had pressed down on his hand.

    The man¡¯s expression shifted repeatedly. The totem tattoos on his body began changing in color, growing deeper and deeper until it was almost dark purple. Almost all the people in the tavern knew that this was a sign of Bloodyshirt exerting his special power. Yet, no matter how the patterns changed, his right hand couldn¡¯t move a single inch or pull back from under Qianye¡¯s hand.

    Fine sweat began to form on Bloodyshirt¡¯s forehead. His gaze was filled with anger, shock, and puzzlement.

    The man only managed to take the ck crystals away after Qianye let go. He shot a deep gaze at Qianye as he put the crystals away, saying, ¡°Follow me, this is not the ce to talk.¡±

    After an exchange of nces, Qianye and Nighteye followed Bloodyshirt into the back. ckwolf was still staring ferociously from the side. It was just that he looked a bit more cautious than before.

    Qianye suddenly paused his steps in front of this burly man. ¡°I don¡¯t like that look in your eyes.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡± ckwolf growled. This response was already quite restrainedpared to before.

    Everyone¡¯s vision blurred for a brief moment. Then, they saw a groaning ckwolf curl up and fall kneeling in front of Qianye. Thetter pulled back his fist and leaned down to pat ckwolf¡¯s face a couple of times, saying, ¡°Next time, you¡¯d better pick the right target to go crazy on.¡±

    ckwolf waspletely unresponsive, almost as though he had gone dumb. He slowly copsed onto the floor and curled up into a ball.

    Qianye paid him no more attention and proceeded to follow Bloodyshirt. Thetter didn¡¯t look back from the beginning to the end, almost as though ckwolf didn¡¯t exist.

    The tavern fell into silence. Even those secretive, whispering people were drinking with their heads lowered.

    Bloodyshirt felt relieved after leading the duo into a small room and locking the door behind him. He said with an apologetic expression, ¡°There¡¯s no other way. This information has too many implications. I have to be careful to not let anyone else hear of it.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Meanwhile, Nighteye¡¯s gaze swept over certain parts of the room like the ceiling corner, the rubbish bin, etc. Every time her eyes moved, Bloodyshirt¡¯s expression would be uglier. In the end, he had no choice but to exin, ¡°They were set up to prevent people from spying on the room.¡±

    ¡°It seems there are quite a lot of secrets here,¡± Qianye said indifferently. The ces Nighteye had been observing contained cleverly-hidden origin arrays. However, such disguises couldn¡¯t hide anything from the duo¡¯s True Sight.

    Bloodyshirt produced a notebook from the nearby cab. Then, he tore off two pages from it and put them on the table.

    They werepletely empty sheets of paper. Following a shout, a blood-colored mist emerged around his body, and some words began to form on the empty paper.

    Qianye watched with due intrigue. This kind of recording and concealment technique was fairly clever and unbreakable. Only the bloodline of a designated person could unlock the information within. Naturally, the price was extremely high. Materials capable of interacting with specific bloodlines all came at sky-high prices.

    Just from these two sheets of paper alone, one could see that Bloodyshirt¡¯s price wasn¡¯t unreasonable. The information was likely worth that much.

    One of the two papers was rted to the Spider Emperor, while the other was rted to the Moonlight Demons. Listed within was information rted to the activities of their important characters and armies. This news was highly ssified, and many people would be willing to pay sky-high prices to obtain it. Qianye, however, knew next to nothing about the power-struggle in the neutralnds. So, he couldn¡¯t quite understand the significance after seeing it. Nighteye, on the other hand, seemed to be quite serious.

    After Nighteye had finished looking through the information, Qianye asked, ¡°Are the things recorded here rted to the person I¡¯m looking for?¡±

    Bloodyshirt replied, ¡°Although there¡¯s no direct rtionship, there¡¯s a high possibility of an indirect association. For instance, the movements of the Spider Emperor¡¯s Crystal Spider Corps is evidently unusual.¡±

    At this point, Nighteye couldn¡¯t help but sneer, ¡°Crystal Spider Corps? His ambitions are quite big.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qianye knew nothing about this.

    ¡°That¡¯s the personal guard of the ultimate arachne ruler, one of the powerhouses on the Evernight Council¡¯s holy thrones. This old spider considers himself the ruler of the holy mountain.¡±

    Bloodyshirt couldn¡¯t help but nce at Nighteye in amazement. This was secret information of considerable rank within the Evernight faction. There was no way for one to hear of this without reaching a certain rank. ¡°He¡¯s not exactly ambitious, but he really likes to boast and give himself all kinds of titles.¡±

    This famous aspect of the Spider Emperor was often the topic of discussion and humor in the neutralnds. Only neers like Qianye didn¡¯t know about it. Besides that, the Spider Emperor was extremely powerful and had very few opponents in the neutralnds. His haughtiness was even superior to the Wolf King¡¯s. As such, people couldugh in secret but no one dared to be disrespectful of him in public.

    ¡°Is there any special meaning to the Crystal Spider Corps¡¯ movements?¡± Qianye went back to the original topic.

    ¡°The timing of its mobilization was even earlier than the Wolf King¡¯s generals. It looked like the Wolf King wanted tounch a sneak attack on the Spider Emperor, but in truth, thetter had already made preparations well beforehand. He was going to attack even if the Wolf King hadn¡¯t taken action.¡±

    Qianye was shaken¡ªbe it on the Evernight side or the empire¡¯s, those high-ranking characters weren¡¯t easy to deal with at all. In the turmoil of the neutralnds, those capable of ruling overrge domains were even more formidable characters. A single mistake could result in him being swallowed up by them.

    Qianye went through the information in great detail and memorized the names of the experts listed there. Then, he picked up the intelligence regarding the Moonlight Demons and asked, ¡°Then, how about this?¡±

    Bloodyshirt pointed at the paper and said, ¡°The Assassin Legion was moving in the exact same direction as the Crystal Spider Corps. And this one, Mad Profanity, is currently approaching Port City. This cannot be a coincidence. The Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons must¡¯ve reached some kind of agreement.¡±

    Qianye pondered on Port City¡¯s location and said with a frown, ¡°That means this ce is about to be a battlefield?¡±

    ¡°The battlefield will be close by even if not in the city itself. The Xue family¡¯s caravan was transporting local products on the surface, but in truth, they were shipping a batch of energy crystals for the Wolf King¡¯s Legions. Xue Xingsan was the person in charge of this caravan¡¯s route and a key person in setting up their defenses.¡±

    Qianye had finally realized what had happened. It would seem this Xue Xingsan had been bought over by the other party and had betrayed the Xue family. Energy crystals were an absolute strategic resource for the uing war¡ªit served as fuel for battleships,rge war machines, and the necessary core for giant origin arrays. The raid on this caravan must¡¯ve been a heavy blow to the Wolf King. It was just that the unlucky Cui Yuanhai was swept into this conspiracy. Neither the Spider Emperor nor the Moonlight Demons would mind taking in a grandmaster capable of building grade-seven weapons.

 Chapter 751: Eve of War

    All of this, though, was only Bloodyshirt¡¯s guess. It would be even more problematic if his conjecture was correct. Both the Crystal Spider Corps and Assassin Legion were giant, corps-level entities that were beyond Qianye¡¯s capacity to handle.

    From a different perspective, however, there was no need to worry about Cui Yuanhai¡¯s safety now that his arms-building skills had been revealed. No power in their right mind would kill such a master.

    Seeing that Bloodyshirt knew no more than this, Qianye could only sigh. All he could do was wait for the right moment to find Cui Yuanhai.

    At this point, Bloodyshirt said, ¡°You were talking about a type of creature. Show me, perhaps I¡¯ve seen it before.¡±

    Qianye produced a translucent lobster shell from his backpack and ced it on the table. ¡°Have you seen this before?¡±

    This was a part of the shell Zhuji had removed from the lobster. Qianye had also asked some of the people from the little town back then, but none of the mercenaries and merchants there could recognize it. They hadn¡¯t even heard of it before.

    Bloodyshirt¡¯s expression changed drastically upon seeing the lobster shell. His voice was trembling, almost as though he had seen a ghost. ¡°This... the Nightmare Legion!?¡±

    It was yet another name Qianye had never heard of before. Judging from Bloodyshirt¡¯s attitude, however, it would seem this Nightmare Legion wasn¡¯t something the Crystal Spider Corps or the Assassin Legion could match.

    After a good while, Bloodyshirt gritted his teeth and picked up the shell to examine it. After inspecting it carefully, he muttered with an ashen expression, ¡°There¡¯s no mistake, this is the armor of the Nightmare Legion... Nightmare Legion.¡±

    Qianye waited quietly for Bloodyshirt to calm down. Thetter eventually ced the translucent shell back on the table and said, ¡°Where did you get this? Can you tell me?¡±

    ¡°I got it by chance. What is this Nightmare Legion, though?¡±

    Bloodyshirt collected his thoughts. ¡°The Nightmare Legion is the symbol of cmity, the beginning of all destruction.¡±

    After a long string of prophesy-like words, Bloodyshirt exined everything he knew.

    In the neutralnds, there were battles not only between the neers like Evernight and the Empire, but there was also a continuous war between the natives and outsiders. Throughout the long history of the neutralnds, the Nightmare Legion had only appeared twice, both times in great battles between the outsiders and natives. Back then, countless fantastic creatures suddenly appeared out of nowhere, many of which people had never seen before. Even the creatures belonging to existing species seemed to have been deformed by an invisible hand; it was inexplicably odd. These entities poured out of the void in vast numbers and swept over the entire battlefield. Even the most elite of corps couldn¡¯t stand their charge and were soon drowned out.

    By the time they had left, there was no longer any life left on the battlefield. The armies from either side and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under theirmand were reduced to corpses¡ªeven their spirits had dispersed entirely.

    No one knew how the Nightmare Legion had appeared, and no one understood how they left. The only clues they had left behind in the silent battlefield were these odd pieces of broken armor.

    After the legion¡¯s disappearance, an expert proficient in the divination arts exhausted his entire life-force in order to visualize some fragmented scenes from this battle. That was the only reason people discovered the Nightmare Legion¡¯s existence. People named it so because the scene of its battle was nothing short of a nightmare.

    The appearance of the Nightmare Legion brought about a cmitous effect on the neutralnds. In both major battles, the natives and the outsiders had gathered their most elite forces and arge number of experts. Yet in the end, they were all destroyed in the tides of the Nightmare Legion.

    Despite having arrived here not long ago, Qianye knew that the neutralnds were full of danger everywhere. Every expert was the foundation of a new pioneerednd and a shield to the weak civilians. For instance, the small town Qianye had first arrived in wouldn¡¯t be able to survive the rampaging wild beasts and sudden natural disasters without Iron Bear¡¯s champion-levelbat strength.

    In the neutralnds, a champion signified a new small town, a new cluster of homes.

    The two historic appearances of the Nightmare Legion caused a great blow to the outsiders, losing three-quarters of their territory and countless civilians to wild beasts and natural disasters. Countless border areas were abandoned, and the people living there gradually shifted toward the core regions. Without sufficient experts to protect them, the road back to civilization could only be paved with flesh and blood. Out of a hundred people setting out, no more than a handful would arrive at their final destination.

    There was no distinction of race on this bloody road. Be it humans, vampires, werewolves, or arachne, everyone was a victim. The werewolves and arachne possessed inherently strong bodies and thus enjoyed a higher chance of survival. But it just so happened that such strong prey were the favorites of wild beasts. Comparatively, the weak humans didn¡¯t quite attract their attention.

    Bloodyshirt couldn¡¯t stay calm while recounting the history of the Nightmare Legion. He had to pour himself a ss of strong wine in order to make himself feel better.

    ¡°ording to you, thest appearance of the Nightmare Legion was a couple hundred years ago? How did you know this is the legion¡¯s armor?¡± Qianye revealed the doubt in his heart.

    Bloodyshirt sighed. ¡°My ancestors were on the battlefield during the second appearance of the Nightmare Legion. There¡¯s a shard of such armor in our ancestral home, a fragment of armor we found on our ancestor¡¯s body.¡±

    After hearing this, Qianye gazed at the translucent shell and fell into contemtion. If the Nightmare Legion was so terrifying, why was that lobster Zhuji had captured so easily captured and killed?

    Bloodyshirt regained his wits. ¡°Can you sell me this shell?¡±

    ¡°What use does it have?¡± As Qianye saw it, there was no big use for it apart from its specialposition. It was thin and light, but its defensive power was only ordinary. That was why Qianye hadn¡¯t given the sentient lobster warrior much thought, only treating it as an odd creature.

    ¡°The armor itself has no use, but its appearance might signal of a new cmity. I know a senior who¡¯s proficient in divination arts. I n to show this to him and see what he can foretell.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, you can have it.¡± Qianye wanted nothing to do with an object rted to a cmity.

    Bloodyshirt took out the three ck crystals and gave it back to Qianye. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, the information just now will be on me.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t refuse the man¡¯s offer. He simply put away the crystals and left the tavern with Nighteye.

    After returning to the hotel, Nighteye asked, ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just stay here. ording to Bloodyshirt, the Crystal Spider Corps and the Assassin Legion will soon arrive. If the old man is in their hands, he¡¯ll probablye along as a military engineer. We¡¯ll find a way to save him when the timees.¡±

    Having no better idea, Nighteye nodded in agreement.

    Qianye sighed emotionally. He had escaped to the neutralnds in order to live a quiet life with Nighteye until the end of their lives. Contrary to expectations, however, this ce was no paradise¡ªit was crueler, more pragmatic, and adverse.

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any problems on Bloodyshirt¡¯s side, will there?¡± Nighteye was somewhat worried.

    ¡°This person isn¡¯t simple at all, but he¡¯s smart. He won¡¯t do what he shouldn¡¯t before confirming our background.¡±

    On the second day, Qianye discovered that the atmosphere in Port City had be tense. There were more patrols than usual in the streets, and the city guards were being mobilized continuously to block off some key street intersections.

    Amotion arose outside the window as two truckloads of mercenaries approached. The vehicles were badly damaged, riddled with bullet holes and w marks. It was already a miracle that they could still move. The soldiers on the car were mostly wounded, and there were a few lying still in thepartment; no one knew whether they were dead or alive.

    The vehicles didn¡¯t stop there and kept on driving toward the area of the city lord¡¯s mansion. The guards wanted to stop them at first, but someone on the car took out a token which effectively cleared the way thereafter.

    Commotions kicked up wherever this mercenary group passed by. From the surrounding discussions, Qianye learned that this mercenary corps was rather famous. They had hundreds of elite soldiers among their ranks, but now, there were less than thirty in the two trucksbined. Moreover, Qianye could see that there was only one champion among them¡ªone who had just ascended. Their rank-twelvemander was nowhere to be found, either.

    From the looks of it, this mercenary corps had been badly defeated.

    Before long, some hunters and adventurers charged into Port City, looking as though they were running away from a disaster. All of them were injured in some way. A number of them copsed entirely after entering the gates and were unable to mber up again. This was just the beginning¡ªarge number of adventurers and hunters returned to the city in quick session, all of them drenched in blood.

    This scene was unusual. Just as Qianye broke into a slight frown, a sharp rm finally echoed throughout the entirety of Port City.

    It was at this moment that a knock came from the door. ¡°Mr. Zhao? The City Lord invites you to a meeting.¡±

    Startled, Qianye opened the door and saw anky man standing outside. His aura was inexplicably sharp, and there were several people behind him.

    The tall man¡¯s gaze was like a de as he sized Qianye up from head to toe. ¡°Mr. Zhao, the City Lord has heard of your extraordinary talents. He likes you very much and hopes you¡¯ll visit the city lord mansion.¡±

    ¡°City Lord Su?¡±

    ¡°Yes. If it¡¯s convenient for Mr. Zhao, please follow me back now. There are countless matters rising up in the city, I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t wait too long.¡± Thenky man was somewhat arrogant and his gaze toward Qianye contained a tinge of hostility.

    Qianye had heard of the City Lord surnamed Su. Someone capable of remaining independent between the Wolf King, the Spider Emperor, and the Moonlight Demons couldn¡¯t have done it through politics alone¡ªhis personal strength must also be extraordinary. Reportedly, his cultivation had already passed the divine champion threshold, and that was what allowed him to hover between the three powers.

    Why would this kind of major character suddenly pay attention to the disguised Qianye?

    Thetter gave it some thought and said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll head over now.¡±

 Chapter 752: Recruitmen

    After reminding Nighteye to watch Zhuji, Qianye followed the group to the city lord¡¯s mansion and entered the study.

    The room was decorated in dark colors. The french windows added to the grandeur of the room, providing great views of the city and beyond. One could even see the rolling waves of the great river. In truth, the city lord¡¯s mansion wasn¡¯t that tall. The reason for the good scenery was still because the other buildings were too short.

    There was a middle-aged man standing before the windows. He was d inbat attire, but there were some luxurious details on his clothing that gave away his unique status. His martial fashion also served as a reminder that he wasn¡¯t just a city lord but also the most powerful warrior in this city.

    When Qianye walked into the study, the man turned around and sized Qianye up with his slender eyes. Then, a smile appeared on his lips. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought Mr. Zhao would be so young. It truly fills me with shame to be struggling at the champion level at this age.¡±

    Qianye bowed, saying, ¡°City Lord Su tters me.¡±

    Upon detailed inspection, one could see that this city lord possessed gentle facial features and a short, meticulously-groomed beard. Although there wasn¡¯t a single eye-catching object of luxury from head to toe, his every detail was perfectly organized down to his hair. Back at the empire, such an appearance was fit to appear in the imperial court.

    Before this, Qianye knew nothing about the Port City Lord except for the fact that he was called Su Dingqian. Now after meeting him, he could sense that the man¡¯s origin power aura was gentle and wandering about indefinitely. Just like water, it had no set shape but at the same time possessed the weight of the oceans.

    Su Dingqian pointed to a chair with a smile. ¡°Mr. Zhao, please have a seat.¡±

    Qianye politely waited until Su Dingqian had taken his seat first before sitting down. ¡°I wonder what the City Lord needs of me?¡±

    Su Dingqian had been fairly cordial since their meeting and his smile was also very sincere. He looked truly delighted on the surface, but one could hardly know what these shrewd old men were actually thinking inside.

    The man said, ¡°Does Mr. Zhao know how to lead troops?¡±

    This question was quite direct. Qianye pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Not very well.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t trying to hide anything on purpose. Although he was once a member of the Red Scorpion Corps, he had never really led great armies into battle and neither was he proficient in plots and strategy.

    Su Dingqian wasn¡¯t disappointed. ¡°That¡¯s even better. To be honest with you, Port City is about to face unrest in the uing days. If you are willing to lend a hand to the city¡¯s defense at such a time, I will definitely not mistreat you.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply immediately. ¡°I wonder why the city lord treats me so well? I¡¯m overwhelmed by the favor.¡±

    Su Dingqianughed out loud. ¡°Look at me, how I¡¯ve forgotten. Bloodyshirt also works for me in secret. He had nothing but praises for you when I met himst night. It got me thinking that I must see such a person immediately.¡±

    Qianye had guessed that would be the case. A person like Bloodyshirt was likely rted to the city lord¡¯s mansion in secret and in public. He was actually the eyes and ears of the city lord. Otherwise, where would he get his hands on all those secrets? How could he be tolerated?

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I thank the city lord for his favor. Since I¡¯m living in Port City right now, it¡¯s only right that I contribute to the ce. But, what is this unrest about and who are the enemies? And what will I get out of this?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s questions are honest. Su Dingqian replied with a nod, ¡°The unrest isn¡¯t hard to guess. The three powers around us are starting to stir, getting ready for a big battle. And they definitely have bad intentions for choosing to fight near Port City. If a clear victor emerges, they only need to change direction and destroy us. Those bastards have been drooling over Port City and the resources rted to the Earth Dragon.¡±

    At this point, Su Dingqian pped his hands, in response to which an attendant entered with a scarlet box. Su Dingqian opened the container and ced it in front of Qianye.

    The base of the box was covered in red satin. Therein sat a translucent crystal with a wisp of faint smoke swirling about within. The smokey stream was fluctuating constantly, turning into a beetle at times and then back to smoke.

    Every time it transformed into a beetle, Qianye would feel as though there was icy water dripping into his brain¡ªhis consciousness would clear up a little bit. Although he had no idea what its uses were, there was no doubt that this ice-sealed beetle was miraculous.

    ¡°City Lord Su, this is...¡±

    ¡°This is Port City¡¯s most important product, Dreameater Bug. It will only appear from the depths of the earth during the Earth Dragon¡¯s movement. Only champion-level experts could catch and seal them into a crystal. This kind of Dreameater Bug can replenish spiritual power and improve one¡¯s aptitude. In my experience, there¡¯s really no need to prove its miraculous spirit-replenishing effects, but eating a lot of it can indeed improve one¡¯s natural endowments. So much so that, it might be helpful in crossing the divine champion realm.¡±

    Qianye felt a rush of excitement.

    He wasn¡¯t really thinking about crossing the divine champion realm, but a replenishment in spirit power would be useful for Nighteye. There was no telling what kind of hidden seque remained after her spirit was sapped and torn. Naturally, the more treasures like the Dreameater Bug there were, the better.

    Qianye made no attempt at hiding his intentions. Su Dingqian smiled upon seeing the other party¡¯s interest. He closed the box properly and ced it in Qianye¡¯s hands, saying, ¡°Consider this Dreameater Bug a downpayment. We¡¯ll pay you two more after the unrest has passed.¡±

    With such a price, Qianye found it difficult to refuse. It would be worth it no matter how little the effects on Nighteye were.

    However, Qianye was somewhat hesitant because he still didn¡¯t know who the enemies were or how much he needed to contribute to im the Dreameater Bug with a clear conscience. He wasn¡¯t so naive as to think he would receive the treasure by staying in the city.

    Su Dingqian said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to join this war, but now, it seems unavoidable. Our greatest enemy are the Moonlight Demons. Their leader has always been investigating the secrets of Port City and the Earth Dragon. Humph, how can I let them do as they wish?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed. ¡°They want to investigate the Earth Dragon?¡±

    After participating in the bloody battle and floating continent war in session¡ªand havinge into contact with Sky Demon and the Void Colossus Chaos¡¯ remains¡ªQianye had a good idea about true void colossi. Just from the range of this tremor, he was pretty sure that it was a void colossus. Such an existence could kill hordes of champions and viscounts just by flipping over, and probably wouldn¡¯t even feel it.

    Back then, Sky Demon¡¯s Iron Curtain had covered almost half of the continent. In the end, the Queen of the Night and the Eternal me had to take action in person to push the creature back into the depths of the void.

    No matter how strong the leader of the Moonlight Demons was, he couldn¡¯t be stronger than a heavenly monarch or a great dark monarch; he probably wasn¡¯t even a high-ranking divine champion. Wouldn¡¯t he bemitting suicide if he were to provoke a void colossus?

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s odd expression, Su Dingqian asked, ¡°What is Mr. Zhao concerned about?¡±

    Qianye spoke openly, ¡°I feel that Moonlight Demons¡¯ designs on the Earth Dragon is purely suicidal.¡±

    Su Dingqian was of the same mind. He pped his thighs and said, ¡°That¡¯s exactly the point! I¡¯ve been in control of Port City for decades yet never had the guts to dig into the ground because I fear that Earth Dragon. But those people from the Moonlight Demons are a bunch of lunatics. We simply cannot measure them withmon sense. It¡¯s no surprise no matter what weird stuff they do.¡±

    Seeing Qianye still hesitant, Su Dingqian said, ¡°Mr. Zhao, if you contribute enough by killing three or more people of fame and rank, I¡¯ll offer you this ¡®Loyalty Form¡¯ which can help you during your ascension to the divine champion realm. However, you¡¯ll have to swear on your origin power that you¡¯ll never transfer it without my consent.¡±

    These words surprised everyone in the room. Loyalty Form was one of the arts that had propelled Su Dingqian to fame, only second to his primary cultivation, the ¡°Vast Ocean Chapter¡±. Cultivating the former would give one a somewhat better chance at crossing the divine champion threshold. Even though it wasn¡¯t a significant increase in one¡¯s chances, it was still enough to make people go crazy. Many experts already had their own path of cultivation. It was impossible for them to scrap these arts and start over in the Vast Ocean Chapter, but the Loyalty Form could be cultivated as a supplement.

    Only Su Dingqian¡¯s core aides would be granted the Loyalty Form, and even then, it was only the first part. Despite that, arge number of experts were willing to work for the city lord for this opportunity. This was also one of the reasons Port City was able to exceed the three great powers.

    Now that Su Dingqian was offering the form directly, it went to show how much importance he attached to Qianye.

    Qianye knew he could no longer refuse. As such, he said with a bow, ¡°Then, I offer my thanks to the city lord.¡±

    Seeing Qianye agree, Su Dingqianughed loudly. ¡°Great! Set up a banquet right away, we must get drunk tonight!¡±

    However, the present situation was worrisome. There were army corps from various factions moving frequently outside the city. As such, under the discussion of all the generals, Su Dingqian decided to dy the banquet and hold it after the war. He sent people to pack and move Qianye¡¯s belongings. Since thetter had decided to fight for Port City, it wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to live in a hotel. Su Dingqian sent some men to clear out a courtyard in the noble district for Qianye to live in.

    After Qianye had left, thenky man who had brought him here couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°City Lord, aren¡¯t you favoring this brat too much? I¡¯m afraid our brothers might be dissatisfied. As I see it, a rank-twelve champion isn¡¯t worth that much attention! Although he¡¯s young and has great potential, you can¡¯t be sure if he¡¯s willing to work for you after he matures.¡±

    Su Dingqian spoke slowly, ¡°Heh, you¡¯ve followed me for so long. When have you ever seen me misjudge someone? There¡¯s probably more to this Mr. Zhao than his shocking potential.¡±

    Thenky man asked a couple more questions, but Su Dingqian was no longer willing to argue. He waved his hand and said, ¡°Go and work on the defenses! Remember my words, do not provoke Mr. Zhao. Whatever he requires, do your best to fulfill it.¡±

    Thenky man wasn¡¯t quite satisfied, but Su Dingqian¡¯s prestige was unquestionable. He didn¡¯t darein more about something the city lord had already decided upon.

    Eventually, only Su Dingqian was left in the study. He watched Qianye¡¯s receding figure through the french windows and broke into augh. ¡°Since you even dare to kill the Wolf King¡¯s son, let¡¯s see if there¡¯s anything you don¡¯t dare to do.¡±

 Chapter 753: Night Before the War

    By the time Qianye arrived at the new residence, the atmosphere in the city was evidently tenser. Wounded adventurers could be found everywhere in the city. The City Guard had upied the road hubs in full force, recing the Law Enforcement Unit in maintaining order. After all, thetter was only good for digging up small criminals and bullying civilians. They weren¡¯t powerful enough to handle the violent and bloodthirsty hunters and mercenaries.

    The courtyard wasn¡¯t very big and only had three rooms to it. But due to its location in the noble district, the price was still extraordinary. At the very least, the vice-guard-captain who had escorted Qianye here seemed quite envious. He was also a champion who had followed Su Dingqian for a long time, yet he had only earned a small residence on the borders of the noble district. And even that wasn¡¯t asrge as Qianye¡¯s, and the origin array was also somewhat inferior.

    As the Monroe Princess, Nighteye was entirely numb to the so-called luxury of the neutralnds. It made no difference where she lived. Zhuji happened to be in her hibernation phase in recent days. She was drowsy from dawn to dusk and would fall asleep wherever she was ced.

    By the time everything had settled down and Su Dingqian¡¯s men had been sent away, Qianye took out the Dreameater Bug and ced it in front of Nighteye.

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils lit up after catching the scent of the beetle¡¯s aura, feeling rxed throughout her entire body. Qianye had no more hesitation after seeing her reaction and carefully cracked the crystal apart. The smokey wisp trapped inside shot out immediately and almost seemed like it would escape. It was extremely fast, but how could it escape Qianye¡¯s grasp? Immediately after escaping the crystal, it was engulfed by an origin power resembling the speckled glow of dawn¡¯s light and delivered to Nighteye.

    Nighteye quietly circted the mental form provided by Su Dingqian, and then inhaled the wisp of smoke in one go.

    The Dreameater Bug existed between material and ephemeral states but mostly remained in a misty form. After inhaling the bug, Nighteye felt as though a stream of ice had entered her body, quickly transforming into countless icy specks that spread throughout her body. After the chill had receded, she felt increasingly rxed as though a small part of the spider webs wrapped tightly around her had been peeled off¡ªevery corner of her consciousness was cheering in jubtion.

    ¡°How does it feel?¡± Qianye asked in concern.

    ¡°Very good, it¡¯s useful for me. But...¡±

    Qianye interrupted her, ¡°As long as it¡¯s useful! I¡¯ll get more of it for you.¡±

    There was no telling when he would be able to find the spirit-healing Marine Lotus. Now that Qianye had run into this Dreameater Bug, he naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of this opportunity.

    A wave of sleepiness washed over Nighteye after ingesting the Dreameater Bug. Soon, she could no longer open her eyes and fell asleep after saying she was feeling tired.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t worried, either. On the contrary, he was delighted because vampires usually underwent regeneration in their sleep. Her current state proved that the healing effects of the Dreameater Bug were even better than expected.

    After cing Nighteye on the bed, Qianye left the chambers and sat down in the living room to contemte the situation.

    With such outstanding effects, the Dreameater Bug was naturally quite valuable. Su Dingqian was no saint, but a formidable character who dominated an entire region. Now that he was willing to bring out such a treasure along with the Loyalty Form, one could easily guess how troublesome Qianye¡¯s potential opponents were.

    Caressing the now-emptycquer box, Qianye muttered with a sigh, ¡°Is this to deal with the Wolf King?¡±

    Since it was Bloodyshirt who had told Su Dingqian about him, it was very likely that the two crafty men had already found out about Qianye¡¯s identity in the neutralnds. After all, Qianye was searching for Xue Xingsan. After connecting all the dots together, they would find out that Qianye and Nighteye were actually looking for Cui Yuanhai. Consequently, the city lord would easily know that they were the ones wanted by the Wolf King as well as their aplishments in the ck Grove. Considering this, the price Su Dingqian had paid to recruit them couldn¡¯t be considered a loss since he had obtained the power of two people.

    But how could someone like Su Dingqian be content with merely ¡°not losing¡±? He was actually betting on Nighteye and Qianye having other hidden aces, as well as their future potential. One had to admit that this Su Dingqian was truly an expert in foresight.

    Additionally, he was quite certain that Qianye wouldn¡¯t go to the Wolf King¡¯s side at the very least.

    However, he probably didn¡¯t know of Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s identities in the empire and Evernight. If he did, the price he was willing to offer wouldn¡¯t have stopped there.

    The Loyalty Form Su Dingqian considered as his winning chip was actually of no use to Qianye. From the Zhao n¡¯s umted knowledge and experience, Qianye knew that this so-called divine champion threshold was actually decided by two factors, one of them being the purity of one¡¯s origin power. Different cultivation arts would produce origin power of different attributes and purity. Thosecking in purity simply couldn¡¯t condense their power into crystal form and thus fail to be divine champions.

    The other key factor was how much origin power the body could amodate. The stronger one¡¯s body, the more origin power it could contain and the more bacsh it could tolerate from high-grade arts.

    Since ancient times, countless cultivators had been stuck at these two hurdles. After cultivating the Song n Ancient Scroll, Qianye knew that less than a tenth of one¡¯s origin power would remain after condensation and purification¡ªdespite possessing the required arts, people would die of old age if their cultivation speed couldn¡¯t keep up.

    In truth, Qianye already had a good idea about the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s problem and why the n wouldn¡¯t cultivate it despite the family¡¯s decline. In addition to the unsolvable issue of yin-yang bnce, the over-purification of origin power by the Glory and Mystery chapters was also a problem. Ten parts of origin power Qianye had cultivated via the Combatant Form would only produce one part of Venus Dawn. The core cultivation arts of the major ns and imperial family produced far purer origin power aspared to the Combatant Form, but afternding in the hands of the two chapters, only one part of the purest origin power would be produced out of eight parts the original.

    The problemy in the fact that¡ªwith the exception of people like Zhao Jundu, Ji Tianqing, and Song Zining¡ªeven someone of Zhao Junhong¡¯s talents wouldn¡¯t be able to umte enough origin power until their eighties. They would never be able to touch the divine champion threshold by cultivating the Song n Ancient Scroll. It was even worse for other people with slower cultivation speeds.

    Qianye¡¯s powerful ancient vampire constitution allowed him to push the Combatant Form beyond fifty cycles and derive the Profound Combatant Form. This wasn¡¯t without precedent, but only a handful of people like the Martial Ancestor and Zhang Boqian had managed this.

    The origin power produced by the Profound Combatant Form wasn¡¯t that pure, but it was as abundant and endless as the ocean waves¡ªa single cultivation session would him more than ten times the origin powerpared to ordinary cultivation arts. Only such a cultivation speed could match the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s terrifying requirements.

    In the future, the Profound Combatant Form would improve along with Qianye¡¯s constitution. There was no need for other secret inheritances because this was the most suitable art for him.

    Additionally, the vampires also had their own cultivation arts. There were numerous secret arts hidden within the inheritance of the River of Blood. But vampires could advance by absorbing essence blood. Since Qianye had been constantly embroiled in great battles, his body was always in a near-overflowing state.

    For vampires, an over-conversion of essence blood would result in a gradual decrease in bloodline purity. Hence, they couldn¡¯t absorb an unlimited amount of essence blood. With the Song n Ancient Scroll, Qianye could absorb and convert vast amounts of essence blood, raising his bloodline power through constant battle.

    Just as he was deep in thought, a knock came from the courtyard doors. A city guard officer entered thepound and handed a stack of documents to Qianye. Among them was a certificate of his city-guard officer post and permits to freely enter the noble district and other critical military areas. There were also instructions for the exchange of military contributions.

    To Qianye, the first two papers were not exactly necessary. There was no critical area in Port City apart from the city lord mansion, and the city walls were only tall enough to deter ordinary people. Had they built it any taller, the wall would¡¯ve copsed before any attack due to the Earth Dragon¡¯s movements.

    There was a long string of rare resources on the contribution exchange list, including the Dreameater Bug Qianye wanted!

    He pointed to the Dreameater Bug and said, ¡°Is the production rate very high?¡±

    The officer replied, ¡°The Dreameater Bug only appears when the Earth Dragon bes restless. Every time, all experts in the city including the City Lord will take action in order to catch some of them. We usually catch a couple hundred during good harvests and less than a hundred during bad ones.¡±

    Qianye rxed a bit. ¡°That¡¯s not a small number.¡±

    The officer immediately shook his head. ¡°Sir Zhao, you¡¯re wrong on that! The Earth Dragon only bes restless every couple of years, the longest gap being ten. You can do the math, this harvest divided by the number of years results in a few dozen each year. This small quota isn¡¯t enjoyed by our Port City alone, we have to share some with the surrounding three powers, too. Not much remains after that.¡±

    At this point, he nced at Qianye in envy. ¡°Sir Zhao immediately obtained the City Lord¡¯s favor and was bestowed a Dreameater Bug in advance. You have no idea how many people are jealous of you! This is, after all, something that can help one be a divine champion.¡±

    Qianye had watched Nighteye consume the bug and also heard her recount the feeling thereafter. He naturally knew that this Dreameater Bug could purify one¡¯s blood energy or origin power a bit in addition to repairing the spirit. Indeed, it could increase one¡¯s chances of crossing the divine champion realm, but the increase was simply too small. Eating dozens of it might improve the odds by ten percent or so.

    This wasn¡¯t a bad deal, but unfortunately, even Su Dingqian himself couldn¡¯t monopolize everything.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the minuscule increase of each Dreameater Bug, its price wouldn¡¯t be this low, either. The contribution exchange booklet stated that whoever killed an enemy champion or viscount would be awarded one Dreameater Bug.

    Qianye made some calctions and realized that Su Dingqian was expecting him to kill five enemy champions or more. This wasn¡¯t a loss for him. If Qianye could clip the enemy force¡¯s wings inrge numbers, Su Dingqian could focus on the enemy divine champion. The benefits this would bring to the bigger picture was more than just a few champions.

    Qianye put down the documents and proceeded to chat with the officer. He learned that the three armies would arrive near Port City the following day. Tonight was thest peaceful night before the big battle.

 Chapter 754: Reality

    The battle was fairlyplicated. In name, Port City had no part in the fight and was only picked as the battleground due to bad luck. Yet, everyone knew that there was no such thing as genuine bad luck. It was just that they were unsure which party had designs on the city; maybe every party had the same thought.

    In terms of power, the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons¡¯ forces were made up of other races, while the Wolf King¡¯s side was represented by humans. Port City was mostly upied by humans, including the City Lord Su Dingqian. Yet, his appointment of Qianye was more of a deterrent to the Wolf King than anything.

    At this point, Qianye still wasn¡¯t sure who the enemy really was. Su Dingqian¡¯s stance on the war was fairly strict¡ªhe had designated an area a hundred kilometers around Port City as a warzone. Any army entering the region would be attacked on sight.

    In the depths of the quiet night, Qianye was sitting in the courtyard after preparing his equipment, waiting for theing dawn.

    He left the littlepound as the first rays of dawn washed over the vastnd. The vice captain of the city lord¡¯s guard was waiting at his door to personally drive him to the city gates.

    ¡°General Zhao, are you leaving the city already? Aren¡¯t you going to wait untilter?¡± Since Qianye had already epted the identity of a city guard officer, the vice guard captain¡¯s address changed from Mr. Zhao to General Zhao.

    In the face of an organized army, sniping under the cover of the night was amon choice. Qianye didn¡¯t reply, opting only to reply with a smile. The vice guard captain didn¡¯t inquire further, either. An expert¡¯sbat style was his privacy, and one might very well be inviting trouble by knowing more.

    The vice-captain drove Qianye ten kilometers out before turning back.

    Thendscape outside of the city was hilly and uneven, but it was mostly upied by low hillocks and gently sloping valleys, with little to no dangerous geography.

    Qianye waved his hand after the vice-captain had left, and the field backpack behind him vanished into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. He fished out a map and studied it in detail. He found a small town a couple kilometers away and decided to take a look there.

    Several kilometers took but a moment for Qianye.

    The small town was actually of considerable scale and home to thousands of people. The houses here were simrly short and simple, so much so that there wasn¡¯t a single two-storied house. The tremors from the Earth Dragon flipping over would cover hundreds of kilometers. This little town had gone through countless cycles of destruction and reconstruction¡ªsuch a small settlement wouldn¡¯t have the budget for arrays that protected buildings.

    When Qianye walked into town, the entire ce was in chaos. Many people had packed their luggage and were leaving their homes for Port City, while others were scattering in different directions. An elderly man who looked like a tribal chief was speaking to a couple dozen people, ¡°This battle is clearly directed at Port City. Running to the city at this point is akin to jumping into a fiery pit. How can there be any city defenses? Even I can jump over those short walls!¡±

    ¡°But they have City Lord Su!¡± Some young members were dissatisfied.

    ¡°No matter how strong the city lord is, he¡¯s alone! Do you think the Wolf King and Spider Emperor are inferior to him? Besides, City Lord Su is a heavenly character. Even if he can protect Port City, do you think he¡¯ll even notice little bastards like you? In a fight between these major characters, you¡¯ll lose your life just by getting close.¡±

    The young nsmen were still dissatisfied, but they couldn¡¯t out-debate the elder. In the end, they mbered onto the car unwillingly. Two truck engines rumbled as the vehicles drove out of the town with great difficulty and steered away into the distance.

    What Qianye found surprising was that the passengers on the car were all strong warriors, while the old, the sick, and the women had to walk behind.

    Qianye scanned the group and found that those on the car possessed enough origin power cultivation to qualify as members of the city guard. Meanwhile, the walkers were ordinary people or of rank-one cultivation at most.

    He understood the reasoning after some contemtion. This family was actually leaving the young warriors in a state of vigor and strength in order to deal with the dangers on the road ahead. And when needed, the old and weak behind the motorcade would be sacrificed.

    From this, one could see just how cruel the neutralnds were.

    Just like that, the residents of the small town left to escape the war. Many of them would¡¯ve been qualified soldiers in the empire, but in the neutralnds, they were helpless members of the lowest rung of society.

    Qianye passed through the town, walking against the hurried tide of people. All of a sudden, he saw two people in the depths of a small alley. Having thought of something, Qianye walked in. The ambient light there was rather dim and an ufortable smell rushed at his face.

    Both d in civilian clothing, the two men were currently lying still in a puddle of mud. The water under their bodies had turned a deep purple. Apparently, they had already bled out.

    The sounds of coarse breathing arrived from the alley corner. One could even make out the clear sounds of a rapidly beating heart. Additionally, Qianye could sense that person¡¯s blood flowing at increased speeds¡ªhe seemed to be extremely nervous.

    Feigning ignorance, Qianye stepped over the two corpses and turned to the corner. The person hiding behind the wall leapt up and stabbed ruthlessly at Qianye¡¯s waist! This dagger was fast, fierce, and absolutely merciless. He wanted to kill Qianye.

    The assant¡¯s power, however was simply too minuscule. The dagger had just touched Qianye¡¯sbat robes when thetter caught him by the wrist and crushed the bones therein.

    The ambusher screamed in misery and fell to the ground, trembling in pain. This person was dressed in a mercenary uniform and had a bandage around his waist that was seeping blood. Additionally, there were several wounds of different shapes and sizes on his body. The bigger ones had been hastily dressed, but the smaller ones were still visible. It would seem he had no time to deal with them at all.

    Qianye was indifferent to this mercenary¡¯s plight. He had never shown mercy to those who wanted to kill their own people.

    He reached out to grab the man and pinned him to the wall. ¡°Why were you trying to kill me? Speak, and I¡¯ll let you die quickly.¡±

    The mercenary¡¯s expression was dismal. He pointed at the civilian corpses and said, ¡°I thought you were with them. Our group managed to flee back here with great difficulty; only three of us were left out of the dozens. But these bastards saw our injuries and tried to rob us of our equipment! Old Wang and Iron Tiger survived the battlefield only to die in their hands!¡±

    Qianye followed the mercenary¡¯s finger and saw two mercenaries dead against the wall. There were half a dozen civilian corpses around them, all of them full of injuries. Apparently, the battle here was exceptionally fierce. These town residents had wanted to rob the heavily injured mercenaries but didn¡¯t expect them to have so much strength remaining. In the end, they paid for their deeds with their lives.

    The mercenary in Qianye¡¯s grasp was also in bad shape and didn¡¯t have long to live. He had been guarding the alleyway, looking to drag a couple more down with him. No one would look into this matter amidst the chaos.

    Qianye sighed inwardly. He had gained a new understanding of the disorder in the neutralnds. He loosened his grip and, leaving the mercenary on the ground, headed into the depths of the alley.

    ¡°Wait, save me!¡± the mercenary cried out.

    Qianye walked on, pretending not to have heard anything.

    ¡°You¡¯re so powerful, why not save me!?¡± The man¡¯s cries were filled with misery.

    Qianye maintained his rate of advancement and was soon going to leave the alley.

    The mercenary¡¯s face was full of malice as he roared, ¡°Since you refuse to save me, go to hell!¡±

    He used his rtively good left hand to grab his origin gun and fired at the back of Qianye¡¯s head.

    Thetter sidestepped the iing projectile. A mere grade-three origin gun was simply too slow for him. Actually, the bullet wouldn¡¯t have injured him even if he had remained still.

    Qianye drew the Twin Flowers and fired three backward shots. One of them shattered the mercenary¡¯s left hand and origin gun while the other two broke his legs. Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and appeared before the man once more. ¡°Now you¡¯ll die a slow death.¡±

    When Qianye walked out of the small alleyway, the mercenary¡¯s wretched cries and curses were still echoing behind him. Qianye was absolutely unconcerned about the curses from such weaklings. Besides, the pain of having his four limbs broken was punishment enough for him. This experience left him with a hint of puzzlement¡ªwas the neutralnds filled with such twisted, crazy people?

    The exodus continued throughout the small town, apanied by the asional sound of gunshots. The people here had gathered in familial units and would fire without hesitation if another wave of people were to approach. They were like wolf-packs, baring their fangs and ws at each other, and attempting to intimidate the other party from a distance.

    Qianye left the small town and headed for his next destination. There was a sizeable vige ten kilometers away, home to a couple hundred people.

    There were countless viges like this scattered around Port City. Spiked rats and rainbow fish would be driven out of the earth whenever the Earth Dragon turned over or became agitated. Many of these vigers made a living by capturing such local resources.

    The area Su Dingqian had demarcated was traditionally a part of Port City¡¯s territory. The towns and viges in the area needed to pay taxes to the city in exchange for protection and the right to reside there.

    Qianye spent half a day patrolling several viges. The ones in the periphery had long since been emptied as the townspeople fled the battlefield. The only ones left behind were those old people who couldn¡¯t travel. There were some people left in the towns closer to Port City, but they were also preparing to leave.

    Battles between divine champions weren¡¯t rare in the neutralnds. Su Dingqian himself had fought several times against the Wolf King and Spider Emperor. Port City¡¯s outstanding position was something he had forged by hand. The effects of a sh between divine champions stretched far and wide¡ªordinary people simply couldn¡¯t survive.

    While patrolling one of the viges, Qianye encountered a mercenary corps in the process of ¡°resupplying¡±, sourcing goods from the vigers who hadn¡¯t yet managed to flee. This ten-man group hadn¡¯t yet encountered a battle just yet. It would seem they were just going around and looking for viges to ¡°resupply¡± at. Seeing Qianye on his own, these people began to crowd over like a pack of wolves that had discovered a sheep.

    Momentster, when Qianye left the vige, everyone from that bandit mercenary corps had turned into corpses.

    The few battles on the first day were actually between human civilians and mercenaries.

 Chapter 755: A Peculiar Order

    The territory here was basically empty. It felt like the defenses had self-destructed before the enemy had even arrived. But this was a necessary wisdom required for ordinary civilians to survive.

    In the face of an iing enemy, they would scatter like startled rabbits and hide in the corners of the vast wilderness. Perhaps some people mightnd in the enemy¡¯s way, but most of them would manage to conceal themselves. This saved them from being wiped out in one fell swoop. As for their homes, those simple nests could be rebuilt anytime.

    Qianye had arrived at the borders of the battleground at this point and would soon leave Su Dingqian¡¯s demarcation pretty soon. This border-line, however, had little restraint on Qianye¡¯s activities. He kept on approaching the war zone in a bid to better understand the enemies¡¯ movements.

    Momentster, Qianye climbed atop a hill. This ce was the highest point in the area and offered a great field of view.

    He produced a powerful scope and began observing the surroundings, especially the areas beyond the warzones. At the same time, his figure appeared in a different scope. This pair of eyes, hidden in the shadows, was observing Qianye¡¯s every move.

    Qianye put down his scope after a moment of observation and ran toward a different hill to his front. The person hiding in the distance also put away his binocrs. This person possessed a chiseled face and clear-cut features¡ªquite shockingly, this was the vicemander of Port City¡¯s army. He handed the binocrs to his subordinate and said, ¡°This Zhao Ye moves like a veteran. He might actually give us a pleasant surprise.¡±

    The subordinate sneered, ¡°He¡¯s only rank twelve, no matter how much of a veteran he is. This battle will still depend on themanders.¡±

    The vicemander said with a sh of gloominess in his eyes, ¡°The battle this time won¡¯t be that easy. It¡¯s a good thing if people like them can kill a couple of enemies and reduce the pressure on us.¡±

    The subordinate was astonished. He had never seen this vicemander so serious.

    The vicemander left in a different direction, seemingly prepared to patrol the defensive line and, in passing, observe the performance of the neers. No small number of warriors had been recruited.

    To these independent experts, cultivation required resources left and right. It was the same to whom they sold their lives. As long as the bounty was sufficient, this was just another mission for them. They might be standing on Port City¡¯s side this time, but they might very well be enemies next time.

    This was the same for Qianye. He was in this battle because of the Dreameater Bug. As for who was in the right or wrong, he made no distinction. There wasn¡¯t a need to, either, because every party had a reason to fight in the neutralnds.

    In Qianye¡¯s vision, a small patrol group was traveling rapidly toward Port City. This unit was made up of a dozen-odd soldiers, including two rather powerful arachne. Qianye could see the Crystal-Spider Insignia on their armor even from several kilometers away.

    Qianye jumped up lightly, almost as though his body was weightless. He circled around under the cover of thendscape and chased the Crystal Spider unit from an angle.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had arrived less than a hundred meters away, but he was shocked just as he was about to take the next step. Instead ofnding, his body floated upward and glided forward briefly. Only then did his feet finally strike the ground. There was a small, dirt-colored spider where he was previously going tond. If Qianye had stepped down instead, he would¡¯ve killed this critter.

    The arachnid blended perfectly into its surroundings, so much so that Qianye might not have noticed it if it were in the wilderness. However, past experience told Qianye that he couldn¡¯t be careless about any kind of spider appearing near an arachne. There were simply too many kinds of servspiders, covering a wide range of functions. Some servspiders were actually part of the local wildlife. It was just that they had been temporarily taken over by an arachne.

    That earthen yellow spider gazed at Qianye, itspound eyes pulsing with an intelligent glow. Then, it actually started crawling toward him.

    Qianye immediately knew that this was a servspider, and that it had already noticed him. Since he had been noticed, there was no longer a need to hold back. Qianye stomped the creature to death with a pfft, drew East Peak, and charged toward the nearby scouting party.

    The battle ended quickly. The two arachne in the squad simply had no power to retaliate and were knocked out in quick session. Since even the arachne had been thus dispatched, there was no need to exin the fate of the others. A unit without an overseeing champion was useless against Qianye, no matter how big it was.

    After dealing with this small unit, Qianye kicked one of the arachne awake. This arachnid was fairly violent and wanted to retaliate the moment it had woken up. Yet, the strength it was so proud of was insignificant before Qianye. A p from East Peak sent him sprawling back onto the ground, barely able to move his limbs.

    This time, it recognized the situation clearly, realizing that this small human was actually an expert he couldn¡¯t contend with.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± Qianye inquired.

    The arachne pointed at the crest on his armor. ¡°Can¡¯t you see? This is the Crystal Spider! We¡¯re the strongest corps under the Spider Emperor. You better think about the consequences of provoking us.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Consequences? All I have to do is silence everyone.¡±

    The arachne immediately came to his senses. His expression became extremely awkward, and his heart was filled with regret.

    Seeing the spider¡¯s momentum decreasing repeatedly, Qianye asked, ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we¡¯re here to fight the Wolf King!¡± The arachne blurted out, but he gradually lowered his head under Qianye¡¯s gaze. ¡°We¡¯re here to investigate the area around Port City.¡±

    Qianye nodded at the rtively reasonable objective. The first two questions were intentional and only seeing if the arachne was speaking the truth. The third question was the key. ¡°Did you have any special orders for this mission?¡±

    ¡°What special orders?¡± The arachne looked a bit puzzled, but there was a fluctuation in his body during the reply. How could this escape Qianye¡¯s notice?

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to speak, I¡¯ll just ask him after a while.¡± Qianye pointed at the knocked-out arachne. ¡°You do know what will happen to you if he decides to speak the truth, right?¡±

    The arachne was fierce but not entirely without fear of death. He hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°The superiors asked us to pay attention to the human settlements and the number of people escaping toward Port City.¡±

    ¡°Human settlements? You mean the viges, towns, and cities?¡±

    ¡°Yes, including major hiding ces.¡±

    Not all people around Port City were scattered. Some viges and ns would construct strong forts in areas with easily defensible geography. These structures usuallyy in remote areas and amidst dangerousndscapes. There was no value in conquering them, only wasted time and energy. That was why regr armies would usually let these small settlements be. They could take their time clearing them out after eliminating the enemy army.

    Qianye noticed something off about this order. As he saw it, the viges surrounding Port City were just groups of crude shacks with no real value. What was the point of upying them? Those forts had no tactical worth, either. It also wouldn¡¯t quite make sense if the scouting party was here to study the local geography and collect intelligence. There was nothing special about the Port City area apart from a singlerge river. Besides, a squad wasn¡¯t necessary to collect such information. A single wind-spider was much more efficient for the job.

    He believed the arachne was telling the truth, precisely because he found it odd. Even so, he still knocked the spider out and woke the other up. After a round of threatening and intimidation, Qianye received the same answer.

    As a scouting party of the lowest tier, all they needed to do was follow orders¡ªthey couldn¡¯t and needn¡¯t know anything else. Knowing that he could find out nothing more, Qianye knocked the second spider out again.

    In the distance, a pair of eyes was observing Qianye once more.

    A blue tinge emerged in Qianye¡¯s eyes. He had sensed the spy but acted as if nothing was wrong. He searched all the members of the scouting party, cleaned up the spoils, and tied the captives together with the handful of grenades he had just found on them.

    Qianye left in haste, leaving behind a violent explosion and a mass of smoke and mes that rose hundreds of meters into the sky. The ruckus was huge.

    The vicemander of the city guard lowered his binocrs with a gloomy expression. The subordinate beside him said with a frown, ¡°This Zhao Ye is causing such a mess! Causing such a stir, does he want everyone to know about it? Besides, can¡¯t he capture a few live prisoners?¡±

    The vicemander said, ¡°He¡¯s gotten everything he needs. Besides, don¡¯t you realize why he did this? Look at the ce he chose to take action.¡±

    ¡°At the border of the warzone, hard to tell if it¡¯s within the demarcation or not. But what does that have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°Has the Spider Emperor dered war on us?¡±

    The subordinate seemed to have understood. He inhaled deeply, saying, ¡°We...¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t attack them proactively, at least not yet. That¡¯s why Zhao Ye has erased all traces while dealing a blow to the enemy. Even though we saw everything, we can¡¯t say anything because there¡¯s no proof.¡±

    That subordinate¡¯s eyes rolled about all of a sudden. ¡°He must¡¯ve gotten something out of them just now. Why don¡¯t we chase him down and make him cough up whatever he¡¯s learned? This subordinate thinks whatever information he¡¯s obtained just now must be very important.¡±

    The vicemander was moved, but he shook his head in the end. ¡°Let¡¯s go catch ourselves a scouting party.¡±

    ¡°Sir, you¡¯re throwing away what¡¯s near and seeking something from afar.¡±

    The vicemander hesitated for a moment but made noment on this. In the end, he waved his hand, saying, ¡°Continue patrolling.¡±

    After running over ten kilometers, Qianye finally noticed that the gaze on his back had vanished. Only then did he turn back and mutter to himself, ¡°Given up? My turn then.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s aura gradually faded away and became one with the wilderness. Unless there was a powerful expert scanning the area, the only way to spot Qianye was to spot him with the naked eye. It was just that there were all too many ways to deceive one¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye increased his speed and closed in on those who were spying on him. All this while, the peculiar orders of the two arachne lingered constantly on his mind.

 Chapter 756: Stalemate

    Before long, Qianye had discovered the two men advancing stealthily across the wilderness. Their concealment abilities were outstanding, but there was no way they could hide their origin power fluctuations from Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    The vicemander hadn¡¯t realized that Qianye had discovered them. He made a gesture ordering his subordinate to follow him. The two went into hiding behind a nearby hill, waiting for a scouting party that was due to pass by. Judging from their uniforms, this scouting party belonged to the Wolf King. There were three young, valiant-looking werewolves among them, observing the surroundings in a cautious manner.

    The vicemander was far more powerful than these werewolves. He didn¡¯t even need to take action personally. That subordinate alone subdued the entire squad and began interrogating them. Due to the distance, Qianye didn¡¯t know what the other party was asking, but he could see the vicemander¡¯s expression turning sour by the minute. Apparently, it wasn¡¯t good news at all.

    It was at this moment that the vicemander realized someone was spying on them. He suddenly turned around and nced in Qianye¡¯s direction. Thetter remainedpletely still with his aura retracted. The distance between them far exceeded the visual range of an ordinary expert. Only Qianye, with his supernatural eyesight, could see everything clearly. As long as he remained immobile, he would be no different from a speck of dust to the vicemander¡ªthere was simply no way to distinguish him.

    Seeing nothing, the vicemander mumbled to himself for a while, took out his binocrs, and scanned the area once more. There was an eerie purple radiance flickering on the scope¡ªit clearly wasn¡¯t an ordinary pair of binocrs.

    Qianye had seen this kind of apparatus before. Specifically made to detect reflected light from other scopes, it could be used to find enemy snipers and scouts. Qianye, however, wasn¡¯t using any kind of scope and merely relying on his superior vision to spy on his targets. He was only using a scope before because he knew someone was observing him from afar. He was merely pretending to throw off the other party¡¯s judgment.

    Finding nothing, the vicemander grudgingly put away the binocrs. Then, he proceeded to kill the werewolves one after the other and left after setting up a trap.

    Qianye had already recognized this vicemander. It would seem he was in charge of patrolling this segment of the battlefront. As an outsider, it was only natural that they would be cautious about him.

    Just as Qianye was thinking whether or not he should follow them, he sensed something all of a sudden and dove sideways. He had just left his original position when a sniper bulletnded there, immediately producing a small, deep hole.

    Qianye was astonished because this shot hade entirely out of the blue. He had only detected the projectile as it was approaching him. In addition, its firepower wasn¡¯t small at all. Even he would suffer injuries if struck.

    Qianye turned about and nced in the direction of the shot, but all he could see was a faint, grey silhouette in the distance. The assant was like a distorted smudge against the backdrop colors¡ªit was difficult to even tell his race, let alone how he looked. That person fled immediately after missing the shot. A shrill voice echoed in Qianye¡¯s ears at this moment. ¡°Pretty good, brat. We¡¯ll y this game slowly.¡±

    That wisp of grey warped and vanished against the vastnd. No one knew what secret art he had used, but the man had disappeared entirely from Qianye¡¯s perception.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give chase and, instead, returned to the original spot to observe the bullethole.

    The hole was extremely deep and its walls were smooth. It wasn¡¯t hot to the touch, either. On the contrary, there was a cold dampness about it that proved the owner¡¯s odd origin power attribute. Thest opponent who had managed to approach and snipe Qianye without his notice was Eden, and that was in the Misty Wood.

    It would seem that the people from the Wolf King and the Spider Emperor¡¯s side weren¡¯t that easy to deal with, either. All of them had secretly dispatched experts to prate the other side of the battlefield.

    Qianye neither continued chasing the vice-captain nor traveled far. Instead, he remained in ce with his aura retracted and waited for nightfall. That mysterious assassin probably hadn¡¯t imagined his target to be here. Qianye didn¡¯t mind giving him a surprise if he were toe back and check the scene.

    However, the sniper didn¡¯t appear until midnight. Only then did Qianye rise and sneak toward a certain direction.

    All of a sudden, a powerful origin power fluctuation arrived from the distance. Apparently, there were experts fighting in that direction. Qianye hastened his steps and approached the battlefield. He wouldn¡¯t be stingy about helping out if there were people from his side involved. Port City was at a disadvantage in this war and thus needed to preserve as much strength as it could.

    The battle he saw upon scaling the hill far exceeded his expectations. Several experts were locked in a fierce battle, along with the dozens of soldiers under theirmand.

    The vicemander who had followed Qianye before was also among them. He was suppressing an enemy count and two viscounts on his own, giving them no opportunity at retaliation. In the periphery, dozens of high-ranking soldiers from either side were locked in a bloody battle. All of them were hoping to wipe out the enemy and provide what little assistance they could to their experts.

    Judging from the situation, the forces of Port City were at a slight advantage. It would be a sure win if that subordinate of his could score a victory against his current opponent and help the vicemander share one of his. Of course, the other party wasn¡¯t made up of idiots, either. They would surely retreat before that could happen.

    Qianye concealed his aura and gradually approached the battlefield. At this moment, he suddenly noticed a tiny origin power fluctuation in the distance. This little bit of origin power would be easily overlooked during a fierce battle, but Qianye remembered this aura. This was the person who had nearlynded a shot on Qianye a while ago.

    His concealment ability was extremely powerful. Qianye might not have sensed his existence if it wasn¡¯t for the unavoidable leakage of aura before the shot.

    During the split second that could potentially decide the oue of this battle, Qianye made the instantaneous decision to charge at that assassin!

    This time, Qianye used every ounce of strength he had. He flitted across hundreds of meters and arrived like a bolt of lightning. At this moment, the origin bullet had just left the chamber and was flying toward the battlefield, shrouded in ayer of deep greyish energy.

    The sniper finally revealed his form briefly. The shape seemed humanoid, but at a nce, he looked like a distorted mass of greyish white colors.

    Just as he was about to reach his target, a shadow suddenly appeared before him. This entity looked like one of those fabled knights¡ªhe was d in a full suit of heavy armor, the only opening being a slit in his visor. This strange knight barred Qianye¡¯s path, shouting, ¡°Bulwark!¡±

    His arms spread out to form a shield of origin power, the surface of which was decorated with a dense array of almost tangible runes. Apparently, its defensive prowess was extraordinary.

    In a great hurry, Qianye hoisted the origin gun made by Cui Yuanhai and fired, the massive recoil stunting the momentum of his charge. The origin gun spat out a ratherrge ball of mes which struck the knight¡¯s shield with great ferocity.

    Following a loud boom, the heavily armored knight took a step back. The origin shield in his hand was flickering on the verge of copse. However, it actually didn¡¯t shatter after taking an all-out st.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils contracted, realizing that this knight was, just like Wei Potian, a defense specialist. Wei Potian still had some offensive techniques, but this person seemed to be entirely focused on defense in terms of his secret arts, equipment and talent abilities. That secret art called Indestructible Bulwark was rather ridiculously named, but it really wasn¡¯t destroyed in this exchange.

    The knight was evidently shocked by Qianye¡¯s attack. He nced contemtively at the flickering shield in his hand, his thoughts unknown.

    At this moment, the grey silhouette had also stood up. Although his eyes weren¡¯t visible, it was clear that his gaze was fixated upon Qianye. The formless re was so sharp that it stung his skin ever so slightly.

    Qianye was wary because the ability of these two menplemented each other well. Their power would increase exponentially when working together. Qianye gauged the duo at rank twelve or so, but theirbined abilities were extremely difficult to deal with. There was probably no way to keep them here without revealing his aces. However, Qianye didn¡¯t want to reveal too much in front of everyone. After all, the curtains had just risen on the war. To him, this wasn¡¯t a battle of hatred and enmity; just another way to earn mercenary rewards.

    The two mysterious assassins also stopped their advance, apparently worried about getting entangled with this difficult opponent. Meanwhile, the battle on the other end was still going on¡ªthe grey shadow¡¯s shot had missed due to Qianye¡¯s sudden appearance.

    The two assassins exchanged nces, then slowly pulled back. At the same time, they pointed at Qianye¡¯s back. Understanding their intention, Qianye also nodded and began retreating. Both parties went back into hiding after putting the distance between them.

    The casualties on the battlefield were severe, but the wounded were all soldiers. The experts from either side only suffered light injuries. They also seemed to have sensed the changes and lost the will to keep on fighting. Eventually, both sides stopped fighting and left the scene along with their wounded. As for the corpses and those who couldn¡¯t be transported, they were abandoned in the field.

    Qianye watched with a heavy heart. If this were in the empire, the military tradition was to fight for the remains ofrades. The tribes of Evernight also attached great importance to remains because they were bloodline descendants. In this ce, and especially at such a time, people had neither the strength to spare for moving corpses nor methods to suppress their smell. Transporting the deceased in such a manner would make them easy targets.

    Qianye stood silently with his aura retracted, almost like a rock in the wilderness.

    Some shadows appeared in the distance and approached rapidly. A werewolf raised his head and sniffed the scent in the air. He then turned back and growled before running toward the battlefield. Those at the back slowed down and approached in a cautious formation.

    This group of a hundred was wearing the colors of the Wolf King. The three viscounts among them proved that this was an elite hunting party. The werewolf who had arrived first observed the corpses strewn across the ground. Then, he pointed left and right, sending a couple of werewolves in each direction to act as sentries.

    That werewolf walked quickly around the battlefield, sniffing constantly as though he were searching for something. He issued a low growl¡ªa whileter, several werewolves walked over carrying some corpses on their backs, then left in due haste. That werewolf personally stood guard in the vicinity with a dozen or so elite warriors.

    If this were the Misty Wood, Qianye could¡¯ve taken down such a squad. But the surroundings here were fairly empty despite the rising slopes, and he had to take that grey shadow assassin into ount. It would be too dangerous if he were to get entangled.

 Chapter 757: Secret Warehouse

    This group¡¯s movement was fairly odd. The battlefield had been swept clean, and there was nothing of value left on the bodies. Yet, they were still moving these bodies away. Judging from the direction they were headed in, they seemed to be retreating. Could they havee all the way here just for some corpses?

    Qianye thought about tailing them, but Nighteye and Zhuji were still in the city. Although they were fairly capable of protecting themselves, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to go very far, lest what had happened in the empire repeat itself.

    The neutralnds was quite a peculiar ce. Many unique resources back in the empire came from this ce. This was and filled with unknown dangers where just about anything could happen. The situation on the battlefield was gradually turning serious¡ªin addition to the increasing number of experts, there were numerous peculiar abilities he had never seen before.

    Qianye decided not to take the risk, at least not for this battle. Hence, he gave up on following them and, instead, went to find a good ce to set up an ambush. Perhaps an unsuspecting prey would walk right in.

    Qianye picked a lofty rock and camouged himself in a shallow pit nearby. This rock was rather eye-catching¡ªeveryone¡¯s reaction upon seeing it would be to give it a quick scan before observing the surroundings. First nces were, naturally, never too detailed, and Qianye intended to make use of this psychological oversight. Very few people under the divine champion level could sense him in his fully concealed state after all.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have to wait very long before a fully cloaked figure appeared over the horizon. This person moved rhythmically and with extreme speed, disying ample elegance despite his cautious movements. This was a ssic vampire characteristic, but to Qianye who had gotten used to the grace of a true superior vampire like Nighteye, this person¡¯s movements seemed somewhat forced.

    Dealing with vampires was Qianye¡¯s specialty. The target walked past,pletely unaware of Qianye¡¯s existence. Thetter pushed a blood-energyced origin bullet into the Twin Flowers and fired at the vampire¡¯s leg.

    The two were less than a hundred meters away, but due to its low weapon-grade, the origin power fluctuations from the Twin Flowers was quite small. This caught the vampire entirely off guard.

    To a first-rank viscount, this was nothing but a tiny flesh wound, but the sneak attack filled him with shock and fury. He quickly drew his weapon and red fixedly at Qianye. The odd giant sword with its serrated edge looked fairly odd on him, a stark contrast to the elegance he had been trying so hard to maintain. There was arge barrel on the spine of the sword and its hilt served both as a handle and a trigger¡ªit was actually abination of a gun and a sword.

    Disdain filled the vampire¡¯s eyes as he stared at Qianye and his Twin Flowers. He said in a weird, aria-like voice, ¡°You dare to ambush the brave and intelligent First Rank Viscount Robert. I must say I admire your courage, stupidity, and luck. I¡¯m quite surprised that a continent-made gun of that quality actually injured me.¡±

    The Twin Flowers was clearly a continent-made product. The gun¡¯s craftsmanship was exquisite and simple. Moreover, its firepower didn¡¯t diminish in the neutralnds due to Andruil¡¯s modification. Qianye fired this shot from the Bloody Datura because he knew it was enough to injure the target.

    This Robert seemed quite talkative and especially liked to announce his victory in front of weak enemies. He wasn¡¯t in a rush to deal with Qianye and instead spoke in a slow, arrogant voice, ¡°I shall consider giving you a quick death if you prostrate before me in praise and pleading. You have one chance. If you canpose an eloquent poem to eulogize me, I might just let you live.¡±

    Halfway through his speech, the man¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He clutched his chest violently and fell kneeling onto the ground.

    ¡°I... what¡¯s wrong with me?¡± Robert was both rmed and furious.

    ¡°You only noticed it just now?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice contained a hint of mockery.

    ¡°You poisoned the origin bullet? But what kind of poison can torment a noble like me?¡±

    Vampires possessed an inherent resistance to poison that was only second to the arachne. But to them, Qianye¡¯s blood energy was a powerful toxin.

    Robert finally noticed that he could no longer suppress the burning blood energy inside his body. Terrified, he crawled over to Qianye, crying, ¡°S-Spare me! I¡¯ll tell you a secret that can make you the king of the neutralnds!¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°If you know such a secret, why haven¡¯t you be a king yet?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the talent!¡±

    Qianye crouched down in front of Robert. ¡°Speak your identity, your objective here, and everything else that might interest me. You know what the oue will be if I find you lying.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll speak, I¡¯ll tell you everything! Just spare me. I-I¡¯m from the Moonlight Demons, under the thirteenth assassination unit. Right, you can have this, you must let me go!¡±

    Robert fished out an envelope and passed it to Qianye. There was a neatly folded paper inside of it, an exquisite hand-drawn map with two eye-catching markings on it.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? A treasure map?¡± Qianye sneered.

    Things like treasure maps could only fool naive kids. Not to mention whether there really were treasures here, even if there were, what was the use of merely knowing the ce? Andruil¡¯s secret treasury contained a wisp of his remnant will which had sent him thousands of kilometers away to prevent people from hunting him down. If someone else had made his way into the treasury, what awaited him might not be Spatial sh but, instead, a Shot of Inception.

    Additionally, Qianye didn¡¯t feel like this distasteful Robert would be able to find a proper treasure.

    Robert trembled. ¡°The markings on this map show the two secret warehouses belonging to the Moonlight Demons, both of them are first-ss stashes. This is a piece of intelligence I obtained while chasing down a deserter, but I don¡¯t have the ability to take them. If you give this map to the Spider Emperor, the Wolf King, or even Su Dingqian, you¡¯ll definitely gain a handsome reward.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s more reasonable.¡± Qianye nodded in secret. It was just that robbing the Moonlight Demon¡¯s secret warehouse urred only as a passing thought. Oncepromised, he would be the target of an endless hunt.

    ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    Robert answered at lightning speed. His mission here was to gather intelligence and hunt the experts of Port City in passing. As a core power of the Moonlight Demons, Robert¡¯s strength was fairly impressive. With his first-rank viscount power, he had killed many experts of the same level and had even assassinated a count once.

    Being a vampire count himself, Qianye knew the intrinsic difference between a viscount and a count. It was no simple matter to kill an enemy above one¡¯s level.

    Robert was even confident about escaping from the vicemander of the city guard. He felt that he was safe as long as he didn¡¯t run into themander and Su Dingqian. He had never imagined that he would encounter someone like Qianye who could disable all his abilities with a single wisp of blood energy.

    Qianye interrogated him thoroughly until there was nothing left to learn. Someone of Robert¡¯s position didn¡¯t know that much, either.

    Afterward, Qianye searched him from head to toe and found that his total fortune was quite impressive. The man was much wealthier than a vampire viscount from the Evernight side. It would seem assassination was a lucrative business here.

    An exquisite littlecquerware box caught Qianye¡¯s attention. There was an ancient scenting from it that Qianye found rather familiar.

    His expression turned frosty the moment he unlocked the box and opened it.

    Within thecquerware box was the foot of a human girl. Its outlines were fairly slim and elegant, likely belonging to a beautiful owner. Yet, it had be part of a collection in this box, and Qianye could even see the tooth marks on her ankle.

    ¡°This is from a blood feast?¡±

    Robert was shocked. ¡°You know about blood feasts? The feast was of fairly high standards and the main dish was unprecedented in her beauty. I had to leave for this mission, so I packed a snack with me. She was so beautiful that I couldn¡¯t bear to enjoy her yet. Sire, might you be interested in it?¡±

    As Robert saw it, Qianye was also a vampire and one of a powerful bloodline. Few vampires in the neutralnds were interested in blood feasts but it wasn¡¯t too rare, either. If Qianye was interested, his chances of survival would increase greatly.

    ¡°I¡¯m interested in you,¡± Qianye said coldly. At the same time, his vampiric de plunged into Robert¡¯s blood core.

    ¡°Sire, you...¡± Robert wasn¡¯t expecting this oue. His voice became empty as his entire body slumped down. After having his blood essence sucked away by the vampiric de, he could no longer suppress Qianye¡¯s blood energy, and his body soon broke down into a rotten puddle.

    Qianye tossed the ¡°snack¡± to one side with a snort, and then went through Robert¡¯s things once more. In addition to the belongings worth tens of thousands of gold coins, the most valuable item he had on him was that gunde.

    Afterward, Qianye left the ce in due haste and went toward a different battlefield.

    Along the way, Qianye found the situation to be somewhat odd. Be it the Crystal Spider¡¯s scouting unit, the Wolf King¡¯s hunting party, or Robert, all of them had different objectives. It didn¡¯t look like they were here solely for war. Moreover, the treatment he was receiving from Su Dingqian was almost as good as when he was back in the empire.

    At this moment, Port City¡¯s doors were still open to all people moving in and out. The city walls made no difference whether they were there or not. It couldn¡¯t serve as part of the city defense¡ªonly a symbol ofw and order.

    The roar of engines echoed across the wilderness as a motorcade drove in from the distance, kicking up clouds of sand dozens of meters tall. The guards at the city gates became delighted upon seeing the insignia on the distant vehicles. ¡°Second Young Master has returned! Inform the captain!¡±

 Chapter 758: Startling Encounter

    The convoy was made up of seven offroad vehicles, most of them riddled with bullet marks and traces of blood. It would seem they had just experienced a fierce battle. Most of the vehicles had raised their speed to the max, almost as though they were racing. In the blink of an eye, they had sped past the gates and into the city.

    One by one, the cars spun to a stop in a small square amidst ear-piercing screams. None of the vehicles crashed into one another during the entire process, a testament to the skill of the drivers.

    A young man jumped down from the leading car and looked about. Seeing a middle-aged man walking toward him with brisk steps, he approached with a smile and said, ¡°Did I rm Uncle Liu? The war is gradually intensifying and you have so much to do. You shouldn¡¯t need to pay attention to me.¡±

    This dignified middle-aged man was themander of the city guard, Liu Daoming. The number one expert under Su Dingqian was only one step away from the divine champion realm.

    Liu Daoming¡¯s expression as he looked at the young man was full of helplessness and love. ¡°You know the situation outside isn¡¯t stable. How can your father not worry when you¡¯re running about outside without any news?¡±

    The young man replied, ¡°Spare me, that old man? Worrying about me? I expect his thoughts to be on my brother these days! Besides, I went out to do proper work this time, and the results are quite good. How about my brother, how are things on his side?¡±

    Liu Daoming sighed. ¡°Your brother is dealing with people on the outside in hopes of recruiting external help. Your father¡¯s attention on this matter is justified because it is indeed vital to our cause.¡±

    The young man smiled. ¡°Uncle Liu, don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t ruin the father¡¯s business just because of a quarrel for status, he still has a long life to live. Besides, it¡¯s just a city lord¡¯s position, what¡¯s the point of fighting for it? If I became a divine champion in the future, I¡¯ll be one without me asking. I¡¯m already catching up to my brother at the moment. How will he contend with me after two years?¡±

    Liu Daoming sighed, ¡°Yuecheng, the city lord¡¯s position is linked to the lives of ten thousand people. Cultivation alone isn¡¯t the deciding factor.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know, you¡¯ve already said that repeatedlyst time,¡± the young man said with a radiant smile. Despite knowing that the boy had absorbed none of what he had said, Liu Daoming couldn¡¯t bring himself to get angry.

    This young man was Su Dingqian¡¯s second son and also the most talented one. Seeing that Liu Mingdao was about to lecture him again, Su Yueyuan said, ¡°Uncle Liu, let me introduce someone to you.¡±

    Only when a young girl d in ck robes arrived beside Su Yueyuan did Liu Daoming notice her presence. At a sudden nce, the middle-aged man felt that something was off with her physique and ratio.

    She couldn¡¯t be considered good-looking, just a delicate-looking girl with mild facial features. However, that scar cutting through her brows made her look rather fierce. Seeing Liu Daoming¡¯s eyes scanning her body, the girl stretched her left hand out with a smile¡ªthat was a shocking origin gun! The three barrels were flickering with a ck luster, its origin array patterns extending all the way into her sleeves.

    The expressions of Su Yueyuan¡¯s subordinates didn¡¯t look all that good upon seeing this weapon. Apparently, it reminded them of bad memories.

    The young warrior put her weapon away and nodded toward Liu Daoming, a gesture that could be considered respect. ¡°Bluemoon.¡±

    Liu Daoming¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°You¡¯re a ckbeard? Do youe representing your n?¡±

    ¡°No, I only represent myself.¡±

    Bluemoon¡¯s words both relieved and disappointed Liu Daoming.

    At this point, Su Yueyuan said, ¡°Bluemoon is a good friend I made this time. Oh right, she has an urgent need for Dreameater Bugs recently. I remember we still have four in the family? Uncle Liu, please apany me to retrieve them. I promised Bluemoon three.¡±

    ¡°Three Dreameater Bugs?¡± Liu Doaming¡¯s expression became awkward.

    Su Yueyuan shot Bluemoon a nce while speaking to the middle-aged man. ¡°Uncle Liu, you know how I do things. This matter is extremely important to me. It¡¯s definitely not a wasted gift, the Su family won¡¯t lose out in this.¡±

    Liu Daoming said with a frown, ¡°Yuecheng, you haven¡¯t been in the city these days, so there are some things you don¡¯t know. Your father has recruited several external experts for this battle. Of the remaining bugs, three have been promised to one of those experts.¡±

    ¡°What? Three for a single person?¡± Su Yueyuan¡¯s eyes opened wide in disbelief. ¡°I¡¯ve only used four since childhood. No, this won¡¯t do. I must make this clear with my father! Let¡¯s go back to the residence!¡±

    Su Yueyuan jumped onto an offroad vehicle, revved the engine to its maximum power, and sped toward the city lord¡¯s mansion.

    Liu Daoming wanted to stop him, but he stopped his hands midway and nced back at Bluemoon. The girl was frowning slightly, and no one knew what she was thinking.

    Momentster, Su Yueyuan walked out of the study with a pale expression. Apparently, the oue of this meeting wasn¡¯t a happy one. The corridor outside was silent andpletely empty. The smart people had moved away after hearing the city lord¡¯s beratement from the study, lest they get implicated.

    The motorcade had arrived by the time Su Yueyuan walked out of the main residence. Seeing Bluemoon in the passenger seat, the man boarded the car with a forced smile and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back first.¡±

    After returning to the residence, Bluemoon¡¯s face turned even paler and one could vaguely see the faint blue vessels under her skin¡ªit was almost as though she were translucent. After sitting down in their room for some tea, the girl reached for a cup but knocked it over instead. Her right hand was also hidden inside her long sleeves, but even through the fabric, the collision didn¡¯t sound like it came from a limb made of flesh.

    ¡°Is it acting up again?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m used to it.¡± Bluemoon looked fairly calm, but the pain had clearly reached the extremes of her tolerance.

    Su Yueyuan gritted his teeth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, father says he¡¯s promised the Dreameater Bugs to someone else and thest one has to be reserved for contribution rewards. I¡¯m useless, I failed to keep my promise to you.¡±

    Bluemoon smiled. ¡°A single Dreameater Bug is useless, only three will do. It¡¯s been so many years, yet you can see that I¡¯m still doing fine without it. This matter won¡¯t affect your deal, Second Young Noble can pay me with other things.¡±

    The more she said thus, the more Su Yueyuan¡¯s expression became severe. He pped the table fiercely and said, ¡°This won¡¯t do. I must see what kind of heroic character is worth three Dreameater Bugs! Men, follow me!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s residence wasn¡¯t a secret. On the contrary, it could be said that everyone knew him because of the Loyalty Form.

    Su Yueyuan drove hastily to Qianye¡¯s house and stopped at the door. Upon entering, the two guards at the door greeted him, ¡°Greetings, Second Young Master.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Su Yueyuan said in a cold voice.

    One of the guards replied, ¡°The grandmander assigned us to guard this ce, to prevent people from disturbing General Zhao¡¯s peace and quiet.¡±

    ¡°General Zhao, Heh! Heh! Is that Zhao Ye here?¡±

    The guards realized something was wrong. ¡°General Zhao has gone to battle, only his wife and daughter remain inside.¡±

    Su Yueyuan sneered, ¡°You even brought his family, his life here seems to be quite good! Move aside, I must meet this Zhao person¡¯s family!¡±

    ¡°This...¡±

    ¡°Scram!¡± Su Yueyuan roared. How could the two guards dare to go against the city lord¡¯s son? They quickly moved aside and allowed Su Yueyuan to enter.

    One of the more experienced soldiers noticed something was wrong with the situation. He ran away at top speed to report this matter to Liu Daoming.

    Su Yueyuan felt as though he had arrived in a different world after walking into the courtyard. It felt like the air had cleared up quite a bit and the colors here appeared even more vivid. Startled, he couldn¡¯t help but mutter, ¡°There¡¯s such a good ce?¡±

    Such an environment was only one level below the city lord¡¯s mansion. Howe it had been given to an outsider? Su Yueyuan observed the house suspiciously and found that it was rather cramped. There were only three rooms in total and the decorations were fairly simple, consisting only of a few wooden sculptures. The craftsmanship on them was nothing remarkable, either.

    There was no mistake, this was a courtyard usually given to the lowest-ranked generals and external experts.

    At this moment, a tranquil voice suddenly arrived from beside him. ¡°Young Noble, this is your family¡¯s estate. Don¡¯t you recognize it?¡±

    Su Yueyuan actually had no idea that there was someone beside him. Startled, he turned about rapidly and saw an indescribabledy standing at the study door.

    Her appearance could only be described as ordinary¡ªneither outstanding nor wed. ording to reason, Su Yueyuan would forget about such a woman soon afterward. For some reason, though, he couldn¡¯t avert his gaze after seeing her.

    In addition to her face, her structure was extremely good. Be it her outlines or the ratio of her body, all of them were perfect and wless. It was just that no matter how perfect the body, it couldn¡¯t cover her ordinary looks.

    She was wearing ordinary clothes and possessed ordinary looks. The only thing extraordinary was the woman herself.

    Su Yueyuan suddenly realized that he had lost hisposure. This woman was merely standing there, almost like a part of the scenery, yet she could make people palpitate.

    ¡°This, thisdy...¡± Su Yueyuan had always been good with words, but now he was stammering and didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Thedy pointed at the chairs in the courtyard. ¡°Young Noble Su, please sit.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll sit.¡± Su Yueyuan sat down as he was told, and even then, he didn¡¯t dare get toofortable. He had never been so nervous, even when his father had taken him to meet a divine champion when he was young. At this point, he was also a famed expert in the younger generation. Howe he had deteriorated?

    Thedy sat down at the table. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be polite, Young Noble, this ce is your family¡¯s, to begin with. Us husband and wife are only staying here temporarily.¡±

    ¡°Husband and wife?¡± Su Yueyuan felt his chest tighten.

    ¡°My husband is Zhao Ye. He¡¯s beenmissioned by City Lord Su and is now fighting outside the city.¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice was calm and collected, almost as though she had no emotional fluctuations.

    ¡°Zhao Ye, Zhao Ye...¡± Su Yueyuan muttered the name several times before recalling that it was the person he hade to see. He sat there restlessly, his thoughts sluggish and filled with weird ideas. A feeling of deep disappointment filled his heart when he heard Nighteye mention her husband.

 Chapter 759: Nightmare

    Su Yueyuan forced out a smile. ¡°It is our citizens¡¯ fortune, and also the Su family¡¯s fortune, that General Zhao is willing to fight for us.¡±

    At the mention of Qianye, Nighteye smiled faintly. ¡°All he knows is about fighting and killing.¡±

    ¡°That might be so, but the neutralnds are far from peaceful and there¡¯s danger lurking everywhere. Only an expert can ensure the safety of his family.¡± Su Yueyuan felt that he no longer knew how to talk. His conversation had no substance.

    ¡°Only a character like City Lord Su can be called an expert.¡± Whatever Nighteye said, she made everyone feel as though it was a matter of fact and not intentional praise.

    Su Yueyuan had a strange feeling that only an expert like Su Dingqian could leave a mark in her heart.

    After chatting a while longer, Su Yueyuan excused himself and left. He was practically fleeing as he exited the courtyard.

    Liu Daoming was rushing over at this moment, looking quite anxious and his every step as quick as the wind. He couldn¡¯t help but be startled upon seeing Su Yueyuaning out from thepound. ¡°You¡¯re out?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Su Yueyuan¡¯s brain was still muddled. He nced back once and confirmed that the courtyard doors were still behind him.

    ¡°This... nothing happened, right?¡± Liu Daoming inquired in due seriousness.

    They were currently at war, and Qianye was someone Su Dingqian attached great importance to. If something were to happen at home while he was out fighting¡ªespecially when it was rted to the city lord¡ªit would cause an uproar among the experts, and no one would be willing to work for the Su family anymore.

    These independent experts lived to fight, but they had no concept of loyalty and devotion. If one were to push them out, they would appear in the other faction¡¯s ranks on the battlefield. This was also the reason why Su Dingqian was recruiting so many experts. One more expert recruited meant one less enemy, and this was no small matter.

    Seeing Liu Daoming so tense, Su Yueyuan felt somewhat baffled. ¡°I came out after exchanging a couple of words. What could ever happen?¡±

    ¡°All is good then.¡± Liu Daoming heaved a sigh of relief and refrained from asking why Su Yueyuan had gone to Qianye¡¯s courtyard.

    After the man¡¯s departure, Nighteye remained seated in the courtyard, reading a book in great detail. It was almost as though there was no end to this book and that she would continue reading eternally. This was no different from when she was back in the empire.

    Within the room, Little Zhuji let out a yawn. She had finally woken up from her sleep but was still feeling a bit groggy. Seemingly sensing something, she sat up abruptly with her hair standing on end!

    In a split second, she flipped over andnded on all fours, keeping her body close to the ground in abat-ready position. Her young spirit felt as though a pair of giant eyes were looking at her. That existence was iparably lofty and contained a terrifying aura of antiquity. A mere nce was enough to nearly immobilize Zhuji.

    At this point, Zhuji was acting half on intelligence and half on instinct. It was precisely this inherent terror that filled her with the urge to run away.

    At this moment, Nighteye looked up and said calmly, ¡°Awake?¡±

    The voice roused little Zhuji from her nightmare and dragged her back to reality. She jumped off the bed with an ¡°ah¡±, wanting to pounce into Nighteye¡¯s arms. Just as she hadnded, however, her legs gave way and caused her to fall down. She rolled several times over and couldn¡¯t mber up for the moment.

    With how strong her body was, not to mention falling off her bed, she would be fine even if she jumped off a hundred-meter cliff. Why couldn¡¯t she even stand up?

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°No more strength,¡± the little fellow said with a bitter expression. Exchanging a nce with those eyes had drained her of all energy.

    Nighteye sighed, apparently helpless about her mischief. She walked to Zhuji¡¯s side and lifted her up, saying, ¡°Now you¡¯re fine, right?¡±

    Zhuji was swaying about and seemed as though she would copse at any moment. She grabbed onto Nighteye¡¯s sleeves and said, ¡°I think I had a nightmare.¡±

    Nighteye crouched down in front of her. ¡°Oh? This is your first nightmare, right? What did you dream off? Tell me.¡±

    Zhuji gave it some thought. ¡°I¡¯ve forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Think harder.¡±

    Thess tried hard to recall what she had dreamt off. After a long while, she said with a sour expression, ¡°I¡¯ve really forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Very well then.¡± Nighteye got up, but Zhuji pulled her back, saying, ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    Zhuji had just eaten her fill a day ago. She had already passed the phase where she had to eat every day. Recently, a single full meal would usuallyst her several days, during which she would digest the food and absorb its essence. Her sudden deration of hunger meant that she had used up most of her energy stores.

    Nighteye sighed helplessly and went into the kitchen with a cheerful Zhuji following close behind. There wererge pieces of high-quality beast meat piled up in the kitchen. Some of them, Qianye had bought before leaving for battle, while the others were from the small house by the sea.

    With Zhuji¡¯s eating habits, just food expenditure alone cost hundreds of gold coins each day. She would devour over ten thousand gold coins worth of food every month. Under normal circumstances, she alone could gobble up the entire military budget of an expeditionary army division. This little fellow wasn¡¯t someone ordinary people could raise.

    Only after returning to his residence and seeing Bluemoon did the tongue-tied Su Yueyuan wake up from his reverie. Everything that had happened just now seemed like a dream. Now that he thought back to it, his actions were all rather odd andpletely unlike himself.

    ¡°Young Noble Su, is something the matter? You don¡¯t look so good,¡± Bluemoon inquired.

    ¡°No no, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m doing very well! You take a rest first, I have some business to attend to.¡± Su Yueyuan fled after replying thus.

    Watching his receding figure, a barely discernible wisp of gloominess emerged in Bluemoon¡¯s eyes.

    ...

    Meanwhile, in the wilderness, Qianye had just taken out a Crystal Spider scouting party. This time, he had no intention of interrogating them¡ªhe merelyunched a violent ambush and ended the battle in a sh. He then left without even cleaning the battlefield, almost as though he were hiding from someone.

    After Qianye¡¯s departure, a grey shadow suddenly appeared in the distance. After the mysterious assassin came into being, the defense-specialist knight also materialized out of thin air. The two of them gazed speechlessly in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± the knight asked.

    ¡°What else can we do? He never stays anywhere for more than three seconds. At this distance, I won¡¯t hit him even if I manage to take aim. There¡¯s no opportunity at all.¡± The grey assassin¡¯s voice was oddly distorted, fluctuating in volume, and inexplicably ufortable to listen to.

    The knight said slowly, ¡°He should¡¯ve found us by now.¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily, it looks more like professional caution to me. He himself must be a good sniper because only a sniper will know how to prevent getting sniped.¡±

    ¡°You think he doesn¡¯t know we¡¯re tailing him?¡±

    The grey figure replied calmly, ¡°He shouldn¡¯t know. If he did, he wouldn¡¯t have ambushed that scouting party. Even a small opening during the battle would give me the opportunity to fire, and you should know that if I open fire, he only has a fifty percent chance of evading.¡±

    The knight remained silent.

    The grey shadow sneered, ¡°Even if we get into a head-on sh, I still have you, right? He can¡¯t break through your defenses. If you can keep him bogged down, I¡¯ll surely find the opportunity to kill him.¡±

    The knight seemed quite confident in his defensive prowess. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll keep on chasing him. But it¡¯s best if you don¡¯t kill him when you fire. This person is very sharp and might actually be a good candidate for a team member.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re good at everything except that one thing. In your heart, the organization is more important than anything else!¡±

    ¡°The organization was built from that sire¡¯s sweat and blood.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine, I won¡¯t argue with you. I¡¯ll be merciful when the timees.¡±

    The two once again went into hiding and chased after Qianye.

    Qianye ambushed yet another scouting party, but things didn¡¯t go all that well this time. This small unit was actually led by a viscount. This viscount was a rare proto-arachne¡ªhe had no human upper body and was simply arge spider from head to toe. He had disguised himself as a servspider and only erupted with power after Qianye had charged into their midst. A pair of razor-sharp limbs stabbed at Qianye¡¯s back at lightning speed. Thetter did his best to evade but failed to dodge the attack entirely, suffering a sh to the back.

    With a muffled groan, Qianye spun around and fired. The massive firepower of the grade-seven weapon sent the arachne viscount flying, two of his limbs being blown away in the process. Qianye also seemed injured¡ªhe turned and fled the battlefield instead of giving chase.

    The arachne viscount mbered up and summoned his subordinates to help him dress the wounds. This kind of injury couldn¡¯t be considered lethal, but hisbat strength would suffer greatly. He gazed at the direction of Qianye¡¯s departure with eyes full of horror.

    Even though Cui Yuanhai¡¯s gun had many deficiencies here and there, firepower was the only thing it wasn¡¯tcking in. Being shot by this weapon wasparable to a st from a cannon, something that filled the valiant arachne viscount with dread.

    The viscount gave it some thought, and then issued the order to retreat. With the core fighting power of the group injured, the unit¡¯sbat strength would be reduced by half. That was too dangerous during such times. He turned back into a wounded servspider and mixed into the leaving group.

    The arachne viscount felt safer and more rxed after covering over ten kilometers without any mishaps. At this point, a dark grey bullet whistled through the air and drilled into his body, urately shattering his arachnid nucleus.

    The squad didn¡¯t even notice the arachne viscount turning limp, up until he copsed with a loud boom.

    The knight appeared like a specter with the Unbreakable Bulwark in hand. As the origin shield danced about, its edges turned into terrifying sharp weapons no enemy could block. Flesh and blood flew about in the blink of an eye as the entire Crystal Spider scouting party was wiped out.

    The knight didn¡¯t seem all too happy about this impressive aplishment. The grey figure appeared beside him, saying, ¡°It¡¯s nothing rming. We¡¯ve already lost him anyway, right?¡±

    The knight patted his hands. It seemed as though he were wiping away some nonexistent bloodstain and producing sounds of grinding metal as he did so. The grey figure couldn¡¯t help but cry out, ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t make that disgusting sound! It¡¯s not my fault that we lost him. That¡¯s your responsibility, okay?¡±

    The knight made no reply. He walked around the battlefield, butchering the surviving people with his shining shield.

    The grey figure seemed ready topromise. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s forget about this problem. The appointed time is upon us. We had better get to that damned ce, I really don¡¯t want to bump into those things.¡±

    Finally convinced, the knight left with the grey figure.

 Chapter 760: Army at the Borders

    Qianye halted his steps as the sensation of being followed suddenly vanished. Qianye broke into an upset frown. ¡°Howe they¡¯re so impatient?¡±

    It wasmon for the hunter to spend days following the prey on the battlefield. Qianye had revealed several openings in this game of cat and mouse, but the other party didn¡¯t take the bait. Apparently, they were also master-level hunters. Qianye was worried that there might be other hidden experts in addition to the duo. If it was just the two, however, Qianye could erupt with full power and use East Peak to prove that knight¡¯s Unbreakable Bulwark was little more than a bluff.

    Regardless, being free of the hunters was a liberating sensation. Things had dragged out this long because Qianye had been looking for a good opportunity to kill them. This was, after all, a battle of mercenaries¡ªQianye didn¡¯t want to take big risks or get injured unless it was necessary.

    The war had just begun, but his aplishment in recent days was already worth a Dreameater Bug, at least. He hadn¡¯t let down Su Dingqian at all.

    For the entire day that followed, Qianye didn¡¯t run into any proper squad, nor did he find any lone experts. The battlefield was oddly quiet, almost as though there was never any life here.

    Any old veteran who had been on the battlefield would know that this wasn¡¯t a good thing. Qianye stopped roaming around and, instead, found a location with good visual range in which to hide and observe the changes.

    The changes came at dawn.

    Qianye, who was sitting in peaceful meditation, was woken up by vibrations from the ground. As a qualified hunter, he determined that the source of these small but rhythmic tremors were dozens of kilometers away. Something that could shake the ground from so far away¡ªthis caused Qianye to be serious.

    The vibrations slowly intensified, proof that the source was moving closer. Qianye made no movement and withdrew his aura to the extreme. Enemy experts would soon appear on the battlefield at this time, and perhaps there were truly powerful characters scanning the battlefield. The oue of being discovered under such circumstances wouldn¡¯t be all that great.

    As the tremors intensified, a row of dark shadows charged through the distant, misty night to appear in Qianye¡¯s vision.

    It was a group of heavily armored warriors advancing toward Port City in an orderly formation. At three meters each, these soldiers were exceptionallyrge and tall. Their upper body was in human form, while their lower parts resembled fat bugs. They seemed somewhat simr to the arachne, but they had four thick elephant-like legs instead.

    The warriors were all carrying heavy weapons that looked like some sort of machinery and continued moving at a constant speed.

    Row after row of them appeared. In the blink of an eye, thousands of them had appeared before Qianye¡¯s eyes and there was an endless stream of them still emerging from the mist.

    Qianye even suspected whether they were creatures or machines. Even mechanical puppets couldn¡¯t be that orderly.

    ¡°Ang...¡± A long cry arrived from the distance and echoed throughout the wilderness. A gigantic beast, several dozen meters in height, appeared over the horizon, and it was also moving toward Port City step by step. Its steps looked fairly slow, but in truth, every stride covered over ten meters of ground.

    The creature¡¯s back was armored and there was a small fort installed upon it. It was actually a tamed warbeast.

    The giant warbeast wasn¡¯t alone. Behind them, two more of such creatures emerged from the morning mist.

    A dense array of soldiers emerged from behind the beasts. Every step taken by thetter shook the earth and jolted the heavy trucks apanying them. Yet, these tenacious transport vehicles maintained their advance. There were also a number of soldiers who had decided to walk beside the trucks, likely because they couldn¡¯t stand the bumpy ride.

    Qianye looked up at the sky and, as expected, saw numerous giant airships. These aerial vessels weren¡¯t cutting-edge warships. Judging from their bloated forms, they could only be cargo vessels. However, that was what made it even more terrifying because only cargo airships could move arge number of soldiers and supplies.

    The ground and sky were filled with tides of both flesh and iron, rolling toward Port City. This army moved through the night and never stopped to rest; it would reach the city in a day at most. Perhaps, at this point, Port City was still unaware of this impending cmity.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was unsightly. He had considered many scenarios, but even in the worst one, he had not imagined the appearance of such a giant army.

    In the blink of an eye, a thought emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind. Port City was about to fall.

    He wasn¡¯t that concerned about whether or not the city could hold out. After all, he only needed to put in enough effort to match the reward he had received. However, Nighteye and Zhuji were still in the city. Once the city had fallen, anything could happen in the chaos. Qianye stopped watching the army and silently made his way toward Port City.

    One day of preparation would give Port City a better chance. At the very least, Su Dingqian could bring his main army outside of the city and slowly contend with the enemy, using space to exchange for time. In the neutralnds, there was no shortage of territory for those possessing experts and armies.

    As for the civilians in the city, it was the same for them whoever the lord was. The only difference would be the quality of their lives.

    At only a couple hundred kilometers of distance, Port City came into Qianye¡¯s view before long. The city, at this moment, was in chaos. People were pouring out of the gates with their luggage in tow and scattering in every direction.

    Qianye realized, to his relief, that the city lord had already received word of the great army descending upon them. A batch of civilians had already left a while ago, the current exodus a clear indication that everyone knew the enemy was upon them.

    Many people had fled the city, but those who stayed behind were even greater in number. Most residents had confidence in Su Dingqian since, after all, he had protected this city for so many years. A divine champion was a god-like existence in the neutralnds.

    Qianye entered the gates and went back home first.

    The little courtyard was as peaceful and tranquil as a spring day, a stark contrast to the disorderly situation outside. Zhuji was asleep in the room while Nighteye was reading a book in the yard. It was just that the book, ¡°A Brief History of the Empire¡± was now ¡°Geography and Scenery of the Neutral Lands¡±.

    Qianye was dazzled for a moment upon seeing Nighteye. It seemed as though some part of her had changed, but the feeling vanished in the blink of an eye. Upon careful observation, she was still the Nighteye he knew. Even though the mask could disguise her appearance, there was no way to change her body structure and charm.

    ¡°Dazed?¡± Nighteye chuckled.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Qianye swept the abnormality to the back of his head. ¡°There¡¯s bad news. The enemy forces are too strong for Port City to defend against. I need to pass this intelligence to the City Guard and have them make preparations. You pack up our things and prepare to leave with Zhuji.¡±

    ¡°How about you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll stay behind since I promised to help Su Dingqian defend the city. Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯ll definitely escape if things go south. You should leave first with Zhuji and find a good ce to hide. I¡¯lle looking for you.¡±

    Nighteye smiled. ¡°Safe ce? There¡¯s no safe ce in the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye said after some contemtion, ¡°Why not head to the Spider Emperor¡¯s territory. It¡¯s rtively peaceful, and there are a lot of humans living there.¡±

    Nighteye shook her head, saying, ¡°No, I¡¯ll remain here. If we work together, we can escape even from a divine champion.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°That¡¯s fine, but stay in the courtyard as long as you can. Don¡¯t participate in the battles.¡±

    Hiding Nighteye¡ªsomeone who possessed nearly the samebat strength as Qianye¡ªwas more or less keeping an ace card up their sleeve. She was a professional both in terms of frontal assault and concealed sniping. She could easily give the ignorant enemy a big surprise.

    Qianye left for the city guard headquarters in a hurry. In truth, the reason he had decided to stay behind and defend the city was because of the remaining two Dreameater Bugs the city lord had promised him.

    After Qianye¡¯s departure, Nighteye¡¯s lips curled up into an ineffable smile.

    In the war room, Su Dingqian was ashen-faced, standing with his hands sped behind him. Liu Daoming, Su Yueyuan, and a number of other defending generals were present with worried countenances.

    ¡°Anyone have any suggestions on what we should do now?¡± Su Dingqian inquired.

    The people below nced at one another awkwardly. In the end, it was Liu Daoming who braced himself to reply, ¡°Sire, under the present circumstances, abandoning the city is the best option.¡±

    ¡°Abandon? Since I arrived in thisnd, I have never left it before!¡± Su Dingqian¡¯s voice was thunderous.

    However, Liu Daoming shared a deep rtionship with him and was thus allowed to keep on talking. ¡°Sire, the only thing valuable in Port City is the Earth Dragon. What else in the city is worth anything? They¡¯re nothing but cumbersome things. As long as you remain, we remain, we can definitely take back the city.¡±

    Su Dingqian frowned in silence. At this time, Su Yueyuan said, ¡°Father, an army of such scale means that the three forces have already formed an alliance. There¡¯s simply no way for us to fight them head-on. Let them have this ce first, they might even start fighting amongst themselves when they no longer have amon target.¡±

    Su Dingqian roared, ¡°Frivolous! Right now, we don¡¯t know if they¡¯ve formed an alliance or not. How do you know if there¡¯ll be infighting after they take Port City?¡±

    Su Dingqian¡¯s eyes flickered as he struggled internally. Liu Daoming knew the city lord was hesitating whether or not to initiate an all-out battle. Although Su Dingqian¡¯s cultivation among the divine champions was mediocre, he was fairly well known for his powerfulbat strength. The man was confident in fleeing even after facing arge army in battle. The problem was that such a battle would wipe out their entire force except for Liu Daoming and a handful of high-ranking experts.

    Someone like Su Dingqian would only calcte the gains and losses, paying very little heed to the casualties. There was never ack of experts willing to attach themselves to a king.

    A worried Liu Daoming said after some contemtion, ¡°Sire, perhaps the enemy is here for the Earth Dragon.¡±

    ¡°Earth Dragon!¡± Su Dingqian was enlightened. He had been in Port City all this time but never had any designs on the dragon. That was why he had never considered things in that direction. Now that Liu Daoming had reminded him, he said with a cold smile, ¡°They¡¯re really quite ambitious!¡±

 Chapter 761: Vasuki

    As a divine champion who had been associated with the Earth Dragon for several decades, Su Dingqian was naturally aware of the terrors of this terrifying subterranean void colossus. Back then, he had suffered greatly while trying to sound it out and didn¡¯t even get very far under the ground. Since then, he no longer dared to provoke the dragon.

    Liu Daoming seized the opportunity to say, ¡°We can fight schemes with schemes and let them have this ce. They will need marquis-level people to explore the secrets of the Earth Dragon. We can kill our way back after they¡¯ve suffered a loss and maybe even finish off some famous bastards. At that time, their internal situation will also fall into instability, and they¡¯ll have no choice but to negotiate with us.¡±

    The glow in Su Dingqian¡¯s eyes flickered as he paced about. In the end, he made up his mind and said, ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll do it that way! But we must defend for a length of time no matter what. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be too easy for them if we run without a fight, the other party might suspect a scheme.¡±

    Everyone felt relieved upon seeing that Su Dingqian had decided to leave. At this point, Su Yueyuan recalled something. ¡°We might as well dispatch all those outsiders for the defensive battle. They¡¯ve received a lot of rewards, so it¡¯s only right that they should die for Port City.¡±

    Su Dingqian gave it some thought before saying, ¡°Fine!¡±

    At this moment, Qianye had just finished handing in his contributions at the city guard headquarters. The logistics officer was tongue-tied after checking the proofs of contribution. ¡°A viscount and twenty-one high-ranking soldiers! It¡¯s only been a couple of days, Sir Zhao, you really shocked me. The intelligence you brought back is also a part of your contributions.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more proficient in sniping, as you know. That¡¯s how things are in this phase of the battle.¡± Qianye smiled.

    There were only scouting parties in the wilderness during the early phases of battle. This was when snipers found it easiest to harvest contributions. The officer said with a nod, ¡°That¡¯s true, the battle toe won¡¯t be that easy to fight, sigh!¡±

    ¡°Any news?¡± Qianye inquired.

    The logistics officer nced around and said in a whisper, ¡°I heard that the enemies have formed a coalition! The big army you saw must be theirbined forces!¡±

    Qianye was startled. He had long since suspected this, but it had finally been proved. Despite the mediocre position, logistics officers were privy to quite a bit of secret information.

    ¡°Then, what do we do? This city won¡¯t hold,¡± Qianye probed.

    The officer smiled wryly. ¡°How should I know? Small characters like us can only hand our fate to the heavens. City lords will surely use us to do the heavy-lifting, I can only hope it won¡¯t be too bad.¡±

    Qianye nodded sympathetically.

    It was at this time that a low-pitched bugle echoed throughout the city, a signal for all officers to assemble. Momentster, following a mournful rm, the city gates slowly closed up. Those who hadn¡¯t left the city at this point could only remain within. In truth, the fate of those who had just left wasn¡¯t that great, either. They would soon be run down by the pursuing cavalry before they could run very far.

    Qianye rushed toward the city lord residence, with many others joining the march in quick session. These were the independent experts whom Su Dingqian had recruited to fight for Port City. Many of them, however, seemed to be in a bad mood after receiving word of the situation. There were also some whose faces were ovee with bloodthirst, likely fierce characters who wanted to take this opportunity to earn a fortune.

    Momentster, the group had gathered in the za outside of the city lord¡¯s mansion. The entirety of the city guard andw enforcement unit had also assembled here. Su Dingqian rose into the air above the main building and stared down at the crowd, his divine-champion might overflowing like the tides. The suppression stifled everyone, so much so that some of the weaker warriors found their knees trembling and their footing, unstable. Fortunately, Su Dingqian was quite appropriate in his behavior, holding his power at a precise level where no one would be humiliated.

    The city lord scanned the scene and said in a clear voice, ¡°The enemy soldiers are at the walls. They look powerful but are actually quite weak at the core. I¡¯ll forego the empty words and only hope everyone will defend the city with me in this battle to the death! Port City has never fallen for thirty years, and it will not fall today. Untalented as I may be, I¡¯m willing to fight to thest moment alongside you and will never be the one to leave first!¡±

    These words were resolute and decisive, immediately causing everyone¡¯s blood to boil. Many people broke out into a battle-cry!

    Seeing that the present morale was still feasible, Su Dingqian nodded in secret. Liu Daoming immediately stood forward and began assigning people their defensive duties.

    Qianye followed a small group of city guard soldiers to his designated zone. As someone who had received the most rewards, he was naturally assigned to the most dangerous area, one that would sustain the direct impact of the iing army.

    At this moment, Qianye was calm, collected, and unmoved by Su Dingqian¡¯s encouragement. He had seen no small number of divine champions in his life and even traded blows with one. He knew very clearly that, despite those vehement words, Su Dingqian could easily break through the siege and escape even after everyone else had fallen.

    As and surrounded by enemies and war, the city guards here were actually quite powerful and organized in their mobilization. Within moments, the entire warzone had been manned and the armory at the back, opened wide. A small mountain of munitions and arms were being delivered to the critical areas in a timely fashion.

    By imperial and Evernight standards, all citizens of the ands were soldiers. Anyone willing to aid in the defense would receive weapons and supplies. In this manner, an army of ten thousand suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Yet, this was quite a bleed to Su Dingqian¡¯s treasury, enough to exhaust his umtions for the past ten years.

    The military supply department was packed full of people, many of whom were rushing toward the city walls after receiving their equipment. The logistics officer was drenched in sweat. Although he had summoned a dozen or so men to help him out, he was still desperate to grow another pair of arms.

    A youngdy appeared before him at this busy time. She was shrouded in a cloak, revealing only a pair of eyes. She passed the logistics officer a list which shocked the man out of his wits. However, he didn¡¯t dare inquire further since the papers had the city lord¡¯s seal on them. He quickly ran back to the warehouse and, with the help of two assistants, brought back arge crate.

    There was a multi-barreled vulcan cannon atop the crate¡ªits barrels were one size thicker than the norm, and the muzzles were equipped with specialized cooling and stabilization arrays. The body of the firearm itself was filled with origin patterns. Weighing several hundred kilograms, this cannon was made for use by powerful experts and only two of such weapons existed in Port City.

    The considerate logistics officer fixed the gun onto the crate and nced about in search of the girl¡¯s followers as he ced the load in front of her. Just as he was about to ask, the young girl grabbed the gun and ammunition crate with her right hand and left. She was so at ease that it looked like she was carrying a basket of vegetables.

    The logistics officer¡¯s mouth fell open, and he could hardly believe his eyes. The crate of ammunition was even heavier than the vulcan, a couple of tons at least. The contrast was really too great to see that frail young girl carrying all of that away.

    Only after the girl had left did the logistics officer recall that her body ratio was somewhat off, yet he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on how so.

    Bluemoon walked out of the supply depot and tossed the crate and gun onto a heavy truck. Just as she was about to board the vehicle, a certaindy appeared in her field of vision.

    This woman wasn¡¯t beautiful but possessed a perfect body structure. The odd thing was that no one noticed her as she walked through the street, almost as though she were nonexistent. Bluemoon blinked, and as expected, the womanpletely vanished from her senses once she had closed her eyes. Only when she opened her eyes could she see this person walking.

    Bluemoon had discovered her existence because there was an extremely mild scent that caught her attention. The fragrance was beyond faint, but it was also extremely familiar¡ªit was the scent of desire.

    ¡°Dreameater Bug!¡± Some fluctuations appeared in Bluemoon¡¯s eyes.

    As though noticing someone¡¯s eyes on her, thedy shot a nce at Bluemoon. Then, she proceeded toward the military supply area, almost as though thetter were just an unassuming, ordinary person.

    The logistics officer hadn¡¯t yet recovered from his shock at this point. He had remained in a daze and only came to when he saw a hand waving in front of him.

    In front of him was an ordinary young girl whose facial features could barely be considered pretty. However, the officer suddenly felt interested because his instincts told him that this girl would bring him a surprise. Just like that Bluemoon, this kind of conversational topic would allow him to brag until he was a senile old man.

    ¡°I want a sniper rifle,¡± said Nighteye.

    ¡°Sniper rifle? Okay, what grade?¡±

    ¡°Any grade is fine.¡±

    The logistics officer gave it some thought, and then went back to the warehouse briefly. Afterward, he returned with a sniper rifle built in a typical neutralnd style and ced it in front of her. ¡°What about this one?¡±

    The assistant beside him was shocked. ¡°Sir, this...¡±

    The officer waved his hand. ¡°You lot, shut up!¡±

    This sniper rifle was actually grade-seven. Because it had originated in the neutralnds, its firepower was much greater than those of grade-seven weapons from the continent. Perhaps only a grade-eight continental rifle might beparable to the current one. The Carol of Shadows she had in hand was much inferior since Nighteye had to use blood energy to drive the weapon instead of demonic energy.

    The rifle¡¯s barrel was exceptionally long, and the python-decoration coiled around it looked fairly vivid and lifelike. This giant python wasn¡¯t there just for show. In truth, there was a cleverly designed array inside used to stabilize and elerate the shots. The metallic body was well-worn and shiny from many years of use.

    The weapon was overflowing with killing intent just by sitting there on its own, instilling fear in all beholders.

    ¡°This... does it have a name?¡± Nighteye ced her hand on the rifle and murmured softly.

    ¡°Vasuki! Nice name, right? It¡¯s yours if you can use it.¡± The officer¡¯s tone was rather heroic.

    The subordinates around him felt relieved after hearing this. All of them had been observing Nighteye¡ªshe was but an ordinary woman, someone people would quickly forget. Hence, no one raised any objections to the logistics officer¡¯s decision.

 Chapter 762: It Must Cry Thus

    Could it be that this was a hidden expert who had been seen through by the logistics officer? Everyone nced at the man, but howe they had never heard of him being an exceptional judge of character? The reason this officer had gotten this position wasrgely because he was a distant rtive of the Su family.

    The logistics officer himself wasn¡¯t quite sure why he had brought out the Vasuki; it was probably on a whim. This sniper looked ordinary, but in fact, it was a weapon that had been left behind by a powerful deceased expert. The masterpiece of an expert craftsman, its firepower was at grade-eight back in the year and its attribute was extremely bnced. It was on a whole different levelpared to the firepower-focused weapon in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    After the death of that expert, however, the gun fell in grade¡ªits firepower was sharply reduced, and all of its other functions saw a noticeable decline. Yet, the requirements for using it remained the same. This meant that only those capable of firing a grade-eight weapon could use it.

    There were rumors circting in thend that the gun had sealed its own strength because it was unwilling to be controlled by a mediocre person. Such hearsay couldn¡¯t be trusted, but the rifle had indeed remained silent since the day it had entered the armory.

    An expert capable of using a grade-eight firearm had to be rank-fifteen at the very least¡ªeven then, he would be drained after a single shot. It wasn¡¯t hard for such an expert to procure a good grade-seven weapon, so who would want to use this one?

    As a grade seven weapon whose requirements exceeded grade seven, its value became much lower. It would sell for the price of a premium grade-six weapon at best.

    The Su family¡¯s younger generation like Su Yueyuan had nevercked resources. He already possessed a grade seven weapon and simply wasn¡¯t interested in this famous but useless thing. As such, the sniper rifle could only sit there to collect dust until today. The logistics officer had brought it out after Su Dingqian decided to open the city¡¯s armory and outfit the citizens.

    As Nighteye ced a hand on the sniper rifle, the weapon let out a distinct, phoenix-like cry, and the origin arrays on the body lit up without exception.

    After seeing this, even ignorant people would know that Nighteye hadpletely mastered this weapon. Everyone in the supply area was shocked! What followed their astonishment was respect¡ªthey no longer dared to size up Nighteye so recklessly. An expert capable of controlling a grade-eight weapon could wipe them out with a wave of their hand.

    ¡°Not a bad gun. Thanks then.¡± Nighteye¡¯s words were always quite short to the point.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± The officer was nervous.

    ¡°Mm? Changed your mind?¡±

    The officer waved his hands. ¡°No, of course not! It¡¯s just that there have always been some problems with this gun. I¡¯ve seen several powerful people try it out before, but the sound it makes when activated is forceful and crude, almost like a dragon¡¯s growl. It¡¯s not this kind of sound.¡±

    Nighteye smiled faintly. ¡°Well, in my hands, this is how it must cry.¡±

    The officer was still contemting Nighteye¡¯s words even after her departure.

    The battle arrived as expected. That odd and terrifying army arrived outside of the city just after midnight. They only stopped to rest for a couple of hours beforeunching the assault. It was as though they werepletely immune to fatigue.

    Those four-legged warriors wearing heavy armor made up the vanguard. They raised their giant shields and pushed toward Port City step by step.

    mes lit up from within the city, followed by a peculiar whistle and an earth-shattering explosion!

    The heavy cannon-turrets of Port City had opened fire at the vanguard unit.

    Qianye was half-kneeling on the wall, observing the battle situation. This wall gave him no sense of security at all as it did little more than to hide his figure. The walls of Port City should be called a stockade, instead, because it was made up of wooden poles. This kind of wooden wall would be hacked apart by any rank-five soldier, not to mention those powerful steel-armored warriors.

    The explosion hadn¡¯t even dispersed when Qianye¡¯s heart sank. The seemingly fierce cannon was quite loud, but the number of steel-d soldiers it had sent flying was quite pitiful. Only a couple of unfortunate blokes at the center of the explosion were sted away. The rest merely staggered from the impact.

    The first wave of explosions was followed by a brief lull on the battlefield. Port City¡¯s cannons were superior to the empire¡¯s in terms of firepower, but the price for that was simr to Qianye¡¯s current handheld cannon¡ªit wascking in uracy and slow to reload.

    A series of gasps emerged from atop the walls as the smoke dispersed. The first volley had only mowed down a hundred or so soldiers out of nearly one thousand, and even those struck down were still struggling to mber up. The real death-toll was no more than a couple dozen.

    Seeing how even the cannons were so ineffective, the guards nced at their origin guns and felt them to be rather flimsy.

    One minuteter, the heavy cannons rumbled once more. Cannon fire rained down like a storm and smashed into the formation of armored soldiers, shrouding the area in smoke once again. This time, however, no one had high expectations for the cannons. As expected, the second volley only killed a dozen or so armored soldiers. In one more barrage, at most, these soldiers would reach the city walls.

    Bang! The glow of an origin bullet tore through the dark night and sted the head of an armored warrior. One of the city guards had lost control and opened fire in advance. This person¡¯s marksmanship was indeed quite good, and add to that the fact that these soldiers were quite slow, the shotnded squarely on its mark.

    However, the results stopped people from rejoicing. The steel soldier fell on his back but managed to mber back up after a while! There was a big depression on his helmet and blood flowing out through the cracks in his armor. Even in such a state, the soldier caught up to the group and entered the formation once more.

    Now, this was fairly terrifying¡ªthe march of the orderly army shook the earth and exerted a pressure that stifled everyone. The guards on the wall began breathing heavily as their heart-rates increased.

    Qianye had participated in countless battles of life and death. He immediately realized that things weren¡¯t looking good because the will of the defensive forces was wavering. If the enemy were to reveal another unexpected aplishment during their assault, the morale of the entire army would crumble instantly.

    Frowning, Qianye gripped the origin gun in his hand. Only then did he recall that it wasn¡¯t the Thunderbolt he was used to firing, nor was it the Carol of Shadows¡ªCui Yuanhai¡¯s gun wasn¡¯t particrly urate from hundreds of meters away.

    The enemy had also noticed the wavering morale of the defenders. Another mournful bugle echoed through the air!

    Anggggg! Several resounding cries rang out on the battlefield that caused the ears of the defenders to ring.

    Three massive warbeasts raised their heads and began trotting toward Port City.

    The speed at which such giant beasts jogged was faster than a swift shadow panther. Neither the city walls nor the buildings within could deter their charge. Qianye had no doubt that the three beasts could easily plow three giant paths through the city if no one were to stop them.

    A series of gunshots emerged and quickly turned into a continuous stream. The guards on the walls fired with all their might, pouring all the ammunition they had onto the steel warriors. The heavy cannons were also rumbling, firing into the enemy formation and at the moving warbeasts.

    One urate cannon shell struck a giant beast¡¯s chest, sending its chest te flying and revealing the yellow skin underneath. However, the beast was uninjured except for some ck marks. It didn¡¯t stop, either, and kept up its steady forward momentum.

    A direct hit from the heavy cannon was no more than a mosquito bite to the warbeast. The army¡¯s morale fell once more as this direct hit dealt them a worse blow than if it hadn¡¯t hit.

    Sighing in his heart, Qianye pushed a fist-sized bullet into the gun. He knew that this battle was going to be hard, but he hadn¡¯t expected it to be this hard.

    At this point, the warbeasts were closing in on Port City and the small forts on their backs were starting to fire. The soldiers within fired from high ground and effectively suppressed the city guard on the walls. Within moments, the defending army had been pinned to the wall with heavy casualties.

    The airships in the sky began to stir as the enemymander noticed their advantage. These vessels weren¡¯t battleships¡ªone could well imagine how dominant the enemy side was when even old cargo ships were joining in on the suppression.

    Just as the situation was about to fall apart, a draconic cry echoed through the night sky and shook thend hundreds of kilometers out. Even the roars of the three warbeasts were drowned out!

    Su Dingqian¡¯s silhouette suddenly appeared in the sky above Port City. With his fiery sword in hand, he looked much like a divine soldier from the purgatory. The entire battlefield fell silent at the moment of his appearance.

    The city lord raised his left hand and pointed at the foremost warbeast. Knowing that it had met its nemesis, the giant creature roared with its head raised and itsrge body came to a screeching halt. It was actually trying to turn tail and run.

    Su Dingqian had already unleashed a sh from afar.

    A beam of fiery red sword radiance traversed thousands of meters and brushed past the giant beast¡¯s neck.

    The creature erupted in a hysterical cry and started shaking off the soldiers on its back. This movement opened up theceration on his neck in a gush of fresh blood that rained down on the battlefield.

    This wound was extremelyrge and deep¡ªalthough it hadn¡¯t managed to decapitate the creature, the strike had shed through half its neck. This wasn¡¯t an injury the warbeast could take despite its massive build.

    Su Dingqian had established his might with a single strike!

    Thunderous cheers erupted both in and outside the city. The surging morale urged the defense forces to fight with greater ferocity, momentarily stabilizing the situation.

    The death of a warbeast clearly shook the enemy higher-ups. Following the call of a bugle, the other two creatures also halted their charge and turned back in session. Su Dingqian knew very well when he had to stop. He did not give chase to the warbeasts and merely returned to the city.

 Chapter 763: Mask

    However, the situation was only slightly better even after Su Dingqian had taken action. The armored soldiers were already at the city walls. The wooden stockade was iparably fragile before their heavy weapons, giving way to huge gaps in just a couple of strikes.

    In the blink of an eye, there were holes everywhere and the steel-armored warriors gushed in like a ck tide.

    Atop the city lord mansion, Su Dingqian stood leaning on the railing as he gazed at the battlefield with an ashen face. At this moment, only Liu Daoming and Su Yueyuan were beside him; the rest had been sent to the frontlines.

    Liu Daoming was fine, but a rank-thirteen champion like Su Yueyuan was rather unpresentable in the lineup. Su Dingqian had no other way because all of his cards were here, and he still had to take care of this talented son.

    The trio¡¯s expressions were unsightly as they watched the city walls falling one segment after the other. Liu Daoming was still calm, but Su Yueyuan could bear it no longer. ¡°Father, why not unleash another strike? We won¡¯t be able to hold out at this rate!¡±

    ¡°What''s the rush?¡± Su Dingqian rebuked.

    Liu Daoming shot Su Yueyuan a meaningful nce and stopped him from speaking. Su Dingqian killing the giant warbeast was already the limit. Divine champions had to follow an unspoken rule when taking action. It wasn¡¯t as if the other side wascking in divine champions; their numbers were even greater. If Su Dingqian were to attack wantonly and exhaust his energy, the divine champions on the other side would surely take advantage of the situation to strike.

    Preserving hisbat strength and refraining from attacking was the greatest form of intimidation. At the very least, he could restrain one divine champion and many high-ranking experts. It was even possible for him to keep two divine champions in check.

    However, there would be no other way if the battle below the divine champion level were to crumble.

    On the opposite end of the battlefield, there was a magnificent airship hovering in the night sky¡ªone that would look rather extravagant even in Evernight. Many of the decorations upon it were quite shy, and many of the origin arrays on it were there to maintain the airship¡¯s luster.

    This garish, impractical battleship was extremely famous because it was the Spider Emperor¡¯s ship.

    At this moment, the emperor himself wasn¡¯t here. The person on the main seat was a mysterious person d in white robes and sporting a faint-golden demonic mask. There were a few arachne within themand room, all of them powerful, valiant, and extraordinary. These were the great generals working under the Spider Emperor, but none of them objected to this outsider usurping the master seat.

    That masked person¡ªthe master of the Moonlight Demons¡ªwas just as famous as the Spider Emperor. People neither knew his name nor what he looked like, only his representative mask. But one could very well imagine his character from how the Moonlight Demons operated. The best way to deal with such a powerful and half-crazed expert was to not provoke him.

    This battleship hovered far beyond the battlefield and never approached. Experts would asionally fly up to deliver battle reports. Most of the time, this masked person would only listen to the numbers without expressing anything. The only order he had ever issued was to withdraw the two warbeasts.

    The experts in themand center were feeling quite bored since the battle was developing as smoothly as they had anticipated. As expected, the war beasts forced Su Dingqian tounch an attack. ording to the original n, if the city lord attacked a second time, the masked man would lead them out to surround and kill him.

    At this moment, the eyes of an unmoving spider on the cabin roof lit up. ¡°Mask, what¡¯s the situation?¡±

    This spider was the size of a palm and strangely translucent. The voice with which it had spoken sounded rather old and showed no respect to the leader of the Moonlight Demons.

    The masked person looked up. ¡°Old Spider, you¡¯ve finally appeared?¡±

    The translucent spider said with augh, ¡°I still need to deal with those female spiders back home, how can I have the time? I only have five clones. It¡¯s already good enough that I put one here with you.¡±

    When that translucent spider spoke, all the arachne in the room bowed respectfully. That was because this strange, palm-sized spider was one of the Spider Emperor¡¯s clones. Its function was concealment and long-distancemunication, much like a pair of eyes for the Spider Emperor. Its presence was equal to that of the Spider Emperor himself.

    Mask knew that the Spider Emperor was always like that. He said with a snort, ¡°Su Dingqian has attacked.¡±

    The Spider Emperor¡¯s voice became serious. ¡°He attacked? How are the losses?¡±

    ¡°One Giant Brigley Beast.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not bad. One Brigley for Port City, that¡¯s not a loss.¡± The Spider Emperor seemed rather heartbroken despite saying that.

    Mask snorted. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t have dared to attack if you were here.¡±

    Spider Emperor said, ¡°It¡¯s no use even if I¡¯m there. He¡¯ll attack all the same when he needs to, and we can¡¯t stop him from fleeing, either. It would be just right if the rabid wolf were there. I¡¯m not like you people, my entire family business is in the Eastern sea. I don¡¯t want to face a madman who had lost his foundations.

    Mask remained silent for a moment, seemingly quite distressed as well. ¡°That¡¯s true, only those with foundations have weaknesses.¡±

    The Spider Emperor said, ¡°I don¡¯t think Su Dingqian will fight us to the death. He¡¯s probably thinking about letting us explore the Earth Dragon, and thening back to attack us when we have suffered heavy casualties.¡±

    The masked man said calmly, ¡°His strategy isn¡¯t bad at all. If not for ¡®that¡¯, we wouldn¡¯t have any good way to deal with the dragon, either.¡±

    The Spider Emperorughed. ¡°Indeed, Mask, I know you contributed the most this time. Rest assured, you¡¯ll get as much of the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood as you deserve, not one drop less.¡±

    The masked man¡¯s aura fluctuated slightly at the mention of the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. He was clearly not as calm as he seemed. ¡°Let¡¯s take Port City first before further discussion.¡±

    The Spider Emperor said, ¡°In any case, we just need to fight to the death and make them suffer heavy casualties. Do that and Su Dingqian will flee. I¡¯ll be leaving first if there¡¯s nothing here that needs my attention, I¡¯ll be back in a bit. One of my little beauties have woken up, I need to take a pill!¡±

    That translucent spider waved its fore-limbs in a gesture of farewell, and theny down silently as the emperor¡¯s consciousness departed.

    The masked man shook his head. Propping his chin up with his hand, he fell into deep contemtion.

    At this moment, the defensive lines of Port City were in mes. Thousands of armored soldiers had rushed into the city with less than fifty dead and began fighting the city guards. Port City¡¯s casualty rates rose sharply once the melee battles broke out. The armor on these creatures was simply so thick and heavy that there was no way an ordinary soldier could shoot through them. It would seem that the four, elephant-like legs were its only weaknesses. However, these warbeasts possessed the trampling skill; going near their legs was almost suicidal.

    Qianye was in no rush to join the fray. Instead, he kept on observing these steely warriors for their weakness. On this chaotic battlefield, he was basically in stealth mode after retracting his aura. Perception was an evident shoring of these armored warriors¡ªsometimes, they would ignore Qianye even as he brushed past them.

    After a period of observation, Qianye had a good idea in his mind. When a certain armored warrior charged past him, Qianye leapt up andnded lithely on his back. He pressed his origin gun at the soldier¡¯s back-armor and fired!

    The effects of the old man¡¯s focused firepower became evident at this moment as a single st almost prated the entire upper body of the target. The steel-d warrior actually continued to rush forward, but its body eventually gave way. Its upper body snapped all of a sudden and fell off from the rest of its frame. Even then, the creature was still struggling with all its might, refusing to diepletely.

    Qianye broke into a frown as he nced at the wound. The interiorposition was fairly odd and the innards were a mess¡ªthere were many organs of unknown function, almost as though the creature was designed by someone with no sense of beauty.

    However, there really was nothing special about the bones and skeleton. So, how were they able to withstand the weight of their heavy armor?

    Qianye understood after ncing at the heavy armor. The ting was a type of support structure with its center of gravity on the creature¡¯s legs. The other parts of the warrior¡¯s body weren¡¯t sturdy at all and relied on this heavy armor for protection.

    After realizing this point, Qianye quickly formted a n. He rushed into the midst of several armored soldiers and abruptly unleashed his Oceanic Vortex, suppressing everything in an area ten meters around him.

    The sounds of cracking bones could be heard from the legs of the eight armored warriors around him. Unable to bear the massive weight any longer, the creatures copsed with a boom. These fierce warriors did not know pain and wanted to continue their massacre, but the sudden weight had crushed the bones in their legs. No matter how they struggled, they couldn¡¯t climb back up.

    Qianye withdrew his aura and domain before retreating into the city. His attack was concluded in a sh and controlled within a small area, hence no one discovered the abnormality.

    At this point, the armored warriors were beginning to assail the interior of the city, and the battle had be quiteplicated. Qianye merged into the shadows to join his favorite phase of the battle.

    A steel-d warrior was walking along a narrow street in search of potential enemies and attacking all life in sight, be they soldiers or civilians. It had just passed a house when the wall suddenly shattered and out came Qianye. He shed past the armored warrior and opened fire at its belly.

    The steel-d warriors¡¯ bellies were their weakness. At the very least, their abdominal armor wasn¡¯t strong, and how could the soft abdomen withstand the ravages of a grade-seven gun? Qianye almost sted the target¡¯s abdomen apart, producing a shower of blood and organs.

    That steal-armored soldier struggled and roared, but its mountainous body copsed and blocked the road. Another armored soldier rushed over at this point, but it seemed to feel no sympathy for its deadrade. On the contrary, it grew violent and tossed the corpse to the side with a wave of its heavy axe.

    Qianye reappeared at this point, shing past the warrior¡¯s abdomen and sending it on its way to meet itspatriot.

 Chapter 764: It Shouldâ€™ve Been Hers

    These armored soldiers had no valuable spoils on them, not even any personal items. Hence, Qianye didn¡¯t even spare the corpses a nce¡ªhe immediately dashed into the nearby rubble and disappeared.

    At this moment, there were mes rising up in every part of Port City, and the sound of gunfire rang out continuously. After the irond soldiers had all entered the city, the enemy airships began to deploy soldiers in the tens of thousands below its walls.

    However, a unit sufficient to decide the oue of battle in the empire didn¡¯t really bring about a huge effect. In fact, the situation shifted into a deadlock. There was arge number of civilians inside the city, who, after being outfitted with weapons, had turned into qualified soldiers. They had no good way to deal with the armored soldiers, but the ordinary army behind quickly became their targets.

    Qianye roamed the city like a spirit, reaping the lives of armored soldiers wherever he went. With no effective way to defend against Qianye¡¯s abdominal attack in thisplicated environment, the steel-d enemy soldiers perished one after the other.

    After sting an armored soldier down, he habitually reached for more ammo, but there was nothing left to grab. Only then did he realize that the fifty bullets the old man had left behind had been used up. This batch of bullets borrowed the characteristics of a gunpowder weapon, using ignition to drive the bullet and origin power to harm the enemy. The good thing about this mechanism was that the drain on one¡¯s origin power was minimal when firing this gun. Even with Qianye¡¯s current origin power, he couldn¡¯t quite fire fifty grade-seven bullets in session.

    Qianye sighed as he ced the scorching hot origin gun into Andruil¡¯s space and went on to search for more armored soldiers with East Peak in hand.

    There were simply too many armored warriors in the city. Qianye could already sense seven or eight of them within his perception range. He strode forward and crashed through two walls to appear behind an armored soldier. Drawing power to his de, he chopped off both the creature¡¯s hind legs with a horizontal sh.

    The armored soldier roared furiously and actually dragged his body around with the two remaining forelimbs in search of its assant. Qianye shook his head secretly¡ªthis kind of enemy was truly difficult to tangle with. Apart from its abdomen, there was almost no weakness, and it would continue to fight no matter where it was wounded. This level of vitality wasn¡¯t normal at all.

    Qianye shed out once more and cut the warrior through the waist. Only then did it diepletely.

    At this moment, Qianye recalled the armored soldiers he had crushed with his domain a while ago. He appeared beside one of the steel-d soldiers and spun around it in the blink of an eye, shing off its legs in the process. The creature¡¯s body fell to the ground and could no longer move no matter how much it roared and hissed. Its blood soon converged into a pool below¡ªapparently, it didn¡¯t have long to live.

    With a feasible strategy in hand, Qianye wandered the battlefield like a gust of wind. One after the other, the armored soldiers fell struggling to the ground.

    Within moments, dozens of these warriors had fallen in front of Qianye. He had killed at least a hundred of them since the beginning of the battle.

    Qianye had no intention of stopping here. He followed another armored soldier around the corner and was just about to cut down its legs when a sense of rm came over his heart. He suddenly rolled toward the opposite side and shed away.

    There was an odd-looking young girl standing on the opposite end of the street. She was covered in heavy armor and equipped with force-assistive devices at her joints. She was also carrying arge metallic backpack that would asionally release clouds of steam.

    The girl looked pretty and delicate, but she was carrying a shocking Vulcan cannon in her hand. That strange appearance made it clear that the weapon was a special model. A Vulcan cannon of this size would usually be equipped on airships and used for air-to-ground suppression, sometimes even in air-to-airbat. Now, however, it was being hauled around by this young girl. The multiple barrels started spinning rapidly as she took aim at the steel-d soldier.

    Cursing inwardly, Qianye applied a bit of force to push through the wall and ducked into the house. As expected, the Vulcan cannon roared furiously and sent a stream of mes flying through the street,shing at the armored warrior in a ruthless but impressive fashion. No matter how thick the creature¡¯s skin was, it couldn¡¯t hold out against the barrage ofrge-caliber bullets. And soon, it was pushed back continuously.

    Perhaps its limited intelligence didn¡¯t register what retreat meant. It dug in with its four limbs and began charging against the stream of mes. That caused it to suffer the full brunt of the Vulcan cannon¡¯s attacks. The young girl was iparably urate¡ªthe mes converged into one stream, the entirety of which sted on the warrior¡¯s armored body. Not a single bullet missed its mark.

    After an entire ten seconds of firing, the steel-d warrior¡¯s chest te and helmet were destroyed. At that point, the creature copsed without even the chance to rage and snarl.

    The Vulcan cannon¡¯s rumble had just stopped when a series of cheers broke out on the other end of the street. Someone cried out, ¡°Number eight! Miss Bluemoon is formidable!¡±

    Another person yelled in Qianye¡¯s direction, ¡°That friend over there, no need to hide anymore! The monster has been killed. Come join us in protecting Miss Bluemoon, let¡¯s go and kill the ninth monster together.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you can¡¯t do anything alone, anyway,¡± others chimed in.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He had only retracted his aura without concealing himself since the armored warriors possessed a rather poor range of vision. What he hadn¡¯t expected was that someone on the other side happened to see him.

    But protect that whatever Bluemoon as she kills the armored soldiers?

    In truth, it hadn¡¯t been very long since the battle began. Being able to kill nine armored soldiers was a fairly shocking speed. But not to mention nine, probably more than a hundred and nine had already fallen to his de. The city would surely fall if he were to follow this girl.

    Qianye decided to not show his face since these fellows wouldn¡¯t be able to find him anyway. And even if they did, they wouldn¡¯t dare to operate on their own¡ªthey would¡¯ve been off searching for armored warriors to kill if they were that courageous.

    It was at this moment that someone in the group gasped in astonishment. Another steel-armored warrior had appeared and was charging at them.

    Bluemoon¡¯s expression was unsightly. The Vulcan cannon in her hand was already scalding hot and would likely break down after a hundred more rounds. But there was no way to kill an armored soldier without firing about four hundred rounds. All she could do at this point was rely on the adventurers around her to deter the opponent and stall for time.

    Seeing Bluemoon ncing over at them, the dozen or so people began edging back instead of going forward. No one was willing to wager their lives against this kind of powerful and tenacious opponent.

    At this moment, a beam of green light tore through the skies and struck the nape of the target¡¯s neck. All of a sudden, the steel-d warrior¡¯s head flew high into the air!

    A crisp, resounding gunshot then rang out from the distance.

    The soldier¡¯s headless body swayed somewhat but soon copsed without iling about. Everyone was in a daze as they gazed at the corpse of that steel-armored warrior. They had to spend so much effort to finish off one of these creatures, yet this sniper had killed one just like that?

    Could it be Su Dingqian taking action? Those with some knowledge knew that it wasn¡¯t possible. But who apart from a divine champion could kill an armored warrior so easily?

    By the time everyone nced over to the source of the shot, the marksman was already nowhere to be found.

    Bluemoon was also gazing in that direction. She gritted her teeth and muttered, ¡°Dammit! If it wasn¡¯t for this ursed ce, I wouldn¡¯t suffer such humiliation.¡± No one heard her soft voice amidst the noise of the battlefield.

    Qianye was also startled. He then stared at the nape of the dead soldier¡¯s neck and thought to himself, ¡°So that¡¯s the real weakness!¡±

    Regarding that, he had also dissected quite a few steel-armored soldiers, but he still couldn¡¯t find where the vitals were. Those organs of theirs were all strange-looking; who knew which of them was the most important? In the end, Qianye had no better way than to attack its abdomen and cut off its legs.

    But with these methods, the soldiers would il about for a good while before dying. How could hepare to the stunning shot that had finished off the enemy so efficiently?

    Many things could be seen from the details, but when that shot arrived, even Qianye could only make out the hazy silhouette of ady. The figure had vanished before he could observe clearly. This kind of sniping ability had far surpassed Eden¡¯s.

    Fortunately, she was on his side.

    Qianye charged out of the house with his sword raised. He spent some time to sense the distribution of armored warriors around him and made a beeline for one of them.

    After ramming through three walls, Qianye arrived in a certain street where he found his target as nned. The warrior had just passed by and now had itsrge butt facing him. However, Qianye didn¡¯t attack immediately and, instead, nced at the other end of the street.

    Bluemoon charged out of the street corner, sliding several meters forward beforeing to a sudden halt. Immediately afterward, the Vulcan cannon took aim at the armored warrior and its muzzle began to spin. She had also seen Qianye at this point. Surprised and with a serious expression, she gestured for Qianye to move aside.

    How could Qianye yield the prey that was right in front of him? By the time her cannon was ready to fire, Qianye would¡¯ve finished hacking off the target¡¯s limbs and swaggered off. As for whether Bluemoon was willing to attack a crippled target, that was the least of Qianye¡¯s concerns.

    Origin power surged as East Peak rose high into the air, ready to remove the enemy¡¯s hind legs.

    An unexpected change happened at this point as a green light emerged from the corner of his vision! This beam was rather familiar and caused Qianye¡¯s blood core to beat wildly for a brief moment!

    A bullet traversed the sky and struck the steel-d soldier at the back of his neck, sending an armored head flying into the air.

    Unable to stop the momentum of his sh, Qianye hacked off the warrior¡¯s hind legs. But it was no use¡ªit could be said that the armored soldier was already dead the moment the sniper bullet left its chamber.

    Qianye turned toward the source of this shot, but all he could see was an elegant back. She had actually left after firing the shot, not even bothering to confirm the results.

    Seeing her receding figure, Qianye let go of the mild frustration in his heart. He then leapt over the buildings and into the neighboring street.

    At this point, Bluemoon¡¯s Vulcan cannon had just reached its firing speed. In this seemingly short period, the two rivals had acted out a game of prey-stealing right before her eyes.

    The most important problem was that, at first, this prey was hers.

 Chapter 765: Unexpected Loss

    Bluemoon clenched her teeth and pulled on the trigger, tearing the corpse apart with a stream of metal and fire. This angry attack was a waste of good bullets, but she had nowhere else to vent otherwise.

    Qianye instinctively concealed himself after ducking behind the wall. At this moment, his thoughts weren¡¯t on the battlefield but rather, that woman. Every time, she would only appear for a brief moment, and her figure was fairly blurry. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s astonishing eyesight, there was simply no way to discover her existence.

    The silhouette of her back gave Qianye a sense of familiarity, but she was otherwise a stranger to him. Qianye had a feeling that, under her calm exterior, was an indifferent disdain for all life¡ªit was as if this person was a powerful entity from a different world.

    When had such a powerful woman appeared in Port City? Qianye had thought of Nighteye at first but soon ruled-out this possibility. This person had a different temperament, and that godly marksmanship was also far above Nighteye¡¯s, capable of suppressing anyone Qianye had ever seen. Even Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t reached this level.

    Regardless, it was good news that such a person was willing to stand on their side. Qianye pushed away all distracting thoughts and locked onto a nearby armored warrior.

    This warrior was surrounded by a dozen or so city-guard corpses. Without the restriction of those guards, the creature had started to turn its attention toward the surrounding citizens. It rampaged through the street block, smashing the frail buildings with its gigantic body. The civilians within quickly lost their hiding ces and appeared in his vision.

    The steel-armored soldier emitted a bloodthirsty roar as its axe danced about, cutting down all the civilians in its wake. The warrior seemed particrly fond of ughter and would continue to butcher the corpses even after cutting down its targets.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned gloomy. These monsters only revealed their ughtering instincts after leaving the battlefield. If they were allowed to rampage through the city, one could very well imagine the fate of those residents after the city had fallen. Mobilizing such a weapon meant that the three powers had¡ªcontrary to the norms in the neutralnds¡ªno intention of taking in the civilians of Port City.

    Qianye arrived on the armored soldier¡¯s back with a flicker and thrust East Peak into its neck, all the way to its hilt. The warrior erupted in a short roar but soon copsed to the ground, never to move again.

    This time, Qianye had decided to not hold back anymore.

    It was at this moment that Su Dingqian¡¯s voice echoed in the air, ¡°Everyone, this matter is rted to the continued existence of Port City. The enemy has no intention of leaving the civilians a path of survival. I implore you to assist me in a fight to the death. If only we can hold Port City, I will not hesitate to empty our coffers to reward everyone¡¯s contributions.¡±

    These words caused the eyes of many experts in the city to turn red. As the city lord, Su Dingqian must have umted arge amount of wealth over the decades. Even a small part of it was enough to help all these experts advance by a level, to speak nothing of the entire treasury. How could a divine champion go back on his words?

    Qianye was also moved. The Dreameater Bug was something he needed urgently¡ªSu Dingqian¡¯s willingness to offer it to him meant that it wasn¡¯t the most valuable item in his treasury. There might be better spirit-healing treasures among the products rted to the Earth Dragon.

    Despite knowing the dangers, Qianye decided to let loose and fight for the Dreameater Bug and other potential spirit-healing treasures.

    There were quite a few people with the same thoughts. It could be said that there were some things for an independent expert that could only be chanced upon and not sought. Many were at their cultivation bottlenecks and required certain treasures to take the next step. The only way for them to obtain such resources was to look for them in a divine champion¡¯s treasury.

    Hence, many independent experts decided to go all out and fight this bloody war despite knowing the perils.

    Qianye stopped a small unit of city guards who had just charged out of a street.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Qianye pointed toward the side before proceeding to move out. The soldiers hesitated briefly before following suit¡ªit was naturally best for them if they could follow an expert in this chaotic battle.

    Two armored warriors appeared before Qianye after passing through the street block. He pounced forward without stopping and cut them down on the spot. The soldiers crowded over from behind and, under Qianye¡¯s instructions, stabbed at the wound with their long spears,pletely annihting the enemy soldier¡¯s vitality.

    A fair number of scattered city guards began to follow him during the long raid, and soon, there was a hundred-man team behind him. At this point, Qianye would critically injure the armored soldiers with one sh and allow the soldiers behind him to finish them off.

    Under the assault of dozens of spears, the steel-armored creatures quickly turned into corpses despite their powerful vitality.

    This method was effective in preserving Qianye¡¯s origin power. As more and more soldiers gathered behind him, they became the main fighting force of that city block. With enough followers to guard his nks and clean up the battlefield, his assault became even more efficient. He would usually leave individual foot soldiers to the troops behind him and only took action to scatter the well-organized units in their way. The duty of hunting down survivors after that was delegated to others.

    Within a short period, dozens more armored soldiers had fallen to Qianye¡¯s de.

    On the Spider Emperor¡¯s ship, the masked man stood up all of a sudden. ¡°Why are the puppet warrior casualty rates so high!?¡±

    In front of him, a vampire officer was lying on the ground after concluding thetest battle report. The furious masked man¡¯s suppressive might had pressed the viscount to the floor, his bones creaking and groaning, unable to utter a single word.

    Just the invisible pressure alone had rendered a vampire viscount entirely helpless. All of the Spider Emperor¡¯s generals were filled with dread upon seeing the masked man¡¯s strength.

    Thetter eventually withdrew his aura after realizing that his target could no longer speak.

    The viscount didn¡¯t dare to activate his blood energy and heal his injury. ¡°This lowly one doesn¡¯t dare to lie. Arge number of connection signals have indeed disappeared, over three hundred and eighty during thest count. Now¡­ now¡­¡±

    He didn¡¯t continue speaking, but the meaning in his words was clear. More puppet warriors had died during this period.

    Themand room was deathly silent. Everyone here knew that the puppet soldier was a secret weapon of the Moonlight Demons, and their power was already evident during the assault on the city. They had first estimated a loss of about two hundred of these soldiers in total, but now, they had actually lost twice the amount when the battle had just begun. The oue of the battle was far from decided, so how could the masked man be in a good mood?

    Themander seemed to have realized that being angry was useless. He returned to his seat and sat down with his eyes closed. Momentster, he said, ¡°Where is the Wolf King¡¯s representative? It¡¯s time for them to attack.¡±

    The werewolf¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°Sire, this isn¡¯t what we nned? Your puppet soldiers have charged deep into the city, and they have no distinction between friend and foe. Sending our troops in at this time will result in grave casualties.¡±

    Those steel-armored warriors would massacre all living things apart from their own kind. Hence, there were no other troops near their formation. Ordinary soldiers were transported by airship and only entered the city after the creatures had gone in.

    The lips on themander¡¯s mask actually curved upward into a cold smile. He said slowly, ¡°The old spider has lost a warbeast, and my puppet warriors are suffering heavy casualties. So what if some of your troops die? Your tribesmen aren¡¯t worth much anyway. You can use the dead as fertilizer.¡±

    The werewolf general¡¯s lips moved somewhat, hoping to argue his case. But the masked man turned about at this moment. His cold gaze fell onto the wolf¡¯s body as he said in a cold voice, ¡°If you move out now, I can ignore whether the soldiers you send are humans or werewolves, but if you must wait until the agreed moment, your Second Werewolf Corps can forget about resting. All of them will have to enter the city.¡±

    The werewolf general¡¯s words were stuck in his throat. He could only bow, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go and arrange the assault."

    The second werewolf corps was one of the best legions under the Wolf King, and its officers were all werewolves. It could be considered a private army of his tribe. The Wolf King wouldn¡¯t feel very pained at losing other troops, but the casualties inflicted on the first and second werewolf corps would consist only of the Wolf King¡¯s tribesmen.

    No matter how well-trained the corps were, they were still made of flesh and would suffer all the same around those puppet warriors. Hence, despite the unwillingness, that werewolf general had no choice but to leave the cabin and issue themand to attack.

    The heavy transports roaming around the battlefield started tond, pouring tens of thousands of soldiers into the battlefield. These troops all surged into Port City like the raging tides.

    Within the city, Qianye felt a sudden increase in pressure as a constant stream of enemy soldiers appeared around him. Fortunately, he had rounded up a sizeable band of city guards and civilians, forming a stable battlefront under the cover of theplicatedndscape.

    However, the enemy numbers were simply too great¡ªa new wave would appear after killing one off. The defensive line Qianye had built up with great difficulty was soon tottering on the verge of copse. On several asions, Qianye had to personally kill the enemy officer in order to stabilize the situation.

    Just as Qianye was hesitating whether or not to massacre these ordinary soldiers, one of the nearby buildings burst apart and the heavily armored Bluemoon charged out like a god of death.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up¡ªHighbeards were the best killing weapons on the battlefield, most suitable for mowing downrge numbers of cannon fodder.

    ¡°This way!¡± Qianye shouted.

    Bluemoon also noticed Qianye and the defensive line behind him. She rushed over toward him, crying, ¡°I have some trouble behind me, I¡¯ll leave them to you.¡±

    Soon, a dozen or so steel-armored warriors came into view.

 Chapter 766: The Unbreakable Bulwark

    There was simply no end to these things¡ªno matter how many he killed, there would always be more to rece them. Filled with killing intent, Qianye headed toward the enemy inrge strides.

    Bluemoon was shocked out of her wits. ¡°What are you doing? Are you mad?¡±

    The group of armored warriors surged toward Qianye like a ck tide. At a nce, they seemed poised to devour the skies!

    However, Qianye¡¯sbat arts had reached a stage of great sess. His gait alternated between various speeds as he weaved through the horde and arrived in their midst. The movements of all the armored troops turned sluggish for a short moment which¡ªto experts like Qianye and Bluemoon¡ªwas enough to do many things. East Peak seemed weightless as it danced about, shing off half a dozen legs in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye¡¯s well-timed shes removed only one leg from every soldier. This left the armored warriors still capable of fighting but drastically reduced theirbat strength. Even the city guard could pick them off inrge numbers.

    On the other end of the battlefield, Bluemoon¡¯s eyes were filled with apprehension. Soon afterward, she spun her cannon around and began strafing the enemy formation.

    The troops on her side were all subordinate troops of the Spider Emperor and Wolf King. Their numbers wererge, but most of them were ordinary rank-two soldiers, making the Vulcan Cannon a bonafide killer weapon against them.

    As the cannon reached its set speed, streams of metal gushed out amidst the earth-shattering rumble. Soon, they converged into ming dragons that swept through the enemies in front!

    In the blink of an eye, the Vulcan Cannon had be red-hot, and despite her discontent, Bluemoon had no choice but to stop firing. In front of her, the messy slums had turned into level-ground. A mixture of splinters and flesh paved the ground, turning the area into a special cemetery.

    The special-model Vulcan Cannon in Bluemoon¡¯s hands was even more powerful than the ones installed on airships. A single shot from it was enough to tear ordinary people apart; there was no such thing as an intact corpse.

    At this moment, arge gap had been dug out in the enemy formation. A single round of raking fire had cut down hundreds of soldiers. The cannon seemingly possessed the firepower of the god of fire, but the main reason for this aplishment was Bluemoon¡¯s marksmanship.

    Enemy morale fell to an all-time low. The lucky survivors were either standing in a daze or had turned to flee. Either way, this assault wave hade to a halt here.

    Bluemoon felt somewhat satisfied after venting her anger. She nced in Qianye¡¯s direction, only to find his receding figure. In his previous location was a group of staggering armored warriors who had lost one leg. The difficult movement caused them to bump into one another, throwing the group into a pitiful mess.

    In Bluemoon¡¯s eyes, these sitting ducks were the best targets for her Vulcan cannon. However, she wasn¡¯t at all delighted¡ªthis group of armored warriors that had forced her to flee was unbearably weak against Qianye. They couldn¡¯t even make him use his true powers. Besides, she wasn¡¯t really enthused about ughtering crippled enemies.

    ¡°Dammit! Do you think I¡¯m only capable of dealing with these cripples? If it wasn¡¯t for this ursed ce, how can I be taken so lightly?¡± Bluemoon gnashed her teeth.

    At this moment, Su Yueyuan¡¯s voice rang out near her. ¡°Miss Bluemoon, I¡¯vee to help you!¡±

    Su Yueyuan was stunned as hended beside her and scanned the battlefield. At his level of strength, no number of ordinary soldier corpses was enough to rm him. What truly startled him was the group of armored soldiers who were struggling to mber up.

    ¡°Who did this?¡± Su Yueyuan¡¯s expression was serious. At this point in the battle, he naturally knew how difficult it was to tangle with the armored soldiers. He himself couldn¡¯t cut down so many of them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know!¡± It was clear that the girl didn¡¯t want to reply. The Vulcan Cannon in her hand rumbled once more as she sprayed the half-crippled soldiers with bullets.

    Su Yueyuan had also noticed this and asked no more questions. Instead, he went forward with his spear to finish off the grounded enemies one by one. He was panting a bit after killing all of them¡ªthese fellows possessed an astonishing level of defense and vitality, and it was difficult to kill them even when they were simply lying there. Su Yueyuan didn¡¯t know where their vitals were, so he had to spend at least three spear thrusts to kill one armored soldier. Even someone like him would feel strained after killing a dozen or so in session.

    Bluemoon had already run out of ammo and the group following her was hurriedly reloading her cannon. Taking advantage of this rare interlude, Su Yueyuan gazed at the armored soldier corpses and sighed. ¡°Which powerful expert actually half-crippled so many steel-armored warriors?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡± Bluemoon tossed out the same stiff answer.

    At this moment, the masked man mmed the armrest of his seat. The Spider Emperor¡¯s treasured throne waspletely destroyed, and the floor below began to crack. The man himself was naturally unaffected¡ªhe remained floating in the air in a sitting position.

    Many of the vampires and arachne in the room plopped to the floor, suppressed by the man¡¯s might and killing intent. Only a handful of the strongest experts could barely remain on their feet.

    ¡°Why are we losing so many puppet warriors!?¡±

    One of the prostrating vampires said, ¡°Sire, please contain your anger. I-I don¡¯t know the reason, either, only that we have lost contact with seven hundred of them.¡±

    ¡°Could it be Su Dingqian attacking in secret?¡±

    The masked man snorted, ¡°It¡¯s not him. If he attacks, this seat will definitely know.¡±

    ¡°Then, it must be Liu Daoming. That old bastard has always been crafty, perhaps he¡¯s hiding some powerful methods.¡±

    After a moment of silence, the masked man said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then have the experts of every race charge in!¡±

    This wasn¡¯t the best time for experts to mobilize. The situation inside Port City was chaotic¡ªthe people on Su Dingqian¡¯s side were familiar with thendscape, and they were being overseen by a divine champion. The ability to mask the aura was already a great advantage for the defenders, to speak nothing of other home ground boons. Hence, it wasn¡¯t time for experts with special identities to take action. The ones entering the city at this point were all cannon fodder and exiles.

    Nheless, the masked person¡¯s patience seemed to have run out due to the disastrous loss of puppet warriors, deciding to rush the experts on his side onto the battlefield. At this point, no one dared to dissuade this dangerous masked man.

    A whileter, half of the people in the cabin were gone. The crystalline spider¡¯s eyes lit up once more as the Spider Emperor¡¯s will arrived. ¡°Mask, don¡¯t be rash.¡±

    The masked man snorted coldly, ¡°I want to go for a walk in Port City.¡±

    ¡°Now is not the time to put the cards on the table. On the contrary, we have to prevent both parties from doing so. We have to let him believe that us upying Port City is only temporary and that he¡¯ll have the chance to take it backter on. Killing all of his subordinates and children will only get us a mad divine champion, nothing good wille out of it.¡±

    ¡°But, our losses¡­¡±

    The Spider Emperor said meaningfully, ¡°There¡¯s a limit to the losses. Even if they destroy all of the puppet warriors, can itpare to our grand scheme? Don¡¯t forget that this matter is rted to our advancement. It¡¯ll be a whole new world once we take this step.¡±

    Seemingly moved, the masked man sat down with a snort. His seat had been pulverized, but a stream of cold energy condensed under him to form a dark throne of ice, atop which he took his seat.

    The Spider Emperor heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll also mobilize the giant warbeasts and give him a bit more pressure, lest unexpected problems arise.¡±

    The masked man nodded slowly.

    The roar of giant warbeasts echoed once more under the night sky, and soon, the earth began to tremble under the steps. Countless airships braved the defensive fire tond near the city walls, releasing a tide of soldiers into Port City.

    What was left of the city defenses crumbled quickly, and Qianye, who was fighting inside, felt a sharp increase in pressure. From his position, he could make out the silhouette of tworge warbeasts.

    ¡°The warbeasts are here again?¡± Qianye felt somewhat depressed. He knew the other party was going all out, intent on taking Port City in one go.

    Qianye charged toward a group of steel-armored warriors. The area around these soldiers was usually empty because they couldn¡¯t differentiate between friend and foe. It was clear that these weapons made up the main enemy force, and with Qianye¡¯s experience, he could see that their construction was costly. The city wasn¡¯t going tost long without Su Dingqian taking action. He had to take advantage of the chaos to kill more of these creatures and lessen future burdens.

    Qianye was all too familiar with these armored warriors at this point. He would hack off arge swathe of elephant legs with abination of his domain and sword, leaving them half-crippled. This was even faster than cutting them down one by one, not to mention leaving these war puppets half-destroyed would pose a greater headache for the enemy.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had reaped a dozen or so armored warriors. Just as he was charging toward the next battlefield, his steps came to a sudden halt and his upper body leaned backward, barely evading a grey, mist-shrouded bullet.

    That heavily-armored knight appeared in front of Qianye. The man looked at him with cold eyes and said, ¡°Was it satisfying?¡±

    Qianye nced toward where the bullet hade from, but as expected, the grey figure was nowhere to be found. The sniper¡¯s marksmanship was first-ss and he possessed even greater talents in stealth. How could he be so easy to spot? But one thing was certain¡ªhe had already picked a new location and was waiting for Qianye to reveal an opening.

    ¡°No need to look, you won¡¯t find him. You still haven¡¯t answered me, was the ughter satisfying?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The knight shot a nce at the iling armored soldiers. Despite theirck of expression, he could hear the anger and frustration in their voices. ¡°Very well, it seems most of the puppet warriors were lost in your hands. Since that¡¯s the case, you don¡¯t need to leave this ce alive tonight. Unbreakable Bulwark!¡±

    The origin shield appeared once more. The knight raised his aegis with both hands and stood unmoving like the mountains. However, he felt somewhat puzzled when he saw that Qianye wasn¡¯t using that shockingly powerful grade-seven gun, but instead an unassuming sword.

 Chapter 767: Slaughter

    With the strength Qianye was disying outwardly, it was already quite lucky for him to have obtained a grade-seven gun. Now, he was actually discarding that in favor of a nondescript heavy sword? The knight sneered secretly. He even opened up his Unbreakable Bulwark to make a provocative finger gesture at Qianye. ¡°Come, what are you waiting for?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t attack immediately. Instead, he nced sideways toward his back where another person had appeared. This person, with his sword and dagger, was shrouded in an aura of shrewdness and experience. Compared to the extreme skills of the grey figure and the knight, this person seemed more bnced and his arrival significantly increased the three-man team¡¯s fighting prowess.

    The knight said confidently, ¡°You won¡¯t escape with your life if you can¡¯t break my shield. I would consider surrendering if I were you. With your skills and ability, it won¡¯t be a problem for you to gain a good position in the organization. This will also open up your future prospects.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t as hesitant or nervous as he had expected. On the contrary, his expression appeared fairly rxed. During their meeting in the wilds, Qianye always had a feeling that they had a hidden ace up their sleeves which, apparently, was this third person. Now that their trump card had been ced on the table, there was no longer a need for him to be hesitant. Qianye moved forward with his sword raised, stuffing the knight¡¯s words of persuasion down his throat.

    The twin-ded warrior moved at the same time, sticking close behind Qianye at a constant distance of ten meters. This gap would take no more than a sh for experts of their level¡ªQianye would be stuck in a pincer attack if he failed to break through the knight¡¯s defenses. Besides, there was still that grey figure who would be searching for an opening from far away.

    The knight couldn¡¯tprehend Qianye¡¯s motive. From the intelligence he had obtained, Qianye was only a hired independent expert and such people would never sacrifice themselves for their duty. It wasmon for independent experts to surrender in hopeless situations. Could it be that Qianye was confident in extricating himself? The knight nced at the iing sword but found nothing special except for the apparent weight.

    The knight broke into a frown, but he decided to try onest time. ¡°You think you can destroy my Unbreakable Bulwark with that sword of yours? It takes brute force to drive a heavy sword. Truth be told, even vampire counts can forget about breaking through my shield, let alone a human like you!¡±

    Qianye was surprised at how hard this knight was trying to recruit him. Chuckling to himself, he arrived before the knight in a single step and performed a very simple sh.

    It was just that East Peak¡¯s movements were apanied by the sound of wind and thunder!

    ¡°Oh no!¡± The knight was shocked out of his wits. He raised his shield with both hands and injected every ounce of origin power he had into the shield. The bulwark not only became thicker but veined patterns started to appear at its edges, apparently increasing its defensive capabilities. The smell of blood began to drift out from the cracks between his armor. It would seem he had truly put his life on the line to block this sh.

    An inexplicable thud echoed throughout the battlefield. Everyone felt a grave difort, almost as if their hearts had been pounded by a sledgehammer.

    East Peak stopped very briefly on the shield, and then it bounced back softly, drawing a beautiful arc in the air before pointing diagonally toward the ground. His stance was a disy of utter disdain for the opponent.

    The knight actually remained in ce with his hands on the shield, not taking a single step backward. Nheless, he was as rigid as a statue, and his every movement seemed terribly difficult. He made to lower his shield and nce at Qianye, but that small movement elicited a crisp crackle from the bulwark. The shield soon shattered into countless fragments, which scattered to the ground and dispersed in the form of origin power.

    ¡°Y-You¡¯re a vampire from a famed n. N-Not just a count¡­¡± It took the knight a lot of effort to utter each word.

    ¡°I am a count.¡± Qianye allowed the knight to know a little bit more about him in light of the attempted recruitment.

    ¡°N-No, impossible¡­¡± The knight was still standing, but his head fell limp. Up until hisst breath, he still couldn¡¯t unravel the doubts in his heart.

    That was the extent to which Qianye could exin. The knight had no idea that there were ancient vampires above those from the famed ns.

    With the knight fallen, Qianye turned back to target the twin-ded warrior.

    A cold shiver jolted the man out of his shocked state. He was also a character who had faced great winds and waves, someone who shouldn¡¯t have lost hisposure in battle. But as someone who had worked with the knight for so long, he knew very well just how terrifying that Unbreakable Bulwark was. It could be said that the knight¡¯s origin power aegis was truly unbreakable except against characters above the marquis level.

    Yet Qianye had shattered this unbreakable bulwark in a single sh! It would¡¯ve been fine if the knight had gone flying from the blow, but he couldn¡¯t even take a step back. With no way to disperse the iing force, he had to take on the entirety of the impact on his own.

    This was the most shocking part¡ªjust what level had the force on the de reached?

    ¡°T-This, how is this possible?¡± The twin-ded warrior gasped.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give him much time to think, though. He delivered a horizontal sh, saying, ¡°Nothing impressive, just brute force and weight.¡±

    Brute force was the simplest way to increase the strength of a blow, something he also knew very well. Qianye¡¯s sword looked mediocre and devoid of shocking powers. Perhaps the oue was, just as he had said, due to sufficient force and weight.

    But to kill that knight in one blow, how heavy would the sword have to be, and how powerful the force behind it? The twin-ded warrior was soon drenched in cold sweat.

    The man lost the will to fight upon seeing that de drifting over weightlessly. He let out a loud cry and turned to flee. Was this a joke? How was he to take Qianye¡¯s sh when his defense was even weaker than one of the knight¡¯s arms? There was no need for a square hit; a graze was enough to cripple him.

    Qianye arrived behind the twin-ded warrior with a single step and shed at the man¡¯s back.

    ¡°Grey shadow, save me!¡± the twin-ded warrior screamed in his desperation.

    A faint silhouette emerged from behind, holding a vaguely discernible sniper rifle in his hand. However, Qianye¡¯s speed and eleration were changing rapidly. The sniper muzzle kept following him, but there was simply no opportunity to fire. As a master sniper himself, Qianye naturally understood how to prevent being locked onto.

    During this short period, the twin-ded warrior had been forced into dire straits. Unable to evade one of the iing shes, he had no choice but to block with his dagger.

    The swordsman felt a shock through his entire body as the des came into contact. The dagger in his grasp was actually unbroken; only bent out of shape and useless. Desperation filled his eyes because he knew he wouldn¡¯tst long with a single sword.

    Seeing the swordsman hanging by a thread, the grey figure drifted toward Qianye. Proactively drawing closer would increase his uracy, but it also ced him in harm''s way.

    A cold gleam shed through Qianye¡¯s eyes as he abandoned the swordsman and pounced at the grey figure. This charge, akin to a sh of lightning, finally revealed his true strength.

    Greatly astonished, the grey shadow fluctuated wildly and flew backward immediately, hoping to put some distance between them. Qianye erupted with a low roar at this point¡ªthe space surrounding the grey silhouette became heavy, sluggish, and distorted from the massive force. The distance between the two was close enough for Qianye¡¯s domain to take effect, rendering the grey shadow unable to escape.

    Both the swordsman and grey shadow had fallen into a perilous situation. Under the knight¡¯s protection, the two were able to y to their strengths without restraint, and this gave them a false sense of power. Now that the knight was gone, the entire group was quick to fall apart.

    The grey shadow struggled with all his might, but the suppression grew increasingly substantial. Qianye soon arrived with East Peak raised high and shed at the sniper¡¯s waist.

    However, the shadow seemed almost intangible and remained unaffected as the de swept through him. He kept on struggling against the suppression of the domain, and Qianye could feel his resistance growing stronger and stronger as the man adapted to the pressure. Just as he was about to escape the domain, the shadowy figure let out a shrill, menacing scream at Qianye.

    Qianye paid the wail no heed, however. With a jolt of his de, a faint scarlet origin me ignited on East Peak.

    Seeing the origin mes formed of Venus Dawn, the grey shadow screamed continuously as though he had just encountered his nemesis. Judging from the reaction, Qianye knew Venus Dawn happened to be his weakness. Even if that wasn¡¯t the case, he still had the dark golden blood energy to try. There had to be something capable of restraining this enemy in either daybreak or Evernight. Otherwise, he would have to be a heavenly monarch and not a minor character like this.

    The grey shadow became fiercely distorted as he wailed in agony. In the end, the outer greyyer burst open, and taking advantage of the st, a smaller silhouette charged out of the domain and fled.

    Qianye was caught unprepared and couldn¡¯t chase after the enemy in time. This mysterious enemy might prove fairly troublesome if allowed to escape.

    Gazing at the receding grey figure, a cold gleam flickered in Qianye¡¯s eyes. He was prepared to use spatial sh and assault the target from the air.

    Faintly discernible threads of blood appeared in the air, connecting Qianye to the grey shadow. Just as Spatial sh was about to activate, an odd but clear whistle reverberated through the air. An origin bullet streaked across the sky and struck the grey shadow at unbelievable speeds.

    The shadow wasn¡¯t afraid of physical attacks at first, but this bullet was like a powerful venom to him. It vanished right after entering the body, causing the silhouette to distort violently and eliciting a mournful scream from the man.

    With a boom, the grey shadow soon burst into mes. Even with Qianye¡¯s powerful perception, he had no idea what type of fire it was, only that it contained a trace of blood energy. The sanguineous ze ignited the grey shadow, causing mes to burst out from within and turning him into a human torch.

    The raging firested for an entire minute before the grey shadow copsed to the ground and his true form came into view. All that was left of him was a charred, human-shaped body whose facial features could no longer be seen.

    With the grey shadow dead, the swordsman was naturally no match for Qianye. Thetter caught up to the target within a hundred meters and shed him through the waist.

    Only after killing the swordsman did Qianye have the leisure to nce at where the bullet hade from. Naturally, there was no one there.

    For some reason, though, Qianye had a feeling that it was the mysterious woman again.

 Chapter 768: Merits and Rewards

    After all those fierce battles, the situation in this war was close to an all-out copse. mes were raging in every part of the city, and many experts had taken to the air while ordinary soldiers fought to their deaths on the ground. The two warbeasts had reached the walls and were promptly held up by Liu Daoming¡ªbut anyone could see that the man wasn¡¯t going tost long against these giant creatures.

    Having killed the three-man team and eradicated puppet warriors in the hundreds, it could be said that Qianye¡¯s contributions made up the most important segment of the battle. Otherwise, this group could¡¯ve easily fought against a marquis-level expert. Yet, he could not reverse the flow of the entire battle or fight against the dense, locust-like tide of soldiers.

    Qianye decisively changed directions and ran toward the noble district. With Su Dingqian overseeing that ce, the mes of war hadn¡¯t yet spread here. It was only a matter of time, though, judging from the situation of the battle. Su Dingqian couldn¡¯t actually attack due to the threat of the other party¡¯s divine champion. Under such circumstances, Qianye had to return to Nighteye and Zhuji¡ªhe couldn¡¯t put their safety in the hands of another.

    Arriving outside of the small courtyard, Qianye could sense an unfamiliar aura inside. Who woulde to visit at such a time? Could something unexpected have happened?

    ¡°Bang!¡± Qianye crashed right through the gates and rushed into the courtyard.

    In thepound, Nighteye was quietly reading a book. One had to wonder how tough a job it was to stay calm and read amidst the continuous rumble of cannons and guns.

    Relieved after seeing Nighteye unharmed, Qianye nced about in search of this unfamiliar aura. It wasn¡¯t him being paranoid¡ªthis faintly discernible aura filled his heart with apprehension and even his blood core was trembling slightly. It was as if he had encountered a powerful enemy.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Nighteye asked, putting down her book.

    ¡°I can sense another aura here. Did someonee here just now?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s only me and Zhuji here, the little girl is sleeping inside.¡±

    Qianye was speechless; Zhuji was actually still sleeping under such circumstances. The mes of war had almost burned the skies, yet the two here were either reading or sleeping. What a tranquil and rxed life!

    Despite Nighteye saying there was no one here, Qianye still searched through every corner of the courtyard, but in the end, his efforts were in vain. That aura had vanishedpletely without leaving a single trace behind.

    ¡°Afraid of me hiding a man?¡± Nighteye smiled spuriously.

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Qianye quickly described the unfamiliar aura to her.

    After pondering for a while, Nighteye said, ¡°ording to ancient records, every vampire bloodline has a position in the River of Blood. The closer one is to the first drop of blood, the greater his power and suppression on the lower bloodlines. Your bloodline isn¡¯t below mine and is probably at the primogenitor level, so theoretically, only those of primogenitor blood can make you feel a sense of danger. But there are only a handful of primos in the entire race. Discounting the useless ones with insufficient bloodline awakening, there¡¯s only me and Edward.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps there are other primos?¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°Impossible. The appearance of a primo is an important matter for the vampire race as a whole. There are numerous ceremonies required to stabilize the primo bloodline, and one of them is calling out to the River of Blood. Whenever this rite is performed, all primos and characters above the duke level will sense it. So, it¡¯s impossible for there to be an unknown primo.¡±

    The exnation was fairly reasonable, but as nothing in the world was absolute, Qianye couldn¡¯t quite dispel his concern about this aura. Nheless, this wasn¡¯t the time to linger on this matter. ¡°Collect your things and wake Zhuji up, prepare to retreat.¡±

    ¡°The battle hasn¡¯t ended, has it?¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be long now. The oue cannot be changed, Su Dingqian will issue the order very soon.¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even trailed off when the City Lord¡¯s voice echoed over Port City. ¡°The enemy momentum is too strong. Today, we shall retreat temporarily. The city guard will open up a path, and all guest experts will follow. This seat will personally serve as the rearguard! Brother Liu, leave those two beasts to me.¡±

    Liu Daoming was mired in an arduous battle. After hearing the call, heunched a series of attacks before flying back into Port City. The enemies in the city were instantly routed with his assistance, and the city guard came together for a westward breakthrough.

    The independent experts grouped up to break the siege, including Qianye and Nighteye. Little Zhuji was on Nighteye¡¯s back with her eyes half-closed and about to fall asleep at any moment.

    After a night of arduous battles, the three forces had also suffered grievous losses and had little intention of overrunning the retreating defenders. They quickly recalled their forces after a few kilometers of chase.

    Su Dingqian was edging back slowly in the air. One man and one sword¡ªhe had remained to guard the army¡¯s rear during its retreat. Seeing that their own divine champion wasn¡¯t making an appearance, none of the enemy soldiers would charge to their deaths.

    This retreatsted one day and night, all the way until they had reached a small city two hundred kilometers away. Those who had retreated with Su Dingqian consisted of a thousand-some city guards, all of them at rank-three or above. The weaker ones couldn¡¯t keep up with the pace of retreat. As for the tens of thousands of civilians, they could only remain in Port City and await their uing fate. Normally, the upants of a city would take civilians in for their own use and not ughter them wantonly. There was quite a bit of menial work involved in collecting the Earth Dragon¡¯s products, and they would need to rely on the civilians for them.

    While they were resting, Su Dingqian assembled all the independent experts.

    After everyone had arrived, the city lord cleared his throat. ¡°Everyone, our temporary retreat is only a n of convenience because the enemy momentum was too strong during this battle. What does a momentary loss of a territory and city count for? As long as the city guard remains loyal, everyone here is willing to help, and this Su remains standing, taking the city back is only a matter of time.¡±

    The group became spirited after hearing these words. Qianye secretly praised the flexibility of Su Dingqian. While trying to recruit people, he had pushed himself to thest ce and referred to himself as ¡°this Su¡± instead of ¡°this seat¡±. All these arrogant and obstinate experts were delighted to see how humble this divine champion was.

    Su Dingqian spoke once more, ¡°The enemy appears strong, but they are far from unified inside and full of contradictions. How can their alliancest long? The Spider Emperor and Wolf King are enemies, to begin with, and the friction between them is constant. As for the Moonlight Demons, everyone knows their reputation. Who would dare to cooperate with them sincerely? This Su believes that their party will soon copse and disperse.¡±

    Everyone had confidence in the reasonable analysis. A burly man in the crowd asked, ¡°City Lord Su, why would they risk life and limb to take Port City? As I see it, the gains won¡¯t make up for the losses!¡±

    This question was somewhat on point, and it immediately caught Qianye¡¯s full attention. These losses couldn¡¯t be recouped even if they upied the city for half a decade. It was obvious that those armored puppets weren¡¯t easy to raise, yet close to a thousand of them were lost today. Perhaps there was some incredible secret in Port City enticing the enemy to attack so frantically.

    Su Dingqian replied frankly, ¡°The Earth Dragon, of course, what other reason can there be?¡±

    ¡°The Earth Dragon¡¯s products are in the market every year, are they really enough to cover the losses?¡±

    Su Dingqian smiled. ¡°Everyone here is a life and deathrade, so this Su will speak openly. What I see is that the Spider Emperor, Mask, and Wolf King are all after the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood.¡±

    ¡°Earth Dragon¡¯s blood!¡± A series of gasps echoed in the room, but many others wore expressions of puzzlement. This Earth Dragon¡¯s blood sounded like an incredible treasure, but no one knew what it looked like or what uses it had.

    This reaction was within the city lord¡¯s expectations. He stroked his short beard and said with a smile, ¡°I think none of you know what the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood actually is, or even what the Earth Dragon looks like.¡±

    ¡°Yes, could it be that City Lord Su has seen the Earth Dragon before? Why don¡¯t you tell us in detail and broaden our horizons?¡± Everyone was enthusiastic.

    Su Dingqianughed. ¡°The information about the Earth Dragon was actually spread by yours truly, but even I have no idea what the Earth Dragon looks like.¡±

    Everyone was astonished. ¡°Ah, howe you don¡¯t know?

    Su Dingqian sighed. ¡°It¡¯s quite an embarrassment. This Su has tried to investigate the Earth Dragon¡¯s location some years ago, but it was too dangerous an endeavor. With my cultivation, even approaching the dragon involved many dangers. Hence, I decided to back off and never dared to set foot there again. Many years have passed, and this Su¡¯s cultivation has made some progress, but I still can¡¯t drum up the courage to go under the ground again.¡±

    Everyone nced at one another. Who would¡¯ve thought even someone of Su Dingqian¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t able to see the Earth Dragon. Even if everyone here were to double in cultivation, they would never return from an encounter with the colossus.

    Another person probed, ¡°Then City Lord, who do you think can see the Earth Dragon¡¯s true face?¡±

    Su Dingqian pondered for a moment. ¡°Only a heavenly monarch!¡±

    Even the greediest of people discarded all untoward thoughts at this point. They also realized that Su Dingqian spreading news about the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood wasn¡¯t out of good intentions. Most likely, he was pushing the enemy toward the Earth Dragon and getting someone else to do the dirty work. This was an overt plot¡ªbut how many dukes and divine champions at their bottlenecks could resist the temptation?

    Perhaps the Spider Emperor¡¯s group had prepared their own methods, but the three of them together still couldn¡¯t match a heavenly monarch. It was likely that they would suffer quite a bit after entering the earth.

    After concluding this topic, Su Dingqian said, ¡°The battle of Port City hase to an end and everyone here has contributed greatly to it. I announced back then that I was willing to open my treasury to repay everyone. Men, bring them up!¡±

    Several people entered the room with severalrge crates and opened them one after the other, filling the room with the glow and energy of treasures.

    Everyone here was knowledgeable enough to judge the treasures¡¯ value and were soon filled with desire.

 Chapter 769: Difficulties Part 1

    ¡°Everyone, these are the rewards for the battle at Port City. Most of my fortune is here. After receiving the bounty, you may choose to stay or to leave, I won¡¯t force anyone. Naturally, if you stay, you¡¯re wee to join me as I conquer the world again!¡±

    These words relieved many experts, and many began calcting how much they should get. There were also some feeling excited about thetter part of the City Lord¡¯s words.

    Su Dingqian nodded at Liu Daoming who promptly brought out a booklet. ¡°The contributions in Port City are as follows, I¡¯ll read them out one by one. If anyone has objections, they may bring it up early. Otherwise, all the rewards will be decided ording to these statistics.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll naturally listen to themander.¡±

    ¡°City Lord Su¡¯s eyes are akin to torches, there¡¯s no way he¡¯ll make a mistake¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    Everyone expressed their stances. Su Dingqian was stationed at the center ofst night¡¯s battle, and a divine champion¡¯s perception was powerful enough to cover the entirety of the battlefield. Faking contributions wasn¡¯t possible.

    Liu Daoming cleared his throat and said with an odd expression, ¡°First ce in contributions, Zhao Ye. Killed over four hundred puppet warriors, a three-man team from Moonlight Demon, and countless small contributions.¡±

    ¡°Four hundred!¡±

    ¡°So many?¡±

    ¡°This old man fought with all he had to kill ten or so. Mr. Zhao, this really is¡­¡±

    The contribution list immediately caused greatmotion. Everyone knew just how hard it was to tangle with these armored puppets. Even Champions had to spend quite a bit of effort to kill one of them. To kill four hundred of these soldiers, they wouldn¡¯t have enough origin power even if the enemy were to stand still and let them attack.

    Everyone was shocked at the number of puppets killed, but Liu Daoming¡¯s astonishment came from the three Moonlight-Demon experts. Other people only knew that Qianye had killed three champions. Although the experts from Moonlight Demons were a bit more powerful than the norm, they couldn¡¯tpare to the shock of four hundred puppet-kills. The old man, however, knew who Qianye¡¯s opponents were.

    The three-man knight team from the Moonlight Demons was their best unit. They were highly adept at killing experts and boasted a record of killing a rank-sixteen champion. Even Liu Daoming would find it quite troublesome if pitted against this team. Yet, this group of assassins had fallen to Qianye¡¯s de. At this moment, Liu Daoming had ced Qianye among the list of opponents he needed to treat seriously. This sounded quiteical because thetter was only rank twelve, while the city-guardmander was a rank-seventeen expert. How could the two be discussed at the same level?

    The rewards handed to Qianye consisted of three Dreameater Bugs and ten thousand gold coins¡¯ worth of ck crystals.

    Looking at the Dreameater Bugs in Qianye¡¯s hands, Su Yueyuan¡¯s eyes flickered somewhat. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn¡¯t dare challenge his father¡¯s authority. Bluemoon, on the other hand, remained quietly seated and looked like her thoughts were elsewhere.

    The next in contributions was Liu Daoming himself, and Bluemoon came in third. The girl looked rather weak and her cultivation was quite ordinary, but she had unexpectedly killed an enemy expert. As for the dozens of armored puppets she had killed, they seemed rather insignificantpared to Qianye¡¯s aplishments.

    Having received generous bounties, all the remaining experts felt that this bloodbath was worth the effort. When Su Dingqian mentioned his intention to recruit them, many people immediately agreed to follow the city lord. At this point, Su Dingqian was going to rise back after the fall. Joining his banner now wasn¡¯t the same as back in Port City. To be honest, following him now was like following a dragon.

    After obtaining the Dreameater Bugs, Qianye felt that his business here was done and thus mentioned his intention to part ways. He had no interest in following kings as they conquered the world. All he wanted now was to find a quiet ce to settle down with Nighteye and live a peaceful life.

    Su Dingqian was highly reluctant¡ªhe repeatedly urged Qianye to stay but had no other choice when his efforts proved fruitless. Before the departure, Su Dingqian held Qianye¡¯s hand and sighed. ¡°Mr. Zhao is young and capable, so much more powerful than I was back in the year. Will you not consider staying? When I grow old in the future, Port City will be yours.¡±

    Qianye was rather surprised. ¡°Surely you jest, City Lord Su. I have no knowledge of managing territories and besides, Young Noble Yueyuan is such an outstanding person. It won¡¯t be a problem for him to carry on your legacy. Why the need for an outsider?¡±

    Su Yueyuan¡¯s expression improved slightly after hearing this.

    The city lord sighed. ¡°He might be sufficiently powerful if this were the imperial continents, and it won¡¯t be an issue for him to take over once I¡¯m old. But this is the neutralnds where the days are filled with blood and danger, his talents are still a bitcking here. Without me around, how can he defend this territory amidst the wolves? If I hand the city to you, you¡¯ll definitely protect his personal livelihood out of consideration for old friendships.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Su Dingqian to be so thorough. These considerations were indeed reasonable¡ªif even Su Dingqian couldn¡¯t hold onto his territory, it would be more difficult for Su Yueyuan to do so than breaking through to the divine champion rank. At that time, the greater the territory, the earlier he would die.

    However, Qianye¡¯s reply was still the same. ¡°City Lord Su is in the prime of his life and will climb even higher. What¡¯s the rush?¡±

    Su Dingqian stopped his persuasions after realizing Qianye¡¯s unwavering attitude and sent thetter off personally before returning to the city.

    There was no objection from the other experts, either. Just by looking at his military aplishments, it was obvious that Qianye was far above them in terms of strength and worthy of such an honor.

    There was nothing good in the little city. Su Dingqian gifted Qianye a fairly new truck and prepared enough food, water, and ammunition for his travels. The duo boarded the vehicle and drove at a leisurely pace for two days before the silhouette of a city appeared over the horizon.

    This ce wasn¡¯t too far from Port City. It belonged to the Wolf King in name, but in truth, it was in a half independent state and the people here were of vastly different characters. Such a ce suited Qianye¡¯s intentions because it was easier for him to investigate Cui Yuanhai¡¯s whereabouts.

    If the old man had been captured by the Spider Emperor or the Moonlight Demons, he would likely be stationed in Port City as a master weaponsmith.

    This city was called Southern Blue, a ratherrge ce with thirty thousand residents. Qianye gained undeterred entry into the city after paying a fee at the city gates, and then rented an independent courtyard from a hotel.

    After settling in, he brought out the Dreameater Bugs. ¡°Consume them now, lest unexpected troubles arise.¡±

    ¡°Are you really giving them all to me? Why not leave one for yourself, it can strengthen your spirit.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s more important to repair your spirit.¡±

    ¡°A hundred days have passed, yet I still haven¡¯t forgotten you.¡±

    Qianye felt that the current Nighteye was different from before, but he couldn¡¯t put his finger on what it was¡ªperhaps it was her temperament. Qianye pushed back the Dreameater Bug Nighteye was passing him and said, ¡°Your spirit-repaires first.¡±

    Nighteye shot Qianye a nce. There was an ineffable glow in her eyes as she said, ¡°Really? Don¡¯t regret itter.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I won¡¯t.¡± Qianye found Nighteye¡¯s words quite baffling.

    Thetter spoke no more and merely focused on absorbing the bug. Momentster, her body gradually heated up as wisps of blood energy seeped out of her body. This blood energy contained a foul smell and dispersed immediately after leaving the body.

    After sustaining an injury to her spirit, Nighteye¡¯s strength had decreased slightly and her blood energy was no longer as pure as before. Now that her spirit was undergoing repairs, some of the impurities in her blood were being expelled.

    Qianye knew that she couldn¡¯t be disturbed during this process. As such, he left the room quietly and sat down in front of the closed doors. He closed his eyes to rest with East Peak lying across his knees, waiting for Nighteye to finish her cultivation.

    Perhaps due to the number of bugs she had absorbed this time, it took an entire two days and two nights before Nighteye walked out of the room.

    Seeing Qianye guarding the door, her eyes rippled slightly but returned to normal.

    ¡°How does it feel?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°Good, very good. But it¡¯ll take a vast number of Dreameater Bugs to repair my spirit.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good enough that there¡¯s some effect! There are channels by which we can get our hands on these bugs. I¡¯ll definitely figure out a way, rest assured.¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°The more Dreameater Bugs one consumes, the less effective they be. Repairing my spirit will involve a shocking number of such bugs. I have a feeling that they¡¯ll be ineffective at some point.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good enough that it¡¯s effective now. No matter how many we need, even if it¡¯s a hundred, I¡¯ll find a way to get them.¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°Dummy, I might need more than a hundred. Where are you going to get them? Even Su Dingqian only has a handful of them.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t need to care about that. There¡¯s always a way.¡±

    Nighteye could only sigh in the end.

    ¡°Humph! If it wasn¡¯t for Li Fengshui, you wouldn¡¯t be suffering like this. He¡¯s only a front-stage character, there must be military bigshots behind him. This matter won¡¯t end here!¡± Qianye gnashed his teeth upon recalling the past.

    Nighteye sighed lightly. ¡°Qianye, let the past be. Isn¡¯t our life here very good? In fact, it¡¯s only in the neutralnds that we can stay happily together.¡±

    ¡°How can I release this anger in my heart if I don¡¯t uproot all of Li Fengshui¡¯s roots. Death was too easy for him.¡±

    Nighteye seemed tired. ¡°As you wish. I¡¯m tired, I¡¯m going to rest.

    Qianye sent Nighteye back to her room and put her to sleep. Then he walked out of the courtyard to take a stroll around the city and ask about Port City.

    The atmosphere in Southern Blue was tense and there were many warriors in military attire moving about. While making way for a group of soldiers, Qianye asked a passerby, ¡°Why are things so tense?¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to ask? The Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons are gathered in Port City, and we¡¯re only a couple of days away. What if theye here?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the Wolf King their ally?¡±

    The passerby snorted. ¡°You don¡¯t even know this? Although Southern Blue is subordinate to the Wolf King in name, we have to rely on ourselves for everything. Besides, how long will that alliancest after Su Dingqian¡¯s escape?¡±

    Qianye was enlightened. This passerby was actually so knowledgeable, so he immediately asked him for more information.

 Chapter 770: Difficulties Part 2

    Southern Blue was a major transportation hub through which many of the Eastern Sea products had to pass. As trade was the city¡¯s lifeline, its doors were kept wide open to all visitors despite the tension. The Southern Blue city lord was still one step away from the divine champion rank. He couldn¡¯t make the city independent like Su Dingqian but had maintained good social rtionships with all the other powers. It wasn¡¯t that easy for him to reach his current status.

    Just as Qianye was about to thank the passerby and leave, he saw another group of soldiers rushing toward the city gates. This unit consisted of about fifty people and wore the colors of the Wolf King. There, they worked together to lift a city defense cannon onto the newly constructed turret.

    A question emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it said that Southern Blue is only the Wolf King¡¯s in name? Howe his troops are stationed here?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King maintains a small squad in the city. There are only a couple hundred of them, but they represent the Wolf King. If not the Wolf King, this ce will be upied by the Spider Emperor, what difference is there? The Wolf King is a human power at the very least,¡± the passerby said self-deprecatingly.

    Qianye nodded¡ªthe Wolf King was a subordinate of Zhang Buzhou and could be thought of as someone working for the human race.

    At this moment, amotion broke out nearby, apanied by a cacophony of shouting and wailing. Qianye nced over to find two groups arguing on the streets, one of which was made up of two conspicuous arachne.

    ¡°You crashed into my car and broke it, this won¡¯t end so easily.¡± An arachne was swinging his arms and roaring from above.

    A middle-aged man shouted back with a furious expression, ¡°Your people had clearly taken up the entire road. We don¡¯t have any ce to dodge even if we wanted to, don¡¯t tell me we have to crash into the wall?¡±

    The arachne revealed a nasty smile. ¡°Then you should¡¯ve crashed into the wall!¡±

    Fuming, the middle-aged man broke into augh. ¡°This is the funniest thing I¡¯ve heard of! Now that I¡¯ve crashed into your car, speak, what do you want to do about it?¡±

    While speaking, the middle-aged man released his champion-level aura.

    The arachne grinned as ck mist shrouded his body; he was actually a viscount. In terms of origin power, the middle-aged man was a level higher, but the arachne was inherently powerful. Additionally, the arachne¡¯s heavy axe was an extraordinary weapon whose quality far exceeded the middle-aged man¡¯s sword. There was no way to tell the oue if they were to start fighting.

    Being able to wield such a high-grade axe meant that this viscount¡¯s status wasn¡¯t low. That was also the reason why the middle-aged man was quite restrained despite being furious. He was hoping the other party would back off and act reasonably.

    However, the arachne had no intention of letting things be. He pointed at the man¡¯s sword and said, ¡°Give me that sword aspensation for damaging my car.¡±

    The middle-aged man was livid and, at the extremes of anger, broke into augh. He fished out an emblem and shed it at the arachne, saying, ¡°Look, I¡¯m from the Mountain Hunter Corps! I¡¯ll advise you to make more reasonable demands.¡±

    ¡°Mountain Hunter? What¡¯s that?¡± Apparently, the arachne viscount hadn¡¯t heard of this name. Someone beside him said, ¡°The Mountain Hunter Corps can be considered the external guard of Southern Blue. Judging from his cultivation, this person might be a vicemander.¡±

    The arachne viscount snorted. ¡°So they¡¯re from the city guard.¡±

    The middle-aged man rxed a bit upon seeing some apprehension in the enemy¡¯s eyes. He was just about to say something when the arachne viscount raised his axe and swung down!

    The attack contained the force of wind and thunder, an all-out blow!

    The middle-aged man was shocked out of his wits, not expecting the spider tounch a sneak attack. He was caught off-guard and failed to use his full power in defending against the blow. As the weapons came into contact, the sword was immediately bent out of shape and the middle-aged man spat out a mouthful of blood, staggering back and almost losing his footing.

    Apprehension shed past the arachne¡¯s face as he took a step back. He had gone all out tounch a sneak attack, yet he wasn¡¯t able to kill this middle-aged man. He was even forced back a step, lightly injured and with his origin power shaken. If this were a fair showdown, the other party might be at an advantage.

    The middle-aged man¡¯spanions were livid. They all drew their weapons, ready to fight to the death. However, the man forced himself to take a deep breath and shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±

    After keeping everyone restrained, the middle-aged man said to the arachne viscount, ¡°I¡¯m the vice-captain of the Mountain Hunter Corps, Tian Jin. How do I address you? I¡¯ll admit defeat this time. What happened today will be repaid one day.¡±

    The arachne viscount sneered, ¡°Weak humans, you¡¯re not worthy of knowing my name.¡±

    Southern Blue was, after all, a human city. The arachne¡¯s words stirred the crowds and exacerbated themotion.

    The spider scanned everyone around him. ¡°Is shouting all you can do? Is this all you lowlifes are capable of?¡±

    Unable to endure, someone wanted to challenge the arachne. However, hispanions pulled him back, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be rash, his identity isn¡¯t simple.¡±

    At this point, two military vehicles charged over and came to a screeching halt nearby. A werewolf with a striking scar across his face jumped off the vehicle. ¡°Tian Jin, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    The soldiersing down from the car were all from the Wolf King¡¯s Corps. Their arrival gave everyone here some measure of confidence. Tian Jin immediately described what had happened a while ago, and in the end, he said, ¡°Sir, you must uphold justice for us.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s soldiers in Southern Blue were few in number, but they represented the king¡¯s face. This werewolf possessed the strength of a viscount and was themander of the Wolf King¡¯s forces here.

    He shot a nce at the arachne viscount and said with a cold smile, ¡°Meir, you¡¯re growing more arrogant by the day, it looks like your injuries have healed?¡±

    The arachne viscount broke into augh. ¡°Your injuries are worse than mine! I should be the one asking you this question. What, are you nning to fight me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that this is Heavenly Monarch Zhang¡¯s domain. Even if your identity is special, you shouldn¡¯t go overboard.¡±

    The arachne kept onughing. ¡°Zhang Buzhou? Who knows if he¡¯s dead or alive? It¡¯s been so long since there¡¯s been any news of him. If you want to intimidate me, the Wolf King¡¯s name would be a better choice.¡±

    The werewolf viscount wasn¡¯t angry about this, either. ¡°Fine, enough of this. How do you want to settle this?¡±

    The arachne revealed a sinister smile as he pointed at Tian Jin. ¡°Hand him to me and we¡¯ll let this be.¡±

    Tian Jin was both surprised and angry. He voiced his objection because everyone knew that he would die without a doubt once in the spider¡¯s hands.

    The werewolf frowned. ¡°This, I cannot do.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the Spider Emperor¡¯s envoy. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to hand me the man, I¡¯ll just leave right now. You guys can wait for the army to arrive!¡±

    The werewolf¡¯s frown deepened as he said to Tian Jin, ¡°What are you waiting for? Apologize to Meir!¡±

    Clearly surprised, Tian Jin¡¯s expression changed drastically. Meir was evidently arrogant and unreasonable, yet this werewolf actually ordered Tian Jin to apologize? Qianye couldn¡¯t help but think whether the Wolf King had admitted defeat in light of the Spider Emperor¡¯s recent breakthrough.

    Tian Jin¡¯s voice was trembling. ¡°Sir, this¡­ this.¡±

    The werewolf viscount said impatiently, ¡°What are you yapping about? Apologize quickly! If we offend the Spider Emperor¡¯s envoy for useless humans like you, it won¡¯t be enoughpensation no matter how many times you die. Don¡¯t tell me you want the entire Southern Blue to be swallowed by the mes of war?¡±

    Tian Jin had nothing to say against such reasoning. The arachne broke into augh, saying, ¡°It seems you understand the situation well. We¡¯ll have a good rematch after I settle in. As for that Tian whatever, I won¡¯t bicker with him out of consideration for the Wolf King. We¡¯ll let this slide if he kneels and kowtows a couple of times.¡±

    Qianye noticed that this Meir was taking advantage of the situation to establish his might, but the angry crowds didn¡¯t dare say anything. Puzzled at the developments, he asked the passerby once more, ¡°How did it end up like this?¡±

    The passerby said with a bitter expression, ¡°It¡¯s always been this way. This Southern Blue looks like a human city, but not to mention the Wolf King¡¯s descendants, even other races like the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons are always stepping on our heads. Whenever there¡¯s a conflict, we¡¯ll always lose even if reason is on our side.¡±

    ¡°Does the city lord not intervene?¡±

    ¡°City lord?¡± The passerby spat. ¡°The man cares only about his status and profits. There¡¯s no way he¡¯ll pay attention to these things. How could the other races be so arrogant if it wasn¡¯t for him allowing it?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the Wolf King a subordinate of Zhang Buzhou? Why does he allow outsiders to bully the heavenly monarch¡¯s people?¡±

    ¡°Wolf King, humph, he¡¯s from a different race, too. Why would he stand on our side? The heavenly monarch has never interfered in civil matters all these years. The racist Wolf King is gradually usurping all authority, and the ones he had ced in power are all werewolves! They¡¯re quite ferocious toward insiders but are alwayspromising when ites to dealing with outsiders. They¡¯re absolutely courteous when dealing with the other races, humph!¡± The passerby was furious.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Mister, you¡¯re truly talented. May I know your esteemed name? I might have to seek your counsel from time to time in the future.¡±

    The passerby sighed. ¡°What talented? I¡¯ve only read more books than the others. What¡¯s the use of having knowledge? Everything is in vain without good cultivation. There¡¯s nothing I can do except stamp my feet in anger.¡±

    With that, he left and paid Qianye no more attention, almost as though he wasn¡¯t willing to watch the developments here.

    Everything progressed as expected. The Southern Blue City Lord never appeared, and the city guards were nowhere to be found. The werewolf remained firm in his decision, and Tian Jin had his job and family to consider. There was no way he could go against them.

    The werewolf viscount looked on with cold eyes full of disdain. There were hundreds of spectators here, but no one dared to speak up for the man.

    Tian Jin walked slowly toward Meir.

    The arachneughed loudly. ¡°What are you dilly-dallying for? Kneel! I¡¯ll bring you along if you displease me further.¡±

    Tian Jin¡¯s body trembled and his kneels slowly bent toward the ground.

    At this moment, a hand reached out to him and lifted him up. This hand was slender, beautiful, and contained an undefiable force within.

    The man turned around and saw Qianye.

 Chapter 771: I Had no Choice

    ¡°How can a human champion kneel so easily?¡± said Qianye.

    Tian Jin¡¯s lips trembled, not knowing what to do. Meir roared furiously, ¡°Where did this scoundrele from? You actually dare to interfere in my business?¡±

    The werewolf viscount stared at Qianye. His muscles were all tensed up, ready tounch an attack at any moment. ¡°You¡¯re a vampire? Why are you interfering?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s appearance was indeed vampire-like. Additionally, the humans of Southern Blue had long since grown used to being submissive. How could there be anyone willing to offend both the Wolf King and Spider Emperor?

    ¡°I¡¯m here because I don¡¯t like what I see,¡± Qianye said coldly.

    Meir let out an evilugh. ¡°Great, someone even more arrogant than I am. Die, brat!¡± His words hadn¡¯t even ended when an axe hacked down at the speed of lightning. He was actuallyunching a sneak attack again.

    However, the weapon stopped midway and could no longer descend. Meir was shocked out of his wits when he realized that Qianye had grabbed his axe with a single hand. His all-out swing was frozen half-way and couldn¡¯t push any further.

    Meir didn¡¯t dare believe his eyes. He activated his power several times until his face became bright red, but the heavy axe refused to budge¡ªhe could neither sh down nor pull it back. The werewolf viscount¡¯s pupils contracted as he stared at the single drop of blood trickling down the side of Qianye¡¯s palm.

    There was only a single drop of blood after grabbing Arachne Viscount Meir¡¯s all-out attack with his bare hand?

    Qianye also saw that drop of blood. He suddenly exerted force from his hands and dragged Meir up front. The spider had dug into the ground with his eight legs, but that only served to dig out deep trenches in the road.

    Qianye threw a punch at the arachne¡¯s abdomen. This fist strike was so powerful that it not only shattered the arachne¡¯s te armor but the attacking arm almost sunk into the body entirely.

    Meir couldn¡¯t even scream in misery before he was sent flying several meters back, destroying numerous buildings beforeing to a stop. He fell to the ground and with his limbs iling about constantly, unable to mber up for a good while.

    Qianye pointed at the spider. ¡°Consider this a lesson. Keep a low key from now on, and maybe you¡¯ll live longer.¡±

    The werewolf¡¯s hair stood on end. Arching his back and emitting a low growl, he said, ¡°Do you even know who we are? You dare attack people here? This is Southern Blue! Do you think you can continue to live here after this?¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are, that little background of yours can¡¯t frighten me. You may be able to drive me out of Southern Blue, but you can also forget about leaving the city in the future, I¡¯ll make sure you be a corpse once you leave this ce.¡±

    The werewolf viscount¡¯s expression changed drastically. He pointed at Tian Jin, saying, ¡°Are you going to offend the Wolf King for such a small matter?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Are you willing to be my enemy for such a small matter?¡±

    The werewolf viscount drew in a breath of cold air. In the end, he forced himself to endure. ¡°Fine! This ends here, I¡¯ll not interfere anymore. What Meir does, however, is beyond my control.¡±

    Qianye shot him a nce and nodded. ¡°Smart.¡±

    Meir mbered up at this point and shouted, ¡°You actually dared to injure me. My granduncle won¡¯t let you off. You can wait for the Spider Emperor¡¯s wanted notice! And you, that Tian Jin, well done! Southern Blue can prepare for war if they don¡¯t kill your entire family. The entire city will be ughtered once the army arrives!¡±

    This threat was solid. With the Southern Blue City Lord¡¯s character, he really might send Tian Jin¡¯s brain to the Spider Emperor.

    Frowning, Qianye slowly uttered, ¡°Still arrogant, eh? Do you think I don¡¯t dare to kill you?¡±

    The vice-captain was livid. He suddenly said to the werewolf viscount, ¡°Sir, this matter has nothing to do with me. I do not know this person. He might have ulterior motives for inciting trouble between Southern Blue and the Spider Emperor. If you want to capture him, sir, I¡¯ll do my best despite my ineptitude.¡±

    Qianye was astonished, and for a moment, he could hardly believe this Tian Jin would do such a thing. He had helped the man out of his predicament, yet this person drew the sword of a passerby and stabbed at Qianye!

    While attacking, he said, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, but please go with my superior.¡±

    How can this rank-eleven Tian Jin be Qianye¡¯s match? Thetter grabbed his sword forcefully and turned it into scrap metal. At the same time, the invasive origin power assaulted his body, causing him to go pale and almost cough up blood. He had barely managed to regain his footing when Qianye stepped forward and lifted him up by the neck.

    The werewolf viscount¡¯s expression changed, and he began edging backward. He wasn¡¯t much stronger than Tian Jin¡ªnow that Qianye had subdued thetter in a single move, the wolf knew that he wouldn¡¯tst very long, either.

    Qianye stared into Tian Jin¡¯s eyes and asked slowly. ¡°Why?¡±

    The man replied with great difficulty, ¡°I have kids, elders, and family, all of them in Southern Blue. I have no other choice.¡±

    ¡°A stately champion and vice-captain, is that all you amount to?¡±

    ¡°I had no choice, no choice.¡± It would seem he had only one thing left to say.

    Qianye pped him hard a couple of times and tossed him to the floor. ¡°I would¡¯ve killed you already had you aimed for my vitals just now!¡±

    Qianye nced at the people around him. He could see anger, astonishment, and various other emotions, but no one was about to stand forward. It was a world where safety took precedence over principles. Depressed about his own meaningless actions, Qianye left with a sigh.

    The werewolf viscount¡¯s eyes flickered, but he didn¡¯t call Qianye back. Meir had also mbered up at this point but was uncharacteristically quiet at the moment. He had sensed genuine killing intent in thetter when he uttered the words ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t dare to kill you?¡±

    Meir understood that Qianye wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill him if he were to keep up the provocations. At that point, where would they look for Qianye in the vast neutralnds? Even if the Spider Emperor did manage to catch the culprit, it wouldn¡¯t change the fact that he was dead. This wasn¡¯t a good deal at all.

    Qianye arrived back at the hotel a whileter. Seeing his sour expression, Nighteye asked, ¡°What happened?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°We might have to move again, I acted rashly just now.¡±

    After listening to Qianye¡¯s description of the events, Nighteye said with a smile, ¡°And I thought it was something big, this is nothing. There are no divine champions in Southern Blue. Even if the two of us can¡¯t beat the enemy, we can definitely escape. If they¡¯re really insensitive, we can just repeat the ck Grove incident. The only thing you did wrong was letting that Tian Jin off so easily. You should¡¯ve broken one of his legs at least. The Spider Emperor and Wolf King aren¡¯t easy to provoke, so he doesn¡¯t dare to offend them. Does that mean we¡¯re so easy to provoke? Your softness will be the source of future troubles.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°He¡¯s still from the same race and has his own troubles, so I couldn¡¯t bear to do it.¡±

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°This is a small matter, anyway, nothing important. Let¡¯s take our time collecting our things. If we leave in a rush, they¡¯ll think we¡¯re afraid.¡±

    Qianye wanted to say something but stopped midway; then, he shook his head. He had wanted to pack up quickly and leave Southern Blue to avoid being surrounded. Without the Shot of Inception, Qianye felt quite confident about winning against a rank-fifteen warrior but would need to go all out against a rank-sixteen. The Southern Blue City Lord was rank seventeen and likely had a rank-sixteen expert under hismand. Even if the lord didn¡¯t take action himself, Qianye would be quite strained against this top expert.

    But since Nighteye had insisted on it, Qianye decided to do as she wished. It was just that Qianye felt odd about Nighteye¡¯s change in character¡ªshe was quite decisive now and no longer looked to Qianye for everything.

    Seeing Qianye was somewhat reluctant, Nighteye stopped what she was doing and said to him, ¡°Qianye, this is the neutralnds. If you want a quiet life, you need to fight for it. As I see it, we don¡¯t need to leave at all and should just keep on living here. As long as the Southern Blue City Lord doesn¡¯t take action, we¡¯ll kill whoeveres our way. Even if the city lord himself were to attack, we need only to run away and ambush himter on.¡±

    ¡°I just didn¡¯t want to put you at risk.¡± Qianye sighed.

    ¡°Even in the Monroe n, my protection period has passed, I¡¯ll need to take charge of things.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s stay then.¡±

    ...

    The city lord¡¯s residence in Southern Blue was beautifully decorated. It took up an entire four street blocks and was countless times grander than Su Dingqian¡¯s own. The city lord was in his rear garden at the moment. The ambiance here was gentle, warm, and free of violent void origin power, a stark difference from the world outside. There was an extravagant weather-modifying array covering the entire garden,parable to the nobility back in the empire.

    A plump middle-aged man was lying on a recliner within the garden pavilion, his eyes narrowed as though he were half-asleep. There was a beautifuldy on either side of him, gently waving their fans while two more waited on him nearby. The tables nearby were filled with fresh fruits, many of which were¡ªquite surprisingly¡ªspecialties from the empire and Evernight.

    Shipped tens of thousands of kilometers to the neutralnds and still maintaining their freshness, these fruits were literally worth their weight in gold.

    The sound of footsteps rang out at this moment as a young man hurried over and stood outside of the pavilion. There was a rattan chair beside the pavilion, on which an old man was dozing off. With half-opened eyes, this person shot a brief nce at the young man before going back to sleep.

    At this moment, the middle-aged man inside the pavilion opened his eyes but wasn¡¯t quite awake just yet. He let out a long yawn before saying, ¡°What¡¯s so important that you must disturb my afternoon nap? You think managing such a big city is easy? I need my beauty sleep.¡±

    The young man had no choice but to agree, but he still wouldn¡¯t leave.

    City Lord Ji Rui swung and stretched his chubby body about. After sobering up a bit, he said, ¡°Twelve, speak, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    The young man was his son, the twelfth among them. However, their rtionship was more like a superior and subordinate instead of father and son.

    The young man was very respectful and honest. He knew very well that his father had thirty-something wives and concubines. There were over sixty children in total, thirty-five of whom were boys, and there were three more in their mothers¡¯ wombs. He might be reced by someone else if he didn¡¯t try hard enough.

    He summarized the conflict between Qianye and Meir, and then silently awaited instructions.

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression sank after listening to everything. Snorting heavily, he roared, ¡°Provoking the Spider Emperor¡¯s envoy is a grave matter! Do you really need to ask me what to do? Capture him and send him to the envoy. How useless! Now, where has that reckless bastard fled to?¡±

    The young man whispered, ¡°He hasn¡¯t fled, he¡¯s staying at the Four Winds Hotel inside the city.¡±

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t fled? Humph, how bold! Makes it easier for us to capture him. Wait, he hasn¡¯t fled?¡± Ji Rui¡¯s fatty body trembled as he sat up.

 Chapter 772: Awakening

    ¡°It¡¯smon knowledge that the city lord will go after whoever caused such a big disaster, why isn¡¯t he running?¡± Ji Rui frowned.

    The young man said nothing, but he was thinking to himself, ¡°Does he still not understand? The man must have powerful backing!¡± That was why he hade to seek Ji Rui¡¯s counsel instead of seizing Qianye on his own.

    As a scheming man, the city lord naturally figured this out. ¡°What is his strength?¡±

    ¡°His apparent origin cultivation is rank-twelve, but hisbat strength far exceeds that. He defeated Meir and Tian Jin in a single move.¡±

    Ji Rui gasped. ¡°Even Tian Jin lost in one move?¡±

    ¡°He was somewhat injured due to Meir¡¯s ambush, but it¡¯s not very serious.¡±

    Ji Rui was livid. Momentster, he said, ¡°Ask your Uncle Guan to visit the Four Winds Hotel. Remember to keep a good attitude and also bring some presents, just in case.¡±

    ¡°Father, this¡­¡±

    ¡°Not this or buts! That person remaining here means that he doesn¡¯t think anything of us. If even an old rank-seventeen expert like me can¡¯t frighten him away, what use can you guys be? A group of trash!¡±

    Knowing that Ji Rui was in a bad mood, the young man replied with a string of yeses and left the courtyard in a hurry. He didn¡¯t dare stay any longer.

    In the small courtyard of the hotel, Qianye and Nighteye had just finished dinner when there was a knock on the door.

    Qianye opened the door and saw a burly, middle-aged man and a young man standing behind him. This mighty man made no motion to hide his strength, allowing everyone to see his seven origin vortices. The young man wasn¡¯t weak, either, and had condensed his first vortex at such a young age.

    The burly man cupped his hands, saying, ¡°This lowly one is Guan Zhongliu. Thanks to the City Lord¡¯s benevolence, I hold the position of city guardmander in Southern Blue. This is the city lord¡¯s twelfth son, Ji Shicheng.¡±

    Twelfth Young Noble? Reportedly, the Southern Blue city lord wasn¡¯t that old yet. If this young man here was only the twelfth son, the man was truly capable. Qianye criticized the man secretly but wore a smile on his face. ¡°What rare guests! Pleasee in.¡±

    The wine and dishes in the courtyard hadn¡¯t been cleared away yet. Guan Zhongliuughed loudly upon seeing the table. ¡°Mister, you¡¯re quite spirited, it seems. I still haven¡¯t asked your name?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Zhao Ye, just a wandering cultivator with no ce to call home.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Ye? Are you that famous Mister Zhao who racked up shocking aplishments in Port City?¡± Guan Zhongliu¡¯s expression became much more serious.

    ¡°Indeed, I am.¡± Qianye was fairly surprised at how well-informed this person was.

    The burly man said, ¡°Mister Zhao¡¯s aplishments are simply too shocking. I have many good friends working under City Lord Su, so I received some first-hand information.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me more Moonlight-Demon assassins will appear shortly afterward?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu replied hurriedly, ¡°Of course not! Our Southern Blue has always been in the neutral position, and always will be. Besides, Mr. Zhao merely fought as a hired mercenary, something all toomon in the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye merely smiled. It was indeed amon urrence, but the Moonlight Demons¡¯ losses were too great; it was impossible for them not to bear grudges. Qianye wasn¡¯t really afraid of them unless a divine champion were to personally take action. No matter how bad the situation, he still had the power to escape.

    At this point, the servants had cleared away the dishes and delivered some tea and snacks. Guan Zhongliu thus sat down to chat with Qianye, sounding out his intentions ining to the city both directly and indirectly. Thetter made no mention of his origins but did disclose his desire for Dreameater Bugs and simr products.

    It was no secret that Su Dingqian had given his entire stock to Qianye. ¡°I heard City Lord Su gave Mr. Zhao at least three such bugs. I wonder what use you have for them? Maybe I could help you a bit.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°To be honest with Commander Guan, this Dreameater Bug¡¯s strange effects greatly benefit a secret art that I cultivate. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been searching for it at all costs.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu nodded. ¡°Our Southern Blue is small and poor, but City Lord Ji does have some Dreameater Bugs.¡±

    Qianye seemed moved. ¡°Is there any way to persuade City Lord Ji to relinquish them?¡±

    ¡°Normally, you would have to rack up contributions as you did in Port City. The other way is to pay a high enough price, a hundred and fifty thousand gold coins for each Dreameater Bug or an item of equal value.¡±

    This price shocked Qianye. ording to the market price, Dreameater Bugs were worth some tens of thousands, but this shady city lord had raised the price three times. However, there was only a price for these bugs with no market¡ªthere were always people willing to take the bait no matter how high the asking price.

    Qianye pondered for a while. ¡°Commander Guan, this price is too high.¡±

    Guan Zhongliuughed out loud. ¡°That is indeed the case, but I can¡¯t do anything to change the city lord¡¯s decision. In truth, I think that contributing to the city is the fastest way. Didn¡¯t Mr. Zhao get three Dreameater Bugs from City Lord Su? No matter how you put it, our City Lord Ji is much more generous than him.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu didn¡¯t force the issue, either. ¡°This matter does require careful consideration. Then, I¡¯ll be taking my leave here.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu stood up and was just about to leave when his entire body trembled, his eyes full of horror and amazement as he nced at Nighteye. He had been talking with Qianye for so long yet never noticed that she was sitting beside them. This shock was nothing to scoff at; it immediately drenched him in cold sweat.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong Commander Guan? Are you unwell?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s nothing. Rest well, Mr. Zhao, I won¡¯t disturb you anymore.¡± With that, Guan Zhongliu left immediately with the twelfth young master in tow. Since the beginning to the end, this young master never got the opportunity to talk.

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand why Guan Zhongliu looked like he had just seen a ghost.

    Momentster, the man had returned to the city lord¡¯s mansion and was standing before Ji Rui. The city lord was pacing about in the study, no longer in the mood for a nap. ¡°How did it go?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu¡¯s face was pale. ¡°That person is Zhao Ye, and I suspect that woman apanying him is a divine champion!¡±

    ¡°Divine Champion!¡± Ji Rui was astonished. Soon afterward, he was filled with delight. ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that we were sufficient in etiquette! But this is a serious matter, are you sure?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression shifted as Guan Zhongliu recounted the conversation. ¡°Even I cannotpletely avoid your perception. It would seem that this woman is indeed a divine champion. But, how can there be a divine champion in the Eastern Sea?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there one in the Moonlight Demons?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression was ugly. ¡°What would that persone to Southern Blue for? This, this¡­¡±

    Guan Zhongliu was calm. ¡°We should see how things develop and see what they want.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true, except for convenience in transportation, our Southern Blue really has nothing a divine champion might want.¡±

    ¡°But that Zhao Ye says he wants Dreameater Bugs.¡±

    Ji Rui pondered for a moment. ¡°We can¡¯t hand it to him directly. We can give him a discount at most. Otherwise, it¡¯ll devalue the favor he owes us.¡±

    The little hotel courtyard became quiet after Guan Zhongliu¡¯s departure. Seemingly tired, Nighteye returned to the room. Qianye followed her to the bed and reached out to embrace her by the waist. ¡°We haven¡¯t been intimate for some time.¡±

    Nighteye nced at him with a charming, spurious smile. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll reward you for your good performance today.¡±

    A delighted Qianye was just about to pounce over when, all of a sudden, Nighteye ced a small, white feet on his chest and kicked him off the bed. Caught entirely off guard by the well-timed attack, hended t on his back.

    Qianye mbered up with a serious expression and said in a gloomy voice, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Nighteye leaned on the bed, exuding a natural charm. ¡°When did you figure it out?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not important. Who are you and where¡¯s Nighteye?¡±

    Nighteye sat up to put on her shoes and clothes. ¡°Nighteye is me and I am Nighteye. Or rather, I am the true Nighteye, you understand?¡±

    Was this a fractured spirit or dual personalities? Qianye had no answer.

    At this point, Nighteye had already tidied up her clothing, and the yfulness in her eyes had faded away, reced by an indifferent coldness. ¡°Since you¡¯ve seen through it, I¡¯ll no longer continue this farce. I¡¯ll be leaving now, take care.¡±

    Shaken, Qianye blocked the way out and roared, ¡°Stop! Just who are you and where are you taking Nighteye?¡±

    Nighteye shot him a nce, revealing a cold smile on her lips. ¡°You want to stop me when you¡¯re so weak?¡±

    That gaze froze Qianye¡¯s entire body. It felt like his veins were filled with icy water and not auric me blood. In a short moment, his entire body was covered in ayer of frost and the temperature in the room fell drastically.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body was sealed in ice, and only the blood core and three half-crystallized origin vortices were still alive. Seeing Nighteye about to leave, Qianye clenched his teeth, pushing his blood core and origin vortices to the maximum output. The origin power of Venus Dawn gushed out of his body and merged together with the dark golden blood energy.

    Venus Dawn and the dark golden origin power stood at the two extremes of Daybreak and Evernight. This unrestrainedbination didn¡¯t increase their power but instead resulted in a violent explosion!

    Countless explosions erupted in Qianye¡¯s body. His ancient vampire physique was riddled with wounds and immediately descended into a state of heavy injury. However, the explosions shattered the ice sealing him, affording him freedom of movement.

    Qianye took a step forward and blocked Nighteye¡¯s path once more.

    Some ripples finally appeared in Nighteye¡¯s indifferent pupils. ¡°You¡¯re quite ruthless on yourself, but you¡¯re now injured. What can you even do after regaining your freedom of movement, stop me? Foolish.¡±

    With that, she pointed at Qianye¡¯s chest with her finger. The force was small, but it wasn¡¯t something Qianye could endure. He fell to the ground with a plop, and the wounds all over his body erupted in blood, painting a sanguineous human shape on the floor.

 Chapter 773: Iâ€™ll be Waiting on the Sacred Mountain

    Sustaining wound upon wound, Qianye could hardly even stand up. Yet he struggled little by little and managed to prop himself up against the wall. He then moved himself slowly to block the door, almost falling down several times along the way.

    The traces of blood from the wall to the door were a ghastly sight to see.

    ¡°If you really want to die, I don¡¯t mind helping you.¡± There was no pain or concern in her eyes, only coldness.

    ¡°Where is Nighteye?¡±

    There was another fluctuation in her eyes. Momentster, she pointed at her blood core and said, ¡°She¡¯s here, if you insist she is the actual Nighteye.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s figure appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes, and this time, the Monroe princess did not react, allowing her figure to grow clearer. However, the results silenced Qianye because there was neither a change in her body nor her blood energy¡ªthis was still the woman he loved deeply. But where was her spirit? Is she still the same person?

    ¡°What exactly is going on?¡±

    ¡°I merely awakened. The Nighteye you know is only this body¡¯s instinct while I was asleep. Do you understand now?¡± Nighteye seemed impatient at having to exin so many things. She said with cold eyes, ¡°I¡¯m already being quite tolerant right now. Do you think I won¡¯t kill you if you keep pestering me?¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me our past will be forgotten just like that?¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°In light of your eptable bloodline and there being no big loss for me, I¡¯ll let things be.¡±

    ¡°You, who are you?¡±

    These words aroused Nighteye¡¯s sleeping memories. Her aura became lofty, ephemeral, and unfathomable. A single wisp of it made it difficult for Qianye to move.

    ¡°All you need to know is that my position should be on the sacred mountain.¡±

    ¡°Wherever you go, I¡¯ll find you!!!¡± Qianye roared with all the strength he had remaining.

    But Nighteye merely waved her hands and a formless wave of origin power shifted Qianye to the side.

    She paused just as she was about to walk through the door. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you on the sacred mountain.¡±

    Then, Nighteye pushed the door open and vanished through it.

    Sitting within this empty room, Qianye suddenly felt that his world had be empty and frozen.

    The sky gradually turned dark.

    Only when footsteps were heard outside of the courtyard did Qianye wake up from his daze. He wanted to stand up and take precautions, but his legs were weak and he nearly copsed. The severe wound just now had almost injured his innards¡ªif it wasn¡¯t for the strong, semi-crystallized blood core and vortices, he might¡¯ve damaged his foundations.

    Southern Blue wasn¡¯t safe. Now that he knew someone wasing, Qianye calmed himself down and produced a blood crystal from his collection. He then crushed the item and absorbed the blood energy within, instantly strengthening the pulsation of his blood core as the energy transformed into wisps of auric me blood. Wherever this blood flowed past, the tissues in his body began regenerating at a rapid pace. It was just that Qianye was wounded all over, so the auric me blood was quickly depleted and transformed back to ordinary blood.

    The minimal recovery managed to stabilize Qianye¡¯s aura. He changed into a new set of clothes, activated his Bloodline Concealment, and waited before the courtyard doors.

    As expected, there was a knock on the gates before long.

    A soft gasp could be heard outside as Qianye pulled the door open. There were several people standing outside, the leader being a young girl in a ck cloak. It was Bluemoon with whom he had fought together in Port City. She hadn¡¯t sensed anyone behind the doors and was just about to knock again when the gates flew open¡ªthis shocked her quite a bit.

    There were four people behind Bluemoon. The two elders among them were quite strong, possessing profound auras and six origin vortices. The Highbeards¡¯bat strength far exceeded humans of the same rank, which meant that this lineup was enough to rampage through Southern Blue.

    These two elders were also quite surprised because they hadn¡¯t sensed Qianye, either.

    ¡°Bluemoon? How rare, pleasee in.¡± Qianye stepped aside.

    The girl instructed the remaining two men to guard the door while she herself entered with the two elders. She became quite cautious upon seeing the pool of blood through the open room.

    ¡°Just a bit of trouble, I¡¯ve dealt with it.¡± Qianye seemed rather calm.

    Seeing blood was no surprise in the neutralnds and thus Bluemoon paid it no further attention. She waved her hands at the two elders, who promptly deployed a steel bucket at each corner of the courtyard and pulled out a long alloy stick from each one. After the origin arrays were activated, a screen of light appeared between the poles, insting the courtyard from the outside world.

    ¡°This is rather interesting.¡±

    ¡°Just a small trick to prevent spying by isting sound and perception. There are limits to it, of course. It¡¯s useless against divine champions and those above.¡± Bluemoon was exining all of this to assure Qianye. Her estimation of his strength increased a fair bit when she saw that thetter waspletely unperturbed and allowed her to set things up as she wished. What she didn¡¯t know was that Qianye was in a deeply wounded state and couldn¡¯t stop her even if he wanted to.

    From the painstaking setup, Qianye knew that she hade to discuss some important business. As such, he waited quietly for her to exin her intentions.

    After everything was in order, Blue Moon said, ¡°I came here seeking Mr. Zhao¡¯s help in exploring the underground maze below Port City.¡±

    ¡°Below Port City? Isn¡¯t that the Earth Dragon¡¯sir? You want to risk going into a void colossus¡¯ir?¡±

    Bluemoon replied, ¡°Mr. Zhao must think I¡¯ve gone mad. Naturally, the Earth Dragon¡¯sir used to be a forbidden ground into which even Su Dingqian didn¡¯t dare venture. But that¡¯s no longer the case; the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons have found a way to pacify the Earth Dragon, making it ignore the weaker creatures in their. The divine champions in their will still attract its attention and suffer attacks, though.¡±

    Qianye instantly realized the opportunity. Divine champions like the Spider Emperor, Mask, and the Wolf King couldn¡¯t enter their, which meant there were chances one could fish in troubled waters. Divine champions couldn¡¯t enter, but there were numerous experts under the three powers. How could it be that easy to beard the lion in its den?

    ¡°What exactly does the Earth Dragon have that attracts your attention?¡±

    ¡°Its blood".

    Qianye wanted tough out loud after hearing this.

    Su Dingqian had told them that this so-called Earth Dragon¡¯s blood was something he had made up. He had never even seen this Earth Dragon before, let alone know what uses its blood had. Bluemoon was also present back then, so she couldn¡¯t have forgotten it.

    The girl said in due seriousness, ¡°The supposed false might be the truth, and what¡¯s considered the truth may not be real. As an experienced schemer, Su Dingqian had used this kind of method to make people think that the blood doesn¡¯t exist. In truth, obtaining the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood doesn¡¯t involve getting close to the dragon at all and its uses have been passed down in secret.¡±

    ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Bluemoon smiled. ¡°Us Highbeards are inherently good at battles and have been the first choice as mercenaries. Hundreds of years ago, one of our ancestors helped a mysterious expert enter the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. Not only did he learn many secrets regarding it, he even obtained a drop of its blood.

    At this point, Bluemoon stopped speaking. Qianye knew she wanted to keep him in suspense and make him ask questions. This secret information might even be a bargaining chip in their negotiations.

    Yet Qianye remained silent and seemed to have no intention of making any inquiries. Helpless, Bluemoon could only continue, ¡°The Earth Dragon¡¯s blood can greatly strengthen an expert¡¯s bloodline power and increase their aptitude, eliminating the bottlenecks of the past. Lucky ones might even have their bloodlines reced by the Earth Dragon¡¯s and gain overnight sess.¡±

    ¡°A priceless treasure indeed.¡±

    Seeing Qianye calm and unsurprised, Bluemoon couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°The Earth Dragon¡¯s blood is very helpful in breaking through to the divine champion rank. Our tribe¡¯s ancestor became a divine champion because of it. In his reign, our tribe built a total of seven secret bases, and his brilliance lingers to this day.¡±

    ¡°To what extent does it increase the chances?¡± Qianye asked.

    This wasn¡¯t the only treasure capable of helping one into the divine champion realm. Their value would depend on the percentage increase in breakthrough chance. Of course, for the countless people stuck at the divine champion threshold, any treasure that would increase their chances was priceless, no matter how small the increase.

    ¡°Thirty percent at least!¡±

    ¡°Thirty percent!? Are you sure?¡± Qianye was somewhat moved. A treasure capable of increasing chances of a breakthrough by thirty percent was extremely rare and even more valuable than an origin crystal. Thetter could only give the user the ability of a divine champion, but that wasn¡¯t a true breakthrough.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that our ancestor has used the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood before and these were the words he left behind.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s indeed alluring, but this treasure is too far away for me. There¡¯s a long path ahead of me before I reach the divine champion realm.¡± Qianye smiled calmly, saying, ¡°Besides, even if we do get such a treasure, it won¡¯t belong to me, will it?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood is very important to us Highbeards. But if we can obtain it, we¡¯ll naturally reward you handsomely.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s attitude, Bluemoon couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Are you not tempted?¡±

    ¡°Better not to think about things that are too far away.¡± Qianye revealed a smile of indifference.

    In truth, it wasn¡¯t that the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood was too far away; it waspletely useless for him. In terms of bloodline power, Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire bloodline wasn¡¯t inferior to the Earth Dragon¡¯s. Additionally, this was something he had cultivated on his own and had full control over. Hence, it was definitely more powerful than an external object like the blood.

    As for the divine champion threshold, countless people were stuck here because their origin power wasn¡¯t pure and concentrated enough¡ªthe impurities made it difficult for them to liquefy their crystals. For some people, it was because they had taken too many medicines, while most others couldn¡¯t break through because their cultivation methods werecking and the origin power produced wasn¡¯t of sufficient quality. These people would need to spend ten times more effort and time for the same results.

    Qianye, on the other hand, had reached the apex of purity in daybreak origin power. Venus dawn was one of the three top daybreak origin power types and its existence was the very embodiment of purity. Now that his origin vortices had half-crystallized, their future liquefaction was only a matter of time.

 Chapter 774: Empty

    A fair bit of worry emerged in Bluemoon¡¯s expression, and she pondered for a good while before she made up her mind. ¡°How about this? If you¡¯re willing to help me, we¡¯ll give you the Dreameater King from our tribe¡¯s collection.¡±

    ¡°Dreameater King, what¡¯s that?¡± Qianye was moved, but he was unaffected on the surface.

    ¡°Since you need Dreameater Bugs, you definitely must need the Dreameater King. As the name suggests, it is the king of their species. Ordinary bugs can strengthen the spirit, but the Dreameater King is far more effective in this regard, capable of bringing about a fundamental change. The more you use Dreameater Bugs, the less effective they¡¯ll be, but that¡¯s not the case for the king.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the reward too excessive just to hire me?¡±

    Bluemoon sighed. ¡°That¡¯s because the underground maze is a battlefield that suits you best.¡±

    ¡°Tell me the details and I might consider it.¡±

    ¡°The Earth Dragon¡¯sir is exceptionallyrge,plicated, and filled with all kinds of odd creatures. Their abilities are strange and their numbers are vast¡ªit would be highly dangerous once surrounded. All of these monsters follow the Earth Dragon¡¯s will. Although the dragon has been pacified at the moment, it is still very sensitive to power. Those with higher cultivation have a greater chance of being detected. At that time, only an earth-shattering sea of monsters will await them.¡±

    ¡°That means, people like Liu Daoming won¡¯t be able to go down?¡±

    ¡°They can with due caution, but it¡¯ll be very dangerous. I wouldn¡¯t go if I were them.¡±

    Qianye understood that Bluemoon was referring to hisbat strength, which was much higher than his rank-twelve cultivation. That was indeed a unique advantage in the underground maze. It was just that the Highbeards had been mercenaries for almost a thousand years and there were countless experts in their tribe. Why would they need him?

    ¡°This reward is too generous. There are much stronger people outside, why me?¡± Qianye asked once more.

    ¡°They might be stronger than you on paper, but they¡¯ll surely die if they were to fight you.¡±

    ¡°Howe you¡¯re so confident in me?¡±

    Bluemoon softened her voice. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as too excessive in evaluating the person who killed hundreds of mercenaries in the ck Grove.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes became serious. ¡°You know that, too.¡±

    ¡°You might look different, but your fighting style didn¡¯t change, especially that sword. We Highbeards recognize people bybat.¡±

    Qianye was rather speechless, but he knew he had no other choice because the Dreameater King on offer was quite attractive. After her second awakening, Nighteye had said that she would need a hundred more Dreameater Bugs. This number meant that the injury to her spirit was still quite serious. What she gained from the awakening was a rank-surpassing level of origin power, control arts, and a series of terrifying abilities. However, there was no change to her body, which was still at the level of a newly ascended count. Such a Nighteye was already extremely terrifying, more than enough to beat down any existence below the level of a duke. If the Queen of the Night were to suppress her blood energy to the count level, she wouldn¡¯t have the qualifications to even challenge Nighteye.

    Such a person saying she needed Dreameater Bugs meant that they were irreceable to her.

    Despite the dangers and countless traps, Qianye still looked up and said, ¡°Fine, I agree. But I have a condition, give the Dreameater King to me first.¡±

    Anger shed through the two elders¡¯ eyes, but Bluemoon stopped them. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll send it to you at this time tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Very well, when do we set out?¡±

    Bluemoon hadn¡¯t even started speaking when the entire courtyard began to shake. Dust streamed down from the roof along with pieces of shattered roof tiles. The earth itself was trembling, much like when Qianye was in Port City.

    It was just that Southern Blue seemed to have never experienced such shockwaves before. The entire city was in chaos, filled with screams and shouts. A building not so far away could no longer stand the shaking¡ªone of its walls cracked open, and the entire structure copsed from the defect.

    ¡°Earth Dragon?¡± Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly. This tremor was quite simr to the one he had felt back in Port City; moreover, there was a kind of violent will surging up from the earth. However, Southern Blue was almost five hundred kilometers away from Port City. This went to show just how terrifying the quake was. Port City was likely half-destroyed by now¡ªeven the noble district buildings might not be spared, except perhaps the city lord¡¯s mansion.

    Bluemoon wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°It¡¯s the Earth Dragon. Their pacification rite has begun, passages will appear in two days at most.¡±

    Bluemoon left after saying all this, leaving Qianye alone in the courtyard.

    From his experience on the floating continent, Qianye knew just how dangerous the underground endeavor was. The remnant will of a void colossus was already so dangerous, to speak nothing of a live one. Yet Qianye was willing to go anywhere for the Dreameater King. All he needed right now was to leave this courtyard.

    This ce was already empty¡ªshe was no longer here.

    Qianye looked up at the sky and thought to himself. ¡°Let¡¯s just consider this thest thing I can do for her.¡±

    The sky turned dark, and then it was dawn once more.

    Bluemoon arrived at the break of dawn and ced a wooden box into Qianye¡¯s hands. The container was made of dark wood and covered in carvings of mountains, rivers, fish, and insects. These things weren¡¯t just simple decorations but contained an intricate array capable of locking origin power inside.

    Qianye activated the array ording to Bluemoon¡¯s method and opened the box. There was a translucent, palm-sized Dreameater Bug inside, shrouded in mist. Qianye could sense a shred of origin power from its body, but it was extremely weak, almost as though the creature was standing between life and death.

    ¡°Is it dead or alive?¡±

    ¡°Dreameater Kings will die very soon after leaving the Dreameater Queen. Its medicine effects remain preserved over several hundred years because my ancestor used a secret art to seal it.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a Dreameater Queen?¡±

    ¡°Dreameater Bugs live in groups, led by a Dreameater Queen and several Kings. Thetter¡¯s only responsibility is to mate with the queen. If you¡¯re lucky enough, you might encounter the queen deep underground.¡±

    Qianye was moved even more. If he could obtain the Dreameater Queen, he wouldn¡¯t need the Marine Lotus anymore.

    After Bluemoon had left, Qianye ced the wooden box into Andruil¡¯s Secret Realm and woke Zhuji up. The little fellow was still quite sleepy, but the first thing she asked was: ¡°Where¡¯s Aunty Nighteye?¡±

    Qianye felt pain in his chest. ¡°She left on some business.¡±

    ¡°Oh, does that mean you¡¯re leaving too?¡± The littless was unusually smart at such times.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I need to go to a very dangerous ce, and I might have to stay for a long time.¡±

    Zhuji¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of danger. Aunty Nighteye said I should be able to fight on my own at this age. She said that, for a true arachne, the entire world is their battlefield.¡±

    Qianye felt his vision darken. ¡°When did she say that?¡±

    ¡°Yesterday!¡±

    As expected! Qianye knew that only the awakened Nighteye would do something like that. In the past, she had always loved and protected little Zhuji.

    ¡°What else did she do?¡± Qianye had a vague feeling that Zhuji was too smart right now.

    ¡°She seemed to have given me something, but I don¡¯t know what it is.¡±

    Qianye sighed. Regardless, Zhuji being smart was a good thing. He looked into her eyes and said, ¡°Do you remember the ck Grove where we fought together?¡±

    Zhuji nodded. ¡°I do! That ce has a very special smell, I can even find my own way there.¡±

    ¡°Good, you have to wait for me there. I¡¯lle and find you in the ck Grove after my return.¡±

    ¡°You can bring me along if you¡¯re going to a dangerous ce! The people visiting us these days aren¡¯t very strong. I only need to stomp on them a couple of times.¡±

    ¡°That ce is really too dangerous. You¡¯re still young, you can¡¯t go. Be a good girl and go to the ck Grove!¡±

    Qianye was quite imposing when he was serious, prompting little Zhuji to nod obediently.

    Momentster, Qianye packed their things up and apanied Zhuji ten kilometers out. The little girl was lugging a backpack almost asrge as herself. She waved energetically at Qianye before heading toward the nearby forest.

    Partings were always sad. Just as Qianye was filled with sadness and worry, Zhuji cheered delightfully. She leapt several meters through the air and dived into the forest like a chicken.

    Chaos erupted inside the woods.

    Qianye¡¯s mouth fell open, but no words came out. It would seem someone with a powerful bloodline like her shouldn''t have been raised indoors.

    He was suddenly a bit worried. What if she was having too much fun ying in the forest by the time he returned from his underground journey?

    She would still return, wouldn¡¯t she?

    At this moment, the earth shook even more violently than before. Evident cracks appeared in the ground, stretching beyond dozens of kilometers. Southern Blue couldn¡¯t withstand such destruction. One of its cannon towers copsed with a boom and segments of the wall also started to crack and copse.

    The earth sank in not far from Qianye and therein appeared a deep hole. Having gotten an idea, Qianye jumped over to the side of this seemingly bottomless pit and looked down. A natural cavern had appeared at the base leading into the unknown. After seeing this, Qianye realized what Bluemoon meant when she said the passage would appear soon.

    However, the underground maze was reallyplicated, and there was no telling where this one would lead to. Naturally, Qianye wouldn¡¯t go down recklessly just to explore it. He jumped into the air and gazed at the surroundings. As expected, there were several caves that had formed from the copse, all of them entrances that led into the underground world.

    After returning to Southern Blue, Qianye purchased arge batch of medicines, supplies, and ammunition. Despite the inted prices, Qianye was able to afford everything due to the rewards from Port City and his gains from killing the mercenaries in the ck Grove. He shopped without restraint, buying hundreds of origin grenades and emptying all the shelves in the city.

    Sensing crate after crate of origin grenades in Andruil¡¯s space, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel sad for the enemies in the underground world. These explosives would pose some measure of danger for anyone below the divine champion realm, and even more so for ordinary champions. Qianye¡¯s enemies in this underground expedition were about to suffer a nightmare.

 Chapter 775: Underground Palace

    It wasn¡¯t that people had no intention of buying origin grenades. It was just that even powers like the Southern Blue city guard couldn¡¯t afford such expensive weaponry due to therge number of soldiers they had to outfit. Even if they wanted topare fortunes, they weren¡¯t really a match for Qianye who had killed and robbed hundreds of assassins and mercenaries.

    While Qianye was focused on his preparations, Bluemoon was waiting patiently beside a certain natural pit. In just moments, the two elders apanying her emerged from the hole and said, ¡°This one connects to the underground maze around A19.¡±

    Bluemoon replied, ¡°Then let¡¯s go and pick Qianye up. The earlier we move, the better our chances.¡±

    The three boarded an off-road vehicle and sped toward Southern Blue. The elder at the steering wheel said all of a sudden, ¡°Young Miss, do we really need to pay such a price for this Zhao Ye? We only have two Dreameater Kings, both of them brought back by the ancestor during his underground journey.¡±

    ¡°Qianye is the best helper we will ever find,¡± Bluemoon replied calmly.

    ¡°But his price is enough to hire half a dozen experts of the same level,¡± the other elder chimed in.

    ¡°All those people added together won¡¯t be as useful as a single Qianye.¡± Bluemoon was apparently quite resolute.

    The driver stopped his dissuasion and said with a sigh, ¡°Since Young Miss is decided on this matter, I have nothing left to say. It¡¯s just that the pressure from the other side is really too big, we might be inviting quite a bit of trouble by giving out the Dreameater King without their consent.¡±

    Bluemoon replied, ¡°The Earth Dragon¡¯s Blood is more important than anything else. No matter how good or how valuable the Dreameater King is, it can¡¯t solve the crisis in our hands. What¡¯s the use of it?¡±

    The other elder said, ¡°That Zhao Ye agreed too quickly, we must be guarded against him cheating.¡±

    Bluemoon replied calmly, ¡°It should be fine. We¡¯ll have seeded as long as he gets to that ce. At that point, what he wants to do is no longer important.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± The elder nodded.

    At this point, Qianye hadpleted his preparations and returned to his courtyard. There, heid down some utensils and brewed a pot of tea just like Nighteye would. He then sat down to drink his tea in quiet leisure, waiting for Bluemoon¡¯s arrival.

    Although the brewing technique and quality were still within eptable limits, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel a certain loneliness as he drank the tea on his own. He recalled how Nighteye must¡¯ve been quite lonesome at home when he was killing and fighting on the front lines.

    He suddenly came to realize that he should¡¯ve spent more time with her. But now, she was gone and there was no longer such an opportunity.

    Nighteye had disyed numerous unbelievable powers before her departure, those that far exceeded her blood energy realm. Moreover, she had suppressed Qianye until he couldn¡¯t even struggle free. That wasn¡¯t a matter of strength but an insurmountable difference in realms. Her words ¡°My original ce is on the sacred mountain¡± made Qianye realize that he would never see her again if she did not will it.

    Could it be that he would never see her again from now on?

    She also left a single opportunity for him, the chance to seek her out at the sacred mountain. It was just that this opportunity was an impossible endeavor.

    Qianye¡¯s hands trembled slightly, spilling some of the tea. He had passed these days in a dream-like, strangely stimted state in order to avoid thinking about her and the empty courtyard. Yet he couldn¡¯t escape reality forever; this dream had to end at some point.

    It was at this time that a knock came from the courtyard doors and in came Bluemoon.

    Qianye collected his thoughts with some difficulty. ¡°Found the passage?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re done preparing, right? Let¡¯s set out.¡±

    With a nod, Qianye picked up his tactical backpack. Bluemoon was surprised at how small his backpack was. ¡°Is that enough?¡±

    Qianye patted East Peak. ¡°This sword is all I need.¡±

    Bluemoon asked no more for a warrior¡¯s fighting style was their most well-guarded secret. She boarded the car with Qianye, and then drove out of Southern Blue in due haste.

    Ji Rui appeared from the city-gate tower as the jeep vanished over the horizon. He gazed at the direction in which Qianye had disappeared, seemingly in deep contemtion. Guan Zhongliu arrived beside the city lord and said with a frown, ¡°The Highbeard shieldmaiden of this generation, what is she doing with Zhao Ye?¡±

    Ji Rui waved his hands, saying, ¡°Who cares, as long as they leave Southern Blue. The bigger their schemes and the more chaos they sow, the better it is for us. It¡¯ll be best if they can fight each other to the brink of death.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. At that point, they won¡¯t be able to touch Southern Blue.¡±

    Ji Rui shot Guan Zhongliu a nce. ¡°You only know about fighting and killing. You need to learn more about strategy. The waters are so muddy now, how can survival be enough? I¡¯ve ordered the men to order arge batch of firearms and resources, they¡¯ll arrive within a couple of days. Contact our friends within a couple of kilometers and see how much they need, there¡¯s no need to hold back on the prices!¡±

    Guan Zhongliu suddenly realized everything. He hadn¡¯t imagined that Ji Rui would be thinking about amassing wealth during the war. If it wasn¡¯t for this, how could he have earned such arge fortune?

    The city lord sighed. ¡°Zhongliu, all the origin grenades in the city have been bought out. You should pay more attention to such matters and stock up on goods. This is arge amount of money we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu pped his forehead. ¡°I¡¯ll go and do it now.¡±

    ¡°No need, I¡¯ve already bought all the origin grenades, bullets, and cannon shells from the surrounding cities. All this money would¡¯ve gone into someone else¡¯s pocket if I had waited for you.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu thought of something. ¡°There were a lot of origin grenades in the market two days ago. Who bought them all?¡±

    Ji Rui pointed toward the distance. ¡°Zhao Ye.¡±

    The man gasped. ¡°What¡¯s he nning to do with so many explosives? And where did he get all that money?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu wasn¡¯t to me for his surprise. The number of origin grenades involved was enough to st him to death seven times over. Besides, this meant that Qianye¡¯s fortune was at least seven or eight times greater than his own.

    Ji Rui replied with narrowed eyes, ¡°Who cares? The more chaotic, the better. I¡¯m already anticipating the three powers¡¯ reactions when they receive news of their casualties. Zhongliu, order a batch of armor and sell them to the Spider Emperor¡¯s team.¡±

    ...

    Meanwhile, Bluemoon¡¯s jeep sped along the wilderness. The journey was rather dull with neither Qianye nor Bluemoon speaking. In such times, riding an airship was much more dangerous because there was no telling when they would be shot down.

    After traveling for half a day, the off-road vehicle stopped outside of a naturally formed pit. Bluemoon jumped out of the car and said, ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    Qianye alighted from the vehicle and nced at the hole. One of the elders he had met the other day was guarding the entrance.

    Before entering the pit, Bluemoon tossed a hand grenade into their jeep, causing it to explode into a ball of mes. This action would attract even more attention, but Qianye remained silent.

    After the party had entered the passage, the two old men beganying down traps at the entrance. ¡°Okay, we can set out now.¡±

    These traps, as Qianye¡¯s saw it, were quite sinister. The Highbeards had umted abundantbat experience from hundreds of years of mercenary work. If there were people following them, they would likely suffer grievous injuries inside the tunnel. That was why Bluemoon had sted the car and lured the trackers in.

    The two Highbeard elders wouldy down traps at set intervals along the way, turning this passage into a literal tunnel of death.

    Only after setting up five blockades did the elders feel satisfied and start hurrying forward with Bluemoon and Qianye.

    The tunnels under the ground were convoluted and filled with forks,parable to a weave of undercurrents leading into the unknown. The surroundings seemed the same even after half a day of walking. Qianye felt rather distressed as he could no longer grasp the direction, only that they were heading in the general direction of Port City.

    The elder serving as guide knew a secret art for sensing directions¡ªhe walked swiftly and showed no hesitation at forks in the road. As they walked on and on, he came to a sudden stop and gestured forbat preparations. Then, he contracted his aura and moved forward slowly.

    As people rich inbat experience, the four slowly advanced under the cover of the geography. They soon arrived at a precipice, beyond which thend opened up to reveal a massive underground space. This great hall was a thousand meters in radius, hundreds of meters tall, and the craggy rock wall in the distance was dotted with countless dark tunnels. Qianye immediately noticed a different cave among them.

    That cave was fairly round and several dozens of meters in height. It was clearly not something that had formed naturally, more like a tunnel used by a certain giant creature.

    Bluemoon whispered, ¡°We¡¯ll be entering the Earth Dragon¡¯s territory from here on out. Be very careful and don''t attack unless absolutely necessary.¡±

    With that, she took point and slowly slid down the precipice, followed by the two elders. Highbeards had modified bodies, but they made no sound despite climbing down with the aid of machinery. Qianye was thest to descend¡ªhe slid down dozens of meters before stopping his momentum by grabbing onto a crack in the rocks. Then, he slid dozens more meters to arrive at the base of the precipice.

    The two elders seemed somewhat shaken by Qianye¡¯s powerful physical strength. The strength he had put on disy just now was alreadyparable to their own. Judging from how he had made light work of the descent, he must¡¯ve hidden a good part of his powers.

    Qianye¡¯s eyesnded on a bunch of mosses afternding, and he reached out to crush it. The moss was fleshy and actually as thick as one¡¯s palm. As the most basic form of food for the creatures here, these mosses and mushrooms were everywhere in the underground maze¡ªtheir exuberant growth proved that this underground maze was filled with vitality.

    This wasn¡¯t good news.

    Qianye pointed at a couple of giant holes. ¡°Were those made by the Earth Dragon?¡±

    Bluemoon shook her head. ¡°Of course not, how can the Earth Dragon be that small? These tunnels are made by fierce beasts under the dragon¡¯smand.¡±

    Qianye nodded. A fierce beast¡¯s build was usually indicative of its strength. With such giant creatures around, it was no wonder Bluemoon would tell people to be careful. Moreover, these creatures were only the Earth Dragon¡¯s subordinates controlled by its will.

    The group avoided the giant tunnels as they moved forward. After some time, Qianye suddenly noticed a cold and iparably powerful will sweep over the entire underground space. Without a need for warning, Qianye immediately retracted his aura and minimized his origin power fluctuations.

    The icy intent had no interest in small insects like Qianye. It passed by in a sh and whistled into the distance.

 Chapter 776: Blood Altar

    The moment he came into contact with that cold intent, Qianye felt as though he was swimming in a boundless ocean of ice, one filled with snowstorms and raging waves. Compared to it, Qianye¡¯s will was like a small boat that would capsize at any moment.

    Qianye shivered as the will of the Earth Dragon left. Before this, Qianye had imagined how strong this being was, but he hadn¡¯t expected it to be this powerful. It was already close to Sky Demon¡¯s level and certainly not something an ordinary divine champion could contend against. That was why Su Dingqian, who had lived in the nearby Port City for so many years, was never able to approach its true body.

    Although the cold intent had passed, there were still waves of remnant fluctuations left behind in the cave. This was akin to the corner of the Earth Dragon¡¯s eyes¡ªa single misstep might lead to being detected.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Here on out, we might encounter danger at any given moment.¡± Bluemoon made a forward gesture and went ahead.

    The one taking point became Bluemoon after approaching the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. The two elders contained their origin powers firmly and were wearing tense expressions. They had formally entered the Earth Dragon¡¯sir from this point onward and would have to face its will at all times. Attracting its attention would mean immediate annihtion, and those with greater cultivation levels bore a greater burden here. The Earth Dragon might not pay attention to small insects crawling about, but it wouldn¡¯t ignore a rat scuttling into itsir.

    As they went on, Bluemoon came to a sudden halt and produced a queer-looking apparatus. This instrument consisted of a dial on the surface and the needle within was moving about constantly. At the end of this dial was an eye-catching red zone¡ªBluemoon sighed in relief after confirming that the needle never entered this red area.

    The two elders seemed much more rxed, but they still couldn¡¯t shake off the chill.

    ¡°Here on out, we might encounter people from that side,¡± one of the elders reminded.

    Evading experts was apletely different conceptpared to avoiding fierce beasts. For instance, the two old men began installing some small instruments in some unassuming corners. These things had no destructive power but could release special fluctuations upon sensing bypassers and served as a warning to the owner. Naturally, if they could do this, others could also do the same.

    The four slowed down their rate of advancement and paid attention to every corner for traps and traces of other experts.

    The further they went in, the stronger the Earth Dragon¡¯s will became. Every time it swept past them, Qianye could feel his blood energy growing restless. It would be difficult for him to proceed if it wasn¡¯t for the purity of his origin power and the high quality of his blood energy. He would have to activate Bloodline Concealment or risk getting detected by the Earth Dragon.

    The three Highbeards, including Bluemoon, had locked down their origin power and were operating with the aid of their mechanical parts. This weakened their vital fluctuations so much that they were even inferior to ordinary beasts; it was only natural that the Earth Dragon would ignore them. Comparatively, Qianye¡¯s bloodline power became quite obvious.

    After several kilometers of travel, Qianye began to feel the situation going out of control. He felt that he might be discovered by the Earth Dragon if he didn¡¯t use Bloodline Concealment. However, this skill was one of Qianye¡¯s hidden aces, so he wasn¡¯t willing to use it in front of other people if he had a choice. Otherwise, his enemies might specifically target this facet of his powers, or, at the very least, they would be guarded against him.

    Just as Qianye was hesitating whether or not to use Bloodline Concealment, he noticed a small, unnatural object through the corner of his eyes and quickly pulled Bluemoon to his side.

    The two elders were astonished, but they kept themselves in check. It was just that some protruding objects were aimed at Qianye from under their cloaks.

    Qianye gestured for them to calm down and pointed forward.

    There was a pile of fragmented rocks where he was pointing, and there was a small, finger-sized rod poking out from one of them. This little pipe was painted to resemble a rock, down to the veined patterns and would be easily overlooked at a nce. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s superb visual acuity and attention to detail, he might not have noticed this small object.

    There would never be a rod-like object protruding from an ordinary rock. Avoiding the small rod, one of the Highbeard elders picked up the rock and headed in the direction it was pointing. He walked all the way to the other side of the passage and put the rock down gently. By the time he was back, his breathing had grown somewhat coarse. Apparently, this movement wasn¡¯t easy for him.

    The elder exined everything to Qianye¡ªthis rock was actually a clever tripwire with a receiver on the other end. The small rod would fire a constant beam of origin power toward the receiver, which would explode once this connection was interrupted, thus rming the owner.

    Unlike the transmitting end, the receiver had beenpletely camouged. There was no way to tell which rock was the trap without cracking all the rocks open. Hence, the old man chose to move the transmitter and open up a path, ruining this trap in the process.

    Qianye was full of admiration after learning about this. The design of this tripwire was genius and easy to trigger. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s shocking eyesight, even the Highbeards would¡¯ve tripped it.

    The tripwire¡¯s presence warned everyone that they had reached the operation zone of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons.

    Bluemoon fished out a long silver needle and flicked it toward the ground. In Qianye¡¯s perception, he could sense an inaudible sound wave spreading out in all directions. These waves were weak but exceptionally prative, even capable of going through some of the thinner rock walls.

    Bluemoon listened intently for the echoes bouncing back from some directions. There was an odd-looking apparatus on her right ear, apparently for catching the echoes. She pointed at a certain direction and gestured that someone was there.

    The four retracted their auras and moved slowly toward the target. Before long, some faint voices could be heard up ahead.

    It was a naturally formed cave, and the two sentries guarding the entrance were chatting with one another.

    One of them yawned. ¡°So boring. Old Li, don¡¯t tell me we have to guard this ce for an entire month? There¡¯s not even a single ghost here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you want to go deeper?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not that bored, are you?¡±

    The other guard snorted. ¡°You think that¡¯s a good job? The headman said it¡¯ll be lucky if half the people in there return alive. I had to pay a lot to get assigned to this post. The only reason you¡¯re standing here is because you shared arge part of the costs.¡±

    The tall guardughed along. ¡°Isn¡¯t the headman your uncle? Who¡¯s he going to look after if not you? I only tagged along on the fortune. But guarding these disgusting things is getting really unbearable in the long run.¡±

    ¡°Being alive is better than anything.¡±

    Just as he was affirming the statement, the tall guard noticed his partner¡¯s eyes lose focus as the man copsed silently. At the same time, he felt a sharp object pressed against his waist. ¡°Don¡¯t move if you want to live!¡±

    This guard was no warrior of steel, to begin with. He immediately raised his hands and said, ¡°I¡¯ll cooperate, I¡¯ll cooperate!¡±

    He did indeed cooperate, even reducing his voice to a whisper.

    Bluemoon arrived before him and performed a detailed interrogation. However, this guard knew little because he had been assigned to guard the entrance not long aftering in with the unit. Even the squad with which he hade was only one of the many that had gone underground.

    Seeing that there was nothing more to gain from him, a cold gleam flickered in Bluemoon¡¯s hand as her dagger shed the man¡¯s neck open.

    The group went further into the cave, hoping to see what was being set up inside. They had just entered when an intense smell of blood rushed at their faces. Qianye broke into a frown because his sharp senses told him that it was the smell of fresh blood, and such intensity couldn''t be produced by just a dozen people.

    He entered the cave in brisk steps, but there was anger on his face.

    There was a stone altar at the center of the cave, roughly ten square meters in size, and upon it were several metallic tes that formed its origin array. The altar was covered in hundreds of human corpses, all of them cut up into small, precise pieces to maximize the outflow of blood.

    The blood from hundreds of people was enough to make a pool of blood, yet not a drop of it flowed out of the altar due to the origin array¡ªit was as though the altar was surrounded by a transparent wall. The blood here wasn¡¯t very warm, but it was boiling constantly and the bits of flesh inside were rolling about.

    Bluemoon nced at the two elders. ¡°So, that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked Qianye. This altar was fairly disturbing to look at and reminded him of the dark races¡¯ blood feast. He strode forward with his sword, ready to sh this altar apart.

    ¡°No!¡± Bluemoon stopped Qianye.

    Qianye nced at her for an exnation.

    Bluemoon replied, ¡°This blood sacrifice is the keyponent in their pacification of the Earth Dragon. Once destroyed, the Earth Dragon will not only regain its perception but be even more sensitive. At that point, we can forget about leaving this ce alive!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Bluemoon pointed at the sanguineous line at the center of the blood pool. ¡°Look, they¡¯re using the origin array in this blood altar to refine the essence of fresh blood and pacify the Earth Dragon¡¯s will. As long as there are enough sufficient altars, it¡¯ll give the Earth Dragon a false sense of satiety. Void colossi like the Earth Dragon will be less active once it¡¯s full and be half-asleep.¡±

    Qianye nced at Bluemoon and said meaningfully, ¡°You seem to know quite a lot about this.¡±

    Bluemoon lowered her gaze, avoiding eye contact with Qianye. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that my ancestor has explored thisir before. He naturally knows a lot of secrets, including how to pacify the dragon. In truth, there are three ways to pacify the Earth Dragon, and the blood altar is only one of them.¡±

    ¡°How did the Spider Emperor and the others know about these secrets? Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re also being aided by Highbeards?¡±

 Chapter 777: Intense Battle

    Bluemoon¡¯s expression was indifferent. ¡°It wasn¡¯t just my ancestor who entered the Earth Dragon¡¯sir back then.¡±

    Qianye epted this theory and nced deeply at the blood altar before leaving with Bluemoon¡¯s party. If a single blood altar required the blood of hundreds of people, just how many would be required to pacify the Earth Dragon? And where did these sacrificese from?

    Qianye had a vague feeling that the fate of those civilians left behind in Port City was bleak.

    The four thus continued onward. After avoiding two rounds of traps, one of the elders finally took a careless step and triggered a mechanism on the ground. With a loud bang, a blinding sh of light lit up the dark underground world and sent a high-frequency wave far off into the distance.

    ¡°Prepare for battle.¡± Bluemoon wasn¡¯t flustered. She rolled up her sleeves to reveal the left arm that had always been hidden inside. Quite shockingly, the limb had been modified into arge caliber origin cannon. The exquisite weapon was dark green and entirely covered in origin array patterns.

    The two old men also removed their robes, and there were also traces of modification on their bodies. One of them had imnted an origin furnace into his body which, after activation, began to power the other mechanical parts in his body. He was just like a human-shaped puppet.

    A wisp of sadness appeared in Bluemoon¡¯s eyes. ¡°We Highbeards have limited lifespans. In order to maintain ourbat strength, we have to undertake more and more modifications as we grow older.¡±

    Qianye nodded in silence. He suddenly sensed numerous origin power auras approaching rapidly from the side.

    ¡°Enemy ambush!¡± Qianye pointed in that direction. Bluemoon and the others, being experienced soldiers, reacted instantly by pointing their weapons where Qianye had pointed to.

    Several arachne soldiers had just charged out of the tunnel when they were weed by the interweaving fire of the three Highbeards. Bluemoon¡¯s choice was arge caliber hand cannon, while the two elders were using rapid-fire origin machine guns.

    Unable to stop his momentum, the arachne soldier behind dashed into the line of fire and suffered the same fate as his earlierpanions. Ten high-ranking arachne warriors thus lost their lives under the interweaving fire of the Highbeards. An earth-shattering roar erupted in the tunnel as a heavy axe spun out of the entrance and flew toward one of the Highbeard elders.

    The elder shook his left arm, and out popped a protective shield.

    ¡°ng!¡± The flying axe struck the barrier, shattering the origin power on its surface and soon, the shield itself. The elder took several steps back, sparks flying out from the mechanical joints on his body. His face turned pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    The axe couldn¡¯t stand the massive impact, either, and actually broke down into several pieces.

    An extremelyrge arachne stormed out of the tunnel, d in a set of magnificent, dark golden armor. Seeing his broken axe and the arachne corpses strewn across the ground, he erupted in a horrible rage. He said with an intense re, ¡°All of you shall die!¡±

    A single flying axe had injured a Highbeard elder. This arachne possessed significantbat strength and was definitely not an ordinary count.

    However, Bluemoon wasn¡¯t rmed and merely fired her cannon in the arachne count¡¯s face. This shot was extremely powerful, almostparable to Zhao Yuying¡¯s Mountain Splitter. The count didn¡¯t dare look down on this st¡ªhe pulled out a heavy shield strapped to his arachnid body and used it to block the side of his body. With a boom, the impact from Bluemoon¡¯s shot forced the arachne one step toward the side.

    The furious count had just lowered his shield when a ze flickered in his eyes; Bluemoon had fired once again. This shot was extremely tricky, almost grazing past the shield¡¯s upper body as it seemingly came for the arachne¡¯s head. The roaring count ducked out of instinct, but this actually helped the shell tond squarely on his head.

    The arachne¡¯s helmet flew off as fresh blood flowed down his dazzled face; he shook his head repeatedly, growling all the while. Nheless, the count¡¯s body was indeed strong and sturdy¡ªhe actually seemed fine after taking a blow to the vitals and was still capable of furtherbat.

    But this shot had clearly enraged the count. After recovering from the daze, he quickly produced his origin machine gun and fired a stream of origin mes from it. Bluemoon immediately evaded the iing fire. Her movements were extremely nimble and, on many asions, seemed to defy thews of physics entirely. It was as though she wasn¡¯t a humanoid being at all. Due to the aid of mechanical parts, her actions were odd and unpredictable, making her a difficult target to hit.

    The blustering arachne chased after the girl with his raking fire. But one of the Highbeard elders had secretly installed several steel wires on the ground, and they were hard to notice in the darkness of the cave. Tangled up with several steel cables, the arachne count¡¯s massive body finally lost its bnce and copsed to the side.

    Before he could even try to mber back up, arge metallic fell on top of him and bound him up in an instant. Both the steel cables and the metallic were made of special materials¡ªthe target only managed to tear some parts of the after struggling with all his might. It was bound to take him some more work in order to break free.

    At this point, Bluemoon produced a small tube which she tossed onto the restrained target. The faint yellow liquid inside burst into raging mes as the tube cracked open, scorching the arachne count until he was howling in pain. The spider activated his origin power in a desperate attempt to snuff out the mes on his body, but this fire was extremely hot and almost as difficult to extinguish as origin me. In addition to that, Bluemoon and party fired continuously at the arachne count to break his origin defenses.

    Seeing how things had unfolded, Qianye tossed two origin grenades under the beleaguered arachne.

    The target¡¯s body flew up with a rumbling explosion. A wave of heat and gravel rushed at everyone¡¯s faces, forcing Bluemoon and the elders to turn away. Having taken two solid grenade sts, the arachne count¡¯s origin defenses were flickering and showing signs of dying out. The Highbeards took this opportunity to st the arachne count with all their might, quickly turning him into a beehive.

    After a moment¡¯s work, the arachne count¡¯s screams trailed off and his massive body stopped iling about.

    This was a true expert whosebat strength far exceeded his peers, yet he had died such a sullen death¡ªthe only attack where he had managed to fully exert his power was the flying axe. This battle gave Qianye a deeper understanding of the Highbeards¡¯ fighting style.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move, their main force will arrive soon,¡± Bluemoon said urgently. The four hastened their steps toward the depths of their.

    A sinister voice rang out before long. ¡°Highbeards, you¡¯re finally here!¡± These words hadn¡¯t even ended when a faint shadow appeared from the side and made a beeline for one of the Highbeard elders.

    The old man was quick to react, exchanging ten blows with the assant in a sh and roaring furiously as he did so. That silhouette slowly visualized in battle and seemed to be a werewolf of extremely faint color. His build wasn¡¯t very big, but he moved with great crity and went for the vitals with every move. The entangled Highbeard elder was one level higher than the opponent, yet he was somewhat flustered and had taken a couple of injures within moments.

    Bluemoon and Qianye rushed into the fray. The four-man assault greatly restrained the werewolf count¡¯s movement space and threw him into a perilous situation.

    However, the wolf didn¡¯t seem afraid at all. His eyes flickered with bloodlust as he let out a sudden howl. The glow on his body flickered as his body-size and momentum increased little by little¡ªhis origin power began to burn as though it were aboil!

    A single collision from him sent the Highbeard elder flying, after which he chased after the target andunched a flurry of ruthless attacks, putting the elder in a desperate situation. The assant made no motion to protect himself, allowing Bluemoon and the other elder to rip his back open with their attacks.

    It was at this time that a tremendous, cold intent swept through the cave. This time, though, it didn¡¯t leave but lingered over the ce.

    Bluemoon expression changed drastically. ¡°Is he crazy!?¡±

    This werewolf count had let loose entirely and was fighting without any restraint, finally drawing the attention of the Earth Dragon¡¯s will. Rustling sounds emerged from the surrounding caves that sent a chill down everyone¡¯s spine.

    ¡°You want to die together?¡± Bluemoon shouted at the werewolf. As she saw it, it was idiocy to die in the service of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons. There weren¡¯t many in the neutralnds willing to do that either.

    The werewolf thrust a w into the Highbeard elder¡¯s abdomen before turning back with a sinister smile. ¡°My entire tribe died in the hands of your Highbeard mercenaries, I¡¯m the only one alive. Back then, I swore to my ancestor¡¯s spirit that I¡¯ll kill all Highbeards and build a skull totem on his grave as a sacrifice to our tribesmen. Do you think I don¡¯t know your identity? The Highbeards will be half done for if I kill you.¡±

    Bluemoon was both shocked and furious. Who would¡¯ve thought they would encounter such a person. The Highbeards made a living as mercenaries, and more often than not, there was only a thin line separating soldiers of fortune and bandits. To be entirely frank, they were bandits with their mask on and mercenaries without. Countless tribes big and small had fallen in the hands of Highbeards. How could Bluemoon even remember which tribe this werewolf count hailed from?

    Amidst flying dust and gravel, a shadow shot out of the ground and flew toward Qianye. Thetter broke into a frown as he raised East Peak upward, cleverly blocking this iing silhouette. The ck shadow crashed into the sharp de and was immediately split into two halves. However, Qianye¡¯s hands also trembled slightly, a testament to how much force the little thing was carrying.

    The ck objectnded on the ground, revealing its true form. It looked much like a worm and was a meter long. It was covered in scales and had a mouth full of sharp teeth where its head should be. It seemed to possess powerful vitality, as it was still iling about even after being split into two.

    This strange creature was actually able to fly a short distance through the air after emerging from the ground. Back then, it had shot past Bluemoon and made straight for Qianye.

 Chapter 778: Abandoned

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank, but he quickly raised his sword as he sensed something wrong with the situation. As expected, the earth split open continuously and one creature after another flew toward the group, six out of ten going for Qianye.

    This degree of assault could do nothing against Qianye. His sword moved like smoke, phasing in and out around his body as he cut down the assants without exception.

    However, these worms were merely the first wave of cannon fodder. Everyone here knew that the true fighting force was yet toe. The werewolf count let out a miserable cry as two wormstched onto his back and ripped off two of his muscles! The count was so intent on killing that Highbeard elder in front of him that he was caught off guard and wounded by the worms.

    The strength of these creatures clearly exceeded Bluemoon¡¯s expectations. She bit her lip as she nced at the injured Highbeard elder and werewolf, unsure whether or not to rush to their rescue. Even if she managed to save this Highbeard elder, the mission was very likely to fail with an injured teammate tagging along.

    At this moment, the entire cave fell into a moment of silence. Gusts of fishy wind blew in as numerous six-legged crocodiles crawled out of the caves. Their appearance caused everyone¡¯s expressions to change, and even Qianye felt rather apprehensive. These pegmatite crocodiles were five meters tall and dozens of meters in length, each sporting the power of a virtuous count. Most importantly, they had the advantage in numbers and were aided by the worm-like creatures. This was a rather thorny situation.

    That wasn¡¯t the end yet. After the appearance of the pegmatite crocodiles came a thick-scaled creature that resembled a rhinoceros. It was ten meters in height and had two horns on its forehead, one of which was two meters long. Its two scarlet eyes flickered with a bloodthirsty glow as it stared at everyone.

    As soon as he saw the fierce beast, Qianye¡¯s blood core began to beat uncontrobly and his auric me blood surged, transforming into a deluge of energy. Only then was he able to resist the suppressive might emitted from the creature. This beast was at the level of a marquis, clearly strong and tenacious.

    The monster locked onto the culprit as soon as it appeared. It fired a dark beam of light which duly prated the entangled werewolf and Highbeard elder, leaving a bowl-sized hole on their bodies.

    Bluemoon¡¯s expression changed drastically upon seeing the might of that attack. This beam was as powerful as a grade-seven origin gun, making it almost impossible for them to kite the monstrosity. One could see its strong suit just by looking at its build, and with its ability to fight at both melee and range, there was really no weakness to be exploited. Perhaps its spirit and psyche were its weaknesses, but the Highbeards had no proficiency in this regard. Not to mention overpowering the creature, Bluemoon might not even be able to kill the enemy even if it were to stand still and let her attack.

    Bluemoon made a prompt decision to toss out a silvery grenade. A powerful, blinding light emerged from the exploding grenade which was soon followed by a severe ringing in one¡¯s ears. Qianye¡¯s vision turned white, forcing him to close his eyes in pain, and his ears were buzzing from the subsequent soundwaves. For a moment, he could neither see nor hear anything.

    Additionally, the grenade released an extremely wild form of void origin power, throwing the origin power within the chamber into utter chaos. Even Qianye lost his grasp of the surroundings under the circumstances and had to rely on memory to jump toward the nearest cave wall. He crashed into many worms along the way but was able to send them flying with his sturdy physique. Finally, he bumped into the cave wall and slid down to the ground.

    The glow of the shbang gradually dispersed at this point and Qianye regained his perception. At a nce, he found countless worms¡ªhaving lost their ability to fly¡ªstrewn across the ground and iling about. They seemed to have gone into a frenzy and were starting to bite one another. The pegmatite crocodiles were swaying about in a serious daze, while the rhinoceros monster was the least affected, but its small eyes were red with tears flowing out constantly.

    The grenade Bluemoon had hurled out was extremely powerful, and every being under the divine champion realm would be affected if caught off-guard. Additionally, its disruption of the senses was absolute and left no blind spots, not even sparing Qianye¡¯s Eye of Control.

    At this moment, Bluemoon and the other Highbeard elder were nowhere to be found. Some of the worms and beasts made a beeline for the werewolf count and wounded Highbeard elder as they gradually recovered their senses, but most of them had their eyes on Qianye. That giant rhinoceros was spraying yellow mist from its nostrils and its horns began to glow.

    Qianye had already realized what had transpired. ¡°So I was abandoned, huh? I do make for a pretty good bait.¡± Qianyeughed in self-deprecation.

    Bluemoon had prepared such a shbang but hadn¡¯t told Qianye about it. Apparently, she had been nning to abandon him at the critical juncture all along. It would seem she had other intentions in seeking him out and recruiting him by every means possible. Just from how these worms were all drawn to Qianye, it was clear that Bluemoon hadn¡¯t hired him for hisbat strength. It was just that they had been pushed into a desperate corner soon after entering their, and she had no choice but to use her final trump card.

    At this moment, dozens of worms had pounced onto the werewolf and Highbeard elder, and the crackling sounds as they gnawed on their victims was sickening. They devoured their prey in the blink of an eye, leaving neither their bones nor the weapons, armor, and mechanical parts. In the end, only the hardest of alloyponents remained.

    Qianye was unafraid in the face of such dire straits. On the contrary, the mes of madness ignited in his eyes.

    ¡°Come!¡± Qianye pointed at the rhinoceros.

    The giant being seemed to possess a high degree of intelligence. It unleashed a violent roar and rushed madly at Qianye, knocking away or stomping to death all the troublesome worms in its wake.

    Qianye shouted wildly as he charged at the iing creature!

    Halfway through the charge, Qianye tossed out several origin grenades in the shape of a fan, immediately carpeting a hundred-meter area with violent explosions. He leapt up under the cover of the dust clouds and effectively evaded the rhino¡¯s horn attack. Then, he made a sharp, origin-power-guided drop onto the creature¡¯s back, breaking severalws of physics in the process. With East Peak held tightly in his hands, he stabbed into the giant creature¡¯s spine with full force!

    As East Peak entered the flesh, Qianye felt as though he had stabbed at one of the empire¡¯s sturdiest airships. No, even the airship¡¯s outer armor wasn¡¯t as sturdy as this rhino¡¯s hide. Even with a weapon as powerful as East Peak, Qianye had to expend great power to push the de inward.

    After rallying his strength three times, he had managed to push the sword halfway in. Only at this point did it feel like he had thrust past the hide and reached its flesh. This rhinoceros¡¯ skin was over a meter in thickness¡ªQianye had to use almost all of his strength just to get past its hide and pierce into its flesh! One had to know that the might of this sword could easily cut through the armor of an imperial battleship.

    If Bluemoon and the others hadn¡¯t fled, this rhinoceros would¡¯ve crushed them with his skin alone. Only a grade-eight firearm at full firepower could break through its defenses.

    Qianye forced his origin power through the de and into the creature''s body, destroying its fragile internal tissues in the process. Only then did the rhinoceros start to feel true pain. It unleashed a maddened roar as it produced ayer of dark yellow origin power radiance on its body. Soon, a powerful forcended on Qianye¡¯s body and sent him flying away.

    A bowl-sized defect was left on the rhinoceros'' back as East Peak was drawn away. A fountain of blood gushed out thereafter, producing a sanguineous drizzle inside the cave.

    The worms went mad after seeing the rain of blood. They paid Qianye no more heed and instead began chasing after the falling blood, fighting amongst themselves for the right to imbibe it.

    A few drops of the liquidnded on Qianye¡¯s face, one quite close to his lips in fact. Qianye licked the drop of blood¡ªhe immediately felt a wisp of burning energy spread throughout his abdomen, and his stamina actually recovered a bit. No wonder those worms were crazy about it.

    However, the rhinoceros was simply toorge, and the wound producing a rain of blood was merely a scratch to him.

    Qianye wiped the blood off his face and licked the liquid off of his palm. Then, he erupted with a furious roar and entered a state of blood boil. His entire body was shrouded in dark-golden light, and his mind was filled with a thirst for battle!

    The giant rhinoceros seemed to have sensed Qianye¡¯s intent. It responded with a roar and charged at him once more.

    Qianye slid sideways for over ten meters, effectively dodging the giant creature¡¯s strongest frontal assault. Soon afterward, he performed a sideways sh at the long horn whipping toward him!

    Dong!

    A deep sound resembling an ancient battle drum spread far and wide. The affected worms were all blown flying, and even the pegmatite crocodiles were frozen in ce.

    Qianye flew out dozens of meters like a broken kite, carving arge pit as he crashed into the cave wall. Then, he slowly slid down.

    The giant creature wasn¡¯t toofortable, either. It slid a couple of steps to the side and shook its head forcefully with a pained howl. Aceration had appeared at the base of its horn with fresh blood seeping out of it, but its body was stillrgely intact. Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire constitution wasn¡¯t really inferior to beasts of the same rank, and East Peak was a killer weapon of extreme weight. Even this rhinoceros couldn¡¯t quite digest an all-out blow like that.

    Qianye spat out a mouthful of blood when hended. The blood actually ignited uponnding and grew into a raging golden ze that burned out in a sh. At this moment, his auric me blood had been activated to the extreme¡ªevery drop of it contained great power and would ignite upon leaving the body.

    Qianye nced at East Peak and saw that a small defect had appeared on its edge! East Peak had never been damaged before since its upgrade, so much so that it seemed impervious to damage even with Qianye asionally swinging it about as a blunt weapon. But today, the giant rhinoceros¡¯ horn was left intact while East Peak was chipped.

    Qianye took out a blood crystal and crushed it, growing spirited as he absorbed its contents. He pointed East Peak at the giant creature and shouted, ¡°Come!¡±

    How could the giant rhinoceros endure this provocation? The roaring monstrosity charged over, causing the entire underground world to shake and tremble, almost as though it would copse at any moment. This time, an earth-colored radiance surged constantly on its charging body. Qianye dodged to the side but was sent flying once more by the invisible force. However, golden blood energy poured out from his body and canceled out most of the impact, helping himnd after flying ten or so meters back.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered as he arrived beside the rhinoceros once more and, with a single leap, thrust his de into its nk! The skin here was just as thick and Qianye had nowhere to exert force mid-air. Hence, he only managed to pierce through the skin. This time, however, what he injected wasn¡¯t origin power but blood energy.

 Chapter 779: Melee

    The giant rhinoceros unleashed an earth-shattering roar! A defensive field emerged all around its body which shook Qianye away. While he was flying through the air, the monster swung its head about and ced its long horn beneath his falling body! The horn was pulsing with a faint, eerie glow that sent a chill down Qianye¡¯s spine¡ªhe knew that he had to avoid it at all costs.

    With an explosive roar, Qianye swung East Peak in a full circle and shed at the horn!

    A sweeping shockwave appeared once more, and the worms that had just started to recover from the previous trauma were grounded again

    The giant rhinoceros¡¯ front limbs gave way and almost fell kneeling onto the ground. Qianye, on the other hand, flew backward like an artillery shell and punched into a cave wall. Theceration at the base of the rhino¡¯s horn grew deeper and blood gushed out like a fountain. Growling in pain, it rubbed the wound on its back against the cave wall. Apparently, the blood energy Qianye had injected was extremely ufortable. Thetter wasn¡¯t in good shape, either, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood and his aura diminishing rapidly. Both man and rhino had shed head-on, each suffering injuries in the blink of an eye. Nheless, the massive, thick-skinned rhinoceros could easily withstand this much damage, while Qianye''s was close to a grave injury that affected hisbat strength.

    The creature stared at Qianye and roared once. This cry actually contained a tone of mockery, almost as though it was making fun of Qianye for not knowing his ce. Compared to it, Qianye was no more than a small insect with no power to resist its powerful frontal assault.

    Qianye finally extricated himself from the cave wall andnded on the ground. There, he shook East Peak out and pointed it at the creature once more.

    This rhinoceros possessed charging and defensive force-fields in addition to long-range attacks. During its charge, an area dozens of meters around it would form a domain-like field, flinging away all obstacles in its wake. The taste of being struck by the assault force field wasn¡¯tfortable at all and felt like being rammed at half the creature¡¯s full impact¡ªQianye had already experienced this first hand.

    An ordinary expert would be flung away by the assault force-field if he were to evade the frontal charge and attempt an attack from the side. However, Qianye¡¯s constitution was powerful and East Peak was extremely heavy, so the field didn¡¯t have that great of an impact on him.

    Seeing Qianye actually provoking it, the giant rhinoceros¡¯ eyes turned red and lowered its head for a charge. It was just that Qianye remained rooted in ce while waiting for the iing attack.

    It would seem that Qianye had nowhere left to dodge. Even if he could evade the sharp horn, he would be pped into the wall by the impact. The giant rhinoceros thus increased its speed and fully expanded its assault field, its hooves beating like thunder along the way, poised to crush this little insect into meat paste!

    ¡°Rumble!¡± The entire tomb trembled¡ªshattered rocks fell from the ceiling and a huge depression appeared on the ground. The giant rhinoceros¡¯ body was deeply embedded into the cave wall, forcibly producing a huge hole in it and leaving only its buttocks outside.

    Even a divine champion wouldn¡¯t dare to take such a violent crash head-on. Such giant creatures were inherently powerful, and the limited underground space only served to magnify its power.

    The creature iled about, but its body seemedpletely stuck in the wall. The entire underground cavern would shake with its struggling movements, producing a shower of rock and gravel from above. Qianye should¡¯ve been crushed into meat paste, but it couldn¡¯t sense the smell of blood, almost as though Qianye had vanished into thin air. The giant rhino made repeated attempts to cram its body outward, hoping to see where that provocative insect had gone.

    At this moment, Qianye had appeared silently on the other end of the cave. He had activated Spatial sh at thest moment and dodged behind the giant rhinoceros.

    There was still a horde of worms in the vicinity, in whose eyes Qianye was a wonderful delicacy. The fresh blood he had spat out was even more attractive to them than the giant rhinoceros¡¯! Hundreds of them arrived the moment he appeared, with countless more drilling out of the ground to ambush him!

    In addition, there were a dozen or so worms tangled up into a bunch, fighting in extreme desperation for the few drops of blood he had sprayed onto the ground. Witnessing this scene, a vague idea came to Qianye¡¯s mind.

    Countless worm-like creatures arrived near Qianye in the blink of an eye. But just as they were opening their mouths, a mountainous weight bore down and sent them pattering to the ground. Soon afterward, a red glow flickered around Qianye¡¯s body and countless sanguineous threads shot through the worms. In the blink of an eye, the area around him turned empty as hundreds of worms turned into corpses.

    Oceanic powerbined with Life Plunder was the perfect weapon againstrge numbers of weak enemies.

    These worms possessed exuberant blood energy and their bloodline power was oddly powerful, almostparable to a count. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t digest such arge amount of high-ranking blood in a short period, and soon, his entire body was wrapped up in a translucent sphere of blood.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s blood core was beating with great power as it devouredrge amounts of essence blood every second and pumped out auric me blood. His core temperature rose sharply and every crystalline granule seemed to be burning. At the same time, the Song n Ancient Scroll was also working at full force, refining vast amounts of essence blood into darkness origin power for the blood core to absorb.

    Under the efforts of the two simultaneous pathways, Qianye¡¯s aura rose rapidly and soon reached its peak.

    As though it had sensed great danger, the giant rhinoceros roared continuously and doubled down on his efforts to struggle free. Eventually, its body escaped the cave wall.

    Beams of blood-colored light shot out as Qianye opened his eyes! In a sh, he flew behind the rhinoceros with his sword raised high. The de erupted in raging mes of blood as he stabbed the monster beneath its tail!

    No matter how strong a fierce beast was, as long as it was a body of flesh and blood, this ce would always be the weakest. The giant rhinoceros roared in agony, and the force almost cracked the rocky walls apart. Its tail swung over and immediately whipped Qianye flying.

    The maddened rhinoceros finally freed itself from the cave wall and turned back to re at him, its rapid, thunderous breath echoing through the chamber.

    Qianye noticed that the rhinoceros had suffered a fair bit of trauma from that all-out ram, and its horn was bleeding like crazy. The vast amounts of blood sent the worms into a frenzy, but most of them couldn¡¯t even get close because of the defensive field. The single pegmatite crocodile that managed to get through was promptly stomped into meat paste.

    The giant rhinoceros was gasping hard and the drain on its stamina was significant. With all the wounds on its body acting up at the same time, the monster¡¯s aura finally started to decline. Although the deterioration wasn¡¯t much, Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up when he noticed it.

    This time, when the rhinoceros charged over, Qianye merely dodged its most powerful frontal assault beforeunching a flurry of shes at the creature¡¯s horn. Qianye activated his auric me blood after the two parties had exchanged ten or so moves. He ignited his blood energy to push his ancient vampire constitution to the extreme and actually managed to block a round of attacks from the giant monster.

    All of these were direct parries! The giant rhinoceros could no longer suppress Qianye entirely without relying on its charging momentum.

    After the round of crazy attacks, the injury on the creature¡¯s horn became more serious, and it had no choice but to pause and rest. Qianye, on the other hand, was covered in countless minor wounds. The overdraft of power had ruptured his vessels and muscles in addition to draining all his origin power.

    ¡°Satisfying!¡± Qianyeughed. The depression he had been swimming in for many days had mostly disappeared.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s aura on the decline, the giant rhinoceros roared toward the sky, dering its victory in advance.

    Qianye smiled coldly and, instead of retreating, charged into a horde of worms. Intimidated by the giant rhinoceros, these creatures no longer dared to approach its vicinity. Now that Qianye had actually charged into their midst, the entire group went into a frenzy and swarmed toward him in droves, hoping to enjoy a fleshy meal. To these worms, Qianye¡¯s flesh and auric me blood were great supplements that might help them evolve after repeated consumption.

    Qianye activated his oceanic power with a snort, instantly pressing the horde of worms to the ground. He then swept through the animals with Life Plunder, creating a zone of death around him and shrouding himself in a sphere of blood.

    Two consecutive Life Plunders had surpassed Qianye¡¯s physical limits. Numerous tiny wounds appeared all over his body and his muscles began to copse. The essence blood from the worms was high in quality and the vast amount was far beyond that which Qianye could handle¡ªyet another sphere of blood was formed around him. It would likely raise him by one level if he could take his time to digest everything. At this point, Qianye was producing essence blood by igniting his blood core, a rather wasteful method but one that could quickly replenish his consumption.

    In the span of a few breaths, Qianye¡¯s aura began to climb and the floating sphere of blood also became transparent.

    Only at this point did the giant rhinoceros notice what was happening. It naturally wouldn¡¯t allow Qianye to recover¡ªthe creature lowered its head with light flickering on its horn and fired a dark beam.

    Qianye¡¯s body flickered repeatedly, closely evading all the destructive beams at thest moment.

    The giant rhinoceros¡¯ horn would pulse briefly to store energy before firing the destructive beam of light. With Qianye¡¯s proficiency in thebat arts, it didn¡¯t take much effort for him to evade the attacks. The rhino attacked repeatedly, but that did nothing but waste origin power. Its breathing intensified and the force-field around its body grew considerably weaker.

    Seeing that the beams of destruction were useless, the creature lowered its head and charged once again. This time, however, Qianye no longer exchanged direct blows with it¡ªhe roamed about to evade the brunt of the rhinoceros'' attacks while absorbingrge amounts of worm essence blood to recover his blood energy.

    Failing to hit Qianye, the giant rhino finally grew restless. It jumped up all of a sudden and stomped down with all four legs, sending a whistling shockwave out in all directions! Even the pegmatite crocodiles were sent flying into the walls, and then ravaged by the returning shockwaves until they were half dead. Those worms couldn¡¯t even take a single blow and burst into mists of blood from the impact. In the blink of an eye, the entire cavern chamber became empty, leaving only a couple of half-dead pegmatite crocodiles.

    The rhinoceros nced about but failed to find traces of Qianye. At this moment, the creature suddenly noticed a chill from its back!

 Chapter 780: Fireforged Physique

    Qianye used Spatial sh once more and appeared above the creature. After which, he struck its back with the force of a falling star. East Peak pierced straight into the old sword wound and the battery of origin power sent bits of flesh flying!

    The second attack produced a cringeworthy wound on the giant rhinoceros¡¯ back. It was as big as a well and filled with crushed flesh and blood. Before the beast could even feel the pain, a pair of wings appeared behind Qianye as the Wings of Inception came to life. Soon, a feather shot out from the Twin Flowers and vanished into the wound.

    A Shot of Inception entering one¡¯s body¡ªone could easily imagine how terrifying this was. The monster¡¯s wound rolled outward and exploded like an erupting volcano, its contents spraying onto the ceiling of the cave. The giant rhinoceros roared furiously, stomping about until the earth cracked open. Apparently, it was in extreme pain.

    A sh of madness appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes as he charged into the open wound and drilled into the rhino¡¯s body. Disregarding his badly damaged body, he did his utmost to activate his blood energy and unleashed Life Plunder inside the beast.

    The moment Life Plunder was activated, Qianye felt fresh blood flowing into his body likeva and filling him until he was on the verge of bursting apart.

    The giant rhinoceros¡¯ essence blood contained a terrifying amount of energy¡ªmiles apart from that of the worms¡ªand the speed of subsequent conversion was also much slower. Yet Life Plunder was difficult to control once activated, especially since he was submerged in blood within the creature¡¯s body. The sanguineous threads wouldn¡¯t miss no matter in which direction they shot out.

    Vast amounts of essence blood entered without restraint, forcing Qianye¡¯s blood core to expand several times. Inch by inch, his skin began to crack open and fresh blood shot out from within. The threads of blood burst into raging mes after leaving Qianye¡¯s body and were soon drowned out by the giant monster¡¯s blood.

    At this moment, an inexplicable pain upied the entirety of Qianye¡¯s consciousness. Trembling, he used his final thread of rity to activate the Mystery Chapter of the Song n Ancient Scroll, in a bid to refine as much essence blood as possible. But the Mystery Chapter¡¯s refinement rate was simply too slow, requiring a month to refine his body¡¯s capacity of essence blood. There was no way it could make it under such circumstances.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core seemed to have noticed the danger and was pulsing frantically. The crystalline granules contained within exploded one after another, resisting the pressure of the essence blood and transforming it into auric me blood before pumping it out of the blood core. It was just that the auric me blood produced was aze¡ªthe vast amounts of origin power could only burn since they had nowhere else to go.

    The auric me blood was akin to flowing mes, igniting Qianye¡¯s flesh and blood wherever it went. However, the tremendous vitality and energy within stimted the flesh to grow back rapidly. The newly generated flesh was once again lit up, and then more grew back to rece it.

    This cycle repeated many times until the newly generated flesh formed a resistance to the immtion. Qianye¡¯s physical situation finally began to stabilize as the amount of fire-resistant flesh increased.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness was drowned in agony and the load on his blood core had reached its extremes. Meanwhile, the flowing,va-like essence blood remained endless. Qianye¡¯s body gradually began to swell as even his ancient vampire physique couldn¡¯t do much against this massive instition of essence blood.

    At the juncture of life and death, the Book of Darkness appeared once more. Its cover transformed into a patch of nothingness, which duly absorbed the excess essence blood. The book was like a bottomless abyss¡ªthere was no reaction no matter how much essence blood was poured in, and it only kept on devouring the blood in silence.

    The Wings of Inception was also taking in the essence blood, but its capacity was fairly limited. They became dormant after forming a new feather and could absorb no more.

    With the Book of Darkness¡¯ devouring power, the blood core managed to pull through the most dangerous phase and gradually reached an equilibrium between input and output. With the enormous pressure now past, Qianye could no longer hold on and soon lost consciousness.

    Within the giant rhinoceros¡¯ body, copious amounts of essence blood hade together to form a giant sphere of blood. In contrast to the one condensed from the worms¡¯ blood, this one was actually tangible and substantial.

    In the end, the giant rhinoceros¡¯ legs gave way, its giant body copsed, and the glow in its eyes also faded away.

    An entire day and night passed by before Qianye woke up from his deep sleep. He was surrounded in darkness at this moment, and his perception beyond his body was highly restrained. He instinctively wanted to breathe, but his nostrils seemed to be blocked by something, preventing him from getting even a proper breath of air.

    Qianye tried moving his body. All of his senses were still there, but his entire body was immobile, seemingly bound by something.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t rmed. He gradually tried activating his blood core in a bid to extricate himself from the current situation. He had tried moving just now and found that the force binding his body wasn¡¯t that strong.

    He was startled the moment his consciousness touched the blood core which, at this moment, had changedpletely. There was now a crystal at its center, and the flesh had grown around it to form a new blood core. Its size had increased by an entire circle and now took up half his chest, pushing his human heart to the side.

    How was such a blood core going to operate?

    The blood core reacted immediately aftering into contact with his consciousness. It pulsed slowly, filling all parts of his body with strength. Qianye¡¯s restraints soon loosened amidst a series of cracking sounds as he struggled free from his restraint. With his freedom restored, his perception was able to expand outward once again.

    He was still surrounded in darkness and a thick stench of blood rushed at his face. A sweep of his perception told him that he was still inside the giant rhinoceros¡¯ body. The restraint around his body was a sphere of blood that had locked him inside after coagtion.

    Qianye jumped upward in an attempt to break out of the rhinoceros¡¯ body. However, this force sent his entire body shooting out like a cannonball and drilling into the ceiling. Qianye saw stars from the impact, but the dizziness subsided within moments. He then regained his freedom with a forceful struggle, at the expense of cracks extending all over the cave walls.

    Qianye was startled once more. He felt that this wall was unusually brittle and seemed to shatter on touch. That was clearly not the case when he was fighting the giant rhinoceros. Even the giant creature¡¯s all-out ram only produced a ten-meter hole, and the cave didn¡¯t copse at all. If the wall was that brittle, a single charge would¡¯ve brought the rhino several hundred meters deep and the tomb would copse.

    Qianye stared nkly from the air and casually stabbed the wall, sinking East Peak into the rock, all the way to its hilt. Surprised, Qianye stabbed several times more and finally realized that there was no change to the sturdy cave wall. It was just that his strength had seen an explosive increase¡ªthe near-doubling of his power made the rock-wall feel oddly brittle, and the feather-light East Peak felt quite strange in his hands.

    At the center of the cave, the giant rhinoceros¡¯ body was still emitting a faint suppressive might as ity copsed on the ground. Some surviving worms were chewing on its carcass, yet despite their utmost efforts to devour this massive corpse, only a small corner of it was missing.

    There were several white cocoons beside some of the worms that contained a strong life force. The aura within the cocoon was simr to the worms¡¯ but stronger and more violent. It would seem that these worms were undergoing mutation after ingesting the giant rhinoceros¡¯ flesh. There were also some fist-sized worm eggs near them with golden speckles upon them, and the aura emerging from them was far superior to that of the ordinary worms.

    Qianye slowly came down and stood atop the dead body. Within his range of perception, the giant rhinoceros¡¯ flesh had lost most of its origin power and was no different from that of an ordinary wild beast. There wasn¡¯t much essence blood left within its enormous body, either. It would seem that most of it had been wiped away by Life Plunder.

    The battle the day before was indeed crazy. Only a madman would think of using the Shot of Inception to open up a path and drill into the body to use Life Plunder. Qianye was indeed mad at that point; it could be said that he was never sane since Nighteye¡¯s departure. Evening into the Earth Dragon¡¯sir was somewhat of a self-destructive move.

    Ascending the Sacred Mountain was even harder than climbing the heavens. Why not just refuse him outright rather than giving him this chance?

    Perhaps because he had gone through too much suffering, Qianye decided to grasp at the rare wisp of good fortune after the madness had subsided. He got through the danger of his body bursting apart and remodeled his physique and blood core in his sleep. ording to the final degree of remodeling, there were different realms such as glimmer, nascent-me, flowing-gold, and fireforged realm, each with arge gap between them. In order to reach the marquis realm, one had to be at the flowing-gold realm at the very least to withstand the tremendous power.

    By the time the auric me blood hadpleted its reforging, the body would reach a whole new level of strength. The vampires of ancient times were just as well known for their powerful constitution and weren¡¯t at all inferior to their arachne peers. During the remodeling process, Qianye¡¯s flesh was killed and reborn several times, tempered in sanguineous mes. ording to the memory inheritance from the River of Blood, Qianye¡¯s level was called fireforged physique. Even by ancient vampire standards, this was one of the most powerful constitutions.

    At this moment, the upgrade in his blood energy had brought Qianye to the mighty count realm. After the gaps within his body were modified by the auric me blood, he would be a virtuous count. Currently, most of Qianye¡¯s body was already fireforged, so bing a virtuous count was only a matter of time.

    After spending some time getting used to his new body, Qianye swung his sword several times at the carcass below. In the blink of an eye, what remained of the giant rhino was diced into many pieces along with the worms feasting on it.

    There was nothing of value left on the giant creature¡¯s body after having its essence blood drained by Qianye. Of course, its flesh, bones, and skin would be of extraordinary value if brought to the outside market, but Qianye had no way to move this mountainous corpse away.

    But the monster did leave a priceless treasure behind¡ªits horn. This long horn was undamaged even after shing against East Peak and even chipped the heavy sword instead. One had to know that East Peak was a divine weapon forged with the power of both the Song and Zhao ns. Even such a de couldn¡¯t oust this singr horn¡ªthis went to show how extraordinary itsposition was.

    The horn¡¯s base and its connecting bone were full of cracks from fighting against Qianye. Apparently, the creature¡¯s skull was far weaker inparison. Qianye spent half an hour to dig the entire horn out from its base, and put it away in Andruil¡¯s space.

    Having obtained this horn, it could be said that his journey was now worth it, to speak nothing of that first-rate physique.

 Chapter 781: Engravemen

    Qianye¡¯s eyesnded on those eggs and cocoons produced by the worms. The ferocity of the underground worms had left a deep impression on Qianye. They were already capable of injuring a werewolf count before evolution. Now that they had transformed, there was no telling how violent they would be. Qianye put the eggs into Andruil¡¯s space, and then moved some stuff around to barely fit a cocoon. Surely, there would be people interested in them after leaving the underground world.

    After putting away the spoils of war, Qianye thought back on his experiences before his loss of consciousness. He vaguely recalled that the Book of Darkness had absorbed arge amount of essence blood at the critical moment, saving him from explosion and forming a new page in the process.

    Qianye fished out the Book of Darkness and flipped through it in detail. As expected, there was a new line on the title page that read: Chapter 2, Engrave¡£

    A new page appeared after flipping the first one over. Entirely dark red with faint traces of gold, its hue was gentle and clean, with an aura of pure essence blood gushing out from within. This page was actually holding all that essence blood and of the highest grade to boot. In terms of amount, it was roughly the same as Qianye¡¯s essence blood capacity.

    With a move of his will, a drop of essence blood emerged from the book and entered his blood core. Then, it slowly transformed into power for Qianye¡¯s use.

    This Engravement page could storerge amounts of essence blood and also refine them in the process. Such pure essence blood no longer needed to be refined by the Mystery chapter and could enter the blood core directly to be auric me blood. With this ¡°Engravement¡±, Qianye¡¯s blood energy would double, essentially increasing his battle endurance.

    This giant rhinoceros could be considered a moving treasury. Of course, great profits came with huge risks¡ªif it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s self-destructive behavior and decisivebat style, he would¡¯ve only injured the monster at most, while falling into mortal peril himself. He would¡¯ve chosen to flee under normal circumstances.

    Qianye¡¯s harvest at this point was truly bountiful, but the journey wasn¡¯t yet at its end. A glow flickered through his eyes as he nced at the depths of the cave. Since he was already here¡ª and hisbat strength had improved significantly¡ªhe naturally had to explore this Earth Dragon¡¯sir and see what this legendary blood was.

    Perhaps he might identally ¡°run into¡± Bluemoon again.

    There was no way the Spider Emperor wouldn¡¯t know of the earth-shattering battle between Qianye and the giant rhinoceros. It was precisely because of the massivemotion that they tried to avoid this location as much as possible.

    No one was willing to face a terrifying fierce beast like the giant rhinoceros. Moreover, numbers were useless against the sea of strange worms and pegmatite crocodiles. Only a lone expert like Qianye could render them useless and even turn them into an inconvenience for the giant rhino.

    With the giant rhino¡¯s intimidation lingering even after its death, other fierce beasts didn¡¯t approach, either. They would onlye to fight over the territory after its aura hadpletely disappeared and they were sure that there was no longer a master in this area.

    Qianye naturally couldn¡¯t determine his direction in the giant, maze-like underground world. However, his senses were sharp enough to follow the fluctuations of the Earth Dragon¡¯s will as it swept periodically over thend, allowing him to make out the heart of their. There could be no mistake as long as he kept going in that direction.

    Qianye discovered two more blood altars and some traces of battle along the way. Judging from the markings, it would seem the Spider Emperor¡¯s forces and the Moonlight demons had fought against the Earth Dragon¡¯s army. The scale of the battles wasn¡¯t thatrge, at most involving creatures at the level of the pegmatite crocodiles.

    He noticed that the Spider Emperor¡¯s experts were quite restrained and clever in their fighting style. They relied on superior fighting skills and good cooperation to bring down the fierce beasts and avoided the use of excessive force, lest they rm the Earth Dragon.

    That giant rhinoceros wouldn¡¯t have appeared if it wasn¡¯t for the werewolf count raising his origin power and drawing the Earth Dragon¡¯s attention.

    He found no clues of Bluemoon along the way. It would seem she was indeed quite familiar with this underground world and managed to avoid all conflicts.

    An entire day had passed at this point¡ªboth the Spider Emperor¡¯s forces and Bluemoon should¡¯ve had a significant lead on him. But from the traces they had left behind, it was noticeable that their progress wasn¡¯t fast at all and would better be described as a crawl.

    The closer they were to the Earth Dragon¡¯s body, the more dangerous it became. Entire squads would be annihted if they somehow drew out marquis-level beasts like the giant rhinoceros.

    Qianye came to a sudden halt after half a day of walking, and his gaze fell on the stone pir beside him. Hidden within a natural gap in the stone surface was an intricate little trap, seemingly to warn the owner of intruders.

    Qianye revealed a cold smile¡ªthis was probably a warning device left behind by the forces of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons. Since it was a warning device and not a destructive one, it meant that their men were either nearby or that there was an important location they needed to guard, a blood altar for instance.

    Qianye observed the surroundings, and then gave it some thought before burying some origin grenades in key areas. After he had set everything up, he returned to the stone pir and stood in front of the rm.

    The trap exploded with a bang, emitting an ear-piercing whistle that spread into the distance. This sound was enough to travel dozens of kilometers in the silent underground world.

    Momentster, extremely soft footsteps echoed around him as dozens of high-ranking soldiers sealed off the connecting tunnels. Afterward, an arrogant-sounding voice said, ¡°We¡¯ve finally caught you, Highbeard Shieldmaiden. Your craftiness is truly admirable!¡±

    Highbeard Shieldmaiden? Qianye immediately thought of Bluemoon. It would seem her position in the tribe was even higher than he had expected. In this warlike tribe, the status of shieldmaiden was probably equal to the holy daughter of other races.

    They had wanted to trap Bluemoon, but the one they managed to surround was Qianye.

    A pale,nky man walked out of the cave. He dressed like a young man, but upon closer inspection, there were undisguisable traces of hardship on his face. He was indeed quite powerful¡ªa rank-fifteen origin power was extraordinary even in the neutralnds and just the right level under the limited conditions of the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. A person of higher level might not be able to bring out his full strength.

    There were rank-seventeen experts in their tribe, but Bluemoon had only brought two rank-fifteen elders, and even those two never used their full power in battle.

    This man looked around but found no traces of Bluemoon or the Highbeard elders, only Qianye. Startled, he asked, ¡°Where is that little slut, Bluemoon? Where did she go?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡±

    That man¡¯s face turned gloomy. ¡°Ungrateful wretch! Try to keep up that hard tone when you fall into my hands, keep saying you know nothing.¡±

    At that point, someone arrived from behind and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t this Zhao Ye? Someone saw him together with Bluemoon in Southern Blue City.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Ye!¡± The pale man¡¯s expression changed drastically and his eyes became bloodshot. ¡°You¡¯re Zhao Ye?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°Good, good, very good! You¡¯re the one who killed over four hundred armored puppets in Port City. That¡¯s not important, though, they have nothing to do with me personally since they belong to the Moonlight Demons. But, you killed Grey Shadow!¡±

    That ethereal grey-shadow assassin didn¡¯t really die in Qianye¡¯s hands, but he was already certain that the mysterious killer back then was Nighteye. Only a sacred-mountain level like hers could pull off such a miraculous kill with limited power.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Qianye said calmly. Nighteye¡¯s kill was the same as his kill.

    ¡°Good, good, very good! Do you know my rtionship with Grey Shadow?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°I¡¯m not even interested in knowing who you are, much less your bullshit association with that grey shadow.¡±

    ¡°Good, good!¡± The man was livid as he slowly raised his hand and made a cutthroat gesture. The moment his hand reached the end of its shing motion was when everyone would take action. The reason he was doing it so slowly was to let Qianye experience the terror of his impending doom. It would be even better if thetter would struggle somewhat on his deathbed.

    As expected, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to give up just yet. He produced an unbelievably weak grade-four pistol and opened fire at a corner of the cave.

    The man felt his ears ringing as the shot was fired but recovered soon enough. ¡°Making this seat dizzy is indeed an outstanding feat, but that¡¯s just a grade-four weapon and its firepower is limited no matter how much you upgrade it. I wonder whether it can even break my old skin...¡±

    His words were interrupted by a sudden rumble as one explosion after another erupted from all directions. In the limited space of the underground tunnels, the additive impact of these origin grenades was magnified countless times in the blink of an eye.

    A terrifying wave of explosions swept through the cave. Dozens of supportive pirs were destroyed, and the chaotic impact sent shattered rocks flying in every direction with the momentum of a cannon shell. Even high-ranking warriors were badly bruised when struck.

    The man¡¯s figure staggered about in the explosion and the origin power on his body flickered on and off. Hisbat robes had been shredded into little butterflies, and the origin barrier around him was also growing weaker and weaker with each destruction.

    The tempest and messted for ages before gradually calming down. The man had somehow managed to survive the cmity. He lowered the hands with which he was covering his head and was just breathing a sigh of relief when two origin grenades rolled toward his feet.

    ¡°No!!!¡± He was sent flying amidst miserable cries, first crashing into the cave roof and then back onto the ground.

    As the dust settled, Qianye stretched and shook the dust off of his body¡ªhe had remained crouching with East Peak pierced into the ground for stabilization. He then went over to the man and poked him with his de.

    The man was motionless and had long since lost his life. His origin power had been drained from the concentrated explosion of twenty origin grenades. With nothing left to protect himself, the final two promptly ended him.

 Chapter 782: The Secrets Underground Part 1

    Qianye observed the area and saw that the cave was in disarray. Arge number of rocks had copsed, and there were broken limbs poking out from the mud. How could the goons survive when even the leader had been sted to death?

    Qianye flipped the man¡¯s body over. His armor had been shattered, so the most valuable thing left on him was a grade-seven gun. The weapon was made in an elegant, ssic design and there were gems and crystals embedded in its handle. Despite the seeming extravagance, one could see that its barrel wasrge and its structure was quite simple¡ªthe style of the neutralnds.

    Numerous patterns on the handle formed the two words: Spring Rain.

    The name was interesting, but when Qianye introduced some origin power into the gun and activated its origin arrays, he found that its performance was nothing to write home about. The array itself wasn¡¯t asplicated as Cui Yuanhai¡¯s, and its limited functions contained an unbearably weak defensive barrier.

    Instead of protecting the holder, this weak defensive barrier would better serve to shine a halo around them. To be frank, the sole purpose of thisponent was to look cool and it had no other functional purpose than to waste a slot in the array.

    This magnificent but useless gun was only worth its materials to Qianye. Naturally, just the decorations embedded in the weapon were enough to buy a good grade-seven gun. The gun itself could be considered a bonus that came along with them.

    He tossed this Spring Rain into Andruil¡¯s Space and flipped through some other misceneous stuff. The man carried arge number of perfumes and decorative items on him, but the only thing remotely useful was his physical origin bullets. However, a shining metallic emblem suddenly caught Qianye¡¯s attention.

    This fairly heavy emblem was made of an unknown material. There was a sinister-looking creature on its front side that even Qianye couldn¡¯t recognize, as well as a row of small words on its backside that said: 2nd White Demon Corps Captain, Hu An.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that this impractical fellow¡¯s status was actually that important? The White Demon Corps was one of the two main legions of the Moonlight Demons, and Mask was itsmander. This fellow was probably quite capable to be able to lead abat squad of his own. Unfortunately, he was probably a speed-type fighter with rtively weak defenses and fell promptly under the barrage of origin grenades.

    From a certain perspective, it could be said that this Hu An didn¡¯t suffer any injustice. In order to restrain him in ce, Qianye himself also remained immobile and suffered the same amount of damage as thetter. It was just that Hu An was dead and Qianye was perfectly fine¡ªand that was the difference.

    Qianye fiddled with the emblem but found nothing special about it. Just as he was about to throw it away, however, an electric light rushed out from the insignia and hovered in the air. The radiance gradually intensified to form the outline of a man with his face hidden under the hood of his long cloak.

    It was just an illusory projection, yet it filled the beholder with the imposingness of the deep seas.

    The image seemed alive¡ªthose eyes under the hood shot out beams of dark red light as they stared at Qianye. ¡°I¡¯m the vicemander of the White Demon Corps, Kimberly. You dare kill my men, quite bold I say.¡±

    At this moment, Qianye felt as though he had been targeted by a venomous snake. He quickly understood that this image wasn¡¯t a lifeless object but a means ofmunication with the insignia as the medium. Such a brilliant method was rare even in the elite corps of the empire.

    The projection¡¯s gaze almost seemed tangible as itnded on Qianye¡¯s face. ¡°Wait a minute, there¡¯s another face under your mask. You think you can trick me, the great Kimberly, with such a simple facade? I¡¯ll give you two choices right now, you¡¯ll get a swift death if you kill yourself before me. That, or you¡¯ll suffer endless torment when I catch you personally...¡±

    ¡°Senseless threats.¡± Qianye crushed the insignia into a piece of scrap metal.

    A giant camp had risen dozens of kilometers outside of Port City, one capable of amodating tens of thousands of troops. At this moment, arcs of strong electricity shot out from a certainrge tent. The lightning quickly transformed into mes which effectively reduced the tent to cinders.

    A cloaked man appeared as the ze receded, and he was that Kimberly person who had spoken to Qianye a while ago. His body was shrouded in an electric glow and spewing out bolts of lightning and fire from time to time. Apparently, that was the culprit behind the tent¡¯s destruction¡ªit was just that the chair below him and the desk in front of him were perfectly intact.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Kimberly stood up while banging the table.

    ¡°Please calm yourself, sir!¡± A young girl in grey armor tried to soothe him.

    ¡°If I don¡¯t kill that Zhao Ye, people will think I can¡¯t handle him!¡± Kimberly¡¯s eyes were overflowing with electricity.

    The young warrior frowned. ¡°Sir, it¡¯s not suitable for a person of your cultivation to enter the Earth Dragon¡¯sir.¡±

    Kimberly sneered, ¡°This seat is a divine champion, how can my power-control be inferior to those useless people?¡±

    The girl wouldn¡¯t give in. She blocked Kimberly¡¯s path, saying, ¡°I have no doubt about your ability, I¡¯m just warning you about the risks. Other people who attract the Earth Dragon¡¯s attention might be overlooked, but that is not the case for you. Once the dragon finds a divine champion level being close by, it¡¯ll immediately wake up from its dormant state. At that time, our many years of preparation will go down the drain. Sire Mask won¡¯t let you off, either.¡±

    At the mention of Mask, the electricity around Kimberly wavered for a moment. He said with a snort, ¡°Must I allow that brat to keep acting so arrogantly?¡±

    The young warrior replied, ¡°Of course not, I¡¯ll go and deal with him personally. As for the Highbeard girl, I¡¯ll let her live a while longer since we need her to lead the way.¡±

    Kimberly was surprised. ¡°You¡¯re going to enter their?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ how will I exin things to Mask if something happens to you?¡±

    ¡°He can¡¯t take care of me forever. Besides, me and my mother have been wandering the world for so many years, I¡¯m still fine, am I not?¡±

    Kimberly wasn¡¯t willing to discuss this matter further. He hesitated for a moment before finally giving the nod. ¡°Fine then. But you must be cautious, that brat is very crafty and has a lot of grenades on him.¡±

    The girl replied, ¡°Have you forgotten my ability? Beast hordes, squads, puppets, he can¡¯t deal with so many troops even if has fifty origin grenades on him. Besides, can he even carry fifty origin grenades?¡±

    Kimberly nodded. ¡°Makes sense, but you must be careful nheless. He¡¯s also quite strong in thebat arts in addition to scheming.¡±

    The young girl said expressionlessly, ¡°Speaking ofbat arts, I stayed in the underground arena for five years, I don¡¯t think he can be stronger than me.¡±

    Kimberly¡¯s electric mes flickered for a moment. He let out a long sigh, saying, ¡°All in all, just be careful about everything.¡±

    The warrior girl left with a nod. There was actually a hole within the base which connected to the tomb. She jumped right in and vanished into the vast underground maze.

    Kimberly¡¯s anger hadn¡¯t subsided even after the girl¡¯s departure. ¡°A group of useless scum wanting to touch my Earth Dragon¡¯s blood? But that brat is crafty and ruthless, not an easy person to deal with. Men, bring me a brush and some paper!¡±

    After the stationary had arrived, Kimberly unfurled a sheet of white paper on the table and began drawing upon it. In just a few strokes, he actually outlined a lifelike portrait of Qianye¡¯s original appearance!

    Kimberly handed the paper to his follower. ¡°Issue a bounty for this person, fifty thousand gold coins.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, let¡¯s wait until the end of this operation before announcing the bounty.¡± Kimberly remembered that his efforts would be wasted if the brat were to die soon afterward. Yet, he felt an inexplicable uneasiness about ignoring this person.

    Kimberly made up his mind after some thought. He wrote a short letter, sealed it well, and summoned his men. ¡°Deliver this letter to the Thunderfrost Pce and hand it to that sire.¡±

    The subordinate¡¯s expression was filled with apprehension. ¡°Which sire?¡±

    ¡°The Thunderous Whip, of course! Go, make haste!¡±

    After the subordinate left toplete his mission, Kimberly returned to his seat with a cold smile. ¡°I want to see how you¡¯ll survive after killing her most beloved brother. If there¡¯s a divine champion who can approach the Earth Dragon, it would be her.¡±

    Back underground, Qianye was heading into the depths of their after clearing up the spoils. It was hard to discern the direction underground, but Hu An¡¯s appearance happened to give Qianye a sense of direction¡ªwhere he hade from was where their stood.

    After winding through the cave for an unknown length of time, Qianye¡¯s field of view expanded abruptly as arge opening appeared before him. From this point on, the underground cavern began widening rapidly as the ground stretched downward, and even Qianye¡¯s superior vision couldn¡¯t see where the end was. What he did see was that this underground world was over a thousand meters from ground to ceiling and supported by giant pirs hundreds of meters wide.

    The ground was uneven with steep cliffs, towering heights, and caves of all shapes and sizes scattered about¡ªno one knew where they would lead. There were specks of luminescence floating in the air. Despite their size, these spore-like objects glowed like a trail of stars, their eerie light filling the underground world with a deep mystique.

    In front of Qianye, there were over a dozen tunnels worth investigating. They were divided into threeyers: top, middle, and bottom, each of them spreading out in five or six different directions. He was at a momentary loss about how to proceed under such circumstances.

    But his journey to the underground world this time was actually just to relieve his depression; he really didn¡¯t care about the rewards here. Moreover, he had already reaped great profits from the giant rhinoceros, so his trip wasn¡¯t wasted even if he left now.

    After scanning all the passages, Qianye¡¯s eyes finallynded on the smallest tunnel in the middleyer. The traces of battle left behind outside the entrance made it clear that the Spider Emperor¡¯s men had gone through it. Additionally, this tunnel was only ten or so meters wide and only big enough for pegmatite crocodiles at most. Creatures like the giant rhinoceros probably wouldn¡¯t appear.

    Qianye started walking toward the tunnel, but after a couple of steps, he thought, ¡°Why must I follow the forces of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demon?¡± Theirrge numbers made it easier for them to be discovered by the Earth Dragon. On the other hand, Qianye traveling alone with his Bloodline Concealment would probably have a better chance of sneaking into the core of their. It wasn¡¯t as if he couldn¡¯t escape from creatures like the giant rhinoceros if he wanted to. Even if he couldn¡¯t flee, his strength had increased sharply¡ªLife Plunder was already usable, and the Shot of Inception was ready. Under such circumstances, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard for him to achieve yet another victory.

 Chapter 783: The Secrets Underground Part 2

    Having made up his mind, Qianye once again scanned the other tunnels and finally picked thergest one. This tunnel was almost a hundred meters in height with obvious traces of wear, a clear sign that giant beasts often took this path. Ordinary soldiers from the Moonlight Demons had no way to hide themselves. They would naturally avoid this path because death was their only fate upon being discovered.

    This path inclined downward and led into the deeper parts of the earth. And judging frommon knowledge, the Earth Dragon¡¯s hiding ce was likely to be deep underground. Hence, Qianye picked this passage and jumped right in.

    Only after entering the path used by a giant beast could one truly realize the grandeur and mysticism of the underground world. This passage itself was akin to a giant underground hallway, stretching so far that it seemed endless. There were shallow pits scattered all along the ground and an interweavingwork of trenches with some sort of sticky fluid flowing within them.

    Qianye advanced rapidly along the cave walls. As he was traveling, he suddenly felt something off about these shallow pits running along the center of the tunnel. Upon careful examination, he found these pits¡ªeach several meters in diameter¡ªwere actually footprints! From how they were shaped, it would seem that this giant beast was different from the rhinoceros he had encountered before.

    If all of the shallow pits were footprints, then what were the trenches? They didn¡¯t look like naturally formed structures at all.

    After traveling for an unknown length of time, the tunnel finally made a turn and inclined downward. Two somewhat smaller caves appeared around the corner and no one knew where they would lead to.

    As he was passing the cave, Qianye heard a weak rumble from within. That was not a natural sound, but the timbre of an origin gun. There was no way he would mistake that unique frequency.

    An idea popped up in his head as he moved stealthily toward the battlefield. A battle at this point was likely the allied forces of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons fighting the Earth Dragon¡¯s beast mob. This was a good opportunity because Qianye could appear to reap the benefits from whoever the winner was. He only hoped the Moonlight Demon squad wouldn¡¯t lose too quickly and that they would weaken the beast force somewhat.

    After several turns, he reached an open area brightly illuminated by raging mes.

    This underground hall was hundreds of meters high from floor to ceiling. There was a tform at the center standing dozens of meters tall, with a waterfall flowing off its edge. The water converged into a winding river which eventually disappeared into the cave walls to form an underground waterway.

    There was a structure on the other side of the tform that looked both like a camp and air. It consisted of a stone wall surrounding a beehive that was several stories tall. Some odd insects would fly out from the hive from time to time to reinforce the defensive force.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t seeing things; these giant insects were indeed guarding the stone wall. They would hide behind the giant rocks atop the wall and spray out dark, poisonous liquid from time to time.

    Outside of the nest were the forces of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons. Hundreds of elite soldiers had formed a stable battlefront around the advantageous terrain. They had surrounded the nest and were using urate firepower to clear out the giant bugs atop the stone walls.

    The formal battle strategy between the two powers shook Qianye. Ignoring the Spider Emperor¡¯s side, it was quite surprising that these bull-sized insects were actually defending their fort in earnest. These bugs were d in thick shells which, even when shot, would crack and leak some fluid at most. To these insects and their extremely powerful vitality, such damage was nothing more than a light injury. But they would eventually reach their limit after constant umtion and finally fall off the walls as corpses.

    There were hundreds of corpses in the middle of the battlefield just like the worms that had attacked Qianye before. Most of them had been torn into many segments, apparently killed as they were charging.

    Having lost their melee type and relying on the poison-spitters alone, the defensive line was naturally full of openings. However, the poisonous liquid from the shelled insects was extremely powerful. An arachne who was struck by the fluid fell to the ground, screaming, and a part of its body soon dissolved.

    The liquid that had missed their targets would evaporate into a mist of poison and only disperse after some time. This formed a poison-shrouded area after repeated attacks and pushed back the warriors of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons constantly.

    Comparatively speaking, the insects were at a disadvantage. The giant bugs were being killed at a steady rate, and the nest could hardly keep up with the rate of consumption. Their defensive power and poisonous mist were also weakening gradually.

    As Qianye saw it, the poisonous mist wasn¡¯t all that powerful. The dark races mostly possessed great resistance to poison and could easily charge through to take down the settlement. At that point, these giant poison-spitting bugs wouldn¡¯t be able to hold the line.

    It was impossible for the Spider Emperor¡¯s side to not know this simple logic. The reason why they had dug-in to whittle away at the enemy forces was probably because they were apprehensive about something else.

    Qianye edged back slowly to pick a better location. He scaled the cave wall and arrived on a raised tform. This ce was a hundred meters high and overlooked the entire battlefield.

    As the bugs fell one after the other, the nest began spitting them out at an evidently faster rate. Unfortunately, its production was limited and couldn¡¯t keep up with the losses on the battlefield. The nest seemed to be feeling restless at this point¡ªit began wriggling constantly, spraying faint silvery liquid from the wounds on it.

    It was at this moment that Qianye¡¯s blood core pulsed strongly for a moment, almost breaking his bloodline concealment!

    Greatly shocked, he immediately suppressed its movements. During that brief moment, Qianye clearly sensed something in the nest that made him want to devour it¡ªalmost like a delicious meal. This kind of inherent longing of the bloodline urred rarely, if ever, in Qianye.

    One had to know that the dark golden blood energy was refined from the Mystery chapter and its bloodline was inherently pure, even slightly more so than Nighteye¡¯s primo lineage. Something even the dark golden energy longed for naturally interested Qianye.

    The more he craved, the calmer he became. When his blood core moved just now, a sharpmander wearing the colors of the Moonlight Demons nced over in his direction. Fortunately, Qianye wasn¡¯t discovered since he was hundreds of meters above and out of the man¡¯s line of vision.

    Such an expert was overseeing so many powerful troops, yet they were still advancing at a leisurely pace. This made Qianye feel that the nest was not simple at all. The Moonlight Demon expert was clearly waiting for something.

    Qianye had nevercked patience. He merely watched on in silence.

    At this moment, the number of armored bugs had dwindled and the nest¡¯s defenses were on the verge of copse. The Moonlight Demon expert finally lost his patience¡ªhe waved his arm forward,manding the soldiers under hismand to begin their charge.

    The poisonous mist was indeed limited in its effects. Only a handful of people fell to the poison while the rest passed through the cloud and began charging at the nest. The soldiers at the front were clearly more powerful than their peers, evading the bugs¡¯ poisonous spray with great agility. With them restraining the insects, those at the backpleted their charge in the blink of an eye and arrived below the nest.

    The wriggling inside the hive increased sharply and then burst open. A silvery figure rushed into the sky and, making a sharp turn in the air, dived at the soldiers below!

    ¡°We¡¯ve waited long enough!¡± That expertughed loudly. With a flicker, his figure arrived below the insect fortress and spread arge over the silvery silhouette. The glittered with a metallic luster and was dotted with sharp des and hooks. It was a shocking weapon!

    The giant¡¯snding spot not only covered the silver figure but also several Moonlight Demon warriors. Once caught in the weapon, these soldiers would be gravely injured if not killed outright. To themander, however, their lives weren¡¯t as important as the silver shadow. He would rather kill his men than let the prey escape.

    The silver shadow made a sharp turn just as the was about to descend. Its movements were full of crity but were still one step toote. The seemed like it would catch its quarry.

    It was at this time that the rumble of an origin gun echoed through the cavern. A fist-sized origin bullet streaked across the cave and sted the expert''s back!

    This shot was extremely powerful. It blew the expert into the air and forced him to spit out a mouthful of blood. The giant lost control and deviated to the side, missing the silvery shadow and covering the Moonlight Demon soldiers instead.

    Bluemoon¡¯s vaguely-discernible figure appeared on the other side of the cavern. The origin cannon on her left arm glowed once more, but a gentle voice emerged in her ears before she could fire again. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡±

    Bluemoon suddenly turned around and fired toward a shadow beside her. Arge rock there sprang into motion as the illusion was broken. A silver-armored warrior came into being and deflected the iing bullet with a swing of her heavy sword.

    Even after going head-on against Bluemoon¡¯s shot, this person only leaned half a step back. In terms of strength, she was far above themander from just now.

    ¡°So it¡¯s you! I knew you woulde!¡± Bluemoon gnashed her teeth.

    ¡°Of course, how could I miss an opportunity to finish off the Highbeard Shieldmaiden?¡± the female warrior said calmly.

    Bluemoon was furious. ¡°You have too much Highbeard blood on your hands. Our tribe will not let you off!¡±

    The female warrior broke intoughter. ¡°What a joke! How much evil has your Highbeard tribemitted?¡±

    Bluemoon¡¯s expression sank. Light began to flicker on her gun, but she sensed something just as she was about to fire and nced over in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    Qianye was startled. He was about to attack just now, but Bluemoon had sensed his aura as soon as he retracted his Bloodline Concealment. Her perception was simply too sharp,pletely different from what he knew about her.

    Bluemoon reacted with extreme speed. At the same time that she opened fire, she also tossed two origin grenades at her feet. The female warrior shed the origin bullet apart and was just about to charge when she saw the origin grenades appear up front. She had no choice but to retreat while spewing curses.

    After the st dispersed, a giant rock fell down from the ceiling and kicked up a cloud of dust and gravel.

    By the time the dust had settled, Bluemoon was already nowhere to be found. Qianye saw her vanish into a nearby tunnel, but the problem was that they were on opposite sides of the cavern and he would have to cross over the battlefield in order to chase her down. Additionally, Bluemoon had disyed an extremely high level of stealth and speed. Qianye wasn¡¯t too confident in catching her now that she had a big lead.

    The female warrior was livid. She snorted heavily but didn¡¯t give chase, apparently realizing that she couldn¡¯t catch up.

 Chapter 784: The Secrets Underground Part 3

    Things on the battlefield were unfolding differently. After surviving the cmity, that silver figure shuttled past the Moonlight Demon warriors like a bolt of lightning, drawing blood wherever it went. In the blink of an eye, dozens of high-ranking warriors had fallen in its hands.

    That expert found his speed greatly reduced after being injured by Bluemoon. He chased the silver shadow furiously but was still one step behind its every move. He simply couldn¡¯t catch up to it at all.

    The female warrior broke into a frown. She arched her body and shot toward the silvery shadow like a cannonball, shing it down midair!

    She could no longer hide her cultivation at this point¡ªher five origin vortices lit up brilliantly in Qianye¡¯s True Sight. As he saw it, the purity of her origin power was at an eptable level, barely enough to break through to the divine champion rank. This meant that her cultivation art was one level lower than the top aristocracy of the empire. However, that sh just now was extremely well-timed and the origin power utilization was close to perfection. It would seem she had reached great sess with herbat arts. In terms of technique alone, she stood level with Qianye and Zhao Jundu.

    That Moonlight Demon expert was a marquis, equal to a rank sixteen human, but he was far less dazzling in terms ofbat techniques.

    The silver shadow¡¯s original form was finally revealed after falling to the ground¡ªit was arge insect with sharp forelimbs, shrouded in sparkling silver radiance. The female warrior¡¯s sh had left only a small wound on its body. It pped its wings a couple of times after being grounded and actually rose back into the air. The durability of its body had already surpassed ordinary armor alloys.

    The silver bug made a sharp turn after taking to the air and flew around the Moonlight Demon expert. Blood sshed out immediately as arge wound appeared on his back. The man retaliated instinctively, but the insect dodged his attack. What it couldn¡¯t dodge were the girl¡¯s sword strikes, which sent it tumbling in three moves.

    The insect flew high into the air and beat its wings rapidly, sending an invisible vibration far and wide. The female warrior¡¯s expression changed sharply. ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s summoning an insect horde, retreat!¡±

    The other expert was dissatisfied. ¡°We¡¯re so close!¡±

    ¡°Keimor, do you not understand an order? We¡¯ve already cleaned up this nest. All we need is toe back andunch the final strike. Now, withdraw!¡±

    Thedy¡¯s voice was stern. Despite his unwillingness, Keimor could only round up the surviving troops and leave rapidly.

    Buzzing sounds echoed through the hall within moments as countless insects flew in from the tunnels and gathered around the nest. Only at this point did that silver bug descend into the nest.

    Thousands of insectsnded on the nest, moving up and down as they repaired the nest with some sort of secretion from their mouths. The other bugs spread across the battlefield to devour the corpses. They gobbled up everything made of flesh and blood, making no distinction between friend and foe.

    No wonder that female warrior was intent on running away. She would¡¯ve drowned in the sea of bugs had she stayed, regardless of her skill in battle. Only someone like Qianye who possessed the oceanic domain and Life Plunder would dare to have designs on the horde.

    Qianye was moved as he observed the numerous bugs concentrated in a small area. If he were to charge over and use his domain power and Life Plunder, he could wipe out eighty percent of these critters and harvest enough essence blood to make him a virtuous count.

    But he soon struck out this thought. He hadn¡¯t finished digesting the fruits of his battle against the giant rhinoceros and simply had no need for such arge amount of essence blood. Moreover, Life Plunder was a powerful skill against enemies like the giant rhinoceros, so he couldn¡¯t waste it.

    Nheless, the opportunity in front of him was too good to let go. Qianye reached a conclusion after some thought¡ªhe produced two crates of origin grenades and piled the contents up in front of him. Then, with the speed of lightning, over twenty of them formed a beautiful semi-circr array in the air, with ten more forming an internal semi-circle around the hive. Finally, thest few explosives sealed off the top.

    In the blink of an eye, dozens of origin grenades formed a perfect encirclement of the nest, leaving no gaps from top to bottom.

    The grenades in the outer circle exploded with a loud boom while the inner ones were dyed for a split second. This brief moment¡¯s dy caused the shockwaves from the inner cluster to be bounced back by the external impact, increasing its effect on the nest. In the blink of an eye, the concentrated explosion formed a frightening tornado of mes that rushed toward the cavern ceiling!

    Countless insects were shredded to bits in the explosion. Their remains were ignited in the high temperatures of the origin mes and swept away by the rising mes.

    The next moment, countless insect bodies fell like pattering rain, and only when the mes had receded did the hivee into view.

    At this moment, the outer shell of the hive had been shaved off, revealing the passage into the nest. The bugs around it had been wiped out with only a handful of survivors remaining.

    With the shell removed, Qianye¡¯s blood core beat erratically once more as he sensed the aura that he so desired.

    Having no more hesitations, he leapt into the air and toward the hive.

    That silvery insect scuttled out from the hive, but unfortunately, it didn¡¯t get the chance to fly very far. A beam of sword radiance traversed dozens of meters through the air andnded on its body.

    Nirvanic Rend!

    The creature screamed sharply as a part of its body was shed open. Despite the sturdiness of its body, it couldn¡¯t do much against the Nirvanic Rend that had swung out from East Peak.

    Qianye¡¯s stretched his body after wounding the silver bug and made a beeline for the hive, unleashing another Nirvanic Rend on the way.

    The creature did its utmost to roll about mid-air and barely managed to avoid the vitals, but the attack still left a wound on its body. Its body sank downward at this point and no amount of pping could stop the downward momentum.

    Qianye didn¡¯t add another sh but, instead, raised East Peak and dropped down from beside the nest, almost like a falling star. The de cut through the nest from top to bottom and hacked it open!

    The hive produced a creaking noise as it opened up from the middle. The interior chamber was over a meter tall, just enough for a person to crouch his way in. There were numerous incubation chambers scattered inside the nest, but most of them had already hatched, leaving behind empty shells everywhere. It would seem the hive had expended its entire reserve fighting power during the battle.

    At the base of the hive was a small pond of faint silvery liquid. It would seem that this was the silvery insect¡¯s chamber.

    Qianye jumped right into the pond. Green smoke began to rise from his robes as the liquid sshed onto him. Apparently, it contained powerful corrosive properties that even an expert¡¯sbat robes couldn¡¯t withstand. Qianye paid no heed to this because his body was much stronger than his attire. As expected, the fluid burned through his trousers but could do nothing to his skin.

    The pond wasn¡¯t deep and only rose to his knees. Qianye walked over to the center and saw a ball of silver sitting quietly¡ªthis was the object that had invoked a strong desire in the dark golden blood energy.

    Qianye¡¯s hands sank as he picked up the silver sphere. Qianye was shocked¡ªthis silver ball was merely the size of his fist, but it weighed hundreds of kilograms.

    The ball wasn¡¯t solid, rather it was soft and silky in the hand. It felt somewhat like gtin, but then again, it also felt like mercury. A stinging sensation came from his palms, almost as though he was being pricked by many fine needles.

    Shifting the ball to his right hand, he noticed that his left hand was covered in ayer of silver. This argent sphere¡¯s corrosive powers were countless times stronger than the liquid in the pond, so much so that even Qianye couldn¡¯t resist it.

    It was metal yet not metal. Qianye had never seen such a material before, but it was definitely this thing that had produced a powerful desire in the dark golden blood energy.

    Before Qianye could finish studying his prize, he felt a sudden chill from behind, and the intense killing intent caused his hair to flutter.

    Qianye shed backward without a second thought! This attack made no motion to defend himself and only targeted the iing assant, relying on his powerful vampiric constitution to exchange injuries.

    The ambusher eximed in surprise, not expecting Qianye to use a suicidal method. She had no choice but to pull back her de and block. As the two swords came into contact, her edge made a deft turn to deflect Qianye¡¯s East Peak and then pierced toward his heart!

    At this moment, Qianye had already turned around and realized that it was the female warrior from before. Her weapon was now pointed at Qianye¡¯s waist and the mirage of arge de emerged on her sword. Apparently, this was a powerful killing move.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even look at the iing strike as he brought East Peak swinging onto her head. Even if the girl¡¯s sword could stab right through him, the attack from above would split her into two.

    The female warrior shed away for over ten meters, putting a considerable distance between them. She was extremely decisive in pulling back after her failed ambush.

    ¡°Put down the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood and I¡¯ll spare you!¡±

    Qianye tossed the ball in his hand. ¡°Spare me? Why should I believe you?¡±

    The female warrior replied, ¡°I¡¯m udia, the only daughter of Mask, the leader of the Moonlight Demons. If I say you¡¯ll be spared, then you will leave this cavern alive.¡±

    udia was about as tall as Qianye with a handsome face, brows like swords, and an expression filled with sharp killing intent. Qianye looked rather rxed, but in truth, he had already ranked this opponent among those he couldn¡¯t underestimate. During their exchange just now, it felt like East Peak had sunk into a marsh¡ªevery movement was difficult and there was a constant force driving the de in a different direction. If it wasn¡¯t for his powerful constitution and strength, he would¡¯ve revealed an opening and consequently fall into a disadvantage.

    But he was able to hide his serious thoughts even under udia¡¯s killing intent. Her fingers were trembling slightly. She felt Qianye¡¯s power erupt like a volcano as their swords came into contact; her arms went numb and blood and qi were thrown into turmoil. If it wasn¡¯t for her decisive retreat, she had doubts about whether she could still hold her de after two more blows.

    Qianye sized the girl up from head to toe. ¡°Why must I hand you this item?¡±

    ¡°Put down the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. A lowly human like you is not worthy of it!¡± A stern voice echoed through the hall. The Moonlight Demon expert Keimor had also returned.

    Following his appearance, arge number of warriors rushed out of the cave and surrounded the tform Qianye was on.

    Without waiting for Qianye to speak, Keimor let out a sinisterugh and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t waste words with him, kill him now!¡± Then, he raised his gun and opened fire!

 Chapter 785: Unexpected Gues

    All the soldiers lifted their origin guns and fired aggressively at Qianye. Meanwhile, numerous hand grenades arced forward in his direction.

    The constant rumble drowned out all sound. The halved hive could no longer stand the torture and crumbled into pieces.

    ¡°Stop, stay I say!¡± udia¡¯s voice emerged through the gunfire and echoed throughout the cave.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Keimor issued the order after some time. Only on hismand did those soldiers stop shooting.

    udia arrived before Kemor inrge strides, roaring, ¡°Why did you open fire without my order? I¡¯ve already convinced him to surrender!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just a lowly human and has no worth to speak of.¡±

    Keimor hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a pnded on his face. ¡°I¡¯m not in the mood to listen to your racial rhetorics. Don¡¯t forget that I am themander here. The next time you act on your own, I¡¯ll have my father kill you!¡±

    Keimor rubbed his face, his eyes almost spewing mes. ¡°I am a pureblood vampire! You actually pped me for a lowly human?¡±

    udia replied coldly, ¡°Your bloodline isn¡¯t that noble, either, a far cry from the twelve ancient ns. I pped you for not listening to mymands and not for him, understand?¡±

    Keimor¡¯s expression became contorted but gradually recovered. He took a step back and said with an exaggerated bow, ¡°Understood, my subordinates and I will obey.¡±

    After standing back up, he turned back and roared, ¡°Trash, what are you standing there for? Sweep the battlefield!¡±

    With a snort, udia headed toward the hive on her own. She refused to believe that this level of firepower could do anything to Qianye. On the contrary, it must¡¯ve given him a good opportunity to escape. Hence, she spent no time confirming his fate but instead went to investigate the bug nest.

    The hive had already copsed and the pond at the bottom was filled with wreckage. She crouched down beside the pond and touched the liquid there. With a sizzling sound, a wisp of green smoke rose from her charred fingertips.

    udia broke into a frown as she tore off the dead skin. Her wounded flesh wriggled about, and soon, new skin had covered the defect. She gazed at the water in the pond with a fluctuating expression.

    Keimor arrived beside her. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing.¡± udia woke up from her reverie and immediately recalled how Qianye was yfully tossing the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood in his hand.

    Used to her indifference, Keimor proceeded to oversee the cleaning up of the battlefield and see if there was anything of worth. It was just that his eyes flickered with coldness whenever the silhouette of udia¡¯s back appeared in his eyes.

    At this moment, Qianye was traveling swiftly through the tunnels, far away from udia and Keimor. The concentrated fire of the Moonlight Demon elites was of high standards. Not only did they fire at Qianye, but also at his surroundings to seal off his escape path. Nheless, this level of firepower had no effect against Qianye. He took two origin bullets head-on as he jumped off the high tform and escaped via a tunnel. The fiery waves and smoke from the origin grenades only served to cover his retreat.

    Having run a thousand meters in one go, he reckoned the enemy wouldn¡¯t be able to catch him anymore. Only then did he have the time to check the silvery mass in his hand. ording to udia, this was the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. If the one in his hand was merely a single drop, how terrifying would the entire dragon be?

    This drop of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood, if swallowed by an ordinary beast, would probably tear through its guts and take its life. Even Qianye didn¡¯t dare swallow it whole. His body was indeed strong, but it was mainly the flesh that had been strengthened. His bones weren¡¯t yet entirely upgraded, and his innards were even weaker.

    If he couldn¡¯t swallow it, then how was he to ¡°partake¡± in this blood?

    Qianye felt somewhat awkward as he gazed at the shiny Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. Just holding it for a while had filled his palms with stinging pain and numbness. This proved just how corrosive this object was and that he couldn¡¯t keep holding it for very long.

    While lost in thought, he suddenly felt the earth and cave walls trembling ever so slightly. There were several sources to this tremor, and they were all approaching him at a rapid pace.

    Earth Dragon¡¯s blood!

    Qianye immediately understood that the blood might have attracted monsters to his general location. The blood did not leak its aura at all while it was hidden within the bug hive, and Qianye had only sensed it after the Moonlight Demon¡¯s attack produced cracks in the nest. Now that it was entirely out in the open, there was no doubt that the iing beasts were both powerful and numerous.

    For some reason, however, the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood couldn¡¯t be stowed away in Andruil¡¯s space. He didn¡¯t dare swallow it but couldn¡¯t put it away, either¡ªwas he supposed to run around carrying this thing? As arrogant as he was, Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t outrun the native beast hordes in the underground world. He would definitely be overrun at some point.

    Sensing that the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood was constantly corroding his flesh, Qianye made a prompt decision to activate Life Plunder. As expected, this powerful, blood-energy skill immediately locked onto the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. Countless strands of blood shot out and pierced into the blood, instantly turning it into countless silvery granules to be absorbed by the body.

    For a split second, Qianye felt that he was absorbing wisps of fire instead of blood! Upon entering the body, the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood immediately suppressed the surrounding flesh and sank downward. Even the flesh refined by auric me blood couldn¡¯t block its corrosion.

    Fortunately, the dark golden blood energy acted ferociously. Likewise, it split into countless particles that pounced at the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. The two bloodlines broke out in a battle within Qianye¡¯s body, each striving to kill the other in a destructive frenzy.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected such an oue. He resisted the excruciating pain and left the ce swiftly.

    The underground tunnels connected in every direction like a giant maze. Qianye had no idea how far he had run before finally shaking off the beast horde¡¯s pursuit. Then, he found himself a quiet cave to catch his breath.

    At this point, the battle in his body hade to a momentary pause. The invasive blood particles had been dragged toward his blood core and be a silvery glob of blood. Meanwhile, the dark golden blood energy hadpletely surrounded the intruder and was slowly working to assimte it. It was just that the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood was extremely strong and the process of assimtion was negligibly slow. One wisp of Earth¡¯s Dragon blood would be stripped off after a long while and absorbed by the dark golden blood energy.

    After resting for an hour, most of the internal wounds in Qianye¡¯s body had healed and he had recovered some of hisbat strength. At this point, he hade to a general understanding of why the Spider Emperor, Moonlight Demons, and Wolf King would work together to start a war with Su Dingqian and upy Port City.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s bloodline power was exceptionally strong. The dark races generally revered bloodline powers and their advancement often relied on upgrading them. If they could obtain the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood and make its power their own, they would enjoy a sharp increase to their innate talents and aptitude while removing all obstacles on their path to dukedom.

    Naturally, this was just in theory. Qianye had personally experienced just how terrifying this dragon¡¯s blood was. Even a bloodline at the level of the dark golden blood energy could only whittle away at it. Those so-called geniuses would probably end up killing themselves instead of leveling-up.

    If each hive had one drop of blood in it, there should be quite a lot of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood lying around. It was just that the bug nests weren¡¯t that easy to conquer and that silver insect king was extremely difficult to deal with, not to mention it could call for reinforcements.

    The insects¡¯ most frightening aspect was their numbers. Even divine champions would be pushed back if thousands of them were to arrive at the same time. But to Qianye¡ªwho had bought out all the grenades in Southern Bluerge numbers of weak enemies was the least of his fears.

    He stood up and continued his investigation toward the depths of the cavern. The Earth Dragon¡¯s blood was a peerless treasure¡ªhe had no intention of letting it fall into enemy hands even if he had no more use for it.

    The underground world was deep, dark, and boundlessly vast. Qianye had already lost his sense of direction and could only go deeper in. But as he went on, the elevation began to fluctuate erratically, making it difficult for him to even grasp where the deeper parts were.

    As he passed through a certain tunnel, Qianye suddenly noticed a flickering light and voices. The sound was extremely faint and almost indiscernible without sharp perception abilities. His first reaction upon hearing voices was to look around to see if there were any tripwires.

    As expected, he did find several of them after some observation. Carefully avoiding the traps, Qianye advanced in stealth¡ªany living being in the underground world could be an enemy.

    There was a temporary camp set up in the middle of a small cave, replete with a tall bonfire that filled the chamber with warmth. However, the lighting off of it was fairly dim, almost like a candle me.

    Surprised, Qianye frowned upon seeing this bonfire.

    There were dozens of people in the camp, guarding the parameter in parties of three. Most of them were high-ranking warriors of the Moonlight Demons, but there were a number of special characters among them. They were covered in long battle-cloaks with tall cors that connected to their helmets, shrouding their entire face in darkness.

    The military insignia on their cloaks had been removed, but how could Qianye not recognize the outfit of the centralmands special ops unit? He had taken down numerous opponents wearing such equipment during his raid on the military stronghold.

    With Nighteye¡¯s departure¡ªthe empire, military, and the Zhao n¡ªthese names had almost vanished into the wind, growing further and further away from Qianye. But now, he had actually run into people from the imperial military in the neutralnds and secret operatives no less.

    Qianye retracted his aura and hid himself near the camp borders. He intended to observe why people from the empire were here and what exactly they were doing.

    At this moment, an old man walked out of the tent. The creases on his face were as deep as ravines, and his frail body looked like it would fall in the wind. He walked over to the bonfire to warm his hands and seemed like he was deep in thought.

 Chapter 786: Grand Vestige

    The old man¡¯s robes looked ordinary and without any outstanding characteristics. However, being so ordinary was what set this man apart from everyone else. There was a clear distinction between everyone in the camp¡ªthey were either from the Moonlight Demons or the imperial military. Only this old man was without any characteristics.

    A gloomy-looking man in his thirties arrived beside the old man. ¡°Elder Wei, we¡¯ve waited here for an entire day. The longer we wait, the greater the chances of the Earth Dragon recovering, Let¡¯s move out now if possible.¡±

    The old man replied calmly, ¡°The pacification method I taught you is much more useful than your original method. There won¡¯t be any problems as long as you do things ording to my instructions. But if that fellow insists on provoking the Earth Dragon, that¡¯s well beyond our control. Then again, it¡¯s not that easy to provoke the dragon, either.¡±

    ¡°What you say is right, but more problems might arise if we drag things out. It¡¯s not wise to stay here very long. What are we waiting for?¡±

    ¡°Opportunity.¡± Elder Wei was calm.

    The middle-aged man felt a bit awkward, but he braced himself to inquire further, ¡°This¡­ what exactly is this opportunity.¡±

    The elder responded with a question, ¡°Anderfel, you¡¯re usually quite patient, why the rush now? Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s something wrong with the pacification rite?¡±

    Anderfel hesitated for a moment before finally revealing the situation. ¡°We don¡¯t have much flesh and blood left. At this consumption rate, we can maintain it for three more days at most.¡±

    Elder Wei replied calmly, ¡°Kill some more people, you¡¯ll get your flesh and blood.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯ve already ughtered all the people in Port City, even the ves and servants. There are no more humans in the surrounding area.¡±

    ¡°Then go farther, there are a lot of human cities in the surrounding area, Southern Blue for instance. You can do a lot of things in three days.¡±

    Anderfel said helplessly, ¡°That¡¯s Zhang Buzhou¡¯s domain, we can¡¯t extend our reach that far.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Wolf King Zhang Buzhou¡¯s man? Let him think of a way.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    The old man smiled spuriously. ¡°Since this is a cooperation, he must make some sacrifices, too. There are so many humans in his territory, losing a few thousand or even ten thousand of them won¡¯t make a difference. If he can¡¯t even do that, what¡¯s the point of having him on board? Or would you rather sacrifice your own tribesmen? I¡¯ve told you before that vampire sacrifices are more effective than human ones.¡±

    Anderfel¡¯s expression changed sharply. In the end, he said helplessly, ¡°Then, we¡¯ll continue ording to your instructions.¡±

    He summoned three subordinates and gave them their orders, ¡°You three go back and ry Elder Wei¡¯s words to Sir Kimberly.¡±

    The three soldiers left swiftly and without dy.

    Having finished his business, Anderfel approached the old man. ¡°Elder Wei, what exactly is this opportunity?

    Elder Weiughed. ¡°You¡¯ll find out when the time is right. This is a great fortune. As long as you do this well, the empire won¡¯t go back on its word. After the territories of Serenity Province fall under His Excellency¡¯s rule, it won¡¯t be difficult for someone of your contributions to obtain half a county¡¯snd.¡±

    Anderfel was beaming with joy. ¡°It¡¯s all because of Elder Wei¡¯s guidance. But isn¡¯t the Western Continent a tad too poor?¡±

    An indiscernible shade of mockery flickered in the elder¡¯s eyes. ¡°The Western Continent is indeed barrenpared to the Qin continent, but that¡¯s only on the surface. In truth, the Western Continent is rich in resources, many of which are essential in warfare. The only reason for its underdevelopment is that the Evernight side has always viewed this ce as a ce to fight for. The mes of war have never died here for hundreds of years.¡±

    At this point, Edler Wei paused for a moment. ¡°Why else would the Zhao n, with its thousand-year inheritance, abandon their estate in the empire and transfer to such a deste ce? It¡¯s only because of your irreceable role and contributions in this matter that you have the opportunity to get your hands on the Western Continent.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, rest assured, Sir Mask¡¯s resolve is firm. We¡¯ll not only put in our best efforts here but also field troops when youy siege to the Zhao n.¡±

    Elder Weiughed. ¡°Let¡¯s get this matter done properly first. Once the item is in our hands, it¡¯ll be an easy matter to destroy the Zhao n. Speaking of war, your troops are all quite odd andcking in valor. I don¡¯t see how they can be of help in a frontal assault against the Zhao n.¡±

    Anderfel was livid. Being mocked right to his face was an ufortable feeling. However, the old man¡¯s pressure was so great that he didn¡¯t dare say anything.

    The atmosphere in the camp was heavy, but the old man didn¡¯t seem to mind. He finished warming his hands before going back into the tent to rest.

    On the outer borders of the camp, Qianye¡¯s mood was in disarray. Who would¡¯ve thought that the imperial military¡¯s reach extended even to the neutralnds. Judging from the elder¡¯s words, it would seem the military was nning to deal with the Zhao n and the key to ity in the Earth Dragon¡¯sir.

    Qianye naturally recalled his past at the mention of the Zhao n. He sighed secretly in a surge of killing intent. Now that they were here, this Elder Wei and the people from the military had better forget about going back alive. As for the Zhao n¡¯s peril, Qianye wasn¡¯t that worried¡ªit was no easy feat to shake the solid foundations of a thousand-year n that ruled over two provinces.

    Having made his decision, Qianye drew back and found a good spot to wait in hiding.

    Before long, footsteps echoed in the tunnel as a group of soldiers emerged and arrived at the camp. Soon, an officer delivered a crate to Anderfel who seemed rather delighted upon observing its contents. He went to the elder¡¯s tent and said, ¡°Elder Wei, we¡¯ve gotten one more drop of blood.¡±

    The elder walked out and said with a nod, ¡°Three drops of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood in total, that¡¯s enough. The time is also just about ripe, let¡¯s set out.¡±

    The camp flew into action at Anderfel¡¯s urgent order. Momentster, they were all packed and equipped to move out.

    There was a rectangr crate in one of the tents, the contents of which had been firmly covered up by a cloth. This container was three meters long and would need at least six high-ranking soldiers to move forward. Judging from how much effort these warriors were putting in, it was obvious that the crate was at least thousands of kilograms in weight.

    Anderfel left ten men to watch over the camp while the rest followed the main force.

    Elder Wei took the lead. The map in his hand was flickering with origin power, clearly not just an ordinary object but a powerful secret treasure. He would refer to it at every crossroad and pick out the path to advance along.

    With hundreds of soldiers traveling together, there was no way they wouldn¡¯t leave traces. Qianye only needed to follow from far behind since there was no way he could lose them, but he took a risk and followed from a distance where he could see the elder. This would prevent the enemy from splitting up or throwing him off the trail.

    The troops walked for an entire half a day toward the depths of the cavern, resting only once along the way. Judging from the distance, they had likely traveled hundreds of kilometers. Qianye had long since lost his sense of direction and depth, so his only choice was to follow the squad ahead.

    They ran into several swarms of insects and beasts along the way, but Anderfel¡¯s subordinates made short work of them. This hundred-strong force was made up of elites¡ªall of them at least rank-eight and possessed powerfulbat strength. Even a dozen pegmatite crocodiles couldn¡¯tst ten minutes against them. In addition to their fighting power, the ck swords in their hands were also iparably sharp, capable of tearing through the pegmatite crocodiles¡¯ defenses and impaling them in one blow. A group of ten subordinates could contend with the giant reptiles while two such groups could easily kill the enemy.

    Elder Wei never made a move since the very beginning. Judging from his calm demeanor, it looked like these giant beasts and insects were nothing to him.

    The group raised its rate of advancement after the second rest, passing many crossroads at a brisk pace. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s proficiency in tracking, he might¡¯ve lost them by now.

    A vast world suddenly appeared before Qianye as he emerged from the tunnel once more.

    This was an iparably wide space, with an arched ceiling that was over a thousand meters tall. Pirs hundreds of meters in diameter seemed to be propping up the sky and supporting this mystical underground realm. There were several rivers weaving through the unevenndscape with a number ofkes upying the lownds.

    There was neither sun nor moon in the underground space. There were, however, faint specks of lighting off of the mosses on the stone pirs, and the trees and leaves on the ground were also glowing luminously. Together, they lit up this immortal-like realm.

    Naturally, such a beautiful ce was notcking in danger. Qianye immediately noticed a mountainous silhouette at the center of the cave, belonging to a monstrosity that looked like a pegmatite crocodile. It was just that this creature was over ten timesrger and its hundred-meter body upied an entire mountaintop. Its back was covered in crystalline spikes, glimmering eerily under the faint illumination. Despite their inexplicable beauty, these crystals were extremely hard and far sturdier than the alloy armor installed on imperialbat vehicles and airships.

    This crystalline crocodile¡¯s armor alone was over a meter in thickness, and that was discounting the crystals upon them. ording to Qianye¡¯s calctions, an ordinary grade-seven gun might not be able to pierce its armor; perhaps only a grade-eight weapon would stand a chance. But grade-eight firearms were sufficient to punch holes through airships¡ªhow could ordinary people even use them?

    This crystalline crocodile was slow and clumsy under normal circumstances, but its movements were like lightning when on the hunt. Additionally, there was no telling how long this creature had lived or if it could be ssified as an ancient crocodile. It likely possessed abilities that ordinary pegmatite crocodiles didn¡¯t have, an extremely difficult opponent through and through.

    But Qianye was currently hidden in the darkness, so he simply left the worrying to Elder Wei and Anderfel.

    He continued to observe and found that there was a bug hive on each side of the nearby cliff, and they were evenrger than the one from before. The insects crawling out of them were also considerably bigger than the ordinary ones and covered in a faint silvery hue. It would seem that there was Earth Dragon blood in these nests.

    Since there was Earth Dragon¡¯s blood in the insect hives, it was quite likely that the crystalline crocodile nest would have one, too. Those giant beasts like the rhinoceros from before were also rted to the dragon. That meant the Earth Dragon had been nurturing these beast and bug hordes with its blood.

    Now that was somewhat odd because void colossi weren¡¯t known to be saints. Why would they use their own blood to nurture these things?

    Qianye trembled from head to toe as his gaze fell toward the distance. At the end of thisnd, in the depths of the curling mist, stood a giant door.

    Qianye rubbed his eyes and observed carefully once more to confirm what he had just seen.

    A door hundreds of meters in height stood at the other end of this realm. Although it was only faintly discernible, he could confirm that this was a man-made architecture and not a natural object.

    There had never been signs of human habitation in this underground world, why would there be such a grand, almost-miraculous door here?

 Chapter 787: How could you not wait?

    The grand scenery of the underground world shook Elder Wei and Anderfel just as much. They held their breaths and exhaled deeply only after a long while.

    The elder who had been calm this entire time sighed. ¡°This old man has never witnessed such a sight before. Withouting here personally, who would¡¯ve thought there existed such a magical scenery?¡±

    Anderfel was startled. He pointed into the distance with trembling hands, saying, ¡°Elder Wei, look! Is that a door?¡±

    The duo¡¯s eyesight was apparently not as good as Qianye¡¯s. Elder Wei replied after a moment of concentration, ¡°Should be.¡±

    The astonishment in Anderfel¡¯s heart was no less than Qianye. ¡°The Earth Dragon can build doors?¡±

    Elder Wei stroked his long beard. ¡°What do you think the Earth Dragon is?¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Anderfel wanted to say that an earth dragon was just an earth dragon, but he swallowed the words back immediately afterward. There was no way the answer could be that simple? All along, his recognition of the Earth Dragon was limited to the many legends that he had heard. No one had really seen the dragon before, knew what it looked like, or if it even existed.

    Anderfel¡¯s thoughts spun about. ¡°Could it be that Elder Wei has seen the Earth Dragon?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°This old man hasn¡¯t seen it before, but I know someone who has.¡±

    Anderfel was shocked. ¡°That exploration party from hundreds of years ago?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, it¡¯s the empire¡¯s probe from seventy years ago.¡±

    Anderfel was astonished once more. The empire had actually investigated the Earth Dragon¡¯sir secretly and even seen its main body! ¡°No wonder you knew how to pacify the dragon and even upgraded the method.¡±

    Elder Wei replied, ¡°Your people embrace the old methods and never seek advancement, showing no change in several hundred years. Your method of pacification is unbearably crude and full of openings. Trying to cate the Earth Dragon with that method, heh heh, if it wasn¡¯t for the neutralnds being remote and isted, I fear it may have be the empire¡¯s property by now.¡±

    Anderfelughed along. ¡°Everyone admires the flourishing empire. Why else would our n¡¯s sire put in that much effort? It¡¯s all for a territory in the empire.¡±

    Nodding in satisfaction, Elder Wei waved his hand, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go check out that door. If I¡¯m not wrong, the Earth Dragon¡¯sir lies behind the door and the thing we want is also there.¡±

    Anderfel¡¯s expression was serious as he gazed in that direction. ¡°This path isn¡¯t going to be easy.¡±

    The road was indeed difficult. The giant pegmatite crocodile stood at the center of the area, nked by two insect hives. The remaining open ground was also filled with roaming beasts and birds.

    ¡°I have my ways.¡± Elder Wei went forth on his own. Hence, Anderfel had no other choice but to bring all his men forward. Without the need for amand, the warriors fell into battle formation and advanced cautiously.

    The old man wasn¡¯t bluffing. He raised a book and flipped to one of the pages, shooting out a faint silvery light that engulfed the entire squad.

    Far off in the distance, Qianye sighed softly. In his perception, he noticed the elder¡¯s group emitting a bit of the Earth Dragon¡¯s aura. He would¡¯ve thought this was a beast horde in action if he hadn¡¯t seen them personally.

    This concealment method was quite magical, especially since many of the insects didn¡¯t rely on vision, but instead other senses, to detect their prey. It was likely that they could fool their way past these creatures.

    Not daring to be careless, Elder Wei took a long detour around the giant pegmatite crocodile. This monster¡¯s power had far surpassed the marquis level. Although it was asleep right now, the entire group would be wiped out once it was roused from its sleep.

    Since he had found out that the other party¡¯s objective was the giant door, Qianye had no more need to follow them. He activated his Bloodline Concealment and moved stealthily along the cave walls toward his destination.

    The biggest obstruction along this path was the insect hive, but Qianye had long since made ns for it. He rubbed a bit of the giant insect¡¯s fluid on his body to suppress his smell and climbed all the way up to the ceiling. There, he passed the hive by crawling along its borders. The bug nest was hundreds of meters below the ceiling and most of its inhabitants were either on or below the ground, rarely taking to the air. In this manner, Qianye passed by this obstruction without any danger and arrived on the other side of the underground world.

    He had long since selected his hiding ce, a stone pir closest to the giant door. The surface of this hundred-meter pir was filled with cracks and crevices, all of which made for great hiding ces with unobstructed vision.

    Qianye was naturally faster since he was operating on his own. By the time he had settled in at the hiding ce, Elder Wei, Anderfel, and their soldiers were only a third of the way across.

    With enough time to spare, Qianye began observing the giant door.

    From close by, it was even more evident that the doors were a grand project. Each of them was dozens of meters wide and decorated with carvings of mountains, rivers, and beasts. They were depicted in coarse outlines, but the imagery was vivid and lifelike, almost as though an aura of the ancient destion were rushing at one¡¯s face. No one knew who created these works of art, but the deepest grooves on them were a meter in depth, a testament to just how thick these doors were.

    There were some vines creeping along the borders of these mottled doors¡ªwho knew how many years it had been since they werest opened. Qianye knew not whether its material was metal, wood, or stone, but judging from its size, the door was sure to be extremely sturdy. Otherwise, it would¡¯ve crumbled under its own weight. At the moment, the doors stood perfectly straight without the slightest hint of bending.

    Even a divine champion would have trouble opening such a door. Perhaps only heavenly monarchs, with their ability to move mountains and seas, could operate them. The current Qianye was far from capable.

    He observed along the border of the doors but found no traces of a transmission mechanism. Even if there was some sort of kic system, it was probably inoperable after the centuries of disuse. Qianye had no way to open these massive doors without external power. After some contemtion, he felt that he might be able to chip a small opening in the door if he used all the remaining grenades he had brought.

    However, using grenades would rm Elder Wei and Anderfel. Besides, it might not be a wise move for Qianye to enter first without knowing what was on the other side. At the thought of this, Qianye decided to wait and see how Elder Wei would open the door. The best oue would be to sneak in after they had opened the door, but even if he couldn¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t be toote to attack them at that point.

    Qianye waited patiently after forming his n.

    The book in Elder Wei¡¯s hands turned dim after walking for a certain distance. At that point, he would flip over a new page and maintain the light barrier. Their route was circuitous and, in order to keep the light stable, they couldn¡¯t move too fast, either¡ªthe book had already reached itsst page by the time they reached the giant doors. Drenched in sweat, the old man put away his book and heaved a long breath. They had gotten through the perils without mishap, but the drain on his mind was significant.

    Elder Wei was in no rush to observe the door. Instead, he sat down cross-legged and began a process of recovery. Despite his eagerness, Anderfel could only arrange his subordinates to guard the elder.

    His arrangements were quite interesting. Under the cover of the stone pirs, two snipers climbed a hundred meters up and hid themselves. One of them observed the surroundings with a binocr while the other set up his sniper rifle to cover the unit¡¯s rear.

    Judging from this setup, it would seem that they hade prepared for an ambush from the backside. After some thought, Qianye realized that they were guarding against Bluemoon.

    The Highbeard girl had revealed powerful concealment abilities while ambushing Keimor, and her cultivation was also much higher than before. It would seem she had been hiding her power all along, so much so that she never dropped her disguise even when one of the Highbeard elders was wounded. It could be said that Bluemoon¡¯s schemes were deep¡ªif it wasn¡¯t for udia hiding behind her, her ambush would have seeded back then. That wouldn¡¯t have changed the oue, though, since Qianye was also concealed nearby. The Earth Dragon¡¯s blood would surely fall into his hands in the end.

    Qianye¡¯s current position was a hundred meters above the two enemy snipers. Never imagining that there would be someone up above, they werepletely concentrated on observing the area. They were to be the backup line if Bluemoon were to ambush the troops.

    Anderfel heaved a sigh of relief after the snipers were in ce; then, he waited patiently for Elder Wei to recover. The vast underground world was just as quiet as before¡ªonly the giant crocodile¡¯s breath whistled like the wind, echoing throughout the chamber.

    Time went by, little by little. Just when it seemed like the world would go on in this perpetual state, Qianye noticed a wisp of origin power flickering near the cave wall. This fluctuation was simply too smallpared to the massive underground world, and it had already moved dozens of meters before Qianye picked it up.

    That human-sized mass of origin power moved slowly along the cave wall and was gradually approaching the group.

    Needless to say, this person was an expert in stealth. Even after noticing the intruder, Qianye still couldn¡¯t see anything. The approximate location waspletely empty except for the slightly blurred scenery. Not to mention a careless nce, even someone observing the ce intentionally might overlook it.

    An expert!

    Qianye sighed in admiration¡ªsuch stealth movement was at the point of perfection and almost undetectable. The only way to catch them was toy down arge number of traps and restrain their movements.

    The concealed person stopped moving several hundred meters from Elder Wei. The moment they stopped, the origin power disturbance also disappeared from Qianye¡¯s perception.

    Below Qianye, the two snipers were still observing the area. Their scopes passed by the stealthy person, but none of them discovered the target.

    But after pinpointing the location, Qianye was confident that this person was Bluemoon. Just like him, she was also waiting for the door to open. Just the weight of those gates was enough to stump everyone below the divine champion realm.

    Elder Wei¡¯s cultivation wasn¡¯t obvious, and even Qianye couldn¡¯t see through his realm. Anderfel was a powerful, marquis-rank vampire, but he was still helpless against those doors.

    At this point, a group suddenly appeared on the other end of the tunnel, and its leader was that udia who had fought briefly with Qianye.

    Upon seeing udia, ripples appeared in the stealthed person¡¯s origin power; she was apparently finding it hard to calm her emotions. The fluctuations vanished as quickly as they had appeared, and the two hidden snipers never sensed them. In truth, they didn¡¯t even know that they had been discovered.

    A thunderousugh echoed on the other side of the chamber. ¡°Such a grand asion! How could you not wait for me?¡±

 Chapter 788: Sneak Attack

    Theughter rumbled throughout the cavern, the terrifying origin power within causing Qianye¡¯s ears to buzz. The stealthed person also revealed some traces of origin power fluctuation, but no one noticed her since all attention was on theughter.

    Anderfel¡¯s expression transformed drastically as he nced over at udia in astonishment. Elder Wei slowly opened his eyes. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of rming the Earth Dragon and killing everyone in the cavern?¡±

    His voice was calm and neutral, but it filled the entire underground cavern¡ªthe loudughter no longer sounded that grating inparison.

    ¡°Humph! Everyone¡¯s boasting about you as though you¡¯re a god. I really must see what methods you have to pacify the Earth Dragon.¡±

    At this moment, a series of thunderps rumbled in the air and arrived before the door at astonishing speeds.

    It was a tall woman d in a set of dark battle armor. There was a pair of dazzling metallic wings on her back with shes of lightning creeping along its frame. It wasn¡¯t just her armor, though; even her hair and brows would crackle with electricity from time to time. Actually, her face was extremely beautiful, but all that lightning filled one with dread and made it difficult to admire her.

    She seemed to have crossed through the underground world in a straight line, and despite all the ruckus surrounding her, she hadn¡¯t rmed any of the beasts, insects, or crocodiles on the way.

    Anderfel, udia, and Keimor bowed toward her. ¡°We are honored to meet you, Your Excellency Caroline.¡±

    She sneered without the slightest bit of courtesy, ¡°Honored? I think you guys were cursing your bad luck! You must want me to die along the way so that you have fewer people to share the prize.¡±

    Anderfel replied hurriedly, ¡°That¡¯s not true. With Your Excellency present, our chances of sess have increased quite a bit. It¡¯s just that,ing here with your cultivation is quite risky.¡±

    ¡°Since I dare toe down, that means I¡¯m not afraid of death.¡±

    Elder Wei snorted, ¡°Ignorant courage.¡±

    Caroline red at him with her brows raised. ¡°Old man, I must see how capable you are once we leave this ce.¡±

    Elder Wei replied gently, ¡°O¡¯ Revered Thunderous Whip, Your Excellency, if you really seek true experts, why don¡¯t youe back with me to the empire? Just those within the army are enough to satisfy you, not to mention the four major ns.¡±

    No matter how arrogant Caroline was, she didn¡¯t dare to im that she could win against everyone in the military. People at her level wouldn¡¯t speak blindly, or it would just lower their status.

    She said coldly, ¡°Everyone knows how powerful the empire is. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t be hiding in the neutralnds, either.¡±

    Seeing the atmosphere growing tense, Anderfel stepped in to mediate things. ¡°Your Excellency Caroline, what are you here to find?¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°I want a drop of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood for my travel expenses. Additionally, I¡¯m here to look for a person, he¡¯s currently in the undergroundir.¡±

    She shot a beam of electricity with a flick of her fingers, outlining the appearance of a person in the air. Qianye was greatly astonished to find that it was a portrait of his original appearance! He rarely used his real appearance in public sinceing to the neutralnds, and he had kept himself masked during his stay in Port City. How did she know how he looked?

    Elder Wei was greatly rmed. ¡°Qianye? He¡¯s here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s that whatever Qianye or not, this person killed my brother and I¡¯m not about to let him leave this ce alive!¡±

    Anderfel nodded. ¡°If he¡¯s also underground, we¡¯ll definitely help you catch him. But we¡¯re at a critical juncture right now. I think we should open this door and reap our final reward first, what do you say? If Qianye hasn¡¯t died to the beast hordes, he¡¯ll surely make his way here.¡±

    udia chimed in, ¡°The underground realm is vast and full of danger. Even if we can¡¯t find him, his chances of leaving this ce alive are quite slim.¡±

    Caroline said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go along with this. Old man, do you need me to help with the door?¡±

    Elder Wei shot her a nce. ¡°This door can¡¯t be opened with brute force.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s expression turned dark, but she wasn¡¯t without insight¡ªa single nce was all she needed to judge the weight of those doors. Opening them was beyond her power even if there weren¡¯t any locking mechanisms behind them.

    She took a step back and said, ¡°Fine! Let¡¯s see how capable you are.¡±

    Elder Wei spoke no more. He walked toward the door and pressed his hands against it. He was even smaller than an antpared to the gigantic structure, yet he was posing as though he would push the doors open.

    Caroline wore a cold smile as she waited for the results.

    Elder Wei recited a string of unintelligible incantations. His origin power traveled with the sound waves to cover the entire door. These fluctuating notes induced a cumtive resonance from the door, which grew higher and higher like a tidal wave.

    Qianye was shaken upon seeing this brilliant secret art. He observed the technique carefully, doing his utmost to remember all the details for further contemtion. With this method, he would be able tounch an earth-shattering attack by utilizing the origin power in the vast world around.

    This method involved time and energy, and it couldn¡¯t be disrupted midway. Even so, an art allowing someone of a lower level to unleash a divine-champion attack was still of great value.

    Eventually, Elder Wei¡¯s origin power covered the entire giant door, causing it to tremble ever so slightly. All of a sudden, its pitch rose sharply as the countless patterns on the door erupted in radiance and a series of runes appeared in quick session.

    The giant door trembled with even greater intensity and slowly opened up with a rumble.

    A vast world could be seen through the crack in the door, but the imagery was blurry and unclear.

    Greatly astonished, Caroline¡¯s expression turned somewhat unsightly.

    A door that had to be opened with arrays meant that it was locked via the same mechanism. If it wasn¡¯t for Elder Wei¡¯s art, even three Carolines wouldn¡¯t be able to open the door.

    The entire cave trembled with the opening of the giant door. The insects crawled about restlessly, but the beast hordes and giant crocodile remained still.

    Elder Wei pulled back at this point, his aura was much weaker and his face full of exhaustion. He sat down quietly to recover, not even bothering to look at the new world beyond the door. Anderfel and the others, however, were all stunned after gazing beyond the threshold.

    Caroline spread her wings, sparks of electricity arcing off from the bones therein. ¡°I¡¯ll head over to take a look.¡±

    Anderfel and the others opened up a path. Caroline was the strongest person here, so it was the best course of action for her to take point.

    From his angle, Qianye couldn¡¯t quite see the world behind the door. From the aura seeping out, however, it would seem that there was less danger there than there was in the underground world. He shot a nce at the stealthed person and saw that her aura was fluctuating heavily, apparently hesitant about what to do. Regardless of whether this person was Bluemoon or otherwise, it was clear that she did not dare to take action in the presence of a variable like Caroline.

    Caroline was a true divine champion. Even if Bluemoon were to pull off the ambush sessfully, she would, at most, be able to injure the target. However, the retaliatory attack would definitely kill her.

    Bluemoon might not dare, but that didn¡¯t mean Qianye was the same.

    Caroline was umting origin power as she walked toward the door¡ªany more dy and she would be gone.

    Qianye made an immediate decision. Firstly, he shot out two stones, striking the snipers below him in the head and knocking them out. After dealing with the danger at hand, Qianye forced out a wisp of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood and attached it to an origin grenade, which he then hurled at the sleeping giant crocodile.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s aura seeped out from the grenade as it flew through the air, agitating the beast and bugs in its wake. Even the giant pegmatite crocodile reacted by moving its tail about.

    Caroline discovered the abnormality at this moment. She turned back just in time to see the origin grenade falling rapidly onto the crystalline crocodile¡¯s head. Shocked out of her wits, she gasped. ¡°No!!!¡±

    However, she had no way to stop the grenade¡¯s descent at such a distance.

    With a loud rumble, the origin grenade exploded right on top of the monster¡¯s head. A ball of raging mes spread out and surged into the air. At this stage, one could see just how terrifying this giant pegmatite crocodile was¡ªthose crystals on its body didn¡¯t even crack amidst the fierce ze and shockwaves.

    It was struck squarely in the face butpletely unharmed.

    The giant crocodile finally opened its eyes. Perhaps the explosion and mes didn¡¯t warrant its attention, but the fresh blood of the Earth Dragon swiftly brought it to sobriety.

    The pegmatite crocodile turned its giant body around, and its amber eyes locked onto Caroline.

    ¡°Dammit! Why me!?¡± Caroline screamed. She grabbed from her waist a metallic whip studded with reverse hooks. In the blink of an eye, arcs of electricity crept up from its base and stretched all the way to its tip.

    Her long hair fluttered in the air¡ªshe was perfectly clear who her opponent was because she could hardly even breathe the moment that giant crocodile had locked onto her.

    udia was extremely decisive. ¡°Let¡¯s go in first!¡± She dived forward and vanished into the giant door.

    Anderfel and Keimor wanted to follow her, but they were one step toote. Seeing that someone had escaped beyond the door, the giant pegmatite crocodile became furious. He took a step forward and unleashed an earth-shattering roar!

    This step caused the entire space to quake. Anderfel and Keimor were sent into a daze as their bodies grew heavy. They tried their best to fly forward and had almost reached the door, but an origin tempest burst out from underneath, flinging the two backward. Soon afterward, an origin barrier materialized and sealed off the giant door.

    Elder Wei stood up with a serious expression. ¡°It seems we can forget about entering if we don¡¯t kill this animal.¡±

    Feeling helpless, Andefel and Keimor returned to their positions. Caroline turned back and shouted, ¡°Old man, it¡¯s time to bring out whatever skills you have! We should work together to kill this creature quickly, there¡¯s no telling what dangers lie on the other side.¡±

    Elder Weiughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s probably not that simple anymore.¡±

 Chapter 789: Assaul

    The creature¡¯s roar was akin to a rally bugle cry. The entire underground world came to life¡ªcountless insects crawled out of the ground and flew toward the door in the form of a bug cloud. The smaller pegmatite crocodiles appeared like the rising tides and approached in groups. In addition to swarms of insects from the two hives, more of them burst out from the cave walls to join the fray.

    No one had expected a hidden bug hive. One more nest signified hundreds of insects, dozens of elite bugs with different abilities, and one or more insect kings like the silvery creature from before, capable of contending against a rank fifteen champion.

    In the blink of an eye, the bugs and beasts arrived like a tide.

    At this point, even Elder Wei could hardly remain calm. He could spare no attention to catch the culprit who had secretly lured the giant pegmatite crocodile into battle. He directly overrode Anderfel¡¯s authority and ordered thetter¡¯s men into a defensive formation.

    This formation was fairly odd and full of openings. Anderfel wanted to remind the elder but was afraid he would embarrass the old man. Then again, how important could prestige be in a life or death situation?

    The tide of beasts and bugs arrived while he was hesitating, and it was already toote to adjust the formation now.

    Elder Wei fished out an ancient scroll and flipped through it rapidly while muttering some incantation. Shades of radiance shot out from each page of the tome andnded in different ces within the ranks, actually forming a powerful formation in the blink of an eye!

    Soldiers in different parts of the formation saw their power increase ordingly¡ªan origin shield formed around some of them, others received upgrades to their speed and reaction, while some found their origin guns glowing with increased firepower.

    The openings in the defense were quickly covered up as the formation came into y. The different troops matched well in terms of attack and defense, with no gap whatsoever between them. The soldiers roared in unison as countless origin bullets formed a stream of mes that dug out an opening in the beast horde, momentarily stemming the torrential assault.

    However, this opening was almost negligiblepared to the entire swarm. The cloud of insects quickly filled the defective battlefront and continued assailing the enemy like a tsunami.

    In the blink of an eye, Elder Wei¡¯s group was surrounded on all sides. The hundred-men group in the middle was like a boat being tossed about by the tides, yet the formation stood firm against the deluge of beasts and bugs. The front row soldiers whipped out their swords and, under the cover of the origin shields, cut down the iing creatures in swathes. The rear line fired with all their might to weaken the enemy assault.

    Even so, the horde was simply too big and every wave killed would be reced by another. The high-ranking soldiers, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t hold out that long.

    At this moment, a streak of lightning illuminated the entire underground world. With an explosive shout, Caroline rushed into the air andshed fiercely at the front lines with her seven-meter whip!

    Countless arcs of electricity condensed into a dragon and crawled hundreds of meters forward, killing everything in its wake. Droves of insects were burnt to a crisp under the might of this lightning, while the beasts were either charred ck or burst into mes. Only a couple of extremely powerful pegmatite crocodiles continued to crawl forward, albeit at a slower pace.

    Caroline¡¯s attack had produced a clearing in the field that was over a hundred meters long and a dozen wide. The might of a divine champion was indeed extraordinary.

    The giant pegmatite crocodile was enraged. The creature bulged up as it took a deep breath and shot out several pieces of crystal in Caroline¡¯s direction. The projectiles were as swift as lightning, arriving almost in the blink of an eye!

    Caroline¡¯s expression shifted drastically as she pulled her whip back to defend, wrapping the weapon right around the iing crystals. Then, with a jolt of her power, arcs of lightning burst out in all directions to shatter the crystalline bullets. However, two of the projectiles managed to escape destruction and made right for her heart!

    Ashen faced, Caroline braced her chest and abdomen, ready to take the iing blow. It was at this time that an origin-power shield appeared between her and the approaching danger. With a bang, both the shield and iing projectiles shattered at the same time. The shockwave from the explosion blew Caroline¡¯s long hair into disarray and covered her body in crystal powder.

    A sorry figure was nothingpared to a heavy injury. Terrified after surviving a cmity, Caroline shouted, ¡°Thanks, old man.¡±

    ¡°This big monster is more powerful than either of us, do not be careless!¡± Elder Wei¡¯s voice was just as calm.

    The fight grew ever more intense, and the two sides fell into an impasse. Caroline flew around the giant pegmatite crocodile,shing repeatedly with her Thunderous Whip. The crystals on the creature¡¯s body were all weapons¡ªthey shot toward the flying divine champion like a rain of arrows.

    Elder Wei supplied Caroline with various buffs, increasing her speed and the damage of her Thunderous Whip. Three origin barriers rotated around her, blocking the crystalline projectiles she couldn¡¯t dodge. Whenever one of them was shattered, Elder Wei would add one more to her stock.

    With all those upgrades in ce, Caroline¡¯sbat strength increased by almost fifty percent and was momentarily on par with the giant pegmatite crocodile.

    Caroline was extremely nimble and managed to dodge nine out of ten arrows fired by the giant creature. She nned to fight a battle of attrition with the enemy, reducing her own attacks while baiting the opponent to fire more crystalline projectiles.

    However, the giant pegmatite crocodile¡¯s body was like a small mountain, and it would be a matter of days before the monster ran out of ammunition. The first to be exhausted would surely be Caroline.

    After forming an initial judgment of the battle, Qianye paid more attention to the stealthed person, lest she disrupts the fragile bnce. Her aura had leaked out during the repeated episodes of shock, allowing Qianye to confirm that this was indeed Bluemoon.

    At this point, she was moving toward the other end of the cavern and away from the battle. It would seem she had no intention of interfering in this fight. That was an intelligent move because this was not a battle she could jump into. In a divine-champion-level fight, the shockwaves alone were enough to force her into a corner.

    Anderfel and Keimor had both joined the battle, and their powerful fighting power became the cornerstone of the entire defensive formation.

    Qianye was in no rush to attack and merely kept on observing patiently. The key to this entire fight was Elder Wei. With him around, everyone¡¯s power would increase¡ªeven a divine champion like Caroline had received a shocking fifty percent upgrade to her power. She alone could keep the giant monster in check while Anderfel and Keimor took advantage of this opening to kill the powerful beasts. As for the ordinary creatures and bugs, they were left for the high-ranking warriors to clean up.

    The entire fight proceeded in an orderly fashion. After a short while, the beast horde fell into disarray from all the casualties, and there were even some empty areas that they couldn¡¯t fill up in time. At this rate, the sea of bugs would be cleared out after a while, and the two marquises would be able to join the assault on the pegmatite crocodile.

    Qianye remained still and observed the developments in silence. That was because the scroll in Elder Wei¡¯s hand had already run out of pages.

    Caroline noticed the impending danger. ¡°Old man, can you still go on? This fellow¡¯s skin is too thick, I don¡¯t think I can wear him down.¡±

    Elder Wei was still calm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I still have some cards left to y.¡±

    He put the remaining pages away, fished out an ancient envelope and, from it, a letter. The paper was filled with a dense array of unintelligible words. Elder Wei adjusted his clothes before unfolding the paper ceremoniously.

    Most of the buffs on Caroline had worn off during this dy. She was in quite the precarious situation amidst the barrage of crystalline arrows and had no opportunity to retaliate. ¡°What are you dying for? You guys can forget about leaving this ce alive once I die.¡±

    Elder Wei said in a solemn voice, ¡°One does not treat a saint¡¯s item lightly.¡±

    At this moment, the letter in his hands erupted with dazzling light, and a powerful origin power aura spread out in all directions. Qianye was bewildered¡ªdid that letter really belong to a saint? Qianye could be considered quite knowledgeable at this point, but he had never heard of this kind of item.

    Just as Elder Wei pointed at the giant pegmatite crocodile, the paper streaked across a thousand meters and vanished into its forehead.

    The giant crocodile let out a mournful howl as its upper body swung backward, almost as though it were standing up and iling about. All of a sudden, the creature¡¯s back exploded in a shower of crystal and flesh. A terrifying wound had appeared there, one that was several meters wide and so deep that one couldn¡¯t see its bottom.

    That letter flew out from the wound. It was now devoid of light and had be an ordinary sheet of paper. Soon afterward, it ignited into a cloud of dark fumes and disappeared.

    Qianye was stunned by the scene. It was indeed hard to believe that a single letter would possess such frightening power. He would¡¯ve been sted into mincemeat had that lettere for him instead.

    Caroline was also shocked at Elder Wei¡¯s trump card. Her current gaze toward him contained less arrogance and more apprehension. She would¡¯ve been gravely injured if this paper had struck her, and with how fast it could travel, Caroline wasn¡¯t really confident that she could evade it, either.

    Enraged after receiving heavy injuries, the giant pegmatite crocodile lunged forward all of a sudden. Caroline pulled back immediately and dodged the attack, but unexpectedly, the creature spat a giant ball of crystal at her¡ªthe projectile was several meters in size and rumbled toward her like a cannon shell.

    Without enough time to maneuver, Caroline was blown away like a broken-stringed kite. She traveled over a hundred meters before stabilizing her body and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

    Elder Wei was surprised¡ªif this giant pegmatite crocodile had fired at their formation, most of the soldiers would be destroyed. Whether or not Anderfel and Keimor could dodge was up to their luck. Fortunately, the enraged monster was currently fixated on Caroline¡ªthe strongest of the lot and closest to it¡ªand that spared everyone from the disaster.

    ¡°The animal has no more power to seal the door, we¡¯ll head in first. Caroline, you restrain it for a while, then follow us in.¡±

    No one objected to Elder Wei¡¯s n. Caroline¡¯s injury wasn¡¯t serious, and she still had the ability to protect herself against the giant crystalline reptile. With her attracting its attention, the others would have a chance to enter the doors.

    It was just that a safe retreat in the sea of beasts and bugs wasn¡¯t an easy feat, either. Under Elder Wei¡¯s leadership, the entire squad pushed back against the enemy attacks and began moving slowly toward the door. At this point in the battle, casualties had started to pile up among the soldiers, and both Anderfel and Keimor had sustained injuries.

    The fight was arduous but still within Elder Wei¡¯s grasp. He not only bolstered his own men but also weakened the enemy horde. A wide beam of light would fly out from time to time, covering the beasts and bugs in a deep yellow light. This slowed down their movements and reaction, almost as though they had fallen into a swamp.

    Anderfel was an experienced fighter. Under hismand, the soldiers did their best to injure the beasts instead of killing them. The wounded creatures would usually go into an indiscriminate frenzy, blocking the path of the beasts behind them.

    Everything was going ording to n and the group was about to enter the giant doors. Qianye finally felt that the time was ripe¡ªhe flew up like a bird and swooped toward Elder Wei¡¯s group.

 Chapter 790: What are you waiting for?

    Caroline was the sharpest of the lot¡ªshe turned back all of a sudden and locked onto the charging Qianye. But how could the giant crocodile allow any distractions? A barrage of crystalline arrows shot out at this point, inflicting another wound despite her frantic defense.

    As the key character in their formation, Elder Wei¡¯s position looked easy but was actually the most crucial since he had to adapt andpliment everyone¡¯s deficiencies. He never attacked all this time and only relied on weakening enemies or strengthening allies to affect the battle.

    Such a strategy increased his origin power efficiency, and it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for them to fight for an entire day. On the other hand, though, it was highly taxing on his mind and there was no leeway for mistakes.

    He actually failed to discover Qianye immediately and only looked up after hearing Caroline¡¯s warning.

    Qianye whipped out Cui Yuanhai¡¯s origin gun and unfurled the pair of wings on his back. With the addition of the Wings of Inception, the gun¡¯s firepower quickly reached the peak of grade-seven.

    Qianye took aim at the old man and fired! Amidst a thunderous roar, Qianye was pushed back over ten meters by the recoil. This went to show just how powerful that shot was!

    Elder Wei¡¯s expression changed drastically as mes appeared at the muzzle. This was the first time he had lost hisposure sinceing into the cave. He tossed the book in his hand and produced an ancient envelope, which he tore open at lightning speed. A red barrier appeared around his body with faintly discernible runes floating around on its surface.

    But the bullet arrived before the barrier could stabilize!

    The red barrier lit up under the fierce explosion and then shattered along with the bullet. However, Elder Wei wasn¡¯t in good shape, either¡ªhis face was pale, he was coughing up blood, and the origin arrays around him were all tottering on the verge of copse. This sharply increased the group¡¯s casualty rates. Cui Yuanhai¡¯s gun had abandoned everything fancy in exchange for pure firepower and its value had finallye into y here.

    At this moment, Qianye had fallen into grave danger as Anderfel and Keimor flew away from the wavering soldiers tounch a pincer attack on Qianye. Meanwhile, the old man produced yet another envelope and whipped out the letter within. This was his third ancient envelope¡ªthe first one was used to injure the giant pegmatite crocodile and the second was used to defend against Qianye¡¯s ambush. Whatever the third one¡¯s function was, it was bound to be astonishing.

    On the other end of the battlefield, Caroline screamed, ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    Ignoring the threat of the giant crocodile, she raised her whip andshed out from afar, sending a bolt of lightning streaking toward Qianye. The letter in Elder Wei¡¯s grasp unleashed a beam of light that went straight for Qianye¡¯s abdomen. This silver beam wasn¡¯t as fast as the golden one from before, but the moment it appeared, Qianye could sense that he had been locked onto. The argent radiance adjusted its course ording to every little movement of his.

    Judging from how serious the elder was in its handling, Qianye knew that it wouldn¡¯t be easy to escape.

    At this critical juncture, Qianye suddenly revealed a mocking smile. His figure flickered for a brief moment and actually disappeared!

    Caroline cried out, ¡°He¡¯s going inside!¡±

    Elder Wei nced up hurriedly only to find Qianye¡¯s figure flicker and vanish into the door.

    Having lost its target, the silver beam flew several times around the area beforending in a group of pegmatite crocodiles. A halo spread out quietly from the point of contact, and all the creatures in its coverage lost their lives at the same time.

    Elder Wei sighed, ¡°My Seal of Tyranny!¡± before coughing up a mouthful of blood.

    With everyone¡¯s attacks missing their target, the battle situation took a turn for the worse. Caroline was struck several times by the crystal arrows and had to take out her trump cards to avoid getting killed. Elder Wei looked withered and listless¡ªthe drain from using two powerful killing moves was significant, and the damage from Qianye¡¯s shot was greater than it seemed on the surface.

    Casualty rates among the soldiers soared in this short period. Anderfel and Keimor jumped back into the fray, sparing neither blood energy nor origin power to stabilize the situation. Both of them also sustained numerous wounds during this ordeal.

    Finally, Elder Wei caught his breath and began boosting them once more. It was just that his boosting state had weakened quite a bit and the effects were far inferior. The high-ranking warriors were fine since they were considered expendable in critical situations, but Caroline¡¯s situation became quite perilous without those powerful buffs.

    At this point, they were only a couple dozen meters away from the giant door, yet this short distance seemed like a thousand miles and no one knew when they would finally arrive.

    After passing through the door, Qianye felt his vision pass through a kaleidoscope of mottled colors and realized that this was a spatial transformation. In his astonishment, he quickly withdrew his blood energy and origin power so as not to interrupt the process.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had appeared in a new world.

    Dazzling sunlight showered down from the sky above. Qianye, who had gotten ustomed to the darkness of the underground world, couldn¡¯t help but squint his eyes. Beneath his feet, a gentle slope stretched slowly into the distance, and the grass was like a magnificent verdant carpet dotted with wildflowers.

    There were forests, peaks,kes, and rivers in the distance. If it wasn¡¯t for the dark void at the ends of one¡¯s vision, this ce would beparable to an immortal realm.

    At this moment, Qianye was standing on top of a hill and he could see the half-opened giant door floating in the air behind him. Through the crack therein, he could see the vague imagery of the world on the other side.

    The hill gradually sloped downward to the other side of the continent, beyond which was the boundless void.

    Beneath Qianye¡¯s feet was actually a floating continent no more than a few hundred kilometers in radius. Usually, smallndmasses like this wouldn¡¯t form any natural barriers or support life, but Qianye could breathe naturally here and didn¡¯t feel any pressure at all.

    Looking upward, he could see a floatingndmass far away surrounded by little floating inds. That was the neutralnds, and the one he was standing on was a small isted ind on its borders.

    The view here was exceptionally open and afforded the spectator an unobstructed view of the region. Yet, Qianye couldn¡¯t find any traces of udia; who knew where she was hiding right now?

    It was at this time that a muffled sound¡ªakin to the beat of an ancient drum¡ªshook the entire ind. Qianye felt numb from head to toe, and his blood energy was thrown into an extremely ufortable turmoil.

    Qianye¡¯s gazended immediately on a distant peak where the sound had originated. In his ears, that sound was not the beat of a drum but that of a heart!

    A heartbeat capable of shaking an entire ind!

    Qianye sped toward the peak without the slightest bit of hesitation. Such a terrifying heartbeat couldn¡¯t havee from anything else but the Earth Dragon. The tall peak stood out like a sore thumb on this lone ind and was most likely the objective of Elder Wei¡¯s group.

    Qianye reached abnormal speeds during his all-out dash, leaving numerous afterimages along the way. He traversed the vast grassy knolls in the blink of an eye and ran into the forest. For someone with the Bloodline Concealment ability, the forest was the best hiding ce. The leaves in the treetops were great for obstructing vision, making up for his inability to turn invisible.

    While Qianye was moving stealthily through the forest and toward the peak, some movement appeared around the giant door. In a sh of rippling light, Elder Wei, Caroline, and a dozen soldiers charged onto the ind.

    All of them were covered in wounds¡ªCaroline had two crystal arrows stuck in her back and only half of her Thunderous Whip remained. Elder Wei¡¯s beard was now scorched, and his robes were tattered, exposing half a withered leg.

    Anderfel and Keimor also survived, but their auras were weak and the former had lost his left arm. The remaining soldiers had it better, most of them sustaining only light injuries, but only a dozen of them were left out of a hundred. The high-ranking soldiers were quite limited in their power and could no longer pass through the door once injured. The ones left behind had likely turned into bug-food by now.

    Caroline turned back cautiously after charging through the door. ¡°Elder Wei, can you close the doors?¡± After seeing the many tricks up his sleeves, Caroline¡¯s address had undergone a subtle transition from old man to Elder Wei.

    Elder Weiughed wryly, ¡°I don¡¯t have the strength for that.¡±

    ¡°Then, prepare to fight!¡± Caroline roared decisively.

    Nheless, there was no movement from the door. Neither the insects nor the pegmatite crocodiles appeared. The guarded group finally heaved a sigh of relief. Caroline said, ¡°It seems those things can¡¯t pass through the door. Is that good news or bad news?¡±

    ¡°Both, I guess. If we can¡¯t lure it in and destroy it, that means we can¡¯t go back out, either,¡± Elder Wei replied.

    Caroline retracted the lightning around her. ¡°Elder Wei, what do we do now? Is there a path back from here?¡±

    The old manughed wryly, ¡°This old man has only heard about the world behind these doors. How am I supposed to know the way back? We can only y it by ear now.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t someone from your empiree here before? Howe you don¡¯t know?¡±

    Elder Wei appeared somewhat awkward. ¡°Someone from the empire did explore the undergroundir and this door is also rted to him. It¡¯s just that this person¡¯s status is special and even I cannot disturb him without good reason. Hence, I only know bits and pieces about this ce. The details are yet to be investigated.¡±

    As someone who had reached the divine champion realm, Caroline was also a smart person. She immediately realized that the power behind Elder Wei and the aforementioned person were likely not on good terms and that the current project was being carried out in secret. To bepletely frank, he was probably trying to steal the fruits of the other party¡¯sbor. Just by looking at this giant, monument-like door, it was easy to imagine just how powerful that mysterious person was. Offending such a character was rted to one¡¯s survival, so there was no longer a need to ask more at this point.

    ¡°Is that Qianye person rted to that man?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Actually, Qianyemitted a grave and unforgivable crime back home and the empire has already dispatched assassins after him. No one can protect him anymore.¡±

    Caroline let out a sinisterugh. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, don¡¯t fight with meter on! He killed my only brother, so I must have him suffer eternally in my lightning!¡±

    Elder Wei nodded. ¡°This old man wasted two sacred seals because of him, I naturally won¡¯t let him go.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for?¡±

 Chapter 791: Heartseeker Path

    Elder Wei was in no rush. ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry, just leave him hanging for a while since there¡¯s nowhere else to run. We should take a rest first and recover before further exploration.¡±

    Having reached a unanimous decision, everyone sat down to rest. Momentster, a fully recovered Elder Wei, along with Caroline and the rest, set out toward the mountain peak. Anderfel stayed back to guard the giant doors with several soldiers, lest the bug tides appear once more.

    Compared to the many perils of the underground world, this ce was beautiful and silent¡ªso silent that it made people nervous. Even those veteran warriors couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock when the quaking heartbeat resounded once more.

    Elder Wei, however, seemed delighted. ¡°It would seem that thing is indeed here.¡±

    ¡°Just what is it? Can¡¯t you say it yet?¡± Caroline inquired.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know once you arrive.¡± Elder Wei wasn¡¯t willing to speak.

    Caroline asked no more. She only smiled coldly and followed along.

    The group quickly arrived at the forest borders and proceeded toward the mountain peak. Elder Wei traveled at a steady pace, almost as though he had no interest in a hurried exploration. Caroline also stopped flying and walked obediently on the ground.

    The two of them didn¡¯t mention the reason, but Keimor erased any thoughts of flying after seeing their actions. He would only be courting death by taking to the air when even the two divine champions were not.

    At this moment, Qianye had arrived at the bottom of the mountain. ncing upward, he could see that the mountain was even higher and more precipitous than he had imagined. Its peak was entirely hidden within the clouds and probably a thousand meters high at the very least.

    This isted space was fairly strange and deviated frommon sense in many aspects. Be it the forest or the mountain, both of them felt somewhat distorted in Qianye¡¯s perception. It was just that the knowledge regarding spatialposition was simply too profound and not something Qianye could easilyprehend. Even divine champions only possessed a bit of this knowledge.

    The special aspects of this ce seemed more artificial than natural. If all of this was really set up by someone, just how earth-shattering must his abilities be?

    The scenery before Qianye transformed before he reached the top¡ªa mountain path actually appeared in the steep cliff, winding up into the depths of the clouds.

    This threshold was simr to the giant door¡ªthe moment Qianye stepped through, he knew that he was in a different space. The entire mountaintop expanded more than ten times as soon as the mountain path appeared.

    Even Qianye was somewhat hesitant in the face of such a phenomenon. He knew not what dangersy ahead on the peak, but he was quite certain that he was no match for them.

    He would be taking a pointless risk by heading into the unknown. The best course of action was to wait for Elder Wei, Caroline, and the others to scout out the path. However, there was no hiding ce at the base of the mountain. Looking back, he could see some of the treetops swaying in the forest¡ªit would seem the other party was not so far away. He would very likely be intercepted if he turned back now. Caroline¡¯sbat strength was astonishing and Elder Wei possessed many strange powers. Who knew how many of those ancient envelopes he had in his pocket? Turning back was a sure path to demise.

    Qianye gritted his teeth and stepped onto the mountain path. He had a vendetta against the imperial military. Whatever they wanted, he had to snatch it from them.

    The scenery in front of him shifted the moment he took the first step. The path beyond the ten-meter point in front of him was shrouded in dense mist. The fog here was somewhat simr to the one over the Eastern Sea¡ªits interference on perception was abnormally powerful, only extending a dozen meters or so.

    Qianye finally sensed the vital aura of the mountain peak as he set foot on the mountain path. This wasn¡¯t because Qianye¡¯s perception was so powerful, but because the vitality here was simply too vast, almost clouding out the entire sky! Qianye¡¯s own vitality was like a small pondpared to this ocean-like entity. The rumbling heartbeat shaking the entire ind had originated from this mountaintop.

    Qianye started climbing upward after a moment of hesitation. If the creature living atop this mountain was the fabled Earth Dragon, Qianye could neither beat it nor escape. Since he had already arrived at this ce, his only lifeline was the hope that the dragon would ignore a small insect like him. At that point, Qianye could hide near the colossus and wait quietly for his opponents. No matter how careless the Earth Dragon was, there was no way it would allow two divine champions to approach.

    Elder Wei, with his mysterious tricks, might be an exception, but Caroline was shrouded in lightning and fire¡ªshe couldn¡¯t hide even if she wanted to. Even if they did have methods to hide their aura, Qianye would ambush them and force their hand. Once the dragon was awake, there was no need to debate whether it would focus on Qianye or the divine champion.

    Going upward, Qianye suddenly noticed that his body had grown slightly heavier. He checked his body and was surprised to find that his own vitality was withering under the pressure of the immense life force from the mountain peak, just as a small creature would go limp from fright when facing off against a monster.

    Going further upward, the pressure became more and more evident. Qianye had no choice but to elerate his blood core and strengthen his vitality, lest his aura withers progressively. Qianye felt more or less overwhelmed¡ªhe had only taken a dozen or so steps and climbed a couple of meters. How bad would this pressure be after approaching the peak?

    However, it was already impossible to turn back as Elder Wei¡¯s group had already walked out of the forest and arrived at the base of the mountain. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue the ascent.

    ¡°It¡¯s him! He¡¯s there!¡± As the person with the best eyesight, Caroline noticed Qianye immediately. At this point, Qianye was only a couple dozen meters above on the mountain path.

    This distance was easily within reach for a divine champion. With a crack of her whip, Caroline sent a bolt of lightning streaking toward Qianye. Thetter had no ce to evade halfway up the mountain, his only other option being to jump down andnd in front of Caroline.

    Qianye nced back and was shocked to find numerous bolts of lightning streaking toward him. He immediately brought out East Peak to receive Caroline¡¯s blow. The divine champion had suffered heavy injuries during her fight against the giant crocodile, and her strength had been reduced drastically.

    But the bolt of lightning rippled mid-flight and scattered in different random directions, finallynding on the mountain itself. The weird thing was that one bolt of lightning clearlynded beneath his feet, but the path was perfectly intact after the dust had settled.

    Qianye was startled for a moment, but he soon recalled the two spatial transformations as he stepped into the path. It would seem that the two parties were on different nes, to begin with. At the thought of this, he became much more relieved and sped up his steps toward the mountaintop.

    Caroline was also quite surprised after the missed attack. She roared in frustration, ¡°I refuse to believe I can¡¯t deal with a junior like you!¡±

    A ball of lightning gathered on her whip and stretched out over ten meters. The umted power was shocking.

    Elder Wei said all of a sudden, ¡°Wait, there¡¯s something wrong with the space here. He¡¯s probably not on the same ne as us, or maybe there¡¯s ayer between us. Don¡¯t waste your energy, no amount of attacks will hit him if we¡¯re not in the same ne.¡±

    ¡°A different space?¡± Caroline was startled. A spatial ruin was actually far beyond the level of a divine champion. Moreover, her knowledge was a far cry from the experts of the empire and their long inheritance. Elder Wei¡¯s insight regarding this matter was vastly superior.

    ¡°What do we do now? Are you really going to let him go up like that?¡±

    With narrowed eyes, Elder Wei nced up at Qianye who was scaling the steps above. ¡°We¡¯ll go up, too. We can take him down once we catch up.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for!?¡± Caroline gnashed her teeth impatiently. But no matter how anxious she was, she no longer dared to act rashly after experiencing the spatial abnormalities here and had to move ording to the old man¡¯s instructions. This entire ce was beyond perilous. If it wasn¡¯t for Elder Wei¡ªthere was no need for the Earth Dragon to take action¡ªjust that giant pegmatite crocodile alone was enough to take her life.

    Elder Wei kept his eyes on Qianye¡¯s figure until he vanished around the corner. ¡°We can go up now.¡±

    Caroline resisted the urge to inquire further and followed Elder Wei up the mountain. The two spatial transitions along the way caused her expression to change sharply, and her arrogance was now reced by seriousness. If everything here was man-made, the owner¡¯s ability could be considered earth-shattering, and they could easily crush her with a simple movement.

    As they walked on, Elder Wei exined, ¡°If this old man isn¡¯t wrong, the mountain is half-natural and half-artificial. The profundities here are the work of the gods. We¡¯re probably in a different ne at this moment, there¡¯s no way we can attack him even if we walk right past.¡±

    Caroline was astonished. ¡°What do we do then?¡±

    Elder Wei smiled faintly. ¡°This path is full of dangers, one can only push forward and not go back. Those heading back will have to pass through many spatialyers and will forever be lost if they¡¯re unlucky. So the only way to leave is to head upward.¡±

    ¡°But what¡¯s up there?¡± Caroline gazed toward the peak with a tense expression. At this point, she had stepped upward and could feel the terrifying aura from the mountaintop.

    ¡°The Earth Dragon, of course.¡±

    ¡°Earth Dragon!? Won¡¯t we be heading to our deaths?¡± Caroline was shocked. She hade here this time to kill Qianye and see if she could get her hands on a drop of Earth Dragon blood. No matter how insolent she was, she would never believe that she could challenge the dragon. Approaching a void colossus like this was simply suicide.

    ¡°Of course not. Perhaps it was before, but after what that person did, the perilous situation has turned into something else. There will be benefits if we can reach the peak.¡± At this point, Elder Wei chuckled. ¡°I did note all the way here to die.¡±

    ¡°What benefits can there be? We won¡¯t continue upward if you don¡¯t say it.¡± Caroline had lost her patience.

    ¡°The biggest bounty here will aid the empire in its quest for domination, but is of no use to you. So there¡¯s no difference whether you know or not. You¡¯ll understand once you see it. Of course, you won¡¯t be mistreated once I obtain that thing. The empire may be big, but we are alwayscking in talents. With Your Excellency Caroline¡¯s cultivation, it won¡¯t be difficult to obtainnd and title in the empire.¡±

    The wordsnd and title moved Caroline, but she was still doubtful. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯ll have to listen to the empire¡¯smands? My current life in Thunderfrost Temple is so free and easy, why would I want to bind myself?¡±

 Chapter 792: Merciless Heavens

    Elder Wei chuckled. ¡°The neutralnds is barren and poor, not a good ce for living permanently. Although you¡¯ll be somewhat restricted in the empire, it¡¯s a long legacy that will be passed down to many future generations. At that time, Your Excellency Caroline will be the founding progenitor. How is that the same? Ignoring other things for now, how long do you think your ordinary descendants can live in the neutralnds?¡±

    Caroline nodded secretly. Even she couldn¡¯t ensure that all her descendants would be talented. The fluctuation of power in the neutralnds was quite significant. It was quite a harsh environment for ordinary people because those without origin power would live very short lives. Hence, both the strong and the weak attached great importance to multiplication and the continuation of one¡¯s line.

    Elder Wei said proudly, ¡°So, how can lording over a part of the neutralnds be the same as receiving title andnd in the empire?¡±

    These words were reasonable. The neutralnds wasrge and sparsely popted¡ªneither thend nor the people here were of great value.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll help you this time.¡± Caroline made up her mind.

    Elder Wei nodded. He pointed upward and said, ¡°If this old man isn¡¯t wrong, this road is called the Heartseeker Path. The further upward one walks along this path, the greater the pressure. This pressure is rted to one¡¯s cultivation and origin power. The higher one¡¯s cultivation, the greater the pressure and the more difficult it is to go forward. It¡¯s named that way because a warrior¡¯s heart is what decides how far one can go on this path.¡±

    Everyone looked toward where he was pointing and saw a stone tablet jutting into the skies. It looked like there were words on it, yet it was difficult to make out what they were. Even Caroline didn¡¯t know what was written there¡ªbut wouldn¡¯t she see it easily after going forward? As such, she strode forward without the slightest hesitation and started climbing the mountain path.

    The so-called warrior¡¯s heart was undoubtedly referring to one¡¯s willpower. As someone who had reached the divine champion realm, Caroline¡¯s willpower was as firm as steel. There was no way she would shy away from such a test. On the contrary, it was Keimor and the others who needed to be careful.

    The group climbed up and eventually passed the halfway point up the mountain. Caroline was far in the lead and would¡¯ve charged forward if she didn¡¯t need to wait for the two behind her. Elder Wei maintained a steady pace all along, but he actually wasn¡¯t that slow. At this point, the high-ranking soldiers were looking rather strained. Step by step, they dragged their bodies forward, but they were gradually starting to fall behind.

    Elder Wei sighed. ¡°Being able to follow me until this ce can be considered a type of fate. This old man will help you one time. Whether or not you can reach the top will depend on your own fortunes.¡±

    With that, he fished out an ancient scroll and flipped to the final page. Several beams of light fell onto the soldiers¡¯ bodies with a wave of his hand. They felt the strain on their bodies lighten as a part of the mountainous pressure on them was negated. After doing all that, the ancient scroll lost its luster, and only the cover retained a faint glow.

    Filled with both gratitude and shock, the soldiers thanked the elder on their knees and followed him silently.

    With a checkpoint like the Heartseeker Path, it was useless even if one had brought an army of ten thousand. Add to that the underground maze and the giant pegmatite crocodile, only a handful of the most powerful experts would reach the summit out of an entire army corps.

    As they walked on, the summit remained hidden in the clouds and the mountain path felt like it would go on forever.

    Caroline couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°Elder Wei, who is that person from back then?¡±

    Someone capable ofying down this Heartseeker Path must have possessed shocking abilities.

    ¡°This forbidden name, this old man is neither willing nor bold enough to mention. All you need to know is that this person is an indomitable existence in the empire.¡±

    Saying this much was enough. This person had to be one of the empire¡¯s heavenly monarchs.

    Caroline asked no more and merely contemted in silence. ¡°I¡¯ll go to the empire with you once this matter has been concluded.¡±

    Elder Wei was delighted. ¡°Your Excellencying to such a decision is the empire¡¯s blessing!¡±

    Caroline sighed. ¡°Territory and riches aren¡¯t that important. It¡¯s just that I thought myself pretty close to the apex before. Only today did I realize that the peak of all life is beyond reach. Elder Wei, I hope I can gain an audience with a few of the heavenly monarchs when I reach the empire and maybe get some pointers.¡±

    Elder Wei stroked his beard. ¡°This matter is neither hard nor easy. This old man can¡¯t promise that you¡¯ll be able to meet all the heavenly monarchs. Getting pointers from one of them, however, won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Caroline nodded and kept on climbing. She broke into a frown after traveling a while further. ¡°Strange, why haven¡¯t we run into Qianye yet?¡±

    Her words reminded everyone of this fact. Qianye didn¡¯t have that big of a lead, to begin with, and they had been chasing after him at full steam. Yet they hadn¡¯t seen him after circling the mountain several times. Didn¡¯t this mean that Qianye wasn¡¯t one bit slower than they were? That was why the two parties were always separated by the mountain. Another possibility was that Qianye¡¯s speed far surpassed everyone else. It was only natural that they wouldn¡¯t see him if he were shrouded in the clouds.

    Of course, everyone else including Caroline ruled out the second possibility. All those who had walked this path realized that, despite the greater pressure, those with higher cultivation still performed better. The suppression here couldn¡¯t wipe away the gap entirely, and whether or not one would reach the summit still depended on their cultivation.

    The group of high-ranking warriors was progressing on par with Keimor thanks to Elder Wei¡¯s buff, which meant that they were all a bit stronger than Qianye. If thetter could keep up with their speed, it meant that he was already performing above average.

    Caroline looked up and found that the stone table Elder Wei had pointed to was still in the clouds, almost as though they had never moved closer to it. However, there seemed to be a humanoid figure in front of it! Astonished, she looked closer but found nothing but flowing clouds¡ªeven the tablet had vanished.

    ¡­

    At this point, Qianye was standing before the ten meter stone tablet and gazing at the bold calligraphy upon it. ¡°I hate the merciless heavens, and how humans are sometimes helpless, but what else can one do? Ji Wentian.¡±

    These giant words seemed like they were forged out of iron and silver, sending a rush of austerity and destion at one¡¯s face. The world in front of Qianye disappeared and was reced entirely by a boundless wilderness as far as the eye could see. There was a man d in long, wide-sleeved robes roaring at the sky; his voice shook the entire wilderness.

    The vision disappeared in an instant. This wasn¡¯t an intentionally arranged illusion, but the remnant will in this person¡¯s writing that had persisted throughout the years. It had moved Qianye significantly, thus producing this hallucination.

    The words on the stone tablet had moved someone of Qianye¡¯s willpower without intention. How terrifying was this? ¡°Ji Wentian, Ji Wentian?¡±

    This name sounded somewhat familiar but also quite vague. Qianye couldn¡¯t remember where he had actually heard of this. But Ji was an imperial surname, could this person be someone from the imperial family?

    At the thought of the imperial family, Qianye suddenly recalled the heavenly monarch who was widely epted as the strongest in the empire. His name was Ji Wentian! It was just that the Pointer Monarch¡¯s fame was too significant and his status was greatly revered. Hence, few people dared to address him by his true name. As time went on, people only remembered the Pointer Monarch and not Ji Wentian.

    This stone tablet was left behind by the Pointer Monarch!

    Qianye was shaken. He became even more curious about what was on this mountaintop. Just what had happened back in the year that made even an existence like the Pointer Monarch sigh in exasperation andment his own powerlessness.

    He gazed toward the peak and became eager to explore. Since the Pointer Monarch had left this stone tablet, it meant that the trials toward the peak would be even more arduous. But judging from the mood of this calligraphic work, there seemed to be no killing intent.

    The peak was still hidden in the clouds and Qianye continued his climb toward it, just like before. The pressure beyond the stone tablet increased sharply, filling him with a feeling of exhaustion and strain¡ªit was as though he was carrying a thousand-ton load. Ordinary champions could hardly walk under this pressure, but Qianye urged his blood core and sped up his bloodflow. His vitality would be ignited wherever the blood passed by, raising his spirits as he strode forward in brisk steps.

    At this moment, Caroline and Elder Wei were still climbing at the same speed below him. Keimor, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t as rxed as before. A dark cloud would pass through his eyes from time to time as he looked up toward the clouds.

    The boosted soldiers also looked fairly strained now, and they had also fallen far behind. Two of them had already split off from the main force, unable to withstand the pressure. Those who could still hang on weren¡¯t in a great condition, either¡ªsome were pale, some were drenched in cold sweat, while others were burning their potential. Anyone could see that they were nearing their limits and that their dreams of reaching the top were merely dreams.

    Elder Wei finally shot them a nce. ¡°Those who can¡¯t go on should rest here, if you¡¯re lucky, the Heartseeker path will disappear after we seed.¡±

    He didn¡¯t mention what would happen if they weren¡¯t lucky. There wasn¡¯t a need for a special reminder about it.

    A bold soldier asked, ¡°What will happen if we stop to rest?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, the Heartseeker Path needs to bepleted in one go. The pressure here is omnipresent, it¡¯ll corrode your origin power even if you stay still. So, you¡¯ll only have one chance to rest, and whether or not you can stand back up after that is not something I can guarantee.¡±

    Shocked out of their wits, the soldiers clenched their teeth and pushed forward with all their strength. No one mentioned resting anymore. Nheless, there was still a limit to one¡¯s willpower¡ªmore and more people fell out of line as time went by.

    The process was progressive; more and more soldiers dropped behind. By the time thest two soldiers fell limp, Keimor had no choice but to take over the crate they were carrying. It was just that he was also drenched in sweat and apparently looked quite strained.

    Elder Wei sighed. ¡°This Heartseeker path tests not only one¡¯s resolve. The Earth Dragon¡¯s so-called suppression is actually our own vitality acting upon ourselves. Whether we can maintain our own life force is half-dependent on ourselves. The other half is reliant on one¡¯s usual umtions. That Qianye is only rank-twelve in cultivation, yet he can get to this ce. Don¡¯t you feel ashamed?¡±

 Chapter 793: Path of No Return

    Keimor¡¯s blood rushed to his face in a fit of fury and shame. He was a vampire marquis, an expert akin to a rank-sixteen human expert and someone on apletely different levelpared to Qianye. Presently, Qianye was far ahead on the Heartseeker Path while Keimor was looking pretty much exhausted. It was just as Elder Wei had said¡ªhe was far inferior to Qianye both in terms of willpower and umtions.

    With his thoughts in disarray, the crate he was carrying became even heavier and almost like a small mountain on his back. His aura became unstable, and one of his legs nearly gave way.

    Caroline moved back and grabbed the crate. ¡°Let me carry it.¡±

    Both thankful and embarrassed, Keimor said with a bow, ¡°Thank you for the help, Your Excellency Caroline.¡±

    Elder Wei shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s no use helping a fellow who only knows how to depend on his bloodline, he definitely won¡¯t reach the top.¡±

    Caroline said, ¡°He is, after all, a capable general of our neutralnds and I am its citizen. I can¡¯t stand by and do nothing. Besides, that Qianye is so crafty and full of schemes, it¡¯s always better to have more hands.¡±

    Elder Wei didn¡¯t argue with her. ¡°I was going to take over that item after he copses. But since you¡¯re helping him, then I won¡¯t be interfering anymore.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need, either,¡± Caroline retorted.

    Keimor was livid¡ªhe followed the two from behind, ncing at Elder Wei from time to time with an incisive gaze.

    At this point, Qianye was about two circles above the trio. Yet, the peak was still hidden within the clouds and no one knew how far away it was. The mountain path remained constant, winding upward without end. If it wasn¡¯t for Elder Wei¡¯s group climbing the same path from behind him, Qianye might¡¯ve suspected whether he had fallen into an illusion and that the peak could never be reached.

    Qianye was no longer rxed at this point¡ªhis blood core was pulsing strongly, the blood throughout his body was aboil, and there were dark golden mes surging around his body. If the pressure were to increase further, it would begin draining his dark golden blood energy. By the time thetter had beenpletely exhausted, Qianye would not be far off from copsing.

    Qianye had no choice but to slow down his footsteps to reduce the strain on his body. Meanwhile, Caroline and Elder Wei were catching up to him at a brisk pace.

    Momentster, Caroline was standing before the stone tablet. She didn¡¯t have a very strong reaction at first, but she gasped in astonishment after reading all the words. ¡°Pointer Monarch! It¡¯s actually the Pointer Monarch!¡±

    Elder Wei was watching her while she was looking at the stone table. Seeing her calm expression while looking at the tablet, Elder Wei shook his head with a sigh. ¡°How unfortunate, I guess you¡¯re not fated, either.¡±

    Caroline was surprised. ¡°What fate?¡±

    Elder Wei replied, ¡°When the Pointer Monarch wrote these words back in the year, he carved all of his destion and dismay into them. Those who canprehend them will naturally reap the rewards. But then again, this is fate can¡¯t be forced.¡±

    Caroline was astonished. ¡°It works like that?¡±

    Elder Wei replied, ¡°The Pointer Monarch is powerful beyond imagination. This is nothing to him, only a casual move to bestow some pointers to fated juniors. Speaking of which, all human heavenly monarchs possess boundless abilities, not like those Evernight fellows who only sleep, eat, and rely on their inherent bloodline for everything.¡±

    Elder Wei¡¯s words were quite arrogant, and as a vampire, Keimor was naturally dissatisfied. Yet as an experienced person, he realized that Elder Wei¡¯s words made sense. Bloodline power and physical talents were the characteristic advantages of the Evernight races. In this regard, any one of their races was stronger than the humans. However, human heavenly monarchs, with their varying abilities, were no weaker than the great dark monarchs on the battlefield. That was a widely-epted truth.

    In truth, tyrants of an era like the martial ancestor and founding ancestor could suppress any great dark monarch of their generation. Even those existences on the sacred mountains were perhaps a bit inferior to them.

    Keimor didn¡¯t dare retort in the face of Elder Wei¡¯s might, but he was rather excited after hearing about the potential benefits from the tablet. That was a bounty from the Pointer Monarch himself¡ªhe was but a small marquis and not one of ancient bloodline, either. How could he evenpare? The Pointer Monarch could crush him with his pinky finger. Without even waiting for Elder Wei¡¯s reminder, he walked toward the stone tablet and began observing it in great detail, afraid that he would miss even a small detail.

    But he gained nothing from the tablet no matter how hard he red, nor did he reach any special state of epiphany. All he could feel was the chill of the strong mountain winds.

    Elder Wei shot him a mocking nce but didn¡¯t stop him. Caroline wasn¡¯t satisfied, either, and went forward to look together.

    Finally, Elder Wei coughed. ¡°Comprehension can¡¯t be forced. If you understood nothing at the beginning, that¡¯s probably the limit.¡±

    As a divine champion, Caroline¡¯s willpower was firm. Although she was a bit unwilling, she dragged her eyes away from the tablet and continued toward the summit. Keimor, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t willing to give up and remained in a contemtive state until Caroline and Elder Wei had vanished over the corner. Only then did he wake up from his reverie and chased after them.

    Nheless, running against the Earth Dragon¡¯s suppressive might consumed his blood energy at an intense rate. By the time he had caught up to Elder Wei and Caroline, his face was deathly pale and his aura was in chaos. This sprint had probably reduced his maximum climb by one circle.

    Elder Wei was toozy to look at the panting vampire, opting to ignore his existence altogether. Caroline was still marching steadily forward with that heavy box in tow. This went to show just how powerful she was.

    In the blink of an eye, they had made several circles around the mountain and was only onep away from Qianye. The two parties could already catch glimpses of one another at certain angles. It was just that this peak was special¡ªone could only see and not attack one another since they were in different dimensional nes. Caroline was naturally dissatisfied and attempted several whipping motions. Nheless, Qianye remained perfectly unharmed despite the sparks and wastage of origin power.

    After several setbacks in this peculiarnd, even someone like her didn¡¯t dare waste origin power for no good reason. The joke would be on her if she couldn¡¯t get to the top. It was already quite evident that the two parties would truly meet only after reaching the summit. Everything they did along the way was just a waste of time and energy.

    Caroline wasn¡¯t the least worried that she wouldn¡¯t get to the top. All she needed to do was avoid stupid mistakes. Even though her strength had been affected by the previous injuries, she was confident in reaching the end with Elder Wei¡¯s help.

    Those who couldn¡¯t reach the top would die along the way. Their only chance of survival was for someone to reach the summit and break the suppression. As Caroline saw it, it would be too easy for Qianye if he were to die along the way.

    After discovering that Caroline could do nothing to him, Qianye regained his calm and kept on climbing at his own pace. He was slower than Caroline, but the difference was very limited. The two parties did threeps around the mountain before the distance between them shortened slightly.

    At this moment, the pressure from the Earth Dragon had grown so unbearable that even Keimor could no longer withstand it. He was like a staggering old man taking half a day for each step. Unable to keep up with the group¡¯s pace, he had long since fallen behind and was only hanging in there by his sheer will to survive.

    Qianye nced back, his gaze stopping on Keimor for a while before moving toward Elder Wei. He was indifferent toward Caroline¡ªhe had never associated with her before, nor did he have any special opinion about her. Since she wanted revenge for her dead brother, all he needed to do was to fight her.

    That wasn¡¯t the same for the old man since he came from the imperial military and the troops under his wing were elites from the centralmand. It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t tell what his rtionship with Li Fengshui was. But he was certainly no weaker than thetter and his status seemed higher.

    Now that the two parties were in a deadlock, Qianye had to eliminate the old man for a chance at survival. And all of that was in addition to the deep enmity between him and the imperial military.

    Qianye shot a deep nce at Elder Wei and continued his ascent, hastening his steps slightly to keep up with the old man¡¯s.

    Even a schemer like Elder Wei couldn¡¯t help but frown as he took a deep breath and quickened his pace. All of a sudden, he found, to his surprise, that he had been drawn into Qianye¡¯s tempo. Could it be that he had long since considered this person a powerful enemy?

    At the realization of this, Elder Wei regained his calm and steady speed. Caroline asked in astonishment, ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean we won¡¯t ever catch up to that kid?¡±

    ¡°The Earth Dragon¡¯s suppression will only grow stronger. Besides, with your cultivation and mine, do you think we can¡¯t afford to wear him down?¡±

    Elder Wei¡¯s words made sense, so Caroline did not insist and merely kept on ascending. She kept Qianye in her vision at all times, in a bid to pressure him. If the two parties were to maintain this distance until the summit, she could whip thetter to pieces as soon as the barrier vanished.

    Another circle went by, but Qianye¡¯s speed never changed. He was still moving at the same rate as the two people behind him. At this point, even Caroline couldn¡¯t help but admire Qianye. In terms of willpower alone, she really might not win against thetter. Her rtive ease in traveling upward was only due to her high cultivation.

    All of a sudden, a thought popped up in Caroline¡¯s head. ¡°Say, do you think that Qianye hasprehended something from the Pointer Monarch¡¯s tablet?¡±

    This question threw Elder Wei into apse of silence. ¡°Very likely.¡±

    Caroline eximed in surprise, and her gaze toward Qianye became even moreplicated. What kind of talent was he to haveprehended the Pointer Monarch¡¯s words? Even Caroline herself had to give up.

    One more circleter, the clouds suddenly thinned out quite a bit and the vague outline of the mountain peak was revealed. With the destination in sight, both Qianye and Caroline became more spirited. Only Elder Wei nced at the former with a serious expression.

    The summit seemed near, but it was actually a dozen more circles at the very least. The clouds around them dispersed after one more circle upward, revealing a vast, clear sky.

    However, the Earth Dragon¡¯s pressure increased sharply as soon as the skies cleared up, and there were wisps of grey energy flowing down like rain¡ªthe suppressive might had be tangible!

 Chapter 794: Empty World

    Caroline¡¯s hands sank down¡ªthe heavy crate swayed about and nearly slipped out of her grasp. Her expression was solemn, and several arcs of lightning jumped about on her body as she stabilized herself. Having to take care of the heavy crate under this pressure was quite taxing even for a divine champion.

    The initial feeling was that they weren¡¯t far from the peak, but the shower of grey made it seem exceptionally distant.

    Gazing at the drifting wisps of grey rain, Caroline unleashed a low roar and shot out hundreds of lightning bolts from her whip. The arcs of electricity looked chaotic, but they were actually split into several orderly waves¡ªone surge was followed by the next to form a constant barrage. This single attack showed just how much control Caroline had over her lightning powers.

    The tangible grey rain was iparably tough. A bolt of lightning could only wear down a small part of each wisp, taking half a dozen strikes topletely destroy one. Following the sweeping storm of lightning, the grey rain had only thinned out slightly and was soon reced by more condensation from behind.

    This result elicited a serious expression from Caroline; she hadn¡¯t expected the grey rain to be that powerful. Her notion of sting through the rain with lightning was thus snubbed. From a different perspective, this was her lightning powers being inferior to the Earth Dragon¡¯s pressure. It was not an embarrassment to lose to such an opponent¡ªit was just that the road forward was destined to be harder.

    Just as Caroline was struggling arduously, Elder Wei sent a sheet of paper flying onto the crate. The ten thousand kilogram load lightened significantly and this, in turn, allowed Caroline to catch her breath. After using this page, Elder Wei¡¯splexion grew ashen and his creases grew even deeper.

    Caroline nced upward, hoping to see Qianye crawling on the ground somewhere, or at least struggling to move. Thetter had indeed halted his steps, but quite unexpectedly, he was standing as straight as a rod and gazing up at the summit as though he were contemting something.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s pressure had condensed into wisps of grey rain. The power bore down on him without mercy and pierced right through his skin, causing him to tremble slightly.

    Caroline was both surprised and disappointed. Qianye had far exceeded her expectations by reaching this point when even that Vampire Keimor had fallen somewhere along the way.

    But judging from Qianye¡¯s current state, it would seem that he was at his limits. There was no way he would reach the peak even if he could go on.

    Whether he was short ten circles or just onep, it was the same as long as he couldn¡¯t reach the peak. His only fate was to be a skeleton on the mountain path.

    This was a key step. Passing this threshold would open up a new world, but those who couldn¡¯t would lose everything. The so-called one step to heaven and one step to hell was just that.

    It was such a pity that such a talented person wasn¡¯t afforded the time to mature. In the end, he was destined to fall before the break of day.

    For a short moment, Caroline had the sudden urge to forget their enmity and let him be. Such a person shouldn¡¯t wither in the cruelty of this world.

    But she woke up from her reverie in the end, knowing that her thoughts were merely thoughts. Even if she could let go, there was no way she could help Qianye. The two looked like they were at arm''s length but were actually worlds apart¡ªthe only one who could help him now was himself.

    Caroline and Elder Wei did not stop walking, while Qianye remained rooted to the ground.

    Caroline was suddenly curious. What was Qianye thinking at this moment?

    She gradually approached her target, going from over a dozen meters away to standing right beside him. The mountain path was narrow, and she would bump into Qianye¡¯s back after taking the next step. Caroline wanted to stop out of reflex but quickly recalled that they were in two different worlds. There would never be any contact even if they were to brush past one another.

    Emotions were always as quick as lightning, while time would always roll forward at a steady pace. Still lost in thought, she passed through Qianye and stepped onto the path beyond.

    The moment they crossed each other, Qianye¡¯s figure phased between reality and illusory, much like a bubble in water.

    Elder Wei also passed through Qianye. He never looked back and merely kept on climbing with his head lowered. If this really was a path that sought one¡¯s heart, then his road was one filled with loneliness and withering. All of his energy and vitality had vanished along the distant years.

    Qianye stood there gazing at the sky, and no one knew what he was thinking.

    Caroline suddenly turned back. She had no idea why, but she was ovee by a powerful urge to nce behind. It felt as though she would be missing something if she didn¡¯t do so.

    Qianye¡¯s aura transformed the moment their eyes came into contact¡ªhe was ancient, deste, cold, and lonesome. That inexplicable sense of loneliness almost stifled her!

    What Qianye was seeing at this moment was neithernd nor sky. His vision was filled with scenes from the dead world and the man standing at its center. His presence there almost filled the entire heaven and earth.

    Such an imposing spirit!

    When the man let loose his voice, Qianye instantly realized his mood¡ªit was emptiness. His entire world was empty.

    In his daze, Qianye couldn¡¯t quite differentiate between himself and that man.

    The empire, his brothers, friends, andrades were all in the distant past. Now that she was also gone, there was really nothing left in his empty world. There was no heaven, there was no earth, and there was no light, nor was there any darkness¡ªhe didn¡¯t even know whether he was alive.

    All of a sudden, Caroline saw a vast, empty world. Actually, it couldn¡¯t be considered a world because it was merely an expanse of nothingness.

    She returned to reality all of a sudden, trembling and filled with bewilderment. She had no idea what had just happened, but her intuition told her that it was the world in Qianye¡¯s heart.

    Elder Wei nced toward Caroline with eyes as sharp as des but didn¡¯t get the time to figure anything out. Sensing something, he quickly nced over in the same direction.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes had regained their rity at this point. He tried to take a step forward, attracting a shower of grey rain that caused his entire body to tremble.

    Caroline broke into a frown. She knew that Qianye¡¯s body was at its limits and couldn¡¯t hold out any longer. Truth be told, Qianye¡¯s current physical strength wasn¡¯t below hers; it might even be superior. However, she was a divine champion who could use origin power to protect her body while Qianye could only rely on his physical tenacity.

    Perhaps he would copse at the next step.

    Qianye looked up once more, allowing the grey rain tond softly on his face. It was somewhat painful but also cool to the touch.

    All of a sudden, he raised his head and let out a long howl! The cry pierced through the clouds and echoed throughout the realm. In his indifference, Qianye waspletely oblivious to the fact that he was now one with that boundless emptiness.

    Qianye took the next step as the roar trailed off. This step drew in even more wisps of grey rain, adding tens of thousands of kilograms to his weight and making the next step even more arduous. His constitution was that of an ancient count¡ªno weaker than a human divine champion¡ªbut it would seem he had reached the limits of his body at this point.

    The summit was a fair distance away. If Qianye were a marquis, perhaps he would be able to reach the summit with his physical strength alone.

    But he still had daybreak origin power in addition to blood energy!

    As his origin vortices activated one after the other, streaks of gold and scarlet origin power circted around his body, forming a brilliant river of stars!

    The stars went out in the blink of an eye, but so did arge swathe of the grey rain¡ªonly a small amount of it reached Qianye¡¯s body. His steps were now firm and his body was no longer trembling.

    Caroline was shocked. Elder Wei became pale in the face, and his murky eyes were filled with a spirited glow as he stared at Qianye¡¯s brilliant gxy.

    The small specks of starlight were actually tiny crystalline granules. No matter how small they were, it didn¡¯t change the fact that they had condensed into tangible bodies, and they were even of a higher level than the grey rain. A single granule would flush away two to three wisps of rain before vanishing.

    In terms of origin power quality, Qianye wasn¡¯t just above Caroline¡ªit even seemed like he would surpass the Earth Dragon a little bit.

    This conclusion shook Elder Wei deeply. The true favorites of heaven and earth weren¡¯t the demonkin or their powerful bloodlines, but instead the void colossi. They stood at the apex of the entire world since birth, capable of utilizing pure and highly advanced void origin power. Most experts would never reach their inherent heights after a lifetime of cultivation.

    Caroline was at a clear disadvantage in her fight against the grey rain. It took several waves of her lightning to wear out one wisp of the condensation. Meanwhile, Qianye had the upper hand against it, his crystalline granules wiping out the rain with rtive ease.

    His origin power stood shoulder to shoulder with the void colossus. Elder Wei understood what this meant. Qianye would probably encounter no obstructions before the heavenly monarch realm. Back in the empire, a high-ranking divine champion could support a major n, albeit barely like Duchess An.

    If only he hadn¡¯t left the Zhao n, there might be a third divine champion after a decade to prop the family up like a cauldron. With their n¡¯s strength, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to be spoken of on the same level as Prince Greensun¡¯s Zhang n.

    This Qianye¡¯s strength far exceeded the reports on paper. This meant that all of the empire¡¯s assassination teams would meet the same fate if they were to encounter him. Elder Wei¡¯s expression sank at the thought of this.

    Qianye paid no heed to Elder Wei and Caroline¡¯s thoughts. At this moment, his heart was filled with dismay and destion as his mood ovepped with the Pointer Monarch¡¯s. It was just that Qianye had abandoned his family and hometown before his lover left him. What did the Pointer Monarch go through?

    Judging from his methods in leaving behind those words, he was already a heavenly monarch at that time. What could frustrate a heavenly monarch so much?

    Unknowingly, Qianye had passed Caroline and Elder Wei on his ascent. The grey rain became even denser, but the starlight around him was also boundless. They danced around him, shuttling through the rain and destroying all that it came into contact with.

    ¡­

 Chapter 795: Climbing the Summi

    Elder Wei¡¯s expression was solemn. He fished out an envelope but put it back after a moment of hesitation, only watching as Qianye swaggered off into the distance.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, the cost of lingering here is significant.¡± Elder Wei continued the climb after a few indifferent words.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you attack just now?¡± Caroline was wracked by an intense stabbing pain when the envelope appeared. This was a divine champion¡¯s intuition toward danger, a clear sign that the content of that ancient envelope was lethal to her. And judging from the old man¡¯s stance, it looked like he was nning to attack on the mountain path. It would seem the power contained within the envelope could tear through the confines of space.

    Now that was terrifying. This meant that one could hardly escape the attack even by running into the void. A newly ascended divine champion would likely suffer grave injuries when faced with this kind of mortal talisman. Even Caroline didn¡¯t dare to be careless since a careless move would result in perilous wounds. With her current injuries, she might even die on the spot.

    Noticing the cautiousness in her speech, Elder Wei said with a smile, ¡°Because this is my final ace and I¡¯m not confident about hitting him. The person who bestowed me these powers isn¡¯t certain about dealing with the Heartseeker Path even though Ji Wentian was just a young heavenly monarch when he established it. My chances of hitting Qianye are thirty percent at most, so I chose not to gamble. We¡¯ll meet him at the top anyway.¡±

    Caroline continued upward with a nod. However, the lightning arcs around her had increased noticeably. It would seem she was subconsciously guarded against the old man. Thetter didn¡¯t discuss this matter and only followed her from behind.

    After two more circles, they were fast approaching the summit, and the wisps of grey rain had turned into a dense shower ofrge droplets. Each droplet falling onto the heavy crate caused Caroline¡¯s hands to tremble. The paper on the container emitted a constant golden glow as it worked to keep the crate isted, but it was also growing dimmer.

    Qianye was inevitably slower now but was still in the lead. The grey shower had already turned into a downpour at this point. A good part of the pressure fell upon him despite the disruption of the venus dawn granules, pushing him to the brink of copse.

    The rain was already so heavy here, so there was no doubt that thest fewps would be a torrential downpour. Even a divine champion wouldn¡¯t be able to take thatst step without special powers.

    Elder Wei finally sighed. ¡°This is the farthest he¡¯ll get it seems. Although the grey-rain ordeal is easier for him than it is for us, the fact remains that he¡¯s no divine champion and his origin power is limited. I guess he really has obtained the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance and might even inherit a bit of the legacy if he can survive. Unfortunately, he ran into me.¡±

    Caroline didn¡¯t stop to look at Qianye, who finally sumbed to the pressure of the grey rain and came to a grinding halt. On this Heartseeker Path, stopping meant a loss of all hope.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can climb thest circle, either. What should I do?¡± Caroline asked. She had been injured earlier on and also had to carry this heavy crate all along¡ªit was only natural that she would be strained at this point. She certainly could¡¯ve reached the top if she were in her peak state.

    Elder Wei said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have a way to ensure you reach the summit.¡±

    At this stage, Caroline had no choice but to trust the old man. She spoke no more and merely kept her eyes focused on the road, doing her best to minimize her origin power usage. Although Elder Wei had guaranteed that they would reach the top, she would be at someone else¡¯s mercy if she had no more energy left. As experienced as she was, Caroline would never allow this to happen.

    For some reason, she thought about Qianye once more. In truth, she knew very well that the conflict with Hu An was thetter¡¯s fault. With a sister like Caroline and having received much of Mask¡¯s favor, Hu An was always wanton and unrestrained. It could be said that he dared to snatch any woman or kill any man under the divine champion realm.

    It was just that no amount of thought could help right now. If Qianye couldn¡¯t ascend to the top, he would be a skeleton along the way. Even if she wanted to give him a proper burial, she wouldn¡¯t be able to find his remains through the spatial separation.

    It was at this moment that she sensed an anomaly from behind and Elder Wei gasped in shock!

    Caroline turned back to see a pair of luminous wings unfurl behind Qianye as he flew toward the peak!

    He was actually flying!

    The Heartseeker Path was isted by many spatialyers, and the sky above was no exception. Flying would intensify the pressure exponentially, and that was on the premise that one could break through the barrier to reach higher altitudes. How many people could even do that? That was why even people as strong as Caroline and as capable as Elder Wei had no choice but to climb up obediently.

    But now, Qianye actually wanted to fly to the peak. Was this a desperate effort, or was he crazy?

    Before Caroline and Elder Wei could recover from the shock, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered several times and vanished toward the summit.

    ¡°What¡¯s that!?¡± Caroline gasped in surprise.

    Elder Wei¡¯s expression was so gloomy that it could drip water. Despite knowing so much, he couldn¡¯t recognize this divine ability. This secret art had disappeared along with the ck-Winged Monarch so many years ago. Moreover, those who were fortunate enough to have seen this art were mostly experts at his level¡ªElder Wei was simply too far below.

    After a momentary daze, the old man said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, either, but what I¡¯m sure of is that he¡¯s already reached the peak alive and that we must hurry. I¡¯ll use my final card, let us head to the peak quickly. As for the drain in origin power, there¡¯s really no helping it.¡±

    Elder Wei fished out an ancient scroll. Most of its pages, apart from thest few leaves, were dim. However, the old man didn¡¯t open the tome and tossed it into the air instead. The scroll opened up in the wind and turned into a giant canopy above their heads, sheltering them from the corrosion of the grey rain. All the pressure bearing down on Caroline and Elder Wei vanished in an instant.

    The droplets struck the ancient scroll in a pitter-patter, breaking into rainy mist above it. Theyer of golden radiance on the scroll flickered and faded away from time to time. Whenever it did so, the rain would strike the scroll directly and erode its pages. Very soon, many parts of the tome were soaked, and the corrosion was spreading fast.

    A beam of golden light shot out from Elder Wei¡¯s hands andnded on the scroll, causing it to light up once more. However, the glow was fast fading under the rain and didn¡¯t look like it would hold out long.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry, my scroll won¡¯tst long.¡± Elder Wei hastened his steps and jogged toward the peak.

    Shaken, Caroline followed the old man closely. The scroll was limited in size, and it was following Elder Wei¡ªshe would be drenched again if shegged too far behind.

    The rain grew even denser along the way and the wear on the scroll had grown even faster. Hence, Elder Wei had no choice but to slow down and catch his breath. After climbing three levels in this manner, thest two pages of the scroll werepletely broken through. Elder Wei¡¯s face twitched as he threw out yet another ancient scroll. Apparently, he was feeling quite the heartache.

    These scrolls were different from the sacred seals contained within the envelopes. They were worth more because they could be recharged with origin power and used repeatedly. Only thatst envelope he had saved up, the one capable of injuring a divine champion, was equal in value to these two scrolls.

    Now, in order to walk thest fewps of the Heartseeker Path, Elder Wei had no choice but to throw out these scrolls in session. One damaged tome meant one less asset in his arsenal. It could be said that the price he had to pay was disastrous. Moreover, he might have to bring out a third because the grey storm was growing at a terrifying rate and this second scroll might not be able to support them to the summit. They could force their way through thestp, but heavy injuries were inevitable under this downpour. Qianye was still waiting for them at the top and his current condition was aplete mystery. Elder Wei would rather lose the scroll than to leave his life in fate¡¯s hands.

    Behind him, Caroline¡¯s eyes shifted about. Seeing this old man using up his treasures one after the other, some of the notions she had kept suppressed emerged once more. Elder Wei¡¯s personal strength wasn¡¯t exactly outstanding and his origin power was much weaker than hers. His might was reliant on these ancient scrolls and sacred seals. With them, he was able to unleash many strange abilities. He could¡¯ve wiped out the giant pegmatite crocodile and the horde of creatures if he had gone all out. This was his power.

    But after using up his ancient scrolls and seals, Elder Wei had be a toothless tiger. He looked scary but was actually quite weak. Caroline could kill him just by fighting normally.

    Passing thoughts floated into her head¡ªif she were to ambush the old man at the peak, could she kill him? What treasures did he have on him? There had to be some Earth Dragon blood on him at the very least, right? What exactly was inside this heavy crate? Judging from how the man was willing to abandon his subordinates but not this box, the contents had to be critical to this excursion. Finally, what was it that had made someone like Elder Wei travel such a long distance and put himself in danger?

    All these questions caused Caroline¡¯s emotions, as well as her standpoint, to change. For instance, Elder Wei¡¯s figure looked quite frail and his vitals looked open from the back. She could strike the old man to death even without using the power of lightning.

    Seemingly sensing something, Elder Wei slowed down his steps and the opening behind him quickly disappeared. He said indifferently without looking back, ¡°An imperial rank is a hundred-year foundation, not somethingparable to a momentary profit.¡±

    Caroline became sober all of a sudden. She retracted her gaze and no longer let her eyes wander. Nheless, Elder Wei never sped up again afterward.

 Chapter 796: I Bury my Hear

    On the mountain peak, Qianye was on one knee at the moment. His entire body was trembling, his bones were crackling, and he had just straightened his body somewhat when this small movement elicited a series of bone fracture sounds.

    Qianye¡¯s entire body was drenched in grey liquid. The water bore down on his body with the weight of a small mountain and made it impossible for him to stand straight. Moreover, the grey rain¡¯s suppression on his vitality remained. Large areas of his flesh were dying and regenerating by the auric me blood in a constant cycle. Fortunately, the skies over the summit were clear and devoid of clouds. Warm sunlight was showering down from some unknown ce, evaporating the water and rapidly lessening Qianye¡¯s pressure.

    In the end, Qianye stood up and expelled a mouthful of deathly air. When this breath reached the ground, it immediately turned the earth into a patch of ashen grey.

    Qianye regained his movement after this exhtion and couldn¡¯t help but rejoice in his heart. He knew, toward the end, there was no way he would¡¯ve reached the summit by following the normal rules. That was why he had staked everything on one throw by activating spatial sh under the support of the Wings of Inception.

    Qianye¡¯s physical attributes shot up under the effects of the wings, allowing him to resist the corrosion of the grey rain. The space traversal power of Spatial sh was extremely suitable here, capable of piercing through the many barriers to reach the top.

    The ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s two great inheritances had expressed their peerless might once more. Without them, Qianye would¡¯ve long since turned into a pile of bones. The Pointer Monarch¡¯s Heartseeker Path was more an expression of his murderous intent than a trial. It was abnormally simple yet extremely perilous, a path of no return for all under the divine champion realm. Even a divine champion would need to be strong enough to reach the summit. An expert like Caroline would only have a fifty percent chance ofpleting the path. People like that ex-marshal from the empire, the one whom Qianye had faced before, had no chance of survival at all.

    Only after experiencing the Pointer Monarch¡¯s mood did Qianyee to understand how full of dismay the man¡¯s heart was¡ªhow could he be in the mood to nurture descendants? This Heartseeker Path wasn¡¯t an opportunity for his descendants, but rather a trap to kill greedy individuals and bury them along with whatever was at the summit!

    Only something like Andruil¡¯s core inheritance could break the hopeless situation. Now that he thought of it, neither the sacred seals nor the ancient scrolls in Elder Wei¡¯s hands were the work of a divine champion. They had to be from a certain heavenly monarch.

    Only a heavenly monarch or a great dark monarch could deal with a heavenly monarch.

    The ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance was able to help someone of Qianye¡¯s meager strength reach the peak. So,paratively, the monarch was more powerful than the major character behind Elder Wei.

    Now that Qianye had gained a temporary advantage, it was likely that Elder Wei would hurry over to stop him. Although he had no idea when they would arrive, he knew that he didn¡¯t have much time left. The weather at the summit was clear and there was neither any grey rain nor dangerous traps. It was either the Pointer Monarch had felt that the Heartseeker Path was enough or he didn¡¯t have any resources left to set up more traps. Regardless, Caroline and Elder Wei would be free of all restraints after arriving at the top, thus forcing Qianye to fight two divine champions. Though injured and fairly weak, they were still divine champions. Qianye might not be able to deal with one of them, let alone two.

    With what little time he had left, Qianye understood that his only hope of survivaly in whatever the Pointer Monarch had left behind.

    The summit was covered in lush greenery and bright sunlight. Even the wind was clear, gentle, and contained a trace of origin power. Breathing the air here filled one with greatfort. After a long period of living here, one¡¯s strength would increase steadily even without any cultivation and eventually break through to the champion rank.

    There was a small, uneven hill at the center of the mountaintop. At a nce, it looked almost like a dormant flying-serpent with a dozen or sorge bone spikes on its back. They almost looked like a row of masts from afar, with the tallest one standing a hundred meters tall. There was a stone hall halfway up the small hill. It was rather crude in its construction, but as the only building on the mountaintop, it was rather eye-catching.

    Qianye made a beeline for the stone hall as soon as his body had recovered slightly. If the Pointer Monarch had left something on the mountain, it would definitely be inside the building.

    Qianye unleashed his full speed, traversing several kilometers in a sh to arrive before the hall.

    The stone hall was over ten meters in height, and its doors opened up into a deep passage illuminated by flickering mes. After seeing the giant gate and the Heartseeker Path, Qianye understood that the Pointer Monarch was proficient in spatial arrangements. This stone hall looked narrow, but there might be a vast world inside.

    Qianye didn¡¯t rush into the building. Instead, he stood at the doors to observe the ce.

    The stone hall wasn¡¯t constructed evenly¡ªmost of the stones used to build it were natural and unpolished, giving off a different kind of artistry. It felt as though they were supposed to be exactly where they were and shouldn¡¯t be moved in the slightest. Not to mention changing positions, even shaving off or polishing an edge would destroy the concept here.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was moved as he gazed at this stone hall. The mood enshrined within the stone tablet was a form of discontent and loneliness, but all he could feel from this stone hall was a deathly dejection¡ªas though all hope and expectations had left, never to return again.

    Qianye was just as depressed when Nighteye had left him. The sacred mountain was not a ce humans could set foot on. As confident as he was, Qianye knew that he couldn¡¯t break a thousand-year tradition to stand on the Evernight Council¡¯s sacred mountain. Even people as strong as the Martial Ancestor and the Founding Ancestor had never managed this.

    Such a hope was no different from being hopeless.

    Qianye entered the stone hall with a sigh.

    The tunnel inside the hall wasn¡¯t long. He arrived in a chamber after walking for a while. The furnishings here were just as simple¡ªthere was a stone brazier in each corner, and the flickering light from them flooded the room with a faint glow. For some mysterious reason, the fire in them had been burning for close to a hundred years without going out.

    There was a stone table at the end of the chamber, adorned with traces of axe-hacks and sword shes. In Qianye¡¯s eyes, each vestige was like a bolt of lightning striking the depths of his consciousness. The will contained in them stopped him from breathing!

    He dragged his eyes away from the table with great effort, only to see the two rows of giant words carved into the wall. The right sentence read, ¡°Herein, I bury my heart,¡± and the left, ¡°And point to the heavens to seek the dao.¡± Overwhelmed by the enlightenment, the scenes before him shifted, and that green-robed man appeared once more. He was standing in the middle of the hall and writing through the air with his fingers as his brush. Every stroke of his would produce a carving on the wall, forming those two sentences in the blink of an eye.

    The man¡¯s mood was different now. He was both tired and empty, almost as though he had lost interest in all things. A slight ripple of anger appeared only when he wrote the words ¡°point to the heavens to seek the dao¡±.

    He seemed to have lost all energy after writing those words. Even his spirit seemed exhausted, much like an empty shell without a soul. That man ced something on the stone table and stood there for a long while before turning to leave.

    The man¡¯s figure stopped in front of Qianye and shot him an indifferent nce. ¡°You¡¯vee, it looks like she isn¡¯t willing to fade away here after all. Fine, let her go with you. It¡¯ll be ample repayment for me if you be strong enough to repair her one day.¡±

    With that, the man walked through Qianye and out of the door.

    Qianye stood gazing at the chamber doors, unable to tell immediately whether the scene just now was real or illusory. Wasn¡¯t this a scene from dozens of years ago? Was that the Pointer Monarch when he was young? What was with those words he had spoken just now? Had he seen Qianye? Or could it be that the chamber was an intersection in both time and space, allowing the Pointer Monarch from seventy years ago to see the current Qianye?

    All those thoughts threw Qianye¡¯s mind into chaos.

    Through the doors of the giant hall, Qianye saw two figures appear at the edge of the summit. It was Caroline and Elder Wei. They had finally broken through the lockdown of the grey rain to reach the peak. Both divine champions were battered, exhausted, and drenched in rain. There was water dripping down the old man¡¯s hair and beard. Caroline¡¯s lightning had long since vanished, and her long hair was almost soaked and sticking to her scalp.

    By the time they reached the peak, Caroline was already dragging the crate on the ground. She felt her legs grow weak afterward, falling to one knee as she gasped for breath. Elder Wei was swaying and almost copsed before finally stabilizing himself.

    But the two were still divine champions after all, so their recovery was much faster than Qianye¡¯s. In the span of a few breaths, they had stabilized their aura, shaken off the rainwater, and were heading toward the stone hall.

    The stone hall was simply too evident amidst the monotonous scenery of the mountaintop. The duo discovered the building immediately and sped over.

    Shaken upon seeing Caroline and Elder Wei, Qianye woke up from his reverie. Time was of the essence at this moment! Qianye stopped thinking and pounced toward the stone table. There, he found a dark-silver pipe made of some unknown metal. He was ovee by an odd feeling the moment heid eyes on the item¡ªit felt as though the pipe had nodded at him.

    This metal pipe felt like a living being to Qianye, something with its own life and spirit.

    The rod emitted a faint glow that formed a barrier of light over the table. The situation at the moment was urgent. No matter what this thing was used for, it was Qianye¡¯s only chance at survival. All he could hope for was that the object left behind by the Pointer Monarch would be just as powerful as the giant gate and Heartseeker Path.

    Qianye reached out to grab the pipe. The moment his fingers touched the light barrier, it immediately rippled like water and dispersed briefly. The ripples of light fused into Qianye¡¯s body as naturally as flowing water, giving him no chance to resist. Neither the dark golden blood energy nor his venus dawn could block the waves of luminescence.

    As the light waves entered his body, Qianye was embraced by an inexplicablefort, almost as though he were soaking in warm water. His blood energy and daybreak origin power rose sharply, soon reaching their peak state. Qianye was astonished at how this light could replenish both aspects of his power at the same time. In terms of origin power attribute, the dark golden blood energy and Venus Dawn stood at the extremes of dark and light. They werepletely different in nature.

    Allowing Qianye to recover to his peak state proved that the amount of energy contained within these ripples was terrifying. It was definitely not as gentle as it seemed on the surface. Qianye was fine only because he had obtained the Pointer Monarch¡¯s permission. It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine that an intruder without the monarch¡¯s permission would suffer a powerful bacsh, probably not even leaving ashes behind.

    A consciousness traveled from the metallic pipe into Qianye¡¯s mind as he took ahold of it. In the blink of an eye, he came to understand the origin and use of this object.

 Chapter 797: Breadth of Mind

    It was an origin-gun barrel.

    A barrel the Pointer Monarch cared so much about was naturally not an ordinary object. This weapon part was already rank-nine in grade and on par with the magnums of the current era.

    Not to mention owning a grade-nine weapon, Qianye had never even touched one before. The only exception was when he had fired the Red Spider Lily by coincidence.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and continued browsing the information.

    First up was a concise description from the Pointer Monarch himself. The man had always been proud, arrogant, and believed there was no ce he couldn¡¯t set foot on. However, he identally entered a perilous area once. There, he fell into dire circumstances and his wife also died in order to save him. The Pointer Monarch, back then, was only one step away from reaching the heavenly monarch realm. Yet that single step had stopped him from saving his beloved wife¡¯s life.

    If the Pointer Monarch had broken through earlier or if he had taken fewer risks, he would have never lost his true love. As the most talented person of his generation, the monarch managed to preserve a bit of her spirit as he searched everywhere for ways to revive her. Later on, he received advice from an entric about using a void colossus as the medium¡ªhe could merge his lover¡¯s spirit into it and perhaps be able to refine a magnum. Grand Magnums possessed spirits, so from a certain perspective, it could be said that his wife would regain life within the weapon.

    The Pointer Monarch soon learned about a wounded Earth Dragon in hibernation. He rushed over the long distance and attacked despite the great disparity in strength.

    The dragon was extremely terrifying. Even though it was wounded, the colossus wasn¡¯t an entity Ji Wentian could contend with before bing a heavenly monarch. Even so, the man fought without fear. In the end, he found a single opportunity on the verge of mortal peril and managed to seriously injure and kill the Earth Dragon. Afterward, he retrieved the Earth Dragon''s skull and warm heart-blood to merge into his wife¡¯s spirit and forged a gun.

    But how could forging this so-called magnum be so easy? He ultimately wasn¡¯t able to master the power of a spirit before reaching the heavenly monarch realm. In the end, Ji Wentian failed at thest minute and used up all of his origin power after forging a barrel. His wife¡¯s spirit inevitably dispersed after the failure. Ji Wentian thus gained an epiphany in his dismay and stepped over into the heavenly monarch realm, bing the Pointer Monarch everyone knew of today.

    Nheless, everything was toote.

    Later on, Ji Wentian returned to the neutralnds and set up everything here in memory of the past and to prevent disturbances.

    At this point, Qianye understood the source of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s mood. Actually, this gun barrel contained some spirituality but was still a far cry from gaining sentience. The love of Ji Wentian¡¯s life had long since disappeared.

    Afterward, Qianye observed the gun barrel¡¯s abilities in great detail.

    Compared to an ordinary firearm, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s gun barrel contained shocking auxiliary powers. The first thing he noticed was ¡°Lethal Strike¡±, a skill equal to Qianye¡¯s Heavy Caliber, urate Fire, and Superior Rangebined. Moreover, their effects were increased exponentially. All attributes¡ªbe it the weapon¡¯s range, precision, or firepower¡ªwere two times higher.

    Even an ordinary origin gun would reach the peak of its grade with Lethal Strike installed. This kind of ability was only slightly inferior to the Wings of Inception. ording to Andruil, though, the wings possessed the potential for unlimited growth, and that was an aspect this barrel could neverpare to.

    Another power was the Skyheart Seal. This ability could increase the wielder¡¯s control over the surrounding origin power. In its passive state, the gun would guide the environment toward maintaining its original state, making it difficult for external changes to take ce.

    This Skyheart Seal didn¡¯t look that impressive since it couldn¡¯t upgrade the wielder¡¯s power directly. But after careful contemtion, Qianye realized how astonishing this ability was. In simpler terms, all domains except the wielder¡¯s would be weakened within its area of effect!

    Domains usually yed a critical role in a battle between experts. Even non-offensive ones, when dominant, could stop the enemy from utilizing origin power from their surroundings. At that point, the oue was easily imaginable.

    With the exception of the Red Spider Lily, Qianye had never seen a domain-type ability on a weapon. The weakening of a domain in battle, no matter how small the magnitude, would produce significant effects. Hence, the Skyheart Seal would exert greater might in the hands of a powerful expert.

    There were numerous other secondary abilities like Superior Tenacity, Origin Absorption, Recovery, Coordination, etc.

    A gun barrel with Superior Tenacity could contend against East Peak, meaning it could trade shes with the heavy sword. Origin Absorption was the ability to draw origin power from the surroundings, store it in an array, and unleash it when required. Most of the power needed for Lethal Strike and Skyheart Seal would be drawn from this stock, greatly reducing the wielder¡¯s workload.

    Additionally, the barrel would slowly repair itself when damaged, as long as the damage wasn¡¯t too grave. Nheless, it was not that easy a feat, either, to damage a weapon with Superior Tenacity. Qianye felt that it wasn¡¯t quite possible for him to damage this barrel with East Peak if he didn¡¯t go all out.

    The Coordinationponent made it easier for the barrel to connect to other parts and form aplete origin gun. After all, it was only a barrel at this point.

    Any of these ¡°secondary¡± abilities could transform an origin gun into a prized weapon. Only grade-seven guns were even worthy of possessing them.

    ncing at this unassuming gun barrel, Qianye almost felt that he could see a brilliant treasure halo in front of him. Was this really just a barrel?

    But it was indeed a gun barrel forged personally by the Pointer Monarch.

    This barrel had no name. Neither did the Pointer Monarch intend to give it one.

    After learning a part of its powers, the remaining information became blurry, or perhaps it required one to be in a certain mental state to be able to see it. As for what kind of mental state that was, there was really no mention of it. It could also be that the Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t want anyone to see the contents.

    The situation at present was urgent, so Qianye had no time to study the item further. It was enough that he knew the main powers. This gun-barrel was indeed a life-saving treasure and Qianye had already outlined a n on how to use it. He whisked out Cui Yuanhai¡¯s origin gun, quickly removed the barrel, and installed this new one onto it.

    The new gun barrel didn¡¯t fit all that well, but the Coordination ability came into y once they were connected. The origin array on the barrel transformed on its own and merged perfectly into the array on the gun¡¯s body. It was as though the entire gun was originally constructed this way.

    With the new weapon in hand, Qianye was full of confidence. This gun barrel had been resting here for dozens of years and had long since reached its full origin power capacity. Even with Qianye¡¯s current cultivation, he would be able to fire with the Lethal Strike effect. Otherwise, a grade-nine firearm would immediately drain his energy, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it even if he wanted to.

    Qianye turned back and said with a bow, ¡°I have received senior¡¯s gift. If I survive this day, I will definitely repay the favor.¡±

    With that, he strode out of the stone hall. The building housed the Pointer Monarch¡¯s emotions and thoughts. Having resonated with the ce, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to destroy a single tree or grass here, even if it meant that he would have to give up his geographical advantage and fight the iing enemy outside.

    How fast was a divine champion¡¯s movement? By the time Qianye had walked out of the doors, Elder Wei and Caroline were already standing there. Surprised to see Qianye outside, he said with narrowed eyes, ¡°You actually chose not to defend inside the halls. How rare, how rare.¡±

    Caroline nced at Elder Wei, somewhat puzzled. In her eyes, this stone hall was fairly crude and couldn¡¯t be considered that strong. She could tten it with her whip without even going all out. What was the point of hiding in such a ce? It would only serve to trap him.

    Elder Wei knew Caroline didn¡¯t understand. ¡°That person¡¯s seals remain within the stone hall. Once destroyed, he might be alerted of our presence. Even if there are no other traps inside, we won¡¯t be able to make a living in the empire once that person remembers us.¡±

    Caroline was enlightened. After experiencing the Heartseeker Path, she hade to understand just how powerful the Pointer Monarch was. Moreover, all of this was created seventy years ago when he had just be a heavenly monarch. What level would he be at the moment?

    If the Pointer Monarch had left behind a couple of attacks inside, they might not be able to take it.

    Qianye stood there in silence, speaking only after Elder Wei had finished his exnation, ¡°Have you recovered?¡±

    Elder Wei nodded. He sized Qianye up from head to toe, saying, ¡°Such an impressive mindset is truly rare. It might be considered stupiditying from any other person, but in you, it¡¯s a case of still waters running deep. If you were to return to the empire, you¡¯ll receive that person¡¯s recognition for what you did today. Whatever you did in the past would no longer be a problem as long as you change your appearance.¡±

    ¡°Oh? I¡¯m a case of still waters running deep?¡±

    ¡°You have such a mindset that conforms with that person¡¯s own, and it¡¯s not a deliberate act, either. It can be said that you¡¯re half his disciple now.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Thanks for pointing that out. What a pity¡­¡±

    Elder Wei spoke the same words as he produced an ancient envelope from his robes and straightened its creases, ¡°It won¡¯t be difficult for you to be an outstanding person of an era. Unfortunately, you¡¯re destined to fall here.¡±

    Caroline spoke up all of a sudden, ¡°I heard the empire is in a bad situation. It¡¯s barely holding out on the floating continent and almost pushed back to the maind. Isn¡¯t this a time to make good use of people like him? Why aren¡¯t you?¡±

    The floating continent was but a distant memory to Qianye. But now that Caroline had mentioned it, the scenes from the past appeared before his eyes once more. Zhao Jundu, Song Zining, Wei Potian, Zhao Yuying¡ªall these people and all those perilous battles seemed just like yesterday. Qianye had invested too much blood and emotion on that battlefield. Who knew how many bloody battles it would take to grab a small living space from the dark races?

    The Demoness, Eden, and Edward¡ªall of Qianye¡¯s enemies were famous characters of the generation. Every battle of his was worthy of being recorded in bads. However, he would have never imagined that the most dangerous enemy was actually behind him, and that the most lethal blow came from friendly forces.

    All of this was in the past, and the perpetrator, Li Fengshui, had also fallen to Qianye¡¯s de. Organizations like the military centralmand existed in every country. They would remain so long as the empire remained intact, albeit in a different form or name. Qianye was no longer that hot-blooded youth from yesteryear and was very clear about the darkness beneath all the politics.

    A bit of emotion welled up from his heart. Although he had left the empire, if the Zhao n, Song Zining, or Wei Potian were to encounter danger, he knew he would still go back and he would still take action. It was just that he would vanish like mist after the fight, not taking a single reward from the empire.

    At the thought of this, Qianye sighed to himself. Perhaps the one to me was fate after all?

    Elder Wei shot a nce at Qianye and sighed withplicated emotions. ¡°You don¡¯t understand. He can amodate the empire, but the empire cannot contain him.¡±

 Chapter 798: Showdown

    These words spoke of so many secrets.

    Caroline was astonished, frustrated, and disappointed. Elder Wei¡¯s expression was alsoplicated andcking his usual subtlety.

    Qianye realized in an instant that he had offended certain major characters. Now that he had obtained a part of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance, they definitely wouldn¡¯t allow his return to the empire in any form. So much so that every day he was alive was like a thorn in their hearts.

    All of a sudden, many pieces of information regarding the Pointer Monarch came together, including how his name came to be. The man¡¯s name was Ji Wentian and the words he left on the wall were ¡°Herein, I bury my heart¡­ and point at the heavens to seek the dao.¡± It was just that the emperor¡¯s name contained the character for ¡°heavens¡±. Pointing at him would be disrespectful, so Ji Wentian eventually became the Pointer Monarch instead.

    Ji Wentian was of a genuine imperial bloodline, but he wasn¡¯t in line for the throne since his mother was of low birth. He didn¡¯t have such aspirations, either. Just like that, pointing to the heavens to seek the dao became pointing to the great dipper to seek the dao.

    If even the Pointer Monarch was in such a situation, how could those bigshots who had managed to obtain some of the emperor¡¯s power allow Qianye¡¯s existence?

    People in high ces would always unt their power, rejecting outsiders while strengthening their own people. That was just how the world worked.

    Qianye stroked the gun in his hand, saying, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I must see how the empire cannot contain me.¡±

    Elder Wei snorted. ¡°You overestimate yourself!¡±

    He opened up the envelope at an unhurried pace, revealing a streak of purple light from within¡ªbut he wasn¡¯t in a rush to attack just yet. He fished out a damaged ancient scroll from his robe and tossed it into the air. This tome was the third andst ancient scroll in Elder Wei¡¯s possession. Half of it had been ruined during their ascent to the mountaintop, leaving only a dozen or so tattered pages.

    After taking to the air, each page multiplied into ten, then a hundred pages, filling the air and surrounding Qianye in the blink of an eye. It almost looked like the hundred meters around them was filled with dancing snow. The pages¡ªsharp as des and suffused with a faint glow¡ªdescended onto Qianye in quick session. Elder Wei was also within the perimeter, but the papers would go around him.

    Seeing a single page flying over, Qianye reached out and flicked it with his finger. He heard a soft ¡°ding!¡±, and it felt as though he had just flicked a sword edge. The page soon transformed into origin power and vanished, but not before leaving a red mark on Qianye¡¯s finger. It had actually cut his skin. Apparently, these ancient-scroll pages contained significant power.

    If Qianye were an ordinary rank-twelve champion, these pages would¡¯ve minced him up immediately. This was Edler Wei¡¯s domain.

    Elder Wei¡¯s pupils shrank upon seeing how Qianye had destroyed the page with a flick and was barely scratched in the process. He appeared fairly apprehensive because the hardness of Qianye¡¯s finger wasparable to a premium origin de. The old man had never imagined Qainye¡¯s body would be this strong.

    Human bodies were inherently weak and required clever use of origin power to fight on par with the dark races. Qianye¡¯s constitution, however, was so strong that it was abnormal¡ªeven more so than his Venus Dawn. In the blink of an eye, Elder Wei recalled some of the most difficult and powerful cultivation arts, all of which were notorious for their high demand on physical strength. If Qianye were to get his hands on one of them, then the oue would be unimaginable.

    A chill filled Elder Wei¡¯s heart¡ªhis killing intent grew stronger as he came to a decision that Qianye had to die regardless of the cost. He would kill that odd Caroline, too, if she were to interfere.

    Nheless, the Combatant Form wasn¡¯t among the cultivation arts the old man had considered. The demands of this widely known art weren¡¯t just high; they were simply impossible. It would also obstruct one¡¯s advancement for the same reason.

    At this moment, countless pages were flying faster and faster around Qianye without attacking. Nheless, this was Elder Wei preparing to attack at the right moment. Thousands of pages would bear down upon Qianye once the opportunity presented itself, killing him instantly.

    Seeing the iing danger, Qianye revealed a cold smile as he activated the Skyheart Seal on his gun.

    Once the Skyheart Seal came into action, the boiling origin power in the vicinity froze up as though it had encountered a frosty gale. Countless pages formed from origin power returned to their original form, dispersing into motes of light. In the blink of an eye, only a couple hundred pages remained out of the thousands, making the hundred-meter array look quite sparse.

    Shocked out of his wits, Elder Wei increased his power output, only to find that operating the domain and drawing upon the surrounding origin power had be oddly strenuous. If he needed one point of his own origin power before, to control the origin power around him, he now needed two to achieve the same effect. He hadn¡¯t imagined that Qianye could be so proficient in the use of domains, to the point of suppressing his own.

    Thetter was only rank-twelve!

    The pages in the air transformed again as Elder Wei poured in more origin power, going back to around a thousand. However, it was no longer possible for him to conjure several thousand of them in one go. A thousand pages was barely enough tounch a lethal blow, but there would be some trouble if Caroline were to interfere.

    Elder Wei was shocked as a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye! Instantly, the new batch of pages vanished and the difficulty of operating domains stepped up once more.

    Qianye let out a low grunt¡ªthe surrounding space became stagnant, and a pressure akin to the vast oceans bore down upon Elder Wei. The force caused his body to bend, and his bones creaked and groaned under the pressure. Most of the flying pages fell to the ground, unable to withstand the weight of the great ocean. Only a dozen or so remained floating in the air.

    Caroline broke into an astonished frown. She shed back several dozen meters out of the domain and stared intently at Qianye.

    At this point, Elder Wei still had a dozen floating pages, but the only dangerous ones were the two covers. Now that Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex was pressing on Elder Wei, it could be said that the two parties were in a deadlock¡ªbut Elder Wei was a Divine Champion!

    At this moment, Qianye was calm and fully focused on Elder Wei. The man¡¯s origin power flow couldn¡¯t escape his True Sight. The power of the Skyheart Seal was even greater than Qianye had imagined. With the addition of the Wings of Inception, it weakened Elder Wei¡¯s domain by half. Had the Pointer Monarch seeded back in the year, he really might¡¯ve produced a Grand Magnum.

    With the domain contest ending in a draw, the only thing left was the sacred seal in Elder Wei¡¯s hands.

    The old man whisked out a purple slip of paper from the envelope and said, ¡°You are indeed an astonishing genius. I won¡¯t be surprised even if you be a heavenly monarch in the future. Unfortunately, you¡¯re not of our race and your heart is bound to be different. Besides, no one can be sure that you won¡¯t go to the Zhao n¡¯s rescue if something happens to them. So, the more talented you are, the more certain I am about killing you!¡±

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°The major ns are the foundations of the empire. Why do you people always target the Zhao n? Isn¡¯t the Zhang n more powerful? The Bai n is hiding wild ambitions, and the Song n is on a sharp decline, wouldn¡¯t it be better to deal with them instead of the Zhao n?¡±

    Elder Wei replied, ¡°None of them have an imperial bloodline, they cannot reach for that seat.¡±

    Qianye rebuked, ¡°Nonsense! You would destroy the empire¡¯s foundations just for that?¡±

    Elder Weiughed. ¡°What¡¯s the use of a strong empire when the emperor¡¯s seat is lost?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes grew cold. ¡°I can finally confirm. Even if it¡¯s just to help the empire, I must kill you bastards!¡±

    ¡°If you want to kill me, that¡¯ll depend on whether you have the power of a heavenly monarch.¡± With that, the purple paper in Elder Wei¡¯s grasp erupted in a powerful radiance, flooding the battlefield with a stifling aura. It felt as though a pair of mysterious eyes had opened up in the depths of the void and was gazing in this direction.

    Caroline felt a chill run down her body, and her origin power cirction slowed down a fair bit. Just the suppressive might alone was this powerful! She didn¡¯t need anyone to tell her that this was the power of a heavenly monarch!

    The purple talisman flew into the sky. Despite its slow ascent, Qianye knew that the attack would catch up to him no matter where he ran; even tearing through the void was no exception. Space was not a barrier before a heavenly monarch!

    This attack had to be met head-on!

    Qianyeughed thunderously. ¡°A heavenly monarch¡¯s power? I have that!¡±

    The figure of a contemtive young girl emerged behind Qianye, followed by a loud rumble. An origin bullet emerged from the gun chamber, arced through the air, and exploded on the purple talisman.

    The purple radiance on the paper receded like the tides, leaving only a faint hue. Elder Wei¡¯s expression shifted drastically. The purple glow represented the energy within the paper¡ªit was the work of that powerful character and could be considered a product of blood and sweat. What exactly was that gun, to be able to st away half the power of a sacred seal?

    Qianye fired once more without the slightest hesitation, and this time, the purple talisman could no longer endure the damage. Its color vanished entirely, and the slip was reduced to a shower of dancing paper-fragments.

    A sacred seal, the work of a heavenly monarch, was thus destroyed.

    Supported by the Wings of Inception and the effects of Lethal Strike, the gun in Qianye¡¯s hand disyed a shocking amount of firepower, even sting a sacred seal into smithereens! This meant that the overall power of this gun had reached grade-nine, and even a divine champion wouldn¡¯t dare to take a shot from it. There was also a drawback to the high fire-power, however. Just the two shots had drained Qianye¡¯s origin power entirely, and there was no way he could fire a third.

    Elder Wei spat out a mouthful of blood as the sacred seal shattered. His aura began to fluctuate wildly and could hardly remain at the divine champion level. He reached for his pockets, but there was nothing left.

    However, there were still a dozen pages floating in the air, and the front and back covers of the tome were especially active. Besides, Qianye¡¯s condition at the moment wasn¡¯t any better than Elder Wei¡¯s. His Oceanic Vortex had long since dispersed, and he had no more power to use the Skyheart Seal.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity, but your luck is still not good enough in the end.¡± With that, Elder Wei bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mist of blood into the air. The two covers from the ancient scroll lit up with a sanguineous glow and their sharpness increased exponentially.

    ¡°I must see what other methods you have!¡± Elder Wei let out a sinisterugh as he controlled the leather cover of the ancient tome. In a sh, two beams of blood-colored light began spinning around Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s body was strong and his regenerative capacity was powerful, but the old man was prepared to kill him in one strike once an opening was revealed. Elder Wei had some reservations about asking Caroline to attack and also kept a part of his attention on her. After all, the power of a wounded divine champion was still outstanding.

    At this moment, Qianye was like amp that had run out of oil. The old man didn¡¯t need to wait very long.

    Yet Qianye was neither rmed nor desperate as he had imagined. He red deeply at the elder, his eyes full of sympathy and farewell!

 Chapter 799: Compensation

    All of a sudden, Qianye¡¯s aura rose sharply and almost reached its peak in the span of a few breaths! The intense blood energy even seeped out of his body and formed a faint armor of blood around him. Qianye had finally activated the Book of Darkness at the critical juncture! The blood energy stored within the book gushed out and brought Qianye¡¯s physical condition to its peak.

    Following a deep grunt from Qianye, the Oceanic Vortex burst forth once more and suppressed Elder Wei¡¯s domain in one fell swoop. Qianye¡¯s arms waved about like lightning during this short gap. A cluster of origin grenades soon appeared in Elder Wei¡¯s vision, a vast number of them in fact!

    Hundreds of origin grenades danced about in the air, covering the entire battlefield. Elder Wei nced about to find the entire area filled with origin grenades, including the area around Qianye! This cut short Elder Wei¡¯s notion of charging toward Qianye in search of a safe area. On the verge of life and death, he actually couldn¡¯t find a safe ce!

    ¡°Is he looking to die together!?¡± Elder Wei thought in shock.

    Unfortunately, he had no more time to think. The sound of explosions reverberated throughout the mountaintop. Countless streams of fire converged into a giant ball of mes which rose hundreds of meters into the air before turning into billowing ck smoke!

    Elder Wei realized something the moment those fierce mes arrived, ¡°That brat¡¯s body is so strong. He¡¯ll survive this, but I won''t!¡±

    Elder Wei made tounch a fierce attack at Qianye, but his spirit was badly shaken at this moment. As it turned out, his domain had been sted apart by the explosion, and the attempted operation only inflicted heavy injuries on himself.

    Finally, the mes died out, and arge but shallow pit appeared on the mountaintop. It was a hundred meters in diameter and over a meter in depth, with little crystalline granules glittering within. These crystals were condensed under the high temperature of the origin mes.

    Qianye was half-kneeling at the center of the pit, all curled up and covering his head. Thebat robes on his body had been reduced to ashes and his skin, burnt ck, almost like a charred corpse.

    Qianye moved slightly as a gust of cold wind blew past. He attempted to stand up, but this little movement caused his skin to split apart, revealing the new, pink flesh beneath. An expression of pain emerged on Qianye¡¯s face, but he clenched his teeth and stood up. By the time he was standing straight, there were dozens ofcerations on his body. It was a shocking sight to behold.

    If Qianye hadn¡¯t recovered to his peak state, he might not have survived that round of explosives. His current injuries were only surface wounds¡ªmost of them would contract after exuding a few drops of blood. Apparently, he wouldn¡¯t even need one full day to recover. There was some blood energy remaining in the Book of Darkness, all of which he absorbed to elerate his recovery.

    Then, Qianye turned toward Caroline.

    The divine champion bit her lips, her heart full of hesitation. She was very clear that the current moment was her best chance if she wanted to kill Qianye. Otherwise, even if Qianye wasn¡¯t her opponent, she had no way to stop him, either, if he were to escape with Spatial sh.

    If she couldn¡¯t kill Qianye right away, the one on the run would be her if one day he became a divine champion.

    But there was something inexplicable stopping her from killing Qianye.

    Many emotions shed through Caroline¡¯s heart. She gripped her whip tightly, and then loosened her hand once more.

    Qianye was the first to speak, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to attack?¡±

    ¡°If I make my move, you¡¯ll be dead.¡±

    Qianyeughed out loud, but the movement tugged at his wounds and forced him into a grimace. An origin grenade suddenly appeared in his hand. ¡°That¡¯s not a certainty. Why not guess how many hand grenades I have in my hand?¡±

    An idea popped up in Caroline¡¯s mind, but she stretched out a single finger, saying, ¡°One¡±

    Somewhat dazed, Qianye shook his head with a wry smile. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s just say I have only one. Why not try me and see?¡±

    Both this single grenade and the hundreds from before had appeared out of nowhere. Caroline never saw where they hade from. Apparently, Qianye had some kind of spatial equipment on him¡ªyet another heavenly-monarch-level item. It was shocking how this little Qianye actually possessed so many heavenly monarch powers on him.

    Caroline¡¯s emotions wereplicated. She took a step forward and locked onto Qianye with a wisp of killing intent. As the two killing intents faced off against one another, Caroline felt as though her heart was pricked with a needle. This was her intuition toward mortal peril, her true innate talent. Throughout the years, she had relied on this power to crawl out of many dangerous situations and finally became a divine champion.

    Caroline was astonished. She hadn¡¯t imagined that Qianye would have more tricks up his sleeve capable of threatening her.

    Qianye stood quietly, secretly feeling quite helpless. It was impossible to deal with Caroline at the moment, but he did have a single Shot of Inception that he could use if she were to attack. At that time, he could empower his rifle with the Wings of Inception and Lethal Strike, and then fire the Shot of Inception. This attack would gravely injure Caroline if it hit, but using so much energy would also exhaust Qianye and kill him on the spot. Hence, this method of mutual destruction was hisst move.

    However, Caroline didn¡¯te closer. ¡°You killed my brother. Don¡¯t you think you should pay a price if you want me to back off?¡±

    Caroline¡¯s attitude wasn¡¯t what Qianye had expected. It was naturally the best oue if a fight could be avoided. Qianye made a prompt decision and said, ¡°What kind of price?¡±

    Caroline sighed lightly. ¡°There are many things bad about Hu An, but he had a dream¡ªthat was to obtain a piece ofnd on the central continent that he could pass on to future generations. Now he¡¯s dead, but I want to help him fulfill his wish. My price is a piece ofnd on the central continent, preferably in the empire.¡±

    Qianye frowned. This request wasn¡¯t easy toplete. Caroline herself was a divine champion, so thend going to her had to be fitting of her status. He couldn¡¯t pick a small territory from a random baron or marquis to fool her.

    It had to be a county¡¯s worth ofnd at least on the main continent or Western Continent, enough to support an aristocratic family. If thend was on a border region, it might have to be two counties in size.

    Qianye gave it some thought and said, ¡°I can promise you, but you must also take action at the critical moment.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a given.¡± Caroline nodded.

    In the end, they came to an unexpected ceasefire in such a manner. Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of this opportunity. Whether or not this Caroline¡¯s words were sincere, he had to make good use of this time to recover.

    ¡°I need to rest and recover.¡± With that, Qianye left for a secluded ce, activated his blood core, and began healing his injuries.

    Caroline walked around the summit on her own, the stone hall being the focus of her exploration. She also saw the words left behind by the Pointer Monarch, but just like the stone tablet from before, she couldn¡¯t feel orprehend anything special.

    After a while, Qianye walked into the stone hall as most of his injuries had healed. Caroline was observing the four braziers at the corners of the stone hall in great detail. She looked back and saw that Qianye¡¯s charred skin was gone, reced by the unnatural pink of newly grown tissue.

    ¡°You recover quite fast.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯d be dead otherwise.¡±

    Caroline pointed toward the door of the stone hall. ¡°That¡¯s something the old man brought along and paid great attention to along the way. It might have something to do with the thing left behind by the Pointer Monarch, do you want to take a look?¡±

    Qianye followed the direction of her finger and found a heavy crate at the corner. There was aplicated and intricate array on the chest that could operate normally even in the neutralnds. Apparently, the material used in building this container was fairly high-grade. The crate itself was of outstanding value, to speak nothing of its contents.

    Qianye was in no rush to open the box. ¡°Why not keep it for yourself?¡±

    Caroline said indifferently, ¡°Firstly, what the old man thinks highly of might not be useful for me. Secondly, this thing is probably rted to the Pointer Monarch, so I don¡¯t quite dare to take it. Of course, if there¡¯s anything useful to me inside the box, I want a share of it, too.¡±

    Now that was more reasonable. Qianye gave the divine champion a nod, and after confirming that there were no traps on the crate, he pressed on the lock mechanism and slowly opened the lid.

    Caroline observed from the side. She was at least a bit curious about Elder Wei¡¯s treasure.

    The lid moved smoothly and finally opened up in its entirety. There was an extremely intricate-looking machine inside shrouded in an eerie blue light. Through its semi-translucent casing, Qianye could see that the smallestponents were the size of a hair. If it wasn¡¯t for his superb eyesight, there was no way he could even see its construction clearly. The machine was carefully mped in ce by a dozen firm grippers. There was also an entire row of sealed boxes embedded into one of its side-walls.

    Qianye and Caroline nced at one another, not knowing what this machine was used for. Their knowledge of origin machinery was only limited to weapons, but this one didn¡¯t look like an origin gunponent, either.

    After a moment of contemtion, Qianye picked up one of the sealed boxes. The container was extremely heavy, causing Qianye¡¯s hand to dip slightly upon picking it up. The box contained a silver spherical body¡ªEarth Dragon¡¯s blood. He inspected the other sealed boxes and found the same blood in all of them, eight drops in total.

    Caroline wasn¡¯t quite interested in the unidentified machine, but her eyes lit up when she saw the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. ¡°This is very important to me, I want at least three drops.¡±

    Qianye passed her three drops of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood without the slightest hesitation. There was a fragile alliance of sorts between them at the moment. To be honest, Qianye still didn¡¯t know why Caroline would let go of her enmity. Her demand was indeed quite high, but it wasn¡¯t too hard for the two of them to seize a piece ofnd if they worked together. Naturally, an opportunity to close the gap couldn¡¯t be missed.

    Afterward, Qianye found a thick booklet inside the box, with instructions about how to install the machine. Caroline moved closer to study the material together with him. They exchanged nces after reading for a while. It turned out that the machine inside was a halfpleted engine!

 Chapter 800: Mixed Blood

    ording to the notes, this was a project the empire had been working on for decades, and the resources invested in it could operate a county for three years. It represented the empire¡¯s highest achievement in the field of origin battleships. The engine didn¡¯t look very big, but it could operate the highest-grade imperial airships and still have power to spare.

    What made Qianye and Caroline speechless was the fact that the engine required Earth Dragon¡¯s blood as fuel!

    A drop of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood was enough to make numerous powers fight tooth and w for it. Three of them was enough to give Caroline some hope of advancing by a level. Such a precious material was being used as fuel? Although ording to the booklet, a single drop could drive the engine for three years, this kind of breakthrough-aiding treasure really shouldn¡¯t be used like this. Just what kind of battleship would be worthy of such an engine?

    Caroline and Qianye were both lost in thought. There was no way Elder Wei wouldn¡¯t know the value of the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. The empire was full of talented people; there was no way they would do something so dumb. They had spent so much resources and time to build this engine, yet they had also specified the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood as its fuel and traveled tens of thousands of kilometers to this ce. They had to have a good reason for this.

    As Qianye continued reading the booklet, a paper dropped out from within. On it was an outline of a void colossus with a symbol and note on its abdomen. One of thebels caught Qianye¡¯s attention: Engine made for the Martyr¡¯s Pce, fuel should be sought out at its home.

    Martyr¡¯s Pce? Home?

    Neither Qianye nor Caroline understood what these symbols meant, but Qianye thought of something ording to the sketches in the book. Could it be that this Engine was ced on the Earth Dragon¡¯s remains, and Martyr¡¯s Pce was the name of the Earth Dragon battleship?

    The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible. Caroline never obtained the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance, so she didn¡¯t know that the Earth Dragon had, in fact, died. It was only natural that she wouldn¡¯t think of this possibility.

    No matter the locale, it was obvious that the value of this engine was far beyond a few drops of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood. How they would split the loot had be a problem at this point. Caroline was, after all, a divine champion¡ªif she were to turn hostile, all Qianye could do was go all out and hope for mutual destruction. This wasn¡¯t an eptable oue for either of them.

    Caroline caressed the engine lightly. ¡°Looks like it won¡¯t be a problem to get a piece ofnd in the empire if we return this thing. What will you do if I change my mind? Would you rather give me all of the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood?¡±

    After a moment of silence, Qianye replied, ¡°This thing is ownerless, to begin with. But even eight drops of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood might not be as valuable as this engine.¡±

    Caroline smiled faintly. ¡°You¡¯re quite honest. Fine, let me tell you something, it won¡¯t be that easy to get me a piece ofnd in the empire. You might not know, but I have werewolf blood flowing through my veins. I don¡¯t think I can hide that for very long once I go to the empire.¡±

    ¡°A hybrid?¡± Qianye was surprised.

    Everyone knew that dark race bloodlines were stronger than human ones. A union between them would almost always result in a miscarriage or a dark race descendant. Scions with dominant human bloodlines were quite rare. The interbreeding between the dark races, however, wasn¡¯t a certainty¡ªsometimes, the offspring would be stronger than the parents, but those were quite rare.

    If Caroline hadn¡¯t admitted to it, Qianye really couldn¡¯t see that she had a werewolf bloodline. Additionally, having reached the divine champion level proved that her human bloodline talent was quite powerful. This kind of situation had basically never happened in the empire.

    Caroline nodded. ¡°It¡¯s something from my grandfather¡¯s generation. Hybrids are amon sight in the neutralnds, almost none of the bloodlines here are pure.¡±

    Qianye inquired further and found out that many races lived together in the neutralnds, so there were many offspring between humans, vampires, and werewolves. Perhaps due to the chaotic origin power here, human bloodlines didn¡¯t always fall to a disadvantage during the process. Hence, arge number of mixed-breed descendants were born.

    However, those receiving a noble rank in the empire had to undergo a bloodline inspection. Only pure-blooded humans would be bestowed aristocracy to prevent infiltration from the dark races. To most humans, this kind of inspection was but a formality, but Caroline would probably fail this checkpoint on her way to obtainingnd and title. The nature of the entire business had changed.

    Qianye remained in a silent frown. Caroline said, ¡°My initial terms still apply. I¡¯ll let you go and let you have this engine in exchange for a territory.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°But what you want is an independent territory.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Otherwise, I can simply join the empire.¡±

    Qianye let out a long sigh. ¡°Fine, I promise you, but I need time.¡±

    Caroline nodded. ¡°Of course, but how long are you going to make me wait? Ten years? Twenty? Or even longer?¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°Ten years.¡±

    Caroline whispered, ¡°That¡¯s a relief. I thought you were going to make me wait three decades. It looks like you¡¯re quite confident!¡±

    At this point, she looked meaningfully at Qianye. Thetter said frankly, ¡°I''m confident in myself and in you.¡±

    Caroline weighed the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood in her hand, saying, ¡°Three drops of Earth Dragon blood can only bring me one level higher.¡±

    ¡°The gap between rank neen and twenty is a difference between lower and middle rank.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words moved Caroline visibly. ¡°You can tell?¡±

    Qianye nodded. Caroline had the urge to ask about it, but she controlled herself. It was best not to ask about each person¡¯s hidden aces if the other party didn¡¯t want to talk about it.

    The divine champion said after a moment of contemtion, ¡°I have some confidence in you right now, but that¡¯s not enough. The power of a divine champion is rted to utilizing the origin power in the surroundings, crystallization of their origin nodes, and using origin power to conjure weapons. Most divine champions will form either shield or armor, and my specialty is Lightning Shield. Use your strongest attack on my Lightning Shield and let me see yourbat strength.¡±

    With that, Caroline tapped several times in the air, leaving crystallized origin power wherever her fingers went. The crystals then linked to one another and turned into a lightning-suffused shield in the blink of an eye.

    ¡°Careful, my Lightning Shield will discharge electricity to counterattack,¡± Caroline warned.

    This was the first time Qianye had seen a divine champion¡¯s weapon. Back in the empire, he had only blocked a single blow from that old man before fleeing with Spatial sh. And during his battle against Elder Wei, thetter had already spent most of his origin power and had no energy to conjure his weapon. Besides, Elder Wei¡¯s strength was mediocre at best. Most of his capability was reliant on those scrolls and sacred seals.

    Elder Wei was like a tiger with wings when surrounded by powerful subordinates. The more people there were in his unit and the higher their level, the more effective Elder Wei¡¯s power would be. Nheless, he was like a tiger without ws by the time he met Qianye. Additionally, Caroline chose to stand by and watch with folded arms. That was why the old man had died an unwilling death in this ce.

    At this moment, the Lightning Shield in front of Caroline was in a semi-translucent state, almost like a mirage. This shield would be more tangible and realistic once she had be a divine champion.

    This shield was formed of Caroline¡¯s origin power. In order to break this shield, one would need to consider its own defenses in addition to the quality of Caroline¡¯s origin power. If the assailing power was inferior to Caroline¡¯s own, the attacker would have to spend even more origin power.

    ¡°Come, go all out. I¡¯ll keep my power in check so that it doesn¡¯t wound you,¡± Caroline said.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was calm. East Peak appeared in his hand as he arrived before Caroline with a flicker. Sweeping Calm erupted in full force, throwing four strikes at the Lightning Shield in rapid session.

    A beam of scarlet origin power surged in the air, and Qianye took three solid steps backward. Meanwhile, to Caroline¡¯s great astonishment, countless cracks crept over her shield and shattered it into many pieces!

    ¡°Careful!¡± Caroline had never imagined that her shield would be shattered in one move. The violent origin power went out of control¡ªshe could only watch the fragments turn into thick thunderbolts as they struck Qianye¡¯s body!

    The divine champion was inwardly rmed. Knowing very well how powerful the bacsh from the Lightning Shield was, she immediately arrived beside Qianye to save him.

    The glow of lightning had subsided at this moment. Qianye was charred ck from head to toe, and there were little arcs of lightning jumping along his body. However, he took only three steps back before standing firmly once more. A sheen of scarlet origin power flickered on his body, immediately extinguishing the lightning.

    ¡°You actually¡­¡± Caroline only spoke half a sentence and couldn¡¯t continue the rest.

    This was a sh between origin power. It could be said that her Thunderfrost Origin Power had lost miserably against Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn. As a divine champion, she had long since heard about the legendary Venus Dawn, but it still felt more or less frustrating to lose like this.

    Having swept away the lightning, Qianye shook off the charred parts of his skin. Perfect new skin grew back to rece the injured parts, only leaving some of the deeper wounds to heal slowly. ¡°How¡¯s that? Are you confident now?¡±

    Caroline stared deep into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re really a monster! I have no idea why the empire would let go of someone like you.¡±

    Qianyeughed, ¡°The stronger I am, the more restless those people be. It¡¯s the same no matter which side I¡¯m on.¡±

    Caroline shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m toozy to study politics. Fine, I feel like I can trust you.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not that confident about myself.¡±

    The kind of half-independent territory Caroline wanted was like a vassal nation. They were merely subservient to the empire in name when, in fact, they were an independent state, only paying the empire a token tribute each year. This kind ofnd was different from that of the aristocracy¡ªthe empire didn¡¯t include them in its territorial map. Throughout history, the establishment of each vassal nation was always the result of battles both in the light and in the dark. There was really no telling how much blood there was on the empire¡¯s foundations.

 Chapter 801: Martyrâ€™s Palace

    The territory Caroline wanted wasn¡¯t too big, but its nature was the same. Whether they wanted to seize thisnd from Evernight or the empire, they would still need to beat them in order to obtain recognition. The small nations on the empire¡¯s borders had to have a middle-ranked divine champion overseeing them, at the very least. The more independent ones who cared little about the empire were all led by high-ranking divine champions. Those countries would usually vanish quietly after the fall of their divine champions.

    With the alliance settled, the next objective was to search for that so-called Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The summit wasn¡¯t that big, and the entire peak was a tnd except for the ridge at its center. If the Martyr¡¯s Pce did exist here, it should be in that mountain ridge.

    Exchanging nces, the two flew toward the mountain ridge but found only rocks and soil after going one circle around it. The row of giant stone pirs resembling bone spikes was quite eye-catching, however, there were only rocks on them.

    But ording to the Pointer Monarch, the Earth Dragon¡¯s remains had to be here. Qianye raised East Peak and stabbed at the highest peak. The de cut through the soil like it was piercing through tofu, sending rocks and gravel flying in all directions. But the sword struck something about half a meter in, eliciting a metallic sound and failing to push further in.

    Filled with delight, Qianye swung East Peak about and swept away the soil on the surface, revealing a patch of silver underneath. He attempted a couple of shes and found that it took a full-force strike to even leave a white trace on the silver foundation. This unknown material was neither metal nor wood. It was actually Caroline who knew more about this subject. She reached out to knock on it, saying, ¡°This is probably the void colossus¡¯ remains and this stone pir is one of its vertebrae.¡±

    Qianye was speechless as he looked up at the mountainous stone pir. Wouldn¡¯t the Earth Dragon stand thousands of meters tall if it were alive? Compared to the Void Colossus, Chaos, however, the Earth Dragon was a mere kid.

    After confirming that the Earth Dragon¡¯s remains were indeed here, Qianye stabbed East Peak hard into the ground. His origin power burst forth, sending rocks and soil flying with the force of a dozen exploding grenades. In mere moments, arge pit¡ªten meters in diameter and several meters in depth¡ªhad appeared around Qianye. Even so, its base was still filled with gravel not bone.

    Qianye stood up. Looking up at the mountain ridge that was hundreds of meters tall, he couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. He knew that this route wasn¡¯t feasible as the rock and soil here were simply too thick. It would take a hundred years if they wanted to clear out everything. That little hole Qianye had sted out was nothingpared to the entire ridge.

    He nced back at the stone hall. If there were any clues regarding this matter, it had to be in the stone hall.

    Caroline also felt that clearing the rocks away wasn¡¯t a good idea, so she followed Qianye back to the stone hall. The furnishings inside the building were rather crude and simple¡ªthe only things of note apart from the table were the four perpetually burning braziers. Caroline hadn¡¯tpleted her observation back then, so she crouched down to study them once more. Qianye arrived in front of a brazier and gazed at it for a long while, but to no avail.

    The brazier was over a meter in height and made of stone. Its surface was mottled with a few damaged areas that had fallen off. Even though there was no wind or rain inside the hall, the corrosion of void origin power was unavoidable. However, the patterns on its surface didn¡¯t look like origin arrays, either.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up with a blue radiance. After activating True Sight, he could now see wisps of void origin power converging into the braziers to serve as its fuel¡ªthere was indeed a mysterious mechanism within. Qianye flicked the brazier with his finger and found a line of silver under the broken stone shell.

    After peeling more of the stone material, he saw more of the silver bones as expected. It turned out that these four stone braziers were made from the Earth Dragon¡¯s bones. As expected of the favored children of the world, the bones of the void colossi were inherently capable of absorbing void origin power. Both the dark races and the humans had to go through long periods of cultivation to reach such an outstanding level.

    Since the four braziers were like this, all that remained were the stone table and walls.

    There was a shallow groove on the table caused by the erosion of origin power where the gun barrel hadin for many years. Qianye reached out to touch the groove and sensed his origin power being absorbed into it. An idea popped up in his mind. He didn¡¯t resist the suction and even sent a steady stream of his Venus Dawn origin power into the stone table.

    The stone table was like a bottomless abyss absorbing Qianye¡¯s origin power without end. Only when he had expended half of his origin power did the world around him transform into that vast, unicolor realm.

    Lofty yet lonesome, the Pointer Monarch stood at the very center of the heaven and earth, his momentum filling every inch of the realm. This time, he turned around and nced deeply into Qianye¡¯s eyes. In that brief moment, Qianye¡¯s entire existence was seen through from inside out¡ªthere was no room to hide any of his secrets!

    This feeling was like being doused in icy water. The chill would sink deep into the bones¡ªit was inexplicably difficult to bear and filled one¡¯s soul with inherent apprehension. And that was only an illusion of the Pointer Monarch, a remnant will.

    Fortunately, the monarch only shot him a nce before retracting his gaze. He nodded briefly at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re good. Your daybreak origin power is only one step away from the apex of purity. Not many in the empire¡¯s thousand-year history has managed to do this. You¡¯re qualified to inherit the thing I left behind.¡±

    Qianye tried asking, ¡°Senior Ji, do you mean this gun-barrel? I¡¯ve received it. My current power is limited. In the future, I¡¯ll definitely put together a set of worthyponents and produce a Grand Magnum.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch smiled faintly. ¡°Actually, her spirit has already dispersed at the moment of failure. It¡¯s just that I couldn¡¯t let go. No matter how powerful the weapon is, it won¡¯t be a Grand Magnum without a soul. The only thing with any hope of reaching the peak is the Wings of Inception inside your body. The item I left behind, no matter how powerful it is, will only be a medium for the wings.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. The Wings of Inception was his greatest secret, a hidden ace that had enabled him to turn the tables in many a battle. It was unfathomable and ethereal¡ªeven Qianye wasn¡¯t clear regarding its principles. If it wasn¡¯t absorbing darkness origin power every day, Qianye would¡¯ve thought that it was a non-existent illusion.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that the Pointer Monarch would see through this secret in a single nce?

    Qianye suddenly recalled the time when he had met Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang. No one knew what level of cultivation his foster father was at. Due to the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery, he was already standing at the peak of the world and no one could even probe his rank. The only way to find out his cultivation realm was to fight him.

    Zhang Boqian, on the other hand, was a bona fide heavenly monarch. Additionally, he was highly talented and the favorite human candidate to surpass the Pointer Monarch in the future. If even a remnant-will left behind by the Pointer Monarch could see through Qianye, how could Zhang Boqian not have done the same?

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°Back then, I ran into a projection of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s will. Young and impetuous, I exchanged a couple of blows with him across space. Later on, he told me about his ns for the Wings of Inception. Who would¡¯ve thought I would see the real thing one day? Only after failing the refinement did I realize just how much of a genius concept the Wings of Inception was.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch appeared somewhat sad, but an indifferent smile appeared on his face as his gaze pierced through the illusory realm andnded on the engine. ¡°So many years have passed, but those people still haven¡¯t given up. They really did produce this thing. Are you here for the Martyr¡¯s Pce too?¡±

    Qianye said truthfully, ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t even know what the Martyr¡¯s Pce is. This engine is something I seized from the military people.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch nodded. ¡°You¡¯re quite honest. Fine, this thing is bound toe into being someday. Why would I interfere with something that¡¯s destined to be so? Handing the Martyr¡¯s Pce to you is much better than having itnd in the military¡¯s control. Remember, use the power of the Martyr¡¯s Pce to protect humanity when necessary.¡±

    Qianye grasped the detail in those words. ¡°Humanity? Not the empire?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch raised a finger, indicating the entire world. ¡°The world is so big. The neutralnds, the empire, and Evernight, there are humans everywhere. Thend on which the empire rests is but a small corner of the world. The empire can be reced, but humanity must not be eradicated. As long as humans exist, another empire will rise after the fall of this one.¡±

    These words would be considered rebellious if spoken in the empire. The Pointer Monarch was of imperial bloodline. Who would¡¯ve thought he would have such a view of things?

    ¡°Time is short, I¡¯ll take you to see what exactly the Martyr¡¯s Pce is.¡±

    With that, the Pointer Monarch waved his hand. The scenery in front transformed, and the stone hall appeared once more. The Pointer Monarch walked in with Qianye close at his heels. Within the hall, Caroline was still studying one of the braziers,pletely oblivious of Qianye and the monarch.

    Ji Wentian walked over to the wall on his own. The stone table moved to the side of its own ord, revealing a door and, behind it, a deep, dark tunnel.

    The Pointer Monarch and Qianye traveled along the tunnel and soon arrived in arge space. This area was propped up by a giant skeleton, the exterior of which was covered in severalyers of rock. Some basic structures had been constructed inside the chamber and a part of the deck had beenid out. However, the construction work was clearly iplete, almost as though a massive engineering project was stripped of workers as soon as it had begun.

    At a thousand meters long and hundreds of meters in height and width, the chamber could be considered quite grand. Judging from the foundation, it really was a battleship undergoing construction here. The scale of this airship far surpassed thergest motherships of the empire, perhapsparable only to the personal airships of the great dark monarchs of Evernight.

    There was arge silver heart beating slowly at the forepart of the chamber. This heart was ten meters tall and looked much like a wriggling mass of silvery metal. Just looking at it gave Qianye a stifling feeling.

    Countless tentacle-like silver threads stretched from the heart and crept out in every direction. These threads were like spider webs that held all the construction tes and stones together, forming the framework of this space.

    There was an obvious defect in the heart, but its borders were unusually smooth and clearly the work of humans. Judging from its size, the hole was just big enough for the engine.

    The Pointer Monarch walked about rather emotionally. ¡°Back in the year, I left the empire in dismay and hid in the neutralnds to construct the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Who would¡¯ve thought so many changes would urter on?¡±

 Chapter 802: The Pas

    Drowned in despair after failing to forge the gun, the Pointer Monarch came to realize just how peerless the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s Wings of Inception were. It was just that there was no certainty whether this kind ofplete spirit-form weapon would ever bepleted. After all, even the ck-Winged Monarch wasn¡¯t able to finish it back then.

    The Pointer Monarch had always been proud and arrogant. How could he be resigned after the utter failure with the refinement? After seeing an exceptional raw material that was the Earth Dragon¡¯s remains, he immediately felt hopeful about forging a different path topete against Andruil.

    Such a material was beyond rare¡ªthe Pointer Monarch wracked his brains and finally decided to forge a giant airship, the likes of which the empire had never seen before. His design was unique since he wanted to use the dragon¡¯s skeleton as the ship¡¯s framework and its heart as the main font of energy. This would allow the Earth Dragon¡¯s flesh to grow in a set pattern and form the warship¡¯s foundations. He would then build all kinds of weaponry on the flesh.

    This warship, once built, would be a flying city of boundless might. The inexhaustible supply of power from the Earth Dragon energy source would be able to support a great number of weapons. The resultant vessel would far surpass any mothership or battleship, so much so that it could implement super-powerful weapons that had only ever existed in theory.

    Such a warship could not only rampage across the empire but would also be able to suppress every known Evernight vessel. Perhaps only the airships of those characters on the sacred mountains would be able to contend with it. Among the three supreme existences of the sacred mountains, only the arachne had revealed his airship asionally. The others¡¯ vessels had never been seen before, so there was no way topare.

    However, the emergence of this super warship caused a storm among the upper echelons of the empire.

    Controlled by a heavenly monarch, this airship could wipe out any aristocratic family, and even the imperial family wouldn¡¯t be able to go against it. One had to remember that the Pointer Monarch was one of the two heavenly monarchs of the imperial family. He had just ascended to power back then, but even the Longevity Monarch wouldn¡¯t be his match with this warship in the equation. If the other heavenly monarchs were to remain neutral, not even the imperial family would be able to stop the Pointer Monarch from transforming the power distribution of this world.

    To bepletely frank, the Pointer Monarch would have a pretty good chance of taking the treasured throne if he wanted to, even though his maternal lineage wasn¡¯t as celebrated.

    He had just finished the giant airship¡¯s framework when the empire withdrew all support and used every method at their disposal to take the control rights away from the Pointer Monarch. Ji Wentian¡¯s purpose for constructing the Martyr¡¯s Pce was tomemorate histe wife and to contend with the ck-Winged Monarch¡ªyet the empire had a different opinion.

    At the mention of this, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s projection sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve never wanted that position, but what¡¯s the use? If they think you want it, then that bes a fact.¡±

    Cold and dejected, the Pointer Monarch finally sealed the giant warship here, along with numerous traps and mechanisms. These arrangements were to prevent other people from touching the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The requirements put in ce were so harsh that an ordinary divine champion would fall into great peril. Only heavenly monarchs would be able to break through by force.

    However, the Pointer Monarch giving up on building the Martyr¡¯s Pce didn¡¯t mean he had no temper. With him watching the ce, which heavenly monarch would dare to go over and snatch the warship? On the other hand, those below the heavenly monarch realm would face grave dangers in the neutralnds and run the risk of dying at any time.

    Elder Wei had arrived here in secret, carrying numerous heavenly-monarch-level tricks up his sleeves. He had also contacted the local powers and gained the help of a divine champion like Caroline who could hide from the Earth Dragon¡¯s protection¡ªit took all of that to finally make it to the top. Just those ancient scrolls and sacred seals alone should¡¯ve taken the military great effort to produce. To be blunt, even a rank seventeen expert could contend with a divine champion with such items in their possession.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the Pointer Monarch¡¯s gun barrel and Caroline switching sides mid-way, the Martyr¡¯s Pce would have fallen into Elder Wei¡¯s hands.

    As if he understood what Qianye was thinking, the pointer monarch said with a smile, ¡°How could my traps stop there? Trying to activate the Martyr¡¯s Pce without a top-grade daybreak origin power is simply courting death. Whether it¡¯s that Wei brat or Caroline, they¡¯ll die in a couple of days if not outright.¡±

    Qianye was immediately drenched in cold sweat. How could he endure a trap that was capable of injuring Elder Wei and Caroline? Perhaps it was better to let the Martyr¡¯s Pce remain in hibernation.

    The Pointer Monarchughed out loud. ¡°You possess Venus Dawn, so my powers can¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    After a moment of contemtion, Qianye decided to ask about a subject that had been lingering in his heart. ¡°You should¡¯ve seen through me and know that I have a vampire bloodline. How can you trust that I will always stand on the side of the humans?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said in a carefree manner, ¡°Whether one¡¯s heart is with the human race has nothing to do with his bloodline. You resonated with my mind, so I naturally know yours as well. What a pity those clowns in the empire keep prancing about. They even forced someone like you away in their jealousy of virtue and ability, humph!¡±

    At this point, Qianye had no more doubt.

    The Pointer Monarch gazed at the fledgling Martyr¡¯s Pce and sighed meaningfully. ¡°It¡¯s been so many years. Now that I¡¯ve finally gotten rid of the thorn in my heart, I can finally leave.¡±

    ¡°Senior¡­¡± Qianye felt something wrong in the Pointer Monarch¡¯s tone.

    The monarch said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m only a remnant-will left behind by the main body. He severed our connection after setting everything up, likely so that he could bury this part of his memories in the neutralnds. I was left to endure the pain of yearning for dozens of years, but now I can finally rest. The moment you activate the Martyr¡¯s Pce, I will vanishpletely from this world.¡±

    After a brief pause, the Pointer Monarch said, ¡°If you ever return to the empire one day, it¡¯s best that you don¡¯t discuss the things here with my main body. This is where he buried his heart, so he probably doesn¡¯t want to remember anything about it. And so many years have passed, who knows what his temperament is like right now? But you have to remember, people like me are never softhearted or merciful.¡±

    Shaken at heart, Qianye expressed his gratitude.

    The Pointer Monarch said calmly, ¡°Enough talking, I¡¯ve said all that needs to be spoken. What you do from now on depends on you. But I¡¯ll give you one more reminder out of consideration for the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The resources needed for divine champions are already quite rare, and the shortage is even worse for heavenly monarchs. What we have in the entire empire isn¡¯t even enough for a single heavenly monarch, let alone four. The path of each heavenly monarch is forged throughbat. Even if Evernight doesn¡¯t attack the empire, the empire will surely bring the fight to them. This is one of the reasons.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s consciousness had been here for many years and still didn¡¯t know about Zhang Boqian¡¯s ascension. But Qianye recalled how thetter had gone to ¡°visit¡± the Profundity Monarch before his breakthrough. Now that he thought about it, that visit might not be as simple as a mere challenge.

    The Pointer Monarch gazed at the Martyr¡¯s Pce, heaving a soft sigh as his figure gradually faded away. The scenery in front of Qianye became distorted, and he returned to the stone hall once more.

    He had spent so much time in the illusory realm, yet in the real world, he saw that Caroline was still observing the brazier and waspletely oblivious to the change. One had to remember that she was a divine champion¡ªthe Pointer Monarch had deployed an illusion in front of her and brought Qianye into the mountain behind the hall, all without her notice. His capabilities were quite terrifying. But then again, the Pointer Monarch had always been the number one expert and pir of the empire, so it was normal for him to be that powerful.

    At this point, Caroline looked up and said in suprise, ¡°Something¡¯s changed about you.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    Caroline stared fixedly at Qianye for a long while. ¡°I can¡¯t put my finger on it, but your aura is somehow different.¡±

    As a smart person, she understood after some contemtion. ¡°You received more pointers from the monarch?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an illusory realm,¡± Qianye admitted.

    Caroline sighed lightly. ¡°How enviable.¡±

    Both of them understood that Caroline couldn¡¯t receive the inheritance due to herck of aptitude. In other words, the Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t look upon her favorably¡ªbut things like that couldn¡¯t be forced. It was obvious from the arrangements of the Heartseeker Path that this fragment of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s will was easily capable of borrowing the Earth Dragon¡¯s power to kill a couple of divine champions. Hence, Caroline looked somewhat regretful, but she didn¡¯t have any other thoughts.

    Qianye walked over to the stone table and moved it to the side as he had seen in the illusory world. The walls slowly moved away to reveal the passage behind.

    Qianye picked up the engine box. ¡°Let¡¯s go, the Martyr¡¯s Pce is inside.¡±

    The two advanced along the path and soon reached the center of the mountains. The ce was identical to the chamber he had seen in the illusion.

    The grand structure in front caused Caroline¡¯s expression to change. Her entire body trembled, and her countenance turned pale when her eyes fell onto the giant heart.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qianye felt something was off.

    Caroline nced at the defect in the heart, saying, ¡°Is that where the engine goes? Is this Martyr¡¯s Pce really a warship?¡±

    ¡°It is.¡± Qianye hid nothing from her.

    Her countenance gradually recovered as electric sparks leapt about over her body. Apparently, she had utilized great power in order to resist the pressure from the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart.

    Qianye was curious¡ªthe Earth Dragon¡¯s heart was indeed emitting pressure, but it would cause his heart to tighten slightly at most, and the feeling would disappear with a bit of suppression. Caroline was much stronger than him, so why was it so difficult for her to endure? Could it be that she had suffered some internal damage during the ascent? But Qianye hadn¡¯t noticed any signs of difort from her before.

    ¡°You go over, I¡¯ll wait here,¡± said Caroline.

    Qianye didn¡¯t refuse. He picked up the engine from the box and, keeping his reflexive nervousness in check, walked step by step toward the heart. As he got closer to the heart, he could feel the suppressive might increase exponentially, and the faint sounds of bestial roars echoed in his ears. At this point, Qianye¡¯s body was ovee by an inherent fear¡ªhis heart had slowed down to the point of nearly stopping. His blood core was pulsing tenaciously, but its frequency had also fallen sharply.

    If Qianye were purely human, his vitality would¡¯ve withered and died from the terror of standing before the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart. Even his ancient vampire bloodline powers were somewhatckingpared to the favored children of the world.

    Qianye was in no rush to put the engine in ce. Instead, he took in the suppressive might of the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart for a while. His three daybreak origin vortices fluctuated in the wake of this iing suppression and neutralized a fair part of it. Otherwise, Qianye would never be able to reach the heart even with his vampiric constitution¡ªthis thing was a powerful weapon of destruction, reaping all life wherever it stood.

    This was likely the effect of his Venus Dawn.

    Qianye picked up the engine and ced it in the defect. Then, he activated the switch ording to the instructions and ced three drops of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood in the fuel chamber. The engine let out a light hum as its shell popped open. Countless sharp needles reached out from the engine and pierced into the silver heart, effectively merging the two parts together.

    One key step remained. Qianye opened a cover on the engine shell and ced East Peak on his wrist. All he needed now was to pour his fresh blood into the engine, and this merged machine would permanently record Qianye¡¯s information. In the future, Qianye would possess perpetual and unique authority over the airship¡ªthat was unless they destroyed the engine and made a new one. But even the imperial military would need several years toplete such a task.

    Instead of making his move, Qianye looked back and asked, ¡°It¡¯ll be toote if you don¡¯t do it now.¡±

 Chapter 803: Hijacking

    Caroline smiled. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Once I pour my blood in, it won¡¯t be an easy matter to erase. There might not be any person capable of repairing this thing in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it fine to just give it to you? We''ve agreed on it before.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re not moved by the Martyr¡¯s Pce?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that interested, otherwise, I would¡¯ve formed my own power in the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye only watched her in silence.

    Caroline avoided Qianye¡¯s eyes andughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Fine, I admit I was indeed shocked and tempted after getting here. But I could sense a mortal peril when I tried to approach the heart. I guess that person doesn¡¯t want me to dip my fingers into this.¡±

    Qianye gave Caroline¡¯s surprising honesty a nod of approval. Then he slit his wrist with East Peak, sending a gush of blood into the opening. The hum of the engine grew louder and louder as his blood invaded the machine. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s consciousness connected to the machine and gradually extended toward every part of the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Wherever the silver threads from the heart stretched was where Qianye¡¯s consciousness would reach.

    This was a fairly wondrous feeling, almost as though he had be the Earth Dragon itself. It was just that there were so many damaged parts on the dragon that it felt exceptionally heavy.

    However, this feeling onlysted a brief moment before Qianye was evidently ovee by exhaustion. The Earth Dragon¡¯s body was too strong¡ªits burden on the current Qianye was too great despite the control and regtion afforded by the engine.

    As the engine spun faster and faster, a silver luster began flowing over the heart. The entire mountain started to tremble, sending mud and gravel rolling off of it. At this moment, the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart was in the process of recovering its vitality, and the Martyr¡¯s Pce finally woke up from its deep slumber.

    The mountain ridge on the summit began to shake. Cracks appeared all over the mountain and expanded rapidly as sheets of rocks began to slough off. It looked nothing short of a natural disaster, almost as if the entire mountain was falling apart. Amidst the eruption of stone and soil, a giant beast rose into the air and hovered silently therein.

    Only at this point did the Martyr¡¯s Pce truly reveal its external appearance. From a distance, it was like a colossus that had lost most of its flesh, leaving only an intact skeleton. The internal space was over a thousand meters long, but the external length was over three thousand including its head and tail!

    Only some parts of the body were covered in flesh¡ªmainly the keel¡ªwhile the rest was an empty skeleton, through which one could easily see outside. Under the control of the silver strands stretching out from the heart, the Earth Dragon¡¯s skin was covered in a thickyer of rocks. This was the Earth Dragon¡¯s unique power, the ability to control rocks and soil¡ªthe thickyer of stone outside its flesh acted as a form of natural armor.

    Merely maintaining this kind of constitution and keeping it afloat in the air required terrifying amounts of kic energy. A battleship at full-output would barely be able to keep the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton afloat, and even then, it wouldn¡¯tst very long.

    Qianye had already let go of his control over the Martyr¡¯s Pce. It was just that the short moment of bringing the pce into the air already made him feel giddy.

    At this moment, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was nothing more than a framework; even the outer shell was iplete. Flight was currently dependent on the void colossus¡¯ inherent ability. Fortunately, there was a natural defensive barrier around its body, protecting it from the cold wind and turbulence. Despite the airship¡¯s simplicity, those sky-piercing spine bones stood in silent disy of the void colossus¡¯ might when it was alive.

    Qianye flew around the inside and outside of the Martyr¡¯s Pce and took note of its size and scale. The Earth Dragon possessed a pair of short wings which, when spread out, would make for the perfect weapon tform. The rows of spine bones formed natural masts from which to hang the airship¡¯s sails. The Earth Dragon¡¯s skull was extremely sturdy. It could easily support the ship¡¯s main cannon while acting as a control room and protecting themanding officers of the ship.

    As for the other parts of the airship, Qianye didn¡¯t have any clue as to their uses. The Martyr¡¯s pce was simply too big, so big that it could hold a mothership inside.

    ¡°Where do you n to go now?¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even replied when he felt his entire body tremble. Streams of chaotic winds kicked up, gentling rocking the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Looking down from the side, he could see that the manyyers of space around the peak were copsing. The Heartseeker Path had been destroyed, and so was the gate to and from the underground maze. From today on, this ce would truly be an isted ind.

    With the Martyr¡¯s Pce, however, Qianye coulde back to thisnd at will. He was actually safer now that the passage to the underground maze had been blocked.

    Two figures flew out of the origin tempest all of a sudden and broke through the force field surrounding the Martyr¡¯s Pce. They rushed into the vessel at about the same time and appeared stunned upon seeing one another. Qianye was also quite surprised¡ªwho would¡¯ve thought udia and Bluemoon would survive these adverse circumstances? Moreover, they seemed to be in fairly good shape.

    Bluemoon and udia were filled with killing intent, but they didn¡¯t start fighting one another immediately. Instead, they looked around and finally saw the giant silver heart, as well as the engine installed upon it.

    Even an idiot would know that it was a key location here, to speak nothing of the fact that these two knew quite a bit. They erupted with power at the same time and rushed for the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart. At the same time, Bluemoon aimed arge-caliber origin gun at Qianye¡¯s head, and udia stabbed at Qianye¡¯s waist with a dagger.

    Both of them had the same idea and they were equally ruthless. If Qianye decided to take their attacks in order to fight for the control-rights, they really didn¡¯t mind killing him in passing.

    Bluemoon¡¯s shot was so well-timed that Qianye had no choice but to lean backward to evade. However, this movement reduced his speed, allowing Bluemoon to pass by and head for the heart.

    Qianye lowered his right hand and pped away udia¡¯s dagger, but thetter also managed to overtake him.

    The two girls literally flew toward the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, but Qianye wasn¡¯t worried in the slightest. On the contrary, he sneered in secret and watched on with cold eyes.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s trap on the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart was still in ce. It was, at first, meant for people like Elder Wei and Caroline, so using it against these two girls was fairly excessive.

    Just as they were about to reach the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, Bluemoon¡¯s hair suddenly stood on end. She let out a shrill scream and ran backward at an even greater speed. udia was slightly slower, but she held her steps without any hesitation after seeing Bluemoon¡¯s actions. Soon afterward, she turned pale from the terror of imminent destruction and also backtracked.

    The sharpness of their senses surprised Qianye quite a bit. Caroline sensing the Pointer Monarch¡¯s set up was no surprise, but these girls sensing the lethal danger was a clear indication that their talents weren¡¯t bad.

    They could escape one cmity, but not the second. Qianye stopped their path of retreat with East Peak in hand, asking with a spurious smile, ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    ¡°Move!¡± udia¡¯s expression sank as she roared with a stern voice.

    ¡°Why must I?¡± Qianye broke into augh.

    Bluemoon shot udia a nce and stepped closer to her. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°That¡¯s what I should be asking you.¡±

    Bluemoon¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re intent on robbing our dragonship?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was one of mockery. ¡°Your dragonship? What makes it yours?¡±

    Bluemoon said furiously, ¡°Our tribe¡¯s ancestor was one of the first people to enter the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. This ce was discovered by my ancestor, so this dragonship belongs to our tribe!¡±

    ¡°Does that mean everything your ancestorys eyes on belongs to your tribe? Besides, your ancestor is not the only one who found thisir. As far as I remember, there were quite a lot of people, and your ancestor is merely a mercenary following them.¡±

    Bluemoon said with a cold voice, ¡°Are you sure about going against us Highbeards in the neutralnds?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression also turned serious as Bluemoon¡¯s rudeness infuriated him. ¡°So what if I am?¡±

    ¡°You think you¡¯re a match for us?¡±

    ¡°Us?¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes shifted toward udia. ¡°If I remember clearly, there¡¯s a vendetta between you two. Now you¡¯re referring to yourselves as ¡®us¡¯?

    udia said expressionlessly, ¡°Of course, we have to kill you first before discussing how to split the dragonship.¡±

    Qianye sighed in the end. ¡°You guys don¡¯t even know the history of this Martyr¡¯s Pce, yet you dare to say such things. How embarrassing.¡±

    udia replied indifferently, ¡°This is the neutralnds, and prestige means nothing here. You must fight for whatever you want, and you have only yourself to me if you fail.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s all on you if you can¡¯t seize the prize,¡± Qianye replied.

    udia felt something strange about the situation. Qianye was too calm, so calm that it didn¡¯t feel quite right. It was at this time that her eyes wandered around and finally saw Caroline in the distance.

    The divine champion was leaning against a rib bone with her arms folded, seemingly pondering something. She had actually been standing there this whole time, but it seemed like she had vanished from this world after retracting her aura. Neither udia nor Bluemoon had noticed her.

    This feat wasn¡¯t easy to aplish, even for a divine champion like Caroline. udia¡¯s expression turned quite unsightly for a moment as she realized that she had underestimated Caroline.

    udia reacted rapidly. ¡°Your Excellency Caroline, I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here. This is wonderful! We¡¯d like to invite you to kill this brat, and after that, the dragonship will be ours.¡±

    Caroline smiled indifferently. ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯ll be ours. It¡¯ll more likely be the Moonlight Demon¡¯s, am I wrong?¡±

    udia replied, ¡°If Your Excellency Caroline gives up on the dragonship, we¡¯ll naturally offer amplepensation. The vessel has no major use for a true expert, right?¡±

 Chapter 804: Seizing Enemies

    ¡°Compensation? What kind ofpensation can outdo a dragonship?¡± Caroline shot a nce at udia. ¡°Has Mask¡¯s aspirations gone so wild that he wants to unify the neutralnds?¡±

    udia was shaken because she knew that Caroline was warning her. If news of the dragonship were to spread, it wasn¡¯t just the surrounding experts¡ªeven the supreme characters of the neutralnds mighte to rob the prize. No matter how powerful Mask was, he wouldn¡¯t be able to contend against everyone.

    But how could udia give up on the dragonship at this point? She said through clenched teeth, ¡°That¡¯s not for me to worry about. Your Excellency Caroline, please help me seize this dragonship first!¡±

    Caroline shot a nce at Qianye and shrugged. ¡°I owe Mask a favor, so I¡¯ll feel bad about attacking them. I¡¯ll just stay out this time, you can deal with these two fellows, right?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so difficult about that?¡± Qianye replied indifferently.

    udia was shocked. ¡°Your Excellency Caroline! You¡¯re helping this bastard!?¡±

    Caroline waved her hands. ¡°Wrong, I said I¡¯m not helping anyone.¡±

    udia still couldn¡¯t understand why Caroline was suddenly on Qianye¡¯s side. Bluemoon shouted, ¡°Go!¡±

    Her words hadn¡¯t even ended when she opened fire at Qianye. udia understood that she could only assume Caroline wouldn¡¯t join the fight at this point. Taking Qianye down took precedence, so she drew her sword and shed at Qianye.

    Qianye destroyed the iing origin bullet with a swing of his left hand and, at the same time, shed at udia with East Peak!

    This sh contained such extreme weight that the surrounding space seemed to be dragged along with the de¡¯s descent. udia¡¯s body floated upward for a brief moment and actually drifted toward the iing sword!

    Shocked out of her wits, she could no longer pay attention to attacking Qianye. She turned her sword about and swung it toward East Peak, nning to deflect Qianye¡¯s heavy sword with her exquisite swordy. As the two des came into contact, a raging tidal-wave of origin power erupted from East Peak. The impact utterly destroyed her own origin power, defeating it entirely.

    Greatly astonished, udia had to drive her darkness origin power to the max in order to barely force down Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn. This made her advancement rather cumbersome and prevented her from putting her sword arts to use.

    The two des came together with a loud ng! An invisible ripple spread out in all directions¡ªthe Earth Dragon¡¯s flesh remained unaffected, but a fair part of the stony outeryer was blown away.

    A flushed udia took several steps back in quick session. This attack had turned into a contest of brute force between the two parties. She might be one level higher in terms of origin power, but her physical strength was far inferiorpared to Qianye. East Peak was also iparably heavy and powerful; a single sh from it almost knocked udia¡¯s sword out of her grasp.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to give her breathing space. He arrived in front of her in a single step and shed down with great force!

    This sh caused the surrounding space to be stagnant. The intense pressure bore down upon udia¡¯s body and made difficult for her to evade. She knew that this was a domain power, but she had no extra strength to y this game with Qianye. Numerous sanguineous patterns appeared on her body, but that much exertion was only enough for self-preservation.

    ¡°ng!¡± udia took yet another blow from Qianye, staggering a dozen steps backward from the impact. Qianye followed inrge strides,unching a raging torrent of shes at his target.

    This was an unreasonable method of fighting, but udia simply had no way to deal with it. The Oceanic Vortex and East Peak stopped her from disying her powerful sword arts and forced her to take each blow in the clumsiest of manners. She was really hoping for Bluemoon¡¯s help at this moment, but there had been no movement at all from the Highbeard girl.

    udia nced around but found no traces of Bluemoon. Apparently, she had gone into stealth mode and was waiting for an opportunity to deal the killing blow. There was no telling how long udia couldst or if she would even survive this ordeal, yet Bluemoon was still waiting for the ideal moment. Was she trying to borrow Qianye¡¯s hand to kill her? udia was full of hatred, but there was nothing she could do.

    At this moment, Bluemoon was also feeling quite stifled as she roamed about from several dozen meters away. The Oceanic Vortex would grow stronger whenever she approached Qianye. Due to her firm willpower and the support of her mechanical parts, she enjoyed a high resistance to the Earth Dragon¡¯s pressure. But the Oceanic Vortex applied weight straight onto her body and was the bane of her existence. There were no shortcuts to use against this domain, only pure power.

    This slowed down her movements and sharply increased the difficulty of her ambush. Stealth was one of her advantages, but for some reason, she would sense extreme danger whenever she approached Qianye¡ªit felt as if she would suffer an immediate counterattack. Bluemoon had to suppress her power to remain in a stealthed state, which meant that she couldn¡¯t take on a single blow from Qianye.

    Bluemoon noticed udia¡¯s plight, as well as the key to her loss. But what could she do after several failed approaches? Bluemoon even thought about taking an all-out risk, but Qianye would always look in her direction if she so much as stepped a bit closer. A subconscious notion popped up in Bluemoon¡¯s mind¡ªcould he see her?

    Qianye was feeling just as helpless regarding Bluemoon. At first, he had wanted to lure the girl in and kill her. He had nned to use the Oceanic Vortex to restrain her movements andunch an area attack with Sweeping Calm, severely wounding her in a single blow. Who knew Bluemoon¡¯s intuition would be so sharp? Moreover, she was fairly cautious and only circled around him without attacking.

    Her caution was both good and bad. Although Qianye couldn¡¯t see Bluemoon with his True Sight, the origin flow within his domain would reveal an outline of her figure. Hence, Qianye simply ignored Bluemoon and let loose on udia, pushing her to the verge of copse.

    While Bluemoon was hesitating, udia¡¯s sword was knocked away with a loud ng, and Qianye rammed into her right afterward. udia was flung away, feeling as though she had been struck by a void colossus. She crashed onto one of the Earth Dragon¡¯s ribs and gradually slid down from it.

    Her face was flushed red and blood streaked out of the corners of her mouth. She red at Qianye with fierce eyes but didn¡¯t even have the power to raise an arm.

    Bluemoon made a prompt decision to turn tail and run. However, this decision came toote. The pressure over her increased sharply, causing her overloaded kic mechanisms to creak and groan. Meanwhile, an expressionless Qianye arrived before her in a sh and swang East Peak down on her head!

    ¡°I surrender!!!¡± Bluemoon screamed.

    East Peak let out a soft hum as it stopped right atop her head. A little bit further and it would¡¯ve split her head into two.

    Bluemoon stared at the sharp edge with eyes full of terror. Her hood had been split into two¡ªher long hair danced about in the wind as a streak of blood ran down from between them. Pale and terrified, Bluemoon didn¡¯t dare to move a single inch, lest she be cut into two halves.

    She waited for a moment, but that which she feared the most didn¡¯t happen. Only then did Bluemoon heave a sigh of relief and her face became less flushed.

    Qianye didn¡¯t pull East Peak back just yet. He said indifferently, ¡°Give me one reason not to kill you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very useful!¡± Bluemoon regained her confidence after escaping the threat of death.

    Qianye looked on in silence.

    After failing to receive the expected reply, Bluemoon said with a forced smile, ¡°I¡¯m the Shieldmaiden of the Highbeard tribe, equal to a holy daughter in other organizations. If you let me go, the tribe will be very grateful.¡±

    Qianye smiled calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t test my patience. Say something useful, this is yourst chance.¡±

    Bluemoon had no choice but to toss out her ace card. ¡°I can help you repair the dragonship!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±

    ¡°All Highbeards are master machinists. This dragonship¡¯s kic and structural principles are beyond my scope, but that¡¯s just the core system. A true legendary warship isn¡¯t only about the core system¡ªdefense, radar, weaponry, and even crew entertainment facilities are very important. These things don¡¯t require profound knowledge. We Highbheards have been mercenaries for hundreds of years, and we have sufficient channels to get you these facilities.¡±

    ¡°In the end, you just want me to let you go.¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes were cold.

    Bluemoon replied with some difficulty, ¡°I can remain on the ship, at your side. Will that do?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    Bluemoon bit her lips. ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    Bluemoon wasn¡¯t exactly a peerless talent, but she was still quite delicate and pretty. It was just that her cold expression and the Highbeards¡¯ notoriety took away from her attraction. At the moment, though, she really hoped her appearance would be of some help in softening Qianye¡¯s heart.

    But Qianye¡¯s words destroyed her hopes. ¡°Remove all your weaponry and extra kic equipment, only leave enough for basic movement. You can stay if you agree to this.¡±

    Bluemoon¡¯s face turned pale. As smart as she was, she didn¡¯t ask what would happen if she were to refuse. There wasn¡¯t a need to, either, because Qianye would¡¯ve killed her immediately.

    ¡°I agree.¡± These words were spoken with great difficulty. Then, under Qianye¡¯s cold eyes, Bluemoon clenched her teeth and started to remove her clothes.

    No matter howplicated one¡¯s apparel was, there could be no more than a few articles. Momentster, Bluemoon was standing naked in front of Qianye. She was quite clear-cut with her actions¡ªknowing that she couldn¡¯t escape this ordeal, she removed everything down to her underwear.

    This was perhaps the first time the Highbeard Shieldmaiden¡¯s true appearance had been revealed to the world.

    The outline of Bluemoon¡¯s body was quite elegant, but there were signs of modification all over her. Her left arm was mostly machine, with only a small part of actual flesh remaining. Her right arm was actually intact, but there was a silvery line under her fingers. Apparently, there were also modifications under her skin.

    Her left breast wasplete, but her right chest had been reced by a sheet of metal. Through the translucent cap, one could see two pieces of high-purity ck crystals embedded inside the machinery. This was the source of energy driving her machinery.

    The modifications to the lower half of her body were even more evident. Almost every joint was host to an independent kic system, and there was a bright silver te on her abdomen to protect the vital organs within.

    In addition to all that, there were a dozen or so blue metallic nodes spread across her body. Qianye reached out to touch these round nodes and found that they were rather warm, and their texture felt both metallic and gem-like. He had no idea what they were used for.

    ¡°What are these things for?¡± Qianye inquired.

 Chapter 805: Secret of the Martyrâ€™s Palace

    Bluemoon said softly, ¡°You¡¯ve seen my concealment ability. This is the origin array used to activate the stealth forcefield.¡±

    ¡°A genius idea.¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration. He had never seen an imntable origin array with such miraculous effects. As people who had dominated the mercenary world for hundreds of years, the Highbeards possessed their fair share of unique technology.

    Qianye¡¯s evaluation reminded Bluemoon of the past. Her body trembled ever so slightly as she said, ¡°Not everyone can receive such an imnt. The process is incredibly painful, and most people won¡¯t live long afterward.¡±

    This surprised Qianye. ¡°How about you then?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the same for me.¡±

    Caroline cut in at this moment, ¡°Highbeards will only undergo major modifications toward the end of their life, as a means to increase their fighting power. This kind of transformation apparently shortens their lives, otherwise, the Highbeards will be gods.¡±

    Bluemoon said, ¡°Divine champions rarely appear among us Highbeards. In order to preserve our way of life, all we can do is raise the fighting power of each tribesman and work in unison.¡±

    Toward the end of this sentence, Bluemoon¡¯s expression became quite dejected.

    Qianye inquired further and formed a rough idea of the mechanical parts on her body. Afterward, he removed all of her weapons and the high-purity ck crystal from her chest, recing it with a half-drained ordinary ck crystal. With this ck crystal as her energy source, Bluemoon wouldn¡¯t be able to raise her speed to escape. Even if she somehow did get away, she would run out of fuel after a hundred kilometers. It was no easy feat to find a refueling ce within a hundred kilometers in the vast neutralnds.

    After doing all that, Qianye returned Bluemoon¡¯s clothes and walked over to udia.

    Caroline¡¯s figure appeared in Qianye¡¯s path. ¡°You want to kill her?¡±

    ¡°What else? Must I wait for Mask toe knocking on my door?¡±

    Caroline sighed lightly. ¡°Mask and I go way back, I also watched this girl grow up. I can¡¯t stand by as you kill her, at least not this time. Let her swear not to disclose what happened here, then let her go.¡±

    ¡°Swear?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. If swearing was of any use, why would there be so many disputes in this world?

    Caroline¡¯s silhouette flickered once more and returned with udia in her arms. ¡°You heard what I just said, right?¡±

    udia was quite stubborn. ¡°What if I go back on my oath?¡±

    Caroline replied, ¡°That will be the end of the friendship between His Excellency Mask and I. I will stand on Qianye¡¯s side on the battlefield and fight the Moonlight Demons to the death.¡±

    udia¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°Your confidence is indeed different from before.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a given aftering to this ce and walking out of it alive.¡± Caroline smiled.

    This verified udia¡¯s guess. Caroline had definitely obtained great benefits from this ce and would break through very soon. If that were the case, the difference between Mask and her would shrink evidently, at least to the point of contending with him.

    If Caroline could keep Mask in check, there would be no one to stop Qianye. udia understood¡ªafter fighting him personally¡ªthat thebination of his heavy sword, physique, and domain was indefensible. Even a divine champion would have to treat an all-out sh from Qianye seriously. She really couldn¡¯t think of anyone below that rank who could fight head-on against him, except perhaps the inherently strong arachne and werewolves.

    This meant the Moonlight Demons would suffer grave casualties if they wanted to take Qianye down. The most important part was that Qianye was in possession of the Dragonship. Even though it was just a shell, how were they going to chase after him?

    udia gave it some thought. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take the oath, but I also want some benefits.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°A drop of Earth Dragon¡¯s blood.¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°Okay.¡±

    udia was really surprised. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll scam you?¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Well, what difference does it make?¡±

    udia spoke no more. She took the medicine Caroline had just passed her and then sat down to heal her injuries. Whether it was a subconscious action or otherwise, she chose a spot quite a distance away from the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce.¡± Qianye walked over to the engine and began to control it.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s heart began beating slowly as the engine began operating at high speed. The giant ship formed of the Earth Dragon¡¯s remains seemingly came to life, ascending, speeding up, and eventually flying away.

    Gazing at the distant ind, Caroline said softly, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡±

    ¡°Thank you for letting udia off, I know you did it because of me.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°If we must talk about gratitude, I should be the one thanking you. Actually, I still don¡¯t understand why you would suddenly give up on the opportunity to kill me and obtain all of this.¡±

    This problem had been lingering in Qianye¡¯s heart for a long while. He only brought it up after Caroline had clearly expressed her goodwill and even a bit of charm. He had never once believed that he was attractive enough to make a divine champion switch sides in battle.

    Caroline sighed lightly. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. If I must give a reason, I guess it¡¯s my admiration for that person."

    Qianye nodded, thinking that it made sense. Martial Ancestor once said that one would only know the immensity of heaven and earth after reaching the top. Only those closest to the peak would truly understand how frightening the Pointer Monarch was, and the shock Caroline had gone through should be much greater than Qianye¡¯s. Now that he had received a part of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance, Caroline must¡¯ve transferred a part of this emotion onto him.

    Martyr¡¯s Pce finally left the isted ind and flew toward the closest Eastern-Seandmass. It couldn¡¯t be considered aplete warship since it didn¡¯t even have a real engine. Nheless, it could still float through space by virtue of the void colossus¡¯ power. Although the vessel¡¯s speed wasn¡¯t anything to write home about, it could still cross the void with rtive ease.

    It took an entire two days from the lone ind to the Eastern Sea. This journey was neither close nor far, quite suitable for traveling to and fro. There were no otherndmasses near the lone ind, and it was clear of airship flight paths. Hence, very few people ever came here. Even if there were passersby, they simply couldn¡¯t see the forcefield around this ind¡ªand the fact that it could support life¡ªwithout getting close enough.

    Later on, when the time was ripe, this ind would also make for a fairly good estate.

    udia spent these two days in silent cultivation. After obtaining the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood, she chose to absorb and refine it immediately. In two day¡¯s time, most of the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood had been absorbed. It would seem she was intent onpleting the absorption process before going back.

    Bluemoon seemed to have resigned herself to her fate of following Qianye. She was far from used to moving about without her kic equipment, but she inspected the Martyr¡¯s Pce sector by sector, drafting numerous diagrams for the nning. These diagrams were fairlyplex; one could see at a nce that it came from a professional. Qianye picked up a couple of them and studied them for some time, but he found himself unable to make heads or tails about it. He could only put the papers back and admit that he wasn¡¯t made to work on ships.

    Two dayster, the Martyr¡¯s Pce arrived on the borders of the Eastern Sea Continent. Caroline and udia both got off here and set out on their own return journey.

    Caroline was eager to go back and absorb the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood and attempt one more breakthrough. The advancement of a divine champion was no small matter, and it was likely that Qianye wouldn¡¯t be seeing her for a while. udia said nothing as she left¡ªshe neither said goodbye nor disyed any killing intent. She looked at Qianye as though she would a stranger, making it difficult for thetter to guess her thoughts.

    Be it in the empire or Evernight, udia was destined to rise among the geniuses. Petty-minded people might find it difficult to allow such a person to mature. To Qianye, however, a genius he had caught up to was no longer a genius¡ªthe distance between them would only growrger. Besides, Qianye had already promised Caroline, and he certainly wasn¡¯t willing to break his promise to thedy who had, in a way, saved his life.

    After udia and Caroline were out of sight and the Martyr¡¯s Pce had taken to the air once more, Bluemoon arrived beside Qianye with a thick stack of drawings. ¡°The basic sketches have been plotted out, but we need to work on each section in greater detail. It¡¯ll take two year¡¯s time if you rely on me alone toplete the designs.¡±

    This rate of progress surprised Qianye a fair bit. Not to mention a giant void airship like the Martyr¡¯s Pce, even an ordinary battleship¡¯s upgrade designs required close to a thousand people working for two years. If Bluemoon wasn¡¯t bluffing, that meant she was truly a genius.

    Qianye felt somewhat of a headache as he nced at the stack of papers. Bluemoon was going to hand him the sketches at first but tactfully put them away after noticing his expression. Instead, she pointed at udia¡¯s direction and said, ¡°Are you really letting her go like that?¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°What do you mean to say?¡±

    ¡°I just feel that it¡¯s a dumb method to put your hopes on her being able to keep this secret.¡±

    ¡°Then how do we make her keep this secret?¡±

    ¡°Simple, dead men tell no tales.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine even if she talks about it.¡±

    Qianye had already given this matter repeated thought, and releasing udia was actually the result of deep contemtion. Whether udia kept her words or not, it would only deepen Caroline¡¯s position at Qianye¡¯s side. As for the Moonlight Demon¡¯s retaliation, Qianye didn¡¯t need to be afraid because he had the Martyr¡¯s Pce in his control. Actually, the Pointer Monarch had left a couple of secrets in the Martyr¡¯s Pce that Qianye hadn''t even told Caroline about.

    One of them was the power left behind on the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart that hadn¡¯t been activated to this day. The energy was still intact thanks to the power of the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart and had even grown a bit stronger. If someone were to approach the heart and try to seize the control rights, they would suffer an attack from the Pointer Monarch. The man had only just reached the heavenly monarch realm back then and his power would be discounted during storage, but that wasn¡¯t something an ordinary divine champion could take.

    Only Qianye, who possessed a top-grade daybreak origin power, could control the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart without activating the Pointer Monarch¡¯s trap. He already understood that the reason for him obtaining the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance was actually due to his Venus Dawn.

    He was told that Venus Dawn stood proof of Qianye¡¯s temperament and confirmed that he wouldn¡¯t turn to Evernight. Actually, Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand this logic¡ªcould it be that those with inclinations toward the dark races wouldn¡¯t be able to inherit Venus Dawn?

    The other important secret was the one Qianye nned to use now. It was a set of coordinates carved in the depths of the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart.

 Chapter 806: Secret Realm in the North

    Qianye ced his hand on the engine, merging his consciousness with the Martyr¡¯s Pce and slowly mobilizing the heart¡¯s power ording to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s instructions. The pce began to tremble slightly and a rippling glow appeared on the surface of its bones. Boundless void origin power converged into the area, almost as though it would form a tempest.

    Bluemoon was shocked. She gazed at Qianye¡¯s back, lost in unknown thoughts.

    Qianye once again confirmed the coordinates. The Martyr¡¯s Pce sped up and rose into the skies, and then flickered out of existence.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce jumped out of the void momentster. Qianye arrived at the side of the vessel and found that they had arrived in an unfamiliarnd. Thisnd was fairly elevated with the ocean bordering its front. Two precipitous mountain ranges ran along either side of it, stretching into the unknown and forming a natural coastline. The entire region was a hignd¡ªthe surrounding mountains were covered in white snow with strong winds blowing through constantly. Additionally, Qianye could see strands of ck roaming around its summit.

    That was void origin power, energy so dense that it was already tangible. From Qianye¡¯s altitude and with his superior vision, he could see hundreds of kilometers away. Being visible at such a range spoke volumes about the intensity of the void origin power there.

    Such dense void origin power meant that the space around the mountaintops wasn¡¯t stable. There would often be turbulent flows of origin power or even void tempests. The force field walls surrounding the continent might also vanish for no reason. Even though suchpses were brief, it would expose people to the void environment. Apart from heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs, no one had ever managed to live freely in the void without external protection.

    Ordinary airships wouldn¡¯t even dare to get close to such an environment, let alone pass through it. The steep mountains below and the turbulent void above protected this piece ofnd, keeping it hidden from public eyes. Only an expert like the Pointer Monarch, who could freely roam the void, would be able to explore such a ce.

    Qianye jumped up onto the roof of the Martyr¡¯s Pce and observed the surroundings. He discovered that this was a vast piece ofnd spanning almost a thousand kilometers in diameter. It waspletely uninhabited but full of vitality. The melting snow on the mountaintops flowed down as streams. These creeks converged into small rivers, several of which then came together to form arger one. The rivers eventually formed three giant rivers that flowed into the raging Eastern Sea.

    Rivers meant fertile ins, grasnds, forests, and life. There were severalkes and valleys scattered across the central region of this hignd. There was one closer to the sea that was adorned in deep verdant shades, a scenery seen only on the southern side of the empire. There was a crescentke at the center of the valley with steamy mist lingering on its surface¡ªit was almost like an immortal realm.

    The entirend was enough to fit three imperial provinces. In the eyes of the ambitious, this was a great location to build a n. Perhaps due to the ferocity of void origin power on the mountain ranges, the energy around the nds was much thinner than in the neutralnds. It was only a bit denser than the empire¡¯s and would allow ordinary people to barely survive here.

    As for cultivation, experts naturally had ces to go to. The void origin power on the mountain ranges was so dense that it was tangible and the supply was endless. It was just that absorbing void origin power required a powerful constitution, and not many people in the entire world could do it.

    Following tens of thousands of years of saturation in void origin power, there was simply no telling how much mineral these mountains would produce. At the very least, there had to be vast amounts of ck stone and extremely rich deposits of ck crystal.

    Calcting in terms of void origin power and minerals, thisnd could be the foundation of an emperor.

    Qianye drove the Martyr¡¯s Pce toward the misty valley and steered it into gradual descent. After walking out of the vessel¡¯s protection, he could sense a warm, inexplicablyfortable breeze in his face.

    ¡°Sofortable.¡± Bluemoon walked out from behind Qianye.

    The weather in this valley was vastly different, with evidently higher temperatures and humidity. The valley floor was carpeted in lush grass, and there was a small grove growing along a hillside. It could be said that the scenery here was like a painting.

    Qianye came to theke and tested it out. Theke-water was warm, meaning that there was either a hot-spring or magma flow under the ground. Theke was inhabited by a type of white fish. Judging from how active they were, there was no doubt that these arm-sized fish were plump and delicious.

    This would be an extremelyfortable ce to live.

    Not far from the valley stood the cliffs overlooking the sea. The cliffs here were hundreds of meters above sea-level and made up of precipitous walls. The waves would produce thunderous roars as they crashed onto the rocks, their peaks almost reaching the top of the sea cliff.

    On one side was the gentle, southern scenery, while on the other was the majesty of the boundless sea. The best scenery in the world couldn¡¯t be better than this.

    Bluemoon was finding it hard to move about since, at the moment, she was only slightly more powerful than an ordinary person. She was being flown about by Qianye for the most part and had gotten dizzy in just a short while. Even so, she had nothing but praises for thisnd.

    ording to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s records, the sea in front of them was the Eastern Sea. This uniquendscape was located in its northern corner. The Pointer Monarch¡¯s theory was that this independentndmass had collided with the Eastern Sea Continent during the fall of the Void Valley Star and merged with it to form this impressive spectacle.

    Due to its distance from the other continents and the division of the Eastern Sea, the Pointer Monarch named this ce the Northern Continent.

    The name, Northern Continent, was meaningfully chosen. A province could house an aristocratic family, several of them could serve as the foundation of a major n, and a continent was a stairway to heaven. If a scheming person were to report this matter back to the empire, the Pointer Monarch would be charged for treason just because of this name.

    But whether it was called Northern Continent or Northern Province, none of this had anything to do with Qianye. Eastern Sea was the first ce he hade to after arriving in the neutralnds. If they had arrived at this ce in the very beginning, all the changes that followed might not have urred. Nighteye might still be with him, along with Zhuji and the old man. They could¡¯ve lived on this beautifulnd for several decades or even their whole lives. That wouldn¡¯t be so bad.

    Unfortunately, it was all toote. Besides, Qianye couldn¡¯t tell whether it would be considered happiness or selfishness to have Nighteye give up her seat on the sacred mountain and live a simple life with him.

    He sighed lightly at the thought of this.

    At this point, Bluemoon bowed to Qianye and said, ¡°Sire Qianye, thisnd is a heaven-bestowed estate! If you¡¯re willing, our Highbeard tribe will help you with all that we have to establish a massive power here. Before long, you¡¯ll be able to contend with the likes of Spider Emperor and the Moonlight Demons. You can even establish a nation here should you desire!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I have no interest in hegemony, but this really is a good ce. It won¡¯t be so bad to live here.¡±

    Inwardly frustrated, Bluemoon said hurriedly, ¡°That won¡¯t do! That¡¯s too much of a waste. Besides, with your peerless talents and the dragonship in your hands, how can you settle for obscurity? Even if you don¡¯t desire power and riches, you must want to leave asting legacy in this world, right?¡±

    Qianye refused still. Bluemoon urged him tirelessly, citing everything from business to upholding righteousness in thend; she had never been so eloquent before.

    ¡°Sire, since you have the power to do so, why won¡¯t you build up some benefits for people like me who follow you? Your family and brothers might not be willing to settle for mediocrity. They must want better lives and to escape the oppression of those above them. It¡¯s always better to expect from oneself than others. If you want the people around you to be free from oppression, the only thing you can do is ascend to the top. After reaching the apex, there won¡¯t be anyone to bully your friends and family. You can also, in passing, take care of subordinates like us who risk our lives for you.¡±

    Qianye asked with a spurious smile, ¡°You said so many things, but in the end, you just want to leave, right?¡±

    ¡°No, of course not,¡± Bluemoon hurriedly denied. She calmed herself a bit before continuing, ¡°I don¡¯t know where we are right now, but I have a feeling that there¡¯s a terrifying existence in the ocean. I felt my hair stand on end while standing near the sea just now. If we¡¯re going to ship materials, we definitely cannot do it by sea, but by air. Only the dragonship can bring in enough people and materials to construct a base of operations. So, even if I leave, there¡¯s no way I can covet yournd.¡±

    This did make sense, but her little emotional fluctuations couldn¡¯t escape Qianye¡¯s notice.

    Hence, Qianye did notment on her words. He merely said, ¡°We can talk about thister. You stay here for the time being, don¡¯t go about randomly. I¡¯ll be leaving to handle some matters and will only return a whileter.¡±

    Bluemoon wanted to say something but stopped herself, knowing that objecting would be useless. Qianye left Bluemoon in the valley with enough resources, weapons, and fuel for survival. Afterward, he flew the Martyr¡¯s Pce out of the mountain range.

    Qianye flew for an entire two days along the borders of the Eastern Sea and finally arrived in the Southern Wilderness. Qianye parked the dragonship high in the air above the ocean and descended to the ground on his own. There, he went to the nearest city and took an airship to Southern Blue.

    Before heading into the Earth Dragon¡¯sir, Qianye had told little Zhuji to hide inside the ck Grove. The environment there was suitable for her¡ªwith her terrifying talents, she would likely mature without a problem even if Qianye were to never return.

    Now that Qianye had returned with great bounties, he naturally came to pick Zhuji up.

    Puffing out clouds of steam, the hissing airshippleted a roughnding at the airship port. Many passengers couldn¡¯t help but curse as they were caught off guard and thrown to the floor. The airship staff weren¡¯t about to take any of that¡ªthey cursed back immediately and looked like they were about to get rough.

    Most of the passengers were fierce hunters and mercenaries¡ªhow could they be willing to submit? Chaos descended upon the cabin, and they would¡¯ve started fighting if not for the narrow space.

    At this point, an explosive roar came from the front of the airship. ¡°Whoever dares to cause trouble on my airship, I¡¯ll cut their balls off and feed them to the turtles!¡±

    This wasn¡¯t a simple threat. Even Qianye could feel his ears buzzing, not to mention the other passengers. Everyone in the cabin copsed in droves, including the staff, but the sailors all wore expressions of relief since they knew about their captain¡¯s move.

    Qianye became quite an eyesore, now that he was the only one sitting quite fine.

 Chapter 807: Unexpected News

    ¡°Eh?¡± A surprised captain walked over from the front cabin. He was a bearded man with deep, sunken eyes. He looked as though he hadn¡¯t slept for a long while, but his eyes were full of ferocity. His brows twitched as he nced at Qianye with a serious expression. ¡°An expert, I see. Fine, I was only stopping them from destroying my ship, no offense intended.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t activated Bloodline Concealment, but his aura was well-constrained. Few in the empire could see through his strength, but here in the neutralnds, most of the people possessed extremely sharp intuition. They didn¡¯t need to gauge him carefully to know that he was very powerful.

    This made Qianye quite helpless. Then again, this was a cruel and mercilessnd; those without sharp intuition toward danger were probably dead already.

    Qianye nodded toward the captain, not intending to stir up further trouble. He merely got up and walked over the toppled guests, preparing to disembark.

    It was inevitable that he would step over people on his way out, but no oneined about it; they didn¡¯t even dare to grimace. The captain had knocked so many people down with a single roar, yet Qianye waspletely fine. Even an idiot could see that this person was so much more powerful than they were. These sailors and mercenaries were arrogant and fierce, but they had no habit of throwing their lives away.

    After arriving at the cabin door, Qianye saw that two more airships had justnded andrge numbers of mercenaries were pouring out from within.

    Qianye was no stranger to the scale of Southern Blue. The war at Port City had just ended and the exploration of the Earth Dragon¡¯s Lair was a secret, so there shouldn¡¯t be any mercenaries here. There was no worry of unemployment for them since there was fighting everywhere in the neutralnds. The constant arrival of mercenaries was fairly abnormal. Did it have anything to do with the Earth Dragon?

    Qianye asked the captain, ¡°Is there another war? Why are there so many mercenaries?¡±

    ¡°Not a war but pretty close. There is indeed something happening here.¡± The captain stopped speaking at this point.

    Qianye knew that the man was keeping him in suspense, so he fished out a couple of gold coins and stuffed them into the captain¡¯s hand. Only then did the captain speak, ¡°A little girl has reportedly appeared in the ck Grove in recent days. A son of the Southern Blue city lord was intrigued by this news and rushed into the woods to capture her. But for some reason, he never returned. After that, a furious Southern Blue city lord issued great rewards for the girl¡¯s capture. Many people arrived to try their luck after hearing about this.¡±

    A little girl in the ck Grove? Wasn¡¯t that Zhuji? Qianye remained calm on the surface but was filled with killing intent. ¡°How much is the little fellow worth? Besides, if it really is a little girl, how could she have wiped out an entire group of escorts?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible about that. That ce is the ck Grove where countless natives operate. The Southern Blue city lord seems to have made up his mind to clear out all the natives in the region and see if he can uproot the ck Grove, too. Of course, this is the information everyone knows.¡±

    Qianye stuffed more coins into the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Then what about the news others don¡¯t know about?¡±

    The captain waved his hands. ¡°Not enough.¡±

    Qianye simply pulled out the entire coin pouch and poured its contents into the captain¡¯s hands. ¡°Is this enough now?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s straightforwardness satisfied the captain. The man stuffed the handful of coins into his pocket, saying, ¡°I know your money isn¡¯t that easy to earn. Rest assured, my information will be worth it. I have two relevant pieces of information and a third that I¡¯m unsure of, all included in the price.¡±

    The captain turned back and roared, ¡°Close the cabin doors, this information is worth a lot of money. You penniless misers can stay inside until I finish speaking!¡±

    All the mercenaries felt helpless, but no one daredin out loud.

    The captain lowered his voice. ¡°Firstly, someone managed to identify the young girl as a young arachne, but no one has any idea why she¡¯s with the natives. This information has reportedly reached the Spider Emperor¡¯s ears and he¡¯s quite interested in this little fellow. A part of the Southern Blue city lord¡¯s bounty came from him.¡±

    ¡°That was fast.¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t been in the Earth Dragon¡¯sir for very long. Even the time he had spent traveling to and from the Northern Continent was only a couple of days. Yet, the Spider Emperor was already on the move.

    ¡°Mercenaries mostly depend on information to survive, they know who they should sell their information to,¡± the captain continued, ¡°the second piece of information is rted to the empire. It¡¯s said that some people have arrived from that side. Naturally, their identities are well hidden and no one knows what they¡¯re here for. But these people were intrigued by the wood from the ck Grove and are willing to buy at a high price. You know that old fellow can smell the gold from half a continent away.¡±

    Qianye nodded. The scariest part of the ck Grove was the natives hidden within it. If they could be cleared out, the forest would be nothing but a group of strange trees that could be chopped down. Hence, the Southern Blue city lord issued arge bounty with the Spider Emperor¡¯s money. His true objective was probably the wood from the ck Grove. If the empire were to purchase them inrge amounts, the price would definitely soar to exorbitant heights.

    ¡°Regarding thest piece of information, I¡¯m not sure if it has anything to do with all this. I heard someone saw a destroyed warship on the edge of the continent. ording to hearsay, it¡¯s an extremelyrge warship, probably a duke¡¯s ride. Oh right, that airship resembles an Evernight vampire warship, but it went down in the void so there¡¯s no way to prove this. Okay, that¡¯s all I know kid, you should get off now!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was gloomy as he walked out of the airship. He shot a nce at the disembarking mercenaries before leaving on his own.

    Most of the soldiers felt a chill run through their bodies but had no idea why. All they could do was curse the damned weather. The captain watched Qianye¡¯s receding figure with narrowed eyes. He spoke only after quite a while, ¡°What intense killing intent.¡±

    The first officer asked, ¡°Do you know who that is?¡±

    The captain shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s only a guess, but if it really is him, then this ce is going to get very lively. Regardless, I have nothing to do with all this problematic stuff. Make preparations, we leave after two hours! Let¡¯s get one more trip in!¡±

    The first officer and sailors responded thunderously and got busy with their work. During this special period, Southern Blue would give out extra rewards for every batch of soldiers they brought in. Such good business wouldn¡¯tst forever.

    Qianye walked out of the airship port, nning to buy a motorbike in the city and head to the ck Grove. But he found¡ªas he arrived at the street where bikes were sold¡ªthat all the stores werepletely empty. Even the older model jeeps had been sold out. There weren¡¯t even spare parts left in the stores, and the keyponents were also in severe shortage. This destroyed any intention Qianye had to assemble a bike on his own.

    Qianye¡¯s expression became gloomy. The empty street block only proved one thing: all the motorbikes had been bought out by the mercenaries. And their only possible objective was to rush to the ck Grove and capture Little Zhuji.

    Qianye was highly confident in Zhuji¡¯sbat strength; besides, she was right at home in the ck Grove. Herbat strength on paper was enough to destroy aplete mercenary corps, but a real fight wasn¡¯t a game of numbers. Mercenaries were proficient in all kinds of treacherous methods, like traps, poisons, etc. Zhuji was still quite young after all, andckedbat experience. So, it was likely that she would fall for people¡¯s schemes.

    Time was of essence! Qianye simply gave up on buying a means of transportation. He walked out of the city, robbed a motorcycle from a small group of mercenaries, and sped toward the ck Grove.

    The ck Grove at this moment was much livelier than before. When Qianye arrived, the first thing he saw was the threerge camps pitched beside the forest. They had even built an airshipnding pad, beside which was a mountain of various crates. Some of the containers had been opened and the mercenaries there were assembling what looked like a heavy truck, alongside some logging machines. There was even a half-constructed kic tower inside the central camp.

    Apparently, this operation was quite an ambitious one. They were determined to gobble up the entire ck Grove in this region.

    There were several wooden poles erected outside of the camp, from which hung the corpses of numerous native warriors. This was a form of psychological warfare. On one hand, it served to intimidate the enemy, while on the other, it was to infuriate the native tribes and lure them out from the forest. Theirbat strength would be reduced by a third once they were out of the woods.

    There was no telling whether this kind of strategy would be effective, but these mercenaries all walked a fine line between life and death. Naturally, they needed a way to vent the violent emotions in their hearts.

    The native warriors hanging from the wooden poles were humanoid in appearance, but they possessed the characteristics of wild beasts in many parts of their bodies. A couple of them were exceptionally tall, possessing a slender build with long arms and legs. Those with bestial traits were the lowest level warriors among the natives. They possessed only a basic level of intelligence and yed the role of cannon fodder. Only those two-meter-tall warriors formed the core strength of the native tribes.

    Qianye had never observed a native up close before, so he went over to the wooden pole to size them up in detail. These warriors had obvious bulges on their throats, probably a special vocal organ. Additionally, their body structure was extremely suited for woondbat.

    Just as he was looking, a group of mercenaries rushed out of the camp, shouting, ¡°The little fellow has been surrounded! Let¡¯s go over quickly!¡±

    ¡°What? Completely surrounded? So powerful!¡±

    ¡°I heard the Stormwind Fury Corps killed countless natives and broke through the enemy lines, finally surrounding the little fellow and natives in a forest region.¡±

    The group of young warriors was anxious. ¡°Then what are we waiting for? We won¡¯t even have soup left if we get there toote.¡±

    An old veteran sneered, ¡°You think those damned natives are so easy to deal with? There¡¯s no telling how many of them are surrounded. There¡¯ll no doubt be a lot of deaths in order to take them all down. The ck Grove has never been a fun ce. Stormwind Fury must¡¯ve paid a steep price in order to break the enemy ranks.¡±

    But there was someone in the group who didn¡¯t quite approve. ¡°So what if there are a few casualties? Which one of us fighters aren¡¯t living on the de¡¯s edge? There¡¯s so much profit involved in this deal. How long are we going to wait? What¡¯s the point of being a mercenary if we¡¯re afraid of death?¡±

    Arge number of people chimed in. The group of mercenaries boarded their vehicles with great mor and swarmed over toward the forest.

    Watching the mercenaries leave, Qianye¡¯s eyes turned cold and his smile, frosty.

 Chapter 808: No One Needs to Leave

    The border of the ck Grove was no longer silent and natural as before. Therge swathes of tree stumps made for an unsightly spectacle, and even the ck Grove¡¯s regenerative powers couldn¡¯t ovee the destruction brought about by the mercenary hordes. Moreover, the ck Grove was oddly susceptible to damage without the protection of the natives.

    Hundreds of diligent workers and mercenaries cut down the trees in a concentrated effort. There weren¡¯t many chances to log from the ck Grove, to begin with, and the timber here fetched a high enough price to pay taxes with. Now that the Southern Blue city lord had increased the purchase value by thirty percent, even those low-ranking mercenaries who didn¡¯t dare enter the forest saw an opportunity to make money. They could make a fair ie by remaining at the borders of the wood, but it was no less than risking their lives on the battlefield.

    No matter how low these mercenaries were in terms of rank, their strength made them the best workers for logging. Apparently, the Southern Blue city lord couldn¡¯t wait until all the natives had been cleared out to start building the logging zone.

    The logging area was guarded by a group of well-equipped elites. Even without their identity tes and insignias, one could see that they were under the direct control of Southern Blue. The city lord had already staked a im in the industry, and the scale was nothing to scoff at. Even if other people could sniff things out andtch onto this trade channel with the empire, Southern Blue would¡¯ve gained the absolute initiative. If they could supplyrge amounts of timber, the empire would definitely support them more. Besides, the wood from the ck Grove wouldn¡¯t be that expensive if it were that easy to develop. With Southern Blue¡¯s strength, they would still need to borrow the Spider Emperor¡¯s strength to be able to do things smoothly.

    When Qianye appeared, the guard there considered him a lone-mercenary wanting to try his luck in the ck Grove. They had seen too many of such people. As such, the man waved his gun at Qianye, gesturing for him to go around the camp and toward the forest.

    At this moment, the ck Grove was different from when Qianye had passed through it. There were traces of battle amidst its trees, with broken branches that hadn¡¯t been absorbed by the forest. The entire forest was shrouded in an aura of death and decay, with very weak vitality.

    It was difficult to search for directions inside the forest due to all the destruction, but Qianye wasn¡¯t about to hold back after arriving here. He rushed straight toward the closest source of sound and caught up with a group of mercenaries rushing along the road.

    Sword in hand and alone, Qianye blocked the road expressionlessly. ¡°Where is that girl being surrounded?¡±

    An arrogant mercenary nced askance at Qianye with a sinister smile. ¡°Why must I tell you?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply, but a flicker of East Peak immediately sent the man¡¯s head flying. His expression was frozen in a mixture of terror and shock. After killing one mercenary, Qianye looked toward the next. That soldier clearly hadn¡¯t recovered from the astonishment and thus aimed his gun at Qianye out of reflex. He was fortunately quick to react and immediately put the gun down, his entire body drenched in sweat.

    ¡°That little girl and those damn natives are in that direction, we¡¯re heading there right now.¡± The mercenary pointed in a certain direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation over there?¡±

    ¡°I heard the captain of Stormwind Fury is taking the lead. They already have the group surrounded and are whittling the natives down.¡±

    Qianye asked curiously, ¡°You guys are attacking and cutting down the forest in such a high-profile manner. Aren¡¯t you afraid of the natives¡¯ retaliation?¡±

    ¡°Reportedly, the Spider Emperor has dispatched true experts to oversee the operation and keep the natives in check. The native expertsing to provide reinforcement will be intercepted. Rumor has it that a major character is on his way here.¡±

    Qianye realized that these people were intent on taking down this part of the ck Grove. Otherwise, it made no sense for them to set up such an operation just for little Zhuji. Of course, this was predicated on the fact that the Spider Emperor didn¡¯t know about little Zhuji¡¯s talents. He might just rush over personally if he were to find out.

    After receiving the necessary information, Qianye¡¯s eyes turned cold.

    A sharp soldier screamed, ¡°Run, he¡¯s about to attack.¡±

    Unfortunately, it was already toote to run¡ªEast Peak jumped about in Qianye¡¯s hands as he cut down all of the mercenaries. Then, he hurried toward the blockade.

    Qianye¡¯s speed in the forest was far above ordinary people. Before long, a chaotic battlefield appeared before his eyes.

    There were battles everywhere on the wide battlefield. Small groups of mercenaries were mixed in with the natives, shing haphazardly. Behind the battlefield, dozens of muscr soldiers were waving circr saw-des or axes, cutting down those ancient trees.

    Under the constant logging, a long, empty region appeared in the ck Grove and was constantly expanding to each side.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in a rush to take action. He observed for a while and obtained some clues¡ªthe natives were a bit slower and used less mysterious moves, which consequently lowered theirbat strength. The natives also understood the threat of this isted belt. They would rush out of the forest to attack the loggers, and the mercenaries would do their utmost to block the assault.

    The mercenaries were adept at operating in small groups and knew quite well about the natives¡¯ attack tendencies. Employing a good bnce of attack and defense, they actually managed to fight on equal footing with the natives. There was a middle-aged man standing on the high-ground. He would shout out the asional order and maneuver the troops, filling up the gaps in the battlefront. The defensive line was as stable as Mount Tai under hismand¡ªno native assault could threaten this isted region.

    This isted region was rather strange, and it almost seemed to sever the power bestowed upon the natives by the ck Grove. It was quite surprising that such a crude method was actually so effective.

    Qianye looked on for a brief moment before shooting the middle-agedmander a nce. He then passed through the defensive line toward the depths of the encirclement. With his aura retracted, he became barely noticeable in the chaos of the battlefield. A couple of unlucky blokes would discover him and try to obstruct his path, but all that did was turn them into corpses.

    It couldn¡¯t be considered a real encirclement because the mercenaries had merely linked up into arge. Under themand of the Stormwind Fury Corps, it was almost impossible for the important targets to escape from this loosework.

    The surroundings became much quieter after crossing over the chaotic region. The grove became much darker, and Qianye could sense a wisp of mysterious energy hanging in the woods. The forest here hadn¡¯t been destroyed, and the natives could still bring out their full power.

    However, there were sounds of battle in a couple of directions. The true mercenary experts had already arrived in the deeper parts of the forest, hoping to gain more benefits.

    Qianye¡¯s perception was also affected inside the ck Grove, and he couldn¡¯t sense Zhuji¡¯s location. But finding the girl couldn¡¯t be simpler here in the heart of the battlefield¡ªkill off all the mercenaries and Zhuji would naturally be safe. As for the natives, that would depend on how they treated the little girl. If they harbored evil intentions toward her, Qianye didn¡¯t mind starting a massacre.

    Qianye moved swiftly through the forest and arrived at the scene of a battle. On one side were a dozen or so mercenaries, all of them wearing the colors of Stormwind Fury. Surprisingly, there were three human champions and three vampire viscounts among them¡ªthat was an oddly powerful lineup.

    They were advancing in an outspread crescent formation. On the other side of this battlefront were tens of native warriors. They jumped constantly between the ancient trees in an attempt to throw off the enemy¡¯s judgment. However, the highly-experienced mercenaries were unaffected by their agile targets as they kept pushing forward at a steady pace.

    They would change the formation ordingly whenever the natives tried to escape toward the nks. The mercenary on the opposite side would thenunch a flurry of attacks to suppress the enemy. Apparently, these natives would have to pay a steep price in order to escape toward the sides. Nheless, it looked like they weren¡¯t willing to abandon theirrades, either. In the end, all they could do was keep retreating backward.

    At this rate, these natives would be pushed out of the core forest region pretty soon and reach the external encirclement. By that time, they would bepletely surrounded and inevitably destroyed.

    Seemingly knowing that going backward was a bad idea, the natives would charge the mercenary defensive line from time to time. But the enemy had too many experts¡ªthey would erupt with power and ughter the natives charging at the front. After several repetitions, the natives still couldn¡¯t do anything to break out of this situation.

    At this moment, a small figure appeared among the natives, sitting on the shoulder of a burly warrior. It was Zhuji.

    The mercenaries were excited upon seeing Zhuji. One human champion and two vampires left the battle line and charged toward her!

    Theirbined attack was shocking. The few natives standing in front of the tall warrior couldn¡¯t even stave off a single attack. They were blown away instead and became corpses in the air. The two viscountsunched a flurry of attacks with their dual swords, while the human champion fished out an origin gun and fired constantly from the sides.

    Roaring furiously, the tall warrior became momentarily flustered. His strength was far above any one of the three assants, but he was carrying Zhuji on his shoulders and also had to guard against sneak attacks from the other human mercenaries.

    In the blink of an eye, the human champion found his opportunity and opened fire!

    Little Zhuji cried out in surprise because this shot was aimed at her! She didn¡¯t have the time to evade at such a distance. In a ssh of blood, her head was flung back and her little body was sent flying backward.

    The tall warrior roared as he charged over to save Zhuji, but such an opening left him with several sword wounds. He was already drenched in blood by the time he had caught Zhuji in his arms.

    ¡°Come back, all of you! Old Meng, you¡¯re too heavy-handed! The boss will ughter us if you kill that little fellow!¡± one of the human champions shouted angrily.

    The three who had rushed forward pulled back angrily, hoping to return to the defensive line. However, they suddenly noticed a person carrying a fearsome-looking gun appear from behind the formation. ¡°None of you need to leave!¡±

 Chapter 809: Blasting Apar

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Insolence!¡±

    A series of shouts echoed across the field. The first reaction of the Stormwind Fury mercenaries wasn¡¯t fear but anger. They had even managed to utterly defeat thisrge native tribe, while Qianye was but a lone mercenary. He must be tired of living to actually dare step out with such provocative words.

    The reactionless crowd watched on as Qianye took aim at Old Meng. Only the strongest among them were astonished. ¡°Howe he¡¯s so fast!?¡±

    A crisp gunshot sliced through the ck Grove as the gun spat out a near-translucent tongue of origin mes. It was so faint that it barely looked like fire.

    This shot was fired at Old Meng. In that split second, the few champions and viscounts had a single thought: ¡°Where¡¯s the bullet?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s shot was quite strange, but no one had any doubts about Old Meng blocking it. At most, he would receive some heavy injuries. Old Meng was the strongest expert in the group and one of the most well-known soldiers in Stormwind Fury. At his level, a distant shot from experts at the same rank would lose most of its menace¡ªapart from sniper shots, of course.

    However, in the in sight of all spectators, Old Meng¡¯s body suddenly began to disintegrate. In the blink of an eye, his entire upper body turned into a cloud of blood with scarcely a bit of flesh remaining. The man¡¯s legs were still nailed to the ground in a defensive posture.

    A single thought ran through the minds of the Stormwind Fury mercenaries: ¡°Old Meng¡¯s been sted apart? In a single shot?¡±

    They looked toward Qianye subconsciously, but thetter¡¯s face was expressionless. He merely shifted his gun muzzle and took aim at the other vampire viscount who had gone after the native warrior.

    That vampire viscount¡®s expression was filled with terror. Perhaps he had wanted to scream, but half his body was reduced to a cloud of blood before he could even utter a sound. He wouldn¡¯t even have a chance of survival in an ancient blood pond.

    The Stormwind Fury warriors found their mindspletely nk, unable to believe the truth before their eyes. Two fierce experts had been reduced to bloody mist just like that? Not to mention retaliation, they weren¡¯t even given the chance to defend a move or two.

    Qianye moved his gun once more and pointed it at the remaining vampire viscount. That person finally showed some reaction, unleashing a scream full of extreme terror before running away. But he hadpletely forgotten that his backside was filled with natives. This about-face was no different from running into a horde of enemies.

    The three experts guarding the battle line finally made their move. It was just that their courses of action were hardly uniform¡ªa vampire viscount and a human champion rushed at Qianye in a bid to stop him from using that terrifying origin gun. Another human champion turned tail and fled at full speed.

    Even the generals were in such a state, so it was a given that all the soldiers were at a loss about what to do. Some pounced at Qianye with loud battle-cries, while others turned about not knowing whether to advance or to retreat.

    Qianye smiled coldly at the charging mercenary expert. He grabbed East Peak and shed downward, splitting the charging expert into two!

    The human champion was shocked. His expression became twisted as he did his utmost to stop his forward momentum¡ªcharging at Qianye now was no different from running toward a bottomless abyss. But he was already charging, so how could he turn about immediately? It might be possible if he knew Spatial sh or at least an ability at the level of Demonic Reversal.

    All he could do was watch helplessly as he moved closer and closer. He saw Qianye turn, take a step, and send East Peak sweeping at him. He raised his sword and shed at East Peak, but he was already sure that this move waspletely useless.

    His origin power was split into two, followed by his long sword, and then his body. During hisst moments, only one thought remained in his mind: ¡°Just as I thought.¡±

    Over half of Stormwind Fury¡¯s elites had fallen in the blink of an eye. At this point, even the boldest of warriors had realized that staying here was akin to throwing one¡¯s life away. However, it was already toote for them to run. The roar of ocean tides echoed through the air as a boundless pressure descended upon them, pressing them to the floor. Soon afterward, all of the remaining mercenaries were cut down amidst the interweaving sword radiance. The only one to escape was the human champion who had fled as soon as things turned south. The viscount who had charged into the native group was immediately besieged and wouldn¡¯tst much longer.

    At this moment, Qianye hadn¡¯t yet withdrawn his domain¡ªhe could already hear muffled thuds as the natives fell from the trees and struck the ground haphazardly. Their battlefront was interlocked with the mercenaries from Stormwind Fury, so they were also swept into the attack.

    These natives could borrow the power of the woods to increase theirbat strength. Their own power was limited and inferior to the people from Stormwind Fury, so how could they resist Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex domain?

    Only a few among the natives were able to hang on and barely remain on the trees. The only one who could move about freely was the tall warrior, but even then, one of his feet had sunk into the bark, leaving a distinct footprint. Apparently, he wasn¡¯t as calm as he seemed on the surface, and moving about freely during battle was probably impossible.

    In the blink of an eye, there was only one person left capable of roaming about the battlefield.

    ¡°Aouuuu!¡± Shouting in delight, little Zhuji leapt dozens of meters into the air andnded in Qianye¡¯s arms.

    There was a muffled thud as Qianye¡¯s expression changed sharply. He couldn¡¯t help but take a step back, feeling as though he had been struck by a cannonball.

    Little Zhuji hugged Qianye tightly, rubbing her little head against Qianye. Thetter¡¯s expression transformed time and again; the scene was inexplicably brilliant.

    This little fellow moving and rubbing about wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed. Maybe because she was too excited, the girl totally forgot to control her strength. The bones in Qianye¡¯s chest were creaking and groaning¡ªthey might¡¯ve cracked already if the girl were any stronger.

    One had to recall Qianye¡¯s constitution. His ancient vampire physique was almost indestructible. It was much stronger than warship armor under the protection of his blood energy. As for his bones, they wereponents of his fire-forged physique and had just begun to be tempered in auric me blood. But even so, they weren¡¯t too far off from that of a divine champion¡¯s.

    In other words, one really needed to be quite strong to enjoy little Zhuji¡¯s affection. The somewhat weaker people under the divine champion realm might receive irreversible injuries from her hugs.

    This little fellow had grown so much more powerfulpared to when Qianye had left her in the ck Grove. She had grown well over twice as strong. No matter how much of a genius Zhuji was, there was no way she could¡¯ve achieved this on her own¡ªthere had to be a reason behind this.

    That Old Meng from just now had shot the girl square in the head. Although Qianye knew that Zhuji¡¯s constitution wasn¡¯t inferior to his own, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel worried about her.

    There was indeed a wound on Zhuji¡¯s round forehead and a break in her skin. The injury was the size of a nail but only skin-deep. It had stopped bleeding after the first spurt of blood and was already contracting gradually.

    Qianye felt better after seeing this wound. In fact, he knew that there was no need to worry about her. Back in the year, Song Zining had used Zhuji as a sandbag to help Qianye block a divine champion¡¯s attack. Even though that punch only had half its might remaining, it was still an attack from a divine champion and certainly more powerful than Old Meng¡¯s shot.

    Back then, little Zhuji had merely suffered some light injuries and a bit of difort from the impact. Now that Old Meng¡¯s shot had broken her skin, it was frankly something that he should be proud of. Had he survived, he would be able to return to his hometown one day and boast to his descendants about how he had injured Her Excellency Zhuji back in the day. Unfortunately, Qianye sted the man apart in his fury, depriving him of this opportunity.

    But if Old Meng¡¯s descendants knew about this battle, they would be able to say: ¡°Back then, our old ancestor fell in the hands of a Heavenly Monarch.¡±

    That gun-barrel in Qianye¡¯s hand was indeed the work of Pointer Monarch himself. It wouldn¡¯t be excessive to say that it was a heavenly-monarch-level attack.

    With Zhuji in his arms, Qianye finally found relief from all of his worries. He was just about to ask about her experiences during this period when a sharp intent descended from above. That tall native warrior leapt up and flew toward Qianye with a loud roar.

    Being able to dash through Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex proved that this native¡¯sbat strength was indeed terrifying. It took thebined attacks from half a dozen champions and viscounts from Stormwind Fury to push him back repeatedly.

    But Qianye was no Stormwind Fury. Hisprehension of thebat arts had taken a step forward after leaving the Earth Dragon¡¯sir, gradually approaching perfection and leaving little to no openings. Seeing that tall warrior charging at him, Qianye merely lifted his left hand and pointed the origin gun at him.

    The tall warrior¡¯s expression shifted drastically as he performed a subconscious evasion. Qianye¡¯s rifle possessed outrageous firepower and could even st a viscount apart in one shot. How would he dare to take it head-on?

    He was just about to change directions when the pressure on his body increased exponentially. Unable to control his momentum mid-air, he fell head-first onto the ground.

    Qianye retracted his domain soon afterward. The native warriors who were doing their utmost to resist the Oceanic Power lost control as the pressure vanished abruptly. They shot into the air one after the other, where many of them crashed into the tree trunks and fell down dizzy.

    That tall warrior hadn¡¯t expected such a change, either. A momentarypse in control sent him soaring into the air; he lost directional control as his feet left the ground.

    To his great astonishment, he found Qianye holding Zhuji in his right hand while holding a shining, dark muzzle toward his chest.

    The two were less than thirty meters away, and there was no way to evade this shot.

    Qianye didn¡¯t open fire. Instead, he shot the tall warrior a nce, put away his gun, and reached out to pull on Zhuji¡¯s face.

    Qianye stretched her face pretty wide while she looked on with an innocent expression that screamed of being wronged.

    That tall warrior rushed over with a furious expression and spewed a string of unintelligible words at him. Nheless, his bodynguage was quite well-behaved, standing at least ten meters away withouting closer. He knew it would be all too easy for Qianye to kill him if he wished to.

 Chapter 810: Going Home

    The tall native warrior spoke incessantly, but Qianye couldn¡¯t understand a word. Judging from his anxious expression and how he was pointing at Zhuji, it was clear that he was talking about the girl. Could it be that the natives had also taken an interest in her?

    At this point, the native soldiers had gradually recovered their movement and gone back onto their vantage point on the trees. They aimed their weapons at Qianye while letting out menacing growls.

    Qianye nced about with a sneer. He naturally wouldn¡¯t hold back if these natives tried to snatch Zhuji back from him, nor did he mind sending them to see the people from Stormwind Fury.

    The tall warrior noticed the killing intent in Qianye¡¯s eyes. Startled, he took a step back and raised his left hand, gesturing for the native soldiers to lower their weapons.

    Zhuji tugged on Qianye at this moment. ¡°He¡¯s asking you not to hurt me, and he also wants to know what you¡¯re here for.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°You understand theirnguage?¡±

    ¡°A bit, mostly guessing,¡± Zhuji said as if it were a matter of course.

    Qianye was momentarily speechless. The meaning of the native¡¯s words could either be a beseechment or a threat.

    Paying no attention to the native warrior, he asked the girl, ¡°You¡¯ve been with them these days?¡±

    ¡°I met some people on the first day. One of them was quite troublesome, he said some strange things to me and wanted me to sleep with him. I didn¡¯t like him, so I refused, of course. But then he wanted to capture me, and I felt annoyed, so I killed all his men. Later on, I met these people who im they¡¯ve been living here their whole lives.¡±

    ¡°Did they do anything to you?¡±

    Little Zhuji gave the question some serious thought. ¡°That big fellow seems to like me quite a bit. He said so many things I couldn¡¯t understand at first, but for some reason, I started to understand them a bitter on. I don¡¯t hate them, that big man gave me a fruit that looked really delicious, even more so than roasted beast meat. I felt really sleepy after I ate it, and when I woke up, they were already fighting.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression softened up quite a bit after hearing this. At least, these natives had no ill-will toward Zhuji. Whatever the little fellow thinks is tasty likely has nothing to do with taste but rather with energy content. These fruits being more delicious to her than beast meat meant that the energy content in them was superior¡ªsuch a fruit wasn¡¯t easy to find.

    Besides, this little fellow was inherently sensitive. She would definitely react if these natives had evil intentions. It would manifest as a feeling of annoyance, which would likely lead her to attack and kill the targets.

    The tall warrior heaved a sigh of relief when Qianye¡¯s killing intent subsided. He then gestured for Qianye and Zhuji to follow him.

    ¡°He says there are many people like this outside, we can¡¯t win against them. He wants us to follow him and find a way into the core region of the forest.¡±

    Qianye patted the little fellow¡¯s head. ¡°Tell them we¡¯re not leaving.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not leaving,¡± the girl turned about and shouted.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. Little Zhuji understood a bit of theirnguage, but it turned out that she couldn¡¯t speak a single word. How could the other party understand her when she was speaking the imperialnguage?

    At this moment, the tall warrior fished out a leaf and stuck it on his forehead. Soon, the leaf emitted a barrier or light that covered Qianye and Zhuji. The tall warrior¡¯s voice rang out in Qianye¡¯s consciousness. He was still using his ownnguage, but Qianye could understand him this time.

    ¡°Little Zhuji is your daughter? Don¡¯t harm her. There are many damned invaders outside, we have to find a way to circle around them or fight our way out. Only when we reach the depths of the forest can our soldiers obtain the protection of the forest and beat the invaders.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡±

    ¡°They have powerful experts! Additionally, they have isted us from the power of the forest so that our race cannot use our full power!¡± the tall warrior said hurriedly.

    ¡°Thanks for taking care of Zhuji, I¡¯ll deal with them.¡± Qianye patted the little fellow¡¯s head and walked out.

    ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t take her away!¡± The tall warrior stopped Qianye.

    Qianye shot him a nce. ¡°She¡¯s my daughter, why can¡¯t I take her away? You¡¯ve seen the fate of whoever dares to harm her. Do you want to end up the same?¡±

    The tall warrior replied, ¡°No, you¡¯ve misunderstood. Zhuji is verypatible with our sacred tree, so I hope she can stay behind. It¡¯ll be very beneficial to her growth.¡±

    ¡°Is it rted to whatever you fed her?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a fruit from our Sacred Tree, it has unbelievable effects in terms of raising one¡¯s strength. Every sacred tree fruit can produce an extraordinary warrior, but the Sacred Tree¡¯s effect on her is much greater than it should be, even more so than the few most powerful experts in the history of our tribe. We believe that she is a child of the Sacred Tree, a deity granted to us by the world.¡±

    So that was the case. Qianye finally understood why these natives treated her so well. It was just that he didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry at such a belief. Little Zhuji was clearly a descendant of Count Stuka, an arachne who had absorbed Qianye¡¯s blood to mature. In terms of lineage, it could be said that she possessed a part of Qianye¡¯s bloodline. Whichever angle one looked at this matter from, she had nothing to do with the Sacred Tree.

    Zhuji¡¯s talents were shocking; she enjoyed a rapid growth phase and was naturally sensitive to energy. It made sense that the fruit of the Sacred Tree would be more effective on her.

    At this point, Qianye asked, ¡°Many people in your tribe must¡¯ve taken the Sacred Tree fruit?¡±

    The tall warrior shook his head. ¡°The fruit of our Sacred Tree is extremely valuable since only a certain number are produced each year. All the natives, including ours, will gather under the Sacred Tree during harvest season and decide the quota bybat.¡±

    At this point, the tall warrior patted his chest and said proudly, ¡°I¡¯ve eaten a Sacred Tree fruit before! That qualifies me as a holy warrior trainee.¡±

    Those who were able to partake in the Sacred Tree fruit were famed warriors of the native tribes. Hence, the tall warrior was quite proud of himself. But then his momentum deted as he recalled how he couldn¡¯t even retaliate against Qianye¡ªit wasn¡¯t just him, either; the entire squad of warriors had been knocked down by Qianye.

    Letting Zhuji eating a fruit of the Sacred Tree meant that this person wasn¡¯t so bad. Qianye¡¯s expression rxed once more as he said, ¡°She still needs to leave with me. Thank you for the Sacred Tree fruit. My name is Qianye, and I¡¯ll definitely repay you in the future if there¡¯s a chance.¡±

    ¡°My name is Gado, a holy warrior trainee of the Long Branch Tribe. Since you must take her away, I naturally won¡¯t stop you. But I hope she can witness our tribe¡¯s Prayer Ceremony Sacred Tree, it¡¯ll be beneficial to her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll consider it.¡±

    Gado was delighted by Qianye¡¯s reply. He fished out a leather pouch with three leaves inside, saying, ¡°This is a leaf from the Sacred tree, it¡¯ll allow you to converse with our tribe. Also, as long as it¡¯s within range of the forest, activating the leaf¡¯s energy will let me know that you¡¯re here. Please protect her well.¡±

    Qianye put the leather pouch away carefully. Gado shot a reluctant nce at Zhuji before leaving with his subordinates.

    After the group had left, Qianye rubbed the little fellow¡¯s hair and asked, ¡°They¡¯ve never seen you fight, have they?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they said I¡¯m too small. They¡¯re afraid I¡¯ll get wounded.¡±

    Qianye nodded since that made sense. Gado simply didn¡¯t know just how powerful Little Zhuji was. Otherwise, if he were to let the girl loose, the only ones in Stormwind Fury who could hurt her were people above the champion and viscount level. Gado only needed to support and sneak attack from the sidelines to push back the mercenary squad.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s go home.¡±

    ¡°Home? Do we have a new home?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Cheering delightfully, Little Zhuji climbed onto Qianye¡¯s shoulder and took her seat there.

    Qianye traveled straight forward and soon arrived at the lockdown battlefront. At this moment, the mercenaries here weren¡¯t in good condition, barely managing to maintain a steady defense. Gado was weaving through the battlefield, dealing grave injuries to all the soldiers in his wake. Instead of leaving, he and his tribesmen had charged into the lockdown in a bid to break Stormwind Fury¡¯s siege.

    The addition of this powerful force brought great pressure upon the mercenary side, pushing them back step by step until they could barely maintain the defensive line.

    A spirited Gado unleashed a long scream. The invisible soundwaves spread out in all directions, sending all the mercenaries into a daze and even knocking some off their feet. The native soldiers were all stirred¡ªa sheen of hazy light emerged on their bodies as theirbat strength increased.

    Gado¡¯s roar could weaken the enemies while strengthening his allies. Its effects were so great that the scales immediately tipped in favor of the natives. The mercenaries had fallen back to the istion belt, and even the woodcutter warriors had picked up their weapons to join the fray.

    Native morale was high and their attacks were fierce, reducing their need to evade into the trees or turn back. Many soldiers hiding in the darkness appeared tounch all-out attacks, hoping to route the enemy army in one go. Their aim was to tear through the istion region and return to the vast ck Grove.

    Seeing this scene, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. Gado was too naive. With the performance they had disyed before, how could Stormwind Fury not have a backup n? How could it be so easy to break their defense? Gado was a valiant warrior but not a great general.

    As expected, a peal of loudughter rang out from the Stormwind Fury defense lines. A mercenary d in ck armor walked out of the crowd and shouted, ¡°Those damned natives have finally appeared, attack!¡±

    Numerous mes streaked across the skies, followed by a torrent of battlecries. Countless mercenaries were charging over every direction and looked like they would soon form an encirclement.

    Gado was shocked out of his wits. Most of his tribe¡¯s soldiers were with him at the moment. If they were to fall here, his tribe wouldn¡¯t be able to recover for well over a dozen years.

    However, amotion soon appeared among the ranks of the mercenaries. The soldiers who should¡¯ve surrounded the natives¡¯ escape path suddenly came to a halt and charged off in a different direction.

    That was because Qianye and Zhuji had appeared.

    No one knew Qianye, but everyone recognized Zhuji. This little fellow was the reason they had traveled thousands of kilometers to the Southern Wilderness. It seemed to them that her cute little face was made up of piles of gold coins.

    How much could a native warrior be worthpared to her?

 Chapter 811: Lest They Cant Find Him

    Having made a swift decision between little Zhuji and the natives, the mercenaries charged over like wolves and tigers. The Stormwind Furymander¡¯s eyes were almost turning green¡ªhe roared thunderously, but none of the mercenaries were listening to him. Many of them either belonged to other mercenary corps or temporarily formed hunting parties. How could any of them be willing to listen to hismands? All of them were advancing excitedly, hoping to seize Zhuji from Qianye. In their eyes, he was just a lucky brat who had caught Zhuji by chance.

    Qianye only sneered after seeing these ruthless mercenaries and watched until they were in front of him. He would swat away the asional bullet flying toward him as though they were annoying flies.

    Most of the mercenaries were only looking at Zhuji. They simply didn¡¯t notice Qianye¡¯s astonishing feat of pping away origin bullets. A few sharp veteran soldiers were drenched in cold sweat upon witnessing this scene, and they quietly slowed down their steps.

    The sound of crashing waves echoed in the ears of the speeding soldiers. Soon afterward, they found an indefensible pressure bearing down upon them.

    Most of the mercenaries fell to the ground, and the weaker ones found their bones creaking and groaning. Even the strongest ones were barely able to remain standing, to speak nothing of running.

    But there was no need for them to keep on running, either. Qianye passed through their midst as though he were on a leisurely stroll, every sh of his de drawing blood. Unexpectedly, the strongest mercenaries were the first to be corpses.

    But then the remaining hundreds of soldiers also copsed. The scene brought the horde of soldiers behind to a grinding halt. Their pause didn¡¯t mean Qianye would stop, however. He passed through the group in just a couple of steps, instantly felling swathes of enemies with a momentary release of his Oceanic Power.

    The mercenary rabble wererge in number, but their power was fairly mediocre. Most of them couldn¡¯t even breathe under Qianye¡¯s domain, suffering fractures and injuries during the fall. Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to go and finish them off one by one.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s eyes were on the ck-armored officer from Stormwind Fury.

    The man¡¯s eyelids twitched constantly as he stared at Qianye. His right hand was raised high, but he simply couldn¡¯t lower it. He couldn¡¯t see through Qianye¡¯s strength at all, but knocking out hundreds of soldiers¡ªas disorderly as they were¡ªwasn¡¯t something he could do.

    Little Zhuji was clearly sitting on Qianye¡¯s shoulder, almost like a mobile treasury. This kind of temptation would¡¯ve been irresistible to him in the past, but now, all he had in his eyes was Qianye.

    ¡°Are you trying to make an enemy out of our Stormwind Fury?¡± He roared thus but failed to notice that his voice was dry and raspy. Besides, threatening people wasn¡¯t Stormwind Fury¡¯s style¡ªkilling ignorant people immediately was how these mercenary corps worked.

    The ck-armored champion was struggling between fight and flight. There were thousands of mercenaries left at the scene, including several hundred direct subordinates of Stormwind Fury, but all the corpses strewn across the ground told everyone that numbers were useless against Qianye¡¯s terrifying domain.

    The ck-armored champion couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill run down his spine when Qianye¡¯s frosty gazended on his body. His intuition to danger had sent him a clear message. He made up his mind without the slightest bit of hesitation: run!

    But before he could start fleeing, he saw Qianye swung his hand and actually toss little Zhuji over!

    The ck-armored warrior was momentarily stunned. What situation was this? Could it be that Qianye was offering the little fellow up to join Stormwind Fury?

    This ridiculous idea was soon blown out of the nine firmaments. He immediately noticed that Zhuji¡¯s iing speed was abnormally fast and she was actually elerating midair. The ck-armored champion had a bad feeling when the girl spun her little fists about and mmed them down on his head. This little kid could fight? With the speed at which she was charging, wouldn¡¯t she die on the spot after crashing onto him?

    But a shrill whistle tore through the air as little Zhuji¡¯s fists descended! The ck-armored warrior was shocked, but it was already toote to dodge. All he could do was raise an arm to block the strike.

    Zhuji¡¯s fist connected with the arm that was evenrger than her waist. The arm was bent out of shape with a muffled bang!

    Little Zhuji let out a soft exmation, surprised at how she had failed to smash this fellow to death. But this wasn¡¯t all since every part of her body was a weapon. She immediately rammed into the enemy with her head.

    The head was a weak point for most creatures, but the ck-armored champion who had just suffered a fracture couldn¡¯t quite trust his own judgment anymore. He didn¡¯t dare charge forward anymore. Instead, he pulled back and pressed on Zhuji¡¯s head with his intact left hand, hoping to use his exquisitebat arts to redirect this small human cannonball to one side.

    However, he once again felt as though he was being stomped on by a giant beast. His body flew backward, and a gush of fresh blood welled up in his throat.

    Fortunately, Zhuji finally wore out her charging momentum and the two parties put some distance between them.

    The ck-armored soldier turned tail and ran, no longer daring to linger here any longer. The thousands of soldiers who were still fighting had been left to their fates. The ck-armored champion was even hoping that these soldiers could buy him some time to escape.

    Qianye only stared at the ck-armored champion as he attempted to flee the battlefield. All of a sudden, the man¡¯s running figure appeared in his eyes, toward which he raised his gun and fired.

    The ck-armored champion shivered, almost as though he had been drenched in cold water. He nced back subconsciously only to find that Qianye was also looking at him.

    The ck-armored warrior jumped up and fled the moment his eyes came into contact with Qianye¡¯s. It was almost as though he had been scorched by fire. His reaction wasn¡¯t slow, but just as he was leaping into the air, his entire body sank down as if it had beenssoed by an invisible rope.

    This brief pause made it impossible for him to evade the shoting from behind. He had to try his utmost just to see the trajectory of the iing projectile. The bullet was shockingly fast, but it actually afforded him a measure of relief.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power rank wasn¡¯t very high, so this swift origin bullet should logically be limited in firepower. This gave the man some hope of survival.

    However, this origin bullet shot through his body without the slightest pause. The man¡¯s hopeful expression transformed into inconsble terror as he watched his shoulder and half of his chest being blown away. His body was almost torn into two.

    Even a core character of Stormwind Fury couldn¡¯t escape death under thebined effects of Qianye¡¯s Eye of Control and the rifle whose barrel was hand-made by the Pointer Monarch. The man¡¯s rank-sixteen cultivation and grade-seven armor could do little to save him.

    Following the death of that ck-armored champion, the morale of the Stormwind Fury soldiers fell to a freezing point. Even the most resolute of soldiers turned to flee the battlefield.

    Qianye had killed theirmanding officer in one shot. This was a peerless disy ofbat strength that no one here could beat. Mercenaries only looked at results and not the process. Who would have the time to care about Qianye¡¯s rank-twelve origin power. It was every man for himself¡ªthe dead had no chance to debate the rtionship between origin power and truebat strength.

    Mercenaries from the neutralnds were even more wolf-like. They were iparably fierce during victory, but now that the momentum was gone, they fled in all directions without the slightest hesitation.

    Qianye drew the Twin Flowers and fired continuously, but he only managed to kill a couple dozen before all of them vanished from sight; even half of Stormwind Fury¡¯s core forces had fled. But Qianye was toozy to go after those ants. Stormwind Fury wasn¡¯t likely to take this defeat lying down, and they would surely reassemble and return in a swirl of dust.

    That was the moment he was waiting for.

    Many of the mercenaries were still locked inbat with the natives when the group started to flee. Hence, their casualties there were quite high, far greater than the number Qianye had killed. Once the mercenaries had retreated, the natives flocked toward the survivors on the ground. Hundreds of mercenaries who had been disabled by Qianye¡¯s domain powery strewn across the field. The mercenaries and native warriors had long since formed a deep enmity during these days, reaching a point where one side wouldn¡¯t stop until the other was dead.

    A powerful shout from Gado stopped the native soldiers. He then walked over to Qianye and said with a bow, ¡°Oh great warrior, these soldiers are the fruit of your battle, but can you give them to us? I¡¯m willing to offer a single Sacred Tree fruit in exchange.¡±

    Qianye shot him a nce. ¡°These people aren¡¯t worth the price, in my opinion.¡±

    Gadoposed himself and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Too many of my tribesmen have died in the hands of these bastards. The spirits of my people will not find rest until they receive a blood sacrifice. For this, any price is worth paying.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Fine, I can give them to you, but you¡¯ll have to wait for a while.¡±

    Gado was startled. ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°Not much longer, it should be done before sundown.¡±

    Gado nced at the sky and noticed that it was not far off from dusk. Besides, the forest has always been a dark ce, so twilight would arrive before long.

    Qianye also shot a nce at the sky. ¡°You can chop some firewood and light up some torches. That¡¯ll make things faster.¡±

    Gado was bewildered, but he followed Qianye¡¯s instructions. These natives lived as one with the ck Grove, but Stormwind Fury had already felled arge number of trees to build the istion belt. It only took some additional work to turn the lumber into arge number of good torches.

    Within moments, the fierce mes from a thousand torches lit up the forest until it was as bright as day. The battlefield appeared rather bleak and tragic under the zing lights.

    Qianye cut down a wooden pir and tossed it onto the ground. He then sat down on it at the brightest center of the battlefield, waiting silently with his eyes closed. Little Zhuji climbed onto Qianye¡¯s shoulder and sat there with her little chin propped up on one hand. It seemed like she was waiting for something, too.

    Gado and the natives werepletely puzzled as to what was going on, but fortunately, they didn¡¯t have to wait very long. Amotion arose from the distance not long after sundown as a horde of Stormwind Fury soldiers poured into the area. Seeing the mes from afar, they immediately adjusted their direction and charged over.

    Only then did Gado realize why Qianye wanted to light up so many torches. It turned out that he had wanted to light himself up, lest the Stormwind Fury soldiers couldn¡¯t find him!

    The mercenaries stopped in surprise when they saw Qianye resting with his eyes closed at the center of the battlefield. This scene really didn¡¯t make sense. The front rows had stopped, but the soldiers behind were still pushing forward, throwing the squad into disarray. The captains arrived at the front while spewing curses, but they, too, were astonished by the scene.

    Qianye was simply sitting there with the loftiness of a mountain and facing the horde of soldiers all on his own.

 Chapter 812: Head-On Crushing

    An explosive shout erupted amidst the mercenaries, ¡°Why have you all stopped? What¡¯s going on?¡±

    A tall, fierce champion pushed his way through the crowds. Towering over three meters tall, he was extremely well-built and a single arm of his wasrger than an ordinary person¡¯s thigh. His sinister-looking armor was as thick as a palm, withrge spikes jutting out of his shoulders, elbows, and knees.

    His aura was toward the chaotic side, tainted with wisps of ck arachnid energy. It turned out that he was a hybrid between a human and an arachne. Apparently, his giant frame¡ªbrought about by his arachne bloodline¡ªhad facilitated his cultivation, allowing him to reach the rank-fifteen that he was now. Compared to the ck-armored champion, he was superior both in terms of defense and power.

    Qianye still remained unfazed even as this giant of a man made his appearance.

    The man¡¯s narrowed eyes almost seemed to spew out lightning. ¡°I¡¯m Wildthunder Wang Zhan of Stormwind Fury, who are you? Were you the one who killed all my brothers here?¡±

    Qianye finally opened his eyes. Ignoring the second question, he replied, ¡°Qianye.¡±

    Wang Zhan broke into a frown. ¡°Qianye? Aren¡¯t you that Zhao Ye?¡±

    ¡°Come, if you want to fight, what¡¯s with all the nonsense?¡±

    As a man of short temper, how could Wang Zhan take this provocation lying down? He strode forward with a thunderous roar, his heavy steps causing the ground to tremble slightly.

    Qianye finally stood up, whisked East Peak out, and charged forth. The forward surge was so fast that he had elerated to a blur within seconds. He arrived in front of Wang Zhan in the blink of an eye and rammed into him!

    The muffled thud that followed caused both the natives and mercenaries to cringe.

    Following the collision, Qianye remained motionless while his opponent was sent flying backward. It was at this time that a scarlet glow erupted from East Peak¡ªa ming radiance shed down and cut Wang Zhan into two, armor and all!

    How could this be? Everyone from Stormwind Fury was bbergasted and could hardly believe their eyes. Wang Zhan¡¯s strength was already evident from the thickness of his armor. How could this tank-like warrior be cut through in one sh?

    Qianye stood straight, still holding his sword, and exhaled a breath of white mist. And in front of him, the two halves of Wang Zhan¡¯s corpse slowly fell to the ground.

    ¡°You¡¯ll pay for Elder Brother¡¯s life!¡±

    Another fierce warrior jumped out of the crowd. He charged forward urgently, knocking away many Stormwind Fury warriors along the way. This man wasn¡¯t as tall as his brother, but he was also close to three meters and d in heavy armor. It was obvious at a nce that this was also a defense-oriented warrior. Such soldiers were almost unbeatable on the battlefield as heavy weapons were more useful than small des.

    Qianye sneered, having seen through the man¡¯s intent.

    This person¡¯sbat strength was actually inferior. The reason he had rushed out so urgently was because he thought Qianye would be exhausted after killing Wang Zhan. He wanted to snatch this contribution.

    His line of thought wasn¡¯t wrong. After all, Qianye¡¯s cultivation was limited and he made no effort to hide his three origin vortices. It was already a miracle that he could kill Wang Zhan instantly, but that was likely by using some kind of secret treasure. This level of secret treasure usually involved a steep price, draining the user after a single activation and, more often than not, leaving them in a half-disabled state. This kind of advantage had to be taken!

    This man looked coarse on the surface but was scheming at heart. His strategy wasn¡¯t really wrong, but just like his brother, he neither knew the name Qianye nor who he really was. After all, the empire was far from the neutralnds, a different world on which these people might not once set foot in their lives. No matter how famous Qianye was in the empire, the people here wouldn¡¯t know him unless he was at the level of heavenly monarchs and n lords.

    Qianye activated his blood core again, driving auric me blood to every part of his body and bathing his muscles in golden fire.

    The power of his fire-forged physique was pushed to the max. His origin vortices also sped up their revolution, delivering the power of Venus Dawn to East Peak without reservation¡ªthe countless near-substantial crystals in his origin power formed tiny sharp des. Qianye erupted in a loud roar as the enemy arrived in front of him, activating his domain and shing down with East Peak!

    Qianye¡¯s powerful physique, his pure origin power, and that heavy sword¡ªthe three of them together made this sh indefensible!

    Shocked out of his wits, that person raised his hammer horizontally to block this sh. However, Qianye didn¡¯t even pay any attention to this movement and merely maintained his sh. East Peak descended as usual and cut both man and hammer into two.

    All the soldiers gasped in astonishment, but there were desperate people everywhere¡ªthis was proven by two more champions who started charging toward Qianye. These people were weaker than the previous ones, but Qianye had already killed two people, so they felt that they would stand a chance by working together and perhaps earn this contribution.

    With a long whistle, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and East Peak shed out twice, cutting the two iing enemies into half.

    Actually, there was one more champion who wanted to snatch this merit, but he was a bit slower than the other two. He had just passed the formation when they were killed and ended up bing the lucky one. Seeing the fate of his tworades, he could hardly suppress the fear in his heart. He gasped. ¡°How could this be? T-This isn¡¯t reasonable!¡±

    No matter who went up¡ªregardless of their cultivation orbat technique¡ªQianye would cut them down in one, unreasonable sh.

    A mournful bugle cry rang out behind the Stormwind Fury ranks; this was the call to charge. The front row soldiers were hesitating since they didn¡¯t wish to throw their lives away. However, the back row troops were moving forward, so they had little choice whether they were willing or not.

    Qianye stood there with sword in hand,pletely ignoring the iing army. If numbers were of any use, heavenly monarchs and dark monarchs wouldn¡¯t have such transcendent positions.

    Themander of Stormwind Fury also understood this. Nheless, Qianye was no heavenly monarch, so he would undoubtedly grow tired and exhausted at one point. They were nning to use the lives of ordinary soldiers to whittle away at Qianye and attack only when he was worn out. They had nock of money, anyway, and could hire as many mercenaries as they wanted.

    The troops hadn¡¯t even arrived when countless bullets began whistling over. Standing in the rain of projectiles, Qianye merely waved his hands briefly, swatting away the bulletsing for his face and eyes. As for those aimed at other parts of his body, he couldn¡¯t be bothered with them.

    In the blink of an eye, a pitter-patter of origin mes erupted on Qianye¡¯s body. There was no telling how many bullets had struck his body, but his silhouette stood tall amidst the raging ze.

    Little Zhuji climbed onto Qianye¡¯s shoulder again at one point. She nced about excitedly, saying, ¡°We¡¯re about to fight!¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Why do we have to wait for them toe? We waited so long just now.¡±

    ¡°Because we¡¯re going to kill our way back head-on, we¡¯ll kill as many of them as theye.¡±

    Little Zhuji felt puzzled. ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t we supposed to go from behind when hunting?¡±

    Qianye was fairly patient with this little girl. ¡°That¡¯s when dealing with prey, now we¡¯re only fighting some insects. There¡¯s no need to waste energy when we can just crush them.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± It seemed like the girl only half-understood. ¡°I also want to crush them!¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it together.¡±

    The tide of soldiers arrived, drowning Qianye and Zhuji in the blink of an eye. Gado was anxious, but they had already left for the distance and wouldn¡¯t make it even if they charged back at full speed. He took a deep breath, his eyes bloodshot and his throat bulging. Apparently, he was nning to unleash his ultimate move.

    In truth, there weren¡¯t a lot of native troops remaining, and they werepletely outmatched against Stormwind Fury. They would¡¯ve been utterly defeated if Qianye hadn¡¯t interfered before. Despite the dire situation and knowing that he would be throwing his life away, Gado still charged back to the rescue.

    Zhuji waved her little hand at the big warrior from atop Qianye¡¯s shoulder, making a certain gesture. Having been with the girl for some time, Gado knew that she was telling him not toe. He came to an abrupt halt and the roar he was umting became stuck in his chest.

    Whether it was Zhuji or Qianye, neither of them felt that the Stormwind Fury army was a problem. Under such circumstances, Gado felt hesitant and didn¡¯t dare to charge over. He would definitely go to their rescue if Zhuji and Qianye were in trouble, but if they were confident in dealing with the enemy, Gado wasn¡¯t going to throw his men¡¯s lives away.

    But how were they going to fight such arge army?

    At this moment, it looked like the soldiers around Qianye were being pressed upon by a mountain. They became one segment shorter, and then half of them copsed to the ground, unable to move. That was indeed his domain power in action, but Gado still looked worried. The vast oceanic domain wasn¡¯t without its weaknesses.

    At this moment, a feminine but authoritative voice rang out on the battlefield, ¡°Charge! His domain won¡¯tst long, it¡¯ll grow weaker as more people go in.¡±

    Gado¡¯s heart almost jumped out of his chest. As expected, there were capable people in Stormwind Fury who could see through the weakness of Qianye¡¯s domain. The power of his oceanic domain was rted to his cultivation and had a maximum capacity to it. The more the people sharing the pressure, the less each individual person would suffer. Additionally, Qianye¡¯s consumption would increase as more people charged into it.

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained calm as he maintained the domain¡¯s power, crushing all who came in without restraint. But his blood core¡¯s movement had sped up and his energy was being sapped up at a rapid pace; he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep going much longer. Nheless, Qianye had Life Plunder and backup energy from the Book of Darkness.

    Just as Qianye was about to use Life Plunder, little Zhuji opened her mouth and spat out a stream of faint green energy. The wisp of green traveled dozens of meters and, following a spin of Zhuji¡¯s body, spread out in arge area around her.

    Qianye felt his scalp go somewhat numb, a sign of exceptional danger. This feeling seemed to being from the green energy Zhuji had spat out. What exactly was this thing? Even the current Qianye was actually feeling danger from it.

    At this point, a ck hue came over the faces of all Stormwind Fury mercenaries within range, and they copsed silently. The heavily injured soldiers who had been suppressed by the domain had long since stopped breathing.

    In the blink of an eye, the entire battlefield became devoid of life.

 Volume 7 - In life and In Eternal Rest ( 684-815) - Chapter 813: Border of the Continen

    That was an extremely fierce poison. Although Qianye wasn¡¯t really afraid of it, he couldn¡¯t avoid being affected by it nor could he stay very long inside its area of effect. But this was Qianye with his ancient vampire constitution, fire-forged physique, and a near-immunity to poison. He would probably be poisoned if he only had auric me blood without the fire-forged physique. At that point, he could only rely on the former to fight the venom.

    Such a poison would instantly kill every human below the champion-rank. Vampires and werewolves below the viscount level would only be able to hold out momentarily. The arachne would probably fare slightly better, but even they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape death in the end.

    In terms of pure damage, this mouthful of green gas had far surpassed Qianye¡¯s domain and Life Plunder. Thousands of mercenaries became corpses in the blink of an eye, destroying half of the Stormwind Fury¡¯s counterattack force.

    The battlefield grew quiet with corpses strewn across the ground. The mercenaries who hadn¡¯t stepped into the green gas¡¯ range looked at thend of death in front of them and suspected whether they were dreaming. Some of them woke up amidst loud screams and began running for dear life¡ªthe entire army looked like it was about to copse.

    Qianye¡¯s domain was powerful, but there were ways to block its effects and death didn¡¯te as swiftly. This green gas, on the other hand, would turn all in its wake to corpses, sparing not a single soul. How could they not feel terrified? Even the most powerful soldiers fell apart immediately.

    Themander shouted, ¡°No need to be afraid, she can¡¯t spray a second time.¡±

    Little Zhuji grew dispirited after spitting out that mouthful of gas and could hardly even open her eyes. Apparently, the absolute poison took a heavy toll on her.

    Even though she couldn¡¯t cough up a second mouthful of poison, the green gas from the first attack hadn¡¯t yet dispersed. How would anyone even dare to step into that field of death? Not to mention stepping into it, no one even dared to go near.

    Little Zhuji was furious upon hearing the words from the other side. She raised her little head and roared, ¡°Who said so? Stand out if you dare and I¡¯ll show you if I can¡¯t spit your face full of it!¡±

    Her voice¡ªextremely clear and full of spirit¡ªspread out in all directions. The morale of the Stormwind Fury soldiers hit rock bottom, and thatmander didn¡¯t dare step out, either. Little Zhuji¡¯s green gas had already killed thousands of mercenaries. What if she had a little bit left?

    Qianye patted little Zhuji¡¯s head. ¡°Just rest, no need for you to fight anymore.¡±

    With that, Qianye passed straight through the poisoned areapletely unaffected and headed for the Stormwind Fury formation.

    An astonished Gado followed hurriedly from behind. He saw Qianye passing through thend of death with such calmness that he thought it was already fine to take this path. But he had only taken a couple of steps in when he felt his skin turn numb as a fishy fluid came down his nostrils.

    Shocked out of his wits, Gado retreated urgently and shed out of the vicinity. Then, he proceeded to force the poison out with every ounce of his power. Momentster, his expression improved after spitting out a mouthful of putrid blood, but his aura had weakened quite a bit. Surprisingly, his injuries weren¡¯t light!

    He nced at the putrid blood on the ground with a terrified expression, his heart full of trepidation. He might¡¯ve been gravely injured had he pulled back anyter.

    And that was because the green gas was spread out over a wide area. If little Zhuji had spat out a concentrated mass of this poison, Gado would have probably died on the spot.

    But Qianye didn¡¯t look like he needed Gado¡¯s help, either. Qianye¡¯s domain spread out over the Stormwind Fury formation, felling arge swathe of mercenaries. Equipped with the experience from before, many soldiers charged into the domain proactively in order to distribute the pressure. Just as they were barely able to resist the weight, they saw a thin red thread pierce through their chests. Thereafter, everything turned dark and they could no longer feel anything.

    Hundreds of corpses fell down around Qianye after a round of Life Plunder swept through. Although the number of threads he could produce was limited, they would target mercenaries with the most exuberant vitality, leaving only the weaklings. This dealt a grave blow to the corps'' fighting power.

    Thatmanding officer was hiding in the crowd with hopes ofunching a sneak attack. But he would always run away like a spooked bird.

    Qianye felt somewhat helpless against such a crafty opponent.

    But that wasn¡¯t important. Qianye still had a Shot of Inception left for the man if he really did approach. Coupled with Spatial sh, he could definitely chase down and kill the enemy. If themander refused toe near, then Qianye would keep on killing the mercenaries without pause. The Stormwind Fury¡¯s defeat was confirmed in the blink of an eye. Even the most resolute of soldiers couldn¡¯t find the courage to charge forward after seeing their friends fall one after the other. Following an unknown shout, the surviving soldiers immediately began to disperse and flee. None of them turned back, nor was there anyone to guard the rear. Whoever fled slower would be killed first, giving the ones up front a greater chance at escaping. This ancient wisdom originating from the beast hordes was both cruel and practical.

    Qianye had no good way to deal with the scattering soldiers. He had only killed a few when there was no one left in his sight. Even the most ordinary soldiers revealed surprising strength while on the run, fleeing as quick as lightning.

    Qianye stopped and drew upon his origin power. Soon, a deep, thunderous voice covered the entire forest area. Even the soldiers who had run furthest could hear his words echoing beside their ears. ¡°Whoever touches my people must die! Resign from the corps if you¡¯re smart. Hereafter, I shall kill everyone from Stormwind Fury that I meet!¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± The shockedmander¡¯s voice arrived from afar. He had wanted to throw down a couple of fierce words before leaving, but who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would be so absolute in his actions? He couldn¡¯t find any response after a long while, and he couldn¡¯t really stop his fleeing feet, either. He had fled far at this point andcked the power to deliver his words to Qianye¡¯s ears.

    Qianye stopped to take a deep breath, his face flushed red and his blood, boiling. The essence blood he had absorbed with Life Plunder burned continuously, swiftly restoring his blood energy.

    By the time Gado arrived in front of Qianye, thetter had recovered to his initial state¡ªat least it seemed so on the surface. The tall warrior nced at Qianye, and then at little Zhuji. He proceeded to heave a long sigh, knowing that it was impossible for him to take the little girl away. Besides, the way Qianye treated Stormwind Fury proved that he would never go easy on those who dared to have designs on little Zhuji.

    Gado left quietly with his tribesmen and vanished into the depths of the forest. Qianye, on the other hand, brought the little fellow in a different direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s on this side?¡± Little Zhuji asked.

    ¡°The mercenaries¡¯ camp. I¡¯m going to burn them.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± The little fellow was nodding off and looked like she would fall asleep at any moment.

    ¡°How did you learn to use poison?¡±

    ¡°I ate that fruitst time, I knew how to use poison after waking up."

    The little girl¡¯s reply made Qianye speechless. Her talents were simply too enviable. Which human didn¡¯t have to painstakingly cultivate theirbat arts? Some powerful secret arts even put one¡¯s life at risk. For instance, the Profound Combatant Form afforded its user shocking cultivation speeds and its apanying Oceanic Vortex was peerlessly powerful. However, Qianye would¡¯ve broken down instead if his body were just a bit weaker.

    Zhuji¡¯s green gas was so powerful, and yet all she needed was a nap toprehend it. This was an inherent power hidden deep within her bloodline.

    Little Zhuji¡¯s bloodline originated from Count Stuka, but Qianye felt that the arachne¡¯s poison wasn¡¯t this powerful when he and Zhao Yuying had fought him back then. The talent skill had grown stronger by over ten times in Little Zhuji¡¯s hands.

    Qianye could only sigh in admiration whenparing the two.

    Momentster, Qianye exited the ck Grove with little Zhuji in tow and arrived in front of the mercenary camp. At this moment, the camp was in utter chaos with people running in from everywhere to report the matter. Some began organizing their luggage in a fluster, while some fierce characters waved their weapons around, shouting about how they would deal with Qianye.

    No small number of Stormwind Fury soldiers had escaped back to base, but Qianye¡¯s arrival was also quite fast. They had only managed to convey news of their utter defeat to those at the base when Qianye arrived, not even giving them enough time to pack up.

    Qianye simply walked in, toozy to pay attention to the nonsense those mercenary coyotes were spouting.

    Momentster, three camps, along with the logging grounds, broke out in fierce mes. The fire stretched dozens of meters tall and almost illuminated the entire sky. As Qianye slowly walked out of the raging mes, there was no longer a living shadow in the ze behind him.

    ¡°Where do we go now?¡±

    ¡°Home.¡±

    ¡°Let me sleep a while then. I¡¯m so sleepy.¡± Little Zhuji yawned loudly.

    Qianye got onto his motorbike, started the engine, and sped off into the boundless wastnd, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

    Finally, news of utter defeat on the front lines reached Southern Blue. The city lord sat quietly,pletely unmoved even as the frontlinemander of Stormwind Furypleted his report.

    The entire meeting chamber fell into a deathly silence as the report waspleted. Everyone knew that Qianye¡¯s death threat toward Stormwind Fury wasn¡¯t just for fun. The issue was how likely it was that he would be able to follow up on his words.

    The Southern Blue city lord spoke only after a long while, ¡°He calls himself Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    A longpse of silence passed again before the city lord said, ¡°Report this matter to the Spider Emperor. Okay, dismissed!¡±

    Only when the room was empty did the Southern Blue city lord heave a long sigh. ¡°Qianye, Qianye¡­¡±

    At this moment, Qianye had already traversed the vast distance to reach the continent¡¯s edge. The geography in the area was no longer even, and was already beginning to rise and fall. ncing into the distance, one could see a long mountain range and its tall peaks piercing into the clouds. There were streaks of lightning flickering along the peaks, apanied by the asional thunder. It could be considered extremely dangerous.

    That was the continent¡¯s border, where the natural barrier of the continent met the void. Even space here was unstable, and void storms were amon urrence. Throughout the long years, the mountain range had been cut, torn, and crushed by the void storms, eventually turning into this kind ofndscape where even birds couldn¡¯t fly easily. Some of the tallest peaks were thousands of meters in height.

    Beyond these tall peaks was the true border of the continent. There were storms wreaking havoc here at all times. Those unfortunate enough to be swept into them would be flung out into the bottomless void.

    The Eastern Sea Continent, along with many otherndmasses in the neutralnds, originated from the Void Valley Star. It hadn¡¯t been very long since they were formed. The twenty-seven main continents were much more stable¡ªtheir barriers were stronger, and their borders were rtively peaceful.

    Qianye¡¯s expression became serious as he gazed at the tall peaks around the border region. The environment here was too adverse and dangerous even for him. Caution was necessary.

    The reason he hade here was because of the third piece of news he had gotten from the captain. Reportedly, a vampire warship had crashed here. Qianye wanted to know why the Evernight vampire race hade here with a giant warship.

    It was said that one of the masters of the neutralnds¡ªthe person on the Throne of Blood¡ªhad a deep enmity against the twelve ancient ns and would kill their members on sight. That Shattered Time in his hands could instantly kill anyone below the duke rank and even defeat a prince. That was why Evernight vampires were rarely seen in the neutralnds.

    Qianye had no idea what the vampires were scheming, but it was too much of a coincidence that they would be here at this time.

 Volume 7 - In life and In Eternal Rest ( 684-815) - Chapter 814: Charging the Ranks

    The temperature toward the continent¡¯s edge fell sharply, and the storms grew even fiercer. Qianye¡¯s blood core pulsed fast amidst the surging void origin power and unstable space, his heart filled with trepidation. This was an instinctive fear toward the environment. Even the ancient vampire race had to be cautious around void storms and unstable space. Qianye was only a count at the moment, and even by ancient vampire standards, exploring the void was for those at the duke rank. Even though Qianye had started his fire-forged physique early, he would need to wait until he was at least an honored marquis in order to make this attempt.

    Little Zhuji woke up from her deep sleep at this point, having sensed the danger in the environment. By the time she opened her eyes, Qianye was scaling a tall peak and was hundreds of meters off the ground. This mountain pierced straight into the sky. Its walls were smooth and devoid of ces to grab onto¡ªit was almost as though they had been shaved down by a sharp de. Qianye was only able to climb by relying on his powerful physique and stabbing his hand into the stone wall along the way.

    This was already and of peril for ordinary champions. These tall peaks had remained standing for so many years despite the constant battering of void storms. In truth, that was because the rocks had grown even harder than refined steel due to the invasion of void origin power. An ordinary human champion would be exhausted after digging ten or so times. They wouldn''t be able to climb beyond some several dozen meters, let alone reach the peak.

    Little Zhuji had just opened her eyes when she saw a fluctuating strip of ck. Eyes wide and her long hair flying about, she immediately broke out in a loud scream.

    This was a spatial tear. Although it wasn¡¯t fully formed just yet, those swept by the tear would suffer as though they had been cut by a top-grade origin de. Even little Zhuji, who could endure a punch from a divine champion, wouldn¡¯t be able to escape being shed.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Qianye moved several meters toward the side, evading the surging spatialceration with great uracy. Then, he kept moving upward and left the tear behind.

    The changes in void origin power were clear as day in his True Sight, hence evading the spatial tear was all too easy for him.

    ¡°Is this our home?¡± The little girl¡¯s face was pale, apparently shocked by the ordeal.

    ¡°Nope, we¡¯re only here to look for something.¡±

    ¡°What are we looking for?¡±

    ¡°Something rted to Nighteye.¡±

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Little Zhuji consented while biting her lip.

    The restlessness in Qianye¡¯s heart grew stronger as he kept on climbing. He was already feeling uneasy after getting here, but he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on the reason. At the mention of Nighteye, his blood core was wracked by a sudden pain, and the dark golden blood energy moved about restlessly. A mournful cry broke out from the depths of his ancient vampire bloodline!

    Was this a call from the River of Blood or a response from his origin blood? Qianye had no way to confirm the knowledge passed through vampire inheritance; he knew vaguely, but that was the extent of it. He couldn¡¯t understand why the River of Blood would call for him, or with whom his origin blood was resonating.

    The current dark golden blood energy was refined via the Song n Ancient Scroll and had assimted many kinds of blood energy from before. Strictly speaking, this was likely a new vampire bloodline that had never before appeared in history. After all, ording to the Song-n records, no one had cultivated these two chapters before.

    Qianye put his mind to climbing¡ªthis peak was manifestly taller than the surrounding ones, several hundred meters more in fact. It stood proudly in the void and would afford an unobstructed vista to those who managed to climb it. Although it was said that the Evernight warship had crashed in the void, Qianye had some doubts after observing the environment here. At the very least, there was no way those mercenaries could¡¯vee to the border of this continent.

    Additionally, vampire warships were exquisitely designed and second to none in the dark race faction. Even demonkin vessels were inferior to them, only managing to catch up when it came to those great-monarch-level airships.

    Those mercenaries had likely seen the vampire airship falling after a fierce battle, but they couldn¡¯t have confirmed whether it had really crashed in the void. With how the vampire warships were designed, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard for them tond on the continent as long as they weren¡¯t utterly destroyed.

    The lone peak was tall, but after an unwavering climb, Qianye finally managed to put it beneath his feet.

    Raging winds whistled on the summit, and therge snowkes were like bullets as they struck the body. In truth, it wasn¡¯t really snow that was flying about in the air but pieces of icy crystals. After being saturated in origin power, it could be said that these crystals had grown as hard as refined steel.

    The peak was exceptionally t, wide, and the ground was as smooth as a mirror. This came about due to the constant friction between the rocky ground and ice crystals, both of which had been reinforced by void origin power. The gusts here were so strong that even giant rocks weighing several tons would be easily swept away.

    Not expecting such an environment, Qianye had just reached the peak when he was almost swept away by the raging winds. Fortunately, he managed to whip East Peak out and plunge it into the rocky ground to stabilize his footing.

    He was better able to adapt with East Peak in hand and could soon move about freely in the environment.

    The view here was indeed vast. Despite the flurry of wind and snow, he could see everything within dozens of kilometers. Qianye first gazed toward the continent¡¯s edge but found nothing except devastating storms. As he was turning toward a different direction, he suddenly noticed several wisps of blood energy flickering briefly in the blizzard.

    Those blood energies were fairly distant and hidden within a tempest of wind and snow. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s extreme sensitivity to blood energy, he would very likely have missed it. These wisps of blood energy were released by vampire experts in battle. The blood energy originating from the twelve ancient ns was pure and ancient, a stark difference from the diluted mixture of the neutralnds.

    Vampires had appeared here and were even locked inbat. Needless to say, they were likely rted to that vampire warship. Qianye jumped down the peak without any hesitation. Sliding and flying, he borrowed the force of the wind to quickly approach the battlefield.

    Qianye finallynded on the ground after a period of wrestling against the storms and turbulence. There was a small hill several kilometers ahead of him, and the battle was taking ce therein. From where he stood, he could clearly see ten or so blood energies weaving through the area. Some among them were practically surging into the skies and, quite shockingly, at the marquis level.

    Every marquis was a core power for the vampire race, the skeleton propping up the ancient ns. The mobilization of marquis always signified something important. Now, three of them had appeared here at the risk of being discovered and killed by the Throne of Blood. What exactly was here that they would pay such a steep price for?

    Qianye¡¯s vampire-aspect at the moment wasn¡¯t at all inferior to an ordinary marquis, but his chances of victory were slim at best against three such experts and a dozen other ranked warriors.

    Under the cover of the snowstorm, chaotic origin power, and fierce battles, none of thebatants actually noticed Qianye¡¯s arrival. Sneaking toward them wasn¡¯t difficult, either.

    But Qianye had just retracted his aura when a wisp of blood energy erupted on the battlefield. It wasn¡¯t that powerful, yet it was filled with imposing grandeur. The appearance of this blood energy dimmed the dominant blood energies rampaging through the area. Even those belonging to the three marquises were crippled, let alone other vampires.

    This wisp of blood energy erupted thrice and tore through the skies during its final burst! Following its eruption, one of the marquis¡¯ blood energy suddenly went dark and almost vanishedpletely.

    Qianye was shaken upon sensing this blood energy. His blood core pulsed rapidly and his dark golden blood energy was fully awakened. This wasn¡¯t just a monarch¡¯s bloodline readying itself to fight another¡¯s, but a familiarity etched into his bones and heart.

    The one fighting the Evernight vampires on the snowy mountain was Nighteye!

    Hadn¡¯t she gone back to Evernight to find her ce on the sacred mountain? Why was she here fighting desperately against the Evernight vampires? Nighteye was only a count, yet she was being attacked by arge group of vampires led by three marquises. Even though the awakened ancient consciousness had pushed her blood energy utilization to the peak, there was no doubt that she was in grave danger at the moment.

    Qianye had no time to think about all those things at the moment. There was only one thing on his mind: Nighteye was under siege!

    A wisp of dark golden blood energy shot from above his head and into the skies. The earth-shattering whistle filled the entire heaven and earth, even suppressing the snowstorm for a moment!

    Qianye left countless afterimages as he charged straight into the battlefield.

    The surprised vampires in the field looked over at the same time. A pale marquis looked shocked at first, but then his expression turned to one of disdain. Qianye¡¯s blood energy was indeed powerful, but it was merely at the virtuous-count level. That one step between a count and marquis was akin to the gap between heaven and earth. As for his dark golden blood energy, the marquis had never seen it before, so he merely thought Qianye to be a hybrid descendant from the neutralnds.

    Such a weak bastard dared to charge their ranks?

    Qianye came rapidly, arriving beneath the hill in the blink of an eye. Instead of slowing down there, he actually sped up and made for the peak with peerless momentum.

    The marquis¡¯ wrinkled eyelids twitched several times, and the down-curve of his lips became even more obvious. He waved his cape back, ced a hand on his sword, and proceeded to stare at Qianye.

    Two viscounts took the initiative to charge at Qianye, their long des aimed at his vitals below the ribs. The attacks were ruthless and agile, clearly the style of elites.

    However, Qianye was in no mood to get entangled with these insects. With a loud roar, he unleashed his blood energy without restraint and shed out horizontally. A ring-shaped sword radiance shot thirty meters out, cutting the two third-rank viscounts into two.

    A third-rank count was holding the rear and preparing tounch an attack. Shocked after witnessing this scene, the step he was just about to take remained nailed to the ground. He merely looked on motionlessly as the target dashed past.

    Qianye was in no mood to pay him any attention. He passed by like the wind and charged straight for the hilltop.

    The third-rank viscount only came to after Qianye¡¯s departure, puzzled as to why he was so afraid just now. Despite being a core member of a famous n, he was actually sapped of all courage while facing Qianye.

    That pale marquis was livid. He flickered into Qianye¡¯s path, roaring, ¡°Where did this mix-breede from!?¡±

    Qianye shot a nce at the insignia on the old man¡¯s cor. ¡°Medanzo¡¯s descendants? Scram if you don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    The old man broke into augh, but his mouth remained down-curved all the while, making for an expression that was inexplicably sinister and frightening.

 Chapter 816: Reminder of the Pas

    On the snowy peak, Nighteye gradually turned cold amidst the deste whistles of snow and wind. What little gentleness she had in her eyes gradually faded away. ncing at Qianye¡¯s stubborn figure, she wanted to say something but stopped midway, unable to utter more hurtful cold words. She merely said, ¡°Impossible.¡±

    ¡°How will you know if you don¡¯t try?¡± For some reason, there was a fire burning in the usually calm eyes of Qianye.

    ¡°If you really must try, then do as you wish.¡±

    Qianye nodded, almost as though he hadn¡¯t sensed Nighteye¡¯s indifference. ¡°Can you fill me up on the details?¡±

    ¡°Ask him.¡± Nighteye pointed at Jared.

    The Silver-Winged Marquis had noticed that the rtionship between the other two wasn¡¯t that simple. It went without saying that the less he knew about this matter, the better, so he moved away quietly and decided to vanish for a while. Who would¡¯ve thought he would be dragged back by Nighteye before he had managed to escape?

    Jared arrived beside Qianye and let out an awkward cough. He was just thinking about where to start when Nighteye said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the crash site, you can talk on the way.¡±

    With that, Nighteye¡¯s figure flickered and vanished in the blizzard. Even Qianye wasn¡¯t her match in terms of speed, to speak nothing of Jared. Spatial sh was probably the only thing capable of matching the divine speed she had disyed just now.

    Qianyeughed wryly as he exchanged nces with Jared and then chased after her. The two of them knew they couldn¡¯t catch up to her anyway, so they made no effort to elerate. Instead, Jared took this opportunity to exin some of the details.

    After failing to seek Nighteye from the empire back then, the Lightless Monarch finally learned that she and Qianye had left for the neutralnds. But Medanzo wasn¡¯t about to let this matter be. He dispatched many of his powerful subordinates to head to the neutralnds and capture Nighteye.

    This time, Medanzo had learned his lesson. In order to be absolutely safe, he dispatched a confident line-up containing one vice-duke, three marquises, and numerous other ranked experts. If it wasn¡¯t for fear of retaliation from the Throne of Blood, the Lightless Monarch might have sent his dukes here.

    The neutralnds were iparably dangerous. Even the leader of this expedition¡ªa vice-duke who went by the name of Soma the Torn Lightning¡ªhad to keep her explosive temper in check. They traveled toward the neutralnds in due cautiousness, taking care to conceal their tracks along the way.

    The journey was even more of a smooth sail than they had anticipated, and it just so happened that Nighteye was trying to contact Evernight via the vampire race¡¯s secret channel. The two parties thus ran into one another and Nighteye revealed some vague traces of her movements. Unexpectedly, Soma turned hostile all of a sudden and attacked with all her might,pletely ignoring Nighteye¡¯s true identity after her second awakening.

    It was just that she had never imagined just how terrifying Nighteye was after her second awakening. The sudden eruption in power not only sank the warship but also killed the vice-duke on the spot.

    Afterward, Nighteye became embroiled in a battle with the ship¡¯s survivors, finally being cornered on the snowy mountain after several days. That was when Qianye appeared. But judging from her speed just now, Jared ultimately understood that Nighteye was simply toying with them for the past couple of days. It would only be a moment¡¯s work for her if she had wanted to shake them off.

    Qianye understood, after listening to Jared¡¯s exnation, that Nighteye simply didn¡¯t need his help to deal with these defeated soldiers. Nheless, Qianye couldn¡¯t sit by and watch her being surrounded on all sides, even if the consciousness controlling the body was no longer the Nighteye he once knew.

    Qianye was now able toy down his worries and feel much more rxed.

    After half a day of walking, they finally reached an area on the edge of the continent. That giant airship was stuck diagonally in the wastnd, half of its body buried into the frozen rocks. This warship was extremely sturdy in its construction, and the parts visible above ground werergely intact. It truly was a mystery how Nighteye had sunk it.

    Qianye asked what was on his mind, but Jared only responded vaguely.

    It took Qianye some effort to understand that Jared actually had no idea how Nighteye had killed Soma and sunk the warship. The stately Silver-Winged Marquis only remembered that, all of a sudden, Soma had been gravely injured and the ship was sinking; that was it. Later on, it was found that Soma had died from a copsed blood core. This wasn¡¯t hard to exin¡ªSoma¡¯s bloodline was far inferior to Nighteye¡¯s own, so death was certain in a contest of blood energies. But back then, the airship was hovering hundreds of meters in the air, at a great distance from the battlefield below. Yet, it had actually fallen inexplicably, and inspectionster on found no signs of malfunction, either.

    Seeing that there was nothing left that the marquis could tell him, Qianye simply followed Jared toward the airship remains.

    Nighteye was already here, and she seemed to be lost in unknown thoughts.

    She said without turning back as Qianye and Jared arrived, ¡°This airship is still usable, so I¡¯ll be staying here for the time being. Jared, go and do some repairs.¡±

    The Silver-Winged Marquis had no idea how to repair warships, but his lord had spoken. And as the only subordinate, he had to know even if he didn¡¯t. He left without a second word and flew into the warship to repair what he could.

    Only two people were left on the frozen ins. Qianye had no idea what to say at this point. He had ten thousand things to say to her, but when the moment arrived, he felt that there was no need to say anything. Nothing he said would be of use anyway.

    After a moment of silence, Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, you may leave now.¡±

    ¡°How do I find you in the future?¡± Qianye blurted out.

    This time, Nighteye wasn¡¯t impatient or cold. She replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll be here for some time.¡±

    ¡°This ce¡­¡± Qianye nced left and right but found nothing good about it.

    ¡°I want to reforge my body, it¡¯s too weak to inherit more strength. This will take a long time.¡± At this point, she nced at Qianye sideways. ¡°By the time the transformation isplete, the Nighteye you¡¯re familiar with will cease to exist, from the inside out.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s fingers trembled slightly. ¡°Is your awakening rted to the spiritual repair?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Nighteye admitted in due honesty. ¡°if it wasn¡¯t for the grave injury to the spirit and its subsequent repair, I wouldn¡¯t have awakened so early. Perhaps I wouldn¡¯t awaken for dozens or even hundreds of years.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s the case.¡± Qianye shook his head self-deprecatingly. ¡°But that¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t regret anything.¡±

    Nighteye finally turned around and looked into Qianye¡¯s eyes¡ªserious, concentrated, and not willing to miss a single detail. Momentster, the light in her eyes gradually faded away, giving way to her usual indifference. ¡°As the first love of this body and its previous consciousness, I¡¯ve remembered you. This rtionship is also the only reason why I¡¯m saying so much. Now, you may leave.¡±

    Qianye turned to leave without any hesitation. Little Zhuji had been quiet this whole time, but she could no longer maintain her silence at this point. ¡°Aren¡¯t we bringing big sis home?¡±

    Qianye patted her head and said with a bitter smile, ¡°No, she likes it here.¡±

    Little Zhuji looked left and right but couldn¡¯t figure out what¡¯s so good about this ce. ¡°Then, will wee and see her often?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    The two figures¡ªone big, one small¡ªwalked into the snowy winds and gradually vanished over the horizon. Nighteye, on the other hand, never moved from the beginning until the end.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce drifted slowly over the Eastern Sea like a roc. Wherever it passed, the fierce beasts below would hide on the ocean flow, unwilling to provoke this massive flying entity.

    Several dayster, Qianye arrived back at the Northern Continent. There were now several wooden huts in the valley, replete with a flower garden out front. The newly tilled soil was littered with newborn sprouts in the form of little green dots.

    Qianye was somewhat surprised by this scene. Who would¡¯ve thought there was such a side to Bluemoon? His only impression of her was a cruel, scheming Highbeard Shieldmaiden. It was at this moment that the door to one of the wooden houses opened and out walked Bluemoon. There was a high-qualitybat knife at her waist. Qianye didn¡¯t remember leaving her such a weapon before his departure.

    Yawning with her mouth covered, she headed toward the forest and only noticed Martyr¡¯s Pce in the air after a good while. Gasping, the girl quickly removed thebat knife and turned around, only to find Qianye watching her with a spurious smile.

    Bluemoon was at a momentary loss about what to do, wondering whether she should stow the de or toss it away.

    Qianye stretched out his hand. ¡°Let me see.¡±

    Bluemoon knew she couldn¡¯t disobey. With her head lowered and a hint of unwillingness, she presented the knife with both hands. Her fingertips were trembling ever so slightly, almost as though she were afraid.

    But Qianye was already used to her schemes and acting. He merely ignored her tricks, took the knife from her, and proceeded to fiddle about with it, using his fingertip to test its sharpness. The dagger had just brushed past when a thin red line appeared on Qianye¡¯s fingertip. Being able to cut through Qianye¡¯s skin proved just how sharp this de was. Even among grade-six weapons, it could be considered a premium item. It was just that Bluemoon didn¡¯t have enough kic power to bring out its full strength.

    The main issue here was, where did that knifee from? Back then, Bluemoon had stoodpletely exposed with no secrets to speak of. Qianye had personally removed all of her weapons and kic support mechanisms.

    Qianye looked up. ¡°Not a bad de, where did ite from?¡±

    Knowing that she wouldn¡¯t be able to escape this hurdle, Bluemoon removed her skirt to reveal her half-mechanical lower limbs. Her legs, a mixture of machine and skin, was attractive in a different way. She stole a nce at Qianye but was disappointed to find that there was no change in his expression. Hence, she stopped trying to seduce him. She reached out to touch the mechanical bone on her calf, and all of a sudden, there was a high-grade ck crystal in her hand.

    ¡°Spatial gear?¡± This time, it was Qianye¡¯s turn to be surprised.

    Any kind of spatial equipment would fetch a sky-high price, be it in Evernight or the empire. Additionally, the space they could contain was small, involved numerous restrictions, and were also unstable. Their primary valuey in their potential for research. Qianye had never seen a spatial item at the level of Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    How could Qianye not be surprised to find a piece of spatial equipment on Bluemoon?

 Chapter 817: Financial Peril

    Qianye crouched down in front of her and stroked that metallic bone. He couldn¡¯t see anything different about it even with his True Sight, but that was also expected because Qianye was far from being at the level where he could see through space.

    The part produced a crisp, metallic echo when he flicked it with his finger, but he couldn¡¯t tell what material it was.

    ¡°That¡¯s actually not metal, but the bone of a void colossus. Ites naturally with a small storage space and is one of my tribe''s most prized treasures.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re actually holding such a valuable treasure?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s to carry the Earth Dragon¡¯s blood and other potential treasures.¡± She was rather honest.

    Qianye stood up with a nod.

    Bluemoon couldn¡¯t help but tremble as she looked into his emotionless eyes. She suddenly recalled how Qianye had told her that he would kill her on the first sign of disobedience. And hiding fuel for her weaponry had gone well beyond disobedience.

    However, Qianye¡¯s frosty expression suddenly became radiant. He returned the dagger and ck crystal to Bluemoon, saying, ¡°The de is not bad, keep it for yourself. You may also use your ck crystals now.¡±

    The restrictions on her weapons and energy had been lifted? Bluemoon was startled. Wasn¡¯t he afraid that she would do something behind his back?

    Watching Qianye¡¯s receding figure, Bluemoon couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°No reason, I¡¯m just in a good mood.¡±

    This answer left Bluemoon puzzled, but her eyes lit up when she saw little Zhuji on one side. She approached the girl and asked in a soft voice, ¡°Did master encounter anything good on his trip?¡±

    Little Zhuji gave it some thought before replying, ¡°He went to see Big Sis, then he was driven away by her. That¡¯s all.¡±

    Bluemoon was even more confused now. This didn¡¯t sound like a good thing at all; how was it supposed to improve Qianye¡¯s mood? What if it was just an ironic remark? The thought grew stronger and stronger after taking root. There were historic records about how lords would treat people with a smile when they wanted to kill them.

    She was drenched in cold sweat at the thought of this. At the moment, she suddenly heard Qianye¡¯s call, ¡°Come here.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± Bluemoon eximed in shock. Just now, she was lost in thought, and hearing Qianye¡¯s voice so close gave her a good fright.

    Qianye was standing beside theke at the moment. He gave Bluemoon a weird look, saying, ¡°What are you shouting about? It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll eat you up. Bring me those design diagrams.¡±

    Bluemoon calmed herself and ran back to the wooden hut, from which she returned with all the diagrams. She ced the documents in front of Qianye and stood beside him in a solemn manner, waiting for further instructions. This was her primary job, as well as the sole reason she was alive, so she attached great importance to it. The thick stack of diagrams in front of Qianye was the result of her sweat and blood.

    Qianye picked one up and studied it carefully before picking up the next. Only when he was going through the ns did Bluemoon manage to sigh in relief, feeling as though she had regained some life. She couldn¡¯t be med for being so weak¡ªthose who had failed to embrace death the first time would always feel more apprehension on the second.

    Qianye looked through all the ns. It took him quite a long while and a great deal of headache, yet he still couldn¡¯t understand much. He had no intention of figuring everything out, either. All he wanted was to ascertain Bluemoon¡¯s achievements. At least on the surface, it would seem the girl wasn¡¯t idling about these days and had spent most of her time on these designs. As for taking the time to build these houses and gardens, that was simply human nature. If anything, that was pretty cute of her.

    Qianye put down the ns and asked calmly, ¡°What do you think we should work on first?¡±

    ¡°The engine,¡± Bluemoon replied without hesitation.

    ¡°Engine? Why? Don¡¯t we already have the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart as a source of kic energy?¡± Qianye was somewhat puzzled.

    ¡°To be honest, the Martyr¡¯s Pce is just the remains of the Earth Dragon. It¡¯s only flying because of the skeleton¡¯s innate ability to float in the air and the driving force from the heart. But don¡¯t forget that the Earth Dragon is already dead and what we have is only a fraction of its remnant power. Do you think it can fly very fast?¡±

    Qianye nodded. He also understood that the Martyr''s Pce was only a bit faster than a cargo airship. If it wasn¡¯t for its ability to easily pass through space, any military warship could outperform this vessel.

    Bluemoon whipped out a design and pointed at the web-like diagrams on it. ¡°The power produced by the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart is extremely valuable. I believe the Pointer Monarch should have left a series of mechanisms to utilize this energy. The void colossus¡¯ energy can be considered a top-grade energy source. With it, we can realize many instations that used to be possible only on paper. How can we waste this kind of power? So, we should just use an ordinary engine for day-to-day flight. Besides, the Martyr¡¯s Pce is so big, we can definitely stock several year¡¯s worth of fuel on it.¡±

    Bluemoon was extremely confident in her own field. Qianye could only gaze nkly at her without understanding much. He had no idea what kind of value the heart held or how to utilize it. Additionally, the irresponsible Pointer Monarch had handed Qianye a half-finished product just like that. There wasn¡¯t a single sign of those special designs that could only be driven by the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart.

    While criticizing the Pointer Monarch in his mind, Qianye nodded to indicate that he had heard the girl¡¯s exnation. As for how much of it he understood, he wasn¡¯t about to reveal that, and Bluemoon¡ªbeing the clever girl she was¡ªwouldn¡¯t ask, either.

    What Qianye did understand was that he needed some ordinary engines. Onone hand, it would increase the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s speed and flexibility, while on the other, it would save the void origin power harvested by the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart and bones.

    Not being able to take advantage of the Earth Dragon¡¯s energy for the time being wasn¡¯t a problem. It wouldn¡¯t be a waste because this power could be used to grow the dragon¡¯s flesh and consequently repair the ship¡¯s body. Besides, the Earth Dragon¡¯s defensive barrier while passing through the void also required energy.

    ¡°What¡¯s the detailed n?¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Bluemoon seemed hesitant. ¡°There are several feasible ns. One of them is temporary and will need to be swapped out in the future. The other is permanent, but it¡¯ll be a bit more expensive.¡±

    Qianye had killed almost a thousand mercenaries to date, and there were mountains of treasures and ck crystals in Andruil¡¯s Realm. He felt rich and imposing at the moment, so why would he even care about costs? Thest words he wanted to hear was ¡°a bit more expensive¡±. He waved his hand and said in a heroic manner, ¡°Just use the permanent method, the cost is not a problem!¡±

    Bluemoon became spirited and said with a bright smile, ¡°It¡¯s abination of engines and kic sails, the n is to hang a kic sail on each of the Earth Dragon¡¯s spines. This will save us a great deal of fuel and space. But even thergest kic sails we have on the market are too small, so we need tobine eight of them to get one of our size. Additionally, because of the significant demand in driving force, we need to join up sails of the highest quality. Naturally, it¡¯ll be best if we can get our sails custom-made!¡±

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s heart was deeply shaken and his vision turned dark.

    Sails of different quality have vastly different price points, but warship parts were never cheap. The highest grade sail of thergest size would cost at least a few thousand imperial gold coins. Even thergest imperial airships would use five or six at most.

    But this Martyr¡¯s Pce required eight of them to make up a single sail. The entire vessel was several thousand meters long with hundreds of spines on it. Even if they installed sails only on the biggest spines, it would cost at least a few million coins. The cost of outfitting an expeditionary army division on Evernight Continent was only a few hundred thousand gold coins.

    Now, Qianye was supposed to hang twenty such divisions on the spine masts, and that was only the cost of basicponents. They still needed sails for eleration, turning, and bnce, which would boil down to double that price in total.

    No matter how rich Qianye was right now, he couldn¡¯t handle such an expenditure. Most of the mercenaries had little cash on them. Only high-ranking hunters and expert assassins had enough dough on them. Qianye managed to rake in just over a million gold coins in total fortune from them. His own possessions far surpassed this, of course, but the problem was that his true fortune consisted of things he couldn¡¯t sell¡ªthings like the Pointer Monarch¡¯s gun barrel, East Peak, the Book of Darkness, the Wings of Inception, etc.

    Only now did Qianye realize that a warship was actually a bottomless pit that was always hungry for gold coins. Those powerful warships from the empire had been brought together over the centuries. It was the same for the Evernight side¡ªvessels belonging to dukes and princes were peerless in might but took hundreds of years to perfect and upgrade them. It wouldn¡¯t be strange for a great dark monarch¡¯s airship to be constructed over a thousand years.

    Hence, these massive ancient airships capable of changing the tide of the battle would rarely appear in a fight between the empire and Evernight. The true reason was that these dukes, princes, and even great monarchs couldn¡¯t bear to use them.

    Meanwhile, this Martyr¡¯s Pce was a giant airship of unprecedented scale, one that could even be considered an aerial fortress. Naturally, its consumption involved astronomical numbers. It¡¯s just that merely the sails, among countless other airship parts, made the nouveau riche Qianye feel as though he were bankrupt. How much would he need to perfectly reconstruct the entire warship? At the very least, it was a number that would make even the major ns feel despair.

    Qianye had a sudden suspicion that perhaps the Pointer Monarch had given up on the Martyr¡¯s Pce because he had no more money.

    No matter how much evil guesses he had of the Pointer Monarch, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was now in his hands, and this expense was destined tond on his head.

    Qianye calmed himself and put on a gentle smile. ¡°Bluemoon, is there any other n?¡±

 Chapter 818: Brothers of the Pas

    It was a mystery whether Bluemoon understood Qianye¡¯s meaning when she replied seriously, ¡°This is the best n. Either that or we assemble the sails with inferiorponents and change all of themter on. Any middle-ground n orpromise will lead to wastageter. A great material like the Martyr¡¯s Pce will hardly appear again in a thousand years, it goes without saying that we have to build out of it an aerial fortress of the highest quality. The only warships that can contend with it are those on the sacred mountain and the empire¡¯s regal airship.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°When did the emperor ever get a regal airship? His own vessel is far inferior to those of the grand dukes from Evernight.¡±

    Qianye naturally understood how the imperial regime was faring. The emperor rarely went to battle in person, and his ministers did not encourage, either. Hence, it was a waste to build an overly powerful airship for the emperor. The current emperor¡¯s imperial vessel was nothing more than a remodeled old battleship, decorated for luxury rather than for battle. The airships left behind by each sessive emperor would be added to the ranks of the pce guard.

    Quite unexpectedly, Bluemoon replied, ¡°Not that one, I meant the Martial Emperor¡¯s airship.¡±

    ¡°Martial Emperor¡¯s airship?¡± Qianye was intrigued. There were innumerable stories about the Martial Ancestor but not a single one that said anything about a legendary warship.

    ¡°Of course he had one, there are several legends about it in the neutralnds. The Martial Ancestor¡¯s ride was also made from a void colossus, and the most interesting thing about it is that it¡¯s alive. So, it escaped the empire¡¯s control after the Martial Emperor¡¯s death and returned into the deep void.¡±

    ¡°Howe I¡¯ve never heard of it?¡±

    ¡°Reportedly, the emperor instructed his men to release the colossus into the void after his death, but those greedy people tried to control it instead. In the end, the creature flew into a rage and destroyed two entire imperial fleets before vanishing into the depths of the void. It¡¯s only natural that the empire wouldn¡¯t announce such an embarrassment, especially since it was brought about by going against the emperor¡¯s will.¡±

    Qianye nodded. This definitely sounded like something the empire would do.

    The conversation had veered somewhat off course, so they quickly steered it back to the topic at hand. At the mention of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Bluemoon¡¯s face was radiant and full of confidence in her idea. As she saw it, any other middle-ground n was a waste of money.

    What Bluemoon said was reasonable, and Qianye, being an amateur in this field, had no better idea. He had no choice but to endure the heartache and approve her n.

    The kic sails were only a part of the ship. They would require four giant, battleship-grade engines to ensure minimal thrust, thirty-six auxiliary engines for agile maneuvers, and hundreds of smaller ones for postural adjustments. And this was the bare minimum¡ªording to Bluemoon¡¯s calctions, they would need to spend twice as much to maximize the effects.

    Every number that came out of her mouth felt like a lethal blow to Qianye. As soon as she said the words ¡°maximum effect¡±¡ªwithout even mentioning the subsequent numbers, Qianye already felt like he had beenshed at by Caroline¡¯s Thunderous Whip. All he could see were golden stars and little Martyr¡¯s Pces flying about.

    He would find some way to make things work. Qianyeforted himself repeatedly until Bluemoon finished saying all she had to say.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce had to be constructed one way or the other. Qianye had just thrown out a heroic promise, saying he would send Nighteye to the Sacred Mountain. But those almighty figures on the summit didn¡¯t just represent a force capable of suppressing the world; they were also backed by massive ns and tribes. Hence, Qianye¡¯s strength alone was far from enough. He needed to build up his own army.

    The full-constructed Martyr¡¯s Pce wasparable to having a power of his own.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and continued discussing the details with Bluemoon.

    The kic system was the first on the list and the most basic requirement. Bluemoon was also knowledgeable about weapons systems, but she wasn¡¯t quite proficient in exterior design, armor, and space allocation. Regarding ship-based weaponry, it was best to use the fortress-grade ballistae produced by the empire. This kind of powerful weapon coupled with a homing system would stop even battleships from approaching recklessly.

    But how could such high-grade weaponry be easy to purchase? Hence, Qianye decided to temporarily dy the instation of weapons.

    Only when they had gotten to the details of the purchase did Bluemoon notice that she had also miscalcted. Even the entire neutralnds market wouldn¡¯t be able to provide such arge number ofponents. The only way was to buy out all the kic sails avable on the market and ce an order with the manufacturer.

    Only then did Qianye heave a sigh of relief. He really couldn¡¯t afford it if he had to fork out three million gold coins in one go.

    Fortunately, the Martyr¡¯s Pce could still fly even without the origin sails, only at a slower rate. It was still able to remain airborne, and it was also stronger than most airships. The addition of every origin sail would increase its speed by a small fraction.

    Next up, Bluemoon listed some ces where these sails could be bought, allowing Qianye to decide where he would like to go first.

    He immediately found a familiar ce. ¡°Here! I¡¯ll go to Southern Blue first.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Bluemoon naturally had no doubt about his choice.

    Qianye contemted for a while before bringing out all the equipment he had confiscated from Bluemoon. ¡°Follow me to Southern Blue. There might be a need for you to operate solo at times, so I¡¯ll return these to you.¡±

    Bluemoon was extremely surprised. Reiming her gear was like giving wings to a tiger. She would once again be that Bluemoon who could move unhindered through the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. Additionally, her chances of leaving Qianye would increase exponentially. Not to mention Southern Blue, she could even escape into theplicatedndscape of the Northern Continent, and Qianye wouldn¡¯t be able to find her.

    The girl didn¡¯t put on her equipment immediately. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll escape?¡±

    ¡°So what? I can¡¯t help it if you want to run,¡± Qianye replied indifferently. He stood up and waved his right hand across the picturesque vista¡ªthe valleys, sea cliffs, hignds, and those majestic mountain ranges.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to establish a power of my own here, maybe even a nation! The Martyr¡¯s Pce is but a part of all this. Of course, I can¡¯t aplish all of that on my own, so I¡¯ll need people to help me, many characters from all walks of life. You¡¯ve seen it too, this ce is probably the most suitable in the entire neutralnds for human survival. And it¡¯s big enough to support the livelihood of tens of millions of people. The resources here are also sufficient to support an independent nation.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know howrge the Highbeardnds are, nor how many of you exist. But I believe there¡¯s enoughnd here for your people to thrive and that I¡¯ll have enough power to protect all of you in the future. So there¡¯s no reason for me to worry about you. These ns stand proof of your contribution. You¡¯ll naturally stay if you¡¯re willing to follow me, and if you¡¯re not, you¡¯ll find a way to flee, sooner orter. It¡¯s meaningless to force you.¡±

    Bluemoon was stoppered up. Not daring to meet Qianye¡¯s eyes, she lowered her head and asked softly, ¡°F-Follow you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Bluemoon lowered her head even further and the hum of her kic engines grew somewhat louder.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze swept over the distant cliffs and shores, crossing over the vast Eastern Sea toward the depths of the void. He hadn¡¯t noticed the change in Bluemoon¡¯s behavior at all. ¡°Of course, there will be more than just Highbeards on thisnd. Whoever is willing to follow me will obtain a ce to live and thrive. The size and location of thend, however, will depend on what they contribute.¡±

    Bluemoon finally looked up at Qianye with aplicated expression. With a bit of volition and a bit of disappointment, she asked, ¡°Why do you wish to build a nation?¡±

    ¡°Why indeed¡­¡± Qianye hesitated for a moment. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s to give humanity a nation they can call their own, a ce where they won¡¯t be suppressed by the other races.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Zhang Buzhou the human leader of the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°Him? What kind of leader is he?¡± Qianye sneered. ¡°He only cares about his own cultivation. He doesn¡¯t give a damn about the fate of humans. Just look at his own territory, are the humans on equal footing with the other races? A mere Wolf King dares to work together with outsiders to ughter humans without restraint and construct blood altars out of them. What¡¯s the use of such a leader?¡±

    Bluemoon knew not how to argue with this. She could only sigh helplessly, saying, ¡°Perhaps what you say is reasonable, but I must warn you that moving arge number of humans to the Northern Continent will attract Zhang Buzhou¡¯s attention. He¡¯s long since announced that all humans in the neutralnds are under his protection. You must know what these words mean. Anyone with designs on the human race will be interfering with Zhang Buzhou¡¯s business.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no rush regarding this matter, now is not the time, anyway. But¡­¡±

    Bluemoon spoke for him, ¡°But there¡¯s no changing your mind, is there?¡±

    ¡°Smart.¡± Qianye praised her.

    Bluemoon exhaled deeply and gave up trying to dissuade him. What she didn¡¯t know was that Qianye¡¯s eyes were directed at the boundless distance. There was a majestic mountain there looking down on all life. That was the Sacred Mountain of the Evernight world. Each figure atop that mountain was a tremendous entity whose shadow had shrouded the world for millennia.

    This could be considered a dream, perhaps something closer to fantasy or even a delusion. But Qianye didn¡¯t mind persevering in this regard. What if dreams really dide true?

    For some reason, Qianye suddenly recalled all those brothers whom he had fought alongside back in the empire. He thought about Song Seven¡¯s grandiose, drunk words, about how he had wanted to build arge nation of their own.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that the vicissitudes of life and time were nothing more than illusions? Having gone through the twists and turns of fate, the least ambitious Qianye had actually started to walk this road.

    He wondered if his brothers of the past were all doing well.

 Chapter 819: Return to Southern Blue

    ¡°Pack up and follow me to Southern Blue,¡± said Qianye.

    Bluemoon nodded firmly and returned briskly to her hut to gear up. By the time she was back, she was her old confident self, shrouded in a renewed brilliance.

    Qianye was crouching on the ground, teasing little Zhuji with one finger. The little girl was like an angry cat as she pounced at Qianye¡¯s finger, growling menacingly and shing her snowy white teeth from time to time.

    None of this was out of the ordinary, but Bluemoon was dazed. The duo was simply too fast, so much so that even someone of her eyesight could only see blurred images. Zhuji¡¯s hands would leave numerous afterimages with every move, and Qianye¡¯s finger had long since turned ethereal and fluctuant as he evaded Zhuji¡¯s attacks always at the nick of time.

    If Bluemoon had to do this kind of y-training with the kid, she would¡¯ve been struck senseless in mere moments. Additionally, the little girl¡¯s speed was already like the wind and shadows, which meant that her strength couldn¡¯t be underestimated, either. At this moment, she very much suspected whether her head could withstand a p from her.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Bluemoon couldn¡¯t help but gasp from the suspense.

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡± Only then did Qianye notice Bluemoon. But in that split second of distraction, Zhuji finally managed to catch Qianye¡¯s hand. The little fellow seemed genuinely angry this time as she opened her little mouth and bit down mercilessly!

    ¡°Ah!!!¡± This time, it was Qianye¡¯s turn to cry out. Even the fire-forged physique was no match for the little girl¡¯s teeth, immediately opening into acerated wound from the bite.

    Realizing that she was in trouble, the little girl released her bite immediately afterward. Seeing Qianye¡¯s mangled finger, she lowered her head with reddened eyes and unleashed a torrent of bean-sized teardrops. It was almost as though she had be a little cat who had been wronged.

    Qianye felt speechless. It almost looked like he was bullying her, but there really was no reasoning with little Zhuji. Feeling quite helpless, he could only rub her head and console her.

    Bluemoon approached cautiously and asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Qianye activated his blood energy, and momentster, his finger had healed on its own. He picked Zhuji up with one hand and led Bluemoon toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    After a while, the massive airship took to the air and, after a gradual turn, flew toward the vast Eastern Sea.

    Two dayster, Qianye was once again in the southern wilderness. He parked the Martyr¡¯s Pce up near the void, as usual, flew down, and headed toward Southern Blue with Zhuji and Bluemoon.

    There were several major cities on the Eastern Sea Continent. All of them, including the main human cities, were ces where thend¡¯s wealth converged. It wasn¡¯t wrong to head to them to procure goods. Although Southern Blue was located in the southern wilderness, its lord was a good businessman and the city itself was a transport hub. It was the best supply base for those looking to explore the wilderness. Additionally, the city had reaped a hefty profit from the recent wars and was enjoying a whole new level of prosperity.

    Qianye felt a connection of fate with the city, and there was also Zhuji¡¯s matter to settle. So, he chose this ce as his first stop.

    In recent days, Southern Blue had been ovee by a deste austerity. People on the streets walked hurriedly with worried expressions. The taverns were still full, but there was no heartyughter and shouting like before. The atmosphere was extremely depressing as the mercenaries drank with their heads lowered, seemingly lost in worry.

    Business was sparse in the weaponry stores throughout the city. The dispirited shopkeepers leaned against the counters of their deserted shops and couldn¡¯t even bother to greet iing customers.

    The weapons store Qianye had walked into was moderately sized, specializing inbat vehicles, truck, and bike parts as well as their weapons. There were also a number of airship parts to be found here, although their source was a mystery to everyone.

    Seeing that the staff had no intention of greeting him, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel odd. Bluemoon took a step forward and ced her hand on the counter. The shopkeeper looked up to find, not a hand, but arge gun barrel.

    Shocked out of his wits and pale, the man stood up straight and said, ¡°What does this Highbearddy needs? As long as it¡¯s within my power, I¡¯ll get it done satisfactorily.¡±

    The shopkeeper was full of smiles at this moment. The Highbeards made a living as mercenaries. They were iparably violent but made for great customers. As long as the goods were fine enough, they usually wouldn¡¯t nitpick about the price.

    Without stating her request, Bluemoon asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on in the city? Why is it so bleak?¡±

    The shopkeeper sighed. ¡°What else but the trouble stirred up by the City Lord¡¯s son? Reportedly, he provoked an extremely powerful expert and faced a miserable defeat in the south. It has been said that all experts from Stormwind Fury, save their captain, were killed, and the other party didn¡¯t even need a second move in each fight. They seemed to have suffered grave troop casualties, including members of the city guard whom the city lord had assigned to them. If even Stormwind Fury is in such a state, you can imagine how well the other corps were doing.¡±

    Bluemoon wasn¡¯t clear about this matter. ¡°Are the casualties that heavy?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Just think about it, most corps have lost over half their forces, how are they to musterpensation for all those people? Some mercenary corps were simply disbanded.¡± The shopkeeper sighed. ¡°These people can¡¯t even afford the financial support for the deceased, how will they have the money to shop?¡±

    Bluemoon came to a realization and shot a nce at Qianye. She had a feeling that this matter was rted to Qianye, but she didn¡¯t press on with the questions. ¡°Do you have airship engines?¡±

    The shopkeeper became spirited after hearing the true purpose of her visit. ¡°Yes, of course, we do! Our small shop just collected a new batch of engines, and they¡¯re all of good quality! At least eighty percent new!¡±

    Qianye and Bluemoon followed the shopkeeper to their warehouse. There, the man removed the tarpaulin cover and revealed several engines underneath. There were half a dozen of them piled up randomly and two of them even had signs of damage. Clearly, the person who had removed them wasn¡¯t as mature in terms of technique.

    Even Qianye could see that these engines were old goods, with the newest no more than fifty percent new. Additionally, they were constructed using an old design and would be considered centuries-old antiques by empire standards. But Qianye wasn¡¯t disappointed¡ªhe hade here for information, to begin with, and didn¡¯t hold too much of a hope for finding quality goods.

    Bluemoon, on the other hand, seemed to be making a serious selection. In the end, she picked two small engines and made the down payment. The shopkeeper was told to package the goods and that they woulde for it two dayster.

    The shopkeeper was fairly swift when there was business to be done. Qianye hadn¡¯t even left the store when he had already begun washing the engines and readying the boxes.

    After walking out of the weaponry store, Qianye strolled along the street and visited a couple of random stores. There were no high-quality goods in these shops, but Bluemoon always picked some parts from every store. She usually went forponents that were both economical and reliable, at the expense of size.

    Qianye nodded in secret. There was too much space on Martyr¡¯s Pce, anyway, more than enough to fit such unwieldy equipment. Their delicately-crafted counterparts would likely cost more for the same function. Take engines for instance¡ªa half-sized engine would cost ten times more than a full-sized one of the same output.

    As the three walked along the deserted streets, the mercenaries along the way would shoot frequent nces, and the number of people paying attention to them only grew as time went by. Upon seeing Qianye, some of the mercenaries turned pale and immediately went the other way with their heads lowered.

    At this point, Bluemoon could no longer hold back. ¡°Master, don¡¯t tell me this matter is rted to you?¡±

    ¡°A bit.¡± Qianye smiled.

    ¡°And yet you¡¯re showing off like that! Why don¡¯t we put some disguises on?¡±

    Qianye shrugged, saying, ¡°Aren¡¯t we already disguised?¡±

    Bluemoon had nothing to say. Qianye had merely changed his clothes and attached a small mustache. How could this be considered a disguise? The mustache did serve to entuate his beautiful eyes and grant him a different type of attractiveness, but anyone who had encountered Qianye before could see through this lousy disguise.

    Bluemoon couldn¡¯t keep pushing this matter since Qianye was sopletely nonchnt about it. She merely increased her engines to maximum output and charged her origin power weaponry.

    Realizing her intentions, Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I want them to know that I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°No reason, I just wanted to see their reaction,¡± Qianye replied calmly. With that, he patted little Zhuji¡¯s head and asked, ¡°Have you recovered? What will you do if the bad guyse?¡±

    ¡°Spit them in the face!¡± The girl¡¯s canines were visible when she grinned.

    ¡°Good girl!¡± Qianyeughed as he put little Zhuji up on his shoulder and paraded her around the town.

    Bluemoon didn¡¯t understand what was going on. She could only sigh in secret, thinking that these two had gone nuts. As they were passing by a certain store, she pulled up her cloak slightly to reveal her left arm, shing the symbol on her origin gun.

    The listless shopkeeper was shocked out of his wits upon seeing the symbol. Bluemoon performed a series of hidden gestures at the shopkeeper, who nodded promptly and thumped his chest with his fist. Bluemoon then hid inside the cloak once more and followed Qianye forward.

    The shopkeeper immediately rushed to the rear courtyard. There were seven or eight people lying or sitting around the spacious garden, each possessing formidable aura and ferocity.

    ¡°All of you, up! The Shieldmaiden has appeared just now. She wants all tribesmen to assemble and get ready for battle!¡±

    The men were both surprised and delighted. ¡°She¡¯s finally back!¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it said that she fell in the Earth Dragon¡¯sir?¡±

    ¡°Bah! Never trust those lowlives!¡±

    The shopkeeper roared, ¡°Enough nonsense, you have five minutes to getbat-ready and assemble at the Roman Street.¡±

    The Highbeard warriors revealed fierce expressions as soon as they heard the wordsbat-ready. One of them asked, ¡°Who are we fighting?¡±

    The shopkeeper said with a peculiar expression, ¡°The Shieldmaiden says we might have to fight the city guard.¡±

 Chapter 820: Spare Him

    The group of Highbeards looked at one another, unable toprehend this decision. As a tribe that made a living as mercenaries, the Highbeards have always maintained a good rtionship with the major powers and potential clients. The Southern Blue city lord attached great importance to mercenaries as he wasn¡¯t very powerful himself. This was the best type of client for the Highbeards, so why would they start fighting him all of a sudden?

    But no one voiced dissent regarding the Shieldmaiden¡¯s decision and merely headed off to prepare.

    At this moment, Bluemoon had already contacted several strongholds and was now quite confident in killing their way out even if the city lord were to field his army. Only at this point did she feel a bit calmer.

    Qianye and Zhuji were just as leisurely as before, seemingly oblivious to her secret arrangements. Bluemoon clenched her teeth in anger, refusing to believe that the unfathomable Qianye hadn¡¯t noticed her actions. Right now, she really had no idea what kind of game he was ying¡ªwas he really that confident, or had he been nning to use the Highbeards¡¯ power all along?

    At this moment, a rxed Ji Rui was seated on a grand chair in the city lord manor, sipping tea while admiring the rare flora in his garden. In a corner of the courtyard, there was a small pond protected by an origin barrier. Amidst the dense array of ferns and algae, there was a single lotus flower at the center of this pool. It was as white as suet jade with faint purple threads weaving through its petals.

    Covered in shes of lightning and raging storms, the atmosphere inside this small secret realm was clearly different from the outside world.

    Ji Rui¡¯s burning gaze never left the small lotus all this time. It was at this moment that a hurried knock came from the courtyard gates. Ji Rui roared unhappily, ¡°What is it? Can¡¯t this wait until I wake up?¡±

    The voice of Liu Yuanxi¡ªhead steward and vicemander of the city guard¡ªrang out from outside, ¡°City Lord, an important character has appeared in the city. We need your instructions on how to deal with him.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Ji Rui¡¯s expression was unsightly. Although he hadn¡¯t broken through to the divine champion realm, he was only a single step away. His words held enormous weight in Southern Blue and its surrounding regions. Apart from people like the Spider Emperor, Mask, and the Wolf King, who else could be more important than this lotus?

    Ji Rui walked out of the garden with his teapot and closed the door behind him. ¡°Now, tell me, what kind of important character is it?¡±

    Liu Yuanxi lowered his voice to a whisper. ¡°It¡¯s Zhao Ye.¡±

    ¡°Who!?¡± Ji Rui couldn¡¯t react for a moment.

    ¡°Zhao Ye, also known as Qianye, the one who crippled Stormwind Fury in the ck Grove. Hundreds of our brothers also died in his hands, and your logging camp...¡±

    ¡°Enough! He darese here!?¡± Ji Rui cut Liu Xiyuan short with an unsightly expression. He had made steep investments in that logging camp, but Qianye burned it to the ground in the end. Not only did he fail to recoup his investments, but he also had to shoulder arge sum ofpensation. The staff in the logging camp weren¡¯t ordinary workers but mercenaries who hadid down their origin guns in favor of manualbor.

    Ji Rui¡¯s face was ashen. He raised his right hand like a de. This was his habitual gesture¡ªa downward sh would signify a kill-on-sightmand.

    Liu Xiyuan¡¯s expression was full of killing intent as he waited for the City Lord to make his decision. But Ji Rui¡¯s chubby hands froze midway and never came down. He looked up in curiosity, only to find the city lord¡¯s face was twitching constantly. Sighing and clenching his teeth, the man¡¯s expression fluctuated repeatedly, but that right hand still remained in ce.

    Suddenly noticing Liu Xiyuan¡¯s gaze, Ji Rui drew his right hand back and pretended to wipe the sweat from his forehead. ¡°Damned weather, it¡¯s so hot.¡±

    The weather was obviously gloomy and a spring chill hung in the air; there was no semnce of heat anywhere. However, Liu Xiyuan nodded repeatedly and said, ¡°Yes, yes, it¡¯s getting hot pretty early this year.¡±

    Ji Rui took a sip of his tea. ¡°That Qianye, is he disguised?¡±

    Liu Xiyuan said awkwardly, ¡°He¡¯s wearing a mustache.¡±

    Noticing Ji Rui¡¯s expression turn even uglier, the man added, ¡°And he also changed his clothes.¡±

    What difference would this kind of disguise make!? Qianye¡¯s attitude was simply too excessive. His cultivation wasn¡¯t even that high. At least ording to the numbers on paper, there were loads of people in Southern Blue who could do him in.

    Ji Rui was a shrewd man. Despite his ugly expression, he still concluded, ¡°So, he did disguise himself.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes! How would he daree into the city otherwise?¡±

    Despite the authenticity, or theck thereof, these words still had some positive affect. Ji Rui¡¯s stance softened quite a bit as he said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, we¡¯d better not rm him just yet. Have you figured out what he¡¯s here to do?¡±

    ¡°He went to several armament stores and bought airshipponents. But most of his purchases are second-hand goods. Oh, and he also ced an order for a kic sail, one of maximum size and grade.¡±

    Ji Rui raised his brows, muttering, ¡°He wants to build an airship?¡±

    ¡°But theseponents are far from enough.¡±

    Ji Rui shook his head. ¡°These sails are forrge ships and long-distance vessels traversing the void. As I see it, what they really want are these sails.¡±

    Liu Xiyuan said, ¡°City Lord, what should we do then?¡±

    Ji Rui said after some thought, ¡°Send some people to keep an eye on him, but don¡¯t provoke him. Understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, But City Lord, the thirteenth young master has left the manor just now.¡±

    Ji Rui was shocked. ¡°What¡¯s he up to again?¡±

    ¡°He left with the City Guard after hearing that the little girl has appeared in the city. None of our subordinates could stop him.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Ji Rui¡¯s teapot fell to the floor and its contents sshed in all directions. Arge part of his robes was stained, but he couldn¡¯t care about that at the moment. He said in a rage, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier? Send people to bring that little bastard back, knock him out if he dares to resist. No, you should go personally, now!¡±

    ¡°But Madam He¡­¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Go!!!¡±

    Liu Xiyuan left quickly without further words.

    A gloomy Ji Rui waved his sleeve with a cold snort and strode toward the main building. Southern Blue was neither big nor small¡ªit would be all too easy for his son to find someone in the city. Heck, he might even be standing in front of Qianye by now. It was likely toote no matter how fast Liu Xiyuan went.

    ¡°Humph! These disloyal fellows are really trying my hand,¡± Ji Rui muttered to himself as he passed through the corridors and into the meeting hall.

    His followers approached and proceeded to wait respectfully for hismand. But Ji Rui merely sat down in arge chair and said not a single word. Everyone exchanged nces, but who would dare to ask the city lord?

    At this moment, in front of thergest weaponry store in the city, Qianye was looking up at the signboard and down at the young master who was blocking the way.

    This store, called the Nightcloud Pavilion, was a shop mainly dealing in warship equipment and was also thergest arms dealer in the city. The scale of this store was just as grand as its name, standing five stories tall and upying half a street block.

    There were numerous members of the staff and guards standing cautiously nearby, but the young master paid no attention to them. He stared fixedly at Qianye, stealing an asional nce at little Zhuji who was sitting on his shoulder.

    Finally, he said through clenched teeth, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? You actually have the guts toe to Southern Blue!¡±

    Qianye was observing the airship parked on the roof of Nightcloud Pavilion. Recalling his gaze, he said with a smile, ¡°What? Was Southern Blue sealed off?¡±

    The burly guards behind the young master were furious, muttering incoherently about teaching Qianye a lesson. But the young man stopped them, while he himself walked over. ¡°Who are you trying to fool with this kind of disguise? Anyone but the blind knows it¡¯s you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s smile was unchanged. ¡°You¡¯re right, anyone but the blind will know it¡¯s me.¡±

    There was something off with these words. Additionally, Qianye¡¯s reaction was quite different from what the thirteenth young master had expected. He scanned Zhuji after a moment of distraction, and his heart was set aze, almost like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

    The young master¡¯s mouth curved downward in an expression of mockery as he took one more step toward Qianye. ¡°Even despite that, you dare toe here!? Do you know who I am?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Of course I don¡¯t know who you are, but I think I¡¯m about to find out very soon. What I¡¯m sure of, though, is that you don¡¯t know who I am.¡±

    The young master suddenly flipped out. He pointed a finger at Qianye¡¯s face and screamed, ¡°Why would this daddy here need to f*cking know who you are!?¡±

    At this moment, one of his personal guards pulled him back and whispered, ¡°Young Master, let¡¯s go back first.¡±

    The thirteenth young master could hardly believe his ears. ¡°Go back? Why must I? This fellow killed so many of our people. Cutting him down will be a great contribution!¡±

    The guard was nearly in tears. ¡°Young Master, think about it. He¡¯s killed so many people¡­¡±

    The thirteenth young master was even more furious. Seeing that this guard was so timid, he decided to find someone more useful. He nced left and right, but none of his guards were willing to step forward.

    Actually, everyone understood the guard captain¡¯s meaning. The other party had managed to kill his way through a torrent of mercenaries back in the ck Grove, and even a powerful corps like Stormwind Fury had to disband after returning from this battle. Over two thousand soldiers lost their lives that day, so how were they supposed to kill Qianye with less than twenty men? It was still light out, definitely not a time for dreaming.

    The thirteenth young master came to an immediate realization, but he was still unresigned. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you reporting this matter to the city lord?¡±

    The guards felt even more helpless. How could the lord not know when even the thirteenth young master had received this news? Qianye had been swaggering around the city all this time, which meant that he wasn¡¯t afraid of provoking the city lord.

    The guard wanted to dissuade further when Little Zhuji said, ¡°Now I remember, he¡¯s the one who came with his men and asked me to sleep with him!¡±

    The entire street fell into a deep silence.

    The wind stopped blowing and the temperature fell sharply as though winter hade all of a sudden. Everyone at the scene couldn¡¯t help but shiver.

    Qianye looked into the thirteenth young master¡¯s eyes for the first time, his gaze filled with incisive frostiness. ¡°So it¡¯s you, what a coincidence. I wanted to look for you at the city lord¡¯s manor, but who would¡¯ve thought I¡¯d bump into you here? See? Now I know who you are.¡±

    The thirteenth young master had wanted to say something, but a bone-piercing chill poured out from his heart and froze his entire body, stopping him from uttering a word. Only at this point did he truly understand what killing intent meant.

    In his state of terror, he could not even flinch a muscle. All he could do was watch as Qianye whipped out East Peak.

    ¡°Spare his life!!!¡± A loud cry arrived from afar, shaking half the city and showcasing the depth of the speaker¡¯s origin power. Liu Yuanxi had arrived at the critical juncture.

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained constant as East Peak shook ever so slightly. The thirteenth young master erupted in a miserable scream as he fell backward with blood gushing out of his legs.

    Qianye turned about with a radiant smile. ¡°Life spared.¡±

 Chapter 821: Misunderstanding

    ¡°T-This¡­¡± Liu Xiyuan was speechless as he looked at the writhing thirteenth young master on the ground.

    Qianye pointed at the young man and asked, ¡°Shall I leave him like this, or what do you want me to do?¡±

    Liu Xiyuan was quite decisive. A certain glow flickered in his eyes as he sighed. ¡°Since you¡¯ve done it, then finish it up.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qianye nodded. A beam of iparably sharp sword energy shot out from the de, slitting open the thirteenth young master¡¯s throat and effectively ending his life. After concluding his business, Qianye sheathed his sword calmly and said, ¡°I thought you¡¯de to fight it out with me.¡±

    Liu Xiyuanughed wryly. ¡°As much as I want to, I know that I¡¯m not that capable. Please wait while I clean things up.¡±

    He turned toward the thirteenth young master¡¯s guards with a serious expression. ¡°Take the young master¡¯s remains back. Whoever dares to make irresponsible remarks, I¡¯ll cut off his tongue! Understand?¡±

    The guard unit affirmed their instructions and sped away with the corpse. They didn¡¯t dare linger about after their brush with death.

    Liu Xiyuan had people clean up the traces of blood before inviting Qianye into a private room in the Nightcloud Pavilion. After Qianye had taken his seat, he said, ¡°You¡¯ve fought and confirmed your victory, Stormwind Fury has also dispersed, I think there¡¯s no need to keep on fighting.¡±

    Qianye took a sip of tea. ¡°I just killed the City Lord¡¯s son, does that not matter?¡±

    Liu Xiyuanughed. ¡°The City Lord has a crowd of wives, concubines, and children, the loss or addition of one makes little difference. Some of them die every year and he can just raise more.¡±

    Although Qianye was confident that the city lord wouldpromise in this regard, these words gave him quite a bit of a surprise. He only recovered from his daze after a while and said, ¡°The City Lord is indeed a capable and magnanimous person, I¡¯m in awe.¡±

    Liu Xiyuan asked, ¡°I wonder what brings you to Southern Blue? If you can tell me about it, perhaps I can help you.¡±

    Qianye had no intention of hiding things. ¡°I have an old warship that¡¯s been having trouble movingtely, so I want to renovate it. I came here to buy some kic equipment, and even better, some kic sails.¡±

    ¡°Our City Lord has numerous connections regarding military equipment. Why don¡¯t you drop by the city lord manor as a guest and discuss your intentions with the lord? That¡¯ll also serve to remove whatever misunderstandings we may have had.¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go over then.¡± Qianye¡¯s immediate response surprised Liu Xiyuan quite a bit. It would seem this person was not afraid of an ambush at all.

    Qianye rose and walked out with Liu Xiyuan. Just as he was about to leave the door, he said to Bluemoon, ¡°I¡¯m going to visit the city lord manor and see the City Lord. You stay here and look for goods, just wait here after you¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir,¡± Bluemoon replied. About Qianye heading to the city lord manor on his own, she was conflicted by nervousness and expectation.

    She would be free if Qianye were to die there. Additionally, the secret of the Northern Continent was in her hand. One day, she would definitely find a way to pass through the Eastern Sea and void barriers and arrive on that fertilend.

    But she also understood that her own potential and the Highbeards¡¯ power aren¡¯t enough to upy that ce. If the existence of the Northern Continent were to be revealed, the Wolf King, Mask, and Spider Emperor woulde to loot the ce despite their status. At that point, how were the Highbeards, who didn¡¯t even have a single divine champion, to defend? That was also the main reason why the Highbeards had been wandering the world as mercenaries without a ce to call home.

    If even the Highbeards couldn¡¯t defend the territory, why was Qianye so confident that he could? Bluemoon pondered many things in secret after Qianye¡¯s departure.

    She could find many reasons¡ªQianye¡¯sbat strength, for instance, was much stronger than his cultivation, and he had many unfathomable methods. But none of that was enough of a reason. In the end, there was only one thought left in her mind: the Pointer Monarch¡¯s sessor should be able to cope with such a situation. If he really couldn¡¯t hold out, perhaps the monarch himself would appear. At the thought of this, Bluemoon suddenly felt more confident.

    For decades, the Pointer Monarch had upied the throne of the most powerful human expert. Many of his exploits had be legends, and his name alone was enough to give humans strength and hope.

    Qianye, of course, had no idea that the Pointer Monarch had unknowingly given him another endorsement. He was thinking about how to deal with the Southern Blue city lord. At the moment, he had arrived in the city lord¡¯s manor, slowly enjoying good tea in the guest room, but a single mistake could turn this hospitality into a murderous situation.

    Just as he was deep in thought, a friendly-looking fatty walked into the room. He immediately cupped his fists with a smile and said, ¡°Young Noble Qianye, your fame precedes you! I¡¯m Ji Rui, the humble lord of Southern Blue. Please forgive us if there was ack of hospitality.¡±

    Qianye duly returned the gesture, and the two took their seats after the exchange of formalities. Ji Rui asked his men to withdraw and adopted a serious expression, ¡°Might I ask if Young Noble hails from the Zhao n in the empire?¡±

    Qianye knew people would find out sooner orter. He had no intention of hiding it, either. ¡°I¡¯ve indeed worked for the Zhao n before.¡±

    Ji Rui nodded. ¡°There were indeed some misunderstandings between us, but with Thirteen dead, I wonder if we can write it all off?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°If Thirteen hadn¡¯t gone to seek you out...¡± Ji Rui probed.

    ¡°Then I would¡¯vee here to pay him a visit.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s smile became even more awkward. He fished out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. ¡°Then it¡¯s a good thing that he did then. I do wonder, what your rtionship with the natives is?¡±

    ¡°None.¡±

    ¡°What do you think about us logging in the ck Grove?¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°What does that have to do with me? The natives and I only worked together temporarily against amon enemy.¡±

    Ji Rui heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good.¡±

    His ns could continue if Qianye didn¡¯t object to his logging in the ck Grove. That was his true source of fortune and a sure way of obtaining the empire¡¯s support. Comparatively, the Spider Emperor¡¯s bounty on Zhuji and his thirteenth son weren¡¯t all that important.

    Ji Rui said in a cautious whisper, ¡°I heard Young Noble did something serious in the empire.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing much, I merely barged into an imperial military stronghold and killed a general.¡± Qianye made it sound trivial, but this shocked Ji Rui out of his wits. The city lord knew a lot about the imperial system and was quite sure that a general was equal to himself in both cultivation andbat strength. If Qianye was capable of charging into a heavily-guarded military stronghold to kill a general, it also meant that he could kill Ji Rui inside his own city lord manor.

    Ji Rui said with a smile, ¡°Sire Qianye is indeed extraordinary. You make something so big sound so light.¡±

    After hearing of this matter, Ji Rui¡¯s address of Qianye quickly switched from Young Noble to Sire. ¡°I don¡¯t think the empire will just let this be, why aren¡¯t youying low aftering to the neutralnds? Why would you keep using your own name? This news will bring you trouble once it gets back to the empire.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°What I¡¯m afraid of is that they won¡¯te. With nothing left to worry about, now is the right time to start a massacre.¡±

    Ji Rui was astonished once more. As the lord of Southern Blue, he owned many industries and there were very few people he had to be cautious of. Those he feared most were mysterious people like Qianye who were both strong and reckless. Qianye had even dared to release his true name before so many mercenaries, what else could he be afraid of?

    Ji Rui drank a mouthful of tea to calm his mind before trying to sound Qianye out. ¡°Is there anything you need in Southern Blue? Maybe I can help.¡±

    Qianye was waiting for him to say that. ¡°I do need some help, actually. I want to purchase a batch of kic sails, but there isn¡¯t enough stock in the city. Do you think you can help me?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s eyes lit up and shifted about when he heard the words, ¡°a batch¡±. He let out a cough and said while pretending to be calm, ¡°Kic sails aren¡¯t easy to manufacture. Their prices are high and few airships can use them. There¡¯s no way the stores can keep stock. But I do know some friends, and they might have some in-store. If that¡¯s still not enough, we can ce an order with the manufacturers. How many sails do you need?¡±

    Qianye merely smiled without saying anything. Only when he saw Ji Rui listening attentively did he raise four fingers at him. The city lord seemed somewhat disappointed. ¡°Four?¡±

    In truth, an ordinary airship could only use three kic sails. Those using four sails could be considered quiterge. If Qianye only had one airship, it would be just right for him to buy four kic sails. It was just that such a deal seemed rather small to Ji Rui and he would need to reevaluate Qianye¡¯s value.

    Without waiting for Ji Rui to continue his thoughts, Qianye shook his head and said, ¡°No, I want forty.¡±

    ¡°Forty!¡± The city lord almost jumped to his feet. Fortunately, he was able to maintain his calm and prevent his buttocks from leaving the chair.

    ¡°I want sails of thergest size and the best quality,¡± Qianye added.

    Ji Rui¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Excuse me for saying this, but such sails aren¡¯t produced in the neutralnds. We can only buy them in Evernight or the empire. By the time they¡¯ve been shipped here, the price will be around five thousand gold coins each.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a reasonable price. I¡¯ll leave these with you as a down-payment.¡± With that, he produced a small box full of ck crystals and ced it in front of Ji Rui.

    The city lord¡¯s doubts were dispelled as he opened the container and saw thirty thousand gold coins worth of ck crystals. ¡°The stock I and my friends have might barely cover forty sails. I¡¯ll make arrangements right away, the goods will be ready in a week¡¯s time. Where should I send them to?¡±

    Qianye named a certain small town and then got up to leave. Ji Rui saw the guest out personally until he was out of the manor doors.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even said goodbye when he heard a scream from inside. ¡°Return my son¡¯s life!¡±

    An origin bullet shot toward Qianye with a loud bang.

 Chapter 822: More About Ideals and Less about Money

    However, the origin bullet was as slow as it was weak, and Qianye couldn¡¯t even be bothered to move away or dodge. Ji Rui blocked hurriedly with an awkward expression, pping the projectile onto the floor. He didn¡¯t have Qianye¡¯s steel-like constitution, so blocking the bullet bare-handed left his white palm with some broken skin and blood.

    With an ashen expression, Ji Rui roared, ¡°Fool!¡±

    A woman ran out from the courtyard. She was d in Chinese-style clothing, and the traces of age on her countenance could hardly hide her beautiful features. Even her angry expression contained a different kind of allure that made one want to pounce on her. She was rather tall, with a narrow waist and plump hip that only added to her attraction as she ran¡ªa walking rarity through and through.

    She rushed out of the courtyard and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Lord, that man killed our son, you have to avenge him for me!¡±

    Ji Rui frowned unhappily. ¡°It¡¯s all a misunderstanding. You go back first and we¡¯ll talk about this after I send the guest off.¡±

    ¡°No, I must kill him! You, are you the one who killed my son?¡± She was about to rush at Qianye but was stopped firmly by the guards. The soldiers were more afraid of Qianye hurting her than the other way around. Whoever had heard of Qianye¡¯s past exploits would feel deep apprehension.

    Qianye nced at the woman¡¯s facial features and found them somewhat simr to the thirteenth young master who had died to his de. He said nothing on the spot and simply waited for her to continue.

    Liu Yuanxi stepped in to console the woman. ¡°Madam He, it¡¯s all a misunderstanding, please go back first.¡±

    Madam He paid him no heed, however. She looked at little Zhuji with a fierce expression and pointed a trembling finger at her. ¡°Are you that little slut who seduced my son?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a slut?¡± Zhuji looked up at Qianye.

    Unable to hold back in the end, he sneered, ¡°Your son wanted to capture my daughter first. What do you have to say about that?¡±

    ¡°Since my son wants it, why won¡¯t she just sleep with him!?¡± Madam He spoke as if it were right and proper.

    Qianye broke into augh while Ji Rui¡¯s expression turned dark. He shouted while stamping his feet, ¡°Drag her away! Are you all deaf?¡±

    The attendants finally towed the madam away into the inner courtyard, but her cries were still audible through the wall.

    Ji Rui¡¯s smile became rather forced. ¡°Sigh, all of this is my fault, I was toox with them. Please don¡¯t take it to heart, General Qianye.¡±

    ¡°How can I? The City Lord¡¯s methods are quite strict, actually. I was almost about to tell her that her son died because I wanted him to.¡±

    Ji Ruiughed dryly. ¡°You really do know how to jest.¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly, ¡°You¡¯re too kind, I don¡¯t deserve that much praise.¡±

    After exchanging some back and forth pleasantries, Qianye left with little Zhuji.

    The smile on Ji Rui¡¯s face disappeared as Qianye¡¯s figure vanished, reced by an ashen countenance. An aide beside him was also gazing out intently. Finally seeing an opportunity to express his views, he said, ¡°Sire, isn¡¯t this fellow too arrogant? Do you want me to make some arrangements? Have him captured?¡±

    Ji Rui was currently full of pent up anger, and his fury boiled up after hearing these words. With a raise of his hand, he gave the inept advisor a heavy p, sending him flying with a bloodied face. The man¡¯s face swelled up like a pig¡¯s head.

    Ji Rui¡¯s anger didn¡¯t stop there. ¡°Useless, all of you are useless people! You can¡¯t even cultivate to the champion realm, what do you know!?¡±

    The inept advisor¡¯s head was spinning around. He knew not what was going on and could only say yes.

    Ji Rui scanned his surroundings and grew even angrier after seeing the naivety of his puzzled followers. ¡°All of you too, all rubbish!¡±

    After scolding his subordinates, he rushed back into the manor alone with his hands sped behind his back.

    After returning to the study, Ji Rui found his heart beating like a drum. He simply couldn¡¯t calm down from the mixture of anger and fear.

    This whole time, no one had noticed that the one he was afraid of wasn¡¯t Qianye but Zhuji. From the moment they had met up until their departure, Qianye had been carrying the little girl, and intentionally or otherwise, thess was always looking straight at Ji Rui.

    Ji Rui had read the battle report from the ck Grove no less than five times. He was very clear that he would suffer dearly if little Zhuji were to spray a concentrated cloud of green gas onto him.

    There was no way to confirm whether she could condense her poison, but Ji Rui wasn¡¯t willing to find out personally.

    At the thought of Qianye¡¯s order, however, Ji Rui became much more spirited. In any case, this could be considered apensation of sorts and it was only the beginning. It was at this time that a knock came from the study door and Liu Yuanxi walked in. ¡°Sir, are we really going to let Qianye go just like that? Madam He isn¡¯t easily cated.¡±

    Ji Rui snorted coldly. ¡°This woman knows I dote on her. How much trouble has she caused for me in recent years? Thirteen is also a big troublemaker. If I die, do you think we can hand Southern Blue to him?¡±

    Liu Yuanxi replied, ¡°Thirteenth Young Master was still young and definitely needed more tempering. But now that he¡¯s gone and Qianye is allowed to walk away just like that¡­ Sir, I think¡­ it¡¯s going to be hard to convince the masses. Who knows if Madam He will do anything drastic?¡±

    Ji Rui snorted. ¡°The ck Grove was our defeat.¡±

    Liu Yuanxi was startled. He wanted to argue, but Ji Rui raised his hand and said, ¡°Speak no more, I¡¯ve decided.¡±

    The chief steward could only lower his head. ¡°Yes, Sir, but about Madam He¡­¡±

    Ji Rui banged the table with a coldugh. ¡°What can she do? It¡¯s true that her father owns tworge mercenary corps, but now that Stormwind Fury has been destroyed, what is he going to threaten me with?¡±

    ¡°Stormwind Fury has been routed but Icefrost Massacre is still intact,¡± Liu Yuanxi reminded.

    ¡°I refuse to believe he¡¯ll deploy Icefrost Massacre to fight me just for this,¡± Ji Rui replied indifferently.

    He ced Qianye¡¯s box on the table and said, ¡°Besides, Qianye also gave uspensation for this matter. He ced an order for forty high-quality kic sales, and this is the downpayment. He also promised not to help the natives, so we can reconstruct our logging camps. Thispensation is enough for us to formally admit our defeat at the ck Grove.¡±

    ¡°Forty kic sails! Is he trying to build a fleet?¡± Liu Yuanxi was startled. He observed the contents of the box carefully before closing the lid and putting it carefully back in front of Ji Rui.

    ¡°Yes, a fleet!¡± Ji Rui was confident. Forty kic sails was enough to equip eight warships, six if some were reserved for backup. It would be even more astonishing if Qianye had wanted to install them all on a single ship¡ªonly a battleship-grade vessel could be equipped with forty kic sails.

    A fellow building an airship fleet was even more difficult to provoke than a mercenary corps, not to mention Qianye who had just routed arge mercenary corps.

    There was no telling what Ji Rui would think if he were to find out that these forty sails would only make up five giant ones, and that they couldn¡¯t even fill one corner of Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Liu Yuanxi¡¯s thoughts were quite active. He immediately said, ¡°Sire, this is a great opportunity! No matter what Qianye is trying to build, kic sails are only a single part. Cannons, armor, engines, everyponent involves money. If he wants to build a fleet, then we should sell him a fleet!¡±

    Ji Rui replied, ¡°Well said! Since Qianye wants to build a fleet, he will eventually find out that only we have the right amount and quality of resources!¡±

    Liu Yuanxi said after a moment of silence, ¡°As I see it, Qianye is only testing the waters and trying to check our attitude. With his character, the Thirteenth Young Master is destined to be killed; the key is what happens after that. This forty-sail order is just to test the waters. Cooperation is only logical since we¡¯ve admitted defeat and written off past enmities. There¡¯s a big fortune waiting for us to earn.¡±

    Seeing Liu Yuanxi¡¯s increasing excitement, Ji Rui said with a calm expression, ¡°Old Liu, we¡¯re both getting old. It¡¯s true that we love money, but we can¡¯t let it cloud our judgment. There¡¯s a reason why I admitted defeat. Just think about it, what kind of person does it take to build an airship fleet?¡±

    Liu Yuanxi was enlightened. At the very least, a single mercenary corps couldn¡¯t fork up such a big sum of money. This proved that there was a massive entity behind Qianye¡¯s back, a power no weaker than Southern Blue.

    Ji Rui waved his hand in response to the chief steward¡¯s gesture of admiration, insteadmanding him to keep an eye on Madam He and prevent her from doing stupid things.

    How could one be so prudent and mindful of the bigger picture? Ji Rui might not like the thirteenth young master that much, but thetter was still his son. How could the city lord let just anyone kill him? The reason he had swallowed his anger was never because of this purchase order. It was because little Zhuji was so close by and Qianye¡¯s threat was in in sight¡ªhe waspletely at their mercy.

    Even if little Zhuji¡¯s green gas couldn¡¯t kill Ji Rui in one go, she could still wipe out half the city if she were to spray it outside. The city was his life¡¯s work, and seeing it destroyed would be even more agonizing to him than death.

    With the butcher¡¯s de above his head, Ji Rui had no choice but to obey. Hence, the city lord chose to exit the stage immediately when Qianye mentioned a fair deal.

    As for Liu Xiyuan, the man was still a subordinate despite being his chief steward. There was a different set of principles when dealing with subordinates¡ªone had to discuss long-term ns and bigger pictures, speaking more about ideals and less about money. Ji Rui was an expert in this regard. If he didn¡¯t say these things, was he supposed to admit that he was scared stiff by little Zhuji?

    Additionally, Ji Rui had finally managed to investigate all of Qianye¡¯s information and each description of his many aplishments shook the city lord¡¯s heart. He had noticed many things from these withered reports. He could see that Qianye¡¯s connection with the Zhao n wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed on the surface, especially since all of the outstanding youths from the n had some kind of association with him.

    After some thought, Ji Rui summoned a guard and said, ¡°Invite General Lu over, I¡¯ll be waiting for him in the side hall.¡±

 Chapter 823: A New Deal

    At dinnertime, a tall, slender man in his middle-age walked into the city lord¡¯s manor.

    Ji Rui had already prepared wine and food at the side hall. The guest ordered his guards to keep watch outside while he himself sat down across the city lord. ¡°City Lord Ji, long time no see.¡±

    Ji Rui was full of smiles. ¡°General Lu, how have you been?¡±

    The general moved the corners of his lips ever so slightly to form somewhat of a smile. ¡°How can I be well when Qianye has visited your manor under in sight?¡±

    Ji Rui sighed. ¡°I have no choice in this matter! Just think about it, he burned our lumber mills and killed more than half out of the thousands of people we sent out. How am I to persist under such circumstances? I could only admit defeat! The children and elderly of Southern Blue need to eat!¡±

    Ji Rui spoke from the bottom of his heart and almost looked like he was about to cry. General Lu, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t moved in the slightest. ¡°Is the logging business over?¡±

    Ji Rui immediately retracted his somber expression. ¡°Of course not! Qianye came over to discuss terms. He has no association with the natives and just happened to work together momentarily. He won¡¯t be interfering with the ck Grove business from now on, so we can immediately reconstruct our lumber mill. The goods you want will definitely be ready! It¡¯s just that¡­ we need some time.¡±

    General Lu tapped the table with his fingers. ¡°City Lord, there¡¯s one more thing we want now: Qianye.¡±

    Ji Ruiughed heartily. ¡°General Lu, money is the most important thing in the neutralnds, and friendship brings more money, wouldn¡¯t you agree? Besides, this Qianye¡­¡±

    He leaned forward and nced left and right before speaking in a whisper, ¡°I heard the military failed to seize Qianye despite putting in great effort, and that¡¯s on imperialnd. We¡¯re both weak and isted in this ce, why must you stir up more trouble?¡±

    General Lu said coldly with a somber expression, ¡°There¡¯s something you don¡¯t quite know, City Lord. Back then, there were numerous limitations because he was in the Zhao n warzone. He managed to escape only because the military was apprehensive of turning hostile with the Zhao n. We might be few in numbers, but he is alone. Unless¡­ the City Lord wishes to help him?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression changed drastically. He waved his hands about, saying, ¡°Of course not! No matter how dumb I am, there¡¯s no way I would choose a foundationless brat over a powerful master like the empire. It¡¯s just that, forgive me for asking, how many experts did you bring? How certain are you of taking him down? That Qianye¡¯sbat strength is far above his cultivation. As I see it, he might be the cultivator of some kind of secret art. All in all, we definitely cannot underestimate him.¡±

    General Lu said confidently, ¡°It¡¯s both easy and hard to take him down. It¡¯s not exactly necessary to fight him head-on, and in that regard, I¡¯ll need the City Lord¡¯s help.¡±

    ¡°Pray, tell. I won¡¯t refuse as long as it¡¯s within my power.¡±

    ¡°Good! I was waiting for your word. This time, this unlucky Qianye is destined to fall in Lu Saobei¡¯s hands! This is my n. Qianye has no choice but to use arge airship to ship away these kic sails. I have brought along three new imperial airships with me this time. When the timees, I¡¯ll set up an ambush in the void, wait for his airship to ascend, and then shoot him down! Even if he doesn¡¯t die with the airship, he won¡¯t be able to survive in the void, either.

    Ji Rui was surprised, and he felt conflicted after some thought because the n sounded rather feasible.

    Lu Saobei nced at him with a spurious smile and said, ¡°City Lord Ji, I¡¯ve told you my ns and news of Qianye¡¯s appearance here has been transmitted to the empire. You won¡¯t be able to escape implications if this information leaks.¡±

    ¡°Of course it won¡¯t. I¡¯ve always been the most tight-lipped person!¡± Ji Rui promised while patting his chest. He then said with a radiant smile, ¡°General Lu will definitely rise like the sun once this matter seeds. When the timees, our logging business¡­¡±

    ¡°As long as Qianye dies, all lumber business in the southern wilderness will be yours.¡±

    Greatly delighted, Ji Rui immediately instructed his servants to prepare dancers, musicians, and the most beautiful singers. However, Lu Saobei wasn¡¯t interested in all this. He got up and said his goodbyes, arguing that it wouldn¡¯t be toote to celebrate after killing Qianye.

    Seeing that his attempts to detain the general weren¡¯t effective, the city lord had no choice but to see the guest out. Ji Rui¡¯s smile vanished after Lu Saobei¡¯s vehicle had gone far off into the distance. He snorted softly and muttered to himself, ¡°A mere rank-fifteen bastard dares to act so arrogant!¡±

    He pondered for a moment before returning to his manor, seemingly lost in thought along the way. As to what he was thinking, that was a mystery no one knew.

    Lu Saobei¡¯s off-road vehicle sped along the road and stopped in front of a small guesthouse on the borders of Southern Blue. The inn looked fairly run-down and dpidated on the outside, but there was a different world behind its doors. Numerous valiant-looking warriors were guarding the threshold with all due seriousness.

    The inn had been altered drastically¡ªthere were resources piling up like mountains and rm systems installed in every corner and hiding ce. It was actually a secret base of operations.

    Lu Saobei issued immediate orders after entering the guest house, ¡°Dispatch news of Qianye¡¯s appearance in Southern Blue as a highest-grade secret intelligence, ask for reinforcements.¡±

    ¡°Yes, General!¡± His assistant lieutenant colonel made to leave immediately.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Lu Saobei called him back and said after some contemtion, ¡°This matter is important. Send three people in different batches, one to the empire and one each to Transcendent Continent and the Void Continent.¡±

    Noticing the seriousness of such an arrangement, the lieutenant colonel bowed and left in a hurry.

    Lu Saobei felt calmer at this moment. He summoned a brigadier general and said, ¡°Prepare my airship and wait for my orders, be ready to set out on a moment¡¯s notice.¡±

    ...

    After leaving the city lord¡¯s manor, Qianye arrived back at Nightcloud Pavilion and found Bluemoon sitting restlessly in the main hall.

    Qianye nced about before entering the pavilion, and found numerous ferocious-looking characters, acting as though they were on a leisurely stroll.

    These were all Highbeard soldiers. As capable as they were in disguising themselves, the traces of modification couldn¡¯t escape Qianye¡¯s keen eyes.

    Bluemoon, both surprised and delighted, stepped forward to wee him as he stepped into the hall. ¡°You¡¯re back so soon?¡±

    ¡°What, afraid that I won¡¯te back?¡±

    ¡°... A bit. But I¡¯m sure you can break out at least.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a given, Ji Rui can¡¯t detain me. Are your tribesmen here to rescue me?¡±

    Bluemoon nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t have time for ample preparations, so this is all I could muster. They have no hope of raiding the city lord¡¯s manor, but they¡¯re good enough to help us kill our way out together after your escape.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°You know you¡¯ll be free after my death.¡±

    Bluemoon straightened her chest and looked into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°What I want is not freedom but a stable life for my tribesmen. Only with your power can I beat my opponent in the tribe and unify them all. Only your Northern Continent can afford my tribe a ce to thrive. Our ancestralnds are so small and barren that it cannot sustain that many Highbeards. That¡¯s why most adult warriors would leave the ancestralnds to wander the world as mercenaries. We were forced into our roles, we never liked being homeless sellswords!¡±

    Qianye smiled meaningfully. ¡°It looks like we need to renegotiate some terms. Speak, what do you want and what can you give me?¡±

    ¡°I want a piece ofnd on which to build a new ancestral home for the tribe. Thisnd has to be enough to amodate five hundred thousand people. As repayment, all Highbeards will be your citizens and we will fight for your future nation without fear of sacrifice. Additionally, I¡¯m willing to do anything for you without question or restrictions, anything!¡±

    ¡°Wait, calm down first.¡± Qianye had to stop Bluemoon, or who knows what she might blurt out. ¡°I remember there aren¡¯t a lot of Highbeards, there should be less than a hundred thousand of you, no?¡±

    ¡°We have about eighty thousand people. Those whom we have lost contact with for over a year are considered dead.¡± Bluemoon¡¯s expression was dark. As mercenaries who might not live to see the next day, a period of silence meant that they had passed.

    ¡°But you¡¯re asking enoughnd for five hundred thousand.¡±

    Bluemoon looked up with a pained, sorrowful expression. ¡°We Highbeards raise a lot of children. Young men and women wouldplete their reproductive mission before heading out to work as mercenaries. Otherwise, a race like ours would¡¯ve been wiped out long ago without the protection of a divine champion.¡±

    Qianye was sent into a speechless daze.

    It was just that little Zhuji was too simple-minded. She immediately asked, ¡°Has Sister Bluemoon given birth to many kids?¡±

    Bluemoon¡¯s face turned bright red. She whispered, ¡°I¡­ haven¡¯t. I was raised as a Shieldmaiden since a young age and nurtured as an expert who would protect the tribe. My life¡¯s mission is to raise my fighting power, while producing offspring is left to ordinary members. If you need me to, I¡­ I have no problem with it.¡±

    Qianye coughed twice in a hurry. Who would¡¯ve thought the topic of conversation would arrive in this direction? But he wasn¡¯t about to be led astray that easily. ¡°You haven¡¯t exined the issue regarding the five hundred thousand people.¡±

    ¡°Highbeards can reproduce from the age of five and reach adulthood at the age of ten. With enough food, water, and minerals, we¡¯ll be hundreds of thousands strong within twenty years. At that time, you¡¯ll have a massive army of elites to fight for you.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t quite moved. ¡°What about after that? What will you do when thisnd is no longer sufficient?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll fight for you and exchange contributions for newnd. Our numbers will also fall during war.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I promise you.¡±

 Chapter 824: Touching the Heavenly Monarch Realm

    Qianye went out into the wilderness instead of remaining in Southern Blue. There were cracks and pits scattered throughout thend that made for perfect hiding ces. With Zhuji around, Qianye wasn¡¯t really afraid of disruption since the little fellow¡¯s aura could drive away all wild beasts within a five-kilometer radius.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s blood energy cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds after fighting in several major battles. His body was beginning to be modified in the direction of the fire-forged physique and had officially reached the standards of an ancient virtuous count. In terms of leveling up, the dark golden blood energy suffered no bottlenecks at all in his current phase. As long as he could harvest enough essence blood, he would be able to break through every gate in a natural manner.

    He had already experienced numerous battles in the neutralnds where his all-out attacks filled him with so much essence blood that he was about to burst apart. However, the Book of Darkness could serve as a reservoir, and his blood core could¡ªby means of ignition¡ªturn it into auric me blood. Any amount of essence blood could be transformed rapidly to be a part of Qianye¡¯s body, free from the limitations of the Mystery Chapter¡¯s conversion rate.

    But now, his daybreak origin power had be his shoring. The Profound Combatant Form was unparalleled in drawing void origin power, but turning it into Venus Dawn involved going through the Glory Chapter. The Song n Ancient Scroll operated with its own tempo that was neither fast nor slow; one couldn¡¯t speed it up at will. ording to the current progress, it would take several months to produce a new origin vortex.

    This progress was already quite shocking, but it was almost unbearable whenpared to Qianye¡¯s Evernight side.

    Hence, he decided to take full advantage of this rare reprieve to cultivate his daybreak side. Perhaps he could form his fourth origin vortex after a month of intensive training.

    Qianye looked around the underground area and sat down after finding no signs of danger or potential interruption. There, he began to circte the Profound Combatant Form in silence.

    As the form began to circte, an attraction force appeared on Qianye¡¯s three origin vortices and eventually turned into a slowly revolving whirlpool. The gravitation grew stronger and more evident as the vortex increased in size. After passing a certain point, Qianye started to sense the presence of void origin power.

    This feeling was fairly wondrous¡ªthe originally formless space seemed to turn tangible and increasingly distinct.

    At this moment, the vortex had spread out a hundred meters. The origin power within range spun continuously as it converged into the center and was absorbed into Qianye¡¯s body. Additionally, Origin power was also being attracted to the vortex from a much wider surrounding area.

    Wisps of void origin power were also drawn in and absorbed into Qianye¡¯s body.

    At this point, there was a fairly heavy pressure bearing down on him, a weight sufficient to crush any ordinary champion into meat paste. This was his limit in the past, wherein he would stop driving the form onward.

    But that was no longer the case today, for his constitution had taken a huge leap forward and was now more than capable of withstanding the force.

    Qianye came to a sudden realization as he recalled all of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s wondrous arrangements in the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. At this moment, he had managed to touch on the profundities of space by virtue of the Profound Combatant Form.

    In Qianye¡¯s perception, the space around him was as thin and fragile as a sheet of ss, almost as though he could break it with a light tap.

    He assessed the burden on his body and decided to elerate the Profound Combatant Form. The gravitation became stronger and stronger until, finally, a resounding crack echoed in the air. The fragile space had finally been torn apart!

    In the blink of an eye, several wandering ckcerations appeared in the air above the wilderness, causing everything in their wake to disappear in a sh. Vast amounts of void origin power poured down and formed a giant tornado that drilled into the earth¡ªit was a magnificent sight to behold!

    The burden on Qianye¡¯s body increased sharply, growing to almost two times its previous load. Even his ancient vampire constitution could hardly bear the pressure. His bones began to creak and groan, with fine cracks appearing on their surface.

    Qianye held on arduously with clenched teeth, unwilling to stop the Profound Combatant Form. A situation like this¡ªone in which he could clearly sense the fabric of space being torn and void origin power pouring in¡ªwas beyond rare. It was only natural that Qianye wouldn¡¯t want to miss it. In truth, it was akin toprehending a higher realm in advance. He would rather receive heavy injuries than stop. Who knew when he would get another opportunity like this?

    At this moment, the strange phenomena in the wilderness had attracted the attention of the adventurers. Many people stopped to nce at the terrifying origin power vortex in the distance, wondering if they should go over to see. Some veteran mercenaries left quickly after a moment of contemtion. As they saw it¡ªwhatever was happening under the ground¡ªa frightening existence that could incite an origin storm wasn¡¯t something they could deal with.

    But some greenhorns didn¡¯t think the same. They turned their cars about rapidly and charged toward the storm. The neutralnds was full of legends about how people had made a fortune overnight, the authenticity of which people didn¡¯t quite care. In this world where people lived hand to mouth, there was never ack of people willing to risk their lives. Everyone was destined to die sooner orter, so why not have a try? Perhaps good luck would smash down on their heads one day.

    The number of people with such thoughts wasn¡¯t small. Hence, numerous adventurers advanced toward the center of the storm, braving the sandstorm and lethal spatial tears.

    The origin tempest vanished as quickly as it had arrived.

    By the time Qianye walked out of the ground, what he saw was a group of red-eyed adventurers.

    He was somewhat startled as he looked around. There was nothing in the rocky wastnd around him that looked remotely attractive. Howe there were so many people all of a sudden? It looked like all the adventurers in a ten-kilometer radius had gathered here.

    There was no conflict between the two parties just yet. Qianye simply made to leave since he had no intention of entangling with them. Some unknown person called out at this moment, ¡°The treasure is on him!¡±

    Everyone was jolted. They recalled how Qianye had appeared at the center of the storm right after it had passed. This was too much of a coincidence.

    Someone shouted, ¡°Brat, hand over whatever treasure you¡¯ve found and we¡¯ll spare you. We might even give you a share.¡±

    Another person said in a sinister tone, ¡°What¡¯s the point? Kill him first and the thing will be ours.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Most people agreed.

    In the empire, most adventurers and hunters had their bottom lines. The hunters, in particr, only hunted the dark races, making space for humanity¡¯s survival. People like Old Two and Yu Yingnan for instance, their hearts were filled with light despite walking in the dark.

    In the neutralnds, however, there was no semnce of awful nation. Be it adventurers, mercenaries, or hunters, all of them acted the same way. Like a pack of hyenas in the wilderness, they could be savage and cruel for just a bit of food.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes grew cold as he watched the adventurers charging toward him. He didn¡¯t even draw East Peak and merely threw punches at them. Following several muffled thuds, those struck by him stood dazed momentarily before falling down as corpses.

    The slower ones halted their steps in shock, having realized that they had encountered an enemy they couldn¡¯t handle. A few of them began to hesitate, while the quicker ones simply turned and fled.

    These adventurers were quite weak, and most of them couldn¡¯t even get into major mercenary corps. Against such enemies, Qianye couldn¡¯t even be bothered to chase them down. There was, however, one target he wouldn¡¯t let go.

    Qianye whipped out the Bloody Datura and fired from the hip, immediately bringing down a certain adventurer. The man struggled to nce back at Qianye, his eyes filled with terror and disbelief.

    Qianye¡¯s face was expressionless as he fired once more. With a rumble of the bloody datura, the adventurer¡¯s brain burst into many pieces.

    This man was the one who had shouted, ¡°The treasure is on him!¡± After inciting all the other people, he hid himself at the back without leading the charge. Perhaps he had wanted to gauge Qianye¡¯s strength first or maybe he was just used to inciting others.

    Qianye could let the other people go, but he wasn¡¯t about to spare such a bastard.

    The other adventurers lost their heads after seeing Qianye¡¯s kill. They fled even faster and soon scattered in every direction.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t go after them, either. He merely picked up Zhuji and headed for Southern Blue.

    There was never an end to these hyenas in the wilderness.

    Back at Southern Blue, Qianye took up residence at the Highbeards¡¯ base of operations. He cultivated the glory chapter in silence, refining his origin power without ever leaving the room.

    The Profound Combatant Form¡¯sceration of the void allowed Qianye to absorb enough origin power in a short while. His three origin vortices couldn¡¯t contain this much origin power at all. What he needed to do now was to use the Glory Chapter to convert this energy into Venus Dawn origin power.

    There was no rush to this step. Qianye was happy to meditate in peace since it would take several more days for the goods to arrive, and he also had a group of Highbeards guarding him.

    As for Little Zhuji, she slept soundly beside Qianye, her napsting as long as thetter¡¯s cultivation session, which was several days straight.

    After five entire days, Bluemoon came knocking on the door. ¡°It¡¯s time to pick up the goods.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Qianye picked up the sleeping girl and walked out of the room.

    Bluemoon whispered, ¡°There¡¯s been a fair number of suspicious people watching us. They don¡¯t look local and might be from the empire.¡±

    ¡°Empire?¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    ¡°We might encounter some problems while collecting the goods,¡± Bluemoon reminded.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine as long as they can deliver the goods to the designated location. Don¡¯t forget that we still have the Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    Bluemoon calmed down immediately.

    A person walked into the empire¡¯s secret base in Southern Blue and said to Lu Saobei, ¡°General, they¡¯ve just left. Judging from the direction, it looks like they¡¯re off to collect the goods.¡±

    Lu Saobei¡¯s eyes flickered with killing intent. ¡°Good, I¡¯ve been waiting for this day. We shall set out and prepare an ambush in the void. This time, we must turn him into a corpse!¡±

    The appointed ce was a small town close to the Eastern Sea. This unassuming little ce was home to just a few hundred residents, norger than a vige back in the empire.

    At this moment, several dozen trucks were passing through the small town and toward an empty space outside. There was an old airship parked there¡ªits propellers were stained with rust, and there was steam gushing out of its engines. This vessel was a bit too run-down even by neutralnd standards.

 Chapter 825: Robbery

    After the cargo trucks arrived at the transport airship, the drivers and workers proceeded to unload the crates from their vehicles. Bluemoon and a handful of Highbeard warriors began inspecting the goods. The boxes would only be allowed onto the airship after confirming that they were kic sail parts of the required specifications.

    These sails were fairly big¡ªit would take dozens of one-square-meter boxes to fit a single disassembled sail, and a single cargo truck could only carry two such sails. Bluemoon¡¯s insistence on inspecting every box was making the process fairly slow. Even with all the Highbeard tribesmen helping her, it would take several hours toplete the check.

    The merchants stood patiently to the side. It wasmon practice in the neutralnds to inspect goods on site¡ªthere was no such thing as trust or reputation here. Robberies between the two parties weren¡¯t exactly umon, either.

    But the Southern Blue City Lord had a steep share in this deal, so those small arms dealers didn¡¯t dare y any tricks. Even so, Ji Rui had dispatched four entire truckloads of elite soldiers with the convoy.

    With Qianye on the receiving end, whoever tried to rob his goods was as good as dead. The disbanded Stormwind Fury was proof of this. Besides, Qianye¡¯s ruthlessness was quite well known now¡ªhis relentless revenge would never stop until thest enemy had been eradicated.

    Hence, the transaction went forward without any idents despite its value going well beyond a hundred thousand.

    It was just that a certain person in the crowd was watching the transaction in silence. He then snuck out of the small town toward a distant hill, where he activated an origin array. A strong light flickered in the heart of this array, but it could only be seen from above.

    High up in the air, three imperial airships were parked near the void, ready to kill at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Lu Saobei stood near the window, gazing expressionlessly at the distant continent. There was a weak beam of light flickering constantly on thend. This was a signaling system that made use of different frequencies to transmit information.

    Lu Saobei watched quietly until the flickering stopped. He then looked back and said, ¡°In about three hours, the transaction will end and the cargo ship will take off. It''s currently unclear whether Qianye is on the ship or not. At the very least, he hasn¡¯t appeared at the transaction site.¡±

    ¡°Then, should we follow that cargo ship or sink it?¡±

    Lu Saobei snorted and red unhappily at his subordinate. ¡°How much can that run-down ship be worth? Qianye is the real heart of this operation! A promotion is certain as long as we can take his head. We won¡¯t need to suffer in this ursed ce anymore. Issue my order, instruct the other two airships to follow the gship, we¡¯ll trail that cargo ship. No one is to fire or reveal themselves without my instructions.¡±

    At this moment, the long inspection process had just ended outside of the small town. The workers and warriors began moving the crates onto the airship. Meanwhile, Bluemoon ordered her men to move arge crate from the ship and ced it in front of Liu Yuanxi.

    Opening the container, the steward¡¯s breathing became coarse and rapid as the neat rows of ck crystals came into view.

    He quickly shut the lid on the box and gestured for his men to carry it onto the car. He bowed with a face full of smiles. ¡°The transaction isplete now, I wish young miss a peaceful journey.¡±

    Bluemoon expressed her thanks and boarded the cargo ship.

    The old engine emitted a crude rumble as it spat out a mixture of white steam and ck smoke. The cargo ship trembled with increasing ferocity until it finally took off, swaying. The creaking sounds from god knew where made the spectators wonder whether the ship could keep itself together.

    But the old cargo ship was¡ªjust like any other ship in the neutralnds¡ªhighly durable despite the outdated design and function. It slowly took to the air and staggered about, but simply refused to fall and crash. After reaching an elevation of several hundred meters, it turned clumsily like a just-awakened beast and flew toward the Eastern Sea.

    The slow airship left a lingering trail of steam and smoke, making it extremely easy to follow.

    Lu Saobei and the others were relieved to find that they could almost trace the cargo ship with their naked eyes. If they were to lose such an airship, they shouldmit suicide by ramming their heads against the wall. The only bad thing about this was that the airship was simply too slow, and trailing it was a trial of patience.

    On the deck of the cargo ship, a Highbeard warrior was gazing out with a pair ofrge binocrs, observing the surroundings in great detail. His expression shifted abruptly as he glimpsed an unnatural reflection. He turned toward the sh and began adjusting the different visual modes of the scope in a thorough search.

    His scope wasrge, crudely built, and had strips of cloth attached to it, serving both for protection and decoration. It might notpare to the powerful functionality of high-grade imperial binocrs but was, nheless, one of the best in the neutralnds. Imperial scopes wouldn¡¯tst a month of use here before breaking down.

    Following several adjustments and meticulous angle selection, three faint shadows appeared in the scope¡¯s visual field. Only the silhouettes were visible, but it was enough for this Highbeard warrior to make a judgment.

    He packed his scope away and rushed into the control room. ¡°Honorable Shieldmaiden, there are three warships following us outside. Their capabilities are quite outstanding, we¡¯re not their match in the air. I would suggest performing an emergencynding and then dealing with them when they¡¯re on the ground!¡±

    Bluemoon looked indifferent, almost as though she wasn¡¯t worried. ¡°It¡¯s toote tond now and also unnecessary. We fly ording to the nned route, Sire Qianye will arrive to help us.¡±

    The Highbeard warrior looked worried. ¡°But¡­ those three warships are extraordinary, and one of them might be a destroyer. Such airships are quite rare. Even if Sire Qianye arrives on time, he can¡¯t deal with three airships can he?¡±

    ¡°You guys just watch.¡±

    The Highbeard warrior had nothing left to say since Bluemoon had already made up her mind. But all the soldiers inside themand room looked solemn. They had been killing their way through the battlefield from a young age¡ªeven those who hadn¡¯t personally experienced airship battles had seen them before. Hence, they were very clear that this ragged cargo ship wouldn¡¯t be able to take a single salvo from the enemies¡¯ main cannons. Besides, the imperial warships liked to use powerful ballista cannons that could blow this airship apart in one hit.

    Bluemoon didn¡¯t try to exin. She merely stood in front of the cabin windows, gazing into the boundless void.

    The cargo ship moved at a steady pace over the Eastern Sea. High up in the sky behind it, the three imperial ships also arrived above the sea.

    The Eastern Sea was a notoriously dangerous ce. The beasts in the ocean were powerful, ferocious, and there was nock of giant beasts that could leap into the air. The imperial ships were flying well out of the creatures¡¯ range; it was the cargo ship below that was at greater risk.

    Bluemoon remained expressionless, but she was still wondering how Qianye was nning to deal with the three imperial airships. She had expected trouble this time, but she didn¡¯t expect the empire to dispatch three warships. Such a force was almost half of the forces the empire had hidden in the neutralnds.

    The atmosphere in the imperialmand center was quite rxed. Someone joked, ¡°I heard there¡¯s an extremely powerful colossus hidden inside the Eastern Sea and that even flying over it isn¡¯t safe. We won¡¯t be devoured, will we?¡±

    This joke wasn¡¯t funny, but a string of exaggeratedughter rang out in themand center. Following this snail-paced cargo ship was simply too dull, and these bored sailors were desperate to find some form of entertainment.

    Lu Saobei broke into a frown but said nothing. He felt there was something wrong with the atmosphere. These guffawing officers wereughing so loudly because they were actually afraid of something.

    Lu Saobei knew what his subordinates were afraid of¡ªthey feared Qianye.

    From the bloody battles under the Iron Curtain, the war on the floating continent, his breaking into a military stronghold, and all the way to destroying Stormwind Fury, Qianye¡¯s aplishments were simply unbelievable. If one were to ignore his cultivation level and look only at his aplishments, everyone on the ship added together wasn¡¯t his match.

    Lu Saobei chose a showdown in the air because it put them at an advantage and exploited the enemy¡¯s weakness. But true experts possessed the ability tounch a brief assault through the air, and Qianye seemed especially good at this. It would be a cmity if they were to fail the interception and allow him to board the airship.

    At the thought of this, Lu Saobei¡¯s heart beat faster and his chest grew tight. The feeling was fairly ufortable. What should he do if Qianye were to board the ship?

    This question was like a fishbone stuck horizontally in his throat; he couldn¡¯t swallow it no matter how hard he tried.

    It was at this time that he felt the scene before him turn somewhat dark, almost as though the sky had turned cloudy.

    But the warship was flying along the edge of the void, way higher than where the clouds should be. Besides, the sky above the Eastern Sea was supposed to be clear today.

    ¡°Why did the sky turn dark?¡± someone mumbled after noticing the abnormality.

    Shaken, Lu Saobei looked up just in time to see a massive shadow appear right above their fleet.

    ¡°Heavens, w-what is that!?¡± The other officers were shocked to see this shadow, and even their voices were trembling.

    An officer with sharp eyes suddenly cried out, ¡°Colossus! That¡¯s a colossus! How can it be one so big? Is that a void colossus?¡±

    At this moment, Lu Saobei was staring into the sky, so shocked that he couldn¡¯t speak.

    The shadow grewrger andrger until it loomed over the entire fleet. The once calm skies were filled with fierce tempests and restless fluctuations of void origin power. The three imperial airships were tossed about by the fierce waves, not unlike ships on a stormy sea.

    At this moment, everyone saw an Earth Dragon of unbelievable size bearing down on them.

    Lu Saobei¡¯s entire body trembled when he noticed Qianye standing atop the head of the void colossus.

 Chapter 826: No Doub

    Very soon, the imperial officers in the cabin also noticed Qianye standing on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. Cries of surprise rang out in the chamber.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Qianye! It¡¯s Qianye!¡±

    ¡°Is the colossus under his control? How is that possible?¡±

    Lu Saobei felt a chill run down his entire body, and he simply couldn¡¯t muster up the courage to fight back. Only a single voice echoed in his ears, ¡°How is this possible?¡±

    At this moment, many people had noticed that the Earth Dragon beneath Qianye was merely a husk, but that did little to alleviate the terror in their hearts. The remains of a void colossus was a priceless treasure in and of itself. Even the empire had only gotten their hands on a small number of them throughout its long history.

    The massive Martyr¡¯s Pce bore down on the imperial fleet with peerless momentum. At thest moment, Qianye looked toward Lu Saobei and stared deeply into his eyes. There was some mockery in his gaze, as well as a hint of pity.

    Lu Saobei never understood the meaning in Qianye¡¯s eyes, and he didn¡¯t have the time to, either. As the giant shadow darkened everything, he suddenly recalled the reinforcement request he had sent to the empire. Considering his description and judgment of Qianye¡¯s strength, there was no way the empire would dispatch a divine champion with this new hunting party, regardless of the importance attached to the target. He could easily imagine this group of assassins being wiped out entirely against Qianye and his Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Lu Saobei¡¯s heart was filled with regret when his consciousness was devoured by darkness.

    Three balls of fire burst out in the sky, flinging the ship wreckage into the deep void. Qianye looked down from atop the Martyr¡¯s Pce and sighed softly in his heart.

    Instead of focusing on Evernight and the dark races, the empire had sent three brand new warships and a core power like Lu Saobei to hunt him down. Was there such a deep enmity between him and the imperial military?

    Qianye shook his head, getting rid of the ufortable feeling. He had already understood that stepping back wasn¡¯t the way to deal with such an organization. The only way forward was to hit them until they were hurt and scared, just like with the mercenaries. Forcing them to think hard before each sessive operation was the best way to get rid of this trouble.

    It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t quite get the empire¡¯s way of thinking. They were unexpectedly quite obstinate regarding this matter, so much so that they would spare no effort to get him killed.

    Qianye raised his hand¡ªit was slender, elegant, and suffused with a lustrous glow, adding just the right amount of morbidity to his appearance. Even by ancient vampire standards, this was a perfect hand. The vampires viewed a perfect appearance as a sign of noble bloodline. From this point of view, Qianye was indeed upholding the dignity of an ancient vampire.

    But under this beautiful exterior, Qianye knew just how much power this hand contained. Aided by East Peak or the Twin Flowers, it possessed great destructive potential. But his current strength was far from enough. His voice would be more resounding only when he could easily kill a marshal or a duke¡ªonly then would those bigshots listen to what he had to say.

    A sanguineous bolt of lightning shot forth as Qianye closed his fist.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce made a turn and flew toward the cargo ship. Cries of astonishment echoed on the old airship. The Highbeard soldiers on deck aimed their weapons at the pce but forgot to open fire. Their eyes were full of despair since even a child could tell that their guns could do nothing against this mountainous enemy.

    ¡°Hold it, all of you. Lower your weapons!¡± Bluemoon walked out onto the deck and shouted at her subordinates, stopping them from doing anything dumb. ¡°I want all hands on deck, apart from the ship operators.¡±

    The Highbeards swarmed onto the deck, all of them dazed upon beholding the massive Earth Dragon husk. Only up close could one truly feel this shocking impact. The Earth Dragon¡¯s skull alone was hundreds of meters tall, not to mention those peak-like spines behind it.

    After all the Highbheards had arrived on the deck, Bluemoon fell to one knee. ¡°Bluemoon greets Master.¡±

    Amotion ran through the Highbeards. Bluemoon had already announced beforehand that they would be meeting their new master, and those on the airship were Bluemoon¡¯s trusted aides who werepletely loyal to her. That was why they were chosen to be the first batch to set foot on the Northern Continent.

    Qianye nodded at Bluemoon. With a single thought of his, the Earth Dragon¡¯s mouth opened slowly and, to everyone¡¯s astonishment, swallowed the cargo ship whole.

    By the time Bluemoon had conducted thending, Qianye was also back in the cabin. The Highbeard soldiers looked left and right, shocked at the miraculous scene before them. They had never imagined that there would be an airship this big¡ªit could even fit an entire battleship, to speak nothing of a small cargo vessel.

    ¡°What are you all gazing at? Move the goods down and begin assembling the kic sails!¡± Bluemoon issued an order.

    The Highbeards went to work¡ªshipping the crates down, and then checking and assembling the contents. They were proficient with their work and apparently experts in the field. Qianye nodded to himself in satisfaction.

    Bluemoon stood beside him. ¡°These are some of the best people in my tribe. Not only can they fight, but all of them specialize in a couple of special skills. This time, I chose people proficient in construction, mining, smelting, and machinery.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, we need such people for the initial construction of our base.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Bluemoon spoke again, ¡°Right now, the Northern Continent is still a secret location. We mustn¡¯t let its existencee to light before you have the power to go up against a divine champion. So, most of these people will remain here and construct our new ancestralnd. Only five of my most trusted men will operate with us. I won¡¯t allow the others to leave the ce or contact the outside world before you¡¯re strong enough.¡±

    Qianye praised, ¡°Attentive, well done.¡±

    Bluemoon passed Qianye a list. ¡°This is the second purchase list, please take a look.¡±

    Qianye scanned the entire list¡ªthe kic sails were still on it along with several kinds of engines, minerals, metals, and trucks. Additionally, Bluemoon had listed a number of high-power origin cannons, likely to increase the firepower of Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Qianye crossed out the cannons, saying, ¡°These cannons are too close-ranged. They¡¯re useless for us, they can wait.¡±

    Bluemoon nodded. This list was something she had built a while ago when she hadn¡¯t thought of the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s fighting style. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would choose the most primitive method of battle¡ªramming!

    Martyr¡¯s Pce was built from the intact frame of the Earth Dragon. It was as hard as steel and practically invincible. Not to mention ramming a small airship, even the imperial battleships couldn¡¯t stop an all-out collision like that. Lu Saobei was also too careless¡ªhe had failed to notice that his movements had beenpromised or that the Martyr¡¯s Pce would cross the void and arrive from above, annihting their entire fleet.

    What Qianye wanted were the ballista cannons produced by the empire or the vampire race. These things were extremely powerful, covered long distances, and could even carry special effects; they were outstanding weapons without peer. Many imperial airships would use ballistae as their primary weapon.

    Bluemoon asked, ¡°When shall we go and buy the second batch?¡±

    ¡°Three dayster.¡±

    ¡°Three days? Isn¡¯t that too fast? We need at least ten days to install these kic sails.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Three days is enough for Ji Rui to realize what has happened. We should get a pretty good deal next time, at the expense of his own profits.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Master.¡±

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce didn¡¯t go very far and merely hovered over the Eastern Sea. Bluemoon stayed behind to lead her tribesmen in setting up the new equipment, while Qianye left for Southern Blue on his own.

    After Qianye¡¯s departure, the entire Martyr¡¯s Pce was left in Bluemoon¡¯s hands. The Highbeard warriors began whispering and passing meaningful nces at one another.

    A giant vessel like the Martyr¡¯s Pce was more valuable than a small nation. If they could rob it, the Highbeards would rise meteorically.

    Bluemoon¡¯s eyesnded on that giant silver heart. She and the other tribesmen were building a cabin room around the heart during recent days. The engine on the heart let out a low rumbling sound as it circted constantly. Bluemoon knew that it was the key to controlling the heart and even the entire Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Every time her gaze passed by the engine, her heart would palpitate, her breathing would grow faster, and her internal kic output would also grow unstable.

    After exchanging nces with the other Highbeards, a sinister-looking man with one eye arrived beside Bluemoon and whispered, ¡°Shieldmaiden, shall we¡­ drive this airship back to the tribe?¡±

    Bluemoon looked back and said coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t let me hear such words again.¡±

    The burly man replied hurriedly, ¡°Shieldmaiden, this is a great opportunity. There won¡¯t be one ever again if we miss it!¡±

    ¡°Have you forgotten how Stormwind Fury ended up?¡±

    ¡°But how can Stormwind Furypare to us Highbeards? We¡¯re much stronger!¡±

    ¡°Master is also growing!¡± Bluemoon looked apprehensive.

    The one-eyed man was startled. Although he was unwilling, he bowed toward Bluemoon and said, ¡°I obey.¡±

    These Highbeard tribesmen were from Bluemoon¡¯s direct line and werepletely loyal to her. Bluemoon jumped onto one of the crates and asked in a loud voice, ¡°We Highbeards are forced to leave our ancestral home and wander the world as mercenaries aftering of age, never knowing how long we have to live. Why is that?¡±

    Everyone stopped the work at hand and gazed at Bluemoon. This was their destiny, a problem guing every Highbeard.

    ¡°Because we are adept in battle and we have no divine champion in our race, not even one! That¡¯s why we can only fight like dogs for those divine champions, waiting for them to spare us some leftovers. We have never dared to go up against them.¡±

    The one-eyed man cried, ¡°That is true, but what does that have to do with this?¡±

    Bluemoon¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°The key is that our master is soon to be a divine champion, and he won¡¯t stop there! I have no doubts about that!¡±

 Chapter 827: Trus

    Amotion ran through the Highbeards. They had never imagined Bluemoon would have such a high evaluation of Qianye. Considering the norm in the neutralnds, where the burlier were almost always stronger, Qianye was nothing more than anky pretty boy. He simply didn¡¯t look like a powerful expert.

    But the Highbeards epted this since Bluemoon had already decided on this matter. Besides, there were simply too many inconceivable aspects surrounding Qianye.

    The work on Martyr¡¯s Pce progressed in an orderly fashion. The Highbeards were all master machinists¡ªtheir tools were installed on their arms or other parts of their body, and their mobile kic furnaces allowed them to work around the clock without tire.

    It was already night when Qianye entered Southern Blue once more. It had been half a day since he left the Martyr¡¯s Pce, but he still couldn¡¯t sense any change in the energy left behind by the Pointer Monarch.

    Qianye smiled briefly, for Bluemoon had passed yet another of his tests. Not everyone could withstand such a temptation. In the face of sufficient allure, many would fail to control themselves even if they knew there was a trap.

    Not even Qianye knew what exactly this energy was. All he knew was that it would instantly kill Bluemoon and all the crew on board if she were to touch it. It would be rather sad if that were to happen because Bluemoon had served a fairly important role during this period.

    But now, Bluemoon had gained Qianye¡¯s trust, albeit notpletely.

    Southern Blue was just as somber as before. The impact from the disbandment of a major mercenary corps wasn¡¯t that easy to wipe away. The city guard had also sustained grave losses in the battle¡ªall kinds ofpensation and recruitment were going on both openly and in secret. Qianye¡¯s previous meeting with the city lord wasn¡¯t a secret, either, which meant that even Ji Rui had no choice but to endure the oue of this skirmish.

    Most of the people in the neutralnds were pragmatic and profit-oriented. Since they had already lost, it was time to heal their wounds in silence. There might be enmity, but that was something they kept in the bottom of their hearts¡ªsomething that would erupt volcanically when the opportunity for revenge arose.

    Compared to thest time, some of the armament stores in the city had regained some of their vigor. On one hand, Qianye¡¯s order had given them a renewed opportunity for profit, while on the other, Ji Rui had started buying trucks and construction machinery for a new lumber mill. This was a major business deal that none of the stores would want to miss out on. Hence, they began recruiting more helpers and resources to expand their shops.

    Qianye strolled right into Southern Blue and arrived before the city lord¡¯s manor. There, he said to one of the guards, ¡°I¡¯m Qianye, seeking an audience with the City Lord.¡±

    The guard naturally recognized Qianye and ran in to deliver the message without dy. Ji Rui appeared personally with a face full of smiles. Grabbing Qianye¡¯s hand like they were old friends, he said, ¡°Oh my, General, howe you¡¯re back so soon? I would¡¯ve prepared a proper wee had you informed me sooner.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I was nning toe two dayster at first, but I decided that it was better to get things done quickly. Some words are the same whether spoken sooner orter.¡±

    The fat on Ji Rui¡¯s face trembled slightly, but he managed to keep his emotions well-concealed and his smile, constant. ¡°Whatever it is you want to tell me, you cane to me anytime. Come, let¡¯s go inside! These guards are really so thoughtless, how could they make you wait outside?¡±

    Ji Rui led Qianye into the study and ordered his men to prepare the best of tea and snacks. After everything was ready, he gestured for the staff to leave the room. ¡°General, what business do you have with me? Were the goods satisfactory?¡±

    ¡°The goods were not bad, and their quality is also quite good. City Lord is quite attentive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great.¡± Ji Rui heaved a sigh of relief.

    Qianye took a sip of tea. ¡°I came this time to trouble the City Lord with a couple of things. I wish to purchase some new goods, and this is the list. Please take a look.¡±

    Ji Rui looked over the list in great detail. Then he exhaled deeply, saying, ¡°General, are you building a fleet?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°I don¡¯t have such great ambitions.¡±

    Ji Rui put down the list and said, ¡°I can get you most of the things on the list, but some of them are not in stock at the moment. We need to buy them from Evernight or the empire, for that, we¡¯ll need some time. But I don¡¯t understand, why aren¡¯t there any weapons on the list?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°My requirements for weapons are higher. Do you have a way to get your hands on an imperial or vampire ballista?¡±

    Ji Rui was stunned. ¡°This will be a bit difficult. Ballistae are difficult to produce, and the raw materials are rare; their yearly production rate is fairly limited. They¡¯re always in high demand both in the empire and Evernight, so why would they export it? We¡¯ll only get a couple of second-hand ones even if we make a high offer and utilize my past connections.¡±

    Qianye understood this situation. ¡°Two it is then, let¡¯s buy what we can first. Get as much ammunition as you can.¡±

    ¡°This¡­ I¡¯ll try my best.¡± Ji Ruiughed wryly.

    Qianye gazed at him with a spurious smile. ¡°There¡¯s something else I forgot to mention. About those people from the empire, you don¡¯t need to wait for them anymore. They won¡¯t being back.¡±

    The teacup in Ji Rui¡¯s hand fell to the floor and shattered.

    But he was quite the shrewd fellow¡ªhe quickly regained his calm andposure. ¡°General Qianye, you jest.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You can wait if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    Ji Rui said, ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. I¡¯m just saying that we don¡¯t share a deep enough rtionship for me to wait for them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so? But the City Lord¡¯s reaction just now was fairly odd.¡±

    Ji Rui leaned over to pick up the porcin shards. He said after thoroughly cleaning up the mess, ¡°To be honest, those people were the main purchasers of timber from the ck Grove. The reason why I¡¯m investing so much for the lumber mill is also because of their order. This is my greatest source of ie, so it¡¯s normal that I¡¯ll be distracted after hearing this news. May I ask where you received this information from?¡±

    ¡°Simple, they prepared three warships in the void to ambush me and rob the goods. In the end, I sunk all of them.¡±

    Beads of sweat appeared on Ji Rui¡¯s nose. He understood what three imperial warships meant as well as the power of Lu Saobei¡¯s group. Yet, they were so easily annihted by Qianye?

    ¡°This¡­ are there no survivors?¡±

    ¡°None.¡±

    Ji Rui felt relieved.

    Qianye asked again, ¡°Where are the rest of their forces?¡±

    ¡°General, what are you¡­¡±

    ¡°Extermination.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression was unsightly and helpless. ¡°This¡­ it¡¯s not too appropriate, is it? Since the greatest evil has been dispatched, the only ones remaining are insects following orders. It makes no difference to the bigger picture whether you kill them or not, so why go to the trouble?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply. ¡°You mean¡­¡±

    Ji Rui contemted momentarily. ¡°I want to go on with this logging business, and they¡¯re my main customers. Besides, I haven¡¯t figured out what they¡¯re doing with the wood from the ck Grove.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°How significant is this deal to you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the biggest contract I¡¯ve had in years, something that can change the power bnce in this region.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Does that mean the City Lord has a divine champion backing him?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression became awkward. ¡°This¡­ not at the moment. But with these resources, it¡¯s not impossible to hire one.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll let those people off then. But I want details on their names, ranks, and their objective here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ feasible. Just wait a couple of days.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye concluded the details of their transaction and left. A gloomy Ji Rui returned to his study afterward. The terrified expression from just now was gone, reced by a long, meditative silence.

    ...

    At this point, the war on the void continent had reached a stalemate, with the Zhao n maintaining an air-tight defensive region around the city of Indomitable.

    The Zhao n¡¯s reaction following Qianye¡¯s betrayal was fierce, and their methods were unexpectedly harsh. They moved both publicly and in secret, dismissing several officials in the imperial court for various reasons. These people weren''t highly ranked, but their positions were vital, and they were core characters of the imperial faction. Everyone below the Minister of the Right felt an obvious disruption in operations after the loss of these posts.

    Additionally, the Zhao n presented solid proof via certain court officials, resulting in one of the removed officials being imprisoned for subsequent trial and execution. The Minister of the Right did his utmost to rescue this asset but to no avail. This oue surprised quite a lot of people.

    Apart from that, numerous idents urred all around the empire¡ªcars running off cliffs, airships falling apart mid-air, etc. These things happened in remote areas and seemedpletely unrted, but those with keen eyes noticed that the victims were also people from the imperial faction. Their positions were, again, not very high, but they held a fair bit of authority and were expected to progress in the future.

    The major yers in the imperial court realized that the Zhao n was a ruler of two remote provinces and a powerful army. This kind of n would surely have deep foundations and an unknown number of hidden assets. Killing several key members of the imperial faction served as an example, warning people about what they were capable of if they were to go all out.

    The people from the Minister of the Right¡¯s lineage were livid, but they had no way to handle this matter except for ranting in court. After some contemtion, it seemed like there was no hope of victory short of waging war on the Zhao n.

    This filled the imperial faction members with embarrassment and anger. Many began manipting the imperial military to have them openly suppress the Zhao n. Such a mad course of action naturally had no good oue, but the imperial faction had to let the Zhao n know the degree of their determination.

    The imperial family remained unexpectedly silent in the midst of all this conflict, almost as though nothing had happened. This was especially strange considering how the Zhao n had nearly crossed the tacitly-epted bottom line. The Longevity Monarch, the highest authority in the Imperial Military, remained in isted cultivation. Weirdly enough, it seemed like he waspletely uninterested in this matter.

 Chapter 828: So What if I Kill You?

    On the void continent, the only imperialnd outside of the Zhao n¡¯s defensive zone was the Li n¡¯s small territory in the Misty Wood. It was just that their fortress was also in bad condition, surrounded to the point of having to battle right after stepping out the gates.

    No one among them could control Eden after Qianye¡¯s departure. This demonkin noble was an impossible problem inside the Misty Wood and was only restrained after Li Kuann¡¯s eventual arrival on the battlefield. Even then, it involved much strenuous effort.

    Li Kuann¡¯s identity was special. It could be said that the entire base wouldn¡¯t have an easy time if something were to happen to her. Hence, themander position here became a hot potato that no one wanted to take. In the end, the Li n lord personally appointed a disgraced elder here, someone who needed to atone for his crime with contributions. Every time Li Kuann went into battle, the upants of the fortress would be left in great suspense.

    Those with sufficient news channels knew how much the empress doted on Li Kuann. They also understood how powerful an angry empress could be.

    At this point, everyone in the Misty Wood began to miss Qianye. After all, Li Kuann wasn¡¯t as well-adapted to the forest as Qianye was and had to be extremely cautious. More often than not, she would lose in a fight against Eden. Qianye, on the other hand, was capable of hunting Eden down with overwhelming momentum, at least that was the case during thetter part of their confrontation. No one noticed it back then. Only when Qianye had left did they understand what a reversal of tides meant.

    Fortunately, the Great Maelstrom was about to open. The younger generations of Evernight were starting to preserve their strength for battle, appearing less and less frequently in skirmishes. Eden was reportedly also on the list of candidates, and this allowed the Li family to heave a sigh of relief.

    The war on the floating continent remained in a deadlock at the moment. At first, Zhao Jundu¡¯s defensive region was one of the most dangerous, but the fourth young master went all-out at the critical juncture. Utilizing abination of a famed weapon and True Shot, he actually killed the enemymander, a demonkin marquis, from thousands of meters away!

    Thus did the dark races face a grave defeat, ceding numerous upied territories in the process. The dark races became iparably cautious about Zhao Jundu following that skirmish. At the very least, nomander or marquis dared to appear in front of Zhao Jundu any longer, even if there was arge army between the two sides.

    Evernight had always revered the powerful. With themander cowering in fear, it was only natural that the other warriors would feel the same. This lowered the morale of the entire army, making it impossible for them to upy new territory.

    Additionally, Zhao Jundu belonged to the younger generation. So, those duke-level characters couldn¡¯t lower their status to fight it out with him.

    The war that was truly keeping the void continent situation in check was in the void. The imperial fleets had appeared in full-force¡ªincluding the reserve forces of the imperial family and the pce guardsunching numerous major battles in space. This stopped the dark races fromnding troops and supplies at will, resulting in the current sustained impasse.

    Both fleets sustained heavy casualties following several bloody battles, and neither side was in a condition for another showdown. Hence, a stalemate returned to the void as well with the empire gaining the rtive initiative this time.

    The war on the floating continent appeared to be shifting away from a decisive showdown, with the two factions maintaining a weird equilibrium. There was no imminent peril at this point since the heavenly monarchs and dark monarchs were yet to join the fray.

    It was reasonable for the empire since they had a very limited number of heavenly monarchs, but the Evernight faction¡¯s movements were truly puzzling. The usually overbearing dark races were actually holding back from fielding their great dark monarchs despite the repeated defeats.

    Only the arachne warlord would make brief appearances on the front line to indicate that he was still around, and then vanish soon afterward. No other great monarch was ever seen. It was almost as though they had returned to the depths of their respective home continents for some unknown business.

    Duke You became even more cautious under the current circumstances. He pushed forward steadily, consolidating power and defenses along the way as he probed the dark race¡¯s bottom line. All those imperial military members became bloodthirsty characters during this period, causing a loud ruckus about pursuing the retreating enemy. Duke You, however, paid them no heed, simply suppressing them whenever they became too disruptive.

    Li Fengshui¡¯s branch had suffered severe losses and was almost destroyed entirely under the Zhao n¡¯s previous scheme. How could they have any manpower left to fight the dark races on their own? Hence, the only thing they could do was to submit memorials and secret letters, criticizing the Zhao n¡¯s actions at every turn.

    At its peak, there were ten such memorials flowing toward the military stronghold in the Imperial Capital. Yet, they had as much effect as a stone falling into the sea¡ªneither the imperial family nor the numerous bigshots of the military seemed aware of these matters.

    On the borders of the floating continent, an airship flew in like a specter, circling past the security lines of either faction andnding on the outskirts of the Zhao n war zone. This airship was outstanding both in terms of speed and concealment abilities, a vessel used specifically as a long-distance transport and messenger for intelligence.

    After parking at the designated spot, a thirty-year-old officer jumped out from the airships and nced about with a gloomy expression. ¡°Is this the only ce I cannd? I have urgent military intel on me!¡±

    The colonel in charge of reception said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but there¡¯s really no other way. The Zhao n has issued a flight ban. No airship is allowed to fly over the city and its surrounding airspace. All those who break thew will be shot down.¡±

    A lieutenant colonel snorted and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Aren¡¯t the Zhao n¡¯s own airships moving in and out at will?¡±

    The colonelughed wryly. ¡°They say it¡¯s to patrol for vitors.¡±

    The lieutenant colonel was even more dissatisfied. ¡°The Zhang, Bai, and Song n airships are also moving freely, why don¡¯t I see the Zhao n stopping them? Even some aristocratic families are getting through.¡±

    ¡°Their passengers are all major characters. What can the Zhao n say to them?¡±

    At this point, the officer who had just alighted the airship realized what was going on. He said with an unsightly expression, ¡°Does that mean they¡¯re targeting only the military?¡±

    The colonel was clearly unwilling to let rtionships turn sour. He said with augh, ¡°It¡¯s the same for some other small aristocratic families.¡±

    ¡°How can the military be discussed on the same level!? Even the four major ns should be ranked behind the military! These ns will be the end of the empire! I, Mi Yong, will definitely uproot the Zhao n and return a bright world to His Majesty the Emperor!¡± The officer was furious.

    Despite his age, Mi Yong was well over rank-eleven in his cultivation and his origin power quality was not bad, either. The young man¡¯s future prospects in the army were quite good, so the colonel didn¡¯t dare say anything despite him crossing the line with his words.

    As a radical, the lieutenant colonel was full of praise for Mi Yong. ¡°General Mi is correct! These ns looking down on us is the same as looking down on the imperial military. As I see it, even the imperial court isn¡¯t much to them.¡±

    Mi Yong nodded. Only the colonel was left muttering secretly about how the Zhao n wouldn¡¯t even consider these people to be representative of the military, at most a factional power within it.

    Mi Yong nced at the sky. ¡°How long to the imperial military¡¯s stronghold?¡±

    The colonel replied, ¡°Three hundred kilometers, you¡¯ll need four hours to cover this distance.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go then, don¡¯t dilly-dally.¡±

    Mi Yong jumped onto an offroad vehicle, unwilling to linger even a while longer. Momentster, three such vehicles whizzed out of the airship port.

    It had to be said that the Zhao n''s defensive zone was managed attentively. The roads were wide and even, allowing the jeeps to charge forward at their maximum speed. This improved Mi Yong¡¯s mood somewhat.

    However, the caravan hadn¡¯t left very far when the sound of engines rumbled across the sky and bright spotlights fell upon the vehicles.

    The three jeeps almost went off the road. Fortunately, the drivers were skilled enough¡ªthey swerved about in a cloud of dust before finally bringing the cars to a stop.

    The car at the front braked so suddenly that the two behind were almost caught off guard. They were just one step away from crashing.

    Mi Yong¡¯s spun about and banged his head on the roof. Due to his strong origin power, the man¡¯s head remained unharmed even after the roof became deformed. Despite being fine physically, he was greatly embarrassed and angry. He nced out just in time to see an airshipnding across the road up front, blocking it offpletely. The first jeep had almost crashed into therge vessel.

    Mi Yong jumped off the car and roared, ¡°Who¡¯s so bold as to block my path!? Do you know who I am? Let me tell you, you won¡¯t get off so easily if you dy military matters!¡±

    A number of people walked down from the airship at this point, all of them sneering at Mi Yong. The first person pointed at the Zhao n emblem and said, ¡°Are you blind? Can¡¯t you see such a big insignia?¡±

    The lieutenant colonel came down to smooth things out. ¡°It¡¯s just a misunderstanding. Which excellency is overseeing the airship? Maybe we might know him.¡±

    Mi Yong was unwilling. ¡°It¡¯s bad enough that you¡¯re stopping airships. Why are you stopping us from heading to the military stronghold by car? What is this? Do you think the military is that easy to bully?¡±

    Toward the end, Mi Yong¡¯s voice was already quite harsh.

    At this moment, a handsome young man walked out of the Zhao-n crowd and said indifferently, ¡°What urgent business do you have? What intelligence is it? Let me see.¡±

    ¡°Not just anyone can see an urgent missive¡­ you!!!¡± Mi Yong hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when his vision turned blurry and his mind went nk. Before he knew it, the folder containing the military intelligence was already in the young man¡¯s hands.

    Shocked out of his wits, he was just about to snatch the documents back when he found his body unable to circte origin power or even move. It was almost as though he was being locked down by countless chains.

    The young man tore open the envelope, fished out the papers inside, and began looking through them.

    A chill ran down Mi Yong¡¯s entire body. Livid, he cried, ¡°How dare you open a military document! This is a crime worthy of familial extermination!¡±

    By the time he had finished reading, a gloomy expression appeared briefly on the young man¡¯s countenance. He said indifferently, ¡°I knew it. There can¡¯t be anything gooding from the neutralnds. You people still refuse to let this go after such a long time. Humph!¡±

    Someone asked, ¡°What shall we do with these people?¡±

    The young man replied, ¡°Make it so that we never saw them.¡±

    The Zhao n people were shrouded in killing intent. ¡°We understand.¡±

    Mi Yong was startled. ¡°You dare kill a member of the military?¡±

    The young man smiled faintly. ¡°You? You hardly count as a member of the military. So what if I, Zhao Jundu, want to kill you? What can you do?¡±

 Chapter 829: Please Wait, Young Noble

    Mi Yong had never imagined that thebat arts he was so proud of couldn¡¯t evenst a brief moment against the Zhao n¡¯s warriors, that the opponents¡¯ simple but powerful attacks would beat him down in just a couple of moves. Up until his copse, he still couldn¡¯t believe he had suffered a crushing defeat, just like that.

    As one of the military¡¯s closely-observed rising elites, Mi Yong had the right to learn the imperial family¡¯s secret arts. Despite having learned only the abridged version, it still lent him considerable power. Mi Yong held multiple records of defeating opponents of the same level during internal military drills, and his potential was well-recognized by the higher-ups.

    He simply couldn¡¯t figure out how he had lost to such crude and boorish techniques. The Zhao n¡¯s arts were simple, violent, and barbaric, with neither beauty norplexity to speak of. It consisted of little more than punches and kicks, but with sufficient power, speed, and ruthlessness.

    At first, Mi Yong had nned to defeat all the Zhao n generals in his anger, and then move on to challenging Zhao Jundu. A defeat at that point couldn¡¯t be considered a blemish to his name. He wasn¡¯t as egotistical as to believe he could win against Zhao Jundu.

    But Mi Yong was beaten to a pulp by a random person from the Zhao n and didn¡¯t even get the opportunity to use any of his powerful techniques.

    At this moment, Zhao Jundu had already left. He didn¡¯t even spare Mi Yong a nce or disy any intention of talking to him. This frustrated thetter to no end, stoppering the words of righteousness he was preparing to speak.

    That Zhao n champion whipped out a dagger. The sharp edge of the de sent a chill down Mi Yong¡¯s spine as he realized that his fate had been sealed.

    With all of his dreams destroyed, Mi Yong suddenly unleashed a peal of crazedughter. ¡°Zhao Jundu! Do you think robbing this message is enough? I¡¯ll have you know that General Lu has sent two urgent missives at the same time. The other one is probably on its way to the Imperial Capital!¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t slow down his steps. He simply walked away as though he hadn¡¯t heard the man¡¯s words.

    The Zhao n warrior who had stayed behind to finish things up sneered, ¡°You think our Young Master is so easy to trick? To tell you the truth, the airship flying toward the empire has already be space scrap!¡±

    Mi Yong was shocked, having truly experienced how terrifying the Zhao n could be. At this moment, he felt a cold sensation on his neck as his throat was slit open!

    The man made unintelligible sounds, wanting to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth apart from bloody froth. He covered up the gash in vain, hoping to utter some hateful final words. It was at this moment that he gained a sudden enlightenment, realizing that all of this was Lu Saobei¡¯s arrangement.

    The general had arranged three messengers probably because he had expected the Zhao n to intercept the missive. Additionally, the Zhao n had always been ruthless in their operations. In order to achieve a clean oue, they would surely silence the courier after snatching the intelligence.

    In other words, Mi Yong and the messenger going toward the Imperial Capital were expendable decoys, targets who were being disposed of. Only the one going toward the Transcendent Continent was the real messenger.

    Mi Yong¡¯s heart was full of hatred aftering to this conclusion. He immediately shouted, ¡°There¡¯s one more messenger heading for Transcendent Continent!¡± But his copsing body was already powerless and his vision was gradually fading away.

    The Zhao n champion watched the target draw hisst breath, and then hauled the corpse onto the off-road vehicle before moving both onto the airship. Thus did the imperial courier and his guide vanishpletely from this world.

    These people had gone missing right behind Indomitable, but anything was possible in times of war. Losing a couple of people was nothing out of the ordinary.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t board the vehicle prepared for him but instead walked toward Indomitable in thepany of the Zhao n experts. Everyone knew that the fourth young master had something on his mind.

    The entourage walked swiftly, but it took them an hour to arrive at the warzone. Momentster, one of their impatient members asked, ¡°Young Master, what was on the military intelligence that we have to put in so much effort?¡±

    To everyone¡¯s surprise, Zhao Jundu passed the missive to them. ¡°Look for yourself.¡±

    The general was puzzled, but he received the letter in a hurry and scanned its contents. ¡°General Qianye is in the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°General¡­ Qianye?¡±

    The soldiers nced at one another, all of them tacitly addressing him as general. Qianye¡¯s status as Zhao Weihuang¡¯s son was known to only a handful of people, none of whom was among the generals here. However, Qianye had fought alongside the n for a significant length of time and received everyone¡¯s recognition for his achievements and honesty.

    Even after revealing his true vampire identity toward the end, the soldiers who had fought every day on the front lines still considered him a true brother unto death, someone they would wholly trust to watch their backs.

    A soldier¡¯s heart was simple and realistic. They would never believe that Qianye¡ªwho had, on numerous asions, risked life and limb to avert perilous situations for humans¡ªwas a vampire spy. The widely-epted version of the story was that the imperial military had worked with the vampires to seize Qianye¡¯s woman, forcing him to defect.

    All the generals nced resolutely at one another after reading the missive. That heroic general from before took a step forward and said, ¡°Fourth Young Master, we¡¯ve always considered Qianye as a capable general of the Zhao n! His identity ispletely unrted. If it wasn¡¯t for those scheming wretches from the army, General Qianye wouldn¡¯t have left the empire! Fourth Young Master, tell us what we need to do. As long as you say it, I, Peng Dahai, and my brothers won¡¯t flinch even if we have to cross mountains of des and seas of fire!¡±

    A rare smile appeared on Zhao Jundu¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯ve all followed me for so many years, so there¡¯s no need for me to hide this matter from you. I need a couple of people to head to the neutralnds, find Qianye, and see how he¡¯s doing. I want this group to remain there with him and help him build a foundation in the neutralnds. I¡¯lle over to provide support once the war situation here has been settled.¡±

    Pang Dahai replied, ¡°That¡¯s easy! But¡­¡±

    Zhao Jundu raised his brows.

    Pang Dahai whispered, ¡°This¡­ the war here is also critical. I-I¡¯m worried about your safety after we leave. With us boorish fellows around, we can at least help you block a few blows.¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh and said while shaking his head, ¡°It might not be hard to defeat me, but anyone who¡¯s not a duke can forget about killing me.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Pang Dahai wanted to argue.

    Zhao Jundu cut him short, saying, ¡°You guys rest assured. I have another helper here, and he¡¯s very powerful.¡±

    Everyone nced at one another, unable to figure out which idle expert was worthy of Zhao Jundu¡¯s assessment as very powerful. It wasn¡¯t appropriate for them to say anything, but several eyes stared fixedly at Zhao Jundu. These people weren¡¯t about to back down without getting a proper answer.

    Zhao Jundu was also helpless against these proud warriors. ¡°It¡¯s so much effort to ask you people to do some work. That person is the seventh young master of the Song n.¡±

    ¡°Seventh Young Noble!?¡±

    Song Zining was one of the most dazzling geniuses of the empire, only second to Qianye and Zhao Jundu. His most outstanding aspect wasn¡¯t in martial prowess but strategy and warfare. Rumor in the army was that Song Seven might follow in Lin Xitang¡¯s footsteps to be a new god of warfare.

    Song Zining was working for Zhang Boqian at first, but he faded from public sight after some activity on the night of Qianye¡¯s mishap. It has been some time since he had appeared in the army, and no one even knew whether he was still on the floating continent.

    The generals would believe it if Zhao Jundu were to mention someone else, but Song Zining was a different story. Even Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t have the power to buy out this person.

    ¡°Is the Seventh Young Noble still on the void continent?¡± Pang Dahai was baffled. As he saw it, a genius like Song Zining not showing up in battle was something unimaginable, if he really was in the area.

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°Others might not be able to find him, but it¡¯s not that easy to hide from me.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression changed somewhat. He said with a smile, ¡°See? He¡¯s delivering himself up right now. You guys go back first.¡±

    Everyone asked, ¡°Where are you going, Young Master?¡±

    ¡°To catch someone.¡± With that, Zhao Jundu rushed into the air and left like a gust of wind.

    There were as many fortresses surrounding Indomitable as there were stars in the sky. The various aristocratic powers had constructed more and more of them while defending against the dark race assault. On one hand, these structures would serve as a disy of might and act as a deterrent. But if the dark races were to charge them, these fortress clusters would turn into terrifying meat grinders.

    Outside of the defensive perimeter, the mes of war had leveled thend and scorched the earth. Behind Indomitable, however, arge strip of military bases had risen up between the fortresses. These camps could be used to station troops and, at the same time, prevent the dark race scouts from sneaking in.

    Camps of different sizes and shapes were scattered across the area, mostly belonging to the aristocratic families. At a nce, even the Zhao n didn¡¯t know how many of them had been constructed or how many soldiers they held, but they were willing to turn a blind eye as long as there was a steady stream of soldiersing from these camps during times of war. After all, this was considered a private matter for each aristocratic family, something even the imperial family didn¡¯t want to meddle with. Why would the Zhao n break this custom?

    There were lights still flickering in the camp of a certain lower-ranking aristocratic family. In one of the most unassuming tents, a certain warrior was stuffing his clothing into his backpack, seemingly about to leave on a distant journey.

    This tent was fairly ordinary. If one had to point out something special, it was that the tent was upied only by a single tenant. ording to imperial customs, only officers above the colonel rank had the qualifications to upy an entire tent during war.

    That colonel was fairly meticulous in his packing, arranging all of his belongings neatly into the backpack. He looked rather calm and careful in his undertaking.

    It was at this time that the tent p was pulled open and Zhao Jundu walked in with a spurious smile. ¡°Seventh Young Noble, please stop.¡±

 Chapter 830: For the Road

    ¡°You¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± That soldier stood up without raising his head and began walking toward the tent entrance. He was evidently shocked uponing face to face with Zhao Jundu. ¡°Howe it¡¯s you!?¡±

    Zhao Jundu stood there with his hands behind his back. ¡°Why can¡¯t it be me? Since the day you vanished, I¡¯ve been waiting for you to use the Three Thousand Flying Leaves art on me. The many paths of the great dao lead to the same destination. If you divine me, I will know where you are.¡±

    Startled, the soldier frowned. ¡°How is that even possible?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is. Your art is far from perfect!¡±

    The soldier straightened his posture with a sigh. Despite his ordinary appearance, the temperament with which he carried himself was evident. He sized Zhao Jundu up from head to toe, saying, ¡°Fourth Young Noble surprisingly possesses such talents. You¡¯ve truly hidden your powers well.¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled faintly. ¡°I had no choice. I don¡¯t have a lot of schemes, so I need to leave a hidden ace to deal with you diviners.¡±

    Song Zining removed his mask with a sigh. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that whatever you had disyed isn¡¯t your limit just yet. The number one genius of the empire truly lives up to his name.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare im the number one spot in front of the Seventh Young Noble. By the way, where are you moving to right now?¡± Zhao Jundu stared at Song Zining with a peculiar smile.

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°Fourth Young Master, please speak directly.¡±

    Zhao Jundu held back no longer. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m in need of men. Don¡¯t go, help me fight.¡±

    Song Zining was dazed. ¡°Your Zhao n has as many champions as there are hairs on an ox. Why would you need me?¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯tcking at first, but now we are.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°What if I say no?¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled coldly. ¡°Then I might get rough. You won¡¯t get your way here, it¡¯s useless even if you scream your lungs out.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was livid. Momentster, he said through clenched teeth, ¡°I insist on leaving. If the Fourth Young Noble must resort to violence, then let¡¯s fight!¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke intoughter. ¡°You hesitated for so long. You¡¯ve already lost your momentum, so you¡¯ll definitely lose even if we fight. Why take the trouble? Just follow me obediently, and I won¡¯t make things very difficult for you.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head.

    This time, it was Zhao Jundu¡¯s turn to be surprised. He nced at the almost-packed luggage and asked, ¡°Can you tell me where you¡¯re going?¡±

    ¡°... The neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°The neutralnds!?¡± This answer surprised Zhao Jundu quite a bit. After a moment of pondering, he decided to probe a bit. ¡°Why, though?¡±

    ¡°To earn money.¡± Song Zining replied instantly.

    Zhao Jundu felt a wave of frustration hit his chest. ¡°... When has your Song n evercked money!?¡±

    ¡°The Song n is the Song n, and I am myself. The n has money, but that doesn¡¯t mean I have money. Besides, I have no more association with the Song n. The Ningyuan Group is my actual foundation, so I have to try my best!¡± Song Zining actually managed to turn a string of groundless words into a righteous and confident speech.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s response was also quite direct. Beams of green energy surged up from his head as he said, ¡°I can¡¯t outspeak you, but I can outfight you.¡±

    Song Zining was helpless and restrained in all aspects. Especially when the fourth young noble had no intention to speak reason, whatever he said would only fall on deaf ears. Song Zining might be able to escape if this were any other person, but Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal specialized in preventing escapes¡ªthose who couldn¡¯t defeat Zhao Jundu could forget about fleeing. The fourth young noble, on the other hand, was rtively carefree, able to fight if he wanted or leave if he so wished.

    And even if Song Zining could go all out with his domain and confuse Zhao Jundu momentarily, there was still a True Shot awaiting him.

    After thinking back and forth, Song Zining actually found no good way to resolve this problem short of defeating Zhao Jundu head-on. Even after defeating the opponent, he had no way to catch Zhao Jundu because his speed would be greatly discounted under the effects of the Omniscient Seal.

    Song Zining felt more and more frustrated. Losing hisposure at one point, he mocked, ¡°Zhou Fourth Young Noble is indeed the number one genius of the empire! I just realized that your proficient powers make you more or less a hoodlum. You upy a position of sure victory and refuse to give people like me a way out!¡±

    Zhao Junduughed heartily. ¡°Thanks for thepliment!¡±

    Seeing Zhao Jundu being so frank about not giving him a fair fight, Song Zining knew that he had no way out of this. He heaved a long sigh, saying, ¡°I¡¯m going to the neutralnds to check up on Qianye.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s stopped hisughter and asked seriously, ¡°Qianye is in the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Zhao Jundu paced about the tent with his hands behind his back. ¡°You¡¯ve known that for a long time, right? Why go now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not easy to leave Marshal Zhang¡¯s employ. I had to wait a good while for this opportunity. Besides, everyone knows I¡¯m on good terms with Qianye. People from the military have been watching my every move, so I have to be careful.¡±

    ¡°Why now all of a sudden?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but Qianye has been catching a lot of eyestely. He¡¯s fought several head-on battles in the neutralnds and even announced his real name. This isn''t his usual style, there must be something going on there. I have to go and take a look. You know how impetuous this fellow is, he practically threw his life away against the Demoness.¡±

    Zhao Jundu red fixedly at Song Zining. ¡°I believe he also took a shot for a certain person on the battlefield, he¡¯s quite dumb.¡±

    The temperature in the tent fell sharply. Sparks flew about as the two partiesmenced a stare-down, feeling more and more displeased with one another.

    But as characters working on big important matters, they knew how to restrain themselves. Both of them quickly put away their emotions with a cold snort.

    Zhao Jundu said with a smile, ¡°Since the Seventh Young Noble is heading to the neutralnds, then I won¡¯t stop you anymore. It just so happens that a number of my subordinates are taking a stroll over there. Why don¡¯t you take them along with you and let those brutes witness the demeanor of the future god of warfare.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. ¡°You¡¯re sending people to the neutralnds at such a time? How about the war here? It¡¯ll be a big deal if the battlefront here copses.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the war situation, I still have some tricks up my sleeve. On the contrary, there¡¯s a solid reason to send people over to the neutralnds. If you¡¯re too idle, you can help me kill a certain person.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    Zhao Jundu passed Song Zining the military intelligence. Thetter surged with killing intent as he nced through its contents, and then a me flickered on his palm, burning the paper away entirely.

    ¡°There¡¯s an identical missive heading for the Imperial Capital. I¡¯ve intercepted that one too.¡±

    Song Zining remained silent for a moment before saying, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of this Lu Saobei, he¡¯s quite the scheming fellow. I¡¯m afraid Fourth Young Noble has miscalcted. These two routes are definitely decoys for you to intercept. He definitely has a third, secret messenger, and that¡¯s the true route of his message. I fear the intelligence report is already on the other party¡¯s desk by now.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°Who cares, I¡¯m sending my men over to kill Lu Saobei and wipe out the next batch of military soldiers in passing. With the Seventh Young Noble overseeing this operation, I¡¯ll be even more at ease. People like you scheme too much and kill too little.¡±

    It was a mystery just what Song Zining was thinking. He shook his head with a sigh, saying, ¡°So does that mean you don¡¯t object to me heading to the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. On the contrary, I should even support you!¡± With that, Zhao Jundu fished out an exquisitely decorated purse and weighed it in his hand before tossing it into Song Zining¡¯s backpack. ¡°Seventh Young Noble, some pocket money for the road, use it sparingly!¡±

    With that, Zhao Jundo left with a lingering peal ofughter.

    Song Zining gazed at the wallet and couldn¡¯t help but spew out some profanities. The purse was of the highest quality and there was no fault to find with its craftsmanship. The problem was that it was too small and couldn¡¯t fit much money even if it were full of gold coins. Such small purses were made for young masters and misses to keep some pocket change; it was only natural that it couldn¡¯t hold much.

    The money inside wasn¡¯t even enough to buy a ticket to the neutralnds. If Song Zining were to use this budget as his travel expenses, he wouldn¡¯t reach the neutralnds even if he slept in the cargo hold.

    And he even said something about spending it slowly? Spend like a beggar more like.

    Song Zining chuckled after noticing the golden ¡°Zhao¡± character embroidered on the purse. Thinking of a scheme, he muttered to himself, ¡°This is Zhao Jundu¡¯s personal item! I¡¯m sure those nobledies will be willing to pay a high price for this! I¡¯ll let Zhao Jundu gain some fame after my return, heh heh!¡±

    It was gettingte at this point, so Song Zining picked up his backpack and left. At a time like this, an insignificant soldier like him was far from eye-catching. Even if someone did notice him, they were all toozy to inquire about his business in detail. Momentster, Song Zining had blended into the dark night and disappeared.

    ...

    Meanwhile, a certain airship had justnded at a small sport in the neutralnds. This ce was old, simple, and in evident decline, with no building in the entire town taller than three stories. The people shuttling through the streets wore fierce expressions as they sized up their surroundings like they would a prey.

    This wasn¡¯t an official port, but a grey zone among grey zones. Some characters who couldn¡¯t even make a living in the neutralnds would choose to stop over in such ces and begin a new life here.

    Every arriving airship meant more riches. Most people would vanish mysteriously after alighting from their vessels, almost as though they had never appeared here. And no one here cared about their fate, either.

    As usual, the arrival of this airship excited the small town. People from all walks of life gathered around the airship port, scanning the arriving passengers with blood-thirsty eyes.

    Some passengers were scared witless as they left the airship, trembling in fear and hugging their luggage tightly. Others would return cold, bloodthirsty res full of killing intent. After most of the passengers had gone off, a young girl in a white dress appeared from the cabin, causing an immediate stir in the surrounding crowd!

 Chapter 831: Three Minutes

    The young girl¡¯s appearance was exquisite and wless. Even that faint scar across her porcin countenance could hardly subtract from her pure beauty. Those beautiful eyes of her looked quite perplexed as she gazed nkly at her surroundings, seemingly oblivious to the greed and evil in the eyes of everyone around her.

    She was d in a pair of t-soled shoes, and the exposed parts of her legs were as fair as suet jade.

    Her white dress was a bit dirty and torn in many ces. This was normal for a travel-worn passenger who had justpleted a long journey inside a dirty cargo ship. Everyoneing out from the ship looked dirty and ragged.

    On her, however, the dress was immediately different. Its hem fluttering in the wind could draw out the beast hidden in the deepest parts of one¡¯s heart.

    The young girl was holding a small bag with no weapon or armor whatsoever. At this moment, she was like a small delicate blossom in the wilderness, besieged by raging storms and rumbling thunder.

    Everyone in the small town exchanged nces, their eyes full of violent intent and deterrence. Most of them were defeated in this invisible battle of res¡ªthey no longer dared to keep eye contact and merely turned back to drool at the young girl. A number of ruthless characters, however, weren¡¯t willing to yield. In the end, they walked toward the young girl, effectively separating her from the others.

    The young girl, with her puzzledrge eyes, seemed not to have noticed the danger in her surroundings. She simply walked on and, at one point, turned into a small alleyway to the side.

    The burly men following her nced at one another with meaningful expressions and followed her into the dark alley. Thest one among them turned back to re at the crowd and performed a cut-throat gesture. His meaning was clear¡ªwhoever dared to follow them in would be forfeiting their life.

    The jobless hoodlums of the town stopped in front of the alley since all of thembined wouldn¡¯t be a match for that group of violent experts. But ording to the rules of the town, it would be their turn after the leaders had their fill¡ªassuming the girl wasn¡¯t dead yet.

    Dozens of people surrounded the alley, gazing in with hopes of seeing something. But the alleys in this town were dark and convoluted. The entire group, as well as the girl, hadpletely vanished around the corner. The people weren¡¯t satisfied, but they didn¡¯t dare go in, either. All they could do was try to listen for some suspicious sounds and imagine things on their own.

    A miserable cry rang out from the depths of the alley. Even though the people in town were used to this kind of cruelty, the wretched scream still sent a chill down their spines¡ªit was simply too miserable. The victim¡¯s desperation and terror were evident from the cry.

    Soon afterward, tragic cries echoed here and there throughout the dark alleyway¡ªit was almost as though a beast of unprecedented brutality was hunting for prey.

    People outside the alley couldn¡¯t see a thing. They could only hear the constant hysterical screams, almost as though the people inside were putting all their efforts toward wailing instead of fighting or running away.

    The atmosphere in the small town froze up and everyone¡¯s consciousness came to a standstill. No one dared to move, afraid that the slightest motion would draw this terrifying demon upon them.

    The cries inside the alleysted for a good half-hour, and the townspeople stood there for just as long.

    Finally, the victims¡¯ lives came to an end and the blood-curdling screams faded away. Nheless, the dozens of people at the alleyway remained stationary, not daring to move in the slightest.

    The little girl in white exited from the other end of the small town and slowly walked away into the wilderness. Her dress was drenched in blood, decorating it with a dazzling mixture of white and red. Her ten fingers were dripping with blood, but her eyes looked just as bewildered, almost as though she had no idea what she was doing.

    At this moment, there was an old woman sitting on the other end of the town, watching the young girl, the town, and everything that had happened just now with a wooden expression.

    The old woman rubbed her eyes hard as the girl was walking away because her figure had turned somewhat blurry. The receding figure came into view after a careful second nce, her dress fluttering in the wind as before. Her fair skin was dazzling, and the bloodstains had vanished entirely, almost as though they were never there in the first ce.

    In the small town, the petrified crowd at the alleyway finally gained the courage to walk into the dark alley after a long while. After turning around a corner, the people walking at the front suddenly fell to their knees and began to vomit.

    It was a different world in the depths of this alley, a realm of blood and fragments of flesh and bones. There wasn¡¯t even an intact limb to be found.

    Even though most of the people in town were familiar with bloody sights, they had never experienced such an impact. This scene was even crueler than a Blood Feast.

    Those who had survived felt fortunate that they weren¡¯t strong enough to get a share of the bounty. Otherwise, they would¡¯ve be a decoration for this sanguineous world.

    ¡­

    Meanwhile, on the Northern Continent, a small vige had arisen in an area between the mountains and coastline. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was parked close to the vige, where dozens of Highbeards were unloading boxes toward the vige. Some of the Highbeard tribesmen were busy opening up the crates near the vige and assembling different types of machines and vehicles.

    The mountain range that served as a natural barrier was just over ten kilometers away. A small creek ran down from the snowy mountains, converging into a stream that flowed past the vige. On the distant hill, some Highbeards could be seen surveying for ores amidst the rocks.

    Atop a small hill nearby, Bluemoon was showing Qianye the map she had just drafted, exining to him her future ns.

    ¡°The flow of this stream isn¡¯t very powerful and can only support ten thousand people at most. The water supply will decrease even more after we¡¯ve set up the mines, refinery, and weapons factories. We must, therefore, expand toward the sea. There¡¯s arger river there, beside which we can build another city. For now, we need the vige to be here for easier construction work.¡±

    She pointed at a distant group of mountains. ¡°There¡¯s definitely ck crystal and iron ore there, we don¡¯t need to worry about our supply of steel. It¡¯ll take further surveying to find out whether or not there are rare metals. With such a density of void origin power on the summit, there¡¯s sure to be a lot of ore veins inside, but that¡¯s a discussion for next time.

    ¡°The sequence of workshop construction is naturally refinery, mechanical, and then weaponryst. In my opinion, we should import all keyponents or even entire ballistae. What we n to produce here are big mechanical and structuralponents, not technically demanding parts. This will maximize the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s fighting power in the shortest time.¡±

    Bluemoon was holding a fairlyplete n, something she had spent a great deal of effort on. Those ck rings around her eyes stand proof of that.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it like that.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Bluemoon breathed a sigh of relief and became much more rxed. What Qianye had agreed to wasn¡¯t just the current n but the long term n she had hidden in her message. Expanding this territory toward the sea would provide the Highbeards with a vast, resource-richnd. There were several fertilends on the Northern Continent, enough to feed hundreds of thousands of people by means of agriculture.

    With thisnd in their hands, the Highbeards would have a thriving ancestralnd for many generations toe.

    At this point, Qianye was prompted by a sudden impulse and broke into a frown.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Bluemoon asked concernedly.

    ¡°Nothing, I have a bad feeling about things.¡± Qianye looked up at yonder horizon. Far in the distance, he could feel something bad happening, almost as though there was a danger slowly approaching him.

    Bluemoon said, ¡°Do you need more men?¡±

    ¡°No, this is enough for now. Have your men unload the cargo quickly, I need to leave for a while.¡±

    Bluemoon wanted to follow Qianye, but seeing as thetter had no intention of bringing her along, she made a clever decision to remain silent. She ordered all her tribesmen to pause their current work and start moving things down from the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    It took dozens of Highbeard men roughly an hour to move everything down. The number of purchased goods was rather considerable.

    It was evening by the time the Martyr¡¯s Pce was cleared out. Qianye stood on top of the Earth Dragon¡¯s head and drove the massive warship up into the air. Five origin sails unfurled one after the other as the Martyr¡¯s Pce flew toward the vast Eastern Sea.

    Qianye wanted to pay a visit to Nighteye first, just to confirm that the feeling of restlessness wasn¡¯t from her. This journey was quite long. Even though the Martyr¡¯s Pce now had kic sails installed on it, a mere five of them was simply too insignificantpared to the output of the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart. They only managed to raise the pce¡¯s speed by ten percent.

    Despite the sense of urgency, he suppressed his emotions and continued to cultivate in the Martyr¡¯s Pce, collecting whatever Venus Dawn origin power he could.

    Recently, he had been cultivating whenever he had the time. It was likely that his daybreak origin power would take a step forward after another half a month of training and finally condense his fourth origin vortex.

    Several days passed by in a sh, and Qianye once again arrived at Nighteye¡¯s dwelling. He left the Martyr¡¯s Pce hovering at the border of the void, flying alone through the void tempests to reach the crash site of the duke¡¯s airship.

    Jared was already waiting for Qianye outside of the airship. ¡°Master will only give you three minutes.¡±

    Startled, Qianye could onlyugh wryly in response. Three minutes wasn¡¯t so bad, so he simply followed Jared inside.

    There was a dark red glow flickering in the main hall of the warship. There were drops of blood floating slowly in the air, each resembling an unblemished ruby infused with specks of starlight.

    Nighteye was hovering at the center of the tilted hall. With her eyes closed and her arms crossed in front of her, it looked very much like she was asleep. At this moment, her aura was ancient, weary, and ephemeral, almost as though she had traversed the great vicissitudes of time. It felt like she was there, yet she was not.

    Qianye stood at the door, merely gazing at her in silence. Two minutes thus went by.

    ¡°You have one more minute.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I only came to see you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen me.¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m leaving then.¡±

    Before departing, Qianye suddenly looked back and asked, ¡°What about next time.¡±

    Nighteye remained silent for a moment before replying, ¡°Three minutes.¡±

    A smile appeared on Qianye¡¯s face as he turned and left.

 Chapter 832: Attack

    Jared was waiting outside of the warship, probably to avoid being suspected of eavesdropping and the like.

    Seeing Qianye walk out, Jared asked in surprise, ¡°You¡¯re out so quickly?¡±

    ¡°Three minutes.¡±

    ¡°Indeed only three minutes¡­¡± Jared didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, I¡¯lle again after a while.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Jared called Qianye back and said in a hushed voice, ¡°Did you notice any change in Master¡¯s condition?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    At this point, Nighteye seemed to be asleep. Her bodily functions had been frozen, but she remained conscious of mind. The environment in the hall was also fairly peculiar¡ªit was somewhat simr to an ancient blood pond but clearly was not.

    ¡°I think the Master is trying toprehend anew the utilization of the power of blood. Additionally, her current physical body has be a bottleneck, something that needs to be modified.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed by Jared¡¯s knowledge. He himself could only make a vague guess even after obtaining the inheritance of the River of Blood. Jared, on the other hand, was indeed a marquis and one level higher than Qianye in terms of blood energy, but it¡¯s been many years since the vampire race had sensed the River of Blood or obtained its knowledge. Knowing all of this meant that he had either sensed the River of Blood when he was young or gained insight from studying ancient texts.

    ¡°You mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Once Master achieves a breakthrough, all aspects of her power will rise sharply. She must be thinking about returning to Twilight Continent and making Medanzo pay for his rudeness. At that point, you should be standing beside her. Forgive me for saying this, but your current strength is far from enough, and the time you have is short.¡±

    Qianye looked deeply into Jared¡¯s eyes. ¡°Why would you tell me this? There must be a lot of vampires who fancy her, right? Perhaps you included.¡±

    Jaredughed wryly. ¡°I know a bit about your past, and it¡¯s quite fantastic, but you might not know all too well about our race¡¯s internal structure. Master¡¯s bloodline is too powerful, and hardly a handful of people in the entire race is qualified to be her match. We can only tremble in reverence before her, to speak nothing of having other desires. This is decided by one¡¯s order in the River of Blood. You, on the other hand, are different. I can sense a simr power in you that makes me shudder, only an ancient bloodline like that is worthy of the Master. However, you¡¯re currently too weak. I believe the Lightless Monarch would stop at nothing to remove you should he discover your existence.¡±

    With a nod, Qianye memorized these words and said his farewells to Jared.

    Due to that special connection between him and Nighteye, Qianye understood that Nighteye¡¯s condition wasn¡¯t as optimistic as Jared had imagined. He had sensed a flicker of weakness while facing her inside the hall.

    Nighteye had suffered grave injuries, so she was repairing her wounds whileprehending her powers anew. Qianye had no idea how bad the damage was, but not fully recovering after all this time proved just how serious it was.

    For someone as proud as her, it came as a deep embarrassment that she would be injured by Medanzo¡¯s subordinates and forced to recover in hiding. To a superior vampire, a vendetta like this was worth a thousand years of retaliation.

    Qianye sighed to himself. He did want to upgrade his blood energy, but the daybreak side couldn¡¯t be rushed.

    Without a constitution strengthened by his Evernight powers, his daybreak origin power would copse like a sandcastle. On the other hand, progressing his Evernight powers without daybreak origin power would turn him into a true vampire and return him to the River of Blood.

    After parting ways with Jared, Qianye left the Martyr¡¯s Pce hovering where it was and left for Southern Blue. He even paid a brief visit to Port City.

    The city had long since fallen to ruins, but there was a new fortress-like structure at its center. Its walls and corners were decorated with steel spikes. Such a crude, sinister-looking style was characteristic to the arachne.

    The primary fighting power during the battle of Port City were the Moonlight Demons and the Wolf King, but now, the Spider Emperor was apparently the master of this castle.

    Qianye gave it some thought and decided to take a look. The guards at the city gates were all dark races. The two low-ranking vampires there were pale and trembling with just a slight release of Qianye¡¯s blood energy aura. How would they dare to stop him?

    The fortress was popted by dark race members, with the asional human appearing in cages on the streets. Most of these cages were empty and the dark bloodstains on them were a testament to what had happened to them.

    Most of Port City¡¯s residents had been captured to serve as fuel for the Blood Altars. Now, with the Martyr¡¯s Pce in hand, Qianye finally understood that the purpose of these altars wasn¡¯t so much to alter the Earth Dragon¡¯s will as it was to suppress the Pointer Monarch¡¯s. It was just that Elder Wei and the others had never imagined that the monarch¡¯s will had already evolved into an independent entity with its own thought processes. If it wasn¡¯t for ack of a body, the will would¡¯ve be another Pointer Monarch.

    These Blood Altars were useless against such a consciousness. The only reason it had allowed Elder Wei and the others to ascend the mountain was because of Qianye. Naturally, there was nothing more to discuss if Qianye couldn¡¯tst until the summit; he just had to wait a couple hundred more years. The Pointer Monarch had buried his heart there in the past, with no intention of allowing the Martyr¡¯s Pce to see the light of day.

    Qianye strolled around Port City and found no more than a couple hundred humans, all of them in either captivation or very.

    Back when Su Dingqian was the city lord, the honest people here still possessed a modicum of dignity despite their poverty. After all, they were residents of the city under his rule. But now, only a handful of dispirited people remained out of over twenty thousand.

    At this moment, Qianye felt an inexplicable sense of disgust toward Zhang Buzhou. Considering the man¡¯s cultivation and his self-promation as guardian of the race, he ought to lead and protect the humans.

    Anger sprang out in his heart. What was the use of such a heavenly monarch?

    At this moment, a vulgar voice rang out behind him, ¡°What are you standing here for?¡±

    Behind him was a powerful-looking arachne knight, staring down at Qianye and sizing him up.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned cold. He shot a wisp of blood energy at the arachne and roared, ¡°Scram!!!¡±

    The arachne was sent into a blurry daze and fell limp onto the ground.

    Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire bloodline was just behind the arachne warlord¡¯s in quality. Although the intimidation effect was weaker across races, it wasn¡¯t something an inferior arachne could deal with. Qianye didn¡¯t let him off just like that. He took a step forward and stepped onto one of his limbs, shattering the chitinous shell with crackling sounds.

    The knight screamed but didn¡¯t dare retaliate.

    At this moment, hundreds of arachne and dark race warriors had rushed over after hearing the screams.

    Qianye didn¡¯t leave just yet. Instead, he said coldly to the copsed arachne, ¡°You¡¯d better look carefully the next time you want to pick a fight.¡±

    The arachne knight¡¯s consciousness was fuzzy from the intimidation of the blood energy. And Qianye¡¯s unrestrained killing intent made it clear that a single wrong answer would mean his death. No matter how violent in nature the arachne were, they were mostly wary of death. There were ample examples of superiors executing their subordinates in the cruel world of the dark races.

    Seeing the arachne knight in silence, the other warriors of the Spider Emperor exchanged nces amongst themselves, not knowing what to do.

    Qianye suddenly unleashed his dark golden blood energy and said in a cold voice, ¡°What are you looking at? Itching to die, are you?¡±

    The aura of the dark golden blood energy was deep and ancient, suffused with a tinge of extreme darkness. A single wisp of it was enough to elicit a deep fear from the depths of their soul.

    The stronger ones retreated while the weaker ones fell kneeling onto the ground, unable to move at all.

    Qianye had no interest in attacking these random soldiers. He simply walked past them and went toward the fortress doors.

    No one stopped him along the way. The thousands of dark race soldiers in the fortress simply stood by and watched him leave.

    Atop the fortress, a fierce, heavily-armored man was watching Qianye with a gloomy expression. There were dark green patterns on his face; apparently, he was a high-ranking arachne capable of taking human form.

    The werewolf viscount near him said, ¡°Sire Count, are you going to let him leave just like that? This will reflect poorly on the Spider Emperor¡¯s prestige.¡±

    The arachne count snorted. ¡°This man is indeed suspicious, why don¡¯t you go and catch him! I think he resembles that Zhao Ye wanted by the Wolf King.¡±

    The werewolf viscount¡¯s expression turned awkward. ¡°This, how can it be? The wanted person is a human, but this one is a vampire. Maybe he belongs to the Throne of Blood.¡±

    The Spider Emperor mocked, ¡°Zhao Ye might be from the Throne of Blood, to begin with, there¡¯s no contradiction there.¡±

    The werewolf viscount said hurriedly, ¡°No, Zhao Ye is clearly a human.¡±

    The arachne count said in a drawn-out voice, ¡°Oh, is that so¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is,¡± the werewolf replied.

    With a snort, the spider count said to his followers, ¡°Let¡¯s go, staying here leaves me in a bad mood.¡±

    With that, he led his soldiers down the walls, leaving the werewolf where he was.

    The werewolf stood nkly for a moment. Then, he red ferociously in Qianye¡¯s direction and left.

    At dusk half a dayter, Qianye arrived outside of Southern Blue and made to enter the city. The guards naturally recognized him and came to wee him politely. ¡°Sire Qianye, what brings you here? Where are you headed? Allow me to lead the way.¡±

    ¡°The city lord manor.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The guard summoned a vehicle and drove Qianye toward the city lord¡¯s residence.

    They were halfway along the road when Qianye¡¯s ears twitched ever so slightly, having caught the sudden sound of a moving pinion.

    That was the sound of a machine cannon warming up!

    Soon afterward, a terrifying stream of fire tore through the streets and sted Qianye¡¯s car.

 Chapter 833: Confrontation

    Qianye smashed through the roof of the car and rose into the air as countless bullets tore the vehicle apart. The guard and driver inside couldn¡¯t escape in time and were shredded by the ming stream.

    The fire made a sharp turn after tearing the car andshed at Qianye who was in the air. The auto-cannoneer was clearly at the master-level¡ªtheir marksmanship was both swift and ruthless, determined to lock Qianye down in a perilous position. At this moment, the windows of two nearby buildings shattered as two more autocannons opened fire at the same time, maliciously sealing off Qianye¡¯s routes of escape.

    Qianye curled up into a ball mid-air and remained stationary with his arms covering his face. Three streams of fire reached a wondrous bnce together, but all they did was push Qianye higher and higher.

    These multi-barreled autocannons possessed great firepower, burning through hundreds of bullets in a sh. The guns suddenly clicked to a stop at one point¡ªthe rotating muzzles were bright red and no longer able to fire, even if they had more bullets.

    The three cannoneers were huffing and puffing. It took great effort to move these autocannons. Even with their champion cultivation, they were entirely exhausted after a round of all-out firing.

    The gunmen¡¯s eyes went wide as they nced toward the air.

    Qianye was slowly stretching his body mid-air. His armor was badly tattered, but the exposed skin was suffused with the luster of red, gold, and tiny specks of blood akin to mosquito bites. Moreover, these bleeding spots were disappearing at a visible rate!

    The three cannoneers felt like they were dreaming and couldn¡¯t tell whether their eyes were blurry. They had fired a concentrated barrage from three grade-five autocannons, even emptying all their bullets. Yet they had barely managed to scratch Qianye¡¯s skin?

    After stretching out, a plume of scarlet mes ignited on Qianye¡¯s body and his joints began to crackle. He finally opened his eyes and scanned the cannoneers below.

    Shocked out of their wits, the three gunmen wanted to turn tail and run, but a loud rumble echoed in their ears. They were soon tossed about by a fierce impact, filling their vision with stars and knocking them out.

    Qianye then hauled the three gunmen, along with seven support personnel, to the center of the street block.

    He knew at a nce that these people were Highbeards. After all, machine-modified bodies were a telltale characteristic of the race.

    Without waiting for Qianye to question him, one of the Highbeard warriors said, ¡°Qianye! You had better let us go and stop meddling in our tribe¡¯s business from here on out. Otherwise, Red Lotus won¡¯t let you go.¡±

    Qianye asked with a calm expression, ¡°Where is Red Lotus?¡±

    The gunman was surprised that he didn¡¯t bother asking who Red Lotus was, but he replied fiercely, ¡°You can forget about it!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qianye smiled indifferently and picked up one of the autocannons by the muzzle. The dark red glow upon it showed that the weapon was in a high-temperature state, but Qianye seemed to show no signs of getting burnt.

    This origin autocannon was one and a half meters long and hundreds of kilograms in weight. Those below the champion realm would have to expend great effort just to move the weapon and resist the recoil, let alone fire urately. Although they were only grade-five as an origin firearm, the destructive might they had shown just now was not inferior to that of a grade-six weapon.

    But Qianye had no intention of studying them. He merely swung the gun and smashed down!

    The cannoneer screamed as the machinery and flesh on his left leg were smashed into a pulp. There was no way to regrow it, even with the well-developed medical skills of the Highbeards. The tribe specialized in modifications, and these parts worked like an extension of the warrior¡¯s body because of the foundation. There would be nothing special if they were just machines.

    ¡°Where is Red Lotus?¡± Qianye repeated.

    The cannoneer was in so much pain that he was drenched in sweat. Yet, he clenched his teeth and said, ¡°If you make enemies out of the Highbeards, you will have no ce to live in the Neutralnds! Not just you, but your¡­ Ah!!!¡±

    Qianye swung the cannon again and smashed all of the man¡¯s limbs. ¡°Quite headstrong. My what? Family?¡±

    The man could no longer speak at this point and merely continued to red at Qianye. At this moment, one of the other Highbeards threatened, ¡°Qianye, these three are important people from our tribe. If you kill them, you¡¯ll form deep animosity with the Highbeards and we¡¯ll fight to the death! Let us go and we¡¯ll let today¡¯s matter be.¡±

    ¡°Deep animosity?¡± Qianye smiled. The autocannon swung down again and shattered the gunman¡¯s skull before Qianye turned back to the one who was speaking.

    That Highbeard man wore a grey beard. His origin power was roughly at rank-eight, with numerous machine parts all over his body. Clearly, his life was drawing to an end, so he had chosen topletely modify his body in exchange forbat strength. His face was twitching from anger and heartache, and his re was almost spitting out fire.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to argue. He merely swung the weapon again and sent him on his way.

    He then walked over to the second gunman and asked, ¡°Where is Red Lotus?¡±

    The cannoneer seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then he said with a cold expression, ¡°Just kill me. I won¡¯t talk.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Fine, but I still need to ask what I want to know.¡±

    Qianye repeated the question ¡°Where is Red Lotus?¡± several more times, smashing the man¡¯s arms and legs each time he failed to get a reply, before finally taking his life.

    The other Highbeards cried out in hopes of stopping Qianye, but they were all badly injured during the takedown and couldn¡¯t even move.

    The three cannoneers were champions. To the Highbeard tribe that had never produced a divine champion, these people made up the core fighting force. Each of their deaths represented a great loss for the tribe.

    Qianye arrived beside thest cannoneer. ¡°Where is Red Lotus?¡±

    This gunman finally revealed a terrified expression. He wanted to resist, but the words simply wouldn¡¯te out of his mouth. He knew he would be instantly crippled once he spoke those words and killed after uttering some more. Qianye never batted an eyelid while killing them, nor did he do a sloppy job.

    Seeing the cannoneer wavering, the other Highbeards were livid. They spewed a string of loud curses and threatened him with his family and children.

    An expressionless Qianye turned the autocannon about, and the weapon began spinning under the activation of his origin power.

    At this moment, a high-rankingmander of the city guard rushed out from the other end of the street and roared, ¡°Insolence! Hold it right there or else¡­¡±

    Before the man could even finish his words, the roaring origin cannon unleashed dozens of origin bullets, sting the remaining six Highbeards into corpses.

    Themander pointed a finger at Qianye. ¡°You! You actually dare¡­¡±

    The autocannon in Qianye¡¯s hand hadn¡¯t stopped spinning. With a loud boom, a single cannon round left the chamber and flew toward themander¡¯s head. Fortunately, the shockedmander managed to react quickly by throwing himself to the ground. He felt a burning sensation on his head and blood dripping down his face. This sensation delighted him instead because the presence of pain meant that he was still alive.

    He was greatly shocked since a brush with death wasn¡¯t a great sensation. He simply remained immobile on the ground, pretending to be unconscious, and the soldiers he had brought only looked on with terrified expressions. No one dared to approach Qianye.

    ¡°Where is Red Lotus?¡± Qianye repeated his question.

    The cannoneer finally submitted. ¡°She¡¯s at the city lord manor, living as a guest of Madam He.¡±

    ¡°Bring me to her.¡± Dragging the gunman in one hand and the autocannon in the other, he walked toward the residence inrge strides.

    He moved swiftly and soon arrived outside the gates. There he walked in without paying attention to the guards and made straight for the rear courtyard.

    At this moment, a sturdy, giant of a man shed out from the side. ¡°You dare trespass into the city lord¡¯s manor? Die!¡±

    The burly man roared and stomped down his right foot. His entire body erupted with an orange radiance as a giant fist appeared in the air and smashed at Qianye.

    This burly man was Guan Zhongliu of the Southern Blue city guard, someone Qianye had met once before. Now that he was going all out, his strength was indeed extraordinary.

    But Qianye was no ordinary opponent, either, and this kind of conjured attack was actually quite weak against him.

    Qianye made no attempt at evasion. He charged forward, shattered the giant fist with a punch, and rammed straight into Guan Zhongliu.

    ¡°Bang!¡± The man was sent flying and only came to a stop after smashing through numerous walls. He stared at Qianye with a face full of astonishment, hardly able to believe how he couldn¡¯t even take a single blow.

    Qianye¡¯s ram was extremely forceful. Even someone like Guan Zhongliu who was proficient in brute strength was utterly defeated in a head-on collision.

    A sigh echoed in the halls at this point as Ji Rui made his appearance in the air. He spread his fingers and pressed down at Qianye from above.

    This attacked looked like Ji Rui only wanted to stop Qianye, but numerous screams reverberated through the air when he raised his right hand. The entire city lord¡¯s manor was covered in a faint green hue, and the air became thick and stagnant like mercury. A beam of green light burst toward Qianye from Ji Rui¡¯s right hand.

    Ji Rui had gone all out with this attack.

    No matter how peaceful the city lord normally was, he was still a rank-seventeen expert who was only one step away from the divine champion realm. This made him the strongest opponent Qianye had ever fought head-on.

    Qianye had long since expected the green lighting for him. He discarded the autocannon and began circted his origin power. In the blink of an eye, the sound of ocean waves filled the entire space as a terrifying pressure bore down upon it. Neither the building nor the stones in the wall could withstand this weight. Everything began to crumble and copse. The green hue in the environment slowed down and was then scattered by the pressure. Although green light quickly grew stronger topensate, it could do little to change the stalemate.

    Ji Rui was secretly surprised that his own domain would be tied with Qianye¡¯s. One had to know that the Azure Suffocation was a famous domain throughout the Eastern Sea.

    Qianye¡¯s Profound Combatant Form elerated once more, intensifying the sound of ocean waves. Space itself became unstable as countless beams of void origin power seeped out from the cracks. The energy surged around Qianye to form a flickering giant origin vortex!

    This was the first time Qianye had used the Combatant Form to its maximum potential against an enemy.

    He unleashed a punch once more. This strike was iparably slow, but the stagnant fist contained the force of many great mountain peaks.

    The origin vortex in the air tilted forward and bore down on Ji Rui like a toppled ocean.

 Chapter 834: Welcome to Try

    The green light had surrounded Qianye from all directions, and it looked like Ji Rui had the advantage, but his shock only kept increasing.

    Drawing upon the origin power of the world was a telltale sign of a divine champion. Building a visible domain was the first step, but materializing tangible worldly phenomena was another level entirely.

    Ji Rui was only one step away from the divine champion realm. Be it his attacks or his domain, it would flood the entire area with green light. Should his cultivation take a step forward, he would be able toprehend the logic behind certain objects and conjure them¡ªthat was the power of a divine champion.

    At this moment, there were numerous sharp arrows flickering amidst the green light, a sign of Ji Rui¡¯sprehension of origin power. By the time he had fully formed myriad arrows, he would have crossed into the divine champion realm.

    However, Qianye was merely rank-twelve, yet he could already project his origin power! Gazing at the indistinct Oceanic Vortex in the air, Ji Rui was ovee by a vague feeling of terror.

    There was also a distinction between materialized origin power.

    It was widely epted that lifeless objects were inferior to living things and that living things were one grade below worldly phenomena. Ji Rui¡¯s myriad arrows were superior in number and could be considered the peak of object materialization, but it was still a lifeless object.

    The sanguineous beasts in Nighteye¡¯s domain were living things. As for Zhao Jundu¡¯s Extreme Violet and Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains, they could be considered worldly phenomena. It was just that the Thousand Mountains could only be considered to have merely touched this level. Nighteye¡¯s beasts, however, were highly spiritual and sentient. They would eventually form a beastir in the future and be an extremely powerful type of worldly phenomena.

    Hence, just from their domains, it was apparent that their talents and potential stood above the divine champion realm. That was also why they wereuded as geniuses.

    There was no need for further boration about Qianye¡¯s domain. It was a majestic worldly phenomenon that was two major levels above Ji Rui¡¯s.

    The city lord activated his origin power with greater urgency as killing intent shed through his mind. Some of the arrows turned tangible amidst the numerous illusions and shot toward Qianye!

    At this moment, the great ocean was right on the verge of pouring down. The ocean tides and the green radiance collided and began wearing each other down. The green light covered over a hundred meters and seemed to be ten times as abundant, but Ji Rui could feel during the sh that the tides contained countless tiny particles slicing his green light into pieces.

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression immediately turned ashen after the sh of domains. He needed to sacrifice a fair amount of his green light to wear down a portion of the ocean tides. This ratio almost made Ji Rui cry.

    Although he would still win, the easy victory he had imagined was never going to happen¡ªhe would really need to go all out.

    Qianye was, after all, taking a loss due to his low cultivation, so his vortex gradually became thinner and thinner. However, his punch was still moving forward against the flow of green radiance! There was no turning back!

    Ji Rui didn¡¯t hesitate, either. His body erupted with green light as he struck down with his palm.

    A loud rumble echoed through the air as the fist and palm came into contact. Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex was no longer able to hold out and was immediately dispersed. The green radiance was also scattered like strips of cloth fluttering away into the wind.

    Qianye was flung dozens of meters back. Afternding, he took several steps backward and let out a muffled groan, a stream of blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth.

    Ji Rui remained motionless in the air but did not follow up with his attacks. He stood there with his hands sped behind his back, in a grand disy of style. However, Guan Zhongliu had noticed that Ji Rui¡¯s right hand was trembling slightly and still hadn¡¯te under control.

    The city lord was badly shaken at this point. Just now, a terrifying yet formless power had surged out from Qianye¡¯s fist and shattered Ji Rui¡¯s origin defenses.

    This kind of power, Ji Rui only remembered seeing in vampire marquises and arachne virtuous counts. There was no way a human body made of flesh could exhibit this kind of strength. Qianye could now ughter a champion with rtive ease even without a shred of origin power.

    Having lived his entire life in the neutralnds, Ji Rui knew just how frightening such an innate constitution was. Although he could suppress Qianye by means of origin power, it would still be a bitter fight. Considering his terrifying power, it would require ample preparations to capture or kill him. There was clearly no such arrangement at the moment and the oue would be unimaginable if he were to escape.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t escape as Ji Rui had expected. Instead, he stood there staring coldly at the city lord, his aura rising sharply all the while.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power burst forth after a momentary confrontation, his aura climbing madly as the newly-formed fourth origin vortex unleashed a bright radiance!

    Qianye cupped his fist at Ji Rui. ¡°Thanks for the help.¡±

    Not knowing what to say, Ji Rui replied awkwardly, ¡°It was nothing.¡±

    Qianye was already on the verge of a breakthrough, only waiting for his origin power toplete its condensation. The all-out sh against Ji Rui had tempered his origin power from both the inside out, rapidly clearing away all impurities and helping it condense into a new origin vortex.

    Qianye¡¯s body was extremely strong. This allowed him to swiftlyplete a process that would¡¯ve taken an ordinary person months.

    Ji Rui¡¯s mouth opened wider and wider. In the end, he broke out into a wryugh and lowered his right hand. It was still possible to detain a rank-twelve Qianye, but it was practically impossible now that he was rank-thirteen.

    Ji Ruinded on the ground and took a few steps toward Qianye. Thetter remained motionless and watched on with cold eyes.

    Ji Rui was rmed to see Qianye so calm. He finally retracted his origin power and said with a smile, ¡°General Qianye, what is the reason for suddenly charging into my manor and attacking people? Who in my residence has offended you?¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°I want Red Lotus.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s eyelids twitched. ¡°Red Lotus? That¡¯s a Highbeard Shieldmaiden-candidate. What does she have to do with me?¡±

    Qianye kicked the autocannon on the ground away, saying, ¡°These people ambushed me on the streets under Red Lotus¡¯ orders. ording to them, she¡¯s still hiding in Madam He¡¯s courtyard.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°T-This, how can that be? Men, go and check Madam He¡¯s courtyard and see if there¡¯s this so-called Red Lotus!¡±

    Guan Zhongliu affirmed the order and was just about to leave when Qianye stopped him.

    ¡°Just let me go and see!¡± Qianye said coldly.

    Furious, Guan Zhongliu shook his shoulder free and rammed into Qianye. ¡°Insolence! The city lord¡¯s inner courtyard isn¡¯t a ce you can go into!¡±

    Qianye made no move to evade. He took a step forward and, with a muffled thud, collided fully with Guan Zhongliu!

    The two parties weren¡¯t just contesting in strength, but their origin powers also shed without any fancy moves. Guan Zhongliu felt as though he had rammed into a giant mountain¡ªall of his origin power was jolted back at him, flipping all of his innards over. He took several steps back and copsed after spitting out a mouthful of blood, no longer able to stand up again.

    ¡°General Qianye, what¡¯s the meaning of this!?¡± Ji Rui asked furiously.

    ¡°City Lord Ji, I¡¯m the one who should ask you this question! Last time, you tried to capture my daughter Zhuji in the ck Grove, and then sent imperial troops to kill me and rob my goods. Now, I was ambushed just after entering Southern Blue and you want to protect the culprit. Don¡¯t tell me that anyone who tries to kill me will be immune if they just hide inside your manor?¡±

    Ji Rui snorted coldly. ¡°The empire has nothing to do with me, and I don¡¯t have the faintest idea about that interception. Now, you charge into my manor just because of a single person¡¯s words. Where do I put my prestige as city lord?¡±

    Qianye looked at Ji Rui with a spurious smile. ¡°City Lord Ji, you had no intention of leaving me any face when you attacked just now. Why would you think I need to leave you any face?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s brows rose in anger. ¡°Are you intent on making an enemy out of Southern Blue?¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t moved. ¡°City Lord Ji, you know my character. If you do no hand Red Lotus over today, I can only be your enemy from now on.¡±

    Ji Rui broke intoughter. ¡°Good, good. It seems the heroes are born of the younger generation. I have underestimated you. But, are you so confident about winning against me?¡±

    Qianye sized the city lord up and said with a smile, ¡°City Lord Ji, even if I can¡¯t defeat you, do you think you¡¯ll be able to break through to divine champion in just one year?¡±

    Ji Rui felt a rush of frustration in his heart. He couldn¡¯t help but retort, ¡°And you can?¡±

    ¡°Whether I can or not isn¡¯t important. You need to remember that not being able to defeat you doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t kill you. Besides, your Southern Blue can forget about doing any business before you breakthrough to the divine champion realm.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression was gloomy. ¡°Are you really that confident about killing me?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°You can wait and see if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    Ji Rui was livid. He stomped down heavily and said, ¡°Fine! Come with me, we¡¯ll go to Madam He¡¯s courtyard together and see whether Red Lotus is there. What will you do if she isn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll apologize and ally myself with you.¡±

    ¡°Fine! Come with me!¡±

    Ji Rui headed into the inner courtyard, pping away everyone who came to greet him along the way. No one dared toe up anymore since they knew he was absolutely furious.

    The duo moved swiftly and arrived before Madam He¡¯s doors in the blink of an eye. The two maids at the door walked up and, intentionally or otherwise, blocked the path forward, saying, ¡°Master, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Ji Rui was in no mood to humor these schemingsses. ¡°Scram!¡± With a wave of his hand, the two maids were sent flying into the wall and knocked unconscious.

    Ji Rui stepped up and was just about to kick the door open when he turned back at Qianye. ¡°General Qianye, aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll ambush and kill you once we¡¯re inside?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°You¡¯re wee to try.¡±

 Chapter 835: Whatâ€™s Different About It?

    Ji Rui looked deeply into Qianye¡¯s eyes, and then said while shaking his head, ¡°I really don¡¯t know where you get all that confidence.¡±

    Qianye replied with the same words, ¡°You¡¯ll know if you try.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression shifted, but in the end, he couldn¡¯t make up his mind. This attempt wouldn¡¯t just bring out Qianye¡¯s hidden ace but also produce a powerful enemy. Thetter had just proven that he was strong enough to escape, and if that were to happen, who else in Southern Blue would be his match apart from the city lord?

    At that point, Southern Blue could forget about doing any more business. He could capture Qianye with the help of the Spider Emperor and Wolf King, but the problem was that it was easier to invite the devil in than to drive him away. Once these two powers had reached into Southern Blue, there was no telling whether the city lord would be surnamed Ji.

    In the blink of an eye, Ji Rui collected his thoughts and kicked the courtyard gates flying.

    Thepound wasn¡¯t big, but it was secluded and elegant. Once inside, a gust offortable warm wind rushed at their faces. It turned out that there was a weather adjustment array installed in this courtyard, a testament to just how doted this Madam He was.

    The courtyard was split into front and back sections. There was a small patio in the rear courtyard and behind it was the main building. Four rooms in each of the side buildings served as the servant¡¯s quarters.

    Qianye could sense everything in such a small courtyard with a single sweep of his senses. There was no one else here apart from one woman and two servant girls. Red Lotus was nowhere to be found, either.

    In truth, this result was within Qianye¡¯s expectations. His sh with Ji Rui had caused too much of a ruckus, even copsing a corner of the city lord¡¯s residence. There was really no saving Red Lotus if she didn¡¯t flee.

    He had only suggested those conditions to allow Ji Rui a way out. He was quite confident that this city lord wouldn¡¯t y any more tricks after the sh just now. Naturally, someone as experienced and crafty as Ji Rui would only make his moveter, after ample preparations.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of that. There was no way the city lord would have guessed Qianye¡¯s cultivation speed. One year was enough for Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power to ascend two levels and consequently allow for his Evernight side to reach the marquis rank.

    Hearing the noise in the courtyard, Madam He looked out from the building. She was first startled upon seeing Qianye, and then she clenched her teeth furiously, looking as though she was going toe up and bite him. However, she knew it was useless to fight it out because Ji Rui had lectured her seriously on how powerful Qianye was.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Red Lotus?¡±

    Qianye asked casually without any hope of getting an answer. Who would¡¯ve thought Madam He would break out into augh as though she had just recalled something? ¡°You want to capture Red Lotus? Let me tell you, she¡¯s gone, and you can forget about finding her, ever. After offending a Highbeard, you¡¯ll have to live the remainder of your life in fear, destined to never make progress in the neutralnds! When you¡¯re dead, your woman and daughters will be toys. I¡¯ll send them to the arachne and they¡¯ll eat them alive after having their way, haha!¡±

    Qianye remained unfazed in the face of Madam He¡¯s curses, and only gazed silently at Ji Rui.

    The city lord was livid. He lost control in the end and gave the woman a p, shouting, ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Madam He staggered to the floor. With a shocked expression, she nced at Ji Rui and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Y-You dare hit me? You actually dare to hit me? You¡¯re who you are today because of my father¡¯s mercenary corps. Now you actually hit me?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression was dark as he cursed her for her ¡°idiocy¡± and turned to leave. Once out of the gates, Chief Steward Liu whispered, ¡°Master, what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Watch her, she¡¯s not allowed to take a step out of the courtyard! And these maids are all quite bold to have poisoned their master, drag them out and beat them to death!¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­ yes!¡± Head Steward Liu didn¡¯t dare dissuade the angry city lord.

    Qianye followed Ji Rui back o the study. ¡°City Lord, how will you exin this?¡±

    Ji Rui smiled wryly. ¡°Why must you force me so?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°These are the neutralnds. Discussions won¡¯t get you what you want, you have to fight for it. I learned this from you, actually.¡±

    Ji Rui sighed deeply. ¡°Women ruin things, women always ruin things! You tell me how you want to solve this issue.¡±

    ¡°Three warship ballistae, high-quality goods made in the empire and above grade three.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s face was drenched in sweat. ¡°Impossible!¡±

    Warship ballistae were normally used as main cannons, and grade-three weapons were usually good enough to be installed on destroyers. This meant that Qianye wanted three destroyer main cannons.

    ¡°No less than three.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to back down.

    ¡°T-This... This will empty out half my coffers. I¡¯d rather dere war on you than pay so much. Besides, you wouldn¡¯t have this opportunity if it wasn¡¯t for that woman.¡±

    If it wasn¡¯t for Madam He confessing that Red Lotus was indeed at her ce, the situation wouldn¡¯t have turned out like this. Qianye was prepared to apologize verbally and continue their usual trade. He had noticed that Ji Rui seemed to be unaware of the ambush, which was likely perpetrated secretly by Madam He and Red Lotus.

    Qianye had made a significant demand once the matter ofpensation was brought up. ¡°What is your suggestion then?¡±

    ¡°A grade-four ballista, empire-made, and eighty-percent new. No more than that!¡± Ji Rui said in a pained tone.

    Qianye had nned to use grade-four ballistae for the wing cannons of Martyr¡¯s Pce. These weapons were frigate-grade ballistae, normally installed as their main cannons. Frigates would only have one of these or else their movements would be impeded.

    Such a weapon was extremely difficult to procure in the neutralnds. Even as a city lord, Ji Rui didn¡¯t have many in his hands. It was already quite painful for him to bring out one that was eighty-percent new.

    Qianye didn¡¯t push it, either. ¡°Fine, it¡¯s settled then.¡±

    Next up, the two rediscussed their ballista business, finally concluding that the city lord would secure at least seven grade-four ballistae and two grade-three ones. Qianye would pay in ck crystals as usual, and Ji Rui would deliver hispensation along with the other weaponry, a total of ten ballistae.

    Ten ballistae, along with their apanying ammunition, was another business worth nearly a million gold coins. But Ji Rui¡¯s profits were no longer as impressive after gifting a ballista cannon, and the smile hanging on his fat face seemed rather forced.

    Qianye also understood the man¡¯s situation. A grade-four ballista was worth at least sixty to seventy thousand, a hefty sum regardless of location. Now, a small fortune had flown away just because of a few words from Madam He¡ªanyone in his shoes would be in a bad mood.

    But that wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s problem anymore. He simply said his goodbyes and left after sealing the deal.

    This time, Qianye believed Ji Rui wouldn¡¯t dare to y tricks anymore.

    After Qianye¡¯s departure, a gloomy Ji Rui went back and sat quietly in his study. The time he had been spending in his study was growing longer and longer in recent days.

    Only at dusk did he order his men to light themps and picked out a scroll from his bookshelf to read. On it was detailed all of Qianye¡¯s past data. The more the city lord read, the deeper his frown became.

    Qianye moved into a hotel room in Southern Blue after leaving the city lord¡¯s manor, and that cannoneer followed him with a pained expression. Now that he had betrayed Red Lotus, the only thing he could do was follow Qianye.

    This person was indeed useful. In addition to being highly skilled in marksmanship, he was also a goodborer in daily life. At this moment, he was carrying three autocannons on his back, yet he didn¡¯t utter a word ofint.

    At the hotel, Qianye began inquiring about the situation regarding Red Lotus.

    It turned out that Red Lotus was of the same age and bloodline as Bluemoon, and they were cousins no less. Red Lotus was one year older, and both of them were Shieldmaiden candidates back in the year. Bluemoon gained the unanimous favor of the elders due to her perfectpatibility with stealth equipment. In the end, she won a narrow victory over Red Lotus and became the Shieldmaiden of the Highbeard tribe, granting her the right to wield spatial equipment.

    As people famed for their mechanical modifications, any spatial equipment meant extra energy sources and ammunition for the Highbeards¡ªthis meant greater fighting power. After obtaining one of the few spatial gears in the tribe, Bluemoon¡¯sbat strength increased sharply and caught up to Red Lotus.

    Thetter was unresigned regarding this matter, and her mother, a highly influential character in the tribe, pulled many strings in the dark. After the two tribe elders who supported Bluemoon fell in the Earth Dragon¡¯sir, a subtle change took ce in the elder council¡¯s power bnce.

    This time, Bluemoon had taken Qianye as her master and was preparing to construct a new ancestralnd for the Highbeards. This news shook the entire Highbeard tribe and extinguished whatever dispute there was about her choice of a master. Although the migration would take a long time toplete, Bluemoon would definitely be the new chief once it was carried out. Red Lotus would never get another opportunity.

    As a ruthless character, Red Lotus understood that Qianye was the key. Hence, she snuck into Southern Blue secretly in hopes of assassinating Qianye and seizing whatever secrets he held. She made use of her connections to work out a deal with Madam He, who helped her set up an ambush in the city and wait for Qianye¡¯s arrival.

    Red Lotus had indeed set up a lethal trap, an ambush that would injure even an expert like Ji Rui when caught unprepared. Human bodies were inherently weak and that was the undeniable truth.

    However, she had never imagined that Qianye would be unharmed against three autocannons!

    In the end, all three cannoneers and their entire support team were wiped out. This came as a terrible blow to Red Lotus since there were only four such gunmen in her mother¡¯s branch. She had lost over half of her manpower in this exchange.

    After narrating the entire matter, the cannoneer pointed at one of the autocannons. ¡°Sire, this autocannon is different from the other two. It¡¯s one of our tribe¡¯s most prized treasures.¡±

    Qianye nced at that autocannon but found nothing different about it. Although a grade-five autocannon was rare, it really couldn¡¯t be considered a treasure, so Qianye had paid it little attention.

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡± Qianye inquired.

 Chapter 836: Feigned Innocence

    The cannoneer picked up the autocannon and removed one of its parts with great familiarity, revealing an intricate machineponent underneath. Theponent was covered in a dense array of veined patterns, apparently a special origin array.

    ¡°Activating this array will give the autocannon a sharp burst in firepower, raising it to grade six, or even seven at the maximum. The might of the attack would increase even more with special ammunition. Under the control of a master gunman, this autocannon¡¯s firepower woulde fairly close to grade-eight.¡±

    ¡°Overload Array?¡± Qianye had never heard of this type of array. But judging from the materials involved, he knew that it was extraordinary. It could be said that the essence of this autocannon was in this array.

    Qianye pondered for a moment. ¡°That means this autocannon is one of your tribe¡¯s most valuable treasures?¡±

    A grade seven autocannon was the limit of what the Highbeards could use since only divine champions could wield grade-eight weapons. The weapon was highly suitable for Highbeards since its base-grade was only five. Although the overload duration was fairly short, it was more than enough for a high-speed gatling cannon to empty hundreds of rounds.

    It could be said that the true power of this weapon was far above its apparent grade. The Highbeards had reced physical ammunition that required origin power injection with special bullets. Although that ced a cap on the maximum grade of the weapon, it was highly effective in raising firepower without increasing operational requirements.

    The gunman said, ¡°This autocannon had always been under the charge of Red Lotus¡¯ mother, the shieldmaiden from two terms past. She especially lent out this autocannon in order to make sure the n seeds, and even Red Lotus can¡¯t bear responsibility for the loss of this weapon.¡±

    Qianye understood what the man was implying. ¡°That means she has no choice but to look for me as long as I hold on to this autocannon?¡±

    ¡°She won¡¯t be alone,¡± the cannoneer reminded.

    ¡°It¡¯s the same no matter how many of theme,¡± Qianye said as he weighed the cannon in his hand. Then, with a flip of his palm, the weapon vanishedpletely, transported into Andruil¡¯s Space.

    The cannoneer was shocked. ¡°Sire, you¡­¡±

    ¡°Even your Highbeard tribe has some spatial gear, it¡¯s not surprising for me to have one, too,¡± Qianye replied calmly.

    The gunman was both afraid and delighted. At this point, his fate was already tied to Qianye, so the more powerful thetter was, the safer he would be.

    Qianye handed one of the other autocannons to the man and allowed him to pick out his equipment. Then, he pushed the remaining gear to a corner of the room and asked with a firm expression, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m called Whirlwind, Sire. Thirty-seven years of age, rank eleven in origin power, and a physical modification of forty percent. I have a good chance of breaking through to rank twelve before fifty, and my modification tolerance is fifty-five percent.¡±

    Whirlwind uttered a string of terms Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand. Only after some detailed questioning did he learn that this so-called modification tolerance was a measurement system of the tribe, denoting the percentage of their bodies that could be reced by machines. The human body wasn¡¯t mechanical after all, and it was impossible for one to rece all of their flesh and blood with machines. Normally, those who could go past fifty percent were considered fairly outstanding. Only older Highbeards with one foot in the grave would modify their bodies without restraint in exchange for fighting power.

    Summarizing all these data, this Whirlwind could be considered a rare genius among the Highbeards. It wasn¡¯t just in the Highbeard tribe; someone like him would upy an important position wherever he went.

    Equipped with this autocannon, Whirlwind could easily fight against a rank-fourteen champion.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Good, you¡¯ll follow me from now on. So long as you remain loyal, there will naturally be great benefits for you in the future. You¡¯ve heard of the new ancestralnd, I presume?¡±

    ¡°Yes Sire, I have.¡±

    ¡°Then you should know that your new ancestralnd is within my nation. As long as you contribute sufficiently to our cause, it won¡¯t be difficult for you to gain an inheritable territory in your ancestralnds.¡±

    Whirlwind was pleasantly surprised. He fell to one knee and said, ¡°Rest assured, Sire, I will fight for you till myst breath.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye allowed Whirlwind to return to his own room. After the man¡¯s departure, Qianye sat down and slowly circted the Glory Chapter, gradually refining his origin power. He nned to remain here for a couple of days and wait for Red Lotus to seek him out. With this overload-array autocannon in his hands, he refused to believe Red Lotus would just let him be.

    He had to wait for Ji Rui¡¯s goods anyway, and he also needed time for the Glory Chapter to refine his origin power. Qianye had no intention of rushing, either, since tranquility was essential for cultivation.

    Meanwhile, two old trucks were driving into a small town not far from Southern Blue. The vehicles stopped in the town square and out came nearly a hundred people. How they all managed to fit inside the smallpartments was a mystery.

    There was a young man among them. He was d in worn leather armor, almost like a hunter who hadn¡¯t been doing so well for himself. He was carrying arge case in his hand, and his clear eyes darted about the area with great curiosity.

    The young man asked many questions as he walked along the streets. Due to his handsomeness and way with words, none of the people in town made it difficult for him. Almost everyone would answer whatever he asked, until he finally found the liveliest tavern and made his way inside.

    The taverns were always the best ces to gather news. The young man made his way into a group of drunkards and gleaned a lot of fantastic stories from their conversations.

    After a couple of bottles, the man staggered to a corner table and plopped onto it.

    But the young man had yet to fall asleep as intended when he heard some footsteps thumping toward him. Looking up, he saw a great beauty staring down coldly at him.

    Bang! She knocked on the table. The young man sat up in fright after ncing at her hand,pletely sobered-up. There wasn¡¯t a lot of skin on thedy¡¯s right hand as most of it was made up of shiny machine parts.

    Such a hand was too stark of a contrast on a beauty such as her.

    The young man looked carefully at her hand and then at her face. Letting out a sigh, he ced a ss of wine in front of her, saying, ¡°Perhaps I should change my seat, but I still want to buy you a drink. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll fall asleep tonight if I don¡¯t buy such a beautifuldy a drink.¡±

    The girl was startled, and her cold countenance warmed up somewhat. Without a second word, she emptied the ss in one swig.

    Despite his ragged appearance, just looking at this young man made one feelfortable, and just chatting for a while was enough to tell that he was an extremely knowledgeable character who could keep up with any topic of conversation. Unknowingly, the two began chatting and drinking in good cheer until both were somewhat tipsy.

    She suddenly checked the time and got up to leave. Surprised, the young man asked, ¡°W-Where are you going?¡±

    The girl nced back at him. ¡°No need to ask where, juste with me if you have the guts.¡±

    Her voice wasn¡¯t soft at all, so most of the people in the tavern had heard her. All eyes fell upon the young man, some envious, some jealous, and others of schadenfreude.

    Looking pleasantly surprised, the young man nced about nervously and grabbed his old case. He almost tripped in his rush to leave, eliciting a series ofughter from the drunk patrons.

    His handsome face was red as he lowered his head and followed the girl out in a hurry.

    The girl walked at a steady pace through the small town and soon arrived at a dark two-story building.

    This quiet little house was located at the edges of the small town. There were no buildings on either side of it; only a couple of lonesome trees that added to the eeriness of the ce.

    The girl stood before the building and looked back, saying, ¡°Since you dare have improper thoughts about me, you need to have the guts to follow it up. I¡¯ll let you see something in a bit, and I hope you don¡¯t get too frightened. And, I¡¯m called Red Lotus.¡±

    With that, she began to unbutton her clothes.

    The young man was stunned speechless. Flustered, he turned away to open his case and seemed to be fumbling about for something. He stammered, ¡°I-I also have something I want to show you! Wait a minute, I¡¯ll find it v-very soon, dammit! Where did I put it? It¡¯s definitely here.¡±

    Red Lotus smiled ever so slightly upon seeing this young man¡¯s demeanor. Such a naive young fellow was quite rare in the neutralnds.

    She didn¡¯t stop her movements, though. Very soon, she had unbuttoned her clothes and removed the outeryer, revealing a body that was half-flesh and half-machine.

    That young man was knowledgeable and interesting but seemed to know nothing about the Highbeards. It was apparent at a nce that he had just arrived in the neutralnds. Red Lotus wanted to see how frightened he would be after discovering what she looked like.

    At the same time, she was also a bit curious about what the young man had wanted to show her.

    It had been quite some time since she was this curious.

    The young man finally found what he was looking for and turned back with a radiant smile. The two parties saw each other at the same time, but it was Red Lotus who was shocked.

    The young man was holding a short spear made of radiant silver. Its shining tip was suffused with a halo of flowing luminescence akin to that of a beautiful rainbow, an indication of extreme purity and depth of origin power!

    The flustered expression on his face was gone, reced by a mesmerizing smile. He said in a gentle voice, ¡°I forgot to tell you my name just now, I¡¯m called Song Zining.¡±

    Back at the hotel, Qianye was seated quietly upon his bed, refining his origin power drop by drop. This was an arduous task that couldn¡¯t be rushed. The origin power gained from a day of cultivation with the Profound Combatant Form needed a month to be refined into Venus Dawn. Despite having formed his fourth origin vortex and reaching rank-thirteen, his daylight origin power was still far behind his blood energy, which would reach the level of an ancient marquis at any moment. He could barely achieve an equilibrium at this point.

    There was really no shortcut for the Song n Ancient Scroll. All he could do was to cultivate step by step. Up to this point, the only boost in progress he had received was his battle with Ji Rui. But Qianye¡¯s mentality had grown steady, and he wasn¡¯t willing to use this kind of method to elerate the process.

    Human cultivation was fairly reliant on a steady foundation. The higher the purity of one¡¯s origin power, the greater his future prospects.

    Hence, Qianye remained unhurried, his mind as calm as water. Even the buzzing sound of the nearby insect couldn¡¯t move his thoughts.

    Yet, he suddenly realized something. What kind of insect would be flying around him, unafraid of his aura?

    He opened his eyes and saw a green leaf floating before him. This very leaf was emitting a buzzing sound that had disrupted his peace and quiet.

 Chapter 837: Come Together

    Back in the year, Zhao Yuying had already demonstrated how to deal with such strange leaves. Qianye simply raised his hand and swiped at the target. The shocked leaf evaded at lightning speed, but it couldn¡¯t escape Qianye¡¯s fingers no matter how fast it was. An indefensive power bore down upon the leaf as it was caught in his grasp.

    Qianye was nning to crush the leaf into a ball when a shocked voice emerged from inside his fingers. ¡°No!!!¡±

    With a smile, Qianye released his fingers and allowed the leaf to fly out.

    The leaf floated about in the air before stabilizing itself. Apparently, it hadn¡¯t quite recovered from its state of panic. Song Zining¡¯s image appeared on the leaf¡ªit was but the size of a finger, but it stood on the leaf as though it were riding on a lone boat. This kind of style was indeed quite rare.

    The seventh young master sized Qianye up from head to toe and praised, ¡°You¡¯ve grown stronger again, what a rare genius. At this rate, I really won¡¯t be able to beat you.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You? Beating me? Thest time that happened was years ago.¡±

    Song Zining was furious after being exposed. ¡°I¡¯m the seventh young master of the Song, so I won¡¯t bicker with a barbarian like you! Fighting and killing is meaningless. Oh right, how have you been recently? You seem to have made a bunch of enemies again.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Weren¡¯t you fighting on the floating continent? How did you end up here?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to leave the army and pursuemerce. I want to manage my Ningyuan Heavy Industries well, so that I can conquer the world with my virtue! I heard the neutralnds is a hidden treasure, so I came here to scout thend.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He made to flick the leaf with his finger, threatening, ¡°Speak like a man!¡±

    Shocked out of his wits, Song Zining wanted to move his leaf away but was stopped by an invisible force. ncing at the flickering scarlet glow all around him, he understood that there was no way to evade this flick. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve learned bad things.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°This is the neutralnds, can¡¯t feign innocence here.¡±

    ¡°Fine, in short, even the military department has found out that you¡¯re here. Knowing their character, they definitely won¡¯t let this matter be. I was worried you wouldn¡¯t be able to handle things alone, so I dropped by to check up on you. Oh yes, Zhao Jundu also knows about this and has dispatched several of his trusted generals.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Who did he send?¡±

    Song Zining listed a couple of familiar names, all of whom were capable and familiar generals of the Zhao n. This made Qianye worried. ¡°Now that he has sent these men over here, what about their defensive line? The dark races aren¡¯t that easy to deal with, why didn¡¯t you stop him?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Your fourth brother has a brain made of stone, when has he ever allowed others to change what he has decided? If it wasn¡¯t for his every move drawing too much attention, he might¡¯vee over personally.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qianye suddenly didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°Okay, enough with the nonsense and stop cultivating your damned arts. I feel frustrated just by looking at you. When will I ever win against you at this rate? I went through a lot of trouble toe here, so you have to treat me to a drink!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You dare provoke me with that measly alcohol tolerance of yours? I¡¯ll make sure you relive the nightmare of Yellow Springs tonight.¡±

    Song Zining raised a middle finger at Qianye, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll arrive at Southern Blue this evening, just you wait!¡±

    There was a fair amount of time until evening, which meant that Song Zining was still hundreds of kilometers away. The floating leaf soon fell quietly onto Qianye¡¯s palm and turned into an ordinary leaf. Qianye touched its lustrous green surface in great delight. After some time apart, it would seem that Song Zining¡¯s domain had once again taken a leap forward.

    Qianye¡¯s cultivation rate was beyond rare in this world, yet Song Zining had always kept up with his every step, never falling far behind.

    Soon, it was almost night. Qianye retracted his Glory Chapter and left the inn, duly turning toward the tavern to his left. Since Song Zining had managed to find him in Southern Blue, it was only natural that he would easily find this tavern.

    After sitting down, Qianye ordered tenrge bottles of strong alcohol and sat down waiting for Song Zining¡¯s arrival.

    ¡°Are you going to drink alone? Can I sit here?¡±

    Qianye looked up to find a tall female hunter looking down at him. She looked rather handsome, but the two sword scars on her face somewhat detracted from her beauty.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯m waiting for a friend.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, too, let¡¯s drink together when hees. It¡¯s on me tonight!¡± The hunter wasn¡¯t about to hold back and simply sat down.

    Qianye merely shrugged but didn¡¯t refuse her. He was actually in a fairly good mood today and, on her, he could see some rare semnce of his old acquaintance, Yu Yingnan.

    Who would¡¯ve thought so many years would pass by in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye sighed inwardly as he thought about how he had mostly forgotten the feeling of passing time. Vampires were known to be long-lived, their longevity extending far beyond that of human beings. Toward the end of their life, the stronger superior vampires would resort to deep slumber and blood ponds to increase their lifespan. There were examples of some who had lived for thousands of years.

    Currently, his body was already that of an ancient vampire, and the many years that had passed left almost no traces on him. To a human, however, this period was enough to change many things.

    Once the drinking had begun, the ale went down quickly. Almost mysteriously, the drinks in front of them were soon half-gone. Qianye couldn¡¯t remember what he had said to the hunter nor what she had said to him. In this inebriated state, countless past matters flooded into his heart and tugged at his emotions.

    At some point, a man appeared in the seat in front of him. Who else could this carefree figure be but the seventh young noble?

    Song Zining sat down and filled his cup to the brim. ¡°Long time no see. You¡¯re quite capable, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯re actually drinking with someone, aren¡¯t you afraid Nighteye will break your legs when you go back?¡±

    ¡°Nighteye?¡± Qianyeughed wryly and emptied arge ss.

    Song Zining was smart enough to instantly realize that something was wrong. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Hey! Who¡¯s this Nighteye?¡± The female hunter was fairly tipsy at this point, and she wasn¡¯t very happy to hear some other woman¡¯s name.

    Qianye filtered out the hunter¡¯s voice and sighed. ¡°She¡¯s gone.¡±

    The female hunter felt much better. ¡°Come, drink!¡±

    This was indeed a good moment to drink, so the two men picked up their sses and emptied them.

    Recalling their own worries amidst the climbing intoxication, they fell into silence and only emptied one ss after another.

    The bottles on the table were soon emptied. A new round of drinks arrived, and that, too, was consumed.

    Song Zining sighed deeply, his breath tainted with a strong smell of alcohol. He suddenly grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Nanhua is dead.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°I killed her myself.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°If only¡­ let it be, there are no more ifs now.¡± Song Zining shook his head and turned the topic to Qianye. ¡°How about you? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Qianye wanted to speak but then stopped midway.

    At this point, the female hunter finally realized that these two good looking fellows had both suffered in their rtionships, and that their problems were fairly serious. Feeling quite cheerful, she reached out to grab both of them by the shoulder and said heroically, ¡°It¡¯s just a woman, isn¡¯t it? They¡¯re everywhere! Stop thinking too much about it. This mommy will apany you tonight. You two cane together, haha!¡±

    This change was so sudden that it shocked Qianye and Song Zining out of their tipsiness. The two nced at the hunter and then at each other, realizing the gravity of the problem before them.

    The female hunter was feeling quite content at this moment. The tavern was filled with whistles and cheers from the other patrons. Some even jumped onto the table, hoping to observe the live battle.

    The female hunterughed loudly and heroically. She made to p the two men on the back, saying, ¡°Stop mumbling nonsense, go back with this mommy tonight.¡±

    But her hands struck the table instead. She felt a sharp pain from the impact, yet she couldn¡¯t find any traces of Qianye and Song Zining.

    Her eyes turned round from astonishment. She nced left and right, but there was only an empty table full of empty bottles in front of her.

    This short moment made the hunter suspect whether or not the entire night she had spent here was just a dream. She turned back suddenly and saw all the other customers gazing at the empty table with their mouths wide open. It was almost as though they had seen a ghost.

    ¡°You guys, you saw the people here just now, right?¡± the hunter questioned.

    Some people nodded, some remained in a daze, while others rubbed their eyes and shook their heads. How had these two living people vanished under everyone¡¯s eyes?

    At this point, Song Zining and Qianye had slipped out of the back door of the tavern and sped off into the darkness of the night.

    Momentster, the two were atop the city walls, basking in the wind and gazing at the distant stars.

    ¡°I would¡¯ve never thought that your domain could be used like this,¡± Qianye said.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°These are just small tricks used to fool ordinary people. It¡¯s useless against powerful experts. Enough about that, want to drink?¡±

    ¡°You have more?¡± Qianye found it strange.

    ¡°Of course I do, who do you think I am!?¡± With that, Song Zining fished out two bottles of wine from his chest pocket and swung them in front of Qianye.

    Delighted, thetter snatched one of the bottles and downed half of it. ¡°Where did the alcohole from?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s the stuff we didn¡¯t finish just now. I snatched two before we left.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ I think we haven¡¯t paid?¡±

    Song Ziningughed loudly and pped Qianye on the shoulder. ¡°Just think of it as your apaniment fees!¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡±

    After a round ofughter, Song Zining asked with a serious expression, ¡°So what exactly happened with Nighteye?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you proficient in divination? Since you can even find me, how can you not know Nighteye¡¯s matter?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°I had to pay a steep price just to find you, and that¡¯s because you¡¯re not resisting me. Putting that aside for now, there should be some great changes on Nighteye¡¯s side, I was only able to scry a small bit before I suffered a bacsh and nearly lost my life. How would I dare divine her?¡±

    Qianye immediately understood.

    After a moment of hesitation, Qianye finally said, ¡°Don¡¯t try to divine her, she¡¯s¡­ apletely different person now, no longer someone we can influence.¡±

    Next up, Qianye slowly narrated everything that had taken ce in the neutralnds. Naturally, he also made mention of Nighteye¡¯s awakening.

    Song Zining listened quietly without interrupting him, even when Qianye revealed that she was once an entity atop the sacred mountain.

    But when he heard of Qianye¡¯s n to put her on the sacred mountain, Song Zining jumped up and shouted, ¡°You¡¯re insane!¡±

 Chapter 838: Dream of Yesteryear

    Qianye grabbed Song Zining back to his seat, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be so agitated.¡±

    Thetter struggled with all his might, but he was still a human no matter how exquisite his domain was. There was simply no way for him to resist the mountainous strength bearing down on his shoulder and stand up.

    Song Zining gave up in the end, but his gaze wasn¡¯t rxed at all. ¡°How can I not be agitated? Do you know what you¡¯re doing? That¡¯s an undertaking no human has ever aplished before! If you manage to nt your feet on the sacred mountain of Evernight, you¡¯ll have surpassed the Grand Ancestor and Martial Ancestor. Do you think that¡¯s even possible?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°I¡¯m just saying, don¡¯t take it too seriously.¡±

    But Song Zining didn¡¯tugh. ¡°You¡¯re not kidding, you¡¯re serious. We¡¯ve known each other for so many years, you can¡¯t fool me.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s smile vanished as he gazed at the stars and sighed deeply. At this moment, a driftingndmass blocked out the star-studded sky and cast a shadow on Qianye¡¯s face. ¡°Just think of it as a dream. One has to persevere, who knows if it¡¯lle true one day?¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a dream, it¡¯s madness. No matter how close you are to aplishing it, taking thatst step will seal your fate!¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice rose higher.

    ¡°Thatst step is still far away, let¡¯s discuss the matter at hand. How long do you n to stay here? Are you not going back anymore?¡±

    ¡°Going back is a must, but there¡¯s no rush at the moment. I¡¯ve already submitted my resignation to Marshal Boqian and won¡¯t be holding office in the army any longer. I came here to build a channel between the neutralnds and the empire, using the Ningyuan group as a foundation. I¡¯m hoping the two sides can be of mutual assistance. Finally, I want to im our own territory in the neutralnds or perhaps even in one of its border territories.¡±

    At this point, he smiled radiantly and pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Do you remember our discussion about building our own nation?¡±

    ¡°Of course! But, hasn¡¯t anyone in the empire thought about doing this?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, they always have. But in the end, they realized that the neutralnds is a barren ce without enough gains to make up for their investments. The ce is simply too far from the empire. A forced expedition would strain the empire¡¯s coffers and its people, giving the dark races an opportunity to exploit. In truth, the dark races had actually wanted to make the neutralnds their territory when it was first founded, and they nearly seeded.¡±

    ¡°Why did they fail?¡±

    ¡°Because the empire was dragging them down at every turn. The empire assaulted them relentlessly during the several decades that the dark races were waging a remote war, adding ten provinces to its map. Even then, thetter had almost seeded in their endeavor, if only that person on the Throne of Blood hadn¡¯t joined the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye had no knowledge of this piece of history.

    The person on the Throne of Blood was once a genius of the vampire race, albeit of humble origins. It went without saying that his life among the vampires¡ªwho liked to decide superiority by bloodline¡ªwasn¡¯t really satisfactory. Despite hisbat strength far exceeding his peers, he was never able to obtain just recognition and treatment.

    One day, just after he had be a marquis, a certain duke robbed him of his lover and set into motion a great scandal. He actually stole the vampire race¡¯s supreme treasure, the Grand Magnum Shattered Moment, and shot this duke dead.

    In the end, he escaped to the neutralnds and started a massacre, dealing great damage to the dark race armies there. The vampire race there was almost entirely ughtered. All the blood and corpses in his wake was how he came to be known as the Throne of Blood.

    The dark races fell into chaos following this battle. The loss of a grand magnum dealt a severe blow to the vampires in the council. If it wasn¡¯t for the Queen of the Night bringing the situation under control, there was no telling what would happen.

    The empire, on the other hand, profited deeply from the disarray. They grew sharply in power, sessfully gaining a foothold on the Western Continent and building up an advantage. In the future, it wouldn¡¯t be too difficult for them to take the entire continent into their fold and subsequently increase their national power.

    From there on out, Evernight, the empire, the neutralnds, and the many small border nations fell into a delicate equilibrium. The empire would assault the dark races if they were to attack the neutralnds. And having taken great advantage of such a mistake, they themselves wouldn¡¯tmit the same.

    The neutralnds eventually became an outlying territory, but they produced enough experts throughout the generations to protect themselves.

    ¡°So, it¡¯s impossible to take the neutralnds with external power. The only way is to settle down and expand step by step, gradually unifying all the territories.¡±

    ¡°You n to take root here?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. He could only sigh because he knew he couldn¡¯t convince the seventh young master otherwise.

    Song Zining gave him a pat on the back, saying, ¡°Where¡¯s Nighteye? Can you still see her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still in the neutralnds.¡± Qianye hesitated for a while but exined the situation in the end. This matter had been weighing on his mind for a long while, but he had no one to confide in. It just so happened that Song Zining was here right now to give him counsel.

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°This won¡¯t do, let me go and talk to her.¡±

    Qianye was shocked. ¡°Are you looking to die?¡±

    ¡°Of course not! I might not be able to defeat her, but don¡¯t tell me you think I can¡¯t escape? I know her strength very well.¡±

    ¡°No, you do not.¡± Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°Not to mention you, even I am not so confident about an escape at this point. Even the two of usbined might not be her match, either. I don¡¯t understand her current temperament at all. Are you willing to go and meet an unfamiliar high vampire?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was serious, apparently not expecting such a development. In the end, he sighed. ¡°Let it be, there are so many women in this world, why would you want to hang yourself on a dead tree? Just follow me in the future and there¡¯ll be nock of women!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I have no interest right now. Oh yeah, I have something to show you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°A new nation.¡±

    Momentster, two jeeps left Southern Blue in session and drove toward the border of the continent.

    Qianye drove the first personally and had Whirlwind follow in the other. Thetter¡¯s vehicle was loaded with goods, equipment, and autocannons.

    Song Zining had made himself quitefortable in the passenger¡¯s seat, with his back reclined and his feet on the dashboard. ¡°Even after riding so many airships, a jeep is still the best. It¡¯s just so full of life.¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly and stomped down on the elerator. The vehicle roared loudly as it charged forward like an angry lion.

    The reckless driving didn¡¯tst too long as several trucks appeared on the road ahead. These cars were small cargo trucks modified into armed vehicles, each manned by several mercenaries. They were either sitting or standing on the cars, drinking andughing loudly all the while.

    The trucks were ying deafening sts of music as they moved forward slowly in a horizontal row that blocked the road.

    The mercenaries seemed to have no intention of making way for the rapidly approaching jeep. They pointed at the iing vehicles as they drank,ughed, and cursed. Some actually removed their trousers and made obscene movements.

    ¡°You¡¯d best cover your ears,¡± Qianye said. Song Zining hadn¡¯te to when Qianye suddenly pulled open a valve.

    High-temperature steam gushed out from the pressurized pipe, spraying out of the nozzle with a resounding scream. This was a special steam whistle normally used on ships andrge cargo trucks. Someone had actually installed it on this small offroad vehicle. The sound from this whistle was deafening even from the outside. Those in the car would feel even more ufortable.

    Even with his profound cultivation, the seventh young master was shocked out of his wits.

    The abrupt shriek of the whistle startled the mercenaries up front. The one who had removed his trousers lost his grip and pissed all over his pants.

    The mercenaries were furious; how could they let this go? They immediately slowed their pace down and firmly blocked the road. These fellows had already picked up their weapons and taken aim at Qianye¡¯s jeep. This wasn¡¯t a threat; they were already filled with killing intent and were ready to shoot.

    These were the neutralnds, and where, more often than not, murder was the answer to conflict.

    Song Zining let out a long sigh. He pulled back his legs and spread his palms, prepared to unleash his domain and interfere with the other party¡¯s line of sight. Before he could do that, however, the jeep roared and shot forward, almost as though it had been kicked hard from behind. They were heading for a head-on collision!

    ¡°No! You¡¯re crazy!¡± The seventh young master cried in astonishment. He barely had enough time to grab the armrest when the jeep crashed into the rear end of the truck in front!

    The two armored cars were sent flying sideways, crashing into those on the side. Qianye wasn¡¯t about to stop there. He stood up, kicked away the deformed door, and stomped on the nearby armored car!

    With a whoosh, the armored car and the dozens of mercenaries on it were flung away, rolling several times on the ground beforeing to a stop. Those in the driver¡¯spartment were also badly bruised and bleeding.

    Fortunately, they weren¡¯t too weak. Most of them only sustained flesh injuries but didn¡¯t lose their lives.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered to the side of the other armored car and kicked it away. Only then did he return to his still-moving jeep and jumped onto it.

    Whirlwind stretched out from the jeep behind him and aimed the dark muzzle of his autocannon at the mercenaries. A dazed mercenary began cursing ferociously without figuring out the situation, but one of hisrades quickly covered his mouth.

    Qianye stretched out his left hand and fired four rounds from the Bloody Datura, sting the engines of the four armored vehicles. Only then did he swagger off with a snort.

    Whirlwind revealed a sinister smile as his autocannon spat out a tongue of mes, tearing the armored vehicles into shreds. Fortunately, the soldiers in the car had been flung away, and this actually saved their lives.

    The mercenaries remained frozen in shock until the jeeps had vanished into the distance. It was only muchter that they dared to start looking for their possessions under the debris.

 Chapter 839: Man With Family

    Within the speeding jeep, Song Zining nced meaningfully at Qianye. ¡°You seem to be more ruthless now!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in the neutralnds, I¡¯ll be dead if I wasn¡¯t ruthless.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s how you should¡¯ve been since the very beginning. It seems the neutralnds is the most suitable ce for you.¡±

    ¡°No, I would never havee here if I had the choice.¡±

    The interior of the car became quiet all of a sudden. A brief moment passed with neither saying anything. Eventually, Song Zining remembered something. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve almost forgotten about something important. Come with me, I¡¯ll introduce you to someone.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when you see her, she¡¯s quite the beauty.¡±

    Seeing Song Zining¡¯s mysterious demeanor, Qianye onlyughed and drove toward the depths of the wilderness as instructed.

    After an hour of traveling, a small town appeared ahead of them. Qianye stopped the vehicle on the outskirts and had Whirlwind keep watch, while he himself followed Song Zining into town.

    The seventh young master entered a dpidated courtyard with Qianye in tow. Once inside, Qianye could hear muffled sounds inside, likelying from someone who had been bound and gagged.

    Song Zining smiled mysteriously as he led Qianye into the house. Pointing at the bed, he said with a face full of smiles. ¡°See? Isn¡¯t she a beauty?¡±

    There was indeed a woman on the bed. To be precise, she was tied up there, her eyes blindfolded, and her limbs spread out and bound to each corner of the bed.

    One could easily see that her figure was quite alluring. She was tall, slender, and possessed long legs. There was a ball of cloth stuffed inside her mouth, preventing her from uttering a single word. All she could do was let out muffled cries. Her struggling became even fiercer as she sensed people entering the room.

    The scene of her writhing looked even more enticing, filling the spectator with an unbearable urge tomit certain crimes.

    Qianye knocked lightly on her calf, eliciting a metallic echo.

    ¡°A Highbeard?¡±

    ¡°Of course, and someone fairly important, too.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Red Lotus, I heard you were looking for her?¡±

    ¡°So this is Red Lotus? She¡¯s not weak, how did you manage to keep her bound so easily?¡±

    Song Zining had only used an ordinary rope, and the method was nothing special, either. Such bondage might work on ordinary people, but it was far from enough to restrain a Highbeard, especially someone like Red Lotus. Yet Song Zining had not only bound her but also left her in ce for quite a long time.

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°I didn¡¯t restrain her, she¡¯s doing it to herself. Highbeards use machineponents to modify their bodies which, for the knowledgeable, is the best tool to bind them.¡±

    Next up, Song Zining exined everything in detail. Only then did Qianye realize that the seventh young noble had readjusted the kic machinery in her joints, reversing the direction of their output. That way, Red Lotus¡¯ machines would move backward when her body was given themand to move forward.

    This made it so that Red Lotus would have to ovee her own machineponents whenever she tried to move. These equipment were there to empower the Highbeards, to begin with. They were no different from ordinary people without the machines, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to guess their actual muscle strength.

    Red Lotus was no exception regarding this. Her struggling was no different from that of an ordinary person, and there was no telling how long she would be tied up here.

    ¡°How did you capture her?¡±

    ¡°When have I failed to capture someone I wanted to?¡±

    Qianye felt a deep headache. After a long absence, this seventh young noble had turned even more shameless.

    Qianye coughed once. ¡°I say, Seventh Young Noble, what were you nning to do with this prisoner?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m handing her to you, don¡¯t you think she looks nice? Besides, her position in the Highbeards is quite high. Conquering her means taking over one-third of the Highbeard tribe. We¡¯re going to build a nation, so we¡¯ll need people.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Qianye stopped Song Zining from continuing his nonsense. ¡°Most of the Highbeards already stand with me. She might have some other uses, but taking her in is a discussion for another time.¡±

    Hearing the two discussing her, Red Lotus¡¯ struggling grew stronger once more. Unfortunately, all that served to do was arouse men¡¯s primal instincts.

    Song Zining arrived beside the bed to remove her blindfold and gag piece. She wanted to scream after regaining some freedom, but her face turned pale upon seeing Song Zining, not daring to move in the slightest.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good girl, be obedient and there¡¯ll be less suffering.¡± Song Zining offered words of praise. With a wave of his hand, several leaves shot out to cut the ropes binding her. ¡°Get up and follow us.¡±

    Red Lotus clenched her teeth as she slowly mbered up. Song Zining hadn¡¯t reverted the changes to her equipment. As such, she was even a bit weaker than an ordinary human girl.

    Momentster, the three boarded the jeep and drove away from the small town, heading in the direction of the continent¡¯s edge. Song Zining was still in the passenger¡¯s seat and Red Lotus was in the back row. The heads of her enemies were swaying right in front of her, but it was uncertain whether she could pierce their scalps even if she did attack.

    Before Red Lotus could decide whether she should take action, Song Zining suddenly turned back and said, ¡°Red Lotus, this is my brother, Qianye. From now on, you¡¯re his woman! What do you think, not bad, right?¡±

    Red Lotus clenched her teeth. Qianye was someone she had long since wanted to kill. She hated him even more now that she had lost most of her men and her maternal lineage¡¯s treasure, the autocannon with overload function. That was why she didn¡¯t dare return to the tribe after escaping the city lord¡¯s mansion. She could only roam the surroundings and see if there was an opportunity to steal the weapon back.

    In the end, she was captured by Song Zining before she could take action.

    Red Lotus¡¯ eyes were full of anger. At this moment, Song Zining¡¯s gaze paused intentionally on her throat as he said meaningfully, ¡°You¡¯d better not do anything dumb in front of me, or else your fate will be extremely miserable.¡±

    Red Lotus shivered before his gaze, almost as though she were drenched in cold water. She had a final hidden ace¡ªthere was a tiny origin gun inside her mouth, and the bullet was hidden in her throat region. That ce was difficult to search, and the origin bullet could shield her against a sh to the throat.

    But Song Zining¡¯s stare bewildered her. ¡°Has he seen through it?¡±

    The frostiness on the seventh young noble¡¯s face dispersed as he said with a smile, ¡°My brother is so outstanding, you¡¯ve really profited from this arrangement.¡±

    Red Lotus shot a nce at Qianye. All she could see from behind was the side of his countenance, but that was more than enough. In terms of appearance, high vampires had always stood at the peak of the Evernight world, suppressing all the other races, except perhaps for a few demonkin who were on par with them. And Qianye was a vampire of ancient bloodline. He might not possess the exquisite beauty of contemporary high vampires, but there was a distant temperament that was unique to him.

    To the people of these troublednds, it could be said that Qianye¡¯s attractiveness was somewhat greater.

    And Red Lotus had already learned of Qianye¡¯sbat strength. He had an unreasonable level of power, wiping out her ambush that could¡¯ve gravely injured a rank-seventeen expert while sustaining negligible damage himself.

    People in the neutralnds were used to following the strong, even more so for the Highbeards who made a living as mercenaries.

    Red Lotus felt a particr emotion in her heart. This brief feeling was like theing of spring after winter, a hint of green under the melting snow.

    Hearing Song Zining¡¯s words, Qianye shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t mess around, I have a family.¡±

    Song Zining sprayed out the water he was drinking, and this loss ofposure filled him with exasperation. ¡°Y-You¡­ family my ass! Does she even give a damn about you? Someone like you wants to cling onto someone so influential? Brother, wake up, the sun hasn¡¯t set just yet¡­ or rather, it¡¯s almost sunrise now.¡±

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°One day, I¡¯ll be able to.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°You better sober up. If she¡¯s as you said, there¡¯s simply no way you can keep up with her steps. Even if you can be strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with her one day, how many years will that take? Decades or even centuries, everyone will have changed during that time.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see when the timees.¡±

    Song Zining was helpless against the obstinate Qianye. ¡°Fine! When I see Nighteye, I¡¯m going to tell her about Lil¡¯ Seven and Nine. Oh, and also Xiaoniao.¡±

    Greatly rmed, Qianye¡¯s hands trembled a bit and almost flipped the jeep over. Song Zining and Red Lotus were swayed unsteadily inside the car and suffered painful bumps. Whirlwind was also surprised, thinking that there was an enemy up front. He leaned out the window with his autocannon in hand and scanned the area, but there was nothing in sight except the vast expanse of darkness.

    ¡°Sire, where¡¯s the enemy?¡± Whirlwind shouted at the top of his lungs.

    Qianye¡¯s face froze up. He pretended not to hear the man and invested his full concentration on the road ahead. Song Zining¡¯s shoulders were trembling as he held back hisughter¡ªhe was apparently undergoing quite a bit of hardship there, but he knew well thatughing out loud would be terrible at this point.

    Red Lotus, on the other hand, was filled with different emotions. She turned back and red ferociously at Whirlwind. In her heart, this traitor was the most hateful person, even more so than Qianye.

    Whirlwind¡¯s heart shivered in the face of Red Lotus¡¯ death re. He had known the girl for quite some time and had a subconscious fear of her. But he quickly recalled that thetter was already a defeated prisoner, while he himself had already submitted to Qianye¡ªthis was the perfect moment to perform. Feeling fairly emboldened at the thought of this, he red fiercely back at her.

    Red Lotus wasn¡¯t expecting such a reaction, and she almost cked out from the anger. Yet, she had no way of punishing Whirlwind. She couldn¡¯t even curse verbally with Song Zining sitting nearby.

    To a Highbeard, losing control of their mechanical parts was an indescribably cruel form of torture. Red Lotus was a person of firm character, but after an entire day of torment brought about by the kic equipment, she had almost entirely lost the will to resist.

    At first, Red Lotus had already begun to ept her fate of being forcefully given to Qianye, but the fellow had actually refused her. And from Song Zining¡¯s words, it seemed like he was infatuated with a certain woman. At this moment, Red Lotus¡¯ heart was filled with a feeling of extreme difort.

 Chapter 840: A Small Mouthful Wont Kill

    Having fought against Bluemoon for so many years, Red Lotus wasn¡¯t someone without schemes. She immediately thought of something. ¡°It¡¯s easy if you want my person, I can¡¯t resist anyway, but my true value is far beyond my body. There¡¯s no need for me to persist since even Bluemoon has submitted, but if you want me to work sincerely with you two, shouldn¡¯t you be expressing some good faith?¡±

    Qianye paid her no attention, almost as though he hadn¡¯t heard her at all. Song Zining, however, seemed rather interested. ¡°What do you want? You want to be his only woman? Then you¡¯ll be utterly disappointed, there¡¯s no need to discuss this topic further.¡±

    Red Lotus turned red and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Am I really worth that little!?¡±

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°You said so yourself, your value isn¡¯t about your body.¡±

    Red Lotus replied furiously, ¡°Fine, my condition is that my position must be higher than Bluemoon¡¯s!¡±

    Song Zining let out an exmation of surprise. He patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder and asked thoughtfully, ¡°Who¡¯s Bluemoon? How good looking is she?¡±

    Qianye almost drove the car into a ditch. ¡°Zining, seventh young noble! Can you think about something else other than women!?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I can¡¯t have just one woman in my head like you, can I? Besides, she¡¯s already unrted to you, you know. Enough, now tell me how good looking Bluemoon is, is she prettier than Red Lotus?¡±

    Qianye replied helplessly, ¡°Bluemoon is a Highbeard.¡±

    His implication was that Highbeards were never a tribe known for beauty since they had traces of modification all over their bodies.

    However, Song Zining remained persistent. ¡°Highbeards are also human!¡±

    Qianye could only give a vague reply since he couldn¡¯t get away from this topic. ¡°About the same, I guess.¡±

    However, Red Lotus wasn¡¯t happy about this. ¡°What¡¯s this about us looking the same!? I¡¯m clearly more beautiful than her. How can that thin, t brat be considered good-looking?¡±

    Song Zining shot Red Lotus an approving nce.

    Half a day¡¯s journey amidst all these twists and turns made Qianye feel as though he had just fought a great battle. Only after they had reached their destination on the edge of the continent did he manage to sigh in relief.

    He jumped off the vehicle and said, ¡°We¡¯re here, get off the car.¡±

    Song Zining nced about, but there was nothing apart from the vast snowy mountains and origin tempests. He secretly used his divination arts, but despite his mind being thrown into turmoil, he couldn¡¯t actually glean any useful information. One possibility was that he had run into an entity that he couldn¡¯t afford to provoke, or it could also be that the sensation was brought about by the chaotic void origin power here.

    ¡°What were you nning to show me?¡± Song Zining asked.

    He had just spoken when he noticed Red Lotus looking up at the sky, shocked witless. Soon, darkness washed over thend as a giant shadow was cast upon the border area.

    Song Zining looked up to find a gigantic dragonship that upied his entire field of vision!

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce emerged slowly from amidst the void storms, gliding silently through the skies until it was hovering fifty meters from the ground. The impact of the massive airship at such a distance suffocated everyone!

    ¡°T-This¡­¡± Even Song Zining was no longer as calm and lighthearted as before. For a brief moment, he couldn¡¯t quite tell what this monstrosity was.

    Judging from its external appearance, it looked half-colossus and half-warship. But how could there be such a giant airship? Even thergest imperial motherships could fit into the hold of this vessel. Perhaps only Apocalypse, Lilith¡¯s legendary airship that had bathed for thousands of years in the River of Blood, or the Demonkin Emperor¡¯s well-hidden Dark Conviction were its match.

    ¡°This is Martyr¡¯s Pce, you can think of it as my warship, but only a fraction of its construction has beenpleted, no, not even a small fraction.¡±

    A fraction of such a massive airship was of unimaginable value even if it were to remain on the ground.

    Song Zining only lost hisposure, but Red Lotus waspletely bbergasted and hadn¡¯t recovered her wits just yet. To a Highbeard, this massive war machine possessed an inexplicable sense of beauty that they simply couldn¡¯t resist.

    Qianye pped Song Zining on the back. ¡°Let¡¯s go up and see.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Song Zining soared impatiently into the air and charged straight into the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Qianye nced back at Red Lotus and, for theck of a better option, held her by the waist as he flew toward the airship.

    Whirlwind also activated his flying equipment and slowly followed the others into the pce.

    Inside the Martyr¡¯s Pce, there were dozens of Highbeards hard at work, installing numerous equipment at their designated locations. Each kic sail required arge number of auxiliary equipment for normal function. The work involved in stitching eight kic sails together was exponentially higher and definitely not as simple as eight times the usual work.

    In truth, these sails could be made bigger in rtion to the Earth Dragon¡¯s spine, but Bluemoon was only at the level where she could design eight pieces together.

    Despite having installed only five origin sails, the instation of equipment and calibration was a huge undertaking. Before this, Qianye could only unfurl the sails directly and boost the vessel¡¯s eleration. However, eleration was but the most basic function of a kic sail.

    The Highbeards on the airship were all loyal to Bluemoon. They were greatly rmed upon seeing Red Lotus, so much so that two of them even picked up their weapons. From these small details, it was obvious just how aggressive the situation between the two of them was.

    Seeing Qianye raise his hand, the Highbeards on the airship lowered their weapons and returned to their posts to continue working. At this point, Qianye enjoyed a fair bit of prestige among the Highbeards of Bluemoon¡¯s branch, to the point of them obeying him without question.

    Red Lotus was livid and seemingly full of worry. Only after personally witnessing the Martyr¡¯s Pce did she realize Qianye¡¯s terrifying potential. Just this massive Martyr¡¯s Pce alone wasparable to a small principality.

    Having made an enemy out of this man was admittedly the most stupid thing Red Lotus had done. Her eyes were filled with anger instead of regret, and this anger wasn¡¯t directed at Qianye but at Bluemoon¡¯s Highbeards.

    It was at this time that a voice full of joy echoed throughout the chamber, ¡°Mama!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression transformed drastically upon hearing this call. His figure immediately turned illusory as he shed to the side. But he had just taken the first step when a small cannonball of a body rammed into him, rendering all of his fantastic illusions useless.

    ¡°Thud!¡± A dazed Song Zining fell to the ground. Little Zhuji sat down on his chest with a delighted expression and gave him a big kiss. ¡°Mama!¡±

    ¡°Get off! Immediately, right now, this very instant!¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression was stern, but Little Zhuji wasn¡¯t about to buy all that. Sheughed radiantly and nted yet another familiar kiss on Song Zining¡¯s cheek.

    Song Zining struggled repeatedly, exerting greater force each time. But Little Zhuji had grown so much stronger than he had remembered, almost on par with a top-tier beast. A push of her little hands pressed Song Zining back to the ground.

    Red Lotus stared at Song Zining with wide eyes, seemingly shocked and almost as if she couldn¡¯t believe what she had heard. Could it be that this young man she had almost fallen for at one point was a woman?

    Song Zining saw the changes in Red Lotus¡¯ expression through the corner of his eyes and nearly cked out from the anger. He struggled with all his might, but Little Zhuji exerted just as much force.

    The poor seventh young master was pressed to the ground for the moment and couldn¡¯t turn the tables no matter what.

    Nheless, he was still an expert with profound cultivation and great expertise in thebat arts. Even if he couldn¡¯tpare to Qianye and Zhao Jundu, he was still a rare genius among the younger generation of the empire. Tossing, turning, and applying various secret moves, it looked like he was about to push Zhuji away pretty soon.

    Flushed and worried, the little fellow turned to Qianye. ¡°What should I do, I want to kiss Mommy more!¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°Blow into his face.¡±

    Little Zhuji was startled. ¡°That¡¯s not too good, is it?¡±

    ¡°Just a small mouthful won¡¯t kill him.¡±

    Song Zining instinctively knew that something was off. He shouted loudly at Qianye, ¡°Qianye! Just you wait! Zhuji, don¡¯t listen to him. W-What are you doing!?¡±

    Little Zhuji opened her little mouth and sprayed a mouthful of faint green gas onto Song Zining¡¯s face.

    Thetter let out a muffled groan as all of his strength left his body. His origin power went out of control, and it was fluctuating so wildly that he couldn¡¯t even deploy his domain. Additionally, the gas didn¡¯t even need to be inhaled¡ªit would invade the body upon contact and go straight for the origin vortex.

    Song Zining was shocked out of his wits. He immediately activated his origin power to destroy the invading green energy. Fortunately, the poison was fairly thin and weak. It was finally wiped away after just a few waves of origin power.

    This shortpse allowed Little Zhuji to hug Song Zining firmly and give him several kisses. Finally, she jumped off in satisfaction.

    Song Zining red fiercely at Qianye and stretched out his hand. ¡°Pull me up!¡±

    Smiling, Qianye dragged the seventh young master to his feet and even patted off the dust on his robes.

    Song Zining pped Qianye¡¯s hand away with a snort and beckoned Zhuji, ¡°Come.¡±

    Little Zhuji cheered joyfully and pounced onto him at lightning speed, once again pinning him to the ground. She opened her little mouth, seemingly about to blow another mouthful of green gas.

    Gasping in rm, Song Zining covered the girl¡¯s mouth and stopped the potential gas attack.

    The seventh young master lifted the girl up by the nape of her neck, and only then was he able to mber up. He ced the girl in front of him and asked with a stern expression, ¡°When did you learn to use poison?¡±

    Zhuji looked puzzled. ¡°I just knew it!¡±

    Song Zining looked distressed. Knowing that he wasn¡¯t going to get any useful information out of the girl, he turned to Qianye. Thetter said, ¡°Have you forgotten that Stuka¡¯s innate talent is poison?¡±

    ¡°You call that poison? It¡¯s a far cry from our Little Zhuji.¡± Song Zining wore an expression of disdain as he praised the little fellow.

    ¡°Qian! Ye!¡± Song Zining uttered through clenched teeth. ¡°Telling her to blow into my face, are you worried that I won¡¯t die fast enough?¡±

    Qianye looked up at the sky. ¡°That little mouthful won¡¯t kill you, you¡¯ll be half-dead at most.¡±

    Song Zining was livid. ¡°Just a bit more and I¡¯ll be in trouble! Why don¡¯t you let her blow into your face and see?¡±

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°No need, I¡¯ll be perfectly fine.¡±

    Only then did Song Zining recall Qianye¡¯s abnormal vampire constitution.

    ¡°You two seem to share a fairly good rtionship,¡± Red Lotus interrupted the spat.

    ¡°... You, you¡¯ll be assigned as Bluemoon¡¯s assistant from tomorrow on,¡± Qianye said emotionlessly.

 Chapter 841: Zhao-Tradition, Song-Tradition

    For a moment, Red Lotus couldn¡¯t figure out what she had spoken wrong. Nheless, being assigned as Bluemoon¡¯s assistant was something she couldn¡¯t ept. She immediately began to exin that she was innocent but, realizing that it was useless, began to present a bunch of examples of why she was more valuable than Bluemoon.

    However, no amount of pleading or threats could move Qianye.

    In the end, she shouted in exasperation, ¡°I¡¯d rathermit suicide if you treat me like this! Think about it, my mother¡¯s branch will fight it out with you if you push me to death.¡±

    Qianye finally reacted. ¡° Your maternal branch won¡¯tst very long if they make an enemy out of me.¡±

    Song Zining gestured to Red Lotus with a frown, indicating that she should stop speaking. Then, he dragged Qianye off to tour the Martyr¡¯s Pce, effectively pushing this matter aside.

    Momentster, the Martyr¡¯s Pce took to the skies and flew toward the Northern Continent.

    After the massive airship vanished silently into the void tempests, a little girl in a white dress appeared amidst the rocks at the base of the mountain. She was holding a big, old suitcase as she stood there gazing in the wind.

    The strong and frigid gale at the mountain base lifted her long hair. Her small figure seemed lonely and destitute as she gazed at the distant skies, just in time to see the Martyr¡¯s Pce fading away over the horizon.

    Her little face seemed full of puzzlement and her eyes, just as lost.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce returned to the Northern Continent. Qianye was bringing Song Zining to see this wondrousnd. Thetter didn¡¯t remain idle along the way¡ªhe first spent the entire day listening to Qianye¡¯s narration of his experiences in the neutralnds, and then called Red Lotus over and listened to her exnation of the powers here. Even that wasn¡¯t enough for him, it seemed, because he went out to chat with almost every Highbeard in the ship, asking them all sorts of questions.

    Two whole days passed by in this manner, and he concluded this massive undertaking only as they were about to arrive. Qianye, on the other hand, spent the second day cultivating in silence. Every bit of origin power gained was a good thing for him.

    At dawn on the third day, Martyr¡¯s Pce passed over the vast Eastern Sea and arrived at the Northern Continent. Just like Qianye when he first arrived here, Song Zining held his breath to admire the natural masterpiece below them.

    It almost seemed like the essence of the entire neutralnds was concentrated here.

    After a long while, Song Zining exhaled deeply and said, ¡°This is the foundation of a kingdom!¡±

    ¡°At first, all I wanted was to live a quiet life here.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°There is no real paradise in this world, nor tranquility. Peace is something we have to fight for and win little by little. The peace we have on the Qin continent is something our ancestors had fought for. We should¡¯ve remained on the Qin continent if we only want to enjoy peace, but s, we are no longer such people.¡±

    Qianye sighed softly.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go down. I want to see how much progress the Highbeards¡¯ new ancestralnd has made.¡±

    The giant Martyr¡¯s Pce thus descended and remained hovering fifty meters in the air. Song Zining and Qianye jumped down first, but just as Whirlwind was about to descend, he saw Red Lotus shooting him meaningful nces. Her past prestige seemed to have found some use in the end as the Highbeard expert duly helped Red Lotus down from the airship.

    When Qianye left the ce, the Highbeard ancestralnd was nothing but a small vige. Now, it had turned into a small town. Although most of the buildings there were only in their foundation stage without any walls, a town capable of hosting a thousand people was beginning to take shape.

    Outside of town, the workshop building sites near the foothills had been leveled, and the tform of its three kic towers had grown well over two meters.

    Yes, three kic towers. Bluemoon had proposed an ambitious n from the very beginning, hoping to build their ancestral city into one capable of housing over a hundred thousand people. Hence, she had left great margins during the initial nning.

    A number of Highbeards were operating bulldozers modified from heavy trucks and hard at work opening up new roads. One of them led toward the shore, but there was nothing there just yet.

    All of this waspleted by Bluemoon and the dozens of Highbeard tribesmen. One could imagine how many hours ofbor and sleepless nights had gone into this.

    Red Lotus waspletely shocked at the sight of their new ancestralnd. She stole a nce at Qianye withplicated emotions in her eyes. Only at this point did she truly realize why the proud Bluemoon would submit so willingly.

    ¡°Go, let¡¯s take a spin around the area.¡± Song Zining flew up with Qianye on his tail, and soon, the two of them had sped away in an instant.

    At this moment, Red Lotus and Whirlwind were left alone. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was fifty meters above them, and there were no more restraints on Red Lotus apart from theck of sufficient energy. Meanwhile, Whirlwind was carrying his autocannon on his back. At this point, it seemed like the two of them could suppress all the Highbeards or even hijack the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Red Lotus bit her lips as she reached out at Whirlwind. ¡°Give me an energy ck crystal.¡±

    ¡°Ah! Young Miss, this¡­¡±

    ¡°Give it to me!¡±

    Whirlwind¡¯s expression wasplicated. In the end, he lowered his head and stretched out his right hand. In his palm, a piece of high-purity energy ck crystal was glistening brilliantly.

    Red Lotus grabbed the crystal and inserted it into her kic slot. Soon, all the movement equipment on her body began to hum softly, and she revealed a smile of satisfaction as her long-deprived power returned.

    Red Lotus didn¡¯t remain so for very long. Her eyes soon turned cold as she leapt up, glid several hundred meters through the air, and jumped forward once more. In the blink of an eye, she had reached the border of the small town.

    Bluemoon was standing on high ground, seemingly deep in thought as she observed the construction work with a map in hand. All of a sudden, Red Lotus¡¯ voice rang out beside her ears, ¡°Let me see.¡±

    Before she could react, Red Lotus had snatched the papers and was studying them seriously.

    Bluemoon was surprised to see thetter. She hadn¡¯t really noticed Qianye¡¯s arrival as her thoughts were all on the construction work.

    The Shieldmaiden took a step back and wanted to say something, but held back after seeing Red Lotus¡¯ manner.

    After several minutes of detailed observation, Red Lotus snatched Bluemoon¡¯s pen and marked several ces down on the ns. ¡°This, this, and this, all of them are poorly nned. How can you put this building here? And this road needs to be twice asrge or else it¡¯ll be jammed once you have ten thousand people.¡±

    Red Lotus pointed out over a dozen detailed ws while Bluemoon listened earnestly, nodding every now and then.

    Bluemoon was indeed inferior to Red Lotus with regards to nning. The main reason she had seized the Shieldmaiden position was due to her talents in the martial arts.

    All the other Highbeards were secretly surprised by the scene ying out before them, but they quickly put their minds back to the construction work.

    Perhaps no one else could understand how much these nomadic mercenaries longed for a ce to call home.

    Qianye and Song Zining zipped around the Northern Continent while discussing the current situation of the neutralnds. Song Zining would ask about everything rted to Qianye with great attentiveness.

    The two of them arrived at the northernmost edge. The mountains here were the tallest, steepest, and filled with lethal void tempests. Even the sturdiest of alloys wouldn¡¯tst if they were to touch those ck patterns in the air.

    Qianye and Song Zining, however, weren¡¯t afraid as origin power could be blocked out by origin power. Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaf domain not only deployed illusions but could also stabilize space and reject the void origin power. The two of them seemed to be standing inside of a painting, a stark contrast to the adverse environment around them.

    As they stood hovering in the air, Qianye nced down to find flowing jade streams, lotuses, as well as the dancing willows on the water bank¡ªeven the iing breeze seemed to be suffused with warmth. What an august scenery it was! If it wasn¡¯t for his Eye of Truth, Qianye would be hard-pressed to find any ws.

    But Qianye didn¡¯t admire this beautiful scenery at all. ¡°The view is not bad, but it must be quite draining, no?¡±

    Song Zining opened his fan with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s a small matter, pay it no mind.¡±

    Qianye stared at his fan. ¡°The weather is so cold, are you really feeling hot?¡±

    Song Zining sneered. ¡°This is called elegance! And the fan is just a symbol!¡±

    ¡°Fine then. Are you feeling the strain on your origin power?¡±

    ¡°A bit¡­¡± Song Zining blurted out before realizing that he had slipped his tongue.

    Smiling, Qianye unleashed a bit of his own domain, and the sound of crashing waves echoed around them. The moment this domain appeared, the beautiful scenery around them immediately began to waver and distort.

    Song Zining red at Qianye. He then pointed to the ground. ¡°Now this is a treasure! Who knows how many years this ce has been soaking up in void origin power? If we dig up the mountain range below us, there should be countless ore veins here. If I¡¯m not wrong, thisndmass should be a fragment of the Void Valley Star. If the empire finds out about such a ce, they might even send an expedition here.¡±

    Qianye, however, frowned as he gazed at the tall, thousand-kilometer mountain range. ¡°It¡¯ll probably take ten thousand people centuries to dig into this mountain.¡±

    ¡°No need, it can be done in days if you can find a couple of heavenly monarchs to help out.¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ let¡¯s just find ten thousand people to dig slowly.¡±

    Song Zining seemed distracted as he observed the mountain range. Only after a long while did he sigh. ¡°What peerless beauty!¡±

    Qianye was puzzled but didn¡¯t dare express his views carelessly in this field. He asked humbly, ¡°What¡¯s so beautiful about this ce?¡±

    Song Zining waved his hand with the grandeur of a rainbow. ¡°This ce, this scenery, if it were a painting, it would be called: Wealth of a Nation!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s domain destabilized and almost fell off the sky. It turned out that the vast mountains and perilous cliffs were nothing in the seventh young noble¡¯s eyes. Only the ore veins underneath held true value to him. This facet of him was truly worthy of a scion of the Song n.

 Chapter 842: When You Wake Up

    Song Zining became serious. ¡°This ce should be kept between you and me, no need to reveal it for the time being. Otherwise, there might be big problems. I don¡¯t think those Highbeards are that reliable, we had better keep them in check and control their passage.¡±

    Qianye nodded. That was indeed the proper course of action.

    Song Zining said after a moment of thought, ¡°I have some savings in the Ningyuan Heavy Industries, enough to buy a batch of resources and ship it over. Let¡¯s go around the continent in the Martyr¡¯s Pce and check out the flight path. After confirming the route, I¡¯ll go back first and ship the equipment over. Additionally, I¡¯ll bring a group of trusted men from Dark me and Ningyuan. That should bnce out the Highbeards¡¯ power.¡±

    Qianye knew he was far inferior to Song Zining in this field, so he merely nodded.

    ¡°Oh, right. You should also set up a mercenary corps in the outside world. It doesn¡¯t need to be very strong, just set up a shell first. Later on, we¡¯ll inject our own people into the framework and recruit more talents. Once we expand in the future, we¡¯ll need such regr manpower to maintain our territory.¡±

    Qianye nodded. There were so many things to tackle at the moment that he didn¡¯t know where to start.

    Now that Song Zining was standing beside him, Qianye recalled something that had been worrying him for a while. ¡°Zining, this Martyr¡¯s Pce was the Pointer Monarch¡¯s project back in the year, the Northern Continent was also his discovery. There¡¯s even a trap left in ce on the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart at the core of the Martyr¡¯s Pce. I¡¯m worried if it¡¯ll rm the monarch once we expand. And¡­¡±

    He hesitated for a bit. ¡°Could it be a trap?¡±

    Song Zining was first surprised but then he said after some thought. ¡°ording to reasoning and morals, someone of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s mental cultivation should no longer care about business and riches. If he wants to fight for something, there¡¯s only one spot in the entire empire worthy of him.¡±

    Qianye nodded, understanding that Song Zining was referring to the imperial throne. So many years had passed already, yet the Pointer Monarch seemed to have no interest in the great position.

    Song Zining became quite serious at the mention of the monarch. ¡°But you did say this is where he buried his heart. There¡¯s no telling what will happen once he starts recalling old matters. We need to find a way¡­¡±

    The seventh young master paced around several times beforeughing out loud. ¡°I¡¯ve got it! At least it¡¯ll prevent the old man from flying into a rage and killing you on sight. This time, you better thank me!¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Song Zining said with augh, ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees! Enough, it¡¯s gettingte, let¡¯s go back.¡±

    Qianye knew he wasn¡¯t going to get anything out of the fellow, so he could only follow him back. There was a deep restlessness in his heart because, usually, nothing good would happen when Song Zining acted like this.

    They took a straight line back and arrived at the Highbeard construction site in half a day¡¯s time.

    Red Lotus, now in worker¡¯s clothing, was together with a group of strong Highbeard men. They were unloading giant rocks from a truck and filling them into a deep hole to form a foundational structure. Bluemoon was also in rough clothing, working alongside the men.

    Red Lotus¡¯ appearance surprised Qianye and Song Zining. Thetter called Red Lotus over and asked with a frosty expression, ¡°Where did your energy crystale from?¡±

    Red Lotus bit her lips in silence.

    Whirlwind¡¯s expression shifted drastically and appeared quite restless. How could this change escape the eyes of Qianye and Song Zining? Thetter shot him a nce, saying, ¡°Qianye, it seems your subordinate isn¡¯tpletely obedient yet.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not his fault, I forced him!¡± Red Lotus said loudly.

    Song Zining said coldly, ¡°It looks like her order is still quite effective. Isn¡¯t that right, Whirlwind?¡±

    Whirlwind stammered, ¡°This¡­ no¡­ actually¡­¡±

    Red Lotus stepped in front of Whirlwind and said to Song Zining, ¡°This is thest time he¡¯s helping me. He has no choice because I¡¯ve saved his life before.¡±

    Qianye stepped in at this point. ¡°She¡¯s not doing anything. There are no airships here, so she can¡¯t leave, either. Why not just let her have it?¡±

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°Whirlwind is yours, Red Lotus is also yours. It¡¯s up to you what you want to do with them.¡±

    Qianye smiled. Ignoring Song Zining¡¯s minor disapproval, he said to Red Lotus, ¡°Why haven''t you tried to escape?¡±

    Red Lotus met Qianye¡¯s gaze. ¡°Why should I? I do have some enmity with you, but I¡¯m a Highbeard first and foremost, I¡¯m duty-bound to construct our ancestralnd. Naturally, I still dislike seeing Bluemoon, so don¡¯t make me her assistant.¡±

    Her voice wasn¡¯t soft, and Bluemoon also heard her from afar. Thetter stood tall and said, ¡°I¡¯m willing to be your assistant if that¡¯s what it takes to get a perfect construction n.¡±

    Red Lotus was startled and at a momentary loss for words.

    Song Zining said to Qianye, ¡°You really know how to pick your men, you''ve improved.¡±

    After a bit of chitchat, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s get on with confirming the flight path.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye activated the Martyr¡¯s Pce and flew it into the void. Even with the pce¡¯s speed, flying around the Northern Continent took two day¡¯s time. Finally, Song Zining managed to find a secret flight path that would circle the Eastern Sea and arrive directly on the Northern Continent.

    After confirming the flight path, Song Zining left without further dy. He had Qianye send him to a certain port city on the Eastern Sea Continent and boarded an airship there.

    Qianye chose to cross over the Eastern Sea this time. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was flying on the border of the void continent, so the terrifying beasts of the sea couldn¡¯t threaten the airship. Besides, the Martyr¡¯s Pce still retained a bit of the Earth Dragon¡¯s might, and all fierce beasts would run away after sensing its aura.

    Song Zining thought of something just as he was about to leave. ¡°Give me that gun barrel. I have some resources in the empire, let¡¯s see if I can¡¯t build a gun for you.¡±

    Qianye nodded and passed both the barrel and gun to Song Zining.

    Thetter strapped it to his back, patted Qianye on the shoulder, and said, ¡°Wait till Ie back, I¡¯ll introduce you to a beautifuldy!¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye to protest, Song Zining jumped off the airship and sped away.

    A frustrated Qianye was left gazing on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. If Song Zining hadn¡¯te here, he wouldn¡¯t have thought of so many past matters. But now, memories regarding the empire and the people there came flooding into his heart, and he simply couldn¡¯t get rid of them.

    With a long sigh, Qianye turned the airship back toward the Eastern Sea. Little Zhuji suddenly appeared beside him, asking, ¡°Has Mama gone back?¡±

    Qianye rubbed her head. ¡°He¡¯ll be back very soon.¡±

    ¡°How soon?¡±

    ¡°Just take a nap and you¡¯ll see him when you wake up.¡±

    The dazed little fellow nodded. ¡°I¡¯m already sleepy, I¡¯m going to sleep now.¡±

    At this moment, a group of Highbeard engineers was on the newly-constructed deck, working to install a new kic sail on one of the dragon¡¯s spines. The group cheered as the gigantic sails unfurled and sped up the giant airship a little bit.

    Only a dozen or so engineers were working on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. They had been working day and night to finish the instation of this giant kic sail, a project that would normally have taken hundreds of engineers several months toplete. They were absolutely loyal to Bluemoon and also understood that the ancestralnd¡¯s future safety depended on thepletion of the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    So just like the Highbeards building the ancestral home, those on the ship were also able to bring out an unimaginable amount of energy.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce slowly flew into the void and stopped high above. Meanwhile, Qianye left the vessel and headed toward Southern Blue. It was about time the four ballistae had arrived. Although they were second-hand goods, the Martyr¡¯s Pce would at least have some basic weapons. That should be enough to get the Earth Dragon out of its current awkward state where it could only ram into things.

    Naturally, there weren¡¯t a lot of airships that could outram the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Southern Blue wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s lucky ce. Something would happen almost every time he came here. He would¡¯ve snuck into the city at night and assassinated the city lord if this were the empire.

    But this was the norm in the neutralnds. Every business deal would begin with each side trying to swallow up one another, and perhaps get their hands on the goods. If he had to kill Ji Rui for this, there wouldn¡¯t be anyone left in the neutralnds he didn¡¯t need to kill.

    Qianye already understood this logic. So, he once again entered Southern Blue openly.

    The guards there made sure to greet him cordially. Qianye was the city lord¡¯s main customer, and the guards would all get better meals if the city was rich. On the other hand, Qianye was notorious for killing the entire Stormwind Fury corps. There was no way a handful of city guards could afford to provoke him.

    After boarding the officer¡¯s jeep, Qianye said half-jokingly, ¡°There won¡¯t be an ambush up ahead, will there?¡±

    The officer was almost sweating. ¡°No! Definitely not! If there really is an ambush, this little one will be the first to die, right? Besides, how could I have known when you would arrive? That¡¯s not how you set up an ambush.¡±

    The officer was quite shrewd with his words. Qianye decided not to mock him anymore and merely smiled in response. Then, he closed his eyes to rest.

    The jeep swayed about as it drove toward the city lord¡¯s manor.

    Qianye seemed to be resting, but in truth, all of his senses had been deployed and his slightly open eyes were exuding a blue glow. With True Sight activated, he was constantly monitoring the origin power changes in the surroundings.

    No fluctuation could escape his eyes in such a state. Even retracted auras would affect the flow of origin power ande into Qianye¡¯s notice unless it was a heaven-defying ability like Bloodline Concealment or an extremely powerful expert.

    He had learned to be careful after encountering so many problems in this city.

    At this moment, the jeep took a turn around the street block and arrived on the main road toward the city lord¡¯s manor. It was then that he saw, in his True Sight, a tempest brewing atop the manor. There was a hurricane of void origin power slowly revolving around the mansion.

    Qianye suddenly opened his eyes!

 Chapter 843: Ambush

    This was the telltale sign of a divine champion¡ªonly a divine champion or glorious marquis could produce a phenomenon of such scale. And judging from that magnificent scenery, the expert hiding inside the city lord¡¯s manor was in a battle-ready state. He could attack at any moment!

    There were no divine champions in Southern Blue. Now that such a character had appeared, it was obvious who they were targeting.

    Qianye punched through the roof of the car without the slightest hesitation and shot into the air.

    A deep, tyrannical voice echoed in the sky, ¡°Trying to run away? Stay back obediently!¡±

    A dark bluish whirlwind of origin power surged into the skies, and from it emerged a figure which charged toward Qianye like a bolt of lightning.

    This silhouette appeared with a might capable ofmanding the heaven and earth. It seemed like the entire Southern Blue had fallen submissively at its feet. Everything inside the city¡ªbe it the origin power or the buildings, be it living beings or lifeless objects¡ªwas full of animosity for Qianye. For a brief moment, Qianye felt as though he had be an enemy of the entire world.

    Flying over was a tall, burly man. Surging with killing intent, his eyes were like lightning and his long hair was dancing wildly in the wind. His almost-tangible re was akin to steel chains binding Qianye in the air.

    This was the might of a divine champion. His every movement was aided by the world itself, so much so that he didn¡¯t even need to do anything himself. Just a stare was enough to restrain an ordinary champion.

    Time flowed quickly despite their seemingly slow movements. Qianye said to the iing man, ¡°Wolf King?¡±

    ¡°Indeed! Submit voluntarily and I might spare your life!¡±

    In the span of just a few words, the Wolf King had already arrived in front of Qianye to swipe at his head.

    This attack was a sure hit. As he saw it, Qianye would never be able to escape his grasp regardless of the struggle. The power gap between the two was so great that resistance was practically futile.

    Even if Qianye could escape the bindings, the entirety of Southern Blue was covered in the Wolf King¡¯s domain. Thetter could appear anywhere in a sh and lock onto anyone¡ªhow could Qianye escape?

    However, Qianye burst out inughter as he broke the bindings forcibly with a shake of his body!

    After regaining his freedom, an indistinct red line shot into the distance, and Qianye¡¯s figure suddenly blurred out of existence.

    A p of thunder exploded in the air as the Wolf King closed his palm with sparks flying out in all directions. This w was of extraordinary power and could instantly melt down near-indestructible metal alloys, but it only struck empty air. Qianye was nowhere to be seen.

    Beams of origin radiance burst out from the furious Wolf King¡¯s eyes as he scanned the sky and the ground. Qianye could forget about escaping as long as he was still within the domain.

    The divine champion¡¯s gaze swept over the entire city, leaving no stone unturned, yet he still couldn¡¯t find a single shadow. It was as though the man had vanishedpletely¡ªno matter how hard the Wolf King searched, he couldn¡¯t find the slightest trace.

    Seething with anger, the Wolf King erupted in dark bluish mes, not unlike a god of murder descending upon the world. A luminous glow danced about in the Wolf King¡¯s eyes as he flew into the air to observe the surroundings, even projecting outward from time to time when he was impatient.

    But despite all that, he still couldn¡¯t find Qianye.

    In his fury, the divine champion raised his right hand¡ªa massive amount of origin power converged from every direction, forming a terrifying storm of origin power above him. If this attack were tond, it would definitely wreck most of Southern Blue.

    Ji Rui rushed out from the city lord¡¯s mansion and said in a fluster, ¡°Wolf King! Are you trying to destroy my city?¡±

    The glow in the Wolf King¡¯s eyes gradually receded. He said with a snort, ¡°Of course not. Our cooperation has just begun. It¡¯s just that this Qianye haspletely disappeared, do you have any idea where he¡¯s gone?¡±

    Ji Ruiughed wryly. ¡°The entirety of Southern Blue is under your domain. Who here is capable of hiding him? Either this Qianye has a secret art for hiding his aura or he has already escaped from the city.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°How can he leave the city under my eyes!?¡±

    Ji Rui replied hurriedly, ¡°How should I know? I¡¯m only guessing.¡±

    The Wolf King snorted. He scanned the entire city once more with his perception, and only after finding nothing did he grudgingly retract his domain. Maintaining such arge domain for an extended length of time was a considerable burden even for the Wolf King.

    He looked about with narrowed eyes and then gazed suspiciously toward the vast wilderness.

    In a single moment, Qianye had vanished from the world without a trace. Even someone of his caliber couldn¡¯t tell how Qianye had fled. The only method with a simr effect would be to tear through the void.

    He did feel a bit of spatial fluctuation back then, but he quickly shook his head and ruled out this possibility. Those who could prate space were all top-level characters, either at the heavenly monarch realm or one step away from it. Even the current Wolf King didn¡¯t have this ability, not to mention a mere Qianye.

    After a moment of fruitless contemtion, the Wolf King could only give up temporarily and return to the city lord mansion.

    Back in the manor, the Wolf King and Ji Rui sat down across one another. The Wolf King said, ¡°Letting Qianye escape is a disaster.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ji Rui sighed.

    The Wolf Kingughed. ¡°It¡¯s only your disaster, though. He won¡¯t escape so easily the next time he runs into me. But if he can escape once from me, he can easily escape a hundred times from you, you had better arrange your guards well.¡±

    Ji Rui looked bitter. He merely sighed and couldn¡¯t say anything for quite a while.

    With how mysterious Qianye was, what guard could even stop him? The man had escaped despite the Wolf King attacking in person. What good would it do even if Ji Rui were to patrol the city every night? The city lord did have some hidden aces, but even if he did use all of them, they weren¡¯t any better than the Wolf King¡¯s power.

    The two continued to sit silently. The Wolf King was in a fairly bad mood since he still couldn¡¯t figure out how Qianye had escaped. Perhaps Zhang Buzhou would have some answers, but that was thest person on earth he wanted to meet.

    In the end, the Wolf King broke the silence and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. I¡¯ll go and hunt him down myself once things here have been settled. He¡¯ll surely die in my hands unless he never makes an appearance.¡±

    ¡°He probably won¡¯t remain in the Eastern Sea,¡± Ji Rui said bitterly.

    The Eastern Sea was Zhang Buzhou¡¯s territory, and even the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons would be affected here. If Qianye was smart enough, he naturally wouldn¡¯t remain here. If he were to escape to another ce, like the Throne of Blood¡¯s domain, the Wolf King wouldn¡¯t dare act atrociously there no matter how ferocious he was.

    The Wolf King snorted coldly. ¡°I hope he¡¯s smart enough not to appear in front of me.¡±

    With that, the Wolf King retired with a wave of his sleeve, leaving Ji Rui in the quiet room to drown in his own worries.

    Just like that, the sky turned dark in a sh. Ji Rui stood up with a long sigh and muttered, ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy some peaceful days first. I¡¯ll just have to think of a way when the timees.¡±

    He had spent the night in contemtion, yet he couldn¡¯t think of any good solution to this problem. Qianye escaping from the Wolf King¡¯s hands was something he had never expected. Now that he thought about it, Qianye was probably unafraid of him because he had a way to escape.

    Just like the Wolf King, Ji Rui had no clue as to how Qianye had vanished. At this moment, Ji Rui was infinitely regretful. Had he known earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have agreed to the Wolf King¡¯s terms. Standing out of this feud would let the Wolf King earn a bit more, at most.

    Ji Rui had thought it through. Money was a lovely thing, but there were other ways to earn it.

    After making an enemy like Qianye, there was no telling when he would be able to sleep peacefully again.

    Ji Rui got up and paced about the study, sighing with a gloomy expression. Since he had already offended Qianye, the only way forward was to offend him to the end. Thetter was destined to be unstoppable once he had matured.

    A knock came from the door at this point. In his bad mood, Ji Rui scolded the visitor, ¡°What¡¯s so important? Can¡¯t this wait?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu¡¯s voice echoed from the other side of the door. ¡°City Lord, we¡¯ve almost flipped through the entire city, but we couldn¡¯t find any trace of him. Now, our brothers are all exhausted, do you think¡­¡±

    ¡°... Call it off.¡± Ji Rui had no real hope of the city guard finding Qianye and only sent them out to appease his emotions. Nheless, he still felt some disappointment when he heard that there was no news.

    Ji Rui sighed deeply after Guan Zhongliu left. ¡°I can live in peace for at least two years, right?¡±

    Whether it was the Wolf King or Ji Rui, none of them had imagined that Qianye would be standing outside Southern Blue.

    Like a wisp of smoke, thetter leapt up and appeared on the city wall and then passed through two patrol squads to enter the city. These movements looked easy, but they weren¡¯t that simple in execution. Throughout the entire process, Qianye only used a little bit of origin power, making his aura seem no stronger than rank four.

    People at this level were a dime a dozen in Southern Blue, and innumerable people were going over the walls day and night. After all, every family in the neutralnds had things that couldn¡¯t be brought into the light. The City Guard also understood this situation and would usually turn a blind eye.

    So, even if the Wolf King¡¯s perception had scanned Qianye, he would only overlook him as one of the riff-raff.

    After entering Southern Blue, Qianye¡¯s faintly discernible silhouette entered an alleyway and arrived outside of the city lord¡¯s manor. There, he looked up at the mansion with a blue shade in his eyes.

    There was still a great amount of void origin power swirling in the skies above, but it was nowhere near as violent as in the beginning. This meant that the Wolf King hadn¡¯t activated his origin power, nor was he in a battle-ready state.

    Qianye moved near the wall and lithely wed his way up to the top, his fingers piercing into the structure with each step. He was relying only on his physical strength and not a wisp of origin power. So much so that one would be inclined to think he was an ordinary person without any cultivation.

 Chapter 844: Revenge

    After climbing the wall, Qianye ran along it toward the lookout tower. There, he entered via the same method and tapped the sentry lightly behind his neck. As the man¡¯s lifeless head drooped to one side, Qianye¡¯s origin power flowed out gently, releasing a simr rank-three origin power fluctuation.

    Qianye stood motionless in the sentry¡¯s position, almost as though nothing had happened here. The only difference from before was the two blue dots under the dark sky.

    The city lord¡¯s manor was quiet beneath the sable curtain of the night. The dim lights illuminating certain corners of the building actually made the ce even gloomier and more frightening. There were neither banquets nor dancing tonight, and the servants would tread lightly for fear of attracting the attention of the bigshots.

    These people didn¡¯t quite know what had transpired, but they were sharp enough to tell that the Wolf King and city lord were in a bad mood.

    Qianye¡¯s nose twitched ever so slightly as he sensed a faint odor of blood. The blood energy therein was extremely faint, but it was fairly noticeable for someone with a vampire constitution like Qianye. Additionally, it was quite fresh and warm¡ªvery likely a recent bleed.

    Qianye nced toward the center of the city lord¡¯s manor and saw a small building where the lights were still on. The smell of blood wasing from it.

    At this moment, the doors opened up and a couple of people emerged carrying a corpse. They walked along the wall with hurried footsteps and happened to pass right below Qianye. They began discussing the matter quite boldly at this point, probably because they were a good distance from the building.

    ¡°What a miserable death.¡±

    ¡°She was really unlucky to be the one to deliver fruits to that person.¡±

    ¡°I heard she had offended the vice-steward, that was why she had been assigned to this task.¡±

    ¡°Shh! Keep it down. If this gets into the vice-steward¡¯s ears, you¡¯ll be the next one to bring fruits to the Wolf King!¡±

    That servant trembled in fright, almost dropping the corpse they were carrying. The servants spoke no more as they left the city lord manor from the side entrance and vanished into the night.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s gaze was locked onto the small house. He had noticed the Wolf King¡¯s aura from the corpse just now, and it would seem thetter was still in that building right now.

    There were no guards near the building, nor were there any sentries. There was no point in guarding the residence of a divine champion.

    Qianye didn¡¯t approach the ce, though. Instead, he activated his origin power and merged the Twin Flowers into one.

    Then, he stared at the little building and released a wisp of killing intent.

    A divine champion¡¯s senses were extremely sharp. Qianye felt a chill wash over him almost at the exact moment that his gaze fell upon the house. A massive wave of perception drowned out the sentry tower where he was standing.

    Qianye made no attempt to hide himself and even unleashed a wisp of his aura.

    A thunderous roar erupted from the building as its roof burst open and the Wolf King¡¯s figure shot toward Qianye. ¡°How dare you appear again!?¡±

    The Wolf King received neither fear nor flight but, instead, a cold voice. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡±

    The next moment, a sudden brilliance erupted before the Wolf King¡¯s eyes, a luminescence capable of lighting up the entire world!

    Within the radiance, the wolf king saw a thin feather tearing through the skies and shooting straight for his heart.

    This feather was so outrageously fast that it seemed to have transcended time and reaction. The Wolf King was caught off-guard and simply had no time to evade.

    Instinctively sensing the danger, the divine champion unleashed a wild roar and stopped his forward momentum midair. However, the feather made a sharp turn and remained on course for his heart.

    The Wolf King could no longer move out of the way and had no choice but to watch as the feather sank into this chest!

    He unleashed an earth-shattering roar as his body froze up and fell from the sky, crashing into the rubble below.

    The heaven and earth fell silent for a brief moment before a violent shockwave erupted therein, immediately destroying a part of the city lord¡¯s manor. An origin barrier rose up in a different direction and, despite its flickering, managed to block the destructive pulses and protect the rear end of the mansion. This was Ji Rui¡ªthe city lord had hurriedly taken action and managed to barely obstruct the shockwaves.

    In a different corner of the building, Guan Zhongliu had also erected a simr barrier. Nheless, his shield swayed wildly and was soon extinguished like a candle in the storm.

    Standing on the roof with a pale expression, the old man coughed up a mouthful of blood. He did, however, manage to stop most of the waves and had ensured the survival of his corner of the manor.

    The shockwaves rumbled on and on like the tides. Soon afterward, the Wolf King shot out from the rubble like a cannonball and stood high up in the air. A violent and cruel domain curtained down from above, epassing the entire city of Southern Blue.

    Qianye had fled the moment the Wolf King fell down, not even bothering to observe the oue. There was no need to, either, because thetter waspletely unprepared, and there was no way he could have dodged the shot.

    By the time the divine champion had taken to the air once more, Qianye was already a thousand meters away and still running. It seemed he was about to charge out of Southern Blue and leave the Wolf King¡¯s domain.

    The furious Wolf King howled toward the sky and revealed his werewolf form. Then, he transformed into a blue shadow as he darted after the assant.

    Since the day he had submitted to Zhang Buzhou¡¯smand, the Wolf King had never revealed his werewolf form in public. He was fairly meticulous in preventing the notion that he would discriminate against the humans because he was of a different race. Only now, after being angered to the extreme, did he finally transform into his true form in order to give chase at full speed.

    A bolt of blue lightning streaked across the air and vanished under the vast night skies. Ji Rui rose into the air with a serious expression and gazed into the distance. At this point, Guan Zhongliu arrived beside him and said, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? Not only did he dare toe back, but he actuallyunched a sneak attack against the Wolf King. Such a person¡­¡±

    The man couldn¡¯t continue his words, but both of them understood that Qianye was a vengeful character. No one would be happy after having made such an enemy.

    Ji Rui noticed the hint of me in Guan Zhongliu¡¯s tone. He sighed helplessly and said, ¡°How could I refuse with the Wolf King at our doors?¡±

    ¡°Is there no reaction from Spider Emperor and Mask?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu fell silent. If these three powers had reached an agreement, it was a certain fact that Ji Rui would be helpless.

    ¡°City Lord, do you think the Wolf King will catch Qianye this time?¡±

    Ji Rui shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either.¡±

    ¡°What attack was that just now? I only saw a sh of light, then I was ovee by a great trepidation.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression darkened. He only spoke momentster, ¡°If that attack hadnded on me, you¡¯d be the city lord by now.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu was shocked. He would¡¯ve never imagined that Qianye was capable ofunching such an attack. No wonder Ji Rui¡¯s expression was so unsightly.

    At this moment, the Wolf King was running across the wilderness with all his might, his perception locked firmly onto Qianye.

    The distance between the two was shrinking gradually. The Wolf King had gathered an overflowing mass of lightning in his right hand, ready to burn Qianye to a crisp once they were within a hundred meters of each other.

    He actually wanted to take Qianye alive, but the fellow¡¯s speed was simply too shocking. He had already given chase for dozens of kilometers, yet there was still more than a hundred kilometers between them. Add to that the target¡¯s ability to vanish all of a sudden, the Wolf King knew he didn¡¯t really have the power to capture Qianye alive. All he could do was take the next best option.

    It wouldn¡¯t be so bad to reap Qianye¡¯s treasures, even if he couldn¡¯t get his hands on the cultivation technique. The Wolf King could still feel a lingering apprehension toward Qianye¡¯s attack just now, as well as a strong desire for the origin gun that could unleash such a shot.

    ¡°Stop and work for me, I¡¯ll spare your life!¡± The Wolf King roared.

    Qianye¡¯s reply was a long peal ofughter, not even bothering to reply with words. Along the way, the Wolf King had tried more than once to threaten, exhort, or recruit Qianye, yet thetter only responded with mockery, angering the Wolf King until he was practically spewing mes.

    Seeing the gap between them shorten, the Wolf King unleashed a long howl and brought down his domain from above, trapping Qianye within it. Immediately afterward, his figure appeared where Qianye was.

    However, Qianye elerated violently at the moment of the domain¡¯s descent and swaggered off after shattering the restraining force with his physical strength. The Wolf King¡¯s certain attack thus missed its mark.

    Thisbination of domain and traversal ability ced great strain on the Wolf King, taking him several breaths to recover. His speed fell sharply during this period, allowing Qianye to once again ce a fair bit of distance between them.

    The Wolf King was both shocked and furious. His fury was only natural, but the divine champion was utterly shocked by Qianye¡¯s terrifying physical power. In terms of pure strength, even the Wolf King would have to spend quite a bit of effort to suppress him. But he was the Wolf King¡ªan expert on the same level as the Evernight dukes¡ªnot to mention the fact that werewolves were known for their strength and agility. Yet here he was, spending so much effort to suppress a mere Qianye.

    After letting Qianye put several hundred kilometers between them, the Wolf King narrowed the gap again by a few dozen kilometers. Although the two of them were covering hundreds of kilometers in a sh, the Wolf King became increasingly agitated. Even he would feel a bit of terror should he fail to catch the target this time.

    Qianye was simply too bold. After fleeing the scene, he had actually snuck back the very same day to seek revenge. If such a person were left alive, the king himself would be rtively fine, but what about his subordinates and family?

    At the thought of this, the Wolf King held back no longer. Hended on all fours and began pouncing toward Qianye, several dozens of meters at a time. The Wolf King¡¯s speed increased sharply on the ground, allowing him to quickly close in on his quarry.

    It was just that running on all fours like a beast was somewhat unbing for someone of his status. Fortunately, they were in the wilderness with very few people to witness him in motion. Besides, the Wolf King had already made up his mind to kill Qianye. Even if anyone were to see him, he needed only to silence them.

    The distance between them shrank from a thousand meters to a few hundred, and then to less than a hundred. Lightning curled around the Wolf King¡¯s ws as the target arrived within range, but he restrained himself from attacking. Instead, he moved closer and closer, nning to deal Qianye a thunderous blow when he was absolutely certain.

    In the blink of an eye, the two of them were less than fifty meters away!

    All of a sudden, Qianye burst into a sudden sprint and spun into a backward flight. The Wolf King¡¯s heart trembled when he saw Qianye¡¯s mocking smile.

    He was holding a gun in both hands, from which a blinding light suddenly burst out, and a feather of light shot toward the Wolf King.

    Shot of Inception!

 Chapter 845: Chance Encounter

    At this distance, there was no way the Wolf King could evade the Shot of Inception, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even block.

    The second feather of light once again tore into his chest.

    The Wolf King¡¯s body froze, and the forward momentum remained. He dug into the ground with his ws, forming deep trenches therein until he came to a stop a hundred meters away.

    Qianye left without so much as a backward nce and vanished into the ruggedndscape.

    The Wolf King possessed powerful vitality. Qianye knew that the divine champion was nowhere close to death despite having taken two Shots of Inception. Even if he were heavily injured, his final retaliatory attack was certain to be ferocious¡ªQianye had no intention of waiting for it.

    Even if the Wolf King were to recover from the two consecutive attacks, the damage would surely affect his future prospects. This was a grave loss for the Wolf King and ample reason for him to loathe Qianye.

    He made a sudden movement, eliciting a series of crackling sounds as his stiff body began to operate. Eventually, he plucked himself out from the mud.

    The Wolf King took gradual but firm steps in Qianye¡¯s direction, moving faster and faster with each step. In just a few breaths, he had managed to break into a sprint.

    The divine champion was sure that Qianye would bepletely exhausted after the two consecutive earth-shattering attacks. He probably wouldn¡¯t get far even if he had fled.

    Soon, he reached full speed and Qianye¡¯s indistinct figure appeared up front. The Wolf King unleashed a howl that spread out hundreds of meters. His speed increased sharply¡ªalmost as though he were in flight¡ªas he turned into a bolt of blue lightning that went after Qianye.

    But just as he was at his full speed, a small figure popped up from a nearby earth-mound!

    The Wolf King felt a chill run through his heart, but he had already built up the momentum and there was no domain in ce. He forced himself to turn back, but all he saw was a flowing white dress and the flicker of an abnormallyrge cleaver.

    The cleaver tore through the Wolf King¡¯s origin defenses with ease and shed into his waist. Additionally, the de went straight for his spinal joints with great uracy.

    The Wolf King could truly smell the stench of death at this point. He roared hysterically and struck back with his right hand, releasing the lightning he had been umting at the young girl.

    The girl jumped over ten meters back. She wasn¡¯t out of the lightning range yet, but she stabbed the blood-stained cleaver in the ground and used the force to take a step back.

    The dozen or so balls of blue lightning turned toward the cleaver like moths drawn to a me, turning it into a de of lightning. The girl was more or less affected since she was standing nearby, and her face turned a bit pale.

    At this moment, she surprisingly rushed over to draw the lightning-suffused cleaver and pounced toward the Wolf King.

    Thetter was astonished! He knew the might of his lightning. Even he wouldn¡¯t dare to take an all-out blow now that he was wounded.

    The Wolf King dodged the cleaver with a sidestep, but the girl charged at the divine champion and tapped at the wound on his waist. Her attack was extremely malicious and executed at the perfect moment. Caughtpletely off-guard, the Wolf King could only activate his defensive origin power and perform a rather forced kick.

    The girl¡¯s attack was unexpectedly weak, but she managed to snatch a pouch from the Wolf King¡¯s waist. However, the king¡¯s ws swiped at her and left four bloody gashes on her leg.

    The Wolf King reached out in hopes of recapturing his pouch. However, he suddenly sensed Qianye charging at him at full speed, and the distance between them was less than a hundred meters!

    The Wolf King painfully abandoned the pouch and turned to flee. The injury the girl had given him was just a flesh wound, but it triggered the suppressed damage from the Shots of Inception. He knew it wouldn¡¯t be wise to remain here and suffer a pincer attack from Qianye and the girl.

    Neither Qianye nor the young girl chased after the escaping Wolf King. On the contrary, they adopted a faint confrontational stance.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t met Bai Kongzhao for a long while, but the girl was just as frail and perplexed as before.

    She was still d in a simple white dress without any decorative items or things a young girl would usually have. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s right hand was charred ck from using the lightning-suffused cleaver to attack the Wolf King. The left side of her dress was tattered to reveal her white leg, as well as the shockingly deep, bloody gashes.

    There was fresh blood flowing out from the wound, dying most of her leg a scarlet red.

    Bai Kongzhao watched Qianye quietly, almost as though she couldn¡¯t feel the pain.

    Thetter felt a headache brewing and had no idea what to say to her. It was just that his experience was screaming at him not to be fooled by her puzzled appearance. The fate of those who pitied or underestimated her had always been quite miserable.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already let you off once, why did youe to the neutralnds and why did you interfere in this battle?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s main objective was to find out her intentions. In whichever battlefield the young girl appeared, the danger-level of that ce would rise exponentially. Had shee here alone? Or was she supported by the Bai n? It would be an entirely different story if she was supported by a major power.

    ¡°For this.¡± The young girl waved the pouch in her hand. This was something she had risked her life to snatch from the Wolf King. Judging from thetter¡¯s expression, it looked like he attached great importance to this item. He was nning to snatch it back even at the risk of worsening his injuries.

    The girl opened the pouch in front of Qianye and poured the contents onto the ground. The bag was fairly small, containing some ck crystals, emblems, and other misceneous items. The only things of interest among them were two palm-sized boxes.

    The girl opened them up to reveal sparkling crystals with a lingering mist swimming inside of them. They looked incredibly resplendent and mystical. Qianye was ovee by a familiar sensation the moment he set eyes on those crystals, and the origin power in his body began to stir with the desire to devour them.

    Origin crystal¡ªthere were actually two origin crystals here!

    Origin crystals were of great allure to experts below the divine champion realm, and to those who had no hope of ever reaching that level. Imnting an origin crystal was equal to gaining a divine-champion level ability. From a certain perspective, it could be considered an artificial pseudo-divine-champion.

    No wonder the Wolf King treated the pouch with such care. This was an important object that had to be kept on him at all times.

    It was a mystery how Bai Kongzhao knew there was such a treasure on the Wolf King. As far as he could remember, there were several mysterious aspects about this young girl. It was almost as though she was acting on instinct¡ªand one that was outrageously powerful.

    There were too many unsolvable mysteries on her, so it wasn¡¯t that great of a surprise that she would know about the Wolf King¡¯s treasure.

    Before Qianye had figured out what to do, the young girl had split the misceneous items on the ground into two portions and passed them to him, along with an origin crystal.

    Qianye frowned, unable toprehend her intentions.

    The girl picked up the remaining half and left. She wasn¡¯t moving very fast. Blood was still flowing down her leg, and her entire backside was left open to Qianye.

    There was a certain radiance flickering on his fingertips as he moved his right hand. He still had onest Shot of Inception, an attack the young girl wouldn¡¯t be able to evade. Her constitution wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the shot even at its peak, to speak nothing of her current frail state.

    He only needed to raise his hand and use his finger as a gun to kill Bai Kongzhao, ridding himself of this trouble.

    The girl walked especially slow since her left leg couldn¡¯t bear any weight. The bleeding had slowed down but didn¡¯t seem like it would heal any time soon. Injuries caused by werewolves would leave traces of their origin power, interfering with the healing process. Some people would die of bleeding if they were unable to clear away the remnant origin power.

    At this speed, the girl would take at least ten minutes to walk out of the Shot of Inception¡¯s range. There was enough time to make a hundred decisions, so Qianye was in no rush toe to a conclusion. He wanted to give this matter more thought.

    But what was he supposed to think about?

    Ten minutes suddenly passed by as he was thinking about what he needed to contemte. The girl¡¯s figure was now far away and fading out over the horizon.

    He woke up from his reverie at this point and, shaking his head, dispersed the glow on his fingers. Qianye¡¯s situation was fairly perilous just now, and he only had enough power left for a Shot of Inception or a Spatial sh¡ªif he used one, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use the other. The Wolf King was able to endure two shots of inception, so who was to say he wouldn¡¯t be able to take a third?

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s ambush had, to a certain extent, resolved Qianye¡¯s danger. Naturally, she would¡¯ve died in the Wolf King¡¯s hands if Qianye hadn¡¯t sensed the battle and charged back. Did she risk all that just for two origin crystals?

    Thinking back on it, it was indeed her style. When they were young, she was willing to y fair or foul just for some food. Now that she was more powerful, she was hunting for treasures like void colossus essence and origin crystals instead of food. For these things, she was willing to put herself and anyone else in danger.

    Regardless, Qianye knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to pull the trigger this time.

    Next time, next time for sure he wouldn¡¯t lower his guard. The best way was to attack on sight and permanently free himself of this misfortune.

    Having made a decision, Qianye left this area of the wilderness. It wasn¡¯t safe here since there was always a small chance that the Wolf King would return.

    Besides, Qianye needed a quiet ce to slowly digest his gains. He had not only fought head-on against a divine champion and twice seeded in dealing a blow, but also managed to escape. This kind of experience was iparably precious. Hisbat arts would surely improve once he had digested this experience.

    This was the very first time he had faced a divine champion head-on.

    Half a dayter, Qianye had set up a temporary abode in a deserted cave. He sat down cross-legged andpleted one cycle of the Song n Ancient Scroll, refining a wisp of origin power in the process. At the same time, he brought his body and mind into a state of concentration. Only then did he start to recall and contemte the fight against the Wolf King.

    Qianye remained there for an entire seven days, at times meditating, and at times performing punches and kicks. Every now and then, he would unleash his domain for a brief moment. At first, unleashing the domain was easy, but retracting it was difficult. Later on, he gradually managed to control the power at will. When he was truly exhausted, he would take a break by cultivating the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    Seven days thus passed by in a sh.

 Chapter 846: Pain

    A hillock in the wilderness burst into pieces, revealing a deep, hidden cave. Qianye walked out from the opening, his face pale and his eyes sunken. He was apparently in a state of extreme exhaustion, yet there was a contained vigor within him that made people palpitate.

    Qianye squinted his eyes under the long-unseen daylight, taking a good while to adapt to the re. Looking down at the vast wilderness, he let loose a burst of carefreeughter.

    The past seven days had been greatly beneficial for him. The most important gain wasn¡¯t hisbat arts, but the fact that he had caught a glimpse of the realm beyond a divine champion. Qianye hade into contact with a fair number of divine champions¡ªZhao Xuanji and Zhao Weihuang, for instance, were both much stronger than the Wolf King. However, those weren¡¯t life and death battles, so the level ofprehension wascking.

    Now, Qianye could see the world from a different perspective, with greater gradation and detailed colors. He could almost reach out and touch the many minute details. Wherever his perception stretched, all life in its wake would more or less respond to him.

    Origin power was the foundation of this world. Every entity contained origin power of different attributes, the only difference was in their amount and form. What Qianye could sense now was the origin power hidden within all living things.

    Being able to sense the origin power of the world was the first step toward controlling it. And it was this first step that had bottlenecked countless heroes and experts throughout history.

    Qianye, at this moment, made progress in neither origin power nor blood energy, but from a different aspect, his control over power had entered an entirely new realm.

    These seven days had allowed Qianye to realize why Nighteye was able tomand such power despite being merely a count.

    After exhaling many days of umted impurities, Qianye ran to the nearest town and ate a big meal. Fasting for seven days had ced great strain on his body. After finally finishing his meal, he asked about the nearby towns and cities before taking his leave.

    Half a dayter, an airship rose from a border town hundreds of kilometers away and headed for Tidehark City. That ce was the heart of a vast territory and not far from the Wolf King¡¯s main camp, the Totemic Castle. Qianye was in no rush to settle the score with Ji Rui as dealing a fierce blow to the Wolf King was his main priority.

    These were the neutralnds where even a mutually beneficial deal had to be based on a foundation of equal strength. Qianye would never enjoy peaceful days in the future if he couldn¡¯t beat the enemy up until he was hurting and afraid. The main reason Ji Rui had sold him out repeatedly was that he had to make a decision between Qianye and the other party, and he believed Qianye to be insufficient.

    Killing mercenaries and disbanding Stormwind Fury only gained him fame among the middle and lower ranks. The true chips were held by characters at the divine champion-level, and Ji Rui knew this very well. He seemed fairly well-off from gleaning a bit of profit between these bigshots, but in truth, his status was as fragile as a castle built on sand.

    He really had no choice in the matter if the Wolf King hade knocking on his door, saying he wanted to kill Qianye. That was the sorrowful fate of those without hard power.

    Having stayed so long in the neutralnds, Qianye understood the path of survival as well as Ji Rui¡¯s swaying-grass character. This kind of person could be left for future exploitation as he would obey anyone who was strong enough. Naturally, this kind of person would be the first to bite back if Qianye were to fall from power one day.

    Right now, Qianye felt that it was time to make people at the level of the Wolf King feel some pain.

    On the shore of the Eastern Sea, there was a boundless, gentle beach and the rugged area where Qianye had once lived, as well as tall, precipitous cliffs.

    The Wolf King¡¯s ancient Totemic Castle was built upon these cliffs, standing majestically over the Eastern Sea. The ancient Totemic Castle wasn¡¯t far off from the core human cities¡ªoverseeing and protecting them at the same time.

    The Totemic Castle was mainly staffed by werewolves, with the only humans there being manualborers and cleaners. The most tiring jobs in the castle were left to them. Due to its high altitude, it wasn¡¯t easy to travel to and from the ce. Without an airship, it would take a human half a day¡¯s time to hike up to the castle. The human workers there actually weren¡¯t allowed to leave the fortress and looked more like ves than staff.

    At this moment, the curtain of the night was bearing down on the world, and the leaden clouds were almost touching the castle towers. The tides below the precipice were crashing into the cliff walls amidst thunderous rumbles, spraying seawater hundreds of meters into the air.

    Even the Totemic Castle seemed fairly fragilepared to such a night and the majesty of heaven and earth.

    The wind kicked up at night, and the echo of roaring tides reverberated throughout the world. The voice reprimanding servants inside the castle had to be raised quite a bit to be heard.

    The dim lights inside the castle were only enough to illuminate certain corners and courtyards. Most of the area was still covered in stifling darkness since the dim yellow glow from the narrow windows wasn¡¯t nearly enough to light up anything. On the contrary, they filled the spectator with a sense of cold dread.

    Qianye was standing on one of the cliffsides. This ce was as high as the main hall of the Totemic Castle and provided an unobstructed view of the castle grounds.

    There was a storm brewing over the horizon. The whistling gusts carried pieces of gravel from down the mountain which, like flying des, would cause anyone struck to bleed.

    Qianye had been standing here for an entire two hours, observing the geography and distribution of manpower inside the castle. The faint glow of fire behind the main hall of the castle caught Qianye¡¯s attention. The scale of this bonfire definitely wasn¡¯t small if it could remaining burning in this weather and even illuminate the entire hall.

    Werewolves were a race that revered their ancestors and traditions. Even to this day, many werewolves were against technology like airships and origin arrays. The totemic me held an extremely important position in werewolf traditions. In the past, Qianye hade into a lot of contact with werewolves, so he immediately recognized this me and understood that it was an important location.

    Lowering his body, he jumped dozens of meters forward andnded on the other peak. The whistling gales, on contact, would split into two and flow around Qianye. He was like a swimming fish as he lithely navigated the tempest and pressed forward.

    This was his gain from the past seven days. He could already draw upon the surroundings without deploying his domain or even spending much origin power.

    Qianye weaved about as though he were in flight and arrived atop the sentry tower behind the castle.

    This sentry tower was located in a corner facing the sea, with two steep cliffs on either side of it. Perhaps because he felt that no one woulde up from this side, the seemingly-bored werewolf on duty only gazed out at the sea while yawning.

    The Eastern Sea was vast, hazy, and dark. This werewolf could find nothing no matter how hard he looked.

    Qianye was standing above him at the moment, but this werewolf waspletely oblivious as he struggled against drowsiness.

    Qianye was looking at the rear courtyard where there was a bulging hundred-meter rock in one corner, forming a natural barrier of sorts. Below it was a pit with a raging me burning inside. Two werewolves happened to arrive at this point and carefully poured two trays of ck stone into the fire.

    The burning increased a fair bit after the stones entered the me, and Qianye could smell a faint fragrance that immediately cleared his head. Apparently, the ck stones were specially formted items and not ordinary fuel.

    There were colorful strips of cloth tied all over the mountainous rock, and a totem decorated with a blood-stained wolf head stood behind the fire.

    This was a werewolf tribal totem, and the mes in front of it were a form of offering. This me could not be extinguished, so long as the tribe existed. When moving, the sacrificial me would be preserved and transnted to its new resting ce.

    There was an old werewolf prostrating before the fire, his upper body bare and covered in red-green patterns. The wooden staff in his right hand was decorated with sinister-looking skulls and sharp fangs¡ªit looked rather crude and primitive, but here in the neutralnds, it also seemed to exude an aura of power.

    The werewolf elder was shrouded in a powerful aura, but his white hair and withered skin spoke of his waning years. Most dark race experts maintained their youthful appearances for the greater part of their life. An elderly appearance meant that he was almost one foot in the grave.

    From his understanding of werewolves, Qianye concluded that this werewolf was likely the shaman of this tribe. Additionally, the totem¡¯s location at the highest point of the castle proved that the Wolf King belonged to this tribe.

    Eyes narrowed, Qianye entered the sentry tower with a single sidestep like a specter. There, he ced a hand on the watchman¡¯s neck and broke it with just a bit of force.

    The werewolf soldier didn¡¯t even get the chance to grunt before copsing. Qianye donned the dead man¡¯s uniform, descended the tower, and made for the totem.

    The werewolf shaman was still on the ground, chanting a mournful, ancient hymn¡ªa ceremony formunicating with their ancestors. Reportedly, powerful shamans could really hear the voices of their ancestors and receive advice. They might even receive the protection of their ancestors at the critical juncture and gain a burst of fighting-power.

    The shaman was performing an important ritual tonight and just themunication phase would go on for several hours. This ceremony was to borrow the power of the tribal ancestors to clear away the danger guing the Wolf King¡¯s body.

    The rear courtyard was watched over by dozens of werewolf guards, as well as asional patrols circling the za. At this moment, a werewolf soldier was traversing the shadow under the walls as he made his way toward the praying shaman.

    The ceremony had already gone on for several hours, which, for the innately irritable werewolves, was a form of torment. Hence, most of the werewolf soldiers there were starting to ck off. One had to know that this was the ancient Totemic Castle, a ce no enemy had ever dared to infiltrate. So it wasn¡¯t so surprising that the guards werex.

    Finally, someone discovered the abnormality. A werewolf knight stared at one of the soldiers and shouted, ¡°Who are you? Why don¡¯t I recognize you?¡±

    This bluster only alerted some of the guards because the wind was howling too loudly.

    Some of the werewolves looked up to see the suspicious werewolf standing at the foot of the wall. At this point, that person was only fifty meters away from the shaman.

    Most of the werewolves hadn¡¯t figured out what was going on. They were still trying to figure out who this guard was when Qianye whipped out the Twin Flowers and took aim at the shaman¡¯s back!

    ¡°Stop!!!¡±

    A violent roar echoed through the air above the Totemic Castle.

 Chapter 847: Sea Garden

    Bricks and gravel flew in all directions as the Wolf King punched through the wall of the main building. The moment the Twin Flowers started umting energy, the Wolf King began to palpitate. This was an extremely familiar sensation, one that had brought him close to death just a few days ago.

    The Wolf King immediately knew that Qianye was here and that he was about to attack.

    The two luminous feathers and their terrifying power were etched deeply into the divine champion¡¯s heart. Who else in this castle could survive such a blow?

    The Wolf King didn¡¯t even have time to exit through the window. He simply sted the wall apart and charged out.

    He arrived just in time to see Qianye¡¯s sneer. The Twin Flowers rumbled, and the Shot of Inception struck the great shaman almost immediately after leaving the chamber.

    The shaman stood up abruptly, turned back, and was frozen therein. Bewilderment and doubt lingered in his turbid eyes while his vitality dissipated rapidly.

    ¡°No!!!¡± The Wolf King¡¯s roar suppressed the sharp sound of the wind and waves. He transformed into his werewolf form in a sh and pounced toward Qianye.

    This charge sealed off Qianye¡¯s paths of retreat, preventing him from escaping into the castle.

    However, Qianye made no attempt at escaping outside. Instead, he charged toward the precipice and leapt right off the cliff.

    He turned around mid-air and sneered at the Wolf King before falling into the great sea.

    The Wolf King charged over to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Even with his visual acuity, all he could see were the murky waves. Apparently, Qianye had fallen into the water and vanished.

    Absolutely furious, the Wolf King was about to jump into the ocean, but he felt a chill run down his spine as half his body crossed over the cliff. A deep iciness emerged in the depths of his heart and shook him back to his senses.

    The depths of the Eastern Sea was the forbidden zone of all experts. Even Zhang Buzhou wouldn¡¯t dare try exploring there. Reportedly, no expert hade back alive after diving into the ocean.

    The Wolf King was filled with terror at the thought of jumping into the sea, almost as though there was a peerlessly terrifying existence hiding in the deep waters and waiting quietly for his arrival.

    The divine champion swung his hand backward, and his origin power turned into a giant w with which to grab the precipice. This prevented him from going fully over the edge.

    The terrifying existence in the sea seemed fairly disappointed. It stirred up several giant waves to express its dissatisfaction before swimming back into the sea.

    The Wolf King was drenched in cold sweat after returning tond. His proximity to demise just now was no less than when he was struck by the Shot of Inception.

    The guard captain ran over at this time. ¡°Your Majesty, the great shaman, he¡­¡±

    The Wolf King showed no signs of movement. Only after a long while did he say, ¡°No need to check, he is already at our ancestors¡¯ side.¡±

    The guard captain opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t say anything.

    The Wolf King turned about with a wave of his sleeves and returned to the castle. He didn¡¯t want to see the shaman¡¯s corpse at all.

    As for Qianye, he was sure to die after jumping into the water. The Wolf King felt a modicum of relief after recalling the many terrifying legends about the Eastern Sea. It wasn¡¯t too bad to trade the shaman for Qianye.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was sinking slowly into the sea. The surface was filled with raging waves, but the underwater world was abnormally peaceful, almost as though it was a different world.

    He had already lost control over his body as a tremendous and indefensible will engulfed him, robbing him of his authority.

    Yet Qianye felt not suppression, coldness, or suffocation from this will. On the contrary, he felt a bit of warmth.

    An ocean current arrived in the darkness and pushed Qianye toward the depths of the sea.

    He seemed to have lost track of time amidst the deep darkness. After drifting for an unknown length of time, a lustrous glow suddenly appeared before his eyes¡ªit was a school of fish. Their blinking abdomens made them look like fireflies of the ocean.

    Following the first bit of light, more luminous glows lit up around him like myriad starlight gradually illuminating the underwater world.

    The scene before him almost looked like a fantasy world.

    The clusters of coral were like blooming flowers carpeting the seabed, and the dense schools of fish were like colored ribbons shuttling through the shrubbery. It would seem all kinds of creatures thrived peacefully in this beautiful world. A brightly colored octopus red curiously at Qianye as he passed by.

    At this moment, there was somewhat of amotion in the sea as a giant shadow slowly glided by.

    The current flipped Qianye around just in time for him to see a giant sea colossus, several hundred meters long, slowly swimming over him. Qianye had never before seen such a creature, nor had he ever heard of one. Just from its build, however, one could tell just how terrifying it was.

    The beast didn¡¯t seem hungry. It merely swam away without sparing the fishes a second nce. The shoals of fish didn¡¯t seem to fear the colossus, either, and merely swam past as they normally would.

    The current surged once more and left Qianye hovering over the underwater garden. At this moment, a familiar voice echoed in Qianye¡¯s senses, ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    This was the mysterious will Qianye had been sparring with back then, the same one that had left him a method to summon it in times of need.

    ¡°You were looking for me?¡±

    ¡°I was waiting for you to summon me. Now that you¡¯re in the sea, I thought it¡¯d be nice to bring you here and check up on your growth. I¡¯m quite satisfied with your progress. Why did you not summon me?¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°Do you think I can win three consecutive rounds against you now?¡±

    The mysterious entity said after a moment of silence, ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°Then why would I summon you?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s strength had indeed made progress, but what he needed against the mysterious existence wasbat arts and not brute force. Qianye still wasn¡¯t confident of victory in this regard.

    The mysterious entity¡¯s concern about Qianye¡¯s growth was a bit out of the ordinary. Qianye tried to sound him out, ¡°Did you have something you need me to do?¡±

    ¡°No, at least not at the moment. Perhaps I might need you to help with some things in the future, but you¡¯re far from sufficient at the moment.¡±

    ¡°What would that be?¡±

    ¡°You''ll find out when the dayes. Okay, now tell me where you want to go.¡±

    As Qianye thought about Southern Blue, a current emerged at the bottom of the ocean and whisked him away.

    The starry glow of the seabed gradually faded away, and the fantastical underground garden was once again swallowed up by darkness. The sable world didn¡¯tst long, however, as a beach soon appeared before Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye regained control over his senses after the seawater receded. He moved his limbs about and mbered up to observe his surroundings.

    This beach was silent and beautiful, but it filled Qianye¡¯s heart with astonishment.

    There were very few such beaches on the Eastern Sea, and this one was the closest to Southern Blue. Back in the empire, such beautiful scenery would be known far and wide. Unfortunately, these were the neutralnds, and the Eastern Sea was notorious for devouring countless experts. Up to this day, no one knew precisely just how many terrifying beasts there were in the ocean or what kind of terrifying existence was devouring all those experts.

    Under normal circumstances, any expert would be quite cautious around the ocean and especially the beaches. Who would be in the mood for leisure and rxation?

    The mysterious existence from the sea seemed to have no enmity toward Qianye. On the contrary, it seemed to be protecting and training Qianye. It was just that no one knew the reason behind it.

    What shocked Qianye the most was that it had only been about an hour since he had fallen into the sea. Yet, this beach near Southern Blue was almost a thousand kilometers away.

    To be able to send Qianye here meant that the mysterious entity¡¯s attainments in spatial control were well beyond any ordinary divine champion.

    Qianye exercised his body briefly and, only after he had fully recovered, left the beach for Southern Blue. The mysterious entity¡¯s request was a matter for the future. He still had to settle old debts right now.

    Southern Blue was even more austere at the moment. The streets under the night sky were empty and devoid of people. The taverns, though, were filled with drunk city guards.

    Too many rumors had been flying around these days, most of them rted to the shocking oue of the Wolf King¡¯s attempt to capture Qianye. There was also talk about Qianye¡¯s subsequent attack on the city lord¡¯s manor where he gravely injured the Wolf King and destroyed a part of the mansion.

    Most of the people here weren¡¯t powerful enough to figure out what had happened that night, but the less clear they were, the more outrageous the rumors became.

    Those paying attention realized that many of the young mercenaries had disappeared. These people might not be strong, but being able to survive on the razor¡¯s edge until this age proved that they possessed keen intuition for danger. They had vanished like animals and birds in the forest before an impending disaster.

    This was quite worrisome. Meanwhile, Ji Rui locked himself in the city lord¡¯s manor and never left, going so far as to ignore the damaged mansion. The city lord ought to havee out to reassure the masses at such a time, yet he was totally absent and that only added to the general panic.

    The silence of the night was torn asunder by engine sounds as five trucks drove through the streets of the city square. The roar of their engines attracted some attention and made people frown. That was because these fully-loaded vehicles were actually driving out of the city. It would seem that a certain trader had decided to move his wares out of Southern Blue to ensure their safety.

    The caravan drove out of Southern Blue and headed toward Tidehark City.

    There was quite a bit of distance between Southern Blue and Tidehark. The journey wasn¡¯t very peaceful, either, so three out of the five trucks were filled with well-equipped mercenaries. The merchant owner was willing to move the goods out of Southern Blue at the risk of getting robbed. This went to show just how bad the situation there was.

    Not long after the motorcade had left the city, the first truck came to a screeching stop, kicking up clouds of rolling smoke and dust from the friction before finally stopping.

 Chapter 848: Blockade

    The car at the front stopped so suddenly that the ones behind almost rammed into each other in session. The sleepy soldiers in the trucks were tossed out of their seats and onto the floor.

    A furious middle-aged man d in steward¡¯s clothing jumped out of the car. ¡°What are you doing? Are you crazy?¡±

    The driver poked his head out of the window, but he couldn¡¯t say anything¡ªall he did was point forward.

    The middle-aged steward jogged over and couldn¡¯t help but gasp after looking toward the front.

    There, at the center of the road, was a young man standing with his hands behind his back, blocking the motorcade¡¯s path.

    The steward rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn¡¯t seeing things. Thereafter, he immediately began bowing and scraping with a face full of smiles. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Sire Qianye! Oh my, how fortunate to be able to see you! Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Qianye responded with a question, ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    The steward¡¯s forehead was drenched in sweat as he replied cautiously, ¡°W-We¡¯re heading to Tidehark City, mainly to send these people over. We need them to watch the store over there. We also brought some misceneous goods along with us, but they¡¯re not worth much, not much at all!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Since they¡¯re not worth much, then please leave them behind along with five people to drive the cars, the rest of you can go back.¡±

    The steward was shocked out of his wits. ¡°Sire Qianye, t-this¡­ why? This is rob¡­¡±

    He had to try fairly hard to stop himself from uttering the word robbery.

    Qianye paid him no need. ¡°Go back and tell Ji Rui to deliver the goods he owes me. Before that happens, Southern Blue can forget about doing any form of trade.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯repletely unrted to the city lord¡­¡± The steward wanted to defend his case, but he stopped himself intelligently after meeting Qianye¡¯s frosty gaze.

    Momentster, a group of downcast mercenaries returned to Southern Blue and were quickly recognized by the local busybodies. ¡°Howe you¡¯re back? Where are your cars and goods?¡±

    One of the mercenaries replied angrily, ¡°Qianye is right outside the city, what do you think happened?¡±

    The busybody was apparently quite well-informed. ¡°Qianye!? The Wolf King wasn¡¯t able to kill him?¡±

    The mercenary replied, ¡°I¡¯m not blind! There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll mistake him.¡±

    The busybody retreated to the side while muttering to himself. Then, he charged toward a certain tavern and spread this shocking news in return for a few drinks.

    Momentster, Ji Rui sat down face to face with a bitter-looking manager. Thispany was of considerable scale and repute, one ranked toward the top in Southern Blue. Hence, Ji Rui had no choice but to see the man personally.

    Outside of the parlor window was a ruined wall. This damage was left behind when the Wolf King was ambushedst time, and Ji Rui never got down to repairing it because he was in a bad mood. Besides, a part of the city lord¡¯s manor had been reduced to rubble, and it wasn¡¯t something that could be repaired in a week or two.

    ncing at the scene outside and back at the manager¡¯s worried expression, Ji Rui¡¯s mood grew extremely gloomy. Yet, Ji Rui had no choice but to meet them with an amiable smile as these mercenaries and traders were the lifeblood of Southern Blue.

    ¡°City Lord Ji! That Qianye robbed the most valuable lot of goods in our possession. H-How is ourpany to survive without it?¡±

    An obscure me ignited at the bottom of Ji Rui¡¯s heart. Thispany had clearly wanted to move his stock to another city due to the deteriorating situation in Southern Blue. Yet this person had the cheek toin about this matter in front of him?

    But the city lord was an old fox in this field, and he worked quickly to appease the merchant.

    The knowledgeable manager also knew when to stop. He asked cautiously, ¡°City Lord, you¡¯ve had several dealings with Qianye. Can he really contend against the Wolf King? He doesn¡¯t have some powerful backing, does he?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s smile turned bitter, and he replied helplessly, ¡°Contending against the Wolf King might not be possible, but the truth remains that the Wolf King had failed to capture him. As for me, I have even less confidence about seizing him.¡±

    ¡°T-Then, what are you going to do? Are you really going to hand the goods over?¡±

    This was the real question the manager wanted to ask. Although there was only one manager in front of him, Ji Rui knew he had to exercise due caution with his reply. It could be said that the manager¡¯s question represented all of the merchants in Southern Blue.

    Qianye¡¯s blockade meant that none of the traders could do business. Although there were four gates in Southern Blue and only one Qianye, none of thesergepanies were willing to take this chance. Running into Qianye would result in a great loss that could never be recouped.

    Ji Rui was indeed in a difficult position to reply. Handing the ballistae over would deal a sharp blow to his fortune. Was he expected to endure this loss when none of thesepanies could?

    Yet he couldn¡¯t just ignore this problem, either, since Qianye¡¯s blockade would break the city¡¯s foundations. Just a few days of this blockage would destroy the trust and reputation Ji Rui had built up over many years. The main reason for Southern Blue¡¯s prosperity was the peaceful atmosphere he had tried his best to maintain.

    Whichever path he chose would leave him in a bad position. He spoke after a long moment of consideration, ¡°We¡¯ll inform the Wolf King about this matter first and see how he¡¯ll deal with it.¡±

    After some thought, the manager found this reasonable, so he left without further nagging. Ji Rui summoned Steward Liu, instructing him to send a messenger to Totemic Castle and deliver news of Qianye to the Wolf King.

    Momentster, a slender highspeed airship took off from Southern Blue and sped toward the ancient Totemic Castle. At this moment, Qianye was seated on a tall ancient pir, gazing in the direction of Southern Blue. He only sneered upon seeing the airship flying away.

    There were only a few of such highspeed airships in the entirety of the Eastern Sea. Needless to ask, this was Ji Rui¡¯s emissary vessel dispatched to seek reinforcements from the Wolf King. Maintaining an airship was extremely costly in the neutralnds, and even more so for such a highspeed, long-range vessel. Ji Rui was apparently quite anxious, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be seeking help via such expensive methods.

    Qianye could easily intercept and destroy this airship with the Martyr¡¯s Pce, but beating Ji Rui up was only a means to an end. His true purpose was to draw the Wolf King out. The death of an elder shaman was painful but not enough to make him wish he were dead.

    That evening, the Wolf King was frowning on his throne as he gazed at the help-seeking Steward Liu with cold eyes.

    Sweat rolled down the steward¡¯s forehead under the Wolf King¡¯s pressuring gaze, and he could barely stand still. The might of a divine champion wasn¡¯t something an ordinary person could endure. The king was already in a bad mood right now, and seeing someone from Southern Blue only served to remind him of bad memories. How could he possibly wear a friendly face?

    Steward Liu only had half conveyed his message when the Wolf King shot to his feet, deforming the throne beneath him. It was clear just how shocked and angry he was.

    ¡°What did you say? Qianye has appeared in Southern Blue!? Yesterday!?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yes.¡± Steward Liu had expected the Wolf King¡¯s anger, but he hadn¡¯t anticipated such a degree of wrath.

    The Wolf Kingughed wildly. With a swipe of his ws, the steward flew into the divine champion¡¯s grasp and was lifted by the neck.

    Their noses were almost touching when the Wolf King uttered word by word, ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s that Qianye? You should know the fate of those who lie to me!¡±

    Steward Liu trembled involuntarily, but he was still able to retain a modicum of calm despite his fear. He replied cautiously, ¡°This lowly one didn¡¯t see him personally, but these words came from the city lord himself. There should be no mistake.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s fury receded. Ji Rui was only one step away from the divine champion realm; there was no way he would misrecognize a person.

    A couple of werewolves in the hall exchanged silent nces, all of them filled with astonishment. Many of them knew that Qianye had assassinated the shamanst night, and some of them were even at the scene when Qianye jumped into the Eastern Sea. Back then, they had the same thought as the Wolf King. They felt that Qianye would die without a doubt and that everything would end there.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that Qianye would actually appear thousands of kilometers away outside Southern Blue? Judging by the time, he had likely arrived there just hours after jumping into the ocean. These fierce warriors couldn¡¯t reach Southern Blue in such a short time even if they were to run at full speed.

    The Wolf King slowly loosened his grip and allowed Steward Liu tond on the ground. His gaze thennded on a werewolf with a dark-red beard. ¡°Bloodbeard, you go with him and take a look at the situation, take my personal guard unit.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, Great Chief.¡±

    Bloodbeard was a rather proud character. Even while facing the Wolf King, he merely bowed halfway as a token of salutation. A faintly discernible chill flickered through the Wolf King¡¯s eyes, but he took no action against Bloodbeard¡¯s disrespect.

    Despite failing to mobilize the Wolf King himself, bringing Bloodbeard back was still an eptable oue. As a mighty marquis, Bloodbeard was one of the strongest experts below the Wolf King and fairly notorious for his ferocity.

    The anxious Steward Liu urged Bloodbeard to set out as soon as the Wolf King¡¯s order was issued. Thetter was also quite the delightful character¡ªhe immediately summoned fifty of the Wolf King¡¯s personal guards and boarded the highspeed aircraft toward Southern Blue. He had never faced Qianye head-on and was eager to pit himself against this notorious enemy.

    At this moment, Qianye was still standing atop the stone pir, but the number of trucks below had grown from five to eleven. After the hijacking of yet another convoy, no more of them dared to leave the city, and all thepanies gave up entirely on escaping Southern Blue.

    The entire city was silent and most of the businesses had closed their doors.

    Qianye was in no rush, either. Not appearing until now proved that this old fox still believed the enemy had hidden aces, and Qianye was quite curious to know whether the Wolf King woulde for him personally.

    He wanted to see just how effective the Shot of Inception had been against a divine champion. He never got the opportunity to check back then, but it would be reasonable to expect that a magnum so highly rated by Andruil wouldn¡¯t be too shabby.

    Qianye waited patiently, cultivating the Glory Chapter when he had nothing better to do. Comparatively, Ji Rui was the one who couldn¡¯t wait. One day Southern Blue was sealed meant one day of losses, to speak nothing of the damage to his reputation.

    At this point, an airship appeared over the horizon, soon entering the city¡¯s airspace andnding inside the city lord¡¯s manor.

    Qianye slowly retracted the Glory Chapter and stood up¡ªhe had waited too long for new developments. Leaping down from the stone pir, Qianye ran swiftly toward Southern Blue.

 Chapter 849: Nice Working With You

    Ji Rui wasn¡¯t really that happy to see Bloodbeard. Even the Wolf King couldn¡¯t do anything to Qianye, so what was a mere Bloodbeard going to do? He wouldn¡¯t say that openly, of course. Instead, he respectfully weed the werewolf into the mansion.

    Without even settling in, Bloodbeard suggested a spar with Ji Rui. The city lord was immediately stunned.

    Werewolves were inherently battle-hungry, but there had to be a bottom line at the very least. Bloodbeard wasn¡¯t just showing off his fighting power but also expressing his disdain for Ji Rui.

    Finally, Ji Rui took the field grudgingly following the werewolf¡¯s insistent requests.

    Bloodbeardunched a torrent of attacks from the get-go, his crimson beard dancing wildly in the wind. Ji Rui, on the other hand, endured with great difficulty for ten minutes before admitting a close defeat.

    Fortunately, the werewolf knew some propriety and didn¡¯t quite unleash his full strength. Otherwise, what remained of the city lord¡¯s manor wouldn¡¯tst.

    Bloodbeard seemed rather delighted after his victory. He patted Ji Rui¡¯s shoulder with augh, saying, ¡°City Lord, your cultivation iscking! You humans are all the same. You scheme and plot but alwaysg behind when ites to actual fighting. This world is still in the grasp of true warriors.¡±

    ¡°Sir Bloodbeard speaks truly, but I have to manage everything in such a big city, you see. It¡¯s only natural that my cultivation will be dyed.¡±

    Bloodbeard shrugged. ¡°You just focus on your cultivation from here on out. Now that I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll help you with all the annoying city management work, haha!¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression shifted drastically, and the soldiers nearby all tensed up.

    Bloodbeard shot Ji Rui a nce. ¡°What, does the City Lord have any other ideas?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s retained his smile. ¡°I¡¯m of course very much delighted that you would find interest in our small city, but you should talk about this matter with the Wolf King first. He had also mentioned this matter briefly when he camest time.¡±

    Bloodbeard snorted. ¡°There¡¯s no need to report such a minor matter.¡±

    These words proved that this matter was Bloodbeard¡¯s personal greed. Feeling much more rxed, the city lord led Bloodbeard to tour the city, almost as if he were about to hand over the ce.

    Bloodbeard was rather satisfied and delighted at Ji Rui¡¯s tactfulness. He followed the city lord around the streets and alleys of Southern Blue, visiting this ce and that.

    Bloodbeard¡¯s heart skipped a bit as he was passing by a small alleyway.

    Upon ncing over, the first thing he saw was a little girl about six years of age. She was extremely beautiful, so beautiful that Bloodbeard was stunned on the spot.

    The girl didn¡¯t seem quite awake. Herrge eyes were only half-open as she gazed sleepily at the werewolf general.

    Then, her eyes opened wide all of a sudden. She looked somewhat anxious after waking up, yet also quite happy and excited¡ªlike a hunter who had encountered a difficult prey. Immediately afterward, she opened her small mouth and spouted a mass of green gas at Bloodbeard.

    Ji Rui was shocked witless the moment this girl opened her mouth. His fat body erupted with unimaginable speed as he shed hundreds of meters away.

    Meanwhile, Bloodbeard¡ªstill unsure of what had just transpired¡ªwas struck squarely by the gas. He felt a stabbing pain in his eyes as his vision blurred out and his origin power began to surge and boil, almost going out of control. The devastating origin power tore all of his muscles and innards, destroying his body from the inside out.

    Bloodbeard finally came to. This was poison, an extremely venomous toxin! He had probably encountered a high arachne or demonkin whose innate talents specialized in poison.

    He reacted rapidly, unleashing a loud roar and pushing his origin power cirction to the extreme.

    However, Qianye put Zhuji down at this moment and shed at Bloodbeard!

    The strike was well-prepared and timed¡ªif one sh was obstructed, there would be four or five more in close session. This was the true essence of Sweeping Calm. Qianye had mercilessly unleashed his strongest move right off the bat.

    Bloodbeard knew that the attack was powerful and that he had no room for evasion. All he could do was clench his teeth and try to block the iing sh with his left arm.

    If it were any other assant, he might¡¯ve been able to retain his arm or even damage the weapon. s, his opponent was Qianye! Thetter¡¯s physical strength was no weaker than Bloodbeard, and East Peak was a near-invincible masterpiece of the Zhao and Song ns.

    Bloodbeard¡¯s arm flew high into the air as the de descended upon him. However, this block also afforded the werewolf an opportunity to escape. He immediately turned tail and fled into the distance. Along the way, he let out a long, mournful howl that reverberated throughout the city¡ªthis was a signal to scatter. Soon, a continuous string of howls echoed from every part of Southern Blue, all of them moving further and further away.

    After arriving in the city, Bloodbeard had allowed the personal guards to have fun in the city.

    This incident was so sudden that many of them had no idea what was happening. All they could do was run toward the designated location.

    The city was immediately thrown into a franticmotion.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give chase. He only nced toward the other end of the street where Ji Rui was standing with aplicated expression.

    Qianye paid the man no heed as he stomped on the severed arm. A scarlet me ignited below his foot and began incinerating this fairly powerful arm.

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression transformed several times, but he didn¡¯t try to stop Qianye until the very end. He merely shook his head and sighed. ¡°This isplete destruction, why go so far?¡±

    Qianye revealed a radiant smile. ¡°All who oppose me will meet the same fate!¡±

    At Bloodbeard¡¯s level, all parts of the body would¡¯ve undergone numerous refinements and were stronger than the sturdiest of metal alloys. Even if the werewolf could regrow a new arm in the future, it would need to be tempered from scratch, requiring a long period of time before reaching its original power.

    If he could retake this broken arm, he might be able to use some sort of secret art to reattach it to his body. Although there was sure to be a deterioration in power, it was way better than having to reforge one from scratch.

    But Qianye had reduced the arm to ash with his sanguineous mes. It looked like Ji Rui had wanted to return this arm to Bloodbeard and sell him a steep favor. Whether it was to seek his help in the future or to ease tensions, it would both be of help.

    But Qianye was no Ji Rui. His rtionship with the Wolf King was no longer reversible. The situation was clear¡ªif the city lord wanted the arm, he would have to fight for it.

    Ji Rui was never able to make up his mind to fight, even until the arm turned to ash. Heughed wryly and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m old, too old! I don¡¯t dare to put my life on the line like you youngsters.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently but said nothing.

    Ji Rui asked, ¡°General Qianye, don¡¯t you still have that attack you used against the Wolf King? Why didn¡¯t you use it on Bloodbeard? There will be a lot of trouble after you let him go.¡±

    Qianye looked yfully at Ji Rui. ¡°It¡¯s a waste to use such an attack on that red-haired werewolf, only someone like you is worthy of it. As for whether or not I have any left, you only need to try me.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°No need to try. Knowing your style, if you say you have it, you undoubtedly do. Now that you¡¯repletely fearless of this old man, I believe you can stillunch that attack.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°If I really wasn¡¯t afraid of you, I would¡¯ve gone after that wolf. It¡¯s exactly because you¡¯re here that I didn¡¯t dare to start a rampage.¡±

    The words "start a rampage" was spoken with such stress that Ji Rui felt his heart skip a bit. Disregarding whether Qianye would really go all out or not, for now, it would be no less troublesome if Zhuji were to go berserk.

    That little fellow¡¯s green gas hadpletely disoriented Bloodbeard just now and suppressed nine parts of his power. And that was despite the werewolves'' strong constitution and fair resistance to poison. If it was Ji Rui in the wolf¡¯s shoes, he would have probably copsed with just a mouthful.

    Besides, what could Ji Rui do if Qianye wanted to start a massacre in Southern Blue? He couldn¡¯t guard every corner of the city personally, could he?

    Qianye moved like the wind and could kill in a single strike; his origins were mysterious. He was all alone in the neutralnds with neither family nor friend to restrain him. This kind of person was the most difficult to deal with.

    After thinking back and forth, Ji Rui still couldn¡¯t find a good way out.

    As a character who had stayed in power for a long time, he possessed a fair bit of decisiveness on the whole. ¡°I have four ballistae in my storehouse right now, all of them premium-quality frigate main cannons. Just name a location and I¡¯ll ship the goods over!¡±

    ¡°Oh, I thank the City Lord, then. How about the payment?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for so many years, there¡¯s no need to discuss payment. These weapons are a gift, I only hope you¡¯re willing to forget the misunderstandings between us.¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly. ¡°Very well! I¡¯ve seen your sincerity. You have a deal! Just send the goods to the usual ce.¡±

    ¡°Nice working with you!¡±

    ¡°Nice working with you!¡±

    After the two had said their farewells, Qianye picked little Zhuji up and vanished into the alley. Ji Rui¡¯s eyes flickered when he noticed that the little fellow was pale and drowsy, probably unable to produce another mouthful of green gas. If he were to ambush them at such a time, there was a good chance he would be able to take Qianye down. Not only would he have rid himself of future suffering, but he could also avoid the steep price of four ballistae.

    But after some thought, Ji Rui still couldn¡¯t make up his mind. What if the little girl had a breath left in her? There was no need for a lot; just a small mouthful was enough to send him into a daze. This short period was enough for Qianye to fire that extremely terrifying feather.

    The Wolf King could withstand a shot, but Ji Rui didn¡¯t have that kind of physique.

    Qianye had long since disappeared while the city lord was hesitating.

    Ji Rui stamped his feet hatefully before returning to the manor. Once inside, he summoned Steward Liu and ordered him to arrange some trucks to transport the four ballistae to that small town.

    The man was greatly astonished. ¡°Sire, don¡¯t tell me¡­ Bloodbeard also lost?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression was gloomy. ¡°That trash is absolutely useless. He had his arm cut off in the very beginning. Didn¡¯t he ever stop to consider the possibility that I was letting him win?¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts! Go and deliver the goods!¡±

    Ji Rui was beside himself with fury at the moment. How could Steward Liu dare to talk back? He quickly arranged the men and vehicles needed to transport the goods. He was very clear about the value of the goods in the warehouse. Gifting them to Qianye was like surrendering one year¡¯s worth of hard-earned money.

 Chapter 850: Ill Share Everything With You

    Qianye had no real intention of letting Bloodbeard go. After leaving Southern Blue, he immediately circled around the city and chased after the fleeing werewolf. Although chances of catching up to him weren¡¯t that high, he might be traveling slower due to his entourage.

    Qianye ran at full speed, traveling even faster than most airships. He had soon circled around and was running toward the northeast.

    After several dozen kilometers of chasing, the stench of werewolf blood assaulted Qianye¡¯s senses. He immediately turned in a different direction and followed the scent to arrive at a battlefield.

    There was blood everywhere in the wilderness, so much so that they had umted into small puddles. Dozens of werewolf carcasses were strewn across the ce. They had been chopped up into bits and pieces without so much as a single intact corpse. Bloodbeard was on his knees at the center of this massacre, gazing forward with dispirited eyes.

    ¡°Arachne, so it¡¯s the arachne¡­¡± He muttered to himself before copsing to the ground.

    After hisrge body fell down, a young girl in a white dress came into view.

    Compared to theirst meeting, the girl¡¯s hair was disheveled, and her dress was even dirtier. The wounds on her leg had healedpletely, but there were a number of faint scars left behind.

    She was holding a grotesquely shaped cleaver with blood dripping off its edges.

    Little Zhuji was asleep, at first, but she suddenly opened her eyes and stared cautiously at the young girl, her gaze lingering a fair bit on the de.

    This time, Qianye finally noticed the cleaver. Upon careful observation, there was a faint wisp of ck energy lingering around it. This ck energy was soft and thread-like but almost tangible, apparently a form of high-level energy.

    Qianye noticed that the ck energy was characteristic of the arachne, and the cleaver itself was shaped from the tip of a high-ranking arachne¡¯s forelimbs, a duke at the very least. The body of a dead arachne duke was a premium material for cksmithing, but it wasn¡¯t that easy to kill a duke-level expert¡ªwho knew where she had gotten that cleaver from?

    No wonder Bloodbeard was muttering something about an arachne before his death. Arachne limbs were naturally good for breaking through darkness origin power defenses. Bloodbeard was already gravely injured, so he was even less likely to be able to block Bai Kongzhao¡¯s lethal strike.

    Qianye put little Zhuji down and pointed East Peak toward the ground in a guarded stance. ¡°You again?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m robbing them because I have no money.¡±

    The young girl¡¯s excuse sounded as innocent as it was ridiculous. There were so many mercenaries in the neutralnds and so many merchants shuttling between cities. Robbing any of them would¡¯ve been more profitable than robbing a squad of the Wolf King¡¯s lineal descendants.

    No matter how ridiculous an excuse this was, it was still an excuse, and Qianye had no intention of listening, regardless of how reasonable it was. Bai Kongzhao popping up around him was a disaster in the making. Qianye was confident about himself, but others around him would find it difficult to escape her cleaver. If she were to discover the existence of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, she could ughter the entire crew when Qianye wasn¡¯t around.

    Qianye was thus filled with killing intent. His blood energy was at its peak after several days of rest. He was pretty sure that he could kill her by using Spatial sh and the Shot of Inception.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s stern gaze, the young girl had no intention of escaping. She pointed at the corpses and said, ¡°I¡¯ll share half the spoils with you, let me go.¡±

    Qianye was stunned, and the sh he was about to perform stopped midway. This feeling was inexplicably odd. He couldn¡¯t put a finger on it, but it was definitely odd.

    ¡°In the future, I¡¯ll share everything I have with you,¡± the young girl said seriously.

    Qianye felt fairly distressed. He said subconsciously, ¡°No need¡­¡±

    ¡°I want to live.¡±

    This was an exceptionally simple yet important plea. It could be said that survival was the most important thing for every living being, and the way she said it was unquestionable.

    She removed Bloodbeard¡¯s pouch, poured half of its contents out, and turned to leave. She had her back toward Qianye along the way, leaving her vitals open¡ªnot unlike a submissive beast revealing its weakest parts.

    Qianye felt that he couldn¡¯t do it this time, either. If it wasn¡¯t for Bai Kongzhao¡¯s interception, Bloodbeard would¡¯ve fled back to the Totemic Castle. Hisbat strength would be weakened in the future, but he would still remain a difficult opponent nheless. Qianye couldn¡¯t im he could defeat the werewolf without Spatial sh and the Shot of Inception.

    But the easiness of the ambush had to be attributed to Ji Rui. It was because Bloodbeard was in the city lord¡¯spany that he waspletely rxed, allowing Zhuji¡¯s green gas to strike him squarely in the face.

    At the very least, this girl had removed a potential cmity for him, and she had even left half the spoils of war. Although it really wasn¡¯t much, the most important part was that thetter half of what she had said.

    Qianye really didn¡¯t know whether he should take her word on that.

    Regardless of how much he trusted her, the fact remained that he had twice failed to kill her in the neutralnds. He didn¡¯t have that much of an interest in half her fortune. With her mysterious talents, she might be able to obtain some rare and priceless treasures, but he wanted to earn everything by himself.

    While he was thinking, the girl¡¯s silhouette had receded into the distance.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to chase her down?¡± Little Zhuji tugged on Qianye¡¯s shirt.

    This question woke him up from his reverie, but he could no longer find the girl¡¯s figure when he looked out. Qianye rubbed little Zhuji¡¯s hands and said, ¡°Not now, maybe next time.¡±

    ¡°What if she splits half of her things with you again? What will you do?¡±

    This little girl had be quite smart. This question went straight to the crux of the matter, and the startled Qianye didn¡¯t know how to reply. After some thought, he replied with a wry smile, ¡°Do you want me to chase after her or not?¡±

    The littless gave it some thought before saying, ¡°Wait one more day and then chase after her again.¡±

    Qianye found this strange. ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Because we can share more of her stuff after catching up to her.¡± The little fellow replied earnestly.

    Qianye felt his vision turn dark¡ªwho would¡¯ve thought young Zhuji would be showing signs of bing a money-grubber at such an age?

    ¡°Who taught you that?¡± Qianye was discontent.

    ¡°Mama.¡±

    ¡°... I¡¯ll beat him up once hees back!¡±

    No one knew whether Ji Rui had found out about how Bloodbeard had never returned to the Ancient Totemic Castle, but the transaction this time was exceptionally smooth. The four ballistae were duly delivered along with a batch of parts and maintenance materials.

    As usual, Qianye had the Martyr¡¯s Pce hover high above and sent an old cargo ship down to collect the equipment.

    Throughout the entire process, those from Southern Blue worked obediently and didn¡¯t dare y any tricks. Steward Liu busied himself running back and forth, making sure that everything was in appropriate order.

    After the goods had been loaded onto the airship, Steward Liu moved closer to Qianye and said with a smile, ¡°Sire, should we dispatch some mechanics to perform the instation and adjustments?¡±

    Qianye shook his head immediately. ¡°No need.¡±

    Steward Liu pointed to a group of people nearby. ¡°This little one isn¡¯t trying to pry into your matters. Those people were purchased by the city lord as ves, and they used to work for an imperial shipyard. Their airship was hijacked on their way to the neutralnds, and that was how they became ves. They are a gift from the city lord, you can use them as you wish and there¡¯s no need to send them back.¡±

    Only then did Qianye give him a nod. Ji Rui was indeed quite thorough and considerate. Whoever this old fox wanted to curry favors with would feel as though they were bathing in the spring wind.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he scanned the group. Seeing that there wasn¡¯t a single one with champion-level cultivation, Qianye said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, have them board the airship.¡±

    Steward Liu didn¡¯t leave immediately after the transaction. Instead, he stood there and watched until the cargo ship vanished over the horizon before leading his men back.

    At this time, there were leaden clouds hovering over the spires of Totemic Castle¡¯s main building. The noon skies were gloomy and dark, almost as though it was dusk.

    The waves grew taller and taller with each crash, producing sounds that made everyone restless. The wind was so cold and wet that there were water beads on the stone walls. This kind of weather was extremely ufortable for werewolves who preferred dryer weather.

    All the higher-ranking werewolves would appear in their human forms, but the lower-ranking ones had no such luxury. They could only lick their fur from time to time like wargs, not that it was of any use in this kind of damned weather¡ªtheir long fur would still stick together, dripping with water.

    They were close to the sea, and the moisture in the sea wind would condense into water. It was both ufortable and salty. Be it the wargs or the werewolves, all of them were feeling helpless and agitated.

    This kind of weather had gone on for several days, and it did nothing to help the Wolf King¡¯s depressed mood. He had to try fairly hard to keep himself fromshing out at everyone.

    He only walked into the castle hall at noon and assembled the important ministers for a meeting.

    Once seated, the Wolf King could feel a wave of cold moisture from the water covering the throne. It was inexplicably ufortable. The entire hall was cold, gloomy, and scary¡ªeven the glow of the torches seemed fairly weak these days.

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes erupted with a glint of origin power as he wiped away the water on the handrest. Apparently, he was extremely angry. But he came to his senses after seeing the trembling werewolves in the hall and gave up the idea of tossing the cleaners into the sea.

    A ring of mes spread out from the Wolf King¡¯s throne, engulfing the entire hall and sweeping away the moisture therein. The chamber was immediately filled with warmth andfort.

    However, this sensation would onlyst a short while. With the Wolf King¡¯s strength, he still couldn¡¯t go against heaven and earth to maintain this spring-like warmth.

    He scanned the hall briefly and suddenly noticed one person missing. ¡°Where¡¯s Bloodbeard? Why hasn¡¯t he returned?¡±

 Chapter 851: You Think Iâ€™m Easy to Push Around?

    The atmosphere in the ancient Totemic Castle froze up and plunged into silence. No one wanted to answer.

    ¡°Has Bloodbeard returned?¡± The Wolf King repeated sternly.

    This time, an old werewolf took a step forward. ¡°Great Chief, Bloodbeard was dispatched to Southern Blue.¡±

    ¡°I know that! It¡¯s been so long, has he not sent word?¡± The Wolf King¡¯s voice grew increasingly cold and was apparently at a tipping point. If Bloodbeard had stopped reporting after his departure, it could be that he had other ambitions or that he simply didn¡¯t care about the Wolf King.

    The old werewolf was the newly appointed shaman. He hesitated for a moment before speaking cautiously, ¡°Great Chief, there was news from Southern Blue just now, Bloodbeard¡­¡±

    ¡°Speak!¡±

    ¡°Marquis Bloodbeard was heavily injured by Qianye in Southern Blue. Thetter caught up to him soon after he had fled the city, wiping out everyone, including the guards.¡±

    The Wolf King red furiously, filling the hall with a whirlwind of killing intent. He was well beyond angry at this point. Despite his arrogance and unyielding nature, Bloodbeard was still a member of the tribe, and there was no way he could challenge the throne, either, since he wasn¡¯t stronger than the Wolf King.

    But with his death, the tribe had lost a great general and the Wolf King, a capable subordinate. The king was already at a slight disadvantage against the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons. Now that he was weakened, the power bnce in the future was going to be difficult to manage.

    It was that Qianye again! That damned Qianye!

    The Wolf King finally managed to suppress his anger. ¡°Has someone gone to check the scene? What¡¯s the situation?¡±

    ¡°The scene¡­ is a bloody mess, all the corpses have been dismembered.¡±

    This time, the Wolf King was surprisingly calm as he recalled that mysterious white-dressed girl and the grotesque cleaver in her hands.

    The young girl¡¯s strength was mediocre, but her ability to grasp openings was almost unbelievable. Even the Wolf King found it difficult to block her attacks as they would always go for the weakest spots at the most opportune timing. Nheless, the Wolf King was even more apprehensive of her than he was of Qianye.

    ¡°What did Ji Rui say?¡±

    ¡°This information was ryed by the city lord. He said that he was caught off-guard by the sudden development. Bloodbeard ran out of the city immediately after he was ambushed, summoning all of the guards along with him. Ji Rui himself remained in the city to hunt down Qianye. He proceeded to scour the surroundings once he was done searching the city, and that was when he found Sire Bloodbeard¡¯s corpse.¡±

    The Wolf King snorted deeply. His eyes narrowed with murderous intent as he said in a cold voice, ¡°This Fatty Ji really knows how to avoid responsibility.¡±

    The new shaman said, ¡°Regardless, Sire Bloodbeard was ambushed in his territory, so there¡¯s no way he can escape the me. Since he doesn¡¯t want to shoulder responsibilities, why don¡¯t we relieve him of Southern Blue?¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s expression changed slightly. He seemed somewhat moved, but after some thought, he said while shaking his head, ¡°Southern Blue is indeed a gold mine. Fatty Ji was able to build up a fortune because the Spider Emperor, Mask, and I were keeping one another in check. No one was willing to let the other party take Southern Blue. On the other hand, Ji Rui is a genius in business. Any other person in his shoes might not perform that well.¡±

    The shaman said, ¡°Are we just going to let this matter be?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Bloodbeard was escorted there by Ji Rui, and now, he had died on Southern Blue soil. How can we let him off without bleeding him dry?¡± With that, the Wolf King assigned two tribesmen to make for Southern Blue and extort the city lord.

    At this moment, the Martyr¡¯s Pce had just jumped out of the void and appeared outside of the Northern Continent. The instation of the ballistae and kic sails required arge number of technicians. It wasn¡¯t possible for the twenty-some crew onboard to aplish this.

    In the span of a dozen or so days, the Highbeard ancestralnd had transformed once again. Manyrge buildings had begun to take shape, and the road toward the shore had already stretched ten kilometers. At this point, thest batch of imported materials had been used up, and the Highbeards were already starting to draw on the local resources. They were intent on keeping up progress even if they had to mine for materials.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pcended gently beside the Highbeard ancestralnds. Qianye handed the ballistae and kic sails adjustment to Bluemoon, while he himself headed back to the Warm Lake Valley to cultivate in istion.

    In this tranquil environment, time passed by like a calm stream¡ªa dozen days passed by unknowingly.

    Qianye cultivated day in and day out, almost forgetting the passage of time entirely. Little Zhuji slept by his side all this time. The circting origin power around Qianye was the mostfortable environment for the little fellow.

    She was curled up into a ball, like a dreaming little kitten. From time to time, crisp crackling sounds would emerge from her bones and joints as she experienced growth. This rate was far beyond that of an ordinary human.

    Even while cultivating, Qianye could sense that the girl¡¯s location was like a small ck hole, absorbing the nearby origin power without end. There wouldn¡¯t be so much energy in the air under normal circumstances. Her ability to draw origin power and grow while sleeping was something even Qianye felt envious about.

    The little fellow¡¯s absorption rate could be considered terrifying. Any other person in Qianye¡¯s ce would find his cultivation rate slowed down significantly. This, however, wasn¡¯t a problem for him because he could close this gap with two cycles of the Profound Combatant form, a mere hour of extra work.

    There was no day or night during cultivation, and it seemed like this august period would never end.

    On this day, however, Qianye felt his heart skip a beat due to the changes in the surrounding origin power. As such, he slowly opened his eyes.

    Momentster, a ck dot appeared over the distant horizon. The ck dot turned into a fleet of airships flying toward the Northern Continent.

    These airships were intercontinental models with neither insignia nor identification on their hulls.

    From afar, Qianye immediately spotted Song Zining standing on the deck.

    At this moment, the little fellow mbered up as though she had sensed something. ¡°Is Mama back?¡±

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go and wee him.¡± Qianye picked Zhuji up, jumped out of the valley, and flew toward the ancestralnd.

    The fleet was made up of four airships: one warship and three cargo vessels.

    The fleet picked an even area outside of the ancestralnd and performed a gradual descent. Song Zining jumped down as the vessels were a hundred meters from the ground andughed loudly. ¡°Your young master is back!¡±

    Qianye punched him in the chest, saying, ¡°That was pretty quick!¡±

    ¡°Naturally!¡± Song Zining pointed at the three armed cargo ships and said, ¡°My entire fortune is here, please don¡¯t scam me!¡±

    With that, he tossed Qianye a list. Thetter was positively shocked upon ncing through its contents. The three airships contained thirty sets of heavy excavation machinery, two sets of refinery equipment, two kic tower cores, and an entire metal-processing line. There were also numerous machines for manufacturing fine parts as well.

    With these things, a basic manufacturing facility woulde into shape. Most of the machinery were second-hand goods, but they were fairly close to thetest models. They were high-quality goods that couldn¡¯t be found in the neutralnds.

    Apart from this, Song Zining had brought close to five hundred people, all of them veterans who had followed him for many years. With these mening in, Song Zining¡¯s forces would surpass the Highbeard poption and reform the power bnce.

    The duty of receiving the new personnel and settling them in was left to Bluemoon, Red Lotus, and some Ningyuan Stewards. Song Zining selected an area neighboring the Highbeard ancestralnd, firmly blocking their northward expansion. To their west was the mountain range, to the east was Qianye¡¯s Warm Lake Valley, and the southern parts bordered the Eastern Sea¡ªthis effectively locked them inside a circle.

    Bluemoon was clearly not happy, but she was also quite clear about her position, so she didn¡¯t try to dispute. The area currently marked out for the Highbeards had far surpassed their capacity. Even with their high rate of reproduction, it would take over ten years to fill up this space.

    After the subordinates had gone off to work, Song Zining grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said mysteriously, ¡°I¡¯ve found a good way to solve the issue of your Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    ¡°What method?¡± Qianye asked.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was the key to his future path to the Sacred Mountain. Without this time-traversing warship, Qianye would be wiped out by the endless stream of Evernight vessels.

    But the greatest potential problem with the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡ªand also the strongest defensive mechanism¡ªwas the power left behind by the Pointer Monarch, a trap that could kill a divine champion. It was exactly because of this defensive power that Qianye could never touch the core of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, or learn what kind of mechanism was hidden inside of it.

    If the monarch were to find out about the airshiping into being, he might rush over to seize control of it.

    This was what Song Zining was talking about.

    But there was one thing puzzling Qianye¡ªas influential as Song Zining was, how was he going to affect the Pointer Monarch? In truth, all the heavenly monarchs were unreachable existences, and being able to stick around Zhang Boqian was already an extraordinary opportunity.

    Song Zining only responded with a mysterious smile and said, ¡°You¡¯ll know soon. Bring me to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, I want to see how much it has progressed.¡±

    After boarding and touring the airship, Song Zining said with a frown, ¡°Howe there are only four ballistae? What can you do with this number? I remember you had enough money to buy ten.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°These four are free.¡±

    As expected, the seventh young master became spirited. ¡°Free? Howe there¡¯s such a good thing? What happened, tell me!¡±

    ¡°Simple, Ji Rui worked with the Wolf King to ambush me. In the end, I escaped and received four ballistae aspensation for settling this matter.¡±

    ¡°Wolf King!!!¡± Song Zining was shocked. Countless leaves danced about Qianye, scanning him from head to toe. The seventh young master felt relieved only after finding no injuries.

    His expression turned gloomy. ¡°This Fatty Ji is really bold, is there anything he doesn¡¯t dare to do? Does he think this young master is so easy to push around?¡±

    Despite having known him for so long, Qianye had never seen Song Zining so angry¡ªhe was even gnashing his teeth. He quickly patted thetter¡¯s shoulder and consoled him. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m fine. A mere Wolf King can¡¯t kill me. Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯ve escaped from a divine champion more than once. You guys are not my match in terms of running away.¡±

    Song Zining looked somewhat better. He forced a faint smile, but that didn¡¯t stop his killing intent from spilling out.

 Chapter 852: Iâ€™ve never lost before

    ¡°That¡¯s not the same!¡± Song Zining growled. He paced about nearby in apparent agitation.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already made the Wolf King pay, and he will continue to do so,¡± Qianye replied.

    The two seemed to have switched roles. Now it was Qianye who had to keep consoling Song Zining.

    Thetter had be irritable all of a sudden. ¡°You don¡¯t understand! You don¡¯t need to worry about this matter, I¡¯ll handle it. If I don¡¯t let them see my power, they¡¯ll keep thinking this is and of hidden experts.¡±

    Astonished, Qianye broke intoughter. ¡°You can¡¯t even beat Fatty Ji, to speak nothing of the Wolf King. What are you going to do? Throw away your life?¡±

    ¡°And you can beat them!?¡±

    ¡°I can beat Fatty Ji.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Song Zining was stoppered up as his face turned red. Individual fighting power was always the seventh young master¡¯s weak point. He was always one step behind Qianye, yet even a small gap would be magnified hundreds of times in battle.

    Qianye¡¯s provocation actually calmed Song Zining down. He threw his backpack to Qianye with a re and said, ¡°This is for you to protect your puny life with. Don¡¯t get yourself killed while I¡¯m momentarily distracted.¡±

    The backpack was oddly heavy. Qianye had to put in a bit of force to grab the bag properly.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Just open it and you¡¯ll see.¡±

    Qianye unzipped the backpack and found that it was full of origin gun parts. Most importantly, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s gun barrel was also in it.

    Could it be that Song Zining had actuallypleted assembling the weapon in such a short time? Qianye was pleasantly surprised.

    Qianye was already a master in origin gun mechanics¡ªhe picked up theponents and knew how to install them at a nce. His hands moved like the wind, and a long origin rifle was soon assembled amidst crisp clicking sounds.

    This gun had a lusterless deep grey color, heavy yet exquisitely crafted. The origin array within had merged perfectly with the vein of the original metal. The craftsmanship was simply divine, clearly the work of a grandmaster. Comparatively, old man Cui Yuanhai was one level inferior.

    The entire gun was made of sturdy metal, so its weight was naturally quite shocking. Ordinary people wouldn¡¯t even be able to strap a gun weighing hundreds of kilograms onto their backs.

    As long as the marksman could deal with the weight, the other aspects of its design were highly advantageous. The best part was its endurance since it could be used even in adverse environments like the neutralnds. Additionally, the gun body itself was a weapon, with the stock of the rifle being only slightly weaker than East Peak. Even an arachne could hardly stand a direct smash.

    Besides, only such an all-alloy design could bring out the full extent of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s gun barrel.

    Qianye studied the gun repeatedly, and the more he looked at it, the less he wanted to put it back down. This weapon was practically tailored for him¡ªfrom its length to its shape, everything felt just right for his usualbat habits; even the abnormal weight might be a deliberate design.

    Qianye was used to wielding East Peak and could handle a weapon hundreds of kilograms in weight with rtive ease. But the weight of a weapon couldn¡¯t be underestimated¡ªwithout limitations in this parameter, the craftsman could apply various special materials and abilities an ordinary firearm would never possess. This was the only way to bring out the best of that gun barrel.

    On the gun body was a string of mboyant calligraphy: Heartgrave. That was the name of the gun, a description that perfectly reflected the Pointer Monarch¡¯s mood that day. Qianye was startled upon seeing the name. He unknowingly recalled Nighteye and that near-impossible objective he had set out to aplish for her.

    Hismitment to this goal was perhaps more or less an attempt to forget his despair.

    The name Heartgrave was indeed beautiful, but it was somewhat deficient in power. Itcked the silent tyrannical intent and feeling of mortal dejection. Then again, the calligraphy was Song Zining¡¯s handicraft¡ªno matter how talented the seventh young master was, it was only natural that he couldn¡¯tpare to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s will back in the year.

    Qianye put Heartgrave down reluctantly after a lengthy period of observation. If he absolutely had to find some fault with the gun, it was that it had only managed to bring out the barrel¡¯s full power and not improve upon it.

    Qianye sighed regretfully, but after some thought, he felt that his judgment was somewhat unwarranted. This gun barrel was already at grade nine and fairly close on the heels of a grand magnum. Of course, close was the extent of it¡ªit could never be equal. If this grade-nine Heartgrave were to go any higher, it would be a Grand Magnum.

    This was something even the Pointer Monarch had failed to do back in the year, so how could Song Zining be able to aplish it?

    In any case, Heartgrave reaching grade nine was already a pleasant surprise in and of itself. Qianye loved it immensely and simply didn¡¯t want to put it down.

    Heartgrave¡¯s firepower was sufficient and its consumption was fitting of a grade-nine weapon, perhaps even more efficient. Qianye tried injecting his origin power, but the weapon waspletely unresponsive even after absorbing a constant stream of energy.

    Heartgrave absorbed a good portion of Qianye¡¯s origin power in the blink of an eye. Only then was the gun barrel activated and the origin array came alive.

    Qianye stopped the test at this point because he could already tell that a single shot would drain him entirely.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power intensity was close to crystallization despite only having four vortices. Taking only quantity into ount, the origin power in his four origin vortices was almost twice the amountpared to other champions. Even then, a Heartgrave shot would drain him almostpletely. The consumption of this rifle was extraordinary.

    With this gun in hand, Qianye was now like a tiger with wings. Thebined power of Heartgrave and the Wings of Inception would be unimaginable.

    Just as Qianye was cing the weapon into Andruil¡¯s space, he heard a familiar voice behind him. ¡°This engine is quite miraculous. Who would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d actually be able to do it. Mm, this must be the control port, I think? With this, the Martyr¡¯s Pce will change owners!¡±

    Qianye nced back in shock, just in time to find a girl standing in front of the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart and gazing intently at the engine inside of it. At this point, the engine cover had been opened to reveal a moving part inside. And from the looks of it, she was about to reach out to touch it.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Shocked out of his wits, he instinctively shed behind the girl and reached out to grab her!

    The girl¡¯s silhouette was as illusory as a bubble projection. She turned about lithely and leaned back, meeting Qianye¡¯s eyes with a spurious smile.

    It was actually Ji Tianqing!

    Greatly astonished, Qianye did his best to stop his forward momentum. He nted his feet firmly in the ground, literally sinking into the floorboards beforeing to a stop. At this point, his fingers were almost near Ji Tianqing¡¯s chest. Just a bit lower and he would¡¯ve grabbed something plump.

    Qianye had finally managed to contain his force, but Ji Tianqing, thatss, just had to court disaster. She actually took a deep breath at this time.

    It was no longer important whether she was about to unleash an earth-shattering killing move or scream. What¡¯s important was that her chest puffed up, straight into Qianye¡¯s fingers.

    Then, thess¡¯ final move was a startling cry, ¡°Molester!!!¡±

    Qianye felt his vision grow dark and almost copsed on the spot. He pulled his hands back and said with a serious expression, ¡°No.¡±

    Ji Tianqing pulled on Qianye¡¯s hands and shouted, ¡°You refuse to admit!? The material evidence is here!¡±

    ¡°T-That¡¯s my hand.¡±

    ¡°Yes! What did it do just now? What is criminal evidence if this isn¡¯t one?¡±

    Qianye had interacted with Ji Tianqing for a fair length of time, but he had never realized how sharp her tongue was. He simply had no way to retort.

    ¡°Wait, Tianqing, speak nicely if you have anything to say. Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Because... I have a military order!¡±

    Qianye knew something was wrong. ¡°What order?¡±

    ¡°Here it is!¡± Ji Tianqing fished out a sheet of paper and waved it in front of Qianye.

    Qianye was startled. This special paper was specifically used for issuing military orders¡ªnot something that could be forged¡ªbut it waspletely nk!

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s strange expression, thecent-looking Ji Tianqing found that something was wrong. She flipped the page about and immediately became quite embarrassed.

    But then again, when was she ever easy to deal with? Out came her brush, flying swiftly over the paper until a military order was produced on the spot. Afterward, she produced a small bronze seal, blew on it, and stamped the order with a bang.

    ¡°There you go!¡± Ji Tianqing looked immensely proud of herself.

    Qianye received the order and saw the words: ¡°Imperial Colonel Ji Tianqing is hereby ordered to travel to the neutralnds and assume the post of Qianye¡¯s aide-de-camp, effective immediately.¡±

    This aide-de-camp again. It was just that her military rank had changed from major to colonel.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. When his gaze fell on a corner of the paper, though, he almost jumped up in shock.

    The ancient characters carved on the seal read: The pointer doth seek the dao.

    This was the seal of the Pointer Monarch!

    Looking at the size of the seal, it was probably the monarch¡¯s personal seal. Normally, this kind of seal wouldn¡¯t be used on military orders, but due to his status, any form of his signature would have the same effect.

    Qianye nced hesitantly at the military order and then back at Ji Tianqing. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me this seal is genuine?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is.¡±

    She answered as if it werepletely proper and inevitable¡ªQianye instinctively knew that she was speaking the truth. This meant that the Pointer Monarch¡¯s personal seal was indeed in her hands. At this point, things had gotten fairlyplicated.

    ¡°I¡¯m no longer a citizen of the empire. This order isn¡¯t the right one to use on me.¡±

    Ji Tianqing smiled innocently. ¡°I guess, but the seal on the paper is the Pointer Monarch¡¯s seal. Won¡¯t it be inappropriate if you don¡¯t ept it?¡±

    The threat in her words was obvious. Qianye could choose not to ept an imperial order, but how could he dare to refuse the Pointer Monarch¡¯s?

    But epting this kind of order was simply too awkward. Qianye pointed at the seal and asked, ¡°Where did you get it? The Pointer Monarch wouldn¡¯t just let anyone take his personal seal to the neutralnds, would he?¡±

    ¡°I stole it.¡± Ji Tianqing was quite honest.

    ¡°Stole it¡­¡± Qianye was speechless. He shook the military order and said, ¡°Since it was stolen, then this order¡­¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s effective!¡± Ji Tianqing cut him short. Then she said with a scheming smile, ¡°The old man is sensitive about his prestige, he¡¯ll never admit to his seal being stolen. So, this order is definitely genuine!¡±

    ¡°... Fine, you win.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never lost before!¡±

 Chapter 853: Just Rob One

    After helplessly epting the military order, Qianye dragged Song Zining to the side. ¡°Why did you bring her here?¡±

    The seventh young master replied with an innocent expression, ¡°Wasn¡¯t she already your aide-de-camp before this? What¡¯s wrong with following an old superior? Don¡¯t tell me you found a new me and don¡¯t like her anymore? She might not be excessively beautiful, but she¡¯s still at an eptable level. A person shouldn¡¯t always judge people by their faces, how can you be like this?¡±

    ¡°Be serious!¡± Qianye cut short Song Zining¡¯s lengthy discussion. ¡°I¡¯m already a vampire now, at least a half-vampire!¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t moved. ¡°So what? Not to mention a half-vampire like you, the military was even working with the Lightless Monarch Medanzo. As long as the profits are good enough, extrinsic characteristics aren¡¯t important.¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a moment and thenughed wryly. ¡°I more or less understand, but¡­ but some things, I¡¯d rather not.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ I really don¡¯t know what to say to you.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What¡¯s her identity? Is it really appropriate for her to be here?¡±

    ¡°Well, it isn''t appropriate, but I¡¯ll let you handle that. She¡¯s already here, in any case, and it¡¯s already toote to send her back. As for her identity, I don¡¯t know, either. Ask her yourself!¡±

    Seeing Song Zining extricate himself entirely, Qianye was beside himself with anger. He said through gritted teeth, ¡°I¡¯m sending her back tomorrow!¡±

    Song Zining pointed at the military order in Qianye¡¯s hands and said meaningfully, ¡°You think you can? You¡¯ll be offending the Pointer Monarch if you do that. Think carefully now. Offending the military isn¡¯t that big of an issue, but if you offend the Pointer Monarch, you can forget about keeping the Martyr¡¯s Pce, first and foremost.¡±

    ¡°How can it be that serious?¡±

    ¡°It is that serious! In short, you must settle this matter with her, no matter what method you use. It¡¯s best if you settle this in bed. That¡¯s the only way you¡¯ll have a sliver of hope to aplish that outrageous Sacred-Mountain dream of yours.¡±

    ¡°Wait, this¡­¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye to argue, Song Zining stuffed the words back into his throat. ¡°This is the only method I can think of. Besides, what¡¯s so bad about this? Just look at her more and you¡¯ll find her attractive.¡±

    Qianye heaved a long sigh, unable to further argue his case.

    The initial feeling Ji Tianqing had given off was that of a pure, sweet young girl. She was on the prettier side of the spectrum but not outstandingly beautiful, the type that didn¡¯t leave too deep of an impression.

    Now that they were reunited...

    Qianye could hardly remember how she looked, and this wasn¡¯t normal. How could someone with the Eye of Truth forget someone¡¯s appearance? And that of an ally, no less!

    This kind of phenomenon proved that Ji Tianqing possessed some kind of extremely powerful secret art that could influence others secretly, preventing them from remembering her appearance.

    It was just as Song Zining had said, she was already here and couldn¡¯t be sent back. So, the only way was to build a good rtionship. As for what whimsical notion had brought her to this ursed ce, Song Zining had only one answer for him: willfulness.

    While the two were busy whispering amongst themselves, Ji Tianqing had once again arrived near the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart-engine. She also had a number of instruments in her hand and looked like she was about to disassemble the machinery.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Shocked out of his wits, Qianye stepped in front of her and blocked the way. No one could save her if she were to activate the Pointer Monarch¡¯s trap.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, don¡¯t mess around! The Pointer Monarch left a secret contraption here, I can¡¯t save you if you activate it.¡±

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t seem to mind, though. ¡°So it¡¯s the Pointer Monarch¡¯s trap. That makes things even easier. Rest assured, the old man¡¯s power is useless against me, have you forgotten that I have this?¡±

    With that, she waved the monarch¡¯s personal seal in front of Qianye.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you steal that?¡±

    Ji Tianqing pointed at the heart. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t know whether or not I stole it.¡±

    ¡°... Fine, as long as you feel it¡¯s okay.¡± Qianye inhaled deeply.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s okay!¡± To Qianye¡¯s great rm, Ji Tianqing began knocking on the delicateponents inside the engine. She then said, ¡°There are several secret mechanisms inside this engine. You think those military people are saints? There are pre-set boobytraps here, here, and here. And there¡¯s a high-energy origin bomb hidden inside this part. Should your engine output reach a certain level one day, then congrattions! You¡¯ll see the most brilliant fireworks go off!¡±

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°How can this be?¡±

    ¡°This is only natural. People from the military would naturally remove these defensive setups. You robbed this engine from them, so you have no idea. Speaking of which, they should¡¯ve left an instation manual, right?¡±

    Qianye nodded with a wooden expression, almost as though he couldn¡¯t believe things.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct then, they¡¯re actually afraid you wouldn¡¯t install the engine on the earth dragon¡¯s heart.¡±

    At this point, Qianye came to a new level of realization regarding the schemes of the imperial military. If it wasn¡¯t for Ji Tianqing¡¯s arrival, the day hepleted the basic outfitting of the Martyr¡¯s Pce and shifted it into full output mode would be the day of its destruction.

    Ji Tianqing was already beginning to remove some of theponents at this point. ¡°Stop gazing and stop the engine. You¡¯re not going to make me work while it¡¯s running, are you?¡±

    Responding to Qianye¡¯s will, the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart slowly stopped beating and the engine grew dark as its intricate parts stopped operating.

    Ji Tianqing moved as swift as the wind, immediately removing severalponents before opening up the internalpartment. From within, she carefully fished out a fist-sized silver drum and tossed it to Qianye. ¡°This is for you!¡±

    Qianye was greatly astonished because he could actually sense a violent force brewing inside this argent cylinder. Once ignited, the resultant st would rival that of hundreds of origin grenades¡ªit would even injure a divine champion.

    He immediately sank into a horse-stance. His hand shot out at lightning speed but turned gentle at the final juncture, supporting the cylinder with an ephemeral application of force.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief as the tubended in his hand. This brief ordeal had actually left him drenched in cold sweat.

    His instincts told him that he himself would survive if this thing were to explode, but Song Zining would probably be done for and the crew would be wiped out. Ji Tianqing possessed a mysterious background and superior abilities, so she might leave with her life, but it definitely wasn¡¯t going to feel good.

    How could she toss such a dangerous thing without a warning?

    Carrying this dangerous cylinder, Qianye could neither toss it nor put it down anywhere. In the end, he put it away in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Such high-grade spatial equipment! As expected of the awesome Sire Qianye, the fierce character who had embarrassed the imperial military, one of the empire¡¯s twin rising stars, and candidate for the most handsome man in the younger generation! You really do have some good stuff. What else do you have? Let me see.¡±

    Qianye refused calmly. ¡°That¡¯s all, nothing else.¡±

    ¡°So stingy, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll rob you.¡± Ji Tianqing rolled her eyes at him and then went back to fixing the engine parts. Finally, shetched the cover back on and patted her hands. ¡°All done, now you can use her any way you want.¡±

    Qianye issued a mentalmand to start up the engine and sighed in relief to find the engine still operating normally. This bomb was a hidden danger. Now that it had been removed, Qianye felt exceptionally rxed.

    Ji Tianqing jumped down from the engine and arrived beside Qianye, smiling. ¡°Mission aplished, Sire Qianye. When do you n to start fighting?¡±

    ¡°Fighting?¡±

    ¡°Of course! The neutralnds wouldn¡¯t be the neutralnds without all the fighting. I finally managed to run away, no, I mean¡­ get dispatched to this ce. We have to grasp this time to wage a couple of wars! War, I say!¡±

    Qianye felt a wave of distress washing over him. Who would¡¯ve thought this fellow was a warmonger? In order to stop her from throwing more military orders at him, Qianye could only look at Song Zining for help.

    This time, however, the seventh young master ranpletely counter to him. ¡°We¡¯ll fight! Of course, we have to fight! Let¡¯s take down that Fatty Ji¡¯s Southern Blue first. I see that we¡¯re not too far off from that ce. It¡¯s a great location to build a fort.¡±

    ¡°Taking a city right off the bat?! I like it! How many men do we have?¡±

    ¡°You, me, and him. Three of us,¡± Song Zining replied.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s smile froze up. She red fiercely at the seventh young master, saying, ¡°Are you trying to fool me?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Of course not! If you guys aren¡¯t going, then I¡¯ll go alone.¡±

    Qianye felt a deep headache. He dragged Song Zining back and said helplessly, ¡°Don¡¯t be rash, okay? Ji Rui is already obedient now, and there are a lot of benefits we can milk from that fatty. Besides, you¡¯re not his match.¡±

    Song Zining sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t necessarily need to attack in order to let him know my power. This fellow is clearly taking advantage of your softheartedness, attacking time and again. Too bad for him, Song Zining is also in the neutralnds now. That means there¡¯s no more leeway for him to y his two-faced games. He will either submit or we¡¯ll wipe him out sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qianye felt that there was no need to go that far, but he had just been criticized for being soft-hearted and the seventh young master was quite agitated now. So, it wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to say too much.

    Thinking back, it would seem Song Zining had never before acted so thunderously because of his matters.

    ¡°So what exactly are we going to do first?¡± Ji Tianqing seemed to be in more of a rushpared to Song Zining.

    It looked like things were about to go south if this battle-hungry madman wasn¡¯t given anything to do. Qianye quickly recalled the expansion n he had gone over with Song Zining before. ¡°Let¡¯s set up a mercenary corps first. Having a corps in the outside world will allow us to do some different things.¡±

    ¡°Mercenary corps? Good idea! Let¡¯s do that.¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s tone made it sound like she was themander and Qianye was the aide.

    Qianye collected his thoughts. ¡°Let¡¯s find a base of operations and construct some basic defenses. Money isn¡¯t a problem for the time being, but outfitting the hired guns will take some nning. We¡¯ll also need people like Ji Rui to cooperate so that we can recruit people in Southern Blue¡­¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he was cut short by Ji Tianqing. ¡°Man, that¡¯s so troublesome, we¡¯ll just rob one!¡±

 Chapter 854: Robbery

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce took to the skies in the dark night and traversed the golden twilight clouds over the Eastern Sea.

    At this moment, there were close to a hundred sailors and technicians rushing about the airship, most of them people Song Zining had brought.

    The pce¡¯s control didn¡¯t take too many people with Qianye around, so most of the staff were engineers working to install all kinds of equipment and facilities. At the very least, a small sealed area had formed around the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, and a dozen or so lower cabins had been constructed¡ªthese engineers wouldn¡¯t need to sleep out in the open any longer.

    The five kic sails had been fully installed, which eased Qianye¡¯s work quite a bit in terms of control. He only needed to maintain the airship itself in a state of flight, while the crew adjusted their bearing via the sails. This form of steering was naturally less flexiblepared to controlling the Martyr¡¯s Pce itself, but it freed Qianye from having to pay constant attention to the direction.

    As someone seeing the dragonship in action for the first time, Ji Tianqing was fairly excited about everything. She scuttled through every part of the vessel with Song Zining in tow, asking countless questions everywhere. At first, Song Zining had wanted to push this responsibility onto Qianye, but after visiting a couple of ces, he felt that he had no choice but to face thedy himself. That was because her questions were all rted to supply, demand, and prices.

    After running once around the airship, Her Excellency Miss Tianqing¡¯s grand ns formally came into being. ording to her elderly grace, the Martyr¡¯s Pce should be built into a peerless super warship that could suppress any Evernight airship. Those, whatever, Apocalypse or Eternal Darkness should kneel before the Martyr¡¯s Pce or flee on sight.

    Of course, Miss Tianqing wasn¡¯t quite satisfied with the vessel¡¯s name, either. She felt that the name Martyr¡¯s Pce wasn¡¯t tyrannical enough and that it should be changed to H.M.S. Tianqing for perfection.

    When the young miss threw out her construction ns, it was definitely more powerful than Bluemoon¡¯s original design. To speak nothing of the other stuff, the earth-dragon powered main-cannon of hers that could destroy any regr battleship in one shot from fifty kilometers away had never appeared in this world before.

    ording to her concept, this legendary giant cannon wasn¡¯t an impossible feat. It was just that the price involved would also go well beyond human imagination and feasibility. Disregarding whether or not it could really be constructed, the funds required to purchase all the parts would exceed Bluemoon¡¯s entire budget projection.

    In other words, the capital required to reconstruct the entire Martyr¡¯s Pce wasn¡¯t enough to build Miss Tianqing¡¯s ideal cannon¡ªand that was only the value of theponents. More often than not, the processing and engineering for main cannons were more expensive than the parts themselves.

    No wonder Song Zining¡¯s expression turned increasingly ashen as Ji Tianqing grew more and more excited. This was only the main cannon. Naturally, there were other auxiliary equipment that had to apany the weapon. In the end, this so-called H.M.S. Tianqing would probably require a heavenly monarch to control.

    This kind of fantasy-grade warship was indeed boundless in power and could probably shoot through Twilight Continent on its own. The problem was that its construction costs would equal half of the imperial fleet, something the empire had umted over centuries.

    Qianye waspletely puzzled as he listened in from the sidelines. It was probably a good thing that he couldn¡¯t understand many of the things Ji Tianqing was talking about. Song Zining, on the other hand, was inexplicably distressed and anxious.

    Miss Tianqing wasn¡¯t daydreaming, though. The ns she had proposed were actually things that could be done, at least in theory. The only problem was that the cost would be too high.

    The Song n had always been extremely wealthy. The seventh young master was more or less influenced by his upbringing and possessed a simr character. He had built the Ningyuan Group from the ground up and led it to great sess, even gaining connections with the Twin Paragons of the empire. In terms of fortune, it could be said that Song Zining was number one among the younger generation.

    Hence, the words ¡°too expensive¡± were as heavy as a mountain to him. He couldn¡¯t quite bring himself to say it.

    After listening for some time, Qianye finally understood what was going on and he couldn¡¯t help but cut short Ji Tianqing¡¯s grandiose speech. ¡°This¡­ Tianqing¡­ we really can¡¯t afford that.¡±

    ¡°No one¡¯s telling you to pay up on the spot, what are you afraid of?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t afford it in the future, either.¡±

    ¡°Go and rob! What are the neutralnds for if not to rob money and women?¡±

    Qianye was also defeated before the young miss¡¯ bandit-like intent.

    Ji Tianqing pped Qianye firmly on the shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s all settled then! We can take our time thinking about the remodeling ns, just change the name to H.M.S. Tianqing for now. That doesn¡¯t cost money, does it?¡±

    Qianye nced at the girl¡¯s hand on his shoulder and frowned. Ji Tianqing gave him another pat, saying, ¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to scream molester?¡±

    He didn¡¯t scream, but he did fall into deep contemtion.

    ¡°Boring." A pouty Ji Tianqing muttered thus before running off to see other stuff on the airship.

    Song Zining came over to offer words of constion. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much, I can¡¯t evade her, either.¡±

    People at their level ofbat arts could sense external objects approaching. One would need to bepletely unguarded in order to perform an intimate action like pping each other¡¯s shoulders. Yet, Ji Tianqing¡¯s seemingly casual p was actually an outstanding secret art that could mask all hostile intent, thus preventing the target¡¯s reaction.

    With Ji Tianqing¡¯s ability, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for her to quickly raise her origin power to the max. This also meant that she could heavily injure Qianye and Song Zining at any given moment.

    It would seem the seventh young master had openly epted this fact. That was why he hade over to console Qianye.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that Qianye would roll his eyes at him, saying, ¡°You might not be able to evade her, but that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t.¡±

    Startled, Song Zining asked, ¡°Then why did you look like you were so dejected?¡±

    ¡°To make her speak less.¡±

    ¡°... Qianye, you¡¯ve really learned bad things.¡±

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce flew quietly through the night and unknowingly arrived above Southern Blue. It hovered around the edge of the void, at a distance even a divine champion couldn¡¯t sense.

    Three figures flew out of the pce and charged toward the city below¡ªJi Tianqing, Qianye, and Song Zining.

    The three went through aplete freefall in the beginning. After falling halfway and reaching less than a thousand meters from the ground, Song Zining suddenly opened his folding fan. The trio was surrounded by the faint glow of spring and a warm breeze, almost as though there was a giant, invisible hand supporting their bodies and breaking the momentum of their fall.

    It was just that the three were falling too violently and the seventh young master just had to project some beautiful scenery at the expense of increased workload. Hence, his face turned pale from exhaustion not long afterward.

    Qianye snorted as his own domain flickered into being. The power of the great ocean vortex was as sturdy as the mountains and actually slowed down their fall. The maelstrom¡¯s power canceled out the fall little by little until they were descending rather gently.

    Qianye was still far inferior in terms of softness. Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves art was as gentle and silent as spring water, while Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex was firm and fierce. Even Ji Tianqing was surprised by thetter''s ability to utilize his domain to such a level.

    As surprised as she was, the young miss seemed to have no intention of putting in any effort. She clung onto Qianye with an attitude that said if we die, we die together.

    During this kind of high altitude jump, bringing someone along was neither too hard nor too easy. Qianye had no other choice but to let her treat him as a manualborer.

    Qianye¡¯s domain erupted as the three of them were a hundred or so meters from the ground. This time, however, the near-linear force forced them into a horizontal flight toward the city center.

    The moment Qianye released his domain, two auras¡ªa stronger one and a weaker one¡ªsurged up from the city lord¡¯s residence. The more powerful one was naturally Ji Rui¡¯s and the other was Guan Zhongliu¡¯s. It was just that thetter¡¯s aura had weakened quite a bit, quite likely a consequence of the shockwave produced by the Wolf King.

    Qianye was about to speak when Song Zining said coldly, ¡°Ignore them!¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Ji Tianqing wanted nothing more than to sow chaos.

    Helpless to do anything, Qianye stood hovering over the city and locked onto a certain objective.

    Many mercenary corps had set up their base of operation in Southern Blue. These bases were actually no more thanrge courtyards and weren¡¯t even allowed to build cannon turrets. In truth, not many of them could afford cannon turrets, especially therge ones that required support from a kic tower.

    Qianye memorized the distribution of mercenary corps in just a nce, quickly picking out several candidate targets topare and contrast. Just as he was matching them against the information from his memory, Song Zining dived down all of a sudden.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, what are you waiting for!?¡± Ji Tianqing followed hot on his heels with Qianye in tow.

    ¡°You¡¯ve finished selecting?¡± Qianye, who felt his strategic skills had improved, was greatly set back.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to pick? Just grab the biggest one!¡±

    Qianye was beaten down even more. It would seem thinking too much wasn¡¯t a good idea. either.

    Frost Wolf Mercenary Corps was one of the most famous corps in Southern Blue, the absolute pride of their leader of the same name, Frost Wolf. He was also intelligent enough to know that their fame was limited to Southern Blue and that they were nothing outside of the city.

    Hence, he had always adopted a stable strategy and followed firmly in the city lord¡¯s footsteps, only doing business with the major merchants of the city. Although the profits generated from such deals weren''t much, the risk was always quite small as well. Frost Wolf had grown bigger and bigger over the span of a dozen years. Even their courtyard had been expanded twice. Frost Wolf was recently pondering whether it was time to build a couple of cannon towers. The defense was secondary; the primary issue was to disy one¡¯s might.

    At this moment, there were two miniature cannon tower models on the table in front of him. They were highly realistic and could be disassembled to reveal the internalponents. The parts that could be adjusted or moved was clearly indicated.

    Looking at these two cannon towers, he felt both delighted and worried.

    Just as he was fretting about this matter, he heard a massive bang as the chamber door was kicked flying!

    The development was too sudden and devoid of all warning signs. As a rank-thirteen expert himself, Frost Wolf sensed nothing up until his door was kicked down.

    Outside of the door, Ji Tianqing lowered her raised leg and walked in withrge strides. Observing every part of the room, she said, ¡°Quite well maintained I must say.¡±

    Frost Wolf took two steps back, and with his back pressed against the wall, he asked, ¡°You are?¡±

    Whoever it was, he knew he wasn¡¯t this person¡¯s match.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to rob,¡± thus said Miss Tianqing.

 Chapter 855: Foundation Building

    ¡°Robbery?¡± Frost Wolf clearly hadn¡¯te to at this point.

    This was Southern Blue, and Frost Wolf was thergest mercenary corps here, one working fairly closely with the city lord and the important merchants. There was actually someone nning to rob them under such circumstances? It was already quite good that he wasn¡¯t bullying other people.

    ¡°Yes, this is a robbery.¡± Ji Tianqing arrived behind Frost Wolf and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

    Even Qianye and Song Zining couldn¡¯t evade her p, much less this Frost Wolf. The moment this p struck the corpsmander, his height was shortened by half as the lower part of his body went through the wooden boards and into the floor below.

    Only at this point did Frost Wolf¡¯s protective origin power start working. He retaliated with full power, demolishing the entire building in a flurry of flying gravel and debris.

    Ji Tianqing was still pping on Frost Wolf¡¯s shoulder as though she had nothing to do with the things going on around her. The second p thumped themander right into the basement. There was nowhere else to sink at this point, but Young Miss Tianqing delivered yet another blow, hammering a good part of Frost Wolf¡¯s body into the building¡¯s foundation.

    A champion¡¯s body was extremely strong, and even a human champion was much sturdier than a building¡¯s foundation. Frost Wolf was sure to survive, but injuries were inevitable.

    After three such ps, Frost Wolf hade to realize that this young miss wasn¡¯t a character he could afford to offend. He immediately retracted his aura and pretended to be unconscious, only using his origin power to protect his innards.

    The entire building had vanished at this point, reced by a fairlyrge pit. Ji Tianqing was crouched down at the bottom of this hole, pulling on Frost Wolf¡¯s hair like a little kitten ying with a new toy.

    The massive ruckus naturally rmed all of the mercenaries in the base. Hundreds of soldiers ran out from their barracks, most of them still drowsy and unclear as to what had just happened.

    Song Zining patted Qianye on the back. ¡°Unleash your aura.¡±

    Qianye felt puzzled. What was the point of unleashing his aura? These sub-champion mercenaries were far from able to sense anything. But the seventh young master had to have his reasons. Soon, a beam of dark golden blood energy shot up into the skies.

    As expected, the mercenaries couldn¡¯t sense anything, and even that Frost Wolf was busy feigning unconsciousness. It was actually Ji Tianqing who nced back with aplicated expression, shivering all the while.

    Far off in the sky over the city lord¡¯s manor, Ji Rui and Guan Zhongliu were standing in the air, gazing at the three youths who were busy engaging in robbery.

    Both Ji Rui and Guan Zhongliu sensed the dark golden blood energy when it appeared. Thetter had it easier, only feeling a sharp stab between his brows. Ji Rui, on the other hand, found his aura declining sharply before slowly climbing back up. Under the darkness of the night, no one noticed that his face had turned somewhat pale.

    Ji Rui and Guan Zhongliu had unleashed their aura as a warning and deterrence. Qianyeunching his blood energy into the sky was akin to deliberate provocation. As someone used to being tyrannical, how could Guan Zhongliu take this lying down?

    He said furiously, ¡°I¡¯ll go and teach these brats some manners!¡±

    He was just about to charge out when his body sank down as Ji Rui dragged him back. Guan Zhongliu asked in surprise, ¡°City Lord, why are you stopping me? These people are bullying us at our doors!¡±

    Ji Rui sighed. ¡°Even if they are bullying us at our doors, can you do anything?¡±

    ¡°Even if I¡¯m not their match, you can deal with them, can¡¯t you? How can a group of brats be your match?¡±

    Ji Rui sighed again. ¡°So what if I beat them?¡±

    ¡°Of course, you can drive them away.¡±

    ¡°How about next time?¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Guan Zhongliu was stoppered up.

    Even Guan Zhongliu understood that they had no power to detain Qianye. Now, the two youngsters with him seemed equally unfathomable and definitely weren¡¯t ordinary brats.

    With Ji Rui taking the field, he would, at most, be able to drive the three away. He probably couldn¡¯t even injure them. If these three were toe every day in the future, there would be no end to their problems.

    Guan Zhongliu wasn¡¯t dumb, either. He felt a chill run through his heart upon noticing just how young these people were. Aplishing this much at such an age meant that they were supported by powerful characters and families. And here he was, struggling as a champion at his age.

    ¡°Let¡¯s return,¡± said Ji Rui.

    Guan Zhongliu nodded silently.

    When Qianye unleashed his blood energy, he had contended against Ji Rui and Guan Zhongliu in terms of vigor. It wasn¡¯t so evident with thetter, but the city lord had definitely taken a small loss in this exchange. It was this confrontation that allowed Ji Rui to notice how unimaginably high ranked Qianye¡¯s blood energy was.

    Ji Rui was willing to shrink back, but Song Zining wasn¡¯t about to let him do as he pleased. The seventh young master dragged Qianye over, saying, ¡°Leave this ce to Tianqing, let¡¯s pay the city lord a visit.¡±

    Qianye shrugged and followed Song Zining. Normally, Qianye would¡¯ve stopped after seeing Ji Rui¡¯s decision to back off¡ªhe had no ns to force the man into a corner. Nheless, Song Zining seemed to have other intentions by leaving no leeway for the city lord.

    The two arrived at the city lord¡¯s manor without disguising their aura. Under such circumstances, Ji Rui no longer had the option of keeping things under wraps. He could only fly up from the mansion to face the duo mid-air. ¡°What brings the two generals here?¡±

    Song Zining cupped his fists. ¡°City Lord Ji, I presume?¡±

    ¡°That is indeed I. How should I address you?¡± Ji Rui was fairly polite.

    ¡°Song Zining. Since the city lord knows about Qianye¡¯s background, I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve heard some things about me.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°So it¡¯s the seventh young noble of the Song n, I wascking in manners.¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t any less famous than Qianye. As a bonafide lineal scion of the Song n, his status was extraordinary. Additionally, he had assumed an official position in the military as Zhang Boqian¡¯s staff officer¡ªthis experience wasn¡¯t something to be trifled with. It stood proof that he had caught the heavenly monarch¡¯s attention and anyone wanting to touch him had to think about the name, Zhang Boqian.

    If such a person were to fall in the outside world, the Song n would never let the matter rest. They had to hunt down the murderer at all costs, for the n¡¯s prestige if nothing else.

    Ji Rui had studied deeply about Evernight and the Empire, so he naturally understood the attitude of these aristocratic families. He immediately treated Song Zining with due respect and became restless while thinking about what the Song wanted to do in the neutralnds.

    After all, the neutralnds were fairly isted in terms of news. Ji Rui had no idea that Song Zining had cut off the n and be independent. And with the seventh young noble¡¯s meteoric rise in recent years, the Song n simply made no mention of him breaking off from the n. On the contrary, they expressed their goodwill constantly in an effort to show that both parties were still one family.

    Ji Rui¡¯s reaction was within Song Zining¡¯s expectations. He closed his fan with a gentle smile and proceeded to tap his other palm with it. ¡°I heard from Qianye that the City Lord hasn¡¯t been very genuine in the past.¡±

    Ji Rui was shocked out of his wits. Such direct words left him no space to maneuver and would likely result in a fight at the slightest disagreement. He coughed a couple of times and said with a wry smile, ¡°Seventh Young Noble might not know, but there is now and order here in the neutralnds, whoever has the biggest fist makes the rules. I had no right to refuse when the Wolf King came knocking on my door.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned frosty. ¡°Is that so? Does that mean you can say no to me!?¡±

    Ji Rui was inwardly furious, but his face was still full of smiles. ¡°Seventh Young Noble is acting like an outsider now. The entire world knows the Song n, just tell me whatever you need and I¡¯ll definitely help out.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Fine, that¡¯s what I was waiting for. I came to the neutralnds to build a business with my brothers. I see that Southern Blue is a bustling city and wish to build my base of operations here. I¡¯ll rely on you to take care of us in the future.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s expression changed somewhat. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely help in whichever way I can, it¡¯s just that the Wolf King¡­¡±

    Song Ziningughed coldly. ¡°I have my ways in dealing with the Wolf King. City Lord, I don¡¯t want to threaten you, but the one whom you should be afraid of isn¡¯t the Wolf King. This young master is much more ruthless, I¡¯ll have you know.¡±

    Ji Rui looked fairly embarrassed. ¡°This¡­ You surely jest.¡±

    Song Zining adopted a stern expression. ¡°I am not joking. Since I¡¯ve alreadye to the neutralnds, do you think it¡¯ll be difficult for me to manage this city? Remember that your existence is not essential to Southern Blue.¡±

    These words were fairly serious. Ji Rui was livid and on the verge of acting out, but he still couldn¡¯t muster up the courage in the end. He merely returned to the manor with a wave of his sleeve, not even bothering to engage in formalities.

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go back, things should be settled by now, there won¡¯t be anyone to resist us.¡±

    Qianye was astonished after returning to the mercenary base. In the short while that they were talking with Ji Rui, the Frost Wolf Mercenary Corps had already turned into aplete mess. There were soldiers strewn across the ground with only a couple dozen depressed mercenaries still standing.

    No wonder Song Zining had said that there would be no one to resist. It turned out that Ji Tianqing had knocked out all the dissenters. Additionally, there was a strong stench of blooding from outside of the courtyard where a dozen hunters were lying in pools of blood. They were all friends of Frost Wolf who hade to help out and seek remuneration for the assistance. Unfortunately, they had run into a god of murder like Ji Tianqing.

    Young Miss Tianqing was never merciful when she needed to establish her might at the critical juncture. A casual wave was enough to bring about heavy casualties.

    Seeing Song Zining return, she asked, ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s a happy deal.¡± Song Ziningughed.

    ¡°All is good then, I think this mercenary corps is a bit too small, how long will it take if we¡¯re going to expand slowly? There are quite a few mercenary groups in this area, why don¡¯t we rob them all?¡±

    Song Zining raised a thumb. ¡°That¡¯s how it should be.¡±

    That night, the entire Southern Blue descended into chaos as mercenary corps of all shapes and sizes fell into mortal peril. mes sprang up in several locations and lit up Southern Blue with a reddish hue¡ªthe people there had angered Young Miss Ji with their disobedience. She didn¡¯t kill them proactively and only set fire to their bases of operation. Of course, those who had attacked her during the arson were quickly turned into corpses.

    With such a grave matter at hand, the mercenaries sought help from the city lord. Nheless, Ji Rui shut his doors tight and refused all visitors. This made it clear that even the city lord couldn¡¯t do anything against this rampaging group. The only way left for these mercenaries was to flee or to submit.

    By the time dawn arrived over Southern Blue, the entire atmosphere here had changed.

 Chapter 856: Dark Flame Reborn

    By the time the first light of dawn washed over Southern Blue, the mes therein had more or less begun to die down. Leaders of mercenary corps big and small were gathered in the Frost Wolf Corps¡¯ base, most of them with swollen faces or even carried in.

    There were quite a few people around, but the ce was permeated by utter silence. Everyone wore frightened expressions, not daring to even breathe loudly or nce at the demondy.

    Ji Tianqing was instructing a couple of corpsmanders to set up a stage, and Frost Wolf was also among them. Beforest night, he was a fairly well-respected character in Southern Blue, but now, the dejected man had no choice but to carry logs about and perform manualbor.

    With so many champion-level experts working, a simple stage was very soonpleted. Ji Tianqing instructed the men to ce on the stage arge chair that had been carried over from somewhere else. She then waved at Qianye, saying, ¡°Come up!¡±

    Qianye ascended the tform with a wooden expression and was duly pressed into the seat by Ji Tianqing, facing the crowd of mercenaries.

    Thetter took a step back to stand behind Qianye. ¡°From today on, our mercenary corps¡­ what should we call it?¡±

    ¡°Tianqing,¡± Song Zining replied expressionlessly.

    ¡°No! It has to be Song Seven, of course!¡±

    ¡°Bah! I don¡¯t want such a ragged mercenary corps named after me!¡±

    ¡°You have no choice!¡±

    ¡°This corps is Qianye¡¯s, why must it be named after me?¡±

    Ji Tianqing pped her forehead. ¡°Oh right, let¡¯s call it the Qianye Mercenary Corps, then!¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Qianye could bear it no longer.

    After a brief period of quarreling, they finally decided to reforge the Dark me Mercenary Corps in the neutralnds. Hence, the name became ¡°Dark me¡±.

    Ji Tianqing raised her voice. ¡°From today on, you are a part of Dark me Mercenary Corps. I¡¯ll give you half a day¡¯s time to settle private businesses. You will all report-in tonight, whoever fails to show up will be responsible for their own fate. I¡¯ve already shown you enough examples anyway.¡±

    All the mercenary heads agreed. Who would dare otherwise?

    Greatly satisfied, Ji Tianqing pped the back of the chair, saying, ¡°This Qianye is yourmander from now on.¡±

    She then pointed at herself. ¡°I¡¯m his aide-de-camp, remember?¡±

    The crowd bowed at the same time. ¡°Yes, Sire Aide-de-camp!¡±

    This lineup and vocality sounded more like Qianye was Ji Tianqing¡¯s aide instead. Beside them, the seventh young master could no longer sit still. He took a step forward and said in a clear voice, ¡°This young master is Song Zining, and I will be your military strategist from now on.¡±

    The people below nced at one another, but no one had heard of such a character. Where had this Song Zining popped up from?

    Acent Ji Tianqing roared, ¡°All dismissed, get back to work. Assemble at 1800 sharp!¡±

    ¡°Yes! Sire Aide-de-Camp!¡±

    The entire courtyard was emptied in a sh, leaving only Frost Wolf and a number of his high-ranking officials. Qianye remained seated on the tform like a statue, gazing nkly at the empty courtyard.

    There wasn¡¯t anything for him to do from the beginning to the end. He had no other use except for holding the title ofmander. All those mercenary leaders barely spared him a nce¡ªalmost as though this corpsmander was nonexistent.

    Actually, there were quite a few mercenaries who knew Qianye and his aplishments. It was just that the mercenaries here were fairly low in status, and even in Frost Wolf, only a couple of them had taken part in the ck Grove battle. They had only heard but never seen Qianye¡¯s power. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, had beaten them up violently, sending half a dozen men flying with every p. Hence,paratively, they were much more apprehensive of the girl.

    Next up was the repair and renovation of the courtyard. With the Frost Wolf experts working as manualborers, the construction work progressed at a quick pace. Qianye stayed behind to oversee the project while Song Zining went to reserve an entire nearby hotel as their temporary residence. Ji Tianqing ran about here and there, looking for mercenaries who were inwardly dissatisfied, cking off, or disobedient.

    Just like that, evening arrived in the blink of an eye, and the mercenary leaders began filing into the Frost Wolf base one after the other. Quite surprisingly, there were only two of them missing.

    These leaders had brought their staff list, property deeds, and armaments inventory¡ªtheir entire fortune more or less. This was more of a robbery than incorporation, but losing their possessions was much better than losing their lives. Ji Tianqing had already taught them this logicst night.

    The young miss performed a roll-call and organized them into groups. She split them into several groups and ranks, differentiating them by the number of troops they couldmand.

    Her seemingly careless ssification was actually quite clever. The strong and obedient were assigned to the highest rank, followed by the weaker obedient ones, and then the strong but somewhat disobedient. The weak and disobedient people were inserted into the lowest-tier, only slightly superior to ordinary mercenaries.

    Thest group was naturally dissatisfied, but no one dared to speak up after Ji Tianqing killed the lead dissenter with a single p. They finally understood that Ji Tianqing was simply waiting for them to jump out and give her an excuse for murder.

    The morsted until midnight before the fledgling Dark me began to take shape. The framework was organized by the high-ranking officers¡ªthey would decide how to disassemble, reorganize, and garrison the soldiers. What finally appeared before Qianye was a massive entity with over four thousand soldiers and ten champions. In terms of fighting-power, however, it was still far from the Dark me of the past.

    With so manyplex matters to handle, any other person would¡¯ve taken half a month toplete this process. In Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands, though, all matters big and small flowed smoothly like spring water. She wasn¡¯t just bragging¡ªperhaps not many people in the empire could outperform her as an aide-de-camp.

    On one hand, Ji Tianqing was rather talented in this regard, while on the other, she had full control. Everyone had been beaten into submission, so whatever she had decided on would be carried out without a second word.

    From the beginning to the end, Qianye only needed to stay on the sidelines and didn¡¯t even get the chance to talk. He sat like that all night, feeling quite bored.

    With all the ns settled, Ji Tianqing sent the men back to collect and take inventory of their resources. This process would take several days at the very least.

    Now that they were finally given a break, some of themanders contacted the city lord via certain channels, hoping that he would be able to give them justice. These people, regardless of the size of their mercenary corps, had once enjoyed some level of status and were bosses inside their own gates. How could they endure someone ruling over them?

    But Ji Rui simply refused toe out and see anyone. He ignored and forgot about whatever happened outside of the manor gates.

    In this manner, everyone came to understand Ji Rui¡¯s intentions¡ªhe couldn¡¯t afford to offend these three people.

    In the blink of an eye, all these leaders felt their sky turn dark.

    Some were dissatisfied after losing their greatest backing that was Ji Rui. They gathered their most powerful men, trusted aides, and valuable assets before creeping out of Southern Blue in the depths of the night. Most of them, however, understood their own abilities and knew that they couldn¡¯t survive outside of Southern Blue. So, they decided to swallow their voices and ept their incorporation into Dark me, recognizing the fact that they had to call someone else master from now on.

    Regarding the mercenary corps who wanted to leave the city, Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t make things difficult for them. These people wouldn¡¯t be loyal if they stayed behind, anyway, so it was best to let them go.

    Song Zining and Ji Tianqing weren¡¯t idle during this period. They proceeded to negotiate with one merchant after the other, discussing new deals for the corps. The biggest source of ie for the mercenary corps in Southern Blue was protecting these merchants. Maintaining order in the city was their basic job, while the stronger ones would be dispatched to escort the trade caravans along the way. The strongest soldiers would eptbat missions like ambushing rival merchant caravans.

    Presently, Dark me had rounded up all the mercenary corps in Southern Blue and became a giant tyrant that even Ji Rui couldn¡¯t contend with. Hence, it was only natural that all negotiations would begin anew.

    All the merchants were quite worried at first because this wasn¡¯t the first time something like this had happened. After gaining a monopoly over the market, mercenary corps would usually raise their prices several times or even engage in robbery themselves. Such an action would only them a single fortune since merchants would avoid such ces after suffering a loss. Without their main source of ie, these mercenary corps would eventually have to disband.

    There had been too many such examples. Even though such mercenary corps would disperse with the wind, the merchants were the ones to suffer most from their initial misdeeds. Hence, these managers all felt worried and restless.

    They nheless found¡ªto their great astonishment¡ªthat Dark me operated differently from the other mercenary corps in the neutralnds. Song Zining didn¡¯t exploit the merchants with unreasonable price increases. On the contrary, he lowered the prices on an assortment of services andbined certain fees together. In summary, the capital these merchants had to fork out was decreased by a fair bit.

    Most of the managers were surprised, but no one was going to stand up and object to such a good deal. Additionally, many of them began considering increased investments in the city once the situation had stabilized.

    Next up, Song Zining proposed another n. Companies setting up weaponry workshops as well as those trading in rare-materials and high-end airship parts would receive a fifty percent discount. He was even willing to inject a twenty percent investment capital once these factories had been constructed.

    Managers ofrge merchantpanies began inquiring about the details in excitement. Smallerpanies werecking in ability, but they more or less knew some channels for airship parts. As such, they also paid great attention to the ¡°high-end airship parts¡± category.

    A well-prepared Song Zining immediately distributed the relevant documents.

    After looking through the papers, most people revealed expressions of disappointment, but there were a few of them who looked rather thoughtful. Song Zining¡¯s standards were indeed quite high, requiring the equipment to be at the level of a second-grade reserve warship or higher.

    Such an airship level was rare in the neutralnds, but it wasn¡¯t impossible if they could find a channel to and from the empire or Evernight.

 Chapter 857: Fire Firs

    Song Zining¡¯s terms were generous enough to excite these merchants and make them consider whether or not this was a viable direction for expansion. This business field wasn¡¯t too high-risk and the demand was really high. There would always be buyers as long as they could build a warship at a reasonable price.

    The businesses Song Zining had attracted on top of the ones already in Southern Blue formed a moreplete supply chain. There were enough workshops and factories to forge intricate airship equipment from raw metals. Even in its infantile stage, the benefits this arrangement would bring was evident¡ªeveryone who had worked their way to the manager position understood this.

    Southern Blue was able to flourish under Ji Rui¡¯s rule because of its stability and convenience in transportation. But no matter how skilled Ji Rui was, he couldn¡¯t wipe out and rbine all of the mercenary corps in the city. Even if he could do it, he wasn¡¯t about to create a massive entity that could contend with the city guard. If this kind of mercenary corps were to fall into an outsider¡¯s hands, it wasn¡¯t a certainty whether the city lord would still be surnamed Ji.

    It wasn¡¯t really important to the merchants what the City Lord¡¯s surname was. All they wanted was a steady stream of money, and that was enough for them.

    The contact with the merchants went fairly smoothly, but there wasn¡¯t anything for Qianye to do during the entire process. After two days of idling, he decided to gather a dozen or so mercenaries and form a merchant caravan to Seagaze City.

    Seagaze was a major city, so the requirements were fairly high. Qianye was still selecting people when many merchants arrived with requests to join him.

    Those willing to join were mostly medium-sizedpanies with one or two trucks worth of goods to ship. Most others were still observing Dark me¡¯s situation and performance. In their eyes, the current mercenary corps was a pieced-together mob, far from the standard of an elite mercenary corps. The only reason some of them were willing to take this risk was because Qianye was overseeing the caravan personally.

    In the end, Qianye left Southern Blue with thirty cargo trucks, ten troop-carriers, and some armored vehicles.

    The environment in the wilderness was fairly adverse and asional storms would kick up without warning. This was due to the small size of the continents and the weakness of their protectiveyers. There would be corresponding disasters inside when the void tempests outside of the continent became too violent.

    The roads gradually disappeared soon after leaving the city. These so-called roads were actually produced by the passage of cars and could easily be eroded.

    The motorcade didn¡¯t go very fast. The heavy trucks were especially slow amidst the fluctuatingndscape and not much faster than a jogging person. It would take three to four days to get from Southern Blue to Seagaze.

    After passing an entire day out in the open wilderness, Qianye remained calmly seated in one of the transport vehicles as he cultivated the Glory Chapter. Among his many cultivation arts, only the Song n Ancient Scroll wasgging behind, and all he could do was work slowly step by step.

    The mercenaries, however, weren¡¯t as rxed as he was and maintained a constant level of vigil. Those old veterans were clear that the seemingly peaceful wilderness was filled with hidden dangers. Enemies could be lurking in every corner, or even outside of Seagaze.

    At noon the next day, a cloud of rolling dust suddenly rose up over the horizon. The veteran scout on the foremost vehicle stopped his car and sounded the rm. The motorcade descended into a brief moment of chaos, but fortunately, these people had encountered such situations more than once. A well-respected manager instructed the cargo trucks to drive off the road and park themselves in a circr formation, raising theirpany gs to announce their identity.

    The mercenaries, however, were different. The two armored vehicles took point, while ordinary transports retreated to the side. The soldiers inside jumped off and spread into two wings throughout the advantageous terrain.

    On the roof of the foremost car, Frost Wolf raised his binocrs and gazed at the distant smoke. It was at this moment that Qianye¡¯s voice echoed beside his ears. ¡°Why so nervous?¡±

    Frost Wolf quivered. Unlike those lessermanders, he had actually seen Qianye¡¯s might as he ughtered Stormwind Fury. He passed the binocrs to Qianye, saying, ¡°Those who can act so loud in this region must be the Wolf King¡¯s men.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t take the binocrs, however, and simply kept gazing at the distant dust cloud. ¡°It is indeed the Wolf King¡¯s squad.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Frost Wolf¡¯s expression becameplicated with worry. ¡°Then we should be careful.¡±

    Frost Wolf¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t that great. They would asionally suffer robberies even in their own territory. Now that they were in the empty wilderness with numerous merchandise-loaded trucks, they were well-worth robbing even if not the best target.

    ¡°Battle stations!!!¡± Frost Wolf was the tacticalmander of this operation, in charge of coordinating troops and setting up defenses. After issuing the order, he gave it some thought and added, ¡°Be smart! Don¡¯t be too obvious. People on the two sides, hide yourself well. Those behind, open up the main road!¡±

    The entire series of orders was in order to prevent provoking the Wolf King¡¯s men. It was hard to say what would happen after they were agitated. Frost Wolf himself was also a rank-twelve champion and hisbat strength wasn¡¯t low. Yet, the many years of caution had already ground away his blood-thirsty nature, and he wasn¡¯t willing to engage in a head-on sh with the Wolf King¡¯s men.

    Qianye, on the other hand, had a different opinion. He stood with his hands sped behind his back and said, ¡°Prepare for battle!¡±

    This order startled all of the mercenaries, and Frost Wolf himself was also astonished. ¡°Commander, what for?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s to rob their motorcade,¡± Qianye calmly replied.

    ¡°R-Robbery!?¡± Frost Wolf thought he had misheard. Who would dare to rob the Wolf King¡¯s motorcade in the Wolf King¡¯s territory? Everyone felt that it would be quite lucky if they weren¡¯t robbed instead.

    Qianye paid Frost Wolf no attention as he issued new orders. ¡°Seal the road and prepare for battle. Try cking off if you dare!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t need to announce what the oue of not fighting was¡ªthe rule in the mercenary world was that deserters would be hunted down and killed. This rule would be modified slightly in Qianye¡¯s hands. Whoever didn¡¯t do battle would die in his hands.

    Frost Wolf smiled wryly as he turned back and said, ¡°Drive up and seal the road. You two, bring your men to the sides and set up an ambush, attack when the enemy is near. The rest, follow me to form a blockade on the road.¡±

    The mercenaries started moving only when he had issued the orders. Qianye shot Frost Wolf a nce, causing him to tremble all over.

    The soldiers Qianye had brought out this time were veterans of many battles. A simple defensive line was soon formed¡ªthe men hid behind covers, grasping their weapons tightly as they looked ahead anxiously. Some of them even felt their foreheads and palms sweating. That was only natural since the Wolf King¡¯s notoriety was well-established, and this move of theirs was a p on the divine champion¡¯s face.

    After setting up the defensive line, Frost Wolf finally could hold back no longer. He reminded indirectly, ¡°Sire, robbing them is easy, but what about afterward? The Wolf King might not take this lying down.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°Why else do you think I organized this motorcade?¡±

    Frost Wolf felt his heart skip a beat. Only then did he realize that Qianye wasn¡¯t here to establish a trade route but to provoke the Wolf King.

    The rolling dust in the distance rose into the sky as an armored transport rushed out of the ashen sand, followed by a column of armed trucks. Several kilometers behind these vehicles was a caravan of slowly-advancing cargo trucks. These cars were only protected by two armored trucks and no more than ten soldiers in total.

    This was a fairly normal urrence. Although this part of the wilderness was dangerous, the greatest threat here was the Wolf King¡¯s men. Who would dare stroke the proverbial tiger¡¯s whiskers after seeing the Wolf King¡¯s insignia on the trucks?

    Hence, the armored vehicles moved at a faster pace, checking to see if there were any good opportunities along the way. They were quite familiar with the procedure since they had done this more than once before.

    The foremost of the Wolf King¡¯s armored vehicles spied the blockade and defensive line ahead. The tall werewolf on the car almost couldn¡¯t believe his eyes¡ªsomeone actually dared to intercept the Wolf King¡¯s caravan here!?

    He was also a fierce character. He immediately snatched a gun from the person beside him and took aim at the intercepting motorcade, waiting for the enemy toe within range.

    Qianye said at this moment, ¡°Open fire.¡±

    Frost Wolf blurted out. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I said, fire,¡± Qianye repeated. Then, without waiting for a reply, he removed a long sniper rifle from his back and took aim at the iing werewolf.

    ¡°But Sire, the other party might not intend to fight¡­¡±

    Frost Wolf hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye and the sniper rifle in his hands spat out a long stream of origin mes. A thunderous timbre echoed through the ins!

    Amidst the rumble, the tall werewolf¡¯s head burst into a mist of blood and the headless body fell backward.

    Both sides started firing instinctively after the first shot was fired. Explosions, mes, and gunshots broke out on the battlefield¡ªthe only problem was that the two sides were nowhere near firing range.

    The werewolves had always been proud and fierce. Roaring, they revved their engines to the max as one armored vehicle after the other charged forward. The two sides were only a thousand or so meters away now, and casualties started to rack up under the back and forth volleys.

    Qianye stood as calm as a mountain, his wings unfurled and a faint golden glow could be seen on his sniper rifle. With the rumble of his gun, yet another armored vehicle burst into a ball of mes. The werewolf knight upon it was torn into two and killed on the spot.

    Qianye moved the muzzle swiftly and fired the third round, bringing down a first-rank werewolf viscount at the center of the charging formation.

    Qianye put away his gun after firing three shots and stood with his hands behind his back¡ªit would seem that he had no more intention of fighting.

    Frost Wolf felt a chill run down his spine. Qianye had fired three shots with rtive ease to destroy three ranked-werewolf experts. Just how powerful was this sniper rifle to have killed even the first-rank viscount captain in one shot?

    Under present circumstances, only a third-rank viscount remained. Frost Wolf sighed secretly, knowing that Qianye had left this target for him. Having no other choice, he whipped out his sword and shield to charge forward against the hail of bullets.

 Chapter 858: I Just Have to Fire the First Sho

    The battle was short and fierce. By the time Frost Wolf had ughtered his opponent, the battles in the periphery had started to die down.

    He came limping back before Qianye while clutching his left shoulder. ¡°Sire, mission aplished.¡±

    Qianye replied with an indifferent smile, ¡°Completed? No, it hasn¡¯t beenpleted. There¡¯s a caravan behind.¡±

    Frost Wolfughed wryly. ¡°Those goods belong to merchants. If we do that, the enmity between us and the Wolf King will be irreconcble.¡±

    Qianye nced at him. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s still reconcble now?¡±

    Frost Wolf knew this fact fairly well. Bracing himself mentally, he turned back and shouted, ¡°Those who can still fight,e with me!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, he jumped onto a still-operable transport vehicle and whizzed away. Only at this point did Frost Wolf reveal a bit of valor and ruthlessness. Before this, he was always a bit cowardly despite his tall stature and even looked a bit constrained while fighting against the werewolf viscount. He wouldn¡¯t have suffered so many injuries, otherwise.

    Now that there was no going back, he finally let loose and began to look a bit more imposing.

    Qianye stood in ce on the roof of the car, merely ordering the men to sweep the battlefield.

    His eyes lit up all of a sudden as he turned toward the distant horizon. There was nothing else there apart from a dense patch of low-lying clouds, but Qianye could see a slowly revolving ring of origin power. It was clear that there was someone hiding inside the clouds and spying on the action. The origin power was a fairly chaotic mixture of daybreak and darkness origin power, but it was definitely a human expert.

    This person¡¯s identity wasn¡¯t hard to guess¡ªthere weren¡¯t a lot of human experts in the area, much less those paying so much attention to the Wolf King¡¯s men. Qianye, however, didn¡¯t want to waste time guessing his intentions. He only pointed at the man from far away and performed a cutthroat gesture.

    Qianye¡¯s message was clear. If this person dared to interfere, he would be killed along with the group.

    Then, he turned away and continued observing the battlefield in silence, paying no more attention to the hiding human expert. The merchants also came to help because the entire ce was a mess.

    An old man¡¯s figure flickered within the distant clouds, merging almost perfectly with the clouds around him. His face was ashen, and he was so angry that his beard was trembling. As an important character who had gained fame for dozens of years, he had never experienced such disdain. He stared fixedly at Qianye with equal measures of resentment and doubt, not knowing what gave Qianye the gall to provoke him.

    Surging with killing intent, he was of a mind to rush over and teach Qianye a lesson, but caution got the better of him in the end. Up until this point, he still had no idea how Qianye had discovered him.

    Far in the distance, Qianye was focused on the cleanup progress, literally not giving him a second nce. This was even more offensive than a direct provocation, and it almost caused him to ckout from anger.

    In the end, he could no longer bear this kind of invisible humiliation. His robes rose up slightly as he waved his sleeve and left, revealing a small insignia hidden underneath¡ªit was the emblem of Zhang Buzhou.

    At this point, Frost Wolf had just driven back after conducting the battle. There were dozens of cargo trucks behind him, while the merchant managers were all in his car.

    Frost Wolf arrived before Qianye. ¡°Sire, the mission has beenpleted. All of the cargo trucks have been brought back.¡±

    Qianye revealed a favorable smile. ¡°Not bad, this time.¡±

    Frost Wolf felt a bit of helplessness, but it was already toote for regrets. He did have a question he always wanted to ask. ¡°Sire, why did you order us to fire before the enemy was within firing distance?¡±

    ¡°The other party would¡¯ve opened fire if they were within range.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not wrong, but it¡¯s not toote to attack after confirming the other party¡¯s hostility. Besides, we¡¯ll have the advantage in retaliation.¡±

    Qianye¡¯sugh interrupted the man¡¯s words. ¡°I just have to fire the first shot.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I just have to fire the first shot,¡± Qianye repeated.

    Frost Wolf was shaken and speechless.

    Now that was the definition of tyrannical.

    At this moment, a couple of merchants walked over unsteadily and began offering words of greeting and friendship.

    Qianye waved his hand impatiently. ¡°Leave the trucks and seekpensation from the Wolf King.¡±

    The managers¡¯ expressions changed drastically. Merchants had to pay a steep price to hire mercenary escorts, but the corps wouldpensate them if the convoy was robbed¡ªthis rule applied to all mercenaries, as well as the Wolf King¡¯s men. All these years, the Wolf King¡¯s men had rarely, if ever, slipped up on their job. Hence, most merchants were willing to hire the Wolf King¡¯s soldiers as escort despite their price tag.

    On the other hand, the Wolf King¡¯s men maintained a bottom-line and wouldn¡¯t rob the merchant caravans they were escorting.

    The goods contained in these trucks were of extraordinary value. It would take quite a bit of courage to seekpensation from the Wolf King, and there was no telling if a mortal disaster would fall on them instead. After all, there was no need topensate dead people.

    One of the merchant managers sneered, ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are, but you need to know that the Wolf King is not someone you can offend. Hand over the goods obediently and we might put in a good word for you.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye flicked his finger. A mass of origin power shot out like an origin bullet and flew toward the manager. The man¡¯s expression froze up amidst a burst of blood from his forehead, and his body slowly copsed to the ground.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to care who you are, either,¡± Qianye said while looking at the other managers. ¡°Who else wants to argue with me? Stand out.¡±

    That manager¡¯s corpse was still nearby, so who would dare to stand out at this juncture? Everyone shook their heads with ashen expressions.

    ¡°This is a battle between me and the Wolf King. Whoever stands on his side will find no mercy from me.¡± With that, Qianye dismissed the managers with a wave of his hands. As for the cargo trucks and their drivers, all of them were detained. Qianye assigned some mercenaries to escort the goods back to Southern Blue, while he himself led the caravan toward Seagaze.

    The remainder of the journey was free from any disturbance.

    With the Wolf King¡¯s retaliation looming over the horizon, everyone else in the convoy was extremely nervous. In ordance with the merchants¡¯ request, the motorcade drove on through the night and arrived at Seagaze after half a day of traveling. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief as they entered the city.

    The arrival at the destination was secondary; the most important thing was that they could clear themselves of their rtionship with Qianye. Even if the Wolf King were to seek vengeance, they would not be a part of the coteral damage since all major powers depended on these merchants to thrive. Even someone as violent as the Wolf King wouldn¡¯t dry the pond just to catch a proverbial fish.

    Qianye understood their line of thought quite well but didn¡¯t point it out. He sent Frost Wolf to arrange for lodgings while he went out to stroll the streets.

    Seagaze was a major human city built atop a hignd above the shores of the Eastern Sea. Although it wasn¡¯t as grand and majestic as Totemic Castle, it was also hundreds of meters above the water, and one could overlook the Eastern Sea from the highest points in the city. Albeit barely, it could be considered a ce with wonderful views.

    There were numerousrge courtyards constructed on the higher areas inside the city. The stone walls and gates looked fairly rigid and, despitecking in noble grace, looked fairly in line with the barbaric style of the neutralnds.

    Each of these courtyards represented a powerful family. Some of the stone sculptures outside the architecture were decorated with mottled scars, having weathered the wind and rain for over a century. Observing the entire area, one could almost see a vague reflection of imperial aristocratic families. Of course, they were far from true nobility in scale. The difference would be even more exaggerated whenparing them against a major n like the Zhao, whose main residence was bigger than Seagaze City itself.

    Within the main building of thergest and oldest building in Seagaze City, a stern-looking old man was seated inside the study, his brows locked in a frown as he read the secret report in his hands.

    There were two young men inside the study. One of them was as silent and stern as a mountain, while the other was ncing about restlessly.

    The old man finally put down the report and said worriedly, ¡°The other party has already entered the city, how do you think we should handle them?¡±

    The seemingly restless youngster chuckled. ¡°Naturally, the n lord should decide on such an important matter. We¡¯ll listen to your elderly grace.¡±

    The old man roared, ¡°Xue Ding! You¡¯re about to assume important duties! How can you be so frivolous? Do you think I can hand family matters over to you like this?¡±

    Xue Ding didn¡¯t seem to mind at all, though. He replied with a mischievous voice, ¡°What use does the Xue family have for me? You have Elder Brother, don¡¯t you? And a single mountain is too small for two tigers, aren¡¯t you afraid we¡¯ll start fighting with one another?¡±

    The old man banged the table with an angry expression. ¡°Blood is thicker than water, what¡¯s there to fight among brothers? I¡¯ll drive you out of the Xue family if you keep spouting nonsense!¡±

    Xue Ding paid him no heed. ¡°So what if you drive me out? This isn¡¯t the first time anyway. Besides, I can be considered the Wolf King¡¯s foster son, not a member of your Xue family.¡±

    The silent Xue Wu spoke up at this point. ¡°Little Ding, enough.¡±

    Xue Ding was fairly respectful toward his silent brother. He quickly removed his frivolous attitude and said seriously, ¡°I think we should pretend we never received the Wolf King¡¯s missive. They won¡¯t stay here for long, anyway, a couple of days at most.¡±

    The old man was unhappy. ¡°Nonsense! Do you think the Wolf King is a three-year-old? You think you can fool him just like that?¡±

    Xue Ding sneered. ¡°Isn¡¯t he treating us like three-year-olds? I heard the Wolf King himself wasn¡¯t able to capture that person back at Southern Blue. Additionally, he went into istion immediately after returning to Totemic Castle, and there have been rumors that he was gravely injured. He¡¯s ordering Seagaze to capture a person he himself cannot even handle. If this isn¡¯t deliberately causing problems for us, what is? How are we going to take that person down? If we fail, he¡¯ll have an excuse to deal with us and weaken the human race.¡±

    The old man replied with a stern expression, ¡°You know the Wolf King will me us afterward! Then, how dare you say we should ignore his orders?¡±

    Xue Ding replied, ¡°I do have a way out of this, but I wonder if you have the guts for it.¡±

    The old man snorted. ¡°Speak!¡±

    ¡°Simple, rebel against the Wolf King!¡±

 Chapter 859: Bravery

    Xue Ding¡¯s words shook the old man as well as Xue Wu. The Wolf King¡¯s methods were brutal, and he had umted power for a long period. The major human families in Seagaze¡ªperhaps even the Eastern Sea in general¡ªdidn¡¯t dare speak up despite their anger. Everyone would put safety over principles, turning a blind eye to everything unrted.

    Perhaps due to his fear of Zhang Buzhou, the Wolf King didn¡¯t go to the extremes, either. He would asionally suppress and take advantage of the various families, but he wouldn¡¯t touch their foundations. Even so, he would still find various reasons to uproot a couple of families every year.

    This was what made all the families cautious. How could these wily old foxes not know that this was the Wolf King trying to pull the carpet from underneath them? He had always been working to uproot human power little by little. Unfortunately, Zhang Buzhou had been in isted cultivation in recent years, refusing to meet people or manage local affairs. This was how the authority gradually slipped into the Wolf King¡¯s hands.

    The old man uttered furiously, ¡°Outrageous imagination, outrageous imagination!¡±

    Xue Ding sneered. ¡°How is this an outrageous imagination? The Wolf King isn¡¯t our match as long as all the families are allied. It¡¯s been so many years, can these old fellows still stand this?¡±

    ¡°Bastard! How dare you talk to elders like this, have you not learned even basic manners all these years away from home?¡±

    Xue Ding said coldly, ¡°What¡¯s the use of manners when you don¡¯t have any bravery?¡±

    The old man was so angry that he was trembling. Xue Wu said, ¡°Brother, this matter is highly important and needs to be considered at length. We cannot let emotions decide since our Xue family cannot shoulder the responsibility of the oue.¡±

    Xue Ding replied, ¡°I¡¯m not being reckless. Zhao Ye or Qianye as he is known right now, we¡¯ve both experienced his power back then, and now we know his past experiences as well. Provoking the Wolf King must mean he has great confidence!¡±

    ¡°But what if he¡¯s defeated?¡± the old man asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s a risk to everything, the only difference is the odds. If we must wait for absolute safety before acting, what can we even do? What have our Xue family done all these years? What has human nobility ever done? The Wolf King never waited for the perfect opportunity to attack us.¡±

    The elder was trembling. ¡°Scoundrel, scoundrel!¡±

    Xue Wu stood inplete silence. His refusal to speak was actually proof that he supported Xue Ding¡¯s idea.

    The old man mmed the table heavily. ¡°You two have grown up and are ready to spread your wings, huh? Will the two of you reach this position without the Xue family!?¡±

    Ignoring Xue Wu¡¯s signal, Xue Ding sneered. ¡°Howrge was the Xue family business thirty years ago? How much do we have left now? Everyone knows this fact. Managing the family to this state is your so-called old wisdom? I really wonder what face you people have to meet our ancestors!¡±

    The old man pped the table into pieces, roaring, ¡°Scram! I don¡¯t want to see you in the future.¡±

    Xue Ding got up, bowed respectfully, and simply walked off.

    After Xue Ding¡¯s departure, the old man revealed an exhausted expression. ¡°Were our past actions really wrong?¡±

    Xue Wu consoled him, ¡°The Wolf King was powerful back then, and no one could restrain him. Our Xue family wascking in talents, so there was no choice but to hide our fangs for survival. Even if we had lost some properties and businesses, we will rise again one day as long as the family and its members remain.¡±

    The old man nodded. ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it. Unfortunately, that kid is too impetuous. It would be great if he¡¯s half as wise as you are.¡±

    Xue Wu¡¯s only response was silence. It was at this moment that a follower rushed into the room, saying, ¡°Eldest Master, Third Master has rounded up some private troops and formed a coalition with the Zhu and Wang families to capture the Wolf King¡¯s wanted criminal!¡±

    The elder shot to his feet. ¡°What!? When did this happen?¡±

    ¡°Third Master sealed all news, and you were in discussion all this time. I ran over to report this matter as soon as I found the opportunity. Third Master has left with his men just now.¡±

    The old man¡¯s face was ashen. ¡°What a scoundrel, throwing away the Xue family¡¯s safety just for the n lord position! I must settle the score with him once he returns!¡±

    The follower replied, ¡°Should I send someone after Third Master?¡±

    The old man slowly sat down while shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s toote. It¡¯s also useless even if you catch up to him, Old Third wants to break off!¡±

    Xue Wu said, ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to dissuade your third uncle, either.¡±

    ¡°I just want to see if I can save his life.¡±

    Qianye was strolling around the merchant district of Seagaze City. The streets here were lined withrge stores selling all kinds of goods; it could be said that the scale of business here was well beyond Southern Blue.

    Qianye visited everypany but found nothing really impressive. The things he wanted were no longer goods an ordinary merchant could supply.

    His grade-nine Heartgrave was currently kept inside Andruil¡¯s space. The gun Song Zining had supplied Qianye for day-to-day use was a grade-seven sniper rifle called Radiance. It was also the highest grade mass-produced weapon in the empire. With the support of the Wings of Inception, Radiance¡¯s firepower would reach the peak of grade-seven and fairly close to grade eight. This kind of firepower was enough for all battlefields, barring those involving a divine champion.

    As for melee weaponry, East Peak was a tried weapon that didn¡¯t need further exnation. The only things that could move Qianye right now were airship weapons. Nheless, these things would usually require one to ce an order with the shipyard. Thepanies in the city rarely worked in this field.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes twitched slightly as he walked out of the trade district and heard familiar footsteps. This person had already followed him through two streets and seemed fairly adept in stealth tracking. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s extremely sharp senses, it would¡¯ve been difficult to sense this constant footstep behind him.

    Now that he had already discovered that he was being followed, Qianye left the trade district and headed toward a more remote area. The current location wasn¡¯t suitable for an attack, and Qianye wanted to see what kind of person was targeting him.

    Momentster, Qianye walked into a dpidated area of the city, where the narrow streets were lined with old, randomly constructed buildings. There was sewage flowing on the streets, and the putrid air here was positively nauseating.

    Many pairs of eyes were observing him through the window cracks, most of them without good intentions. Some of therge, burly men sitting outside their houses sized him up from head to toe, fiddling with their knives while calcting the risk and rewards of attacking him.

    The sound of a sobbing woman erupted in the distance, followed by that of more pping and cursing. A muscr man soon crossed the street with a woman in tow. Midway, he turned to re at Qianye, saying, ¡°What are you looking at? Haven¡¯t you seen someone hitting a woman? Keep looking and I¡¯ll dig out your eyes!¡±

    His cursing hadn¡¯t even ended when Qianye arrived before him and delivered a fairly light kick.

    The burly man shot out like a cannonball, smashing through several neighboring houses and into the next street. Only then did he fall down with a thud andy motionless, his fate unknown.

    The unfriendly gazes vanished in an instant, so did the men ying with their daggers.

    Qianye didn¡¯t spare thedy a second nce, either. He merely strode over her and continued on his way.

    After Qianye had vanished, thedy mbered up and darted into one of the houses nearby.

    There was a small za in the slums that used to be a wet market. At this moment, the peddlers were nowhere to be found, and only their wares were left strewn across the ground. The square waspletely silent like a ghost town.

    Qianye walked into the opening with a cold smile and stood there.

    ¡°Good! You¡¯re quite bold!¡± A coarse voice rang out on the opposite end of the square. A middle-aged man in azure armor walked out inrge strides and stood across from Qianye.

    Soon afterward, countless servants and mercenaries rushed out from the alleyways, forming an airtight encirclement around the square. Hundreds of ck muzzles took aim at Qianye.

    Thetter simply stood there with his hands behind his back. ¡°Impressive lineup.¡±

    The burly man struck the steel spear on the ground, almost shaking up the small za. ¡°You¡¯re that Qianye they¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I am."

    ¡°Very good, you know what you did. Now, the Wolf King wants you specifically, so follow us.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°And if I don¡¯t want to go?¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t me us for being rude! Today our Xue, Zhu, and Wang families havee together in Seagaze City, you can forget about escaping!¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°That means your three families are intent on making an enemy out of me? Look at you, a human willing to work as the Wolf King¡¯s dog.¡±

    The burly man¡¯s face turned red as he retorted in embarrassment, ¡°What do you know? The Wolf King works for Zhang Buzhou. Heavenly Monarch Zhang is the leader of our human race, and we are loyal to him!¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Man, you¡¯ll have my respect if you can say that in front of the Wolf King.¡±

    The burly man¡¯s face turned red, and he was so furious that he couldn¡¯t speak.

    Another person stepped in to help. ¡°Third Master Xue, what¡¯s the point in talking to him? Our three families will have made a great contribution if we just capture and send him to the Wolf King!¡±

    Third Master Xue raised his hand and was just about to issue the order when Xue Wu¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°Stop!¡±

    The young man appeared on the roof of a small building. ¡°Third Uncle, Eldest Uncle asks you to return immediately!¡±

    Third Master Xue¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Big Brother is senile, how can you not understand? The person the Wolf King wants is right before our eyes. What can our Xue family do if we let him run and the Wolf King mes us? Little Wu, you should give me a hand since you¡¯re here, otherwise, you can wait for the Wolf King to hunt you down!¡±

    This threat was substantial. Xue Wu¡¯s expression turned ugly, not knowing what to do.

    Qianye spoke up at this moment, ¡°Xue Wu, I¡¯ll uproot the Xue family entirely if you make an enemy out of me. Besides, are you really willing to be the Wolf King¡¯s dog?¡±

    Xue Wu was livid and apparently quite conflicted.

    Third Master Xue roared, ¡°Attack!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, countless bullets screamed toward Qianye amidst the rumbling gunshots. After opening fire, everyone tossed their guns, whipped out their swords, and darted toward Qianye. The experts of the three families had taken off first¡ªa dozen images arrived near Qianye and shed down!

 Chapter 860: Rules

    Qianye remained immobile, but his energy flickered in and out of existence like a crashing tsunami, forming a tornado of origin power that deflected the bulletsing for him. Some of the more powerful origin bullets pierced through the maelstrom but ultimately bounced off Qianye¡¯sbat armor.

    How could those guards and mercenaries afford a high-grade origin gun? The grade two firearms they were wielding couldn¡¯t threaten Qianye at all.

    Roaring with a fierce expression, Third Master Xue picked up his spear and thrust it toward Qianye!

    It was at this time that a shack nearby exploded. A silhouette shot out and shed at Third Master¡¯s spear with its twin des, swerving his powerful thrust away. That person was also flung backward from the recoil.

    Third Master Xue¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Xue Ding! What are you doing!?¡±

    The one who had rushed over to intercept the attack was Xue Ding. Qianye was somewhat surprised by the sudden development since he had long since forgotten about their little past debacle. Qianye was now opposing the Wolf King publicly, which meant that standing on his side was equal to making an enemy out of the king.

    Xue Ding said coldly, ¡°I can no longer bear such days. Third Uncle, go back now, we¡¯re still part of the same family after all. Otherwise, we can only meet in battle.¡±

    Third Master Xue let out a drawn-outugh. ¡°You? You¡¯re too young for that.¡±

    Third Master Xue was rank sixteen in cultivation and one of the top three experts in the family¡ªXue Ding was definitely not his match. Soon afterward, his spear lit up with radiance as it stabbed at Xue Ding with the momentum of andslide!

    Caught off-guard, Xue Ding could only block with his two des and was duly flung away from the impact. He shot through several buildings, but he bounced back up immediately and charged at Third Master Xue.

    Killing intent shed through the man¡¯s expression, and the origin power on his spear increased a fair bit. Apparently, he wasn¡¯t going to hold back this time.

    It was at this time that the sound of great waves echoed on the battlefield. Third Master Xue felt his body sinking and almost unable to move. He was greatly astonished¡ªhow would the others feel if even he was in such a state?

    He nced about and saw that his guards and servants were strewn across the ground. No one was left standing except a dozen or so experts.

    Third Master Xue was greatly rmed. What kind of domain would be so tyrannical?

    He nced back at Qianye and found a dark de in his grasp. Following a circr sh, a streak of sword energy shot out and cut through all the standing experts!

    ¡°No!!!¡± ring daggers, the man couldn¡¯t help but let out a mad roar. These people were nominally from three different families, but in truth, they were his trusted men and assets. This sh had actually destroyed half of his life¡¯s ambitions.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to pay attention to Third Master Xue¡¯s emotions, however. He arrived before the man in a single step and shed down with the might of a toppling mountain!

    Third Master Xue was unable to dodge inside the domain. All he could do was raise his spear with both hands, hoping to block Qianye¡¯s sword.

    A clear crack rang out as East Peak fell. The sh cut right through the spear and left a red line running down from Third Master Xue¡¯s forehead. Finally, the man copsed with a shocked expression.

    Xue Ding was only halfway through his charge when he was brought to the ground by Qianye¡¯s domain, cutting a sorry figure.

    Xue Wu, who had been standing on the side, left with a gentle sigh. Qianye¡¯s sword was too fast, too ruthless. He couldn¡¯t save Third Master Xue even if he had wanted to. The man was still one of the family¡¯s top fighters, after all, and his death would definitely hurt the family.

    Xue Ding mbered up and went over to kneel beside Third Master Xue¡¯s corpse. The more he observed, the more shocked he became.

    The third master¡¯s spear was no ordinary item and the man himself possessed powerful cultivation. Even though he was caught off-guard and careless, it was still quite astonishing that Qianye could kill him in one sh.

    ¡°Xue Ding, he¡¯s your third uncle, why would you stand on my side?¡±

    Xue Ding shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s intent on currying favor with the Wolf King and borrow his power to ascend to the n lord position. Failing that, he will probably split off and form a family of his own. With him around, the family will be forever bound to the Wolf King and get wiped out sooner orter.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°What are your ns now?¡±

    Xue Ding responded with a question of his own, ¡°I heard you robbed the Wolf King¡¯s goods. What do you n to do with them?¡±

    ¡°I just formed a mercenary corps in Southern Blue, I n to use them myself.¡±

    Xue Ding replied, ¡°It seems the news we received is true. You formed a base of your own to confront the Wolf King. What will you do if the Wolf King attacks personally?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I have my ways to deal with him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine then.¡± Xue Ding exhaled deeply with aplicated expression. ¡°You¡¯ve be more and more powerful. It¡¯s only been how long? I still remember being able to exchange a few blows with you, now I can¡¯t even take a single hit.¡±

    Qianye only smiled. ¡°What are your ns from now on?¡±

    Xue Ding replied, ¡°Most of the Xue family isn¡¯t willing to stand with the Wolf King, but we have no choice because of the situation. I want to return to the family and see if I can convince them to rebel. If I can¡¯t do that, I¡¯lle to Southern Blue and join your mercenary corps.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea, I¡¯ll be waiting for your news.¡±

    Qianye turned about and was just about to leave when he saw Xue Wu walking out of an alleyway.

    ¡°What, you want to attack?¡±

    Xue Wu shook his head with a serious expression. ¡°No, I just wanted to ask you to leave Seagaze as soon as possible.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Driving me away now?¡±

    Xue Wu replied, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to drive you away. I¡¯m asking you to give Seagaze some time. I think most families will know what to do after the incident today. At the very least, they will choose to remain neutral next time, but I¡¯ll need time to convince certain people.¡±

    Xue Ding cut in. ¡°Just kill anyone who¡¯s intent on standing with the Wolf King, why go to so much trouble?¡±

    Xue Wu sighed. ¡°The Wolf King has been in charge for so many years, and all these families have seen their power declining. At this point, most families in Seagaze are just empty husks that will topple over at the slightest touch. Even if we can rebel against the Wolf King, there¡¯s still Mask and the Spider Emperor to be cautious of. At that time, our human race will have to rely on ourselves for protection. I hope we can keep losses to a minimum since we¡¯re already short on experts.¡±

    Qianye patted Xue Wu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ve convinced me, I¡¯ll leave this very evening. However, I hope I won¡¯t receive the same weing party next time.¡±

    Back in ancient Totemic Castle, the Wolf King appeared in the main hall after several days of cultivation. He broke into a frown as soon as he sat down at the throne, subconsciously twisting his body slightly in the seat. This chair was newly built and, probably due to the rushed craftsmanship, not asfortable.

    At this point, all the important characters from the tribe and army had arrived. The Wolf King said, ¡°Is there anything important to report today?¡±

    The werewolves below looked at one another but no one dared to step forward. In the end, it was the new shaman who was pushed out. The wolf slowly passed a stack of papers to the Wolf King and stood silently beside him.

    The Wolf King flipped through the thick stack of documents and found¡ªto his great impatience¡ªa long list of goods. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡±

    The shaman replied, ¡°A number of merchants have submitted apensation im for their lost goods.¡±

    ¡°Compensation!? They actually dare ask me forpensation!?¡± The Wolf King tore the list to shreds and threw the remnants at the werewolves below. ¡°These greedy people are crazy, but are you all mad? Why would you need to bring up such a request with me?¡±

    The werewolves all fell silent. In the end, the new shaman braced himself and spoke up, ¡°Great Chief, their request¡­ is actually within reason.¡±

    Regardless of the case, the shaman had to be given a bit of respect. The Wolf King immediately suppressed his anger and asked, ¡°Do exin.¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°ording to the rules of the neutralnd, the mercenary escort has topensate the caravan in the case of a robbery.¡±

    ¡°Does this rule apply to our men as well?¡± the Wolf King asked.

    ¡°In truth, the merchants pay us even more than they do ordinary mercenary corps.¡±

    The Wolf King caught the shaman¡¯s intentions. He said after a moment of silence, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me we have to pay, too?¡±

    The shaman hesitated for a while. ¡°It¡¯s not that we absolutely have to, but less people will be willing toe to us for escort missions in the future.¡±

    The Wolf King snorted. ¡°We¡¯ll see who dares to hire other people in my territory!¡±

    ¡°Yes! That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Kill those disobedient humans!¡±

    The werewolf generals below roared and shouted. They were all blood-thirsty battlemongers who didn¡¯t think highly of the human race, and all of them were positively furious about having to pay up.

    But the tribe¡¯s shaman, witchdoctors, and those who had managed their own territory remained silent.

    The Wolf King gestured for the generals to calm down and said to the great shaman, ¡°Do you think this will be a problem.¡±

    The great shaman said slowly, ¡°This will only force the merchants to leave faster. Zhang Buzhou might me you if the human cities start falling into a decline, and it will also affect our ie in the long run.¡±

    ¡°Then what should we do?¡±

    ¡°The best method is to destroy Qianye¡¯s mercenary corps in Southern Blue. He¡¯s the only one who dares to rob our caravan and our business.¡±

    ¡°He built a mercenary corps in Southern Blue?¡± The Wolf King didn¡¯t know about this matter since he was in isted cultivation.

    ¡°Yes, Qianye brought all of the city¡¯s mercenaries together in one night and built a mercenary corps called Dark me. They were also the ones who robbed our merchant caravanst time.¡±

    ¡°What is that trash Ji Rui doing? Doesn¡¯t he know about such an important matter?¡±

    The great shaman replied, ¡°Reportedly, Ji Rui never showed up that night and also turned a blind eye to Dark me¡¯s subsequent set up and expansion.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°Is this trash intent on turning against me?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he¡¯s powerless to interfere.¡±

    The great shaman¡¯s words caused the Wolf King to turn silent. A werewolf general below shouted, ¡°Great Chief, what¡¯s there to hesitate about? Let¡¯s go down to Southern Blue and destroy that whatever mercenary corps, also take down Southern Blue in the process!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!!¡± The Wolf King struck out from a distance and sent the werewolf flying out of the hall.

 Chapter 861: Suggestions

    The werewolves below trembled in the face of the Wolf King¡¯s fury, and no one dared speak a single word. The king¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and he was clearly on the verge of an eruption. In the end, he suppressed his anger and said to the shaman, ¡°Seek the ancestors¡¯ will tonight.¡±

    The shaman¡¯s expression shifted somewhat, but he didn¡¯t dare retort at this moment. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    The Wolf King then left the great hall with a harrumph.

    All the werewolves dispersed thereafter, ncing at the shaman with eyes of sympathy. It wasn¡¯t easy for a werewolf tomunicate with the will of the ancestors. Even with the help of the tribal totem, the price involved was significant. To borrow their power was even more difficult.

    The previous great shaman¡¯s assassination affected the tribe deeply. The sessor was much less capable and was only pushed into the spot because there was no better candidate.

    There was a special inheritance ceremony between shamans. A great shaman would, by means of a certain ritual, transfer part of his power andprehension to his sessor. This handover never took ce since thest great shaman was assassinated by Qianye, consequently reducing the power of every new shaman thereafter.

    ¡­

    Normally, mercenaries would look for work afterpleting a mission, checking to see whether there were merchant caravans returning to Southern Blue. Being two of the most flourishing human cities, there was never ack of merchants traveling between them.

    Frost Wolf was fairly proficient in this regard. By the time Qianye had dispatched the three-family alliance, he had already formed a new caravan and was ready to leave.

    After Qianye¡¯s return, he performed a routine check of the goods being shipped. Quite unexpectedly, the customer was one of the biggest weaponpanies in Seagaze. The steward was a chubby, half-bald man with a shiny forehead.

    Full of smiles, he immediately jogged over to Qianye¡¯s side and said, ¡°This journey is surely safe with you taking the field personally. My name is Zhuan, Bao Zhuan, you can ask me if you have any questions about the goods.¡±

    This steward¡¯s name was quite auspicious, and he was fairly slick with his words, the type every merchant manager would favor.

    Qianye walked over to the car and jumped onto the carriage, gesturing for theborers to open it up for inspection.

    The vehicle was full of all kinds of origin gunponents and staple raw materials, mainly alloy ingots. Qianye scanned the goods with his perception and jumped onto a different truck after finding nothing wrong.

    There were evidently fewer goods here. In truth, only the lower crates were filled with merchandise, while the rest were empty crates disguised to look the same. Bao Zhuan especially requested Qianye to remain on this car.

    The man¡¯s candid nature gave Qianye a good impression of him. He asked the workers to open the boxes to check its contents.

    The crates were sealed with an origin wave array that required aplicated procedure to open. Opening them up revealed rows upon rows of origin guns.

    All of them were finished products, emitting fairly strong origin power fluctuations at the level of grade four or higher. The two crates together made up at least thirty guns¡ªno wonder the chubby Bao Zhuan was nervous.

    These origin guns were standard assault rifles, but their muzzles were muchrger than the standard size. Finding them somewhat familiar, Qianye picked one of them up for careful inspection.

    The origin arrays installed on the erged muzzles were simple but durable¡ªthese arrays had only one effect, and that was to increase firepower. The uplicated use of materials and additional reinforcement allowed their lifespan to exceed the usual standards of the neutralnds, almost closing in on the empire¡¯s.

    At the same time, these guns were fairly close to grade-five in terms of firepower despite being only grade-four, only losing out in range and special effects.

    That being said, most battles in the neutralnds were sudden, chaotic melees.

    Hence, range wasn¡¯t as important as firepower. Sacrificing some range to boost firepower to grade-five was actually a powerful upgrade in this range.

    The value of this batch wasparable to that of grade-five firearms, perhaps even higher. The reason being that their consumption was at grade-four standards.

    The gun in Qianye¡¯s hand exuded a vague sense of familiarity, be it in terms of style or origin array. He disassembled the gun and, as expected, found a hand-carved bullet insignia.

    Qianye¡¯s breath elerated briefly before slowing down. ¡°Steward Bao.¡±

    Bao Zhuan approached him, saying, ¡°Just call me Lil¡¯ Bao.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. He really couldn¡¯t address this bald man nearing his fifties as ¡°Lil¡¯ Bao¡±. Showing the origin gun to Bao Zhuan, he asked, ¡°Steward Bao, where did these gunse from?¡±

    ¡°Are you interested in these weapons, Sire? No problem, I¡¯ll represent thepany in selling to you at a steep discount. We¡¯ll only take a small fee forbor.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No, I want to know where it came from and when these goods were manufactured.¡±

    ¡°Sire, are you interested in the firearm trade?¡± Bao Zhuan asked cautiously.

    ¡°I have no interest in the business, only this batch of guns.¡±

    Bao Zhuan seemed to have understood. ¡°These guns are new goods, reportedly from Tidehark. Such guns have never appeared in the market before, so ourpany bought them all out after an executive in Tidehark discovered it. Reportedly, they¡¯re from the city lord¡¯s own weapon factory.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± Qianye tossed the gun back into the crate. ¡°Let¡¯s set out, we won¡¯t rest along the way.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Bao Zhuan seemed fairly spirited as he prepared to set out. Less time on the road meant less danger. Some exhaustion was nothingpared to safety. How could there be such a powerful escort during normal times?

    The only risk was the Wolf King¡¯s retaliation, but news of the battle in the city had spread. It could be said that Qianye had awed all of the families with one battle. The Wolf King would need to send more men over if he wanted revenge.

    Hence, a swift journey meant that they were more likely to get away from this retaliatory episode. The only thing Bao Zhuan wanted was to get the goods delivered. He had no interest in other matters since the Wolf King¡¯s revenge was targeted at Qianye.

    Amidst the steward¡¯s yelling, the caravan drove out of Seagaze and advanced toward Southern Blue in a majestic manner. There were many eyes on the caravan during its departure, expressing all kinds of emotions¡ªincluding killing intent. Yet, none of them really dared to take action from the beginning up until the end.

    The caravan left Seagaze and wound its way over the vast horizon. Only at this point did those prying eyes fade away grudgingly.

    Within Seagaze, there was a group of old men gathered in a teahouse with two hundred years of history. The decor of the room was simple, natural, and elegant. There were no gaudy embellishments, and the furniture was made of natural wood or stone materials, carved ording to their veined patterns. They were works of art in and of themselves.

    There were only a couple of teapots on the table, not even fruits, and the single cup in front of each elder was filled with clear, jade-colored liquid. Outside the chamber, there were two beautiful maids preparing a new brew, cautiously following an established procedure to open up the tea boxes.

    The two tea boxes were locked with arrays and couldn¡¯t be opened without origin power. Surprisingly, these two maids were rank-five in cultivation.

    The origin arrays on the box worked to maintain the internal environment of the container. It was difficult to preserve tea in the extreme environs of the neutralnds¡ªthe highest quality leaves would change taste after just a short period of exposure.

    With even the box so valuable, there was no need to talk about the tea inside.

    Hence, despite theck of snacks, the wisp of lingering fragrance in the tearoom was enough to soothe one¡¯s spirit.

    Those capable of enjoying tea here were naturally extraordinary people. The leading elder among them wore an imposing expression, the deep creases on his forehead exuding an aura of might, almost as though they were carved with des. That was the Xue family¡¯s current n lord, Xue Fulun. The other old men were of illustrious backgrounds as well, most of them either n lords or grand elders.

    It could be said that the words of the dozen old men could and would decide the direction of Seagaze City.

    A thin old man sitting across Xue Fulun said gloomily, ¡°Third Master Xue is a great loss!¡±

    Xue Fulun¡¯s expression was unsightly. ¡°Can¡¯t help it that his skills were inferior.¡±

    The thin old man spoke again, ¡°I heard that not only did Third Master Xue not receive reinforcements, but he was also stabbed in the back by one of his own. That was the reason he had fallen. I wonder what that was all about?¡±

    Xue Fulun replied expressionlessly, ¡°It¡¯s just hearsay, not trustworthy.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then I must be overthinking it, haha!¡± The old man¡¯s satisfiedughter contained some implications, causing Xue Fulun to turn livid for a brief moment.

    This thin elder was the Wang family¡¯s grand elder. In terms of seniority, he was half a generation higher. The Wang family was ranked second in Seagaze City, right after the Xue. Throughout the years that the Wolf King had been suppressing the human race, the Xue family had suffered the most pressure. Although the Wang had also sustained some losses, they suffered much fewer casualties.

    As the saying goes, a mountain cannot be home to two tigers. The Xue and Wang families seemed friendly on the surface but were actuallypeting all the time in private.

    Now with the death of Third Master Xue and his lineal descendants, in addition to Xue Ding¡¯s betrayal of the Wolf King, the gap between them and the Wang family was growing closer than it ever was. That was also why this grand elder felt that he had found the opportunity to stir up trouble.

    This was a disy for the smaller families to see, notifying them that the power bnce in Seagaze was about to change.

    The head of a smaller family said, ¡°Are we going to let that Qianye leave?¡±

    ¡°What else can we do?¡±

    The n head from before replied, ¡°All of us can work together! If we move out in full force, we¡¯ll surely be able to detain him. Letting such a person go is like releasing a tiger back into the mountains.¡±

    [1] Zhuan means ¡°Earn¡±.

 Chapter 862: Lets Go Together

    However, another n lord shook his head. ¡°Abined attack is easy to say, but that¡¯s a fierce character we¡¯re talking about. This kind of loss isn¡¯t something our small families can bear.¡±

    These words resonated with a lot of people.

    A trembling old man sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve lived here for over a hundred years. This city, these people, these families have never changed before. It was the same when Heavenly Monarch Zhang arrived, and no different when the Wolf King came. With this Qianye¡¯s arrival, however, the Zhu family was immediately wiped out. This time, there¡¯s no telling which family will suffer the same fate.¡±

    The Zhu family was a minor family with sufficient status to attend this meeting, but the previous battle had deprived them of their n lord, elders, and almost all their experts. Although their servants and descendants were still alive, they could no longer maintain their status.

    All the elders at the scene offered words of sorrow and me.

    Xue Fulun frowned slightly but said nothing, while the Wang family¡¯s grand elder continued to berate Qianye¡¯s rudeness and barbarism.

    After a round of mor, an elder finally asked the key question, ¡°What are we going to do about the Wolf King¡¯smand?¡±

    A diverse flood of confused opinions appeared¡ªsome were of a mind to obey the powerful Wolf King, while others wanted to go the extra mile and assail Southern Blue. There were also people who felt that Qianye shouldn¡¯t be provoked and that they should drag this matter on until the situation was clear.

    After a long episode of back and forth, there wasn¡¯t a single family willing to oppose the Wolf King.

    These elders were all opinionated and obstinate with no intention of yielding. Hence, the discussion soon turned into a fight. This was about the usual time for the Xue and Wang families to express their stance, and normally, there would be an oue whenever Xue Fulun spoke up.

    But for some reason, Xue Funlun remainedpletely silent today, and it seemed like there would be no oue no matter how fiercely they argued. The Wang family grand elder wanted to hunt Qianye down, but he failed to convince everyone.

    As clever as he was, he understood that there was a fair gap between his family and the Xue in everyone¡¯s eyes. On the other hand, the Zhu family¡¯s near-annihtion had frightened all of the smaller families, and no one was willing to fight to the death with Qianye.

    Thus, night fell upon the city and the tea party dispersed without a conclusion. This was quite amon urrence, actually, with eight out of ten tea gatherings passing in such a manner.

    One day and night passed by before Southern Blue appeared once again in Qianye¡¯s vision. The guard on the city wall had also discovered the approaching caravan. The ballista turret gradually turned around and took cautious aim at the motorcade.

    Things could be considered safe at this point, so Qianye soared into the air and flew toward the city without wasting more time.

    Recognizing Qianye, the sharp sentry below pped down the other soldier who was trying to aim at the flying target. ¡°Are you blind? Can¡¯t you see that it¡¯s Sire Qianye!?¡±

    Qianye paid no heed to the short interlude below and merely rushed on.

    The Dark me headquarters had transformed once more during this short while. Under Ji Tianqing¡¯s threats and rewards, the owners of the nearby courtyards moved away obediently. They had no choice, either, because Ji Tianqing had constructed two cannon turrets right off the bat. The feeling of being observed from above and constantly aimed at by cannons wasn¡¯t great.

    The new Dark me headquarters became half the size of the city lord manor following this integration. Guan Zhongliu came to observe the ce secretly but left with an ashen face. Despite his anger, he was still able to control himself and avoid responding to Ji Tianqing¡¯s provocations.

    Thetter was only in charge of nning, while the actual coordination, dispatch, and construction work were done by Song Zining. Fortunately, the seventh young master had numerous talented subordinates, and the members of the Ningyuan group were far more skilled than the neutralnd riff-raffs. Within days, all of the ns had turned into blueprints, and the supply channels had been established forrge scale construction.

    Things progressed quickly once the building had begun. Song Zining had no intention of letting the thousands of Dark me members remain idle. Everyone was given a set of instruments and turned into temporary construction workers.

    This kind of manualbor was an embarrassment to these mercenaries, but with Miss Ji Tianqing around, these people understood that being alive was actually more important.

    At this point, a good chunk of Southern Blue had turned into a construction site as mercenary groups of all sizes engaged in relocation and renovation. The space that came from their move was left for the construction of potential firearms and airship parts factories.

    Qianye circled around but couldn¡¯t find Song Zining, so he simply returned to the headquarters to stock up on ammunition. After resupplying, he made ready to leave Southern Blue once again.

    Just as he was flying over the city walls, asso suddenly flew up from below andtched onto Qianye¡¯s feet. This ambush arrived so suddenly that Qianye actually couldn¡¯t evade.

    The cord was then pulled down violently, dragging Qianye¡¯s body along with it. Thetter wasn¡¯t afraid at all¡ªhe simply followed the force since he wanted to see who was brave enough to ambush him inside Southern Blue.

    ¡°Bang!¡± Qianye smashed down like a cannonball, and his feet sunk half a meter into the ground. The nearby people swayed and staggered due to the intense vibrations.

    However, there was nothing on the other end of the rope as the assant had long since vanished. Qianye had no clue how this person had attacked or how she had vanished.

    It was at this time that the skin on Qianye¡¯s shoulder shuddered with an odd sensation. Unmoved, Qianye circted and covered his shoulder with blood energy.

    A fair hand appeared out of nowhere andnded on Qianye¡¯s shoulder, followed by Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice, ¡°Officer, are you leaving again? Howe you didn¡¯t bring me¡­ Ah!!!¡±

    Her hand pulled back immediately after striking his shoulder, almost as though she had just touched a red-hot piece of iron.

    Ji Tianqing nced at her hand to find a patch of ck on her exquisite white palm. The skin there had been charred ck, and she could feel waves of burning paining from it, so much so that she couldn¡¯t help blowing on it.

    ¡°Ouch, ouch! How can you do this to me!?¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes became watery, almost as though she would start crying the next moment. She blew on her hand and shook it several times but to no avail. She thus pouted her lips and stretched her hand toward Qianye.

    ¡°This¡­ how can this be?¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined things would turn out this way. This was the first time he had used his dark golden blood energy for protection. In the past, he would only send a wisp of blood energy into the enemy¡¯s body.

    He had only nned to let Ji Tianqing suffer a bit, but charring her entire palm seemed somewhat overboard. What he couldn¡¯t understand was how could his dark golden blood energy¡ªno matter how powerful it was¡ªhurt someone of Ji Tianqing¡¯s cultivation? Up until this point, he still couldn¡¯t see through her cultivation or rank.

    It almost seemed like her cultivation level depended on her mood. If she wanted to show three origin vortices, he would see three; or five if she wanted to show five. She could even produce a couple of divine champion origin crystals for Qianye to see.

    Qianye could at least tell that she was a divine champion. Since he couldn¡¯t tell the exact level, he decided it best to stop guessing.

    Now that her hand was truly charred, Qianye had no other choice but to take her hand close to his mouth and blow lightly on the injury. The wisps of dark golden blood energy lingering on her hand were drawn away by Qianye¡¯s breath, returning to his body obediently.

    If these blood energy strands weren¡¯t taken back or cleared away, they would go on to burn her entire right hand.

    Her injury was nine parts resolved after the retraction of the blood energy, leaving only flesh wounds that would heal in a couple of hours.

    Qianye was thinking about letting go when Ji Tianqing said, ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yeah¡­ that¡¯s all, I guess?¡± Her odd expression made Qianye doubt his judgment for the first time. He activated the Eye of Truth and scanned her injuries with his perception, heaving a sigh of relief to find that there wasn¡¯t any leftover blood energy.

    Ji Tianqing waved her hand in front of Qianye and said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel better at all!¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°This¡­ you¡¯ll have to rely on yourself for that.¡±

    With Ji Tianqing¡¯s cultivation, this small injury would vanish in a matter of minutes if she would just circte her secret healing arts. Her physical parameters naturally weren¡¯t as powerful as Qianye¡¯s, but the power and miraculous effects of her secret arts were far above him. He simply refused to believe that she couldn¡¯t heal herself.

    However, Ji Tianqing moved her hand in front of his face. Not to mention using a secret art, she wouldn¡¯t even use her origin power to initiate healing.

    Feeling quite helpless, Qianye had no choice but to use the most primitive method to heal her. He fished out his military knife and scraped away the charred parts over the new flesh before blowing a mouthful of Venus Dawn energy onto it.

    Venus Dawn was almost the peak of all daybreak origin power and was highly beneficial to the growth of the human body. The flesh on Ji Tianqing¡¯s palm began growing back at a visible pace until it was good as new, but even then, the Venus Dawn hadn¡¯t been used up.

    Qianye knew at a nce that Ji Tianqing hadn¡¯t used her own origin power at all and was no stronger than an ordinary person at this point. Without the support of her own origin power, the effect of Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn would need to be restrained. Otherwise, rapid regeneration would only lead to necrosis.

    ¡°Tianqing, you need to activate your origin power.¡±

    ¡°How do I do that?¡± Ji Tianqing nced at Qianye with wide eyes, almost as though she didn¡¯t understand anything.

    ¡°You need to¡­ ah, I¡¯ll just do it myself.¡±

    Feeling helpless, he brought out a bandage and dressed her hand. One would be hard-pressed to see this kind of primitive healing method on a champion-level expert since their bodies had already gone through an all-round upgrade and origin power was the foundation for everything. Even heavy injuries would heal as long as they had enough origin power. Some powerful healing medicines were deemed panaceas because they served to replenish vast amounts of origin power.

    Ji Tianqing looked at her bandaged hand with great interest.

    Qianye stood up, saying, ¡°Your wounds are fine now, I should leave.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I return.¡±

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Ji Tianqing asked repeatedly.

    The look in herrge, radiant eyes told Qianye that he wouldn¡¯t be able to leave the city without satisfying her curiosity. ¡°I¡¯m going to Tidehark to rescue someone.¡±

    ¡°Big city, rescue, I like! Go on, be more specific.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a joke, I¡¯m going to the city lord¡¯s weapons factory. I heard this person is Zhang Buzhou¡¯s trusted aide and a divine champion.¡±

    ¡°A firearms ce overseen by an expert, that¡¯s even better! I like it. I¡¯ming along, it¡¯s settled!¡±

 Chapter 863: Pin-Pointing

    Momentster, Qianye and Ji Tianqing headed north from Southern Blue. He knew there was no stopping anything this young miss was set on doing. At first, she was supposed to monitor the reorganization of the mercenaries in the city, but she had pushed aside such an important job without a second thought.

    Qianye tried to object in a tactful manner since Dark me could be considered the foundation of their new nation. Nheless, Ji Tianqing had an excuse¡ªshe wanted to let those disloyal people take action during this short absence and round them all up after her holiday.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s words were fairly tyrannical and she did look the part, but she also let slip her true thoughts by describing the journey as a holiday.

    The two arrived outside of Tidehark a couple of dayster. This was nominally the number one human city, and also the ce where Zhang Buzhou rose to fame. Built along the mountainside less than ten kilometers away from the sea, Tidehark¡¯s walls and towers stood dozens of meters tall¡ªit was a majestic city.

    Standing side by side outside of the city gates, Qianye reminded onest time. ¡°I heard the city lord is a divine champion, we must be careful.¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied impatiently, ¡°Everyone has some way to deal with a divine champion, let¡¯s hurry in!¡±

    Tidehark was different from Seagaze in that there was a certain distance between the city and the sea. The coastline was lined with shoal rocks, most of which were polished until they glistened and shone. Not to mention cities, there wasn¡¯t even a single fisherman vige or any humans for that matter.

    Thendscape around Tidehark was also different from other cities. The ground fell sharply a few dozen meters beyond the beach, forming an unfathomably deep sea-trench. This allowed even giant sea creatures to make their way near the shore without being discovered.

    Those brave souls who had dared to wander near the waters had long since been devoured.

    As dangerous as the beach was, the mountain behind Tidehark was actually a holynd for cultivation. The converging leylines meant that there were severalrge ore-veins hidden beneath the hills, and these veins would react with the void origin power outside, allowing for arge amount of rtively gentle origin power to umte here. It was indeed a peerless cultivation heaven.

    Zhang Buzhou had cultivated in seclusion here when he was young and rose to fame in one battle after bing a divine champion. Hence, more and more people gathered here, making Tidehark the bustling number one human city it was today.

    Zhang Buzhou no longer needed the environment here, so he left the Eastern Sea for isted cultivation and was never heard from again. He left one of his past followers in Tidehark to serve as its lord.

    The city lord Luo Bingfeng had never taken action in his thirty years of bing a champion. No one knew what rank he was at because he had been cultivating in Zhang Buzhou¡¯s old cave residence all this time. Some even made guesses that Luo Bingfeng had already caught up to Zhang Buzhou and was preparing himself to assail the heavenly monarch realm.

    Although not many people believe this, it was widely epted that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s strength was unfathomable. This was also the reason why the Wolf King remained in check despite probing the human race¡¯s bottom line constantly.

    Qianye¡¯s current target was Luo Bingfeng¡¯s weapons factory, so they had to be discreet. Even if the man wasn¡¯t home at the moment, provoking a powerful enemy wasn¡¯t a smart move at all.

    Bao Zhuan¡¯s weapons were mostly produced by Cui Yuanhai. Qianye had nned to rely on his Bloodline Concealment ability to find the old man and take him away covertly. This youngdy, however, seemed to be itching for a battle¡ªand maybe even to meet Luo Bingfeng himself.

    Qianyeughed wryly. He could only hope that the girl would have some powerful trick up her sleeve if the man actually appeared.

    Tidehark was a majestic city, and there was never a shortage of people passing through its many gates.

    Qianye and Ji Tianqing followed the flow of people and easily arrived inside the city. Thetter grabbed a passerby and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the best guesthouse in the city?¡±

    The man nced at Ji Tianqing with spirited eyes. ¡°There are too many guesthouses in the city, but if you say the best guesthouse, then it has to be ¡®Cloudborn Inn¡¯. That¡¯s an extraordinary ce where Zhang Buzhou once stayed for a period of time. His courtyard remains untouched even today...¡±

    The passerby wanted to keep on talking, but Ji Tianqing waved her hand at him and swaggered off. Startled, the man gave chase, saying, ¡°Miss, miss! I¡¯m surnamed Zhou, my name¡¯s... Miss?¡±

    Ji Tianqing had long since vanished. The passerby looked about but to no avail. In the end, he stomped his feet angrily and said, ¡°What¡¯s so good about that little brat? This young master owns property in this city!¡±

    The angry passerby had long since been forgotten as Ji Tianqing ran through the streets and alleys with Qianye in tow.

    After a long while of running, Qianye realized that something wasn¡¯t right and halted his steps. Ji Tianqing also had to stop because she was holding Qianye¡¯s hand this whole time.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    Ji Tianqing blinked innocently. ¡°Cloudborn Inn!¡±

    ¡°Do you know where it is?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t that man say so just now?¡±

    ¡°He only said there¡¯s a Cloudborn Inn, but not where it was located.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t going to give her a chance.

    Ji Tianqing shrugged with a sigh. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s just take a stroll around here until we find it.¡±

    Qianye finally confirmed that they were running about randomly just now.

    He couldn¡¯t help but raise his hands, not knowing how to express his emotions. In the end, he said, ¡°Tianqing, I¡¯m here to save someone.¡±

    ¡°I know, but won¡¯t we need to familiarize ourselves with they of thend for that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not wrong, but...¡±

    Judging from Ji Tianqing¡¯s guilty appearance, Qianye couldn¡¯t bear to utter more words of me. He sighed, saying, ¡°Go and take a stroll after we get to the inn. I want to check on the location and defenses of the weapons factory.¡±

    Ji Tianqing looked depressed as she shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s no fun, let¡¯s get our main job over with first.¡±

    Qianye felt puzzled, but Ji Tianqing had always been unfathomable and mysterious. No one knew what her real emotions were.

    Cloudborn Inn was indeed the best guesthouse in the entirety of Tidehark. The two quickly found their way there after asking around a bit.

    This was a guesthouse built in the style of imperial aristocratic families, with every brick and roof tile tastefully chosen. As someone who had been to the Zhao and Song residences before, he could tell that the imitation here was fairly well-done, a rare sight in the neutralnds.

    Ji Tianqing seemed quite satisfied with the ce. She immediately asked the attendant to prepare a quiet little courtyard and checked into it with Qianye.

    The littlepound was fairly clean and included a weather control array, allowing green bamboo to grow around the patio. The room down to its decor and choice of vases was also fairly exquisite.

    The young miss nodded in satisfaction. ¡°This ce is passable.¡±

    Qianye had grown up ustomed to the wilderness, so he didn¡¯t care much for the quality of his lodgings. After settling in, he quickly left the inn to investigate the location of the weapons factory.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s factories were naturally the biggest in Tidehark, upying an entire street block. While rtively easy to locate, such an important area was naturally well-guarded. The workshop was adjacent to the city guard barracks, and there were sentry turrets on all four corners of thepound. There were also soldiers patrolling the walls.

    The external defensive measures weren¡¯t that big of an issue, but Qianye knew for sure that there were experts overseeing the ce, and there might be more than just one.

    The problem was that Qianye wasn¡¯t really familiar with Tidehark, nor did he have any contacts here. He thus had no idea regarding the internal structure of the factory. He had no way to find out whether Cui Yuanhai was inside, much less his location, schedule, and habits.

    Hiding in the crowd, Qianye walked around the entire factory and mapped out a general outline of the interior before returning.

    ¡°Found him?¡± Ji Tianqing inquired.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°But I don¡¯t know where the old man lives. Thepound is fairly big and I have no one to ask.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s inside?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°He¡¯s in there, but there¡¯s a fairlyplex array inside preventing my perception from finding the location.¡±

    Ji Tianqing smiled meaningfully. ¡°If we can find the old man, do you n to snatch him and make an escape?¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say.

    In truth, that was a fairly normal choice. With Qianye¡¯sbat strength,unching a surprise attack at the most opportune moment was the best way. When the timees, he would leave Tidehark with Cui Yuanhai and either find a ce to hide him or return to Southern Blue. Ji Tianqing would surely notice the greatmotion in the city and return on her ownter on.

    But for some reason, Qianye felt a bit guilty under her bright gaze. It was almost as though he was doing her some injustice.

    ¡°Fine, no need to reply.¡± In a rare change of character, Ji Tianqing decided to let Qianye off.

    She quickly packed up herpact luggage and caused it to vanish with a pat. Qianye wasn¡¯t really too surprised that she possessed spatial equipment.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re sure that the man is here, let¡¯s raid the base at night,¡± said Ji Tianqing.

    ¡°But how do we pinpoint the location?¡± Qianye frowned. He knew he wasn¡¯t stronger than Ji Tianqing in the field of perception.

    ¡°I have my ways.¡± The young miss wasn¡¯t willing to divulge anything.

    The silent night soon fell upon the city as Qianye and Ji Tianqing arrived beside the weapons factory. They jumped into thepound and, from atop one of the cannon turrets, got a good view of the entire ce. Being able to hide from the guards wasn¡¯t enough¡ªQianye¡¯s perception was still messed up and unable to find out the old man¡¯s location.

    At this moment, the workshops were still well lit and the smiths inside were busy working.

    Ji Tianqing rose halfway into the air and unleashed a loud cry, ¡°Cui Yuanhai,e out. We¡¯re here to save you!¡±

 Chapter 864: Storming

    The young miss¡¯ voice was clear, resounding, and highly prative. It not only covered the entire weapons factory but also rang through half of Tidehark.

    The result was easily imaginable.

    Chaos ensued in the entire arms workshop. Like startled wasps, countless soldiers flooded out from every unexpected corner, and the snowy white light from the ring originmps swept through the entirepound, leaving no dead angle untouched.

    Tidehark¡¯s reaction was a step slower, but the cannon turrets were already responding. The giant ballista loaded with homing bolts was slowly turning around toward the weapons factory.

    The swift reaction truly made one sigh in admiration. In addition to the airtight defenses in the factory interior, the surrounding cannon turrets were also well-thought-out and capable of covering the air above the factory. If someone wanted to escape from the weapons factory, they would suffer at least two rounds of ballista-fire even if they fled into the air.

    Add to that the spying experts in the shadows, it could be said that no one below the divine champion realm would be having an easy time here.

    The weapons factory itself wasn¡¯t a treasure trove. Its true valuey in its employed talents, intricate machinery, and excellent working environment. Robbing this ce wasn¡¯t worth the effort unless one could move everything away.

    After unleashing that shout, Ji Tianqing stood in the air, allowing the beams of snowy light to sweep past her in a show of extreme arrogance.

    Only at this point did Qianye understand that the surprise attack she was talking about was highly literal. Actually, her actions could no longer be summed up by the word ¡°surprise attack¡± since she was giving her enemies ample time to react.

    Finally, there were people dissatisfied with Ji Tianqing¡¯s arrogance. Three somber auras shot up abruptly from each corner of the factory, powerful and overflowing with killing intent. It was an impressive lineup of rank-fifteen experts. There was a faint resonance between these three, which indicated that they had cultivated a certain cooperative secret art that could amplify each other¡¯s power.

    The three auras were like three giants that blocked their retreat in every direction, leaving only one empty spot. And that direction led straight to Luo Bingfeng¡¯s residence. Any intruder with half a brain would avoid diving headfirst into such a trap.

    Seeing that the enemy had fully assembled, Qianye sighed in secret. He knew his ns today had gone awry. If the true experts of Tidehark were to arrive, it wasn¡¯t a certainty if the two of them could escape, let alone rescue the prisoner.

    Qianye reached out to pull Ji Tianqing, hoping to escape with her. Although this young miss had foiled his ns, he couldn¡¯t just sit by and watch her fall into enemy hands.

    However, Qianye¡¯s hands struck empty air!

    Ji Tianqiang drifted toward the weapons factory, almost like a weightless leaf or cotton thread. She had evaded Qianye¡¯s grab with such a simple floating movement.

    ¡°I¡¯ve found him! Stop the enemy!¡± Saying thus, Ji Tianqing descended rapidly and vanished into the chaos of the factory.

    Qianye knew not how she had managed to find Cui Yuanhai, but there was no time to ask. The only thing he could do now was to trust her words.

    Three figures shooting out from each corner of the factory were startled. They were locked onto Ji Tianqing at first, but they suddenly lost track of her¡ªit was as though the original existence was merely an illusion. Frantic, they scanned the weapons factory with their perception in hopes of finding her.

    Qianye, of course, couldn¡¯t let them do as they wished. He whipped out his sniper rifle and fired four rounds, a pair of wings unfurling behind him as he did so!

    Empowered by the Wings of Inception, one of the origin bullets whistled toward an empty area. The other three brushed past one of the experts, shocking him out of his wits and effectively alerting the trio of Qianye¡¯s existence. It was just that the marksmanship was seemingly quite poor, and the projectiles were so far off their mark that the experts didn¡¯t feel the need to evade.

    Four balls of me erupted in the night sky. The explosions came from the four cannon turrets surrounding the weapons factory, explosions so violent that they actually flung the cannons away. Four giant zes shot into the air, shattering the darkness of the night and illuminating half of Tidehark City.

    Only then did the three men realize that Qianye wasn¡¯t aiming at them but at the turrets instead.

    Embarrassed and angry, they gave up on finding Ji Tianqing and pounced toward Qianye. Each of them delivered a punch along the way, the resultant deluge of origin power converged to form a formless over Qianye.

    As expected, they had cultivated a mutually empowering secret art and could work together without a single opening. Hence, the pressure while facing off against the trio wasn¡¯t inferior to Ji Rui.

    Qianye had never fought such enemies before. Having made a quick decision, East Peak appeared almost instantly in his hands with mes shrouding its sharp edge. He wanted to borrow the might of his sword to tear open the origin power.

    Although a melee fight was advantageous for him, Qianye instinctively wanted to avoid entering the workshops, opting instead to fight in the air where he was rtively weaker.

    East Peak drew an arc of scarlet radiance through the night sky, ripping therge of origin power into two.

    He then shot out from the opening like a cannonball and duly escaped the cage.

    It was at this moment that a certain gaze arrived on Qianye¡¯s body. As though his entire body had been drenched in cold water, he froze up and fell sharply to the ground.

    This felt simr to when he was locked onto by the mysterious existence in the Eastern Sea, the only difference being their intensity.

    Qianye¡¯s body fell like a leaden rock and looked like it would smash into the central courtyard of the factory. A series of dark red patterns appeared on the ground at this moment, apparently a major origin array. Qianye¡¯s instincts were screaming at him to leave this ce. One could easily imagine that the oue of falling into the array wasn¡¯t going to be good.

    During this moment of danger, the dark golden blood energy in his body erupted like an infuriated beast and unleashed a prative howl!

    In the blink of an eye, the dark golden blood energy swept over his entire body like a raging tide and wiped away the effects of the cold gaze on his body. It was an extremely tyrannical disy.

    It was just that the dark golden energy arrived a tad toote. Qianye was no more than ten meters from the ground at this moment, and the fully-activated array dragged him downward.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s figure flickered into vision just as he was about to fall into the array, wrapping an arm around Qianye as she tread gently on the center of the array. Rings of faint light spread dozens of meters outward, turning the red color of the array dark green wherever it passed. Even the operational rules of the array were modified.

    In the blink of an eye, that terrifying attractive force turned into a surging propulsion that hurled them hundreds of meters into the air and over the walls of Tidehark. She tugged on a long ck cord during the ascent, dragging a ck silhouette on the other end of the cable along with them.

    The development was so sudden that neither the guards, the three overseeing experts, nor the arriving reinforcements could do anything. It seemed like they would fly out of the city just like that.

    The geography around Tidehark City was fairlyplicated with rising hills and falling slopes. If these two people could sneak in quietly, it proved that they could leave just as easily. No one was confident about finding them in the dark night.

    ¡°Humph!¡± It was at this time that everyone heard a faint, almost angry sound. Their hearts skipped a beat.

    The cold gaze that had caused Qianye to fall from the sky appeared from a distant mountaintop, epassing Qianye and Ji Tianqing like a giant.

    Qianye¡¯s brows rose up as he retrieved Heartgrave from his back and made to confront the enemy with the Pointer Monarch¡¯s weapon!

    However, Ji Tianqing hugged Qianye tightly and made a half-turn, bringing her in direct sight of the cold intent. She neither dodged nor blocked, but instead brought out amand token which she waved at the distant mountaintop.

    With a vague interjection of surprise, the killing intent within the cold gaze immediately dispersed.

    Ji Tianqing put away themand token and shouted, ¡°Fly away, quick!¡±

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of such a good opportunity¡ªhe circted his origin power and sped away, leaving a trail of scarlet sparks.

    In the span of a few breaths, two figures suddenly appeared in the air where Qianye and Ji Tianqing had been standing¡ªa man of imposing demeanor and ady possessing outstanding beauty and elegance.

    The man snorted. ¡°What a sly junior, I actually fell for their trick! Humph, do they think I can¡¯t capture them?¡±

    At this moment, Qianye had already left with Ji Tianqing, leaving only specks of scarlet light in the air. Having seen through Qianye with his lightning-sharp eyes, the man turned toward the direction in which they had fled.

    Thedy didn¡¯t seem angry, however. She picked up a plume of scarlet me and began observing it curiously. The lingering plume of Venus Dawn lit up in her hand and attracted hundreds of others¡ªthe dancing lights flew around her, adding a bit of mystique to her refined beauty.

    Seeing the man probing around, she smiled faintly. ¡°It¡¯s probably toote if you give chase now. You¡¯ll be giving that man a reason tough at you if you fail. That¡¯s not good for your reputation.¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°These two juniors seem to know that I can¡¯t leave this ce. This matter is highly important, and only a few people know about it. How did they find out? I must investigate this matter thoroughly once I get back!¡±

    The girl smiled. ¡°It has been so many years, but your temper still hasn¡¯t improved. Those two are quite interesting, it¡¯ll be a pity if you chase them down and kill them. Look carefully, do you see what this is?¡±

    Only at this point did he notice the scarlet spark in thedy¡¯s hands. His eyes froze as he gave the object a careful look. ¡°Venus Dawn!?¡±

    Thedy sighed. ¡°Indeed it is, and its purity is far above my own. You can say that this spark is my life¡¯s dream, but unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t belong to me.¡±

    The man said in a gloomy voice, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s capture him and make him spit out his cultivation art!¡±

 Chapter 865: Barbarian

    Actually, Qianye and Ji Tianqing were hiding in a shallow ditch nearby, thendscape serving to break their pursuers¡¯ line of sight.

    There was a certain person lying immobile behind them. Ji Tianqing had covered him up with a strange green cloth that insted his aura entirely. ording to her, this person was Cui Yuanhai, and she had simply knocked him out to prevent the man from moving about.

    At this moment, Qianye and Ji Tianqing were huddled up together, and thetter was still pushing herself into his arms. There was no helping it because Luo Bingfeng¡¯s perception and gaze were exceptionally sharp, capable of covering long distances in an instant. He would sense even the slightest of hints.

    Qianye was circting Bloodline Concealment to the maximum extent, reducing his aura until it was as indistinct as themon earth rat. This served well for deception. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, didn¡¯t have this kind of power, so there was still a bit of aura leaking out constantly. She might be able to fool an ordinary expert, but it was far from enough against Luo Bingfeng.

    Qianye had no other choice but to cover her body with his own, hoping to reduce the outflow of aura as much as possible. The only aura-concealing cloth she had had been used to cover the old man, so she had nothing to hide herself with.

    The two thus shrunk cautiously into the pit, hiding in a simple and primitive manner.

    If only Luo Bingfeng would fly a hundred or so meters into the air, he would probably see Qianye and Ji Tianqing. Nheless, the man and woman never moved after appearing there.

    Thedy giggled with her mouth covered. ¡°Look at your identity! How dare you think about robbing a junior. Besides, a single miss in cultivation is as good as a mile, even more so for someone with a special constitution like mine. Even if you manage to get his cultivation art, I might not be able to use it.¡±

    ¡°Even if you can¡¯t use it, we can still borrow it and use it for reference.¡± Luo Bingfeng was fairly obstinate.

    Helpless, the woman sighed. ¡°A cultivation art like that is no doubt a peerless item, you should know even better how valuable it is. Even if you manage to borrow it, it¡¯ll be too great of a favor. Don¡¯t even think about cheating other people. Even though we¡¯ve fallen to this state, we cannot lose our ideals.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll bring out sufficientpensation. It¡¯ll be fine as long as he¡¯s tactful, and I¡¯ll even owe him a favor. But if he¡¯s not smart, don¡¯t me me for being merciless.¡±

    Ji Tianqing poked Qianye and asked in lipnguage, ¡°What art do you cultivate? It sounds really powerful!¡±

    ¡°... A very ordinary art.¡±

    ¡°You think I¡¯ll believe you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really speaking the truth.¡±

    And nothing but the truth it was¡ªthe Combatant Form was a staple art that anyone in the empire could cultivate, and the Song n Ancient Scroll wasn¡¯t really important to the Song n, either. It was obvious from how easily Song Zining had brought it out.

    Ji Tianqiang was apparently skeptical. She gave him a fierce re, indicating that she would settle this score after going back.

    At this point, Luo Bingfeng had scanned the area several times to no avail. He finally took thedy¡¯s hand and vanished, shaking his head helplessly as he did so.

    Qianye didn¡¯t act carelessly, though. He slowly released Ji Tianqing and performed a hand signal at her. He then picked up the cloth-wrapped old man and tread forward while Ji Tianqing followed silently from behind.

    The two moved at the speed of ordinary humans, and it took them half of the night before the piercing sensation from their backs faded away. Only then did Qianye heave a sigh of relief, knowing that he had left Luo Bingfeng¡¯s perception range.

    Ji Tianqing was also pale. It would seem the entire night¡¯s torment had done a fair number on her.

    For a while longer, they traveled quietly with none of them speaking a word. Luo Bingfeng¡¯s perception range and his ability to attack just by looking were far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. This city lord had kept himself well-hidden, and his methods were unfathomable. He seemed unable to leave Tidehark for some reason, and that was the only reason the duo had managed to flee. Otherwise, there was no telling what their fate would be.

    Qianye might be able to escape with thebination of Spatial sh and Bloodline Concealment, but it was impossible to do so with Cui Yuanhai in tow.

    Qianye soon found a cave, in which he put down the man on his back and unraveled the cloth. It was indeed Cui Yuanhai inside the cloth¡ªhe was still unconscious and even his breathing and heartbeat had stopped. Nheless, there were wisps of faint origin power flowing gently around his heart and throughout his entire body, probably a life-saving measure Ji Tianqing had set up for the old man.

    The young miss walked over and struck Cui Yuanhai¡¯s chest with her palm. Her origin power stimted his vitality, awakening his heart and blood flow, but sending him into a deep sleep. After undergoing a state of disguised death, what he really needed was rest.

    There were no signs of abuse or beatings on the man¡¯s body, and neither were there any restrictions on his origin power. He seemed fairly well except for some weakness. It would seem that he was at least treated well in the Tidehark weapons factory.

    Feeling relieved after checking on Cui Yuanhai¡¯s status, Qianye thought of something else. ¡°You said you have a way to deal with the divine champion, did you mean thatmand token?¡±

    Ji Tianqiang was quite generous¡ªshe whipped out the token and tossed it to Qianye, saying, ¡°You can have it!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry after giving it a nce. This was more an iron b than it was amand token. There were two words carved into it: Buzhou.

    Judging from the words, this was probably an imitation of Zhang Buzhou¡¯smand seal. The problem was that even Qianye could see how badly written the two words were. It wasn¡¯t even a proper carving! As the leader of the human race in the neutralnds, there was no way Zhang Buzhou¡¯smand token would be this lousy.

    One would be hard-pressed to fool a child with this token, yet it had managed to deceive the city lord of Tidehark.

    ¡°Thismand token¡­¡± Qianye simply couldn¡¯t figure out what was so special about it. There was nothing unique about it from the inside out. Even its material was the most ordinary of iron, the type that would rust after a day or two.

    ¡°This is an imitation of Zhang Buzhou¡¯s personalmand seal, I spent an entire silver coin to get it carved.¡±

    Qianye was speechless.

    ¡°This¡­ is how Zhang Buzhou¡¯s token looks?¡± Qianye was finding it hard to believe that a character who had cultivated to such a stage would appreciate this ugly design.

    ¡°Of course not, I¡¯ve never even seen how the man¡¯s token looks like. I just made it up randomly, it¡¯s fine as long as the words Buzhou are there. It doesn¡¯t matter what we think as long as the other party thinks it looks simr.¡±

    Qianye realized the trick here. Ji Tianqing had used a certain secret art to interfere with Luo Bingfeng¡¯s perception, making him believe that this was Zhang Buzhou¡¯s personalmand token. This made the man hesitate, allowing the two of them to escape.

    With Luo Bingfeng¡¯s cultivation, he naturally would¡¯ve sensed something off about the situation. That was why he hade after themter on. Nheless, the dy afforded the escapees enough time to prepare and hide.

    Qianye had rarely, if ever, seen someone of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s determination, perception, and ability. Being able to deceive such a person meant that Ji Tianqing¡¯s unassuming secret art was quite terrifying.

    In truth, this art wasn¡¯t entirely new¡ªher true appearance and cultivation had always been a mystery. All this time, Qianye could only remember that she was a beautifuldy. As for how beautiful she was and what made her so, he couldn¡¯t put his finger on it.

    If even Qianye was in this state, there was no need to talk about other people.

    Despite her mysterious origins, Ji Tianqing had always stood by him since her debut. The asional interaction between them had always been of mutual assistance. Hence, Qianye paid little heed to her identity. Every expert had secrets, and knowing more wasn¡¯t always a good thing.

    Qianye put Heartgrave and East Peak back into Andruil¡¯s space and returned the green cloth to Ji Tianqing. He then picked up Cui Yuanhai and made ready to return to Southern Blue.

    However, Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t move, and her eyes remained fixated on Qianye¡¯s ne.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qianye felt odd.

    Ji Tianqing only came to after hearing Qianye¡¯s voice. ¡°Nothing, I¡¯ll tell you when we go back.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye began running toward Southern Blue. He didn¡¯t think Ji Tianqing was interested in this ne in particr. Even if he were to give Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm to her, she couldn¡¯t use it without the corresponding bloodline. Additionally, she owned simr equipment of her own that wasn¡¯t inferior to this pendant.

    The two ran swiftly on the ground, lest Luo Bingfeng¡¯s men sense them in the air. Running on the ground was faster, anyway. Only those close to the heavenly monarch realm or people with Zhang Boqian¡¯s space traversal powers could fly faster than running.

    Seeing Ji Tianqing keeping up with him at a steady pace, Qianye felt a rush of youthfulpetitivenesse over him. He began elerating¡ªgoing faster and faster¡ªbut Ji Tianqing was still able to follow him.

    Qianye secretly felt surprised and wanted to test her limits. As such, he unleashed his full physical strength prowess and dashed off, covering dozens of meters with each leap.

    At this point, Ji Tianqing could no longer maintain her literal walk-in-the-park demeanor. Numerous afterimages appeared behind her as she strove to keep up with Qianye, shing hundreds of meters with each step.

    Seeing her finally use a secret art, Qianye felt a sense of relief. He was, after all, a specialist in physical strength and could¡ªwith the aid of origin power¡ªoust Ji Tianqing¡¯s secret art. Qianye would be the winner in speed if she couldn¡¯t bring out an even higher-grade skill.

    She might have other secret arts, but Qianye possessed Spatial sh as well. So, he was quite confident in victory.

    He had known her for some time, but this was the first time Qianye had the upper hand against her. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a rush of delight as he slowed down somewhat.

    Ji Tianqing caught up and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Vulgar! barbarian! Not elegant at all!¡±

    Qianye knew she was cursing him for iming victory by brute force. A win was nheless a win, and this was a fact that couldn¡¯t be changed. So, he simply allowed her to spout criticisms as he sped toward Southern Blue with a smile.

    Southern Blue came into view at noon the next day.

    The two had run thousands of kilometers without rest, and even Qianye was feeling somewhat fatigued. Ji Tianqing was rather pale and no longer able to hide her exhaustion. She heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing Southern Blue. ¡°I¡¯m beat! After this, I¡¯m going to eat a giant meal and sleep for the entire day!¡±

 Chapter 866: Difficult Choice

    It was dusk by the time Cui Yuanhai woke up. Qianye rushed over immediately after getting word and had his men prepare some wine and dishes in the quiet room.

    ¡°Old Man, who would¡¯ve thought? So much time has passed since ourst meeting.¡± Qianye felt somewhat emotional.

    Cui Yuanhai sighed. ¡°Had I known this would happen, I would¡¯ve stayed back on the Western Continent to enjoy life.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°With your skills, there¡¯s no way you can enjoy peace anywhere, someone wille knocking on your door sooner orter.¡±

    These words seemed to stir up his emotions. He emptied his ss and said, ¡°The reason I fell to this state is because I was impetuous during my youth, believing myself capable of conquering the world with my own hands and refusing the aristocracy. Nheless, just the equipment involved in the research of firearms costs tens of thousands of gold coins, not something a single person can afford. Without these things, I had no choice but to rely on myself and the road grew increasingly narrow. I¡¯m not different from a smith at this age.¡±

    Back when Qianye had met the old man, thetter had nothing but a small workshop behind a store, and all the equipment he possessed could fit inside that tiny chamber. That miraculous ¡°bullet¡± was something he had hammered out bit by bit.

    For the current Qianye, however, the design of that ¡°bullet¡± was simply a shortcut and not the proper path.

    The ¡°bullet¡± was indeed an intricate work, but its low-grade limited its firepower and could no longer impress the Qianye of today.

    Cui Yuanhai himself wasn¡¯t very strong. Without the aid of powerful machines, his understanding of major arrays and cutting-edge gun arrays was fairly restricted. This had long since be his bottleneck. He improved gradually in certain minor skills, but there was a ceiling to what he could do. Just like how a true expert could no longer use his ¡°bullet¡±.

    Be it in terms of cultivation or expensive equipment, only the rich aristocratic families would have enough resources to support Cui Yuanhai¡¯s continued progress. However, he was already too old by the time he realized this. He had already squandered most of his great talents in a small workshop.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel emotional at the mention of these things. If Lin Xitang hadn¡¯t picked him up at the dumpster, giving him the chance to develop in Yellow Springs and Red Scorpion, he might not enjoy his current sess today. After all, no one could surpass the empire in resources.

    Cui Yuanhai¡¯s heart was full of mncholy after recalling the past. He drank silently for a good while before bringing up other matters.

    Due to his master machinist status, Cui Yuanhai didn¡¯t suffer much during the war. Nheless, he was sold off several times and had to work for different masters until one of the attendants from the Tidehark city-lord manor bought him. Only then did he settle down.

    That was why Qianye couldn¡¯t get any news of him despite asking around repeatedly. If he hadn¡¯t seen those weapons by chance, who knew if they would ever meet again?

    The two drank repeatedly while talking about the past until they were both tipsy.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Nighteye and the littless?¡± the old man asked. He had already brought this question up several times, but Qianye would always steer the conversation away. This time, Cui Yuanhai stared fixedly at him, preventing him from skirting around the issue.

    Qianye forced a smile. ¡°The little fellow is well, she¡¯s in her growing phase, so she¡¯s been asleep most of the time. Nighteye¡­ she¡¯s no longer here.¡±

    ¡°Not here!?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s left, this isn¡¯t her home.¡±

    The old man red angrily. ¡°Nonsense! You two were clearly doing well back then, how could she leave just like that? Something must¡¯ve happened, right? Did you wrong her in any way?¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly and shook his head. ¡°No, how should I put it¡­ let¡¯s not talk about it.¡±

    The old man understood the implications behind this. Seeing Qianye¡¯s demeanor, he no longer insisted on revealing everything.

    He poured Qianye a drink and changed the topic. ¡°You still seem to remember me after all this time. I¡¯ve also gained some insights during my time working at the weapons factory. I don¡¯t feel as old anymore. Whatever you need me to do, brat, just tell me.¡±

    Qianye became spirited. ¡°I¡¯ve found a pretty good ce recently, and I want to build arge-scale weapons factory there. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like you to oversee the project.¡±

    ¡°That suits me well, but the equipment won¡¯t be cheap!¡±

    ¡°Everything has been prepared, no need to worry.¡±

    Cui Yuanhai was shaken as he asked for more details. He couldn¡¯t hide his astonishment when Qianye reported the equipment models. ¡°These things are restricted goods even in the empire, how did you get your hands on them?¡±

    ¡°Someone will always have a way, even if they¡¯re restricted objects.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t borate on the exact means, but Song Zining had been operating his business in the empire for many years, and his fame in the military was also quite resounding. It really wasn¡¯t hard for him to get his hands on some machinery.

    The old man fell onto the table soon afterward. After all, he was still weak and unable to hold his liquor. Even in his intoxicated state, he was still sighing, seemingly regretting the choices he had made during his youth.

    Qianye carried Cui Yuanhai back to his room and left quietly after putting the man on his bed.

    He walked out and a light jump took him atop a nearby kic tower, much like a nocturnal bird traversing the skies. This was the highest point in the immediate vicinity¡ªabove him hung the stars while the myriad of lights flickered in the city below.

    Qianye was subconsciously affected by Cui Yuanhai¡¯s emotions. He was in no mood to do anything and only wanted to remain undisturbed for a while.

    He toyed about with a little box while sitting on the kic tower, his conflicted thoughts written all over his face. Apparently, he couldn¡¯t quite make up his mind about something.

    The past was still vivid in his mind, and the merriest times were when Nighteye was at home and he was out fighting. Despite having to shoulder the burden of raising a family, it made him quite happy.

    If he could redo everything, Qianye would choose to stay beside Nighteye for as long as he could.

    Unfortunately, there were no ¡°ifs¡± in this world. Even someone as strong as the Pointer Monarch had to bury his heart in that secret realm.

    ¡°What¡¯s that in your hand?¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice echoed nearby, shocking him to his feet.

    She sat down unceremoniously beside Qianye and snatched the box away, preparing to open it.

    Shocked out of his wits, Qianye reached out to grab the container. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡±

    Ji Tianqing hid the box behind her with a little twist. She then puffed her chest out and looked down at Qianye with a provocative expression. This made it so that Qianye¡¯s hand was going straight for her chest. He hurriedly moved his hand away, but even for someone of his constitution, the abrupt change in movement still felt somewhat ufortable.

    Ji Tianqing turned away in a bid to open the box.

    ¡°Don¡¯t! That¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°A Dreameater King, right?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s hand froze midair. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Ji Tianqing tossed the box back, saying, ¡°This kind of box is used to store Dreameater Queens, and who wouldn¡¯t know with so much aura leaking out?¡±

    ¡°Aura leaking?¡± Qianye instinctively felt that something was off.

    ¡°That box in your hand isn¡¯t for storing Dreameater Kings, so it can¡¯t seal off the bug¡¯s aurapletely. It would¡¯ve be useless if you hadn¡¯t kept it in your spatial equipment all this time.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. All of his efforts would be in vain if the dreameater bug were to be useless. He immediately turned pale at the thought of this.

    Ji Tianqing nced at Qianye meaningfully. ¡°You must¡¯ve kept it for some time?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply. Only after a good while did he nod quietly.

    ¡°Actually, I already sensed it when you put Heartgrave and East Peak back into your ne. It felt fairly odd, so I would¡¯ve asked you about it anyway if you hadn¡¯t brought it out.¡±

    Qianye clenched his right fist until it was trembling from the excessive force.

    Ji Tianqing sighed lightly as she tossed Qianye a small bottle. Qianye was surprised as soon as he caught the mysterious scent wafting out of it. ¡°Stillwater Rebirth?¡±

    ¡°A small portion of it, enough to revive the Dreameater King and increase its effects by several times. You decide whether or not you want to use it.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°Stillwater rebirth will expire in one more day, and the Dreameater King, one day at most. If you keep it in this box after the revival, it¡¯llst three days.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment. ¡°Y-You don¡¯t happen to have a container for it, do you?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t have everything on me, can I? Why would I carry such a useless item around?¡± Ji Tianqing replied unhappily.

    Qianye replied helplessly, ¡°I understand, and thanks for tonight.¡±

    Ji Tianqing shook her head. ¡°No need, I might have other bad intentions, who knows?¡±

    ¡°...¡± Qianye was startled. He seemed to have recalled something, but he also looked incredulous.

    ¡°Enjoy the wind and thoughts, I¡¯m going to bed.¡± Ji Tianqing got up and jumped off the kic tower, denying Qianye the opportunity to question her.

    After she was gone, Qianye gazed at the Stillwater Rebirth and the Dreameater King. He knew there was no escaping it; he had to make a choice.

    There was only one reason Qianye had chosen to forget the Dreameater King, and that was because he felt that Nighteye¡¯s current state was brought about by consuming the dreameater bug.

    To Nighteye herself, there was no clear distinction between her past conscience and the current one. Perhaps both of them were real, or perhaps it was just a small part of each. To Qianye, her past persona was the real one¡ªup to this point, he still couldn¡¯t decide how to treat the current Nighteye or if he should treat them as the same person.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t given the Dreameaster King to her because he was somewhat worried. Would thispletely awaken her? Would itpletely erase her past, destroying all hopes of ever going back?

    From a different perspective, though, Nighteye¡¯s spirit was still iplete, and that would affect her strength. It could be said that she would have no chance of approaching the Sacred Mountain as long as her spirit remained unmended.

    Currently, Nighteye¡¯sbat strength had barely reached the duke level, while her blood energy was still at the count rank. She was still rtively weakpared to the massive Evernight system. If the Lightless Monarch were to send a powerful duke or arrive himself, Nighteye would be hard-pressed to escape.

    With the Dreameater King in one hand and the Stillwater Rebirth in the other, his hands were both trembling.

 Chapter 867: Do You Regret?

    The hesitationsted only a short while, yet Qianye felt as though he had traversed a thousand years. He looked up and saw the brilliant stars as well as the slowly glidingndmasses¡ªthetter casting their shadows upon his face.

    This world was just that empty and vast. Even those stars had suffered millennia of solitude, to speak nothing of a tiny, tiny creature like him.

    Qianye¡¯s mind was nk as he opened up the box and poured the Stillwater Rebirth inside.

    The milky medicinal liquid was immediately absorbed upon contact. The originally unresponsive Dreameater King unleashed a pleasant cry as its body expanded at a visible pace. In the blink of an eye, it almost couldn¡¯t fit inside the container.

    The king seemed sentient. Seemingly knowing that the space outside was detrimental to its existence, it stopped growing once the box was full and fell into a deep sleep. After absorbing the medicine, the Dreameater King¡¯s body released a constant stream of prismatic colors that made it difficult for the spectator to move their eyes away.

    After a long while, a dizzy Qianye finally managed to divert his line of sight. Any other person might¡¯ve had their spirit sucked away by the Dreameater King. The creature would surely cause a cmity if unleashed in arge city since even champions would find it difficult to escape the soul attraction.

    The Dreameater King had transformedpletely after absorbing the Stillwater Rebirth, and was now at apletely different level.

    Qianye closed the box properly. The faint dizziness disappeared only after the Dreameater King¡¯s aura was insted. Nheless, there were still rainbow colors appearing around the container from time to time. Clearly, the Dreameater King¡¯s aura couldn¡¯t be entirely isted, and its power was weakening with each passing moment.

    Qianye then jumped up and vanished swiftly into the night sky.

    Ji Tianqing appeared atop the kic tower after his figure had faded away, gazing silently into the distance. Soon afterward, Song Zining also appeared nearby.

    ¡°He¡¯ll hate me, won¡¯t he?¡± Ji Tianqing asked.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°No, Qianye is very smart. He knows what he should do, and no one can influence him when he¡¯s determined.¡±

    ¡°I hope that¡¯s the case¡­ Say, what do you think is going on in his head right now?¡±

    Song Zining froze up for a moment before breaking into a burst of wryughter. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t want to know, either.¡±

    Ji Tianqing lifted Song Zining by the cor and said fiercely, ¡°You don¡¯t want to know!? And yet you made me do such a thing. I have to y the part of the bad guy while you keep on being a good person, is that it?¡±

    Song Zining raised his hands in surrender. ¡°Young Miss, speak nicely, don¡¯t resort to violence¡­ Ah!¡±

    Ji Tianqing, however, had no intention of listening to him and simply gave him a punch to the abdomen. The force wasn¡¯t great, but it was cleverly delivered, sting Song Zining¡¯s origin barrier in one blow and almost making him throw up.

    ¡°Stop! Stop! If you keep going, I¡¯ll retaliate. Ah no, I give up!¡± As expected of the seventh young master, he was the only one who could perform such a dignified surrender.

    Ji Tianqing threw him to the floor with a snort. ¡°I knew what you were nning when you invited me back then, but do you even think it¡¯s possible? And now you do this! I really don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re thinking.¡±

    Song Zining adjusted his clothes andughed wryly, ¡°Fine, I tricked you here for selfish reasons. If you ask me why, there¡¯s only one reason behind all this. I don¡¯t want him to be looking at her from afar for hundreds of years, maybe even a thousand. Settling this earlier is a good thing for him.¡±

    ¡°You treat him so well.¡±

    ¡°He does the same to me.¡±

    ¡°Thick as thieves, I see!¡± Ji Tianqing came to this conclusion.

    The atmosphere became quite serious in just a couple of short exchanges.

    After a long while of silence, Ji Tianqing asked, ¡°Say, will he return?¡±

    ¡°He will,¡± Song Zining said definitively.

    ¡°Then, what are you worried about?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m worried that he¡¯ll be a different person aftering back.¡±

    Ji Tianqing frowned. ¡°Aren¡¯t you known for your divination skills? Why don¡¯t you scry him?¡±

    ¡°Your divination isn¡¯t bad, either, why don¡¯t you try?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot!¡±

    ¡°And I am?¡±

    At this point, the two sighed at the same time. They nced at one another in astonishment, and then, with a harrumph, left to mind their own business.

    At this moment, the Eastern Sea continent was flying past under Qianye¡¯s feet. He crossed rapid rivers, scaled dangerous cliffs, and traversed void storms. By dawn, Qianye was already at the border of the continent and standing outside the wrecked airship.

    The nted airship was already t on the ground and many parts showed signs of repair.

    Qianye ran frantically the entire way, neither slowing down nor retracting his aura. Sensing his arrival, the vampire marquis drilled out of the wreckage and waved his hands at him. ¡°You¡¯re here!¡±

    The marquis attitude was much friendlierpared to thest time. It was more cordiality than reverence¡ªhe was probably feeling extremely stifled, having to repair the airship all alone with no one to talk to.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Is Nighteye here?¡±

    The marquis shrugged. ¡°Same as before. I haven¡¯t seen her for quite a while now, but she should still be inside, go in by yourself.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a while before fishing out the box containing the Dreameater King. ¡°Give this to her, I won¡¯t go in anymore.¡±

    The marquis was startled. He said without taking the box, ¡°You still have three minutes, either way, just go in.¡±

    The marquis was a smart person. He knew that the two shared a special rtionship, one in which he wasn¡¯t willing to get involved. Hence, he refused to ry the item and instead asked Qianye to bring it to her himself.

    It was at this time that Nighteye¡¯s gentle yet cold voice echoed in their ears. ¡°Come in.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment before entering the warship with a wry smile.

    Just as before, Nighteye was floating in the main hall with her arms wrapped around herself.

    Qianye entered the chamber and passed the box to her. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    Nighteye opened her eyes and her gazended on the box. At this moment, the little container erupted in blinding light, filling the entire hall with the colors of the rainbow.

    The box popped open and the Dreameater King rushed out toward the door. Sensing imminent destruction, the creature let out mournful cries akin to sobbing. Qianye was ovee by pity the moment he heard its cries and almost felt the urge to let it go.

    The Dreameaster King could affect Qianye, but it could do nothing against Nighteye. She opened her lips ever so slightly and shot out a thread of blood. The sanguineous string wound around the creature and locked it firmly in the air, preventing it from moving in the slightest.

    ¡°This is for me?¡± Nighteye¡¯s words contained inexplicable implications behind them.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qianye was also quite calm at this point.

    ¡°You actually know how to ignite its potential, that¡¯s surprising. It¡¯s effect right now is equal to three ordinary Dreameater Kings. I have no idea what you¡¯re thinking by giving me this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s beneficial for you,¡± Qianye said emotionlessly.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Nighteye opened her eyes and shot him a nce. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll ept this gift then, as long as you don¡¯t regretter on.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ won¡¯t regret it.¡±

    Nighteye inhaled gently. A resplendent stream of prismatic radiance shot out from the Dreameater King and disappeared inside her mouth.

    Losing the power to move, the creature unleashed a mournful cry as it fell to the ground and turned to dust.

    After absorbing the rainbow-colored lights, Nighteye slowly closed her eyes, seemingly content. ¡°I¡¯m tired now.¡±

    Qianye nodded and left the hall in silence. Countless wisps of blood energy weaved together behind him and sealed the chamber shut.

    He could sense the changes happening behind him without needing to look back.

    The marquis was on the deck when Qianye walked out, repairing the damaged areas therein. He waved his hand at Qianye in a bid to greet him, but thetter only reciprocated with a forced smile before leaving swiftly.

    At this moment, there was only one question echoing in Qianye¡¯s heart: ¡°Will I regret this?¡±

    There was no answer to this question.

    Qianye didn¡¯t return to Southern Blue afterward. Instead, he wandered aimlessly through the mountains, the wilderness, and, at times, sitting alone beside flowing creeks. As though life had lost its meaning, he had no idea what he was doing or what he wanted to do.

    One day, he suddenly came to and realized that he had been wandering for over a week. He had been roaming the mountain ranges at the continent¡¯s border all this time, perhaps because the destructive aura here was the only thing that could calm him down.

    Like someone who had just woken up from a dream, Qianye left the continent¡¯s border and returned to Southern Blue.

    The city was just as lively, perhaps even more so than when he had left. Manypanies had picked theirnd and started constructing workshops. Song Zining had designated a certain area in Southern Blue for those looking to build new workshops.

    Song Zining was no different from a regent city lord at this point. Meanwhile, Ji Rui remained hidden behind the scenes, neither supporting nor objecting to the seventh young master¡¯s actions.

    Ji Rui¡¯s attitude was fairly strange, but news from the city lord¡¯s manor hinted that he was no longer as adverse to Song Zining and Dark me. That was because Song Zining¡¯s skills were so much greater in the field of city nning and construction. Additionally, Southern Blue¡¯s prosperity and the subsequent increase in taxes would still benefit Ji Rui.

    The merchants acted swiftly in fighting for the plots ofnd but were evidently slower when it came to building the factories. Everyone was waiting for the Wolf King¡¯s retaliation. Only after witnessing the oue of this battle would they feel safe in making this investment.

    There were rules in the neutralnds preventing the new city lord¡ªin the case of discement¡ªfrom taking back civilian properties. However, the Wolf King was never one to y by the rules, so all the managers were watching and waiting for new development. This would limit their losses in the off-chance that Qianye¡¯s group couldn¡¯t stand up to the Wolf King.

    Upon his return, Qianye unexpectedly found that Ji Tianqing and Song Zining were gone. All he saw was the letter they had left for him.

    It read: ¡°Watch the house, stop running around!¡±

 Chapter 868: Buried Deep

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. There was no telling which poor bloke would be the next victim of these two fellows. He could only hope they understood that the neutralnds wasn¡¯t a ce they could do everything as they wished.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to go out, anyway¡ªthe journey to the continent border and the many days of subsequent wandering had left him exhausted in both body and mind. He returned to his room and, after ordering people not to disturb him, fell into a deep sleep.

    Qianye rarely slept since his cultivation surpassed the champion realm. The Song n Ancient Scroll was as gentle and gradual as the spring rain, easily capable of substituting for sleep.

    But now, Qianye felt really tired and sleep was all that he wanted.

    The darkness was just that deep, just that lonesome.

    An unknown length of time had passed by the time Qianye opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the blinding rays of the sun slipping through the cracks in the window, a rare sight in the usually gloomy days of the neutralnds.

    Qianyey quietly, gazing at the ceiling with dispirited eyes.

    He jumped up all of a sudden and opened up the curtains, allowing the fierce sunbeams to wash over his face. His eyes narrowed from the brightness.

    The weather was indeed wonderful. Just outside his window was a lively construction site where hundreds of mercenaries were busy with work. A champion-level expert walked step by step into the yard with a stone weighing several tons in his grasp. Then, with a loud cry, his muscles bulged out as he thrust the stone into the foundation. Thus, a stone pir was erected.

    This stone pir stood ramrod straight without the slightest deviation. Several mercenaries began reinforcing the base of this pir while the champion turned away to pick up another one.

    Qianye was feeling quite slow at the moment, and it took him a moment to realize that this person was Frost Wolf, the former master of this courtyard. Who would¡¯ve thought he would be working with such passion¡ªwas it because of his trip to Tidehark?

    Qianye walked out with a smile and saw two soldiers standing guard dutifully.

    ¡°How long have I been sleeping?¡±

    ¡°Three days, sire!¡± One of the guards replied clearly. The man was already starting to show some imperial-level discipline, apparently the evil work of Young Miss Ji.

    ¡°Three days!?¡± Qianye stretched his body. ¡°Who¡¯s managing Dark me right now? Take me to see him.¡±

    Qianye met several people throughout the morning. These smart people were once mercenary corpsmanders who had been handpicked for management roles after the upheaval in Southern Blue.

    Qianye gained a better understanding of the current situation after listening to their responsibilities.

    Lunchtime was fairly short, and everyone was back at work after twenty minutes.

    Within the storehouse, Frost Wolf leaned over and threw a newly polished pir onto his shoulder amidst loud cheers from the nearby mercenaries.

    Although he was no longer the leader, his strength would still give him preferential treatment wherever he went. Lowering himself to work alongside the other mercenaries won him a fair bit of love and respect.

    It was at this time that he noticed a familiar figure through the corner of his eyes. That person was standing beside a pile of steel beams, questioning a nearby person. ¡°Are all of these being moved to a single construction site?¡±

    ¡°Y-Yes, Sir!¡± The soldier stammered. Frost Wolf was also astonished as he recognized Qianye.

    Thetter was wearing a set of poorly-fitted leather armor that looked like it had been rummaged out of an old storehouse. He hauled up one beam after another onto his shoulder, and only stopped after he was carrying eight of them.

    Qianye arrived beside Frost Wolf and gave him a pat on the shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Sire, y-you¡­¡±

    ¡°Working.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°But what? Aren¡¯t you tired just standing with that pir on your shoulder?¡±

    Frost Wolf swallowed hard and proceeded to lead the way without saying anything else. The beams on Qianye¡¯s shoulder weren¡¯t very thick, but they actually weighed several tons. With so many on his shoulder at the same time, he needed to circte his origin power so that he wouldn¡¯t sink into the ground while walking.

    This period of workingsted from noon to midnight. Qianye and Frost Wolf¡¯s participation sharply elerated the construction process, and by midnight, a new weapons cache had been erected.

    Even Frost Wolf was a bit pale and lightheaded after an entire day of work. Qianye, on the other hand, was as steady as a pir and showed no changes.

    Frost Wolf asked cautiously after the mercenaries had gone back to rest, ¡°Sire, the work¡¯s all done, why don¡¯t we go for a drink?¡±

    To his surprise, Qianye agreed delightfully, ¡°Why not?¡±

    After an entire day of exhausting work, the taverns of Southern Blue were full to the brim with mercenaries. They didn¡¯t even bother washing off the dust and sweat on their bodies before going for a drink.

    For an ordinary mercenary, this was a well-paying job and, despite the exhaustion, involved no mortal risk. The experienced soldiers, on the other hand, saw Dark me¡¯s future prospects from the scale of ongoing construction work. A mediocre mercenary corps had no use for four different warehouses or airship repair facilities.

    Most mercenaries in the neutralnds possessed the basic wisdom required for survival, and everyone knew the importance of clinging to important people. Now Qianye, Ji Tianqing, and Song Zining had shown them different facets of how powerful Dark me was. At least it was able to suppress Ji Rui with rtive ease. Most of these people couldn¡¯t even join the city guard, to begin with. Who would work as a mercenary if they could have an easy life there? That was, except for a handful of true daredevils.

    Hence, thoseing from small mercenary corps put in 120% of their power into constructing the new base. They were mostly cannon fodder on the battlefield and would hardly make a name even if they were to risk their lives. No one was going to give up the opportunity to impress the higher-ups just by doing some manualbor.

    When Qianye and Frost Wolf walked into the tavern, the morous atmosphere within turned silent all of a sudden. Frost Wolf was already an unreachable character in the eyes of ordinary mercenaries, even more so themander of Dark me, Qianye.

    Yet, a tavern was the best ce to mingle with people. The soldiers let loose after the initial phase of restraint, and one ss after the other caused the atmosphere to warm up. They quickly forgot about Qianye¡¯s identity, and all that remained was the opponent across the wine table.

    The night went on gradually, and the mor inside the tavern once again returned to silence. There were mercenaries strewn across the floor and stacked atop one another, snoring thunderously in deep sleep.

    It was at this time that Frost Wolf crawled out from under one of the tables, groaning while holding his head. It felt as though his head had been sted by an origin gun¡ªeven his vision was somewhat shaky.

    ¡°Sire¡­ Qianye?¡± Frost Wolf got up with some difficulty and looked around.

    ¡°He¡¯s already left, and he also paid for everyone,¡± the owner replied.

    Frost Wolf poured a ss of cold water onto his head, in hopes of sobering himself up. He nced at the floor full of mercenaries and asked incredulously, ¡°Wait, do you mean he outdrank all of us?¡±

    The owner rolled his eyes. ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s themander for you.¡±

    In the days that followed, Qianye immersed himself in the construction site like an ordinary mercenary and only returnedte at night.

    With the corpsmander himself putting in so much effort, none of those former leaders dared to put on airs; everyone obediently went to work at the site. With the addition of so many experts, the construction was propelled forward like a powerful engine.

    At this moment, Song Zining and Ji Tianqing were hiding on a mountain peak near the border of the continent, cautiously poking their heads out from behind a rock.

    ¡°What are we here for?¡± Song Zining hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he was caught by the neck and pushed into the snow.

    A mosquito-like sound entered his ears. ¡°Shut up if you don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    Song Zining was surprised because he had never seen Ji Tianqing so nervous. He wanted to camouge himself with the Three-Thousand Flying Leaves art, but he felt his neck tighten all of a sudden. ¡°Don¡¯t use domains!¡±

    He was left with no other choice but to bury half his body in the snow and move forward inch by inch.

    The two of them finally arrived beside the cliff and gazed into the distance.

    Before the precipice was a vast in, and on the far end of which was an airship. It seemed like a vampire warship belonging to a glorious marquis at least.

    Song Zining was surprised by the appearance of a vampire warship in the Eastern Sea. As clever as he was, he connected the dots to what Qianye had told him and realized the origins of this warship.

    Ji Tianqing stared fixedly at the distant warship, and even Song Zining had no idea what she was studying.

    At a nce, they could see a busy figure on the airship performing repairs on the damaged parts. Even at such a distance, Song Zining could sense how strong that vampire was. If such a powerful vampire was following her willingly, the current Nighteye was probably at a level far beyond that which they could handle.

    After a long while of silent observation, Ji Tianqing gestured at Song Zining, and the two descended the peak cautiously.

    ¡°That airship¡­¡± Song Zining inquired.

    ¡°She¡¯s in there, I can sense her.¡±

    ¡°How did you know it¡¯s her?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business, I have my ways.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head helplessly. ¡°So this is what you meant by collecting resources.¡±

    ¡°The reason isn¡¯t important, is it?¡±

    The current Ji Tianqing was somewhat odd, so Song Zining simply followed her without saying anything. However, they continued along the edge of the continent instead of going back to Southern Blue.

 Chapter 869: Thef

    After a while, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°To collect resources.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡± Song Zining was clearly skeptical. Ji Tianqing was clearly here to spy on Nighteye, and these so-called resources were just excuses.

    However, Ji Tianqing kept going with a serious demeanor and Song Zining had no better choice but to follow.

    The closer they were to the continent border, the more adverse the void tempests and environments became. The rocks here were extremely hard after being immersed in void origin power for many years, probably even harder than steel alloy.

    Fierce storms would kick up without warning, and voidcerations could appear at any moment. This ce was filled with danger at every turn.

    Ji Tianqing went on without rest, scaling mountains and passing through valleys as she brought Song Zining through dangerousnds. Twice in less than a single day, Song Zining had been blown away by powerful winds and flung into rocky cliffs. Even someone at his level couldn¡¯t take this kind of repeated damage. He had broken two ribs and sustained numerous injuries at this point.

    Seeing that Ji Tianqing had no intention of taking a break, Song Zining cried out amidst the raging winds, ¡°Wait, where are the resources you were talking about? I think we¡¯ve alreadye here before!¡±

    ¡°Resources? Here they are.¡± Ji Tianqing picked up a random rock and smashed it open. She then dug out a blue crystal which she duly tossed to Song Zining.

    Having operated Ningyuan Heavy Industries for many years, Song Zining was highly knowledgeable about various rare materials. He knew at a nce that this topaz was a high-grade material used in certain origin arrays. A finger-sized piece like this one was enough to build a high-grade origin gun, and its value was extraordinary.

    However, such materials were usually hidden deep inside rocks and difficult to notice unless exposed¡ªat least Song Zining had no way of sensing them. They could crack every rock open, but these things were extremely hard, and even Ji Tianqing had to smash each of them several times. There were a great number of mountain peaks all around them and rocks numbering in the millions. How many years would it take them to crack all of them?

    Song Zining wanted to probe more about this matter, asking questions about the resources every now and then. Sometimes, Ji Tianqing would ignore himpletely, and at other times, she would dig out strange, ice-sealed herbs or shiny rare ores.

    Just like that, the two walked on for an entire three days. Song Zining¡¯s backpack was filled to the brim with all kinds of rare objects.

    ¡°Wait, Tianqing, that¡¯s enough resource gathering, don¡¯t you think? We should go back now.¡± Song Zining spoke tactfully, but in truth, he was all bedraggled, full of injuries, and he really didn¡¯t want to go through this ordeal anymore. He hadn¡¯t gotten any rest for the past three days, so much so that he hadn¡¯t even healed his broken ribs. All he could do was protect the damaged area with origin power.

    Ji Tianqing was also showing some signs of fatigue, but she was faring so much better than the seventh young master. She wasn¡¯t exactly stronger, but her endless repertoire of secret arts allowed her to foresee and take precautions against most dangerous situations. At the very least, she was never blown away by fierce winds.

    Only after seeing Song Zining¡¯s situation did the anger in Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes subside slightly. Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief when she finally changed directions and began heading ind.

    Although the things in his backpack were worth a fair amount of money, Song Zining was smart enough to know that Ji Tianqing was never here for resources. All she wanted to do was torment him. The seventh young master also understood this. He allowed himself to be blown away by the winds several times, breaking his ribs and sustaining injuries, before he managed to appease the young miss¡¯ anger.

    After leaving the continent border, Song Zining asked cautiously, ¡°Tianqing, why are you so angry?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied coldly, ¡°No reason, I just don¡¯t find your notion amusing.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts! Do you want to collect more resources?¡±

    Song Zining shut up obediently.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s methods were highly unpredictable. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t see through her, much less Song Zining. Up until now, thetter still couldn¡¯t figure out whether she was truly angry or if she had other intentions. This made the all-round perfect Song Zining feel somewhat helpless.

    After traveling silently for half a day, Ji Tianqing finally spoke up, ¡°I need to go get some things, you go back first.¡±

    Song Zining asked cautiously, ¡°You¡¯re not going back to the empire, are you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    With that, Ji Tianqing left Song Zining alone and vanished southward into the wilderness.

    Song Zining had no idea whaty in that direction or what she wanted to do there. As clever as he was, he still had no idea why Ji Tianqing would spy on Nighteye or spend three days torturing him. Was it just to vent her anger? To the best of his knowledge, at the very least, this girl had never done anything so pointless before.

    Watching Ji Tianqing leave, Song Zining shrugged and put on his radiant smile once more. ¡°Luckily, this young master has prepared some contingency ns, I¡¯m not afraid you won¡¯t bite.¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t in a rush to travel. He found some lodging to mend his broken bones and treat his injuries, only going on his way after an entire night¡¯s rest.

    The seventh young master had long since heard of how dangerous the neutralnds were. He naturally wouldn¡¯t put himself in danger.

    He seemed to be out of luck, nheless. Not long after he had left the mountainous border regions, he was stopped by a group of mercenaries.

    Noticing their tattered clothes and low cultivation, Song Zining suddenly felt speechless. He nced everywhere but found not a single creature in his line of sight¡ªnot even a bird.

    Yet in this vast, empty wilderness, the great seventh young master was actually intercepted. Although he had never changed his direction of travel, the chances of him being intercepted this way were as slim as finding a needle in a haystack.

    How could there be such a coincidence?

    At this point, a tall man walked out from among the mercenaries and sized Song Zining up from head to toe. He disdainfully pushed his origin gun against thetter¡¯s chest, saying, ¡°Hey pretty boy, your frail body doesn¡¯t look like it can take a single punch. Hand over your backpack and empty your pockets, I¡¯ll leave you some food and water for the road.¡±

    The tall mercenary leader looked fairly dumb, and his gun was from some countryside workshop. Calling this mechanism a firearm was already quite generous since it was little more than a pipe attached to a stock.

    Song Zining chuckled awkwardly, not knowing how to describe his feelings.

    However, that burly man said something at this point, ¡°Look at you! Still carrying so many things when your bones are broken, you really love money more than your life!¡±

    Song Zining felt a chill run down his spine, and he was soon drenched in a thinyer of cold sweat.

    If this clumsy mercenary could actually see through his broken ribs, didn¡¯t that mean he was also privy to his other secrets? Song Zining¡¯s great sess in the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art made it difficult for others to see through him or use divination arts on him. Could it be that this crude mercenary was a great enemy in disguise?

    The figures of countless enemies shed through Song Zining¡¯s mind. There were people from the military, the Bai n, and those formed by the Ningyuan Group. His many brothers and sisters from the Song n came to mind as well. All of a sudden, Song Zining realized that he had made a lot of new enemies, and that was only counting people from the empire. The number of Evernight people who wanted his head probably wasn¡¯t small, either.

    Just as Song Zining was going through his list of possible enemies, he suddenly felt the weight on his back disappear¡ªsomeone had cut his backpack. Soon afterward, he saw a small figure running away.

    That fluttering white skirt of hers imparted upon her a hint of harsh tenderness, but her speed was iparably fast. Song Zining eximed, ¡°Bai Kongzhao!¡±

    He took a step forward to give chase but stopped after taking a couple of steps. The young girl was extremely fast and had already pulled ahead in the blink of an eye. Her aura had merged so quickly into the surroundings that Song Zining couldn¡¯t lock onto her. Additionally, Song Zining could feel a sense of extreme peril just by thinking about chasing the girl all the way to the end.

    Song Zining had heard much about Bai Kongzhao¡¯s past aplishments. Her strength was clearly mediocre, yet she had managed to produce numerous odd results¡ªnumerous powerful experts had fallen to her de.

    Some say that herbat instincts were too powerful, but there had to be a limit to how much instincts could do. Song Zining had observed her battles before, but he couldn¡¯t glean anything out of it.

    Theplicatedndscape of the wilderness was her optimal battlefield. Song Zining was unwilling to fight her without sufficient preparation. Besides, the things Ji Tianqing had picked up were just random bits and pieces, not even as valuable as an ore vein.

    Hence, Song Zining decisively stopped his footsteps upon sensing danger. He might not be able to catch up even if he had gone after her. Additionally, there was no killing intent around her at all; she hade solely for his backpack. Otherwise, Song Zining would¡¯ve sensed her and reacted to her ambush.

    At the thought of this, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished. Could it be that this girl hade all the way here just to rob?

    He looked back at the mercenaries who, upon seeing his gaze, suddenly turned into different people. They fell to their knees and began weeping, asking him to spare their lives. They exined that it was that demoness who had forced them here by threatening them with their lives.

    The seventh young master couldn¡¯t find it in him to dirty his hands with these rag-tag mercenaries. In the end, he kicked that clumsy leader away and let this matter pass.

    He left with a wave of his sleeves and vanished over the horizon.

    The mercenaries stood up after he had left, their bowing and scraping attitudepletely gone. One of them broke into augh, ¡°The young miss was right, that young noble can¡¯t resist people who surrender and plead, we passed this ordeal as expected. This fortune wasn¡¯t hard to earn.¡±

    That crude mercenary mbered up and said furiously, ¡°How was that not hard? I was kicked so hard! This won¡¯t do, let¡¯s split the loot now!¡±

    ¡°Split, split!¡± The mercenaries began chanting as they split their pay on the spot.

    Actually, Song Zining was standing nearby and watching this scene with an ashen face. Fortunately, he had covered himself with his domain. Otherwise, he might have to silence whoever saw this embarrassing situation.

 Chapter 870: Helpless

    The awesome seventh young noble had always been known for his scheming and his proficiency in divination, someone who could be the next Lin Xitang. Who would¡¯ve thought he would be tricked by Bai Kongzhao and a group of mercenaries in this barbariannd? Twice!

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s trick wasn¡¯t worth a dime, nothing more than street-rat trickery. The ones in front would attract the target¡¯s attention while another person grabs his bag and runs away. This was a scene taking ce in every small town throughout the empire.

    It was just that the one being robbed here was the Song seventh young master, and the stolen bag contained ores he had exchanged for injuries and broken ribs.

    Song Zining¡¯s fists tightened as he watched the guffawing soldiers, and it took quite some effort to force himself away.

    After calming down, Song Zining suddenly felt that something was wrong with all this. Could it be that Bai Kongzhao had spent so much effort just to rob him?

    Even a child wouldn¡¯t believe this.

    Nheless, he had no answer to this question and there were more important things he had to do. He thus made haste toward Southern Blue.

    After entering the city, the progress of construction work therein shocked him greatly. The seventh young master had observed no small number of building projects, and he knew quite well how far it should¡¯vee. Now that the construction had been halfpleted in the span of just a few days, it was equal to squeezing out a month¡¯s worth of workdays¡ªhow was this possible?

    Song Zining went to look for Qianye, to ask about the situation, but he found the office entirely empty. After asking some of the soldiers, he found that his target was at the site, knee-deep in the muddy waters of the still-excavating foundation.

    Even Song Zining had to spend some effort to spot Qianye among the muddy people.

    He was still d in that set of old armor, looking no different from an ordinary, mud-covered mercenary.

    ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Qianye gazed up to find that elegant seventh young master standing beside the foundation site.

    He jumped up to thetter¡¯s side with a resoundingugh and reached out to give him a hug, but a frantic Song Zining stopped him with his folding fan. ¡°Stay away!¡±

    Only then did Qianye remember that he was drenched in dirty water. The fussy Song Zining might actually flip out if he were to hug him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and wash myself.¡±

    ¡°No need!¡± With a tap of his folding fan, wisps of fine rain appeared around Qianye and washed him perfectly clean within moments.

    After doing all of that, Song Zining asked with an incredulous expression, ¡°Howe you¡¯re doing such work?¡±

    Qianye yed it down, saying, ¡°Someone has to do it, and I¡¯m free, anyway. Look, all of them are working together with me.¡±

    Song Zining looked over to find Frost Wolf and several other leaders among the mud men. With these people at the lead, no wonder the construction work was progressing at such a rate.

    After returning to the study, Song Zining asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Qianye smiled radiantly. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡±

    Song Zining sighed lightly. ¡°Look at yourself, and you¡¯re saying you¡¯re okay? Let it be, I know I can¡¯t persuade you, just be strong.¡±

    The brilliant smile on Qianye¡¯s face was reced by a calm gentleness. ¡°There¡¯s nothing bad about this, I¡¯ve gotten used to it. I just had to do it, at the very least¡­ I¡¯ll have a clear conscience.¡±

    Song Zining snorted. ¡°Do you really have a clear conscience?¡±

    Qianye said after a while of deliberation, ¡°I gave it a lot of thought, this is the best way.¡±

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°How long do you n to stay tangled up in this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not tangled up in anything.¡± Qianye broke into augh, hoping to divert the topic.

    Song Zining, however, wasn¡¯t going to let him do that. ¡°I mean how long are you going to keep up this kind of rtionship with her?¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a moment. ¡°I promised to help her ascend the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    Song Zining finally shot up from his seat. He roared while pointing at Qianye¡¯s nose, ¡°That¡¯s not a dream, that¡¯s just wild imagination! She¡¯ll be the end of you sooner orter. At that time, do you think we¡¯ll be able to watch with arms folded? You¡¯ll drag everyone to their ends!¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s not that serious.¡±

    Song Zining replied coldly, ¡°You think I¡¯m joking?¡±

    Qianye stood up, ced a hand on Song Zining¡¯s shoulder, and dragged him out of the study. ¡°Enough, let¡¯s not talk about this for now. It¡¯s a long way off, anyway. I see you¡¯re full of injuries and fractures, you have to spill all the misery you went through and make me happy.¡±

    Song Zining was astonished. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve learned bad things!¡±

    Nheless, Qianye¡¯s arm was like a steel hoop around him, almost immobilizing and lifting him off his feet. The great seventh young master was thus dragged out toward the tavern.

    The pub was empty at the moment, and the owner shut its doors after the two arrived, preventing other people from disturbing them.

    They were actually each full of their own worries, so a pile of empty bottles quickly appeared around them.

    Song Zining was already quite tipsy. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve be bad. Who did you l-learn all of this from?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯m hanging out with these mercenaries day in day out. Of course, I learn some things from them. Actually, they¡¯re quite interesting after some time.¡±

    Qianye said to the maid who hade to clear away the empty bottles, ¡°Bring ten more bottles.¡± He then gave her a light p on the butt.

    The maid was all smiles as she made to sit down on Qianye¡¯sp, but he gently pushed her away. ¡°Get the wine first.¡±

    The girl red at him resentfully before leaving to get the alcohol.

    Qianye said to Song Zining, ¡°See? You don¡¯t need to worry about me.¡±

    Song Zining snorted disdainfully. ¡°Ha! Let it be. You can also drop the act now. You might be able to lie to other people, but not me. You¡¯ll probably run away if the girl wanted to get into your bed.¡±

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m a man with family.¡±

    Song Zining almost sprayed out the alcohol. ¡°Tell that to Nighteye if you dare.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to disturb her for such a minor matter.¡± Qianye had turned somewhat shameless after interacting with mercenaries for some time.

    As clever as he was, even the seventh young master had no way to deal with thick-skinned people. He said with a re, ¡°Sigh, let it be. I can understand your mood right now, you must¡¯ve closed yourself off. It was the same for me back in the year¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up with interest. ¡°Speak! Make me happy!¡±

    Song Zining was furious. ¡°Not telling, what can you do? I just have to stifle you to death!¡±

    Qianye rubbed his chin pensively. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you liked Zhang Jing?¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Song Zining was somewhat puzzled.

    ¡°Zhang Jing, our Yellow Springs instructor.¡±

    Song Zining almost sprayed out his drink once again. ¡°Why her?¡±

    Qianye said thoughtfully, ¡°You were stripped, beaten up, and put up on disy for an entire day. Hedonistic young masters like you will usually remember that person constantly until you can do the same back to her.¡±

    This time, Song Zining could hold back no longer. He sprayed out a mouthful of alcohol and asked furiously, ¡°Who told you this nonsense?¡±

    ¡°Tianqing.¡±

    ¡°... Fine.¡± This name suppressed the anger in Song Seven¡¯s heart.

    The two of them kept drinking at a brisk pace. The maid went back and forth several times, seemingly disappointed at Qianye¡¯sck of follow up.

    ¡°Bai Kongzhao is also in the neutralnds,¡± Song Zining said.

    ¡°I know, I¡¯ve met her twice already.¡±

    ¡°You fought her?¡± Song Zining was somewhat astonished. Fighting Bai Kongzhao was a fairly dangerous thing to do, regardless of how superior one¡¯s cultivation was over her.

    ¡°No, she forked out half her loot and left.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you mean¡­¡± Song Zining couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    ¡°Both times.¡±

    The seventh young master was ovee by the urge to curse loudly. The young girl had yielded half her spoils to Qianye but actually set up a trap to rob him, depriving him of the fruits of his hardbor. The loss wasn¡¯t an issue, but the girl¡¯s rtive disdain for Song Zining was just too evident.

    She might not have seeded if she had wanted to ambush and kill Song Zining. The seventh young master was also a peak expert in terms of truebat strength. However, Song Zining had no way to sense her if all she wanted was his backpack and purse. By the time he hade to, it was already toote.

    Song Zining had been feeling rather troubled by this problem.

    The two gradually became drunk. Even Qianye was feeling dizzy and distracted, let alone Song Zining¡ªhe was fairly close to beingatose.

    Thetter ced a hand on Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°Qianye, if someone no longer wants something, do you know how you can make them desire it once more?¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    Song Zining smiled mysteriously. ¡°Easy, you just need someone who¡¯ll fight her for it.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying, exactly?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    The night went by quickly, and soon, the seventh young master saw a blinding light.

    He couldn¡¯t help but cover his eyes and peek out from between his fingers. What he saw was a sea of people¡ªpeople pointing and gossiping while ncing over at hisher regions. Beside him was a familiar yet elegant woman, one whose plump bosom was the unignorable desire of many a male.

    Yellow Springs, Zhang Jing!

    Shocked out of his wits, Song Zining sat up violently, hoping to see if he had been hung up buck naked.

    Only then did he realize that he was sleeping in his room, well-clothed. The sun was shining in through the curtain gaps and right onto his face.

    Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief. His shirt was drenched in sweat, and he felt lightheaded and weak. It would seem this dream had given him quite the shock.

    Judging from the angle of the sunlight, Song Zining knew that it was already afternoon. He remembered nothing fromst night, except for the fact that he had been drinking with Qianye at the tavern. As for how he had gotten back to his bed, everything was nk.

    cking outpletely was rare for an expert of his level. He really wanted to know how much he had drunk to turn out this way.

 Chapter 871: Familiar Face

    That dream gave him quite a fright. After a round of heavy sweating, he was now fairly sober. His head was still throbbing, but most of the intoxication was now gone after a cirction of origin power.

    Among past matters at the Yellow Springs, this incident left the deepest impression. Thinking back on it, Zhang Jing¡¯s demeanor, actions, and even her expressions returned vividly¡ªhe hadn¡¯t forgotten anything despite the many years that had passed by; these memories were all buried in his heart.

    Song Zining was stunned when he recalled Qianye¡¯s words fromst night. He then jumped up in fury, shouting, ¡°Nonsense! Absolute rubbish!¡±

    But that chest of Zhang Jing that would wiggle thrice with each step swayed vividly within his eyes.

    But this was the seventh young master we were talking about. He took a deep breath and circted his origin power, sweeping away the difort in his body and calming his heart like a frozenke.

    He broke into augh as he muttered to himself, ¡°Thisss, I almost fell for her trick, the same goes for that idiot Qianye, he¡¯s actually willing to be her aplice. Mm, it¡¯s not bad that you two are hitting it off. Damnss, you won¡¯t know my awesomeness until I make you jump into this pit voluntarily.¡±

    Song Zining arrived before the window and looked out. His bedroom was on the third floor, not too far from the construction site. He merely scanned the area and found Qianye fairly quickly. It wouldn¡¯t have been that easy to point him out from among the mercenaries if he hadn¡¯t jumped onto the roof carrying ten tons of building materials.

    Judging from the grime on his clothes, it would seem Qianye had been working for quite some time already. This fellow¡¯s alcohol tolerance was definitely unquestionable.

    Song Zining stood near the window for a while and was just about to leave when Qianye appeared nearby. ¡°You¡¯re awake? Give me a shower.¡±

    Speechless, Song Zining summoned a shower of rain to wash the mud off of Qianye and some wind to blow him dry. ¡°This is thest time.¡±

    Qianyeughed loudly as he grabbed Song Zining out of the window. ¡°Let¡¯s go and grab some food.¡±

    Song Zining was already starving after sleeping for the whole night. The two found a restaurant and began digging into a table full of food.¡±

    ¡°Qianye, is this how you¡¯re going to be in the future?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this good?¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

    ¡°Enough with the useless stuff. The Wolf King should¡¯ve recovered by now, and his revenge will arrive very soon. What ns do you have?¡±

    Song Zining said in a rxed manner, ¡°What¡¯s there to worry about? Just let Tianqing deal with it. Doesn¡¯t she have a handful of methods to deal with divine champions?¡±

    At the mention of this, Qianye immediately recalled Zhang Buzhou¡¯s personalmand token and felt that Song Zining¡¯s suggestion this time wasn¡¯t so great.

    He exined the Wolf King¡¯sbat strength and asked, ¡°Do you have any way to restrain him?¡±

    Song Zining became serious when the conversation drifted to proper topics. ¡°ording to your description, I can do half a second at most, and even that will involve some luck.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Half a second is enough.¡±

    Song Zining gave it some thought and did some calctions. ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s physique is extremely powerful, if he possesses talent in this regard, his recovery must be astonishing as well. Additionally, werewolves can gain a short boost in power bymunicating with their ancestors, so restraining him will be very difficult. It¡¯s possible that you¡¯ll only have one shot. Do you think you can heavily injure him in one blow? Are you going to use that move?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Half a second is enough, I can do it if I use Heartgrave.¡±

    Song Zining nodded, as though he had just remembered something. ¡°Be careful, that gun will drain youpletely.¡±

    ¡°What should I be afraid of with you around?¡±

    ¡°You might not be, but I am.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly recalled something. ¡°Oh right, Qianye, don¡¯t be too surprised if you meet some old friends.¡±

    ¡°Old friends?¡± Feeling that something was clearly wrong, Qianye said with a wooden expression, ¡°What have you done again?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all for your good.¡±

    Qianye went back to work after having his fill. Watching his receding figure, Song Zining shook his head and gave up on persuading him to cultivate. Perhaps this was the only way to make him feel better.

    Song Zining went back to his residence, picked up his brush, and penned three letters. He sealed them in three silver mail tubes and ordered his assistants to prepare the car.

    Momentster, a jeep left Southern Blue in great haste. Qianye was so invested in the manualbor that he didn¡¯t notice Song Zining¡¯s departure.

    The jeep sped across the wilderness for half a day¡¯s time and only came to a stop by nightfall. One of the aides jumped down and waved a special originmp into the air.

    Momentster, a slender airship descended from high above and hovered in the air. Song Zining jumped onto it and ordered the vessel to return to the void. There, he activated the ship¡¯s origin array and inserted the three silver tubes into it.

    The radiant burst of light emerged from the array as the three tubes vanished. Following the eruption, the entire array turned dark, and the dozens of embedded high-purity ck crystals shattered. Even with Song Zining¡¯s fortune and temperament, he could feel his eyes twitching and his expression seemed pained.

    At almost the same moment, a silver tube appeared in one of Ningyuan Heavy Industry¡¯s secret bases on the Qin Continent¡ªwhere the other two had gone was a mystery. The base looked like an ordinary civilian residence, upied by an old husband and wife without any children.

    The old man picked up the tube cautiously, carefully checking the seal and insignia before putting it away. Then he packed his bags and boarded an airship bound for the Imperial Capital.

    Back in the neutralnds, Song Zining was still not quite assured. He summoned the captain and passed him a letter, saying, ¡°Head back to the Qin Continent and hand this to General Wang Zuo in the Imperial Capital. Ask him nothing, tell him nothing, he knows what he should do. Send this ship back after arriving at the continent, you head to the capital on your own.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Song Zining jumped off the airship after the captain confirmed his orders.

    The airship slowly rose into the air and flew toward the boundless void.

    After the airship had left, the follower asked, ¡°Young Master, hasn¡¯t the message been delivered? Why are you sending more?¡±

    ¡°That origin array might be the work of a grandmaster, but it¡¯s not entirely safe.¡± With that, Song Zining boarded the vehicle and returned to Southern Blue.

    Song Zining was resting with his eyes closed as the jeep bumped and jolted along the way. All of a sudden, he shot up and roared, ¡°Stop!¡±

    The badly shocked aide stopped the jeep hurriedly.

    Song Zining jumped down and paced about pensively. Half a dayter, his knitted brows eased up as he muttered to himself, ¡°Let it be, she¡¯ll probably appear and pass the message back. There¡¯s no way she doesn¡¯t have that much ability.¡±

    He once again jumped onto the jeep and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to Southern Blue.¡±

    This time, the vehicle made no stops as it sped back to the city.

    On the continent¡¯s edge, Ji Tianqing was standing on a tall peak, gazing out into the distance. An eerie looking airship jumped out of the void, gliding forward silently until it was hovering in front of Ji Tianqing.

    This airship was barely discernible and almost illusory, seeming to fade away at a careless nce.

    After the vessel had been stabilized, several people flew out and bowed before Ji Tianqing. ¡°What are the Young Miss¡¯ orders?¡±

    Ji Tianqing fished out a letter. ¡°Send this back. The contents are highly important, so failure is not an option. Escort the missive with this airship.¡±

    Everyone was astonished. ¡°This isn¡¯t quite appropriate. Our duty is to protect Young Miss. We cannot shoulder the responsibility if we leave and something happens to you.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Deliver this letter, Father will understand what to do. You won¡¯t be able to shoulder the responsibility if some mishap urs along the road.¡±

    That person wanted to dissuade Ji Tianqing, but she had already turned around and left, effectively denying him any opportunity at doing so.

    Everyone remained petrified at the scene. Momentster, an elder said, ¡°Young Miss is with Song Seven, there probably won¡¯t be a problem. Sir Xu, perhaps we should just listen to her orders and deliver the letter.¡±

    The previous person was locked in a deep frown, clearly hesitant about this matter. The elder said again, ¡°Sire Xu, you know her temper. There¡¯s no way you can convince her otherwise. The only thing we can do now is to go back and return as quickly as possible.¡±

    Sir Xu sighed. ¡°I guess that¡¯s the only thing we can do.¡±

    Everyone returned to the airship, upon which, the vessel flickered out of existence and vanished into the vast void.

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t very far at the moment. She stood on a lone peak, gazing at the distant sea of stars. There was no radiance on her face at this moment, and instead, it was shrouded by a hint of sadness. She finally woke up after a moment of nk staring, almost as though she had just been roused from a dream.

    Ji Tianqing uttered hatefully, ¡°Song Zining! Just you wait and see!¡±

    Within Southern Blue, Song Zining was studying ns and diagrams in his office when he felt a chill run between his brows. A frigid intent washed over him like a basin of icy water. He began calcting frantically, but all he got was chaos which he could make neither head nor tail of.

    The surprise ruined his mood, making it impossible for him to continue studying the ns. All he did was pace about inside the room and try to recall why this mishap had urred.

    It was at this time that Qianye walked in and grabbed Song Zining off his feet. ¡°Don¡¯t bother with all this useless stuff, it¡¯s time to drink!¡±

    ¡°Still drinking?¡± Song Zining was scared.

    Deep that night, Qianye dragged an out-cold Song Zining back to his residence, tossed him into bed, and then left with great satisfaction.

    In the blink of an eye, it was a new day once more. When the blinding light passed through the gap and onto his face, Song Zining cried out frantically and sat up, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.

    That whip-bearing instructor had once again appeared in his dreams.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was hard at work at the site, humming a small tune and asionally exchanging dirty jokes with the other mercenaries.

 Chapter 872: Heavenly Mystery

    An airship rose into the air from the Transcendent Continent and flew into the distance.

    The port officer observed the aircraft for a moment before writing down ¡°headed to Qin Continent¡± in his register. After making the records, he checked the airship¡¯s direction once more and submitted the documents for verification.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that the airship made a sharp turn after going out of sight, and two new masts rose up from the vessel, unfurling their kic sails. This increased the ship¡¯s speed sharply as it sped into the boundless void. This officer would turn a blind eye even if he knew what was going on because, otherwise, the entire port and its staff would be punished for deficient supervision.

    The distant airship¡¯s outer shell opened up as numerous poles stretched out horizontally. The origin arrays on them flickered constantly as a new defensive barrier covered up the entire vessel, protecting it from the corrosion of the void tempests.

    The cabin doors opened after the defensive barrier had been erected, and a heroic figure walked out to stand at the bow. This person was just standing there casually, yet a grand incisive aura was pouring out from her, almost like a sharp, unsheathed de.

    A thin elder followed this person out from behind. ¡°Young Noble, you should at least tell your family about such an important matter.¡±

    The person at the bow turned back to reveal a perfectly handsome countenance. It was just that her eyes were so sharp and chill-inducing that the spectator had no time to admire her beauty. She sneered upon hearing the old man¡¯s words. ¡°Those old fogeys have no right to interrupt whatever I want to do.¡±

    ¡°Young Noble, but¡­¡±

    Li Kuann cut the elder short. ¡°No buts, half of the elder assembly is weaker than me, and I¡¯ll be catching up to the remainder very soon. How dare a group of untalented people criticize my path?¡±

    The old man sighed. ¡°What you say isn¡¯t wrong, but you should tell the empress at least.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s momentum faltered for a short moment. ¡°My sister has so many things to handle, she has no time for such trivialities.¡±

    ¡°This is rted to the Great Maelstrom, how is that a triviality? Young Noble, please reconsider.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re already on the road, won¡¯t it be a hassle to go back?¡±

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom is about to fully open after a couple of days. It¡¯ll only be one day¡¯s dy if we rush back and that¡¯s nothing for someone of your talents. You¡¯ll suffer certain losses if it drags out.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t approve of this. ¡°It¡¯s only the ones near the entrance, this young master doesn¡¯t need them.¡±

    ¡°The marine lotus fromst time was discovered near the entrance. Is there anything more important than that?¡±

    ¡°There is.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What would that be? This old servant really must know.¡±

    ¡°Whether my de is sharp and quick enough!¡±

    The old man¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Does that mean the young master has found a sharpening stone?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re in the neutralnds!¡±

    The old man sighed. ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s nothing bad about sharpening your de, but if you overdo it, you might break your sword before you manage to strike anything.¡±

    Li Kuannughed coldly. ¡°You think I can¡¯t defeat her?¡±

    ¡°This servant doesn¡¯t dare.¡±

    ¡°Full speed ahead, I¡¯ve already decided!¡±

    The old man hesitated for a moment. ¡°Since Young Master has already decided, this old servant will follow your orders. Nheless, we must still send word to the Empress so that she won¡¯t have to worry about you. Her Highness might send experts from the pce after you if a long time goes by without any news. At that time, whatever young master has nned won¡¯t go smoothly.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted but made no response.

    Relieved, the old man turned around and made a gesture. Momentster, a beam of light shot into the sky and flew off into the distance.

    After the light had vanished over the horizon, Li Kuann said coldly, ¡°Go, I want to arrive early in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Master.¡±

    ¡­

    It was spring at the Imperial Pce. The warm rays of the sun were showering onto the brightly colored foliage, yet there was still a sharp chill when standing in the shade.

    Empress Li was seated in the garden pavilion, enjoying the warm sunlight as she caressed the snow-white cat on herp. Her fingers were like spring onions and even fairer than the cat¡¯s fur.

    The feline pet stretched its body under the warm light and eventually fell asleep.

    Empress Li picked up the nearby teacup and only took a gentle sip before the maids switched out a new cup of tea. Her movements were silent and gentle but contained extraordinary power within them.

    A series of crisp footsteps echoed in the courtyard as a fair-faced servant rushed over. He knelt down before the pavilion and said, ¡°Empress, General Wang Zuo of the Imperial Guard seeks an audience.¡±

    ¡°Wang Zuo? Why does he wish to see me? This is against the rules.¡±

    ¡°General Wang says he has an important secret report from the neutralnds, and that he must hand it to you personally.¡±

    Empress Li frowned. ¡°Neutralnds¡­ fine, let him in.¡±

    The servant was startled. ¡°Here? T-This isn¡¯t too appropriate, is it?¡±

    Empress Li said indifferently, ¡°General Wang Zuo¡¯s status is special. The emperor won¡¯t say anything even if he finds out, bring him in.¡±

    All the experienced staff in the pce knew that the empress wouldn¡¯t say something thrice. The servant jogged away swiftly, not daring to go against her words.

    Momentster, a tall, handsome general walked in withrge strides and knelt down before the pavilion. ¡°Subject Wang Zuo greets the Empress!¡±

    Intrigued, the maids in the pavilion stole nces at the man. What they saw was a fair, well-groomed man without any facial hair. He was indeed handsome but also somewhat feminine.

    Empress Li raised her hand, gesturing for him to rise. ¡°What news is so important that you must see me in person? You do know that your head will roll if it isn¡¯t important.¡±

    The general turned pale. ¡°This informationes from Song Zining of the Song n. He spared no expense in transmitting this information from the neutralnds to the Qin Continent and even dispatched a messenger to ry a second copy. General Zining says that this news is rted to the future of the Li n and must reach Your Highness¡¯ hands.¡±

    ¡°Song Zining? I heard he¡¯s an intelligent person.¡± Empress Li¡¯s expression rxed somewhat upon hearing this name. ¡°Let me see it.¡±

    The general produced two sealed tubes and passed them to the handmaid. ¡°The seventh young noble sent two copies, reportedly containing the same message. Your subject presents both of them.¡±

    Empress Li checked the tube and opened it after finding the seal intact. At this moment, an aged servant rushed out from the shadows behind the pavilion. ¡°Your Highness, allow this old servant to open it, lest it be a trap.¡±

    Empress Li smiled. ¡°An intelligent person like him won¡¯t do something so stupid. What can he fit in this small tube that can hurt me?¡±

    With that, she twisted the tube open and began reading the letter in earnest.

    The correspondence wasn¡¯t long, yet the empress looked through the contents several times before putting it down. Then, she opened the other tube andpared them. Upon finding that they were identical, she rubbed the paper gently with her hands, reducing them to wisps of smoke which scattered in the wind.

    Empress Li sat with an expression of both joy and worry, yet there was also an inexplicable charm to her. After a moment of contemtion, she said with a spurious smile, ¡°This child is really quite bold, even daring to scheme against me.¡±

    General Wang Zuo was startled upon hearing this. Then, a sweep of the empress¡¯ gaze caused him to fall on his knees, trembling all over, yet he never uttered the word mercy.

    ¡°Wang Zuo, what benefits did Song Zining promise you that you would help him with such a thing?¡± Empress Li¡¯s voice was as frosty as it was charming.

    Wang Zuo clenched his teeth. ¡°The seventh young noble once took a great risk to save my only son. I¡¯m willing to repay this debt with my life. Additionally, I firmly believe that he will neither harm me nor Your Majesty.¡±

    Empress Li smiled. ¡°A loyal person who repays his favors is not easy toe by. This news is indeed important to me. Let¡¯s do it this way, you head to Duke Rong and tell him that I sent you, see if he has any rural post that needs filling.¡±

    Wang Zuo was pleasantly surprised. He quickly kowtowed, saying, ¡°Thank you, Your Highness!¡±

    Empress Li dismissed Wang Zuo with a wave of her hand. After a moment of hesitation, she said, ¡°Bring the Heaventheft Jade.¡±

    The old servant was shocked. ¡°Empress, that thing shouldn¡¯t be used liberally!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, this warrants a use.¡±

    The old servant left and soon returned with a suet jade box on ayer of brocade and satin.

    Empress Li received the box and opened it. Inside were several jade tokens, each as thin as a cicada¡¯s wings and with ancient words carved upon them. The characters on it were so obscure that none of the people here could recognize them.

    Empress Li fished out the tokens and, after a moment of calction, scattered them onto the ground. The jade tokens made pleasant jingling sounds as they fell and bounced about like leaping fairies.

    Empress Li stared fixedly at the tokens, refusing to miss a single detail. The unfathomable servant and the maids all held their breaths, not daring to disturb or rm the empress in the slightest. They had been working in the pce for a long time, yet this was the first time they had seen the empress use the Heaventheft Jade. This was also the first time she was going all out to divine the heavenly mysteries. Death would be a light punishment if they were to disrupt her during this moment.

    Empress Li didn¡¯t im this position just because she was beautiful and gentle.

    The jade tokens suddenly erupted in popping sounds and shattered at the same time!

    Empress Li¡¯s expression turned paper-white and began coughing until she was bent over.

    Everyone was shocked, but they didn¡¯t dare rush over for fear that the divination was still underway. All they could do was watch helplessly.

    After a good while of coughing, Empress Li stood up and nced at the hand she had over her mouth just now. There was a shocking puddle of blood in her palm.

    She grabbed a white towel and wiped the blood away from her lips and hand. She suddenly broke into augh as she muttered to herself, ¡°Ah, fate¡­ the more you hide things, the clearer it bes.¡±

    She sat down once again and said with the dignity of a Great Qin empress, ¡°Clean this up and invite Eunuch Liu over.¡±

    Momentster, a white-haired elder whose brows hung on either side of his face arrived outside of the pavilion. He didn¡¯t kneel and merely performed a salutation, saying, ¡°What does the Empress need of this old man?¡±

    The empress treated Eunuch Liu¡¯sck of prostration as something that was right and proper. ¡°I have a personal matter that requires your service. Head to the neutralnds and convey my message to Kuann. After that, you may act on the circumstances, no need to return in a hurry.¡±

    With that, Empress Li¡¯s lips moved ever so slightly as her voice threaded into Eunuch Liu¡¯s ears.

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s brows rose up all of a sudden. ¡°This old man understands, I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    Empress Li said gently, ¡°Nothing can be better than having Eunuch Liu in the field.¡±

 Chapter 873: Chess Match

    There were little inds drifting about outside of the floating void continent. To be precise, they were nothing more thanrge rocks. Possessing no barrier of their own, all they could do was suffer the constant erosion of the void elements.

    Such drifting inds were abundant between continents, but only thergest ones with protective barriers held any value, as they were the only ces where ordinary people could survive. Suchnd masses could be counted on one hand, while the remainder were just worthless boulders.

    These inds did not follow a specific orbit, and the environment around them was extremely adverse. Even divine champions would be hard-pressed to stay very long on them. Additionally, their movements posed a threat to airships, not unlike hidden reefs in the void.

    A drifting ind was slowly moving above the floating continent. It was no more than a few hundred meters in diameter and naturally possessed no protective barrier. But anyone standing atop it would be afforded aplete view of the entire continent below.

    At this moment, there were two people ying chess in this almost forbidden ce.

    There was a table between them with a red y teapot on it, heated by a floating plume of fire beneath it. There was a chessboard on the other side of the table, decorated with an array of ck and white, and suffused with utter silence as the battle reached its peak.

    On one side of the table was a stern-looking Prince Greensun. On the other end was a kind old man whose every movement was in line with the dao of the world¡ªhe was the number one expert of the empire, the Pointer Monarch.

    Thetter¡¯s expression was indifferent as he waited for Zhang Boqian to y his piece. Prince Greensun, on the other hand, was thinking hard with his brows furrowed. He made no effort to hide the bad situation he was in and simply wore his heart on his sleeve.

    The Pointer Monarch finished a cup of tea in one go, sighing. ¡°What wonderful tea!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t quite satisfied with one cup. He reached out to the cup in front of Zhang Boqian, saying, ¡°Boqian, you¡¯re proficient in void traversal, so you have many opportunities to obtain such tea leaves. I¡¯m old now and iparable to you all, I can¡¯t take that much stress. Why not just let me have this?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes were still on the chessboard, and he didn¡¯t move his body, either. Only a single ck piece shot toward the Pointer Monarch¡¯s hand, forcing him to shrink back. The piece looked like it would smash into the teacup, but it actually spun about and flew back into Zhang Boqian¡¯s hand. The profundity of control in this move was truly difficult to describe.

    This wasn¡¯t a contest between ordinary cultivators. Even though the Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t going all out, how many people could contend with him and still have the energy to spare?

    Losing half a move didn¡¯t make the Pointer Monarch angry. He merely uttered the words ¡°stingy¡± before continuing to admire the scenery of the floating continent with a smile. ¡°You¡¯ll lose that cup of tea to me, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Even so, you will wait until the game¡¯s over.¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice was devoid of fluctuation.

    An airship flickered into view at this moment, flying straight toward the floating ind at great speed.

    Zhang Boqian remained deep in thought, almost as though he had never seen this airship. The Pointer Monarch ignored the vessel and turned his attention to controlling the fire.

    The airship stopped beside the floating ind and from it appeared several silhouettes. A tall, middle-aged man among them bore some resemnce to the Pointer Monarch. He stopped the others with a wave of his hand and stepped forward, bowing. ¡°Grandpa.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch looked up and said indifferently, ¡°How many times have I told you to call me prince or my name. Aristocrats like you are so awesome, this old man is no match.¡±

    The middle-aged man looked fairly awkward. He looked as though he wanted to say something but didn¡¯t dare to. In the end, he muddled over the naming issue and said, ¡°Tianqing sent word. This is an important matter, so I need you to look over it.¡±

    Hearing Tianqing¡¯s name wiped away the shadow on the old man¡¯s face. ¡°Bring it here.¡±

    The middle-aged man passed a letter to him and then went back to his position.

    The Pointer Monarch raised his brows as he opened the letter and browsed through its contents. He then passed the letter to Zhang Boqian, saying, ¡°Now this is surprising, what do you think?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s attention suddenly snapped back from the chessboard. He looked through the letter and said with a pensive frown, ¡°If it is as this letter says, the Great Vortex passage in the neutralnds will be less hostile and life-threatening. If we can open up this passage, the empire won¡¯t need to limit itself to the quotas. This achievement willst a thousand years.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed while shaking his head. ¡°I¡¯ve been to the neutralnds when I was young, and I know very well of its dangers. This passage has always been there, and it¡¯s more than just hostile. Perhaps only you and I might be able to get through it. Even if it¡¯s gentler now, it¡¯s still not a journey those kids can make. Unless¡­¡±

    At this point, the Pointer Monarch stopped speaking and only sighed.

    Everyone knew the Pointer Monarch had troubles he couldn¡¯t mention, and no one was ignorant enough to force this issue.

    After a long while of silence, the Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Boqian, you¡¯re themander of the army. How will you decide?¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied indifferently, ¡°That was in the past. Since it¡¯s so hard to decide, why don¡¯t we just wait and see? It won¡¯t be toote to decideter.

    With that, he yed a ck piece. This piece was isted and seemingly idle, but it resonated faintly with the overall situation.

    The Pointer Monarch praised, ¡°Good piece!¡±

    He then waved his hand at the middle-aged man, ¡°I know about this matter, you guys can go back.¡±

    The middle-aged man seemed like he wanted to say something but walked away hesitantly.

    After the airship had left, the Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Speaking of the neutralnds, there¡¯s something rted to you, why not take a look?¡±

    There was suddenly another sealed tube in the monarch¡¯s hand, one of the three Song Zining had transmitted back to the empire.

    Only one out of three tubes had reached the empire back then. The recipient didn¡¯t suspect anything since this method wasn¡¯t entirely stable, to begin with. It was already quite good that one of them had reached its intended target. Who would¡¯ve thought the Pointer Monarch had used a powerful ability to intercept one of the two missing tubes?

    Unexpectedly, Zhang Boqian flipped his left hand to reveal an identical tube.

    The Pointer Monarchughed while stroking his beard. ¡°As expected of Prince Greensun, you¡¯re catching up to your ancestors.¡±

    Zhang Boqian shook his head. ¡°The ancestor stands at the peak of martial prowess, how can I ever catch up?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t argue with him, either. He merely pointed at the tube and asked, ¡°How are you going to deal with this?¡±

    Zhang Boqian, with a wave of his hand, turned the unopened tubes into ash, their contents destined never to be seen.

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°That¡¯s fine as well, none of those people can scheme against you anyway.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not time to shed all pretenses just yet.¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes shone with a cold glint. ¡°But I won¡¯t give them any opportunity, lest they think I¡¯m afraid of those plotting against me in the dark.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch nodded. ¡°True, I think Xitang is the best person to handle the matter regarding the Great Maelstrom. What do you say?¡±

    ¡°Does he even have time?¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s words were tainted with sarcasm and hidden meanings.

    The Pointer Monarch muttered, ¡°There¡¯s no one else. Zhao Jundu is still young and cannot shoulder this responsibility, much less Song Zining. Hmm, that little fellow seems to be getting bolder and bolder, he needs to be punished.¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied coldly, ¡°He¡¯s no longer mine the day he left the main camp.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡± The Pointer Monarch picked up three white pieces, stroked them gently, and threw them away. The chess pieces flew away into the void amidst lingering ripples.

    At this moment, Song Zining was well-rested, washed, and in his top form.

    He wasn¡¯t in a rush to eat. Instead, he stood in front of his desk and spread out a box of jade divination tokens. Then, he ced his folding fan on the southwestern corner of the table¡ªthe direction where the empire was at the moment.

    After ample preparation, he reached out to pick up the jade tokens, ready to divine the heavenly mystery. Song Zining had made several important arrangements these days, and all of them should have responded by now. Considering how important this matter was, he couldn¡¯t help but want to take a peek at fate despite knowing how difficult and bacsh-prone it was.

    Using jade tokens wasn¡¯t something everyone could do. The Li family¡¯s divination arts were most suited to use jade, and their inherited Heaventheft Jade was praised as beingparable to heaven¡¯s eye.

    After a period of silent prayer and incantation, he felt that the time was nigh.

    Having done countless divinations, he was already extremely familiar with this feeling. Although the process today was unbelievably smooth, Song Zining threw the tokens out by reflex.

    The moment the divination tokens flew out, each of them resonated with a mysterious force within the void and became connected by an invisible thread.

    However, several ripples appeared in the void at that split second. There was a boundless power within those ripples that snapped the folding fan Song Zining had ced in the southwest direction into four parts!

    This fan served to suppress the void and act as a cornerstone of this divination, keeping the jade tokens from being drawn away by the mysterious power. Now that the fan had been broken, the jade tokens suddenly lost their anchor¡ªthey flew about chaotically and shattered from the unbearable power.

    Song Zining remained dazed for a moment before falling onto his back, his face as pale as a sheet.

    He woke up momentster, but his entire body wasid and powerless.

    Suddenly remembering something, Song Zining shot to his feet and went to grab the folding fan. Unfortunately, the instrument had beenpletely destroyed with no hope of repairing it.

    Song Zining gazed at the folding fan, his mindpletely nk. This fan was extremely important to him, an irreceable treasure that had the same effect as the Li family¡¯s Heaventheft Jade. At this moment, it had been utterly ruined by the mysterious ripples.

    Song Zining was shocked when he tried to channel his divination powers. His once crystal clear vision was now shrouded by ayer of mist and fairly slow to sense the great dao of the void. He would not be able to perform any divination before thisyer of mist had been ground away.

 Chapter 874: Fiftieth Cycle of the Combatant Formula

    The current Southern Blue was flourishing. With the help of all those mercenary experts, the construction work progressed at a rapid rate. It seemed like a new building was popping up every day. The materials were hardly able to catch up to the demand despite all the major tradepanies bringing them in day and night.

    Expansion led to good business in the city. The mercenaries needed to eat, the traveling merchant caravans need lodgings and food, and the new factories meant the arrival of more craftsmen. Everyone, from the bottom to the top, was happy. Even Ji Rui, who had been hiding in his residence, was now wearing a radiant smile.

    After some detailed calctions, the fatty realized that his ie had almost doubled despite the fall in his authority as city lord. At this rate, he would be receiving three times his usual cashflow once Song Zining¡¯s ns had alle to fruition. Additionally, he found his days fairly enjoyable¡ªno longer needing to pay attention to trivial matters or tiptoe around the major powers. All he needed was to lie down and wait for the money toe in. He even found the leisure to feed his pet birds.

    Leisure wasn¡¯t a bad thing, naturally, but Ji Rui still worried about one thing¡ªhow the surrounding powers, especially the Wolf King, would treat Dark me and Southern Blue.

    This threat was in as day, but the three youths who had established Dark me didn¡¯t seem to be aware of this danger. They went about their own business as usual, almost as though they were entirely thoughtless. This was especially true of Qianye who had set his heart on doing manualbor, even throwing aside his cultivation. Could it be that he could beat back the Wolf King just by moving steel beams?

    Ji Rui wasn¡¯t the only one with doubts.

    At this moment, Qianye was preparing to lock a steep beam onto one of the building roofs. This was thest beam in the framework, beyond which the construction would progress fairly quickly. Nheless, it was no easy feat to install this steel beam perfectly since it was dozens of meters long and several tons in weight. Usually, it would take five powerful warriors a fair length of time to fit one in.

    To Qianye, though, this was a rtively easy chore. With a shake, a push, and a subsequent click, the beam was urately embedded within its slot. The remaining work no longer required his help¡ªall that was left was for the engineers to fix and weld the metal in ce.

    Just as Qianye was patting the dust off his clothes, he saw a pair ofbat boots in front of him. Qianye followed the boots upward and came face to face with Ji Tianqing, who was looking down at him with folded arms.

    ¡°Is this kind of work fun?¡± she asked.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Not exactly.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you doing manualbor instead of cultivating or managing the corps affairs? Is this your future life from now on?¡± Ji Tianqing was intent on getting to the heart of the matter.

    ¡°At least it can stop me from thinking about certain things, makes me feel better.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s answer stuffed Ji Tianqing¡¯s questions back down her throat. She felt something stopping up her chest, an unbearable difort that she couldn¡¯t cough out.

    ¡°Is it worth it?¡± Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Qianye looked puzzled as he shook his head with a wry smile. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I really don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Then why¡­¡± Her words stopped midway.

    Qianye shot her a nce. ¡°You¡¯re still young, you don¡¯t understand.¡±

    This evaluation seemed rather effective on Ji Tianqing, but she wasn¡¯t quite satisfied with thetter part. ¡°What do you mean I don¡¯t understand? Where, who, and what do I not understand?¡±

    Laughing and shaking his head, Qianye soon arrived beside a pipe. Here, he opened the tap and used the powerful current to wash the mud off of himself. The cold water also refreshed his spirits and lightened his ashen mood.

    Soon afterward, there was a momentary flicker of scarlet me.

    The water drops on Qianye''s body evaporated and then recondensed into their original forms under the exquisite sunlight.

    He was just about to put the pipe back in ce when Ji Tianqing caught his wrist and pressed on. ¡°Make it clear, what do I not understand?¡±

    Qianye broke into augh as he applied strength to his wrist.

    Ji Tianqing red back at him, her grip tightening with a force that was grossly out of proportion with her build. Apparently, it was yet another high-grade secret art.

    Qianye didn¡¯t shrink back, however, and sent wave after wave of terrifying power raging toward Ji Tianqing.

    The first wave hadn¡¯t died out when the counteracting force was already in y, increasing the power relentlessly.

    In the blink of an eye, Ji Tianqing¡¯s face became somewhat pale and small beads of sweat hung on the tip of her nose. This was really the first time she had revealed signs of reaching her limit.

    Secret arts¡ªno matter how powerful¡ªwere supported by origin power. Ji Tianqing¡¯s energy reserves weren¡¯t infinite after all, so she soon fell into a disadvantage and had no choice but to let go.

    Qianye¡¯s body jolted briefly as soon as the girl let go¡ªcrackling thunder rang out in the air, as well as the sound of rolling tides. He put the pipe back gently, almost as though nothing had happened just now.

    Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t calm down. The phenomenon just now was likely caused by a release of Qianye¡¯s stored power, but how strong was he to be able to produce thunderous sounds just from a pure release of power? She might have been injured had she resisted until the very end.

    ¡°What secret art is that?¡±

    ¡°Secret art?¡± Qianye was surprised. He gave it some thought before replying, ¡°It¡¯s the Combatant Form.¡±

    ¡°Combatant Form? You think I¡¯m a child? It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to say it!¡± Ji Tianqing was furious, breaking out into a shout toward the end.

    ¡°It really is the Combatant Form.¡±

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t believe it at first, but seeing Qianye so serious, she thought back to the exchange just now. The oveying pattern of his power was indeed quite simr to the Combatant Form.

    The pattern was simr, but the essence was simply too different. For instance, a person with boundless strength could theoretically uproot mountains and fill oceans¡ªbut how could there be such a powerful person?

    The wild torrent of power Qianye had sted apart Ji Tianqing¡¯s peerless secret art. Just how powerful was this? Not to mention the fact that Qianye¡¯s origin power was a ways off from a divine champion¡¯s, he wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand this level of impact even if he was one. The recoil would injure him within moments. It was even worse for ordinary champions¡ªthey might explode within a few breaths.

    A human trying to move a mountain would result in the person being pulverized.

    Hence, Ji Tianqing simply refused to believe that it was the Combatant Form. What she had used just now was one of the Ji family¡¯s superb secret arts, capable of raising all aspects of the practitioner¡¯s power. It was like temporarily raising the expert¡¯s cultivation by three levels without any shorings. Such a secret art could be considered terrifying. No one would believe that it had actually lost to amon cultivation art like the Combatant Form.

    Nheless, Qianye had shown her so many miracles that she couldn¡¯t quite dismiss his im immediately. Besides, Qianye had never lied to her before¡ªwhat he wasn¡¯t willing to divulge, he would usually refuse to say, instead of lying.

    Ji Tianqing suddenly thought of something at the mention of the Combatant Form. ¡°How many cycles have you reached?¡±

    This question touched upon the core secret of his cultivation. Qianye hesitated for a good while before saying, ¡°Fifty.¡±

    ¡°Fifty!?¡± Even a knowledgeable person like Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t help but exim in shock. She eventually calmed herself and suppressed her awe. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean you¡¯ve reached the level of the Martial Monarch and Prince Greensun?¡±

    ¡°Their level back in the year, yes.¡±

    Ji Tianqing nced at Qianye with aplicated expression, sighing secretly in her heart.

    This was a sigh of admiration for Qianye¡¯s talents and how such a genius was forced out of the empire. On the other hand, it was also about the Combatant Form¡¯s limitations. Both the Martial Monarch and Zhang Boqian had switched to a different primary cultivation art after reaching the fiftieth cycle.

    Both of these experts were from celebrated families with great foundations. They possessed dozens if not hundreds of cultivation arts, making it rtively easy for them to find a suitable one. The same couldn¡¯t be said of Qianye¡ªhe had been forced out of the empire at such a young age, so how could he find a suitable art? His cultivation must¡¯ve been dyed for the greater part of the year now.

    This served as a good exnation for Qianye¡¯s devotion to manualbor. How was he to cultivate after the fiftieth cycle? No matter how talented and powerful he was, could he surpass the Martial Monarch and Prince Greensun? One would be hard-pressed to make any progress without sufficient purity of origin power.

    At the thought of this, Ji Tianqing¡¯s gaze toward Qianye became much more gentler.

    As a knowledgeable person who had met countless experts, she was never impressed by these ordinary geniuses. There were thousands of talented people in the empire¡¯s younger generation, but those she could remember were limited to a handful of people like Zhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi, Li Kuann, and Song Zining. Even Wei Potian couldn¡¯t hope for a ce in her heart.

    As for people like Nangong and Xu Lang, she would simply overlook them even if they were standing right in front of her.

    It was precisely because of her high standards that she cared more about the people she remembered. As she saw it, such a talented person being forced to bide his time due to ack of cultivation arts was the most wasteful thing in the world.

    Her expression became as gentle as the spring rain and her cheeks grew noticeably flushed as she gazed at Qianye.

    At this moment, Qianye was feeling quite nervous at heart. He hadn¡¯t stopped at the fiftieth cycle of the Combatant Form but actually took the next step to obtain the Profound Combatant Form that Martial Ancestor had left behind.

    What he had told Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t a lie, but it was undoubtedly a deliberate misdirection¡ªsomething even more serious than deceit. Qianye was definitely not an expert in this aspect, so he felt increasingly guilty under Ji Tianqing¡¯s gaze.

    The Profound Combatant Form was the Martial Ancestor¡¯s inheritance, and it was no trifling matter despite being an iplete version. As thick as Qianye was, he knew that this news would cause an even greater uproar than his attainment of the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance. At the very least, the imperial family would take action to seize it back. Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t close enough that he would share such a secret.

    Surprisingly, Ji Tianqing patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be sad, it¡¯s just a follow-up cultivation art, right? Leave it to me!¡±

    Qianye opened his mouth briefly. He really wanted to say that he could keep on cultivating the Combatant Form for many years still.

 Chapter 875: First Battle

    Qianye knew that divulging this information would bring endless trouble. As for the Song n Ancient Scroll, it also seemed like something that shouldn¡¯t be publicized. These two ancient scrolls were mysterious and probably of extraordinary origins. It was only left to gather dust in the Song n¡¯s depository because no one had ever managed to cultivate it throughout the years.

    Qianye headed back to his ce after cleaning himself up. Most of the construction site was empty at night as the mercenaries had gone back to rest. Normally, Qianye would either grab Song Zining out for a drink or get some food and sit quietly in his room until dawn.

    He had just arrived at his residence when he saw a guard from the city lord manor waiting for him at the door. The man stepped forward upon seeing Qianye and said, ¡°Sire, the City Lord invites you to his residence. He has something to discuss!¡±

    This was the first time Ji Rui had invited Qianye since the forming of Dark me. Without any preparation, he simply followed the guard back to the city lord¡¯s manor.

    Ji Rui was pacing about worriedly inside his study. Seeing Qianye, he said with a wry smile, ¡°There¡¯s trouble.¡±

    ¡°What sort of trouble?¡±

    Ji Rui passed Qianye a letter.

    This was a secret missive detailing how the Wolf King had reappeared in the totemic castle and was gathering troops to march on Southern Blue.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes, knowing that the Wolf King had finally managed to suppress his injuries and was getting ready to get back at him. It was just that Southern Blue was in a special position where Ji Rui had led the major powers to keep each other in check.

    ¡°City Lord Ji, are the Spider Emperor and Mask going to watch as the Wolf King devours Southern Blue?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Ji Rui smiled ruefully. ¡°I¡¯m perplexed as well. The other two sides surely know of the Wolf King¡¯s morous movements, but neither of them has reacted. There¡¯s no telling what they¡¯re nning in secret. I¡¯ve already dispatched emissaries to them, but we can¡¯t pin our hopes on them. General Qianye, it looks like the Wolf King is intent on winning this battle, so it¡¯s time to use your hidden aces if you have any!¡±

    ¡°I need to discuss this with Song Zining, but City Lord Ji, how far are you prepared to go when the Wolf Kinges?¡± Qianye¡¯s question cut straight to the point. This old fox Ji Rui was a ssic case of swaying grass. He might just surrender to the Wolf King depending on how the scales tip.

    Ji Rui had never imagined Qianye would be so direct. ¡°Southern Blue is my foundation, built with my sweat and blood. I won¡¯t be satisfied without a fierce fight. However, I¡¯ve also passed the hot-blooded age, I¡¯m not about to die with the city. I¡¯ll flee if things don¡¯t look good.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I understand.¡± Qianye nodded. Ji Rui¡¯s words were honest. He might not be the Wolf King¡¯s match, but he could still run away.

    ¡°What of Tidehark?¡± Qianye inquired. Last time he had gone to raid the city with Ji Tianqing, he had gotten a taste of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s terrifying power. The man¡¯s visual attack was mysterious and unfathomable. Although he was far less powerful than the entity in the ocean, that kind of power wasn¡¯t something an ordinary divine champion could grasp. That was why Qianye had asked about it.

    Ji Rui replied, ¡°Luo Bingfeng has never left Tidehark since Heavenly Monarch Zhang¡¯s isted cultivation. He simply ignores everything unless it affects the city directly, so there¡¯s no need to worry about his interference during the Wolf King¡¯s skirmish. Naturally, we won¡¯t receive any help, either.¡±

    Relieved after hearing this, Qianye soon excused himself.

    After leaving the manor, Qianye went to discuss this matter with Song Zining and Ji Tianqing.

    ¡°We fight!¡± Ji Tianqing struck while it was hot.

    ¡°This battle won¡¯t be easy.¡± Song Zining looked serious.

    Qianye nodded. Dark me was just a band of rag tags at the moment, pieced together from many small corps. It couldn¡¯t bepared at all to a mercenary corps like Stormwind Fury.

    Meanwhile, the Wolf King¡¯s army was made up of experienced veterans and powerful generals. The Wolf King himself was already a vice-duke.

    Qianye asked Ji Tianqing, ¡°How many useful tricks do you have up your sleeve for dealing with a divine champion?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing replied with a shrug, ¡°Just thatmand token, we¡¯ve already used it.¡±

    ¡°Thatmand token¡­¡± Qianye had long since tossed that piece of scrap metal, and there was no telling how effective Zhang Buzhou¡¯smand token would be against the Wolf King.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it super effective? We might not have escaped with our lives if it wasn¡¯t for it!¡± Ji Tianqing stoppered Qianye with great confidence.

    Song Zining stopped the two with a serious face. ¡°We can still rely on the fortifications in Southern Blue to stave off the army, the problem is the Wolf King.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°I can block a couple of moves, but I can¡¯t do much beyond that.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have a better chance if Ji Rui takes action,¡± Qianye said.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s already good enough if that old fox doesn¡¯t stab us in the back. In fact, we still have to take precautions against him.¡±

    After some discussion, it was decided that Song Zining would restrain the Wolf King¡¯s movements and Ji Tianqing wouldunch suppressive attacks. Qianye, on the other hand, would deliver the lethal blow. This was just the general n. There were a great number of variables involved in fighting an expert of this level, so they would have to adapt to the situation. Fortunately, all three of them were at the top among the younger generation of the empire, so they shouldn¡¯t fare too badly against the Wolf King.

    In the days that followed, Southern Blue continued to carry outrge scale constructions, but they were building defensive structures this time. The mercenaries all understood that this undertaking was tied to their fate, so everyone put in their best efforts.

    Soon, news of the Wolf King¡¯s imminent attack spread within the city, leaving everyone in a state of apprehension. Even though Ji Rui had sealed the city, there was a steady stream of mercenaries and citizens escaping every day. Dark me lost several hundred mercenaries as well, reducing their total force by twenty percent.

    With the approach of the Wolf King¡¯s vanguard, more and more reports arrived in Southern Blue. This time, the king had mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and all of the powerful experts from his tribe, prepared to wipe out Southern Blue in retaliation.

    The Wolf King¡¯s messengers arrived ahead of the army, ordering Ji Rui to surrender and hand over Qianye¡¯s group. This envoy had suggested this in front of Song Zining and Ji Tianqing in a manner full of arrogance.

    Despite the man¡¯s arrogance, Ji Rui only refused and sent him out of the city.

    Song Zining watched on with cold eyes, knowing that Ji Rui still wanted to leave a path of retreat. The city lord didn¡¯t want to turnpletely hostile, otherwise, he could¡¯ve ughtered this werewolf and thrown the body out.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t say anything at the time and simply left on his own after Ji Rui had sent the messenger out.

    The emissary¡¯s party hadn¡¯t left very long when Song Zining led Dark me after him, chasing them down until they had reached the vanguard forces.

    The Wolf King¡¯s vanguard was just setting up camp at the moment. Things fell into chaos¡ªnever once did they think that the mercenaries of Southern Blue wouldunch a surprise attack on them.

    Themander of the vanguard, a werewolf count, was already half-drunk in the main tent and only charged out when Dark me had fought their way into the encampment.

    The moment he walked out, he ran into Qianye.

    With the death of the werewolf count, the vanguard forces were deprived of amander and the disarray reached an uncontroble situation. Dark me¡¯s casualties increased sharply when the officers formed their own squads to fight back in a messy battle.

    The Wolf King¡¯s warriors disyed great power in small-scale battles. Ten of them would hold their ground against several dozen mercenaries, inflicting a steady stream of casualties all the while. They would surely win in one-on-one battles.

    Fortunately, Qianye was rampaging through the battlefield with a group of warriors, scattering the werewolves and gradually turning the tides.

    Just as they had gained a slight advantage, Song Zining suddenly called back his forces and left the battlefield.

    At this point, a viscount had taken over the position of the dead vanguardmander. Finding that their casualties were less than expected, he suddenly became emboldened and gave chase with a group of elites.

    Turns out that Song Zining had set up a trap along the way with the Three Thousand Flying Leaves art. Almost all of the Wolf King¡¯s elites charged into the ambush before realizing what was wrong. By that time, however, everything was toote¡ªthat first-rank viscount was ughtered by Qianye, and the remaining elites were also wiped out. Only a handful managed to escape.

    Hundreds of kilometers away, the Wolf King¡¯s car was advancing slowly with the main army. The vehicle swayed constantly, but the king¡¯s body remained ramrod straight, seemingly unaffected by the movement.

    The great shaman was seated across from the Wolf King, the arm-sized totem in his hands spilling a scarlet light as he muttered incantations. Thetter then absorbed the overflowing radiance, which covered him with a scarlet glow.

    The Wolf King was resting with his eyes closed when amotion urred outside. A blood-drenched werewolf appeared outside the vehicle and cried, ¡°Great Chief, the vanguard has fallen. Windbreaker and Lightningtail have fallen in battle!¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± The Wolf King¡¯s angry eyes were bloodshot.

    Seeing the Wolf King¡¯s eyes, the surrounding werewolves couldn¡¯t help but shiver and edge back involuntarily.

    The Wolf King grabbed the soldier delivering the report and roared, ¡°What happened? Speak!¡±

    Hardly able to catch his breath, that soldier struggled to speak. ¡°Windbreaker was in camp when Dark meunched a surprise attack. Our forces were defeated badly, and both of the sires fell in battle as well.¡±

    ¡°Useless trash!¡± The Wolf King¡¯s eyes became eerie. ¡°How many people are left of the vanguard?¡±

    ¡°Only ten came back, including me.¡±

    The Wolf King wed at the soldier¡¯s chest. ¡°Fleeing in battle, what use are you?¡±

    The Wolf King gouged the soldier¡¯s heart out and tossed it onto the ground. Ony ten soldiers were left of a two-thousand-man vanguard, and most importantly, the leaders had all fallen in battle. How could the Wolf King not be angry?

    The Wolf King suddenly looked back at the great shaman. ¡°How long!?¡±

    The new shaman¡¯s forehead was drenched in sweat. ¡°About five days, no, three days should be enough.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait that long,¡± the Wolf King said coldly. Then, he suddenly picked up the totem from the great shaman¡¯s hands and poured the dark red ancestral power into his body.

    The great shaman¡¯s face turned pale, his entire body trembling as he grew weaker and weaker.

 Chapter 876: Exchanging Blows

    ¡°Great Chief!¡± The surrounding werewolves were shocked, but none of them dared to stop him. The Wolf King¡¯s ferocity was as notorious inside the tribe as it was outside.

    The king himself turned a deaf ear to the voices around him as he absorbed the ancestral power. The great shaman¡¯s body trembled constantly as his face sunk in and his eyes became dispirited. The Wolf King only let go of the totem when the werewolf was almost unconscious.

    The great shaman fell gasping to the floor and couldn¡¯t mber back up no matter what he did.

    The Wolf King¡¯s expression was frigid, his body suffused with a dark red glow as he nced at the tribesmen around him. ¡°I will not allow anyone to trample the glory of our tribe, the dead must be avenged! Now, let us go into battle, I will lead you as we tear our enemies apart! The ancestors are with us!¡±

    ¡°The ancestors are with us!¡± All the werewolf soldiers roared, and the army elerated its march.

    The great shaman in the vehicle was soon forgotten. If he couldn¡¯t recover from this ordeal, the tribe would soon have a new great shaman. As the previous great shaman hadn¡¯t managed to transfer his ancestral power, there was little difference between the remaining candidates.

    With the ancestral power in his grasp, the Wolf King became even more aggressive and quickly lost the patience to keep on riding in the car. He shot toward Southern Blue on his own to check on the city defenses.

    The atmosphere in Southern Blue right now was stifling and mournful. Little more than half of the people who had followed Song Zining into battle returned alive. Even with the advantage of a surprise attack, a subsequent ambush, and Qianye killing the enemymander right off the bat, the casualty rate among the mercenaries was almost as bad as the enemy vanguard. From this, one could see how much of a fighting-power gap there was between the two parties.

    Even for mercenaries who were used to ughter and death, losing half of their forces was a bit too cruel. Almost every survivor had friends or family left behind on the smoking battlefield.

    Nheless, morale did not decline despite the devastating oue. On the contrary, everyone saw a glimmer of hope.

    Before this battle, these soldiers belonged to the lowest rung of the mercenary world. Not to mention iming victory over the Wolf King¡¯s vanguard, half of them would have scattered from fright before they had even squared up for battle. If it wasn¡¯t for Ji Tianqing¡¯s threat looming over their shoulders, it wasn¡¯t certain if Song Zining could even muster three thousand men for this skirmish.

    After this great victory, everyone saw how well-versed Song Zining was in strategy, and how easily Qianye had imed the werewolf count¡¯s head. Yet, Ji Tianqing¡ªwho had yed them half to death in the beginning¡ªnever took to the field, opting only to guard the city instead.

    These simple mercenaries understood that following such people was their only hope.

    This was when the victorious warriors, including experts like Frost Wolf, truly epted their identity as Dark me mercenaries.

    The returning soldiers required rest and treatment. Song Zining handed over these trivial duties to Guan Zhongliu who had rushed over after hearing the news. The man had led the city guard for many years and was thus quite familiar with support and logistics.

    His arrival also signified a slight change in Ji Rui¡¯s stance. Although the fatty never made a personal appearance, this meant that he had already taken half a step forward.

    In the war room, Song Zining was locked in a frown, his expressioncking the joy of their first victory. He stared fixedly at the map as he marked out the military routes he had learned from interrogating the captives. Ji Tianqing stood with her arms crossed, silent and pensive.

    The heavy death-toll was actually within expectations. Song Zining¡¯s initial n was to train the mercenaries through a series of battles, elerating their maturation amidst the mes of war. Survivors of a battle would inevitably grow stronger and stronger. The neutralndscked a lot of things, but desperate people wasn¡¯t one of them.

    Song Zining raised his brows, saying, ¡°Judging from the Wolf King¡¯s style, he probably won¡¯t wait patiently after absorbing ancestral power. He¡¯ll probablye here to check on Southern Blue and fight it out first.¡±

    Ji Tianqing rolled her eyes. ¡°What¡¯s the point of thinking about something so trivial, just scry him.¡±

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°I had a little¡­ ident a couple of days ago. I can¡¯t use divination arts for the time being.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was rather surprised. She shot Qianye a nce and said angrily, ¡°You guys just want to calcte this and that just because you have some skill, it¡¯s only a matter of time that something will happen. Especially this guy, it¡¯s best you don¡¯t touch anything rted to him, but you just won¡¯t listen. Serves you right! Have you learned your lesson now?¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±

    ¡°You should know what you did!¡±

    Qianye was even more puzzled, but he was more concerned with something else. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    The seventh young master adopted his trademark calmness, saying, ¡°It¡¯s just a broken fan and some setback to my divination-rted arts. It¡¯ll probably go away after a few months, why worry?¡±

    He said there was no need to worry, but Qianye knew that wasn¡¯t the case. This period was a time for people at a lower cultivation rank to forge ahead, and a couple of months was enough for Qianye to open up yet another origin vortex. Song Zining¡¯s cultivation had nevergged very far behind Qianye, but now he would need several months to recover¡ªthis went to show just how grave his injury was.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know much about divination arts, but he knew some basic principles at least. Generally, the more powerful the subject of divination or the more connected he was, the greater the price involved. With a character like Lin Xitang involved, it was no different from fighting an invisible battle.

    Qianye knew very well that he was linked to many people¡ªLin Xitang, Zhao Weihuang, Nighteye, the ck-Winged Monarch, etc. If Song Zining was really divining his matters, it would pose a great risk no matter how skilled he was.

    He wanted to speak but didn¡¯t really know how to word it. Song Zining looked soft on the outside, but his nature was actually like Qianye, resolute and unyielding. No one could dissuade him from something he had decided upon.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this, if the Wolf King arrives ahead of time¡­¡± At this point, Song Zining broke into a frown. Normally, he would analyze the situation and perform divinations to verify the theory. But now, he felt less confident without his usual process.

    ¡°Enough, let me do it!¡± Ji Tianqing tossed a ck jade token onto the table and said after a nce, ¡°He¡¯s already on the way.¡±

    Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief, feeling more assured with the guidance of fate. His eyes sparkled as he said, ¡°We must let hime but not let him leave, we must deal a heavy blow to him in one battle.¡±

    Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t help but interject. ¡°He left his army behind, so he¡¯s probably here to sound us out. He¡¯ll turn tail and run immediately once things go south for him. If the Wolf King was so resolute, he wouldn¡¯t have submitted to Zhang Buzhou.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to rely on Qianye to make him fight us to the death.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°How should I do that?¡±

    ¡°How should I know? This depends on you. The battle will only be more difficult if the Wolf King retreats and joins his army.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t even say anything before Song Zining patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Take your time to think about it, I need to make some arrangements.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said before leaving, ¡°Think faster, the Wolf King will arrive very soon.¡±

    The duo left Qianye alone in the room. Judging from their tone, it seemed like they wanted him to taunt the enemy and make him fight to the death. Nheless, hurling abuses was never Qianye¡¯s strength, and even after a long while, he still hadn¡¯t figured out how to go about it. Seeing that it was almost time, he stepped out and headed toward the defensive line on the walls.

    The sky was filled with dark clouds as a ck speck shot toward Southern Blue from yonder horizon. In the blink of an eye, the speck had arrived within one kilometer of the city and the Wolf King¡¯s figure came into view. He looked down at the city from above with undisguised killing intent in his eyes.

    Once the Wolf King¡¯s silhouette became stationary, two cannon turrets in the city spun about ordingly and locked onto the intruder.

    The divine champion¡¯s brows twitched ever so slightly as he sensed the ballistae locking onto him. What he saw inside the city was a scene of chaos¡ªit would seem the damage of the recent battle hadn¡¯t healed just yet. However, the origin power of the city was revolving as one, and there were numerous powerful auras hiding within them. Apparently, they were all ready to do battle.

    The Wolf King¡¯s expression sank when he found that the defenses here were tighter than he had expected. Additionally, the arrangement of troops looked like they were preparing to rely on the city¡¯s defenses to repel attacking experts.

    The Wolf King became hesitant for a brief moment. Song Zining was also in the city at this moment, and this person was even more famous than Qianye. The Wolf King had been going through the former¡¯s lifetime achievements in recent days¡ªalthough they were few in number, he couldn¡¯t help but find them quite shocking.

    The Song n might seek revenge in full force if this seventh young master were to fall in battle. Although the Wolf King had no fear for his own safety, it would be a painful blow to him if his long-term assets in the empire were uprooted.

    Now that he was here, though, he couldn¡¯t just go back without a fight. In the end, the king decided that he would still kill Song Zining if the fellow wasn¡¯t sensible.

    He had just made his decision when he saw a certain figure rise up from Southern Blue. Who else could it be but Qianye?

    He pointed at the Wolf King and roared, ¡°Wolf King, why tuck your tail in now that you¡¯re here? Let us fight.¡±

    The Wolf King felt belittled by Qianye¡¯s words. He revealed his true form with a snort, conjuring a dark red projection behind him that towered dozens of meters above. It was like a giant spirit of the night, looking down on the entirety of Southern Blue.

    After revealing his true body, the Wolf King simply raised his voice in a bid to shake the opponents¡¯ will, especially Ji Rui. Such a massive projection moving in sync with the main body wasn¡¯t a method a sub-divine-champion expert was capable of.

    Ji Rui was cowardly and afraid of trouble. It was possible that he would be cowed into hiding after noticing the Wolf King¡¯s power. That way, Southern Blue would lose one of their core fighting powers.

    He had just finished posing and hadn¡¯t even uttered any threats when Qianye¡¯s figure shot forward at the speed of lightning, throwing a thousand-ton punch toward his chest.

    The furious Wolf King retaliated with a punch of his own.

    The impact from the sh was much greater than the Wolf King had expected. Qianye''s punch was not much weaker than his own, in fact. He let out a groan and couldn¡¯t help but take a small step back.

    Qianye only slid back about ten meters, his eyes full of disdain as he gazed coldly at the Wolf King. Then, he turned around and flew back into Southern Blue.

    A mor broke out in the city with countless people ncing and pointing at the Wolf King.

    Ovee by a bad feeling, the Wolf King looked back to find the massive projection slowly disintegrating. Qianye¡¯s single punch had actually dispersed his illusory image!

 Chapter 877: Beleaguermen

    What shocked the Wolf King was the fact that Qianye only retreated within the range of Southern Blue¡¯s cannon turrets and no further. Hended on the wall and looked on at the Wolf King with cold eyes.

    Despite the unexpected setback, the Wolf King was still a vice-duke level expert, while Qianye¡¯s constitution was only at the level of a marquis. Even with the consideration of his ancient vampire bloodline, he was barely at the level of a werewolf mighty marquis¡ªand that was two entire levels below the Wolf King.

    The disparity was even greater in terms of origin power. If it wasn¡¯t for the top-grade purity of his Venus Dawn, it would be difficult for Qianye to even injure the Wolf King.

    With such a gap in ce, the divine champion felt it a great humiliation that he had let Qianye escapest time. The only thing he needed to guard against was that extremely powerful attack. Nheless, the Shot of Inception probably wasn¡¯t something that could be used at will. It was almost certain to involve great expenditure and long periods of umtion. The Wolf King¡¯s deduction regarding this matter wasrgely correct as Qianye only had one shot left, and he hadn¡¯t found the time to replenish its supply.

    Theirst exchange had proven that the Shot of Inception wouldn¡¯t deprive the Wolf King of hisbat strength. The werewolf was confident that he could still wipe out all opponents in Southern Blue after being hit, even beating Ji Rui into a retreat.

    That was the reason why the Wolf King was exceptionally furious. Qianye¡¯s current stance implied that he could contend with the Wolf King just by relying on the city¡¯s defenses.

    The Wolf King¡¯s leonine mane danced in the wind as he made a slow descent toward Qianye, his body surrounded by dark red arcs of lightning. Very soon, he was within range of the ballistae, yet he neither elerated nor changed directions. He was clearly opening himself up as a target.

    Qianye waved his right hand with a solemn expression. The cannon turrets to the left and right of him trembled as two giant homing bolts shot toward the iing divine champion.

    With a sinisterugh, the Wolf King conjured two giant w projections that actually tore the bolts apart.

    Gasps of astonishment echoed within the city, and a disruption appeared in the defending forces. Be it for the mercenaries or the city guard, the ballista turrets were the greatest killing machines; they weren¡¯t even made to deal with human targets. Now that the Wolf King had actually torn the shots apart in front of everyone¡¯s eyes, it went to show that all the other defenses in their arsenal were mere decorations before an enemy of such caliber.

    In the blink of an eye, many people began thinking about running away. The city defense forces had it better because, ording to customs, the Wolf King would still keep them around to maintain order after his conquest. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the mercenaries of Dark me, so dozens of them quietly snuck out of the defensive line in a bid to flee.

    The Wolf King, with his acute eyesight, saw everything that was going on, and it satisfied him greatly.

    Just as thecency had taken form in his heart, the wall beneath Qianye¡¯s feet was left crumbling as he shot toward the Wolf King like a cannonball!

    He appeared in front of the Wolf King in the blink of an eye, and East Peak shed down from overhead with a momentum capable of splitting the ocean!

    The Wolf King had just shattered two ballistae, and the origin power fluctuations hadn¡¯t yet calmed down¡ªthis dyed his reflexes very briefly. Qianye had actually caught this split-secondg! For a moment, the Wolf King couldn¡¯t quite figure out whether he was just lucky or shockingly talented.

    Qianye¡¯s sh was so fast that the Wolf King was left with no room for evasion, but he wasn¡¯t willing to evade anyhow. Roaring furiously, he threw a right-hand punch against East Peak.

    At the moment of contact, the Wolf King realized that he had underestimated his opponent. The darkness origin power on his fist was cut open, and the de sunk right into his flesh.

    At this moment, Qianye sensed that the Wolf King¡¯s defenses weren¡¯t as strong as he had expected. He suddenly got the idea to circte his Profound Combatant Form and once again summon the move that had defeated Ji Tianqing. Layer uponyer of superimposed power pressed down on the Wolf King like waves in a stormy sea!

    Peerless power channeled through the invincible sword¡ªthis move was almost indefensible!

    East Peak cut swiftly through the Wolf King¡¯s flesh and right into his bones. The Wolf King lowered his elbow at the exact moment, cleverly negating the greater part of the force and deflecting the edge to one side. It might look like a draw to the spectator, but the Wolf King had actually lost half a move.

    Having gained the initial advantage, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to give the opponent any space to maneuver. His strength stacked higher and higher, every sh descending with the might of the mountains and seas¡ªtoward the end, the Wolf King no longer dared to meet the blows head-on.

    The tyrannical might of the Profound Combatant Form had emerged for the first time!

    In truth, the Wolf King, Song Zining, and Ji Tianqing could all see that Qianye couldn¡¯t keep this up for very long. Nheless, this moment of unrivaled valiance was more than enough.

    ¡°This art, this art¡­¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes glistened lustrously. She was beside herself with excitement.

    She didn¡¯t get the chance to learn much about the Profound Combatant Form during theirst exchange. To a person like her who had seen and learned so many top-grade secret arts, witnessing an unprecedentedly powerful art like this wasparable to a glutton encountering a table full of delicacies.

    Song Zining was stomping his feet in frustration. He simply had no way to interfere in a fight of this level¡ªit would change nothing even if he did.

    The most exasperated of the lot was undeniably the Wolf King. He was being suppressed and was actually powerless to retaliate. He knew Qianye¡¯s torrential assault wouldn¡¯tst very long, but the art was simply too tyrannical. It afforded Qianye a power several times his own with which to beat down the Wolf King.

    Within moments, the Wolf King had received several shocking injuries and was bleeding all over.

    Finally, the waning of the Profound Combatant Form arrived¡ªQianye¡¯s momentum fell and his power receded like the tides.

    The Wolf King unleashed an earth-shattering roar as he pounced forward madly. However, Qianye adopted a fine, cautious stance without any openings, using the indestructible East Peak as a shield from time to time. His sword-arts had reached a level even higher than the Wolf King¡¯s, and the tides of power from before hadn¡¯t fully faded away just yet. Hence, despite the advantage in strength, the Wolf King couldn¡¯t do much against Qianye for the time being.

    The Wolf King sensed the ballistae locking onto him at the moment and had no choice but to split his attention to take precaution. It was just that the feeling of danger, to his surprise, increased from two locations to three. Was there a third ballista? But there was no other ce in the city to hide artillery apart from the two turrets.

    The phase of entanglement ended briefly when Qianye and the Wolf King split up.

    At this point, Qianye was pale with blood seeping out from the corners of his eyes, lips, nose, and ears. Even his powerful constitution couldn¡¯t withstand repeated head-on collisions with the Wolf King. After all, the werewolves were known for their powerful physiques, even more so than the vampires.

    The Wolf King gazed at Qianye with cold, bloodshot eyes and rising murderous intent. Thetter seemed expressionless and somewhat vacant, but In truth, he had already reached a state devoid of emotions.

    As they were facing off from afar, a series of cheers rang out from the city below. There were even a couple of bold ones chanting, ¡°Screw that Wolf King to death!¡±.

    Although Qianye had sustained far greater injuries than the Wolf King, they were all internal wounds. Meanwhile, the Wolf King had five terrifying, bloody gashes on his body that looked critical. In actuality, Qianye¡¯s force wasrgely spent after cutting through the werewolf¡¯s hide. He didn¡¯t even manage to leave a lot of origin power or blood energy, to speak nothing of injuring the opponent¡¯s bones and innards.

    But how could those lowly mercenaries tell the difference? In their eyes, the bloody one was the most miserable.

    The Wolf King quickly understood this as well and was furious. He had never received such heckles like this since his defeat against Zhang Buzhou. With his status, it would be too embarrassing to attack those ragtag soldiers, so all he could do was vent his anger on Qianye.

    ¡°I shan¡¯t return to the tribe without sacrificing your blood to the ancestors today!¡± The Wolf King uttered word by word.

    Qianye¡¯s expression remained cold. He had already stepped beyond the boundaries of emotion.

    Ji Tianqing praised, ¡°Well done! It looks like the Wolf King is going to fight to the death.¡±

    Song Zining looked serious. ¡°Prepare to attack.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was startled. ¡°So soon?¡±

    Song Zining gritted his teeth. ¡°We need to act fast, I asked Qianye to provoke the Wolf King, not engage in a one-on-one showdown!¡±

    Ji Tianqing shrugged. ¡°A one-on-one is the best way to provoke the enemy, he did well.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯llst another exchange, we can¡¯t take that risk!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not confident in holding the Wolf King back if we move now, he still has a lot of unused ancestral power.¡±

    Song Zining uttered through clenched teeth, ¡°We¡¯ll take that risk!¡±

    The Wolf King drifted toward Qianye, his momentum rising by the moment as the dark red energy around him turned near-tangible. It would seem he was going to use all of his ancestral power in a single strike.

    Just as he was taking a step forward, the world around him transformed into a scene of gentle southern spring. Song Zining rushed into the air and flicked out countless leaves from his fingers which turned into numerous chains that locked the Wolf King in ce.

    The startled Wolf King shook his body in rage, effectively dispersing countless leaves around him and leaving only a handful.

    Song Zining spat out a mouthful of blood as he fell off the sky. Nheless, the Wolf King was unable to move as long as a single leaf remained stuck to him.

    Ji Tianqing appeared silently from behind and tapped on the dark red glow around him. Like water dripping into oil, the red energy red up until it was on the verge of eruption. Losing control of his ancestral power left the Wolf King in a tricky situation¡ªhe moved to suppress the red radiance while attacking Ji Tianqing at the same time.

    At this moment, the Wolf King¡¯s every movement was aided by the power of his ancestors, granting him boundless strength. Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t dare fight him head-on and merely flew aboutunching suppressive attacks¡ªshe would only block the attack when there was no other choice. The Wolf King couldn¡¯t dispose of her for the moment, but some of the evasive maneuvers were fairly close calls.

    At this moment, Qianye was a hundred meters away. He had produced the Heartgrave and taken aim at the divine champion, his heart was as calm as still water. A pair of luminous wings spread out behind him.

    The Wolf King¡¯s brows twitched as he was alerted of the potential danger. With a frantic roar, his ancestral power erupted like a scarlet tempest, enclosing his entire body within. Thest few leaves started to break down one by one, and Song Zining would cough up some more blood with each shatter.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands were shrouded in a golden glow as she struck furiously at the Wolf King, hoping to drain his ancestral power. Yet, it was simply too thick and abundant¡ªat this rate, the Wolf King would clear away the leaves and regain his freedom by the time half of the ancestral power had been exhausted. If he were to regain his movement, there was no telling whether Qianye could hit the target.

    Just as their efforts were about to end in vain, a beam of icy-blue light snaked through the skies and toward the Wolf King, shing his ancestral power apart in one blow!

 Chapter 878: I Heard Youre Hiring

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression shifted drastically the moment this icy blue beam appeared. At this point, Qianye¡¯s wings had just reached its maximum extension, and Heartgrave needed a split second more to fire.

    Ji Tianqing could hardly care about other stuff at this moment. She invested all her strength in assailing the Wolf King, using powerful long-range attacks to prevent him from diverting his attention. This kind of attack far surpassed her own capacity¡ªits power was simr to the Profound Combatant Form, albeit utilizing a different mechanism.

    At this point, Qianye had finallypleted his umtion and opened fire! Nheless, the projectile emerging from Heartgrave wasn¡¯t an origin bullet, but a feather of light!

    The entire world was drained of color, and for a split second, this luminous feather was the only thing people could see. Time seemed to stop flowing, and space lost all meaning.

    It would seem the temporal pause was just an illusion as people came to at different speeds. Seemingly unaffected by the freeze, Ji Tianqing turned to flee the moment that feather of light appeared. The icy blue silhouette was just slightly slower¡ªseemingly hesitant and unresigned¡ªbut it, too, chose to flee in a different direction.

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. The moment he saw the feather of light, he understood that he couldn¡¯t escape.

    Time and space had no meaning in the face of this luminous plume. It instantly arrived in front of the Wolf King, shot through the thinyer of ancestral power, and vanished into his chest.

    The Wolf King unleashed a hysterical roar that blew away the clouds above. His dark red ancestral power erupted into a hundred-meter pir of fire that surged into the sky above and sted the earth below. Everything in the wake of this ze was pulverized, be it walls, civilian houses, or defensive structures.

    At the center of this pir, the Wolf King was howling at the sky. His chest had burst open, and a fountain of blood was gushing out from within!

    The deep bloody cavity looked extremely terrifying, but the shot ultimately failed to prate his body. The Wolf King suddenly broke through the fiery pir and vanished over the vast horizon.

    Qianye gazed regretfully at the distant target, and then lost consciousness before falling to the ground. Two silhouettes rushed to catch him at the same time, but both of them withdrew with cold harrumphs as their eyes met. They each seemed fairly surprised at the other¡¯s appearance.

    Qianye thusnded with a thud, crashing through the roof of a civilian building and right into the house. There was no more movement or sound from him thereafter.

    Ji Tianqing nced unhappily at the person in front of her. ¡°I would¡¯ve never thought you¡¯d show up here.¡±

    The one standing in front of her was a handsome young noble, one d in a light blue outfit, with brows like swords and lips akin to cinnabar. She looked like an unsheathed sword just by standing there¡ªit was, without a doubt, Li Kuann.

    Thetter smiled coldly. ¡°Why can¡¯t I be here?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing here that requires your attention.¡±

    ¡°You guys would¡¯ve been in a precarious position if I hadn¡¯te. If that shot had missed, you would all be in deep trouble,¡± Li Kuann said in a leisurely tone.

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°So you do know that Qianye¡¯s shot was the key. And here I thought you wanted to y the Wolf King on your own.¡±

    Li Kuannughed loudly. ¡°I have no problem doing anything you can do.¡±

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t look so happy about how things had turned out. It was indeed Li Kuann¡¯s sh that had torn through the Wolf King¡¯s ancestral power. Otherwise, Qianye¡¯s shot might not have injured the Wolf King if it had to prate the ancestral power first. Hence, she had no choice but to admit to this detail whether or not she was willing to.

    While they were confronting one another, Li Kuann pointed at the ground. ¡°Do you not care about his fate?¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with me? Howe you suddenly care so much about him? This doesn¡¯t look like your usual young noble style!¡±

    Li Kuann smiled meaningfully. ¡°You weren¡¯t slow to charge over just now.¡±

    ¡°You praise me too much, we arrived at the same time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m faster than you, to begin with. I actually set outter than you did.¡±

    ¡°Then, you must¡¯ve been in quite the hurry.¡±

    Just as the two were reaching the height of their argument, Song Zining flew out of the city, shouting, ¡°Let¡¯s chase down the Wolf King, don¡¯t let him escape!¡±

    Unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°I¡¯m busy.¡±

    Li Kuann refused tly. ¡°Not going!¡±

    Speechless, Song Zining could only give chase on his own.

    Only when the seventh young master¡¯s figure was gone did Ji Tianqing stretchzily, saying, ¡°He won¡¯t catch up, anyway.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless even if he does,¡± Li Kuann chimed in.

    The two had the same opinion, but their expressions weren¡¯t very friendly as they exchanged nces. It would seem having the same idea was an uneptable oue for them.

    Li Kuann pointed downward. ¡°He¡¯s going to die if you don¡¯t save him.¡±

    ¡°He''s just exhausted, a good nap will do.¡± Ji Tianqing seemed unconcerned, but there was a sharp de hidden behind her smile. ¡°Now that things here have been settled, when do you n to go back?¡±

    This was a tant attempt at driving people away, but Li Kuann didn¡¯t seem to take offense. She sped her hands behind her back and said calmly, ¡°Now that I¡¯m already here, there¡¯s really no need for me to rush back. I heard there¡¯s a new Dark me mercenary corps here and it¡¯s looking to hire people. This young noble iscking in talents, so I n to experience the life of a mercenary.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but the corps is full, we¡¯re not recruiting.¡±

    Li Kuannughed heartily. ¡°You¡¯re just an aide-de-camp, your words don¡¯t count. Let¡¯s continue this discussion when thatmander wakes up.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯spletely exhausted his power in this battle, he¡¯ll be out for a couple of days.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also fine to wait for the seventh young noble.¡± Li Kuann was in no rush.

    ¡°Seventh young noble¡­¡± A lightbulb lit up in Ji Tianqing¡¯s mind at the mention of this name. Her expression changed as she made some rushed calctions. ¡°Oh no, that fellow¡¯s in danger!¡±

    The two exchanged nces. Ji Tianqing pointed below, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll leave him to you, I¡¯m going to save Song Seven.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded in silence. Although she was from the Li family, it just so happened that she wasn¡¯t proficient in divination and only specialized in the sword martial arts. Ji Tianqing was an expert in all trades, and it seemed like she had the means to track down Song Zining.

    The two stopped bickering at the critical juncture and split up to do what they each did best.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s silhouette flickered away as she chased after Song Zining.

    The Wolf King was limping rapidly through the wilderness in his original form. At this moment, his ghastly injuries were showing no signs of healing¡ªthere was no origin power, no blood-flow, and no growth or rotting. It was as though all signs of life had disappeared.

    This wound state was even worse than a constantly deteriorating one. No matter how hard the Wolf King activated his origin power, it would only linger around the injury. The energy from that luminous feather had extinguished all signs of life in its wake, and it was extremely difficult to expel. The Wolf King could still move freely or even do battle, but it would take more than just a couple of days to heal this damage.

    The redness in the Wolf King¡¯s eyes receded as his ancestral power waned, soon recovering their rity. He had been running toward the main army all this time as this would save energypared to flying.

    He came to an abrupt stop at one point¡ªthe fur on his neck all perked up in response to an indescribable sense of danger. The Wolf King¡¯s nose twitched ever so slightly as he turned to the side, facing a pile of rocks and shrubbery a hundred meters away.

    When the Wolf King looked over, he saw a young girl in a white dress emerge from behind the rock. That arachne cleaver in her hand looked just as sharp and sinister.

    The Wolf King¡¯s pupils shrank. He had never imagined that he would encounter this harbinger of misfortune here. The young girl looked frail and harmless, but the Wolf King had suffered terriblyst time and even lost something of great value. Now, she had appeared once again when he was gravely injured¡ªwas this just bad luck?

    Instincts told the Wolf King that he must not leave his back open to her no matter what. Seeing the girl approach, the fierce Wolf King growled like a wounded beast. As expected, this made Bai Kongzhao hesitant and stop her advance, yet it didn¡¯t seem like she was about to leave, either.

    The wounded divine champion wasn¡¯t willing to drag this out since no one knew what would happen next. Recalling hisst experience, he plucked a pouch from his waist and tossed it to the young girl.

    The young girl caught the bag and checked the contents. She then retreated slowly, seemingly satisfied with her haul.

    Things went so smoothly that the Wolf King couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°That¡¯s it? You¡¯ll let me go just like that?¡±

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re alive, I can keep on robbing your things.¡±

    The Wolf King almost cked out from the young girl¡¯s reply. Her strength was clearly limited, yet she gave off a grossly disproportionate sense of danger. Additionally, theirst exchange had proven that the Wolf King¡¯s intuition wasn¡¯t wrong.

    As a cautious character, the Wolf King suppressed his anger and asked, ¡°How did you find me?¡±

    This question was key because the young girl had caught him both times when he was at his weakest. This was definitely no coincidence.

    It was just that the girl¡¯s answer almost knocked him out from the rage. ¡°Not telling you.¡±

    The Wolf King stopped speaking. He watched the girl¡¯s gradual retreat and ran toward his forces only after she had left.

    Not long afterward, Song Zining appeared in the wilderness. The seventh young master was d in a standard hunter¡¯s light armor and equipped with a silver spear as he followed the enemy¡¯s traces.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t moving that fast since he had to look for traces and differentiate them from the decoys that the Wolf King had left. Like a seasoned hunter, he was patient and attentive to details as he tracked down his quarry. The target was already wounded, so all he needed was to stay in the hunt long enough for the prey to die to his own injuries.

    The seventh young master was as good a survivalist as he was a master strategist.

    Just as he was concentrating on the hunt, he felt a sudden chill down the back of his neck. It actually forced him to shiver all over!

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t flustered. He gradually turned around, spear in hand, and locked eyes with Bai Kongzhao who was standing dozens of meters away.

    ¡°I have nothing on me except this spear. Are you here to fight to the death?¡±

    Unexpectedly, the girl ced a pouch on the ground, saying, ¡°This is for him.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. ¡°Who? Qianye?¡±

    The girl didn¡¯t reply. She merely turned around and sped away like a ghost.

    Song Zining went over to pick up the offering only when her figure had vanishedpletely. This pouch looked rather familiar to him¡ªit looked exactly like the one worn by the Wolf King.

 Chapter 879: Half the Loo

    Song Zining only came to when Bai Kongzhao was far into the depths of the wilderness, hardly able to believe what he had just experienced. Not only did this murderous young girl not attack him, but she even left a pouch of spoils for him?

    Although she didn¡¯t say it, Song Zining instinctively knew that it was for Qianye.

    The rtionship between Qianye and Bai Kongzhao was far from good¡ªit was much closer to deep enmity, in fact. Song Zining knew about their entanglement during the bloody battle, so he was actually ready to fight her to the death during both encounters.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t handle Bai Kongzhao very well, but that didn¡¯t mean Song Zining couldn¡¯t. In fact, divination experts like Song Zining were the most terrifying enemies for instinct-dependent fighters like the young girl. Before the seventh young master at least, the girl would lose most of her ability to seek and grasp opportunities in battle.

    However, there were simply too many secrets surrounding her, and she had also received the full support of the Bai n at one point. This forced Song Zining to be cautious around her. The foundations of the four major ns stood extremely deep. As someone who hade from the Song n, the seventh young master knew this all too well. Just the two chapters of the Song n Ancient Scroll was proof enough of this.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t about to attack without absolute certainty. Who knew what kind of extraordinary things she had gotten from the Bai n? That was also why he had no intention of going after her even as she moved further and further away.

    Weighing the pouch in his hand, Song Zining suddenly became curious. What exactly was it that Bai Kongzhao wanted to give Qianye? It couldn¡¯t be a token of love, could it?

    This pouch still contained the Wolf King¡¯s aura. It was sealed with a simple button that could be opened easily, and there were no secret locks or traps. This made sense since it was the Wolf King¡¯s personal item. Why would he need hidden traps or locks to protect it? Perhaps even the king himself wouldn¡¯t have thought his purse would fall into someone else¡¯s hand one day.

    Song Zining had the urge to open it up and see, but he felt bad about it. He tried to scan it with his perception, but the pouch¡ªmade from the hide of an unknown beast¡ªcould inste his senses. The heavy, bulging pouch was calling to him, exciting his curiosity.

    ¡°Yes, there might be some kind of trap inside. An honest person like Qianye won¡¯t think too much, he might actually suffer. That won¡¯t do, this young master can¡¯t just stand by and watch!¡± Song Zining murmured to himself.

    Just as he had finished convincing himself to open the bag, a hand reached in without warning and snatched the pouch away, snapping it open in a few moves.

    The seventh young master was dumbfounded as he looked on at Ji Tianqing, not knowing what to say. Thedy said righteously while opening the bag, ¡°Qianye is too honest, what if there¡¯s some kind of malicious trap in here that will harm him? You might not worry about him, but this youngdy can¡¯t be that heartless!¡±

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration at Miss Ji Tianqing¡¯s confident promation of justice regarding her peeking. In truth, Song Zining was also curious to know what Bai Kongzhao wanted to give Qianye. Since Miss Tianqing had already taken the initiative, he decided to join the shameless party.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression became peculiar as he peered at the contents.

    The pouch was filled with stones, crystals, and rocks of varying sizes. They were rare minerals, energy crystals, and umon ores, each of them worth a small fortune. The dozen high-purity ck crystals at the bottom were nothing inparison.

    The problem was that these minerals looked extremely familiar, and there was really no mistaking the de marks on some of the ores.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes narrowed as she picked up one of the ores and weighed it in her hands. She said in an evil voice, ¡°Song Seven, isn¡¯t this the ore I found? Didn¡¯t I tell you to take it back to Southern Blue back then? You told me it¡¯s been deposited in the warehouse.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Even the shameless Song Zining felt his face burning up.

    Ji Tianqing had no intention of letting him off. ¡°This is the one I gave you, this too, and this, this, this¡­¡±

    In the blink of an eye, she had flipped through half the bag, and then she said to Song Zining, ¡°There¡¯s only half of it here, where¡¯s the other half?¡±

    Song Zining said in embarrassment, ¡°It was a huge backpack back then, this little pouch doesn¡¯t make up half, does it?¡±

    ¡°All the valuable stuff are here, so this makes up half! Where is the rest?¡±

    Song Zining knew he could no longer hide things. He had no choice but to exin how he had been robbed by Bai Kongzhao and a bunch of ragtag mercenaries.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes widened as she listened, breaking into a guffaw by the time Song Zining had finished narrating his story. Sheughed until she was hugging her stomach and could no longer stand straight. The young miss would¡¯ve started rolling on the ground if she wasn¡¯t concerned about her image.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned ashen¡ªhe hadn¡¯t spoken about this because it was one of the few embarrassments of his life. Who would¡¯ve thought the secret would be revealed by a pouch that was meant for Qianye?

    Ji Tianqing hadn¡¯t finishedughing when a silent Song Zining began walking toward Southern Blue. The former caught up while holding her abdomen. ¡°What¡¯s the rush? Let me finishughing, haha!¡±

    Song Zining replied without looking back, ¡°I¡¯m going to mobilize the army and attack the Wolf King¡¯s main army.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s smiled disappeared. ¡°Isn¡¯t that too risky?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King has been injured, and there¡¯s no one else in his party worth fearing. If we don¡¯t take this opportunity to attack him, how long are we going to wait?¡±

    Ji Tianqing was admittedly inferior to Song Zining in terms of military strategy. She nodded, saying, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it your way then. I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry then.¡± Song Zining hastened his steps, drifting away like a leaf.

    Ji Tianqing also raised her speed until she was traveling shoulder to shoulder with Song Zining. ¡°It¡¯s not hard if you don¡¯t want others to know about this matter, just get the tab for our drinks in the future.¡±

    ¡°Our?¡± Song Zining felt something wrong.

    ¡°Me, Li Kuann, and that dummy Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, Qianye is an exception!¡±

    ¡°No! I haven¡¯t had a drink with that dummy yet, it¡¯ll be fun to see him drunk.¡± Ji Tianqing looked quite expectant.

    ¡°... You want to swindle him while he¡¯s drunk, don¡¯t you?¡± Song Zining saw through Ji Tianqing at once.

    The young missughed heartily. ¡°Is thisdy that kind of person?¡±

    ¡°Oh yes you are!¡±

    At this moment, Qianye was lying in bed back in Southern Blue, his body freezing all over. Meanwhile, Li Kuann sat at his side with her sword on her legs¡ªher eyes were half-closed, and there was a wisp of icy air circting around her nostrils.

    Qianyey silently like a lifeless statue, and in the depths of his body, his blood core would pulse weakly every once in a while.

    Li Kuann seemed extremely patient, refusing to move for as long as Qianye remained still.

    There was no telling just how long this had gone on when the Book of Darkness appeared on Qianye¡¯s blood core and flipped itself open. The essence blood stored within poured out in an endless torrent and duly flowed into his blood core.

    The fully contracted blood core began to expand, bulge up, and gradually recover its original size. Then, it began beating strongly for the first time.

    Li Kuann suddenly opened her eyes as she sensed Qianye¡¯s aura strengthening. This rate of recovery startled her¡ªfrom what she knew, even the twelve ancient vampire ns didn¡¯t have this kind of power.

    Auric me blood emerged along with the beating of his blood core, rushing to every part of his body and igniting his vitality.

    The dark golden blood energy drifted out of Qianye¡¯s blood core, almost as though it had woken up from a long period of hibernation. It was fairly curious about the Book of Darkness¡ªit kept swimming around the tome but didn¡¯t really dare approach it. Meanwhile, the Book of Darkness¡¯ flow of essence blood gradually dwindled, and it vanished after thest drop was absorbed by the blood core. It was as though the book never existed, just like an illusion.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness finally returned, but his body couldn¡¯t move just yet. He had no choice but to lie quietly, observing the changes to his body as he waited for his mobility to return.

    Having lost its aim after the disappearance of the Book of Darkness, the dark golden blood energy began swimming around his blood core. After observing the blood energy for a short while, Qianye recalled something all of a sudden. The dark golden blood energy was actually in its original form¡ªwhere did the Wings of Inception go?

    At the thought of the wings, Qianye was ovee by a vague sensation. The dark golden blood energy struggled for a couple of times and thennded immobile on his blood core. A bulge appeared on its surface and erged rapidly, finally bursting to reveal a pair of evenrger dark golden wings!

    In a split second, Qianye and the Wings of Inception established a new connection¡ªthey were vivid, lifelike, and muchrger than the first pair. Each side of the luminous wings contained seven feathers, but they were all dim at the moment.

    As his connection to the new wings grew deeper, Qianye became clearer about its characteristics. Firstly, its empowerment effect on origin weaponry had be more evident, and its Shot of Inception capacity had increased significantly.

    At this point, Qianye had mostlye to understand the mechanism of its upgrade. There was a chance that the Wings of Inception would receive an upgrade when the feathers representing the Shot of Inception reached a certain number. It might, perhaps, transform again when the fourteen feathers had been fully filled or used up.

    The ck-Winged Monarch never had the chance to nurture the Wings of Inception after producing them, and neither did he figure out how to upgrade them. The trigger for the upgrade this time was probably him firing the Shot of Inception with every ounce of power he had.

    The Wings of Inception was still shrouded in mist, but nothing could be better since it was still there and growing stronger. Heaving a sigh of relief, Qianye slowly opened his eyes to see a handsome young noble dressed in blue. ¡°Howe it¡¯s you?¡±

 Chapter 880: Caregiving

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°Why can¡¯t it be me?¡±

    Qianye struggled to sit up, but a thin beam of frosty sword energy shot out from Li Kuann¡¯s fingertips, tapping his forehead in a sh. The beam was simply too fast, and before Qianye could even react, his body was lying back on the bed.

    That wisp of sword energy receded as quickly as it had arrived, a clear disy of Li Kuann¡¯s precise control.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t sense any injury whatsoever after being forced back down. It was only her means of pushing him down.

    ¡°Just lie there. You¡¯ve overdrafted your power, wait until you¡¯ve recovered unless you want to damage your foundations.¡± With that, Li Kuann stood up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go find something for you to eat.¡±

    ¡°... Thanks.¡±

    Qianye thought back to the battle amidst the silence following Li Kuann¡¯s departure. With Heartgrave and a boost from the Wings of Inception, his Shot of Inception had erupted with earth-shattering force!

    Even though the Wolf King still had a bit of Ancestral Power left, he had no choice but to escape immediately.

    What he wanted, however, was to finish everything in one stroke. He was so focused on executing everything in his arsenal that he forgot to gauge Heartgrave¡¯s consumption. He didn¡¯t realize that his current capacity was insufficient to draw on the full power of the weapon. Additionally, the Wings of Inception would raise both firepower and consumption. The summation of the two wiped out Qianye¡¯s origin power and blood energy stores in mere moments, sending him into a state of suspended animation. If it wasn¡¯t for the Book of Darkness releasing its stored essence blood, there was no telling how much longer he would¡¯ve slept.

    Now that he thought about it, Qianye felt that he had been too impulsive. Heartgrave and the Wings of Inception were unable to disy their maximum potential due to his limited origin power and blood energy. Thebined shot was a ways off from its true maximum potential, not much more powerful than if he had fired Heartgrave on its own.

    The battle back then was simply too perilous. The gap between the two parties was immense, and their so-called pincer attack served no more than to restrain the target. Once the Wolf King was allowed to retaliate, someone was bound to get injured or die. Hence, Qianye had no time to think carefully; he simply used all that was avable to him since he was the only one who could gravely injure the Wolf King.

    Hearing an ear-piercing rm outside, Qianye slowly crawled out of bed and toward the window. He arrived just in time to see a stream of troops and transport vehicles driving out of the city. He could see them assembling just beyond the gates, and the soldiers on them were fully geared-up. From the looks of it, even the city guard had moved out together with Dark me.

    Qianye had a rough guess about what was going on, but Li Kuann¡¯s voice rang out behind him. ¡°Song Seven ns to fight the Wolf King¡¯s main force and look for an opportunity to deal a decisive blow. The first batch is already out, these are the reinforcements. Don¡¯t worry, thatss Ji Tianqing is also with him.¡±

    Only then did Qianye feel somewhat relieved. Under present circumstances, no one under the Wolf King¡¯smand could handle the two-man team. The only thing they could do was make up for it with numbers, yet neither of the two feared group battles. The more chaotic the field, the more they could disy their power.

    Song Zining was an expert in troop strategy who would fight to the death once he had grasped the advantage, never giving the opponent a chance to turn the tides. Now that the Wolf King was gravely injured, it was the perfect moment to ughter his armies and uproot him entirely. As for killing the Wolf King, the notion was best forgotten at this point. The werewolf had escaped even the most optimal ambush¡ªit was no easy feat to kill a duke-level expert intent on fleeing.

    That was for the Wolf King. Any ordinary human divine-champion would surely have lost his life to that shot.

    Qianye knew he was inferior in terms of strategy, so he decided to not interfere with the seventh young master¡¯s decision. Seeing as how the city guards had also mobilized, it would seem Ji Rui had decided to hit the Wolf King while he was down. He had offended him too much, anyway, and there was really no going back.

    Qianye turned back and saw Li Kuann carrying a tray full of dishes. The food was sumptuous and abundant.

    Her face was as grave and expressionless as a millennial cier. She put the tray on the table and said, ¡°Eat¡­¡±

    At first, Qianye had thought Li Kuann would ask some servants to bring the food over. Who would¡¯ve thought this young noble of the Li family would do it personally? Her slender hands were strong, her skin was near translucent, and her fingers, as white as green onion stems. They were a perfect match for the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace but evidently out of ce holding a food tray.

    ¡°Y-You, this¡­¡±

    Li Kuann banged hard on the table, roaring, ¡°Eat!¡±

    Qianye knew that she was feeling rather awkward, so he tactfully shut himself up and began eating in silence. He was indeed ravenous at this moment and in need of replenishment after being cleaned out. Half a dozen tes of food vanished in an instant, yet Qianye wasn¡¯t even half full.

    He was nning to clean up the tabletop battlefield and head to the kitchen for more, but Li Kuann unexpectedly stood up, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go get more, you stay inside.¡±

    She ced Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace by the door as she left. No one was controlling the divine-weapon at this point, yet it was suffused with a flowing radiance, almost like zed ceramic. Li Kuann had injected a wisp of sword energy into the weapon, setting it up to sh at whoever came close.

    On one hand, it was to stop outsiders from entering, and on the other, it was to stop Qianye from leaving.

    Li Kuann came back a whileter with another tray of food. There was even more food this time, with nock of dishes that required a bit of skill and time to prepare. It would seem she had already ordered the kitchen to prepare more since the first batch, and unwittingly revealed her thoughtfulness.

    Qianye felt ufortable all over. Eating with his head lowered was all he could do, and that was all he did.

    The food was actually quite tasty, but everything became tasteless in his mouth. No one could enjoy their food while being stared at by that divine soldier of ady.

    Finally, all the food had been swept clean, and Qianye felt greatly satisfied. He could feel his strength returning little by little.

    He looked up at Li Kuann and said with great sincerity, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    For some reason, Li Kuann avoided his eyes and said coldly, ¡°You¡¯repletely powerless right now, I just didn¡¯t want you to be ughtered by some nameless rabble. Besides, taking care of you is more of a repayment to Zhao Jundu, you don¡¯t need to thank me.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jundu? What about?¡± Qianye inquired.

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t willing to speak, however. ¡°You¡¯ll know if you go back and ask him.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Is it rted to the promised showdown between us?¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°So what if it is, what then if it isn¡¯t?¡±

    This question halted Qianye¡¯s thoughts. Li Kuann had made it clear that she was going to use Qianye as a grinding stone for her sword arts, yet Qianye felt nothing but gratitude because it was she who had saved him and Nighteye.

    Later on, Zhao Jundu forced himself into the deal and made himself the subject of this arrangement. So, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised when she said that she owed Zhao Jundu a favor instead.

    After some thought, Qianye said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, I still want to thank you.¡±

    Li Kuann seemed surprised at his answer. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll swindle Zhao Jundu?¡±

    Qianye replied honestly, ¡°Zhao Jundu isn¡¯t so easily swindled, and you¡¯re not such a person, either.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression at the moment was fairly interesting. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that this young master isn¡¯t a good person!¡±

    After so much interaction, Qianye more or less understood this young noble¡¯s temperamental character. So, he merely added a couple of words to stop her from erupting. After calming Young Noble Kuann¡¯s emotions, Qianye began inquiring about why she hade to the neutralnds.

    ¡°Ie when I want and will leave when I please. Who can stop me?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry at this nonsensical answer. He could only hold his temper and continue probing, ¡°The Great Maelstrom should be opening soon, right? Won¡¯t you miss the opportunity bying to the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so good about the Great Maelstrom? The things inside are only material objects, and those who rely on them will only reach divine champion at most. This sword is enough for me.¡±

    These words left Qianye speechless. Although he wanted to remind Li Kuann that bing a divine champion was already a remarkable feat, he ultimately decided against speaking out.

    Li Kuann raised her head and nced downward at him. ¡°I came here to use you as a grinding stone for my sword arts, but I¡¯ll let you off for the moment, seeing as you¡¯re in a critical condition.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Then I thank Young Noble Kuann.¡±

    A rare shade of red appeared on Li Kuann¡¯s face, forcing her to turn away.

    To be entirely honest, Qianye¡¯s shot back then was simply too powerful¡ªreceiving it head-on would be more of a suicide than training. It was just that the young noble didn¡¯t want to admit it.

    ¡°Oh right, Qianye, I see that you don¡¯t have any dependable people in your whatchamacallit mercenary corps. It just so happens that this young master is free, so I¡¯ll take up a vicemander position. What say you?¡±

    ¡°Young Noble Kuann, this¡­ do you even know the objective of this mercenary corps?¡±

    Li Kuann waved her hand. ¡°That¡¯s not important.¡±

    ¡°Young Noble, please reconsider it.¡± Qianye tried to dissuade.

    ¡°What, are you looking down on me? Or are you not impressed with my sword?¡±

    Qianyeughed ruefully. A mysterious Ji Tianqing was trouble enough, now this Li Kuann was also jumping into the fray. Although Qianye didn¡¯t know thetter¡¯s origins in detail, he at least knew that she was from the Jingtang Li Family and someone closely rted to Empress Li. Besides, with her strength and talents, she had to be a top character in the younger generation of the family. Add to that theplicated rtionship between the Li and Zhao families, he had to tread carefully in dealing with her. It would cause great trouble if some sort of ident were to ur.

    Qianye was actually quite carefree when he was alone, but there was no escaping restrictions now that he was going to build up a military power here. At the very least, he didn¡¯t want to drag Song Zining down.

    Regardless, Qianye couldn¡¯t refuse Li Kuann since she had spoken up so clearly, and the girl could be considered a powerful helper, capable of fighting anyone below the Wolf King¡¯s level.

    Qianye had never expected that his entanglements in the empire would still remain after he hade to the neutralnds. More and more familiar faces were gathering here, and perhaps there would be even more in the future.

    Qianye suddenly had a feeling that, with all these heroes gathering here, a great change was inevitable.

 Chapter 881: Shocking Developmen

    Qianye had already recovered the ability to move at this point. He instructed some men to guide Li Kuann as she picked out suitable living quarters. This Young Noble had always adapted to the environment she was in¡ªsince she was insistent on ying the mercenary game here, he couldn¡¯t let her live poorly.

    Hearing that Qianye was preparing a room for her, Li Kuann pointed downstairs, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll just live downstairs.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°That¡¯s not too appropriate, is it?¡±

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as no one bothers me.¡±

    Qianye had no special demands, so he simply picked a random ce. Most of his things were in Andruil¡¯s space, anyway, so his luggage was fairly minimal.

    This little building was a residence for captain-rank officers, so the living environment was bleak and sparsely furnished. In any case, Song Zining couldn¡¯t stand it¡ªhe started building a couple of elegant little courtyards for their residence, and Ji Tianqing fully supported this as well. Who would¡¯ve thought the fussy and clean Li Kuann was actually willing to live with Qianye?

    ¡°Zining and the others are building new residences, and they should be done in half a month. You should move over once the construction ispleted.¡±

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°I¡¯ll go if you go, I don¡¯t want to be neighbors with those two if you¡¯re not around.¡±

    Helpless, Qianye gave up on dissuading Li Kuann. He was just about to show her to her new room when two jeeps sped over at full speed and screeched to a stop outside of the building, kicking up a cloud of dust as their wheels ground over the tarmac.

    A bloodstained mercenary jumped down and rushed into the building. ¡°Commander, things don¡¯t look good! The seventh young noble ran into an ambush and is now surrounded. Please go and save him!¡±

    Only then did Qianye recognize that this person in mercenary clothing was actually one of the aides Song Zining had brought here.

    With Song Zining¡¯smand of strategy, how could he have been surrounded?

    But this was clearly not the time to study the cause and effects. Qianye grabbed the man by the cor and roared, ¡°Where¡¯s Zining?¡±

    ¡°Seventh young master is¡­ at the Hill of the Deceased.¡±

    ¡°Do you know who set up the ambush?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ I heard its people from Tidehark.¡±

    Hills of the Deceased was less than two hundred kilometers away from Southern Blue. He might still catch up if he were to rush over at full speed. After asking about the details of the area, Qianye ran over to the armory.

    The soldier who had delivered the message couldn¡¯t catch up with Qianye. He was left crying out from behind, ¡°Commander, shall I prepare an airship?¡±

    ¡°Too slow,¡± Qianye replied without looking back.

    He rushed into the warehouse and stuffed several crates of origin grenades into Andruil¡¯s space, and then ran out of the city.

    Li Kuann had been following him all this time. Only when they were out of the city did she put a hand on Qianye¡¯s shoulder¡ªa great force bore down on Qianye and nailed him firmly to the ground. He struggled a couple of times, but his feet simply couldn¡¯t leave the ground.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± A dangerous glint shed through Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re just going to throw your life away.¡± Li Kuann held nothing back.

    Qianye had just barely recovered, and the essence blood provided by the Book of Darkness was far from enough to bring him back to his peak. He was so weak that Li Kuann could immobilize him with just one hand.

    ¡°If only I go, there¡¯s a chance. The greater the number of enemies, the faster I can recover.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was cold. The other party had touched the proverbial reverse-scale by seeking to kill Song Zining. Qianye was ready to use Life Plunder to recover his power, even if the enemies were humans.

    ¡°Take my airship, it won¡¯t take much longer than running. It¡¯ll give you some time to recover along the way.¡± With that, Li Kuann pointed toward the sky and shot a beam of aqua blue radiance from her sleeve. It burst into specks of blue light in the void, akin to a host of glittering stars.

    Within minutes, an ordinary-looking airship appeared over the horizon and arrived at an extraordinary pace. The long, moving beams on either side of the vessel left blue trails as they pushed the airship several hundred meters forward with each stroke.

    Without waiting for the arriving airship to descend, Li Kuann simply grabbed Qianye and shot onto the deck. The airship made a sharp turn midair and elerated toward the Hill of the Deceased.

    The Hill of the Deceased was a vast hilly region. The terrain here wasplicated with a great many caves under the ground, the perfect area for mercenaries and bandits to hide. It was also an important location since ity in between the major cities, and there were always merchant caravans willing to take the risk for a shortcut through the region.

    The countless skeletons being buried here day after day gave the ce its current name.

    The airship was extremely fast, arriving above the Hill of the Deceased in mere moments. Li Kuann ordered the vessel to perform a low-altitude scan, and the captain obeyed immediately.

    A low-altitude flight was extremely dangerous for an airship as hunters would turn to attack the tasty prey almost immediately. However, there was a certain air of arrogance in the captain and his sailors¡ªas well as faintly discernible killing intent. They simply didn¡¯t put the people of the neutralnds in their eyes.

    The airship dived downward and only switched to level-flight a hundred or so meters near the ground. Even the most ordinary of mercenaries could use their worst origin guns to hit the airship at this distance.

    Qianye frowned, wanting to have the airship climb higher¡ªfew enemies could reach them at around five hundred meters. Yet, Li Kuann gestured that it was alright, so Qianye gave up on saying anything. He simply stood at the bow, observing the vast hilly regions below in hopes of finding Song Zining.

    A couple of hunters rushed out from the side as they were passing by a hillock,ughing maliciously as they hurled a couple of origin grenades at the passing vessel. The explosives shot toward the hull of the airship like cannon shells and, once struck, were sure to cause heavy damage.

    At this point, an old man appeared near the airship. With a light wave of his hands, the origin grenades froze mid-air and broke down into countless fragments. The entire process was silent¡ªthe people below had no idea what the old man had done.

    On the side of the airship, a bearded hulk of a man stomped open the firing port. A giant ballista bolt shot out at lightning speed, nailing three hunters to the ground.

    The burly man let out a peal of sinisterughter, greatly satisfied at his work, and even raised a middle-finger at the group below.

    The airship encountered several attacks along the way yet, be they humans or dark races, none of them were sessful. No matter how crafty the assants were, they couldn¡¯t avoid the homing ballista bolts. This airship soon became a low-flying god of death that would kill all who dared to approach.

    Qianye pointed at a certain direction, shouting, ¡°Fly in that direction!¡±

    The captain didn¡¯t turn immediately. Only at Li Kuann¡¯s nod did the airship shift its bearing and fly toward where Qianye had indicated.

    Qianye nced back with cold eyes. For some reason, the captain couldn¡¯t help but tremble when he met that joyless gaze.

    The airship was speeding past a certain valley when Qianye jumped down all of a sudden. Li Kuann followed suit. Meanwhile, the airship charged out for quite a distance before turning back.

    It was clear that a battle had taken ce here. There were corpses strewn about the area, most of them deprived of their equipment, but there was one soldier who still had his boots on. Those military boots were part of the Southern Blue city guard¡¯s ensemble.

    Dark me mercenaries were assembled from many different groups, and there was never enough time to provide them with uniform gear. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the city guard¡ªas Ji Rui¡¯s lineal branch, they were provided with quality equipment and supplies. Song Zining had led both units into battle this time, so finding the city guard was the same as finding Dark me.

    Qianye crouched down and flipped one of the corpses over to check his wounds. Li Kuann frowned, apparently disconcerted by the smell, but she still remained nearby.

    Qianye looked up all of a sudden and stared at a distant cave. A small group of soldiers emerged,ughing and smiling as they hauled the spoils they had just collected. Shockingly, there were quite a few pieces of armor that belonged to the Southern Blue city guard.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered, appearing in their midst in the blink of an eye. Soon after, the power of his Oceanic Vortex descended before the soldiers could even react.

    All the warriors were pressed to the ground. Sounds of crackling bones began to emerge from some of them.

    A brave officer among them took a deep breath and forced himself back up. He looked like he was preparing to shout out to hisrades, but how could Qianye give him that chance? A kicknded ruthlessly on his face!

    The officer¡¯s face became unrecognizable. A mixture of blood and teeth flew out from his mouth as he fell down, eyes rolled back and unconscious.

    Some other soldiers wanted to do the same, but after seeing the officer¡¯s fate and Qianye¡¯s icy re, they fell into prostration and no longer dared to move.

    ¡°You keep an eye on them, I¡¯m going to check inside.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°Remember to leave some alive.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± With that, Qianye¡¯s silhouette vanished into the cave.

    Soon, a furious roar echoed inside the cave and a bloody aura rushed out of its entrance.

    Li Kuann broke into a frown. An icy blue glow spread out from beneath her feet and covered the prone soldiers in ayer of frost. These mediocre warriors had no way of stopping her frost energy and were soon turned into icy statues.

    Having dealt with the nuisance, Li Kuann rushed into the cave.

    In the depths of the cave, she saw Qianye standing at the center of arge hall with numerous sanguineous threads contracting back into his body. Dozens of soldiersy lifeless on the cave floor. Only a pale officer remained leaning against the wall, holding his abdomen as he gaspedboriously.

    There were several dozen people hung up on the cave walls, most of them dead. The mess of blood and gore was a testament to the cruelty they had suffered, and their clothing made it clear that many of them were from the city guard.

 Chapter 882: Regre

    Li Kuann said helplessly, ¡°Qianye, I asked you to leave some survivors.¡±

    ¡°There.¡± Qianye pointed at the officer leaning against the wall.

    The man was hanging on hisst breath and even a bit weaker than an ordinary soldier. Li Kuann scanned the officer with her perception and found that his body was in a withered state¡ªhis vitality was like a candle in the wind that would be extinguished at any moment.

    This state was usually a result of being drained of essence blood by a vampire, but there were no fang marks on the officer¡¯s neck.

    Frowning, Li Kuann shivered as she recalled the countless bloody threads receding back into Qianye¡¯s body.

    Li Kuann tapped the officer¡¯s chest, sending a wisp of frost energy into his body. The man gasped in pain, but then he became more spirited and some color returned to his face.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡±

    The officer replied with some difficulty, ¡°We¡¯re from Wildwolf Mercenary Corps, mobilized on order of the Tidehark city guard. We¡¯re in charge of sweeping the battlefield and dealing with prisoners after the battle.¡±

    Looking at the corpses hanging on the cave wall, one could easily tell that they weren¡¯t just ¡°dealing¡± with the prisoners. Li Kuann wasn¡¯t too familiar with the neutralnds yet, so she nced over at Qianye.

    ¡°They¡¯re scavengers.¡± Qianye¡¯s exnation shed some light on the nature of these mercenaries.

    These soldiers were basically cannon fodder, wading into battle during war and in charge of sweeping the battlefield afterward. Because they were so weak, their only payment was in the form of post-war spoils during cleanup. In truth, most of the good stuff would be taken by the main army, leaving only a pitiful amount for these mercenaries. Hence, they weren¡¯t willing to let go of a single bit of gear. That was also why the corpses outside had been stripped clean. A suit of semi-intact armor was already a fairly good harvest for them.

    Such mercenaries would usually torture their prisoners. Usually, it was to see if they could squeeze out some benefits, but most of them would just do it for fun. As the pettiest existences on the battlefield, even their own people would look down on them. Hence, their suppressed emotions would convert into an indescribable thirst for violence once they were afforded the chance.

    It was only natural that Qianye would be angered to the point of using Life Plunder to wipe out the entire mercenary unit.

    The officer¡¯s aura soon passed its peak and began declining. Li Kuann tapped on his chest again. ¡°Who were you fighting and why?¡±

    ¡°I heard they¡¯re people from Southern Blue, a newly formed mercenary corps and their city guard. They had just suffered great losses after defeating the Wolf King¡¯s army. We caught thempletely off-guard and defeated them after a while.¡±

    Li Kuann asked a key question, ¡°Where¡¯s the Southern Blue city lord?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way we would know. I only heard that they managed to capture a major character and another escaped. I don¡¯t know¡­ anything else¡­¡± The officer¡¯s aura gradually weakened. Soon, his head was hanging to the side, never to move again.

    Li Kuann stood up, saying, ¡°That¡¯s all we¡¯ll get out of him.¡±

    This officer had been struck by Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder and was already on the verge of death. For him to speak as much as he did, Li Kuann had to use her origin power to excite his vitality.

    Qianye asked, ¡°Who was the one captured and who escaped?¡±

    Li Kuann sighed. ¡°You know the answer, why ask me? ording to reason, the one who has escaped should be Ji Tianqing, and the other, Song Zining. Perhaps neither of them was captured and that so-called major character is someone else.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I have a feeling that the one captured is Song Zining.¡±

    Li Kuann said, ¡°Don¡¯t be in a rush, the other party beat Ji Tianqing and Song Zining, so they¡¯re probably not easy to deal with. It¡¯s no use if you go in this condition.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes flickered with a frosty glow. ¡°Perhaps I can¡¯t save Song Zining right now, but whoever the other party is, I must let them know that I¡¯vee. If they do anything to him, I¡¯ll pull them up by the roots sooner orter.¡±

    Qianye was neither gnashing his teeth nor stomping his feet¡ªhe merely stated this in a calm manner. Li Kuann¡¯s expression wasplicated. ¡°Song Seven is quite fortunate to meet someone like you. Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll continue tracking them. I¡¯m sure their main camp isn¡¯t far off now.¡±

    Li Kuann walked out of the cave with Qianye in tow. She then signaled for the airship to ascend to a high altitude and await orders. Meanwhile, she and Qianye would track the enemy on foot.

    The airship was priceless, yet its defenses were fairly mediocre. Li Kuann didn¡¯t want to risk losing the vessel considering the other party had the power to take down an expert like Song Zining. The airship would be a sitting duck before an enemy of this level.

    At this moment, an old man suddenly appeared behind Li Kuann. ¡°Allow this old servant to follow you.¡±

    Li Kuann said, frowning, ¡°This is my battle and it has nothing to do with the family. No one is to interfere!¡±

    ¡°Young Master¡­¡± The old man wanted to persuade further, but Li Kuann and Qianye were already moving away. The old man could only fly back to the airship with a sigh.

    Both of them were adept at tracking, and Qianye even more so in the wilderness. They found their way to the objective after a while of searching.

    It was a valley with a water source. The entrance had been fashioned into a temporary camp with a thousand soldiers garrisoned within.

    Taking cover behind theplicatedndscape, Qianye and Li Kuann retracted their auras as they observed the ce.

    Despite being a temporary camp, the ce was constructed strategically with intersecting sentries and patrols covering all aspects of the base. There were no blind spots to speak of, and even the most experienced of hunters would find it difficult to sneak in.

    Even though the soldiers had removed their insignia, Qianye could tell immediately that they were part of Tidehark¡¯s forces. Their powerful auras and premium equipment made Dark me look like a random mob¡ªeven the Wolf King¡¯s forces paled inparison.

    The thousand soldiers here were fairly powerful in terms ofbat strength and more than enough to route the forces of Southern Blue. Song Zining''s defeat was expected considering it was an ambush and how weak his forces were, but what kind of person could prevent him from fleeing?

    Li Kuann said after a moment of silence, ¡°There¡¯s an expert, don¡¯t act rashly.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up with blue ripples as he scanned the camp. His body trembled ever so slightly when he saw a faintly discernible leaf floating at the center of the camp!

    Qianye had True Sight activated at the moment, so he could see the flow of origin power. This leaf was only made up of origin power, so ordinary people couldn¡¯t see it¡ªonly people with abilities simr to the Eye of Truth could discern its presence.

    The leaf was vivid and lifelike as it drifted about in the air, but its stem was always pointing in a certain direction.

    Qianye shifted his gaze ordingly and found a green light flickering far off in the distance. Even with his eyesight, he could barely see a simr leaf floating in the air.

    At this point, Qianye could already confirm that it was Song Zining who had left these trails for him to follow. He had apparently fallen into Tidehark¡¯s hands, while Ji Tianqing was nowhere to be found.

    Li Kuann pointed to a corner of the camp and whispered, ¡°I smell blood from over there, looks like that¡¯s where the prisoners are being kept. Do you want to go and take a look?¡±

    Qianye had just nodded when a gloomy aura rushed out from the camp. ¡°Who¡¯s sneaking about there?¡±

    Li Kuann and Qianye were rmed. Qianye¡¯s spirit had wavered ever so slightly when he found Song Zining¡¯s hidden markings, and a bit of his aura had leaked out in the process. Who would¡¯ve thought the enemy would notice this small detail? This person¡¯s perception was apparently very sharp, likely not below Qianye¡¯s own.

    A figure rose up from the camp and charged over toward Qianye and Li Kuann. Qianye was startled after seeing this person¡¯s face. It was actually the old man hiding in the clouds back then.

    The elder was also surprised to see Qianye¡ªa cold smile appeared on his face and his eyes were filled with killing intent. It would seem he was still holding a grudge for that day.

    Li Kuann whipped out Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace, shooting a beam of ice blue radiance toward the old man. ¡°Leave first!¡±

    However, Qianye remained staring at the old man. ¡°Was it you who ambushed Zining?¡±

    The old man snorted as he drew his de to deflect Li Kuann¡¯s attack. ¡°What ambush? I led an army to defeat the enemy openly, and then captured their general. That cunning girl escaped immediately once things had gone south, there¡¯s no way she could¡¯ve escaped my grasp otherwise!¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression turned serious when the old man drew his de. Her attacks sped up several times, shing several curved beams of sword energy at the old man. ¡°Qianye, go!¡±

    Li Kuann was already using her full power at this moment, except the swift strike that had shaken the entire void continent. However, the ck crystal de in the old man¡¯s grasp blocked all the attacks amidst a flurry of afterimages. Apparently, he still had room to maneuver despite the attacks.

    One could already see some clues from this short exchange. Judging from how easily he was handling his sword, it was clear that Li Kuann wasn¡¯t his match. There was probably no injustice in Song Zining¡¯s loss.

    Qianye roared, ¡°Where is Zining?¡±

    The old man let out a peal of sinisterughter. ¡°That little fellow is on his way to the Wolf King.¡±

    Killing intent surged in Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re quite bold!¡±

    The old man replied with a carefree harrumph, ¡°Heh! It¡¯s been many years since anyone has spoken to me this way. It looks like you have a good rtionship with that boy. How about this? If you kneel down and submit willingly, I might release that little fellow on ount of you saving me some trouble. What do you say?¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath. ¡°Zining would never submit willingly, and neither will I. You can forget about me surrendering. Kuann, leave first!¡±

    Li Kuann shouted, ¡°Are you crazy!?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not, I just need to let this old man know what regret is.¡±

    The old man broke into heartyughter. ¡°Fine, I must see how you¡¯re going to make me regret¡­¡±

    He was startled before he could even finish speaking.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered into the main camp, and a sanguineous light erupted briefly in a hundred-meter radius around him, extinguishing all life in its wake.

    The old man red daggers at Qianye, roaring, ¡°You dare!?¡±

 Chapter 883: An Ineffable Battle Part 1

    The sanguineous threads of Life Plunder were extremely thin yet almost unstoppable¡ªbe it walls or battle armor, nothing could stand in their way. Qianye charged his way into the camp and cleared out a good section of it, leaving the army several hundred soldiers short.

    This squad was made up of elite veterans with many years of battlefield experience. Losing so many of them infuriated the old man, who duly abandoned Li Kuann to chase after Qianye.

    Shocked out of her wits, Li Kuann became one with her sword as she shed after the old man. Nheless, the old man swept her away with a swing of his ck crystal sword¡ªshe couldn¡¯t even evade. It would seem this elder¡¯s de was also an extraordinary object that was no weaker than Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. It wasn¡¯t even chipped in the process.

    Li Kuann was about to give chase when the old man pointed at her from afar. A mass of ck and white mist appeared in her path, shooting out dozens of monochromatic beams that kept her effectively entangled.

    Li Kuann sprayed out arge swath of sword radiance that cut the ck and white energies apart. However, her expression darkened when she found that her frost energy was greatly weakened against the old man¡¯s own. She had to follow up with a second sh before the wisps of energy werepletely destroyed.

    This went to show just how high of a grade the old man¡¯s monochromatic energy was. Add to that its ability to suppress all kinds of energy, it was definitely not below Li Kuann¡¯s frigid sword energy.

    The energies returned to mist after they were destroyed, reformed, and shot back toward Li Kuann. It looked like she probably wouldn¡¯t be able to rescue Qianye for the time being.

    But the old man had just entered the camp when Qianye had killed his way out of the other end. He charged in a straight line, shing and ramming through everything in his wake, even the stockade. Then, he simply swaggered off through therge hole he had inflicted on the wall.

    The old man swung his sword from afar, summoning ck and white wisps of energy around Qianye. They connected with one another and turned into a hazy world of mist which epassed Qianye like a.

    Countless streams of energy turned into ropes within the misty world andtched firmly onto Qianye¡¯s body. Soon, his speed fell sharply as a fair amount of energy wound around his arms and legs. Their ends also transformed into sharp des that stabbed at the captive, but Qianye¡¯s body was so tough that they couldn¡¯t even break through his skin.

    This was the old man¡¯s domain, one that could lock-down and bewilder the enemy. Damage wasn¡¯t exactly its forte, but the old man didn¡¯t mind either. Sneering, he sped up once the domain had taken shape, raising his de for the kill.

    However, dark golden mes erupted from Qianye¡¯s body at this moment. His body didn¡¯t look very strong, yet it was filled with an incredible amount of power, actually breaking all of the monochromatic chains in one roar!

    Qianye ran forward, traversing dozens of meters with each step as he rushed out of the domain¡¯s range and sauntered off.

    Dazed, the old man red at Qianye¡¯s receding figure until thetter had almost vanished over the horizon. Finally, he stomped in anger and halted his steps.

    The ck and white energies were fairly wondrous¡ªrotating back and forth, empowering and restraining one another at the same time. It possessed a suppressive effect on both daybreak and darkness origin power. Even Li Kuann¡¯s frosty sword energy was downgraded by a couple of levels.

    However, Qianye had used pure physical power to break them just now. He never used his origin power, to begin with, so there was nothing for the monochromatic energies to suppress. If anything, it served to magnify their fragility, and Qianye was afforded the opportunity to escape.

    Additionally, Qianye¡¯s speed was among the fastest the old man had ever seen. He could barely keep up when going all out¡ªyet one was running on pure physical prowess while the other was using secret arts and draining origin power as he did so. The old man simply couldn¡¯tpare in terms of endurance and was bound to lose his target sooner orter.

    Additionally, there was Li Kuann behind him. If he were to go after Qianye, there would be no one to stop her from overturning the entire camp.

    Hence, the old man had no choice but to halt his steps. Li Kuann was also quite smart¡ªshe also stopped her advance and fled after confirming Qianye¡¯s escape. She was even a bit faster than Qianye, turning into a beam of blue light as she sped away. The old man was left with an ashen face, and almost broke out cursing despite his age and status.

    With Qianye and Li Kuann both gone, the old man had no choice but to return to camp. His expression was even more unsightly after counting the casualties.

    At over three hundred in casualties, the damage was considerable. These soldiers were the elites of Tidehark, capable of defeating the Wolf King¡¯s forces several times over. Their status was only second to Luo Bingfeng¡¯s small group of personal guards.

    There were only 1500 men in the entire unit, and the reason it had stayed at that number was because of theck of elite soldiers to recruit. The old man, to ensure his victory, had brought over 1200 men this time, but now 300 of them had died in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    What pained the old man even more was that a famed general was also caught within range of the bloody threads. He managed to fend off three strings but two of them managed to shoot through his body.

    Seeing his dispirited appearance, the old man knew at a nce that this warrior would be greatly weakened even if he were to recover. It would be good enough if he could remain at rank four.

    The drowsy officer had his head lowered and there was blood all over his body¡ªapparently, the wounds were extremely deep. Only when the old man arrived did he mber up, saying, ¡°S-Sire Rui. Is this the end for me?¡±

    The elder sighed, ¡°General Zhang, you just need to recuperate, this little injury won¡¯t take your life.¡±

    The general surnamed Zhangughed wryly. ¡°Even if it doesn¡¯t threaten my life, I¡¯m not willing to live like a cripple. Sire Rui, give me a satisfying end. This Zhang has spent his life on the battlefield, and wish to die on the battlefield.¡±

    The old man nodded silently. A wisp of ck energy shot out from his hand and entered the wounded man¡¯s forehead.

    General Zhang¡¯s eyes gradually lost signs of life. ¡°What an annoying way to die¡­¡±

    The old man remained silent for a good while, his expression as gloomy as still water. At this moment, a burly dark-faced man approached inrge strides. The person hadn¡¯t even arrived but the killing intent was already rushing in the old man¡¯s face. The man was d in ck heavy-armor and looked like a metallic giant beast when he was walking. His body was shrouded in the glow of ck steel, and each of his steps caused the entire camp to tremble.

    He arrived beside the old man and scanned him from head to toe in undisguised anger. The moment this person appeared, all the soldiers nearby greeted him with great respect, almost as though they were seeing the backbone of the army. ¡°General Zhu!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? I went out to patrol and now so many of my brothers have died!¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Someone raided the camp just now and killed the soldiers, I¡¯ve already driven them away.¡±

    The dark-faced man walked around the scene, saying, ¡°Sire Rui, this person didn¡¯t take that long, did he?¡±

    ¡°He only used one move.¡±

    The dark burly man snorted. ¡°A single move to kill over three hundred men? Sire Rui, what kind of person did you provoke? Our brothers are there to fight wars and kill enemy armies, that¡¯s a given. But they¡¯re not there to act as your shield, they¡¯re not equipped to fight top-ranking experts!¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression was unsightly. ¡°General Zhu, are you suspecting this old man?¡±

    The big, dark-faced man wasn¡¯t about to give way. ¡°Sire Rui, we still haven¡¯t been told who we¡¯re up against, but just look at the corpses of our brothers. Do you think a bunch of ragtag¡¯s from Southern Blue can do this? I dare say that even Ji Rui can¡¯t do this!¡±

    Looking annoyed, the old man replied, ¡°The other party is only rank-thirteen. Don¡¯t tell me I must report everything to you?¡±

    ¡°Rank-thirteen? And he can kill three hundred brothers?¡± General Zhu was clearly skeptical.

    The old man harrumphed loudly. ¡°Zhu Meng! Don¡¯t forget that I am themanding general here!¡±

    Zhu Meng wasn¡¯t afraid of him, however. ¡°Sire Rui, since you¡¯re themander, you must know how to value your men. Yet, I see nothing of that sort. This unit is the sweat and blood of our city lord. Since he¡¯s ced it in my care, I naturally have to take responsibility for this. Our brothers can die in battle, but they must die knowing what they die for!¡±

    ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m ipetent?¡± The old man¡¯s eyes were suffused with killing intent.

    ¡°I said nothing of that sort, but since this person can kill three hundred of our brothers in one go, did you just drive him off or did he leave you in the dust?¡±

    The old man was furious. ¡°Zhu Meng! You think I don¡¯t dare to kill you?!¡±

    ¡°Killing me is easy, of course, but will it be as simple to exin things to the city lord? City Lord Luo is easy to speak to, but he¡¯s not easy to lie to.¡±

    ¡°Are you implying that I was lying to the city lord? What a joke!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether you¡¯re a liar or not, but you know best about the information you withheld.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m definitely going to seek out the city lord after our return and make things clear. Whether or not you have a clear conscience will be revealed. Humph! We don¡¯t even know who we¡¯re fighting up until now.¡±

    ¡°Since General Zhu thinks that way, then feel free to ask the city lord when you return.¡± With that, the old man left with a swing of his sleeve.

    Zhu Meng did not salute the man, either. He instead crouched down and started checking the corpses one after another. An old officer nearby asked, ¡°General Zhu, you think there¡¯s something wrong with this battle?¡±

    Zhu Meng sighed, ¡°What do you think about the battle?¡±

    ¡°The sessful ambush wasn¡¯t a surprise since the enemy forces were already exhausted after a long battle. And even then, we didn¡¯t have an easy time. The enemymander is definitely at the master level, our victory might not be certain if the troops under hismand weren¡¯t a bunch of backwater mobsters.¡±

    Zhu Meng asked again. ¡°What do you think about the one we caught and the one who escaped?¡±

    The officer dug into his memories. ¡°They¡¯re young¡­ very young!¡±

    Zhu Meng said in a gloomy voice. ¡°Correct, those people are so young yet so powerful. Do you think they can reach that level by themselves? They must have a giant n behind them, or maybe certain powerful characters.¡±

    ¡°But, they don¡¯t look like they hail from the surrounding powers, I¡¯ve never heard of them either.¡± At this point, the officer consoled himself, saying, ¡°Even if they¡¯re from the Spider Emperor or Moonlight Demons, Heavenly Monarch Zhang can still suppress them.¡±

    Zhu Meng said, ¡°What if theye from the other side of the neutralnds, or maybe they aren¡¯t from the neutralnds at all?¡±

    The officer suddenly lost his voice.

 Chapter 884: An Ineffable Battle Part 2

    Zhu Meng reached out and closed a soldier¡¯s eyes. ¡°The city lord probably doesn¡¯t know anything about this. If I don¡¯t return, tell him everything I said just now.¡±

    ¡°General, you¡­¡±

    Zhu Meng shook his head. ¡°Dying on the battlefield is my role.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the general heard a peculiar whistle, a sound akin to demons crying out in fear. The moment this sound entered his ears, Zhu Meng roared explosively, ¡°Careful!¡± He then pressed the officer to the ground while he, himself, nced about under the cover of a heavy shield.

    Zhu Meng wasn¡¯t slow, but there was almost someone faster. The old man called Rui shot into the air¡ªthat sorry figure of his looked as though someone had just branded his behinds.

    A beam of blue light tore through the air like a silent meteor.

    The azure radiance grazed past the old man¡¯s feet, through the chest of a bearded general, and far off into the distance.

    The general opened his mouth but no sound came out. He tried to cover the wound with his hand but who could block bowl-sized hole?

    The bearded man staggered briefly before falling on his back, devoid of all vital signs.

    Zhu Meng roared in sorrow. ¡°Old Ma!¡±

    This bearded general was Zhu Meng¡¯s aide, and the two of them had been partners for many years. He understood the man¡¯s power very well, but that Blue radiance was simply too fast, too furious. The primary target had managed to jump out of the way, but the bearded general was shot through the vitals.

    Livid and apprehensive, the old mannded slowly on the ground.

    That blue radiance was actually an origin bullet. It was just that the projectile was so fast that the naked eye could only perceive it as a beam of blue light.

    The shot came from a thousand meters away. It had arrived in the blink of an eye and kept going for quite a distance after killing General Ma.

    The old man couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill after some thought. If this shot were tond on him, he would no doubt suffer heavy injuries. He probably wouldn¡¯t have been so lucky if he hadn¡¯t been looking in that direction just now, or if he hadn''t evaded reflexively.

    But what kind of gun could fire from such distances, and with such ferocity?

    It was at this time that he heard an angry roar. ¡°Rui Xiang! Why did you not block the shot? You killed Old Ma!¡±

    The old man was in a bad mood at the moment. ¡°Who¡¯s to me for him failing to dodge? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re trying to me this on me too?¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve blocked the shot or at least pushed him aside!¡±

    The old man snorted. ¡°What if I fail to block the shot? You want me to die for him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just an origin bullet, and one fired from a thousand meters away, no less! You¡¯ll at most receive a light injury but Old Ma could¡¯ve been spared death,¡± Zhu Meng roared.

    Rui Xiang was livid. ¡°A brute like that isn¡¯t worth getting hurt for.¡±

    Zhu Meng was stifled with anger and couldn¡¯t say anything for the time being. In the end, he picked up the bearded man¡¯s corpse with an angry roar and left.

    The old man was so gloomy that his face looked like it was about to drip water. His gaze was malicious as he gazed at the back of Zhu Meng¡¯s head.

    After returning to the barracks, an officer near Zhu Meng said, ¡°General, that old thief is pretty close to the heavenly monarch. Now that he bears a grudge against you, what if he says bad things about you to Zhang Buzhou?¡±

    Zhu Meng sneered, ¡°Who cares? I¡¯ve had enough of his crappy attitude! That bastard has messed up everything since the heavenly monarch went into isted cultivation.¡±

    The officer said, ¡°General, should we go and hunt down the sniper who killed General Ma?¡±

    Zhu Meng halted his steps, saying, ¡°Is your head empty? How are you going to catch someone who can fire such a shot from a thousand meters away? You¡¯ll just be serving your head on a tter. The only one who can chase down the sniper is¡­¡±

    Zhu Meng stopped speaking here, but everyone knew that Rui Xiang was the only one with this ability. His spection was actually a bit off¡ªthe old man¡¯s forte was battlefield defense and not hunting. Rui Xiang seemed to have no intention of chasing after the assant. It wasn¡¯t because he was afraid but because he knew he couldn¡¯t catch up.

    The old man¡¯s love for fame was well known.

    Rui Xiang remained motionless after Zhu Meng¡¯s departure. He could feel a faint stabbing sensation on his skin, a sign that someone had locked onto him. That sniper could be considered fairly reckless in that he had remained where he was after firing. What¡¯s more, he simply took aim at the old man instead of waiting for an opening. This was a tant provocation.

    Several times Rui Xiang wanted to give chase, but he stopped himself in the end. That shot was simply too powerful and tyrannical. He was confident in blocking the shot beyond a hundred meters, but at close ranges, no one could say if he could even escape after being injured. Naturally, it was many times harder to hit him within a hundred meters but there was always a chance. The old man couldn¡¯t shoulder this oue.

    After thinking back and forth, he still wasn¡¯t willing to take that risk at such an important threshold. An injury at this point would likely destroy his path to bing a divine champion.

    At this moment, atop a distant mountain, Qianye was kneeling amidst leaden clouds and surging winds. Heartgrave¡¯s crosshairs were moving slowly through the military camp.

    Seeing that Rui Xiang had managed to restrain his emotions, Qianye knew it was useless to keep on agitating him. He thus went to search for a different target.

    Almost all of the leading officers had vanished following the ambush. Only Zhu Meng was busy checking on the dead and injured. He and Rui Xiang were the only ones capable of stopping or evading Qianye¡¯s assault. The ordinary soldiers and lower-ranking officers kept on working in an orderly manner, knowing full well that they weren¡¯t worth a shot.

    Li Kuann appeared behind Qianye. ¡°You can¡¯t fire a second shot, can you? Why aren¡¯t you leaving?¡±

    ¡°If I leave now, that old bastard will realize that I can¡¯t fire a second shot. Besides, I can fire again pretty soon.¡±

    In Li Kuann¡¯s perception, she could sense Qianye¡¯s aura on a gradual rise. His stamina was recovering swiftly and would reach its peak in half a day¡¯s time. She sighed softly, ¡°You¡¯re a monster, you know. It¡¯s their misfortune to have provoked you.¡±

    ¡°There will always be such people, such incidents. You get used to it after a while.¡±

    ¡°Why not seek the Song n¡¯s help? Song Zining will be fine as long as the n is willing to step in. I have channels to help you send news back to the empire. It¡¯ll take some time, but Song Zining should be fine for a while yet.¡±

    Qianye lowered Heartgrave and said while shaking his head, ¡°If the Song n people find out about this, they¡¯ll try to devour his Ningyuan Heavy Industries instead of saving him.¡±

    Li Kuann was surprised. ¡°How can that be? I thought they shared a good rtionship. Several of their elders have praised Song Zining as their rising star.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Good rtionship? Ha! When have you ever seen true, good familial rtionships among nobility? ¡°

    Li Kuann said after a while, ¡°I have! Your Zhao n.¡±

    Qianye was stoppered for a moment. He then said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯m no longer one of them.¡±

    ¡°But I see that Zhao Fourth and Yuying treat you as their own. Zhao Jundu actually intercepted a secret missive from the military for you. This matter stirred up quite a bit of ruckus in court.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°What happened?¡±

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°Some of the military¡¯s assets in the neutralnds discovered your traces and dispatched a secret report to the empire. Zhao Fourth stopped the one passing through the void continent, but he hadn¡¯t imagined there would be three copies of the message, the military still got their message in the end. Because of this, the Minister of the Right used Duke Chengen and Zhao Jundu of misconduct in court.¡±

    ¡°Minister of the Right? What happened in the end?¡± Qianye was rmed because this person was an important minister of the empire, an authoritative figure he could never hope to meet. He was even more powerful than all the marshals and dukes, and the power in his grasp was on apletely different level. Now that this case had unexpectedly provoked the Minister of the Right, even the Zhao n might be in for some trouble.

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°How can there be any oue? They quarrel and quarrel but there¡¯s no oue still. Reportedly, Princess Gaoyi pulled a lot of strings and stopped the imperial family from expressing their stance. Things will probably just trail off like that. Actually, many things in the imperial court end up that way.¡±

    ¡°Princess Gaoyi¡­¡± Qianye recalled that calm woman along with many other fragments of his memory.

    It was within reason for her to appear since she was Zhao Jundu¡¯s mother. It was surprising, however, that her presence could restrain the Minister of the Right.

    Li Kuann noticed Qianye¡¯s surprise. ¡°There¡¯s nothing surprising about this. Princess Gaoyi was no ordinary character back then. Her marriage to Duke Chengen was a marry-down in every sense of the word. Otherwise, how could the proud Zhao n be satisfied with a mere Duke Chengen title? In truth, it was the bestowment of this rtively inferior title that cated certain people. Otherwise, the union would never have gone off smoothly.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Princess Gaoyi to be such a character. He could barely even sense this princess¡¯ existence when he was in the Zhao n.

    The higher her status, the better it was for Jundu and Ruoxi. As for Qianye himself, he was no longer rted to the Zhao n. Otherwise, he would only bring trouble to the n by giving their political adversaries an excuse.

    That said, it was still too reckless of Zhao Jundu to intercept a secret military missive for him.

    Qianye sighed inwardly as he packed Heartgrave away and stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go, there won¡¯t be any more openings for the time being.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not rescuing Song Seven anymore?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s impossible with just you and I.¡±

    ¡°Are we going to let things be?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. What happened just now will repeat many times over. Those people will finally have to understand that they will never see another day of peace as long as I¡¯m alive. Just as no one will target Ningyuan Heaven Industries as long as Song Zining¡¯s alive.¡±

 Chapter 885: Intimidation

    Qianye didn¡¯t leave immediately after packing Heartgrave away. Instead, he picked a t area on the hill to cultivate. He made no effort to conceal himself this time and immediately circted the Profound Combatant Form from the get-go. A terrifying void tempest instantly tore through the skies, stretching hundreds of meters into the air!

    Such amotion could be seen clearly from dozens of kilometers away, let alone a thousand meters.

    It wasn¡¯t just the elder and Zhu Meng; many of the low ranking officers also noticed the anomaly. News spread like wildfire¡ªsoon, everyone had realized that not only had that sniper not run away, but he was actually making a huge show of his presence.

    Zhu Meng gazed at the distant tempest with calm eyes. No one knew what he was thinking.

    The old man, on the other hand, remained hidden inside the main tent. He simply pretended not to notice, yet no one dared to question him. This brought the already teetering morale down to the very bottom, and the austere killing intent surrounding the troops receded like the tides.

    One of the officers arrived behind Zhu Meng, saying, ¡°General, this won¡¯t do. The setback is hitting everyone hard.¡±

    His brows locked in a frown, Zhu Meng began running toward the hill inrge strides. The shocked officer held onto the man''s back frantically. ¡°General, you can¡¯t go!¡±

    The nearby officers swarmed forward and did their utmost to keep Zhu Meng locked down. As elites who had undergone a strict selection process, they might not be very strong, but their eyesight definitely wasn¡¯t bad. Zhu Meng would be throwing his life away if he were to attack someone whom even Rui Xiang wasn¡¯t willing to get involved with. Besides, the enemy¡¯s disy of power meant that he wasn¡¯t one to be trifled with.

    One of the sharper ones had already connected the dots between Qianye and the sniper. After hearing him say thus, all the other officers agreed, and they held even tighter onto Zhu Meng.

    Zhu Meng had also seen that shot and he understood his own power as well. The old man was able to evade, but he knew he would only be able to block with his shield. He probably wouldn¡¯t be able to block in time within five hundred meters, so him chasing after Qianye was like throwing his life away.

    One of the officers whispered, ¡°What exactly is this person¡¯s background? He looks so young.¡±

    ¡°And why is he attacking ordinary people like us? What kind of enmity does he have?¡± Another officer muttered his thoughts.

    Zhu Meng had no answer to these questions. He could only sigh. ¡°Let¡¯s think about it after we get back alive.¡±

    Li Kuann was kneeling at Qianye¡¯s side, watching him in total silence. When he finished channeling the Profound Combatant Form and opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was her pair of starry eyes.

    ¡°What is that cultivation art? So Tyrannical!¡±

    ¡°The Combatant Form.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted after a long while.

    ¡°It really is the Combatant Form.¡±

    ¡°Humph!¡±

    Qianye diverted the topic away. ¡°I n to follow them, what about you?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it.¡±

    ¡°How about this? You go back to Southern Blue first, someone needs to oversee the situation there. Otherwise, there¡¯s no telling what that old fox Ji Rui will do. I¡¯lle back after a while.¡±

    After witnessing Qianye¡¯s ability, Li Kuann understood that following him would only stop him from using his full powers.

    ¡°Fine,e find me when you¡¯re back.¡± With that, she turned to leave.

    Only after Li Kuann had left did Qianye heave a sigh of relief. His bindings were all gone now¡ªhe could bring out his full power now that he was alone.

    Qianye closed his eyes, his heart still like water as he slowly adjusted his origin power. Wisps of Venus Dawn origin power filled his four origin vortices, and hisbat strength gradually climbed back to its peak.

    One night went by in this manner. The sun had barely risen the next day when Zhu Meng rounded up the warriors and started packing up the camp, preparing to return to Tidehark. The problem was that he could feel a piercing sensation at his back during this entire process. Someone had apparently locked onto him from afar, so the man had no choice but to carry his shield around just in case.

    Rui Xiang was still inside the tent at this point. Zhu Meng walked over to the entrance, saying, ¡°Sire Rui, we¡¯re about to set out. Sire Rui?¡±

    Receiving no reply after calling out several times, Zhu Meng finally pulled the curtains open and found the tentpletely empty. Rui Xiang was nowhere to be found, and even his luggage had been moved away.

    Zhu Meng was startled for a brief moment, and then he flipped the entire tent in a burst of rage and roared in Qianye¡¯s direction, ¡°See? He¡¯s not here anymore. I¡¯m the only one left,e at me!¡±

    Qianye lowered Heartgrave with a frown. He hadn¡¯t imagined the old man to actually do such a thing. It took a good amount of shamelessness to be able to pull off something like this, but he did seed in leaving Qianye with a difficult choice.

    Qianye understood after some thought that the old man didn¡¯t share a good rtionship with this squad and theirmander. This was one of Tidehark¡¯s most powerful units¡ªthe old man washing his hands off them was probably to borrow Qianye¡¯s de in killing themander, that loud, ck-armored man.

    He would¡¯ve been ying right into the elder¡¯s hands if he had really killed the entire squad. He would also have formed an irreconcble feud with Tidehark.

    At the thought of this, Qianye stood up and walked toward the camp with Heartgrave in hand.

    Zhu Meng hadn¡¯t imagined that Qianye would appear proactively. His eyes narrowed when he saw the long sniper rifle¡ªa single nce was enough to make his eyes sting and turn red.

    None of the soldiers had expected this development, either. Amotion broke out as countless soldiers took aim at Qianye, and the remainder fell into a tight formation up front to shield their gun-wieldingrades.

    Many of them had recognized Qianye at this point, recalling how this person had rushed into the camp like a wild beast and reaped hundreds of lives before swaggering off. No matter how brave these warriors were, they couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of trepidation spreading amongst them. After all, dying in battle and being ughtered were two very different things. ording to customs, they weren¡¯t supposed to be the ones facing an expert like Qianye.

    Seeing all the muzzles pointing at Qianye¡ªsome trembling as they did so¡ªZhu Meng shouted, ¡°Put down your weapons!¡±

    His authority was supreme in the squad. Everyone lowered their guns at his order, regardless of their puzzlement.

    Zhu Meng walked out of the crowd to meet the iing guest. They were fairly close at this moment, and Qianye did nothing to hide his rank-thirteen cultivation. The general was startled when he realized that Qianye was really just rank-thirteen. Zhu Meng himself was a rank-sixteen warrior, but for some reason, he felt suppressed in front of Qianye.

    Zhu Meng said in a deep voice, ¡°Why is your distinguished self making things difficult for these small characters?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Since you¡¯ve captured my brother, everyone''s the same to me no matter how strong or weak. No one will live unless my brother is returned. Where is that old man? Is he hiding or has he escaped?¡±

    Zhu Meng said through clenched teeth, ¡°He has fled.¡±

    Qianye said meaningfully, ¡°That means he left you guys behind for me to kill. It looks like you¡¯ve offended him quite deeply.¡±

    Zhu Meng¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I have a few hundred brothers with me still, and all of them have been rolling on the razor¡¯s edge their entire lives. You can¡¯t kill us all.¡±

    ¡°I can.¡±

    Zhu Meng had no response to this. He felt a chill in his heart as he looked into Qianye¡¯s calm eyes. He knew thetter wasn¡¯t bluffing¡ªQianye really could kill all nine hundred people here, including Zhu Meng.

    ¡°What is your background? If we die, we want to know what we¡¯re dying for? Also, these brothers of mine are just ordinary soldiers, they shouldn¡¯t have been swept into this kind of feud. Will you let them off if I promise to fight you to the death and not run away?¡±

    Qianye tapped on Heartgrave¡¯s trigger, saying, ¡°Do you think you can run away?¡±

    Zhu Mengughed wryly. As an assault general, speed wasn¡¯t really his forte, and he definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to run away if he was defeated.

    He took a deep breath. ¡°Sire, your appearance here means you have something to say. What will convince you to let my brothers off?¡±

    ¡°Who is that old man? Why did he attack us?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s called Rui Xiang, Zhang Buzhou¡¯s personal servant, in charge of managing the heavenly monarch¡¯s everyday affairs before his isted cultivation. Later on, he gradually gained power and became the vice-steward. With the head-steward going into seclusion along with Heavenly Monarch Zhang, he became the only one from the residence remaining in the outside world.¡±

    ¡°The heavenly monarch no longer concerns himself with trivial affairs. He has never appeared even once in recent years, and the one time before that was behind a screen, who knows if it¡¯s the real person? So, many people thought Steward Rui¡¯s words represent the heavenly monarch. Even the Wolf King and City Lord Luo have to give him some face.¡±

    Zhu Meng exined everything in detail, holding nothing back along the way. He also exined Rui Xiang¡¯s unique powers briefly. It was just that his skills were mostly taught by Zhang Buzhou, so Zhu Meng could only grasp the general idea. He couldn¡¯t offer anything truly useful. He did, however, confirm that Rui Xiang¡¯s ck crystal sword was a treasure¡ªit was reportedly Zhang Buzhou¡¯s during his younger years andter bestowed upon the old man. This went to show how much the heavenly monarch favored him.

    Qianye had witnessed this de in action against Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace, and it was never at a disadvantage. In summary, the sword was only a bit inferior in terms of special effects, and it served to double the old man¡¯s power.

    In truth, neither the cultivation art nor the weapon was enough to impress Qianye. No matter how strong Rui Xiang was, he couldn¡¯t be stronger than the Wolf King. The only problem was his connection to Zhang Buzhou¡ªkilling the old man was like pping Zhang Buzhou in the face.

    Qianye quickly pushed these thoughts to the side. Ignoring Zhu Meng¡¯s hidden warning, he inquired further, ¡°Why is he attacking us? For the Wolf King?¡±

    Zhu Meng sighed. ¡°Those not of our race will always discriminate against us. Even we can see the cmity the Wolf King is breeding, how could City Lord Luo not know? That being said, I¡¯m not clear as to why this skirmish wasunched. That is precisely the reason why I had been quarreling with Steward Rui. You might need to ask him if you want to find out the reason.¡±

 Chapter 886: Omen

    ¡°Where is the person you captured?¡± This problem was the key.

    Zhu Meng hesitated for a moment. He then nced back at his many old subordinates, each of them a familiar face to him. The heavily armored man sighed, saying, ¡°He¡¯s been moved away by Steward Rui¡¯s aide. Where to exactly, I don¡¯t know. All I know is that they went toward Tidehark, but Totemic Castle is also in that direction.¡±

    Qianye realized that he couldn¡¯t get anything more out of these men. In addition, Zhu Meng divulging Song Zining¡¯s fate was akin to surrender; it was just that he didn¡¯t know much about the details. It would seem the rtionship between him and Rui Xiang was indeed quite bad. Otherwise, the old man wouldn¡¯t have left them to die here.

    ¡°Very well, you may leave. Bring word to City Lord Luo that if he doesn¡¯t release my brother, no citizen of Tidehark will be safe outside of the city. If my brother dies, I will ughter everyone rted, no matter the price or time involved.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words were calm, but Zhu Meng could feel a deep chill from within.

    In the end, Qianye pointed at Zhu Meng and said with a serious expression, ¡°Now you know who you¡¯re dealing with. Even a divine champion won¡¯t get away unscathed.¡±

    Qianye then left.

    Zhu Meng¡¯s vigor receded like the tides. He looked like he had aged a decade, apparently ovee with exhaustion.

    An officer moved close and whispered, ¡°General, is that the person who killed so many of our brothers? He¡­ doesn¡¯t look like the part.¡±

    Zhu Meng remained gazing in Qianye¡¯s direction. ¡°Just stay clear whenever you see that person in the future. Come, let¡¯s go home.¡±

    Qianye was atop a nearby hill at this moment, his thoughts inplete disarray. He had never imagined this old man was so close to Zhang Buzhou. He was more or less the heavenly monarch¡¯s mouthpiece at the moment¡ªthe key was that no one knew whether or not the old man¡¯s words were fake decrees or if they represented Zhang Buzhou¡¯s will.

    From a certain perspective, it could be said that he was even more troublesome than the Wolf King. Thetter was powerful but also irritable and arrogant. That was why he had suffered twice in Qianye¡¯s hands. Especially thest time, the enraged Wolf King had charged into enemy lines despite knowing there was a trap. In the end, he was surrounded by the four friends and heavily injured by Qianye¡¯s earth-shattering attack.

    The old man¡¯s character happened to be theplete opposite. He was malicious, patient, and wouldn¡¯t hesitate to throw away his dignity and status at critical junctures¡ªsomeone who would do just about anything. Such an enemy was more difficult to handle.

    But why would Rui Xiang suddenly attack Song Zining? Qianye had only offended the old man that one time when he threatened him from afar. They had nevere into contact before or after that. Going to war for a trivial matter of face wasn¡¯t something a true expert would do.

    Song Zining¡¯s ident camepletely without warning. It also coincided with his recent injury in which he lost the ability to see through the heavenly mysteries. Now that he thought about it, these things might not be coincidences after all.

    The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Divination was definitely not his forte, and the current situation was extremelyplicated with numerous characters taking the stage one after the other. The appearance of people from powerful backgrounds¡ªJi Tianqing and Li Kuann for instance¡ªmeant that more and more parties were paying attention to the neutralnds.

    What exactly was in the neutralnds that these major powers would shift their attention from the stalemate on the void continent?

    In truth, Qianye had already noticed numerous abnormalities during his time in the neutralnds. For instance, the mysterious entity in the Eastern Sea, the ck Grove, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s traps, the Martyr¡¯s Pce, and the Northern Continent. And that was just on the Eastern Sea continent. There might be even more shocking secrets hidden on the other continents.

    Only such secrets would be sufficient to exin things. As for himself, he knew his own worth quite well¡ªno matter how badly he had offended the military, he was like an ant that had bitten the elephant. He would, at most, cause the giant creature to stomp once; stomping a second time wasn¡¯t even worth it.

    Song Zining¡¯s capture was perhaps the beginning of a major tempest.

    Qianye suddenly pointed forward and shot out a wisp of scarlet origin power. With it, he carved the words Zhang Buzhou on arge rock. He then took a deep breath and punched from afar, shattering therge rock into countless fragments.

    Even if it were Zhang Buzhou standing in front of him, Qianye would still step over him to save Song Zining.

    Having decided all that, all that was left was to figure out where to start.

    He could neither go to Totemic Castle nor Tidehark at the moment since the other party had likely set up ample traps in advance. Since he couldn¡¯t go inside, he would only be able to roam the outskirts while preserving a certain level of origin power and blood energy. He would need to leave one Spatial sh worth of energy at all times.

    Qianye was very clear that his capture would spell the end for Song Zining as well.

    Additionally, he wasn¡¯t sure how Ji Tianqing was faring right now. With her endless stream of secret arts and treasures, it could be assumed that she would be fine once she had escaped.

    Having decided thus, Qianye calmed down and focused his thoughts, meditating cross-legged until sunset. Only after his stamina had reached its peak did he start running toward Tidehark.

    A strange rumor had been spreading through Tidehark in recent days. A rather urate fortune teller living in the city had suddenly gone mad, spouting something about having provoked a cmity and that the entire city would soon be destroyed.

    This fortune teller was actually quite famous among the poorer people. In the end, themotion caught the attention of the city guard. Seeing that more and more people were gathering nearby, the guard officer immediately ordered the old man to be taken away. Quite unexpectedly, he had just issued the order when the old man suddenly banged his head on the wall in a spurt of blood.

    On the verge of death, the old man¡¯s eyes were full of terror as he muttered, ¡°Bloodstain, this is a Bloodstain! I see it, that darkness¡­ we will all¡­ die¡­¡±

    The city guard officer was fairly knowledgeable. He was shocked upon hearing the name Bloodstain and couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    This so-called Bloodstain was actually a deviant form of divination. The prophet had to undergo all sorts of self-mutting methods to bring himself close to death, utilizing the body¡¯s survival instincts to see things that couldn¡¯t be seen otherwise.

    In truth, only someone insane or extremely desperate would use Bloodstain. This old madman had actually used this method to confirm his prediction. What exactly did he see before his death?

    The officer ordered his men to take the corpse away and cremate it, even going so far as to burn down his residence.

    The madman had neither family nor children, so there was no one to stop the soldiers. All traces of his existence were soon reduced to ash amidst the raging mes.

    That didn¡¯t stop rumors from spreading, however. On the contrary, the ze served to consolidate the gossip even more.

    There was a small courtyard atop that holy mountain where Zhang Buzhou had once cultivated. It was simple but graceful, in yet not crude. The white wall, the thin bamboos, and a bit of greenery in the courtyard painted a scene of fresh elegance. There was a certain charm to it. At a nce, it looked like the residence of some important character in the empire.

    A sharp, formless sword energy surged into the skies all of a sudden, tearing hundreds of meters into the skies before dissipating. This energy was noticed by most experts in Tidehark, all of whom looked up at the mountain with astonished expressions.

    Dust, gravel, and roof-tile fragments¡ªwhat remained of the erupted main building roof¡ªwere raining down in the courtyard. Apparently, that thin beam of sword energy was shockingly powerful.

    At this moment, a clear wind swept through the ce and cleared away all the dust and rocks. That gentledy walked out from one of the side buildings, asking, ¡°Bingfeng, what made you so irritable?

    Luo Bingfeng emerged from the main building with a frown and a serious expression. ¡°I was ovee by a certain emotion, a feeling that something major is about to happen. That¡¯s why I lost control of myself.¡±

    ¡°Something major?¡± The woman was concerned because anything that could disturb Luo Bingfeng was no trifling matter.

    The city lord frowned deeply. He looked as though he was recounting things, but also seemed like he was muttering to himself. ¡°I saw darkness, arge swathe of darkness¡­ I don¡¯t know how to exin it, but I know it¡¯s theing of destruction and the abyss.¡±

    The woman was startled. ¡°How did this happen? Were you cultivating a divination art?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng shook his head. ¡°Of course not, I promised you I wouldn¡¯t touch that kind of art.¡±

    The woman heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s fine then. It might be an omen of some sort that you saw, but it might not be rted to us.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng gazed down at Tidehark. ¡°You¡¯re right, but it¡¯s better to be cautious. Let¡¯s call Luo Yun over, I want to know what has happened recently.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea.¡± Thedy nodded.

    Momentster, a serious-looking man in his thirties walked into the courtyard with brisk steps. That man made a summarized report of the things that had happened in thest couple of days.

    The most important thing to happen recently was the Wolf King bringing his entire army to assault Souther Blue. In the end, he suffered repeated defeats, and even his main army was routed. The Wolf King himself retreated with heavy injuries and had no choice but to hide in Totemic Castle to recover.

    Another matter was that Rui Xiang had mobilized the best elites of Tidehark on a blitz assault, ambushing the Southern Blue army from behind. At that point, the forces of Southern Blue had sustained heavy losses after barely defeating the Wolf King¡¯s army. How could they hold out against the best of Tidehark? It was naturally a one-sided battle.

    Luo Yun only knew that much¡ªhe only had a general idea regarding the specifics of that battle and thus couldn¡¯t provide clear information.

    Luo Bingfeng was rather surprised. ¡°The Wolf King lost, and to a group of youngsters no less! Not Mask or the Spider Emperor? That¡¯s interesting.¡±

    It was at this time that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s gaze shifted to the side and noticed a group arriving outside the city. His sharp and far-reaching gaze allowed him to see that group with great rity. ¡°Isn¡¯t that Zhu Meng? Why is his group missing so many people?¡±

 Chapter 887: Sealing the City

    ¡°Luo Yun, summon Zhu Meng. Let¡¯s hear what just happened.¡±

    Luo Yun was just about to execute his orders when thedy said, ¡°Bingfeng, you already promised to ignore mundane affairs. That group is only a couple hundred men short, what¡¯s the point of worrying?¡±

    Luo Yun said, ¡°That group was founded by the city lord himself, many of his old brethren remain today.¡±

    The woman gazed at Luo Bingfeng in silence.

    Luo Bingfeng wanted to speak, but he said nothing in the end after ncing at her. He waved at Luo Yun with a sigh, saying, ¡°You can go as well, no need to report if there¡¯s nothing important.¡±

    A helpless Luo Yun performed a salute and left.

    Only at this point did thedy reveal a smile. She lifted his sleeves and picked up two pieces of a broken vase from the ground. Following a gentle caress of her hands, the broken pottery miraculously became whole again. She red at Luo Bingfeng, saying, ¡°Come help me, unless you want to sleep in the rain tonight?¡±

    The roof was duly repaired after a moment of work. Thedy nced at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression and, patting him lightly on the hand, offered some words of constion. ¡°Bingfeng, those brothers of yours have followed you for a long time, but how can people not die on the battlefield? You need to think about yourself. Those people will have no good ending if something happens to you.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know anymore if all of this is right or wrong.

    ¡°Lay low for now, there wille a day when you soar meteorically.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m worried about you. What will you do after I leave?¡±

    The woman smiled gently. ¡°I¡¯ll follow you, easy.¡± These words were spoken quite lightly, almost as though she were talking about something trivial.

    Luo Bingfeng sighed after a long while of silence.

    The two returned to their rooms and cultivated in silence. Before they could enjoy an hour of peace, more footsteps echoed on the mountain path as Luo Yun rushed over.

    ¡°What now?¡± Only Luo Bingfeng¡¯s voice reverberated in the air, clearly displeased.

    Luo Yun stood outside of the courtyard. ¡°City Lord, we¡¯ve found out about the two people you¡¯re searching for. They¡¯re Commander Qianye and Vice-Commander Ji Tianqing from the Dark me Mercenary Corps of Southern Blue.¡°

    ¡°Southern Blue? Weren¡¯t they fighting the Wolf King just now?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, contact them then. Ask if they have any conditions and fulfill them as much as you can.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sire.¡± Luo Yun left with a bow.

    Thedy sighed after the officer¡¯s departure. ¡°There¡¯s really no need.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a negotiation, and it¡¯s fine to exchange if his conditions aren¡¯t overboard. I¡¯m also open to changing my strategy if he doesn¡¯t have a sense of propriety.¡±

    Outside of Tidehark, Qianye was sitting cross-legged atop a stone pir, his eyes half-closed as he meditated in silence. The view from this ce was extremely good as it covered one of the three major roads connecting Tidehark to the outside world.

    Qianye suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the end of the road, where a caravan was rolling out amidst a cloud of billowing dust.

    In the blink of an eye, there was no one left on the stone pir.

    This motorcade was made up of a dozen or so vehicles, three of which were cargo trucks and the remainder, troop transports. In terms of escort power, one could say that this lineup was far beyond the norm.

    The auto-cannon operators on each car were scanning their surroundings with great vigil. They had received bad news before leaving the city and understood that this journey wasn¡¯t going to be peaceful. Tidehark¡¯s interference in the battle between the Wolf King and Southern Blue ended with profits, but the other party had experts among them who might be seeking revenge.

    The manager of thispany was fairly cautious. He would rather spend money hiring escorts than risk his goods being robbed.

    The motorcade had only traveled several dozen kilometers from Tidehark when the first armored vehicle came to an abrupt stop. This sent the cars behind into chaos, and some of them almost rammed into one another.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The captain of the mercenary escort and the manager of the trade caravan jumped off their vehicles and sped forward.

    Qianye was standing in the middle of the road, holding his de in front of him. He was only a couple of meters away from the first armored vehicle.

    The driver was clearly a short-tempered person. He red at Qianye for a while and revved up the engines¡ªthis giant steel beast would barrel forward the moment he released the brakes. It would seem this driver intended to run Qianye over.

    Qianye revealed a cold smile. He was waiting for the car to ram into him.

    Therade beside the driver seemed more knowledgeable. He frantically grabbed the driver and shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±

    However, he was toote¡ªthe armored car burst forward like a fierce bullet and rammed into Qianye¡¯s body. It then bounced back at an even greater speed, crashing into the car behind it.

    From the beginning to the end, Qianye¡¯s sword bearing posture never changed.

    All of a sudden, Qianye swung East Peak horizontally after the car was bounced back. The sharp sword energy from that distant sh effectively bisected the armored vehicle. The expression of that ring driver first transformed into terror and then gradually became nk. A stream of blood seeped out from the gaps in the vehicle body.

    The mercenarymander was shocked. He raised both hands and roared, ¡°Stop! Everyone stop!¡±

    These mercenaries might be desperate characters, but they weren¡¯tpletely devoid ofmon sense. Seeing the ease with which Qianye had shed open the armored vehicle, they knew they had run into an expert they couldn¡¯t afford to provoke. Many people were alreadyying down their weapons even before themander¡¯s orders¡ªit was pure folly to challenge a true expert with weapons of their level.

    After stopping his subordinates, the leader arrived before Qianye and bowed respectfully. ¡°Why would a powerful character like yourself make life difficult for small mercenaries like us who are just trying to make a living? Please tell us if we have somehow offended you so that we may make up for it.¡±

    The manager also jogged over and, shing hispany¡¯s insignia, began echoing the mercenary with a smile.

    ¡°What? Did Zhu Meng not tell you why I¡¯m here?¡±

    The mercenary leader was startled. ¡°You mean General Zhu Meng? He¡¯s an important character who follows the city lord, how can small fries like us ever meet him? He really didn¡¯t pass any message to us.¡±

    Qianye broke into a frown, and his eyes turned cold. ¡°So Zhu Meng didn¡¯t say anything aftering back. Fine, leave the cars and you may return.¡±

    The mercenaries heaved a sigh of relief. Money could be earned back as long as the person was alive. The manager, however, was shocked. ¡°Sire, that won¡¯t do! These goods are the lifeline of ourpany!¡±

    Qianye said calmly. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to leave, then everyone will remain here.¡±

    Shocked out of his wits, the mercenary captain covered the manager¡¯s mouth and dragged him away by force. All the mercenaries disembarked from their transports and stood to the side with whatever they could carry.

    Seeing that the mercenaries were quite tactful, Qianye said with a nod, ¡°Bring a message back to Zhu Meng. Since his memory is so poor, let me remind him this: the people of Tidehark will never be safe as long as my brother isn¡¯t released. And one more thing, he and his subordinates better not appear before me again.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes! I will definitely send the message.¡± The captain agreed repeatedly as he dragged the manager away.

    Qianye rose into the air and whipped out the Mystic Spider Lily. Scarlet mes suffused the weapon as it fired a dozen shots, each striking one of the cars below. The shot vehicles¡ªno matter their type¡ªwould explode into a raging pir of fire. In the blink of an eye, all of the cars had been reduced to ashes.

    This time, there was a drastic change in the expressions of both the mercenary captain and thepany manager. Their original thought was to send someone to negotiate and reim the goods in exchange for a small ransom¡ªof course, the Tidehark experts would take their cut of this money as well. As they saw it, Qianye blocking the road out of Tidehark was akin to courting death. With so many experts inside the city, a random group of them coulde out anytime and make short work of this madman.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would bepletely uninterested in the money? He simply destroyed the entire caravan instead. This time, both men looked simrly dejected; ten armored vehicles was also a fortune that couldn¡¯t be ignored.

    At this point, thepany manager stopped struggling and left obediently. He had finally realized that Qianye wasn¡¯t kidding and that he would die if he were to remain here.

    A total of three caravans were intercepted between noon and night. In all three cases, the people were driven away and the goods were destroyed.

    The news brought back by the mercenaries sent the entire city into a panic. Since Zhang Buzhou¡¯s rise to power, it had been many years since anyone had dared to act so atrociously around Tidehark. The entire city was discussing this explosive news. People were fairly curious¡ªwhat kind of prisoner was worth stirring up such amotion for?

    Zhu Meng was naturally at the heart of the wind and waves, but he had locked himself within the barracks, not taking a single step out of it. Although everyone in the city was highly curious, no one dared to drag him out and question him. Zhu Meng was Luo Bingfeng¡¯s trusted aide and one of the top experts in the city. He also had control over the army, so no one dared to offend him.

    The two other channels out of Tidehark werergely unaffected. As far as the people in the city were concerned, that fellow causing trouble outside was a madman who would be easily destroyed if the city guard were to mobilize.

    Another squad left the city at dusk, advancing under the cover of darkness and rolling dust clouds. The escort in this group was more powerful and the goods, more valuable. Just the ten cargo trucks themselves were of outstanding value, not to mention the other stuff.

    What set this caravan apart was that half of the mercenary escorts were actually elites from the city guard. Du Yufeng, one of the three vicemanders of the city guard, was hiding in the squad, ready to capture Qianye as soon as he appeared.

    This vicemander had another reason for taking the field himself¡ªhe didn¡¯t get along with Zhu Meng. Not only would capturing Qianye prove thetter¡¯s ineptitude, but he could also make use of Qianye to drag the general down. That way, Zhu Meng¡¯s elite squad wouldnd in his hands.

    But things developed beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. While the caravan was advancing, a stunning blue light streaked across the night sky and struck the center of the motorcade.

    Du Yufeng had fallen.

 Chapter 888: Mistake

    Qianye did not fire a second shot, but the caravan did not move forward, either. The group¡¯s purpose was to bait Qianye out, to begin with, but who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would attack from almost a thousand meters away and kill the vicemander, Du Yufeng. Now that the ambush had failed, there was no need to continue this operation.

    The merchant caravan turned around and rushed back into the city. The city guards and mercenaries in their escort didn¡¯t split off to chase Qianye¡ªthey even summoned back the scouts operating along the way.

    The surviving leader of the city guards understood that the shot just now had likely consumed a significant amount of power. Perhaps Qianye wasn¡¯t waiting out of benevolence but simply in order to recharge. The entire group could forget about fleeing once he had recovered.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes as the caravan moved away. He nodded to himself, acknowledging that the other party was experienced enough to deny him further kills. As for that rank-sixteen expert, he was unting his power despite keeping his location concealed¡ªhe hadn¡¯t withdrawn his aura at all while seated in the car. Perhaps other people couldn¡¯t see him, but he was like a torch in the darkness in Qianye¡¯s True Sight.

    Qianye recovered his origin power with a brief period of meditation and then vanished into the night.

    At this moment, Tidehark City was drowned in solemn tension, and the atmosphere was fairly close to freezing point. There were only a couple of people on the streets, most of them hurrying about with worried expressions.

    News of Du Yufeng¡¯s death couldn¡¯t be kept secret, and the entire city soon came to know of his passing. The traders who were thinking about trying their luck quickly gave up on the notion. They had, at first, wanted to leave with arge number of mercenary escorts, but now, even Du Yufeng had been killed in a single shot. Even the most powerful experts avable for hire were around the vicemander¡¯s level at most, so what was the use?

    As the vicemander of the city guard and a rank-sixteen expert, Du Yufeng was not weak at all in terms of martial prowess and secret arts. The topmanders of Tidehark had received one or more suitable cultivation arts from Luo Bingfeng, so they were noticeably stronger than their peers. Du Yufeng¡¯s arts could somewhat suppress Zhu Meng¡¯s own, so he had always been eager to take over thetter¡¯s elite squad.

    Following this major incident, all of the high-ranking officers and important characters assembled at the city lord¡¯s manor to formte a countermeasure.

    The Tidehark city lord¡¯s manor had be more of a meeting ce because Luo Bingfeng hadn¡¯t lived here for a fair length of time.

    There were a dozen or so people seated on one side of the table and twenty more behind them, all characters with the right to share in this secret information.

    There were two unupied seats of honor. One of them was naturally City Lord Luo Bingfeng¡¯s, and the other was reserved for that mysteriousdy. Since her appearance, no one really knew about her origins or even her name for that matter.

    The person sitting next to the seats of honor was a fair, well-groomed middle-aged man. He looked quite mighty despite being a bit plump. His slender eyes were only half-open, almost as though he hadn¡¯t fully woken up just yet, but there would be lightning shes in the room whenever he opened them wider.

    This person was themander of the city guard, Du Yuan. He rarely interfered in the guard¡¯s affairs under normal circumstances, appearing in public only once every few weeks. Hence, the actual power in the city guard was shared between the three vicemanders and Zhu Meng.

    Even though he rarely made appearances or exercised his authority, he was widely epted as the number one expert in the city guard. He was only inferior to the city lord in the entirety of Tidehark. In Du Yuan¡¯s presence, all those unyielding officers sat upright and still, their slippery attitudes nowhere to be found.

    Rui Xiang was seated across from Du Yuan. The old man was silent and expressionless, only scanning the hall asionally with eyes of disdain.

    There were evidently fewer people sitting on Rui Xiang¡¯s side, probably half the numberpared to the other side. The two parties were ring daggers at one another, and their auras were shing in secret. Apparently, the crowd had split up into two parties.

    It was at this time that a capable-looking man from the city guard looked around the room, his gaze finallynding on Zhu Meng. ¡°That person sniped Yufeng from over a thousand meters away. He must have a powerful weapon in hand. I heard he had also killed General Ma in the same manner back then. Zhu Meng! Why did you not report such an important matter?¡±

    The man¡¯s voice was stern and full of killing intent. He was also one of the three vicemanders, and his position was even higher than Du Yufeng¡¯s. The interrogation looked fierce, but in truth, there were clever implications hidden behind it¡ªZhu Meng was still on Du Yuan¡¯s side, after all.

    Thetter replied emotionlessly, ¡°I only saw things from afar that day. I didn¡¯t actually experience it myself, so I really don¡¯t know how powerful that shot was. What I do know is how capable General Ma is. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t defend against the attack, but he was actually caught off-guard because he thought someone would block the shot. That was how he died.¡±

    The burly man¡¯s sword-like brows knitted tightly together. ¡°He thought someone would block it? Report every detail or face punishment ording to militaryw.¡±

    Zhu Meng replied at a steady pace, ¡°Back then, the person had fired not at Old Ma, but at Sire Rui Xiang. It¡¯s just that the sire dodged immediately, and so the shot struck Old Ma instead.

    The guard officers¡¯ expressions shifted, most of them revealing expressions of utter contempt. ording to Zhu Meng¡¯s testimony, this Rui Xiang hadmitted an act of cowardice. He didn¡¯t even dare to block a sniper round, causing the death of arade as a result.

    Killing intent shed through the old man¡¯s eyes. He said while stroking his beard, ¡°That shot was really too sudden. I hadn¡¯t sensed it in advance, so I just dodged reflexively. As for how powerful it is, I never received the blow, so I can¡¯t say for sure.¡±

    A friend of General Ma said furiously, ¡°It¡¯s enough to kill Old Ma from a thousand meters away, how hard can it be to judge? If you had just talked to us about this, Commander Du wouldn¡¯t have been so careless, nor would he have fallen to this person¡¯s gun!¡±

    Rui Xiangughed coldly. ¡°Is killing a mere general so impressive? As I see it, there¡¯s really no need to announce this business wantonly. There¡¯s even less of a need to report to you about it.¡±

    That general¡¯s face turned red in anger. The old man¡¯s words meant that he had no right to demand anything. That was the case as well in reality¡ªa general of the city guard was nowhere close to Rui Xiang¡¯s status. Even so, having it spoken out loud was rather unbearable.

    The eyes of many other generals fell upon Du Yuan. He was the only one here who could stand on equal footing with Rui Xiang and suppress him.

    The room lit up as Du Yuan opened his eyes. Shaken, Rui Xiang no longer dared to press on with the matter.

    Du Yuan didn¡¯t even nce at Rui Xiang. Instead, he said to Zhu Meng, ¡°Yufeng is my cousin. My failure of an uncle died fairly early, leaving only a single offspring. I know you haven¡¯t been on good terms with Yufeng, but I have never shown him any favor regarding military matters. Do you agree with that?¡±

    Zhu Meng lowered his head. ¡°Themander has always been just, all of us know that.¡±

    Du Yuan said with a nod, ¡°Okay, then let me ask you, why did you not report this news to yourrades?¡±

    Zhu Meng replied, ¡°This matter isplicated. I originally wanted to see the city lord immediately to report this matter, but he remains in isted cultivation and refused to see me. Steward Luo Yun was also turned away. There was a period of dy while I was doing all of that. Who would¡¯ve thought Commander Yufeng would head out during this time?¡±

    Du Yuan replied slowly, ¡°This matter is indeed a result of Yufeng¡¯s rashness. Then, let me ask you, why do you think this case isplicated? Why must you see the city lord? Can you tell us here?¡±

    Zhu Meng hesitated for a short while. He shot a brief nce at Rui Xiang, but thetter remained wooden in his expression, his eyes suffused with killing intent.

    Seeing this, Du Yuan said in a gloomy tone, ¡°The city lord hasn¡¯t discussed official business for a long time. Even Steward Luo Yun and I can¡¯t meet him without any good reason, but I still have some deterring power. Zhu Meng, you may speak without fear.¡±

    Zhu Meng shot up from his seat, raising his voice. ¡°Very well, what else should I say if you put it that way? During this skirmish, a person charged into our camp and killed three hundred brothers in a single move, the same person who sniped Old Ma and Commander Yufeng from over a thousand meters away. If that person hadn¡¯t seen through the fact that we had been left to die, my brethren and I might have never made it back to Tidehark.¡±

    These words shook everyone. Everyone knew how powerful Zhu Meng¡¯s group was. Not to mention these officers, even Du Yuan couldn¡¯t kill three hundred of them with a single attack.

    There was an unwritten rule in the neutralnds. Experts above a certain level wouldn¡¯t ughter ordinary soldiers or make things difficult for them without a good reason. For instance, even if Tidehark were to change owners, the city guard would remain the same. So, killing them was equal to killing one¡¯s future subordinates.

    Zhu Meng continued, ¡°This person asked me to deliver a message. If we don¡¯t release his brother, no one in Tidehark will be safe outside the city, that he will hound us until we release the prisoner. If his brother dies, he will hunt down every high-ranking member of the city.

    The officers responded furiously. ¡°Insolence!¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t know the immensity of heaven and earth!¡± ¡°We should teach him a lesson!¡±

    After the string of curses had died down, people quickly noticed that the ones shouting were all lower-ranking generals. Du Yuan, Rui Xiang, Zhu Meng, and the other two vicemanders were solemn and silent.

    Only then did the people realize that something was wrong, and the cries faded away.

    Du Yuan said with a frown, ¡°What else did he say?¡±

    Zhu Meng lowered his voice. ¡°He said¡­ that even divine champions shouldn¡¯t think they¡¯ll be safe.¡±

    Du Yuan¡¯s eyes opened wide and then gradually closed back. Even someone as calm as Rui Xiang could feel his brows twitching.

    Momentster, Du Yuan said, ¡°This person¡¯s name is Qianye, reportedly a famous character in the empire. Judging from his past actions, he seems to be a fairly tolerant person. What made him hate Tidehark to the bones?¡±

    Zhu Meng red at Rui Xiang. ¡°I don¡¯t know why some people must attack Southern Blue for no reason. And the prisoner is also nowhere to be found. This battle is simply too confusing, won¡¯t Sire Rui honor us with an exnation?¡±

    The words named him specifically, so Rui Xiang had no way to escape. He looked over with eyes full of disdain and said, ¡°What gives you the right to question what I do?¡±

    These words were quite rude. Zhu Meng turned livid and looked like he would flip out on several asions. However, a gentle but powerful energy suddenly engulfed him, stopping all of his movements. At this point, Du Yuan said, ¡°He can¡¯t, but I have that right, don¡¯t I?¡±

    Rui Xiang scanned everyone in the room with narrowed eyes and said coldly, ¡°So all of you n to suppress me? Don¡¯t forget that the true master of Tidehark isn¡¯t Luo Bingfeng but Heavenly Monarch Zhang! You shouldn¡¯t abandon your future by following the wrong person!¡±

 Chapter 889: Setting Up

    Rui Xiang¡¯s words froze the atmosphere in the hall. Many of the generals stared at him with fierce expressions. These people were loyal followers who had been with Luo Bingfeng for many years. Although being loyal to the city lord also meant being loyal to Zhang Buzhou, thetter¡¯s poprity had dwindled since his appointment of the Wolf King. By keeping a clear line between himself and the Wolf King, Luo Bingfeng managed to win the loyalty of the staff.

    There had always been a rumor in the army that Zhang Buzhou had encountered an ident in his cultivation, and that was the reason why he had made no progress despite many years of cultivation. People also believed that City Lord Luo had already caught up in terms of power.

    Du Yuan¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°The Heavenly Monarch is everyone¡¯s lord, and people know that. There¡¯s no need to repeat it.¡±

    ¡°Really? That might not be the case.¡±

    Du Yuan ignored Rui Xiang¡¯s words of ridicule. ¡°Although we¡¯ve managed to rule a region in the neutralnds, we¡¯re still not strong enough to hold out against an all-out attack from Evernight and the Empire. The Heavenly Monarch had been in isted cultivation for so long, and the powers under us have dwindled constantly for no good reason. Sire Rui, why did you have to fight this battle, can you exin it to us?¡±

    Rui Xiang sneered, ¡°What, are you afraid just because there¡¯s a brat outside the gates?¡±

    Du Yuan smiled coldly. ¡°That isn¡¯t the point. Battles have to be fought for a clear reason, or there might be people raising the Heavenly Monarch¡¯s g to advance their own interests! What if that person escapes before he exits istion and the truthes to light?¡±

    Rui Xiang¡¯s expression was ashen. He stood up with a harrumph, saying, ¡°Since Commander Du has spoken thus, there is nothing more to say. People of different ideals cannot work together. Goodbye!¡±

    With that, Rui Xiang left with a swing of his sleeve. He paid no attention to the fiery res directed at him.

    Everyone was furious, but they knew they couldn¡¯t force Rui Xiang to tell them the entire story. After all, the man was a nominal representative of the heavenly monarch and his residence.

    Rui Xiang¡¯s men left as well, leaving only the city lord¡¯s party in the conference hall.

    A general asked, ¡°Commander, what should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Send someone to conduct a detailed investigation of the youngsters¡¯ background and history. Perhaps we can deduce the reason for Rui Xiang¡¯s sudden attack. Especially that captured young man, I must know everything rted to him.¡± Du Yuan contemted for a moment before saying, ¡°As for that Qianye, no matter what his background is, we can¡¯t spare him since he¡¯se knocking on our door. I¡¯ll take the field if necessary.¡±

    Everyone became spirited, feeling a bit of relief from the brewing resent.

    Zhu Meng said, ¡°Commander, that Qianye might not be so easy to deal with. That crafty old thief has used every means at his disposal to avoid fighting Qianye after the first couple of encounters. There must be a reason for this, so I hope you will be cautious.¡±

    His words incited amotion, with people ming him for cowardice. These people were Du Yufeng¡¯s subordinates. Their position naturally diminished after the general¡¯s death, so they were resentful of Zhu Meng.

    Du Yuan waved his hand, saying, ¡°I''ll be leaving hunting down Qianye to the two vicemanders, Zhu Meng will act as support. Summon me if I need to take action.¡±

    The two vicemanders and Zhu Meng epted the order, and the meeting thus came to an end.

    Zhu Meng felt great uneasiness upon leaving the meeting room. There had been no oue despite all the discussions, and there was still no exnation for why his three hundred brothers had died.

    Before long, he saw a man hurrying over toward him. He stepped forward to greet this person, ¡°Steward Luo.¡±

    Luo Yun stopped upon seeing Zhu Meng. ¡°General Zhu, how did the meeting go?¡±

    Zhu Meng smiled helplessly. ¡°How can there be any oue? Steward Rui wasn¡¯t willing to say why he had to capture that young man. Oh right, Steward Luo, did the city lord say anything?¡±

    Luo Yun sighed. ¡°The city lord wanted to ask about this matter at first, but that person stopped him. I can¡¯t do anything, either.¡±

    Zhu Meng whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that woman and Steward Rui are working together? Are they working from inside and out to control him?¡±

    Luo Yun was shocked. ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? How can you make such wild conjectures? Besides, the city lord is our benefactor, we ought to do whatever hemands. Let¡¯s take a step back and say you¡¯re right, that person¡¯s divination arts are unfathomable and her daybreak origin power is the purest I¡¯ve ever seen, perhaps even above the city lord¡¯s. Are you not afraid of being discovered?¡±

    Zhu Meng snorted. ¡°So what? I¡¯ve never feared death. Besides, I¡¯ve always been loyal to the city lord. What can she do to me?¡±

    Luo Yun sighed. ¡°General Zhu, this matter isn¡¯t the same as fighting. Even my words hold no sway with the city lord, I can¡¯t even approach the courtyard without being summoned. No matter how loyal you are, it doesn¡¯t matter if the city lord doesn¡¯t know.¡±

    Feeling increasingly stifled, Zhu Meng stomped hard on the ground.

    Luo Yun said, ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave now as I still have a mission to attend to.¡±

    Noticing the direction of Luo Yun¡¯s departure, Zhu Meng asked, ¡°Is Steward Luo heading to¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, to Southern Blue.¡±

    Zhu Meng didn¡¯t know what to say. All he could do was clear the path and watch Luo Yun¡¯s figure fade away into the distance. He scratched his head hard, not knowing where to vent his frustrations.

    Night descended upon the city, apanied by dark low-lying clouds and whistling gales. The interior of Tidehark, however, was brightly illuminated and the security was extra tight. At this moment, squads of city guards were moving out of the city.

    The citizens of Tidehark understood that the higher-ups were truly angry. Even some of those rarely-seen generals were now fully armored and in the field.

    Therge city guard squads advanced along the main roads, upying all vantage points in practiced order. It would seem the person inmand was truly skilled.

    The city guard wasying down a huge, gradually narrowing down Qianye¡¯s field of movement. The moment his position waspromised, the hiding soldiers would swarm over and tear him to shreds.

    Dawn had yet to arrive when the defenses had beenpleted and all the important positions along the southwestern main road had been upied. Qianye would be hard-pressed to threaten the merchant caravans along this road no matter how powerful he was.

    At this moment, several city guard officers were gathered around arge man atop a certain hill. The current operation was under themand of this vicemander. The man narrowed his eyes as he scanned the hill region with his eagle-like gaze.

    ¡°Any news?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No, Sir. Our men are all in position and searching their surrounding areas, but they haven¡¯t found anyone yet. Nor have they found any camp or stopover point.¡±

    The vicemander frowned. ¡°Where are the assassins and mercenaries?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already dispatched them, and they should be in position by now. The mercenaries have also reached their designated areas and are starting to take action. As I see it, these people may be the first to make a discovery.¡±

    The vicemander¡¯s expression rxed slightly. ¡°Yes, these people are hyenas in the wilderness, the most difficult type to entangle with. We need to use such people in order to deal with Qianye. I think we¡¯ll hear some news before long.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a blinding blue radiance leaped into the distant sky.

    The blue light traversed well over a thousand meters, passing over a city-guard encampment and into a mountaintop. Seeing where the blue light hadnded, the vicemander eximed, ¡°Oh no, Old Meng!¡±

    The vicemander flew into the air and rushed over to the distant hilltop.

    Outside of the camp, a burly man was lying on his back, his eyes wide open and full of resentment. The massive prating injury on his chest was a testament to how fierce that shot was. He was wearing an ordinary soldier¡¯s uniform, and the ce where he had copsed was a sentry¡¯s position.

    The vicemander roared furiously, ¡°How did he figure out Old Meng¡¯s identity?¡±

    The soldiers trembled in fear, but no one could provide an answer. Finally, an officer replied, ¡°It¡¯s probably his bad luck.¡±

    The vicemander nodded with a sigh. As an expert in disguise and covert operations, Old Meng had always been very cautious. He was to y a key hidden role in this operation, and he had even changed his appearance for it. Apart from a couple of high-ranking officers, no one should¡¯ve known where he was stationed. He was to hide in the periphery and deal a heavy blow to Qianye as he was fleeing. Such an important character was actually killed before the battle had even begun.

    The vicemander nced toward the source of the blue light, but Qianye was nowhere to be found.

    He said with a stern expression, ¡°Let the merchant caravans move out. He probably can¡¯t fire a second shot that quickly.¡±

    The officers were somewhat hesitant. ¡°Won¡¯t that be too much of a risk? What if he attacks¡­¡±

    ¡°Then we can capture and ughter him. If he doesn¡¯te out, then we¡¯ll escort that caravan away under his eyes. Every caravan will be a p on his face,¡± the vicemander uttered word by word.¡±

    ¡°Themander is wise!¡±

    Momentster, hundreds of cargo trucks drove out of Tidehark and toward Southern Blue. This motorcade was an umtion of over a dozen caravans, flying the colors of many differentpanies. Most of them were actually cargo trucks, with only a handful of armored vehicles among them.

    In a messy pile of rocks not far from the roadside, a stone suddenly moved away to reveal a pair of eyes.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t even using a special disguise. He was merely covered in a camouged cloak resembling the nearby rocks, but his aura waspletely sealed. Ordinary people might¡¯ve seen him, but experts who relied on perception were less likely to notice him. They would simply consider him a rock.

    There was a hunter on a nearby hilltop who was constantly observing the surroundings. He had a signal gun in his grasp, ready to fire immediately once he had noticed something.

    This hunter was only thirty meters away from Qianye, but he never noticed thetter¡¯s presence.

 Chapter 890: Determination

    Through the rising dust cloud in the distance, one could vaguely see a massive trade caravan snaking over slowly. A motorcade of this scale was simply beyond imagination and clearly one that had been formed from abination of many caravans.

    From the perspective of a robber, this was an extremely big fish.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes, contemting what this giant motorcade meant. It was then that he noticed a wisp of icy blue energy through the corner of his eyes.

    He turned slightly toward the side. ¡°Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Li Kuann appeared behind Qianye. ¡°As expected, I can¡¯t hide from you. I¡¯m now really curious about your hidden aces.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get to the point.¡±

    Li Kuann passed him a letter. ¡°I have a letter for you.¡±

    Qianye inquired as he received the missive, ¡°From whom?¡±

    ¡°Reportedly, it¡¯s from the city lord of Tidehark, Luo Bingfeng. The messenger, Luo Yun, ims to be the steward of the city lord manor. I think he¡¯s telling the truth.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t open the letter just yet. Instead, he pointed at the approaching motorcade. ¡°What do you make of that?¡±

    Li Kuann shot a nce in the pointed direction and then looked back at Qianye. ¡°You used Heartgrave?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I just killed a champion dressed up as amon soldier.¡±

    Li Kuann sneered. ¡°nning a disguised ambush against you is just courting death.¡±

    ¡°How do you see this situation?¡± Qianye repeated his question.

    Li Kuann said calmly, ¡°Simple, you¡¯ve delivered a fierce message and used your killing move. They sent out this caravan knowing that you won¡¯t be able to attack again in a short while. This is a message to you and to the people of Tidehark, a p to the face if you will.¡±

    The two were chatting amidst the rocky terrain, yet the hunter on the nearby hilltop never noticed. Every time his gaze moved in their direction, he would divert it away subconsciously¡ªit felt like something terrible would happen if he were to look a while longer. He felt inexplicably nervous, but he simply couldn¡¯t figure out his problem. He had even sent two signals to his colleagues that everything was fine.

    Meanwhile, Qianye and Li Kuann were gazing at the rolling caravan with their hands behind their backs. The lead vehicle had already rushed out of the dust cloud and driven onto the main road at the foot of the mountains. The numerous sentries on its roof were ncing about with their binocrs, but they couldn¡¯t sense anything when their line of sight swept past Qianye and Li Kuann.

    In their origin-empowered vision, the two of them were just unassuming rocks.

    Holding the letter behind his back, Qianye¡¯s fingers tapped on the envelope with increasing frequency.

    He said all of a sudden, ¡°How should I tell them that I¡¯m not joking?¡±

    Li Kuann was startled as she had never thought about this. ¡°No idea.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s tapping finger came to an abrupt stop. ¡°It¡¯s actually quite simple, I just need to plunder this caravan. Now!¡±

    With a bang, that envelope turned into a cloud of shredded paper. Qianye never even opened it from the beginning, up until the end.

    Qianye¡¯s figure vanished!

    Li Kuann subconsciously reached out to grasp Cold Moon¡¯s embrace. She hadn¡¯t even drawn her de when she felt a prick on her face, which developed into a red spot, and then to a drop of seeping blood.

    This was a wisp of origin power that Qianye had left behind, and even Li Kuann had no idea when he had released it. The meaning, however, was clear¡ªhe didn¡¯t want Li Kuann to interfere.

    The first car of the motorcade rose up all of a sudden and was flipped away to the side. It rolled several times before falling into a ditch by the road. Things happened so fast that the soldiers in the truck had no time to react or get off. Most of them tumbled about and lost consciousness inside thepartment.

    Qianye walked on through the cars like he was taking a stroll. Every time there was a car driving toward him, he would send it off the road with a light flick of his sword. Be it soldiers or workers, all the passengers were tossed about in great disarray. In the blink of an eye, the dozen or so cars at the van of the motorcade had been flipped over. The vehicles also descended into chaos as they braked hurriedly.

    The soldiers started to react soon afterward, aiming their weapons at Qianye. A number of nervous greenhorns began firing before the officer had issued the order. The frontline officer¡¯s ¡°hold your fire¡± was still echoing in the air when gunshots rang out, and a hail of bullets rained down on Qianye!

    Thetter¡¯s expression turned cold as his silhouette flickered and reappeared near an armored vehicle, East Peak cutting into its engine like a hot knife through butter.

    Following a loud rumble and a cloud of steam, the engine erupted in a spray of ming engine parts and deformed steel tes. The vehicle was sted apart and the goods began burning fiercely. The soldiers standing atop the car were sent flying and died as they crashed back onto the ground.

    Qianye¡¯s figure shed constantly as he advanced against the flow, turning one car after the other in his wake into balls of fire. In a sh, the merchantpanies who had taken part in this operation had suffered great losses.

    At this moment, the generals under the vicemander were still quite a distance away. They were startled when themotion broke out, uncertain who would dare assault a caravan of such scale. ording to reason, Qianye should be lying low after firing that shot. The vicemander wasn¡¯t expecting to actually draw Qianye out when he had ordered the caravan to move out. Experienced hunters would never be so rash as to fall into such an obvious trap.

    In just a short while, the front end of this vehicr dragon had turned into a burning serpent of mes. Very soon, a fourth of the trucks had been destroyed! From the speed with which the fires were spreading, one could easily tell that Qianye hadn¡¯t held back at all.

    The vicemander flew up and roared furiously, ¡°How dare you!¡±

    The other generals of the city guard naturally followed suit. A couple more of them appeared from hidden locations and cut off Qianye¡¯s paths of retreat.

    They weren¡¯t wrong in trying to surround him, but that further dyed their arrival, during which Qianye had wrecked eight more cars. The entire motorcade hade to aplete stop at this point, and there were people fleeing to either side of this tortuous metallic dragon. Qianye made no effort to kill the people, but the exploding trucks knew neither friend nor foe. Whoever was near the st would be at risk of losing their lives.

    Stopping Qianye wasn¡¯t the responsibility of ordinary soldiers. This business was best left to those high-ranking officers and generals.

    Seeing that someone had taken the lead to flee, all the others started swarming over from behind. Thousands of workers and soldiers were soon scattering to the side like ants, much to the ire of the vicemander.

    He spared no expense to further increase his speed. The man soon arrived in front of Qianye like a falling star, hoping to intercept him. Suddenly, the vicemander felt his body tremble and his flight trajectory deviated obviously to the side. A graceful young noble had just appeared in his sight. This person¡¯s aura was majestic and the aqua blue sword in his hand was mysteriously blue and dazzling.

    Li Kuann never left her position. It was just that she had unsheathed her sword and was no longer hiding her existence.

    The vicemander was a decisive and ruthless character. He pointed at Li Kuann from afar and shouted, ¡°You lot keep an eye on him, the reste with me. Whoever kills Qianye will score the highest contribution!¡±

    The soldiers on the trucks had already fled at this point, leaving the empty vehicles parked on the main road. Qianye ignored the officers barring his path entirely. He pushed ahead through steel and fire, turning one vehicle after another into zing spheres.

    A fierce general finally lost his calm and pounced at Qianye with a loud roar. Thetter, on the other hand, took a step forward and rammed into the iing enemy! A loud thud echoed as the general was sent flying backward, but East Peak had already stabbed into his chest during that short exchange.

    Another general flew over weightlessly and brushed right past Qianye.

    Thetter experienced a short pause before continuing onward. It was just that a blood wound had appeared below his ribs. That general left swiftly, covering over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye. He copsed all of a sudden as he was running away, a pool of blood seeping out from under his body.

    One after the other, the city guard officers charged at Qianye like fierce beasts and were duly cut down. The burning trucks formed a natural barrier that prevented a joint assault, but the surviving officers were hell-bent on fighting Qianye to the death, enraged by the death of theirrades.

    Qianye kept moving forward, leaving corpses, steel, and raging mes in his wake. The wounds on his body increased in number and his aura was also dwindling¡ªonly his eyes were as bright and lustrous as before.

    The battle at this point had be a contest of perseverance and killing intent, a race to see who would copse first.

    A general had been roaming the periphery of the battlefield, the crosshairs on hisrge-caliber sniper rifle never leaving Qianye. Finally, just as Qianye¡¯s step faltered, he took advantage of the opening to fire at the target¡¯s back.

    The vicemander who hadn¡¯t yet taken action all this time also found the opportunity he was waiting for. He appeared in front of Qianye in the blink of an eye, thrusting his twin des at Qianye¡¯s heart.

    But at this moment, the vicemander suddenly noticed his figure being reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes. Ovee by a wave of dizziness, his dagger drifted downward and stabbed deep into Qianye¡¯s abdomen.

    The vicemander didn¡¯t look delighted at all after having dealt a heavy blow to Qianye. He looked down in astonishment and saw that East Peak had pierced diagonally through his abdomen. Only at this point did he realize that Qianye had been waiting for him all along, waiting to trade blows with him.

    Whoever made a move at this point would deal great damage to both parties. The vicemander didn¡¯t dare to move, but Qianye reached out and grabbed the vicemander toward him. Their faces were almost touching at this point!

    This action injured bothponents,cerating their wounds at the same time. During this cruel contest, the desire to live finally suppressed the vicemander¡¯s will to fight. He released his des and raised his hands, gesturing that he would surrender.

    Qianye stared into those terror-filled eyes and uttered word by word, ¡°Go back and tell them, I won¡¯t leave until they release Song Zining!¡±

    Qianye whipped East Peak out and left, not sparing the grounded vicemander a second nce.

    Blood dripped down from his sword, leaving a long trail of scarlet on the ground.

 Chapter 891: Trade

    Li Kuann finally moved toward Qianye, and the four smart generals in charge of restraining her merely stood on the sidelines. She looked calm at the moment but was akin to a surging ocean, ready to erupt once an opportunity presented itself.

    Li Kuann boldly shot through the four with a blue light flickering in her hand. The generals suddenly felt a cold sensation across their necks. Shocked, they reached out to touch the injury and soon found their hands drenched in red. Fortunately, all of them were quite calm since they were used to life and death. They quickly realized that it was just a flesh wound that had cut through a thinyer of skin on their neck.

    Nheless, they realized that if she could cut their skin, she could just as easily slit their throats. They understood that they simply couldn¡¯t stop her at all. The only reason they were alive was because Li Kuann hadn¡¯t moved at all.

    She arrived in front of Qianye and uttered through clenched teeth, ¡°You¡¯re mad!¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Qianye gave her a radiant smile.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move! How long are you going to walk with those daggers in your body?¡± Li Kuann pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder, pouring in a stream of cold energy that covered his body in ayer of ice. The frigid energy sealed his wounds and dispelled the hostile origin power within.

    Li Kuann reached out to grab one of the dagger hilts, but she ultimately lost her strength, unable to bring herself to do it.

    It was Qianye who patted her shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s fine, pull.¡±

    Li Kuann trembled, feeling as though she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. Only then did she wake up from her daze¡ªclenching her teeth and applying gradual force, she finally began dragging the de out.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°I think I¡¯ll feel less pain if you do it faster.¡±

    Li Kuann bit down and forcefully pulled the dagger out. The weapon was mottled, damaged, and only half its original size. It seemed like the de would dissolve entirely if it had stayed a while longer in Qianye¡¯s body.

    Seeing the state of the dagger, Li Kuann couldn¡¯t help but feel startled. She shot a nce at Qianye¡¯s abdomen, trying to imagine what was inside that could reduce a high-quality dagger to this state.

    In truth, the auric me blood in Qianye¡¯s veins would attempt to dissolve all external objects as a means of protecting the body. Its corrosive properties were so strong that the two daggers had been half-dissolved in a short time.

    Li Kuann¡¯s hand was much steadier when she extracted the other dagger, which was also in a simr, half-destroyed state. Li Kuann flicked her fingers, sending streams of frigid origin power to seal Qianye¡¯s injuries. Her technique was exquisite and truly worthy of admiration.

    Taking a deep breath, Qianye¡¯s face flushed red with scarlet mes erupting around his body. His aura began to recover as the frost around him dissolved and the wounds all over his body started to close up. He patted Li Kuann¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go, I need to take a break. I think they won¡¯t dare to exit the city for the time being.¡±

    Nodding, Li Kuann proceeded to walk alongside him in silence. The two just walked away without hiding their presence. Some city guards, hunters, or mercenaries would appear near them from time to time, but everyone would escape in a panic. Who would even dare attack?

    Qianye had brazenly attacked the caravan just now, moving upstream as he destroyed half the trucks on his own. At the same time, almost all of the high-ranking officers were wiped out. Only the four who were ordered to intercept Li Kuann managed to survive, finding fortune amidst the disaster. After escaping with their lives, the officers lost the courage to court death. They ignored the chaotic scene entirely and ran back to the city on their own, going so far as to leave the heavily injured vicemander behind.

    Fortunately, the vicemander¡¯s time wasn¡¯t up quite yet. A number of loyal guards undertook the risk of carrying him back to Tidehark.

    Therge area was fully covered by the city guard forces at first, but now it had turned into a scene of crushing defeat and retreat. Half of the giant merchant caravan was still intact, but it had been abandoned on the road¡ªno one paid it any attention, almost as though it had been forgotten.

    Qianye and Li Kuann slowly walked away, leaving a world of terror and carnage behind them.

    Qianye suddenly asked, ¡°Oh right, what¡¯s that letter about?¡±

    Li Kuann replied unceremoniously, ¡°You tore it apart without even looking. Why ask now?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I thought it was unnecessary just now, but now I feel like there¡¯s no harm in knowing.¡±

    ¡°It is indeed unnecessary. Luo Bingfeng wants the cultivation art with which you produced Venus Dawn, and he¡¯s willing to trade a secret art of equal value.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Who woulde up with such an idea?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he really does have an art of the same grade, perhaps it might even be useful to you. Even if that¡¯s the case, it should be his primary cultivation art. That¡¯s strange because Venus Dawn shouldn¡¯t bepatible with his current art. What does he want it for?¡±

    ¡°Who cares? I¡¯m not trading.¡± Qianye was decisive. Even if he really did want to trade, how would Luo Bingfeng react after seeing the Combatant Form and Song n Ancient Scroll?

    Li Kuann shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s a pity. I really wanted to see what kind of cultivation art can match Venus Dawn.¡±

    ¡°Any news on Tianqing?¡±

    Li Kuann shrugged. ¡°No need to worry about that slippery eel! She¡¯ll be fine even if all of us are dead.¡±

    ¡°But she hasn¡¯t appeared for a long while.¡± Qianye frowned.

    ¡°She¡¯ll appear when she wants to.¡± Li Kuann seemedpletely unconcerned.

    At this point, they were walking past a temporary camp the city guard had just erected. ¡°This ce is much better than that little hole of mine. Let¡¯s just stay here tonight!¡±

    The settlement had long since been emptied. Li Kuann naturally wouldn¡¯t refuse afortable rest, so she entered the camp with Qianye.

    The night went by just like that.

    It was almost dawn, yet the darkness of the night hadn¡¯t quite faded away. Li Kuann left amidst the morning gale, as quietly as she had arrived. Qianye also vanished into the wilderness after stocking up on supplies.

    The battlefield after the great retreat was like a cruel inferno. There were now human silhouettes moving about in small groups. They observed the surroundings cautiously as they cleaned up valuables from the field. The trucks that were left intact began rolling back toward Tidehark City, but they took great care to move only a couple of them each time, afraid that moving too many at a time would infuriate Qianye.

    Qianye was watching this scene from afar, but he had no intention of taking action. The city had dispatched the lowest level of soldiers and mercenaries, people who would serve as cannon fodder in a normal battlefield. With Qianye¡¯sbat strength and status, he had no need to attack these people, nor should he. No matter how one looked at them, these people couldn¡¯t pose the slightest threat to Qianye. All of that was on the premise that they didn¡¯t offend or anger Qianye.

    Qianye had no intention of ughtering them if only they would shrink back into the city. His real objectives were Rui Xiang and the higher-ups of Tidehark. Qianye¡¯s intuition told him that he shouldn¡¯t enter the city nor get close to Luo Bingfeng¡¯s holy mountain. Qianye had already noticed during theirst exchange that Luo Bingfeng would get weaker as he moved away from the mountain.

    This was a dangerous game. Qianye was walking on the de¡¯s edge, and the key was not to get caught.

    There was still no news of Song Zining at this point. Qianye could only hope that his disy of power and determination would frighten the people in Tidehark, forcing them to discuss terms. If only he could get Song Zining back, he was even willing to let go of Dark me entirely.

    Tidehark was suffused with a somber chill.

    All important people have gathered at the city lord¡¯s manor, even Rui Xiang. It was just that his expression was quite unsightly, refusing to utter a single word throughout the process. That was only natural since he didn¡¯t want to be here. Du Yuan had appeared personally and half-forced him to be here.

    After everyone was present, the conference room doors swung open and that strong vicemander walked in. His face was as pale as snow, his aura weak, and there was a thick bandage around his abdomen. One had to know that flesh wounds would heal overnight for an expert at his level. How was he in such a state after such a long time?

    What astonished everyone was his expression. It was empty and dispirited, not at all like that powerful expert from before.

    Du Yuan asked with a frown, ¡°Mingkang, what¡¯s with you?¡±

    That man¡¯s name was Yu Mingkang, a student and friend whom Du Yuan had raised to the position of vicemander. Hence, the two shared a fairly good rtionship.

    Hearing Du Yuan¡¯s voice, Mingkang¡¯s eyes recovered a bit of rity. He said with a smile of self-deprecation, ¡°Commander, I¡¯m actually fine, just afraid.¡±

    The conference hall fell into amotion. Du Yuan¡¯s brows locked into a tight frown. Experts at this stage were mostly resolute, full of battle-intent, and not afraid to die at the critical juncture. If they weren¡¯t afraid of death, what else should they fear? Mingkang had also managed to reach the vicemander¡¯s position by risking life and limb in battles¡ªyet he was actually admitting his fear?

    Du Yuan said, ¡°Mingkang, do you know what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    His voice echoed in the conference room like rolling thunder, suppressing the mor. Only then did the other generals quiet down, ready to listen to the developments.

    Yu Mingkang said slowly, ¡°I was really afraid. That Qianye is no human, not even a creature of flesh and blood. He¡¯s just an ice-cold killing machine, out to kill everyone in the most painful way possible. I saw nothing in his eyes when my two des sunk into his body, neither a change in expression nor a twitch in his eyebrows. Like it wasn¡¯t his body that my des had stabbed into, or as though my weapons never existed in the first ce.

    The silent Rui Xiang spoke at this point, ¡°Are you sure there was no change at all?¡±

    Yu Mingkang nodded firmly. ¡°I assure you, there was none at all, from the moment my daggers sunk into his flesh until they had reached the very end.¡±

 Chapter 892: Hunting

    Be it humans or the dark races, everyone possessed reflexive responses no matter how strong or skilled in control. For instance, a de stabbing into one¡¯s vitals would definitely elicit a minute physical reaction, no matter how well-controlled they could keep their auras¡ªthe corner of their eyes would twitch or there would be some muscle contraction in response to the nervousness.

    Yu Mingkang was so close to Qianye back then, so even the smallest of thetter¡¯s reactions couldn¡¯t have escaped his eyes. That was what shocked him the most¡ªQianye had shown no response at all as he pushed East Peak firmly into the opponent¡¯s abdomen.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he had never seen a machineing to life, Yu Mingkang would¡¯ve suspected whether Qianye was made of cold steel. Even a machine would be affected somehow, but this person wasn¡¯t.

    The conference hall went entirely silent. No one made a sound as the atmosphere chilled down to a freezing point. After a long while, one of the generals said, ¡°Perhaps he has some secret art that allows suspended animation.¡±

    No one paid him any attention.

    A person in suspended animation would see hisbat strength fall to rock-bottom. How could he heavily injure Mingkang?

    The lower-ranking generals were still puzzled as to why Mingkang was so scared, but Du Yuan and the other vicemander looked serious. Restless, Rui Xiang grabbed the hilt of his sword subconsciously.

    Du Yuan said, ¡°Enough. Mingkang, you sit down. You don¡¯t need to go to battle for a while. Just cultivate and adjust your mental state. Now, then¡­¡±

    His words came to a sudden stop midway.

    Many of the seats on the city guard¡¯s side were empty, almost half a dozen less than thest time. Almost all of the apanying officers had been wiped out in this battle, and that came as a huge blow to the city guard.

    The report had long since arrived, and it was clear that Mingkang had made no major mistakes up until the end. He had actually taken advantage of the opening tounch a powerful attack. Any other enemy would¡¯ve been defeated long ago, but unfortunately, his opponent was Qianye. These empty seats stood proof that Qianye was unbeatable even after using up Heartgrave.

    Du Yuan hesitated for a moment. ¡°Mingkang, what are your thoughts?¡±

    Yu Mingkang hadn¡¯t expected the topic to fall onto his head. He struggled internally for a while before pointing at Rui Xiang. ¡°Qianye said he won¡¯t stop until we release the prisoner. This person has boundless future potential and will no doubt be a divine champion. He can already torment us so right now¡ªhow are we to stop him after a couple of years? How many of our brethren have given up their lives? Many of them didn¡¯t even know the reason for their sacrifice, yet this old bastard hides here like a turtle! As I see it, we should either release the prisoner or let this old man deal with Qianye, we¡¯re done!¡±

    Rui Xiang¡¯s face was livid. He banged the table, roaring, ¡°Insolence! This is a disrespect to the heavenly monarch! If hees out of istion...¡±

    Yu Mingkang cut in, ¡°When hees out of istion, the first thing he¡¯ll do is ughter you! You cowardly, debaucherous, and greedy thing! You¡¯ve lost all of the heavenly monarch¡¯s face!¡±

    Rui Xiang shot to his feet and grabbed the hilt of his sword, ready to take action at a moment¡¯s notice. Yet, he felt a cold murderous intent from the side, forcing him to focus his full attention on guarding against it. Rui Xiang turned slowly toward Du Yuan and said in a cold voice, ¡°Commander Du has made great progress these years. I feel ashamed at my inferiority.¡±

    After forcing Rui Xiang back to his seat, Du Yuan retracted his killing intent. ¡°Steward Rui, there¡¯s really no need to mind me. I¡¯m already at death¡¯s door and can¡¯tst very long in battle. In my opinion, since Qianye is so difficult to deal with, why don¡¯t we just release Song Zining?¡±

    Rui Xiang banged the table furiously, saying, ¡°How can we do that? Releasing the prisoner is akin to throwing away the heavenly monarch¡¯s face. Do you not feel embarrassed being frightened by a kid?¡±

    Yu Mingkang ridiculed, ¡°The nerve of you! You don¡¯t even dare step outside the city.¡±

    Du Yuan stopped Yu Mingkang with a raise of his hand. He then stared at Rui Xiang and said slowly, ¡°Steward Rui, you will neither release the prisoner nor exin the reasoning behind things. What are your intentions? Are you trying to clip the city lord¡¯s wings?¡±

    Rui Xiang was somewhat astonished because this crime wasn¡¯t small at all. Luo Bingfeng¡¯s status was special, and even Zhang Buzhou would treat him with a degree of respect. As the old man was currently stationed in Tidehark, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to escape if the city lord was angered. ¡°Commander Du, that¡¯s going overboard. All of us are subordinates of the heavenly monarch, weakening the city lord is equal to weakening the heavenly monarch¡¯s power. I definitely won¡¯t do such a thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Does that mean Steward Rui has selfish motives?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    ¡°Fine, then. You and I will leave the city at the same time. Let¡¯s see what other abilities that Qianye has.¡±

    Rui Xiang waved his hands in shock. ¡°That¡¯s not a good n. I still have some business, so I don¡¯t have time to go out and fight.¡±

    Du Yuan¡¯s eyes flickered with a mysterious glint. ¡°What business? Pray tell. If you¡¯re not willing to speak, then I can only run to the heavenly monarch¡¯s manor and ask about it myself.¡±

    Rui Xiang¡¯s expression transformed drastically. In the end, he said with a treacherous expression, ¡°Fine then, I¡¯ll leave the city with you! You had better take care of your health, though, Commander Du. You¡¯ve been in this high position for a long time, so you probably have a lot of enemies. If some mishap befalls you, there¡¯s no telling what will happen to your family members.¡±

    The city guard generals looked over with ferocious res, but Rui Xiang nced at them with undisguised disdain. ¡°How dare a group of rag-tags bark so loud?¡±

    Du Yuan wasn¡¯t angry, though. ¡°If we don¡¯t destroy that Qianye now, it¡¯ll be Steward Rui¡¯s turn to worry about his family members after a few years.¡±

    Rui Xiang¡¯s expression became unsightly.

    The meeting was thus dismissed unhappily with both parties agreeing to fight. They reported this matter to the city lord at the same time, but the result was no different from thest instance. The audience-seekers were duly intercepted by thedy and never had the chance to meet Luo Bingfeng. Even after hearing about the grave casualties, she only responded with a curt ¡°understood¡±.

    Yu Mingkang didn¡¯t leave immediately after the meeting. He remained in the courtyard gazing up at the sky with a sigh. A general walked over and whispered, ¡°Why doesn¡¯t that old bastard dare to fight Qianye?¡±

    Yu Mingkang¡¯s state of mind had calmed down quite a bit by now. ¡°He¡¯s afraid of dying.¡±

    ¡°Afraid of death? That Qianye isn¡¯t Steward Rui¡¯s match, is he?¡± That general was clearly puzzled.

    ¡°The key here is, what if he fails to dodge that shot?¡±

    The general scratched his head. ¡°Fails to dodge? How can that be? That shotes from over a thousand meters away. Even I can evade if I¡¯m cautious, let alone him. He¡¯s still quite powerful despite the horrible character.¡±

    Yu Mingkangughed wryly. ¡°You can dodge at a thousand meters, but what about eight hundred?¡±

    The general was quite frank. ¡°Then I can only wait for death.¡±

    Yu Mingkang nodded. ¡°Exactly, even I can¡¯t dodge within five hundred meters. The old man¡¯s limit is around two hundred meters, withpletely no chance of evasion within a hundred.¡±

    ¡°But Qianye can only fire once.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that his shot once heavily injured the Wolf King. So, what we both saw isn¡¯t the gun¡¯s full power.¡±

    The general finally understood. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean the old man will die if he suffers an all-out attack from Qianye?¡±

    Yu Mingkang nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s hiding inside the city.¡±

    Outside of Tidehark, Du Yuan was d in a full set of armor as he walked alongside Rui Xiang. After donning his battle attire, this kind old man had turned into a fierce general, his fair, well-groomed face was mostly hidden behind a sinister mask.

    Rui Xiang, on the other hand, was expressionless. His eyes were like lightning as they scanned the surroundings constantly, one of his hands never leaving the hilt of his sword. Apparently, he was in a state of full alert.

    Du Yuan pointed at a nearby forest. ¡°If that Qianye was hiding there, his shot will probably kill me on the spot. Would you agree?¡±

    Rui Xiang remained utterly silent and his expression turned rather unsightly. As Luo Bingfeng¡¯s gear back in the year, Du Yuan¡¯s armor was of extraordinary quality and at least a couple of times stronger than Rui Xiang¡¯s internal armor. If even Du Yuan couldn¡¯t take a shot, then the old man¡¯s fate would be even worse.

    Seeing Rui Xiang¡¯s refusal to reply, Du Yuan added, ¡°I wonder who Qianye will target if he¡¯s around.¡±

    Rui Xiang¡¯s expression frosted up. He fished out a metallic tube from his chest and flicked it into the air, producing a wisp of fire that rose into the clouds.

    Once the signal was issued, numerous jeeps drove out from the city and rapidly fanned outward. Several indistinct human silhouettes also rushed into the wilderness, traveling even faster than the vehicles.

    Du Yuan observed the numbers and realized that Rui Xiang had dispatched all of his elite subordinates to upy key positions and restrain Qianye. Having achieved his objective, themander stopped provoking the old man and duly hastened his footsteps toward the wilderness.

    At this moment, Qianye wasn¡¯t outside of Tidehark. Instead, he was on a mountaintop several dozen kilometers away, gazing at the distant horizon. Scarlet mes danced around him as his aura gradually rose, and all parameters of his body were now close to their peak. Some of the bottleneck hurdles he could only sense vaguely before had be much clearer this time.

    Pushing back Yu Mingkang was only an appetizer, and the true struggle was yet toe. Qianye had to keep himself in his peak state in order to heavily injure the enemy and still make his escape. Only then would he have enough chips to force his opponents into releasing the prisoner.

    After a moment of silence, Qianye felt someone watching him from the side. He looked over but found the cepletely empty¡ªnot to mention a human, there wasn¡¯t even a bird there.

 Chapter 893: No Trade

    Nheless, Qianye was sure that someone was hiding there. It was just that they were highly skilled in concealment, so much so that even his Eye of Truth was rendered ineffective. Qianye had never encountered such a situation all this time. The Eye of Truth would only lose its effect against experts at the level of a heavenly monarch or close.

    Qianye broke into a frown and was just about to start searching the surroundings when he sensed something behind him.

    He looked back in time to find Li Kuann and a middle-aged man with frost clinging to the edges of this hair.

    Li Kuann said, ¡°This is Luo Bingfeng¡¯s head steward. He insisted on seeing you, so I brought him over.¡±

    That middle-aged man stepped forward with a bow. ¡°This lowly one is Luo Yun, the current head steward of the city lord manor.¡±

    Qianye sized up the man unceremoniously, even using his Eye of Truth in the process. Luo Yun openly epted the inspection and made no attempt at hiding things. This made Qianye feel bad about pressing the man too hard. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything to discuss between us at this point, that is unless you¡¯re willing to release the prisoner.¡±

    Luo Yun said, ¡°Releasing the prisoner isn¡¯t within the scope of my power, so I cannot give you a reply. Ie seeking to trade the art with which you cultivated Venus Dawn.¡±

    ¡°Then there¡¯s no need for further discussions, I refuse.¡±

    Luo Yun replied, ¡°Don¡¯t be in a rush to say no. I brought two cultivation arts with me, please take a look at them and then decide.¡±

    Qianye took the two ancient wooden boxes with a nod. He first opened one of them and found a bright golden leather scroll that read ¡°Dawn of Scarlet Gold¡±. Opening it, Qianye could sense a wisp of extremely pure origin power that caused his own to surge and swell, eager to fuse together. While he wasn¡¯t paying attention, a plume of scarlet gold me erupted from his fingertip.

    The me immediately flickered in and out of existence, but Luo Yin saw the entire process. ¡°Sire Qianye is a genius indeed. With such a level of purity means that your future is boundless, absolutely boundless!¡±

    Qianyeughed indifferently. ¡°Since you know about that, I urge you to return Song Zining. If something happens to him, I¡¯ll leave immediately and return ten yearster. At that point, this city will cease to exist.¡±

    Luo Yun was neither rushed nor angry. ¡°That¡¯s not my business. You should check the second art and then decide.¡±

    Qianye opened the golden scroll and flipped through it briefly. The exquisiteness of its contents was at the very peak of origin power condensation, and it was already above the Song n Ancient Scroll in this regard. The Glory Chapter was rather crude inparison, and the only reason it could produce purer origin power was because of its ferocity.

    Just like refining steel, an ordinary person¡¯s output quality would be limited due to insufficient strength. Meanwhile, a herculean expert¡¯s random hammering could produce a greater effect. This wasn¡¯t rted to skill, just a disparity in strength.

    Ordinary people could hardly stand the pressure brought about by channeling the Song n Ancient Scroll on its own¡ªand that was only because the Mystery Chapter was restraining its counterpart. Even Qianye, in his current state, would explode if he were to cultivate one without the other.

    Hence this ¡°Dawn of Scarlet Gold¡± was actually more valuable than the Song n Ancient Scroll. Its inferiority to the Song n Ancient Scroll was purely attributed to Qianye¡¯s inhuman constitution.

    After flipping through ten pages or so, Qianye was able to make a rough guess. ¡°This must be the madam city lord¡¯s cultivation art, right?¡±

    Luo Yun replied, ¡°Indeed, your eyesight isparable to a torch. I¡¯m full of admiration.¡±

    Qianye nced meaningfully at Luo Yun. It would seem he had added the word city lord to the title for a reason.

    Qianye put the scroll back into the box, and then opened the next one. There was a dark blue scroll here named the ¡°Mortal Enlightenment¡±. This one trained the soul and was apparently Luo Bingfeng¡¯s terrifying visual attack secret art.

    Mortal Enlightenment was a brilliant art that drew cleverly upon the basics of divination to deliver a killing blow to the target over long ranges. One would need a fairly strong foundation in divination in order to train this secret art. It almost seemed to be tailored for Song Zining.

    Just like before, Qianye only looked through a small part of it before closing the tome and handing it back. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll rob these arts and leave?¡±

    Luo Yun wasn¡¯t afraid, though. ¡°If you were such a person, you wouldn¡¯t be risking your life for your brother.¡±

    This Luo Yun understood Qianye rather well. ¡°Go back, I refuse to trade. I¡¯ll attack you the next time we meet.¡±

    Luo Yun was anxious. ¡°How about this, if you¡¯re willing to trade, I¡¯ll give you both arts. How about it?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyes lit up at the handsome offer. Actually, the Mortal Enlightenment could coordinate with many different types of cultivation arts and was extremely suited for the Li family. Every generation of the Lis was proficient in divination. Despite not cultivating it, Li Kuann still possessed a fair degree of talent and could learn it fairly quickly.

    The Dawn of Scarlet Gold, on the other hand, was a rare primary cultivation art that could produce Venus Dawn. It was definitely not inferior to the arts of the four major ns.

    Just these two arts would be enough to support a high-ranking aristocratic family. A two for one trade was an ample expression of their sincerity.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would shake his head. ¡°I won¡¯t trade. We¡¯re enemies when the next time we meet.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Even Li Kuann couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    ¡°I won¡¯t trade with people who¡¯ve captured my brother.¡± Qianye¡¯s words blocked out all of Luo Yun¡¯s prepared persuasion scenarios.

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I can only say goodbye. I hope you will show mercy toward ordinary people. After all, they are of no threat to you.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Remain inside the city to survive. You people spread out a of cannon fodder around the city and yet want me to show mercy. What a joke! Whoever dares to leave the city should be prepared to forfeit their lives.¡±

    Luo Yun left with a sigh.

    After Luo Yun¡¯s departure, Li Kaunn said with a sigh, ¡°You won¡¯t even trade for that? You sure treat Song Seven well.¡±

    Qianye remained silent. He merely brought Heartgrave out and checked it over in detail, and then walked over in the direction of Tidehark.

    ¡°Pressing so close?¡±

    ¡°I fear something will happen to Song Zining if I don¡¯t.¡±

    Li Kuann sighed secretly as she watched Qianye disappear into the distance.

    At this point, Rui Xiang and Du Yuan were standing atop a distant mountain, observing the area thoroughly. As true experts, their actions were swift, covering several dozen kilometers in the blink of an eye. Currently, they were just about to scan the regions further out.

    Rui Xiang looked rather careless, but in truth, he would sweep over every visual field with great caution, lest he suffers a sudden sneak attack. Du Yuan, on the other hand, would check every direction with due seriousness.

    ¡°When will we ever catch Qianye this way?¡± Rui Xiangined.

    Du Yuan replied, ¡°Even if we can¡¯t find him, he will find us. At worst, we¡¯ll just have to wait until he fires.¡±

    Rui Xiang snorted. ¡°One of us might fall once he attacks.¡±

    ¡°If one falls, the other can capture or kill him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the one more likely to die! Commander, you really are good at calcting!¡± Rui Xiang wasn¡¯t about to act polite. In fact, the two had already turned hostile the moment he was forced out of the city.

    ¡°Heh!¡± Du Yuan didn¡¯t reply.

    Rui Xiang felt uneasy because he was quite clear that Qianye would likely choose him out of the two. If he couldn¡¯t block that shot, what was the point even if Du Yuan could kill Qianyeter on? He would be dead by that time. Even in the off-chance that he could survive, he would still be gravely injured and forever locked out from the divine champion realm. Neither oue was eptable for him.

    He subconsciously rubbed the ring on his finger, feeling obviously pained. If worsees to worst, he would have to use this life-saving treasure.

    During this moment of distraction, Rui Xiang felt his chest tighten and was ovee by a stifling sensation. This was a sign that the enemy had locked onto him and that he was in mortal danger!

    Who else could it be apart from Qianye?

    Rui Xiang hesitated no longer. His long sword escaped its sheath as clouds of ck and white clouds spread out to form a defensive around him.

    Du Yuan sensed the change as well. Raising his brows, he plucked the giant shield from his back and nted it to the ground, after which he proceeded to scan the surroundings with eyes like lightning.

    As expected, Qianye¡¯s shot was targeted at Rui Xiang, but there was no telling from which direction the threat wasing from. This went to show that Qianye was likely at a very distant range.

    A long period of vigil passed by, yet Qianye never fired that shot. The sensation of being locked-on, however, never faded away. Rui Xiang was already sweating after a while, and Du Yuan also didn¡¯t dare stop channeling his origin power, either.

    Rui Xiang quickly realized Qianye¡¯s intentions. ¡°That vile little thief!¡±

    From such a long distance, Qianye could¡¯ve aimed without allowing them to sense the action, and then lock on at thest moment before firing. This is a trick even a rank-three sniper could use. The only differentiating factor between an expert sniper and an inferior one was the time they would take to lock-on.

    Qianye had already proven himself a master sniper, someone who could lock onto his target at the veryst moment and prevent them from reacting. Yet, he was now allowing Rui Xiang to sense his actions, apparently to make the old man expend origin power.

    However, Qianye¡¯s shot was simply too fast and too powerful. Even from a thousand meters away, there was still a small chance that Rui Xiang might be shot if he wasn¡¯t careful. Hence, the man had no choice but to keep his guard up, wasting origin power all the while.

    Du Yuan wasn¡¯t faring any better. He was also highly vignt and kept up the origin power barrier at all times.

    Pin-pointing Qianye¡¯s location was of the utmost importance at the moment. Even figuring out his general direction would extricate them from this passive predicament.

 Chapter 894: Attack

    Du Yuan and Rui Xiang nced at one another, agreeing to work together at this dangerous juncture. Nheless, Qianye¡¯s concealment was just too good. The two of them simply couldn¡¯t find him no matter how hard they tried.

    Qianye¡¯s lock-on became intermittent at this point. Apparently, thebined search was effective in threatening him, but that had little effect on the situation because Qianye could attack immediately after locking on. Du Yuan and Rui Xiang still didn¡¯t dare to be careless.

    They exchanged nces and kept on searching.

    Thus, the three began an exhausting contest of patience and endurance in the vast,plicatedndscape of the wilderness. Qianye would have to expend energy if he wanted to maintain a certain level of threat on the two. Although his own consumption was rtively small, Du Yuan and Rui Xiang were at rank seventeen in cultivation, far above Qianye¡¯s own. They were quite confident in winning a game of attrition.

    One night went by in the blink of an eye.

    Du Yuan¡¯s breathing had be somewhatbored and Rui Xiang had turned pale. Even with their cultivation, maintaining focus for the entire night was extremely tiring. Even up to this point, Qianye¡¯s lock-on would appear repeatedly like before, but there was never an opening in his stealth.

    Du Yuan heaved a long sigh as he straightened his back, but he suddenly broke into a frown and bent down once more. During that brief moment, he had sensed himself being locked onto, but the sensation vanished immediately when he changed his posture.

    Qianye¡¯s movements were still as wless as before, not revealing his position in the slightest.

    Du Yuan smiled wryly. ¡°Is this Qianye really just rank-thirteen?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m absolutely certain! I nearly caught him once, how can I make a mistake?¡±

    Du Yuan shook his head. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the first impression, I would be inclined to believe he¡¯s rank-sixteen, seventeen even.¡±

    Rui Xiang remained silent for a moment. ¡°There¡¯s really no need to talk about that.¡±

    Du Yuan paid him no attention and simply kept on muttering to himself, ¡°Boundless potential, absolutely boundless potential.¡±

    Rui Xiang¡¯s expression turned ugly. He snorted once but couldn¡¯t find the words to follow up. Having reached rank-thirteen at such an age¡ªand with such pure origin power¡ªthe sky¡¯s the limit for Qianye¡¯s future. Add to that his super-powerful killing move, he was definitely the type of enemy who had to be snuffed out in the cradle. Otherwise, one could only run to the ends of the world once he matured.

    Du Yuan took a deep breath. ¡°Now that things havee to this point, there¡¯s really no way back. The best way is to kill him with all that we¡¯ve got. Steward Rui, where is Song Zining?¡±

    Rui Xiang said with a frown, ¡°What are you nning?¡±

    ¡°Simple, we should use Song Zining as bait and try to lure Qianye out.¡±

    Rui Xiang was moved, and he said after a lengthy period of deliberation, ¡°Is there no other way?¡±

    Du Yuan sighed. ¡°Do you have a better way of luring him out?¡±

    ¡°But Qianye is adept at escape and concealment. Don¡¯t forget that he has escaped the Wolf King¡¯s grasp more than just once. I fear neither of us can stop him if he senses something wrong and flees.¡±

    ¡°I have a way to make him stay once he makes an appearance.¡±

    Rui Xiang probed, ¡°Are you nning to ask the Wolf King for help? That¡¯s impossible. He¡¯s so badly injured that it¡¯ll be a month or two at least before he can do anything.¡±

    Du Yuan said, ¡°I¡¯ll ask the madam to take action.¡±

    ¡°Madam¡­¡± Rui Xiang¡¯s gaze was filled with trepidation. That madam had always been mysterious and low-key. Rarely had anyone seen her in action, but she was already at the very peak in terms of origin power purity. It was only a matter of time for her to reach the divine champion rank.

    Rui Xiang hadn¡¯t expected Du Yuan to have a good rtionship with her, so much so that he could have her take action.

    Du Yuan had always been cautious with his words and would never boast. If he said the madam could take Qianye down, then he must seriously believe that. In terms of realbat strength, both Du Yuan and Rui Xiang were confident in defeating Qianye¡ªprovided he didn¡¯t run away. However, this wasn¡¯t an arena, and that shot of Qianye¡¯s was so powerful that it could be considered a sure kill. He also possessed the power to flee from battle, and even the Wolf King couldn¡¯t catch him. Such a person was the most terrifying type of enemy on the battlefield, much more than his threat on paper.

    The two of them were very clear that they would be at a clear disadvantage if they didn¡¯t have Tidehark behind them to provide supplies and shelter.

    Rui Xiang seemed to have a different type of apprehension, but he wasn¡¯t willing to divulge. Du Yuan didn¡¯t force him, either, and merely kept up the endless search. At this point, it had be a contest of willpower, a race to see who would make the first mistake.

    After remembering Yu Mingkang¡¯s description of Qianye, however, both parties suddenly felt less confident than before.

    Qianye was currently hiding behind some rocks less than three hundred meters away, gazing intently at the strolling Du Yuan and Rui Xiang. At this point, his breathing was calm and his aura, steady. He was almost at his peak both in terms of stamina and spirit, far from the exhausted state the other two had thought he would be in.

    If they were to notice Qianye¡¯s current condition, the two men might actually head back to Tidehark and ask Luo Bingfeng or the mysteriousdy to take over. Unfortunately, none of them did.

    Above the blood core, the Book of Darkness flickered in and out of existence as it poured down a constant stream of essence blood. Qianye had used Life Plunder during thest phase of his previous battle, and that gave him enough strength tost until the defeat of Yu Mingkang. The excess essence blood was taken up by the Book of Darkness and now being released for consumption.

    With the Book of Darkness, Qianye¡¯s battle endurance was beyond imagination. No one under the divine champion realm was his match.

    Qianye was like a hunter, stalking and exhausting his prey before he wouldunch an attack. Patience was a virtue Qianye had nevercked.

    Contending with two experts within five hundred meters was like dancing on a de¡¯s edge, since he mightpromise his location at any moment. Nheless, the entire day passed by without Qianye making a single mistake. This process actually served as a type ofbat art training. Unknowingly, Qianye¡¯sbat arts and, at the very least, his concealment, movement, and assassination skills were gradually closing in on perfection.

    Time thus went by. Under the illumination of the strong sunlight, rolling waves of heat surged up from the earth. It was so hot that everyone felt dizzy.

    Just as Qianye locked onto Rui Xiang once more, he noticed Du Yuan stagger, and a ripple appeared in his origin defenses. This might be a negligible change for an ordinary person, but for experts like Qianye, Du Yuan, and Rui Xiang, it was an opportunity that couldn¡¯t be missed.

    Qianye¡¯s hands shook ever so slightly out of instinct, producing a small shift in Heartgrave¡¯s muzzle angle.

    Du Yuan instantly realized the impending cmity. His expression changed drastically as his figure transformed into a shadow, hoping to evade this lethal blow. Meanwhile, Rui Xiang pulled away from the potential target with great swiftness, lest he gets involved in the cmity.

    A sh of lightning flickered through Qianye¡¯s mind as he forced the shifting muzzle to a stop. A luminous feather shot out from the muzzle and flew toward Rui Xiang in a beautiful arc.

    The old man¡¯s expression transformed drastically, roaring, ¡°Curse you, Old Barbarian!¡± He then jumped upward and vanished into a cloud of ck and white energy.

    The next moment, a simr cloud appeared a hundred or so meters away, and from it jumped Rui Xiang. This was a technique simr to Spatial sh, an ultimate move to get rid of a homing projectile. The man looked d and relieved when he leaped out of the monochromatic energy, while Du Yuan seemed somewhat disappointed.

    Just as the feather was about to miss, however, it made a sharp turn and vanished into the ck and white cloud as well. Soon afterward, it rushed out of the portal above Rui Xiang¡¯s head!

    Shocked out of his wits, Rui Xiang hugged his knees with a loud cry and did his utmost to spin away at an angle.

    The luminous feather brushed past him in a spray of blood, sending a severed-leg spinning into the air. Rui Xiang screamed miserably as he turned and fled toward Tidehark, not even bothering to look back.

    Fortunately, the luminous feather had also lost its energy by that point. Otherwise, Rui Xiang would surely lose his life if the projectile were to return.

    Du Yuan¡¯s face turned pale as he observed the falling limb. The leg was devoid of all vitality, much like stone or wood, and seemed like nothing would be able to restore it. The only way might be to soak it in the blood pond of an ancient vampire n. But where was one to find an ancient blood pond in the vast neutralnds? That was why Rui Xiang didn¡¯t even try to recover his leg when he fled.

    Qianye appeared from amidst the rocks and said to Du Yuan, ¡°Thank you for the help, old man.¡±

    Du Yuan replied slowly, ¡°No need, I only wanted to draw you out.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°And drawn out I am, are you not going to attack?¡±

    Du Yuan heaved a long sigh, his voice full of regrets. ¡°What difference will that make? You still have enough energy to escape. Sigh, I¡¯m old, too old.¡±

    Although Qianye¡¯s consumption was significant, his aura was still calm and he clearly possessed the power to keep on fighting. Du Yuan was d in a suit of heavy armor, so he naturally wouldn¡¯t be able to catch Qianye. That was why he had decided not to pursue a meaningless endeavor.

    Qianye put Heartgrave away. ¡°I don¡¯t have the power to kill you, either. We¡¯ll stop things here today, considering you provided an opportunity for me. I won¡¯t attack until dawn tomorrow, you can send people to clean up the battlefield and clear away the corpses. Everything will continue as usual thereafter. I should warn you, however, you won¡¯t be that lucky the next time.¡±

    ¡°Hold it!¡± Du Yuan stopped the departing Qianye and said in a cold voice, ¡°The young simply do not know the immensity of heaven and earth. Do you think I¡¯m not your match? Do you dare fight me one on one?¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t angry. He pointed calmly at the ground, saying, ¡°This is a battlefield. There might be quite a few people from Tidehark who can kill me in an arena, but here in the vast wilderness, all below the divine champion rank will die to my gun!¡±

    These words were resounding and tyrannical.

    Du Yuan had no way to retort. In his anger and urgency, he felt a rush of hot blood surge to his head and his vision going dark. As someone who had been on the battlefield for his entire life, themander didn¡¯t let his emotions show at the scene, but he was actually having a hard time suppressing the churning origin power inside his body.

    He shot a deep nce at Qianye before turning away like nothing was amiss. Qianye didn¡¯t go after him, either, and proceeded to leave as the man¡¯s figure grew distant.

    No longer able to endure after entering Tidehark, Du Yuan spat out a mouthful of dark blood.

 Chapter 895: Seeking Help

    Qianye hadn¡¯t gone very far when he heard a familiar voice. ¡°Quite confident, eh? Peerless under the divine champion realm, is it?¡±

    Qianye spun around in surprised delight and saw Ji Tianqing nearby!

    He arrived before her in one step, arms wide open in a potential hug. Ji Tianqing looked on with a spurious smile, almost as though she had no intention of moving away.

    Just as he was about to bring her into a full embrace, he suddenly exerted great force to stop his arms and retracted them just after touching her.

    Qianye sized her up from head to toe. He only felt relieved after sensing that she was full of origin power and at the peak of her spirit,pletely free from hidden injuries.

    ¡°Have you had enough? Do you want to look more? Where do you want to look?¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s questions ced Qianye in a predicament. He had forgotten that staring at ady from head to toe was an offense.

    However, Ji Tianqing had always been mysterious, and even until now, Qianye still couldn¡¯t tell what she really looked like. The two had fought many battles side by side since her arrival in the neutralnds, even fled for their lives together. He had long since considered her arade and didn¡¯t really think too much about the details.

    Now that she had brought it up, Qianye quickly recalled that she was a young girl, perhaps even younger than he had expected.

    ¡°Sorry about that. I¡¯ve been worried about you since you went missing, so¡­¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a harrumph, ¡°Worried? Howe I don¡¯t see it? You¡¯ve been more worried about Song Seven, haven¡¯t you? I think you¡¯re almost about to trade your life for him. I think you might¡¯ve agreed if the other party wanted your life in exchange.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°No, I won¡¯t. I wouldn¡¯t want that if I were Song Zining.¡±

    ¡°You just won¡¯t admit it!¡± Ji Tianqing refused to believe him.

    ¡°What happened back then?¡±

    ¡°We caught up to the Wolf King¡¯s main army with our band of rag-tag soldiers, but the Wolf King had already fled. Song Seven decided to attack and surprisingly won. We had just routed the Wolf King¡¯s main army when the people from Tidehark appeared from our nk. Song Zining wasn¡¯t that old monster¡¯s match, but after I was injured, he went all out against him to save me. In the end, he slipped up and was captured.¡±

    Qianye heaved a long sigh. He had already guessed the general story, but he felt a heavy feeling in his chest after hearing Ji Tianqing¡¯s narration.

    At the mention of that battle, Ji Tianqing¡¯s smile disappeared, and a gloominess came over her pretty face. ¡°I just finished recovering, so I returned.¡±

    ¡°How were you two ambushed?¡±

    This was the key issue. With Song Zining¡¯s skill in strategy, it was unbelievable that he would suffer such a surprise attack.

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened exactly. That day, Song Zining¡¯s divination powers suddenly disappeared. I also felt somewhat muddle-headed before the battle, unable to see through even the simplest of heaven¡¯s mystery. Now that I think about it, it was quite odd. Perhaps they have some kind of divination expert working behind the scenes to obscure our powers.¡±

    ¡°Is there a divination expert in the neutralnds?¡±

    Ji Tianqing shrugged. ¡°Who knows?¡±

    The neutralnds were chaotic and frequently besieged by void tempests. Hence, it was extremely difficult to perform divination arts in this ce. Any attempt without sufficient power and advanced secret arts would usually fail. That was why there were few divination inheritances here. Only after reaching a certain level of cultivation would experts dabble a bit in the field.

    Qianye himself only understood bits and pieces of the art, but that didn¡¯t stop him from having some general knowledge. He knew that Song Zining was already at a fairly high level, not at all inferior to a divine champion, and that Ji Tianqing was skilled in almost everything, including divination. What he couldn¡¯t figure out was how high their standards were, but they were both unfathomable as far as he was concerned.

    There was probably no ordinary divine champion who could suppress the two of them. At the very least, Qianye hadn¡¯t heard of any divine champion in the Eastern Sea area with that kind of ability.

    This was both an advantage and a disadvantage of the neutralnds. Both the empire and Evernight were skilled in divination. Usually, the top experts from each side would battle it out behind the scenes before the frontline warriors dived into the bloodbath of the field. Once the fighting had begun, the heavenly mystery in a wide area around the battlefield would be thrown into chaos.

    But that¡¯s for Evernight and the Empire. If the forces of the neutralnds ever tried to invade the mainds, they would suffer greatly in terms of divination.

    On the other hand, the Empire and Evernight would be blindfolded if they were to invade the neutralnds. They would be thrown into chaos and suffer restraints at every turn.

    Qianye knew that there was no answer to this question, so he shook his head helplessly.

    ¡°What do you n to do next? Keep on acting like a barbarian?¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t even know where he is, how will I save him? Besides, I can¡¯t enter Tidehark and Totemic Castle. There¡¯s no way even if I want to save him.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we can risk it and go into Tidehark again.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Qianye interrupted her without any hesitation. ¡°Are you crazy? Once inside Tidehark, Luo Bingfeng¡¯s power will increase greatly. From a different perspective, I think he can only disy his full power inside the city. We aren¡¯t his match once we go in. As I see it, they won¡¯t do anything to Song Zining yet because they fear us. Zining will be done for once I¡¯m captured as well.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to keep up this game of attrition?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Looking rather frustrated, Ji Tianqing said through clenched teeth, ¡°I thought you were quite smart at first. Who would¡¯ve thought you can only y the solo barbarian?¡±

    ¡°What other ns do you have?¡± Qianye shrugged.

    ¡°You can ask for help, seek reinforcements! Why must you do this on your own? Look at the people around you, isn¡¯t there anyone who can help you find reinforcements?¡± Ji Tianqing was practically asking Qianye to beg her for help.

    Qianye opened his mouth briefly but couldn¡¯t find the words to say. He was indeed used to killing on his own and rarely would he ever ask for help. He had even managed to kill his way to an opportunity under these adverse circumstances.

    But giving it some thought, Li Kuann¡¯s arrival here meant that the Li family¡¯s reach could reach this ce. Ji Tianqing¡¯s background was even more unfathomable. How otherwise could she have gotten so many secret arts?

    For Song Zining, Qianye decided to lower his status and ask Ji Tianqing for help. As for the conditions this strange, clever girl would put forth, Qianye was willing to ept all of them.

 Chapter 896: Will You Do the Same?

    But asking for help was never an easy thing to do. Qianye hesitated for a long while before saying, ¡°That¡­ Tianqing¡­¡±

    Ji Tianqing patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°Speak, this young miss might help you if you perform well.¡±

    ¡°This¡­ you know¡­ about Zining¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll depend on your performance!¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. ¡°Performance?¡±

    ¡°Simple, we have a deal if you yield your life to me.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s puzzlement turned to astonishment. ¡°This¡­ you know I already¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Ji Tianqing cut him off, ¡°Don¡¯t you even get a joke!? I¡¯m your aide, so I naturally have to apany you in saving him.¡±

    Ji Tianqing answered as if everything was right and proper. Qianye, however, was ovee by an odd expression. ¡°You¡¯re going with me?¡±

    ¡°Of course, who else is there?¡±

    Qianye felt a huge headache looming over the horizon. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say there will be powerful reinforcements?¡±

    Ji Tianqing puffed up her chest. ¡°Am I not a powerful reinforcement? How is your aide inferior to other people?¡±

    Qianye felt a string of unspoken words stuck in his chest. Heughed wryly after a long while, saying, ¡°Do you remember that you just escaped with injuriesst time?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t that old man lose a leg this time? What are you afraid of?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°You go back first, I¡¯ll wait here.¡±

    ¡°Go back? Where to?¡±

    ¡°Southern Blue, of course. Kuann is also there.¡±

    ¡°No! I¡¯m your aide, so I have to stay where you are.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°I¡¯m fine on my own.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s smile disappeared as she asked, ¡°You¡¯re ming me for implicating Song Seven, right?¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a moment. ¡°No, this matter isn¡¯t your fault since there will be idents in every battle. If someone is to me, we should me Song Zining for going to battle at that time. There was no need to destroy the Wolf King¡¯s army in such a rush.¡±

    Ji Tianqing looked at him seriously. ¡°But you still me me a bit, right?¡±

    ¡°I did, but not anymore. I would¡¯ve done the same if I were in Song Zining¡¯s shoes.¡±

    There was no telling whether she epted this exnation. ¡°Then, will you do the same if I was the one captured?¡±

    ¡°You? I¡¯ll, of course, find a way to rescue you.¡±

    ¡°I mean, will you risk your life like this?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand what she was getting at. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sighed lightly. ¡°I think I¡¯ll stay behind, I can still help you.¡±

    ¡°Just go back first, I¡¯m more certain of escaping when I¡¯m alone.¡±

    Seeing Qianye so adamant, Ji Tianqing stopped trying to convince him and simply turned to leave.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief after her departure. Then he observed his surroundings once more and went to look for a hiding ce.

    But thest few questions Ji Tianqing had asked him kept ringing in his mind. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel that there were hidden meanings in her words, but what exactly was it that she wanted to know?

    Qianye could always escape with Spatial sh even if he were to encounter Luo Bingfeng. Up until this point, the only one from whom Qianye couldn¡¯t escape was the mysterious entity in the Eastern Sea. No matter how powerful Ji Tianqing¡¯s secret arts were, there was no ability on par with Spatial sh in terms of a swift escape. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have been injured by Rui Xiang.

    Hence, there was no way Qianye could keep her at his side. Additionally, there was a different notion that he couldn¡¯t bring up with her. He was afraid that Song Zining would suffer more and more as time went by, or even have his life threatened. At this point, Qianye felt that the pressure he was giving the other party wasn''t high enough.

    So, he decided to sneak into Tidehark.

    The most powerful targets inside the city were Luo Bingfeng and that mysterious woman. Qianye wasn¡¯t crazy enough to go and rm them¡ªhis target this time was Rui Xiang.

    Every step inside the city would be fraught with danger and Qianye wasn¡¯t even sure if he could escape from Luo Bingfeng a second time. His refusal of Ji Tianqing¡¯s advice was just so that she wouldn¡¯t follow him in.

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t go very far. She remained gazing at Tidehark from a distance and, looking at the time, felt that Qianye should¡¯ve gone into the city by now. It was just that she didn¡¯t know what Qianye was nning to do.

    One day passed by just like that. It was dusk over Tidehark when a pir of mes rushed into the sky and lit up half the city.

    A person¡¯s figure flickered about in the mes as he flew out of the city.

    It was at this time that a shocking aura emerged from atop the holy mountain, almost as though there was a pair of bestial eyes staring at the flying figure.

    An indescribable force appeared out of thin air and bore down from the sky. It was like a giant Buddhist bell trying to cover that fleeing silhouette. Just as the attack was about to connect, however, the shadow shed out of existence!

    An astonished Luo Bingfeng appeared above where Qianye had disappeared. It was as though he hadn¡¯t expected Qianye to actually escape from under his eyes. His lightning gaze tore through the vast night andnded at a certain spot outside of the city.

    Qianye¡¯s figure happened to appear at that point, staggering and almost stumbling as he did so. That location was already several thousand meters away from the city, but that distance was nothing to an expert. Luo Bingfeng snorted with a cold expression and made to give chase.

    However, a graceful figure jumped out from the shadows and left with Qianye in its arms, fleeing at such great speeds that it even astonished Luo Bingfeng.

    That gentledy appeared beside Luo Bingfeng. ¡°Let¡¯s go back, we can¡¯t catch them anyway. He didn¡¯t cause a lot of damage, either.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng snorted heavily. ¡°No damage my a*s! I have one vicemander dead, the other injured, and Steward Rui has lost a leg. Now he¡¯s burned my prison. Is this Qianye really courting death?¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°I think this person isn¡¯t so bad. He¡¯s willing to risk life and limb for his brethren, repeatedly no less. How good would it be if we had friends like that?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s not mention the past.¡±

    He nced at the raging mes and said, ¡°Humph, this Qianye can¡¯t be allowed to repeat his tricks. I¡¯ll definitely keep him here the next time hees!¡±

    Thedy¡¯s gaze shifted about, but she only sighed without trying to dissuade him.

    Luo Bingfeng unleashed a loud shout, ¡°Everyone, meet me at the city lord¡¯s manor.¡±

    His clear, resounding voice spread to every corner of Tidehark. After hearing this call, Du Yuan led the city guard generals toward the manor and even Rui Xiang¡¯s men weren¡¯t exempted.

    ¡°Bingfeng, you¡­¡±

    Luo Bingfeng waved his hand. ¡°No need to dissuade me, I¡¯ve already made a decision. So much has happened these days, how long do you n to hide them from me!?¡±

    Sighing, thedy followed Luo Bingfeng as he flew toward the city lord manor.

    By the time Luo Bingfeng arrived at the city lord manor and entered the main hall, all qualified personnel had already assembled. Even Rui Xiang was here, albeit looking fairly pale. Although he had all four limbs on him at this point, his sitting posture was a bit unnatural. Clearly, that new leg couldn¡¯t be utilized naturally just yet.

    Luo Bingfeng sat down at the central seat with thatdy upying the seat beside him.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s lightning gaze scanned everyone in the hall. ¡°What exactly is going on? Why would Qianye keep attacking us day and night?¡±

    All eyes fell upon a distressed Rui Xiang. He could deny Du Yuan¡¯s request, but he couldn¡¯t say no to Luo Bingfeng. This city lord had always acted on his own, and Zhang Buzhou wouldn¡¯t say anything if he were to kill Rui Xiang.

    Seeing that he could no longer hide from this matter, Rui Xiang said, ¡°City Lord, there¡¯s a reason for this. That Song Zining is simply too arrogant. He actually wanted to take down the Wolf King¡¯s army. I took action and captured that little thief since we¡¯re all subordinates of the heavenly monarch. Heh, turns out that the so-called future god of military strategy is just so-so.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s brows knitted tightly together. ¡°Where is that Song Zining, right now?¡±

    Rui Xiang hesitated for a while. ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°Where is Song Zining!?¡± Luo Bingfeng asked once more, his voice suffused with a frosty intent.

    Rui Xiang forced a reply, ¡°City Lord, this matter is rted to the heavenly monarch and it¡¯s not a big matter.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s face turned gloomy. ¡°How dare you hide things from me!? Do you really think the heavenly monarch will seek trouble if I kill a servant?¡±

    Rui Xiang was livid, yet he also knew that Luo Bingfeng wasn¡¯t wrong. He would be inviting mortal trouble by dragging things on. Not to mention the fact that he hadn¡¯t recovered from his injuries, he might not be able to flee even if he was at his peak.

    ¡°This Song Zining¡­ is in Totemic Castle right now.¡± With that, Rui Xiang mmed up and gazed at his feet, apparently feeling quite hateful.

    Luo Bingfeng paid him no attention, but the Totemic Castle made him frown. Even with the Wolf King injured, anything rted to him spelled trouble.

    It was at this time that the conference room doors opened and an aide walked in. He arrived beside Luo Bingfeng and whispered, ¡°City Lord, Her Excellency Caroline from Thunderfrost Temple seeks an audience.¡±

    ¡°Caroline? Why is she here?¡± Luo Bingfeng had never had any rtionship with the Thunderfrost Temple. Caroline¡¯s arrival here was an unusual move indeed.

    All the divine champions of the neutralnds were privy to the secrets of Tidehark and the holy mountain. They also knew that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s strength would increase sharply within the city. Entering Tidehark was like forfeiting half of their lives, so fewer and fewer experts were willing to visit over the years.

    Luo Bingfeng said, ¡°Ask her to wait in the lounge, I¡¯lle soon.¡±

    Caroline was seated calmly in the lounge, that famous whip of hers stowed away in a box near her. This was a sign of respect for the master of the house, a sign that she came in peace.

 Chapter 897: Explanation

    The Thunderfrost Temple was by no means a major power in the neutralnds, but no one could ignore its existence. The main reason was that the temple¡¯s inheritance was special, producing a divine champion in every generation¡ªand two in this one. A divine champion was a divine champion, no matter how weak. Hence, Luo Bingfeng wouldn¡¯t break off courtesies without rifying the situation, no matter how arrogant he was.

    As someone who cultivated the power of lightning and thunder, Caroline was straightforward. ¡°I heard you¡¯ve captured a person called Song Zining, I hope you can hand him to me. I¡¯ll meet your demands as much as possible.¡±

    ¡°Song Zining, again.¡± A faint radiance appeared in Luo Bingfeng¡¯s eyes, causing all objects in the room to be somewhat warped and distorted. Even the whip-box was starting to see sparks all over its surface, a reaction from the weapon inside.

    It was only natural that he would be angry. Tidehark had been turned upside down these days, with grave casualties among the city guard and its generals. Although Yu Mingkang was alive, his will had been damaged and with it, his future prospects.

    The root of all this was Song Zining. Now that Caroline was visiting for Song Zining as well, how could he not get angry?

    Caroline sat unmoving, allowing Luo Bingfeng¡¯s killing intent tond on her body.

    The mysteriousdy appeared in the guestroom at this moment. A gentle power showered down like spring rain and nullified the killing intent in the room.

    She sat down beside Luo Bingfeng and said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. Bingfeng has been in a bad mood these days. I hope Your Excellency Caroline will forgive hisck of manners. I am curious, though. What is your rtionship with Song Zining that you would travel thousands of kilometers to this ce?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng kept his silence as he gazed at Caroline with a trace of murderous intent.

    Caroline wasn¡¯t his match, to begin with, and that was especially true now that she was in the city.

    Caroline knew this question was key. ¡°Actually, I didn¡¯te here for Song Zining, I came for Qianye. But Qianye won¡¯t leave if you don¡¯t release Song Zining, so I want to know what it¡¯ll take for you to release him.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng seemed like he was about to act up, but thedy calmed him down by patting his hand. ¡°Your Excellency Caroline, what is your rtionship with Qianye that you would put in so much effort?¡±

    Caroline replied frankly, ¡°I have an agreement with him. It¡¯s rted to a life-long dream of my family, but I think I¡¯ll not discuss this with you.¡±

    The woman nodded. ¡°Releasing Song Zining is not in our power. If you want him to leave, have Qianyee and discuss things with us. He¡¯s done so much damage, so he needs to give us an exnation.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s brows knitted into a frown. ¡°That means City Lord and Madam refuse to negotiate?¡±

    The woman smiled gently. ¡°This matter isn¡¯t impossible to negotiate, but we need Qianye to talk to us. As for the terms, perhaps we¡¯ll think of something when we see him.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll make things clear. If Qianye dies in your hands, then Tidehark will be my enemy henceforth! I might not be your match, but you can¡¯t leave the city, either. So, everyone in the city better be careful when they leave.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng pped the armrest of his chair and said in a cold voice, ¡°Humph! How bold! If not out of consideration for your personal visit, I could kill you right away!¡±

    Caroline seemed entirely unafraid. ¡°If you kill me, my brother will naturally seek revenge. Then, we¡¯ll see who in Tidehark apart from you will survive. Even the madam might not get away unscathed.¡±

    The woman sighed lightly. She said while holding Luo Bingfeng¡¯s hand, ¡°Bingfeng, she came with sincerity, why the need for this? Besides, this matter happened because some people made decisions on their own. Why would you need to help them shoulder this burden?¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts, you go back to the courtyard, I¡¯lle in a while.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng nodded and left after shooting Caroline a nce. Only the twodies were left behind in the conference hall.

    Thedy gazed calmly at Caroline. She was neither angry nor apprehensive, but Caroline actually felt less confident under her gaze.

    ¡°Your Excellency, your determination is really great.¡± Caroline felt her heart skip a beat, suddenly afraid of what the other party would say next.

    Fortunately, thedy only revealed a meaningful smile and didn¡¯t keep on speaking. ¡°We understand your intentions now, but how to handle this matter isn¡¯t our decision alone. I¡¯ll discuss this with Bingfeng and perhaps put forth some conditions soon.¡±

    Caroline hadn¡¯t expected the conversation to go so smoothly. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take my leave first and await your decision.¡±

    Thedy rose to send off her guest, asking intentionally or otherwise, ¡°Is the Song n here?¡±

    ¡°Song n?¡± Caroline was startled. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I have no contact with them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, all is well then.¡± Thedy followed Caroline out of the residence doors and only turned back after she had left.

    Luo Bingfeng was currently seated in his study, frowning and deep in thought. Luo Yun was standing by his side, waiting silently for hismand.

    The woman witnessed this scene as she walked in. ¡°I¡¯ve sent her off. It seems she¡¯s unrted to the Song n, she only came for Qianye.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng snorted. ¡°This matter is goingpletely out of hand. Tidehark¡¯s face will be lostpletely if we don¡¯t deal with it. A mere Caroline isn¡¯t enough to move me.¡±

    Thedy smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about that brother of hers.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said coldly, ¡°He might not be my match, either.¡±

    Thedy said with a sigh, ¡°You¡¯ve been in istion for so many years, yet you still can¡¯t get rid of yourpetitive nature. As I see it, her demands aren¡¯t high, and she¡¯s just worried we¡¯ll kill Qianye. She won¡¯t make an enemy of us as long as the boy isn¡¯t killed or crippled.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said coldly, ¡°des and spears have no eyes. So what if he¡¯s killed or crippled?¡±

    Thedy rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve been an important character for so long and speak as if things are so easy. If you and I don¡¯t attack, which one of your subordinates can hurt him? All they can do is get beaten up. He even managed to escape from you just because of a small dy.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng remained silent for a short while. ¡°This child¡¯s talents are indeed rare, one of the best I¡¯ve seen in my life. But it¡¯s pure insolence if he thinks he can escape a second time!¡±

    ¡°You, must youpete even with a junior? Enough, it¡¯s dragged on too long, we should go back now. Just leave matters here to them, okay?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t respond. He stood up in delight and said to Luo Yun, ¡°I¡¯ll leave that matter to you, use the thing I gave you.¡±

    Luo Yun affirmed the order and left.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? So mysterious,¡± the woman asked.

    ¡°Just a small matter, not worth a mention.¡±

    Seeing that Luo Bingfeng wasn¡¯t willing to divulge, thedy decided not to keep asking.

    At this moment, Ji Tianqing was running through the vast mountains with Qianye on her back, stopping only after dashing into a beautiful valley.

    She threw Qianye onto the ground and rushed to the nearby creek for a drink. Only afterward did she heave a long sigh andy t on the ground. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m exhausted!¡±

    Qianye mbered up with a wry smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t have it easy, either.¡±

    Ji Tianqing red at him. ¡°You only yed a supporting role, what are youining about?¡±

 Chapter 898: Terms

    Qianye wanted to defend himself since assisting the flight with his origin power wasn¡¯t that easy, either. Nheless, he ultimately decided to keep quiet since there was no outtalking this young miss¡¯ temper and sharp tongue.

    After a period of rest, Ji Tianqing said, ¡°What did you do in the city that you were chased down like this? You would¡¯ve been captured if I wasn¡¯t waiting there for you.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to interrogate Rui Xiang at first, and see if I can figure out Song Zining¡¯s fate. Who would¡¯ve thought that old man would be so shrewd? He activated a certain mechanism and fled, activating a city-wide rm in the process.¡±

    ¡°Did you get anything out of him?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Nope, but I broke his other leg. I think he¡¯ll speak up the next time.¡±

    Ji Tianqing red at Qianye. ¡°Next time my a*s!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°There¡¯s no other way.¡±

    Ji Tianqing leaned forward and tapped at his chest. ¡°Your escape ability is indeed powerful, but it¡¯s notpletely unrivaled. The city lord managed to figure out your target destination. Do you think you can still escape from him next time?¡±

    ¡°I can still use it one more time.¡±

    ¡°Then? Find a ce to hide?¡±

    Qianye had no choice but to admit. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said angrily, ¡°So what if you can sh away one more time? That fiery-eyed city lord just needs to stand in the air and let his subordinatesb thend, little by little.¡±

    This problem was on point. Actually, Qianye had also thought about this, but he simply wasn¡¯t willing to give up on rescuing Song Zining.

    The worst-case scenario had happened during his entry into the city. Although he had managed to activate Spatial sh and leave the city, the city lord had still managed to sense his target location.

    Originally, Qianye had nned to execute a second Spatial sh and find a ce to hide with his Bloodline Concealment. The dangers of this n were self-evident¡ªLuo Bingfeng could trap Qianye with Ji Tianqing¡¯s method and find his location sooner orter.

    Spatial sh was powerful, but Qianye¡¯s current strength wasn¡¯t enough to jump long distances or multiple times. The power Andruil left behind back then had actually transported Qianye hundreds of kilometers away.

    Noticing Qianye¡¯s silence, Ji Tianqing asked once again.

    Qianye had no answer no matter how many times he was asked. Ji Tianqing eventually stopped asking after understanding this. She only sighed lightly, saying, ¡°Well then, just promise me you won¡¯t enter Tidehark again, okay? It¡¯ll be over for Song Seven once you die.¡±

    Qianye finally nodded. ¡°Fine, I promise.¡±

    Ji Tianqing finally smiled as she produced several bags of food and ammunition. ¡°I¡¯ll be gone for a while. You should rest well before going back there, don¡¯t rush. Perhaps there¡¯ll be some new developments after a couple of days.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat startled. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    ¡°Seek powerful reinforcements of course! How can we save that stupid Song Seven on our own?¡±

    Qianye sat down to cultivate after Ji Tianqing¡¯s departure, waiting patiently until his origin power was at its peak. Luo Bingfeng was so powerful that there were only a handful of people in the empire who could suppress him with rtive certainty. Hence, Qianye was still a bit skeptical about Ji Tianqing¡¯s potential reinforcements. On the other hand, he would still have to keep up the pressure on Tidehark even if she could bring back support.

    But Qianye was in no rush after provoking Luo Bingfeng into action. Right now, all he needed to do was let people see that he was fine and that hisbat strength was intact.

    ...

    Another uninvited guest had arrived in Southern Blue.

    Luo Yun, dressed in ordinary mercenary attire, arrived unobstructed at the Dark me headquarters to meet Li Kuann.

    Li Kuann¡¯s countenance was clear, free from the hardships of mortal life. She picked up her teacup with jade-like fingers and said after taking a small sip, ¡°What good news does Steward Luo bring for his seconding?¡±

    Luo Yun felt a bit surprised because Li Kuann seemed different from thest he had met her. Back then, she was like an unsheathed de¡ªher momentum was iparably sharp, almost to the point of being rude. The current Li Kuann was calm, graceful, and impressive. Even her action of drinking tea waspletely perfect.

    If the previous Li Kuann was a peerless swordsman, the current her was a master of the imperial residence. The former quality could be trained, but thetter was a temperament brought about by one¡¯s upbringing. This was what shook Luo Yun.

    The steward suppressed his astonishment and said respectfully, ¡°Mister Li, Ie in the city lord¡¯s name to discuss an exchange.¡±

    Li Kuann said indifferently, ¡°Didn¡¯t wee to a result back then? Why are you back?¡±

    ¡°The city lord is determined to go through with this trade. He¡¯s suggested some new terms for your consideration.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t inquire about the offer. ¡°Determined you say¡­¡±

    At this point, a certain person beside her said with a cold harrumph, ¡°What a big tone of voice.¡±

    Luo Yun was shocked out of his wits to find an old man sitting beside Li Kuann. His facial features were ordinary, without any special characteristics to speak of. It was he who had mocked the steward, but thetter hadn¡¯t noticed his presence at all while entering the room!

    The old man closed his eyes after saying those words. Luo Yun also shifted his gaze to the floor, not daring to look at him for too long. Luo Yun found his memory of the old man fading rapidly after looking away, and he was no longer able to remember his appearance after a while.

    He was worried that he would anger the elderly man if he were to look over again. Luo Yun wasn¡¯t afraid of death, but he didn¡¯t want to dy the city lord¡¯s business. Li Kuann¡¯s noble demeanor also made it difficult for one to look straight at her. Luo Yun wasn¡¯t willing to offend anyone at this point.

    Fortunately, Li Kuann finally said, ¡°So what does the city lord have in mind?¡±

    Luo Yun said, ¡°The city lord wishes to trade Song Zining for Qianye¡¯s cultivation art.¡±

    Li Kuann was somewhat moved, not expecting such an offer. After some deliberation, she said, ¡°What is Song Seven¡¯s situation? Your city lord can forget about it if we¡¯re just trading for a cripple.¡±

    Luo Yun replied, ¡°With Qianye¡¯s character, he will surely do the trade as long as Song Zining remains alive. Can Mister Li decide for him?¡±

    These words were fairly sharp, but Li Kuann seemed unaffected. ¡°I thought Steward Luo was knowledgeable at first, but you¡¯re apparently quite short-sighted. It would seem the neutralnds isn¡¯t a good ce.¡±

    A sh of anger appeared in Luo Yun¡¯s eyes. ¡°How am I short-sighted? Do exin.¡±

    Li Kuann replied calmly, ¡°A secret art capable of cultivating Venus Dawn is priceless. What¡¯s more, Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn is even purer than the Madam City Lord. Even a heavenly monarch will be moved by aplete art of this level. Won¡¯t you say I can just as easily invite a heavenly monarch with it and have him wipe Tidehark off of the surface of the earth?¡±

    As calm as Luo Yun was, he couldn¡¯t help but reveal an astonished expression. ¡°But you won¡¯t be able to save Young Noble Zining that way.¡±

    Li Kann said indifferently, ¡°If Zining dies, all rted people will apany him. That¡¯s not a loss.¡±

    Luo Yun said, ¡°These are the neutralnds, not the empire. Even the power of the Song n might not reach this far.¡±

    Li Kuann replied indifferently, ¡°Just as I said, do you think that person on the Throne of Blood will interfere if a heavenly monarch arrives for a short while?¡±

    ¡°So what if a heavenly monarches? He can¡¯t stay for very long. Destroying a city is simple, but it¡¯s not so easy to kill everyone. Mister Li and Qianye will have to worry about their own safety before a heavenly monarch really arrives.¡±

    Luo Yun¡¯s words were quite harsh. The old man near Li Kuann opened his eyes and shot him a nce. The moment their eyes met, the steward felt as though he had been struck by a sledgehammer and almost cked out from the pain.

    The sensation receded in a sh, leaving Luo Yun drenched in sweat and gasping for air. It took quite a bit of effort for him to remain standing.

    The old man finally looked straight at him. ¡°You¡¯re actually standing, your foundation is quite solid it seems. On ount of that, I¡¯ll tell you a bit more. Just let your city lord and madame if they want to touch Kuann, I¡¯ll see if they can even enter Southern Blue.¡±

    Luo Yun had no words to follow up with, and he was also extremely shocked. He couldn¡¯t quite guess how a terrifying expert of this caliber would appear near Li Kuann, but thinking back to her grace and poise, it didn¡¯t seem so strange all of a sudden. It was just that Luo Yun didn¡¯t dare to keep connecting the dots and guess her true identity.

    Li Kuann said, ¡°Steward Luo, there¡¯s no meaning in beating around the bush. What is Young Noble Song¡¯s condition? If you¡¯re still not willing to talk, then you may go back. There¡¯s no need toe back again, either.¡±

    Luo Yun replied, ¡°Umm, Young Noble Song is fine. The city lord promises that he will neither be crippled or suffer hidden injuries that will affect his potential.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just say so sooner?¡±

    Luo Yun smiled wryly. ¡°I thought I could gain some more benefits for the city lord.¡±

    Li Kuann said coldly, ¡°Without sufficient strength, what do you think your mouth alone will get you?¡±

    Luo Yun was speechless.

    Li Kuann took another sip of her tea before saying slowly, ¡°These terms aren¡¯t sufficient. If he wants Qianye¡¯s art, tell him he should offer Song Seven in addition to Mortal Enlightenment.¡±

    Luo Yun was surprised. ¡°That might not be appropriate! We should let Mister Qianye decide.¡±

    ¡°This is thest condition. There will be no further discussion if he doesn¡¯t agree.¡± With that, Li Kuann waved her right hand in a gesture to send off the guest.

 Chapter 899: Slaughter Qianye?

    Li Kuann¡¯s attitude was unexpectedly unyielding, so much so that even the experienced Luo Yun didn¡¯t know what to do. Besides, it wasn¡¯t suitable to adopt a harsher tone with that mysterious old man around. At least Luo Yun understood that his mental defenses had copsed and that it was impossible for him to extract more benefits.

    He sighed secretly, understanding that the appearance of that mysterious elder had reversed the scales. At the very least, Southern Blue was no longer in a situation of certain-loss. It was impossible to force more concessions from Li Kuann under such circumstances.

    Luo Yun acted decisively after deducing the situation. ¡°It¡¯s settled then. But there¡¯s a small step both parties should go through. The city lord has a special secret art that can be trained in one day. Both parties must channel this art at the same time during the transaction to make sure they have kept their promises. I hope Mister Li can hand the art to Qianye and tell him that he must finish cultivating it before the exchange.¡±

    Li Kuann received the ancient scroll from Luo Yun. Her brows twitched slightly as she nced through the contents. ¡°Heart Reflection! Who would¡¯ve thought this kind of inheritance still existed in the neutralnds?¡±

    Luo Yun was astonished. ¡°Mister Li knows this secret art?¡±

    Li Kuann sneered, ¡°This is just a minor divination technique. It¡¯s just that the requirements are high and it doesn¡¯t have many uses, so it faded away gradually. What¡¯s so special about it?¡±

    Luo Yun¡¯s haughtiness waspletely gone at this point. ¡°It¡¯s best if Mister Li knows about the art. Where do we perform the exchange?¡±

    Li Kuann gave it some thought before replying, ¡°Three dayster, the ce where Song Zining was captured.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll arrive on time.¡±

    Just as Luo Yun was saying his farewell, Li Kuann said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the city lord allowed you to barter with both arts plus Song Seven?¡±

    Luo Yun shook his head helplessly. ¡°How can that be? The city lord¡¯s bottom line is Young Noble Song Zining and one of the two arts. But Qianye doesn¡¯t need a better cultivation art, either, so two arts or one makes no difference.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded and then asked her subordinates to send Luo Yun out.

    When the room waspletely empty, Li Kuann¡¯s expression changed drastically. She shot to her feet and dashed for the door. Her movements were as quick as lightning, arriving at the threshold in a single sh and seemingly about to make her exit. A figure suddenly appeared in her vision at this moment. It was that old man.

    The elder stood at the center of the door, blocking it firmly. Li Kuann was less than three meters away when he had appeared. Considering the speed at which she was traveling, there wasn¡¯t even any time to think at such a distance.

    Her hair stood on end, and she almost let out a scream. Fortunately, she reacted quickly by tapping the door frame and moving her entire body along the wall, toward the window.

    Her movements weren¡¯t slow. Weaker champions wouldn¡¯t even be able to see clearly how she had changed her direction, only the afterimages.

    However, it was a different world in Li Kuann¡¯s eyes and ears. The window was clearly empty and she would reach the vast world outside just by going through it. Yet, when she changed directions just now, she could hear the old man¡¯s coughing from that direction.

    Li Kuann understood that the sound and image might be false, but one thing was certain¡ªthe old man would be waiting there for her.

    Being the talented person she was, Li Kuann made a sharp change in direction and barreled toward the wall. It looked like she actually wanted to crash right through. Now, this was an unexpected move¡ªonce she had broken through the wall, she would reach the vast world like a bird freed of its cage.

    But this fragile, easily-broken wall suddenly became iparably firm as a soft but toughyer of origin power appeared on it. Caught entirely off-guard, Li Kuann crashed right into it and was bounced away, staggering backward from the impact. Her ram was enough to destroy a tank, yet this thin wall waspletely fine and not even a piece of concrete had fallen off.

    The impact was severe. Li Kuann had gone all out, so this was equal to her taking an all-out blow from herself. Her blood and qi went churning, her face flushed, and her eyes dazed as she gasped for breath.

    Just as she was wavering and unable to find her footing, she heard the elder¡¯s voice, ¡°I must convey the empress¡¯ words as I was asked to, otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to report back to her majesty. Please don¡¯t make things difficult for me. This is what she said, ¡®Kuann isn¡¯t young anymore and needs to seek a rtionship¡­¡¯¡±

    Li Kuann screamed while covering her ears. ¡°I¡¯m not listening, I¡¯m not listening!¡±

    Yet no matter how hard she tried to cover her ears, the old man¡¯s voice still echoed quite clearly in her senses. The sound was akin to waves crashing onto the rocky cliffs, so much so that they would reverberate in her consciousness even with her ears covered.

    The old man arrived beside Li Kuann with a sigh. ¡°Even if you use that man to drag things out, it¡¯ll only happen once. You can dodge one, but you can¡¯t dodge fifty. I must still convey the words I must convey, unless you can escape this room and never let me find you.¡±

    Li Kuann remained silent. The situation was already clear at this point¡ªit would take more than a couple more years of training to escape from the old man¡¯s hands.

    Seeing that Li Kuann had resigned herself to fate, the old man said with a smile, ¡°That¡¯s more like it. This saves me a lot of trouble, and I¡¯ll be able to report back sooner. I¡¯ll continue then¡­ I¡¯ll repeat the message once more after this. My mission would be consideredplete after you¡¯ve thrice heard the message.¡±

    The old man¡¯s lips moved slightly, sending a string of fine words echoing in Li Kuann¡¯s ears. She knew each and every word as well as their meaning, yet she couldn¡¯t ept the resultant message when they werebined. She had never even thought about it.

    Even though she had heard it once, Li Kuann still turned pale and weak after hearing the missive a second time. She looked like a soldier who had juste out of a great battle.

    The old man hesitated for a while before asking, ¡°Just one time left. Do you want to drink some tea to calm down?¡±

    Li Kuann clenched her teeth. ¡°No need! Just go ahead, the earlier one dies, the quicker he can reincarnate!¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°There is no such thing as reincarnation, and uttering such absurdities would only harm one¡¯s status. It¡¯s fine to say what you want outside, but you won¡¯t escape punishment if the Empress hears of it.¡±

    ¡°Enough rubbish, quick!¡± Li Kuann had abandoned all forms of upbringing and manners at this point.

    The old man would surely have lectured her under normal circumstances, but she was in an agitated state of mind right now and he didn¡¯t want to further upset her. It wouldn¡¯t be good if she was forced into taking drastic actions.

    The old man repeated the message once more in a constant tone.

    After he had finished hisst word, Li Kuann was weak and drenched in sweat. She sat dazed in her chair with neither movement, thought, nor words, much like a lifeless statue.

    ¡°My job is done, is there anything you want to ask me?¡±

    Li Kuann blurted out, ¡°What if I don¡¯t obey?¡±

    ¡°Everyone knows the Empress¡¯ way of doing things, I would suggest you do as she says. Nothing good wille out of angering her. Besides, Her Majesty is doing this for your own good and the Li family¡¯s. Otherwise, why would she send these old bones so far just to deliver a message? Making me work isn¡¯t hard, but it¡¯s not so easy, either.¡±

    Li Kuann whispered, ¡°I know it¡¯s for the Li family, but me¡­¡±

    ¡°I must say some fair words here, this is indeed for your own good. You should know that some things aren¡¯t in your scope of choice.¡±

    Li Kuann only sighed.

    The old man seemed much more rxed. He picked up a cup of tea and sipped it slowly, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve been pondering about the Empress¡¯ intentions. Although there¡¯s a lot to do back in the pce, I¡¯m really in no rush to go back. I¡¯ll stay here for three more days. I can help you with some things if it isn¡¯t anything major.¡±

    Li Kuannughed wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t dare owe you a favor.¡±

    ¡°I just said I won¡¯t do anything big, so you don¡¯t owe me a favor.¡±

    ¡°What does big entail?¡±

    ¡°Anything below divine champion isn¡¯t a big matter.¡±

    Li Kuann said all of a sudden, ¡°Can you kill Qianye for me?¡±

    The old man was startled. He then broke into augh, saying, ¡°I haven¡¯t lived long enough. I don¡¯t want my head to roll once I go back to the Empress.¡±

    ¡°Then ughter Song Seven! I¡¯m sure he¡¯s the one ying all these tricks!¡± Li Kuann said through clenched teeth.

    ¡°Now this is a bit more reliable. Unfortunately, this matter is also rted to the seventh young noble. The Empress has already taken notice of him, so I can¡¯t touch him just yet, but I can think of a way after this entire business has been dealt with.¡±

    Li Kuann was sent into a daze. ¡°What¡¯s the use of killing him after everything is over?¡±

    The old man said lightly, ¡°It¡¯s just to vent. Even if we don¡¯t kill him, we can still let him feel some pain.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of beating him up at that point!?¡±

    The old man turned away with augh, leaving only Li Kuann in the room.

    Li Kuann sat alone in the room. The more she thought about this matter, the more frustrated she felt, and all of sudden, she started bawling her eyes out. Although she didn¡¯t cry out loud, tears streamed down until she couldn¡¯t wipe them clean no matter how hard she tried.

    So there were things in this world that the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace couldn¡¯t cut.

    The sun started to set and had soon submerged behind the distant mountains. The scarlet clouds in the sky gradually darkened, leaving only a trace of deep red. The night winds kicked up from all directions as the bright moon appeared in the east and the stars flickered behind theyers of clouds.

    The lounge was so dark that one could hardly see the scenery inside. Li Kuann was still there with seemingly no intention of switching on the lights.

    After a long while, the chamber doors were kicked away with a boom, shattering on the opposite building wall. The other building even sank in slightly, a testament to just how powerful this kick was.

    Li Kuann walked out into the darkness and soon vanished around the corner of the corridor. The guards only heard themotion at this point. Shocked by the devastation at the scene, they immediately sounded the rm.

    Numerous mercenaries rushed over to find that the old man had appeared beside the lounge. ¡°Kuann is in a bad mood right now, don¡¯t mind her. Just clean this ce up.¡± He then disappeared.

    Everyone knew that this old man¡¯s rtionship with Li Kuann was extraordinary, so none of them dared to question him further. They simply buried their heads into cleaning up the mess.

    Outside of Tidehark, Qianye was atop a tall peak, gazing at the big city from afar. A cold intent appeared behind him at this point!

 Chapter 900: A Bit Difficul

    ¡°Killing intent!¡± Qianye suddenly became alert and reached out to grab the sword on his knees.

    Yet his movements were still a tiny bit too slow. A wisp of frigid intent touched the back of his neck. Any other expert wouldn¡¯t dare to move at all because that was a vital point, and the sharp, prative aura could easily snap his cervical bones.

    Qianye, however, turned back with a wry smile. ¡°This isn¡¯t funny.¡±

    Behind him, Li Kuann was once again dressed in a swordsman¡¯s attire. Although Cold Moon¡¯s embrace hadn¡¯t left its sheath, a wisp of sword energy was stretching out toward Qianye¡¯s neck.

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t retract the energy despite Qianye turning back, which brought the energy right in front of his throat.

    Qianye frowned slightly. No matter how powerful his body was, his throat was still a weak point, and Li Kuann¡¯s sword energy was known for its sharpness¡ªeven Qianye wouldn¡¯t be able to stand a sh to the throat.

    Li Kuann stared at Qianye with killing intent in her eyes. This puzzled Qianye quite a bit. ¡°Kuann, what¡¯s gotten into you?¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought Li Kuann would be enraged? ¡°Kuann is not for you to call!¡±

    Qianye felt even more bewildered because he had called her by name more than once now. He had already considered her arade since their battle against the Wolf King and naturally started addressing her differently.

    Seeing Li Kuann reacting so strongly, Qianye decided to change his address. ¡°Young Noble Li, what is the meaning of this? I didn¡¯t let you know my movements just so you can ambush me.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°This young noble doesn¡¯t need to ambush you! You think I can¡¯t ughter you with just me and my sword?¡±

    Qianye stood up, ignoring the sword energy at his neck. ¡°I fear you cannot. Besides, what did I do that you would need to do so?¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Li Kuann was stoppered up, and her face flushed red. Soon, her anger turned to frustration. ¡°Can¡¯t exin it to you!¡±

    Qianye was at a loss. Her de energy was at his throat, yet she still couldn¡¯t exin? When was she going to exin then? After lopping his head off?

    Li Kuann knew she had just lost herposure. She quickly calmed down and retracted her sword energy, saying, ¡°Let it be, I¡¯ll remember this for now. We¡¯ll settle ountster on. Let me ask you, must you really save Song Seven?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°What if I want to kill him?¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out what was going on. ¡°Why would you want to kill him, when did he offend you?¡±

    Li Kuann wanted to speak but seemed hesitant. ¡°He¡­ humph! Let me ask you, what will you do if I want to kill him?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°I¡¯ll stop you, of course! Young Noble Li, please stop joking about such things.¡±

    Li Kaunn took deep breaths, slowly calming herself down. ¡°As it should be¡­ Fine. Since you want to save him, there¡¯s an opportunity before you. Learn this.¡±

    Qianye caught the booklet Li Kuann had tossed at him and found that it was a certain art. Although he didn¡¯t know the details, he could see from the framework that it was rted to divination.

    ¡°After cultivating this Heart Reflection, one can form a connection with other cultivators of the same art. Both parties will be able to tell if the other party is speaking the truth. Luo Bingfeng gave it to you.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°Luo Bingfeng has agreed to exchange Mortal Enlightenment and Song Zining for your Venus Dawn cultivation art, and I¡¯ve already agreed in your stead. This Heart Reflection is to ensure the transaction goes smoothly.¡±

    ¡°You! How¡­ Fine, these terms aren¡¯t bad.¡± Qianye¡¯s mood transformed drastically, but he ultimately epted his helplessness. This was the oue he had been waiting for, perhaps the best.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t do anything to Zining, did they?¡±

    ¡°Luo Bingfeng promises that Song Seven is alive and uncrippled. As for whether he¡¯s starved or physically tortured, he didn¡¯t say.¡±

    Qianye heaved a long sigh, saying, ¡°That¡¯s great then. When will the transaction take ce, and how long does this Heart Reflection take to learn?¡±

    ¡°It can be cultivated in one day. We meet at noon two dayster, where Song Seven was captured.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a moment. ¡°Can Luo Bingfeng evene to that ce?¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t, as far as I know.¡±

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯ll be best.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was odd. ¡°Are you nning to give him a fake? I would suggest you don¡¯t if you don¡¯t have the full version. Heart Reflection¡¯s powers are fairly mysterious. Everyone would be cultivating it if it weren¡¯t for the high requirements and excessive expenditure. The art will respond if you tell a lie.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Why would I go back on my words if they¡¯re willing to release Song Zining? But there are some problems with my cultivation art. I¡¯m just afraid the other party will change their minds after seeing its contents. It¡¯s good if Luo Bingfeng isn¡¯ting because no one else will unseal such an important item.¡±

    Li Kuann became curious after hearing Qianye say so. ¡°There are problems with your cultivation art? Is it impossible to cultivate?¡±

    ¡°Of course it can be cultivated. It¡¯s just that¡­ the difficulty is a bit high.¡± Qianye almost blushed as heforted himself. He actually wasn¡¯t lying¡ªit was somewhat hard to cultivate the Combatant Form to the Profound Combatant Form. The fiftieth tide, in particr, was a bit more difficult. That Song n Ancient Scroll was also ¡®a bit¡¯ difficult. Actually, the Mystery Chapter wasn¡¯t too difficult; the hard part was cultivating both at the same time...

    Just that.

    Li Kuann felt relieved. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Which peerless cultivation art isn¡¯t difficult? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve seen a good number of legendary secret arts. All of them have weird requirements, and some are almost impossible to cultivate. With Luo Bingfeng¡¯s knowledge, he naturally won¡¯t make things difficult for you because of this. He can only me himself for hisck of talent if he can¡¯t cultivate it.¡±

    Qianye felt much more relieved. ¡°Those are reasonable words!¡±

    Li Kuann became ineffably agitated. ¡°Enough with the ttery and go get ready! Make a copy of your cultivation art and seal it, lest you have nothing to hand over during the transaction.¡±

    With that, Li Kuann tossed her backpack to Qianye, saying, ¡°The things you need are in here, I¡¯m leaving now.¡±

    She then left without waiting for Qianye to say goodbye.

    Thetter opened the bag to find special paper, ink, and a number of sealing boxes. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh at Li Kuann¡¯s meticulousness.

    Copying down a secret art was also an art. Copying it word by word would only produce the lowest-level of copies that didn¡¯t have much use. The highest level cultivation arts couldn¡¯t be copied this way, either. Those arts contained numerous unspeakable profundities, so the author would usually leave some origin power to demonstrate the exnations.

    That was what made the noble cultivation arts so valuable. The authors were usually their founding fathers or leaders of resurgence, at the very least well-known experts. Theirprehension of the martial dao would be left for future generations as a supreme treasure.

    In order to better preserve origin power, countless people had racked their brains and experimented with all kinds of retaining materials. Hence, there were materials of all shapes and colors. The national treasure, a secret record hand-written by the founding ancestor, was reportedly recorded in a piece of origin crystal.

    Both the Mortal Enlightenment and Dawn of Scarlet Gold were hand-written by Luo Bingfeng and the mysteriousdy. They couldn¡¯t be faked.

    Now that Qianye was going to write a secret tome, he naturally required special paper, pen, and boxes.

    What Li Kuann didn¡¯t know was that the Combatant Form could actually be copied on any random paper. It would be an absolute waste to use this special paper fit for origin power inheritances.

    As for the Profound Combatant Form, it could only beprehended and not transmitted. Not to mention the fact that Qianye couldn¡¯t write it down, even if he could, there was no vessel capable of containing the power of its vortex.

    Hence, the preparations were much quicker than Li Kuann had imagined. Qianye had finished copying the three secret tomes in little over two hours. The two Song n Ancient Scrolls took two hours, while the Combatant Form, just ten minutes¡ªand that was only because Qianye was writing slowly and carefully. If he was pressed for time, all he needed to do was write the words, Combatant Form.

    Every cultivator under the sky had heard of the Combatant Form.

    ¡­

    Back in Tidehark, Luo Yun was narrating his sessful negotiation with Li Kuann in full detail. After hearing that Li Kuann had agreed to the deal, the city lord praised with a delighted expression, ¡°Well done!¡±

    Luo Yun, on the other hand, appeared worried. ¡°City Lord, the madam won¡¯t agree to this, will she?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t let her know about this.¡± Luo Bingfeng reminded carefully. His frown only rxed when the steward agreed.

    That frown had just rxed when it knitted together once more.

    Luo Bingfeng paced around the room, saying, ¡°But Song Zining is currently in the Wolf King¡¯s hands. Now that¡¯s somewhat difficult. Is there any news from their side?¡±

    Luo Yun replied, ¡°None so far.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng narrowed his eyes. ¡°No reply, heh, how bold! It looks like I¡¯m being looked down upon just because I¡¯ve been in isted cultivation for many years.¡±

    These words contained killing intent. Luo Yun stood to the side, not daring to face the city lord¡¯s wrath. The Wolf King¡¯s outstanding power was evident from how he was able to challenge Zhang Buzhou. His sin would be significant if Luo Bingfeng and the Wolf King were to sh because of an inappropriatement.

    Luo Bingfeng said, ¡°How did his injury look when you met himst time?¡±

    Luo Yun replied cautiously, ¡°I can¡¯t see through the state of his injury, butrge amounts of ancestral power have been applied to certain areas inside Totemic Castle. Additionally, I noticed that they¡¯re preparing for some kind ofrge scale sacrificial ceremony."

    Luo Bingfeng sneered, ¡°Using ancestral power means either war or recuperation. It looks like the Wolf King was heavily injured. That makes things easier, you go to Totemic Castle again and tell the Wolf King that I¡¯lle personally if he doesn¡¯t release the prisoner.¡±

    Luo Yun was shocked out of his wits. ¡°City Lord, you¡­¡±

 Chapter 901: Rather

    The atmosphere in Totemic Castle was austere, and the people going back and forth didn¡¯t even dare breathe loudly, lest they attract a disaster. Two great shamans had changed during this period, so everyone else in the tribe could sense the danger upon them.

    The castle was built at the summit of a precipitous cliff, a highly advantageous position in terms of defense. At first, the castle¡¯s Eastern-Sea side wasrgely unguarded, but now there were regr patrols day and night since Qianye killed the great shaman and jumped into the ocean.

    There was a quiet dungeon below the castle, the depth of which was even greater than the height of the castle itself. Two werewolves in jailor¡¯s uniform were walking downward along the humid passage at this point,ining about the weather as they went. Werewolves, as a race, weren¡¯t afraid of the cold, but they loathed moisture with a passion.

    There weremps only at certain intervals along the way, and the dim light from them could barely illuminate a one-meter radius around them. Hence, the greater part of the tunnels was dark.

    There was a deep green glow in the eyes of the two werewolves. Activating Nightvision was the only way to move unhindered through these passages.

    The area in front widened at the end of the tunnel and a heavy steel door appeared before them. A small window opened after a period of banging, and the werewolf inside observed the guests for a while, sniffing as he did so. Only afterward did the small window close and therge door opened up.

    A gush of damp, rotten air poured out as the door opened. Even though they had been here more than just once, the two werewolves couldn¡¯t help but shiver and cover up their noses. This kind of odor was extremely ufortable to their acute sense of smell.

    After entering, several men rushed over and began searching the two werewolves from head to toe. One of them said, ¡°No need to be so serious, we¡¯ve been here so many times.¡±

    The guard replied, ¡°Can¡¯t help it, the situation is special these days. It¡¯s all because of that fellow inside. It¡¯ll be over for us if we miss something during inspection.¡±

    The boxes of food the two werewolves had brought were also checked in great detail, and only returned when the seals were found to be intact.

    After entering the doors and going through a passage, arge hall appeared before them. The chamber was illuminated by raging mes and decorated with dozens of racks containing various kinds of torture equipment. There were traces of dark blood on the floors and walls, as well as numerous immobile corpses hanging here and there.

    On each side of the hall was a row of prison cells, including a series of isted torture chambers. The interior of the torture chambers couldn¡¯t be seen from the outside, but one could easily hear the miserable criesing from within. Even the inherently cruel werewolves couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    The two werewolves moved swiftly through the hall and took a staircase down from the other end.

    There were many floors of prison cells below the torture hall. Some were packed with prisoners, while others werepletely empty. The tenants of some cells were lyingpletely still, their fate unknown.

    The tunnel was filled with a putrid odor from the underground air. The two werewolves circled downward for a fair length of time and finally reached the end of their journey.

    The air at the end of the passage actually became clearer. The area was suffused with the faint, invigorating scent of the ocean, almost as though it were an immortal realm.

    The deepest parts of the prison actually became tall and wide. The ce was illuminated with the calm, gentle glow of originmps, unlike the choking animal-fat torches of the upper cells.

    There were a handful of empty cells at the end of the hall, and only a single chamber at the very end was lit up. This was also thergest prison cell in the vicinity.

    The two werewolves arrived outside the prison doors and peered inside.

    This prison cell was tidy and clean. An originmp each on the walls and roof flooded the room with a bright, warm glow. There was a separate toilet at one corner of the prison cell, and there was even a desk, chair, and bookshelf with a dozen or so books.

    A window was open close to the roof, and outside of it was the Eastern Sea. There were bars on the window, but everyone knew that such steel bars were useless against experts. The thing keeping the prisoner obediently inside the room weren¡¯t the bars but the Eastern Sea.

    The two werewolves had cleaned this prison cell before, and they knew that it was less than a hundred meters from the sea. Some of the stronger sea-beasts could easily reach this kind of low-lying position. Even they would tremble instinctively when approaching the windows, not to mention those experts with sharp senses.

    The desk, chair, and bookshelf were addedter on, along with one more originmp. The two werewolves had never seen such treatment despite having worked in the prison for many years.

    There was a young man inside the prison cell, gently reciting the contents of a book. The book in his hand was of magnificent craftsmanship¡ªancient, elegant, and of the perfect thickness. The dark blue cover was bound by golden threads that glowed faintly under themplight, a stark difference from the tomes on the shelf. The contents of his recital seemed to talk about the history of a certain dynasty, something the werewolves couldn¡¯t at all understand.

    One of the werewolves banged on the door. ¡°Young Noble Song, time to eat.¡±

    They opened the door, delivered the box of food, and then closed the door once more. There were two sides to the cell doors, but only one of them could be opened each time.

    The young man inside was Song Zining. He looked to be in rather good shape¡ªit was just that his steps looked weak, almost like an ordinary person without cultivation.

    There were four dishes, soup, and a sk of wine inside the box. This kind of sumptuous menu was unprecedented in this prison. The werewolves had delivered rations more than once now, but they couldn¡¯t help but click their tongues every time they saw the food.

    After duly consuming his meal, he brought out some paper and pen, wrote some words, and then put it into the box. As if gaining an ultimate treasure, the two werewolves carefully memorized the contents of the paper strip before swallowing it whole.

    What Song Zining had just penned was a secret art specific to werewolves. The art¡¯s grade was fairly mediocre, and there were hundreds if not thousands of such arts in the Song n¡¯s depository. These low-level werewolves, however, could only pounce forward with brute force in battle. How could they ever get their hands on a secret art?

    One of the werewolves nced at the surroundings and whispered, ¡°Our messenger respects your great fame and wishes to see you.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°See me? Here? I think that¡¯ll be difficult.¡±

    The werewolf said, ¡°Us crawlers are everywhere. It may be difficult, but it¡¯s never impossible.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be here for a couple of days still, just let hime then.¡±

    The werewolves burst into smiles upon hearing Song Zining¡¯s agreement. They quickly packed away the food and left.

    Song Zining sat down, produced an ancient scroll from his right hand, and began reciting it slowly. This book was actually conjured from the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art, a thought-provoking scene indeed.

    But the day was destined not to be quiet. He hadn¡¯t flipped through a lot of pages when footsteps rang out in the hallway. Someone arrived with loud footsteps,ughing. ¡°Seventh Brother, are you doing well?¡±

    Song Zining felt somewhat surprised. He looked out and saw the approaching person. ¡°Song Zian? So it¡¯s you.¡±

    Song Zianughed radiantly and said while shaking his head, ¡°Zining, that¡¯s not nice. We haven¡¯t seen each other for so long, yet you won¡¯t even call me brother?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve long since left the Song n, so I¡¯m unrted to you. Won¡¯t it be a humiliation if I try to cling to our rtionship now?¡±

    Song Zian¡¯s smile froze. ¡°Song Zining! You¡¯re in my hands now, how dare you act so insolent? It¡¯s been so many years now, the ancestor won¡¯t look twice at me because of your presence! What do you have? What¡¯s so great about you? It¡¯s all blind luck, worming your way to Heavenly Monarch Zhang¡¯s side and fighting a couple of battles. As for Ningyuan Heavy Industries, how could it have reached this stage if it wasn¡¯t for the old ancestor¡¯s bias?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°What a joke.¡±

    Song Zian erupted in anger. He grabbed Song Zining by the cor and lifted him up, roaring, ¡°Do you dare say Ningyuan was built by your sole efforts? You dare say the old ancestor wasn¡¯t supporting you in secret? Do you dare to im that your aplishments today aren¡¯t rted to her bias? How many years has it been? My Zian heavy industries can only produce three types of auxiliary equipment in this time-period, yet your Ningyuan can already build airships! What gives you that right? How am I inferior to you!?¡±

    At this point, Song Zian¡¯s expression was twisted and sinister. As if screaming hysterically wasn¡¯t enough yet, he pushed Song Zining violently and sent him crashing to the floor.

    Thetter slowly mbered up, wiped away the blood from the corners of his mouth, and said, ¡°You won¡¯t believe it even if I say I built Ningyuan from the ground up.¡±

    Song Zian broke into augh. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m an idiot? Who¡¯s going to believe you? The old ancestor favors you, anyone can attest to that. Why you? What makes you the future god of strategy? We¡¯re brothers, how am I inferior to you?¡±

    Song Zining tidied up his chaotic clothes and gazed at Song Zian with eyes full of sympathy. ¡°We¡¯re brothers originally, and there¡¯s not much difference between us. But you guys enjoyed an easy life since a young age, never stopping cultivation yet experiencing no life-or-death training. While all of you were living a life of extravagance, I¡¯ve been to Evernight, the bloody battle, the neutralnds, everywhere. Just look at you, only rank-eleven at this age, you¡¯regging behind even in terms of level. Do you think you¡¯ll ever reach divine champion in this lifetime?¡±

    Song Zian turned increasingly red. He finally roared, ¡°Shut up! I¡¯ll kill you if you keep talking. I can kill you with a flick of my finger now!¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°I only said so much because we¡¯re brothers. In fact, the old ancestor had already made a mistake back then. If she had sent you all with me to Yellow Springs, our Song n wouldn¡¯t be much weaker than the Zhao today.¡±

 Chapter 902: Brothers

    ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re so special just because you¡¯ve been to Yellow Springs. If it wasn¡¯t for the old ancestor¡¯s favoritism, how could you get so ahead of us? You were only rank four when you came out of the training camp, what difference was there?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The gap is so big that it can¡¯t be remedied. You guys only see a person¡¯s rank, but you don¡¯t know that the true purpose of Yellow Springs is to stimte one¡¯s potential by having them toe the line between life and death. It trained us to maximally utilize our resources and grasp every small opportunity. These things have long since be second nature by the time we were out from Yellow Springs. So, all the chances you missed were akin to golden opportunities for me. It¡¯s the same in the business world, and that is the reason why your business and mine are so different despite having started at the same time.¡±

    Song Zian was livid. He was actually quite intelligent and could grasp the logic in Song Zining¡¯s words. But that was exactly what made it so difficult for him to ept. Opportunity never knocks twice, and it was toote now since he didn¡¯t go to Yellow Springs back then. Besides, his parents had sent him there because he wasn¡¯t favored in the family and that was his only chance. Song Zining had been theughingstock of the family for many years, up until the Song family examination.

    Song Zian sneered, ¡°What use did Yellow Spring have? Aren¡¯t you in my hands right now? Seventh Brother, the mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind. You enjoyed a period of glory back then, but you didn¡¯t think you¡¯d fall into this situation, did you?¡±

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°I suffered a small ident a couple of days ago and lost my divination powers. That¡¯s how I ended up staying here for a couple of days, but this is just a small setback and I¡¯ll naturally recover after a short while.¡±

    Song Zian suddenly struck Song Zining in the abdomen! This punch was extremely heavy. With his origin power sealed, Song Zining had no origin power defenses at all¡ªhe curled up like a shrimp and couldn¡¯t help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

    Not yet satisfied, Song Zian delivered numerous kicks to Song Zining¡¯s face until it was all bloody.

    Heaving and huffing, heughed neurotically. ¡°Ha! Now let¡¯s see who wants to marry you! Haha, haha! Isn¡¯t the seventh young noble so elegant and romantic? Is that how it is?¡±

    After the blows had stopped, Song Zining slowly got up and wiped the blood away from his face. Although his face was swollen and his nose had been fractured, there was still an unperturbed smile on his face.

    The more that was the case, the fiercer Song Zian¡¯s anger burnt. He grabbed Song Zining by the cor and roared, ¡°What¡¯s with that look? Speak! Why are you looking at me like that? Speak quickly or I¡¯ll beat you to death!¡±

    There was some pity in Song Zining¡¯s eyes at first, but it soon turned into cold indifference. ¡°Song Zian, it¡¯s time you got on with your business. I¡¯ll let you beat me up as you wish right now, you won¡¯t have the chanceter on.¡±

    Startled, Song Zian was quickly drenched in cold sweat, but he became furious soon afterward. ¡°Trying to frighten me, eh? You don¡¯t even have your divination powers, how will you know what I¡¯m going to do?¡±

    Song Zining simply kept quiet.

    Song Zian replied, ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll give you a chance. I¡¯ll let you live if you hand over your Ningyuanmand token and all technical schematics.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°As expected, there¡¯s no progress at all despite the passage of the years. Is Ningyuan all you want? What can you do even if I give it to you?¡±

    ¡°Ningyuan Heavy Industries will be better managed in my hands! I won¡¯t have to fear Song Zicheng at that point, and the n lord position will be mine for the taking. You were never focused on your business, how could you ever have the time to manage it seriously? And you dare say no one helped you. Besides, Ningyuan isn¡¯t even yours. It¡¯s the Song n¡¯s since the old ancestor paid for it!¡±

    Song Zining said indifferently, ¡°To set your mind at rest, I¡¯ll tell you once more, Ningyuan Heavy Industries has never taken a dime of the Song n¡¯s money. And letting you beat me up has nothing to do with you. I did certain things and thus have to pay the price for it. It¡¯ll be someone else if not you.¡±

    Song Zian sensed a surge of restlessness. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    Song Zining said in a carefree manner, ¡°Simple, you¡¯re really not as important as you think you are. Even now, there¡¯s no difference whether or not you¡¯re here.¡±

    Song Zian lifted Song Zining by the throat, saying, ¡°No difference? Will there be a difference if I strangle you to death?¡±

    It was at this time that Song Zian¡¯s body tensed up. A sharp intent pierced into his spine and deprived him of the ability to move.

    A werewolf in shaman clothing walked inside and brushed away Song Zian¡¯s hands.

    Song Zining¡¯s face was bright red at this point, and he only recovered after coughing for a good while. From this, it was obvious just how ruthless the attack was just now.

    The werewolf shaman said, ¡°Young Noble Song, you can leave now. Please follow me.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Song Zining stopped the werewolf shaman. ¡°Do you have a mirror or anything, lend it to me.¡±

    How could there be any mirror in a dungeon? But the Shaman reacted flexibly, passing Song Zining his dagger instead. The de was shiny, reflective, and could be easily used as a mirror.

    Song Zining checked his swollen face in the reflection and said in satisfaction, ¡°Not bad, not bad!¡±

    Seeing Song Zining and the shaman about to leave the prison, the immobile Song Zian cried out, ¡°Wait! Are you going to let him go just like that!? You¡¯ve already made a promise to me!¡±

    The werewolf shaman shot the man a cold nce. ¡°Someone paid more.¡±

    Song Zian was shocked out of his wits. ¡°No, how can you guys act this way? This is a deal, how can you go back on your words?¡±

    ¡°A deal? I don¡¯t know anything about that, neither does the Wolf King,¡± the Shaman said coldly.

    ¡°No, no! I¡¯ll pay more. How much did they pay? I¡¯ll match their price or even raise it. I¡¯ll raise it by half, no, double!¡±

    The werewolf shaman halted his steps. ¡°That means you¡¯re quite rich.¡±

    Song Zian nodded. ¡°Yes, yes, our Song n might not have other things, but we have a lot of money!¡±

    Song Zining sighed all of a sudden. The shaman said thoughtfully, ¡°That means we can get even more money by capturing you?¡±

    Song Zian was shocked. ¡°I¡¯m just a small character in the Song n, sent here to negotiate. I¡¯m really not worth that much.¡±

    The shaman seemed convinced¡ªhe sized Song Zian up from head to toe without a word.

    Song Zian felt relieved. ¡°Sire Shaman, are we not going to continue our deal?¡±

    The shaman said coldly, ¡°We can¡¯t. You cannot match the other party¡¯s offer.¡±

    ¡°What will it take then?¡± Song Zian probed.

    A sh of impatience appeared in the Shaman¡¯s eyes. ¡°ording to your standards, we can discuss things if you have a divine champion who¡¯s not afraid of dying.¡±

    Song Zian became embarrassed. The only divine champion among the direct line was Duchess An. The olddy indeed possessed powerful cultivation, but she was already old and needed to stay alive to prop up the entire n. There was no way she could fight anyone at this point. All characters at that level were major characters; how could they becking in money? What they needed were rare cultivation resources, and even the Song n didn¡¯t have such items in excess.

    Hence, it was inherently hard to hire a divine champion, let alone one who would fight with their life on the line. Speaking quite frankly, someone of Song Zian¡¯s position would find it difficult to even befriend a divine champion.

    Song Zian wasn¡¯t willing to give up. He pointed at Song Zining and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s a divine champion willing to fight to the death for him? Seriously?¡±

    Unexpectedly, the Shaman replied, ¡°Oh that divine champion isn¡¯t fighting to the death, he¡¯s here to suppress us. We have no choice but to agree, you understand?

    Song Zian was dazed momentarily. He pondered momentarily before realizing the meaning of these words. Suppressing Totemic Castle meant suppressing the Wolf King! Song Zian more or less understood what kind of power the Wolf King was. Yet the other party could suppress him!

    Such a character wasn¡¯t someone Song Zian could provoke, even with his Song n background. Such a person was enough to contend with the old ancestor, a true tyrant. His death would be meaningless if he were to provoke the other party because the Song n wouldn¡¯t make such an enemy for him.

    Such a character was willing to stand up for Song Zining!

    For a moment, Song Zian felt both jealous and hateful but, at the same time, terrified. In his urgency, he channeled his origin power to break his bindings and recover his movements. He pulled on the shaman¡¯s sleeve, saying, ¡°I won¡¯t ask for my money back. I only have one request, cripple his origin power. How¡¯s that? Just one request!¡±

    Song Zining sighed lightly, not bothering to say anything.

    The shaman revealed a disdainful expression. ¡°You humans are so sinister that you¡¯ll even harm your own brother. No wonder Evernight has you on your dying gasp.¡±

    Song Zian didn¡¯t find this embarrassing at all. He simply looked on at the shaman with a frantic expression, waiting for his reply. Meanwhile, Song Zining said with a serious expression, ¡°The Great Qin Empire has stood for thousands of years, producing talented heroes and expanding its territory with every generation. We¡¯ve already conquered four continents and now we¡¯re fighting for the void continent, poised to go even further upward. Humph, even the orthodox werewolves don¡¯t dare utter such insolence! Even this young master can beat up your forces with just a band of rag-tag soldiers, not to mention there are countless experts in the empire more powerful than I am. The nerve of you!¡±

    The merciless words caused the werewolf Shaman¡¯s eyes to spew fire. Song Zian felt secretly delighted as he wanted nothing more than for the Shaman to act up and cripple Song Zining. As for the empire¡¯s glory, that was too far of a matter. Nothing was more important than the business at hand.

    ...

 Chapter 903: Struggling at Deathâ€™s Door

    As Song Zian saw it, Song Zining¡¯s life was hanging by a thread at this moment. Daring to wag his tongue in this manner was akin to courting death. Although this seventh brother was known for his scheming, it would seem he had turned dumb from that beating just now. He had actually made such a dumb move.

    But him courting death was the best oue, and Song Zian was more than happy to watch things unfold. Otherwise, he would never be able to sleep well if this prisoner were to escape.

    However, the unexpected happened. The werewolf shaman was so angry that his fangs were out, yet he stayed his hand and didn¡¯t even retort. ¡°Everyone knows humans like to kick benefactors in the teeth. When you leave, I hope you¡¯ll remember how our race treated you here.¡±

    Hearing these words, Song Zian almost felt like coughing up blood. Song Zining had indeed received good treatment in the Wolf King¡¯s hands, but that was because the seventh young master himself was an expensivemodity that had to be cared for well, lest he doesn¡¯t fetch a good price. And it just so happened that Song Zian was the one who had paid this price. How could he not feel vexed?

    At first, Song Zian had naturally hoped to see an intact seventh young master. It would be more fun that way.

    Hearing these words, Song Zian felt a chill in his heart. ¡°Sire Shaman, what of my suggestion?¡±

    The furious shaman wasn¡¯t about to treat him politely. ¡°What suggestion!? The other party wants an intact prisoner, we still don¡¯t know if his current state is eptable. Scram! I¡¯ll feed you to the fish if you keep spouting nonsense!¡±

    Song Zian was dumbfounded. As someone used to being arrogant and overbearing, he couldn¡¯t help but erupt in curses, ¡°You long-haired beasts don¡¯t recognize a favor when you see one! Fine, give me my money back and I¡¯ll leave immediately.¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought the shaman would roll his eyes, saying, ¡°Money? What money?¡±

    Song Zian felt a sudden chill from head to toe. ¡°The money I gave you in exchange for him.¡±

    The shaman was expressionless. ¡°Really? Why don¡¯t I know anything about that?¡±

    Song Zian¡¯s face turned red, and he could smell a fishy scent welling up in his mouth. This was a massive sum. He wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the loss if something were to happen. His original intentions were to pay a steep price for Ningyuan Heavy Industries¡ªany price was worth it. Who would¡¯ve thought the Wolf King would go back on his words? Not to mention refusing to hand over the person, he wouldn¡¯t even return the money.

    ¡°Bastards, return my money!¡± Song Zian pounced forward with a furious roar.

    Nheless, the Werewolf Shaman was far more powerful than Song Zian, to begin with. He sent thetter sprawling to the ground with a kick, saying, ¡°Men, toss him down the mountain. If he climbs up again, kill him and throw him into the Eastern Sea!¡±

    A couple of werewolf soldiers arrived and dragged Song Zian away.

    At this point, Song Zining said, ¡°Second Young Noble, if I were you, I would run as far away as possible after leaving the gates. Otherwise, things will turn really unhappy if you run into the peopleing to pick me up.¡±

    The werewolf shaman said after the man had been dragged away, ¡°He wanted to kill you several times over, yet you treat him this well? This doesn¡¯t seem like the style of a future divine strategist. As far as us werewolves are concerned, there¡¯s only one oue for such an enemy, and that¡¯s to tear him apart.¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°He¡¯s still a Song family member. He can die in my hands, but he cannot be humiliated in the hands of another.¡±

    ¡°You humans are difficult to understand.¡±

    Song Zining only smiled.

    A middle-aged man was already waiting in the main hall of Totemic Castle. Upon seeing Song Zining, he approached respectfully and said, ¡°You must be the seventh young noble? This lowly one is Luo Yun, I wasmanded to wee you.¡±

    ¡°Luo Yun? Why have youe to pick me up?¡±

    ¡°You will know when the timees.¡± Luo Yun summoned two maids with a wave of his hand, instructing them to clean Song Zining¡¯s wounds and change his bloodstained clothes.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Bring the clothes but let the wounds be.¡±

    Momentster, Song Zining and Luo Yun arrived at the airship port around the base of the mountain and boarded the waiting airship.

    In a different location, Qianye felt time crawling forward little by little. Finally, he managed to get through the two days of waiting. At noon that day, Li Kuann appeared beside Qianye once more. ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    Qianye nodded as he showed the two boxes in his hand.

    ¡°So it¡¯s two secret inheritance, but that makes no difference. The time is nigh, follow me.¡± Li Kuann wasn¡¯t interested in Qianye¡¯s arts, nor did she ask any details. All she did was release a signal directly.

    Momentster, an airship appeared above to take the two of them away.

    At this point, the battlefield had already been cleaned up quite well, and there was almost nothing left except for some pieces of bloodstained armor and weapons. One could hardly tell that a fierce battle had taken ce here at one point.

    The environment in the neutralnds was harsh, and the many creatures that inhabit it had to scavenge what they could find. The corpses of the fallen would be reduced to dried skeletons in a matter of days, their flesh and blood transformed into nutritious material for other creatures.

    The battlefield before them was indeed such a ce. Not much time had passed, yet the corpses had been chewed clean, leaving only broken pieces of armor and weapons scattered across the austerend.

    There was an airship hovering over the center of the battlefield, and below it stood several people. Luo Yun and Du Yuan were among them, as well as a young man in light clothing pping a fan.

    Li Kuannmanded the airship to stop a hundred meters away, from where the two of them flew toward the transaction point.

    ¡°Zining!¡± Qianye erupted with killing intent when he saw Song Zining¡¯s battered face.

    Li Kuann pressed Qianye¡¯s shoulder, releasing an icy intent from her hand as she did so¡ªshe was afraid that he would act impulsively. Qianye calmed himself down and walked over to Luo Yun. ¡°Is this your definition of unharmed?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just some flesh injury, and they weren¡¯t even caused by us. You¡¯ll have to ask Young Noble Song for the details,¡± Luo Yun spoke in a neutral tone.

    ¡°That¡¯d better be the case.¡± Qianye felt relieved to find that Song Zining¡¯s injuries weren¡¯t heavy.

    Luo Yun checked the time, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s get the exchange going, lest unexpected problems arise. No small number of people are after Young Noble Song.¡±

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s nod, Luo Yun ordered his men to start setting up an origin array. After adding certainponents to the fledgling formation and installing the ck crystals, the array was ready to operate. Qianye shot Li Kuann a nce and, seeing her nod, stepped into the array. This formation served to support Heart Reflection and amplify its effects. Even divine champions would find it hard to block the art¡¯s probe inside.

    Luo Yun was just about to step into the array when his vision blurred. Shocked by the figure appearing in front of him, he eximed, ¡°Madam!¡±

 Chapter 904: Good Price

    Shaken, Qianye made to step out of the array. This mysterious woman never attacked, but the pressure she was exerting was no smaller than Luo Bingfeng¡¯s. Qianye instinctively wanted to put some distance in-between.

    Thedy didn¡¯t enter the array. She simply stood beside it, saying, ¡°Why wasn¡¯t I informed of such an important matter.¡±

    Luo Yun appeared embarrassed. ¡°This lowly one didn¡¯t act without authorization, it¡¯s on the city lord¡¯s orders.¡±

    The woman replied, ¡°Now that I¡¯ve already discovered it, you can go back. Leave this matter to me.¡±

    With that, she gestured at Qianye. ¡°Come in, am I that scary?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t enter the array and simply stood there with East Peak in hand. Her appearance had changed the atmosphere¡ªthe winds felt like a storm was brewing over the horizon.

    She nced at Qianye with a sudden smile. ¡°I n to stop the deal if I feel that it isn¡¯t reasonable. What do you think about that?¡±

    Shaken, Qianye shot a nce at the nearby Song Zining and made to speak.

    But Li Kuann appeared beside him and pressed on his shoulder. ¡°Wait! Let me¡±

    She took a step forward, saying, ¡°Is the madam going back on her words?¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°It can¡¯t be considered that since I didn¡¯t know about it, nor was I a part of it. Since it¡¯s rted to me, however, it¡¯s only right that I should have a say. What I mean is that the deal can take ce, but the conditions should be rediscussed.¡±

    Li Kuann was resolute. ¡°No negotiation!¡±

    The woman frowned slightly. ¡°Now that¡¯s no attitude for business.¡±

    ¡°You guys should hold up your end of the bargain, or else¡­¡±

    ¡°Or else what? We¡¯ll just call off the deal if worsees to worst. The seventh young master is worth quite a bit right now, even his head will fetch a reasonable price.¡±

    Qianye broke into a frown; scarlet mes started flickering on East Peak. This woman had been touching his bottom line repeatedly since her appearance. After going through so much and now that Song Zining was right in front of his eyes, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to y games with his friend¡¯s life.

    The woman shot Qianye a nce, and then asked Li Kuann in a meaningful tone, ¡°This Young Noble Li, I think you¡¯re actually unconcerned about Song Zining¡¯s fate. You just want Mortal Enlightenment, don¡¯t you? If that¡¯s the case, we don¡¯t mind making a different deal.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat rmed because this woman¡¯s words made sense. Mortal Enlightenment was useless to Qianye, and his true concern was Song Zining¡¯s safety. Li Kuann, however, was adamant about this condition. Would she put the hostage in danger just for the art?

    But from their long period of interaction and trust, Qianye was confident that this wasn¡¯t Li Kuann¡¯s intention. Hence, he simply maintained his silence.

    Li Kuann shot Qianye a nce, seemingly touched and surprised. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d trust me?¡±

    ¡°Must I trust her, if not you?¡± Qianye replied.

    Li Kuann nced back at the woman with a bit of disappointment. ¡°Does the Madam n to renege on her words?¡±

    The woman replied calmly, ¡°So what if I do?¡±

    Li Kuann sneered, ¡°You don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be safe just by hiding in Tidehark, do you?¡±

    The woman chuckled. ¡°Of course it¡¯s safe. Enough, the clock is ticking. I¡¯ll just ask Qianye now, will you be willing to go through with the same deal but without Mortal Enlightenment?¡±

    Qianye was just about to reply when Li Kuann cut in, ¡°Ignore her!¡±

    The woman raised her left hand and blew gently upon it. In the blink of an eye, a golden thread appeared from the tip of her fingers and stretched all the way to around Song Zining¡¯s neck. This thread was originally transparent, so even Qianye didn¡¯t notice it. It only appeared in view after being dyed golden.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly when he found Song Zining¡¯s life in the other party¡¯s hands. This made negotiations difficult.

    ¡°What do you say?¡± the woman asked.

    Qianye pondered for a moment, and then shot a nce at Song Zining. ¡°Fine.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head with a light sigh. ¡°You really aren¡¯t fit for negotiating stuff! Kuann is so much better than you.¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed. He stared at the woman and said, ¡°This is final.¡±

    The woman¡¯s expression transformed drastically. Just as everyone was thinking she would be suggesting some other terms, she said with a charming smile, ¡°Actually, Mortal Enlightenment is nothing too important. Let¡¯s just go with the original terms.¡±

    While Qianye was in a daze, she had already stepped into the formation. ¡°Are you waiting for me to change my mind?¡±

    Afraid that she would really change her mind, Qianye followed her into the array.

    The origin array started to operate. Specks of starlight appeared around thedy, revolving brilliantly around her as she said, ¡°I¡¯m willing to trade Mortal Enlightenment and Young Noble Song Zining for Qianye¡¯s secret cultivation art.¡±

    With a simple beckon, the box in Luo Yun¡¯s hand flew into her grasp. ¡°Theplete secret records of Mortal Enlightenment are in here. There is nothing left out or wrong.¡±

    As she spoke, the starlight around her retained their clear blue color. Qianye had also cultivated Heart Reflection, so he knew that this sign meant the other party was speaking the truth. Normally, only a couple of starlight specks would appear around those who cultivated Heart Reflection. Qianye received much praise for his talents after producing seven on his first day of cultivation, yet thisdy was surrounded by hundreds of them.

    Such a scene surprised Li Kuann as well. Thisdy¡¯s aplishments in Heart Reflection could be attributed to her sess in the path of divination. Her power definitely wasn¡¯t below that of the Li family.

    How could such a woman not know of this deal beforehand?

    Qianye didn¡¯t have that many misgivings. He also channeled Heart Reflection to produce seven starry lights, and he then fished out the two boxes from his backpack. ¡°The two cultivation arts here are the ones I used to produce Venus Dawn. There is nothing left out or wrong in them.¡±

    The starlight around him didn¡¯t change after he had said those words.

    With a nod, thedy exchanged sealed boxes with Qianye. Then, she called Song Zining over and removed the golden thread wrapped around his neck.

    Qianye shed several times at and around Song Zining, effectively confirming that there were no threads in the space around him. Only then did he pull thetter behind him.

    ¡°Good swordsmanship!¡± Thedy praised. ¡°It would seem you¡¯re not just a brilliant marksman but also equally skilled with the de. Those who think they can bring you down at close range will be in for a nasty surprise.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the praise.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t moved.

    The woman didn¡¯t press on, either, and only said to Luo Yun, ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±

    Luo Yun replied, ¡°Madam, won¡¯t you check the records inside?¡±

    Thedy replied calmly, ¡°This is Luo Bingfeng¡¯s deal, so we¡¯ll just let him do the checking.¡±

    Luo Yun didn¡¯t insist. He simply followed her onto the airship back to Tidehark.

 Chapter 905: Take Care

    Despite the twists and turns throughout the transaction, it ended quite smoothly toward the end. Thedy¡¯s mood fluctuated repeatedly, making it difficult for anyone to guess which words she had meant and which otherwise. Additionally, no one understood why she had revealed her great divination attainments.

    Nheless, the trade was the primary objective, and with that out of the way, Qianye was no longer willing to remain in these dangerousnds. He had many things to ask Song Zining, but he could ask him all the same upon their return. Hence, the group duly boarded the airship and returned to Southern Blue.

    On the airship, the old man from before was sitting in the main cabin¡ªsilently and with his eyes closed. Song Zining was shocked out of his wits upon seeing him. ¡°Eunuch Liu!¡±

    The old man opened his eyes ever so slightly and shot Song Zining a nce. ¡°So young yet quite bold. You actually managed to drag me to the neutralnds, quite the rare urrence truly.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s frivolous attitude had vanishedpletely at this point. He replied with due respect, ¡°This young one really didn¡¯t know you would be troubled for this matter. Please forgive me.¡±

    Eunuch Liu waved his hand. ¡°Let it be. These old bones have been stuck in the pce for long enough. I shoulde out and get some fresh air anyway or I¡¯ll get rusty. I¡¯m aching all over whenever there¡¯s bad weather.¡±

    Song Zining said immediately, ¡°There are some good things in the neutralnds. I heard some medicines here have miraculous effects against rheumatism and are especially suited for people with powerful cultivations. These medicines aren¡¯t super valuable, but they are a bit difficult to find. Qianye and I will help you find someter on.¡±

    Fairly satisfied, the old eunuch said with a nod, ¡°I appreciate your rare show of goodwill, but I can¡¯t stay very long and will be hurrying back tomorrow. The neutralnds is a world for you youngsters.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. ¡°That fast? Then I¡¯ll send someone to deliver the medicines to you when we find them.¡±

    Eunuch Liu smiled in delight. ¡°Send a bit more if it isn¡¯t too valuable. The pce is cold and humid, there are a lot of other old fellows with the same condition. It¡¯ll be difficult to split the medicine if there¡¯s not enough.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, we¡¯ll do our best to find them. I was just wondering why thatdy was so easy to deal with, turns out it was because of your presence.¡±

    Eunuch Liu nodded softly. ¡°I felt annoyed at her ambiguity, so I released a bit of my aura for her to see, lest things turn out troublesome.¡±

    With that, Eunuch Liu beckoned Qianye over. ¡°You must be Qianye,e over and let me see.¡±

    Qianye nced about and only walked over when he got a nod from Li Kuann and Song Zining. Truthfully speaking, Qianye was instinctively unwilling to approach an unknown expert like Eunuch Liu¡ªnot unlike how fierce beasts would stay away from one another. This feeling wasn¡¯t evident before because he wasn¡¯t strong enough, but now his instincts were growing stronger and stronger due to the sharp upgrade in origin power and blood energy.

    Eunuch Liu smiled. ¡°Come closer. What are you afraid of? It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll eat you.¡±

    Qianye braced himself and took a step forward, arriving within two meters of the old man. He was no longer willing to get closer than this. His instincts were sending him strong signals that this Eunuch Liu wasn¡¯t as peaceful as he seemed on the surface¡ªhe was full of power and could erupt at any moment.

    Eunuch Liu didn¡¯t ask Qianye toe any closer. He sized thetter up from head to toe and praised, ¡°Not bad, I surely didn¡¯t have this level of power when I was his age.¡±

    Eunuch Liu flicked his thumb lightly against his index finger, eliciting a crisp explosive sound. This flick immediately sent Qianye¡¯s heartbeat out of control¡ªit sped up all of a sudden, pumping a torrent of warm blood to all parts of his body.

    Qianye was astonished. His heart¡¯s role, under normal circumstances, was quite small due to the presence of a blood core. If it wasn¡¯t for his daybreak origin power protecting the organ all this time, this important organ might¡¯ve been transformed by auric me blood.

    Eunuch Liu had used a mysterious ability, bringing about thunder and making Qianye¡¯s heart lose control with a flick of his fingers. This method had actually prated through Qianye¡¯s origin power and blood energy defenses to reach the heart. It was extremely powerful.

    After recovering from the initial shock, Qianye¡¯s origin power and blood energy kicked into cirction. They forcibly suppressed his heart, stopping it from beating too fast. Otherwise, there was no telling whether he would die of a ruptured heart.

    Eunuch Liu only flicked that once and no more. As the sound of thunder gradually faded away, Qianye¡¯s heartbeat returned to normal.

    Eunuch Liu nodded. ¡°Not bad, even I am envious of your physique. Qianye, you should consider certain things carefully after I leave. With that person protecting you, whatever you did in the past won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Qianye was puzzled as to who Eunuch Liu was referring to. Nheless, the old man was pointing upward as he said this, so it had to be a certain major character. Who could it be? A prince, princess, imperial consort, or maybe even one of the two empresses?

    Qianye had no idea when he had be connected to these people, but it would seem Eunuch Liu wasn¡¯t willing to divulge anything, either. The man closed his eyes once more and made no other movement.

    Li Kuann kept on gazing out of the window, almost as though there was some sort of exceptional view outside. Qianye nced over at her suspicious figure and noticed her shoulders shrinking slightly as his gazended¡ªa clear response.

    This raised suspicions in Qianye¡¯s heart. As he saw it, Li Kuann was feeling guilty because she knew something but was keeping it from him.

    Qianye was just about to go up and ask when Song Zining dragged him by the sleeve and shot him a meaningful nce.

    Qianye followed the seventh young master out of the cabin. As they reached a secluded passage, thetter said, ¡°This Eunuch Liu is of significant background. He was an extremely powerful general during thest emperor¡¯s reign. Later on, the emperor suffered numerous ambushes and was heavily wounded during one of them. That was when Eunuch Liu entered the pce to serve as the emperor¡¯s personal guardian. Countless dark races have died in his hands throughout the years. As far as I know, he¡¯s the number one expert in the current imperial pce.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. No wonder the old man had given him so much pressure. That finger-snap of his was as strange as it was powerful¡ªthe victim would be hard-pressed to respond immediately if struck on the battlefield, and that moment was enough to decide their fate.

    ¡°Why did Eunuch Liue to the neutralnds? Shouldn¡¯t he be protecting the emperor?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°His elderly grace¡¯s arrival naturally means the business is important.¡±

    ¡°What business could it be?¡± Qianye was still clueless.¡±

    Song Zining, however, seemed quite cautious about it. ¡°You¡¯ll find out one of these days, it¡¯s rted to you.¡±

    The more Song Zining tried to beat around the bush, the more Qianye wanted to know. Nheless, he was helpless since Song Zining kept his mouth shut and wasn¡¯t willing to divulge anything.

    Just as he was about to press on, Eunuch Liu¡¯s voice echoed in the duo¡¯s ears. ¡°This matter is extremely important, otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t havee here personally. But Lil¡¯ Seven, since I was sent here personally, you should realize that person¡¯s attitude regarding this matter. It¡¯s fine if things work out, but you know the oue otherwise. I won¡¯t be this delighted if I have to run this errand again, so you better take care of yourself.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression changed drastically. He smiled ruefully and became lost in thought¡ªwho knew what he was scheming?

    Unexpectedly, Eunuch Liu continued, ¡°There¡¯s nothing more important in that person¡¯s eyes. You suggested this matter, so you have to make it happen at any cost. Don¡¯t even think about getting away because of your merits. None of your contributions will help if this matter doesn¡¯t go off smoothly.¡±

    This time, Song Zining¡¯s countenance copsed entirely, and he had nothing left to say. All he could do was let out a long sigh.

    Even Qianye realized from the old man¡¯s tone that things were quite serious. ¡°Zining, what exactly is going on? Let me know a bit, so that I can help you shoulder the burden.¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly upon hearing those words. ¡°Share the burden? When the timees, it¡¯ll be good enough if you don¡¯t kick me while I¡¯m down. Sigh, it¡¯s all my fault. I should have known my limits and not yed so big.¡±

    Qianye was baffled. ¡°What exactly is this about? How is it rted to me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just rted.¡±

    The airship sped forward in due haste. On the vessel, Eunuch Liu sat as still as a mountain, his eyes closed and his mouth shut. Li Kuann and Song Zining, on the other hand, were both drowning in their own worries. The former was still gazing out of the window, while thetter was hiding in a corner, banging his head against the wall. Only Qianye was filled with such curiosity that he almost wanted to scratch at the cabin.

    At this moment, another airship had justnded in Tidehark. Luo Bingfeng was already waiting in the study when Luo Yun entered. The city lord said in great delight when he saw the two boxes in the steward¡¯s hands, ¡°You¡¯ve got your hands on it?¡±

    Luo Yun presented the two boxes. ¡°Everything went smoothly. Qianye also passed the Heart Reflection, so the cultivation arts should be genuine.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng smiled as he took over the sealed boxes. ¡°All is good then. With these secret arts, Nannan¡¯s cultivation can take a step forward and her chances of recovery will increase.¡±

    Luo Yun said, ¡°City Lord, the Wolf King sent word, asking us topensate them for their loss regarding Song Zining.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was in a good mood. ¡°Give them what they want as long as it¡¯s within reason.¡±

    ¡°Yes, City Lord,¡± Luo Yun replied but didn¡¯t leave immediately. Seeing this, the city lord asked curiously, ¡°Is there anything else.¡±

    Luo Yun hesitated for a moment. ¡°This¡­ there¡¯s actually something. I¡¯m wondering if I should say it.¡±

    ¡°Just say what you must, stop beating around the bush.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ the madam was also present during the transaction.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng shot out of his seat in shock. ¡°What? Howe?¡±

    At this moment, thedy¡¯s gentle voice arrived from outside the room. ¡°Why can¡¯t I? Are you so afraid that I¡¯ll find out?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was immediately stoppered up. ¡°Of course not, there¡¯s nothing I can hide from you.¡±

    The woman entered the study and pointed at the sealed boxes. ¡°The things are here, don¡¯t you n to take a look?¡±

 Chapter 906: Did he Lie?

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t open the box just yet. Instead, he said with a frown, ¡°Is there supposed to be any problems? Don¡¯t tell me that Qianye dares to lie to me?¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°Qianye passed the trial of Heart Reflection, so he¡¯s definitely speaking the truth.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you worried about?¡±

    Thedy sighed softly. ¡°Bingfeng, just think about it, how can a secret record of such caliber be so easy to obtain? My past divination results have shown that this endeavor will likely be a waste of effort, but you just won¡¯t listen.¡±

    Luo Binfeng replied, ¡°Nannan, you should know that I¡¯ll do anything as long as there exists the tiniest bit of hope for your recovery.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already been in this state for many years, I¡¯ve long since epted my fate.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng raised his voice, ¡°But I haven¡¯t!¡±

    Thedy pointed helplessly at the box. ¡°Then let¡¯s open it up.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s cut the box open with a swipe of his finger and fished out three secret records from within. His vision darkened as heid eyes on the first one, almost cking out in the process.

    The name Combatant Form was like a p of thunder that turned his mind nk for the moment.

    He came to momentster, but his hands were trembling from anger. ¡°T-This¡­ how can this be? It¡¯s the Combatant Form? This Qianye actually dares to lie to me! Does he really think I don¡¯t dare to kill him? I¡¯ll go into Southern Blue and kill that little thief even if I have to use up my half day¡¯s quota of freedom!¡±

    Thedy held Luo Bingfeng¡¯s hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go through the contents first before deciding. What do you say?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was usually a calm person¡ªhe was simply flustered due to his great concern about this matter. He calmed down afterward and began going through the Combatant Form, reading every line in great detail. He read rather slowly, taking the time to digest even the simplest of words.

    But no matter how carefully he read, the secret record very quickly reached its end since it was little more than a thousand words long. Additionally, the contents were extremely simple and contained nothing to meditate upon. This wasn¡¯t strange, though, since this art was for the most ordinary soldiers of the empire to train in. How deep could it be? Many of them couldn¡¯t even read¡ªthey had to rely on their trainer¡¯s recitation to cultivate it.

    Only after reaching thest word did Luo Bingfeng give up entirely, realizing that this cultivation art was themonly found Combatant Form.

    He was so angry that he was trembling all over. ¡°Well done¡­ well done, Qianye!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng wanted to tear the secret record apart in his anger, but thedy held his hand, saying, ¡°There are two more, aren¡¯t there? Perhaps there¡¯s some other profundity to it. It¡¯s not toote to tear things up after reading them all.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng suppressed his anger. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s see what the other two are about.¡±

    He randomly picked one up and flipped through it carefully. He was immediately drawn in this time, and his expression gradually rxed. He took much longer than thest time, even closing his eyes to ponder on the contents after he had finished reading. ¡°This secret art is outrageous. It can actually simte the power of a worldly vortex and use it to purify one¡¯s origin power. Judging from this, it might really be able to cultivate Venus Dawn since thetter is, quite frankly, just origin power of extreme purity.¡±

    After sighing in admiration, Luo Bingfeng said pensively, ¡°But there are two things I don¡¯t quite understand. Firstly, the power of the worldly vortex is indeed powerful, but how can the human body even withstand that kind of force? It has to be restrained in some way. Secondly, considering how pure Qianye¡¯s origin power is, probably less than ten percent of his void origin power would remain after the purification process. What kind of cultivation art could provide such a massive amount of origin power? None of the arts I know possess this kind of cultivation speed. Without that, the cultivator¡¯s progress will be dyed significantly, and he might end up even weaker than those without Venus Dawn.¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°Let¡¯s finish reading thest one beforeing to a conclusion.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng nodded as he took the secret record from thedy¡¯s hands. His expression transformed drastically as he read on, turning more and more unsightly along the way. He suddenly picked up the Glory Chapter he had been reading before and blurted out as hepared the two, ¡°What Mystery and Glory Chapters!? This is clearly the Scroll of Primal Chaos!¡±

    Thedy, however, was quite calm. ¡°Mystery and Glory might be the empire¡¯s name for the Scroll of Primal Chaos.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng could no longer endure. He picked up the three secret records, ready to tear them to pieces.

    The woman reached out to stop him. ¡°Why go to all this trouble?¡±

    ¡°That little thief Qianye is too intolerable! I swear I¡¯ll tear him to shreds!¡±

    ¡°Bingfeng, what he has given us might not be problematic even if this is the Scroll of Primal Chaos. Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s passed the trial of Heart Reflection. He was telling the truth.¡±

    However, Luo Bingfeng felt even more frustrated. ¡°Nannan, just think about it. Countless people from the empire and Evernight have tried to cultivate the Scroll of Primal Chaos since the day it emerged from the Great Maelstrom. Almost everyone exploded, and the luckier ones had their cultivations crippled. How is this not a problem?¡±

    ¡°Bingfeng, you said just now that training in the Glory Chapter would require one to be able to withstand the power of the vortex. If one were to also cultivate the Mystery Chapter at the same time, won¡¯t the two powers keep each other in check and form a bnced state?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s in theory, but who can have daybreak and evernight origin powers at the same time? A dark race member cultivating daybreak origin power is no different from self-immtion, and humans cultivating darkness origin power will lose their daybreak foundation. Who¡¯s going to cultivate this kind of art?¡±

    The woman smiled. ¡°That¡¯s beside the point as long as the theory is usible. As I see it, the Combatant Form is key to the massive amount of required origin power. Otherwise, Qianye wouldn¡¯t go to the extra trouble of giving us an art that can be found almost anywhere.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was skeptical, but he picked up the Combatant Form and read through it again. He said in a puzzled manner, ¡°Isn¡¯t this just the Combatant Form? How can there be anything extra profound?¡±

    The woman said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing special about the cultivation process, but that might not be the case of one¡¯s level. The empire¡¯s Martial Monarch and Prince Greensun had both reached the fiftieth level before. The former is from a senior generation, so we won¡¯t discuss him, but why would a character like Zhang Boqian cultivate the Combatant Form up to the fiftieth level before switching to a new one? Considering how rich the Zhang n was, it was impossible that he couldn¡¯t find a suitable cultivation art. Why would he do something so meaningless if there wasn¡¯t anything miraculous about the Combatant Form? He could¡¯ve just cultivated something else from the very beginning.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng looked pensive. ¡°What you mean is the Combatant Form will only reveal its profundities beyond the fiftieth wave?¡±

    ¡°Very likely.¡±

    This time, Luo Bingfeng could only smile wryly. ¡°Using the tides to draw upon the origin power inside one¡¯s body, the Combatant Form looks simple, but the recoil grows exponentially with the number of waves. Even a body of steel will be shattered toward thetter parts of cultivation. With my current constitution, I can only reach up to the thirty-fifth wave at most. Any more than that and I¡¯ll have to worry about my life. How can people like uspare with the Martial Monarch and Prince Greensun?¡±

    Thedy sighed softly. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t stop there in the past.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was quite honest. ¡°Even in my past state, I won¡¯t be able to pass the fortieth wave. The Combatant Form bes exponentially more violent toward the fiftieth wave, and every level is like a different realm. How can anyone cultivate past that? Humph, the opening of a new world beyond rank fifty is but a guess. That Qianye can forget about trying to deceive us using this loophole.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he isn¡¯t trying to deceive us¡­¡±

    ¡°Impossible! You jest¡­¡± Luo Bingfeng had only reached halfway with his words when he turned silent, his face full of astonishment. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that Qianye has reached the fiftieth level?¡±

    The woman said seriously, ¡°It¡¯s very probable.¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous! Doesn¡¯t that mean he¡¯s just as talented as Prince Greensun?¡±

    The woman sighed. ¡°After careful thought, this is the only possibility.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng became as spirited as he was shocked. ¡°That means Qianye wasn¡¯t lying, these three secret records can really cultivate Venus Dawn.¡±

    The female smiled helplessly. ¡°Yes, indeed. The cultivator only needs to reach the fiftieth level of the Combatant Form and cultivate the Glory and Mystery Chapters at the same time without exploding. Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn was likely produced in this manner.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was sent into a daze, his mindpletely nk as he looked on at the three secret records.

 Chapter 907: Major Even

    Luo Bingfeng remained dazed for a while. He then said with a gloomy expression, ¡°It¡¯s impossible for Qianye to not know these problems, yet he never exined them. He clearly intended to cheat us!¡±

    Thedy consoled, ¡°Bingfeng, don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re the one who insisted on this trade.¡±

    ¡°The situation has changed. Now, these three records are useless for both of us, what¡¯s the use of trading for them? Besides, if you can¡¯t cultivate Venus Dawn, everyone else can forget about it!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just being prejudiced.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t be magnanimous,¡± Luo Bingfeng said coldly.

    Thedy sighed. ¡°I sensed a familiar aura on their airship during this transaction. If I¡¯m not wrong, it should be Eunuch Liu.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was astonished. ¡°Which Eunuch Liu?¡±

    ¡°Of course the one from the imperial pce.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng broke into a worried frown. ¡°Did he figure out your identity? But it¡¯s fine even if he did. I¡¯ll find a way to protect you even if theye for past matters. Humph! So what if he¡¯s the number one expert in the imperial pce? If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just take him down with me.¡±

    The woman shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know whether he¡¯s aware of my identity, it has been so many years after all. But what I do know is that he intentionally allowed me to sense his aura as a warning, telling us not to mess around. He didn¡¯t attack on the spot, which means he might be pretending not to know about me. Won¡¯t we be walking straight into his grasp if we go knocking on Southern Blue at this point?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, his expression solemn. ¡°When will we be free of these imperial bastards? I shouldn¡¯t have promised the heavenly monarch that I would guard the city, now I can¡¯t even leave. In my past state, I could still put up a fight even if Eunuch Liu was here. Heh! I can put my life on the line for you, but I refuse to believe that the great general of the empire back then¡ªthe number one character in the pce today¡ªwill go all out for a bunch of kids.¡±

    The woman said in a gentle voice, ¡°Bingfeng, you promised not to do such pointless things. Have you forgotten?¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Luo Bingfeng found no outlet for the frustration in his heart. He couldn¡¯t help but wave his sleeve in anger, pulverizing everything inside the study.

    ¡­

    At this moment, Qianye had returned to Southern Blue and finally escaped the stifling atmosphere of the airship. Li Kuann and Song Zining left the vessel with wooden expressions and fled in different directions. Only Eunuch Liu remained inside the airship, enjoying the scenery of the neutralnds in leisure. He finally disembarked after a good while and, with the help of his servant, walked toward the car that would take him into the city.

    Neither Song Zining nor Li Kuann managed to escape cmity, however. Eunuch Liu summoned them immediately to discuss matters once he had returned to the city lord¡¯s manor. What made them even more restless was the fact that Qianye was also present, along with the city lord who had been hiding all this time.

    At this point, Eunuch Liu had no intention of disguising himself or retracting his aura. Just the overflowing power was enough to pressure Qianye and Ji Rui into great difort. Eunuch Liu¡¯s mantra was fairly profound and powerful¡ªthe more powerful the recipient, the greater the threat they would feel. Without the appropriate mantra to counter it, one would be at a disadvantage before even doing anything.

    Li Kuann and Song Zining both possessed the means, but they were preupied with their own worries. They were caught so badly off-guard that they couldn¡¯t even stand up from the shock.

    A young servant stood behind the eunuch, massaging his shoulder at a steady pace. The old man narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, ¡°My trip to the neutralnds has been quite productive. In addition to the scenery, I also managed to see a lot of outstanding people. I¡¯m sure the empress will be satisfied when I go back.¡±

    Ji Rui was quite restless, to begin with. Although he wasn¡¯t certain about Eunuch Liu¡¯s origins, he was very clear about the man¡¯s strength. Despite his sluggish perception, he had already gotten a taste of the old man¡¯s powerful aura just now. After hearing these words, how could he not realize that thetter was a major character from the imperial pce?

    The empire was situated far away, but this Eunuch Liu didn¡¯t need to rely on his background¡ªhe could simply trample over the city lord like he would an ant. Ji Rui was shocked out of his wits and almost felt like leaving his seat to fall on his knees.

    He was just about to move when a formless power pressed down on his body, immobilizing him like a giant thousand-kilogram rock. Eunuch Liu remained motionless, speaking nonchntly, ¡°I came here on the empress¡¯ orders. Now that I¡¯ve done most of the work assigned to me, it¡¯s about time I head back. Before I leave, however, I wish to talk about certain things. There¡¯s only a small difference betweenpleting and almostpleting this matter, but that little gap is usually what makes or breaks things. Let me make it clear¡­ if you ultimately fail to seal the deal, then I¡¯ll be forced toe again. Those who make it so that I can¡¯t exin things in front of the empress can forget about justifying themselves in front of me.¡±

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s hidden threat baffled Qianye entirely. Li Kuann and Song Zining, on the other hand, felt extremely ufortable because they understood what the old man was referring to.

    Song Zining started sizing Qianye up from head to toe, seemingly calcting in his mind. Being stared at in this manner gave Qianye the goosebumps, but he just couldn¡¯t find the opportunity to interrogate the seventh young master under Eunuch Liu¡¯s suppressive might.

    Only the shrewd Ji Rui was rtively rxed after realizing that this matter was unrted to him. That being said, the fear and trepidation on his face were even more exaggerated than Li Kuann and Song Zining.

    Eunuch Liu spoke again, ¡°The world is no longer as peaceful, and there are wars raging everywhere. The neutralnds will also be disputed over very soon, but that has nothing to do with me, nor is it rted to that business. All of you better mark my words, don¡¯t even think about glossing over this matter. Things will get pretty ugly if I¡¯m forced to use the methods I use in the imperial pce.¡±

    Li Kuann and Song Zining smiled wryly. Only Ji Rui was nodding repeatedly.

    Eunuch Liu shifted his gaze onto Ji Rui and said with an insincere smile, ¡°City Lord Ji¡­¡±

    Ji Rui was extremely capable of adapting to the situation. ¡°My city lord position is only nominal, I obey themands of the young nobles Li, Song Zining, and Qianye.¡±

    Eunuch Liu nodded. ¡°It¡¯s rare to see someone so observant of the bigger picture, then I won¡¯t say anything more about it. A fair number of people havee to pry on the city during my presence, and I¡¯ve given all of them a friendly greeting. So, I expect the city will be quite peaceful for a while, no true expert shoulde to cause trouble for the moment. Nheless, my departure can¡¯t be kept hidden for very long, and those who wille will eventuallye.¡±

    Ji Rui responded immediately, ¡°Please rest assured, I¡¯ll protect the three young nobles even if I have to fight to the death.¡±

    Eunuch Liu replied, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll remember the city lord¡¯s sincerity.¡±

    Ji Rui was delighted. ¡°Thank you for the support, Your Excellency.¡±

 Chapter 908: Objection Overruled

    Finally, Eunuch Liu said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s conclude our meeting here as I should be moving. Old age has made me so talkative. Fortunately, my memory is still quite good, otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to run errands for the empress.¡±

    Li Kuann and Song Zining looked fairly bitter at this point, but fortunately, the old man was leaving. The duo hurried over to see him off, almost bumping into each other along the way. Li Kuann red fiercely at the seventh young master, looking as though she would settle the scores with him soon afterward. Thetter, however, simply ignored her.

    Eunuch Liu didn¡¯t linger. He shot up and flew straight into his airship, effectively stopping those who wanted to see him off. The vessel ascended gradually at first, and then all of a sudden, it elerated rapidly and vanished over the horizon.

    Li Kuann beckoned to Song Zining with a cold smile. ¡°Zining,e here. I have something to discuss with you.¡±

    Song Zining replied with a smile, ¡°I also have something to say to you.¡±

    Qianye wanted to join them but was duly stopped. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business!¡±

    Ignoring Song Zining for now, Qianye was thoroughly baffled by Li Kuann¡¯s nasty attitude. Since the day she brought news that Tidehark was willing to trade, her attitude toward him had been growing increasingly strange.

    Li Kuann and Song Zining sat down in an isted chamber, facing each other in silence. Only after a long while did Li Kuann speak, ¡°You started this business, how do you intend to clean up?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly, ¡°How should I know things would turn out this way? Isn¡¯t the empress being too serious about this? She even mobilized Eunuch Liu, is it necessary to go so far?¡±

    Li Kuann said expressionlessly, ¡°She personally performed divination regarding this matter. Even the family heirloom was shattered, unable to withstand the bacsh. You tell me if it¡¯s necessary.¡±

    Song Zining was shocked. ¡°Family heirloom? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s the Heaventheft Jade Tokens?¡±

    ¡°What else can it be?¡±

    Only at this point did Song Zining realize the gravity of the situation. ¡°I was hoping to get through this by a fluke, but it looks like we have no choice but to get things done. Otherwise, the empress will never let me go.¡±

    Li Kuann sneered, ¡°Good that you know! You can¡¯t even begin to imagine my sister¡¯s methods.¡±

    Song Zining sighed deeply. ¡°There¡¯s no need for the empress to do anything, just the stuff that goes on in the pce is enough. I would rather die than risk trying them out.¡±

    ¡°As long as you understand, what now?¡±

    Song Zining said helplessly, ¡°What else can I do? We can only make things happen. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know whether Qianye will agree, it¡¯s going to be a headache.¡±

    Li Kuann grabbed Song Zining by the cor and uttered through clenched teeth, ¡°And I¡¯m supposed to be all willing?¡±

    Song Zining looked puzzled. ¡°You¡¯re not?¡±

    Li Kuann was so angry that she nearly cked out. She shook the seventh young master violently, roaring, ¡°I am not willing! Absolutely not! Do I make myself clear?¡±

    Song Zining looked at her with eyes full of sympathy. ¡°I hear you loud and clear. But¡­ what use is your unwillingness?¡±

    Li Kuann was startled.

    Song Zining continued, ¡°Are you really going to go against your sister¡¯s wishes?¡±

    Li Kuann opened her mouth, but no words escaped her lips.

    ¡°That settles it, right?¡± Song Zining shot her a confident sideways nce. ¡°Is there a difference whether or not I ask you? Besides, this is for your own good.¡±

    Li Kuann could no longer stand this. She howled into Song Zining¡¯s ears, ¡°I don¡¯t need anyone deciding what¡¯s good for me!¡±

    Song Zining, however, was already expecting this. Having sealed his ears with origin power, he simply looked on at Li Kuann with sympathetic eyes.

    Qianye was locked out of the room, so all he could do was pace about nearby. Ji Rui jogged over at this point and, seeing no one around, whispered, ¡°Sire Qianye, what exactly was Eunuch Liu referring to?¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°Do I look like I know? You¡¯ll have to ask those two.¡±

    Ji Rui replied hurriedly, ¡°The two young nobles aren¡¯t easy to approach, how would I dare to ask? I feel a bit more familiar with you.¡±

    Qianye snorted. ¡°We¡¯re indeed familiar with one another since you¡¯ve already tried to harm me twice.¡±

    Ji Ruiughed awkwardly. ¡°It¡¯s all a misunderstanding. You know that it''s impossible to survive in the neutralnds otherwise!¡±

    Qianye understood this point as well; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have maintained a rtionship with the city lord. It was just that he had no idea about what was going on, nor did he get the chance to ask Song Zining. ¡°I really have no idea.¡±

    Ji Rui shook his head. ¡°If it¡¯s as important as it sounds, then there¡¯s really no difference whether or not we know. What wille wille. My current wish is to cede the city lord position to you, what do you think?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Southern Blue is yours, and so is the city lord position. The only thing I want is Dark me. As long as you support its development, the city lord¡¯s position will not change.¡±

    Ji Rui pondered for a moment and then came to a realization. ¡°Turns out Sire Qianye has great aspirations, you simply do not care for a meager city. I¡¯m full of admiration! Rest assured, as long as you will it, this lowly one will do his best without excuses. I won¡¯tin even if you want me to pay out of my own pocket, as long as you leave me some retirement funds.¡±

    Ji Rui was fairly practical and, as expected of a wily old fox, highly capable in the path of survival. He had lowered himself significantly since Eunuch Liu¡¯s arrival, going so far as to address Qianye as sire instead of young noble.

    Qianye started to cultivate after returning to his residence, but just as he had begun channeling the Glory Chapter, he heard Song Zining¡¯s footsteps approaching. As such, he stopped the cultivation art and waited in silence.

    Song Zining was all smiles as he walked in. ¡°Qianye, thank you so much for saving me this time.¡±

    ¡°What exactly happened? How did you get caught? Why did the people from Tidehark attack you all of a sudden?¡± Qianye had a lot of questions but never got the chance to ask until now.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Of course it¡¯s about my rotten familial matters.¡±

    He then proceeded to exin the details. The main reason was because some people from the Song n had noticed his resignation from the army and subsequent arrival in the neutralnds. The situation back in the n was highly unstable, and everyone was restless. This made Song Zining¡¯s movements even more evident to those who were watching him. Song Zining had indeed left the n, but his outstanding achievements far surpassed the scions of the family, and everyone knew how Duchess An favored the seventh young noble. Hence, many people considered him as a powerful contender for the next generation n lord¡¯s position.

    A group of people thus followed Song Zining to the neutralnds. Song Zian was fairly capable in this regard, it would seem. Who knew how he managed to get in touch with Rui Xiang, but the two ended up working together in the end. The old steward was offered an exorbitant price to capture Song Zining who, at the moment, had coincidentally lost his divination powers. The seventh young master was ultimately captured and suffered several days of prison life.

    It was just that Luo Bingfeng decided to trade with Qianye just as Song Zian was about to act, effectively extracting the prisoner from the Wolf King¡¯s grasp. In just a couple more days, Song Zining might very well have fallen into Song Zian¡¯s hands and transported back to the empire.

    During the imprisonment, the Wolf King had also tried to interrogate Song Zining about where his technology was stored. However, thetter understood that the key to this matter was to maintain his silence. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve be a pile of bones by now.

    Fortunately, the oue was fairly good, and everyone got through the daunting experience without any mishaps.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes shed with killing intent upon hearing Song Zining¡¯s exnation. ¡°And you let him go just like that? Shall I go and pick him back up?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°He messed up this deal and lost the investment, so he¡¯ll definitely be punished upon his return. His fate won¡¯t be any better, so why should we trouble ourselves? Besides, we¡¯re still brothers regardless of everything, I¡¯ll be med for fratricide if I kill him now. This will be detrimental for ourtter recruitment endeavors.¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°They clearly want your life! And you¡¯re still protecting him? If you had revealed Ningyuan Heavy Industry¡¯s secrets, you¡¯ll be long dead by now! As for the future, that¡¯s too far and I can¡¯t think about that much. What I know is that we should make all those trying to harm you realize that they¡¯ll have no good ending. If you let him go now, he mighte again at ater date.¡±

    Song Zining rolled his eyes. ¡°Howe you¡¯ve never been so urgent about your own matters.¡±

    ¡°What matters?¡± Qianye was baffled.

    ¡°Your marriage.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you before, I already have someone I love.¡±

    ¡°But she¡¯s all but forgotten about you!¡±

    ¡°So what? It¡¯s fine as long as I like her,¡± Qianye replied confidently.

    Such conversations had been repeated countless times. At this point, Song Zining could only raise his hands in defeat. ¡°Fine, fine... I know you have Nighteye in your heart, alright?¡±

    Qianye sighed but didn¡¯t say anything. He knew Song Zining was stating the truth, but he simply didn¡¯t want to admit it.

    The seventh young master quickly shifted the topic of conversation. Putting an arm around Qianye¡¯s shoulder, he said with a smile, ¡°Qianye, we¡¯re brothers, right?¡±

    Qianye instinctively sensed something bad from the sudden intimacy. He pped away Song Zining¡¯s hand and took a step back, saying, ¡°Speak, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Song Ziningughed awkwardly. ¡°What matter?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice was cold and cautious. ¡°Leave if you have nothing to say, I¡¯m going to cultivate.¡±

    ¡°But I just came back from death¡¯s door, can you not be so cruel?¡±

    Qianye was unmoved. He simply pointed at the door, seemingly to show the visitor out. Helpless, Song Zining said, ¡°Qianye, you won¡¯t sit by and watch if I¡¯m in trouble, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, unless it¡¯s something you brought upon yourself.¡± Qianye¡¯s reply was swift.

    Song Zining was dazed and he almost couldn¡¯t catch his breath. ¡°Does that mean you n to watch with folded arms?¡±

    Qianye said unceremoniously, ¡°How can I even solve the problems you stir up? Besides, can you say you had nothing to do with Tianqing and Kuann running over to the neutralnds? I have no idea what you¡¯re scheming, and I won¡¯t ask about things I don¡¯t want to know. It¡¯s just like I told you, you reap what you sow. Don¡¯t me me for ack of brotherly spirit.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°If I say that it concerns my life and death, will you help me?¡±

    ¡°Why should I believe you?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t hold back.

    ¡°In any case, you just have to remember that everything I do is for your own good.¡±

    For some reason, Qianye suddenly shivered when he heard those words.

 Chapter 909: Decline

    Song Zining was just about to leave when Qianye dragged him back. ¡°Make things clear before you go.¡±

    Song Zining removed Qianye¡¯s hand, saying, ¡°I can¡¯t make things clear. In any case, there¡¯s no way to escape when the timees. It¡¯ll be up to you whether or not you want to save me.¡±

    ¡°What trouble did you stir up again?¡±

    ¡°What can I stir up? I wouldn¡¯t have done this if it wasn¡¯t for your sacred mountain dreams.¡±

    Qianye was stoppered up.

    Song Zining patted his shoulders. ¡°Just cultivate in peace. The stronger you are, the more you can help me.¡±

    Qianye pointed at the door helplessly, knowing that he couldn¡¯t get anything more out of Song Zining. Song Zining seemed to remember something after taking half a step out of the door. ¡°Kaunn asked me to tell you that she¡¯ll study Mortal Enlightenment for a couple of days, and then teach you once she¡¯s figured things out.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What am I going to do with that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know once you get used to divination. But I haven¡¯t seen it, so I¡¯m not sure what its uses are, either.¡±

    Qianye calmed himself down after Song Zining¡¯s departure and continued polishing his origin power with the Glory Chapter. This was a long, arduous task that couldn¡¯t be rushed. It was apparent that Song Zining had no intention of exining things clearly, so it was better to simply not ask.

    Several days went by in a sh. Qianye passed the time in continuous cultivation, almost forgetting to keep track of the clock. Only when the stored origin power in his body waspletely refined did he slowly stop his cultivation art and start stretching his body. After a long period of continuous battles, he felt that his cultivation session was exceptionally bright andfortable.

    Qianye was somewhat dazed as he walked out into the resplendent sunlight. Only afterward did he notice that the recent days had been exceptionally peaceful. The city-wide rm didn¡¯t even go off once. It would seem Eunuch Liu was right¡ªno one from the nearby major powers would risk their life to enter Southern Blue after his ¡°greetings¡±.

    Qianye scanned the area with his perception and found that neither Song Zining nor Li Kuann was in their respective residences. No one knew where they had gone, either. Since he had already cultivated enough, he decided to walk out of Dark me headquarters and take a stroll around.

    Southern Blue had transformed drastically at this point. Despite the heavy casualties, Dark me had alreadypleted its support andpensation process for the deceased. Every mercenary corps had a certain budget set aside for this purpose, and Ji Tianqing had naturally robbed them of this cache during the aggregation process. Hence, the severe losses didn¡¯t actually bankrupt the mercenary corps.

    The construction sites had recovered their basic workflow by this time, and many of the buildings had beenpleted. Those still in progress were also quite close to wrapping up. Unlike Dark me¡¯s facilities, the new stores and workshops of the tradingpanies had just begun the building process. The entire city looked like a giant construction site with dust and ruckus everywhere.

    To Ji Rui, this kind of scenery was the most beautiful painting, the most pleasant of music. Each construction site had already put arge number of gold coins into his coffers. In the future, they would further turn into wellsprings of fortune oncepleted, squirting out a steady stream of riches for him.

    Qianye also sensed the flourishing state of the city and couldn¡¯t help but admire the city lord¡¯s ability. What he didn¡¯t know was that his fierce assault on Tidehark had restrained almost all of the city¡¯s mobile manpower, as well as that of Totemic Castle¡¯s. That was the main reason why Southern Blue had remained peaceful.

    Without the support of a regr army corps, ordinary mercenary groups simply weren¡¯t a match for Ji Rui¡¯s elite troops. Song Zining had routed the Wolf King¡¯s main force recently, and although Dark me suffered grave losses in the process, Southern Blue itself wasn¡¯t affected by the mes of war.

    Qianye found Song Zining on the drill grounds. The seventh young master was busy training new troops and instructing the men to distribute uniforms. The noisy field was popted by hundreds of people who, judging from their clothing, consisted of soldiers from several small mercenary corps. There was no telling whether they were attracted by Dark me¡¯s reputation or forced here by Ji Tianqing.

    At this point, Qianye suddenly remembered that he hadn¡¯t seen Ji Tianqing for many days.

    Nheless, this aide had always been mysterious, and no one could grasp her movements. Qianye remembered her briefly but stopped himself from thinking too much. Seeing that there was nothing major going on around the city, Qianye returned to his residence and continued refining his blood energy reserves. Toeing the line between life and death greatly benefitted his daybreak origin power cultivation. He could vaguely sense the fifth origin vortex, so his future breakthrough was only to be expected. With his daybreak power foundationid down, his Evernight powers could finally progress a bit.

    While Southern Blue was bing more prosperous with each passing day, the atmosphere in Totemic Castle was shrouded in haze.

    The Wolf King was seated on his throne, frowning with a gloomy expression. One could see signs of wear on his countenance, a stark contrast to the overbearing harshness of the past. The werewolf generals below also expressed less respect and fearpared to the past.

    Tidehark City Lord Luo Bingfeng had exerted tyrannical pressure upon the Wolf King just recently, demanding that thetter hand over Song Zining. He was offeredpensation afterward, and Song Zian¡¯s downpayment was also a sizable earning. Yet, despite the good profits from the business as a whole, the Wolf King¡¯s prestige had suffered gravely and irreversibly.

    Before this, the Wolf King was viewed as the number one expert below Zhang Buzhou because he had managed to challenge him. The Wolf King had also expanded his influence constantly, forcing everyone in his wake to yield. Apart from Luo Bingfeng, even other divine champions wouldn¡¯t dare attract the Wolf King¡¯s spearhead, much less fight with him.

    Luo Bingfeng used to be famous, but he had been in seclusion for so many years that his name had started to fade out. Additionally, he had entrenched himself in Tidehark, not taking a single step outside, so there was also no chance for him to sh head-on with the Wolf King. The people took this as a sign that he was yielding to thetter.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that Tidehark¡¯s first confrontation with the Wolf King would be so overbearing? They left no room at all for negotiation. What surprised people was that the Wolf King was the one to concede. Luo Bingfeng had indeed taken advantage of the werewolf¡¯s heavy injuries, but from how he had no worries about future retaliation, one could see that the Tidehark city lord¡¯s power wasn¡¯t below the Wolf King.

    Many of the people who had suffered the Wolf King¡¯s suppression over the years started seeing hope.

    The Wolf King knew all this, and so did the werewolf generals below him. As such, the atmosphere in the conference hall wasn¡¯t just stifling but also somewhat strange. Breaking through to the divine champion realm was both easy and hard for the werewolves. The use of ancestral power made their ascensions much easier, affording almost all talented warriors a chance at breakthrough. Their bottleneck wasn¡¯t in talent but in the abundance of ancestral power.

    To the werewolves who relied on ancestral power at every turn, there was never enough of this energy to go around. This was why great shamans¡ªwho couldmunicate with the forebears and distribute ancestral power¡ªenjoyed an important position within the tribe, sometimes even greater than the chief. The shaman himself was usually the number one expert of the tribe, or at least within the top three.

    It was precisely because of how rare ancestral power was that the other generals were dissatisfied with the Wolf King¡¯s method of expending ancestral power to force-heal himself. The increased consumption meant that everyone¡¯s shares would dwindle, and along with it their hopes of advancement. If it wasn¡¯t for the Wolf King¡¯s superiorbat strength and past notoriety, these werewolf generals would¡¯ve dragged him off the great chief¡¯s throne.

    The Wolf King also understood that there were undercurrents surging beneath the seemingly calm surface. After a long period of silence, he looked up at the officers and said in a deep voice, ¡°I heard the crawlers have been active in my domain, was there such a thing?¡±

    The werewolf generals looked at one another, but no one replied.

    Bing somewhat impatient, the Wolf King pointed at one of the generals. ¡°Windwalker, you tell me.¡±

    The werewolf general didn¡¯t look as powerful as the other werewolves, but the muscles on his chiseled body were like interweaving steel wires, full of explosive power. He took a step forward, saying, ¡°Great Chief, there have indeed been such rumors. Reportedly, one of their emissaries has arrived in ournds. I¡¯ve already captured some suspects, but the interrogation is still underway. From what we know, the crawlers are operating around the borders, and these people had merely heard their preaching, nothing more.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s expression eased up a bit. ¡°Well done, continue with the capture. Seize all suspicious individuals and release them only after making things clear. I will not allow crawlers to appear on mynds.¡±

    Windwalker bowed. ¡°As you wish, Great Chief.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes narrowed with killing intent. Windwalker¡¯s reply was perfect, but the angle of his bow wasn¡¯t as deep as in the past. In his exceptionally sensitive state, the Wolf King realized from this minute detail that the general no longer respected him as much.

    He didn¡¯t flip out on the spot and merely pressed this matter to the bottom of his heart. He asked a different general, ¡°Any news from the Spider Emperor?¡±

    The general replied, ¡°Great Chief, the messenger has just returned, but he bears no good news. The Spider Emperor has been suffering a fair bit of trouble in his territory and says he has no manpower to rent.¡±

    The Wolf King frowned unhappily. ¡°He has so many squads under hismand and could even field warbeasts during the war against Su Dingqian. What kind of trouble is keeping him from dispatching this small number of troops?¡±

    ¡°From what the messenger has found out, a mysteriousdy had been targeting the Spider Emperor for some reason and intercepting trade caravans throughout his territory. The emperor sent out numerous squads to surround her, but none of the soldiers returned. His entire domain is on the edge from the grave losses, so it¡¯s unlikely that he¡¯ll be in the mood to help us.¡±

    Hearing all of this, the Wolf King remembered that young girl with the great cleaver and was badly shaken.

 Chapter 910: One of a Kind

    ¡°What does thatdy look like? Why is she fighting the Spider Emperor?¡±

    The general replied, ¡°She¡¯s reportedly quite young. She always wears a white dress and her weapon of choice is arge cleaver. As for why she¡¯s fighting the Spider Emperor, some say it¡¯s because of the de she uses. That cleaver seems to be made from the limb of a certain arachne expert, and its natural material is extremely powerful. That might be the reason for her enmity with the Spider Emperor.¡±

    The Wolf King narrowed his eyes, realizing that it was the girl in white he had encountered before. She was extremely mysterious, and no one knew where she had popped up from. Her strength was mediocre, but her grasp of openings and opportunities in battle was simply divine. All of her attacks would go toward the enemy¡¯s weakest points, thereby erupting with terrifying destructive power. The Wolf King already felt some degree of fear toward her, perhaps only second to Qianye¡¯s earth-shattering feather of light.

    Such an enemy rampaging through the Spider Emperor¡¯s territory was both good and bad.

    The good thing about it was that he wouldn¡¯t need to worry about her existence. In his current state, the Wolf King might not be her match in the wilderness. The young girl would appear at the most opportune of moments, and her sudden ambushes were devastating, to say the least. A blow to his weak point at this time would gravely injure him. No one else in the hall was the girl¡¯s match¡ªnone would return no matter how many he sent, not unlike the Spider Emperor¡¯s current situation.

    The bad thing about letting her rampage in this manner was her unchecked growth. Her character was enigmatic. On one hand, the girl was a cold murderer, but on the other, she was also extremely greedy. She was willing to risk life and limb just to snatch the Wolf King¡¯s purse back then.

    Considering her terrifying talents and sufficient resources, her future prospects were unimaginable. Even the Wolf King couldn¡¯t help but tremble at the thought. Fortunately, the Wolf King noticed¡ªduring their brief exchange¡ªthat her origin power was extremely mottled and impure. It would seem her cultivation talents were mediocre at best, and it was almost impossible for such an origin power to break through to the divine champion realm. As long as she didn¡¯t be a divine champion, there were still ways to deal with her.

    The Wolf King¡¯s mood improved somewhat at the thought of this.

    ¡°Issue an order to our men, do not provoke her. Retreat immediately on sight.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯smand surprised the generals. A number of them, including Windwalker, wore serious expressions¡ªthey already considered her a great enemy. The others, however, seemed to disapprove of this decision, and some of them even looked discontent. As they saw it, how dangerous could a human girl be? The Spider Emperor¡¯s repeated failures only proved that the old spider was incapable. The Wolf King¡¯s current action implied that he was even inferior to the Spider Emperor, a sign of weakness.

    The werewolves were a race that revered the strong, and only an expert who could suppress everyone else would be chief. Hence, some generals with good potential began thinking about recing him.

    With a cold smile, the Wolf King scanned the hall with eyes full of killing intent and bared his fang in a threatening disy. This was an indication that he would ept all challenges. The werewolf generals, however, looked away in unison. No one had the intention of challenging him. No matter how weak the Wolf King was at the moment, his remaining strength was still sufficient to suppress any single general at the scene. It was just that he might not win if all of them came at him together.

    It was at this time that Windwalker took a step forward and went down on one knee. ¡°We need you, Great Chief. No one can rece your position. Our tribe would¡¯ve scattered to the winds without you, so I, Windwalker, will always remain loyal.¡±

    Even the slowest and most battle-hungry of werewolves had realized the situation at this point. The neutralnds was different from other ces in that everyone had to ensure their interests with their own power. The great shaman¡ªwho was also the second most powerful expert in the tribe¡ªhad fallen without passing on his power. This meant that the tribe would be devoid of duke-level fighting power if the Wolf King were to leave as well. The next strongest werewolf was but an ordinary marquis. This kind of strength wasn¡¯t worthy of Totemic Castle. Hence, grouping up to eliminate the Wolf King was a lose-lose situation as the tribe¡¯s entire foundation would be lost.

    At Windwalker¡¯s lead, the other werewolf generals also expressed their loyalty. ording to werewolf tradition, they would be barred from challenging the Wolf King for a certain period after this disy. The dangerous situation thus ended in this manner.

    Windwalker¡¯s action surprised the Wolf King. This general was the most intelligent and also the one who threatened him the most. ¡°Very well, your consideration for the tribe ismendable. As a fellow tribesmen, I won¡¯t mistreat you. From tomorrow onward, you¡¯ll have the right to a portion of ancestral power and I shall wee your challenge anytime.¡±

    Windwalker lowered his head. ¡°I won¡¯t challenge your position within ten years.¡±

    Amotion broke out among the werewolf generals. Windwalker¡¯s words weren¡¯t an indication of weakness. Rather, it meant that he was confident in breaking through to the glorious marquis realm within ten years, a level equal to divine champions among humans.

    Another general said, ¡°Great Chief, do we continue escorting caravans for the various merchantpanies and cities?¡±

    An angry growl escaped the Wolf King¡¯s throat. ¡°Continue as usual!¡±

    This key question was put forth by an experienced, elderly general. A while ago, the Wolf King had returned with injuries and then went out to fight again. After his second return, he had never once mentioned a counteroffensive against Southern Blue. Then came Luo Bingfeng¡¯s demand for Song Zining.

    At this moment, Totemic Castle wasn¡¯t in good condition. The Wolf King¡¯s injuries hadn¡¯t healed, and his army had suffered grievous casualties. He had no more power to maintain normal defensive capacity over a wide area, so contraction was the natural course of action. The blow to the Wolf King¡¯s fame would be devastating if Qianye were to intercept them a couple more times.

    It was just that the Wolf King was insistent on this matter, so the generals found it difficult to speak up.

    The tradepanies have always been the most well-informed in the neutralnds, and the sudden rise of Southern Blue elicited a swift reaction among them. The number of airships heading toward the city almost doubled within a few days, and evenrge cargo vessels were spotted among them.

    The greater part of Southern Blue had turned into a construction site, so many of the new workshops could only be ced outside of the city. Dark me¡¯s fame had spread far and wide, so ordinary bandits wouldn¡¯t dare to have designs on the ce.

    The firearms supply chain designed by Song Zining was already starting to take shape. The arrival of Ningyuan Heavy Industries¡¯ three intercontinental cargo vessels produced amotion among the tradepanies who had their eyes set on Southern Blue. When the cargo was being unloaded, some knowledgeable people realized that the goods were actually equipment used for manufacturingrge airships.

    This meant that, after thepletion of this factory, the neutralnds would gain the ability to produce intercontinental airships for the very first time in history. Such cargo vessels could be quickly modified into destroyer grade warships in times of need.

    In order to keep the neutralnds¡¯ potential fighting power in check, both Evernight and the Empire had kept tight control on the trade of key airshipponents¡ªengines and main cannons. To maintain bnce, the neutralnds would receive a limited number of high-output engines and main cannons every year, just enough to maintain its fleet.

    It was necessary for both Evernight and the Empire to ensure that the neutralnds possessed a certain level of defensive capacity. At the very least, it would prevent the other side from devouring the territory quickly.

    But now, this bnce was about to be broken¡ªwith thepletion of this engine factory, the neutralnds would be free of its restraints for the very first time. On the other hand, manypanies had also realized that a terrifying airship fleet would rise from Southern Blue, an armada capable of sweeping through the Eastern Sea, or even the entirety of the neutralnds.

    Under such circumstances, ordinary army corps were no longer a match for Dark me. Only true experts would be able to stop them.

    Despite Song Zining¡¯s ostentatious disy, all the surrounding experts¡ªincluding the Wolf King, Luo Bingfeng, the Spider Emperor, and Mask¡ªwere unexpectedly quite vague in their response. On the surface, at the very least, Southern Bluecked the power to defend against a true divine champion, yet no one stood out to suppress it.

    The Wolf King had twice been heavily injured, mainly because he had underestimated the enemy. This was especially true of the second assault, where he jumped into the enemy trap on his own. In the end, he had his defenses half-destroyed by Li Kuann and was struck squarely by Qianye¡¯s most powerful shot. The oue of this battle was more because of his own stupidity than Qianye¡¯s strength.

    After the Wolf King¡¯s second injury, all the major powers spared no effort to obtain information about that battle. Following a detailed analysis, most parties had already managed to reconstruct the general situation.

    Such a set up would only work once, so most people believed that the Wolf King¡¯s retaliation following his recovery would mean the end for Southern Blue.

    Nheless, even someone as arrogant and vengeful as the Wolf King didn¡¯t mention anything about attacking Southern Blue. This was clearly abnormal.

    Very soon, a rumor began circting among the traders and major powers that an extremely terrifying expert was hiding within Southern Blue. It was due to his intimidation that the other experts didn¡¯t dare act recklessly.

    Most people believed this rumor immediately. Song Zining, Li Kuann, and Ji Tianqing all came from shocking backgrounds¡ªit would be strange if they didn¡¯t have powerful reinforcements. If these characters hade on their own, the Wolf King and the other experts could perhaps ignore the support behind them, but provoking several major powers at the same time wasn¡¯t a wise thing to do.

    This gave thepanies more confidence to invest in Southern Blue. Dozens of factory set-up applications would arrive in front of Song Zining every day. At this rate, Southern Blue would be able to produce aplete airship within half a month¡ªout of the entire airship, only the steel tes weren¡¯t being manufactured here.

    In their chaotic rush, manypanies based in Southern Blue became expectant of a powerful airship fleet rising over the city. But at this point, no one knew that theseponents¡ªsufficient to construct an entire airship fleet¡ªwere going to be installed on a single warship.

    A warship destined to be one of its kind.

 Chapter 911: Sample

    Qianye¡¯s peaceful cultivation didn¡¯tst long before it was broken by an urgent knock on the door. Song Zining was the only one who would dare to knock so impolitely. Ji Tianqing might do that as well, but no one knew where she was or what she was scheming right now.

    Qianye stopped cultivating and opened the door in apparent displeasure. ¡°What do you want now? Is your life already in danger?¡±

    ¡°No, but fairly close. I need you to help me with something.¡± Song Zining went straight to the point.

    ¡°What do you need? Exin first.¡± Qianye warned.

    ¡°Escort a trade caravan to Seagaze and pick up some goods. You¡¯ve done that before.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just that.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What kind of goods?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile disappeared. ¡°The journey there involves a batch of samples produced by Ningyuan Heavy Industries. I¡¯m confident that my products are two levels higher in quality than the stuff they can usually get their hands on. I¡¯m sure thosepanies in Seagaze will know what to do once they see the samples. If they don¡¯t stand obediently on our side, they can wait to be squeezed out of business.¡±

    ¡°Will they be that well-behaved?¡± Having experienced an ambush in Seagaze, Qianye understood the character of those families quite well. The stuff they couldn¡¯t obtain on the negotiation table, they liked to seize in the wilderness.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°They were never an obedient lot, that¡¯s why I want you to go personally. Kill anyone who dares to stop you on the way. Remember, this is a purge, a show of power. There¡¯s no need to take prisoners.¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    Song Zining said, ¡°The goods you¡¯re bringing back are the most important. Actually, there are two lots inside. One of them is a crate of rare minerals from the Great Maelstrom, necessary for the construction ofrge engines. With it, Ningyuan Heavy Industries will be able to produce alloys of unbelievable quality and set out to build battleship engines. The other item is an ancient engine of unknown origins that runs on very different mechanical principles. If we can study it, our airship technology might take a huge leap forward. Naturally, it¡¯s also possible that nothing wille of it, but I¡¯m very much interested in its origins.¡±

    ¡°I might not be enough for such an important matter.¡±

    ¡°Other people have no idea what you¡¯re there for. At most, they¡¯ll just think you¡¯re escorting the caravan for profits. The true problem is after you¡¯ve picked up the goods.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Will someonee to rob the goods? Has the news been leaked?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The seller has leaked the information, he probably contacted more than one buyer. Besides, this person also has enough power to arrange an ambush along the way and seize the goods back. This isn¡¯t umon in the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

    Song Zining replied with a question, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°Since the news has been released, then we should just be direct and stop trying to cover things up. I¡¯d simply announce our departure time and route. Whoever wants to intercept the caravan, let theme. I¡¯ll work separately from the motorcade. If anyone wants to attack, heh, he¡¯d better pray for good luck.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Even the Wolf King can¡¯t stand a shot from you, the others won¡¯t dare to test your firepower with their bodies. They probably won¡¯t attack unless they¡¯re able to pinpoint your location.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Our biggest enemy at the moment is still the Wolf King. Our strategy fromst time won¡¯t work again. We won¡¯t be able to stop the Wolf King once he recovers.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°That is indeed the case, but I can¡¯t think of a better method. What do you have in mind?¡±

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°We should take advantage of his injury to shake the forces under him and around him, clip his wings. I won¡¯t show mercy if I meet the Wolf King¡¯s men along the way, even if they back down. We have to let everyone know that we¡¯re not afraid of him. If all goes well, perhaps we can clear out his influence in Seagaze once and for all.¡±

    ¡°Good idea!¡± Song Zining pped. ¡°That was what I had in mind as well, that¡¯s why I arranged for the transaction to take ce in Seagaze.¡±

    ¡°But we still can¡¯t defeat the Wolf King.¡±

    Song Zining asked, ¡°You¡¯re the one who wounded him, how long do you think it¡¯ll take for him to recover?¡±

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Werewolves possess powerful vitality, to begin with. Add to that the ancestral power that¡¯s avable to the Wolf King, I really can¡¯t venture a guess. Under normal circumstances, though, I¡¯d be very surprised if he can recover within a month.¡±

    Song Zining shot Qianye a nce. ¡°You¡¯re getting better and better. If there¡¯s one month to work with, I¡¯m sure I can devise a method to deal with him¡­ that is provided he dares toe again.¡±

    After some thought, Qianye still felt a bit worried. ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯m still worried about. If I go alone, what if the other party risks it all to keep me tied down while others seize the goods?¡±

    Song Zining smiled confidently. ¡°Those metals are what¡¯s really important. Those are the stuff that will give us immediate assistance. As for the ancient engine or whatever, it¡¯s not really important. Whoever gets their hands on it will find a way to contact us with an offer.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°That¡¯s because none of them can figure out what that thing is. All the ns and families here are at least a hundred years behind Ningyuan Heavy Industries in terms of technology. If even we can¡¯t study it, there¡¯s no way any other power can. So, whatever their motives are¡ªeven if they wish to seize the results of the research at ater date¡ªthey still have toe looking for us.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought and felt that it was true. The key to this n was dependent on just how advanced Ningyuan Heavy Industries was¡ªit would only be effective if the disparity was enough to make the other party give up hope.

    Song Zining seemed to have realized Qianye¡¯s thoughts. With a smile, he produced a small silver pinion and passed it to Qianye. ¡°Look at this, it¡¯s one of the samples I¡¯m nning to pass to Seagaze.¡±

    Qianye studied the pinion in great detail. The craftsmanship was beautiful, but still, it looked just like an ordinary gear on the surface. Qianye¡¯s eyes, however, could see more than just the exquisite craftsmanship¡ªhe found that the pinion¡¯s surface was as smooth as a mirror, and even he couldn¡¯t find the smallest of gaps or unevenness. This level of quality looked simple, but it was extremely difficult to achieve. From what Qianye had seen, only origin weaponry above grade eight would reach this kind of craftsmanship.

    He tossed the pinion casually and watched as it returned to his grasp in a beautiful arc. This small movement allowed him to see that the gear¡¯s weight distribution was extremely even. There were neither imbnces nor empty pockets inside¡ªunlike ordinary metallicponents, which always contained minute pockets of air.

    This kind of pinion wasn¡¯t simple at all. There would be no problem for it to be installed inside a grade-eight gun.

    Qianye reached out to pinch the gear, but he still shot Song Zining a nce. This unassumingponent was actually worth quite a lot, perhaps as much as a grade-four firearm to the knowledgeable.

    Song Zining raised his hands with a faint smile, indicating that Qianye could do as he wished.

    Qianye no longer held back. Channeling twenty percent of his strength, he squeezed the gear cautiously between three fingers. Qianye¡¯s constitution was so powerful at this point that he could already bend steel with twenty percent of his strength. Yet, the pinion remained unaffected under his pinch, proving that the material was far stronger than ordinary steel.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine, just use more force, don¡¯t worry about ruining it. This thing isn¡¯t easy to produce, but we can remake it in batches. You don¡¯t need to hold back. Heh heh, I could only bend it out of shape even at full force. You¡¯re definitely stronger than me, but you can forget about casually¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye had reached fifty percent exertion. The gear let out a creaking sound as it was warped out of shape.

    Song Zining¡¯sughter was caught in his throat.

    Qianye, on the other hand, let out an exmation of surprise. The pinion was far stronger than he had expected, and it was fairly pliable as well. Who knew what kind of alloy it was made of?

    Qianye wanted to know its limits, so he kept on exerting more force¡ªsixty, seventy, then ny percent...

    At this point, the gear had turned into a moldable paste in Qianye¡¯s hands, transforming from round to t, short to long, and then back into the shape of a ball. Qianye clenched it with both hands toward the end, turning it into a solid sphere of metal. Its surface waspact and solid, almost as though it had been pressed in a forge. If it wasn¡¯t for the minute crevices, one would be inclined to believe that it was its original form.

    Qianye frowned somewhat. His hands suddenly erupted in scarlet mes as his Venus Dawn origin power scorched the gear from the inside out, sealing thest remaining fissures and fusing everything into a single body. He then rolled the metal into a sphere so perfectly round that even the most intricate of apparatuses wouldn¡¯t be able to otherwise. Without even noticing it, Qianye had once again revealed a great achievement in hisbat arts.

    Qianye offered constant praises during the process of ttening and rolling. ¡°Good stuff, it¡¯s really great, how firm, it¡¯s definitely hard enough¡­¡±

    Only when the sphere waspleted did Qianye recall that Song Zining seemed to have gone silent. He turned around to find the seventh young master staring at his hands in a bbergasted daze.

    Qianye waved the ball in front of him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Song Zining came to at this point. He asked with a wry smile, ¡°Are you even human?¡±

    Qianye replied after a moment of silence, ¡°No.¡±

    Only then did Song Zining remember that Qianye was half-human, half-vampire. ¡°Even vampires can¡¯t do this!¡±

    ¡°But this pinion¡­ it¡¯s definitely good stuff.¡±

 Chapter 912: You Going or Not?

    Qianye¡¯s praise was heartfelt¡ªhe was already quite astonished when he saw the craftsmanship. After actually kneading it, however, he realized that the alloy was firm but pliable, and extremely resistant to wear¡ªa rare specimen through and through. The value of this metal was far above its processing arts and could form some of the most important core mechanicalponents.

    Song Zining recovered from his initial shock at this point. ¡°Once these samples reach the families of Seagaze, they should realize that they have no chance ofpeting with Ningyuan for the next 50 years. It¡¯s fine if they cooperate obediently, but if they want to cause trouble for us, we¡¯ll decimate their entire n once the ship ispleted.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand the manufacture of machinery, but the Zhao n workshops he had visited once left a deep impression on him. It also gave him a basic understanding of the process. Song Zining¡¯s pinion was of rare craftsmanship, but the real valuey in its alloy form.

    With this type of alloy, numerous key engineponents could be made smaller and lighter. One could easily imagine that an engine made from it would be one size smaller than its peers. On the other hand, this alloy would allow Ningyuan to realize numerous previously-impossible concepts. Even without novel designs, they would still be able to produce engines with greater output ording to the old ones.

    With the engine, they would have the foundation of an airship. The most important point was that the massive size of Martyr¡¯s Pce was beyond the scope of any known warship. There was no telling how many auxiliary engines the pce would need¡ªin short, the more the better. The demand for engines was higher than kic sails in most fields. Short bursts of eleration depended on engines while sails were preferred for long-distance intercontinental travel.

    Qianye thought about something else. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that they¡¯ll reverse engineer your form?¡±

    Song Ziningughed, ¡°You don¡¯t understand, a small difference in alloy forms will produce a huge gap in performance. The products can¡¯t bepared at all. It¡¯s useless even if they can analyze the metals contained in this pinion. Also, I refuse to believe that they can figure out the ingredients with their meager ability. If even oneponent is missing, the product won¡¯t be the metal you¡¯re holding in your hands. Humph! There¡¯s no way they can analyze the form of this alloy without spending a couple of decades and resources enough to build a warship.¡±

    ¡°How did you get this form, then? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s just blind luck.¡±

    ¡°It definitely is luck¡­¡± Song Zining had only half-finished his sentence when he saw Qianye about to attack. Only then did his flippant attitude disappear. ¡°I helped an important person do some things, and he gave me a couple of things to choose from as a reward. I chose this form.¡±

    ¡°What were the other choices?¡± Qianye was curious. He wanted to indirectly gauge the value of this alloy as well.

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°A cultivation art roughly equal to Mortal Enlightenment in grade, an origin gun at the peak of grade-eight, only slightly better than Zhao Fourth¡¯s, or a county on the borders of the Western Continent. They say it¡¯s a county, but there¡¯s only a single forward settlement. The good thing is that it¡¯s not too far from a supply base. I would need to recruit soldiers and raise money, but thend would be mine as long as I can conquer it.¡±

    Qianye said after a while of silence, ¡°And you chose this form?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Song Zining replied confidently.

    In truth, a gun at the peak of grade-eight waspletely different from an ordinary grade-eight firearm. To be considered thus, it would need to possess a powerful special ability. Some peak-grade-eight guns were even more powerful than ordinary grade-nine ones by virtue of their powerful special abilities andpatibility to the bearer.

    That county, no matter what condition it was in, would give Song Zining the foundation for a high-ranking aristocratic family as long as he could conquer thend. To the seventh young noble who had broken off ties with the Song n, a territory with potential for development was more important than anything. This was his insurance for an army and cultivation resources. Besides, takingnd with the approval of the empire meant that Song Zining¡¯s authority was recognized immediately after the conquest¡ªhe would be bestowed a noble rank and given permission to set up an official residence.

    Song Zining possessed the Ningyuan Heavy Industries for resources, Dark me for an army, and he himself was an expert in terms of strategy. As Qianye saw it, the county would be surnamed Song in just a couple of years.

    Yet, he had chosen an alloy form over a ready-made aristocratic title. This reflected the priceless value of this metal, but Qianye felt that Song Zining was out of his mind. Even that gun would¡¯ve increased his personalbat strength by leaps and bounds. The seventh young noble would be able to sweep through everyone below the divine champion realm, even if he couldn¡¯t heavily injure the Wolf King as Qianye did. Naturally, that gun would also drain him in one shot.

    Only the cultivation art was useless for both of them. To others, however, a powerful secret cultivation art like this one would form the only foundational pir of their family. Comparatively, territories and weapons were just material objects.

    Noticing Qianye¡¯s doubts, Song Zining said with augh, ¡°When have I taken losses in such choices? This alloy form is one of the core secrets of the Empire. The foundation for thetest generation warships isrgely dependent on this metal. With it, your dragonship can be perfected. After you¡¯re sessful one day, you can just lend me that ship for a couple of months and I¡¯ll have any territory I want, right?¡±

    Song Zining had yed it down, but Qianye knew that wasn¡¯t the case at all. Judging from the time he had made this decision, it was from around when he had decided toe to the neutralnds. No matter how skilled Song Zining was in divination, he couldn¡¯t have known that Qianye possessed the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The airship itself was an object left behind by the Pointer Monarch, constructed from the remains of the Earth-Dragon. Someone at Song Zining¡¯s level couldn¡¯t have divined such a powerful existence. Even Lin Xitang himself would have to pay a steep price to obtain a vague conclusion.

    Hence, Song Zining¡¯s rationale for choosing this form was likely because he knew Qianye was in a difficult situation in the neutralnds. He must¡¯ve nned to start from the region¡¯s weakest link and build an airship fleet, thereby relieving Qianye of his troubles.

    Perhaps Song Zining did have other long-term considerations, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that he had given up a readily-avable noble title and power upgrade. This was no different from giving up everything to start over from scratch.

    Qianye could only sigh in secret and etch this favor deep in his heart. That being said, there was also something else he was worried about. ¡°What kind of trade did you do with that major character? Such rewards can¡¯t be easy to obtain.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression rxed. ¡°It might be hard for others, but not for the seventh young master! Every major character throughout the empire wants me to work for them. On the contrary, those who want me dead are quite few in number, most of them being from the Song n.¡±

    These words amply described the bitterness of the aristocracy.

    Noticing Qianye¡¯s serious face, Song Zining patted his shoulders with a heartyugh. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s even easier for you to obtain these things. All you need to do is consent when certain girls climb into your bed.¡±

    ¡°I have no interest in aristocratic marriages.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that, nor all that formality. You just need to let loose for a short while, that¡¯s enough. No one will know.¡± Song Zining guided Qianye along patiently.

    Qianye figured out the important message. He said with a serious expression, ¡°Is this for breeding certain genes?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make it sound so vulgar! It¡¯s not like that.¡± Song Ziningughed awkwardly in an attempt to gloss things over.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to give him that luxury, however. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible for you and Nighteye.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my business.¡±

    ¡°Look, Qianye, you can even risk life and limb to save me. This small matter isn¡¯t that big of a deal, is it? As long as you¡¯re willing, I can find a way to obtain a great deal of resources. I¡¯ll be sure to scam them miserably!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s high spirits left Qianye unable to know whether tough or to cry. ¡°What would I want those resources for?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s to save Nighteye, of course! How are you going to reach the Sacred Mountain without the Martyr¡¯s Pce? How long will it take to construct the airship on your own? Eight hundred years? A millennium, even! Do you want to make Nighteye wait so long? Why would you drag for a thousand years an undertaking that can bepleted in three decades? Just for yourughable pride and loyalty? How long are you willing to make her wait in the darkness? Is that your so-called love?¡±

    The barrage of questions sted Qianye until he was dizzy. He could feel something off about Song Zining¡¯s logic, but he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it.

    ¡°She¡¯s already unrted to you now, so why can¡¯t you sacrifice a bit to help her?¡± Song Zining tossed out a lethal blow.

    Qianye smiled wryly with an inward sigh. Song Zining¡¯s argument seemed reasonable, but he didn¡¯t want to do it that way.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, Song Zining gave up on pushing his case. He tossed Qianye a backpack, saying, ¡°The things are in there, you can set out at any moment.¡±

    Qianye nodded as he caught the bag. He had no luggage to organize, so he simply walked out to rendezvous with the caravan.

    Shaking his head, Song Zining sighed as he watched Qianye¡¯s back. A cold voice suddenly rang out beside him at this point, ¡°You really think well for him!¡±

    Song Zining looked sideways and found Ji Tianqing leaning against a nearby stone pir, a clear expression of mockery on her face.

    ¡°He¡¯s my brother, so I have to help him, of course.¡±

    Ji Tianqing snorted coldly. ¡°He probably won¡¯t thank you if he finds out about your methods.¡±

    Song Zining said in a carefree manner, ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as he doesn¡¯t hate me.¡±

    Seeing how shameless the other party was, Ji Tianqing could do nothing else but snort again. ¡°Qianye alone won¡¯t be enough for such an important mission, will he? You can¡¯t have him risk his life even if his vampire regenerative powers are strong. What if some ident happens? Your meager divination powers can¡¯t know everything, not even Marshal Lin has that kind of ability.¡±

    Song Zining only smiled in the face of me. ¡°This young master naturally won¡¯t sit by and watch him fall into danger, but since you¡¯re back, why don¡¯t you go?¡±

    Ji Tianqing red daggers, ready to retort, but Song Zining added, ¡°I¡¯ll let Kuann go if you¡¯re busy.¡±

    Ji Tianqing felt her words stuck in her chest. Eventually, she uttered through clenched teeth, ¡°I¡¯ll go!¡±

 Chapter 913: My Rules

    The gates of Southern Blue were flung open as a motorcade of several trucks drove out. Containing a mere three cargo trucks and four armored-transports, the caravan wasn¡¯t that big. Yet, the Dark me insignia on the vehicles was fairly eye-catching.

    Dark me became a public target after Song Zining¡¯s capture¡ªbe it notoriouslyrge mercenary corps or small hunter squads who could only take advantage of the situation, everyone wanted a piece of Dark me. Hence, a caravanbeled with their insignia would usually suffer numerous attacks along the way.

    This situationsted until Qianye disyed his might by injuring several opponents outside of Tidehark. Thereafter, the major mercenary corps rarely attacked for fear of Qianye¡¯s potential retaliation, but the lone wolves didn¡¯t care about all that. Since most lone wolves were fairly skilled in sniping, the escort forces would suffer casualties even if they reached their destination. This resulted in fairly steeppensation costs.

    Under such circumstances, some majorpanies started hiring other mercenary corps and increasing their escort lineup as a safety precaution. This, however, increased the required investment significantly, and somepanies started losing profits.

    Qianye stood atop the first vehicle, scanning the vastnd of the wilderness. It had been some time since he followed a caravan, but he hadn¡¯t expected that the situation would be this bad. Only important characters knew of his trade with the Tidehark city lord and Eunuch Liu¡¯s arrival. These lone wolves eking out a living in the wilds were unqualified to obtain such information.

    The manager in charge of the caravan approached with a smile. ¡°With Sire Qianye taking the field personally, things will surely go well¡­¡±

    This manager hadn¡¯t finished his boot-licking when Qianye pressed down on the man¡¯s head, pushing him back into the car. At this moment, a bullet flew over the manager¡¯s head with a resounding whoosh. A slight dy would¡¯ve produced an obvious hole in the manager¡¯s body.

    Shocked out of his wits, the ashen-faced manager groped his body to see if there were any injuries. An origin gun appeared in Qianye¡¯s hands, which he duly pointed at the direction of the bullet.

    A bearded hunter was hiding in a shrub hundreds of meters away. He was already making a gesture of victory to hispanions, but his hand froze halfway. Through his sniper scope, he saw the young man beside the target press the manager out of the way. Just like that, his certain-kill shot missed its mark.

    The hunter had been in the field for many years, yet he had never experienced something like this. He had hardly recovered from the shock when Qianye methodically whipped out his origin gun and took aim in his direction.

    The hunter felt his hair stand on end as he realized that his location had beenpromised. He didn¡¯t believe that the young man could hit him from over a hundred meters away. He had picked this nest meticulously and had only opened fire after taking aim for a long while.

    Nheless, he had to move now that his location was known. As an experienced sniper, he had always believed that melee battles were for lowly mercenaries.

    The bearded man jumped up and was just about to flee when he saw a sh of light. An origin bullet was already in his face!

    The startled man¡¯s upper body turned into a bloody mist before he could even think.

    Several figures leaped out from their nearby hiding ces and escaped desperately into the distance. Judging from their clothes, they were probably from the same mercenary corps as the bearded man. This small unit was highly skilled and experienced¡ªtheir choice of location and timing were perfect. Their biggest mistake was not knowing that Qianye was in the caravan.

    Gunshots rang continuously over the wilderness. Each timbre would end with the fall of a hunter. Thest hunter was already a thousand meters away when she copsed, unable to escape the clutches of sure death.

    Qianye put down the sniper rifle and dragged the manager up. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The trembling man replied repeatedly, ¡°Yes, yes!¡±

    He gestured at the cars behind them to continue the journey, and then fell down limp into the seat. Even in the neutralnds, not everyone was fearless of death. That brush with death just now almost made it impossible for him to breathe.

    The motorcade traveled for a period of time before Qianye picked up his sniper rifle and fired several consecutive shots. Every bullet would elicit a scream from a mercenary or hunter, ending up with them struggling in agony. Be it at three hundred meters or a thousand, there was never a missed shot.

    This volley of shots decimated at least two hunter squads, and some of the more sizable mercenary corps no longer dared to operate on this road. Qianye looked around and ordered the caravan to move forward after finding no one concealed within his visual range.

    Along the way, Qianye would either snipe from atop the car or vanish all of a sudden. On his return, the tense moods of all the experienced mercenary escorts would rx. Those battle-hardened warriors naturally understood that the danger had disappeared. Seeing as how Qianye had taken action personally, they were more inclined to believe that the hidden enemies had been killed.

    The manager had recovered from his shock at this point. He found some time to approach Qianye, saying, ¡°Sire, you can leave some of the small fries to our men. Why would you need to take the trouble every time?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°No need, some of the enemies will escape if I let them handle it.¡±

    The manager gasped. ¡°You¡¯re eradicating them all?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qianye nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t protect you guys every time, so I¡¯ll be wiping out all those troublemakers during this run. This will set the rules for the future as well.¡±

    The manager asked cautiously, ¡°Sire, this isn¡¯t quite appropriate, is it? Everyone seeks riches in the neutralnds, while mercenaries and hunters seek a path for survival. Under normal circumstances, the conflicting parties won¡¯t finish off one another. Cars and surrendered personnel will be spared behind after a sessful caravan robbery, and the mercenary escorts won¡¯t chase failed robbers to the end. They¡¯d just let the escapees escape. Wiping them out will incite the wrath of the other mercenaries. The oue will be quite serious!¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°That¡¯s someone else¡¯s rule. From today on, anynd where Dark me settles will y by my rules. Whoever isn¡¯t satisfied can challenge me anytime.¡±

    The manager trembled as he remembered Qianye¡¯s past. He said with an awkwardugh, ¡°Yes, yes¡­ it¡¯s naturally fine if you want to make the rules.¡±

    He spoke pleasantly, but his expression was full of pain and worry. Qianye shot him a nce, saying, ¡°You should have the channels to transmit my message, right? Tell everyone that they cane for revenge anytime, but they can forget about leaving afterward. No matter how big the neutralnds are, I¡¯ll hunt them down to the very end.¡±

    Trembling, the manager said, ¡°Yes, yes! I¡¯ll spread your message once we get to Seagaze. That should scare those rogues away.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye suddenly disappeared, and a miserable scream echoed a thousand or so meters away. The manager wiped the cold sweat off of his brows, feeling somewhat regretful about speaking too much just now.

    Qianye stood in the wilderness, watching the slowly copsing body in a bit of surprise. This man was exceptionally fierce and tenacious despite his mediocre strength. Even after being stabbed in the vitals with a vampiric de and having his essence blood drained, he still managed to sound a warning cry with hisst breath.

    Hundreds of meters away, three people were fleeing at top speed, with two stronger bodyguards protecting a young man in the middle.

    This distance was nothing for Qianye; he didn¡¯t even need to use Spatial sh. Exerting force from his feet, he sped off in a cloud of dust, leaving arge hole where he was standing just now. Qianye covered dozens of meters with each step and was soon on the trio¡¯s tail. Finally, he leaped over a hundred meters andnded in their way.

    Face ashen and his origin power in disarray, that young man could hardly even stand. The two bodyguards wore expressions of despair, as though they were facing a great enemy. At one step away from the champion realm, the guards weren¡¯t weak at all. It was precisely because of their strength and experience that they could tell the gap between themselves and Qianye¡ªhence the desperation.

    An old man suddenly appeared beside Qianye. Stroking his beard, he said in a calm manner, ¡°Young man, there¡¯s really no need to go so far as to exterminate everyone.¡±

    Qianye turned around with an indifferent gaze. ¡°You think I didn¡¯t discover you?¡±

    The old man¡¯s hands couldn¡¯t help but tremble slightly. He then recovered his calm, saying, ¡°The young master is merely yful, he doesn¡¯t mean any harm. You should know that our family has hundreds of years of history in Seagaze City, not something a youngster like you can fathom. Back in the year¡­¡±

    The old man¡¯s words had only reached halfway when his expression changed drastically. A massive force bore down on him, burying him all the way up to his knees! His joints also started creaking and groaning under the enormous pressure. Just as the elder was struggling to prevent his legs from breaking, a red glow shed in front of his eyes! A vampiric de had sunk into his chest.

    Qianye waited a couple of seconds before pulling out the de. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in your background.¡±

    The old man struggled momentarily before his eyes gradually darkened. Only at this point did he realize that Qianye had no need to waste his breath since he could kill in one fatal blow. Unfortunately, the realization came toote.

    Qianye looked back at the ashen young noble, baring his white teeth in a radiant smile. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in who you are.¡±

    The young man was shocked out his wits and almost fell limp to the ground. ¡°N-No! You can¡¯t kill me! I¡¯m the young master of the Tian family, my grandpa loves me the most! If you kill me, you¡¯ll form an irreconcble feud with our n.¡±

    ¡°Irreconcble feud? I like those.¡± Qianye¡¯s smile was oddly charming, almost like the grin of a grim reaper.

 Chapter 914: Not Here to Trade

    The two guards exchanged nces and stepped forward at the same time, blocking the young man behind them. They were indeed loyal to the family, so much so that they would fight to the death despite knowing they weren¡¯t a match for the enemy.

    Their strength far exceeded other guards, but just like the old man, they simply had no power to retaliate against Qianye. With the rumble of the ocean tides, an indefensible pressure bore down once more. The two men only had enough time to scream before their bones were crushed, and they fell dead.

    The young noble finally copsed.

    Qianye crouched down in front of him and pressed a vampiric de to his face. ¡°Why would a Tian family scion appear in such a ce?¡±

    The young man didn¡¯t dare to hide things. ¡°I got wind that Dark me has been defeated, all that¡¯s left is an empty husk¡­ that robbing the caravan would be profitable and easy. I-I wanted to y it big, letting the uncles in the family know that I¡¯m the best choice for the future n lord. Those who wanted to raise my eldest brother to the position, I wanted to prove them futile.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ who gave you this information.¡±

    ¡°The news was delivered by a person called Old Cat. He operates in the taverns along the way, and his information has always been urate. This damned Old Cat took five hundred gold coins from me, I won¡¯t let him go once I return.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t need to worry about that,¡± Qianye said calmly.

    On the verge of death, the young man erupted with unimaginable power. He grabbed Qianye¡¯s wrist and cried, ¡°Don¡¯t kill me! I can work for you, I¡¯ll listen to everything you say. Help me be n lord and my entire Tian n will be ours, no, no, all yours!¡±

    ¡°The Tian Family is too small for me.¡± Qianye shattered all resistance with a slight exertion and thrust the vampiric de into the young man¡¯s chest.

    Qianye withdrew his de swiftly. Probably due to the tension before his death and because the battle had ended so quickly, the young man didn¡¯t fall down. His kneeling figure thus became part of the scenery of the wilderness.

    Qianye stood up and ran back onto the leading car. ¡°Let¡¯s move.¡±

    The manager asked cautiously, ¡°Sire, was it a difficult opponent?¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°A bit, apparently a young master of the Tian family. I¡¯ve killed him.¡±

    ¡°Tian family young master? The one called Tian Pengju?¡±

    ¡°I think so, I don¡¯t remember well.¡±

    The manager looked like he was about to cry. ¡°Did you burn the corpses?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t be bothered.¡±

    The manager stammered. ¡°T-This¡­ what should we do? The Tian family is fairly strong in Seagaze. We¡¯ll be in trouble.¡±

    Qianye finally shot him a nce. ¡°What, you afraid?¡±

    The manager shivered, saying, ¡°Of course not! What¡¯s there to fear with you around?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine then, you don¡¯t need to follow the caravan next time if you¡¯re afraid.¡±

    The manager was bowing and scraping at this point. ¡°No, no, I¡¯m not afraid!¡±

    Qianye closed his eyes and gestured for the caravan to move forward. The manager returned to his seat, muttering to himself as he calmed down, ¡°Who are you to decide whether I, Qiao Liang, follows the caravan or not? Who do you think you are to control ourpany¡¯s matters?¡±

    What he didn¡¯t know was that Qianye¡¯s ears moved ever so slightly despite his closed eyes. He had heard everything.

    The mercenaries and hunters on the battlefield seemed to have smelled the danger after the Tian family¡¯s hunting party was wiped out. All of them disappeared, allowing the caravan to arrive smoothly at Seagaze.

    The merchant caravan hadn¡¯t even entered the city when Xue Wu was seen waiting at the gates. He bowed upon seeing Qianye, saying, ¡°The Xue family has been waiting for your arrival.¡± Then he jumped up onto the car. ¡°It¡¯s my fortune to meet you again.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s speak after going in.¡±

    With Xue Wu¡¯s appearance, the caravan naturally encountered no problems along the way. ¡°Sire, all the family elders are waiting. Do you want to rest before heading over?¡±

    ¡°No need to rest, let¡¯s go now.¡±

    Xue Wu ordered the leading car to turn toward the city center, while the remaining vehicles headed toward their designated inns. Momentster, the leading car parked in front of a uniquely decorated old tea house, and Xue Wu led Qianye up to an elegant room on the top floor.

    In the room, there were half a dozen old men wearing very different expressions. Some were excited, some were doubtful, and the others were vaguely hostile.

    Qianye scanned the surroundings. ¡°Are all the families in the city here? Some seem to be missing.¡±

    Xue Wu whispered, ¡°Some families are upied with emergency business, I hope you¡¯ll forgive them.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°What business can be more important than the survival of their n? Well, it¡¯s fine if they want to seal their own fate.¡±

    An old red-faced man was furious. He banged the table, roaring, ¡°Sire Qianye, your words are highly inappropriate!¡±

    ¡°Oh? How so?¡±

    ¡°These families have lived in Seagaze for hundreds of years, and we¡¯ve seen all kinds of winds and waves. I wish to know how our survival is at stake?¡±

    Without offering a response, Qianye sat down under the old man¡¯s fiery gaze. He spoke only after taking his seat, ¡°These families have all survived until now?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Did one family not disappear after ourst fight in the city?¡±

    The old man was livid, so much so that his countenance eventually turned purple. The entire hall was deathly silent, drowned in inexplicable awkwardness.

    Qianye had crippled numerous small vassal families back then. They only had empty names left at the moment and would eventually disappear over time. Their family names were only retained because it took time to incorporate their remaining businesses and divide the profits. Hence, it would be wrong to say that Qianye hadn¡¯t destroyed a single-family. The destroyed ns might be small, but their history wasn¡¯t short. They definitely couldn¡¯t be left out from the history of Seagaze City.

    Apart from the red-faced old man, all the other people looked quite awkward. Some looked up at the sky, pretending as though the conversation was unrted to them, while others gazed intently at the teacup in front of them. Even Xue Wu didn¡¯t know how to smooth things out.

    In the end, it was the Xue family elder who came out to y the peacemaker. ¡°That battle was a misunderstanding, and we¡¯ve also paid the price for it. Past matters should serve as a lesson for the future. Since Sire Qianye hase to negotiate a cooperation, we naturally should do our best to see what we can do. In these troubled times, the united will win and the divided will lose.¡±

    Feeling rxed, everyone chimed in with the old man¡¯s words. Even the red-faced elder no longer wore a fierce expression.

    Apart from that time when the newly ascended Wolf King suppressed Seagaze in one battle, the damage Qianye had dealt to the families was the greatest throughout the years. In terms of losses, the Xue family¡¯s losses were the greatest. Before this matter, they were the strongest, and everything they said would count. Today, however, they had to discuss things with everyone. Although their position as leader hadn¡¯t changed, they were a far cry from before the battle.

    Xue Wu sighed in relief as the other families followed the Xue family¡¯s lead. As he saw it, this cooperation was basically sealed.

    However, Qianye said, ¡°It¡¯s true that cooperation will make us stronger, but division isn¡¯t a loss for everyone. Elder Xue thinks too highly of the families of Seagaze.¡±

    The elder was startled and then became furious. Yet, he had no way to vent because he knew that Dark me wasn¡¯t an entity the Xue family alone could contend against. That red-faced elder lost control again and started spouting words of mockery, ¡°Sire Qianye, perhaps you¡¯re overestimating Dark me too much.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°I alone can stop the trade caravans of Tidehark from leaving the city. It¡¯s true that their city lord, Luo Bingfeng, can¡¯t leave the city, but there seems to be no such character in Seagaze, is there?¡±

    The red-faced man broke into augh. ¡°Are you trying to say you can stop us from leaving the city?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so hard about that?¡±

    The red-faced elder was stoppered up. He shot to his feet but didn¡¯t know how to dispute this im. With Qianye¡¯s concealment and sniping abilities, anyone being targeted by him was fated to die. Who would dare to leave the city under such circumstances? The major characters of these big families loved their lives after all.

    On the other hand, Seagaze was open on all sides, while Qianye would only be able to seal two directions at most. The other two sides would remain wide open, so it was a bit exaggerated to im that he could seal the city. But how was one to bring that up? Should they say that they would take the north gate if Qianye had sealed the south gate? These people weren¡¯t actually that shameless.

    Just as the situation was in a deadlock, the chamber doors were kicked flying and in came a tall, old man. ¡°Where¡¯s Qianye? Return my grandson¡¯s life!¡±

    Qianye nced back at the old man with a cold gaze. Xue Wu stood up hurriedly and stopped the iing elder. ¡°Uncle Tian, why are you here? Qianye is not just our Xue family¡¯s guest but also an esteemed guest of Seagaze City. If there¡¯s some kind of misunderstanding, you should exin things calmly after everything¡¯s over.¡±

    Xue Wu¡¯s message was very clear, but the elderly man was too angry to listen. ¡°Misunderstanding? Someone saw him kill my grandson, how can this be a misunderstanding?¡±

    Xue Wu broke into a frown, not expecting the situation to be so troublesome. For a while, he had no idea how to dissuade the man. Qianye stood up at this moment. ¡°Do you mean a person called Tian Pengju?¡±

    The old man red furiously at him. ¡°That¡¯s my grandson. It¡¯s good that you admit!¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? He led a group to ambush Dark me¡¯s caravan, a crime unredeemable by death. It¡¯s great that you havee knocking on the door since I have to settle this ount with the Tian family.¡±

    Elder Tian roared, ¡°Pengju simply went hunting in the wilderness. How did he end up intercepting your caravan? Besides, even if he did stop you by mistake, it¡¯s not a crime worthy of death. This is the rule of the Eastern Sea. Even if he did intercept you by mistake, our Tian family will justpensate you for it, you can¡¯t harm my grandson¡¯s life!¡±

    Qianye replied slowly, ¡°The rules of the Eastern Sea are not my rules. My rules are that anyone who dares to attack Dark me will be uprootedpletely and thoroughly. If anyone doesn¡¯t want to y by my rules, we shall meet on the battlefield.¡±

 Chapter 915: The Value of the Formula

    Everyone¡¯s expression shifted. The red-faced elder banged the table, roaring, ¡°Qianye, you push people into a corner at every turn. Are you not afraid of the entire Eastern Sea turning against you?¡±

    ¡°If thates to be, then I just need to fight.¡± Qianye was fairly calm.

    The Xue family elder said in apparent displeasure, ¡°Sire Qianye, did youe to establish your might instead of a negotiation?¡±

    Qianye smiled coldly, the images of everyone appearing in his eyes. ¡°Correct, that¡¯s what I¡¯m here for.¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when everyone felt their bodies tensed up, almost as though they were firmly bound by a sticky yet tenacious spider web¡ªeven raising an arm took considerable effort. A red light flickered in the chamber just as everyone was in shock¡ªthe elder surnamed Tian gradually copsed to the floor with a startled expression, clutching his chest with both hands. No one at the scene saw how Qianye had attacked.

    Only when the old man¡¯s corpse had fallen down did everyone finallye to, quickly activating their origins barriers and entering abat-ready state. Qianye sat down calmly, saying, ¡°I killed the young master of the Tian family. He had intercepted my caravan, and it¡¯s only natural to assume that he had the support of his family. Yet that man just came knocking on the door, truly reckless. Of course, there¡¯s really no need to be nervous if you¡¯re not plotting against me secretly. Besides, my rank-thirteen cultivation is probably nothing in your eyes. Why so serious?¡±

    All the elders were livid, unsure whether they should keep up theirbat stances. Many people cursed secretly at Qianye¡¯s audacity to bring up his rank. That Tian family lord was also rank-thirteen, yet he was killed in a single move¡ªhe didn¡¯t even have a chance to retaliate.

    It was the Xue family elder who was still quite decisive. ¡°Men, carry the Tian family lord away and provide immediate treatment.¡±

    In truth, the old man had long since stopped breathing and everyone knew that. Yet, no one was willing to point out the fact. Two servants arrived and carried the corpse away in a hurry. Elder Xue then returned to his seat, saying, ¡°Since Sire Qianye is here to establish his might, then do expand our horizons. If there¡¯s really a good reason for us to submit, then it might be easier for us to exin things to the n after going back, lest our younger generation, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, bump into you.¡±

    These words were spoken quite tactfully. Qianye replied with a nod, ¡°Since Elder Xue has spoken thus, I¡¯ll not beat around the bush any longer. Zining gave me some small presents to show everyone.¡±

    With a flip of his hands, a case appeared in Qianye¡¯s grasp.

    Amotion arose in the chamber. Spatial equipment were peerless treasures everywhere, and most of the families in Seagaze had never even seen one before. Two pairs of eyes started burning with covetous mes, but these people seemed to have a good rtionship with Elder Xue. Thetter shot out two wisps of origin power, which duly stung them as a warning.

    The two old men trembled slightly. They recovered from their avarice just in time to see Qianye looking at them with a spurious smile. Their hearts were filled with a deep chill, and they quickly averted their gazes with embarrassed smiles. They immediately realized that Qianye had revealed his spatial gear in front of them to sound them out. Secondly, he had no fear that someone would try to snatch it from him. Even the Wolf King couldn¡¯t catch Qianye and was even wounded instead. How could these people be capable?

    Only after everyone was firmly seated did Qianye open up the case, revealing a number of lustrous mechanical parts within.

    Those present here were either elders or n lords, people with great experience. The parts Qianye had brought out weren¡¯t unusual at all. They were allmonly found parts used in airship engines. As keyponents made for the standard engine design, it was fairly easy to identify where they were meant to be used.

    These parts weren¡¯t rare and could even be produced in the workshops of the neutralnds. Everyone here, including Xue Wu, was puzzled at Qianye¡¯s seriousness as he brought out these parts. They exchanged nces before picking up theponents to study them in detail.

    As people with good judgment, their expressions changed immediately after just a few nces. There was nothing miraculous about these parts since everyone knew where they were used. Nheless, such exquisite craftsmanship had never appeared in airship engine parts before. One would only see this kind of quality in high-grade origin guns.

    Some of them nced at one another. Then, an old man said, ¡°These parts are of great craftsmanship, but it¡¯s not impossible for our families to produce something of this level. Please forgive my offense, but your establishment of might isn¡¯t quite enough, it seems.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently as he fished out a silver ball and ced it on the table. ¡°I think it¡¯s quite enough. Everyone, take a look at this one.¡±

    Several old men walked around to observe the silver ball, yet they still couldn¡¯t figure anything out just yet. This sphere was seemingly made from the same material as the previous batch ofponents, but the craftsmanship was evidently inferior. No one knew what it was used for.

    Bold and scrupulous, Xue Wu noticed that this silver ball wasn¡¯t as valuable as the other parts. Hence, he channeled his power to pinch it. He used roughly half of his strength, which was usually enough to tten steel, yet this ball remainedpletely unaffected. Not even a fingerprint was left behind!

    Xue Wu¡¯s astonishment attracted the attention of the other n lords and elders.

    No longer attempting to hide his actions, he took a deep breath and went all out! The silver ball finally turned somewhat soft and slowly sunk in at the center, leaving a couple of deep fingerprints. Even at full force, Xue Wu could no longer press down further. He exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, his face flushed as he ced the ball back onto the table.

    Noticing that he must have exerted his full strength, everyone else nced over at the silver ball and were astonished without exception.

    There was no other mark on the silver ball apart from the finger marks. Its shape didn¡¯t change, either, remaining just as round as it was before. Everyone was greatly astonished because Xue Wu¡¯s strength had already exceeded most family elders and evenparable to some of the lords. Yet he couldn¡¯t deal with this silver ball?

    Everyone began to realize that the true profundity of this ball was in its material.

    The Xue family elder picked up the sphere and observed it carefully, and then he pinched it with great force. He increased his strength repeatedly until his face was bright red. Only then did he manage to leave his fingerprints on the ball, albeit slightly more shallow than Xue Wu¡¯s. Having expected this oue, he sighed. ¡°I am ashamed.¡±

    He passed the silver ball to the red-faced elder. ¡°Brother Du Yun, why don¡¯t you try?¡±

    Thetter waved his hands, saying, ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough, so I won¡¯t embarrass myself with this.¡±

    With Xue Wu and Elder Xu¡¯s demonstrations before them, everyone was able to gauge their own strength. Those who weren¡¯t strong enough shrunk back, while the remainder gave it a try. It was actually the lord of a minor family who managed to leave a deeper fingerprintpared to Xue Wu¡¯s.

    That n lord ced the ball back in front of Qianye, saying, ¡°Sire Qianye, this material is indeed good, and we have never seen it before. With how tough it is, it¡¯s quite difficult to even put a dent in it. How are we to craft anything?¡±

    This question was critical. Industry in the neutralnds wasn¡¯t that developed, but they were able to craft certain intricate parts by relying on experts. Just like how Qianye had produced this silver ball, they would use origin power to melt the metal and mold them into the approximate shape before moving to surface processing. Theoretically, anyponent could be produced in this way, and almost allponents for origin guns grade-eight and above would use this kind of method. The downside was obvious in that it would consume significant amounts of origin power, and the expert also needed to recover. Hence, the higher the grade of the item, the lower the production rate. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising for the highest-gradeponents to take several months.

    Most people in this room were helpless against this silver ball. Strictly speaking, only the two from the Xue family and that one n lord could work with this alloy. Even then, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get things done in one sitting. It would take several days to melt just a bit of the material, and several more days forpletion.

    This meant that Seagaze City had no power to process this kind of alloy.

    Qianye picked up the silver ball with scarlet mes jumping from his hands. He simply rolled the item briefly between his palms, restoring it to its original round shape before sting it with origin power. The surface became as bright as a mirror, and all of the previous marks and pits were gone.

    ¡°Ding.¡± The entire room was silent as Qianye put the silver ball onto the table in front of him.

    Through this silver ball, everyone realized the difference between them and Qianye. Just in terms of strength, thetter could suppress everyone present here. Those scarlet origin mes of his were also extremely terrifying¡ªtheir origin barriers might notst even a brief moment if scorched, and if caught on fire, even intact bones wouldn¡¯t be left behind.

    Qianye pointed at the silver ball with a smile. ¡°I don¡¯t even need to process such things myself back in Dark me, we have our own methods. Careful observation will have told you that thoseponents were made from the same material.¡±

    Elder Xue was shaken. ¡°Sire, your meaning is that there¡¯s a way to mass-produce them?¡±

    ¡°Of course, what¡¯s the point of me bringing these here if we can¡¯t manufacture them?¡±

    Elder Xue asked after a moment of silence, ¡°No ordinary fire can melt such an alloy. If you can mass-produce theseponents, could it be that you have the form for it?¡±

    ¡°Wise deduction.¡±

    Elder Xue continued his probe, ¡°Then, what price must we pay to obtain this form?¡±

    Qianye simply watched Elder Xue without replying. Under his intent gaze, thetter eventually turned red, then purple.

    The red-faced elder roared furiously, ¡°Just say what you want, what¡¯s the point of beating around the bush!?¡±

    A dark, heavy-sword appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand, which he duly ced on the man¡¯s shoulder without even unsheathing.

    The old man felt as though a mountain was pressing down on him. He had no choice but to use both hands to prop up the sword, yet even then, he still couldn¡¯t ovee the massive force. His face gradually turned purple as a mouthful of blood was caught in his throat, and he was unable to spray it out.

    The red-faced elder finally fell to his knees. The ground had been covered with a steel-likeyer of origin power, stopping him from falling to the floor below.

    From the beginning to the end, the old man couldn¡¯t evenst three seconds.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°All your Seagaze families added together cannot match the value of this form. There¡¯s no need for further discussion if you still think so highly of yourselves.¡±

    ...

 Chapter 916: Obedien

    Elder Xue said, ¡°Can we think about it for a while?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Can you let Brother Du Yun go first? He¡¯s merely hot-headed, he doesn¡¯t mean any harm.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Qianye drew East Peak back, but the red-faced elder still couldn¡¯t stand up. Only under the support of Xue Wu and another elder did he manage to mber up and return to his seat, gasping for breath.

    The red-faced elder had expended most of his origin power during that brief exchange. East Peak¡¯s pressure was so terrifying that he simply had no way to resist¡ªall he could do was hold on using origin power. The three seconds just now was enough to exhaust him entirely.

    They had imed they wanted to discuss this matter, yet everyone here, including Xue Wu, could only look at one another in silence, not knowing where to start. The item Qianye had brought out was simply too astonishing. Those present were all knowledgeable people, so they could easily imagine countless usages for this type of alloy. And the deeper they thought about it, the more shocked they became.

    With this kind of form and mature processing technology, Ningyuan Heavy Industries could easily crush Seagaze¡¯s industrial foundations. No matter what angle they considered this matter from, Seagaze simply had no power topete with Dark me. It was obvious that the families of Seagaze would have, literally, no business in whichever field this mercenary corps decided to set foot in. They would have to pick up the less profitable stuff that Dark me didn¡¯t want to do.

    This was what everyone here dreaded. Qianye¡¯s bitter fights and killings would only destroy the families¡¯ leaves and branches, but Song Zining¡¯s move, on the other hand, wouldpletely uproot their foundations.

    The worst part was that Seagaze wasn¡¯t too far from Southern Blue and there were no major powers to act as a buffer between them. How many major families of Seagaze City could refuse the allure of Dark me¡¯s wealth in the future? The one that could drag things out until the end was the Xue family. They were still, in name, the number one family of the city, and it was this empty fame that woulde back to bite them.

    Xue Wu was actually the more decisive one; he nodded slowly toward Elder Xue. Thetter nced at everyone¡¯s expressions and found either helplessness or indifference on their faces. Even the red-faced elder only heaved a long sigh.

    Elder Xue cupped his hands at Qianye, saying, ¡°Sire Qianye, our families will refrain from overestimating ourselves since this is an unavoidable trend, else it¡¯ll be like the proverbial mantis trying to stop a cart. We would like to know, however, what it is that you want us to do?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s great that everyone is willing to cooperate. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be more work for me if I have to visit the managers of the tradepanies.¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces, secretly feeling relieved that they hadn¡¯t shed all pretenses just now. Otherwise, the curtains would rise over a new y in Seagaze City¡ªone detailing the fall of old ns and the rise of new ones.

    A suitcase appeared in Qianye¡¯s hand, which he duly opened up on the table. ¡°The contents of our cooperation are here.¡±

    Everyone noticed severalponents arranged within the container. Their shapes were simr to the previous ones, but the surfaces were coarse and uneven, apparently unfinished products that had just been cast. Everyone had their guesses after seeing these, but there was an extremelyplicatedponent at the center of the case, and no one knew what it was for.

    Qianye pointed at the surrounding parts. ¡°These are all semi-finished products, requiring the final processing touches. What everyone needs to do is set up rted workshops ording to our requirements and work on thete-stage processing for these parts.¡±

    The elders were half worried and half delighted after hearing this. There was almost no limit to the demand for suchponents, so much so that they could even sell them back to Evernight or the Empire. A steady stream of wealth would be rolling in without a doubt. What worried them was the fact that this sizable fortune woulde at a steep price.

    As expected, Qianye smiled, ¡°These new workshops will be split 60-40, with Dark me holding the majority.¡±

    Amotion broke out in the room, but Xue Wu said, ¡°Our Xue family agrees.¡±

    Elder Xue was startled, but he didn¡¯t object to this after careful thought. The other elders also contemted on the matter and realized that they didn¡¯t even have a choice. They would be knocked out of Seagaze if they failed to catch this train.

    Qianye pointed to theplicatedponent at the center. ¡°These parts, I¡¯m sure everyone knows already, requires an expert¡¯s origin power to process. We hope you can provide us with a steady supply of them¡ªthis is also the foundation of our cooperation.¡±

    This caused all the other families, except for the Xue, to reveal rueful smiles. The construction of suchponents was extremely demanding on origin power. If Dark me wanted arge number of them, all the families¡¯ experts would have to exert themselves every day, effectively keeping them tied down in Seagaze City and preventing them from affecting the bigger picture. Smaller families were doubly affected due to their rtively smaller lineup of experts, whilerger families like the Xue enjoyed arger roster and thus had more leeway to reassign people.

    Xue Wu immediately replied, ¡°We can also agree to that, but since we must mobilize our experts for this, I hope Sire Qianye will provide suitable remuneration. Additionally, the quota should also be within the scope of our power.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    With the two most important terms decided, everything else went smoothly. Qianye produced a preformed n and ced it in front of everyone. Even Elder Xue couldn¡¯t help but gasp after seeing the contents. The n required them to build twenty workshops, ten in Segaze and ten in Southern Blue. This was a massive investment, basically involving ten years of umted wealth. Only then did everyone realize just how grand Dark me¡¯s ambitions were.

    Qianye¡¯s tone became much more rxed at this point. ¡°The moment these workshops are constructed, we¡¯ll be one big family. This n is just a small fraction of the bigger scheme. Before long, you¡¯ll see the skies of the Eastern Sea under our control.¡±

    As for how to split the twenty workshops among themselves, that was for the families to worry about. Qianye had no intention of meddling with that. He stood up, ready to leave, when Xue Wu caught up to him and whispered, ¡°Sire Qianye, you must be careful inside the city.¡±

    Qianye patted his shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m not the one who should be careful.¡±

    Qianye left the teahouse on his own and strolled slowly through the city, taking in the views along the way. He eventually arrived at a rather silent alleyway. There was a blood-colored X drawn on the wall at its entrance, a ghastly sight to behold. Looking into the alley, one could see small groups of fierce-looking people sitting about and ying with their daggers.

    This smallne was definitely not a good ce, but Qianye didn¡¯t seem to mind as he simply strolled. He had just entered when a dagger appeared out of thin air, brushing past Qianye¡¯s throat and nailing itself to the nearby wall.

    He halted his steps and said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯d stop ying these boring games if I were you.¡±

    A tall woman walked out from behind the opposite wall. ¡°You almost died in my hands, yet you still dare to speak in such a tone!¡±

    Qianyepletely ignored her ticks. ¡°If you think that the one who nearly died just now was me and not you, then just believe what you wish. I have no time to waste on you.¡±

    Thedy was almost spewing mes from her eyes. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the good price you¡¯re offering, I wouldn¡¯t have missed.¡±

    ¡°Are you prepared for the transaction? Otherwise, I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    The woman pointed into an alleyway. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯m just afraid you¡¯ll lose the guts in a while.¡±

    Qianye followed her deeper in without saying a word. There was no shortage of fierce characters along the way, either showing off their tattooed bodies, flexing their muscles, or ring at Qianye in a bid to intimidate him. However, how could someone like Qianye¡ªwho had experienced numerous wars¡ªeven pay them any attention? He couldn¡¯t even be bothered to spare them a second nce.

    The woman shot Qianye a sideways nce. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? You really do have some guts. I¡¯m called ck Lily, remember my name or I¡¯ll be very unhappy. I rarely tell people my name.¡±

    ck Lily was as tall as Qianye, and her ck clothes could hardly hide her curvaceous figures. She moved as silently as a female leopard, but was full of explosive strength that would erupt and cause injuries¡ªthe ideal target for men who liked to conquer their partners.

    But Qianye had no interest in her fiery figure, neither looking at her intentionally nor looking away. Even if his gaze passed over her hips or chest, he would simply look past them, as though he had just seen a rock or a tree.

    ck Lily clenched her teeth secretly. She increased her lithe movements noticeably, causing her chest and hips to undte with each step. Her ck suit hugged her body even tighter at this point¡ªone would be inclined to believe that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything if they only saw her silhouette.

    It was just that none of this had any use on Qianye. Thetter simply followed her into the depths of the alleyway and finally entered a small courtyard.

    Two faint figures appeared at the entrance of the alley after the gates were closed behind Qianye¡ªit was Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing. Thetter was d inmon mercenary-use light armor, while the former was in a billowy martial-artist attire.

    ¡°That slut is so hateful, don¡¯t you think?¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes were actually fixed on Li Kuann.

    ¡°People like her are dime a dozen, what¡¯s the point of paying attention?¡± Li Kuann¡¯s reply was calm.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes shifted about. ¡°What if she sleeps with Qianye? She¡¯ll definitely do such a thing, look at how hard she¡¯s twisting her behind.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression remained wooden. ¡°Just kill her if you don¡¯t like her, why waste words with me?¡±

    Ji Tianqing stretchedzily, saying, ¡°Why should I do that? It¡¯s your man she¡¯s about to bed, it has nothing to do with me.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°Nothing to do with you? Then why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Why are you here then?¡± Ji Tianqing retorted.

    Li Kuann stood calmly with her hands behind her back. ¡°I came to protect Qianye and the goods at Song Seven¡¯s request. So, there¡¯s nothing strange about my presence here.¡±

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t willing to back down. ¡°I¡¯m his aide, so I naturally have toe.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t even finish speaking before she paused to size Li Kuann up. Clicking her tongue repeatedly, she said, ¡°Wait, when did you start listening to Song Seven¡¯s words? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re so obedient because it¡¯s rted to him? Something is fishy here!¡±

 Chapter 917: Exotic Goods

    Li Kuann said, ¡°Of course not.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sized her up from head to toe, then left to right, but was rather disappointed to find nothing unnatural in her demeanor.

    sping her hands behind her back, Li Kuann broke into augh. ¡°You think you can throw my mind into disarray with just that?¡±

    Ji Tianqing shook her head. ¡°In terms of swordsmanship, you can be counted among true experts. It¡¯d be disappointing if you lose yourposure just because of this. But I heard Empress Li and Eunuch Liu are secretly scheming something, thetter even arrived personally in the neutralnds. Does that have anything to do with you?¡±

    Ji Tianqing gazed at Li Kuann with narrowed eyes, her eyes as gentle as they were sharp.

    Li Kuannughed indifferently. ¡°Why not ask Eunuch Liu directly if you want to know? He left not long ago, you¡¯ll still make it if you chase after him. He didn¡¯t keep this journey a secret, don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know he was here.¡±

    Ji Tianqing smiled. ¡°How can I reach a high character like Eunuch Liu? Since he didn¡¯te here to see me, why would I go meet him? Isn¡¯t it easier to just ask you?¡±

    Li Kuannughed loudly. ¡°Sorry, we¡¯re not that close.¡±

    Ji Tianqing shrugged, saying bitterly, ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for so long, yet you¡¯re still so heartless.¡±

    ¡°The same goes for all sword practitioners, I¡¯m no exception.¡±

    Seeing that their conversation wasn¡¯t about toe to a conclusion, the two cast their gaze toward the small courtyard where Qianye had disappeared. All the idle people in the alley had disappeared while they were conversing.

    ¡°Howe he still isn¡¯t out yet? Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s really doing something with that slutty fox!¡± Ji Tianqing pouted, apparently full of anger.

    ¡°Bad acting.¡± Li Kuann offered her evaluation.

    Ji Tianqing smiled. ¡°Ah, you found out.¡±

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°When I said your acting was bad, I meant you were really angry. Sometimes, covering things up just makes it worse.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Ji Tianqing looked harmless.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I refuse to admit that...¡±

    Li Kuann had long since expected Ji Tianqing¡¯s shamelessness. She simply kept on gazing at the small courtyard with her hands behind her back. After a moment of observation, she said, ¡°Your secret art is indeed powerful, but can you really fool a true expert?¡±

    ¡°It should fool the lowest level of divine champions if there isn¡¯t much origin power usage.

    ¡°Very good!¡± Li Kuann made to draw her sword, but Ji Tianqing grabbed her hand. ¡°I can¡¯t draw my de?¡±

    ¡°Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace is too sharp, my secret art can¡¯t keep it disguised unless you retract all your sword energy.¡±

    Li Kuann rxed her hand. ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°If you can do that, there¡¯s no need for me topete with you. I¡¯d just admit defeat.¡±

    Frowning, Li Kuann was about to retaliate when a cryptic aura surged out from the little courtyard and actually caused their origin powers to fluctuate. It was rare for anything to be able to excite their origin powers. The two exchanged nces briefly before running toward the small courtyard.

    At this moment, Qianye was standing at the doors of the storehouse and gazing at a strange machine. He simply couldn¡¯t associate this metal cylinder¡ªwith a mess of pipes and thingamabobs sticking out of it¡ªwith an engine. However, an inexplicable sense of palpitation gripped Qianye the moment that fatty removed the cloth.

    That fatty was well above a hundred and fifty kilograms in weight, but his small eyes were bright and lustrous. The brief moment of pallor on Qianye¡¯s countenance didn¡¯t escape his notice. He patted the machine forcefully, saying, ¡°How is it? Good stuff, right? Only experts can sense how special it is. Old Cat has never lied to anyone.¡±

    The palpitation gradually faded away, but Qianye knew that it wasn¡¯t an illusion. He had experienced such a sensation when he was facing the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton, an innate biological fear toward a void colossus. How was this odd, ancient machine rted to a colossus?

    ording to the fatty, this engine was discovered in the passage leading to the Great Maelstrom. Back then, it was fished out when it drifted close to the neutralnd exit. The mercenaries who undertook this task paid a painful price¡ªtwo customized airships were sucked into the tunnel and lost forever. They might have reached the Great Maelstrom if they were lucky enough, but it was more likely that they had been ground to dust inside the tunnel.

    Whether or not the fatty was telling the truth, Qianye knew from the palpitating sensation that this ancient machine was extraordinary. He was currently the owner of an ancient vampire bloodline, and not many beings could instill instinctive fear in him.

    Qianye looked away from the engine, asking, ¡°Where¡¯s the box of rare minerals?¡±

    The fatty seemed disappointed to find Qianyepletely uninterested in the engine. Following a p of his, four strong men carried a box into the room.

    The container was even smaller than an ordinary suitcase, yet it was bound by steel chains as thick as one¡¯s arm. There was a chain stretching out from each corner of the case, shouldered by one muscr man each. The sheer weight made each step difficult, and they looked like they were carrying a small mountain on their backs.

    They finally arrived in position and lowered the box with a long sigh, unloading the chains on their shoulders as they did so. Just from their posture, it was obvious that the box was several tons in weight. There must be something special about this box of ores, considering how heavy it was.

    ¡°I want to take a look.¡±

    Old Cat pointed at the box. ¡°Please feel free.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t use East Peak. Instead, he fished out his vampiric de and shed at the chains, slicing through the manyyers of steel in one cut. The sharpness of the dagger shocked Old Cat. He narrowed his eyes, saying, ¡°Good de! Only a count would possess such a weapon, right?¡±

    ¡°I robbed it,¡± Qianye replied indifferently.

    Old Cat shrugged and kept his silence thereafter.

    Qianye slowly opened the box and noticed theplicated metallic structure of the interior. Apparently, the container itself was made from a special type of metal alloy and equipped with intricate weight-bearing mechanisms. That was the only way it could remain undeformed while containing the weight of its contents.

    There was a square metallic ingot at the center of the box, emitting an eerie blue glow. This ingot was actually made from eight separate ones ced together. It was just that the surface was so smooth that one could hardly see the gaps between them.

    The external appearance seemed to match Song Zining¡¯s description, and the weight was also a match. However, Qianye remained silent while stroking the cover of the case. The container itself gave off a fantastic sensation, and it seemed even stronger than the metal ingots.

    Qianye closed the case with a bang, saying, ¡°Good stuff.¡±

    Old Catughed. ¡°That¡¯s for sure! Old Cat does business based on trust!¡±

    But his smile froze in ce. With a p of Qianye''s hand, the box vanished on the spot! Old Cat was startled, but he quickly came to and roared, ¡°Protect the engine!¡±

    But the word "engine" hadn¡¯t even escaped his mouth when Qianye arrived next to the machine. He reached out to pat the strange engine, also causing it to vanish on the spot. It was at this time that Qianye turned around with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve received the goods, now let¡¯s talk about the price.¡±

    Old Cat¡¯s expression transformed drastically. ¡°You actually have high-grade spatial gear!?¡±

    Qianye replied with a faint smile, ¡°I was a bit lucky.¡±

    Old Cat¡¯s expression was ashen. ¡°Good, very good. It¡¯s my misjudgment this time. Return the goods and we can forget about this. Otherwise, you can forget about getting off easy, no matter how powerful you are.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qianye responded in surprise. ¡°You never intended to go through with this trade, did you? Then, there¡¯s no need for us to discuss terms. I¡¯ll ask you onest time, are you sure you want to do this?¡±

    Old Cat spoke after a moment of silence, ¡°Did you notice something wrong with the case?¡±

    ¡°Intuition.¡±

    Old Cat suddenly became irritated. ¡°Impossible!¡±

    Qianye said in a leisurely manner, ¡°It is indeed a genius idea to smelt the actual ore into the box and only use a token amount in the ingots. Had I discarded the box for convenience, wouldn¡¯t I have fallen right into your trap? Unfortunately for you, I noticed the profundity of the box out of intuition.¡±

    Old Cat¡¯s expression turned ugly. ¡°Fine! What will make you return the goods?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Not discussing the price?¡±

    ¡°Return the item and we¡¯ll talk.¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°You can forget about taking back something that¡¯s in my hands. Since you don¡¯t want to talk about the price, then there¡¯s no longer a need to discuss anything.¡±

    Old Cat¡¯s expression was ashen. He said through clenched teeth, ¡°Are you trying tomit robbery?¡±

    ¡°It was a trade at first, but I feel that there¡¯s no need to discuss trade with someone who wants to trick me.¡±

    Two sharp daggers slipped into Old Cat¡¯s hands. The aura of the four burly men who had carried the box in began surging as well. Everyone transformed sharply, revealing the style of an expert. Old Cat blocked the door in one step, saying, ¡°Qianye, drop the goods or forget about leaving.¡±

    Qianye revealed a cold smile. The sound of ocean waves reverberated inside the warehouse, but this time, the five men suffered a massive repelling force instead of weight. Even Old Cat couldn¡¯t hold on and was pushed back step by step. The four subordinates couldn¡¯t resist for a breath¡¯s time before they were flung into the walls.

    Next, the walls of the warehouse could no longer take the rolling force. They copsed with a boom, sending a cloud of dust and gravel snaking out in all directions. Only the roof of the warehouse fell down vertically, smashing into everyone below.

    At this moment, Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were still flying over. Shocked by the sudden developments, they increased their speed all of a sudden and arrived above the warehouse in the blink of an eye. But their expressions shifted almost immediately as their silhouettes came to a stop, and they shed away in different directions.

    A beam of brilliant sword energy burst upward, practically brushing past the duo.

 Chapter 918: Incoming Enemies

    A wave of terrifying sword energy tore through the falling roof. Qianye was standing amidst the chaos with his sword pointed at the sky. His expression, however, was fairly strange.

    ¡°Howe it¡¯s you two?¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t feel easy letting you go alone, so we came to help.¡± Ji Tianqing was the first to speak.

    Not expecting otherwise, Qianye nodded. ¡°The goods are in hand, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Qianye rose into the air and flew out of the city. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann also followed suit after exchanging nces.

    The two fell behind a fair distance. Li Kuann bundled her origin power into a fine line and directed a whisper at Ji Tianqing, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say your secret art can hide us from weak divine champions? Which part of him looks like a divine champion?¡±

    ¡°The nerve! You¡¯re the reason we were discovered,¡± Ji Tianqing said.

    ¡°What does that have to do with me? You think I can¡¯t beat you?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s find a ce to fight once we get back.¡±

    Qianye kept on elerating, unaware of the smell of gunpowder behind him. He did nothing to hide himself from the countless gazes of astonishment and malice as he approached the city walls. The boundless wilderness was just behind thatst cannon turret.

    Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, had long since activated her secret art to cloak herself and Li Kuann. To everyone else, there was only a slightly distorted empty space behind Qianye.

    Just as he was about to cross the wall, Qianye felt his hair stand on end. An indescribable sensation of danger gripped his heart! A faintly discernible bullet was darting toward him at insane speeds!

    This shot was so true, so fast, that Qianye had no time to evade. He raised East Peak at the moment of danger, gripping the hilt with one hand and pushing the opposite end of the de with another.

    A ball of dark mes erupted on East Peak, its mes surging into the air to form a ck rose. Qianye himself fell on one knee atop the wall and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

    That was the extent of the shot.

    Qianye swiped a finger on the de¡¯s edge and caught a small wisp of the ck fire, allowing it to burn on his fingertips. The sheer purity of darkness origin power allowed him to guess who the assant was¡ªEden. This was an old friend. Who would¡¯ve thought his strength would increase so much during this short period? The shot was already at the level of a marquis.

    Qianye looked up in the direction of the shot, raging mes flickering in his eyes. It felt like he had returned to the days of repeated hunting and being hunted in the Misty Wood.

    A figure leaped up from the empty wilderness at the speed of lightning, preparing to flee into the distance.

    Eden was just as decisive as before. He made to flee immediately after discovering that Qianye wasn¡¯t seriously injured. He already understood back in the Misty Wood that it was extremely dangerous to be entangled with Qianye.

    Seeing Eden rise into the air, Qianye knew he could no longer catch the sniper. Eden was still so difficult to fight even after all this time.

    The demonkin didn¡¯t forget to wave at Qianye through the air, a greeting of sorts. His arrogance and ostentatiousness hadn¡¯t changed in the slightest.

    Just as he was about to escape, however, a stream of invisible origin power appeared out of nowhere. The force bound him firmly, reducing his speed for a brief moment. The band of power then erupted with terrifying strength, tightening around him like a giant python and threatening to crush his bones.

    Eden was greatly astonished as this ambush had appeared out of the blue. In the blink of an eye, his bones were creaking and groaning. He unleashed a loud roar as dark mes burst out around his body, burning away the fetters. The demonic power inherited from the Dark Abyss was one of the highest grades in Evernight, and it had just gotten a chance to prove its might at the moment.

    But bad things never came alone. The origin bindings hadn¡¯t disappeared when a beam of blue sword energy shot toward Eden from afar. Thetter drew his dagger¡ªhe barely managed to deflect the attack, but he couldn¡¯t help but spit out a mouthful of blood in the process. ¡°Qianye, how despicable!¡± He then turned to flee, his figure flickering in and out of view as he vanished into the wilderness.

    Qianye stood up and nced at Ji Tianqing and Li Kaunn. The timing of Eden¡¯s shot was perfect, and he had started fleeing the moment he realized that the shot had missed. He had left absolutely no opportunity for Qianye to counterattack, but he never expected the duo hiding behind. The retaliation after his locationpromise came from them.

    Although it was a ranged attack, Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were extraordinary people. Thetter¡¯s attack restrained and damaged the target at the same time, stopping Eden from evading Li Kuann¡¯s attack. All he could do was block by force. The demonkin couldn¡¯t hold out against the two and ended up wounded even more badly than Qianye.

    Gazing in the direction Eden had escaped, Qianye¡¯s brows knitted into a frown. He didn¡¯t feel that much pressure even when he was facing the Wolf King. After all, the Wolf King was alone and none of his subordinates was a match for him. Eden was different¡ªhe came from a famed demonkin family, a n with numerous experts under their wing. With his talents andbat strength, there was no way he would be alone in the neutralnds. There had to be reinforcements from the family.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann arrived beside Qianye, and they felt relieved after seeing his aura on a steady rise. Ji Tianqing said, ¡°This demonkin is so powerful, who exactly is he?¡±

    ¡°Eden, used to operate in the Misty Wood on the void continent.¡±

    ¡°Eden? That demonkin who almost crippled the Li family?¡± Li Kuann¡¯s expression turned ugly upon hearing Ji Tianqing¡¯s words. This was the Li family¡¯s disgrace¡ªa stately high-ranking aristocratic family seeking topete with the major ns was actually beaten ck and blue by a young demonkin. All of this had happened despite the presence of numerous families helping them out. Combat squads from numerous parties suffered grave casualties back then, many of them losing lineal scions in the Misty Wood.

    Although thesebat squads hade willingly to vie for the Storm Pearl, aristocratic scions weren¡¯t casually expendablemodities. Since they were murdered on the Li family¡¯s home ground, the n could hardly escape being used of insufficient protection.

    Bombarded by the various families, the truth about the Li family elder driving Qianye away could no longer be hidden. Having driven away the only person who could suppress Eden in the Misty Wood, the Li family naturally became the center of everyone¡¯s criticism.

    These families didn¡¯t dare to fall out with the Li n due to the empress, but discussions for future cooperation were either dyed or canceled. This still caused significant damage to the Li family.

    Hence, the Li family felt even more hatred toward Eden¡¯s name than Qianye.

    Ashen faced, Li Kuann¡¯s hand went for her sword, making ready to chase down Eden. However, Qianye ced East Peak in her way and said while shaking his head, ¡°It¡¯s toote to chase after him. He¡¯s probably not alone, there might be an ambush if you go.¡±

    Li Kuann frowned. ¡°When have I ever been afraid of anyone!?¡±

    Ji Tianqing butted in at this point. ¡°Empress Li!¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s aura faltered at the mention of that name. By the time she hade to, everything was toote¡ªJi Tianqing was already bent over inughter.

    Killing intent flickered in Li Kuann¡¯s eyes. She was just about to draw her sword but slowly lowered her hand when she saw the pensive look on Qianye¡¯s face. Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t go too far, either. She quickly stoppedughing, lest Li Kuann flip out and really start attacking.

    Qianye felt highly distressed. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to Southern Blue first and discuss things with Zining. Now that Eden is here, there¡¯s no telling who else from Evernight hase.¡±

    The duo had no objections to this, and they duly followed Qianye back.

    Back in Seagaze, the rubble inside the ruined courtyard suddenly exploded and Old Cat jumped out from within. He seemedpletely unharmed as he removed the debris to observe the situation around him. The four burly men were mediocre at best¡ªthey were fairly useful for intimidating ordinary mercenaries, but how could they withstand the force of Qianye¡¯s domain? At this moment, they were lingering on theirst breaths, not far from death.

    Old Cat frowned as he noticed the four had suffered fractures in countless ces and their injuries were no longer salvageable. Even if they were saved, theirbat strength would decrease sharply owing to the foundational damage. Seeing this, Old Cat stomped down on the chest of one of the warriors, shattering his heart in the process. The other three were shocked upon seeing this and did their utmost to beg for mercy. But Old Cat mercilessly stomped them all to death.

    He let out a long sigh after doing this. ¡°I don¡¯t keep useless people around.¡±

    He then looked up in the direction Qianye had left, sneering, ¡°You think you¡¯re so smart, but you still took the bait in the end.¡±

    Back in Southern Blue, the Dark me headquarters had beenpleted. There were some small courtyards in a corner of the headquarters, reserved as residences for the higher-ups. Most of thesepounds were still dirt and mud at this point¡ªthere were gardens beingid out in some of them while others were just empty space.

    There was a single courtyardpletely different from the others. The yard was a scenic painting of water and nature, a rare sight in the harsh environment of the Eastern Sea. Song Zining was lying on a reclining chair beside ake, rocking it gently with his eyes closed. The gentle wave of his fan was indescribably poetic; all he needed to do was hum a few ssics.

    Qianye walked in through the courtyard doors, and wherever he went, the beautiful scenery would ripple and turn back into muddy walls. Apparently, the beautiful scenery wasn¡¯t real. It was an illusion brought about by Song Zining¡¯s domain, one that was difficult to discern.

    Qianye frowned ever so slightly. He would always feel unnatural after walking into this kind of environment. He naturally didn¡¯t need to hold back against Song Zining. Dark golden mes erupted from his body, melting away the illusions like the sun rising over snow.

    Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was highly effective against domains made of daybreak origin power. Hence, even the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was destroyed the moment these mes appeared.

    Qianye arrived beside the recliner and dragged Song Zining to his feet. ¡°You sure know how to enjoy life.¡±

    Song Zining pped away Qianye¡¯s hand with his fan. ¡°What do you know? I¡¯m training my domain. I have to use it frequently to improve its realism.¡±

    ¡°I don''t have to argue with you. The dark races have arrived in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°The dark races? The poption of dark races in the neutralnds isn¡¯t smaller than humans. What¡¯s so strange about that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about the local ones. Evernight experts are here. Do you remember Eden? I met him in Seagaze.¡±

    ¡°A famed demonkin n member, here?¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression was serious.

 Chapter 919: Response

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s that Eden.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Song Zining deactivated his illusory domain and said seriously, ¡°Before I came to the neutralnds, I heard Eden¡¯s position in the n had risen meteorically due to his aplishments. Now he¡¯s seen as a strong contender for the n lord position. A genius like this wouldn¡¯t be here alone. We might be facing the mobile units of the Dark Abyss in the future.¡±

    Qianye nodded. After fighting Eden for so long, he understood full well about the other party¡¯s potential and how difficult he was to deal with.

    Song Zining muttered to himself, ¡° The Dark Abyss¡¯ mobile units will probably suffer a significant decrease in strength aftering here, perhaps they won¡¯t be as difficult to handle.¡±

    At this point, he shook his head. ¡°No, the Dark Abyss took part in the previous neutralnds expedition, so they must understand thend quite well. They wille equipped with special equipment in order to minimize the effect on theirbat strength. We can¡¯t be careless.¡±

    Qianye nodded. In the battles big and small of the past, every battle involving the demonkin had been difficult.

    Song Zining closed his folding fan. ¡°But what is Eden doing here instead of heading into the Great Maelstrom? Don¡¯t tell me something¡¯s happened there?¡±

    Qianye was oblivious about the situation. ¡°Has the Great Maelstrom opened?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Yes, the passage has already opened. Normally, the earlier phase passage isn¡¯t quite stable and will always lead to the peripheral regions. That¡¯s why people who considered themselves geniuses would usually wait until the passage shifts to the depths of the maelstrom. They would focus on the resources at the center, foregoing the benefits from the border region. Additionally, the secret resource grounds of certain families will start shipping out their products, and that requires powerful escort units.¡±

    Qianye found this fairly odd. Although Eden was outstanding, it was a stretch to call him a rare genius in either camp. His growth mostly relied on his untiring efforts and willpower instead of talents. It was indeed strange that he would arrive in the neutralnds at such a time.

    After some thought, Song Zining seemed to havee to a decision. ¡°It seems great things are about to happen in the Eastern Sea in the near future. What we need to do is retract our defensive lines. We¡¯ll clear out the area around Southern Blue and Seagaze, driving away all disloyal powers and allowing us to make full use of the resources. After the region is secured, I¡¯ll ship over the six engines and four main cannons Ningyuan Heavy Industries has in store and install them on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. These are great quality products meant for the newest batch of imperial airships.¡±

    ¡°Your Ningyuan Heavy Industries has developed to this degree?¡± Qianye was rather surprised. Being able to construct main cannons and engines meant that they were only one step away from being able to buildplete airships. After all, these were the most difficult keyponents. Not to mention the few years Ningyuan had to develop, it would normally be difficult to reach this stage even after thirty years.

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°I helped a major character do some work and he gave me some small rewards.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. This ¡°small reward¡± was already twenty percent of the empire¡¯s airship construction technology. Even the emperor would be hard-pressed to bring this onto the table, to speak nothing of ordinary bigshots.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t going to ask about things Song Zining didn¡¯t want to speak of. He spread out the map and confirmed several ces that needed cleaning as their next step in the n.

    After mapping out the details, Qianye produced the case of rare-metal from Andruil¡¯s space and ced it in the courtyard. This case was extremely heavy¡ªQianye set up ayer of supportive origin power before carefully cing it on the ground. Otherwise, it might actually cause the ground to cave in.

    Song Zining opened the case. He observed the ingots momentarily, and then flicked the metallic support structures inside the case. ¡°Not bad, there¡¯s a fair amount of ck gold here. Although less than I¡¯d anticipated, it¡¯s already a sufficient amount. This should allow us to manufacture at full capacity for three years. Haha, that seller would never have imagined that we would possess the most cutting-edge airship technology in the empire or that our utilization of ck gold has increased exponentially.¡±

    ¡°Take a look at this. I¡¯ve never seen an engine like this.¡± With that, Qianye released the engine.

    Qianye said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed not simple. I can feel the aura of a void colossusing from it.¡±

    ¡°Void colossus? That¡¯s weird.¡± Song Zining examined the object in detail, going so far as to reach into the engine¡¯s opening, but couldn¡¯t find any traces of a void colossus.

    He stood up and muttered, ¡°It looks like we can only open it up to find out the truth, but let¡¯s wait for the master engineer to arrive. With him around, we¡¯ll be less likely to damage the engine structure during disassembly. At first, I thought this engine was a trap meant to bring harm to us, but the gains wouldn¡¯t cover the losses if they had really used void colossus remains.¡±

    Qianye agreed. Any part of a void colossus was priceless, not to mention a part containing its living vitality and aura. It could be said that the value of this void colossus part would trump a brand new engine. Paying such a steep price to trap someone else was more of a gift than anything.

    Song Ziningid down an aura istion array around the engine, saying, ¡°We¡¯ll know once the master engineer arrives tomorrow. No matter what this is, we have nothing to lose since we didn¡¯t spend any money.¡±

    Qianye snorted. ¡°It¡¯s my reputation that suffered.¡±

    Song Zining broke into augh. ¡°You have no reputation left since the day you killed your way out of the empire. Reputation isn¡¯t worth crap in the neutralnds anyway.¡±

    Qianye shrugged. There was indeed some truth to his words since this was a trap, to begin with. The other party had arranged for Eden to ambush Qianye, hoping to kill him inside Seagaze. No one had imagined, however, that Qianye¡¯s advancement would be even faster than Eden¡¯s, nor did anyone anticipate the presence of Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann behind Qianye. In the end, Eden had to flee with injuries and the bait was taken by Qianye.

    Qianye had no qualms about taking things from the enemy.

    He left the crate and engine in the room, and went back to cultivate. The battle with Eden hadsted but a moment, yet there were enough things there for him to slowly digest.

    At noon the second day, Qianye was roused from his cultivation by a gentle voice.

    ¡°Qianye,e and see. This thing is a bit odd.¡±

    Qianye retracted his origin power, put on his clothes, and arrived in Song Zining¡¯s courtyard. Several white-robed technicians were working around the engine. The machine had beenrgely disassembled and parts of various sizes had been sorted out nearby. A designated person would mark each removedponent and add relevant markups on the blueprint.

    At this moment, the mysterious engine had been mostly taken apart to reveal the internal walls. A white-haired elder was knocking lightly on it, listening carefully to the echo within. ¡°Seventh Young Master, the inner walls are quite special. If I¡¯m not wrong, itsposition is not inferior to that form in your hands. It also seems to contain some other special characteristics. We¡¯ll need to wait until theboratory is constructed in order to perform an analysis.¡±

    Song Zining bowed. ¡°I¡¯ll trouble Elder Hu for that.¡±

    In addition to the Ningyuan engineers, Li Kuann was standing in a corner of the courtyard and watching the scene unfold. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, was leaning against a tree and gazing idly at the sky¡ªthere was no telling what thisdy was thinking. Their presence was also to prevent idents. The demonkin were simr to the vampires in that they produced a fair number of assassins.

    The master engineer continued knocking along the inner-wall but came to a sudden stop at the other end. There, he tapped the metal repeatedly, alternating between different levels of force, eyes closed as he focused on the echo.

    This was a special method to probe the insides of a metal, relying on the strength of the knock and theposition of the material. Grasping the profundity of such a technique didn¡¯t require powerful origin power, and it was also useful to check the internal situation ofrge structuralponents.

    Qianye closed his eyes, his ears moving ever so slightly as he tried to grasp the echoing oscition. Gradually, the imagery grew clear as the engine¡¯s internal wall appeared in his head. But Qianye gradually frowned as he listened on. He felt that the internal structure was quite odd¡ªit was thick around the rear exit port, but the insides were fairly loose. Additionally, it felt like the density was shifting slowly.

    Qianye¡¯s senses were extremely sharp. He knew that it wasn¡¯t an illusion. The density around the forepart of the internal wall was changing.

    It would seem the master engineer had also sensed this abnormality. He finally found a barely discernible slit, along which he continued his investigation, and realized that this was actually a covering te. It only looked like a single piece due to thepression of oil and dust between the walls.

    This cover te contained no locking or clipping mechanism on it, and no one knew how to open it. The master engineer deliberated for a long while before sighing. ¡°The craftsmanship leaves me sighing in admiration. This engine is at least several hundred years old, and it¡¯s truly impressive that they were able to achieve such precision back in the day. If my judgment is correct, there¡¯s no mechanism on this te. It was installed based on precision and locked in ce by the natural attractive force. Opening it should follow the same means.¡±

    With that, the master engineer ced a hand on the te and channeled his origin power. He pulled back after adhering his hand to the te.

    However, the cover te didn¡¯t even budge.

    The engineer¡¯s face turned red as he channeled his origin power several times, squeezing out whatever power he possessed. Yet, the cover remained unmoved, almost as though it had been nailed in ce.

    He had no choice but to give up. ¡°This old man is too weak for this task. Young Master should invite another expert to open it up. The secret of this engine should be hidden underneath.¡±

    Song Zining looked around him. In the end, he bowed toward Ji Tianqing with a smile. ¡°Young Miss, I hope you can help us with this.¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. ¡°No problem, I really like well-mannered people like you.¡±

 Chapter 920: Discerning Gaze

    Ji Tianqing arrived in front of the disassembled engine and ced a hand on it. ¡°I¡¯ll say this beforehand. I¡¯ve invested effort into this matter, so I should be given a share of whatever is inside.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a given.¡± Song Zining then turned to Li Kuann and added, ¡°Young Noble Kuann as well.¡±

    Only then did Li Kuann¡¯s locked brows rx.

    Ji Tianqing closed her eyes as she ced a hand on the covering te, and then raised it forcefully. And yet, she actually failed!

    This time, the entire courtyard was shocked. Qianye was even more astonished because he knew Ji Tianqing¡¯s strength quite well. Helpless for a brief moment, the girl¡¯s expression sank in embarrassment. Her hand rose up and down, vibrating rapidly at different frequencies¡ªshe had actually cycled through several high-ranking secret arts in mere moments.

    ¡°Click!¡± Finally, the te popped out ever so slightly, to everyone¡¯s relief. Several young engineers cheered excitedly.

    Ji Tianqing continued adding force, gradually raising the cover te little by little. It seemed quite stressful even for someone of her strength. This went to show just how powerful the suction force below was.

    The suction force beneath suddenly disappeared when the te left its socket. At this point, Ji Tianqing exerted her full force to hold the te in a barely open state. She had performed this abrupt transition from great strength to gentleness in a rxed, poetic manner, inadvertently revealing yet another powerful secret art of hers.

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t in a rush to open the cover. Instead, she waited until Qianye, Song Zining, and Li Kuann had surrounded the engine, and the engineers were safely behind them. Only then did she slowly lift up the covering te to reveal the interior.

    ¡°What is this!?¡± Even someone as calm as Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t help but gasp after seeing the contents.

    What¡¯s surprising was that the space below the cover wasn¡¯t filled with metallicponents but tissue, akin to animal internal organs.

    This was, on the surface, a living tissue of unknown significance. Nheless, the gazes of Song Seven and Li Kuann were extremely powerful, not to mention Qianye with his Eye of Truth. Their eyes zoomed in rapidly on this muscr mass, revealing all its fine details.

    This tissue was made up of interweaving muscle fibers, and a meshwork of small red and yellow vesicles. There was also arge web of intricate blood vessels connecting all the parts together. In truth, even the coarsest muscle fibers were finer than strands of hair. Those vesicles and capiries were simply invisible to the naked eye.

    To Qianye, however, even the deeper muscr structure gradually came into view. The blood vessels and muscles formed a three-dimensional scaffolding with which to protect the small vesicles inside. Upon careful inspection, one could see that there were minute crystal granules embedded within the vessel walls and muscle fibers. These crystals were simr in size to the ones in Qianye¡¯s auric me blood. They were so small that even ordinary champions couldn¡¯t see them clearly¡ªonly Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth could discern them.

    The existence of these crystals blessed the fine vessels and muscle fibers with extreme tenacity. Add to that how thin these structures were, they were also abnormally sharp. If an ordinary expert were to reach in to touch them, it was quite likely that their hands would suffer damage.

    There were also small crystalline granules floating about inside the vesicles. The void colossus aura Qianye had sensed when he first saw the engine came from this tissue.

    Ji Tianqing eximed all of sudden, ¡°It¡¯s alive!¡±

    Everyone apart from Qianye was astonished and began to observe carefully. The engineers were baffled because they couldn¡¯t figure anything out. Song Zining and Li Kuann, on the other hand, noticed that the muscle was moving at an extremely slow rate, almost as though it was breathing. It was just that the movement was so slow and weak that it would take a week¡¯s time to finish a single cycle. Only experts at their level would notice this kind of change.

    Song Zining turned around. ¡°Elder Hu, what do you think?¡±

    The elder didn¡¯t reply immediately. Instead, he fished out a certain instrument and fiddled about near the covering te for a long while. Finally, he pulled out a thin needle, saying, ¡°Everyone, please take a look. These needles are inserted into the muscle, and channeling origin power through them will move the muscle. And there are hundreds of such needles inside. If I¡¯m not wrong, these needles are equipment used to control the muscle, and the pipes we just removed are used to transport origin power.¡±

    Song Zining asked, ¡°What do you think this muscle is for?¡±

    Elder Hu replied, ¡°I cannot see the internal structure clearly, can one of the young masters and misses instruct me on this?¡±

    With a swoosh, all gazes fell upon Qianye. At aplete loss about what to do, he said, ¡°Why are you guys looking at me?¡±

    Song Zining coughed. ¡°Qianye, now is not the time to hide your skills. Tell us what you see so that we can discuss it."

    Knowing that he couldn¡¯t get out of this, he said after some thought, ¡°I noticed that this muscle is made up of three structures. One of theponents looks like muscle fibers, they form the scaffolding of the structure, the second seems to be awork of blood vessels, and the third, countless little vesicles¡­¡±

    At this point, Li Kuann said with a frown, ¡°You saw small vesicles?¡±

    ¡°A lot of them, in fact, but they¡¯re all enclosed within the vascr meshwork, deep inside the framework.¡± Qianye was quite honest.

    Li Kuann stared at Qianye for a good while. ¡°I really want to dig your eyes out and see what it¡¯s made of. Tianqing, you saw this as well?¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. ¡°This young miss¡¯ eyes are like torches. Of course, I noticed them!¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t hide her own shorings. ¡°I only saw the muscr structure and vesselwork. I found no vesicles. Qianye, you continue.¡±

    ¡°Continue?¡± Qianye hesitated for a moment. ¡°There are minute crystalline granules embedded within these structures. I have no idea what they¡¯re for, either.¡±

    ¡°Crystals!?¡± This time, it was Ji Tianqing¡¯s turn to be surprised. She immediately whipped out a needle, poked the muscle, and pulled out. She then donned a pair of special sses to observe the needle for a good while. ¡°There really are crystals. Qianye, what kind of eyes do you have exactly?¡±

    With Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann eyeing him carefully, Qianye felt uneasy from head to toe. Song Zining walked over at this point and whispered into thetter¡¯s ears, ¡°Why did you say so much? Let it be, I¡¯ll help you this once for the sake of our brotherhood. Otherwise, they¡¯ll dissect you on the spot.¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye to respond, Song Zining patted his shoulder and said in a clear voice, ¡°Qianye, who would¡¯ve thought you actually have such eyesight! Doesn¡¯t this mean you can even see through origin defenses, to speak nothing of armor!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t realized what these words meant. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann, on the other hand, saw their expressions shift drastically. Their gaze toward Qianye became exceptionally fierce.

    He was baffled. ¡°How am I supposed to see through armor and origin defenses?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Don¡¯t be so modest, you can do it! Just practice harder in the future. That way, no enemy can hide in front of you!¡±

    Qianye immediately sensed killing intent in the air around him.

    It was at this time that Elder Hu pped his thighs. ¡°I know now!¡±

    Everyone redirected their attention to him. Elder Hu pointed at the muscle, saying, ¡°I think that muscle is, in fact, a functioning organ. In the body of a void colossus, it would probably take on the role of breathing. I¡¯ve seen some documents regarding void colossi when I was younger. They also need to breathe, but what they respire is actually void origin power.¡±

    He paused for a moment before saying, ¡°This organ is probably used for breathing. It directly absorbs void origin power and exhales ordinary origin power for the airship¡¯s propulsion system. So, this is indeed an engine. It¡¯s just that this assumption is simply unimaginable, absolutely unimaginable!¡±

    Elder Hu pointed at the needles distributed inside the engine. ¡°These needles are used to control the organ. The engine¡¯s output is controlled by regting the frequency and strength of its breathing.¡±

    Song Zining picked up one of theponents. ¡°Were these things really made hundreds of years ago?¡±

    Elder Hu replied, ¡°This requires more analysis before we cane to a conclusion.¡±

    Song Zining sighed softly. ¡°If they¡¯re really centuries-old products, then the person who made them must be truly outstanding!¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. ¡°This likely isn¡¯t Evernight technology.¡±

    The Empire and Evernight had been fighting for so many years that they had be extremely familiar with one another. Such an engine concept had never appeared in airships of the major dark races. Hence, this engine was either produced on a whim by a certain peerless expert¡ªlike the Martyr¡¯s Pce for instance¡ªor it had to belong to a certain powerful race.

    The former possibility was eptable, but thetter would be truly shocking.

    Song Zining asked, ¡°Elder Hu, is this engine still usable?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°The parts all seem to be in good order. It should be usable after we repair some of the minor damages. It will operate normally after repairs, but we¡¯ll need to install aplete fuel delivery system.¡±

    Li Kuann was surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t it supposed to be a respiratory organ? Does it still need fuel?¡±

    Elder Hu said while stroking his beard, ¡°As far as this organ is involved, what it needs are nutrients. The ten pipes here are probably used to deliver nutrients. As for what kind of nutrients it absorbs, that¡¯s something we need to figure out.¡±

    ¡°Will the analysis be easy?¡± Song Zining inquired.

    Elder Hu replied, ¡°This so-called engine is no longer that mysterious once we¡¯ve figured out the basic principles. Its true core is this muscle, and the key is to find out where it came from, how it was fashioned into this shape, and where it gained such powers. The external machinery are mere trifles. Yet I¡¯m ashamed to admit that I know nothing about that muscr structure.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just do the repairs first and see how it performs.¡±

    Afterward, Song Zining yielded the small courtyard to Elder Hu¡¯s repair work. Qianye returned to his abode and started packing his luggage for the uing battle. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann also left to mind their own businesses.

 Chapter 921: Preparing for War

    Everyone¡¯s interest in the engine stopped here. Although they were unable to figure out any concrete details on its function, the key was that it was a respiratory organ belonging to a certain void creature. Even with a sufficient grasp of mechanical technology, where was one to find such a being? If the organ really was from a void colossus, finding it would be akin to courting death.

    Qianye returned to his own courtyard and quickly packed up. He then rushed over to the armory and handed the quartermaster a long list¡ªhe nned to stock up on enough ammunition and food tost through a war. The uing battle might be the most difficult one since his arrival in the neutralnds.

    Afterpleting all preparations, Qianye said goodbye to Song Zining.

    For this expedition, he would clear out the surrounding disloyal powers and, more importantly, tell Eden and his mobile unit that Qianye was operating in the wilderness. An untraceable Qianye was the only force that could exert enough deterrence to prevent the Evernight squads from acting blindly or fielding their armies without enough defensive power. Just as Eden had made the imperial nobility suffer within the Misty Wood, Qianye was also an impossible problem for the Evernight forces. Even with Eden restraining him during that period, their side had still sustained grave casualties. The dark races might¡¯ve been pushed out of the woods if it weren¡¯t for the demonkin prodigy.

    The wilderness of the neutralnds wasn¡¯t as restrictive to the sensespared to the Misty Wood, but void turbulences or even storms could kick up at any time. A hunter from the Empire or Evernight would find themselves easily losing their targets here.

    Once Qianye had entered the wilderness, Eden would definitely focus his efforts on restraining him. Otherwise, operating carelessly like before would give Qianye the opportunity to kill him as soon as heunched an attack.

    Qianye had gained the obvious advantage during thetter parts of their fight in the Misty Wood, but there was no telling what the oue of this confrontation would be.

    Qianye¡¯s advantagey in the fact that Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were there to oversee Southern Blue, as well as Song Zining preparing for war at all times. The three airships belonging to each of them were hidden somewhere in the void, and the Martyr¡¯s Pce was also on standby. The demonkin would likely suffer if they came crashing into them without sufficient information.

    ¡°Try to keep the road to Seagaze open, lest it gives those families an excuse to drag things out.¡± This was Song Zining¡¯s request.

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute,¡± Song Zining called Qianye back at thest minute.

    Thetter smiled. ¡°What do you need me to do? Just say it.¡±

    He saw Song Zining wearing a rare serious expression and a bit of uneasiness as well. Twisting his fan in hesitation, he said after a good while, ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°What about?¡± Qianye was a bit puzzled.

    Song Zining took a deep breath. ¡°This battle is not the same as before. You should know how dangerous it is.¡±

    ¡°Dangerous? You mean Eden? I think the Wolf King is more dangerous.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The Wolf King is just an arrogant, overconfident bastard, and he¡¯s alone. He¡¯ll be cautious and afraid after a round of harsh beating. This is the Wolf King¡¯s weakness, he cannot afford to sustain injuries. As long as he¡¯s paranoid, we will have ways to deal with him. This isn¡¯t the case for Eden. He was the vanguard this time, and there might be more than just one demonkin n behind him.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    Song Zining grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Prepare well, you might be facing an entire Evernight squad, including vampires, werewolves, and arachne.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I hope¡­ you won¡¯t encounter a duke.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°Are you kidding?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, do I look like I¡¯m joking?¡±

    ¡°You do. We both know how important dukes are to Evernight, and the chances of them falling is much higher in the neutralnds. Besides, even if a duke reallyes, theirbat strength will be greatly discounted as they adapt to the environment.¡±

    Song Zining increased the force in his hand. ¡°That¡¯s under normal circumstances. There might be more than one duke moving out from the Evernight side this time.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the reason?¡±

    Song Zining hesitated with a wry smile. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you now. This ce might¡¯ve attracted the attention of certain powerhouses. I fear he¡¯ll find out if I say it. In short, you have to be very careful. Don¡¯t be fixated on any target, what you must do is survive. I will find a way to get the Martyr¡¯s Pce equipped as soon as possible. I can only hope that it¡¯s not toote.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re always like this, saying everything halfway. You¡¯ll have no friends left at this rate,¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as I have my brothers.¡±

    ¡°Brothers? I think women are more important to you.¡±

    ¡°Qianye! You were never this talkative before.¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°I learned that from you.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve said this before, but I¡¯m not joking. I have a very¡­ bad feeling about all of this. I hope you understand. Because of their special identities, I cannot allow Kuann and Tianqing to go into battle with you. Absolutely nothing must happen to them, at least not because of you. So, you¡¯re on your own for now.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯m not alone, I have you, don¡¯t I?¡±

    Song Zining seemed like he wanted to say something, but he only let out a long sigh.

    ¡°Enough, it feels like I¡¯m talking to a woman. I¡¯m leaving.¡± Qianye pushed the door open and left.

    The wilderness was, just as before, lonesome and austere¡ªthe endless yellow sand, the sharp gales, and the randomly appearing void storms that would leave one weak and palpitating. Even cultivators would feel great difort when exposed to excessive amounts of void origin power.

    Qianye walked alone through the empty wilderness. Removing his gloves, he could feel a faint stabbing pain on his skin¡ªthis was a sign of void origin power falling on his skin. The energy was so violent that it would gradually destroy living bodies. Only those with exceptionally strong constitutions or origin power protection could escape this eventual fate. This was the reason why even cultivators would live much shorter lives here if they weren¡¯t strong enough.

    But people at Qianye¡¯s level of physique would benefit from the void origin power instead of suffering harm. The wisps of energy would enter his body and be assimted.

    Qianye observed the surrounding wilderness with narrowed eyes. The surroundingndscape was both familiar and strange¡ªin addition to ordinary vision, even the world in his perception would warp and twist from time to time. This was an effect of the void origin power. Qianye gazed far into the distance and spread his perception out to its maximum range, hoping to find the maximum extent of his senses.

    Since the opponent was Eden, no amount of preparation could be considered excessive.

    Qianye stretched his perception to its extremes and, after repeated tries, gradually formed a blurry borderline. Eden¡¯s figure appeared in this illusory world, holding a sniper rifle and taking aim at Qianye. Then, he pulled firmly on the trigger.

    A bullet shrouded in dark demonic energy shed toward Qianye¡¯s forehead!

    Qianye¡¯s body jolted as he opened his eyes, and all the illusions disappeared immediately. That Eden was actually a projection of that sniping attempt back in Seagaze City, located at the same distance as when he had ambushed Qianye back then. And the position of this projection was still far from the extremes of Qianye¡¯s visual range.

    Qianye felt somewhat relieved. Perhaps Eden wasn¡¯t firing from his maximum range, but at the very least, he still had the advantage in visual capacity. The neutralnds was different from the Misty Wood in that visual range was longer than sniping range. Hence, Qianye¡¯s advantage wasn¡¯t that evident. Nheless, even a bit of advantage was wee when fighting against Eden.

    Qianye closed his eyes again and recalled the process of Eden¡¯s shot. The impact from that attack was so powerful that it had injured him through East Peak, but it remained that Qianye could block this shot even when he was unprepared. Eden would thus need to close the distance if he wanted to strike Qianye, and this was an obvious advantage for thetter.

    At this moment, only that demonic-energy-shrouded bullet remained in his consciousness. This bullet vanished after shooting through Qianye¡¯s forehead and reappeared once more at its source.

    The repeated recollection allowed Qianye to slowly grasp the shot¡¯s true firepower. Although this shot was extremely powerful, Eden also had to umte a fair amount of energy tounch this attack. If he could fire like that back in the Misty Wood, he might¡¯ve been able to turn the tables around.

    From this attack, it was clear that Eden could already utilize the maximum potential of the Abyssal Tribute. No one knew what kind of miracle he had chanced upon, but his demonic power had reached the level of a marquis.

    The empire had collected sufficient details about Eden during the void continent battle, even data regarding his Abyssal Tribute. From this shot, however, it would seem that the sniper rifle was even more powerful than the reports had stated. This was perhaps because Eden couldn¡¯t yet bring out the true power of this weapon in the past.

    Although Heartgrave could suppress Abyssal Tribute in both firepower and special abilities, it would drain Qianye in one shot and leave him in a weakened state. Meanwhile, Eden would be able to fire three more shots from his sniper rifle. Hence, it could be said that the two were evenly matched in terms of origin guns.

    At this point, Qianye hadpleted his analysis of Eden. He would need to fight the man again to figure out more details. Although Eden had suffered consecutive attacks from Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann, the injuries weren¡¯t severe. It could be assumed that he would have returned to the battlefield by now, but no one knew when he would attack again.

    Qianye opened his eyes once more and once again expanded his perception to its maximum range, paying attention to everything in his surroundings. Song Zining¡¯s thoughts were one thing, but Qianye knew that the most important mission right now was to find the demonkin mobile units hiding in the wilderness.

 Chapter 922: Capture

    Qianye swept his perception out in every direction while walking toward Seagaze. The void energy on the wilderness suddenly calmed down after some time and Qianye¡¯s senses stretched out toward a battlefield.

    Qianye noticed a fight taking ce in the distant horizon. He retracted his aura and sneaked toward the conflict at a steady pace. Eden could also be hiding in the wilderness at this point, so Qianye didn¡¯t want to give him an opportunity.

    When Qianye arrived, he was confronted with a raging siege. A dozen mercenaries were fighting for dear life against hundreds of soldiers surrounding them. Bullets and grenades were spraying out in all directions, almost as though they weren¡¯t worth any money. The only protection these mercenaries could rely upon was a patch of rocky terrain. This little bit of cover wasn''t nearly enough to protect them against origin guns, but they had erected metallic tes between the stones to form a simple defensive structure. Relying on that, they had managed to hold out against an enemy several times their numbers.

    Those seemingly crude metallic shields were actually quite capable in defense; it would take a grade-three origin gun several shots to prate them. The hunters in the wilderness possessed grade three weapons at most, and even the leaders could hardly afford a grade-four gun. These tes could be connected together or used as individual shields. If not for these movable walls, this group of mercenaries would¡¯ve been routed long ago.

    A burly man in officer¡¯s clothing roared, ¡°ckbird, Dark me will never let you go. Even if we die here today, it¡¯s merely leaving a bit earlier than you!¡±

    A shrill voice echoed among the attackers, ¡°You think Dark me can survive? Before long, it¡¯ll be wiped away along with Southern Blue. Old Six, you should surrender immediately if you understand the situation. Considering our many years of friendship, I¡¯ll let you live and even take you to meet my new master. Dark me simply cannotpare to the future prospects here. What say you?¡±

    Old Six let out a longugh. ¡°You want me to turn traitor? Never!¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to say I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t want to use this move against you.¡±

    Before Old Six could even speak, a sharp whistle echoed across the battlefield. An origin bullet surged along the battlefield, drawing a long trail of origin-power as it shot through the mobile wall, Old Six, and the mercenary standing behind him.

    The man¡¯s body froze up on the spot. The strange origin bullet was so fast that his origin defenses only started to disintegrate at this point. The mobile parapet wasn¡¯t able to save his life, either.

    ckbird¡¯s voice echoed across the battlefield. ¡°Kill them all, leave none alive!¡±

    Countless bullets flew over from all directions, cutting down the Dark me mercenaries one after the other. Qianye only arrived at the battlefield at this point, his expression dark as he observed the scene. He stepped into the midst of the mercenary squads and took down dozens of enemy soldiers amidst the roar of ocean waves.

    ckbird felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right at the sudden loss of a section of firepower. He was just about to turn back to look when he saw a ck sword on his shoulder.

    ¡°Tell your men to stop firing if you want to stay alive.¡± Qianye¡¯s frosty voice rang out near ckbird¡¯s ears.

    Thetter was a clever man. He immediately started shouting hysterically, ¡°Stop! Everyone, lower your weapons!¡±

    The shocked mercenaries looked at their captured leader, then at the copsedrades on the ground, and quickly realized that this was an expert they couldn¡¯t contend against. Everyone put down their weapons obediently and raised their hands.

    ckbird heaved a sigh of relief and was just about to ask for mercy when Qianye asked, ¡°Who¡¯s your master?¡±

    ¡°A-A demonkin. I don¡¯t know his name, and neither have I seen how he looks. All I know is that he¡¯s extremely powerful and rich. He¡¯s the one who instructed me to intercept caravansing out from Southern Blue.¡±

    ¡°Is that all you know?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s indifferent voice sounded demonic in ckbird¡¯s ears. Shivering subconsciously, he said, ¡°I¡¯m fairly observant if I do say so myself. From certain details, I can tell that this demonkin is rted to the Liu family in the city. I really don¡¯t know anything else. Sire, this lowly one has some savings throughout the years. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m willing to¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished when a light shed on East Peak as it cut open his throat. ckbird copsed, his face full of terror. ¡°... Give you everything.¡±

    Qianye stood up and said to the surviving Dark me members, ¡°Bring these people back for interrogation.¡±

    An elderly mercenary asked, ¡°Sire, what about you?¡±

    Qianye patted his shoulder, saying, ¡°I have my ns.¡± He then vanished into the vast wilderness.

    The surviving Dark me members endured the grief as they ced the corpses of Old Six and their fallenrades onto the truck. Then, they led the surrendered mercenaries back to Southern Blue.

    Not long after they had left, the scenery on the empty wilderness warped all of a sudden. Two tall, cloaked figures appeared like demons in the night, their facial features hidden beneath sinister-looking masks. They moved as silently as specters, scanning the battlefield in the blink of an eye. The ce where they lingered the longest was where Qianye had unleashed his domain and near ckbird¡¯s corpse.

    There were less than ten Dark me survivors but almost a hundred prisoners of war. Qianye had also left pretty quickly, so the mercenaries only swept the battlefield briefly for spoils of war before departing. They didn¡¯t even take ckbird¡¯s corpse with them.

    The two ck-robed men picked up ckbird¡¯s remains and proceeded to check every trace on his body¡ªnot just the sword wound on his neck. ckbird¡¯s body reacted like a puppet as they moved their hands and, in the blink of an eye, returned to the kneeling position he was in before his death.

    The two nced at one another. ¡°It¡¯s Qianye, hisbat strength seems to have improved yet again.¡±

    Another person said, ¡°It¡¯s hard to confirm whether he¡¯s grown more powerful since the void continent.¡±

    ¡°No matter what, we have confirmed Qianye¡¯s existence. We have to report this matter to the young master. We¡¯ll leave it to Eden to confirm Qianye¡¯s truebat strength.¡±

    ¡°Good idea. It¡¯s time we added new missions for Eden, anyway. We must see what he¡¯s hiding.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The two ck-robed men rose slowly into the air and made to fly away. The two of them began elerating at the same time, yet only one of them shot out for dozens of kilometers. The other remained motionless!

    Shocked out of his wits, the former turned back to see that Qianye had grabbed the other person¡¯s leg. No matter how the man struggled, Qianye remained nailed to the ground.

    The captured ck-robed man unleashed a shrill scream. His entire body burst into demonic mes as he shot into the air. This move should¡¯ve taken him hundreds of meters into the sky, even if he were carrying several tons in weight¡ªthat was if Qianye hadn¡¯t caught him by the ankle.

    But now, all he could manage was to bring Qianye slightly off the ground. He couldn¡¯t move a single inch further behind that. This ck-robed person had lost entirely in this confrontation of demonic energy, origin power, and blood energy.

    The ck-robed person, who was already in the sky, didn¡¯t turn back to rescue hisrade. On the contrary, he flew even higher and vanished into the sky.

    Qianye didn¡¯t chase down the one who had fled since he had already caught one anyway.

    The ck-robed person in his grasp struggled with all his might, but to no avail. He looked back and saw Qianye gazing quietly at him with an expression of mockery. His right hand suddenly erupted in demonic mes, which quickly transformed into a burning sword and shed down!

    What startled Qianye was that the man hadn¡¯t shed at him but at his left leg, instead. The sword strike severed the limb at the knee and granted the man temporary freedom. Ignoring his injury, the ck-robed person channeled his demonic energy and shot into the air.

    Nheless, Qianye moved like the wind and reached out to catch the man¡¯s right leg.

    The unyielding ck-robed man shed backward once more and severed his right leg as well!

    Seeing this, Qianye grabbed at the air with his right hand¡ªEast Peak immediately appeared in his grasp and pressed down on the man¡¯s back.

    The ck-robed man surged with demonic mes. He was like a caged bird, unable to spread his wings no matter how hard he tried.

    The man turned around suddenly, removing his mask to reveal a pale, handsome face. This was a characteristic demonkin countenance, and theplicated pattern on his forehead was a telltale sign of his major-n origins. He red at Qianye with eyes full of embarrassment and hatred as he swung his neck toward East Peak¡¯s edge.

    Qianye was greatly surprised as he watched the man¡¯s head fly through the air. A demonkin from a famed n, even just a third-rank viscount, should¡¯ve wanted to survive at least. No matter how ruthless he was to himself, it was entirely unexpected that he would be that decisive.

    Qianye nted East Peak on the ground and searched through the man¡¯s remains. As expected, there was nothing on him that would prove his identity¡ªnot even a family crest. The equipment he had on him was also fairly generic: only twobat knives, a pistol, ammunition, and enough food tost one day.

    Qianye frowned slightly as these clues were useless. A demonkin viscount couldst several days without any food or drink, so one day of rations was enough for him to cover a thousand kilometers. The range was too big for Qianye to guess the location of his base.

    Qianye looked up in the direction of the escapee, his eyes suffused with a blue hue. A faint trail of origin power left behind by the other demonkin stretched into the clouds. This person seemed quite proficient in tracking and assassination. His traces were quickly wiped away by the void origin power once he was in the clouds, so Qianye couldn¡¯t easily determine whether he had flown upward or moved in a different direction.

 Chapter 923: Person of Interes

    Perhaps the demonkin had already built a base somewhere, perhaps their base was the fleet in outer space. At least Qianye could be certain that this viscount was very likely a member of their mobile unit. If all of their members were as fearless of death as this person, it would be fairly problematic.

    From the conversation between the two demonkin, Qianye noticed a new term: young lord.

    This worrisome honorific was simr to the holy sons and daughters of the vampire race, a person who had gained the recognition of all families in the race. A fellow crowned thus was akin to Zhao Jundu in the empire¡ªnot only would they stand out from the rest of the demonkin young geniuses, but they could also mobilize unimaginable amounts of resources.

    If a demonkin young lord had arrived in the neutralnds, it could be assumed that something big was going to happen.

    Qianye suppressed the restlessness in his heart. At least Song Zining was prepared, and it wasn¡¯t that easy to make him take a loss under such circumstances. On the other hand, it was also likely that Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had secret protectors watching over them. They themselves were also quite strong, so Qianye didn¡¯t need to worry about them.

    At the present moment, the best strategy wasn¡¯t to hole up in Southern Blue but to move out proactively and hunt in the wilderness. That was the best way to restrain the demonkin¡¯s power and make it difficult for them to operate with ease.

    At the thought of this, Qianye picked up East Peak and shed at the demonkin viscount¡¯s head, shattering it from afar. This wasn¡¯t done out of savagery but as a message for the other demonkining to check.

    Qianye then put his sword away and vanished in the direction of Seagaze.

    There was a slender, elegant warship hovering in the depths of the void. Its numerous long masts were swaying gently, like long, dancing wings. This was an ordinary warship, at least on the surface. Nevertheless, taking a closer look, one could observe that it had undergone obvious remodeling¡ªthese masts were a representation of demonkin technology. They could raise the vessel¡¯s overall speed and reduce consumption at the same time, a system unique to the race.

    Both the other dark races and the empire had sought ways to design, steal, or imitate this technology. Nevertheless, even the empire¡¯s usual high-quality reproductions couldn¡¯tpare to the demonkin warships.

    Apart from the characteristic masts, there was no other noticeable equipment. Its armor was mediocre at best and so were the ship-cannons, meaning that this vessel had no other advantage except fast movement.

    The interior, on the other hand, was refined and luxurious. The furnishings were old school yet that didn''t deprive them from beingvish. The interior of the ship was decorated in shades of ck and gold, a true expression of mysteriousness and nobility. A young demonkin was standing in themand room, gazing at the distant Eastern Sea continent.

    At this moment, themand room doors opened, and a demonkin count walked in. ¡°Young Lord, Number Forty has returned with thetest report, but Thirty-Nine¡­ didn¡¯t return.¡±

    The young demonkin¡¯s expression shifted slightly.

    ¡°I remember that the two of them are fairly excellent in concealment and hunting. They should be able to flee even against a powerful enemy. Why didn¡¯t Thirty-Nine return? Could the Wolf King have gone back on his words and attacked personally?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the Wolf King. ording to Number Forty, it¡¯s Qianye.¡±

    The young demonkin turned back with a surprised expression. ¡°Qianye? The one who injured the Demoness back in Indomitable?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s him.¡±

    Ayer of dark energy emerged on the young man¡¯s smooth forehead, almost as though aplicated diagram was about to emerge. Nheless, the image merely flickered in and out of existence before fading away. This demonkin young lord was a riddle through and through¡ªno one had ever seen what his innate talent totem looked like, and it was rare to see any emotional fluctuation from him throughout the years.

    People were fated to be disappointed yet again as the young demonkin quickly reigned in his emotions. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought he would still be alive and quite well in fact? This makes the world more interesting. What did Number Forty say? Was he able to gauge Qianye¡¯s strength?¡±

    The demonkin count said awkwardly, ¡°Forty left the battlefield immediately after seeing that Thirty-Nine had been captured¡­ His conclusion is that Qianye¡¯sbat strength decline, if any, is very limited.¡±

    The young demonkin nodded. ¡°This means he never fought with Qianye, and neither did he stay to observe the fight between Qianye and Number Thirty-Nine.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± The demonkin seemed worried that the young lord would me the agent. ¡°In my humble opinion, Forty wouldn¡¯t have been able to return if he hadn¡¯t turned to flee immediately. I believe his judgment in this scenario is correct.¡±

    The young lord remained silent for a moment and then said, ¡°I don¡¯t mean to me him. It¡¯s just that, running without a fight just to send word back to me¡­ so that I can gauge his strength...¡±

    He suddenly raised his voice. ¡°Do you guys have so little faith in me? Are you so worried that I¡¯ll get wounded in Qianye¡¯s hands?¡±

    The demonkins were all shocked. They fell to their knees in unison. ¡°We don¡¯t dare!¡±

    The young demonkin paced about with his hands behind his back. ¡°The supreme leader has great expectations for me. Our mission is important, so it¡¯s only natural that we should be cautious. But think about it, was the Supreme One a top-genius back in his day? He was barely outstanding. From the demonic realm to the void, from the Dark Abyss to the Sacred Mountain, how many life and death battles did he have to go through? I believe my talents aren¡¯t inferior to his back in the day; why must I avoid such a small battle?¡±

    An old demonkin marquis spoke in a hoarse voice, ¡°The Supreme One couldn¡¯t break away from the shackles of his talents without life and death battles, a stark difference from your circumstances, Young Lord. On the other hand, he has never engaged in unnecessary battles, either.¡±

    The young demonkin chuckled. ¡°You all feel that a battle with Qianye is unnecessary?¡±

    ¡°Your opponent should be Zhao Jundu,¡± the old marquis replied.

    The young demonkin broke into augh. ¡°Fine, Qianye hasn¡¯t matured anyway. Killing him will make this world less interesting. Let Eden handle this matter, it¡¯ll also allow us to see if his situation will change after switching from the Misty Wood to the neutralnds.¡±

    A demonkin count d in heavy armor stepped forward. ¡°Young Lord, should we send someone to monitor Eden?¡±

    The young demonkin said with a smile, ¡°You guys really are cautious about Eden being a threat to me. Why? Just because his recent aplishments and advancements are beyond expectations? He isn¡¯t even an inheritor-candidate of the Dark Abyss, yet you people think he¡¯s a threat to me?¡±

    That count wasn¡¯t willing to back down. ¡°Young Lord, your safety is imperative since it¡¯s rted to our race¡¯s inheritance. Competition must be under fair circumstances, we won¡¯t allow anyone to scheme!¡±

    This time, the young demonkin didn¡¯t insist. ¡°Send people to monitor him if you think it¡¯s necessary. Eden might think something¡¯s up if you don¡¯t send anyone. Okay, just bring up whatever you have to say.¡±

    The old marquis said, ¡°Since you¡¯ve said so, I won¡¯t hold back. This airship isn¡¯t very safe and not suitable for your high status. I would suggest you move back to your own vessel immediately.¡±

    The young demonkin chuckled. ¡°Do you think the one on the Throne of Blood will ignore us if we drive the Demon Edge into the neutralnds? He already knows of our existence. Only this ship can prove that we¡¯re not here to assail hisnds.¡±

    ¡°If that person wants to capture you, this ship won¡¯t be enough to escape. We definitely can¡¯t allow you to fall into danger.¡±

    The young demonkin raised his hand. ¡°So¡­ you guys just want me to leave. Rest assured, I won¡¯t stay very long. You just need to let me finish one thing. No one is allowed to disturb me for one day, otherwise, I might change my mind.

    The demonkin marquises and counts exchanged nces, eventually giving a nod.

    The young demonkin sighed. ¡°What¡¯s the point of deceiving ourselves at this point?¡±

    Everyone in the cabin turned silent, and the demonkin young lord felt bad pressing the matter. He simply ordered, ¡°Give me a copy of everyone¡¯s data rted to those people, I must meditate on this matter. Enough, everyone is dismissed.¡±

    Having said that, he returned to his own cabin. After a while, the old marquis entered with a thick stack of papers and ced it on the desk. The old marquis fished out an independent file, saying, ¡°Young Lord, I think this person deserves your attention. He might gain the right to be your opponent one day in the future.¡±

    The young demonkin flipped through the paper. ¡°Song Zining? I know him. He¡¯s the one everyone¡¯s calling god of strategy, right? I¡¯ve never been interested in people like Lin Xitang, perhaps you guys don¡¯t understand me.¡±

    The old marquis said, ¡°I believe that a true expert is one who can contend against people from different areas.¡±

    The young demonkin said, ¡°You¡¯re just hoping I¡¯ll stay away from the battlefield, but you got one thing right at least, it is interesting to defeat people from different fields. Fine, I¡¯ll pay more attention to Song Zining, but he¡¯s not my target right now. I¡¯m looking for an extremely interesting person that I must meet.¡±

    The old marquis was startled. ¡°Who do you want to meet?¡±

    ¡°This one.¡± The young demonkin pushed an extremely thin file toward the old marquis. This document only contained a half-filled sheet of paper, yet still this person was more important to the young lord than Song Zining. This was quite surprising.

    An expression of pure shock crept up on the old man''s face as he opened the file.

 Chapter 924: Visi

    ¡°Why this person?¡± The old marquis was puzzled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think she¡¯s very interesting?¡±

    The old marquis nced at the document again, yet this single sheet of paper only took a moment to read no matter how carefully he studied the contents. Eventually, he shook his head in resignation. ¡°I still can¡¯t figure out what¡¯s so interesting. Even though she¡¯s cultivated our race¡¯s arts, it must be the most shallow type. Our famed-n inheritances cannot be learned by humans after all.¡±

    The young demonkin smiled. ¡°A human who can cultivate our race¡¯s arts is already extremely interesting. Perhaps she¡¯s the one that I want.¡±

    ¡°Young Lord¡­¡±

    The young demonkin looked up. ¡°What, you think this will be dangerous as well? I¡¯m only going for one day.¡±

    The marquis hesitated. ¡°Fine, just one day.¡±

    The young demonkin revealed a smile as he pointed at the old marquis. ¡°Don¡¯t send people to follow me or I¡¯ll really get angry.¡±

    ¡°But how do you n to find her?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my business.¡± The young demonkin was apparently unhappy.

    Momentster, a small, faintly-discernible airship shot out from the main vessel and sped toward the Eastern Sea. The old marquis said after a while, ¡°Let¡¯s split up and visit the nearby leaders.¡±

    Everyone was puzzled. ¡°At this time? Didn¡¯t we just contact them?¡±

    ¡°Yes, right away. These fellows are used towlessness. We have to keep an eye on them so that they don¡¯t hurt the young lord.¡±

    Momentster, several small airships split off toward different directions in the Eastern Sea.

    In the Totemic Castle, the Wolf King was in his newly forged steel throne, frowning at the masked man in front of him. ¡°Haven¡¯t we reached an agreement already?¡±

    The ck-robed man said in a husky voice, ¡°Our superior believes we can expand the scope of our cooperation. For instance, you can help us build a new army corps¡­¡±

    Cinnabar Volcano City, the Spider Emperor¡¯s camp. The atmosphere here was shrouded in austerity as a dozen or so of the Spider Emperor¡¯s subordinates confronted three ck-robed men. The trio wore sinister masks that hid their true facial features, and they themselves weren¡¯t really that powerful. Yet, their momentum was no weaker than their many opponents.

    At this point, an extremely big arachne walked into the hall. He stood over five meters tall and was d in a full set of heavy armor, not unlike a small moving mountain. Every step he took would shake the great hall since he hadn¡¯t transformed into human formpletely.

    Looking down at the three ck-robed men with his ten sinister-lookingpound eyes, he said, ¡°His Majesty is on the front lines and can¡¯t rush back in time. I¡¯m in charge for the time being. I think that your terms are too demanding!¡±

    One of the robed demonkin men said, ¡°How demanding these terms are is decided by how strong each party is. As we see it, they¡¯re already quite generous.¡±

    The tall arachne froze for a moment. There was anger in his voice as he retorted, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that it¡¯s the neutralnds you¡¯re in. You demonkin will be greatly restrained here, so don¡¯t gauge people with Evernight standards!¡±

    The ck-robed man replied calmly, ¡°I know where I am, but you shouldn¡¯t forget that the restrictions on dukes and grand dukes are fairly limited. If you believe the Spider Emperor can contend with our dukes, there¡¯s no need to continue our discussion.¡±

    The generals in the hall were shocked. Even the big arachne blurted out in astonishment, ¡°You have grand dukesing over?¡±

    The demonkin replied, ¡°Everything is possible, is it not? If you people cannot decide on our terms, then contact the Spider Emperor. From what I know, there aren¡¯t any big battles on the front lines. As long as the emperor shows up, we¡¯ll consider it a sign of good faith and be open to discussing many things.¡±

    Just as the tall arachne was in a difficult position, an indifferent yet powerful voice echoed from the roof. ¡°I can show my sincerity, but you people have no right to negotiate with me.¡±

    The demonkin looked up to find a fist-sized crystalline spider on the ceiling of the hall, the source of the voice just now.

    The ck-robed man¡¯s stance became respectful immediately. He bowed toward the crystal spider, saying, ¡°I¡¯m only in charge of conveying the message. As for the negotiation, it¡¯s naturally our marquis who will talk with you. We just hope there will be no hostile actions during the talks.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a given,¡± the spider emperor said as he materialized.

    On the holy mountain of Tidehark, Luo Yun arrived outside of the small courtyard where Luo Bingfeng remained in istion. ¡°City Lord, those demonkin are here again and they insist on meeting you.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s clear voice emerged from the courtyard, ¡°I refuse.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re saying we¡¯ll have to face the consequences if we refuse to meet them.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng sneered, ¡°A group of bastards who don¡¯t even dare to reveal their faces. Drive them away!¡±

    While Luo Yun was hesitating, thedy¡¯s voice appeared from the courtyard as well. ¡°Bingfeng, the demonkin suffers a lot of restrictions here. Most of them need to use masks to protect themselves from the corrosion of void origin power. It¡¯s not like they want to wear it on purpose.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said in a cold voice, ¡°If they¡¯re truly powerful, they¡¯ll naturally be able to ignore the corrosion of void origin power. They clearly have experts overseeing them, yet they only send such riff-raff to see me. Are they trying to bully people from the Eastern Sea? Drive them all away. Tell them their life is forfeit the next time they enter Tidehark.¡±

    The undercurrents flowing through the Eastern Sea did not affect the wilderness. Despite the continuous spread of war, trade caravans could still be seen trudging majestically along the inter-city highways. To these lowest level merchants and mercenaries, there was war everywhere and danger was lurking around every corner. Whether or not they would risk their lives for this was dependent on how much the owner was willing to pay.

    The wilderness wasn¡¯t entirely deserted. Viges big and small were scattered throughout thend. Some of these settlements were formed while prospecting rare ores or because there were underground wells beneath them. Others were naturally formed ces of rest or nests of mercenaries and hunters. These viges were unaffected by the environment and kept on operating at their own tempo.

    In the depths of the wilderness, there was a fairly lively secret settlement. This ce was hidden in an overgrown valley and formed from several interconnecting tunnels. It was both secluded and safe since the exits toward the outside world were hidden deep inside the mountain range. At first, it was a temporary settlement set up by some hunters, but its location eventually spread among the hunters and mercenary circles. In the end, it turned into amon camp used by all kinds of people in the wilderness.

    There were several bonfires in the camp with pots hanging over them, and the strong fragrance of meat wafting out from them stirred everyone¡¯s appetite.

    The bonfires naturally separated the people into different groups. Thergest mercenary group upied two caves, while the smaller ones could only share one together. The nameless neers and lone wolves couldn¡¯t even stay in a cave. All they could do was camp out in the valley. In truth, they wouldn¡¯t dare join a stranger¡¯s group even if someone were to invite them. There was neither guarantee norw in the neutralnds, so these lone wolves would rather leave before nightfall and face the wild beasts alone than risk unknown dangers.

    There was a small bonfire flickering in a corner of the valley, with a rabbit hanging over it from a simple meat rack. There was a young girl beside the me, covered in a dirty cloak. One side of the rabbit was somewhat burnt and the other side was still covered in red veins. Apparently, her cooking skills weren¡¯t that outstanding.

    The lone girl attracted a lot of attention. People would whisper among themselves from time to time, scheming and pointing asionally. The oversized cloak hung down and covered most of her facial features, only revealing her chin. Yet, her lips were exquisite and white, the best these hunters could ever find in the wilderness.

    It was just that people who could operate alone in the wilderness were usually quite capable, and the girl had arge sinister-looking cleaver beside her, proof that she wasn¡¯t an easy target.

    Three hunters walked out of the cave after some discussion and headed toward the young girl. They were tall, big, and their equipment was also better than the normal standards¡ªclearly, they weren¡¯t easy individuals. They walked straight toward the girl, much to the dissent of the others eyeing her. But most of those people eventually turned away after seeing the trio¡¯s weaponry, choosing to ignore themotion here.

    The young girl was entirely focused on roasting her rabbit, almost oblivious to the disastering her way.

    The three hunters hastened their steps, and the leader eventually reached out to pat the girl¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Hiss, do you want to get to know us?¡±

    His hands hadn¡¯t evennded when it was frozen midway. A wisp of faintly-discernible ck energy had wrapped around the man¡¯s hand, making it impossible for him to move or advance.

    A young man had appeared beside the bonfire at one point. He was unusually handsome¡ªhis smile was as warm as the sun, and a pair of deep blue eyes sparkled as bright as the stars beneath his elegant brows. With a wisp of ck energy still lingering around his fingers, he said to the girl with a smile, ¡°Can we be friends?¡±

    The young girl looked up, revealing a small faceparable to a porcin doll. She looked at the young man in confusion but didn¡¯t say anything.

    Thetter pped his forehead, saying, ¡°Ah, how could I forget to present a meeting gift for this beautifuldy? This is my present, do you like it?¡±

    With that, the young man flicked his finger. The dark energy around him began trembling, and the shades of ck on the hunter¡¯s hand transformed into an extremelyplicated diagram that cut the three men in pieces.

 Chapter 925: Sleeping and its Price

    The girl did not react at all to this. She merely looked at the young man and asked apathetically, ¡°Why must we be friends?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯m the type you like.¡± The young man revealed a radiant smile as a faint pattern shed on his forehead.

    The young girl¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°Y-You¡¯re¡­¡±

    The young man seemed to have no intention of hiding his identity. ¡°Correct, I¡¯m a demonkin.¡±

    The young girl looked curious. ¡°How can a demonkine here? Isn¡¯t it said thating here is like entering a furnace for your race?¡±

    ¡°There are always some thick-skinned people.¡± The young man revealed his white teeth.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look like it, though.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t judge a book by its cover.¡±

    The young girl came to a sudden realization. ¡°Does that mean you look good, but you¡¯re actually evil and dangerous inside?¡±

    The demonkin almost stumbled into the bonfire. Not knowing whether tough or to cry, he said while pointing to his chest, ¡°I¡¯m not that kind of person! I always speak my mind, I never lie.¡±

    ¡°All liars say the same thing.¡±

    ¡°Goodness! It¡¯s not even certain if there¡¯s someone in the neutralnds that¡¯s worth lying to!¡±

    ¡°Oh, then what are you lying to me for?¡± The young girl¡¯s eyes widened.

    The young demonkin nearly copsed, but the young girl immediately added, ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t need to lie to me. Just tell me directly and I¡¯ll sell anything for the right price¡­ including this.¡±

    With that, she patted therge cleaver beside her.

    The demonkin said unceremoniously, ¡°How about yourself? Will you sell that?¡±

    The young girl was initially surprised, yet after pondering for a few moments, she said, ¡°You want me to kill someone for you?¡±

    A deep darkness crept up in the demonkin¡¯s eyes when he saw the girl¡¯s serious yet confused little face. He pointed at the girl with a spurious smile, saying, ¡°Killing, I can do myself. I want you to sleep with me.¡±

    The girl was puzzled. ¡°Why would you need someone to sleep with you? Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll kill you?¡±

    This time, it was the young demonkin¡¯s turn to be startled because the girl had spoken with such confidence. Perhaps she had never slept close to anyone since she was a kid, nor had she ever slept deeply.

    ¡°It seems you¡¯ve had tough days, were you always being hunted down?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s always been hunt or be hunted, isn¡¯t this world just like that?¡± The girl seemed more rxed and at ease while discussing survival.

    But the young demonkin seemed even more excited, almost as though he had just found a new void continent. ¡°Are you willing to sleep with me? It¡¯s not just sleeping together, we have to do other stuff as well. Yes, haven¡¯t you seen some men and women doing things when you sneak in to kill people?¡±

    ¡°Rolling around in bed without armor?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Exactly!¡± The young demonkin¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Not wearing armor is dumb, no matter the time or situation,¡± the young girlmented.

    The young demonkin was betweenughter and tears. ¡°You¡¯re not wearing any armor, either.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need armor, this is my best armor.¡± The young girl pointed at therge cleaver beside her. ¡°What do you think? Want to buy it? It¡¯s really great. It was made from the forelimb of an arachne duke, especially powerful against heavy armor. The weaker ones, yes, like you, it¡¯ll cut open directly. Both horizontally and vertically.¡±

    ¡°Cleaver made from the forelimb of a duke?I¡¯m too poor, can¡¯t afford that.¡±

    The girl gave it some thought. ¡°This thing is really hard toe by. I almost lost half my life trying to get it. No matter what, it won¡¯te cheap.¡±

    The young demonkin raised his hands. ¡°I¡¯m really poor! Why don¡¯t we go back to talking about sleeping together? What¡¯s your price?¡±

    The young girl was apparently puzzled. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ll need to think about it. That kind of thing, it seems, it seems¡­¡±

    The young demonkin took a deep breath and suppressed his breathing. ¡°It¡¯s actually nothing, you¡¯ll probablye to like itter on. You take your time to think about it, so let¡¯s turn back to serious matters.¡±

    ¡°What you mean is¡­ sleeping together isn¡¯t a serious matter?¡±

    The girl¡¯s sudden sharpness caught the young demonkin off-guard. ¡°That¡¯s also a serious matter, very serious, and it¡¯s also extremely important. So, you have to take your time to think about it. As for the next thing, it¡¯s just a small matter.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this small matter?¡±

    Seeing that she was no longer insistent, the young demonkin became a bit more rxed. ¡°The matter is quite simple. You have a difficult enemy called Qianye, right?¡±

    The girl straightened her body. ¡°He¡¯s very powerful, I¡¯ve tried many times to kill him but failed. But he can¡¯t kill me, either.¡±

    Even the smallest of the young girl¡¯s movements couldn¡¯t escape the demonkin¡¯s eyes, much less this instinctive reaction upon encountering one¡¯s predator. Clearly, the young girl¡¯s body was subconsciously cautious. ¡°Qianye is my enemy as well, why don¡¯t we work together.¡±

    The girl frowned ever so slightly, saying, ¡°Not interested.¡±

    The young demonkin wasn¡¯t about to give up. ¡°Are you afraid I¡¯ll drag you down? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m very powerful. I might not be weaker than you.¡±

    The young girl shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t like having people around me, it affects my ability to concentrate.¡±

    The young demonkin was extremely clever¡ªhe immediately realized that the girl was used to being a lone-hunter. This cooperation wasn¡¯t the reason he hade here, either. ¡°Then let it be, I can make you more powerful. You just need to help me kill three people or do three things in return.¡±

    The young girl¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°You can make me more powerful?¡±

    The young demonkin nodded as he fished out a book and a ring from his pocket. The two items were shrouded in lingering demonic energy. One could tell from a nce that they were extraordinary items, and their appearance immediately caught the young girl¡¯s attention.

    ¡°This is a highly ranked secret cultivation art from my race. The demonic energy it produces is gentle and easilypatible to you, probably even more powerful than Eden¡¯s art. The Dark Abyss¡¯ secret art is powerful, but the demonic energy is just as tyrannical and difficult to control. Your constitution is special, but you¡¯re still half a human after all. The Dark Abyss¡¯ cultivation art is only suitable for demonkin. Your body will be corroded and destroyed sooner orter if you keep it up.¡±

    The young girl didn¡¯t reach out immediately. ¡°So you know about Eden and me?¡±

    The young demonkin smiled. ¡°I know everything rted to the demonkin race.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this ring?¡±

    ¡°This is also a secret treasure from my race. It can instill the user with arge amount of demonic energy andpletely stimte your full potential, doubling your power temporarily. The cons are also obvious; you can only use it once and you¡¯ll fall into a weakened state for several days after using it.¡±

    The girl stretched her hands out but forced herself to stop.

    Be it the cultivation art or the ring, both of them were things she urgently needed. With her terrifyingbat reflexes and grasp of timing, she would surely be able to deal a fatal blow. Even the Wolf King had suffered in her hands at one point, so it was obvious that the girl¡¯s true power was beyond what it seemed on the surface.

    If she could increase the might of her weak point targeted attack by three-fold, that ring would increase her might to six times the norm. Even a divine champion wouldn¡¯t be able to take such an attack on the vitals. If she had this ring with her that day, the injured Wolf King wouldn¡¯t have an opportunity to escape.

    That secret art, on the other hand, would remove the long term detriments to her body.

    After a round of contemtion, the girl suddenly snatched the secret art and ring, and then rolled back ten meters. Her figure then flickered like a ghost and jumped out of the valley in a sh.

    But she stopped immediately after reaching the valley exit as the young demonkin was standing in her way. He shook his head with a smile and said, ¡°That isn¡¯t nice.¡±

    The young girl blinked innocently. ¡°Isn¡¯t it the rule of the neutralnds to rob good things?¡±

    The young demonkin said, ¡°It¡¯s also a rule here that you¡¯ll be punished if you fail!¡±

    The girl made no sound, merely gripping the cleaver tightly. Her other hand held the book and ring, unwilling to let go no matter what.

    The demonkin pointed at the stuff in her hands. ¡°You won¡¯t win if you keep holding onto them, you won¡¯t even be able to flee. The only way to escape is to abandon them.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± The young girl was quite headstrong.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t sound like you. Fine, since you like it so much, then you can have it.¡±

    The girl was surprised, not expecting the other party to be so generous. The demonkin said with some pride after seeing her state, ¡°I have everything I could possibly want. I also have ways to make you more powerful in the future.¡±

    The girl nodded slowly as she put the things into her pocket.

    The young demonkin waited until she had finished putting the things away. ¡°What do you think? Can you consider the price now? I want you.¡±

    The girl said with a look of bewilderment, ¡°I¡­ will think about it seriously.¡±

    The young demonkin pointed at the young girl with a serious expression. ¡°I will also think about what I can give you.¡±

    The young girl pondered for a moment, clearly thinking about the meaning behind those words. The demonkin broke into augh after the girl failed to figure it out after a long while. ¡°I have to go now, my name is Anwen. Remember my name, I wille to you in the future.¡±

    Before leaving, he pointed at the young girl. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about Qianye.¡±

    The girl nodded slowly. Numerous ck threads then shot out from the young demonkin¡¯s body, engulfing him in aplicated multifaceted energy as he disappeared.

    The young girl stood in ce, continuing to think hard on the conversation. Suddenly remembering something, she gasped. ¡°My roast meat!¡±

    By the time she shot back into the valley, the meat on the roasting rack had vanished into thin air.

 Chapter 926: Chance Encounter

    As Anwen appeared on a hilltop dozens of kilometers away, the surrounding scenery began to distort as countless ck threads wove into aplicated web of energy. Four demonkin elders appeared at the same time, led by that old marquis from before. The man proceeded to watch Anwen with a cold, expressionless face.

    Anwen raised both hands helplessly. ¡°You don¡¯t think this is dangerous, do you?¡±

    ¡°That girl is already very dangerous, yet you gave her our n¡¯s treasure and secret art. This isn¡¯t too appropriate, is it?¡± one of the elders said indifferently.

    Anwen replied, ¡°It¡¯s just an ordinary art and that ring can only be used once. Our n has no shortage of such things. You don¡¯t need to be so stingy, do you?¡±

    ¡°But Young Lord, that is still our n¡¯s treasure. Giving it to a lowly human¡­¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression sank, and the radiant smile vanishedpletely. ¡°Your duty is to protect me, not to give me lectures. There¡¯s no need for you to criticize what I do!¡±

    Anwen was furious. His gentle demeanor vanished as a strange aura of might erupted from his body. The demonkin found it difficult to even stand after they were invaded by this aura¡ªall but the marquis had to step backward, some a couple of steps, others five or six.

    The elders were shaken, recalling that Anwen¡¯s status as the young lord wasn¡¯t below the Demoness. How could he be ordinary? It was just that he had always been so gentle¡ªcowardly even¡ªadding greatly to the responsibility of his bodyguards. That eventually changed the attitude of those around him.

    The old marquis took a step forward to unleash a simr aura, blocking Anwen¡¯s energy and bringing some relief to the other demonkin around him. It was just that the old marquis¡¯ aura was surging furiously with his hair flying about. Only then did he manage to block Anwen¡¯s ancient and mysterious aura. Thetter, however, was standing in a leisurely manner without any form of wasted effort, a clear indication of the winner in this confrontation.

    The old marquis said slowly, ¡°Young Lord, we had no choice since we have a duty to perform, please excuse us. Your bloodline is truly outstanding, you need only to mature without taking any risks, and you¡¯ll definitely be a great monarch. Why would you keep putting yourself in danger?¡±

    Anwen looked up at the sky in silence. ¡°My ambitions do not stop at being a great monarch.¡±

    The marquis and the other elders fell quiet. The old marquis said after a while, ¡°Since you have such intentions, it looks like we¡¯ve been overthinking things. What¡¯s the Young Lord¡¯s n now?¡±

    Anwen shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve finally arrived in the neutralnds. Of course, I have to roam around and experience the area. I¡¯m going to stroll about randomly and see how well that girl is doing her job. Rest assured, there¡¯s no danger and it¡¯s just one day. I¡¯ll meet you guys here at this time tomorrow.¡±

    The old marquis bowed. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, we¡¯ll wish you good luck regarding your business. We¡¯ll wait here with the airship at this time tomorrow.

    ¡°But even an airship without special upgrades will attract hostility from the Throne of Blood. So, we hope you¡¯ll be on time.¡±

    Anwen smiled. ¡°Rest assured, when have I ever broken my promise?¡±

    Nodding, the old marquis swung his hands around. Manyyers of geometric lines came together to form a grid around the demonkin, and they all vanished on the spot.

    Anwen¡¯s smile became more evident after the entourage was gone. In the end, heughed loudly at the sky and swaggered off in great delight.

    In the blink of an eye, Anwen once again appeared in the nameless valley. The mercenaries there were minding their own business and guarding against one another. Anwen¡¯s faintly discernible figure passed through the crowds, but none of them noticed him¡ªthey were all busyughing, eating, and drinking.

    The young demonkin arrived before that fire from before. The mes were still there, but the meat on it was gone and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

    Anwenughed proudly. If something so simple could stump him, he wouldn¡¯t be worthy of being hailed as a young lord. Anwen pointed at his own forehead, gradually summoning two revolving crystals in the depths of his eyes. His line of sight shot through the crystalline body like a tangible object and spread out in all directions.

    In just a moment, Anwen could sense the direction of that ring. It wasn¡¯t hard for him to set up a tracking mechanism on the ring; the difficult part was how to hide the fact from the other party. This was the source of his satisfaction. Anwen actually didn¡¯t install anything special on the ring and was merely using his innate talent to track its aura. He was the only one in the entire demonkin race who could perform such a mysterious secret art. Even the demoness wouldn¡¯t have such a power.

    Before long, Anwen had found the general direction of the ring. To his surprise, the girl was already dozens of kilometers away and running at incredible speeds. It would seem she had fled immediately after his departure, a sign that she wasn¡¯t going to keep up her end of the bargain.

    An intrigued Anwen smiled. His silhouette flickered and vanished from the valley as he chased after the girl¡¯s direction. Her movement speed might be shocking in other peoples¡¯ eyes, but it was merely eptable for Anwen. He calcted that he would be able to catch up to her within half an hour.

    The young demonkin flew across thend. His shadow faded in and out of view, taking him hundreds of meters with each flicker as he shot away like the wind.

    The young girl seemedpletely unaware of Anwen chasing after her. After running a hundred kilometers or so, she slowed down and began moving about in a small area. It was almost as though she was looking for something.

    The smile on Anwen¡¯s face became even more evident. He had a feeling that this young girl would give him a fair bit of surprise. It seemed he had made the right choice bying to the neutralnds. Anwen didn¡¯t think much about Qianye, just as an eagle wouldn¡¯t give a sparrow a second nce. He didn¡¯t believe, for one moment, that Qianye would stand shoulder to shoulder with him one day.

    In a sh, his distance from the young girl had shrunk to ten kilometers. The girl had almost stopped moving at this point, and it was a mystery what she was doing. Anwen slowed down, and his figure turned faint as he slowly approached the girl¡¯s location. He felt that things were getting more and more interesting. He had focused all of his attention on the girl, afraid that he would be discovered. This was the first time Anwen had met someone who didn¡¯t know what sleeping with a man entailed, yet it so happened that she was cruel and ruthless when she was killing. It could be said that she was cold-blooded.

    This was the first time he felt that peeping was so much fun.

    Anwen was still a short distance from the girl at this moment. He didn¡¯t pick any special path and merely approached at a slower speed. He never noticed that there was someone lying in a giant tree a thousand meters away. The tree itself waspletely empty in his perception.

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s this guy sneaking about for?¡± Qianye suddenly opened his eyes and gazed at the empty wilderness.

 Chapter 927: Risk

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, a mysterious fellow in the wilderness was bent over and cautiously passing in front of him. That fellow looked fairly handsome, inhumanly so in fact. It was just that his sneaking demeanor and gleaming eyes looked like he was up to no good.

    It didn¡¯t seem like that sneaky fellow was trying hard to hide himself¡ªonly his silhouette was somewhat blurry and melding in with the surroundings. In truth, it wasn¡¯t that simple. To the ordinary person, what he had left behind during his movements weren¡¯t afterimages but immobile shadows. Additionally, his aura didn¡¯t leak out at all, so there would be no reaction in the perception of other experts; they would probably treat him as they would a stone even if they did see him from far away. In this aspect, his stealth ability was quite simr to Qianye¡¯s own, and he was even better at utilizing it.

    Despite all that, the man seemed to be focused on something, oblivious of Qianye who was in a simr state of concealment. Additionally, his every step would leave a wisp of ck energy in Qianye¡¯s True Sight, making it impossible to lose track of the target.

    ¡°So he¡¯s a demonkin.¡± Qianye sat up, pulled out Heartgrave, and took aim at the suspicious fellow from over a thousand meters away.

    This would¡¯ve been a great opportunity to seize the demonkin, but this fellow was too powerful to capture alive. With Eden¡¯s arrival, there had to be a fair number of demonkin in the neutralnds. There would be lots of opportunities to capture one of them alive.

    Qianye no longer hesitated. The moment that fellow faded away, he moved Heartgrave toward an empty space in front and opened fire!

    When that mysterious demonkin appeared once more, there was an origin bulleting for his face!

    Anwen waspletely focused on the young girl. How could he have expected an origin bullet after just a routine movement? The bullet was so powerful that he could clearly sense death approaching him!

    On the verge of life and death, Anwen could no longer bother with his prestige. Aplicated diagram appeared on his forehead as his robe puffed up into an inted balloon.

    The origin bullet struck Anwen squarely, shredding his robes and flinging him backward from the impact. He tumbled several times through the air before barely managing to stand still. Even such movements were fairly tiring for him; the damage he had sustained was apparently not light.

    Anwen was shockingly pale and there was ayer of white frost clinging to his brows. He looked down at this body to find blood flowing out of his abdomen. It took him three flickers of his demonic energy to stop the hemorrhage. The might of this shot was far beyond his expectations. It was fortunate that his robe had blocked a good portion of the impact, otherwise, he would¡¯ve been forced to utilize his final life-saving measures and flee.

    But that robe was now ruined. It was a high-ranking secret treasure, one that was also convenient to use. Without it, it could be said that he had lost a life.

    Fury flickered through Anwen¡¯s eyes as he nced in the direction of the shot. He wanted to see what kind of person dared to ambush him.

    Although he was heavily injured at the moment, he still had several secret treasures on him that he could use to fight. The assant must be drained as well after firing such a shot, and the young lord really didn¡¯t mind killing this person in passing should the opportunity present itself.

    Now that he was searching intentionally, Anwen immediately noticed Qianye over a thousand meters away. This distance was far beyond his imagination. At first, he had thought that such an urate shot with so much power had to be from within five hundred meters. He couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed at Qianye¡¯s gun after seeing that they were a thousand meters apart.

    This distance also meant that the marksman¡¯s consumption was significant. It was already a surprise that Qianye was standing, but he had to be forcing himself. Anwen revealed a cold smile as he moved toward Qianye, calcting whether or not he should kill Qianye or beat him into a pulp.

    It would be too boring if he killed Qianye now. At the thought of that, Anwen decided that he would only break Qianye¡¯s arm aspensation .

    He was calcting enthusiastically when he noticed Qianye¡¯s aura climbing rapidly. In the blink of an eye, Qianye had gone from weak to full, and began closing in on his peak!

    Anwen couldn¡¯t believe his eyes for a moment, and neither did he know what had happened.

    Qianye actually never thought that this fellow would survive the shot. At first, he had thought the other party would turn tail and run like Eden, but who would¡¯ve thought Anwen woulde for him instead? Even with heavy injuries, he was intent on killing Qianye.

    ¡°This idiot!¡± Qianye thought, seriously surprised. Qianye immediately poured out the essence blood store within the Book of Darkness and entered a state of bloodboil, steadily raising his physical state.

    Anwen was startled as he wasn¡¯t expecting this kind of development. He thought about running away, but he was a young lord of the demonkin race and he had spoken so arrogantly just a while ago. Hence, he really couldn¡¯t bring himself to flee.

    It was during this moment of hesitation that Qianye had rushed in front of him and shed down with his heavy sword! There was no holding back.

    East Peak brought with it a whistling reverberation. Anwen was surprised¡ªhe knew that this swing contained a force to be reckoned with, so there was no way he would take it head-on. With a shake of his left hand, a crystalline dagger appeared in his grasp with which he swung along East Peak¡¯s t side, hoping to guide the sword away.

    However, East Peak only let out a crisp sound and trembled ever so slightly. It wouldn¡¯t budge at all.

    Anwen was surprised yet again as he gained a new understanding of Qianye¡¯s heavy sword. At this critical juncture, his body slid past East Peak with a swift sideways shift and crashed straight into Qianye. He was actually going for a physical brawl.

    Anwen was highly confident in hisbat techniques. A close-up fistfight would also reduce East Peak¡¯s effectiveness and give his dagger the greater edge.

    What Anwen didn¡¯t expect was Qianye wasn¡¯t about to shy away from a melee fight, either. He simply lowered his shoulder and rammed into the demonkin.

    Only a muffled groan was heard. Anwen failed to move Qianye by even an inch while he himself had to take half a step back, his face pale. The crash hadnded squarely on his chest, leaving him breathless and with a stifling sensation. He swung a backward palm chop at Qianye¡¯s throat, but the other party made no move to evade, only throwing a punch at his chest in response. Anwen decided to trade injuries with Qianye, since thetter would receive the heavier damage anyway. But at thest moment, he remembered that Qianye¡¯s body was outrageously strong and that it would be him taking the loss if they were to trade blows.

    Anwen¡¯sbat arts were exquisite. He immediately lowered his elbow and struck the crook of Qianye¡¯s arm, effectively neutralizing this blow.

    The two immediately became entangled¡ªtheir figures crisscrossed rapidly as one sought to kill the other. They produced all kinds of destructive moves in a small space, in a short time. Even a divine champion would be full of praise upon witnessing them fight. Both men had far surpassed their cultivation realms in terms of technique.

    The battle was quiet at first, but eventually, the sound of rumbling thunder spread out in all directions.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned entirely blue as his blows became faster and more powerful. East Peak remained in his right hand, performing various shifting roles¡ªa shield, a sword, a staff or a spear.

    Anwenined inwardly. He wasn¡¯t inferior to Qianye in terms ofbat arts, but the other party¡¯s outrageous strength made him suffer repeatedly. Additionally, he was being entangled as though he were in a dense spider web, and his movements had turned sluggish. Although the effect wasn¡¯t all that strong, it was extremely ufortable.

    How could there be space for mistakes in a showdown between experts? Qianye would¡¯ve beaten the demonkin ck and blue had it not been for his superiorbat arts, and yet even Anwen could barely hold his own.

    Qianye produced numerous killing moves, yet they were neutralized one after the other. He couldn¡¯t help but praise the demonkin secretly. He felt that his understanding ofbat arts would improve yet again after this battle. Anwen¡¯s body was also shrouded in a faintyer of energy which reduced the effectiveness of his Eye of Control¡ªthe restraining effect it could offer was less than half of what it would normally be. It was barely useful against an enemy of Anwen¡¯s level.

    Patience, nheless, was a virtue Qianye had nevercked, and he had never been afraid of long battles, either. He immediately changed his strategy from pursuing fatal blows to patient encirclement.

    Now this made things difficult for Anwen.

    Qianye¡¯s strategy was almost shameless. He wouldn¡¯t let go of any opportunity to attack, even if it was just to cut the opponent¡¯s clothes. Yet, his attacks were usually so powerful that Anwen had to fully defend against every strike.

    In the blink of an eye, Anwen was full of injuries and his clothes had been ruined. Although the wounds were simply flesh wounds, he looked fairly miserable on the surface.

    Furious, Anwen wanted to give Qianye a taste of his own medicine, but thetter¡¯s body was so much stronger than Anwen¡¯s. A shallow strike might not necessarily break Qianye¡¯s skin, but Anwen was always in danger after taking wound after wound. Anwen woke up, realizing that fighting on like this would only make him suffer.

    But his realization came toote¡ªQianye suddenly shot out a punch at lightning speed!

    Anwen was startled upon seeing this punch. He didn¡¯t understand how this fast but powerless strike was supposed to hurt him. It wouldn¡¯t do a lot of harm even if it hit him.

    However, he swiftly came to and cried out in his mind. Qianye¡¯s punch was aimed right at his face. Although the force was indeed light, the impact sent his head spinning, and wisps of origin power seeped into his eyes, nose, and skin.

    Anwen cried out in surprise as a dazzling light erupted from his belt.

    Immediately sensing danger, Qianye had no choice but to abandon the chance of a follow-up attack.

    A faint golden ring of light swept out from Anwen and spread toward every direction, only disappearing after traveling dozens of meters. Qianye had evaded sufficiently fast, yet he was still grazed on the abdomen by that ring of light. He was shaken because that energy would¡¯ve cut through his abdomen if he had taken enough of it. This demonkin really possessed a lot of secret treasures.

    Anwen red fiercely at Qianye before turning to flee at full speed. Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t catch up, so he abandoned the thought altogether.

    The appointment on the second day duly arrived. The old marquis and demonkin elders were waiting at the designated location. Anwen also appeared on time, but he was badly bruised and many of his protective treasures were gone. Shocked out of their wits, the demonkin elders went over to check on Anwen. They only felt somewhat relieved after finding that there were no serious injuries.

    Anwen forced a smile. ¡°The neutralnds is really interesting. There¡¯s no great danger here.¡±

    It was just that his swollen left eye was far from convincing.

 Chapter 928: Fourth-Rank Official

    The moment that mysterious demonkin escaped, Qianye understood that he had encountered a true problem. This person was highly talented and not below Zhao Jundu in terms ofbat techniques. He was also of noble birth, as proven by the two secret treasures that were destroyed during the fight. Never had Qianye really seen anything like them.

    What¡¯s worse was the fact that this demonkin seemedcking in actual battle experience. After his loss, however, he would surely be motivated to temper himself. Without a doubt, a brand new opponent would appear for Qianye before long.

    In this regard, this fellow was even more terrifying than Eden. Although Eden was also talented, there was still a ceiling to what he could do. This demonkin, however, looked like a rare genius with boundless potential.

    This time, Qianye had managed to ambush the opponent but still couldn¡¯t kill him. Their next encounter on the battlefield would probably end up with Qianye taking a loss.

    Hence, Qianye hesitated a while after Anwen¡¯s departure but ultimately decided to go after him. The man was injured in many ces, so there were traces of him to be found no matter how far he had run.

    He hadn¡¯t gone far, however, when he felt an icy chill creeping up his neck!

    Qianye stopped and turned back slowly. Despite the speed, however, there were no openings in his movements and East Peak was ready tounch a strike anytime.

    Bai Kongzhao was standing less than a hundred meters away.

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What? Have you changed your mind and decided to fight me?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m here to think about some things.¡±

    ¡°Thinking?¡± Qianye felt that this reason was beyond clumsy. It seemed she wasn¡¯t even putting in the effort to find a passable excuse.

    She had appeared at such a critical juncture that it was hard to believe she wasn¡¯t scheming anything.

    However, the youngdy pointed into the distance at a fire burning beneath arge tree. There was a simple tent hanging from the nearby branches, a setup that could barely stop the wind and rain. This camp was simple but not crude, and it was easily noticeable that they were prepared to pass the night here. Qianye was also sharp enough to notice that the fire had been burning for quite a while, not something she had made up on the spot.

    ¡°Fine, take your time then. This area isn¡¯t peaceful recently, perhaps you can look for a safer ce.¡±

    Qianye was trying to drive her away tactfully. He didn¡¯t want a variable like Bai Kongzhao near him with the demonkin around.

    The little girl didn¡¯t seem to get his intention, however. ¡°I want to think about things for a while. Perhaps I¡¯lle to ask you if I can¡¯t find an answer.¡±

    ¡°What exactly are you thinking about?¡± Qianye was a bit curious.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you in the future.¡±

    Qianye shrugged. He didn¡¯t press on with this matter and merely nced at her camp before turning to leave. This dy had wiped away all hopes of catching the demonkin, but the odds were slim even without her appearance.

    After some thought, Qianye decided to head back to Southern Blue and tell Song Zining about the young demonkin. Eden¡¯s presence might be a big problem, but this young demonkin¡¯s status was likely above Eden¡¯s own. Such a person had to have bodyguards, so he had to warn Song Zining to be careful.

    Half a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and Southern Blue could already be seen over the horizon. It was at this point that Qianye suddenly recalled a peculiarity that had been clinging on the edge of his thoughts¡ªever since he met Bai Kongzhao, the girl had never really set up camp before. She was like a wild beast, capable of utilizing the naturalndscape to her advantage while not leaving any man-made traces. This was the reason she was so hard to track. Back then, Qianye had chased after her only to return empty-handed.

    When did she start making camps?

    Qianyeughed self-deprecatingly. Perhaps it was a tent left behind by some unlucky mercenary, which she had used as an excuse.

    Southern Blue was just as busy as before. The mercenary camps had almost beenpleted, and only the workshops and stores remained. The originalyout of Southern Blue wasn¡¯t enough to support the new development, so a new area had been marked out on the northwestern side of the city for this purpose.

    There was nothing in this area when Qianye left; there were only a couple dozen people surveying thend. In just a few days, the outline of four cannon towers had risen from the ground and thousands of workers were leveling thend. Apart from ordinaryborers, there were almost a hundred mercenaries working day and night to elerate the process.

    Song Zining was standing on a vantage point, holding a thick stack of blueprints and ncing between the paper and the site in front of him. After seeing Qianye, he immediately started waving from afar.

    Thetter hastened his steps and swiftly arrived next to him. Song Zining pointed to the front with a smile. ¡°How is it? You don¡¯t even recognize the ce, right? This will be Southern Blue¡¯s new industrial zone from now on.¡±

    Looking at the thousand-meter area in front of him, Qianye asked in surprise, ¡°What exactly are you building over such arge area?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°An airship factory!¡±

    ¡°You can build airships?¡± Qianye was really surprised.

    ¡°Ningyuan Heavy Industries can already build them, but only the most ordinary models. After I fully grasp the new alloy¡¯s utilization, we can start building warships.¡±

    Building even the most basic airships was a capacity sufficient to shake the entire neutralnds. Before this, there was no party capable of building airships in the entire region. Importantponents like kic sails, engines, and flight arrays had to be imported from Evernight or the Empire. The two factions, on the other hand, would limit exports in order to keep the neutralnds¡¯ fleet in check.

    ¡°Wait a minute, are you going to build an airship factory just like that? Will the other powers just sit back and watch?¡±

    Song Zining closed the blueprints and flipped open his folding fan. ¡°What else can they do? I¡¯ve already spread word that I¡¯ll ept orders from all major powers afterpletion. Why would they fight if they can just buy it? Even if there are people who want to stop us, the other powers won¡¯t agree. Whatever they want to do, they¡¯ll have to wait until the construction has beenpleted. Otherwise, they won¡¯t get anything if I just stop.¡±

    Qianye frowned. He still felt that this entire thing was rather difficult to believe. ¡°Will the empire just turn a blind eye to this?¡±

    Song Zining pointed at the lot in front. ¡°I¡¯m not building an airship factory, I¡¯m building an airship repair workshop. There are dozens if not hundreds of them in the neutralnds, how is the empire going to control us?¡±

    ¡°You¡­ fine.¡± Qianye was speechless.

    ¡°Humph! ying petty tricks with terminology. You¡¯re guilty of deceiving the emperor!¡± A dignified voice appeared behind them.

    Qianye looked back to find a stately, dignified man in his middle ages walking over. His demeanor was extraordinary and impressive. Clearly a man who had been in court for a long time, this official¡¯s gait was already at the point of perfection.

    Such a character wasmon among the many ruling departments of the empire, but it was quite strange for one to appear in the neutralnds.

    As someone born of the army, he had never seen eye to eye with civil officials. He turned to Song Zining and asked, ¡°Where did this fellow pop up from?¡±

    The fairly impolite words caused the other party¡¯s face to turn ashen. Song Zining chuckled with his fan over his mouth. ¡°Qianye, your words aren¡¯t appropriate. Sire Li Fang is a fourth-rank official. Posted on the field, he¡¯s only two ranks away from being a county administrator.¡±

    Qianye understood the basics of the empire¡¯s ruling structure. Normally, it would take a second rank official to oversee a province. There was only a two-rank gap between the second and fourth ranks, but it was actually a massive gap. Not to mention two, even a one-rank difference was rarely surmountable. Song Zining was merely being polite with his words.

    Li Fang was just about to raise his head in pride when Qianye asked, ¡°What exactly is this Sire Li¡¯s position?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Sire Li is in charge of writing official advice in court, a work rted to the empire¡¯s future.¡±

    Qianye said in surprise, ¡°Oh, an idle position with no authority?¡±

    This time, Li Fang was absolutely furious. ¡°Y-You, ignorant youngster! What do you know? This is a sign of decline, back then¡­¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t have enough patience to listen to the man¡¯s past. Judging from his current state, there was no way there would be any glory in his past. Hence, Qianye cut him short and asked Song Zining, ¡°How did this guy pop up?¡±

    Unable to hold back, Li Fang said, ¡°Don¡¯t think you can breach the norms just because you¡¯re in the neutralnds. It¡¯s fine if I hadn¡¯t seen anything, but now that I know, there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll let this matter be. Once I get back to the imperial court, I¡­¡±

    At this point, Li Fang could no longer continue. Qianye and song Zining were now sizing him up with evil expressions. Li Fang felt a chill run down his spine. ¡°You two, what are you nning to do?¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed. He merely turned to Song Zining and said, ¡°Say, how can a fellow who¡¯s not even a champion return to the imperial court?¡±

    Song Zining said seriously, ¡°He has his escorts, it¡¯s fine as long as they¡¯re strong enough.¡±

    Qianye asked humbly, ¡°Can a fourth-rank official have powerful escorts?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°In the imperial system, it¡¯s fine for a fourth-rank official to be assigned as a general¡¯s aide. It¡¯s just that the military rules state that he should be a champion. Otherwise, it¡¯s pretty easy to die on expeditions.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It seems Sire Li has no need for general-level escorts. But guards around the level of lieutenant generals and counts, we have killed quite a few, haven¡¯t we?¡±

    Song Zining replied unceremoniously, ¡°That¡¯s you, it has nothing to do with me.¡±

    Li Fang was livid as he kept on listening to the conversation. He finally understood one thing¡ªthese two young men really might keep him from returning to the empire.

 Chapter 929: Suppor

    Li Fang ultimately couldn¡¯t submit. ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t think you can do whatever you want just because you¡¯re in the neutralnds. Someone will teach you a lesson sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I¡¯m waiting,¡± Qianye replied indifferently. He had heard his fair share of such warnings and was already numb to them.

    Li Fang swung his sleeve and left. His departing steps were rather hurried and no longer as calm as when he had arrived.

    Qianye became serious after he was gone. ¡°What is he here for? How did he show up here?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°This Li Fang is actually quite capable. Although his post in the imperial court is an idle one, he¡¯s highly proficient in establishing aplete military economy. This person is from a side-branch of the Li family, but he achieved his current rank by relying on his own skills. Now that the Li family is nning to establish their presence in the neutralnds, he wanted toe over and put his skills to use.¡±

    ¡°But he didn¡¯t look like he was here to work.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Qianye, you don¡¯t understand. The more power these small officials gain, the more they posture, lest others look down on them. It¡¯s the more important officials who are the most approachable.¡±

    ¡°Fine, what is the Li family here for?¡±

    ¡°Because Li Kuann is here, the family dispatched a guard force¡­ at least nominally. The truth is that over three hundred people have arrived.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Three hundred, that¡¯s a fair number of people. Who are they?¡±

    ¡°All of them are Li Family elites, led by two elders. More people from the imperial pce will arrive as well in the near future.¡±

    ¡°So many peopleing to the neutralnds? Aren¡¯t they afraid of retaliation from the Throne of Blood?¡± Qianye¡¯s question was reasonable. Everyone knew that the Throne of Blood was highly sensitive to interference from Evernight and the Empire. Equipped with the Shattered Moment and enjoying a home ground advantage, he could be the downfall of even great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs.

    Dispatching close to a thousand elites into the neutralnds was already a big breach of the rules. If the Throne of Blood were to take action, these people might never leave the neutralnds.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t worried, though. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this matter is rted to Empress Li. Those old fogies from the empire are so cowardly. They wouldn¡¯t dare do such a thing without being absolutely sure. Now that they have peopleing over, it means that they¡¯ve already discussed terms. These people might not be good at anything else, but they¡¯re masters at negotiation and infighting.¡±

    ¡°Why the Li family?¡± Back in the Misty Wood, Qianye and the Li family had gotten into a bit of conflict. It was ultimately the Zhao family who forced them to cough up the Storm Pearl.

    Song Zining said, ¡°It¡¯s because of Kuann. Of course, they have toe!¡±

    Imperial politics have always beenplicated, and it was doubly so for people rted to the imperial court. Song Zining wasn¡¯t willing to exin more, and Qianye felt that it was a headache as well. He simply decided to forget about them and began exining the matter of that young demonkin.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was serious as he listened on. ¡°That means the demonkin has produced another genius on par with the Demoness. No, he should¡¯ve existed since long ago but was hidden from public sight. With him around, things will be quite troublesome, what do you n to do?¡±

    ¡°Enter the wilderness again and look for opportunities. The demonkin suffers significant restrictions in the neutralnds. There must be a way to deal with him.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. This was the best way for Qianye to maximize his potential. Hisbat strength would surge in ces like the wilderness and the Misty Wood. Even a marquis would die on the spot if he were ambushed by Qianye.

    But he soon thought about something else, and his expression changed drastically. ¡°Wait! If that demonkin arrived with the vanguard¡­¡±

    Song Zining whipped out a map of the neutralnds and drew several lines on it, his expression growing more and more unsightly. He nced about before asking Qianye, ¡°Can your Martyr¡¯s Pce travel through the void right now?¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s just that the outer shell isn¡¯t done yet, so weaker people won¡¯t be able to survive long onboard. Only about half of the people on it right now are up to the task.¡±

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll give you fifteen men, that¡¯s all I can spare. But half of them are craftsmen and engineers, so you have to protect them if a fight breaks out.¡±

    ¡°A fight in the void?¡±

    Song Zining nodded and pointed at the map. ¡°Thest batch of kic sails and ballistae from Ningyuan Heavy Industries are already on the way. No one knows this secret flight path, but it¡¯s a bit too close to the route between the demonkin continent and the neutralnds. If the Evernight squad is already on their way here, they might bump into our fleet three dayster. This airship fleet is carrying a batch of high-performance alloys that cannot be lost.¡±

    Qianye observed the route map. ¡°You mean I should go out and escort the fleet with Martyr¡¯s Pce?¡±

    Song Zinin nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the only way right now. We can¡¯t let the Li family know about Martyr¡¯s Pce and my fleet. Transfer the goods immediately after you meet the fleet and have them turn back. Let the craftsmen and sailors on those airships work on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Those people are highly reliable; I¡¯ve been nurturing them for many years.¡±

    With that, Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m handing everything I have to you, there¡¯s nothing left.¡±

    Only at this point did Qianye figure out Song Zining¡¯s worth. The seventh young master could already see the shadow of the term, ¡°a nation¡¯s worth of wealth¡±, at such a young age. After digesting the new alloy form in a couple of years, he would have the foundations for a high-ranking aristocratic family.

    The Song n people were indeed very eager to dig their fingers in the honeypot that was the Ningyuan Heavy Industries. Unfortunately, they encountered Qianye who had managed to turn the situation around on his own. Otherwise, there was no telling what would happen if Song Zining was taken away by Song Zian.

    Now, Song Zining had moved the majority of his wealth over to the neutralnds, investing most of his umtions into the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The airship was an extraordinary void warship built from the remains of the earth dragon and controlled by the colossus¡¯ remnant will. There was almost no way to wrest control of the vessel except by killing Qianye.

    Song Zining¡¯s description wasn¡¯t exaggerated. Things invested in the Martyr¡¯s Pce could hardly be reimed. Even Qianye himself had no idea why Song Zining was so attached to it.

    Qianye was still a bit worried. ¡°Will you be fine with me gone?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°I have Kuann and Tianqing here. I can¡¯t let them go out and take risks, but it¡¯s not my business if the demonkines knocking on our doors.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. He felt that making haste was the safest bet. He simply returned to the wilderness without even going into the city and ran half a day in a deserted direction. Seeing no one on his tail, he leapt up and flew into the sky.

    The massive body of the Martyr¡¯s Pce was faintly discernible through the clouds, gliding along in utter silence. Qianye flew into the ship through its side doors. Soon afterward, the vessel started flying upward, almost as though it hade to life, traveling higher and higher into the boundless void.

    There were dozens of staff within the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Most of them were busy pushing an engine to its designated location. After the engine was in ce, numerous technicians arrived to inspect and adjust the machine.

    A third of the people in the Martyr¡¯s Pce were Highbeards, most of them born being talented machinists. The others were Song Zining¡¯s trusted men from Ningyuan Heavy Industries. There were numerous craftsmen among them, as well as ten strong, experienced warriors. These soldiers could be used for high-performancebor during normal times. They also served as the core power protecting the airship facilities during critical times. In truth, they were there to guard against the Highbeards because Song Zining didn¡¯t trust anyone.

    ¡°Sire.¡± All the sailors greeted Qianye respectfully as he entered the ship. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was simply too big, requiring dozens of kic sails and hundreds of engines big and small. Hence the significant workload had piled up into a mountain and would take this small group decades toplete.

    Qianye pped his hands and said in a raised voice, ¡°We¡¯ll be heading into the void soon. Those under rank-five must stop working and head into the cabin to rest. Those above rank-five will remain on standby at their posts.¡±

    The staff had been assigned their own roles. Craftsmen under normal circumstances might have to serve as lookouts and gunmen during battle. There were also people in charge of controlling the engines and kic sails. Due to theck of manpower at the moment, they could only activate two engines and one kic sail. As for the ballistae installed inside the mouth of the Earth Dragon, Qianye had to control it himself.

    Under Qianye¡¯s orders, the weaker sailors returned to the partially constructed cabin and closed the doors.

    After they had gone indoors, Qianye steered the Martyr¡¯s pce into a jump and rushed out of the Eastern Sea Continent¡¯s protectiveyer, heading straight into the void.

    At this moment, the Martyr¡¯s Pce looked like the skeleton of a giant void colossus. It was just that there were some muscr structures enclosing its heart. ording to Bluemoon and Song Zining, these muscles were the best building materials for the vessel. The void colossus¡¯ strength wasn¡¯t something imperial warships couldpare to.

    However, these muscles relied on the energy provided by the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, so their growth rate was particrly slow. That was why they had to build man-made structures to supplement the airship body. It was just that the Earth Dragon was so big that building the outer shell would cost more than building several motherships.

    Once in the void, the Martyr¡¯s Pce flickered with an eerie glow as it flew toward the designated location.

    ...

 Chapter 930: Enemies Face to Face

    While flying through the void, the defensiveyer of the Martyr¡¯s Pce kept the ship safe from the cruel void environment outside. Yet, it offered no protection from the void origin power and the cold.

    The omnipresent void origin power was like air for a void colossus¡ªthere was no need to defend against it. As for the cold, these massive, powerful entities couldn¡¯t even feel it.

    Ordinary humans, however, would need to protect themselves with origin power at all times in order to survive under such environments. Those below the champion realm could only endure for a limited time. Even for champions, they were only able tost longer than the others.

    Qianye nced at the flight map. All the staff had been instructed to rest and take turns operating the two engines.

    The two engines that were capable of moving destroyers had very little effect on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. All they could do was increase the vessel¡¯s speed by a dozen or so kilometers per hour, and even that required a period of eleration. Comparatively, that fully installed kic sail was a bit better.

    Most of the ship crew had returned to the safety of the cabin, and only Qianye was moving around unhindered throughout the giant ship. He simply flew up to the Earth Dragon¡¯s head and stood gazing at the boundless beauty of the void, his mind full of thoughts.

    There was no day and night on the void journey, and two days passed by in the blink of an eye.

    In the depths of the void, an airship fleet was advancing at top speed. This fleet was made up of two high-speed transport vessels and a high-speed warship escort. All three airships had had their insignia blotted out and their reflective surfaces painted dark. The curtains had been drawn over their cabin windows, preventing any light from leaking out. Only their engines would erupt with a bit of fire asionally.

    From a distance, this airship fleet seemed like it had merged into the void as it crawled rapidly through the vast darkness.

    In the cabin of the warship, a bearded captain was scanning the void through his binocrs. The first-mate beside him said, ¡°Old Ma, you¡¯ve been looking left and right the entire day, what did you see? Our movements were so secretive that even I had to board the ship before finding out about our destination. What problem can there be?¡±

    The bearded captain whispered. ¡°Anything can happen in this kind of ce.¡±

    ¡°Our luck can¡¯t be that bad¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a shiver ran down his spine. A wave of coldness swept through the entire cabin like a frigid tide!

    The cabin broke out in amotion. The bearded captain called out, ¡°It¡¯s the demonkin! We¡¯ve been discovered. Send a signal to the transports, have them turn back. Sound the rm, all men to battle stations!¡±

    The crew split off to execute themands, their actions hurried but not chaotic. Following the flicker ofmunication lights, the two cargo airships duly sped up and made sharp turns away from the path.

    The first-mate sighed as he watched the transports. ¡°They won¡¯t escape, the demonkin ships are too fast. Goddamit wasn¡¯t it said that the neutralnds are hostile to demonkin? What are they doing here?¡±

    The captain pulled open the drawer and fished out two handguns. He gave the first-mate one of the firearms, saying, ¡°Take it, you¡¯ll need itter on.¡±

    The first-mateughed wryly, ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll have the chance to use it?¡±

    The captain¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°Every kill counts.¡±

    ¡°I really hope that¡¯s the case.¡± The first-mate wasn¡¯t too optimistic.

    In truth, both of them realized that only a duke would be able to detect them before they could even see the enemy ship. The opponent this time was enough to throw everyone into despair.

    The warship began shedding its disguise and quickly made preparations to do battle. The ballista on the front deck rose up, the bolt flickering with a cold glint as it took aim at the distant void. The entire warship was in high battle-spirits. Everyone knew defeat meant death. It was just that the ordinary crew had no idea how powerful the enemy was.

    The bearded captain spoke not a single word and merely stared on toward the front.

    Finally, a slender demonkin airship jumped out from the depths of the void and approached like a fish traversing water. The vessel was entirely ck with dark golden outlines, the kind of magnificence everyone would marvel at. In the eyes of imperial soldiers, however, this type of elegance was an undiscounted synonym for death.

    Following the first demonkin warship, more and more leapt out from the void in an endless stream.

    ¡°So many!¡± The first-mate had experienced numerous wars, yet he couldn¡¯t help but gasp in surprise.

    Warships of all shapes and sizes appeared in the dozens beforeing to a pause. No one in the cabin could rx, however, as they nced at the deepest darkness with bated breaths, waiting for that final moment.

    A massive warship slowly glided out of the void after a period of unbearable quietness. Surrounded by arge fleet of warships, this giant vessel looked down coldly and arrogantly at this insect-like Imperial warship.

    Watching this three-hundred meter entity, the atmosphere inside themand room was drowned inplete despair. A person capable of overseeing such a ship was a vice-duke at the very least. A demonkin at this level could destroy this imperial airship without even boarding them. After all, their ship¡¯s advantage was speed and versatility. There was nothing they could do when they were suppressed in their specialized field.

    None of the demonkin warships moved. Only a cold voice echoed inside themand room, ¡°I¡¯m Linken of the Masefield n. Abandon all resistance, do not make things troublesome for me.¡±

    The first-mate and captain exchanged nces, a wry smile on their faces.

    Linken of the Masefield n was known as the unwithering flower, a genius from two generations ago. She had recently crossed the greatest threshold of her life to be a vice-duke. As a scion of a famed demonkin n, she was ranked by the empire as intermediate among all vice-dukes despite her recent advancement.

    This was actually a fairly outstanding achievement. Breaking through to the duke rank was no easier than breaking through to the divine champion realm, and all capable of this feat were geniuses of their generation. Many people would have reached the end of their god-given talents after advancement and require a long period of umtion to increase theirbat strength. But for Linken, who stood out from her peers at such a young age, the end of the road was not limited to vice-duke, or duke for that matter.

    Throughout the many years, the Unwithering Flower¡¯s aplishments were glorious with very few defeats. She had only lost a couple of times in Lin Xitang¡¯s hands, but thetter never managed to kill her either.

    The captain said with a serious expression. ¡°Why would Linken appear in such a ce, and at the head of a huge fleet no less? No, this won¡¯t do. We need to find a way to inform the seventh young master and the empire.¡±

    The first mateughed ruefully, ¡°You think that¡¯s even possible?¡±

    At this moment, the distant scene absolutely infuriated the captain. He banged the control table in his anger, leaving a deep dent on it.

    The two cargo airships had alreadypleted their turning maneuver and could start elerating any moment. However, they had decided to stoppletely and surrender.

    The captain roared, ¡°Those bastards!¡±

    The first-mate said, ¡°Can they escape even if they try?¡±

    The captain knew this was the truth. No matter how fast a cargo ship was, there was no way it would be able to outrun a demonkin warship. Not to mention them, even this highspeed corvette wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from Linken¡¯s ship. That was why the captain had decided to fight to the death.

    Despite knowing that, the captain was still furious. ¡°The two airships contain the seventh young master¡¯s sweat and blood. How can we let them fall into enemy hands? If we can¡¯t escape, why don¡¯t we detonate them?¡±

    The first-mate sighed, ¡°Old Ma, your temper is the same after all this time. You¡¯re not afraid of death but others are. What can we do?¡±

    ¡°Are we going to watch the goods fall into enemy hands?¡± The airship captain shouted furiously, ¡°Turn about and take aim at those bastards, let¡¯s sink them first!¡±

    The first mate grabbed the captain. ¡°Absolutely not! These are all brothers who have followed the seventh young master for many years.¡±

    ¡°Brothers? Will brothers surrender at such a time?¡±

    The first-mate didn¡¯t let go, however. ¡°If you want to fight, fight the demonkin!¡±

    ¡°Fine!¡± The captain was full of hatred.

    At this moment, Linken¡¯s voice echoed in themand room. ¡°Little fellows, aren¡¯t you going to surrender?¡±

    Along with her voice, numerous demonkin airship¡¯s started lighting up their main cannons. They would be ready to fire once they had finished charging up. Two more warships moved out from the nks and cut off the target¡¯s retreat path.

    The captain pointed at the warship in front. ¡°That one! Brothers, st them if you¡¯re not afraid of death! Even if we die, we must give those demonkin bastards a taste of pain!¡±

    The warship¡¯s ballista started to change direction, proof that none of the warriors on the ship were afraid of dying.

    The captain raised his right hand¡ªprepared to give the firing order¡ªwhen a ballista bolt flew out from the distant void and punctured the tail end of a demonkin warship. A ball of fire erupted from the damaged ship, and the spreading fire engulfed the entire warship in mere moments.

    This sudden development shocked both parties. The ze was so bright that it obscured the vision of those in the vicinity, preventing them from seeing what was happening.

    The imperial airship, by virtue of its position, was able to see better. The first-mate stammered as he pointed at the distance, ¡°W-What is that?!¡±

    At the same time, Linken¡ªd in a beautiful, stiff-cored military outfit¡ªstood up and gazed at the colossus slowly emerging from the void. ¡°A void colossus?! No, a warship? Impossible! W-What is this?¡±

    A void colossus had leapt quietly out of the distant void. It was over a thousand meters long, and just its head was over a hundred in length. This was a truly massive entity. Compared to it, Linken¡¯s warship was like a kid¡¯s toy.

    It looked more like a skeleton than a living being, a creature that had died countless years ago. Despite that, it was highly mobile and seemed to be alive.

    Only when it fired a ballista bolt from its mouth and struck the demonkin warship did Linken confirm that it was a warship.

    ¡°All ships, return fire!¡± Linken¡¯s cold voice echoed through the void. All demonkin battleships started taking action. Like sharks that had smelled blood, they began swarming toward the mysterious colossus.¡±

    Qianye was standing inside the Earth Dragon¡¯s mouth at this point, staring at the first charging warship through the rows of sharp teeth. He locked firmly onto the target and stomped on the pedal. The ballista beneath him trembled as a massive four-meter bolt whistled out toward the demonkin warship.

    At almost the same time, the leading demonkin warship erupted with origin power radiance as two ballista bolts shot out from it. After firing the main cannons, the airship immediately started changing direction in a bid to evade the iing projectile.

    This airship was fast and powerful, and with a well-trained crew. Although they had fired at closer rangepared to Qianye, they had managed to fire two at the same time. In terms of firepower, it was well beyond a regr imperial destroyer. The demonkin warships possessed different attributespared to vampire ones¡ªthey were known for their speed and firepower.

    At this moment, the entire demonkin warship began fading away as though it were shrouded in ayer of mist. Even its trajectory became erratic. This was the famous Mist Concealment ability characteristic of demonkin warships. Once activated, it would cause locked projectiles to lose their targets. Demonkin warships had used this ability to evade countless attacks that would otherwise be lethal. This was one of the abilities the empire hated the most.

    Once Mist Concealment was activated, the ballista lost its target midflight and its trajectory deviated evidently. The mist might be effective on other people but Qianye¡¯s eyes could see clearly through all deception.

    Qianye¡¯s perception had long since linked to the ballista. A single thought of his activated the origin array on the projectile, which suddenly made a sharp turn and sted the rear end of the demonkin airship!

    The demonkin warship had already evaded the shot at first, but cmity befell unexpectedly. It could evade no longer as it was struck squarely in the fragile tail end.

    The giant ballista bolt shot into the exhaust chamber and pierced into the engine with a fierce explosion. The powerful impact, in turn, detonated the ship¡¯s main engine. The rear-half of the demonkin airship was sted away in the serial explosions while the fore-end drifted away into the void.

    At the same time that the airship burst apart, two giant ballista bolts struck the Martyr¡¯s Pce and exploded on the Earth Dragon¡¯s teeth.

    Covering his face with an arm, Qianye easily neutralized the iing shockwaves. He then began inspecting the damage sustained.

    There was ayer of ck char on the exterior of the teeth. He shaved the soot off with a swing of his origin power, revealing the unharmed teeth below¡ªthere wasn¡¯t even the smallest of cracks. The demonkin warship¡¯s all-out attack waspletely useless against the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton.

    Qianye immediately felt relieved, and began taking aim at a different airship. This one was much smarter. Instead of trading blows with Qianye, it swung up immediately and flew toward a blind spot in the Earth Dragon¡¯s firing range. The other demonkin warships adopted the same strategy and began encircling the Martyr¡¯s Pce like a swarm of sharks. A barrage of ballista bolts thus flew in like locusts.

    A continuous series of fireballs erupted on the Earth Dragon¡¯s enormous body.

    Qianye did his utmost to control the Martyr¡¯s Pce in an evasive maneuver but its body was toorge and less than a tenth of its kic equipment had been installed. All he could do was utilize the energy provided by the heart and the skeleton¡¯s innate power to fly. Just like that, the clumsy airship began confronting the shark swarm just like a true colossus.

 Chapter 931: Ship Destruction

    The demonkin warships far surpassed the Martyr¡¯s Pce in speed. They consistently avoided the head part where the main cannon was installed andunched a barrage of attacks from blind spots.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce also had ballistae installed on the side and back. ording to the established design, the giant warship would turn into a frightening tform of firepower after itspletion¡ªone with no blind spots. Assants would have to face the attack of at least five to several dozen main cannons.

    It was just that there were only a couple of them installed at this point, and they were quickly destroyed under the concentrated fire of the demonkin fleet. The entire Martyr¡¯s Pce was like a giant beast with its fangs plucked out, destined to be food for the wolf pack despite itsrge body.

    Qianye was standing on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head at this point. After merging his consciousness with the pce, the massive creature became an extension of his body. With the gradual increase in the heart¡¯s void origin power reserves and Qianye¡¯s own strength, the connection between him and the Martyr¡¯s Pce became clearer, tighter, and the airship became more agile.

    At this moment, Qianye sensed an additional ability appearing in the Martyr¡¯s Pce: Intimidation. The first one was the Earth Dragon¡¯s innate ability to shuttle through space.

    This was the Earth Dragon¡¯s power while it was alive, a natural sense of awe exerted upon all living beings by a void colossus. Qianye wasn¡¯t clear how effective Intimidation was, but he had faced the remnant will of the Void Colossus Chaos back in the year. Even under the cover of Sky Demon¡¯s iron curtain, he had experienced full well the indefensible power of a void colossus. The two parties were simply not at the same level of existence.

    This power of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, however, was an ability the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton had regained after its gradual regrowth. Compared to the Earth Dragon¡¯s original intimidation, the intensity was less than a hundredth.

    At this moment, Qianye was too busy with the demonkin airships to study the uses of Intimidation. The giant creature was being beaten up constantly as the ferocious firepower of the demonkin fleet carpeted the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The two ballistae installed on the sides had been destroyed and the cannoneers killed. The two engines on the nks had also suffered damage and were no longer functional. This reduced the vessel¡¯s speed by a bit. If Qianye hadn¡¯t ordered the men to put away the kic sails before the battle, it might¡¯ve been destroyed as well.

    However, Qianye wasn¡¯t the least flustered. Despite their firepower, the demonkin warships weren¡¯t able to destroy the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton. Even the newly grown muscle was difficult to damage.

    Most of the equipment installed on the airship had been damaged, but the core instations and crew were concentrated near the heart, inside the safe protection of the rib cage.

    After many rounds of firing, the demonkin warships also noticed that most of their attacks were just wasted effort. It would take several giant ballista bolts striking the same area to destroy a small piece of the earth dragon¡¯s flesh. And those table-sized defects would require fairly good eyesight to notice from a distance.

    As expected of elite demonkin forces, they began to focus their fire on man-made structures, or even attempt to fire at the interior through the gaps in the skeleton. It was just that the natural gliding movement of the Martyr¡¯s Pce was in a curved pattern. How could it be that easy to fire into the interior?

    Inside the gship, Linken¡¯s eyes were cold. She snorted coldly with an expression full of dissatisfaction. The marquis nearby said, ¡°Sire, it seems only the main cannon on your airship has enough firepower to st through that strange airship¡¯s defenses.¡±

    Linkin said coldly, ¡°A bunch of useless trash. They only know to attack constantly without even looking at the effects. Main cannon ammo is expensive.¡±

    The marquis replied, ¡°No one has seen such a warship before. It seems to be made from the remains of a void colossus. If we can capture it, the value of the harvested materials alone will allow you to build a new fleet.¡±

    Linken nodded. ¡°All hands, get ready to attack!¡±

    The three-hundred-meter airship slowly moved out¡ªdozens of pennants waved about as the giant ship rushed toward the giant iling beast.

    The hull of the gship opened slowly to reveal a shockinglyrge cannon. Dozens of demonkin cannoneers loaded a bolt¡ªone over ten meters long and one meter in radius¡ªinto the chamber,pleting the firing preparations. The massive capstan spun around amidst the grinding of countless gears and chains, dragging the cannon into alignment with the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    This was a superweapon upon which Linken¡¯s widespread fame was built. This main cannon¡¯s firepower was almost beyond the limits of every known warship¡ªeven a grand duke¡¯s vessel might find it difficult to endure a square blow. All below the level of imperial battleships would suffer great damage with a single hit, and destroyers might even be sted away on the spot.

    Purely in terms of firepower, Linken¡¯s gship was superior to the vice-duke grade and right on the heels of a grand duke¡¯s warship. Even in terms of overallbat strength, it was definitely a duke-grade vessel.

    This kind of gship would naturally consume vast amounts of resources. Normally, it would take a vice-duke several hundred years of umtion to be able to produce a basic vessel at this level, followed by an endless stream of upgrades. Like a pit that could never be filled, it would usually take a lifetime toplete. Ordinary experts would never be able to afford a keel, let alone a duke-grade airship.

    Only people like Linken¡ªborn of the famed Masefield n¡ªwere able to build such a warship with the help of their families. That main cannon alone was equal to the basic value of a duke-grade warship.

    Even with the help of her family, Linken had to spend dozens of years to gradually upgrade her airship to this state.

    Acent expression drifted onto Linken¡¯s face as the main cannon almost finished charging. Every st of this cannon was an indescribable moment of satisfaction for her. She was highly addicted to this firepower capable of destroying anything and everything.

    Therge and slow Martyr¡¯s Pce was the best type of target. Linken wasn¡¯t in a rush to destroy the opponent. Instead, she ordered the gship to gradually approach the opponent and maximize the main cannon¡¯s might.

    At this distance, Linken could already see Qianye standing on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. She was only somewhat astonished, but her subordinates couldn¡¯t help but gasp, ¡°Could it be that he¡¯s controlling the entire vessel on his own? How is that even possible?¡±

    Linken was hesitant at this point. A single person controlling such a massive airship was unheard of. One could easily imagine that there had to be great secrets to him. Capturing him alive could perhaps be the key to obtaining this giant beast-ship in its entirety.

    Yet, it wasn¡¯t that easy to capture Qianye. The Martyr¡¯s Pce seemed incapable of retaliation but Linken understood that the damage caused by the entire demonkin fleet was negligible. And with how mysterious and unique the pce was, there was no telling whether it would possess certain special abilities.

    As ruthless as she was, Linken immediately came to a decision. ¡°Aim at the head, fire!¡±

    The order caused all the demonkin¡¯s expressions to change. Many people felt that it was a pity because, as they saw it, Qianye had no other choice but to surrender. Additionally, the attack from their main cannon would likely destroy half of the Earth Dragon¡¯s skull. Every inch of a void colossus¡¯ body was a priceless treasure.

    However, Linken only felt the unease in her heart increase. She roared once again in a stern voice, ¡°Fire!¡±

    This time, no one dared to disobey her orders. The cannoneers who hadpleted their preparations immediately stomped on the pedals!

    The origin arrays on the massive main cannon lit upyer byyer, and the giant bolt in its chamber erupted with a blue-green radiance. Following a loud rumble, the projectile left the chamber and sted toward the head of the Martyr¡¯s Pce!

    However, Linken¡¯s feeling of uneasiness rose sharply just as the cannon rumbled.

    That giant bolt possessing boundless might tore through the void and shot into the vast void. Its original target was the Martyr¡¯s Pce, but just as it was about to strike its objective, the giant creature faded rapidly and vanished into thin air.

    ¡°Evasive maneuvers!¡± Linken shouted immediately as the Martyr¡¯s Pce disappeared.

    Unfortunately, her subordinates couldn¡¯t figure out what had just happened. There was no way her gship could respond immediately, either.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce appeared below the demonkin gship and rushed upward like a heavenly dragon rising from the depths of the sea, cutting through the enemy vessel with its massive spines! The Earth Dragon almost seemed alive and sentient at this moment.

    To the demonkin, however, this was lethal retaliation. The dozens of giant spines on the Earth Dragon¡¯s back weren¡¯t just masts for kic sails. With the movement of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, they struck ferociously into the bottom of Linken¡¯s ship, slicing through the hull like a hot knife through butter.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce had, in a way, proven the strength of a void colossus. The collision of two airships thus came to an end with an overwhelming victory for the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton.

    In the blink of an eye, the pce had sliced through the bottom half of Linken¡¯s airship, its many bony appendages grinding the entire hull into scrap metal. A massive defect appeared through the middle of the demonkin warship and almost cut the vessel into two.

    Under Qianye¡¯s control, the Martyr¡¯s Pce arched its back like a true Earth Dragon and swung its tail!

    With a loud rumble, the dragon tailshed at the gship, producing a deep groove on the ship¡¯s body. This damage was lethal because, with its keel broken, the upper part of the vessel could no longer withstand this massive force. The gship was sent rolling from the impact and despair-inducing creaks rang out from what remained of its body.

    ¡°No!!!¡± Linken¡¯s screams filled the void, a voice full of hatred and desperation.

    This was a ship she had spent endless sweat and blood to construct, yet she was unable to go against fate. Amidst rumbling sounds that reverberated through the void, the gship finally broke down into two parts.

 Chapter 932: Boarding

    ¡°Qianye! I¡¯ll never let you off!¡± Linken flew out of her airship and rushed toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The demonkin gship was like a broken beehive, with a dense swarm of figures flying out from within. Compared to the massive airship, the demonkin were even smaller than bees. A group of experts who were evidently superior to their peers followed Linken in a bid to stop her. Fighting in the void was the role of heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs. No matter how strong Linken was, she was still a long way from that rank, and it would be lucky if she could exert even two-thirds of her power in this environment.

    However, Linken had moved at extreme speeds. Even in the void, she had moved hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, leaving her other subordinatespletely helpless. They had no choice but to return to what remained of the gship. More importantly, there were at least hundreds of demonkin crew members on the airship. These weak members simply couldn¡¯t survive in the void and would need to be brought into lifeboats. Now that the gship had been severed, the number of survivors would depend on the assistance of these experts.

    The infuriated Linken no longer cared about the fate of her subordinates. She charged for the Martyr¡¯s Pce, intent on taking down Qianye to appease her hatred.

    Even through the void, Linken moved like a bolt of lightning, arriving near the Martyr¡¯s Pce in mere moments. There, she rushed for a massive defect on the side of its body but crashed into an invisible barrier ten meters away from the target. Caught off-guard by the strong pliable screen, Linken was actually flung backward from the impact.

    She was surprised at first but soon ovee by joy. A ship with a protective shield was at least at the duke-grade. Even for her own ship, she wasn¡¯t yet able to afford one due to insufficient savings. Qianye¡¯s warship possessing one despite its massive size proved how priceless it was.

    After a fruitless charge, Linken channeled her origin power to its fullest extent and charged at the Martyr¡¯s Pce again in a cloud of demonic energy. However, Qianye had already sensed her presence at this point. Martyr¡¯s Pce moved swiftly andshed at Linken with its tail.

    Ash of Earth Dragon¡¯s tail was enough to heavily injure the demonkin gship¡ªits might could be considered peerless. Yet, Linken was also highly agile. She shed away from the iing tail and crashed forcibly into the defensive field, soon arriving atop the back of the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    She hadn¡¯t yet secured her footing when a radiance flickered before her eyes, and sharp sword energy pricked her skin. Qianye had decided tounch a preemptive attack instead of evading!

    Linken was furious. Qianye¡¯s cultivation was vastly inferior to her own, yet he dared to seek a fight proactively. This was tant disdain.

    Linkin raised her left arm and chopped down at the iing sword. She was actually going against East Peak with her bare hands!

    The sound of shing metal rang out as the palm and sword came together. Soon afterward, an earth-shattering force spread out in all directions. This impact was enough to warp steel, but the Earth Dragon¡¯s body remained entirely unharmed.

    Linken staggered back. The force behind this blow was so far beyond her imagination that she could hardly endure it.

    It was also surprising for Qianye that the demonkin¡¯s left hand was intact. He nced over at Linken¡¯s arms and found that the skin color was a bit different from her neck and cheeks. Apparently, she was wearing a skin-colored glove.

    Both parties became apprehensive after the singr exchange. Only at this point did Qianye have the time to size up this terrifying enemy.

    Linken was taller than Qianye by half-a-head, and the inherent charm and elegance of the demonkin were fully expressed on her. d in a magnificent ck uniform with gold embroideries, she was quite captivating despite her fury. The patterns on her cor and cuffs were not just beautiful; there was a type of origin array woven into them.

    The most eye-catching part wasn¡¯t just her face but those shockingly long legs of hers.

    Linkenunched the first move after a mere moment of confrontation. She raised her leg well above her head from ten meters away and swung down ferociously, forming a semilunar de of demonic energy that arced toward Qianye.

    Qianye evaded the demonic de with a sidestep and arrived before Linken in a single step. East Peak swung out across her waist.

    The two shed and retreated several times within moments, their interweaving figures almost indistinguishable. Beads of blood shot out in all directions, bursting upon the Earth Dragon¡¯s bones like sanguineous projectiles. There were specks of gold flickering within the blood, a clear sign that they belonged to Qianye.

    However, the seemingly advantaged Linken suddenly unleashed a furious howl, breaking her lock with Qianye and ring intently at him from a distance.

    At this moment, Qianye was riddled with injuries, the longest of which extended from shoulder to waist. Although the injuries were merely flesh wounds, one could judge how powerful Linken¡¯s attacks were considering his physical prowess.

    Qianye paid no attention to the wounds on his body. He spun East Peak about and removed a sparkling earring from the de; there was even a bead of blood hanging upon it.

    Linken held onto her ear with a livid expression, almost spouting mes from her eyes. Her left earlobe was dripping with fresh blood, and the earring was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Too bad, I missed.¡± Qianye was expressionless as he flicked the earring to the ground and stepped on it. A clear, cracking sound echoed from beneath his foot.

    Linken was so angry that her voice was trembling. ¡°You¡¯re dead!¡±

    Her silhouette flickered and appeared in front of Qianye, her right leg swinging down at his neck like a giant axe. A dark de of demonic energy condensed upon her toes during this attack. The might of this kick was not inferior to a sh from East Peak, enough to remove Qianye¡¯s head were it to connect.

    Qianye made no move to evade this enraged kick. Instead, he raised East Peak and shed firmly against Linken.

    Another shockwave spread out in all directions. Linken¡¯s body was badly jolted, making it difficult for her tounch a follow-up attack. Struck by the de of demonic energy, Qianye took several steps backward with a new wound on his body. He almost seemed numb to the wounds on his body¡ªit was as though the body wasn¡¯t even his.

    Qianye slid back over ten meters, where he thrust East Peak into the ground and finally stopped the inertia.

    Linken didn¡¯t even wait for the numbness to subside before she started giving chase. It was just that she hadn¡¯t even taken the first step when she saw Qianye whip out two handguns and merge them into one.

    Linken didn¡¯t have time to think long. Her many years ofbat instincts told her that she had to run away.

    Yet she had only moved a hundred or so meters when an indefensible wave of might fell upon her. In the blink of an eye, she felt as though she were in the presence of the three lords of the Sacred Mountain. It was a fear born from the bottom of her heart, one that caused her momentum to freeze.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Linken was shocked out of her wits. Demonic energy erupted profusely as she went all out, finally managing to ovee the imposing might and regaining her freedom.

    At this moment, however, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye. The handgun trembled as a bright feather suffused with an aura of destruction shot toward Linken.

    She could no longer evade.

    ...

 Chapter 933: Extermination

    At the critical moment, Linken swung her palms together and caught the luminous feather in a p.

    A thunderous echo reverberated in the void as the feather was half destroyed, yet what remained of the spine still shot out of her palms and sunk into her chest.

    Linken let out a muffled groan. Deathly pale, she was flung back several dozen meters before managing to find her footing. She said while ring at Qianye, ¡°Turns out the Demoness was really injured in your hands. I thought she was faking it at first. Where does your movee from?¡±

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t tell her anything and only maintained his silence.

    Linken¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°Fine, there¡¯s no need to leave you alive if you¡¯re not going to speak.¡±

    She arrived before Qianye with a clear whistle, but she shed back to her original position before she could even attack. The luminous wing behind Qianye lit up once more as his handgun began overflowing with light¡ªa feather of light was vaguely starting to form.

    Linken was now clear that there was no way to evade this feather after it was shot. The only thing she could do was to go against it head on. That shot just now had already injured her and the next one was bound to be even worse. This was a dangerous state to traverse the void in.

    Seemingly knowing her thoughts, Qianye stood silently without firing the charged firearm.

    Qianye was suddenly rmed after seeing the look in Linken¡¯s eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he activated Intimidation once more and disabled Linken mid-air. Her protective demonic energy was reduced by thirty percent. Even though she was fairly prepared, the suppressive might of a void colossus wasn¡¯t one she could contend with.

    Having gained the advantage, Qianye immediately fired the Shot of Inception at Linken¡¯s forehead.

    This time, Linken crossed her arms in front of her head and curled into a spinning ball. Her legs struck the feather of light countless times during the spinning process, but the luminous projectile still entered her body in the end.

    Linken stopped spinning and crashed down, but her body bounced back from the impact and flew hundreds of meters into the air. She looked down at Qianye from above with eyes full of anger.

    ncing at her location, Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°You¡¯ve finally discovered?¡±

    Linken smiled coldly. ¡°This ship is indeed mysterious and so is your control over it. The more powerful it is, however, the less you can hold onto it.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t fall into your hands for sure.¡± Qianye smiled.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Linken¡¯s voice grew higher as she made to attack.

    It was at this time that miserable screams arrived from the distance. Linken looked back to find a demonkin struggling desperately in the void, unable to endure the corrosion of the environment. His defensive demonic energy had copsed, and his entire body was turning into a sinister-looking dried corpse.

    Linken recognized this person as a fairly reliable subordinate of hers. It was just that his strength wasn¡¯t sufficient to hold out for long in the void. He was unable to return to the airship after being flung out, and there was no expert to help him. In the end, he was fated to die and drift about in the void.

    Taking a look around, she noticed hundreds of demonkin iling about in the area. Most of them were at their limits and would follow in the previous demonkin¡¯s footsteps very soon. After having her airship destroyed, Linken was so ovee by rage that she wanted nothing more than to kill Qianye. But this scene made it hard for her to remain indifferent.

    She red at Qianye once more. Realizing that she wouldn¡¯t be able to take down this opponent immediately, she said with a cold snort, ¡°We¡¯ll see how long it takes for you to be able to use this move again.¡±

    With that, she flew away, darting about to catch the drifting demonkin and sending them back to the airship.

    Qianye secretly praised Linken¡¯s decisiveness and foresight. He was indeed only capable of firing two Shots of Inception, so if Linken refused to leave, he would have to fight her physically. It was just that the demonkin would be greatly restricted while fighting on the Earth Dragon and¡ªas the one in control¡ªQianye would gain a great advantage. This fight wouldn¡¯t reach a conclusion for at least a couple of hours. Even if she could capture Qianye in the end, several hundred of her crew would¡¯ve died by then.

    Admiration was one thing, but Qianye wasn¡¯t about to let her rescue her subordinates with ease. He immediately turned the Martyr¡¯s Pce about and attacked the nearby lifeboat. The thirty-some demonkin inside were all injured and would surely lose their lives if struck.

    Furious and shocked, Linken charged over with a loud scream. Her body was shrouded in demonic energy as she pushed the lifeboat several hundred meters away.

    ¡°Leave this ce, everyone leave!¡± At Linken¡¯s order, all lifeboats turned about rapidly and left for the adjacent airspace. Meanwhile, a number of warships jumped into the fray. Half of them distracted the Martyr¡¯s Pce with constant fire, while the remainder drove toward the fragmented gship to save the passengers.

    Qianye ignored the buzzing ballista bolts and simply charged for Linken¡¯s gship. The beleaguerment of the demonkin warships couldn¡¯t move the Martyr¡¯s Pce at all. The airship was like a primordial colossus advancing steadily and crushing everything in its wake.

    ¡°No!¡± Linken screamed in pain. The Martyr¡¯s Pce crashed headfirst into one of the airship segments, causing the surface to cave in with mes spouting out of the gaps. This segment of the vessel was home to the engine and fuelpartments¡ªmes broke out immediately upon impact, followed by a series of violent explosions. It wasn''t clear whether or not the crew inside could survive this ordeal.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t go easy on the demonkin. Letting even one of them go would mean an extra foe on future battlefields.

    The nearby warshipsunched numerous small assault vehicles, which relied on their high speed and defensive prowess to crash through the defensive field andnd on the Earth Dragon¡¯s body. Over a dozen demonkin warriors emerged from these assault vehicles and circled around Qianye.

    Landing ships were the primary means of gaining control of an enemy ship, especially whenrge enemy ships had lost the ability to defend themselves. If the Martyr¡¯s Pce were to bepleted, the countless cannons on its sides would be able to mow down these boarding airships. However, the only two ballistae on the pce had been destroyed, and this emboldened the enemy boarding parties.

    Nheless, how could ordinary demonkin be Qianye¡¯s match when even Linken couldn¡¯t seed? The demonkin general had still dispatched them anyway, which meant that they weren¡¯t expected to return. If they could obtain the Martyr¡¯s Pce with this suicidal assault, it would make up for the loss of Linken¡¯s gship many times over.

    The crew aboard Linken¡¯s gship were far superior to their peers in terms of talent and status. In the eyes of the demonkin leaders, the ordinary sailors on her ship were more valuable than ordinary ship officers.

    The demonkin warriors had Qianye surrounded in the blink of an eye. Before they could even attack, however, they felt their bodies sink down. It was as though they were carrying a giant, ten-thousand-kilogram rock; they could hardly take half a step forward. Soon, a meshwork of sanguineous threads appeared before their eyes¡ªthat was thest thing they saw before their vision went dark, their bodies fell limp, and they copsed one after the other.

    These demonkin elites couldn¡¯tst even half a minute against the might of the Oceanic Domain and Life Plunder.

    Qianye opened his eyes and sighed at the sight of all the corpses strewn across the floor. With the gradual regeneration of the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton, all of Qianye¡¯s powers also received an upgrade while on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Not to mention his domain, even the range of Life Plunder had increased by fifty meters. Those even remotely close to Qianye were destined to suffer.

    After destroying all enemies on the ship, Qianye once again focused on controlling the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce spun about and suddenly fired a bolt from its mouth, urately striking down a demonkin warship. Apart from the earliest phases, the airship had never fired any form of ranged weaponry, so much so that the enemy had started neglecting this capability altogether.

    Linken ordered all damaged airships to retreat and the intact vessels to enter a formation. The entire squadron then fell into a gradual retreat while peppering the head of the Earth Dragon with suppressive fire. At this point, the demonkin floating in the void had turned into corpses and were already beyond salvation. The gship had also been destroyedpletely.

    Because they had Linken¡¯s gship and the journey itself was a long-distance expedition, the airships in their lineup were mostly geared toward speed and distance. They didn¡¯t have any heavily armored battleships with heavy firepower. These high-speed vessels mostly relied on mist concealment for their defense. Now that Qianye had proven the ability useless, their weak points became grossly evident. A single ballista bolt would badly damage an airship and two would destroy it.

    Despite bleeding inwardly, Linken had no choice but to order a retreat. She stood in the void with eyes full of fury. ¡°Qianye, let¡¯s see how fast you can recover. You only have half a day¡¯s time. Any slower and you will die!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting,¡± Qianye replied coldly.

    Linken flew to the closest demonkin warship and drove away into the distance. Only when that airship had receded over the horizon did Qianye retract his gaze.

    That wasn¡¯t an empty threat. She was proving that she could recover from her injuries in half a day, at least up until she was capable of a fight. Meanwhile, Qianye had used up two Shots of Inception. If he couldn¡¯t condense a new shot within half a day, he would be deprived of an ace with which to keep Linken in check. The oue was destined to be quite miserable.

    Qianye closed his eyes, and the Book of Darkness appeared in his consciousness. The demonkin warriors from just now had provided a vast amount of essence blood. All of them were elites, so despite their small numbers, the quality of the harvest was high. A few dozens of them was enough to fill him.

    There was no essence blood in the Book of Darkness at the moment. A single thought of his activated an absorptive force in the book, which sucked away the essence blood in Qianye¡¯s body. Only when he was almost empty did he stop the draw.

    After absorbing the essence blood, the Book of Darkness produced a wisp of refined essence blood for his use. Soon, the left second feather on the Wings of Inception started to glow faintly as it absorbed the provided energy.

 Chapter 934: Once More

    The condensation effect of the Book of Darkness was far inferior to that of the blood core. The essence blood emerging from the blood core would either be absorbed by the dark golden blood energy or transform into auric me blood. The Book of Darkness only served to remove some impurities and concentrate the blood, barely qualifying it for use. It seemed like everything Qianye didn¡¯t need would be absorbed by the book.

    The advantage of the Book of Darkness was its speed. It would only need half a day to refine enough essence blood to recover a Shot of Inception. With the Book of Darkness in hand, Qianye¡¯s ability to engage in prolonged fights would increase sharply. The only bad thing was that the book¡¯s refinement consumed much more essence blood.

    Linken required half a day to suppress her injuries, hence she gave Qianye half a day¡¯s time.

    With all the demonkin warships on the retreat, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was left hovering silently in the void, not unlike a sleeping monster.

    The high-speed warship slowly approached while shing its signal lights. On one hand, it was to announce that it came in peace, while on the other, it was asking the two cargo ships to do the same.

    The two cargo ships hesitated for a while. In the end, however, they pulled in unwillingly since they knew they couldn¡¯t outrun the highspeed warship.

    A small vessel flew out from the highspeed warship and, passing through a hole in the wall of the Martyr¡¯s Pce,nded in its abdomen. The bearded captain and his first mate were immediately overwhelmed by the grandiosity of the ce and couldn¡¯t speak for a long while.

    The bearded captain finally recovered from his shock and bowed toward Qianye. ¡°This lowly one is Ma Wendong. I¡¯ve been following the seventh young master all this time and have also worked in the imperial fleet before. The young master had described the Martyr¡¯s Pce to me but seeing it in person is definitely different. There¡¯s really such a warship in the world!¡±

    ¡°Since he¡¯s told you about the Martyr¡¯s Pce, it means he trusts you. Where are the goods? I¡¯m here to pick them up. Also, pick out a group of people to take charge of installing the equipment on my airship. I want reliable people.¡± With that Qianye passed Song Zining¡¯s token to Ma Wendong.

    After inspecting the token in detail, the captain proceeded to discuss something with the first mate. He then said, ¡°Sire Qianye, this encounter with the demonkin fleet is an unfortunate coincidence. Linken will be back soon, what will you do then?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Giving me half a day is her biggest mistake. She cannot defeat me on the Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    Ma Wendong looked up at the tall, stifling domed roof. ¡°Sire, if this massive ship is ever fully constructed and manned, it will equal an entire fleet.¡±

    The first mate nodded. ¡°Tens of thousands of men won¡¯t be enough. We can fit an entire imperial division on the airship fornding and upation.¡±

    ChapterMid();

    Ma Wendong said seriously, ¡°Sire Qianye, the two cargo ships were already showing signs of surrender before you arrived. I think we should have them stay behind on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. I will send people to drive the ships back and also leave a group to stay behind and monitor them. After we figure out who devised the submission, the seventh young master will find a way to deal with them.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye proceeded to discuss the details regarding the transfer of goods. At this point, the first mate pointed at the massive remains of a ship drifting over from the distance. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the wreckage of Linken¡¯s gship? Sire, that¡¯s some good stuff right there. Even the materials in it are worth a lot of money.¡±

    The words served to remind Qianye. He set aside the transfer procedure temporarily and moved the Martyr¡¯s Pce toward the wreckage. The Earth Dragon opened its mouth like a living creature and swallowed the wreckage whole.

    Linken¡¯s gship could be considered a megaship both in the Empire and Evernight, yetpared to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, it was truly a bite-sized piece of food that could be swallowed whole. The Earth Dragon¡¯s remnant instincts kicked in once the giant shipwreck had entered the abdomen, immediately restraining and immobilizing it.

    In addition to Linken¡¯s gship, Qianye had also destroyed several other warships. He decided not to hold back and simply proceeded to devour all the wreckages. Even if none of their equipment were salvageable, the recycled material themselves would make for a small fortune. Demonkin warships were known for their premium materials and great craftsmanship.

    He had just finished the harvest when an indescribable suppressive might descended upon the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Everyone at the scene could sense a frigid intent nketing the area, one that was both terrifying and familiar. Linken had returned.

    She arrived alone at the bow of the ship, looking down at Qianye who was on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡±

    That was all she was willing to say. It was almost as though saying more would be an embarrassment to her prideful self. Neither did she have any intention of letting Qianye speak. She dived straight for the target like a meteor, forgoing all forms of evasion or footwork.

    Nheless, a brief flicker of golden radiance erupted in the void as Qianye fired the Shot of Inception. Retreating as quickly as she had arrived, Linken roared furiously, ¡°Howe you have one more shot?!¡±

    ¡°I can have as many as I want!¡± Qianye replied with augh.

    Unfortunately, she could no longer hear it. Her figure had long since left and vanished into the depths of the void. Judging from her speed it would seem she had gone all out.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give chase since he knew he couldn¡¯t catch up. He turned to Ma Wendong, saying, ¡°Issue a signal to the cargo ships. Have them approach and unload.¡±

    ¡°Will she not return?¡± Ma Wen dong asked hesitantly.

    Even someone as valiant as the captain was apprehensive of Linken. Being alive was always a good thing, even to people unafraid of death. If Qianye hadn¡¯t arrived with the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Ma Wendong could never have escaped destruction. Linken wouldn¡¯t even need to use her main cannon to destroy his ship.

    ¡°No, that strike just now is enough to make her suffer.¡±

    Just now, Linken had grossly underestimated her opponent, thinking Qianye was already drained of energy. She never would¡¯ve imagined that Qianye would condense yet another Shot of Inception in just half a day. Caught entirely off-guard, she suffered a square shot and was immediately injured. She didn¡¯t even have time for threats before running away.

    It was clear that she wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer. She might not even reach her warship if she were to linger about. Linken¡¯sbat strength was above the Wolf King¡¯s but the demonkin were never known for strong bodies. Her defenses weren¡¯t as good as thetter¡¯s¡ªthe werewolf could still fight after taking a Shot of Inception but this attack deprived the injured Linken of allbat potential. That was why Qianye was certain she wouldn¡¯t return.

    Ma Wendong returned to the highspeed warship and sent the message himself. His wording was extremely harsh.

    The two cargo ships slowly approached the Martyr¡¯s Pce and were swallowed into the Earth Dragon one by one. With how big the pce was, there was still leftover space after swallowing the demonkin wreckages and two cargo ships.

    The crew of the cargo ships emerged in a single file as the doors opened up. Most of the men were dumbfounded after emerging from their vessels. Seeing the Martyr¡¯s Pce from a distance was one thing, but standing within it was apletely different level of shock and awe.

    A couple of the men looked evidently dispirited. Qianye knew without asking that they were probably the people who had urged the surrender. There was really no right or wrong in this matter since it was human nature speaking on the verge of death. Nheless, since Song Zining trusted them so much, they should have at least destroyed the goods before surrendering.

    Despite all that, they were Song Zining¡¯s men, so Qianye didn¡¯t want to get involved with his internal problems. Hence, he said to Ma Wendong, ¡°You handle this, I¡¯m going to rest now. Seek me out if anything important happens.¡±

    Ma Wendong bowed respectfully. ¡°Rest assured, Young Noble. I¡¯ll make proper arrangements for both the men and the goods.¡± After seeing Qianye push back Linken, this powerful officer¡¯s attitude toward Qianye had transformed unknowingly.

    Qianye returned to the head of the Earth Dragon and sat down cross-legged. There, he ordered the pce to return to the Eastern Sea while he himself proceeded to rest with his eyes closed.

    Half a day went by, and Qianye hadpleted a full cycle of his cultivation. His body was full of origin power, just waiting for the Glory Chapter to slowly digest. He saw Ma Wendong standing several dozen meters away as he opened his eyes, clearly waiting to say something but not daring to approach.

    Qianye rose. ¡°Is anything the matter?¡±

    Man Wendong rubbed his hands in excitement. ¡°I¡¯ve made arrangements for the crew and goods. There¡¯s a wonderful surprise sir! The segment of Linken¡¯s gship you took in was the forepart and its main cannon is still intact! I¡¯ve already done some inspections. It can be used after connecting kic power!¡±

    Qianye was delighted. ¡°Really? Let¡¯s go and see.¡±

    Inside the hold of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, what remained of the gship stood manifestly superior amidst the surrounding wreckage, including the two cargo ships.

    The ship was severed by the Martyr¡¯s Pce while preparing to fire. So, the cannon port was wide open at the moment, revealing the faint golden luster of a magical main cannon. This was the first time Qianye hade across this type of ballista-cannon design. Ignoring the pros and cons of its designs for now, one could easily imagine how powerful it was from the chill Qianye had felt from his blood core the moment this cannon took aim.

    There were some demonkin runes imprinted upon the cannon: Landsinker.

    This was the cannon¡¯s name.

    Qianye meditated on its name for a moment before asking, ¡°Is it usable?¡±

    Ma Wendong felt a bit awkward. ¡°Well... it needs an energy source. I¡¯ve never seen such a powerful main cannon, so I can only guess that we¡¯ll need a massive amount of energy. Sire, your ship is great, but in terms of energy...¡±

    Qianye knew clearly the situation of his warship. The Martyr¡¯s Pce mostly relied on its inherent power to fly and space jump, the energy for which was supplied by the heart. Otherwise, there was no current technology capable of driving such a massive vessel. Be it the kic sails or warship engines, they were basically just auxiliary sources of energy. If the heart were lost, no number of engines would be able to make up for it.

    That was the reason both Song Zining and Bluemoon had both ced less emphasis on the construction of the kic systems. It was also because there wasn¡¯t enough manpower on the airship and the instation of sails and engines required significant resources¡ªit just wasn¡¯t feasible at this stage. Hence, there weren¡¯t nearly enough engines or fuel on the airship right now.

    What they had on board could hardly fuel an ordinary demonkin warship¡¯s main cannon, let alone Linken¡¯s.

 Chapter 935: Landsinker

    Yet these were mere details. With the cannon in hand, the power of its energy source could be solved sooner orter. It could be said that the takeover of this cannon had solved a part of the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s firepower. At the very least, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the main cannon for the time being. Qianye would¡¯ve reached the threshold of a heavenly monarch by the time Landsinker became unusable.

    The name Landsinker represented Linken¡¯s ambitions. Just the value of this main cannon took up a third of the gship¡¯s total value. Her brilliance would definitely be greatly amplified in a regr fleet due to the ship¡¯s powerful kic capacity and firepower. In fact, she had caused a fair bit of trouble for the Imperial fleets in the past.

    Unfortunately, she encountered the Martyr¡¯s Pce this time. She hadn¡¯t expected the vessel to have retained the Earth Dragon¡¯s ability to shuttle through space, nor that Mist Concealment would be ineffective against Qianye¡¯s Eye of Truth. In the end, she was never able to disy her might in battle. All she could do was retreat hatefully after losing most of her fleet to Qianye.

    In terms of fighting power, Linken¡¯s airship upied two-thirds of the entire demonkin fleet, while the remainder was filled by the dozen or so ordinary warships. Hence, the loss of the gship was doubly painful for Linken¡ªit was as though she had lost the past 100 years of effort.

    This kind of hatred was irreconcble.

    Qianye pushed his future worries aside and started helping the crew organize the cargo. The goods on the two cargo ships were extremely important but not very bulky, so most of their holds were empty. There were numerous engines and ballistae neatly arranged in crates, but all of thembined weren¡¯t as valuable as a certain speciallybeled box.

    This container was the first batch of special alloy made with the imperial form.

    Ma Wendong was highly capable¡ªhe had arranged everything in an orderly manner, leaving most of the crew on the Martyr¡¯s Pce, including the officers and captains. He also left his first-mate to oversee the group. The cargo ship crew wouldn¡¯t disembark for a good while after boarding the Martyr¡¯s Pce. It was almost like a house-arrest, a punishment for their previous submission.

    After unloading the goods, the main job was to disassemble the demonkin wreckages. Among them, Linken¡¯s gship was the most important. The airship segment wasn¡¯t too badly damaged because the gship itself was just cut in half by the bony spines of the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The exploration here was extremely important, so Qianye decided to lead it personally. Ma Wendong left first with the three airships, while the first-mate apanied Qianye in exploring Linken¡¯s gship.

    Just the front half of the gship was over a hundred meters long and over ten meters tall, not unlike a small castle. Qianye picked the widest passage to enter. This was Linken¡¯s personal vessel, so there wouldn¡¯t be any traps inside. The most effective defense was the demonkin herself.

    At the end of the passage was a rather wide cabin, apparently a ce for transit and assembly. A cmity had descended upon the room after being exposed to the void, and the instations inside had mostly been destroyed, leaving only a general outline. There were three passages here leading up, down, and forward, respectively.

    After some thought, Qianye headed upward since the control room and the captain¡¯s chamber were usually located above. If Linken was hiding any core secrets, they would be there.

    He headed up along the spiraldder but found the cabin door at the end locked tightly. The first-mate was following Qianye from behind when his eyes lit up. He took a step forward to caress the shiny, exquisitely decorated door, saying, ¡°Yes, this contains a lot of demonic steel! That woman has really invested a lot!¡±

    Qianye waspletely oblivious about the materials. ¡°What¡¯s demonic steel?¡±

    ¡°Demonic steel is a raw material exclusive to the demonkin, an alloy made from a special form. The material needs to absorb arge amount of demonic energy during its production. So, many demonkin with limited ability and potential would choose to make a living manufacturing this metal. An alloy with demonic steel mixed in would see increased strength depending on how much was added.¡±

    With that, the first-mate produced a dagger and channeled his origin power. He then shed at the cabin door with great force, producing an ear-splitting screech. Much to Qianye¡¯s surprise, however, this strike only left a shallow groove on the metal surface.

    This first-mate was only one step away from the champion realm, and his de was an imperial model made specifically for higher-ranking officers. Yet, his all-out sh merely left a mark that was half a finger deep. This went to show just how hard this alloy was.

    The first-mate was delighted yet frustrated. ¡°If every cabin door is made from this material, the materials alone will fetch a small fortune, this woman is crazy! The bad thing, though, is that we¡¯ll have to spend a bit of effort to open them. I¡¯ll need half a day to get through this door alone, so you¡¯ll need to wait quite some time to get everything explored.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°The door is sturdy, but the frame might not be. Let me try.¡±

    The first-mate stood to the side as Qianye grabbed the door and steadied his footing. He then erupted with a low growl as he exerted his entire body¡¯s force. The entire airship trembled with a loud rumble, the flooring sunk down beneath his feet, and the surrounding cabin walls started to split apart. The cabin door, along with its frame, was duly torn away.

    Qianye tossed the door away with a ng and stretched his body nonchntly. ¡°It¡¯s open, continue.¡±

    The first-mate stood dumbfounded to one side, almost like a wooden chicken. Only when Qianye had gone toward the end of the tunnel did hee back to reality. He looked back and roared after finding all the other men with their mouths wide open, ¡°What are you gazing around for!? Even if you¡¯ve never seen him in action, you must¡¯ve heard of Sire Qianye¡¯s divine might! Frogs in a well!¡±

    The group of people obeyed but couldn¡¯t help feeling disdainful inside. ¡°Weren¡¯t you in the same state just now?¡± Naturally, they could only think about that and not say it out loud.

    They passed numerous cabins along the way, checking the equipment and function in each of them. There was the officer¡¯s lounge, duty room, staff officer room, conference room, information room, etc. All the cabins were in disarray with documents strewn across the floor. Apparently, no one could bother to clear things away in their haste to escape.

    The first-mate was quite meticulous. He picked up all the documents on the ground and handed them to his men. ¡°Despite being a vice-duke, Linken is a scion of a famed n and still has potential for advancement. Hence, her position among the demonkin isn¡¯t inferior to a duke¡¯s. There¡¯s no way the empire has ess to such documents, there might even be sensitive information in them. I¡¯ll gather all of them first and look through them one by one. I¡¯ll immediately inform you once I find anything important. After you look at them, you can even sell them to the imperial military. I believe they¡¯ll offer a good price for them.¡±

    Qianye was impressed. ¡°Good, let¡¯s do as you say. You¡¯re called Xu Tao, right? I heard there was an outstanding character from Yellow Springs called Xu Lang. Are you rted?¡±

    The first-mate shook his head. ¡°We only share the same surname. Xu is only a minor surname that has never achieved higher aristocracy. The families might¡¯ve had some connection hundreds of years ago, but we¡¯re pretty much separate now.¡±

    ¡°Mm, that¡¯s unfortunate.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t continue.

    At the end of the tunnel was a staircase leading upward. Going up, Qianye found that the cabin door wasn¡¯t locked. Apparently, the people below had fled upward and did not bother to close the door.

    The entire upper floor was themand hall of the warship. The chamber was extremely grand with neat rows of control equipment installed along the walls. At the rear end of the hall was a tform upon which was Linken¡¯s throne. Under ordinary circumstances, this was where she would givemands in battle.

    Qianye jumped up andnded on Linken¡¯s throne. The seat was wide,fortable, and grandiose, with exquisite carvings along the armrests. The leather material was soft and resilient, likely made from the skin of some unknown wild beast.

    There was a control panel before the throne, but Qianye had no inkling about the equipment on demonkin warships. The entire warship was silent at this moment as the facilities had lost their energy supply.

    Even if no one knew how to use the equipment, they could still disassemble them and sell the parts back to the empire. The people from the military would surely go crazy over the duke-grade airship parts and pay exorbitant amounts.

    Qianye tried sitting down on the throne. The view here was extremely good, offering an unobstructed view of the foreground andmand hall. Just sitting here would give one a natural sense of superiority.

    Someone below mumbled, ¡°This is rebellion!¡±

    The voice was soft, but the first-mate heard it clearly. He red fiercely at the man and whispered, ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? Qianye has long since severed ties with the empire. It¡¯s fine even if he deres himself emperor. Don¡¯t forget that these are the neutralnds, not the empire. No one will save you if you speak without thinking!¡±

    Trembling, that person shot a nce at Qianye and only felt somewhat relieved after seeing thetter was oblivious.

    Qianye did hear thement, but he feigned ignorance. These people were Song Zining¡¯s subordinates, so their loyalties would lie with him alone. Song Zining shared a deep friendship with him but these people did not.

    There was a door behind Linken¡¯s throne that led to a residential quarter. As a vice-duke¡ªand especially as a demonkin¡ªshe was highly prideful about her status. Her residential quarters alone took up most of the floor.

    At this point, Xu Tao stopped outside of the room, saying, ¡°Sire Qianye, there might be many secrets in there that I shouldn¡¯t know, so you should enter alone. Summon me anytime if you need me.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He then entered Linken¡¯s residential quarters alone while all the other men remained outside.

    At this very moment, within a demonkin warship in the depths of the void, Linken suddenly shot to her feet. ¡°Oh no! I left in such a hurry that I forgot to clean up!¡±

 Chapter 936: Exploration Part 1

    On the other side of the door was a wide corridor stretching deep inside, along whichy the meeting and waiting rooms. The two chambers were perfectly clean and orderly. It would seem someone had been cleaning the ce every day. There seemed to be nothing special here, but Qianye scanned every nook and cranny in the room. This was the gship of the Demonkin Vice-Duke Linken¡ªeven something she had thrown away casually might fetch a good price.

    In the end, Qianye found a stack of unprocessed documents in the meeting room, containing information about the current Evernight politics, the recent deployments of the Masefield family, and Linken¡¯s own ns for her properties and troops.

    These documents were of great help in better understanding the demonkin, especially the Masefield family. The empire and its schrs would definitely be interested in them, but that was the extent of their value. At the very least, Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out any major secrets at his level.

    He put the documents into a box, prepared to move them away after the exploration.

    There was arge door at the end of the tunnel. It was entirely grey with a bit of dark green peeking out from beneath. Every pattern and carving was extremely deep, intricate, and magnificent. It was also much heavier. Qianye reached out to push the tight door, but it wouldn¡¯t budge in the least. He tried punching the door, but it wouldn¡¯t open despite the entire cabin trembling. Additionally, it was different from the previous doors in that the wall and frame were barely warped from the impact. It would seem breaking-in from the sides wouldn¡¯t be any easier than demolishing the door itself.

    Qianye knew after the punch that this door was at least half a meter thick. Such a heavy door couldn¡¯t be opened or closed manually; there had to be some kind of mechanism. It was just that the warship¡¯s kic force had been lost entirely, so the door was now locked in ce. All secret mechanisms were out of order, so even Linken herself would have to use brute force to enter.

    Qianye gave it some thought and realized that he had to do things the hard way. He took two steps back and summoned East Peak into his grasp. This was his first time using the sword after entering the warship.

    Qianye took a deep breath and immediately entered a state of bloodboil. Auric me blood coursed through his veins as a raging scarlet ze danced around his body and boundless energy seeped out from everywhere. At this moment, Qianye had transformed into a pure-blooded ancient vampire. Following a roaring swing, the airship trembled violently from the impact as the door was shed through.

    The defect on the door was covered in a mysterious dark green light, almost as though it were built entirely from demonic steel. The value of this door alone wasn¡¯t inferior to Song Zining¡¯s box of metal alloys.

    The door had been cut open through the middle, revealing its internal structure. The locking mechanism was made up of four fist-sized bars arranged in a cross shape. Without forcibly cutting it open, Qianye would have to demolish the walls all around the door to enter. Feeling quite curious about demonic steel, Qianye reached out to bend a corner of the defect. To his surprise, he could only deform it a little bit!

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. One had to know that he was going all out in a state of blood boil¡ªeven a steel te half a meter in thickness would be crushed into a ball, yet this scrap metal was only slightly bent. Such a sturdiness would¡¯ve taken Qianye ten or so ordinary shes to get through. So, how had he managed to aplish the destruction in one blow?

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in a rush to enter. Everything in Linken¡¯s residence was in his grasp, anyway, so it made no difference. This door, on the other hand, was something worth studying.

    He meditated on the sh for a good while, and then suddenly reached out to grab the defect. This time, however, Qianye¡¯s hands weren¡¯t shrouded in Venus Dawn but the sanguineous mes of the dark golden blood energy instead. Qianye¡¯s blood energy me erupted violently when it came into contact with the ash-green aura of the demonic steel. The two energies began destroying one another in a spurt of grey ash.

    It was just that the demonic energy was far inferior to Qianye¡¯s own. Despite struggling with all its might, it melted down like snow in the sun.

    This time, Qianye used only eighty percent of his force to bend the demonic steel entirely.

    He withdrew his hand and fell into deep thought once more.

    This was a showdown between the dark golden energy and the demonic energy. The two powers started destroying one another on sight, almost as though they were great enemies. The two energies seemed to restrain one another, and there was no telling which was more powerful. It looked like Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy had the advantage, but the demonic energy used to manufacture the steel was also limited in quality. No duke would spend the effort to producerge batches of demonic steel.

    If it was against a powerful enemy like the Demoness, there was no telling who would win.

    Qianye had also exchanged blows with demonkin before refining the dark golden blood energy. However, he had never encountered such a scene before. As members of Evernight, the effects of demonic energy and blood energy would be greatly reduced against one another. Hence, Qianye had always attacked with daybreak origin power and defended with blood energy. The two were highly ipatible, so the effects would only increase.

    After cultivating the dark golden blood energy and obtaining the inheritance of the River of Blood, Qianye would always use Venus Dawn to attack his enemies. After all, this was the highest level of daybreak origin power and an incurable poison to the demonkin. Eden had almost died on the spot after taking a blow from Qianye.

    This time, however, the dark golden blood energy seemed almost equally effective as daybreak origin power. This meant that the ancient vampire race, especially the pure-blooded nobles, shared some sort of interesting rtionship with the demonkin.

    This kind of attribute rtionship was inherent and factional; there was no evading it. The same for how human daybreak origin power would always oppose Evernight.

    Qianye rolled the metal about in his hand while thinking, and had soon turned the entire sheet of steel into a ball. He was somewhat startled as he looked at the steel ball in his hand, feeling somewhat regretful. This demonic steel had turned into ordinary steel, losing its value entirely. Judging from the size of the steel ball, Qianye seemed to have wasted tens of thousands of gold coins with this roll.

    He tossed the steel ball away and entered Linken¡¯s core living quarters.

    There was a small library behind the steel doors, filled with all kinds of rare ssics. There were a couple dozen books piled up on the central table, and one of them was open. It would seem Linken was still reading here when the fighting began and she didn¡¯t even get the time to close the book.

    Past the library was the study which served as Linken¡¯s personal office. The study was naturally one of the most important of ces, so Qianye decided toe back and explore in detail after roaming around.

    Next up was the personal armory, collection room, and the actual living quarters.

    Qianye only scanned the armory and collection rooms briefly. The collections were highly valuable and diverse, but it wasn¡¯t quite enough to shock him. He had seen the riches of the Song and Zhao n after all. After entering the bedroom, however, Qianye waspletely startled, and his expression turned odd.

 Chapter 937: Exploration Part 2

    Before this, Qianye had never before seen what a duke-level character¡¯s bedroom would look like. Nothing he had expected would prepare him for what was before his eyes.

    As a duke from a famed demonkin n, Linken had inherited their extravagant traditions as well. This trait of hers was well-reflected here. This space before Qianye was more of a bedroom area than a bedroom. Around the main hall, which was the size of a small za, there were manyyers of rooms that almost formed a maze.

    The hall looked magnificent. The room¡ªdecorated with depictions of prehistoric wars¡ªwas three stories high. Qianye observed the mural carefully but couldn¡¯t figure out which war it was about. There were four major races engaged in a chaotic battle¡ªthere were some smaller species mixed in, but Qianye could only recognize some of them.

    There were no humans in the depiction, which meant that this war was before the empire¡¯s existence. Since this painting was in Linken¡¯s room, it was quite likely that this extraordinary battle had ended in a victory for the demonkin.

    Moving this artwork back to the empire would surely aid imperial schrs in their study of Evernight¡¯s prehistoric era. It would also resolve a fair number of contradictions regarding the Evernight races.

    Apart from all that, the entire hall was painted in dark golden shades with scarlet highlights, a favorite color scheme for the demonkin. There was a giant bed at the end of this hall, one that wasrge enough for over ten people even if all of them were as tall as Linken.

    To be honest, Qianye didn¡¯t really like the chamber. It was toorge, too wide, andcked a sense of safety. Insofar as he could remember, Qianye had never really passed one night with ease. He was always alert and vignt about his surroundings even in his sleep. To him, the best ce to rest was somewhere small, dark, and warm. It also had to have an escape route.

    Everything in the hall was an utter mess. There were dozens of naked corpses strewn across the hall, belonging to both men and women. Apparently, they had been engaging in a party of indulgence and depravity while they were alive. Seeing as how they were inside Linken¡¯s bedroom, they were probably the duke¡¯s private ves.

    Qianye pushed away one of the corpses blocking his way. This was a young naked girl who would be considered hot to any race with bruises and minor injuries all over her body¡ªit would seem the y was quite intense. Her beautiful face was full of pain and despair, her eyes reflecting the final scene she had witnessed before her death¡ªthe door and the crowd in front of it.

    Apparently, Linken had no choice but to join the sudden battle, but the feast in her bed hall never stopped. Then, her gship was cut into two soon afterward. These ves weren¡¯t crew members; they only possessed good looks and not much strength. They weren¡¯t even able to open the main bedchamber door at the critical moment and eventually fell to the corrosion of void origin power.

    Qianye shook his head, having gained a new understanding of the demonkin¡¯s extravagance. One could easily imagine what Linken was doing here before the battle. There was really nothing of interest to Qianye in the hall apart from expensive decorative items. Hence, he began looking through the small rooms one after the other.

    Most of the small rooms were for the ves to live in. Even Linken¡¯s own room wasn¡¯t that big, either; it would seem she preferred to sleep in the hall. The room seemed quite ordinary with the powerpletely cut off, but no secret mechanism could escape Qianye¡¯s eyes. He quickly found the true secret chamber.

    This hidden room was decorated with an exquisite array of runed-carvings, and the smooth floor was covered in a luxurious carpet. The ss shelves, filled with ancient ssics, made the room feel like a rather charming little study. There was an open notebook on one of the desks, with the pen still in the ink bottle. It would seem she intended to continue aftering back.

    There were two mannequins on one of the walls, each d in a set of armor of differing quality and style. The two suits were both quite old with abundant signs of wear and tear. Certain damaged areas that were difficult to repair would leave traces on the surface. These items were too mediocre for the current Linken, yet she had stored them in her secret chamber. It was clear that these were the pieces of armor that had apanied her growth and held great sentimental value to her.

    There were weapons on the other wall, memorabilia as well.

    The notebook was the only thing left in the room, so Qianye sat down to read the contents. This wasn¡¯t an ordinary diary but one that contained numerous secret information and transaction records. The greater part of the contents could never see the light of day. For instance, records of the rtionship between herself and other major demonkin characters. There was no shortage of memories from her youth, including situations where she was forced or violently subdued.

    These painful memories seemed to have turned into excitement at this point in life, things she would frequently think back to. Apparently, with her increase in strength and authority, very few things could make her feel any more excitement. It was actually the humiliation she had suffered during her youth that stimted her.

    All that aside, it was the receipts located between the pages that felt rather interesting. There was a certain duke who had proposed certain terms in exchange for Linken¡¯s help in fighting an important battle. He had promised to lend his three underage children to her for a month, and she could y with them as she wished as long as they remained alive.

    This and the many other receipts he saw reminded Qianye of Song Zining¡¯s words, that all major characters only had the greater picture in mind and that there was nothing they wouldn¡¯t trade.

    The remaining contents were also rted to important secrets, with no shortage of critical and valuable intelligence among them. For instance, there was a battle between the arachne and demonkin in which an arachne marquis had submitted his defensive territory in exchange for steep benefits, hence breaking the arachne supply line and resulting in their defeat. That battle had lost their race territory equal to three imperial provinces. Linken herself was a part of this trade. She spent an entire three pages cursing how that arachnid marquis only looked strong but was useless in bed.

    Qianye remembered that spider¡¯s name. The marquis from back then had be a vice-duke today and joined the ranks of the new arachne nobility. If this transaction were to be revealed, a powerful rift would surely be formed between the two races. At the very least, that vice-duke would face grave punishment since many major arachne characters had fallen in the battle back then.

    This notebook was an object of true value. Rumors were fine since every major character was surrounded in an abundance of them. However, the intelligence here was critical ckmail material. Anyone in possession of this book on Evernight territory might vanish quietly and without a trace.

    The book became heavy in his hands as Qianye didn¡¯t know how to make use of it. Hence, he stowed it away carefully in Andruil¡¯s space. There were numerous secrets in there that might prove useful as opportunities arose.

 Chapter 938: Harves

    Qianye sat down in Linken¡¯s seat and pulled open the drawers. The upper three were filled with her personal items, which was fairly normal. But when he opened the lower three, a ck radiance spread out from within. There was no mistaking it; it was ck light and not mist. The entire room was plunged into darkness when the drawers were dragged open. Even people with Nightvision would lose their powers before this strange, light-absorbing demonic energy. In Qianye¡¯s vision, however, every drawer seemed to be filled with a ck sun that stung the eyes.

    Even someone of his experience couldn¡¯t help but gasp.

    The demonkin¡¯s origin power would produce external phenomena at a certain level which, in the eyes of other races, would take the form of a ck mist. The stronger the origin power, the thicker the mist. A genius like Eden would be shrouded in mist when he channeled his origin power.

    Those at a higher level of cultivation would see their origin power turn into a special form of light. Only demonkin at the duke level would be able to produce such effects. Reportedly, the entire battlefield would turn dark when a major demonkin character took to the battlefield. Legends had it that a ck sun emerged when the supreme character atop the sacred mountain took action, darkening the entire world.

    Qianye had only read about it in the military documents and never actually seen any traces of them. With his position and strength, he was far from qualified to take part in such battles. Even someone as strong as Linken could only emit a faint ck light when she was going all out, a fair distance away from turning the world dark.

    The ck light spreading out from the drawers, however, was dazzling, to say the least. This clearly wasn¡¯t something a duke could produce and was most likely the work of a prince-level character.

    At first, Qianye had wanted to channel his Venus Dawn, but his blood core began pulsing strongly under the stimtion of the dark radiance. Auric me blood erupted all over his body, shrouding him in a golden ze that blocked the ck radiance outside.

    The dark golden blood energy didn¡¯t stop there. It spat out several streams of sanguineous mes that swam toward the source of the demonic light.

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. The item in the drawer was clearly a treasure, so how could he allow it to be destroyed? Quickly withdrawing his blood energy, he gradually began to calm down his pulsing blood core.

    The sanguineous mes were finally contained, but the demonic energy was now agitated. It merged into a single entity in the air and transformed into a slowly revolving ck sun. It would seem this demonic light was highly spiritual, just like the dark golden blood energy.

    Qianye frowned. Just as he was wondering how to handle this matter, the demonic light suddenly trembled and shot a silken wisp of light into the distance. Then, the radiance dispersed and returned to the drawers.

    Qianye cursed inwardly. The demonic light from just now was a stream of information. Qianye had no idea what the message contained or who it was meant for, but that wasn¡¯t a big issue. With the Martyr¡¯s Pce in hand, he could return to the North Continent in a sh. Thatnd was special and not even a great dark monarch could easily spy on it. The Pointer Monarch was young back then, but his methods were unique and powerful. Otherwise, the emperor wouldn¡¯t consider him as the greatest threat to the throne.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t remain here for long. He would leave at most half a dayter after the goods had been transferred. At that point, where would they seek him out in the vast void? The good thing about the Martyr¡¯s Pce being built from the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton was that most surveince abilities were useless against it. It wouldn¡¯t be that easy to catch Qianye.

    At this point, both the blood energy and demonic light had calmed down. Only then did Qianye get the chance to observe the drawer. The three drawers were heavily padded, almost like a solid box with a cavity in the center, each holding a square ck crystal. There was a plume of ck me at the center of each crystal, and the demonic radiance wasing from it.

    Qianye wanted to reach out and grab it, but he could feel a vague pain from his fingertips. It was likely that he would be scorched if he were to grab it¡ªand that was Qianye. Any ordinary person would¡¯ve been burnt to a crisp. It would seem those three drawers were also quite extraordinary to be able to iste the demonic light.

    Qianye closed the drawers and, after some thought, removed the entire side-cab and put it into Andruil¡¯s space.

    Qianye felt something different about the three crystals as well. Judging from the reflection of origin power, they actually looked more like metal. It was just that the demonic light was so strong that it transformed the material and turned it into something else. No matter what they were, though, it was certain that they were priceless and it was a mystery how Linken had gotten her hands on them. One could easily imagine how much of amotion these things would stir up if they were to appear in Evernight.

    At this point, there were no more secrets on Linken¡¯s airship. Looking at the long term, the most valuable harvest was the notebook and its contents. The most valuable and easily liquidated things at present were the weapons and equipment in her private armory. There were ten or so sets of armors and dozens of firearms of varying models¡ªall of them could be sold for a good price on the ck market. There was no worry of not being able to sell them out. Additionally, her personal collection contained hundreds of items with nock of premium things among them.

    It could be said that at least half of her fortune was in Qianye¡¯s hands. A new duke like her would be fighting most of the time and staying in her airship for the most part. Her home, on the contrary, would be less used. Hence, all of her things were probably on her ship.

    Qianye had gained handsomely from this battle. In terms of personal wealth, he was now fairly close to Song Zining and his Ningyuan Heavy Industries. As expected, fighting was the best way to get rich fast.

    It was just that, as he explored through the vessel, Qianye realized that Linken¡¯s hatred for him had far surpassed a fight to the death. As for exactly how much, only she would know clearly.

    After walking out of the residential quarters, he found Xue Tao standing respectfully at the door.

    ¡°You guys can go in now. Search thoroughly, but be careful, there are many things in there that I don¡¯t know the function of.¡±

    ¡°Sire, rest assured. I¡¯ll keep an eye on them personally and record everything. Nothing will be missing,¡± Xu Tao replied.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Call me if you need me.¡±

    With a wave of Xu Tao¡¯s hand, dozens of men poured into the residential chamber in a single file. These men were mostly technicians¡ªotherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have been dispatched to the Martyr¡¯s Pce. With them around, the exploration process would go much faster.

    When Qianye walked out of the shipwreck, a chubby technician walked over and said uneasily, ¡°Sire Qianye, we¡¯ve already investigated the other demonkin shipwrecks. Most of the parts can no longer be reused because of the heavy damage. So far, only a corvette-ss main cannon remains usable, but only after some repairs. The harvest is quite good despite all that since we can recycle at least a hundred tons of metal alloy.¡±

    ¡°Can we use the alloy on demonkin warships?¡±

    ¡°We can use a portion of them if we smelt them. Naturally, a good chunk of their value will be lost, but there¡¯s no loss since we can¡¯t use demonic energy anyway.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Being able to recycle demonic alloy means you¡¯ve reached the military¡¯s standards.¡±

    The technician said proudly, ¡°We¡¯re definitely not bragging, but not manypanies in the empire can match Ningyuan Heavy Industries in terms of metal-processing.¡±

    The core force behind Ningyuan Heavy Industries¡¯ advanced smelting technology was probably that alloy form. Eventually, it would also be the reason propelling Song Zining to the peak of the empire, with the appearance of more and more side-products. Qianye didn¡¯t mention this, but he simply had to wonder what Song Zining did for that major character to be rewarded so.

    The technician passed over a list that Qianye duly received and gave a once-over. Time was short, but the list was quite detailed and orderly.

    It also came as a pleasant surprise that, although most of the main cannons had been destroyed, the ammunition was intact. The ballistae they were using wasn¡¯t so easy to damage, either. The harvest on main-cannon ballista bolts alone stood at over three hundred, and the other types of ammunition numbered in the thousands. They also managed to gain a batch of demonkin sailor weapons. With how tall the demonkin were, it was difficult for humans to use the equipment, but there would surely be people willing to buy them in the ck market.

    Seeing that Qianye was quite satisfied, the fat technician said cautiously, ¡°Sire, I have something I¡¯m wondering if I should say.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°What? Say it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this, several friends and I work on the two cargo ships. I¡¯m only in charge of technology and nothing else. The decision to stop the ship was also made by the people above.¡±

    So it was all about that matter. Qianye said with a nod, ¡°I¡¯ll investigate this matter thoroughly. I won¡¯t involve people who aren¡¯t involved. You just do your job well.¡±

    The technician replied thankfully, ¡°I definitely will!¡±

    Qianye returned to the airship and led the Martyr¡¯s Pce gradually away from the area.

    At this moment, in the unknown darkness, a massive aura gradually came into existence. A pair of sharp yet deep eyes emerged within a sable torrent, sweeping through the vast darkness of the void.

    ¡°Who used my demonic energy? Is it that little fellow? She finally used it? Oh, it¡¯s an ancient vampire. Interesting, it seems she has provoked something serious. Who would¡¯ve thought a new ancient vampire would appear again? How many years has it been? A thousand years? Ten thousand? Damn, I don¡¯t even remember. But perhaps that means I can leave this ce pretty soon¡­¡±

 Chapter 939: Just Submi

    In a different region of the void, Linken was standing in front of the cabin windows and staring into the boundless void. All of the demonkin around her were quiet, afraid that they would arouse her anger. Everyone knew thatplete silence meant that she was truly angry.

    There was no end to the void outside. Only a handful of slender ships were sailing through the raging tempests at this point, looking fairly miserable against the backdrop of the approaching continent. Who would¡¯ve thought that such a massive armada would be half-destroyed at the very beginning? Compared to the warship casualties, their total loss inbat strength was well-beyond half. The firepower of Linken¡¯s gship wasparable to all the other shipsbined.

    This miserable loss was just the beginning. Linken had numerous enemies, both among the demonkin race as a whole or in the Masefield family. The true cruelty of this battle-oue would only begin after her return.

    The problem now was when to go back, and how. Perhaps she should find a way to umte some contributions before going back.

    Just as she was considering the most practical problem, a warship suddenly appeared in the void before them and made straight for Linken¡¯s warship. The emblem of the Throne of Blood on its side was extremely eye-catching.

    Amotion broke out among the demonkin. Linken made a pressing motion, gesturing for everyone to calm down, as she stared at the iing warship.

    The Throne of Blood wasn¡¯t just a forbidden name among the vampires; it was a taboo for the demonkin as well. Those who had fallen before the Shattered Moment weren¡¯t just major vampire characters but demonkin as well. Despite not being that famous, the two demonkin victims were key characters working behind the scenes. One of them was a great schr who specialized in the study of various void-rted fields. He wasn¡¯t really that strong, but in himy the demonkin¡¯s hope of dealing with the adverse environment of the neutralnds.

    The death of this schr resulted in the loss of several decades of demonkin research, depriving them of the environment-optimization equipment that was on the cusp of sess. In the dozen or so years that followed, the demonkin were never able toplete the relevant research and were thus never able to enter the neutralnds. All they could do was watch as the Throne of Blood was established and gradually gained a strong foothold.

    At present, the throne had already grown extremely powerful and that talented young vampire back in the day had grown into a character worthy of his Grand Magnum. Both races had already recognized this truth, but to a genius like Linken who had risen to power recently, any kind of history could be overturned and any truth, changed. Heroes of the previous generation were stepping stones on her way to power and status.

    Hence, she had never really ruled out getting into contact with the Throne of Blood. After all, that elite fleet behind her wasn¡¯t just for decoration. What she never expected was how perilous the neutralnds was, so much so that she would encounter an unprecedented monstrosity like the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Even up to this point, she couldn¡¯t figure out whether that was an airship, a void colossus, or something else.

    That warship arrived swiftly, charging straight for the heart of Linken¡¯s fleet and decelerating only when it was about to crash into the other airships. By the time it came to a stop, the vessel was less than ten meters away from the airship in front. This distance couldn¡¯t be considered safe for airships that could travel hundreds of meters in a sh. Simply turning the airship around might result in a collision.

    Linken¡¯s expression was gloomy and her gaze, sharp. Such arrogance proved that the person she would be meeting soon wasn¡¯t going to be friendly.

    The vampire airship opened its doors and out walked a pale old man with gloomy eyes. He walked to the bow of the ship and spoke in a clear voice, ¡°My lord heard news of Vice Duke Linken¡¯s arrival in the neutralnds, so he sent me to greet you. I wonder if Your Excellency is in the fleet?¡±

    This old man¡¯s words contained certain implications. His constant stress on the title vice-duke could be considered fairly disrespectful. Normally, everyone would address her as Your Excellency or Duke, ignoring the three stages of the rank. Linken had long since disyed talent far beyond her peers, so reaching the duke rank was only a matter of time. So, it wasn¡¯t too exaggerated to address her like so.

    Linken ordered her warship to move forward while she herself flew out of the vessel and hovered above the old vampire. ¡°Sending such trash to meet me is an insult.¡±

    The old man bowed. ¡°How can this lowly one dare to insult you? You¡¯re born of the Masefield family, you can destroy the neutralnds with a random point of your fingers.¡±

    Linken¡¯s face was ashen. ¡°Enough nonsense. What is your lord¡¯s message? If there¡¯s nothing, you can scram now! Or else you won¡¯t get that chanceter on.¡±

    The vampire elder wasn¡¯t afraid, however. ¡°My lord does indeed have something to say to you. He says the waters in the neutralnds are deep and its waves, tall, most certainly not a ce for kids. Now that you¡¯ve seen the ce, you can leave now. Otherwise, it¡¯s uncertain what will happen.¡±

    Linken trembled in anger but simply couldn¡¯t find the words to say. This warning from the Throne of Blood was actually quite normal. Regr fleets from both the Empire and Evernight would receive warnings after entering the neutralnds, that was unless they had already reached an agreement beforehand. Those who chose to ignore the warning would end up taking a shot from the Shattered Moment. This was the danger the old man was referring to, and the greatest threat in the neutralnds.

    It was just that Linken¡¯s fleet had been half destroyed before the throne had even taken action. No one could¡¯ve expected this.

    While he was talking, the old man was also secretly observing Linken¡¯s fleet. He was fairly surprised to find that these airships were all cutting-edge models of the demonkin race. It was just that the warships were a bit smaller than the usual models, all of them were basically corvettes with only one destroyer grade vessel among them. The size of the fleet was also quite small, more so than a standard sub-fleet. This wasn¡¯t fitting of Linken¡¯s status.

    The vampire elder¡¯s eyes shifted about. ¡°Your Excellency Vice-Duke, did you only bring this many warships? How fares your gship? My lord doesn¡¯t appreciate repeating his words.¡±

    The vampire elder was clearly trying to pry, yet all he managed to do was pour salt in Linken¡¯s wounds. How could she tell him about such an embarrassing matter? She roared with a gloomy expression, ¡°Too much nonsense! I must teach you a lesson you won¡¯t forget any time soon!¡±

    With that, Linken swung her hand about. A barely discernible wave of demonic energy struck the vampire elder squarely on the face, sending him crashing into the wall. He shot through several cabins in rumbling session beforeing to a stop.

    Linken snorted. ¡°I hope you take this p as a lesson and tell your lord to send someone else next time.¡±

    With that, Linken entered the cabin without even looking back. The entire fleet then gradually turned toward Evernight.

    The vampire elder flew out into the void. ring at the receding fleet in anger, he shouted, ¡°My lord will definitely return this p!¡±

    The demonkin fleet remained unresponsive. They neither sped up nor turned back, merely maintaining a steady pace away.

    The vampire elder snorted, ¡°Back to base!¡± He then entered the airship and never emerged again. He was a marquis who had always been proud of his own power, yet he couldn¡¯t do a single thing against Linken. That p of hers would¡¯ve smashed his head if it were just a bit stronger.

    At this point, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was flying through the void. Their current route would take them to the Northern Continent, where he would unload the goods and process the demonkin warships. These materials were quite sensitive in nature, so it wasn¡¯t appropriate to bring them to Southern Blue and its many eyes. Qianye would only return after everything had been dealt with.

    The uneventful journey took over ten days. Qianye sat on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head day in and day out, absorbing the abundant void origin power in the air. They of thend was soplicated that even Qianye felt some pressure.

    During the entire flight, the crew aboard the Martyr¡¯s Pce never remained idle. This was especially true of the people from the two transport airships who were more than eager to make up for their crime with work. Despite all that, the main cannon could only serve as a decoration since there was no energy source to activate it. They would have to wait for Song Zining to think of a way after returning to Southern Blue.

    Half a monthter, Qianye once again returned to the Eastern Sea. He parked the Martyr¡¯s Pce in the sky and ran toward Southern Blue on his own.

    Southern Blue had changed yet again after a period of absence. A number of rather magnificent structures had popped up in the city, all of themrge workshops. Thend outside of the city had also been leveled to construct building-foundations. Another area outside the city was just being marked out and it was even bigger than the previous one.

    Walking into Southern Blue, he could see smoke billowing out from the fairly new workshops. Apparently, they were already in operation. The roads leading to the airship ports were congested with heavy trucks, and some of them were tightly jammed. The earlier design of Southern Blue wasn¡¯t enough to amodate so much industrial development, and most of the roads were only enough for two trucks to pass abreast.

    Qianye walked past one of the factory doors and happened to see some people in work-clothes eating and resting. Qianye recognized them¡ªthese people were mercenaries, and two of them were minor leaders in Dark me. Now, they had all transformed into factory technicians.

    Nheless, theirughter proved that they were fairly content with their current roles. They finished their meal rather quickly and were soon heading back to work.

    Qianye shook his head lightly as he made for Dark me Headquarters to find Song Zining.

    Dark me¡¯s headquarters was heavily guarded with sentries scanning all passersby intently. Feeling satisfied, Qianye was just about to head over when he had a sudden idea. He abandoned any thoughts of greeting the guards and instead walked over quietly.

    His silhouette flickered briefly as he passed through the gates and into the headquarters. Those sentries werepletely oblivious of the development. This result surprised Qianye himself¡ªhe had taken each step precisely in the guards¡¯ blind spot to achieve this effect and not just by relying on speed. Hence, it surprised even himself that things had gone so smoothly.

    It was at this time that Qianye realized how much he had gained from fighting with Linken. Hisbat arts had already reached a new realm.

    Qianye walked into the headquarters and up a flight of stairs, but the staff along the way never saw him.

    He was on the top floor in the blink of an eye. If there were no mistakes, Song Zining should be here. He had already sensed the seventh young master¡¯s aura as well as that of another person.

    Qianye was just about to enter when he heard rapid breathing from inside. A tender voice spoke anxiously, ¡°Seventh Young Master, please¡­ no. You can¡¯t do that, pull it out!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s voice followed. ¡°What are you afraid of? You¡¯ll enjoy greatfort and fame by following me, what¡¯s there to worry about? Now submit!¡±

    ¡°No, no! I¡¯m going to scream if you don¡¯t stop!¡±

    ¡°Go ahead, the entire ce is full of my men. No one will save you even if you scream your throat out.¡±

    The deep inhtion in the room proved that the girl wasn¡¯t willing to yield, and was about to unleash a sharp scream. It was just that her mouth was covered up halfway through. ¡°Dammit, I refuse to believe I can¡¯t get you to submit! You can forget about escaping after I eat you up!¡±

    At this point, Qianye could no longer keep on listening. Letting out a dry cough, he pushed the door open.

 Chapter 940: Impending Storm

    The sounds inside the room came to a sudden stop. The girl, her clothes in disarray, had been pressed onto the table. She was cutting quite the sorry figure in that awkward position, and it looked like she would fall to the predator any time soon. Song Zining, on the other hand, was like a fully strung bow, ready to devour the young girl at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The two looked over in unison, frozen in their previous position with faces full of shock.

    ¡°Zining, seriously, you¡¯re too¡­ Ah, it¡¯s you?¡± Qianye was stunned when he saw the girl¡¯s face clearly. This girl was one of Song Zining¡¯s maids, but she also served as his assistant because she was rather smart and capable. She had already followed Song Zining for many years, so scenes like this weren¡¯t exactly rare.

    As an experienced person, Song Zining quickly recovered his calm. He patted the girl below with a smile and said, ¡°You go out first, I have something to discuss with Qianye.¡±

    The girl was also calm now. She nced at Qianye, chuckling with her mouth covered as she left in a sh.

    It was Qianye who couldn¡¯t quite calm down. ¡°This¡­ I thought¡­¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°You thought I was bullying a weak civilian girl?¡±

    ¡°What you guys were saying, it sounded like¡­¡± Qianye stammered.

    Song Ziningughed loudly. ¡°Don¡¯t you think these words are ssic? It¡¯s more interesting when you role-y, you fool.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. This young master¡¯s urges were simply too difficult to approve of.

    Song Zining stared at Qianye, saying, ¡°You¡¯re not that kind of jealous person, what¡¯s up?¡±

    Qianye said awkwardly, ¡°You have all the women you want. There¡¯s no need to use such methods, right? You just need to swap out the girl if one doesn¡¯t agree, the loss is theirs. Besides, we¡¯re on our own turf right now. It won¡¯t be that great if word gets out. That¡¯s why I came in to dissuade you.¡±

    Song Ziningughed until he was bent over. He then pped Qianye on the shoulder with his fan, saying, ¡°You¡¯re really cute. You can¡¯t even figure out such a ssic script! It¡¯s in all those shitty ys.¡±

    Qianye was emotionless. ¡°I don¡¯t watch ys.¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s leave the discussion here. How did the mission go? Did you get the goods? Were there any idents?¡±

    ¡°There was, in fact, an ident. I ran into Linken¡¯s demonkin fleet and a battle broke out.¡±

    ¡°Linken!¡± Song Zining shot to his feet. ¡°Which Linken? Don¡¯t tell me it''s that demonkin duke?¡±

    Qianye thought back carefully. ¡°Her strength, as far as I remember, isn¡¯t at the duke level. She should be just a vice-duke.¡±

    Song Zining red fiercely at Qianye. ¡°Just!? A vice-duke is still a duke! Sire Qianye, that vice-duke is stronger than a newly ascended imperial divine champion! Besides, it¡¯s a fleet battle, right? How are you alive, even?¡±

    ¡°Mm, her gship was there, too.¡±

    Song Zining was about to sit down at first, but he shot back to his feet. ¡°Her gship!? It¡¯s over, it¡¯s over. That means the corvette and cargo ships are gone, right? This¡­ what should I do? Let it be. That¡¯s not important. Are you injured? Are you okay? Let me know if you need any medicines, I¡¯ll find a way to get them. There¡¯s nothing in this ce, I have to get it from the empire. It¡¯ll take a long while to go back and forth.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not injured.¡± Despite saying that, Qianye felt a bit guilty under Song Zining¡¯s gaze. ¡°It was just a bit of light injury, nothing half a day¡¯s rest cannot heal. You know I recover pretty fast.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t trust him at first. He grabbed Qianye up and began groping him all over, probing wantonly with his origin power. He seemed to have forgotten about Qianye¡¯s blood energy in his urgency. In the end, the dark golden energy broke out in retaliation and engulfed both of them in sanguineous mes.

    Song Zining howled in pain as he retreated urgently. Qianye also suppressed his blood energy as quickly as he could and went back to check if the seventh young master was fine.

    Fortunately, despite its decline, the Song n¡¯s cultivation arts were at the peak of the empire. Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was the same. His origin power looked supple and weak, but he was able to leave unscathed from Qianye¡¯s sanguineous mes.

    Saying he was unscathed was a bit of an exaggeration actually. The seventh young master found his face covered in ck ash, and a small part of his brows had been singed.

    Qianye looked apologetic. ¡°I never thought it¡¯d turn out this way, are you okay?¡±

    Song Zining stretched an ash-covered hand toward Qianye, saying furiously, ¡°Okay? Do I look okay?¡±

    Qianye felt relieved. ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as you¡¯re fine as a whole. A bit of hair can be ignored.¡±

    Song Zining grabbed Qianye by the cor. ¡°What do you mean by a bit of hair!? A bit of injury is fine, but how is this young master supposed to meet people with a damaged eyebrow?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re making a living with your face.¡± Qianye was nonchnt. It would be a true joke if the future god of strategy relied on his face to make a living.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not relying on my face for a living, but the better one looks, the better and easier the food. Why wouldn¡¯t I want it? You, on the other hand, could¡¯ve easily relied on your face for a living, yet you just had to rely on that strength of yours. You had so many beautifuldies to choose from back in the empire. You missed so many opportunities. We can let the past be, but the opportunities at present are hard toe by. Tianqing and Kuann aren¡¯t bad choices¡­¡±

    Qianye interrupted. ¡°Wait a minute, I don¡¯t like men.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. ¡°What¡¯s so bad about men?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand where Song Zining wasing from, nor did he know how to reply to this question. All he could do was maintain his silence.

    Song Zining snorted coldly, saying, ¡°It looks like you¡¯re really okay. It¡¯s all fine then, we can let the goods be. Money can be earned again. It¡¯s those men I feel pained about, they¡¯re the best of Ningyuan Heavy Industries who have followed me for so many years.¡±

    ¡°The cargo ships are fine.¡±

    ¡°Fine? Didn¡¯t you encounter Linken¡¯s fleet?¡±

    ¡°I did, and we fought. I think I destroyed half her fleet and her gship.¡±

    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s great¡­ you destroyed what!? Her gship!?¡± Song Zining almost jumped up in fright.

    ¡°She was careless I guess.¡±

    ¡°Careless? You don¡¯t know about her aplishments? How could she be careless? Okay, even if she was careless, how did you do that?¡±

    Qianye summarized the process of the battle. Song Zining listened speechlessly, and then said after a long period of silence, ¡°Wow, poor her.¡±

    He then became spirited. ¡°This main cannon really solved a huge problem for us. This duke-grade warship is a high-quality vessel. We won¡¯t need to swap it out for a good while. It¡¯s just that she¡¯ll probably kill her way here if news gets out.¡±

    Song Zining grabbed a sheet of paper and drew an outline of the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Then he wrote down a series of numbers and said following a blur of calctions, ¡°Yes, the materials recycled from this battle should be enough to give the Martyr¡¯s Pce ayer of armor.¡±

    Next, Song Zining exined his newly designed n. The current Martyr¡¯s Pcergely resembled the Earth Dragon¡¯s skeleton and most of the abdominal wall was missing. Because of how big the draconic body was, just adding ayer of armor on the empty spaces would require a vast amount of materials. Only high-grade alloy was a fit for the Martyr¡¯s Pce, a cost even Song Zining would find difficult to shoulder. Hence, they had always been left empty.

    This time, Qianye had obtained arge number of demonkin shipwrecks. Although most of the equipment on them had been destroyed, the materials from them were just what Qianye needed. However, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was so big that the materials they had weren¡¯t enough to cover up the holes. Hence, Song Zining designed it in a mesh design that would cover up the openings. Although this kind of body provided no cover against cannon shells and bullets, it served as a good defense against ballistae.

    Therge amount of materials originally designated for the ship¡¯s body would be used to build engines and other parts. After refinement into a higher grade alloy, they could be used to build destroyer-grade engines. This would improve the pce¡¯s mobility and put it on par with ordinary cargo ships.

    In the end, they would need to install a massive fuel storage chamber and special origin arrays to provide energy. Although Landsinker couldn¡¯t sink a continent in one shot, it would have no difficulty tearing a destroyer apart.

    The barely usable demonkin warship main cannon was installed alongside the ones arriving on the cargo ships, serving as theteral firepower of the Martyr¡¯s Pce. This would prevent small warships from beating up the pce from blind angles.

    Qianye frowned upon seeing this design. Although it was quite feasible, one could easily see that the meshwork armor was a temporary installment. It would have to be disassembled and reced by proper ship ting one day. This kind of design was a waste of manpower and resources, possessing no merit except fulfilling temporary needs.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it? I took a long time to think, but the materials are really not enough. This is only possible because you intercepted so many demonkin materials.¡± Song Zining was excited.

    ¡°Zining, are we about to fight a war?¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression changed drastically at Qianye¡¯s question. He then nodded silently.

    The two were very clear. The war Qianye was referring to wasn¡¯t just a small skirmish between ordinary mercenary corps, but a true war without limitations. The moment Linken appeared in the void, the clouds of war had already spread all over the neutralnds. Song Zining had proposed such a design in order to quickly raise the fighting power of the Martyr¡¯s Pce. As for theplete design, there was no time to work on that.

    ¡°Why?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom.¡±

 Chapter 941: Worry

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom?¡± Matters from back in the empire felt quite distant in Qianye¡¯s mind. The only impression he had of the Great Maelstrom was the showdown back at Indomitable. All idents that followed originated from that one moment.

    Qianye remembered that the entrance to the Great Maelstrom wasn¡¯t in the neutralnds, and that there was a limit to its opening time. It was because of the limited quota for the Great Maelstrom that the younger generation of the Empire and Evernight were fighting it out back in Indomitable.

    Song Zining understood Qianye¡¯s puzzlement. He immediately drew a map of the neutralnds and the major continents on the paper and slowly rotated it. ¡°You know that our world is revolving constantly, right?¡±

    This wasmon knowledge. Qianye had learned about it back in Yellow Springs but he didn¡¯t understand it very well.

    Song Zining continued, ¡°We still have no idea what kind of world the Great Maelstrom is. All we know is that the realm inside is drastically differentpared to our own, and hence, it also produces many rare resources. There are only two ways into the Great Maelstrom; one of them appears only asionally, and that¡¯s the one the two factions are fighting over. The other one is in the neutralnds, but it¡¯s simply unusable.¡±

    He spun the map once as he continued, ¡°The first passage into the Great Maelstrom may appear each time our worldpletes one revolution. Although it¡¯s not absolute, the chances of it are quite high. The one in the neutralnds, however, isn¡¯t essible. Only a handful of people have evere out of it, and even they weren¡¯t able to tell how they had managed to do it. Both the Empire and Evernight ignored this passage since it was basically a one-way trip.¡±

    After a moment of hesitation, Song Zining said seriously, ¡°After arriving in the neutralnds, I noticed that the origin power in the passage wasn¡¯t like before. My calctions during this period tell me that an origin tide that¡¯s hard to see in a hundred years is about toe.¡±

    While speaking, Song Zining wrote down arge array of numbers and forms to prove his theory.

    Qianye was fairly confused since he had no idea what those numbers were about. This knowledge was tooplicated¡ªfew people had ever heard of it, not to mention studying the subject. No wonder only a handful of people throughout history were proficient in divination. It turned out that one would need to be proficient in such profound knowledge as well. It wasn¡¯t too hard to imagine how many people would possess both cultivation talent and intelligence. No wonder those excelling in divination would also boast a solid grasp of strategy. Even if they couldn¡¯t rule over arge area, they would usually serve as strategists and advisors for major characters.

    Song Zining knew Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand, so he gave him a brief exnation of the origin tide. Over the course of several hundred years, the origin power flow of the world would undergo an undtion from high to low, and then cycle back from low to high¡ªit was like a huge ocean tide. Why such a thing would happen was highly disputed, with no conclusion up to this day.

    The empire¡¯s history was short. The data they had wasn¡¯t sufficient for research since there hadn¡¯t been many origin tides since its founding. Evernight boasted a longer history, but they only relied on their inherent power and bloodlines. They couldn¡¯t be bothered to engage in systematic exploration and study like the Empire.

    ording to Lin Xitang¡¯s deduction, the reason for the birth of the origin tides was probably because the entire world was revolving around an unknown target. Oneplete revolution meant oneplete origin tide.

    This theory was so shocking that few among the upper echelons of the empire believed it. The experts had long since begun the process of exploring the void, but there was only an endless nothingness beyond the peripheral continents. Not to mention an end, there wasn¡¯t even a ce tond along the way. No one could say if there was any ce in the boundless darkness where one could establish a foothold. Not even the supremes on the sacred mountain could see through the sable expanse.

    The numerous stars in the void looked close, but they were actually at a distance enough to make one palpitate in despair.

    No one in the imperial court paid attention to Lin Xitang¡¯s hypothesis. It was just a guess to both the emperor and his ministers. Even if it was real, it wasn¡¯t as important as Lin Xitang¡¯s aplishments against the rebels on the Western Continent. Besides, the Empire and Evernight had been fighting numerous major battles, wars that would determine the empire¡¯s fate. If the empire ceased to exist, it was no use even if they could prove the earth was round.

    To Qianye, the things Song Zining was saying were too deep and profound. It was even more difficult to understand than the inheritance from the River of Blood. Comparatively, it was easier to kill a marquis.

    The seventh young master wasn¡¯t expecting him to understand, either. He returned to the main issue after briefly exining the origin tide.

    The current tide was at its trough, but very soon, it would reach the highest and calmest point in several hundred years. During this period, the origin tempests raging through the passage would calm down quite a bit. At least, it would no longer be impossible to pass through. If that were to happen, a stable passage into the Great Maelstrom would be formed here.

    Although it would be rtively calmer, the tempests were still there. Even so, the value of such a passage was self-evident. Evernight and the Empire would likely fight a war over this passage, and the forces in the neutralnds would likely get involved as well¡ªit would surely be chaotic.

    Song Zining had lured Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing over not long after arriving in the neutralnds. On one hand, they would serve as reinforcements, while on the other, it was a gambit for the battle toe. That was also why he had chosen Southern Blue to make his stand instead of developing quietly on the Northern Continent.

    Qianye listened to everything quietly before saying, ¡°Do you think we¡¯re suited to fight for the empire?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t n to stand on the Evernight¡¯s side, do you?¡±

    Qianye remained silent. Song Zining¡¯s smile became increasingly forced until he finally heaved a long sigh.

    Qianye said, ¡°Why not? You should¡¯ve sensed just now. My blood energy has far surpassed my daybreak origin power. By vampire standards, I¡¯m almost a marquis already. Now I¡¯m finding it increasingly difficult to control the development of my blood energy. Perhaps one day, it¡¯llpletely suppress my daybreak origin power and turn me into a vampire.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a while. ¡°And, if¡­ she finally goes back to Evernight and asks me to join, I will.¡±

    ¡°Will you really?¡±

    ¡°Of¡­ course.¡±

    ¡°Let it be.¡± Song Zining pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder unceremoniously. ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll be a good thing if she goes back to Evernight? You should be clearer than I am.¡±

    ¡°The Empire¡­¡± Qianye smiled wryly and shook his head.

    ¡°I understand, you do not wish to fight for such an empire.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°The same goes for me, but how can we watch with folded arms when the timees?¡± Song Ziningughed wryly.

    ¡°It''ll only allow the current empire to go on, what¡¯s the point?¡±

    ¡°The point is something we can decideter, but we have to work on the present first. Even if we don¡¯t fight this war, can we escape it? We¡¯ve already fled to the neutralnds.¡±

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s gloomy expression, Song Ziningughed, ¡°We have to fight either way since the passage is in the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye snorted. ¡°I¡¯m not interested. I¡¯ll just hide on the Northern Continent if worsees to worst.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really not fighting? The marine lotus only grows in the Great Maelstrom!¡± Song Zining¡¯s smile was evil.

    ¡°...¡± Qianye snorted heavily to express his dissatisfaction.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice echoed nearby after Qianye¡¯s departure. ¡°Are you that confident?¡±

    This Young Miss had been hiding in the room since who knew when. With her capability, Qianye naturally couldn¡¯t sense her.

    Song Zining sighed softly. ¡°Ignore what he says. When the fight breaks out and he finds out we¡¯re on the battlefield, he¡¯ll naturallye back.¡±

    ¡°Not us, just you,¡± Ji Tianqing said.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s us. He¡¯lle even if it¡¯s just you.¡±

    Something flickered through Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes. She then pped Song Zining¡¯s shoulder so hard that he almost fell to the floor. ¡°Next time, speak louder when you do naughty stuff. I can¡¯t hear clearly, otherwise.¡±

    With that, she vanished again before Song Zining could find his footing.

    Song Zining inhaled deeply and finally stabilized himself. ¡°Damn brat! Such a heavy blow, you think I can¡¯t see through your thoughts?¡±

    The month that followed was fairly calm.

    There were quite a lot of abnormalities under the seemingly calm situation. The number of people and goods flowing through Southern Blue had increased again, and the originally tight streets were now highly congested. People were cursing about the crowds and traffic but, at the same time, were quite happy about their heavy purses.

    The construction speed of the workshops saw a sharp increase as a steady stream of materials poured into the city. Time meant gold coins to the merchants. Once these factories had beenpleted, each day that it was empty meant a day of loss. Hence, every tradepany was recruiting craftsmen and technicians in advance.

    The industrial system in Southern Blue had already taken shape and one could already build an entire warship here. All but the dumbest people could see that this was a massive opportunity, and hence the increased investments. New investment meant increased men and resources, resulting in a positive cycle.

    As a vast amount of wealth gathered in Southern Blue, how to safeguard this wealth became an important issue. In the face of solid gold coins, the forces of Seagaze and Tidehark became less and less important. Even Zhang Buzhou¡¯s deterrence became fairly light inparison. All of the merchants supported Song Zining when he suggested building up the city¡¯s defensive power and cannon towers, forking out money and manpower in quick session. As they saw it, the bigger the stationed army, the better, even if the scale of their forces had begun to threaten those of Tidehark and Seagaze.

 Chapter 942: Sacrifice

    At this point, all the major tradepanies were no longer holding back. A steady stream of gold coins converged into a deluge of investment that flowed into Southern Blue. Be it the workshops or the army and cannon towers, all of them were developing at a stunning pace. Every leading character understood the value of a manufactured warship. This kind ofmodity would have the buyers lining up for them, and they would sell right off the assembly line.

    The people in charge of the major families andpanies were fighting for the chance to reach Southern Blue and ce their orders. As long as they could get their hands on an airship, price was no longer important. If, for instance, the Xue family from Seagaze were to get their hands on an airship and the ones ranked below them couldn¡¯t find a way to do so, they would be suppressed irreversibly.

    Song Zining had long since released news that Southern Blue would be producing genuine warships. They would be at the military-grade and only a bit inferior to the empire¡¯s most recent models.

    An ordinary armed airship was like a childpared to a military warship. They just weren¡¯t at the same level in terms of speed, defenses, and firepower.

    In the eyes of real major characters, this was a glimpse of hope for thends to be truly neutral. There¡¯s no real guarantee without a powerful airship fleet. Even people as strong as the Throne of Blood and Zhang Buzhou werecking in a fitting gshippared to the bigshots from Evernight. Because of this, they were only able to rule over the neutralnds and incapable of contending against the great dukes and princes.

    What they saw in Song Zining was the hope of a future gship. This was also why the major powers behind the curtains never made a move despite Southern Blue developing with great fanfare.

    As for the minor powers who wanted to take a bite out of this fat meat, they were either shocked out of their wits by the military might of Southern Blue or disabled by Qianye.

    Qianye had no distractions during this period and was able to focus wholly on his daybreak origin power cultivation. ording to the current progression, he would be able to break through to the next rank in a couple of months. This rate of cultivation would be extremely shocking in the empire, but Qianye was clear that his blood energy could no longer be suppressed once the war broke out¡ªit would only be a matter of time before an advancement. This could be attributed to the effects of Life Plunder, the Song n Ancient Scroll, and the Book of Darkness. It was just that he had no good art to progress his daybreak origin power, and all he could do was keep working as was routine for him.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce had been returned to the Northern Continent for the outfitting process. The draconic vessel was no longer a secret after its battle with Linken. The only thing that could give her a surprise was the speed of remodeling. ording to Song Zining¡¯s words, Linken would never have imagined that her main cannon would be installed and usable on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. A single moment of carelessness and this main cannon would sink a battleship.

    In most fights, the loss of a battleship at the beginning of a battle would immediately decide the oue.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was like a tiger with wings after the addition of this main cannon. Landsinker was a long range weapon with big burst firepower, and the vessel was tough enough to gain the advantage in long-range artillery confrontations.

    During this period, Ningyuan Heavy Industries sent two more waves of airships to the Northern Continent, delivering arge batch of skilled workers and required materials. At this point, Song Zining had already moved most of Ningyuan to the neutralnds. His core, reliable workforce was already on the Northern Continent. It could be said that he had bet his entire fortune.

    Bluemoon was obviously full of worry amidst all the bustling activity. She summoned her tribesman to several secret meetings. Then, before long, another group of Highbeards arrived on the Northern Continent. Thend was still a secret existence at the moment, so the arriving tribesmen had to undergo a series of precautionary procedures to be epted. Additionally, they would not be able to leave after arriving. Even so, Bluemoon was intent on having more people join.

    On the Northern Continent, the people from Ningyuan Heavy Industries had far surpassed the Highbeards, and they possessed a lot of advanced imperial technology as well. Hence, they were able to suppress the Highbeards in every field. Thetter were born technicians and warriors, but they were still a nomadic tribe after all. Their technology really couldn¡¯tpare to the thousand years of umtion in the empire.

    Bluemoon¡¯s meetings were also reflected on a different front. An extra branch of Highbeard mercenaries appeared in Southern Blue to join Dark me under Song Zining¡¯smand.

    As the prosperous and peaceful days went on and on, those with the qualification to know some things gradually became nervous. In their eyes, there were strong undercurrents flowing beneath the tranquility. The longer the calm, the more dangerous it was.

    The Throne of Blood¡¯s Scarlet Pce was a legendary name both in the Empire and Evernight. This was where the young vampire built his first family in the neutralnds. There were only two simple stone houses back then, but today, it had be a massive pce¡ªjust as that lowly vampire back then had grown into one of the leaders of the neutralnds.

    There were three figures prostrating at the center of the great hall. They were actually quite tall, but they looked tinypared to the giant hall.

    A young woman among them swayed unsteadily before falling to the ground. One of the other people rushed over to check on her, but the third person remained as still as a rock.

    The man providing first-aid broke into a wail soon afterward. Apparently, thatdy¡¯s life could no longer be saved. Drowning in pain and anger, he stood up and charged toward the end of the great hall. There was no one there¡ªonly a tall throne, its dazzling scarlet hue dering its identity. This was the Throne of Blood.

    The young man had to stop after rushing out several steps because his ankles had been grabbed firmly by a jaded old man. The skin on his hands was like dried bark, yet this hand contained an undeniable power. The young man couldn¡¯t extricate himself no matter how hard he tried.

    The young man cried out in shock and anger, ¡°Y-You clearly have so much strength left. Why did you not save her?¡±

    The old man¡¯s voice was low and raspy. ¡°This is her fate. She was destined to meet this fate the moment she joined us.¡±

    ¡°Damn your fate! If fate is really like that, I won¡¯t ept it, ever!¡±

    The old man didn¡¯t look up, but his voice contained a bit ofpassion. ¡°This is your fate, and mine. We can only ept it because there is no other way.¡±

    The young man raised his voice. ¡°No! You¡¯re all lying! There¡¯s no such thing as a fate that cannot be avoided. None! They killed her, and I want revenge!¡±

    The old man sighed. ¡°It¡¯s no use. No amount of struggling will produce results in the face of fate. Have you not seen it?¡±

    The young man felt sudden waves of pain from his leg. Looking down, he noticed that the old man had let go of him at one point. The dark red ground seemed to havee alive and wrapped itself around his ankle in the form of sanguineous vines. Moreover, they pierced deeply into his flesh. Shocked out of his wits, he wanted to break free, but it was all toote. His life force and energy flowed out from the wound like the tides. He became increasingly weak and eventually copsed while covered in blood.

    The blood formed a cocoon around him and wiggled for a moment before finally calming down and hardening into a cold surface.

    A ck-robed man emerged from a side door at the end of the tunnel. The person arrived before the elder and said, ¡°Go back, you won¡¯tst very long no matter how strong you are.¡±

    ¡°Why? Is our sacrifice not enough?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, the quantity is not sufficient.¡±

    The old man remained silent for a long while. ¡°We shoulder such heavy burdens of fate, how can there be enough of us? Our growth has to be hidden cautiously, afraid of being nipped in the bud. We don¡¯t have any resources, either, not even for survival. The growth of the people here was founded upon the bones of their brothers and sisters.

    The ck-robed man said indifferently, ¡°The master is not interested in your story. Even you won¡¯t be able to leave if the master finds out.¡±

    The old man remained unmoving on the floor. ¡°Perhaps we don¡¯t have enough power, but we have the same enemy.¡±

    The ck-robed man sneered. ¡°That¡¯s true, but you people aren¡¯t qualified to fight shoulder to shoulder with the master.¡±

    The old man said, ¡°We don¡¯t hope to fight alongside His Majesty. We have only brought news and advice, hoping His Majesty will recognize our sacrifice and ept our advice.¡±

    The ck-robed man was moved. ¡°Say it, everything here will not escape the master¡¯s perception. If your advice is useful, he¡¯ll consider it.¡±

    The old man said, ¡°We¡¯ve received news that the Evernight races have formed a coalition of airship fleets and are currently making for the neutralnds. Their target is the passage to the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The ck-robed man remained calm. ¡°And your advice?¡±

    ¡°His Majesty should team up with Zhang Buzhou and stop the Evernight fleet from entering the passage.¡±

    The ck-robed man¡¯s voice turned chilly. ¡°Did you ask our Master to join hands with Zhang Buzhou?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s the only way to stop them. A small sacrifice for the greater picture.¡±

    The ck-robed man hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a clear voice erupted in the hall. ¡°Asking me to team up with Zhang Buzhou, what an outrageous notion. What¡¯s the reason?¡±

    The elder was overwhelmed with joy. ¡°Is that you, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Reason?¡± The voice became clearly impatient.

    The elder replied, ¡°We¡¯ve more or less figured out the frightening future if they are allowed to upy the passage. The sky will be filled with boundless mes, countless beings will perish.¡±

    The voice only snorted.

    The elder cried out, ¡°Your Majesty, the Great Prophet had to pay with his life for this prophecy. And our lives are sacrificed just to prove it.¡±

    ¡°Since you crawlers like to sacrifice yourselves so much, I¡¯ll help you out.¡±

    With that, a wave of blood swelled up from the ground and drowned out the old man.

 Chapter 943: Strangers

    The old man disappeared in a sh,pletely devoured by the Scarlet Pce. Instead of leaving, the ck-robed man remained standing at the center of the hall. He asked in a rather concerned tone, ¡°Master, are we going to sit aside and do nothing? After all, the tunnel is in Zhang Buzou¡¯s hands.¡±

    ¡°Why should I pay any attention? In the past, it was fine to give the tunnel to Zhang Buzhou because it was useless. Now, its value is so great that he cannot handle it alone. Even in the neutralnds, Zhang Buzhou won¡¯t be able to stop the Empire and Evernight working together.¡±

    The ck-robed man said, ¡°Master, that might be the case, but perhaps we should help him a bit for the sake of the neutralnds overall.¡±

    The voice snortedzily. ¡°The bigger picture means nothing. Zhang Buzhou ims to be assaulting the heavenly monarch realm. I want to see just how close he is to the realm.¡±

    Failing to convince his master, the ck-robed man sighed. ¡°Perhaps the Empire and Evernight will fight among themselves like before.¡±

    ¡°Unless it¡¯s the same idiots fromst time, they¡¯ll wait until the passage is in their hands before fighting among themselves. That means they¡¯ll destroy Zhang Buzhou first before anything.¡±

    ¡°Master is wise.¡±

    The ck-robed man eventually withdrew, and the great hall once again recovered its calm.

    Qianye had justpleted his cultivation for the day. The night was deep, dark, and full of stars. He looked up into the distance where the massive body of the Martyr¡¯s Pce was lying across thend, much like a mountain range.

    There were lights flickering all throughout its body as ant-like workers climbed up and down, installing pieces of the newttice body armor.

    During this period, this was the scene he saw every time he woke up from cultivation. It was at this time that Qianye suddenly noticed something drifting across the starry sky. He looked up and realized that it was a deeply-colored autumn leaf, but it vanished entirely when he looked over.

    Qianye understood that this leaf didn¡¯t exist and that it was his own perception being affected. Needless to say, it was one of Song Zining¡¯s tricks. This seventh young master seemed to have be less fathomable after a period of absence. That was fairly strange because he was rarely ever seen cultivating, yet his drinking and revelry never fell short. Despite that, his cultivation never fell behindpared to the likes of Qianye and Zhao Jundu.

    Qianye understood that this flying leaf was Song Zining reminding him that the time was nigh.

    Qianye got up and walked toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Under the summoning of his consciousness, the pce responded and began trembling lightly.

    Bluemoon ran over to him rapidly. ¡°Sire, are you going out?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s time. How goes the outfitting?¡±

    ¡°The main cannon has been installed, along with four auxiliary cannons. Most of the outer walls have also beenpleted and will be done in a few more days. It¡¯s just that the origin array in charge of energy supply isn¡¯t strong enough. You can only fire the main cannon twice at most before having to recharge for half an hour.¡± Clearly, Bluemoon had long since made preparations for a swift report.

    ¡°Very good, continue the unfinished work along the way. Have the crew board the airship, we leave in half a day.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    At this moment, the Northern Continent was popted by elites and thus the preparatory work went on in an orderly manner. Although half a day was quite short, all the work was dulypleted in the end. The necessary materials had been loaded onto the ship, and the construction would continue along the way.

    The functional areas in the Martyr¡¯s Pce had already been nned out. Although it could be said that materials were piled up like mountains inside the vessel, the hold actually felt quite empty. The pce was simply too big, big enough to fit a small town inside. No one knew how long it would take to finish building everything. At this point, even the framework hadn¡¯t beenpleted just yet.

    The only area that had been properly constructed was the fuel storage chamber. Qianye was rather astonished by the area, which was close to a hundred meters wide, and it also served to remind him of how great the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s consumption rate was.

    Bluemoon wouldn¡¯t be following them as she needed to oversee the construction work on the ground. The entire Highbeard Tribe would only be able to call the Northern Continent home after the ancestralnd had been fully constructed and their people moved over. Having to shoulder such a heavy burden affixed a look of worry and exhaustion on her face. With the arrival of more and more people from Ningyuan Heavy Industries, she quickly realized that this was a difficult opponent. Be it on the future Northern Continent or in the system under Qianye, the Highbeards¡¯ position would never be as high as she had expected.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce rose slowly into the sky at dawn and left the Northern Continent.

    Qianye kept the Martyr¡¯s Pce in the void around the edge of the continent and flew toward Southern Blue alone. This short passage through the void could be considered a perilous chasm for someone below the divine champion realm. Qianye, however, was able to resist the erosion of the void for a short period of time due to his ancient vampire constitution.

    There were already three hundred men on the Martyr¡¯s Pce at this point. Most of them were technicians who would continue with the instation of the outer walls.

    After passing through the protectiveyer, Qianye swooped down like a falcon and shot straight toward Southern Blue. While he was still in the air, Qianye noticed several weird airships around the city¡¯s port.

    These airships looked like cargo vessels, and they were also packed to the brim with goods. But from high-above, Qianye found their outlines quite familiar¡ªthey were clearly corvettes from the imperial military. And therger one nearby, also carrying goods, was one of their cutting-edge destroyers.

    As an ex-member of Red Scorpion, it was a necessary subject to be able to differentiate Imperial and Evernight airships.

    These imperial airships were fairly well-disguised and almost identical to ordinary cargo ships. It was just that the disguise didn¡¯t quite take into ount the possibility of a spying in from above, much less one that was formally trained in the empire.

    Qianye was a bit startled upon seeing these airships. He hadn¡¯t expected that the empire woulde so quickly. The appearance of these regr warships in the neutralnds meant that war was just over the horizon.

    He nced up into the void with True Sight and saw that the flow of origin power was gradually bing gentler.

    Qianye retracted his aura as hended in Southern Blue and made straight for Dark me headquarters. There were a fair number of people with profound auras inside the city, some with overflowing killing intent. There would be a couple of experts around every street block. These people were oblivious of Qianye¡¯s presence, not even ncing back even if they were to brush past.

    The headquarters was also different from before. The entire base seemed to be on high-alert with double the sentries at the gate. After stating his identity, Qianye entered through the main gates without a hitch. Barely one month had passed, yet there were already unfamiliar faces in the headquarters. These people were markedly different from the people born in the neutralnds, and some areas in the base werepletely under their management.

    Judging from the interaction, the old Dark me members did not seem receptive to the neers at all. The gazes being exchanged were far from friendly, and misfires might¡¯ve already happened if Dark me¡¯s rules weren¡¯t as strict as the imperial regr army.

    Qianye frowned as he walked up the centralmand building. He had just taken a couple of steps when a rude voice came through from the side. ¡°Halt!¡±

    Qianye paid it no attention and kept on walking. A voice roared once more from behind him, ¡°I told you to stop!¡±

    This time, Qianye realized that the man was addressing him. He turned back with a sneer¡ªhe wanted to see who dared to talk to him like this inside Dark me headquarters.

    There was a courtyard to the rear where two warriors were staring at Qianye with their des drawn. It looked like they were tasked with guarding this courtyard but, for some reason, had set their eyes on the passer-by that was Qianye.

    The two were d in mercenary uniform, but the sharp killing intent and arrogance were different from the people here. Qianye could see faint shadows of the imperial elite in their demeanor.

    One of them pointed at Qianye, shouting, ¡°Who are you? Howe I¡¯ve never seen you before?¡±

    Qianye broke into augh instead of feeling angry. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you people before, either.¡±

    The soldier¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Nonsense! Who do you think you are to see me at will? Don¡¯t ramble when I¡¯m asking a question. I¡¯ll have youe inside if you don¡¯t reply.¡±

    Qianye smiled spuriously. ¡°You really want meing in?¡±

    The soldier revealed a sinister smile as he reached out to grab Qianye. ¡°You asked for it!¡±

    However, hispanion grabbed ahold of his hand. This experienced-looking soldier seemed to remember something as he gazed at Qianye. ¡°This area of the base is forbidden. Stay clear in the future, got it? You can go now.¡±

    The young warrior couldn¡¯t yet calm down. He stared at Qianye with burning eyes, much like a fierce beast on the verge of pouncing over. Nheless, the experienced soldier¡¯s firm grip stopped his idea of teaching Qianye a lesson.

    Qianye didn¡¯t budge, however. ¡°There are ces in Dark me where I can¡¯t go? Who made these rules?¡±

    Furious, the young man struggled free from hisrade and swing the stock of his gun at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re asking for a beating!¡±

    There was no way Qianye would get struck by this blow, but no amount of good temper was enough in this kind of situation. He sent the two guards flying with a kick, flinging them dozens of meters away, through the door behind them and into the courtyard.

    The change attracted dozens of warriors from the courtyard, as well as the sound of an rm.

    Standing at the door, Qianye let out a deep roar, ¡°Who¡¯s the leader? Get out here this instant!¡±

    The soldiers rushing at Qianye felt as though they had been struck in the chest by a sledgehammer. They fell to the ground in quick session, unable to get up no matter how hard they struggled. The people preparing to rush out of the building also tumbled down the stairs.

    A loud cry emerged from the building, ¡°Who dares behave so atrociously in my domain?¡±

    A burly middle-aged man with coarse hair andrge eyes rushed out from the building. His expression was fierce, and his facial hair was as hard as steel needles. He arrived before Qianye in two steps and swiped a w toward his throat.

    Qianye sneered inwardly. The opponent could be considered fairly careless, considering him to be an ordinary second-rate champion. Not to mention a rank-fifteen expert like this person, even divine champions would suffer from treating Qianye this way.

    This time, Qianye had no intention of holding back. His blood core pulsed strongly, almost as though it had woken up from a long dream¡ªhe was ready to heavily injure the opponent in one go.

 Chapter 944: Passage

    However, several green bamboos appeared between the two people. The nt was positively exuberant, with leaves as sharp as des. The bearded man charging at Qianye was shocked¡ªhis expert¡¯s intuition forced him to retreat and avoid this dangerous bamboo. Qianye, on the other hand, was able to see through the illusion and was hence unaffected by his reflexes. However, he could tell that this Bamboo was something Song Zining had conjured. Since the man had arrived, Qianye decided to contain his anger and refrain from attacking.

    The seventh young master arrived in a hurry. He had just arrived when that short-bearded man shouted, ¡°Seventh Young Noble, why are you stopping me from capturing thiswless brigand?¡±

    Song Zining was clearly unhappy, but he restrained his words. ¡°General Yan must be mistaken. This is Dark me¡¯smander, how can he be awless brigand?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that? I only know you around here.¡±

    Song Zining had never expected Yan Ding would be so rude. His expression changed drastically despite his upbringing, but even then, he was still able to maintain a smile. ¡°Sire Qianye is themander of Dark me. I only do some misceneous jobs under hismand.¡±

    Almost everyone in the empire knew Qianye¡¯s name¡ªthe one who defeated the Demoness, charged into the military base to snatch Nighteye away from Li Fengshui¡¯s custody, and then escaped under the watch of a divine champion. Many people believed that Qianye wasn¡¯t inferior to Zhao Jundu in terms of talent andbat strength.

    Song Zining had announced Qianye¡¯s name in hopes of shaking Yan Ding, at least preventing him from wanton action.

    However, Yan Ding was determined not to give Qianye any face. ¡°Qianye? Who¡¯s Qianye? I¡¯ve never heard of anyone by that name.¡±

    At this point, Song Zining could no longer endure. He said with a cold expression, ¡°General Yan, now you¡¯re being unreasonable. After all, Dark me is Qianye¡¯s. I only allowed you to camp here, not be the masters of this ce.¡±

    Yan Ding was startled, not expecting Song Zining to say such words. ¡°Seventh Young Noble is indeed sharp with his words.¡±

    Song Zining put his fan away and said with a dryugh, ¡°For better or worse, I¡¯ve also worked in the military before and seen many things under Prince Greensun¡¯s leadership.¡± The meaning behind his words was that he also had deep roots in the military and wasn¡¯t someone so easy to provoke.

    Yan Ding naturally understood the meaning, but he wasn¡¯t going to y along. ¡°Too bad Prince Greensun is no longer in the army.¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°He might¡¯ve left, but who in the military dares to disobey him?¡±

    Yan Ding¡¯s expression turned ugly. Song Zining was right¡ªthe empire might be powerful, but they still had to rely on their ns and heavenly monarchs in war. Just like on the void continent, a war of that scale couldn¡¯t be conducted without Zhang Boqian and the Pointer Monarch at the helm, and the major ns working to defend their own warzones.

    The top experts of the empire were distributed among the imperial family and the ns. The only one who belonged to the military was Longevity Monarch. Strictly speaking, the man wasn¡¯t entirely military-bound, either¡ªperhaps half at most.

    The young powers within the military who harbored deep hatred regarding this situation gradually became the core strength of the imperial party.

    Yan Ding sneered, ¡°Seventh Young Noble is right, Prince Greensun¡¯s strength is peerless and naturally no one would dare to disobey. Then again, His Excellency¡¯s rtionship with the Song n was never harmonious. Isn¡¯t it a bit forced to consider yourself one of his men?¡±

    Song Ziningughed indifferently. ¡°The Song n¡¯s situation is unrted to me. Let me speak some big words, few in the entire empire would turn me away if I were to swear loyalty.¡±

    Yan Ding was stoppered up. Song Zining had long since found fame as a peerless talent in military strategy while also maintaining his personal cultivation. Although inferior to Zhao Jundu in terms of overall ability, he was widely epted as a character destined to reach the divine champion realm. Any faction would be willing to pay a steep price for such a person.

    At the thought of this, Yan Ding¡¯s expression rxed a bit. ¡°I naturally know of Seventh Young Noble¡¯s genius. It¡¯s just that, there¡¯s no need for you to be associating with Qianye. Your actions might be destroying your future.¡±

    Qianye had remained silent all this time and only spoke up when his name was mentioned, ¡°Since you attacked me knowing who I was, perhaps you really think you¡¯ve lived too long. Don¡¯t tell me you think you can survive three minutes against me?¡±

    Yan Ding was furious. ¡°How dare a vampire utter such ravings? If General Lu didn¡¯t show mercy, how could you have escaped Indomitable? You survived by a fluke, yet you dare act so wantonly here. Do you really think the empire can¡¯t do anything to you just because you¡¯re hiding in the neutralnds?¡±

    Yan Dingughed grimly at this point, seemingly remembering something. ¡°That vampire slut was struck by General Li¡¯s Chaos Millstone. She¡¯d be a cripple by now even if not dead. What¡¯s the point in saving her? She should¡¯ve be a corpse already, right?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned dark, but Song Zining shouted before he could do anything, ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Yan Ding looked back. ¡°What advice does Seventh Young Master have?¡±

    Song Zining took a deep breath. ¡°You really aren¡¯t afraid of death, it seems.¡±

    Yan Ding replied, ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that I¡¯m an imperial general. You look like you still want to return to the empire, right? Do you dare kill me? Aren¡¯t you afraid you¡¯ll close your path back to the empire?¡±

    Qianye patted Song Zining¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Do you still want to persuade me to return now?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was ashen. He pointed at Yan Ding¡¯s nose and cursed, ¡°If you disrupt my business, you¡¯ll have to face the consequences! The empire did not send you here to stir up trouble. You can leave now if that¡¯s what you¡¯re here for!¡±

    Yan Ding looked back at his soldiers. ¡°You hear? They don¡¯t wee us, let¡¯s go!¡±

    As arrogant and fierce as they were, the soldiers broke into a roar. At this moment, a fair number of Dark me mercenaries had also gathered behind Qianye and Song Zining. These people were also causing quite the ruckus, iling curses and shouts at Yan Ding¡¯s group.

    Song Zining tapped his palm lightly with his fan. ¡°You¡¯re all clear about my identity. If you want to leave, that¡¯s fine, you must leave the warships behind. And let me remind you, you can walk out of this ce, but you might not be able to leave Southern Blue. Even if you could leave the city, don¡¯t ever think about returning to the empire.¡±

    Yan Ding was trembling from anger. ¡°Seventh Young Noble, you must remember that I¡¯m an imperial general. No matter how capable you are, you probably can¡¯t handle the crime of harming an imperial officer.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Hindering progress in war is a great crime. You won¡¯t be able to shoulder the me if the important matter at hand is dyed, not even Lu Junyi can. These warships belong to the empire, not Yan Ding.¡±

    Yan Ding was still furious, but the soldiers behind him were shaken. Song Zining continued after noticing this, ¡°Although I¡¯m here right now, I haven¡¯t abandoned my assets back in the empire. I have people in the imperial pce who can smooth out some minor problems for me. Heh heh, an expired marshal can¡¯tpare to the people behind me.¡±

    Yan Ding halted his steps. ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Song Zining replied frankly, ¡°A former marshal who has already drained his potential at the divine champion threshold has no hope of progress at all. He¡¯s able to drift along only because of his past achievements. Heh heh, does he think people don¡¯t know the little tricks he¡¯s been ying?¡±

    Yan Ding was livid, unable to continue this conversation. The soldiers behind him also looked at one another and seemed to have lost most of their morale. Someone like Song Zining naturally wouldn¡¯t spout nonsense. ording to him, it would seem Lu Junyi had done some inappropriate things, but the imperial court turned a blind eye in consideration of his past contributions. The influence of such a person would be weaker in both civil and military matters.

    Song Zining pointed at Qianye, saying, ¡°Marshal Lu wasn¡¯t able to capture Qianye back in Indomitable. He¡¯s here right now. You can go and tell Marshal Lu that he cane here to engage in a fight to the death.¡±

    Yan Ding was skeptical. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you think he can fight Marshal Lu?¡±

    Song Zining turned to Qianye. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts returned to that night. After a moment, he said, ¡°These things have long since passed, there¡¯s no point in killing him".

    Yan Ding¡¯s expression changed drastically. In the end, he said in disbelief, ¡°Since you''ve said so, I¡¯llply of course.¡±

    With that, he turned back into the courtyard, shouting, ¡°What are you all looking at? Go back in! Dismiss the sentries, too, they¡¯re nothing more than decorations.¡±

    Song Zining nced at Yan Ding¡¯s receding figure, and then dismissed the Dark me soldiers as well. He then went back into Dark me headquarters with Qianye in tow. After entering the office, Qianye asked, ¡°Where did those peoplee from?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°You must¡¯ve figured out by now that they¡¯re from the empire. Yan Ding is an imperial naval squadronmander, leading one of the empire¡¯s core forces. He arrived ahead of the main fleet in hopes of taking over the passage. I let them camp in Dark me in order to hide their tracks. Of course, that will only serve to hide them from the Evernight side. There¡¯s no way to deceive the local thugs here.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t look like they want to hide themselves,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°They have to fight sooner orter, so it doesn¡¯t matter. The imperial aristocracy are also arriving in session, even faster than the military. The things they really need to hide are the warships they¡¯ve brought along.¡±

    ¡°You summoned me here urgently, are we going to fight now?¡±

    ¡°The location of the passage has been confirmed, and we¡¯re only waiting on detailed analysis. However, the location is fairly problematic.¡± Song Zining opened up the map and pointed to a certain location. ¡°ording to my deductions, the entrance is probably here!¡±

    Qianye nced over and saw Song Zining pointing at Tidehark.

    Qianye had confronted the city more than once and knew that it was filled with powerful experts. The city lord himself was shockingly powerful. Qianye and Ji Tianqing might¡¯ve died if it weren¡¯t for their good luck.

    Now that this tunnel was opening in Tidehark City, it wasn¡¯t surprising that Song Zining found it difficult.

 Chapter 945: Command

    ¡°Does the Evernight side know?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°Since we¡¯ve managed to calcte the location, it¡¯s only a matter of time before the other side does the same. With the empire making such noticeable movements, how can we ever hide it? Linken was probably here for it, but fortunately, you managed to beat her back. This gives us the initiative.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°A useless one at that.¡±

    Whoever had the initiative would have to fight against Tidehark first. With the forces the Empire and Evernight could afford to dispatch, it was difficult to tell who would win. If the losses in Tidehark were too heavy, it would only give the opposing faction a free ticket into the passage. So, iming the initiative wasn¡¯t always a good thing. A three-party conflict was the most difficult kind to handle.

    ¡°This opportunity isn¡¯t that useful, but it¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Song Zining pointed at the map, saying, ¡°For instance, if the demonkin in this area are cut off from reinforcements, we can use this timeframe to uproot all of the families supporting them. We¡¯ll let them know that whoever supports Evernight will meet ugly fates.¡±

    Seeing Song Zining pointing at Seagaze, Qianye said, ¡°There are some families there who support us, the Xue for instance.¡±

    ¡°Then we should have them exert effort. Have them take the initiative to destroy the demonkin-supporting families.¡±

    Qianye frowned. Song Zining¡¯s n would leave the Xue family with no room to maneuver, but it was a fact that the seventh young master was the better strategist. No matter how difficult to execute his decisions seemed, they would always result in an advantageter on.

    Song Zining shot Qianye a nce. ¡°We¡¯ll go ahead with this n if you have no objections. I¡¯ll send someone to inform the Xue family.¡±

    Seeing a nod from Qianye, Song Zining said, ¡°Then let¡¯s talk about something, this Yan Ding¡­¡±

    He frowned with a difficult expression. ¡°Qianye, if you meet Lu Junyi again, how sure are you of defeating him?¡±

    ¡°Lu Junyi? The man who tried to stop me at Indomitable?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the man.¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of pondering, ¡°If he hasn¡¯t made any improvements, I might have a good chance of killing him in the wilderness. The chances will be even higher with the help of Zhuji and the others. It¡¯ll be difficult to say if he has broken through.¡±

    Song Zining broke into augh. ¡°It hasn¡¯t been long since west met him. Do you think everyone¡¯s a monster like you who can level up when they¡¯re bored?¡±

    Qianye felt a bit embarrassed.

    Song Zining¡¯s smile disappeared as he continued, ¡°No matter how weak Lu Junyi is, he¡¯s still a divine champion. Are you confident about dealing with him?¡±

    Qianye said in a serious manner, ¡°His attacks are nothing to write home about, even Zhuji could block it back then. I can surely withstand it at my current level. As for his defenses, I¡¯ve never heard of him possessing any special skills that can withstand my Shot of Inception. The odds will be even better if it¡¯s a wilderness battle. After all, my blood energy is at the marquis level.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good then. This kind of battle isn¡¯t my forte, you¡¯re on your own.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re nning to do Lu Junyi in? Is it appropriate at such a time?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°It¡¯s best if we don¡¯t need to do it. Unfortunately¡­¡±

    He didn¡¯t say what was unfortunate, and neither did Qianye ask.

    Next up, Song Zining exined to Qianye the details of the current situation. The vanguard fleet from the empire, made up of three squadrons, had already arrived in the neutralnds, with the main forceing in from behind. Apart from this squadron led by Yan Ding, the other two were made up of forces from the aristocracy and the imperial family. The ns were led by the Li family this time, mainly because their divination powers were necessary to pinpoint and enter the passage. It was only natural that they would oversee the situation while the four major ns put forth the manpower.

    Qianye was a bit surprised about the direct involvement of the imperial family. Their direct forces would rarely be mobilized under normal circumstances¡ªit would usually be the military or some aristocratic forces being sent in their name. The imperial family of this generation usually kept themselves well hidden and rarely showed off their martial prowess. They were basically in hibernation modepared to the previous generations. They had only begun showing off their power along with the increased activity of the imperial party.

    The Li family and the imperial family also made camp around Southern Blue. They had each found a ce to set up a supply base and camouge themselves among some major local tradepanies. As for the many airships flying in and out, there was really no telling how many of them were real cargo ships.

    The three vanguard fleets together might be a bit less powerful than Linken¡¯s fleet, but they were enough to hold their own in battle. The demonkin¡¯s presence in the neutralnds was evidently weakened, giving the humans a distinct advantage.

    With Linken heavily injured, Qianye knew how much of an edge they held. Having lost the support of their fleet, the demonkin who had arrived earlier would be destroyed if they so much as dared to poke their heads out.

    ¡°Then what are you waiting for? Concentrate all avable military power and explore the location of the passage.¡± As Qianye saw it, the situation at present was already quite clear.

    ¡°How can it be that easy?¡± Song Ziningughed ruefully. ¡°Disregarding whether or not we can take down City Lord Luo Bingfeng, must we really fight him? None of the three vanguard squadrons will listen to me, except perhaps the imperial family¡¯s.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°You¡¯re not themander for this battle?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    This seemed inconceivable. Song Zining and Qianye had been operating in the neutralnds for some time, and had already gained a stable footing. As Qianye saw it, Song Zining was far above those so-called n big-shots in terms of strategy and aplishments. Not many in the Song n couldpete with him in military contributions. Many members of the elder assembly had never even killed a count, yet they were always bbering about war and government.

    The importance of this expedition to seize the Great Maelstrom passage was only second to the void continent war. It was only natural that Song Zining should be leading this war. The Evernight Faction understood full well just how terrifying the seventh young master could be with a hand of good cards.

    However, the leading general wasn¡¯t Song Zining.

    Qianye said, ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s Yan Ding.¡±

    ¡°That trash? Impossible. The higher-ups won¡¯t do such a thing, no matter how muddled they are.¡± Song Zining calmed himself, and then sighed. ¡°In the end, it¡¯s all because we¡¯re too young. How can those people at our grandparents¡¯ age be content obeying ourmands? There was a meeting after the three vanguard squadrons were assembled. I rmended myself for themander role, but some people opposed the notion fiercely, so it was rejected.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Who opposed? I¡¯ll go discuss things with them. This is an important matter involving the army and the country, how can we let a bunch of old fogeys do as they wish?

    ¡°Discuss? How do you n to do that?¡± Song Zining broke into augh.

    Qianye raised his fist, saying, ¡°Nicely, of course. There are few among the guests who I cannot convince.¡±

    ¡°Let it be, let¡¯s just y along. I¡¯m also a bit tired.¡±

    ¡°How can we just let things be? Fighting for the position is fine and all, but these are imperial soldiers at risk. How can we let them all die for personal reasons?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°They aren¡¯t that useless.¡±

    Qianye snorted. ¡°It¡¯s Eden on the demonkin¡¯s side. If those old fellows really have the ability, why were they beaten up so badly in the Misty Wood?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t retort. ¡°Eden isn¡¯t just powerful inbat, from the fight in the Misty Wood, it¡¯s obvious that he¡¯s a master in strategy as well. If the demonkin are under his leadership, these people¡­ might not be able to defeat him. This is why I wanted to take the helm. It¡¯s just that these old men think they¡¯ve been leading wars for decades and that they won¡¯t lose to a greenhorn demonkin. What can I say?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Eden¡¯s true strength might be a marquis, he¡¯s just keeping himself hidden. How can a famed-n marquis be considered a greenhorn? Can those old men even defeat him?¡±

    ¡°To them, war and personal fights are two different matters.¡±

    ¡°People who say that are probably mediocre in strength. Are they even rank fifteen? Their origin powers were probably cultivated with drugs.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°What are you being so agitated for? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re being discriminated against. Bute to think of it, you¡¯ve really be bad. The old man who said these words is only rank fourteen, ha!¡±

    ¡°Rank-fourteen, is it? I¡¯ll go find him for a discussion.¡±

    Song Zining dragged Qianye back while shaking his head. ¡°You¡¯re looking down on people again. We¡¯re both rank-fourteen, so they feel that they¡¯re not so inferior to us.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°How is that even possible? These old fogeys can¡¯t evenst three moves against us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s you, I¡¯m not a fan of violence.¡± Song Zining rolled his eyes.

    Qianye was a master of peerless techniques. Be it his Sweeping Calm, Life Plunder, or Shot of Inception, all of them were powerful moves that could kill in one blow. Weaker opponents would find it hard tost half a move against Qianye. On the other hand, Song Zining saying he didn¡¯t like violence was clearly a false advertisement¡ªthis fellow with his mask and spear wasn¡¯t any less fierce than Qianye.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s lingering anger, Song Zining discarded his flippant demeanor and sighed. ¡°They fear not just me, but they¡¯re cautious of you as well. Our rtionship is too close, and you had fully offended the military at one point. These people also want to leave a good impression with the military.¡±

    Qianyeughed coldly. ¡°I offended the military?¡±

    Song Zining said unhurriedly, ¡°Qianye, did you think about it? With Nighteye¡¯s condition, her awakening is only a matter of time, even without the Chaos Millstone.¡±

    "Are you telling me to make up with the empire?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. I just hope you won¡¯t make the wrong decisions because of your anger. The military is still a massive entity, and it will take patience to topple it. There¡¯s also another pathway in addition to tearing them down.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t willing to tell him, however. ¡°It¡¯s a bit too early, let¡¯s discuss thatter. We should first talk about the matter at hand. Can you head over to Seagaze once?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°This strategy is different, there¡¯s no need to fight or kill. I will dispatch someone with you, and he will handle everything. Don¡¯t attack if there¡¯s no need to.¡±

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the point of me going?¡±

    ¡°On one hand, it¡¯s to guard against the demonkin, while on the other, it¡¯s to subdue those families. With you around, both Eden and those families would have to think thrice before doing anything. They¡¯re quite scared of you now.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t see the point.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s highly important.¡± Song Zining opened the doors before Qianye could say anything. ¡°Men, invite themander in!¡±

 Chapter 946: Return to Seagaze

    The officer entering the room was fairly young with long brows, a slim face, and a fairly clean, civilized demeanor. He seemed like the easily-bullied type no matter how one looked at him.

    His face was handsome, but there were no special features, the type that people would forget after seeing. There were dozens if not hundreds of such people in Dark me.

    Qianye had indeed never seen this face, but he recognized this person. Moreover, he was fairly familiar.

    ¡°Young Miss, howe it¡¯s you?¡± Qianye¡¯s expression was calm.

    This young officer was, in fact, Ji Tianqing in disguise. Wherever she was, trouble would emerge out of nowhere. It would seem Qianye had no choice to follow along on this trip, lest she messed things up.

    Ji Tianqing asked in disbelief, ¡°How did you figure it out?¡±

    Her disguise was virtually perfect. Not only had she changed her appearance, but even her body size was different. She had grown somehow taller and was on par with Qianye¡¯s stature. People would rightfully feel that this was an unfamiliar young man and never connect him to Ji Tianqing.

    It was no wonder that she would feel depressed after such a disguise was so easily seen through. Qianye didn¡¯t know how to give her a proper answer, so he replied honestly after some thought, ¡°Intuition.¡±

    Ji Tianqing felt the urge to go berserk. She was ready to doubt whatever answer that came from his mouth, but the word intuition deprived her of ways to retort.

    Song Zining said at this point, ¡°All prepared? Qianye arrived a bit early, but that¡¯s good as well. Go quickly and return fast, get the job done. I¡¯ve already prepared the men and cars, you guys can set out anytime.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s work efficiency was quite high. In just half an hour, two jeeps were waiting at the entrance to themand center and began charging toward the airship port after picking the two up. There was already an airship waiting at the port.

    What made people speechless was that the airships had actually lowered their gangnks, allowing the two jeeps to drive straight into the cabin. The doors shut tight following the retraction of the gangnk, and the airship flew toward Segaze. Qianye and the others didn¡¯t even need to get off their cars during the entire process.

    Sensing the pressure of the ascension, Qianye said, ¡°This should be a regr imperial transport ship, right? What¡¯s the point of the disguise if they¡¯re going to drive this way?¡±

    Indeed, the airship¡¯s vertical and linear eleration wasn¡¯t any weaker than a warship since the military transports needed to operate together with the entire fleet. Although it had been disguised as an ordinary cargo ship, the speed betrayed its true identity. What kind of cargo ship would be that fast? High-speed civilian airships could not even reach half of its current speed.

    Additionally, loading armed vehicles onto the airship via gangnk was a feature unique to military-grade transports. All of this made the good camouge rather meaningless.

    Ji Tianqing had kept her eyes closed all along. ¡°We have no ns to hide anything on this trip. Those families will only submit after seeing our strength.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°We have to fight if they don¡¯t obey us, right? We didn¡¯t bring any expert, either.¡±

    Ji Tianqing pointed at herself. ¡°Isn¡¯t this general an expert? You¡¯re not so bad, either.¡±

    Qianye refused toment. Instead, he took the time to think back and analyze the experts he had seen in Seagaze in preparation for the battle ahead.

    Seagaze wasn¡¯t too far from Southern Blue. Although the high-speed transport was swift, it wasn¡¯t really that much faster than Qianye and Ji Tianqing running over on their own. The vessel elerated to max velocity and sped toward Seagaze like a shooting star.

    Chaos descended upon the walls of Seagaze. A sharp rm echoed throughout the city as the ballistae atop the two turrets did their utmost to turn and lock onto the unwee guests, but those seemingly old cargo ships were just too quick. The cannoneers were already beet red, but the rotating ballistae still couldn¡¯t lock onto their targets.

    If even the ballistae couldn¡¯t lock on, then the ones fired by the archers had even less of a chance at finding their mark. The defense captain on the city walls was drenched in sweat, cursing and sweating as he ran aboutmanding the city guards.

    This highspeed airship was definitely showing off and establishing might. It rushed straight into the sky above Seagaze before returning outside and eventually turning the side of its vessel toward the city walls.

    If it were a warship, this would be a standard volley-fire stance. Although one couldn¡¯t see any ballista cannons on this airship, no one knew how many of them were hidden inside this rapid-flying airship. Perhaps it could destroy a gate tower in just one volley.

    ¡°Take cover! Take cover!¡± The officer¡¯s desperate cries echoed across the city walls. At this point, some soldiers hadn¡¯t even reached their posts and the ballista cannons were still turning back from the direction of the city center. From the warship¡¯s perspective, there were live targets everywhere.

    The warship hovered calmly in the air for a good while,pletely motionless. Only when the two ballista cannons were about to lock on did it retreat out of their range.

    The defense general was sweating profusely. This was a standard evasive maneuver usually performed by high-performance warships. How could there be such powerful warships in the neutralnds? This general could hardly believe his eyes for he had only seen such a maneuver in textbooks.

    Only at this point did the airship descend slowly.

    Inside the cabin, a tall man arrived beside the jeep and gently rapped on the windows. ¡°General, I think we¡¯ve yed with them quite enough. You cane down now.¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. Soon, several jeeps exited the transport ship in a single file and made straight for Seagaze.

    At this moment, the defense general was gazing cautiously at the iing motorcade. His face twitched as he heard a sudden click in his ears. Turning back, he saw a soldier currently taking aim and pulling the bolt back, ready to fire.

    Furious, the captain ran over and pped him to the floor. ¡°Who told you to move? Listen, everyone! No one opens fire without my orders! Don¡¯t even aim!¡±

    The guards were immediately speechless. They soon lowered their guns and the cannon turrets also stopped turning about. The situation was obvious¡ªthe peopleing down from this unprecedented airship seemedpletely fearless of the city¡¯s defense cannons. If they were to fire randomly, things would look bad if they provoked a true expert.

    This order stopped Seagaze¡¯s momentum but ensured the lives of their men.

    The city guard general jumped down from the wall and stopped the iing jeeps at the gates.

    There was no movement on Ji Tianqing¡¯s side. Only an officer came down from the leader car and said to the defense general, ¡°Hand this to the Xue family, they will know what to do. Additionally, our superior is very busy, we¡¯ll only wait ten minutes.¡±

    The defense general was shocked out of his wits. Ten minutes was only enough for him to run to the Xue family and back. Even if he could meet the n lord immediately, there wouldn¡¯t be enough time for a prolonged report. Unable to care about the origins of the insignia that had been ced in his hands, he left immediately to report the matter.

    Fortunately, he ran into a group of soldiers running toward the city gate and their leader was a Xue family elder. The defense general handed the insignia over in a hurry and quickly summarized what had transpired.

    The elder¡¯s expression changed drastically upon seeing the insignia. He merely asked where these people were before breaking out into a run.

    Momentster, Qianye and Ji Tianqing entered the Xue family mansion and were duly seated.

    Some old men arrived in session and sat down across from the duo. Judging from the lineup, it would seem that all of the family¡¯s elders were present, Xue Wu looking fairly eye-catching in their midst.

    At first, some of the elders looked fairly aggressive during their entry. However, their expressions shifted drastically upon seeing Qianye. Their anger quickly subsided as they opted to sit down obediently. From the beginning to the end, there weren¡¯t many who dared to look straight at Qianye. His fight at Seagaze back then was deeply etched into their hearts.

    After everyone was in their seats, the Xue family lord nced deeply at Qianye. ¡°Guests, you must be tired from your long journey, yet I must ask, what is the meaning of this insignia, please exin.¡±

    Qianye remained silent since he was only in charge of fighting and sitting beside Ji Tianqing, who would handle everything else.

    The young officer beside Qianye chuckled gently. ¡°n Lord, do you really not recognize this?¡±

    She was fairly young in appearance, and her strength wasn¡¯t anything to write home about. Add to that her somewhat frivolous attitude, the elders from the Xue family were highly dissatisfied. It was just that they could really do nothing with Qianye around. No matter how hateful or weak this little gigolo was, hispanion was more than enough to make up for him.

    The Xue n lord coughed. ¡°I really do not know.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t know, I¡¯ll exin. But, there are so many people here, are you sure it¡¯s fine for them to hear?¡±

    Amotion descended upon the elders. Now, Ji Tianqing was directly questioning their qualifications to learn important secrets.

    The Xue n Lord¡¯s reply was clear. ¡°This matter regards the family¡¯s continued existence. I cannot decide everything alone, we¡¯ll need all the elders for a conclusion.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a carefreeugh, ¡°And here I thought the n lord was a man who could make decisions, who would¡¯ve imagined? If we¡¯re on the brink of war, will you also hold an elder assembly to decide? If someone doesn¡¯t agree, you¡¯ll stop doing anything?¡±

    Someone among the elders finally flipped out. He was just about to start cursing, but Qianye suddenly opened his eyes and shot him a nce. Whatever he was about to say was caught in his throat, which he duly swallowed as he sat back down.

    The Xue n lord said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m indecisive, but this matter is too important. Only such a decision will convince the entire family.¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve decided this, I¡¯ll start speaking. I just hope you don¡¯t regretter on.¡± Ji Tianqing knocked on the table and was just about to speak when Xue Wu suddenly stood up. ¡°Please wait! I think everyone except the grand elder should withdraw temporarily.¡±

 Chapter 947: Blood-Stained Decision

    These words caused a sizablemotion.

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    ¡°You think we¡¯re not qualified to speak regarding this important matter?¡± Some elders were furious.

    Others said calmly, ¡°Looks like we¡¯re indeed getting old.¡±

    ¡°This Xue family no longer needs old fogeys like us.¡±

    Some peopleshed out directly, ¡°How dare a youngster like you say such things? Do you still recognize the family rules?¡±

    ¡°I knew it, the Xue family will fall in the hands of you traitors!¡±

    Apparently, they weren¡¯t afraid of this junior. At the very least, not as much as they were of Qianye.

    The Xue n Lord spoke, ¡°All elders and executives will remain, we shall decide this matter together. That¡¯s final.¡±

    Since the n lord has spoken, there was no longer a reason for Xue Wu to insist. He lowered his head with a livid expression; his words just now had angered many people and brought about numerous curses.

    Being privy to ssified information was a part of status and authority. None of the old men here were willing to be left out.

    Ji Tianqing waited silently. Only after the elders¡¯ bickering had calmed down did she say calmly, ¡°Since the n lord can¡¯t recognize it, let me just tell you straight. This is the emblem of a demonkin family.¡±

    Few among the elders were moved. The insignia was cast in characteristic demonkin style, and most experienced people would be able to figure it out. It was just that not all people could tell which demonkin family it belonged to.

    The Xue n lord¡¯s expression was somewhat unsightly. ¡°Forgive my clumsy eyesight, I wasn¡¯t about to figure out which family ites from.¡±

    ¡°Do you really not know?¡± Ji Tianqing did nothing to hide her mockery.

    A couple of elders in the crowd nced at the n lord.

    The Xue family lord could no longer muddle through regardless of his calm. ¡°This seems to be a Masefield family insignia.¡± As a major demonkin family, their emblem wasn¡¯t as rare as the smaller ones.

    Ji Tianqing smiled. ¡°Your eyesight is keener this time, it seems. Correct, this is a Masefield insignia, it¡¯s just that this one is a bit special.¡±

    The n lord picked up the insignia and observed it for a good while. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, this insignia belongs to a certain¡­ marquis?¡±

    Amotion broke out among the Xue family elders. A demonkin marquis, to them, was an awesome major character. Had Qianye done someone like that in?

    The ridicule in Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes was obvious. ¡°Surely, you jest. How can this be a marquis¡¯? Since you¡¯re not willing to say it, then I won¡¯t hold back anymore. This emblem belongs to Vice-Duke Linken.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± The insignia fell from the n lord¡¯s hands onto the table.

    ¡°Do you still want to ask if it¡¯s real?¡±

    The Xue n lord¡¯s face reddened somewhat, but he remained headstrong. ¡°This insignia indeed possesses signs of a Masefield higher-up, but there¡¯s no personal mark. I wonder how you decided that it¡¯s from Linken?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°Only a duke can possess such an emblem, this is undeniable. As for why it belongs to Linken, that¡¯s because it was snatched from her hands.¡±

    The elders looked at one another. Many of them had never even heard of Linken¡¯s name because the world beyond the neutralnds was just too far away for them.

    It was clear, however, that the Xue n lord knew who she was. He barely managed to suppress his shock and say, ¡°You brought out Linken¡¯s insignia, what are your intentions?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied objectively, ¡°Very simple. Linken was the leader of the demonkin reinforcements heading here. I can tell you right now that these reinforcements are no more.¡±

    The n lord remained silent for a while. ¡°What do you want our Xue family to do?¡±

    Before Ji Tianqing could reply, an elder shot to his feet and roared, ¡°Why must we believe that their reinforcements have been lost? Don¡¯t tell me we have to trust whatever you say? Do you think we¡¯re brainless? Even if what you say is true, a gigantic entity like Evernight only needs to dispatch another fleet. The situation will turn around once the demonkin army arrives!¡±

    Qianye jumped up before the Xue family lord could say anything, and a red light flickered in his hand.

    That elder was still talking with great confidence when his expression changed drastically. He looked down just in time to see a couple of red spots slowly spreading outward. The spots were fairly small and merely the size of a pea even toward the end. However, the elder lost all strength and copsed before he could say anything.

    An uproarmenced in the room as everyone rushed over to check the elder¡¯s surroundings. They were also guarded against Qianye, but none dared to attack him.

    The most frightening thing about an enemy like Qianye was that he had no fear of a group attack. Additionally, he was simply too fast and fierce. Even in a group melee, the enemy he chose to face head-on would find it hard to escape death. As people who valued their lives, none of the Xue family elders were willing to take the initiative.

    Only a handful of people like the Xue n lord and Xue Wu were able to see that Qianye had shot out several red threads. They had no idea what special effects were involved, but it was so powerful that the elder immediately lost all signs of life.

    ¡°Why!?¡± The n lord was both shocked and furious.

    Ji Tianqing sat down calmly. ¡°This elder seems to have made up his mind to stand with the demonkin. There¡¯s no other way but to send him to his death.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re killing people in the Xue family! Do you still have us in your eyes?¡± an elder rebuked.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Do you still not understand? We¡¯re determined to win this war, there¡¯s no space for discussion. Whoever stands with the demonkin will be killed immediately, no matter who they are.¡±

    Another elder stood up angrily. ¡°Preposterous! You¡¯re forcing us to lean toward the demonkin!¡±

    ¡°We will wipe your family out if that happens.¡± Ji Tianqing spoke so nonchntly, almost as though wiping out an entire family was a small matter.

    The Xue family lord could no longer remain calm at this point. ¡°It seems your side didn¡¯te here to discuss trade.¡±

    Ji Tianqing hadn¡¯t spoken when Xue Wu said with a wry smile, ¡°n Lord, do you still not understand? They¡¯re not here to discuss trade, they¡¯re here to tell us to pick a side.¡±

    An ufortable silence bore down upon the hall.

    Another elder tried asking, ¡°Then, what if our Xue family doesn¡¯t cooperate?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied coldly, ¡°We¡¯re on the verge of a great war, how can we allow an unknown factor to ruin the bigger picture? Before the next wave of demonkin reinforcements arrives, we will uproot those who do not support the empire.¡±

    These words were quite unceremonious. The Xue n lord¡¯s expression shifted drastically, not having expected such ack of leeway. He said with a frown, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of losing loyalty by doing such a thing?¡±

    ¡°At this point, do you think the empire requires the loyalty of fence-sitters? Please make a decision as to your future path. We will leave immediately if you do not stand with the empire.¡±

    The Xue n lord smiled wryly. ¡°T-This is too much of a rush. Can you give us some time to discuss this?¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. ¡°Fine, half an hour it is.¡± With that, she sat down again, fully disying the stance of a guest bullying his host.

    The Xue family lord smiled ruefully as he got up and left the room. The elders nced at one another, and then at the corpse of the elder on the ground, before leaving in a single file.

    Qianye arrived before the window and gazed silently at the expansive array of Xue family buildings.

    Ji Tianqing said with a shrug, ¡°All of this is Song Zining¡¯s idea. I¡¯m only acting as his mouthpiece. If you want to me someone, go me him! Here, take a look at this.¡±

    With that, Ji Tianqing passed Qianye a small booklet.

    Qianye opened it up and saw it densely packed with written dialogue, most of which had been spoken by Ji Tianqing. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°The script.¡±

    ¡­

    In the courtyard next to the conference room, the Xue family elders were currently in a heated argument. There were still a couple of headstrong people who were adamant about their decisions. They didn¡¯t dare speak up in front of Qianye, but now that they were on their own, there was no longer any holding back.

    Most elders just wanted more favorable terms and fish for more benefits. As for how to split the gains, there were different opinions. It was as though raising their voices would gain them a bigger share.

    The Xue n lord¡¯s brows knitted tightly. He said to Xue Wu, ¡°Little Wu, what do you think?¡±

    Xue Wu, who had remained silent all this time, replied, ¡°Do you still not understand, n Lord? Our value is minuscule.¡±

    ¡°You and Qianye know each other, can you try talking to him?¡±

    Xue Wu sighed lightly. ¡°With such a great power difference, how much do you think I can get him to amodate us? Besides, there are no old sentiments between him and our family.¡±

    The elders were silent. Thinking back to things, the Xue family had attacked Qianye many times¡ªboth openly and in secret¡ªsuffering greatly in the process. This so-called friendship was actually them being beaten into submission.

    Yet, the conditions put forth by Ji Tianqing were simply too poor, almost nonexistent really.

    It was at this time that Xue Wu suddenly stepped sideways and arrived behind two stubborn elders. A cold gleam flickered in his hand as two daggers stabbed into their backs.

    Xue Wu¡¯s sudden attack shocked everyone. The n lord yelled, ¡°Little Wu, what are you doing!?¡±

    Xue Wu allowed the two corpses to fall before tossing the bloody daggers away. ¡°All of this is for the survival of the Xue family. These two have received great benefits from the demonkin. It¡¯s only natural that they won¡¯t agree. We can¡¯t doom the family for their personal profits, can we? n Lord, please make a decision.¡±

    An elder sighed. ¡°Why go so far, why go so far? No matter how fierce that Qianye is, he¡¯s just a single person. He can¡¯t kill all of us!¡±

    ¡°He can, though,¡± Xue Wu said, looking down. His expression and tone were calm.

    Everyone fell into a deep silence. No one dared to question the decision.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, our Xue family will side with the empire!¡± The Xue n lord came to a painful decision.

    Momentster, Ji Tianqing stood straight as she listened to the Xue n lord¡¯s decision. Her flippant attitude was nowhere to be seen, now reced by the momentum of a peerless expert as she said, ¡°Congrattions, n Lord.¡±

    These calm congrattory words shocked the elders into cold sweat.

    Xue Wu arrived before Qianye with an austere expression. ¡°Sire Qianye, we are your subordinates from now on, nothing more!¡±

 Chapter 948: Inappropriate

    Qianye sighed inwardly. This was perhaps the price of war.

    After half a day of peace, chaos fell upon Seagaze at twilight. mes rose up everywhere in the city along with a symphony of killing, fighting, and the sound of the cannon turrets rumbling. It was just that some turrets were firing aimlessly toward the sky while others were picking out specific targets. One of the towers even started sting at another tower, which soon copsed with a boom.

    Private troops scuttled hurriedly throughout the city, the Xue family¡¯s men making up most of the lineup. They rushed into several family estates and killed everyone inside mercilessly. Even a small family that was usually on good terms with the Xue family wasn¡¯t spared.

    Several airships appeared in the night sky at one point. These vessels looked like ordinary cargo ships, but their firepower was inconceivably powerful. They would fire at and suppress all ground areas showing fierce resistance, allowing the Xue family army to im quick victory.

    The fierce battlested the entire night and only came to a close toward sunrise. The sound of scattered gunfire could still be heard every now and then.

    Qianye was standing on the airship at this point, looking down on the entire city. The vessel spun about from time to time, trembling violently as it rained artillery upon the city below.

    The suppressive artillery was extremely urate, producing no unnecessary casualties as far as Qianye could see. This proved that the cannoneer was also an expert, at least a champion in cultivation.

    The resistance of the families below gradually fell apart. An asional dark shadow would jump out from the battlefield, with numerous others hunting him down. Those were the demonkin hiding in the various family estates who didn¡¯t have time to escape before the upheaval began.

    Only a handful of demonkin were killed, and they weren¡¯t that strong, either. There wasn¡¯t a single one on Eden¡¯s level, so there was no need for Qianye and Ji Tianqing to take action. This was no secret¡ªdemonkin were proficient in concealment and ambushes. The true experts had already escaped immediately after the mes of war broke out. The remainder were just riff-raff.

    Despite that, the demonkin force suffered greatly after this battle. Their vassal families were uprootedpletely, depriving them of their ws, fangs, eyes, and ears¡ªthey would find it difficult to operate efficiently from now on.

    This gap would afford Song Zining the time to set things up. Even though the authority wasn¡¯t in his hands, the seventh young master still wouldn¡¯t hold back.

    The price of this opportunity was this burning Seagaze City and the destroyed families here. The hatred from tonight would go on for hundreds of years.

    This was war.

    After observing the battlefield in silence for a while, Qianye asked, ¡°How many people did you send in?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied with a question, ¡°You noticed it?¡±

    Qianye pointed at a certain ce. ¡°Aren¡¯t those the Broken Winged Angels? Their cultivation art is too obvious.¡±

    ¡°Less than a hundred.¡±

    Although less than a hundred men had been sent in, all of them were elites. They permeated the battlefield in small groups that worked together to take downrge targets. Their vigor and skill took Qianye back to the time when he was just a rookie.

    No demonkin expert appeared from the beginning up until the end, so there really was no suspense in this battle. In the end, Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡± Soon, the airship made a slow turn and flew back to Southern Blue.

    The Dark me headquarters wasn¡¯t filled with the joy of victory but, instead, with the smell of gunpowder.

    Song Zining was seated in the conference room, waving his fan in a calm demeanor. The aides behind him, on the other hand, looked fairly nervous. Some of them looked angry, even. That was because all the me in the hall was targeting Song Zining.

    Yan Ding was on his feet, pointing at Song Zining¡¯s nose as he roared, ¡°Song Zining! What insolence! Who gave you the galls to take over military warships!? This is a crime worthy of familial extermination!¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t reply. Instead, he diverted the man¡¯s finger with his fan and said with a calm smile, ¡°General Yan, calm down.¡±

    Yan Ding was trembling all over. ¡°Song Zining! Well done! Aren¡¯t you afraid you¡¯ll invite a cmity onto your family?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m afraid¡­ I guess.¡±

    There were two more parties in the room apart from Yan Ding and Song Zining¡¯s. At this moment, one of them couldn¡¯t help but let out a chuckle.

    Everyone knew that the Song n couldn¡¯t be overturned no matter how great of a sin Song Zining hadmitted. This was amon tradition in the empire¡ªthe Song n would, at most, drive him out of the n. This was a special privilege of the major ns and aristocratic families. Andowning household in this position would be exterminated.

    Yan Ding was raging because he knew of this point. If it wasn¡¯t for the knowledge that he was not the seventh young master¡¯s match, he might¡¯ve attacked out of anger already.

    Now that he could neither win verbally nor physically, he couldn¡¯t help but flip out. ¡°You aristocrats are poison to the empire. The empire will never see resurgence without uprooting you!¡±

    These words caused everyone¡¯s expressions to transform drastically. Basically everyone here was either born of or rted to nobility.

    Li Kuann broke into a frown, seemingly about to act up, but the elder nearby stopped her. He said to Yan Ding, ¡°Families like us have spilled immeasurable sweat and blood since the founding of the empire. The empire stands as it is today because of our efforts. How dare an ignorant scoundrel say such preposterous words!?¡±

    Another elder rebuked, ¡°The military is just a group of hired thugs working for the empire. Howe they¡¯re so full of themselves recently? Do they not know their ce?¡±

    Another person said gloomily, ¡°The military wants to unroot the aristocracy? Then who else do they n to uproot after the aristocracy is gone?¡±

    ¡°Is there a need to ask? Whoever sits above them, of course.¡±

    Yan Ding was furious at first, but he was drenched in cold sweat soon afterward. These crafty old men never once mentioned his name, merely pinning all the me on the military. If these traitorous words were to reach the empire, the big-shots of the military would never let Yan Ding off easily. The aristocracy wouldn¡¯t even need to do anything.

    At this point, Song Zining said, ¡°I merely borrowed a couple of airships, why are you so irritated? Now they¡¯re almost back, and I¡¯ll pay you back if there¡¯s any damage. You¡¯ll also get a share of their contributions.¡±

    Yan Ding was in an abyss of suffering at first. After seeing a way out, he immediately said with a deep snort, ¡°If there are contributions to be gained, they¡¯ll go to your party of course. How can this general im them as my own?¡±

    His expression was full of rage, but his feet took him back to his seat pretty fast. There were four parties in the conference room: Song Zining, Yan Ding, Li Kuann¡¯s aristocracy, and the imperial family. The handful of people here represented the entirety of the empire¡¯s forces in the neutralnds.

    At this point, a well-groomed man from the imperial family cleared his throat. ¡°Seventh Young Noble¡¯s thunderous strategy does Prince Greensun¡¯smendation great justice, I am truly in awe. It¡¯s just that this battle merely cleared out the surroundings a bit. The hiding demonkin powers have yet to be shaken. What is your n here on out?¡±

    Song Zining said without hesitation, ¡°Attack Tidehark and take down the Great Maelstrom!¡±

    These words shocked everyone in the hall.

    The well-groomed elder from before couldn¡¯t hold back his astonishment. ¡°Is this a joke? How can we take down Tidehark with the forces we have?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The power we have at hand is indeed weaker than Tidehark¡¯s, but it¡¯s not as if we cannot fight. It¡¯s not that hard to defeat the city guard, we only need to restrain the city lord, Luo Bingfeng, briefly and use diversionary tactics. At that time, Luo Bingfeng will fail without sufficient support and have no choice but to retreat.¡±

    The old man said with a frown, ¡°There¡¯s too much risk involved. We know nothing about Luo Bingfeng, and how can it be easy to restrain an expert at this level? Also, judging from your n, the dispatch andmand of troops is the key to this battle. Who¡¯s going to be inmand?¡±

    Song Zining said frankly, ¡°Me, naturally.¡±

    The old man frowned in silence, but Yan Ding sneered, ¡°How will I know that you won¡¯t send my men to their deaths? I¡¯ve probably offended you enough at this point.¡±

    Song Zining paid him no attention. He turned to Li Kuann and said, ¡°What do you say, Young Noble Kuann?¡±

    Li Kuann snorted expressionlessly. ¡°Inappropriate.¡±

    Song Zining was genuinely bewildered. He calmed himself and inquired, ¡°What part of it isn¡¯t appropriate?¡±

    ¡°It just isn¡¯t!¡±

    Song Zining opened his mouth but didn¡¯t know how to continue this conversation. Judging from Li Kuann¡¯s attitude, it seemed she was determined to go against him no matter what he said. Everyone, including a Li n elder, looked at one another, unable to understand Li Kuann¡¯s intention.

    ¡°Young Noble Kuann, this matter is extremely important, have we not already discussed this?¡± Song Zining¡¯s words elicited a dissatisfied snort from Yan Ding. The old man from the imperial family looked pensive. Apparently, Song Zining and the Li family had already agreed to something secretly; it was just that no one knew how wide its scope was. For some reason, though, Li Kuann was now going against the agreement.

    The Li family elder coughed. ¡°Young Master, since you say it¡¯s inappropriate, why not exin why it is so. The seventh young noble and our Li family share a good rtionship. He¡¯s offered us much help, and the empress has nothing but praise for him.¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought Li Kiann would shoot to her feet and shout, ¡°It¡¯s simply inappropriate. Continue the discussion if you¡¯re willing, no need to seek me out.¡±

    With that, she picked up her sword and left.

    Song Zining was stunned, and all the aristocratic elders seemed puzzled. The Li family elder seemed more experienced in such matters. He immediately stepped in to smooth things over, saying, ¡°Young Noble Kuann has important matters to attend to. Let us continue the discussion on our own.¡±

    Although Li Kuann enjoyed the highest status among the Li family members in the neutralnds, she was focused on the martial path and had little interest in trivial matters. Her presence here was more of a symbol than anything. This Li family elder was the one doing the actual administration. After the initial surprise following Li Kuann¡¯s departure, the discussion simply went on like before.

    As for her temper, everyone was clever enough not to ask.

    Yan Ding said unceremoniously, ¡°Continue the discussion, I¡¯ll be taking my leave first.¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Why the rush? The aplishments for winning this bitter fight will be significant. No share will be too small.¡±

    Yan Ding¡¯s expression was disdainful, but his feet couldn¡¯t move away.

    The aristocracy and the imperial family looked indifferent. At this moment, everyone understood that the warships Song Zining had somehow snatched from Yan Ding¡¯s hands would no longer return. Hence, the general¡¯s presence in the battle for Tidehark City wasn¡¯t that important. The only difference would be theck of a rank-sixteen expert. The key to this battle was to restrain Luo Bingfeng, a fight close to one at the heavenly monarch realm.

    However, Song Zining¡¯s words contained certain implications¡ªhe was willing to share contributions with Yan Ding. Some of the elders nodded in secret, realizing that this youngster was indeed experienced and had great potential. Unknowingly, Song Zining¡¯s evaluation had risen once again.

    Only those truly familiar with Song Zining would know that the seventh young master¡¯s thoughts were almost a mystery despite the smile on his face.

 Chapter 949: Agreemen

    After a period of silence, the Li family elder said, ¡°I think themanding post is fairly secondary, we can discuss thister. Rather, I¡¯m hoping Seventh Young Noble will exin why we must attack in such a hurry.¡±

    The imperial family elder nodded. Attacking Tidehark at this point involved risks that didn¡¯t need further boration. Even if they could score a victory, it would stille at a hefty price.

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Naturally.¡±

    He got up and hung arge map on the wall, a panoramic diagram epassing the twenty-seven continents of the Evernight world. The neutralnds was at the very edge of the map. ¡°The fight for the Great Maelstrom passage is highly important, but it¡¯s definitely not the most important thing. Hence, we are to act as the vanguard and confirm the situation first, whereafter the four major ns can form a primary force to serve as reinforcements. The imperial family will participate throughout the entire process.¡±

    Everyone nodded. This was the overall arrangement of the empire. Although the seventh young noble was in the neutralnds, as a key character with special status, it was only natural that he would know of it.

    ¡°The problem lies therein. What do you think are the odds of the reinforcements from the four major ns being able to defeat those from Evernight?¡± Song Zining asked.

    Everyone went silent; even Yan Ding couldn¡¯t open his mouth. In the end, the elder from the imperial family said, ¡°We have no idea how many of them wille, or who. How do we guess?¡±

    ¡°We can, actually,¡± said Song Zining.

    Everyone was silent. There were no idiots among the people here¡ªeveryone had their own thoughts, but they were reluctant to express them. Song Zining wasn¡¯t as reserved, though. ¡°As I see it, the chances of our victory aren¡¯t that great.¡±

    ¡°Why? Have you already divined it?¡± The one speaking was a serious-looking Yan Ding. He might have been at odds with Qianye, but he still understood that there was no escaping cmity if the war was lost.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no way I can divine such a big matter.¡±

    This wasmon knowledge. The more experts involved in a certain matter, the more difficult it was to divine. With Linken as the vanguard, the main forces would only be more powerful. Perhaps only the Li n lord and Lin Xitang might be able to deduce the fate around this battle.

    Song Zining pointed at Twilight Continent, saying, ¡°ording to thetest intelligence, there have been somerge scale movements on the Twilight Continent. The Lightless Monarch is amassing a gigantic fleet and countless vampire experts. Even some of the elders slumbering in the blood pond have been awakened. That might be Evernight¡¯s reinforcements, perhaps just a fraction of it.¡±

    ¡°The vampires are building a fleet?¡± Yan Ding interjected. Only after his question did he realize that the elders from both the Li family and imperial court were unsurprised. Apparently, they were privy to this information. The military must¡¯ve received this news as well, but he was stillpletely ignorant of it. Now, this was something to ponder on.

    This meant that, at least from an intelligence point of view, Yan Ding wasn¡¯t on par with the people here.

    His blood churned momentarily, and his face became beet red.

    The elder from the imperial family muttered, ¡°How can you be so sure that this fleet is bound for the neutralnds? The Lightless Monarch¡¯s identity is special, I fear he won¡¯t be able to enter the neutralnds either.¡±

    ¡°He can¡¯t enter, but his subordinates can. No matter how strong the one on the Throne of Blood is, he¡¯s still not a great dark monarch. He might not be Medanzo¡¯s match if he leaves the neutralnds.¡±

    The Li family elder said with a frown, ¡°How sure are you?¡±

    ¡°Only half without involvement from the Lightless Monarch, eighty percent now that he¡¯s made an appearance.¡±

    The imperial elder said, ¡°We have to respond even if it¡¯s fifty percent, let alone eighty, but how did youe to those numbers?¡±

    Song Zining only smiled. Clearly, he wasn¡¯t willing to exin things.

    The imperial elder didn¡¯t push him, either. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, and we have little chance of winning even with the four-n coalition, we can only take the initiative to strike.¡±

    Song Zining opened his fan and waved it lightly. Although he didn¡¯t say anything, his intentions were clear¡ªa fight against the Evernight reinforcements wasn¡¯t just low on odds.

    As clever people, everyone had formed a good idea of the situation. They might still be able to im victory fighting against Tidehark now, but there would be no chance at all once the Evernight reinforcements arrived. Their only choice right now was to fight Tidehark forcibly and look at the oue.

    After a moment of contemtion, the Li family elder asked, ¡°Then, what are our chances of victory with Tidehark? What is the expected casualty rate?¡±

    ¡°Forty percent if I¡¯m inmand, fifty percent casualty rate, provided that everyone gives it their all. If it¡¯s any other person at the helm, heh¡­ haha!"

    The Li family elder felt his brows twitching. ¡°Why is the casualty rate so high?¡±

    ¡°Tidehark is no easy ce.¡±

    The two elders exchanged nces. ¡°Such great casualties will harm us to the core. Dark me has imed a sizable territory and probably recruited some experts. Why don¡¯t we have them take point and restrain Luo Bingfeng?¡±

    Song ziningughed coldly. ¡°What you want isn¡¯t Dark me but Qianye, am I wrong?¡±

    The elders from the Li family and the imperial court were experienced men. Their expressions remained constant despite having been seen through, expressing silent agreement. Seeing this, Song Zining said coldly, ¡°Ignoring Qianye¡¯s change in status, for now, even if he was the same person from before, those who want to sacrifice him will have to step over my body! I¡¯ll say this again, if any of you so much as harbor such a thought, I¡¯ll just ignore everything and watch from the sidelines. Whoever wants to can step up! I do want to see if they can produce a miracle!¡±

    No one had imagined that Song Zining would be so decisive, leaving zero leeway in this matter. In truth, everyone understood that this battle wasn¡¯t easy. They had sat down to negotiate here because they knew they couldn¡¯t orchestrate such a fight. For instance, someone like Yan Ding would¡¯ve jumped out to snatch the right tomand if he was confident. People knew that Song Zining was the best candidate, yet they also wanted someone else to be the sacrifice while reaping the benefits themselves. Now that Song Zining had called them out, the situation fell into a deadlock.

    The Li family elder asked, ¡°How has Qianye¡¯s status changed?¡±

    Song Zining cupped his hands. ¡°Elder Li should go back and ask around.¡±

    The old man¡¯s eyes twitched. Wouldn¡¯t he be courting death if someone big in the pce had their eyes on Qianye, just as Song Zining had hinted? Each family had brought their elites, the future building blocks of the n. Hence, each death would be an unbearably painful loss. As for Qianye, he was a fairly strong vampire¡ªthe best candidate to be sacrificed.

    Naturally, there were exquisitely clever ways to send people to their deaths. Everyone had a hundred ways to let the Dark me mercenaries die, but unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t quite hide it from Song Zining.

    As the deadlock went on, Song Zining said, ¡°Actually, we don¡¯t necessarily need to upy the passage this time, there¡¯s another way.¡±

    Everyone became spirited. ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    Song Zining continued, ¡°The purpose of upying the passage is just to send people into the Great Maelstrom. What I think is that we should restrain Luo Bingfeng and push back the city guard. After confirming the status of the tunnel, we should send our selected candidates into the portal, and then retreat.¡±

    Everyone was startled. After some consideration, they felt that the n was indeed feasible. Yan Ding said, ¡°Sounds reasonable, it¡¯ll take several years to get back out anyway. There¡¯s really no rush.¡±

    The elder from the imperial family nodded. ¡°This n is feasible. The quota for entering the Great Maelstrom will be decided by how much manpower each family contributes to the fight. Those who want to send more people should put in more effort. Our eyesights aren¡¯t that bad yet, we can see quite clearly.¡±

    The Li family elder had no objections.

    In truth, there was still another problem¡ªthe candidates arriving with the main four-n coalition might or might not be able to enter. The three parties came to a tacit understanding regarding this matter, and no one made mention of it.

    Later on, the group went on to discuss the details. The imperial family would be the main force restraining Luo Bingfeng, hence they would get the greatest quota. The elite warriors from every family would form a separate unit under Song Zining¡¯smand. They would renegotiate the quota ording to the actual contributions and losses after the passage had been captured. There were some twists and turns regarding the military candidates. It was only after a long while of consideration that Yan Ding decided to enter the Great Maelstrom himself.

    The losers in this n were the four major ns. However, they had taken up more than half of the quotas during thest Great Maelstrom entry. This was an expression of their power, but it also invoked a lot of hatred.

    With the nning settled, everyone went back to their camps to prepare. The sound of rumbling engines arrived from the windows just as they were leaving the conference room. Numerous cargo ships shot through the sky at unbelievable speeds and went toward the airship port.

    Yan Ding¡¯s expression was unsightly. These were his warships at first, the newest imperial vessels disguised as old cargo ships. Who would¡¯ve thought Song Zining would snatch them away? Up until this point, he still had no idea why his aides would suddenly turn into traitors.

    Song Zining greeted everyone before dashing toward the airship port. By the time he arrived, the warships had alreadynded while the soldiers were busy moving ammunition, materials and a new round of supplies.

    Qianye and Ji Tianqing were standing together, seemingly discussing something. Song Zining asked as he arrived, ¡°Did it go well?¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Seagaze has been purged, they will form a new unit tomorrow and operate alongside us.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Very good! Oh right, Qianye, how confident are you in wounding Luo Bingfeng?¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°I can¡¯t say, there¡¯s not enough information.¡±

    ¡°Fine, the intelligence should arrive tonight.¡±

    Qianye felt curious. Luo Bingfeng was extremely powerful and rarely made any appearance. How could it be easy to gain information about him? This was no ordinary military intelligence¡ªit was a secret report rted to the man¡¯s cultivation arts and proficient techniques. Only those extremely close to Luo Bingfeng would be able to provide such data.

 Chapter 950: Whose Bigger Picture?

    Nightfall. Qianye was seated quietly in an isted room, slowly and quietly refining his origin power.

    All of a sudden, he opened his eyes, and a sh of lightning flickered through his blue pupils. He shot to his feet and crashed right through the wall, tearing a hole through the sturdy brick structure as though it were paper mush. At the moment of his exit, Qianye stretched out his right hand and several threads of blood shot out from his fingertips. These strings prated several walls to his front and into a certain room, aiming for the heart of a certain elder inside!

    The old man reacted swiftly, immediately shooting out two wisps of ck and white energy, which transformed into countless small shields dancing around him. The aegis was extremely sturdy and agile. Very likely a peerless technique. Before the sanguineous threads, however, the barriers were prated like paper. Numerous red threads passed through unhindered and arrived before the old man!

    The elder gasped in astonishment, his face pale. With how fast the threads wereing for him, there was really no way he could evade.

    These blood threads were peerlessly sharp, almost invincible, and could shoot through origin defenses. The only fate for its victim was death.

    Several floating leaves danced about around the old man. The moment these leaves appeared, the threads slowed down abruptly and began to waver, almost as though they had lost their target. A folding fan appeared during this short period and, with a strike and a spin, entangled the bloody threads to one side.

    At this point, Qianye crashed through the wall with a dull thud. His expression turned cold upon seeing the old man, and he raised his right hand to pull back on the sanguineous threads. The strings on the folding fan tightened abruptly, crushing the fan out of shape amidst cringe-worthy sounds.

    It was at this time that a fist shot toward Qianye¡¯s side. This attack had just appeared when the scenery began to twist and warp, seemingly drawing Qianye into its trajectory. This went to show how powerful this blow was.

    Qianye knew that the old man would escape if he were to retreat. Hence, instead of retreating, he unleashed a roar and met the iing fist with a brutal punch of his own!

    Everything began floating upward at the moment of impact, almost as though there was no gravity in the room.

    Qianye took three steps back, almost backing out of the room in the process. He managed to find his footing, but his left hand was trembling slightly, and he couldn¡¯t help but spit out a mouthful of blood. The blood¡ªa mix of bright red and gold¡ªburst into mes as soon as it hit the floor which surged all the way to the roof. The ze came swiftly and died out just as fast, leaving no trace whatsoever.

    Ji Tianqing materialized out of nowhere. Although she didn¡¯t move backward, her figure was distorted and her external appearance was changing constantly. Her face looked like a mixture of many different countenances. She gasped in astonishment and moved to cover up her face, but this small movement made the trembling of her right hand even more obvious.

    Song Zining appeared from the side, looking at his deformed folding fan with a pained expression.

    Only at this point did the materials floating in the room fall to the ground and broke down into dust.

    With a muffled bang, Qianye struck East Peak firmly into the wooden floor. Although the edge wasn¡¯t pointed at him, the old man didn¡¯t dare to turn and flee at this point. He drew his ck crystal sword and aimed it at Qianye from afar.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even spare the sword a nce, almost as though this divine weapon capable of contending against the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace was nothing. A cruel smile appeared on his face as he scanned the old man¡¯s neck, causing thetter to break out in cold sweat.

    Just a short moment of confrontation and the old man could no longer remain calm. He brandished the ck crystal sword, saying, ¡°This sword will find its mark!¡± Two streams of ck and white energy shot out from his nostrils and danced around the de. Everyone in the room felt as though they had been locked onto. Wherever the old man¡¯s gazended, they would feel a slight pricking pain.

    Qianye, however, remained unfazed. He only sneered as East Peak grew heavier in his hands.

    The old man grew increasingly pale. Just as he was at his limits, Song Zining finally caught his breath and pped out. Thousands of leaves showered down, pressing on the ck and white shield and ck crystal sword.

    During this deadlock, East Peak trembled and unleashed a draconic hum as it prepared for a sh. However, Qianye felt his vision blur as Ji Tianqing stepped in between him and his target. She was still covering her face as she stood in the path of his potential attack. There was no way Qianye could truly sh at Ji Tianqing, so he had no choice but to retract the pressure from his sword.

    ¡°What are you two doing? Why are you stopping me from killing this old thing?¡± Qianye was furious.

    Song Zining was just about to speak when he was ovee by a bout of intense coughing. He couldn¡¯t speak for a moment and only pointed at Ji Tianqing. Thetter was still covering her face, her silhouette in constant distortion. She simply decided to turn away and ignore Song Zining.

    Seeing the old man edging back, Qianye said coldly, ¡°Rui Xiang! If you dare take another step, even they can¡¯t save your life!¡±

    The old man was livid. ¡°Y-You don¡¯t have that...¡±

    But he just couldn¡¯t utter the words ¡°you don¡¯t have that ability¡±. The short confrontation just now was enough for him to understand that Qianye wasn¡¯t bluffing about killing him.

    Song Zining finally stopped coughing and said with a bitter smile, ¡°Do you still remember what I said about intelligence arriving at night? He¡¯s the one bringing information.¡±

    ¡°That means this is a cooperation?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was filled with mockery. ¡°He had captured you back then and nearly made you lose your life. Now you want to work with him?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°That was back then. The situation right now is totally different, and there¡¯s value in working together.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s gaze was incisive, but Song Zining met it with calm determination. In the end, Qianye averted his gaze and nced toward Ji Tianqing. Thetter was standing in a corner, almost as though she was unrted. She had already lowered her hands to reveal an unassuming countenance¡ªone Qianye had never seen before.

    Qianye¡¯s eyesnded on Song Zining after scanning the room. ¡°If I had known this would happen, I wouldn¡¯t have gone to block the gates of Tidehark.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t get angry first, sit down, we can talk this over slowly.¡± He reached out to pat Qianye¡¯s shoulder out of habit, but thetter leaned back and evaded the gesture.

    Song Zining¡¯s hands froze mid-air. He then reached for the door, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s head next door, this building is ruined.¡±

    The journey to the conference room next door wasn¡¯t that far, but it felt like several years to Rui Xiang. He was already drenched in sweat and his breathing was heavy. Every step he took seemed arduous, apanied by countless wisps of ck and white energy.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t doing much. It was just that his gaze was fixated on the man¡¯s back.

    Only after entering the conference room did he heave a sigh of relief. He couldn¡¯t help but nce at Qianye, his eyes full of shock and puzzlement. He was at a disadvantage against Qianye a while ago, but he could still attack and retreat at will. How did he be so terrifying in such a short span of time?

    The four duly took their seats. Intentionally or otherwise, Ji Tianqing and Song Zining positioned themselves between Qianye and Rui Xiang.

    ¡°Qianye, this is how matters stand. You know the circumstances right now are quite delicate andrgely different from before. Let me exin the general situation to you.¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t finished speaking when he was interrupted by Qianye¡¯s cold voice. ¡°Get to the point.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. As smooth as he was, he couldn¡¯t find a good way to put things into words at the moment.

    At this point, Ji Tianqing suddenly reached out and grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand. The two had had close contact before, but that was in battle. The present situation was actually a first. Surprised, Qianye made to pull back his hand, but Ji Tianqing strengthened her grip on him. She didn¡¯t use that much force, but her stance was abnormally firm.

    Qianye was somewhat puzzled, but he let her do as she wished because he didn¡¯t want to fall out. It was just that the bloody threads flickering on his fingertips could no longer be shot out since he couldn¡¯t just pierce Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands.

    She was only grabbing one of his hands at this point. Qianye¡¯s other hand spread out slightly as strings of blood bore out from his fingertips. Ji Tianqing¡¯s body moved slightly. Although the movement was small, Qianye was also an expert creeping into the master level in martial arts. He immediately noticed that she was about to grab his other hand as well. It was just that this action would put them in a hugging position.

    Tensing up, Qianye immediately extinguished the sanguineous threads and allowed Ji Tianqing to sit straight once more. Even when she was back in her seat, she still shot Qianye a mysterious nce.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s countenance was never the same, and Qianye still had no idea what she looked like. Perhaps her real appearance was among the dozens of changing faces from just now, but she had covered it up. Hence, Qianye made no effort to guess her thoughts and merely pushed the issue to the back of his mind.

    Rui Xiang felt greatly relieved upon seeing Qianye calm down. He was sweating and weak, greatly disconcerted by the feeling of impending death.

    Song Zining weighed his words and said, ¡°Qianye, this battle is extremely important. The most key issue is Luo Bingfeng. It can be said that the oue of this battle hinges on whether we can restrain him. It just so happened that Rui Xiang has amon objective and can work with us. I was the captured one. Even I have managed to set aside this hatred, so why can¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye sneered, ¡°You were the captured one, but I was out there risking my neck. Now you tell me that you¡¯ve made up?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to, but the greater picture is important.¡±

    ¡°The greater picture? Tell me, what kind of greater picture?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly as he cast a nce at Ji Tianqing, but thetter merely turned away without looking at him. Feeling helpless, he could only exin things himself, ¡°Qianye, the Great Maelstrom isn¡¯t just rted to the potential of the empire¡¯s younger generation of elites, but there are also numerous rare materials inside. So much so that it¡¯s been rumored that the secrets of void traversal are hidden inside. Sending these people into the Great Maelstrom is highly beneficial to the next ten years of the empire¡¯s reign.¡±

    ¡°So, this is the empire¡¯s bigger picture.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with me?¡±

    For a moment, Song Zining had no words to reply.

 Chapter 951: Whose Camaraderie?

    The room was plunged into a deathly silence. After a long while, Song Zining said bitterly, ¡°Qianye, no matter how bad the Empire is, it¡¯s still our human race¡¯s¡­¡±

    Qianye shot to his feet and pointed at Song Zining. ¡°I risk my life for my brothers and friends, not the Empire! Today¡­¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly while Ji Tianqing tugged at Qianye¡¯s hand with all her might, finally managing to drag him back to his seat. Qianye wanted to shake her hand away, but his strength became his weakness this time. Qianye sensed that her origin power distribution was fairly odd¡ªshe was using the entirety of her strength to bind Qianye and leaving none for her own defense. Shaking her hand away would result in breaking the bones in her hands.

    How could Qianye have the heart to do so? In the end, he was pulled back to his seat.

    ¡°Let him finish.¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice was fairly soft and not at all like her usual self.

    Song Zining had also thrown caution to the wind, roaring, ¡°You can ignore the empire, leave that business to me, but for whom did Ie to the neutralnds!? For whom did I move my entire Ningyuan Industries here? Why would I pick an alloy form instead of other great benefits?¡±

    Qianye had nowhere to vent his anger, so he mmed the table instead.

    Ji Tianqing knocked on the table, saying, ¡°Now¡¯s not the time to be confessing to one another, get to business.¡±

    Song Zining took a deep breath. ¡°There¡¯s nothing else to discuss if we can¡¯t restrain Luo Bingfeng. Everyone will die under his finger. That¡¯s why I made ns to contact Mister Rui. Not only will he provide intelligence on the city lord, but will alsounch a sneak attack at the right moment.¡±

    ¡°Sneak attack? Against Luo Bingfeng?¡± Qianye¡¯s words were full of mockery. Although he and Ji Tianqing had never fought against Luo Bingfeng, they knew full well about how terrifying the man was. Considering how strong the city lord was, Rui Xiang might not be able to wound him even if he were to just stand there.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Of course not Luo Bingfeng, but that woman beside him.¡±

    Qianye fell into a moment of silence. ¡°Good n.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°This is Mr. Rui¡¯s n, I won¡¯t take credit for this.¡±

    Qianye finally shot a nce at Rui Xiang. Thetter immediately trembled uponing into contact with those blue eyes.

    Qianye said word by word, ¡°What if you don¡¯t attack at the critical moment?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Humph, this Luo Bingfeng is someone I¡¯ve been meaning to get rid of. How can I let go of such a good opportunity? The previous matter with the seventh young noble was just a misunderstanding. Now that he¡¯s willing to forgive past matters, going so far as to offer ample rewards, how can I not do my utmost? That woman is Luo Bingfeng¡¯s weakness. That¡¯s why I must attack personally and witness that treacherous Luo Bingfeng¡¯s despair. He probably never thought there¡¯d be a day like this when he berated me back then.¡±

    Rui Xiang became a different man at the mention of Luo Bingfeng, his tone full of detest and extreme hatred. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel curious because Rui Xiang had suffered several times in his hands, quite miserably in fact. So, why did Rui Xiang hate the city lord more instead? Thetter couldn¡¯t even leave the city, otherwise, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have been able to block the gates.

    Either way, his hatred seemed rather genuine, and the intelligence he provided on the city lord was unexpectedly quite detailed. Qianye was still angry, but as an expert, he began to enter a state of contemtion as he listened to the information.

    ¡°What you need to be most aware of is Luo Bingfeng¡¯s Death Stare. Reportedly, he managed to kill a young void colossus back in the day and somehow transnted this power into his body. Weaker enemies would die just from him staring at them.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He had personally experienced this attack back then. In terms of power, though, it was so much weaker than the mysterious entity in the depths of the Eastern Sea and far from being able to kill Qianye. It was believable that the power came from a colossus cub.

    ¡°As for that woman, I only know that she appeared beside him all of a sudden. She rarely takes action in person, so I have no idea what she excels in.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Then, how can you be so sure you can kill her?¡±

    Rui Xiang flickered his ck crystal sword proudly, saying, ¡°My sword was bestowed by a heavenly monarch, empowered with his strength. It is invincible! Even Luo Bingfeng will end up with a see-through hole in his body, let alone a mere woman.¡±

    Qianye frowned. From what he remembered, this ck crystal sword was merely sharp and sturdy. He hadn¡¯t expected that it had been reinforced by a heavenly monarch.

    Bewildered, Song Zining asked, ¡°This sword doesn¡¯t have the origin power of a heavenly monarch, does it?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t at the moment, but it will tomorrow.¡± Rui Xiang was clearly implying something.

    Song Zining and Ji Tianqing exchanged nces.

    Zhang Buzhou, who was reportedly in isted cultivation, was going to reinforce Rui Xiang¡¯s de at a critical moment. At this point, who would believe that the heavenly monarch knew nothing about what was going on? The reason behind all of this was something worth contemting.

    The group then discussed some details regarding the operation, including how tomunicate and attack, etc. After everything was settled, Rui Xiang immediately said his goodbyes and left in due haste.¡±

    After the old man was gone, the room once again became quiet. In the end, it was Song Zining who broke the silence. ¡°Qianye, this isn¡¯t just rted to the bigger picture, but it¡¯s also to reduce casualties. Anyone who can help us is a friend, as long as they can help us restrain Luo Bingfeng, no matter what he did in the past.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve changed.¡±

    Song Zining said frankly, ¡°I¡¯ve grown up.¡±

    Qianye was just about to say something when Ji Tianqing pulled him away. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I have something to say to you.¡±

    Qianye nodded in agreement. It was true that he couldn¡¯t speak to Song Zining in a friendly manner considering how frustrated he was. Since Ji Tianqing had something to say, it was somewhat better for her to convey the message.

    Ji Tianqing sighed lightly after exiting the room. ¡°Don¡¯t me him, there¡¯s really no other way.¡±

    Qianye remained silent.

    The girl continued, ¡°I know you don¡¯t like this method, that you¡¯d rather die with the enemy than to work with a lowlife like Rui Xiang. But, you¡¯re a warrior hero and Zining is amander. His nning will decide the life or death of many other people. That¡¯s why he can¡¯t act based on camaraderie alone. He needs to achieve the best result even if the means isn¡¯t to everyone¡¯s liking.

    ¡°Qianye, you naturally won¡¯t recognize the empire, but Zining does. So, he has to share this burden as well. I think that, in the future, his responsibilities will not be inferior to the Marshals Lin and Zhang.¡±

    Qianye finally spoke, ¡°Divination isn¡¯t omnipotent, and no one can scry everything. Zining¡¯s current n has a loophole, people like them are simply overconfident.¡±

    Ji Tianqing inquired, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it? I can¡¯t think of a better n than this.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Even if we fight Luo Bingfeng head-on without Rui Xiang¡¯s help, the city lord might not have the time to look elsewhere.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was startled as she meditated on those words, feeling increasingly shocked as she did so. She was just about to ask when a blue light flickered through the darkness, and the temperature suddenly dropped to a freezing point.

    At the end of the corridor, Li Kuann was scanning Ji Tianqing and Qianye with eyes full of lightning.

    Immediately sensing the killing intent, Qianye followed Li Kuann¡¯s gaze and found that he was still holding Ji Tianqing¡¯s hand.

    Frowning, Qianye let go. He didn¡¯t really feel that it was anything inappropriate since Ji Tianqing had been using this method to suppress his sanguineous threads and prevent him from attacking Rui Xiang. Otherwise, the threads would arrive instantly within a hundred meters, and the old man would never be able to escape no matter how fast he was. One had to remember that Life Plunder was no ordinary move.

    Ji Tianqing had used her own safety to keep Qianye bound because she understood the power of his attack. There was no other way but to hold onto him.

    Li Kuann¡¯s sudden appearance and overflowing killing intent meant that she wasn¡¯t here for trivial matters.

    Qianye shot a nce at Ji Tianqing. He felt that the two of them probably shared a more-than-simple rtionship, perhaps more than just friends. Hence, he immediately released his hand in order to prevent a misunderstanding. The three were all experts in the martial arts¡ªthere was really no need to say anything because each could understand things at a mere nce.

    Qianye looked straight at Li Kuann but found that something wasn¡¯t quite right. Li Kuann¡¯s killing intent was growing stronger and stronger, and it was aimed at Ji Tianqing. Thetter stood with her head raised, as though she were a kid who had been wronged but refused to utter a word about it.

    Qianye was confused, unable to figure out the rtionship between the two. Could it be that Li Kuann was venting her anger on Ji Tianqing because she didn¡¯t want to act up against him?

    That didn¡¯t sound so right, either, after some thought. If Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were in some sort of rtionship, he should be the one being targeted instead. Besides, he wasn¡¯t really sure how much respect he could garner to be able to make Li Kuann back off. His rtionship with the Li family young miss wasn¡¯t all that great, to be honest.

    The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. He felt that this kind of situation was even more difficult than dealing with a divine champion. In the end, he had no idea where to start or what to exin.

    Li Kuann snorted and said with a cold voice, ¡°Good, very good!¡± With that, she disappeared immediately, leaving Qianye utterly bewildered.

    ¡°What¡¯s good?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡±Nothing, good means good!¡± Ji Tianqingughed like a blossoming flower. Her change in expression was enough to leave people sighing in admiration.

    Qianye shook his head, deciding not to think about all this. ¡°I¡¯m going to leave for a while, I¡¯ll be back tomorrow. Will I be in time for the showdown?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we need at least three days to prepare. Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Wander about randomly.¡± That was what he said, but his lonesome expression revealed some of his worries.

    Ji Tianqing wanted to ask more about it, but she was hesitant. In the end, she only gave him a nod.

 Chapter 952: Best Presen

    A blizzard was raging on the borders of the Eastern Sea Continent.

    The pieces of ice and gravel in the wind weren¡¯t any less destructive than an ordinary bullet. Even those with good eyesight could hardly see ten meters in front of them, the world beyond being a vast expanse of white. The most dangerous ces were the spatial tears since they couldn¡¯t be spotted with the naked eye.

    A lone silhouette was traveling on the snowy ins. His steps didn¡¯t look too fast, but they were firm. In just half a day, he had traversed half of the entire whitendscape.

    The person removed his hood in the middle of the snowy ins and looked about. That near-perfect countenance belonged to Qianye. That ancient vampire face, tainted with a wisp of sad beauty, looked even more touching in this world of wind and snow.

    Even Qianye¡¯s True Sight couldn¡¯t do much at the continent border since it was shrouded in a tempest of void origin power. Beyond the blizzard was an expanse of chaos that looked the same wherever one looked.

    However, Qianye could sense his direction in this mysterious darkness. He rested momentarily before resuming his journey across the snow-swept ins.

    The blizzard was simply too powerful. Behind the snow and wind on the surface was actually a violent turbulence of void origin power. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t speed up or fly under such circumstances. It wouldn¡¯t feel good if he was swept into a spatial tear.

    ording to Song Zining, this was an early sign of the origin tide ebbing. There would be a bout of chaos before the great calm.

    After walking for an unknown length of time, a familiar airship appeared at the ends of his vision.

    Considering his powerful eyesight, he noticed Vampire Marquis Jared almost at the same time that he saw the airship. The man was standing in the snow and wind, apparently waiting for him. This didn¡¯t mean the vampire was stronger than Qianye, but it went to show that Nighteye knew of hising. She had sent the marquis out to wait.

    This gesture of courtesy contained a hint of self-evident coldness. Nighteye had sent Jared because she didn¡¯t want to see Qianye.

    Jared bowed, saying, ¡°Master asked me to meet you here.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye brought out the office drawer he had obtained from Linken. ¡°I have something for her. I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s used for, just give it to her.¡±

    ¡°I obey.¡± Only after saying these words did Jared realize that he was more respectful toward Qianye. He looked up cautiously at thetter and asked, ¡°What¡¯s inside?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea, but it looks like good stuff.¡±

    ¡°Then, you mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Consider it a present.¡± Qianye finally found a passable excuse.

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll make sure to pass your words and present to the Master.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Qianye smiled. It looked like he wanted to say something. There was much on his mind, but he couldn¡¯t put them into words. In the end, he simply turned around and left with a sigh.

    Jared stood in the snow. Only after Qianye¡¯s figure had receded into the snow did he feel relieved. He found, to his great shock, that he was somewhat fearful of Qianye this time. What level of strength had he reached to be able to intimidate a marquis?

    It hadn¡¯t been that long since he had first seen Qianye.

    A gust of wind sent a chill down Jared¡¯s body and served to remind him that Nighteye was still waiting inside. Not daring to drag things out, he hugged the drawer cab and returned to the warship. He put the object down in the great hall and said respectfully, ¡°Master, I¡¯ve brought it back.¡±

    ¡°Open it.¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice was calm, cold, and indifferent.

    Jared was already observing the cab on his way here, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t sense whatever was inside. This piqued his curiosity even more, yet no amount of courage in the world was enough for him to peep at Qianye¡¯s gift for Nighteye.

    He had already guessed, back during their first encounter, that the two were somehow rted. But, he felt that there was an insurmountable chasm between the two, not something talents could make up for. The intimidation effect Nighteye had on him was even stronger than a prince¡¯s.

    However, Jared felt a bit of a shock after seeing Qianye again. Thetter was following Nighteye at a miraculous speed, so much so that Jared began to question his ownmon sense. Was this Qianye really going to close the gap?

    But thew of blood was unquestionable. The closer one was to the source of the River of Blood, the fewer seats there were. Tens of thousands of years of history had proven this truth. Actually, Nighteye¡¯s status and her existence itself had already surpassed Jared¡¯s imagination. If one were to add another Qianye to her side, how would the long River of Blood amodate so many experts?¡±

    Jared studied the drawer cab as he thought about all this but came to no conclusion. He grabbed the handle lightly and tried tugging on it, but it actually opened up just like that.

    Just like it was for Qianye, a small ck sun rose up in the hall. The lethal ck light wracked Jared with pain, and he could see nothing else but a sh of white. He couldn¡¯t tell why staring at the sun had blinded him, but he knew for sure that the ck radiance was highly dangerous.

    He reached out to close the drawer in his confusion, but a shrill scream echoed beside his ears. It was as though millions of fierce spirits were crying out at the same time. For a moment, he could see nothing, hear nothing, and was drowned in agonizing pain. He simply couldn¡¯t tell where he was anymore.

    At this point, the drawer closed with a soft click. Nighteye had made her move.

    Although the drawer was closed, the ck sun didn¡¯t dispersepletely. It shot out a wisp of ck light which made to escape through the air, but a string of blood appeared out of nowhere andshed at the light until it waspletely destroyed. The ck wisp of light managed to escape Qianye, but it couldn¡¯t avoid being destroyed before Nighteye.

    Jared finally regained his senses after the ck sun was dispersed. ¡°What is this thing!?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Jared fell into contemtion. Finally, he said, ¡°As I see it, this is an extreme form of demonic steel. As for why the demonic energy being emitted is reacting so strongly with my blood energy, that I cannot exin.¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°This is demonic steel inocted with ancient demonic blood, the apex of a demonkin¡¯s life pursuit. To any demonkin, this is a treasure worth an entire life of effort.¡±

    ¡°Is it useful for us vampires?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, perhaps not.¡±

    Jared nced at the cab with aplicated expression. This was a priceless treasure for the demonkin but not at all useful for vampires, perhaps it was even harmful. Why would Qianye risk all that danger to bring this thing to them?

    Nighteye inquired, ¡°What did he say?¡±

    "Sire Qianye said that this is a present for you."

    Nighteye was startled. ¡°Present? This thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Nighteye was lost in thought, clearly puzzled as to Qianye¡¯s intentions.

    Jared seemed to have thought of something at this point. His expression only shifted slightly, but that couldn¡¯t escape Nighteye¡¯s perception. ¡°What are you thinking of?¡±

    ¡°I think I know Sire Qianye¡¯s intentions now.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    Jared said cautiously, ¡°The demonic steel isn¡¯t useful to our vampire race, but its value is priceless.¡±

    It went without saying that the demonic steel would cause a huge ruckus if brought into the market. Those demonkin families would go all out to obtain them.

    Jared continued, ¡°Sire Qianye must have other things more useful to vampires, but they aren¡¯t as valuable as the demonic steel. This present might not be the most suitable, but it¡¯s the best thing he has to offer.¡±

    ¡°Humph, nonsense!¡± Nighteye didn¡¯t seem that happy.

    At this moment, Qianye hadn¡¯t gone that far out. He was sitting cross-legged on a mountaintop, contemting amidst the wind and snow. It was just that he couldn¡¯t see the warship at this distance, and neither could Nighteye sense him. To Qianye, just knowing she was in that direction was quite enough.

    The raging winds, ice, and gravel pattered onto Qianye¡¯s body, yet he remained unmoving like a stone sculpture. He was fully concentrated on the uing fight against Luo Bingfeng.

    Countless simtions went through his mind, but all of them ended with a miserable loss for Qianye. The gap in strength was definitely one of the reasons, but the lethal factor was that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s Death Stare was simply too powerful. Calling it Death Stare was a bit of an exaggeration, but Qianye would be frozen for a split second before managing to break free. As for the damage caused by the ability itself, it was almost negligible to Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire constitution.

    However, the moment of petrification was enough for Luo Bingfeng to kill him half a dozen times over. In that aspect, it was somewhat simr to Qianye¡¯s Eye of Control.

    Qianye had tried using his Eye of Control to counterattack but it was far too weak to restrain the man¡¯s movements.

    The results of his simtion proved that someone needed to block Luo Bingfeng at the very moment Qianye was struck with the Death Stare.

    However, Qianye also found something wrong during these mental simtions¡ªhe would be defeated too quickly for some reason. This simtion wasn¡¯t just pure imagination; he was making use of the memories he had from their previous encounter. Qianye had been struck by Death Stare back then and was saved by Ji Tianqing. Thinking back to it, the city lord¡¯s ability seemed a bit too excessive.

    There must¡¯ve been some external interference that Qianye hadn¡¯t sensed back then. This skill was a bit simr to Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves art.

    Qianye immediately recalled the woman beside Luo Bingfeng. Thedy looked weak, but she was probably an extremely capable divination expert. Rui Xiang picking her as a target was probably more than just to distract Luo Bingfeng. Perhaps that old fellow had withheld certain pieces of information.

    Qianye did have a good impression of Luo Bingfeng. This Tidehark City Lord was extremely powerful, true to his words, and loyal, a true role model amongst the current generation. Unfortunately, the people of the world were like ants in the face of greater powers. The two sides had no way to avoid a fight to the death. It was despicable people like Rui Xiang who felt more at home during difficult circumstances, benefitting from different parties.

    At the thought of this, Qianye had a sudden idea. If they could work together with Rui Xiang, why could they not work with the city lord and convince him to give up the passage? It was already quite obvious that Zhang Buzhou wanted to get rid of Luo Bingfeng. Someone as smart as the city lord should¡¯ve figured out the clues by now.

    However, Qianye soon shook his head. He knew the city lord¡¯s character. The man would never turn traitor until Zhang Buzhou had drawn his sword.

 Chapter 953: Enmity

    On the holy mountain of Tidehark, Luo Bingfeng was standing in front of the window, gazing at the lights in the city below.

    The door behind him opened and a maid walked in. ¡°City Lord, young miss has coughed blood three times now. Do you think¡­¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s hands trembled slightly. ¡°No need to disturb her.¡±

    The maid drummed up some courage and said, ¡°But, she¡¯s frighteningly pale.¡±

    ¡°I said there¡¯s no need to disturb her!¡± Luo Bingfeng¡¯s voice rose sharply.

    Shocked out of her wits, the maid uttered ¡°I obey¡± before quickly taking her leave.

    Luo Bingfeng looked up at the boundless leaden clouds in the sky. He knew that there was an inexplicably dangerous battle raging in the void beyond these skies.

    He rapped the windowsill lightly, effectively demolishing an entire segment of the wall in the process. Although he had controlled his force, some overflowing power ended up escaping his containment and destroying the stone wall.

    The cold wind whistled into the hole, reducing the temperature in the room. The cup of warm tea on the table immediately turned cold and the cup began to crack.

    The gust was frosty but not as cold as Luo Bingfeng¡¯s heart.

    The doors were flung open as the maid charged in frantically. ¡°Sire, things don¡¯t look good! The protective talisman you gave the young miss has been activated!¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Luo Bingfeng turned pale. He turned about and vanished through the door, shoving the maid away in the process.

    The maid mbered up eventually, but her face was pale and there was a trickle of blood seeping from her mouth. Apparently, she had suffered quite a bit, yet she endured the pain and followed the city lord.

    In a side room across the courtyard, a pale-looking woman was lying in bed. Her breath was as faint as a gossamer thread, and the streaks of blood on her clothes were fairly eye-catching. The entire room was in disarray, almost as though it had been swept by a wave of raging mes. The origin array set up on the floor was already half-destroyed with pieces of shattered crystal strewn across the room. Only a couple of them remained intact.

    ¡°Nan Nan, you! What happened?¡± Luo Bingfeng noticed a patch of charred ck on thedy¡¯s chest as he lifted her up, a trace left behind as the life-saving talisman exploded.

    The woman smiled weakly as she reached out to touch Luo Bingfeng¡¯s face. ¡°Isn¡¯t this normal?¡±

    ¡°You said it¡¯s somewhat difficult! But now even the life-saving talisman has been activated! How is this just somewhat difficult?¡±

    The woman coughed with some difficulty, spraying out some more blood. ¡°I sensed a tremendous sense of enmity, so I wanted to investigate in greater detail. In the end, I attracted its attention and suffered a bacsh.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng frowned. ¡°Now both the Empire and Evernight are on the way here. There must be some true undefeatable experts among them! Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know? How willful!¡±

    The woman shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m fairly careful of experts from Evernight and the Empire, I¡¯ve also encountered people highly proficient in divination. But, they won¡¯t attack proactively if I don¡¯t get too close to them. The tremendous sense of hostility I mentioned belongs neither to the Empire or Evernight.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°How can you be so sure?¡±

    Thedy sighed. ¡°I¡¯m certain, but I can¡¯t point out the reason. It¡¯s just a feeling, I guess. You know how divination is.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be careful, you take a good rest!¡±

    He reached out to support the woman, but she grabbed his clothes restlessly, saying, ¡°Bingfeng! That person is Zhang Buzhou! He wants to kill you! Do you still not trust me?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng hesitated. ¡°This is a grave matter, do you have proof?¡±

    The woman gripped harder. ¡°Proof? It¡¯ll be toote by the time you see any proof. Bingfeng, leave with me and ignore everything here. You will die if you guard the holy mountain.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng patted her lightly. ¡°Rest assured, it¡¯s not that easy to kill me on this mountain. Apart from that person on the Throne of Blood, who else can evene close? Even if that person is here, he¡¯ll need to bring the Shattered Moment.¡±

    ¡°The holy mountain can suppress other people but not Zhang Buzhou. Don¡¯t forget that this was his old ritual grounds.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng smiled wryly. ¡°Heavenly Monarch Zhang is my brother, someone who has saved my life before. Why would he kill me? Even though there are a lot of vile people around him, I believe that he¡¯s not that dumb.¡±

    ¡°He only needs one reason to kill you. The neutralnds cannot have two heavenly monarchs!¡± The woman got straight to the point.

    Luo Bingfeng was startled. He shook his head after a while, saying, ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to break through to the heavenly monarch realm. Just look at how many years Zhang Buzhou has been in istion. I only found some clues after meeting you. Heavenly Monarch Zhang is my big brother, it¡¯s the same whoever bes a heavenly monarch first. Even if I take that step first, I would never have designs on his position. He will always be my big brother, Heavenly Monarch Zhang.¡±

    His voice grew gentler as he spoke. He looked straight into the woman¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°You should know that I¡¯m not interested in war and power, I only want you.¡±

    ¡°You might think that way, but Zhang Buzhou doesn¡¯t.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said, ¡°Big Brother knows how I think. There¡¯s no need to discuss this further. I refuse to believe he¡¯ll harm me without sufficient proof. He left the holy mountain in my care, so I must rise up to this responsibility. Humph, Evernight and the Empire might be powerful, but I¡¯m not about to cower!¡±

    The woman gave it some thought before sighing. ¡°Fine, you¡¯ll see that proof very soon.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng lifted her up and inspected her thoroughly. Only after seeing that she was just weak and had no lethal injuries did he feel more relieved. It was just that she had been injured badly and it would take quite a while to recover.

    ¡°Nan Nan, I¡¯ll send you back to rest. Just leave everything else to me, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    The woman nodded. ¡°Bingfeng, there are numerous expertsing from both the Empire and Evernight. Even with the power of the holy mountain, you must be careful.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng smiled radiantly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ve managed to live through so many lethal situations. This is nothing. Besides, with me near, they¡¯ll have to step over my corpse if they want the holy mountain! Humph, be it Evernight or the Empire, they should know that they will have to pay several times the price to kill me! Now it¡¯s time to see if they can pay that price.¡±

    With that, Luo Bingfeng suddenly nced at a maid who was standing in the opposite corner of the room. ¡°Ry everything I said to your master.¡±

    The girl turned pale. ¡°City Lord, I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you work for Evernight or the Empire, you just need to bring them my words and you will live. I don¡¯t want to listen to your exnations. Either go or kill yourself now.¡±

    The girl trembled as she performed a full salute toward Luo Bingfeng and left in due haste.

    The city lord summoned another maid and said, ¡°Have everyone disperse. We want to stay in peace and quiet during this period.¡±

    ¡±Yes, City Lord.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng helped the woman back to her bedroom. By the time he walked back out, the courtyard was already devoid of human activity.

    He looked up at the sky and muttered to himself, ¡°Big Brother, will you betray me?¡±

    Noone answered his question.

    A storm was brewing.

    The atmosphere inside Tidehark was austere. The vehicles and pedestrians all seemed to be in a hurry. Even passing close friends would only spare a nod at one another before heading on their own way.

    From officers and nobles to ordinary civilians, almost everyone was arranging their luggage and valuables. Along the streets, there were people reinforcing their houses and windows.

    The mobilization of arge fleet could hardly be hidden from people who were paying attention, let alone the purging of Seagaze. Song Zining had no intention of hiding things, either, as he converged virtually the entire force toward Tidehark.

    The concentration of military power hadn¡¯t beenpleted, yet the scale of it was already enough to shake every power. Tens of thousands of squads moved out, mostly consisting of mercenaries from the neutralnds. That aside, the most terrifying military force was the imperial fleet amassing in Southern Blue. Most of the warships there had shed their disguises and revealed their fangs. No matter how good the camouge was, it would still impede the vessel¡¯s fighting power. Since they could no longer hide, Song Zining decided to shed all pretenses and maximize fighting power.

    This fleet was made up of dozens of warships, the finest the empire has to offer, boasting stronger firepower than any ordinary war vessel. The second-hand goods from the neutralnds weren¡¯t a match for them at all. This fleet had already reached the scale of a regr squadron, and would¡¯ve been able to campaign independently if it weren¡¯t for theck of a battleship-grade gship.

    With so many experts arriving from the empire, who could say they hadn¡¯t hidden a warship somewhere? If not, how was one to exin the destruction of Linken¡¯s fleet?

    On paper at least, the imperial fleet was sufficient to sweep through the entire neutralnds. This was Song Zining¡¯s greatest asset. If Luo Bingfeng couldn¡¯t defeat all the imperial experts on his own and turn the tables around, the empire would be able to rely on this fleet to obtain victory.

    Those with good foresight could tell that the situation would be quite dire, even if Luo Bingfeng could push back all of the imperial forces.

    In the past, people woulde to Tidehark to hide from the mes of war raging in other parts of the neutralnd. This used to be a holynd, far removed from all the fighting, as neither the Wolf King nor the Spider Emperor dared to have designs on the city. Now that Song Zining was pointing his spear here, where else would the citizens run?

    There was no escaping from battle.

    Everyone was tough as nails in the neutralnds. Although the city was on the verge of war, most people weren¡¯t panicked. They merely started making relevant preparations for the uing fight.

    The civilians had no choice but to reinforce their homes and fight with their lives on the line. Those from the upper echelons showed more changes, some scurrying about in hopes of escaping the battle.

    Amidst all this chaos, the movements of the top experts were naturally important. Among them, the Wolf King¡¯s fortress was closest to Tidehark and the werewolf himself was one of the top experts in the Eastern Sea. Naturally, he was the center of everyone¡¯s attention.

    For many days, a steady stream of guests had been arriving at the castle.

 Chapter 954: Umbral World

    For many days now, there had been a steady stream of guests at the fortress¡ªall kinds of them. There was a certain ck-robed person who looked fairly inconspicuous among the furtive visitors who liked to keep themselves hidden.

    Despite that, he did catch a fair bit of attention because the Wolf King himself came out to meet him.

    In the guestroom in one of the side halls, the Wolf King was warming his hands on the brazier in front of his sofa. He stared intently at the flickering ze, almost as though there wasn¡¯t a visitor in the room.

    The guest removed the hood and bowed. ¡°Luo Yun greets the Wolf King.¡±

    Luo Yun could only remain standing since the Wolf King said nothing. A wisp of anger flickered through his eyes, yet he chose to restrain his anger.

    Momentster, the werewolf raised his head. ¡°Sit.¡±

    Luo Yun picked a chair and sat ramrod straight upon it. This was an expression of respect toward the Wolf King, as well as a sign of his unyielding character.

    The Wolf King kept on warming his hands as he uttered calmly, ¡°Howe Luo Bingfeng isn¡¯t here?¡±

    Luo Yun¡¯s expression look angered. ¡°The city lord has great responsibilities and cannot leave the city so easily. You should know that very well.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s tone remained the same. ¡°Howe Luo Bingfeng isn¡¯t here?¡±

    This time, Luo Yun could no longer remain calm. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡±

    The Wolf King looked up. ¡°Do you really not know what I mean?¡±

    Luo Yun felt stifled and didn¡¯t know how to reply for the moment.

    The Wolf King said, ¡°Considering how you dared to act out in front of me, I¡¯ll stop making things hard for you. You didn¡¯t receive instructions from Luo Bingfeng for this trip, did you?¡±

    Luo Yun was shocked. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    The Wolf King said in a carefree manner, ¡°You lot might not know what kind of person Luo Bingfeng is, but I¡¯ve been contending against him for so many years. How could I not know? That person is willing to break but not to bend. The greater the enemy, the less willing he is to submit. Not to mention the fact that he and I never got along well, he wouldn¡¯t even ask for help from an ordinary friend.¡±

    Luo Yun fell into silence because the Wolf King was right.

    The king scoffed. ¡°The city lord is a great genius who has forced himself through many a dire situation and came out stronger from them. His cultivation is only below a heavenly monarch. If things were like in the past, his habit of growing stronger by fighting against powerful adversaries can¡¯t be considered a mistake, but things are different this time. The neutralnds cannotpare to Evernight or the Empire. Now, there¡¯s no telling how many experts are here from the Empire. Even if he can survive this hurdle, he won¡¯t be able to get through the next when the Evernight reinforcements arrive.¡±

    Luo Yun turned increasingly pale. He sat down slowly, gradually lowering his raised head. ¡°The Wolf King is farsighted. That¡¯s also why I came to seek your help, please lend us your assistance.¡±

    The Wolf King replied, ¡°Since Luo Bingfeng intends to fight to the death on the holy mountain, why must I step into these muddy waters? Besides, something as serious as this should be left to the heavenly monarch.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s in istion.¡± Luo Yun gritted his teeth.

    The Wolf King broke into augh. ¡°Istion? The enemies are at the gates and he¡¯s still in istion? Screw that! Do you still not understand? There can only be one heavenly monarch in the neutralnds, and he¡¯s surnamed Zhang. There cannot be one surnamed Luo!¡±

    Luo Yun was sent into a daze. He came to momentster and said with an indignant expression, ¡°I thought she was lying to me, turns out¡­¡±

    The Wolf King waved his hand. ¡°Leave. What¡¯s the use ofing to me if even Zhang Buzhou isn¡¯t stepping in? Do you really consider me one of your race?¡±

    Luo Yun didn¡¯t leave. He fell to his knees with a plop and said, ¡°Please help the city lord! If the city lord can survive this ordeal, I¡¯ll forever be loyal to you!¡±

    Surprised, the Wolf King shot him a deep nce. In the end, he shook his head and said, ¡°You¡¯re brave and intelligent, a truly talented person. I would¡¯ve agreed if it were any other matter, but this one, I cannot.¡±

    Luo Yun finally understood that the Wolf King wasn¡¯t willing to help no matter what. All he could do was get up and leave. Just as he was about to depart, the Wolf King said, ¡°You lot really don¡¯t understand Zhang Buzhou, neither does Luo Bingfeng.¡±

    These words came out of nowhere, and Luo Yun didn¡¯t quite understand, either. It was just that the Wolf King had no intention of borating. He only kept on warming his hand, evidently asking the guest to see himself out. Luo Yun still needed to visit the Spider Emperor and the Moonlight Demons, so he left in a hurry.

    At the center of the Spider Emperor¡¯s ancient castle sat a small crystal spider atop a high pedestal. Itspound eyes flickered with aplicated glint as they studied the person in front. This was an old man d in ragged clothes¡ªhis jaded countenance was covered in deep creases, and his murky eyes had sunk deep into their sockets. At a nce, he looked like a beggar who could be found anywhere in the city. But currently, he was standing tall in front of the Spider Emperor¡¯s avatar. His emaciated frame was straight as a spear, and his speech was fairly confident.

    ¡°Your Majesty, this is a great opportunity! If you move out in a timely fashion before the Evernight reinforcements arrive, you can break the power bnce in the neutralnds. With our help, even if Zhang Buzhou does exit isted cultivation, he won¡¯t dare act rashly. When the Evernight army arrives, a high arachne like you will definitely gain the attention of the Evernight arachne race. At that point, even the vampires and demonkin will have to take you seriously. The power bnce in the Eastern Sea Continent and your name will be discussed alongside Zhang Buzhou.¡±

    A shade of mockery appeared in the crystal spider¡¯s eyes. ¡°Haven¡¯t you always been trying to topple the four major races? Why should I trust your group?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°Our objective is to topple the Sacred Mountain and not the four races. There¡¯s no way we can do that with our own power, and we can¡¯t reach out to the people inside Evernight. So our only choice is to seek out powerhouses outside, and the neutralnds is the most ideal ce. You, on the other hand, will you give up the chance to be the new ruler?¡±

    ¡°Very intriguing, keep talking. If you have nothing more to say, then please go back,¡± the crystal spider ridiculed.

    The old man wasn¡¯t about to be discouraged, however. ¡°Your Majesty, the foundation of the Sacred Mountain is bnce and not absolute power. The current Sacred Mountain has only three seats, and its bnce hangs by a thread. It¡¯s no longer as supreme as people believe it to be. If the arachne race can secure two seats, then the Sacred Mountain will copse. That is what we ultimately want.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very clear as to the gap between a Duke and the Sacred Mountain. Go now, I¡¯m tired.¡± The Spider Emperor wasn¡¯t charmed.

    The old man clenched his teeth. ¡°We have a final show of sincerity. The Umbral World!¡±

    ¡°The Umbral World!¡± The Spider Emperor trembled, almost losing his footing. This time, he was no longer able to keep calm. ¡°Howe you have the Umbral World?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°The Umbral World is the arachne race¡¯s supreme secret art, one can cultivate it all the way to the peak of the Sacred Mountain. We were only able to piece together a small fragment of it despite a thousand years of umtion, and it¡¯s been passed down as our ultimate treasure. Unfortunately, we have never produced an arachne of royal blood, so the art simply remains there.¡±

    The spider emperor found the old man¡¯s exnation believable and became even more excited. ¡°My ancestor was once a member of the arachne royalty. Although we¡¯re separated by several generations, I still have royal blood in me.¡±

    ¡°We know of Your Majesty¡¯s bloodline, and that¡¯s why we have no doubt of your potential. Perhaps this fragment of the Umbral World was destined for you.¡±

    The crystal spider spun about on the octagonal tform. Apparently, the Spider Emperor was greatly distracted and moved by the notion. As the arachne race¡¯s supreme inheritance, even a minuscule fragment of it was enough to make any spider go crazy.

    Despite all that, the Spider Emperor was still a celebrated expert and managed to calm down after a while. ¡°You people won¡¯t give it to me that easily, will you?¡±

    The elder replied, ¡°Once you prove, on the battlefield, that you have the qualifications to be the next ruler, we¡¯ll arrange for you to head to Evernight. There you will be granted an hour¡¯s time toprehend the Umbral World fragment.¡±

    ¡°One hour? Comprehend?¡± The Spider Emperor sneered.

    ¡°One hour is enough time, this world fragment won¡¯tst very long. The moment it leaves the secret chamber, the mother world will summon it back constantly and drain its power. So, it cannot leave the headquarters.¡±

    The Spider Emperor said slowly, ¡°You speak the truth, looks like you really have obtained a fragment of the Umbral World. Then, how do you n to help me be the new ruler?¡±

    The old man¡¯s face was filled with joy. ¡°In addition to providing intelligence, we will send out an independent unit and ce it under yourmand. Ten of our instructors will also arrive in quick session. These men are talented military instructors from different Evernight races, and they will help you train your men using the most modern methods. I believe you¡¯ll have the strongest army in the neutralnds before long, one not inferior to Evernight.¡±

    The spider crystal waved its forelimbs. ¡°Haha, the stingy crawlers are actually dispatching a squad, now that¡¯s unexpected. Fine, I¡¯ll trust your sincerity this time, but I¡¯ll warn you not to have designs on my troops. They belong to me!¡±

    The old man bent down. ¡°That¡¯s only natural. Even our unit will obey yourmands, and the people we send will only give you suggestions. But these are people who have proven themselves as outstanding instructors, so I hope you¡¯ll consider their ideas.¡±

    The spider emperor hesitated for a while. ¡°I¡¯m not the best at strategy¡­ if they can win the war, there¡¯s nothing wrong with giving them authority tomand.¡±

    The elder replied, ¡°Your Majesty is wise!¡±

    As the conversation came to an end, the Spider Emperor asked, ¡°Why me?¡±

    The elder said hesitantly, ¡°Because you have the purest bloodline among the outlying arachne royalty, and also because we happened to have the Umbral World fragment.¡±

    The Spider Emperor replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m guessing most of the fragment have been reabsorbed by the mother world. How long will itst without me?¡±

    The old man was surprised. ¡°About three more years.¡±

    ¡°Three years?¡±

    ¡°... One actually.¡±

    ¡°Very well! We¡¯ll work together!¡±

    The old man looked dejected at first, but he was suddenly ovee with joy. ¡°What made you change your mind?¡±

    ¡°Because I don¡¯t want to see the Umbral World beplete, either.¡±

 Chapter 955: Call of War

    The situation in the neutralnds wasplicated and difficult to unravel. All schemers were extremely excited, hoping to fish some benefits from the confusion. Nothing they did could affect the general oue, but their habit of sowing chaos sent them scuttling back and forth, muddying the waters everywhere.

    The Moonlight Demons were also an important target of these schemers, but to their great disappointment, this power had no intention of joining in the power struggles. Their leader never appeared and no one knew where he was.

    As more and more troops gathered in Southern Blue, the day of the battle was quickly drawing near.

    Qianye heard a clear jingle near him as he sat amidst the blizzard. He slowly opened his eyes, emerging from the endless cycle of simted fights. The bell didn¡¯t really exist, but Qianye could hear it very clearly. This was Song Zining summoning him¡ªthe battle was about to begin.

    Qianye stood up, shook the thickyer of snow on his body, and then jumped down into the boundless wind and snow.

    No one knew what he had gained or lost that day.

    Southern Blue had already turned into a massive military camp. Arge number of soldiers were gathered here, and the airship port was full of fierce warships. Within the city, all the zas had been refashioned into drill grounds, where thousands of mercenaries were changing out their gear and epting new designation numbers, formally joining the ranks of the imperial army as they did so.

    The recently constructed factories were running day and night, pouring out vast amounts of gear and ammunition. All the major traders had made steep investments to increase their output to the max and arm every mercenary to the teeth.

    This was a dangerous gamble which, once lost, would be unsalvageable. Even if they were victorious, they would still have to face off against the Evernight reinforcements. But Song Zining had lured them to his side with promises of long-term profits. By the time they had realized that this was an imperial camp, everything was already toote. The factories had been constructed and the raw materials had entered the warehouses. They had even transferred skilled workers from other branches to Southern Blue.

    The moment Song Zining was defeated, everything they had in Southern Blue would bepletely forfeit. Even a big merchant wouldn¡¯t be able to ept such a loss. As for what would happen to the empire after being defeated, that was too far away. The losses at hand, however, were very real and close.

    In the face of long term pain and short term losses, mostpanies decided totch onto the empire¡¯s war machine.

    As far as they were concerned, they would have to see what they had started to the very end. Hence, they provided overwhelming support for Song Zining¡¯s war efforts, going so far as to outfit the troops first and dy the payment for after the war had been won. Tidehark was a big fat cake, enough for everyone to have a slice after it had been taken down.

    After returning to Southern Blue, Qianye headed straight to Dark me Headquarters to meet Song Zining.

    Song Zining immediately assembled all leaders to a meeting after Qianye¡¯s arrival. This would be thest meeting before the war, and this group was the final lineup that would decide the fate of the battle at Tidehark city.

    The heads of each faction were garrisoned inside Darkme Headquarters. The group waspletely gathered in less than half an hour, filling themand room to the brim.

    Song Zining hung a military map on the wall, upon which was marked the advancement routes for the various squads, the rendezvous time at the frontlines, and the direction of attack. A force numbering in the tens of thousands would advance along four different routes and attack Tidehark from different directions.

    The strategy was meticulously nned and reasonably distributed. There was really nothing out of the ordinary at first nce, but knowledgeable people could see thepetence in the nning. At least, in terms of strategy, Song Zining had reached an extremely high standard. Hence, all parties nodded in secret admiration and brought up noints.

    Next up, Song Zining listed out the experts from each party and briefed them on their missions. Most experts would follow the main force in this operation, acting as the core nodes that would support the battle. A small number of experts would form a group of mobile reserve forces. This arrangement was in ordance with the rules and hence no one expressed objection either.

    The final keyponent of the n was restraining Luo Binfeng. Song Zining gestured with a raised hand, dismissing most unrted personnel and leaving only a small group behind.

    In response to Song Zining¡¯s indication, two elders from the imperial family stood up. The two men were identical¡ªwell-groomed, clean, and friendly-looking. Their smooth chins and magnificent apparel indicated their status in the imperial pce.

    ¡°Stewards Yun Tian and Yun Hai will work together with Qianye to restrain Luo Bingfeng. This key battle will be led by the imperial family, with Qianye acting as support. Elder Li will provide support from the side and attack at the necessary moment. This Young Master will be paying attention and will help out as needed.¡±

    Hearing their own names, Yun Tian, Yun Hai, and Qianye all stood up.

    Song Zining said, ¡°The two stewards are twins who have been serving in the imperial household since childhood. Due to their unwavering loyalty, they were taught the Draconic Defense Art. Cultivators of this art can support one another, divide damage, and heal injuries, perfect for endurance battles. Hence, the two stewards will be in charge of restraining Luo Bingfeng head-on.¡±

    Yun Tian and Yun Hai replied at the same time, ¡°It is our duty to work for the empire with our lives, we will do our best.¡±

    Song Zining bowed toward the two men and then continued, ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone is familiar with Qianye, so there¡¯s really no need for further introduction. Although he¡¯s left the empire temporarily for various reasons, he remains our most dependable ally in this battle. Apart from this, Qianye possesses great destructive power capable of wounding Luo Bingfeng. That is why he¡¯s the greatest threat to the city lord in this battle.¡±

    Everyone nodded. Many people gave the situation some thought and came to see Qianye in a new light. Only Yan Ding was looking away with an ashen face. At least on the surface, both the imperial family and the Li family seemed to be ignoring Qianye¡¯s vampire identity. The only one who cared about that was the military representative.

    Yan Ding''s resentment toward the other parties¡¯ attitudes probably surpassed that toward Qianye himself. It was just that both powers were such massive entities that a small character like him was powerless against them.

    The current Yan Ding was just amander without any followers. He knew quite well that Song Zining might¡¯ve done him in if it weren¡¯t for his meager value as a rank-sixteen expert. None of these divination people were saints.

    Having reached this point with the introduction, Song Zining no longer went on with the exnation. Apparently, he had no intention of borating on what Qianye¡¯s ultimate move was nor its characteristics. Yun Zhong and Yun Hai stood up and addressed Qianye: ¡°We hope General Qianye can support us in the battle toe.¡±

    Qianye bowed slightly. ¡°As I should.¡±

    The war meeting ended there and each party went on to engage in their own preparations. Qianye noticed that Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann weren¡¯t present for the conference. ording to reason, it was only natural that people of their strength and status would have a seat here.

    Song Zining caught up from behind as Qianye left the room and dragged on his hand. ¡°Follow me, I have something to give you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know if youe.¡±

    Qianye was dragged to a small warehouse guarded by two Dark me mercenaries. After going in, he found that there was a door inside. Song Zining was much more cautious this time around, unraveling a total of three origin arrays before opening the steel door with a sigh of relief.

    Qianye found himself sweating because he had only noticed one out of the three origin arrays here. And even that he didn¡¯t know how to dismantle. It was easy to imagine that he would have to suffer a round of fierce attacks from the arrays in order to charge in.

    The warehouse wasn¡¯t big, and the furnishings were also fairly basic. The inside was only as big as a bedroom, equipped with an armor rack and two crates. How was such a room worth locking behind three origin arrays? One had to know that this type of array was extremely expensive.

    There was a set of battle armor hanging from the rack. The internal armor looked fairly thin at a nce. It was seemingly greyed and old without many special characteristics. However, it was naturally an extraordinary item since Song Zining had ced it here.

    As expected, Song Zining pointed at the armor, saying, ¡°Try it on and see if it fits you. I¡¯ve already had the craftsmen adjust it to your size, but you need to try it out. We still have a night¡¯s time to fix it if you find it ufortable.¡±

    Qianye took off his robes and got ready to don the armor. He had just picked up the armor when he found his hands sinking. To his great surprise, he found that the upper part of the armor alone was several hundred kilograms in weight. Who knew what material it was made from?

    But several hundred kilograms was nothing now that he was prepared. He wore the jacket, then the pants and boots, before donning the pair of gloves that revealed his fingers. The entire set weighed over a ton in weight.

    The armor was a good fit for him. Apparently, Song Zining remembered his figure very clearly as there was no ce that needed adjustment. Additionally, the finger portions of the glove seemed to have been clipped off recently to allow for Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder. After his blood energy had reached the marquis realm, Qianye¡¯s degree of control over Life Plunder had risen sharply, allowing him to shoot out sanguineous threads from his fingers.

    Qianye tugged hard at the jacket to try and tear it, but the armor remainedpletely unaffected. His tugging action could even break steel threads but could do nothing against this set of internal armor. This made him curious about the material and also its origins.

    Song Zining walked around Qianye and said in satisfaction, ¡°Not bad, it¡¯s a fairly good fit. You can wear another set of battle armor outside during battle. This level of defensive power should be enough to give Luo Bingfeng a surprise. Apart from that, this internal armor was weaved from the membrane and skin of a void colossus. It will serve to defend against spiritual attacks and suppressive might, the best type of armor to counter Luo Bingfeng. Most importantly, it¡¯s been imbued with the power of a void colossus, so most divination powers will be rendered ineffective against it. This also means that no one can scry your location as long as you wear it. Naturally, it¡¯s another matter if Marshal Lin takes personal action.¡±

    If everything was as Song Zining had said, this armor was a priceless treasure. The only problem was where had he gotten his hands on such a thing?

    As he was folding the sleeves, he unexpectedly noticed an unremoved insignia inside. It was the emblem of the imperial family.

 Chapter 956: Whose Price?

    It was a usible exnation if this internal armor came from the imperial family. The empire had stood tall for a thousand years, and its bountiful umtions weren¡¯t something ordinary people could imagine. Even then, its characteristic of being able to withstand a void colossus¡¯ suppression was priceless. Experts exploring the depths of the void would never refuse such a set of armor. On the contrary, it was less valuable to ordinary experts, and the weaker ones wouldn¡¯t even be able to put it on.

    Such a treasure would be ranked in the top ten even in the imperial treasure. How did Song Zining get his hands on it?

    Thinking about that while trying the clothes on, he asked, ¡°Zining, how many years did you sell to the empire?¡±

    Song Ziningughed radiantly. ¡°What are you talking about? I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    No small movement could escape Qianye¡¯s notice. He pressed on with the matter, ¡°What I mean is what did you have to promise them for this armor.¡±

    Song Zining seemed rather relieved. ¡°Someone delivered this treasure of their own free will.¡±

    Qianye snorted distrustfully. ¡°The imperial family sending over something like this? Not even a prince or princess can make such a decision, can they?¡±

    ¡°That person¡¯s status¡­ is much higher than a prince or princess.¡±

    Qianye was even more skeptical. The imperial pce was highly hierarchical with many different levels in status, but only a handful of people could be higher in status than a prince or princess. Even an imperial consort was no greater than the more important princes. Someone like Consort Zhao, who had the support of the entire Zhao n behind her, was merely equal in status.

    A major character like that currying favor with Song Zining? Not to mention Qianye, even the seventh young master himself might not believe such a im.

    It didn¡¯t take a lot of deliberation to figure out that, just like with the alloy form, Song Zining had either paid a significant price or made a great contribution in exchange for a treasure that he thought would save Qianye¡¯s life.

    As clever as Song Zining was, he immediately noticed Qianye¡¯s change in expression and figured out what he was thinking. He chuckled, saying, ¡°The causes and effects rted to this treasure are quite significant. The price involved is not small, either.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± Qianye recognized the value of the item, hence he waited quietly for Song Zining¡¯s continuation.

    Song Zining pulled tight thest bit of creases on the internal armor and said in satisfaction, ¡°Now that¡¯s a perfect fit if I¡¯ve ever seen one. It won¡¯t affect your movements at all inbat. With it, your chances of survival have increased by thirty percent.¡±

    ¡°Do you have that little confidence in me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re facing Luo Bingfeng. Who can really say they understand him? Who can guarantee that what we know is the extent of his secret arts?¡±

    Qianye had no reply to these questions.

    Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s back. ¡°So, survival is the most important. It¡¯s worth paying any price as long as it can save your life. You have to believe in yourself. No matter how steep the price, it can be recouped as long as you remain alive. You¡¯re a man who will reach the Sacred Mountain one day, how can you be suppressed by this small hurdle?¡±

    Hearing this, Qianye sensed something wrong about the contents. ¡°Wait a minute, you mean I¡¯m the one who has to pay this price?¡±

    ¡°Of course! It¡¯s your life we¡¯re trying to protect. Don¡¯t tell me I have to pay for it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not wrong, but¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts, the thing is already here and it¡¯s already on your body. It¡¯s toote for regrets!¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°No, I¡¯m not trying to go back on my words. I just wanted to know what the price is.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t inflexible. No amount of preparation was excessive against an expert like Luo Bingfeng since staying alive was the most important objective. It was just that the feeling of not knowing what one owed was fairly ufortable.

    At the critical juncture, Song Zining resumed his annoying flippant attitude. ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    Qianye snorted coldly and simply decided not to press on with this matter. As long as the internal armor was intact, he could still return it in the end¡ªat most, he would have to pay additionalpensation.

    What came next, however, stopped Qianye from smiling.

    Song Zining opened the two boxes. A system of intricate mechanisms raised one syringe each from their containers. One of them was as yellow as a raging me, and the other was red like boiling blood.

    After seeing the two syringes, Qianye¡¯s blood began to flow rapidly and his vitality increased by a small margin.

    Song Zining shot Qianye a nce before closing the boxes again. ¡°See them?¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath. ¡°One of them is a stimnt, and the other is a... regenerative medicine? But howe I¡¯ve never seen this type? No, I¡¯ve never even heard of it.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°This kind of medicine is top secret even in the empire. Only a dozen or so of them are produced every year, with most ingredientsing from the Great Maelstrom. There¡¯s no way to make more even if you wanted to. You sensed the medicinal effects just now, right? What do you think?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s at least a thousand times more powerful than an ordinary drug, should be effective even for a divine champion.¡±

    Song Zining scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t mention divine champions, these medicines are useful even for heavenly monarchs. A divine champion might not get their hands on one such syringe in their entire lives. You¡¯re very lucky, these are now yours. Don¡¯t forget to use them before the battle tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Wait, there must be a quota for such things. The empire has five heavenly monarchs and the emperor himself. Is it enough to split?¡±

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°Of course not! Heavenly monarchs need them to oversee battlefields and explore the void. There¡¯s never too many. The emperor and empress also need some reserves. In truth, such medicine will never be bestowed on anyone except people like Lin Xitang who have made great contributions to the empire. These are the instructions, take a look.¡±

    With that, Song Zining passed over a piece of paper.

    Qianye felt greatly distressed just from looking at the instruction manual. The medicines would quickly lose their effects after leaving their specialized origin arrays, hence one would need to use them before the battle. The stimnt served to activate the body¡¯s potential and greatly increase one¡¯s speed of origin power recovery. The rate of regeneration would be greatly magnified for someone of Qianye¡¯s level, almost restoring him immediately.

    That was all fine, still. The problem was that he also needed to use the regenerative medicine before the battle, and it would kick in once Qianye¡¯s vitality reached a certain threshold. It would quickly repair the body and activate the user¡¯s vitality, easily bringing a person back from the verge of death to an extremely active state. Using the two medicines together would increase their effectiveness. Even a heavenly monarch who had fallen into mortal peril would see a thread of hope for survival.

    The more powerful a person was, the more they would value such an opportunity. It was the same for the empire as a whole¡ªno price was too great to save the life of a heavenly monarch or experts who were close to that level.

    But if Qianye didn¡¯t encounter a life or death situation, the drug would be wasted.

    The value of these two medicines was even greater than the armor, but they would be exhausted once used. How was Qianye to repay such a favor?

    ¡°Zining, where did these two medicinese from?¡±

    ¡°No need to ask, I won¡¯t tell you even if you do. Anyway, just use them first and we can think of something after you survive. You¡¯ll be able to repay any amount of debt as long as you¡¯re alive.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°You speak so lightly of such a matter! How am I to repay such a debt? At least tell me who I¡¯m indebted to?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know once the timees.¡± The same words were repeated once more. Qianye really wanted to choke the man to death.

    Seeing Qianye about to act up, Song Zining said, ¡°There¡¯s one more way to not rue this debt, that is to not fight.¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a moment. ¡°That won¡¯t do.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception was a massive threat, even for Luo Bingfeng. This was the true restraint upon him. No matter how strong their defensive prowess, the two Yun-Family brothers wouldn¡¯tst very long under the assault of an expert like Luo Bingfeng. An opening was bound to appear at one point. Once Luo Bingfeng could get away from the fight, he would naturally attack the brains of this operation, Song Zining. Then, he would target the peerless young geniuses like Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing. On the contrary, there was really no value in killing the two Yun brothers and the Li family elder.

    Qianye would never allow Song Zining to fall into danger. Fortunately, he felt a bit more relieved that the debt was on him this time. At the very least, he wouldn¡¯t owe Song Zining another favor.

    Qianye put the two boxes into Andruil¡¯s Space and refastened his robe. As for the internal armor, there was no need to remove it because he needed some time to get ustomed to the weight and characteristics.

    Song Zining sent Qianye back to his residence before heading out to mind his own business.

    It was a sleepless night in Southern Blue. In the wee hours of the morning, preformed groups of soldiers began moving out of the city in orderly session, sending streams of steel flowing out into the distance.

    The night sky was filled with the sounds of rumbling engines, steam whistles, and the hoarse shouts of the officers. At dawn, the warships took to the sky and began escortingrge cargo shops toward Tidehark. These cargo vessels were full of materials used to quickly deploy defensive structures and siege equipment.

    The citizens of the neutralnds couldn¡¯t find sleep, all of them busy watching this unprecedented scene of magnificence. The nominal city lord of Southern Blue, Ji Rui, had been standing on the tower for an entire night, gazing absent-mindedly at the river of steel in the distance.

    Guan Zhongliu stood nearby with a frown, filled withplicated emotions.

    The mobilization of troops came to a temporary end as the first rays of the sun appeared. Ji Rui heaved a deep sigh. ¡°Only ten thousand men, only ten thousand men!¡±

    The neutralnds would often break out in big wars, and it wasn¡¯t too rare to see a battle involving tens of thousands of people. However, most mercenaries were d in simple gear that they had to procure on their own. That was also the reason why the quality of the armies here was mixed and vastly discrepant. Many of the weapons were hand made and the ammunition was unique to each of them, making supply logistics an almost impossible endeavor. There might as well be no supplies at all.

    Most of the mercenaries in the neutralnds had never seen a formal war between the Empire and Evernight. They would never have imagined that every soldier would get a seat on the transports, that the omnipresent fleet up there was just to deliver supplies and ammunition. What¡¯s more, they would never have thought these soldiers¡ªuniformly armed to the teeth¡ªwould look so imposing.

    ¡°Are you willing to fight this lineup if I give you fifty thousand men?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu shook his head with a serious expression.

 Chapter 957: Soldiers at the Gates

    This was an obvious decision. Song Zining¡¯s squad might not be superior in terms of individual strength, but it was well supplied and boasted considerable firepower as a group. The fighting power of this unit wasn¡¯t something that could be measured by the number of soldiers. Moreover, there was an airship fleet up in the sky, overseeing the situation with predatorial eyes and ready to fire at a moment¡¯s notice.

    To fight against such a unit, one would need to suppress its advantage with overwhelming manpower, and fifty thousand wasn¡¯t nearly enough. Ji Rui said fifty thousand because that was the number of mercenaries and direct subordinates Zhang Buzhou could mobilize. Even that was a fairly outstanding feat.

    Another method was to suppress the army with experts, just like how Qianye had blocked Tidehark back in the day. But that probably wouldn¡¯t work, either, since no one knew how many experts were hidden among the imperial forces. Daring to siege Tidehark despite knowing of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s presence meant that they possessed equal power up their sleeves.

    Ji Rui sighed deeply. ¡°We¡¯ve grown old!¡±

    Guan Zhongliu shook his head. ¡°What are you talking about? The empire won¡¯t stay in the neutralnds for long. They will retreat sooner orter. The neutralnds still belong to us.¡±

    Ji Rui Shook his head. ¡°At first, I had grand ambitions at heart, but after seeing Qianye¡¯s valiance and Song Zining¡¯s army, I realized that everything was just my rosy imagination.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu wasn¡¯t quite resigned. ¡°Qianye is powerful, but what does Song Zining have? He just threw money at it. I can do the same if I have that much to spend!¡±

    Ji Rui asked, ¡°Can you really outfit such a squad in such a short time if you had that much money?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu opened his mouth, but no words came out.

    Assembling a squad was an extremelyplicated matter. Not only would one need to organize the lineup, but also have to deal with equipment distribution, training, and coordination. Thinking back to it, it would seem every action Song Zining had taken since his arrival in Southern Blue was in preparation for this day. He had unknowingly tied numerous merchants, mercenaries, and even the city of Southern Blue to the empire¡¯s war machine.

    At first, the duo was confident in their own strength and was simply waiting to be offered a good price. But now, with so many experts arriving from the empire, Song Zining didn¡¯t even suggest their participation in this fight. This filled the city lord and Guan Zhongliu with both relief and disappointment.

    The empire¡¯s victory in this battle would prove that the two of them had no big use; they could forget about any important status in the future. If the empire was defeated, neither the Evernight reinforcements nor Zhang Buzhou would let them off easily¡ªbanishment would be the best oue.

    On the other hand, this battle was of such grave importance that Song Zining apparently had no intention of letting them know the details. This also meant that Ji Rui and Guan Zhongliu were simply side-characters in the imperial system.

    Guan Zhongliu didn¡¯t have the heart to utter false words in front of Ji Rui. Having him draft a ten-thousand strong mercenary corps was doable, but to form an elite squad was simply impossible. Before this day, the man had never even imagined there could be such a heavily equipped unit.

    Without waiting for Guan Zhongliu¡¯s reply, Ji Rui said, ¡°Everything else aside, just getting so much money in hand is an ability!¡±

    Guan Zhongliu fell silent for a brief moment and asked, ¡°City Lord, what do we do next?¡±

    ¡°If the empire wins this war, we¡¯ll join them and put ourselves under theirmand.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu was dissatisfied. ¡°City Lord, Southern Blue is your foundation!¡±

    Smiling wryly, Ji Rui waved his hand. ¡°My foundation? Was my foundation ever so big?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu wanted to persuade the city lord, but Ji Rui stopped him. ¡°Old Guan, I¡¯ve thought it through. It¡¯s extremely difficult for us to break through to the divine champion realm, but the empire has a thousand years of umtion. They will definitely have cultivation arts that suits us. If we make enough contributions, maybe we¡¯ll be granted some superior ones, and maybe we¡¯ll break through to the divine champion realm. At that point, we can continue being brothers for several more decades.¡±

    Breaking through the threshold of divine champion was every cultivator¡¯s dream, and Guan Zhongliu wasn¡¯t immune to the desire.

    After a while, Ji Rui said, ¡°It¡¯s almost time, I¡¯ll go pack up.¡±

    ¡°Where to?¡± Guan Zhongliu was puzzled.

    ¡°Tidehark, of course! How can there be no idents in such a big battle? Luo Bingfeng isn¡¯t so easy to deal with, either. I¡¯ll hover around and help out when the opportunity arises. That¡¯s the kind of attitude we need to adopt.¡±

    ¡°City Lord, if you do that, we¡¯ll bepletely broken off from Zhang Buzhou.¡±

    Ji Ruiughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Do you think we can go back to our previous state? We will be considered as one of them even if we don¡¯t help the empire. Besides, we¡¯re breaking off with Luo Bingfeng, not Zhang Buzhou.¡±

    Outside of Tidehark, the first batch of soldiers had already arrived and were setting up the defenses and camps.

    The location of the army camp was only a few thousand meters from Tidehark. They were doing chores right under the enemy¡¯s eyes, a ring disy of arrogance. The defensive structures also happened to be just out of ballista range, but those sallying out to attack would have to face the numerous warships hovering in the sky. Judging from their mechanical power and the dense array of cannon muzzles, one could easily tell that they weren¡¯t that fun to provoke.

    Even an idiot would know that charging against airship fire was suicide.

    The defending army was quite furious when the first defensive line was being constructed, but as more and more of the troops arrived, they quickly became nervous.

    The more experienced veterans discovered that only half of the transports were carrying soldiers, while the rest were shipping supplies and construction machinery. Cargo airships also appeared in a steady stream, dropping off small mountains of materials, which soon turned into ted walls, barracks, and a dense array of heavy cannons.

    The cargo arrived in an endless stream, almost as though it would never stop.

    The defending general turned pale at the sight of this. They had never seen such a method of siege preparation, nor that many supplies. Despite having never witnessed such a scene, he had enough experience to understand the gravity of this situation.

    Just as he was wracked with worry, the aide near him said, ¡°General, howe they have so many heavy cannons? This won¡¯t do. At this rate, they won¡¯t even need to attack the city. Just the bombardment alone is beyond our tolerance!¡±

    The general¡¯s expression sank. ¡°What do you think we should do?¡±

    The aide clenched his teeth. ¡°Should I charge out with a squad and attack them?¡±

    The general pointed downward. ¡°It might¡¯ve been feasible if you had said this one hour ago, but it¡¯s toote now.¡±

    The aide gazed down to find a newly formed line of fortifications¡ªrows of steel tes were erected and pieced together to form a firm defensive front. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration. ¡°Do those steel tes not cost any money?¡±

    At this point, the fortified array below had taken form. Add to that the unimaginable firepower of the mercenaries and the cannons in the sky, charging out to attack was undoubtedly a suicidal endeavor.

    The aide¡¯s expression was unsightly. At first, he had wanted to lead a thousand men out of the city, but now, there was no telling if that number could even reach the walls.

    ¡°General, there¡¯s only one way left.¡±

    The defensive general turned around. ¡°What? Speak.¡±

    The aide said through clenched teeth, ¡°We can only ask the city lord to take action and sweep away these bastards.¡±

    With a loud bang, the general pped the aide until he was seeing stars. Still furious after the p, he roared, ¡°How can you be sure it¡¯s not a trap to lure the city lord out? Do you think trash like you can defend the city once he suffers an ambush? Are you having second thoughts after seeing the enemy forces?¡±

    The aide replied in shock, ¡°I have no such thoughts!¡±

    The general pointed at the defensive lines below. ¡°Look carefully, their position is just beyond the empowerment range of the holy mountain. Do you really want the city lord to leave the holy mountain and fight the enemy outside of his advantage?¡±

    The aide denied in a panic.

    The general snorted heavily. ¡°Considering your twenty years of loyal service, I¡¯ll let this matter be. No one is to disturb the city lord without my orders! How can he not know anything going on around the city? He will attack when he deems fit, no need for anyone to worry!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir! The general is wise!¡± The aide retreated timidly. Only after turning around did a sh of viciousness flicker through his eyes.

    Beneath Tidehark, the mercenaries stopped after building three segments of fortifications. Instead, they began building camps and barracks at the back. Large living quarters popped up like bamboo shoots after the spring rain. Such tents made from steel pipes and fabric weren''t anything new¡ªthe defense army also possessed several dozens of them.

    But the shock and awe were significant when hundreds and thousands of them appeared in a neat row.

    Looking at the set-up below, the general¡¯s expression sank. ¡°They¡¯re looking to break the city in one day!¡±

    An airship slowly approached from beyond the cloudy skies. The vessel¡¯s body was sleek, magnificent, andpletely out of ce from the coarseness of the neutralnds.

    Song Zining was standing on the deck, looking down at Tidehark from above. Behind him were the old man from the imperial family, the Li family elder, and the others.

    Even well-experienced people like them couldn¡¯t help being moved by the orderly formation below. The core forces below were just mercenaries a few months ago. One could easily imagine how hard it was for Song Zining to have trained them to this degree. Many people increased their evaluation of him after seeing the results he had produced.

    Amidst the praises, Song Ziningughed out loud. ¡°This is just on the surface, only enough to scare people. The key to this battle lies in whether we can deal with Luo Bingfeng."

 Chapter 958: A Different Mountain Splitter

    Yan Ding said, ¡°It¡¯ll be bad if Luo Bingfeng kills his way out.¡±

    Without waiting for Song Zining¡¯s reply, the old man from the imperial court said, ¡°He won¡¯t. He isn¡¯t sure if we¡¯re luring him out into a trap. If I were him, I would never take such an unnecessary risk. At least inside the city, the holy mountain gives him an edge. Look!¡±

    The old man flicked his finger, shooting countless crystalline granules from his fingertips that turned into a shower of graceful snowkes. Some of the snow fluttered down, but the rest remained hanging in the air, outlining a domed crystalline barrier over the holy mountain.

    ¡°This is the domain of the holy mountain, and it looks even more powerful than I¡¯d anticipated.¡±

    The airship was parked not far off from the holy mountain. Seeing just how close the barrier was, one of the people said with a worried expression, ¡°What should we do if he charges out and attacks us?¡±

    Many people looked concerned.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°No need to worry! Luo Bingfeng is a hero who despises ambushes, lest his name bes tarnished. I¡¯m the only one who¡¯ll do such a thing, haha!¡±

    The group apanied theughter, seizing the opportunity to get off this topic.

    The Li family elder frowned. ¡°This holy mountain domain isn¡¯t simple at all! If the city lord keeps hiding inside, it¡¯ll be pretty difficult to deal with him. Seventh Young Noble, what should we do?¡±

    Another aristocratic family elder chimed in, ¡°Yeah, this holy mountain needs to be removed. Seventh Young Noble, you epted so much money for us saying you¡¯ll do away with the holy mountain. Don¡¯t tell me you have no way against it.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve long since found a solution, there¡¯s no need to hide it from everyone at this point. Look, there¡¯s our answer.¡±

    Everyone looked in the direction Song Zining was pointing and saw rows upon rows of heavy artillery. Up until this point, there was still a steady stream of crates being brought up, from which numerousponents were being extracted to assemble heavy cannons.

    ¡°Heavy cannons?¡±

    The group had already noticed these heavy cannons, but they didn¡¯t think too much about them. Such weapons were impressive but didn¡¯t have that big of a use. They were secretly mocking Song Zining for going overboard just to dismantle the city defenses. Tidehark was a well-fortified city, but its defense systems couldn¡¯t bepared to the Empire or Evernight. What was the use of so many heavy cannons?

    ¡°Yes, they are the answer. As for how to use them, you¡¯ll find out on the morrow.¡± Song Zining kept everyone in suspense.

    Deep in the night, the empire¡¯s armies had alreadypleted assembling. The well-lit camp was even more dazzling than Tidehark City itself, but the entire base was quiet as the soldiers were all resting up for the uing all-out assault. The defensive forces didn¡¯t dare to be careless, even for a moment. They remained vignt the entire night, for fear of a surprise attack.

    The warships hovering constantly in the air made it impossible for the defending army to charge out and attack. Dawn finally arrived¡ªthe imperial elites walked out of their barracks in high spirits, while the defenders were fairly fatigued.

    The defense general¡¯s eyes were bloodshot from the apparentck of sleep. He red down the city walls, not willing to let any movement escape his notice. All the while, the hand he had pressed onto the wall was trembling ever so slightly.

    Someone behind him ced a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Scared?¡±

    The defense general turned about and stood at attention. ¡°General Du!¡±

    Du Yuan nodded. ¡°Are you scared?¡±

    The defense general¡¯s face turned red. ¡°When have you seen me scared in all these years. I just can¡¯t figure out what they want to do.¡±

    Du Yuan nced down the city wall with a frown. ¡°Flowery but hollow inside, what are you afraid of? Such arge array of heavy cannons, what are they even trying to do? Tear down the city walls? Ha, just let them tear!¡±

    ¡°General Du, I fear¡­¡± The defending general was hesitant.

    It was at this time that the earth trembled slightly, and a cloud of white mist appeared over the distant cannon array. One of the heavy cannons fired a test shot amidst a thunderous rumble that echoed in the clouds.

    This was a calibration shot that shouldn¡¯t have brought about much of a surprise, but Du Yuan¡¯s expression shifted as the projectile screamed toward them.

    With his near-divine-champion eyesight, the cannon shell was moving at the speed of a snail. The range of this shot was oddly long. It swept across the entire city region andnded on the holy mountain.

    With no time to think carefully, Du Yuan shot into the air with a loud roar and intercepted the cannon shell, destroying it with a punch.

    The defense general was astonished, and the other soldiers were also puzzled as to why Du Yuan would care so much about a single cannon shell.

    Outside of Tidehark, Song Zining opened his folding fan and said coldly, ¡°You can stop one, but can you stop several hundred? I¡¯ll have to see if you have more origin power or if I have more ammunition. Men, issue my order, all cannons at the ready, fire in bursts of three!¡±

    After a moment of silence, the earth-shattering rumble of cannon-fire drowned out everything. Rows upon rows of cannon-shells flew toward the holy mountain like a swarm of locusts.

    Du Yuan¡¯s face was filled with despair. He flew into the air once more, spewing out countless streams of azure mes from his body which covered an area hundreds of meters around him. The cannon shells would explode immediately upon contact with the energy, painting a magnificent scene of ming balls in the air.

    That was the extent of Du Yuan¡¯s ability¡ªhe could only stop projectiles within a hundred-meter radius. However, the holy mountain was so big that most of the shells managed to get through. The defense general also noticed that something was wrong and ordered his subordinates to start intercepting the cannon shells as well. These officers weren¡¯t afraid of being struck, but it was doubly difficult for them to intercept the iing artillery.

    In mere moments, the earth was shaking and the mountains were trembling.

    Du Yuan remained hovering in the air, a look of despair on his face as he nced at the raging mes on the holy mountain. He swayed about, and then suddenly dropped to the ground. It would seem the interception just now had drained him of all origin power.

    The defense general was shocked out of his wits. He flew over to support Du Yuan, shouting, ¡°General, General!¡±

    Du Yuan opened his eyes and took in abored breath. ¡°Their shells¡­ Are there more of them?¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± The defensive general didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Du Yuan shouted furiously, ¡°Speak!¡±

    The defense general clenched his teeth. ¡°Yes, a lot more.¡±

    Du Yuan¡¯s eyes lost all spirit and his body seemed drained of all energy. He moved his lips slightly but no words came out. All he could do was cling onto the defense general¡¯s soldier and struggle to stand up. ¡°Help me¡­ to¡­ the holy mountain.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless!¡± the defense general said.

    ¡°Take me there!¡± Du Yuan was insistent.

    It was at this time that the earth beneath the two trembled slightly. A single heavy-cannon shell flew through the air and left a deep pit on the holy mountain.

    It wasn¡¯t strange for the bombardment to continue, but it was quite weird for a single shell to fly over.

    On the airship, Song Zining ordered, ¡°Continue firing and await my orders. Bring that person over.¡±

    Momentster, the guards returned with a handsome, well-groomed young man. He bowed so deeply in front of Song Zining that it looked like he was about to kneel.¡±

    Song Zining lifted his fan, sending out a wisp of origin power to prop the young man up. ¡°No need to kneel, I cannot ept such a gesture.¡±

    The young man replied hurriedly. ¡°If the Seventh Young Noble can¡¯t, who can?¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t moved. ¡°The intel you brought with you is fairly useful. If we manage to take the city, I¡¯ll make sure you gain good rank and status.¡±

    The young man was delighted. ¡°Thank you, Seventh Young Noble.¡±

    Song Zining asked nonchntly, ¡°I remember you mentioning that Du Yuan and that¡­ madam shares an extraordinary rtionship?¡±

    The young man replied hurriedly, ¡°Perhaps I should call her Young Miss. She has been with the city lord for some time, but they never crossed the line it seems.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s brows rose in apparent intrigue. After a moment of thought, he asked, ¡°I heard Du Yuan treats you quite well, why would you defect to us?¡±

    The young man gritted his teeth. ¡°Well? Humph, I¡¯m his foster son in name, but I had to work for him like a ve! I gave it my all but the old fellow would never pass his ultimate skills to me. He left everything for his son! Why should I follow such a person? Only a master like the seventh young master is worth following¡­¡±

    Song Zining stopped him. ¡°Okay, I understand. You may leave for now.¡±

    After the young man was gone, Song Zining paced around the room, muttering, ¡°Never crossed the line, never crossed the line¡­¡±

    Momentster, he halted his steps with a cold smile. ¡°I know now! She¡¯s a survivor of the Brightmoon Zitherheart School. Do you think you can get away with it now that I know your origins?¡±

    Song Zining pushed open the cabin doors and entered themand room. ¡°Issue the order, concentrate all fire on the holy mountain, keep going until we¡¯re out of ammo!¡±

    After the orderly left in a hurry, Song Zining said, ¡°Prepare my armor and spear!¡±

    All the warriors were shocked. ¡°Seventh Young Master, are we going to go all out?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Luo Bingfeng will appear before long. Issue the order, warships forward, raise the war banners!¡±

    The gship in the sky spewed out a mass of steam, its bleak foghorn echoing above Tidehark. The loud re roused the camp below into action¡ªthe great doors opened up, and groups of soldiers began moving toward Tidehark under the cover of the armored vehicles.

    The warhorn was very soon drowned out by the sound of heavy cannons. Countless cannon-shells flew toward Tidehark and smashed into the holy mountain. In the blink of an eye, the entire mountain was swallowed up by a dense cloud of smoke and mes as artillery rounds rained down like falling stars.

    The hovering warships in the air finally took action, slowly pressing forward like hungry giant beasts. The line of fire moved along with the airships onto the city walls. In the blink of an eye, the Tidehark walls were drowned in a sea of mes. The ferocity of the imperial warships¡¯ firepower was unprecedented in the Eastern Sea. The defense turrets were immediately destroyed, and the city guard had no power to retaliate.

    There were three more stationary airships in the sky, namely the gships belonging to the imperial family, the aristocratic alliance, and Song Zining.

    Inside the gship of the aristocratic alliance, the Li family elder was gazing at the fire-covered holy mountain with a frown. Someone nearby finally couldn¡¯t resist. ¡°Isn¡¯t he just sting a barren mountain? What¡¯s the use? Can he really copse it?¡±

 Chapter 959: Prologue

    The Li family elder muttered, ¡°What if he can really tten the mountain in this manner?¡±

    The elder nearbyughed out loud. ¡°Seriously?¡±

    Another person gave it some thought. ¡°Perhaps that mountain is hollow inside or there¡¯s a tunnel.¡±

    The first elder was skeptical. ¡°Even if the mountain is empty, it¡¯s not something ordinary heavy cannons can demolish. It¡¯s hard enough to focus on one point and bore a hole through, not to mention a bombardment like this.¡±

    The other person wasn¡¯t satisfied, either. ¡°Why would the seventh young noble bring so many cannons if they weren¡¯t useful? For fun?¡±

    The old man went mute. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to retort, but because Song Zining¡¯s fame was too resounding and no one dared to treat him as a joke. That was the good thing about being famous¡ªordinary people would be a joke if they were to bombard a mountain, but Song Zining doing the same thing was considered part of a deeper n.

    Atop the holy mountain, there was no change at all in that serene courtyard. The rain of cannon-shells and earth-shattering explosions almost seemed nonexistent here. Just like before, the ancient trees in the courtyard swayed gently in the breeze and not a single leaf fell off of them.

    Luo Bingfeng sat alone in his study, reading intently from an ancient scroll. There was a ss of tea on the desk in front of him¡ªthe liquid was clear, with a smear of rejuvenating green akin to sprouting buds in spring. A wisp of hot steam curled upward, spreading a faintly discernible fragrance throughout the room.

    An apocalyptic scene was raging outside of the windows. Cannon shells rained down like shooting stars, filling the air with dust, smoke, and gravel. Despite that, not even the smallest bit of dust entered the courtyard, so much so that the smoke would disappear long before it reached the courtyard walls. The thunderous explosions never made it to the ce, either.

    The entire holy mountain was trembling, but the small courtyard was like an ind in the stormy seas, blessed with the tranquility of being isted from the world.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s slender fingers flipped a new page on the book. It was at this time that his brows rose up, and he finally emerged from his world of calmness.

    Du Yuan was staggering into the courtyard when the shockwave from a nearby explosion threw him to the ground. To an expert at this level, heavy cannons were like toys. He should¡¯ve beenpletely fine even if struck squarely, let alone suffer from shockwaves.

    Du Yuan was in such a miserable state because he had expended too much origin power and was like an arrow at the end of its flight.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t stand up. ¡°Why are you so miserable?¡± His pleasant voice prated all the explosions and arrived beside Du Yuan¡¯s ears.

    Luo Bingfeng wasn¡¯t that worried. As he saw it, Du Yuan¡¯s constitution was amply powerful despite being highly exhausted. No origin imbued heavy cannon could wound him.

    Du Yuan, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t that calm. Hearing Luo Bingfeng¡¯s voice, he screamed at the top of his lungs, ¡°City Lord, go¡­ go to the madam!¡±

    The ancient scroll in Luo Bingfeng¡¯s hands fell to the ground as he shot to his feet and vanished from the room.

    On the desk, the cup of clear tea staggered briefly before toppling over and spilling hot tea all over.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s silhouette flickered through the seemingly small courtyard and arrived at one of the side buildings. There, he reached out to push the door open but they simply wouldn¡¯t budge.

    Luo Bingfeng was surprised to find that the doors had been sealed by manyyers of origin arrays, all of them in ce to stop him from entering. Ovee by a bad feeling, he channeled his origin power and pushed forcibly, effectively dispersing the arrays and opening the door. He was utterly startled upon entering the room.

    Outside of Tidehark, Song Zining was gazing at the fire drenched holy mountain. The outer walls of Tidehark had been drowned in a sea of mes¡ªthere was fire everywhere and thick smoke was rolling up into the air. The airships in the sky poured a stream of steel onto the city walls,pletely suppressing the defending army. The attacking mercenaries were already approaching the walls. ording to normal imperial strategy, these soldiers would push on steadily, relying on the superior aerial firepower to destroy the enemy troops and fortifications. They were also waiting for the experts from each side to start exchanging blows.

    The mercenaries from the neutralnds, however, were used to their old ways. Maintaining military order up to this point was already their limit. Some of these soldiers lost their nerve the moment the exchange of fire began, opting to leave their squads to charge up the wall and fight the defenders in fierce melee.

    With someone taking the lead, more people began surging toward Tidehark, and the entire attack formation soon broke down. Smily wryly, Song Zining pointed at Tidehark City. ¡°All out attack!¡±

    A scarlet war-banner rose up on the gship, followed by a series of bugles on the ground. The fully-equipped mercenaries became red in the eyes as they charged valiantly for the kill.

    The airships raining suppressive fire on the city walls had no choice but to target the interior of the city, instead, lest they hit friendly forces.

    At this point in the battle, the defense system in Tidehark had beenrgely shattered and the defenders, segregated. Effective resistance was no longer possible. The first wave of mercenaries was already fighting against the defenders on the wall as a steady stream of soldiers joined the fray. Most importantly, the attacking mercenaries hadpletely suppressed the defenders in terms of equipment and thus their casualties were much smaller.

    At this rate, the copse of the defending force was a matter of time. The citizens who could¡¯ve served as a defensive force dared not act rashly under the gaze of the overlooking warships.

    However, everyone knew that this was just the beginning. Victory wasn¡¯t certain even if they could upy the entire Tidehark City.

    As the mes of war reached their peak, everyone felt their chest tense up as though an invisible hand had gripped their heart, causing it to miss a beat.

    ¡°Humph!¡±

    A cold angry voice echoed in everyone¡¯s ears as a pair of eyes slowly opened in the sky above the holy mountain, gazing down at the ants below.

    The cruel battlefield became silent for a moment as everyone nced up at the sky and into the pair of nonexistent eyes.

    ¡°Kill!¡± One of the defenders recovered and, with a loud roar, plunged hisbat dagger into the enemy¡¯s abdomen. This opponent was extremely powerful and had already killed several soldiers. Yet, he was dazed at the critical juncture and ended up being stabbed in the abdomen.

    The soldiers of Tidehark recovered one step sooner. On a battlefield where both sides were shing de to de, this one moment was the difference between life and death.

    Song Zining woke up after a split second. Seeing the dire situation, he jumped onto the bow of the ship and activated a certain mechanism. Large amounts of steam gushed out along the pipes and exited from the foghorn with a thunderous rumble!

    This was the signal to storm the enemy camp. War-drums echoed from the barracks as the foghorn grew abruptly louder, sending forth a deluge of heart shaking sound waves that roused the weaker mercenaries from their daze.

    Song Zining issued several orders after that. In response, the warships above Tidehark flew higher up and gradually started to retreat. The three gships, on the other hand, pressed forward. This maneuver produced a wide empty area in the sky above Tidehark.

    This was a battleground for experts. The moment Song Zining issued this order, everyone understood that Luo Bingfeng was about toe out.

    A blue light flickered above the battlefield. Only the strongest experts noticed a figure appearing in the sky and pressing a hand toward a distant airship.

    That airship had reacted the swiftest, turning about immediately at full throttle as Song Zining issued the order. Despite that, it wasn¡¯t able to escape the iing cmity. A cross-shaped crack appeared near its tail-end and erged into a terrifying defect. A whirlwind of mes, steam, and fuel sprayed out from the gap, engulfing the vessel in a ball of fire.

    The warship lost control and crashed spinning into the city walls. There it exploded ferociously, killing everything within dozens of meters of the st.

    The figure in the sky gradually became clear at this point. It was a man with clean facial features, majestic stature, and elegant clothing. He red at Song Zining with eyes filled with fury. ¡°Junior, what insolence!¡±

    These words were spoken with great strength, every syble causing Song Zining¡¯s face to turn increasingly pale. By the time thest word had been uttered, the seventh young master took three steps back, and the fan in his hand broke with a snap.

    Song Zining coughed up a mouthful of blood, looking somewhat dispirited.

    All experts on the Empire¡¯s side were shocked. Although Song Zining was young and known for his prowess in strategy, all higher experts knew that his cultivation talent wasn¡¯t at allcking. Since many years ago, he had firmly remained on the tail of Zhao Fourth and Qianye, nevergging too far behind. Just this feat alone was enough to rank him among the empire¡¯s geniuses.

    Not many under the divine champion realm could confidently say that they could defeat him.

    Forcing out such an all-round genius made the Song n theughingstock of the empire. How much of a genius was he to be capable of such a feat?

    Despite that, he was wounded just from Luo Bingfeng¡¯s distant rebuke. The man hadn¡¯t even attacked yet. Although there were many imperial experts here, none of them possessed such ability.

    Just as Luo Bingfeng was slowly raising his left hand, channeling energy for some unknown attack, two fair figures appeared in front of him. They spoke in unison, ¡°Please give us some pointers, City Lord.¡±

    Yun Zhong and Yun Hai immediately took action after seeing that Song Zining was injured, formally raising the curtains over the real battle.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t even spare them a nce. His left hand kept on rising as though he were dragging up a ten thousand ton weight. Meanwhile, he tapped twice toward Yun Zhong and Yun Hai with his right hand.

    The duo¡¯s expression shifted drastically. Their robes fluttered about and puffed up into a ball before shattering into countless fragments. Illusory shadows danced about their bodies as theyid down a dozen or so origin defenses.

    However, their defenses were shattered immediately after they were formed. Amidst a series of pitter-patters, the two brothers were left defenseless, like an egg deprived of its shell.

    The twins roared loudly at the moment of danger. They stood with their backs tightly pressed against each other as their hands moved in unison, forming countless seals. Surprisingly, the deployment speed of their defenses and origin power recovery were doubled in this state, allowing them to withstand Luo Bingfeng¡¯s attack.

    The city lord frowned in surprise, finally looking straight at the two brothers. He formed a sword with two of his right-hand fingers, ready to dispatch this unexpected nuisance.

 Chapter 960: Variable

    The moment Luo Bingfeng raised his fingers, Yun Zhong and Yun Hai¡¯s expressions changed drastically. Sweat began pouring down their foreheads as they sensed a feeling of mortal peril.

    The elder from the imperial family blurted out, ¡°Oh no! They can¡¯t block that!¡±

    The experts from the imperial family were shocked. Yun Zhong and Yun Hai were fairly celebrated, and their arts specialize in restraining experts. Not many people in the entire pce could break through their defenses. The two of them were transferred to the neutralnds specifically to deal with experts at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s level.

    Yet who would¡¯ve thought the city lord would be this powerful. A casual attack of his was outrageously powerful, destroying the duo¡¯s defenses with just a single hand. Who among the many imperial experts would survive if he were to go all out?

    Everyone saw the danger, but no one took action because, if even Yun Zhong and Yun Hai couldn¡¯t stop the attack, they would simply bemitting suicide.

    The old man from the imperial family was shocked, but there was no time to me the other people. He took to the air, about to provide assistance personally when Luo Bingfeng turned around and stared coldly at him. The elder felt as though he had been drenched in ice water¡ªhis entire body froze up and actually lost the ability to move!

    The old man had just left the ground when he fell back onto the deck in a miserable fashion, prompting the surrounding experts to move in and help. Fortunately, Luo Bingfeng merely nced in the direction before turning away and seemed to have no intention of performing a follow-up attack.

    The old man had escaped a cmity, but the brothers were consigned to damnation after being locked onto by Luo Bingfeng¡¯s gaze.

    The city lord raised his finger-sword to eye-level, ready to sh out.

    Yun Zhong and Yu Hai were ashen-faced as theyid down dozens of origin shields around them. Despite that, they knew that no number of shields could block this earth-shattering sword strike.

    Just as Luo Bingfeng was about tounch this attack, he suddenly turned toward the side with a surprised exmation. In his line of sight, Qianye¡¯s standing figure was faintly discernible in the air.

    The moment Luo Bingfeng noticed Qianye, thetter¡¯s silhouette vanished with a flicker.

    After a moment of hesitation, the city lord finally retracted his sword fingers. His eyes erupted in light as he scoured the earth and sky for traces of Qianye. For some reason, Qianye had always given him a feeling of danger. This sensation was fairly ineffable because his cultivation was simply too low. Luo Bingfeng felt that, despite possessing a supreme origin power like Venus Dawn, Qianye should be of no threat to him.

    Yet, he could still feel an indescribable sense of apprehension from Qianye. He would rather let the brothers off temporarily than take a risk. Despite that, he had no intention of letting them off so easily. He flicked his fingers repeatedly, firing several palm-sized bolts of sword energy which hacked at them from all directions and left them howling in misery.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s gaze suddenly locked onto a certain direction. With a snort, his figure then flickered and appeared above that point.

    Qianye¡¯s silhouette happened to appear right at that location. He had justpleted a Spatial sh when he was locked onto by Luo Bingfeng.

    Without the slightest hesitation, the city lord raised his palm like a de and shed down onto Qianye¡¯s head!

    In the aristocratic fleet closest to their location, the Li family elder saw that Luo Bingfeng had already left the range of the holy mountain. Clenching his teeth, he flew out with an icy-sword in hand and thrust at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s back.

    Luo Bingfeng sneered as he shifted from sh to sweep and drew a hundred-meter arc of light toward the Li family elder. This sweep was iparably grand and brilliant¡ªthe Li elder was greatly shocked, but there was no retreat at this point. All he could do was brace himself and meet the radiance with an all-out sh.

    The hundred-meter arc of light was shed apart, but the icy sword in the elder¡¯s hand also crumbled inch by inch. He flew backward and staggered back toward his gship.

    Meanwhile, Luo Bingfeng¡¯s right hand only trembled briefly before recovering. Another palm was soon shing toward Qianye.

    The palm-sword shot out another beam of light. The jade-green radiance descended like a sharp de, poised to sh Qianye into two halves. However, thetter¡¯s figure warped, twisted, and vanished¡ªhe had used Spatial sh again.

    Luo Bingfeng let out an astonished exmation. ¡°You run quite fast! Let¡¯s see how many times you can actually do that!¡±

    His eyes erupted with a brilliance capable of illuminating every shadowy corner. Just as the city lord was searching for Qianye, a sudden rebuke echoed in his ears, ¡°Insolence! Do you think our Great Qin has no one left to deal with you?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng nced back and found a speck of violet energy tearing through the skies, making straight for his forehead.

    Thirty meters away, the old man from the imperial family was pointing in this direction. His entire finger was a translucent purple with a segment of golden bone inside.

    In the face of this violet energy, a sh of mockery appeared on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s countenance. He brought his fingers together in the shape of a sword and tapped lightly on the iing attack.

    The old man¡¯s body jolted to a stop and was flung backward.

    How could the city lord just stop there? He tapped again from afar, shooting a stream of sword energy at the imperial elder.

    Yung Zhong and Yun Hai appeared at the critical juncture, crashing into the iing energy as one. This sword energy shot through the two, but it also lost its sharpness in the process, allowing the imperial elder to evade it easily.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t follow up with the attack. With his left hand behind his back, he said coldly, ¡°I do think that, what will you do?¡±

    Most of the violet intent on the imperial elder¡¯s finger had dispersed and was gradually recovering at the moment. Hearing the city lord¡¯s words caused him to tremble in anger, and a stream of blood trickled down the corner of his mouth. Despite that, he needed time before he could attack again after that big loss in their previous exchange. He had no other choice but to control his anger.

    Luo Bingfeng scanned the duo with a frown. ¡°You two are quite troublesome, I can¡¯t leave you alive.¡±

    Shocked out of their wits, Yun Zhong and Yun Hai drew away from the city lord. If one were to look closely, the injuries on their bodies were healing fairly quickly. They were littered in wounds during their initial exchange with Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword energy, but now, most of the damage had been repaired. With such powerful regenerative capacity, it would seem that the two would have the power to fight so long as they remained alive¡ªno wonder they were entrusted with such an important mission. It was just that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s attack was too destructive. No degree of defense or recovery could work before him.

    Luo Bingfeng suddenly turned toward Yan Ding.

    Thetter was actually hundreds of meters away, sneaking about as he searched for a good firing angle. Being red at gave him quite the shock. He began trembling all over and almost dropped his gun. After the initial shock, Yan Ding discovered that Luo Bingfeng hadn¡¯t used his Death Stare at him. He retreated in relief, no longer daring to operate under Luo Bingfeng¡¯s eyes.

    Luo Bingfeng couldn¡¯t be bothered to look at Yan Ding. He closed his palms in front of his chest and formed an extremelyplicated hand seal with thousands of variations. Every transformation would shoot out a beam of sword energy, which filled the entire area like raindrops. These sword energies were only as long as a palm and as thick as a finger, but no one dared to underestimate them after experiencing the previous battle.

    Yan Ding was fairlycking in the luck department, being locked onto by three sword energies at the same time. He made up his mind quickly this time, immediately abandoning his sniper rifle and cutting down two of the iing beams with his sword. He then turned to flee, flying about the entire area with the remaining sword energy on his tail.

    Just as the experts of the empire were busy dealing with the rain of sword energy, Luo Bingfeng appeared in front of the aristocratic alliance gship. He spread out his five fingers and wed at the gship. The aristocratic experts were shocked. Having seen Luo Bingfeng destroy an airship with a single palm strike, they didn¡¯t dare to let him unleash this attack.

    But with how strong Luo Bingfeng was, whoever went to stop him alone would surely die. In the face of this hopeless situation, the Li n elder erupted with a loud shout. All the aristocratic experts began to move and take up their positions. An origin array lit up under each of them and connected together to form a singlerge array over the entire ship.

    Luo Bingfeng was unafraid, still. He closed his fingers with a loud roar and threw a solid punch.

    The might of this punch was enough to destroy mountains, boil the ocean, and destroy everything in its way.

    With the Li n elder as the center, the aristocratic family experts channeled their power into the formation with a uniform cry. Luo Bingfeng remained unmoved after the exchange of fist and formation; the only change was the appearance of spatial tears below his feet. Meanwhile, the formation made up of many experts was pushed back a hundred meters!

    The Li n elder¡¯s hands were trembling ever so slightly. ¡°Stepping through the void, attacking with the might of eight peaks! H-He¡¯s actually that strong!?¡±

    ording to legends, heavenly monarchs and great monarchs woulde close to bing one with the world. They looked like they were standing in empty space, but the entire world and void was their support. One could forget about making them step back without relying on external power.

    Although Luo Bingfeng hadn¡¯t really reached the heavenly monarch stage, he was apparently not too far off. Such a character had long since surpassed the capacity of their ns. There was really no telling if Song Zining would¡¯ve gone along with this n if he had known the man¡¯s true power.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t follow up with a second attack, but the experts didn¡¯t dare dissolve their formation. All they could do in this state was seek self-preservation at the expense of attacking. This was proof that they were apprehensive.

    Luo Bingfeng looked around the battlefield and suddenly focused on Song Zining.

    At this moment, a fully-armored Song Zining was standing at the bow of the ship. Seeing Luo Bingfeng ncing over, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a self-deprecating smile. ¡°I would¡¯ve never thought the city lord was such a peerless character. I take this miscalction is probably the madam¡¯s doing?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression turned gentle. ¡°Nan Nan, I truly owe her too much. Your loss isn¡¯t unjustified.¡±

    Song Zining said with a scoff, ¡°This isn¡¯t necessarily a loss. May I ask, why me this time?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said calmly, ¡°You will be a great enemy one day in the future.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s in the future. Right now, this young noble is¡­¡±

    Luo Bingfeng cut him short. ¡°You¡¯re also quite difficult to deal with right now. If I don¡¯t kill you, there might be changes to the oue.¡±

    These words,ing from Luo Bingfeng, were actually extremely high praise. It proved that Song Zining was an opponent he couldn¡¯t tolerate, equal in status to the elders from the Li family and imperial n. Yun Zhong and Yun Hai together could only equal a single Song Zining.

    Nheless, Song Zining didn¡¯t approve. ¡°This isn¡¯t reason enough.¡±

    The experts from the Empire thought that Song Zining was stalling for time since they couldn¡¯t understand his reasoning. Who would¡¯ve thought Luo Bingfeng would reply seriously, ¡°Qianye will surely appear if you¡¯re in mortal danger.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. Donning his mask, he raised his spear horizontally at the bow of the ship, saying, ¡°Qianye won¡¯te. No need to say more,e if you want to kill me!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng took a step forward¡ªjust about to attack¡ªwhen he felt a sharp, faintly discernible pain on his back.

 Chapter 961: Whole or Half a Share

    Luo Bingfeng turned around slightly. ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve finallye out.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared hundreds of meters away. ¡°City Lord, are you so unsure about killing me that you¡¯d resort to such underhanded tactics? I¡¯d thought you above that.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng pointed at the group of imperial experts. ¡°What do you have to say about these people? Who can block three strikes from me and survive in a fair battle? The ends will justify the means. Any strategy is viable.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qianye stopped talking and merely stared at Luo Bingfeng with blue eyes.

    ¡°How long can youst without Spatial sh?¡± Luo Bingfeng sighed as he raised his palm like a de.

    Before he couldunch his sh, however, the scenery before him suddenly transformed from the deste neutralnds to the lush delta of the southern river. Song Zining walked out amidst the swaying leaves and thrust his spear at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s forehead!

    Luo Bingfeng let out an exmation of surprise as his palm swerved out of track. Instead of shing at the iing spear, however, he swiped casually at the air, popping the imagery around them like a bubble. During this brief movement, the city lord found that he had moved locations. He was actually in front of Song Zining at this moment, less than ten meters away, in fact.

    This audacious trick actually moved Luo Bingfeng over unknowingly. The cleverness of Song Zining¡¯s domain utilization was quite shocking.

    But no matter how strong the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art domain was, it couldn¡¯t fill the gap in power. Luo Bingfeng shattered the domain with one punch, and now, the two of them were dangerously close.

    Clenching his teeth, Song Zining attacked the city lord with a flurry of spear strikes. He hadpletely forgone his personal defense in order to stab the enemy just once.

    Luo Bingfeng blocked the strike with a casual move, pushing Song Zining back repeatedly as he did so. He suddenly flicked the speartip with his finger and pushed the seventh young noble back dozens of meters.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t follow up with the attack. ncing at Song Zining and then at Qianye in his battle stance, he sighed. ¡°If I were thirty years younger, I might¡¯ve been able to be good friends with you two. But now¡­ what a pity, what a pity!¡±

    A cold glint flickered in his eyes as he gazed at Song Zining. ¡°If the empire gains your assistance, how many of our people will lose their lives? The neutralnds will never see peace again!¡±

    With that, Luo Bingfeng no longer hesitated. He formed a sword with his fingers and shed at Song Zining¡¯s throat from afar.

    This strike was an all-out attack. The sword radiance shone brightly, flying hundreds of meters in mere moments to arrive before Song Zining. Thetter¡¯s expression was hidden under the mask, and there was no telling if it was filled with shock or joy. The scenery before him went through tens of thousands of variations, each one weakening the sword radiance by a small bit. It was just that Luo Bingfeng was simply too powerful. The repeated wearing down only reduced the radiance by a third, and what remained was enough to kill Song Zining.

    A sudden light flickered through the sky at this moment. Qianye, shrouded in lightning, appeared to the side and shed right through the sword radiance!

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s brows rose up, not imagining that Qianye would escape from his Death Stare so quickly. However, he was also a contemporary expert. After a moment of thought, he flicked out a beam of sword light toward Qianye. This beam was bright, dazzling, as thick as an arm, and several meters in length, much more powerful than the toy-like energies that had attacked Yun Zhong and Yun Hai. Apparently, Luo Bingfeng intended to take Qianye¡¯s life in one go.

    Just as the attack was about to reach his body, Qianye¡¯s silhouette warped out of existence and vanished.

    Without even turning, Luo Bingfeng drew an arc of sword light in reverse and shed behind his back!

    Qianye had just appeared when the radiance was already reaching for him. At this moment, however, his figure vanished yet again and reappeared dozens of meters away.

    These Spatial shes were executed as naturally as the moving clouds and flowing water, evading Luo Bingfeng¡¯s killing moves in quick session. Luo Bingfeng was just as surprised as the imperial experts.

    ¡°Interesting!¡± The city lord¡¯s brows rose. Using some sort of secret art, his silhouette also flickered simrly and appeared before Qianye, tapping at thetter¡¯s forehead with a finger.

    This attack was unbelievably fast. Qianye had no time to prepare before the shadow of death descended upon his entire body!

    During this brief moment, a volcanic rumble resounded in Qianye¡¯s brain. His blood core started pulsing madly. The blood in his entire body wasn¡¯t just burning; it was exploding!

    At the juncture of life and death, Qianye reflexively grabbed Luo Bingfeng¡¯s throat at lightning speed!

    This swift move broke through the previous limits of Qianye¡¯s speed. Luo Bingfeng¡¯s eyes were filled with astonishment as he saw the sanguineous threads flickering on Qianye¡¯s fingertips. He finally became serious, pulling back the right hand that was about to reach Qianye¡¯s forehead and using it to deflect Qianye¡¯s w.

    Having had his right hand deflected, Qianye followed up with a left palm toward Luo Bingfeng¡¯s heart. There were short wisps of blood lingering around his fingertips just like before.

    Luo Bingfeng shed horizontally with his right hand, deflecting Qianye¡¯s attack once more.

    Qianye retreated briefly after failing two attacks but soon pounced forward again with bloodshot eyes. He paid no heed to his own defenses as heunched attacks with every part of his body, engaging in a maddened fight of mutual destruction.

    ¡°Not bad, not bad! Yes, this is a good move!¡± Luo Bingfeng looked calm as he broke numerous killing moves with a casual wave of his hand. All the while, he looked quite regretful and was full of praise for Qianye. Anyone could see that Qianye would meet his end as soon as his attacks lost their momentum.

    Being able to exchange so many blows with Qianye proved that hisbat arts were at a shocking level. Despite that, the power disparity was simply too great. There was no making up for this deficiency¡ªeven if Qianye left no openings in battle, Luo Bingfeng could force one out.

    In the blink of an eye, the city lord forced Qianye back with a punch and made to tap Qianye¡¯s forehead at unbelievable speeds. This attack seemed unavoidable, but Qianye¡¯s figure turned blurry as he activated Spatial sh and vanished.

    Sighing, Luo Bingfeng drew an arc of sword radiance that appeared in front of Qianye as he was materializing. This time, Qianye had only shed ten meters or so, and it was from one side of the target to the other. This also meant that he had no intention of running away, and that he was poised to fight Luo Bingfeng to the death.

    The city lord sighed. No one knew whether he was sighing about Qianye¡¯s stupidity or about him not bearing to deal the killing blow.

    The two had exchanged blows too quickly, so much so that the imperial experts couldn¡¯t even react. Only at this point did the Li n elder catch his breath and, seeing that Qianye was in a dire situation, made to attack with his icy sword. The Li family was known for its swift sword attacks, the best kind to interfere with this situation.

    Unexpectedly, someone nearby dragged him back. That old man whispered, ¡°Elder Li, the formation will disperse without you! It¡¯s just Qianye.¡±

    Another person chimed in, ¡°Those not of our race will have disloyal intentions.¡±

    The short moment of hesitation had allowed for tens of thousands of changes on the battlefield. Each of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s attacks was incisive and lethal, instilling a chill in the hearts of all spectators. If the man were to abandon Qianye and attack him instead, they would suffer casualties without the protection of the formation.

    This was Luo Bingfeng¡¯s might. Everyone at the scene would be in danger without someone to restrain him. It would also be the end of this war.

    At the thought of this, the Li family elder nced furiously at Yun Zhong and Yun Hai. At first, restraining the city lord was their duty, but now, they seemed to have lost their courage and were afraid to step forward.

    The imperial family¡¯s side was acting somewhat strangely. The leading elder waspletely focused on recovering while the others seemed to have no intention of fighting, either. It was as though they were waiting for something.

    Song Zining arrived behind Luo Bingfeng in Qianye¡¯s moment of danger. Actually, he had been chasing after the city lord since the beginning. It was just that the twobatants were shifting around the battlefield too quickly for him to catch up. Finally finding the opportunity to close in, he delivered an immediate thrust at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s back.

    Both Qianye and Song Zining attacked without caring for their own safety, adopting a mutually destructive style. It seemed they were intent on biting a good chunk off of Luo Bingfeng even if they couldn¡¯t kill him.

    Despite that, throwing their lives on the line still couldn¡¯t make up for the disparity in strength. Luo Bingfeng pushed Song Zining over a hundred meters back with just a backhand attack while his attack on Qianye continued without pause.

    Flying back like a cannonball, Song Zining clenched his teeth and prepared to use his domain power. The Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art was barely effective in restraining Luo Bingfeng and could be broken with a single move. This high-consumption move wasn¡¯t a good deal for him, but he wouldn¡¯t even be able to approach without it.

    It was at this time that a hand appeared from behind and pulled Song Zining back. Soon, Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice echoed beside his ear, ¡°Don¡¯t use your domain, let¡¯s go again!¡±

    But Song Zining blocked Ji Tianqing with his spear, saying, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t havee, go back!¡±

    Ji Tianqing pped the spear away. ¡°Those people are too old. Our generation has to pick up this responsibility. If you keep bbering, we won¡¯t be able to save Qianye anymore!¡±

    As a decisive person, Song Zining gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Fine! Let¡¯s attack!¡±

    ¡°I want a share after everything¡¯s over.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s words startled the seventh young master. ¡°What are you trying to share?¡±

    ¡°After we save the person, I want a share.¡± Ji Tianqing spoke as though it was only right and proper.

    Song Zining opened his mouth with a speechless expression. ¡°Y-You, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take what I can get, I¡¯m not picky!¡± Ji Tianqing flew toward Luo Bingfeng with an impatient expression.

    Failing to stop her, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but curse from behind, ¡°Are you throwing your life away!?¡±

    ¡°None of your business!¡± Ji Tianqing flipped the bird at him, but that didn¡¯t slow her punch toward Luo Bingfeng¡¯s head.

    ¡°Lass, you¡¯re quite ruthless!¡± Luo Bingfeng offered a word of praise before swatting at her with his left palm.

    However, a wisp of blue sword energy tore through the air and intercepted the city lord¡¯s wrist. This blue light was so extremely sharp that Luo Bingfeng had no choice but to step back and avoid it.

    Li Kuann¡¯s figure emerged after the sword light had flown past. She red at Ji Tianqing instead of looking at Luo Bingfeng, saying, ¡°You want a share when you¡¯re that slow? You¡¯re not even getting half a share!¡±

 Chapter 962: Gruelling Battle

    Ji Tianqing stopped a beam of sword light that was sweeping toward Li Kuann. ¡°Careful, this is a battlefield. Everything will be mine if you die.¡±

    Li Kuann red at Ji Tianqing. ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to take this young noble¡¯s life!¡±

    ¡°Shameless! Your small frame will be done for if you take a square hit.¡±

    The two bickered back and forth without giving away. The smell of gunpowder in the air actually surprised Luo Bingfeng.

    Since the beginning of the battle, this was the first time the Tidehark city lord wasn¡¯t at the center of all attention. So much so that he wasn¡¯t quite used to this feeling. After a momentary daze, he remembered he had something left to do. His fingers spread out like a flower, firing out countless beams of sword energy toward Qianye. Apparently, he still considered Qianye the most threatening target. Even Song Zining was ranked behind him.

    Qianye was afforded a much-needed respite just now, which allowed his stamina and blood energy to recover rapidly. He was already half-restored in just a short while. Although he was in an awkward and miserable state due to Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword energy, he was still able to hold out.

    Luo Bingfeng was already quite shocked. Qianye hadn¡¯t used any secret art apart from Spatial sh¡ªhe was simply fast enough, strong enough, and watertight in his defenses. It was actually quite amazing that he could make someone of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s level feel this way. Hisbat strength was way beyond that which was expected of his level.

    At the very least, he would need to put in quite a bit of effort if he wanted to take Qianye down with just his sword energy. Havinge to this conclusion, Luo Bingfeng formed a sword with his fingers once more and stabbed thrice in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    The three strikes were delivered at such uncanny speed that even people like Yan Ding felt their eyes blur for a moment. They simply couldn¡¯t see how many times Luo Bingfeng had attacked, let alone block. Even people as strong as the elders from the Li family and imperial n felt a chill down their spines. They simply wouldn¡¯t have been able to block these strikes without prior evasive maneuvers. It would be toote once the city lord hadunched the attack.

    On the brink of life and death, Qianye simply had no time to think. He moved several meters out of instinct, evading two of the strikes, but the third shot into his abdomen and exited through his back.

    The moment the sword radiance struck his body, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye as he pointed a finger at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s forehead.

    Luo Bingfeng broke into a frown. He had no choice but to retreat, interrupting the sword radiance from expanding the wound. Only after the swift retreat did the city lord discover that Qianye wasn¡¯t making a move at all. He had been tricked.

    Despite that, the prating sword wound was extremely serious, and there was still a remnant glow around the wound tearing through Qianye¡¯s flesh. As Luo Bingfeng saw it, this opponent was as good as dead.

    The three sword strikes shocked the entire battlefield. All of the imperial experts fell into uniform silence, greatly intimidated by the attack. In the blink of an eye, everyone was thinking about how they would block this strike if it were toe for them. This filled their hearts with the terror of imminent death. Luo Bingfeng¡¯s strikes were swift and powerful to the extreme. It could be said that anyone taking that blow would surely die. No matter how brave the warriors here were, how many of them dared to meet a sure-death situation?

    During thispse of silence, a certain figure rushed forward like a whirlwind, his spear weaving past the terrified crowd to arrive at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s head.

    This was a suicidal move, and Luo Bingfeng was no saint. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a beam of energy that shot toward Song Zining¡¯s forehead.

    The seventh young master did nothing to invade the iing attack. His spear only increased in momentum, its tip lighting up with a dazzling radiance! The spear thrust was the most powerful attack he had ever executed in his life, and that glow at the tip was actually burning himself like a raging me!

    At this moment, no one knew what expression was hidden beneath that mask. What they could see was him courageously charging at Luo Bingfeng.

    Despite that, the attack would only leave a small wound on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s body. On the other hand, Song Zining¡¯s forehead would be pierced through. Perhaps that was what he wanted, tond a thrust at all costs.

    Luo Bingfeng sighed. ¡°The inevitable early death of a hero. I¡¯ll allow you to stab me, so that you can go in peace.¡±

    The glow in his hand slowed down for a split second, allowing Song Zining¡¯s spear to reach its target before the light pierced his brain.

    However, a split second¡¯s dy was enough for countless variables to kick in. Ji Tianqing suddenly appeared to his side and tugged on his arm with both hands, lifting it up forcibly. The deviation caused the radiance to sh upward, brushing past Song Zining¡¯s head as it did so.

    Afterward, a blue sword radiance erupted behind Ji Tianqing and shed at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s neck. This strike came at a clever moment, forcing the city lord to block the sword light instead of retaliating against Ji Tianqing. Even Luo Bingfeng couldn¡¯t ignore the might of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace.

    Li Kuann retreated with Ji Tianqing in tow, putting a fair distance between them and Luo Bingfeng. The cooperation between the two was perfect.

    A light pfft was heard as Song Zining¡¯s spear reached the end of its path, stabbing straight at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s heart. However, countless flowing runes condensed into a barrier of light in front of the spearhead, effectively blocking its advance.

    Song Zining erupted in a loud roar, and the radiance gestating at the speartip exploded into a plume of extremely pure origin mes. The ze sted away the barrier of light, but the force behind his spear attack came to an end as well.

    Song Zining¡¯s all-out attack had merely broken ayer of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s defenses.

    Luo Bingfeng was dazed for a split second after the loss of his defenses. Song Zining, on the other hand, immediately pulled dozens of meters back.

    Luo Bingfeng looked up with a stern expression, his eyes filled with killing intent as he gazed at Song Zining. His fingertips were shrouded in arcs of electricity as he slowly raised his right hand. Before he had unleashed his attack, everything within a hundred meters began to float upward¡ªeven some of the closer imperial experts felt themselves swaying.

    The spectators were shocked. Luo Bingfeng was clearly quite calm about Song Zining a while ago. Howe he was filled with killing intent now? Yet, Song Zining¡¯s expression was also hidden beneath the mask, so no one could guess what he was thinking.

    Only a few people managed to see that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s defenseyer probably had something to do with the heavenly mystery. That spear strike just now had actually imed victory in a different field.

    Song Zining was about to retreat after seeing Luo Bingfeng¡¯s imminent attack, but several runic chains appeared and duly bound him in ce.

    Shocked, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann attacked in unison, but the chains were unexpectedly sturdy. It refused to budge even after several attacks.

    ¡°Why are you all not helping?¡± Ji Tianqing shouted. All the experts from the imperial n and aristocratic alliance were still frozen in hesitation. They understood that whoever the city lord locked onto at this moment would die. It was a worthwhile risk to offend Ji Tianqing in order to survive. Besides, there were so many people involved that the me might not fall on any single person specifically.

    ¡°If you don¡¯te now, I¡¯ll kill all of you on the spot!¡± Ji Tianqing was already screaming at this point. The imperial n members exchanged nces and finally started to take action. The Li family elder flung away the two elders holding onto him and said furiously, ¡°Your ns will face extermination if something happens to Young Noble Kuann!¡±

    The experts¡¯ attacksnded on the rune chain like falling stars, yet they could do nothing against it. Without any knowledge in the divination arts, their attacks were scarcely effective.

    The sword energy on his fingers had just taken form when Luo Bingfeng staggered backward with a muffled groan. He nced back to find that Qianye had returned to the air and collided with him. This m couldn¡¯t quite move him, either, but Qianye then grabbed onto Luo Bingfeng¡¯s leg and tugged forcibly, finally dragging the city lord from his original position. The glow on the man¡¯s fingertips grew brighter and then exploded. This extremely powerful attack had been interrupted before it could evenunch.

    Luo Bingfeng turned pale for a moment after having his attack interrupted. Apparently, he had suffered a fair bit.

    He turned back and nced down at Qianye who was hanging onto him. Seeing that the injury had healed a fair bit, he sneered, ¡°The empire¡¯s regenerative medicines had advanced so much? Youe to throw your life away after getting a second lease on it, what idiocy.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng shook Qianye away with a jolt of his right leg, kicking him in the chest as he did so! Despite how strong Qianye¡¯s body was, a series of crackling sounds erupted from his thorax. Who knew how many ribs had been broken?

    Despite that, Qianye still refused to let go. He grabbed tightly onto Luo Bingfeng¡¯s leg, letting his entire body hang off of it.

    Killing intent shed across the city lord¡¯s countenance. ¡°If you want to die so much, I¡¯ll help you!¡±

    He was just about to raise his leg and deal the final blow when Qianye formed a gun with his finger and pointed at him. ¡°You¡¯re not invincible just yet!¡±

    A giant pair of wings slowly unfurled before the city lord. The dazzling re stabbed his eyes somewhat as a feather of light flew out and shot into his abdomen.

    A feeling of danger filled every corner of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s body, yet the feather of light was simply too close for him to do anything. He had no room to defend or evade before it entered his abdomen, so much so that he didn¡¯t even have time to channel his origin power defenses.

    Luo Bingfeng kicked Qianye away with a loud cry and looked down to check his abdomen. Everything was normal wherever he looked¡ªthere wasn¡¯t even a wound. In his perception, however, a giant, invisible cavity had opened up inside his body, draining away vast amounts of his life force. Even someone of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s strength was shocked to find waves of weakness washing over him.

    Only after being struck by the Shot of Inception did Luo Bingfeng understand something: it wasn¡¯t that the Wolf King was weak; the shot was simply too strong. Qianye had taken a great risk totch onto his leg just to prevent him from evading the attack.

    Luo Bingfeng nced at the heavily injured Qianye. There was no killing intent in his eyes, only deep regret, as he muttered to himself, ¡°If I be a heavenly monarch, you¡¯d be the best opponent in the future, sigh!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng reached into his robes and pulled out a transparent flexible sword. Erupting with a mysterious glint, the sword trembled in the wind and sprung into a straightened form.

    Since the beginning of the fight, this was the first time Luo Bingfeng had brought out a weapon.

    His expression was full of passion and respect as he caressed the de. Apparently, the weapon held great meaning to him. The city lord nned to send Qianye on his way with this special de.

    This was a form of respect among experts.

 Chapter 963: Shatter

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s imminent sword strike affected the entire scene.

    Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing attacked in tandem, and the experts all joined in under Ji Tianqing¡¯s unceremonious threat. It was just that they were all holding back somewhat, and this was beyond anyone¡¯s control.

    Luo Bingfeng was still condensing sword energy. A casual wave of his left hand pushed the experts back one after the other¡ªthat was the extent of their martial path. All the while, the speck of pure sword intent remained locked onto Qianye. Everyone else was an ant in his eyes.

    Qianye remained in the air, covering his chest with one hand as he red intently at Luo Bingfeng. His figure was flickering in and out of existence, ready to meet Luo Bingfeng¡¯s unbreakable sh with Spatial sh.

    Song Zining was already an arrow at the end of its flight. ¡°Qianye, run! Don¡¯t mind us!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t even look at Song Zining as he shook his head ever so slightly.

    Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing understood that Qianye¡¯s injuries had healed rapidly due to the special medicine. There was a chance he could still escape if he were to use Spatial sh right now. With Qianye gone, however, Luo Bingfeng¡¯s ultimate attack would be directed at someone else. By any standards, that target could only be either Song Zining, Li Kuann, or Ji Tianqing.

    Luo Bingfeng would¡¯ve used up his killing move at that point, and he had also been injured by a Shot of Inception. So, the three remaining survivors could work together to at least survive the ordeal.

    But he wasn¡¯t willing to do this. Song Zining¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as he roared, ¡°Rui Xiang! What are you waiting for? If you keep stalling, I¡¯ll make sure Zhang Buzhou¡¯s intentions fail miserably!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng felt an ineffable chill in his heart after hearing this. He turned back toward the holy mountain, just in time to hear a crisp sounding from that direction. It was as though something had shattered.

    In just a split second, Luo Bingfeng¡¯s movements, powers, and even his emotions slowed down ever so slightly.

    His gaze fell onto his de. There were numerous barely noticeable cracks on that perfect sword.

    The city lord was startled to find the sword edge trembling, but then he realized that it wasn¡¯t the de but his hand.

    ¡°Nan Nan, Nan Nan¡­¡± Luo Bingfeng muttered to himself, and then he roared hysterically!

    He turned toward Song Zining and said word by word, ¡°I thought you were a hero, but you turned out to be a treacherous lowlife!¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Everything is fair game on the battlefield, we only discuss victory and defeat.¡±

    ¡°Good, good!¡± Luo Bingfeng pointed at Qianye, saying, ¡°Now, I have nothing left to worry about. I¡¯ll have to see who can save him and everyone else!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword intent began to form anew. Unexpectedly, the two brothers Yun Zhong and Yun Hai appeared in front of Qianye, saying, ¡°You¡¯ll have to step on our corpses if you want to attack Qianye!¡±

    What surprised everyone was that these two had been beaten into fear and were unable to do anything a while ago. Howe they had be fearless again? As true experts, the duo could also see that Luo Bingfeng was still extremely dangerous at this point. At the very least, he could kill them easily.

    Luo Bingfeng sneered. ¡°It seems any minor character can jump out these days. Do you think I don¡¯t dare to kill people?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s eyes erupted with light as his sword intent surged with the wind, epassing Qianye, Yun Zhong, and Yun Hai within. The attack was poised to kill all three at the same time!

    Qianye¡¯s silhouette was fading away at first, but he couldn¡¯t find it in himself to do that after the twins appeared in front of him. With his insight, he could naturally see that Yun Zhong and Yun Hai couldn¡¯t take this sh, that the only hope was for all three to work together. Hence, Qianye canceled his evasive stance and drew his sword, ready to block this peerless attack.

    A wave of jadeite sword radiance sprayed toward the three men.

    Yun Zhong and Yun Hai were standing close together at first. Just as the sword radiance was about to arrive, however, the two of them crashed violently and bounced hundreds of meters away from each other.

    The collision mixed their origin powers together and ignited a powerful reaction. Not only did the explosion st the two of them away from one another, but it also destroyed the sword radiance¡¯s lock on them. This was a fairly brilliant life-saving ability¡ªalthough the brothers were heavily injured, they were also able to survive.

    It was just that their action opened up the path to Qianye. The sword radiance aiming for Yun Zhong and Yun Hai lost their target and turned toward Qianye.

    The three sword radiances merged into one as they shed at Qianye!

    The might of this blow startled everyone who wanted to save Qianye, drenching them in cold sweat.

    Such an oue surprised Luo Bingfeng as well. The original intent of this attack was to attack three people, but it surprisingly ended up as one¡ªthe might of this blow was the peak of his career. There was really no need to put in so much effort against the wounded Qianye.

    ¡°Let it be, only this kind of attack is a fitting end for you.¡± In that split second, such a thought flickered through Luo Bingfeng¡¯s mind.

    Qianye had no time to think, neither did he have the space to perform Spatial sh. At this point, the only thing he could do was use his full force to attack the iing blow.

    The sword radiance was like a great flood, while Qianye was but a small pebble amidst its rage. He couldn¡¯t even sink to the bottom if he wanted to.

    A sigh suddenly echoed through the air¡ªserious, jaded, and suffused with traces of the passing vicissitudes. Following that sigh, a hand appeared before the masses. It was just an unassuming limb, obviously belonging to an elderly man.

    Despite that, this hand drew everyone¡¯s attention. No matter where this person was and regardless of all obstructions, it simply appeared out of nowhere and lingered in everyone¡¯s hearts.

    It was just the hand of an elder, no bigger than everyone else¡¯s. It even looked more slender and pale, with some loose skin as was normal for the elderly.

    However, this old hand actually grabbed the sword radiance, that raging torrent of light!

    The attack shrunk rapidly as it approached the elderly man¡¯s palm and finally turned into a ball of light in its grasp. In the blink of an eye, everyone felt an inexplicable uneasiness in their hearts. The world seemed surreal at this moment, almost as though it had be smaller and the old man had grownrger.

    Finally, the old man extinguished the sword radiance with a slight clench of his fist. Only a wisp of green smoke slowly drifted away.

    Only when the smoke had dispersed did an old man appear. He looked rather peaceful and healthy, but there was really nothing special about him apart from that. However, the fact that he could appear here proved that he was extraordinary.

    The experts felt their vitality in an ufortable turmoil. The weaker ones felt as though their heads were about to split open and began vomiting uncontrobly.

    Luo Bingfeng nced at the old man with a frosty expression, his eyes filled with shocking battle intent. ¡°Liu Daoji, who would¡¯ve thought? And here I was wondering howcking the empire was to send these little kids to kill me.¡±

    The old manughed out loud. ¡°Weren¡¯t you also a kid back then? Heh heh, don¡¯t look down on these children. You might¡¯ve been defeated in their hands if it weren¡¯t for the treacherous intent of certain people. You can barely suppress the injury in your chest now, right? And that woman, there¡¯s no saving her.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng raised his brows and said with a cold voice, ¡°You people have always been ruthless and unscrupulous! I felt it beneath my dignity to join you back then, and I still feel the same today.¡±

    The old man sighed. ¡°I told you back then, you¡¯re destined to suffer this cmity. Who would¡¯ve thought she¡¯d take your ce?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword buzzed loudly at this point, and he had to take a deep breath before his hands stopped trembling. ¡°They killed Nan Nan with their schemes, so there¡¯s no need for them to leave this ce alive. All of them will apany her in death! Without these people, I¡¯m sure your Great Qin will lose fifty years of potential progress! After a lifetime of scheming, why can¡¯t you people see which side will profit and which side will lose? Liu Daoji, I know you¡¯re powerful, but you can forget about stopping me from killing someone at your current age.¡±

    The old man shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re wrong. I didn¡¯te here to stop you but to protect his life. He can¡¯t die right now. But I¡¯m also quite old, so I can only save him once. Blocking your move can be considered me fulfilling my duty, and I have no need to remain since I can now exin things to that person. I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±

    An icy voice echoed in the sky above, ¡°You¡¯ll not have a second chance if you don¡¯t leave now.¡±

    A vaguely discernible figure appeared high up, a man d in magnificent dark clothing. His face was fair, and his hair and brows were a faint golden color. Together with his light eye color, this was a countenance that was fairly difficult to forget.

    He had his hands sped behind his back, and at his waist was a strange origin gun that fell between a handgun and a rifle.

    Looking down at the old man, he said coldly, ¡°Why would you recognize so many masters without staying put as the number one expert in the imperial pce? You even came to the neutralnds.¡±

    The elderly man wasn¡¯t angry. He cupped his hand toward the imperial forces, saying, ¡°I was merely asked to repay a favor, and now that I¡¯ve done that, it¡¯s time for me to go.¡±

    The light-browed man said, ¡°Indeed it¡¯s time. Do you need me to see you off?¡±

    The old man smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to trouble Your Majesty for this bag of old bones. However, I have a small matter to attend to before leaving.¡±

    The man said, ¡°What matter?¡±

    ¡°Dispatching two subordinates.¡± The old man made light of the situation.

    The man nodded. ¡°I love seeing people killing their own, please go ahead.¡±

    Yun Zhong and Yun Hai were suddenly full of shock. ¡°Steward Liu, please spare us! We were just following orders from¡­¡±

    The old man suddenly coughed twice. The duo grimaced after hearing this cough, grabbing onto their necks as blood gushed out of their mouths. Their auras fell sharply, and their bodies fell writhing to the ground, unable to die immediately.

    The imperial elder arrived beside the old man. ¡°Steward Liu, why didn¡¯t you let them finish? You¡¯ll have an answer if that person asks in the future.¡±

    The old man shot him a nce. ¡°I¡¯m too old to think about these things, I won¡¯t remember even if I hear them speak. You¡¯re not that young anymore, either, so better let go of your boldness. Just seek an easy position and enjoy life.¡±

    The imperial elder¡¯s expression became serious. ¡°Thank you for the advice.¡±

    The old man nodded and scanned everyone at the scene before fading away. The pale-browed man in the air also disappeared.

    All the experts on the battlefield woke up from their reverie. Eunuch Liu was gone, but Luo Bingfeng was still there.

 Chapter 964: Treading On Danger

    With great difficulty, Song Zining stood up with his spear as support and cried out, ¡°The holy mountain! Attack the holy mountain!¡± He then hurled the silver spear out with all his might.

    The silver spear erupted with light as it shot toward the Holy Mountain like aet.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°How dare you!?¡±

    He flew after the silver spear and shed at it. The weapon exploded into a giant ball of mes that covered the city lord within. Soon afterward, the mes dispersed into thousands of zing streams that fell upon the holy mountain.

    When Luo Bingfeng appeared once more, his robes had been awkwardly singed. However, he didn¡¯t chase after Song Zining, but instead observed the falling mes. Only after seeing that there was no special power hidden within them did he heave a sigh of relief.

    During this period, however, a mournful bugle cry reverberated through the skies.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression changed drastically when he saw Song Zining blowing hard on an exquisite silver bugle horn.

    The re burst out over hundreds of kilometers. The imperial formation began to change¡ªSong Zining¡¯s gship raised a different war-banner as it charged straight at the holy mountain.

    The meaning of this banner was different. It meant for all soldiers in the army to charge alongside themander.

    If even themander was fearless of death, how could anyone elseg behind?

    The entire army felt their blood boiling as they charged fearlessly toward the holy mountain.

    The imperial warships in the air all moved out, raining down a hail of cannon fire to clear a path toward the target.

    Song Zining was standing at the foot of the mountain. He had somehow produced a folding fan and extended it for use as a crutch on his arduous upward climb.

    The imperial soldiers felt their blood ignite when they witnessed this scene, and their speed of advancement increased a fair bit.

    The soldiers had forgotten to fear death, but the experts were apletely different scene. They gazed at Luo Bingfeng from afar without daring to take action.

    Li Kuann sneered after shooting a nce at the crowd. He then reached a hand out to Ji Tianqing. ¡°Give me!¡±

    Ji Tianqing was startled. ¡°Give you what?¡±

    Li Kuann said impatiently, ¡°Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know you have a lot of medicines hidden on you. Give me something for healing, quick! Otherwise, I¡¯m going to start searching.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was surprised. ¡°You¡¯re mad! That¡¯s Luo Bingfeng we¡¯re talking about, this medicine won¡¯t save you!¡±

    Li Kuann moved like lightning, reaching into Ji Tianqing¡¯s robes to fish out a vial of medicine. Then, without so much as looking at what it was, she injected it into the side of her neck.

    The experts were stunned, and the few people who knew Ji Tianqing¡¯s identity were even more astonished. Li Kuann reaching into her clothes could be considered extremely disrespectful¡ªno matter how powerful Ji Tianqing was in martial arts, there was no way she could¡¯ve escaped getting touched. Despite that, thetter didn¡¯t really look angry, giving way to a lot of space for imagination. Were the two hostile powers going to make peace just like that?

    Li Kuann flicked Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace with a finger, bringing forth a rush of icy blue light. ¡°I knew you were hiding the good stuff. Humph, with this dose of medicine, my chances of survival have increased by ten percent. It¡¯s the Ji family¡¯s money, so it¡¯s fine to splurge.¡±

    Ji Tianqing shouted, ¡°That¡¯s just ten percent! You will die!¡±

    ¡°All the better, you can have my share if that happens.¡±

    Without waiting for Ji Tianqing to reply, Li Kuann took to the air and began looking for an opportunity to attack Luo Bingfeng.

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t follow immediately. Instead, she scanned the experts from the imperial n and aristocratic families, and then pointed out a couple dozen people. ¡°You guys better watch your back!¡±

    Her silhouette suddenly flickered and appeared before an aristocratic family elder. A cold gleam flickered in her hand as she pressed a dagger as thin as a cicada¡¯s wings against the old man¡¯s throat. Ji Tianqing looked into the man¡¯s eyes, saying, ¡°Did you think you¡¯ll live that much longer just because you¡¯re hiding like a coward?¡±

    The elder hadn¡¯t even replied when Ji Tianqing moved her wrist, effectively cutting open the man¡¯s throat. The old man¡¯s expression was full of shock and terror as he clutched his throat. He tried to say something, but all he could muster were incoherent sounds. To an expert at his level, having the throat slit wasn¡¯t a lethal injury. But now, his protective origin power would disperse immediately at the chest, preventing it from sealing the wound or stopping the hemorrhage.

    He wanted to reach out and grab Ji Tianqing, but his strength left him like flowing water. He waspletely empty in the blink of an eye.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s figure flickered once more and vanished. No one could see where she was¡ªshe was apparently waiting for an opportunity to strike, but no one knew whether it was against Luo Bingfeng or the group of experts.

    Recalling what she had said a while ago, the experts who had been pointed out by her understood that there was no turning this situation around if they didn¡¯t go all out. The girl might not be able to deal with all of them at once, but she could easily pick them off one by one. As for who she would kill, it was fairly obvious. The elder whom she had killed just now was the one who had been pulling the Li elder back.

    The experts began surrounding Luo Bingfeng in quick session, knowing that there was no way out.

    The holy mountain was covered in mes. Luo Bingfeng was like a demon, shooting out a torrent of sword radiance against the airships in the sky, with sparks flying everywhere. The imperial airships made no motion to retreat¡ªafter one side was too badly damaged, they would simply turn about and keep firing from the other side. At this point, a sudden explosion rang out in the air as one of the airships finally sumbed to the damage. With its kic chamber erupting in mes, the vessel started falling at a nted angle.

    A good number of crew members jumped ship, but only a couple of them were able to hover in the air. Most of the people fell to the ground with miserable screams.

    The destruction of this airship gave Luo Bingfeng no relief. If anything, it caused him to be even more nervous instead. He charged toward the burning airship and, with a loud roar, fired hundreds of sword lights from his fingertips, dicing the zing wreck into hundreds of small pieces. Then, with a wave of his sleeve, he blew what remained of the vessel far away.

    The imperialmanding officers were all well trained, and they had also received prior instructions from Song Zining. Seeing this situation, how could they not realize that Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t want anyone to touch the holy mountain? As such, the warships directed their fire from the city lord to the holy mountain, bombarding it in a scattered pattern to make interception harder.

    With the imperial experts joining the fight, Luo Bingfeng¡¯s situation became clearly more dangerous. Those with good observation skills could see that Luo Bingfeng was investing most of his attention to intercepting the cannon fire.

    If the city lord were to focus on one airship at a time, even the newest imperial models wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the onught. At the beginning of the fight, he had actually shot down one airship in a single move. If he were to keep up that kind of momentum, the entire imperial fleet would be destroyed in less than half a day¡¯s time.

    It was just that Luo Bingfeng would rather give up the advantage in battle than to let the holy mountain suffer more damage. He had no qualms despite knowing that this was a sure path to ruin.

    The imperial generals couldn¡¯t understand why a brilliant expert like Luo Bingfeng would turn stupid, but no one was going to refuse such an opportunity. They went all out with their attacks, afraid that the city lord would return to his senses and be that peerless expert from before.

 Chapter 965: Path to the Peak

    In the entire battlefield, perhaps only Song Zining understood why this was so.

    The seventh young noble limped slowly but resolutely toward the summit of the holy mountain.

    Murderous roars soon appeared on the battlefield as a group of mercenaries arrived at the foot of the holy mountain. They began charging up amidst loud cries, all of them valiant and unafraid of death. They had no idea what was at the summit, only that the war-banner was pointing there¡ªand that was enough to ignite their blood-thirst and ferocity.

    More and more mercenaries appeared at the foot of the mountain and began charging up. Meanwhile, the city guard who should¡¯ve appeared was nowhere to be found.

    A young mercenary arrived at the foot of the holy mountain and, stopping briefly to catch his breath, looked up toward the summit. He looked fairly young, perhaps just fifteen or sixteen, but his stature was fairly tall. His face was covered in blood, but he didn¡¯t seem notice that at all as he gazed at the peak¡ªthat was the endpoint of his charge.

    Suddenly, a great force struck him from behind and mmed him to the floor. The young mercenary looked back to find an old bearded face looking down at him. The old mercenary pointed nearby, saying, ¡°Brat, be mindful if you want to survive! You won¡¯t be that lucky next time.¡±

    The old mercenary was pointing at a small hole with shiny walls, clearly one caused by a beam of sword energy. This sword radiance seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and if it wasn¡¯t for the kick just now, the young mercenary would¡¯ve be a corpse already.

    After saying that, the old mercenary continued up the mountain. The young man also mbered up and made ready to charge when he felt a piercing pain on his palm. He raised his hand and found a silver insignia stuck in his flesh. It looked like a rune but he had no idea what material it was made of.

    Hearing the bugle echo once more, the young mercenary plucked the rune and tossed it to the ground before continuing on his way.

    The rune started to glow faintly in the mud, but a military boot descended from above and pushed it deeper into the soil. That mercenary had no idea what he had just stepped on and merely rushed forward with bloodshot eyes.

    Song Zining reached the halfway point up the mountain with great difficulty. There, he looked up just in time to see a beam of blue sword light streak across the sky to sh at Luo Bingfeng. The city lord casually flicked the beam away with his fingers and fired three beams in retaliation. Li Kuann moved like the wind and retreated with due haste, managing to avoid two of the three strikes. The third one was a rare error on the city lord¡¯s part and probably wouldn¡¯t hit its target even if Li Kuann were to stand still.

    On the other side of the holy mountain, Qianye mbered to his feet once again. His caved-in chest was almost fully recovered now. He pressed his chest with both hands and aligned the broken ribs together one after the other. Finally, he let out a long sigh¡ªthe pain from this ordeal was making him sweat slightly. If it wasn¡¯t for the supreme defensive capability of the inner armor, Luo Bingfeng might¡¯ve kicked his blood core into pieces.

    The city lord hadn¡¯t imagined Qianye¡¯s defenses to be so strong, either. He might¡¯ve gone all out with that kick had he realized it. Later on, he simply had no time to deal the finishing blow.

    After aligning his ribs, Qianye immediately sensed his bones growing back and connecting at a swift pace. The rate of healing fell sharply soon afterward as the regenerative medicine¡¯s effects started to wear off.

    Qianye fished out the Twin Flowers and once again took to the air. East Peak was no longer that powerful against an expert at Luo Bingfeng¡¯s level. The only thing that could intimidate this opponent was the Shot of Inception.

    Luo Bingfeng was almost in a maddened state, with his hair in disarray and no longer as awe-inspiring as when he had first appeared.

    Qianye needed only one nce to see that Luo Bingfeng wasn¡¯t in a normal state. He had revealed several openings in just a short while and two of his attacks wereunched in suboptimal conditions. The city lord was like a god of war just moments ago, his every move one with nature and devoid of any weakness. So much so that Qianye had to grab onto the man¡¯s leg in order to fire the Shot of Inception.

    Luo Bingfeng was still rampaging through the imperial experts and mercenary army, but he had reverted from god to human.

    This feeling was extremely subtle. To the bystanders, he was still that god of death who would kill anyone in his way, but Qianye could see that there was something different.

    He couldn¡¯t figure where this change came about, only that it was a good thing. His eyes turned blue as he channeled the Eye of Truth and stared at Luo Bingfeng, waiting for the perfect opportunity to deal a lethal blow.

    The city lord, at this point, was like a giant beast surrounded by a pack of wolves. Wherever he went, there were groups of experts buzzing around him.

    Another beam of blue sword radiance flickered, drawing a thread of blood from Luo Bingfeng¡¯s shoulder.

    The imperial experts became highly spirited. As they saw it, this was the first time the city lord was meaningfully injured. Although this was just a flesh wound and Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception was where the real damagey, how could these ordinary experts see through thetter¡¯s might?

    Everyone came forth to beleaguer Luo Bingfeng after noticing how weak he was, yet they had no idea that the injury had only served to anger the city lord. He let out a long howl as his figure began to flicker repeatedly, each sh apanied by a sh of blood. In the blink of an eye, the blood of six imperial experts stained the sky and showered the ground.

    Shocked out of their wits, the group began to disperse despite Ji Tianqing¡¯s previous threat, afraid that Luo Bingfeng would lock onto them. Only a dozen or so people including the elders from the Li and imperial family kept fighting to the death, guarding Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing¡¯s retreat.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t chase after Li Kuann. He insteadnded on the ground and, with a wave of his hand, scattered arge swathe of jade green sword radiance. The beams fell like rain and drifted toward the mercenaries trying to climb the holy mountain.

    The strands of rain were extremely fine, but it was more than lethal against mercenaries at this level. After being struck on any part of their body, the soldiers would find their life force gradually withering away. They would copse after a couple of steps, never to move again.

    A single rain killed hundreds of soldiers who were charging up at the fore, leaving only the ones furthest down alive.

    The soldiers who were charging forward paused briefly, and many of them looked up at the sky. The me in their eyes had receded, reced by terror. They didn¡¯t receive any expert reinforcements, merely another wave of sword energy bombardment. In the blink of an eye, hundreds more fell halfway up the mountain.

    Ordinary soldiers and experts had different battlefields to fight. Not to mention a peerless character like Luo Bingfeng, even ordinary champions and those close to the realm would find it beneath them to attack ordinary soldiers. Experts were the only opponents for experts.

    That was the case for Luo Bingfeng before. Not to mention those foot soldiers, he didn¡¯t even bother looking at the mediocre experts. Only people like Qianye, Song Zining, and the elders from the Li and imperial n were able to enter his eyes.

    Hence, the mercenaries were able to concentrate on charging forward despite the earth-shattering fight in the skies. After all, the battle above was far beyond their scope. Who would¡¯ve thought cmity would suddenly descend from the sky, that Luo Bingfeng would attack them despite his status. With the city lord¡¯s divine might, it wasn¡¯t a problem for him to kill all ten thousand mercenaries. There was no need to fight this war anymore if he was intent on attacking in this manner.

    The mercenaries couldn¡¯t help but wonder where the imperial experts were.

    Afterunching two rounds of attacks, Luo Bingfeng cried out, ¡°Down from the holy mountain! Whoever dares take a step forward will be killed without mercy!¡±

 Chapter 966: Alone to the End

    With the two warnings in ce, the mercenaries began to hesitate. The hundreds of corpses before them proved that this was a battle in which they never belonged. From whichever angle one looked at it, there was no way their lives should ever have to intersect with Luo Bingfeng. Even if no one among them was afraid of death, their charge on the holy mountain would only serve to drain Luo Bingfeng¡¯s energy a bit.

    However, Song Zining raised his right hand and, once again, pointed at the holy mountain summit!

    The crew aboard the gship were observing Song Zining¡¯s movements. Having received the order, a war-horn call once again echoed throughout the battlefield. The soldiers found their blood boiling because the bugle told them that theirmander was charging at the van.

    Thousands of soldiers found their morale surging as they continued climbing the holy mountain. The squads behind bore through the defensive lines of Tidehark to join the ranks of those ascending the peak. At this point, the Tidehark city guard had been suffering constant bombardment from the imperial warships, heavy cannons, and even experts. Morale was at its lowest, and Du Yuan was nowhere to be found. Without any backbone support, some of the soldiers were already starting to sneak away.

    Luo Bingfeng was startled at the movement of the mercenaries. He had never imagined that the empire would actually send troops on the attack under such a situation. This was no different from stuffing his hands with the lives of mercenaries.

    Luo Bingfeng was far from being a pedantic person. After that briefpse of astonishment, his fury ignited once more and his brows knitted into an almost vertical frown. He shot out dozens of ring-shaped sword energies that carved a path of death along the passage. The mercenaries along the abyssal road would hardly have any corpses left as they were cut up into countless pieces. No matter how well Song Zining had equipped these soldiers, they couldn¡¯tst a single moment against Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword energy.

    Close to a hundred soldiers died again, yet Song Zining¡¯s unwavering finger continued to point toward the summit.

    Bugle cries echoed one after the other, stoking the soldiers¡¯ will to fight as they charged the holy mountain.

    Luo Bingfeng attacked several times, killing hundreds with each strike, yet he couldn¡¯t scare the imperial mercenaries into a retreat. At first, he had no intention of killing the weak, but these ants kept offending his honor.

    Luo Bingfeng shouted sternly, ¡°Do you think I cannot wipe you all out?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng pointed toward the sky and started condensing a wisp of sword energy at his fingertip. This strike contained a massive amount of power, just like the few he hadunched previously. Apparently, he was truly furious at this point. All of a sudden, he noticed a certain officer through the corner of his eyes. This man was stomping his feet and shouting as he directed the soldiers toward the mountain ascent. His expression was so sinister that even his facial muscles were twitching.

    For some reason, Luo Bingfeng felt an inexplicable hatred for this person. Without a second thought, his silhouette flickered as he appeared in front of this officer and sent his head flying with a slide of his finger.

    This attack looked easy, and it rightly should¡¯ve been¡ªyet the city lord couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of difort in his heart.

    He turned back all of a sudden and saw Qianye standing in a crowd of mercenaries about ten meters away. There, with his finger as a gun, he fired a glowing feather of light.

    Time ground to a crawl as Luo Bingfeng looked down at the feather shooting into his body. He looked back up and pointed at the surrounding mercenaries. ¡°You used thousands of lives as bait to hook me? And I thought you were a hero!¡±

    Those words were powerful and resonating. Qianye opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but he ultimately let out a light sigh and vanished into a group of mercenaries.

    Luo Bingfeng seemedpletely nonchnt after taking yet another Shot of Inception. He flew back up into the air, saying, ¡°Juste if you want to kill me, what¡¯s the point of all these tricks?¡±

    With that, he raised his sword to his eyes¡ªthe de flickered several times like a dragon, killing several imperial experts in a single sh. These shes came without a single trace, and there was simply no way to deal with them. These people couldn¡¯t even muster up resistance before losing their lives to the de.

    Li Kuann was, at first, seeking an opportunity high in the sky when her expression changed all of a sudden. Luo Bingfeng somehow appeared in front of her and shed thrice! Li Kuann moved like lightning. Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace erupted in a mist of radiance and blocked all three shes, but her face also turned pale in the process.

    Luo Bingfeng sneered as he drew back his sword, ready to attack and end Li Kuann once and for all. All of a sudden, a crisp sound emerged from his de¡ªthere was actually a new crack upon it.

    Startled, he turned back to see that Song Zining had thrust his folding fan into the holy mountain with a stirring action.

    ¡°How dare you!?¡± Luo Bingfeng roared, his figure arriving in front of Song Zining in an instant. At this moment, Ji Tianqing dashed past and escaped with the seventh young master in tow.

    But how could the city lord let them off so easily? He was just about to give chase when yet another crack appeared on the de.

    He looked up into the distance and saw an imperial expert swinging a war-axe at the holy mountain. The holy mountain was made of mere rock and soil, so how could it withstand a blow from an expert?

    Silvery sparks flew out amidst the rock and gravel. Startled, that person grabbed them out of reflex. Opening his palm, he saw numerous rune-like objects in his grasp¡ªhe had no idea what they were used for, and neither did he spend a lot of effort in contemting it. He squeezed the object into a ball and tossed it to one side.

    ¡°Crack!¡± Another crack appeared on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s de.

    The city lord looked around and saw that the surviving experts of the empire were distributed all over the mountain, digging madly on their own.

    His face became ashen with anger. He became flushed all of a sudden and spat out arge mouthful of blood.

    The imperial experts might be fairly mediocre in strength, but all of them were quite experienced. Seeing the city lord¡¯s state, how could they not know that the mountain was likely his lifeline? Although they didn¡¯t quite understand the reasoning behind it, everyone started attacking the mountain with renewed fervor.

    Luo Bingfeng brandished his de and flew toward an expert holding a heavy weapon. This elder¡¯s attacks were exceedingly heavy, every hammer boring a huge hole in the soil.

    During his assault, a faintly discernible figure appeared beside him and threw a square punch at him. As if he waspletely unaware, the city lord took the blow in its entirety. The impact was so great that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s body sunk down from the force. Despite that, he arrived near the old man and managed to sh him into two.

    However, that figure followed him closely andnded yet another blow on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s back. Thetter staggered from the blow as he shed a hundred meters away. Ji Tianqing looked at her hands, hardly able to believe that she had managed tond two attacks in a row.

    Ji Tianqing possessed powerful secret arts and her attacks were exceedingly heavy. Even Luo Bingfeng couldn¡¯t quite digest the damage, going pale as a streak of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He simply wiped the blood away before pouncing toward a different expert.

    There was no need to remind the imperial experts. They had long since dispersed in all directions to dig into the mountain. They kept running away in different directions upon Luo Bingfeng¡¯s approach, continuing their geographical rampage in the process. Some others also found openings to attack the city lord from time to time.

    Luo Bingfeng went around putting out the mes without a care for his own safety and received countless attacks in the process.

    The disparity in numbers, however, was simply too great. The city lord might be peerless in a showdown, but there was no way he could stop everyone from attacking the holy mountain.

    He was currently like a lone swordsman traversing thend, unyielding but in despair.

    The cracks in his sword increased in number before it finally shattered into countless fragments and dispersed in the wind.

    A serene little courtyard finally became visible on the summit.

    Luo Bingfeng gazed at the courtyard¡ªsilent and unmoving¡ªalmost as though he had forgotten everything.

    An aqua blue streak of sword light left arge gash on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s waist and, at the same time, numerous transparent daggers nailed themselves onto the city lord¡¯s back. However, the city lord seemed to bepletely oblivious to the change.

    Having taken a sure aim, Qianye raised his gun and a pair of lucent wings appeared behind him. Song Zining appeared beside him at this moment, saying, ¡°Fire!¡±

    Song Zining was the only one who could approach Qianye like this. Thetter, who would always listen to the seventh young master, simply couldn¡¯t find it in him to pull the trigger.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s dazested mere moments. He arrived at the summit with a single step and entered the courtyard.

    This step was almost at the level of Qianye¡¯s spatial sh. Those imperial experts who were waiting to take advantage of the situation all stepped back involuntarily, shocked out of their wits. This step, paired with a powerful killing move, would allow Luo Bingfeng to kill all the experts at the scene.

    After entering the courtyard, Luo Bingfeng appeared in front of the side building. The door to the chamber was half-open, revealing the furnishings inside.

    This was a spacious room with origin arrays covering the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. All the interweavingyers could easily make one¡¯s eyes go blurry.

    Ady was kneeling at the center of the room, her head lowered as she gazed at the de piercing through her chest. There was astonishment in her eyes, but also some relief.

    Rui Xiang was standing behind her, holding a long sword. He said softly, ¡°Heavenly Monarch Zhang wishes you well on the way.¡±

    ¡°As I had thought, it¡¯s him. Unfortunately, Bingfeng simply won¡¯t listen to me regarding this matter.¡± Thedy sighed softly, caressing the sharp edge. A stream of warm blood dripped down the de; no one could tell whether it was from her chest or her hand.

    Luo Bingfeng couldn¡¯t endure any longer. He kicked the door away and said in a cold voice, ¡°Rui Xiang, what gall! Do you think I can¡¯t deal with you?¡±

    A wisp of terror shed through Rui Xiang¡¯s eyes. He looked around and saw that there was no way to escape. As a fierce character, he simply braced himself and said, ¡°You can¡¯t save her no matter how powerful your abilities are and you, yourself, will follow soon. Why should I fear death with two people to apany me?¡±

    Surprised and furious, Luo Bingfeng asked, ¡°I sealed these gates personally, how did you get in.¡±

    Rui Xiang drew his de out rapidly, eliciting a painful grunt from thedy as she fell down. Yet, she propped herself up on the floor without copsing. The wound on her chest started to gush fresh blood. Shocked, Luo Bingfeng made to pounce forward, but he had no choice but to stop after seeing Rui Xiang pointing his de at thedy¡¯s back.

    Rui Xiang stroked the de with his finger and said calmly, ¡°This sword is reinforced with the power of a heavenly monarch. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t recognize it?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression was ashen. He let out a mournful cry, saying, ¡°I have never wronged him, why would he treat me so?¡±

    Rui Xiang said coldly, ¡°Since this woman appeared, your cultivation improved by leaps and bounds. You now have a greater chance of stepping into the heavenly monarch realm first. Do you think he doesn¡¯t know your wolverine ambitions?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was livid. ¡°Just because of this? Just because of this? Big brother is my benefactor, he¡¯ll always be my big brother even if I be a heavenly monarch. Why the need for this?¡±

    Seemingly sensing something, Rui Xiang¡¯s tone rxed. ¡°When that time reallyes, the people of the world will only remember you, Heavenly Monarch Luo. Who would think of Heavenly Monarch Zhang?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng took a deep breath. ¡°I was too naive.¡±

 Chapter 967: Shattered Hear

    Luo Bingfeng said in a gloomy voice, ¡°If big brother wants my life, why not juste and take it? Why would he attack a woman? His illustrious name is stained by vile people like you!¡±

    Rui Xiang took a step back in shock. ¡°I have no say in this. Both the heavenly monarch and seventh young noble want her dead. I¡¯m only following orders.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng gnashed his teeth. ¡°What benefits did the empire offer?¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Rui Xiang shot Luo Bingfeng a nce and shivered. He had no choice but to tell the truth. ¡°I heard it¡¯s the key to opening the heavenly monarch realm.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng was startled, and then he broke into augh. ¡°The path to the heavenly monarch realm is beneath one¡¯s feet. When has anyone reached it with outside help? He believes such simple lies?¡±

    Rui Xiang said, ¡°Naturally, one has to cultivate the heart, but outside help is also necessary. Didn¡¯t you have Miss Nan Nan to help you as well?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng heaved a long sigh. ¡°I¡¯ve always lived my life like a hero. Who would¡¯ve thought I¡¯d fall in the hands of inexperienced youngsters? Give me the sword!¡±

    Rui Xiang took a step back in fright, but then he quickly ced the de on the woman¡¯s neck. ¡°Don¡¯t move! Otherwise, I¡¯ll kill her now!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression sank. He reached out and grabbed Rui Xiang¡¯s wrist, ready to snatch the sword. This move was extremely swift, so much so that Rui Xiang had no time to respond before the sword left his hand.

    It was at this time that a dignified middle-aged man appeared behind Rui Xiang. He let out a cough as he opened his fingers and pressed down on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s head!

    Luo Bingfeng was startled upon seeing that man. Only when the fingers were close by did he counter with his sword fingers.

    The origin arrays in the room all lit up and started to burn away, leaving nothing within mere moments. Everything in the courtyard lost its origin power attributes.

    Luo Bingfeng let out a muffled groan as he staggered out of the room.

    Rui Xiang was delighted. ¡°It¡¯s just as the seventh young noble said, you¡¯re no longer a peerless god of war without that woman¡¯s reinforcement.¡±

    ¡°Song Zining?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What benefits did he give you, that you would do all of this?¡±

    Without waiting for Rui Xiang to reply, Song Zining¡¯s voice arrived from outside the doors. ¡°I only gave him a way out, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t even turn back. ¡°Isn¡¯t life in the neutralnds good enough? Must you really go to the empire and be someone else¡¯s dog?¡±

    These words pierced deep into Rui Xiang¡¯s being. Furious and embarrassed, the many years of grievance rushed to his head. ¡°Who else apart from you doesn¡¯t have to follow orders left and right? What¡¯s the difference between the neutralnds and the empire? At least on the empire¡¯s side, there are people like the seventh young noble willing to give me pointers toward the divine champion realm. No matter how low the chances are, there¡¯s still hope. And you? You¡¯re peerless and heroic, yet you¡¯d rather exchange Mortal Enlightenment for a bunch of useless stuff than reveal even a small bit to me. Humph, even if I be a dog of the empire, at least I¡¯ll have a future. It¡¯s so much better than working with you!¡±

    Luo Bingfeng had never imagined this kind of response. He merely exined that Mortal Enlightenment wasn¡¯t suitable for him. In the end, no matter how powerful experts like him and Zhang Buzhou were, their foundations were limited. There was no way they couldpete with major entities like the Song n. Song Zining needed only to flip about casually in the n depository to produce several cultivation arts that would suit Rui Xiang. Zhang Buzhou and Luo Bingfeng couldn¡¯t do the same.

    Song Zining entered the courtyard and sized up the arrangements inside. ¡°As expected, a survivor of Brightmoon Zitherheart. City Lord, who would¡¯ve thought a celebrated character like you would fall for her. Didn¡¯t you know that this sect would cultivate until their hearts were as hard as steel, that they¡¯re actually no longer human?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I naturally know what Nan Nan cultivates, I also know very well what her thoughts are. What do you know? Back then, the major families purged the Brightmoon Zitherheart in order to monopolize their status in the divination arts, forcing the n to flee the empire. In the end, it¡¯s all for power!¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°How could things be so simple? It¡¯s because their cultivation methods are wrong, turning their hearts into steel toward the end. There were even experts who would try to materialize their zitherheart. This so-called zitherheart is not even flesh and blood anymore. Their experts have always been plotting to overthrow the empire and even the human race. In the end, only a world without sentience is fitting for their existence. Those not of our race will always have disloyal thoughts. These words are quite suitable here. I also cultivate divination arts, so hunting down evil remnants is part of my duty.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said, ¡°Putting people to death just from guesses. Good, very good! It is indeed the empire¡¯s style!¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t angry, either. ¡°Won¡¯t you go and see her? The array has been broken, and the time condensation effect is no longer present. Even if her heart has be metallic, you won¡¯t be able to exchange final words if you keep dying.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said nothing. He simply waved his hand, and one side of the courtyard turned to dust in its entirety, revealing the scenery inside.

    Just as before, thedy was kneeling quietly at the center with her icy cold hands hanging to either side. Her head was slightly lowered, allowing her hair to fall gently onto her chest. There was a faint smile of relief on her face, and if it wasn¡¯t for the shocking traces of blood, one would feel that she was peacefully asleep.

    Song Zining¡¯s body trembled and froze in ce when he saw the puddle of blood.

    Luo Bingfeng said in a gloomy voice, ¡°She was already gone the moment the holy mountain was broken. I¡¯m all too clear about big brother¡¯s ability, that sword of his won¡¯t leave any survivors. But¡­ do you see the blood? Is that what you call a heart of steel and stone?¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t expected this oue. He sighed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have used this n if I had known beforehand. But, why would she lead me to believe that she¡¯s still walking on the old path of her sect, that she had already cultivated a zitherheart?

    The answer slowly came to Song Zining as he nced thoughtfully at Rui Xiang.

    Luo Bingfeng was also extremely intelligent. Noticing where Song Zining¡¯s gaze was directed at, he also figured out the situation. She wasn¡¯t afraid of the empire, or her own death, but the hidden trap left behind by Zhang Buzhou.

    Hence, she had intentionally revealed her inheritance and the secret behind Luo Bingfeng¡¯s perfect state. She even revealed her role in the city lord¡¯s path to the heavenly monarch realm. All of this was for but one goal¡ªto have the empire and Zhang Buzhou target her instead of Luo Bingfeng.

    Perhaps she had never imagined that the empire and Zhang Buzhou would work together under Song Zining¡¯s orchestration, dealing her a fatal blow at a critical juncture. Perhaps she had already guessed it but was willing to ept this ending, just so Zhang Buzhou¡¯s sword wouldn¡¯tnd on Luo Bingfeng.

    Luo Bingfeng wasn¡¯t the only one with intelligence. Rui Xiang fell to the ground with a plop, crying, ¡°City Lord, please have mercy! This lowly one was only following orders. Please be magnanimous and let me go! Killing me will only dirty your hands. It¡¯s Zhang Buzhou who killed the young miss!¡±

    At this moment, Luo Bingfeng¡¯s aura seemed weaker and almost like during normal times. Rui Xiang¡¯s hidden ace, that sword containing Zhang Buzhou¡¯s energy, was in Luo Bingfeng¡¯s hands. With how fast the city lord was, he could easily kill the old man even if thetter were to flee right now.

    Although Song Zining had made an appearance, he was apparently quite weak and exhausted. Additionally, there seemed to be no other expert overseeing the ce. Weighing the pros and cons, Rui Xiang decided to kneel down and beg for mercy.

    Luo Bingfeng sighed. ¡°How did you even injure Nan Nan? Although killing you would indeed dirty my de, there¡¯s really no need for me to be concerned about such things at this point.¡±

    Shocked out of his wits, Rui Xiang leapt up and fled with all his might.

    Luo Bingfeng swung the de, firing a rainbow of sword energy that swept past Rui Xiang and severed him through the waist.

    Having bisected Rui Xiang, Luo Bingfeng turned to Song Zining with a dark gaze. He seemed entirely calm as he said, ¡°Did youe here to apany Nan Nan in death?¡±

    Song Zining was fearless. ¡°City Lord, you know full well that the empire is only here for the passage into the Great Maelstrom. We never even sought to control it, just to enter and leave. We would naturally depart as soon as the origin tide has passed. It¡¯s been at least several days since I started gathering resources and preparing for war. Why would you need to guard this ce with your life and not even allow passage? If I may be so impolite, can you really say that you have nothing to do with the young miss¡¯ death?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng scoffed, saying, ¡°I was tasked with guarding this ce. How can I yield just because you have the advantage in numbers? No need for further discussion. It¡¯s easy if you want me to give up the passage, just step over my corpse.¡±

    Song Zining raised his brows. ¡°City Lord, why go so far? No doubt, it is Zhang Buzhou who gave you this duty. You already know how he treats you, why must you be so foolish? The young miss is gone, but the perfect state she gave you must¡¯ve been carved deep in your heart. You can still seek the path toward the heavenly monarch realm. You will surely break through after another decade of focused cultivation. Why would you give up such a future?¡±

    Luo Bingfeng asked, ¡°The sword that was shattered just now, do you know what it was?¡±

    Song Zining was startled. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Luo Bingfeng said slowly, ¡°You keep saying Nan Nan is an evil remnant of the Brightmoon Zitherheart Sect. That sword is her zitherheart.¡±

    Song Zining was shocked. ¡°Then what did she cultivate internally?¡±

    ¡°You can ask her yourself when you get to the other side!¡± Luo Bingfeng roared as he grabbed his de and thrust it at Song Zining¡¯s forehead!

    This attack was extremely precise and sharp. The de came from Zhang Buzhou and still contained traces of his power. Now that it was being utilized at full force by Luo Bingfeng, Song Zining would not be able to take the blow even at his peak, let alone his current exhausted state.

    The moment this attack wasunched, Song Zining realized that Luo Bingfeng had locked onto himpletely. The lethal sh would find him no matter where he hid.

    Only in the face of this blow did song Zining realize how deep the city lord¡¯s hatred was. He decided not to evade and simply closed his eyes to await death.

    It was at this moment that the seventh young master felt the back of his neck tighten as he was lifted up and tossed to one side. A feather of light flew past his neck and made straight for the tip of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword.

    At the moment of life and death, Song Zining noticed that the edges of the golden feather were lined in ck.

 Chapter 968: Sable Eye

    The feather of light shot toward the de, dissolving the sword intent in one go continuing toward Luo Bingfeng¡¯s heart.

    Luo Bingfeng didn¡¯t evade, nor did he block. He simply gazed at the ck-rimmed feather of light as it entered his chest and tore out of his back, his countenance full of reminiscence, sentiment, and relief.

    The sword in his hand gradually slumped down. He gazed sadly at Qianye and said slowly, ¡°So you¡¯re Andruil¡¯s inheritor. Being able to see the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s divine power, this final journey of mine can be considered quite brilliant.¡±

    Qianye stood silently in front of Song Zining. Luo Bingfeng was simply too powerful, so powerful that he could kill everyone with a casual wave of his hand. Things had reached this stage only because the city lord was letting people off since the beginning of the battle, and all of Song Zining¡¯s follow-up ns were dealing great damage to him. There was also a non-negligible luck factor involved as well.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare to underestimate the man, despite sensing that he was already a spent force at this point. Song Zining was also prone to copse at the first blow, yet he was hell-bent on visiting the small courtyard for some reason. One finger was enough to kill him right now.

    Luo Bingfeng paid no heed to the vignt Qianye. He simply walked over to the unmoving woman and reached out to lift her up. The moment his fingertips touched her clothes, however, she shattered into countless specks of light that scattered in the wind.

    Only at this point did Qianye understand that the woman had already left the moment Luo Bingfeng¡¯s sword shattered. Her death wasplete and thorough, even her corporeal body fading away from this world. Perhaps she never even had a corporeal body and that sword was her true self. It was just that the little courtyard was equipped with arrays that could lock time, and hence, it was able to preserve that final moment. Only when the entire holy mountain array was broken by the imperial experts did time start flowing forward.

    That was why Luo Bingfeng witnessed the moment Nan Nan was being assassinated when he stepped into thepound.

    Even at this point, Luo Bingfeng wasn¡¯t willing to believe this truth. He reached out to grab at the specks of light, but the motes simply passed through his palm¡ªthey flew high up into the sky and disappeared. Looking dejected and lost, he was only willing to let go when thest bit of light had vanished over the horizon.

    After what seemed like an eternity, Luo Bingfeng woke up from his reverie and nced at the sword in his hand. It was a ck and white sword, one that had cut through the defenses in the courtyard and killed Nan Nan. The sword itself didn¡¯t have that ability, but it had be invincible after the addition of Zhang Buzhou¡¯s power. Since the de could destroy the seals Luo Bingfeng had ced on thepound, it could easily injure her as well.

    She must¡¯ve epted the weapon dly as it went through her heart. Because, that way, the de wouldn¡¯tnd on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s body.

    Perhaps the city lord had figured this out, or perhaps he hadn¡¯t. He flicked the edge of the sword, conjuring the figure of a dignified middle-aged man in the air. The projection looked down at Luo Bingfeng with a wooden expression. Its appearance stifled everyone in the courtyard. Apparently, Zhang Buzhou¡¯s consciousness had arrived at the ce by virtue of the remaining power in the sword. This was no longer just a lifeless image.

    Luo Bingfeng gazed into Zhang Buzhou¡¯s eyes, almost spewing out mes and sparks as he did so.

    Luo Bingfeng heaved a lengthy sigh, saying, ¡°Big Brother, you left the holy mountain and passage in my care back then, and I told you that I would protect them with my life. Today, I havepleted my duty.¡±

    Zhang Buzhou was slightly moved, but then he calmed down after a short while.

    Luo Bingfeng raised the de to his eyes, saying, ¡°This sword contains your power, and is akin to your avatar. So, let this strike repay your life-saving grace and sever our brotherly bond.¡±

    With that, Luo Bingfeng spun the tip around and stabbed the de through his heart and body.

    Zhang Buzhou was visibly moved and reached out to stop the suicidal thrust, but his hand stopped midway and ultimately didn¡¯t interfere.

    Luo Bingfeng¡¯s eyes gradually turned dim. ¡°All old sentiments have been severed. If there¡¯s a next life, I hope to fight to the death with you!¡±

    The city lord finally copsed with a loud thud¡ªa peerless expert of the generation thus fell into the dust.

    Zhang Buzhou sighed to himself. He then cast his gaze at Song Zining and Qianye, his expression pensive as he gazed at thetter. Soon afterward, he raised his right hand ever so slightly.

    Song Zining flicked his finger upon seeing this. A leaf shot out and struck the ck-white sword, immediately dying the de in green and cutting off Zhang Buzhou¡¯s energy.

    ¡°How dare you!¡± Zhang Buzhou was furious. He was just about to attack when his figure began to blur. He simply didn¡¯t have the energy to attack.

    Song Ziningughed loudly. ¡°There are indeed things this young master does not dare to do, but unfortunately, offending you isn¡¯t one of them. Cultivate in peace, I won¡¯t see you off!¡±

    Zhang Buzhou was furious. His lips moved in what looked like a curse, but the figure was extremely faint at this point, and the words wouldn¡¯te through.

    Qianye walked over to Luo Bingfeng¡¯s body to pick it up. The man was a great talent of the generation, and it was a great pity that he would fall to this fate.

    At this moment, however, the entire holy mountain began to shake. The entire ce, including the city, began to tremble and sway.

    The sound of raging tides grew louder as giant waves rose up from the abyssal depths of the Eastern sea and crashed onto the cliffs by the shore. The waves grew taller and taller, seemingly poised to connect heaven and earth, ready to crush the entire shore.

    In the depths of the Eastern Sea, an enormous consciousness awakened and started observing the scene.

    The mercenaries on the holy mountain staggered and stumbled down¡ªno one below the champion realm could stand firm. It was at this moment that the signal to attack started to slow down and turned into a bugle cry representing the order to retreat. Almost immediately, the soldiers started to retreat like the receding tides.

    They had a vague feeling that a terrifying existence was currently waking up in the depths of the holy mountain. Even the most bloodthirsty of mercenaries found themselves trembling and almost unable to stand firm, let alone press the attack. The two sides simply weren¡¯t on the same level. The massive chasm between them wasn¡¯t something that could be made up for with willpower.

    It wasn¡¯t just the mercenaries. The surviving imperial experts couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure either and started shaking. The elders from the Li family and the imperial n, however, were excited. They stared fixedly at the peak of the holy mountain, not even willing to blink.

    The tremors increased in intensity. All of a sudden, the little courtyard at the summit began to sink downward, bringing Luo Bingfeng¡¯s corpse with it.

    Qianye grabbed Song Zining and took to the air, where he looked down at the bottomless pit with a serious expression.

    The courtyard, along with Luo Bingfeng¡¯s body, thus sank into the giant pit and vanished.

    Although a fair number of people had their eyes on Luo Bingfeng¡¯s treasures, who would dare to approach the giant hole? All they could do was sigh in pity as they watched the small courtyard disappear.

    Qianye, however, felt content. This was the only way to preserve Luo Bingfeng¡¯s dignity and give this peerless expert eternal peace.

    With the holy mountain copsing, a giant ball of dark radiance eventually emerged from the pit. It revolved slowly with a grey halo hanging around it. The spherical body was lightly colored on the exterior and deeply colored inside, as though it was umting an unimaginable amount of power within. Its appearance rmed almost all experts at the scene. They began to flee in all directions as though they had been locked onto by a primordial beast.

    A ck crack soon appeared on the ball of light. It seemed like a giant existence was opening its eyes!

    Immediately upon seeing the eye open, Song Zining pushed Qianye from behind. ¡°Get in!¡±

    Caught off-guard, Qianye was flung into the pupil. The moment he passed through the eye, he could vaguely hear the imperial experts cursing and shouting, but he could no longer discern the contents of their angry discussion.

 Chapter 969: World of Gravity

    The moment he passed through the pupil, Qianye felt as though he had just passed through a thin membranousyer to enter an unfamiliar world. Variegated patches of color appeared around him from time to time, as well as brilliant beams of light.

    In this world, there was no sense of direction to grasp, nor could one feel the flow of time¡ªtheck of dependable sensations was inexplicably distressing. Even someone of Qianye¡¯s constitution immediately felt his vision blur and was soon ovee by the urge to vomit. However, he couldn¡¯t even do that because he couldn¡¯t feel his own body and the surroundings.

    Qianye tried hard to differentiate the things that he could, with the fortunate help of the Eye of Truth. Under its powers, the changes in light around him suddenly slowed down, allowing him to see¡ªif just barely¡ªthat there was something within the beams of light.

    Qianye willed it and found that his body could move ordingly. He consciously maintained a good distance from the appearing light beams. As expected, when one of the beams slowed down, he finally saw that there was a mass ofnd spinning slowly within it.

    Thendmass was almost as big as the Qin Continent, with shades of jade green everywhere. Apparently, it was a thrivingnd, but Qianye simply couldn¡¯t remember which one among the twenty-seven continents was shaped like that.

    The handful of continents at the very top of the world was devoid of all life, and apart from a few top experts, few could ever set foot on them. There were no records of these continents in the empire¡¯s records, either. It could also be that Qianye¡¯s authority never reached that level.

    Just as he was thinking, the belt of light passed by rapidly and vanished into the depths of the chaotic world.

    Another mass of light began to form up ahead. Simrly, there was andmass at the center of this radiant sphere, one Qianye had never seen before.

    Just like that, Qianye was made to see scenery he had never before witnessed. There were seven or eight continents he had never seen before, as well as unimaginably big mountains and giant creatures that could upy half of a continent lying down. He beheld rippling underwater mirages, countless marine creatures, and massive entities¡ªliving beings or otherwise¡ªroaming the void. All of these toppled his current knowledge.

    Yet, Qianye didn¡¯t know what he was seeing nor could he tell if they were real. This kind of floating seemed to go on in an endless cycle. Time and space were in utter chaos, or perhaps they simply did not exist.

    While floating aimlessly, Qianye inadvertently noticed a certain scenery which shook him!

    It was arge continent, but the imagery was too blurry to discern its details. It was made up of a crescent-shapedndmass with dozens of small inds dotting the other side.

    Qianye had never seen this continent. He was just about to study it in detail when a small familiar-looking ind caught his attention. Upon careful inspection, he found that this small ind was simr to one of the continents he had seen before!

    He suppressed the shock and continued the observation.

    Seemingly affected by Qianye¡¯s will, the imagery slowed down to allow for a leisurely observation.

    After looking at it repeatedly, Qianye finally confirmed that he had seen this ind before. It was just that thendmass wasn¡¯t an ind thest time he saw it¡ªit was a continent muchrger than the four belonging to the empire. Now, it looked just like a small ind due to the enormity of the neighboring continent.

    At this ratio, this continent was probably even bigger than the twenty-seven continentsbined. And this scene wasn¡¯t evenplete. It merely depicted a small corner of the giant world. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel overwhelmed at howrge this world was!

    It was somewhat odd that such a ce had never appeared before in the records of Evernight.

    It could be temporarily concluded that this continent wasn¡¯t within the Great Maelstrom, otherwise, how could the people not know? The Empire and Evernight had been going in and out of the maelstrom for many years. Qianye felt that what he saw wasn¡¯t an illusion but something that existed in reality. It was just that only Qianye managed to see it for some reason.

    If it was just his imagination, it wouldn¡¯t have been soplete, so clear, and a perfect match with the one he had seen.

    Could it be that there was a boundless new world beyond the void? Was it this new world that was drawing the peerless experts of every generation into exploring the void passages?

    At this moment, a giant door had seemingly opened up in front of Qianye, affording him a matchless view of one standing at the peak of the world.

    In addition to being mentally shaken, Qianye also felt waves of unbearable pain as sensation returned to his body. Every inch of his skin seemed like it was on fire and being torn apart. A strong sense of danger also appeared once more in his heart.

    Fortunately, his ancient vampire constitution was extremely powerful. Despite having lost his senses, his blood core was operating just as before, delivering auric me blood to all parts of his body and regenerating his injuries. Judging from the current situation, it could be said that there was no danger to Qianye¡¯s life as long as he had essence blood remaining.

    With his senses restored, the entire world transformed once again. All of the strange phenomena receded like the tides and the world went back to its original state¡ªall dimensions, direction, and time, as well as visible objects.

    Within a split second, Qianye realized that he was mid-air and that there was a huge body of water below him. The shore, dotted with verdant trees, stood not far off in the distance.

    Without enough time to react, he fell straight into the water and sank down rapidly.

    The water here seemed different from that of the empire, possessing only a surprisingly small amount of buoyancy. It didn¡¯t look very deep, and visibility wasn¡¯t so bad in the light green waters. Qianye could see from the bottom all the way to the top without using his True Sight. He simply gave up on trying to swim, opting instead to hold his breath and walk along the bottom¡ªhe was poking his head out of the water before long.

    Qianye swept the water droplets off of his head, and then left the water to catch his breath. Looking back, he found himself standing beside a majesticke, one sorge that one could hardly tell if it was ake or a sea without tasting the water.

    Qianye nced around at the woods behind.

    There was a familiar yet strange feeling originating inside the grove. The woods were made up of ancient trees that blotted out the skies¡ªverdant, exuberant, but dark and gloomy. The wind from within carried a cold humidity that cut to the bones and the faint sounds of unknown creatures. None of the trees here were identifiable to Qianye.

    The flora and fauna of every major continent was a required course back at Red Scorpion. Qianye couldn¡¯t im he knew all of themon nts, but he did know most of them. Being unable to recognize a single tree in the entire forest, now that was abnormal.

    Qianye walked into the woods with ns to explore its borders. The first step he took immediately left a deep print in the ground.

    The soil around thekeshore wasn¡¯t mud but made up of firm-looking stones. Normally, Qianye would need to spend some effort if he wanted to leave a footprint on stone. It was quite odd that a casual step would leave a footprint.

    Qianye gave it some thought before touching his ne and producing East Peak from it.

    Immediately upon appearing, the sword sank downward in Qianye¡¯s grasp¡ªhe almost couldn¡¯t hold on and had to exert urgent force to lift the de up. East Peak, at this point, was almost ten tons in weight.

    From this, Qianye confirmed that the gravity of this new world was at least several times stronger than the Empire and Evernight. He only felt a slight bit of difort because of how strong his body was. Any ordinary person might have sustained injuries and probably wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up.

    Qianye waved East Peak around to get himself used to the new environment.

    He knew he was probably in the Great Maelstrom. It was just that Song Zining never mentioned that the gravity here would be so terrifying. The Empire had explored the ce several times, so there had to be some intelligence regarding it. With how capable and connected Song Zining was, it was impossible for him not to have seen them.

    ording to imperial records, the explored parts of the Great Maelstrom were not so different from the Empire and Evernight. There was definitely no mention that the gravity was over ten times stronger.

    At this point, Qianye had already realized that he had arrived directly into the depths of the Great Maelstrom.

    This was both good and bad. The good thing was that this area hadn¡¯t been explored yet, which means that the vast resources here were yet untouched. The bad thing was that he would have to face more unknown dangers. Many dangers within the Great Maelstrom were fairly lethal to the geniuses of the two factions. Information from the explored regions stood proof that the further away from the tunnel, the more dangerous it was.

    The dangers here came in many shapes and forms. There were all kinds of powerful beasts, small but venomous insects, and extremely toxic vegetation. Some of the more dangerous species were poisonous at times and not during others.

    The dangers Qianye had to face were even greater. Gravity was just one thing and the dangers in the environment were another. What¡¯s more, he didn¡¯t even know where he should be going.

    At this point, Qianye felt a wave of nausea and wanted to vomit. This wasn¡¯t normal at all. Fortunately, Qianye¡¯s perception and control over his body were far beyond that of an ordinary person. He immediately found out that the root of the problem was still gravity.

    As someone with auric me blood, both his flesh and bones had been remodeled and strengthened considerably. Comparatively, his innards were quite weak. Under the terrifying effects of increased gravity, his weaker organs were starting to give in and show small breaks.

    Despite that, the regenerative and adaptive capacity of the ancient vampires seemed to be at the peak of Evernight. His innards started healing on their own after a while and began showing early signs of strengthening. Although this was just an early adaptation reaction, it would still afford great help in his quest to limatize to the Great Maelstrom.

 Chapter 970: The Unstable Passage

    Qianye stood silently in ce and only walked toward the forest after the initial strengthening had beenpleted. Along the way, he scanned the surroundings cautiously with True Sight.

    Just the abnormally powerful gravity was enough to make this world sufficiently dangerous, not to mention the hidden threats brought about by it. Human experts would have to constantly protect their innards with origin power since they weren¡¯t as powerful as Qianye with regards to constitution. This was a significant disadvantage for the human race as they would be spending more origin power than the dark races.

    There was nothing abnormal around the borders of the forest. There was only short foliage in addition to the uncovered soil and moss at the roots of the ancient trees. At a nce, the forest looked no different from one back in the empire. There was only one exception to this¡ªQianye couldn¡¯t recognize any of the species here.

    The most important reason for entering the Great Maelstrom was to improve one¡¯s own strength, and the second was to collect rare materials. Qianye wasn¡¯t so worried about the first part, but the second one was going to be somewhat difficult. There were enormous amounts of rare resources here, but most of the recorded ones were near the entrance. There was next to no information about this high gravity environment, so how was he to differentiate what''s useful?

    After going a certain distance, Qianye noticed something flickering about in his vision.

    It vanished as Qianye turned to look, but there was no escaping after catching his attention. He took cautious steps forward and circled around an ancient tree to nce behind it.

    There, he found an unassuming piece of rock sitting amidst the interlocking roots of the tree. The stone was fairly even in shape and about half a meter in length. There was even moss on the surface, clearly something that had been sitting there for countless years. If it wasn¡¯t for the abnormal movement just now, Qianye might very well have overlooked it.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he channeled his True Sight on the rock.

    Very soon, he found that the origin power fluctuations wereing, not from the stone, but the moss on top of it. Qianye used his finger to scrape off a small piece and found the defect bursting into raging mes. It wasn¡¯t a real ze but a phenomenon brought about by the strong origin power reaction.

    It was unimaginable that a small patch of moss would actually contain such intense origin power. The glow in Qianye¡¯s vision soon faded away as the missing spot in the moss stopped leaking origin power.

    Although he had no idea what attribute origin power it was, this kind of moss¡ªand perhaps even the rock itself¡ªwere extraordinary objects. Qianye carefully dug the rock out from among the roots and ced it in Andruil¡¯s space. He tried cutting into one of the roots but found nothing special inside, at least with regards to origin power.

    Qianye¡¯s harvest was quite bountiful, though, having grasped a new, potential rare resource. It wasn¡¯t as though these ancient trees had no use. Perhaps due to the gravity, the wood material was extremely strong and even Qianye had to spend a bit of effort digging through them with East Peak. The wood here would make for top-tier ship-building material if they could be shipped to the empire since their quality was fairly close to that of high-grade alloys. Thetter was too expensive to acquire in bulk, even for the empire. All they could afford was to produce certain keyponents with it. If an airship could be built entirely out of this wood, then its performance would only be inferior to the gships belonging to major characters.

    Unfortunately, the wood was too cumbersome and the space within Andruil¡¯s space was limited. Qianye wasn¡¯t about to fill his precious space with wood.

    Just as Qianye was nning to continue his exploration in the forest, he suddenly sensed something. He immediately climbed into the crown of the tree and nced up at the sky.

    The world inside the Great Maelstrom was fairly strange. The sky was extremely high up and filled with floating clouds, but there was neither sun nor, so where was the lighting from?

    A dark ball of light appeared in the sky at this moment, surrounded by shes of lightning. A human silhouette flew out of the sphere and stood in the air.

    In truth, that wasn¡¯t a ball of light, but the door into this world. It would seem another person had arrived after Qianye. It was just that he couldn¡¯t tell whether this guest was from Evernight or the Empire.

    The dark-colored sphere faded away as soon as the figure had passed through. Apparently, the door would only allow for one person.

    Compared to the confused Qianye, this person seemed to havee prepared. The glow of an origin shield lit up around him, protecting him firmly inside. However, this method was only useful against the adverse environment of this world and could do absolutely nothing against the powerful gravity. That person probably hadn¡¯t imagined the gravitational pull would be so great, either. Following a cry of surprise, he started falling to the ground like a meteor.

    Qianye had fallen into theke back then, but this person wasn¡¯t so lucky. He fell headfirst onto the rocky cliff with a cringe-inducing thud¡ªsimply imagining the pain involved made Qianye¡¯s eyelids twitch.

    Another sh of light appeared far off in the distance. With his powerful eyesight, Qianye was able to see another figure flying out of the materializing door and falling simrly to the ground. This person, however, was much more powerful. He managed to adjust his trajectory before hitting the ground and managed to take to the air once more.

    Qianye pondered momentarily. He then retracted his aura, jumped down the tree, and started sneaking toward that person¡¯s location. If the new arrivals were people from the empire, they might need his help, otherwise, if they were from Evernight, he naturally had to take this opportunity to kill them while they were weak.

    As stormy winds brewed in the Great Maelstrom, Tidehark wasn¡¯t at peace, either.

    The copse of the holy mountain had ended, and the tall peak was now nothing more than tnd. The dark-colored sphere in the air was only half the sizepared to when it had appeared and fading fast. Additionally, bolts of dark lightning would arc out from time to time. Experienced experts would know that this was a sign of the passage starting to destabilize.

    With the entrance bing unstable, the risk of traversing the passage would increase sharply. The passage in the neutralnds had always existed, but no one had sought to use it in the past century because it was simply too unstable. Trying to traverse it was akin to suicide.

    At this moment, an expert in his thirties was standing at the entrance, sweating profusely in his anxiety. He was equipped with numerousyers of armor and protective gear, much like a turtle-shell.

    An elder patted his shoulder and said in a gloomy voice, ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Remember, you have to face the situation calmly. This is an opportunity the family spent fifty years to obtain, don¡¯t miss it.¡±

    The man nodded. The tension on his face lessened somewhat, reced by a look of determination.

    ¡°Okay, go now! I¡¯ll help you!¡± The old man pushed the man¡¯s back, engulfing him with a gentle stream of origin power that brought him toward the passage.

    Just as he was about to enter, however, the entrance started to ripple all of a sudden and the dark bolts of lightning increased noticeably. The man almost cried out as he channeled origin power with all his might, activating almost all of his defensive equipment.

    The old man seemed to hesitate for a moment but ultimately decided to increase his force and push the man into the passage. The fluctuation intensified as lightning surged out like the tides, almost forming a of electricity inside the passage! The despairing man crashed straight into the mesh of lightning, and at that moment, the imagery disappeared. The tunnel interior was no longer visible. Only a cry of desperation echoed outward from the entrance.

    The old man¡¯s expression was gloomy and his hands were trembling slightly. Anyone could tell that the situation just now was extremely perilous. The bystanders kept their silence¡ªthey couldn¡¯t even offer words of condolence at this point because that would only serve to sprinkle salt on the elder¡¯s wounds.

    The old man turned about and roared, ¡°Come, we must see Song Zining!¡±

    Momentster, the old man was seated in the living room of Song Zining¡¯s gship, staring daggers at thetter with his eagle-like eyes. There were half a dozen other representatives in the room¡ªpeople from the aristocratic families, the imperial n, and even Yan Ding was around. However, the general only sat quietly in a corner. Apparently, he hade to realize that his role was negligibly small.

    The first one to question Song Zining was an elder from the imperial n. He rubbed his hairless chin as he said in a feminine voice, ¡°Seventh Young Noble, I¡¯m not the only one to seek you out. I believe everyone has the same question on their mind, so I¡¯ll speak on their behalf as well. What say you?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Eunuch Zhang, please speak freely.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll be frank. The quota and sequence of experts going into the Great Maelstrom were agreed beforehand and you were also present. Qianye¡¯s name wasn¡¯t on the list, not even in the second batch if I remember correctly.¡±

    Song Zining nodded with a smile. ¡°That is indeed the case, you did remember right.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you would send Qianye into the passage first. It¡¯s fine if there was no change in the passage, but it is just as the elder prince had expected, the passage bes extremely dangerous after someone enters it. Now, the tunnel is no longer stable and no one else can enter. We still have two people on the list who didn¡¯t make it inside. How will you exin this?¡±

    Without waiting for Song Zining to speak, an aristocratic elder banged the table. ¡°My nephew went into the tunnel but it¡¯s clear that everything is pointing to disaster now! Not to mention the resources our Lu Family had to gather over five decades, my nephew is a top genius! How will youpensate us for this matter? Otherwise, our Lu family isn¡¯t so easily bullied!¡±

    Song Zining waved his fan slowly. ¡°So, you want me to give you an exnation?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°Humph, it only makes sense that you exin things.¡±

    ¡°Human life is beyond value. This isn¡¯t something you can just gloss over.¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve long since told you that the passage isn¡¯t stable and that no one should enter. Despite that, your Lu family just had to grasp at thatst straw. Who is to me for that?¡±

    The Lu family elder said, ¡°This wouldn¡¯t have happened if you didn¡¯t let Qianye enter first.¡±

 Chapter 971: What Can You Do?

    Song Zining observed everyone¡¯s expressions. ¡°Does this mean that everyone here wants an exnation from me?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°Even if you¡¯re famous, you can¡¯t ignore all of the nobility like this.¡±

    Song Zining gave everyone a nod and made ready to speak. The crowd thus quieted down in anticipation of what he was about to say. Who would¡¯ve thought his signature smile would turn into a frosty grin? He roared, ¡°I¡¯m just looking out for my brother, what can you do to me?¡±

    These words exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations. Who would¡¯ve thought the usually civilized and elegant seventh young noble would shed all pretenses and throw out such undisguised words.

    This wasn¡¯t just speaking his mind; it was a fearless provocation.

    The Lu family elder shot to his feet, pointing at Song Zining with a trembling finger. ¡°Such insolence from a brat! You can forget about getting any peace if you don¡¯t give our Lu family an exnation today. My nephew¡¯s life cannot be wasted!¡±

    Song Zining shot a nce at the old man and then turned toward the crowd. ¡°So the lives of your scions are worth a lot but Qianye¡¯s isn¡¯t? Everyone sitting here should know how well you performed in the fight for the holy mountain. Humph, you cower when it¡¯s time to fight but yap your tongues when fighting for quotas. I have no n to outtalk you people, and there¡¯s no need to waste useless words since I¡¯ll do exactly what I want. Do you think a bunch of cowardly trash like you is worthy of any exnation from me?¡±

    The Lu elder was livid. ¡°What insolence! What insolence! The Song n did such a poor job raising you that I really wish I could teach you a lesson in their ce!¡±

    Song Zining sneered. ¡°You want to teach me a lesson? Very well. Three dayster when I¡¯mpletely recovered, I¡¯ll be waiting outside of the city for a fight to the death!¡±

    The Lu elder was shocked. He pointed at Song Zining but had nothing to say except for uttering ¡°Y-You¡­ you...¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t wait for him to speak. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me Elder Lu wants to take advantage of my injuries and fight me to the death now?

    The elder was startled, seemingly having his thoughts seen through. Although his cultivation was higher than Song Zining¡¯s, the Lu family was just a low-ranking aristocratic family. They simply couldn¡¯tpare to a massive entity like the Song in terms of gear and secret arts. These two factors would close the gap between them by a fair bit. In addition, the recent battles proved that this batch of young imperial geniuses was dauntless in the face of death¡ªtruly terrifying.

    If Song Zining were to step into the arena three dayster, fully healed, the one walking out alive might not be Elder Lu. He was very clear about this fact, as were the people around him.

    But with how clear Song Zining had phrased it, the elder simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to say it. Besides, It would be useless even if he did¡ªthe opponent wasn¡¯t that dumb.

    In the blink of an eye, Elder Lu and Song Zining fell into a situation where they would have to fight to the death. This wasn¡¯t what he initially intended. Now, however, he would lose all face and never be able to stand tall for years toe.

    The people nearby became tense and quickly stepped in to mediate. ¡°That wasn¡¯t what Elder Lu meant, please don¡¯t handle matters emotionally. It¡¯s not wise to fight internally during these troubled times. The Lu family has just lost one of their main talents, so we should discuss how we canpensate them reasonably.¡±

    Many people chimed in after hearing these words. Elder Lu took the opportunity to resume his seat and extricate himself from this difficult position. Everyone¡¯s eyes fell on Song Zining, their thoughts fairly evident.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t about to hold back. He opened his folding fan, saying, ¡°What you¡¯re all saying is that you want quotas for the second batch, right? It¡¯s best if I give up my own quota as well or move myself to thest.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s smiles became awkward. ¡°There¡¯s no need to go so far, we¡¯ll feel bad if that happens. Haha!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile disappeared. ¡°This young master will not give up my quota, nor will I change the sequence. Whoever wants my quota can stand, let me get acquainted with them.¡±

    Everyone was astounded. Someone said with a forced smile, ¡°What does the seventh young noble mean?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°You people never gave it your all during the showdown, but you¡¯re quite extreme when fighting for the spoils! Whoever wants my quota should stand up and say it. Forget about forcing me to give it up or distributing it in secret. Let me tell you the truth, I¡¯m a very vengeful person who knows no magnanimity. Whoever wants to be my enemy should kill me in a couple of years. Otherwise, this young master will eliminate you all by the third year, even if you¡¯re a low-ranking aristocratic family!¡±

    Elder Lu was livid and restless in his seat. He had used his family name to threaten Song Zining, so thetter was sure to eliminate them!

    Seeing no one responding, Song Zining pointed at the sky and said casually, ¡°Even if you''re determined to do that, it¡¯s useless. Let me tell you that I have people above me.¡±

    Everyone knew that Song Zining did not share an amicable rtionship with the Song n, but they also remembered that the Song n ancestor favored him the most. Currently, the n was thinking of a way to make him return. They probably wouldn¡¯t just stand by if something were to happen to him.

    Apart from that, Song Zining was notoriously well-connected in every field. Many major characters in the empire had unclear rtionships with him, and there was no telling who was from which faction. Unless they could get rid of him secretly without leaking any clues, what awaited them might be a wave of thunderous wrath.

    At the thought of this, everyone¡¯s smiles turned stiff as most of them were mid to lower aristocracy. Those at the top-tier had already sent their people in. These families had only banded together to make Song Zining lower his head. If they really were to go head to head with him, there was no telling whether or not they could withstand Song Zining¡¯s future retaliation. What was certain, however, was that they couldn¡¯t afford to suffer the wrath of a true powerhouse.

    Seeing that they couldn¡¯t suppress Song Zining, people started looking toward the imperial n representative. They were hoping he could do something about the seventh young master¡¯s arrogance.

    Eunuch Zhang knew it was time for him to step out. He let out a dry cough and said calmly, ¡°This matter stems from you, seventh young noble. This opportunity in the Great Maelstrom isn¡¯t really a necessity for you, either, so why not end things on a happy note by shifting the order of entry. If you¡¯re willing to do that, we¡¯re willing to listen to whatever demands you may have.¡±

    Everyone listened attentively. The quota to enter the Great Maelstrom was too important to them. A sess here would give their families a chance to take a step upward, so who would be willing to give up? Eunuch Zhang¡¯s suggestion intended for both parties to take a step back. Song Zining would free up his quota and everyone else wouldpensate him for it.

    Everyone was able to ept this. Riches and fortunes could be umted, but their families would have no hope of progress without talents.

    Song Zining seemed to know what everyone was thinking. ¡°Fine, I have only one demand. Investigate Yun Zhong and Yun Hai¡¯s background to their roots.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Isn¡¯t this matter clear enough yet? They have been punished by Eunuch Liu for going against their orders and cowering in the face of battle.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? What a pity, then.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang sat straight with a serious expression. ¡°I can agree to it If you really must investigate, but only to the extent of my power. I can¡¯t decide how far I can go.¡±

    ¡°Let it be if you can¡¯t decide. Otherwise, everyone will be unhappy if you cannote to a conclusion. At that point, I¡¯ll have to talk to the person above me.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang¡¯s countenance became unnatural. He leaned forward and asked in a probing manner, ¡°May I ask who this person is?¡±

    Song Zining smiled spuriously. ¡°I don¡¯t dare to utter their name, neither will you want to hear it.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang sighed. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, it looks like I can¡¯t help with this matter. Farewell!¡±

    With that, the eunuch rose from his seat and left with the imperial n in tow. Now, only the people from the aristocracy were left behind. Top aristocratic families like the Li had long since sent their people into the tunnel, so none of them were present. The group here had gathered in hopes that the imperial n would support them. Who would¡¯ve thought Eunuch Zhang would leave immediately after Song Zining suggested the investigation of Yun Zhong and Yun Hai¡¯s origins? The man simply left, having no intention of wading into these muddy waters.

    This pushed the minor aristocratic families into the stage.

    Song Zining scanned everyone with a smile and said word by word, ¡°I insist on looking after my brothers, what can you do to me?¡±

    Momentster, the entire group left¡ªdejected, silent, and gloomy. They discovered that they simply couldn¡¯t do anything to Song Zining.

    As for taking it out on Qianye, there was no need to even think about it. Even the number one expert of the imperial pce had taken action to save him, at the risk of being killed by the Throne of Blood. Even without this level of connection, Qianye¡¯s current strength was already quite terrifying. How could these small families handle him if he were to improve once again in the Great Maelstrom?

    Even if these people didn¡¯t understand during the battle of the holy mountain, everyone should¡¯ve figured outter that it was Qianye¡¯s three Shots of Inception that had truly injured Luo Bingfeng. Thest shot, especially, was earth-shattering in its power.

    Who could or would dare to take such a blow?

    Hence, they would rather target Song Zining than a god of death like Qianye. At least, this seventh young master was better known for his scheming. Such types would rarely shed all pretenses, and it was more likely to reach apromise. If it was Qianye in his ce, there might be a Shot of Inception flying over immediately.

    It was just that no one had imagined that the seventh young master would turn so entirely hostile. He would rather step into a life and death arena than yield. Was this because he was peeved or was he nning to seek revenge for the families crowding out Qianye?

    No one had an answer to this. Only the words ¡°I insist on looking after my brothers, what can you do to me?¡± echoed in their ears.

 Chapter 972: Good Boy, Donâ€™t Resis

    Within the Streamdew Courtyard in the depths of the imperial pce, red flowers were dancing amidst the jade-green bamboo and the breeze was caressing the supple willows. Empress Li sat leaning on the parapet, gently stroking the snow-white cat on herp and seemingly thinking about something. At this point in time, the person, the scenery, and the cat, everything was as beautiful as a painting¡ªbut there was something disharmonious about it.

    The white cat was struggling constantly in the empress¡¯ hands, its eyes filled with terror. It was as though the animal had just seen something extremely terrifying. It tried to cry out but no sound came out, and no matter how it struggled, it couldn¡¯t escape Empress Li¡¯s gentle caress.

    A maid arrived in brisk steps, arriving behind Empress Li as though she were walking on water. ¡°Empress, Steward Liu is back and has obtained the thing you wanted.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s dark eyebrows moved slightly. ¡°Summon him.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The maid thus withdrew. All this time, she had kept her head lowered, not looking at the cat even once.

    The white feline seemed to have lost all hope after the maid¡¯s departure. It no longer struggled or cried out, allowing the empress to stroke it as she wished.

    Eunuch Liu arrived momentster. He had one hand on a young servant, his steps leisurely and his countenance, jaded. At a nce, he looked just like an elder with one foot in the grave and no semnce of an expert¡¯s demeanor.

    Seeing Eunuch Liu arrive, Empress Li stood up and waved her hand gently. ¡°Seat.¡± A maid responded immediately, carrying in a brocade-lined seat and cing it toward the side.

    Eunuch Liu didn¡¯t deny the gesture and duly took his ce. Only after the old man was seated did the empress resume her position and send the attendants away.

    A wisp of anxiety and anticipation appeared on the empress¡¯ face after everyone was gone. ¡°How did it go?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said slowly, ¡°There were some twists and turns, but things can be considered to have gone quite smoothly. That Luo Bingfeng is unexpectedly powerful, probably on par with me on the holy mountain. Fortunately, he was too upright and magnanimous. In the end, he fell to thebined scheming of the seventh young noble and Zhang Buzhou. The passage has been secured and Young Noble Kuann has sessfully entered. I think I¡¯vepleted my mission.¡±

    Empress Li still looked a bit worried. ¡°It¡¯s lucky that you were there. Do you think Kuann will encounter danger in the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°Anything can happen in the Great Maelstrom, but Young Noble Kuann is a highly proficient swordsman and blessed with great fortune. She should be fine. As for the detailed situation, I cannot see into the Great Maelstrom, so I¡¯ll have to disappoint you.¡±

    The empress replied, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for you restraining the one on the Throne of Blood, the empire wouldn¡¯t have taken the passage sessfully. Sigh, this passage leads straight to the depths of the maelstrom, a ce no one had been to before. I hope Kuann will be alright. But I heard there were other setbacks in the process, do you know the details?¡±

    Eunuch Liu exined briefly how Yun Zhong and Yun Hai had tried to harm Qianye. ¡°I¡¯ve personally killed the two traitors.¡±

    Empress Li frowned. ¡°What are their origins? Why did they do this?¡±

    Eunuch Liu replied slowly, ¡°This matter is highlyplicated. I¡¯ve sent people to investigate, but I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll seed.¡±

    Empress Li frowned as she noticed Eunuch Liu¡¯s hidden words. ¡°Is there anything you can¡¯t do? If needed, I can lend you mymand token.¡±

    Eunuch Liu shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m old now, so there are times when I¡¯m muddled. Even if I have yourmand token, I might not remember how to use it.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s brows rxed after hearing this. She said with a faint smile, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, then I won¡¯t force you. Now that you¡¯re here, why don¡¯t you tell me how that person performed?¡±

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Do you want the truth or polite words?¡±

    ¡°Of course the truth. There¡¯s no one else here, so you need not fear anything, speak frankly.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°But there¡¯s a cat.¡±

    Empress Li smiled faintly. ¡°Just an animal, it can¡¯t do much.¡±

    ¡°Yet anxious animals might scratch. Your body is of the utmost importance, it won¡¯t be good if you get scratched.¡±

    Empress Li smiled radiantly. ¡°Such a small wound is nothing. If that happens, I¡¯ll let this animal see the immensity of heaven and earth, reminding it to stop thinking about nonsense.¡±

    Eunuch Liu nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s how you think, I won¡¯t hide it from you. What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°What do you want to tell me?¡±

    Eunuch Liu pondered momentarily before saying, ¡°The Throne of Blood had an eye on me so I didn¡¯t stay until the end, but I heard hisst strike was extremely terrifying.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s brows rose high and her smile became more dazzling. ¡°This is the best news I¡¯ve heard in recent days.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°It¡¯s only half good. I have something for your eyes.¡±

    He produced a palm-sized scroll from his chest pocket and passed it over. Empress Li received the object, tapping lightly on Eunuch Liu¡¯s hand as she did so.

    The eunuch seemed not to have noticed. He merely said with a bow, ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave, then. Please look through the item after I¡¯m gone.¡±

    Empress Li nodded and stood up as a gesture of farewell. ¡°Take care.¡±

    After waiting for the eunuch to leave, Empress Li removed the seal on the scroll and slowly opened it up. There was a pair of ck wings on the small painting scroll, so lifelike that it was about to fly out of the paper.

    Empress Li held her breath for a good while, her expression filled with both joy and worry. She sighed gently as she tore the scroll to pieces, crushed it into a ball along with the roller, and then tossed it into the pond.

    Countless carps surfaced from the waters and fought to swallow up the paper, even the roller.

    Empress Li couldn¡¯t help but reveal a cold smile when she noticed the cat on herp staring at the pond with wide eyes. The dazed cat felt something was wrong¡ªit looked up all of a sudden and started crying mournfully upon seeing the empress¡¯ expression.

    Empress Li summoned a maid and handed the cat to her. ¡°Bring it away, dig out its eyes, and keep it at the imperial vi. End your own life if it dies along the way.¡±

    Trembling, the maid picked up the cat and, grabbing it tightly, left with hurried steps.

    Empress Li sat down contemting and then broke into a coldugh. ¡°I¡¯ll take action if worsees to worst. I must see what kind of tricks you can pull!¡±

    The neutralnds, outside of Tidehark. Song Zining¡¯s gship had been parked in the air outside of Tidehark for many days now. He himself was training with his spear on the deck, the weapon striking mysteriously like a momentous dragon.

    After he hadpleted a set of spear techniques, someone nearby started pping. ¡°Good spear technique! This Fueled Fire Spear has gone through such changes in your hands, it seems to have reached apletely new realm. I think no one in the Song n is your match in spear technique, perhaps with the exception of the old ancestor.¡±

    Song Zining turned back with a smile. ¡°Eunuch Zhang is one of the top experts in the imperial pce, how can such minor tricks enter your eyes?¡±

    Eunuch Zhangughed. ¡°Seventh Young Noble is already so talented at such a young age, you¡¯re destined to be a heavenly monarch in the future. I, on the other hand, am content if I can climb two more ranks. There¡¯s no way I canpete with you.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Eunuch Zhang will be a divine champion after a single breakthrough. At that point, the head steward position can only be yours. I¡¯ll have to rely on your care in the future.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang said, ¡°Well said, well said! I came here because I have something to discuss with you.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°You¡¯re too kind, let¡¯s talk inside.¡±

    The two entered the cabin shoulder to shoulder and sat down in an isted room. After the servants hadid down tea and snacks, Eunuch Zhang leaned forward and said in a whisper, ¡°I want to know something. Who is your backing in the imperial pce?¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Since you¡¯re asking so directly, then I won¡¯t hide it from you. I¡¯ve been helping the empress with some menial tasks recently.¡±

    The eunuch¡¯s smile grew even wider. ¡°I¡¯m relieved, but I have something I want to ask you. Why do you attach so much importance to the Eastern Sea?¡±

    Song Zining smiled spuriously. ¡°I¡¯ve already moved my entirepany over here. Why do you think that is?¡±

    Eunuch Zhang clenched his teeth. ¡°I understand! Although I¡¯m old, I have a good chance of stepping into the divine champion realm within three years, I also have some say in matters within the pce. I think I¡¯ll be of some use to you. I¡¯ve umted some savings during my thirty years of service in the pce and would like to bet on you, what do you say?¡±

    Song Ziningughed gently. ¡°The Eastern Sea is a big piece of meat, not something I can swallow on my own. It is, of course, a good thing if you¡¯re willing to join me.¡±

    The two exchanged nces andughed with increasing cheer.

    In the imperial camp outside of Tidehark, several aristocratic elders were holding a secret meeting. Elder Lu said with a gloomy expression, ¡°We¡¯ve discussed things back and forth but haven¡¯t been able to reach a conclusion. I think we cannot keep on dragging this matter out. We have to take swift action in gaining Eunuch Zhang¡¯s favor. Without him, we won¡¯t be able to dig anything out of Song Zining.¡±

    Everyone expressed their agreement but soon started fighting over what this investment was and how to distribute it among the families. Ultimately, they never came to a conclusion.

    Song Zining looked down at the imperial camp from the deck of his airship, muttering, ¡°A group of jumping clowns. They scramble for power and benefits but never check to see if the food will burn their lips.¡±

    He walked over to the other side of the deck and gazed upon the forming silhouette of the dark ball above the holy mountain¡ªit was much clearer than several days ago. Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Heh, I want to see how you¡¯ll get over this trial. We¡¯ve known each other for so many years, do you think I have no way to deal with you?¡±

    The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He brought out a divination token and ced it on his forehead. ¡°Good boy, Qianye, Good boy, don¡¯t fight back! Let me see how many bad things you¡¯ve done.¡±

    These words had no effect on divination, nor could it turn one¡¯s fortune around like a charm or incantation. He was just muttering to himself for fun.

    However, he had just finished speaking and hadn¡¯t even activated his divination arts when his vision turned dark. He couldn¡¯t see anything at all for a moment.

    It felt as though a pair of invisible eyes were slowly opening in the darkness, staring at him.

    ¡°Humph!¡±

    A somewhat sullen voice echoed in Song Zining¡¯s ears. Then, his divination token snapped in half, the upper segment of which struck his forehead with considerable force and knocked him out.

 Chapter 973: Analysis

    Qianye traversed the forest cautiously, stopping to observe his surroundings from time to time.

    The person who had just fallen down from the sky was still lying immobile amidst the rocks and sand. He was hidden behind a rock at this point, so there was no telling whether he was unconscious or if he had already recovered.

    Just as he was about to walk out of the forest, Qianye sensed someone peeking at him. This gaze came out of nowhere and there was no way to confirm its existence. The presence couldn¡¯t be considered malicious, but there was an inexplicable vulgarity in it that gave Qianye the goosebumps. Fortunately, the sensation disappeared immediately after it had appeared, relieving Qianye of the distress.

    After some thought, Qianye decided that it had to be someone trying to scry his movements. He was a bit curious, though. Which reckless bloke was actually trying to divine his movements? Qianye had a fair number of karmic ties with powerful characters like Lin Xitang, Zhao Ruoxi, Zhao Jundu, and Nighteye. He even had indirect rtionships with Princess Gaoyi, the Pointer Monarch, and the ck-Winged Monarch. The bacsh would be exceedingly strong if these connections were identally drawn upon.

    Only unfathomable people like Lin Xitang and those who understood Qianye as deeply as Song Zining might be able to trace him. Even a massive entity like the imperial military didn¡¯t dare to scry Qianye after his murder of Li Fengshui, thus allowing him to escape to the neutralnds.

    The gaze in the darkness vanished almost immediately, clearly having suffered some pain. Qianye proceeded to ignore it but naturally became more vignt as well.

    The forest was entirely calm and there was nothing out of the ordinary on the rocky beach. Qianye retracted his aura, went around the pile of rocks, and finally reached the fallen man.

    The persony motionless on the ground. His clothes were tattered, revealing a fair bit of his fair skin. His short hair was also in disarray, almost as though a storm had cut through it.

    The man¡¯s aura was weak and fluctuant¡ªapparently, he was still in a state ofa.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare act carelessly. True expert assassins could easily feign a state of death or heavy injury in order to make the opponent careless. As someone who had used such tactics before, he knew just how to counter them. He immediately drew East Peak and ced it against the man¡¯s neck before reaching out to turn him over.

    Qianye was shocked upon flipping the person over because it was actually Li Kuann!

    Li Kuann¡¯s graceful hair had been clipped into a short mess. The usually well-dressed young miss was now as bedraggled as a pauper, and Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace was also nowhere to be found. That was why Qianye couldn¡¯t recognize her on the spot.

    Qianye scanned his surroundings before picking up Li Kuann and returning to the forest edge in due haste. For some reason, that rocky beach was giving off a sense of danger and Qianye did not wish to linger more than was required.

    At this moment, the originally calm forest started to be restless. Shocked, Qianye sped up and fled along the border of the forest. He chose to travel away from theke because his many years of exploration experience told him that the most dangerous entitiesy not in the skies but usually inrge bodies of water.

    Qianye kept increasing his speed, running along the forest like a galloping stallion. Fortunately, his muscles, skeleton, and innards had all received initial strengthening. Otherwise, such intense movements might easily injure him under the increased gravity.

    This kind of adverse environment was more suited for people with strong constitutions. Daybreak origin power wasn¡¯t really that useful at this point.

    In the blink of an eye, Qinaye had circled around a corner of the forest. A giant rocky mountain soon appeared in front of him, well over a hundred meters tall and with a natural cave at its base.

    Qianye made straight for the cave and, as though he were stepping on water, circled the interior. The ce looked like an old beastir¡ªthere were scattered rocks everywhere, the air was suffused with a fishy odor, and the walls were decorated with w marks.

    Qianye seemed fairly satisfied with the ce. The key point was that he couldn¡¯t feel any danger here. As for the environment, that was a trivial matter. Qianye ced Li Kuann down and swept the interior of the cave with sanguine mes. All traces and scents left behind by the wild beasts were incinerated as they came into contact with the ze. Even the extremely sturdy rock walls changed color after being scorched.

    The cave became suffused with a somewhat sweet, scorched smell. It was a fragrance that served to lift one¡¯s spirit, the smell of Qianye¡¯s auric me blood and a symbol of his vitality. The sweet scent surprised Qianye himself because that was a phenomenon only duke stage experts would produce.

    After cleaning the cave, Qianye began inspecting Li Kuan¡¯s injuries. He wasn¡¯t afraid of being disturbed because wild beasts would usually run away after catching the scent of an ancient vampire.

    Li Kuann¡¯s aura was extremely weak, and it was in continuous decline. At this rate, she would eventually lose her life after a while.

    Qianye pped Li Kuann¡¯s body lightly¡ªthere was no instinctive reaction nor was there any resistance. The fluctuations arising from this pat gave Qianye a general idea of what was going on inside.

    Li Kuann had suffered fractures in many parts of her body and the remaining bones were already cracking. Additionally, her innards had suffered obvious wounds and there was arge amount of blood pooling inside her body. Her surface injuries had mostly closed up, but that wasn¡¯t a good thing. It was clear that she had used up her origin power in healing flesh wounds, leaving none to heal her bones and organs.

    Bringing everything together, Qianye could alreadye to a rough conclusion. Just like Qianye, Li Kuann had suffered from the shearing forces and chaotic energy while traversing the passage. She had spent most of her energy there to protect herself. Qianye, on the other hand, was far stronger physically and was also protected by the imperial inner armor, allowing him to escape the passage rtively unscathed. Afterward, he fell into the water and escaped the second wave of damage from the intense gravity.

    Li Kuann, on the other hand, specialized in the sword arts and didn¡¯t possess such a strong body. She was merely average in constitutionpared to her peers. Additionally, she was only d in light armor, which was a far fry from Qianye¡¯s own in terms of defense. Now that even Qianye¡¯s internal armor was torn in two ces, how could her armor evenst? It had long since turned into shreds.

    Immediately after leaving the passage, the highly exhausted Li Kuann had no power to defend against the intense gravity. She thus crashed into the rocky beach and was mortally wounded. Li Kuann probably wouldn¡¯tst another day if Qianye hadn¡¯t run into her. There was also something abnormal about the rocky beach, and there was clearly something very dangerous hidden there. Perhaps she would¡¯ve be food for some strange creature even before a day had passed.

    Despite having brought her to safety, Qianye felt quite distressed about Li Kuann¡¯s injuries. Thetter waspletely exhausted of origin power, unconscious, and her innards had been gravely damaged. This also meant that she was deprived of her most important self-healing capacity in this high-gravity environment¡ªthis was extremely bad.

    Qianye was no expert in healing, and neither had he cultivated any rted secret arts. All he could do was pin his hopes on Venus Dawn, but that was no omnipotent power, either. Pure origin power usually represented power and not healing. Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power might even be poisonous to ordinary people as it could ignite one¡¯s origin power.

    After a moment of silent contemtion, Qianye decided to repair Li Kuann¡¯s entire skeleton. That would give her basic structural support to resist the gravitational pull. Fortunately, he had a fair amount of relevant medicines and that gave him some confidence.

    Qianye ced Li Kuann t on the ground and spread out her arms and legs. Then, he pressed lightly on her neck with both hands and channeled a wisp of origin power.

    The investigation showed that Li Kuann¡¯s head and neck bones were intact. Apparently, she was awake at the critical moment, at least she was conscious enough to protect her most vital parts. However, there were numerous fractures in her arms, which proved that she had no more power to protect herself from this point onward.

    Qianye moved slowly along Li Kuann¡¯s arms, using his origin power to shift the shattered bones and piece them together. Then he would use his energy to bind them. Fortunately, Li Kuann waspletely drained of origin power, so her own energy couldn¡¯t offer any resistance. Otherwise, things would be moreplicated. Considering how tough Venus Dawn was, it would surelyst several days before dispersing.

    Afterpleting the initial bout of fixation, Qianye paused the treatment and, using his connection to the Venus Dawn, began sensing the situation around the fractured surfaces. To his surprise, he found that the bones surrounded by Venus Dawn had regained their vitality and were regrowing. Although the rate of regeneration was fairly slow, this was still extremely good news.

    This was because what little remained of Li Kuann¡¯s origin power had been suppressed by Venus Dawn. This was akin to yielding a part of her body and cing it under the care of Qianye¡¯s origin power, allowing the bones to regrow. The process was slow, but her fractures would undergo initial connection within a few days. Seeing this, Qianye knew that he had half-seeded in saving Li Kuann¡¯s life. The other half would depend on whether her organs could recover.

    Thetter seemed to be in pain despite herck of consciousness. Her brows were knitted together, and her breathing was somewhatbored. Presently, her usual sharpness was all but gone, leaving her in an oddly charming state that would move any beholder¡¯s heart.

    Even someone of Qianye¡¯s resolve felt his mind waver. He took a deep breath to calm himself down before proceeding to connect the rest of her bones.

    Qianye¡¯s fingers were gentle but also as sharp as des. He glided them cautiously over Li Kuann¡¯s body, cutting her clothes apart as he began the treatment. Her outer armor was already fragmented, and several parts of her internal armor were already torn. Not only had the gear lost its protective function, but would instead serve topress the wounds and make them worse. Hence, Qianye started clearing away the clothes and armor as he connected her bones.

    The treatment waspleted in the blink of an eye, leaving Qianye sweating slightly from his forehead. Next up was the chest bone, the most important part.

    Li Kuann¡¯s skin was lustrous, exquisite, and as smooth as ice. Moreover, it was so extraordinarily white that one would feel dizzy after a prolonged gaze. Qianye rested briefly before pinching her sternum with his left hand. Then, with his right fingers as a de, he sliced down along it.

    With a soft sizzle, Li Kuann¡¯s chest was cut openyer byyer.

 Chapter 974: Day of Flames

    Under the internal armor, there was a tight-fitting chest piece. The dark-grey piece of clothing was fairly ordinary and made for a very tight fit. Qianye could see an unnatural bulge from under the fabric, where a segment of bone had popped out.

    After a moment of hesitation, he reached into the chest piece and, lifting it just slightly, cut through it with his sword. The chest piece was already dislocating Li Kuann¡¯s fractured ribs, making it impossible to treat her wounds.

    The instant the chest piece was opened, two masses of white warmth popped onto Qianye¡¯s hand. They even rolled about a bit.

    Surprised, Qianye nced over to find two small mountains standing proudly, as well as a plum flower each moving gently on the peak. That snow-white fullness and those alluring plum flowers filled the beholder with a desire to bite into them.

    Qianye stood dazed for a moment before recalling the dusty past. Song Zining had once mentioned that Li Kuann was actually Empress Li¡¯s younger sister. She had trained in the sword since she was young and was regarded as a shocking talent in this field. She had focused solely on the way of the sword since then, dressing as a man whenever she was outside. Only a few people knew her true identity. Qianye¡¯s rtionship with her had always been on the battlefield, and her temperament had always been as sharp as a sword. So much so that Qianye had forgotten that she was a woman and had treated her like he would a man.

    Only after removing her clothes did Qianye realize that she was a woman among women.

    Truthfully speaking, Li Kuann¡¯s figure wasn¡¯t as explosive as Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s, but as a top expert of the younger generation, her body was almost wless. Even in this strong gravity environment, she was able to stand tall, proud, and look down at the entire world.

    Qianye collected his thoughts and removed the wisp of distraction that had appeared. With his mind and heart calm, he began repairing her chest bones.

    This wasn¡¯t an easy task. Li Kuann had snapped eight ribs and the remainder were all cracked. There were also numerous bone shards in her thoracic cavity¡ªQianye had to slowly guide them into position with his origin power, taking care not to damage her innards in the process. The process was quite difficult and no easier than his fight against Luo Bingfeng. A single blunder would cost Li Kuann¡¯s life.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he used the Eye of Control to facilitate the correction of her bones. The problem wasn¡¯t just limited to her gravity-rted injuries. During the process of guiding the bone fragments, Qianye¡¯s origin power had to pass out of his hand and through her two mountain peaks. Pressing them t was no easy feat, but he had to keep up enough pressure or he would be too far from the bone fragments, making it difficult to control them. He couldn¡¯t press down too hard, either, lest he injures the other bones.

    Qianye was drenched in sweat after finally sorting out the entire chest bone. The fatigue was no less than having fought a powerful enemy to the death. The root of the difficulty boiled down to that pair of¡­ assets. Qianye shot them a fierce nce and had the urge to p them flying.

    But this nce made it impossible for him to look away. He knew not whether it was out of instinct or hatred, but for some reason, he reached out and grabbed the troublesome duo.

    Warmth and exquisite softness filled his hands.

    Shocked out of his wits, Qianye quickly withdrew his hands and continued the treatment. He tapped lightly below Li Kuann¡¯s ribs, punching two small holes from which to drain the pooled blood. Only after the dark blood had flowed out did he use his origin power to seal the injury.

    Only after all that did Qianye find time to catch his breath. Thinking back to just now, he found it extremely strange that he would lose control and grab her chest.

    Although there was a fair bit of contact before this, even holding them in his hand, but that was to save her life. Qianye had seen his fair share of serious injuries on the battlefield. Even if Li Kuann shared some of Empress Li¡¯s charm, it was impossible for Qianye to lose control. He would never have reached today¡¯s achievements if he didn¡¯t have this much determination.

    But there was nothing that could exin that grab as it had nothing to do with the treatment. The only reason was his own impulse.

    This was almost impossible under normal circumstances, but it had clearly happened just now. That was the most bewildering part.

    Now wasn''t the time to think about these things. Li Kuann had numerous other fractures that needed to be reconnected. Things would get even more awkward if the only remaining piece of clothing on her was in the way of the treatment.

    He had already seen and touched most ces, so thest bit shouldn¡¯t be an issue¡ªalthough that was the most important ce. Qianye clenched his teeth and shook away the hesitation. Using his two fingers as a sword, he cut away the remaining armor, leaving just a snow-white body lying in the cave.

    Qianye slowly but steadily connected all the bones from top to bottom, returning all the shattered pieces to their original position. He sealed the cracks with origin power and activated their vitality. Qianye was drenched in sweat after doing all this, and his daybreak origin power was mostly exhausted.

    The true difficulty wasn¡¯t her injury but her allure.

    Just looking at those white long legs, one could almost feel a shocking amount of flexibility and power. Under normal circumstances, she could almost crush a fairlyrge beast with just her legs.

    Her gentle but unyielding outlines went from her toes all the way up to her abdomen before they were interrupted by the troublesome peaks. Every curvature was soul-stealing, especially where her legs connected to her body¡ªthe impact was enough to wash away all forms of reasoning.

    Qianye was only half-human. Hisst bit of reasoning was on the verge of copse.

    Unknowingly, he had ced a hand on Li Kuann¡¯s leg and was moving upward.

    It was at this moment that the roar of a distant beast woke Qianye from his trance. Realizing what he was trying to do, he quickly stood up and circted his daybreak origin power, suppressing the instinctive urge arising from his vampire bloodline.

    The ancient vampire half of his being was like an instinctive demon, pushing Qianye toward the most innate desire to procreate.

    Qianye felt that his vampire bloodline was growing stronger and stronger, and the urge increasingly powerful, almost drowning out his reasoning. Meanwhile, that extremely beautiful and defenseless body in front of him was exuding an irresistible allure. It was truly difficult to control himself.

    Fortunately, his Venus Dawn was able to suppress his blood energy. Qianye was able to retain hisst bit of sanity by channeling it at full capacity.

    Qianye whipped out his dagger without hesitation and stabbed his own thigh, drawing out a bone-deep wound. The pain caused him to gasp, but it also granted him a modicum of rity.

    He quickly produced a healing medicine and injected it into the side of Li Kuann¡¯s neck. Yet, he couldn¡¯t help but grab her chest again while pulling the syringe back out.

    Knowing that he was once again on the verge of insanity, Qianye quickly injected several drugs into Li Kuann. He then took off the internal armor he was wearing and dressed Li Kuann in it.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief after fastening the armor and covering up her body.

    It was at this time that a long howl echoed from the distance. Qianye felt as though drops of rain were falling on his body as his boiling instincts finally started to calm down.

    Sensing something, he nced out of the cave. The sky had unknowingly turned dark and the forest was now a blur of ck shadows in the night.

    The cave was also fairly dark, but in Qianye¡¯s eyes, the entire world was bright as long as there was a speck of light. Even without that, he could switch to origin power vision and still see things.

    However, the advantage afforded him by the Eye of Truth had be a source of trouble for him. No matter how dim the light, Qianye could see her very clearly. Despite being covered by a set of internal armor, her curves were still in full view and Qianye¡¯s brain would automatically swap out the internal armor with the scene from his memories.

    He had no idea what was going on. All he wanted to do was find a basin of icy water to dunk on his head. That way, he might be able to calm down a bit. In his heated state, even Nighteye¡¯s image was starting to fade away. All he could think of was the item within reach.

    The breeze after nightfall was tainted with a frosty chill, and the cave became ice-cold. Qianye¡¯s ring instincts gradually calmed down in the cold, finally relieving him of the tension. He would no longer find himself losing control when he saw Li Kuann.

    Qianye let out an exmation of surprise because the internal armor was unexpectedly well-fitting on Li Kuann. Compared to Qianye, it looked more like the armor was tailored for her instead. He did notice some slight details when he tried out the armor, like the slightly loose hips and the tight waist, but that was easily rectified when he forced the armor open with his strong constitution. Now that he thought about it, things probably weren¡¯t that simple.

    From the outline of the waist and hips, Qianye knew that the owner of this armor was likely Li Kuann. The wider chest-piece wasn¡¯t an issue since all human experts were muscr enough, and it would also serve to hide her impressive figure.

    An inexplicable feeling welled up from his heart. No matter the motive, by giving him her armor, she had saved Qianye¡¯s life more than once in the battle against Luo Bingfeng. It also allowed him to get through the passage with rtive ease. In doing so, however, she had put herself in danger. If she hadn¡¯t yielded the armor to Qianye, she might not have suffered such injuries while traversing the passage.

    Although the armor was a bit heavy, it was a life-saving treasure. The inconvenience in movement that came along with it was easily within an eptable range.

    Qianye sighed as he began looking through the supplies he had stashed in Andruil¡¯s space. Entering the Great Maelstrom wasn¡¯t a day-trip; he would need to n for the long run.

    Fortunately, he had an ample supply of medicine and ammunition, good enough for a fair length of time. Li Kuann¡¯s condition had stabilized, and the remaining drugs shouldst until she had woken up. With the Li family¡¯s foundations, she naturally wouldn¡¯tck healing secret arts.

    After he had finished checking his resources, it was already deep into the night.

 Chapter 975: Silent Nigh

    t

    Qianye walked to the entrance of the cave and gazed out.

    Night had fallen outside and there wasn¡¯t a sound to be heard. Be it the nearby forest or the distantke and rocky beach, everything was so quiet that it felt like they had been sealed in ice. He couldn¡¯t hear anything else apart from the howling wind¡ªthe roaring beasts and buzzing insects from just now had been drowned out by the stillness of the night. If one were to remove the sound of the wind, the entire world be deathly silent.

    Qianye shivered from an inexplicable sense of apprehension. That was the innate fear of a minuscule life form toward this massive world.

    As a man of firm willpower, however, he quickly curbed the fear after realizing it. With the sense of apprehension gone, Qianye discovered a certain problem. The temperature was actually within range of an ordinary winter, a dozen or so degrees below freezing point. This chill was negligible to an expert like him, so why would he shiver?

    Qianye scanned his own body while observing the world outside and unexpectedly found that the beating of his blood core was slowing down. With this deceleration, the flow of auric me blood had turned sluggish, and there were fewer specks of golden fire inside his blood. If his usual state could bepared to a sky full of stars, it could be said that there were only a few solitary stars hanging in the sky.

    With his bodily functions on such a decline, it was only natural that he would feel cold.

    Realizing where the problem was, Qianye quickly activated his blood core and elerated its pulse. This could normally be aplished through his will alone, but now, it was proving to be abnormally difficult. It felt like there were giant boulders stacked atop his blood core, making him expend considerable effort with each beat.

    This sensation wasn¡¯t limited to his blood core alone. Every part of his body was slowing down and feeling heavy, almost as though he had been injected with a powerful sedative.

    Qianye concentrated his willpower on activating the blood core and finally managed to recover up to normal standards. Only then did his movements be natural.

    He was suddenly rmed as he thought of Li Kuann.

    Qianye rushed to Li Kuann¡¯s side and checked on her situation. As expected, her bodily functions were also fairly sluggish and her heart would stop beating every few times. This state wasn¡¯t so serious under normal circumstances, but Li Kuann was heavily injured and only alive because of Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn origin power. Now that her metabolism was slowing down, it was quite likely that she would pass away unknowingly.

    Qianye fished out a strong stimnt and injected it into her body. It would seem the shot was somewhat effective, as evidenced by the flush on her face. However, the drug would onlyst for a while. Qianye knew a single injection wasn¡¯t enough tost the night, but he couldn¡¯t inject repeatedly either as the effects would diminish rapidly if the medicine was used again within a short time. Besides, the basic principle of a stimnt was to activate the body¡¯s potential functions¡ªit wouldn¡¯t be wise to use the drug repeatedly.

    After Li Kuann¡¯s situation had stabilized, Qianye channeled some of his origin power into her in an attempt to elerate her physical functions.

    However, things didn¡¯t go so well this time. Therge amount of the Venus Dawn origin power only served to hasten her heartbeat slightly and had no effect on her other organs. At this rate, she wouldn¡¯t get through the night even if Qianye were to use up all his origin power.

    Now that even Venus Dawn had no effect on her, there was only one way left to save Li Kuann. That was to give her the Embrace.

    Qianye had never used the Embrace on anyone before. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he even had that kind of power since he was only half-vampire. The effects of the Embrace were serious¡ªQianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was extremely powerful and destructive. It would likely kill Li Kuann immediately if it were to go out of control. Hence, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to use this method until thest moment.

    Qianye contemted the situation while injecting origin power. Although activating his blood core was difficult, it wasn¡¯t an impossible endeavor. Apparently, Venus Dawn wasn¡¯t really that outstanding in activating vitality while blood energy was highly effective. Taking this thought a step further, perhaps Qianye wasn¡¯t quite reliant on origin power to resist the abnormal chill of this world, but instead, his strong constitution.

    At the thought of this, a certain idea came to mind. He removed Li Kuann¡¯s internal armor and his own clothes, and then held her tightly in his arms, increasing the contacting body surface area as much as possible.

    Qianye then took a deep breath¡ªhis blood core pulsed strongly as ayer of indiscernible mes lit up around him, enveloping Li Kuann as well.

    Her heart and his blood core were currently pressed against one another, separated only by their flesh. Each pulse of his blood core would jolt the adjacent heart, helping it maintain a steady beat.

    This was one of his ancient vampire powers, the ability to affect another creature¡¯s heartbeat with his own blood core. Powerful ancient vampires would use the beating of their blood core to kill tens of thousands of lesser beings by making their hearts erupt. Those vampires were like mighty gods to the weaker races.

    Qianye could only be considered half a vampire, but his blood energy was of unprecedented purity. Hence, he would still be able to maintain this power for one day, albeit barely.

    Li Kuann was temporarily out of the woods now that her heart was being paced. The sanguine mes around them scorched her body constantly, activating her innate defenses. Some of her cells would die at the microscopic level, but the remainder would undergo a partial strengthening transformation.

    Seeing that his method was effective, Qianye finally heaved a sigh of relief. He maintained this posture without further movement and focused his attention on driving his blood core. It was exponentially more difficult to maintain the pulse since his blood core now had to carry Li Kuann¡¯s heartbeat as well.

    Fortunately, Qianye still had essence blood in store and there was also some left in the Book of Darkness. At this rate of depletion, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to get through the night. It was just that he would need to find a way to replenish them tomorrow.

    The night here was fairly lengthy. After what seemed like an eternity, it became easier for him to maintain the beating of his blood core. At that point, Qianye realized that midnight was behind them.

    Along with the roar of a distant beast, the first rays of dawn descended upon thend and illuminated the cave. Qianye¡¯s bodily functions finally recovered, and Li Kuann¡¯s condition was also stable.

    He retracted his sanguine mes,id her down on the floor, and refastened the inner armor.

    Having maintained the mes for an entire night, Qianye grew dizzy upon standing up and his vision almost darkened. Eventually, he made his way to the entrance and gazed outward.

    The sky was lightening, and the rays of dawn were washing over thend like a luminous tide, bringing with it not just warmth but also vitality. Wherever the radiance passed, the world would spring back to life.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes as he observed this strange new world with his True Sight. He would need to hunt and replenish essence blood during the daytime, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get through the next cold night. At the very least, he wouldn¡¯t be able to pull Li Kuann through. Additionally, thetter was healing steadily and would wake up anytime. She would need food at that time since she couldn¡¯t survive on essence blood like Qianye.

    There was still some food left in Andruil¡¯s space, but it was only enough for a couple of days. Qianye couldn¡¯t waste precious space on food, so he had only brought the bare minimum. Besides, he hadn¡¯t imagined that Song Zining would toss him into the passage immediately after the battle against Luo Bingfeng.

    Qianye could feel a vague sense of danger when he looked at the forest and the distant rocky beach. Nothing there seemed out of the ordinary, even in his True Sight, but the threat he felt was tangible.

    Qianye frowned and temporarily gave up on exploring those regions. This was an unfamiliar world, so it would be troublesome if he were wounded. Minimizing injury was an instinctive policy of every predator.

    It was at this moment that a rock near Qianye¡¯s foot rolled away and a ck shadow beneath it shot toward him.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes surged with a blue tint as he activated the Eye of Control, freezing the ck shadow in the air and then moving it in front of him.

    It was a fairly strange insect, simr to a caterpir but with a finger-length stinger on its head. The stinger was hollow, clearly used for attacking and bloodsucking.

    The insect squirmed around constantly, curling and shooting forward with great strength. This little creature¡¯s momentum was almostparable to an origin bullet. One had to remember that this was a high-gravity world¡ªthe same force in Evernight Continent should be enough to pierce through a human body.

    More rocks flipped over and a swarm of simr bugs borrowed out from underneath.

    A few of them appeared beside Qianye and shot toward him, but there was no way he would let them strike him. His eyes turned blue again as the Eye of Control fixed dozens of them in the air.

    Flicking his fingers, Qianye sent out wisps of origin power to cut open the insects.

    The bug¡¯s internal structure was fairly simple. Most of it was made up of abnormally strong muscles along with some digestive and sensory organs. Apparently, they had no ability to think and were only acting on instinct.

    Qianye removed the Eye of Control and allowed the bug corpses to rain down from the air. More insects were attracted by the flesh and blood. They gradually swarmed over and sucked their dead peers clean with their stingers.

    The fed insects started mating rapidly amongst themselves, while those that hadn¡¯t fed started killing one another. With that, a tidal wave of bloodthirsty insects surged up from the ground¡ªit was a brutal scene.

    Perhaps because they had figured out Qianye¡¯s power, the insects no longer approached him and instead focused on killing one another.

    In mere moments, only half remained of therge number of bugs. The survivors stopped killing one another in favor of feasting on the remains. At this moment, the mating bugs had separated and were lying silently on their own. The female insects started to bulge up at a visible rate and were soonying eggs.

    The eggs theyid were also fairly odd¡ªthey looked like long, slender caterpirs and could even move! These eggs drilled into the ground immediately after they were born. The steel-like ground was like tofu before these eggs as they bore deep into the soil, leaving only a needle-sized hole.

 Chapter 976: Spring Plum

    The female insects that hadid eggs pounced on the males they had just mated with and devoured them. The male bugs seemedpletely exhausted and had no strength left to escape. All they could do was struggle feebly and cry out in anguish as they were swallowed whole. After eating up the males, the female insects started bulging up once more and yet another batch of eggs entered the soil.

    After two waves of eggying, there were no longer any male insects on the surface. The surviving female insects started attacking one another, and the survivors then beganying the third batch of eggs. This process was repeated until there was only one female bug left. Seeing no more food in sight, it also drilled into the ground.

    In less than an hour, the swarm of insects had demonstrated their entire life cycle to Qianye.

    Acting on a sudden idea, Qianye moved to where thest female insect had vanished and dug out arge clump of soil.

    The ground was so hard that Qianye could feel slight pain from his fingertips; it was really no different from digging out arge piece of steel. Yet that bug had drilled through it as though it were tofu. That was somewhat terrifying now that he thought about it.

    Having tested out the strength of the soil, Qianye no longer used his hands. He swiftly produced East Peak and began using it as a shovel. He had to dig for an entire three meters before he found that female insect.

    Thest insect had produced a shell on its back and curled up into an immobile ball. If it wasn¡¯t for the faint origin power fluctuationsing from its body, Qianye would¡¯ve thought it was already dead.

    He picked up the bug but didn¡¯t know what to do with it. After some thought, he dug out some soil with which to encase the bug, and then stowed it away in Andruil¡¯s Space.

    Qianye was drenched in sweat after digging that pit. Since he had started cultivating, this was the first time he had felt such fatigue multiple times in a single day. This gave him a new understanding of the cruelty and hardships of this world.

    Additionally, there were no signs of those eggs even after digging so deep. Apparently, they had drilled even deeper in. But Qianye wasn¡¯t quite interested in the tens of thousands of eggs, so he simply let them be.

    Qianye jumped out of the pit and burned away the soil on him with a wave of sanguine mes. He then changed into a fresh set of clothes from Andruil¡¯s space, immediately feeling morefortable.

    Up to this point, Qianye had seen no source of water apart from the distantke. However, his instinctive senses were telling him not to approach that ce no matter what.

    A wave of darkness flickered across Qianye¡¯s countenance. There wasn¡¯t a lot of water left in Andruil¡¯s space. The unconscious Li Kuann couldn¡¯t eat, but she had to drink water. Food wasn¡¯t that important for experts at their level, but water couldn¡¯t be omitted.

    Qianye walked out of the cave and jumped onto the hill to observe the surroundings.

    In the distance was an uneven stretch of hills, covered in verdant grass and sparse trees. The sky was already bright at this moment, but there were no signs of birds or beasts, nor were there any traces of humans.

    After observing for a while, Qianye decided to head toward the hilly region. The presence of grass and trees meant that there was an underground water source. With East Peak in hand and his ancient vampire constitution, he would surely be able to dig something out.

    Although he might be able to dig out some water in the forest, the sense of danger there was too strong¡ªit was only a bit less than the sea and even stronger than on the rocky beach. With Li Kuann injured, Qianye wasn¡¯t keen on stirring up unnecessary trouble.

    He returned to the cave, picked up Li Kuann, and made for the hills.

    The moment he stepped into the hilly region, the formless pressure in his heart lessened significantly.

    Thendscape here was uneven with numerous scattered hills and ravines. Qianye soon found a natural cave, also a beastir whose owners were nowhere to be found. After cleaning the ce with sanguine fire, Qianyeid Li Kuann down gently and made ready to explore after a moment of rest.

    Having experienced one day and night here, Qianye was clear that the nights were more dangerous.

    At night, all creatures would find their bodily functions slowing down as though they were about to go into hibernation. Even Qianye¡¯s fighting power would be greatly reduced in that state. It would be quite disastrous if he were to run into a nocturnal beast. That was why he would need to explore the surroundings clearly during the daytime and exterminate all potential dangers. Only then would he have a peaceful night.

    Carefully cing Li Kuann on the ground, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel an instinctive urge after seeing her face, neck, andrgely exposed shoulders. He wanted to tear apart the internal armor and hold the white flesh within.

    Fortunately, he was equipped with ample experience. He immediately activated his Venus Dawn origin power and suppressed the urge as soon as it arose.

    He was just about to stand up after regaining rity when a hand suddenly appeared and dragged him back by the cor. Li Kuann¡¯s wooden countenance appeared before him. ¡°What did you do?¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out the situation immediately. He said joyfully, ¡°You¡¯re awake! This is wonderful!¡±

    He was genuinely delighted. Li Kuann would be able to channel her own origin power to heal her injuries only after regaining consciousness. No matter how strong Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn was, it couldn¡¯t be used for regeneration.

    Li Kuann bit her lower lips. ¡°Wonderful your ass! This young master¡­ now that I¡¯m awake, it¡¯s time for you to die!¡±

    She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when five slender fingers reached for Qianye¡¯s throat and a punch made for his abdomen.

    A groan of pain echoed in the cave, but it wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s. It was from Li Kuann.

    Her left hand was wracked with stabbing pain, and that powerful punch sent waves of pain throughout her body. Punching Qianye was no different from attacking a steel te. He waspletely fine, but her hand was now swollen.

    Feelingpletely powerless, Li Kuann copsed once again. Despite that, the hand she had on Qianye¡¯s neck didn¡¯t loosen. This resulted in her dragging Qianye down on top of her.

    Naturally, Qianye could exert some force and expel her fingers, but he gave up on the notion after seeing her resolute demeanor. He merely bent down ordingly to prevent her from overexerting. One had to remember that the bones throughout her body had just been reconnected. That punch from just now had probably jolted several fractures out of ce, evidenced by the pain she was in.

    Li Kuann struggled to stand up, but her grip on Qianye¡¯s hand was quite strong. ¡°Y-You, what did you do to me?¡±

    ¡°I treated your injuries.¡± Qianye was as calm as still water.

    ¡°Treatment my ass!¡± Furious, Li Kuann wanted to throw yet another lethal punch.

    Qianye reached out and gently pressed her back to the ground. ¡°If you make reckless movements again, you¡¯ll break even more bones. We¡¯ll have to reconnect them all over again!¡±

    Li Kuann was hurting all over at the slightest movement, not to mention theck of origin power. She had no power to resist and was duly pressed to the ground, grinding her teeth all the while.

    She observed her situation and then said with a frown, ¡°I was injured so badly? Did you reconnect all the fractures?¡±

    Qianye said unceremoniously, ¡°Who else? This ce is fairly dangerous. I¡¯ll advise you not to move around recklessly. It¡¯ll be quite troublesome to reconnect your bones if they break again.¡±

    There was something Qianye didn¡¯t dare to say. Now that she was awake, it was more likely that she would sh him to death if he were to connect her bones again.

    ¡°How did you reconnect¡­¡± Her question trailed off into silence as she looked down at a certain ce.

    Qianye followed her eyes and found that his hand was on her chest. There was one hole each on the front and back of this internal armor, and Qianye¡¯s hand happened to be on the defect and over half her left chest. The hole wasn¡¯t that big, so it was fairly hard to believe Qianye wasn¡¯t taking advantage of her deliberately.

    Qianye cried out in his heart, once again losing control to his instincts. But Li Kuann had just woken up and thus had no idea¡ªnow, things were going to be hard to exin. If he were to withdraw his hands at the moment, it would look quite deliberate, and he might need to reconnect all her bones if Li Kuann were to il about in anger.

    Just as Qianye was in a dilemma, Li Kuann shifted her body, and that actually pushed her entire chest into his palm. She let out a sigh, as though she were parched and stifled.

    Both of them were startled at this point.

    ¡°That, I, no¡­ actually¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t get the message across after a good while. Ultimately, she cried out, ¡°Let go!¡±

    Qianye pulled back his hand ordingly. She straightened her back at this moment and seemed like she would fall onto Qianye. Li Kuann immediately realized this situation and exerted some force from her back, making her fall back onto the ground. She turned pale from the sudden pain.

    Qianye shook his head inwardly as he fished out a painkiller and injected it into her.

    Feeling the effects of the painkiller, the tension on Li Kuann¡¯s face lessened somewhat. However, her gaze toward Qianye remained extremelyplicated, and the ripples in her eyes looked like they would spill out any moment. The force with which she was biting her lips showed how much she hated him at this moment. If Qianye were to stretch his hand toward her mouth, she might just bite him.

    Fortunately, she merely stretched her hand out. ¡°How many more injections do you have, give them to me.¡±

    ¡°That was thest one,¡± Qianye said in honesty.

    Li Kuann was embarrassed and angry. ¡°Who¡¯d believe you! You¡­ I don¡¯t care, just give me all the sedatives you have!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°I really don¡¯t have any. Who¡¯d carry that many?¡±

    Sedatives were most useful for blunting pain. As an expert, who would pay attention to a bit of pain? Li Kuann merely frowned when the fractured bones rubbed against one another. Comparatively, stimnts, healing, and regenerative medicines were the main stockpiles. Even toxic drugs were more useful than sedatives.

    It was just that the sedatives had a special use right now. Both of them knew of this, yet neither could say it out loud.

    At this point, Li Kuann realized that he really had no more stock and couldn¡¯t quite decide whether to be happy or disappointed. Reciting a mantra to channel origin power, she asked, ¡°Do you have food?¡±

    Qianye produced the food he had within Andruil¡¯s space and supported Li Kuann to a sitting position. ¡°That¡¯s all I have. Don¡¯t be picky and eat what¡¯s left.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded silently. She then blushed as she looked down at her body. ¡°Help me¡­ cover up properly.¡±

    The movements just now had caused her entire left chest to bulge out of the gap in the armor, and that trembling spring plum-petal was exceptionally alluring.

 Chapter 977: Shameless

    This scene was simply too embarrassing. For a moment, Qianye couldn¡¯t decide if he should pretend not to hear.

    Seeing Qianye immobile, Li Kuann added, ¡°I can¡¯t make this movement.¡±

    Her calm voice gave Qianye a modicum of relief. He understood Li Kuann¡¯s injuries more than anyone else¡ªthat movement was likely to affect several fractured bones, not to mention the pain. Qianye might even have to reconnect some bones, at that point, and that would be even more awkward.

    As such, Qianye reached out...

    After Qianye had finished helping her, the two of them sat down face to face. ¡°Where¡¯s my sword?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen it, perhaps it fell somewhere else.¡±

    Li Kuann frowned ever so slightly. ¡°That sword is fairly special, it¡¯ll be best if we can find it. Are we close to where Inded?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°We¡¯d best not, at least not now. I can sense a certain danger near that ce, that¡¯s why I moved you here.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°If even you feel threatened, I might not be able to handle it even after I¡¯m healed, that is unless we cooperate.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s discuss that after you¡¯re better.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°Tell me about this ce, it feels extremely strange. There¡¯s nothing to exin this kind of gravity.¡±

    Qianye narrated some of his findings and the experiences from the night. Naturally, he skipped over the treatment process, but he had to summarize how they had gotten through the cold night as it was of great importance.

    Li Kuann said after some thought, ¡°That means if we can¡¯t find anything to hunt today, we might not get through the night?¡±

    Qianye nodded honestly.

    Li Kuann said, ¡°Give me an hour.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll watch over you.¡±

    Li Kuann closed her eyes and concentrated on channeling a mysterious art. Within moments, a wisp of lingering sword energy emerged above her head. Threads of cold aura then emerged from her body, condensing into needles of ice that stretched out from her body surface. Her aura began to climb at an abnormally swift rate, proving just how strong her secret art was.

    But all of a sudden, her face became flushed and her body trembled. She let out a soft groan as her aura fell into chaos. Qianye arrived behind her in one step, prepared to help at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Li Kuann pointed upward and fired a stream of cold energy from her fingertips which then poured back down on her like icy rain. She trembled from the chill, but the blush on her face had receded somewhat. She red back at Qianye and said through clenched teeth, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault!¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. He had no idea how herck of concentration was rted to him, and it would seem she had no intention of exining things to him, either. Due to this minor setback, it took a bit longer before she finally finished her cultivation.

    She let out a whistle as she retracted the cold energy around her and stood up. ¡°I¡¯m fine now, let¡¯s go hunting! Uh¡­¡±

    For a moment, she had forgotten about the holes in the armor. Her body was in a tense state as she had to stay upright against the strong gravity. In the end, the wide movement caused her chest to pop out again.

    Li Kuann¡¯s blushed red as she pushed the annoyance back inside. She then red fiercely at Qianye, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t you have any clothes for me?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes I do!¡± Only then did hee to, quickly removing the armor on his body and passing it to Li Kuann. Fortunately, the two of them weren¡¯t too different in body structure. Qianye¡¯s armor was a bit big on Li Kuann, but it wouldn¡¯t affect her movements.

    Li Kuann nced at Qianye, who was now d in internal armor, and respired heavily for a moment.

    ¡°No,¡± Qianye replied honestly.

    Li Kuann was helpless. She actually knew how precious spatial equipment was and that no one would fill it with multiple armor sets. There was probably no space even if they wanted to.

    All she could do was take a step back and ask, ¡°Do you have a sword? Give me one.¡±

    Qianye produced East Peak out of habit, but after some thought, he put it back and passed Li Kuann a half-meter-long vampiric de.

    Thetter rolled her eyes, saying unceremoniously, ¡°Why won¡¯t you give me that sword from just now? Are you implying I don¡¯t know how to wield a sword by giving me this lousy little thing?¡±

    Qianye exined patiently, ¡°This dagger¡¯s level is quite high, just use it in the meanwhile. That sword just now is my usual weapon, it really isn¡¯t suitable for you.¡±

    ¡°Not suited for me? Ha! Now that¡¯s funny. This young master has been practicing the sword for many years, this is the first time I¡¯ve heard of a sword I can¡¯t wield. Give it to me!¡± Seeing Qianye unmoved, she simply reached out to grab Qianye¡¯s ne.

    Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm was something Qianye valued the most. He attached even greater importance to it than East Peak. Now that Li Kuann was reaching for it, Qianye blocked her hand instinctively and moved to grab her neck from behind.

    Li Kuann hadn¡¯t imagined she would lose in just one move. After a momentary daze, she said through clenched teeth, ¡°I¡¯m just asking for your sword, why so stingy?¡±

    Qianye felt a bit bad, so he whipped East Peak out and thrust it into the ground in front of her.

    With a harrumph, Li Kuann grabbed the hilt and pulled¡ªbut East Peak wouldn¡¯t budge at all! Greatly astonished, she channeled her origin power and hoisted the de with greater power. This time, East Peak moved upward somewhat, but soon fell back down and into the ground.

    In this world, East Peak was close to ten tons in weight, not something a wounded Li Kuann could move.

    Li Kuann¡¯s mouth twitched. She wanted toin, ¡°Why is this damned sword so heavy!?¡±, but she couldn¡¯t quite bring herself to that level as she had already lost face after two failed attempts. She took a deep breath, preparing to draw the sword with all her might.

    Qianye could no longer watch on. He pressed down on her hand, saying, ¡°You haven¡¯t healed yet. I¡¯ll have to treat your bones again if you force it.¡±

    Li Kuann blushed yet again at the mention of her bones. She pulled her hand back in silence and watched as Qianye lifted East Peak, stowing it away in Andruil¡¯s space. The entire process seemed fairly easy, almost as though he were working with an ordinary sword.

    At this point, Li Kuan sighed. ¡°I finally understand why those people from the military can¡¯t deal with you. If you can even use such a sword, there¡¯s probably no one in the younger generation of the empire who canpare in terms of constitution. I really wanted to fight you to the death back then, but I might be the one dead if I really did.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t kill you.¡±

    ¡°Humph! Is there anything you won¡¯t do?¡± Li Kuann realized that she had made a mistake after saying those words, but fortunately, Qianye seemed not to have noticed.

    Qianye stuffed the vampiric de into her hand. ¡°Try it out and see if it¡¯s suitable.¡±

    Li Kuann produced a couple of moves. ¡°Not bad, the quality is pretty good. But¡­ it¡¯s a vampiric de, right?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s an old weapon I used before. Now, I have no use for it, so I left it as a backup.¡±

    Li Kuann nced at Qianye and then asked seriously, ¡°A vampiric de as a backup weapon, are you really a vampire?¡±

    ¡°Many people saw my blood core back at Indomitable. Can¡¯t fake it,¡± Qianye said calmly.

    ¡°Let that matter be, let¡¯s go hunting while I¡¯m in a good state.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye walked out of the cave with Li Kuann and began exploring away from theke.

    After crossing over two hills, arge valley appeared before the two. There was a smallke at its center with only a few trees surrounding it. Li Kuann¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°There¡¯s water over there. There might be some beasts or fish nearby. It¡¯s quite odd that we didn¡¯t see a single living creature after walking for so long.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s argeke near where you fell. I suspect there¡¯s an extremely powerful beast in there, and the area nearby is his territory. That¡¯s why we found no animals. A territory is quite probable, but it needs to eat too! What will it consume if there¡¯s nothing left over such arge area?¡±

    Qianye had no answer to this question and Li Kuann only made a brief mention of this. In the span of a few words, the two had madebat preparations and retracted their auras as they approached the valleyke.

    After descending the valley and reaching the forest borders, a little snow-white creature rushed out from behind the trees. This beast was round, short, and was running like the wind. At this point, three more simr creatures appeared from behind. They were muchrger and faster¡ªthe strongest one among them quickly caught up to the running white beast, pinning it to the ground.

    Just as Qianye was expecting to see the snow-white creature lose its life to a deadly bite, therger white beast straddled the captive and started mating. Meanwhile, the two snow beasts behind started fighting one another to decide who would go second.

    Li Kuann said furiously, ¡°How can these things be so shameless!? ughter them!¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly, ¡°Perhaps this is how they survive.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to hunt? Isn¡¯t the prey right in front of you? If you¡¯re not doing it, I will.¡±

    Qianye shook his head as he moved toward the snowy beasts. His fingers fired three sanguineous threads that pierced through the male creatures, leaving only the female one alive. The threads vanished immediately after the attack, returning to Qianye¡¯s body with some extra essence blood. Qianye felt three balls of fire entering his body. All he heard was a loud boom before his body entered a state of blood boil.

    These snowy beasts weren¡¯t very big, and their strength was fairly mediocre. The purity of their blood was quite high, however, and almost surpassed that of a viscount.

    Qianye required time to digest all the blood he had absorbed, so he stood motionlessly and put his mind to stowing them away.

    The female creature jumped up after seeing that the three males were dead. She sniffed around their bodies to make sure they were really dead, and then ran back to the forest. There, she unleashed a shrill cry that echoed throughout the woods.

    Some shadows flickered in the trees as two more male creatures rushed out. The female turned to flee once more but was soon caught and pressed to the ground amidst miserable cries.

    Li Kuann was speechless. All she could utter was a fierce, ¡°Shameless!¡±

 Chapter 978: Help?

    Within the forest were giant lizards several meters in length, six-legged lions, fist-sized rats, and more¡ªall of them were moving about hurriedly in an excited state, either hunting, eating, or mating. It seemed like they would never stop to rest. The entire forest was shrouded in a weird atmosphere of heated passion, as though all the creatures were participating in a giant orgy.

    Qianye killed a pair of mating six-legged lions and was just about to pick up the quarry when Li Kuann stopped him. ¡°I¡¯m not going to eat something so dirty!¡±

    Qianye understood what she meant. ¡°There isn¡¯t a lot of clean food here.¡±

    Li Kuann looked around and, seeing that there wasn¡¯t much of a choice, pointed at a group of creatures that resembled a cross between a deer and a horse. ¡°Those look tastier.¡±

    Qianye felt helpless. ¡°What¡¯s the point?¡±

    It wasmon sense that the stronger the creature, the more nourishing it was. However, their meat would usually taste bad. As Qianye saw it, those equestrians were too small and no different from ordinary wild animals. There was really no need to eat them since the origin power they could replenish was far inferior to the six-legged lions.

    But Li Kuann simply wouldn¡¯t touch the meat from the mating lions. In the end, Qianye had no choice but to hunt down a few giant lizards as apromise.

    Just a few of the beasts were enough to refill Qianye¡¯s essence blood. The creatures here were quite mediocre in strength but unimaginably saturated in essence blood. Additionally, theserge creatures were able to run like the wind in this high-gravity environment¡ªtheir bones and tendons, among other things, would definitely make for rare materials.

    Perhaps because Qianye was doing all the attacking, Li Kuann wasn¡¯t willing to be left out. She suddenly jumped up and chased after a small deer darting about in the forest, stabbing the vampiric de into the back of its neck.

    The de struck its target with a pfft, but only sank in very slightly. The deer jumped up in pain and, at the same time, kicked Li Kuann¡¯s chest with lightning speed.

    The creature was small, but it was extremely strong. Its sudden buck swung Li Kuann into the air, and its hooves started to whistle sharply mid-swing. Thetter was sure to suffer more fractures if this kick were tond.

    Li Kuann was shocked, but fortunately, she possessed stunning martial skills. Exerting force from her hands, she kept her body upright on the deer¡¯s back and duly evaded that hoof. Then, with a sudden jolt, her de cut through the small deer¡¯s powerful body and stabbed at its heart. Only at this point did she manage to subdue her quarry.

    If even a small, harmless-looking deer was so difficult to deal with, there was no need to exin how hard it would be to attack a six-legged lion. Yet, Qianye seemed fairly at ease as he reaped his prey¡ªa red thread would shoot out and the creature would immediately stop moving. A dissatisfied Li Kuann grabbed Qianye¡¯s hand and studied it repeatedly, but she simply couldn¡¯t find anything. Since upgrading to the marquis rank, he was able to control Life Plunder at will and fire out several threads at the same time to attack his enemies.

    This was one of the most mysterious talents of an ancient vampire, so how could Li Kuann see through it?

    Having his hand grabbed by Li Kuann reminded Qianye of that alluring body beneath her armor, and an inexplicable sense of agitation rose up in his heart. His eyes also shifted uncontrobly toward Li Kuann¡¯s lips. The sharp outlines of those lips looked so delicate and desirable that he couldn¡¯t help but want to seal them with his own. What made things worse was that she didn¡¯t rebuke him after noticing the change. Instead, she opened her lips slightly, seemingly inviting and denying him at the same time.

    Fortunately, Qianye was experienced enough to suppress the desire. He calmly pulled his hand back and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look at that side.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded as though nothing had happened, but ayer of frost emerged around her armor. Apparently, she was using her frost energy to calm herself down.

    As the two top experts of the empire¡¯s younger generation, both of them were quite proficient in exploration. In the blink of an eye, they had scouted out the area around theke and confirmed that there was no danger. Qianye then jumped into theke and explored the bottom, while Li Kuann remained on the shore to provide assistance. In this world, the water was as thick as mercury and extremely dangerous. Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder, however, happened to ignore most defenses and could be considered a peerless killer weapon.

    Momentster, Qianye emerged with arge fish. ¡°There¡¯s no danger in theke.¡±

    Despite that, Li Kuann lifted the armor over Qianye¡¯s arm and gazed at the deep, new wound there. The injury was jagged and bone-deep, almost as though he had been cut through by a copper saw. There was also ayer of ck fluid stuck to the surface of the defect, and that was stopping the wound from healing.

    Qianye waved the big fish in his hand. ¡°It¡¯s this guy¡¯s fault, haven¡¯t cleaned it yet. But, we have an extra dish for dinner.¡±

    Li Kuann said nothing. Icy blue sword energy emerged from her fingertips as she began cutting away the ck fluid on Qianye¡¯s wound. Her hand moved like the wind, shaving off extremely thinyers with each stroke for fear that she would cut into Qianye¡¯s flesh. She was only half done even after hundreds of movements.

    Qianye¡¯s lips moved slightly. He wanted to say he had better do it himself, but he couldn¡¯t bear to after seeing how serious she was. Only after a long while did she finish with the cleaning. Seeing the rapidly healing flesh, she broke into a charming smile that lit up the entirekeside.

    Qianye put down therge fish and nced at his surroundings. ¡°This ce isn¡¯t bad, let¡¯s spend the night here?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The two divided thebor, with Qianye fetching wood and Li Kuann in charge of cooking.

    When Qianye returned with a bundle of wooden nks, Li Kuann had already built a simple stove out of stone, cut up the fish, and started roasting them on branch-skewers. It was quite an impressive scene.

    When Qianye returned with a second bundle of wood, Li Kuann was still roasting that piece of fish. Smiling, he went back out to collect more timber. Cutting wood here wasn¡¯t easy¡ªhe had to fell a tree with East Peak, shave off the branches, and then cut them into wooden nks before bringing them back. These trees looked ordinary, but the wood was as hard as steel. It felt more like cutting steel than wood. If it wasn¡¯t for his extraordinary strength and East Peak¡¯s sharpness, cutting just a few trees might¡¯ve taken all of his origin power. It would ruin the de as well.

    Nothing was easy in this ursed world. It was probably the same for Li Kuann¡¯s fish-roasting endeavors.

    As expected, he saw Li Kuann still roasting fish when he returned with the third bundle of wood. By the fourth run, he felt that something was off.

    Qianye walked over to her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Li Kuann seemed to have woken up from a dream. ¡°Ah, no, nothing¡¯s wrong.¡±

    At this moment, the raging mes from the stove were licking the fish and turning its flesh a charred yellow. Qianye removed the fish from the rack and said, ¡°It¡¯s already done!¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, it¡¯s done.¡± Li Kuann seemed distracted.

    Only a skeleton remained of therge fish at her feet, but the coal in the stove seemed to be increasing in amount. Judging from the shape of the charcoal, it was clear that she had been tossing the burnt fish into the stove and using it as fuel. Now that was a new discovery¡ªthis fish meat could be used as fuel and the mes were even moresting.

    Qianye sighed. He cut the roasted fish into thin strips and made them into skewers; then, he stuffed some into Li Kuann¡¯s hands. ¡°Eat first, I¡¯ll go catch more fish.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need, I¡¯ll go.¡±

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let Li Kuann go into theke. The waters might not be dangerous to him, but it was lethal for Li Kuann. Everything else aside, she didn¡¯t have Qianye¡¯s level of power or the ability to swim underwater.

    This time, Qianye didn¡¯t take very long before returning with a big fish. Li Kuann took the quarry and began roasting it absent-mindedly. Qianye had no way to deal with her, so he simply went back to cutting wood.

    After enough wood had been umted, Qianye began nting pirs around theke andying down the floorboards and walls. Very soon, a simple hut had been constructed, but Qianye wasn¡¯t satisfied with that. He nted a fence around the houseplete with spike traps¡ªbefore he felt content.

    After the camp was done, it was nearing dusk. Li Kuann had roasted an entire fish into charcoal once more, but she managed to get a few bites in. The fish meat was extremely nutritious and full of origin power, filling her up with just a few pieces. This world was dangerous, but it wasn¡¯t without its merits. For instance, this fish meat would be quite beneficial to healing injuries. Li Kuann¡¯s fractures would be healedpletely in just two more days, and she would be able to move about freely.

    The night had just descended when Qianye called Li Kuann back into the house. He observed her origin power levels and fractures briefly before closing the fence and then sealing the house doors. There was no fire in the house because it was useless against the cold, anyway.

    The two of them sat face to face and began cultivating to resist the slowing of their vitality.

    The world outside the hut was entirely silent. The wind gradually quieted down and only the cold starlight remained shining on the smallke¡ªthere wasn¡¯t even a ripple on the water surface. The rowdy forest had also calmed down and was now eerily quiet.

    It should¡¯ve been a silent night, but a dark ripple appeared in the sky above the wooden shack. Both Qianye and Li Kuann knew what this was¡ªit was a sign of space being torn asunder. This time, it wasn¡¯t because someone was passing through it, but because the void was beingcerated by the pressure from the Profound Combatant Form.

    Qianye slowly reigned in his origin power and stopped his cultivation of the form. He was just training normally, but who would¡¯ve thought space here would be so fragile? The moment the Profound Combatant Form was channeled, the power immediately tore the space apart and drew in a waterfall of void origin power, filling up Qianye¡¯s five origin vortices in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected that he would bepletely filled within such a short while. Despite that, he couldn¡¯t use the origin power from the Combatant Form directly. He needed to refine the energy with the Glory Chapter and turn it into Venus Dawn to truly increase his origin power cultivation.

    Just as he was refining origin power, Li Kuann said, ¡°I can¡¯t hold out. I¡¯ll rely on you for the rest of the night.¡±

    Qianye was startled, not knowing whether to continue this conversation. Naturally, Li Kuann meant that she couldn¡¯t endure the fading vitality of the nighttime and that she needed help. However, she probably didn¡¯t know how Qianye had helped herst night.

 Chapter 979: Make an Enemy Out of Me?

    While Qianye was hesitating, Li Kuann said, ¡°The instinctive arousal only appears in the daytime it seems, so you don¡¯t need to worry. I¡¯m very clear as to what I¡¯m saying.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what I¡¯ll do?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°I¡¯ll ept it, no matter what you do. Just do what you didst night.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we can adopt a different position.¡± Qianye pondered deeply. He was fairly calm when trying to save Kuann¡¯s life while she was out cold. Now that she was awake, however, it would be somewhat difficult to adopt that intimate position.

    Li Kuann said resolutely, ¡°No need, just do things the way you didst night.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts! I don¡¯t want to die yet. As for the other stuff, since I¡¯ve already experienced it once already, a second time will make no difference.¡±

    ¡°There is a massive difference!¡± Qianye thought to himself.

    Yet Li Kuann¡¯s words made sense; only the most thorough method could ensure her safety. Both of them were talented geniuses, so there was nothing to fear if they could ept the situation.

    ¡°Fine, then your clothes¡­¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t need further instructions. She started removing her armor and soon arrivedpletely naked before Qianye. She was fairly calm despite having all of her features in full disy.

    Qianye hugged her from behind. ¡°Rx, don¡¯t resist me with origin power.¡±

    With the beating of his blood core, their rhythms soon started to synchronize.

    The night was silent and gradually turning cold. Two living beings were snuggled up against one another, not for intimacy but for survival. The true cruelty of this world would be evident around midnight.

    The faint glow of the sanguine mes threw their shadows on the wall and windows. Their silhouettes were closely tangled up in each other, and the world was so quiet that one could hear the other breathing. The cadence of their respiration was different¡ªQianye¡¯s was gradually turning coarser, while hers was gentle and long. Even with the previous night¡¯s experience, activating her heart and vitality was just as difficult.

    Although Li Kuann had recovered consciousness and a good part of her origin power, her internal injuries were still present. Her innards had only healed very slightly. The cold night of this world affected one¡¯s bodily functions and vitality, so origin power wasn¡¯t really that useful against it.

    It would seem Li Kuann also noticed Qianye¡¯s strain. She suddenly turned about and embraced him tightly, pressing her own body against his. Qianye was shocked because this posture was beyond intimate, leaving only one thin line between them. If they didn¡¯t have a long cold night to endure, he wasn¡¯t so sure he would be able to control his urges.

    Despite that, Qianye felt evidently relieved after the posture change. This was the posture he had adoptedst night. Fortunately, turning around seemed to have used up most of Li Kuann¡¯s strength, and she stopped moving afterward.

    This was only two nights, but what about in the future? Li Kuann might not be able to get through the cold nights alone even after recovering from her injuries. The environment in this world was highly adverse and demanding of one''s constitution. Humans held an advantage in origin power cultivation and not physical prowess. Most experts of the empire focused on secret arts, so their origin power cultivation was fairlycking.

    Something was bound to happen sooner orter if they kept using this method. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel distressed at the thought of this. Even if they were able to leave this ursed ce, how was he to face Li Kuann? They might be in a good deal of trouble if people were to find out about their experiences here. All others aside, the Li family would definitely hound him for the damage to their prestige, let alone her empress sister. Even simpletons would know better than to provoke a woman who could snatch away the empress position from Princess Zhao.

    Midnight finally passed amidst the agonizing silence.

    With the burden lessened, Qianye¡¯s breathing gradually normalized. The sanguine mes were no longer wavering and continued to burn in a stable state.

    It was at this time that Li Kuann said, ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ do it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Qianye could hardly believe his ears.

    ¡°That thing.¡± This time, he was certain of what she meant.

    ¡°That¡­ isn¡¯t too appropriate, is it?¡± Qianye kept his tone as tactful as possible. Due to Song Zining¡¯s teachings, Qianye knew how difficult dealing with women was¡ªespecially this kind of request¡ªa single mishandling could turn love to hate, and they would be lifelong enemies.

    ¡°Nothing inappropriate about it.¡± Li Kuann was unexpectedly calm and her voice was as cold as her sword energy. ¡°It¡¯ll be daytime soon. The day might not be any safer than the night, it¡¯s just that we have never encountered true danger. I don¡¯t want to lose myself to instinctive urges while exploring. Since we¡¯re going to lose control sooner orter, let¡¯s do it now so that we can be at ease during the daytime. I¡¯m still conscious right now. I don¡¯t want to do this kind of thing out of base instinct, that¡¯s no different from a beast.¡±

    Qianye could feel a headacheing over him as he tried to cate her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re injured right now, but you¡¯ll be able to regain control once you¡¯ve recovered. Besides, I¡¯ve adapted to this ce somewhat. Rest assured, I¡¯ll help you maintain control in the daytime.¡±

    Li Kuann stared into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Why do you refuse me?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°It¡¯s true that very few people can refuse you, but I already have someone I love. I don¡¯t want to betray her under any circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Nighteye?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you n to join Evernight?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Qianye said self-deprecatingly, ¡°actually, it doesn¡¯t make any difference whether I join them or not, does it? The empire doesn¡¯t need me. Those of a different race will have traitorous thoughts. These words aren¡¯t just for fun.¡±

    ¡°The empire doesn¡¯t, but we do. Besides, everything back then was done by the imperial military, they still haven¡¯t managed to clean up the mess.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°That mess is probably me.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s hand slid down Qianye¡¯s back. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone can clean up this mess.¡±

    ¡°Kuann, it¡¯s not dawn yet.¡±

    Li Kuann said nonchntly, ¡°Are you trying to make an enemy out of me?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Of course not.¡±

    ¡°As I see it, your daytime control is even worse than mine. Since that¡¯s the case, why not do it now? Will you feel at ease only if you have an excuse?¡± Li Kuann¡¯s words were as sharp as des.

    ¡°We¡¯ll discuss that when the timees. There¡¯s always a final moment, right?¡± Qianyeughed wryly.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless in the end.¡± She stopped making any movement after this, allowing Qianye to heave a sigh of relief.

    As the long night finally passed by and dawn arrived, the two separated to dress up. The atmosphere between them turned somewhat subtle after going through the night.

    Now that they had enough meat and water, exploring the surroundings became their first priority. With enough time to spare before the hunt, Qianye asked for intel regarding the Great Maelstrom and, most importantly, how to get out.

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom is a massive world, this much has been proven by our predecessors. In the past, the passage would always open into the same area. We and the Evernight experts will spread out from that starting point, each seeking their own fortunes. At the same time, we¡¯ll collect as much resources as we can while waiting for the next opening of the passage, and then return to the empire.¡±

    ¡°That means we have to return from where we came? But the passage we came in through is no longer there.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded helplessly. ¡°This is the true danger of the neutralnds passage, the tunnel isn¡¯t continuous. It only reaches the Great Maelstrom during this period, and there are numerous breaks in between. It¡¯s like jogging in the void when one passes through those defects.¡±

    ¡°Then how do we confirm this is the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way to confirm, but we should be in the right ce. It¡¯s just that I have no idea which region we¡¯re in.¡±

    ¡°How can you be so sure?¡±

    ¡°My sister and the top divination experts of the empire calcted that the passage will only lead to the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined Empress Li would be a divination expert. But, the Li family was famous in this field, so it only made sense that an outstanding character like the empress would be talented in this regard.

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Then how do we go back?¡±

    ¡°Two ways. One is to tear through the void and return the way we came.¡±

    As Qianye saw it, this method was simply not feasible. Not to mention tearing through the void, even opening a spatial passage was only something heavenly monarchs could do. The fact that this passage was intermittent was enough for one to cross out going back via it. Having experienced it once, Qianye knew that it was impossible for him to discern the direction inside the spatial passage.

    Fortunately, Li Kuann had no ns to keep him in suspense. ¡°The other method is to find the imperial base at the entrance and wait for the next opening there.¡±

    This was a usible n, but the difficultyy in finding the imperial stronghold.

    Li Kuann cut off a wooden board and started drawing on it. ¡°This is a map of the Great Maelstrom under the Li family¡¯s control. We might find the stronghold if we¡¯re lucky enough to walk into the scope of this map.

    The diagram looked fairly odd. The mountain ranges, crevices, and rivers all seemed especially twisted, a stark contrast from the usual geography seen in the Empire and Evernight. Despite the dense array of markings, Qianye simply couldn¡¯t find any familiarndmark.¡±

    But Qianye had seen such a geographical diagram before. Remembering something, he fished out a painting scroll and passed it to her. ¡°Take a look at this.¡±

    Li Kuann was shocked as she opened up the scroll. ¡°Havenschild Pasture! Isn¡¯t this a map of the Song n¡¯s domain in the Great Maelstrom?" Indeed, the Heavenschild Pasture is the Song n¡¯s core business. How could they have gotten this rich if not for its stable production throughout the years?

 Chapter 980: Traces

    ¡°Is this the Song n¡¯s territory map? Why is it so much smaller than yours?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    Li Kuann rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Have you forgotten my sister¡¯s identity? A good portion ofnd controlled by the imperial n has been added to this map. Where did you get your map, though?¡±

    ¡°Song Zining stuffed it into my hands before he pushed me into the passage.¡±

    Li Kuann gnashed her teeth at the mention of Song Zining. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be in this situation if it wasn¡¯t for that bastard. Humph! Birds of a feather flock together. You hang out with him every day, so you can¡¯t be a good person, either.¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. ¡°What did he do to make you hate him so?¡±

    ¡°You ask him!¡± Li Kuann replied unceremoniously. She shot Qianye a nce, and then said in a gentler voice, ¡°You dummy, you don¡¯t even know that you¡¯re being schemed against.¡±

    Qianye still couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°How did he scheme against me?¡±

    Li Kaunn wanted nothing more than to bite Qianye. ¡°Ask him, don¡¯te to me.¡±

    Judging from her mood, Qianye realized that she didn¡¯t want to borate. Hence he didn¡¯t press on with the matter. It would be even more troublesome if the emotional agitation were to ignite her instincts. Qianye wasn¡¯t lying about what he said before, it would be especially difficult to refuse her during the daytime. Her fair, tender, yet powerful body, as well as those long legs that could crush all male creatures, served to constantly erode Qianye¡¯s reasoning.

    It would seem Li Kuann didn¡¯t want to continue conversing, either, as she just went back toparing the two diagrams. Fortunately, there were a lot of ovepping portions between Song Zining¡¯s map, the Li family¡¯s, and the Imperial n¡¯s. Momentster, Li Kuann hadbined the two maps into one for Qianye to study. She herself also took the time to memorize the information before destroying both the wooden board and scroll. Qianye didn¡¯t stop her¡ªmaps like this contained too many secrets that couldn¡¯t fall into outsider hands.

    Havingpleted the work, Li Kuann climbed the nearby hill. ¡°Pick a direction.¡±

    ¡°What direction?¡±

    ¡°Somewhere you think will give us a good harvest.¡±

    ¡°How should I know?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°Just pretend you know divination arts. Try feeling where our fortune lies.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t know divination.¡±

    ¡°I told you to pretend. Start searching, quick!¡±

    Qianye felt helpless. All he could do was look toward each direction and concentrate on sensing something. This was no different from a blind guess to him. How could he even sense anything? He decided to just pick a random direction if he couldn¡¯t find anything. In any case, it should be fine as long as they didn¡¯t approach the giantke.

    But to make sure he had done all he could, Qianye activated the Eye of Truth and scanned each direction. Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat as he nced toward a certain direction, and he was ovee by a certain urge to rush over immediately.

    ¡°There.¡± Qianye pointed forward.

    ¡°You really sensed something?¡± Li Kuann found it weird.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to exin, but I think something is about to happen there.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go and see.¡± Li Kuann picked up her de and followed Qianye from behind.

    After walking over several hills and valleys, a winding river appeared before their eyes. The water flow was gentle and waveless, and there was a forest on the other shore. The woods were silent, verdant, and full of vitality. There was a tall mountain range further out, with tall, ashen peaks jutting into the clouds and stretching far into the distance.

    Li Kuann had learned to be careful whenever she saw water. Even the fish in a small valleyke was enough to injure Qianye. There was no telling what manner of creatures the long river was hiding. Li Kuann wasn¡¯t proficient in marine battles, to begin with. Things would go even worse in her current situation.

    Gazing at the other shore, Qianye frowned. ¡°I have a feeling that we need to check the other side.¡±

    ¡°How do we cross?¡±

    ¡°Build a boat.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s answer was fairly simple and concise.

    He said they would build a boat, but all they did was nail some wooden boards together into a box-like vessel. The river wasn¡¯t really that wide¡ªwith the duo¡¯s skills, they would be able to cross over even with two palm-sized pieces of wood. However, Qianye had decided to focus on safety as only with proper footing would they be able to deal with the dangers of the river.

    Qianye pushed the wooden box into the water and boarded the vessel with Li Kuann. Channeling origin power beneath his foot, he started driving the boat across the water and toward the other shore.

    The crossing went without a hitch, and the two sessfully came ashore. Li Kuann suddenly pointed toward the side. ¡°Look.¡±

    There was someone fishing in the distance!

    Seeing someone in this world was even more nerve-wracking than seeing a beast. Qianye shattered the boat with a p¡ªthe wooden fragments flowed down the river while he and Li Kuann hid themselves.

    Qianye¡¯s eyesight was powerful. He was able to focus over a thousand meters and actually see this person¡¯s attire.

    He was d in a beast-skin shirt, with several feathers sticking out from the bandanna on his head. The man¡¯s skin color was a rare dark brown. His exposed arms and legs looked exceptionally powerful and covered in ck hair. Overall, he looked stout and strong. There was a fishing rod in his grasp and he seemed entirely focused on fishing.

    From his getup, Qianye was sure that he was neither from the Empire nor Evernight. Then, there were only two possibilities¡ªhe was either a descendant of thest Great Maelstrom expedition or a native.

    Qianye decided not to approach for now and merely kept on observing the man. Qianye had interacted with the natives of the neutralnds before, so he knew that the more dangerous the world, the more powerful its natives. It would be unwise to show themselves without ample preparation.

    That person sat there like a stone statue, just as immobile as the fishing rod in his hand, so much so that one would suspect if there were any fish in the river. Besides, most creatures in this world had six legs or more, but this person was bipedal, just like a human being. This form was ipatible with this high-gravity environment. On the Evernight side, the race most suited to the Great Maelstrom was the arachne.

    Before long, a series of rustling sounds appeared from the forest as another person walked out. This person was tall, muscr, and over two meters tall, making loud noises as he ran toward the fisherman.

    Thetter turned back at this point, revealing his face¡ªa tall nose, deep eye-sockets, and a pair of dark brown eyes. If it wasn¡¯t for the big mouth andck of eyebrows, he might¡¯ve been considered quite handsome. He looked quite flustered as he got up and made to escape.

    However, the person running over stomped hard on the ground at this moment. Visible shockwaves shot across the earth and arrived beneath the fishing man¡¯s feet. Thetter let out a miserable cry as he was flung into the air. With no footing, he was caught by the pursuer before he could evennd.

    What happened next greatly surprised Qianye.

    A pair of small hands stretched out from the neer¡¯s ribs, and with four limbs, they tore off the fisherman¡¯s clothes and pressed him to the ground. Thetter struggled with all his might, unwilling to submit until the end. But, the four-armed person spat out a cloud of white mist onto the fisherman¡¯s face. Gradually, the fisherman stopped struggling and revealed a pained but happy expression. The four-armed person had won.

    Next up, the two began mating furiously, rolling about with great ferocity and violence.

    With Qianye¡¯s observation and judgment skills, he could tell that the fisherman was the male, while the violent one was the female. This kind of situation where the female was the dominant gender would rarely appear in higher species¡ªit was moremon among insects and the like. Both Qianye and Li Kuann were surprised by the female¡¯s sudden eruption of martial prowess as she captured the man.

    The might of her stomp was also quite extraordinary, but then again, everything was abnormal in the Great Maelstrom. It would take an origin power cultivation of at least rank four to produce such a stomp. If that four-armed woman was only an ordinary native, this meant that everyone in their tribe was at that level and the region was extremely dangerous.

    Qianye turned back and whispered into Li Kuann¡¯s ear, ¡°Were there any records of natives in the Li family¡¯s records?¡±

    Li Kuann shook her head. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but all of a sudden, she pounced over and sealed Qianye¡¯s lips with her own. To his shock, Qianye found that she was burning up¡ªher face was flushed red, and she was on the verge of tears as her hands ran all over Qianye¡¯s body, tearing at his clothes.

    Qianye had no idea why she would suddenly lose control. He flipped over immediately and pressed her firmly to the ground. As for their lips, he could only go along with her movements, lest she makes a sound.

    Qianye¡¯s sharp senses immediately caught a faint fishy fragrance in the air. All of a sudden, his body burst into action like an ignited keg of gunpowder. A ¡°big¡± change came over his body and knocked "hard" against Li Kuann. Thetter trembled briefly before locking tightly onto him like a spider.

    Qianye looked up toward the source of this smell and found an extremely thin wisp of white drifting in the air. It would seem the four-armed woman¡¯s white mist had drifted to their ce. This white smoke possessed extremely powerful aphrodisiac effects, turning that fisherman from an unyielding man into a beast in heat. Li Kuann had surely breathed in the white mist to have turned into this state.

    Having sensed the source of the issue, Qianye pressed down on her even more tightly. He could no longer care about their intimate position because every knock and every movement was frighteningly arousing.

    Even if Qianye had somehow sumbed to the white mist, it was definitely not a good ce for procreation. They were clearly in native territory, so things could go horribly wrong if they were to charge out.

    Hence, Qianye used his blood energy to suppress the white mist while pressing Li Kuann down, preventing her from making noises. Unable to fulfill her desires, all she could do was settle for the next best thing¡ªwhich was to rub herself against Qianye¡¯s body.

    After a while, she trembled violently and her entire body fell limp. She was no longer struggling.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief as he nced at her. At this point, the flush on Li Kuann¡¯s face had receded and her forehead was drenched in sweat. Her breathing was still heavy, but her eyes seemed to have regained their rity, immediately looking away as their eyes met.

    ¡°Get up, we should find a ce to recover. It¡¯s too dangerous here,¡± Qianye whispered into her ears.

    Li Kuann nodded, but she was too exhausted to mber up. Qianye found it quite odd, but he wrote it off as a side effect of the white mist. He immediately dragged her up and started walking downstream. Before leaving, Qianye nced back once more to find the natives still engaged in a fierce battle. It was just that the fisherman was not the woman¡¯s match and had given himself up to her whims. The four-armed woman, on the other hand, was in high spirits and there was no telling when she would stop.

    Qianye stopped looking at this point and focused on running downstream. He hadn¡¯t gone far, however, when he heard a sharp whistle as an arrow shot out from the distant forest.

 Chapter 981: Critical Poin

    t

    Qianye was fairly calm in the face of danger. He moved Li Kuann from his back and into his right arm. Then, with his left, he reached out and caught the arrow in its tracks. Qianye¡¯s entire body jolted as he grasped the arrow. The shot was abnormally powerful, almostparable to the ballistae on small airships. Fortunately, the soil around the riverside was just as hard, else Qianye would¡¯ve sunk into the ground.

    Qianye could feel a wave of stinging pain from his hand as he caught the arrow. The projectile was covered in barbs that tore through the flesh of his palm.

    Several natives jumped out from the woods. There were two tall four-armed ones, while the others were the size of an ordinary human, just like that fisherman. The strange thing was that there were two women among the four smaller natives as well. It would seem the fisherman belonged to one race and the four-armed woman was from a different one.

    The natives¡¯ eyes lit up when they saw Qianye and Li Kuann, and they started shouting in some unintelligiblenguage. One of the four-armed women was holding a longbow; the arrow from just now was from her. Seeing Qianye¡¯s bleeding hand, she became excited and worried at the same time. She shouted loudly as she tossed over a y jar, indicating that Qianye should rub it on his palm.

    Thetter caught the jar. He opened it up to find an oily ck substance with a fairly pungent odor. He saw that the blood from his palm was ck, and the flesh around the wound was gradually turning grey and putrid.

    There was poison on the arrow, but it wasn¡¯t particrly lethal. Flesh corrosion was a characteristic of lower-grade venoms. The truly powerful ones would act on the nervous system or origin power, killing the victim within mere seconds.

    Apparently, it was the antidote that the woman had tossed over. Whatever her motives were, Qianye felt that she wasn¡¯t doing it out of kindness. Even if the natives didn''t want to kill them, he had no interest in letting them use him as a mating machine. He absolutely couldn¡¯t let Li Kuann fall into their hands.

    Qianye put away the jar. Even if it was an antidote inside, he wasn¡¯t about to use it. Besides, this wound was no different from an insect bite to Qianye. Without wasting any words, he ignited a plume of sanguine me on his palm, burning away all of the poison as well as the putrid flesh. The wound then began to contract and heal, leaving only a couple of red lines.

    The woman was startled and suddenly started roaring at the other four-armed woman. Thetter wasn¡¯t willing to yield, either, and began waving a thick club in a threatening manner. With the two women fighting amongst themselves, the other two-armed natives started nking toward Qianye.

    ¡°Let me down. I can deal with these ants.¡±

    Qianye shot Li Kuann a nce, and then put her down. Thetter drew her vampiric de and charged at the closest native.

    The native unleashed a bestial roar when he saw Li Kuann approaching. He immediately dropped his pants and pounced at her, his thing dangling below all the while. Li Kuann was shocked out of her wits. How could she have imagined such a situation? The man¡¯s moves were full of openings, but she was also ovee by an urge to turn around and cover her eyes.

    Those natives looked fairly ordinary, but they were fairly nimble in this high gravity environment. A moment of hesitation from Li Kuann and the man had rushed behind to w her clothes off. Li Kuann shed instinctively at the man¡¯s throat, but the native only tilted his head and used his shoulder to meet the iing de, all the while grabbing onto Li Kuann¡¯s cor. He was determined to tear her clothes off even if he had to take a sh.

    Despite being a top genius, Li Kuann had never seen such a reckless person. Add to that the fact that she was weak and tired at this point, she immediately became flustered.

    A sword radiance descended in front of Li Kuann at this point, lopping off the native¡¯s arms. The beam then spun around and decapitated the native.

    Soon afterward, Qianye stepped forward andunched three ephemeral strikes. His sword seemed almost weightless.

    The remaining three natives fell down with holes on their chests.

    Li Kuann was startled by the three uncanny stabs¡ªEast Peak¡¯s weight was still fresh in her memory.

    The two four-armed women, however, seemed oblivious to his power. The two stopped fighting temporarily and charged at Qianye together. The bow-wielding woman stopped thirty meters away and nocked three arrows at the same time. The arrowheads were a mixed shade of yellow and blue, apparently dipped in different types of venom. The club-wielder arrived in front of Qianye with her giant weapon raised, spraying a mouthful of white mist before smashing down.

    Now, Qianye was shocked. He couldn¡¯t bother to use any secret art at this point; all he could do was pick up Li Kuann and run.

    The white mist was extremely tyrannical. Just now, the few wisps that had drifted downstream almost affected him and turned Li Kuann into a sex-crazed woman. If this white mist were to cover him directly, not even his vampire constitution might be able to handle it. Besides, the ancient vampire bloodline shared somemonalities with the creatures of this world. Most of the time, it was more likely to push Qianye into the pit than help him up.

    If it wasn¡¯t for his Venus Dawn origin power restraining the dark golden blood energy, there was no telling how many times he would¡¯ve done the unspeakable with Li Kuann.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare enter the forest, so all he could do was escape to the riverside. He kicked several stones into the air and then took to the skies, stepping lightly on the rocks as he returned to the other shore. Under a gravitational pull that was ten times heavier than normal, even Qianye found it difficult to fly.

    The two four-armed women chased them to the shore but had no way to cross the river¡ªeither they couldn¡¯t swim or they were fearful of something in the water. Qianye wasn¡¯t about to get careless, however. He ran dozens of kilometers and only heaved a sigh of relief after getting out of the four-armed women¡¯s sight.

    Qianye was huffing and puffing like a bull after all that running. Li Kuann wasn¡¯t light, to begin with, let alone that heavy internal armor she was wearing.

    This side of the river seemed rather safe and there were no signs of natives. Qianye found a sheltered t ground and set up a campfire, prepared to spend the night here. During the entire process, Li Kuann just sat in silence and didn¡¯te to help out. No one knew what she was thinking. Qianye noticed that her body was still weak, and she wouldn¡¯t be of much help even if she were willing. Hence, he simply got down to setting up the camp on his own.

    This time, Qianye didn¡¯t build a wooden hut but merely set up a ring of wooden spikes and traps. Then, he produced yesterday¡¯s prey and began preparing dinner.

    Li Kuann suddenly looked up. ¡°Make me a wooden tub, a big one.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t even want to build a hut. What was the point of making a household item?

    ¡°I want to wash up.¡±

    Qianye found it odd. It would be night soon, and all impurities would be incinerated once surrounded by his sanguine mes. There really was no need to bathe. Besides, there was no telling what was in the river¡ªthe natives were fishing there, after all.

    ¡°I want to bathe!¡± Li Kuann repeated her words.

    Seeing her resolution, Qianye made no effort to dissuade her. Making a wooden tub wasn¡¯t too hard for him. He picked a tree, felled it with a few swings, and then cut them into nks. He then lined them together and tied them with a string made of tree-bark. Thus, a tub that could fit one person was born. All of this looked easy, but it wasn¡¯t that simple¡ªthe wood here was as hard as steel and not even a divine champion could fell it in one swing. Just swinging that dozen-ton sword was difficult enough.

    The strong was king in this ursed world.

    Qianye carried the bathtub to the river, filled it with water, and then put it back onnd. Li Kuann said with a bit of bashfulness, ¡°Help me keep watch.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye sat down with his back to the bathtub. Sounds of clothes being removed, of someone entering the water, and then of the water sloshing around, came from behind him.

    He couldn¡¯t figure out why she insisted on bathing.

    Qianye brushed it off as one of her strange habits and simply waited for her while gazing at the river.

    The sky was growing dark at this point. The duo finished their dinner and began cultivating on their own. Li Kuann was working to heal her injuries while Qianye was mostly refining Venus Dawn to restrain his blood energy. Every creature in this world would give him ample amounts of essence blood, and Qianye¡¯s Book of Darkness was already full to the brim. With such a near-unlimited supply, he would advance to a mighty marquis in just a few days, standing on the same level as Nana and Julio from before.

    But that would cause the Song n Ancient Scroll to lose bnce and Qianye would transform into a pure ancient vampire.

    For some reason, the Song n Ancient Scroll worked so much faster in the Great Maelstrom. The rate of refinement was almost double from the outside. At this rate, Qianye would be able to open up his sixth origin vortex within a month. There were few in the entire empire who could match this speed.

    But he couldn¡¯t cultivate very long before Li Kuann reached her limit and needed Qianye to maintain her vitality. With two nights of experience in hand, they both knew what to do. Neither of them spoke as they proceeded to wait for dawn in each other¡¯s embrace.

    Only a sanguine me flickered on the dark riverside.

    Another night passed by. Qianye got up with the first rays of dawn and dressed. Seeing the worry on his face, Li Kuann asked, ¡°Is something bothering you?¡±

    Qianye heaved a sigh. ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t know how long we can hold out here. The white mist from those four-armed natives is so strong, there¡¯s no telling what else we might encounter.¡±

    Li Kuann said after a moment of silence, ¡°It¡¯s just for survival. Whatever happens, it¡¯s not our fault. I think we¡¯ll just forget about everything once we leave.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Qianye still looked concerned. The sanguine mes were akin to his eyes and ears. He didn¡¯t need to see to realize that some parts of Li Kuann¡¯s body were wet and sticky¡ªthis reminded him of why Li Kuann insisted on taking a bath.

    The current her would perhaps be the Qianye of tomorrow. Every time he was controlling his urges, Qianye felt as though he was going up against the entire world.

    But how was one to confront the world alone?

    Li Kuann diverted the topic, pointing at the other shore. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say we¡¯ll find great fortune in that direction? Let¡¯s explore the forest today.¡±

 Chapter 982: Need Help?

    Qianye had never felt that he had any talent in divination, and neither did he believe his instincts would be that urate. At least ording to Song Zining, he was iparable to a certain fewdies.

    But at the moment, he would need to pick a direction to explore and their only hope of returning was to find the imperial base in the Great Maelstrom. During such a temporaryck of directions, it was crucial for them to understand the surroundings as best they could and the best way to understand this world is via the intelligent natives who were born here.

    Without Li Kuann, Qianye would already have gone into the forest to investigate the tribe, but things werepletely different with her around. He wasn¡¯t about to let her fall into native hands no matter what, especially those four-armed people. That kind of ending would be worse than death. Qianye believed Li Kuann would rather die than sumb to such a fate.

    The white mist produced by those four-armed people was simply too tyrannical. One would lose themselves aftering into contact, and it wouldn¡¯t even be possible tomit suicide. Hence, Qianye couldn¡¯t quitee to a decision on Li Kuann¡¯s suggestion.

    At this moment, Li Kuann had regained her usual calmness. ¡°Most of my injuries have healed. I still can¡¯t get through the night on my own, but I should bepletely fine in battle. You¡¯re hesitating so much about going over, are you looking down on me?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, but¡­¡±

    Li Kuann cut him short, ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Noticing her resolution, Qianye decided to follow their same stepping-stone form from yesterday. He carried Li Kuann over the river and arrived outside of the woods.

    The duo had just approached the forest when a shrill cry erupted from above. Arge fell down immediately, aiming to capture the two alive.

    How could such a primitive method capture the two top geniuses of the empire? Li Kuann picked up the with a swing of her sword. This would normally be considered a taboo, but a twist of her wrist sent the spinning back to whence it hade, firmly binding the two-armed man hiding in the treetop.

    That hunter cried out in rm as he fell from the tree and crashed into the ground. All he could do was whimper about, unable to mber back up.

    At this point, Qianye walked out from the trees with a two-armed hunter in each hand and tossed them onto the ground. The hunters he had caught had no more power to resist as their arms had been broken. These natives possessed a natural ability that allowed them to blend into the forest, but they were easily found out by Qianye¡¯s True Sight.

    The three men reacted physiologically upon seeing Li Kuann, and their fixed stares sent a chill down her spine. She instinctively raised her vampiric de, ready to cut them into pieces.

    Qianye pushed her hand down and said while shaking his head, ¡°No need to kill them. Killing intent is a desire as well, control it as much as you can.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to control it!¡± Li Kuann said coldly.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t angry because he knew she wasn¡¯t in a good moodtely. Instead, he tried tomunicate with the two-armed people. However, he finally gave up after a prolonged attempt as thenguage barrier was insurmountable. Qianye searched their bodies but found nothing useful except for some food, wine, and misceneous items. He did find that each hunter wore a small, blue flower. The flower was small and exquisite, and its petals were made of a translucent, almost-crystalline material. There was no telling whether it was natural or man-made.

    Judging from the base and stem, it was likely to be natural, but the petals didn¡¯t feel the same. Each of the petals of the three blue flowers was different, almost like a supreme work of art. Even the most talented expert craftsman of the Empire couldn¡¯t produce something of this caliber. How could human craftsmanshippare to the work of nature itself?

    The three men iled about in anger and terror as Qianye put away the blue flowers. Apparently, these flowers seemed highly important to them.

    Seeing that he couldn¡¯t get anything out of the captives, Qianye broke off the captives¡¯ legs as well.

    Then, he bundled them up in therge and left them in a corner of the forest. These natives possessed powerful vitality, anyway, and would probably survive a couple of days without food or water. Qianye pointed to the depths of the wood. ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can find theirir.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded and followed Qianye toward the depths. These natives were natural hunters who didn¡¯t need any training to hide themselves and their tracks. However, both Qianye and Li Kuann were talented hunters, thetter especially. Her tracking skills were probably even better than Qianye¡¯s own. If it wasn¡¯t for the eye of truth, he would be suppressed in all aspects.

    After following the tracks left behind by the natives for about half a day, they found the traces increase noticeably, with nock of new converging ones.

    The duo exchanged nces, realizing that they hade in the right direction. As such, they slowed down their pace and started to move more cautiously.

    It was at this time that a series of footsteps echoed through the forest as a group of natives appeared in their sight. This group was fairly sizable, consisting of five four-armed natives and over twenty two-armed ones, speeding along in a single file. After they had passed by, Qianye and Li Kuann decided to follow them.

    The shadowing didn¡¯tst long when one of the four-armed people suddenly sprang into action, pushing down a two-armed person and mating with him on the spot. The other four-armed people weren¡¯t willing to be left behind and also started to follow suit. The two-armed ones who weren¡¯t chosen split up into pairs and fell into action. Angry and embarrassed at this incredible scene, Li Kuann knowingly leaned behind Qianye.

    Qianye was extremely tense as he focused on the natives¡¯ movements, lest they spit out more white mist. Fortunately, the mist seemed fairly valuable to the four-armed people and wasn¡¯t made for use in such circumstances.

    It took about half an hour for the natives toplete their primitive pleasure session and continue on their way. Qianye tugged on Li Kuann, indicating that it was time to continue tracking their target. However, he soon discovered¡ªto his surprise¡ªthat thetter had weakened quite a bit.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s gaze, Li Kuann lowered her head and said in a whisper, ¡°I¡­ I lost control just now¡­ I¡¯m feeling just like yesterday.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to reply. He simply said, ¡°Do you need me to help?¡±

    Li Kuann red at him. ¡°If only you were willing!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare to continue this topic. He picked up Li Kuann and continued their hunt. Fortunately, the natives were also fairly exhausted after their chaotic battle. The duo was able to catch up quite easily as the group had slowed down quite a bit.

    Momentster, the group of natives walked out of the forest and started moving toward a distant mountain. At the foothills of the long mountain range was a fairlyrge stone castle. The structure was already in decay with numerous breaks in the wall, and only the four grand tall towers remained perfectly intact. There was a strong four-armed sentry on each tower, wielding bows bigger than the one Qianye had seen before.

    There was no need to doubt the power of these bows, and their range was bound to cover hundreds of meters. The four sentries on the towers looked stronger than the four-armed women, quite likely the males of their race.

    There were natives going in and out of the castle. It would seem this tribe was fairly prosperous, but they had no intention of repairing the damaged walls and only focused their energy on procreation.

    Qianye gestured toward Li Kuann, asking her to watch the forest while he carefully snuck forward along the forest line.

    As he got closer, Qianye was able to see through the damaged walls. He could see that the interior of the castle was fairly messy, with piles of junk strewn across thepound. There were numerous stone houses withrge doors at the center of the courtyard, inhabited only by the four-armed people. After a moment of observation, Qianye was able to confirm that there were both males and females among the four-armed people. The males were rare yet powerful¡ªalmost three meters tall and much stouter than the women.

    The two genders looked pretty much the same, and the only reason Qianye was able to tell them apart was because of their habit of mating anywhere and everywhere. A pair of four-armed people were already getting on with their business without even entering the house.

    After close observation, Qianye found that the four-armed people looked rather fierce. Both males and females sported protruding lips and fangs of different sizes. They also retained a fair number of bestial features. Biting and tearing, when required, would be a powerful mode of attack.

    Comparatively, the two-armed people looked more like humans both in facial and physical features. Their residences within the castle were small, dpidated, and usually made from wood and stone. Over a dozen of them would have to crowd into one such house. Not to mentionfort, they might not even have enough space to stand.

    Qianye was fairly curious about the rtionship between the two-armed people and the four-armed ones. Thus, he sneaked over quietly in hopes of observing in greater detail. A group of natives passed by at this moment. Qianye immediately retracted his aura and hid behind a tree, but one of the four-armed women in the group paused her steps. She raised her head and sniffed the air with a puzzled expression, and then walked over toward Qianye.

    Sniffing as she went, she came to the tree where Qianye was hiding and circled several times around it to no avail. She wanted to search more, but the other four-armed woman from the group started shouting impatiently. Only then did the first woman go back unwillingly.

    After this group had left, Qianye dropped down lithely from the tree with a serious expression. He hadn¡¯t expected that these natives would have such an acute sense of smell. If he hadn¡¯t used Bloodline Concealment at the critical moment and contained his aura, he might¡¯ve been discovered just now.

    Now, Qianye no longer dared to further approach the stone castle. There were at least hundreds of natives in the castle with dozens of four-armed ones among them. There were more than ten powerful-looking four-armed males. Even Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to challenge such a group. It actually wasn¡¯t because of their strength, but because the white mist was simply too disgusting.

    After a period of observation, Qianye made to return to Li Kuann. He didn¡¯t feel easy leaving her alone for too long.

    Just as he was about to leave, however, a conflict arose between the natives. They ran about shouting loudly as a series of rumbles echoed through the castle.

    Qianye became alert as this was a great opportunity. Truth be told, he really did want to investigate whatever was hidden within the castle¡ªthe secrets to the Great Maelstrom might just be sitting in there. Qianye took action immediately and began sneaking toward thepound.

    The confusion inside greatly intensified as he arrived within a hundred meters of the structure. A figure appeared on one of the towers as the original upant fell headfirst to the ground and crashed amidst pitiful cries.

    The figure jumped down and stomped onto the four-armed sentry, and then pounced in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    She staggered forward after taking a few steps and nearly fell to the ground. However, she mbered up and kept on running. The group of natives ran after her at lightning speed, and it seemed like they would catch up to her very soon.

 Chapter 983: Never Used Before

    Qianye had no time to think too much. With a sudden leap, his silhouette shed across a hundred meters. He rushed to her just before the pursuing natives arrived and pushed her down. All the natives fell upon them in the blink of an eye, producing a human heap.

    Sanguineous threads erupted from the human mountain, jolting the people on top away. Qianye rushed out with the person in tow and ran toward where Li Kuann was hiding.

    There were still a number of natives on the chase, and their speed wasn¡¯t slower than Qianye''s since he was carrying the weight of two people. They ran a fair distance before some of them looked back to find that the entire group from just now was lying immobile on the ground. Puzzled, these men ran over and flipped some of their copsedrades over and couldn¡¯t help but cry out in rm.

    The twenty-some people who had piled themselves atop Qianye had turned into corpses. The men cried loudly, oblivious as to what had just happened. A four-armed man rushed over inrge strides at this point. Seeing the corpses strewn across the ground, he looked up in Qianye¡¯s direction with a different, abstruse glint in his eyes.

    The four-armed man didn¡¯t chase after the escapees, so the other warriors also stopped near him. Apparently, his status in the tribe was extraordinary.

    With dozens of natives still on his tail, Qianye rushed into the forest without looking back. He charged past Li Kuann and continued into the depths of the woods.

    The pursuing natives entered the forest one after the other. At this moment, Li Kuann suddenly appeared from behind a tree and produced an icy blue sh at a four-armed woman¡¯s neck. Then, she adopted a mysterious style of footwork and transitioned through several sword stances. The natives charged past her like the tide, but she would evade them at thest moment before they could crash into her.

    That four-armed woman ran dozens of meters forward before her head tilted to the side. Arge opening had appeared on the side of her neck, and it was spraying out several meters of fresh blood. She copsed to the ground, limbs trembling, and never managed to get up again.

    The warriors beside her also plopped down, iling about in vain. They were struck either on the side of their necks, below their ribs, or between their legs¡ªcritical injuries that left them on the brink of death.

    Li Kuann had simply ced her de in the natives¡¯ way and waited for them to run into it. She used this method to kill over a dozen natives, a vivid disy of her outstanding swordsmanship. This also left her face pale and her hands trembling slightly.

    These natives were strong, and cutting through their flesh was like shing at steel. Their running momentum was also akin to that of a giant beast. Brute strength was never Li Kuann¡¯s forte, and now, she had also been deprived of Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. Cutting down the group had exhausted most of her stamina, and she couldn¡¯t even grasp her sword steadily.

    Li Kuann nced at the natives outside of the forest. She wanted to kill them all, but she also knew that it wasn¡¯t possible, at least not at the moment. She thus clenched her teeth and left in dissatisfaction.

    Stifled and frustrated, she could only focus on charging forward in anger. Her vision blurred all of a sudden as a person appeared in her way. Without thinking twice, she swung her de at them in her fury. However, that person acted with the speed of lightning, grabbing the de edge and tossing it away conveniently.

    A startled Li Kuann raised her left hand and jabbed at the assant¡¯s throat with two outspread fingers. This move was swift and lethal, a great move for turning the tables. However, her vision blurred again as the person disappeared and, before she could react, appeared behind her. That vampiric de from before was now at her throat.

    Li Kuann never imagined she would lose so quickly. She had only lost once to Qianye after arriving in the Great Maelstrom, but this person certainly wasn¡¯t Qianye.

    Before she could finish thinking, a cold, slippery hand reached through her cor, pulled open the defect in her internal armor, and grabbed at the lump of flesh inside. Then, it pinched her peach blossoms and began twirling it around.

    Li Kuann inhaled deeply.

    Her body became weak and limp.

    She cried out in exasperation, ¡°Ji Tianqing! I¡¯ll never forgive you if you keep messing around!¡±

    A chuckle rang out from behind. ¡°How did you know it was me?¡±

    Li Kuann gnashed her teeth. ¡°Slut, who else but you will do such a thing?¡±

    ¡°Oh my, since you already consider me a slut, I¡¯m obliged to do some vulgar things to you, right?¡± With that, her hands started to move more quickly. Li Kuann went soft at the knees and had no choice but to lean into Ji Tianqing to steady herself.

    ¡°Y-You¡­¡± Li Kuann trembled all over, her eyes filled with cold killing intent. Unfortunately, she was too weak to do anything.

    Ji Tianqing whispered beside her ears, ¡°I¡¯m about to lose control as well. Let me bully you for a bit, or I¡¯ll have to go to Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

    Ji Tianqing made her way forward and her figure transformed from an ordinary-looking man into an unassuming youngdy. ¡°Let it be, he¡¯s yours.¡±

    Li Kuann arranged her clothes and then stared fiercely at Ji Tianqing. ¡°Have you forgotten that you have a share, too? You can also have my share, you¡¯re wee.¡±

    Ji Tianqing stretchedzily, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t want it! It¡¯s not interesting to eat leftovers.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fresh and unused.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s gonna believe you?¡±

    ¡°Believe what you will.¡±

    Their conversation thus fell into an impasse. Ji Tianqing walked around Li Kuann, observing her, while thetter maintained her icy poker face.

    Ji Tianqing finally raised her hand in surrender. ¡°Really? Nothing happened between you two?¡±

    ¡°No, do you want me to swear on the Li family ancestors?¡± Li Kuann said with a wooden expression.

    Ji Tianqing understood the seriousness of these words. Swearing upon the ancestors was the most solemn ceremony for ns cultivating divination arts. It would seem Li Kuann was truly angry and might really fight to the death if she were agitated further.

    Ji Tianqing pursed her lips. ¡°Just kidding, why so serious?¡±

    ¡°Your jokes were never funny.¡±

    ¡°Fine, then I¡¯ll stop. Do you not n to take a look at Qianye? He¡¯s been coughing up blood for a while now.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Shocked, Li Kuann looked around and flew off in the direction of Qianye¡¯s aura.

    Qianye was behind an ancient tree, down on one knee, and leaning on East Peak for support. He was coughing repeatedly and hurling a mouthful of dark purple blood each time. The fluid had already umted into a small pool on the ground.

    Li Kuann arrived beside Qianye. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Her voice was somewhat trembling, and her cold expression could no longer hide the concern in her heart.

    Qianye looked up with a forced smile. ¡°I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just... it¡¯s just¡­¡± He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when he started coughing blood yet again.

    Li Kuann¡¯s lips parted, but seemingly sensing something, decided not to say it out loud in the end. All she did was watch Qianye in silence. The hand she had on the ground had unknowingly dug into the rock-hard soil.

    Qianye¡¯s cough finally eased up. He said with an apologetic smile, ¡°I¡¯m really fine. It was so filling just now that I almost couldn¡¯t handle it. Now I feel better after coughing the blood out.¡±

    Li Kuann somewhat understood but somewhat didn¡¯t. However, she finally felt relieved now that Qianye was stable and his aura was climbing back up. Besides, she had watched the entirety of the battle just now and didn¡¯t really see Qianye take any damage. With how strong his body was, it would be quite difficult for a couple of natives to injure him.

    Qianye wiped away the blood from his mouth. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t stay too long here, let¡¯s move.¡±

    Li Kuann stood up with a nod. She then looked back at Ji Tianqing and said, ¡°You must be quite familiar with this area, do you have a ce to stay?¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    The three ran swiftly through the trees and soon left the forest, following Ji Tianqing¡¯s lead up a rocky mountain top. There was a natural crater at the summit, preventing people from seeing them even from a treetop. Ji Tianqing had set up a small tent here and a campfire. There were also some storage crates nearby with meat, mushrooms, and fruits. There was also a basin of clear water nearby. Everything here was tidy and well-organized.

    Ji Tianqing spread out the bark and hay bedding, making enough space for three people to squeeze onto. ¡°Here it is. We¡¯ll just have to make do in this ursed ce.¡±

    Li Kuann walked over to the naturally-formed stone wall and looked out at their surroundings. She then picked up an origin gun Ji Tianqing had left lying around. ¡°Are guns usable here?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°Who knows? I¡¯ve never tried. I only put it here just in case.¡±

    Li Kuann sized Ji Tianqing up from head to toe, and then stretched out her hand. ¡°Give me!¡±

    Ji Tianqing took a step back. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Stop pretending! Give me the spare clothes you prepared!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any!¡± Ji Tianqing replied quickly.

    Li Kuann sneered. ¡°Everyone knows you have spatial equipment. There¡¯s no way you don¡¯t have a change of clothes.¡±

    ¡°I do have it, but there¡¯s only one set. Who would stuff a stack of clothes in their spatial gear?¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine, hand it over.¡±

    ¡°Why must I? Can you even defeat me?¡± Ji Tianqing provoked.

    Li Kaunnughed coldly. ¡°Why must I fight personally? Qianye, you fight her!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Qianye had never imagined that this conflict would fall onto his head so quickly. He looked at them with a wronged expression, puzzled as to why he had to fight.

    ¡°Think about the consequences if you don¡¯t obey.¡± Li Kuann issued a tant threat. Her menace seemed fairly empty, but Qianye felt that there were many points where she could threaten him. For instance, he needed to repay the big favors he owed her¡ªthe fight with Zhao Jundu and offering him her internal armor while she herself suffered grave danger inside the spatial passage.

    The most lethal part was that the oue would be unimaginable if she were to tell Nighteye about what had transpired. Nighteye probably wouldn¡¯t bother with Li Kuann, but it was quite possible that she would destroy the Li family.

    Of course, all of this was just Qianye¡¯s spection. Considering the current situation between them, it was more probable that Nighteye would ignore Qianye from then on.

 Chapter 984: Holy Frui

    t

    At the thought of this, Qianyeughed wryly and started walking toward Ji Tianqing.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°What are you trying to do? Qianye, how can you be so disloyal? Are you really going to rob me of my clothes? I¡¯ll scream if youe near me!¡±

    Li Kuann sneered, ¡°Go ahead! Let¡¯s see who runs faster when those nativese.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s sword arts focused on speed to im victory. This was a talent she was most proud of, and even Qianye might not be her match without Spatial sh.

    Between the three, Ji Tianqing was probably a bit weaker in terms of speed. But she wasn¡¯t that easily provoked, either. She sized up Li Kuann with an evil expression, saying, ¡°I have a lot of ways to make you run slower. I see you haven¡¯t been doing well the past few days, want me to call a few natives over?¡±

    Li Kuann recalled the way she was assaulted just now. Embarrassed and angry, she shouted, ¡°Qianye, what are you waiting for!? Restrain this damnss and I¡¯ll let you see her real appearance.¡±

    Qianye walked forward unwillingly at Li Kuann¡¯s urging. ¡°Tianqing, just give her a set of clothes if you have extra. I don¡¯t want to do this.¡±

    Ji Tianqing snorted. ¡°You speak as if you can win.¡±

    This problem wasn¡¯t easy to reply to. ¡°That might not be a certainty outside of the Great Maelstrom.¡± What he meant to say was that he would surely win here. This wasn¡¯t meaningless boasting because, despite her power, Ji Tianqing mostly relied on secret arts. Her constitution was more or less the same as Li Kuann¡¯s. Qianye, on the other hand, was like a fish in water due to his powerful body. His strength advantage was too great for her secret arts to make up for.

    Qianye¡¯s words woke Ji Tianqing up to this reality. Shrugging, she puffed her chest out, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t have extra clothes, you can search if you want.¡±

    Now that made things difficult for Qianye. He naturally would need to search closely if he wanted to be thorough, but Ji Tianqing was a girl. There was no way he could do that! The recent skinship with Li Kuann was already enough trouble for him. He didn¡¯t want to double the distress.

    Li Kuann sneered, ¡°What are you afraid of? Search every corner of her body. I want to see if she dares to let you.¡±

    As expected, Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression became unnatural.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to fall for this trick, however. ¡°I really can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Then press her down for me, I¡¯ll do it!¡± Li Kuann folded her sleeves, making ready to do the dirty work.

    Ji Tianqing slid forward, circling around Qianye and dodging Li Kuann¡¯s demonic ws. ¡°I really don¡¯t have clothes! The one on my body is my spare set. My original clothes were destroyed in the passage. I don¡¯t have a treasured armor as you do. How can ordinary clothesst in there?¡±

    Li Kuann stopped after realizing that she was speaking the truth. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t havee here.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was surprised. She sighed momentster, saying, ¡°It¡¯s toote now that you¡¯ve arrived here. Besides, who knew this world would be like this? Did we have a choice? Are you willing to resign to fate and marry someone you don¡¯t like?¡±

    Li Kuann said coldly, ¡°Why must I marry? I had no intention of marrying since the moment I took up men¡¯s clothing. Eh!?¡±

    She hadn¡¯t finished speaking when Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands started assaulting her chest, causing her entire body to grow weak. Although nothing could be discerned on the surface, all three of them were experts who could see the situation from tiny clues. It wasn¡¯t hard for everyone to see what had happened just by looking at her unnatural expression and movements.

    Having lost much of her dignity, Li Kuann no longer dared to utter fierce words. All she did was stare angrily at Ji Tianqing.

    Thetter stuck out her tongue as she pulled back her hands. She then stood aside in an orderly fashion, almost as though nothing had happened just now.

    Li Kuann knew she could do nothing against her. Without Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace, she wasn¡¯t Ji Tianqing¡¯s match even if she were at her peak. Eighty percent of her power relied on her sword techniques, unlike Ji Tianqing who possessed numerous secret arts and could use any weapon in reach.

    Li Kuann sighed. ¡°No matter what, I won¡¯t ept the family¡¯s arrangement. Besides, what can a marriage even bring? Are our own values really that high?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied calmly, ¡°Who says it¡¯ll bring nothing? Our fate will never change unless a female Heavenly Monarch appears in the Empire. The higher our cultivation, the greater our value. Some major character is bound to be interested in us one day. Just like your sister, she ultimately had to enter the pce, no matter how proud of a character she was back then.¡±

    Li Kuann remained silent because she knew Ji Tianqing spoke the truth. Women were still dependent on men to a certain degree; the only difference was how much. The stronger one was, the more independent they could afford to be¡ªeven that was only switching from one form of helplessness to the next.

    Naturally, there were conflicts in every generation and dynasty, as well as people who seeded and those who failed. For instance, Li Kuann¡¯s male attire, Ji Tianqing¡¯s constant disguise, and even Zhao Yuying¡¯s unrestrained manners were a form of rebellion. Despite that, the greater picture had never changed.

    Evernight, on the contrary, was much better in this regard. Only the female werewolves were rtively more vulnerable. The vampire and demonkin treated both genders equally, and the role of females was somewhat greater among ordinary arachne. Due to the presence of the Queen of the Night, the entire Evernight world treated women on the same level as men.

    In the empire, however,dies of noble birth had no way to change their fate. As Ji Tianqing said, the only way out was for a female heavenly monarch to appear. Without this achievement, women would always be inferior to men and equality would ultimately be limited to the surface.

    It was just that talented geniuses like Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing weren¡¯t willing to submit to fate.

    After listening for a good while, Qianye couldn¡¯t help butment. ¡°Just pick someone you like, how hard is that?¡±

    To his surprise, both Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann turned around to re at him. ¡°Shut up, you!¡±

    Bewildered, Qianye raised his hand in defeat. He sat down to the side and began cultivating with his eyes closed. Ji Tianqing dragged Li Kuann to the side. ¡°What are you going to do about that?¡±

    ¡°What else can I do? Since Sister asked me toe here, I¡¯m sure she has a way to solve the problem. No need to worry.¡±

    ¡°That might not be certain. It¡¯s fine if that person isn¡¯t adamant, but even your sister might not be able to stop him if he¡¯s truly angry. In the end, she¡¯ll have to give you up.¡±

    ¡°So what if he¡¯s angry? Why must I be afraid? Besides, he¡¯ll be the one losing face if he does that¡­¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t what you said back in the year, I remember you said¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    The two walked toward the far end, whispering like sisters who had known each other for many years. If it wasn¡¯t for their history of fighting, both openly and in secret, one would think their rtionship was just that good.

    Qianye was finding it increasingly difficult to understand women. It was better to leave such things to professionals like Song Zining.

    Night fell in the blink of an eye. Qianye concluded his training and stood up feelingpletely different from before. Li Kuann said in astonishment, ¡°Your injuries have healed so quickly?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It wasn¡¯t serious.¡±

    He had used Life Plunder while saving Ji Tianqing, killing over twenty natives in one go. However, the true purpose of this move wasn¡¯t to kill. Therge amounts of drained essence blood filled him up to the point of explosion, injuring him significantly. Qianye had vomited most of the extra blood in the forest, so his internal injuries healed quickly after cultivating for a while.

    Qianye nced at the sky and found that twilight was nigh. He thus lit up the campfire and started roasting some meat. His skill in grilling was much better than Li Kuann, so much so that Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t stop praising him. The real challenge arrived after dinner¡ªit was nightfall.

    Qianye was drowned in worry, but the other two kept on chatting as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

    ¡°Tianqing, how long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°Three days, including today.¡±

    Li Kuann gave it some thought. ¡°Mm, then we arrived at more or less the same time. How was it? Any danger?¡±

    At this point, Ji Tianqing started gnashing her teeth. ¡°That damned passage destroyed most of my clothes, and guess what, I dropped straight into a group of those bastards!¡±

    Li Kuann was shocked. ¡°Were you okay?¡±

    Ji Tianqing rolled her eyes. ¡°Of course! I stomped several of them to death just from thending, and pped the remainder to death. These bastards aren¡¯t powerful at all, just a bit stronger and more durable. But they¡¯re really disgusting!¡±

    It would seem she was quite lucky to have a group of natives break her high-gravity fall. That was why she was rtively unharmed, unlike Li Kuann who had fallen straight to the ground. She would¡¯ve turned into a skeleton by now if it wasn¡¯t for Qianye.

    ¡°Then how did you pass the three days?¡± Li Kuann arrived at the critical topic.

    Ji Tianqing blushed slightly. ¡°This ursed ce is really strange, none of our predecessors have mentioned it at all. It¡¯s alright in the daytime since I can suppress my urges with the Iceheart Prison Secret Art, but the nights have been extremely difficult.¡±

    ¡°How did you get through the night?¡±

    Ji Tianqing produced three white fruits, saying, ¡°I rely on them. Eating them will speed up the cirction and activate one¡¯s vitality. That and channeling my arts were barely enough to get me through the night.¡±

    It was that simple? Li Kuann and Qianye nced at one another, and then at the unassuming white fruit. They were ovee by an inexplicable feeling for a while.

    Qianye felt great regret. Li Kuann¡¯s eyes were shifting about, and no one knew what she was thinking.

    Ji Tianqing was quite generous. She gave the other two fruits to Qianye and Li Kuann, saying, ¡°Eat it now. It¡¯ll take a while for the effects to kick in.¡±

    Qianye ced the white fruit in his mouth and felt a sour, fishy taste wash over his pte. It definitely wasn¡¯t tasty. The fruit would turn into liquid with each bite¡ªthere were no stones, and neither did they leave any residue. After eating the fruit, Qianye couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that he had tasted this somewhere but couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it.

    After everyone had finished their fruit, Li Kuann asked, ¡°Is this fruitmon? Let¡¯s go pick more of them tomorrow.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said expressionlessly, ¡°These things are the four-armed natives¡¯ holy fruit. I¡¯ve robbed them clean already, and we just ate thest three.¡±

 Chapter 985: Pillar to the Sky

    ¡°Thest three?¡± Li Kuann came to only after a long while. It felt as though her heart had been flung into the air, and then dropped into an abyss¡ªyet she couldn¡¯t help but feel a tiny shred of joy that she didn¡¯t want to admit to.

    ¡°Yes, thest three,¡± Ji Tianqing said calmly.

    ¡°Are there any ces where we can find more?¡±

    Ji Tianqing shook her head. ¡°Just picking a couple of fruits was enough for them to react as though their parents had been robbed. From that alone, we can see that they don¡¯t have a lot of them. They were like mad dogs, so I had to cut down the tree in order to escape.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. With the tree chopped down, there was apparently no more white fruit to be had.

    ¡°Why were you at theirir again?¡±

    ¡°I went to see if there were other good stuff. I unexpectedly slipped up and rmed their sentries. If you guys hadn¡¯t arrived, I would¡¯ve be their ything.¡± With that, Ji Tianqing produced an origin grenade and tossed it up and down in her hand.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t quite figured things out, but Li Kuann¡¯s expression shifted drastically upon seeing the dark golden grenade and the golden insignia upon it. ¡°Put it away! You might want to y, but I don¡¯t want to die with you!¡±

    Ji Tianqingughed out loud as she tossed the grenade high into the air. Only upon seeing Li Kuann¡¯s murderous expression did she put the grenade into her spatial storage.

    ¡°What¡¯s special about that thing?¡± Qianye asked humbly.

    Li Kuann red at Ji Tianqing before exining, ¡°This dark red hand grenade is made of a special alloy that can retain a heavenly monarch¡¯s origin power. The insignia on it belongs to the Pointer Monarch, meaning that the power sealed inside originates from him. An explosion brought about by the grenade is equal to a casual strike from the heavenly monarch.¡±

    Qianye instantly figured out why Li Kuann was so nervous. No matter how special the material, containing a heavenly monarch¡¯s power was probably something they could barely do. The grenade might even explode with a slight touch, and things would get interesting. Even Qianye might not survive after taking a blow from the Pointer Monarch. Li Kuann would die for sure. Only Ji Tianqing, with her numerous secret treasures, might be able to survive.

    Laughing mischievously, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that one¡¯s fake. I have too many of such things.¡± While saying that, she produced four more dark red hand grenades.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed rapidly as he stared at one of them, not daring to move a muscle. Within it, he could feel an earth-shattering power pulsing ever so gently, and filling him with the urge to escape.

    Ji Tianqing pouted. ¡°Your eyesight is too good, this isn¡¯t fun.¡± She then put all the fake grenades away.

    This mixture of true and false grenades might not be useful against ordinary people, but they were highly deterrent against experts. Those who recognized the explosive would run away immediately, but Ji Tianqing would likely catch the openings produced during the escape. Revealing weakness before her meant defeat.

    It could be said that this thing in her hand could put all experts at the same level at a severe disadvantage. Even if the power sealed inside of the grenade was merely a finger flick from the Pointer Monarch, no one was willing to be flicked by the strongest expert of the human race.

    What Qianye could figure out, Li Kuann could. too. Livid, she immediately said through clenched teeth, ¡°You lowlife! Are you nning to use that on me? No wonder you were willing to bet such a big amount!¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a regretful expression, ¡°Would¡¯ve fought you earlier if I had known the Great Maelstrom passage would open. I told you that you can¡¯t beat me, you just won¡¯t believe me.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel no shame using that kind of thing?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied as though nothing was wrong, ¡°What¡¯s there to be ashamed about? You can get one too if you have the ability.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Li Kuann was so angry that she couldn¡¯t speak.

    She wouldn¡¯t be in such a miserable state if she could get her hands on such a killer weapon. After a period of frustrating silence, she said, ¡°I¡¯ll deal with you after bing a heavenly monarch!¡±

    This level of weapon was highly effective against those below the divine champion realm, but it wasn¡¯t that strong against those at or above. At the very least, they wouldn¡¯t feel the need to turn and run upon seeing the dark red grenade. She had no Eye of Truth to tell her which one was real.

    The sky had turned dark at this point. The three gradually felt their consciousness slowing down, and they quickly lost the mood to y around. No one would be in the mood without enough vitality.

    Qianye felt his body gradually warming up, and it was inexplicablyfortable. His body recovered its energy and even his pulse rate was a bit faster than normal. All of his pores were rxed and open, almost as though he had eaten his fill and was soaking in warm water. The dark golden blood energy was abnormally active as it shuttled in and out of his blood core.

    In this half-asleep state, Li Kuann¡¯s powerful body appeared in his eyes once more. Every detail of her figure was clear, vivid, and full of berserk energy. His body began to react all of a sudden, and a pir rose into the sky.

    Qianye was caught unprepared. He tried to restrain his thoughts, but the body wasn¡¯t about to listen to him. The three of them were facing one another as they sat in a circle, cultivating, so it would be quite an embarrassment if he were to be seen. Although he and Li Kuann had already been extremely intimate, he just couldn¡¯t get over this hurdle¡ªnot to mention the presence of Ji Tianqing.

    He tried fairly hard, but he still couldn¡¯t suppress the abnormality down there. All he could do was pretend nothing was going on as he observed the two girls, hoping they wouldn¡¯t notice.

    Li Kuann seemed abnormal¡ªher breathing was coarse, and there was sweat on her nose. Qianye knew her all too well, enough to realize that she was aroused again. She had her eyes closed at first, but sensing Qianye¡¯s attention, she opened her eyes and red at him.

    Ji Tianqing seemedpletely motionless, but Qianye saw that the origin power flowing on her body was sparse and chaotic. This origin power was used to maintain her constantly shifting external appearance. Now that it was in a mess, her appearance seemed somewhat blurry and fluctuant. It would seem she wasn¡¯tpletely fine, either.

    Qianye knew that this was rted to the white fruit they had ingested. Apparently, the fruit not only activated their vitality but also served as an aphrodisiac.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s instinctive urges grew stronger and stronger. They assaulted his reasoning like a series of tidal waves, filling him with an urge to pounce toward the two girls. It might be fine with Ji Tianqing, but Li Kuann probably wouldn¡¯t resist¡ªthis made it even more enticing for Qianye. Additionally, some weird ideas popped up in his head. He felt that things would be even more exciting with Ji Tianqing watching on the side.

    Even though Qianye suppressed the urges as much as he could, all kinds of fantasies kept pouring into his head. The thought of Ji Tianqing also elicited numerous unsurpassable thoughts. For instance, what her true appearance and figure was like, if she was as hot as Li Kuann, etc.

    At this rate, things would eventually be unsalvageable. It just so happened that Li Kuann squirmed about at this point, reminding Qianye of the intimate contact they had shared the past few days.

    A plume of fire suddenly lit up between the three of them, flickering with a scarlet glow that lit up Qianye¡¯s fluctuating countenance. This was the me of Venus Dawn¡ªit expelled a bit of the cold and burned away some of the desire between the three of them. It wasn¡¯t a lot of help, but it was better than nothing.

    This was Qianye¡¯s final struggle. If this failed, he would have to leave this ce temporarily and return only after midnight.

    Fortunately, the cold of the night gradually suppressed the medicinal effects of the white fruit, and the three of them stabilized. Their vitality was wilting, but their primal urges were diminishing at a much slower rate. Qianye was like a keg of gunpowder that would explode at the first sign of a spark. It could be said that the white fruit¡¯s primary function was a peerless aphrodisiac, and the vitality activation was just a supplementary effect.

    As their instinctive urges slowed down, Qianye finally remembered where he had smelled the fruit before¡ªit was extremely simr to the white mist scattered by the four-armed woman. In terms of effectiveness, the white mist was iparable to the white fruit. The desire brought about by the mist could be resisted even during the daytime, but Qianye couldn¡¯t quite resist the white fruit¡¯s medicinal effects at night. It would seem the holy fruit of the four-armed people lived up to its name.

    Qianye was quite curious about how Ji Tianqing had discovered the effects of this fruit and learned to use it for the cold night?

    Despite that, it wasn¡¯t time to study this issue. Midnight was closing in, and the cold hadpletely suppressed the effects of the fruit. Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing channeled their secret arts to endure the chill. Li Kuann seemed quite strained, and Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t having an easy time either. But it would seem the former wasn¡¯t too keen on using their old method to get through the night, not with Ji Tianqing around.

    Qianye said, ¡°Sit beside me, rx, and don¡¯t resist.¡±

    Li Kuann duly moved to Qianye¡¯s side. Ji Tianqing hesitated for a moment but also moved over in the end. The trio was sitting so close that their knees were almost touching one another.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core started to beat, guiding Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing along with each pulsation. The assistance lessened their burden quite a bit. They, in turn, activated their secret arts to support Qianye and lessen his struggle.

    Midnight passed by after a good while, and the chill gradually started to recede. The three of them made good use of the time to start cultivating. It was currently the best time to train, and they simply couldn¡¯t miss it. Within the dangerous Maelstrom, every little bit of extra cultivation would count toward their survival.

    Just as dawn arrived, Qianye exhaled a white misty breath as he concluded his cultivation. The training session was highly beneficial¡ªhis Glory Chapter was now working a bit faster than before, and his fifth origin vortex was almost full. At this rate, he would be able to open up his sixth vortex in another ten days.

    Qianye came to the conclusion that the Song n Ancient Scroll worked best inside the Great Maelstrom because they relied on vortex power to condense origin power. Perhaps the person who wrote the scroll had used the worldly power of the Great Maelstrom to invent the Glory and Mystery chapters. No matter what, it was undeniable that this ce was a cultivation heaven for Qianye.

    Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing also gained much after a night of cultivation.

    All three of them were now facing a new problem, yet none of them wanted to mention it. Now that they had run out of white fruits, what would they do?

 Chapter 986: Re-entering the Stone Castle

    It wasn¡¯t entirely bright just yet when the three left their camp and ran back to the stone castle. They didn¡¯t dare to waste time as theck of white fruits weighed on their hearts like a heavy stone. Although Ji Tianqing had no idea how Qianye and Li Kuann had gotten through the cold nights, it was still a fact that Qianye couldn¡¯t carry the both of them.

    They would need to find a substitute for the white fruit before nightfall, even if it was weaker in effect. Their ultimate target was naturally the four-armed natives¡¯ castle. The trio thus returned to the castle, hoping to take it down if they could, and see what those natives were hiding. At least, they would need to figure out how they were getting through the cold nights. A sturdy physique alone wasn¡¯t enough to exin this. Rare experts like Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing¡ªno matter how physically weak they were¡ªcouldn¡¯t be weaker than these low-level natives.

    Momentster, the three arrived near the castle and began to observe the ce in hiding. Actually, there was really nothing to see inside the stone castle. It was just as messy as before with arge number of natives either moving about or mating. It was as though they had no other word in their dictionary apart from eating and mating.

    After a while, Li Kuann said impatiently, ¡°What¡¯s the point of this? We should just kill off these disgusting bastards.¡±

    Ji Tianqing chimed in, ¡°Why don¡¯t I toss that grenade into the ce? That ought to clear out everything.¡±

    Qianye stopped them with a wry smile. ¡°It¡¯ll clear out everything, sure, but we can also forget about getting anything from them.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you say we do?¡± Ji Tianqing had also started to lose her patience.

    Qianye found this to be a bit odd. These two were normally calm and intelligent people who would rarely get confused in the face of important matters. Why were they being so impatient now? It was easier to exin for Li Kuann¡ªall that she had gone through recently had worn out her mental defenses. Then why was Ji Tianqing so restless?

    Experts of their level could easily figure things out from small clues. Restlessness was an early sign of their urges escaping control.

    In fact, all the natives in the stone castle could be easily dealt with. The true difficultyy in the white mist produced by the four-armed people. Just one full breath would cause one to lose all control. Qianye was quite confident about killing everyone in the stone castle with Life Plunder before losing his senses, but there was still Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann nearby. He was fairly clear as to what would happen afterward.

    Perhaps it was just as Li Kuann had said¡ªlosing control was something that would happen sooner orter, that Qianye was just waiting for an excuse that would give him relief. For Qianye, he was willing to use every ounce of strength to ensure that the feeling in his heart was pure and perfect. Nighteye was his wife and his home, even though it was only before her awakening.

    Even if he were to truly lose control, having an excuse was better than having none.

    Seeing that he couldn¡¯t quite rely on Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann, Qianye felt that he would have to find a way on his own. He fished out Heartgrave and made ready to snipe the four-armed sentries on the towers. Unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing stopped him. ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The origin power fluctuation will spread far and wide if you fire in the daytime. Almost like lighting a torch in the dark night, it¡¯ll draw out all the wild beasts in our direction. Not to mention your gun is so powerful that it¡¯s like a volcanic eruption. We¡¯ll have to start running after you fire.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t expecting something like this. It would seem Ji Tianqing had already learned the hard way, so he could only put away Heartgrave helplessly. With such a powerful sniper in hand, how could he have prepared a bow and arrow?

    But he was highly experienced inbat, especially field battles. In the blink of an eye, Qianye had devised a new n.

    He jumped out of his hiding ce and ran past the castle gates, attracting the attention of the native soldiers. He then turned around and fled toward the woods with more than a dozen soldiers chasing after him.

    Once inside the forest, these natives fell to Li Kuann¡¯s sharp des.

    They rushed past her helplessly and turned into corpses.

    After clearing away this group of natives, he went back to lure more natives out of the stone keep. He was prepared to gradually whittle away at the natives in this manner. However, Ji Tianqing dragged Qianye back, saying, ¡°Let her go.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s face turned red as she red fiercely at Ji Tianqing, but she didn¡¯t object. Hence, Qianye could only produce East Peak and take over interception duty.

    Momentster, Li Kuann returned like a wisp of smoke, followed by a hundred-strong crowd of natives! There were two strong four-armed males in the group, and their speed was actually no slower than Li Kuann¡¯s. They followed close on her heels and almost managed to capture her.

    Greatly rmed, Qianye rushed out of the forest and into the group of natives. Life Plunder erupted in a split second, mowing down most of the natives in one go.

    The two four-armed natives followed Li Kuann into the forest, but all of a sudden, they were dragged upward and suspended therein. Ji Tianqing was holding a near-translucent string in her hand, the other end of which was tied to the necks of the four-armed males. She jerked fiercely on the line, and the captives¡¯ heads flew high in a gush of blood.

    With the four-armed natives dead, there was nothing left to fear. Ji Tianqing punched left and right, felling the rest with rtive ease.

    A deathly pale Li Kuann turned back at this point. Apparently, she was fairly shocked by the ordeal, not because she was afraid of death, but rather of falling into the natives¡¯ hands. She nced at Ji Tianqing unhappily, but thetter said, ¡°It¡¯s fine, they won¡¯t catch you if you focus on escaping.¡±

    Li Kuann uttered in a cold voice, ¡°That means you knew they were fast, right?¡±

    Ji Tianqing blinked innocently. ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡±

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t about to fall for that. She had known Ji Tianqing for a fair length of time and fought her on many asions. There was no way she wouldn¡¯t know how fast the four-armed men were.

    Seeing Li Kuann¡¯s skepticism, Ji Tianqing added, ¡°I really didn¡¯t know. I think those two were just especially fast. Even if they catch you, we¡¯ll be sure toe and save you!¡±

    Li Kuann snorted with an ashen face, and then fell into silence. Those natives were so eager to mate that they could even throw away their lives¡ªbeing pressed down by them for just a couple of seconds was probably enough to suffer unbearable humiliation. It was likely that Ji Tianqing had long since calcted the rtive speed between the two parties and set this up to frighten Li Kuann. The problem was that she was really shocked by the ordeal. How was she to hold her head up before Ji Tianqing after leaving the Great Maelstrom?

    Li Kuann believed that Ji Tianqing would be just as scared if the same thing were to happen to her. Unfortunately, the former had been too focused on the sword¡ªshe only believed in subduing people by force and was fairly weak in terms of strategy. It wasn¡¯t quite possible even if she wanted to trick Ji Tianqing in retaliation. Thetter was odd, clever, and possessed many tricks up her sleeve. Song Zining was probably the only one who could scheme against her.

    At the thought of Song Zining, Li Kuann fell into a moment of contemtion.

    The twodies had forgotten about Qianye as they engaged in a silent war. He was currently supporting himself up with his sword, fending off attacks from several two-armed natives. He looked perfectly fine on the outside, but he felt extremely bloated and almost bursting at the seams. He couldn¡¯t evade in time due to his sluggish movements and was stabbed by a bone dagger.

    Even though it was only an attack from a two-armed native, the strike pierced through his armor and into his body. It left a bone-deep gash with blood spraying out from within it.

    The injury and bleed actually relieved Qianye of his tension. He immediately pounced at that native, grabbed him by the neck, and then broke it using the momentum of his body and movement. Qianye proceeded to engage in a series of melee battles to kill off the remaining natives. He didn¡¯t dare linger in the open for long¡ªhe charged swiftly into the forest and coughed up a mouthful of ck blood as soon as he was inside.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare refine more essence blood at this point. As such, Life Plunder became a double-edged sword that would hurt both the enemy and himself when used on arge scale.

    Although Qianye was injured, the other two were still perfectly fine, and half of the warriors in the stone keep had been destroyed. There was still a sizable number of people left in the castle, but most of them were the weaker two-armed natives. Less than ten four-armed men and women remained, and the strongest two had died in Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands. Hence, after some discussion, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann left Qianye in the forest to recuperate while they continued their previous strategy of luring people out to kill them.

    These natives only had reproduction in their brains. Despite the great loss just now, they still sent out a group to chase after her. It was just that the group was much smaller, this time, consisting only of two four-armed women and around thirty two-armed natives. This lineup was a walk in the park for the twodies. They had no intention of showing mercy as they attacked with renewed ferocity. Communication was out of the question, anyway, so there was no need to leave survivors.

    After another round of losses, the natives finally learned to be smarter. When Li Kuann appeared again, this time, none of them gave chase. But Ji Tianqing had an idea¡ªshe changed Li Kuann¡¯s appearance and hair, which allowed thetter to lure another group of natives out. It would seem their intelligence was highly limited.

    After this wave, however, the baiting no longer worked. No matter how Ji Tianqing changed Li Kuann¡¯s appearance, the natives simply wouldn¡¯te out. This was also because most of the stronger ones in the keep had been killed.

    Qianye had also recovered a fair bit at this point, so the trio proceeded to assail the stone keep and finish off the remaining sentries. The old and weak inside the castle poured out of the gates and scattered in all directions, but Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered with killing them all. He decided to seize the time and explore the castle with the two girls.

    The interior of the castle was unbearably messy, with trash and sewage everywhere. Just as they had seen from the outside, there were all kinds of weeds and grass growing amidst the piles of stone. The odd thing was that there was actually no strange odor despite the chaotic mess. It could be assumed that the cold night made it impossible for the trash to dpose.

    There were huts all along the castle wall for the two-armed people to stay. The simple structures were mostly made of dried grass and mud, and a good number of them were either cracked or copsed. There was really nothing of value inside them apart from the firece and some straw-woven articles. From their previous observation, it would seem that the two-armed people had no fixed partner or family, and neither did they have a rank distinction. They would mate anytime with anyone. The strong warriors held no significant advantage over the old and weak.

    The center of the keep was where the four-armed people lived, and that was where Ji Tianqing had stolen the white fruit.

 Chapter 987: Mutual Restrain

    t

    The stone residences of the four-armed people were tall, square, and had a hint of primitive charm to them. Different materials were used in the wall, but they were meticulously polished until the wall-surface was fairly even.

    Qianye walked into one of them and found, to his surprise, that the interior was quite tidy. There wererge, neatly-cut stone bs on the walls, and the room came with a bed, table, and storage cabs of items and weapons. There were two giant lion heads hanging over the entrance to the room, trophies tomemorate heroic aplishments.

    There was nothing to write home about the armor and weapons in the house. Of course, they would still hold a fair bit of value if brought out of the Great Maelstrom.

    Qianye entered the next stone house, but the interior was exactly the same¡ªdown to the weapons and armor. It was the same for the others as well. It would seem these stone houses were more barracks than residences. It was just that they were reserved for higher-ranking officers.

    Among the dozens of stone houses, two were especially big and divided into two rooms. There was a pile of leather paper in the outer room with scribbles and diagrams upon them¡ªwho knew what sort of ursed things were recorded upon them? The inner room was filled with stored food in addition to daily use items and weapons. The innards and ws of different animals might be extremely delectable to the natives, but it only filled Qianye with disgust.

    There were a couple of sealed jars within therger stone houses. Qianye held his breath and surrounded his body in sanguine mes as he opened the lid, immediately filling the room with an indescribable fishy odor. Just a whiff of it sent Qianye¡¯s blood into an elerated flow¡ªhis desires surged and he wanted nothing more than to grab the twodies.

    He quickly sealed the jar and used the sanguine mes to burn the odor away before he dared to breathe normally. Fortunately, only Qianye was able to do such exploration work, so Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were left to watch the exterior. Otherwise, it would be even more trouble if they were to smell it.

    After a moment, Qianye called them in, ¡°The things sealed inside are probably rted to the white fruit. They can elerate the blood-flow, but using them will be a bit troublesome. Just a whiff of it and I almost lost control of my urges.¡±

    Ji Tianqing produced a long needle and poked it into the sealed jar. She then observed the color of the drawn material and sniffed at it. ¡°It definitely contains the white fruit and a number of other ingredients. If my guess is correct, this is probably their aphrodisiac wine.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for? Destroy it,¡± Li Kuann said. She was full of hatred for these things.

    However, Qianye and Ji Tianqing objected to this course of action. Qianye carefully picked up the jars and put them into Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. Ji Tianqing¡¯s storage space was much smaller, but she also stored two jars. These things might be able to save their lives if worsees to worst, and in their current situation, the price was fairly eptable.

    At the thought of it, Li Kuann had a sudden thought. She went to pick up one of the jars and realized, to her embarrassment, that she didn¡¯t have any spatial equipment.

    When Qianye saw this, he quietly picked up the jar from her grasp and put it in Andruil¡¯s Space.

    In addition to the wine, Ji Tianqing also studied the innards, bones, and ws for a fairly long time. There were treasures everywhere in the Great Maelstrom¡ªsince the natives had carefully collected these things, there was no telling if there were priceless objects among them. After a good while, though, Ji Tianqing still couldn¡¯t figure anything out. Storage space was highly valuable, so she couldn¡¯t just fill it with objects of unknown significance.

    Qianye, on the other hand, found a bowl-sized bone that contained an explosive amount of origin power. He put it away in passing, hoping to observe it slowlyter on.

    After sweeping through the stone houses, only the small clearing remained to be explored. There was a small circr space at the center of the stone houses, popted with all sorts of fruits and vegetable nts. There was also a muddy well standing beside it.

    A small tree had been fenced off independently in the opening, indicating its importance to the natives. ording to Ji Tianqing, this was the white fruit tree, but only half a trunk remained now¡ªit was her work, naturally.

    With how miraculous the white fruit¡¯s effects were, the tree would probably be a treasure if brought back to the empire. However, transnting it would be a fairly difficult endeavor, so Qianye wasn¡¯t too regretful about the situation. The real problem was how they would get through the night.

    Qianye didn¡¯t take the fruits and vegetables in the garden, nor did he touch the cut white fruit tree. None of them knew how to raise or use them. The natives would probably return to the castle after their departure¡ªonly then would they be able to learn how to care for, or even save the white fruit tree.

    Sweeping through the castle did bring about some benefits. For one, they had cleared out the native warriors and removed the threat of the four-armed people. Additionally, they had also obtained that batch of alcohol. The white fruit¡¯s vitality-boosting effect was reduced after being made into wine, but its aphrodisiac effects were increased exponentially. However, the most important thing under the present circumstances was to survive. The alcohol would serve as an extra option when there was no other choice.

    They still had some time, so Qianye brought the two girls into the depths of the forest to continue their exploration. It would seem that the natives had their own territory, but after a wide search, they found that all traces led back to the stone keep. After a long while of exploration, the sky had started to turn dark.

    Feeling quite helpless, the three returned to camp. The next day, they would have to decide whether to explore a different direction or to abandon the camp and expand their search radius.

    The problem was, how would they get through the night?

    ¡­

    At this moment, a massive warship had appeared in the void outside of the neutralnds. Its sharp bow looked both elegant and sinister, and therge thorned-castle insignia on it announced the identity of its owner to all.

    This vampire warship¡ªone even bigger than the imperial motherships¡ªwas the gship of the Lightless Monarch Medanzo.

    Two more giant ships jumped out of the void behind the monarch¡¯s own, and one could see that they all belonged to dukes. Afterward, a dense formation of smaller warships swarmed toward the neutralnds.

    The hundreds of vampire warships mostly wore the insignia of the Drac and Lakins ns. There were also some that belonged to the other old ns.

    The massive vampire warship slowed down at one point in the void as two other fleets approached rapidly from each side. To the left was the arachne fleet, and the leading gship was no smaller than Medanzo¡¯s vessel. Before the fleet had even closed in, a deep voice echoed in the void, ¡°Old friend, we meet again.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s gentle voice replied, ¡°It hasn¡¯t been that long. Compared to our long lives, the bloody battle is just like yesterday. Noxus, what are the arachne queen¡¯s ns?¡±

    The Arachne Warlord Noxus didn¡¯t give a straight reply. ¡°The mighty arachne queen has her own designs, I only came to take a look.¡±

    Medanzo snorted skeptically.

    The arachne and vampire fleets came to a stop, leaving a safe distance between one another. Apparently, neither could trust the other party. The fleet to the right side wasn¡¯t very big, but it arrived rapidly and came to a halt outside of the other fleets¡¯ firing range.

    This action gave the vampires and arachne no relief. Noxus was the first to speak up, ¡°You guys are too close. Either move back or go forward.¡±

    Medanzo said, ¡°The neutralnds aren¡¯t suitable for your race. Are the demonkin prepared to make steep sacrifices?¡±

    A medium-sized warship drove out from the fleet, atop which stood a man in ck battle-robes. There were dark mes flickering around him, distorting everything within its range and hiding his true appearance. He said in a raspy voice, ¡°Even if I want tounch a sneak attack, I¡¯m not a match for yourbined forces. What, are the Great Warlord and Lightless Monarch afraid of me?¡±

    The demonkin warships¡¯ firing range was greater than that of the arachne and vampires. They had also stopped right where they could bombard the other two fleets without suffering retaliatory fire. It was just that the demonkin fleet was on the smaller side, with its biggest vessel barely at the duke level. They had no warship at the level of a great dark monarch¡¯s.

    Comparatively, the arachne and vampires had their own advantage. The former touted powerful defense and endurance. The vampire war vessels, on the other hand, were bnced in every aspect and their pilots were usually more skilled than the other races. That was why Noxus and Medanzo didn¡¯t really view the demonkin as a threat. The arachne warlord had only spoken out because he felt his dignity being threatened.

    After seeing the demonkin, however, the two great monarchs had no choice but to appear in person.

    Medanzo bowed slightly, an apologetic gesture for what he had said earlier. ¡°So it¡¯s His Excellency the Eternal me. What made youe here personally?¡±

    The Eternal me was one of the true bigwigs of the demonkin race, one who had fought Sky Demon alongside Lilith. Back when the Demonkin Emperor was in secluded cultivation, he would appear as the demonkin representative in most cases. In addition to his status, the Eternal me was also a level stronger than Noxus and Medanzo. This was the reason he couldmand thetter¡¯s respect.

    The Eternal me didn¡¯t reciprocate the gesture. ¡°The environment outside the Great Maelstrom doesn¡¯t suit us, but that doesn¡¯t mean the inside is the same. I will make any unsuitable environment suitable.¡±

    Noxus and Medanzo exchanged nces. ¡°Your Excellency, the demonkin were the first to move on the Great Maelstrom passage and the fleet was led by Linken herself. But now, she was defeated by a nameless junior and even lost her warship. It can be said that the reason we lost the passage is because of your race. You were given the chance but failed to take it, so the quotas cannot be changed after we take back the passage.¡±

    The Eternal me sneered, ¡°Even with me around?¡±

    Noxus nced at Medanzo, and after seeing him nod, he said resolutely, ¡°No.¡±

 Chapter 988: The Throne of Blood

    The Eternal me hadn¡¯t expected that he would encounter such a hard-line. After a moment of silence, he raised two fingers. ¡°I want two extra quotas.¡±

    Noxus and Medanzo were surprised at the small demand. Aftermunicating telepathically, the warlord asked, ¡°Do you have demands as to the order of entry for those two quotas?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll decide thatter, all I want are two extra quotas. We can take time to discuss thepensation for them.¡±

    The number one bigwig under the Demon Emperor was merely asking for two extra quotas, and personally, no less. Noxus and Medanzo would have agreed even if there wasn¡¯t anypensation in the equation, let alone with. Considering the Eternal me¡¯s identity, thepensation he was mentioning naturally wouldn¡¯t be small, perhaps worth even more than the two quotas they were supposed to relinquish. Noxus and Medanzo were quite curious as to whom these two quotas would go to.

    But the Eternal me might not reply even if they had asked. ¡°Fine, two quotas it is then.¡±

    The Eternal meughed deeply. ¡°It¡¯s settled then. I¡¯ll go with you to the neutralnds and stay there for three days. That brat on the Throne of Blood shouldn¡¯t do anything disrespectful to me.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression became somewhat unsightly.

    The master of the Throne of Blood was a vampire. With how hierarchal their bloodlines were, he shouldn¡¯t be able to bring out his full power before Medanzo. It should be the Lightless Monarch the throne was most respectful of. Nheless, the truth was that the Lightless Monarch could offer no deterrence against him. He had suffered gravely back in the year and almost fell to the Shattered Moment. Presently, that person had matured even further and the battleground was in the neutralnds¡ªeven Medanzo wouldn¡¯t dare to im he could win.

    Hence, from a certain perspective, the existence of the Throne of Blood was a big humiliation to the vampire race. Fortunately, it was the Evernight alliance that he had defeated back in the year, killing many experts from other races with his Grand Magnum. It just so happened that Lilith was in deep sleep back then, otherwise, the vampire race would¡¯ve mobilized in full force to destroy the Throne of Blood.

    The Eternal me mentioning this matter seemed like he was putting in some effort toward seizing the passage, but he was also mocking Medanzo while he was at it.

    The atmosphere turned disagreeable at the mention of this. The great monarchs returned to their airships, and the three fleets continued on their way toward the neutralnds.

    It was clear that the vampire fleet was the strongest among the three, while the demonkin¡¯s was less than half that on paper. Despite that, the demonkin fleet flew alongside the other two all the time without falling behind in the slightest. In the Evernight world where strengthmanded respect, this was undoubtedly an establishment of the Eternal me¡¯s might. The meaning behind was that he had no fear of fleets even double the size of his own.

    Medanzo¡¯s expression was ashen. All subordinates naturally understood that the monarch was in a bad mood. They each found reasons to hide somewhere far away, lest the man takes his anger out on them. In the blink of an eye, the hall waspletely empty.

    It was at this time that Noxus¡¯ projection appeared in front of him. The arachne warlord was just as distressed. ¡°The demonkin are too overbearing!¡±

    Medanzo said with a gloomy expression, ¡°He¡¯s the Eternal me, and he holds the demonkin Magnum. What are we to do?¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°The Arachne Empress gave strict orders to get as many of the quotas as possible, they¡¯re going to be very important. What did the Queen of the Night say?¡±

    Medanzo replied, ¡°The Great Queen of the Night has been in deep sleep all this time. All she instructed me to do before her slumber was to find the Eye of Control as quickly as I can.¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°That means she¡¯s still brooding over what happened back then.¡±

    Medanzo replied, ¡°He¡¯s disappeared for so many years. He should have died in the depths of the void, right? Otherwise, it¡¯s time for him to return and sleep in the blood pond. Is it really worth spending all these resources on a dead person? Humph, and she¡¯s actually paying more attention to Habsburg, a little bloke who¡¯s just ascended to prince rank.¡±

    Noxus could hear the dissatisfaction in Medanzo¡¯s voice, but he wasn¡¯t willing to step further into this mess of a topic. Every character on the Sacred Mountain possessed indescribably terrifying power. As the youngest warlord of the arachne race, Noxus had no intention of encroaching on such taboos. Medanzo was one of the vampire race¡¯s oldest great dark monarchs. He had lived long enough to dare utter someints.

    Noxus sighed. ¡°No matter what, the Eternal me and his Grand Magnum can indeed suppress us one on one. This is why he¡¯s so arrogant. It wouldn¡¯t be his turn to be so arrogant if we hadn¡¯t forced Andruil away.¡±

    Medanzo snorted with an ugly expression. If one were to discuss the vampire race¡¯s record of shame, the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s disappearance was even superior to the Throne of Blood. Andruil vanishing at the peak of his life was the biggest enigma of the Evernight world. As one of the top characters of the faction, Noxus knew quite a few of these secrets.

    It was now Medanzo¡¯s turn to divert the topic. ¡°Since the Eternal me has suggestedpensation, what do you think we should demand?¡±

    Noxus gave it some thought. ¡°As I see it, arge amount of strategic materials would be suitable, demonic steel, for instance.¡±

    Medanzo agreed. ¡°The amount we ask for will depend on how important those two quotas are to them. I still don¡¯t understand why the Eternal me woulde to the neutralnds just for two quotas.¡±

    After some further discussion, they came to a consensus about how to share thepensation.

    At this point, a vampire viscount said from outside the cabin door, ¡°Your Excellency Lightless Monarch, a warship has appeared to the front, and it looks like a messenger from the Throne of Blood.¡±

    Medanzo nodded. ¡°Openmunication channels and see what they want.¡±

    ¡°I obey, Your Excellency.¡± The viscount left hastily, and Noxus¡¯ projection also disappeared.

    A rather old warship was hovering in the void up ahead. The vessel was pretty big and clumsy, and it had repair-marks all over the body, a ssic trait of the neutralnds. But if one were to underestimate it because of its appearance, they would find themselves taking great losses. In the environment of the neutralnds, such old warships would usually erupt with unbelievable power output, and they were far more reliable than the intricate new vessels of the Empire or Evernight.

    Before the three massive fleets, this lone warship was like a small creature in the face of a pride of lions. But despite the colossal difference in lineup, it remained unafraid.

    An old vampire in ck clothes stood on the deck. This gloomy yet elegant gentleman was the one who had once met Linken.

    ¡°It¡¯s rare for everyone to visit the neutralnds. My master ordered me to wee you here.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s majestic voice echoed in the void, ¡°We¡¯re all here, so why is that brat still not showing himself? He doesn¡¯t think a mere subordinate is qualified to wee us, does he?¡±

    The vampire elder said with a smile, ¡°There¡¯s no way my lord can neglect the great Lightless Monarch and Arachne Warlord. My lord cannot appear just yet, and he will not appear if you do not enter the neutralnds. If you do, however, things might be fairly different.¡±

    The threat in his words was fairly clear. The Throne of Blood didn¡¯t appear because he believed he wasn¡¯t a match for thebined might of Noxus and Medanzo, lest he suffers a pincer sneak attack. But if the two monarchs were to enter the neutralnds, they would face unrestrained retaliation. Noxus and Medanzo might be fine, but none of their subordinates could stand a single shot from the Shattered Moment. Even Medanzo himself would suffer grave injuries if he was caught unaware. It might not be a threat to his life, but his fame would be mostly ruined.

    Additionally, with the Queen of the Night in deep slumber and the Azure Monarch in isted cultivation, Medanzo was the most active great dark monarch. Habsburg was a crowned prince who had received much of Lilith¡¯s favor, but he was still a ways from reaching the next rank. Under such circumstances, Medanzo needed to cherish his assets because the greater his losses, the more people would miss the ck-Winged Monarch.

    Despite his short-lived fame, Andruil had rampaged through almost everyone below the sovereigns of the Sacred Mountain. That pair of ck space-traversing wings was the nightmare of many an expert.

    Now that even Noxus was bringing up old matters, Medanzo couldn¡¯t help but feel restless. The Throne of Blood seemed as though he was backing down, but everyone could see that he was actually threatening the invaders. This angered Medanzo even more. He snorted loudly, saying, ¡°What if I insist on entering the neutralnds?¡±

    The vampire elder said without fear, ¡°My master said that it¡¯s not easy to nurture vampire experts. If you must insist on entry, then the Drac family might very well slip in rank.¡±

    These rude words elicited a furious snort from Medanzo. However, they were in the neutralnds at the moment, and even Noxus might have more tricks up his sleeveparatively. The arachne were born physically strong, and the warlord even more absurdly so. The spider might not die even if he were to just stand there and let the Shattered Moment st him a couple of times.

    It was at this time that a raspy voice echoed in the void, ¡°This seat is called the Eternal me. Go tell your lord that I¡¯m going to be hanging around in the neutralnds for three days.¡±

    ¡°Your Excellency the Eternal me!¡± The vampire elder was clearly shocked. He quickly bowed in the direction of the demonkin warship, saying, ¡°Please wait, I¡¯ll ry your words to the master.¡±

    The etiquette disyed was so much better than with Medanzo.

    Momentster, the old man returned to the deck. ¡°My master says that if you¡¯re only here for three days, he will make an exception for the Eternal me. He hopes Your Excellency will not attack the major powers of the neutralnds.¡±

    The Eternal me said indifferently, ¡°I have no qualms with them if they do note and provoke me.¡±

    The vampire elder hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°The three-day exception only applies to His Excellency the Eternal me. The other two monarchs must not enter the neutralnds.¡±

 Chapter 989: Three Day Plan

    The other two great dark monarchs could ept this restriction, albeit barely. The Eternal me was the wielder of a Grand Magnum, and his own strength was head and shoulders above everyone else. The Throne of Blood would still be at a disadvantage against him, even in the neutralnds. Additionally, the Eternal me only asked for three days. This demand was fairly easy to grant.

    The reasonable request and willingness to ept restraining conditions meant that the Eternal me was also cautious of the throne¡¯s power. He himself might not be afraid, but there were numerous demonkin forces operating in the area. If the two parties were to turn hostile, even he might not be able to guarantee the safety of his kin.

    Shattered Moment was notoriously lethal. Even if the Eternal me were standing nearby, he would have no way to save the target.

    Thus, an agreement was reached. The most uneptable part of this was that Medanzo and Noxus had no idea what the Eternal me would be doing during these three days. Although the arachne and vampires had their own squads infiltrating the neutralnds, who other than the two great dark monarchs would have the power to monitor this demonkin bigwig?

    It would be all too easy for the demonkin to y tricks on them.

    This piqued Medanzo and Noxus¡¯ curiosity even more. Why were the demonkin adamant on the two extra quotas?

    With the agreement reached, the three fleets merged into one and entered the depths of the neutralnd. Meanwhile, the gships belonging to the two great dark monarchs remained at the border, awaiting the results of the operation.

    News of the Evernight alliance¡¯s arrival spread like wildfire. All of a sudden, all powers big and small returned to their bases and stoppeding out. Some unknown source had spread word that a powerful figure of the demonkin race, the Eternal me, had arrived along with the Evernight fleet.

    This news shook all the experts of the neutralnds, stopping all those who otherwise had different ideas. No matter how much restraint the demonkin would face in the neutralnds, no matter how familiar these experts were with the neutralnds, they weren¡¯t a match for a magnum-wielding great dark monarch. No Evernight monarch had stepped so brazenly into the neutralnds since the battle a hundred years ago.

    Many people who were in hiding started cursing and mocking the Throne of Blood. Repelling heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs was a rule established by the Throne of Blood. But why was he afraid now that the Eternal me was here?

    These people had forgotten that it was this very person who had appeared during the darkest moments of the neutralnds when it was almost conquered by Evernight. He had fought the Evernight army until rivers of blood flowed across thend, pushing them back andter establishing the Throne of Blood. That was the only reason the rule came to be.

    Regardless of the fear or schadenfreude, the massive Evernight fleet arrived like ck clouds covering the sky. It slowly but firmly traversed the neutralnds and flew toward the Eastern Sea.

    The news simrly arrived in Tidehark, and the leaders of the Empire gathered around Song Zining to seek a strategy for countermeasures. Only at this point did they truly realize how essential he was. The future god of strategy wasn¡¯t just an empty title¡ªit was sincere praise sung by the masses, proven by his aplishments in battle. In such desperate times, a future god was also a god, capable of giving everyone a modicum offort.

    The war room was packed full of people as everyone with some degree of power found a way to squeeze themselves in.

    Song Zining arrived fashionablyte, about ten minutes after the appointed time. He walked through the crowd and took the leading seat at the table. ¡°The situation is dire. As themander, this young master will naturally formte a strategy to push back the enemy. It¡¯s just that¡­ what benefits will I get from this?¡±

    These words ignited amotion in the crowd.

    He was probably the firstmander to openly seek benefits before the battle. An old man immediately mmed the table, rebuking, ¡°Preposterous! The empire granted you great power and status, yet you wish to seek benefits!? If every general was like you, how will the empire keep standing? Aren¡¯t you afraid of bringing shame to your Song n ancestors?¡±

    Among the crowd, some chimed in while others shook their heads. Someone dragged the old man back, saying, "Keep calm and listen to what the seventh young noble has to say. It¡¯s not toote to talk afterward.¡±

    The old man said in rage, ¡°What is there to listen to? This is absolutely wrong! How can such a person remain in such a high position?¡±

    Someone else said coldly, ¡°Elder Lu, your Lu family might not be afraid, but we don¡¯t want to pay with our fortune and lives! Who else can take the seventh young noble¡¯s position? You? Ha! It¡¯s not that I look down on you, but I don¡¯t think anyone will listen with you in that seat.¡±

    Someone else sneered, ¡°Elder Lu, what intentions do you have to stop the seventh young noble from speaking? Your Lu family is so poor that it makes no difference even if you lose everything. Everyone else here has their families and fortunes riding with the seventh young master!¡±

    Elder Lu¡¯s words were caught in his throat. He waved his sleeve in anger, saying, ¡°Fine, my Lu family wants no part in this. I shall return to the empire now!¡±

    But a couple of people stood up and blocked the door. Elder Lu¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°Elder Chen, what is the meaning of this?¡±

    The other party was a plump elder. ¡°Little Brother Lu, what¡¯s the rush? If you leave just like that, wouldn¡¯t the me fall on your head if some secrets were to leak out? Isn¡¯t it better for you to stay one day and leave after everything is settled?¡±

    Elder Lu was livid. ¡°Are you trying to keep me under house arrest?¡±

    Elder Chenughed loudly, ¡°Nonsense, all of our families work for the empire. We definitely won¡¯t stop Elder Lu if you¡¯re adamant about leaving. I just don¡¯t want any idents to befall the Lu family.¡±

    The threat was evident¡ªElder Lu returned to his seat with a snort and no longer said a word thereafter.

    Elder Chen cupped his fist at Song Zining. ¡°You must have a reason for seeking benefits, but we also have some misgivings. Won¡¯t you tell us what kind of benefits you¡¯re seeking? As long as it¡¯s reasonable, we won¡¯t hesitate to provide manpower or money.¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Elder Chen understands things well. I¡¯m in a bit of a tight situation after leaving the Song n, and I need some money and resources. Do you think that¡¯s fine?¡±

    Elder Chen said without hesitation, ¡°Turns out you want to be paid! That¡¯s fine, our Chen family will put forth ten thousand gold coins for the seventh young noble¡¯s current expenditures.¡±

    Elder Chen¡¯s straightforwardness was unexpected. Everyone gave the situation some thought and realized what they should do. ¡°Our Wei family will fork out eight thousand gold coins.¡±

    The Li family elder spoke up all of a sudden, ¡°Our Jingtang Li n will offer a hundred thousand gold coins.¡±

    The entire conference room fell into silence. The Li family was a high-ranking aristocratic family, one that had always been eyeing a spot among the major ns. As themander of the family¡¯s operations in the neutralnds, Elder Li was willing to pay a sizable sum. The meaning behind this move was worth pondering on.

    Eunuch Zhang said, ¡°The imperial n¡¯s finances belong to His Majesty, so I don¡¯t have the right to use it at will. But I have a personal umtion that I¡¯ve saved up over the decade. At fifty-thousand, It¡¯s far smaller than the Li family¡¯s offer, but I hope the seventh young master will ept the gesture.¡±

    Everyone was surprised that even Eunuch Zhang of the imperial n would adopt such a stance. Although no one knew what Song Zining needed the money for, they already knew what they should do. All the families fought amongst each other to fork out money, and the ones who had made their offer before started adding more to their numbers as well. In the blink of an eye, arge sum of money, close to a million gold coins, had been umted.

    Elder Lu was restless in his seat. He had already realized that he had been yed as a chess piece to gauge Song Zining¡¯s reaction. The situation had be clear after the Li family and imperial n had announced their stance. Meanwhile, the Lu family had been cast aside.

    His expression was livid as he stood up. ¡°Our Lu family is weak in both money and manpower, but we¡¯re also willing to do our part. We offer twenty thousand!¡±

    Everyone fell silent for a while. Then they began showering the elder with praises, and the atmosphere in the conference room became fairly joyful.

    After the wave of delight, everyone¡¯s eyes fell upon Song Zining as they waited silently for his continuation. The seventh young noble was in no rush, however. He turned to Eunuch Zhang and said, ¡°When can I receive the money? If there aren¡¯t enough gold coins, it¡¯s fine to substitute with treasures.¡±

    The families became tongue-tied. Who would¡¯ve thought Song Zining would be so shameless? Eunuch Zhang, however, didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Nobody will carry their wealth everywhere, so we¡¯ll naturally pay with treasures. I have a peerless jade bestowed upon me by the emperor. It¡¯s definitely worth fifty to sixty thousand gold coins. What say you?¡±

    Song Zining smiled with cupped hands. ¡°I¡¯d feel bad about it.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang replied, ¡°If you refuse, that means you think little of yours truly.¡±

    ¡°Sigh, I feel ashamed epting this!¡± Song Zining shook his head as he received the treasured jade and put it in his chest pocket. That clean and decisive movement was pretty far off from an ashamed person¡¯s demeanor.

    Everyone understood that empty words wouldn¡¯t do if they wanted to avoid making a fool out of themselves. Hence, they clenched their jaws as they searched for treasures that could match their offers. In the blink of an eye, a pile of treasures had appeared in front of Song Zining.

    The seventh young master simply couldn¡¯t close his mouth. He epted everything given to him, and then asked his men to stow them away. Only then did he sit down and open his fan, adopting the posture of a future god of strategy.

    Having forked out steep investments, the families looked on with bated breaths. They wanted to know what they would get back after paying such a price.

    Song Zining said mysteriously, ¡°The Evernight alliance consists of three races, with the Eternal me at the helm. Their lineup is extremely powerful, so we cannot go head-on against them. We must shift our forces back temporarily.¡±

    Many people cursed secretly. Everyone knew this already!

    Song Zining waved his folding-fan. ¡°Although the Evernight forces are powerful, they can¡¯t stay very long. As I see it, we should withdraw from Tidehark and camp for three days at a point three hundred kilometers away. Three dayster, the Eternal me will leave and it¡¯ll be our turn to decide whether to fight or defend.¡±

    Everyone was surprised. ¡°Are you certain the Eternal me will return after three days?¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°This is heaven¡¯s mystery, something I cannot reveal. You will find out three dayster.¡±

 Chapter 990: Some Riches

    Whether they believed it or not, everyone was delighted to see Song Zining¡¯s rare demeanor of confidence. The Eternal me¡¯s presence or absence would make a fundamental difference. If he were to settle down in the neutralnds, then there was nothing else left for the others to do. All they could do was return to the empire with their tails tucked between their legs. It was a different thing altogether if he would leave after three days. There was no need for Song Zining, even. Many of the people here could think of usible countermeasures.

    Discussions proceeded rapidly, and a conclusion was reached very soon afterward. The empire¡¯s forces would pull three hundred kilometers away from Tidehark and avoid the arriving Evernight army. They would then move back toy siege after the Eternal me had departed.

    The only regretful thing was that the Great Maelstrom passage had started to stabilize again these days, and they would be able to send another group of people in after a few days. It just so happened that the Evernight alliance had arrived at this point, so the second batch quotas would surely fall into their hands.

    Judging from the current state of the passage, however, it would probably take some time before it could be used again. The families weren¡¯t too worried, especially the ones who had been listed as candidates for the second batch. The Great Maelstrom wasn¡¯t a ce anyone could go to. ording to divination results, the passage was still fairly dangerous, and all those below the champion realm were destined to never return.

    Additionally, Song Zining had revealed some fairly important news. Younger people would obtain greater benefits from entering the Great Maelstrom. It was best for those over seventy years old to refrain from entering, otherwise, it was more than likely that they would die there.

    This information was extremely important because families with more quotas were nning to send elder-level people in to act as protectors for the younger scions. After hearing Song Zining¡¯s warning, they quickly got rid of such thoughts. Elders were a preciousmodity for every aristocratic family, and none of them would be willing to enter knowing they were heading to their deaths. After all, no one knew what awaited them at the other end of the passage. It would be a wasted death if they were to fall there.

    With the elders out of the equation, the quotas became much more forgiving. Although the second batch would be deprived of the fortunes of first exploration, they would also be safe from many unknown dangers. Many of the lower-ranking aristocratic families would rather seek a stable oue¡ªit was a blessing if their scions could walk out of the Maelstrom alive. It would be even better if they could bring out some special products. As for the amount they could harvest, that wasn¡¯t really important.

    With the ns already settled, everyone started to take action. In just two hours, the camp outside of Tidehark had been dismantled, and the dragon of steel crawled back toward Southern Blue. After a while, the imperial fleet¡ªfully loaded with materials and personnel¡ªalso started flying back. The entire city of Southern Blue was also loading materials into cargo trucks, ready to withdraw.

    Ji Rui was both happy and worried about the Empire¡¯s haste. He was happy that the empire was finally leaving and Southern Blue was once again his. He was also worried about whether he should join the empire right there and then. Although he would lose a degree of freedom, he would gain ess to a vast world. The power bnce in the neutralnds was too restrictive for smaller characters.

    The factories in the city kept operating just like before. Song Zining¡¯s factories weren¡¯t moved away, either, and were running as usual. Thesepanies had long since gotten used to the fighting between major powers. Whoever the ruler was, they would still have to pay the same tax more or less. There was a tacit agreement between thepeting powers and the merchantpanies¡ªno matter how fierce the fighting, they would not touch the industries. Besides, the bigger merchants had their own mercenary forces and could be considered a power on their own. It wasn¡¯t wise to offend them.

    In the eyes of the merchants, both the Empire and Evernight were the same. The only difference was in scale.

    Song Zining had built a wonderful foundation in Southern Blue. In short, all the factories here had only one purpose: to build warships. The demand for airships was endless in the neutralnds. Every produced vessel was destined to have a buyer.

    Not to mention in the neutralnds, this level of warships would see good demand in the smaller vassal states, or even among the aristocracy back in the Empire. They could even sell to Evernight if needed.

    Hence, the factories in Southern Blue had no intention of stopping even with the Evernight alliance bearing down on the city.

    One dayter, no more imperial soldiers could be seen in Southern Blue. All that remained were the natives of the neutralnds.

    Not far from the city, in Song Zining¡¯s gship. The vessel had been disguised once again to look like an old cargo ship, one so rickety that it might fall and crash any minute.

    At this point, two jeeps arrived on the ground, and Song Zining¡¯s gship descended gradually in response to a signal re fired by someone in the car.

    When the seventh young noble walked out onto the deck, three people had already alighted from the jeep and were waiting for him. ¡°Greetings, Seventh Young Noble.¡±

    Song Zining said satisfactorily, ¡°No need for ceremonies. How is your lord?¡±

    ¡°My lord has already left the Throne of Blood and I don¡¯t know where he has gone. He gave us some instructions before leaving, however. Seventh Young Noble can hand the goods to us. If you have something to say, you can also tell us. He will hear of it during his periodic return to the throne.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as too much prudence against the Eternal me. Your lord is correct. The things are here, check them.¡±

    With a wave of his hand, Song Zining gestured for his men to hand over a small briefcase. The elder on the other side received the container and opened it up for inspection. He found a dazzling array of jewels, jade, and gold inside, so many that it was hard to discern their value. ¡°There¡¯s no way Seventh Young Noble will pay less than was agreed. There¡¯s no need to check.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°One more thing, has your lord finished considering?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°My lord thinks it¡¯s doable but some of the terms need to be changed. He wants a custom corvette for each all-out attack from the Shattered Moment.¡±

    Song Zining contemted briefly. ¡°That¡¯s reasonable. Go back and tell your lord that I agree.¡±

    The old man seemed delighted. ¡°I will bring this good news back. My lord wishes to put in more orders, how many can seventh young noble supply?¡±

    ¡°This will depend on your master. The less disturbance Southern Blue receives, the more we can produce. Additionally, the Eternal me needs to be pressured at every turn. We can¡¯t let him do as he wishes.¡±

    ¡°My lord has his own considerations regarding this matter.¡±

    Song Zining nodded, and then returned to his airship. The elder also drove back toward Southern Blue.

    At this moment, the guard beside Song Zining removed his hat, revealing the fair countenance beneath. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought the Throne of Blood has agents in Southern Blue, a human no less.¡±

    This well-groomed man was Eunuch Zhang.

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not surprising, considering he¡¯s been operating in the neutralnds for several hundred years. I¡¯m sure Zhang Buzhou also has numerous assets among the vampires.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid they¡¯ll pry on your secrets?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°What¡¯s there to be afraid of? Southern Blue is there for them to see. It¡¯s fine even if they know whatponents are being used. It¡¯s not like they can open up the engines. Even if they could, they won¡¯t be able to produce anything without the alloy form.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Eunuch Zhang was skeptical.

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Rest assured. Be it Zhang Buzhou, the Spider Emperor, Wolf King, or the Thundergod, all they want are airships, not money. They are fundamentally different from us!¡±

    Eunuch Zhang smiled. ¡°I have no other thoughts now. All I want is to follow the seventh young noble and earn a small fortune for my retirement.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°You jest. We took great pains toe to the neutralnds, there¡¯s no way we can stop at a small fortune.¡±

    The two exchanged nces and broke intoughter.

    After returning to themand cabin, Song Zining spread out a map of the Eastern Sea. After studying it for a moment, he pointed toward the border of the continent. ¡°We¡¯ll head here first.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang didn¡¯t quite understand. ¡°What¡¯s there?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°I¡¯m going to see someone and return a favor in passing.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang was a shrewd old man. Seeing that Song Zining wasn¡¯t willing to borate, he no longer pressed the issue. The gship turned about and set out immediately after receiving the order. Halfway along the journey, a beam of light shot into the sky and flew into the void. Eunuch Zhang¡¯s eyesight was sharp enough to see that there were two metallic sealed tubes in the radiance. This item was used to carry secret missives and intelligence. He was shocked to see Song Zining already using such advanced methods. It would seem the seventh young master maintained a close connection with the empire despite being in the neutralnds.

    Half a dayter, the gship arrived at the continent¡¯s edge. Song Zining ordered the vessel to wait while he flew down toward thend. Eunuch Zhang watched the seventh young master with a deep frown. His expression became stern, and no one knew what he was thinking.

    The weather around the edge of the continent was adverse with void storms rampaging thend ever so often. Even Qianye had to be cautious when he traveled here back then, so it should be doubly more stressful for Song Zining. However, the Three Thousand Flying Leaf Art domain specialized in making use of the environment. The more extreme the conditions, the more power he could borrow. Hence, he was able to tread calmly through the blizzard, waving his fan in a graceful manner.

    He searched through the snowy expanse for a good half-day, following what little information Qianye had given him. Finally, he found a vampire warship parked far off in the distance.

    He had just heaved a sigh of relief when a person appeared before him. d in vampire attire, the cautious man sized Song Zining up from head to toe with razor-sharp eyes.

    Song Zining cupped his hands. ¡°You must be Marquis Jared? Please inform Lady Nighteye that enemies have arrived.¡±

    Jared was surprised. ¡°You know me?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°How could I not know the great Marquis Jared?¡±

    Jared felt hesitant as he couldn¡¯t figure out anything after observing Song Zining closely. In the end, he said, ¡°Please wait here, I¡¯ll report back to my lord.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Please do.¡±

    Jared returned in swift steps and arrived near the warship. ¡°Someone wishes to see you, he ims that enemies are at the door.¡±

    Momentster, Nighteye¡¯s voice echoed through the air, ¡°What kind of person is he?¡±

    Jared hesitated for a while. ¡°A young man who knows both your name and mine. His looks are fair, his strength is mediocre, and he¡¯s carrying a fan in this weather. I¡¯m not sure if he¡¯s right in the head.¡±

    Nighteye produced a rare chuckle, saying, ¡°Can¡¯t you just say he¡¯s an idiot?¡±

 Chapter 991: Us Brothers

    Momentster, Song Zining arrived near the warship and sized up this duke-grade vessel with due seriousness. For now at the very least, he had no choice but to look up to the expert who had sunk such a gship, either killing or subduing its crew. Song Zining said with a solemn expression, ¡°Your Excellency Nighteye, Song Zining seeks an audience.¡±

    ¡°Did Qianye tell you my location?¡±

    Song Zining admitted honestly, ¡°Qianye hides nothing from me because he knows I will only help him and not harm him. For the same reason, I never hold anything back from him.¡±

    ¡°You never hold back anything?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression remained the same. ¡°This¡­ he¡¯s better off not knowing certain things. Qianye is too good of a person. He¡¯s so focused on loyalty and camaraderie that he sometimes forgets what¡¯s good for him. He treats me as his best friend, and I naturally view him as my brother. Some things that are good for him, it¡¯s better that I do it in his stead. There¡¯s really no need to let him know.¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re saying this because you¡¯re afraid I¡¯ll take your life one day if I find out certain things.¡±

    Song Zining said righteously, ¡°I have a clear conscience, so there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. If one day, you wish to kill me because you think I did Qianye wrong, I will not resist.¡±

    ¡°Things that are beneficial for Qianye might not necessarily be beneficial to me. Do you think such tricks can fool me?¡±

    A sh of nervousness emerged on Song Zining¡¯s countenance, but he arched his chest and said resolutely, ¡°The world is chaotic, no one knows everything. I can only guarantee that I have a clear conscience regarding Qianye. I can¡¯t ensure everything else. I havee now, so just attack if you think I have done something to wrong you. I won¡¯t resist.¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°You can resist all you want. I will never attack you again if you can survive one blow.¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly, ¡°It¡¯s no use even if I do. Why would I invite humiliation? It¡¯s better if I face death head-on and die with some dignity.¡±

    Nighteye paused momentarily. ¡°You must have done something to be saying these things. You rushed over here to seek a pardon token because you fear my wrath.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°Of course not, I have long since transcended the worries of life and death. I came to deliver two pieces of information, one is about Qianye and the other is about you.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Qianye has already gone through the spatial passage into the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The temperature outside of the warship fell sharply, so much so that Jared couldn¡¯t help but shiver. Song Zining was prepared¡ªa puddle of spring water spread out from beneath his feet, exuding warmth and repelling the chill.

    ¡°He went through the neutralnds entrance? Whose idea was that?¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice seemed calm, but the abrupt coldness proved that she wasn¡¯t as indifferent as she seemed to be.

    ¡°It was mine,¡± Song Zining admitted. An icy de condensed before him, making for his forehead at lightning speed!

    Song Zining cried out, ¡°That ce is dangerous, but a great fortune awaits him there!¡±

    The de stopped just short of Song Zining¡¯s forehead, and a bright drop of blood seeped out from his skin.

    Nighteye said in an icy voice, ¡°He¡¯s destined to be a prince even if he does nothing but absorb essence blood all day. What is your intention? Don¡¯t me me if you don¡¯t have a good exnation for this.¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t afraid. ¡°What can you do? At most, my head will fall to the ground.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I can also head over to spar with Duchess An. I can assure you that she won¡¯t live more than three months whoever the victor is.¡±

    Song Zining was shocked. ¡°You dare?!¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± Nighteye sneered.

    Song Zining red furiously, but all he could see was the warship¡¯s exterior as no perceptive technique could prate the shell. He actually knew Nighteye was capable of what she imed. The Song n¡¯s heavy security was nothing in her eyes. With her Bloodline Concealment, Nighteye could walk the entire empire with rtive ease. Even the Song n ancestor wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid a fight.

    At this point, the Song n was tottering on the verge of copse andrgely reliant on Duchess An for support. Countless people would pounce on the Song n if she were to suffer intractable injuries.

    Song Zining was gradually gaining achievements and recognition, but without enough strength, he still didn¡¯t have the power to subdue people without a fight.

    Momentster, Song Zining¡¯s aura dispersed, and he said with a bitter smile, ¡°Fine, I admit defeat.¡±

    Nighteye remained silent.

    Song Zining took some time to rearrange his thoughts. ¡°Nighteye, I don¡¯t know what your identity was before the awakening. Perhaps you think there are no secrets in this world for you, and that the entire world is under your control, but do you know what Qianye was thinking?¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°I have no more ties with him since my awakening. His thoughts have nothing to do with me.¡±

    Song Zining paid her no attention and kept on talking, ¡°Back then, he threw away family, brothers, and everything in the Empire just to go and save you. To prevent us from stopping him, he even revealed his vampire identity, cutting off all paths of retreat. That night, he charged into the military stronghold and killed Li Fengshui in order to rescue you. Thetter was much stronger back then but he died to Qianye in the end. Do you know why?¡±

    Without waiting for Nighteye to reply, Song Zining added, ¡°It was the determination to fight to the death! That night, Qianye went in without the intention of evering back out.¡±

    Nighteye fell silent.

    "You know more about what happened afterward. He wasn¡¯t joking when he said he¡¯d help you onto the Sacred Mountain. In fact, he¡¯d go into the Great Maelstrom all the same even without my help. I wouldn¡¯t even be able to stop him if he heard about the fortune inside. So, why not just send him in early and help him gain the initiative?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°He¡¯s crazy, but must you do the same as well?¡±

    Song Ziningughed out loud. ¡°Us brothers only have a few decades to strive for the best. What if we do crazy things for once?¡±

    Nighteye sighed lightly, and then her tone returned to normal. ¡°What is the second piece of information?¡±

    "Lightless Monarch Medanzo is in the neutralnds, parked in the void just outside the borders. His trip here is for the Great Maelstrom passage on paper, but I suspect he came for you. He had nned to buy you from the military after you were captured back then.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°That old bastard has neither the determination to improve nor does he dare to take risks. All he does is discriminate against others in his jealousy. Not only has this embarrassment of the vampire race not improved in a thousand years, but his power has even diminished. It¡¯s not that easy to obtain my bloodline.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Him waiting in the void outside is a potential danger. If he charges in without consideration for the consequences, even you are not his match. I found a way to buy a shot from the Shattered Moment, and it can be called upon once the Eternal me leaves. We must n this well before I enter the Great Maelstrom because a well-timed shot will teach him a good lesson. I¡¯ll need you to cooperate when the timees, what say you?¡±

    Nighteye was somewhat surprised. ¡°A shot from the Shattered Moment won¡¯te cheap. Why would you give me this opportunity?¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°How can I stand by when you¡¯re in danger? Qianye will hate me if something happens to you and I didn¡¯t do my utmost.¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll remember this favor. Come and find me after the Eternal me leaves. I¡¯ll lure Medanzo into firing range.¡±

    Song Zining nodded and, thereafter, the warship became silent. Jared said, ¡°My lord is tired, please leave.¡±

    After returning to the gship, Song Zining ordered the vessel to return. He then retired to his chambers without saying anything. A short period in Nighteye¡¯s presence was as tiring as a great battle.

    ¡­

    At the central frontlines of the void continent stood a sturdy fortress of steel. Zhao Jundu had built hismand center here as it was facing the main forces of the Evernight army. The forward outpost of the fortress was only a couple hundred meters away, a distance Zhao Jundu could easily shoot beyond. This short distance was negligible to a true expert. They could just as easily charge in and assault the headquarters.

    Building themand center here was proof of Zhao Jundu¡¯s attitude. He was weing the Evernight experts to challenge him anytime.

    The frontlines of the two factions had been in a tug-of-war since the war turned into a deadlock. The empire had been switching out numerous squads under Zhao Jundu¡¯smand, pulling them back as soon as they had suffered one third in casualties and recing them with a new squad. During this time, at least dozens of armies had been crippled and forced to recuperate in the rear.

    The Evernight side had suffered even more damage, basically at two times the empire¡¯s rate. Many powerful tribes had lost all of their young warriors and no longer possessed the power to retaliate.

    This casualty ratio caused a fair bit of conflict. Although the Evernight army held the advantage in numbers, they were full of internal strife, and they could no longer ignore the painful losses. The Summit of Peaks was already threatening to withdraw from the alliance due to the disproportionate death of werewolves. Any race would feel pained from losing elite soldiers by the tens of thousands.

    The empire¡¯s side wasn¡¯t so calm, either. Many aristocratic families started to cast doubt on Zhao Jundu¡¯s bloodletting strategies. It was indeed a fact that the casualty rate was somewhat higher than average under Zhao Jundu¡¯smand. Hence, many people started to question hismanding skills.

    Zhao Xuanji duly suppressed all me and doubt. At the same time, he continued to enforce the squad rotation n. Things were kept fair, with the bigger families shouldering greater burdens. So, it was difficult for the families to say anything. The other ns had no reason to speak out since even the Zhang n was following the n.

    The reason Zhao Xuanji could satisfy the masses was the difference in expert casualty rate.

 Chapter 992: Suitable Person

    The Evernight experts had been assaulting Zhao Jundu¡¯smand center for several days straight. The two factions would engage in a major battle almost every couple of days, and countless bodies had fallen before this steel fortress.

    Zhao Jundu had disyed an unsurmountable degree ofbat strength, killing powerful enemies under seemingly impossible circumstances. In less than a month¡¯s time, three marquis and seven counts had fallen under his spear, along with countless viscounts and barons. Be it frontal assaults or surprise attacks, whether it was a duel or a group battle, the experts of Evernight found that Zhao Jundu had no weaknesses. He could adapt and face every situation ordingly.

    After failing miserably at some surprise attacks they thought were ingenious, the Evernight side finally gave up on shortcuts and began relying on their advantage in expert lineup and manpower. Theyunched a continuous frontal assault in hopes of suppressing the enemy.

    But Zhao Jundu yet again disyed unprecedented valor in battle.

    He was gravely wounded thrice in the same month and also sustained countless minor wounds, yet he wouldn¡¯t take half a step away from themand center. There was one time the enemy had attacked before his injuries were healed. Zhao Jundu sallied forth despite his wounds and fought from dawn to dusk, killing one marquis and two counts before the enemies were repelled. Thus, the Evernight¡¯s n to surround and kill him was effectively thwarted.

    After this battle, the steel fortress was stained red with the blood of experts and Zhao Jundu¡¯s fame skyrocketed. He was now regarded on par with divine champions. Thereafter, that steel fortress came to be known as Duskgrave on the Evernight side.

    It was because of this aplishment that the imperial generals only med Zhao Jundu¡¯s methods for the high casualties and failure to make use of the defensive advantage. Ultimately, they never reced him. Duskgrave would¡¯ve been leveled by Evernight if it wasn¡¯t for Zhao Jundu holding the fort. The aristocracy and military generals weren¡¯t dumb. They knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to fight for status, and no one was willing to rece that difficult position anyway. That ce was the mouth of a volcano. The slightly less capable people would surely die without a grave.

    Countless imperial soldiers and smiths were working nervously within the steel fortress, repairing the damage from recent battles. The soldiers stationed at the firing points stared nervously into the distance, ready to fire at the first sight of the enemy. At this moment, a good number of technicians were digging into the ground to open up more space. The current underground area of the fortress was alreadyrger than the structure above.

    There was a girl d in imperial military uniform and holding a roll of blueprints. She pointed at a corner of the paper and instructed, ¡°Dig a hall here. Thirty meters long, ten meters wide, and optimally over ten meters high. I¡¯ll be cing a set of engines here to support the entire fortress with enough kic power. We can then dismantle a warship main cannon and install it atop the fortress.¡±

    Most of the technicians near her were old and a fair number of them were already grey-haired. Many of them wore the insignia of the Zhao n, clearly smiths from the main residence. The technician usually had to umte experience for many years, so the older ones were naturally more skilled. Yet, they epted the girl¡¯s arrangements willingly and had no doubts about her ability.

    The young girl then pointed at a different side of the paper, saying, ¡°Install three kic pipelines to push steam to the upper parts of the fortress.¡±

    Two of the engineers nodded as they epted the mission.

    A couple of young technicians stole nces at her while listening to the instructions. The young girl looked fairly tender with a hint of confusion in her expression. Only when she was looking at the blueprint would she speak with great assurance.

    The imperial uniform on her was clearly not a good fit. The long sleeves had to be rolled up to facilitate work, and her skirt was also too long. The attire was clearly oversized, yet it could barely hold around her chest. People couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the buttons on her shirt would suddenly pop.

    The attraction from such a girl was naturally lethal to many young men, especially on a dangerous battlefield like this one.

    The enticement was exponentially stronger.

    It was at this time that a soldier walked over hurriedly. ¡°General Nangong, General Zhao seeks your presence.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll head over immediately.¡± The young girl handed the blueprint to a nearby engineer before leaving.

    The two passed through a couple of doors and finally walked into a secret underground chamber. Zhao Jundu emerged from inside¡ªhis hair wasn¡¯t even dry yet, and he was buttoning up his shirt as he walked. Through the unbuttoned portion of his shirt, one could see the well-sculpted muscles, along with his unhealed wound.

    The young girl bowed, ¡°General Zhao!¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled as he pointed to a chair. ¡°Xiaoniao, don¡¯t be nervous, have a seat.¡±

    The girl sat down tensely. Few people would feel rxed while facing the fourth young master of the Zhao n.

    ¡°How goes the base construction?¡±

    ¡°The advanced recovery pool will be done in two days. At that point, the critically injured will receive swift treatment, and your injuries will also recover faster. The origin power replenishment pool is also under construction, should be done by tomorrow. It can help you recover all of your origin power in around four hours, two if we double the ck crystal consumption rate,¡± the girl replied.

    Zhao Jundu praised, ¡°The origin power replenishment pool will be pretty good. With it, I can defend this ce with confidence, stopping the dark races from taking a step forward! I never expected that you would be able to design such facilities. If we introduce them to the army in the future, the empire will surely gain greater momentum. At that time, you¡¯ll get the greatest merit. Tell me if there¡¯s anything you want.¡±

    The young girl blushed as she spoke in a soft voice, ¡°All I want is to remain in the Zhao n.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was startled. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem, you can stay as long as you want. If those old men from the Nangong family dare to demand anything, I¡¯ll beat them half to death.¡±

    The young girl nodded excitedly.

    After all this time, the rookie Xiaoniao from Red Scorpion had grown up. She not only became a champion but disyed great talent in origin power and mechanical design. Zhao Jundu transferred her from Evernight after hearing of this and put her in charge of designing the steel fortress. This fortress also yed some role in Zhao Jundu¡¯s stunning aplishments in battle.

    The fourth young noble nced at the young girl. ¡°Xiaoniao, what do you think of Qianye?¡±

    This question caught her entirely off-guard. Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s burned bright red. ¡°Ah, this¡­ that¡­ erm¡­ what do you mean what I think of him?

    ¡°What do you think of him as a person?¡± Zhao Jundu repeated his question.

    Nangong Xiaoniao¡¯s voice dropped to a hush, so much so that even Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t hear her very clearly. ¡°Naturally, everything about Young Noble Qianye is¡­ is¡­ good.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°Are you willing to stay at his side?¡±

    This time, Nangong Xiaoniao shot to her feet and knocked her chair over. While trying to catch the falling chair, she bumped into the table and sent the teacup flying into the air. She pounced forward to catch it, but the porcin hopped about in her hands and drenched her in tea.

    Zhao Jundu could no longer sit back and watch. With a wave of his hand, the teacup flew into his hand, a wisp of origin power restored the furniture to their rightful positions, and even the sshed tea evaporated. Zhao Jundu¡¯s origin power utilization could be considered perfect to be able to do so many things in a single moment.

    Nangong Xiaoniao stood there gripping the hem of her skirt, almost in tears.

    Zhao Jundu said gently, ¡°Judging from your reaction, it looks like you¡¯re willing.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao tensed up and even forgot to breathe. Only after a good while did she give a barely noticeable nod, one that might have gone unnoticed if not for Zhao Jundu¡¯s perceptive abilities.

    The fourth young noble said in a serious tone, ¡°Xiaoniao, you will only be there to apany him. There will be no status, nor will you be his first wife. Are you sure you¡¯re willing?¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao didn¡¯t dare look up. Finally, she mustered up what little courage she had and replied, ¡°I¡¯m willing, no matter what.¡±

    Zhao Jundu sighed. ¡°I know this will be tough on you, but Qianye does need someone like you to take care of him. That fellow can never learn to take care of himself. Since you¡¯re willing to stay at his side no matter what, I naturally won¡¯t be stingy. You can tell me if there¡¯s anything you want or if anything is worrying you. There¡¯s very little I can¡¯t do in the empire right now.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao gave it some thought. ¡°I¡­ have nothing else I want. Things are already quite good as they are. Nothing will be better... if I can stay beside him¡­¡±

    Zhao Junduughed, ¡°It seems I picked the right person. Since you won¡¯t say things out loud, I¡¯ll help you make the arrangements.¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao lowered her head. ¡°But¡­ there are so many people beside Qianye, Sister Nighteye is so beautiful. I-I¡¯m nothing¡­ why would you pick me?¡±

    Zhao Junduughed heartily upon hearing this. ¡°You¡¯re good, very good in fact. You¡¯re the best candidate for Qianye as far as I¡¯m concerned, but that guy is stupid. He won¡¯t listen to me.¡±

    The young girl looked up and said in a serious expression, ¡°He¡¯s not stupid, he¡¯s very smart!¡±

    Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud. ¡°Fine, fine, he¡¯s very smart, even smarter than I am!¡±

    Nangong Xiaoniao nodded immediately. She then realized something was not quite right, but she couldn¡¯t figure out what it was. Zhao Jundu¡¯s esctingughter embarrassed her even further.

    The chamber doors opened at this point, and an aide walked in hurriedly. Ignoring Xiaoniao, he walked over to Zhao Jundu and whispered in his ears, ¡°Young Master, urgent report from the neutralnds.¡±

    Zhao Jundu picked up the message-tube and fished out the strip of paper within. He read the message several times, his expression stern as he muttered to himself, ¡°Medanzo and Noxus have gone to the neutralnds, the Eternal me as well? That means there isn¡¯t a single great dark monarch on the void continent. Perhaps there¡¯s one, but one at most!¡±

    He paced around quickly as he thought, ¡°Why does Prince Greensun and the Pointer Monarch not know of such an important matter? That¡¯s not right, they never sent word, but that doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t know about the enemy¡¯s movements. Perhaps they¡¯ve already left!¡±

    At the thought of this, Zhao Jundu stopped abruptly and shouted, ¡°Issue my order, all squads will prepare forbat, the entire army will march out in half an hour!¡±

    Soon, Zhao Jundu charged out in full force, routing the enemy and hunting them down for the entire night.

 Chapter 993: Reunion

    The area outside of Tidehark was shrouded in silence.

    The imperial army had retreated¡ªonly the traces of that giant army camp and the ruined city stood proof of the battle that had taken ce several days ago.

    The city was lifeless even during the daytime. Every house had shut their doors, and the few people on the streets moved in a hurried pace. Only a handful of people were working, hauling corpses outside the city for burial. No one apanied them, nor did anyone cry for these unidentified fallen men.

    The passersby and the people from the windows gazed at the corpse truck with cold expressions. Some of them revealed expressions of sorrow, but most of them were fairly indifferent.

    The city guard had long since been destroyed, and the survivors were now hiding in their homes, not daring to reveal themselves. The spirit of the entire city had copsed. The god they looked up to, Luo Bingfeng, had fallen, and there were rumors iming Zhang Buzhou had a part in it. The people felt their spiritual support copse¡­ just like the holy mountain.

    The imperial army¡¯s withdrawal was too sudden¡ªthey pulled out entirely in less than half a day and destroyed all the equipment they couldn¡¯t pack. There was no one holding power in Tidehark these days, yet there was neither chaos, robbery, nor rape.

    That was because the city guard weren¡¯t the only ones fighting during the battle. Many brave, hot-blooded citizens also took up arms to join the defense.

    However, the defensive structures they believed imprable were useless before the overwhelming imperial firepower, especially the torrential cannon-fire from the warships. Song Zining had equipped those ragtag mercenaries to the teeth and sent them against the defensive line in a clumsy yet firm formation. The defense was gradually suppressed and ultimately routed in its entirety.

    Song Zining had used an unheard of strategy thatbined airship and heavy cannon support. The short but extreme training, as well as the perfectmand and coordination, served as a lesson to the major powers of the neutralnds. They finally came to understand what standard imperial warfare looked like.

    After upying Tidehark, Song Zining assumed order inside the city with an iron fist. All dissenters and opportunists were killed without hesitation. There weren¡¯t many people left at this point as they had either died during the battle or were killed after the upation.

    The survivors were deeply apprehensive of Song Zining¡¯s cruel methods. Although the imperial forces had retreated, no one knew whether they would return or what they would do if they did. Hence, two days passed by without anyone keeping order or recruiting for a new city guard. The biggest human city of the past was now in a defenseless state.

    Such a city appeared before the Eternal me when the Evernight alliance appeared.

    At this point, the demonkin had joined forces with their earlier arrivals. Their strength had increased sharply and was now on par with the vampire and arachne. The Eternal me observed the passage over the holy mountain and said, ¡°The passage will open the day after tomorrow, it willst one day.¡±

    The Eternal me couldn¡¯t be wrong. The entire Evernight alliance broke into action, quickly setting up camp and sending in the army to take over Tidehark¡¯s defenses.

    The transfer of authority was oddly smooth and quiet¡ªthere was no resistance, nor were there any sneak attacks. Even the duke assuming control of the city felt confused and wondered whether this was an Evernight territory instead.

    After taking over the city, the three races had no intention of engaging in in-depth administration. All they did was impose a curfew before letting things run on their own. After all, there was only one more day before the passage opened, and they were in no mood to bully the citizens.

    The experts had a lot of things to do. For instance, scouting out the enemy situation, scrying future dangers, and monitoring the passage condition. The most important issue was to decide how many people they would send in, and the order of it.

    The Evernight side discovered the opening of this passageter than the empire. The demonkin who had arrived first, in addition to Linken¡¯s fleet, were the squads located closest to the neutralnds. In the end, Linken was defeated by Qianye and the first batch of demonkin had been firmly pinned down by Song Zining¡¯s military power. No one had expected Song Zining to be that decisive, concentrating all military power toward taking Tidehark and securing the passage first.

    The Evernight forces were now facing a difficult problem. Those entering first might encounter surprise attacks from the empire while they were in their weakest state after emerging from the tunnel. If they wentte, however, the passage would be unstable and they would die during the traversal.

    Additionally, the Evernight races didn¡¯t have enough time to negotiate a n that was eptable for all parties. They simply hammered out a rough quota for each race before rushing toward the neutralnds. The vampires and arachne hadn¡¯t expected the Eternal me to suddenly show up here. Now, there were new variables in the predetermined ns.

    The Eternal me was strong, but the vampires and arachne weren¡¯t so weak, either. With regards to Grand Magnums, they each had one as well. Hence, they might be willing to make some minor adjustments, but one could forget about getting them to make big concessions. Although Medanzo and Noxus weren¡¯t in the neutralnds, it made little difference in the present discussions.

    It was truly difficult to finish so many things in just one day.

    Outside of Tidehark, the mountain ranges were already covered in ice. The ck rocks and the white snowyered together to form a natural ink and wash painting.

    There was a frail figure on one of the rocks, a young girl. Her messy hair was flying in the wind, her small face was pale from the cold, and the tip of her nose was somewhat pink. Every breath she exhaled would turn into white mist, and there was frost starting to form on her brows.

    She was covered in a tattered sackcloth cloak, which she would pull tighter whenever the frosty wind blew past. Despite that, she was shivering as the sackcloth was naturally porous, and its ability to maintain warmth was less than desirable.

    There was an oblong square protrusion behind her. No one knew what it was since it was hidden under the cloth.

    She gazed at the distant Tidehark from atop the rocks. From this position, she could even see the warships hovering above. The sky above Tidehark was filled with dark clouds, swirling around the city like a giant whirlpool¡ªa scene that would stifle all onlookers.

    Experts with sharper senses could feel a surging power emanating from the vortex, a force as majestic as the mountains and seas. Even a duke would tremble before this terrifying force. That was the Eternal me probing and stabilizing the Great Maelstrom passage with his own power. That terrifying cloud whirlpool in the sky was just the heaven and earth responding to his strength.

    The girl gazed at the swirling clouds momentarily, but then she suddenly turned around and looked down the mountain. There, a young man was in the process of scaling the cliffs. His movements were nimble and practiced, but he looked no different from an ordinary human. However, he was fairly rxed even while climbing the snowing hillside, and arrived before the girl in a matter of moments.

    ¡°We meet again,¡± he greeted the girl with a smile, one as pure and prating as the rays of the sun. Even the cold and darkness around them were somewhat dispelled.

    The girl looked at him with a thoughtful expression.

    The young man said, ¡°I¡¯m Anwen, have you forgotten me?¡±

    The girl shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s just that¡­ my thoughts are a bit slow at the moment.¡±

    Anwen pointed at the giant vortex in the sky. ¡°That¡¯s normal. Everyone in His Majesty¡¯s range will be affected. Come, wear this and you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    With that, Anwen produced a ne and handed it to the girl. The chain was fairly simple and was decorated with a pendant made of ck crystal, shaped like a water drop. The young girl donned the ne without a second thought and felt noticeably more relieved.

    A gust of cold wind blew past them. Anwen rubbed his hands as though he was feeling cold. ¡°I never thought you¡¯de, but then again, you¡¯ve always been quite bold, so I guess it¡¯s not a surprise.¡± He sized the girl up from head to toe. She was still barefoot, and her skin was as white as the snow she was standing on.

    ¡°Are you cold?¡± he asked.

    The girl nodded, and then shook her head.

    Anwent sighed as he rubbed one of his rings. In the blink of an eye, the temperature rose and it became as warm as spring.

    The temperature had just risen when several ck shadows flew out from Tidehark and soon surrounded the duo. The three demonkin leaders who had just arrived were surprised to see Anwen. They bowed in greeting, but Anwen waved at them, saying, ¡°I¡¯m fine, can¡¯t you see I¡¯m meeting a friend? Leave and don¡¯t disturb me again!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Young Lord.¡± The three demonkin left after seeing Anwen¡¯s displeasure.

    After they had left, Anwen smiled wryly. ¡°You saw it, right? Even giving you some warmth brings me that much trouble. Why won¡¯t you wear more clothes? This area is under His Majesty¡¯s power, the cold here is real. Don¡¯t you feel it?¡±

    ¡°It is cold.¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°Let it be. How about this? I¡¯ll give you clothes and shoes, I¡¯ll have someone prepare them right away.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why? Are you worried about the quality? They might not be top-notch but should be pretty good by any standard. You¡¯ll know after using them.¡± Anwen scratched his head. ¡°After things settle down around here, I¡¯ll get a set of top-grade clothes custom made for you. I still have some quotas left, they should be enough to pay for it.¡±

    ¡°I refuse.¡± The young girl shook her head.

    ¡°Why?¡± Anwen was vexed.

    The girl finally spoke a full sentence, ¡°The body is the greatest way to see. Too much gear will make it hard for me to sense my prey¡¯s movements.¡±

 Chapter 994: What is Love?

    Anwen hadn¡¯t expected this. ¡°I see, that¡¯s a surprise. But what are you worried about now that I¡¯m here? At least for now, no one can hurt you.¡±

    His words were extremely bold, but they did nothing to ease the girl¡¯s nervousness. On the contrary, she took a step back while shaking her head.

    Anwen said helplessly, ¡°Are you afraid of me perchance?¡±

    The girl nodded immediately.

    Anwen opened his arms. ¡°Look, where else will you find a better demonkin? What¡¯s there to fear?¡±

    ¡°You,¡± the girl replied.

    ¡°Me¡­¡± Anwen grabbed his hair in exasperation, but he simply had no way to deal with this girl. He tried exining, ¡°Fine, perhaps I do have some power¡­ yes, let¡¯s say I¡¯m fairly powerful. But whatever power I have will be used to protect you, not to harm you. So, the stronger I am, the happier you should be.¡±

    The girl just looked on at Anwen without any sign of happiness.

    The demonkin finally raised his hand in defeat. ¡°Fine, do whatever you like! Now can you tell me why you¡¯re here? This ce is too dangerous without me around. After all¡­ you can¡¯t be considered one of our people.¡±

    Anwen was fairly tactful and indirect, trying hard not to make her unhappy.

    ¡°I came to see you.¡±

    ¡°See me? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Anwen¡¯s expression brightened up, unable to conceal the excitement in his heart. He rubbed his hands in excitement but couldn¡¯t find the words he wanted to say. In the end, he clenched his teeth in self-loathing and said, ¡°You¡¯re willing to follow me now?¡±

    The girl widened her eyes, but she merely gazed on at Anwen until thetter went from anticipation to calmness, and then to restlessness. She wore a confused expression as she slowly removed the button on her cloak.

    Anwen was both delighted and nervous. He reached out to stop her but then withdrew his hand midway.

    The girl removed her cloak to reveal that unchanging white dress. However, instead of undressing, she drew therge cleaver from her back and bent forward slightly like a wild beast. She was ready for battle.

    Anwen had never imagined such a shift. Surprised, he took two steps back to prevent getting injured from her eruption of power. Anwen was rather cautious of thatrge cleaver as it was a highly destructive weapon in her hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? There¡¯s no need for this even if you¡¯re not willing.¡±

    The girl hesitated for a moment before the killing intent on her de lessened somewhat. ¡°Many people have asked me the same thing before. I don¡¯t know what they want, but they will start attacking whenever I say no.¡±

    Anwen felt both happy and sorry. ¡°I¡¯m the great demonkin young¡­ that¡­ no matter what, I¡¯m still from a famed demonkin n. How can I be the same as those bastards? Who are those people? Tell me and I¡¯ll cut them up one by one!¡± At this point, Anwen¡¯s killing intent surged wildly. He seemed absolutely furious.

    The girl shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve killed them all, no need for you.¡±

    Anwen felt his heart ease up. ¡°That means they¡¯ve never touched you?¡±

    The girl thought back. ¡°One of them did.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression darkened.

    The girl continued, ¡°He was quite powerful, I had to take a blow in order to kill him.¡±

    Anwen heaved a sigh of relief, his heart itching with hatred. That suspense from just now was too much, even for a demonkin young lord.

    Anwen opened his hands to indicate that he had no evil intentions. ¡°Rx, I¡¯m different. I won¡¯t force you if you say you¡¯re not willing, the same goes for everything else.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The girl seemed hesitant.

    Anwen replied quickly, ¡°Of course.¡±

    The young girl slowly lowered her cleaver. Thinking back, that cleaver in her hand was quite fear-inducing.

    ¡°Then why are you here?¡±

    The young girl pointed toward the remains of the holy mountain. ¡°I want to go in.¡±

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom?¡± Anwen was surprised.

    The young girl nodded. She then pointed at the demonkin, saying, ¡°I came because I knew you were here. Let¡¯s kill our way in.¡±

    ¡°Wait, did you say kill our way in?¡± Anwen couldn¡¯t react immediately.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why must we kill our way in?¡± Anwen didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.

    ¡°I feel there are great benefits in entering that ce. Yes, we¡¯ll grow stronger. That¡¯s why I came to find you, let¡¯s fight our way in.¡±

    ¡°You mean you came here because you want me to grow stronger as well?¡±

    The young girl nodded.

    Anwen found the notion amusing yet inexplicably touching. ¡°Lass, you only need to say it if you want to go into the Great Maelstrom, let¡¯s go in together.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it just now? This is for you.¡± The young girl shook her cleaver, and from it sprung a fine sword, which she passed to Anwen.

    The grade-seven de was fairly high in quality, but that chopstick-sized tip made Anwen speechless. ¡°This isn¡¯t suitable for me.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s own sword was in his spatial gear, a tyrannical grade-nine weapon with a two-meter long edge. He just couldn¡¯t find any interest as he looked at the de in his hand. What irked him the most was the reason behind this gift¡ªdid she think he was only worth this much?

    The girl said, ¡°This is the best thing I could rob.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s mood changed immediately. He put the sword away carefully, saying, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll try using it. But, we don¡¯t need to kill our way in. I¡¯ll make arrangements for it, you just follow me back now.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to kill our way in? Why? Won¡¯t everyone fight over it?¡±

    For some reason, the more puzzled she was, the more delighted Anwen became. He said pridefully, ¡°People do have to fight for it, but others can¡¯t outfight me. No one can stop me if I want to bring you in.¡±

    The girl hesitated briefly before saying, ¡°I trust you.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be disappointed. Let¡¯s go back now, it¡¯s too cold here.¡±

    The two walked down the mountain side-by-side, much like a pair of ordinary humans. They chatted along the way, most of which involved Anwen talking about his past.

    Along the way, Anwen asked all of a sudden, ¡°What will it take for you to be with me?¡±

    The girl lowered her head. ¡°I heard those who fall in love will be willing, but I have no idea what love is.¡±

    Anwent looked up at the sky andughed, ¡°Yes! That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll make you fall in love with me!¡±

    The girl was puzzled as to why he was so happy.

    Anwenughed with increasing cheer as he brought the girl to Tidehark where he pointed at the sky. Immediately, an airshipnded before the two and a group of demonkin walked out in a single file. They bowed toward Anwen and said at the same time, ¡°Young Lord!¡±

    Anwen replied calmly, ¡°We take off, I wish to see His Majesty.¡±

    The guards shot the young girl a nce, and then lowered their heads once more. Apparently, they didn¡¯t dare question Anwen¡¯s decision to bring this girl along despite her questionable origins. Before stepping onto the airship, the girl looked back hesitantly¡ªit almost seemed as though she was afraid of something.

    From this angle, no one could see the rity and determination in her eyes.

    ¡­

    An old demonkin was sitting cross-legged at the center of the swirling clouds. There wasn¡¯t a tangible object supporting him, but rather aplicated polyhedron weaved from countless dark threads. If one were to observe closely, they would find that those threads were actually beams of light¡ªck-colored light.

    The old man¡¯s body was hidden beneath the cloak and none could see his face. A closer look and one would see that his figure was slightly distorted, almost as though he was shrouded in raging mes.

    The airship rose up from below and stopped a hundred meters away. Anwen brought the young girl to the deck, but instead of flying up, he bowed toward the elderly man. ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    The young girl tried jumping up but found that she would quickly fall back to the deck like an ordinary person.

    The old demonkin made no movements, but an inexplicable feeling covered the entire airship. His gaze and attention had locked onto the ce.

    Even Anwen could feel his face tensing up. He shot a nce at the young girl beside him, seemingly gaining a burst of courage, and said, ¡°Your Majesty, I wish to bring her into the Great Maelstrom. Also, her constitution is fairly weak, so I hope you¡¯ll grant her some protective equipment.¡±

    The old demonkin remained as calm as a stillke. He shifted his focus onto the girl and said in a raspy voice, ¡°Your name.¡±

    ¡°Bai Kongzhao.¡±

    ¡°Is that your real name?¡± The demonkin elder¡¯s ethereal me began to expand.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the girl replied in all honesty.

    The elder spoke and moved very little. A beam of ck radiance shot out from the polyhedron below and spun into an ankle chain thattched itself onto the girl¡¯s left foot.

    ¡°Bring her in once the passage opens tonight.¡±

    Anwen hadn¡¯t expected the old man to agree so quickly, nor that the matter would go so smoothly. But this was a good thing! He said to the girl, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you thanking His Majesty?!¡±

    The young girl¡¯s lips moved somewhat. In the end, she bowed slightly in a gesture of thanks.

    Anwen heaved a sigh of relief. This matter had been settled with her expression of gratitude. Someone of the Eternal me¡¯s station wouldn¡¯t go back on his words.

    It was just that, why had things gone so smoothly? Anwen still didn¡¯t dare to believe it.

    The Eternal me said, ¡°It¡¯s not so bad for the young to explore.¡±

    His sudden words shocked Anwen out of his wits. Thetter looked back only to find that the old demonkin was once again silent, his gaze far away.

    Anwen ordered the airship to descend and leave the area, lest the Eternal me changes his mind.

    Anwen felt somewhat puzzled after leaving. What exactly was the Eternal me looking at? What did he see?

    At the base of a distant mountain, two young people were in a heated argument, and the atmosphere around them wasn¡¯t so friendly.

 Chapter 995: The Right to Trade

    The two people in a standoff were well-known characters in their respective camps. One was Eden, who had gained fame in the Misty Wood, and across from him was Song Zining.

    Eden sized the seventh young master up with narrowed eyes. ¡°You actually daree here, quite bold I say. What, are you tired of living because of some unhappy matters?¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m living quite fine, thank you, and I still have a fair bit of youth to squander. How could I be tired of living? You, on the other hand, must be quite depressed to see me on your own. Feel free to tell me about it and make me happy.¡±

    Eden smiled coldly. ¡°I only need to send a signal and numerous experts will arrive within moments. This ce is also within the range of His Majesty the Eternal me¡¯s power. Do you think you can escape?¡±

    ¡°Escape? I never had any intention of going back alive. Why would I even try?¡±

    Eden and Song Zining stared at one another for a long while. Eventually, the former asked with a more rxed expression, ¡°Enough with the useless stuff. I shall enter the Great Maelstrom tonight. Since you came to see me despite the risks, say what you must so that I can deal with you.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I have some information that might interest you, and for that, I want you to agree to two things.¡±

    Eden said coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything we can work together on, but since you feel this information is important, let¡¯s hear it.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°It¡¯s rted to Nighteye, do you want to listen?¡±

    Eden¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He took a sudden step forward and grabbed Song Zining by the cor. ¡°How did you know?!¡±

    His movement was so forceful that Song Zining could hardly breathe, yet the seventh young master wasn¡¯t flustered at all. On the contrary, he looked at the demonkin with a hint of mockery in his eyes. Surprised, Eden released his grip, saying, ¡°Right, perhaps you might¡¯ve heard certain things, but they¡¯re mere guesses. And I just proved them correct.¡±

    Song Zining tidied his clothes until they were in perfect condition. ¡°You¡¯re smart, no wonder you managed to beat up those imbeciles in the Misty Wood.¡±

    Eden raised his voice. ¡°Are you looking down on me?¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t about to give way, however. ¡°Absolutely not, I¡¯m just saying your opponents were too weak. How could you have such an opportunity if Qianye wasn¡¯t pushed away?¡±

    Eden¡¯s expression was unsightly. His entanglement with Qianye in the Misty Wood would¡¯ve resulted in his loss if it wasn¡¯t for his advantage in gear. Even then, he was barely able to hold his ground toward the end of the fight¡ªhe lost the Carol of Shadows, even. If Qianye hadn¡¯t left all of a sudden, Eden would probably die to him sooner orter.

    Song Zining¡¯s words were harsh but true, and Eden¡¯s pride forbade him from denying them.

    The demonkin said in a gloomy voice, ¡°Did youe here just to humiliate me?¡±

    ¡°Of course not! On the contrary, I came to make a deal with you because I deem you a worthy future opponent.¡±

    ¡°How are the two even rted?¡±

    Song Zining sped his hands behind his back. ¡°How could those without equal ambition and bearing be my match in the future?¡±

    ¡°Ambition begets aplishment. Well said!¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Now, are you interested in the deal?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°I will tell you some recent news about Nighteye, and in return, I need you to do two things.¡±

    ¡°You have information about Nighteye? Speak, what do you need me to do?¡± It was obvious that Eden was barely able to suppress his excitement.

    Song Zining raised a finger. ¡°Firstly, I need you to find a way to make the Eternal me work with us and draw Medanzo into the neutralnds.¡±

    Eden was shocked. ¡°You want to attack the Lightless Monarch? You must be crazy!¡±

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°The Lightless Monarch isn¡¯t as strong as he looks, you demonkin know that quite well, don¡¯t you? Besides, I¡¯m not the one attacking him. All we need is to lure him into the neutralnds, the Eastern Sea preferably.¡±

    Seeing that Song Zining wasn¡¯t willing to exin more, Eden said, ¡°What¡¯s the second condition?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The second condition is that you mustn¡¯t attack Qianye and the people around him when you reach the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Eden frowned. ¡°The people around him? How will I know?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The people who are around him when you meet him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easily done. Now, it¡¯s your turn. Tell me how Nighteye is doing.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°She¡¯s in the neutralnds right now, but naturally, I can¡¯t tell you the exact location. I can only say that she¡¯s doing quite well and her body is recovering constantly. There¡¯s no need to worry about her health at the moment. It¡¯s just that she¡¯s about to face danger right now.¡±

    Eden¡¯s expression transformed several times. ¡°Is she injured? What kind of danger?¡±

    ¡°She was injured a while ago, but she has recovered now. As for the danger, I¡¯ll figure out a way to help her.¡±

    Eden took a step forward. ¡°Tell me! Who wants to hurt her?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°What¡¯s the use in telling you? It¡¯s the Lightless Monarch.¡±

    Eden¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Are you joking?¡±

    Song Zining exined calmly, ¡°The Lightless Monarch had tried to buy Nighteye when she fell into imperial captivity back then. He was the one who had sent people after her and injured her after she had fled. Do you think it¡¯s a coincidence that a great dark monarch would attack a small character twice? It¡¯s not that hard for you to verify my story.¡±

    Eden was livid, but he eventually nodded.

    Song Zining said, ¡°I¡¯ve said all that I should, time for me to leave.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Eden called him back, ¡°aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll renege on my words?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already promised, and that¡¯s enough. We don¡¯t need any other guarantees.¡±

    Edenughed coldly. ¡°I¡¯ve already heard the information, so why should I let you go? If I kill you now, the empire will no longer have a future god of strategy.¡±

    Song Zining revealed a brilliant smile. ¡°Who will you make deals with in the future if you kill me?

    ¡°We have been fighting for a thousand years.

    ¡°And we have been doing business for just as long.

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel the need to.

    ¡°A deal is just people taking what they each need. If you¡¯re not willing, someone else will.¡±

    Eden said in due seriousness, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that a deal will only make the enemy stronger?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°It will, but the same applies to me as well. Both sides are just taking what they need. As for how you use those resources, it¡¯ll be up to you. If I use them well, I¡¯lle out on top in battles internal and external. The same goes for you. So, the nature of the trade will also depend on the person. Of course, it¡¯s fine if you want to back out and admit you¡¯re inferior to me. There will be other willing parties.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°I only pick people who have the right to be my enemy.¡±

    ¡°Is this a praise?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a warning. None of my enemies have met good fates.¡±

    Eden sneered, ¡°I look forward to it.¡±

    ¡°My thoughts exactly.¡±

    The two red daggers at each other, attacking each other secretly at every turn. All of a sudden, Eden said, ¡°I heard that the seventh young master of the Song was sincere, magnanimous, and morally upright. That isn¡¯t really the case, it seems. For instance, regardless of the reasons, you really have no way to exin this deal back in the empire, do you?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s smile vanished as he opened his fan and pped lightly. After calming himself down, he said, ¡°There will always be inevitable things that need to be done. I¡¯m a loner anyway, so what if I need to shoulder a bad name?¡±

    With that, Song Zining turned and left, fearlessly leaving his back open to Eden.

    Eden watched the seventh young master¡¯s receding figure with aplicated expression. It was at this time that a raspy voice echoed in his ears, ¡°Come up to see me.¡±

    Surprised, Eden flew up toward the swirling clouds in due haste. Around Tidehark, only those allowed by the Eternal me could fly like so.

    In the blink of an eye, Eden was standing before the Eternal me. His head was slightly lowered, not daring to look straight into the eyes of this big shot.

    The Eternal meughed deeply. He then said with an amicable tone, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that little fellow chose that ce so that I¡¯ll hear the conversation.¡±

    Only at this point did Eden feel a modicum of relief. But soon, he felt a scorching heat fall upon his body¡ªhe felt parched and dry, almost as though he had fallen into a furnace. Eden did his best to endure because he knew it was the Eternal me¡¯s gaze. Fortunately, the heat didn¡¯tst long, else Eden would have reached his limit pretty soon.

    Only at this moment could he truly feel the Eternal me¡¯s terrifying might. Just that gaze had almost caused him to copse. If they were to fight, the monarch could reduce him to ash with a single wisp of invisible me.

    The Eternal me nodded. This was the first time he had moved visibly. ¡°You¡¯re not bad at all, much better than what I¡¯ve heard. Heh, it¡¯s not the first time the bastards in charge of your family have made wrong judgments.¡±

    Eden said, ¡°Your Majesty, about the Lightless Monarch¡­¡±

    The Eternal me said, ¡°I know Medanzo wants to capture Nighteye. I don¡¯t know what exactly he wants with her, though, and I have no interest. But that human brat is quite bold, I must say, to plot against the Lightless Monarch. It¡¯s quite interesting. Rest assured, I will cooperate. I also want to see what that kid is capable of.¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡±

    The Eternal me replied, ¡°Very simple. I¡¯ll leave a bit earlier than nned. I only need to pick my route of exit to make sure Medanzo appears in a specific area. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll lose his patience once I leave and try to enter the neutralnds immediately without me knowing. Now that leaves him with very few choices. I can even leave him with only one choice.¡±

    ¡°I understand, but Your Majesty, was it right for me to have let Song Zining go?¡±

    The Eternal meughed. ¡°That fellow is very interesting. So what if he really does be the empire¡¯s next top strategist? One thing he said is correct. We¡¯ve been fighting the humans for a thousand years, and we¡¯ve been doing business with them for a thousand years. The line between enemy and friend isn¡¯t a constant thing. Enemies for a thousand years might turn into friends on a scale of ten thousand years. Humans have always been the most conflicted of races. Their lives are short, yet they make decisions based on the long river of history. In this respect, they are so much better than us.¡±

    Eden hadn¡¯t expected the Eternal me to see Song Zining, and the human race, in this manner. His evaluation was fairly high, even.

    ¡°You may go back now. I hope you¡¯ll always be qualified to deal with him in the future.¡±

    Eden was shaken. ¡°I will do my best.¡±

 Chapter 996: The Next Frigid Nigh

    t

    Events unfolded as most people had expected. In the face of Evernight¡¯s overwhelming advantage, the previously victorious empire stayed low and allowed the enemy to control the Great Maelstrom passage. The Eternal me¡¯s arrival shook all experts in the neutralnds. Most of the arrogant experts suddenly discovered that they never possessed the courage to appear before this Great Dark Monarch without the Throne of Blood¡¯s support.

    Zhang Buzhou remained in secluded cultivation as he assailed the heavenly monarch realm. However, this istion of his had more or less be a joke.

    Fortunately, the Eternal me only stayed for a short while. He even left a bit earlier than the three-day agreement he had made with the Throne of Blood.

    With the Eternal me gone, the demonkin left together with him. Those who were watching could easily trace the massive fleet as it flew across the neutralnds.

    After the departure of this great dark monarch¡ªone whomanded great respect even in the Evernight Council¡ªcountless experts felt as though arge rock had been lifted off of their chests. They were finally able to heave a sigh of relief.

    Half of the vampire and arachne forces also left, but a fair number of them remained at Tidehark. On one hand, it was because some of their people hadn¡¯t entered yet¡ªthe passage was still usable, albeit barely. On the other hand, they were hoping to defend against the empire¡¯s retaliation and hold the passage until its next opening. Everyone knew that wasn¡¯t easy, but some people held onto the elusive dream.

    The great powers of the neutralnds were waiting to see who would win in the imminent sh between the two factions. Currently, there was no big difference in military power. The Evernight side held a slight advantage, but most people felt the empire had a greater chance. They were looking forward to the miracles the future god-strategist would bring.

    Most people were also puzzled as to why the vampires and arachne had called back over half of their fleet. The Great Maelstrom passage would restabilize in half a month¡¯s time at most. Couldn¡¯t they wait? What they didn¡¯t know was that the war on the void continent had taken a drastic turn. The forces of Evernight were copsing on all fronts under the Empire¡¯s relentless assault.

    Everyone guessed one thing correctly: Song Zining¡¯s retaliation would arrive surely and swiftly. What they guessed wrong was the method.

    The Eternal me had just departed when most of the experts in the neutralnds began to feel their hearts pounding. Then, an extremely wretched scream echoed throughout thend.

    The pounding was fairly familiar. Those who had lived long in the neutralnds had felt this sensation more than just once. That was the rumble of the Shattered Moment, fired personally and at full force by that powerhouse.

    The scream, on the other hand, was unfamiliar. Yet, it had spread throughout the entire neutralnds and even echoed on the spiritual ne. One couldn¡¯t begin to imagine how terrifying the owner of this howl was.

    Everyone began making all kinds of guesses. It was at this moment that the vampire troops stationed in Tidehark began to move. A group of warships left the Eastern Sea and flew into the void. This led many people to believe that a great battle had ensued between the Throne of Blood and the Lightless Monarch Medanzo.

    No matter how many guesses they ventured, these people would never know the truth.

    While idle people were doing their best to spread the news, countless Imperial Fleets had appeared over the horizon and were swarming toward Tidehark.

    ...

    While the mes of war flickered in the neutralnds, Qianye was facing yet another cruel problem¡ªhow to get through the night.

    Even if he were to use the most primitive method, it would be too difficult for him to drive the vitality of both Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing¡ªunless they were to imbibe arge amount of the four-armed people¡¯s white-fruit wine. But that would make the situation even worse than before. Although Qianye still wasn¡¯t clear about Ji Tianqing¡¯s identity, he was quite certain that it wouldn¡¯t be inferior to Li Kuann¡¯s. Besides, her character was even more difficult to deal with than Li Kuann.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t just watch them fade away in the frigid night, either, especially when there was something he could do.

    Qianye¡¯s heart grew heavier as he gazed at the setting sun.

    Li Kuann was, at first, channeling her arts quietly. At this point, she opened her eyes all of a sudden and said to Ji Tianqing, ¡°What are you still using that disguise for?¡±

    Ji Tianqing opened her eyes. ¡°What disguise?¡±

    She was apparently pretending to be dumb, but Li Kuann wasn¡¯t about to let her seed. ¡°There are no outsiders here, it¡¯s fine to reveal your true appearance.¡±

    Ji Tianqing trembled somewhat but quickly fell silent. Her aura was fluctuating wildly, a clear indication of her conflict.

    Qianye was puzzled. Revealing one¡¯s true appearance wasn¡¯t a big deal, but why was Ji Tianqing so insistent? Was she really ugly? It made no difference to Qianye whether she was ugly or pretty, but even someone as tactless as Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t say that out loud.

    Li Kuann sighed. ¡°It¡¯s almost midnight.¡±

    She stretched her hand toward Qianye. ¡°Give me a jar of wine.¡±

    Qianye was shaken. ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±

    Li Kuann was calm. ¡°You can help one but not both. If we can¡¯t hold out past midnight, you¡¯ll put your life on the line to activate our vitality, won¡¯t you? Even though you know it¡¯s impossible. So, we¡¯ll all die here if we don¡¯t drink a good amount of wine. The only downside of drinking too much is that. I don¡¯t want to die, I don¡¯t want you to die, either. Whatever happens, we¡¯ll forget it once we leave this ce.¡±

    Qianye felt aplicated wave of emotions, something he couldn¡¯t quite exin.

    Seeing Qianye in a daze, Li Kuann turned to Ji Tianqing instead. ¡°Wine.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was startled. ¡°Why should I give you?¡±

    ¡°Then, are you going to drink?¡± Li Kuann asked.

    Noticing her reaction, Li Kuann suddenly edged closer and whispered in her ears, ¡°This is how I survived the past two days¡­¡±

    Despite trying her best to look calm, Ji Tianqing¡¯s face flushed red after listening to the story. She already had a vague guess, but she was so embarrassed after hearing the details that she couldn¡¯t raise her head. However, Ji Tianqing quickly remembered that Qianye was nearby, and that it would be bad if he were to notice her demeanor. She immediately straightened her back and adopted the posture of an experienced elder sister.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. All he could do was pretend not to know while the two continued their discussion.

    Li Kuann finished the narration and then asked, ¡°Now pick. Will you be the one drinking?¡±

    ¡°The one drinking?¡± Qianye found it strange. Li Kuann red at him and said unhappily, ¡°Of course, one of us will drink until we¡¯re full, while the other will remain sober! Do you think we¡¯ll each drink half and then let you take advantage of both? Stop dreaming!¡±

    Qianye finally understood what she meant. He immediately felt his face burning up¡ªhe wanted to exin that it wasn¡¯t his intention but also knew that exining would only make things worse.

    ¡°Wait, there might not be a need to drink. We can try getting through this night without the wine,¡± Qianye said.

    Li Kuann shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡±

    All three of them were top geniuses, people qualified to challenge the older generation even. Naturally, they could tell that Qianye wasn¡¯t strong enough to help two people. Getting Li Kuann through the frigid night was already a shocking aplishment.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°I¡¯ll drink.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Li Kuann wasn¡¯t expecting this decision at all. There was nothing going on between Ji Tianqing and Qianye, whereas Li Kuann had already shared extreme intimacy with him. Li Kuann was nning to let Ji Tianqing take her position from the previous two nights, thinking it would be eptable for her as long as the final line wasn¡¯t crossed. As for herself, she had already made up her mind. Who would¡¯ve thought Ji Tianqing would opt to cross the line directly?

    Greatly distressed, Qianye wanted to persuade them again. Under present circumstances, it was trouble for him no matter who drank the wine. He wished he could just knock himself out as well, but that would stop him from activating their vitality.

    It was just as Li Kuann had said¡ªhe would run out of excuses one day.

    Ji Tianqing produced a jar of wine. Shattering it with a palm strike, she opened her mouth and sucked the contents toward her. The wine converged into a single stream as it rapidly disappeared into her body. The movement was so fast that none of the other two could stop her.

    Both Qianye and Li Kuann understood how tyrannical the liquor was. One jar of it could indeed suppress the power of the frigid night, but there was nothing left to suppress one¡¯s urges.

    An extremelyplicated expression flickered across Li Kuann¡¯s face. She simply didn¡¯t know what to say. She was confused, surprised, and greatly disappointed, not unlike a young girl whose sweets have been snatched away.

    She felt a sudden urge to ask Qianye for a jar of wine as well.

    So what if this idiot was allowed to take advantage?

    Apart from being a bit dumb, it felt as though this idiot was quite nice in every other aspect.

    All of a sudden, she remembered the words Eunuch Liu had brought her. From her understanding of her elder sister, the wording could be considered extremely serious. There was no telling what Empress Li would do if Li Kuann were to go against her wishes. As someone who was able to ascend to this position, the empress likely wouldn¡¯t be lenient just because of familial love.

    What was she to do?

    Li Kuann bit her lip as she nced between Ji Tianqing and Qianye. Her thoughts were so chaotic that she couldn¡¯t think of a proper course of action. Her cultivation was of the ice attribute and the night was cold and calm. She should¡¯ve been iparably cool-headed under such circumstances, yet her heart was beating increasingly fast.

    She didn¡¯t know what to do. Was she to watch as Ji Tianqing snatched Qianye from under her eyes?

    Li Kuann hated herself for giving the other party a choice. Things had already reached this point, so why wasn¡¯t she a bit more proactive? She had always been swift, decisive, and resolute¡ªwhy had she faltered at the most critical moment?

    Qianye was silent and helpless. It made no difference who the other party was. He stood up in frustration and walked off to gaze at the night sky. There was no moon in the depths of the night, nor were there any stars¡ªbut there was Nighteye in everything he saw.

    Ji Tianqing let out a mischievous chuckle. ¡°Do what you must, I¡¯m drunk now.¡±

    With that, she copsed to the floor and fell asleep.

    Li Kuann was shocked out of her wits. She pushed her messed up thoughts to the back of her mind and charged over. Sleep usually meant death in the frigid night.

    Quite unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing raised her head at this point. ¡°Stay close to me when you do your thing. Let me bask in the glow as well.¡± Then, she plopped down once more and fell asleep.

    Li Kuann was filled with a sudden desire to strangle her to death.

 Chapter 997: The First Truth

    This frigid night went by in a fairly odd manner. Qianye sat crossed legged and Li Kuann, with her back to him, leaned into his chest. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, was curled up beside Qianye like a little kitten.

    Li Kuann was supposed to be entirely focused on channeling her vitality and thereby reducing Qianye¡¯s workload. However, she felt as though a pair of eyes were watching her at all times. The feeling sent her heart into chaos, and she wanted nothing more than to get dressed and flee. Despite that, her body desired survival above all else, urging her to press against Qianye as tightly as she could. The blood core behind her was like a sun in the cold night, radiating vitality as it produced a small paradise in this frigid world.

    Li Kuann knew that her mood fluctuation would tire Qianye. In fact, both of them had been in a constant fight against this world apart from the very first night that she had been unconscious.

    At the thought of this, Li Kuann felt a slight pain in her heart. However, the pair of eyes was persistently sizing up each and every part of her body, not letting go of the slightest detail. Even in the Frigid Night, Li Kuann felt so nervous that she was sweating from the forehead.

    At this point, Qianye tightened his arms around her waist, indicating that she should rx. It was not yet midnight, and excessive tension would only serve to drain one¡¯s stamina. That would make it even more difficult to get through the crueltter half of the night.

    Li Kuann felt her face burning. Fortunately, it was dark and Qianye was behind her, otherwise, she would need to drill into the ground and nevere out again.

    Li Kuann was about to go mad, and finally, she could stand it no longer. She wanted to grab Ji Tianqing¡¯s head and move it to the side, but who would¡¯ve thought the seemingly out-cold Miss Tianqing would bite her hand? Even her origin defenses were shattered, and the bone-deep pain almost caused her to scream. She had never expected Ji Tianqing to be so ruthless. If it wasn¡¯t for the calmness she had cultivated over the years, she might have fallen for it.

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t one to be trifled with, either. A stream of frost energy shot out from her fingertips and reached into Ji Tianqing¡¯s throat. Her frost power was extremely strong, to begin with, not to mention they were currently in the frigid night. Ji Tianqing¡¯s mouth was immediately frozen from the inside out. Li Kuann took this opportunity to withdraw her hand, while thetter exhaled a cloud of frosty air and continued to sleep.

    Qianye remained entirely calm, almost as though he knew nothing about what was going on, but he was, in fact, quite surprised. These two young misses never held back while teasing one another. Any other expert in their ce would¡¯ve been crippled if not dead. Even at this point, Qianye had no idea whether they were just fooling around or were being serious.

    Regardless, the night finally went by without incident.

    The sun hadn¡¯t risenpletely when Li Kuann left Qianye¡¯s embrace despite her weakness and got dressed under the cover of the darkness. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, remained unceremoniously beside Qianye and was even snoring faintly.

    She shifted her posture unconsciously and wound even tighter around him. Qianye nced over to check up on her condition but was immediately startled. At this moment, Ji Tianqing¡¯s countenance was no longer giving off an ephemeral feeling¡ªit felt genuine for a change. At first nce, she wasn¡¯t a breathtaking beauty but was definitely well worth a second look. Speaking honestly, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were at the same level. They each possessed their own special characteristics and were many times superior to the beauties of the secr world.

    What surprised Qianye was that her current face was identical to when they had first met. Only now did Qianye recall her appearance from back then. Before this, things would always feel blurry whenever he tried to think back on her face, and he simply couldn¡¯t recall what she looked like.

    In truth, Ji Tianqing had already revealed her true appearance to him during their first meeting. She had used a powerful secret art to bury it deep within his heart, to awaken one day if they were fated and to slumber eternally if they weren¡¯t.

    Perhaps it was due to the panoramic view he had gained of all life, and their workings inside and out, that he was able to chance upon this memory. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh in the depths of his heart.

    When dawn arrived and the first rays of sunlight showered down on the camp, Ji Tianqing rubbed her eyes and sat up. ¡°What happened? Why was it so coldst night? I could even feel my teeth aching.¡±

    Li Kuann was already fully dressed at this point. Along with her clothes, she had also recovered her usual cold demeanor. Hearing Ji Tainqing¡¯s words, she sneered, ¡°There was definitely something wrongst night, an insect bit my hand pretty hard.¡±

    Ji Tianqing seemed astonished. ¡°Is that so? Are you sure you weren¡¯t dreaming? I actually slept quite wellst night, but I dreamed that I saw some things I shouldn¡¯t have. Do you want to listen to it?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Even someone as focused as Li Kuann couldn¡¯t help but want to go mad.

    Ji Tianqing added, ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯m a bit restless when I sleep and I move about when I dream. You guys should be prepared in case I identally touch something by ident.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Then, as though remembering something, she red at Ji Tianqing while gnashing her teeth. Thetter looked back with narrowed eyes, not holding back in the slightest.

    The so-called movement wasn¡¯t just a normal bump. People at their martial-arts level could casually perform difficult movements, and it would take no more than a thought to do so. For instance, she could give Qianye a push from behind during the frigid night and effectively seal the deal between the other two. This wasn¡¯t just fantasy. Li Kuann saw Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression and knew exactly what she was thinking.

    This was an undisguised provocation, but Li Kuann had no choice but to endure it.

    She inhaled deeply, calming herself down and making ready to concede, when she suddenly noticed something. ¡°Tianqing, your face?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say I should show people my true face? There¡¯s no one else here, anyway. I don¡¯t want to waste origin power on that secret art.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was both joyful and worried. ¡°I heard that if your face¡­¡±

    ¡°You heard wrong,¡± Ji Tianqing cut her short.

    While the two girls were arguing nearby, Qianye was busy channeling the Darkness Chapter to supplement the blood energy he had exhaustedst night. Qianye stood up after recovering a small amount and walked over to gaze at the distant mountains and rivers. His mind was wracked with uncontroble frustration and anger.

    This world was full of malice.

    Was everyone supposed to buckle under the pressure and cast aside all morals and bottom-lines just for survival?

    ¡°You guys operate on your own today, but be careful. I want to take a stroll outside.¡± With that, Qianye leaped out of the camp and, without even ncing back, darted away like a mirage.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were both stunned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    Li Kuann replied angrily, ¡°How should I know?¡±

    ¡°But, aren¡¯t you two already quite close?¡±

    ¡°We were only forced by circumstances, and we never crossed the final line.¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. ¡°Indeed, the line wasn¡¯t crossed.¡±

    Li Kuann was driven mad. She grabbed Ji Tianqing and roared, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°You had nothing on! Of course, I saw everything.¡±

    After saying that, Ji Tianqing cried out with an enlightened expression, ¡°Ah, I know! You guys have been building up for so long and were nning to do itst night. In the end, I became a disturbance to you guys, right?¡±

    This time, Li Kuann could no longer endure. She tightened her grip and said furiously, ¡°It seems I need to choke you to death!¡±

    ¡°Save me!¡± Ji Tianqing cried out loudly.

    ¡°What are you screaming for? Do you want to attract all the natives?¡±

    ¡°So what? Haven¡¯t we already killed all the strong ones?¡± Ji Tianqing was nonchnt.

    Li Kuann put her down and said with a re, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that you just drank an entire jar of winest night! What if you really lure those natives over? We have enough trouble already.¡±

    Ji Tianqing narrowed her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I have a secret art that can suppress the effects of the wine for a couple of days.¡±

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t about to be fooled. ¡°That¡¯s a temporary suppression. The full effects of the drug will burst out sooner orter, what will you do then?¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s no other way, I¡¯ll just have to borrow your man for a while. You won¡¯t watch me die, will you?¡±

    Li Kuann blushed hard. ¡°Nonsense! I have no man!¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then why did you look so awful when I drank the wine?¡±

    ¡°Tianqing, I feel like I should just choke you to death!¡±

    The two bickered for a while, but they soon quieted down at the same time and nced at one another. Their expressionsmunicated the same worry: Where did Qianye go?

    Li Kuann was the first to break the silence. ¡°Why don¡¯t we explore the forest and see if we discover anything?¡±

    Ji Tianqing shook her head. ¡°No, we still have food, so let¡¯s not risk causing more trouble. We should grasp this opportunity to cultivate. The stronger you are, the easier it will be for him.¡±

    Li Kuann gazed intently at Ji Tianqing. ¡°Tell me the truth. You drank so much wine, will you be okay?¡±

    Ji Tianqingughed. ¡°Of course. I told you I have a method to suppress the effects!¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°If the secret art was that useful, you would¡¯ve given it to us earlier. There¡¯s no way you would¡¯ve kept it to yourself.¡±

    The smile on Ji Tianqing¡¯s face gradually faded away. ¡°Now that we¡¯re here, there are certain things that are beyond our control. You¡¯re right, this secret art can only suppress the effects for a while. When it stops working, the effects of the alcohol will erupt with even greater intensity. At that point, if you don¡¯t let me borrow your man¡­ I might have to kill myself while my head is clear.¡±

    Li Kuann felt her heart tighten. ¡°Stop saying these things! Don¡¯t worry, Qianye won¡¯t watch you die.¡±

    Ji Tianqing whispered, ¡°I know he won¡¯t, but¡­ it¡¯s so unfair.¡±

    Li Kuann was speechless. What was she feeling unresigned about?

    After being so picky all this time, she had to admit that Qianye was really the best candidate. It was just that this man was dumb, so dumb that he had only one person in his heart. There was no space for other people.

 Chapter 998: Blame

    Time went by slowly. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann sat facing one another, but neither of them was in the mood to cultivate. They watched the sky turn from light to dark, until the frigid night was almost upon them once more. Neither of them spoke a word as they were lost in their own thoughts.

    As the night slowly crept upon them, the duo caught a faint noise approaching them rather swiftly.

    Exchanging a nce, they split up and approached the natural stone wall around the camp, where they hid their auras and looked out. The sound grew closer and closer as a figure rushed out of the forest and darted toward the camp like an arrow.

    Li Kuann couldn¡¯t hide her joy at Qianye¡¯s return, but Ji Tianqing pulled her back. Thetter then pointed forward and advanced in a concealed state.

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyesight wasn¡¯t so bad that she couldn¡¯t figure out the problem¡ªQianye was moving too slowly. Compared to ordinary experts, he was already running quite fast amidst the tenfold increase in gravity. But Qianye¡¯s powerful physique gave him a powerful edge in this world, and he was even slightly faster than Li Kuann. How could he be so slow?

    Li Kuann felt her heart beating faster as she picked up the origin gun and took aim behind Qianye.

    Fortunately, no chasing soldiers appeared. As though he could sense Ji Tianqing¡¯s approach, Qianye nced over briefly but kept on running toward the camp. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, circled around to cover Qianye¡¯s back along the way.

    Once inside the camp, Qianye staggered and would likely have copsed if Li Kuann hadn¡¯t caught him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Qianye gasped heavily like a fish tossed onto the shore and only recovered after a while. He waved weakly at her, saying, ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a bit exhausted.¡±

    ¡°Where did you run off to?¡±

    Li Kuann was surprised because she had fought alongside Qianye quite often and knew just how terrifying his regeneration was. It almost felt as though he was never tired. Just how far had he run to be so exhausted?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, either, but I found some stuff.¡±

    Qianye fished out a small box and opened it carefully to reveal six white fruits!

    Ji Tianqing was shocked. ¡°You found a different native base?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. I traveled for half a day but couldn¡¯t leave the range of this stone castle.¡±

    ¡°Then you just need to run farther.¡± Qianyeughed.

    Six white fruits meant that they could get through three more frigid nights. This was supposed to be a cause of celebration, but the atmosphere in the camp wasn¡¯t that joyful. Qianye had closed his eyes in apparent exhaustion, while the other two weren¡¯t in high spirits, either.

    Ji Tianqing observed the white fruits carefully and found that this batch was somewhat different¡ªthere was an additional faint red line on its surface. Just the scent of it was enough to elerate her blood flow and fill her with a peculiar sensation. Doubtlessly, these white fruits were much stronger than the ones she had robbed.

    As a holy object of the natives, it was obvious that the stronger the white fruit, the greater the number of guards. There would also be a greater number of powerful people in bigger native tribes.

    Ji Tianqing nced at Qianye before reaching out to open his shirt.

    There, on his abdomen, was a fist-sized injury extending all the way through his body, revealing his innards. Both his body and organs were covered in ayer of grey substance that was stopping him from regenerating. In addition to the biggest wound, there were numerous unhealed injuries all over his body, one of which was bone-deep. However, Qianye¡¯s skeleton was now fairly strong and the blow never managed to break his ribs.

    Ji Tianqing bit her lip, and her expression turned cold. ¡°Are you crazy?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°You charged in to snatch the fruits despite therge number of natives, and then ran all the way back. You think you¡¯re a hero? You think you¡¯re so awesome? You think you¡¯ve tried your very best, have you? Do the two of us disgust you so much that you would rather throw away your life than touch us?¡±

    The series of criticism left Qianye with no room to retort, up until Ji Tianqing stopped to breathe. Li Kuann said nothing and merely looked on in silence, but that also gave him a fair amount of pressure.

    Helpless, Qianye tried to exin, ¡°Tianqing, that¡¯s not my intention. The natives are numerous but still within my ability. It can¡¯t be considered throwing my life away.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression turned frosty. ¡°Are you trying to say you¡¯re more powerful than me?¡±

    Qianye wanted to deny, but after some thought, he ultimately nodded.

    Ji Tianqing red fiercely at him. ¡°Remember those words. We will fight properly once we¡¯re out of the Great Maelstrom. At that time, we¡¯ll fight to the death, neither is allowed to flee.¡±

    With that, Ji Tianqing tossed an exquisitely little dagger into Qianye¡¯s hand.

    Li Kaunn¡¯s expression turned peculiar. ¡°Tianqing, are you really doing this?¡±

    ¡°Of course! I don¡¯t like this fellow!¡±

    Li Kuann shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t regret itter on.¡±

    ¡°Why should I? You think I¡¯ll lose?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s lips moved slightly. He wanted to say she might just lose, but he knew that he couldn¡¯t say that out loud, otherwise, this young miss might attack on the spot.

    At this moment, Qianye was injured and his origin power waspletely exhausted. Losing to her wasn¡¯t a big issue, since he didn¡¯t quite care about face among friends. He was just worried that the effects of the wine would cause her to lose control if she were to overdraft her origin power.

    Li Kuann pulled Ji Tianqing back. ¡°Let him recover. The efficiency of our arts will diminish if we drag things out.¡±

    Ji Tianqing red at Qianye. ¡°You got off easy.¡±

    A syringe appeared in her hands, which she stabbed into Qianye¡¯s neck while he wasn¡¯t paying attention and pushed the contents in. The amount of medicine inside wasn¡¯t small, and the force of her injection was merciless. In the blink of an eye, there was a swelling on Qianye¡¯s neck that left him grimacing from the pain. However, his powerful body was able to fully absorb the medicine in a short time.

    Qianye knew she was getting back at him, so he didn¡¯t really mind.

    She crushed the syringe in her hand after the injection waspleted. Then, a sh of fire erupted from her palm, reducing the remains to ashes. Her movements were quick, but Li Kuann still noticed the insignia on the syringe, and her expression becameplicated.

    With the medicine in his system, Qianye felt as though his entire body was on fire. The drug immediately activated the metabolism of his body tissues, raising his regenerative powers by several dozen times. In the blink of an eye, every small muscle in his body was sending out hunger signals. They yearned for more energy and nutrients.

    The dull beating of a war-drum erupted from the camp, and the reverberation caused the twodies¡¯ hearts to beat along with it. They stared at Qianye, knowing that this so-called war-drum was the sound of Qianye¡¯s blood core.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s blood core was beating tens of times faster than normal. It pulsed hundreds of times each minute, pumping out a steady stream of auric me blood to every part of his body. The auric me blood would be drained of all energy after entering his muscles, yet their hunger was only slightly sated. His body kept on demanding nutrients from the blood core.

    Half of Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was used up in the blink of an eye. Stored essence blood was now being mobilized and converted into new auric me blood. Despite that, the output wasn¡¯t enough to fulfill the body¡¯s needs. Hence, the blood core operated faster and faster, continuously elerating the process. Even though the produced auric me blood wasn¡¯t as pure as before, it was at least able to satisfy the body¡¯s needs.

    Before long, half his essence blood stores had been used up, but his body was far from satiated. As though it had sensed danger, the Book of Darkness appeared once more and opened up, pouring the stored essence blood into his blood core. The blood stored in the book had undergone some purification and served to expedite the transformation process of the blood core.

    Momentster, the Book of Darkness was also exhausted and faded away into the depths of the blood core. When it closed up, Qianye sensed that the book seemed to have two extra pages, but he wasn¡¯t able to catch a clear glimpse at the time.

    At this point, he was drained of all blood energy and essence blood, yet the hunger from his body remained strong. At this rate, the blood core would no longer be able to meet the demand, and the amount of auric me blood was gradually decreasing. A sudden idea came unto Qianye as he instinctively remembered his daybreak origin power.

    With a single thought, his body turned its attention to the origin vortices throughout his body.

    Qianye¡¯s origin vortices were revolving silently at first, but they started elerating rapidly at the body¡¯s demand. Threads of scarlet gold poured out of the vortices, illuminating every part of his body.

    Venus Dawn was a different feeling. It was like light and fire, killingrge patches of muscle tissues before growing them back with greater density and energy. Careful observation would show that these tissues contained countless crystalline granules, simr to how Venus Dawn existed in the origin vortices.

    Under the illumination of Venus Dawn,rge swathes of new tissue began recing the old. If his old body was an extremely powerful raw ore, the new physique wasparable to a polished gem.

    The all-round remodeling of his body brought about a stronger capacity to absorb origin power. His five origin vortices poured out a steady stream of radiance, but that wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy the sudden increase in consumption.

    A sudden crack echoed in the air as the wall of the sixth vortex shattered, unable to withstand the strain.

    With the wall shattered, the sixth vortex soon took shape and began resonating with the other five. The Profound Combatant Form began channeling on its own to draw upon the origin power from the void.

    At some point, a patch of leaden clouds appeared above Qianye¡¯s head and turned into a hundred-meter cloud whirlpool. The swirling clouds flickered with sanguine shes of lightning, along with roaming streaks of dark torn space.

    A storm kicked up in the camp, sucking the tent, canopy and wooden boxes into the sky.

 Chapter 999: Threshold to Divine Champion Realm

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann moved at extreme speeds, running toward the firearm and food supply crates respectively. As for the other stuff, there was no helping it.

    After recovering the supplies, they each found a corner to hide from the wind and watch Qianye.

    There were wisps of origin power dancing amidst the raging winds. Like invisible des, they were so powerful that they could carve out gashes in the rocky ground of the camp. The twodies had no choice but to activate their origin defenses, otherwise, their clothes and armor would be cut up by the void origin power. There was no way to rece damaged clothes in this ursed ce.

    The fierce winds formed a tornado which stretched all the way into the swirling clouds. shes of blood-red lightning flickered along the walls of the tornado, almost as though the end-times were near.

    Fortunately, the winds didn¡¯tst too long. The tornado scattered after a while, and the swirling clouds gradually dispersed. The spatialcerations in the sky also faded away unwillingly.

    When Qianye opened his eyes, there were shes of sanguine lightning arcing in the depths of his pupils. At this moment, it felt as though his body was full to the brim and leaking with origin power. His newly transformed body was full of violent power, yet it was also itchy, painful, and inexplicably ufortable. All he wanted was to smash something to vent this feeling.

    However, a scene of carnage weed him as he opened his eyes, and the two girls were hiding far off in the distance, watching him as though he were some kind of monster.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°It¡¯s your doing of course! You dismantled our home!¡± Li Kuann wanted to continue ming Qianye, but Ji Tianqing pulled her back. Thetter then asked, ¡°Qianye, were you cultivating just now?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°The injection activated all the muscles in my body and condensed a new origin vortex. I had to cultivate for a while to replenish my origin power.¡±

    Ji Tianqing asked, ¡°What cultivation art is this?¡±

    This problem cut straight into Qianye¡¯s core secrets, but he neither avoided nor hesitated with his reply. ¡°The Combatant Form.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t quite surprised. She pondered for a moment before continuing, ¡°Didn¡¯t you sense anything abnormal just now?¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. ¡°No, it¡¯s just like before. I sensed the void origin power and then guided it into my body for absorption.¡± At this point, he thought of something. ¡°If I have to point out something, it¡¯s probably that the area I can sense seems to have grown a bit.¡±

    ¡°How big is your usual area of perception?¡± Ji Tianqing kept up with her questions. Li Kuann also seemed quite interested.

    ¡°About a hundred meters.¡±

    ¡°You can sense and control void origin power within that range?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°But there¡¯s really too much void origin power around, and I can only absorb so much. Most of it ends up going to waste.¡±

    This was an iparable heartache to ordinary cultivators as they would need fairly good luck to absorb just a small amount of void origin power. Qianye, on the other hand, could converge all the void origin power in the vicinity into a tempest. If people were to hear about this, their jealousy would surely turn to hate, and they might even want to chop him up.

    Ji Tianqing, however, was focused on something else entirely. ¡°Qianye, when you¡¯re guiding the void origin power, can you direct it anywhere else apart from your own body?¡±

    Qianye thought back to the cultivation process before nodding. ¡°I might be able to, but it won¡¯t be urate. The amount of void origin power is massive, I can only control a small part of it. I probably won¡¯t be able to control more at my current stage.¡±

    The human mind was ultimately limited in capacity. It was impossible to concentrate on too many things unless one cultivated a specific secret art for it. This type of secret art was also extremely difficult to perfect, and only the most important scions of the aristocratic families would have ess to it. Song Zining was able to sneak out the Song n Ancient Scroll but not the secret inheritance rted to concentration. Thus, Qianye knew he was still a ways off from being proficient in this regard.

    However, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann both looked surprised. Thetter disguised her astonishment with a cough, saying, ¡°Qianye, being able to sense and control origin power in the environment is a sign of a divine champion. Although some people are able to pull it off before reaching that level, only divine champions are able to exceed a hundred meters in range. Your performance just now might becking in technique, but the power is definitely at the divine champion level.¡±

    Ji Tianqing chimed in, ¡°Many divine champions can stir up a tempest with a single attack, their might spanning over a hundred meters in an instant. In truth, the amount of origin power they can control might not be superior. It¡¯s just that they have special techniques and arts. For instance, some of them can only control one portion of origin power, but that one portion can affect ten, then a hundred meters . That makes their attacks look awe-inspiring, but the truth is that they¡¯re even weaker than you are.¡±

    Something lit up in Qianye¡¯s heart after listening to this, almost as though he had achieved a certain enlightenment. The principle was simr to rowing in the water, the initial movement only existed in a small area, but the ripples could spread out far and wide.

    Seeing him in thought, JI Tianqing said, ¡°This kind of secret art isn¡¯t difficult to find. Basically, every family that has ever produced a divine champion will have several of them. I¡¯ll help you find a couple of them after we leave this ce. They might not be as good as the Zhao n¡¯s, but they won¡¯t be so bad, either.¡±

    Qianye nodded in gratitude.

    His time in the Zhao n was short, and he was still far from the divine champion realm back on the void continent. Naturally, the n wouldn¡¯t hand him divine champion level arts under those circumstances. All major ns had their own rules about when to do what, regtions that couldn¡¯t be messed up. Hence, Qianye still had no idea how to break through to the divine champion realm or what to do afterward.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough. Time is of the essence, so you go and cultivate now. I need to talk to Kuann, don¡¯t eavesdrop!¡±

    Nodding, Qianye gathered his concentration and began refining origin power. The newly formed origin vortex was full of void origin power, which he needed to slowly convert into Venus Dawn. Only then would the vortex be stable.

    There was still some time before midnight. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann began organizing what remained of their camp, whispering to one another all the while.

    ¡°Is the Combatant Form that powerful?¡± Li Kuann still couldn¡¯t believe it.

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°Who knows? Strictly speaking, only three people have ever fully seeded in cultivating the Combatant Form: Grand Ancestor, Martial Ancestor, and War Monarch. I heard grandpa say that the form epasses the might of the heaven and earth, and is one of the most powerful arts in the world. It¡¯s just that only the Grand Ancestor had ever reached perfection. The Martial Ancestor was slightly inferior, and the War Monarch even more so.¡±

    Li Kuann was astonished. ¡°It¡¯s that awesome?¡±

    ¡°Yes, grandpa said that the Grand Ancestor is the most talented person throughout our history. He invented countless unimaginable secret arts and single-handedlyid down a thousand years of the empire¡¯s foundation. For some reason, however, no one else managed to cultivate those powerful arts to their peak. Prince Greensun was the most likely to crack the Combatant Form in the current dynasty, but unfortunately, he gave up at the introductory stage and switched to his own n¡¯s arts.¡±

    Li Kuann pondered for a while. ¡°Judging from the power of Qianye¡¯s cultivation art, he¡¯s very likely reached the introductory realm. Don¡¯t tell me the Combatant Form requires a vampire bloodline? Besides, the contents of the art don¡¯t look like they can take you very far.¡±

    Ji Tianqing pointed upward, whispering, ¡°Careful, or those above will hear.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Li Kaunn was puzzled.

    ¡°Who knows? Those divination bastards just love eavesdropping. If you happen to utter the words they want to hear, you might be unknowingly connected and they¡¯ll figure out what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    Li Kuann was shocked out of her wits. She only calmed down after thinking back to the two days prior and recalling that she hadn¡¯t really spoken much during the times she couldn¡¯t be seen. She became sullen after the initial panic. ¡°Which school¡¯s divination arts are so wretched? I¡¯ll destroy them once we get out.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not too hard to guess. Just think about it, whose divination arts are powerful enough that they can peep on you, and at the same time understands you enough? Someone who can avoid your sister¡¯s attention and yours.¡±

    This hint was enough to confirm her suspicions. Li Kuann¡¯s voice was like shattered ice as she uttered the name word by word, ¡°Song Zining!¡±

    ¡°You said it, not me.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°So what if he knows? It makes no difference even if he knows I¡¯m going to teach him a lesson after I leave this ce.¡±

    Ji Tianqing blinked innocently. ¡°Why not tell your sister? With her skills, I¡¯m sure she can make Song Zining never want to get involved again.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea.¡± Li Kuann was quite straightforward.

    Ji Tianqing gazed at Li Kuann¡¯s abdomen and then whispered in her ear, ¡±Didn¡¯t your sister tell you about that?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s cold expression disappeared. Her face flushed red as she reached out to choke Ji Tianqing.

    Thetter, however, had run far away. There was no way she would get caught like this.

    ¡­

    Back on the Eastern Sea continent, arge horde of imperial warships was gathering outside of Tidehark, seemingly ready to storm the city. The Evernight army inside the city only consisted of some arachne and vampire forces. In terms of military power, they were only slightly stronger than the forces under Song Zining¡¯s control.

    Song Zining was standing on the deck of his ship, gently pping his fan as he waited for the airships to finish assembling. There were a couple of airships still on the way. These were actually vessels belonging to the various powers and families of the neutralnds. Having inherited the characteristics of the neutralnds, they were old, rickety, and possessed little to no fighting power.

    Now, the two sides were equally matched on paper, the best time to engage in a big battle. Song Zining had brought these weak airships along because he wanted to let these native forces witness his might. There was no need for them in battle, anyway. All they needed was to sit quietly and watch from the side.

    Just as he was feeling happy, Song Zining suddenly felt as though someone had poured a bucket of ice water on his head. An intense chill prated his bones and almost froze him!

    His folding fan fell to the ground with a plop.

    The guards and aristocratic family heads around him crowded over to check up on him. Song Zining, however, was in no mood to maintain his carefree attitude. His face was pale, and his hands were trembling constantly. The only thing he could think of was where this tremendous menace wasing from.

    But even the most talented youngster in divination arts had no clue at all.

 Chapter 1000: Battle of Flesh and Procreation

    After an unknown period, Qianye woke up from his deep sleep and gradually retracted his cultivation art. There was now a shade of scarlet gold roaming about in the new origin vortex. Although the glow was negligibly faint, almost like a thinyer of liquid in a big tub, it would take only a couple of months to fill it to the brim.

    The Song n Ancient Scroll had been operating at greater speeds since entering the Great Maelstrom, facilitating Qianye¡¯s cultivation on more than one asion. It almost felt as though the entire world was revolving slowly around him. Drawing power from the heaven and earth made it easier to channel the Glory and Mystery Chapters. As Qianye himself also became familiar with the process, he realized that he might be able to borrow even more power from the world around him.

    But it wasn¡¯t time to continue cultivating. Qianye checked the time and found that it was almost midnight¡ªit was time to help the twodies. Although they had the white fruits, it was barely enough to get them through the night. They would require help in order to save energy.

    At this moment, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were in quiet meditation. Qianye scanned them quickly and felt relieved to find that their vitalities were still quite exuberant.

    Midnight was drawing close, and for thest two days, Li Kuann would require Qianye¡¯s help by this point. Today, however, she was able tost especially long. Ji Tianqing possessed countless secret arts, so much so that she was fine even after drinking the white-fruit wine. Qianye was never able to see through that monster, so he simply let her be.

    Qianye waited patiently for a good quarter of an hour before the girls woke up from their cultivation session. After exchanging nces, Ji Tianqing said, ¡°As expected, several cultivation arts seem to work faster in the Great Maelstrom. It¡¯s like the original bottlenecks never existed. It feels like our talents are one level higher here.¡±

    Li Kuann replied, ¡°The arts we cultivate are of the same type, it would seem our families have been preparing for this day.¡±

    Ji Tianqing pondered for a while. ¡°But ording to what I remember, the cultivation boost inside the Great Maelstrom was never obvious. Could it be that the deeper parts have greater effects?¡±

    ¡°Might be. I remember now, there were records in the imperial n about the frigid night. But the stagnation effects described there are nowhere near as strong. That means we¡¯re not that far from the center of the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The two girls discussed for a while longer before taking a white fruit each. Then, under the protection of Qianye¡¯s blood core, they got through the frigid night without any incident.

    Qianye packed up the camp at dawn and brought the girls away from this camp. The group entered the vast forest and began speeding toward the native area where Qianye had obtained the fruits. Back then, Qianye only had time to snatch a number of white fruits before he was hunted down all the way back to camp. However, Qianye had already killed the fiercest four-armed people, leaving only arge number of weaker ones. The difficulty in attacking their stone keep would be drastically reduced.

    Several figures appeared in the vicinity half a day after the trio¡¯s departure. Led by a four-armed woman, several two-armed people were carefully approaching the camp.

    The four-armed woman raised her head and sniffed hard. She became excited all of a sudden and began shouting aloud while pointing at the summit. The two-armed people charged up to find a camp hidden behind a natural stone wall.

    The four-armed woman circled around before picking up a piece of broken pottery and started licking it with great ardor. This was a broken piece from the jar containing white-fruit wine, still stained with a small amount of the spirit. After licking the pieces clean, the four-armed woman¡¯s breathing became heavy. She pushed one of the two-armed men to the ground and started mating with him.

    ¡­

    A ball of ck radiance appeared silently in the darkened sky. Amidst a p of thunder, a person shot out of the ball of light and dropped straight down. Surrounded by arcs of sanguine lightning, he looked as though he would soon smash into the ground. Just before striking the soil, however, numerous wisps of ck energy shot out and nailed him to several ces in the air. The energy pulled on the man like ribbons, breaking the momentum of his fall. He flipped around and positioned his feet in a tiptoe, hoping tond in a confident manner.

    However, the dark ball of light trembled again and fired a second, smaller figure which smashed into his body, sending the both of them crashing into the rock-hard ground.

    That small silhouette stretched itself to reveal Bai Kongzhao. The thick armor on her was in tatters, leaving only a few of the armor-pieces hanging on her body. Despite that, there were only a couple of tears on her white dress.

    The girl mbered up, moved her body, and jumped about. She then broke into a frown, apparently unustomed to the weight of her body. She was just about to try jumping again when Anwen¡¯s voice burst out from beneath, ¡°You¡¯re stomping me to death!¡±

    Shocked, Bai Kongzhao moved to the side. Only then did she see Anwen under her feet. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Thetter finally crawled up, his handsome face somewhat bruised and swollen. ¡°I was smashed into and then almost stomped to death. How can I be fine?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao shook her head. ¡°Your body is so strong, there¡¯s no way I can stomp you to death. Even if I cut you up with my cleaver, I¡¯ll need to try several times at full force. For instance¡­¡±

    Anwen felt uneasy. ¡°Stop! Do you really n to kill me?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao was puzzled. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say I was about to stomp you to death? That¡¯s not possible even if the gravity is ten times higher. Yes, if I really want to stomp you to death¡­¡±

    ¡°Stop! I don¡¯t want to die so early.¡± Anwen stopped the young girl and only heaved a sigh of relief when she stopped thinking. ¡°The world is so magnificent. I can¡¯t die without living a few thousand years. You can stop thinking about these things in the future.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao exined, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to, but you asked me so I had to reply. Yes, if I really wanted to stomp you to death, it would require four hundred and twenty times the gravity, and even then, I would need to hit your vitals. I¡¯m too light, after all. If I was a bit fatter¡­¡±

    Anwen started sweating profusely. ¡°Enough! I think you¡¯re good as you are, no need to get fatter!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Bai Kongzhao still looked rather confused.

    ¡°Of course! You¡¯re perfect right now, you won¡¯t look good even if you¡¯re just a little bit fatter. As a future peerless expert, you must make sure you look good. Just look at those ugly demonkin women, they¡¯re all so fat. The humandies don¡¯t look half as good as you, either.¡± Anwen was spouting so much nonsense that he started feeling embarrassed.

    Bai Kongzhao was even more confused. ¡°Looking good is also a part of fighting power?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Anwen was fairly decisive.

    Bai Kongzhao finally nodded, much to Anwen¡¯s relief.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± Bai Kongzhao pointed at the natives rolling on the ground.

    ¡°That¡­¡± Anwen didn¡¯t know how to exin. For some reason, he really didn¡¯t want the girl to know too much. He would rather she remain as innocent as a nk sheet of paper.

    Despite being one of the most learned of their race, so much so that he was considered to be following in his ancestors¡¯ footsteps, Anwen had to spend great effort to think of an exnation. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ fighting!¡±

    ¡°Fighting?¡± The girl was even more muddled now. Not many people could im they understoodbat more than she did, and these people didn¡¯t look like they were in a deathmatch.

    ¡°Yes, a flesh battle,¡± Anwen said calmly. The first lie was usually the most difficult; everything else just followed smoothly.

    ¡°Fighting isn¡¯t always about life and death. These¡­ natives are actually only half-intelligent. They fight frequently to produce newer generations.¡± Anwen became fairly fluent with his story.

    The young girl listened seriously with widened eyes.

    ¡°This is a strange race where only the winners can have progeny. The one pressed underneath no longer has the power to resist. After he losespletely, the right to produce offspring will be transferred to the victor.¡±

    The girl seemed to only half-understand. ¡°You really know a lot.¡±

    For a moment, Anwen wanted to scream at the sky. The people around him had always treated him with the utmost respect, either because of his bloodline or his position. Seriously speaking, few ever acknowledged him personally. Actually, the demonkin was quite proud of his schrly knowledge and his deep aplishments in the history of Evernight.

    This was the first time someone had praised him for knowing a lot. Although the reason itself was quite ridiculous, Anwen didn¡¯t feel that way. It wasn¡¯t easy to produce so many lies in such a short time.

    It wouldn¡¯t be good to let the girl keep watching the reproductive scene. Anwen said with an awkward cough, ¡°The greatest enemy we have inside the Great Maelstrom are the natives. We cannot let them live no matter what. They¡¯re busy with their infighting, so it¡¯s the best opportunity for us to attack.¡±

    With that, Anwen swung his hand ever so slightly, and the dark mist surrounding the two immediately faded away. This ck mist was the demonkin¡¯s concealment ability. Anwen was so powerful that he couldpletely hide both their traces with that seemingly sparse ck cloud. The natives couldn¡¯t see them at all despite being so close.

    All the natives turned around at the same time, proving how sharp their senses were.

    Anwen was calm and collected¡ªan intricate origin gun appeared in his hand, from which he fired several streams of ck energy. The ck radiance shot through the natives without any obstruction andpletely immobilized them. The victims had no injuries on the surface and looked as though they had fallen into a deep sleep, but in fact, they had turned into corpses.

    Anwen seemed tired after firing several rounds and was already panting after he had tossed the native corpses over the stone wall. Only at this point did he have the time to scan the camp. He was startled and became cautious all of a sudden.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± the girl asked.

    ¡°Someone was living here before, and judging from the traces, they¡¯re probably from the Empire. We need to be careful now.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t sense any danger in the vicinity.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression rxed. ¡°Oh, I forgot. Who can ambush us with you around?¡±

    He crouched down to draw an origin array, speaking as he worked, ¡°Let me see who camped here before us. This array can perfectly restore the void origin power fluctuations that have taken ce recently...¡±

    Anwen hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a tornado of origin power erupted from the array and surged into the sky.

    The newly-formed array immediately crumbled apart.

 Chapter 1001: Instincts

    Origin array explosions always involved a big ruckus, not to mention Anwen had drawn this one personally. It was a fairly brilliant product even in the entirety of the Evernight world. The outstanding genius was covered in dirt and a part of his brows had been singed.

    Bai Kongzhao looked on with widened eyes, puzzled as to what had just transpired.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It has been some time since I used it, so I made some mistakes in the drawing,¡± Anwen said self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°You didn''t draw wrong,¡± the girl replied with certainty. How could someone at Anwen¡¯s level make mistakes in drawing arrays?

    ¡°Perhaps this array isn¡¯t suitable for this ce.¡± Anwen shook his head with a wry smile. ¡°It¡¯s almost night, let¡¯s get ready to pass the night.¡±

    The girl nodded and theny down close to the stone wall. That position was safe, well-hidden, and great for spotting iing enemies¡ªthe best choice for passing the night in the wilds.

    It was just that Anwen felt a wave of pain upon seeing her choice. Sighing, he began drawing a new origin array. Halfway through the work, however, he suddenly fished out a dagger and began digging into the soil. The ground was made up of firm rocks, but it gave way like rotting soil in the face of Anwen¡¯s de. In the blink of an eye, the demonkin had dug over a meter into the ground and it was then that the de struck empty air. He had actually dug his way into a secret chamber.

    Anwen expanded the opening with his dagger and jumped down to explore the room.

    The secret chamber was fairly dark and devoid of all light, but that wasn¡¯t a problem for the demonkin. The room wasn¡¯t big, but there were numerous storage shelves in the walls, lined with earthen jars.

    There was also a mound of dirt at the center of the secret chamber and a sapling was growing from it. The secret chamber had existed for god knew how long and the insides had never seen the light of day. Perhaps because of that, the tree only had a few branches, but there were two leaves hanging at the very top¡ªthere was still vitality in them even after so many years.

    Anwen couldn¡¯t recognize what this sapling was but it definitely wasn¡¯t ordinary considering how long it had survived in the secret chamber. As such, he dug into the earth with his dagger and ced both nt and earth-mound into his spatial storage. He then moved down one of the big earthen jars and stabbed the seal, releasing a dense, fishy alcohol scent into the air.

    The demonkin broke into a frown. This scent wasn¡¯t something just anyone could withstand. As someone who had always been fussy about cleanliness, there was no way he would¡¯ve experienced something like this before. He quickly put the jar down and sealed it again. Anwen looked delighted despite the pungent assault on his nostrils. ording to n records, there was a type of native spirit with miraculous effects. It would seem he had found it, and judging from the state of the room, they were of significant age as well.

    Anwen picked up another jar but found it empty. Frowning, he shook the jar around and then opened the mud seal to check before finally giving up. Perhaps due to a bad seal or insects, the contents had all but evaporated. Even the dregs stuck to the jar had already turned to stone and no longer possessed vitality-stimting effects.

    He tested all the jars one by one but most of them were empty. In the end, he managed to find a mere three and a half jars of wine, and this harvest was already quite satisfactory for Anwen. Stowing the jars in his spatial storage and carrying thest one in his hand, he jumped out of the secret chamber. ¡°Look what I found!¡±

    There was no reply.

    Anwen was startled when he realized that it was already dark, and the temperature had fallen to freezing point. Bai Kongzhao was curled up near the wall and trembling incessantly, her face pale and her lips turning blue.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ cold¡­¡± The young girl¡¯s voice was quite feeble.

    Anwen¡¯s expression shifted drastically as he sensed the gloomy chill of the frigid night. Although he had read about things rted to the Great Vortex, none of the records had ever described such a degree of coldness. Their vitality was already stagnating so early in the night, almostparable to the midnight condition stated in the n records.

    Anwen never paid too much attention to the frigid night because he could easily get through it with his constitution. As for the young girl, she would survive with his help.

    Who would¡¯ve thought the frigid night would be so much harsher than he had imagined? It was well over ten times stronger than stated in the records.

    Anwen revised all rted information in his head, hoping to find a suitable solution. There was still some leeway at this point¡ªit wasn¡¯t time to panic because only by grasping all information would he be able to find a suitable solution. A single mistake and there would be no salvaging the situation.

    ording to intelligence from the demonkin race, the frigid night would appear only after entering the depths of the Great Maelstrom, and the deeper one went, the stronger it would be. A certain thought shed through Anwen¡¯s mind¡ªconsidering how strong the frigid night was, didn¡¯t this mean the two of them were in the extreme depths of the Maelstrom?

    At the thought of this, Anwen¡¯s rxed and frivolous attitudepletely disappeared, reced by due seriousness. ording to the information at hismand, there were numerous sources of danger he would have to be cautious about after reaching the borders of demonkin-explorednd. The ce they were in had to be even more dangerous, and a single mistake would cost the young lord his life.

    Just as he was lost in thought, Anwen felt his hand lighten. The girl had snatched the jar of wine, unsealed it, and was pouring the contents down her throat. She was like an endless pit despite her small frame, emptying the entire container in the blink of an eye. Even Anwen didn¡¯t have the time to stop her.

    ¡°Wait! You can¡¯t drink that, it¡¯ll make you¡­¡±

    Anwen hadn¡¯t finished speaking when the wine was all gone. The girl said with a satisfied look, ¡°Now that feels good, I¡¯m no longer cold.¡±

    ¡°Just now, you¡­¡±

    ¡°It was so cold that I thought I was about to die. After seeing that thing in your hand, I felt that I would heat up after drinking it, so I did.¡± The girl spoke naturally.

    Anwen opened his mouth but couldn¡¯t find any words to rebuke her. After interacting with the girl for a good while, Anwen knew that she survived based on instincts, much like a wild beast roaming the heaven and earth. Her survival-instincts would kick in whenever she encountered a life-threatening situation¡ªthe frigid night for instance. In her current state, the girl would do anything just to survive.

    Feeling pained at heart, Anwen sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not ming you for snatching the wine, but this type of alcohol¡­ you can¡¯t drink it just like that. I need to process and remove some unnecessaryponents from it before it¡¯s safe to drink. But now you¡­ sigh, don¡¯t me me for whatever happenster.¡±

    Anwen sighed regretfully while saying this¡ªobtaining the girl in such a manner was no different from a cow chewing on peony. It would all but destroy his mood.

    ¡°What will happen?¡± The girl¡¯s puzzled face slowly turned red. She staggered briefly before copsing to the ground, clearly drunk.

    A startled Anwen sat down beside her to wait for that moment.

    Momentster, Bai Kongzhao started snoring softly, like a small panther in deep sleep. She slept just like that, without the slightest of motion, up until dawn arrived.

    ¡­

    At this moment, a great battle was raging in the Eastern Sea.

    Imperial airship wrecks dotted thendscape outside of Tidehark. The war camp constructed by the arachne was in mes¡ªtheir soldier corpses were strewn across the city and servspiders burned down inrge swathes.

    Just by looking at this warzone, one could easily tell that the empire had imed absolute victory. Originally, the Evernight alliance forces held some advantage over the attackers, even after the demonkin¡¯s departure and the vampires¡¯ retreat. Only the arachne were unwilling to leave¡ªtheirmander wasn¡¯t impressed by the so-called future god-strategist of the empire and was adamant about fighting it out with him.

    In actual battle, however, the arachne fleet was never able to unravel Song Zining¡¯s diversion tactics. The man would appear here and there, harassing the enemy until they were suffering from unspeakable misery. Countless times, they would charge over only to find a small decoy force. The entire day went by, and the arachne fleet managed to devour numerous small imperial squads, but they never found Song Zining¡¯s primary fleet.

    Just as the exhausted arachne fleet was preparing to return, the main imperial fleet suddenly appeared.

    The result of this airship battle was decided the moment the vampire warships suddenly broke off and left the battlefield. The well-rested imperial fleet utterly defeated the arachne forces, turning the battle into a one-sided massacre. Finally, the battle ended with all the top-arachne experts fleeing on a powerful high-speed warship. All the damaged warships and ground forces were left as expendables.

    A steady stream of Imperial transports startednding on the battlefield, releasing mercenaries to scour the battlefield. Warships stood guard in each direction, watching for every possible enemy movement.

    The experts from each and every party arrived at Song Zining¡¯s gship to congratte him. This fleet battle was fairly sizable among the recent battles, and it also carried great significance as it involved the control of the Great Maelstrom. Song Zining had revealed extremely high standards in airshipmand and would likely be ced in charge of a squadron in no time.

    The nobility was different from the Empire. Few aristocratic families could maintain their own airship fleet due to the steep costs involved, and even then, the forces were fairly small. The greater warship fleets were all under the control of the Empire, the army, and the Imperial n. It was also the most important tool for the imperial army to restrain the nobles.

    Fleet battles were different from groundbat in that experts below the champion realm made little difference in the fighting. Due to the unique nature of aerial battles, amander would require many years of training before obtaining the qualifications to conduct one.

    Now that Song Zining had disyed such a talent at a young age, all those old fellows with sharp noses realized what would happen. The aristocracy found, in him, the best opening to influence the imperial fleets. Meanwhile, the Imperial n felt that they could win him over, mainly due to hisplicated background and connection to Empress Li.

    Hence, people from all parties had arrived to sound Song Zining out even before the battle had concluded. Some came to improve their ties with him, while others wanted to toady up to him in advance.

    However, theplete victory didn¡¯t quite delight the seventh young master. On the contrary, he looked worried, and it was as though he was just forcing out a smile.

 Chapter 1002: Guest of Honor

    The passage was once again in Imperial hands¡ªthis was indeed good news, but things weren¡¯t too great in actuality.

    After investigating the situation, the imperial n¡¯s divination experts announced that the passage had be extremely unstable. Although travel was still possible, the level of danger would increase sharply. Ordinary experts would very likely fall during the journey.

    The passage shouldn¡¯t have copsed this quickly, but the Eternal me seemed to have used the power of the surrounding void to reinforce the passage. After his powers waned, however, the void around the passage became unusually violent. The current passage was like a thread floating about in the tempest.

    One way was to wait until the void calmed down and the passage became stable again. This would require a fairly long time, and no one knew how long it would take. Perhaps it would take long enough for the Evernight army to return to the neutralnds. Another method was for the empire to mobilize a heavenly monarch to stabilize the passage, making it usable once more. That, however, would make it even more difficult to repairter on.

    All parties excluded the second option immediately after the divination experts had brought it up. Heavenly monarchs enjoyed extremely high positions in the Empire. Not to mention the people here, even the Emperor did not have a good enough excuse to mobilize these supreme characters. Most of the bigger powers had already sent the most important people in with the first batch, so only those from the inferior aristocratic families remained. Some of the major ns had already sent five people in and had no more candidates to send even if they were allowed to.

    Most of the people waiting in line were of civilian birth. Many of them were willing to take huge risks to change their lives, but no one would disturb a heavenly monarch for their sake.

    The only important person who hadn¡¯t entered the passage was Song Zining himself. Neither the Imperial n nor the aristocracy felt that he should take this risk. The seventh young noble was a celebrated talent in strategy, who had no need to prove himself in martial prowess.

    The current state of the passage destroyed half of the joy brought about by their recent victory. Now, they had no idea whether they should defend or abandon the ce; after all, a sizable Imperial fleet was now bogged down in the neutralnds.

    The awkward situationsted but one day.

    A light azure airship suddenly appeared outside the skies, rushing toward the Eastern Sea and Tidehark.

    Amotion erupted among the warships standing guard in the vicinity because the approaching vessel was an imperial warship. The insignia painted upon it signified that it belonged to the Northern Legion.

    In the blink of an eye, the Imperial forces took to the air to wee the visitor with the utmost respect.

    The Northern Legion was under Lin Xitang¡¯s directmand. Since Zhang Boqian¡¯s ascension to the heavenly monarch realm, his former peer gradually became the most unfathomable character among the ten great marshals. There were rumors saying that he was not far off from the heavenly monarch realm. If it wasn¡¯t for the fight against Lilith during the bloody battle and the void continent war, he might¡¯ve caught up to Zhang Boqian already.

    Even without reaching the heavenly monarch realm, Lin Xitang was still the publicly epted authority in terms of divination. It was out of respect for the Li family that the imperial n never made a formal announcement. Just this fact alone made Lin Xitang a character no one was willing to offend¡ªhe was probably even more difficult to deal with than a heavenly monarch.

    He just needed to reach the peak ofbat strength to fill thatst bit of shoring. In terms of governing, strategy, and scheming, who would dare im they were better than him? Even the Minister of the Right had to show Lin Xitang due respect in public and say he was inferior.

    The notorious imperial party had even begun looking at him as their leader,pletely forgetting the recent enmity. To them, it wasn¡¯t important whether Lin Xitang truly belonged to their party¡ªit was fine as long as he didn¡¯t deny it. Perhaps he didn¡¯t know about it or perhaps due to some other consideration, Lin Xitang never refuted these ims formally.

    The current Lin Xitang was already a highly influential character in the empire. There were even rumors saying that he had actuated the void continent war single-handedly. If the empire could im absolute victory in this war, the marshal¡¯s name would go down in history as someone at the level of a national advisor.

    The Northern Legion was Lin Xitang¡¯s only direct subordinate force, an entire level higher than Red Scorpion. The legion¡¯s warship was clearly representative of the marshal. No one really cared who the messenger was because their respect was for Lin Xitang.

    The Northern Legion airshipnded gradually under the escort of all the other vessels.

    Song Zining was already waiting outside of the warship¡¯s doors when it flung open. A general in Northern Legion uniform walked out, nced about, andughed loudly. ¡°Now that¡¯s what I call f*cking grand!¡±

    His words were fairly rude, vulgar, and insolent, but the people could only endure it out of respect for Lin Xitang. They bowed in unison, chanting, ¡°Wee, General.¡±

    Only a few of those standing close to the airship felt that this person was somewhat familiar and couldn¡¯t resist shooting a few extra nces. Looking was fine, but one of them actually blurted out, ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Wei n heir!?¡±

    This cry startled everyone. They began sizing up the visitor and soon recognized him as Wei Potian, the scion of Marquis Bowang of the Far East Province.

    The crowd broke out in renewed salutation. ¡°Wee, General Qiyang, heir to Marquis Bowang.¡±

    Wei Potian waved his hand angrily. ¡°What Qiyang? My name is Wei Potian!¡±

    The Wei n heir¡¯s preference was known to many people. It was just that Marquis Wei had never officially changed his son¡¯s name, and it went against the rules to change one¡¯s name on his own. This wasn¡¯t a problem in private, but it wasn¡¯t too appropriate to call him Wei Potian in a public gathering. Someone could report this matter if they wanted to, but the Wei family was a powerfulndowner. No one would be idle enough to do something so meaningless.

    Hence, everyone felt a bit awkward at this point and didn¡¯t know what to say. Fortunately, a smart person stepped in. ¡°The Wei n heir must be tired after his long journey.¡± The address muddled over his name much to everyone¡¯s delight. The crowd soon became less reserved and started approaching to lick his boots.

    Unlike Song Zining, Wei Potian was a true heir whose inheritance had been confirmed. In recent years, the man had gained great merits in the Far East Province and his personal strength had increased exponentially. It could be said that his future prospects couldn¡¯t be more certain. The future marquis¡¯ position was countless times higher than the family elders at the scene.

    Moreover, Wei Potian was now d in the Northern Legion¡¯s uniform, and this provoked a lot of thoughts. Was the Wei n working together with Lin Xitang now? Had the Wei n joined the imperial party or had Lin Xitang left it?

    This was extremely important information. The elders decided that they had to inquire about this in detail after going back, but the most important thing at present was to gain the favor of the Wei n heir. All things aside, Wei Potian was still unmarried¡ªwho could ignore the allure of that empty position?

    Wei Potian smiled and waved continuously. Compared to his youth, the current Wei n scion was now more familiar with social niceties.

    Song Zining remained motionless, but he couldn¡¯t quite escape the fate of being noticed.

    Wei Potian waved at him from afar and shouted, ¡°Zining, you¡¯re here, too!? Hahaha, why are you standing so far away? We haven¡¯t seen each other for so long, let¡¯s get intimate!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was ashen, unable to disguise his displeasure. That was strange because he was even more subtle than all the old fogies here. Yet, he simply didn¡¯t like the man and wanted nothing more than to kick him back to the Far East Province. This fellow was just as ostentatious, even calling him out in front of the crowd.

    The seventh young master was here to wee the Northern Legion¡¯s envoy. He was doing this out of respect for Lin Xitang, not that wild boar from the Wei family.

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t about to let Song Zining off easy. He waved continuously, shouting, ¡°Zining, why aren¡¯t youing over? There are too many peopleing to wee me, but I don¡¯t really mind. Haha!¡±

    The less tactful people nearby said, ¡°Seventh Young Noble, the Wei n heir is calling for you! Why not head over?¡± Judging from his envious expression, it would seem he was desperate to head over himself¡ªquite the good-dog material.

    Song Zining had no choice but to head over and shake Wei Potian¡¯s hand. ¡°Qiyang, long time no see!¡±

    Addressing Wei Potian by his most hated name, he added increased force to his grip, hoping to teach this wild boar a lesson. Song Zining was quite confident in his cultivation because, despite looking as though he wasn¡¯t putting in the effort, he had kept up with Qianye all along and had broken through again recently. Comparatively, Wei Potian was somewhat inferior in terms of origin power ranking and quality. A secret fight like this was a contest between origin powers, not something Song Zining would lose.

    But Song Zining was shocked after applying his grip because it felt as though he had grasped a small mountain peak. The mountain was small but iparably hard, and it didn¡¯t feel like he was holding a body made of flesh at all. The more force he applied, the stronger the counterattack that came from it, so much so that Song Zining could feel a bit of pain from his hand.

    Taking note of the situation, Song Zining reduced his force and said with a smile, ¡°It would seem Brother Qiyang has improved again during this long period. That¡¯s quite a feat, I would say. Looks like you¡¯ve had a fair bit of good luck recently, why have you run over to the boondocks instead of forging ahead?¡±

    Song Zining was hinting that Wei Potian had just broken through out of sheer luck and ran over immediately afterward.

    Wei Potian naturally understood the meaning. Heughed with great satisfaction, saying, ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯ve indeed been quite lucky recently! Haha, I received some tips from Marshal Lin himself and that allowed me to break through the bottleneck.¡±

    Everyone became envious after hearing that Lin Xitang had given pointers in person, and a tide of ttery washed over the ce once more.

 Chapter 1003: Marshal Linâ€™s Secret Treasure

    Having failed at the handshake, Song Zining didn¡¯t know how to deal with Wei Potian for the moment. This shameless wild boar was never one to observe etiquette and happened to be the nemesis of someone like Song Zining.

    Thetter closed in and whispered through clenched teeth, ¡°Are you here to cause trouble? I¡¯ll deal with you in a bit, just you wait. I might just stuff you into the Great Maelstrom if you don¡¯t listen to me.¡±

    Wei Potian was full of smiles. ¡°I¡¯m here to enter the Great Maelstrom!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Song Zining cried out, only realizing afterward that he had spoken too loud. He immediately dragged Wei Potian away.

    Momentster, the two of them entered the main tent and Song Zining closed the door. The first thing he said was, ¡°Are you crazy!? Or has the Wei n gone crazy?¡±

    Wei Potian rubbed his head in confusion. ¡°I¡¯m quite fine I think, I only received minor injuries recently. Why do you say I¡¯m crazy?¡±

    ¡°Why would you want to enter the Great Maelstrom if you¡¯re not!?¡± Song Zining¡¯s volume rose several decibels. ¡°Do you know how dangerous it is inside? Do you know where this passage leads? Let me speak frankly, a fifty percent probability of survival is already too generous for someone like you. What are you going to do inside? Throw away your life? You¡¯re a future marquis, and you don¡¯t even have a wife yet, let alone kids. Are you trying to sever Marquis Wei¡¯s line by entering the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    Wei Potian seemed somewhat puzzled. ¡°Is it that serious?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s anger turned intoughter. ¡°Is it that serious!? Take a look around, which n¡¯s direct heir has entered the Great Maelstrom? Let alone an heir, even the more important characters in the family weren¡¯t allowed to enter.¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ didn¡¯t Li Kuann go in?¡±

    Song Zining said angrily, ¡°Look at her abilities! Look at yours! She is certain about survival after going in. Why don¡¯t you look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you¡¯ll evenst one day?!¡±

    Wei Potianughed. ¡°What kind of person do you think Wei Potian is? I definitely have a seat among the peak characters of the empire. Are you stopping me from seeking fortunes because you¡¯re jealous of my future aplishments?¡±

    ¡°Fortunes my ass!¡± Song Zining wanted nothing more than to kick this Wei Potian flying. He stomped hard, shouting, ¡°No! I¡¯m the currentmander of the Imperial forces in the Eastern Sea. Whatever I say counts! As long as I remain here, you can forget about going in secretly. It¡¯s useless even with that stolen set of Northern Legion clothes!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t steal them.¡±

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°Still trying to deny? You were brought up in the Broken Winged Angels, and they¡¯ve always been at odds with Marshal Lin. Howe you¡¯ve suddenly transferred to the Northern Legion? Is this renouncing the darkness to join the light?¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t feel embarrassed at all. ¡°Let¡¯s just say it is.¡±

    Song Zining was so pissed at Wei Potian¡¯s shameless behavior that he didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Wei Potian said seriously, ¡°I¡¯m really in the Northern Legion now, and I came to enter the Great Maelstrom under Marshal Lin¡¯s orders.¡±

    Song Zining sneered, ¡°Liar! Don¡¯t tell me you brought the marshal¡¯smand token too?¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ that I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°No? Do you think I¡¯ll believe you?¡±

    ¡°But the marshall really did permit me toe.¡± Wei Potian was somewhat speechless. Song Zining simply wouldn¡¯t believe him no matter what he said.

    Wei Potian jumped up anxiously. ¡°I know you¡¯re doing this for my own good, but didn¡¯t you send Qianye in as well? I can help him once I get inside!¡±

    Song Zining clenched his teeth. ¡°Do you know how strong Qianye is right now? He can devour three wild boars at a time.¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­ appetite isn¡¯t rted to strength, is it?¡± Wei Potian was once again puzzled.

    ¡°Of course it is!¡± Song Zining said with a serious expression.

    It was at this moment that the tent doors opened and a young girl in military clothing walked in. ¡°What made seventh young noble so angry?¡±

    The girl looked rather familiar. Her delicate face had a hint of nobility to it, and her thickbat attire did little to hide her lithe figure. Song Zining was startled, unable to recall who she was.

    The girl smiled faintly. ¡°Kong.¡±

    ¡°Kong¡­¡± Song Zining still couldn¡¯t recall which girl from the Kong family she was. But that wasn¡¯t too surprising since the high-ranking aristocratic family wasn¡¯t on great terms with him back in the year. They had shed againter during the bloody battle and that brought the Kong family further away from Song Zining.

    Seeing that she wasn¡¯t recognized, thedy stopped holding back her name. ¡°Kong Xuan.¡±

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Miss Kong Xuan. You are indeed as young and pretty as they say.¡± Song Zining praised her out of habit.

    Kong Xuan chuckled. ¡°As expected, seventh young noble really does know how to praise girls. We¡¯ve only met once when we were young, and I had only returned from the Li family. Where could you have heard of me being pretty?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, you said you were at the Li family. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    ¡°I was learning divination and sword arts at the Li family and also served as Young Noble Kuann¡¯s maid. Now that I¡¯vepleted my studies, it¡¯s time I went home.¡± There was a hint of disappointment in Kong Xuan¡¯s expression as she said this.

    Song Zining immediately had a guess. ¡°Miss Kong, are you thinking about¡­¡±

    ¡°What else but to learn more arts?¡± Kong Xuan cut him short.

    Song Zining already knew what was going on at this point. Li Kuann was a peak candidate both in terms of appearance and sword arts, only slightly inferior to Zhao Jundu. Kong Xuan imed she wanted to learn, but what she truly wanted was to use her maid status to be in the same tent as Li Kuann. Song Zining knew of Li Kuann¡¯s true identity and, quite naturally, could tell that Kong Xuan¡¯s notions would be in vain.

    ¡°Then why have you arrived here, Miss?¡±

    Kong Xuan replied, ¡°The old master has ordered me to enter the Great Maelstrom for training. It just so happens that the Wei n heir is also entering, so I wish to go in with him. We can help each other out along the way.¡±

    Song Zining nced at them with a frown. ¡°Miss Kong, did the old master of your family really instruct you to do so?¡±

    ¡°Of course! People from the Kong family will arrive soon, you can confirm with them.¡± Kong Xuan was somewhat unhappy.

    Song Zining¡¯s brows knitted even tighter. ¡°But we still don¡¯t know when the passage can be opened again, and the dark races might return by the time it recovers. How do we go in?¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°Marshal Lin has long since made preparations. He gave us some treasures and said he has already set things up inside the tunnel. Those holding the treasure will be noticed and guided to the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    With that, Wei Potian produced a crystal bottle with a bone-bead floating about inside.

    Song Zining nced over at Kong Xuan and found that she had a simr crystal bottle.

    ¡°That means the marshal and your families do know that you¡¯re going in?¡±

    The two of them nodded at the same time.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was odd, but he made noment. He simply patted Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder and said with a serious expression, ¡°Then go in!¡±

    Wei Potian felt a bit scared now. He dragged Song Zining back and asked, ¡°What? There won¡¯t be any bad things inside, will there?¡±

    ¡°Of course not! The Wei n heir is at the peak of his fortune now, you¡¯ll surely turn misfortune around even if you do encounter it. What are you afraid of?¡±

    The more Song Zining spoke in this manner, the less confident Wei Potian became. Kong Xuan, on the other hand, was quite calm. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. Marshal Lin prepared more than just two secret treasures. There¡¯s at least half a dozen of them as far as I remember! All of us will enter the Great Maelstrom sooner orter. When the timees, we can take care of each other.¡±

    Wei Potian nodded, and his countenance recovered somewhat. He was still quite sharp, nheless¡ªan increasing sense of uneasiness came over him as he recalled Song Zining¡¯s odd expression. He knew full well that Song Zining would reveal that secretive demeanor when he was up to no good.

    However, there was no time to nitpick on the details. ording to Lin Xitang¡¯s arrangements, they were to enter the passage without dy after arriving in the neutralnds.

    Both he and Kong Xuan had made ample preparations, with both families offering them spatial equipment. That was a huge investment.

    Song Zining knew time was of essence, so he arranged for the duo to head to the holy mountain immediately.

    The people from the Kong family soon arrived on their airship and handed Kong Xuan a set of protective armor made especially for traversing spatial passages. This set of armor was iparably thick and looked like a steel ball around the young miss. It took several strong men to carry her up the holy mountain. Wei Potian, however, was much more rxed and donned only his usual battle armor. The Wei family¡¯s Thousand Mountains was known for its defense, and he also had Lin Xitang¡¯s treasure in hand. It would be a joke if he couldn¡¯t get through the tunnel.

    In half a day¡¯s time, Wei Potian and Kong Xuan were standing before the entrance to the Great Maelstrom passage, looking up at the flickering ball of dark radiance with pale expressions. Both of them seemed somewhat frightened at the thought of passing through the boundless void and into an unfamiliar world.

    Song Zining stood alongside them and sighed. ¡°Take care on the other side.¡±

    Wei Potian nodded. ¡°Aren¡¯t you entering?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t have the Marshal¡¯s secret treasure, so I¡¯ll have to wait for the passage to stabilize.¡±

    Wei Potian pped his forehead at that point. ¡°Oh my! I nearly forgot, the marshal gave me an extra treasure to give you.¡±

    Song Zining was positively livid. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier?¡±

    Wei Potian produced a crystal bottle and passed it to Song Zining. ¡°I was so happy to see you that I forgot some stuff!¡±

    How could anyone forget something so important? Speechless, Song Zining received the crystal bottle and kicked Wei Potian on the butt. ¡°Get in!¡±

    The kick was so powerful that it sent Wei Potian flying into the passage. The four experts nearby grabbed Kong Xuan by her limbs and hurled her inside as well.

    Song Zining tossed the crystal bottle in his hands as he gazed at the passage.

    Eunuch Zhang arrived beside him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going in?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no rush. I¡¯m still needed on this side. It¡¯s fine for me to wait until all the others with the secret treasures have gone inside.¡±

    Eunuch Zhang praised, ¡°You¡¯re indeed benevolent. It¡¯s a relief for me to be working with someone like you.¡±

    Song Zining chuckled. ¡°You praise me too much.¡±

    At this point, a hand reached out from the side and snatched the crystal bottle in Song Zining¡¯s hand.

    Shocked out of his wits, Song Zining stepped to the side and nced back. What he saw there was an outrageously big hand-cannon.

 Chapter 1004: Whoâ€™s Responsible?

    ¡°Yuying, howe you¡¯re here? What are you going to do with that? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re entering the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Zhao Yuying shot a sideways nce at Song Zining.

    Thetter¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°That¡­ it¡¯s not suitable for you to enter with your current condition.¡±

    ¡°Afraid I¡¯ll die inside? Even they have gone in, why can¡¯t I? Besides, my survival has nothing to do with you.¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°Young Miss, you don¡¯t know the situation inside. Even if youe out alive, Duke You will beat me to death if something happens to you.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not the one going to be beaten to death, so why should I care?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Miss, that¡¯s not it. Let me put it this way, some things will be out of your control once you go in. Everything will be toote even if you me me for itter on.¡±

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t having any of it. ¡°Enough with those petty tricks. I heard my cultivation will rise by leaps and bounds after going in and all bottlenecks will disappear. Are you afraid this mommy¡¯s cultivation will increase sharply, that I¡¯ll crush your leaves for fun every day?¡±

    Song Zining let out a bitterugh. ¡°Your cultivation isn¡¯t the only thing that will rise exponentially, many other¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s enough if my cultivation improves.¡±

    ¡°Young Miss, I beg you to reconsider! Just think of the environments that can improve cultivation, there¡¯s no way you¡¯ll be allowed to break throughfortably. There¡¯s always a price!¡±

    Zhao Yuying raised her hand cannon. ¡°I have this, what must I fear?¡±

    ¡°Many origin weapons are useless inside the Great Maelstrom. It¡¯ll be especially hard for you to operate that hand cannon, didn¡¯t you know?¡± Song Zining found it weird.

    Zhao Yuying tossed the cannon into the seventh young master¡¯s arms. ¡°I¡¯ll leave it here then.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡­¡± Song Zining simply couldn¡¯t do anything against Zhao Yuying. He looked around to seek external help, but Eunuch Zhang had long since disappeared.

    Actually, the old man had slipped away the moment he realized that the guest was Zhao Yuying. This young miss was both outstanding and well-backed by the Zhao n. Add to that her horrible character, she was notorious throughout the Empire as someone who should be avoided. Eunuch Zhang could be considered an elderly figure with power and authority, so he would rather avoid conflict if he could. Hence, he immediately abandoned Song Zining and vanished.

    Song Zining naturally cursed Eunuch Zhang in his mind, but he still had to deal with Zhao Yuying, so all he could do was swallow the urge to shout.

    The young miss, however, wasn¡¯t one to appreciate all that. ¡°I¡¯m just going in to take a look. What are you so worried about? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going into your backyard.¡±

    ¡°Yuying, you don¡¯t even know what¡¯s inside the Great Maelstrom, how can you just go in like that? Did you not go through the Zhao n¡¯s intelligence?¡±

    Zhao Yuying was stunned for a moment. ¡°What difference does that make? I have you here, don¡¯t I? Give me a copy of the Song n¡¯s intelligence report.¡±

    ¡°Fine, read first if you want to go in and I won¡¯t stop you.¡± Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief.

    Zhao Yuying waved the crystal bottle, saying, ¡°So many excuses¡­ just because you can¡¯t bear to part with this little thing, right? You think this mommy here covets your things? Have it back.¡±

    She returned it just like that, tossing the bottle back to Song Zining. Thetter was in no position to be polite, so held tightly onto it and heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°Come with me, I¡¯ll give you a copy of the information.¡±

    Song Zining started walking back but soon noticed that Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t behind him. Realizing something, he turned back hurriedly and found Zhao Yuying standing where she was. She was now holding a different crystal bottle, looking at him with an expression of mockery.

    ¡°You want to trick me with your meager abilities?¡±

    Her words hadn¡¯t even trailed off when Zhao Yuying shot upward and rushed into the Great Maelstrom passage. Song Zining knew he could no longer stop her. ¡°Did Marshal Lin give you that treasure!?¡±

    ¡°Of course not! This mommy here robbed it from someone!¡± Zhao Yuying had already vanished into the passage at this point. Only her words lingered behind.

    Song Zining stood dazed with a wry smile on his face. He then gave it some thought and muttered to himself, ¡°With that wild boar? Hmm... that¡¯s not so uneptable. Sigh, I think I¡¯ll go inter.¡±

    It was at this moment that a familiar voice echoed near his ears, ¡°Then you better go inter.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s hand felt empty as the crystal bottle was once again snatched away.

    He was startled, but his reaction wasn¡¯t slow. With a wave of his hand, he locked down a hundred-meter area with dancing leaves before turning around. ¡°It¡¯s not so easy to snatch something from me.¡±

    His words froze halfway.

    Song Zining saw a beautiful figure flyingpletely unaffected¡ªthrough the leaves and moving toward the passage. He could see her, but he simply couldn¡¯t sense her presence.

    There were red spider lilies blooming and wilting around her as they carried her higher and higher up.

    Song Zining gasped. ¡°Ruoxi! Y-You¡­ howe?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi replied, ¡°I¡¯m going for a stroll. I didn¡¯t find anyone to rob, so let me borrow yours.¡±

    How could such a thing be borrowed?

    Song Ziningined secretly, but there was nothing he could do except watch her vanish into the tunnel.

    ¡°That¡¯s not so bad, either, she should be fine with the treasure in hand. Even on the other side, the Red Spider Lily should protect her from being affected, right?

    ¡°The Red Spider Lily!!! She brought the Red Spider Lily into the Great Maelstrom!¡±

    This news would shake up the entire empire! Song Zining was drenched in cold sweat at the thought of it.

    In the days that followed, various aristocratic descendants arrived with secret treasures and entered the Great Maelstrom. Many families had dispatched their core geniuses because of their trust in Marshal Lin. In addition to the aristocracy, two civilians also obtained secret treasures. The nobility stared at them like a pack of wolves, but they couldn¡¯t rob the treasures openly out of respect for the marshal. All they could do was watch as the duo entered the passage.

    Song Zining watched expressionlessly as the people entered the passage one after the other. No one knew what he was thinking¡ªonly he himself knew that a storm was about to arrive.

    At this moment, a young girl in ordinary military clothing arrived. ¡°My lord wishes to see the seventh young noble.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°And your lord would be?¡±

    The young girl opened her palm to reveal an insignia. Song Zining nced at the emblem and nodded. ¡°It just so happens that I also wish to see your lord, please lead the way.¡±

    The young girl led Song Zining down the holy mountain. There, they took a fast jeep to a remote open space where an unassuming airship was parked.

    Song Zining followed the girl into the airship. The interior of the vessel was elegantly decorated¡ªthe simple yet grand interior was a stark difference from its outer appearance. Although the equipment inside was a bit aged, most of them were high-performance versions one would rarely find in the Empire. None but the nobility would be able to own, or even order them.

    The girl led song Zining all the way into the upper cabin and into a graceful tearoom. There was a woman¡ªd in a set of refined oriental attire¡ªseated inside the chamber. With lips akin to red pearls and skin as white as suet jade, she looked like a girl at first nce. However, traces of the passing years could be vaguely seen around the corner of her eyes and brows.

    Song Zining took a step forward and bowed. ¡°Zining greets Her Majesty the Princess.¡±

    Thedy replied calmly, ¡°You should call me Madam Duke Chengen, lest you incur Weihuang¡¯s wrath.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Isn¡¯t it more likely to make the young master unhappy?¡±

    The person in the tearoom was Princess Gaoyi. Song Zining knew very little about this eldest princess. People from their generation were the pirs of the Empire, and those with deliberate intentions had locked down most of the information about her.

    The normally unrestrained Song Zining felt ill-at-ease after entering the tearoom and didn¡¯t dare to act presumptuously.

    Princess Gaoyi said, ¡°Yuying and Ruoxi have always been arrogant and wilful. They must have given you a bit of trouble.¡±

    Song Zining was shaken. After some careful deliberation, he said, ¡°Miss Yuying should be fine after entering the Great Maelstrom. Even if the environment there is somewhat special, she should be able to cope with it. Miss Ruoxi going in alone, however, is worrisome. Although she has the Red Spider Lily for protection, she isn¡¯t too experienced, and I worry¡­¡±

    Princess Gaoyi sighed. ¡°Ruoxi that girl has a bad temper since she was a kid, and she simply won¡¯t listen to anyone. Sigh! Weihuang is leading soldiers into battle every day and doesn¡¯t have any time to teach the children.¡±

    This was Princess Gaoyi¡¯s family matters, so Song Zining found it hard toment. In his mind, though, he was thinking that the man had produced monsters like Zhao Jundu, Qianye, and Zhao Ruoxi despite his hands-off approach. The other three brothers, including Zhao Junhong, were also pirs of the n. What else could one want?

    Princess Gaoyi picked up her teacup and took a small sip. ¡°Zining, how do you think we should deal with Ruoxi? This matter is highly important. Her safety isn¡¯t the most pressing matterpared to the bigger picture. We need to get the Red Spider Lily back.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Your Majesty, as I see it, the most important issue is to find Miss Ruoxi and bring her back. The Red Spider Lily is the most sentient among the Grand Magnums. Throughout the years, only the gun has ever chosen a master and never the other way around. Even if she loses the weapon, it will return sooner orter as long as Ruoxi is there. Without Ruoxi, however, it¡¯s useless even if we get the magnum back.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi shot him an approving nce. ¡°Exactly. Yet the entire court is filled with short-sighted people who can¡¯t think critically. That gun is a piece of scrap metal without Ruoxi.¡±

    ¡°No one couldpare to you in the court back then!¡± Song Zining followed up with some well-timed ttery. He understood that, for Princess Gaoyi, even the Red Spider Lily couldn¡¯tpare to Ruoxi.

    The princess lowered her cup. ¡°How do you think this matter should be handled?¡±

    Song Zining felt a shiver in his heart¡ªthis was the real business. This princess was different from other people. Just by sitting there, she exuded so much pressure that Song Zining couldn¡¯t look up. Fooling her was no easy feat.

    Song Zining eventually said, ¡°Miss Ruoxi snatched my secret treasure to enter the Great Maelstrom. As themander of the Eastern Sea Imperial forces, I¡¯m responsible for this matter. I will enter the Great Maelstrom as soon as I can and bring the young miss back.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi shook her head. ¡°You are responsible for this matter, but the actual me doesn¡¯t lie with you.¡±

    Song Zining became nervous instead of being delighted. ¡°Who would you say is responsible?¡±

    ¡°The secret treasure came from Lin Xitang, he should be the most responsible.¡±

 Chapter 1005: Why Not Cut it Off?

    Song Zining didn¡¯t dare blindly agree to Princess Gaoyi¡¯s logic, but he wasn¡¯t dumb enough to speak his thoughts out loud. Women had their own reasoning regarding such matters, and no amount of argument would change that.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Even if he¡¯s responsible, we should pay attention to the important matters first. Finding the young miss is the most important right now, and everything elsees second. I do wonder why she came here, though?¡±

    Gaoyi sighed. ¡°I realized instantly when she escaped. Back then, I thought she was just going out for a stroll. Who would¡¯ve thought she¡¯d lose all her guards after leaving West Pole City? Only at that point did I notice that things weren¡¯t looking good¡ªI chased her all the way here, but I was still no matchpared to her and the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    ¡°Does Duke Chengen know about this matter?¡±

    ¡°All he knows is his Fire Beacon Corps and nothing else!¡± Gaoyi¡¯s words contained a hint ofint.

    Song Zining thought seriously for a while before saying, ¡°As I see it, we should tell Duke Chengen of this matter and have him talk to Marshal Lin. Since you want Lin Xitang to take action, it¡¯s not wise to force him into a corner. Your identity is also quite special, and many people have their eyes on you. This matter can¡¯t be hidden for long, so we should get things done as quickly as possible. I think we should temporarily ignore that minor misunderstanding between the Zhao n and the marshal.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi frowned. ¡°Why can¡¯t I go to Lin Xitang directly?¡±

    ¡°That¡­ Marshal Lin isn¡¯t that easy to talk to.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi said with a cold smile, ¡°I don¡¯t care about that. If I can¡¯t solve this problem from the outside, I will go into the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Song Zining was shocked out of his wits. ¡°You absolutely must not!¡±

    The princess replied calmly, ¡°It¡¯s fine if I don¡¯t return, but if I do, certain people can forget about living a peaceful life.¡±

    Song Zining noticed the hidden implications. ¡°Your Majesty, you mean¡­¡±

    ¡°How do you think Ruoxi found out about these things in the first ce?¡±

    Song Zining immediately realized that someone was targeting the Zhao n in secret.

    Gaoyi said, ¡°I¡¯ve already killed thirty subordinates on the spot, and I don¡¯t mind killing three hundred or three thousand.¡±

    There were bound to be innocent people among the thirty victims, but Princess Gaoyi was telling the people behind the scenes that she would not hold back anymore.

    Song Zining felt greatly distressed. ¡°In that case, you had better visit the marshal first. He knows so much more about the Great Maelstrom than I do. I¡¯ll think of a way to head inside and do my best to search for Ruoxi.¡±

    Nodding, Princess Gaoyi removed two bracelets from her wrist and ced them on the table. ¡°The previous emperor bestowed me these two treasures. One is for defense, enough to bring you safely through the passage. The other is a spatial gear, in which I have ced some emergency supplies. Since you have to go in either way, better not dy things.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t decline the gifts. He put the bracelets on and proceeded to ask how to use them.

    Gaoyi watched him put away the items before speaking, ¡°I¡¯ve heard bits and pieces about the situation on the other side. Ruoxi¡¯s character is fierce, much like me back in the year. If she¡¯s unwilling, she¡¯d rather die in order to retain her innocence. Remember that.¡±

    Song Zining said seriously, ¡°Rest assured. I¡¯m a romantic, but I¡¯m not a lowlife. I definitely won¡¯t take advantage of other people¡¯s plight.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t feel too assured.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression froze upon hearing those words.

    The girl who had led him in said, ¡°Your Majesty, maybe we should castrate him first before sending him in? That¡¯s the most certain course of action.¡±

    Song Zining gasped. Who would¡¯ve thought that sweet-looking girl was actually so merciless? He then nced at the contemting Princess Gaoyi and felt his heart freeze up. There was no way he could escape the princess¡¯ grasp no matter how capable he was.

    Fortunately, Gaoyi shook her head after some thought. Song Zining felt some relief, but the words that followed stopped him fromughing. ¡°I need him to run errands for me. His strength will be affected if we cut it off now. It¡¯s not toote if hees out after doing something wrong.¡±

    Song Zining trembled in the chilly wind as he walked out of the airship. That youngdy, who was still beside him, couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. Song Zining said frostily, ¡°What are youughing at? You look good but your mind is so malicious.¡±

    The girl smiled. ¡°Men like you will harm countless women if allowed to roam free. It¡¯s best to castrate you.¡±

    Song Zining clenched his teeth. ¡°I¡¯ve never done you any harm!¡±

    The girl covered her mouth. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have the heart to castrate you if I was the one harmed.¡±

    Song Zining was livid, and he simply rushed away without saying anything.

    The girl returned to the airship after the seventh young noble¡¯s departure and closed the cabin doors. She then arrived near Princess Gaoyi, saying, ¡°You¡¯re letting him go just like that?¡±

    Princess Gaoyi said, ¡°There¡¯s no better candidate right now. Let us go. Remember, you must not let Jundu and the others know about this matter.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, Your Majesty.¡±

    ...

    Within the Great Maelstrom, Qianye waspletely oblivious to the matters happening outside. He was hidden within the grass, gazing at the distant stone castle with a serious expression.

    This keep was even bigger than the first one¡ªjust the right side wall alone had four sentry towers, each manned by two four-armed natives. The structure was sturdy and well-maintained. At least the walls were intact, without any copsed parts.

    The stone wall was over thirty meters high. This wasn¡¯t anything too impressive normally, but the extreme gravity inside the Great Maelstrom made it difficult to fly. That made the wall a true obstacle.

    Ji Tianqing also looked solemn and doubtful. ¡°Is this where you got the fruits from?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°How did you get in?¡±

    ¡°Over the wall.¡±

    Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t help but shake her head. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to talk with a monster like you.¡±

    She looked toward Li Kuann. ¡°Do you have any ideas?¡±

    ¡°Rope, grappling hook, nails,¡± Li Kuann replied concisely.

    "That¡¯s not hard.¡± Ji Tianqing dragged the other two back into the woods, where they felled a tree. They skinned the bark to make rope and carved the wood into hooks. Momentster, they had a batch of tools.

    Ji Tianqing checked the time. ¡°Let¡¯s move out, there¡¯s no more time.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye retracted his aura and sneaked to the other side of the castle. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann sneaked over to the wall in front of them.

    Qianye arrived under the stone wall, where he grabbed onto a protruding part and flung himself upward. As he arrived at the top, he saw a hook fly up from the opposite wall andtch firmly onto the edges. Then, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann appeared as well. Thetter aimed a wooden stake into a gap between the stone and hammered it halfway in with a swing of her fist.

    The impact from this movement was quite soft, but the four-armed sentry from the nearby tower nced over immediately. He had just turned around when Li Kuann grabbed his neck from behind, quickly blocking his nose and throat with frost energy. Then, with a crack, she simply broke the four-armed man¡¯s neck.

    Li Kuann turned about rapidly and darted toward the other warrior in the tower. This four-armed woman took a deep breath and sprayed out a cloud of white mist. Li Kuann was prepared¡ªher arms moved in a circr pattern, emitting frost energy from her palm. The white mist was immediately frozen and pushed back into the woman¡¯s mouth. The energy around Li Kuann¡¯s left-hand condensed into a de as it tore into the enemy¡¯s chest.

    However, the frosty edge was caught on the four-armed woman¡¯s ribs and actually broke into two.

    Li Kuann was astonished. Her ice de was condensed from origin power and was definitely not inferior to an ordinary origin weapon. Yet, it was actually unable to cut through the four-armed woman¡¯s ribs?

    Feeling great pain, the woman started to il about. Li Kuann pounced over immediately and, with a twist of her legs, pinned the enemy to the ground. Then, she grabbed the four-armed woman¡¯s neck and broke it.

    The battle waspleted in an instant, but Li Kuann was drenched in cold sweat, almost as though she had just gone through a big battle. These four-armed natives were extremely strong, and their bodies were as hard as steel. Their exuberant vitality meant that they could keep on fighting unless they were struck in the vitals. Additionally, that white mist was so disgusting that she wasn¡¯t willing to touch it at all.

    Li Kuann felt that it was so much easier to fight against the experts from Evernight. What¡¯s more, they still hadn¡¯t learned what kind of strange ability the four-armed males possessed. Ignoring that for now, they were much stronger and bigger than the females, and that alone was enough of a headache.

    Li Kuann was rmed after doing the two sentries in. She had caused a fair bit of ruckus just now¡ªcould she have alerted the other guards?

    She quickly looked around, just in time to see the nearby sentries copse one after the other. Ji Tianqing and Qianye soon appeared and signaled to her that the coast was clear.

    Li Kaunn silently searched through the guards¡¯ possessions. After which, she jumped down the tower and followed the other two into the castle.

    At first, she had believed that she was on equal footing with Qianye and Ji Tianqing. At one point, she could force Qianye to go all out just to barely stay alive. She had never expected that she would be nearly useless inside the Great Maelstrom and require his protection all the time. This kind of contrast was difficult to bear for a top young expert like her.

    Qianye moved slowly and calmly, seemingly oblivious of her abnormal mood. His concealment ability never involved fancy powers, but it was extremely practical. Every step he took was so precise that it could pass as a textbook example. He quietly traversed the two-armed people¡¯s residential area and started sneaking toward the houses at the center of the keep. ording to theyout of the previous stone keep, those stone houses were like military barracks protecting a central opening, where the most valuable white-fruit tree was located.

    Qianye¡¯s silhouette flickered as he sped up and darted into a stone house. A barely noticeable thud echoed inside the chambers, followed by utter silence.

    However, these natives were apparently quite sensitive to vibrations. A four-armed warrior from the neighboring tent walked out to check on the situation.

 Chapter 1006: Target Buyer

    Li Kuann gave it some thought before darting over. A stream of frost energy shot out from her hand and promptly sealed the four-armed native in ice. However, the icy surface was soon filled with cracks from the natives¡¯ powerful struggles.

    Startled, Li Kuann rushed onto the four-armed native¡¯s body and shed his throat before he could regain movement. Despite that, the enemy¡¯s vitality was so strong that he could still unleash a thunderous roar from his chest.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± That was the only thought in Li Kuann¡¯s mind. They were at the center of the stone keep, so the oue would be unimaginable if the entirepound was alerted of their presence.

    A slender figure flew in from the side and mmed into the injured warrior, sending him flying. ¡°Let¡¯s go, why are you dazed?¡±

    Li Kuann charged toward the stone wall with her. The natives were extremely quick. Dozens of two-armed people were soon blocking their way and more were scuttling out from their tents.

    Li Kuann took a step forward and scattered arge cloud of frost energy, sealing a dozen or so natives in ice. Even for these two-armed natives, Li Kuann¡¯s ice could only seal them for a brief moment.

    But a short moment was all they needed. Ji Tianqing produced a long whip, with which shessoed the natives, tossing them into the air and mming them down onto buildings or theirrades.

    Taking advantage of themotion, Ji Tianqing dragged Li Kuann through the crowd and toward the outer wall.

    It was at this time that thetter felt something tighten around her foot. A two-armed native had grabbed onto her! The man immediately became excited afterward¡ªhis strength increased abruptly as his other hand started running toward her thighs.

    Li Kuann stomped down several times, but she simply couldn¡¯t get rid of the native. It almost felt as though there was a steel hoop around her ankle. Her kicks to the chest elicited cracking sounds, and the native¡¯s thorax had more or less sunken in. Despite that, the native clung tightly onto her leg and tore off arge patch of her outer armor. Fortunately, her inner armor was much stronger and remained intact.

    Ji Tianqing was surrounded by natives at this point, and having taken several blows herself, she simply couldn¡¯t find the time to save Li Kuann.

    One after the other, the two-armed natives realized that thetter was a female. They went into a frenzied state of excitement as they pounced toward her, aiming to overwhelm her with sheer numbers.

    It was at this time that a powerful quake erupted from the center of the stone castle. As sensitive as they were to vibrations, the natives began to stagger and stumble from the impact. The stone house Qianye was in exploded all of a sudden, soon followed by the adjacent ones. As though there was a fuse running through all of them, the entire row of stone houses was destroyed. A speck of light flew out from the dust and gravel, shot through the tents on the other side, and then flew up onto the wall. The tents exploded as well, and countless two-armed natives were flung into the sky.

    Chaos descended upon the stone keep as the series of explosions left the natives howling in pain. Seeing an opening, Ji Tianqingssoed Li Kuann with her whip and dragged her to the wall. There, she grabbed the rope she had prepared beforehand, climbed onto the wall, and started running toward the exterior.

    Li Kuann dragged her back, shouting, ¡°Qianye¡¯s still inside!¡±

    ¡°He can escape on his own!¡± Ji Tianqing tugged on Li Kuann and charged forward, dragging her along in the air. The two then dropped down from the wall and fled.

    Explosions rang out continuously in the stone keep and only died off after a good while. By the time the gates opened and squads of fully-armed natives charged out from them, the two girls were already nowhere to be found.

    After running for several kilometers, Li Kuann refused to go any further. Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t force her, either, and opted to take a break. She didn¡¯t remain idle, though¡ªshe started carving wood to build a circle of traps, and then both of them found ces to hide.

    However, the natives never caught up. The two girls were outstanding in both running and concealment. After putting a certain distance between them, they managed to throw the hunters offpletely. Momentster, a beam of golden radiance shot through the air, and Qianye emerged from the light. He nced down briefly before retracting his wings and jumping down toward the twodies.

    Suddenly realizing something, Ji Tianqing shouted, ¡°Don¡¯te down!¡±

    But how could one just stop suddenly in the Great Maelstrom? Startled, Qianye slowed down his descent but still couldn¡¯t helpnding on the ground. He had just touched down when the soil suddenly gave way and numerous wooden spikes shot out, stabbing his legs mercilessly. One of the stakes narrowly missed hisher regions.

    Qianye was drenched in cold sweat despite his usual fearlessness. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann rushed over and quickly removed the wooden spikes that had nailed into his body. They had no time to feel embarrassed as they checked all of Qianye¡¯s injuries, but found only a few red spots. Only then did they heave a sigh of relief.

    But the two girls reacted quite differently¡ªJi Tianqing looked thoughtful, while Li Kuann was puzzled after she had gotten over the initial panic.

    Qianye ultimately managed to extricate himself, but he didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He had used Spatial sh twice during this escape and was utterly exhausted when he happened to fall right into Ji Tianqing¡¯s trap. Qianye¡¯s traps were nothingpared to hers in terms of ruthlessness. Even now, he could still feel a chill from between his legs.

    Ji Tianqing asked, ¡°Did you get anything?¡±

    Nodding Qianye stretched his hand out, holding two white fruits. ¡°There were seven or eight of them on the treest time, but they must¡¯ve been rmed by the theft. They¡¯ve plucked all the ripe ones, leaving only these two.¡±

    Ji Tianqing received the white fruits and studied them carefully. ¡°Not bad, it should be barely enough. We¡¯ll get through another night at least.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Did you notice anything?¡±

    Ji Tianqing pointed in a certain direction. ¡°We¡¯ve run a great distance, and the gravity has been shifting along the way. If I sensed right, the gravity is weaker in that direction and that¡¯s where the first fortress was. What do you think?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Same.¡±

    Li Kaunn asked, ¡°Then, should we go back or move on?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°We go back, of course! We can¡¯t get through the frigid night without those fruits.¡±

    That was reasonable. The natives treasured the white fruits even more than their lives. At the moment at least, it would seem the white fruit was an extremely rare resource. They would have to move back toward the spatial passage while they had enough stock, or get to a safer area at least.

    ¡°Of course, we should also collect natural resources along the way. Who knows if we¡¯ll find something miraculous?¡±

    Qianye said after a while, ¡°Don¡¯t you guys feel that the white fruit and wine might be extremely rare treasures?¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Ji Tianqing became spirited.

    ¡°The white fruits do produce some medical effects after we eat them, and they¡¯re constantly reforming our bodies during the day time, making our muscles stronger. Most importantly, our vitality is also increasing,¡± Qianye exined in detail.

    ¡°Increased vitality? That means¡­¡± Li Kuann was stunned.

    Ji Tianqing nodded. ¡°Correct, our lives are being extended. This white fruit is none other than divine longevity medicine. Although I don¡¯t know how efficacious they are, the quality can¡¯t be too bad. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem for each fruit to give us a decade.¡±

    Li Kuann said, ¡°The Longevity Monarch will probably cough up his entire fortune if we can bring one out.¡±

    Longevity Monarch was at the end of his life, and that was something many people knew. He had long since stopped fighting and remained indoors most of the time, doing his utmost to extend his life. The amount of resources required to do so was also increasing exponentially.

    Although the Longevity Monarch remained one of the strongest human experts currently, Zhang Boqian had overtaken him for the most part. The marshal was at the height of his prime and never slowed down after stepping into the heavenly monarch realm. In fact, he progressed faster and faster, and was following closely in the Pointer Monarch¡¯s footsteps.

    Every heavenly monarch was an irreceable tactical power for the empire, even one with one foot in the grave. The Longevity Monarch didn¡¯t have to do anything except remain at the imperial capital.

    During these years, he had taken every longevity medicine he could find, and none of them were effective anymore. The white fruit would be a priceless treasure for him, even if it could only extend his life by three years.

    Now, Li Kuann felt as though she had wasted a valuable natural resource. Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression was also filled with regret. They were both young, so these increased years didn¡¯t feel all that special to them. All they could think of were the things they could get out of the Longevity Monarch. Li Kuann could even demand her freedom as one of the conditions.

    Who would dare to force her into a marriage with the Longevity Monarch endorsing her? And those who could suppress the Longevity Monarch had no interest in her marriage.

    As for what Ji Tianqing really wanted, no one really knew. It was just that one could tell from her expression that it could be bartered for with this fruit.

    After a good while of silence, the twodies sighed in resignation. They exchanged nces, but then looked away at the same time.

    Qianye broke the silence. ¡°If the white fruit can extend one¡¯s life, then the wine we got must have simr effects.¡±

    Ji Tianqing collected her thoughts. ¡°The wine can extend vitality, but the effects aren¡¯t that obvious. Judging from the effects, it¡¯s possible that they suppressed the longevity effects and channeled everything toward reproductive instincts. This wine is probably necessary for the four-armed natives to produce offspring. Perhaps they can only get pregnant after drinking the wine.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat disappointed. This meant that the wine wasn¡¯t really that valuable, but even a small amount of extra lifespan was still hard toe by.

    Ji Tianqing suddenly said, ¡°I know what we should do with the wine!¡±

    ¡°What should we do with them?¡± Qianye and Li Kuann were both puzzled.

    ¡°Sell them to the demonkin!¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s words surprised everyone.

 Chapter 1007: Long-Term vs Presen

    t

    Qianye and Li Kuann figured things out immediately. Reproduction might not be a problem for humans, but it was a major issue for the dark races. The stronger their bloodline powers were, the more difficult it was for them to procreate. Even experts at the level of princes and dukes couldn¡¯t be certain that they could produce children with powerful bloodlines. In fact, it was amon urrence for the offspring to have inferior bloodlinespared to their parents. That was the most distressing problem for the dark race experts.

    Among the four major dark races, the demonkin were known to have the most difficulty in reproduction. One could easily imagine how crazy they would go once such a wine entered the market.

    However, Qianye had reservations regarding this. ¡°But won¡¯t we be making them stronger? This isn¡¯t too good for the empire, is it?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°You have no idea how crazy those demonkin families are about offspring. If we¡¯re willing to sell, no price is off the table. Demanding demonic steel and restricting their strategic resources is also one way we could go about this. Rearing children takes more than a couple of years. It¡¯ll be dozens or even hundreds of years before a newer dark race generation rises to power. We¡¯ll win the present advantage in the meantime.¡±

    These words were reasonable. It was just that they might be rearing a proverbial tiger in the long run.

    Ji Tianqing knew what Qianye was thinking. ¡°What are you so afraid of? If they give birth to more demonkin, we just need to kill a couple more to make up. What, do you have so little confidence in yourself? In us?¡±

    Qianye was thinking about his showdown with the Demoness over the city of Indomitable. He could still remember the instinctive trembling from that day¡ªthat was a living creature¡¯s innate fear of destruction. It was just that he had suppressed his fears and never looked back.

    He would¡¯ve never thought so many things would happen thereafter, and his life trajectory would change so much.

    The ancient demonkin race had umted countless secrets throughout the myriad years, difficult procreation being their only limitation. The key to unlocking this restrainty in the Great Maelstrom. What if the demonkin were to get their hands on this key?

    ¡°No, we can¡¯t sell to the demonkin!¡± Qianye said firmly.

    ¡°The vampires then. The arachne and werewolves can give birth just fine, we won¡¯t get a good price.¡± Ji Tianqing was busy with her calctions.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter which race we sell them to, it will only help them produce stronger descendants.¡±

    ¡°How many of those descendants can catch up to their parents? If you¡¯re really worried about the empire, thene back. With you around, we will have no fear even if every duke were to produce an extra descendant.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sounded like she was joking, but from a certain perspective, that was the truth. Qianye¡¯s currentbat strength was now shoulder to shoulder with the strongest experts of the younger generation from both factions. Young genius was no longer sufficient to describe his current status. He was already capable of shouldering great responsibilities wherever he was posted. If he were to go all out, even a newly ascended divine champion would face the risk of falling to his de.

    If Qianye was willing to return, the Empire would gain a core fighting power. It wasn¡¯t impossible for him to found his own n in the future.

    Thought of the Empire would invoke memories of Nighteye inside the dungeon. There were no words to describe that agony¡ªit was a pain that made him give up his family and brethren, one that made him escape to the neutralnds with Nighteye.

    Since the moment of his departure, Qianye had no intention of going back. He was willing to fight abreast of his brethren from the past, willing to fight alongside confidants like Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing, but he was no longer willing to work for the empire, nor would he ept anymand from the military. In truth, it was only out of consideration for Song Zining that he hadn¡¯t uprooted the Imperial military in the neutralnds.

    Hence, Qianye only remained silent in the face of Ji Tianqing¡¯s suggestion.

    Li Kuann cut in at this point. ¡°Your vampire side is not a problem, it¡¯s fairly easy to change your identity and no one will trouble you regarding this.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned gloomy. ¡°Why must I change my identity? Must I fear the military? I¡¯m right here in the neutralnds. If they want to kill me, they¡¯re wee to send as many people as they want. You can forget about making me disguise myself for them.¡±

    Realizing that she had said something she shouldn¡¯t have, Li Kuann looked away and no longer dared to nce at Qianye.

    Ji Tianqing dragged the topic back on track. ¡°There¡¯s yet another use for the alcohol. Yes, they can greatly increase one¡¯s reproductive powers and longevity, but that¡¯s not all there is to them. What they actually do is increase one¡¯s vital functions all around, thereby improving their powers of procreation and lifespan. That also means that drinking this spirit regrly can help one break through cultivation bottlenecks.¡±

    Qianye was skeptical. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I sense anything?¡± He had tasted a small mouthful of the wine, but he didn¡¯t really feel anyprehensive upgrade to his body.

    Ji Tianqing red at him, saying, ¡°A monster like you doesn¡¯t need to upgrade his body.¡±

    Qianye realized the issue here. His body had been reforged by the auric me blood and reached the level of an ancient vampire. He had also undergone a thorough tempering under the effects of his Venus Dawn, improving his constitution once more. That was the reason he was able to move unhindered in the Great Maelstrom and get through the frigid night alone. This level of physique could no longer be upgraded with the wine.

    Increasing one¡¯s chances of breaking through bottlenecks was also a useful effect, enough to drive the experts stuck at the champion or divine champion threshold crazy. In terms of value, however, it still couldn¡¯t hold a candle to the effect of helping the demonkin reproduce.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes shifted about. ¡°Qianye, we might not sell, but other people will. There is no way we can stop such items from flowing into demonkin hands. Rather than letting those unscrupulous merchants earn this money, we should im it ourselves. At the very least, we know where we can benefit.¡±

    The reason was sound, but Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel that something was off about it.

    After careful thought, this was sacrificing the long term situation for present benefit. The demonkin would take hundreds of years from childbirth to maturity, and the price they would have to pay at present was a decrease in strategic resources and subsequent weakening of fighting power. The empire, meanwhile, would enjoy increased fighting capacity.

    This meant that if the empire could grasp this hundred-year window, they might be able tomence a major operation to restrain the demonkin¡¯s growth. Their situation would turn dire if development was stunted for a century.

    In the end, Ji Tianqing was confident in herself and the experts of the younger generation, that they would be able to grasp history and rewrite it. Hence, she was willing to seek new resources at any cost and risk.

    Qianye understood this reasoning, but he didn¡¯t approve of the method. It was simply too risky¡ªif the demonkin were to produce another Demoness, there would be a new shift in power across the Evernight faction. Ji Tianqing, however, didn¡¯t seem to care. No one knew whether her confidence came from herself or Qianye.

    Ji Tianqing had no intention of arguing. ¡°Let¡¯s collect as many resources as we can on the way back, there¡¯s no telling how long it¡¯ll be before we can get here again.¡±

    Qianye had a feeling that only powerful divine champions would be able to survive the area they were in. He was fairly okay, but the other two would need to wait several years more until they were at the divine champion realm. The spatial passage was abnormally sensitive, and divine champions crossing the passage would trigger a fierce origin tempest. Hence, both the Empire and Evernight would mostly send young geniuses below the divine champion realm into the Great Maelstrom.

    Perhaps that was why the people who had entered weren¡¯t strong enough to reach this area and thus never found the white fruit.

    Qianye suddenly recalled something. ¡°All three of usnded close by, but where are the others?¡±

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann exchanged nces, apparently having made some guesses. The former said in a calm voice, ¡°Do you think other people will survive if theynd close to us?¡±

    ¡°You have a point there.¡±

    Qianye had seen the group from the aristocratic families and imperial n. Although he didn¡¯t know much about their identities, he did get a good grasp of their ability. These people were a far cry from Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing. They probably wouldn¡¯t survive the first night in such a harsh environment.

    The dead wouldn¡¯t even leave an intact corpse in this world. They would be food for the various animals roaming about during the day, bone and all. Their armors and weapons might be sturdy by imperial standards, but even the trees in this world were stronger than warship armor alloy, let alone rocks and native weaponry.

    ¡°Should we bring some native weapons back?¡± Qianye was no weapons expert, but he felt that the metal in this world was different.

    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to bring a lot, only as many as we can stuff into our spatial gear. The important factor on our way back is weight and not size. The gravitational pull inside the tunnel will increase by dozens of times. That means, even you won¡¯t be able to carry a lot.¡±

    Li Kuann added, ¡°Metal, wood, or even random stones here will be a strategic resource back in the empire. Unfortunately, we¡¯re not strong enough to gather even the rare resources, not to mention the staple ones. Don¡¯t you have a map of the Heavenschild Pasture? You¡¯ll see once you get there. It¡¯s already quite good if we can take away one percent of the produce.¡±

    ¡°Heavenschild Pasture! You have the location of the Heavenschild Pasture?¡± Ji Tianqing was excited.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Qianye became alert.

    ¡°Of course we¡¯re going to rob them!¡± Ji Tianqing waspletely oblivious to Qianye¡¯s expression change. ¡°The medicines produced from the Heavenschild Pasture are good stuff. More importantly, some of them can be added to our white-fruit wine to amplify its effects. The Song n can¡¯t bring them out anyway, what if we take some for ourselves?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ that¡¯s not appropriate is it?¡± Qianyeughed wryly.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing bad about it. Song Zining gave you that map so that you can go and take what you need. Now, you have two assistants, so you can take a bit more,¡± Li Kuann spoke in a righteous manner.

 Chapter 1008: Resources Everywhere

    At the mention of the Heavenschild Pasture, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann¡¯s eyes started glowing. There was no disguising their greed at this point. The twodies had formed a united front regarding this matter, overruling Qianye¡¯s objections until he could do nothing else but smile wryly.

    The three paid attention to the surrounding resources while traveling. At first, Qianye had decided to pick up a sample of all the flora along the way, but he soon realized that Andruil¡¯s space was filling up at an rming rate. Seeing no other choice, he had to start discarding bulky items that didn¡¯t seem very useful, some odd ores and giant fruits for instance.

    In addition to necessary medicines and emergency supplies, most of the space had been upied by the white-fruit wine. Qianye couldn¡¯t bring himself to discard them after learning of their effects and value. He more or less came to understand the mood of their predecessors¡ªit wasn¡¯t afortable feeling to see but not take away the treasures scattered across thend.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were feeling the same. The former possessed spatial gear still, but Li Kuann¡¯s was destroyed during the transit. All she could do was put some of the things she most wanted in Qianye¡¯s storage.

    Even after carrying Li Kuann¡¯s stuff, the size of Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm drew sidelong nces from the other two. Even someone of Ji Tianqing¡¯s ability could only fit two crates worth of items in her storage, more or less a small corner of Andruil¡¯s space.

    Qianye knew how valuable the pendant was and naturally didn¡¯t dare disclose how many jars of wine he had stored inside of it. If they were to realize the truth, there was no telling how many things they would stuff into his spatial gear.

    The treasures they saw along the way distressed Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann more and more. All they could do was map down their route for a future revisit.

    Li Kuann cut out a wooden board and started plotting the parts of the Great Maelstrom they were familiar with. Ji Tianqing snatched the board and scribbled as they ran. By the time they stopped for a short break, she had already mapped the entire known area.

    Ji Tianqing carved the final symbols before passing the board back to the other two. ¡°Once we find the way back, we should visit a couple of important ces in addition to the Heavenschild Pasture. I¡¯ve marked them on the map, take a look.¡±

    Li Kuann pointed at one of the markings. ¡°This is the Constetion Well, an environment simr to the spatial passage that contains the eye of the void storm. Casting the Storm Pearl in will allow it to absorb void energy, which would then fuse with the owner¡¯s origin power and ultimately form an origin crystal.¡±

    At this point, Li Kuann nced at Ji Tianqing. ¡°Such a big marking on the map, just how many pearls did you bring?¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. ¡°Take a guess.¡±

    ¡°Two, at most three,¡± Li Kuann said with certainty. The Storm Pearl was produced by the Li family, so she couldn¡¯t be clearer about its production rate.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Ji Tianqing would break into augh. ¡°My name would be smeared if I had that little. Let it be, I won¡¯t make things difficult for you. I have nine!¡±

    ¡°Nine!¡± Both Li Kuann and Qianye were astonished. Back then, he had to risk his life many times for the Li family, beating up Eden until he was almost starting to doubt his demonic life. All that work gained him only one Storm Pearl, but now, Ji Tianqing had nine of them!?

    ¡°Yes, nine indeed. When we get to the Constetion Well, each of us can use three to have some fun. Let¡¯s see who produces the most powerful origin crystal.¡±

    Li Kuann said, ¡°From what I know, less than ten Storm Pearls were produced in recent years. How could you have gotten nine?¡±

    ¡°Some are mine, some are from my family. Others I traded, stole, or borrowed. What, do you have a problem?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s face was wooden. ¡°No.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a rxed expression. ¡°It¡¯ll be funny if some people can¡¯t produce even three origin crystals when the timees.¡±

    Li Kaunn was furious. ¡°Who are you referring to?¡±

    Ji Tianqing blinked innocently. ¡°The one with the biggest boobs, of course.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡± Li Kuann was stunned and her face was flushed red. She gnashed her teeth in anger, but there was nothing she could do. She subconsciously shot Qianye a nce and calmed down only after seeing that he was entirely unperturbed.

    Qianye asked, ¡°Is there anything we need to pay attention to?¡±

    Ji Tianqing only smiled in response.

    Li Kaunn red at her briefly before turning toward Qianye to exin, ¡°We need to head deep into the Constetion Well in order to form an origin crystal. Once inside, we must contend against the origin tempests and, at the same time, activate our origin power to guide the stormy clouds into the pearl. There are numerous kinds of vital origin powers in the depths of the well. At a nce, they look like dense smokey clouds, and that is what we¡¯re trying to absorb. That¡¯s why our ancestors named the treasure, Storm Pearl.

    ¡°The deeper inside the well, the more vital origin power the Storm Pearl can absorb. At the same time, however, it will also drain more origin power from the owner. The resultant origin crystal is highly variable as it is decided by the integration between the owner¡¯s origin power and that of the well. No two crystals are alike.¡±

    Qianye had formed an understanding at this point. ¡°That means we¡¯ll need to expendrge amounts of origin power while producing the origin crystal. We might also fail without sufficient origin power.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded. ¡°With our cultivations, it won¡¯t be too difficult to produce two origin crystals if we¡¯re not greedy. For the third, however, we might have to go all out.¡±

    Qianye understood why Ji Tianqing was teasing Li Kuann just now. It would seem three origin crystals was the limit for experts of their level.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t be discussed on equal grounds as his origin power capacity had transcendedmon sense. Ji Tianqing boasted deep foundations, as well as numerous secret arts and treasures. Who knew how many things she had that could restore her origin power. Only Li Kuann had suffered injuries inside the passage¡ªher spatial gear was damaged, and her divine sword was nowhere to be found. Apart from her beauty and good-looking figure, there was no other advantage to speak of.

    ¡°But what else would she need?¡± Qianye thought all of a sudden.

    Noticing the slight turbulence in his heart, Qianye quickly looked up to see that it was noon¡ªno wonder his mind would stray.

    Li Kuann pointed at a different marker, saying, ¡°There¡¯s a giant tree here, the fruits of which can increase one¡¯s vitality and help with cultivation bottlenecks, we call it the World Tree. However, there are hordes of vile beasts around the tree throughout the year. We have tounch a sudden raid and escape after snatching a couple of fruits. Otherwise, even divine champions might fall if surrounded by a beast horde.¡±

    ¡°As for this ce¡­¡± Li Kuann tossed the wooden board to Ji Tianqing. ¡°You exin!¡±

    Ji Tianqing caught the map with a chuckle. ¡°I¡¯ve seen and touched every part of you, what are you being embarrassed about?¡±

    Li Kuann was furious. ¡°When did that ever happen!?¡±

    ¡°Well, you can¡¯t deny that you¡¯ve been groped all over.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not groping!¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°Of course¡­ right?¡± Li Kuann lost her momentum.

    Ji Tianqing also knew when to stop teasing. ¡°Let it be, I¡¯ll let you off this once. Remember not to provoke me in the future!¡±

    Li Kaunn was both embarrassed and angry, but she didn¡¯t dare to act up.

    Ji Tianqing pointed at one of the markers, saying, ¡°This ce is called Pond of Life. The name sounds good, but that ce is no different from the daytime effects here. Those who approach the pond will lose control of their primal desires and start doing things! The weirdest thing about that ce is that willpower is the key to suppressing one¡¯s desires, not cultivation. Many famous experts have suffered in this ce. It¡¯s not serious enough to take your life, but the embarrassment is real. Those people will slowly sink into depravity even after returning to the empire.¡±

    At this point, Ji Tianqing shot Li Kuann a meaningful nce. ¡°I¡¯m sure Qianye will have no problem passing a test of willpower, but a certain big-chested fellow will definitely be in trouble! Qianye, remember to save her if she can¡¯t handle things.¡±

    Qianye was tongue-tied. How was he supposed to save her?

    Li Kuann blushed in fury and embarrassment, but there was no way she could retort. She endured the situation for a good while before saying, ¡°I¡¯ve been having some issues for the past couple of days, but don¡¯t worry, I should be fine by the time we get to the Pond of Life.¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s not a good thing.¡± Ji Tianqing seemed to have other implications. Only after seeing Li Kuann staring daggers at her did she restrain herself. ¡°The Pond of Life is actually quite dangerous, and the fish in there are highly venomous. Many experts will suffer environmental limitations under the water. They might get bitten in their distraction, even if they don¡¯t end up doing embarrassing things.¡±

    Qianye felt somewhat relieved upon hearing this. His dark golden energy was a peerless toxin to all lifeforms, so all types of poison would be eight parts nullified against him.

    Such an environment was lethal to both the dark races and humans. Only the arachne would have it a bit easier.

    ¡°What is there in the Pond of Life that so many people would be willing to take this risk?¡±

    ¡°Actually, the pond is as big as ake or a sea, and no one has really reached its depths before. But there¡¯s a treasure that grows not far off from the shore, something coveted by every generation of imperial experts.¡±

    ¡°What would that be?¡±

    ¡°The Marine Lotus.¡±

    Qianye was shaken as he recalled the name he had seen in the neutralnds booklet, back during the early days of his arrival. The Marine Lotus was a divine medicine for repairing the soul and would have miraculous effects on Nighteye. It was just that he had no idea if she still needed it.

    They had rested for a good while by this point, so Qianye got up and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Li Kuann hesitated momentarily, but she eventually clenched her jaws and followed the other two.

    ¡­

    Way behind the trio, Anwen and Bai Kongzhao were standing atop a tree, gazing at the massive stone keep.

    Anwen looked left and right but didn¡¯t dare take action. In the end, he sighed. ¡°Such a fat piece of meat, but it¡¯s too big for us to devour.¡±

 Chapter 1009: Life-stealing Hands

    ¡°Why not?¡± The girl was puzzled.

    Anwen replied, ¡°It¡¯s clear that this ce has been attacked recently, and it¡¯s the best opportunity for us to step in. Unfortunately, the natives inside are too many and too strong. I fear we won¡¯t be able to escape after going in. I really have no idea who attacked them. I think they might¡¯ve be food for the natives if they¡¯re from the Empire.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao made no reply. Keeping her gaze locked onto a group of natives who had just left the stone keep, she jumped down, lowered herself to the ground, and followed them like a cat. Anwen didn¡¯t call her back and could only follow along helplessly, lest she starts a fight alone.

    The young girl approached the group inplete silence and then suddenly pounced onto thest native warrior.

    Anwen hadn¡¯t expected her to attack so barbarically. Startled, he fell into abat stance and got ready to help. However, the warrior copsed to the ground, unable to move or offer even the slightest bit of resistance.

    Only the sound of rustling clothes could be heard during the entire process. There wasn¡¯t even any vibration, and the warriors in front never noticed what had happened.

    Once the first warrior had fallen, the girl leaped toward the one in front who, just like before, immediately fell limp and copsed. The girl pounced on one native after the other like a hunting leopard, felling eight of them in the blink of an eye. Anwen was promptly startled.

    The two four-armed warriors at the front finally noticed that things were too quiet behind them. They turned back at the same time, but one of them wasn¡¯t able to react before the young girl hugged his head.

    The four-armed native also copsed like the others before him, but he still had the power to swing his arms and legs before going down. The girl clung tightly to his head and refused to let go no matter what. The strange thing was that no matter how hard the four-armed warrior punched or kicked, he couldn¡¯t hit the girl very often.

    The other four-armed warrior drew her sword and cried out loudly. She was just about to attack when a red light flickered past, and her head flew into the air.

    The four-armed woman¡¯s head saw Anwen during herst moments, and her eyes actually lit up as she sprayed out a cloud of white mist.

    Anwen was shocked out of his wits. He had never imagined that a severed head would attack like so. He knew how powerful the white mist was¡ªhe spun his sword once more and swept the mist away with another beam of sword radiance.

    Only after that did Anwen breathe a sigh of relief and pointed his two-meter sword diagonally toward the ground, adopting a matchless posture. However, he immediately noticed something different¡ªthe long sword in his hand had vanished, reced by the slender de the little girl had given him. Anwen was tall and handsome, but that toothpick of a sword made him look somewhat effeminate.

    At this moment, the young girl mbered up from the body of the fallen four-armed warrior. The victim seemed to have no injuries, but his eyes were now vacant, and his limbs were still moving about instinctively. Anwen could see that this four-armed native was already dead. It was just that his vitality was so strong that his body still had the power to move despite theck of consciousness.

    The girl nced at the body of the four-armed woman and said to Anwen, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    The demonkin was surprised by the girl¡¯s gesture. ¡°What¡¯s there to thank? We¡¯re friends, and friends should help one another.¡±

    ¡°Friends?¡± The young girl shook her head. ¡°Many people have called themselves a friend, but they would always try to stab me from behind.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m different from them!¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    Anwen couldn¡¯t reply for a good while. At first, he wanted to say that a demonkin young lord would always keep his word, that there was no way he would do anything like that. Besides, there weren''t a lot of people in this world worth his friendship. He would naturally cherish those he didmit to because there was no way those who had gained his recognition would fall short.

    This long string of reasoning was so detailed that it would take half a day to exin. It was just that the puzzled little girl had no concept of hierarchy or his status as the demonkin young lord.

    She had actually run over to the passage entrance to suggest that they kill their way in,pletely oblivious to the fact that the entrance was being guarded by the Eternal me or that the demonkin were themanders of the garrison.

    In her eyes, all she knew was that there was a great fortune on the other end of the tunnel, something she had to go and obtain. She had only suggested they fight their way in because she was willing to share it with Anwen.

    This sounded funny, but Anwen was extremely moved. This meant that her acknowledgment of him had nothing to do with his status.

    Anwen had no shortage of followers at his side throughout the years and could no longer tell if they were there for him or for his status. He didn¡¯t care much about that before this. No matter what their motives were, it was fine as long as they were willing to work for him and promise a certain degree of loyalty.

    It could be said that she was the first person who waspletely ignorant of his identity.

    That was why Anwen didn¡¯t exin everything; he wanted to maintain this simple rtionship. He had a selfish hope that the girl would never realize what being a demonkin young lord entailed.

    But he had no way to reply to the girl¡¯s question without going into these things. The demonkin thought about it for a good while before saying, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m different from the people you¡¯ve known in the past.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Anwen looked upward with a somewhat guilty expression and never noticed that the girl was somewhat lost in thought, as though she were thinking about someone.

    He put away the slender sword and began inspecting the native corpses. He was curious as to how the girl had killed them.

    There were small, round holes on top and at the back of the four-armed native¡¯s head, lethal wounds apparently. Anwen produced his dagger and cut open the native¡¯s bodyyer byyer. On one hand, he wanted to observe the internal structure of the four-armed natives and find out their vital points. While on the other, he wanted to see what method the girl had used to kill them.

    The girl moved closer to him and watched in silence.

    Anwen¡¯s hands moved nimbly¡ªthe dagger danced like a flying sprite as it dissected numerous muscleyers and revealed the secrets inside.

    The more Anwen observed, the more astonished he became. The holes the girl had left on the natives¡¯ head and neck punched right through to the bone, and the ones behind the neck extended directly through the spine.

    The cervical spines of the four-armed warriors were different from the demonkin in that they were covered in small bony spikes. Some of them were poking out of the skin, while others remained buried in the flesh. These bony spikes were apparently there to protect the vertebra. The holes left behind by the little girl happened to pass right between two spikes to strike the spinal nerves.

    Anwen knocked on the spine with his dagger and noticed a metallic reverberation. He swung the de with force, but just as expected, he was only able to leave a gash the depth of a finger. He was far from able to sh through that bowl-sized spine. The sturdiness of the four-armed people¡¯s skeletons was indeed shocking, so much so that they were even a bit stronger than demonic steel.

    After checking on the spine, Anwen suddenly noticed that there were small punctures on the ends of some bony spines. Getting a sudden idea, he channeled his demonic power and cut one of the longer spines off. As expected, the interior of the bone was hollow, and there was a drop of white liquid at the very bottom.

    Anwen tensed up at the sight of this white liquid. That was his body¡¯s instinctive reaction to danger. This drop of white liquid wasn¡¯t just poisonous¡ªit was a venom that would be lethal even for himself.

    The demonkin young lord was drenched in cold sweat. If he had been careless enough to touch these natives with his bare hands, he might¡¯ve been injured by these malicious bony spikes. The poison within was troublesome even for someone like him.

    But how did the girl know theyout of these spikes and how did she avoid the danger?

    Anwen turned back and asked, ¡°How did you kill him?¡±

    What he didn¡¯t expect was that the girl would actually stretch her bare hands out at him.

    ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Anwen continued to inspect the corpse, unwilling to associate those fair, tender hands with killer weapons.

    The holes on the four-armed man¡¯s head were simrly bone-deep, and there were visible ring-shaped cracks on the skull bone. Apparently, the girl¡¯s fingers never managed to punch through, but the damage wasn¡¯t small, either. The dispersion of force would produce waves of intense dizziness, stopping any resistance the four-armed warrior would otherwise have mustered.

    This was probably the reason why the four-armed native was iling about randomly after falling down.

    Anwen moved to the corpses of the two-armed natives, all of whom had been killed with a single lethal blow. The girl had directly severed their control over their bodies, allowing her to kill them quietly one after the other. She was only forced to put in some extra effort while killing the four-armed warrior who possessed a different level of vitality and strength.

    How did this girl know the anatomy and weakness of the four-armed natives? It was clearly her first time here. Was this her innate gift?

    There was nothing special on the dead warriors. The girl picked up the four-armed man¡¯s cleaver and threw it away afterparing it to her arachne limb de.

    Anwen sighed as he nced at the cleaver. The weapon¡¯s quality really wasn¡¯t that bad, probably on par with a grade seven weapon outside of the Great Maelstrom. And that was only the weapon of an ordinary four-armed warrior. The entire area was filled with treasures¡ªthe timber from any random tree here could serve as the core structural material for a warship.

    It was just that their spatial equipment had a space limit to them. Not to mention stones and trees, they couldn¡¯t even bring a lot of the valuable white wine. In addition to the long sword, Anwen had protective secret treasures and demonic medicines inside this storage. There was really no more space after putting the four jars of wine inside.

    After clearing out the natives, the young girl nced toward the stone keep. Anwen said in shock, ¡°We can¡¯t handle that!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something good in there.¡±

    ¡°I know, but we have no choice, there are too many enemies.¡±

    ¡°Kill them little by little.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too dangerous, especially the white mist from the four-armed women. It¡¯ll be extremely troublesome once we get caught.¡±

    The young girl replied, ¡°I¡¯m not afraid.¡±

    Anwenughed wryly. ¡°But I am!¡±

 Chapter 1010: Calm Face-to-Face

    Soon, it was once again the frigid night.

    Qianye was already well-experienced at this point. He quickly picked a temporary ce to camp and startedying a circle of traps around it. By the time he was back, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were already preparing dinner.

    The few wild beasts he had hunted during the day was enough to fill Qianye to the brim. He didn¡¯t need to eat anything more at this point, but he did pick up some food out of consideration for thedies¡¯ hard work.

    Li Kuann spoke out of the blue, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Puzzled, Qianye looked up with a big piece of meat in his mouth.

    Li Kuann inhaled deeply and then waved her hand in front of his face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s adam¡¯s apple moved slightly¡ªthe piece of meat felt stuck in his throat, unable to go down or up. He pointed at himself, saying, ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You did nothing wrong, why are you saying sorry?¡± Qianye suddenly became cautious and started looking left and right. ¡°Oh wait, are you nning on doing something?¡±

    Li Kuann clenched her jaws and sent a piece of meat flying toward Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Qianye caught the iing food with his mouth. ¡°Now that¡¯s more like you.¡±

    Li Kuann collected her thoughts and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t been performing well since I entered the Great Maelstrom, and many times I¡¯ve been a burden to you guys. With so many things happening and the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace gone, my mind is in disarray.¡±

    Qianye nced over at Ji Tianqing, who shrugged as though it had nothing to do with her. Not knowing how to cate Li Kuann, Qianye could only listen in silence. Fortunately, this meant that she had cleared out a knot in her heart and that was a good thing.

    Li Kuann hugged her knees for a good while. ¡°You were just an inexperienced young fellow back when I first met you. Apart from fighting with your life on the line, you were just lucky most of the time. Mmm¡­ but you weren¡¯t a bad person and that¡¯s what matters most.¡±

    ¡°Later on, you became stronger and stronger, but you were still a ways off from catching up to me. I was quite surprised, though, that Zhao Fourth would step up to cancel our appointed duel. Everyone knew how singr and proud he was. It could be said that no one apart from Zhao Ruoxi could enter his eyes, including me.¡±

    Ji Tianqing snorted disapprovingly.

    Li Kuann chuckled. ¡°You merely rose to power earlier. You might not be his match if you fight him now.¡±

    ¡°He merely fooled around on the battlefield for a few years.¡±

    ¡°You know full well what kind of battlefield he¡¯s been on, and yet he¡¯s managed to stay alive through all that. There¡¯s no way you can beat him without a cultivation-level advantage.¡±

    ¡°Cultivation¡­¡± Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t quite continue.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s progress in cultivation was one of the fastest in the world. Qianye was perhaps the only one who could keep up with his brother, with Song Zining trailing slightly behind. Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were both one level inferior. The most terrifying fact was that Zhao Jundu was never known for having an unstable foundation. Everyone knew that the war between the two factions was the best furnace to forge steel.

    It was just that one¡¯s life was forfeit after stepping into battle¡ªcountless heroes had fallen along the way. Every peak expert¡¯s hands were stained with the blood of countless enemy geniuses.

    Hence, the ns of the Empire formed an unspoken rule that descendants with potential would only be let onto the battlefield after bing champions. Even then, they would carefully pick the battlefields to avoid needless casualties. Only some true geniuses would join the war to train themselves at an earlier stage, but they would still avoid fighting enemies they couldn¡¯t defeat.

    Ji Tianqing stopped interrupting and allowed Li Kuann to continue. ¡°Qianye, every time I meet you, you would be a bit stronger than before. There¡¯s a difference even during this short period in the neutralnds. I think I was just unwilling to admit that I can no longer win against you here.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this fuss about. Just beat him up and see if he dares to fight back. If he doesn¡¯t listen, I¡¯ll help you beat him up.¡± Ji Tianqing was there to fan the mes.

    Li Kuann ignored herpletely. She looked straight at Qianye and said, ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve always been thinking about what I would do in the future without my sword. I¡¯ve been panicking for the past few days because I know the de is likely lost. Even if we can find a simr weapon after leaving the Great Maelstrom, it wouldn¡¯t be as easy to use as the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace.¡±

    Qianye nodded. The Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace was a perfect match for her, a weapon that would increase her power exponentially. Without her sword, Li Kuann¡¯sbat strength would drop an entire level below Qianye and Ji Tianqing.

    She looked up at the night sky, saying, ¡°This sword used to be my sister¡¯s, but she stopped using it at one point. At first, I thought she had passed it to me because she no longer needed to fight after entering the pce. After obtaining the sword and gaining some achievements, I thought I had already surpassed my sister in swordsmanship. But only after losing the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace did I slowly realize her mood when she renounced her de and gave it to me. My sister¡¯s swordsmanship was never stagnant.¡±

    Ji Tianqing cut in at this point. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that the sword lives in the heart, that the tangible and intangible are both valid paths. Too cliche!¡±

    Li Kuann chuckled. ¡°The sword already lives in my heart, there¡¯s no need for further discussion. After thinking it through, I should just use whatever is avable to me, but of course, it¡¯s best if I can get a good sword. I won¡¯t say no if you¡¯re going to give me one!¡±

    Ji Tianqing rolled her eyes. ¡°Fat chance! You think money can buy a sword on par with the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace? I¡¯d switch to swordy if I had one, why would I give it to you? Humph, you even lost Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. Who¡¯d dare to take a loser like you?¡±

    Li Kuann snorted. ¡°Stingy! You can¡¯t even part with a sword. I feel embarrassed for your grandpa.¡±

    Ji Tianqing had had enough. ¡°Is that an ordinary sword we¡¯re talking about? How many swords like Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace are there in the entire empire? I only touched you a bit and slept with you for two nights, the price shouldn¡¯t be that high, should it? Naturally, I might consider it if you¡¯re willing to give yourself to me up until the next life. I could just grab a random old sword for you to swing around.¡±

    Li Kuann gnashed her teeth. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    ¡°Come kill me if you can!¡± Ji Tianqing provoked.

    How could Li Kuann endure this? She pounced over immediately but was knocked back from the impact and pinned to the ground. Li Kuann¡¯s forte was her speed¡ªnow that she was shing head-on against Ji Tianqing, it wasn¡¯t surprising that she would lose.

    ¡°You, a sword? Easy, go and ask the person who has seen and touched you all over! With me around, you don¡¯t need to worry about him not taking responsibility. Our long-legged and big-busteddy can¡¯t be inferior to anyone else.¡±

    Qianye was hiding on the sidelines and eating his meat when he started choking. Yet, there were only three people here, so how could he escape?

    ¡°Qianye, stop hiding. I¡¯m talking about you! Bring out your sword for Kuann.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°I only have East Peak and she can¡¯t use it.¡±

    ¡°Just take it out. Even if she can¡¯t use it, it¡¯ll serve for good decoration.¡± Ji Tianqing stretched her hand out, so Qianye had no choice but to pass her his sword.

    Ji Tianqing grunted softly as the swordnded in her grasp. Her expression changed several times as the sword¡¯s weight far exceeded her expectations. It would be an embarrassment if she were to drop it.

    She was actually channeling a different secret art each time her countenance transformed. Her power increased exponentially after activating numerous arts, allowing her to just barely stabilize East Peak. Despite that, her hand was trembling slightly¡ªshe was at her limits.

    She spun her wrist around and thrust East Peak into the ground beside Li Kuann. ¡°This sword isn¡¯t bad at all. As I see it, it¡¯s quite enough to trade for you. Now that he has agreed to exchange the sword for you, you¡¯ll be his for the rest of your life.¡±

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. ¡°Tianqing, don¡¯t joke about this.¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled and then retreated to the side. ¡°Not fun at all.¡±

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that the girl had given up on the mischief. Her words were a mixture of truths and lies, truly a headache.

    Themotion brought them fairly deep into the night. Qianye was feeling quite rxed against the frigid night. The gravity on them was much lighter now, probably less than ten times that of normal. The intensity of the frigid night would also decrease ordingly.

    It was just a small relief to his burden, but his endurance would increase severalfold because of it. Meanwhile, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were also getting stronger with the repeated use of the white fruit. Although Qianye couldn¡¯t help both of them at the same time, he could easily help one of them¡ªit was no longer as risky and dangerous as before.

    At this point, it was time to decide how they would pass the night. Ji Tianqing produced a jar of wine and made known her intentions. Qianye frowned in objection. Although Ji Tianqing seemed fine on the surface, his intuition told him that wasn¡¯t the case.

    ¡°Tianqing, we still have white fruits, there¡¯s no need to save them.¡±

    ¡°No, I have uses for them.¡± Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t willing. Qianye wanted to dissuade her again, but she had already removed the seal and started drinking.

    Helpless, Qianye turned to Li Kuann. ¡°Just take the white fruit tonight, it can only be beneficial.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t reply. Instead, she stood in front of Qianye and removed every piece of her armor. Then, she faced him naturally without any sign of embarrassment.

    Although he had already seen her from head to toe, Qianye was still shocked. The nights before, he had no choice, but things were different right now.

    ¡°Embrace me,¡± Li Kuann said calmly.

 Chapter 1011: When Did She Ever Leave?

    Although what they were about to do was the same as the days before, Qianye was flustered in the face of Ji Tianqing¡¯s attention and Li Kuann¡¯s calm demeanor. He had no idea what would happen next.

    This time, Li Kuann didn¡¯t have her back toward him. Instead, they were embracing one another face to face.

    Tensing up, Qianye patted her back lightly. ¡°You don¡¯t need to hold on so tightly, I can deal with it even if we¡¯re slightly apart.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have an easier time this way. It¡¯s a rare chance to be able to cultivate in the Great Maelstrom, any extra cultivation time is good.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand. Ji Tianqing moved over with a chuckle and said, ¡°We¡¯ve discussed this just now. ording to our family records, the Great Maelstrom only offers a slight boost to cultivation. It¡¯s almost negligible. The region we¡¯re in, however, is able to increase our cultivation speed exponentially, and it also produces treasures like the white fruit wine that can help with bottlenecks. Hence, this ce is the real holy ground for cultivation. Unfortunately, we¡¯re not strong enough to remain here for prolonged periods, but even an hour is helpful toward breaking into the divine champion realm.¡±

    At this point, Ji Tianqing blinked a couple of times and said meaningfully, ¡°So, don¡¯t miss this opportunity!¡± Before finishing the sentence, she reached out and pped Li Kuann on the butt.

    Startled, thetter gnashed her teeth and grabbed at Ji Tianqing, who promptly lowered her head and circled around to Qianye¡¯s back.

    Qianye was the one to suffer from the yfulness of the twodies. His blood flow began to elerate, and his blood core erupted with unprecedented force. Every beat of it was like the sound of a primordial drum, its majestic reverberation constantly assailing the girls¡¯ hearts and will.

    His ancient vampire blood began to surge and boil. This distant but colossal will was almost indefensible!

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye¡¯s body began to react uncontrobly, and even the cruelty of the frigid night couldn¡¯t stop the reproductive desire of his vampire bloodline.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were extremely sharp in their senses. Not even the flow of Qianye¡¯s hair could escape their eyes, let alone such a big change. They were both startled¡ªa blushing Li Kuann froze up and slowly started edging away from Qianye. She was in an awkward position and ran the risk of losing her innocence if Qianye were to move suddenly.

    Ji Tianqing suddenly grabbed Qianye¡¯s shoulder from behind and pushed him forward!

    Li Kuann shrunk back with a startled cry, narrowly escaping the cmity.

    The change caught himpletely off-guard, and he nearly made a mistake under Ji Tianqing¡¯s maniption. The powerful sensation from the collision of private parts almost caused his determination to copse.

    Qianye turned back and roared, ¡°Tianqing, what are you doing?¡±

    Unexpectedly, the moment he turned back, Ji Tianqing moved closer to his face until their noses were almost touching. Qianye was never able to finish his words before his lips were sealed by hers.

    He wanted to cry out, ¡°what are you trying to do?¡± but how could he make a sound? Ji Tianqing¡¯s tongue parted his lips and pushed in.

    Her tongue was soft and smooth, but it was also extremely powerful. The somewhat flustered Qianye simply couldn¡¯t resist her. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if she had trained in some sort of secret tongue art¡ªhow else could she possess such terrifying power? It almost felt as though he would lose his teeth if he were to struggle forcibly.

    Qianye¡¯s head was clear enough to know that he couldn¡¯t just bite down on her or things would turn murderous. It was just that Qianye was left defenseless and could only allow the attacking enemy inside.

    Before he could extricate himself, a rolling wave of liquid surged out from her mouth and down Qianye¡¯s throat. Qianye trembled upon sensing the taste and cried out secretly in distress.

    It was the white fruit wine!

    In the blink of an eye, Ji Tianqing had poured an entire jar of the wine into Qianye¡¯s stomach. Only afterward did she release her grip and said with aplicated expression, ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Things happened so fast that Qianye never had the time to react. He hadn¡¯t managed to figure out what was going on before Ji Tianqing snapped her fingers.

    This sound seemed to have flipped a mysterious switch, whereupon a plume of raging mes surged up from Qianye¡¯s abdomen. It wasn¡¯t just the white-fruit wine from just now. The effects of the wine she had ingested the day before also erupted from concealment. Every muscle in his body was aboil with vitality, his ancient vampire bloodline roaring in jubtion as it resonated with the River of Blood.

    The next moment, Qinaye¡¯s reasoningpletely fell apart. In hisst shred of sanity, before his will had crumbled entirely, he asked, ¡°Wh¡­ why¡­?¡±

    Qianye never realized why this came to be. They had clearly walked out of the core area¡ªboth the frigid night and gravity were no longer as strong. Although they would still need external help, it no longer felt as thoughsting the night was a new lease on life.

    In two days at most, perhaps even one, the three of them would reach a region they could adapt to. At that point, Ji Tianqing would be able to get through the night alone, and Li Kuann would only need a little bit of help around midnight. She wouldn¡¯t even need to take off her clothes or experience embarrassing situations.

    Three dayster, the trio would likely have reached the borders of the empire-explored territory. The main theme would then be the collection of resources and defending the camps against Evernight aggression. This was the world and tempo they were familiar with. With the three of them working together, neither the Empire nor Evernight would be their match.

    The dark times were clearly about to end and dawn was right before their eyes, so much so that they could already see a line of red far over the horizon. Why would Ji Tianqing do this?

    Qianye simply couldn¡¯t understand. He would think about this matter from time to time¡ªhe was a half-vampire whose foundation in the empire had been broken, and it could even be said that he was no longer rted to the Zhao n. Back then, his battle for Nighteye had shocked the entire Empire. There was no way people like Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing would not know.

    The first time Li Kuann had offered herself was still reasonable because neither of them could see a way out, and there was no telling how long they couldst. Since dying was out of the question, she was simply making a choice to do the inevitable in a clear state of mind.

    After meeting up with Ji Tianqing, Qianye had never paid attention to the teasing between the two girls. He never felt that he was outstanding enough to make girls of such high status fall in love with him. The only reason he could think of was that he was a barely-eptable candidate whom they could bear if the other option was death.

    That was what he had thought.

    But now, things were clearly different. Qianye simply couldn¡¯t understand what Ji Tianqing was thinking when she poured the white-fruit wine into him. Didn¡¯t this mean both girls would be in danger?

    During thest moments of his sanity, Qianye thought about Song Zining. He was perhaps the only one who would understand thesedies.

    The night was long, wild, and restless. Qianye was like a fish in the desert, struggling to find a puddle of water.

    He suddenly thought of something in his daze¡ªthe scene before him was his home in ckflow City. He rubbed his eyes hard, but there was no mistaking that serene little courtyard. Arge continent was moving slowly through the skies, casting a massive shadow that soon devoured the light from the entire city.

    This was Evernight; this was ckflow.

    Qianye pushed the door open to find Nighteye at the stone table, simply dressed and holding the Comprehensive History of the Empire in her hand. She was well over halfway through the book.

    ¡°Nighteye!?¡±

    Nighteye looked up with an inexplicable smile. ¡°Howe you¡¯re back so early? Nothing up with Dark me today?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not so hungry yet, how far have you gotten with the reading?¡±

    ¡°I just finished the resurgence of the Empire. That got me thinking... if the Martial Ancestor is so powerful, why was he so short-lived? And is the Combatant Form he improved the one you¡¯re training in? Let it be, it¡¯s better not to think of these things. I¡¯ll prepare dinner, what do you want to eat?¡±

    ¡°You!¡±

    Nighteye was startled as Qianye picked her up and pressed her down on the table.

    She struggled while whispering, ¡°What are you doing? Not here, we¡¯ll be seen. Why¡­ why are you so urgent? Haven¡¯t we been doing it these days?¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. ¡°What? I don¡¯t remember!¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s clothes had been half ripped open at this point. Qianye could no longer hold back his desires¡ªhe swept away that thick history book along with the other items on the table and pinned her down. Heid her down on the table in a fluster and wanted to enter.

    Nighteye was both angry and amused. She bit down on Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°You look like you haven¡¯t touched a woman in several years. Can¡¯t you wait a while?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s been several years. I can¡¯t wait!¡± Qianye kissed her.

    At this moment, all thoughts transformed into a primitive deluge, just waiting to erupt, explode, and destroy.

    Nighteye sighed softly as she adjusted her posture, making it easier for Qianye to enter. Otherwise, this clumsy and impatient fellow would take forever to get it done.

    That moment of entry was filled with a long-lost sense of pleasure and an inexplicable sense of sadness. He felt that Nighteye had finally returned to his side. Qianye held her tightly, afraid that she would leave, disappear, and turn into a different person if he were to let go.

    The pleasure of the flesh was both intense and new, almost different from what he remembered. But this minute difference was difficult to appreciate or discern in the chaos of the moment. Qianye only felt his physical desires waning, reced by intensifying emotions. He didn¡¯t want her to leave, for their hearts would grow distant once more.

    But¡­ hadn¡¯t she been waiting in this courtyard all along?

    When did she ever leave?

 Chapter 1012: Pipedream

    Did she ever return?

    This problem had been haunting Qianye like a lingering spirit. Even in the throes of inexplicable pleasure, the question still remained in his heart. ¡°Has she returned? Did she ever leave?¡±

    Qianye fell into a short lull of calmness after the peak of pleasure, and his thoughts became clearer. The Nighteye in his arms was changing constantly, transforming into people he was familiar with, and then into strangers. She squirmed gently in an attempt to move away¡ªit seemed like she waspletely exhausted yet also as though she was beckoning him to continue the battle.

    She suddenly pushed Qianye away and jumped into the room. It wasn¡¯t too strange that she would be fatigued, but she was moving too slowly in his eyes. Additionally, her leaping figure allowed him to see her body from an entirely new angle.

    This allure was indefensible. Even though her body was also shifting just like her appearance, it couldn¡¯t escape the image branded in Qianye¡¯s memories. No matter how she changed, it was still Nighteye¡ªhe could never forget her.

    Her flurried escape aroused the bestial nature in Qianye¡¯s bloodline. He leaped forward and caught Nighteye in his arms, and then pushed her down once more.

    ¡°No! Stop, let me go, you¡­ no¡­ don¡¯t¡­¡±

    This time, Nighteye¡¯s struggling became more intense. It could even be said that she was struggling with all her might, but it was useless at this point¡ªonly a new round of intense assault awaited her. By the time Qianye slowed down from slight fatigue, Nighteye was already limp and immobile.

    She had no energy to move, but that didn¡¯t mean she had given up on resistance. She reached toward his back and sunk her nails into his back, bringing about yet another round of violent suppression.

    It would seem that she had changed, but Qianye couldn¡¯t quite tell what about her was different.

    The small courtyard was also changing. At times, it would be his home in ckflow City, at times, his residence in Southern Blue, and at times, their wooden hut in the neutralnds. They would leave behind traces of intense activity at every scene, every corner.

    Nighteye had never left, but Qianye felt as though he had lost her for far too long. He wanted to make use of this period together to make up for all the lost time.

    Finally, she gave up resisting, nor did she have the strength to.

    The night gradually turned dark, and the entire world was shrouded under the sable curtain. Waves of exhaustion eventually fell over him as he copsed and fell asleep.

    The night was exceptionally short, and before long, Qianye was woken by the first rays of dawn. He rubbed his eyes and, shielding himself from the ring light, started looking around at the surroundings.

    His vision and consciousness were highly discrepant at this point. The scenery in front of him was vivid, but his reaction was iparably dull, barely able to make sense of things after a good while.

    This was an empty piece ofnd in the forest, a camp apparently. The campfire nearby was already out, and the entire ce was in a mess. There were faint w-marks on a couple ofrge trees, almost as though something had happened there.

    Qianye felt his throat on fire and urgently wanted some water to quench his thirst. He searched through Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, but there was nothing to drink except for the jars of white-fruit wine. The spirits ignited some memories¡ªhe recalled that the wine was extremely valuable, and that he shouldn¡¯t drink it without careful thought. Otherwise, something bad would happen.

    Qianye shook his head in an attempt to drive the unbearable headache away. The waves of pain made it difficult for him to concentrate or think.

    At this point, his blood core elerated somewhat and sent beams of auric me blood to every part of his body. Qianye became more spirited, and the veil shrouding his consciousness quickly fell away.

    He recalled that this was the Great Maelstrom, and he was in the camp they had set upst night. The night had just transitioned into dawn.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Qianye jumped up in rm, but he ended up flying over ten meters into the air, passing a circle of treetops to see a smallke in the distance.

    He hadn¡¯t imagined that he would end up jumping so high. Flustered, he was just about to adjust his posture when a wave of fatigue and aching washed over his body. He ultimately crashed back to the ground in a daze.

    The pain from the fall told him that he was still in a region with increased gravity, roughly eight times that of the empire. That was also what he had remembered¡ªhe had used just enough strength to stand up, but who knew he would end up jumping over ten meters.

    Qianyey there for a while before slowly mbering up. He checked the state of his body during this process. There was nothing special about his physical condition, but there was a strange energy flowing within him. It was different from ordinary origin power, but it wasn¡¯t void origin power, either. If one had to pinpoint its attribute, the energy was right at the intersection of daybreak and Evernight.

    Every time his muscles worked, this energy power would participate and amplify the action. This was the reason Qianye had erupted with such power just now.

    The energy was of unknown origins, but its presence didn¡¯t seem like a bad thing.

    On the other hand, Qianye was aching all over and in a state of extreme fatigue. The soreness after a long period of excitement made his limbs feel like lead¡ªevery action was extremely difficult. This kind of fatigue didn¡¯t feel like he had been fighting. On the contrary, it felt like he had been engaging in manualbor all night.

    Qianye nced about at his surroundings and confirmed that he was still inst night¡¯s camp. It was just that the ce was in shambles, almost like a battlefield. Qianye had actually fallen asleep from before midnight up until dawn, and had a series of strange, messy dreams. It was quite delightful, however, that Nighteye was in every one of them.

    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m just missing her too much.¡± Qianye thought in self-mockery.

    There was a more important matter at hand. Now that Qianye had fallen asleep identally, how were Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann faring? It was fine if they were willing to eat the white-fruit, but their lives would be in danger if they had insisted on saving them and Qianye wasn¡¯t there to help activate their vitality.

    Qianye believed that there was no need to consider whether or not to ingest the white fruit and wine. Treasures were no use to dead people. Yet, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had a tendency to pursue riches, especially the former. She possessed a determination that would put her life at risk.

    Qianye got up and began searching for traces of the two girls.

    His confusion and fuzziness receded as his blood core pulsed quicker, and his senses also grew sharper. In the blink of an eye, Qianye could hear the sound of sshing water and conversation in the distance.

    Recalling the small pond he had seen a while ago, Qianye started running toward it. Bodies of water in the Great Maelstrom were exceedingly dangerous. However, the pond wasn¡¯t big, and it was in a zone with eight times the gravity, so it shouldn¡¯t be too dangerous. If the duo was there, they should be fine.

    Qianye traversed the woods swiftly and came to a halt at its borders. In just a few steps, he would walk out of the forest and arrive near theke.

    This forestke was a couple dozen square meters in area, and its jade-green ripples were so clear that one could see the bottom. The surrounding area was dotted with wildflowers swaying gently in the wind, painting a scene of elegant beauty.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were bathing in the waters.

    Ladies liked to keep themselves clean. Even if they could cleanse their bodies with secret arts, most of them were more inclined to take baths. Besides, the ce was so serene and beautiful, almost like a pond in an immortal realm. To a girl who had been running about and fighting for several days, the allure was simply too great.

    The pond was small and the waters were so clear that one could see the bottom. Soaking in the waters was really no different from standing naked.

    Hence, Qianye stopped immediately and moved behind arge tree.

    Although he had shared much skinship with Li Kuann, to the point where she could calmly remove her clothes in front of Qianye, that was due to the circumstances. He wasn¡¯t willing to peek at her body under present circumstances.

    Ji Tianqing was also in the picture. This outgoing and mysterious girl had no intimate rtionship with Qianye. In the two nights that they had interacted, she was the one who had seen Qianye from head to toe and never the other way around. Seeing her body under the present circumstances would bepletely different from seeing Li Kuann¡¯s. If they weren¡¯t inside the Great Maelstrom, this enmity would be enough for her to hunt him down for several years.

    Qianye merely hid behind a tree¡ªhe didn¡¯t hide his presence intentionally, nor did he channel Bloodline Concealment. But it would seem his thief-like hiding didn¡¯t quite attract the girls¡¯ notice. The two kept on washing their bodies while chatting amongst themselves.

    ¡°You¡¯re really washing? I thought you¡¯d leave it in for a couple of days!¡± JI Tianqing¡¯s smile was exceptionally charming.

    Li Kuann snorted, and a wave of cold emerged in air, eliciting a cry from Ji Tianqing. ¡°I¡¯ll freeze you to death, you little floozy! You got caught up in your own mischief haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a snort, ¡°Who¡¯s the one who suffered more? I had to sacrifice myself to save you because you looked like you couldn¡¯t go on. Otherwise, how can you have the strength left to take a bath?¡±

    Li Kuann spat. ¡°Who asked you to save me? Besides, you never had good intentions. You just wanted tough at me. Now, are you satisfied? You were toocent.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, this little bit of benefit can¡¯t satisfy me! Of course, I have to take a bit out of this profit.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still being stubborn! Why did you not take action on the first day if you wanted a piece? You were clearly incapable, neither able to defeat nor escape as you were eaten up in the end. Yet, you still have the cheek to say these things.¡±

    ¡°So what? I was just going easy on him in the beginning. I let him taste some benefits so that he¡¯ll do his utmost for me in the future. Besides, I tried my best to resist. So what if I lost in the end? Victory and defeat aremon urrences on the battlefield, a small defeat every now and then is normal. I¡¯m not like a certain person who gave up immediately after a token show of resistance. What a farce! You¡¯ve lost the Li family¡¯s face through and through.¡±

    Li Kuann was furious. ¡°I¡¯ll freeze you to death!¡±

    Ji Tianqing cried, ¡°So scary, where was that strengthst night?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s momentum deted immediately.

 Chapter 1013: Familial Affection

    The two yed around for a while before Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Regardless, you have something to show after going back to your sister. This is a good thing.¡±

    Li Kuann sighed. ¡°Is that a good thing? I simply can¡¯t tell.¡±

    ¡°Of course it is! Do you think she¡¯d still recognize you as her sister if you ignored something she ordered so seriously?¡±

    Li Kuann was silent. ¡°Say Tianqing, can this be considered a sacrifice for the family?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°But she¡¯s my sister. Does she have no familial love for me at all?¡±

    ¡°To her, she¡¯s doing it for your own good.¡±

    ¡°My own good? But she never asked if I was willing before using force to pressure me.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Your will is no longer that important. She does have familial love, but it isn¡¯t for a single person¡­ it¡¯s for the entire Li family. What she wants is the family¡¯s prosperity, and for it to be a major n after a decade. Whoever blocks this path will be kicked away, even her own sister.¡±

    Li Kuannughed wryly, ¡°I¡¯d rather not have such familial love!¡±

    ¡°Is that why you dress like a man and focus only on swordsmanship?¡±

    Li Kuann nodded silently.

    Ji Tianqing remained silent for a while before saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t understand before, but grandpa told me once that every n throughout history had done the same thing... rowing upstream and never stepping back. They couldn¡¯t allow their family and n to gradually fall into decline. The other members of the nobility wouldn¡¯t hold back just because you choose to avoid certain methods. The only exceptions to this rule are the Zhang and Zhao ns. Just like the Imperial n, these two are like dragons in the sky. Their families would produce numerous geniuses in every generation, and these scions would always rise up to turn dangerous situations around. Grandpa said we should just follow old traditions if we don¡¯t have the talents of those two ns.¡±

    ¡°I understand this reasoning, but I can hardly ept it.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no other choice, is there? If you think about it carefully, it¡¯s not that bad.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    Chuckling, Ji Tianqing suddenly groped Li Kuann¡¯s chest. ¡°That changed pretty quickly, have you decided to ept reality?¡±

    Li Kuann gnashed her teeth and pounced over, pressing Ji Tianqing down under the water.

    Momentster, thetter rushed out of the water, shouting, ¡°Timeout! I¡¯ll catch a cold if this keeps up. Seriously, do you need to go all out? Unlike a certain person who was so resignedst night. Humph, who knows what state you¡¯d be in if I hadn¡¯t saved you when I did. I wouldn¡¯t have helped had I known you¡¯d forget favors like so¡­ Mmm...¡±

    Li Kuann dunked her into the water, drowning out thest part of her sentence. Releasing her grip only after a good while, she said, ¡°Humph, you¡¯re not my match right now. Better not provoke me or I¡¯ll take your clothes away and make you run around naked!¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes shifted about, and then all of a sudden, she cried out at the top of her lungs. ¡°Qianye, save me! Someone¡¯s doing bad things, aren¡¯t you going to control her?¡±

    This shout shocked Li Kuann out of her wits.

    Flustered, she tried to cover Ji Tianqing¡¯s mouth, but thetter dodged to the side. ¡°How long are you going to peep? Save me and I¡¯ll let you see as much as you want!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether he should go out or not. He was standing behind a tree¡ªnot to mention peeping, he wasn¡¯t even listening in on their conversation. It was just that Ji Tianqing¡¯s loud voice poured into his ears. It wouldn¡¯t be entirely true to say that he wasn¡¯t engaging in voyeurism because he had inadvertently seen them when he had first arrived. With Qianye¡¯s eyesight, a single nce was enough to notice every minor detail and never forget them. There was little difference between a nce and a prolonged stare.

    Since he had been called out, it would be wrong not to walk out. Yet, Qianye couldn¡¯t really walk out because¡ªdespite her saying that she would let him look to his heart¡¯s content¡ªhe might be beaten to death afterward.

    Qianye was unwilling to make an appearance, but Li Kuann was so flustered that she let Ji Tianqing slip away from her grasp. ¡°Stop shouting and I won¡¯t attack. How¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡± Ji Tianqing was quite straightforward.

    Having reached a truce, the two came ashore and got dressed.

    Although Qianye never looked at them, he could outline their activity just by the sounds.

    Li Kuann acted quite naturally after the initial loss ofposure. It had been more than once that she was intimate with Qianye. Ji Tianqing also walked ashore calmly and clothed herself while facing Qianye. There were no origin fluctuations around her, which meant that she wasn¡¯t channeling her disguising powers. This was her true self, and Qianye needed only to poke his head out to see everything.

    Very soon, they finished dressing and arrived beside Qianye. Ji Tianqing patted his shoulder, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you this for your sincerity.¡±

    With that, she stuffed a palm-sized mshell into Qianye¡¯s hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Qianye knew nothing apart from the fact that the m was still alive. However, the shellfish was exuding dense waves of vitality and clearly not an ordinary creature.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. It¡¯s definitely good stuff, nheless, and I only found a couple of them at the bottom of theke. You didn¡¯t rush to my rescue when I needed you, so you¡¯re not getting the rest.¡± Ji Tianqing stuffed five more of the same ms into her spatial storage.

    Qianye smiled wryly. He didn¡¯t try to justify anything and merely put the mshell away. How was he to go out under those circumstances? Actually, he was already finding it inappropriate that he had identally seen Ji Tianqing¡¯s body. Fortunately, the girl had her back toward him, so he only saw her rear-side. This was a barely eptable oue.

    Li Kuann looked up at the sky, saying, ¡°It¡¯ste, we should hurry on!¡±

    Ji Tianqing also agreed. The three thus packed up their things and set out on their way.

    After confirming their direction, Ji Tianqing took the lead through the forest, with Ji Tianqing in tow, leaving Qianye alone. The two just waltzed off as if nothing had happened just now.

    Qianye wanted to ask what had happenedst night, but the two girls walked away in due haste. They had almost run out of his sight in the blink of an eye. Qianye followed with a wryugh, knowing that they were denying him the opportunity to ask.

    The trio spent the entire day in transit. They only stopped a couple of times to collect resources, and even then, they would not stop for long.

    The resources in the core region of the Great Maelstrom were vastly superior to that of the outer regions. Both Qianye and Ji Tianqing had stuffed their spatial gears full in the area with ten times the gravity.

    The night was soon upon them. The three continued traveling for another hour before picking a ce to pitch camp.

    At this point, the gravity was only four times that of the empire. The group felt relieved of a heavy burden, and every movement felt iparably rxed. Qianye was still feeling a bit sore, however, as he was still in the process of recovering from the fatigue. He really wanted to know what had made him so tired.

    He had already recalled that, just like before, he was preparing to help Li Kuann with his blood core. Meanwhile, Ji Tianqing was causing mischief nearby and almost set things on fire. This young miss had always been this way¡ªshe was never afraid of causing trouble since she was never the one to suffer.

    Thest thing he remembered was Ji Tianqing sealing his mouth and feeding him arge amount of liquid¡ªnothing thereafter. The dreams and memories he had experienced were so fragmented from reality that he couldn¡¯t find a single clue.

    At this point, the camp had been set up, the fire lit, and Li Kuann was roasting meat on the mes. It was once again time to face one another. The trio descended into an odd silence where none of them spoke.

    Thus, a wordless dinner went by and midnight closed in. The frigid night in this area was no longer as bitter. Although it was still much stronger than recorded by the Empire, even Li Kuann could get through it without intimate contact with Qianye.

    Qianye could finally hold back no longer. ¡°What did I dost night?¡±

    The two girls exchanged nces and countless thoughts.

    Afterward, Ji Tianqing asked, ¡°Do you not remember anything?¡±

    Qianye frowned, not knowing whether to speak the truth. After some deliberation, he decided to speak honestly despite knowing he might not get the truth in return.

    ¡°I remember you feeding me something, then nothing else.¡±

    Ji Tianqing snorted. ¡°You want to get away with all the bad things you did just by saying you don¡¯t remember? You think it¡¯s that easy?¡±

    Qianye started to sweat. A feeling of restlessness emerged from his heart as he asked, ¡°What bad things? Can you be more specific?¡±

    Ji Tianqing just about to speak when Li Kuann stopped her. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her nonsense, all she knows is to scare other people.¡±

    Qianye should¡¯ve felt relieved, but for some reason, he just couldn¡¯t feel at ease. He thought back silently for a moment, and then looked toward Ji Tianqing. ¡°Was it white-fruit wine that you fed me?¡±

    Ji Tianqing poked her tongue out. ¡°You even remember that! How did you know that was white-fruit wine? Did you try drinking it while I wasn¡¯t looking?¡±

    Qianye ignored her interruption. ¡°Why did you make me drink that?¡±

    Ji Tianqing wanted to say something, but Qianye stopped her and turned to the tense Li Kuann. ¡°You tell me.¡±

    This increased her nervousness even further¡ªshe looked down at her trembling hands, unable to gaze into his eyes. This stoked Qianye¡¯s suspicions even further. He raised Li Kuann¡¯s face by the chin and asked word by word, ¡°What happenedst night, tell me! Don¡¯t leave out a single thing!¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression fluctuated wildly. Her eyes darted about as she did her utmost to avoid his eyes. However, Qianye was so powerful that she couldn¡¯t escape.

    ¡°Last night¡­¡±

 Chapter 1014: Truth Hidden in the Details

    ¡°You took every advantage there is to take from us. Why are you so fierce?¡± Ji Tianqing jumped up and shouted angrily.

    Qianye was stopped up. He asked with a softer voice, ¡°I¡­ what advantage did I take?¡±

    ¡°You drank the white-fruit wine, humph! What else could it be?¡±

    Ji Tianqing pped Qianye¡¯s hand away and dragged Li Kuann back to her side. ¡°Things have already reached this point, what are you afraid of? At worst, we¡¯ll just leave on our own, there¡¯s no need to rely on him to get through the night.¡±

    Li Kuann bit her lips in silence.

    Qianye saw that the initiative was about to fall into Ji Tianqing¡¯s hands. He found this girl quite tricky because he would probably be interrupted even if he were to ask Li Kuann. ¡°Then why would you feed me the white-fruit wine?¡±

    Ji Tianqing red at him as though he were an ingrate. ¡°What I fed you isn¡¯t the trash that we picked up. It¡¯s an exquisite elixir nurtured in my body via a secret art and mixed with my vital essence, whoever drinks it will see arge increase in constitution. You think it¡¯s easy toe by? Every mouthful of it drains my origin power cultivation.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined Ji Tianqing would go so far. This type of nurturing would be of a high level since it consumed her origin power cultivation. The resultant elixir was bound to be extraordinary.

    Qianye did notice that his strength had increased, and there was ayer of mysterious power in his muscles. Apparently, that was the power of the elixir.

    He couldn¡¯t say she was malicious in feeding him such a valuable thing. As for his loss of control, it was more his own fault for not having sufficient willpower.

    However, Qianye also had his own troubles that he couldn¡¯t speak of. This blood energy was growing more exuberant by the day, and his daybreak powers were barely able to keep things in check. He would have no power to control himself once his blood energy erupted in full-force. Qianye¡¯s willpower might be among the top in the empire, but the environment inside the Great Maelstrom happened to attack his weak point. The level of self-control he could manage was not much better than an ordinary expert.

    At the thought of this, Qianye felt rather ashamed of himself. He said in a gentler tone, ¡°Tianqing, there was no need to give me such a good elixir. My body is already quite strong.¡±

    Ji Tianqing snorted. ¡°You just can¡¯t tell good from bad! You think you¡¯re so strong? You think it¡¯s enough? There¡¯s no such thing! The stronger your physique is, the easier it¡¯ll be for you to cross the divine champion threshold. Such ignorance!¡±

    With that, Ji Tianqing tossed Qianye a jade tablet. ¡°I¡¯ll let you look at this, lest you embarrass yourself with yourck of knowledge.¡±

    Qianye caught the tablet and saw that it was carved full of small words¡ªit was a shocking cultivation art. The opening chapter was titled: Excavator.

    He scanned the tablet briefly and found that it was a secret art that would allow one to exert great power by channeling origin power. Despite the careless nce, he could feel the boundless profundity within and knew that it would take time toprehend it.

    The art was good, but Qianye passed the jade tablet back to her. ¡°This is your core inheritance, I can¡¯t ept it.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s constitution wasn¡¯t that outstanding, nor was her eruption of origin power very strong. However, her every attack in realbat was extremely powerful, and it was likely due to this art. He had already received her elixir, so taking Excavator would be too much of a favor to owe.

    Ji Tianqing wouldn¡¯t have it. ¡°If you really have a heart, remember that you owe me a favor. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t pretend we¡¯re strangers when you be a powerful figure in the future.¡±

    Since Ji Tianqing had spoken, Qianye knew he had no other choice but to put the jade tablet away. Otherwise, who knew how many lectures and reasoning he would have to face afterward.

    In truth, this secret art was highly suitable for Qianye. As its name suggested, the Excavator was like cutting into a mountain with a hatchet¡ªthe greater the power, the stronger the bacsh. A wielder with a powerful constitution would be able to bring out its true power. Ji Tianqing¡¯s physique was far inferior to Qianye¡¯s, so she was only able to bring out half its capacity.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression improved after seeing that Qianye had epted the gift. ¡°Humph, feeding you one mouthful of elixir almost took half my life. And you have the cheek to act out?¡±

    Qianye felt a bit embarrassed. ¡°If it¡¯s so hard toe by, you should¡¯ve left it for your own use. Why waste it on me?¡±

    Ji Tianqing smiled gracefully. ¡°Ha, I was just lying to you! It¡¯s not that hard to make. I produced three mouthfuls, one for myself, one for Kuann, and thest¡­ humph, I fed to a dog!¡±

    Qianye felt apologetic after hearing this. JI Tianqing said it wasn¡¯t difficult, but that elixir was even able to upgrade his ancient vampire constitution further. From that, one could tell that the price was extraordinary. Comparatively, a jar of white-fruit wine couldn¡¯tpare at all.

    It was just that Qianye felt a bit worried. He had already epted that valuable elixir and also Excavator. The favor he owed was simply too big. With Ji Tianqing¡¯s character, it probably wouldn¡¯t be easy when it was time to repay the debt.

    Additionally, Ji Tianqing seemed to have other motives in feeding him this mouthful of elixir. It was just that Qianye decided not to dive too deep into that thought.

    What he still couldn¡¯t figure out was how he had lost all memories after that mouthful of elixir. The effects were way too powerful.

    Qianye shot the two girls a nce. He then asked cautiously, ¡°What did I do after drinking the elixir?¡±

    Li Kuangn looked away. Ji Tianqing rolled her eyes, saying, ¡°What else? Of course, you turned into a beast! Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d be that kind of person. You actually did the unspeakable to Kuann. She wasn¡¯t willing, so you used force on her. She wouldn¡¯t obey, but you were strong and intent on tearing off her clothes. In just a few swipes, you¡¯d torn off all her outer and inner armors. If it wasn¡¯t for the inner armor being quite sturdy, it might¡¯ve been torn to shreds. You¡¯re quite capable when doing shameless things! Speaking of which, tearing off her clothes wasn¡¯t even the¡­¡±

    She became more and more excessive as she went on, almost as though she were telling a story. Qianye was livid as he listened¡ªhe felt as though something was off, but he couldn¡¯t quite remember what it was. Finally, Li Kuann could no longer endure the embarrassment. She pounced over to Ji Tianqing and covered up her mouth.

    Thetter evaded the iing move and said, ¡°Fine, fine, I can narrate seriously. If you disturb me again, you¡¯ll be the one to tell him.¡±

    Li Kuann blushed slightly as she resentfully withdrew her hand.

    Ji Tianqing ¡®s smile disappeared. ¡°The elixir is so much more potent in its aphrodisiac effectspared to the white-fruit wine, that¡¯s its only weakness. You were naturally ovee by your instincts after ingesting it and wanted to grab Kuann. She¡¯s quite sluggish in her current state, so she was caught in your demonic grasp. I came in to help, but you weren¡¯t willing to let me off, either. Ultimately, we had no choice but to knock you out first.¡±

    The story was reasonable. Qianye felt his face burning as he listened, feeling embarrassed about hisck of determination. However, there was still a sliver of doubt in his mind. If everything was just as Ji Tianqing had said, the entire fault should¡¯ve been his. So, why did Li Kuann look somewhat guilty?

    That was just a small clue, yet the truth would usually be hidden in these unassuming details.

    As smart as Ji Tianqing was, she immediately noticed what Qianye was thinking. ¡°Don¡¯t make things difficult for Kuann. I only kept you restrained, that final kick that knocked you out was hers.¡±

    Li Kuann looked away with a red face, unable to look at Qianye.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°This matter is my fault, how can I me her? It¡¯s just that¡­ sigh!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just what? Feeling sorry that you didn¡¯t seed?¡± Ji Tianqing asked with a spurious smile.

    Qianye replied hurriedly, ¡°I just feel that my determination is too bad. I actually failed to resist the effects of the medicine. Thank goodness you were here to stop me from making a mistake.¡±

    Ji Tianqingughed. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s what you were thinking? You must be thinking that she was willing to do anything before, but she knocked you out once you were really about to do it. You must be disappointed, right?¡±

    Thisss really dared to say anything out loud. Qianye denied fervently because he really didn¡¯t have that kind of thought.

    ¡°Why did you feed me the elixir at that time? See, things nearly went out of hand.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sighed. ¡°You idiot. Did you think there would be a ready-made form for that kind of thing? Not to mention the other stuff, just that white-fruit wine alone is something we¡¯ve never seen before. Where would there be a form for the elixir?¡±

    Seeing that Qianye had epted the reasoning, Ji Tianqing said, ¡°I drank those jars of wine to test the medicinal effects, and then formted the recipe. But that was something I thought of within a day, so it¡¯s not perfect. Let¡¯s just call it the white-fruit elixir. The elixir¡¯s medicinal effects were so strong and unstable that it wouldn¡¯tst one day even within the secret art¡¯s environment. That¡¯s how you ended up benefitting. I won¡¯t be making any more such elixir in the future because it will start to affect my future breakthroughs.¡±

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t exin things in detail, but Qianye noticed the key detail hidden in her words. He was deeply moved.

    ¡°Enough with all the talk, let¡¯s focus on cultivating. The frigid night is actually a good time to train.¡±

    The three sat down and proceeded to cultivate.

    Despite the adverse environment of the frigid night, it also brought about benefits. Cultivating amidst the dwindling vitality would allow one to channel their arts faster, a survival instinct so to say. The special characteristics of the night would ensure that the cultivator wouldn¡¯t suffer deviations. On the other hand, arts like the Song n Ancient Scroll would work faster in the nighttime.

    The frigid night had grown rtively weaker, and so did the boost to cultivation. One could easily imagine how limited these effects would be around the entrance. To Qianye, the current phase was the best time to cultivate, and this opportunity wouldn¡¯te again.

    The night grew colder and colder toward midnight. Qianye¡¯s heart was as calm as a stillke, clear and quiet. This was the most optimal state of mind for the Song n Ancient Scroll. Drops of Venus Dawn would emerge from the heart of the storm, and then converge into the newly opened origin vortex.

 Chapter 1015: Comprehending Excavator

    Time slowly passed by.

    Suddenly noticing something, a fatigued Qianye retreated from his deste mental realm.

    This was a sign of the Glory Chapter reaching its limits. Although the chapter didn¡¯t consume origin power, a good deal of mental concentration was required to drive the vortex and condense origin power. Qianye had never encountered such a bottleneck before. It only appeared in the Great Vortex because the Song n Ancient Scroll was running at many times its usual speed.

    Qianye looked into his own body and found ayer of scarlet gold Venus Dawn energy had filled the bottom of the new vortex, sparkling from the small crystalline granules within. At this rate, it would take less than a month to fill the entire vortex andy down the foundation for his seventh.

    It was time for him to take a break, lest he goes over the limit.

    There was a fair bit of time left before dawn, and the two girls were cultivating in earnest. Qianye sat quietly as he digested his experiences and gains sinceing into the Great Maelstrom.

    The Profound Combatant Form was extremely effective here, and he was able to harvest origin power just by breathing. Increasing the intensity of his cultivation could no longer supplement him with more origin power, but it could be used to train certain control arts.

    These arts were actually just a collection of tricks and techniques. No matter howplicated they were, their level could only reach so high as a secret art. With Qianye¡¯s current achievements on the martial path, he would be able to produce a fairly good technique on his own.

    Following Ji Tianqing¡¯s exnation, Qianye had realized that the Profound Combatant Form¡¯s activated state was something only divine champions would possess. Cultivating this form was using a divine champion power with a champion¡¯s body¡ªhow could ordinary cultivators endure this strain? Only Qianye, with his ancient vampire constitution, could take on the pressure produced by the hundred-meter origin vortex. Any other person would¡¯ve turned into meat-paste.

    On the other hand, cultivating blood energy was so much simpler. Plundering essence blood was the easiest and most direct path. Qianye had received certain inheritances and vampire cultivation arts aftermunicating with the River of Blood. After a detailedparison, however, Qianye found that these arts were not that much more profoundpared to the modern ones. Besides, none of them wereparable to plundering essence blood.

    That was reasonable because draining essence blood was simply the strong devouring the weak. It was just that the food being devoured was essence blood, which contained greater vitality. That served to save the process of refinement and thereby increasing efficiency.

    Hence, the vampires had only improved upon the upper limits of their bloodline talents and secret arts that would bring out these powers. They hadn¡¯t put a lot of focus in the technique department.

    Going along this train of thought, he discovered the profundity of the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s Mystery Chapter. It was actually able to refine his sentient golden blood energy into a dark golden one¡ªan unimaginable feat in and of itself.

    The dark golden blood energy had never appeared in the inheritances he currently possessed. ording to ancient records, a vampire¡¯s blood energy would turn into a golden color after reaching the duke rank and, thereafter, grow increasingly pure as his rank increased.

    That was the extent of his inheritance. Perhaps he would obtain new information when he became a duke and was allowed tomunicate with the River of Blood a second time. There was no telling if he would find more records about the dark golden blood energy at that point. It might be rted to the rank of prince or even higher.

    From what he currently knew, the Song n Ancient Scroll could be considered a supreme secret art for the vampire race. Its ability to refine and change the nature of blood energy was like breaking through the upper limits of one¡¯s bloodline talents. Just that dark golden blood energy could be ranked among the top few in the entire vampire realm.

    But how could such a secret volume be so obscure? So much so that Song Zining was able to take it out so easily. How did it appear in the Song n¡¯s depository in the first ce?

    Qianye felt that most knowledgeable experts would be able to see how extraordinary the Song n Ancient Scroll was.

    The human race had risen to power for over one thousand and two hundred years. Add to that the unrecorded age of darkness before that, who knew how many hidden secrets there were¡ªthis might just be one of them.

    Qianye exhaled gently. Knowing that he wouldn¡¯t find any of those answers right now, he simply pushed the questions deep down inside his heart and proceeded toprehend Excavator in silence.

    It was an extremely quiet time of the day. The cold of the frigid night was still in the air, and it actually served to clear his mental state. Qianye first memorized the entirety of the text, and then began studying it word by word.

    Excavator wasn¡¯t just an exertion technique but also a peerless way of channeling origin power. Starting from a single point of focus, and thenyer byyer, snowballing into a tremendous force. In the end, the enemy could neither block nor evade.

    That wasn¡¯t the extent of it. Excavator¡¯s origin power would ignite one after the other in quick session. Another wave of power would be ready after the first had been sted out, and hence, there was no need to wait for theyers of origin power to umte.

    Controlling andbining multiple streams of origin power would increase the difficulty exponentially¡ªworking with three of them wasn¡¯t as simple as a threefold jump.

    The greater the number of activation points, the lesser the gaps and the denser the volley. Naturally, controlling them would be much harder. At the apex of its cultivation, one could control nine activation points in total. This would allow for an endless torrent of power capable of demolishing mountains, a peerless secret art for charging at enemy formations.

    Qianye recalled Ji Tianqing¡¯s attack intervals in battle and noticed that she had cultivated three activation points. That was enough to give her a distinct advantage over her peers. Li Kuann could only rival her with Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace in hand. She was no longer a match immediately after losing the famed sword.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s limit wasn¡¯t herck ofprehension but rather because her constitution wasn¡¯t strong enough. Every activation point would bring great stress upon the body, somewhat simr to the vortex power of the Profound Combatant Form. Three activation points was very likely her limit.

    Afterprehending the theory, Qianye started channeling Excavator ording to the prescribed method. Venus Dawn was the peak of daybreak¡ªease of channeling was merely its basic attribute, allowing one to exert force at a single thought. A single cycle of the art produced a vibrating point of origin power in Qianye¡¯s abdomen, sending shockwaves all over his body and down to his fingertips. At hismand, these vibrations would erupt with great power with which to assail the enemy.

    Qianye kept going and soon condensed a second activation point. At this point, he could feel a numb sensation all over his body, a clear indication that the body was reacting to the vibrations. This tingling, however, didn¡¯t affect him in the slightest. It was merely a sensation, not unlike a feather brushing against his body.

    In the blink of an eye, three activation points had formed, and the threeyers of vibrations had stacked up. The tingly sensation had also be much more evident. This was Ji Tianqing¡¯s current level, but for Qianye, this amount of vibration was still within an eptable range. It couldn¡¯t even be considered stressful.

    Hence, he had no intention of stopping. He continued channeling the art forming the fourth, fifth, and sixth activations point. Only at this point did he feel his body bing sluggish, almost as though he were d in a leaden shirt. After a brief moment of thought, he decided to go ahead and form the seventh one.

    The simultaneous existence of seven activation points resulted in a dense array of shockwaves. With Qianye¡¯s current cultivation, he would produce almost no gap if he were to attack in this state. One would have to manufacture an opening in order to defeat him.

    However, this was his current limit. One day, when he had crossed the divine champion threshold or even higher, his attack speed would climb sharply. At that point, the current seven activation points would be insufficient. He would then need to cultivate further to match hisbat arts.

    With seven simultaneous activation points, Qianye was starting to feel a mild stabbing pain throughout his body. He knew this was his body reaching its limits; an additional point would likely injure him. Even at seven points, his movements were somewhat restricted¡ªit was best not to go so far unless absolutely necessary.

    Qianye gradually dispersed his origin power. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh emotionally at how full of hidden talents the Empire was. What kind of mighty expert would it take to produce nine activation points at the same time? The senior who invented this art was even more of a genius, someone who could utilize origin power to the point of perfection.

    The Great Maelstrom was a cultivation heaven for Qianye. One day here was equal to several in the outside world. However, the best ce for training was actually the region with ten times the gravity or even deeper. It was just that the other two couldn¡¯t remain for long due to their cultivation levels, and Qianye needed to send them back to the starting area.

    By the time they were done collecting resources, it would be time to leave the Great Maelstrom. Qianye had a sudden urge to go back to the high-gravity areas or perhaps explore even deeper. Cultivating for one month here would equal a year outside, and it wouldn¡¯t be easy toe back in after leaving.

    Qianye had learned from the twodies that it would take hundreds of years for the neutralnds passage to open. The tunnel would vanish once the origin tides had passed their trough. At that time, the two factions would have to fight over the quotas once more.

    At this point, the first rays of dawn had appeared over the horizon, and Qianye nced about at the lightening world, enjoying this rare moment of calm. So many things had happened during his short time in the Great Maelstrom¡ªhe felt mentally worn out. But at this moment, all restlessness, confusion, and agitation seemed to have calmed down as the golden rays of the sun flowed over his field of vision.

    It was at this moment that Qianye decided he would leave the Great Maelstrom with Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann after arriving at the starting region.

    That dream from the night before reminded Qianye that he was missing Nighteye. The first thing he would do upon going back was to visit the warship and see her. Even if he couldn¡¯t meet her, it would be nice to hear her voice at least.

    Even someone as determined as he was couldn¡¯t help but reminisce and feel expectant.

    Qianye was suddenly ovee by a familiar sense of indisposition. When Nighteye was struggling to escape him in his dreams, her body and appearance were changing constantly. Only her pair of calm, cold eyes told Qianye that she was Nighteye.

    But now that he thought back to the clear scene of chaos, her silhouette and build were different from what Qianye remembered. Instead, it was simr to Ji Tianqing¡¯s figure in theke.

    That was a dream, however, and such visions were seldom true to reality. Besides, it wasn¡¯t strange that the projections would be warped since he was barely conscious. Qianye had also experienced a desire for Ji Tianqing when his desires were amplified in the core-region of the Great Maelstrom. But that was just an urge, something that would never turn into action.

    Qianye thus consoled himself and ignored the minuscule sense of uneasiness.

 Chapter 1016: Los

    One day had passed by, but Bai Kongzhao remained crouching inside the bushes and staring at the distant stone keep.

    Light footsteps and a hushed call approached from the distance, soon followed by Anwen¡¯s figure. His armor was somewhat damaged, and he looked fatigued.

    His eyes lit up when he saw the young girl. He then said with a wry smile, ¡°As expected, you¡¯re back again.¡±

    ¡°I lost my way.¡± The young girl was staring forward, apparently focused on charging the stone keep. The reply was a mere arbitrary gesture.

    Anwen looked helpless. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten lost three times.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I lost my way.¡± The young girl never heard what he was saying.

    Anwen didn¡¯t know what to do anymore. He crouched down beside her, saying, ¡°Haven¡¯t I told you before? We can¡¯t handle this. Why have you run back here?¡±

    The girl pointed at the keep. ¡°There¡¯s something good in there, something simr to the wine.¡±

    ¡°Just tell me if you want to drink! That wine has a bad side-effect, you can¡¯t drink too much of it. Didn¡¯t you feel anything after drinking it?¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes never left the walls as she thought back. ¡°I do feel something. It was veryfortable and warm. It felt like being pricked all over by needles, but it wasn¡¯t painful. I also felt very sleepy.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel¡­ weird?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The girl¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Define weird.¡±

    Anwen exhaled deeply, his expression both disappointed and happy. ¡°I understand now, your body must have a lot of hidden injuries. This wine actually heals your body while activating your vitality. Additionally, your body is too weak, so it instinctively wants to strengthen itself. Even so, the wine really will have side effects. You might not notice it now, but it¡¯ll add up and erupt at one point.¡±

    The girl asked seriously, ¡°What side effects?¡±

    Under her intense gaze, Anwen became a bit flustered. He opened his mouth and closed it again a couple of times. Finally, he decided to go ahead and exin, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s an aphrodisiac effect, meaning you¡¯ll want to have offspring.¡±

    ¡°Have offspring?¡± The young girl¡¯s eyes lit up.

    Anwen was startled. A series of outrageous notions rotated through his mind, with nock of thoughts about ¡°What if she really wants to give me a child¡­¡±

    ¡°We can study that offspring thingter. Let¡¯s take down this ce first!¡±

    Watching the young girl pointing at the stone keep, Anwen really wanted to bang his head against a tree.

    ¡°No!¡± He refused decisively.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go on my own.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t go, either!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    This girl had asked this question all too many times, and every time, Anwen would gloss over the topic. From the looks of it, dragging the matter on was useless. She wouldn¡¯t leave this ce unless he could dissuade her on the assault. Every time, Anwen would just drag her away, only to find her missing some time afterward. He thus had no choice but to look for her near the castle again.

    Anwen was worried that she would run into trouble at one point and he wouldn¡¯t get there in time.

    He sighed. ¡°The main reason is the four-armed people¡¯s white mist. I¡¯m not afraid of it, but that¡¯s just a rtive im. I will still fall under its control if I take in a lot of it. Also, I just tested it and found that the effects of the mist are hard to expelpletely. They can only be suppressed temporarily, which means it¡¯ll rear its head again sooner orter.

    ¡°If it res up¡­ it¡¯ll force you to do some things you don¡¯t like.¡±

    The girl gave it some thought. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of pain, I can stand quite a bit of it. If they beat me to the point of injury, I¡¯ll retaliate.¡±

    Anwen smiled wryly. ¡°They won¡¯t beat you, it¡¯s worse. I don¡¯t want that to happen, I really don¡¯t.¡±

    The girl nodded slowly, seeming to half-understand. ¡°Actually, we can lure them out little by little and kill them, just like I did in the beginning.¡±

    ¡°No, the environment here isn¡¯t good. We can¡¯t remain very long, we should hurry back to the safe region. We¡¯ll need to rely on the white-fruit wine to pass the night here, and that¡¯s a limitedmodity. We need to get back to the warm areas before we run out.¡±

    The girl pointed in a certain direction. ¡°Warm area? You mean that way?¡±

    Anwen was surprised. He had to run in a fairly wide circle to confirm the direction in which the gravity was weakest. He had never mentioned this to Bai Kongzhao, but the girl could point the direction out of simple instinct. The demonkin young lord had never fearedpetition in the perception department, but now he felt rather defeated.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s that direction.¡±

    The girl looked at Anwen. ¡°It seems you only need to drink a little bit. The wine we have shouldst us fairly long. It¡¯ll only take one day to bring down this castle.¡±

    Anwen said helplessly, ¡°I drank very little because I don¡¯t dare drink too much. The medicinal effects will umte. I might attack you once I lose control of myself.¡±

    Fortunately, the girl no longer asked him if he would hit her, saving him the trouble of exining to her.

    ¡°What about the things there?¡±

    Anwen looked intently at the girl and then sighed. ¡°Since you want it so much, let¡¯s try once. But you should run away on your own if I lose control, the further the better.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Anwen didn¡¯t try to exin this time. He merely said, ¡°Nevermind. Even without me saying it, you¡¯ll probably know what to do when the timees. You decide things on instinct anyway.¡±

    He nced at the stone keep and then drew a simple diagram on the ground. After that, he drew a straight line, saying, ¡°We¡¯ll charge in along this path, don¡¯t stop no matter what obstructions we encounter. We¡¯ll charge straight into the center to see what they have there. No matter what it is, we¡¯ll take it and leave. We won¡¯t stay for more than three seconds, remember?¡±

    The young girl nodded.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go.¡± Anwen produced a cloud of faint ck mist, which covered himself and the girl as it drifted slowly toward the stone keep.

    Although this ck mist had appeared out of nowhere, most of the natives simply ignored its presence. Only when it had reached the walls did one of the four-armed warriors on the watchtower look down. Puzzled, the native made ready to shout when a wisp of ck energy shot out and pierced through his mouth.

    The four-armed warrior immediately lost his life and fell down the tower. Anwen dispersed the ck mist and jumped onto the wall with the young girl in tow. Then, he leaped forward once more tond inside the stone keep.

    The two¡ªin a single file¡ªcharged into the horde of natives pouring out from every corner of the castle. A two-meter sword appeared in Anwen¡¯s hand, with which he shed dozens of natives into two. He then stepped ten meters forward and erupted in demonic energy, sting the nearby natives back.

    Bai Kongzhao followed closely behind. She jumped about, shing left and right with her great cleaver, each strike connecting with the vitals of one or more natives. Some of the luckier victims managed to survive Anwen¡¯s sword energy, but they were duly extinguished by the girl¡¯s de. Even if they didn¡¯t die on the spot, there would be no hope left for recovery.

    Like a warship amidst wind and waves, the two fought their way toward the center of the stone keep.

    The girl immediately noticed the small tree at the center of the stone keep. At this point, the tree was somewhat wilted, with three white fruits hanging from its crown. These fruits looked small and tart, apparently quite far from maturity.

    She raised her de to cut down the tree but hesitated midway. In the end, she reached out to grab two of the riper ones and rushed back out, leaving the smallest one behind.

    Anwen was much calmer. He went around the courtyard picking several nts and fruits into his spatial storage before catching up to Bai Kongzhao. The entire processsted for only a couple of breaths¡¯ time, but a group of four-armed natives, with no shortage of females among them, had gathered to block their way out. All of a sudden, several clouds of white mist were rolling toward them.

    Anwen was shocked. How would he dare to take them head-on? With a shout, he erected a barrier of demonic energy to block the white mist, and then dragged the young girl toward a different direction.

    The barriersted mere moments before it was dissolved by the white mist.

    Fortunately, this amount of time was enough for an expert of Anwen¡¯s level to drag the girl out of the stone keep.

    Momentster, the duo appeared ten kilometers away. They were entirely drenched in blood and looked quite miserable. Although most of the stains came from the natives, they had also sustained a good deal of damage themselves. The girl¡¯s injuries were mostly flesh wounds; Anwen, on the other hand, was covered in injuries, including a bone-deep gash on his back. This sh had cut through his outer and inner armor, as well as his protective demonic energy, going right for his innards.

    There was a shallow mark on the protruding bone. Anwen¡¯s bones were different from other demonkin in that they were light ck and possessed a golden luster to it. This was because he had trained in a secret art to refine his bones since youth and had attained initial sess in it.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the strength of his skeleton, Anwen might¡¯ve been heavily injured by that blow.

    The girl looked back after stopping. ¡°We¡¯ve lost them.¡±

    Anwen exhaled deeply as he sat down and took some medicine. He looked at the two white fruits in his hand and passed them back to Bai Kongzhao. ¡°They¡¯re definitely good things, but wasting His Majesty¡¯s treasure for them isn¡¯t worth it.¡±

    With that, Anwen pointed at the girl¡¯s ankle.

    The Eternal me¡¯s ankle chain was now dim, apparently drained of all power. The duo waspletely surrounded on their way out, and they had to engage in a bloody battle in order to break the siege.

    Anwen¡¯s injuries weren¡¯t light. Meanwhile, the girl managed to survive several lethal blows only because of the ankle chain. Without that treasure, she would have more than just a few light injuries on her. It was more likely that she would be cut into several pieces.

    The girl tilted her head. ¡°Isn¡¯t it there to be used?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but not for something like this¡­¡± Anwen shook his head. As he saw it, such a life-saving treasure should only be used at the most critical juncture. Assaulting the stone keep was an unnecessary skirmish, to begin with.

    The girl seemed rather ignorant about the value of that treasure, and she didn¡¯t seem bothered by its exhaustion.

    She nced at the white fruit for a good while, and then passed one to Anwen. ¡°This should be yours.¡±

    She split her own share into two, ate one portion, and then put away the other.

    Anwen couldn¡¯t understand why she would do this. He passed his white fruit to her, saying, ¡°Take this if you need it.¡±

    The girl hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head. ¡°No, that¡¯s yours.¡±

 Chapter 1017: Diversion

    Anwen apparently didn¡¯t want to divide everything too clearly with the girl, but Bai Kongzhao was insistent. So, he had no other choice but to ept the white fruit and start treating his wounds. The frigid night had arrived by the time he was done.

    Anwen was prepared. Instead of using that white fruit, he produced a secret demonkin medicine and opened it up carefully. A wisp of ck energy wafted out of the silvery tube, which he duly inhaled.

    He waved the tube at the observing girl. ¡°This can help me get through the night, but unfortunately, it¡¯s made from the demonic energy of a prince and can only be used by demonkin. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve given it to you.¡±

    Anwen tossed the tube to the side, but surprisingly, a figure shed in front of him as the girl leaped over and caught the tube. She peered inside and then sealed the remaining half of her white fruit into it.

    Anwen was surprised. Only when the girl had hidden the tube carefully did he realize her intention.

    This demonic medicine was extremely valuable, and not many in their entire race could produce it. The tube itself was also a treasure as it was required to protect the medicinal effects of its contents against all sorts of environmental conditions. It served to seal, absorb shocks, prevent deterioration, iste origin power, and so on and so forth. It was a rare container in the Great Maelstrom.

    Anwen knew that this girl was highly attached to strength and treasures, but he really didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.

    He gave it some thought and then said, ¡°We can be considered the second batch of people entering the Great Maelstrom. Those imperial experts arrived first, but we never saw them. Simrly, many people from the Evernight side had also entered, but we didn¡¯t see them, either.¡±

    The girl waited quietly for him to continue, mostly because she had no idea what he wanted to say.

    Anwen produced his dagger and drew aplicated diagram on the ground. Then, he carved out a series of lines on it. The girl looked carefully, but all she could tell was that each string would turn into countless branches after entering the diagram.

    Anwen would ponder at times, and then add more strokes to the diagram from time to time. He only looked satisfied after a good deal of work. Noticing the girl¡¯s expression, he patted her forehead, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, not many people in the Empire and Evernight can understand this, you just listen to me exin.¡±

    He pointed at theplicated diagram. ¡°This is the spatial tunnel through which we had entered.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao¡¯s eyes went wide. She simply couldn¡¯t connect thisplicated drawing with the spatial passage.

    Anwen pointed at one part of the image. ¡°This is the tunnel¡¯s structure. Yes, we thought we had traveled in a straight line, when in truth, we had taken a long course through the void, even jumping from point to point at times. These are the forces drawing me to the next jump point.

    The girl looked baffled.

    Anwen said with a smile, ¡°That¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is the result after passing through the tunnel. Although we entered the same entrance, we would encounter different environments and jump forces. For instance, we started out from this point which could either bring us here or here. The next segment is also a simr situation. In this manner, we all ended up in different ces within the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The young girl finally asked a question, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    Anwen shrugged. ¡°I like studying things, especially in the field of void exploration. I never had much to do in recent years, so I memorized all n records rted to this field and learned many things in the process. A lot of the things I drew just now are rted to divination. Unfortunately, most people today are using divination arts to foresee trivial things and have forgotten their real uses. In fact, if people were to integrate all divination arts to study the structure of this tunnel, we would¡¯ve been able to leave this caged world long ago.¡±

    The girl¡¯s eye widened, and her expression showed that she had no idea what he was talking about.

    Anwenughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°I forgot you have never learned all these things. Nevermind, no one apart from you would listen to what I¡¯m saying anyway. Those elders from the n are only thinking about how to destroy the vampires and monopolize the Evernight world. They have zero interest in looking at research with no immediate benefits.¡±

    With that, Anwen¡¯s finger pointed at yet another diverging line. ¡°I told you that we entered from a single entrance but were split into many exits. After observing the surroundings for the past day and calcting from the same model, I can say for sure that the stronger people would always end up closer to the core region of the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The girl said, ¡°There¡¯s such a big gap in strength between us, so why did we end up together?¡±

    Anwen smiled. ¡°That¡¯s because we entered at the same time. I stabilized the jump points as we went, so you simply had to follow me in a straight line. If they had been slightly dyed, some of the jump points would¡¯ve disconnected and pointed in a different direction. That means, people entering at the same time won¡¯tnd too far off unless there are special circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t it a good thing to follow a powerful expert?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Anwenughed, pointing at the surroundings. ¡°Look, the frigid night here isn¡¯t something ordinary people can handle. I came prepared, but it¡¯ll onlyst a couple of days. We must leave this ce quickly. The danger hidden in the daytime isn¡¯t inferior to the night. I suspect that those captured by the natives will not meet good ends. So, if some bloke follows me in andnds in a ce that¡¯s well beyond his level, how will they survive?

    ¡°Besides, I might not be interested in killing, but I won¡¯t hold back if I meet people from the vampire race. If theynd beside us, they will die in my hands if not the frigid night.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao understood this topic. Following an expert into the tunnel wasn¡¯t a good thing as they mightnd in an adverse environment.

    Anwen said, ¡°There''s something I don¡¯t quite understand, though. We saw traces of an Imperial camp after arriving here. But from what I know, Zhao Jundu is still heading the war on the void continent. Who among them could possess strength equal to mine? It would be more reasonable if that camp was their second or third camp instead.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression grew solemn.

    The girl asked, ¡°Are those people strong?¡±

    Anwen said with a nod, ¡°The Great Maelstrom is different from the outside world. It¡¯s much more suitable for us Evernight noblespared to the other races. Humans entering this realm should¡¯vended farther away from the core region even if they¡¯re as strong as I am. But now, it would seem they were even closer to the core region than I was, and there¡¯s more than one of them judging from the traces. It¡¯s strange because I simply can''t remember when the empire dispatched such people. I want to catch up to them and see who exactly they are. Are you afraid?¡±

    ¡°Do they have treasures?¡±

    ¡°Of course, how could they becking? Besides, they arrived in the Great Maelstrom first and they¡¯re probably the same people who raided that stone castle before us. At the very least, they should possess a good deal of white fruits and wine. Let¡¯s rob them first if we run into them.¡±

    The girl was finally moved. ¡°We¡¯ll leave this ce first thing tomorrow morning.¡±

    Anwen heaved a sigh of relief. He had finally managed to entice the girl into leaving this ce. He really didn¡¯t want to raid the stone castle again. Last time, he had barely managed to escape being sprayed, but even then, he had inhaled a fair bit of it. He couldn¡¯t afford to umte more.

    As dawn arrived, Qianye and the two girls concluded their cultivation session and continued traveling toward the starting area.

    After running for an hour, the three of them felt a jolt throughout their bodies. As though they had passed through a thin membrane, the gravitational pull around their bodies fell sharply to double the normal gravity. After experiencing high gravity for several days, it was almost as though a thousand-ton weight had been lifted from their shoulders. They felt inexplicably rxed.

    Qianye stopped to look back at the boundless forests and the ck hills popping up here and there. The geography in front of them, on the other hand, was fairly varied. There was a river winding across the verdant ins, with groves, hills, and ravines dotting thend. There was a majestic mountain range far off in the distance, with peaks stretching god-knows-how-far into the clouds.

    Exchanging nces, Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing gasped softly.

    The former pointed at the distant mountain range, saying, ¡°That is the Ashen Mountain Range, the great river runs from the base of those hills. If I¡¯m not wrong, that should be Jadewave River. Beyond this point is charted territory, we should be able to discern the actual direction as we keep going.¡±

    Ji Tianqing looked down at the soil beneath her feet, and then grabbed a rock to study in detail. ¡°Look, there are veined patterns on these rocks. It¡¯s the star stone, a limited product specific to the Great Maelstrom. Now that we can see these stones, it means the empire is not far off.¡±

    Li Kuann pointed at the distant river. ¡°Look, what¡¯s that?¡±

    Their current field of vision was optimal, and all three of them possessed acute eyesight. Several dozen kilometers away near a grove, there were several bunches of white lotus flowers blooming in the river. Shrouded in specks of starlight, it was obvious that they were extraordinary.

    Even Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t know what those flowers were, and Qianye was even more baffled.

    Li Kuann said, ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, that should be the Silk Lotus, a necessaryponent for Stillwater Rebirth that¡¯s only found in the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The Li family¡¯s Stillwater Rebirth and Storm Pearl were extremely raremodities. Nobody wouldin about an extra life-saving drug, so the former would be bought out immediately uponing into the market. It was even rare to see Stillwater Rebirth, let alone buy one. Even high-ranking aristocratic families would find it hard to order one.

    Reportedly, the entire quota for the next decade had already been booked by major characters.

 Chapter 1018: Suspicious Treasure Thief

    Naturally, a treasure like Silk Lotus couldn¡¯t be ignored. Li Kuann started running toward the riverside, saying, ¡°Let me harvest it.¡±

    Harvesting treasures of this nature usually involved special methods in order to preserve their effectiveness. Naturally, no one was Li Kuann¡¯s superior in this regard.

    She weaved a blue of frosty origin power along the way and duly cast it over a Silk Lotus, sealing it in a block of ice. Apparently, this was the Li family¡¯s method for retrieving the Silk Lotus. Without the Jingtan Li n and their frost attribute origin power, it would be difficult for anyone to collect the flower.

    Li Kuann¡¯s hands never stopped after descended upon that single lotus, and the process was concluded only after sevenyers.

    She fished out the sealed ice-block and tossed it to Qianye. ¡°Keep this for me.¡±

    There was very little space left in Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm, but he had no qualms making space for a flower worth more than his collection of grade-seven guns.

    Li Kuann weaved another sevenyered and sealed the second Silk Lotus. She was already sweating on the forehead by the time the collection waspleted. Apparently, the drain on her was quite significant.

    She was reaching out to pluck the icy lotus when a loud cry arrived from the distance. ¡°Put it down!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s warning sounded immediately afterward. ¡°Careful!¡±

    Li Kuann looked up just in time to see a beam of purple light tearing through the sky and toward her forehead.

    This beam of purple light was swift, silent, and malicious. Li Kuann could only dodge as she was holding the frozen lotus. Qianye took a step forward and shed the iing purple beam into two.

    The light¡¯s true form was revealed as it fell to the ground¡ªit was an extremely sharp arrow, measuring at two meters in length and with a hollow head that was giving off a pungent odor. Li Kuann felt somewhat dizzy after a small whiff. There was a potent venom in the arrowhead, one of extreme toxicity no less. The Li family might be famous for their divination arts and medicines, but few venoms could match the one on this arrow.

    Even Li Kuann would¡¯ve been in trouble if struck by it, especially now that she had no antidote or protective equipment on her. With a frosty expression, she nced toward the source of the attack. She had never feared anyone in the Empire save people like Zhao Jundu and Qianye. Almost being wounded in the Great Maelstrom in such a manner infuriated her. She had suffered restraints everywhere since her arrival and hadn¡¯t really killed a satisfactory number of enemies.

    One woman and two men walked out of the distant forest. The former was holding a longbow that was as tall as herself, apparently the weapon from which the arrow was fired. The two men walked along on either side of her.

    The three people charged over at full speed and only slowed down at the hundred-meter point.

    The woman nocked a long arrow and took aim at Qianye¡¯s group. She nced at the three remaining Silk Lotuses with eyes full of greed and roared, ¡°Considering we¡¯re all humans, I¡¯ll let you guys off if you put down the items and scram.¡±

    Qianye, Li Kuann, and Ji Tianqing exchanged nces. They simply had no idea where these people had gotten their confidence. It was normal that they wouldn¡¯t recognize Ji Tianqing, and it was also a possibility that they wouldn¡¯t know Li Kuann. But, it was rather odd that they hadn¡¯t seen Qianye, one who had gained fame in the bloody battle and at Indomitable. Those with a bit of strength would know Qianye and the consequences of facing him head-on.

    Even Li Fengshui, a general of the Imperial army, had fallen in his hands.

    The three of them were clearly humans who were able to enter the Great Maelstrom. How could they not recognize Qianye?

    Just as they were puzzled, the two men had set their eyes on Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing. ¡°Why don¡¯t we detain the twodies?¡±

    The man hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a p sent him sprawling to the ground. The woman had attacked at lightning speed, her hand resting back on the arrow immediately after the p. It was as though nothing had ever happened.

    ¡°You fancy those foxes, huh?¡± There was a tinge of killing intent in her voice.

    The man mbered up to reveal a half-swollen face. Heughed along with narrowed eyes, saying, ¡°Of course not. How can theypare to you? I was just saying we should capture them and sell them to King Loa. Wouldn¡¯t we get a good stock of secret medicines that way?¡±

    The woman was somewhat moved. She nced at Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing, and then at Qianye. Her gaze could no longer move away as soon as she saw his face.

    The men immediately became angry. One of them drew his de with a sword and pushed forward. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you dropping the items?¡±

    Li Kuann waved the ice-block around, saying, ¡°The items? Do you even know what this is? You want something you don¡¯t know about?¡±

    The man¡¯s face turned red. ¡°I want both the item and you!¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression sank. ¡°I had originally nned to let you guys go since we¡¯re all from the Empire, but you can¡¯t me me if you court death yourself.¡±

    The woman directed a sinister gaze at Li Kuann. No one knew what she was thinking, but she didn¡¯t attack immediately.

    Li Kuann tossed the ice block to Qianye. ¡°Put it away.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s hand barely moved before the ice block vanished.

    The woman¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Spatial gear!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is. Come on,e and rob us!¡± Li Kuann made a provocative gesture.

    The woman¡¯s breathing became coarse as she gestured with her eyes, following which the two men began to nk the group from either side. She herself drew her longbow and took aim at Li Kuann.

    The two men kept Li Kuann pinned down while secretly facing Qianye and Ji Tianqing respectively. The woman could take aim at any person with just a slight movement. Actually, she didn¡¯t even need to move because the arrow would fly toward the target she had locked onto.

    The woman broke into a sudden cry as the arrow flew toward Li Kuann in the form of a purple thunderbolt! The instant she took action, the two men leaped up and shed at Qianye and Ji Tianqing.

    Qianye swung East Peak upward without even looking.

    ¡°Leave him alive!¡± Ji Tianqing cried out.

    Startled, Qianye wanted to stop his sh, but it was toote. East Peak had already cut man and sword into two halves.

    Ji Tianqing sighed as her figure flickered and appeared above her opponent. She stomped down on the man¡¯s back with both feet, embedding him into the ground.

    The young miss then hopped off the man with a light skip. Thetter was left twitching at the bottom of therge crater, unable to mber up. Apparently, the stomp wasn¡¯t light at all.

    Compared to Qianye and Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann¡¯s situation was more serious. Her fingers moved like shuttles, weaving numerouss of origin power to envelop the purple arrow. It took threeyers of frosty origin power to finally encase the projectile in ice.

    As expected, the Great Maelstrom was full of dangers. Be it the natives¡¯ white mist or this woman¡¯s strange venom, none of them were things ordinary experts could handle.

    Li Kuann stared intently at the woman, a faint blue light lingering at her fingertips. This enemy¡¯s strength was nothing to write home about, but she was exceedingly difficult to dispatch. Those proficient in the bow would also excel in swift retreats. The bow and arrow made for powerful weapons in the Great Maelstrom, but the key issuey with her strange poison.

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t afraid of death, but neither was she willing to just throw away her life. She had to be careful even if she had to exert ten times more power than normally required.

    The woman hadn¡¯t expected her arrow to miss, but she was more surprised that herpanions couldn¡¯t evenst one blow. Qianye¡¯s sh wasn¡¯t that shocking; it was actually Ji Tianqing¡¯s toying attitude that made her afraid.

    She hesitated for a while. Then, she drew her dagger halfway out before nocking another arrow.

    The dagger was amon Imperial design, but the purple color on its de was quite eye-catching. In addition to the de and arrowhead, her nails were also suffused with a faint purple glow. Li Kuann became even more cautious as this woman¡¯s entire body was full of poison.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid, however, and simply walked forward with his sword raised. Seemingly surprised, the woman slowly edged back toward the forest.

    Ji Tianqing was clearly hesitant and unwilling to give chase. Seeing Qianye¡¯s advance, she cried out from behind, ¡°Qianye, will you be okay?¡±

    ¡°This little poison can¡¯t harm me,¡± Qianye replied.

    A look of worry shed across the woman¡¯s countenance¡ªshe stared intently at Qianye for a while, and then fled into the forest with her first step. She was fast, so much so that she was only somewhat inferior to Qianye. Thetter broke into a frown as he lost his lock on her. He didn¡¯t continue the chase because the forest gave him a bad feeling.

    Qianye returned to the twodies. ¡°I lost her.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, we still have a survivor here.¡± Ji Tianqing dragged the embedded man out of the ground and tossed him to the ground. This toss was deliberate and well-nned, breaking several of the man¡¯s joints in the process.

    Crying out wretchedly, the man woke up in pain and barely managed to look up. He appeared quite fearful after seeing the twodies, but he couldn¡¯t quite suppress his desires, either.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Ji Tianqing asked.

    The man bit his lips and remained silent.

    Ji Tianqing snorted. ¡°Tight-lipped, huh? Fine, then don¡¯t speak for the next ten minutes.¡±

    She kicked the man under the ribs, sending countless needle-like strands of origin power into his body. His face went purple all of a sudden as his body started twisting about. However, Ji Tianqing¡¯s kick sealed not only his origin power but also his throat, making it impossible for him to make a sound.

 Chapter 1019: The Dead People

    Ji Tianqing waited for an entire ten minutes before kicking the man again, relieving him of his agony.

    The man was drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted. He wanted to speak, but Ji Tianqing stopped him. ¡°Wait, I¡¯ll give you ten more minutes. Think carefully about what you have to say.¡±

    The man was apparently frightened, having picked up the threat in Ji Tianqing¡¯s words.

    Qianye asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    ¡°Since they¡¯re also from the empire, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s odd that they don¡¯t even recognize you?¡± Ji Tianqing asked.

    Qianye didn¡¯t really feel that he was famous, but something was definitely fishy because Ji Tianqing sounded serious, and Li Kuann looked quite pensive as well.

    Thetter said, ¡°Are they survivors from thest batch?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve checked the survivors¡¯ list but never saw them.¡±

    ¡°If they¡¯re not alive, maybe they¡¯re one of those ¡®dead¡¯ people?¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. ¡°Quite likely. I want to hear what they experienced after their ¡®death¡¯.¡±

    The man¡¯s expression became increasingly ashen.

    Ji Tianqing crouched down beside him. ¡°Do you know what you should say now? Go ahead.¡±

    The man looked like he wanted to say something, but he was hesitant.

    Ji Tianqing said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s almost sundown. Although the frigid night here is nothingpared to the inside, we still don¡¯t want any trouble. I¡¯ll throw you inside if you don¡¯t speak, assuming you know what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    ¡°You know about ¡®inside¡¯?¡± The man gasped.

    ¡°Of course, we just returned from the area with ten times the gravity.¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes went wide in shock. ¡°Impossible! No one can get there, those who go there never return!¡±

    ¡°You guys were trying to go to the core region for this, right?¡± A white fruit popped up in Ji Tianqing¡¯s hand.

    The man¡¯s eyes almost dropped out of their sockets. ¡°H-Holy fruit! Such a big one, too! You guys have really been to the holy region!¡±

    ¡°Holy region?¡± Ji Tianqing grasped the keyword.

    The man eventually calmed down. ¡°The holy region is how the higher-ups call the central realm. Since you guys have obtained a holy fruit, it means you¡¯ve seen them¡­ those people with multiple arms.¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Me? I¡¯m probably listed as dead in the Empire.¡± The manughed wryly. He collected his thoughts and said, ¡°My surname is Nangong and my given name is Tianyu. I¡¯ve been in the Great Maelstrom¡­ twenty-some years now.¡±

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann looked surprised. Twenty years wasn¡¯t a short period of time. ording to imperial records, people would feel all kinds of difort after five years inside the Great Maelstrom as the body bes affected by the environment. The higher one¡¯s cultivation, the more blunted these effects would be, but no genius could survive over ten years inside. Experts who don¡¯t reappear after ten years would be recorded as lost and considered dead.

    Nangong Tianyu being able to survive here for two decades was quite a miracle.

    He continued, ¡°I hail from a side branch of the Nangong family. I fought with my life on the line to get a quota for the Great Maelstrom, thinking it would be a fortunate turn in life. Who would¡¯ve thought there would be so much dissent inside? I was sent on a mission to explore the deeper regions before I had limated to the environment. It was during that mission that my squad was ambushed and scattered. With several wild beasts on my tail, I could only run deeper and deeper inside. In the end, I identally arrived in the central region and fell into native captivity.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡±

    ¡°Then? I don¡¯t know whether it was fortunate or otherwise, I actually survived. They kept me alive and recruited me into a two-armed group to serve as patrol and as a mating instrument. Fortunately, my foundations were strong enough to survive the endless mating and hold out until my body started to transform. It¡¯s hard to say whether or not I¡¯m totally human.¡±

    Ji Tianqing pondered for a moment. ¡°Take off your clothes and let us see the changes.¡±

    Nangong Tianyu had long since lost all will to resist. He undressed silently and stood before the three.

    Having fought in numerous battles, neither Ji Tianqing nor Li Kuann cared about this bit of awkwardness. They channeled their secret arts to scan Nangong Tianyu¡¯s body.

    The man was on the slimmer side, but his skeleton was exceedingly sturdy and dense. He was twice as powerful as ordinary experts in terms of bone density. Ji Tianqing managed to stomp him into the ground, but none of his bones broke from the impact. His bones were surrounded by steely muscles¡ªthis type of body was far superior to that of Imperial experts, and more or less equal to the four-armed natives.

    Qianye didn¡¯t find it too surprising, but the other two were secretly surprised. As people familiar with the Imperial nobility, they knew they had never heard of someone called Nangong Tianyu. This meant that he was just an ordinary expert back then, at least nowhere near a genius by Ji Tianqing¡¯s standards. He was probably at the bottom of the list among those entering the Great Maelstrom.

    His current physical prowess, however, would ce him among the top tier geniuses.

    It was when Nangong Tianyu turned around that his true difference from ordinary humans was revealed. There was a row of finger-sized bone spikes poking out along his back and spine. The appendages were of an ashen hue and as hard as steel. This type of natural defense wasmon in wild beasts, but it was quite extraordinary to see in humans.

    Additionally, there were also a number of bone spurs on his elbows and ankles.

    Qianye arrived beside him and patted him lightly on the shoulders. The reverberations produced therein allowed him to understand most of Nangong Tianyu¡¯s internal structure.

    There were small bone spurs growing out from most of the man¡¯s bones. They didn¡¯t quite poke out of the skin, but they would cause hidden damage to an external attacker. What surprised Qianye most was his innards.

    Nangong Tianyu¡¯s heart was exceptionallyrge, almost taking up most of his chest, but his lungs were much smaller than ordinary people. The other organs were all piled up in a chaotic mess inside his body cavity. His blood vessels weaved together tortuously like a densework of spiderwebs. The man should be considered quite fortunate that this confused growth hadn¡¯t killed him yet.

    Qianye exined the internal state of Nangong Tianyu¡¯s body to the two girls before heading over to inspect the other man¡¯s corpse. This body was also in a simr state, but the distribution and position of internal organs were somewhat different. This went to show that he had also been affected by the Great Maelstrom.

    Ji Tianqing asked more detailed questions, which Nangong Tianyu replied honestly.

    It turned out that he had joined the ranks of the two-armed people after being captured. After surviving the initial phase, he eventually became one of them. As his body started to change, he started to adapt to the world and began edging toward the central region.

    Twenty years had gone by since then. Nangong Tianyu had learned a bit of the nativenguage and knew a fair bit of shocking inside information.

    Among the natives, being four-armed wasn¡¯t an inherited trait. Both two-armed and four-armed people could give birth to a four-armed descendant. It was just that the two-armed people had a somewhat smaller chance of doing so. The natives had a clear hierarchy to them, with the two arms serving as ves and cannon-fodder, while the four-arms served as warriors and officers, the main fighting power of the tribe.

    The surprising thing was that the natives followed a matriarchal structure. The four-armed women were the rulers of the stone castles and not the male warriors. The four-armed women were the biggest producers of four-armed offspring, and the one who gave birth to the most four-armed males would be the queen of the stone castle. Because of their ability to produce white mist, no creature could resist their whims and everyone in sight could be a tool for reproduction.

    Nangong Tianyu was also one of those mating tools. It was just that his eventual transformation and originalbat abilities made him stronger than the other two-armed people. Hence, he was promoted to a special rank between the two-arms and four-arms. He was told that he might grow an extra pair of arms if he were to drink the white-fruit wine regrly.

    The two-armed people were ofplicated origins. There was no shortage of people like Nangong Tianyu among them, and it wasn¡¯t just humans¡ªmany other Evernight races had also fallen into native captivity. Nangong Tianyu and the other twopanions were all from the same stone keep.

    Qianye¡¯s group hadn¡¯t seen people like them in the high-gravity region because they simply couldn¡¯t survive there. Without the holy fruit, even the natives would have difficulty getting through the nights.

    While Ji Tianqing was continuing her interrogation, that woman from before appeared from the forest. This time, there was a demonkin and an arachne with her.

    The woman pointed at Qianye. ¡°It¡¯s them! They stole my treasure.¡±

    The demonkin and arachne nced at the Silk Lotus, but they didn¡¯t quite know what it was used for. ¡°What is that thing?¡±

    The woman looked somewhat distracted. ¡°Whatever it is, it¡¯s definitely a good treasure.¡±

    The demonkin pondered while sizing up the three from head to toe. Treasures weren¡¯t useful for everyone¡ªsome of them might be supreme assets for the humans but trash for the dark races. Qianye and the others looked quite difficult to deal with, and it probably wasn¡¯t too wise to get into a big fight for something so unsure.

    The woman seemed more anxious now. ¡°Your Excellency, if you take them down¡­ I¡­ I¡¯ll give myself to you. I¡¯ll also introduce you to the holy race.¡±

    ¡°Holy race?¡± The demonkin was moved.

    ¡°They have spatial gear on them!¡± The woman steeled her heart and blurted out the biggest secret.

 Chapter 1020: Rob and Kill

    It was no longer important what was inside the spatial gear because the apparatus itself was a priceless treasure. Although people who would possess such an item had to be extraordinary, the demonkin was fairly confident in his own abilities as well.

    He exchanged nces with the arachne and drew his weapons¡ªa dagger in his right hand and a handgun in his left. He then pressed forward, saying, ¡°Put down everything you have and I¡¯ll let you go.¡±

    Ji Tianqing, who had been observing quietly all this time, couldn¡¯t help but sneer. ¡°That was my thought initially, but I need to make some changes. You guys can forget about going even if you leave everything you have!¡±

    The demonkin was furious, and his eyes were full of killing intent. The arachne was even more irritable¡ªhe transformed into his original half-human form as he charged toward Ji Tianqing. Then, he raised his war-axe and shed down from above!

    This arachne possessed the strength of a count, and considering the momentum of his charge, that axe blow was sure to contain an earth-shattering might. Ji Tianqing naturally wouldn¡¯t block that attack head-on and merely slid away to the side. Qianye suddenly appeared in her ce and met the war-axe with a horizontal sh.

    The arachne went berserk¡ªthe muscles in his entire body squirmed and twitched as he swung the weapon with even greater ferocity.

    A loud sh reverberated through the air as the war-axe struck East Peak. However, thetter only sank slightly before stopping the arachne¡¯s all-out blow.

    The demonkin and woman inhaled deeply, chilled from head to toe.

    They were naturally quite clear about the arachne¡¯s strength. Let alone a one-on-one duel, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop his blows even if they worked together. Qianye didn¡¯t look that strong, but he managed to block the attack with his one-handed de¡ªwas he a divine champion?

    The arachne couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. He roared continuously, pouring in as much power as he could to suppress East Peak. However, even that charge attack just now hadn¡¯t gone through, and now, they were locked in a contest of strength. How could he win? Every time he added more force, it felt like he was crashing into a massive mountain range. The massive recoil in power stunned him.

    Five origin power activation points revolved throughout Qianye¡¯s body as the Excavator kicked into action, pouring out wave after wave of power and easily stopping the arachne. In the blink of an eye, the spider became drenched in sweat and short of breath. The pressure on East Peak also lightened.

    Qianye had no intention of being entangled for too long. He pushed the war-axe away with a cold smile, took a step forward, and threw a fierce punch at the arachnid-human junction.

    This fist, backed by the power of the Excavator, immediately shattered the arachne¡¯s origin defenses and shifted all of his innards. The spider¡¯s expression immediately changed, and he could hardly speak anymore. He soon copsed to the ground and no longer moved.

    This result was far beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. The demonkin and that woman were shocked at the defeat of this powerful arachne count. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were also surprised at how easily Qianye had felled this enemy.

    The panicked demonkin made to retreat, but a cold intent appeared behind his back. ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    The shocked demonkin turned and fired at the enemy, but all he managed to strike was a mirage. Li Kuann had appeared behind him yet again. The demonkin noticed a flicker at the corner of his vision at this moment. Without time to think, he stabbed instantaneously in that direction and the attack actually connected! The demonkin wanted to pull his de back, but the dagger simply wouldn¡¯t budge. He nced up in surprise, only to find the edge in Ji Tianqing¡¯s grasp. Despite looking small and agile, she was unreasonably strong. It took the demonkin quite a bit of effort to pull his de back just slightly, and it would be dragged back as soon as he stopped exerting.

    A wisp of ck energy emerged from atop the demonkin¡¯s head; he was just about to form his innate totem when he felt a chill behind his back. Soon afterward, his body lost control and the demonic energy scattered. Li Kuann grabbed him by the nape of his neck and poured a steady stream of frost origin power into his body. The invasive power destroyed his defensive powers and froze his neck into an icicle.

    The demonkin didn¡¯tst very long under thebined assault of the twodies and soon breathed hisst.

    JI Tianqing sighed in regret. She had wanted to catch the enemy alive at first, but this demonkin was quite strong and it was easier to just kill him.

    Having witnessed the two experts¡¯ deaths, the woman turned to flee after firing an arrow. She was strangely fast and her distance gave her a good head-start. Qianye¡¯s group couldn¡¯t catch her before she vanished into the forest.

    It was during these unexpected events that Nangong Tianyu jumped up all of a sudden and bolted into the river. He dived down into the depths, where his aura promptly faded away.

    No one had expected Nangong Tianyu to recover his movement, nor did they know he would be such a good diver. Considering how adept he was underwater, chances of catching him again were next to zero even if they did dive in after him.

    However, the man had revealed quite a bit of information to them, including the fact that not all of those missing people were dead. Some of them might have fallen into native hands and gradually assumed different identities.

    It would seem the natives and Nangong Tianyu¡¯s group were quite cautious, rarely leaving the increased gravity region to enter thending point of the Empire and Evernight. That was why there were very few records of them at all.

    The trio didn¡¯t find anything of value on the arachne and demonkin. Their possessions were mostly things from the Great Maelstrom, and most of them were things only useful to the dark races. The remainder wasn¡¯t worth much, either,pared to the things the group had brought back from the deeper regions. Hence, the three of them found nothing that impressed them.

    Ji Tianqing woke up the arachne and interrogated him on his origins. This arachne had entered the Great Maelstrom during the previous opening of the passage, but he never made any major progress inside. The arachne physique was the strongest among the dark races and highly suited for the environment inside the Great Maelstrom. They would transform and be stronger simply by staying here, even without any major breakthroughs. Hence, the arachne stayed behind to explore thend, hunt for treasures, and seek opportunities to kill some imperials.

    Be it experts from the Empire or Evernight, whoever passed the invisible line would step into the high-gravity region. That area was a forbidden ce to both factions as no one had ever returned alive from it.

    This arachne only operated near the borders, and even then, he would go withpanions.

    Seeing that she could get nothing more out of him, Ji Tianqing raised her de and ughtered the arachne.

    Both the demonkin and arachne possessed a map with a series of markings on them. This information filled in a lot of nks for the trio.

    After figuring out the general direction, Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to Heavenschild Pasture first, then the Constetion Well, and finally the Pond of Life.¡±

    This path was somewhatplicated, but Ji Tianqing exined things to Qianye in just a few words. ¡°No one else knows the location of the Heavenschild Pasture just yet, so we should first head over there and collect the resources. Then, we head to the Constetion Well because we can¡¯t be disturbed during the process. People from the Empire shouldn¡¯t be there yet, and even if some of them had arrived, they won¡¯t be much of a threat. The Pond of Life can be used by both factions, so a big battle awaits once we get there.¡±

    What Ji Tianqing meant was that they should get most of the things done¡ªbe it robbery or killing¡ªbefore heading over to the battle at the Pond of Life. Li Kuann had no objections to this n, while Qianye couldn¡¯te up with anything better, either. The three thus changed directions after Li Kuann was done collecting the silk lotuses and headed toward the Ashen Mountain Range.

    This mountain, stretching thousands of kilometers in length, was both majestic and dangerous, dotted with steep precipices everywhere. The three moved in due haste, passing through the foot of the mountain to start the hike.

    Naturally, the precipices and cracks couldn¡¯t deter the trio. Qianye took point¡ªhe moved up along the precipice like a spider, breaking off protruding rocks with thebined use of East Peak and Excavator. As for the parts that were too smooth, he would use East Peak to cut out some holes and produce footing.

    In fact, Qianye himself didn¡¯t need stepping points. All he needed was to activate Excavator and dig his hand into the cliffside on his way up. But the rocks here were especially hard, and even Ji Tianqing might not be able to crumble the rocks with Excavator activated. Hence, Qianye needed to help them open up a path.

    Qianye reached into a crevice, hoping to pull himself up, when he felt a stabbing pain from his fingertips. The sensation then turned into numbness.

    He pulled his hand back to find a small beetle on his fingers, doing its utmost to suck his blood. The insect was oddly strong and its jaws were iparably sharp¡ªit was actually able to bite through Qianye¡¯s skin. What made it more lethal was its venom. At this point, Qianye¡¯s fingers were starting to swell and turn blue. He was also gradually losing sensation.

    At a nce, his hand looked like an ordinary man¡¯s that had been bitten by a snake. However, Qianye possessed an ancient-vampire constitution¡ªhow toxic was this venom to bring about such features!?

    Qianye channeled his blood energy and sent a wisp of dark golden blood energy to his finger. A plume of faint golden mes lit up at his fingertips, and the swollen digit gradually returned to its original state. The beetle¡¯s poison was so strong that it was able tost a couple of moments before being incinerated by the dark golden mes.

    The beetle cried out anxiously as it poured as much poison as it could into Qianye¡¯s body, but how could a small beetle ovee the retaliation of the dark golden blood energy? Qianye¡¯s finger recovered in the blink of an eye while the dark golden blood energy charged into the insect, promptly reducing it to ash.

    Qianye felt somewhat regretful because such a toxic beetle was all too rare, and it could be a peerless treasure if used correctly. However, the insect was simply too dangerous. If it were Li Kuann instead of Qianye, she might¡¯ve perished from the venom by now.

 Chapter 1021: Guest at the Pasture

    After the death of this beetle, Qianye sensed countless little specks shrinking back into the rocky crevices. He gave it some thought before deciding to give up on catching them. These poisonous beetles were too dangerous¡ªhe wouldn¡¯t know how to handle them while alive, and their value would shrink once dead.

    Qianye turned toward the other two and said, ¡°Beware of the insects inside the rock crevices, they¡¯re extremely poisonous.¡±

    Both Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann nodded. Something Qianye considered extremely poisonous had to be a rare venom.

    Equipped with prior experience, Qianye became quite cautious whenever he passed by rocky crevices. As expected, he encountered numerous different insects, spiders, scorpions, and the like, all of them just as venomous as the first beetle. But now that he was guarded, the creatures had no chance to injure him.

    Toward the end, Qianye would simply sweep the stone crevices with his sanguine mes. Even if the bugs weren¡¯t killed by the ze, they would go into hiding after sensing the dark golden blood energy.

    This bare cliff was devoid of nts and beasts; no one knew how these insects survived here.

    Whaty above them after scaling the dangerous area was a snowy line. Some parts of the summit were covered in snow, but it was still rocky ground in most ces.

    Just like in the Empire, there was rarely any life after passing the snowy line. The wind in this ce was exceptionally strong and contained wisps of origin power. Traveling against such a wind was akin to being attacked by an enemy who possessed origin power cultivation. Even Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann felt somewhat strained while moving through this mountain gale, let alone an ordinary expert.

    Qianye memorized the ces where the insects had appeared before climbing upward against the wind.

    Momentster, the three finally reached the summit and put their foot on the Ashen Mountain Range.

    They continued their journey without resting. The descent was so much easier, and the trio had run out of the snowy line before long. They slid down the cliffs, ran over the hillocks, and traversed two more mountains to finally arrive in a hidden valley.

    This valley was surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the only way in and out was a somewhat gentle slope. The valley was fairly well-hidden as the surrounding cliffs were both steep and dangerous.

    The poisonous area Qianye had just passed through was like a forbidden area to ordinary experts. Those venomous insects were just one of the many dangers along the way.

    One would need to pass through several dangerous areas to enter the valley via its normal route. And because of the geography, the path didn¡¯t stretch directly inside¡ªone could easily lose their way along the winding path and enter dangerous regions. Who knew how many lives it took the Song n to find the Heavenschild Pasture.

    The valley was far from the operation areas of the Empire and Evernight. The Song n had kept its location a top-secret throughout the years, preventing it from leaking out. Usually, a certain family member would ship out a batch of goods from the pasture every decade or so, and this harvest was enough to make the Song n the richest in the Empire.

    Standing before the valley, Li Kuann was just as calm and cold. Qianye didn¡¯t have a good grasp of riches, either, so only Ji Tianqing was glowing from the eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go, hurry! The Song n has stashed up so many years of riches. There has to be a lot of good stuff inside, take everything once we go in. There¡¯s no need to hold back on my ount.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly, not knowing how to respond.

    Song Zining had likely intended for Qianye to collect the gains from the Heavenschild Pasture and hand it to him after leaving the ce. Naturally, he could also leave whatever treasure he fancied for his own use. That was the proper way.

    Yet, it would seem even Song Zining hadn¡¯t expected that Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann would follow Qianye to the pasture. Moreover, Ji Tianqing possessed her own spatial gear. The situation was like inviting a wolf into the house.

    Under Ji Tianqing¡¯s urging, Qianye could only brace himself to walk toward the valley, thinking along the way whether he should tell Song Zining the truth. The seventh young noble was experienced and knowledgeable, probably not someone who couldn¡¯t ept setbacks. Despite that, the potential blow from the Heavenschild Pasture was simply too great and would be quite difficult to digest.

    After passing over a gentle slope and circling around a cliff, the area in front of them opened up to reveal an endless verdantndscape.

    The valley was unexpectedlyrge, but those from the outside world simply couldn¡¯t see this immortal garden hidden amidst the mountains. There were lush forests around the foothills, bearing leaves that were either green, yellow, orrge patches of red¡ªit was like a painting. A small stream stretched out from the mountains and through the trees to flow into the pond in the depths of the valley.

    There was arge meadow at the center of the valley, fenced up into different plots. Each plot was home to different nts or even trees of varying heights. Some of the trees wereden with fruits, while others were covered in a sea of flowers. The scenery was unique for each lot ofnd.

    Except for the fences, there were few traces of human activity. However, there was a small wooden hut not far from the valley entrance with a field each in front of the house and behind. Clearly, there was someone living here.

    Secretly surprised, Qianye exchanged nces with the girls. Thest shipment from the Heavenschild Pasture was ten years ago, which meant that the person living here had been in the Great Maelstrom for over ten years. Having seen an example in Nangong Tianyu, Qianye and the others couldn¡¯t quite guess whether this was a friend or a foe.

    Just as they were hesitating, the door to the wooden hut opened and out walked an old man with white hair. With a hoe in one hand and a basket in the other, he began walking toward the ntation in front of his house. He put down his equipment after reaching the field and waved toward the group. ¡°Young people, why note over and say hello since you¡¯re already here?¡±

    A surprised Qianye nced to his left and right, only to find that the two girls were also shocked. He immediately knew that this old man wasn¡¯t simple.

    The three had long since activated their concealment powers. Qianye had even circted his Bloodline Concealment, and Ji Tianqing¡¯s aura-transforming secret art wasn¡¯t inferior at all. Only Li Kuann was the weaker among them, but she was much better than an ordinary expert in terms of hiding. The three of them hadn¡¯t really hidden themselves, but concealing their auras was much more important at this distance. After careful thought, being found out under such circumstances went to show just how frightening this old man was.

    There was no backing off at this point. Qianye exchanged nces with the twodies and simply walked into the pasture.

    The old man went about his own business, plucking weeds until Qianye¡¯s group was outside the gates. He stood up at that point and said while pounding his back, ¡°I¡¯m old and inflexible. Come in on your own and take a seat at the table.¡±

    There was an ancient tree in the courtyard with lush foliage and a few young fruits. A stone table sat beneath the tree, surrounded by four stools. One would find, on careful observation, that there was a chessboard carved into the table. Apparently, having tea over a game of chess was a refined activity here.

    Qianye sat down confidently on the stone stool. Li Kuann hesitated briefly but also followed suit. Whether it was intentional or just a coincidence, there was some obstructing object in every direction from the stone table¡ªbe it a shrub or a row of medicine, be it near or far. As someone who excelled in high-speed charge attacks, theyout made her greatly ufortable. This kind of constrained environment was most suited for people like Ji Tianqing who could operate naturally in small areas.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t really at ease, either. The courtyard and the medicine orchard were both arranged beautifully, but the picturesque disorder almost seemed deliberate.

    An expert like Qianye would instinctively size up unfamiliar surroundings and pay attention to paths of retreat. He scanned the surroundings and found that he wouldn¡¯t be able to perform Spatial sh without crashing into something.

    The medicine garden had the least obstructions as there were only a few unknown nts growing in it. But everything in the Great Maelstrom could be a peerless treasure. If Qianye were to trample a couple of nts, he might be full of regret.

    Despite all that, he still sat down calmly. If he couldn¡¯t use Spatial sh inside the courtyard, he just needed to get outside. And with a high-damage move like Excavator, he would have the advantage in a melee battle.

    Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t feel the same. She looked on the table, went around the stool, and sat down only after she had checked underneath it. Even then, she merely sat on the edge and was ready to escape anytime.

    The old man couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°What a naughty little girl! Didn¡¯t your grandpa teach you well?¡±

    Ji Tianqing was startled. ¡°Y-You recognize¡­¡±

    The old man said with a smile, ¡°The Pointer Monarch is famous throughout the Empire, how could I not recognize his descendant?¡±

    ¡°But I changed my appearance¡­¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell for sure if you hadn¡¯t used that secret art.¡±

    Ji Tianqing immediately regained herposure. ¡°You¡­ what is your rtionship with grandpa?¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°What? Are you afraid I¡¯ll report to him? Fine, I won¡¯t bully you kids. Let me tell you, I always called him by name because I don¡¯t like him. It¡¯s not like I can really defeat him in battle. That bastard is a rare genius, how many throughout history can be his match? I¡¯m a cripple who can¡¯t even reach the apex, I wouldn¡¯t dare topare myself to him.¡±

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t happy to hear someone badmouth the Pointer Monarch. ¡°Grandpa spent his life fighting for the Empire, making contributions both public and secret. What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    The old man broke into augh. ¡°Those are old stories, you kids won¡¯t understand.¡±

    Ji Tianqing pouted. ¡°Who¡¯s a kid? Who cares if you don¡¯t want to tell me!¡±

    The old man sized her up from head to toe. ¡°Oh, I see. Indeed, you¡¯re not a child anymore.¡± He then turned to nce at Qianye until thetter felt weirdly ufortable.

    To Qianye, it had been quite a while since Ji Tianqing had grown out of childhood. In battle, the girl had always been decisive and ruthless at critical junctures. She would definitely be a difficult opponent once she became a divine champion.

    It was true that she looked cute on the outside, but how could such a fierce character be a child?

    The old man narrowed his eyes when he saw Qianye¡¯s puzzlement, but he didn¡¯t continue. He merely sized up the three while twirling his beard.

 Chapter 1022: Transplanted Frui

    A seemingly angry Ji Tianqing signaled Qianye secretly. Qianye quickly changed his stance, bowing as he said, ¡°How should I address you, elder? How long have you been here?¡±

    This was a probe. The old man didn¡¯t seem very concerned, however. He continued trimming his nts and said, ¡°My surname is Lu, I¡¯ve been here for fifty years.¡±

    Qianye suppressed his shock to continue sounding out the man. ¡°This is the Heavenschild Pasture, is it not?¡±

    The old man nodded. ¡°Of course. Apart from the things in this garden, you can take your pick of anything else you see. Some of them require special harvesting methods, soe to me for things you don¡¯t understand.¡±

    Qianye and the others couldn¡¯t believe that things would go so smoothly because this old man was actually quite unfathomable. After just a nce, Qianye felt as though he were facing Luo Bingfeng. He had long since abandoned any notion of robbing the man by force.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s appearance fluctuation slowed down for a moment.

    The old man shot her a nce. ¡°Just how old is that bastard Ji Wentian? Look at how young you are, yet you¡¯re actually pretending to be his granddaughter?¡±

    Those words sounded casual, but Ji Tianqing had to reply solemnly, ¡°I don¡¯t have a father.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The old man was surprised.

    ¡°I won¡¯t recognize him, he¡¯s not worthy!¡± Ji Tianqing clenched her teeth.

    The old man broke into augh. He said while shaking his head, ¡°Fine, the young have fiery characters. This old man can¡¯t be bothered. But looking at the inheritances you have, he¡¯s even taught you his most well-kept Excavator. Looks like he really does like you.¡±

    JI Tianqing was skeptical. ¡°Is Excavator so awesome? I think it¡¯s just so-so.¡±

    ¡°What do you understand, child? That old bastard has a whole bunch of secret arts for show, but none of them can match this Excavator inplexity. Just imagine the grandeur of splitting mountains with every move. Perhaps only the Founding Emperor and Martial Ancestor¡¯s peerless arts would be superior. The old man had obtained Excavator back when he was wallowing in romance-rted despair, and that allowed him to walk out of his slump and achieve all that he didter on.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°What kind of person could make grandpa fall into despair. Is she beautiful?¡±

    The old man said helplessly, ¡°Child, focus on bettering yourself instead of these useless things.¡±

    Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t get the answer after a good while of entanglement. ¡°You probably don¡¯t know, either, do you?¡±

    The old man looked embarrassed. ¡°This is a sad story from back then. I was not his match, so how can I ask about something he¡¯s not willing to talk about.¡±

    At this moment, Qianye recalled how he had received the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance back in the Earth Dragon¡¯sir. Although he didn¡¯t know who thisdy was, he was able to sense the ocean-deep pain as though it was his own. He pulled Ji Tianqing back, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t ask anymore, it¡¯s not a happy story.¡±

    Ji Tianqing poked her tongue out, but she ultimately listened to Qianye¡¯s advice.

    The old man nced at Qianye. ¡°Good skills.¡±

    This nce sought to see through him from inside out, but Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy and Venus Dawn activated at the same time. They formed a double-barrier, with the Venus Dawn outside and blood energy inside, blocking the old man¡¯s vision.

    Qianye had no idea whether the old man¡¯s praise was directed at his cultivation or how he had grabbed Ji Tianqing¡¯s wrist. He was fairly confident about the former, but thetter was something he had never done before.

    The old man plucked a red fruit from a medicinal tree and passed it to Ji Tianqing. ¡°I¡¯ll give you this out of consideration for that old fellow. Think of it as returning a favor. You can eat it yourself or give it to someone else, you decide.¡±

    Ji Tianqing knew this was a rare treasure, so she received it cautiously and sniffed lightly. ¡°White fruit?¡±

    With a flip of her hand, she produced a white fruit and ced it alongside the red one.

    The old man was shocked. ¡°How did you get a holy fruit? This thing isn¡¯t easy to obtain, it only grows in the high-gravity regions¡­ you¡¯ve all been there?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied honestly, ¡°We just came back.¡±

    The old man¡¯s brows flew upward. ¡°How many times the gravity? Five? Six?¡±

    ¡°Ten.¡±

    The old man frowned. ¡°Childish boasts! How can people like you withstand ten times the gravity? That frigid night isn¡¯t something you can live through, either.¡±

    ¡°We were lucky enough to find some holy fruits as soon as we arrived, and we used them to get through the nights. Afterward, we ran back at top speed.¡±

    The old man asked in greater detail. Then, he said while stroking his beard, ¡°Turns out you came in from the neutralnds. No wonder! The empire did a good job of gaining the initiative. But I think this kid has dragged you two into harm''s way, otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t have fallen that far inside.¡±

    The old man pointed at Qianye.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were puzzled.

    The old man exined, ¡°Both the Empire and Evernight have explored the neutralnds tunnel a hundred years ago, each side sending their top experts in. Although none of them reached the Great Maelstrom, they gained a good understanding of the structure and mechanism of the passage. If a number of people were to enter in quick session, they wouldnd close to the first entrant''s location. If I¡¯m not wrong, this young man was probably the one who entered first, followed by the two of you.¡±

    Thedies thought back and found that it was indeed the case.

    The old man nced at Qianye. ¡°His constitution is a bit special and it¡¯s already quite¡­ different from our human race. He might be able to survive in that region, but you two can¡¯t. You were quite decisive, however, and made the right call to escape as quickly as you could. It¡¯s a rare quality to be able to give up on the things there.¡±

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann¡¯s expressions turned unsightly as they thought of a single possibility. Song Zining probably knew about the tunnel¡¯s characteristics already but had allowed them tond near Qianye. Despite the earlier struggles, the seventh young master¡¯s n had still seeded just as they were about to leave the dangerous region.

    If one were to think deeper, perhaps Song Zining was already one of Empress Li¡¯s pawns back then. Him summoning Ji Tianqing to the neutralnds wasn¡¯t out of goodwill, either.

    Exchanging nces, they buried the hatred deep inside their hearts. No girl was different in terms of vengefulness.

    The old man pointed at the fruits in Ji Tianqing¡¯s hand, saying, ¡°Back in the year, I traveled to the area with eight times the gravity, but I couldn¡¯t quite stand the frigid night at that point. So, I robbed some of the nativeirs and snatched a branch from their tree. I had nothing better to do all these years, so I¡¯ve been studying how to transnt the holy fruit tree. I did produce some results throughout the years, and this fruit has forty percent the effects of the holy fruit.¡±

    Forty percent of a life-extension fruit was already an outstanding number. This meant that the red fruit would have longevity effects as well.

    Seeing the trio¡¯s expressions, the old man said, ¡°You guys still don¡¯t know the real advantage of this fruit. Its greatest boon is the ability to grow without the frigid night¡¯s power. Although the process is rather convoluted, I¡¯ve already managed to grow them in this area. From now on, I can produce two longevity-medicines every couple of years.¡±

    Qianye felt that this benefit wasn¡¯t all that impressive. Ji Tianqing seemed to share the same opinion. ¡°There are so many fruits where the natives live. We just need to rob whenever we want more.¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°Rob? You guys were just lucky.¡±

    ¡°Are we wrong? The natives might be troublesome, but it¡¯s not hard to deal with them.¡±

    The old man replied with a question, ¡°You must¡¯ve met the four-armed people?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve met both four-armed men and women.¡±

    The old man nodded. ¡°What do you think about them?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°Nothing to write home about. The female¡¯s white mist was rather disgusting, but there¡¯s nothing so special about them. With enough time and space, it won¡¯t be a problem for me to deal with five or six of them.¡±

    ¡°Six, not sixty, it seems you think highly of them.¡± The old man turned to Qianye. ¡°How about you?¡±

    Qianye replied after some thought, ¡°I should be able to handle one more.¡±

    The old manughed. ¡°Just one more? Not bad, you know how to be humble at such a young age. It seems there¡¯s a reason the Song n thinks highly of you.¡±

    These words were quite baffling. Qianye and Song Zining were indeed good friends, but he had never received much from the Song n itself.¡±

    The old man had no intention of exining. ¡°It¡¯s already hard enough to deal with a handful of them, what will you do if fifty of them appear at the same time?"

    There was no need to reply to this question. They would either have to run or fight to the death. They would have some hope at a battle if the three of them were to work together.

    The old man didn¡¯t wait for a reply. ¡°What will you do if you encounter a six-armed general?¡±

    ¡°Six-armed general?¡± The three were startled. The four-armed people were already so difficult¡ªhow strong would a six-armed one be?

    The old man continued, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you were there to snatch a couple of holy fruits, but the six-armed generals might be alerted if you had robbed them repeatedly or snatched their tree. As for how powerful they are, heh, there¡¯s no need to exin. Just look.¡±

    The old man opened his clothes to reveal a sinister-looking scar on his chest. ¡°This is the price I had to pay for robbing a branch. Back then, I couldn¡¯t evenst five minutes against the six-armed general.¡±

    Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t help but gasp as she looked at the tortuous scar, which stretched from the shoulders to below the chest. If the sh had been any more ruthless, it might¡¯ve shed half of his body open.

    The old man wore his clothes back. ¡°You would¡¯ve probably encountered a six-armed general if you hadn¡¯t escaped when you did.¡±

    The three felt a bit scared after thinking back to the possibility.

    ¡­

    At this moment, at the high-gravity region. A row of ancient trees had copsed through the forest, opening a forward path with great speed and momentum.

    Anwen was running for dear life with Bai Kongzhao in tow, never looking back once.

 Chapter 1023: Mortal Thread

    Anwen¡¯s countenance was pale, and the demonic energy around him was faint from over-exhaustion. Bai Kongzhao was flushed pink as she was almost dragged along behind Anwen.

    Her greatest advantage in battle was her concealment and ability to make use of the environment. Hunting her down was a high-difficulty endeavor. Back in the year, Qianye had chased her across a thousand kilometers only toe back empty-handed. Other people could do even less against her. In truth, she wasn¡¯t all that fast, at least notparable to people like Qianye, Li Kuann, and Anwen.

    The rumbling behind the two grew louder and louder. One tree after the other fell toward random directions as the terrifying existence quickly gained ground.

    ¡°This won¡¯t do, it¡¯ll catch up to us!¡± said Anwen.

    ¡°What do we do?¡±

    ¡°Drop it!¡±

    ¡°Drop what?¡±

    ¡°That thing in your hand!¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Do it or we¡¯ll both die!¡±

    Bai Kongzhao was holding firmly onto a small branch of the white-fruit tree. There were two fruits amidst the exuberant leaves, small, green, and unripe. She thought about it for a while before drawing herrge cleaver and hurling it through the air.

    Therge de spun about in a tall arc and stabbed right into the rolling dust behind them.

    A pained cry echoed from the dust cloud, followed by an infuriated roar that approached at great speeds.

    Anwen seemed even more distressed. He said with a wryugh, ¡°Young Miss, why would you provoke it at such a time?¡±

    He cried out bitterly as a wisp of demonic energy curled up from his head. His speed increased sharply thereafter, allowing him to draw away from the pursuers.

    ¡°I can¡¯t hold out very long, just throw that thing away,¡± Anwen shouted.

    Bai Kongzhao wasn¡¯t willing. After a moment of contemtion, she decided to stuff the branch into her mouth.

    Anwen was shocked out of his wits. ¡°No!!! That thing will chase you down and cut your stomach open! It¡¯ll stop at nothing to retake the holy tree branch, even if only dregs are left of it.¡±

    The girl hesitated upon seeing his reaction. ¡°How would you know?¡±

    ¡°Just look at how fiercely it¡¯s chasing us! Do you even need to think? This type of creature is just like that.¡± Anwen could barely catch his breath because he had to talk while running at top speed.

    The girl was still undecided.

    Anwen stopped trying to persuade her and focused on running away. His thoughts were clear¡ªif the girl wouldn¡¯t give up the branch, he would run until he copsed and they would both die together. Or perhaps they couldst until that big fellow was exhausted, but judging from the undiminished sounds behind them, the likelihood was small.

    It was at this time that Bai Kongzhao loosened her grip and the tree branch flew high up into the air.

    Arge hand stretched out from the rolling dust and grabbed the iing branch. This hand was extremely powerful, but its movements were oddly gentle. The little branchnded gently in its palm, and not even a leaf was damaged.

    The dust gradually dispersed to reveal arge figure. The facial features were characteristically native, but his brows were square and his eyes were as sharp as lightning. The serious, dignified expression, as well as his six muscr arms, added a sense of grandeur to his six-meter frame. Bai Kongzhao¡¯srge cleaver was stuck between the shoulders on his back, with a small part of its de sinking into the flesh.

    The native used one of his rear arms to remove the cleaver and tossed it to the ground after a brief examination. The girl¡¯s weapon was big, but the six-armed general was even bigger. This little injury was nothing to him.

    He nced in the direction of Anwen and Bai Kongzhao¡¯s departure, seemingly thinking about something. He didn¡¯t give chase, but instead turned to leave.

    Even so, Anwen didn¡¯t dare stop for a good while. Only after he was sure nothing was behind him did he copse to the ground, huffing and puffing. ¡°Help me¡­ keep watch. I¡­ I¡­ need to take medicine.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao stretched out a hand, indicating that she wanted a weapon. With a flick of Anwen¡¯s hand, the two-meter sword appeared on the ground. The young girl picked it up and swung it about clumsily. The long sword was so much taller than her petite figure¡ªhow could she wield it elegantly? She pondered for a while, changed positions, and adopted a different stance after some contemtion. After just a little while, she was able to move more naturally.

    Anwen paid her no attention. He fished out a bottle of medicine and inhaled the demonic energy inside. After a good while, his countenance improved somewhat.

    He opened his eyes and watched Bai Kongzhao ying with the long sword. ¡°It doesn¡¯t fit you.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao returned the de after some thought.

    Anwen put away the sword and said with a sigh, ¡°What bad luck to have run into that fellow. I don¡¯t think we can target stone castles anymore. Sigh, that was myst regeneration medicine. All will be up to luck if we meet such danger again.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao propped her chin up with her hands, thinking about something.

    Anwen stood up, spirited. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We should leave this ursed ce and that big fellow as quickly as possible.¡±

    The girl said, ¡°How can we kill him?¡±

    ¡°Him?¡± Anwen shook his head. ¡°Forget about it. It¡¯s impossible even if all the demonkin here were to gang-up on him, that is unless the Demoness was here. But that crazydy is still recuperating and probably won¡¯te.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao nodded and fell into deep thought, almost as though she was meditating on that problem just now.

    Anwen said, ¡°Don¡¯t overthink it. We should get away from this damned ce as soon as we can.¡±

    The young girl said all of a sudden, ¡°We have a chance at killing him.¡±

    Anwen was startled. ¡°How?¡±

    This girl possessed terrifying talents inbat¡ªshe would figure out the enemy¡¯s weakness ande up with unimaginable strategies. Anwen wanted to know how she was nning to kill the six-armed general who had forced him to run for dear life.

    The girl said, ¡°First, you need to grab his attention. You also need to let me use your sword¡­ let it be, let¡¯s stop thinking about it.¡±

    Seeing the girl get up to follow him, Anwen felt a bit moved.

    The young girl looked cold and seemed rather unfamiliar with the ways of the world. Earthly concerns simply didn¡¯t exist in her heart as the most important thing for her was to defeat the strong. She was probably confident about her n, so there was only one reason why she would give up¡ªit was because Anwen would have to lure the enemy without a good weapon and might die in the process.

    As the two ran toward the low-gravity region, the young girl asked, ¡°Is the Demoness noting?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. She was heavily injured!¡± Anwen said with a hint of schadenfreude.

    ¡­

    In the depths of the void, a pair of eyes slowly opened up. This was an inexplicable pair of eyes¡ªthere was neither a pupil nor an iris, only a sea of swirling chaos. It was sometimes grey, sometimes ck. There seemed to be no pattern to its movement, but it wasn¡¯t shifting randomly, either.

    The eyes had just opened when several demonkin sensed the change. They flew over immediately and stopped at a good distance. ¡°Your Grace, why have you woken up so early?¡±

    A cold, empty voice echoed. ¡°The Great Maelstrom has opened, I can sense its calling.¡±

    While the demonkin were hesitating, one of them looked up courageously and met the pair of eyes. However, he quickly discovered a certain rhythm in the transforming color patterns therein, and this rhythm happened to answer some questions regarding his cultivation, problems that had been troubling him for a long while.

    It was the thought that had made him look for a while longer. In the end, he was entrapped by the swirling grey colors¡ªit felt like he was just about to gain something before the enlightenment narrowly slipped away. It seemed like he would be able to break through if only he could try a bit harder and memorize all the color rhythms.

    Unknowingly, the demonkin¡¯s thoughts sped up to the point where his head was about to burst. He cried out in pain as his demonic energy spiraled out of control.

    The demonkin near him quickly supported him and covered his eyes. ¡°How dare you look at Her Majesty¡¯s eyes? Are you tired of living?¡±

    The victim was trembling from head to toe as he did his utmost to bring the rampaging demonic energy under control. He was no longer in any condition to speak.

    The demoness¡¯ voice echoed once more through the air. ¡°I just woke up, so I can¡¯t quite control my powers just yet. As for my injuries, they have recovered a fair bit and won¡¯t hinder this operation.¡±

    One of the demonkin said hesitantly, ¡°Your Grace, His Excellency the Eternal me has decreed that you must recuperatepletely before leaving. We should first report this matter to the Eternal me.¡±

    The Demoness said calmly, ¡°No need. Unless it¡¯s from the Emperor, the Eternal me doesn¡¯t have the right to order me around. Just tell him to take care of those kids from his family, lest they lose their lives.¡±

    The demonkin looked at one another. ¡°Your Grace, you must gain permission if you wish to leave. This is also the Emperor¡¯s will.¡±

    The Demoness was somewhat surprised. ¡°He thinks so highly of me? Very well, I shall go see him.¡±

    A demonkin marquis couldn¡¯t help but try to dissuade her. ¡°Your Grace, only a few years remain before your body ispletely healed. Why not wait a while longer? By the time you¡¯re well-rested, the Great Maelstrom will have opened up once again.¡±

    ¡°I can sense the one who injured me in the Great Maelstrom. Besides, if I keep resting, those little idiots from our race will think they¡¯re catching up to me. I feel like it''s time to give them a new understanding of this world.¡±

    The demonkin didn¡¯t know how to respond. As people in charge of guarding the Demoness, they naturally understood her temper, and that she would truly give all her peers¡ªperhaps even people from the previous generation¡ªa new understanding of this world.

    The eyes gradually closed back. The demonkin heaved a secret sigh of relief, thinking the Demoness had thought things through and decided to go back into deep slumber. But after a while, they noticed that something wasn¡¯t quite right. One of them drummed up the courage to look up and was shocked.

    The Demoness¡¯ silhouette was nowhere to be found.

    ...

    Inside the Great Maelstrom, Zhao Yuying was staring into the distance with her hand on her cannon. She was covered in branches and leaves; even an experienced hunter wouldn''t discover her without walking close. The disguise looked simple, but not everyone could blend into the surroundings as well as she could.

 Chapter 1024: Enemies Mee

    The originally fearless Zhao Yuying was now somewhat nervous and didn¡¯t dare move a muscle. Only when the thunderous footsteps had faded away in the distance did she heave a sigh of relief. She stretched her tense body and discovered that she was drenched in cold sweat.

    She quietly wiped away the sweat on her brows and inhaled several times. After collecting herself and calming down, she stood up and kicked at the nearby mound of dirt. ¡°How long are you going to y dead?¡±

    Following a howl of pain, the earthen color receded from the pile of earth and Wei Potian was kicked out of his disguise. He rubbed his butt, crying, ¡°Can¡¯t you be more gentle? I¡¯ll be dead from your kick before I die of shock from that six-armed monstrosity.¡±

    ¡°Look at yourself, scared like a chicken and not even daring to move. You even buried your face into the soil, how did the marquis even pick you as heir?¡± Zhao Yuying mocked.

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t angry, however. ¡°The moment I saw him, I knew I wasn¡¯t his match. Even an ordinary divine champion will have to take a step back against him. I might not be afraid of death, but I can¡¯t drag you down with me. I¡¯m no good at concealment, so I can only use this method to hide my aura.¡±

    Zhao Yuyang spat hard. ¡°Spouting all that righteousness, but you¡¯re just afraid of dying.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face turned red. Without a word, he turned about and started running toward the source of the rumbling.

    Zhao Yuying was shocked. Fortunately, she reacted swiftly by tripping Wei Potian and cing a foot on his back, stopping him from mbering up.

    She prodded Wei Potian¡¯s head with her hand-cannon, saying, ¡°Are you nuts?¡±

    Wei Potian said with an ashen expression, ¡°I¡¯ll go fight it out with that six-armed monster! I¡¯ll let you see whether I¡¯m afraid of death or not!¡±

    Zhao Yuying was even more furious. She stomped down hard and cursed, ¡°Do you even have a brain? Don¡¯t you know the difference between being fearless and throwing away your life? What will I do if you die just like that?¡±

    Wei Potian looked back at Zhao Yuying in surprise.

    Zhao Yuying pushed the man¡¯s head down with her hand-cannon, burying it into the soil. ¡°What are you thinking about? What I mean is that a meat-shield like you isn¡¯t so easy to find in this damned ce.¡±

    Wei Potian could only nod since he couldn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°Get up. This mommy will ignore you the next time you act confused, you hear?¡± Zhao Yuying shouted.

    Wei Potian mbered up. His face was full of mud and dust, but he was all smiles.

    Zhao Yuying spat. ¡°What a wretched smile, almost like that Song Seven!¡±

    This time, however, Wei Potian wasn¡¯t going to take it. ¡°How am I simr to that sissy?¡±

    Amidst theughter and noise, the duo suddenly sensed something. They turned toward the forest at the same time and stared intently in a certain direction. Wei Potian stepped in front of Zhao Yuying, his figure glowing with a yellowish radiance and faint projections of distant mountains.

    At this moment, Wei Potian¡¯s Thousand Mountains was ready to activate at a moment¡¯s notice. He had reached a stage where he could unleash and retract his powers at will, an entire level above his previous achievement.

    Zhao Yuying took a step back, her cannon glowing faintly and ready to fire. As specialists in defense and attack respectively, the two were able to cooperate perfectly.

    The thicket in front of them shook as a cloud of ck mist drifted out. There was a humanoid figure hidden within the smokey mass.

    This was a demonkin. What else was there to say? Zhao Yuying locked onto the target with a cold smile, ready to fire.

    The mist faltered and revealed itself, not expecting Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying to be here. The smoke receded to reveal the person inside.

    ¡°Eden!¡± Wei Potian eximed with a serious expression.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to fear. This fellow is shrewd and ruthless, but I refuse to believe he can escape a st now that I¡¯ve locked onto him!¡± Zhao Yuying was disdainful. Despite saying that, her eyes were clear and the cannon in her hand was rearing to fire. It didn¡¯t look the least like she was underestimating her enemy.

    Eden had long since gained fame, so the Empire¡¯s younger generation was familiar with both his name and appearance. He was an extremely dangerous character, one worthy of caution once encountered.

    Eden narrowed his eyes. He hadn¡¯t expected to encounter two difficult experts from the Empire here. His luck had been pretty bad since entering the Great Maelstrom. He had almost run into a six-armed general just now. That monster was going berserk for some reason, destroying all the trees in his wake as he ran. A stray tree-trunk even smashed Eden¡¯s temporary hideout. How could he dare stay around after such a shock?

    Just the might of that six-armed native¡¯s movements told Eden that he wasn¡¯t a match at all. He naturally had to run as far as possible.

    Who would¡¯ve thought he would run into Zhao Yuying¡¯s cannon?

    With an unsightly expression, Eden tightened his grasp on the Abyssal Tribute and arched his body in abat stance. Losing his concealment removed most of his advantage, and he wasn¡¯t quite confident about a melee brawl with the duo.

    Eden nced at the mountain projections in Wei Potian¡¯s origin power, and then at Zhao Yuying¡¯s hand-cannon. ¡°Wei Qiyang, Zhao Yuying!¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed out loud. ¡°Well, it seems I¡¯m quite famous! I guess I didn¡¯t kill all those dark race scum for nothing.¡±

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t too happy. ¡°This daddy here is called Wei Potian!¡±

    Be it in the Empire or Evernight, the younger generations would¡¯ve gone into the battlefield at this level of maturity. Their fame among the opposing faction was mostly gained by killing. Eden, Wei Potian, and Zhao Yuying all knew one another and naturally understood that their opponents were difficult.

    Presently, Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian were at an advantage. However, if they couldn¡¯t kill him in one shot, the demonkin would run back into the forest. The tables would turn at that point because Eden was an expert in concealment and sniping¡ªeven Qianye had suffered somewhat in his hands.

    Eden nced into the depths of the forest. ¡°Not fighting?¡±

    Wei Potian was puzzled. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Zhao Yuying red at him. She then said to Eden, ¡°We¡¯re at an advantage now, why would we not fight?¡±

    Eden shot her a nce. ¡°Just a bit of an advantage, don¡¯t think too highly of yourself. I don¡¯t want to fight because I don¡¯t want to die together with you two.¡±

    Only at this point did Wei Potian realize that a fight would involve origin cannons and guns. Themotion would spread like an avnche, and it would surely draw that six-armed monster over.

    They could all forget about living once that monstrosity was upon them. They had witnessed the terrifying speed with which the six-armed general was chasing a certain prey just now. None of them would be able to escape once targeted. This was the reason why origin weapons couldn¡¯t be used in the Great Maelstrom. The biggest threat wasn¡¯t the animosity between factions and powers, but instead the native monsters that might be drawn out.

    Zhao Yuying replied, ¡°You don¡¯t want to, but that doesn¡¯t mean we don¡¯t. This mommy here isn¡¯t afraid of death and taking you down with me isn¡¯t a loss, anyway. If you don¡¯t want to fight, take out something to convince me, otherwise, we can skip the useless chatter.¡±

    Eden pondered for a while before tossing a jar of wine to Zhao Yuying. ¡°Take this and drink at your leisure. Also, I won¡¯t be attacking you for three days.¡±

    It was actually a jar of white-fruit wine. Seeing the gift, Wei Potian¡¯s expression became weird while Zhao Yuying blushed ever so slightly. She duly caught the jar and tossed it to Wei Potian. ¡°Put it away.¡±

    Thetter stowed the wine away in his spatial gear. The Wei family had given him their full support for his trip into the Great Maelstrom, going so far as to take out the treasures they had been hoarding. Comparatively, even Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t have storage equipment.

    After putting the tribute away, Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t in a rush to leave. ¡°Aren¡¯t the conditions too generous? What will you do if I attack you?¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Ha! What if I like catching you off-guard?¡±

    Eden replied calmly, ¡°Humans are mostly crafty and untrustworthy, but you¡¯re an exception.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was surprised. ¡°I have such a good reputation?¡±

    Eden snorted. ¡°I¡¯m giving you three days because I made a deal with someone, and you happen to be rted to it.¡±

    ¡°What deal?¡± Zhao Yuying was curious.

    ¡°That, you don¡¯t need to know.¡± Eden wasn¡¯t about to give her face.

    It was at this moment that the three became rmed.

    The forest began to tremble as the shockingly heavy footsteps appeared once more, and it wasing in their direction!

    The steps came at great speed. The six-armed general wasn¡¯t sprinting deliberately, but it would move dozens of meters with every step, advancing great distances in mere moments. The dense forest could offer no resistance against him, either.

    ¡°We can¡¯t escape!¡± Wei Potian eximed.

    ¡°Indeed, we won¡¯t make it,¡± Eden chimed in.

    ¡°Duh! Start hiding!¡± Zhao Yuying stomped down to form a pit in the ground. This was the high-gravity region, and the soil here was as hard as steel. Even Eden was shocked at how easily she had excavated the pit.

    Zhao Yuying kicked Wei Potian in after digging the pit. Thetter knew how to cooperate¡ªhis origin power surged out to form a barrier of light over the opening, upon which Zhao Yuying arranged an array of branches and leaves. The setup seemed so genuine that Eden couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised.

    After the camouge had been set up, Wei Potian let out a soft cry, and the origin power barrier rose above the opening. The elevation process was extremely stable and didn¡¯t disturb the leaves in the slightest. This alone was enough to showcase his extraordinary cultivation.

    Zhao Yuying jumped into the pit, and then beckoned to Eden. ¡°What are you gazing around for? Are you looking to die?¡±

    Eden jumped in after a brief moment of hesitation. Wei Potian then lowered the light barrier and duly sealed the opening of the pit. At a nce, this ce was no different from any other part of the forest, and even the most experienced hunters would find it difficult to find any clues.

    At this moment, a wisp of ck energy spread out and covered up what remained of Wei Potian¡¯s origin power aura.

    Now everything was perfect.

    The six-armed general arrived inrge strides, scanning the surroundings with eyes like lightning. He stepped over the trio¡¯s hiding ce without sensing anything, and simply went on his way.

 Chapter 1025: Stunning Sho

    The three of them jumped out only after the six-armed general had left.

    Eden, Wei Potian, and Zhao Yuying exchanged fierce nces but refrained from an actual fight. They didn¡¯t really have the will to fight, either, after witnessing the scene from just now.

    Eden pointed at Zhao Yuying and said in a deep voice, ¡°If we meet again after three days, it¡¯ll be the end of your life.¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed, ¡°Brag on! Come and take this mommy¡¯s head now if you¡¯re capable!¡±

    Eden snorted but ultimately decided against a verbal spar. He retreated slowly and faded into the depths of the forest.

    Wei Potian watched Eden¡¯s receding figure while scratching his head. ¡°Are we letting him go just like that?¡±

    Zhao Yuying smacked him on the head, saying, ¡°What else can we do? We¡¯ve already agreed to three dayster, so even if we want to fight, it¡¯ll be then. What kind of person do you think this mommy is? I keep my word!¡±

    Wei Potian was still hesitant. ¡°I think we had a good opportunity just now, we might not have such a good chance the next time we meet him. Back in the Far East battlefield, I would never pass on any opportunity. That was how I was taught by the elders of the n. Now that we¡¯ve let Eden go, perhaps he will be a cmity for the empire.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a battlefield, naturally, it¡¯s fine to do so. This ce isn¡¯t the same.¡±

    Truth be told, Wei Potian didn¡¯t feel anything different between the Great Maelstrom and the Far East battlefields. The only difference was that the Great Maelstrom was a sh of experts, while the other was a battle between armies. In terms of cruelty, however, the Great Maelstrom could only be superior. No expert entering this ce would dare say he could escape alive.

    Despite feeling that Zhao Yuying was just twisting words, Wei Potian still tried to persuade her patiently, ¡°I just feel that we might be ambushed if we meet Eden again, even before the three days is up. If we¡¯re too soft, there¡¯s no telling how many Imperial experts will die in Eden¡¯s hands. There¡¯s no room for friendship between the Empire and Evernight.¡±

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t agree. ¡°There¡¯s no need to discuss great virtues when you can¡¯t even keep up your personal morals. I¡¯ll be the first to doubt your character.¡±

    ¡°Those are different things.¡±

    ¡°Of course they¡¯re the same.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying we should be immoral, but we need to look at who we¡¯re dealing with! There¡¯s no need to be righteous when dealing with the dark races.¡±

    ¡°Morality is morality, we agreed to hold three days, so we can¡¯t go back on our words. This has nothing to do with race but with one¡¯s integrity.¡±

    The two argued for a good while without any conclusion. Actually, this kind of debate would never have a conclusion. Wei Potian shook his head helplessly and sighed. ¡°Sigh, women¡­¡±

    This made Zhao Yuying unhappy. ¡°What about women? Brat, you weren¡¯t even a recruit when this mommy was fighting through life and death on the battlefield!¡±

    At the mention of this, Wei Potian raised his hand in defeat. ¡°Okay Yuying, it¡¯s my fault¡­¡±

    Zhao Yuying became even more furious. ¡°Don¡¯t address me with such familiarity! Is Yuying for you to call? Don¡¯t think anything can happen between us just because I lost myposure after some wine. Let me tell you, this mommy won¡¯t take responsibility!¡±

    Blushing hard, Wei Potian stammered, ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. About yesterday, I also¡­¡±

    Zhao Yuying shrugged. ¡°Stop! Are you trying to say you were also in the wrong? Save your breath! Back then, I drank a bit too much and forced myself onto you. Do you think you can escape my ws with your meager skills? It¡¯d make no difference even if you had resisted.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face swelled red, and he wanted nothing more than to drill into the ground. It seemed the Thousand Mountains was useless no matter how high his cultivation of it was.

    Zhao Yuying patted his shoulder. ¡°Enough, no need to think too much about it. There are things one cannot help while roaming the world, things like this will happen sooner orter. You didn¡¯t take that much of a loss with me. No matter what, you¡¯re more or less one of mine in the future, so let me know if there¡¯s anyone you can¡¯t beat. I¡¯ll st him away.¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°I¡­¡±

    He had just uttered a single word when he was interrupted by Zhao Yuying. ¡°I what? Don¡¯t keep talking about this small thing all the time, it¡¯s annoying. I only slept with you one day out of the three hundred and sixty-five in a year. What¡¯s the big deal? Let me tell you, it¡¯s useless no matter what you think. You can ask around after leaving this ce how heartless this mommy was back in the year.¡±

    Wei Potian was a well-experienced character, but he simply couldn¡¯t deal with Zhao Yuying¡¯s marketce vulgarity. Who would¡¯ve thought Duke You¡¯s descendant and a genius of the Zhao n would be such a person? Wei Potian was stopped so badly that he could hardly breathe, his heart filled with an inexplicable sensation. Disappointment and indignation burned in his entire being, mixed with a strong tinge of love. He wanted nothing more than to roar at the sky.

    However, the six-armed general was still nearby, and howling at the moon would be no different from courting death. The stifling sensation was truly inexplicable.

    Wei Potian forced himself to calm down, and then pointed at the direction of the native general. ¡°Then let¡¯s talk about something else, does your Zhao n have records about that monster?¡±

    Zhao Yuying replied seriously, ¡°No, none at all. Besides, this mommy snuck out to join the Great Maelstrom. The n doesn¡¯t know about this, and I never looked at the core intelligence reports, either.¡±

    Information regarding the Great Maelstrom had always been one of the n¡¯s most well-kept secrets. Those not entering the Maelstrom had no clearance to read them. Zhao Yuying was a pir of the Duke You residence and normally wouldn¡¯t be allowed to enter the Great Maelstrom. That was unless she was too weak and couldn¡¯t cross the divine champion threshold on her own.

    Wei Potian felt helpless. ¡°Unfortunately, our Wei family has very little intelligence on the Great Maelstrom. I don¡¯t know much, either.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point? We can just avoid things we can¡¯t win against, right?¡±

    Wei Potian replied, ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. This ce has around six-times the gravitypared to the Empire. We might even be able to reach the charted area if we keep running for two more days. It¡¯s definitely hard, but it¡¯s not as if we can¡¯t hold out here. So many experts from the Empire have entered to explore this ce throughout the years, with nock of people stronger than us. How had they never encountered this big fellow? There should be records if they had encountered such an unbeatable foe, but now there¡¯s nothing at all.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was baffled. ¡°There are so many unexplored ces in the Great Maelstrom, what are you getting at?¡±

    Wei Potian replied, ¡°This kind of monster must¡¯ve appeared recently, in recent years at least. Something that powerful wouldn¡¯t appear for no reason. There must be some awesome treasure nearby or clues regarding it.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was first startled, and then erupted in praises. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? You look quite dumb normally, but there are times you can be smart!¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Hey, this daddy is a leadingmander of a region who has managed to defend against the dark race army for many years. I¡¯m not an idiot.¡±

    But Zhao Yuying¡¯s expression changed instantly, thumping him on the head with her fist. ¡°Think about it! No matter how good a treasure that monster is guarding, do you think we can snatch it? You can go alone if you want to die, don¡¯t drag this mommy down! My life is still quite good, a lot of strapping youngds are waiting for me to pamper.¡±

    Wei Potian jumped up in anger. ¡°Y-You! What did you just say?¡±

    ¡°What? What did I say wrong?¡±

    ¡°Thest part!¡±

    ¡°So what? Am I wrong?¡±

    Wei Potian made to speak but stopped. In the end, he snorted. ¡°Nevermind, I can¡¯t out-talk you.¡±

    With that, he left without even checking if Zhao Yuying was following him.

    Thetter was stunned, not expecting Wei Potian to act out like this. ¡°Huh? What are you doing? Are you looking to die!? Stop!¡±

    But Wei Potian kept marching forward obliviously.

    Zhao Yuying remained frozen in ce, not knowing whether she should give chase.

    Wei Potian kept walking with his head down,pletely unaware of the pair of eyes on him.

    Behind the leaves in a certain treetop, Eden ced his crosshairs on Wei Potian¡¯s vitals. ¡°What an idiot! But there are three more days. Although the three days aren''t for you, I guess I¡¯ll spare you as well.¡±

    Eden moved his scope toward the distance, toward the thing he was most fearful of. He could vaguely see the majestic silhouette of the six-armed general seemingly looking for something in the forest.

    Eden felt a headache upon seeing that creature. Such a massive frame in this high-gravity region meant that his physique had reached an unimaginable state. Eden wondered if he could injure the native even if he were to st his head with the Abyssal Tribute.

    It just so happened that the fellow possessed sharp senses and was also extremely fast. That was enough to make Eden shy away from facing the monster, let alone try to find out what abilities he possessed.

    ording to the highest-ranked intelligence of the demonkin race, Eden wasn¡¯t sure if this creature was the only one of its kind. Even if some powerhouse could appear and finish off this bastard, it would most likely serve to draw out even more powerful beings. The intelligence report he had read was of the highest clearance. The Eternal me had handed it to him just before entering the Great Maelstrom.

    This six-armed monstrosity was blocking the only path toward the lower-gravity region. It looked like he would need to take a long way around to reach the starting zone.

    Eden began formting a route while observing the six-armed general¡¯s movements.

    It was at this time that an intense feeling rose up in his heart. It was almost as though the entire world was being twisted and warped. Then, an ineffable sense of palpitation filled his entire being.

    All objects in his vision were distorted, and the distant six-armed general even more so. He looked almost like a thin sheet of paper that had been stuffed into a ss bottle.

    A silent field of red spider lilies had appeared in the distant sky, blooming and wilting immediately afterward. With the blossoming and withering of each flower, cracks began to appear in the numerous nar realms¡ªespecially the one in which the six-armed general had been sealed.

    The monster roared and struggled, but it simply couldn¡¯t escape the binding of the nar realms.

    The cracks increased progressively, and finally, the realms shattered into countless fragments, each containing an image of the roaring general!

    The world finally restored itself and Eden¡¯s palpitation gradually subsided. The six-armed general was still standing, but he waspletely still and no longer roaring.

 Chapter 1026: Fleeing Red Spider Lily

    Eden nced at the ce where the six-armed general had copsed, feeling everything to be extremely unreal. That six-armed monstrosity they had no choice but to hide together from had actually copsed? Was he dead, injured, or just asleep?

    The ridiculous and dispersed train of thoughtsted mere moments. Eden suddenly recalled the blooming and wilting of the other shore flowers, as well as their source.

    He quickly contained his confused thoughts and jumped down from the tree, using this demonic energy to shield his body as he ran in the opposite direction of the flowers.

    At this moment, the absurd feeling in his heart grew even stronger. If he hadn¡¯t seen it clearly, Eden would have never believed the Red Spider Lily would appear in the Great Maelstrom.

    Each Grand Magnum was a national superweapon, capable of suppressing a direction on its own. It was also something that couldn¡¯t be lost. Reportedly, the owner of the Red Spider Lily was an ordinary girl without any origin power¡ªhow could the Empire let such a person bring the magnum into the Gream Maelstrom? Even a famed demonkin scion like him was finding it hard to adapt to the environment here; how did that human get through everything?

    At the same time, a different, insuppressible notion popped up in his head: this was the best time to rob the Red Spider Lily! Eden¡¯s name would go down in history if he could get his hands on this Grand Magnum. His status in the demonkin race would also surge sharply!

    But those dreamy prospects didn¡¯t affect Eden as he kept on running swiftly. The might he had witnessed just now was even greater than the legends spoke of. He probably couldn¡¯t take even ten of those flowers, let alone the hundreds blooming in the air just now.

    Merits were good, but he would need to be alive to take them. No matter who was in charge of the Red Spider Lily, Eden was sure they wouldn¡¯t hold back after discovering him.

    At this moment, Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying were stunned as they watched the withering red spider lilies in the distance.

    ¡°Ruoxi!¡± Zhao Yuying jumped up and rushed toward the flowers like a madman. A shocked Wei Potian also gave chase from behind.

    Zhao Yuying came to herself after a period of sprinting, quickly retracting her aura and switching to stealth movement. Wei Potian ran alongside her in silence, but Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t reject him short of giving him a re.

    Zhao Yuying recalled that Zhao Ruoxi would usually be exhausted after firing a single round. That was why the n always had experts guarding her. But she was in the Great Maelstrom right now, which meant that the two experts probably weren¡¯t by her side.

    The forest was full of danger. Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t want to mess up and attract wild beasts to Ruoxi¡¯s location.

    The six-armed general¡¯s massive body was lying on the ground, his arms twitching from time to time. The monster¡¯s eyes, however, had lost their luster and were merely staring at the vast sky. Zhao Ruoxi was hopping about on the massive body, seemingly searching for something.

    There were several pouches hanging at the six-armed general¡¯s waist, which Zhao Ruoxi opened up one by one. Most of them were filled with dried beast meat, as well as some unidentifiable stones and pieces of wood. The girl didn¡¯t even look at those things, but she cried out in joy when she found a jar of white-fruit wine in one of the pouches.

    ¡°Ruoxi, put that down. You can¡¯t drink it!¡± Zhao Yuying could no longer worry about anything else as she called out from afar.

    Zhao Ruoxi was startled. Her hands shook for a bit and almost dropped the jar on the ground. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian charging over.

    Her expression was almost a bit panicky. Several red spider lilies bloomed around her, carrying her entire person into the air.

    Zhao Yuying was anxious. ¡°Ruoxi, stop! Where are you going?¡±

    But Zhao Ruoxi wasn¡¯t about to listen to her. The flowers bloomed and withered through the air as the girl vanished into the depths of the forest, traveling countless times faster than Zhao Yuying.

    When thetter arrived beside the six-armed general, Zhao Ruoxi was nowhere to be found, leaving her dumbstruck.

    Wei Potian caught up and stood beside Zhao Yuying. ¡°It seems she doesn¡¯t want to see you.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Zhao Yuying was puzzled.

    Wei Potian shrugged. ¡°How should I know, but she has to have a reason. We can¡¯t help it if she doesn¡¯t want to see us.¡±

    Zhao Yuying stamped her feet. ¡°But she¡¯s in danger right now!¡±

    ¡°The power of the Red Spider Lily is still active, and you also saw its might. So, the one in danger isn¡¯t her but us.¡±

    In the Great Maelstrom, one would have to leave immediately after using an origin gun or risk attracting danger. With that, Wei Potian pointed at the six-armed general¡¯s corpse. ¡°Do you want to check him for anything? You¡¯d better do it now, we don¡¯t have much time left.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was still a bit unresigned. She nced at Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s direction before letting out a sigh. She had no choice but to ept Wei Potian¡¯s suggestion to collect spoils from the six-armed monster.

    There was nothing of great value in the six-armed native¡¯s pouches; others were simply unrecognizable. Wei Potian¡¯s storage space was really tight and simply couldn¡¯t fit that many things. Due to itsrge build, it was impossible for the six-armed general¡¯s weapons to fit inside the spatial gear.

    Perhaps the most valuable spoil of war was the corpse itself, but how were they to know which part of the six-armed general was valuable and which parts were just useless flesh?

    Going with her instincts, Zhao Yuying shed at the six-armed general¡¯s chest. The heart of such an iparably powerful giant creature had to be valuable.

    But unexpectedly, this sh only left a shallow mark on his chest! It would seem she hadn¡¯t even cut through the monster¡¯s skin!

    Zhao Yuying hadn¡¯t imagined the native¡¯s body would be this strong, even after death. It seemed as though digging the heart out would be a fairly strenuous undertaking.

    It was at this moment that a series of rustling sounds echoed in the woods. Even Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but feel their blood run cold.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Zhao Yuying asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it sure isn¡¯t anything good.¡± Wei Potian¡¯s expression was unsightly.

    The sounds approached from afar, and soon, several beetles crawled out from the forest. The insects were the size of a fist, with a scarletpound eye on their heads and a shocking proboscis. Their movements were also extremely fast, only a bit slower than Wei Potian.

    The beetles ran straight over to the six-armed general¡¯s body, followed by a dark swarm of even more bugs.

    Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian noticed that things weren¡¯t looking good. She grabbed a couple of random stones from the general¡¯s pouch and then fled with Wei Potian in tow.

    At this point, the rustling sounds had grown as loud as a raging storm. The two didn¡¯t dare linger and kept on running until they could no longer hear anything.

    Fortunately, it was just as the duo had predicted¡ªthe beetles were here for the six-armed general¡¯s body. Had that not been the case, the two of them would¡¯ve been in great danger. Such an insect tide was one of the scariest types as any level of fierce beast could be reduced to a skeleton within moments.

    Zhao Yuying nced behind her, seemingly still worried.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± It was rare for her to ask. During the series of recent matters, Wei Potian had disyed a degree of reliability and intelligence that made her see him in a new light.

    Wei Potian gave it some thought. ¡°Let¡¯s just find a way to return to the starting region, and then discuss what we should do. The frigid night alone makes it hard for us to remain in this area for long. And I really don¡¯t want to experience another six-armed monster or those beetles.¡±

    Zhao Yuying nodded in agreement.

    ¡°What will we do afterward?¡± she inquired.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have a lot of choices at that point. I have a Storm Pearl, so I can try my luck at the Constetion Well. The Pond of Life isn¡¯t far off at that point, but it depends on you whether or not you want to go.¡±

    At the mention of the Pond of Life, Zhao Yuying seemed quite hesitant. Ladies would suffer ten times more embarrassment after losing control inside the Pond of Life. Even though Wei Potian would be around, he might not be able to defend himself when the time came. Hence, experts had always quietly avoided the Pond of Life throughout history.

    The Pond of Life was the best ce to test one¡¯s willpower. Which expert wasn¡¯t proud of their own willpower? Only when entering the Pond of Life would they realize how weak they were. Some had mentioned using the pond to train one¡¯s willpower, but people only supported the notion verbally. No one really volunteered.

    After a long period of deliberation, Zhao Yuyingughed wryly. ¡°I¡¯ve encountered some things in the past. I¡¯m a bit¡­ like that. I probably won¡¯t be able to pass the test of willpower.¡±

    Wei Potian nodded, but he didn¡¯t try to pry into her history.

    ¡­

    Back in the Heavenschild Pasture, the old man was showing Qianye¡¯s group to the ntations.

    Close to the small hut was a vast meadow. There were a couple dozen small trees growing amidst the grass, with cherry-red fruits hanging from their branches. The skin of the fruit was decorated with speckles of gold.

    The old man said, ¡°This is a star cherry tree. These trees are already mature, but the others are still growing. Star cherry requires almost a hundred years to mature. Can you guess where the medicinal part is?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°It must be the fruit?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the leaves,¡± said Ji Tianqing.

    ¡°The root?¡± This was Li Kuann¡¯s thought.

    The old manughed while stroking his beard. ¡°Neither, it¡¯s the trunk.¡±

    The old man arrived before a star cherry tree that was around his height and said while stroking the trunk, ¡°This one ispletely mature. We need to cut off all the branches and leaves during the harvest, leaving only the trunk. As for the fruits, they are so poisonous that we can¡¯t even touch them, let alone eat.¡±

    Qianye noticed that even the old man was cautious not to touch the fruits. He couldn¡¯t help but feel shaken and be more vignt.

    The old man pulled his hand back and smiled at the trio. ¡°This one is ready for harvesting, want to try?¡±

    ¡°Let me.¡± Ji Tianqing was unwilling to pass on this opportunity.

    She drew abat knife and then turned back to ask, ¡°How should I go about this?¡±

    ¡°Cut it down at the ground level, and then shave off the leaves.¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded¡ªher knife moved like lightning and struck the root of the tree. ¡°ng!¡± The sound of metal striking metal echoed in the area. The tree trunk had an extra scratch now, but the attack didn¡¯t even prate the bark.

 Chapter 1027: Star Cherry Toxin

    ¡°Eh?¡± Ji Tianqing was surprised. Every weapon she had brought out was a quality item, and even this spare weapon was grade-eight. Yet, the sh wouldn¡¯t go through this tree?

    Ji Tianqing took a deep breath as the thunderous rumble of Excavator echoed throughout her body. She took a step forward with great momentum and shed ferociously at the tree trunk.

    Once again, thebat knife bounced back with a loud ng and almost hit Ji Tianqing¡¯s forehead. She had to go all out just to control the recoil, her finger-webs bleeding from the impact.

    The star cherry tree shook violently, and a star cherry dropped down toward Ji Tianqing. By the time the girl had noticed the iing fruit, there was no more time to evade. All she could do was swing a palm toward the falling fruit. Even if she were poisoned, it would be her hand and not on her body.

    It was at this moment that Qianye pressed down on Ji Tianqing¡¯s hand and grabbed the star cherry, tossing it far away.

    Qianye felt his palm go numb the moment the fruitnded in his grasp. He withdrew his hand to find a patch of darkness dotted with golden specks, much like the pattern on the star cherry fruit.

    Not daring to neglect this development, he quickly channeled the dark golden blood energy to iste the venom. However, Qianye seemed to have underestimated the toxicity¡ªthe dark golden blood energy fought the poison in a fierce battle, but it couldn¡¯t quite keep the intruding agent at bay. The ck patch on his palm was beginning to extend toward his wrist.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t flustered in the face of danger. He set up numerous blockades with the dark golden blood energy to temporarily trap the poison while he activated Venus Dawn. A stream of origin power¡ªone ranked at the apex of daybreak¡ªsurged into his palm. A plume of scarlet gold mes danced in his hand, reducing the star cherry poison to ash along with the nearby flesh.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even frown as he burned away the flesh on his own palm. The dark golden blood energy then sprang into action, stimting the growth of nearby flesh and blood. Qianye¡¯s hand recovered in mere moments, except for the pinkish hue on his regenerated skin. This new flesh had not undergone tempering by the auric me blood and Venus Dawn. They were currently a ways off from Qianye¡¯s normal flesh and would take a good while to normalize.

    This dangerous experience gave Qianye a direct understanding of the star cherry fruit¡¯s toxicity.

    He opened his left palm, duly summoning East Peak to his grasp as he arched his body. Staring fixedly at the old man, Qianye said slowly, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    The old man wasn¡¯t nervous. He chuckled while stroking his beard. ¡°What meaning? You can¡¯t me other people for this little fellow¡¯s carelessness. That sword in your hand, though, it¡¯s a bit¡­¡±

    The old man took a step back in shock, trying to put some distance between him and Qianye. He quickly understood something after the retreat. ¡°Young people these days are really not simple. It seems I have misjudged you, could it be that you really have something that can injure me?¡±

    Qianye made no reply. He slowly raised his right hand and formed a gun with his fingers, which he then aimed at the old man.

    The old man¡¯s expression transformed numerous times as Qianye¡¯s hand rose up, finally culminating in a solemn focus at his fingertips.

    This time, he no longer dared to act carelessly. Several rings of red-golden origin power pulsed around his vitals. Having set up his protection, the old man coughed awkwardly and said, ¡°Why are you so angry, young man? Thatss is Old Man Ji¡¯s descendant, someone connected to me by fate. Why would I harm you?¡±

    Qianye remained silent, his finger still aimed at the old man¡¯s forehead.

    The man was both angry and embarrassed. ¡°Young Man, don¡¯t be so cheeky! If you make me truly angry, I¡¯ll just drive you all out!¡±

    His outburst got him no response. Instead, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann began to move¡ªthey stood behind the old man on either side, ready to attack at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The elder sighed. ¡°Young people these days don¡¯t know how to respect their elders anymore. Fine, I¡¯ll tell you the truth, the fruit is poisonous, but it¡¯s not lethal. There are benefits to be had after enduring the early medicinal effects. It¡¯s just that the process itself isn¡¯t quitefortable.¡±

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann nced skeptically at Qianye. He was the only one who had experienced the toxin, the only one who could verify the old man¡¯s im.

    Qianye thought back carefully and discovered that the strong poison was just a bit shy of being lethal. It would spread quickly throughout the body and seep into the muscles, immobilizing the person entirely. But, only a small amount of flesh would die in the process, and only the weakest parts at that. If the star cherry poison were to spread throughout the body, it would beparable to a special form of body tempering. Ji Tianqing¡¯s constitution should be able to endure this process, but just as the old man had said, it would be an agonizing process.

    ¡°He¡¯s not wrong, but I don¡¯t think he has good intentions,¡± Qianye replied.

    Without so much as a word, Ji Tianqing fished out a metallic bucket and stared intently at the old man.

    Thetter was utterly shocked upon seeing the item. ¡°Why do you have this thing!?¡±

    Ji Tianqing waved the metal bucket, saying, ¡°It¡¯s good that you recognize what this is. Now, tell us what your real intentions are, or I¡¯ll toss this to the ground and everyone will die together!¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have taken this item out if you were the one poisoned just now, would you?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? If I¡¯m about to die, I¡¯ll naturally drag you down with me,¡± Ji Tianqing replied with great certainty.

    The old man was starting to sweat. He shook his head, saying, ¡°Mischief! What mischief! How could the old man give you that thing?¡±

    ¡°I know when to use it and when not to.¡±

    The old man sighed. ¡°Fine! Young people these days are so disrespectful. I won¡¯t keep you all in suspense anymore. The star cherry fruit is useless for that young man over there, and it¡¯s too fierce for the Li family¡¯s young miss. However, it will benefit you by tempering your body onest time before you advance. Of course, you won¡¯t need to wait for gradual recovery after the poison has spread to all parts of your body. You just need to take a simple antidote, which is actually the leaf of the star cherry tree. If thess¡¯ constitution is strong enough, or if she uses recovery medicine, the process will take less than half a day¡¯s time.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°That¡¯s not very long, but she¡¯ll need time to recover herbat capabilities, won¡¯t she?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°That¡¯s a given since the entire body will be damaged after the process, and the new muscles need time before they can be used at will.¡±

    Qianye nodded in relief. It would seem the old man wasn¡¯t just spouting random nonsense. Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t having it, however. She picked up Qianye¡¯s hand and waved it at the old man, saying, ¡°What¡¯s this, then?¡±

    ¡°Who told him to rush to your rescue without waiting for me to exin? But it seems he¡¯s quite close to you, he even dares to touch a highly poisonous object for your sake.¡±

    Ji Tianqing blushed. ¡°Bullsh*t!¡±

    The old man said seriously, ¡°Rest assured, this young man is connected to me by fate. I¡¯ll give him something good as well. You, on the other hand, should eat one of the fruits first.¡±

    The old man waved his hand, sending a star cherry drifting toward Ji Tianqing. Thetter picked up the fruit and swallowed it without further thought. Qianye was surprised at how much Ji Tianqing trusted the old man¡¯s words, so much so that she had actually swallowed the fruit. The toxin was so powerful that it would take effect immediately after entering the stomach. There was no stopping it now.

    The old man pointed at the hut. ¡°Go rest in the house. Li girl, you take care of her for a while. Feed her a star cherry leaf after a quarter-hour, no sooner orter. And be careful not to touch her body.¡±

    At this moment, Ji Tianqing¡¯s countenance was shrouded in ck energy. She struggled to lie down and could no longer move thereafter. Li Kuann caught a leaf from the tree and sat beside the bed with a worried expression.

    Qianye shot a nce at the old man, and despite his silence, the old man could feel his brows twitching. Thetter shook his head and sighed. ¡°Young people these days, they¡¯re even trying to threaten these old bones.¡±

    With that, he pointed at the star cherry trees. ¡°This one, this one, and this one, chop them down and give me seven of the fruits.¡±

    Qianye picked up East Peak and arrived before a star cherry tree. With a deep breath, the muscles and tendons in his body begin to emit a sound of rumbling thunder!

    Channeling up to the sixthyer of Excavator, he swung East Peak at the tree and felled it with a crack.

    Qianye tapped several times with his fingers, sending seven star cherries toward the old man. This transition from strength to precision was as smooth as flowing water and seemingly not even his full power. The old man¡¯s brows twitched as he watched this process.

    The old man put away the fruits before instructing Qianye to carve off the branches, leaving only the bare trunk. He picked up the tree trunks and sealed off the openings with a transparent colloid. After which, he tossed them to Qianye. ¡°Not bad, take it.¡±

    Qianye caught the trunks but felt a bit awkward about it. His space in Andruil¡¯s space was fairly limited right now. He wouldn¡¯t be able to put anything else inside if he were to add the three star cherry trees. Storage space was of the utmost value, so he was wondering if he should put these blocks of wood in. He didn¡¯t even know their function just yet.

    The old man noticed Qianye¡¯s dilemma. ¡°Young man, I sense some remnant medicinal fragrance from you. You recently used regenerative medicine, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. This old man¡¯s nose was quite sharp, perhaps even the sharpest in the Empire. ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°This star cherry tree is the main ingredient for making regenerative medicine. These three tree-trunks will produce about six portions of it.¡±

    After hearing this, Qianye immediately made space inside of Andruil¡¯s Space and stuffed the star cherry trees inside. Having used the medicine once, he knew that having a regenerative medicine in hand was equal to half an extra life. Only after seeing the star cherry tree here did Qianye realize why the drug was so valuable. The entire Heavenschild Pasture could only produce six doses of it in the past century...

 Chapter 1028: Brother of the Pas

    Qianye saw the old man lifting his basket, just about to go back inside, and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Elder Lu, are there any more ces that produce star cherry trees?¡±

    ¡°You can sometimes see wild star cherry trees in the forest and on the Ashen Mountain Range, but they¡¯re more potent and dangerous. There would also be beastirs around these trees. Hence, the yield out in the wilds isn¡¯t quite stable. Sometimes more than the pasture, sometimes less.¡±

    Chatting along the way, the two soon arrived at a fenced medicinal garden. The soil in this garden was ck with stones of various colors buried within it. There were a number of shrubs growing inside the garden, and they didn¡¯t look that different from the wild grass in the forests and mountains.

    The old man knew Qianye wasn¡¯t well versed in this subject. ¡°The grass here is different from the ordinary wild grass, it¡¯s called graysteel thread grass. Check the edges of the grass des, you¡¯ll see traces of rust, and you can differentiate it from ordinary grass by the grey line running down its spine. As far as the Great Maelstrom is concerned, of course, it¡¯s just a wild grass.¡±

    The grass naturally had extraordinary uses since it was given such arge plot ofnd. ording to the old man¡¯s introduction, it was one of the main ingredients of top-grade military recovery medicines. Qianye had obtained one top-grade recovery and regenerative medicines just before his showdown with Luo Bingfeng.

    The Graysteel Wire Grass wasn¡¯t irreceable, but sufficient amounts of it in the concoction would increase its effectiveness by a great margin. This was how the top-grade versions came to be. Because recovery medicine possessed a greater scope of use than regenerative medicine, its consumption rate was also much higher. From a certain perspective, it could be said that the strategic value of graysteel wire grass wasn¡¯t too inferiorpared to star cherry trees. It was just that thetter was a life-saving item for top-experts, and it was also much rarer.

    Qianye had indeed seen a fair bit of these nts, but that was in the area with ten times the gravity. It wasrgely nonexistent by the time they had arrived in the region with eight times the gravity. Being able to move the nts here went to show just how capable the founder of the Heavenschild Pasture was and that the environment of the pasture itself was special.

    The old man strolled around the medicinal garden, plucking herbs here and there as he did so. He then bundled everything up and tossed it to Qianye.

    This small bundle could still fit inside Andruil¡¯s space.

    Things were fine up until this point, but next up was where the real pain would begin¡ªthe agony of seeing treasures and not being able to fit them in. The star cherry tree and graysteel thread grass could be considered¡ªif just barelymodities that could be mass-cultivated. There would surely be many highly-valuable resources with odd effects in the future.

    For instance, the big beehives hanging on some of the trees could produce a special type of honey. Eating it regrly would improve one¡¯s eyesight. Ingesting the product for a couple of years might awaken abilities like dim-light vision. Not seeing in the dark had always been a weakness of the human race. Qianye wasn¡¯t quite interested because he possessed the Eye of Truth, but this was a fairly useful power for ordinary experts.

    There were some ancient vines wrapped around certain giant trees, reportedly having existed since the founding of the Heavenschild Pasture. These ancient vines could be tapped for their sap, which served as an ingredient for numerous medicines. In truth, this sap was also an antidote for most of the poisons found in the Great Maelstrom.

    The poison in this realm left a deep impression in Qianye¡¯s mind¡ªfrom the purple poison used by the bow-wielding woman back when they were picking silk lotuses to venomous insects on the Ashen Mountain Range and the tyrannical poison of the star cherry fruit. Even the white mist produced by the four-armed women could be considered a type of poison. Experts from both the Empire and Evernight were quite weak to these dangers.

    Outside of the Great Maelstrom, experts would have origin defenses protecting them against natural poisons. Only the venom produced by the arachne could be considered an extreme toxin. In the Great Maelstrom, however, one could encounter potent venom everywhere, and even Qianye wasn¡¯t entirely immune to most of them.

    With this ancient vine sap, the Great Maelstrom would be so much safer.

    Beside the cliffside spring, there was a patch of wildflowers that looked like hanging bells. After air-drying, these flowers could be made into a special catalyst that would improve the effects of imperial recovery medicines and stimnts.

    There were all kinds of valuable herbs.

    Qianye became acquainted with a couple dozen herbal resources just from this one walk. There was an open mine as well inside the Heavenschild Pasture, but it wasn¡¯t for mining. Instead, it was being utilized for its maic field and special auxiliary ores, which allowed certain medicines to be grown here instead of their natural habitat.

    Seeing so many resources, even someone like Qianye who knew nothing about herbs understood how valuable this ce was. The Song n¡¯s unrivaled fortune wasn¡¯t without reason. Most importantly, it wasn¡¯t during every opening of the Great Maelstrom that the Song n¡¯s people would be able to enter and leave sessfully. Thest time, the Song n¡¯s people had failed to reach the pasture alive. Even if they were to arrive, the amount of produce they could bring with them was quite limited.

    Hence, the Heavenschild Pasture had umted vast amounts of resources throughout the century. It wouldn¡¯t be too much of an exaggeration to say that the ce was a priceless treasure trove. Some of the medicinal farms were left unharvested until the herbs had withered and regrown generationally¡ªwho knows how much medicinal essences had umted in the soil. Even wild grass would probably turn into valuable medicine at this point.

    What dumbfounded Qianye the most was a type of purple-scaled fir. Its bark could be made into medicine and, just like most nts in the Great Maelstrom, its effects were quite fierce. The most valuable part of it, however, was the wood. The material wouldn¡¯t lose out to the ones in the high-gravity regions in terms of sturdiness, yet it was also extremely light, perfect for building airships. In addition to that, the wood possessed vitality-activating effects, which meant that those in an airship constructed from purple-scaled fir would recover quicker from their injuries.

    The value of this purple-scaled fir was naturally quite high, but what shocked Qianye the most was the number of it. Just now, the old man had pointed at a forest stretching all the way to the outer mountains, saying, ¡°This is the purple-scaled fir forest. Take as many as you want.¡±

    Only after reaching the Heavenschild Pasture did Qianye realize how small Andruil¡¯s space was. He wanted nothing more than to take a little bit of everything, but he could no longer fit anything else after collecting the star cherry tree and graysteel wire grass. The other things inside the spatial gear had their own uses.

    After taking Qianye around the Heavenschild Pasture, the old man pointed at East Peak, saying, ¡°This sword looks very familiar to me, can I take a look?¡±

    Qianye had no reason to refuse, so he passed East Peak to the old man.

    The elder¡¯s hands sank down as the sword entered his grasp. His expression shifted several times as he tried to stabilize the weapon. Heavenschild Pasture was located within the Ashen Mountain Range, and the gravity here was twice that of the empire. It went without saying that East Peak was extremely heavy here. This weapon was no longer something an ordinary expert could wield. The old man was powerful in his origin power cultivation, but his strength wasn¡¯t at a level where he could utilize East Peak at will.

    The man nced at Qianye and then lifted East Peak to eye level for careful observation. This time, he didn¡¯t have the calmness of his usual all-knowing self. ¡°If my eyes aren¡¯t clouded yet, this de should¡¯vee from an old friend, but this casting method is quite novel, and there are parts I don¡¯t quite understand. If it¡¯s not too much of an inconvenience, can you tell me about its origins?¡±

    With a nod, Qianye began exining the process of how East Peak came to be.

    The old man became silent for a good while after listening. ¡°It has been so many years, but he still can¡¯t ovee the trial of love. Let it be, everyone¡¯s old now and there¡¯s not much time left to live anyway. What¡¯s the point in talking to him about it?¡±

    Qianye was curious, but he didn¡¯t press the matter because it might be a private matter of the elder generation.

    The old man sat down on a piece of rock and pointed at the one beside him. ¡°Come, sit.¡±

    After Qianye had sat down, the old man removed the gourd bottle from his waist and drank a couple ofrge gulps before passing it to Qianye. ¡°There¡¯s not much left of this stuff, and it¡¯s not easy to get your hands on it outside, try some.¡±

    The moment the cork was removed, a strong alcoholic scent wafted out from the container. Qianye already felt a bit tipsy just from the fragrance, proving just how strong the wine was. He took the bottle and, after some thought, took a big swig. The wine flowed down his throat quite smoothly, and it felt quitefortable.

    Qianye nced at the gourd, not knowing whether he should take another mouthful, because he could feel himself drifting just from a single mouthful. The spirit was like wildfire, spreading all throughout his body. Wherever the warmth touched, wisps of origin power would appear and merge into Qianye¡¯s own. This newborn energy was fairly pure and could be directly converted into Venus Dawn. The quality was so much better than the void origin power absorbed by the Profound Combatant Form.

    The old manughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine to finish it. It took me fifty years to brew this wine, and that¡¯s thest mouthful. I¡¯m too old for it to have any effect. If you don¡¯t drink it now, there won¡¯t be any more in the future.¡±

    Carefully observing the effects of the wine, Qianye asked, ¡°It can increase origin power cultivation?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°All it does is elerate the rate at which one absorbs origin power. The only difference is that the energy absorbed after drinking this wine is quite pure, and it will save you quite a bit of time.¡±

    The effects of the wine were amazing. Qianye no longer held back and finished whatever remained of the alcohol.

    After tworge mouthfuls, Qianye could feel a familiar floating sensation as his consciousness wandered about.

    The old man sighed. ¡°That girl needs time to recover, anyway. If you don¡¯t mind, why not listen to this old man speaking about random matters. If I don¡¯t say it now, there might not be another chance in the future.¡±

    ¡°The one who forged this sword is my brother. We grew up together for several decades. I was proficient in medicine, while he was skilled in forging weapons. When we were in our fifties, he met the girl he had admired as a youth. It was just that the girl from back then was already Duchess An. He fell into a hopeless situation after that meeting, going so far as to joining the Song n despite my dissuasion, all so that he could be close to her.¡±

    At this point, the old man sighed. ¡°His talents were actually above mine, but his progress came to a standstill after encountering love problems. He made even less progress on the path of cksmithing. I thought he had be stupid or perhaps he had reached the end of his talents. Mired in love and deprived of his ambitious spirit, how could he produce any unprecedented masterpieces?¡±

 Chapter 1029: Old Stories

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts drifted about. He only heard half of the old man¡¯s words while the remainder just floated past his ears. The scattered scenes, pieced together, formed a rough narration of the story between the Song n and Elder Lu. Back then, he had stepped into the divine champion realm quite early and was considered a character with potential for taking the next step. However, he made no progress at all after hiding his surname and entering the Song n.

    That wasn¡¯t all. After realizing that his elder brother would enter the Great Maelstrom to train, he used their brotherly rtionship to force the man to guard the Heavenschild Pasture.

    Such a brother truly made one speechless.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts were naturally reflected on his face. The old man said, ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say whether it¡¯s a loss or a gain for me. I was only able to step past the divine champion threshold and keep forging ahead by utilizing the treasures of the Great Maelstrom. I only reached a bottleneck around ten years ago. Speaking of which, most of the merit goes to things like this wine here. But my sess and failure is all dependent on the wine, I progressed by relying on the wine, and now, I can¡¯t take a single step on my own.¡±

    Qianye understood this because the key to clearing bottlenecks was the purity of one''s origin power. The old man¡¯s wine could provide energy pure enough to break through the divine champion threshold, but that wasn¡¯t enough to make him a heavenly monarch since the origin power wasn¡¯t at the apex of purity.

    It was just that the old man had been left to guard the Heavenschild Pasture for fifty years because of his brother¡ªtruly something to sigh about. No wonder the Song n had never lost the pasture throughout the years.

    The old man flicked East Peak with his finger, saying, ¡°There are numerous profundities in this de that I do not understand, but it doesn¡¯t look solely like my brother¡¯s work. Why is that?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t hide the fact that the Zhao n¡¯s Crafts Manor had helped him modify it.

    The old man remained silent for a good while. ¡°Heh! Crafts Manor, Crafts Manor. The Zhao n really is far-sighted, they actually established such a ce. No wonder they have never faltered since the founding of the Empire.¡±

    He returned East Peak to Qianye along with a crystal bottle, and there was a purple ball hovering inside that was translucent and almost crystalline.

    ¡°This sword can still be upgraded. Inside this bottle is the marrow of a void colossus that had fallen here. This is something I came across by chance. After reaching the Pond of Life, apply this marrow on East Peak before entering. The endless power of the pond will help you incorporate the material into the weapon. If you have other good stuff on, use all of them as well. It¡¯s just that I have no idea how much more the weapon can be strengthened.¡±

    Qianye expressed his thanks as he received the bottle.

    At this point, East Peak was no longer able to sweep through everything like it used to. As Qianye¡¯s enemies grew stronger, more and more of them possessed weapons capable of contending against¡ªor even suppress¡ªhis de.

    It would take yet another upgrade for East Peak to be a good match for Qianye¡¯s currentbat strength.

    As the two men began walking toward the hut, Qianye suddenly asked, ¡°We¡¯ve never known one another, so much so that you don¡¯t even know my name. Why would you treat me so well?¡±

    The old man smiled. ¡°Do you know how I recognized East Peak?¡±

    ¡°I do not.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t because of the style or craftsmanship, but the material. It was crafted from a piece of wondrous metal he hade across back in the day, an ore of special characteristics and unknown origins. He treated that item with utmost importance and was never willing to use it. However, East Peak contains a fair amount of the strange ore, and by the looks of it, he probably used the entire metal to forge it. Since he gave you this sword, it¡¯s naturally because he sees something in you. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have given you this sword just because of a mere examination.¡±

    By the time the two men arrived at the door, Ji Tianqing was already seated in the courtyard and enjoying tea with Li Kuann. The old man¡¯s expression changed rapidly as he sniffed the fragrance. ¡°My Flying Spring!¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. ¡°Back then, I had only managed to steal half a cup¡¯s worth of Flying Spring from my grandpa. Who would¡¯ve thought there would be two entire cups of it here? The Empire would only produce three taels of such tea a year. Now that I see it just sitting there, how could I just let it go?¡±

    The old man¡¯s lips trembled in anger, but his eyes lit up. ¡°There¡¯s only one cup¡¯s worth here, where¡¯s the rest?¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± An unassuming earthen jar appeared in Ji Tianqing¡¯s hand.

    The old man made to snatch the container back, but he had just moved when Ji Tianqing put more pressure on her hands, effectively causing the old man to freeze. Such high-quality tea usually involved strict storage conditions. The tea would have to be brewed on the spot once it hade into contact with outside air, otherwise, the taste would decline.

    Ji Tianqing was able to grasp the old man¡¯s weakness immediately.

    The old man sat down at the table and red at Ji Tianqing. ¡°Lass, you¡¯re going too far! Back then, even your grandfather had to treat me with a certain level of respect.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because he needed a favor from you, isn¡¯t it?¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s tongue was sharp.

    The old man was livid. He wanted to deny the im, but he couldn¡¯t quite lower himself to lying. The Pointer Monarch was one of the top major characters of the Empire and a person of high status. There was really no need for him to be courteous unless the old man had some special ability. The Pointer Monarch was notorious for his temper back when he was young. It was only after a certain event that he changed into apletely different person. However, the kind and gentle Pointer Monarch filled people with a different type of fear.

    Perhaps, to be blunt, one could say that most people who dared to hop about in front of the Pointer Monarch had ended up as corpses.

    The old man quickly realized that he wasn¡¯t Ji Tianqing¡¯s match in a verbal spar. His treasure was also in her hand, so there was no way out for him.

    Qianye was more focused on Ji Tianqing¡¯s body. He noticed that her aura was somewhat weak, but her origin power was purer and more active. He felt relieved, knowing that the star cherry fruit was really beneficial to her.

    The old man gave up. ¡°What do you want, speak.¡±

    ¡°Firstly, regarding the two of us, whether you¡¯ve noticed certain things or not, you¡¯re not allowed to tell anyone.¡± Ji Tianqing pointed at Li Kuann.

    The old man nodded. ¡°That¡¯s easy, I barely see a single person in several years. I don¡¯t have anyone to tell even if I wanted to.¡±

    Ji Tianqing looked fairly relieved. ¡°Secondly, you seem to know a lot about my grandpa¡¯s past. You must tell me every little thing you know, no withholding information! I also want to know why you¡¯ve been here for fifty years.¡±

    The old man was livid. ¡°Lass, don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    Ultimately, the old man had to restrain himself after seeing Ji Tianqing raise the jar up. ¡°Sigh, this matter is also rted to you, so it¡¯s fine to tell you. No one remembers me back in the empire, so there¡¯s nothing to be embarrassed about.¡±

    The old man calmed himself and said, ¡°Ji Wentian was extremely talented and capable of learning countless mysterious arts that were difficult to master. He was also of Imperial blood, so there were a fair number of people who wanted him on the throne. He didn¡¯t need to care about anyone back then.¡±

    Everyone listened to the narration with bated breaths. Even Qianye, who knew some parts of the story, was listening closely.

    ¡°But the world isn¡¯t so kind; the more favorable one''s life is, the easier it is to encounter problems. Why did Ji Wentian have to fall in love with her?¡±

    Who was ¡°her¡±? Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were curious, but Qianye was thinking about Heartgrave.

    The old man didn¡¯t keep them in suspense. ¡°That person is the sister-inw of Eldest Princess Haimi.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t just Qianye, even the twodies were puzzled. They all knew Princess Haimi as a key character in the political movement back then, whoter returned to her hometown and lived in seclusion thereafter. No one knew who her sister-inw was, however.

    The old manughed bitterly. ¡°She was quite famous back then, but the Imperial n did their utmost to hide this part of history after the ident. On the other hand, everyone knew this was a wound in Ji Wentian¡¯s heart. Who would dare bring up this matter? It¡¯s only natural that no one would remember her as time goes by.¡±

    Qianye recalled how the Pointer Monarch¡¯s remnant-will had warned him not to mention this matter in front of the monarch himself.

    ¡°Just what kind of person is she?¡± Ji Tianqing inquired.

    ¡°She¡¯s¡­ how should I say¡­ an indescribable woman. There¡¯s really no good way to summarize her¡­¡± The old man sighed as he fell into reminiscence. ¡°The first time I saw her, my head wentpletely nk, I could neither remember nor think of anything. I still remember that feeling even today, it¡¯s just emptiness. I can¡¯t even recall her appearance.

    ¡°She was sick back then, she had been sick for a fairly long time. Countless doctors could do nothing to help her, so Ji Wentian came to find me. I had gained a bit of fame back then, but how capable could I be in medical techniques when I hadn¡¯t even broken through to the divine champion rank. It was just that he had no other choice than to go around trying to seek help.

    ¡°It just so happened that I knew some unorthodox things and was born sensitive to origin power. After repeated investigations, I finally discovered that she wasn¡¯t sick, that she had been poisoned, and was suffering from a hidden injury. The poison was almost undetectable and integrated into a wisp of cold origin power. Her cultivation was also of the ice attribute, so it was extremely difficult to sense. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that my origin power examination skills were unrivaled in the Empire, that wisp of foreign origin power would¡¯ve gone undetected.

    ¡°This origin power, mixed with the poison, became almost undetectable. The activation was also extremely slow, gradually devouring the host¡¯s vitality to strengthen itself. The person who had poisoned her was the most capable person I¡¯d ever seen. I wouldn¡¯t have believed it had I not seen it myself.

    ¡°I only found out the cause but was helpless with regards to a cure. Not to mention the fact that I wasn¡¯t a divine champion back then, even if I was, I would still fail to solve the problem all the same. After sitting alone for one day and night, he suddenly disappeared with her, and no one knew where they had gone. By the time he returned to the Empire, he was already apletely different person. There was no more Ji Wentian thereafter, only the Pointer Monarch.¡±

    The three felt stifled after hearing the story. Someone had actually dared to target the Pointer Monarch¡¯s lover. This person was probably at the top of the Empire both in terms of scheming and skill.

    This poison wasn¡¯t just to stop Ji Wentian from entering the heavenly monarch realm; it was probably rted to that supreme character as well.

    After hearing the story, even the usually obstinate Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t press on with more questions. She only sighed and fell into silence.

    The old man didn¡¯t continue with the story. ¡°Actually, you must¡¯ve guessed by now. I hid here for fifty years, not because of my useless brother, but because my heart could ept no other person after seeing her that one time.¡±

 Chapter 1030: Implication

    Everyone became silent at this point.

    The old man nced at the sky, saying, ¡°It¡¯s almost night. This area isn¡¯t so dangerous during night time, so you should leave if the girl has recovered. I told you so many things because I felt we were fated to meet. Let me warn you, leave the Great Maelstrom as soon as you possibly can. I feel a sense of trepidation these days, almost as though something is about to happen soon.¡±

    Qianye exchanged nces with the other two, all of them somewhat rmed. Although Qianye had never learned any divination arts, he knew that experts like the old man possessed sharp intuition beyond the understanding ofmon sense. He had lived in the Great Maelstrom for so many years¡ªif he felt that something was about to happen, then it was very likely that something would happen.

    Qianye gave it some thought before saying, ¡°Elder Lu, do you want to leave with us? The Heavenschild Pasture is definitely a good ce, but resources can be regained. There¡¯s no need for you to guard this ce to the death.¡±

    The old man shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m too old now. I can already sense the end of my life approaching, so there¡¯s no need to break my promise at the final juncture. I¡¯m used to living here, and I don¡¯t want to move.¡±

    Ji Tianqing chimed in, ¡°It¡¯s been fifty years, don¡¯t you want to go out and see the world? The Empire has changed tremendously. Perhaps you can go and meet my grandpa too.¡±

    She was also doing her best to persuade the man. Only a handful of other people, like Duchess An for instance, could stand shoulder to shoulder with an expert of this level. If he were willing to return, it would be a great boon to the Empire.

    Qianye pondered for a while before cing Heartgrave on the table. ¡°Elder Lu, take a look at this gun. Will it change your mind?¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression changed drastically upon seeing the firearm. He jumped to his feet, trembling as he reached out to touch the weapon, but he quickly retracted his hand just before he could touch it. It was almost as though he was afraid of getting burned.

    The old man still couldn¡¯t do it after several attempts. He finally sat down with a sigh. ¡°Let it be, let it be! Fifty years have passed, but only now do I realize how distant she was from me. It¡¯s not even possible for me to gaze up at her. Back during that time and era, perhaps only Ji Wentian was a match for her!¡±

    Qianye had never expected such an oue. At first, he had wanted to y to the old man¡¯s heroic emotions but ended up copsing him instead.

    The man waved his hand and asked them out, ¡°Leave, I want some peace and quiet.¡±

    With that, he pushed the three out of the small hut with a wave of powerful origin power, preventing them from further conversation. Then, he shut the door with a bang.

    Ji Tianqing was startled. She ced the earthen jar at the door and said softly, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    After leaving the Heavenschild Pasture, the three hurried toward the Constetion Well under the starlight. They hadn¡¯t gone far when Qianye said, ¡°Tianqing, let me carry you.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was already panting slightly at this point. She didn¡¯t refuse his offer and merely jumped into his arm,tching onto his neck as she did so. Qianye was stunned, but he couldn¡¯t just toss her down like that. All he could do was carry her in his arms and run alongside Li Kuann.

    Having undergone the physical transformation brought about by the star cherry fruit, her entire body was filled with both internal and external injuries. This was her weakest moment. Although she had used various medicines, organ injuries weren¡¯t that easy to heal. It would take at least one day and one night to reach her peak.

    Qianye was still feeling regretful, and he finally found the chance to voice it. ¡°Why would Elder Lu tell us such painful things? Is Flying Spring that valuable?¡±

    No matter how rare the wine and tea, their value would be rather limited if they couldn¡¯t improve one¡¯s cultivation or talents. Flying Spring was indeed fragrant, but Qianye couldn¡¯t feel any movement in his origin power after inhaling it. As he saw it, the tea wasn¡¯t as valuable as the two mouthfuls of wine the old man had given him.

    The wine was enough to elerate Qianye¡¯s cultivation exponentially within the week. At this rate, he would break through within days. Now that was a practical benefit for true experts. No matter how good Flying Spring was, it was just a gimmick.

    The old man¡¯s cultivation had reached the level of a high-ranking divine champion, so why would he exchange his dignity for this little thing? If he were such a person, how could he have stood guard over the pasture for half a century?

    Ji Tianqing sighed softly. ¡°He wasn¡¯t just telling us stories. What he really wanted was for us to be cautious of the perpetrator. Considering how capable they were, their status in the Empire would be beyond our imagination at this point.¡±

    Just how many people in the Empire enjoyed equal or higher statuspared to the Pointer Monarch?

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What will you do?¡±

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. Tightening her arms around Qianye¡¯s neck, she whispered, ¡°What¡¯s there to fear? No one dares to do anything to me with grandpa around. He has never mentioned matters from back then, and I don¡¯t know the reason, either. Maybe he has forgotten, or perhaps he¡¯s pretending. No matter the reason, the perpetrator from back then definitely won¡¯t jump out to rekindle past enmities.¡±

    Qianye nodded in relief. He then broke into a frown as he nced at Ji Tianqing¡¯s arms¡ªthis posture was too intimate, almost as though they were lovers. He didn¡¯t feel he was really that close to the girl, especially with Li Kuann watching from the side.

    From what Qianye understood about women, his rtionship with Li Kuann should be more ambiguous. They had passed the frigid nights in intimacy and very nearly crossed the line. Considering how proud and arrogant she was, she should be furious after seeing Qianye being so close to another woman. But now, she didn¡¯t seem to mind at all and was even egging them on with a smile.

    This puzzled Qianye. Perhaps only Song Zining would understand their thoughts.

    But thoughts about romancested mere moments in Qianye¡¯s head since they weren¡¯t worth his time. The worrying thing was the old man¡¯s hidden implications.

    Considering Ji Tianqing¡¯s talents, she was probably the best among the Pointer Monarch¡¯s descendants, and her natural endowments would increase even further after ingesting the star cherry fruit. If someone wanted to harm the Pointer Monarch, they would very likely start from her. It was just that worrying about that was useless at the moment. Their foresight could only extend so far and was a far cry from that of their enemy. There was really no way they could take precautions.

    Ji Tianqing poked Qianye¡¯s forehead. ¡°Don¡¯t just worry about me, think about your own business. That airship of yours wille into sight sooner orter. One can easily imagine how much of a turbulence it will cause in the Empire. Grandpa loves me a lot, so he probably won¡¯t me you out of consideration for me, but you¡¯ll need to deal with the other people.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Only at this point did Qianye understand why the girl had passed Excavator to him. She probably wanted to use this secret art to hint at their rtionship, preventing the Pointer Monarch from hurting him by mistake.

    The Constetion Well wasn¡¯t too far off, but the road passed through numerous wild beastirs. These creatures were extremely big and powerful, some as swift as the wind and lightning, some attacking in groups, while others dangerously venomous. In short, ordinary experts below the divine champion realm wouldn¡¯t be able to handle them.

    Fortunately, countless imperial experts had paid the ultimate price to scout out the distribution and activity rhythms of these beasts, finally drawing out a rtively safe route. The three of them were also fairly strong and good at concealment, so they managed to pass through the beastirs without a hitch, soon arriving near the Constetion Well.

    This so-called Constetion Well was actually a valley within a hilly region. The slope in the periphery was gentle, with lush woods and countless creatures roaming about.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t feel rxed as they passed through the forest; he could sense a formless pressure around him, and he had no idea where it wasing from.

    True Sight was only half-useful here because there were sheets of origin power zooming about in his vision, forming a natural barrier of sorts to interfere with his vision and perception. In such a condition of extremely active origin power, Qianye¡¯s perception could only reach ten meters around him at most. Any further than that and he would be blocked by the origin glow.

    These specks of origin power were all tiny creatures. Even a small insect here possessed enough power to form a speck of light in Qianye¡¯s vision. Speaking in terms of origin power, even an ant here was equal to a rank-two fighter.

    Qianye sighed emotionally at how extraordinary this world was. A rank-two fighter was the minimal recruitment standard for special forces like Red Scorpion, and he himself had to train painstakingly for several years to reach that stage. Who would¡¯ve thought an insect near the Constetion Well would be at the same level.

    Qianye crushed a slow-moving beetle with his foot, and the insect burst apart under his boot. The creature was almost as hard as rock, but in the Great Maelstrom, this level of hardness was just average. After the beetle burst apart, a small ball of light floated up in Qianye¡¯s vision. The burning sphere soon dispersed into origin power that was gradually assimted into the environment.

    The insects here had no special ability other than their shocking origin power content. They were actually even weaker than the other bugs Qianye had encountered on the way. It seemed as though their only skill was to umte arge amount of energy in their body, but they didn¡¯t quite know how to use it.

    From a different perspective, the creatures big and small here didn¡¯t really have to worry about food. The need for nutritional intake would be greatly reduced because they were always filled with origin power. They were in and of paradise where food was always within reach, and swallowing was perhaps the most tiring thing they had ever done.

    As time went by, they naturally had no need to develop any fighting skills. All they needed to do was eat, sleep, and procreate.

    Qianye shook his head, but he didn¡¯t rx his guard. The small life-forms were keeping him from sensing its direction, but he could still sense that invisible pressure. Such a clear instinct couldn¡¯t be ignored.

    All of a sudden, a prismatic pir of light surged into the sky before the trio! It was hundreds of meters in height, with a transforming array of brilliant colors that made for an impressive sight.

    The moment this pir of light shot up, Qianye¡¯s blood core started to resonate with it and began beating faster. His six origin nodes were also circting at greater speeds. Both powers resonating at the same time was quite the rare urrence for him.

    Li Kuann pointed at the light, saying, ¡°That is probably the Constetion Well.¡±

 Chapter 1031: Constellation Well

    The surging pir of light wasn¡¯t too far off. They would arrive there after going through the forest and over two mountains. Flying over this distance was a matter of moments, and the gravity here wasn¡¯t that high, so flight wasn¡¯t a problem. However, the Great Maelstrom was so full of danger that it had be a widely epted rule to just go on foot. Those who kept flying around in the Great Maelstrom usually wouldn¡¯t live past the second day.

    Qianye traversed the forest as advised with Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann behind him, cautious about their every step and footprint.

    ording to prior intelligence, the Constetion Well wasn¡¯t all that dangerous, and most of the people who woulde here were Imperial experts. That was because the dark races had little use for origin crystals. The asional enemy expert woulde here to hunt humans, but there were too many Imperial experts here, and all of them were powerful elites who hade to produce origin crystals. It was quite difficult to ambush such experts, and the predator could easily be the prey instead.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare rx because he could still feel that vague pressure. He thus took point to scout the road on his own. Qianye¡¯s survivability in the Great Maelstrom was much higher due to his powerful body and poison resistance. It was only natural that he should take the lead.

    The three eventually walked out of the forest and climbed the first mountain. They had just arrived at the summit when three people stood up from behind the rocks, raising their bows and firearms at Qianye¡¯s group.

    ¡°Haha, didn¡¯t I say we¡¯ll see people from the Empire if we just wait here? I was right, wasn¡¯t I?¡± One of themughed loudly.

    The one on the left spat. ¡°It¡¯s just blind luck, what are you so smug about? If you¡¯re capable, then calcte who among us has killed more people. You¡¯re acting as though you know divination.¡±

    The young man behind them said coldly, ¡°Stop bickering! What if those people escape¡­ eh?¡±

    His eyes went wide to discover that not only was Qianye¡¯s group not running away, but they were spreading out to surround them.

    Qianye said, ¡°Are these three on the entry roster?¡±

    Li Kuann shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen them before or heard of them. Maybe they were from thest batch?¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°If they¡¯re from thest batch, they shouldn¡¯t be this weak after staying here for so long.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps they were injured or maybe there¡¯s some other reason¡­¡± Li Kuann stopped after a few words, feeling that she wasn¡¯t making sense. Even if they were the less talented from thest batch, there was no reason for all three of them to be the same. These fellows were rank twelve in origin power, but their foundations were so unstable that they couldn¡¯t have gotten a quota for the Great Maelstrom.

    Qianye spoke up at this point, ¡°Why guess? Just take them down and ask them.¡±

    He had barely finished speaking when he took a step forward to arrive in front of the man in the middle. A punch shot out at lightning speed andnded square on thetter¡¯s face, knocking him outpletely. Li Kuann shed behind the young man and felled him with a chop to the neck. Ji Tianqing was more reliant on cheap tricks¡ªshe kicked a stone up and sent it flying at her target¡¯s abdomen, making him bend down in pain while gasping for breath.

    The three men were of mediocre cultivation, and theirbat techniques were nothing to write home about. They were full of openings and weak beyond imagination. Qianye¡¯s punch was just for show, and he had half a dozen more nned for follow-up. In the end, the enemy only remembered to dodge when the fist was in his face. There was no way he would make it.

    Not only Qianye, but even Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann hadn¡¯t expected such an oue. At the same time, they began to suspect how such weak people had ended up here.

    Great Maelstrom quotas were exceptionally valuable. One could easily see that from the intensity of the battle between young experts at the city of Indomitable. The neutralnds passage was quite special in that those going in after the first few would encounter increasing danger. They would need to wait until the tunnel had stabilized before entering. Even Qianye had encountered some danger inside the passage. These three didn¡¯t have what it takes to traverse the tunnel and should¡¯ve been crushed along the way.

    Ji Tianqing arrived before the kneeling man and dragged him up by the hair. Looking into his eyes, she uttered, ¡°Reply to whatever I ask you. This is the only way you¡¯ll die afortable death, understand?¡±

    The man¡¯s face was twisted from pain. He looked at Ji Tianqing with a weird expression¡ªthere was a tinge of mockery and madness.

    All of a sudden, Ji Tianqing saw a reflection of herself in his eyes, and the image was growing progressively clearer. Soon afterward, her figure sank deep into those pupils, almost as though it had fallen into a bottomless pit.

    Ji Tianqing shivered subconsciously¡ªthis scene was simply too odd and iprehensible even for her. She quickly activated her secret art and changed her appearance. The projection in the man¡¯s eyes changed along with her but soon reverted to her previous form. Much like a breeze blowing away the mist, all illusions werepletely dispersed.

    Watching her original appearance sinking deep and vanishing into those eyes, Ji Tianqing felt as though she had fallen into the abyss.

    Just as she was having difficulty differentiating between illusion and reality, Qianye¡¯s handnded on her shoulder. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m fine. But he¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±

    Ji Tianqing gasped in surprise. When she had calmed down enough to observe, the man in her grasp was bleeding from the nose and mouth,pletely devoid of aura. She had no idea when or how he had passed.

    She released the corpse, allowing it to fall to the floor on its back. The man¡¯s eyes were still open, gazing at Ji Tianqing with an eerie smile on his face.

    For a moment, Ji Tianqing had no idea if he was dead or alive. The scene was so eerie that she took a step back and hid behind Qianye.

    Li Kuann walked over. ¡°The other two are dead too.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°They died at the same time, it seems there¡¯s some sort of connection between them.¡±

    ¡°Might not be just between them, they should be connected to certain other people as well. People from where they hade, for instance.¡±

    Qianye bent down to pat the three bodies. ¡°The internal structure is human. Although their organs have mutated, the change is not as bad as people like Nangong Tianyu. It seems they¡¯ve been here for less than two years.¡±

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom wasn¡¯t open two years ago.¡± Li Kuann was certain.

    ¡°Could it be a new type of native?¡± Qianye shook his head soon afterward. These three were equipped with Imperial gear and weapons, and their cultivation was daybreak origin power. They were nothing like the natives. Everything else, though, was fairly odd and different from an Imperial expert.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Let¡¯s forget about all that and head to the Constetion Well. We¡¯ll deal with it if something happens.¡±

    The Constetion Well was one of their most important stops, especially for Ji Tianqing since she had nine Storm Pearls in her possession. With some luck, that would mean they could produce nine origin crystals and allow the empire to produce a batch of backbone experts. Qianye would also be given abundant remuneration if he were willing to give up the ones he had produced.

    The three odd fellows were simply too weak. Even if they had certain powers behind their back, they might not be that formidable.

    Nodding, Qianye stepped out of the pit and buried the three bodies hastily. He then ran toward the Constetion Well with the twodies.

    After stepping over thest mountain ridge, the Constetion Well came into view.

    This was a massive valley over one thousand meters wide and hundreds of kilometers long. The cliffs on each side were distinctlyyered, each as smooth and shiny as though they had been shaved off by a razor. It was a mystery how they were formed.

    Starting from each end, the ground grew progressively deeper toward the center. Qianye happened to be standing right before the center of the valley, so he walked forward a couple of steps to nce down the precipice. The cliff walls made a sharp turn at the valley floor, forming a giant pit of sorts. This hole was extremely deep, and one could actually see a star-spangled sky at the bottom!

    This proved that the Great Maelstrom was as thin as a sheet of paper.

    The scenery was indeed beyond one¡¯s imagination. No matter how confident Qianye was, he could feel a sense of palpitation before this worldly phenomena.

    Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing had long since heard about the well, but hearsay wasn¡¯t nearly enough to describe what they were seeing.

    The three woke up from their amazement only a whileter.

    Ji Tianqing produced a Storm Pearl but gave it to Li Kuann instead of Qianye. ¡°There are many things you need to pay attention to while transmuting an origin crystal. The most important thing is not to be greedy and to leave enough origin power to get back up. The bottom of the well isn¡¯t pure void but a tunnel just like the one we came in from. No one knows where it leads to, and the starry sky we¡¯re seeing is a refraction from some unknown ce. It¡¯s not even certain whether it¡¯s real or not. I¡¯ll have Kuann demonstrate for you, then you can have a try.¡±

    That was a safe n, so Qianye nodded.

    Li Kuann took the Storm Pearl and channeled her origin power. The pearl gradually bloomed with light and hovered in front of her chest. She then jumped up and dived headfirst into the well.

    After falling rapidly for hundreds of meters, she flipped about like an agile fish and stood inside the well. At this moment, the starry sky was beneath her, and the vast sky was above. The scene itself made everyone¡¯s hearts beat faster involuntarily.

    Li Kuann¡¯s eyes were half-closed as her body sank down slowly,ing to aplete halt after a dozen or so meters. Specks of aqua blue light spread out from her body, which the Storm Pearl duly absorbed.

    The Constetion Well fluctuated all of a sudden, blurring the vision of all spectators. Qianye naturally noticed the change and focused his gaze. He saw many of the stars turning brighter, releasing motes of blue light which began moving slowly toward the Storm Pearl.

    Qianye was stunned, wondering whether the starry sky was real or fake.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°No one knows whether that starry sky is real, but being able to draw upon the power of those stars means that an origin crystal will likely take shape, and its grade won¡¯t be low, either.¡±

    ¡°There are different grades of origin crystals?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

 Chapter 1032: Forging an Origin Crystal

    ¡°Origin crystals have grades?¡± Qianye had never heard of this.

    ¡°Of course. Do you think all divine champions have the samebat strength?¡± Ji Tianqing replied with a question.

    There was really no need for a reply. Divine champions could differ drastically in their fighting powers, with some of them gaining tremendous power that would transform them entirely. Some geniuses would awaken rare powers and pull far ahead of their peers.

    For instance, Zhao Jundu¡¯s True Shot was a power that could be used up until the heavenly monarch realm, growing more powerful toward the end.

    Meanwhile, the weakest divine champions were inherently no better than Zhao Jundu, except perhaps a slightly superior speed and strength. Even Qianye could fight such divine champions if he were to go all out.

    The extremely weak and the extremely strong were both rare. Most of the experts were in the middle, each possessing their own advantages.

    For instance, people like Zhao Jundu, Zhang Boqian, and Lin Xitang who possessed matching talents, secret arts, and power were few and far between.

    ¡°Origin crystals would be differentiated ording to the divine champion¡¯s ability. It can be roughly divided into ordinary, medium, high-quality, and top-quality,¡± Ji Tianqing exined. The Empire¡¯s ssification might not cover all situations, but it made for a way to measure things.

    The so-called ordinary-grade origin crystal could only elevate a certain attribute of the body and only to a certain extent. Meanwhile, medium-grade ones would be able to raise two or more attributes such as strength, endurance, defense, speed, crity, etc. or they would bring about some unrted minor abilities. A high-grade origin crystal would upgrade multiple facets of one¡¯s physical body to a considerable degree; either that or they would contain a powerful ability or multiple practical ones. A top-grade one, on the other hand, would contain an extremely powerful ability or extremely useful characteristics.

    Ji Tianqing pointed at Li Kuann who was focused on transforming the crystal. ¡°For instance, if her crystal can grant someone an origin power attribute simr to hers, it would border on top-grade. Of course, a true top-grade origin power would need to convert all of a person¡¯s origin power into the ice attribute.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s icy origin power was a secret cultivation art specific to the Li family. Not only could it work well with weapons like the Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace and a series of outstanding sword arts, but it was also fairly pure. From this, one could say that her chances of stepping into the divine champion realm were fairly high. If an origin crystal really could convert one¡¯s attribute to icy origin power, it would surely be ranked among the top.

    Qianye¡¯s own crystal back then could raise his vitality exponentially, and natural origin crystals were one grade superior to the ones from the Constetion Well. So, it should be ranked among the top-grade crystals ording to this ssification.

    At this moment, the Storm Pearl in front of Li Kuann had shattered, and the resultant misty smoke was rolling about in a fist-sized area. One could vaguely see a small blue crystal at its center.

    An origin crystal foundation had formed, but Li Kuann was sweating and her body was trembling somewhat. Dozens of stars at the bottom of the well had reacted, sending specks of starlight into the mist and elerating the formation of the origin crystal. However, Li Kuann was clearly unable to hold out because she would need to save some origin power to return from the well.

    Judging from this process, it would seem that this origin crystal was about to be ruined.

    Despite that, herpetitive nature had gotten the best of her at this point. She was determined to see it through and refused toe back up no matter what. Ji Tianqing looked worried, but she didn¡¯t dare cry out for fear of disturbing Li Kuann.

    Countless crystalline fragments hade together in the smoke, forming an early framework of the origin crystal. Li Kuann was drenched in sweat, pale and trembling, but she clenched her teeth and refused to give up.

    The origin crystal took form¡ªLi Kuann heaved a sigh of relief as she grabbed the crystal and flew upward. It was just that she had used up all her origin power and had no more strength left as she was a couple dozen meters from the entrance.

    Her heart sank, along with the gradual fall of her body. This distance could normally be covered in a single jump, but now, it felt extremely far.

    It was at this time that a firm arm grabbed her waist and flew up with great strength. This feeling was extremely familiar since she had often relied on this arm to survive during the frigid nights.

    Li Kuann rxed wholeheartedly as she leaned into Qianye¡¯s arms.

    Thetter, however, wasn¡¯t so rxed at this moment. When he flew into the Constetion Well, it felt like several chains hadtched onto his body and were dragging him toward the void at the bottom of the well. This type of spatial draw seemed weak, but Qianye had no support around him and was relying solely on his origin power to fly. Add to that the fact that he had to carry Li Kuann, the strain wasn¡¯t just a simple doubling of weight.

    Fortunately, Qianye possessed an almost endless pool of origin power that allowed him to drag Li Kuann out by force.

    The moment theynded, Ji Tianqing charged over and hugged the two of them in silence. Although she didn¡¯t say anything, her actions spoke louder than a thousand words. It was clear that she waspletely terrified.

    Having gone into the well personally, Qianye understood that Ji Tianqing had no power to save Li Kuann. Not to mention the fact that she was in a weakened state, she wouldn¡¯t be able to pull Li Kuann up even if she were at her peak. Forcing a rescue would only end in one way: both of them would fall into the bottom of the Constetion Well.

    The space within the Constetion Well was peculiar in that origin power would dissipate very quickly. It wasn¡¯t possible to use origin power to operate long weapons like whips. So, Qianye had no choice but to jump into the well and drag Li Kuann back.

    The girl was somewhat pale. Just now, she had thought she was destined to fall into the void. Ji Tianqing said not a single word and merely hugged the two tighter.

    Qianye was the only one who was rtively normal. He patted Ji Tianqing in constion, saying, ¡°Okay, everything¡¯s fine now. She¡¯s back, see? It was quite easy, really.¡±

    Ji Tianqing realized that she had lost herposure just now. She looked up and red at Qianye before running away to the side with Li Kuann in tow.

    The two girls were whispering, so Qianye didn¡¯t want to eavesdrop. He merely gazed at the Constetion Well, thinking back to the process of origin crystal condensation and his experience entering the well personally.

    The girls returned momentster. Li Kuann stretched out her hand to reveal a light blue origin crystal, shrouded by a cloud of faint mist. Qianye could feel a faint chilling off of the beautiful crystal as it approached him.

    However, he could see that the crystal was far from being perfect. That misty cloud looked good, but it was a sign that the power of the stars was leaking out from inside the crystal. This outflow went to show that the origin crystal was of insufficient quality to hold that much origin power.

    The crystal sported an icy attribute. Although there wouldn¡¯t be a huge upgrade for the user, it could still be considered a medium-grade origin crystal. The Jingtan Li family produced the Storm Pearl in order to increase the chances of forming an origin crystal, so naturally, they had some originalprehensions in this field. It really wasn¡¯t a bad oue for Li Kuann to have sessfully produced a medium-grade origin crystal.

    ¡°Next, it¡¯s my turn,¡± Ji Tianqing said.

    Qianye was startled. ¡°No, your body is still weak, you¡¯ll be in danger after going down. It won¡¯t be toote to go down after you¡¯ve fully recovered.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve recovered a fair bit. Besides, I swiped a lot of good medicines from Elder Lu. A random handful of them is enough tost me an entire day. You should observe carefully instead of worrying about me. My method ispletely different from Kuann, so learn it well. We¡¯ll need to depend on you to produce a high-grade origin crystal and get rich.¡±

    With that, Ji Tianqing ced a Storm Pearl in her mouth and jumped into the Constetion Well.

    Qianye shook his head but didn¡¯t stop her. Ji Tianqing normally looked lively and naive, much like a spritely girl, but she had her own views regarding important matters. She was certainly more decisive than Li Kuann was, and likely wouldn¡¯t change her mind on something she had decided.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s earlier phase was the same as Li Kuann. She fell straight down until she was near where Li Kuann was earlier. At that point, countless golden bubbles appeared around her body, formingyers of soft mattresses to slow her fall. In the blink of an eye, Ji Tianqing had stopped at the center of the well. Her eyes were half-closed as the golden bubbles around her popped in and out of existence.

    Her method was different from Li Kuann¡¯s in that she was holding the Storm Pearl in her mouth, drawing upon the power of the stars with every breath.

    In just moments, several of the stars had lit up and specks of gold light were converging into Ji Tianqing¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°She¡¯s using her respiration to condense the power of the stars. The advantage of that is that the process is more natural and contains no artificial aspects. Compared to our Li family¡¯s method, theirs is more likely to condense a high-grade origin crystal. The bad thing about their technique is that the process is too slow and it imposes significant requirements in one¡¯s cultivation. It''s not as easy as our Li family¡¯s method.¡±

    After a pause, she said, ¡°At our level, the Li family¡¯s technique is naturally superior, but her secret art would catch up near the divine champion threshold. After bing a divine champion, however, the Ji family arts would have theplete advantage.¡±

    Currently, Qianye also knew that Ji Tianqing was the Pointer Monarch¡¯s descendant. It wasn¡¯t odd for an art taught by the Pointer Monarch to be stronger than the Jingtan Li family¡¯s, and this also made clear the special characteristics of the two. The Jingtan Li family had been working to be a major n, so they were more focused on the overall strength of the Li family as a whole. The inherited secret art was geared toward people with mid or high talent levels. The core objective was also to pass through the divine champion threshold.

    Meanwhile, the Pointer Monarch was from the Imperial n. He had no intention of forming his own branch and was entirely concentrated on how to get further in the heavenly monarch realm. As he saw it, so-called geniuses had to reach the divine champion realm or they weren¡¯t worth raising. Hence, it was only natural that the arts before that rank weren¡¯t quite valued.

    As for the Zhang and Zhao ns, their ns attended simultaneously to people before and at the divine champion realm. They also had an abundance of heavenly-monarch-level cultivation arts. The only thing they were missingpared to the Imperial n were the resources required for cultivation at the heavenly monarch realm. This was also the two ns¡¯ foundation for over a thousand years.

    At this point, Li Kuann¡¯s voice became distant. Apparently, she found the oue quite regretful.

 Chapter 1033: Riddle of the Stars

    But there was nothing that could be done about the different inheritances tied to their birth. Li Kuann herself wasn¡¯t less talented than Ji Tianqing, but the gap was toorge between the Jingtang Li n and the Pointer Monarch¡¯s Imperial n.

    The oue of such a difference was the same between lower continents and the higher ones, just as it was between Evernight and the Empire. All the cruelty, death, war, and conflict was just for resources and the space to exist and expand.

    Li Kuann could look on her peers with the help of her special origin power and Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace, but she was immediately no longer a match for Ji Tianqing after losing the weapon. The gap would grow even bigger by the time their cultivation had advanced by one level. The Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance would only show its true might after reaching the divine champion realm.

    Having cultivated Excavator, Qianye naturally understood this special characteristic of the secret art. This secret art would grow increasingly powerful as his own cultivation and physical strength grew. In the end, there would be no limit to his strength.

    It was only natural for Li Kuann toment her fate. Qianye didn¡¯t know how to console her because this was one of the fundamental rules upon which the world ran. He thought about it for some time and then said, ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it. If I see a suitable cultivation art for you in the future, I¡¯ll definitely get it. A sword like Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace is difficult to obtain, but I¡¯ll go over to Evernight after we get out of this ce and see if I can snatch one for you.¡±

    Li Kuann chuckled. ¡°Dummy! Where will you even find a sword like that? Are you looking to die? You really don¡¯t know how to console people.¡±

    Qianye became distressed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to console you, when we get out¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when his mouth was covered up. Li Kuann sighed. ¡°I know you¡¯ll really do it, but there¡¯s no need. I don¡¯t want you to take risks, especially for me. And remember not to make promises so easily, especially to women. You have a lot of problemsing up for you in the future, you can only do so much.¡±

    Qianye was baffled, unable to understand the meaning behind her words. Li Kuann wasn¡¯t about to exin, either. She simply moved back to lean on Qianye¡¯s body, pointing at the Constetion Well. ¡°Our Li family¡¯s secret art isn¡¯t entirely behind other people. In truth, even the Imperial n might not be superior in terms of understanding the Constetion Well. Most people know that the power of the stars is vital to the formation of the origin crystal, but what else? Look at those stars, there are smaller ones and bigger ones, stronger ones and weaker ones.¡±

    Qianye nodded; he had also noticed this. The moment he entered the Constetion Well, he sensed many of the stars inside and felt as though he could almost reach out to touch their power. This was inconceivable because the phenomenon couldn¡¯t be exined withmon sense.

    ording to the peerless experts who had been exploring the void, the vast expanse beyond the twenty-seven continents wasn¡¯t just nothingness. The stars everyone could see at night were actually enormous continents or celestial bodies akin to the Void Valley Star. They might even be small worlds like the Evernight Continent.

    The visual power of these peerless experts was naturally superior to that of the masses. Their words also held a different weight.

    If these stars were continents,s, or worlds, how could one draw upon their power in the Constetion Well? What were those stars at the bottom of the valley? What kind of world existed beyond them?

    Qianye felt more confused the more he thought about it. The universe was vast and iparably frightening, but it also held an irresistible allure, drawing experts of every generation to step into the void and explore the secrets hidden deep within it.

    ¡°What exactly are those stars?¡± Qianye asked.

    Li Kuann stared nkly for a while. ¡°I don¡¯t know, our Li n ancestors aren¡¯t very sure, either. Back then, the deceased ancestor went about five hundred meters into the well but returned after failing to hold out. ording to him, there was only boundless emptiness even at that depth, and even a thousand meters might not be enough to truly go through the Constetion Well. The spatial shearing forces had already reached an indefensible degree at five hundred meters, even a divine champion wouldn¡¯tst for very long. The ancestor felt that a thousand meters was the limit for a heavenly monarch or great dark monarch.¡±

    ¡°That means this Constetion Well is impossible to get through?¡±

    ¡°That might not be certain. Those with a body several times stronger than a great dark monarch might be able to cross.¡±

    That was more or less nonsense.

    Li Kuann pointed into the well. ¡°Did you notice? Some of the stars are brighter than the others.¡±

    Qianye nodded. It wasmon sense that stars would have differing brightness, and those in the Constetion Well were no exception. There were big, brilliant stars as well as dim but voluminous ones, but of course, small dark ones made up the majority.

    Li Kuann pointed in session. ¡°This one, this one, and the group here are all special stars that possess far more power than the others. If you can draw upon their power, your chances of forming an origin crystal will improve sharply. There are a total of seven such stars, collectively termed the Seven Radiants by our family.¡±

    In truth, those weren¡¯t the only stars with increased power. It was just that the seven were easier to sense andmunicate with. The Li family¡¯s divination arts used the Celestial Rite Array as their core, and even several of their secret arts were based uponmunicating with one of the Seven Radiants. It was just that these arts had to be paired with the Li family¡¯s unique mental cultivation methods and were useless to Qianye and Ji Tianqing.

    Even with the help of secret arts,municating with the Seven Radiants would take far more time than it would with ordinary stars. Every moment in the Constetion Well would drain massive amounts of origin power. Even one of Li Kuann¡¯s cultivation could barely produce a medium-grade origin crystal despite having nearly fallen to the bottom of the well. If she had tried tomunicate with the Seven Radiants, she wouldn¡¯t havested until the moment of condensation.

    Be it Ji Tianqing or Li Kuann, both of them didn¡¯t have enough origin power to support the pursuit of higher-grade origin crystals. They could only count on their luck and resonate with the first star they could sense, prioritizing the condensation of a crystal above all else.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power cultivation, on the other hand, far exceeded the two girls. His every origin vortex contained several times the energypared to other experts. That would give him a unique advantage inside the Constetion Well. Li Kuann had mentioned the Seven Radiants so that he could decide for himself if he would like to trymunicating with them.

    At this moment, there was a sh in the Constetion Well as Ji Tianqing spat out an origin crystal from her mouth and into her palm. She looked quite weak by this time and only slightly better than Li Kuann.

    Qianye raised his brows as he stared intently at Ji Tianqing, waiting to swoop in for the rescue. However, Ji Tianqing produced several small fruits in the blink of an eye and stuffed them into her mouth. Her aura erupted, and she shot out of the Constetion Well like an arrow.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s aura fell drastically after leaving the Constetion Well. She copsed to the ground, barely able to stand.

    Li Kuann hurried over to support her to arge rock and fed her some water.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s countenance improved after the drink. She fished out a stimnt and injected it into the side of her neck. Slowly, her origin power began to recover.

    After a moment of rest, she picked up the origin crystal for careful examination.

    The crystal was translucent, clear, and filled with numerous intecing golden threads. The origin power inside was a bit denser than the one Li Kuann had produced, but the number of golden wisps inside was on the sparser side. In that regard, it was inferior to that entirely blue origin crystal. Qianye sensed the origin crystal and found that it could increase one¡¯s origin power slightly and, at the same time, improve the expert¡¯s utilization of origin power.

    This ability could be considered practical, and an increase in origin power was always wee. All in all, this origin crystal was also at the same level as the one Li Kuann had produced¡ªboth were medium-grade.

    Considering the girls¡¯ strength, being able to condense a medium-grade origin crystal on the first try could be considered a sess. Most people would either fail or end up with ordinary grade crystals, and the asional medium-grade product was something worth celebrating. An expert stuck at rank-seventeen without any hope of advancement wouldn¡¯t be too far below the weakest divine champion if he were to obtain this crystal. If this person were to obtain a high-grade origin crystal, he woulde fairly close to divine champion in terms ofbat strength despite the mismatch in power.

    Families with no overseeing divine champion, insufficient secret art inheritances, and those with mediocre younger generations would do their utmost to obtain origin crystals in hopes of upgrading their n¡¯s power.

    Even in a n asrge as the Song n, some of its members weren¡¯t quite rmed that Duchess An was at the end of her lifespan. The main reason was because they had enough money to buy some high-grade origin crystals or even some top-grade ones. As long as they had money to burn, problems were no longer problems.

    This was also the reason why the crystals were so expensive.

    Condensing two origin crystals was a happy oue even for people of Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann¡¯s status. After catching her breath, Ji Tianqingughed. ¡°With these two crystals, our investment into the Storm Pearls have been recouped, and we still have seven more! We¡¯ll be rich if we just produce one more origin crystal, and our trip would¡¯ve been worth it.¡±

    Li Kuann nodded.

    Ji Tianqing said to Qianye, ¡°We¡¯re counting on you, you know. If you can produce a high-grade origin crystal, you would¡¯ve covered a good chunk of Li Kuann¡¯s Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace. If you can produce even more origin crystals, I¡¯ll make the decision and let her spend the night with you. How¡¯s that?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s face turned bright red. She tried to pinch Ji Tianqing¡¯s mouth, but thetter dodged and attacked her chest instead, tearing at her buttons and clothes. In the end, it was Li Kuann who fell into a miserable state.

    Qianye was greatly distressed by Ji Tianqing¡¯s explicitness, but all he could do was pretend not to hear. And judging from her reaction, it would seem Li Kuann didn¡¯t really mind, either. That was what made Qianye truly nervous. He let out a dry cough and pointed toward the well. ¡°It¡¯s time I go in. This ce isn¡¯t so peaceful, who knows what unexpected troubles may arise if we drag this out.¡±

    Ji Tianqing had already used a recovery medicine. So, she wasn¡¯t as weak as Li Kuann and was soon eliciting cries of surprise from thetter. After hearing Qianye¡¯s words, she said without even looking up, ¡°What¡¯s the rush? I¡¯ll seed very soon, won¡¯t you wait to watch the show? Although you¡¯ve seen all there is to see, there¡¯s no loss in looking again.¡±

    Qianye said awkwardly, ¡°Give me the Storm Pearls, we need to get on with proper business.¡±

    Ji Tianqing tossed out a Storm Pearl before reaching down toward Li Kuann again. ¡°You head down first, I need to teach thisss a lesson. I¡¯ll have a hearty meal ready for you when you¡¯re back!¡±

    At this point, Li Kuann had been pressed down and was struggling on the ground. The scene was simply too beautiful.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare watch any longer. He caught the Storm Pearl, calmed his thoughts, and jumped into the Constetion Well. Just as he was entering the well, he heard Li Kuann¡¯s cry, ¡°Get your hands out!¡±

 Chapter 1034: Unexpected Encounter

    Right after entering the Constetion Well, the protective origin power around Qianye¡¯s body began to disperse rapidly. At the same time, a gravitational force began dragging him into the depths of the void.

    Qianye had already watched Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann forming their origin crystals, so he had a good idea of what to expect. He was also clear that the longer he stayed in the well, the greater the drain on his origin power would be. Hence, he didn¡¯t resist the force and elerated downward along its trajectory.

    Qianye had fallen hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, and the deeper he went, the greater the dragging force. At the same time, several forcesnded on his body, attempting to tear his flesh apart. Those spatial shearing forces might cause injury if the person didn¡¯t channel origin power for protection.

    It wasn¡¯t so bad yet at this point. The shearing forces weren¡¯t all that powerful yet, and even ordinary experts could deal with them. But the deeper he went, the stronger the stress would be, and there was no known limit to it.

    Li Kuann had already told him that even a divine champion would find it hard to bear the shearing forces at five hundred meters, and that no one really knew how bad it was beyond a thousand.

    Qianye possessed the powerful constitution of an ancient vampire and could only be superior to an ordinary divine champion. ording to Li Kuann, he should be able to reach five hundred meters without a problem. But Qianye¡¯s origin power cultivation was much weaker than a divine champion¡¯s. His body might not be torn asunder at five hundred meters, but he would have to return before long or risk having insufficient energy to get back.

    Li Kuann had Qianye to save her, but there was no one who could save Qianye.

    To y it safe, Qianye descended to two-hundred meters, where Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were at before, before lowering his speed. He descended an additional fifty meters and stopped to condense his origin crystal.

    Qianye clutched the Storm Pearl in his palm and observed it carefully. The misty clouds in the pearl were rolling about constantly, almost as though they hade alive inside the Constetion Well.

    Qianye was already quite knowledgeable at this point, but even then, he couldn¡¯t help but admire the Li family. The Jingtan Li n¡¯s Storm Pearl was beyond a fine craft, and that wasn¡¯t the only thing their family produced. Their Stillwater Rebirth wasn¡¯t inferior to the pearl at all.

    If they hadn¡¯t lost so much strength during the divination factional conflicts, the Jingtan Li n¡¯s fame wouldn¡¯t be limited to where it was today.

    Qianye¡¯s perception permeated the Storm Pearl immediately after sensing it. Qianye felt that his consciousness had merged with the pearl¡ªthe pearl was him; he was the pearl. As his perception was amplified through the Storm Pearl, the stars he could only vaguely sense a while ago became much clearer. It almost felt as though they were within arm¡¯s reach.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes fell upon a dark red star. Although this star was inferior to the Seven Radiants, it gave Qianye a sense of familiarity and great rity. The moment his gaze came into contact with the star, it felt as though an invisible hand had grabbed onto his consciousness.

    This star was hot, vast, and heavy, with a power akin to slow-flowingva. In terms of attribute, its energy was closer to the peak of daybreak and not so far off from the origin of chaos, either.

    Origin power in this position couldn¡¯t be considered very pure, but it could easily produce some special abilities. Although Qianye felt that the star power from this star was variegated and impure, that was only rtive to Venus Dawn. To ordinary experts, an origin power of such purity was already enough for them to cultivate right up to the threshold of the divine champion realm. They could even try crossing it, but the chances of sess would be quite low.

    It came as a pleasant surprise that he could sense this big star. Its power would most likely congeal into an origin crystal with a pretty good ability. As for the upgrade to one¡¯s cultivation and physical attributes, that would depend on how much star power he could absorb. Because the power each star could contribute was fairly limited, the amount absorbed would be decided by how many stars he could sense.

    At this moment, he had been in the Constetion Well for a fair length of time. Qianye felt that he could hold out fairly long, but he didn¡¯t want to end up with unexpected problems and lose the chance to draw upon this big star. As such, he simply locked onto the red star and waited as a cloud of red starlight gathered toward the Storm Pearl.

    Since he had managed to draw upon the star¡¯s power, Qianye followed the usual method by activating a bit of his Venus Dawn and slowly injected it into the Storm Pearl. Using this as a guide, he tried establishingmunication with the nearby stars.

    The moment Venus Dawn entered the Storm Pearl, Qianye¡¯s perception erupted all of a sudden. It swept over countless stars like a tempest and attracted the attention of countless celestial bodies. This feeling was like dropping food into a calm pond, suddenly drawing out a swarm of fish.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye was overwhelmed and didn¡¯t quite know how to deal with everything. Neither Ji Tianqing nor Li Kuann had warned him of such a situation when they were teaching him their techniques.

    He forced himself to calm down as he responded to them one by one. With each response, a star would flicker and send forth specks of starlight. In the blink of an eye, Qianye had responded to dozens of stars; there were dozens of starlight waves surging into the Storm Pearl. The number of stars he wasmunicating with was several times that of the two girls, but there were at least hundreds more he hadn¡¯t responded to. As the number of responses increased, some of the faraway stars also began to flicker.

    Qianye hesitated for a while, but he ultimately resisted the urge to continue. He only maintained his connection to the red star and the several dozen others, constantly pouring origin power into the Storm Pearl to integrate with the iing star power.

    Every wisp of Venus Dawn origin power couldbine with several wisps of star power, and oncebined, they would gradually condense into crystalline granules.

    At this point, Qianye became somewhat doubtful. He had seen Ji Tianqing and Li Kuannbine origin power and star power at a two to one ratio. At that rate, for the same amount of origin power, the amount of crystallization they could produce was not even half of Qianye.

    The more star power he could condense, logically, the better it should be. Qianye thus pushed his misgivings to the bottom of his heart and continued focusing on forming an origin crystal.

    After an unknown length of time, Qianye suddenly opened his eyes. Floating in the void before him was a light red origin crystal. The crystal was the size of a fist, so muchrger than the thumb-sized ones Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had produced.

    Qianye grabbed the origin crystal and flew upward without careful examination.

    The moment he started flying, Qianye sensed hundreds of small consciousnesses calling out to him, asking him to stay. Each of them released a wisp of origin power thattched onto his body. They were extremely weak and almost negligible¡ªeven hundreds of them added together couldn¡¯t slow down his movements¡ªbut that drew Qinaye¡¯s attention.

    These minuscule consciousnesses came from the weaker stars Qianye hadmunicated with. The stars Qianye had responded to would release some power to drag him back, stopping him from leaving. A couple dozen was fine, but if thousands or tens of thousands of them were to be involved, it would no longer be a string but a instead. That was enough to make Qianye quite miserable.

    Qianye¡¯s body trembled as scarlet gold mes erupted around him, catapulting him toward the entrance like a rocket. The Constetion Well could disperse origin power, but Venus Dawn was one of the three peak origin power types, so the dissipation was quite slow.

    Qianye flew faster and faster, rushing out of the well in the blink of an eye. Having lost all restraints abruptly, he shot dozens of meters into the air beforeing to a stop and descending to the ground.

    At this moment, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were seated side by side, discussing something intimately.

    Seeing Qianye appear, they got up to wee him. A shifty-eyed Ji Tianqing said mischievously, ¡°What, are you disappointed because there¡¯s no big meal?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s face went red. Qianye was also startled for a bit beforeing back to his senses.

    Ji Tianqing pursed her lips. ¡°Boring. Come on, show us what good stuff you produced.¡±

    Qianye passed the light red origin crystal over. Ji Tianqing gasped upon seeing the crystal. ¡°So big! This must be a high-grade origin crystal!¡±

    Li Kuann was the one who grabbed the crystal first. She broke into an immediate frown before tossing it to Ji Tianqing. That short moment of contact had left a small charred patch on her palm. There was an extremely powerful reaction between this crystal and her icy origin power.

    Ji Tianqing channeled ayer of origin power to protect her skin as she received the item. A plume of light-red origin mes erupted as she tried injecting origin power into the crystal. Their surroundings became akin to a scorching summer day as soon as the me appeared, proving just how powerful the ze was.

    ¡°What a strong me!¡± Ji Tianqing was stunned as she retracted her origin power and flipped the crystal about in her hand. ¡°This is a fairly good one among high-grade origin crystals. Unfortunately, the purity of the me and the amount of star power isn¡¯t sufficient to be ssified as top-grade.¡±

    She regretfully shook her head and only came to after seeing Li Kuann¡¯s odd expression. How rare was a top-grade origin crystal? How could it be so easy to obtain? The two of them had to go all out just to produce a medium-grade origin crystal.

    At first, Ji Tianqing was thinking that they would¡¯ve made a tidy profit if one of the seven remaining pearls would produce a high-grade origin crystal. That was because they had Qianye on their team. If it were just the two of them, all they could do was hope for medium-grade.

    She studied the crystal for a good while before putting it into her spatial storage reluctantly. She then patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°With this origin crystal, the problem of Kuann¡¯s icy sword would be half-solved. Take a good rest and try harder tomorrow, make some more high-grade origin crystals and we¡¯ll be rich!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. High-grade origin crystals weren¡¯t rocks they could just pick up everywhere.

    It was alreadyte at night, and Qianye was also somewhat tired. He naturally wouldn¡¯t object to taking a rest.

    The three sorted out their items, and just as they were about to find a ce to spend the night, a voice came from the forest, ¡°This is the Constetion Well. Rest assured, those people from the Empire shouldn¡¯t be here yet. How can they be as fast as we are? You can take your time condensing an origin crystal here. Tonight will be peaceful at the very least.¡±

    Anwen walked out of the woods while talking, and waspletely stunned to find Qianye¡¯s group.

 Chapter 1035: The Law of Conservation of Origin Power

    ¡°Y-You guys! Howe you¡¯re here?¡± Anwen was astonished.

    This demonkin¡¯s reaction was peculiar, and his question was also quite odd. Even Qianye didn¡¯t really know whether he should pay the fellow any attention or not. This was a traditional resource location for Imperials. What was he expecting if not humans? A demonkin like himself?

    Anwen scratched his head in distress, thinking long and hard. Bai Kongzhao poked her head out from behind him. She had almost bumped into him because she hadn¡¯t expected him to stop all of a sudden.

    The girl¡¯s confused eyes lit up upon seeing Qianye but soon became cautious after noticing Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann. Eventually, the brightness was covered back up by her usual vacant demeanor.

    Anwen said after some thought, ¡°Ah, I know! You were the ones who left that camp in the ten-times gravity region.¡±

    Qianye, Ji Tianqing, and Li Kuann exchanged nces. Who would¡¯ve thought Anwen had been tracing their footsteps? Appearing in the high-gravity region and escaping sessfully meant that he possessed greatbat strength despite his frail appearance.

    Qianye stood calmly before Anwen, while Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann spread out to the nks.

    ¡°Ha. Back then, I really didn¡¯t expect a physically-weak human would appear in the region with ten-times gravity. Not only that, but you were also able to withstand the frigid night and escape the central region. Even if the humans had discovered the secret of the white fruit and wine, they would be corroded by the wine and turn into wild beasts after a couple of nights. Now, it looks like your group hasn¡¯t been affected at all, what a miracle!¡±

    Anwen talked to himself excitedly, staring at Qianye from head to toe, left to right, and then the other way around. All the while, he was muttering to himself, ¡°Truth be told, the human race isn¡¯t very good looking, but for someone like you to appear, it¡¯s quite inconceivable. In fact, good looks aren''t just about being aesthetically pleasant. It represents conformity with the rhythm of this world and being able to adapt to the environment. That is why those people would look stunning in the eyes of all creatures! That¡¯s why looking good is a facet of one¡¯sbat strength. The old men in our n only know of scheming and fighting, they had never contemted such worldly phenomena in depth¡­ eh?¡±

    Anwen found, to his shock, that Qianye¡¯s group had taken up positions. He pointed at Qianye in disbelief, saying, ¡°Are you guys going to attack?¡±

    Qianye weighed East Peak in his hand. ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have a reason to fight, do we?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in the Great Maelstrom. You are a demonkin and we are human, is that not reason enough?¡±

    Anwen sighed. ¡°This kind of enmity is baseless. Sometimes, I really feel that you humans all have a victimplex. I personally feel that the hatred between our races isn¡¯t unresolvable, in the short term at least.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Daybreak and Evernight represent an inherent conflict in origin powers. There¡¯s no avoiding this.¡±

    Anwen snorted disdainfully. ¡°Nonsense! That¡¯s just a slogan an Imperial idiot started spouting, and a lot more idiots from our race supported it. Thus, a thousand years of fighting began. Do they have no brains? Can¡¯t they stop to think if we can destroy daybreak or darkness origin power even if we kill off every member of the opposing faction?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. The Law of Conservation of Origin Power was amon knowledge taught in advanced imperial sybuses. When a person passed away, the origin power he had cultivated would dissipate and return to the void. Eventually, a new generation would be born, grow up, and cultivate, extracting daybreak origin power from the void to store in their bodies. During this entire cycle, the amount of origin power never increased or decreased.

    However, this was merely a hypothesis that no one could prove. Additionally, it was said that this theory actually produced a fair amount of controversy and objection. Something of note was that Li Xitang was among the dissenters, but the marshal only expressed his objection, not the reason. Even so, his special status brought the hypothesis into the midst of new debates in recent years.

    What was this Anwen trying to say by bringing this theory up? Qianye raised his hand, gesturing to the girls that there was no rush to attack.

    Anwen became spirited after seeing that Qianye was listening intently. ¡°Be it darkness origin power or daybreak, both of them should be constant. Yet, they are also changing at all times. The reason for this transformation is because we¡¯re not alone in this great universe, and the world we live in is just a small corner. Who knows how many small worlds like ours exist in the depths of the void? Why would we fight between ourselves when we could be breaking down the ramparts of the void and heading out to explore the boundless realms. Now that¡¯s a truly meaningful future!¡±

    Hearing Anwen expounding on such great topics, Ji Tianqing snorted disdainfully. ¡°Such grand aspirations, but you¡¯re not even a duke! Let¡¯s discuss this when you¡¯re a prince. Besides, destroying your race is the most important matter at hand, exploring the boundless universe is too distant an endeavor. Just leave important missions like that to us, no need to trouble yourself.¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°Fairly good looking, but so violent, pity, pity!¡±

    Ji Tianqing was peeved. ¡°The first part is quite reasonable, but the rest is nonsense! Of course, I have to be violent when dealing with your kind.¡±

    Anwen didn¡¯t hold back, either. ¡°After a person is killed, his origin power will return to the void and then return in a different form. Even if you destroy the demonkin race, more dark races will appear as long as darkness origin power exists. The same goes for humans. How is that meaningful? A thousand years ago, humans were nothing but ves, but now, they are a power upying four continents. How can there be an empire today without the gradual increase in daybreak origin power?¡±

    The theory was unprecedented and seemingly quite reasonable. Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t quite know how to retort for the time being. However, she was never one to concede or be suppressed. ¡°There¡¯s no way to prove things, so you¡¯re just saying whatever you want. But don¡¯t even think about getting through this by tricking us. Let me ask you about what you said, how exactly do I look good? Can you see me clearly?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t using her original appearance in front of others. At this moment, her appearance rotated through thousands of versions, and even her stature would transform from time to time. This was her unique ability, and even Qianye was fooled several times back then.

    But Anwen smiled proudly after an intent gaze. ¡°What¡¯s so difficult? Just wait a while.¡±

    He whipped out his sword and started calcting on the ground, soon producing a long string of forms.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann exchanged nces. How could they understand suchplicated forms? They didn¡¯t know what Anwen was thinking, but they thought he was just making things unnecessarilyplicated.

    Qianye had grown up in the Yellow Springs and then joined the Red Scorpion. Most of his life was spent learning how to kill and not be killed, so he knew even less about these things. Let alone him, even those instructors at Yellow Springs wouldn¡¯t be able to figure out what form this was.

    Anwen calcted swiftly, each number appearing from his sword tip like flowing water and making Qianye dizzy. Bai Kongzhao was the only one unaffected by this disy because she didn¡¯t care at all about what Anwen was doing. She merely stared at Qianye, and no one knew what she was thinking.

    The girl didn¡¯t disguise her intent, but Qianye kept his attention on her at all times.

    Bai Kongzhao would always go for the vitals at the most opportune moment. There was no rhythm to her movements, and no one could tell what exactly she was thinking. Having known her for so many years, Qianye suspected whether she possessed the ability, ¡°Ignore Defense¡±. That was a terrifying power that would allow the user to break through higher-ranking defenses. He couldn¡¯t afford to be careless and give her an opportunity to exploit.

    Anwen didn¡¯t make everyone wait too long. The countless numbers transformed into a simple form within minutes, which he nced at as heughed proudly. He then arrived in front of a rock and began carving the outline of a person with his de.

    A shake of his wrist sent sword radiance raining upon the rock, sending pieces of it flying everywhere as the sculpture of a young girl appeared before the crowd.

    The human girl was covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide in astonishment. She wasn¡¯t an especially stunning beauty at a nce, but she looked better the longer one admired her. Her gentle demeanor exuded a sense offort and wlessness.

    The statue was extremely vivid and especially lifelike in her expression. It made people want to know just what she had seen.

    As for her clothes and the hem of her skirt, everything waspleted in just a few strokes. And that was enough.

    This sculpture was the work of a master, no more, no less.

    Ji Tianqing finally couldn¡¯t hold back her astonishment. Qianye and Li Kuann were also stunned speechless as they gazed at the sculpture.

    The statue was definitely a depiction of Ji Tianqing in her original appearance. Qianye and Li Kuann knew her true appearance, so they could easily recognize her. Anwen, on the other hand, had never seen Ji Tianqing before. ¡°How could he carve out her appearance with just a pile of goddamned forms and numbers?¡±

    Anwen chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s not too hard. If it wasn¡¯t for this youngdy cycling through her appearance several times, I wouldn¡¯t have found the rhythm so easily. One has to know that everything has a scheme to it and that her original appearance is constant. It¡¯s fine even if she doesn¡¯t reveal even a small bit of her appearance. I can find the constant between countless variables. That is my specialty and a necessary skill for exploring the realm we live in.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand the logic, but that didn¡¯t really hinder him from adding Anwen to his list of most dangerous enemies. Perhaps it was because he didn¡¯t understand that he attached more importance to this enemy. Anwen seemed somewhat deranged, but he couldn¡¯t quite hide his genius from leaking out. This filled Qianye with a sense of danger that wasn¡¯t weaker than any other enemy.

 Chapter 1036: Sudden Variable

    Ji Tianqing was left pondering hard. Qianye, on the other hand, raised East Peak and took a step forward. ¡°Get ready.¡±

    Anwen was stunned momentarily. ¡°What did you say?¡±

    Qianye pointed at Ji Tianqing¡¯s sculpture. ¡°Out of consideration for that sculpture, I won¡¯tunch a sneak attack. Get ready to fight!¡±

    Anwen was puzzled. ¡°I talked so long and hard, you still want to fight?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too dangerous, I won¡¯t be at ease unless I beat you into a pulp,¡± Qianye spoke honestly.

    ¡°Barbarian!¡± Anwen was furious.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I read too little to understand your theories, fighting is all I¡¯m good at.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t look embarrassed at all. He bent his body forward slightly, intent to do battle.

    Anwen was so angry that he didn¡¯t know what to say. He put away his rapier and brought out the two-meter sword. ¡°I might not like fighting, but don¡¯t think for one second that I¡¯m afraid of you! You¡¯re indeed powerful, but I¡¯ve seen your fight with the Demoness. You¡¯re still a bit short of being able to beat me to a pulp!¡±

    Qianye said nothing. His foot left the ground as he floated upward and unfurled his luminous wings. The tips of the wings were outlined in ck, and one of the feathers had a tinge of darkness that made it stand out especially.

    Anwen¡¯s expression changed abruptly when he saw the wingtips. ¡°You broke through again? It has only been how long?¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°It has already been some time.¡±

    The confidence and pride on Anwen¡¯s face vanished, reced by seriousness. Several beams of demonic energy shot out around him to form a chain, drawing him halfway into the air. He needed to be off the ground in order to wield the full might of that two-meter sword.

    Every chain would transform his figure several times. It was only by the seventh chain that Anwen realized his reflection in Qianye¡¯s eyes never faltered¡ªthat the stinging sensation at his back never receded.

    His expression grew even more serious. The long sword trembled slightly as a wisp of demonic energy surged upward from the top of his head.

    Anwen was ready to go into a head-on duel with Qianye, something he wouldn¡¯t have chosen if he had a choice. Qianye had severely injured the Demoness with three Shots of Inception back in the city of Indomitable. No matter how confident Anwen was, he didn¡¯t believe he was more powerful than the Demoness or that he was capable of taking Qianye¡¯s attack.

    He had utilized every power at his disposal, yet he couldn¡¯t escape Qianye¡¯s lock-on. The only choice left was to fight head-on.

    Anwen wasn¡¯t an easy character, either. With a shake of his sword, he outlined an extremelyplicated diagram in the air made of lingering demonic energy. The old diagram hadn¡¯t yet dispersed when new ones were quickly formed over them. This superimposition actually gave Qianye a sense of pressure.

    Qianye had a feeling that he wouldn¡¯t be able to evade this sh.

    Up until this day, Qianye had gone through hundreds of battles and fought countless peers. He had also witnessed many strange abilities and talents, but he had never seen an ability like Anwen¡¯s. Even when facing it personally, Qianye couldn¡¯t quite figure out the principle behind the stance. Why would a bunch of strange diagrams lock onto Qianye?

    Anwen¡¯s technique lookedical, but Qianye knew that wasn¡¯t the case. Just like when he carved Ji Tianqing¡¯s sculpture, these diagrams might have the same effect as those forms and numbers. Qianye couldn¡¯t say they were useless just because he couldn¡¯t understand them.

    The current situation ended up with Qianye and Anwen locking down one another, with neither being able to evade the other¡¯s attack. It seemed they would end up in mutual destruction.

    Anwen was quite calm at first, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw the mockery in Qianye¡¯s eyes. Only then did he remember that Qianye had withstood the Demoness¡¯ long-range attack. Not only did he live to tell the tale, but he even broke through after that. It was obvious just how strong his body was.

    All of a sudden, Anwen lost all confidence in himself. Theplicated diagrams he had drawn were analyses in space and time. The calctions eventually reached a point where he could strike Qianye no matter how thetter changed his movements. However, this art could only help him hit the target and not to improve the power of his attack.

    In the blink of an eye, Anwen understood the gravity of his situation. He would be able to strike Qianye but not kill him. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s upgraded attack would likely take his life. It was only natural that Qianye wouldn¡¯t refuse such a trade.

    Additionally, the opponent clearly had no true awareness of a true expert. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had spread out, with the former targeting Bai Zhongzhao and thetter waiting tounch a surprise attack. Anwen could naturally tell that Li Kuann specialized in speed and could easily distract him at the critical juncture. It wasn¡¯t a certainty whether he could even strike Qianye at that point.

    Anwen shouted without turning back, ¡°Run!¡±

    Bai Kongzha was puzzled. ¡°Run?¡±

    ¡°Now! Immediately!¡± Anwen rushed her anxiously. At the same time, his sword trembled faster and faster, adding more and moreyers to the diagram. Even Li Kuann felt as though she was being locked onto.

    Qianye revealed a cold smile. Anwen¡¯s sword wasn¡¯t enough to kill him, yet he was still intent on splitting the force with Li Kuann. This would only end up with him giving the both of them moderate injuries. Qianye would have a harder time if the demonkin were to focus his power on Li Kuann.

    Bai Kongzhao was surprised by Anwen¡¯s anxiousness. ¡°Why are we fighting? Why must I run?¡±

    She was still ignorant about the entire situation, and Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t about to give her a chance toe to. She arrived behind Bai Kongzhao in a single step and broke off her path of retreat.

    Donning a pair of spiked scale gloves, she said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ve heard about you. I¡¯ve been waiting to witness your peerlessbat instincts. Now that there¡¯s a chance, I must see whether Bai Aotu is bluffing or not.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao reached toward her back, but there was nothing there. She had used that cleaver of hers while trying to stop the six-armed general. Ji Tianqing took a step forward in response to the girl¡¯s movement,pletely locking her down.

    Bai Kongzhao possessed unfathomablebat instincts. Her attacks were always unimaginable and urate, capable of grasping the briefest of opportunities. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, was unpredictably diverse in her repertoire of powerful secret arts and skills, definitely a good candidate to suppress Bai Kongzhao.

    On the surface, it would seem Anwen was destined to lose, but his fighting spirit didn¡¯t falter. He tapped in the air with his left hand, whereupon a ring of faint demonic energy appeared around Bai Kongzhao¡¯s feet. The girl¡¯s body became extremely light, and her speed increased sharply. Now, Ji Tianqing could no longerugh because she wouldn¡¯t be able to stop Bai Kongzhao if she was intent on running away.

    ¡°Run!¡± Anwen shouted. He was already at his limit after restraining three people at once.

    Although no one had really attacked at this point, the situation had been changing constantly. Both sides had been in a secret confrontation that could only be described as brilliant.

    Bai Kongzhao, however, didn¡¯t take the opportunity Anwen had created for her. She only said, ¡°I¡¯m not running, I surrender.¡±

    ¡°Surrender?¡± Ji Tianqing, who was ready to burst into battle, felt as though she had tripped and fell. She had considered Anwen and Bai Kongzhao as equal experts. How could people at their level utter the word surrender?

    Qianye¡¯s gaze fell upon Bai Kongzhao¡¯s face. At this moment, the reflection in his eyes was no longer Anwen but the little girl.

    Anwen became even tenser after noticing that he was no longer being locked onto. However, Li Kuann was retraining him from the side, so he couldn¡¯t make a move to draw Qianye¡¯s attention back to him. If he were to break this deadlock and attack, Qianye might take Bai Kongzhao¡¯s life with a single Shot of Inception.

    The demonkin stared at that ck feather on Qianye¡¯s wings and sighed after a good while.

    Qianye finally spoke, ¡°Why are you surrendering?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao produced half the white-fruit she had been keeping. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    The white fruit seemed easy to get for Qianye¡¯s group, but it had be a scarce resource now that they were far from the central region. Obtaining more was now impossible after the appearance of the six-armed general, so half a white-fruit was now a fairly valuable treasure.

    Ji Tianqing snorted. ¡°You want to buy your life with just that? Take out better things or there¡¯s no discussion.¡±

    Qianye waved his hand. ¡°Fine, I ept. You guys can go.¡±

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were surprised at why Qianye would let such powerful enemies go. But since Qianye had already spoken, they refrained from arguing with him and merely stepped back to open the way.

    Bai Kongzhao ced the bounty in his hand, and then slowly stepped backward. Anwen nced at Qianye, saying, ¡°I hope we can fight to our heart¡¯s content when we have the opportunity.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Anytime.¡±

    Ji Tianqing asked all of a sudden, ¡°Why are you guys here?¡±

    Anwen replied without any hesitation, ¡°I have a Storm Pearl, so I wanted to help her condense an origin crystal.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s why. I have two origin crystals here, see if you want it. You can trade it for the Storm Pearl and other things.¡± Ji Tianqing produced the two origin crystals she and Li Kuann had condensed.

    Anwen didn¡¯t refuse. He took out a pair of ck-rimmed sses and arrived beside Ji Tianqing to observe the crystals.

    They had daggers drawn thest moment, yet now they were ready to do business. The situation had changed so unexpectedly. Qianye took a step forward and stood behind Ji Tianqing, lest Anwen attacks all of a sudden.

    Anwen noticed Qianye¡¯s thoughts. He looked up with a cold smile, saying, ¡°She¡¯s a prouddy who won¡¯t go back against her words. And so am I. We¡¯re looking to trade right now, so we won¡¯t be fighting midway. You¡¯ve known her for so long, don¡¯t you even realize this much?¡±

    Qianye was astounded and didn¡¯t really know what to say. He really didn¡¯t understand Ji Tianqing all that much. In truth, Qianye hadn¡¯t given her much attention despite their long friendship.

    Ji Tianqing chuckled. ¡°Pick fast or the price will go up.¡±

    Anwen looked at the crystals for a while and then shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t you have better ones?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Ji Tianqing replied decisively. She wasn¡¯t about to take out the crystal Qianye had produced.

    Anwen said regretfully, ¡°Their grades are too low for her.¡±

    ¡°Too low?¡± Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t happy.

    Anwen didn¡¯t hold back. ¡°Her future prospects will be limited if she were to absorb these two crystals.¡±

    These two middle-grade origin crystals were for people with no hopes of bing a divine champion. Bai Kongzhao was quite famous back in the Bai n, but everyone knew of her talents as well. She had no hope of reaching the divine champion realm, so none of the major powers paid her much attention. Bai Aotu eventually caved in to the n¡¯s pressure as well.

    Anwen was implying that she had the potential to break through to the divine champion realm, but Ji Tianqing couldn¡¯t be bothered to exin or argue.

 Chapter 1037: Meeting the Holy Son Again

    ¡°How do you n to form the origin crystal?¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s curiosity had been piqued.

    Anwen pointed at the Constetion Well. ¡°You won¡¯t let us do it here by any chance, will you?¡±

    Ji Tianqing shrugged. ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s not like you can beat us.¡±

    Anwen wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°The origin crystal we want to form is special, it doesn¡¯t need a lot of star power. This isn¡¯t the only opening to the Constetion Well, just the biggest and most convenient one. To us, though, the star power here is too close to daybreak, so the other wells are actually more suitable.¡±

    Ji Tianqing asked in surprise, ¡°There are other wells?¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t forget that you humans learned of the Great Maelstrom from us. Our understanding of this ce is far superior.¡±

    ¡°Fine, good luck then.¡± Ji Tianqing waved her hand.

    Nodding, Anwen left in a different direction with Bai Kongzhao.

    Ji Tianqing called out from behind, ¡°Thanks for the sculpture!¡±

    Anwen looked back with a smile. ¡°If you really want to thank me, then let me use this wellter on.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you only have one Storm Pearl?¡±

    ¡°I just want to study what¡¯s different about this well. I feel that the secrets of this world are hidden inside these stars.¡±

    Qianye shook his head, feeling that this Anwen was somewhat crazy. One would be defenseless once inside the well and usually required someone to stand guard at the opening. As this was amon gathering ce for Imperial experts, Anwen entering the well alone was akin to suicide. He had Bai Kongzhao with him, but Qianye knew no one could control that girl or know what she was thinking. No one knew where she would aim her de the next moment.

    But Qianye had no reason to stop a demonkin from killing himself, let alone an extremely important person. He had chosen to avoid an unnecessary fight against Anwen, but he wasn¡¯t about to stop one of Evernight¡¯s fighting powers from disappearing.

    It was night by the time the duo departed. As it was already dark, Qianye¡¯s group picked a hidden ce to camp for the night. The twodies decided to take turns standing watch and allow Qianye to recover his origin power as much as possible. ording to Ji Tianqing, he was a goose that couldy golden eggs and thus needed to rest well.

    Qianye didn¡¯t refuse the offer. The effects of Elder Lu¡¯s wine were still there, so he should grasp this opportunity to cultivate. It was possible for him to break through again before the wine wore off.

    The night was quiet.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes as the first rays of dawn appeared and shot out crackling beams of scarlet gold. At this point, his origin power was at its maximum capacity, and his sixth origin node was almost full. Countless crystalline particles were swirling inside the vortex, making it difficult to discern which was liquid and which was crystal.

    His seventh origin node had swollen to its limits and looked like it would explode within days, turning into an origin vortex.

    Qianye opened his eyes and nced at theing dawn. Today was one of the best days in his life.

    It was at this time that Li Kuann¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°Who goes there!?¡±

    The only reply was a surge of origin power, followed by a muffled sound. It was a shot from an origin gun!

    From what Qianye remembered, both Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing knew that origin firearms shouldn¡¯t be used in the Great Maelstrom. Gunshots would produce an earth-shattering sound, and the origin power would ripple dozens of kilometers out. No one knew what kind of danger such a ruckus would draw. Back when Qianye was forced to use Heartgrave, the sound traveled hundreds of kilometers out.

    This shot was definitely not from Li Kuann or Ji Tianqing.

    Qianye stood up and ran at full speed toward the sound.

    A blue silhouette was shuttling through the forest like shes of lightning, locked in a fierce battle against several ck-robed experts. These enemies were so powerful and well-coordinated that they were gradually boxing Li Kuann in.

    With her dagger in hand, Li Kuann attempted to charge through the encirclement several times. However, the dark-robed people seemed to understand her sword technique quite well¡ªthey would switch to a solid defensive stance whenever they saw her charging, leaving no gap at all for her to exploit. The target only needed to impede her for a split second, and the rest of the team would arrive to surround her.

    Li Kuann knew she had to avoid being surrounded, so she would retreat immediately after missing the first strike and change targets.

    Although the forest was a familiar environment for her, the ck-robed men were all powerful and agile. Their strength was inferior, but it wasn¡¯t out of the question for them to block a couple of blows from her.

    There was also a woman in the periphery¡ªthe sniper rifle in her grasp was following Li Kuann¡¯s movements. The shot she had fired just now had almost found its target, so despite not pulling the trigger yet, the pressure was still just as intense.

    Qianye saw this scene immediately after entering the forest. Seeing that Li Kuann was still able to hold out, he refrained from stepping in immediately. Instead, he hid his presence and began looking for Ji Tianqing.

    Thetter was on the other side of the forest, in a showdown against two mysterious ck-robed people who had blocked her in a pincer formation.

    The soil on the ground had been overturned, and several of the nearby trees were leaning at crazy angles. Apparently, the two sides had already exchanged blows. Ji Tianqing¡¯s countenance was clear and calm. She merely stared at the ck-robed man in front of her and ignored the one behind.

    The enemy behind her finally lost his calm. He produced a crossbow from his robe, loaded a bolt, and took aim at Ji Tianqing¡¯s back. He then moved forward step by step.

    This crossbow was exquisitely crafted with three sets of bow arms and a body covered in origin arrays. Although not very big, its firepower could not be underestimated. This ck-robed man was now a mere ten meters away from Ji Tianqing, where a sudden shot could pose a significant threat to her.

    Thetter was bent forward slightly in an attack stance, her target still the ck-robed man in front of her. She seemed to be ignoring the man behind her entirely.

    The ck-robed man in front stood calmly without any preparatory movements. It would seem he was quite confident about the situation.

    After scanning the battlefield, Qianye sped toward the ck-robed man in front of Ji Tianqing. This person possessed a deep aura that was entirely contained, and hisbat abilities seemed far above his peers.

    Qianye channeled his Bloodline Concealment as he moved toward the ck-robed man like a ghost. When they were several dozen meters away, the man suddenly sensed something and turned toward Qianye¡¯s direction.

    Qianye erupted with origin power and speed, arriving before the ck-robed man within seconds and delivering a downward sh.

    The man¡¯s aura fluctuated momentarily, seemingly startled. A sh from East Peak was as heavy as the mountains. How would he dare to take it head-on? The ck-robed man evaded the sh with an immediate retreat, but his smooth retreat turned strangely sluggish all of a sudden.

    It was during this brief moment that Qianye nted East Peak in the ground and threw a punch at the enemy¡¯s chest. There was no evading this square punch. Qianye was apparently nning to contest strength with strength and decide the match with a single punch.

    The ck-robed man also knew this. ¡°Insolence!¡± he roared as he also responded with a simr punch.

    Qianye unleashed a shout akin to spring thunder as the joints in his body reverberated with a thunderous toll. His ancient vampire strength,bined with the explosive power of Excavator, all poured out in one punch.

    Groaning, the ck-robed man retreated several steps, but with every step he took back, Qianye would take a step forward. The fists connected repeatedly, and wave after wave of Excavator power traveled through Qianye¡¯s fist and crashed into the ck-robed man.

    The series of attacks was bold and unreserved, aiming to defeat the enemy in one blow and even kill them.

    However, the ck-robed man¡¯s power was like a boundless marsh. It was vast, heavy, and extremely tenacious. It remained unscattered in the face of Qianye¡¯s Excavator, and even its retaliation was growing stronger.

    The man took seven steps back before finding a stable footing once more.

    Qianye attacked several more rounds, but the ck-robed man took everything quite calmly.

    This man¡¯s strength was well beyond expectation, but Qianye had other tricks up his sleeve. He stepped back all of a sudden and picked East Peak up. Nirvanic Rend!

    This sh was abnormally swift. Just as the ck-robed man thought to evade, his figure slowed down yet again as it was restrained by the Eye of Control. Since he couldn¡¯t evade the de, all he could do was block forcibly.

    He crossed his arms in front of his body, producing a meshwork of purple blood energy to lock down the iing beam. Both sword and blood energies froze for a brief moment, and then exploded with a loud boom, turning into countless streams of sharp energy that shot off in all directions.

    Qianye remained standing in ce, only lifting his left hand slightly. A stream of energy flitted past his face, leaving a shallow trail of blood therein.

    The ck-robed man was sted miserably by the streams of energy. He shook his body with a harrumph, duly shattering the ck robe as he raised his head and revealed his true appearance.

    The man¡¯s figure appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡° Edward?¡±

    The one standing opposite him was indeed the vampire holy son, Edward. The Empire had listed this person as an important target since his appearance in Indomitable, and even those who hadn¡¯t seen him before could recognize him.

    Qianye observed the purple blood energy seeping out of Edward¡¯s body. He was fairly shaken because the pressure it brought about was unprecedented. Since his cultivation of the Song n Ancient Scroll and the dark golden blood energy, Qianye had never felt pressure from another vampire.

    Edward looked at Qianye. ¡°Qianye?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Edward drew his sword and said proudly, ¡°I heard you¡¯re a member of our vampire race and have obtained the inheritance of the River of Blood. Why aren¡¯t you kneeling after seeing me?¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you kneeling?¡± Qianye sneered.

    Edward was furious. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you some things since you¡¯re a mixed-breed. All vampires have their own ce in the River of Blood. The closer one is to the source, the more powerful and respected they are, this is an iron rule since the birth of the vampires! Since you¡¯re part of our race, why aren¡¯t you respecting the rules?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°On the topic of the River of Blood, do you think your so-called Holy Son status makes you superior to a mixed-breed?¡±

 Chapter 1038: Whoâ€™s Closer to the Source?

    Edward gradually opened his slender eyes and snorted in apparent anger. He pointed his de at Qianye from afar, engulfing everything within a hundred meters in dark purple radiance¡ªhimself, Qianye, Ji Tianqing, and the other ck-robed man.

    A deep, profound suppressive might slowly fell upon them. It was as though a supreme being had opened his eyes high up in the void and was looking from therein.

    Ji Tianqing wrapped her arms around herself. Her ne and armbands glowed faintly, forming a light barrier that blocked out the dark purple blood energy. The light was faint, but it wasn¡¯t at all at a disadvantage against the invasive blood energy.

    The other ck-robed man was in a miserable state. He fell to his knees, trembling, and actually couldn¡¯t stand up anymore.

    Edward¡¯s pupils constricted as he scanned Ji Tianqing. His expression became much more solemn and his killing intent increased. His gaze switched to Qianye after just a brief moment because he felt that Qianye was the true danger.

    Fortunately, it was great news that Qianye possessed a vampire bloodline. Their race focused so much on bloodline superiority because the more powerful ones would suppress the weaker ones. The closer one was to the source of the River of Blood, the greater the suppression they would exert. Even the one who had founded the Throne of Blood could only kill at will after escaping to the neutralnds because he was apprehensive of the superior bloodlines on the Twilight Continent.

    Edward¡¯s confidence came not from his status as the Holy Son, nor his primo bloodline. Instead, it originated from this dark purple blood energy, one that was born of a great dark monarch!

    Edward was, after all, a genius. After his punishment via blood ignition, he had actually grasped that thread of opportunity to assimte the great dark monarch¡¯s blood energy into his body. Although there was only a tinge of the powerhouse¡¯s aura in his blood, his suppression toward other vampires had increased exponentially. Even primos were far from being able to contend against a true great dark monarch.

    Within the purple blood mist, Qianye¡¯s eyes were slightly lowered. He stood firmly with his sword in one hand and the other pointing at Edward.

    The Holy Sonughed coldly, his evaluation of Qianye dropping several points. Frozen stiff and losing the power to struggle meant that Qianye¡¯s bloodline wasn¡¯t anything to write home about. It definitely couldn¡¯t bepared to the superior vampire races. If he was even slightly close to being a primo, he would have the ability to escape and not be frozen there.

    Edward walked forward to remove this insolent vampire¡¯s head, but he suddenly noticed something after the first step. His eyes fell upon Qianye¡¯s left hand.

    There was a dark golden me burning on Qianye¡¯s fingertip, in which was a flickering luminous feather.

    Edward¡¯s eyes narrowed as he recalled the battle at Indomitable where Qianye had wounded the Demoness with three luminous feathers. He wasn¡¯t powerless to struggle; he was actually luring Edward closer!

    Edward immediately stopped, but he didn¡¯t retreat. Instead, his figure became illusory and unstable, flickering hundreds of times in mere moments. He had utilized an extremely advanced secret art so that Qianye couldn¡¯t lock onto him. Sideways evasion was much more effective against the Shot of Inceptionpared to retreating backward. Putting distance between them wasn¡¯t the best strategy.

    Edward was entirely focused on Qianye¡¯s finger, but who would¡¯ve thought the feather would actually vanish after a couple of flickers?

    The Holy Son was highly rmed. Only at this point did he realize that a wisp of silent sword energy had arrived beside him. Qianye hadunched a Nirvanic Rend while Edward was focused on the Shot of Inception.

    Edward roared loudly, condensing countless streams of blood energy into shields around him. Yet, he was caught off-guard and unable to gather his full power. The shields were shed apart by the sword energy and a long, gushing wound appeared on his chest!

    The vampire roared furiously as he took several steps back, whipping out an origin handgun and taking aim at Qianye along the way. The wound on his body had closed up and vanished in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye stood there, frowning. He didn¡¯t give chase immediately because that origin gun elicited a strong stabbing pain in him. Apparently, it was excessively powerful and probably a grade-nine weapon. Edward¡¯s injury just now looked frightening, but the cut was quite shallow, as evidenced by the speed of its healing.

    Edward didn¡¯t attack, either. He gradually retracted his blood mist and stared at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re not restrained?¡±

    Qianye smirked. ¡°I¡¯ve told you just now. It¡¯s not certain who among us is closer to the source of the River of Blood.¡±

    Edward was surprisingly calm and contemtive. He then stared at Qianye intently. ¡°Can you tell me who granted you your sacred bloodline?¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll tell you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t, but you¡¯ve already invited trouble upon yourself, big trouble.¡±

    Qianye smiled coldly once more. ¡°No matter how big the trouble, can it exceed the bloody battle and void continent wars?¡±

    Edward shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not what you think. It¡¯s something beyond your imagination.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in unraveling his deliberate mystification. Instead, he pointed at the origin gun, saying, ¡°Your Excellency, you do know that you shouldn¡¯t fire so easily in the Great Maelstrom, right? Or perhaps you have bigger troubles of your own and wish to die together with me?¡±

    Edward put away his firearm. ¡°This Fading Blossom is an imitation of the Red Spider Lily, crafted by a prince from our Perth n. Unfortunately, the weapon never gained sentience even after hundreds of years of work and the prince¡¯s subsequent deep slumber. All it could do was imitate the magnum slightly. Even so, it¡¯s a grade-nine weapon and a family heirloom. Shooting it won¡¯t produce a huge ruckus like ordinary guns.¡±

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you use it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I don¡¯t want to trade lives.¡± Edward nced at Qianye¡¯s left hand.

    While Qianye and Edward were locked in a showdown, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann left the forest, and the ck-robed experts returned to the Holy Son¡¯s side. It was just that all of them were injured, and only that young vampiredy was unhurt.

    Ji Tianqing had taken out the other ck-robed man right after Qianye pushed Edward back, and then rushed away to help Li Kuann. Thetter was able to keep the entire group at bay on her own, so Ji Tianqing¡¯s arrival tipped the scales entirely.

    The other ck-robed man was actually quite strong, but he was unfortunately swept into and suppressed by Edward¡¯s purple blood energy. In the end, Ji Tianqing took him down with a single punch.

    At this moment, both sides were evenly matched. ¡°Your Excellency, leave some spoils and you can go.¡±

    Only the loser of a battle would need to pay tribute. Edward said with a gloomy expression, ¡°Are you asking me to surrender?¡±

    ¡°More or less.¡±

    ¡°Insolence!¡±

    Qianye thrust East Peak into the ground and produced Heartgrave. ¡°You can try using that Fading Blossom of yours.¡±

    Edward¡¯s pupils shrank. ¡°A grade-nine gun?¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°This gun is called Heartgrave. A st from it, reinforced with a peerless secret art, should be enough to return you to the River of Blood. Want to try?¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t bragging, though. It was impossible to tell whether the Shot of Inception was physical or purely spirit in nature. Even though Andruil had merelypleted its initial structure, the weapon¡¯s might was already quite evident. It would also be quite reliable to say that the Shot of Inception was a peerless secret art.

    The Shot of Inception, fired through Heartgrave, would surely send the Holy Son of the vampire race back to the River of Blood. Naturally, Qianye wasn¡¯t speaking the entire truth because he wasn¡¯t really sure if he could fire the upgraded ck feather via Heartgrave.

    Edward was livid. He wasn¡¯t willing to just retreat, but the two parties were just too close. No one knew if an exchange of fire would end in mutual destruction, but it was certain that both parties would suffer severe casualties. Neither of the oues was worth it for him, especially since there were people from other families in the Great Maelstrom. He didn''t even want to get injured.

    At this point, the vampiredy beside him said, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you want stuff from us, but you can¡¯t force us to leave, and you must not attack us again.¡±

    Qianye was so focused on Edward that he never noticed that vampiredy. Only when he nced over did he realize that it was Twilight from Nighteye¡¯s n. After the long period of not seeing one another, it would seem her strength had increased sharply to the level of a virtuous count. Who knew what kind of fortune she had stumbled upon or which major character¡¯s favor she had earned?

    Surprisingly, the Holy Son didn¡¯t show any evident signs of displeasure at Twilight speaking out before him. It would seem that the girl¡¯s status in the n was much higher than her strength. It was just that her request was odd and suspicious.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°The Constetion Well is of no use for vampires, is it? What do you n to do by remaining here, ambush people?¡±

    Twilight chuckled. ¡°If we were nning an ambush, we would¡¯ve pretended to leave first, and then attack when you¡¯ve entered the Constetion Well.¡±

    These words left Ji Tianqing with no retort, but it also made her even more suspicious. ¡°Then what are your intentions exactly?¡±

    Twilight said, ¡°Our race also has uses for this Constetion Well, and it¡¯s not convenient for us to exin. So how about it, do you ept our suggestion?¡±

    Qianye frowned. He wanted to refuse outright, but he saw Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann weren¡¯t very averse to the notion. They exchanged nces, and then looked up at Qianye at the same time, whereupon Li Kuann walked over to him and exined in a whisper.

    Both Evernight and the Empire were alone against the many dangers of the Great Maelstrom. Beasts, environment, and the powerful, newly-discovered natives¡ªall of them were lethal threats to these young experts.

    For the sake of survival, sometimes, the dark races and humans would temporarily forget their enmity and face the threats together. This would give both parties useful resources, shared among the participants ording to their strength. This arrangement also served to reduce casualties, so it became an unwritten rule.

    From a certain perspective, this was a temporary cooperation between two weak parties as they fought for resources¡ªon one side was the evernight nobles, while on the other, humans.

 Chapter 1039: Smoke Blood Pillar

    But how could one allow others to sleep near the bed? Having a group of powerful enemies around while apanion condenses origin crystals was a worrying thought as well. Besides, Edward wasn¡¯t like Anwen.

    After a moment of silence, Qianye¡¯s gaze gradually turned cold. ¡°Did you think you have the right to bargain? Enough with the babbling, let¡¯s fight. Let me experience again the Holy Son¡¯s position in the River of Blood!¡±

    At this point, Qianye hadn¡¯t really used his powerful moves yet. Edward¡¯s dark purple blood energy was profound, but it was somewhat flimsy in its current state. Qianye had no fear of it so long as he was equipped with the dark golden blood energy. He hadn¡¯t used that ck feather on the Wings of Inception yet¡ªeven Edward wouldn¡¯t be able to stand that shot.

    In addition to that, he possessed Life Plunder to ughter all of Edward¡¯sckeys. Qianye had never feared anyone in a group battle.

    Edward was livid. Not expecting Qianye to be so firm, Twilight said, ¡°Then we¡¯ll take a step back and let you pick three things you want from us, you can also ask us to tell you what we¡¯re doing in the Constetion Well.¡±

    Edward was surprised. ¡°How is that appropriate?¡±

    Twilight replied, ¡°Why not? This secret isn¡¯t ours alone. Even if we don¡¯t say it, can you guarantee the demonkin and arachne won¡¯t leak the information?¡± Twilight continued, ¡°Time is of the essence, and we¡¯re not the only ones who can get here. The three of them aren¡¯t the only ones from the Empire, either.¡±

    Edward nodded after a moment of silence.

    Qianye discussed things with the other two. ¡°Fine, you¡¯ll tell us that secret. There¡¯s no need for other spoils.¡±

    Twilight stretched out her hand with a knowing expression, producing an oblong hexagonal crystal. The item was red, simr to blood but a bit different as well.

    Looking at the red mist umting within the crystal, Li Kuann¡¯s expression changed slightly. A sense of premonition welled up inside her heart.

    Twilight said, ¡°You humans have the Storm Pearl, and we vampires have the Misty Blood Rod. It can absorb star power from the well to refine our origin blood, increasing our bloodline power.¡±

    Li Kuann said, ¡°How is that possible? The Constetion Well has existed long before we invented the Storm Pearl. The stars here are daybreak in attribute, how can you use it?¡±

    Twilight replied with a question of her own, ¡°There are countless stars in the well, are all of them daybreak?¡±

    Li Kuann was at a loss of words. In truth, she knew well that the ratio between darkness and daybreak was six to four¡ªthere were a fair number of stars that leaned toward darkness origin power. The dark races had nevere to draw on their power because they had no good tool to do so.

    ¡°So, we¡¯ve told you our secret, about how we n to use the Constetion Well. Will you keep your promise or fight us?¡±

    Now, this was a good question. Qianye nced at the other two and took note of their reactions. The two girls were proud characters¡ªdespite her usual frivolousness, Ji Tianqing was abnormally firm in her stance. Since she had already agreed to the terms, she was more inclined to ept it.

    Qianye, on the other hand, felt that they shouldn¡¯t fuss too much about the method when killing enemies. It was the best opportunity to finish off Edward¡¯s entourage. The Holy Son had no way to escape the Shot of Inception, and he would be gravely injured even if he were to escape death. Thereafter, Qianye could cross out this powerful enemy from his list of adversaries. The difference between him and the other experts was that he was very much willing to take damage in order to im the victory.

    After careful thought, he discovered that this was Song Zining¡¯s influence on him. Could it be that the smarter one was, the less they were inclined to adhere to the rules?

    ¡°Fine, you guys can remain in the area, but you must search for a different well,¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°There are other openings?¡± Twilight was surprised.

    ¡°Yes, ording to a certain demonkin. I have no idea if he speaks the truth.¡±

    Twilight said after some thought, ¡°Very well, we¡¯ll go search for it. But we¡¯ll return if we can¡¯t find it.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Qianye nodded.

    After all the vampires had retreated, Qianye asked, ¡°What do things mean for us now that the vampires can also use the Constetion Well?¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression seemed somewhat unnatural. ¡°They just wanted a piece of the cake because the Empire has been using the well for too long. How can absorbing star energy be that easy? I think they¡¯ll just produce something mediocre after expending great effort.¡±

    Li Kuann shook her head. ¡°Not necessarily. I had a good look at their Blood Rod, it looks very simr to our Storm Pearl in many aspects. The external appearance isn¡¯t relevant in this regard. The Storm Pearl was born of our ancestor¡¯s sweat and blood, not something that¡¯s easily copied. I have a feeling there¡¯s a story behind all of this.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s rted to your Li family?¡± Ji Tianqing didn¡¯t hold back.

    Li Kuann smiled wryly. ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Transactions with the dark races had existed since countless years ago, and the empire had both profited and taken losses from these deals. At least, it was not the ce for someone like Qianye toment on all the merits and demerits, the rights and wrongs. Seeing Li Kuann be speechless, Qianye only shook his head and kept his silence.

    Li Kuann said, ¡°It¡¯ll be a good thing if they can¡¯t find a different well entrance. At least, we¡¯ll be able to see how they absorb star power and how the Blood Rod works. Perhaps I¡¯ll be able to find out the difference between the Blood Rod and the Storm Pearl.¡±

    Qianye nodded and brought the girls back to camp to rest. The three of them were in no state to produce origin crystals after the battle and would need to rest for a day.

    In the high-gravity region of the Great Maelstrom, arge, beautiful wolf was shuttling through the forest. It would stop to sniff here and there, confirming the direction before speeding off into the distance.

    In the depths of the forest stood a tall, young girl. Her skin was on the darker side; her figure was beautiful and gave off an aura of the liveliness of spring. There was a small braid behind her head, decorated with seashells and nuts.

    She was dressed in a short leather suit. Her legs were glistening smooth, with a narrow waist supporting a bountiful bust. She was exceedingly attractive.

    She gazed about nervously, the short hunting dagger in her hand jumping about between her fingers. There were several natives strewn across the ground around her, and there was even a four-armed woman among them. There were traces ofbat on the nearby ancient trees and even some traces of white mist.

    The young girl wasn¡¯t injured at all, and not even in a sorry state. It would seem she had a fairly easy time dealing with this group of natives.

    She didn¡¯t have to wait too long before a streak of lightning leaped out of the forest. Therge wolf appeared before her, shaking his golden mane as he came to a stop.

    The young girl looked happy. She ran over to the giant wolf and said, ¡°You¡¯ve escaped?¡±

    The giant wolf shook his head. ¡°I only slipped away for a while, I¡¯ll have to go back soon.¡±

    The young girl was fairly surprised. ¡°Why? Haven¡¯t you already left?¡±

    ¡°No! She¡¯s a female-devil! No one in the Great Maelstrom is a match for her and that Grand Magnum. Neither you nor I can contend against her. She has already remembered my aura, so she can find me wherever I am. If we¡¯re together, we¡¯ll definitely be caught in one go.¡±

    The girl was stunned. ¡°That powerful?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that powerful!¡± The giant wolf looked solemn.

    ¡°Then, what do we do?¡± The girl lost her spirit.

    The giant wolf patted her head with his ws. ¡°You¡¯re the hope of the Summit of Peaks. Do you remember the ce I told you about? Go wait there for me and I¡¯lle as soon as I can. This ce is a high-gravity region. Although six times gravity isn¡¯t dangerous for us, the beasts and natives here are quite terrifying. I don¡¯t feel at ease leaving you alone here. So you should leave and head in that direction.¡±

    The giant wolf pointed toward the starting region.

    The girl nodded hesitantly. ¡°But, you¡¯re the true hope of the Summit of Peaks. How about I swap positions with you? That young girl doesn¡¯t look so evil, perhaps she won¡¯t kill me.¡±

    The giant wolf replied, ¡°She¡¯s not evil? Didn¡¯t you see her kill that six-armed monster like it¡¯s nothing? She didn¡¯t even try to talk. Moreover, she likes fur. She likes brown colors and hates white, that¡¯s the only reason I haven¡¯t been done in.¡±

    ¡°Brown fur?¡± The girl shivered.

    ¡°Yes!¡± The giant wolf became even more serious.

    ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll be waiting for you at the ce,¡± the girl forced out the words, ¡°but I¡¯ll leave marks along the way. If you manage to lose her earlier than expected, remember toe find me.¡±

    The giant wolf nodded.

    It was at this time that a clear whistle echoed far off in the distance. The giant wolf immediately became nervous. ¡°Tanya, I need to go back now. Otherwise, she¡¯ll capture you as well! It¡¯s almost night, so be careful.¡±

    The young girl Tanya was apparently moved by the wolf¡¯s farewell. She made to leave but seemed hesitant. She hugged the giant wolf, saying, ¡°The nights here don¡¯t affect me, but William, you should take care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± The giant wolf turned about and, with a jump, vanished into the depths of the woods.

    The girl remained in ce, staring toward where the giant wolf had vanished. Only when a wisp of nocturnal cold brushed against her body did she start running toward the starting region.

    The giant wolf flickered through the forest like a bolt of lightning, but soon came to a sudden stop and looked at the ground. There was a red spider lily blooming near his feet, but it faded away before it could wilt. The wolf knew that it had entered her warning range. It shook its mane restlessly and began running toward an empty patch in the woods.

    There was a bonfire crackling at the center of the empty patch, which was now covered by a field of red spider lilies. A young spirit-like girl was gazing into the flickering ze, lost in deep thought.

    The young girl sensed the giant wolf¡¯s arrival and waved at it.

    Thetter seemed somewhat apprehensive of the red spider lilies on the ground, but it mustered the courage to move toward the girl andy on the ground beside her. The young girl reached out subconsciously and grabbed its golden mane. The giant wolf narrowed its eyes in apparent pleasure.

    The girl sighed. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought this ce is so big. Say, do you think we¡¯ll find him?¡±

    ¡°Woof!¡±

    ¡°Sigh, I forgot you can¡¯t speak or understand what I say, but that¡¯s good. These words aren¡¯t for anyone to hear anyway. I¡¯d have to kill whoever finds out about them.¡±

    The giant wolf trembled.

 Chapter 1040: Intoxicated Nigh

    With the gradual descent of the night, the world¡¯s vitality gradually came to a standstill. Not every expert could deal with the cruelty of the frigid night in this six-times gravity region.

    The giant wolfy quietly on the ground, its luxuriant fur fluffed up in a gentle manner. There was a faint glow at the tips of each hair strand, which came together to engulf the creature¡¯s entire body in a halo of light. This glow wasn¡¯t simple at all¡ªit actually blocked out most of the effects of the frigid night, and what little of the chill that got through was only refreshing for William of the Summit of Peaks.

    Zhao Ruoxi kept on gazing at the bonfire, lost in her own thoughts. It was as though the cold of the night had been dispersed by the mes while the field of swaying red spider lilies painted thend with a hint of mysticism.

    She let out a faint sigh, as though she couldn¡¯t endure the pain and loneliness in her heart. Then, with a swipe of her hand, a jar of wine flew into her grasp.

    The giant wolf¡¯s narrowed eyes opened in apparent anxiety, not knowing whether he should stop her or not. This wine was the wine she had robbed from the natives, and there were several more jars nearby.

    Even the six-armed general had fallen to the Red Spider Lily. Ordinary castles were like pulp in front of Zhao Ruoxi, with natives falling in droves with every blossom of theherworld flowers. The few lucky survivors knew enough fear to run far.

    Although William had never entered the Great Maelstrom, the werewolves were an Evernight race with ancient inheritances. Hence, his knowledge was just as deep and profound. He figured out the effects of this alcohol with just a few sniffs. He looked up, wanting to stop the girl, but he quickly recalled the stuff she had just revealed to him a while ago and felt a chill run down his spine.

    Under that sweet appearance, Zhao Ruoxi was quick-witted and exceedingly vengeful.

    While he was hesitating, Zhao Ruoxi had already opened the jar and was sniffing it. ¡°Smells so bad!¡±

    William nodded, hoping she would toss the jar immediately. However, Zhao Ruoxi poured tworge bowls of wine after some thought.

    She picked up a bowl and sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve always heard that wine can make people forget everything. I hope¡­ I can forget him!¡±

    She didn¡¯t give William any time to stop her before emptying the receptacle. Afterward, she pointed at the other bowl and said, ¡°Big Doggy, you drink with me as well!¡±

    William¡¯s expression was full of terror, yet he couldn¡¯t say no to the girl. All he could do was brace himself to start drinking.

    Zhao Ruoxi filled two more bowls and finished one herself. William knew he couldn¡¯t escape, so he finished his own bowl as well.

    After drinking tworge bowls of wine, Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s little face was flushed red and she became even more spirited. ¡°As expected, drinking is quite fun! It doesn¡¯t feel so bad anymore.¡±

    William¡¯s eyes were somewhat red, and his mane was fluffed up as he waved his tail about restlessly. He didn¡¯t find this fun at all. The wine was burning his insides like molten me¡ªhe wanted to vomit, but he just couldn¡¯t expel the contents of his stomach.

    Werewolves were naturally resistant to alcohol and medicines. The effect of this white-fruit wine was quite small on thempared to humans, on whom it might have an instant effect. Besides, William was a genius of the Summit of Peaks. He possessed outstanding talents and even more resistance to alcohol. Despite that, he felt something wrong with his body as his maturing male instincts began to stir.

    He secretly became alert, knowing that he had to stop drinking. Before he could make up his mind, however, another bowl was poured out in front of him.

    ¡°Definitely thest one!¡± William decided internally while finishing his third bowl.

    The jar was now empty after three bowls each. William had just heaved a sigh of relief when Zhao Ruoxi summoned yet another jar and popped the earthen seal.

    Eyes sparkling, she tossed her head back while pouring the fourth bowl down her throat. She pointed at the bowl in front of William and smiled. ¡°Come, drink water!¡±

    How could William be willing?

    The next moment, however, a small hand grasped him by the mane and pressed him into the bowl!

    The fiery alcohol gushed into his nose and mouth, burning him like a stream of fire¡ªit was inexplicably painful since the werewolf¡¯s nose was especially sensitive. William felt that he was about to drown, so he had no choice but to drink the spirit up to escape that fate.

    Zhao Ruoxi only loosened her grip when the bowl was empty. Williamy prone on the ground, coughing his lungs out, and only caught his breath after a good while.

    He hadn¡¯t really recovered when yet another bowl arrived in front of him.

    ¡°Come, drink!¡±

    William finally gave in to reality and lowered his head to drink. It was difficult to eke out a livelihood in this era¡ªit would seem there was no easy work anywhere.

    ¡°Drink water!¡±

    ¡°One more bowl!¡±

    ¡°This is thest one.¡±

    ¡°This is the actualst one. What did I say just now? I¡¯ve forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Enough bullshit, drink!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so bad about drinking water?¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it, this is satisfying.¡±

    William had lost track of how many bowls he had consumed. All he could feel was his consciousness floating away and an unprecedented feeling filling his entire body. His heart was flooded with a heroic spirit, almost as though the entire continent was not enough for him to grind his teeth on¡ªwhat was a little bit of water to him?

    Empty wine jars piled up into a small mountain. Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes were watery and on the verge of copse. All of a sudden, she broke down in unstoppable tears, which streamed out continuously despite her wiping them away.

    She simply continued to bawl her eyes out.

    After growing tired from the crying, she finally leaned to one side and copsed into deep sleep near the bonfire.

    William watched her with a worried expression, but his concern turned into puzzlement after a while. Zhao Ruoxi slept soundly, and her vitality neither slowed down nor red up. She was just like a young, sound-sleeping girl who couldn¡¯t stand alcohol.

    William couldn¡¯t understand. He had matched her in drinks, and his blood was already boiling despite his lycanthropic resistance to drugs and alcohol. Zhao Ruoxi was just a young girl without any origin power; why was she totally immune to the alcohol?

    He got up restlessly and shook his head, but he just couldn¡¯t quench his fiery instincts. He took a step toward Zhao Ruoxi subconsciously, but he immediately noticed a stabbing pain beneath his feet. He looked down to see a red spider lily starting to wither, and with it, some of the fur on his front paw. The skin under the fur was also stained with a patch of deathly gray.

    William sobered up immediately and pulled back, realizing that he had almost lost himself to his instincts just now. The swaying red spider lily stabilized and didn¡¯t continue withering.

    William realized that be it the cold of the frigid night or the aphrodisiac effects of the white-fruit wine, everything had been neutralized by the Red Spider Lily. The power of this world might be indefensible to ordinary experts, but it was powerless against the powerful Grand Magnum.

    As long as this patch of red spider lilies remained, no one would be able to approach Zhao Ruoxi.

    Feeling reassured, William took another step back. He nced reluctantly at the girl, but his eyes were bloodshot and the rity in them was gradually receding.

    William turned around and soon vanished into the depths of the forest.

    Under the night sky, Tanya was beneath arge tree with her arms around her knees. She was using the most primitive method to resist the frigid night. Her face was full of joy when she saw the giant wolf walking out of the forest. ¡°William, you¡­¡±

    She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the giant wolf jumped up and pressed her to the ground.

    Tanya gasped in surprise, trying to stop the giant wolf from tearing her clothes. ¡°No, we¡¯re not adults just yet! No, don¡¯t!¡±

    She then saw William¡¯s eyes. ¡°Y-You drank that wine? Howe you drank that much?¡±

    She let out a sigh and gave up on any form of resistance, simply turning around and transforming into arge wolf. That brown coat of fur was as smooth as silk.

    ...

    The night went by and dawn soon arrived.

    Zhao Ruoxi opened her eyes but narrowed them again due to the piercing sunlight. She sat up, stretched her back, and was soon full of spirit. There weren¡¯t any signs of her having a hangover at all. She looked about at her surroundings and her gaze eventuallynded on the empty jars nearby. She eximed furiously, ¡°Ha! How dare a dog steal my wine! Wait till I y him, I love white fur!¡±

    William was dumbstruck.

    Momentster, the young girl and the giant wolf set out once again. This time, there were numerous items hanging from William''s body. In addition to a bunch of wine jars, there were also branches, leaves, and flowers, all part of Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s collection for the day.

    They hadn¡¯t gotten very far when Zhao Ruoxi turned toward the forest with a murderous expression.

    ¡°I can¡¯t scare you guys off even after cutting down a six-arm? If you want to die so much, I¡¯ll help you!¡± she said coldly. Without any movement from her, a single red spider lily suddenly withered.

    There was a whimper from the forest as the person hiding between the trees fled into the distance. Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s killing intent surged even higher. She raised her hand with a snort, and was just about to attack again, when she felt a tug on the hem of her clothes. Looking down, she saw that the giant wolf had bitten her dress and was pulling on it.

    This dy allowed the person in the forest to flee. Watching the giant wolf, Zhao Ruoxi couldn¡¯t quite get angry with it. ¡°You¡¯re too soft, how did you even survive this long? No matter, just follow me and I¡¯ll feed you well.¡±

    William was stunned. He no longer wanted to remain beside this sweet-looking young girl who liked white fur. After knowing that, William would feel scared whenever the girl touched him.

    But they were inside the Great Maelstrom where the Red Spider Lily was unimaginably powerful. William wouldn¡¯t be able to escape her demonic ws even if he were a duke.

    All he could do was lower his head and march on with his luggage.

    The road ahead was long, and the end was nowhere in sight.

    At a different location inside the Great Maelstrom, Song Zining was stretching after just waking up.

    A charming voice beside him said, ¡°Why are you up so early? It¡¯s still cold.¡±

 Chapter 1041: Meeting Again

    Song Zining continued dressing while throwing out a random reply, ¡°The cold hasn¡¯t receded, but we can start working already. There¡¯s no excuse to not try hard when we¡¯re in such a bountifulnd.¡±

    The beautifuldy beside him rolled her eyes. ¡°Do you only work during the daytime? I¡¯ve never seen you doing anything properly.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°This young master has just arrived, and my body is frail. I can¡¯t take as much punishment as you guys can. I might not get through the night if I go one more round, and I still want to enjoy your affection a bit longer.¡±

    Thedy smiled as she embraced Song Zining from behind. ¡°You really know how to talk! But you just arrived, you really can¡¯t endure the environment here. Sigh!¡±

    Song Zining stroked her face. ¡°Why are you sighing?¡±

    Thedy whispered, ¡°I suddenly feel reluctant to part with you, yet I don¡¯t want to keep you here and make you suffer the same things I did back then.¡±

    Song Zining was already dressed at this point, but he sat down beside her and said with a smile, ¡°There¡¯s no rush. Tell me more about you if you¡¯re willing.¡±

    Thedy was startled, almost as though she hadn¡¯t imagined Song Zining to be so caring. She moved her moist eyes away and sighed once more. ¡°It¡¯s the same thing. I was sent into the Great Maelstrom around ten or so years ago. I was selected to join the exploration squad not long after my arrival and sent to investigate the core region. Our luck was especially bad that time, we fell into the hands of those people almost immediately after entering the area.¡±

    ¡°The entire group was wiped out?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There were eight of us, none escaped.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°No one escaped, that¡¯s weird. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Thedy ground her teeth. ¡°It was of course a scheme, with previous imperial captives leading the way and guiding them. How else would they know about all our retaliatory and escape methods? Half of our men had fallen in just a single exchange.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t look surprised. ¡°Then what about the guides?¡±

    The woman¡¯s eyes flickered with anger. ¡°I endured three years of torture while the change happened, all so that I can live and get stronger. My strength had far exceeded those people after those three years, so I asked my superior to assign them under mymand. I took them out on the first hunting trip and hung them all up on a tree, leaving them crying for three whole days before letting them die! Even with that, I was only able to repay a small fraction of all the agony and embarrassment!¡±

    Song Zining said after some silence, ¡°You talked about the change, what¡¯s that?¡±

    The woman replied with a question, ¡°Did my hatred scare you?¡±

    Song Zining patted her shoulder. ¡°After seeing your current self, I can venture a rough guess of what you went through back then. All poweres at a price, and it seems you paid a serious price for yours.¡±

    The girl nodded. ¡°In order to retain my memory and reason, I would stab myself secretly at night, using the pain to gain a modicum of rity as I thought back to my past, my race, and myself. Even so, I can no longer remember my own name anymore and I only remember fragments of my past.¡±

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t forgotten the enmity?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Looks like they deserve to die.¡±

    Thedy said, ¡°I never understood. We¡¯re all from the human race. Why would they treat us so ruthlessly? They¡¯re even worse than those four-armed fellows!¡±

    ¡°Is it to prove their loyalty?¡± Song Zining probed.

    Thedy spat. ¡°F*ck loyalty! Our bodies are gradually transforming in this world, and we¡¯re no longer the same as humans. We can¡¯t even live very long without the white-wine produced by those four-arms, so they¡¯re not afraid of us turning traitor. The only fate that awaits betrayers is death!¡±

    Song Zining pondered for a while. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I see that there are a fair number of humans who are simrly transformed, but I don¡¯t remember the empire ever sending so many people into the Great Maelstrom. What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Thedy sighed. ¡°Those humans you saw aren¡¯t from the empire but the descendants of transformed people like us. It¡¯s not just with the natives, though. It¡¯s also possible that they are the descendants of other humans or even the dark races.¡±

    Song Zining was surprised. ¡°You can have descendants?¡±

    ¡°Of course, everything is possible in this ursed ce.¡±

    Song Zining was surprised. It had long since been proven that humans and certain dark races would never be able to have offspring, arachne for example. It was also extremely difficult to produce offspring with demonkin. In the Great Maelstrom, however, it would seem everything existed for the sake of procreation. And no matter how big the intelligence gap was between the races, they would be able to leave offspring. It was just that there was no telling how the descendants would turn out.

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°Even then, the numbers are a bit too high.¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°Kids start growing immediately after birth and mature in five years or so. They can then start producing the next generation once they mature.¡±

    ¡°That fast?¡± Song Zining was surprised.

    The woman nodded.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, won¡¯t this world be filled with these people?¡±

    Thedy didn¡¯t agree. ¡°These fellows are extremely weak, and their fate is to be ughtered most of the time. They can never beat a four-armed warrior even if they form a group. Whenever they go out to hunt, they would lose several men in order to obtain results.¡±

    Song Zining frowned restlessly. Perhaps there was some great secret hidden in the depths of this world.

    Thedy nced at the sky and blushed as her hand ran over Song Zining¡¯s body. Thetter smiled wryly, ¡°I can¡¯t handle anymore.¡±

    The woman handed him a bottle of wine. ¡°There¡¯s some wine here. Drink it and you¡¯ll have the strength.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t take it immediately. ¡°No, what will you do if I take that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go hunt and obtain more prey.¡±

    Song Zining pushed the wine back warmly but resolutely. ¡°No, I won¡¯t let you risk your life for me.¡±

    ¡°My life is not worth anything. If I hadn¡¯t met you, I would¡¯ve forgotten the past entirely after a while.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°How about this? I¡¯m very much interested in the weapons you use. Can you help me procure some good ones?¡±

    Thedy shot to her feet. ¡°This won¡¯t be a problem. I¡¯ll go back to the castle and challenge some of those cowards. They might not be good at fighting, but they¡¯re skilled in making weapons. Just wait here, I¡¯ll win some back very soon!¡±

    Song Zining nodded slightly.

    Thedy jumped up against the intense gravity and shot away with some borrowed force from the branches. That was a powerful leap indeed.

    She returned before long with a wound on her face, but the camp was already empty.

    Dazed, she dropped the weapons she was carrying onto the ground. All of a sudden, she noticed a small jar of wine on the ground that she hadn¡¯t seen before. She opened the container and noticed a wave of fragrance rushing at her face.

    It was Song Zining who had left this jar of wine for her.

    The Constetion Well soon became lively as Qianye and Edward¡¯s group stood off yet again.

    Twilight pointed at the well. ¡°We did find the other well opening, but it¡¯s not as good as this one. We want to use it.¡±

    Qianye was quite straightforward. ¡°Sure,¡± he paused slightly, ¡°but do you dare?¡±

    Twilight and Edward¡¯s expressions were unsightly since Qianye¡¯s rhetorical question contained evil intentions.

    Among the vampire experts, everyone apart from Twilight and Edward had been injured. That mysterious ck-robed man was actually a bit stronger than Twilight, but he never recovered after being injured by Ji Tianqing.

    Qianye would easily rampage through the group if Twilight were to enter the well, and then the three of them could surround Edward. It would be even worse if Edward were to enter the well. Qianye would likely wipe out the entire vampire force on his own and block the exit from the well, forcing the Holy Son to his death inside the well.

    Regardless of the scenario, the situation would copse for the vampires if they fell out with Qianye. Not to mention the grave losses, they would never get the origin blood if the one entering the well were to fall. All they could do was hope that Qianye would keep his word, yet pinning one¡¯s hopes entirely on an enemy was never a wise course of action, neither between human families nor between the dark races.

    Edward¡¯s countenance became more and more unsightly. At the root of it, their dilemma was born of their side¡¯s weakness. He simply couldn¡¯t figure out why he couldn¡¯t suppress Qianye, even though he possessed blood energy with a great dark monarch¡¯s aura. As for the chances of him being ranked lower than Qianye in the River of Blood, that was something he had never considered.

    Seeing the vampires unresponsive, Qianye pushed on with a smile. ¡°We¡¯ve let out the well, aren¡¯t you going in?¡±

    With the Constetion Well just within arm¡¯s reach, Edward¡¯s expression grew increasingly gloomy. Qianye opened the path to the well, but how could they walk into it? A promise was important, but not as important as a Holy Son.

    Anwen¡¯s voice suddenly rang out amidst the deadlock. ¡°Oh? Vampires can use the Constetion Well?¡±

    Edward looked back. ¡°Anwen!¡±

    Anwen was quite nonchnt. He said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s me, probably one of the people you don¡¯t want to see the most.¡±

    Edward snorted in tacit agreement. He moved his hand behind him, gesturing for Twilight to move. Thetter scanned the battlefield, her gaze pausing somewhat on Qianye as she prepared to leave. They could still consider making a deal with the human race, but they couldn¡¯t trust the demonkin at all under the same circumstances.

    Twilight had just started to move when an icy cold intent covered her entire body, making her afraid to even move.

    She turned back to find that Bai Kongzhao had appeared behind her at some point, herrge eyes darting about her vitals. Wherever the little girl¡¯s gaze fell, Twilight would feel as though she had been pricked by needles. It was as though she didn¡¯t even have any defensive power.

 Chapter 1042: Confusing Situation

    The state of affairs had be even more subtle. The vampires and demonkin were far from good friends, and the enmity between them was probably even greater than their hatred of humans. This was especially true between certain individuals and ns. Qianye adjusted his position and decided to sit this one out, simply observing the developments.

    Edward¡¯s expression had been ugly ever since Anwen appeared. Dark purple blood energy drifted about in his eyes as he said, ¡°Are you trying to add to the hatred between our ns?¡±

    Anwen broke into augh. ¡°I do hate vampires, but I¡¯m not always looking for opportunities to kill them. I don¡¯t mind cooperation if the conditions are right, but of course, that¡¯s an asional thing and the terms must be suitable.¡±

    Twilight stepped in. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Simple, I¡¯m curious about the way you vampires will use the Constetion Well. I want three of your hexagonal blood rods.¡±

    ¡°Three!?¡± Edward¡¯s expression was full of killing intent.

    Twilight asked calmly, ¡°It¡¯s not out of the question, but Your Excellency Anwen, do you simply intend to take them away?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for further discussion if this is the extent of your sincerity.¡± Twilight¡¯s tone was firm. The moment she said these words, however, the stabbing pain at her back grew somewhat stronger. She nced back at Bai Kongzhao in puzzlement.

    Anwen finally said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll take two and give you somepensation as well.

    Twilight and Edward exchanged nces. ¡°That¡¯s fine. As for thepensation¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows twitched ever so slightly¡ªthings would be extremely troublesome if these people reached a deal. His group would immediately find themselves at a disadvantage then.

    Edward pointed at Qianye. ¡°Thepensation is simple, team up with me and help me wipe out these humans!¡±

    Qianye raised his brows and looked coldly at Edward and Anwen. He took a sidestep and, after several changes in position, arrived at a slightly more advantageous point where the three powers formed a triangle, with Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing being separated from the crowd.

    Edward smiled coldly. ¡°You¡¯re not running? Do you really want to fight us?¡±

    Anwen made noment. He merely nced at Qianye while rubbing his chin, seemingly considering how he should respond.

    Qianye scanned all the vampires, and then at Anwen and Bai Kongzhao, frowning ever so slightly as his eyes went past thetter. This young girl was the greatest variable in this battle as no one knew what she was thinking. Perhaps she never thought about anything and only acted on instinct. Regardless of the situation, ignoring her would only lead to a lethal disaster.

    Qianye looked back at Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann. ¡°You guys leave first.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯ll stay behind to y with them.

    Li Kuann wanted to say something, but Ji Tianqing dragged her away.

    Some vampire counts wanted to circle around and chase after the two girls, but Qianye said with a cold snort, ¡°Who dares pass by me?¡±

    The vampires came to a halt. They were very clear about Qianye¡¯sbat strength, and that they were no match for someone who could push Edward back repeatedly. They would only be side-dishes unless the top experts at the scene took action.

    Edward took a step forward. ¡°I dare, what will you do?¡±

    The two girls had already left at this point, and that was a relief for Qianye. ¡°Nothing much. Let¡¯s see who dares enter the Constetion Well while I¡¯m around. Holy Son, you had better pray for good fortune and also be alert, don¡¯t even think about sleeping. Otherwise, you¡¯ll receive a shot sooner orter.¡±

    Edward¡¯s countenance was as gloomy as still water. Even if he and Anwen could forego their enmity and work together, it would only ensure their victory over Qianye. Whether or not they could kill him was a different matter. It would be rather problematic if Qianye were to pursue old grievances. With Anwen at the well entrance and Qianye waiting for a good opportunity to strike, Edward really didn¡¯t dare go into the well.

    Anwen observed the situation calmly, almost as though it had nothing to do with him.

    After announcing his intent, Qianye closed his eyes and began recuperating, ready to confront the opponents at a moment¡¯s notice. The situation fell into an immediate deadlock.

    It was at this time that a faintly discernible gaze swept across the battlefield. As sharp as their perceptions were, everyone noticed this change and looked toward its source. It would seem that person wasn¡¯t expecting so many experts to have gathered in this ce, and his position waspromised in a moment of carelessness.

    He simply exited his concealment and walked out of the forest. He came to a stop not far from the crowd but didn¡¯t get any closer.

    ¡°Eden.¡± Qianye¡¯s expression was solemn. There was no doubt that a powerful enemy had joined the fray, and one he would need to use the Shot of Inception on.

    An abundance of expressions appeared on Eden¡¯s countenance as he saw Qianye, but one could hardly tell if it was delight or hatred. However, his expression sank the moment he looked toward the vampires, and the killing intent around him indicated his stance.

    Edward¡¯s expression became serious¡ªEden of the Dark Abyss had matured too quickly. That nameless little pawn of the past had grown into an expert who could even threaten him. He and Anwen had formed a delicate bnce in power, but things were different now that Eden had appeared. The only bncing factor became Qianye instead.

    At the thought of this, Edward regretted announcing his hostility earlier. Now, he was on a proverbial tiger and didn¡¯t quite know how to get down.

    Qianye remained silent because he had already expressed his stance. With him loitering on the sidelines, no one would be able to use the Constetion Well in peace.

    Twilight spoke at this point, ¡°Your Excellency Anwen, is our deal still in effect?¡±

    Anwen replied with a smile, ¡°Of course, why not? But whatever Eden does is not my business, I can¡¯t control him, either.¡±

    Twilight then turned to Eden. ¡°Eden, do you n to go against the Evernight Council and stand on the human¡¯s side?¡±

    Eden sneered, ¡°You know this type of provocation has no meaning. I don¡¯t mind working with humans to kill you all first. No one will say anything about the means if I can turn you into corpses.¡±

    Twilight was at a loss of words. She hadn¡¯t expected Eden to be so decisive, leaving no room at all for maneuver. She had always been known for her eloquence in speech¡ªshe would usually find breakthrough points even inplicated conversations, but she couldn¡¯t make full use of her skills against someone like Eden.

    She forced a smile and looked toward Anwen. Thetter only shrugged, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, I have no authority over him.¡±

    Edward felt stifled. He could ignore Anwen¡¯s attitude, and he had fought Qianye enough to know of his strength, but now, even this Eden paid him so little heed. Considering everything, it really wasn¡¯t the best time to attack just yet. The only way to escape this unstable situation was to leave. There was still no telling if these people could stay for very long in the Constetion Well.

    The Holy Son waved his sleeve with a snort and made ready to leave.

    Anwen didn¡¯t stop him, either. ¡°Leave one of your blood rods, I want to study it.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll give it to you?¡± Edward was furious.

    Anwen nced toward Eden. ¡°I¡¯ll need your help with this.¡±

    ¡°Naturally,¡± Eden agreed immediately.

    Qianye¡¯s role had actually be somewhat empty after the repeated changes. He merely looked on with cold eyes, waiting to observe the developments.

    Edwardughed coldly as he produced a sanguine crystal and shattered it with a flick of his finger. Sound waves inaudible to ordinary people spread out across the area, and very soon, three vampire marquises appeared behind him.

    These vampires weren''t as strong as Eden, but the difference was minimal. The three of them added together was enough to force the demonkin to flee. This was Edward¡¯s hidden ace, something he wouldn¡¯t bring out so easily, but he had suffered too much embarrassment today. Even a character like Eden dared to step on his head!

    The vampire race¡¯s top fighting power among the younger generation might be inferior to the demonkin, but they possessed more capable fighters overall. After all, the total demonkin poption was too small.

    Now, the power bnce had been restored, and the vampires were even a bit stronger.

    The deadlock didn¡¯tst too long.

    A faint rumble echoed through the forest, almost as though something was approaching them at a rapid pace. Its iing speed was so fast that even the vampires and demonkin were surprised; they knew they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to move so quickly in the forest. The neer¡¯s concealment skills were wanting, but this shocking speed could easily make up for all shorings.

    In the blink of an eye, a massive shadow flew out of the forest and pounced toward the Constetion Well.

    It was a massive arachne, with skin as dark as night and golden feet tips, shrouded in a mysterious ck glow as he ran like the wind. One could tell that he was extraordinary just from his external appearance.

    The moment he appeared, Edward, Eden, and Anwen all called out, ¡°Basil!¡±

    Only then did the arachne look downward and, much to his rm, noticed the group below. However, he was moving so fast that he was already flying over the crowd the next moment. Flying over them meant opening up his abdominal vitals, and there was no telling who among them would attack.

    Basil¡¯s limbs swung about briefly, shooting beams of golden radiance that weaved into a golden web. He stepped onto this airborne and actually came to a grinding halt, and then bounced back to the forest border.

    Qianye focused on Basil¡¯s feet. At the tip of those de-like feet, there was a faintly discernible golden thread.

    That move of weaving a and using it to fly backward was an outstanding disy of aerial movement. Dealing with this fellow would be quite troublesome it seemed. Even if one could defeat him, making him stay was apletely different matter.

    Basil¡¯s massive body remained floating one meter away from the ground. He studied the group one by one, his countenance growing uglier as he did so. The people before him were the elites of the dark race, and none of them was easy to provoke.

    Anwen greeted, ¡°Basil, howe you¡¯re here? Didn¡¯t you just finish molting?¡±

    Basilughed loudly. ¡°I recovered quite fast, so I came over to see if I could meet you guys. Haha!¡±

    Eden frowned slightly while Anwen said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re here. The arachne were somewhat weak this time, but with you around, they will be able to reach many ces. Why did you pick this ce, though?¡±

 Chapter 1043: The Demoness Appears

    Edward and Anwen were also waiting for a reply. Basil must¡¯ve entered the passage after all the others had arrived in the Great Maelstrom. ording to the time, there had to be a reason he had made a beeline for the Constetion Well.

    Basil narrowed his eyes. ¡°Howe you¡¯re all here?¡±

    At this point, forces from the Empire, the vampire, the demonkin, and arachne races had all gathered here. Apart from the Imperial group¡¯s rtively clear intentions, the others were all nning something in secret.

    Noticing something, Qianye sized Basil up from head to toe. The arachne red back, but Qianye paid him little heed as he observed the target in detail. Basil¡¯srge figure became clearly reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    For some reason, Basil felt inexplicably ufortable after being stared at by Qianye. It was as though thetter¡¯s gaze possessed highly prative properties¡ªthe arachne felt as though he was being touched and prated. At this rate, all of his secrets would be revealed.

    Basil shivered at the thought of this. A faintyer of light appeared around him in an attempt to stop Qianye¡¯s eyes. The arrogance on his countenance had vanished, reced by a deep sense of apprehension. He took two steps to the side, putting some distance between him and Qianye.

    Thetter wasn¡¯t about to be careless because of Basil¡¯s show of weakness. The power this arachne had disyed during his arrival and subsequent retreat was far above his peers. Judging from Eden and Anwen¡¯s reactions, this Basil was probably a genius-level character who shouldn¡¯t be underestimated.

    Just now, Qianye had used the Eye of Control to test Basil¡¯s strength and reaction, increasing the force by a minuscule amount each time. Qianye gained a good understanding of this arachne¡¯s true strength after the probe. This was yet another enemy that would require his Shot of Inception.

    Edward waved at Basil, saying, ¡°Brother Basil, why don¡¯t you join our side.¡±

    Basil hesitated momentarily. He then nced at Eden and Anwen before moving to Edward¡¯s side. Hisrge body moved at such speed that several vampire counts were toppled over as a result.

    Basilughed loudly. ¡°Sorry, I just molted recently, so I still can¡¯t control my strength well.¡±

    Edward¡¯s expression was somewhat ugly. This wasn¡¯t a usible excuse for someone at their level. The arachne was clearly taking advantage of the situation to establish his might, but this wasn¡¯t the time to read too much into things.

    Anwen was somewhat surprised by the development. ¡°When did the arachne be so friendly with the vampires?¡±

    The arachne used to support the werewolves in their battle against the vampires, hoping to weaken thetter race in the process. It was already a good thing if the two parties didn¡¯t start fighting on sight. There was no way they would stand together like this.

    Anwen and Eden exchanged meaningful nces. With Basil and Edward joining forces, in addition to the group of vampire experts, the demonkin had fallen into a disadvantage. Anwen and Eden had no important business in the Constetion Well. Thetter was just passing by, and Anwen was only looking to produce an origin crystal for Bai Kongzhao. The vampires and arachne, on the other hand, looked like they were determined to im this location. Perhaps the blood rod wasn¡¯t as simple as it looked¡ªjust what was the arachne here for?

    Anwen chuckled. ¡°Your Excellency Basil, what are you here for? Let¡¯s hear it and see if we have room for negotiation.¡±

    Basilughed loudly. ¡°I was just on a stroll.¡±

    Edward said gloomily, ¡°Do you think we will tell you? You can forget about the things, just leave quickly.¡±

    Eden turned to Qianye with a cold smile. ¡°Interested in working together? Let¡¯s finish these bastards off first.¡±

    Even Qianye himself wasn¡¯t expecting this offer. He was immediately tempted by the offer and wanted to agree immediately.

    Disbelief was stered onto Edward and Basil¡¯s expressions. The arachne pointed at Eden, saying, ¡°Are you trying to betray the Evernight Council?¡±

    ¡°Nope, I just wanted to kill those vampires. This has nothing to do with you if you just stand aside.¡± Eden had drawn his sword.

    Basil scratched his head and looked at Edward with an awkward expression. ¡°I¡¯ve already promised Edward, so I guess I can¡¯t get out of this.¡±

    Eden nodded. ¡°Then get ready to fight.¡±

    Anwen was at a loss. ¡°Wait, Eden, are you really going to fight?¡±

    Eden said while keeping his gaze fixed on the other party. ¡°How is it justifiable to see vampires and not kill them?¡±

    Anwen felt that this logic was wed somehow, but he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it. He also hated the vampires, but not to the point of ignoring everything else. Technically speaking, didn¡¯t Qianye also have a vampire bloodline? He could be considered a half-vampire by any measure. Howe Eden wasn¡¯t bothering with him?

    Edward had no intention to discuss further. He drew his sword silently and got ready to do battle. All the vampire experts fanned out in a battle formation. With a shrug, Basil also went into position.

    With the battle ignited, Qianye made up his mind to draw East Peak. Regardless of the situation, it would be a good thing to remove a couple of experts from the equation.

    It was at this point that an indescribable sensation washed over the scene. It descended slowly from above like a giant and enveloped everyone within its power. Everyone shivered subconsciously, almost as though an unknown danger was about to fall upon them. Even Qianye wasn¡¯t an exception.

    People looked around in rm, while Anwen and Eden exchanged surprised nces.

    The sky turned somewhat dark. It was as though a thin gauze had blocked out the sunlight, causing the daylight to darken. There was a faintly discernible figure in the muslin shroud that no one could clearly see. Even Qianye, who possessed the Eye of Control, couldn¡¯t quite discern her illusory projection.

    However, this aura was deeply etched into Qianye¡¯s heart.

    This was the greatest enemy of his life, the Demoness.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and appeared several meters back. Several gauze-like shadows swept silently across his previous location. These shades had no tangible mass, but they became extremely sharp the moment they came into contact with the ground, leaving several mirror-smooth cut surfaces in their wake. If it wasn¡¯t for his quick retreat, Qianye might¡¯ve lost a few limbs by now.

    Everyone¡¯s expressions changed drastically. This ruthless shadowy attack had arrived without the slightest of warnings. Any other person would¡¯ve found it difficult to escape this cmity without Qianye¡¯s seemingly-foreseen reaction.

    The Demoness fame was resounding throughout the entire Evernight, and most geniuses at the scene felt a deep shadow in their hearts regarding this name. Apart from Anwen, the Demoness was never among theirpetitor¡¯s list, nor was there a reason to. It was just like how no one wouldpare themselves against Zhang Boqian in the Empire; even Lin Xitang was a bit inferior inparison.

    After escaping this attack, Qianye simply stood there with his sword in hand, gazing at the distant sky.

    A distant voice echoed in the air, ¡°You improved quite fast.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the praise,¡± Qianye said seriously. Apliment from the Demoness was perhaps even more valuable than an Imperial medal.

    Everyone began to react at this point. Eden formed a full ceremonial greeting toward the air, saying, ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯vee as well.¡±

    Anwen smiled wryly. ¡°Do you really have to stand at a higher ce?¡±

    ¡°That is fitting of our situations.¡±

    Anwen shook his head helplessly. ¡°It¡¯s not like I wanted this young lord position, don¡¯t overthink it.¡±

    The demoness snorted coldly, her face full of disdain.

    Anwen stopped speaking and waited for her to continue.

    The person¡¯s silhouette became clearer at this point. Her fair figure was now visible to the naked eye, but her appearance remained hidden behind a misty shroud. She descended slowly and stopped a hundred or so meters from the ground. ¡°Edward, Basil, tell us what your little secret is.¡±

    Edward and Basil were momentarily silent and at a loss. They hadn¡¯t imagined that the Demoness would actuallye to the Great Maelstrom. With her around, the demonkin would hold an overwhelming advantage. If they didn¡¯t divulge the information, they wouldn¡¯t be a match even when working together, but their name would be entirely destroyed if they were suppressed just like that.

    The Demoness seemed to have seen through their thoughts. ¡°Your races have both obtained ways from humans to strengthen yourselves using star power. That¡¯s why you ran over here in secret, hoping to absorb the energy here. Am I wrong?¡±

    Edward was calm enough, but Basil said in surprise, ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Humph, how could Her Highness not know of such an important matter?¡±

    Basil became silent. Edward, on the other hand, was left wondering which highness the Demoness was referring to.

    The Demoness said, ¡°Hand over all of your items and split it between the three races. As for me, I¡¯ll help you produce a drop of origin blood each.¡±

    Edward and Basil exchanged nces, and then nodded after a moment of contemtion. The process of forming origin blood from absorbed star power was dependent on the operator. The Demoness was far more powerful than anyone here, so the origin blood produced by her would be the best.

    This meant that they actually weren¡¯t losing out. It was fine even if the origin blood formed by the Demoness could only be used by the demonkin. They could just sell them to the demonkin at ater date, and it would surely fetch a good price.

    Now that the three races had reached an agreement, all gazes fell upon Qianye.

    ¡°You guys start producing origin blood first, I¡¯ll go deal with that meddling fellow.¡± With that, the Demoness drifted toward Qianye.

    Eden frowned slightly, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    Edward waved his hand, saying, ¡°Twilight, stay behind. Everyone else, seal off the area.¡±

    The vampires spread out in all directions and took up important positions around the Constetion Well. Edward produced a box and opened it, revealing a neat row of more than ten hexagonal blood rods. Basil also took out a box containing a dozen white egg-like objects.

    Edward¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°You brought so many? Just for yourself?¡±

    Basil said, ¡°The arachne have always been abundant in vitality, I alone am enough.¡±

    Edward said nothing more. He distributed some of the blood rods to Anwen and exined how to use them. Basil picked out some of the white spider eggs and passed them to Eden.

 Chapter 1044: The Well Conflic

    Qianye made no movement as he gazed at the iing Demoness. His indifference actually surprised the Demoness.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you fleeing?¡±

    ¡°If I escape, wouldn¡¯t I be giving up the Constetion Well for free?¡±

    ¡°Idiot.¡± The Demoness¡¯ expression was hidden behind a veil of ck mist. Countless streams of ck smoke appeared around Qianye, cleaving at him with iparable sharpness.

    Qianye shed through the mist with East Peak, but the dark clouds would reform and drift toward him once more.

    Qianye raised his brows. mes of scarlet gold erupted on the de as he shed in four different directions!

    The origin mes of Venus Dawn burned fiercely as they came into contact with the Demoness¡¯ invisible demonic des. The raging ze devoured the faint mist, reducing all of the demonic des to nothingness.

    Qianye took a step back and put ten meters between him and the Demoness. Thetter didn¡¯t chase after him¡ªshe recalled what was left of the demonic des with a wave of her hand, her expression serious. Qianye gazed intently at the mes on East Peak, calcting something in silence.

    The confrontation between the origin mes and the invisible demonic des was, in essence, a head-on collision between daybreak and Evernight. There were no tricks, only a contest of quantity and quality. Both parties were calcting their expenditure from the previous exchange, using it to gauge the opponent¡¯s strength.

    Momentster, Qianye looked up with a cautious expression. The ck mist around the Demoness was also rippling, a clear indication that she wasn¡¯t calm.

    Both sides had actually exhausted roughly the same amount in that exchange!

    Since the day he had sessfully cultivated Venus Dawn, Qianye had never encountered an enemyparable to him in terms of origin power quality, be it in Evernight or the Empire. He never had the chance to trade blows with the elder generation, so they could be excluded temporarily. Among the younger generation, however, even Zhao Jundu¡¯s extreme violet was still one step away from perfection. His early advancement back then still gave rise to some regrets.

    But the Zhao n possessed secret methods to purify one¡¯s origin power while breaking through to the divine champion realm, so the fourth young master could still catch up and reach perfection.

    On the Evernight side, both Eden and Edward were a level below Qianye¡¯s origin power. Thetter¡¯s purple blood energy contained a great dark monarch¡¯s aura, but it still couldn¡¯t suppress Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy. It was also a bit weaker when pitted against Venus Dawn. Anwen was highly intelligent, but smart people were rarely too hardworking. His demonic energy was intrinsically powerful, but it was only slightly stronger than Eden in terms of quantity.

    The only true contender would be the awakened Nighteye. It was just that her current personality was unfathomable, and her inherited powers were beyond imagination. Qianye simply couldn¡¯t see through the quality of her origin power.

    Only at this point had Qianye encountered a true match.

    From the fluctuation of demonic energy, one could see that the Demoness was far more shocked than Qianye was. Perhaps she had never imagined she would encounter an enemy withparable origin power quality. Just like her position when she entered the scene, she had always believed she was a peerless existence above everyone else.

    The Demoness said slowly, ¡°Back at Indomitable, I had thought that you were strong but not yet my true match. I now take that back.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Perhaps before long, you¡¯ll feel that this notion is wrong as well.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I look forward to it. Unfortunately, you won¡¯t have that opportunity.¡±

    The Demoness hadn¡¯t finished speaking when her figure fluctuated slightly, and then appeared behind Qianye. A hand shrouded in demonic energy reached for the back of Qianye¡¯s neck.

    However, this hand only caught empty air. Demonic energy erupted amidst explosive crackles as a number of slender fingers emerged from the ck mist. There were thin wisps of lightning arcing between her fingertips.

    A casual clench of her palm produced all kinds of supernatural phenomena¡ªclearly, the might involved was beyond imagination. The vampire experts watching the fight were shocked, especially the counts. They felt a chill behind their neck, because they simply wouldn¡¯t be able to stand this light clutch of hers.

    Qianye appeared a hundred meters away and nced back at the Demoness. He had used Spatial sh at the critical juncture to evade the lethal attack, but when he looked back, there was only an explosion of demonic energy and lightning. The Demoness was nowhere to be seen.

    Qianye¡¯s silhouette flickered and vanished again. A finger appeared through the void to tap at the back of his head, but unfortunately, there was only an afterimage.

    By the time Qianye had appeared at a different ce, he suddenly noticed a cloud of darkness before his eyes, much like an expanding blotch of ink. The inky cloud became reflected in his eyes, freezing it for a split second. Qianye had used Spatial sh again during this smallpse and vanished once more.

    The ink blotch expanded to reveal the Demoness. She chuckled coldly as she transformed into a streak of ck radiance and shot toward the distant air. She was already halfway when Qianye appeared in that location.

    But Qianye had long since expected this development. He dodged her charge with a sidestep and vanished once again. Without the slightest dy, the ck radiance made a sharp turn and darted toward a different area in the sky.

    The twobatants had exchanged several moves within moments. The vampire counts simply couldn¡¯t catch the duo¡¯s movements. All they could see was an interweaving band of ck and Qianye¡¯s lingering afterimages. Only the marquises were able to barely keep up with the battle, but they had long since be dumbstruck.

    Edward¡¯s group was rtively calm. After observing the fight for a while, Anwen said, ¡°Basil, Edward, you two should go down first. I¡¯ll stand guard.¡±

    Truth be told, Anwen¡¯s suggestion was fairly well-timed. Edward and Basil were moved by the suggestion. There was really no space for the others to interfere in the Demoness¡¯ battle against Qianye. It just so happened that the two had reached a dangerous stalemate, so they didn¡¯t need to worry about Qianye¡¯s interference.

    Anwen wasn¡¯t entirely selfless with this suggestion, either. He wanted to see how Edward and Basil would transform star power and condense origin blood. Edward and Basil didn¡¯t really mind that. The two races had been studying the process secretly for years, and only perfected the transformation process after finding a suitable catalyst. It would be too outrageous if Anwen could just master everything with a single nce.

    Basil said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go first then.¡±

    He produced a white spider egg and tossed it into the Constetion Well. He then jumped down into the well after it.

    The spider egg fell rapidly, but a web shot down from above and fixed the egg mid-air. Basil¡¯s giant body descended slowly from atop the illusory spider webs.

    He sensed the star power constantly, controlling the descent of his body and egg ordingly along the way. Basil looked fairly strained after reaching a certain area and had no choice but to float back up a bit before stabilizing himself.

    He spat out clouds of white mist from his mouth, which were duly absorbed by the egg. Several stars began lighting up as the egg absorbed more mist, with specks of starlight drifting toward the egg to be assimted at the same time.

    Edward heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the secret art was effective. Because the source of this art was human in origin, the vampires and arachne methods were both based on the same principle. The arachne¡¯s sess meant that the vampires wouldn¡¯t have any problems, either.

    Anwen observed carefully from the side. Demonic energy emerged around him, projecting a stream of countless symbols and forms that made Eden feel dizzy. Thetter had no choice but to admit that Anwen was unimaginably talented in this regard.

    Anwen¡¯s mood at this point, however, wasn¡¯t as rxed as it seemed. He had never imagined that the Demoness would actuallye to the Great Maelstrom. After driving Qianye away and finding some time, there was no doubt that she would mock him ruthlessly about his weaknesses.

    It just so happened that Anwen had shown weakness as ofte. An all-out attack, bolstered by his special ability, was only able to ensure a hit on Qianye but not enough to injure him. In the end, the demonkin fell into a disadvantage and was driven away from the Constetion Well. The Demoness would find out about this sooner orter, and it would be proof that he hadn¡¯t been focusing on important matters.

    But how many people could be certain of heavily injuring Qianye in one blow?

    Anwen let out a long sigh because it wasn¡¯t important how few such people were. It was enough that the Demoness could do it.

    He calmed himself and continued observing the developments,puting and cracking the arachne race¡¯s star power absorption process.

    Basil wasn¡¯t having an easy time at the bottom of the well. The web under his feet was trembling slightly, a sign that he was fairly strained. His true strength was far superior, but he couldn¡¯t quite focus at this moment.

    Only after entering could one understand the dangers of the Constetion Well. Basil tried shooting a web toward the entrance, hoping to leave it as a backup, but the web was quickly disintegrated by the star power a couple dozen meters away. He wanted to attach the web to the cliff-sides, but the moment he did so, the amount of star power absorbed decreased, and the gravitational power from the depths of the well increased ordingly.

    This meant that he would need a much longer time to form the origin blood. He wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out that long even with the help of his spider webs.

    After several attempts, Basil had no choice but to ept the truth that there were no shortcuts to this. He simply couldn¡¯t figure out why this well was so strange. It was almost sentient and capable of seeing through all of his tricks.

    Additionally, Basil became more and more restless as time went by. It could be said that he was in a defenseless state inside the well. He had dared to enter the well before because he was confident in the Demoness. Logically speaking, Qianye wasn¡¯t the Demoness¡¯ match at all, but for some reason, thetter still couldn¡¯t capture him even after a good while. With the fight going on outside the well, Basil had no choice but to pay attention to it, and this distraction greatly slowed down his refinement process.

    The Demoness and Qianye were still flickering about in a game of cat and mouse. Despite her hidden countenance, one could feel a cold killing intent from her. Apparently, she was so angry that she had decided to stop hiding her emotions. Several hundred demonic des emerged with a wave of her hands, spreading out to seal off the area. Being unable to capture Qianye was a big humiliation for her. That was why she was going all out with no concern for her demonic energy. She wanted to take down Qianye within the shortest amount of time, or at least drive him away.

    The Demoness¡¯bat techniques wereser-focused because she had concluded that Qianye couldn¡¯t keep up Spatial sh for too long. If only he were to react a bit slower, it would be near impossible for him to escape her clutches. The most intelligent option was to escape quickly while he had enough strength left to use it.

    The Demoness was waiting for this moment because she had already set up a trap.

 Chapter 1045: Counterattack

    Qianye nced at the two formless demonic des and crashed into them without a second thought. The moment they came into contact, the scarlet gold mes on his body burned the des into oblivion. What remained of the demonic energy, he could just resist with his body.

    A vast path opened up before him after charging through the blockade of demonic des. However, he had just moved when seven more des appeared to seal off his path. Qianye used Spatial sh without a second thought and appeared beyond the seven des. At this point, he came to a sudden stop and flew backward, through the demonic des.

    The Demoness had appeared before him and blocked his return path.

    Qianye¡¯s countenance was as calm as still water. He continued to contend with the Demoness amidst the rapidly changing fight while finding ways to control his own traces.

    Andruil had brought the Spatial sh ability to its apex. All this time, Luo Bingfeng was the only one who could grasp its trajectory, but why could the Demoness do the same? She couldn¡¯t be stronger than Luo Bingfeng.

    While thinking about this, Qianye suddenly looked up at the sky and noticed that the world was a bit dimmer than he remembered. He immediately recalled that the Demoness¡¯ arrival was apanied by a momentary shroud of darkness, which soon faded as the sky returned to normal. Now that he thought about it, the sky was still somewhat darker than before even after its recovery. This difference was almost negligible, so much so that Qianye had almost overlooked it.

    A domain!

    Qianye came to a realization. It turned out that he had always been inside the Demoness¡¯ domain, and that allowed her to lock onto and move toward his location. The domain also increased the Demoness¡¯ movement speed, and over short distances, she was almost as swift as Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh.

    Qianye nced at the distant sky and found faint traces of darkness floating about. It was as though a dark dome had engulfed everyone within. The Demoness¡¯ domain was unimaginablyrge.

    The bigger the domain, the more evident the weakness. The Demoness¡¯ domain was extremely well hidden, so much so that even Qianye almost failed to notice it. Others like Edward, Eden, Twilight, and the other vampires simply didn¡¯t know anything. Anwen was engrossed in his calctions all this time, so there was no telling whether he had noticed.

    The hidden nature of the domain was a form of defense, but it would be a weakness once discovered.

    Several solutions quickly appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind, but they were struck off one after the other. His current rate of expenditure was high, and he couldn¡¯t hold out much longer. Even if he could shatter the Demoness¡¯ domain, he would still need to figure out how he would deal with her afterward. At the very least, he needed to be able to escape if things turned south.

    And leaving just like that wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s style.

    Qianye changed directions and charged toward the Constetion Well. An origin gun appeared in his hand, the origin arrays on it lit up and ready to fire.

    This development was far beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. The Demoness, however, was extremely fast¡ªshe personally chased after him and quickly closed the gap between them. There was also a vampire marquis blocking the path ahead. Edward himself flew in from the side after seeing Qianye. Judging from his speed, it seemed he would be able to intercept thetter before he could reach the Constetion Well.

    A hint of mockery appeared in Edward¡¯s sinister eyes. The grade seven weapon in Qianye¡¯s grasp was exquisitely made¡ªit was fairly outstanding and the origin array was meticulously calibrated, a masterpiece at the peak of grade seven. However, as someone used to top-grade weapons, even grade-eight weapons couldn¡¯t get into Edward¡¯s eyes, let alone this one.

    Qianye¡¯s previous weapons¡ªbe it Heartgrave or East Peak¡ªwere enough to intimidate Edward. Heartgrave, especially, filled his heart with dread even before it was fired. Edward couldn¡¯t help but sneer now that Qianye had whipped out a grade-seven weapon instead of those powerful tools. Who was he trying to scare?

    Edward didn¡¯t reduce his speed while facing Qianye, intent on intercepting thetter. As for the fierce beasts that would be drawn over by the gunshot, he really wasn¡¯t too worried. The younger generation of Evernight hadrgely gathered here, and theirbined fighting power wasparable to an army. With the Demoness holding the fort, what kind of fierce beasts could stand against them?

    Qianye pressed forward without pause. Holding the gun in one hand, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye¡¯s back. The weapon in Qianye¡¯s grasp erupted in light, with traces of darkness mixed in. Through the reinforcement of the Wings of Inception, the gun¡¯s power increased sharply and reached grade eight from the peak of grade seven!

    Much to Edward¡¯s surprise, the Misty Cold in Qianye¡¯s hand rumbled loudly!

    This gun wasn¡¯t aimed at the Demoness or Edward, nor was it fired toward the intercepting marquis. Instead, the st was aimed at the entrance of the Constetion Well.

    Everyone was startled, unable to figure out what this shot was for. The Constetion Well was, speaking frankly, just a circle of cliffs. Firing at it would shave off some stone fragments at best. It would also disrupt the arachne inside the well, but that was the extent of it. This move seemed entirely meaningless.

    Could it be that Qianye was trying to copse the Constetion Well with a grade-seven gun? One had to know that not even a Grand Magnum could destroy the well.

    The vampire marquis had the same thought, so he moved sideways to dodge the iing projectile. After missing this shot, Qianye would be intercepted by Edward, not to mention the Demoness was dangerously close. If the Holy Son could stall Qianye for just a moment, the Demoness would arrive to perform a pincer attack.

    Edward naturally understood the importance of his role. He took a step forward and blocked Qianye¡¯s path at a critical location. Just as he was about to attack, the Holy Son noticed Qianye¡¯s killing intent and determination. He was shocked!

    Qianye was already at the end of his wits, and it looked like he couldn¡¯t even use Spatial sh so easily anymore. He would bepletely cornered after being intercepted by Edward. Everyone knew Qianye was still hiding his killing moves. Back in Indomitable, he had used three Shots of Inception to force the Demoness into deep slumber. Now that he had advanced another step, who was to say he wouldn¡¯t fire thrice again?

    If the three Shots of Inception were tond on Edward, even the proud vampire Holy Son would perish without a doubt.

    Edward¡¯s movements slowed momentarily as this thought flickered through his mind. This slight dy was enough for the Demoness to arrive for the pincer attack, sparing him from intercepting Qianye alone. The opportunity lost due to this brief dy wasn¡¯t enough for Qianye to escape his fate.

    Just as things were going as nned, the Holy Son noticed a fantastic sensation wash over the area. The sky seemed to have brightened up a bit, as though ayer of spiderwebs had been peeled off from their clothes. Although no one noticed the burden, this sudden change filled them with a sense of freedom.

    Edward immediately became cautious. He looked back just in time to see the Demoness¡¯ swiftness declining sharply, and his blood core also skipped a beat.

    Qianye let out a longugh, tossing out a metallic tube as he made for the sky. His figure then appeared on the other side of the Constetion Well and quickly moved away.

    The Demoness stopped after realizing this. She merely stood across Edward, gazing at the falling metallic tube instead of chasing after Qianye.

    No one knew what she was thinking.

    Within the Constetion Well, Basil was drenched in sweat and his massive body was trembling slightly. Some fragmented rocks had fallen from the well entrance, and a fair number of them had struck his body. He wasn¡¯t afraid of danger, but this startled him quite a bit. One had to know that the well was guarded by experts like the Demoness, Anwen, and Eden, as well as Edward and his group of vampire guards. How could anyone shoot at the well under such circumstances?

    Wouldn¡¯t Basil be a sheep waiting to be ughtered?

    He didn¡¯t really fear death, but this was far from a meaningful way to die. In his fright, a fair bit of the starlight umting on the spider egg dispersed immediately. The egg was entirely soft at this point, and most of it had turned into grey liquid. By the time the entire egg had turned into liquid, it would be a drop of origin blood that could upgrade the arachne¡¯s bloodline power. Now, the umtion process would be somewhat dyed because he was startled during the procedure.

    Basil noticed that he was too distracted just now. He would need to focus on the condensation procedure if he didn¡¯t want to return empty-handed.

    Should he give up or continue? The ferocity in Basil¡¯s blood won the conflict. He clenched his teeth and shut off his own perception. The process was at its most important juncture. The origin blood would bepleted in just three more minutes. Besides, he didn¡¯t have much power left to spare. He knew he had to speed up because he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out for very long.

    It was at this time that an earth-shattering rumble came from the well entrance. Even the cliff walls in the depths of the wall were trembling somewhat.

    Despite sealing off his senses, Basil was still woken up by the tremendous explosion.

    Soon, shattered rocks of all shapes and sizes fell down from the massive defect at the entrance to the Constetion Well. The shearing forces inside the well weren¡¯t quite effective against these native rocks. Gravel fell like rain and pitter-pattered on Basil¡¯s body, and there was even arge table-sized rock that smashed him down a bit.

    Basil wanted to cry but had no tears. The bulging spider egg before him was spinning as countless specks of starlight flowed out from it. This drop of nearpleted origin blood had been ruined.

    Realizing that there was no way to reverse this development, he began moving back with a gloomy expression. He really wanted to know what exactly was happening up there, for him to suffer repeated disruptions despite the powerful guard force.

    The entrance to the Constetion Well was in utter chaos.

    Edward was covered in dirt, his robes torn in many different ces, and his body full of small wounds. The flesh wounds weren¡¯t that big of a deal, but his dark purple blood energy was also quite weak now, and it would surely take him half a day to recover. Twilight was checking on the vampire marquis on the ground, feeding him a drop of origin blood.

    The Demoness was nowhere to be found. Only a string of her afterimages remained in the air, but no one knew which one was real. Anwen and Eden stood in the distance with an expression of shock.

    A massive pit had appeared on the ground, close to a hundred meters in radius. One could see how terrifying the explosion was to have destroyed the rocks in the Great Maelstrom to this extent.

    Basil climbed out of the well and looked around, quickly realizing what had transpired. He nced at Anwen, Eden, and then Edward with a cold smile, ¡°The demonkin and vampires are truly powerful!¡±

    Anwen looked embarrassed, while Eden responded with a poker face. The ragged Edward maintained a poker face, and no one knew what he was thinking.

    After the taunt, Basil said, ¡°I was startled, I need to rest. You guys handle things on your own for the next day.¡±

    With that, he vanished into the forest and never looked back.

 Chapter 1046: Reunion During the Fierce Battle

    The forest was quiet, and so was the Constetion Well.

    The vampires had constructed a camp on the edges of the grove and were resting quietly. Anwen and Eden had also set up a demonkin-style tent, which Eden constructed while Anwen continued to scribble on the ground. Bai Kongzhao moved back and forth to help Eden with his chores.

    No one knew where the Demoness had gone, or Qianye¡¯s whereabouts.

    It was originally the vampires¡¯ turn to absorb origin blood after Basil¡¯s departure, but Edward had suffered significant injuries as he was at the center of that earth-shattering explosion. Additionally, the Constetion well had be unstable following the explosion, with numerous stars inside flickering constantly. The other vampires, including Twilight, didn¡¯t dare enter under such circumstances. They would only continue after the well had stabilized and Edward recovered.

    Many people were still worried about a different matter¡ªwould Qianye regroup and return?

    Even though he was constantly being suppressed with no chance to retaliate, the number of tricks he had up his sleeve surprised everyone.

    Despite its limited firepower, that peak grade-seven firearm of his possessed the ability to destroy domains, striking squarely at the Demoness¡¯ weakness. Thetter¡¯s domain was formless, invisible, and unimaginably big. That was also the reason why it was rtively fragile. Qianye himself couldn¡¯t destroy the domain, but with Misty Cold, he could disable it long enough to escape calmly.

    Additionally, no one knew what that tube Qianye had dropped was. How could it be so powerful to the point of being able to injure a marquis? If it wasn¡¯t for Edward blocking a part of the impact, the man would¡¯ve been torn to pieces.

    Edward himself had overestimated his own powers. He had moved to save his subordinate when, in fact, he could hardly save himself from the impact. If the Demoness hadn¡¯t deployed sevenyers of protective barriers around him at the critical moment, the Holy Son wouldn¡¯t have gotten away with his current wounds.

    As for how much damage the Demoness herself had sustained, no one knew.

    What was that cylinder? And more importantly, how many of them did Qianye have?

    Everyone knew that such a powerful weapon couldn¡¯t be a dime a dozen, but they couldn¡¯t say for sure he only had one. If he had a second one, some of the weaker experts would only be courting death if they were gathered in a group.

    Edward didn¡¯t dare allow his subordinates to gather in a single camp, so he had to split them into small groups in different parts of the forest. Although splitting forces was also a taboo, the other groups could rush over to reinforce them if they could hold out for just a few moments.

    In the depths of the forest, Qianye was seated and resting in the crown of an ancient tree. The fight with the Demoness just now had drained him significantly, and he would probably be caught if he hadn¡¯t escaped when he did. The metallic tube he had tossed out before his departure was just to scare the enemies and disrupt Basil in passing. He hadn¡¯t expected that the explosion would be so terrifying.

    But that wasn¡¯t unreasonable, either, because thisponent was the backup mechanism the empire had installed in the Martyr¡¯s ce engine. Its role was topletely destroy the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart in case of an emergency, and its firepower was calibrated to heavily injure a void colossus. There was only a handful of them in the empire, so how could ordinary vampire experts withstand it?

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were closed as the Book of Darkness poured out a steady stream of essence blood to rece his expenditure. On the daybreak side, the old man¡¯s medicinal wine was still in effect, so the origin power absorbed was extremely pure and only needed a bit of refinement.

    In less than half a day, Qianye was once again at his peak state.

    He jumped down from the tree and gazed at the distant skies. It was already afternoon, and the sky was as clear as before without that misty sensation. It would seem the Demoness¡¯ domain hadn¡¯t reached him.

    Qianye calcted his directions and started sneaking toward the Constetion Well once more.

    He hadn¡¯t gone far when he heard a series of faint footsteps, so he immediately went into hiding. He saw three vampire experts moving through the trees in a single file, hurrying toward the Constetion Well for some reason.

    This was a strong group of two counts led by a marquis. Even Qianye would need to expend some effort in order to defeat them. He didn¡¯t want to waste a killing move this early on in the game because he needed to intimidate people like the Demoness and Edward.

    After some thought, Qianye channeled Bloodline Concealment and followed the entourage. Halfway on the journey, he gradually closed in, unfurled his luminous wings, and locked onto the vampires!

    The sudden change shocked the vampires. Their first reaction was to erupt with blood energy to protect themselves. The fear of being locked onto by the Shot of Inception was overwhelming, even for a marquis.

    It was at this moment that a raging me lit up around Qianye and the aura of the dark golden blood energy appeared. Almost immediately, the blood barrier around the two counts became blurry and distorted. The marquis was also rmed, and he didn¡¯t dare step out and save his two subordinates.

    Countless strands of dark golden threads shot out from Qianye¡¯s body and stabbed into one of the counts. The man¡¯s protective barrier was prated like paper in the face of those sanguine threads.

    Qianye reached out to grab one of the counts like he would a wild beast, and slowly dragged him backward. The count looked dejected and desperate. He merely struggled for a while before losing all strength.

    The marquis and the other count looked conflicted and apprehensive. All they could do was watch as Qianye dragged theirrade into the forest because they didn¡¯t dare move a muscle. After Qianye disappeared, they let out a long sigh and congratted themselves on escaping this cmity. They didn¡¯t dare linger very long, nor did they have the leisure to worry about their tracks. They ran away immediately as swiftly as their legs would take them.

    After entering the forest, Qianye tossed the count to the ground. The man was already dead at this point. Struck by Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder and restrained by his blood energy, this count died without even disying a tenth of hisbat strength.

    Qianye¡¯s body was once again full on essence blood after killing the count, and he continued sneaking toward the Constetion Well.

    There was still some distance from the well when Qianye noticed origin power fluctuations in the distance. It would seem some people were in a fierce battle.

    Numerous Evernight experts were gathered around the Constetion Well. The only ones who could be fighting them were Imperial experts or fierce beasts from the Great Maelstrom. Qianye increased his speed and immediately approached the battlefield.

    He hadn¡¯t run very far when a shocking rumble erupted in the distance. Rolling waves of origin power sent his hair flying, and then spread out into the distance.

    This was the timber of an origin gun, and it was grade-eight at the very least. The origin power was daybreak in nature. It would seem the bearer of this gun had fallen into a dangerous situation, otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have used such a method of mutual destruction.

    Qianye began running toward the battlefield at full speed and soon arrived.

    Therge battlefield was quite lively with fights going on in the air, on the ground, and in the forest. Patches of ancient trees copsed amidst loud rumbles and clouds of blood and demonic energy. At the scene, the massive arachne body almost blotted out the sky. A wisp of daybreak energy would drift upward from time to time, destroyingyer afteryer of blockades. However, the massive blood energy in the periphery formed a cage that would trap all daybreak origin power within.

    The ones flying about were familiar figures¡ªone party was naturally the Evernight experts and Bai Kongzhao, while the members of the other side were even more familiar. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were shuttling about, fighting shoulder to shoulder with Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian.

    On the Evernight side, the vampire experts stationing their individual camps had formed an inescapable encirclement. Edward, Anwen, Twilight, and Basil were fighting fiercely at the center. Bai Kongzhao, on the other hand, was roaming about and attacking whenever the opportunity arose. Her sudden attacks would catch even Ji Tianqing off-guard.

    Eden didn¡¯t take part in the battle. He took his ce on a high ground, overlooking the battlefield and would snipe whoever escaped from the fight.

    What made Qianye the most apprehensive was the fact that the Demoness hadn¡¯t appeared, and that her domain was nowhere to be seen. If she willed it, that domain would quietly cover the entire area and no one, including Qianye, would be able to escape her pursuit. Besides, that earth-shattering attack she had used to attack Zhao Jundu back then was still unused.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank because the battle seemed unfavorable. The one he actually feared was the Demoness, and the other was Bai Kongzhao. The girl¡¯s attacks were extremely ruthless and would alwayse for one¡¯s vitals. Additionally, it seemed her special ability had started to take form. Whoever was struck by her attacks would be severely injured.

    Her every sh was rming because, once struck, the victim could hardly be saved.

    Qianye hesitated no longer. He flickered to the center of the battlefield and arrived behind Basil, whereupon East Peak bore down on the arachnid body with mountainous power.

    The arachne cried out in shock as he shot out a spider web from his limbs, drawing his entire body into the air and barely evading this attack. East Peak¡¯s edge brushed past his razor-sharp limbs, shaving off a finger-sized chunk of it.

    Basil was furious. ¡°Why me? Don¡¯t you have more hatred for that bastard?¡±

    The one he was pointing at was Edward, making the Holy Son¡¯s expression turn quite ugly. Qianye¡¯s sh had truly frightened the arachne because his abdomen would¡¯ve been shed apart if he had been a tiny bit slower. This injury might not be lethal to the arachne, but it would be very troublesome.

    Qianye paid him no heed and looked coldly toward Bai Kongzhao.

    The young girl jumped halfway in the air, aiming for Wei Potian with her cleaver. Thetter had his back against the girl,pletely oblivious of the danger as he plowed around the battlefield with his Thousand Mountains.

    Fortunately, the girl noticed Qianye¡¯s gaze. She trembled all over after seeing him and fell straight down from the air. She then turned to flee without looking back.

    Qianye sighed expressionlessly. He had finally managed to scare that murderous star away.

 Chapter 1047: Escaping Again

    Seeing Qianye turn the situation around single-handedly, Edward couldn¡¯t help but feel infuriated. It was at this time that the sky started to grow dark, almost as though an invisible gauze cloth had flown in between the heaven and earth.

    Without a second thought, Qianye unfurled his luminous wings with Misty Cold in his left hand and Heartgrave in his right. Thetter weapon was aimed directly at Edward, shrouded in ayer of hazy light.

    Within moments, Edward¡¯s blood core began to beat frantically, and an unprecedented sense of danger engulfed his entire being. ¡°Are you crazy!?¡±

    With the enforcement of the Wings of Inception, Heartgrave¡¯s firepower would reach the peak of grade-nine, and that wasn¡¯t something Edward could take. Simrly, the tremendous drain would leave Qianyepletely exhausted after the shot. Even if he didn''t die, he would have no way to escape. This mutually destructive move was why Edward blurted out if Qianye was crazy.

    Heartgrave grew brighter and brighter, and a speck of light flickered in the depths of the barrel. Edward felt a sharp pain between his brows which told him¡ªto his fear and shock¡ªthat he had been locked onto. Any more dys and it would be toote once the trigger was pulled.

    Even though the Demoness was extremely powerful, Edward wasn¡¯t willing to put his life in her hands. Just like when Basil was in the well, neither the vampires nor the demonkin did their utmost to protect him.

    If the Demoness were just slightlyte, she would be able to bury the vampire Holy Son inside the Great Maelstrom, and no one could me her for it. Edward had no doubt that she would do that because he would do the same in her shoes.

    Edward retreated at the final moment, opening up a path for Qianye and evading his lock-on in the process. Qianye passed by inrge strides and smiled coldly at the sky¡ªthe power of Misty Cold surged around him like a celestial realm, and the darkened sky in an area ten meters around him returned to normal. The Demoness¡¯ domain was blown away by the weapon.

    ¡°Qianye!¡± Zhao Yuying was delightfully surprised. She flung away her opponent and ran toward Qianye.

    ¡°Run!¡± Qianye roared without even looking back.

    Zhao Yuying was startled. She red with widened eyes, saying, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? I came to help you, how could you treat me like this?¡±

    Qianye looked up at the sky and raised his voice again. ¡°Go! Now!¡±

    Zhao Yuying wanted to say something, but Li Kuann dragged her away from the battlefield. The former struggled furiously, saying, ¡°What are you doing? Lil¡¯ Five is in there, let me go. I must help him!¡±

    Li Kuann said coldly, ¡°You¡¯ll kill him if you go.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zhao Yuying was, of course, skeptical. Li Kuann sent a stream of icy origin power into her body and locked down all of her movements. She then dragged the Zhao young miss through the vampire experts and ran away like a shooting star.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Wei Potian cried out, not knowing whether he should help Qianye or go after Zhao Yuying.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± It was at this time that Ji Tianqing arrived from the air and grabbed him by the cor. She then lifted him off his feet and flew away.

    Only Qianye was left standing at the center of the battlefield

    The Demoness appeared and came face to face with Qianye. ¡°They¡¯ve left, are you satisfied?¡±

    ¡°Very much so.¡±

    The Demoness pointed at Mist Cold, saying, ¡°Do you think you can escape again this time?¡±

    Currently, there was ayer of dark smoke around the misty mirage, maintaining a distance of several feet from the gun¡¯s power as though it were a sentient being. The Demoness¡¯ control over her domain was truly stunning.

    This meant that Qianye could no longer destroy most of the Demoness¡¯ domain like before. Even if he were to zoom back and forth, he would only be able to destroy a small portion of the domain, and the Demoness would sense where he was based on which part of the domain was missing.

    Qianye looked around at Edward, Twilight, Anwen, Eden, and Basil, and then let out a longugh. ¡°Who said I¡¯m going to run away?¡±

    He wasn¡¯t? The group of Evernight experts could hardly believe their ears. What was he going to do then, fight against all the Evernight experts by himself?

    Thest time, Qianye had managed to escape because no one had imagined he would possess an origin gun with such special effects, nor did they think he would have an explosive of unimaginable firepower. Now that the Demoness had made relevant adjustments to her domain and Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh wasn¡¯t powerful enough to sh out of effective range, what was he going to fight her with?

    Actually, the group present here was enough to defeat Qianye even without the Demoness¡¯ help. It was just that they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop him from fleeing.

    With everything settled, the Evernight experts rxed a bit and weren¡¯t actually in a rush to attack Qianye. It was as though they were waiting for him to make a move, yet it also seemed like they were secretly gauging their own party¡¯s rtionships.

    As for Ji Tianqing and the others escaping, the Evernight experts didn¡¯t mind at all. Even if every one of them ran away, it would be worth it if they could capture Qianye. Qianye¡¯sbat strength actually wasn¡¯t that high, but his abilities were simply too powerful. Add to that his ability to use Spatial sh, he could easily wound anyone here in a single face-to-face exchange.

    This kind of enemy was the most troublesome, and thus everyone hade to a mutual understanding that they had to capture him regardless of the price.

    Qianye looked around quietly before saying, ¡°I have three Shots of Inception, who wants to try?¡±

    The Evernight Experts looked at one another, not knowing how to respond. Back then, Qianye had sent the Demoness back into deep slumber with three Shots of Inception. The shot had gained great fame since that battle.

    Be it Edward, Anwen, or Eden, none of them could take three Shots of Inception. Twilight and the other vampire experts would either die or be heavily injured in just one shot.

    Only the Demoness could go into deep slumber and recover after taking three Shots of Inception. Judging from the time, however, it wasn¡¯t yet time for her to awaken, so perhaps her body wasn¡¯t at its peak state at the moment.

    Edward and the others actually understood that the best way was for everyone to take one hit each. At most, they would be heavily wounded, and the injury wasn¡¯t enough to hurt their foundations. It almost seemed like a good trade if they could get rid of a potential trouble like Qianye.

    However, Qianye had long since seen through their ns. ¡°Guess whether I¡¯ll fire all three shots at the same person or not.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions changed.

    The Shot of Inception¡¯s aim was no secret. Once locked-on by Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception, no one apart from Anwen and the Demoness could do anything to resist. At the very least, Basil couldn¡¯t escape, so the arachne was the first to feel afraid.

    During this stalemate, the Demoness said, ¡°Fire at whoever you want first, there¡¯s no need to ask.¡±

    The experts only woke up at this point. This was the best way to break this deadlock¡ªlife and death, riches and poverty, everything was up to the heavens on the battlefield. What was the point of overthinking it?

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts moved quickly. ¡°Your Highness, you hide in the distance and don¡¯t even dare to show up. Of course, you¡¯re rxed since my Shot of Inception can¡¯t lock onto you.¡±

    Edward and Basil wondered whether these words were true, especially thetter, who had just suffered greatly in the Constetion Well. His trust in the Demoness was at its lowest at the moment. Even until now, he refused to believe that she would fail to block Qianye, so the only exnation was that she had purposely let him approach the well. Her aim was naturally to stop Basil from obtaining a stronger bloodline.

    The Demoness hadn¡¯t imagined Qianye would say something like that, and she herself had also noticed Edward and Basil¡¯s concerns. But her long-standing habit of pride stopped her from exining. Just as she was about to denounce Qianye, thetter took action!

    The luminous wings behind his back spread out as Mist Cold was activated. A ten-meter radius around Qianye was filled with rolling velvet clouds that shrouded his figure entirely. The firearm was able to destroy domains and also iste perception. At this moment, no one knew what exactly Qianye was doing.

    The Demoness was just as calm as before. She only contracted her domain slightly to make way for the Misty Cold, but kept it tightly wound around Qianye. If he were to step out of the mist, she would immediately sense it.

    Qianye didn¡¯t make them wait very long. Almost at the exact moment that the mist expanded, everyone saw a luminous feather shoot out amidst a sh of light.

    Shot of Inception!

    In the blink of an eye, even the calmest of experts became frantic. No one could keep calm in the face of this indefensible and unavoidable shot. Basil cried out, ¡°Why is it me again!?¡±

    Amidst exasperated cries, Basil¡¯s giant body sprang upward under the pull of eight spider web strings, leaving numerous afterimages along the way. His speed during escape was so fast that even Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh would have to yield.

    Basil fled hundreds of meters away within moments. As for the gap in the encirclement, he couldn¡¯t care about it at the juncture of life and death. Basil still didn¡¯t feel at ease after arriving high up in the sky. His body kept flickering constantly, making it so that the Shot of Inception wouldn¡¯t lock onto him even if it were to arrive here. He would then have the opportunity to flee or use some other methods to stop it.

    From this, it was obvious that Basil wasn¡¯t an ordinary person. He already knew how powerful the Shot of Inception was since the beginning.

    But the Shot of Inception didn¡¯t go after the arachne after his escape. It kept moving forward, and now, it was time for Edward to be shocked. Although the attack wasn¡¯t aimed at him, he was the closest expert from the target, and Qianye¡¯s missed shot would most likely be drawn toward him.

    Edward moved ten meters away to the side, hoping to draw away from the Shot of Inception and ce himself in a good position.

    His course of action wasn¡¯t wrong, but the Shot of Inception made a sharp turn in the air and darted toward its true target! It was one of the vampire counts.

    How could an ordinary count stop the Shot of Inception? He almost couldn¡¯t react before the luminous feather entered his chest, and his vitality shut down rapidly. The man¡¯s life force was entirely cut off before his body had even copsed.

    The Shot of Inception¡¯s firepower was enough to bring a chill to every spectator''s back.

    Qianye unleashed a longugh as his figure flickered past the falling count. He then activated Spatial sh and vanished.

 Chapter 1048: Caged Beas

    The Evernight experts naturally wouldn¡¯t sit by and watch Qianye escape. The Demoness vanished with a cold snort. Knowing that it was their fault, Edward and Basil gave chase as well.

    Anwen sighed. ¡°The rest of you follow me.¡± He then ran steadily into the distance, in a somewhat different direction to Edward and Basil.

    The vampire experts were somewhat hesitant, not knowing whether they should follow Anwen. Eden said coldly, ¡°If you don¡¯t follow the young lord, are you going to follow Edward instead? Do you think you can even catch up?¡±

    This was fairly reasonable. Edward¡¯s prestige had fallen drastically after a series of setbacks. Especially when he couldn¡¯t suppress Qianye at all with his blood energy, it brought about some doubt in the vampires who attached great importance to bloodlines.

    Several vampire experts followed Anwen, while the remainder went after Edward. Twilight gritted her teeth and ultimately left in Edward¡¯s direction.

    Eden nced at the vampire experts he had persuaded as he followed Anwen with a smile.

    Anwen wasn¡¯t moving particrly fast, likely because he didn¡¯t want the vampire counts to lose their way. These counts came from the lower ranking families among the twelve major ns and didn¡¯t quite have good rtionships with Edward¡¯s Perth n, to begin with. Add to that the Holy Son¡¯s unconvincing performance in battle, these counts made the decision to join Anwen instead.

    How were they going to catch up to Qianye at this speed, though?

    Even though Anwen was taking care of them, those vampire counts couldn¡¯t help but feel some suspicion. It was at this time that a series of explosions echoed in the distance, and a mixture of demonic and blood energy surged into the sky, crashing into one another like giant dragons.

    Themotion, and especially the oceanic suppressive might in that blood energy, caused all the counts to cower in fear. Even their blood energy flow was slowed down somewhat. At the same time, they felt aplicated emotion in their hearts. No one knew if it was the relief of having caught up to the action or fear of the impending battle.

    The Demoness had already intercepted Qianye, and the two were locked in fiercebat. Edward and Basil had missed their mark, and were hurrying over from far away. The direction Anwen had picked was actually correct and led straight to the battlefield.

    The vampire counts felt weak in the knees, but they were ready to speed up and rush into the fight. Anwen, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t in a hurry. He even slowed down, saying, ¡°What¡¯s the rush? Are you all looking to die? Wait until she has drained Qianye¡¯s strength, that¡¯s when you people will be of use. If you want a taste of the Shot of Inception, though...¡±

    Anwen couldn¡¯t finish his words before he was ovee by a strong sense of palpitation. He nced over subconsciously and happened to see a pir of ck energy shoot into the sky!

    It was a strange luminous feather with a dark outer edge and stem. Only the feather hairs were sparkling with a faint golden radiance.

    Anwen couldn¡¯t utter half a word more after the feather entered his vision, and could only stare as it shot into the sky. He couldn¡¯t help but tremble before the extreme danger and power, but for some reason, he couldn¡¯t turn his eyes away.

    The outline of a fairdy appeared high up in the sky, one so faint that it was barely discernible. But this feather shot toward her as though it had eyes, tearing through theyers of demonic energy in front as though they were tofu.

    The Demoness let out a muffled groan as her silhouette froze mid-air, alternating between rity and darkness. Demonic energy rolled about her like boiling water, apparently no longer under her control.

    Only then did Anwene to. He shot into the air and immediately flew toward the Demoness.

    Thetter turned back and stopped Anwen with her cold gaze. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Anwen wanted to say something but was hesitant. Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception waspletely different from before¡ªwho would even believe that a single attack of his would¡¯ve stopped the Demoness from hiding and sent her demonic energy out of control? Despite that, he also knew how proud the Demoness was. Since she had said she was fine, Anwen wouldn¡¯t dare interfere even if she wasn¡¯t.

    If she were truly fine, why would she stand there frozen while Qianye made his escape?

    As though she knew Anwen¡¯s thoughts, the Demoness said, ¡°Rest assured, he¡¯s also injured. He can¡¯t escape my grasp.¡±

    Anwen looked toward the ground and saw some lingering embers on the ground. A sudden idea popped up in his head as hended near the rocks. He picked up some of the dying mes and observed them carefully. Only when they were entirely extinguished did he speak, ¡°Auric me blood?¡±

    The shock in Anwen¡¯s voice was difficult to hide. The Demoness¡¯ figure turned dark once more, much like a smudge of ink in the sky. It would seem she had once again regained control of her powers.

    She said in a rare solemnity, ¡°Yes, auric me blood.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s actually someone who possesses auric me blood apart from those old bastards? Don¡¯t tell me...¡±

    ¡°Correct, he has made sessfulmunication with the River of Blood.¡±

    Anwen narrowed his eyes. ¡°This is important news.¡±

    ¡°You rarely say such nonsense.¡±

    Anwen sighed. ¡°What I mean is, should we or should we not report this information to the Eternal me?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± A baffled Demoness asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you want to report to the other two? This small matter doesn¡¯t warrant the Emperor¡¯s attention. And thest one... you know what state he¡¯s in.¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean we should pick ns. I¡¯m considering if we should keep this a secret.¡±

    The Demoness was surprised. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? Don¡¯t tell me you want to finish him off with your own strength. Humph, it¡¯s not that I look down on you, but you don¡¯t even have a good chance of beating him. Your sword tricks are so intricate that almost no one can evade, but what¡¯s the point? Even if you hit Qianye, you can¡¯t kill him. His shot, on the other hand, will take away a good chunk of your life.¡±

    Anwen onlyughed wryly at the Demoness¡¯ merciless mockery. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to kill him personally?¡±

    The Demoness said seriously, ¡°Considering your great knowledge on misceneous stuff, I don¡¯t mind telling you the truth. From an expert¡¯s point of view, I naturally wish to do him in myself. The stronger he is, the better of a grinding stone he would be, and the higher he would be able to push me up. But for our race, the right thing to do is to kill him off earlier. If he canmunicate with the River of Blood at this young age, he¡¯ll surely be the next Habsburg and light up a seal in the River of Blood. What that means is very clear to both you and I.¡±

    Anwen sighed after a long moment of silence. ¡°I feel that Qianye¡¯s not a bad person, if you can just ignore the racial differences. His future achievements will be great, and he¡¯ll make for a trustworthypanion when we explore the depths of the void one day.¡±

    The Demoness snorted. ¡°It¡¯s not even certain if you can be a great dark monarch. Isn¡¯t it too early to discuss void exploration? ¡±

    Anwen smiled confidently. ¡°If you can be a great dark monarch, so can I. On this one-way path to exploring the extremes of power, the misceneous knowledge you speak of is much more useful than bloodlines and secret arts.¡±

    The Demonessughed in cold skepticism.

    As if he didn¡¯t hear anything, Anwen pointed at the distant sky. ¡°Have you ever thought about what lies at the end of the skies? What exactly is the vault of heavens? Where exactly is this Great Maelstrom? Why are there no other beings outside of the twenty-seven continents? How did the voide to be? Did it exist since ancient times or is it a cage built by a powerful being we can never understand?¡±

    The Demoness had never even thought about these things, perhaps she would never have an answer even if she did. Every question was like a distant bell that reverberated in her heart.

    Anwen asked in the end, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel that all the racial hatred we have is minusculepared to these questions and the vast universe we live in? It¡¯s almost as though we¡¯re a bunch of wild beasts in a cage, intent on killing one another and deciding who¡¯s stronger. What¡¯s the point? Even if you destroy all your enemies, you¡¯ll only be the champion of a cage.¡±

    The Demoness sighed. ¡°Perhaps you¡¯re right, but your words will only make sense when we do be great dark monarchs. It¡¯s more important to capture Qianye at present. Even if we¡¯re just champions of a cage, in the end, it¡¯s better than being destroyed and letting someone else be king.¡±

    Anwen had no way to refute this notion. ¡°If everyone is so short-sighted, how will we ever break out of this cage and roam the vast realm?¡±

    The Demoness replied, ¡°I do hope you¡¯ll get stronger before you explore the vast realm. Otherwise, how are you going to break out of this cage?¡±

    Anwen was dumbstruck.

    Not many people couldpare to Anwen in terms of fighting power, but the Demoness was definitely one of them.

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°Have it your way then, where¡¯s Qianye?¡±

    The Demoness said, ¡°I¡¯m searching, he won¡¯t get far... found him!¡±

    The Demoness vanished instantly, leaving a barely discernible streak of ink in the air to guide Anwen. This thread was formed of the Demoness¡¯ demonic energy, and only Anwen would be able to see it.

    Edward and Basil had already arrived at this point, but seeing Anwen and the Demoness stationary, they could do nothing else but wait. It was now a proven fact that only the Demoness could capture Qianye.

    The Demoness used her demonic energy to form an invisible border to prevent others from approaching. Edward and Basil naturally heeded this warning, so no one discovered the auric me blood Qianye had left behind.

    During this process, Anwen and the Demoness were using their race¡¯s supreme secret arts to converse via demonic energy. Outsiders simply didn¡¯t know what they were up to. Not to mention Edward and Basil, even Eden wasn¡¯t privy to the contents of their conversation.

    Momentster, the Demoness left, and Anwen went after her after greeting the experts. Edward and Basil finally learned to be smart and keep up. The Holy Son¡¯s countenance was as gloomy as still water, and he didn¡¯t even look at the vampire experts who had chosen to follow Anwen.

 Chapter 1049: During the Escape

    Qianye was walking carefully through a thorny undergrowth with his aura retracted. In what seemed like empty air, there were actually wisps of barely discernible ck energy floating about. These wisps¡ªas fine as strands of hair¡ªwere floating about aimlessly andpletely harmless when touched. Qianye, however, knew that these wisps of energy were formed of the Demoness¡¯ demonic energy and were a part of her domain. She would be alerted instantly if he were to touch them by ident.

    After some thought, Qianye figured out that these ck threads weren¡¯t without a solution. He had seen a small beast fly past, breaking several of the threads without any response from the demonic energy.

    It would seem that this domain was intricately controlled, and she would judge whether the target was man or beast depending on the reaction.

    Qianye stretched out a finger and tried approaching one of the demonic threads. The thread started to react when his fingertip was within a certain range, and flew over like a swimming fish. When Qianye cut off his external origin power, the demonic thread went back to floating about aimlessly.

    Qianye had figured it out¡ªthese threads not only served as a warning trap that would send signals to the Demoness, but they were also quite sensitive to daybreak origin power and would seek out the owner proactively.

    Such a technique was almost indefensible. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye discovering them with his True Sight, he would never figure out how he was found out by the Demoness.

    Qianye was in no rush to leave, however. He channeled a bit of his blood energy and released it. Unexpectedly, all the demonic threads within ten meters began moving the moment his blood energy was released. Dozens of them swarmed over like sharks that had smelled blood.

    This time, Qianye didn¡¯t retract his blood energy and simply allowed the threads to crash into his finger, observing their reaction.

    The demonic threads stirred up a fierce reaction after shooting into the blood energy, emitting numerous tiny sparks. The small demonic threads were quickly incinerated by the dark golden blood energy, but their reaction was also quite fierce. They weren''t quite at a disadvantage in the contest and would bring down with them an equal amount of dark golden blood energy.

    Qianye had never imagined that the demonic threads would be so much more sensitive to blood energy than to daybreak origin power. Apparently, the Demoness either attached great importance to the vampires or it was as he had previously learned¡ªdemonic energy and blood energy would attack each other fiercely after reaching a certain level. The conflict between them was even stronger than that between darkness and daybreak origin powers. It was as though only one of them could exist.

    There was no telling whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that these threads were so sensitive to blood energy.

    Qianye retracted his aura immediately after the test. He was suddenly ovee by a bad feeling as he thought of something. Apart from Edward, there was probably no one else who possessed a high enough blood energy to elicit a reaction from the demonic threads. If that was the case, the Demoness had probably figured out his location and was heading over at full speed.

    At the thought of this, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and vanished immediately. He had used Spatial sh.

    His silhouette had just disappeared when several dark ribbons appeared where he was standing. They weaved together and immediately shed the space there into dozens of fragments. Qianye would have been in a frantic situation if he were still there.

    The Demoness¡¯s figure appeared in the air. ¡°Humph, you do run quite fast.¡±

    In the span of a breath, experts like Anwen, Edward, and Basil also arrived. They kept silent after seeing that the Demoness had failed to overrun Qianye. Her bad temper was notorious. Add to that her peerlessbat capabilities, everyone who offended her would meet horrible ends.

    Now that Qianye had escaped under her nose, one could easily guess her current mood.

    The Demoness said faintly, ¡°He can¡¯t run for long, I¡¯ve already found him.¡±

    Her voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when her figure disappeared. Anwen followed the trail of demonic energy in the air to chase after her.

    The Evernight experts moved like a sh of lightning. After traveling dozens of kilometers in a sh, they saw the Demoness standing quietly in the sky. Apparently, Qianye had escaped yet again.

    Actually, this was quite normal because Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh was unrivaled in escape. Although Spatial sh wasn¡¯t the only one of its kind, it possessed a suppressive advantage over the others in terms of distance and drain. That was also the reason why Qianye could contend with the Demoness by relying on it.

    This time, the Demoness didn¡¯t say anything. After standing there for a while, she pointed in a certain direction and vanished in the form of a ck ribbon.

    Soon, they saw the Demoness in the air again. The group formed a tacit understanding to wait quietly for her to catch Qianye¡¯s traces.

    The Demoness didn¡¯t disappoint them, either. She managed to lock onto Qianye¡¯s position in the span a few breaths and chased after him.

    It was a failure again.

    At this point, Edward and the other experts were beginning to notice that it was taking longer and longer for the Demoness to find Qianye. This proved that she was slowly losing track of him, or maybe Qianye had found a way to deal with her power.

    Qianye¡¯s exhaustion was also considerable after using Spatial sh repeatedly, and he had also fired from the Wings of Inception twice. Even if his cultivation was able to suppress his peers, it was only natural that he wouldn¡¯t have much origin power or stamina left. All that was left was to see who could wear the other party down faster. For instance, only death awaited Qianye if he copsed from exhaustion, but he would escape if the Demoness failed to hold out. This would give him much needed time to catch his breath.

    As the hunter, the Demoness should be the one holding the advantage. After all, spatial travel was much more taxing than flying. But she was also expending vast amounts of demonic energy to maintain her domain, andsting this long was already a feat worthy of admiration.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that a certain group ughter would turn into a battle of attrition?

    Yet, no one dared to ask the Demoness about Qianye¡¯s tracks, nor were they tactless enough to offer help. There was no telling whether people like Edward were actually gloating inside.

    Qianye appeared through the void in the depths of the forest. He immediately locked onto a small beast on his left-hand side and agitated it with his blood energy, causing it to jump up and run about wildly. Qianye dropped to all fours and ran alongside the creature.

    The shocked beast ran even faster, and Qianye followed along at a steady pace.

    The creature would run into strands of demonic energy along the way, and Qianye also took this opportunity to do the same. He was channeling bloodline concealment at the moment, and just as he had thought, the action didn¡¯t bring about a reaction from the demonic threads. As far as the Demoness¡¯ perception was concerned, they were just two small creatures running about in the taboo zone.

    After running for several dozen kilometers, there was no special reaction from the surrounding space. It would seem the Demoness hadn¡¯t noticed them. Qianye knocked the small creature out with a p and hid it atop a giant tree.

    This was the first time he had found some time to rest since entering the Great Maelstrom.

    Qianye also knew that his break time wouldn¡¯t be long. Once the Demoness couldn¡¯t find him, she wouldb through the areas with demonic beast movement and eventually find him.

    Qianye calmed his mind and observed the state of his body. He had used up more than half of his origin power and blood energy. The two Shots of Inception and Spatial sh used his blood energy as fuel, so it was quite exhausting despite possessing blood energy at the quality of a great dark monarch.

    There was only a single luminous feather on the Wings of Inception. He only had one Shot of Inception left. His most powerful attack had been used up on the Demoness, while the other shot was used to intimidate people and open up a path of escape. However, Qianye discovered that the outlines of a ck-rimmed feather had already started to form on the other wing.

    This meant that he now had two special feathers with great firepower.

    Qianye didn¡¯t quite have the time to study how this feather had appeared. He quickly produced the Book of Darkness and poured out the stored essence blood into the Wings of Inception. The Wings of Inception began absorbing the contribution in vast amounts, almost as though they had woken up from a dream.

    Soon, one of the ordinary feathers started to light up.

    By the time the Book of Darkness was entirely empty, the new luminous feather was already half-lit, and only the tip remained dark.

    Qianye made some rough calctions and found that a full Book of Darkness could provide enough blood energy to form aplete luminous feather. The good thing about the Book of Darkness was that the essence blood stored inside would be purer than before, ready for use at any moment. For instance, it could be poured into the blood core to enter a state of blood boil. The essence blood refined by the book was far inferior to the dark golden blood energy, but it would ensure fighting power under emergency circumstances¡ªnow, for instance.

    Qianye put away the Book of Darkness and nced at a nearby giant tree. There was a giant python resting in the tree trunk, one that possessed powerful vitality. This represented vast amounts of essence blood, especially since all creatures in the Great Maelstrom possessed bountiful pools of them.

    Qianye jumped up and charged toward the hole. He then grabbed the giant python and crushed the serpent¡¯s scale with his bare fingers, digging into its flesh. The snake struggled, but the tree hole was too narrow for it to exert much force. The snake turned toward Qianye but was duly caught by the neck.

    The giant python could be considered quite strong, but it was still a bit inferiorpared to Qianye and his ancient vampire constitution.

    Qianye channeled Life Plunder after restraining the giant python, shooting out sanguine threads into the serpent¡¯s body. Despite all that, it took an entire minute before the creature stopped struggling.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief, his body drenched in sweat. The book of darkness was almost full again, but the python¡¯s essence blood wasn¡¯t dry just yet. From this, one could see just how terrifying the creatures here were, and also how bountiful.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and disappeared again.

    The Demoness appeared not long after he had left. She was full of killing intent as she gazed at the corpse of the giant python inside the tree.

 Chapter 1050: Battle of Attrition

    The drained giant python corpse meant that Qianye had been replenished, but replenishment also meant that he would need time to digest and couldn¡¯t have gone far. At the thought of this, the Demoness¡¯ killing intent subsided somewhat.

    After some thought, her figure flickered and appeared in a different ce. She began contemting in silence as she searched through her own domain. Soon, she had confirmed Qianye¡¯s location.

    He was found out again within moments, but unexpectedly, he kept running through the woods instead of using Spatial sh.

    The Demoness was a bit surprised, but she quickly chased after him with a sneer. As she saw it, Qianye was courting certain death. All the Evernight races apart from the arachne were naturally fast, and the Demoness simply didn¡¯t believe she would lose her target even without using any special abilities.

    Was that Qianye out of origin power, or had he set up a trap?

    The Demoness wasn¡¯t in a rush to overrun him. She merely maintained a steady distance andunched constant ranged attacks.

    Qianye shed apart the ck demonic ribbons with hands shrouded in scarlet golden mes, causing them to erupt into raging mes. It seemed as though Qianye had drawn a safe line between him and the Demoness. If the distance was shortened, he would use all sorts of techniques and take advantage of the geography to restore it.

    This was actually a battle of attrition. Both sides were exhausting the same amount of resources for movement and battle, but the Demoness was draining faster as she had to maintain the vast domain.

    The Demoness wasn''t alone, though. She had a group of Evernight experts at her disposal, which meant that a single careless turn couldnd Qianye in an encirclement, and he might not be lucky enough to escape unscathed likest time.

    Before long, this game of cat and mouse had taken the duo two circles around the Constetion Well. The Evernight experts had been left far behind by this point, and not even Anwen could catch up. Since Qianye stopped using Spatial sh, the Demoness had also stopped leaving behind a trail.

    At this point, the Demoness had noticed Qianye¡¯s intentions. He wasn¡¯t willing to leave the Constetion Well and let the Evernight experts gain origin blood. To the dark race, the best way was to hunt Qianye down with full force while having people like Edward and Basil enter the well. This way, Qianye would be left between a rock and a hard ce¡ªif he were to ignore it, then this battle of attrition would¡¯ve be meaningless, but if he didn¡¯t, he would be walking into an ambush.

    For some reason, however, she didn¡¯t instruct Anwen to make such an arrangement and only focused on chasing Qianye.

    At this point, the two had been at it for over an hour. After noticing that Qianye was stalling for time, she stopped attacking from long range and would jump forward to intercept him from time to time. The two thus attacked from afar at times and would lock into a melee fight in others.

    Discovering that the Demoness had changed her strategy to a head-on showdown, Qianye finally stopped running around the Constetion Well. He began running away at full speed, drilling through wherever there was an opening. He took full advantage of the forestedndscape and changed his direction every few moments, making it extremely difficult to guess his trajectory.

    Qianye moved like lightning and was as unpredictable as a specter, pushing hisbat techniques and advantage in perception to their maximum. The Demoness would fall back several dozen meters with every little mistake, and that was enough for Qianye to activate Spatial sh. Unresigned, she would immediately activate her movement arts and sh over to intercept.

    This was when the difference between them would be evident. The Demoness would use a technique simr to void traversal inside her domain, causing her to fade out and be almost weightless. This increased her speed to an unimaginable extent, allowing her to cross dozens of meters in an instant.

    The Demoness'' technique wasparable to Spatial sh over short distances, but thetter was at the true apex of spatial pration, while the Demoness was just moving within a certain space. Despite that, she was able to keep up with Qianye, which went to show just how terrifying she was.

    This movement skill of hers was simply too advanced. She required the demonic energy inside her domain to drag her forward and was alsocking in agility when changing directions. Comparatively, Qianye was using a clumsy physical skillparable to that of wild beasts. His overall speed and his swiftness when changing directions werepletely dependent on the strength of his step.

    Qianye¡¯s method was more suitable in the Great Maelstrom. The vegetation and rocks here were iparably firm. He could hardly break the thicker branches no matter how hard he stomped. This meant that he could exert any amount of force, while the Demoness had to be careful. It wasn¡¯t like in the outside world where she could just crash into the trees standing in her way.

    An all-out collision might perhaps break an ancient tree in two, but she would also be dizzy from the impact. Besides, ttening a forest would cause too much of a ruckus, and the effects would be equal to firing an origin gun. Her current teleportation points were somewhat close and definitely iparable to her peak status.

    If they weren¡¯t in the forest, the Demoness would¡¯ve intercepted Qianye long ago. But how could everything go ording to the ifs?

    It would seem she was quite furious as she had given up on sensing Anwen¡¯s group and was investing herplete attention on chasing down Qianye. The Demoness saw that, several times, Qianye hadn¡¯t used Spatial sh despite the opportunity to do so. He probably couldn¡¯t activate the secret art anymore, and it was the best time to kill him.

    Qianye moved like the wind, evading the Demoness¡¯ killing moves at thest moment. He gradually fell into a difficult position, but he was neither flustered nor looked like he was in distress. He was paying attention to the Book of Darkness, waiting for the essence blood inside toplete refinement.

    Most of the essence blood had been refined, and in moments, the process would be entirelyplete. At that point, the essence blood obtained from the giant python would be pure enough for the blood core to ignite.

    The Great Maelstrom was indeed a mystical ce. In the outside world, the Book of Darkness only served to store essence blood and not refine it. Perhaps it did, but the degree was so small that it was almost negligible. Here, however, not only did the degree of refinement increase greatly, but the process was also very rapid. Something that would take an entire day outside would take little over an hour here.

    This meant that the Demoness¡¯ assessment of Qianye¡¯s origin power status waspletely off.

    While paying attention to the refinement time, Qianye was also calcting his origin power and blood energy consumption. He was minimizing blood energy consumption and using his physical strength, reinforced with origin power, to do battle. He was never able to bring out his full power and was gradually falling to a disadvantage, but he could still hang on.

    Just as he was like an arrow at the end of its flight, a streak of flowing light shed across the cover of the Book of Darkness. The essence blood refinement process was finallyplete!

    Qianye let out a long howl as his Venus Dawn erupted, sending out a ring of origin mes in all directions and igniting hundreds of zes. The demonic energy the Demoness had ced around them was swept clean.

    Before she couldy down more demonic energy, Qianye stomped on an ancient tree, causing the massive tree to bend down. The terrifying rebound sent him flying like an arrow and away from the Demoness.

    The Demoness smiled coldly because Qianye¡¯s willingness to waste origin power was in her schemes. ording to her n, Qianye had no more power to use Spatial sh, and the moment he ran out of origin power was when she would catch him.

    Her arms danced about as she summoned several demonic threads in front of Qianye, which then formed an interweaving meshwork that would stop him. At the same time, her body turned into a beam of light and flew toward Qianye at full speed. A hundred meters took no more than a thought for her.

    However, Qianye¡¯s figure started to flicker in front of her.

    The Demoness felt that something was wrong. Ignoring the drain on her demonic energy, she summoned dozens of demonic threads to tangle Qianye from all directions.

    But Qianye¡¯s silhouette became twisted and blurry, and thenpletely vanished. The demonic threads became confused after striking empty air.

    Killing intent surged on the Demoness¡¯ body. She looked about to find that Qianye had appeared a thousand meters away. She was angry because she had been tricked into making a wrong judgement, but she wasn¡¯t flustered. Qianye still wouldn''t be able to escape her grasp if he could only use Spatial sh a couple more times.

    The Demoness was only halfway toward Qianye when he had disappeared once more. She searched with all her might but was still a tadte. She found traces of Qianye a thousand meters away, but he was already activating his third Spatial sh when she found him.

    The Demoness¡¯ body turned into a streak of light as she arced through the air and turned about. This time, though, she couldn¡¯t find any traces of Qianye. Apparently, he had long since escaped.

    She had no choice but to stop and scan the vast woods, but Qianye was nowhere to be found.

    Her domain and perception were filled with a mess of moving creatures as the fight between the two had startled almost every beast in the forest. How was she to find Qianye in this chaos?

    There were a whole lot of reactions to vampires, though, and most of them were aggregated in one ce. It was clearly Edward and his subordinates.

    ¡°A group of useless trash!¡± The Demoness couldn¡¯t help but curse. These vampires hadn¡¯t realized that they had been enveloped in the Demoness¡¯ domain. They walked on and on without knowing that their movements were all being observed. They were indeed trash in her eyes, but no one knew if the curse just now was directed at them.

    It was at this moment that a new reaction appeared in her domain. Daybreak origin power had appeared in a certain direction. It was mottled and impure, but daybreak nheless.

    The Demoness was beside herself in anger at the moment. Her figure arrived near the source of that daybreak origin power and produced countless demonic des. With her perception and origin power, this attack was enough to slice the target into many pieces.

 Chapter 1051: Talent and Intelligence

    The Demoness was anticipating a miserable scream and fresh blood, but the person below actually cut down all the demonic des with a swing of their weapon!

    The Demoness was first surprised but then became excited, secretly criticizing Qianye for his craftiness. It would seem he was pretending to be an ordinary expert, but now he had been exposed.

    She descended rapidly but was startled upon seeing the other party clearly. It was a young girl in a white dress, definitely not Qianye.

    But she was too furious to care whether she was killing the right person. Dozens more formless des formed with a wave of her hand. Even someone as calm as Bai Kongzhao felt somewhat flustered.

    It was at this moment that streaks of demonic energy appeared in the air, forming aplicated polyhedron around Bai Kongzhao. Anwen appeared with a wry smile. ¡°She¡¯s my friend. Please let her go out of consideration for me!¡±

    The Demoness said coldly, ¡°Why must I give you face?¡±

    Her words were so sharp that even the kind Anwen became somewhat angry. Fortunately, no one had caught up to them yet and the only other person was Bai Kongzhao.

    Anwen took a deep breath to calm down his flushed face, and said in a cool but forced tone, ¡°Considering our statuses, you will have to give me some face.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s reply was tinged with unprecedented curtness. An icy killing intent emerged through the Demoness¡¯ ck mist as she said, ¡°Anwen, do you think you¡¯re important enough to make me do things?¡±

    Anwen replied, ¡°At the very least, you have no right to humiliate me.¡±

    ¡°Who gave you the courage to speak to me like this!?¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want to take your unreasonable pride anymore.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re courting death, Anwen!¡±

    ¡°You can kill me, but you¡¯ll also lose your path to be a great dark monarch.¡±

    The Demoness¡¯ voice was cold. ¡°Do you seriously think you hold enough weightage in those old fogeys¡¯ eyes? I¡¯ll have to pay an equal price for killing you? Where did you get that confidence? Do you think your talents are at my level?¡±

    Anwen said coldly, ¡°My talents might be inferior, but my intelligence is far beyond yours. It¡¯s not certain who will get further in the future.¡±

    This surprised the Demoness. Her eyes fell upon Bai Kongzhao, saying, ¡°Anwen, this isn¡¯t like the old you. Did you change because of her?¡±

    Anwen also nced at Bai Kongzhao. ¡°She¡¯s part of the reason but not the entirety.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good enough. I¡¯ll kill her and let you see the price of offending me!¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression changed swiftly. His eyes lit up, and the two-meter sword appeared in his hand as he stepped in front of the young girl.

    ¡°Are you looking to fight me?¡± The Demoness¡¯ voice was frosty. ¡°Anwen, you should know the consequences of angering me. I might¡¯ve wanted to give her a clean death before, but I think I¡¯ll start by chopping off her arms and legs now.¡±

    ¡°You can do what you want after you kill me.¡± The glint in Anwen¡¯s eyes grew brighter.

    The Demoness contemted for a moment. ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t dare to kill you?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve always known that you do whatever you want, but today, I will have you understand one thing. Not being able to defeat you doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll let you humiliate me!¡±

    Each of Anwen¡¯s words was powerful and resonating. The Demoness¡¯ demonic energy was clearly fluctuating as well.

    ¡°Are you so unafraid of death because of her?¡± The Demoness¡¯ voice became a bit calmer. Anwen was surprised because this was her state of extreme anger.

    ¡°It has nothing to do with her.¡±

    The Demoness was skeptical. A demonic thread suddenly appeared around Bai Kongzhao and wrapped around her neck. This thread was so sharp that it could even wound Qianye¡¯s body. Removing the girl¡¯s neck was all too easy.

    Anwen clenched his teeth, but instead of rushing to save Bai Kongzhao, he raised his de and thrust straight at the Demoness. Severalplicated diagrams appeared on the de¡¯s edge during this process.

    Thetter smiled coldly¡ªseveral demonic threads appeared as she swung her hand, quickly forming an intersecting meshwork between her and Anwen. What she didn¡¯t expect was that Anwen would ignore the and crash straight into it!

    Blood and demonic energy flew in all directions as several wounds appeared on Anwen¡¯s body, as well as a three-by-five mesh pattern on his face. His hair also fell into disarray with cut ends drifting off everywhere.

    He was charging straight into the attack. The demonkin were never known for their physical tenacity, so he was immediately injured. If it weren¡¯t for Anwen¡¯s extremely high-grade demonic energy, this would¡¯ve sliced him into hundreds of pieces.

    Raging mes erupted in Anwen¡¯s eyes as he thrust his sword into the Demoness¡¯ mist just like before.

    A muffled groan appeared from the mist as the smoke dispersed, revealing the Demoness¡¯ true appearance. Anwen¡¯s long sword had stabbed through her abdomen and out from her back. The Demoness¡¯ blood formed sparkling pearls which started entangling with the demonic energy on Anwen¡¯s de.

    Being run through by a sword seemed bad, but this was eptable damage to an expert at their level. How lethal the injury was would depend on the contest between demonic energies.

    The Demoness grabbed Anwen¡¯s neck and said word by word, ¡°I can destroy youpletely if I want to!¡±

    Anwen was fearless. ¡°And I can deal you a final blow before my death. You¡¯re right. I may not be your match, but you can also forget about bing a great dark monarch after killing me.¡±

    The Demoness looked at Anwen carefully, almost as though she didn¡¯t recognize him. ¡°You really are fearless of death. Why, is it because of her?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve asked me this too many times,¡± Anwen replied with a wooden expression.

    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯ve never answered me.¡± The Demoness wouldn¡¯t let go.

    Anwen merely snorted, not willing to say anything more. This made it clear that he wasn¡¯t going to give her a straight answer. The Demoness also stopped talking and just stared frostily at him. The duo thus fell into a deadlock therein.

    Bai Kongzhao was gazing at them from below, and no one knew what she was thinking.

    Eden rushed over at this point and was stunned.

    ¡°You two¡­ T-This¡­¡± Eden was at a loss for words. These two were, after all, supreme existences for all the demonkin.

    ¡°Exchanging pointers.¡± Anwen was expressionless.

    The Demoness also nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ve lost.¡± Anwen retracted his demonic energy and long sword.

    The Demoness didn¡¯t make a further move. She rxed her grip and allowed Anwen to walk free. The moment that long sword left her body, her figure once again became shrouded by demonic mist, and no one could see her wounds.

    Anwen produced a dose of demonic medicine and inhaled it.

    There was also a cloud of demonic energy swirling around his body, but unlike the Demoness, it couldn¡¯t hide him entirely. There was no need, either, because Eden had already seen everything clearly when he arrived.

    The intersecting bloody lines on Anwen¡¯s body were quite appalling. They were as thin as a thread, but each of them was extremely deep. One dose of demonic medicine wasn¡¯t enough to treat this kind of injury.

    Eden produced two more medicines and passed it over quietly. Anwen inhaled them one after the other. These medicines were top-grade materials they had gotten from the Eternal me before entering the Great Maelstrom.

    Anwen¡¯s countenance looked much better after inhaling three medicines, and the terrifying bloody lines began to fill up. The Demoness, on the other hand, remained hidden inside her mist. She couldn¡¯t leave, but she also refused to make an appearance.

    Eden coughed awkwardly, ¡°Erm¡­ since you guys have finished sparring, we should get to business. Should we continue staying around the Constetion Well if we can¡¯t catch Qianye? Should we just let the vampires and arachne stay behind? They can do whatever they¡¯re willing to.¡±

    Eden had already discovered that the one entering the well would be extremely vulnerable and had no way to retaliate against attacking enemies. That was why he felt that there would be no great benefit in staying behind. On the contrary, their risk would increase with each passing hour since this was an imperial resource and other human experts could appear.

    Besides, the vampires and arachne had been studying this secret for some time and possessed tools suitable for their race. The demonkin only learned about this matter very recently. Even if they could produce origin blood, the results would be fairly mediocre. There was really no need to stay behind and help the other two races.

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°I¡¯vergely understood the principle behind refining origin blood. The material involved isn¡¯t important. What¡¯s truly critical is the star power condensed during the process. Yes, let¡¯s just call it star power for now, but what we see down there aren¡¯t real stars. At the very least, they¡¯re not what we think they are. As for why they appear so, why they would adopt the form of stars, that¡¯s a fairly meaningful question. I have a feeling that our understanding of the universe will increase by leaps and bounds if we study this phenomenon.¡±

    The Demoness cut Anwen short. ¡°I have no interest in your theories, get to the point.¡±

    Eden also looked unenthusiastic. To him, practicalbat strength was the basis of every action. After all, he didn¡¯t have peerless talent like Anwen and the Demoness.

    The young lord shook his head with a sigh. ¡°The point is that these stars each represent power of different attributes. Perhaps the smaller, ordinary ones might be difficult to tell apart, but the special ones¡ªthe biggest, brightest ones for instance¡ªdefinitely carry extraordinary power. This meant that one could condense different origin blood depending on the targeted star. Even if the blood rod and spider egg aren¡¯t quite suitable for us, we can still refine origin blood that would be of great help to our race. All we need to do is target the right stars.¡±

    Eden inquired, ¡°Will that help us?¡±

    Anwen nodded. ¡°Origin blood can upgrade a bloodline from two aspects. One is by strengthening its advantages, and the other is to supplement its shorings. For instance, it can help us by strengthening our physiques.¡±

    The Demoness was somewhat moved.

    Demonkin secret arts weren¡¯t strict on physical requirements, but it was clear that those with stronger constitutions would have the advantage in battle. Qianye, for instance, was able to charge past the Demoness¡¯ interception by relying on his sturdy physique. That was also the deciding factor when he had dueled Anwen.

    Even the Demoness couldn¡¯t refuse a stronger body.

    Eden frowned. ¡°How do we find this star, and how do we absorb its power after finding it?¡±

 Chapter 1052: Unexpected Gues

    Anwen said, ¡°That¡¯s not hard. We can wait until everyone has recovered before letting Edward enter the well. I¡¯ll then have enough time to observe the changes in the stars and figure out which one is beneficial for us.¡±

    Eden nodded. For the first time, he felt that Anwen¡¯s misceneous knowledge wasn¡¯tpletely without use.

    Anwen nced at the Demoness and Eden. ¡°It¡¯s rare for us to be gathered together, it¡¯s a good opportunity to talk about important matters.¡±

    Eden was somewhat startled, not expecting Anwen to say something like this. This meant that the young lord was treating him as equals, that his strength might be inferior, but his status was no different.

    Just a while ago, Eden was still struggling desperately for the heir¡¯s position in his family. How he was sitting down to discuss matters with two legendary characters of the younger generation, he found this situation almost unbelievable.

    Anwen beckoned to Bai Kongzhao. ¡°This is Bai Kongzhao, she¡¯s¡­ very special. Although she¡¯s a human, she can use our race¡¯s cultivation arts. The Eternal me has already met her as well and even granted her a protective treasure.¡±

    The Demoness snorted but made noment, while Edenughed awkwardly. Back then, thetter had encountered Bai Kongzhao under less than happy terms, and her grasp of opportunities inbat left a deep impression on him. Now that Anwen was introducing them officially, Eden naturally understood his intentions. iming that the girl had entered the Eternal me¡¯s eyes meant that there was no need to doubt her identity and origins.

    The young girl stood there, puzzled, almost as though she had no idea what they were saying.

    Anwen said seriously, ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it again, and I feel that we need to reach a consensus regarding Qianye. How do we deal with this person?¡±

    Eden replied quickly, ¡°Of course, we kill him.¡±

    ¡°Kill.¡± The Demoness¡¯ reply was clear.

    Bai Konghzao said nothing, but Anwen said with a wry smile, ¡°You guys say it like it¡¯s so easy. We¡¯ve chased after him for an entire day, what now?¡±

    The Demoness said in a cold voice, ¡°Are you doubting me? That spar was just a moment of carelessness. Did you think there will ever be a second time?¡±

    Anwen was quite calm. ¡°I, of course, don¡¯t doubt your prowess in battle, but we¡¯re not in the void.¡±

    The Demoness became silent because her most powerful move could only be performed in the void. The space inside the Great Maelstrom was hopelessly strong, so strong that she couldn¡¯t exert her powers. Qianye on the other hand possessed a physique stronger than the natives and was like a fish in water.

    ¡°What should we do then?¡± Seeing the Demoness silent, Eden knew he should ask something.

    Anwen said after a while, ¡°We have two ways to go about this. We can either make peace with him and even form an alliance, explore the Great Maelstrom together, and maybe even the great void in the future. The other way is to report to the Eternal me after we¡¯re out of the Great Maelstrom, asking him to take action personally.¡±

    Eden was surprised. He hadn¡¯t expected Anwen to evaluate the person so highly. ¡°Can we even make peace?¡±

    Anwen said with certainty, ¡°Yes! Qianye is a vampire, but not entirely a vampire. He¡¯s destined to be an enemy of both the Empire and the vampire race. Such circumstances actually make him the best partner for us. Additionally, he attaches great importance to hispanions. If we can use their safety as a bargaining chip, we will surely be able to reach an agreement.¡±

    Eden nodded in approval. After repeated contact with Qianye, he could tell that thetter cared about his friends.

    ¡°The odds aren¡¯t great, and we¡¯ll never reach the point of bing allies,¡± the Demoness replied coldly.

    Anwen made noment about this. ¡°Then we¡¯ll just have to find a way to contact His Grace the Eternal me. I can send out a single message, but we only have that one chance. He¡¯ll figure something out after receiving the message.¡±

    The Great Maelstrom was mysterious and cruel, but it wouldn¡¯t stop peerless experts at the level of great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs. It was just that, for some reason, none had ever stayed long inside.

    Eden¡¯s expression was somewhat envious. He was very clear that sending a message out of the Great Maelstrom involved a valuable ability, and it proved that he would be able to reach the great dark monarch realm eventually.

    The Demoness said coldly, ¡°Save that chance of yours.¡±

    Anwen was somewhat surprised. ¡°You want to make peace with Qianye as well?¡±

    The Demoness sneered, ¡°You think?¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    ¡°I have no interest in either of your ns, I only work ording to my own methods. I¡¯ll take Qianye¡¯s life on my own, no one is allowed to interfere!¡±

    Anwen frowned. ¡°You mean¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not toote to inform the Eternal me after I kill Qianye.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s meaningless!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the only thing meaningful to me.¡±

    Anwen wanted to say something, but the Demoness waved her hand. ¡°No need to speak further, it¡¯s decided. If you¡¯re intent on informing his grace, do as you wish.¡±

    She did say that, but both men understood doing so would make an enemy out of her.

    The Constetion Well weed a period of peace. After realizing they would never catch Qianye, Edward and Basil eventually returned to the well and began discussing their next step.

    Anwen and Eden had also arrived, but the Demoness never appeared. No one knew where she had gone, and no one was tactless enough to ask.

    Chasing down Qianye for an entire day without results had shaken her eminent image, and many began to secretly think she wasn¡¯t all-powerful after all.

    After everyone was gathered, Anwen said, ¡°The number one priority right now is to extract origin blood. Since Basil has already taken a turn, the vampires are up next. Your Excellency Edward, will you go down yourself or designate someone?¡±

    All eyes turned toward Edward. Basil¡¯sst-minute failure yesterday was proof of how difficult the process was. There were numerous vampires at the scene, but only Edward and Twilight had higher odds of sess. Basil had said that the origin blood produced was directly rted to the operator¡¯s bloodline. A powerful expertcking in natural talents would not be able to produce anything of value.

    ording to reason, it was Edward¡¯s turn to enter.

    The Holy Son stood there with a long face. ¡°As I see it, Basil should try again once more, or perhaps Eden should have a turn.¡±

    Eden didn¡¯t say anything but Basil wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°Why must I go down?¡±

    Edward replied, ¡°Your Excellency, you already have sufficient experience and know how to deal with idents inside the well. That¡¯s why I feel that you should keep making use of your advantages. If not, perhaps His Excellencies Eden or Anwen might want to have a go?¡±

    Basil couldn¡¯t keep up a state of nonchnce. ¡°Edward, are you trying to anger me?¡±

    Edward smiled. ¡°You¡¯re thinking too much. No one can force you down if you don¡¯t want to go in, can they?¡±

    Basil suddenly understood. He let out a snort but stopped speaking thereafter.

    Frowning, Eden nced at Anwen and found him in a simr expression.

    Edward¡¯s intentions were clear¡ªhe would not go in unless Qianye had been dealt with. Anwen¡¯s analysis of the process wouldn¡¯t beplete without this sample, and it would be a waste even if Eden were to enter.

    The situation fell into a deadlock. Even someone as intelligent as Anwen couldn¡¯t quite find a way to unravel this tricky situation. ¡°Edward, perhaps we can discuss.¡±

    Edwardughed out loud. ¡°I feel that survival is the most important.¡±

    Since he had made it so clear, the discussion could no longer be continued. Anwen shook his head, saying, ¡°Wait, then.¡±

    The only way to move out of this stalemate was to wait for news from the Demoness.

    The group of Evernight experts took up position around the well and began resting while waiting for further developments. This was traditionally an Imperial area, but there wasn¡¯t much to fear since all the powerful young experts of Evernight had gathered here. The few Imperial experts arriving at the well had been driven away by the vampire sentries. Anwen¡¯s group never even had the opportunity to take action.

    This upation was quite the arrogant move, but absolute strength gave them the qualifications to do so.

    However, the affairs of the world were always fluctuating. Outsiders only saw their glory and arrogance, but they didn¡¯t know the predicament inside.

    They never heard back from the Demoness since she went on a hunt for Qianye. No one knew whether she had captured Qianye. They couldn¡¯t even tell if she was hot on his trail or waiting in concealment for him to walk into a trap.

    With Basil¡¯s previous lesson on the table, no one dared enter the well without solid information regarding Qianye. Hence, a gathering of top younger-generation experts ended up as an idle sitting party.

    Just as everyone was starting to lose their patience, Anwen suddenly looked up at the sky with a serious expression.

    Edward and Basil¡¯s expression changed momentster. Eden was thest to react.

    Their eyesnded on the distant ground where a patch of wildflowers was growing amidst the verdant grass. At a nce, this scenery was no different from back in the Empire or Evernight. Only when plucking the flowers would one remember that this was the Great Maelstrom¡ªBasil might be the only one who could do so easily without using origin power. Those fine stems were actually as strong as steel wires.

    A certain flower was currently blooming amidst the field of flowers. Illusory and beautiful, a long stamen emerged as the petals stretched out. The scenery around the flower began to change, almost as though a raging wave was flowing past.

    Anwen, Edward, Basil, Eden, and the other top Evernight experts stood up with expressions of shock!

    The blooming flower was a red spider lily.

 Chapter 1053: The Bloom and Wither of Red Spider Lilies

    Top geniuses like Anwen were, of course, highly knowledgeable and experienced. Even so, legends of the Grand Magnums had been carved deep into everyone¡¯s heart¡ªeach of them came with a fantastical story that would be circted forever. These young experts had more or less seen a magnum in action, but this was the first time they hade face to face with one. Additionally, this was the most famous one among them, the Red Spider Lily.

    The blooming and wilting of the other shore flowers would always be followed by the withering of life.

    Even Anwen couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill run down his spine. Despite being highly knowledgeable, he had no clue about the Red Spider Lily¡¯s mechanism, nor why a life would wither whenever aherworld flower bloomed. He was crazy about research, but not dumb enough to yearn for the chance to study the Red Spider Lily first hand.

    For a moment, the Evernight experts forgot about fleeing. All they could think was, ¡°Why would a red spider lily appear here?¡±

    Basil reacted the quickest and the least sensitive. He broke into a peal ofughter that shocked everyone.

    He pointed at the red spider lily andughed. ¡°How can a grand magnum appear in the Great Maelstrom? You guys must be seeing things, yes, it must be an illusion! A small flower managed to scare you all silly?¡±

    Seemingly noticing Basil¡¯s roaringughter, the little flower swayed about angrily and began to wilt!

    Eden gasped, Edward shed ten meters away with a single sidestep, while Anwen frowned as a faint radiance emerged from his fingertips, forming a honeb wall made up of countless hexagons between him and Basil.

    In the blink of an eye, there was no one left beside the arachne.

    Basil¡¯s hair all stood on end, his mouth agape. Then, he fled with a miserable scream!

    He had no idea why he was running, but his intuition told him that he had to escape immediately, even though it was useless.

    Basil¡¯s long limbs moved rapidly, but his body didn¡¯t shoot forward as expected. Instead, his massive frame remained in ce while a disorderly mass of golden threads weaved into existence.

    At this moment, the flower of theherworld river had withered, and all life had turned silent.

    Basil suddenly lost his voice and could do nothing but stare in terror at his massive spider body. A crisp crack was heard as several fissures appeared at the tip of one of his limbs.

    The arachne exoskeleton was known for its hardness, especially their limbs. Bai Kongzhao¡¯s cleaver, made from the limb of an arachne duke, was enough to intimidate many people. Basil was highly talented, so his limb des were stronger than his peers.

    Even the strongest ce was also the weakest ce. The limb would be temporarily crippled once the outer shell had been shattered, and all he could do was recuperate slowly.

    Basil collected his thoughts and stared fixedly at the crack, not daring to move in the slightest. He waited an entire three seconds to make sure the fissure wasn¡¯t extending before heaving a sigh of relief. He was drenched in sweat by that time.

    The arachne suddenly realized that the others were looking at him with strange expressions. They were scanning every part of his body with malicious intent, and even Twilight was no exception. She kept staring at his vitals, hoping to figure something out.

    The prideful Basil was absolutely furious. Not only did these bastards not help him, but they were all looking at him with punishable expressions.

    Basil said with a clear voice, ¡°That¡¯s all a small flower can do!¡±

    Everyone looked at him like an idiot. A single flower had broken one of his limbs, yet he had the audacity to say that was all.

    What if a couple more of them appeared? Basil would most likely lose all of his legs and an arm as well.

    In addition to the schadenfreude, everyone was stunned by the power of the Red Spider Lily. It was even more terrifying than legends would have it. Just a single flower had injured an outstanding young arachne. Just how had Ge Situ taken a shot from the magnum and escaped with his life back then?

    Basilughed loudly but found that no one was following along, their expressions fluctuant and restless. He was just about to spout more taunts when Twilight said with a weird expression, ¡°You said that¡¯s all a small flower can do?¡±

    Basil was startled and felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right, but since he had spoken, there was no way he could take it back now.

    He nodded proudly, saying, ¡°I did, so what?¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression turned even weirder as she pointed silently at Basil¡¯s back.

    The arachne was somewhat angered. As he saw it, Twilight was a minor character he didn¡¯t even need to care about. Did she think she was equal inbat strength just because she was rtively good-looking?

    Fortunately, he was a peak character among the younger generation of the arachne race. Quickly realizing something was wrong, he nced back and immediately felt his hair stand on end.

    A sea of red flowers was appearing before him¡ªtheherworld flowers were swaying in the wind, ready to wither at a moment¡¯s notice. This flower field contained countless flowers, hundreds if not thousands of them!

    A single red spider lily had broken one of Basil¡¯s legs. The sea of flowers before the arachne was enough to kill him ten times over and still have the power to spare. He waspletely stunned.

    The red spider lilies could bloom and wilt at a single thought. Basil fell into despair, knowing he could neither escape nor defend against this. On the contrary, he reached eptance and sighed. ¡°Why is it me again?¡±

    ¡°Because your mouth is vulgar¡­¡± Twilight mumbled to herself, but of course, she wouldn¡¯t say it out loud.

    Gazing at the sea ofherworld flowers, even those who had certain ideas didn¡¯t dare to move carelessly. This included arrogant fellows like Edward.

    The Red Spider Lily¡¯s special characteristic was clearly disyed on Basil. No one knew when the flowers would bloom or when it would wilt. The injury it produced was formless and unavoidable. Everyone retracted their auras, hoping the wielder of the magnum would not notice them. Otherwise, their lives would be in someone else''s hand just like Basil.

    Anwen was gazing at the sky all this time. ¡°Has Miss Ruoxi arrived? Why not make an appearance?¡±

    A clear, gentle voice echoed in the sky, ¡°Did you want to lure me out and kill me just because I have no origin power?¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°Of course not! I promise, in the name of the demonkin young lord¡­¡±

    Before he could even finish, a young girl appeared in the air and looked down at him with an expression of mockery. ¡°Your promise is meaningless, but can you kill me even if I do appear?¡±

    The girl hovering in the air was so beautiful that it was stifling, but her features were shrouded in a faintyer of mist that made it impossible to see her clearly. For some reason, Anwen turned away subconsciously and couldn¡¯t look straight into her eyes.

    Anwen only noticed his own action after looking away. Surprised, he looked back at the girl, and this time, he was prepared enough to not avoid her face. It was just that the mockery in her expression was now clearer, and that made Anwen¡¯s face turn hot.

    Zhao Ruoxi looked down at the Evernight experts from above. Although there wasn¡¯t a shred of origin power about her, she hadpletely suppressed her opponents in terms of momentum. Just those flowers around her were enough to dissolve all untoward thoughts these proud geniuses might have had.

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s appearance made the atmosphere heavy. Edward, Basil, and Eden exchanged nces, but neither of them could find a good solution.

    ording to hearsay, the current wielder of the Red Spider Lily was frail and devoid of origin power. She had to travel with escorts because she would bepletely drained after a single shot. That was why no one had imagined they would see her in such an environment, and no one in the crowd was intent on proving the legends now that she had appeared.

    The situation at hand became rather subtle. The countless red spider lilies before them would turn into a death trap at a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°Are we going to get wiped out in one go?¡± Eden transmitted a message to Anwen.

    ¡°No, there are too many red spider lilies. Some of them must be fake. The intelligence reports never said the magnum would be this powerful.¡± Anwen had regained his calm.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s she waiting for?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps?¡± A thought popped up in Anwen¡¯s mind.

    Zhao Ruoxi neither pulled the trigger nor said anything more. No one knew what she was thinking. The young Evernight experts hadn¡¯t lived long enough, so they naturally wouldn¡¯t act hastily, lest they get targeted. Most people had the same idea as Eden and Anwen. They didn¡¯t think Zhao Ruoxi could kill them all in one go, but there was no doubt that the single unlucky person she wanted to kill would die.

    This deadlocksted for some time before Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Found you!¡±

    She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when more than half of the red spider lilies around her withered. A muffled groan echoed in the air, sounding both surprised and pained¡ªit was the Demoness.

    A speck of radiance lit up in the distant void as countless motes of light flew toward Zhao Ruoxi like fireflies. Every mote of light would absorb the surrounding origin power and grow bigger along the way. In the blink of an eye, those countless specks of light had converged into a deluge of radiance flowing toward Zhao Ruoxi!

    This was the ultimate move the Demoness had used against Zhao Jundu back then. The flow of light wasn¡¯t as majestic as the attack back then, but it included more variations. The motes of light could gather together in one ce or spread out, making it difficult for anyone to catch their trajectories.

    Under the ethereal guise of irregrity was a terrifying power that no one could contain.

    This was a showdown between the Demoness and Zhao Ruoxi, so the other vampires and arachne made no move. For some reason, Anwen also held back from a charge. He only stared at the battlefield, not willing to miss a single detail.

    Eden was the only one taking out his firearm, but his expression changed rapidly afterward. He soon discovered that he couldn¡¯t quite take aim at Zhao Ruoxi. She looked to be within reach in the air, but Eden knew that there was nothing there.

    The demonkin was first startled. He wanted to fire a round first and see, despite knowing that this shot would probably have no effect.

    This fight was a duel between Zhao Ruoxi and the Demoness¡­ but could thetter really contend against the power of the Red Spider Lily?

 Chapter 1054: Value of Hostage

    The Demoness was, of course, no match for the Red Spider Lily.

    Theherworld flowers in front of Zhao Ruoxi withered one after the other as hollow defects appeared on the flowing radiance¡ªit was as though the stream of light was being bitten off by an invisible beast. That raging deluge of light was reduced to a trickle by the time it was in front of Zhao Ruoxi.

    What little remained of the flowing light waspletely extinguished when the little girl blew on it.

    Such a result was extremely unexpected. Everyone had personally witnessed just how powerful the Demoness¡¯ all-out attack was. Who would¡¯ve thought Zhao Ruoxi would actually block it so easily. She didn¡¯t even need to put in that much effort. The red spider lilies near her had mostly withered, but there was still a sea of flowers on the ground. Those countless flowers stopped Edward¡¯s group from making any rash moves.

    Anwen¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°No, this isn¡¯t right! The Red Spider Lily is so much more powerful than stated in the Evernight Council¡¯s records. Otherwise, Ge Situ simply couldn¡¯t have returned. How could she bring such a magnum into the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    Eden said anxiously, ¡°Whatever the reason, she¡¯s already here. What do we do?¡±

    Anwenughed wryly, pointing at the sea of flowers. ¡°What else can we do? The terror is real.¡±

    Eden nced at the floral expanse in silence.

    The Demoness¡¯ silhouette gradually emerged in the air and said in a serious tone, ¡°You¡¯ve already awakened the Red Spider Lily¡¯s final form?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi smiled faintly. ¡°I don¡¯t have any origin power, I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    The energy around the Demoness rippled briefly. ¡°Fine, we admit defeat. This Constetion Well is yours.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi revealed a mischievous smile. ¡°Admit defeat? How can it be that simple?¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi pointed at the Demoness and gestured with a curled finger. ¡°I¡¯m quite intrigued by you. They say the stronger a demonkin is, the more beautiful. Who knows if that¡¯s true or not. How about this? Disperse your demonic energy and get naked, let me check you out and touch you to my heart¡¯s content. Then, I¡¯ll let you go.¡±

    ¡°If I refuse?¡± The Demoness was quite calm, but her killing intent filled the earth and sky.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not willing, that¡¯s fine, too. Half of those below will return with their lives, but you¡¯ll lose some skin even if you don¡¯t die. That is unless you escape from the Great Maelstrom. I can catch you anytime if you remain here, so I¡¯m sure to strip you bare at one point.¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought this perilous situation would turn so weird? The expressions of Anwen and the other Evernight experts turned fairly odd. Many of them had lived under the Demoness¡¯ shadow since a young age and were filled with reverence for her. None of them had ever had any inappropriate thoughts about her.

    Even Anwen, who many people considered the Demoness¡¯ futurepanion, had firmly rejected this rumor. He knew deep down that this rumor would only bring him more trouble, and the Demoness had reminded him of the consequences more than just once. Her methods usually involved all kinds of taunts and sneers, leading up to a challenge and spar. This so-called sparring was nothing but a one-sided beatdown, and how intense the beating was dependent on her mood.

    The Demoness had finally met someone who was even more overbearing and dangerous. The Evernight experts feltplicated emotions, so much so that some were secretly looking forward to whether the Demoness would undress.

    People of sufficient strength and stature, like Edward and Basil, had seen the Demoness¡¯ true appearance. People like Twilight, though, didn¡¯t know what she looked like, and the further removed ones had never even seen her shadow.

    Anwen was helpless to offer any assistance against absolute power. Many others were secretly delighted about the Demoness¡¯ predicament and waiting to see how she would get herself out of this mess. As for helping or fleeing, neither was an option for the moment. With Basil¡¯s broken leg as a living example, no one dared to take the lead.

    The reason was simple, whoever escaped first would be targeted by Zhao Ruoxi. The Evernight experts had seen the difference in strength and knew that being locked on meant death. Zhao Ruoxi herself had said that she could kill half the people here, which meant that the other half would have a chance at escaping.

    After a good while of silence, the Demoness said, ¡°Are you that confident?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi chuckled. ¡°I have no power at all, everything is the Red Spider Lily¡¯s power. So, I don¡¯t think my confidence is worth a mention. I just feel that this gun is strong enough to suppress all of you. If you don¡¯t want to be bullied, you can die.¡±

    The Demoness said calmly, ¡°You might be able to bully them, but I¡¯m not so easily intimidated.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxiughed. ¡°Dealing with them isn¡¯t called bullying, it¡¯s called ughter. If I¡¯m not wrong, most of the top members of the younger generation are gathered here. Your faction will suffer greatly if I kill just half of them, not to mention aplete massacre.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with me? As long as I¡¯m around, what does one more or one less of them matter?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zhao Ruoxi pointed at Anwen and Eden. ¡°These two fellows as well?¡±

    Basil heaved a sigh of relief, with an ashen-faced Eden ring at him.

    ¡°They don¡¯t matter.¡± The Demoness was calm.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Zhao Ruoxi smiled charmingly. ¡°Since you say so, I won¡¯t be holding back anymore. But I wonder what those old men from the Evernight Council will think when they find out that you could¡¯ve saved two geniuses by undressing but refused to do so.¡±

    The Demoness said coldly, ¡°Do you think I care about those old bastards?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s smile remained unchanged. ¡°Do you think I care about the current you? Since you¡¯re not willing to undress, then you and your nsmen can die.¡±

    Hundreds of red spider lilies appeared around her, and the sea of flowers on the ground began to ripple as well. It seemed theherworld flowers would begin to wilt at the very next moment.

    Edward and Basil looked tense as they waited for developments. Anwen and Eden wore unsightly expressions, but they really didn¡¯t know if they should attack. Even if they wanted to, they couldn¡¯t lock onto Zhao Ruoxi at all¡ªwho knew if that young girl in the air was genuine or just a shadow?

    Even Anwen couldn¡¯t figure out how the Red Spider Lily had devoured the Demoness¡¯ energy in the battle just now. Without knowing the mechanism, there was no way to defend against the attack.

    They could neither attack nor defend. This was a situation of sure-loss.

    The Demoness said after some silence, ¡°How can you be sure I don¡¯t have ways to deal with you?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi chuckled. ¡°The only way to deal with me is to get naked and let me do as I wish.¡±

    The demonic energy around the Demoness surged wildly. ¡°Look at who this is before speaking.¡±

    With that, a certain person appeared between the Demoness and Zhao Ruoxi.

    Thetter was stunned.

    This person waved his fan gently as he said with a wry smile, ¡°Ruoxi, I¡¯m truly sorry.¡±

    Who else but Song Zining could act so romantic despite being a captive? He looked rather rxed and didn¡¯t look like he was wounded at all, but a dozen streaks of demonic energy were flickering around him, ready to turn into sharp des that would dice him up.

    Zhao Ruoxi waved at Song Zining. ¡°You recognize me?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°Not only do I know you, but I¡¯m also acquainted with Qianye as well.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi nodded, and then said to the Demoness, ¡°This fellow is quite shameless, who do you want to trade him for?¡±

    The Demoness said word by word, ¡°I want everyone and the right to use half of the Constetion Well.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi broke into augh. Even her pale lips seemed to turn brighter. ¡°Why do I feel that he¡¯s not worth that much?¡± She then scanned the people on the ground. ¡°Let it be, let¡¯s grab a random person to trade.¡±

    The Evernight Experts felt a chill run down their spine. They might have a fifty-fifty chance of escaping under a frontal assault from the Red Spider Lily, but they would surely turn into cannon fodder if they were tond between the two wrathful women.

    A bright red flower appeared amidst the people. It hovered one meter above the ground as its petals stretched out like threads. Edward and his group became tense, almost as though they hade face-to-face with a great enemy. They had to utilize their defenses, but they were also afraid that they would draw the danger onto themselves by using too much power.

    The Demoness didn¡¯t care about their survival, but she couldn¡¯t really let Zhao Ruoxi take them hostage. Following a cold snort, the demonic energy around Song Zining became clearer and began contracting tangibly.

    Song Zining still looked quite carefree, but his right hand could no longer move his folding fan. Faint crackling sounds could be heard as countless fissures appeared on the fan and blood dripped down from his fingernails down to his wrist.

    Zhao Ruoxi pursed her lips in feigned distress. Song Zining returned a wry smile but didn¡¯t say a single word. This owner of the Red Spider Lily looked pure, gentle, and dreamy-eyed, but her emotions had never fluctuated.

    The Demoness remained silent as well, bringing things to a stalemate.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡±

    A gloomy voice arrived from a distance. This person was still several hundred meters away when he said the first word but had arrived at the scene when thest word was uttered. Qianye¡¯s silhouette flickered thrice and appeared beside Zhao Ruoxi like an illusion.

    The Demoness¡¯ energy began to rage around her. ¡°You still dare to show yourself? You think I can¡¯t kill you?¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t wait until now if you could.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡­¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi cut off the Demoness. ¡°Enough, you can try killing him if you dare!¡±

    The Demoness¡¯ icy aura suddenly rushed to Song Zining. ¡°It¡¯s fine if I kill this one, right?¡±

    She never finished her sentence, and the eruption that ensued wasn¡¯t from the demonic energy around Song Zining.

 Chapter 1055: Temporary Agreemen

    The fan in Song Zining¡¯s hand shattered and fell down in fragments. Several dots of light flew out from within, forming a palm-sized outline of leaf ribs, which then erupted in blinding light.

    Origin Detonation!

    The Demoness hadn¡¯t imagined that the man she had firmly suppressed with her domain could actually channel origin power. It was even more surprising that he would choose to detonate just as reinforcements had arrived. This detonation was so incisive that it looked like she would no longer be able to keep it under control.

    Qianye¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°Zining!¡± Surging waves of blood energy appeared in the air, shaking thework of ck origin power in its wake.

    The Demoness hesitated for but a moment before opening up her demonic energy and allowing Qianye¡¯s domain to arrive. The two domains added together finally managed to suppress the almost-erupting daybreak origin power.

    That radiant leaf dimmed down and faded into the back of Song Zining¡¯s bloody palm. The seventh young master¡¯s smile remained the same. It was as though he had donned a mask over his emotions, and only his eyes revealed his iparable resolution.

    Qianye said without hesitation, ¡°Speak your terms.¡±

    The sea of blood, thework of darkness, and the asionally appearing luminous leaf reached a subtle bnce.

    The Demoness said after a period of silence, ¡°We¡¯ll split the Constetion Well.¡± These words reached everyone else¡¯s ears. The sharing of usage rights also implied a ceasefire.

    This moment, everyone noticed that the Demoness¡¯ tone was somewhat different from before. The rule of the Evernight world was that the strong would make the rules, and the Demoness had never allowed the weak to speak terms with her. It was only at this point that she had decided to stand on equal grounds and make a promise she would keep.

    The Demoness¡¯ terms didn¡¯te as a surprise for Qianye¡¯s side.

    But Anwen, Edward, and Basil found it difficult to believe her decision. The right to use the Constetion Well represented Evernight¡¯s interests, but letting go of a hostage for a temporary ceasefire didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t be killed afterward. Every reasonable person would pick the former, but suchmon sense did not exist for the Demoness.

    The Demoness had hunted Qianye down for so long in vain. Even a temporary ceasefire would be a sign ofpromise on her part. How could she be willing to talk terms? Besides, something simr had happened before and she had not hesitated in the slightest back then, ultimately causing the entire Vermillion Prison n to fall out with the demonkin elder assembly.

    Those who knew the Demoness were ready to fight for a chance at life. Who would¡¯ve thought the Demoness would suggest such a condition?

    Qianye, of course, had no idea what those experts were thinking. He immediately turned toward Zhao Ruoxi after hearing the Demoness¡¯ terms. ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi said nothing, but a red spider lily beside her withered.

    Basil, who had been watching nervously, jumped up in fright. Edward patted himself all over, Eden covered his eyes, and Anwen covered himself in aplicated polyhedron.

    But, they quickly discovered that nothing was happening.

    Only Qianye heard a voice, ¡°Brother.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up, Ruoxi?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I just wanted to try calling you that.¡±

    ¡­

    The neutralnds, at the edge of the Eastern Sea continent.

    A vampire marquis suddenly halted in the blizzard, listening attentively to something.

    ¡°Jared, go ask the natives for a person.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness. Who do you want?¡±

    ¡°Zhuji.¡±

    ¡°Understood. What if the natives refuse to cooperate?¡±

    ¡°Then tell them that I¡¯ll kill a hundred of their people each day until they do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°Go.¡±

    ...

    ¡°Your Highness, what should I do afterward?¡±

    ¡°Bring her here.¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, this¡­¡±

    ¡°No this or that. Have you forgotten again?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡­

    A weird, cautious silence pervaded the air around the Constetion Well.

    The camps of the Empire and Evernight stood on either side of the chasm. The Imperial camp stood close to the mountain and forest, overlooking the well. Despite its small size, it was well organized and impressive.

    Within the camp, Song Zining was carrying a newly carved wooden board. With a stretch of his finger, several leaves shot into the board, nailing it to the pole and filling thest gap in the outer fence.

    Although his cultivation wasn¡¯t low, he was sweating after all the manualbor. He wiped his sweat away and gazed enviously at the Evernight camp on the other side.

    The Evernight camp was much bigger. Not only was it four times in area, but there was also a tall sentry tower at its center. This structure actually had no use at all because the Demoness¡¯ domain was a better sentry than any tower could hope to be.

    So what if they had assigned sentries on the tower? Be it Qianye¡¯s Bloodline Concealment or Song Zining¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art were neither abilities any ordinary experts could see through. As for Zhao Ruoxi and her Red Spider Lily, they could even suppress the Demoness in the Great Maelstrom. This tower was hence just for show and to fulfill a sense of existence.

    Such a childish disy of power had no effect on Qianye, and Song Zining¡¯s face was as thick as a wall, so he didn¡¯t mind either. But, someone was really angered.

    Song Zining wiped the sweat off his brows and was just about to drink some water when Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s voice rang in his ears, ¡°Goofing off again! Have you built the camp? Have you done your chores? How are we going to sleep at night?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly as he said to the flower that had appeared in front of him. ¡°Ruoxi¡­¡±

    ¡°Who allowed you to call me Ruoxi?¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine. Young Miss Zhao, I¡¯ve never stopped working!¡±

    ¡°Is this enough to exhaust a future strategist god of the Empire?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in the Great Maelstrom now, not the Empire. Everything is several times more tiring than usual. I can¡¯t hold out anymore. Besides, a strategist god is no war god! Who can do this much apart from that monster, Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Humph! My brother is naturally stronger than you!¡±

    ¡°True, true. Qianye is the strongest, mightiest, and coolest.¡±

    The series of shamelesspliments worked well on Zhao Ruoxi. Her voice became much gentler as she said, ¡°You have good insight.¡±

    However, she had underestimated just how thick Song Zining¡¯s face was. He immediately started following the lead. ¡°That¡¯s a given. I¡¯m the future strategist god, how can I not know that much?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi merely snorted. Apparently, she no longer wanted to talk to him.

    Song Zining had just finished drinking when Qianye appeared from behind and pped his shoulder. ¡°Mr. Future Strategist God, do tell us how you got caught.¡±

    Blushing, Song Zining looked left and right. ¡°Ah, that. The camp hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet, I should go back to work.¡±

    He was dragged back immediately. ¡°This camp has no big use, all it can do is stop some wild beasts. Now back to actual business!¡±

    Song Zining red at him. ¡°How can we rest without a proper camp? Where do we sleep at night?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°Sleep? Of course we should cultivate, why sleep?¡±

    The Great Maelstrom was a holynd for cultivation. Although the Constetion Well was far inferiorpared to the high-gravity regions, it was still a couple of times better than the outside world. Who would sleep so thoughtlessly instead of forging ahead under such favorable circumstances?

    At first, Song Zining wanted to repeat Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s words ad verbatim, but Qianye apparently had no sense of humor. Even someone of Song Zining¡¯s eloquence and wit could only give up. ¡°What business?¡±

    ¡°How did you get caught?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Song Ziningughed awkwardly, hoping to gloss over it. He failed miserably, of course.

    He stopped with the nonsense and got down to exining the process. Song Zining had just stepped out of the high-gravity region when he fell headfirst into the Demoness¡¯ domain. The seventh young master could perceive domains down to the finest details and was even stronger than Qianye in that regard. Immediately noticing that something wasn¡¯t quite right, he activated the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art to clear away the surrounding domain and got ready to flee.

    Who would¡¯ve thought the Demoness would arrive in front of him in the blink of an eye?¡±

    ¡°After a long battle with her, I grew exhausted and was subsequently captured¡­¡± Song Zining said fearlessly.

    Qianye naturally didn¡¯t believe Song Zining. Qianye was the true number one in terms of familiarity with the Demoness, even above Anwen.

    He cut Song Zining short, saying, ¡°It would¡¯ve been a miracle if you hadsted three minutes.¡±

    Song Zining turned red and silent. The majority of his powery in the domain of the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art, but it just so happened that domains were the Demoness¡¯ forte.

    Being exposed made Song Zining redder and redder. He was just tidying his clothes when Qianye grabbed his wrist. ¡°How is your injury? Just now¡­¡±

    Song Zining whipped his hand back and looked about. Seeing that neither Zhao Ruoxi nor her flowers were nearby, he said in a whisper, ¡°Qianye, shouldn¡¯t you keep that little ancestor of yours in check?¡±

    The seriousness in Qianye¡¯s heart dissipated after being diverted to such a topic. Not knowing whether tough or to cry, he said, ¡°You do it if you want.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s from your Zhao n! I¡¯m an outsider.¡±

    ¡°How do you want me to keep her in check?¡±

    Song Zining gave it some thought. ¡°She won¡¯t be in danger with the Red Spider Lily in hand, even if she¡¯s messing around¡­¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°The Red Spider Lily seems to be much more powerful here, but the strain on her is actually smaller. That¡¯s really odd.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s stance was firm. ¡°Even so, we can¡¯t let her stay here for too long. This is the Great Maelstrom, after all. The environmental effects are too great, and she has no origin power. Even if she¡¯s protected by the Red Spider Lily, we should be cautious.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°How do you want me to persuade her?¡±

    No one could deal with her stubbornness.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Let¡¯s have her return once things are settled with the Constetion Well. As long as everyone maintains a unified opinion, she probably won¡¯t be too willful. That means¡­ having her round up the Imperial experts is actually a good thing.¡±

    Before long, the origin power in the air rippled, and several figures came into view. In addition to Li Kuann, Ji Tianqing, Wei Potian, and Zhao Yuying, there were a number of Imperial experts who looked a bit familiar.

    Zhao Ruoxi flew into camp after everyone had arrived. ¡°Are there any others?¡±

    The Red Spider Lily was unimaginably powerful. It was by relying on the summoning of red spider lilies that Zhao Ruoxi was able to search the entire surroundings of the Constetion Well and round up all the experts.

    However, Qianye¡¯s expression couldn¡¯t help but shift after seeing that giant wolf behind her.

 Chapter 1056: Ceasefire Time

    Wolf and man exchanged a short nce before the giant wolf shook his radiant mane and stepped into the camp behind Zhao Ruoxi. The corners of Qianye¡¯s eyes twitched momentarily, but he retained his silence.

    No one noticed this brief interlude. Only Song Zining looked up at Qianye, and then at their surroundings, in puzzlement. After confirming that everything was normal, he went back to arranging the tent ps. There was no telling what would happen if the tent wasn¡¯t ready when the Young Miss wanted to rest.

    The agreement to split the Constetion Well between the two factions was, frankly speaking, a taking of turns to send people in. The Empire would condense origin crystals, while the Evernight side would produce origin blood, each faction happily taking what they required of the well. After all, the energy within the Constetion Well was as boundless as water in the ocean, and wouldn¡¯t dry up no matter how much was extracted.

    The well would be useless when each party had used up their stock of catalysts like the Storm Pearls and Blood Rods. Each side would then go on their way and the temporary ceasefire would stop.

    The Constetion Well had always been dedicated for the Empire¡¯s use. Now that Evernight had found ways to make use of it as well, the Imperial experts felt ufortable after hearing about it. Although the Constetion Well was a traditional Imperial resource, it was only because Evernight had no benefits to speak of here.

    If the Evernight side could truly utilize the well and this news reached the outside world, the two factions would once again engage in a series of battles to fight for resources.

    In truth, whether or not Song Zining had acted as a catalyst, the vampires and arachne would not give up on an operation they had been preparing for many years. The Red Spider Lily had broken the bnce between the younger generation, but it was also an excuse for people of a higher level to intervene.

    Despite seeing the potential benefits of this, none of them made use of this opportunity. After all, the price of bringing in a higher level character would have to be paid by all the peak characters of the younger generations.

    In a battle between long-lived creatures and short-lived ones, time wouldn¡¯t stand on thetter¡¯s side.

    At this moment, the young experts of Evernight were standing near the well. They would be the first to enter and extract origin blood ording to the agreement.

    Anwen stood at the center, saying to his left and right, ¡°Everyone, do you all remember what I just said? ording to my calctions, there are five stars beneficial to the vampire race and seven for the arachne. Additionally, there¡¯s a crucial dark star that¡¯s extremely close to the grand origin of darkness. If you can sense its star power and draw upon it, the origin blood produced will be helpful even for a prince. Even if you can extract a tiny bit of its star power, it will produce a marquis-level origin blood.¡±

    Edward said, ¡°You just categorized the stars in the well into four-grades. Is this dark star the highest?¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°Of course not. The dark star is powerful, but it¡¯s definitely not at the apex in the Constetion Well. There are at least seven points of chaos in the well, and each of them is hiding an extremely powerful star. But it¡¯s beyond my power to determine their attribute.¡±

    A glint flickered in Edward¡¯s eyes. ¡°It¡¯s that powerful?¡±

    If the dark star could produce prince-level origin blood, what would those seven mysterious stars produce? Could they be at the level of a great dark monarch?

    This kind of origin blood would be enough to shake the entire Evernight world!

    Anwen smiled wryly. ¡°They¡¯re powerful, of course. So powerful that I can¡¯t even figure out anything, let alone analyze their nature. If Your Excellency Edward can sense their star power, you could make an attempt.¡±

    Edward¡¯s eyes flickered for a moment, but he soon shook his head. ¡°Let His Excellency Basil go first.¡±

    Basil was in no rush to get into the action. ¡°Your Excellency Anwen, you said there are stars that benefit the vampires and arachne, but which ones can the demonkin use?¡±

    ¡°There are a total of seven.¡± Anwen pointed them out without hiding anything.

    On the other side of the chasm, the people of the Empire were gathered on a high ground. Li Kuann had a star map in her hands as she exined the markings to everyone.

    Those who had entered the Constetion Well before just listened casually as they knew just how insanely difficult it was to activate the power of the major stars. Zhao Yuying¡¯s eyes were filled with eager me, and it looked like she was rearing to give it a try. The most confident person of the lot was Wei Potian, whose scalding re kept hovering over those big stars.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann exchanged a nce. ¡°This is apetition between us and the younger generation of Evernight. Although there¡¯ll be no bloodshed, it is definitely not less dangerous. The Empire has studied the Storm Pearl for many years, so we should have had a slight advantage in materials, but we ultimately can¡¯t surpass the other side. This¡­¡±

    The production of origin blood was rted to the operator¡¯s cultivation andrgely dependent on the quality of their origin power. In fact, it was a contest of future potential. The Evernight side was disadvantaged in terms of catalyst and techniquepared to the experienced Empire, but the quality of origin blood produced was fairly close or even better. What this meant was self-evident.

    Additionally, the origin blood extracted would produce a batch of geniuses, and that would, in turn, affect the future.

    Song Zining said seriously, ¡°The Evernight side knew nothing about the Constetion Well at first. How did they suddenly get the secret method to produce origin blood? There¡¯s something fishy about this. If I¡¯m not wrong, someone from our side leaked this information to the Dark Races.¡±

    Li Kuann frowned. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time to talk about these things. I¡¯ll ask the elder assembly to investigate once I get back. Small deals with the dark races are fine, but our family won¡¯t let go of anyone who leaked the secret of the Constetion Well, whoever it may be.¡±

    The Jingtang Li n had studied the Constetion Well deeply, and they were also the ones who had produced the Storm Pearl. For the dark races to grasp these secrets overnight, these secrets had to have leaked from their family.

    Zhao Yuying sighed. ¡°It¡¯d be nice if Old Fourth was here.¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces and sighed in secret. In terms of talent, Zhao Jundu was the number one character of the Empire¡¯s younger generation. If he were here to condense origin crystals, no one except the Demoness would be able topare.

    They had Zhao Ruoxi around at the moment, but she had no origin power in her body and her terrifying power was entirely reliant on the Red Spider Lily. She simply had no way to condense origin crystals.

    Wei Potianughed loudly. ¡°What¡¯s there to be scared of? How can we lose with me, Wei Potian, around?¡±

    ¡°Whack!¡± Zhao Yuying smacked him on the head, sending him sprawling to the ground. ¡°Stop boasting, everyone here is stronger than you. And do you think all the experts on the other side have assembled? I think less than half of them have gathered. Ignoring everything else, do you see any werewolves on the other side? The Summit Of Peaks has countless powerful experts!¡±

    Wei Potian cowered in the face of Zhao Yuying¡¯s lecture, but Qianye felt fairly awkward and couldn¡¯t help but nce at the big dog. The intelligent creature immediately tucked his head and ws in, pretending to be asleep.

    Song Zining was the calm one. ¡°This is a good thing. We can take this opportunity to take a look at how powerful those fellows on the other side are. We¡¯ll be better prepared when we meet them in the future.¡±

    With that, Song Zining looked toward Zhao Ruoxi. ¡°Miss Ruoxi, this is not the right ce to be willful. Please go back after things around the well are settled. I¡¯ll escort you back to the Imperial camp.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Zhao Ruoxi wasn¡¯t about to take Song Zining¡¯s advice. She was just about to retort when she saw Qianye looking at her. She suddenly became meek and lowered her head in silence.

    Ji Tianqing smiled. ¡°Okay, there¡¯s really no need to rush. Let¡¯s just deal with matters here first, then discuss what we should do. We would be running around the mountains without Ruoxi and her Red Spider Lily.¡±

    The Demoness was simply too powerful in this generation. Her domain might be a bit weak against Qianye, but it was indefensible for other people. Besides, the vampires and arachne at the scene weren¡¯t weak at all. If the Demoness could just get off her high horse and work together with them, even Qianye would suffer in her hands.

    At this point, Basil had once again entered the Constetion Well. The experts from the Imperial side stopped talking and observed the chasm in detail.

    This time, there was no outside interference, so Basil could finally concentrate on producing origin blood. Equipped with his previous experience, he was now quite familiar with the process, and before long, the spider egg in front of him had turned into a greyish white drop of origin blood.

    Delighted, Basil shot out a transparent spider web to seal and stow away the origin blood, and then flew out of the well. He looked back reluctantly as he was at the entrance of the Constetion Well. This drop of origin blood was only at the count-grade, an ordinary quality through and through. But sess in and of itself could be considered a profit.

    Even origin blood of the count-grade would sell for sky-high prices in the Evernight world. There were countless old families among the dark races, and likable people with somewhatcking talents were bound to appear. Count-grade origin blood was the most suitable for them because they wouldn¡¯t be able to use more powerful ones.

    Besides, the greatest benefit here was proving that the secret art was a sess. He would gain great merits by just reporting back about the process and his experiences. At the thought of this, Basil shrugged and let out a short whistle, hoping to drink and celebrate his small fortune once everything was over.

    Before he could leave, Anwen dragged him back to ask a bunch of questions. The demonkin then stood motionless, surrounded by arge number ofplicated shapes and symbols. Familiar people knew that Anwen had begun to meditate on the matter.

    On the empire side, Ji Tianqing said, ¡°I¡¯ll go down first. You guys observe carefully and memorize the incantations as quickly as possible, lest you forget when the timees.¡±

 Chapter 1057: Silent Contes

    With that, Ji Tianqing entered the Constetion Well and began condensing an origin crystal. Having done it once already, thedy was much faster thanst time and had soon drawn upon the power of a dozen small stars. Two medium stars flickered momentarily before spitting out star power as well, and the energy eventually converged into the Storm Pearl.

    One would know at a single nce that Ji Tianqing had activated more stars than Basil had, and the quality of her product would be higher. It was just that human origin power capacity was a tad inferior to the dark races at the same level of cultivation, and the arachne were famous for their strength and deep origin power pools. Hence, there was no telling if Ji Tianqing¡¯s origin crystal would be of a higher quality than Basil¡¯s.

    After Ji Tianqing had gone down into the well, Li Kuann said, ¡°Our Jingtang Li n has our own set ofprehension regarding the well. Although the art itself is less profound than Tianqing¡¯s, the condensed origin crystal won¡¯t be inferior. Those who find her technique unsuitable can use mine.¡±

    With that, Li Kuann recited a summary of incantations.

    Both Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were addressing people like Zhao Yuying and Wei Potian who hadn¡¯t been to the Constetion Well before. The other Imperial experts had benefited from the sidelines, but having any amount of extra support against the dark races was a good thing.

    In less than an hour, Ji Tianqing drifted up from the well with an origin crystal. This one was of much greater quality than her first one, almost catching up to Qianye¡¯s high-quality crystal.

    The sky was already turning dark when Ji Tianqing returned, and both camps returned to rest.

    Edward and Anwen walked side by side, thetter exining the main points of origin blood extraction without holding back. Edward listened intently and would bring up his own ideas from time to time. After returning to camp, Anwen asked, ¡°How do you feel about it?¡±

    Edward said slowly, ¡°I¡¯ll probably be able to produce a marquis-level origin blood.¡±

    Anwen nodded. ¡°It might not stop there if you can activate some of the key stars.¡±

    Edward shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough.¡± Edward had always been a proud genius, but he wasn¡¯t blindly arrogant in the face of a true power gap. Anwen processed this Holy Son¡¯s character and made note in his mind. It wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing for the demonkin if all the top characters of the vampire race¡¯s younger generation were this intelligent.

    The experts in the Imperial camp were mostly engaged in cultivation. Song Zining, though, was frowning in front of the bonfire. He suddenly stood up and patted Qianye on the shoulder. ¡°Follow me to the well.¡±

    Qianye saw the Storm Pearl Song Zining was fiddling with. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to condense an origin crystal now? The night here can¡¯t be considered frigid, but it does weaken our vitality and origin power.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t go into the well. I¡¯m only going to take a look.¡±

    Since he had said so, Qianye felt that it was fine to apany him to the well. The Imperial camp was a fair distance from their destination, and Qianye was afraid the Demoness would attack again if he were to let the seventh young master go alone.

    The two soon arrived at the well. Song Zining jumped up and stood in the air, deep in thought as he gazed at the sparkling stars below.

    Momentster, he returned to Qianye¡¯s side and said, ¡°Did you notice?¡±

    Qianye was also looking down this whole time and felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. Yet, he couldn¡¯t really pinpoint what was wrong. He thought that it was his own misconception at first, but now that Song Zining was asking him, something had to be out of ce.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t keep up the suspense. He pointed to a certain direction, saying, ¡°See those stars? Those are the ones Tianqing drew star power from. That, that, and that too.¡±

    After Song Zining pointed them out, Qianye understood what was wrong. ¡°Those stars haven¡¯t recovered their star power!¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Some time has passed already, but there¡¯s no change in them at all. If that¡¯s the case, it seems they might not recover any time soon.¡±

    There were tens of thousands of stars in the well, and most of them were small flickering stars, the easiest type to sense and absorb from. Each condensation process would only activate a small number of stars. Even Qianye¡¯s attempt, during which he had drawn from a great number of them, was negligiblepared to the whole. One would hardly notice this without careful observation.

    The fact that the absorbed stars didn¡¯t recover implied a lot of things. This was different from the Empire¡¯s past understanding of the Constetion Well. The two factions reaching a temporarypromise was also based on the belief that the star power was boundless and that it would make no difference no matter who went in.

    Just as Qianye was thinking hard, Song Zining thought of something. ¡°It¡¯s not a true starry sky at the bottom of the well!¡±

    ¡°Then what is it?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either.¡±

    He gave it some thought before saying, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we have to change our strategy a bit. The rest of us will go down for the condensation and youst, that way, your chances of sensing the bigger stars will increase.¡±

    Qianye thought back to the process in detail and realized that it made sense. It was indeed quite difficult to find the special stars amidst the sea of smaller ones.

    At this moment, Anwen and Eden were seated face to face, the former exining to him about thetest extraction process he had thought of.

    Eden waited until the exnation was done before asking, ¡°Why did you help Edward and the others perfect their methods? Wouldn¡¯t that increase the vampire race¡¯s strength?¡±

    Anwen smiled faintly. ¡°It will, but ours will increase even more. The gap between our races will only grow bigger and bigger.¡±

    Eden remained half-skeptical.

    Anwen said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t think too much. You go down after Edward tomorrow, let me see if the new method is effective.¡±

    The next day, the Evernight experts stood guard while Edward entered the Constetion Well. At the same time, they were also observing and learning the process. The Imperial crowd stood halfway up the mountain looking down at the well.

    Edward was, after all, a Holy Son who had survived blood torture and possessed a wisp of a Great Monarch¡¯s aura. His condensation process was extremely smooth, forming a marquis-level origin blood in a much shorter timepared to Basil.

    This oue stirred up the Evernight experts and filled Anwen with anticipation.

    When it was the Empire¡¯s turn, the one to appear was surprisingly not Li Kuann or Zhao Yuying, but Wei Potian instead.

    The man¡¯s characteristics were clear¡ªhe was outstanding in defense, but one grade inferior in other aspects, including cultivation talents. ording to Anwen¡¯s calctions, he would barely be able to form a crystal. Why would they let him take the field?

    Once inside the well, projections of mountain ranges appeared around Wei Potian to resist the gravitational power. His defensive specialization lessened his burden here, and the drain on his origin power was no faster than Ji Tianqing.

    No one knew whether it was sheer luck or a characteristic of the Thousand Mountains, but Wei Potian activated numerous stars in session after entering the well. Although they were only minuscule stars, he managed to surprise everyone by drawing over a dozen of them.

    In the end, he managed to gain victory in numbers and form an origin crystal. Although the quality was rather mediocre, it was still a profit nheless.

    Anwen observed the process from afar, seemingly lost in thought. Eden had descended into the Constetion Well by this point, so Anwen pushed away all distractions and focused on Eden¡¯s first try.

    Before long, dozens of stars were activated and their energy entered the blood rod in front of Eden. There were a total of seven medium-sized stars among them, to which Anwen nodded approvingly. He observed and calcted carefully in hopes of perfecting the origin blood formation process.

    One could see Eden fumbling about as the blood was almost formed. It was obvious that he was trying to sense some of the bigger stars, or even the dark star. However, he never seeded up until his demonic energy was depleted, ultimately ending up with a count grade origin blood.

    Before this, Edward had managed to establishmunication with a big star rted to the vampire race. That was why he had managed to form a marquis-grade origin blood. Although he had only reached the weakest big star and the time was quite limited, it granted the end-product a qualitative upgrade.

    Eden wasn¡¯t too far off. The drop of origin blood he had collected was far superior to ordinary count-grade ones. With some luck, it could increase a demonkin¡¯s talent to the virtuous count rank.

    After Eden exited the Constetion Well, Li Kuann entered the well from the Empire¡¯s side. Her second performance was even more outstanding than Ji Tianqing¡¯s. In the blink of an eye, she had activated dozens of small stars and the number was quickly increasing, eventually closing in on a hundred. Although she had only drawn upon two medium-sized stars, the number of smaller ones was much greater than Eden¡¯s. It was truly difficult to say whose performance was better.

    Soon, Li Kuann sessfully condensed a medium-grade origin crystal filled with icy aura. The quality was much higher than her first one and just shy of entering the high-quality range.

    The sky was almost dark at this point, and the gravitational power in the well had be chaotic. As such, the people from either side went back to rest and wait for the second day.

    Anwen was silently calcting in his tent when he thought of something. He suddenly rushed to the side of the well and looked down, his expression gradually changing.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± The Demoness¡¯ voice echoed in the air.

    Anwen¡¯s expression was unsightly. ¡°I think we¡¯ve been tricked,¡± he couldn¡¯t help but sigh. The vampires and arachne had somehow managed to obtain the condensation method from the humans, but they never understood the secrets of the Constetion Well.

    If he weren¡¯t here, or in constant calction to surpass the other two races in method, perhaps no one would¡¯ve noticed this small discrepancy. Despite his meticulous calctions, he still didn¡¯t know that this was the first time the well had disyed an unusual situation after being drained so quickly.

 Chapter 1058: Covert Fight, Secret Maneuvers

    Anwen pointed at the starry sky below. ¡°Look, it looks like there are countless stars in the well, but the number is actually finite. There are more stars that lean toward daybreak and less toward Evernight. That was not an issue before, but I just found out that these stars don¡¯t recover. While condensing origin crystals, the humans activated arge number of smaller stars. I thought it was because they weren¡¯t strong enough, but it seems they¡¯re doing it deliberately.¡±

    ¡°You mean they¡¯re trying to sweep through the small ones first, so that the others can sense the higher-ranked stars?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    Those descending into the well would have to deal with the constant gravitational power at the bottom of the chasm while trying to sense star power and draw upon them. Even people like Edward and Eden would find it quite taxing. The more smaller stars there were, the greater the interference, and the more difficult it would be tomunicate with therger ones.

    Neither Basil nor Edward had cleared away the smaller stars on purpose. Eden also focused on sensing the bigger stars, and only epted the smaller ones in passing. The smaller stars on the empire¡¯s side had grown a fair bit thinner now that several experts had cleared them out.

    ¡°What do we do then?¡±

    Anwen replied, ¡°It¡¯s nothing difficult. Anything humans can do, we can do as well. We¡¯ll focus on clearing the smaller stars tomorrow, then you and I will take action. Our progress is but one day slower.¡±

    ¡°Good idea.¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to what kind of origin blood the dark star can condense.¡±

    ¡°The dark star, huh? I¡¯ll sate your curiosity.¡±

    Anwen smiled. The Demoness seemed extremely confident when she said those words.

    Evernight¡¯s candidate the next morning was rather surprising. It was actually Twilight.

    Twilight was a leading character among the younger generation of the vampire race, but she was clearly inferior to Anwen and the others. It wasn¡¯t even sure if she could condense origin blood in the well.

    Comparatively, the three vampire marquises might be a better choice. Their talents might be inferior to Twilight, but they had cultivated long enough and possessed greater blood energy capacity.

    But since Anwen had decided thus, no one found it appropriate to object. They only watched as Twilight descended into the well.

    Twilight rushed out of the well in just half an hour because she could no longer hold out. Naturally, the condensation process was a failure.

    Anwen¡¯s expression was neutral. He simply brought the Evernight crowd back to camp without ming Twilight.

    This time, the Empire¡¯s side dispatched Zhao Yuying. As Duke You¡¯s direct descendant, the girl¡¯s talent and cultivation weren¡¯t bad at all. She also possessed amplebat experience and strong willpower. She started wiping out the smaller stars after entering the well, and although not in the hundreds like Li Kuann, she managed to take out several dozens and came back with an origin crystal.

    Of course, absorbing the smaller stars meant that the crystal¡¯s quality wasn¡¯t too good, and it barely reached the medium-grade. Despite that, Zhao Yuying had aplished her mission¡ªnearly half of the smaller stars had been cleared away, and the difficulty in sensing therger stars had decreased noticeably.

    Seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s performance, Anwen contemted for a moment before sending Basil in again. The arachne had actually gone in three times now. With a naturally voluminous origin power and strong body, he was no doubt the best candidate to sweep away the smaller stars.

    Basil didn¡¯t refuse, either. After all, an arachne origin blood would be produced every time he went down, which could only benefit him and his race.

    After arriving at the bottom of the well, Basil spat out arge spider web that stuck to every part of the space therein. These webs acted as nodes and began activating the numerous stars nearby.

    Basil quickly swept clean hundreds of smaller stars and at a rate that surprised even Anwen. Thetter nodded in satisfaction, deciding that he would descend the well personally tomorrow and try tomunicate with the bigger stars. As for the dark star, it wasn¡¯t that he wascking in ambition, but the timing and method for that was extremely important. He would need the support of meticulous calction and greater demonic energy capacity.

    The day¡¯spetition ended there. It seemed like the humans had the advantage on the surface, but the Evernight side wasn¡¯t too far behind because there were fewer stars of the darkness attribute.

    Dawn arrived, and Song Zining took to the field from the Empire¡¯s side. He waved his fan gently several times before folding and pping his palm with it. Then, he leaped into the well.

    He was surrounded by dancing leaves and beautiful scenery during his descent¡ªtruly elegant, carefree, and romantic.

    Anwen watched Song Zining¡¯s ostentatious disy with cold eyes and was, for some reason, filled with a sense of uneasiness.

    Song Zining soon came to a stop in the well. The increasing cloud of leaves expanded in all directions, almost as though they would cover the entire Constetion Well.

    The Evernight experts sneered at the great fanfare. Song Zining had activated more than a hundred small stars in one go, and the number was rising fast. At this rate, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to draw upon three hundred smaller stars. The problem was that he would need one portion of origin power for every star he drew upon. Song Zining wouldn¡¯t have that much origin power even if he were to be a divine champion.

    This great momentum would result in a difficult ending that he wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid even if he were to stop now.

    As expected, Song Zining could no longer hold out after half an hour and had to fly out even sooner than Twilight. The condensation process was a failure. However, he had activated close to four hundred stars, leaving the bottom of the well full of flowing star power that had been wasted.

    Next up was Anwen¡¯s turn to descend the well. His expression changedpletely once he was inside.

    The star power Song Zining had left didn¡¯t disappear and was still surging inside the well. The speed of their dissipation was slower than anticipated, and it seemed more than just a couple of hours was needed for the well to be clean again. Every stream of star power would produce interference, let alone hundreds of them¡ªit was naturally quite distressing for the demonkin.

    Most importantly, this star power wasn¡¯t usable. Anwen couldn¡¯t absorb them even if he could sense them because their energy leaned toward the daybreak side, and it would only bring the dark races harm. All that abundance was just an annoyance for him.

    Countlessplicated diagrams appeared around Anwen, encasing him entirely. The daybreak energy passing through them would gradually lose their power, while the darkness attribute star power remained unaffected.

    Anwen sneered. Trying to disrupt him with this cheap trick was a gross underestimation of the demonkin young lord. Anwen wanted Song Zining to know that him giving up the chance to condense an origin crystal did nothing.

    After filtering out the daybreak star power, Anwen¡¯s mind became as calm as still water. His perception spread out in all directions in an attempt tomunicate with therger demonkin stars.

    Anwen¡¯s target was neither the smaller or medium-sized stars; even therger ones couldn¡¯tpletely fulfill his expectations. However, he took the stable route by focusing on a couple ofrge stars first, thereby ensuring a reward before he attempted to assail the dark star. If possible, he also wanted to try sensing the seven most radiant stars in the Constetion Well.

    Anwen was quite confident in his abilities. He might not be the most powerful in terms ofbat strength, but he was definitely one of the most intelligent. After several days of observation, he had uncovered a small part of the profundities of the well.

    A single scan connected him to dozens of medium-sized stars, but that wasn¡¯t his aim. It was merely a stepping stone toward his goal. He began calcting the location and flow of a group of medium-sized stars. A faint smile soon appeared on his face as a wisp of demonic energy stretched toward arge star whose power was beneficial to the demonkin race.

    Qianye and Song Zining were standing shoulder to shoulder halfway up the mountain, the former¡¯s eyes flickering with a blue radiance. Anwen¡¯s demonic energy couldn¡¯t escape his True Sight despite the great distance. Qianye¡¯s brows rose as he observed the circuitous route¡ªit would seem he had thought of something but wasn¡¯t too sure.

    Song Zining was full of praise. ¡°Outstanding as expected! Look at that demonic energy. He has already ounted for the surrounding star power and gravitational forces.¡±

    Qianye observed carefully. ¡°His demonic energy is clearly intermittent, but it gives off a homogenous feeling as well. Why is that?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°The power of thoserge stars is so majestic that it warps the nearby space. We might be able to see them, but we¡¯ll never get to them if we travel in a straight line. The arts from the Li and Ji families use our own origin power as the foundation to draw upon the power of the nearby stars. The problem is that they¡¯re really quite passive, absorbing whatever is nearby. Whether or not one can draw upon arge star is really dependent on luck.¡±

    He paused for a moment. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not entirely just luck. The higher one¡¯s origin power quality is, the greater the attractive force, and the easier it is to activate therger stars. Anwen¡¯s method, on the other hand, is an attempt to row upstream to the source. He¡¯s actually trying to crack the spatial distortions and directlymunicate with therge stars. How ambitious!¡±

    Qianye looked serious as Anwen¡¯s demonic energy approached one of therge stars. ¡°It looks like he¡¯ll seed.¡±

    Song Zining smiled mysteriously. ¡°That¡¯s not certain! This young master wasn¡¯t idle while staying down in the well.¡±

    Qianye shot him a nce, not knowing what to say. Song Zining was the one who had stayed the shortest inside the well.

    Anwen¡¯s demonic energy was gradually thinning out as it approached the star, growing weaker at every turn inside the space. Lasting up to this point was because of the high quality of his demonic energy, which was fairly close to pure darkness. More importantly, he had made meticulous calctions to minimize the weakening of demonic energy. Without this capability, he would never be able to reach anyrge star even if he had several times the energy capacity.

    The demonic energy moved forward, sessfully maneuvering two turns to arrive in front of therge star.

    The smile on Anwen¡¯s face became more obvious. Among therge stars beneficial to the demonkin race, this was one of the two easiest ones tomunicate with. Sess was currently in reach, and he still had demonic energy to spare. He might even be able to attempt a differentrge star after this. Origin blood condensed from the star power of tworge stars would definitely reach the glorious marquis grade, and might contain a fairly good ability as well. This drop of origin blood would add a core fighting power to the demonkin race.

    However, just as the demonic energy stretched out from a tricky bend, a mass of chaotic star power suddenly appeared from afar. It soon turned into a leaf, which flew in to intercept!

 Chapter 1059: Cheating At a Cos

    The flying leaf arrived at lightning speed and shed the demonic energy into two!

    The fore-part of the demonic energy kept moving forward, but it gradually lost momentum. It did touch the edges of therge star and cause a ripple, but that was the extent of it. As the demonic energy dispersed, the fluctuating star power also calmed down eventually.

    Anwen gazed at everything in a daze, his face flushed red as he almost coughed up blood.

    Only now did he realize that Song Zining wasn¡¯t just fooling around in the well. He had actuallyid down a sinister trap at the expense of failing his own condensation and focused on locking out therge stars Anwen might draw upon. In short, he gave up on an origin crystal in order to prevent Anwen from obtaining origin blood.

    This kind of harmful method almost made Anwen cough up blood. Destruction was always easier than construction, and the same applied toying down a trap versusmunicating with the star. Even though Song Zining¡¯s cultivation was far inferiorpared to Anwen, it was more than enough to stir up trouble for the demonkin.

    Having failed at thest checkpoint, Anwen nced furiously at Song Zining and then looked back at thatrge star, his face full of reluctance. He then shot out another stream of demonic energy that snaked toward the secondrge star.

    There was still some star power fluctuation around the previousrge star, which proved that Song Zining had left more than just a single leaf there. Anwen wasn¡¯t about to fall for the same trick twice.

    Watching the demonic energy stretch forward, Anwen muttered in his mind, ¡°You can¡¯t seal off all the stars, can you?¡±

    Song Zining naturally couldn¡¯t seal off all the big stars, and Anwen also suspected as much. Had the seventh young noble gotten lucky with that first one or had he calcted which stars were beneficial for the demonkin?

    Comparatively, Anwen would rather believe the former because calcting star power was an extremelyplicated business. It was vastly different from ordinary divination, and someone as young as Song Zining probably never had time to study all of that.

    But Anwen finally understood, when his demonic energy was cut off by another leaf, that he had encountered an extremely bad situation. Song Zining probably knew which stars were useful to the demonkin.

    Watching his demonic energy gradually disappear, even someone as good-tempered as Anwen couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud. Anger surging in his heart, he shot out yet another stream of demonic energy with a flick of his fingers.

    This time, he went for the most difficultrge star.

    The stars beneficial to the demonkin race possessed differing levels of star power. The more powerful they were, the greater the spatial distortions, and the more difficult it was to reach them. That was why Anwen had picked the two easiest stars in the beginning. Who would¡¯ve thought Song Zining would set up an ambush around them, harming him twice in session?

    Anwen¡¯s current expression was as calm as still water after suppressing the mes of anger. It wasn¡¯t too difficult to crack Song Zining¡¯s trap¡ªall one needed to do was wait patiently, and his energy would gradually disperse. It was just that Anwen was already inside the well, so there was no other way out.

    Even if Song Zining knew which stars the demonkin were after, there was no way he could¡¯ve sealed every one of them. He wouldn¡¯t have been captured by the Demoness if he were that capable.

    Having watched things develop to this point, Qianye asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you sealed all the stars on the Evernight side?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, I can¡¯t and there¡¯s no need to. Just watch. Even without sealing off all therge stars, I can still give them a hard time.¡±

    Qianye was in no rush. He simply watched as Anwen¡¯s demonic energy weaved about and gradually approached a rather dim-looking star.

    This star wasn¡¯t bright, but it was extraordinarily big, almost one sizerger than the previous two stars. It went without saying that its star power was also quite majestic. It only looked dim and dark because of its darkness attribute.

    Song Zining also observed in silence. ¡°There should be no problem now. Qianye, you¡¯re up next.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t ask a lot of questions. Song Zining had to have his reasons for such an arrangement.

    The demonic energy had only traveled halfway at this point, but the difficulty appeared to be much higher than the previous times. Song Zining opened his fan and stretched it in front of Qianye. ¡°Memorize this incantation for now. You can try it if you have the energy to spareter on.¡±

    This incantation looked rather familiar. Qianye had seen something simr in the Song n Ancient Scroll with only minute variations. He hadpletely memorized the chant after a brief read and soon came to understand its usage as well.

    This incantation was actually derived from the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art and mainly used to generate hidden leaves under the guise of star power. Frankly speaking, it was used to set up traps simr to Song Zining¡¯s. Qianye cultivated the Song n Ancient Scroll, possessed the peak Venus Dawn origin power, and even dabbled briefly in divination. Hence, channeling this art was no problem at all.

    After memorizing everything, he nodded at Song Zining.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time, let¡¯s watch the fun.¡± Song Zining pointed at the Constetion Well with a smile.

    Inside the well, Anwen¡¯s demonic energy had traversed the various obstructions to reach the edges of thatrge star. At this point, even Anwen was pale and sweating, and his aura was fluctuating. Any longer and he wouldn¡¯t even have the power to leave the well.

    Yet, he was just one step away from being able to absorb the star power from therge star. At this point, he wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb a lot of star power even if he were to go all out, and the origin blood produced would be hard-pressed to reach the glorious marquis grade. Even so, it was a victory for him if he could just touch the great star.

    Anwen calmed down as he controlled the demonic energy forward. Just as he was about to reach the big star, however, the star power nearby fluctuated in bursts and rippled out in all directions. Shaken, Anwen cried out internally but it was toote. The ripples had already passed over andpletely ruptured his weakening demonic energy.

    The first two stars had shown star power ripples as well, but the intensity was nowhere near the most difficult star.

    Anwen¡¯s mind immediately went nk, and only a single thought echoed inside his mind. ¡°Turns out he was waiting for me toe here¡­¡±

    Song Zining naturally couldn¡¯t seal all therge stars, and perhaps setting up the two easiest stars was his limit. There was no trap near the most difficultrge star, but the celestial body was surging with star power and the tidal wave of energying from it was too much for the drained Anwen. Song Zining didn¡¯t even need to do anything before the demonkin buckled on his own.

    Anwen might have seeded in his endeavor had he not failed twice before, but now that his defeat was set in stone, he could only return angrily.

    He red at Song Zining while taking a deep breath, and then flew out of the Constetion Well.

    The seventh young noble led the Imperial group forward with a faint smile. He patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder, saying, ¡°Your turn.¡±

    Anwen hadn¡¯t left when they arrived at the edge of the well. ¡°The Strategist God of the Empire is indeed ruthless. I admit defeat this time, but it won¡¯t be so easy next time.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Your praise fills my heart with fear. I¡¯ll be sure to n things well so as not to disappoint you.¡±

    ¡°I look forward to it.¡±

    Anwen left without a second nce. He was already exhausted after attempting tomunicate with threerge stars, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even retaliate in kind. It seemed Qianye would have it easy this time.

    Qianye jumped into the well without so much as a word, riding the gravitational force into its depths.

    Having experienced the process once and observed both factions many times, he was fairly clear about what he should be doing. Qianye wasn¡¯t as adept in calctions, so he couldn¡¯t quite make use of the various transformations in the well. However, he possessed an advantage neither Song Zining nor Anwen did. Basically, the quantity and quality of absorbed star power depended on the quality of one¡¯s power.

    This time, Qianye reached a point ten meters deeper than thest beforeing to a standstill. There, he fished out the Storm Pearl and nced about with the Eye of Truth.

    After several adjustments, he gradually managed to filter out the chaotic imagery and leave behind only flickering stars.

    There wererge stars beneficial to vampires, arachne, and demonkin. Naturally, there were stars beneficial to humans as well, and they were even more abundant. In truth, origin crystals formed from absorbing vampire and demonkin stars were also usable. They might even produce some rare abilities.

    Aftering to a stop, Qianye didn¡¯t start working immediately. Instead, he meditated for a while until therge stars were clearer in his perception. Only then did a me of scarlet gold light up on his fingertip and drill into the Storm Pearl.

    His first move had produced the purest of Venus Dawn power.

    As an origin power at the apex of daybreak, Venus Dawn brought about an iparable attractive force for star power of a simr attribute. It had just appeared when one of therge stars on the daybreak side lit up and its star power streamed over torrentially.

    Such sess was partially because Qianye had gone all out and also by virtue of the Imperial experts who had cleared away the smaller stars. This was especially true of Song Zining who had activated over three hundred smaller stars at the expense of his own failure, and secretlyid down a trap under their cover. That was akin to giving the star skies a round of bleeding.

    In Qianye¡¯s perception, the bottom of the well had be much cleaner.

    He elerated the injection of Venus Dawn without holding back. The power from thatrge star grew brighter and more voluminous, almost like a rolling stream of fire as it merged with the Venus Dawn. It was as though a small sun had lit up inside the Storm Pearl.

    The binding of origin and star power roused morerge stars. Before long, a second celestial body began spitting out star power. This doubled the rate of condensation inside the Storm Pearl, and the otherrge stars began stirring with even greater intensity.

    Qianye injected more origin power without any hesitation. With the tworge stars acting as a foundation and no small to medium-sized stars to interfere, the quality of the forming crystal was clearly superior to thest. It was an outstanding product even among the high-grade crystals, but Qianye didn¡¯t stop there. He poured in even more Venus Dawn power in an attempt to draw upon more star power.

    Song Zining had just tricked Anwen ruthlessly. Considering thetter¡¯s character, he probably wouldn¡¯t just take it lying down. It wasn¡¯t too hard to guess that this was thest time Qianye would be able to condense an origin crystal in peace. The Constetion Well would surely be full of dangerous traps the next time.

 Chapter 1060: Invisible Competition

    Outside of the Constetion Well, Anwen was quietly looking down at the stars from high ground. Therge stars of the daybreak attribute were naturally brighter and even more dazzling when they were being absorbed.

    It wasn¡¯t just Anwen, but all of the Evernight experts were present to witness Qianye activate tworge stars. Basil sighed. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d reach this stage? Anwen, he¡¯s alreadyparable to you, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    Anwen said indifferently, ¡°In terms of quality, my demonic energy is slightly inferior. That is Venus Dawn, after all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not that big of a difference. Speaking of which, Edward, doesn¡¯t that bastard have a vampire bloodline?¡±

    ¡°That is indeed the case.¡± Edward¡¯s expression was gloomy. He had fought Qianye before and knew that thetter¡¯s bloodline power was even more powerful than his. If the man were a pureblooded vampire, there was no telling whether or not the title of holy son would be his to im.

    Basil was baffled. ¡°How can he cultivate Venus Dawn with a vampire bloodline?¡±

    No one had an answer to this question as it went against allmon knowledge. It was at this time that Twilight gasped. ¡°A third!¡±

    At the bottom of the well, three radiant stars had formed a triangle with Qianye at the center, and torrents of surging star power were flowing steadily into the Storm Pearl.

    At this point, the pearl had turned into a small sun, and the outline of a crystal was forming at the center of the bright light.

    For a moment, everyone was drawn to the center of the well, silent as they gazed at the three radiant stars.

    Momentster, Anwen said, ¡°Great nning!¡±

    Twilight said, ¡°Clearing the small stars first, and thenying down a trap, allowing Qianye to condense an origin crystal without restrictions...¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s trapping of Anwen seemed, at least at the moment, a victory for the Empire.

    ¡°What grade will this origin crystal be?¡± Basil was curious.

    The vampires understood humans the most. Edward said, ¡°It might be at the peak of high-grade. Li Xu, exin things a bit.¡±

    A hooded marquis stood out and removed his hood, revealing the face of a middle-aged man. He bowed to the peak characters of the Evernight faction. ¡°Your Excellencies, you must be wondering why I have a human name. It¡¯s simple, I was a human from the Jingtang Li n until a couple of years ago.¡±

    Anwen nodded all of a sudden. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I was wondering why the vampires suddenly got their hands on something like the hexagonal blood rod. As for the arachne ¡­¡± He turned toward Basil. ¡°That must be a secret deal between your races.¡±

    Edward and Basil were expressionless, pretending they didn¡¯t hear anything. Such a thing couldn¡¯t be announced¡ªthey wouldn¡¯t admit it even if someone were to guess the matter.

    Eden snorted as he said to Li Xu, ¡°You¡¯re already a marquis now. It seems the vampire race has made deep investments. Which duke granted you the embrace? Or is it a prince?¡±

    Li Xu replied, ¡°This, I don¡¯t dare reply.¡±

    ¡°Continue. It¡¯s the same whoever it is.¡±

    Li Xu bowed. ¡°My authority in the Li family was high enough toe into contact with certain secret documents. ording to their ssification, there are a total of thirteenrge stars beneficial to humans, one luminous star, and seven pr stars.¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°There are more than thirteenrge stars on the daybreak side. There are at least twenty-four such stars or even more. Who knows?¡±

    Li Xu¡¯s expression changed slightly, unable to hide his astonishment. He had already witnessed Anwen¡¯s ability during this period. Being able to state an exact number meant that he had perhaps surpassed the Li family¡¯s ancestor.

    Li Xu cleared his throat, saying, ¡°The luminous and pr stars are easier to recognize due to their brightness. Comparatively, therge stars are much vaguer¡­ the Li family records might be wrong as well.¡±

    Edward butted in, ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. The humans have separated the origin crystal into four grades: ordinary, medium, high, and top-quality. Being able to absorb one big star will make it a high-grade crystal, and absorbing three and above will make it top-grade. ording to this ssification, a high-grade crystal corresponds to our marquis-grade origin blood, and the top-gradepares to our duke-grade.¡±

    Everyone became serious after hearing this. Anwen saw this and said, ¡°The other faction gaining a glorious marquis isn¡¯t a big issue.¡±

    Basilughed wryly. ¡°What I fear is that it won¡¯t be just one.¡±

    If they had numerous blood rods and white spider eggs, the empire had to have more than just one storm pearl. With all the obstructions cleared away, Qianye might be able to produce more than just one high-grade origin crystal. This would mean that the empire would gain not just one but a bunch of divine champions.

    Anwen said decisively, ¡°That¡¯s fine as well! Don¡¯t forget that her highness hasn¡¯t taken to the field yet.¡±

    Everyone felt spirited.

    It was at this time that everyone felt the scene brighten up a bit and were startled upon looking down. ¡°A fourth star!?¡±

    At this point, there were fourrge stars around Qianye, and the rolling waves of star power were like streams of raging mes. The Storm Pearl in front of Qianye had long since melted away, and a crystal was currently growing rapidly inside the ze.

    It felt like there was a bottomless ck hole in front of Qianye, an entity that would devour everything. As vast amounts of origin power were poured in under the empowerment of the fourrge stars, the embryonic origin crystal began to emit a scorching aura, something even the roaring fire couldn¡¯t hide.

    ording to Song Zining¡¯s original n, this was when Qianye should stop, and then use what was left of his origin power toy down a trap for the dark races. No matter where the snare was ced, it would still be a threat to them.

    However, Qianye could sense even morerge stars stirring. After some thought, he decided to give up on the original n and went all out into instilling the crystal with origin power.

    By the time the fifth, sixth and seventh stars lit up, the experts of Evernight were already shocked speechless.

    Finally, after absorbing and condensing star power from the sevenrge stars, Qianye jumped out of the Constetion Well and returned to the surface. Seeing that the process had stopped at seven stars, everyone from Evernight heaved a sigh of relief. But soon, they realized that there was really nothing to be relieved about¡ªthis was seven stars they were talking about!

    Qianye staggered somewhat afternding on the ground, and Wei Potian had to support him back to camp.

    Watching Qianye¡¯s receding figure, Anwen said, ¡°Is he really just rank-fifteen?¡±

    Be it Edward, Basil, or Eden, all of them had exchanged blows with Qianye before. Basil smiled wryly. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it clear when you fought him? He only has six origin vortices.¡±

    ¡°Are the daybreak stars easier to sense?¡± Twilight asked.

    ¡°No!¡± Anwen was certain.

    He remained silent for a good while before saying, ¡°Eden will go down tomorrow and clear away all the small stars for Her Highness.¡±

    Anwen didn¡¯t continue the sentence, but everyone was clear about the implications. They were currently in a corner. Evernight would¡¯ve lost this round if the Demoness couldn¡¯t take the dark star.

    At this moment, everyone in the Imperial camp was watching Qianye¡¯s origin crystal with bated breaths. The faint red crystal was surrounded by a halo on the outside and with golden fluids flowing about on the inside. Ayer of scarlet gold mes would enshroud the crystal when barely activated with origin power, and it looked fairly simr to Venus Dawn.

    Ji Tianqing sighed after a period of observation. ¡°This crystal can produce origin mes close to Venus Dawn, which will add great power to both bullets and des. From the looks of it, this one is probably at the top-grade!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re rich!¡± Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder.

    Qianye had never imagined that he would produce a top-grade origin crystal in just one try. An item of this grade was priceless in the Empire, not to mention one that could directly improve attack power. Many people would be willing to spend a fortune on this, but only the major ns would be able to afford it.

    Next, Eden and Zhao Yuying took to the field from either side. Their objectives were to clear away the small stars¡ªthey did produce results in the end, but the products were of the lowest grade.

    The next day, Anwen descended once more. Without Song Zining¡¯s interference, he activated fourrge stars in quick session and condensed a duke-grade origin blood.

    There was no joy on Anwen¡¯s face because Qianye¡¯s seven-star aplishment hadpletely overshadowed him.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t look good!¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°Anwen is clearing obstructions for the Demoness!¡±

    Wei Potian was puzzled. ¡°Large stars are also obstructions?¡±

    Song Zining said in a serious tone, ¡°They may be resources for us, but to the Demoness, even therge stars are just hindrances. Her target is the dark star!¡±

    Ji Tianqing also looked worried. ¡°That dark star is enough to condense two drops of origin blood! And no one knows how powerful they will be. How about going down again to set up a trap?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°You need to be powerful enough toy down traps. Locking down tworge stars is my limit. I can¡¯t do anything against the dark star.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sighed softly. ¡°There¡¯s no other way then. If the Demoness can really activate the dark star, we can only let her do as she pleases. Whatever the oue is, that¡¯ll be a problem for several yearster.¡±

    ¡°What should we do now?¡± Everyone nced at Song Zining.

    The seventh young master gave it some thought. ¡°A trap won¡¯t work a second time because all they need is to wait for a short while and it¡¯ll disappear. So there¡¯s only one path ahead¡ªthey work on their product, and we work on ours. We might gain less profit than the other side, but it won¡¯t be too bad with Qianye around. In aparison of strength, we will even get an upgrade.¡±

    Everyone nodded. Qianye said, ¡°Let me go this time.¡±

    After a day of rest, Qianye was not far off from his peak state and could try again.

    Song Zining pointed at Ji Tianqing. ¡°Miss Tianqing, you must have things you haven¡¯t used, stop hiding them.¡±

    Ji Tianqing was startled. ¡°I¡¯m not hiding anything!¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I¡¯ve been observing the well and realized that instilling special origin power will grant the origin crystal special abilities. Our origin powers can¡¯t match up to the Venus Dawn, but we can try out certain special abilities. Who knows, maybe we¡¯ll find some delightful surprises.¡±

    Ji Tianqing nodded. This n was indeed feasible.

 Chapter 1061: Seven Sanguine Stars

    Qianye jumped into the well and descended gradually, stopping at the previous ce once more. He looked down and saw the seven pr stars vaguely visible in an ocean of star power. It would naturally be easier to sense the star power if he were to go a bit deeper, but Qianye knew that he hadn¡¯t fully recovered. It wouldn¡¯t be worth the effort if he had to spend too much energy staying afloat.

    He released the Storm Pearl and observed it quietly for a bit. This wondrous object was a patch of neutral chaos in his vision, neither leaning toward daybreak nor Evernight.

    Qianye thought back to the condensation process at this point, and recalled that absorbing small to medium stars would produce different results. His Venus Dawn wasn¡¯t at its peak, and therge daybreak stars had beenrgely absorbed¡ªit would be even more difficult to activate newrge stars.

    One could easily tell that this origin crystal was destined to be inferior.

    It was at this time that Qianye came up with an idea as he shot out a wisp of dark golden blood energy. Surprisingly, the Storm Pearl absorbed it entirely!

    A new horizon opened up in Qianye¡¯s perception.

    The world wasn¡¯t just daybreak but also full of Evernight¡ªthis well was no exception.

    As a human with daybreak origin power, it was only natural that he would put his focus on the daybreak side. Yet, wherever there was daybreak, there would be Evernight as well.

    Qianye had only focused on the daybreak side during the condensation process, and under the effects of Venus Dawn, the darker stars turned even darker. Instilling the dark golden blood energy into the Storm Pearl seemed to have removed a shroud over the entire Constetion Well, revealing an entirely different scenery.

    The dark-colored stars appeared one after another in Qianye¡¯s vision. The already visible Evernight stars became even more dazzling and began to reveal their characteristics. Several stars expressed themselves in a cinnabar red hue, their colors flowing like blood.

    Qianye counted seven such sanguine stars. They were vivid in Qianye¡¯s perception and could be activated at a moment¡¯s notice.

    He had no idea that he had sensed two more stars than Anwen had calcted.

    Qianye hesitated for a while because he didn¡¯t know what effects a crystal condensed from the dark golden blood energy would have. Such a case was unprecedented.

    But there were more than enough Storm Pearls, and there was no reason to stop now that he had already begun. Qianye stopped thinking too much and began injecting dark golden blood energy, consequently activating the sanguine stars.

    The activation process went much smoother than expected. All seven stars were woken up in quick session, and not a single one was left behind.

    Qianye quickly understood after some thought. His vampire side was even more powerful than his daybreak side, and his blood energy would¡¯ve reached the marquis-rank if he hadn¡¯t been suppressing it. He wasn¡¯t at all inferior to Edward, and hisbat strength was far above his peers due to the dark golden blood energy.

    In the wake of the surging star power, Qianye stopped thinking and focused his attention on the origin crystal.

    Amotion had broken out above the Constetion Well.

    ¡°What¡¯s that? Did I see wrong? He activated all of the vampire stars. Eh¡­ a total of seven, two more than what Anwen said!¡± Basil cried out while ncing at Edward. ¡°He¡¯s clearing everything in one go! Edward, what will you do afterward?¡±

    Edward looked away with a snort. He paid no attention to Basil, but his expression couldn¡¯t help but turn gloomy.

    All the vampires, including Twilight, were livid. As vampires, they had all sensed the wisp of aura that had leaked out from Qianye at the beginning of the condensation process. That degree of majesty and depth was virtually unheard of.

    Those Edward had brought along were all elites, and most of them had seen the Lightless Monarch. Qianye¡¯s aura might not be as tyrannical or wanton, but even Medanzo did not possess this degree of profundity and concentration.

    Some vampires exchanged nces, reading the same thoughts from each other¡¯s eyes: could the rumors be true? Was Qianye¡¯s bloodline born of a certain prince? Only a handful of princes were active in the entire Vampire race, each of them a hegemon in theirnd. Even among the twelve major ns, there were only a few that could boast an active prince.

    Edward''s thoughts, however, were different. ring at Qianye from afar, he couldn¡¯t help but entertain thoughts of attacking. At this rate, the man would clear away all the stars beneficial to the vampire race. How was one to condense high-quality origin blood without star power from therge stars?

    Edward had already umted enough experience. Now that most of the small stars had been cleared, he was nning to make use of his great monarch aura to activate at least onerge star. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would abandon all the daybreak stars and actually turn his attention to the vampire ones?

    The Holy Son turned toward Anwen. ¡°This won¡¯t do, we must stop him!¡±

    Anwen didn¡¯t reply, but Eden said coldly, ¡°What reason do we have to stop him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s absorbing from the vampire stars!¡±

    Eden shrugged. ¡°There was no rule against that. Of course, you can draw upon the human stars as well¡­ if you can¡¯t take this lying down.¡±

    ¡°This joke isn¡¯t funny,¡± Edward said in a gloomy voice.

    Eden also turned serious. ¡°I¡¯m not joking, Your Excellency. If you can¡¯t ept this oue and feel like you must stop Qianye, please wait until the agreement is over. If you must take action right now, then I apologize, our demonkin race won¡¯t be taking part.¡±

    Edward¡¯s expression was, of course, unsightly to say the least. The corners of his lips twitched periodically, but he couldn¡¯t find a retort. Without the help of the demonkin, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to defeat a single Qianye, let alone Zhao Ruoxi and her Red Spider Lily. Without the Demoness keeping her busy, that young miss alone could wipe out all the vampires.

    Yet, having to give up just like that felt too stifling. He had spent a great fortune for these hexagonal blood rods and brought the best elites from his family. It was just that the demonkin were head and shoulders above them in the younger generation. Even Eden¡ªsomeone whom Edward didn¡¯t consider a threat at all¡ªhad gotten exponentially more powerful and be a threat on the battlefield.

    Edward nced at Basil and fell quiet thereafter. On the surface, it seemed like the vampires and arachne shared a fairly bad rtionship, when in fact, the true upper echelon of the race had reserved the greatest degree of caution and hostility for the demonkin race. Edward only learned of this after passing the blood torture and bing a part of the upper level.

    It wasn¡¯t certain Basil would know about this, and even if he did, there was nothing he could do. They wouldn¡¯t be able to beat the Empire even with Basil on their side.

    With no way out, Edward could only swallow his anger and re down the well. Perhaps they would have to wait until the next opening of the Great Maelstrom in order to produce more origin blood. Watching the gradually dimming vampire stars, Edward¡¯s mood became heavier and heavier.

    At the bottom of the Constetion Well, the origin crystal in Qianye¡¯s hand had already taken shape. He had never imagined that he could condense origin crystals in such a manner. A crystal formed of dark golden blood energy and star power from vampire stars¡ªwas it even usable? Either way, the only thing he could do at this point was to continue. He had already condensed a top-grade origin crystal, so there was no loss in it.

    Qianye continued a steady injection of dark golden blood energy, continuing the absorption of star power. His blood energy was still abundant at this point, and the Book of Darkness could provide him with a near-endless supply of essence blood for his blood core to ignite. Hence, he could hold out for fairly long. On the contrary, the seven sanguine stars were insufficient in their star power, and looked like they would fail to hold out until the end.

    After discovering this, in order to not leave any regrets, Qianye nced toward the other Evernight stars.

    Qianye saw a fair number ofrge stars along the way, but they gave off a feeling of impurity and seemed to contain a mixture of strange powers. These were arachne stars. The spiders were rather adaptive and famed for their vitality. Absorbing such a heterogeneous mixture of power wasn¡¯t difficult for them.

    Some of the other stars were too dark and ipatible with the vital blood energy of the vampire race. These were naturally demonkin stars. There were also some stars belonging to the werewolves, but the only lycanthrope here was under the firm suppression of Zhao Ruoxi and simply didn¡¯t dare reveal his true appearance.

    Qianye was shaken as his gaze swept past a certain star. This celestial body looked rather unassuming, even after he had started condensing his origin crystal with the dark golden blood energy. However, Qianye immediately realized the reason after noticing it.

    Its star power contained a pure, unadulterated aura of darkness, one that was close to the peak of darkness origin power and a counterpart of his Venus Dawn. This type of pure darkness origin power was extremely difficult to utilize. Even though Qianye cultivated the Mystery Chapter, the darkness energy produced had to be absorbed by the blood core first, and then converted into dark golden blood energy.

    Now that the vampire stars were insufficient, absorbing this darkness power wasn¡¯t without its merits.

    At the thought of this, Qianye focused his attention on this star and formed a connection after some time.

    Anwen¡¯s expression was full of shock, while Eden¡¯s countenance was just like Edward¡¯s a while ago.

    ¡°The dark star! He actually activated the dark star!¡± No one spoke these words out loud, only in their minds.

    The dark star was considered to have been reserved for the Demoness¡¯ use, and Anwen was the only one ambitious enough to even make an attempt. The dark star possessed enough star power to convert two drops of origin blood. Producing two drops of duke-grade origin blood was a big enough contribution for a great dark monarch to personally confer a reward.

    Now, however, Qianye had begun drawing upon its star power. Having the carpet pulled out from under them, the Evernight crowd¡¯s setback was self-evident.

    Yet, people like Anwen were too prideful to break their word as that was no different from a direct forfeit. Besides, there was nothing they could do with Zhao Ruoxi overseeing the situation.

    Their only hope now was that Qianye would leave some star power.

    Thetter¡¯s endurance and blood energy capacity far exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations. He only stopped after robbing half of the dark star¡¯s power and flew out of the Constetion Well.

    ¡°Now what do we do?¡± All eyes were on Anwen.

 Chapter 1062: Origin Blood Gem

    With his ns all messed up, Anwen said after some thought, ¡°Your Highness, it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t leave anything for them.¡± The Demoness¡¯ voice appeared out of nowhere.

    Her tone was as calm as still water, and it sounded as though she was unmoved. However, everyone could feel that it was a bit forced. The Demoness was indeed outstanding, but as a Demonkin, she couldn¡¯t absorb daybreak star power. There was nothing else she could do apart from doing her best to absorb the dark star.

    After Qianye left the well, everyone crowded over for a chance to see the dark golden origin crystal in his hand. Such a crystal was unprecedented, and even Ji Tianqing, Song Zining, and Zhao Yuying were baffled. They would need to observe carefully before deciding on its grade.

    Since there was nothing to do for the time being, Qianye decided to rest and recover his energy.

    After a round of cultivation, Qianye began to think about things in idle leisure. Since even the dark golden blood energy could condense an origin crystal, what else was there on him that he could use? ording to Song Zining¡¯s exnation, it seemed certain special arts would also produce simr effects.

    Speaking of arts, Qianye felt that the Wings of Inception could also be considered one. If the Wings of Inception counted, what about the Eye of Truth?

    It would seem anything was possible in the Constetion Well.

    And indeed anything could happen.

    The Demoness finally returned from her prolonged disappearance, and even then, she was hidden in a dense mist. No one could see her appearance or figure clearly.

    Doubtless, this would add to her drain. The gravitational power of the Constetion Well affected not just her body, but also origin power of various attributes as well.

    After entering the well, the Demoness activated a couple ofrge stars rted to the demonkin and began absorbing their star power. Who would¡¯ve thought she was just getting warmed up? Theserge stars couldn¡¯t sate her appetite at all.

    As expected, the Demoness¡¯ demonic energy expanded before long and began creeping toward the dark star.

    Unlike Anwen, the Demoness utilized three streams of demonic energy in one go, having them advance along different routes. This disy proved just how shocking her control capabilities were.

    Of the three demonic energies, two of them vanished halfway, and only thest one reached the borders of the dark star before it was destroyed.

    The first attempt came so close to sess that all the Evernight experts became spirited. The Demoness didn¡¯t let them down, either. She went out again with five streams of demonic energy that marched toward the dark star from different directions.

    Ultimately, three out of the five demonic energies were routed. Thest two reached the dark star and started drawing upon its star power.

    The human method ced the operator at the center of the process, allowing star power to umte toward them. Anwen¡¯s method was to attack proactively, oveing all obstructions to reach the stars. Both methods had their pros and cons. The human method was stable, and even the weaker people would be able to condense origin crystals. Its weak point was that the product would contain impurities and be of a lower grade.

    Anwen¡¯s method was more ambitious, charging straight for therge stars and dark star from the get-go. The origin blood produced via this method would win out in quality, even though the blood rod and white spider egg were inferior to the Storm Pearl in quality. The final product would improve exponentially once the catalysts were improvedter on.

    This method had its drawbacks as well, in that it posed great requirements upon the user. Ordinary experts would likely find themselves failing. Even Anwen himself couldn''t say for sure that he would seed every time.

    This method, however, was the most suitable for the Demoness. She hadmunicated with the dark star during her first entry, and judging from her momentum, she might even be able to aim for higher-ranked ones.

    Anwen¡¯s eyesnded on some evidently special stars. Their star powers were either scorching or dark, but themon quality was that they were all akin to the raging seas. Their radiance flickered constantly because they were so powerful that the space around them was severely warped. Even without Anwen¡¯s knowledge, one could tell how difficult it would be tomunicate with them.

    The empire possessed seven such stars, known as the seven pr stars or the seven primal stars. No matter what they were called, they each represented a dream for everyone who wished to one day absorb their star power.

    Since the Demoness had seeded in drawing upon the dark star, the seven primal stars were no longer just a dream. Anwen became spirited as he began to calcte a method to reach these stars. Hundreds ofplicated forms and diagrams appeared around him, with numbers flowing down like rain. The diagrams became moreplicated and the numbers increased, but there was no sign of the deduction beingpleted. After a good while, Anwen turned pale and broke out in sweat.

    After holding out for a while longer, the diagrams and forms around him became distorted and disappeared. His expression was gloomy, apparently quite exhausted.

    At this moment, the Demoness had flown out of the well with a faint, ink-colored gem in her hand. Her demonic mist was fairly thin now, so much so that her figure was faintly discernible within. One could see that she had nearly hit empty.

    She tossed the gem to Anwen, saying, ¡°You can y with that for a couple of days, I''lle and get it the day after tomorrow.¡±

    Anwen caught the gem, and the Demoness vanished without a trace. From the words she had left behind, it seemed she would need one day and night to recover her demonic energy.

    All Evernight experts crowded around with greedy eyes, staring at the ck gem in Anwen¡¯s hands. This was an origin blood the Demoness had condensed from the power of the dark star. Its quality was so high that it had taken the form of a gem. Using this drop of origin blood would make a duke out of anyone but aplete idiot.

    And any duke had the qualifications to found arge family that could live on for many years.

    The only unfortunate thing was that this origin blood had the Demoness¡¯ energy mixed into it. It was naturally a peerless treasure for the demonkin, but the effects were vastly inferior for the other races. After ounting for the drop in efficacy, the gem would be at the marquis-grade at most for the vampires.

    Anwen felt that the gem was rather heavy in his hands. The Demoness had sent a clear message by giving him this item¡ªthat her ambitions wouldn¡¯t stop at the dark star, that she was interested in the seven primal stars. It was just that she would be hard-pressed to contact them at her level of strength. Hence, she wanted Anwen to calcte a possible route by referencing this piece of origin blood.

    ¡°She thinks so highly of me.¡± Anwenughed wryly.

    He waved the crowd away, saying, ¡°I need some peace and quiet. Don¡¯t ask me who should enter the well tomorrow.¡±

    With that, he returned to his tent and started waging a war of numbers and forms.

    On the empire¡¯s side, everyone returned to camp in silence and sat down in Qianye¡¯s room.

    ¡°Fortunately, Qianye managed to plunder a small part of the dark star. Otherwise, they would¡¯ve gained two more dukes.¡± Wei Potian looked apprehensive.

    Zhao Yuying red at him. ¡°Origin blood only grants the potential of a duke. The Evernight species grow at a much slower rate, and it¡¯ll be a decade or so by the time they¡¯re actual dukes. What¡¯s the rush?¡±

    Wei Potian shook his head. ¡°You can¡¯t say that. We¡¯ll still be alive after the decade passes by. Even if we do die in battle, it¡¯ll be a cmity for the next generation.¡±

    These words were so righteous that Zhao Yuying had nothing to say. She simply snorted, saying, ¡°Howe I¡¯ve never seen you loving the empire and its people so much?¡±

    The others kept gazing at the origin crystal while the two bickered among themselves. In truth, they were still clueless after observing for a good while. Ji Tianqing finally looked up at Qianye. ¡°What exactly is this?¡±

    ¡°An origin crystal.¡± Qianye had always spoken short to the point.

    ¡°Of course I know that! But who has ever seen an origin crystal like that? Do you even know how to use it yourself?¡±

    This origin crystal was formed with the dark golden blood energy as a foundation, filled with plundered energy from all therge vampire stars and a portion of the dark star. In terms of quality, it was doubtlessly a top-quality origin crystal. But its attribute was clearly leaning toward Evernight. Who would dare use it without knowing the effects?

    Even knowledgeable people like Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann, and Song Zining could only figure out part of its function after studying it for some time. They didn¡¯t dare draw a conclusion just yet.

    Qianye picked up the origin crystal and closed his eyes. ¡°The main function of this origin crystal is to raise one¡¯s constitution.¡±

    ¡°Raise one¡¯s constitution?¡± Everyone was puzzled. After stirring up such amotion and even robbing part of the dark star¡¯s power, it could only raise one¡¯s constitution? If that was the only ability, then it could barely be considered a high-grade origin crystal, let alone top.

    Ji Tianqing was more thorough. ¡°That¡¯s not all, right? Are there any conflicting abilities that were canceled out?¡±

    Qianye said with an awkward expression, ¡°No other abilities at all, just an upgrade to constitution.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Just as Ji Tianqing was at a loss about how to assess the situation, she heard a bark from behind her. Shocked out of her wits, she turned back to see that a snowy white dog with a golden mane had appeared behind her.

    Considering her skill, it wasn¡¯t natural for arge dog to approach her from behind without her noticing. Even if she was focused on the origin crystal, it still shouldn¡¯t have been this bad.

    But she recognized that the canine was Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s pet, and it was likely some divine breed. Just in terms of demeanor, it was majestic and beautiful, a king among dogs.

    The Imperial crowd no longer existed for the dog as he stared fixedly at the crystal. His tongue came wagging out, dripping saliva all over the ce.

    Qianye said unceremoniously, ¡°What are you looking at, dog? There¡¯s no share for you in this!¡±

    ¡°Woof!¡± Therge dog was furious.

    ¡°Stop messing around, I¡¯ll give you some bonester on.¡± With that, Zhao Yuying grabbed therge dog by its scruff and tossed it to the side. Everyone was busy studying Qianye¡¯s origin crystal and in no mood to y with a dog.

    The dog, unwilling to leave, came running back after a while.

    Ji Tianqing still couldn¡¯t figure things out. She red at Qianye, saying, ¡°Tell us, what exactly are its uses?¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a while. ¡°It can improve one¡¯s constitution. It¡¯s just that the magnitude of it is quite big.¡±

    ¡°How big?¡± Ji Tianqing was a bit nervous.

    Qianye said, ¡°An ordinary human expert using this crystal will raise his constitution to the level of a virtuous count¡­ I guess.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Everyone was shocked.

    Li Kuann said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean they can cultivate all those peerless arts, except the handful of secret ones.¡±

    Ji Tianqing understood more in this regard. ¡°Correct!¡±

    Wei Potian took a deep breath. ¡°T-This¡­ if that¡¯s true, then even a divine champion can use this piece of origin crystal!¡±

    The Empire¡ªthroughout the thousand years of its history¡ªonly had a handful of its secret records left behind, with many peerless secret arts vanishing into the river of time. Although there were ancient tomes, no one could cultivate them because humanscked the physique to do so.

    If it could really allow one to take on the massive drain imposed by the inherited cultivation arts, even the most outstanding of divine champions would desire this origin crystal. Apart from peak characters like Zhang Boqian, no one wouldment having too many secret arts.

 Chapter 1063: Starpower Aboil

    As Qianye arrived at the edge of the Constetion Well, everyone from the Evernight side stood quietly watching him. Although the Demoness was nowhere to be found, the stronger experts could still sense a vague fluctuation in the air. The Demoness also stopped hiding herself and allowed everyone to know that she was observing Qianye.

    Everyone wanted to know what Qianye would do after plundering therge vampire stars.

    There were a fair number of daybreak stars left, and the luminous star was also untouched. Compared to the Evernight stars that had to be divided among the major races, the daybreak ones were greater in number, and there was only one type. Although the differences were small, the dark races felt varying degrees of dislike for everything that contained even a little bit of daybreak attribute.

    What remained of the daybreak stars was enough to condense two more origin crystals, so everyone thought Qianye had his work cut out for him. However, that fellow actually ignored the daybreak stars and actually cleared away the star power meant for the vampires, even taking a good chunk of the dark star in the process. This made everyone gnash their teeth in indignation.

    Qianye was a vampire, after all, so sweeping through the vampire stars wasn¡¯t entirely unreasonable. Were these Evernight experts supposed to clean up the daybreak stars in retaliation? Even if they did, what were they going to do with it?

    This helplessness was what made the situation so loathsome.

    Qianye gradually entered the Constetion Well and stopped where he didst time. He produced the Storm Pearl but began to contemte instead of taking immediate action.

    The Evernight people nced at one another. Every second inside the Constetion Well would drain origin power, so time was of the greatest essence. Why would he think inside the well instead of outside? Everyone smelled a scheme brewing as they observed Qianye¡¯s every move with gloomy expressions.

    After a moment of contemtion, Qianye¡¯s aura suddenly showed some change. Everyone saw his aura fluctuating¡ªit was sometimes vast and majestic, sometimes cryptic and mysterious. The attribute of his aura switched constantly between daybreak and Evernight, but it mostly remained in the dark range.

    Basil became nervous. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me this fellow is aiming for our race¡¯s stars?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions becameplicated, with Twilight looking somewhat delighted at the misfortune. Qianye¡¯s attackst time had harmed the vampires the most, followed by the demonkin¡ªonly the arachne were unaffected. Hence, everyone was happy to see Qianye clearing away the arachnerge stars.

    There was actually no point in the Evernight people remaining there. The dark star had very little energy left, and even if the Demoness were to take action, she would only be able to condense duke-grade origin blood. Considering her character, she would, at most, descend one more time.

    The vampire stars had been swept clean, so Edward had no more reason to stay. An ordinary drop of origin blood that might or might not reach the count-grade wasn¡¯t essential for him. As a vampire Holy Son, he could utilize much more resources than this.

    The only one who had something left to gain was Basil.

    Qianye¡¯s aura remained in a rolling boil inside the well¡ªhe still hadn¡¯t made his move. The spectators were perturbed. They had a feeling that Qianye was harboring sinister intentions about the stars on their side.

    Qianye was actually in a predicament right now. He was able to sense the vampire stars with iparable rity after activating the Wings of Inception, but they simply wouldn¡¯t absorb such a level of star power. This level of energy was apparently too low in quality for the wings, so Qianye decided to give up after several attempts.

    He then tried several other secret arts in vain, even Excavator, which wasn¡¯t quite an art. Apparently, extracting star power wasn¡¯t as easy as he had thought.

    A good amount of time had passed after several fruitless attempts. Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t drag this on because every minute in the well was a drain on his origin power. After some thought, he once again channeled Venus Dawn and began condensing an origin crystal. He already had a top-grade product, but there was no such thing as too many of them.

    It was at this moment that Qianye remembered he had one thing left to try. The Book of Darkness appeared in response to his thought.

    The book immediately opened up on its own and dragged the pearl over.

    The book was shapeless and formless, so Qianye ended up opening his mouth to swallow the iing Storm Pearl.

    In the blink of an eye, his perception stretched outward more than ten times. He could almost sense the entire starry sky and every star twinkling within it. Some of them contained energy as majestic as the seas, far exceeding therge stars. These were the seven pr stars Li Kuann had spoken of. After counting them, Qianye found that there were nine such celestial bodies, two of them so powerful that the space around them was warped badly. This served to hide them from normal perception.

    An outrageous thought appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°Was the Book of Darkness going to sweep everything clean in one go?¡±

    The thought had just appeared when the pages began to flip open one by one. The pages moved extremely fast, yet thest leaf was nowhere in sight.

    An invisible ripple spread out through the well, and all the stars in the well lit up at the same time! All star power was aboil!

    From the small, medium stars to therge ones, and even the dark and luminous stars¡ªevery one of them had lit up.

    Soon, a massive primal star began spitting out radiant light. The distorted space around it was leveled as energy gushed out like a waterfall and entered the Book of Darkness.

    Following the first star was the second, the third¡­ all the way up to the ninth.

    Those above the well, be it people from Evernight or the Empire, were dumbfounded. Qianye himself didn¡¯t know what was happening, and had no idea whether this rolling torrent of star power was a good thing or not.

    The Book of Darkness was like a bottomless abyss, devouring the iing star power regardless of the amount. Additionally, it was also a picky eater. It would only draw upon the nine primal stars, and wouldn¡¯t even nce at the others, including the dark and luminous stars.

    Qianye could only y it by ear now. The Book of Darkness was extremely mysterious, and even Andruil couldn¡¯t give him any details. Qianye had to explore the tome¡¯s powers bit by bit after obtaining it.

    The Book of Darkness flipped faster and faster as it drew upon the nine primal stars.

    Anwen¡¯s expression was unsightly, and no one knew what he was thinking. The Demoness¡¯ voice echoed beside his ears. ¡°What¡¯s he doing?¡±

    ¡°... I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Anwen not knowing something was a rare case. The Demoness said after a period of silence, ¡°I¡¯m guessing these are the primal stars you speak of, turns out there are nine in total.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s almost impossible to discover the other two. I have no idea how he found them.¡±

    ¡°It looks like he¡¯s using his own body as a catalyst material to absorb star power.¡± The Demoness¡¯ voice was odd. ¡°The star power from the primal stars burn fiercely. The body simply can¡¯t withstand a direct intake like that, even I don¡¯t dare do that. Is he courting death?¡±

    A pensive Anwenughed wryly. ¡°This fellow looks dumb, but he¡¯s actually quite smart. His only weakness is being too sentimental. Unless you take his friends and family hostage, chances of himmitting suicide are quite low. Perhaps he can utilize the star power?¡±

    ¡°Impossible! Unless his body is even stronger than Basil''s. How can a mere vampire do that?¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that there are ancient vampires as well.¡±

    ¡°Even an ancient vampire can¡¯t be stronger than Basil, he¡¯s a pure-blooded arachne royalty who, ording to your ssification, can be considered an ancient arachne as well. Even if we take a step back and say that they are stronger, there¡¯s no way they can withstand star power from a primal star.¡±

    Nodding, Anwen nced toward Qianye and remained silent with a frown on his face.

    At this moment, the nine primal stars had been exhausted. The Book of Darkness closed only after thest star had turned dim and faded into the depths of the starry sky.

    This entire process waspleted in the time it took to brew a cup of tea. Everything happened so fast that many of the Evernight experts had no time to react before the nine primal stars had been plundered clean.

    A crystalline gem appeared on the cover of the Book of Darkness. It was the size of an egg with countless edges covering its surface and starlight glistening within.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was beating like a drum at this point, which was a sign that he had already spent too much origin power. Knowing that he couldn¡¯t stay any longer inside the well, he flew straight for the entrance. There was no time to check the changes in the book.

    The situation around the entrance was fairly delicate. Intentionally or otherwise, the Evernight experts approached the entrance of the well.

    Basil was at the front but came to a screeching halt when a red spider lily popped open in his path, his expression sour.

    He looked back, and then into the air, before ultimately stopping.

    At this point, Qianye had flown out of the well and arrived at the Empire¡¯s side. It was toote to attack now.

    Only then did theherworld flower fade away.

    By the time the Imperial group had returned to camp, Basil Shouted, ¡°Now it¡¯s our turn, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s voice echoed in the air, ¡°Go wild.¡±

    ¡°Go wild?¡± Basil was stunned, puzzled as to what those words meant.

    ¡°You may use the well to your heart¡¯s content.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re leaving.¡±

    Basil was startled. Therge daybreak stars still had star power left. Why would they leave just like that? Could it be that they had used up the Storm Pearls in their possession?

    At this point, several figures could be seen rushing away into the mountains. Qianye¡¯s group had really left.

    Basil broke into augh. ¡°Haha, then we won¡¯t hold back!¡±

    He walked forward inrge strides but was dumbfounded as he looked down the well.

    The star power inside the well was rolling about chaotically like a tempest. The space below the Constetion Well was an enclosed environment. The storm of star power had no ce to drain, and thus, the reverberations never stopped. The danger level under such circumstances would increase several times¡ªeven Basil felt somewhat apprehensive.

    ¡°Those human bastards!¡± Basil couldn¡¯t help but curse. Apparently, the mess inside the well was because of Qianye. No wonder the humans left so generously.

    Basil looked back. ¡°Anwen, what now?¡±

    Anwen looked down into the well. ¡°Looks like it¡¯ll take half a month to calm down.¡±

    Basil was stunned. ¡°Then what do we do? Wait?¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re not going to wait, see you.¡±

    With that, Anwen and Eden left the scene.

    Basil nced at the vampire race, but Edward shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to do here, either. Let¡¯s just leave.¡±

    The vampire stars had been cleared out by Qianye, so Edward had no reason to remain here. It was just that Basil had a fair number of white spider eggs left, so he was reluctant. ¡°I¡¯ll wait alone then!¡±

    Edward walked a good distance before looking back. ¡°This is human territory. Be wary if you¡¯re staying here alone, they might juste back.¡±

    Basil gazed nkly in front of him for a good while, but ultimately decided to follow Edward. He turned back reluctantly several times as he walked away.

    After everyone was gone and the world was calm, a giant, golden-maned wolf appeared near the well. Seeing that there was no one around, he dove straight into the well.

 Chapter 1064: Unresponsive Fate

    The people from the Empire left swiftly toward their fortress. They only stopped after half a day of travel, when they were a good distance from the Constetion Well.

    Along the way, Zhao Ruoxi was uncharacteristically sulky. She seemed somewhat distracted and didn¡¯t even stick to Qianye as she would usually do. Qianye didn¡¯t quite understand the reason, but he never got down to asking her as they were traveling in a rush.

    The Great Maelstrom was actually quite vast, and the group hadn¡¯t gotten too far from the high-gravity region even after a good while. The nights here were still dangerous, and there were a few powerful nocturnal beasts. Even people as reckless as Ji Tianqing and Zhao Yuying weren¡¯t willing to travel through the night.

    After setting up camp to rest, everyone found some time to talk.

    At this point, everyone¡¯s attention fell on the crystal Qianye had condensed. Zhao Yuying said, ¡°Lil¡¯ Five, what good stuff did you produce. Broaden my horizons!¡±

    Wei Potian nodded as though his head was a hammer.

    They all saw the chaotic star power at the bottom of the well, and knew that Qianye had swept all the primal stars clean. Something condensed from that much power might shock the entire world, so much so that a new grade might need to be coined above the top-grade.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say, so he simply remained silent. The Book of Darkness and Wings of Inception were his greatest secrets¡ªespecially the former. It was something that no one must see. Once the tome was revealed to the world, it was sure to stir up great winds and waves.

    The star power from the nine primal stars had been absorbed by the Book of Darkness, and he never had the chance to examine the situation inside. How could he bring out an origin crystal?

    Song Zining probed, ¡°What, Qianye, is it not convenient to tell?¡±

    Zhao Yuying said tactlessly, ¡°What¡¯s there that¡¯s not convenient? We¡¯re all on the same side here. As I see it, you¡¯re the only stranger here, Song Seven.¡±

    Song Zining coughed awkwardly. ¡°How can that be? Qianye and I share a deep friendship. There¡¯s really no outsider here, everyone has a deep rtionship¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when two incisive stares descended upon him and forced his words back down. There were so many people around, but Song Zining knew those gazes wereing from Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann. He had just spoken casually, never expecting that the two would react with such intensity. He then recalled how they had spent several days with Qianye in the high-gravity region. Could it be...

    Such a guess could never be voiced.

    Noticing the awkward situation, Qianye said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not inconvenient, but I haven¡¯t figured out what happened. I don¡¯t know where the star power went after entering my body, and the Storm Pearl has also disappeared.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing?¡± Song Zining found it strange.

    ¡°None at all.¡± Qianye nodded.

    The Book of Darkness was of mysterious origins and Qianye wasn¡¯t about to let people find out. Everyone had different expressions upon hearing this, most of them concern and worry. It looked like the two factions were ying a game, evenpeting against one another, but that was only because the participants were the most outstanding characters. In truth, ordinary cultivators would find entering the well itself a perilous endeavor, and failing a condensation wasmonce.

    Zhao Yuying said, ¡°That¡¯s strange. Lil Five, will your body be alright? The star power seems harmless, but it¡¯s actually quite powerful. Absorbing that much might not be a good thing.¡±

    Zhao Yuying had also entered the well before, so she knew just how scorching the star power was. It was as firm as steel andpletely unmalleable. Such energy entering the body inrge amounts would be a disaster. The least serious effect would be his origin power bing impure, causing his future prospects to be cut off.

    That was also the reason why the Jingtang Li Family had spent so much effort to produce the Storm Pearl to serve as a medium for crystallization. Qianye hadn¡¯t just absorbed a little bit of star power. It could be said that all the others added together couldn¡¯t match up to him. One could easily imagine the perils a human medium would have to face during the transformation process.

    Seeing Zhao Yuying¡¯s concern, Qianye shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine, probably because my constitution is special.¡±

    Qianye possessing a vampire bloodline was known to almost everyone by now, and Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t about to flip through ufortable memories. Feeling that she had made a faux pas, she let out a sigh but didn¡¯t know how to console him.

    After this topic was over, everyone started discussing their harvests delightfully. Qianye had refined two top-grade crystals, each a peerless treasure in and of itself. Especially the crystal that could grant one a vampire constitution, it was something even divine champions would fight over. With this crystal, one could cultivate the many forbidden arts that were never an option before. Who would give up on the opportunity to open up closed doors?

    The others had their own harvests. Even the most mediocre of origin crystals could be sold for a good price. There was no such thing as too many of those.

    In the end, only Song Zining had taken a loss. He had cleared away numerous smaller daybreak stars and made Anwen suffer somewhat. The price for that, however, was him failing to condense an origin crystal. Ji Tianqing suggestedpensating him, but Zhao Yuying strongly objected to the notion. The young miss of the Duke You manor had fought alongside Song Zining in numerous battles, but for some reason, she just didn¡¯t like him.

    Song Zining, though, didn¡¯t quite mind that. He waved his fan with a smile, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t care about such meager amounts. Money is not an issue after my business takes off. Even now, it¡¯s just a number for me.¡±

    Zhao Yuying couldn¡¯t stand all that boasting. ¡°Pray tell, what business are you dealing in?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not that big of a business, I¡¯m just nning to build some warships and sell them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, airships¡­ eh?¡± Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t too subtle about things. ¡°You¡¯re building warships? Warships? What standards are you using?¡±

    Warships could be of varying standards. To be a bit shameless, one could install some small cannons on a civilian airship and call it a warship.

    ¡°Of course they¡¯re built ording to Imperial standards.¡±

    These words caused everyone to exchange nces. There was ever only one set of standards for military warships, and that was something everyone knew. To force it a bit, building even an armored gunship would involve extraordinary costs, and not every family could afford them. To be a bit stricter, only vessels above the corvette ss could be considered a warship. These hundred-meter monsters would weigh thousands of tons in materials alone.

    Even a rich n like the Zhao couldn¡¯t produce that many warships for their own use, usually less than ten vessels spread across all sizes. This was a business only the high-ranking aristocratic families and the four major ns had ess to. Song Zining setting one up was truly difficult to imagine.

    This boast was probably too excessive. But then again, Song Zining might be vague about unimportant stuff, but he was usually quite serious about important issues. He wouldn¡¯t spout nonsense regarding something like this.

    ¡°Where is your factory then?¡± Wei Potian butted in. He was already thinking about whether he could get his hands on a warship before going back. Although he hadn¡¯t been on great terms with Song Zining during his younger years, as someone shouldering great responsibilities, he had already learned to prioritize the Wei n.

    Song Zining pointed above. ¡°In the neutralnds.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression was odd. ¡°You¡¯re cing your factory in the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°Where else, the Empire? Will they let me?¡±

    Ji Tianqing only shook her head with a sigh.

    Night gradually descended upon them. The cold night breeze carried a chill that cut to the bone, causing everyone to shiver.

    Song Zining immediately produced his divination tokens and channeled his arts. However, the process didn¡¯t go off smoothly. He infused the tokens with a deluge of origin power, but they simply wouldn¡¯t budge. Hence, there was no oue.

    Qianye wanted to persuade Song Zining to stop, but he didn¡¯t want to interrupt, either. Divination arts were clearly not so effective in the Great Maelstrom. However, Song Zining seemed to have sensed something. He gritted his teeth and refused to give up, focusing his entire being on continuing this divination.

    Time went by in this manner until finally, Song Zining¡¯s face turned red, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    Shocked, Qianye rushed over to help him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Considering Song Zining¡¯s aplishments in the field and how serious the bacsh was, he had likely divined some major character.

    Qianye scanned the seventh young master with his perception and found that he wasrgely unharmed apart from the weakness. ¡°What exactly is going on?¡±

    Song Zining wiped the blood from his mouth and nced helplessly at Zhao Ruoxi. ¡°It¡¯s that sister of yours of course!¡±

    Qianye turned around to see Zhao Ruoxi looking somewhere else. Knowing that she was feeling guilty, he asked, ¡°Ruoxi, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi said with an innocent look, ¡°What? There¡¯s nothing going on.¡±

    Song Zining coughed. ¡°Young Miss, you¡¯ve been here for some days now, and you¡¯ve had your share of fun. Isn¡¯t it time to go back? If you don¡¯t return, her highness will y me alive.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi knew she couldn¡¯t escape. ¡°It¡¯s your skin she¡¯s ying, not mine. What does that have to do with me?¡±

    Song Zining nced at Qianye and found him looking around with a wry smile. This sister of his wasn¡¯t someone he could control.

    The seventh young master said seriously, ¡°Young Miss, don¡¯t you think the Red Spider Lily¡¯s a bit too powerful in here?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi finally looked back. ¡°Of course I did! Do you know the reason?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Song Zining replied as though it was all right and proper.

    Zhao Ruoxi became furious after recovering from the daze. She grabbed Red Spider Lily by the hilt and swung the magnum at Song Zining. This famed gun, known as the most sentient of them all, was being used as a hammer.

    Without using theherworld flowers, the power of the Grand Magnum couldn¡¯t be disyed, and Zhao Ruoxi was nothing more than an ordinary girl. Song Zining blocked the attack casually and duly avoided a head concussion.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze flickered as he watched the two quarrel. He knew of this good friend¡¯s reputation¡ªhe was pretty much a yboy who would take advantage ofdies in passing.

    However, it seemed as though Song Zining had changed into a different person today. He kept his hands tucked inside his sleeves and would avoid all direct contact with Zhao Ruoxi. This stunned Qianye.

    Song Zining finally managed to stop Zhao Ruoxi from escaping. Unable to hold back, he shouted, ¡°Young Miss, do you want us all to die? Because that¡¯s what will happen if you don¡¯t go back.¡±

 Chapter 1065: Impending Calamity

    Zhao Ruoxi red at Song Zining. ¡°Nonsense! There¡¯s no way I¡¯d harm anyone.¡±

    Despite saying that, she was still a young girl after all. She had enjoyed a good upbringing in the Zhao manor, and as the wielder of the Red Spider Lily, she was given preferential treatment wherever she went. What little thoughts she had was written all over her face. Even Wei Potian could tell that she was being stubborn, let alone the others.

    Song Zining tugged on Qianye, but thetter remained unmoved. He tugged much harder the next time, almost ripping the man¡¯s clothes in the process. Finally, Qianye could no longer ignore what was going on. He said with an awkward cough, ¡°Ruoxi, this ce is too dangerous. You probably should go back soon.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes turned red, almost as though she was about to burst into tears. ¡°You¡¯re also driving me away¡­¡±

    Qianye felt distressed. ¡°I¡¯m not driving you away, but the Great Maelstrom is too dangerous, and you¡¯re also carrying the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi looked up. ¡°You all feel that this gun is more important than me, is that right?¡±

    Feeling his headache intensifying, Qianye had no choice but to exin, ¡°Of course not! The gun is inanimate, but there¡¯s nothing to rece you. How can it be more important?¡±

    ¡°Who said it¡¯s inanimate? She has her own soul and emotions.¡± Zhao Ruoxi was furious.

    Qianye waspletely defeated by her unreasonable state. Despite losing to Zhao Ruoxi verbally, his tone was unexpectedly harsh. ¡°No! You must go, now!¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi hadn¡¯t expected Qianye to be so strict. She looked around in surprise, hoping to find some allies to her cause. However, neither Zhao Yuying nor Wei Potian met her gaze. No matter how they acted normally, the two of them were quite clear about what should be prioritized. Zhao Ruoxi and the Red Spider Lily couldn¡¯t be lost, and every extra day inside the Great Maelstrom was an extra day of danger.

    Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann weren¡¯t close to Zhao Ruoxi, so they simply stood watching from the sidelines. However, the former became rather pensive after seeing Qianye turn strict.

    Seeing that there was no help to be found, Zhao Ruoxi simply clung onto Qianye¡¯s arms and attached herself to him. ¡°Not going, I¡¯m not going whatever you say!¡±

    Ji Tianqing asked at this point, ¡°Seventh Young Noble, what did you calcte just now.¡±

    Song Zining hesitated just as he was about to speak. He then pointed at Qianye, saying, ¡°I¡¯m not going to be the bad guy this time, let him tell you.¡±

    With all eyes upon him, Qianye could only brace himself and exin, ¡°I just sensed an inexplicable danger from the depths of the high-gravity region. This danger is rted to Ruoxi and the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    ¡°Is it because I killed a six-armed giant? Does it havepanions?¡±

    Ji Tianqing was the one to reply, ¡°Not only does it haverades, but their numbers aren¡¯t small, either.¡±

    Qianye put Zhao Ruoxi on the ground and looked straight into her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s likely that some powerful being has sensed you and the Red Spider Lily. It¡¯ll be extremely dangerous if you don¡¯t leave now.¡±

    ¡°How can there be any danger when I have her?¡± Zhao Ruoxi wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    ¡°You can¡¯t say that for sure in the Great Maelstrom. Besides, the Red Spider Lily isn¡¯t entirely matchless even back in the Empire and Evernight.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s momentum fell, but she looked at Qianye¡¯s face and said, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m not going!¡±

    Li Kuann interrupted coldly, ¡°Young Miss Zhao, it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t leave, but all those around you will die once that existence arrives. Qianye is no exception, either, and he might be the first to die trying to protect you.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi red at Li Kuann in anger. ¡°Who asked for your opinion!?¡±

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t angry. She replied in her usual iciness, ¡°The Zhao n is powerful, but our Li family isn¡¯t afraid. You¡¯re wee to seek revenge at ater date if you so wish.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi had no good impression of the Li family, to begin with. Now that she was in an argument with Li Kuann, her eyes were filled with a dangerous glint. ¡°Humph, I know you¡¯re powerful, but there¡¯s danger everywhere in the world. You¡¯ll need to be careful to live a while longer.¡±

    Li Kuann smiled. ¡°Killing someone with the Red Spider Lily will surely leave behind traces. My sister might not be skilled in other areas, but she¡¯s definitely a top authority in divination. She¡¯ll naturally find out who killed me. Our Li family might not be able to deal with the Zhao n or Princess Gaoyi, but it¡¯s not difficult to squish Consort Zhao.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Qianye finally couldn¡¯t watch on anymore. He stepped in between the two and broke their line of sight. He felt extremely distressed right now because Zhao Ruoxi was making such a big deal out of a small matter, so much so that she was showing true killing intent. With how powerful the Red Spider Lily was in the Great Maelstrom, no one could save Li Kuann if the girl wanted her dead.

    On one side was his own sister, while on the other was someone who was extremely close to him. Qianye didn¡¯t want any bloodshed between the two, so he decided to go out of character and try defusing the situation.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression changed again. ¡°The situation has changed! It¡¯ll be toote if you don¡¯t leave now!¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought Zhao Ruoxi would just close her eyes and say, ¡°I¡¯m not leaving, you guys go!¡±

    No one had expected her to be so wilful at a critical juncture. No one had a good solution, and Qianye¡¯s expression was unsightly. Considering everyone¡¯s characters, they would likely stay behind and die together should danger descend.

    ¡°Ruoxi¡­¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t finished speaking when the girl cut him short. ¡°I¡¯m just that willful and troublesome!¡±

    Qianye felt awkward, but seeing his sister on the verge of tears, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh. He simply couldn¡¯t say the words he had prepared.

    Song Zining suddenly approached with an odd expression and whispered something into Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s ears. The girl¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°Really?¡±

    Song Zining said decisively, ¡°When have I ever reneged on my words!?¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi said, ¡°Everybody says the words you say to women can¡¯t be trusted!¡±

    Song Zining blushed hard. ¡°Nonsense, there¡¯s no such thing!¡±

    ¡°Oh,st time, I heard Xu Yun¡¯er from the Ling Dong Xu Family saying¡­¡±

    Song Zining was flustered. ¡°Hold it, hold it! Those are twopletely different situations. How can those little girlspare to you?¡±

    ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m old?¡±

    Song Zining choked up and immediately turned away from the sensitive topic. ¡°You just have to trust me once. It¡¯s better than everyone dying.¡±

    No one knew what she was thinking, but finally, she said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll trust you just this once. But if I find out you were lying to me, you¡¯d best be prepared to face the consequences. I¡¯m not like those little girls, our Zhao family is very vengeful!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, I would never dare to lie to you! Just leave now, or it¡¯ll be troublesometer on,¡± Song Zining urged repeatedly.

    At this point, Ji Tianqing¡¯s expression changed somewhat. She had apparently sensed something.

    Zhao Ruoxi hesitated for a moment. ¡°What will you guys do after I leave?¡±

    ¡°With the Red Spider Lily gone, he naturally won¡¯t target us anymore. Besides, you¡¯re the only one who can go back directly.¡±

    ¡°But the Demoness¡­¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s not a problem. This ce has be a source of cmity, she¡¯ll be in big trouble if she¡¯s targeted by that fellow.¡±

    Zhao Ruoxi stopped being headstrong. She nced deeply at Qianye as countless red spider lilies engulfed her before vanishing.

    After Zhao Ruoxi was gone, Zhao Yuying noticed the strange expression on Wei Potian¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to Ruoxi¡¯s nonsense about the Zhao familydies being vengeful. This mommy isn¡¯t that kind of person! I¡¯ve always been straightforward and candid, getting back at whoever owes me on the spot. What¡¯s there to be vengeful about?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression shifted once more.

    Song Zining said, ¡°There¡¯s not much time left, let¡¯s hurry.¡±

    At this moment, a vague sense of danger had enveloped everyone, so much so that even the slow Wei Potian was somewhat moved. Naturally, no one dared to tarry, and they even stopped having apprehensions about traveling through the night. The group set out immediately toward the starting area.

    ording to Song Zining¡¯s analysis, the gravity in the starting area was only a bit higher than the Evernight Continent, and the origin power wasn¡¯t too dense, either. To the fierce beasts and four-armed people from the high-gravity zone, the ce was a barren wilderness. Staying here for prolonged periods would make them so ufortable that they would fail to disy their fullbat strength. The Empire had been operating in the Great Maelstrom for hundreds of years, so despite the modest number of people, the small fortress had been fully constructed.

    They were basically safe if they could flee into the fortifications. The two-armed and four-armed warriors had never appeared in the Empire¡¯s area before. The captured humans were mostly subdued when they were exploring the high-gravity region.

    If worse came to worst, they could use the passage at the fortress to return to the Empire. Although it wasn¡¯t time to open yet, the return journey would be much easier and safer than during their entry. Considering this group¡¯s strength, there was a good chance they would be able to force their way through.

    That being said, everyone had a clear objective in mind as they fled.

    Among them, Qianye was the fastest because he possessed Spatial sh. However, he refused to escape on his own, and would even slow down to take care of the slowest ones in the group. Needless to say, the slowest one in the group was Wei Potian. His cultivation was a tad lower than everyone else, and he could no longer hold out after an hour of running.

    Qianye grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him halfway into the air. He then traveled like a gust of wind and soon caught up to the main group.

    The Wei n heir finally caught his breath and said intermittently, ¡°Qianye, when did you achieve such a high level in divination?¡±

    ¡°Divination? I know just as little as you do.¡±

    ¡°Then how did you sense the danger? To be honest, I still haven¡¯t sensed anything, and I have no idea why you guys are so nervous.¡±

    Speaking of this matter, Qianye had only discovered that something was off after seeing Song Zining performing divination and asking Zhao Ruoxi to leave. Back then, he was observing the changes in the Book of Darkness when his perception spread out in all directions with the aid of the mysterious tome. It was just like when he was inside the Constetion Well.

 Chapter 1066: The Book of Darkness: Flourish

    The group traveled swiftly for one day and night, only heaving a sigh of relief when they were a bit further from the high-gravity region.

    Among them, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were of higher cultivation and possessed arge repertoire of secret arts. Zhao Yuying, on the other hand, wasn''t adept at long-distance running, so she had to stop and catch her breath. Qianye was half-dead from exhaustion because he had to carry Wei Potian all the way. Fortunately, the group could no longer sense the threat they had been feeling before.

    After pitching the tent, they immediately started cultivating as no one had the energy left to talk. Song Zining set up several drifting leaves around the camp to serve as a warning.

    As someone with a vampire constitution, Qianye could recover swiftly as long as there was essence blood. After channeling a cycle of the Song n Ancient Scroll, most of his origin power had been replenished. He opened his eyes and nced around to find that Ji Tianqing was only half recovered¡ªand she was regenerating the quickest.

    Now that he had some time, Qianye began observing the Book of Darkness.

    After opening the book, he noticed that the first page had an extra line on it. ¡°Chapter Two: Flourish.¡±

    After Genesis, it should¡¯ve been Refinement, but thetter had not only grown smaller, but it had also been pushed to the bottom of the page where the epilogue should be. This Flourish Chapter was the true second chapter of the Book of Darkness.

    Remembering something, Qianye flipped the book to the Genesis chapter. He had read its contents countless times¡ªa speck of light appeared in the middle of nothingness and expanded in all directions.

    It would be correct to say that the void wasn¡¯t nothingness. Qianye found out from the Book of Darkness that it was also a certain existence. There was only nothing before the void was born: no space, no time, no material, no spirit. Nothing existed in that expanse of darkness.

    The universe was only born with the expansion of the void.

    Although he had watched this y out many times, Qianye could hardly understand what was there before the void expanded. What did the void upy? Nothingness was easy to describe as a word, but it was beyond difficult to imagine.

    Without further thought, Qianye flipped to the second chapter, Flourish.

    Represented by the ancient words for Flourish, the second chapter talked about how myriad life appeared amidst the first radiance. Light gave birth to mist, mist produced clouds, and stars gradually appeared amidst the clouds. Then, one after another, non-burnings appeared between the stars. As the number of stars ands increased, floating continents appeared as well, each forming their own little realm.

    Qianye watched this record of creation with bated breath, and was almost lost in it.

    In the blink of an eye, the entire sky was filled with stars, continents, ands, each with its own flourishing heaven and earth.

    The Book of Darkness wasn¡¯t big, but it was able to rey the creation of a thousand realms. It was an iparably awesome ability, but there was no immediate use for that. At the very least, Qianye couldn¡¯t see how this would increase his strength.

    The Book of Darkness took but a moment to rey the evolution of this world. Qianye opened his eyes to find that not much time had passed¡ªJi Tianqing had only recovered eighty percent of her energy, let alone the others. As such, he sunk his consciousness into the book toprehend the evolution process.

    After repeated observations, Qianye got the sudden idea to try focusing his attention on certain stars. The Book of Darkness began drawing on his blood energy and origin power to magnify the star until it was the size of a rice-grain. Qianye could now see that it was a ball of raging mes.

    There were clouds of misty energy swirling around the star, forming a belt of light. If this star was a true world, then it would be incredibly big. The ring of light around it was even bigger, so much so that Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out how to measure it.

    Looking at the Book of Darkness, Qianye knew he was looking at the entire universe. His consciousness was iparably smallpared to the vastness of time and space. This made him tremble involuntarily.

    Qianye was suddenly shaken. ¡°That¡¯s void origin power!¡±

    The void origin power in the ring of light was so dense that it was glowing. One could easily imagine how intense the energy there was.

    Looking at the belt of light, Qianye felt that it was somewhat simr to an origin vortex. Humans would cultivate until origin power condensed from gaseous to liquid state, and then form an origin vortex. This process was quite simr to how the starry mists condensed into starry clouds during creation. ording to this train of thought, weren¡¯t thosesparable to the origin crystals formed after bing a divine champion?

    Qianye studied the ring of light carefully, and found that there were countless specks of origin power being drawn in by the central star, which were then radiated back into the cold, dark void in the form of fire and light.

    He then thought back to the process of creation and was suddenly enlightened. It turned out that human cultivation integrated the concepts of Genesis itself. The founding ancestor who had pioneered the path of cultivation had to be an unparalleled genius!

    While he was shaken by the discovery, another question appeared in his mind.

    He had looked up at the starry skies before and had also traveled between continents. He had also experienced the void itself briefly during his fight with Linken. Be it on the Western, Transcendent, or Evernight Continent, whether he was in the void or standing at the edge of the continent, the stars above all looked the same.

    The records left behind by peerless Imperial experts say that the stars hanging in the sky were extremely distant¡ªthe distance was unimaginable. The entire universe, except for thes and continents, was upied by a cold, empty void that filled one with despair.

    Those peerless experts exploring the void had to be prepared to never return. That made sense because even vampires, with their ten thousand years of life, might not be able to reach those distants.

    That being said, how did the founding ancestor know about the creation of this world?

    Qianye knew there was no answer to this question. Perhaps one of the predecessors possessed something akin to the Book of Darkness.

    Having figured out the origins of human cultivation, Qianye¡¯s thoughts were affected by the enlightenment. He simply emptied his mind and began meditating on the evolution of the universe.

    Gradually, his aura became empty, faint, and suffused with an indescribable vor.

    He remained immersed for an unknown length of time before an alert to danger dragged him back from his thoughts.

    The earth trembled as killing intent rushed into the air from all directions. The sky was no longer dark but filled with an eerie golden-green and shes of extreme light. At this point, even the slowest person could tell that things weren¡¯t looking good. Shocked out of his wits, Qianye wondered why he had only reacted at this point.

    Everyone woke up in surprise, exchanging nces with unsightly expressions. Song Zining picked up a floating leaf and crushed it with a solemn expression. ¡°They¡¯re outside my domain¡¯s range, so I couldn¡¯t sense them. That¡¯s odd, how did they know we were resting here?

    Qianye frowned. ¡°We weren¡¯t slow. How did they even catch up?¡±

    At this point, they had been surrounded in all directions by a big army. It made sense if a couple of fierce beasts had caught up to them, but Qianye¡¯s group had been traveling at extreme speeds. Only a divine champion like the Wolf King would be able to catch up to them.

    Ji Tianqing said all of a sudden, ¡°The Great Maelstrom is their domain, anything can happen.¡±

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Zhao Yuying couldn¡¯t help but ask. Those in the group were the strongest and most resolute the Empire¡¯s younger generation had to offer. Besides, they were led by Song Zining, known as the future god strategist.

    Song Zining and Ji Tianqing whispered amongst themselves for a bit. ¡°We gather in one ce and break out of the encirclement. This direction!¡±

    Qianye nced in that direction and found that the killing intent there was indeed a bit weaker, but that route did not lead toward the Imperial fortress.

    Zhao Yuying said with a frown, ¡°This isn¡¯t the right way, is it?¡±

    ¡°Since they can intercept us here, they¡¯ll surely have an ambush set up on the way to the Imperial fortress.¡±

    ¡°Are they that smart?¡± Zhao Yuying was surprised.

    Song Zining took a deep breath. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s outside, but how can they not be intelligent when they managed to surround us?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°Let¡¯s charge out first and we¡¯ll see.¡±

    Everyone agreed. They soon formed a smallbat squad with Qianye at the van, and Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann on either side of him. These two were the most powerful and thus the most suitable to apany Qianye on the charge. As a long-range shooter, Zhao Yuying was at the center of the lineup. Wei Potian served as the rear guard, while Song Zining would roam the battlefield.

    Qianye retracted his aura and moved alone toward the encirclement. He was nning to approach the enemy before erupting in power.

    However, killing intent surged as he was a hundred meters away from the enemy, and there was moreing in from the left and right.

    Qianye cried out in rm, knowing that he had beenpromised. As such, he stood up and charged at top speed!

    Countless tall figures appeared under the night sky. Their ferocity was boundless, and their four arms looked exceptionally sinister with many different weapons in their grasp.

    Seeing that the enemy were indeed four-armed warriors, Qianye felt a bit more relieved and focused. He had fought numerous risky battles in the high-gravity region, and couldn¡¯t be more familiar with the four-armed warriors. However, things were different this time. The four-armed natives formed a dense sea of warriors under the moonlight, and there were almost too many to count.

    It was a mystery how so many four-armed warriors had appeared out of nowhere. The danger at present stopped Qianye from overthinking things. He let out a loud shout as he activated Spatial sh and appeared in the midst of the four-armed natives. There, he activated the full power of his oceanic domain and brought boundless weight crashing down upon them!

    However, the four-armed warriors had long since gotten used to ten-times the gravity. They were even more mobile under the domain as they crowded toward Qianye.

    This was what he wanted. Blood color appeared in his eyes as countless sanguine threads shot out in all directions, stabbing into the bodies of the four-armed people.

    Life Plunder!

    At this point, this killer move had gotten even stronger with the upgrade to Qianye¡¯s blood energy. The fine threads of blood were iparably sharp¡ªeven the strong bodies of the four-armed natives were prated by several sanguine threads. Not just that, they would usually pierce through several four-armed warriors in one go.

    After the sanguine threads were drawn back, each of them brought back a crystalline drop of essence blood. The four-armed natives contained extreme amounts of essence blood, eachparable to a count. With such a great amount of essence blood entering his body, Qianye felt as though he was about to burst. He couldn¡¯t help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

    The stabbed four-armed natives staggered, but only a dozen or so of them copsed, while the remainder were alive. One could see from this just how powerful their vitality was.

    Following Life Plunder, the four-armed natives in the area became extremely weak. The crowd behind Qianye rushed forward and broke out of the encirclement.

 Chapter 1067: Six-Armed Gian

    Relying on Qianye¡¯s sudden assault, the Imperial group rushed out of the encirclement and fled at full speed.

    The camp had been surrounded on all sides. If the weakest side was made up of hundreds of four-armed warriors, one could easily imagine how much more there would be on the other sides. How had they not sensed such an umtion of four-armed natives?

    No one was in the mood to think too deeply into this issue. They were focused on fleeing because any dy would leave them surrounded by the four-armed soldiers, sealing their fate.

    Qianye reduced his speed somewhat and fell back to the rear end of the group to keep watch. Wei Potian, on the other hand, was charging at the very front, intent on fleeing for his life. No one had the extra energy to help him, so he could only charge ahead at full speed. He had no time to observe anything else, lest he drags down the entire group.

    Song Zining ran alongside Qianye, the flying leaves around him acting as sentries.

    Qianye looked back and saw that the four-armed warriors had been left far behind, but the danger in his heart increased instead. ¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯d let us go like that after amassing so many people, right?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. He pointed in a certain direction, saying, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s impossible.¡±

    In front of the group, a giant figure was standing up as though it had just awakened from a dream. Even from a great distance, everyone could clearly see that the figure was dozens of meters tall, its arms spread out like a demonic god. The worst part was the bow it was holding!

    ¡°Careful!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when the giant nocked an arrow and fired!

    Despite the massive frame, the giant¡¯s movements were as swift as lightning. The entire process waspleted in one go, not giving anyone the time to react. The top young geniuses of the Empire only realized when the arrow was about to strike.

    This projectile was several meters long and as thick as a person¡¯s thigh, not so far off from the ballista bolts used on Imperial warships.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank. Everything produced in the high-gravity region was extremely firm and shockingly heavy. This giant arrow was as heavy as a mountain and moving at such great speed. How was one to block it?

    Wei Potian was at the front of the group. Evasion was never his forte, and even if it was, he knew he couldn¡¯t. He simply stood firm and unleashed a loud roar. He was surrounded in a solemn aura as an illusory mountain appeared above him. Immediately afterward, one mountain became two, two mountains became four, and four mountains soon transformed into an entire mountain range around the group.

    At the juncture of life and death, Wei Potian managed to squeeze out every bit of his potential. The Thousand Mountains had actually reached a stage of initial sess, attaining the realm of a thousand immovable peaks.

    Despite that, a single person was nowhere near enough to contend with the heavy arrow fired by a six-armed giant.

    The bolt crashed into the projection, immediately shattering the countless mountain peaks. Wei Potian coughed up a mouthful of blood at the same time, but he stood tall and continued to channel his origin power. The shattered mountains in the air broke down into smaller fragments, which then transformed into a pool of yellow sand around the heavy arrow. It was an attempt to borrow the projectile¡¯s iing momentum to deflect it!

    This transformation from firm to soft was extremely clever. Qianye would¡¯ve shouted ¡°good job¡± if they weren¡¯t in a perilous situation.

    The heavy arrow¡¯s direction began to shift, and it seemed like it would fly horizontally overhead. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann appeared on either side of the giant projectile and gave it a coordinated lift. The giant bolt turned upward and shot diagonally into the night sky.

    The two girls sunk into the ground from the recoil and also coughed up blood.

    Zhao Yuying was pale from the suppressive might of the arrow, and for a while, she couldn¡¯t even move her arms.

    That arrow was aimed at Zhao Yuying. Judging from how powerful that projectile was, it would have probably sted her to pieces and heavily injured everyone else in the group. Fortunately, Wei Potian had understood the situation and miraculously nullified the most destructive part of the impact. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had also contributed greatly by guiding the arrow away together.

    A single arrow had injured three people. The six-armed giant seemed furious that his arrow had aplished nothing. With a loud roar, he drew his bow again and made ready to fire.

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He was in no state to activate Thousand Mountains again. Not to mention a mountain range, he could no longer conjure even a small hill. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann were still struggling to get out of the ground. All three of them would lose their lives if another arrow were to arrive.

    It was at this time that a dazzling light lit up close to the giant¡¯s side. Despite being a good distance away, the radiance was so bright that one could hardly look straight at it. Soon afterward, a sanguine light erupted on the six-armed giant¡¯s head, followed by a fountain of spraying blood. Its massive body staggered from the impact and almost tripped over. The swaying giant let loose an arrow from the taut bow, which flew above everyone¡¯s heads and into the group of four-armed warriors.

    Where the heavy arrownded, the earth swelled up like a newborn hill and exploded in a shower of grey light!

    Hundreds of four-armed warriors were thrown into the air. The pir of grey radiance tore everyone in its wake, throwing broken limbs and pieces of flesh everywhere.

    The six-armed giant¡¯s heavy arrow was just that terrifying.

    Only at this moment did the rumbling sound arrive from the front. From behind was the explosion from the giant projectile, and from the front was the rumble of an origin gun. The sound waves arrived slightlyter, but it was as majestic as the boundless ocean waves.

    The six-armed giant swayed about unsteadily, dropping its weapon and holding its head in furious agony.

    Everyone saw how Qianye had appeared beside the giant with Spatial sh and sted its forehead with an origin gun.

    The power of this weapon was earth-shattering¡ªit was Heartgrave.

    The six-armed giant lowered its arms and roared loudly at Qianye, firing a wave of visible runes from its mouth.

    There was no way Qianye would dare to meet that attack head-on. He dragged his exhausted body and shed a thousand meters away.

    The runic attack missed its mark and ended up drawing a gulch in the ground, one that was ten meters in width and hundreds of meters long. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel apprehensive about it.

    A deep excavation was visible on the giant¡¯s forehead as it lowered its arms. One could almost see the brain fluid inside as a part of the skull had been sted away by Qianye¡¯s shot. Judging from the wound, the giant¡¯s skull was over half a meter thick. The skeleton of these monsters from the high-gravity region was even harder than high-grade alloy materials. The defensive prowess of this skullbone wasparable to an Imperial battleship.

    The giant went berserk after its attack missed. It turned toward Qianye and waved its arms about, grabbing and smashing at Qianye with various weapons. The giant couldn¡¯t tell apart the dozens of four-armed natives at its feet, and plowed right through them on his charge toward Qianye.

    The four-armed warriors were powerful, but they were immediately crippled by the giant¡¯s swinging weapons. The scene of them being swatted away filled Qianye¡¯s group with dread. Even with his ancient vampire constitution, Qianye could only contend with the four-armed soldiers. There was no way he could take a blow from the giant and survive.

    He put away Heartgrave and shed a thousand meters away.

    The six-armed giant stared fixedly at Qianye and started giving chase once more. It traveled several dozen meters with every step and was also extremely swift. The strange runes in its eyes, allowed it to easily lock onto Qianye. Thetter would be found out even after a Spatial sh.

    Fortunately, the giant was in great pain and its head wasn¡¯t very clear, only focusing on chasing after Qianye. Otherwise, thetter would be hard-pressed to evade if the six-armed general were to stand still and shoot from a distance using homing techniques.

    The current giant had its eyes entirely on Qianye. This was a good opportunity for Ji Tianqing and the others to escape. ¡°I¡¯ll drag him away, you guys run!¡±

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying had just pulled Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing out from the ground. ¡°No! We go together if we¡¯re going!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Qianye can deal with it.¡±

    Zhao Yuying looked back and saw that it was Song Zining. Livid, she said, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯re so afraid of death? You¡¯d rather escape and leave Qianye behind?¡±

    Song Zining was also angry. He shouted, ¡°Qianye has methods that will take him away! He won¡¯t leave if we don¡¯t. Are you trying to kill everyone here? Idi¡­¡±

    He held back at the precise moment before theplete words had been spelled out.

    Zhao Yuying snorted. She red at Song Zining and said coldly, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll remember what you said.¡±

    She looked around and said, ¡°Split up and flee!¡±

    This was what Song Zining had in mind as well. If everyone were to stick together, they would bepletely wiped out if they met another six-armed general.

    Everyone was decisive. Without any unnecessary words, they all picked their respective directions and ran.

    Wei Potian instinctively picked a direction close to Zhao Yuying¡¯s. He hadn¡¯t taken many steps when he heard a voice from behind, ¡°Come with me!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wei Potian switched directions to meet up with Zhao Yuying. ¡°Weren¡¯t we supposed to split up?¡±

    ¡°Idiot! You can¡¯t fight, and you can¡¯t flee, either. Are you trying to get yourself killed by not sticking to me?¡± While speaking, Zhao Yuying put an arm around Wei Potian¡¯s waist and hoisted him forward, soon disappearing into the distance.

    Qianye kept the six-armed giant¡¯s attention on himself, evading several attacks in the nick of time. Finally, he managed to hold out until everyone was gone from sight.

    This six-armed giant¡¯s vitality was extremely powerful. Even with a piece of its skull missing, it was still very much well and alive. Qianye scanned the monster and found that an oily membrane had formed over the injury, keeping the brain fluids inside. Apparently, there was no immediate threat to its life.

    An all-out attack from Heartgrave was only able to st away a part of its skull. That single shot had almost exhausted all of Qianye¡¯s origin power. All he could do now was evade because he had no energy left to retaliate. If he could fire Heartgrave again, he really wanted tond another shot at the giant¡¯s head. He wanted to see if that big fellow could stand up again after all of this.

    Seeing that everyone had fled, Qianye stopped dying things further. He flickered several thousand meters away and left like a beam of flowing light.

 Chapter 1068: A Tangled Chase

    Despite having escaped his pursuers, for the time being, Qianye¡¯s heart was covered in ayer of dust. This ufortable feeling was a sign that danger hadn¡¯t left. That six-armed giant possessed terrifying vitality and would heal in less than half a day¡¯s time. Actually, the wound didn¡¯t really hamper his ability to chase them down.

    Qianye began thinking of a n while fleeing.

    Just running wasn¡¯t a solution because the six-armed giant possessed boundless stamina¡ªalmost as though it would never grow tired. Qianye could run all the way back to the Imperial fort due to his full essence blood stores, but he would also be luring the giant over. Although Ji Tianqing had described the fort as iparably sturdy, there was no telling if it could actually stop the six-armed giant.

    Neither fight nor flight seemed to be a viable option. Qianye¡¯s all-out attack had struck the monster¡¯s head, a weakness for most creatures, yet the six-armed giant was still fine. Qianye was at a loss about what to do since the only way was to find its true weakness and deal a single lethal blow.

    Zhao Ruoxi had mentioned her killing a six-armed general, but ording to her recount, the opponent was only half the size of this one. The strength of the creatures in the high-gravity region corresponded to their size. Those without sufficient strength couldn¡¯t even stand up.

    Zhao Ruoxi had killed a six-armed general with rtive ease mainly because she possessed the Red Spider Lily. The magnum had grown exponentially more powerful in the Great Maelstrom, and its attack targeted space and spirit, the bane of such creatures. Her easy kill caused Qianye to underestimate the enemy¡¯s strength. Only after personally fighting the six-armed giant did he truly experience how terrifying it was.

    Such a terrifying creature also possessed secret arts that could see through Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh. It could also discover people with hidden auras, which would turn any potential ambush into a disastrous joke. How was one to fight such an enemy?

    The first thing to do now was to find a way out.

    Qianye recalled the map of the Great Maelstrom as he ran. The map he had in his mind was pieced together from the data provided by the Ji, Li, Song, and Zhao families. There was probably no second map soplete, but from what he had experienced on this journey, it would seem the map only covered a small corner of the Great Maelstrom.

    The map was iplete in many areas, much like ink spots on a sheet of white paper. And that was exactly where Qianye nned to go.

    These empty areas intersected closely with the Empire¡¯s chartednds. Just as the Constetion Well had belonged to the Empire for a long time, these ces were resources controlled solely by Evernight. Human experts had never paid them any attention because they were useless for the Empire. The number of people entering the Great Maelstrom from each faction was very limited, so no one would spend limited human resources on useless things.

    Qianye plotted a convoluted route that would pass through several empty regions. This was a n to divert one¡¯s cmity. It was fine if no one was around in these spots, but if the dark race experts happened to be around, they would find that the six-armed giant¡¯s attacks were a force to be reckoned with.

    Having formted his n, Qianye switched directions and ran swiftly ahead. That murky feeling in his chest never went away, which meant that the six-armed giant was still targeting him.

    One day and night passed by in the blink of an eye. Qianye was still running along the mountain range. Far away behind him, several pirs of smoke could be seen rising into the air.

    That was a mining zone. The dark races had built a small fortress at some point, and there were a dozen or so experts guarding it. There were also arge number of servspiders, some of them dozens of meters in height. These creatures, possessing a basic level of intelligence, served as manualbor for the mines. Apparently, the dark races were nning something important here.

    Qianye ran past the fortress walls without any concealment, rming the entire base. rms red as the dark races swarmed out like the tides. However, Qianye was so fast that he was already long gone by the time the fortress had reacted. Meanwhile, a massive figure began to appear over the distant horizon.

    An arachne count was in charge of defenses here. His legs went soft the moment he saw that giant figure, almost copsing to the floor. Before he could even issue an order, a heavy arrow flew in from yonder.

    ¡°T-This¡­¡±

    All sound was temporarily devoured by the earth-shattering explosion.

    Several days passed by as Qianye weaved through eight such dark race territories. Most were empty, but three of them were well-constructed, just like the Song n¡¯s Heavenschild Pasture. Unlike the pasture¡¯s single upant, however, the dark race settlements were garrisoned by various races. The most useful of the lot was still the arachne servspiders.

    Developing the three resource points to this state was a decade¡¯s worth of work at least. After Qianye passed by with the six-armed giant on his tail, the monstrosity destroyed everything in its wake. This misdirection was extremely malicious, and dealt a heavy blow to the dark races who had decided to set up camp here.

    Qianye discovered that he couldn¡¯t shake off the six-armed creature no matter what he did. During the several days of pursuit, not only did the giant not grow tired, but it even started to move faster and faster¡ªit was clearly adapting to the low-gravity environment. Qianye¡¯s troubles weren¡¯t just behind him, though.

    Several four-armed warriors walked out of the forest in front of him. They nced over at Qianye, weapons at the ready.

    Qianye elerated calmly. As the two sides closed in, he let out a loud roar and swept forward with his domain power, taking this opportunity to pass through the staggered enemies.

    These four-armed natives finally steadied themselves and were about to give chase when a massive shadow appeared. Soon, a giant leg descended from the air and crushed two warriors into meat paste.

    The six-armed giant was entirely ignorant of the situation beneath its foot¡ªperhaps it wouldn¡¯t care even if it was aware. It merely took the next step and was soon dozens of meters away.

    After the six-armed giant had left, the surviving four-armed warriors walked about in confusion for a while. Then, as though having sensed something, the natives quickly formed a group and ran away in a certain direction.

    In Qianye¡¯s consciousness, the map was already filled with a tangled mess of lines¡ªthat was the route he had just weaved through. Although he had destroyed several dark race bases in the process, he still couldn¡¯t lose the six-armed giant. He didn¡¯t dare approach the Imperial settlement, either. If Song Zining and the others were hiding there, everyone would be done for.

    After ying cat and mouse for so many days, there was a question Qianye couldn¡¯t quite figure out: how was that six-armed giant sustaining itself?

    The giant¡¯s build was massive, and as a native of the high-gravity region, every muscle in its body was iparably heavy. Every step should rightly drain a great deal of energy. Yet, the monstrosity had chased Qianye for several days and even forced him to use Spatial sh in the most recent exchange. Thetter had already exhausted all essence blood in his body, and there was no backup stock in the Book of Darkness, either. He had no other choice but to fight the intercepting four-armed warriors and use Life Plunder to replenish himself.

    At this rate, the six-armed giant would catch up to him sooner orter.

    Qianye felt worried as he checked the map. He had been running back and forth, but every time, the six-armed giant would intercept him. Each trip wasn¡¯t much, but the giant had run for shocking distances in umtion. Currently, the monstrosity was on par with Qianye in terms of speed and possessed much greater endurance. Leading it in circles wasn¡¯t a practical idea.

    While thinking about what to do, Qianye¡¯s eyes suddenlynded on an eye-catching mark.

    Pond of Life!

    This was a dangerous location, but also one of great opportunities. Ignoring everything else for now, just the Marine Lotus alone was enough for countless Imperial experts to throw themselves in. On the other hand, this was the most notorious ce, so much so that it could only be more perilous than the high-gravity region where Qianye had started out.

    He had several ways to deal with the frigid night, like robbing white-fruit wine and using it to suppress the effects. Those possessing higher cultivation and certain secret arts wouldn¡¯t need to pay a steep price. Ji Tianqing, for instance, was surviving quite well on her own before meeting Qianye.

    The Pond of Life, however, was different. This trial of spirit and willpower had nothing to do with one¡¯s cultivation. Stronger experts usually possessed greater willpower and determination, but all of this was rtive. ording to Imperial records, less than half of the divine champions could even approach the pond.

    Besides, one couldn¡¯t fake the trial or try to pass just by boasting about determination. Hypnosis or risking one¡¯s life wouldn¡¯t work, either. That was why countless experts had fallen in the Pond of Life, including many famous names. There were even geniuses among them at Zhao Jundu¡¯s level.

    Because the Pond of Life posed a greater threat than the benefits it offered, the empire had no choice but to figure out a different n. For instance, they would pick out a desperate or crazy prisoner, and teach him special secret arts. Then, he would be ced in the Great Maelstrom for the Pond of Life.

    These people afforded the empire a stable method to harvest the marine lotus and other secret herbs.

    This kind of secret art involved a great price. Once over-channeled, the operator would lose all emotions and be left with neither sorrow nor joy. In the end, they would be devoid of all desires and wants,pletely transforming into a living dead. Hence, from a certain perspective, those entering the Pond of Life were more or less expendable.

    The Pond of Life was part of Qianye¡¯s nned trips back when he was in the high-gravity region. Hence, Ji Tianqing had taught him this secret art. In case Qianye lost control of himself and couldn¡¯t leave the pond in time, channeling this art would allow him to hang on to dear life. The process of zombification required a month or two at least, just enough time to make arrangements for the future.

    The Pond of Life ced great restraint on both humans and dark races. It didn¡¯t hold back against the natives, either. Every year, arge number of strange new beasts would be produced here from the cross-mating. Most creatures, however, would lose themselves and ultimately sink to the bottom of the pond.

    The six-armed giant had been heavily injured, and it was going berserk out of instinct. Qianye wanted to lure it into the Pond of Life and see how firm its willpower was. If it was affected or even controlled, Qianye would have the opportunity to escapepletely.

 Chapter 1069: Peak of Daybreak

    ording to the map, the Pond of Life was further in the northwest. Qianye stopped hesitating and turned toward the pond at full speed. Beneath his feet, the earth was trembling from the weight of the six-armed giant¡¯s resounding footsteps.

    Both in front of him or to his sides, there were squads upon squads of four-armed warriors. They would swarm over immediately upon seeing Qianye, but thetter¡¯s speed was far superior. He was faster even when skirting around them. The six-armed giant, on the other hand, was solely focused on Qianye, and paid little heed to the pesky four-arms blocking his way. He would simply stomp them to death or kick them away.

    Immediately, the entire mountain and wilderness were filled with roaming four-armed warriors.

    At this moment, Zhao Yuying, Wei Potian, and Song Zining were standing atop the Imperial fortress. The three looked down the fortifications with dark expressions.

    A four-armed warrior was patrolling the area not too far away. It gazed toward the fortress for a good while and ultimately walked over.

    The three lowered themselves and hid behind the wall. The fortress wasn¡¯t big by any measure, and it was hidden inside a massive concealment array. Even so, the trio still hid instinctively to avoid being discovered. Having experienced the high-gravity region, they were deeply knowledgeable about the ferocity of the four-armed warriors. Those who didn¡¯t know any better were already dead on their way back.

    The four-armed warrior paused in puzzlement but still kept on moving toward the fortress. When it was a couple hundred meters from the wall, an extremely sharp whistle echoed through the air. An arrow so fast that it was barely visible struck the four-armed warrior¡¯s throat!

    The shot was so powerful that the warrior was lifted off the ground and flung ten meters away. It struggled on the ground for a good while before falling motionless.

    Wei Potain heaved a sigh. ¡°Although this isn¡¯t the first time, every time I see them, I can¡¯t help but feel how perverted these monsters are. Goddammit, how can they be so strong? Even Elder Qi¡¯s arrow can¡¯t break their necks.¡±

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°That¡¯s not surprising. Even Qianye¡¯s shot only sted a small hole in that monster¡¯s skull.¡±

    Wei Potian was somewhat dissatisfied. ¡°How can Qianyepare to Elder Qi? The man has been here for almost fifty years and trained only in the path of the arrow. This shot of his isparable to a bullet from a grade-eight gun.¡±

    Wei Potian had little contact with Qianye throughout the years and wasn¡¯t too familiar with histest progress. That was why he had made this judgment. Elder Qi was an arrogant genius who had entered the Great Maelstrom fifty years ago, but now, he was an old man in his waning years. He had crossed the divine champion realm inside the Great Maelstrom but chose to stay and guard the Imperial fortress. That guard duty hadsted forty years now.

    A gunshot inside the Great Maelstrom would always cause a greatmotion. Although the fortress was in the starting region and the beasts here weren¡¯t too powerful, the elder still decided to give up the gun and take up archery. Today, his skill with the bow and arrow had reached near-perfection.

    Zhao Yuying possessed much better insight. She immediately became pensive but didn¡¯t say anything.

    Song Zining snorted. ¡°That gun of his is grade nine.¡±

    ¡°A grade nine gun!¡± Wei Potian gasped in shock, almost jumping up in fright. ¡°How can he even use a grade nine weapon? Wouldn¡¯t it drain himpletely?¡±

    Song Zining shot him a sidelong nce. ¡°You¡¯re the drained one, not Qianye.¡±

    Wei Potian mumbled, ¡°As if you¡¯re not exhausted.¡±

    These words defeated Song Zining, which in and of itself was a rare happening in verbal spars.

    Zhao Yuying couldn¡¯t help but speak out, ¡°Enough quarreling! Potian, you shut up. Song Seven, when do you think Qianye will return?¡±

    Wei Potian shut up obediently, but Song Zining only shrugged with a wry smile. ¡°How can I even guess under these circumstances?¡±

    Since the appearance of countless four-armed natives, the situation inside the Great Maelstrom had be incredibly chaotic. Song Zining had tried divining Qianye¡¯s status before, but he was struck by bacsh right at the outset. He would¡¯ve been injured had he not given up on the attempt decisively. Even despite that, he still coughed up blood and hadn¡¯t fully recovered from the damage.

    Zhao Yuying knew that forcing Song Zining would be akin to asking him tomit suicide. ¡°I wonder what¡¯s up with those two foxes. They still haven¡¯t returned.¡±

    ¡°Foxes? Who?¡± Song Zining was baffled.

    Zhao Yuying replied unceremoniously, ¡°Who else but Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann? Who else could I be addressing? Ruoxi?¡±

    ¡°Why are they foxes?¡± Song Zining found it weird.

    Zhao Yuying snorted. ¡°Do you really need me to point out a reason? You can smell their foulness from a mile away.¡±

    Seeing both Song Zining and Wei Potian stunned, she felt a bit embarrassed. ¡°It¡¯s just a feeling, I have no proof.¡±

    Li Kuann was as cold as ice, and it was only inside the Great Maelstrom that everyone discovered she was a girl. Ji Tianqing, on the other hand, had always been mysterious and no one knew her true appearance up to this day. Perhaps only Qianye had seen her. These twodies simply couldn¡¯t be associated with foxes no matter how one looked.

    Song Zining did know a bit of inside information. He raised a big thumbs up inside his mind while praising, ¡°Miss Yuying has good intuition indeed.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was somewhat disdainful. He felt that Song Zining was deliberately ttering Zhao Yuying. Praising a girl for a correct guess was the same principle as praising her for her beauty¡ªthey usually worked well on mostdies.

    Zhao Yuying herself felt a bit embarrassed. She scratched her head, saying, ¡°I just don¡¯t like them, it¡¯s nothing important. They¡¯re quite powerful in a fight, this mommy might not be a match.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Yuying steered the topic away to idle gossip. ¡°You said they came out of the high-gravity region with Qianye, maybe some things happened between them?¡±

    Wei Potian arrived with an expression of interest. Zhao Yuying pped his head and said angrily, ¡°What does this have to do with you?¡±

    Song Zining waved his folding fan. ¡°Yuying, let me warn you. Not to mention Kuann, even Ji Tianqing isn¡¯t an ordinary person. They both have talent in divination, probably not inferior to mine, and possess protective treasures. It might be fine here, but try not to talk behind their backs too often. They might sense something if you¡¯re unlucky.¡±

    Zhao Yuyingughed, ¡°There¡¯s no way someone of my ability will receive that kind of treatment.¡±

    Sheughed a bit but stopped after seeing Song Zining¡¯s serious expression. ¡°You think I¡¯m not that weak anymore?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°The high-gravity region refines the body, the Constetion Well refines the soul, and you have also obtained supportive treasures along the way. After all of these experiences in the Great Maelstrom, your cultivation will increase by leaps and bounds afterward. Yuying, you¡¯ve always been valued by everyone. Your status was higher than your strength in the past, but now, your strength will exceed your status.¡±

    A smile blossomed on Zhao Yuying¡¯s face, which then erupted into an ostentatiousugh. She pped Wei Potian¡¯s back so hard that the fellow almost fell to the ground. ¡°Hear that? Even Song Seven evaluates me so highly. If you don¡¯t try harder after going back, I might just leave you in the dust!¡±

    Wei Potian said helplessly, ¡°I¡¯m fighting wars every day in the Far East Province, where will I find the time to cultivate? I had to dy all matters at home and on the void continent toe here.¡±

    Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t agree. ¡°Song Seven has been fighting constantly as well, and he even gained the title of future god strategist. Wherever there¡¯s some liveliness in the empire, you¡¯ll always see him around. His cultivation nevergged behind despite all that. Look, he¡¯s already rank-sixteen and now look at you!¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s cultivation wasn¡¯t so bad, either. His five origin vortices were already full, and he would soon carve out a sixth vortex after leaving the Great Maelstrom. Such progress was far beyond his peers, but he simply couldn¡¯tpare to Song Zining with his seven full origin vortices.

    Wei Potian felt disgusted no matter from which angle he looked at Song Zining. He immediately said with a snort, ¡°You can¡¯t just look at the speed of one¡¯s cultivation. This brat has always been crafty and never works hard. His foundation¡­ heh!¡±

    Song Zining waved his hand, conjuring the image of a small realm with a continent rotating slowly within it. This method looked rather exquisite, but the other two didn¡¯t find it special. Upon closer look, however, their expressions shifted immediately.

    This small realm was actually extremely detailed.

    The duo possessed good eyesight. After careful observation, they found that they could discern the mountains, rivers, forests, and wilderness on the continent. Looking closer, they found dozens of cities dotting thendscape. If one were to look even closer, they would see that the cities were all different from one another. Some were built around mountains, while others were neighbored by rivers. There were mining cities as well as trade cities.

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s cultivation was deeper. She channeled an art to zoom in even further into the city built along the mountain. It boasted majestic walls with steep precipices on each end, and there were even sentries and patrolling guards on the ramparts. The city was well organized, with interweaving streets and alleyways filled with a steady pedestrian flow. There were also kic cars driving slowly behind the crowd.

    At this point, Zhao Yuying felt dizzy, and the imagery in front of her dispersed. It had returned to that spinning palm-sized continent.

    Wei Potian had tears flowing down his eyes.

    Song Zining retracted his illusion and smiled silently.

    Zhao Yiying probed, ¡°I saw the guards on the walls and the people in the streets. Is there a deeperyer?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°Yes. You¡¯ll be able to see their appearance and clothing, but I¡¯ll need to try harder for their expressions.¡±

    Zhao Yuying had formed a good idea, but Wei Potian was shocked. ¡°This is¡­ Prosperous World?¡±

    It was one of the three peak daybreak origin powers, one that could transform a drop of origin power into a prosperous realm!

    ¡°I¡¯mcking just a bit.¡± Song Zining smiled.

    ¡°How can this be?¡± Wei Potian finally lost his calm.

    Song Zining waved his fan and said, ¡°This is inherent talent, can¡¯t help it.¡±

 Chapter 1070: Impossible

    Song Zining¡¯s group of three remained on the wall, waiting for news of Qianye¡¯s whereabouts. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann never arrived as nned, but Zhao Yuying didn¡¯t really mind since the two girls weren¡¯t very close to her.

    Some people walked out of the fortress and carried the corpse of the four-armed warrior into the fortress. A personter arrived before the trio, saying, ¡°Elder Qi asks for you.¡±

    Elder Qi was well known for his strength. The three performed their salutations before taking their seats.

    Elder Qi was almost eighty but looked no older than fifty. He was tall and lean, with a fearsome expression and a sharp glint in his eyes. Without seeing him in battle, one would hardly believe that he was able to operate a giant, human-height bow and deal damage equal to a grade-eight firearm.

    Elder Qi¡¯s residence was a three-roomed building behind the mainplex. The living room in front wasn¡¯t big. The decoration was also quite simple and devoid of fine objects.

    Elder Qi smiled. ¡°My ce is rather simple. You alle from major families, so do bear with me.¡±

    Song Zining replied hurriedly, ¡°No, no.¡±

    Elder Qi sighed. ¡°I remember myself a bit older than you all when I entered the Great Maelstrom, but my cultivation was lower. Our Qi family can barely be considered a low-ranking aristocratic family. We had to spend our entire fortune in order to get me into the Great Maelstrom. After seeing you lot, I finally realize how deep the major ns¡¯ inheritances are.¡±

    Song Zining knew quite a bit about the past. ¡°Elder Qi was a genius of your generation. You¡¯ve also been safeguarding the fortress for dozens of years. Surely, the Empire won¡¯t forget your great contributions.¡±

    Elder Qi shook his head with a sigh. ¡°Back then, I was lucky enough to obtain some resources in the Great Maelstrom, and that allowed me to break through to the divine champion realm. But my foundation isn¡¯t good, and the quality of my origin power is rather low. Every step after the upgrade was fraught with difficulties and problems. Sigh, but it¡¯s already toote to switch to a different cultivation art.¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°Your contributions should be enough to exchange for an extremely powerful art. Even if you can¡¯t use it yourself, your descendants can.¡±

    The old man nodded. ¡°Makes sense, but no one in the family is capable. I just hope they¡¯llst for a couple more generations.¡±

    Wei Potian was a designated heir since many years ago. With his current development, seeding the family head position was only a matter of time. The Wei family had been nurturing him all this time, so his objective in every matter was focused on the n. Elder Qi came from a small aristocratic family, standing as the pir of the n for dozens of years. That was why the two of them had a fair bit to talk about.

    Zhao Yuying wasn¡¯t too patient¡ªshe was toozy to even take part in the Duke You residence¡¯s affairs, opting to roam thend and join battles everywhere. Song Zining, on the other hand, had founded the Ningyuan Heavy Industries on his own and was prepared to develop in this direction. He had also given up on the tradition of seeding the family business. Hence, these two didn¡¯t quite resonate with the old man.

    After some idle chatter, Elder Qi got to the main topic. ¡°I¡¯ve been in the Great Maelstrom for many decades, but recently, I¡¯ve been feeling a bit excited for some reason. These four-armed natives usually won¡¯te to this ce for no reason. Creatures from the core region can¡¯t stay here for very long.¡±

    What the old man said was reasonable. Song Zining said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed strange, but there¡¯s no way to perform divination inside the Great Maelstrom, so we can only y it by ear. Afternding in the core-region, we ran back without stopping to escape the frigid night. That¡¯s why we don¡¯t understand much about the situation over there. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯ve run over here, either.¡±

    Since Song Zining wasn¡¯t mentioning it, Zhao Yuying naturally wouldn¡¯t talk about Zhao Ruoxi bringing the Red Spider Lily into the neutralnds and causing a huge ruckus.

    Elder Qi nodded with a worried expression. ¡°The reason is no longer important. Right now, I¡¯m just afraid that this empty fortress won¡¯t be able to handle it if hundreds of four-armed warriors descend upon us. All we have is a small airship that can take us back to the empire.¡±

    ¡°Just one?¡± The trio¡¯s expressions shifted.

    ¡°How can that be enough? Don¡¯t we usually have three in the fortress?¡± Song Zining asked with a frown.

    Elder Qiughed wryly and beckoned to the group. ¡°Follow me and you¡¯ll know.¡±

    The trio followed Elder Qi out of the main building and arrived in a sealed backyard. There was a row of workshops here, as well as the keel of an airship sitting in the courtyard. The keel had just beenpleted, and the wood stacked nearby went to show that the framework was about to be installed next.

    As someone who built warships, Song Zining knew that this was an airship construction yard after seeing the workshop and the keel. It was just that their craftsmanship was from several centuries ago. The ship¡¯s movement came from kic sails, and their levitation and defense drew power from an origin array.

    Such an airship was basically all hand-crafted. The materials harvested in the Great Maelstrom were extremely sturdy and could be installed as armor tes on an airship.

    Elder Qi pointed at the keel. ¡°Where do you think all these space traversal airshipse from? Each and every one of them was built here. We build one every year, and we go back once every two years, one ship carrying people, and the other, goods. The Great Maelstrom has just opened up, and we still have half a year¡¯s time until a new ship ispleted. The one airship we have left is an emergency reserve.¡±

    If they only had one airship, then the situation would be rather serious. Song Zining asked after a good while, ¡°Elder Qi, is a space traversal airship necessary to go back to the Empire?¡±

    Elder Qi said, ¡°This airship not only protects the passengers but can also discern the direction and ensure a safe return. Otherwise, wouldn¡¯t it be a joke if younded in Evernight?¡±

    Song Zining asked once more, ¡°What I meant is, is there any other passage that can get us out in one piece?¡±

    Elder Qi said after some thought, ¡°You might be able to get through, but Miss Zhao here will suffer injuries. As for the Wei n heir here, it¡¯s best you don¡¯t even try.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was dissatisfied. ¡°What do you mean!? Are you saying Song Seven is stronger than me?¡±

    Elder Qi had seen his fair share of arrogant geniuses from the major ns, so he didn¡¯t take offense at this. He merely let out a dry cough and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t say he¡¯s more powerful than you, but the secret art he cultivates makes it easier for him to travel through the spatial tunnels.¡±

    Zhao Yuying¡¯s brows rxed, and she soon returned to a satisfactory mood. But then she recalled the real problem. ¡°Wait a minute! Elder Qi, what you¡¯re saying is that we have to abandon Qianye and flee when we¡¯re overrun by four-armed warriors.¡±

    Elder Qi said slowly, ¡°What I mean is that we should have an agreement beforehand. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be toote if we¡¯re panicking at the critical juncture.

    Song Zining was in a frown because he had already noticed the old man¡¯s intention. The Imperial fortress wasn¡¯t very big, and could amodate a couple hundred people at most. The only choice after being overrun by the four-armed warriors was to abandon the ce and flee back to the Empire. Otherwise, they would all be buried along with the city.

    He had just finished thinking when a certain person ran over. ¡°Elder, things don¡¯t look good! There are a lot of four-armed natives on the bridge.¡±

    Shocked, Elder Qi shot toward the city wall. Song Zining¡¯s group followed the elder to the wall and gazed out. Amidst a cloud of rolling dust, one four-armed warrior could be seen converging upon their location. In addition to the four-armed warriors, there was also a swarm of countless two-armed natives. The ones at the front row wielded swords and shields, while those at the back were carrying luggage and driving beasts of burdens. It looked like they were here not just to fight but also to take up residence.

    ¡°T-This¡­¡± Even the experienced Elder Qi couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Zhao Yuying was furious. ¡°If we leave, what about Lil¡¯ Five? Are we going to leave him here? Potian, what is your opinion?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression was solemn. These days of running about had left him with a short beard, which added to his maturity. He gazed silently into the distance before finally saying, ¡°I guess that¡¯s all we can do.¡±

    There were hundreds of four-armed warriors and at least tens of thousands of two-armed ones. Zhao Yuying could say nothing more when that massive figure appeared far off in the distance.

    Momentster, a small airship rushed into the air and flew into the dark night.

    The flying vessel was packed full of people, but none of them were in the mood to talk. Finally, Elder Qi sighed. ¡°Our human race went through the same thing back in the year. Besides, we left them the ns for building the airship. If they¡¯re lucky, they might be able to build a new vessel and head back to the Empire.¡±

    The space traversal ship thus vanished into the darkness. The fortress below was now filled with two-armed natives disassembling whatever they could get their hands on. It only took a short while for the fortress to turn into a pile of rocks. Only the half-destroyed main building and a few segments of the wall remained to tell of the past.

    The sea of many-armed people swept over thend like a tide and moved in a different direction.

    ¡­

    The edges of the Eastern Sea Continent in the neutralnds seemed unaffected. This ce was filled with cold winds and tormented by void tempests year-round. It could be said that every step here was fraught with danger, and not many were willing to hang around.

    A certain figure arrived swiftly, evading the spatial tears with great familiarity as he made for the duke¡¯s warship.

    ¡°Master, I¡¯ve carried out your instructions.¡±

    With that, Jared opened his backpack to reveal a small girl inside. This beautiful littless¡ªcurled up and sound asleep at the moment¡ªlooked like she was just eight years old.

    Nighteye¡¯s voice arrived from inside the warship. ¡°That was fast, well done. Did you run into any trouble?¡±

    Jared smiled wryly. ¡°She was willing to follow me only after doing what you had instructed me to. Otherwise, I might not be able to bring her back.¡±

    ¡°Did those natives trouble you?¡±

    ¡°The entire tribe was dead by the time I arrived.¡±

    Nighteye was somewhat surprised. The warship cabin doors opened slightly, whereupon a stream of blood energy emerged and pulled the little girl inside.

    Jared didn¡¯t enter the warship, but instead headed over to one of the stone huts nearby. This was his new residence. He removed his upper armor and saw numerous unerasable bruises on his body. He might not have been able to bring her back if he hadn¡¯t produced the token.

    Jared heaved a long sigh, feeling that his master¡¯s missions were getting more and more difficult.

 Chapter 1071: Unusual Mother and Daughter

    The little girl eventually woke up in the warship, her little nose ring up slightly as she smelled something good. Her legs unknowingly took her in the direction of the aroma.

    She crossed several doors until she arrived in the kitchen.

    This room wasn¡¯t too big, but there was everything one would need. The transparent kitchen cab near the wall was lined with various wine sses and high-ss tableware. The cab doors had beautiful patterns carved into them, glowing faintly from the flow of origin power. Even though the entire warship had crashed, the cab was protected by the array and its contents were intact.

    Nighteye was busy cutting up roasted beast meat in front of the counter. There was another big piece of meat roasting in the oven. It was already golden brown and almost done.

    The little girl¡¯s eyes immediatelynded on the roast meat, and then at Nighteye. Zhuji¡¯s expression was filled with delight as she jumped into thetter¡¯s arms and snuggled up against her.

    Smiling, Nighteye plucked the littless down and said, ¡°How many times have I told you not to pounce at people, you¡¯ll kill people.¡±

    The girl shrunk her neck and said sheepishly, ¡°I¡¯ve learned to control my strength.¡±

    Nighteye knocked on her head. ¡°You called that control? Other people can¡¯t take that kind of impact. See? The person I sent to pick you up was injured.¡±

    The littless looked rather guilty. ¡°You can¡¯t me me for that. He immediately reached out to grab me without telling me who he was. I gave him a kick out of fear, but I didn¡¯t kill him. Besides, he¡¯s really too weak. I didn¡¯t even spray him with poison.¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°Have you forgotten the things I taught you?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t!¡± The girl shook her head, saying as quickly as she could, ¡°I remember everything! It¡¯s just that¡­ I¡¯ve grown stronger, so those things aren¡¯t good to use anymore.¡±

    Nighteye ced the meat she had cut in front of thess. ¡°Eat!¡±

    The girl cheered loudly before picking up the te. She then tilted her head back and poured everything into her mouth. Her eyes went wide as she swallowed all the food in one gulp.

    ¡°Is it good?¡± asked Nighteye.

    ¡°Eh¡­ I didn¡¯t taste it.¡± The little fellow spoke the truth.

    Nighteye wanted to be angry, but she also wanted tough. She brought out another big chunk of meat from the oven and tossed it to the little fellow. ¡°Here¡¯s more.¡±

    Only then did the girl learn how to bite and swallow little by little. Her eyes lit up as she ate faster and faster. Eventually, she devoured a piece of meat half her size in mere moments. However, her tummy only bulged up slightly. It truly made one wonder where all the food had gone.

    Nighteye touched the girl''s head with an expression full of love. ¡°You grow really fast, do you want more?¡±

    ¡°I want¡­¡± She let out a satisfied burp mid-sentence, despite her eyes sparkling in anticipation.

    Nighteye smiled. ¡°You can¡¯t eat more today. This food was supposed tost three days, I guess your appetite has grown even bigger.¡±

    The girl looked puzzled. ¡°I ate very little today!¡±

    ¡°How can things I make be the same?¡±

    ¡°Ah, what was that? It was really appetizing.¡±

    ¡°Of course the meat of a void colossus is delicious. Even a glutton like you will feel bloated.¡±

    The amount of energy contained in the meat of a void colossus wasn¡¯t something ordinary beast meat couldpare to. Be it in the Empire or Evernight, this raremodity would be sold in finger-sized strips and was worth more than its weight in gold. This little fellow had eaten close to five kilograms of it, so it was only natural that she would feel full.

    Zhuji had grown up quite a bit during this period. Currently, she was starting to look like a mischievous girl who would cause a lot of trouble.

    Nighteye cleared away the cutlery and sat down beside the table. ¡°What have you been doing all this time? Why aren¡¯t you with Papa?¡±

    ¡°Papa is always busy with work. He won¡¯t y with me or sleep with me. I was really bored, and I can¡¯t approach other people, so I went out to y...¡±

    The girl¡¯s narration wasn¡¯t entirely coherent, but she was definitely more knowledgeable and clearer than when she was younger. The basic logic behind hernguage and movements was no longer based on her instincts.

    Nighteye inquired about the entire process in detail.

    Back then, Qianye had left Zhuji on the Northern Continent despite his concerns that she would identally hurt other people. Especially that extremely powerful toxin of hers that might kill off all life in a segment of the continent...

    Later on, Qianye was out fighting everywhere and didn¡¯t really have time to look after her. The little girl spent her days eating and sleeping, so Qianye felt rather assured. However, a group of natives appeared suddenly and kidnapped her while she was sleeping. The entire process was carried out quietly, and no one knew what had transpired.

    This tribe traversed great distances to the depths of the Eastern Sea Continent. Little Zhuji struggled after waking up, but she was fed with the juice of a strange fruit that numbed her entire body and rendered her immobile. Soon, a shaman-like character appeared and wanted to draw her blood. In the end, the girl¡¯s body was so tough that it took great effort just to open her skin and let some blood out.

    The most terrifying thing was what followed. Zhuji wanted to spray poison, but for some reason, the blood which flowed out turned into a powerful venom that killed the entire tribe.

    The terrified little fellow couldn¡¯t move, and all she could do was call out to Qianye, Nighteye, and Song Zining in her heart. Nighteye was the only one who had sensed her and sent Jared to pick her up.

    Several days had passed by the time the marquis arrived, and the poison hadrgely dispersed. Otherwise, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to return.

    It took a pretty long while for little Zhuji to finish everything she wanted to say.

    Nighteye remained silent for a while before asking, ¡°Who do you want to follow now?¡±

    The little girl thought about it seriously. ¡°Everyone!¡±

    ¡°Everyone?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Papa, you, and Mama.¡±

    ¡°Mama¡­¡± Even someone of Nighteye¡¯sposure couldn¡¯t help but feel her expression turning odd. She chuckled, saying, ¡°I told you he¡¯s not your mama.¡±

    ¡°He is!¡± The little girl was oddly persistent. The first person she had seen after breaking out of her egg was her mama. This knowledge was deeply imprinted in her bloodline and couldn¡¯t be changed.

    Nighteye was clear about the race¡¯s characteristics. She said helplessly, ¡°You¡¯ll understand once you grow up.¡±

    Thinking about the past, she chuckled while shaking her head. ¡°That bastard is actually quite crafty when it counts.¡±

    Back when Zhuji had just broken out of her shell, Qianye had dragged Song Zining to the front, thereby turning him into Zhuji¡¯s mama. It was useless no matter how Song Zining and Nighteye tried to exin to herter on.

    After a while of idle chatter, the little fellow started to yawn. She was clearly sleepy, but she still held on.

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve grown up a bit more.¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Little Zhuji waved her fists proudly. That little swing of her fists actually produced the sound of rolling thunder, and there was a faint glow of lightning lingering around her hands. Everything in the kitchen started to vibrate, and a delicate-looking te shattered into many pieces.

    A subconscious wave of her fist actually produced such power. No wonder Jared was caught off-guard and injured.

    The strange phenomena in the kitchen disappeared following a faint sanguine glow from Nighteye¡¯s pupils. The lightning on thess¡¯ fist was gone, and all that was left was her small fist swinging about.

    A bewildered Zhuji nced at her fist, and then swung it a couple more times. However, she couldn¡¯t even produce a whistle.

    Nighteye smiled. ¡°The things in here are very expensive. I¡¯ll feel pained if you break them. Enough, since you¡¯re not sleeping, then it¡¯s time for us to go.¡±

    ¡°Are we going out to y? Where are we going?¡± The girl was excited.

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Zhuji was puzzled. ¡°Where is that? Is it fun?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t before, but it¡¯s fairly lively now.¡±

    ¡°Then what are we going to y with?¡± The girl kept asking.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to meet some people.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all? Do we have to fight? Do I need to unleash poison? How many people do I need to kill? Maybe I should umte some venom first.¡± The girl came up with an entire array of questions.

    Nighteye chuckled lightly. ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to do anything with me around. I¡¯m not that fellow, I won¡¯t use you to fight.¡±

    Nighteye was referring to Qianye ordering Zhuji to destroy the invading mercenaries with poison, thereby iming victory.

    The little girl, however, had a different opinion. ¡°Those are bad guys who want to bully us. We naturally have to kill them all and not leave any survivors.¡±

    Unknowingly, the cruelty and ruthlessness of the arachne were starting to show.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t argue. ¡°You¡¯re still too young to understand certain things. Come with me first.¡±

    Zhuji grabbed Nighteye¡¯s hand as instructed. Thetter produced a spatial rift with a sh of her palm and entered with Zhuji in tow.

    ...

    At this moment, Qianye was in the northwestern part of the Great Maelstrom, gazing at the boundless body of water. ¡°This is the Pond of Life? It¡¯s more like a Sea of Life!¡±

    There was no visible end to this sea¡ªthere was a thin mist hanging on the surface, through which one could vaguely see the outline of some inds. Meanwhile, the water over yonder had merged with the horizon, making it impossible to see the borders.

    Qianye was an expert with visual prowess far superior to his peers. He could see almost a hundred kilometers away, but he still couldn''t see the other shore. Such arge body of water could easily be called a sea.

    Instead of a beach, the water was surrounded by tall precipices and cliffs, also some lond, valleys, and dense forests. There was even a volcano near the distant waterside, spouting clouds of steam from its opening.

    Basically, every type of geography could be found near the water. This was inconceivable.

    The region near the waters was filled with crazed beasts, either killing or mating with one another. The smaller ponds there weren¡¯t clean, either, as one could see numerous amphibians in the rolling waters.

    The strip ofnd closest to the Pond of Life was drowned in silence and devoid of all beasts. It was almost as though an invisible line had blocked all the beasts outside.

    These creatures possessed sharp instincts that might be superior to humans in certain cases. Seeing this, Qianye knew that there was something dangerous in the pond, otherwise, the beasts wouldn¡¯t act like so.

    At this moment, the ground began to tremble as the six-armed giant appeared over the distant horizon.

    Hesitating no longer, Qianye made a beeline for the Pond of Life.

 Chapter 1072: The Pond of Life Part 1

    When he was still a good distance from the Pond of Life, Qianye felt the air around him heat up. It wasn¡¯t just the environment, but his entire body was also starting to burn up. His blood core began to beat faster as his instinctive urges grew stronger.

    This feeling was fairly simr to the high-gravity region, but also somewhat different. The environment in the core area itself had served to increase Qianye¡¯s urges back then. For every grass and tree, every animal big and small, reproduction became their number one priority, so much so that food became second.

    Near the Pond of Life, however, his urges were woken up by a certain formless calling. It was as though a voice was whispering into his ears, urging his desires forward.

    Qianye looked about and observed all the living creatures within sight. His desires erupted dozens of times during this process, assailing him repeatedly like the tides and urging him to procreate.

    The target of his desires included two-armed warriors, four-armed warriors, and some strange beasts as well.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Could it be¡­¡± Qianye looked about suspiciously and saw that there were hundreds if not thousands of species here, most of which he had never seen before. However, Qianye was only attracted to a dozen or so of them.

    With his reasoning still intact, he naturally became quite suspicious. If he could have desires for the handful of beasts and bipeds, why did he not feel anything for the remaining hundreds of species?

    Qianye sensed everything again carefully and found that his desire was still targeted at that small selection. There was neither an increase nor a decrease in them.

    At this moment, some of the things he had learned in Yellow Springs resurfaced once more, lectures about the various species of the Evernight world. In addition to humans, there were thousands of peculiar species among the dark races. It was even difficult to tell some of them apart from beasts. For instance, the rtionship between werewolves and wargs, as well as the arachne and servspiders was fairlyplicated. A batch of arachne eggs could give rise to a couple of baby arachne and arge number of servspiders.

    Back then, the instructor¡¯s exnation was that species with closer bloodlines could produce offspring, while those further apart couldn¡¯t. As for the bloodlines and the distances between them, the instructor had no answer for that, either. In any case, that wasn¡¯t the most important part of the lecture, which was actually expounding on the anatomy of the dark races¡¯ bodies. This knowledge would allow them to kill enemies with greater efficiency.

    The contents of the lessons he had learned appeared clearly in his mind. A certain idea popped up in his head¡ªcould it be that the species he was attracted to were the ones he could produce offspring with?

    If that was really the case, then this Pond of Life was too terrifying. This wasn¡¯t a blind suppression¡ªthe pond had actually screened his bloodlinepatibility in the blink of an eye and would force him to sumb to desires without even time to think.

    A two-armeddy nearby had just finished rolling about with a wild beast. The creaturey panting on the ground, fairly close to death. The naked woman wasn¡¯t quite satisfied, however, and immediately pounced toward Qianye.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s desires awoke once more, and he actually didn¡¯t feel any disgust toward her twisted expression and dirty body. His willpower was still quite clear, however. He reached out to grab the woman¡¯s arm and tossed her toward the six-armed giant behind him.

    The six-armed giant didn¡¯t even bother to block the iing human projectile. He merely sent her flying from the collision as he chased after Qianye.

    Qianye randomly picked up a four-armed warrior, tossing him and the beast below him toward the six-armed giant.

    With his momentum broken, the six-armed giant was finally angry. His six limbs danced like the wind as he smashed one fierce beast after another into smithereens. He also paid little attention to where his feetnded, stomping several beasts-in-heat to death in just a few steps.

    The closer he was to the pond, the clearer and stronger the calling became. However, the current influence was far from being a threat to Qianye. He simply channeled his Venus Dawn, igniting a wisp of scarlet gold origin me and dispelling all undesired urges.

    He nced back at the relentless pursuer with a serious expression. Both parties had already reached the middle section of the procreation region, where the greatest density of wild beasts could be seen. However, that six-armed giant seemed to have no intention of giving up on the chase. He didn¡¯t even look at the beasts scattered across the ground. It would seem he was also quite resistant to the mysterious calling.

    Perhaps because he had gotten tired of Qianye¡¯s disruptions, the six-armed giant suddenly picked up a couple of beasts and tossed them at Qianye!

    Qianye flipped away, narrowly dodging a beast cannonball. Those fierce beasts smashed into the nearby ground and actually exploded, sending Qianye flying from the impact. Several more beasts whistled through the air and crashed into him mid-air.

    Qianye had nowhere to exert force for movement at this point. Just as he was about to get struck, his silhouette blurred and vanished.

    The six-armed giant turned toward a point several hundred meters away, where Qianye happened to appear. Without even thinking, the monster swung more beasts at him.

    Qianye moved sideways for dozens of meters but was, once again, destabilized by the explosion. He had to fish out East Peak and used its weight to steady himself. The beasts closest to him had long since been flung into the sky.

    These creatures possessed extremely strong bodies since quite a few of them had run over from the high-gravity regions. They were more like pieces of alloy steel. With the six-armed giant pitching them, the force behind each of them was greater than that of a main cannon. There was no way Qianye would dare to block them. Even brushing against them was enough to injure him.

    Fortunately, the number of arrows on the giant was rather limited, and he had exhausted them during the chase. Otherwise, Qianye would have more to be distressed about.

    The decadent crowd on the beach was now in utter disarray. Under the threat of death, most fierce beasts stopped their procreation and nced over with restless cries. Most of the creatures ran in the opposite direction after seeing the six-armed giant.

    However, there were also some powerful beasts that didn¡¯t escape. They crouched low on the ground and let out threatening growls.

    This was an unexpected discovery for Qianye. He had thought that the six-armed giant was at the top of the food chain in the Great Maelstrom. He would¡¯ve never imagined that these rtively smaller creatures even wanted to challenge him.

    With its prestige at stake, the livid six-armed giant stopped focusing on Qianye and swung its weapon at the nearest lizard-like beast. The creature was over ten meters long and its body was as powerful as a small warship, but it was so much smallerpared to the giant. Thetter¡¯s weapon descended with the fury of a tempest, opening up a mangled wound on its target.

    The lizard possessed extremely powerful vitality. With a pained roar, it actually dragged its smashed lower-body and charged toward the six-armed giant, biting down on its calf.

    The giant became even more furious. It bent down to grab the lizard and pried open the beast¡¯s mouth. Then, its six arms exerted force at the same time, tearing the lizard into many pieces.

    After killing the giant lizard, the six-armed giant bent down to pick up its weapon and roared loudly at its surroundings. This disy of might caused the unconvinced creatures to gradually back away and flee.

    Only then did the six-armed giant look about in search of Qianye, mysterious runes appearing in its eye. It had found Qianye¡¯s hiding ce in mere moments.

    At this moment, Qianye was standing behind a couple of beasts.

    He was no idiot. After seeing that the beasts had no power to even retaliate, he immediately decided to avoid trouble by hiding.

    The six-armed giant didn¡¯t care about all that. It walked over inrge strides, roaring furiously while waving its weapon.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up in delight.

    Fierce beasts were territorial, and even more so for stronger ones. Even in thend of procreation, the area around the stronger ones would usually be empty. Although the empty strips were merely ten meters or so, they were quite evident amidst the crowds.

    Qianye had retracted his aura, so those fierce beasts did not see him as a threat. They considered him food, and one that they might or might not like. Hence, the creatures didn¡¯t react when he hid behind them, only keeping their eyes on the six-armed giant and maintaining an attack posture. As they saw it, thetter was their greatest foe.

    Qianye had finished observing the situation. Holding East Peak, he maintained a distance of ten meters from the fierce beasts at all times. This distance was sufficient to prevent agitating them, but he was also still within their territory.

    The six-armed giant flew into a rage after seeing that his threat was ineffective. It quickly scooped up several smaller beasts and hurled them over.

    Qianye was standing behind a giant ape-looking beast. It was almost ten meters tall, with patches of scale under its fur and bony spikes along its back. One could immediately tell that this was no easy opponent. In the Empire¡¯s records, this primate was called a berserk ape, a top-ranking fierce beast only second to a void colossus. Just like its strength, the ape¡¯s temper was also one of the worst. Seeing that the six-armed giant was attacking, the ape swung its fist about and swatted away the iing fierce beasts.

    However,paring body sizes, this berserk ape was only a bit taller than the giant¡¯s knee, not so different from a small pet. After swatting away three rounds of fierce beast projectiles, one of its arms dropped down. Then, the next beast bullet sent it somersaulting backward and falling a hundred or so meters away.

    With the berserk ape beaten half to death in the blink of an eye, the others who knew they were inferior immediately tucked their tails between their legs and fled.

    Qianye smiled wryly, feeling quite helpless at the moment. He had no idea whether this six-armed monster had received some sort of kill order, or if Qianye¡¯s shot back then had hurt too much.

    The field of procreation here was now devoid of beasts in heat. All of them had shrunk to a different corner, staring at the furious six-armed giant. The fierce beasts in other areas had also sensed the restlessness.

    Qianye looked through the corner of his eyes and found that the beasts around the berserk ape were rtively big. Even though they all looked fairly different from one another, theirmon quality was that they wereparable to the ape.

    Meanwhile, a massive entity like the six-armed giant was mostly unique, with few even reaching the height of its knee. No wonder it couldn¡¯t feel the call to reproduce.

    Qianye suddenly turned back and gazed at the Pond of Life. Everyone knew that the marine creatures here were much bigger than thend creatures, and that the six-armed giant¡¯s potential enemy would most likely appear from the water.

 Chapter 1073: The Pond of Life Part 2

    There had to be a reason for the Pond of Life being so special. Its reason for existence was likely to produce offspring between different species. Now that the six-armed giant had disrupted the peaceful procreation of these living beings within ten kilometers, it was reasonable to think that the pond would react.

    Qianye¡¯s figure moved like the wind, slowly edging toward the Pond of Life as he evaded the fierce beasts being hurled at him. The closer he moved to the waters, the stronger the calling of his urges. However, Qianye could still resist this level of urging without using any secret arts.

    The tyrannical six-armed giant naturally followed suit, destroying all obstructions and beasts it found unpleasant along the way. Finally, the giant¡¯s toss missed its mark ever so slightly¡ªa wild beast whistled over Qianye¡¯s head and fell toward the water.

    The calmke surface finally swelled up into a wave as an enormous entity leaped up from the water and devoured the falling creature. The leap was extremely powerful, bringing the behemoth¡¯s entire body out of the water before crashing back down amidst mountainous waves.

    This marine beast was covered in thick scales, each of them as sharp as des, and its giant mouth was lined with sinister-looking edges. Just the sight of it made one tremble in fear.

    The enormous creature swam toward the shore after appearing, charging straight at the six-armed giant.

    The six-armed giant stopped for the first time and, staring at the marine creature, roared to establish its might. Thetter wasn¡¯t afraid at all. It arrived at the shore like a flying arrow and pounced onto the six-armed giant, pinning it to the ground!

    Only at this point did the marine beast¡¯s true appearancee into view. It was dozens of meters long with six short, pir-like legs supporting its massive frame. There was a bony te at the tip of its tail, which resembled a square il. In terms of body size, it wasn¡¯t at all inferior to the six-armed giant and even held a small advantage. A body that size would weigh hundreds if not thousands of tons, yet it was able to move like lightning and attack as swiftly as a shadow leopard. Qianye could hardly believe his eyes after seeing this terrifying speed.

    Even the six-armed giant couldn¡¯t stand the marine creature¡¯s charge, and thetter didn¡¯t hold back at all as it bit down. Therge mouth, when fully opened, was enough to swallow the small house Qianye had built back in the neutralnds.

    The six-armed giant seemed experienced inbat. It made full use of its advantage in having multiple arms, pushing up the creature¡¯s mouth with four arms, and using the remaining pair to prop up a metal rod inside the marine beast¡¯s mouth. This pushed apart the creature¡¯s upper and lower jaws, making its mouth impossible to close.

    Having restrained the marine beast¡¯s mouth, the giant was easily able to extricate itself and push the creature over. After standing up, it grabbed the marine beast by the legs and smashed it to the ground.

    The creatures in the Great Maelstrom were hardy and tenacious. Even after such a powerful m, the marine creature seemed like it was only a bit dizzy and not at all seriously injured. However, Qianye felt worried after seeing the six-armed giant¡¯s skill.

    The marine creature was fierce, but it wasn¡¯t the six-armed giant¡¯s opponent in actualbat.

    Another change took ce at this point. The marine creature went berserk and let out a wild roar. It closed its giant mouth with all its might, actually bending the metal rod that was as thick as Qianye! The rod bent more and more until it finally snapped into two!

    Although Qianye was highly experienced, this scene still left him speechless. The marine creature¡¯s jaws were simply heaven-defying and might be enough to snap an armored Imperial warship in two. Even the hydraulic hammer back at the Zhao n was no stronger.

    The marine beast bit the six-armed giant again, but thetter immediately shed away. It simply did not dare to get gnawed on. This evasion couldn¡¯t be considered agile, but the giant¡¯s long legs took it several dozen meters with a single wide step and caused the marine beast to miss its mark. However, the sea creature swung its tail along the ground and whipped at the giant¡¯s legs!

    This attack was like a battering ram striking a city wall; the muffled sound was followed by a quake and a cloud of dust. The six-armed giant¡¯s leg had caved in somewhat, but its bones remained intact. On the contrary, the sea beast¡¯s tail hammer was a bit deformed.

    Soon, the two behemoths shed in battle once more in a battle that would tear the skies and rend the earth.

    Qianye didn¡¯t escape but, instead, approached the battlefield under the cover of the chaos. The marine beast was, after all, still a beast and wouldn¡¯t be the six-armed giant¡¯s match in the long run. The giant¡¯s constant hunt gave Qianye a massive headache, and there was no way he would be able to return to the empire without killing it.

    Now that the giant had finally met its equal, how could Qianye not take this opportunity to strike?

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare use Heartgrave again, no matter how much confidence the Pond of Life afforded him. Firing an origin gun in the Great Maelstrom would cause too much of amotion. Even if he didn¡¯t attract all the creatures around the Pond of Life, a small part of them was inevitable. There was no telling if there were any beasts among the many strange species that could track him like the six-armed giant.

    At this moment, the six-armed giant and the sea creature were rolling about on the ground. In the face of so many good opportunities, Qianye fished out his vampiric edge and approached under the cover of the dust.

    It just so happened that the two monsters had just flipped through the air and mmed down in front of Qianye. Thisnding produced a huge pit, and a wave of debris bore down upon him!

    Without retreating, Qianye relied on his strong body to crash through the wave and appear before a massive city wall of flesh.

    This was one of the six-armed giant¡¯s arms. It was two meters in diameter and even taller than Qianye himself. Its skin, covered in hair-like steel nails, had a faint green glow to it and its texture was akin to hard, shriveled tree bark.

    Without the slightest hesitation, Qianye raised his vampiric edge and stabbed the six-armed giant¡¯s joint. This thrust was fairly ruthless¡ªthe weapon absorbed essence blood from around the wound, affecting healing and numbing the arm.

    The de sunk in as though he were stabbing rotten leather.

    However, the vampiric edge wouldn¡¯t go further after a while. The feeling from his hand told him that he hadn¡¯t actually pierced through the enemy¡¯s skin.

    Qianye cursed inwardly as he maximized the applied pressure. The de finally prated the giant¡¯s thick skin and into the flesh before finally nailing itself in the bone. Qianye was delighted because this was the result he had wanted. An injury to the bone, now that was truly difficult to heal.

    Several activation points kicked into action asyer uponyer of Excavator power was mobilized. With a short grunt, Qianye pushed the vampiric edge into the six-armed giant¡¯s bone.

    Unable to withstand the great pressure, the vampiric edge snapped in half!

    Qianye was surprised because this de had followed him for a good while. It was light, easy to wield, and it was grade-seven in quality. Who would¡¯ve thought a weapon of this grade would fail to deal with the six-armed giant¡¯s bones? Wouldn¡¯t this mean these bones wereparable to grade-eight treasures?

    This giant bastard was practically a mobile treasure trove. Unfortunately, treasures were only good if one could take from them.

    Qianye abandoned the broken de and jumped back a hundred meters or so, evading a sweeping strike from the six-armed giant. This fist was still a good distance from him, but the winds produced from the strike was enough to stifle him.

    Fortunately, Qianye¡¯s stab was no more than an ant-bite to the giant. Its entire focus remained on the marine beast, only swatting at him randomly.

    Qianye hid to the side and soon found another opportunity. A tail sweep from the marine beast swept the giant to the ground, its back open in front of Qianye.

    Without hesitation, Qianye shot out like a bolt of lightning andtched onto the giant¡¯s back. Threads of blood spread out from him as he activated Life Plunder!

    Qianye¡¯s control over Life Plunder had increased sharply after reaching the marquis rank, and most of the sanguine threads found their mark. The red lines were extremely thin but peerlessly sharp, drilling right into the six-armed giant in the blink of an eye.

    However, Qianye¡¯s expression changed drastically. The usually unstoppable threads faced great difficulty advancing into the giant¡¯s body. There was a strange energy field inside its body that would resist formless attacks like this.

    Finally, the threads returned with only half of them carrying a drop of blood each.

    It could be considered a fruitful endeavor, at the very least. Qianye retracted the sanguine threads and disappeared with Spatial sh. It just so happened that the giant flipped over at this point andnded back-side down like a copsing mountain. Qianye would¡¯ve beenpressed below if he had been a bit slower.

    Qianye had justnded some distance away when his face turned red and he staggered like a drunkard for a while before stabilizing himself. The essence blood in his body wasn¡¯t just overflowing; it was on the verge of exploding. The energy contained in the few drops of blood was even greater than the entire blood supply of a four-armed native. There was no way Qianye could withstand absorbing close to a hundred four-armed warriors in essence blood.

    With a muffled groan, he coughed up a mouthful of blood as more trickled down from his eyes and nose. There were bloody spots all over his skin as the sanguine fluid seeped out of his body.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t care about himself at this point. He nced over at the six-armed giant and saw that the monstrosity was still fighting the marine beast, and it had gained the clear upper hand. All it did was scratch its back to get rid of the itchy sensation.

    This oue gave Qianye a new understanding of the six-armed giant¡¯s terrifying vitality. Even if he were to explode ten times over, it still wouldn¡¯t be enough to drain the six-armed giant with Life Plunder.

    Having failed in this method, Qianye finally brought East Peak into y. Another opening presented itself after a while, and he finally managed to open a small wound on the creature¡¯s leg.

    The wound was a meter long and half a meter deep, but Qianye couldn¡¯t feel any delight from seeing it. Most of the wound¡¯s depth was upied by light green skin, and only its deepest parts were made up of flesh. This small injury wasn¡¯t enough to make a differencepared to the gigantic frame of the creature.

    East Peak was superior in weight and sturdiness, but it was not known for its sharpness. It felt as though there was nowhere to strike on the giant¡¯s body.

    That left him with the Shot of Inception as his only option. But the shot had to strike the target¡¯s vitals directly, and seeing how massive the target¡¯s body was, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel a hint of despair. There was no telling how many Shots of Inception would be needed to finish this giant off.

 Chapter 1074: The Pond of Life Part 3

    Qianye shed the six-armed giant a couple more times, leaving negligibly small wounds each time. He felt rather helpless, but it dawned upon him that he had no other way to deal with this fellow.

    He wasn¡¯t entirely without options. For instance, he might be able to finish off the giant if he fired into the eye with Heartgrave. However, this would also subject him to a beast wave, even drawing out the marine creatures.

    Qianye nced at the boundless Pond of Life but couldn¡¯t sense any other marine beasts hiding in the water. It was just that the water was rippling all this time¡ªclearly, something out of the ordinary was happening. It would seem the waters of the pond could block perception.

    At this moment, the six-armed giant had already gained the advantage and was beating the marine beast until it was roaring in agony. Three of its six stony ws had been broken, and its tail was getting weaker and weaker with each swing.

    Seeing that things weren¡¯t looking good, Qianye charged toward the pond decisively. The six-armed giant became anxious after noticing this. It roared furiously before chasing after him with a loud roar.

    At this point, Qianye had already figured out that there was something strange here. The aquatic creature was able to damage and threaten the six-armed giant, meaning that its strength was far above Qianye¡¯s own. Yet, the giant would rather give up on killing this enemy and chase after him instead. Perhaps there was a certain existencemanding him to do so, but then again, what kind of entity could control this six-armed giant?

    Qianye made a beeline for the Pond of Life, leaving the beast horde behind in the blink of an eye. Thousands of meters stood between the pond and the gathered creatures. This strip ofnd was fairly quiet, empty, and devoid of all life. Even the beasts straying into this area would immediately leave.

    Qianye had no time to pay attention to the peculiarity of this area. Even if there was danger here, it was a double-edged de. To the fierce beasts in this area, the six-armed giant was a much more important targetpared to Qianye¡ªthe aquatic creature just now had proven this. It never so much as nced at Qianye during the entire fight.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had shot through the wide-area and arrived within a thousand meters of the pond. As though he had crossed over an invisible border, a sudden explosion thundered in his head. His entire body was uncontrobly aboil, almost like he was on fire.

    The impact was so intense that it wasparable to drinking white-fruit wine. Despite Qianye¡¯s firm willpower, his vampire body wasn¡¯t good at resisting primal urges. The sudden shock sent Qianye into an absent-minded daze. He woke up in mere moments but found that he had actually turned about and was running toward one of the female beasts in the horde.

    He immediately turned about and rushed toward the water, but he was once again entranced after crossing the formless border and started running back toward the beasts again.

    After several such attempts, Qianye had gotten a rough idea of the distribution of this boundary and was able to make preparations for his subsequent charge. Although he had been restrained momentarily each time, he could already sense that there was a strange vertical eye in the depths of the pond, and that the shock would happen immediately after its opening.

    It would seem there were indeed secrets under the Pond of Life. After getting a feel of the boundary, Qianye started running around it. This made it so that the eye would appear but the impact wouldn¡¯t. His attention went back to the six-armed giant behind him.

    The giant suddenly staggered and almost fell to the ground. Its eyes lit up with a ferocious glint as it roared at the pond, waving its weapon all the while. Only two of its arms had weapons in them, though, which subtracted from the intended menace.

    The pond began to surge, boil, and froth as an enormous body moved beneath the waters. Just from the waves on the surface, one could tell that the being underneath was several hundred meters in length. Such a creature was almostparable to a void colossus, the only limitation of such a size being that it wouldn¡¯t be able toe ashore.

    The two giants¡ªone in the water and one onnd¡ªseemed to have conversed via spiritual fluctuations. The six-armed giant roared a couple of times before continuing to chase after Qianye, but this time, it was clearly more restrained and didn¡¯t attack the obstructing creatures.

    Qianye had already run out of the tnd area and dived into the dense forest. The woods beside the Pond of Life was different¡ªthe giant trees here were over a hundred meters tall, covered in vines, thorns, and shrubs, with countless creatures moving about between their leaves.

    A swarm of mosquitos rushed out of the shrubbery the moment Qianye stepped into the forest. These mosquitoes were like bees, with sharp mouths and stingers on their tails, but each the size of a fist. One could see at a nce that these terrifying beings weren¡¯t going to be easy to deal with.

    Following these insects were slithering sounds as ant-like creatures crawled out from the bushes. Their giant maws were glistening with a metallic sheen and apanied by the bitter smell of poison.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye was surrounded by countless insects. To outsiders, this dense forest was simply and of death. Ordinary beasts were no match for these bug swarms, but to Qianye, they were merely nuisances in his way.

    Sanguine mes flickered on his body as the ze swept through all the swarms within ten meters of him. In the blink of an eye, all the ants and mosquitoes scattered after catching the scent of dark golden blood energy. Only some of the ants on the ground were burned, but the bugs in the air weren¡¯t so lucky. The mes didn¡¯t quite char their entire bodies, but their delicate wings were burnt away, causing them to fall into the ant army below.

    The two insects immediately started fighting. The flightless mosquitoes retaliated fiercely with their stingers, but the ants were far greater in number and their jaws could easily snap their opponents into half. In the blink of an eye, nothing remained of the fallen mosquitoes.

    Qianye was in no mood to find out who among them was the victor. He simply hastened his steps into the depths of the forest.

    The six-armed giant arrived before the forest and, for the first time, seemed rather hesitant about stepping in.

    The moment his first footnded in the thicket, a mass of dark insects emerged from every direction and started stinging his leg. The giant¡¯s thick green skin actually started to darken!

    Just the sight of that thick cloud of mosquitoes was enough to make one¡¯s scalp go numb. Soon, severalrge palms descended amidst loud whistles and pped the legs, each strike leaving arge patch of insect mush on the skin. There was no telling how many tens of thousands of mosquitoes had died there.

    A series of pping sounds rang out as four of the giant¡¯srge hands swung down hundreds of times, killing most of the insects on his legs. He then rubbed his legs, scraping off theyers of insect mush which fell down like raindrops.

    When the faint green skin was revealed once more, there were countless small holes on the surface. These mosquitoes were so powerful that they could actually punch holes through the giant¡¯s skin. It was just that the giant¡¯s hide was so thick and hard that they were far from drilling through after a good deal of effort.

    Only a few sparse clouds remained of that seemingly-omnipresent insect swarm. One of them flew about the six-armed giant like a cloud of ck mist and actually shot toward its face. Even a being as strong as the six-armed giant would be weak in the eyes, nose, and mouth. However, the giant inhaled deeply and sucked the entire cloud of insects into his mouth, and then swallowed them.

    This intimidated thest surviving group of insects, which eventually dispersed. As for the countless venomous creatures inside the forest, they were intelligent enough to avoid a direct confrontation.

    The giant continued his hunt for Qianye after freeing himself of these restraints, crashing into a giant tree in his way.

    This big tree was over a hundred meters tall and several meters in girth, with foliage that could blot out the skies. It was indeed a majestic tree. The collision actually snapped the ancient tree in half, which went to prove just how powerful the giant was. However, the giant was also dazed from the impact and almost stumbled to the ground, swaying a couple of times before stabilizing itself.

    The six-armed giant still remembered its greatest target. It gazed at Qianye from afar and continued chasing after him inrge strides.

    Yet another loud rumble was heard as a different ancient tree copsed, then another, and another. The entire forest was in a state of chaos andmotion.

    The six-armed giant¡¯s body was now covered in injuries, and the wounds from the insect bites were dripping ck blood. The ancient trees in this forest had stood here for countless years, each of them as hard as steel. The thousands of branches were akin to sharp des in the air, and even the six-armed giant¡¯s thick skin had beencerated in many ces. Bulldozing through these trees also came with a steep price¡ªone of its arms could be seen hanging limply to the side.

    The six-armed giant could sense Qianye moving away at a constant, swift pace. The monster roared furiously and lifted a giant tree by its roots, and then swung it around at full force. This demolished arge patch of the forest, yet that wasn¡¯t enough to vent its anger.

    The Pond of Life rippled at this point as a giant spout appeared on the surface, blowing a tall pir of water into the air. Following a loud scream, extremely powerful spiritual waves descended upon the six-armed giant.

    The giant roared in response, finally throwing down the tree in his hand and giving up on destroying the forest. It nced onest time in Qianye¡¯s direction but ultimately turned away and gave up on hunting him down.

    In the depths of the forest, Qianye watched the massive receding figure from the top of an ancient tree. He heaved a sigh of relief, but his expression became solemn again after looking at his surroundings.

    This forest was extremely vast, but one could still see its borders. These woods covered an area several hundred kilometers in radius¡ªon one side of it was the Pond of Life, while on the other was a boundless grasnd. Qianye would be in a dire situation if the six-armed giant were to hunt him down on those ins.

    As expected, the six-armed monstrosity didn¡¯t leave very far. It took its stand on the grasnd as though it was waiting for something.

 Chapter 1075: A Forest Free of Secular Desires

    One side of the forest connected to the Pond of Life. Even inside the forest, Qianye could still sense that invisible boundary. There was no animal within a thousand meters of him, only a variety of nts that he could not name, weaving together to form a dense, near-impassable curtain.

    Therge aquatic beast in the Pond of Life had shown itself, but there was no telling if it was the most powerful being. The six-armed giant had sealed off the exit on the other side of the forest, and although Qianye had no idea what it was nning, it couldn¡¯t be anything good.

    However, the forest wasn¡¯t a ce he could remain in for prolonged periods. In addition to the tens of thousands of insects, the creatures living there weren¡¯t easy to deal with, either. For instance, there were small snakes as thin as chopsticks thatpletely blended into the environment. They moved as quick as lightning, and even Qianye was bitten a couple of times.

    These serpents possessed a powerful toxin that numbed Qianye¡¯s entire body after just ten seconds or so. Even his blood core started beating slower, and his blood turned stagnant. Fortunately, the dark golden blood energy was the bane of all poisons. Auric me blood surged out of his blood core and incinerated the venom in his system. The congealed blood was then expelled in the form of a mouthful of ck blood.

    Only after being poisoned did Qianye view these little snakes seriously. And this was Qianye¡ªany other vampire, even one from the twelve old ns, would notst long under the effects of this poison.

    In addition, these snakes were extremely resilient. Qianye actually failed to crush them on the first attempt after being bitten and had to exert a bit more strength before he was able to shatter the target.

    These snakes were just one of the thousands of creatures in the forest, and they weren¡¯t the most dangerous, either. Qianye had seen a small, glowing snake coiled up on one of the tree branches. Not only did the serpent not hide itself, but it had even made itself more eye-catching and visible from a good distance. Qianye naturally took the long way around this creature and avoided stepping into its territory.

    In addition to snakes, there were lizards, rats, weasels, and all kinds of strange animals. The one thing they had inmon was that they would be quite a bit of trouble when provoked, and most of them carried various types of poison. There was an unassuming weasel that wasn¡¯t poisonous, but it could gnaw through anything as though biting through apricots, even leaving two deep fang-marks on East Peak. Thereafter, Qianye would always avoid this animal and try his best not to provoke it.

    Qianye wondered whether the vampire Holy Son would be able to leave this ce alive if he were to arrive here identally. Perhaps only an arachne like Basil would be suited to survive in this ce. But then Qianye shook his head after recalling how big the spider was. Such a big target would be easily devoured by the insect swarms.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t having an easy time here, either. He finally found an empty space under arge tree, cleared away the shrubbery with his sword and sanguine mes, and finally sat down to rest. He had to maintain a thinyer of mes around his body to keep the insects away.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief after finding a hiding spot; he would finally have time to observe his surroundings. Some insects started to gather around him before long, but they didn¡¯t dare approach due to the mes. Soon, they had woven together to form a thick, furryyer on the ground.

    Now, Qianye didn¡¯t dare retract his sanguine mes. Fortunately, he had an abundance of essence blood at the moment, enough tost him half a month or so. Even if he didn¡¯t have enough, the creatures in the Great Maelstrom were just full of essence blood if nothing else. A random Life Plunder would fill him up to the point of exploding.

    Qianye noticed, after running through the forest for a good while, that the creatures he had encountered were different. Every small area would have its own characteristics¡ªeven the seemingly identical trees were actually different in structure and bark veins. After careful observation, one would find that there were actually two types of trees.

    When Qianye¡¯s eyes ran over a rock, he noticed that it was covered by ayer of purplish-green moss. He walked over and studied it carefully for a good while, finally confirming that this was Dragon Scale Moss, a keyponent of special military-grade stimnts. It was used in very small amounts but a keyponent nheless. This big patch of Dragon Scale Moss was enough to produce hundreds of special stimnts. Such drugs were only avable to high-ranking officers from special forces like Red Scorpion. Other squads had never even seen them before.

    This patch of moss was valuable, but not to the point of being priceless. Despite that, a patch this size would definitely fetch an extraordinary price.

    The Dragon Scale Moss wouldn¡¯t take much space, so Qianye carefully scraped it off and packaged it. He had used up some of his supplies while running from the six-armed giant, so there was now some extra space inside Andruil¡¯s Mysterious Realm. After checking his spatial gear, Qianye ced the Dragon Scale Moss inside. This harvest would allow several hundred high-ranking officers of the empire to survive.

    After stowing the moss away, a patch of berry trees with razor-sharp thorns caught Qianye¡¯s eyes. He fished out his dagger and shaved off some of the bark, revealing a tender golden yellow underneath. The stalk of the nt was dotted with silver speckles, which confirmed that this was a famed medicine known as the Starry Sky. The soft branches of the Starry Sky could be refined into an extremely powerful anesthetic, and the nt itself was also a poison. Its main use was to extend one¡¯s life. As long as the victim wasn¡¯t dead, the medicine could keep his life hanging from three to five days. Starry Sky could be applied in a variety of situations and was definitely an herb on the same level as Dragon Scale Moss.

    After these two discoveries, Qianye began checking his surroundings in greater detail. In the end, he found a dozen or so medicinal ingredients of differing effects.

    One could easily tell how valuable the poison from those fist-sized mosquitoes from before was. It would surely be made into several medicines with powerful effects. As for the small snake that had bitten Qianye, its flesh, blood, poison, and gall were all invaluable. Even its spine was so sharp and hard that it could be made into spearheads. One could p a metal barrel onto it and make it into a grade-seven gun.

    In short, this forest was full of treasures at every step. Qianye would¡¯ve discovered even more if only his experience and knowledge wasn¡¯t limited to his training at Yellow Springs. He had never learned about medicines and minerals in-depth. He was quite good in biology, though, but that was for finding the most efficient way to kill.

    Even so, Qianye had managed to recognize several medicines and resources. There was still a whole lot of them that he couldn¡¯t recognize. Any random segment of this forest was home to thousands of different species. Who knew how many of them there were as a whole?

    Here, small creatures like ants and bugs lived in clusters that were dozens if not hundreds of times denser than the outside world. It wasn¡¯t just the bugs and animals; this applied to the nts as well. ording tomon knowledge, such distribution would make acquiring nutrition a challenge. The food chain dictated that everything would return to the soil in the end.

    No matter how fertile the soil, it wouldn¡¯t be able to sustain such a cluster of absorption. Thend should¡¯ve turned barren in just a few years. No one knew how long the Pond of Life had existed, but the Empire had found it fairly soon after arriving in the Great Maelstrom. Several hundred years had passed since then, but there was no change at all.

    The only problem was that the Pond of Life was too dangerous, and it treated both the weak and the strong equally. After some initial attempts, the Empire would onlye for the Marine Lotus and a handful of other rare medicines, leaving quickly afterward. No one had set foot before in this forest, and Qianye felt that it was and of no return for both humans and dark races.

    Qianye was the first to dive into this thicket. He really had no other choice with the six-armed giant hot on his trail.

    This phenomenon was definitely abnormal, but then again, things in the Great Maelstrom could hardly be exined bymon sense. Now that he had nothing to do, Qianye began to ponder: was this forest, and even the entire Pond of Life, naturally formed? If not, then what was the creator¡¯s intention?

    Qianye continued his search while thinking and found a fair number of strange things, things he did not know the usage of. He didn¡¯t dare venture too far out because he would have to scorch every area he visited with sanguine mes. Even though this process would unintentionally destroy some of the treasures, he would rather risk it than get bitten by something hiding in the soil.

    Every once in a while, Qianye would climb to the top of the tree and look around. He could still see the six-armed giant¡¯s figure far off in the distance. It simply stood there, ncing over at the woods from time to time, and then back in a certain direction. It had to be a tough job for this violent monster to stand quietly for an entire day.

    The giant¡¯s state made Qianye rather uneasy.

    Coming down from the tree, Qianye began moving toward the Pond of Life. The closer he moved to the water, the stronger his urges became. However, there were only snakes, rats, and insects here, and none of them were species Qianye could mate with. So, it became even easier to resist the temptation and pressure.

    The Pond of Life was a dangerous ce, but for humans, the forest was a holynd free from secr desires. The only issue was that only a handful of people would survive after entering the forest.

    The aquatic beasts in the Pond of Life were rather gentle in nature,pared to the violent six-armed giant. The only reason they had started fighting was because the giant was being a nuisance with his hitting and smashing. Qianye wasn¡¯t naive enough to think there was no danger in the water. Disregarding everything else, what was that enormous creature eating?

    The Marine Lotus, reportedly, grew close to the shores of theke. Otherwise, the specially-trained experts of the Empire would never be able to reach them. Since he had already arrived at the Pond of Life, Qianye decided to try his luck as well.

    He had never seen the Marine Lotus. Qianye nced at the scattered inds in the Pond of Life and felt a scorching urge in his heart, which he quickly suppressed. He hadn¡¯t lived enough just yet, and had no intention to test whether he would make a sufficient meal for those giant creatures.

    The six-armed giant didn¡¯t have to remain in ce for very long before countless two-arms appeared over the horizon. There were also hundreds of four-armed natives scattered among them.

    As the tide of natives moved toward the forest, Qianye finally understood what the six-armed giant was waiting for. Its n was to drown the entire forest with two-armed soldiers and have the four-arms hunt Qianye down.

    This was doubtlessly a good move because Qianye had never seen so many two-armed people. They arrived like a ck tidal wave, rushing resolutely forward and devouring everything in its wake.

 Chapter 1076: Silent Scream

    The two-armed army split into two groups, one of which traveled along the water¡ªand not so surprisingly ended up joining the procreation party¡ªwhile the other poured into the forest.

    The first batch of two-armed natives entering the forest was stung from head to toe. Their skin wasn¡¯t as thick as the six-armed giant, and they did not possess sanguine mes to protect them. They didn¡¯t even have time to scream before they were drained of all blood and fell down as dried corpses. The carcasses fell down into the territory of the ants and rats, where they were devoured until there weren¡¯t even bone fragments left.

    In the blink of an eye, thousands of two-armed natives were swallowed up by the forest, but thousands more poured in immediately afterward. The mosquitoes, ants, and snakes poured out in droves, devouring several thousand more. However, there was a sea of two-armed natives outside of the forest, and even more would pour in after the first batch was destroyed.

    The tens of thousands of natives pushed into the forest for several hundred meters before dying. This time, there were thousands of skeletons left on the ground¡ªwhich went to show that the bone-ingesting creatures were full and could no longer take in any more.

    In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of two-armed natives charged into the forest amidst loud screams. They smashed through all obstructions with their primitive weapons¡ªbe it thorns, beehives, or anthills, nothing was a threat to them anymore.

    The bees fell dead after excreting too much venom in a short period, and were then stomped into mush. Perhaps due to the hunger, most of the two-armed natives grabbed everything they could and stuffed them into their mouths. Many of them copsed after eating the ants and insects, but the majority staggered on into the depths of the forest.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with leaden clouds as he gazed at the distant scene. He had never imagined that the six-armed giant would use this kind of tactic to shake the forest. No matter how lowly the two-armed natives were in status, this was still tens of thousands of lives being thrown away¡ªand this was just the beginning. How many more of them would have to die in order to fill up this vast forest. Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand?

    Back when the humans established the empire, they were still ves and food for the dark races. Even then, they had not suffered this type of massacre. The vampires viewed humans as properties, and of considerable value, at that.

    There were actually better, more efficient ways to get through the woods. For instance, setting it on fire was the simplest method.

    Smoke and fire were the best means to deal with insects and ants. Qianye¡¯s sanguine mes could burn the wings of all the bees in each hive. Yet, it would seem the six-armed giant had never thought of this. Be it the two-armed natives or the four-armed warriors, not a single one of them had a torch in their hands.

    At this point, the forest quieted down.

    As though the two sides had reached a certain agreement, the forest suddenly quieted down. All the insects disappeared without a trace, and the dangerous small animals shrunk back into theirirs. More than a hundred thousand two-armed natives surged into the forest and began roaming about like a pack of hungry wolves.

    A group of four-armed natives marched in from behind the two-armed natives, wielding des and eyes gleaming with ferocity.

    Qianye frowned; this wasn¡¯t good news at all. The increase in desire was almost nonexistent in the forest, and neither the two-armed nor four-armed people were affected, allowing them to go all out in the search. The forest might be big, but the two-armed people were even greater in number.

    Such a mobilization was just for him? Qianye didn¡¯t feel like he deserved such an honor. Yet, there was no other way to exin why the six-armed giant was hunting him down at all costs.

    All of that aside, the most important thing was to extricate himself from the current danger.

    The six-armed giant didn¡¯t try to enter the forest anymore. Apparently, the ancient trees and razor-sharp branches gave him quite a bit of a headache, a pain he was no longer willing to taste again. These ancient trees were extremely sturdy¡ªthe six-armed giant might be able to force a path through any other forest, but here, he would need to charge to topple just one tree. And even then, he ran the risk of getting injured.

    The vast number of two-armed natives searched the forest, while the four-armed warriors acted as core nodes to lead them.

    Qianye retracted his aura and climbed down along the tree trunk, stopping when he was a dozen or so meters above the ground. It was at this point that ten two-armed men appeared and began searching through the brambles. Just as they were about to turn around toward him, Qianye flicked a stone at the back of a two-armed native¡¯s head.

    This two-armed man roared furiously and, picking up his weapon, looked around in all directions. The surrounding natives nced at the first man, who pointed in Qianye¡¯s direction. This led countless gazes toward the tree Qianye was in, but thetter was already nowhere to be found.

    A number of four-armed soldiers arrived at the scene soon afterward. They were clearly much more intelligent and knew to look up at the crown of the giant tree.

    This ancient tree was thick and tall, but the foliage wasn¡¯t too exuberant and one could see that the space between the branches was empty.

    The tallest among the four-armed giants became furious and kicked that two-armed native to the ground. Thetter scrambled a good distance away before continuing his search.

    The entire group passed by below the ancient tree and headed toward the depths of the forest.

    In truth, Qianye was just above them. He had retracted his aura and was sticking close to the tree trunk. Additionally, he was moving around the tree trunk depending on the movement of the two-armed people, making sure to stay out of their sight. After evading this round of investigation, Qianyended softly on the ground and approached the group from behind.

    Three two-armed natives were advancing shoulder to shoulder. Just as the two on the left and right nks were beating the long grass, the person in the middle vanished. The other two never sensed anything, so they simply kept on going.

    Qianye dragged the unconscious two-armed native and arrived at a hidden location. He fished out his vampiric knife and pressed it against the man¡¯s neck, and then woke him up.

    Neither the two-armed nor the four-armed people werecking in intelligence. It was just that their cultural development was abnormal and still at the level of a primitive tribe. Even the six-armed giant was more impulsive than intelligent, more like a beast in this regard. Qianye had no hope of getting anything out of the two-armed person, but he had to try.

    Qianye knew his own value. He wasn¡¯t worth mobilizing so many forces.

    The two-armed man woke up from his sleep and saw a vampiric de pressed against his neck. This was amon sign for many races andnguages, one that didn¡¯t require a lot of intelligence to understand.

    However, this two-armed native reacted rather unexpectedly¡ªhis face was full of terror as he opened his mouth and actually emitted a soundless scream!

    There was no sound because the frequency had exceeded the range of human hearing, but that didn¡¯t stop Qianye¡¯s perception from picking it up. This scream didn¡¯t spread out very far, only a hundred meters or so, but all the two-arm and four-arm people in the area turned to look in its direction.

    That wasn¡¯t even the biggest issue. Within the second one-hundred meter perimeter, all of the two-arm and four-arm people turned back at the same time. Their reactions were a tadte, but terrifyingly neat and orderly. Immediately afterward, the natives in the next one-hundred meter ring looked back.

    In this manner, wave after wave of two-arms and four-arms turned around. They spread out toward the periphery like a tidal wave and locked onto Qianye¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Qianye cried out in secret. He had fought with a good number of two-arms in the high-gravity region. These weaker fellows¡ªgreater in number and living under extremely bad conditions¡ªserved as cannon fodder and ves. Naturally, they couldn¡¯t be considered dauntless, but Qianye had never imagined they would risk their lives to issue a warning cry.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank after sensing the situation in the forest, realizing that a certain powerhouse had connected these tens of thousands of creatures into one. Once discovered, his location would spread to all the other two-arms and four-arms.

    Qianye¡¯s hand pressed down, shing the two-armed native¡¯s throat. The man didn¡¯t die immediately and was still trying to issue another warning with hisst gasp. It was just that blood would gush out whenever he tried to open his mouth, stopping him from making another sound.

    Rustling footsteps echoed in all directions.

    Qianye charged out ten meters with a single step and drew blood with a swing of East Peak.

    Several two-armed natives had just emerged from the shrubbery when their throats were shed.

    More two-armed people poured out, including several four-armed warriors.

    Qianye put away East Peak and switched to an agile movement art. He then weaved through countless natives, leaving small wounds with his vampiric de. These wounds seemed unassuming, but they were quite possibly lethal or would otherwise handicap the victim.

    Using the enemy to camouge oneself was the way to deal with a vast number of enemies. Qianye was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to go into hiding once more. He only wanted to find a clever way to escape; never once did he think about killing a hundred thousand natives.

    Just as Qianye was circling behind one of the two-armed people, he felt a rush of wind bearing down upon him. The pressure actually stifled his breathing!

    He cried out secretly and pushed away the two-armed man he was nning to hide behind. There, he saw a four-armed warrior swinging arge tree trunk down at him!

    That tree trunk was one meter in diameter and ten meters long, producing an earth-shattering sound when swung. There was no way Qianye could stop such an object, so the only way was to evade. He immediately shed sideways, sending several two-arms flying and barely escaping the tree trunk.

    This attack, backed by every ounce of the four-armed warrior¡¯s strength, left a huge hole in the ground. Additionally, he had paid no attention to the two-armed people around Qianye, turning over a dozen of the slower ones into meat paste.

    Qianye sensed a different chill assaulting him, so he jumped up without a single thought.

    An iron spear thrust in like a venomous dragon, piercing Qianye¡¯s previous position. The assant was yet another four-armed warrior, holding a spear seven meters long. This person didn¡¯t care about the two-arms, either, impaling over ten of them in one spear-strike and turning them into mists of blood.

 Chapter 1077: Human Wave Tactics

    These four-armed natives were so intent on killing Qianye that they didn¡¯t care at all about the two-arm casualties. Seeing Qianye evade several of their attacks, the four-armed warriors became furious. They shouted outmands to the nearby two-armed people, having them restrict Qianye¡¯s movement space.

    Qianye knew that the four-armed people were on apletely different levelpared to the two-arms, but he would¡¯ve never imagined they would send thetter to their deaths. One had to know that they were intelligent lifeforms as well¡ªmany of them possessed human or dark race bloodlines, and were inherently resistant to orders sending them to their deaths.

    Qianye saw terror and hesitation in the eyes of the two-armed natives. They approached him unwillingly because they knew doing so meant death. But their eyes were shrouded in an odd yellow color as the four-armed warriors roared, hiding whatever emotions they might have had before. Soon afterward, they lost all reasoning and charged toward Qianye amidst loud cries.

    Qianye saw that the four-armed warriors were the ones in control. Heughed coldly as he charged out from the encirclement of two-armed people and arrived beside one of the roaring four-armed warriors. A swing of East Peak was all it took to sever his legs.

    The four-armed native fell down screaming and rolled about in pain, his iling weapons producing an area of death around him. All the two-armed people near him were badly mutted.

    Qianye only injured the warrior because he would turn into a natural obstruction in his badly injured state. Otherwise, not to mention a hundred thousand, just ten thousand of them was enough to squeeze him to death.

    Despite that, the ones shouting out the orders weren''t just a single four-armed warrior. Even though dozens of them were issuingmands at the same time, the two-armed natives never got confused. They simply charged at Qianye as though a single person was guiding them.

    Qianye found it strange and wondered if all the four-armed people were simply shouting something like ¡°charge¡±, an order that would make no difference no matter how many people were issuing it.

    As the two-armed soldiers grew in number, Qianye shed and dodged but wasn¡¯t able to improve his situation at all. He nced around him and noted the locations of all the four-armed people around him. It wasn¡¯t going to be that easy to surround and kill him with two-armed cannon fodder!

    The four-armed warriors were quite tall¡ªthe strongest ones were almost ten meters in height, while the shorter ones were at least four. They looked fairly eye-catching as they towered over the horde of two-armed men. Thetter could obstruct him on the ground, but there was nothing they could do to him in the air.

    At the thought of this, Qianye shot into the sky and pounced onto a four-armed warrior. He struck away the native¡¯s weapon and, with a turn of his body, shed open the man¡¯s head.

    Qianye leaped up again after the sessful kill, tapping a tree-trunk in the air before shooting toward a different four-armed warrior. Yet another cull ensued.

    Qianye flew about in the air, felling seven of these four-armed warriors and clearing the left side of the battlefield. The sea of two-armed people below him could pose no threat.

    It was at this point that a sudden change happened.

    The dozens of remaining four-armed warriors retrieved the bows on their back and nocked their arrows. In the blink of an eye, countless arrows were whistling through the air toward Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed at the sight of these green-shrouded arrows!

    He pounced toward arge tree, circled to the back, and began climbing upward. The projectiles whistling behind him flew around the tree as they closed in.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had reached the crown of the tree. There, the branches were already quite thin and no longer able to hide his figure. Although most of the pursuing arrows had struck the tree trunk, there were still ten or so on his tail.

    Qianye was a powerful character even by the twelve major vampire ns¡¯ standards, someone who could suppress people like Edward. Despite his superiority in speed and agility, he still couldn¡¯t escape these arrows after going all out. The archery skill of these natives was far beyond what the Empire was capable of.

    With no path upward, Qianye made a sharp turn and mmed down into the sea of two-armed people like aet.

    ¡°Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!¡± Several of the pursuing arrows stabbed into the ground behind Qianye. The projectiles almost vanishedpletely into the earth, leaving only the fletching. It would seem their uracy wascking just a bit during sharp turns.

    However, Qianye let out a muffled grunt as he was struck on the thigh and shoulder.

    The arrow in his thigh had gone in quite deep, while the other one nailed into his shoulder de.

    Qianye¡¯s face turned pale as he reached back and pulled the arrows out. The arrowheads weren¡¯t serrated, but there were strange blue patterns upon them representing an intense poison. Qianye¡¯s wound felt somewhat numb, but the venom was swept away by a wave of sanguine mes.

    Qianye felt fortunate that the natives had thought their poison was enough and never bothered to modify their arrowheads. Such crafting was too much work for the natives who had to procreate in the daytime and go into deep sleep at night to resist the cold. Using a bit of poison saved them much time.

    Besides, a poison that could give Qianye such difort could easily kill any other beast. Even a demonkin expert like Eden would have to go through a bit of trouble when poisoned. While surrounded in every direction, just a slight dy was enough to plunge one into peril.

    It could be considered good luck that only ten or so arrows had managed to chase after him until the end, two of them finding their mark. From a different perspective, these four-armed natives wouldn¡¯t be at their current level if all of their arrows could chase after Qianye until the end. They would have to be at or near the divine champion realm.

    The two-armed natives had swarmed over at this point, and Qianye no longer dared take to the skies, lest he became an easy target. He shed into the crowd of two-armed people and adopted the most primitive way to protect himself.

    Qianye¡¯s movements became extremely small and meticulous, only enough to disable the enemy. He would not kill if he could injure, and only lightly if he could help it. This wasn¡¯t born of benevolence but rather to conserve energy for potential danger.

    The Book of Darkness could convert essence blood, but the rate was nowhere near the consumption in battle. He could replenish blood energy but not origin power, which was being drained at a steady rate.

    Having adapted to the high gravity, most species in the Great Maelstrom possessed strong bodies. This was a problem for Qianye because his domain would have little effect on these people, and he couldn¡¯t use Life Plunder too often. This crippled half of Qianye¡¯s trump cards, leaving only the Shot of Inception for use in critical situations.

    It was soon dusk.

    Qianye was bathed in blood. All he could remember was that he had killed close to a hundred four-armed warriors and countless two-armed ones. His body was growing heavy, and every movement felt exhausting. He could feel his origin power and blood energy hitting empty.

    ¡°Will I ever escape?¡± Qianye sighed secretly. He had never imagined that he would be dying to a native human wave tactic, not on the front lines against the dark races, nor amidst a civil conflict in the Empire. Now that was frustrating.

    That six-armed giant simply wouldn¡¯t enter the forest and was currently quite far away. With the energy Qianye had left, it wasn¡¯t possible even if he wanted to use Spatial sh and take the giant down with him.

    The curtain of the night slowly descended, and the forest grew darker. The darkness had no effect on Qianye, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the natives. They did possess some night vision capabilities but couldn¡¯tpare to Qianye¡¯s vision, which stemmed from his ancient vampire bloodline.

    With the pressure on him reduced, Qianye finally made a decision on his path of escape. He charged out toward the Pond of Life!

    Now that it was night time, most creatures would instinctively choose to sleep even without the frigid night freezing their vitality. All reproduction activities had stopped.

    It was probably the same for those giant beasts in the Pond of Life. In their weariness, they would probably not mind an insect flying past them¡ªprovided said insect didn¡¯t sting them.

    Qianye was betting on the sea creatures being in a resting state and ignoring him as he passed by the water.

    When the sky waspletely dark, Qianye finally got through the encirclement and arrived at the point where the forest andke waters met. That was where the invisible border existed.

    The distant six-armed giant became restless. It roared continuously, instructing the two and four-armed natives to tighten their siege. The giant also tried to enter the forest, knocking several trees down and injuring itself.

    This proved that there was something the six-armed giant feared in the Pond of Life. It didn¡¯t want Qianye to go there.

    It made sense for one to do something the enemy didn¡¯t want; this was a good strategy under most circumstances. Qianye advanced firmly and crossed the invisible border.

    A furious roar echoed in the Pond of Life as he crossed the boundary. A shockwave of desire surged over and struck Qianye, as well as the natives chasing after him. Even the people who were just close to the border weren¡¯t spared. Apparently, the creature in the water had been infuriated.

    As the tides fell, Qianye was ovee by a momentary daze. The stunned state was immediately suppressed by his Venus Dawn origin power, granting him rity once more.

    The natives around him, on the other hand, fell to the ground and became entangled like a group of mating beasts. It was clear that they could produce offspring, so they couldn¡¯t resist the torrential urge.

    Qianye was delighted because this tide of desire was much weakerpared to the daytime. Apparently, the creatures in the water needed to sleep too and were using minimal effort to deal with them. This intensity was enough for him to resist, which was beyond the power of those two and four-armed natives. This wave of desire actually helped Qianye deal with his pursuers.

    Qianye continued running toward the Pond of Life, but he nced back briefly before doing so. There seemed to be amotion in the distance; the natives were beleaguering someone.

 Chapter 1078: Quite Mediocre

    Qianye couldn¡¯t see through the entire army, so he had no idea what was going on on the other side. However, it seemed the beasts and the natives weren¡¯t friendly at all. It was no exception near the Pond of Life.

    The Pond of Life surged as a desire-awakening tide arrived yet again. This time, the covered surface area wasn¡¯t just around the boundary line. It washed deep into the forest, toppling thousands upon thousands of natives in the blink of an eye. The distant giant was furious, but nothing it did was working. No matter how many natives it dispatched, they would all be toppled by a single wave.

    The six-armed giant roared ferociously but finally withdrew his troops away from the border. That sh alone had cost hundreds of four-arms and tens of thousands of two-arms.

    Even the bad-tempered giant had no choice but topromise in the face of such losses, giving up on charging the Pond of Life.

    Qianye crouched low and retracted his aura while moving. Two more waves washed over him after the native army¡¯s temporary retreat, but the intensity was much weaker. Qianye managed to tide over them without making a sound.

    There were natives rolling about on the ground along the border. Qianye was channeling Bloodline Concealment amidst all the chaos, so searching for him with perception alone would be extremely difficult.

    The existence in the water seemed fairly tired. It merely scanned the area a couple of times for Qianye and turned silent after failing to find him.

    Qianye slowly approached the Pond of Life and crept along the water, slowly leaving the natives¡¯ encirclement. The night was young, and he had lots of time to spare.

    ¡­

    In a stone-forest that resembled a thousand needles pointing at the sky, two figures were contending with the natives. One of them looked nimble and delicate but attacked with extreme force; even the four-armed warriors couldn¡¯t stand after a single blow. The other was as swift as lightning and shrouded in icy energy. She was just a beat faster than all the natives in her wake, cutting them down in mere moments.

    These two were Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann. They never went back to the fortress after scattering that day, but now, they had appeared near the Pond of Life.

    They of thend wasplicated inside the stone forest, with pirs of rock forming natural obstructions. The twodies were like fish in water, attacking and retreating at will as they felled hundreds of natives.

    Despite that, their expressions were pretty bad. After killing yet another two-armed soldier, Li Kuann said, ¡°This won¡¯t do, there are too many of them.¡±

    ¡°Persevere.¡± Ji Tianqing continued fighting in silence after saying this.

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t willing to stay quiet. ¡°We should¡¯ve escaped to the fortress, yet you had toe here.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said angrily, ¡°This is our only chance at survival, that¡¯s the result of our divination. You agreed to it as well, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°My divination skills¡­¡± Li Kuann sighed while shing backward at a two-armed man. ¡°Well, we¡¯re here anyway. I just hope¡­ he managed to escape.¡±

    ¡°I hope so too.¡±

    The two grew weaker after a while of fighting. A blushing Ji Tianqing nced toward the Pond of Life but quickly turned back and continued fighting.

    ¡°What are you scared about?¡± Li Kuann chuckled.

    ¡°You¡¯re stillughing?¡± Ji Tianqing asked unceremoniously.

    ¡°The Pond of Life was never a secret, why are you hesitating?¡±

    ¡°Humph, it¡¯s easy to say. Why don¡¯t you try?¡±

    ¡°We canpete with the natives in willpower.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a strange expression, ¡°It was never a problem, but now¡­ I¡¯m not that confident.¡±

    ¡°Shall we take a chance?¡±

    Ji Tianqing shook her head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want that kind of ending if we lose.¡±

    Li Kuann nced at the myriad of beasts and natives near the pond and went pale at the thought. ¡°I don¡¯t want that, either, so let¡¯s fight to the end!¡±

    The sword in her grasp was damaged in many ces and looked like it would break before long. Just from the state of her weapon, one could easily see how intense the fighting had been. Li Kuann sighed, saying, ¡°We might be able to approach the Pond of Life if we hadn¡¯t done that, right?¡±

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t be alive if we hadn¡¯t done that. Are you regretting it?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    A continuous stream of two-armed and four-armed natives entered the stone forest, and there was no telling when it would end. The two of them couldn¡¯t approach the Pond of Life, and seeing that massive figure in the distance, they also had to give up on breaking out of the encirclement. All they could do was fight on in frustration.

    Unknowingly the two of them had been forced to fight back-to-back in order to resist the unending attacks. The wounds on their bodies were also growing in number. Ji Tianqing felt her movements growing painful and her breathingbored. Li Kuann found her sword getting progressively heavier, to the point where it was difficult to even keep it in her hand.

    She sighed. ¡°The six-arm general chasing after us is already this powerful. The one hunting him down is so much bigger. Do you think he can escape?¡±

    ¡°He will! Our man is, of course, the most awesome person.¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s mood improved quite a bit and there was even a bit of joy in her tone.

    Li Kuann¡¯s heart sank, and her expression never improved. The two had been fighting together all this time and knew each other very well. She was clear that Ji Tianqing was out of origin power. If she had any tricks up her sleeve, she would¡¯ve used it by now. There were no reinforcementsing to their aid since the Great Maelstrom was isted from the outside world.

    Perhaps she was already preparing her final killing move.

    Li Kuann was shaken as she thought of those words just now. ¡°Yeah, our man¡­¡±

    There was no need to hide anything anymore at this point. Li Kuann prepared an origin grenade, nning to kill herself before falling in battle. She refused to be captured alive or let the natives obtain her corpse.

    Ji Tianqing likely possessed something simr as well.

    It was at this time that an extraordinary fluctuation of origin power arrived from the distance. It was mysterious yet distinct, sharp yet gentle, full of conflicting sensations yet didn¡¯t feel artificial.

    As experts, Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing possessed sharp senses even on the verge of death. Both of them nced toward the source at the same time.

    In the distance, the six-armed giant¡¯s figure towered over them like a mountain.

    All of a sudden, a faintly discernible wisp of ck energy spun around the giant¡¯s neck.

    A red line appeared around the neck of that six-armed monstrosity. Then, its massive head slowly slid away and fell to the ground.

    Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing were stunned. The six-armed giant¡­ was dead?

    For a moment, they had thought that the giant was about to perform some kind of earth-shattering attack and kill them.

    ¡°Boom!¡± Only when that towering frame copsed did the two girls realize that their enemy was truly dead.

    However, a question appeared in their minds: how did it die?

    This six-armed giant had joined the chase mid-way. It was a bit smaller than the one chasing Qianye, only reaching up to thetter¡¯s shoulders, but it was more than enough to force thedies into dire straits.

    It was tall, strong, and immensely powerful. Living in the high-gravity region year long made sure that its body was as hard as steel and knew no fatigue. It also happened to know tracking methods that were impossible to counter. Such an enemy was almost invincible. Even though Ji Tianqing was well-experienced and Li Kuann had been testing her de throughout thend, neither of the two had faced a situation where they could neither beat nor flee from the enemy.

    Now, the monstrosity was dead, and the process was so simple that it felt like a child¡¯s game.

    That ck energy flew about and transformed into a giant sickle in the grasp of an indescribable woman. With her dancing ck hair and bottomless deep eyes, her appearance could only be summarized as perfect.

    The duo¡¯s hearts skipped a beat when they saw thisdy. A name escaped from both their lips: Nighteye!

    All the young top experts of the Empire knew Nighteye. Her fame didn¡¯t juste from her vampire primo status, nor was it born of her unmatched beauty¡ªit was mostly because of Qianye and his shocking fury. Because of that massacre in the city of Indomitable, one of the most powerful geniuses of the Empire, and someone with great potential at that, was driven out.

    Even today, people were still debating about Qianye¡¯s treason. If the military hadn¡¯t broken the rules and captured Nighteye, perhaps Qianye would be a pir shouldering part of the Empire¡¯s burdens. Many voices still believed that, as a vampire, Qianye was bound to be disloyal to the human race. Why otherwise would the founding emperor not tolerate the vampires? He would even kill his own son if thetter were tainted.

    To most of the girls in the Empire, however, Qianye was a heroic figure who would sacrifice everything for love. He was like a bright g fluttering in their hearts, one that would never fade away. As the heroine of this story, Nighteye was the target of many a girl¡¯s envy.

    But the current Nighteye wasn¡¯t anything like the two girls had imagined. Why would she have fallen into Li Fengshui¡¯s hands if she could kill a six-armed giant in one strike?

    While they were going over their misgivings, the giant had fallen entirely.

    Their greatest enemy was gone, but the two girls weren¡¯t in a better situation. The two-armed natives were still attacking with all their might, and there was no chaos because of the giant¡¯s death. There were native warriors everywhere in the stone forest, numbering in the tens of thousands. They would be half dead from exhaustion even if all of them stood there waiting to be killed.

    With a flicker, Nighteye¡¯s figure appeared in the air about a hundred meters away. The two girls were stunned because they recognized this move as Qianye¡¯s trademark skill, Spatial sh. Why did she know this skill?

    Nighteye looked down from above with an expression full of mockery and disdain. Her eyes almost seemed to say, ¡°You¡¯ll die if you¡¯re not smart enough!¡±

    Nighteye was holding a young girl in one hand and a shockinglyrge scythe in the other. She whispered something to thess, who then nodded and blew hard toward the ground.

    In the blink of an eye, Ji Tianqing felt all her hair standing on end. Under the stimtion of impending death, countless pieces of fragmented information and imagery came together. ¡°That¡¯s Zhuji! Hold your breath and protect your body!¡±

    The girls used theirst bit of origin power to shield themselves, blocking the breeze outside. Even when that gentle wind had subsided, they didn¡¯t dare release their barriers until they werepletely out of origin power.

    At this point, the stone forest was entirely silent with native corpses strewn across the ground.

    Nighteye appeared quietly before the two girls. Intentionally or otherwise, Zhuji¡¯s puckered mouth was always aimed at them. Being stared at by the littless felt no different from being locked onto by a void colossus; they didn¡¯t even dare to move.

    Nighteye shot them a nce, saying, ¡°Your man is, of course, awesome, but you two¡­ heh¡­ are quite average.¡±

    With that, Nighteye¡¯s figure blurred into a Spatial sh. No one knew how far she had gone.

 Chapter 1079: Vague

    On the shore of the Pond of Life, Qianye had fallen between a rock and a hard ce. The distant six-armed giant, after figuring out his movements, had circled around to intercept.

    Qianye would bump into it if he were to advance, but the other direction was the core region of the Pond of Life. Heading in that direction was akin to walking under the eyes of the aquatic behemoth. Compared to challenging an unknown enemy, Qianye would rather face the six-armed giant. At the very least, he wasn¡¯t entirely helpless against this fellow.

    Qianye sat close to the water and began channeling the Glory Chapter to replenish origin power. He found, to his surprise, that its speed had increased again and was much faster than in other ces. The chapter was already faster in the Great Maelstrompared to the outside world, and now, it was even more terrifying in the Pond of Life. The rate of channeling was even faster than in the high-gravity region. Qianye estimated that one day of training here would equal ten in the outside world.

    He controlled the cultivation art at a steady rate for fear that he might rm the giant creature in the water. Qianye opened his eyes after a quarter of an hour. This time was short, but it was akin to two hours of cultivation outside of the Great Maelstrom. It wasn¡¯t enough to improve one¡¯s cultivation rank, but enough to recover over half of one¡¯s origin power.

    With origin power, there were many things he could do.

    At this moment, the six-armed giant had taken up position on the other side of the forest, waiting for Qianye to appear. Gazing at that distant figure, thetter began thinking of things he could do.

    Only two things could actually injure the monstrosity: Heartgrave and the Shot of Inception. Or perhaps a shot from Heartgrave enforced with the Wings of Inception.

    This would boost Heartgrave¡¯s firepower close to the peak of grade nine, but the consumption involved would increase exponentially as well. It was simple¡ªif Heartgrave¡¯s original power was ten, it would be raised to twenty, but the origin power consumption would increase from ten to fifty. Such a drain wouldpletely exhaust Qianye, even though his cultivation had improved quite a bit.

    Yet, without the Wings of Inception, the gun¡¯s firepower was somewhatcking. If he couldn¡¯t kill the enemy in one blow, using Heartgrave in this dangerous ce was like digging one¡¯s own grave.

    Pondering over this matter, Qianye inspected the Wings of Inception again. There was a ck feather on each of its wings, plus two ordinary luminous feathers, which meant that he had umted four shots, and two of them were mutated. It was near impossible for Qianye to fire all four shots since there was a limit to his blood energy. One had to know that the mutated Shot of Inception would cost twice the energy to firepared to an ordinary one.

    He fell silent as his gazended on the two ck feathers. He might be able to injure the six-armed giant if he were to use two Shots of Inception. It would, however, be rather difficult to kill that monster¡­ that was unless he could strike at its vitals. Then again, where were the giant¡¯s vitals?

    Its head? Probably not.

    Could it be the heart? No one knew.

    Its eyes? That was a possibility, but the giant¡¯s perception was so strong that it could track Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh. Whether the eyes were usable or not would make little difference it seems.

    Its crotch? That was also probable. Reproductive organs were important to all male creatures¡­ right?

    Truth be told, Qianye had no way to confirm this, and the giant¡¯s ragged loincloth possessed shockingly high defensive capabilities. It truly makes one wonder what beast skin it was made from.

    After much deliberation, Qianye finally thought of a method that wasn¡¯t quite a method. The six-armed giants might not have any weakness, but this one before him did. A piece of its skull had been sted away a few days ago, and although it had grown back, the new bone would surely be weaker than the rest of its skeleton. Qianye needed only to fire at the same spot again, and his chances of producing results would increase exponentially.

    Having reached a decision, Qianye was no longer in a rush. He decided to channel the Mystery Chapter for a quarter of an hour beforeunching a surprise assault on the six-armed giant.

    If he could heavily injure the opponent, Qianye would immediately flee toward the Imperial fortress.

    Just as Qianye had finished preparations and was about to deal a powerful blow to the six-armed giant, a streak of ck energy appeared and circled lightly around its neck.

    Immediately afterward, the six-armed giant¡¯s great head left its body and fell to the ground.

    For a moment, Qianye could hardly believe his eyes. The six-armed giant was dead? Dead?

    This truth was too unbelievable. The giant had been distracted by Qianye¡¯s impending attack, but even Elder Lu from the Heavenschild Pasture would only be able to injure it with a sneak attack. It wasn¡¯t certain if the old man wouldst very long in a head-on battle.

    If even Elder Lu could only do that much, there was no need to think about other people.

    Even if Qianye were to take action personally and the six-armed giant were to stand there without doing anything, there was no way he could¡¯ve shed through that steely neck in one move.

    Qianye¡¯s bewilderment soon turned to joy. The familiar figure that had emerged with the giant¡¯s copse¡­ wasn¡¯t that Nighteye?

    Qianye took a hurried step forward but stopped in a rare case of hesitation.

    He hadn¡¯t seen Nighteye for a good while. The several times that he did talk to her, they only did so with the airship walls between them.

    From a different perspective, the awakened Nighteye was an existence Qianye had to look up to. Although emotions weren¡¯t decided by fighting power, both the Empire and Evernight considered strength to be the most important characteristic, and it was only natural for Qianye to observe these rules. To the current him, this meant that Nighteye was of a higher ss.

    Qianye had always wondered if Nighteye, after awakening, still remembered that bit of love they had shared¡ªbut he also didn¡¯t want to, or dared to, find out. Now, for some reason, she had appeared and saved him from his predicament.

    Qianye gazed at Nighteye, and Nighteye gazed at him. It was just that her eyes were as deep as the boundless abyss, showing none of her emotions.

    Momentster, Nighteye broke the silence with a faint smile. ¡°Is this how you n to help me up the Sacred Mountain?¡±

    These words came out of the blue. Qianye was momentarily stunned, not knowing where he should start. He had entered the Great Maelstrom to seek fortunes and improve his strength, and indeed, he had made extraordinary progress. If he weren¡¯t trapped by the six-armed giant, he would¡¯ve probably condensed his seventh origin vortex by now.

    This bit of power was far from enough to help Nighteye onto the Sacred Mountain, not even to the foot of the mountain. However, no one in the Empire was Qianye¡¯s peer in terms of cultivation speed. As for Evernight, the dark races were more used to measuring the growth of one¡¯s bloodline power. Their cultivation speed was much slower depending on the phase of their training, far from being a match for him.

    Qianye noticed the dissatisfaction in Nighteye¡¯s voice, but he couldn¡¯t figure out what exactly she was resenting. Qianye¡¯s growth in cultivation andbat strength could only be described as godly by any measure.

    Before Qianye could ask, Nighteye drifted down and ced Zhuji on the ground. She then pointed at Qianye, saying, ¡°Go to Papa.¡±

    Little Zhuji frowned. ¡°No! Papa doesn¡¯t care about me, I want Mama and Aunty!¡±

    These words surprised Nighteye. She said with a gentle expression, ¡°You want me? I never spent much time with you, either.¡±

    The littless said, ¡°Aunty has a nice smell.¡±

    A chuckling Nighteye patted her head, saying, ¡°Good girl, follow Papa from now on. Go wherever he goes, understand?¡±

    Little Zhuji was apparently somewhat fearful of Nighteye and didn¡¯t dare disobey. ¡°But what if Papa wants to leave me somewhere again?¡±

    ¡°Give him a mouthful if he dares.¡±

    Little Zhuji shook her head. ¡°No! Papa will die. I don¡¯t want him to die, I don¡¯t want Mama or Aunty to die, either.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s smile became even more radiant. She kneaded the little girl¡¯s head hard, saying, ¡°Nonsense, how could Papa die? Your little poison will leave him half dead at most, but he¡¯ll recover in less than a day. I won¡¯t die, either. Not many people in this world can kill your aunty. Your Mama, though¡­ maybe¡­¡±

    Seeing that Nighteye was thinking about something, Zhuji asked, ¡°What do you want to do with Mama?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I was just thinking if I should kill him.¡± Only after saying this did she realize that she had blurted out her thoughts, but she wasn¡¯t really afraid that Qianye would hear her anyway. She merely patted Zhuji on the back, saying, ¡°Go.¡±

    The little fellow had just taken a step forward when she was pulled back.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Nighteye flew over to the six-armed giant¡¯s body. She then sliced open its chest with her ck scythe and picked out the heart.

    The giant¡¯s heart was extremely big, and it was still beating with great power. Apparently, there was an iparable amount of vitality within it.

    Nighteye tossed the heart to Zhuji, saying, "Have your father cook this for you. It¡¯ll be beneficial."

    Zhuji couldn¡¯t stop drooling the moment she saw that giant heart. Her strong intuition told her that this thing wasn¡¯t just slightly beneficial to her.

    The little fellow ran all the way to Qianye¡¯s side, hauling the giant heart that was even bigger than herself. With the giant¡¯s heart in hand, this little fellow forgot all about Nighteye. It would seem she was a fairly big glutton.

    The giant heart blocked Nighteye¡¯s figure as Zhuji was running over, and by the time the girl had tossed the beating organ onto the ground in front of Qianye, she had already disappeared.

    That love seemed to be there, yet it also seemed otherwise.

    If she no longer cared about him entirely, why would she arrive at such an opportune moment? On the other hand, how could she have left so easily if she did care about him?

    Qianye sighed in his heart.

    Momentster, a bonfire rose up beside the Pond of Life, with small pieces of fist-sized meat cooking in a pot over the mes.

    This pot used to be a part of the six-armed giant¡¯s armor, the water inside came from the Pond of Life, and the meat was naturally the giant¡¯s heart.

    It wasn¡¯t that Qianye¡¯s knife skills werecking but because the six-armed giant¡¯s heart was too difficult to cut¡ªusing East Peak at full force was barely enough to dice the meat into pieces. He thus decided to do the cutting after it was cooked.

    The water was boiling, but the heart hadn¡¯t changed color. Impatient, Little Zhuji picked a piece of meat out of the boiling water and swallowed it recklessly.

    The meat was so big that her neck almost bulged out as the meat slid down her throat. This method of eating drenched Qianye in cold sweat.

    ¡°No taste.¡± The girl seemed confused.

 Chapter 1080: Waylaying Fish

    There were many levels to being a glutton, and Little Zhuji was only at the first level¡ªher focus was to eat more and faster. She still had a long way to go before reaching the stage where she would savor the taste of everything in detail. Even so, this little fellow¡¯s appetite was enough to shock everyone. That piece of meat was almost bigger than her neck, yet she had simply swallowed it whole. It truly made one wonder whether her true form was an arachne or a python.

    She didn¡¯t taste the first piece, and naturally, the second was no different. Only after she had burned through eight pieces of meat did she start to chew on the meat and notice the taste. However, the giant¡¯s heart was as tough as tree bark. The littless chewed with all her might, but she became impatient after a while and simply swallowed everything.

    She copsed on her back after a while, her little round belly protruding upward. It looked like she wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up anymore.

    Shaking his head, Qianye broke into a chuckle. He shot a nce at the remaining pieces of meat.

    Judging from her state, Zhuji must¡¯ve been really full. The pieces of meat in the pot were still leaking powerful vitality and spirit, and since there was no way to store it, they would probably turn into ordinary meat by tomorrow.

    Only then did Qianye start eating.

    The six-armed giant¡¯s heart contained great amounts of vitality essence, but Qianye no longer required such nourishment. All creatures in the Great Maelstrom possessed powerful vitality and could provide him with endless amounts of essence blood. Sometimes, he would even hurt himself from being too full.

    For instance, a random aquatic beast from the Pond of Life could allow Qianye to ascend to the mighty marquis rank, and two more would bring him to the glorious marquis rank. It was just that depending solely on external sources wasn¡¯t beneficial for Qianye.

    Not wanting to waste food, Qianye cleared away all the meat and soup in the pot. At this point, the littless was already sound asleep and snoring softly. She was still an arachne, after all, and would need to umte enough sleep during her growth period to increase her strength.

    Qianye sighed softly. Sometimes, he really did envy the dark races¡ªother things aside, their long lives alone had attracted many human defectors over the ages. Even though the vampires would need to slumber in the blood pond near the end of their lives, being alive was good enough for those old people with one foot in the grave, whose greatest fear was that they would close their eyes and never be able to open them again.

    There was still some time before dawn, and the forest had long since fallen into silence. The procreating natives were so exhausted that they had copsed into a puddle, and those who were spared had dispersed. They seemed to have regained their free will after the death of the six-armed giant, allowing them to return to the high-gravity region.

    ncing at their surroundings, Qianye felt that they were rtively safe, and it was a good thing that the little fellow was asleep. Considering how odd the Pond of Life was, there was really no telling whether it could affect her or not.

    It was at this time that a sh of light appeared in Qianye¡¯s sight.

    This faint green light was hazy and fluctuant, but Qianye could feel his mind wavering upon seeing it. It was as though he had fallen into a hypnotic state.

    The realization that his spirit was being drawn in by the light jolted him awake.

    Since condensing a blood core, Qianye was fairly clear that his own willpower and soul were no longer as resolute. The impulse born of this body was too strong¡ªQianye¡¯s willpower was enough to handle a human body, but it wasparatively weak in suppressing the urges from a vampire constitution. His performance in the high-gravity region was just slightly better than Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann.

    Even so, a force that could control one''s soul had never been seen before, or heard of for that matter. From what he knew, the only thing rted to the soul here was the Marine Lotus.

    Qianye shot to his feet and gazed at the source of this light. If this were the Marine Lotus, it was something he had to obtain.

    ording to Imperial records, this flower would only bloom for a moment before condensing into jade. Thereafter, its spirit nurturing effects and many other miraculous powers wouldrgely disappear. The medicines avable in the Empire were made from this type of Marine Lotus.

    Legend had it that Prince Greensun had entered the Great Maelstrom and brought out a Marine Lotus. Even considering Zhang Boqian¡¯s space traversal abilities, no one could figure out what powers he had used to freeze time around the blooming flower.

    However, the unknown couldn¡¯t weaken Qianye¡¯s determination.

    Qianye had no idea what Nighteye¡¯s current situation was, but in terms of absolute strength, the power she had disyed wasn¡¯t that impressive. She had just recovered up to the duke-rank, but her method of power utilization was at apletely different level. That was why the six-armed giant couldn¡¯t evenst for a while under her assault.

    But Qianye remembered Nighteye mentioning that her spirit damage would be difficult to heal. Qianye had also done his research on Li Fengshui¡¯s methods and understood the principles behind it. In the end, the Spirit Millstone served to crush a portion of one¡¯s spirit and use this defect to torture the subject. This part of the spirit would disappearpletely, and healing it was no different from growing a new limb, except that the difficulty would be a thousand times greater.

    No one knew when the awakened Nigteye would gain the power to repair her spirit. As far as Qianye¡¯s knowledge from the River of Blood was concerned, the ancient vampires never possessed this power. Perhaps she would go further and obtain even greater inheritances, but who knew how long it would take?

    As this notion flickered through Qianye¡¯s heart, he became even more resolute about getting his hands on the Marine Lotus.

    The green glow came from the Pond of Life, from a small ind a thousand meters away from the shore. This distance was neither short nor long, but Qianye knew he would be attacked by water beasts along the way. Although the creatures were resting at night, that didn¡¯t mean he could just waltz over their heads without repercussions.

    The good news was that the ind wasn¡¯t too far off and there was a shallow region near the shore. There was only a small strip of deep water, which made it difficult forrger beasts to reside in the vicinity. Beastsparable to the void colossi in size would only be able to lie between the ind and shore without stretching their limbs.

    After a moment of hesitation, Qianye picked up the little girl and a piece of wood. Then, his figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

    A pir of water shot up from the Pond of Life, condensing into a thin wall of water. Qianye¡¯s silhouette appeared in the air but was bounced back after striking the barrier.

    Qianye was astonished because this was the first time Spatial sh was blocked entirely. The giant beast under the water possessed an unimaginable ability that could straighten out distorted space. Qianye was caught off-guard while shuttling through space and bounced out, appearing in an awkward location between the ind and the shore.

    A pir of water shot out from below, and its sharp end speared toward him.

    Qianye reacted with extreme speed, hurling the piece of wood down toward the pir of water. The impact from the rushing water caused the log to explode, but Qianye had borrowed the impact to move away, effectively avoiding damage from the water spear.

    This waternce actually didn¡¯t shoot into the air after missing its target and pulled back like a real spear.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up as he swung East Peak and shed the falling water column into two.

    The lower part of the spear condensed and contracted, but the upper half shattered into a shower of raindrops over Qianye and the little girl.

    As the waterdrops approached his body, Qianye could feel wisps of vitality enter through his skin. Even the dark golden blood energy became a bit livelier. Just as he had thought¡ªthe water here was not only free of poison, but it was also extremely nourishing. Ordinary sick people would be healedpletely after soaking in it for a few days.

    Even the water droplets in the Pond of Life possessed powerful vitality. Then again, there seemed to be no such energy when he drew water for cooking a while ago.

    Qianye looked down with a hint of blue in his eyes. Through the pond, he could see a strange fish that was hundreds of meters long. The creature looked like a smooth shuttle, with ten eyes on its head and an opening on its back. That spear of water came from that spout.

    That vitality from that rain came from the giant fish.

    Little Zhuji sensed something beneficial even while asleep, instinctively poking out her tongue and licking the rainwater. Qianye felt odd¡ªdidn¡¯t this mean she was licking the fish¡¯s saliva?

    Despite the dense vitality in it, the pressurized water boasted iparable destructive potential. If Qianye hadn¡¯t evaded as quickly as he did just now, he would¡¯ve been impaled by thence. Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire constitution might be the most powerful among the dark races, but it was nothingpared to natural-born behemoths.

    Fortunately, it would seem the fish didn¡¯t have a lot of attack methods. If it was just this water spear, then the threat it could pose was rather limited. That void-sealing water barrier wasn¡¯t that strong, either, and could be crashed through.

    The giant fish seemed furious after missing its attack. All of its closed eyes opened and stared at Qianye. The muscles on its back squirmed and wiggled as dozens of spouts opened up!

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. He immediately shot into the air and pulled away from the fish as far as he could.

    All of a sudden, thergest spout on the fish shot out an astounding pir of water, which zoomed past Qianye and spread out into a dome of water.

    The fishunched an all-out attack after sealing off Qianye¡¯s path. Dozens of water spears weaved together to cage him in!

    Qianye maintained an odd posture inside the cage, twisting and turning to minimize the damage he would receive from the attack. Even so, several bloody defects appeared on his body. These wounds, albeit just abrasions, were almost unbearable.

    In the water, that giant fish was doubtlessly even scarier than the six-armed giant.

    After the waternces were retracted, the blue dome scattered into a shower which drenched Qianye¡¯s wounds and elerated their healing.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s body started to fall, seemingly unable to maintain flight. The giant fish below stared at him with all its eyes, almost as though a delicacy was descending from the sky.

    When he was a few dozen meters from the water surface, Qianye erupted with killing intent. Thebined Twin Flowers appeared in his hand as he fired a ck feather toward the giant fish!

 Chapter 1081: Marine Lotus

    The ck luminous feather was faster and more fleeting than the original Shot of Inception. At such distances, the massive body of the aquatic creature had no way to evade. The giant fish cried out in surprise, bringing up the pond water as a shield around it.

    There was no way this water shield could block the Shot of Inception. The ethereal projectile pierced through the shield and into the monster¡¯s body.

    The giant creature spasmed and twitched amidst mournful wails, and its exuberant vitality weakened sharply. It was as though someone had punched arge hole beneath it.

    However, its vitality stopped weakening after a one-third loss and stabilized therein. The giant fish stopped tumbling and red at Qianye with eyes full of killing intent.

    Qianye sighed inwardly. A one-third loss in vitality could only be considered a heavy injury, not a loss in fighting power for this giant fish. In truth, the loss was quite significant. The Wolf King would have copsed on the spot, unable to chase Qianye while enduring the injuries.

    But this fish possessed tremendous vitality. Even the ck luminous feather could only injure and enrage it further.

    Such a behemoth possessed too much life force to kill in one move.

    Several water curtains appeared around Qianye, locking him into a small area as all the spouts on the fish¡¯s back opened up. One could immediately see that several water spears were about toe his way. Qianye, however, was hesitating whether he should fire hisst ck feather. This st might deprive the giant fish of its fighting power, but Qianye would be entirely drained as well. Even if he did reach the ind, he might not have the energy to retrieve the Marine Lotus and escape.

    ¡°It would¡¯ve been great if she had stayed a bit longer.¡± A thought shed through Qianye¡¯s heart. Even if it wasn¡¯t Nighteye, either one of Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann, or Song Zining would be able to help him distract the creature, and he would¡¯ve gotten his hands on the prize already.

    At this moment, Qianye was all alone and was also carrying Zhuji in his arms.

    The little fellow seemed to have sensed the life-threatening danger, turning pale as she forced her drowsy eyes open and nced down.

    She opened her mouth and shot a stream of clear liquid toward the giant fish.

    For some reason, the massive creature below was shocked upon seeing the stream of liquid. It roared loudly and attempted to escape, but the water here was only deep enough to keep its back submerged. How could it be that easy for such an enormous frame to swim away?

    The difference between the fish and little Zhuji was immense. It might not even bother eating the girl because she was too small, even for a snack. Despite that, the giant fish was extremely terrified of the liquid she had spat out, so much so that it didn¡¯t even attempt to block the attack and opted to flee instead.

    Qianye¡¯s scalp went numb as he nced at the clear liquid and had long since discarded any notion of touching it.

    It was at this moment that he heard a deep sigh and felt a strange consciousness talking to him, ¡°Outsider, do you n to destroy these waters?¡±

    A formless gale appeared out of nowhere and molded the stream of liquid into a ball, keeping it floating in the air.

    Qianye was surprised because he couldn¡¯t figure out at all where this voice wasing from. Just from this capability, he knew that he wasn¡¯t a match for this enemy.

    ¡°I have no such intention.¡±

    The Pond of Life itself was priceless, not to mention the fact that the Marine Lotus only grew here. Qianye had no reason to destroy the pond just for one item, and even if he did, he had no power to do so.

    The great consciousness said slowly, ¡°That little thing in your arms, her poison can kill all the weaker creatures within ten thousand meters. It¡¯ll also take a great deal of effort to clean these waters afterward.¡±

    Qianye nced at the glob of clear liquid in the air. It was truly hard to believe that it could cause such serious consequences. He knew little Zhuji was specialized in poison, but he had never imagined her venom would be this powerful.

    The consciousness continued, ¡°Every creature here is important to me, I can¡¯t let you destroy them.¡±

    ¡°I apologize, that was not my intention,¡± said Qianye.

    ¡°You were only trying to save yourself, but it also remains a fact that I can¡¯t let you remain in these waters. Do you want that thing? Take it and leave.¡±

    Specks of watery light condensed in front of Qianye, forming a path toward the small ind. The ind hade into full view at this point¡ªlush grass, tall, ancient trees, and a small pond at the center filled with lotuses. One of these flowers was shrouded in a hazy glow and on the verge of blooming.

    Actually seeing this glow caused Qianye¡¯s spirit to waver.

    He jumped onto the ind and walked swiftly over to the small pond.

    Everything on this atoll was quiet as there were nond beasts on it. There were, however, small, harmless-looking silver fish in the pond water. Qianye scanned the small pond with his perception and found that there was a coiled serpentine creature at the bottom, entirely motionless and seemingly asleep.

    Zhuji was drowsy at this point. She seemed dispirited and weak after spitting out the clear liquid, and fell into a deep sleep soon afterward.

    The Marine Lotus was just in front of his eyes. Qianye had to suppress his excitement as he waited for the flower to bloom.

    Before long, the green glow around the lotus grew stronger and stronger. Finally, the flower burst into bloom and a pir of light shot into the sky!

    The crystalline petals opened up in quick session, shrouded in a gentle white light against a backdrop of green halos. It was a dreamy and fantastical sight to behold.

    Qianye held his breath until the petals had fully opened up before arriving beside the Marine Lotus with Spatial sh. Scarlet gold mes erupted in his hand as he engulfed the lotus with Venus Dawn and stowed the flower away in Andruil¡¯s space.

    After doing all that, he flicked the stalk of the lotus and used the force to fly back tond. He checked Andruil¡¯s space anxiously and heaved a sigh of relief. The blossomed lotus was covered in white mist, but everything was like a painting that had been frozen at the perfect moment.

    The Marine Lotus contained spiritual energy, one that wouldn¡¯t tolerate pollution in any form. Its quality would be greatly affected when extracted by hand or by any instrument. Even the congealed jade-form lotuses had to be collected and stored carefully, to speak nothing of this fresh blossom.

    The major characters from the Empire had coveted this flower since time immemorial, and naturally, they had studied its characteristics in great depth. The best way to extract it was to use origin power, and the storage would depend on the quality of each family¡¯s secret treasures. But no one had ever seen a live Marine Lotus, let alone know how to stop it from wilting.

    Qianye had no other method, so he could only take the risk and try. Fortunately, Andruil¡¯s Realm was no ordinary storage treasure, but there was no telling how long it could maintain the lotus¡¯ energy.

    After returning tond, Qianye heaved a sigh of relief. He felt rather tired¡ªthat extraction just now seemed easy, but he had gone all out, even using Spatial sh so as not to miss the moment of bloom.

    Fortunately, the Marine Lotus was finally in his hands, and its quality was probably the highest in this world, besides Zhang Boqian¡¯s attempt. The quality of origin power used to collect the Marine Lotus would also affect the quality of the product. Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn was the purest of them all, and hence, the most suitable for this extraction process. If it were Song Zining in his shoes, the slightly inferior origin power might stain the lotus with some impurities. It would be even worse for other people.

    Qianye scanned the small pond and found a dozen or so budding lotuses.

    The buds were emitting a faint green glow, while the lotus heads were akin to jade carvings. This field of lotus flowers alone would cause a hugemotion if brought back to the Empire. However, Qianye also knew that he was already fortunate enough to have obtained the new blossom just now, and that he shouldn¡¯t be greedy. That mysterious consciousness had likely allowed him to take one flower after seeing his determination. If it were truly angered, there would be no way to escape.

    Qianye retracted his gaze and bowed toward the Pond of Life. ¡°Thank you, this Marine Lotus is very important to me. I will repay this kindness in the future if I can.¡±

    A breeze stirred as a deep, strange voice echoed around him. ¡°I do have something you can help me with.¡±

    This time, the existence did not enter Qianye¡¯s consciousness. It actually formed a voice andmunicated in Imperialnguage.

    ¡°Pray tell. I¡¯ll do my best to aplish it,¡± Qianye said with great sincerity.

    ¡°That feather you shot into the water is an energy I have never seen before. Can you give me one?¡±

    ¡°How do I give it to you?¡± Qianye was puzzled. The Shot of Inception was intangible and would draw blood once shot. How could he give it to this existence?

    Several lotus petals flew out from the pond and broke down into fine particles. Then, several streams of vapor condensed around them to form a sphere of water in front of Qianye. The ball contracted and expanded rhythmically, as though it were full of life and breathing. If it wasn¡¯t for him witnessing the entire process, Qianye would¡¯ve thought it was a living thing.

    The vitality inside this ball of water was extremely terrifying, almost reaching half of the six-armed giant Qianye had faced, or equal to the smaller six-armed giants.

    ¡°Treat this as a target.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye produced the Twin Flowers and pulled the trigger. A ck luminous feather shot out and was duly absorbed by the powerful life force within the water sphere.

    In the blink of an eye, the vitality within the sphere started fading away rapidly. The surface of the sphere hardened and turned into crystal. Within it, one could still see the silhouette of a ck feather.

    A stream of vapor swept the crystal away.

    The mysterious existence was fairly satisfied. ¡°Not bad, this is an original form of energy containing traces of its own vitality. Quite unexpected. I feel bad asking this of you, let me know if you have other requests.¡±

    Qianye fished out East Peak and the horn of that giant rhinoceros. ¡°I heard the Pond of Life can refine different materials into weapons. Can you help me smelt this into my sword?¡± In the fight against the six-armed giant and other recent enemies, Qianye felt that East Peak wasn¡¯t entirely satisfactory anymore. Elder Lu had mentioned about the refinement rather briefly. It was just that his experience with water refinement was quite limited, perhaps even inferior to Qianye fumbling about it himself.

    A wisp of vapor surged over to engulf East Peak and the rhinoceros horn.

    ¡°This horn is fairly good, likely the essence of a rare bovine creature. This steel de is really quite ordinary, though, are you sure you want to waste such good material on it?¡±

    Qianye was surprised that the mysterious existence didn¡¯t think too highly of East Peak, but opportunities like this wouldn¡¯te twice. ¡°I¡¯m certain!¡±

 Chapter 1082: Clearsky Waters

    There were different paths to obtaining power. Whether to seek great power on the long-term or reap short-term benefits, that was always a difficult choice to make.

    ording to the mysterious entity from the Pond of Life, the horn of this giant rhinoceros was above East Peak in quality and thatbining the two would be a waste. However, Qianye had gone through life and death with this de and formed an emotional attachment to it. On the other hand, that mysterious entity seemed to favor spirit and vitality as attributes. So, it was quite understandable that he wasn¡¯t impressed with an industrial-age product like East Peak.

    Besides, Qianye had no other good weapons, and East Peak couldn¡¯t quite withstand his power anymore. He might have to switch to a different weapon after breaking through to the divine champion realm. As Qianye saw it, the most important business at hand was to break through thest two ranks before the divine champion realm. After he truly became a divine champion, his vampire bloodline would be more powerful, and it wouldn¡¯t be too difficult for him to obtain another horn like this.

    Despite the pain, Qianye ultimately decided to go ahead with the merger.

    The mysterious entity didn¡¯t waste words. ¡°If that¡¯s what you want, then let¡¯s begin. You don¡¯t have enough materials, but I¡¯ll provide what¡¯s needed.¡±

    Clouds of steam dragged East Peak and the rhinoceros horn into the small pond. Immediately afterward, a jade-like lotus head dissolved into a stream of liquid and duly covered the horn. The hard material actually started to soften and finally turned into a squirming gtinous blob, which swam toward East Peak and attached itself.

    This cogenous mass seeped in and out of the de, almost as though there were pores in the material. The clear gtinous material would go in and emerge with specks of impurities. The stained material would sink to the bottom of the pond and never move again.

    This processsted for an entire day and night.

    Qianye waited patiently and decided to cultivate while doing so. By the time the cogenous material in the pond had been entirely exhausted, he had recovered to his peak status, and all of the origin vortices in his body were full to the brim. With nowhere else to go, the newly generated origin power would circle around the remaining three origin nodes. He would probably break through again after a couple more days of cultivation.

    The small pond rippled as a giant lotus leaf emerged with East Peak and arrived in front of Qianye.

    At this point, East Peak¡¯s dark de had be somewhat slender and its edges, elegant. The deep green patterns on its body were a natural transformation of the highest order, with no traces of human tools whatsoever.

    If the East Peak from before was an angry strongman, the current de was both wise and bold. However, Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry when he saw that the sword was nearly two meters long. It was really too long.

    That mysterious entity seemed to know what Qianye was thinking. ¡°ording to my calctions, this length is the most suitable for creatures of your kind. It¡¯ll improve your... efficiency in killing.¡±

    The mysterious entity had to try rather hard to think of the word efficiency.

    Qianye knew a long weapon like this was great for group fights, sweeping through droves of enemies in one swing. Even against experts, he could wield it like he would a spear and produce numerous variations mid-air. It was just that he would have to retrain many sword arts based off of East Peak.

    Qianye reached out to grab the de¡¯s hilt and lifted it up. He had barely raised it for a bit before the de sank down again.

    Surprised, he applied more force in order to keep the sword in his hand. The newly refined sword had grown twice as heavypared to before. A weapon of such weight was extremely powerful even when used as a blunt weapon without a sharp edge.

    Qianye tried injecting origin power into East Peak and found that the process was exceptionally smooth. The patterns along the body lit up one after the other, emitting a green hazy light and surging clouds of steam in a ten meters radius. At the same time, Qianye felt refreshed and even his thoughts were somewhat faster than usual. His perception also became more detailed within this area, so much so that it could prate the ground.

    ¡°It actually contains its own domain?¡± Qianye was astonished.

    The green light from East Peak was no different from a domain. After some testing, Qianye found two domain abilities¡ªone was to calm his spirit, making him less vulnerable to instinctive urges and spiritual impact, and the other was to strengthen his perception. At least within the range of the green light, no one could ambush him. Although the range of this domain was just ten or so meters, any form of warning was better than nothing.

    Qianye tried channeling his own domain on top and found the green light rippling under the power of his oceanic might. It flowed along with the pressure, and not only did it not disappear, but its radius even grew slightly bigger.

    This green domain did not conflict with Qianye¡¯s own. On the contrary, there was even a synergistic effect that would increase its value.

    A domain-carrying sword was above grade-eight ording to conventional ssification. With the addition of this green domain, East Peak had be a peerless treasure. It was no longer important whether or not there were other abilities.

    Qianye sent the de humming with a twitch of his wrist. Then, after a few moves, he flicked the edge once again. He could tell that East Peak was much moreplex now¡ªits sharpness and durability were far above the previous version, even though the upgrade to sharpness wasn¡¯t as noticeablepared to thetter. Even the dark golden blood energy couldn¡¯t move it.

    In past battles, Qianye didn¡¯t dare shroud the sword in sanguine mes for very long. The ze born of the dark golden blood energy was extremely tyrannical, and its erosion was near unstoppable.

    Perhaps due to the incorporation of the jade Marine Lotus head, there was a jade-colored sheen isting the sword from the mes.

    In terms of durability, East Peak had reached the ¡°indestructible¡± state by Imperial standards. Naturally, the name of the rank was highly exaggerated because the sword would still be deformed if thrown into the ten-thousand-ton machine press back at the Zhao n.

    Delighted with the new East Peak, Qianye named the new domain Clearsky Waters, and expressed his gratitude to the mysterious consciousness.

    The entity said, ¡°No need to thank me. I had to use some extra materials to forge this thing, so we¡¯re even now. If there¡¯s no particr business in the future, the Pond of Life will not wee you again.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that the mysterious entity¡¯s attitude would change so quickly. However, he did catch a different meaning in its words. ¡°This particr business you speak off is...¡±

    ¡°For instance, letting that little fellow live in the Pond of Life.¡±

    ¡°Impossible! She¡¯s not aquatic.¡± Qianye refused decisively.

    ¡°Bing aquatic is a walk in the park. As long as you¡¯re willing, I can grant you the power to walk onnd and in water. Even void traversal is not an issue, provided you can put in the time.¡±

    Qianye was greatly surprised. Void traversal wasn¡¯t a small power; it was Zhang Boqian¡¯s defining ability. The man could move freely within the void even before his advancement to the heavenly monarch realm, allowing him to infiltrate the Twilight Continent. Without this power, even the most powerful experts would find themselves weakened in the void.

    This meant that even the three top figures from the Sacred Mountain wouldn¡¯t be able to catch Zhang Boqian in the void. He could fight or flee at will, affording him a near-invincible position in battle.

    The entity in the Pond of Life actually said obtaining void traversal would only be a bit of trouble. How powerful was this existence?

    However, the danger behind such temptations was akin to the open jaws of a void colossus. Qianye hadn¡¯t the slightest idea about this mysterious existence¡¯s background, so how could he hand over his own body for modification? What would he do after someone else had grasped his fate?

    The mysterious entity didn¡¯t force the issue after Qianye¡¯s second refusal. A cloud of vapor wrapped around the duo, sending them to a point hundreds of kilometers away.

    Qianye was no longer in the mood for exploration, so he checked the direction and ran toward the Imperial fortress. He wanted to know the fate of his friends.

    There were a fair number of wandering natives along the way but no six-armed giants to obstruct his path. He either ran, sneaked past, or failing that, killed the enemies in his path. Finally, he reached the location of the Imperial fortress after several days.

    What stood before him, though, was not a fortress but a patch of ruins.

    Shocked, Qianye confirmed the location again and again, making sure that it was the ce marked on the map.

    He looked up at the sky and found a lingering radiance over the distant horizon. That was the spatial tunnel leading to the Empire. Having been reinforced by Imperial experts in every generation, this passage was near-eternal.

    However, every passage would damage the structure of this passage. That was why the right to take this passage was highly limited. After all, those above the divine champion realm shouldered great responsibilities, and the heavenly monarchs had to oversee the fight against Evernight. None of them were free to stabilize this tunnel at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The dark races had a greater number of experts and, naturally, had their own spatial tunnel. They had no interest in taking the Empire¡¯s tunnel because there would be a powerful force guarding the other side of the tunnel. Exiting one-by-one was no different from courting death.

    Chances of the dark races destroying the fortress were small, but who else could¡¯ve done it?

    Qianye woke up Zhuji and told her to wait there. He himself retracted his aura and sneaked toward the fortress. There was a good reason for him to go there.

    The fortifications had been destroyed entirely. The top two floors of the main building had disappeared, and the walls had been toppled over. There were weapons stuck to many different ces in thepound¡ªmost of them were crude, heavy arms used by the natives. These cleavers and axes were embedded deep into the stone, and this spoke volumes of the strength behind them.

    After going around the fortress, Qianye confirmed that the carnage here was done by the natives. Judging from the traces left behind, the numbers were way beyond expectations, numbering in the thousands at the very least.

    There was a charred pile of corpses in a space behind the fortress. The remains of the dead had been tossed together and torched. Judging from the physical features, they were likely all natives.

    Seeing that there was no danger around the exterior of the fortress, Qianye entered the main building. The hall was still structurally sound, but the wall ornaments and furniture were in utter disarray. Only the long table at the far end looked rtively intact. On the table, in an easily-visible spot, was a letter...

 Chapter 1083: Return Home

    This was a Rockheart Jade letter, one that was produced in an obvious hurry. There was only a self-destruct warning on the outside and no indication of who it was addressed to. If it wasn¡¯t for him sensing the auras of Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann, Qianye wouldn¡¯t dare believe he was the addressee.

    Qianye channeled a wisp of daybreak origin power into the letter and looked through its contents.

    After being saved at the Pond of Life, the two girls ran all the way back to the Imperial fortress, but the ce was already destroyed by the time they arrived. The messages left behind told them that most of the Imperial forces had withdrawn from the Great Maelstrom. But the Empire had been operating here for many years¡ªthis fortress wasn¡¯t just a ground structure, but also extended deep under the ground.

    The natives only caused simple mechanical damage and didn¡¯t really dig into the secrets of the ce. In the space underground, there were emergency materials to build a shuttle airship. The duo used theponents to build such a vessel, nning to wait for Qianye before departure, but yet another native army appeared. Left with no other choice, they had to lure the enemies away and then return to the Empire.

    There were enough parts in the secret chamber to build a new shuttle airship, along with the blueprints.

    Although there was no mention of who had saved them, Qianye could guess that it was Nighteye. This could easily be proven by asking Zhuji when she woke up.

    ording to the letter, it would seem that the Empire had temporarily let go of this fortress and would only return after the situation in the Great Maelstrom had calmed down. In the face of the rampaging native armies, neither the Empire nor Evernight could establish a foothold.

    At the end of the letter, Ji Tianqing left instructions on how to enter the underground space. One path was inside the fortress, but it had been sealed off. The other entrance was in a natural cave outside of the fortress.

    Qianye picked up little Zhuji and, following the map, found the passage in the depths of the cave. There was a thick metal door at the end of the passage, with a neat row of tension bars attached to a series of mechanisms. The only way to open the door was to pull on the bars in a specific order.

    This was the most primitive type ofbination lock. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but praise the first people to construct this fortress¡ªthey could only bring a limited number of items when entering the Great Maelstrom, some precision instruments at most. Everything here, including the basic tools, had to be produced locally. Even the iron was smelted inside the Great Maelstrom.

    Up, up, down, down, down, up. Qianye opened the great door ording to thebination and entered the underground space.

    Half of the space was excavated, while the other half was natural. The interior was clearly divided into a supply chamber, a workshop, and an armory. There were, of course, food supplies as well, enough for a thousand people to consume for three years. This went to show how ambitious the pioneers were. They had nned to transport the Imperial army into the Great Maelstrom and conquer this world entirely.

    There were several crates in theponent area with eye-catching markings upon them. Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had alreadyid out the necessaryponents and left the blueprint on one of the crates. When the moment came, Qianye needed only to assemble the shuttle ording to the diagram.

    Those crates bore the mark of the Empire and the dark redbel indicated that it was a high-value resource.

    Qianye went around the underground chamber and noticed that there weren¡¯t a lot ofponents left. Not counting the parts Ji Tianqing had assembled for him, there wasn¡¯t even enough left to build a shuttle airship. Most importantly, there was only one kic engine capable of shuttling the vessel through the passage.

    Engines installed on the shuttles were the top-products of the empire. They were small, powerful, and efficient affording the ship sufficient resistance against the pull of the void passage.

    The Great Maelstrom would open once in several years and the quota was limited, so the supplies that could be brought in were a headache to the staff officers of the army. Kic engines were among the most important resources each time, but it was difficult to list them as a necessity. After all, the Empire had been operating in the area for so many years, and the fortress had never faced any real threat. There was no reason to prepare so many shuttles.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that those inside the maelstrom were all top-characters of the Empire¡ªand each of their deaths constituted a great loss¡ªthe Imperial forces might not even have left the shuttle parts.

    Qianye moved the wooden crates to a naturally formed t operating space. There, he opened the containers andid theponents neatly on the ground before beginning the assembly.

    The shuttle was structurally quite simple¡ªit was a small boat that could seat two people and had no extra space beyond the engine and passengers.

    Be it the keel or the walls, everything was extremely sturdy and durable. They were made from selective materials and reinforced with origin arrays to protect the vessel body. Despite its simple structure, the small shuttle boat was of extraordinary value. Otherwise, how could it resist the adverse environment of the spatial tunnel?

    The assembly wasn¡¯tplicated, so Qianye was able toplete the entire process in half a day¡¯s time. The original design of such shuttles was prepared for amateurs, so they really couldn¡¯t make it veryplicated. As long as one had enough origin power, they would be able toplete it by following the diagrams.

    After assembling the small airship, Qianye put away all the extra materials and moved them back to storage. He then wiped away all traces around the assembly area, lest the natives find the mechanisms when they return. This was a necessary step. There was a shuttle before Qianye only because the people who had left before him had made ample preparations. Having benefited from someone else¡¯s hard work, Qianye had to be considerate of thoseing after him as well.

    Qianye carried the little fellow into the shuttle and patted her little face. ¡°Stop sleeping, let¡¯s go home.¡±

    Zhuji forced her eyes open and muttered, ¡°Home? Which one?¡±

    Looking at thess¡¯ sweet countenance, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit guilty. He had been drifting about for many years and rarely had a ce to settle. The word ¡°home¡± was already a blurry term to him, and it was all too distant now that Nighteye had awakened.

    Zhuji was a born miracle. That evil Song Zining had been using the girl in dangerous situations, going so far as to throw her out to block a divine champion¡¯s blow. However, Qianye felt that he wasn¡¯t any better, either. He was either bringing her to the battlefield to spray poison or leaving her at home.

    Qianye sighed as he entered the shuttle and closed the door. He then injected daybreak origin power into the control panel. The lights in the cockpit lit up one after the other, and the engine began to rumble as they took to the air.

    Qianye locked onto the entrance of the passage with his perception and increased the origin power output of the protective barrier. The engine roared louder and louder until the barrier was at its maximum power, at which point the shuttle flew into the tunnel like aet, and finally vanished.

    This void passage was much stabler than the one in the neutralnds. The gravitational forces inside were still strong, but it wasn¡¯t beyond the capabilities of the shuttle. The strength of the defensive barrier decreased steadily, but it would stillst a good while.

    This so-called stability was a rtive description. The shuttle was still rocking like a small boat in the stormy sea.

    The tempests began to intensify halfway through the journey, throwing the barrier power levels up and down. In the end, the shield dispersed entirely before the exit was in sight.

    At this point, one could see that this small shuttle was actually a product the Empire had put a lot of effort into making. The vessel¡¯s naked body was actually able to retain its shape despite having to endure the void storms. The airship walls, however, were starting to fill with cracks.

    Qianye knew that the engine didn¡¯t have enough power, so he injected his own origin power into the control system to power the shuttle¡¯s arrays and reform the protective shield around important parts.

    The benefits of the vessel¡¯s small size became evident at this point. The designer knew that the engine wasn¡¯t enough tost the entire journey and that the passengers would have to inject their own origin power.

    Qianye was not inferior to a rank-seventeen expert in terms of origin power capacity, perhaps even greater than the more mediocre ones. He managed to lead the airship through the storm with great stability.

    The exit finally appeared and Qianye¡¯s shuttle shot out like a seabird.

    The shuttle rushed out of the other end, as though it were popping out of a bubble, and glided slowly across the void. Sensing this familiar aura, Qianye knew that he had returned to the Empire.

    There was arge continent moving slowly outside of the window. Qianye hadn¡¯t figured out which continent this was before a squadron of cutting-edge Imperial warships surrounded him.

    A small warship parked itself in front of Qianye¡¯s shuttle, and one of the experts on its deck called out, ¡°Who is in the shuttle? Report your identity.¡±

    Qianye felt awkward, but he said after a while, ¡°Qianye.¡±

    The expert turned back to instruct one of his men, who ran back into the cabin to report.

    Qianye sat quietly in the shuttle, waiting for further developments. He knew before his departure that the Imperial side of the tunnel would be heavily guarded. However, it wouldn¡¯t be too difficult for Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann to help him settle this small problem.

    He waited for a while before a warship without any emblems arrived from a distance. The blocking aircraft left with all the other warships in tow, in an apparent move to avoid the scene.

    A feminine old man walked out onto the deck of the arriving airship. This well-groomed elder said in a gentle voice, ¡°General Qianye, you¡¯ve finally returned. I¡¯ve been waiting here for some time.¡±

    Qianye drove forward and boarded the warship with little Zhuji. He then greeted the elder appropriately, saying, ¡°How should I address you?¡±

    ¡°My surname is Yang, I run errands for the Empress.¡± With that, the man produced a box that was half a meter long and passed it to Qianye. ¡°Ie bearing some words and a gift.¡±

    Qianye received the long box and asked in surprise, ¡°What is this?¡±

    Eunuch Yang ignored the question. ¡°The Empress thinks you did well and bestows upon you this little toy. My job is done now that you¡¯ve received the item.¡±

 Chapter 1084: Sparring

    Next, this airship flew back along its original path and arrived at a small town near the Imperial borders. The crew let Qianye and Zhuji off here, where a different airship would take them back to the neutralnds. It seemed Eunuch Yang considered his job entirely done as he never appeared again along the entire journey.

    Qianye was all too happy to get some peace and quiet, but he couldn¡¯t help but wonder why Empress Li had said he had done well. Was she referring to the killing of the six-armed giant? That was Nighteye, and besides, no one in the Empire should know about it.

    Those major characters loved ying with riddles, never saying things clearly. This was especially true of those who liked to dabble in divination.

    While cursing inwardly, Qianye brought out that long box.

    Since he couldn¡¯t quite figure out Empress Li¡¯s intentions, all he could do was see what she had given him. Someone of her stature couldn¡¯t be too miserly with her gifts.

    The box felt heavy in his hands. As he opened the container, a burst of red light erupted and filled the entire room with a ruby shade.

    There was a dagger inside this box. It boasted a sharp sawtooth edge and a body filled with rippling wave patterns, constituting a cryptic magic array. The sword was embedded in the mouth of a monster, the horns of which formed the guard; its body, the hilt, and the tail ended in a small de.

    The design of this dagger was extremely intricate andplicated. Additionally, there was a charm to its craftsmanship that Qianye had never seen before in a vampiric de.

    Empress Li had actually gifted him a vampiric edge, and it was grade-eight in quality!

    Qianye¡¯s own vampiric weapon had been destroyed in the Great Maelstrom, and this would serve to fill in that gap. An ancient roar echoed in his head the moment he picked up the dagger, almost as though a powerful expert from an ancient race was roaring at the sky.

    Qianye figured out its functions after some exploration. Apart from the basic ability to absorb blood, this de possessed characteristics of supreme sharpness and durability. It wouldn¡¯t be at a loss even when pitted against the old East Peak. Additionally, the body of this dagger could store a part of the absorbed essence blood and ignite it tounch a powerful attack.

    Qianye sent a wisp of dark golden blood energy into the de and watched as faint sanguine mes lit up on the edge. After trying it out a bit, he reckoned that an attack after sufficient essence blood umtion would be equal to a blow from a marquis.

    To most vampires, absorptive weapons were tools used to end life and not a primary weapon. This vampiric dagger was of extraordinary value since it could serve as one.

    There was also a sheath inside the box with the dagger¡¯s name, ¡°Bloodmoon¡±, carved upon it. There was also a paper beneath the sheath exining the origins of the dagger.

    Bloodmoon used to be the weapon of a vampire duke who had fallen under the Martial Ancestor¡¯s de in a great battle. Thereafter, this vampiric edge fell into the hands of the Imperial n and was kept in the treasury. In addition to its own value, Bloodmoon came with a thousand years of history, and that itself made the weapon priceless. The ancient craftsmanship set this de apart from all modern products.

    This Bloodmoon was a great fit for Qianye¡¯s identity and also happened to be extremely practical. This went to show how much thought the Empress had put into this. Yet, what had Qianye done to deserve such a generous boon?

    He was rather puzzled and still couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it after some contemtion. So, he stopped thinking too much and simply ced the dagger in Andruil¡¯s space.

    At this point, the cabin shook slightly and a voice outside the room said, ¡°We¡¯rending soon. General, please pack up your things.¡±

    Qianye only had a small bag as luggage since most of his things were in Andruil¡¯s space. Afternding, he followed the attendant onto the deck and saw several unmarked jeeps near thending area.

    Qianye boarded one of the vehicles with Zhuji and was taken to a quiet hotel in a small town. After settling him in, that attendant passed over a token, saying, ¡°This permit will get you anywhere within this town, as long as you don¡¯t leave the area. My lord has already made arrangements for your arrival. It¡¯s just that we¡¯ll need a couple of days to get an airship, so please wait patiently.¡±

    ¡°Who is your lord?¡±

    The servant pointed above. ¡°My lord is rted to that person, but that¡¯s all I can tell you.¡±

    That person was likely referring to Empress Li since it couldn¡¯t be the Emperor. That someone rted to Empress Li had to be Li Kuann. It made perfect sense since the two girls had left the Great Maelstrom a bit earlier.

    Feeling relieved, Qianye sent the attendant away and returned to his small courtyard to check the token.

    There was a small origin array on the object that acted as a key to restriction arrays. It had no other use apart from that.

    This small town was constructed specifically for the special Imperial units stationed near the Great Maelstrom entrance, and normally, it could only be essed via a special passage. There was no idle person in this town, and since it was a military encampment, there were all sorts of armories and workshops.

    As a temporary camp for those exiting the Great Maelstrom, there were establishments where people could sell the resources they had brought back. However, the prices offered here were nothing to write home about since it was offered by the Empire. People exiting the maelstrom would normally have to contribute a set amount of resources, and the amount and value had long since been determined.

    Since Qianye had obtained Empress Li¡¯s favor, his submission quota had been waived. That was also a part of his reward.

    The attendant had also mentioned that there were a few stores in town operated by the major ns, and the prices offered there were fairly good. The one operated by the Song n was known for buying just about anything. The man suggested that Qianye could head over there to exchange some origin crystals.

    Qianye had told the attendant that he hadn¡¯t brought anything because he had to escape in a hurry, effectively stopping the man from further probing.

    At this moment, Qianye was still hiding the Marine Lotus, along with the white-fruit wine, rare medicinal herbs, and other good things inside Andruil¡¯s space, filling every little corner without care. Just a random handful of these materials would cause a greatmotion, and there was no telling if people would have untoward intentions out of greed. Qianye¡¯s identity was a rather sensitive subject, and he would have nothing to say if someone were to cause trouble about it.

    He was still on the Qin Continent. In order to get to the neutralnds, he would still need to transit through the Transcendent or Western Continent. Judging from the attendant¡¯s words, it would seem he had nned to see Qianye to the transit point. Thetter would be free to do whatever he wanted afterward.

    The airship that would take Qianye to the Western Continent arrived after one day of waiting. This was a rather considerate arrangement because the continent was run by the Zhao n, and those who wanted to bring him harm would need to think twice. It was rumored that the Zhao n had pulled a lot of strings when Qianye escaped the Empire, almost erupting in open hostilities with the army.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t idle during this one day. When he was not cultivating the Mystery Chapter, he would be busy reading the Book of Darkness. Although the newest chapter merely reyed the evolution of the world, the vicissitudes of the passing millennia would shake him whenever he nced at it. He gained a different idea regarding the channeling of origin power, and his aura became more cryptic.

    A knock came from the door at noon as the attendant returned. ¡°General, the airship has been prepared. You can board now if you have nothing else to do here.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye walked out of the little courtyard with little Zhuji in his arms.

    ¡°General, an important person wishes to see you. Umm¡­ you should decide whether you want to meet him or not.¡± The attendant was hesitant.

    ¡°Who wanted to see me?¡± Qianye was curious about the man¡¯s attitude.

    The attendant hadn¡¯t even replied when a powerful, metallic voice arrived from outside the door, ¡°It is I, Li Qingyun of the Li n.¡±

    Qianye had heard of this name before. He had investigated the genius experts of the Li n back when he was at odds with them. Li Qingyun was the strongest among the family¡¯s younger generation and had gained fame for a while now. ording to hearsay, this person¡¯s talent stood head and shoulder above people like Zhao Junhong. As one of the top young experts of the Empire, he might even be stronger than Zhao Yuying.

    It was just that he couldn¡¯t quitepare to the midday sun that was Zhao Jundu. The same would apply to every other genius.

    Li Qingyun had no previous association with Qianye. Why would he suddenly want to see him? Qianye had only been out of the Great Maelstrom for one day. Having arrived as quickly as he did proved that the person had been nearby all along. Was this a coincidence? Or had he been waiting?

    Qianye walked out of the courtyard and faced the young man.

    Li Qingyun was d in a schrly green robe, but his eyes glistened with a sharp sword-like radiance. His entire person wasparable to an unsheathed de.

    Seeing Qianye, the man drew his sword without further words. ¡°I always hear that General Qianye¡¯s skills areparable to Zhao Jundu¡¯s, that you¡¯re unmatched under the divine champion realm. There¡¯s really no way to tell if these ims are true or false. Let us spar to prove it.¡±

    These words weren¡¯t very polite, and Li Qingyun didn¡¯t bother to hide the disgust in his expression. Qianye was baffled as to when he had offended this person, but then again, he had offended the Li family quite a bit. Perhaps this person was seeking revenge for a rtive.

    Qianye put Zhuji down to the side. ¡°If Brother Li wants to spar, then I have no reason to refuse.¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s see how capable you are!¡± Li Qingyun clenched his teeth. The sword in his grasp erupted into a bolt of lightning that streaked toward Qianye.

    Thetter had no intention of evading. An ancient aura embodying the passage of a million years seeped out as Qianye met the sword with a punch.

    Momentster, Qianye walked toward the airship with little Zhuji in his arms. The smiling attendant also followed along. He would asionally steal a backward nce, his eyes exuding unclear implications.

    Li Qingyun¡¯s clothes were tattered and ragged. He was left gazing nkly at the broken sword fragments on the ground, his hand on the empty hilt trembling slightly.

    Qianye¡¯s vision expanded as the airship rose into the air. He gazed down at the distant ground with an empty feeling in his chest¡ªthere really was no point in exchanging pointers with anyone below the divine champion realm.

 Chapter 1085: Situation in Southern Blue

    In the Imperial Pce on the Qin Continent, Empress Li was seated in the garden pavilion. She took a sip of the jade liquid from her teacup, one that was as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing, before cing it back down. ¡°Can you still not figure it out?¡±

    Li Kuann was d in a man¡¯s attire. She sat across the Empress, keeping her silence in apparent displeasure.

    Empress Liughed. ¡°What do you not understand, tell me.¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression looked odd from the mixture of fury and embarrassment. ¡°Y-You¡¯ve never even seen him before. Why would you do this?¡±

    Empress Li nced at her with a spurious smile. ¡°It worked out, didn¡¯t it?¡±

    Li Kuann lowered her eyes with a blush, but she was still quite stubborn with her words. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean it was the right thing to do.¡±

    ¡°Our Jingtang Li n rose to power due to our divination powers. If a freak like Lin Xitang hadn¡¯t appeared, our family would¡¯ve monopolized the Empire¡¯s divination path. I used our family heirloom for this, how can the results be anything but good?¡±

    ¡°But heaven¡¯s mystery isn¡¯t omnipotent, else our n would be ruling the world.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s tone softened. ¡°Some things can¡¯t be spoken of in the pce. Even you have to follow certain rules.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted to express her discontent.

    Empress Li said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll overlook this instance on ount of your physical condition, but you should be cautious at all times. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be bad if His Majesty hears of this. The pce is fairly big, and I don¡¯t get the final say on everything.¡±

    The conflicts inside the pce had always been dangerous and unscrupulous. Escaping punishment before Empress Li did not mean things would be fine everywhere. A slightck of vignce would allow those below to drag one down. Consort Zhao¡¯s defeat back in the year was because she had underestimated the enemy.

    Li Kuann might be blunt, but she wasn¡¯t about to drag Empress Li back. She immediately nodded to indicate that she understood.

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°Okay, let me know if you have anything on your mind.¡±

    Li Kuann said after some hesitation, ¡°I still feel that the entire thing was too sloppy.¡±

    Empress Li replied, ¡°I¡¯ve received news that Qianye has returned from the Great Maelstrom. Qingyun has been waiting to spar with him. It should be about time they¡¯re done with the fight.¡±

    Li Kuann shot to her feet. ¡°Qingyun wants to challenge Qianye?¡±

    ¡°What? Are you worried he¡¯ll lose or get injured?¡±

    Ki Kuann sat down. ¡°Qianye won¡¯t lose. I¡¯m only worried that Qingyun will end up using those undignified moves.¡±

    Empress Li took a sip of her tea. ¡°I¡¯ve made arrangements. Qingyun won¡¯t be able to y any tricks, all he can do is fight honestly.¡±

    ¡°T-Then, he¡­¡±

    At this point, an attendant walked over with brisk steps. The soft shuffle of his nimble footsteps made it seem as though he were treading on water. He arrived before the pavilion and, bowing deeply, presented a secret report. ¡°Empress, news has arrived.¡±

    ¡°Very well, you may withdraw.¡±

    Empress Li read the report twice before saying, ¡°Qingyun lost miserably. This Qianye truly exceeds my expectations.¡±

    She passed the report to Li Kuann, who went through the contents in great detail. Li Qingyun¡¯s loss was already expected¡ªhaving gone through life and death together in the Great Maelstrom, the girl knew just how terrifying Qianye¡¯sbat strength was. His maximum potential could only be drawn out on the verge of mortal peril where his endurance and survival came into full y. On the contrary, there were certain moves he couldn¡¯t quite use in a regted sparring match.

    There was no way he could use the Shot of Inception while sparring. Life Plunder wasn¡¯t suitable, either.

    Most of the contents of this report were familiar to Li Kuann, but the finalment puzzled her.

    ¡°A boundless intent? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°That¡¯s what surprised me the most. It¡¯s only natural that Qianye¡¯s overwhelming strength would counter Qingyun¡¯s swordsmanship, but the observer noticed a boundless intent embodying the vicissitudes of the world. That punch smashed down with the force of a continent and was almost unstoppable. It was so powerful that Qingyun was defeated and even his sword was shattered.¡±

    Li Kuann said, ¡°But I had never seen him use that kind of attack in the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he umted enough and broke through recently.¡± At the mention of this, Empress Li sighed emotionally. ¡°No one under the divine champion is his match now, except perhaps Zhao Jundu. Even those forcefully manufactured divine champions would lose against him. This child is matchless in terms of talent, yet those idiots from the military just had to force him out of the Empire.¡±

    At this point, the public had reached a conclusive opinion about Qianye¡¯s incident back then. Seeing as how he didn¡¯t join Evernight after leaving the Empire, they could tell that he was still a human at heart. The theory that a different race would have different intentions copsed on its own.

    If things hadn¡¯t turned out the way they did, the higher-ups of the Empire could pretend not to know about Qianye¡¯s vampire identity even if it were discovered. After all, he had the Zhao n¡¯s full support. He would still be able to y an important role within a certain grey area.

    The Empire had a lot of grey areas in its policies, and they were only growing.

    Li Kuann was discontent regarding Qianye¡¯s exile. ¡°That Longevity Monarch is muddled! Does our Li n still need to provide for him? Why would we need to give him so much white wine?¡±

    Empress Li replied calmly, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought things would turn out this way? The monarch has long since remained aloof from civil affairs and is only focused on extending his life. Regardless, he is still the eldest among the heavenly monarchs and still in charge of the Imperial military. Having a good rtionship with him will bring us no harm.¡±

    Li Kuann added, ¡°He¡¯s also the weakest.¡±

    ¡°If he wasn¡¯t, there¡¯s no way we would¡¯ve had any chance.¡±

    That was a fair point. Li Kuann sighed after some thought, ¡°Sister, do you not think highly of us?¡±

    ¡°Our Li family must be a major n.¡±

    ¡°But we¡­ aren¡¯t the weakest among the four major ns, right?¡± Li Kuann¡¯s voice grew smaller.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to evenpete with Zhang and Zhao.¡± Empress Li chuckled. ¡°The Bai n seems to be following the orthodox path, but Bai Aotu is the only one worth mentioning. There are many things about them that we can¡¯t see through, and they might be hiding certain people. As for the Song n, what do you think about Song Zining?¡±

    ¡°That pervert! I¡¯ve always known he would stir up useless trouble.¡± Li Kuann looked disgusted. Song Zining¡¯s notoriety with thedies was rather resounding.

    Empress Li smiled. ¡°He¡¯s definitely a sly one, but he¡¯s quite intelligent. The Song n is definitely in danger, but that¡¯s a matter for the next decade. Who knows, maybe Song Zining might be able to save his n¡¯s status by then.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Li Kuann hadn¡¯t expected the empress to speak so highly of the man.

    ¡°So, our Li family¡¯s younger generation can¡¯t really overpower any of the major ns.¡±

    ¡°But we can¡¯t be weaker than the Bai and Song, right?¡± The girl wasn¡¯t convinced.

    Empress Li said calmly, ¡°Being not weak isn¡¯t enough to be a major n, our only hope is to overpower one of them. I had to make ns because I don¡¯t see that ever happening.¡±

    ¡°So Qingyun and I were both expendable pieces¡­¡± Li Kuannughed wryly.

    Empress Li pointed at her abdomen. ¡°That¡¯s not right. On the contrary, you will be the most valued member of the family. As for Qingyun, what can we do about him? No one wants to abandon him, yet he wishes to court disaster on his own.¡±

    Li Kuann rubbed her belly with a sigh, her expression a mixture of joy and worry.

    ¡­

    The airship journey was uneventful, and Qianye meditated in silence during the several days in transit. The void might not be a suitable ce to cultivate for other people, but Qianye was unaffected by this rule because of the Profound Combatant Form.

    By the time the airship had arrived on the Western Continent, Qianye¡¯s seventh origin node had already condensed sessfully.

    Qianye was apanied by a puzzled little girl when he disembarked. Featurewise, she looked around ten years of age, but she had already reached Qianye¡¯s shoulders in height and was stunningly beautiful.

    It was just that this youngdy looked half asleep and more often than not was hanging from Qianye¡¯s arm. It almost looked like she would just cling onto him entirely if she were any smaller.

    The person arriving to wee him looked away with a strange expression. ¡°Sire Qianye, the seventh young master has arranged for your journey. Please follow me.¡±

    Qianye followed him to a different airship. This vessel was somewhat older and looked like a model from a hundred years ago. Qianye was an expert by this point¡ªa nce at the reinforced body structure told him that this was an airship made specifically for the neutralnds.

    ¡°This flight will take you directly to the Eastern Sea. It also carries some cargo that needs to be shipped to the neutralnds. Seventh young master left you a letter, please read it.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s Zining right now?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s on the Qin Continent to handle some n affairs and some businesses regarding the Ningyuan Heavy Industries. He also needs to head back to Evernight after that to manage some things. He told you not to wait for him.¡±

    Qianye had a weird feeling that Song Zining wasn¡¯t busy but rather avoiding him because of a guilty conscience.

    The guide was only a subordinate, so there was no information to gain out of him. Qianye simply boarded the airship and headed back to the Eastern Sea.

    Along the way, Zhuji found a bed and went to sleep. She had been growing taller and taller each day after eating the six-armed giant¡¯s heart. She was like a seven-year-old when she left the Great Maelstrom, and now, she looked like a ten-year-old.

    In the cabin, Qianye fished out the letter Song Zining had left for him. The first line read: Something has happened in Southern Blue that requires immediate suppression.

 Chapter 1086: Farewell

    Southern Blue was Qianye¡¯s foothold in the neutralnds. The new Dark me had been trained, and Song Zining¡¯s arrival had brought about arge workshop system that could build Imperial standard warships. Currently, there was no sign of warships, nor main cannons, but they could already start building major civilian-airshipponents. It wouldn¡¯t be long before they could start building entire vessels.

    Song Zining had funneled his entire fortune here, moving most of Ningyuan Heavy Industries over in order to construct warships. The project was of utmost importance because this was also the only hope forpleting the Martyr''s Pce.

    Hence, Song Zining¡¯s words shocked Qianye quite a bit.

    Southern Blue had umted a massive amount of wealth, enough to make experts like the Wolf King drool over it. Since Qianye, Song Zining, and Ji Tianqing were all in the Great Maelstrom, it could be said that the city was without a leader. The Imperial forces were still in the neutralnds during their departure, but they would also be in danger after the aristocratic forces had left.

    It was only natural that both the army and the dark races would¡¯ve retreated. This would make Southern Blue an empty fortress. Although Caroline could be trusted, it would be difficult for her to hold the entire city alone.

    Qianye was even stronger now than when he was in the Great Maelstrom and might be able to bring the city under control if he were to rush back. Even the Wolf King himself wouldn¡¯t be able to kill Qianye and, considering his injuries, would have to be cautious at all times.

    Evaluating his ownbat strength, the Shot of Inception was naturally ranked first. Now, a third feather had started to turn grey and would be dark before long. The Shot of Inception was rted to his blood energy rank¡ªthe higher it was, the more often he could fire and at greater firepower.

    Heartgrave would be usable after Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power had reached rank sixteen. At the very least, he wouldn¡¯t be utterly drained after each shot. For now, he could only run after firing once.

    With the upgraded Shot of Inception and Heartgrave, Qianye could now go toe-to-toe with ordinary divine champions. There was no need to fear them so much anymore.

    Despite that, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel worried about Southern Blue. His main concern was the well-hidden Zhang Buzhou. This so-called Heavenly Monarch Zhang had acted fairly weak against the true outsider experts, especially when the Eternal me arrived in the Eastern Sea and, quite literally, sat outside his door. He never even made an appearance, acting as though he were in secluded meditation.

    Qianye knew that Luo Bingfeng¡¯s death was partly rted to Zhang Buzhou¡¯s secret intervention, so this istion was a joke to him.

    Qianye had no way to deal with this person right now. If worse came to worst, perhaps only Nighteye would be able to salvage the situation.

    At the thought of her, Qianye¡¯s emotions becameplicated. Who would¡¯ve thought he would need to be saved by her not long after he had imed he would help her up the Sacred Mountain? If she hadn¡¯t beheaded the six-armed giant, there was no telling how long he would be trapped there.

    Qianye continued reading with a sigh.

    The contents of Song Zining¡¯s letter were rather diverse. It primarily exined the distribution of work among the many workshops of Southern Blue, the people in charge of each block, as well as their rtionships. The summary was fairly detailed, so much so that it evenid out future development ns. It looked like he wouldn¡¯t ever appear again.

    Toward the end, the letter read, ¡°That¡¯s the gist of things. As long as the city goes in this constant direction, you can do whatever you want. About the Great Maelstrom passage, I need to think of a way¡­¡±

    Qianye fell into contemtion after reading the letter. Now that Song Zining was no longer here, he would need to do everything personally. He was at a momentary loss with so many things to tackle.

    His top priority was, of course, to get stronger. He would have enough power to y this game of power struggle only after stepping into the divine champion realm.

    Qianye cultivated day and night along the way, and read the Book of Darkness¡¯ Flourish Chapter in his spare time. He had an increasingly strong feeling that the changes in origin power throughout evolution contained the secrets of this entire universe. Referencing it would allow him to increase his understanding of origin power utilization.

    Before this period, Qianye felt that hisbat techniques had reached their limit for improvement. Before the vicissitudes of the universe, however, there was really no limit to speak of.

    Each passing day saw Qianye¡¯s aura turning slightly deeper.

    The airship stopped outside of Southern Blue where Qianye and Zhuji got off. Before disembarking, the captain said, ¡°Seventh young master said someone from the Empire mighte looking for you.¡±

    ¡°What about?"

    ¡°Naturally, it¡¯s for the things you brought out from that ce. Seventh young master says you can go all out without holding back.¡±

    Qianye had indeed returned with a good harvest, but it would be troublesome to bring them out as most of them had no market price. After some calction, there wasn¡¯t much that he could sell.

    After descending, Qianye didn¡¯t return to the city immediately. Instead, he brought Little Zhuji to the edge of the continent. His newfound strength allowed him to reach the airship in just one day.

    Nighteye¡¯s voice echoed in his ears, ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    Her words were calm and indifferent, almost as though she were talking to a stranger.

    Qianye took a deep breath. ¡°Thanks for the help back in the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    ¡°No need, I should be the one thanking you instead.¡±

    For some reason, Qianye felt that her words contained some hidden mockery. Although he couldn¡¯t figure out what was wrong, he only kept silent as it wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to ask in greater detail. ¡°I¡¯ve obtained something suitable for you. It¡¯s hard to preserve, so I brought it over immediately.¡±

    With that, Qianye produced the Marine Lotus. The flower¡ªwrapped in Venus Dawn¡ªhad been preserved at the moment of its blooming.

    Nighteye¡¯s emotions fluctuated slightly upon seeing the Marine Lotus. ¡°It¡¯s indeed useful to me. Who would¡¯ve thought you actually got it, how much of a price did you have to pay?¡±

    ¡°Things just worked out by chance, I didn¡¯t have to pay anything,¡± Qianye replied.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t ask about the details. A wisp of blood energy appeared from the warship and swept the lotus inside. That thick, sturdy airship wall was nothing before her powers. Her powers of this space alone made one sigh in admiration.

    After putting away the Marine Lotus, Nighteye¡¯s voice became gentler. ¡°This gift will only hasten my awakening, have you thought this through?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t ignore your damaged spirit.¡±

    ¡°But the Nighteye of the past won¡¯t return.¡±

    Qianye remained silent. That was a knot in his heart that could never be undone. Was the past Nighteye real or was the current one genuine? Perhaps there would never be an answer to this question.

    Seeing Qianye silent, Nighteye said, ¡°Dummy, don¡¯t do things like this anymore. Also¡­ don¡¯t visit me anymore.¡±

    Qianye trembled slightly. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°My location is no longer a secret. People from the council will arrive soon, and I still don¡¯t know what kind of choice I¡¯ll make after aplete awakening. Maybe I¡¯ll rejoin the council, or maybe I¡¯ll avoid them. Regardless, I won¡¯t be staying around.¡±

    ¡°How¡­ do I find you?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way, and there¡¯s no need. Wait until you can suppress the Evernight Council, else you¡¯ll just be courting death.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°But that¡¯s too long.¡±

    ¡°What else can you do? To the humans, you¡¯re a vampire, and to the sacred races of Evernight, you¡¯re a human. Your resounding fame in the Empire is built upon the murder of the Evernight races. How can this enmity be forgotten? You¡¯ll be surrounded and hunted down if you daree over.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of death.¡±

    ¡°There are many types of being unafraid of death, just as there¡¯s courage but there¡¯s also stupidity. Do you think you¡¯re one of those people who would give in to stupidity?¡±

    Qianye had no reply.

    Nighteye said in a gentle voice, ¡°You¡¯re not to me in this. You¡¯re already very outstanding, and the only thing you need is time.¡±

    Qianye was already improving at a rapid pace, but he would still need some time to reach the apex. Yet, he was also in a position where time was the scarcest. There was no path to hurry ahead.

    ¡°Then¡­ farewell.¡±

    The warship became silent. Jared arrived beside him at some point and stood quietly for a while. Seeing Qianye immobile, he said with a dry cough, ¡°Sire Qianye, it¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye followed Jared out of the valley. He then asked as the marquis came to a stop, ¡°Will this ce be empty the next time Ie?¡±

    ¡°The master never tells me about her matters. As such, I have no answer to your question.¡±

    Qianye nodded, but the loneliness on his expression wouldn¡¯t fade away. He walked away with Little Zhuji in his arms and finally vanished into the snowstorm.

    Jared didn¡¯t return immediately. He watched Qianye¡¯s receding figure with aplicated expression, muttering to himself, ¡°Sire Qianye has be more powerful again. It seems I must really call him sire from now on.¡±

    Before, Jared knew he could hold his own against Qianye, but this time, he couldn¡¯t even muster the courage to fight. Jared¡¯s bloodline was special in that he was very perceptive toward other experts¡¯ strength. This was the reason he had lost the will to fight and surrendered to Nighteye back then.

    Currently, Qianye was beginning to give him such a feeling as well.

    Jared nced at the warship and sighed. ¡°Master¡­ sigh, too bad. He just had to meet my master.¡±

    It was at this moment that Jared seemed to notice a figure amidst the blizzard. When he looked carefully, however, there was nothing¡ªit was as though he was seeing things.

    Puzzled, Jared arrived before the warship and checked everywhere in the vicinity. However, he still couldn¡¯t find any traces.

    ¡°Was I seeing things?¡± he muttered to himself.

    When the first rays of dawn fell upon thend, Qianye was already outside of Southern Blue. He put Little Zhuji down and said, ¡°Wake up, we¡¯re home.¡±

 Chapter 1087: The Magpie and the Turtledove

    Home?

    ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t I sleep more?¡± The little fellow climbed down grumpily. Even though she had grown a lot bigger, she still had the temperament of a little girl.

    Qianye said patiently, ¡°Our house is a bit messy right now, we need to clean it up.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t we have cleaners? Oh, you mean we have to fight?¡± Thess sobered up immediately. There were three things that held meaning for her¡ªeating, sleeping, and fighting.

    ¡°We need to fight, but we have to be careful not to kill unnecessary bystanders. No spitting poison in our own home, okay?¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I spit poison? My throat itches if I can¡¯t spray poison during fights.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. The little girl had clearly awakened her innate talent and wanted to use her venom out of instinct. It also seemed that she would need to release the poison after a certain period of umtion. Each mouthful of her poison would turn several kilometers ofnd into a dead zone, not something he could have at his Southern Blue base.

    ¡°Her poison might even kill Count Stuka, right?¡± Qianye thought to himself.

    As Little Zhuji¡¯s real father, Count Stuka was highly proficient in poison but powerful humans could still resist his poison. He was simply not on the same level as Little Zhuji. Song Zining felt that Zhuji wasn¡¯t even rted to the count, and that her egg had been ced in the hatching chamber for some reason.

    After warning Zhuji repeatedly not to spit poison, Qianye brought her into Southern Blue.

    The city was bustling, with caravans going in and out of its gates from time to time. Qianye, however, felt that the city was more destepared to when he had left. There were only trucks flying the colors of their merchant groups and none belonging to Dark me.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of people or cars on the main road at the moment, so the sentries saw Qianye and Zhuji from a fair distance. It was impossible to not see them since he was walking at the center of the main path. Even the cargo trucks had to make way for him.

    A veteran in charge of keeping watch rubbed his eyes as he stared at Qianye, and then confirmed again through his binocrs. He suddenly threw them away, shouting, ¡°It¡¯s Qianye! Qianye has returned. Quick, close the gates and sound the rm!¡±

    The city walls were thrown into chaos as everyone ran about like frightened rabbits. The person who was supposed to sound the rm was so frightened that the hammer slipped out of his hands several times before he finally managed to strike the bell. The resounding bell echoed at varying intensities, with neither depth nor rhythm, clear proof that the striker was weak from the trembling.

    Sounding the rm was easy, but closing the city doors would take some work. The city gates were equipped with a steam-driven kic mechanism, something Song Zining had worked hard to remodel after his arrival. Without mechanical aid, these ten-ton doors simply wouldn¡¯t budge.

    Southern Blue was a central trading city, headquarters to the Dark me Mercenary Corps, and also home to many stationed experts. There was no way bandits would dare to rob the city.

    But with energy provided by the kic towers, there was no longer a need for experts to use brute strength. Now, closing the city gates was just a matter of flipping some switches and enough time.

    The officer in charge of guarding the gate rushed up to the city wall, roaring, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?! Have you not closed the gates yet? You can forget about living after that man gets inside.¡±

    The group of veterans atop the wall wore odd expressions but didn¡¯t make a move. That officer was just about to act out when an aide tugged on his sleeves. ¡°Are we really going to close the doors, Sire?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to die, otherwise?¡±

    The aide said, ¡°It¡¯s because we don¡¯t want to die that we should leave the door open.¡±

    The officer was stunned. ¡°Why?¡±

    The aide said, ¡°The door might be useful to people like us, but do you think it can stop that person? Once we close the gates, it¡¯ll be obvious that we¡¯re hostile. That person doesn¡¯t even blink when killing. Many of us were present in the great battle back then, and submitted to him because we were terrified.¡±

    ¡°The battle where tens of thousands died?¡± The officer turned pale.

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit exaggerated, but a lot of people did perish.¡±

    ¡°Then what do we do? The rm has been sounded!¡± The officer was now panicking.

    ¡°Sounding the rm is fine, as long as we don¡¯t shut the gates. If that person wants to vent his anger, the ones in charge of the gates will be the first to suffer his wrath!¡±

    The officer finally understood. ¡°Go inform those masters in the city and keep ringing the bell until they hear us!¡±

    The fervent rm echoed through the entirety of Southern Blue. Confusion descended upon the city as soldiers began to mobilize. The reaction could be considered quite fast.

    The city gates before Qianye, however, remained open, and the soldiers on the wall were nowhere to be seen. All of them were hiding in the tower and didn¡¯t dare show their faces.

    How could Qianye not tell that something had happened in Southern Blue? He sneered coldly, feeling that Song Zining had made the right guess. Judging from the disarray, however, the city wasn¡¯t exactly united, either. At the very least, the one who had taken over Southern Blue wasn¡¯t in full control.

    Qianye rose into the air and took his ce atop the tower, looking down at the city. ¡°I am Qianye. Now that I¡¯ve returned from the Great Maelstrom, those who shouldn¡¯t be here will get one final chance to leave on their own. That¡¯s the only way you¡¯ll survive.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t that loud, but it rang in the ears of everyone in the city. It was as though he were speaking beside them. Ordinary people sighed in astonishment, but most experts in the city looked terrified. It wasn¡¯t hard to spread one¡¯s voice throughout the city, but it was difficult to keep the volume uniform everywhere. Some careful thought would reveal just how terrifying this level of origin power control was.

    Additionally, those familiar with Qianye knew that he was never ostentatious and would even remain hidden at most times. It was only Song Zining and Ji Tianqing showing their faces most of the time. But now, his style had changed quite a bit¡ªthe announcement seemed magnanimous, but in fact, it was not. The unrestrained experts of the neutralnds cared about their reputation the most. Even those who had been nning to slip away might stay back to fight after hearing such a im. They would never be able to raise their heads after escaping in such a manner.

    Some people couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the thought of the person living in the Dark mes headquarters.

    Qianye¡¯s voice had just faded away when a sinister voice erupted, ¡°What gall! Who do you think you are to give me a final chance?¡±

    A figure flew up into the air and stood across Qianye. The man seemed to be in his thirties, but the dark rings around his eyes made him look weak and older than he was.

    Four more silhouettes flew up and formed an arced formation around the young man.

    The young man became even more unrestrained after the arrival of these four people. He first roared until he was about to choke, and then said while pointing at Qianye, ¡°Who do you think you are to make such bold ims? I like this city and I¡¯ve taken it. What do you want to do? What can you do?¡±

    The man¡¯s finger was almost at Qianye¡¯s nose, but thetter only asked calmly, ¡°What happened to the people from Dark me?¡±

    The young man said disdainfully, ¡°What else? Most of them have submitted, some are in captivity, and a few stubborn ones were killed on the spot. What number one mercenary corps? Didn¡¯t they still yield after I killed a couple of them? But you really didn¡¯t train them well, only a handful of them were up to par. It got me so angry that I had to look for fun around the city.¡±

    Qianye ignored the taunting. ¡°What has happened to the workshops and merchants under Dark me?¡±

    The young manughed. ¡°Even the mercenaries have no backbone to speak of, what can you hope from those merchants and craftsmen? They¡¯re like dogs, whoever throws them a bone is their master.¡±

    ¡°That means they¡¯re all under yourmand now?¡±

    ¡°Of course, all of them have sworn oaths,¡± the young man said proudly.

    Qianye sighed in relief, and the tension on his face finally rxed a bit. He scanned the four people behind the young man, saying, ¡°These four are your bodyguards?¡±

    ¡°So what if they are? Use your dog brain and think, what kind of person must I be to be able to afford such bodyguards.¡±

    Qianye cut him short. ¡°They¡¯re pretty weak, let me test them for you.¡±

    He moved forward while speaking and threw a punch at a bearded, burly man.

    This punch was neither fast nor vicious, and even the origin power fluctuation was nothing out of the ordinary. There was no semnce of martialplexity to speak of. The bearded man¡ªan expert in fist arts¡ªrevealed a sinister smile. With a loud roar and thunderous momentum, he punched back with the momentum of an avnche!

    This punch was extremely fast, sting Qianye¡¯s fist within moments. It was several times bigger and arrived with several times the momentum.

    The spectators gasped in astonishment. They wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Qianye¡¯s arm was broken on the spot.

    The moment their fists collided, the bearded man sent waves of earth-shattering force into Qianye¡¯s body. However, his smile froze up immediately afterward. The force he had meant to channel into the opponent¡¯s body was stopped by a fist.

    The impact was reflected back in its entirety, and his fist was suppressed immediately. The damage didn¡¯t stop there¡ªthe bearded man didn¡¯t even have time to scream before his entire body exploded into a bloody mist.

    Without so much as a pause, Qianye threw a swift punch at another opponent.

 Chapter 1088: Hold Back a Bi

    Apart from the surprised gasp at the sight of sttering blood, the young man could only watch in a daze as Qianye shattered the remaining three guards with a punch each. He even forgot to breathe. None of his subordinates could escape Qianye no matter how quickly they reacted, whether they had fled, counterattacked, or drawn their de. No matter where they were struck, they would explode into a sanguine mist.

    By the time those powerful guards had fallen, the young man was covered in blood from head to toe. Although it was his subordinate¡¯s blood, one could see that the man was shocked out of his wits.

    ¡°Ah! Ahhhhh!¡± Only then did the young man react and break out into a scream, all the while patting the pieces of flesh off of his body.

    The man¡¯s origin power became unstable from the extreme fright; unable to control it, he fell headfirst to the ground. Falling from a height of several dozen meters would hurt even a champion.

    The roof of a building below burst open as an old man rushed to the sky. With a wave of his hand, he caught the young man in a wave of origin power that brought him gently to the ground. The old man¡¯s figure appeared in front of Qianye with a flicker, roaring furiously, ¡°Young Man, how can you be so ruthless?¡±

    Qianye looked at the old man. ¡°How could someone with four such guards not have a true expert protecting him. It¡¯s just that you¡¯re so calm that it surprised me somewhat.¡±

    Qianye was actually mocking the old man, who was in no way calm. He simply had no time to rescue the four guards as they were destroyed with a single punch each. In addition to the shock, the old man was also quite terrifiedter on. If Qianye had punched the young man, his flesh and blood would be drifting in the air as well.

    Ashen-faced, the old man¡¯s momentum rose continuously. He broke intoughter at the extremes of rage, saying, ¡°Good, good! You Imperials are definitely experienced and extraordinary! People who grew up in this small ce have no other talent¡­ except killing!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t attack immediately. He merely replied with a cold smile, ¡°Since I can return, those who entered with me can do so as well. Do you dare kill me? Aren¡¯t you afraid that the Imperial army will march over and tten that so-called power behind you?¡±

    The old man¡¯s expression changed slightly. ¡°Thest time was an exception. These are the neutralnds, not a ce you can rampage as you wish!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°The one stopping the outsiders is the Throne of Blood. Your words only serve to mock Zhang Buzhou, that man¡¯s been hiding behind the vampire¡¯s back despite iming to be a heavenly monarch.¡±

    The old man was livid. ¡°How dare you address Heavenly Monarch Zhang by his name? You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Without further words, the elder raised his palm like a de and chopped down from over a dozen meters away! A sharp beam of brilliance thus descended upon Qianye.

    For a divine champion, a dozen meters was no different from point-nk range. This palm strike traveled with the speed of lightning, arriving above Qianye¡¯s forehead in mere moments!

    Just as he was thinking he had seeded, Qianye¡¯s figure blurred out and vanished from the spot. The attack had missed.

    Spatial sh was Qianye¡¯s famed technique now, so the old man seemed to havee prepared for it. He scanned the area with his powerful divine-champion perception, controlling everything within a hundred meters in the blink of an eye. He soon realized that Qianye was standing less than thirty meters away from him.

    Just thirty meters!

    The old man sneered inwardly, but he was more furious than anything else. He was enraged that Qianye would dare appear near him so carelessly. Did this boy think his opponent had no melee powers? Or did he think there could be no fatal attacks?

    The old man¡¯s heart was filled with killing intent as he gazed at Qianye. Several streams of de radiance appeared in his hand as he made ready to go all out and kill Qianye.

    Just as he was about tounch the de radiance, he suddenly noticed his figure reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    The old man¡¯s figure paused ever so slightly, almost like a cart driving over a stone. However, this negligible moment of dy filled his heart with caution. The old man was just about to flee when a dark luminous feather tore through the air!

    ¡°Why is it ck? That¡¯s not what I heard¡­¡± This thought flickered through the old man¡¯s mind as he watched the feather enter his chest.

    The Shot of Inception was Qianye¡¯s trademark killing move, one that had heavily injured the Wolf King. It was no longer a secret among the top experts of the neutralnds.

    The old man wasn¡¯t rmed after being struck by the Shot of Inception. Instead, he raised his origin power output to protect his vitals, hoping to forcefully exhaust the energy from the Shot of Inception.

    The old man wasn¡¯t weaker than the Wolf King, so he felt that he could use the same method to endure the injury. He only needed a single opportunity to pounce forward and kill Qianye. He needed to let this young man know that the divine champion threshold was a boundary between very different worlds.

    But his expression changed drastically when his vitality started to drain away. ¡°How can this be!?¡±

    The speed of loss was so great that it had far exceeded his expectations. Life flowed out of him with the momentum of a raging wave, and soon, he was almost half drained! His aura declined rapidly and was no longer at the divine champion realm after a while.

    And even then, the power of the shot wasn¡¯t entirely gone.

    It was at this moment that another feather began to form inside Qianye¡¯s origin gun!

    The old man screamed wretchedly. His silhouette vanished, reappeared, and vanished again. Just like that, he flickered three times, and each took him several hundred meters away. The elder was over two kilometers away after three movements. There, he turned and fled without even looking back, or saving that young man from before.

    Qianye was surprised. After a moment of astonishment, he shook his head and muttered to himself, ¡°Wow, that works too¡­¡±

    The old man¡¯s movement arts looked quite a bit simr to Spatial sh. Covering a couple kilometers in three shes, one could even consider it the king of escape techniques. However, it couldn¡¯tpare to Spatial sh at all in terms of variation and power, since it had to be used three times, each taking him a few hundred meters.

    Even so, the old man still caught Qianye off-guard and managed to escape. This was the first time Qianye realized how frustrating it must¡¯ve been for the enemies facing him.

    The old man had seen through the situation immediately and escaped the moment he found that things weren¡¯t quite right, never allowing Qianye to fire a second shot. Rather than say he was swift, one could say he was cowardly. But had that not been the case, there was no way he could have dodged the second Shot of Inception, and it was very likely that he would die in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    Qianye shook his head. Suppressing the sense of regret, he scanned the entire city.

    This gaze woke up all the experts of Southern Blue and sent everything into chaos. Some wanted to sneak away, some wanted to hide, and some others retracted their auras in an attempt to blend in with the ordinary crowd.

    Several figures flew over to Qianye¡¯s side and bowed. ¡°Sire, you¡¯re finally back.¡±

    Qianye saw that these people were rather familiar. There were mercenary leaders from Dark me and two managers Song Zining had brought with him, one in charge of merchants and the other in charge of the workshops. It was strange that they would be able to move freely. At the very least, it meant that they weren¡¯t under any limitation or torment.

    Now, this was a problem.

    The middle-aged man in charge of the merchants seemed to have noticed Qianye¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Young Master Zining told us that the journey would be perilous. He said that if he wasn¡¯t back soon and the Imperial army had withdrawn, we should submit temporarily against enemies we couldn¡¯t handle. Anyone taking over the city would need us to ensure the workshops were operating smoothly.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s Zining¡¯s instruction.¡± Qianye finally realized things.

    Song Zining had always been crafty, and would always leave a contingency n. Those plotting against him had to have problems with both their brain and their luck.

    ¡°You lot, immediately reorganize Dark me and capture all outsiders. Kill whoever resists,¡± Qianye said calmly.

    With stern expressions, the group left to aplish their missions.

    Qianye stood in the air just like that. Having sted four experts into smithereens and sent a divine champion running, his might was at its peak. Those who so much as saw his shadow would not dare to have thoughts they shouldn¡¯t have.

    Qianye saw a sneaky shadow through the corner of his eyes. He patted Little Zhuji, saying, ¡°Oh, go and capture him.¡±

    That person had changed his clothes, but origin power couldn¡¯t be disguised. He was like a brightmp in Qianye¡¯s True Sight and simply couldn¡¯t escape notice.

    Little Zhuji never got the chance to fight. Cheering loudly, she swooped down immediately toward her prey.

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°Hold back a bit, don¡¯t kill him!¡±

    But he was a bit toote. All he heard was a loud rumble as Zhuji smashed into the ground like aet. The shockwaves spread out in every direction, toppling all buildings within several dozen meters in radius.

    The man was quite nimble and actually managed to dodge Zhuji¡¯s attack, causing her to crash into the ground. However, he couldn¡¯t even smile after the maneuver¡ªthe shockwaves from the smash were so intense that they sent him flying through several nearby walls.

    Although his cultivation wasn¡¯t low, the deep impact caused him to cough up blood and left him somewhat listless. He wanted to continue running, but Zhuji¡¯s voice rang out behind him, ¡°Aha, got you! You wanna run!?¡±

    She caught the man by his leg and lifted him up, flinging him around randomly like a human club. He lost consciousness in just a few swings and never moved again.

    Little Zhuji felt something was wrong. ¡°Ah, dead? I-I haven¡¯t even started ying!¡±

 Chapter 1089: Recovering the Lost City

    Not knowing whether the fellow was dead or alive, Zhuji didn¡¯t dare y with him anymore. She flew up and handed the man to Qianye, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve captured him.¡±

    Qianye looked rather absent-minded, as though he were thinking of something, and only recovered when he saw the dirty, ragged man. He engulfed the man in a wave of origin power and kept him afloat in the air.

    This person was so swollen and bruised that it was hard to see his appearance. He was currently on hisst gasp¡ªif it wasn¡¯t for the unchanging aura, Qianye would hardly recognize the man who had been hooting at him a while ago.

    Qianye flicked a wisp of blood energy into the young man¡¯s body. The moment the blood energy entered his body, the man immediately felt an indescribable pain¡ªit was as though every small muscle fiber in his body was on fire. This inhumane torment made him scream in agony, his expression contorted and his body spasming. However, the pain disappeared just as he was about to lose consciousness.

    ¡°Are you sober now?¡± Qianye asked.

    Trembling uncontrobly, he looked up at Qianye with eyes full of terror and hatred.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look thatfortable, but that¡¯s fine. Tell me why you¡¯re here in Southern Blue.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished the question when he shook his head in self-deprecation. ¡°Nevermind, I shouldn¡¯t have asked such a useless question. Tell your subordinates to surrender if you don¡¯t want them all wiped out.¡±

    The fight in the city was still ongoing. Apparently, some people hadn¡¯t surrendered yet and were offering firm resistance. The fighting was fierce in some of the critical areas like the Dark me headquarters. The reformed Dark me members who were loyal to Qianyeunched several attacks but were all routed, their corpses were thrown out of the building in a miserable fashion.

    The young man took a moment to catch his breath before saying with a fierce expression, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask who I am?¡±

    ¡°Is there a need?¡± Qianye was nonchnt.

    The young man felt great difort as his words were caught in his throat. After holding it in for a while, he jumped up as though his butt was on fire and roared, ¡°Why is there no need? I have my reasons for daring to im Southern Blue! Even if your subordinates are all idiots, do you think those merchant managers are idiots as well? Why would they cooperate with me and hand over the city on a silver tter? Why did they help me suppress the idiots who tried to resist?¡±

    Qianye pointed at the mercenaries fighting fiercely below. ¡°They¡¯re loyal to me because of fear, not idiocy. Many people have faced me as enemies, and I have put the fear of God into them. As for those managers¡­¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°They¡¯re the real idiots for thinking I don¡¯t dare kill them.¡±

    The young man was stunned. ¡°Y-You! You¡¯re crazy! Those are major merchant groups, with branches all over the neutralnds. Even I have to treat them with a degree of respect when they¡¯re working together. You actually want to kill their managers? They will never let this matter go!¡±

    Having survived and operated in the neutralnds all this time, these merchant groups were far from saints. They maintained a blood feud policy simr to bandits¡ªwhoever killed their managers would have to face the wrath of the entire group. They would not let the vendetta go until the very end. That was the only way to deter bandits from easily making a move on their caravans.

    Because they had enough money, the major merchant groups each boasted military capacity no smaller than arge mercenary corps. Their escorts were also better equipped than the average mercenary group, allowing each of them to fight two ordinary mercenaries with rtive ease. Only Dark me¡¯s soldiers, who had been armed to the teeth by Song Zining, could suppress the merchant escorts in terms of firepower.

    That was why the young man felt that Qianye was crazy. Even he didn¡¯t dare kill the manager of a major merchant group. Without sufficient reason, the bacsh from such an action would be rather terrifying. Even he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape punishment.

    At this moment, Qianye was already somewhat impatient as he gazed at the fights below. ¡°They¡¯re still resisting, it seems your subordinates are tired of living.¡±

    Qianye descended upon a small building in the Dark me headquarters. He entered through the roof like a falling star and scanned the entire structure with his perception. There was no one being held captive in this building, and neither were there any familiar auras. Countless sanguine threads permeated the building and silenced the entire fortification within moments.

    Qianye walked out of the building and, with a flicker, arrived at another. At almost the same time, the entire building fell silent.

    Qianye had passed through four enemy fortifications in mere seconds. Be it walls of steel or concrete, nothing could stop the pration of Life Plunder. Every area he passed through would turn into a domain of death.

    Finally, Qianye stepped into the mainmand building of Dark me. This was the biggest structure in thepound, one he had built alongside Ji Tianqing and Song Zining. He had personally carried up many of the pirs and beams here. He no longer used Life Plunder here as there were a good number of officers and civil servants.

    Those officers in the middle ranks were the backbone of Dark me, without whom the operation andmand chain of the corps would be rather problematic. Since Song Zining had arranged things beforehand, many of these people had probably submitted under his orders. Besides, there were too many unarmed people in the building and he couldn¡¯t just kill them all off.

    He decided to do things the simple way, looking for enemies room by room and killing anyone who so much as offered a shred of resistance. People were thrown out of the building windows one after the other, crashing to the ground with loud thuds. The floor from which people were being hurled grew higher and higher, until two snipers on the top floor crashed to the ground, their fate unknown.

    Within moments, the entire Dark me headquarters had been suppressed.

    Qianye sat at his usual ce in the conference room, gazing down at everyone in the chamber. This was the central seat where he used to sit during meetings, but that young man had built a tform and ced the seat on it. Now Qianye was looking down at everyone from above.

    There was a red carpet stretching from the tform to the main doors, and a tapestry depicting a fierce void colossus hung behind the tform. The conference room walls were now adorned with ancient weapons and a number of armor sets stood towering over certain parts of the room.

    This decoration filled the hall with a sense of solemnity, like some strange, ancient ritual was being held here. Here, the master was high above all life.

    This young man might not be capable, but it seemed he was rather good at decoration and design.

    Qianye sat on the magnificent chair with his chin propped up, deep in thought. The hall on either side of him was already full with people. On one side were the mercenary leaders of Dark me, and on the other were the managers and representatives of the merchant groups. The ones at the front were naturally Song Zining¡¯s subordinates. Way at the back were people from the merchant groups who had squeezed in to observe the developments.

    That young man stood below the tform with an awkward expression. Qianye seemed to have forgotten about him entirely and was thinking about something else. If it wasn¡¯t for the burly mercenaries on either side of him, he would¡¯ve been inclined to remind Qianye of his existence.

    There was a beautiful young girl atop the stage, peering curiously at everything inside the hall¡ªthe paintings, the tapestry, the statues, and the people.

    Everyone would feel uneasy upon being stared at. Some of the more timid ones would turn pale and start trembling. Zhuji¡¯s gaze was as though she was looking at a toy or even food.

    Little Zhuji whispered after she had studied everyone carefully, ¡°None of them look fun or tasty.¡±

    Everyone started sweating after hearing this.

    Little Zhuji poked Qianye impatiently, waking him from his reverie. He looked at the men below, saying, ¡°Is everyone here? Let¡¯s begin.¡±

    He pointed at the young man. ¡°Speak, who are you?¡±

    The young man felt like crying all of a sudden. He had been waiting for these words for far too long.

    ¡°This young master is Zhang Xuance, grandnephew to the heavenly monarch! Since you know my identity, how dare you¡­¡±

    Qianye cut him short. ¡°Enough with the nonsense. Are Zhang Buzhou¡¯s descendants all dead? Why would he send you to stir up trouble?¡±

    Zhang Xuance opened his mouth but no words came out. He was stopped up quite badly this time and would¡¯ve coughed up blood if he didn¡¯t have to mind his reputation.

    ¡°This¡­ the heavenly monarch naturally has descendants, but my cousins aren¡¯t that talented. My cousin-uncles are the same.¡±

    Qianye was finally interested. ¡°Now that¡¯s odd. Zhang Buzhou¡¯s sons and grandsons aren¡¯t talented, but you are? That¡¯s not quite logical.¡±

    Zhang Xuance¡¯s origin power cultivation was at rank-sixteen¡ªhis foundation was extremely sturdy and his origin power, pure. ording to neutralnd standards, he was already half-certain of bing a divine champion. Even in the Empire or Evernight, he would be considered a talent. It was just that he was too spoiled¡ªhisbat arts were passable but his mindset was beyond subpar. It was clear that he had never fought anyone stronger than him before, copsing entirely once Qianye killed his four guards and injured his guardian expert.

    The thousand-year history of the Empire had long since proved the importance of bloodline inheritances. For instance, the Zhao n produced talented geniuses with every generation. The imperial n¡¯s bloodline was even more terrifying, producing multiple heavenly monarch¡¯s and a peerless expert like the Martial Ancestor. Normally, an expert¡¯s direct descendant would produce more geniuses. It was unreasonable that Zhang Buzhou¡¯s own line was incapable while a nephew was allowed to cause a ruckus outside. The only exnation was that Zhang Buzhou¡¯s own line had withered.

    Zhang Xuance trembled under Qianye¡¯s gaze. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s a reason for that. When I was just a kid, my third uncle was a peerless genius reportedly on par with the heavenly monarch. Third uncle¡¯s child, my cousin-sister, was also superior in talents. It would never be my turn for good benefits back then¡­¡±

    ¡°What happenedter?¡±

    ¡°Third uncle and his friend went out to save someone. That person was rescued, but my third uncle never returned.¡°

    Qianye was somewhat curious. ¡°Who is your third uncle¡¯s friend?¡±

    ¡°Luo Bingfeng.¡±

 Chapter 1090: Trifling Matters

    Luo Bingfeng? This familiar name appearing at such a juncture felt somewhat odd, and it finally caught Qianye¡¯s attention. ¡°Luo Beingfeng is your¡­ third uncle¡¯s good friend?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they were more or less the same age, and he taught third-uncle most of his secret arts.¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°Was the person they saved a woman?¡±

    ¡°Yes, someone called Nan. What, you know her?¡±

    ¡°What happened afterward? What about your cousin?¡±

    Zhang Xuance¡¯s expression dimmed down. ¡°My cousin¡¯s talents were not below my third uncle¡¯s at first, but after his death, she vowed to avenge him by killing that giant beast herself. She cultivated day and night, but one day, an ident destroyed one of her origin vortices and damaged her foundations.¡±

    Qianye felt emotional after hearing this. Since the founding ancestor decided the human cultivation system, almost every cultivation art was built upon this path, the core of which were the nine origin nodes. These nine nodes, vortices, and crystals were condensed from nothingness and acted as pirs for all secret arts.

    With one of them damaged, the eight remaining ones would never be able to push her to the next level. This also meant that Zhang Xuance¡¯s cousin would never be a divine champion even if she could cultivate the remaining eight to perfection and reach Qianye¡¯s level. A ceiling had been ced over her aplishments for this lifetime.

    A genius had fallen just like that.

    On that topic, everything had happened because of Luo Bingfeng¡¯s adventure. Nan Nan was saved, and she stayed with Luo Bingfeng thereafter. Meanwhile, Zhang Buzhou¡¯s hopes of bloodline session were forever severed. Even a weak-minded fellow like Zhang Xuance was being treated like a treasure right now. It was impossible for Zhang Buzhou not to feel any pain.

    After hearing this, Qianye gained a rough understanding of why Rui Xiang had a sword with Zhang Buzhou¡¯s origin power back then.

    It turned out this heavenly monarch hadn¡¯t forgotten any of that.

    At the thought of this, Qianye¡¯s impression of Zhang Buzhou fell once more. He nced down at Zhang Xuance, asking, ¡°How much longer does Heavenly Monarch Zhang need to remain in istion?¡±

    Zhang Xuance could not understand this question. ¡°How should I know?¡±

    ¡°Where is Heavenly Monarch Zhang undergoing isted cultivation?¡±

    The young man inhaled deeply after hearing this question. The malicious intent within these words struck him square in the face.

    ¡°Y-You¡­ don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Zhang Xuance stammered.

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°What? Look at how frightened you are.¡±

    Zhang Xuance was both embarrassed and furious. ¡°I know you¡¯re extremely bold, but the day Heavenly Monarch Zhanges out of istion is the day you die.¡±

    ¡°But he¡¯s not out yet.¡± Qianye¡¯s indifferent reply caused the man to choke up.

    Qianye kneaded his temples gently, saying, ¡°Enough, I don¡¯t have time for idle chatter. Shut up if you don¡¯t want to return with limbs missing.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Zhang Xuance didn¡¯t know how to react because he had never encountered something like this since birth.

    ¡°I can also help you if you want to die.¡±

    This time, Zhang Xuance noticed the faint killing intent in Qianye¡¯s voice. Chilled, he couldn¡¯t help but curse inwardly, but the words ¡°this madman¡± never escaped his lips.

    Qianye nced down at the silent crowd. ¡°Has the rebellion been quelled?¡±

    Zhang Xuance¡¯s expression changed drastically. He really wanted to say ¡°you¡¯re the rebel!¡± but ultimately couldn¡¯t find the courage.

    A Dark me mercenary head stepped forward. ¡°Most of the fights have concluded. Some resistance still remains in certain corners, but they¡¯ve been surrounded as well. None of them will escape!¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Still resisting, huh? They think they have Zhang Buzhou to rely on, so I won¡¯t dare to kill them. Ry my order, leave no one alive.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The mercenary head left inrge strides.

    Qianye¡¯s eyesnded on the merchant group to the left of him. He said to one of the managers Song Zining had left behind, ¡°This Young Master Zhang ims that your groups spent a good deal of effort when he arrived in Southern Blue. Not only did you offer money, but you have also helped him suppress the dissenters. Is that right?¡±

    The major merchant groups immediately became frightened.

    Song Zining¡¯s manager replied, ¡°That was indeed the case. Those who fielded troops include Manager Yu Cu of Myriad Gold Group, Manager Wang Fen of Boundary Group¡­ and those who offered money include Manager Xun Si of Alloy Shield¡­¡±

    The man listed over a dozen managers in one breath.

    Someone could no longer resist the urge to jump out and roar, ¡°Song Mingxi, you were the first to surrender. What gives you the right to talk about us?¡±

    Song Mingxi replied calmly, ¡°I surrendered on the seventh young master¡¯s orders, how can I be the same as you people? Besides, we¡¯re merely craftsmen who can¡¯t fight or kill.¡±

    These words affected all the managers here. Everyone felt that this person was rather shameless.

    A few of the managers felt that the situation wasn¡¯t quite right. They knelt down hurriedly, saying, ¡°Sire, the situation dictated our actions back then, we had no choice! Please check clearly!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s reply was rather calm. ¡°This Young Master Zhang said our Dark me isn¡¯t well trained, that there were no more than a handful of good people. Well, a handful is still a handful. Which of you has helped this young master judge things?¡±

    The managers were drenched in cold sweat.

    Noticing that things weren¡¯t going well, one of them stood up and said, ¡°Sire Qianye, there were some misunderstandings in the past. Since you¡¯re here, things will naturally go back to the past. All the merchant groups, including our Myriad Gold Group, willpensate you for your loss.¡±

    ¡°Myriad Gold, huh? So you¡¯re Yu Cu?¡± There was no expression on Qianye¡¯s face.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me.¡± Yu Cu squeezed out a smile, saying, ¡°Our humble group¡¯s director happens to be my brother-inw.¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed as he issued the order, ¡°Kill the managers of all the groups that have contributed military power and confiscate their properties.¡±

    ¡°You! You¡¯re mad! If you dare kill me, Myriad Gold Group won¡¯t let you go!¡± Shocked out of his wits, Yu Cu shouted with a stomp.

    ¡°Myriad Gold Group¡­¡± Qianye said after some thought. ¡°Keep him in his manager¡¯s uniform and hang him outside the city.¡±

    Many people were already drenched in cold sweat, but now, they were almost dripping. Qianye had made it clear that he was going to shed all pretenses of cordiality with the big merchant groups. For all the other managers at the scene, Yu Cu was a clear example of their fate.

    ¡°We¡¯ll fight it out with this madman!¡± someone roared.

    However, he hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a light flickered before his eyes. A beam of green light spun around his body and cut off all of his hands and legs before slowly pulling away.

    Qianye shed at the speed of lightning but sheathed his de in a rather leisurely manner. The upgraded East Peak was indeed easy to use, and every movement of the de radiance felt as though he was moving his arm or finger. The manager only realized what had happened after the sword light had drawn away. He started screaming.

    ¡°How do you want to fight it out with me now?¡± Qianye mocked the man before turning toward the ashen-faced managers. ¡°You¡¯ll have an intact corpse if you surrender peacefully, and the other people from your group will also survive. Only this kind of fate awaits those who resist, and we¡¯ll investigate who in your group participated in the rebellion.¡±

    A manager pointed at Qianye with a trembling finger. ¡°Y-You! You¡¯re destroying Southern Blue¡¯s workshop system! Sire Zining would never do something like this.¡±

    ¡°Zining is not here now,¡± Qianye replied indifferently. ¡°Myriad Gold isn¡¯t the only group we can do business with, the same goes for every other group. It¡¯s fine even if the workshop system is affected. If we can build up something before, why can¡¯t we build it up againter? Compared to present profits, I¡¯d rather everyone realizes that I will cleave off the hands of people who try to reach for my belongings.¡±

    The merchant managers turned quiet out of fear. Qianye didn¡¯t even give Zhang Buzhou any face, as proved by how badly beaten Zhang Xuance was. Who among these merchants could have a higher status than him?

    ¡°As for those who contributed money¡­¡± Qianye pondered for a while, ¡°we¡¯ll let them off this once provided they pay the same amount.¡±

    Many of the grimacing managers heaved a sigh of relief.

    Next up was the handling of other minor affairs rted to the rebellion. Qianye left all of this to Song Zining¡¯s men and returned to his residence with Zhuji.

    His courtyard had been thoughtfully remodeled into Zhang Xuance¡¯s residence. One had to admit that the ce was far better now than when Qianye had left it.

    It was just that Qianye saw several naked women when he opened the courtyard doors. It would seem this young master was no small enthusiast in this regard.

    Female mercenaries had to struggle constantly between life and death, so most of them had little interest in sexual matters. It wasn¡¯t easy to tell whether thesedies were forced or willing, and Qianye wasn¡¯t about to check them one by one, either. He simply ordered his men to take these girls away.

    After closing the courtyard doors, the impatient Little Zhuji began running around the ce. She looked and touched things everywhere, curious about everything she saw. From time to time, she would exim loudly.

    ¡°This statue is interesting!¡±

    ¡°This drawing looks awesome, I think we can exchange it for some good food.¡±

    ¡°This chair is sofy¡­¡±

    ¡°What a big bed!!!¡±

    Unable to endure it any longer, Qianye called out, ¡°Zhuji!¡±

    The little fellow appeared before Qianye with a swoosh and stood there obediently. This surprised Qianye a bit. He carefully touched her head, saying, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Little Zhuji said poutily, ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡±

    ¡°Of what?¡± Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he scanned the surroundings for hidden experts.

    ¡°You.¡±

    The little fellow''s words almost caused Qianye to stumble. Sighing softly, he looked into the girl¡¯s bright eyes. ¡°Why are you scared of me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ll get angry and eat me.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He rubbed her head hard, saying, ¡°You can run if I¡¯m going to eat you.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t be able to escape, I can¡¯t defeat you in battle, either. A-And, I don¡¯t dare attack you¡­¡±

    She really treated him as a father, but also as a natural enemy.

    Qianye felt rather distressed.

    At this moment, a voice arrived from outside the courtyard. ¡°Sire Qianye, the City Lord wishes to see you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Let him wait there.¡±

    Qianye never realized that it was only in front of Little Zhuji that he would reveal his gentle side.

 Chapter 1091: Hence the Though

    Qianye looked around the living quarters, unceremoniously iming everything Zhang Xuance had brought here. He picked up some seasonal fruits and stuffed them into Little Zhuji¡¯s hands, giving her something to munch on as he opened the gates and let Ji Rui in.

    Ji Rui had stood outside for an entire hour, but there was no impatient expression to be seen. His face was full of smiles when he saw Qianye, and it seemed like the man wanted nothing more than to bow and scrape at his feet.

    Qianye was no longer giving Ji Rui any face. As an old friend and longtime subordinate, the hot-headed Guan Zhongliu wore a sour expression despite knowing how powerful Qianye was.

    Qianye ignored the second-inmand and nodded toward the city lord. ¡°Come in.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu wanted to follow in as well, but fortunately, Ji Rui was able to read bodynguage quite well. ¡°Go back, I need to speak to the sire about some things.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu nodded reluctantly.

    Frowning, Qianye shouted, ¡°Hold it!¡±

    Guan Zhongliu turned about. ¡°What?¡±

    Qianye sized the man up briefly. ¡°What, has your temper grown worse during this period, or have you found a backer?¡±

    Ji Rui was shocked. He quickly stepped in between with a smile, saying, ¡°Ole Guan¡¯s in a bad mood because some things haven¡¯t been going well. Please forgive this idiot.¡±

    While saying this, Ji Rui forced Guan Zhongli away. His face was once again full of smiles when he turned back to Qianye.

    Qianye returned to the living room and took his seat. Ji Rui had gotten fatter during this period of absence. It would seem he had been living a decadent life and was not in the mood to cultivate.

    ¡°City Lord Ji, it seems you¡¯ve been living quitefortably these days.¡±

    A trembling Ji Rui forced out a smile, saying, ¡°There¡¯s nothing I need to manage, anyway. I just sit around and collect some small money, what¡¯s there for me to be discontent with?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Young Master Zhang seemed rather content with your performance. Even that Commander Guan doesn¡¯t respect me anymore. I heard you¡¯re still the city lord after his arrival?¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s smile was rather forced and his plump face was drenched in sweat. ¡°Who doesn¡¯t know that this so-called city lord is just a titr position? People let me stay in this position because I spent some effort building this city back in the year. Now I don¡¯t interfere with anything regarding the city. Guan Zhongliu¡¯smander position is also an empty title. What¡¯s there for him tomand? All we have are a couple hundred guards from our residence.¡±

    Qianye only gazed at him in silence.

    Ji Rui gradually became restless, and sweat rolled down in sheets. He wiped his face time and again, but it just wouldn¡¯t dry up.

    Finally, Qianye spoke, ¡°City Lord Ji, you look a bit unwell.¡±

    Ji Rui smiled wryly, ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I feel weak all over when I see you. It¡¯s not difort per se, but rather, fright. That¡¯s odd because I never felt like this even when facing the Wolf King. Sire Qianye, did you obtain some miraculous fortune in the Great Maelstrom and be even stronger?¡±

    Qianye looked up. ¡°City Lord Ji has held this position for many years. As expected, you really do know how to talk. I¡¯m still who I was before. If you must know what has changed, I¡¯ve advanced to rank-sixteen, one level below you.¡±

    Ji Rui shook his head. ¡°Rank holds little meaning for you. I¡¯ve never seen a rank-sixteen who can send a divine champion running in one blow.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯te here to say these things did you?¡±

    ¡°Sire, I just wanted to talk about Young Noble Zhang¡­ about Zhang Xuance¡¯s arrival.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    Ji Rui wiped the sweat of his brow as he narrated the entire story.

    He had just finished speaking when he noticed a strange sensation behind his back. The city lord couldn¡¯t help but nce back even though Qianye was in front. What entered his eyes was Zhuji¡¯s little face, one that was just starting to show signs of cmitous beauty.

    Ji Rui found her somewhat familiar, and in a sh, recalled where he had seen this face.

    ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Ji Rui screamed. The city lord toppled over in his chair, then rolled several times into the wall. He finally managed to sit up against the wall, but his entire body was trembling. He pointed a finger at Zhuji but no words came out of his open mouth.

    He remembered that past incident where Zhuji had killed countless mercenaries with her poison. He simply couldn¡¯t find her expression cute but, rather, simr to a hungry carnivore. He touched himself subconsciously, wondering if he had been poisoned.

    ¡°Zhuji,e here,¡± Qianye called out.

    The littless went behind Qianye reluctantly. Leaning on his back, she whispered, ¡°He doesn¡¯t look tasty at all¡­¡±

    ¡°As expected!¡± Ji Rui was secretly overwhelmed.

    Zhuji added, ¡°Too fatty, he won¡¯t taste good when cooked either.¡±

    Qianye felt a headachee over him. ¡°You can¡¯t say something like that in front of the person.¡±

    Ji Rui felt as though he had been granted a great amnesty. Feeling ted, he decided that he would eat even more from now on, that he would devour five meals a day and try to gain 15 kilograms within one month.

    There wasn¡¯t a single good person in this Qianye¡¯s group! No one knew where this girl came from, but she actually ate humans for food!

    Qianye pointed at the chair. ¡°City Lord, please sit. Why are you scared of us, are you feeling guilty about something?¡±

    Ji Rui was shocked. ¡°Sire, I¡¯ve told you everything. Now¡­ I don¡¯t even want my cultivation to progress anymore. What should I be guilty about?¡±

    Toward the end, Ji Rui¡¯s voice turned somewhat bitter.

    Qianye pondered for a while before saying, ¡°I understand the gist of things now. You can go back first. I¡¯ll make a decision after figure everything out.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡± Ji Rui left the courtyard with a bow. His brisk steps proved that he didn¡¯t want to stay here a moment longer.

    Qianye sat quietly after Ji Rui¡¯s departure. He neither spoke nor moved, once again falling into a state of deep contemtion.

    Little Zhuji, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t stay still at all. She bounced about the entire courtyard looking for new things to entertain her. Bored, she soon returned to Qianye, climbed onto him, and started moving about restlessly.

    Her current strength, despite her delicate appearance, wasn¡¯t something ordinary people could endure. Even someone of Qianye¡¯s constitution felt somewhat ufortable. An ordinary expert in his ce would already have had several bones broken.

    Qianye finally noticed something unusual about Zhuji. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I feel itchy all over and my bones ache. I¡­ want to fight, or spit poison.¡± Little Zhuji panted.

    Qianye was somewhat surprised to see her panting. He ced the little fellow before him and observed her for a good while, then asked her a couple of things. Finally, he figured out the reason.

    It turned out that the six-armed giant¡¯s heart was too much of a nourishment. It allowed her to develop rapidly, jumping over ten years in growth-period in a short while. Her body had been growing constantly since waking up, but even that wasn¡¯t enough to release the overflow of essence and energy. ording to the natural characteristic of arachne, it was time to hunt and kill. Small arachne from the same nest would be released into the wide world to hunt¡ªtheir enemies included not just wild beasts and other dark races, but also peers of the same race.

    Only the fiercest of spiders would survive the bloody massacre, and gain the opportunity to awaken great intelligence. Although the arachne had ced restrictions on in-fighting after joining civilization, the instincts they had inherited over ten-thousand years still remained.

    Little Zhuji was beginning to lean toward violence. Most of them should be able to control their instincts at this age, let alone someone as intelligent as Zhuji.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± It was only natural that he would ask because the little girl was rather distracted. Even rubbing her head against Qianye was something she did subconsciously.

    ¡°Papa, we should fight now.¡±

    ¡°Oh, who?¡± Qianye was interested.

    ¡°Those who robbed our things! They look quite strong, fighting them would be quite satisfying.¡±

    ¡°Why do we have to fight?¡±

    ¡°Because then I can beat people up and spray poison.¡± The little fellow identally let her thoughts slip.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. She would have him start a retaliatory war just so she could fight and spray poison; it truly made one wonder where she had learned this from. Other arachne would at most sneak out and start fighting instinctively.

    Qianye patted her head, saying, ¡°Wait for a couple of days, there¡¯ll be a fight.¡±

    Zhuji said with a pouty face, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll wait.¡±

    Qianye nodded, returning to his meditation once more.

    The sun was setting, and the house was growing dark. Zhuji nced about and ended up switching on the lights herself. The darkness actually had no effect on arachne, but little Zhuji had grown up with Song Zining and Qianye. She was already used to having the lights on at night.

    She ran over to Qianye and stared intently at him.

    Qianye finally sensed her. ¡°What is it this time?¡±

    ¡°Papa, what¡¯s wrong?¡± The littless asked.

    ¡°Me? I¡¯m fine.¡± Qianye found it odd.

    ¡°You¡¯ve changed a lot. Even¡­¡± Little Zhuji tried to form a descriptive sentence, but she was stillcking in vocabry.

    She seeded after a good while. ¡°You¡¯re always lost in your thoughts.¡±

    ¡°Lost in thoughts?¡±

    ¡°Yes! You¡¯ve stopped paying attention to most people. You only realize they¡¯re talking to you after a good while. Those people became hostile because they thought you were looking down on them.

    Qianye nced at Zhuji with an odd expression. ¡°You sensed their hostility?¡±

    Thess nodded. ¡°It¡¯s obvious.¡±

    Since he killed Zhang Xuance¡¯s guards and heavily injured the divine champion elder, everyone in Southern Blue treated him with respect and hid their enmity well. However, this little girl could actually notice it. Her talents were rather terrifying.

    ¡°Fine, I was thinking about something.¡±

    ¡°What are you thinking about? About Aunty?¡±

    ¡°... yes.¡±

    ¡°If you miss her, go and talk to her.¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a good while. ¡°She¡¯s¡­ probably gone by now.¡±

    ¡°When will she return?¡±

    ¡°...I don¡¯t know.¡±

 Chapter 1092: Splitting the Spoils

    The rebellion at Southern Blue wasn¡¯t thatplicated.

    After Qianye, Song Zining, Ji Tianqing, and the others entered the Great Maelstrom, the Empire also left the neutralnds. The dark races also withdrew after sending in their candidates.

    The passage in the neutralnds was only avable for entry and not exit. Those who had entered there would need to leave via the established passages. This meant that there was no sense staying in the neutralnds.

    The Eternal me naturally couldn¡¯t stay very long. As an active powerhouse of the demonkin race, he had too many things to manage. He also wanted nothing more than to leave since the environment in the neutralnds was also a type of torment for their race. The imperial fleet couldn¡¯t stay too long, either. Unlike the dark races, they couldn¡¯t afford to lose such an elite force.

    Add to all of that, the Throne of Blood was looming over their shoulders like a sharp de. No one knew when that fellow would go crazy, so who would dare overstay?

    This produced a vacuum with regards to authority over Southern blue. Drooling over the recently industrialized city, many powers started jumping out soon after the imperial fleet¡¯s departure was confirmed.

    Unexpectedly, however, Heavenly Monarch Zhang couldn¡¯t stand being left out. He actually sent Zhang Xuance, along with a hidden divine champion expert to assist him.

    Since Zhang Buzhou had put his foot on the table, the other powers could only pull back. The man could dispatch two divine champions in the Eastern Sea area, including an expert like the Wolf King. Other parties like the Moonlight Demons and Thunderfrost Temple were only stronger on paper.

    All the major trading groups also made their move for a slice of the pie. The situation in Southern Blue was thus decided upon.

    Song Zining seemed to have foreseen all of this, however, and instructed some of his key subordinates to surrender immediately.

    Major workshop systems were different in that each one of them was intricately linked and essential to the whole. The entire system would be affected if one of them was problematic. Hence, as long as the workshops were willing to surrender, they would be left untouched. Not only the managers, but even the technicians, stewards, andborers remained the same.

    Zhang Xuance did want to disrupt things, but the major merchant groups immediately lodged aint. His disruption wasn¡¯t all that important, but the entire system would be in danger if the Ningyuan workshops stopped running for a month or two. Besides, all the big workshops were owned by Song Zining; who knew if the others could get back into the system after falling out? Even Heavenly Monarch Zhang¡¯s face was nothing in the face of massive profits. Later, these merchant groups found out that their decision was correct.

    There were too many powers seeking a share of the city, so much so that Dark me could no longer handle them. Many subordinates had received orders to surrender from Song Zining, so the takeover process was extraordinarily smooth, with little if any bloodshed at all.

    Only the smaller mercenary group heads offered resistance. Who would¡¯ve thought they would be so loyal to Qianye? Or perhaps they had found a sense of belonging with Dark me. Their positions weren¡¯t at all that important, so they were never given instructions to surrender.

    Unexpectedly, these minor characters had fought to the very end.

    Their resistance was tragic and miserable, ultimately ending with their demise.

    It was just that the major merchant groups soon realized a key problem after dividing the city, one rted to the construction of warships. The production of high-performance engines relied heavily onponents from Ningyuan Heavy Industries. The small portion of them that could be produced in local workshops needed to be treated with a special alloy, the form of which he had traded for with his military contributions.

    The problem was that the form was in Song Zining¡¯s hands and those in the workshop had only ever seen the final product. All they knew was that it came in the form of a silver powder, of which there were only two bottles left in the workshop. Back then, Zhang Xuance had studied the bottles for a long while, but he still couldn¡¯t figure out what was so valuable about them.

    Despite that, the parts could not be made without the alloy, and the engine could not be assembled without the parts. The young man understood this at the very least.

    His solution was also quite simple¡ªthey might not be able to make high-performance engines without the alloy, but they could still make less powerful ones. All these so-called fleets in the neutralnds were made up of rusting ships. They could fight with warships that were a hundred years old, just as they could with newer vessels.

    Zhang Xuance would never have imagined that his so-called less powerful engines could not be built, either. The entire neutralnds put together could not produce a single warship engine. All they could build here were dark, crude, and extremely heavy ancient models with poor kic output. The only advantage they had was their durability in the adverse environment of the neutralnds.

    As for the overconsumption of resources, having an engine to use was good enough for the neutralnds. Who was going toin about that?

    After a series of twists and turns, Zhang Xuance discovered the predicament he was in. Without the support of Ningyuan Heavy Industries, the workshops in Southern Blue woulde to a grinding halt after a couple of months. Although the production of other warship parts would remainrgely unaffected, what was the use of a shell without an engine?

    Young Noble Zhang did have his own way of handling things. This Southern Blue was a freebie anyway, so he would do what he could within these two months and think about other thingster.

    This thought made him calmer and freed him of distress.

    Zhang Xuance stood high above the masses, remaining indifferent to the impending crisis, but those merchant managers weren¡¯t free from mortal desires. On the contrary, these people thrived on mortal desires. They immediately realized that the value of Ningyuan Heavy Industries wasn¡¯t just systematic.

    They had dissuaded Zhang Xuance before because they didn¡¯t want the system to stop running for a few months, but now hade to a realization that Ningyuan was the true foundation of this production chain. They maintained a certain level of respect for the Song-managers who had surrendered, ensuring that the workshops and caravans under them remained unaffected. Everything was the same apart from the owners.

    Apart from the giants like Myriad Gold Group, the others had no intention of gaining control. They even did their best to uphold their previous contracts. They still wanted to import more materials from Ningyuan Heavy Industries because, with these materials, the entire system could continue operating. One had to know that this was a ten times difference in profit!

    No one, including Zhang Xuance, realized where the real crisisy. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t think about Song Zining and Qianye returning, but what if they did? The situation here would¡¯ve been settled by then, and it would be impossible to have them spit out the proverbial meat they had already swallowed¡ªnot without offending Heavenly Monarch Zhang at the very least. If the duo¡¯s attitude was good, they wouldn¡¯t mind inviting the two to the table. There was enough meat for two more people, and having those two onboard would guarantee the continuous supply of meat.

    Who would¡¯ve thought, Qianye would act so harshly uponing back. He immediately injured Zhang Buzhou¡¯s hidden divine champion, who fled without even taking Zhang Xuance with him.

    Qianye made it clear that he wasn¡¯t about to give Zhang Buzhou any face. Now, all that was left was to see how the heavenly monarch would retaliate.

    This was a fight between major powers. Weaker characters would be ground to fine powder just by getting close, let alone stand between them. Including City Lord, Ji Rui, all the other powers big and small were acutely aware of their position. To them, it wasn¡¯t important who had control over Southern Blue because they would have to pay the same tax anyway.

    That was why these local powers didn¡¯t offer much resistance when Qianye and Song Zining took over the city. Their attitude was no different when Zhang Xuance arrived.

    Now that Qianye had suppressed Zhang Xuance with raging momentum, and shaken up all the major merchant groups, no one else would stand up to him anymore.

    The merchant group outlets offered some resistance when they were confiscated, but they were duly suppressed. The scattered counter-attacks throughout the citysted no more than a day. The entire cleanup process went smoother than expected.

    Qianye never showed his face all this time. Everything was handled by his original subordinates.

    Southern Blue was once again peaceful after one day.

    At noon the next day, Qianye gathered everyone to a meeting as usual. This used to be Song Zining¡¯s job, but now it was his. Only when he was forced to manage daily affairs did Qianye realize that the work wasn¡¯t easy. Song Seven had made appropriate arrangements for all matters big and small, on top of observing the general situation in Southern Blue City and Eastern Sea as a whole. However, Qianye was already having a headache with day to day affairs.

    By the time he had finallypleted all the chores, only the aides were left in the conference room. Manager Song produced a booklet and passed it to Qianye with a smile, ¡°This is the list of gains from the confiscated stores.¡±

    Qianye looked through the list and saw mostlymon resources. What shocked him was the sheer amount of it. For instance, there were several hundred tons of high-grade metal alloy tes. There were also several dozen tons of temperature and pressure-resistant materials. Such arge batch of resources couldn¡¯t be bought easily even if one had the money.

    Manager Song introduced certain items as he looked through them. Thisrge batch of resources was for use on warships. Song Zining was nning to build military-grade warships, so they couldn¡¯t skimp on materials. The original arrangement was for the major merchantpanies to provide materials for these warships, but everything had fallen into Qianye¡¯s hands following the rebellion.

    In addition, there were also dozens of military-grade ballistae, destroyer main cannons, and otherrgeponents. These were main cannons built for Song Zining but with someponents awaiting transportation from the Empire. These main cannons used ballista bolts, which could only be built in the Empire.

    There was no use for this batch of robbedponents, so all they could do was keep them in storage.

    Just from this list, Qianye gained a general understanding of Song Zining¡¯s idea. Whoever bought these warships in the future, they would need to rely on him for ammunition, parts, and engine maintenance. This would generate a steady stream of business, the value of which would exceed the airship itself several times.

    Song Zining¡¯s n was to build three warships for the first batch. The frames had just been set up, but they were stillcking engines and main cannons. To build these things, however, they would need a key ingredient¡ªthe superalloy. The process would reach a dead-end at this point.

    Qianye knew that this was not a limit for him because this key superalloy was stored on the Northern Continent.

 Chapter 1093: Such a Reward

    <h4>Chapter 1093: Such a Reward</h4>

    The construction-work on the Northern Continent never stopped. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was also parked there at the moment, undergoing the next stage of modifications.

    Everything about the ce was good; the only problem was the shortage of manpower. Currently, it was only inhabited by the Highbeards and some of Song Zining¡¯s technicians. Building a warship required thousands of technicians at the site alone, and countless more for the production of parts and facilities.

    To solve this problem, Song Zining had passed on arge number of orders to Imperial workshops. Moreover, he had bought the first batch of parts from avable stock, shipping some to Southern Blue, and the higher-end equipment to the Northern Continent.

    No one else knew about this except those with the bird''s eye view of the overall situation.

    After looking through the list, Qianye highlighted several dozen resources, saying, ¡°Ship these to the warehouse outside the city, I have use for them.¡±

    The manager said, ¡°Sire, these resources are required for the warships currently under construction. The merchant groups produced them ording to our order, there is no extra.¡±

    He was implying that these things had a purpose¡ªit was free now, but that didn¡¯t mean there was extra.

    Qianye waved his hand, saying, ¡°It¡¯s already decided, I have use for them. Also, prepare a few sets of crystal transformation arrays and fifty sets of crystals.¡±

    Manager Song was shocked. ¡°T-This means we won¡¯t be able to build a warship. The remaining goods won¡¯t be enough to build a single vessel.¡±

    ¡°Use what you have at the moment, and do what I tell you to!¡±

    Seeing that Qianye was insistent on his decision, the manager stopped arguing and stood to the side. At this point, a general from the mercenary corps said, ¡°Sire, the weapons and equipment the seventh young noble had left are still in the armory, ready to be shipped. What do you want to do with them? Shall we distribute them?¡±

    After some thought, Qianye said, ¡°Pick a batch of loyal people from Dark me and form an elite squad of around five hundred people. Distribute the equipment to this group and leave the rest in the armory. I have use for it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡± The mercenary head was somewhat puzzled about what Qianye wanted to do, but he didn¡¯t dare question the decision. He merely affirmed the order and left to aplish it.

    Qianye felt somewhat distressed. The instruction to surrender reduced losses for Southern Blue, but it was also a missed opportunity to see who was loyal. Dark me had a fair number of members at the moment, but it was hard to tell how unified they were.

    Currently, however, Qianye had more important matters to take care of. As such, everything here would have to continue as normal except for forming an elite squad.

    The remaining days saw him cooped up in his room, not taking a single step out.

    His small courtyard would often light up with shes of lightning, raging sandstorms, and a surging ancient aura. A beam of sanguineous light would shoot up into the sky, reaching hundreds of meters in height.

    No one knew what secret art Qianye was cultivating, but none dared approach after witnessing its grandeur. A wisp of stray aura from a cultivating expert could be lethal to an ordinary person.

    Qianye¡¯s room was an absolute mess with broken things everywhere. The strangest part was the fact that some of the wood had started to rot, almost as though they had lived through centuries. There was a hole in the roof, and the floor was filled with potholes. Little Zhuji was curled up in a corner, trembling as she stared at Qianye with eyes full of excitement and terror.

    Qianye stood at the center of the room. There was a small gap between his feet and the ground as he hovered with a book in his hand. Thatrge rhomboidal gem on the cover was exceptionally eye-catching.

    The Book of Darkness had actually materialized and appeared in Qianye¡¯s hands. The pages were still reying the evolution of the cosmos and the vicissitudes of the universe. Qianye concentrated for a long while before shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s still not enough. This degree of origin power evolution isn¡¯t something I can grasp. I still need to work on it.¡±

    A boundless aura emerged from his body as he closed his eyes. Before long, bulging green veins appeared all over his body, erupting into a spray of bloody mist!

    Qianye fell to the ground with a violent jolt. He inhaled deeply with a wry smile, absorbing all the blood back into his body and rapidly healing the breaks on his skin.

    ¡°I can¡¯t. Not to mention controlling the origin power, just trying to imitate the concept is too much to bear. This body is too weak.¡± Qianye nced at himself helplessly.

    His ancient vampire constitution had littlepetition even in the entire Evernight world, perhaps only the awakened bloodline of an arachne royalty like Basil could surpass it.

    At the thought of arachne, Qianye turned quickly toward Little Zhuji. He had no idea what bloodline thess had descended from, but she was outrageously powerful. If all arachne were like her, the human race could forget about fighting and just wait to be wiped out. Hmm¡­ that wasn¡¯t quite right, either. The internal power bnce in the Evernight Council would be in chaos way before the human race would be affected.

    Since she was of a young age, the little girl had yet to reveal her arachne-form body. Qianye would¡¯ve suspected her race had he not seen her crawl out of an arachne egg.

    ¡°Zhuji,e here.¡±

    The little fellow trembled all over when she saw Qianye waving at her, and approached reluctantly.

    Qianye stretched out a finger. ¡°Bite.¡±

    The little fellow stared at the finger for a long while. Finally, she bit down with a fierce glint in her eyes.

    By the time she had bitten down, the finger was nowhere to be seen. Her pearly white teeth struck one another, sending sparks flying in all directions. This was followed by a loud pop as a flicknded on her forehead.

    The powerful flick sent her head swinging backward and left her dazed.

    ¡°So careless. You need to be starved as punishment.¡±

    The word starved triggered a change in expression. She stared fixedly at the finger as though it were the bone of a wild beast.

    ¡°This looks tasty, this looks tasty¡­¡± the girl muttered as she pounced over at several times the speed.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye was surrounded by afterimages of Zhuji as she attempted several different attacks. Meanwhile, Qianye¡¯s finger moved about as though it were everywhere at the same time.

    Little Zhuji had attacked countless times in the blink of an eye, much like a cat chasing a butterfly.

    Her hunting instincts were gradually brought out, and she grew closer and closer to Qianye. A sudden feigned pounce caused Qianye¡¯s finger to change direction, which she bit down with a twist of her body!

    ¡°Crack!¡± Following a sound akin to shattered ss, the little girl shot back to the corner of the room with a miserable cry. She covered her mouth with her hands and almost looked like she would cry.

    Qianye looked at his own hand and saw a row of deep tooth-marks, all of which had been produced by Zhuji. There was a strange metallic sheen on his hand, with specks of starlight roaming about.

    He shook his head helplessly. ¡°If you were any bigger, you would¡¯ve bitten off a piece of my flesh.¡±

    Little Zhuji made sounds of protest with her mouth still covered.

    This bite was so painful that her face had turned pale, and there were traces of blood between her teeth.

    The metallic luster on Qianye¡¯s hand dispersed, and his skin gradually turned ck and lifeless. A sanguineous me lit up on his arm and stretched to his hand, burning away all the ckened skin. Even his skeleton became visible after the dead flesh was burned away. Afterward, wiggling new flesh slowly grew back to form a new hand.

    Qianye moved his new flesh about, saying, ¡°Powerful, but alsoes at a steep price.¡±

    This was a new secret art called the Fallen Star Immortal Body, named afterets that could survive a tribtion of fire. The secret art was hidden in the Bloodmoon Empress Li had gifted him. It appeared naturally after Qianye had gained full grasp of the dagger. Cultivating the Fallen Star Immortal Body required Millennial Fragrant Wood as a catalyst, something that was extremely hard toe by. However, Bloodmoon¡¯s sheath was made from this Millenial Fragrant Wood.

    Even the messenger, Eunuch Yang, was deceived by the many disguises. All of this had to have a special purpose.

    This Fallen Star Immortal Body originated from the Martial Emperor and was a secret inheritance that would never be passed on to outsiders. No one knew how Empress Li had obtained it and why she would pass it to Qianye. The corrtion was neither too big nor too small. The Imperial treasury had enjoyed a thousand years of umtion¡ªone secret art was nothingpared to the countless treasures. On the other hand, leaking an Imperial inheritance was a great crime worthy of familial extermination.

    Channeling the Fallen Star Immortal Body would turn one¡¯s flesh into a material simr toets, bringing its strength to the peak. Even Zhuji couldn¡¯t bite through Qianye¡¯s skin after he had used this art, hurting her own teeth instead. From this, one could see just how powerful the art was. This peerless art must¡¯ve yed a big role in the Martial Emperor¡¯s ability to maneuver freely against a multitude of Evernight experts.

    On the other hand, the Fallen Star Immortal Body had stringent requirements. One would need the Millennial Fragrant Wood as a catalyst, using it to activate the body¡¯s vitality. At the same time, it would turn part of the body into the wood attribute and subsequently reduce the pressure of the art.

    Even though Qianye possessed the wood, cultivating this art still put immense strain on his body. From what Qianye understood of the Imperial experts, he could tell that basically no one else could cultivate it sessfully. In fact, no one had cultivated this art following the Martial Emperor, not even those of Imperial bloodline.

    The Fallen Star Immortal Body was one of those extremely powerful Imperial arts with strict requirements.

    Qianye possessed an ancient vampire constitution as well as the Millennial Fragrant Wood, so he was able to cultivate it sessfully. After trying several times, he found that the secret art was extremely powerful, and even a divine champion going all out might not be able to break through. Channeling the art, however, caused irreversible damage to the body. Basically, the flesh would fall apart after the art was stopped.

    Hence, the Fallen Star Immortal Body was a method for dire situations, where one would need to rest for a good while after each use. Qianye could shorten the recovery period due to his regenerative powers, but he would still need rest nheless. The more one channeled this art, the greater the tissue damage, and the longer the rest time involved.

    Using it too much would surely hurt one¡¯s constitution. Even an ancient vampire could hardly withstand constant degeneration and regeneration of flesh. Otherwise, why would they need to sleep so long in the blood ponds?

    Qianye thought things through while waiting for his flesh to grow back. History stated that the Martial Emperor possessed miraculous cultivation and that hisbat strength might even exceed the Founding Ancestor. However, his life was not a long one. It truly made one wonder if this was rted to the Fallen Star Immortal Body.

    Now, with the addition of this secret art, Empress Li¡¯s reward was way too great.

    Qianye meditated on the matter, trying to figure out what he did that was worth such a boon.

 Chapter 1094: Zhujiâ€™s Education

    <h4>Chapter 1094: Zhuji¡¯s Education</h4>

    Having stuck with Song Zining for some time, Qianye now understood a bit about divination arts. He had even tried using it twice and disyed a bit of talent in that regard. ording to the seventh young master, Qianye was a finger jointpared to his finger. This meant that Qianye could still make a living with divination even if he didn¡¯t have the dark golden blood energy or Venus Dawn.

    Those who practiced divination paid great attention to the karma of their mental realms. Hence, Empress Li would have to give Qianye a reward of equal value if she had obtained benefits from him. Only then would she be able to maintain a clear conscience. They would no longer owe one another thereafter, and there was no need to think about it again.

    Qianye thought back and forth but still couldn¡¯t figure out what he had done for Empress Li. His thoughts went down the wrong track after repeated attempts. Could it be that there was enmity between Empress Li and Luo Bingfeng? Or perhaps the white-fruit wine he had shared with Li Kuann was highly useful for her? Maybe it was those Silken Lotuses?

    If this really was about the Silken Lotuses, Eunuch Zhang would¡¯ve asked for them when they had met. Now, Li Kuann seemed to have forgotten all about them, and they were still in Qianye¡¯s storage. A couple of lotuses shouldn¡¯t hold any value for an empress.

    Qianye sighed softly. He decided to stop thinking about it, but he still couldn¡¯t get rid of the shadow in his heart. The attention of a divination expert wasn¡¯t a good thing, especially someone of Empress Li¡¯s caliber.

    He put away his thoughts and nced at Zhuji. ¡°Come, let¡¯s try one more punch.¡±

    The little fellow grimaced. ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°This will be thest one.¡±

    ¡°You said so yesterday.¡±

    Seeing that he could not coax her anymore, Qianye said with a stern face, ¡°Come!¡±

    Little Zhuji was ultimately afraid of Qianye getting angry. She approached unwillingly and arched her back to umte power. A deep green glow appeared beneath her feet as she finished umting power. With a single step, she charged toward Qianye and swung her tiny fist at him with great ferocity!

    The entire house was filled with the echo of thunder as she moved. She was so fast and powerful that every movement of hers was apanied by rolling thunder.

    The area beneath Qianye¡¯s feet was filled with formless clouds of nothingness. He stood there as eight resounding thunderps rang out around his body. Then, he threw a punch to meet Zhuji¡¯s attack.

    The littless flew back with a muffled thud but was quickly bound in ce by an invisible origin power. Otherwise, the impact would¡¯ve sent her smashing through several walls before stopping over a hundred meters away.

    But this made it extremely ufortable for her. Her little face turned pale, her eyes dazed, and it looked like she was about to vomit. As a young arachne, eating was her primary goal every day. Vomiting was beyond difficult for her.

    Qianye¡¯s body drafted backward slightly before the image of a star appeared behind him, and he quickly found his footing.

    He raised his left hand and looked at it. This simple movement caused his bones to crackle loudly, and he only regained free movement gradually.

    ¡°Even eightyers of Excavator is barely enough. Could it be that her body isparable to a high-ranking divine champion?¡±

    The thundering sounds just now was a sign of Qianye channeling Excavator. Sevenyers used to be his limit, but now, he had pushed it one level higher. That wasn¡¯t something an ordinary divine champion could do.

    Despite the eightyers of Excavator, Qianye himself never went all out with his attack. Otherwise, no matter how strong her body was, there was no way the girl could withstand the st.

    Qianye put down his hand and said, ¡°That¡¯s enough for today. Go and eat.¡±

    Little Zhuji was pale as she dragged her feet toward the kitchen. Even food couldn¡¯t quite attract her anymore, which went to show just how much difort she was in.

    ¡°Come back when you¡¯re done eating.¡±

    Thess went pale. ¡°You said that was thest time.¡±

    ¡°Thest time before bedtime, go eat your food!¡±

    The little fellow bit her lip, and tears almost rolled down her face. However, she knew resistance was futile, so she ultimately entered the kitchen with red eyes.

    Only when she was gone did Qianye reveal an expression of heartache. He sighed softly, muttering, ¡°There¡¯s no helping this, it¡¯s all for your own good.¡±

    Back when handing Zhuji to Qianye, Nighteye had exined to him certain things to pay attention to in the future. Combat was necessary during her growth phase. Moreover, it had to be high-intensity or even life threateningbat.

    A developing arachne¡¯s physical strength would decrease rtively because its growth was so much faster. Arachne would usebat to strengthen themselves and force out their true potential, aiding their overall maturation. The arachne were a battle-hungry race since ancient times. They were never outstanding in terms of intelligence and origin power utilization, but their bloodthirst allowed them to kill their way into the four major races.

    Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t allow Zhuji to go about killing people. He had more than a few ways to train this little fellow¡ªfighting him, for instance. In truth, the girl was also a fairly good target to test secret martial arts on. She was so durable that even a divine champion might not be able topare. Hence, Qianye could try new powerful moves while training her at the same time.

    This type of training seemed fairly effective. Little Zhuji¡¯s growth sped up once again, as proven by a doubling of her food intake. Appetite was the only standard to measure an arachne¡¯s growth. An increased desire to eat was a sign that her growth was speeding up¡ªthis simple and coarse method was in line with their race¡¯s philosophy.

    Qianye went back to reading the Book of Darkness while waiting for Little Zhuji to eat. Unable toprehend the universe¡¯s evolution, Qianye switched to the formation of star systems. Failing to understand that, he changed to the nebs, and then to the interior of thes. Only when reaching a frost-covered continent did he grasp some things.

    Unlike the Founding Ancestor, Qianye couldn¡¯t observe the flow of heaven and earth or invent a series of secret arts like the Combatant Form. However, observing the evolution of the universe held great meaning to him for now and in the future.

    After crossing the divine champion threshold, one of the standards for measuring one¡¯sbat strength was to see how much origin power they could mobilize from the surroundings. The more origin power they could utilize, the stronger their attacks would be. The method for this utilization was equally as important¡ªunderstanding of the universe¡¯s rhythm would allow for more subtle methods.

    This Book of Darkness was simply spoon-feeding Qianye with knowledge on how to control his strength after reaching the divine champion realm. Naturally, that was just the continent part of the imagery. Even a high-ranking divine champion would have some troubleprehending the evolution of the entire star system.

    As for the entire cosmos, it was probably a path for the heavenly monarchs.

    No wonder Qianye was immediately injured when he tried to sense the evolutionary process of the cosmos. The vast amount of information wasn¡¯t something he could withstand at the moment.

    The sound of loud chewing came from the kitchen, a telltale sign of the little fellow eating her meal. She chewed carefully in the beginning, but she would lose control of her eating speed over time.

    The wild beast meat was so tasty that she couldn¡¯t resist. Eating small mouthfuls was just as enjoyable as wolfing it down.

    Simr situations had yed out several times in the past few days. Qianye knew that the girl would stuff herself full in about ten minutes and return obediently for her next lesson.

    It was at this point that Qianye sensed someone approaching. The person didn¡¯t stop after approaching the courtyard¡ªthey merely hesitated for a moment before knocking on the gate.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned sour, apparently displeased at being disturbed during cultivation. His mood was far from calm these days¡ªhe was easily angered and in low spirits most of the time. Only training with Zhuji could calm him down temporarily. This person from Dark me had arrived despite the taboo, so they had to have important news.

    Qianye walked into the courtyard and opened the gates. ¡°What¡¯s the matter.¡±

    The one standing outside the gates was a mercenary leader, also one of Song Zining¡¯s trusted aides. He passed Qianye a letter, saying, ¡°Two people iming to be from the empire wish to see you. This letter is for you, and they im you¡¯ll meet them once you see it.¡±

    Qianye opened the canvas and fished out the letter inside. There were two insignias on the paper, and one of them was the emblem of Ji Tianqing¡¯s family. This secret mark was simple and abstract, unlike the soaring snake of the Imperial n. One couldn¡¯t tell that this emblem, on its own, was from an Imperial bloodline, but Ji Tianqing had shown it to Qianye before and exined the origins to him in private.

    Qianye knew from this secret mark that the guest was somewhat rted to Ji Tianqing. His brows rxed a bit.

    The other insignia was much moreplicated and formal. Above it was a coat-of-arms representing the Imperial military, and below was a diagram of mountains and supply crates. This was the emblem of the military¡¯s armaments division, a department in charge of the entire army¡¯s logistics and armaments development. In addition to power, this was the most profitable department in the entire army.

    It was beyond Qianye¡¯s expectations that people from the armaments division would seek him out personally. His rtionship with the Imperial military wasn¡¯t good, to begin with, and it could only be worse now that he had destroyed one of their agents in the neutralnds.

    But Ji Tianqing¡¯s secret emblem changed Qianye¡¯s attitude. He said, ¡°Have them wait, I¡¯ll head over soon.¡±

    Qianye was in no rush. He first cleaned up and changed into a new set of clothes before heading over to the parlor at a steady pace.

    The hour-long wait expressed his attitude regarding this meeting. This was something he had learned from Song Zining.

    The two people in the parlor had been waiting for a good while. The tea before them had been re-steeped eight times and had already lost all taste.

    A short-haired muscr man mmed the teacup with a bang. ¡°Goddammit, we¡¯ve been waiting around for so long. What posturing!¡±

 Chapter 1095: The Rules From Above

    <h4>Chapter 1095: The Rules From Above</h4>

    There were two people from the military¡ªin addition to the burly man, there was also a somewhat shorter, unassuming man in his middle ages. Thetterughed upon hearing theint. ¡°If we don¡¯t wait for him, do you think he¡¯d wait for us instead?¡±

    The burly man was still unresigned. ¡°That¡¯s that, but he¡¯s too overbearing! Who does he think he is to have us wait like this?¡±

    ¡°Heh heh, who do you think we are then?¡±

    ¡°Our ranks might not be high, but we¡¯re also people in charge of great responsibilities. His actions feel like he doesn¡¯t have the military in his eyes at all.¡±

    The middle-aged man sighed. ¡°I say, Lil¡¯ Fang, we¡¯re in the neutralnds, not the Empire. You had best tone down your usual habits. We¡¯re not just small officers from the military, we came here with orders to get things done, even if we have to beg him. Do you look like you¡¯re begging?¡±

    The burly man was stubborn. ¡°But I just don¡¯t like that kind of attitude!¡±

    The middle-aged man took a sip from his fading tea and said, ¡°He just wants us to understand that him agreeing to see us is already a big favor.¡±

    The burly man¡¯s tone softened. ¡°But we still represent the military¡­¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t forget that Li Fengshui was also from the military.¡± The middle-aged man cut in. He then shook his head, saying, ¡°Lil¡¯ Fang, you¡¯re not bad both in terms of background and strength, but you¡¯re only in charge of an unimportant operation team. Have you never thought about why?¡±

    The man surnamed Fang replied, ¡°Sire Lan, do you mean I¡¯ve offended some people?¡±

    ¡°Not just a few.¡±

    ¡°How can that be? I¡¯ve always been careful.¡± The burly man felt wronged.

    The middle-aged man said, ¡°The military belongs to the Empire and the emperor, but you can also say it belongs to the Longevity Monarch. It¡¯s neither yours nor mine, we only work for the military.¡±

    The burly man was stunned. Clearly, he did not understand the reasoning.

    The middle-aged manughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°We only have this authority and glory because of our positions. If we lose our positions one day, we¡¯ll return to our previous backgrounds. Do you think we¡¯ll have an inkling of rtionship to the military at that point? Lil¡¯ Fang, you can start taking action if we get this business done well. If not for this, I wouldn¡¯t be exining so many things.¡±

    The burly man started sweating. ¡°Many thanks, Sire!¡±

    General Lan didn¡¯t go further with this topic. He merely said, ¡°This business is important for you, me, and that person. You have to understand that many people want this deal to seed, and I don¡¯t think I need to tell you the reason.¡±

    ¡°They want revenge for Li Fengshui?¡± the burly man asked.

    General Lan shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not important. That Li Fengshui person was no idiot, but he was unlucky enough to kick a steel te. I¡¯m worried that some people don¡¯t want the monarch to extend his life.¡±

    The burly man was surprised. ¡°What? T-Those who talked to me aren¡¯t like that.¡±

    General Lan said indifferently, ¡°I have no idea what kind of people they are, but I do know that a failure in this deal will lead to such an oue. Everyone else will think that¡¯s your intention.¡±

    The burly man was drenched in cold sweat.

    At this moment, the parlor doors opened and Qianye walked in. Just a brief nce from Qianye and the two men couldn¡¯t open their eyes at all. It was as though a sh of lightning had filled the room.

    The strong burst of light faded so quickly that they couldn¡¯t tell whether it was real.

    Qianye took his seat calmly. ¡°Please sit.¡±

    The middle-aged man bowed. ¡°I¡¯m Lan Xincheng, deputymander of the armaments division. This is Fang Zhan, chief officer of the third distribution center.¡±

    ¡°General Lan, General Fang.¡± Qianye nodded. This was his reciprocation to the salutation.

    Fang Zhan¡¯s expression darkened, but he still refused to act out.

    Lan Xincheng said, ¡°Sire Qianye, we came to the neutralnds with a request, one that involves great benefits for you.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡± Qianye was just as indifferent.

    Lan Xincheng got down to the point and started exining his intentions. It turned out that the situation inside the Great Maelstrom inflicted great losses on the Empire. More than half of the aristocratic scions who had entered were dead, especially the two groups following Qianye into the passage. Their paths seemed to have deviated as a result,nding them in the high-gravity region. Naturally, there was no news from these people, who probably wouldn¡¯t even survive their first frigid night.

    Those that did survive gained great benefits, almost equal to three decades worth of harvest. The appearance of life-extending treasures like the white-fruit wine shook the entire upper echelon of the Empire. Not to mention the white fruits, just the white-fruit wines were immediately grabbed up, and the rewards offered for them were extremely generous. There was no shortage ofnd and titles being handed out.

    The true good-stuff was in Qianye¡¯s hands. To true experts, the two top-grade origin crystals were even more important. In the eyes of the Imperial n, the two crystals were equal to two powerful divine champions who could im a couple of provinces for the Empire.

    These people hade for the treasures Qianye had harvested in the neutralnds.

    The armaments division had stepped in because the value of the items was simply too high and Qianye was extremely powerful. The supplies department wanted this job, but the armaments department won the role and dispatched Fang Zhan.

    Only a gigantic entity like the military would be able to devour Qianye¡¯s entire harvest. Any other high-ranking aristocratic family would not be able to cough up that much money.

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°Why would the military need to spend so much effort? They should just send a divine champion to either kill or capture me. Won¡¯t the things I have be yours then?¡±

    Fang Zhan looked down awkwardly because he had indeed thought of this. The man hade from a good background and enjoyed a smooth career in the army. He was used to not hiding his thoughts.

    Lan Xincheng said with augh, ¡°Sire Qianye is an extraordinary person with friends andrades throughout the world. How can we do something like that? Even if someone did want to do this, it would be hard to truly execute such a n. The Empire does have its rules.¡±

    Qianye found this quite funny. Those so-called rules of the Empire only applied to certain people. The rules would be brought up only when the other party was worthy of them bringing them up.

    However, he felt that Lan Xincheng had other hidden implications. Qianye asked with a nod, ¡°General Lan, where do these rules you speak ofe from?¡±

    Lan Xincheng pointed upward. ¡°Naturally, from above.¡±

    Qianye understood somewhat. He had no rtionship with the Emperor, so this protection had to havee from Empress Li.

    After figuring this out, Qianye felt even more rxed. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, what do you want and what can you give me?¡±

    Lan Xincheng lowered his voice. ¡°Those from above want intact white fruits and not wine. Of course, they¡¯ll also take as much wine as you have in store. Also, are you willing to sell the two top-grade origin crystals in your hands? We will also buy any other resources you¡¯ve harvested in the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Reaping everything in one go? What can you give me?¡±

    Lan Xincheng shot Fang Zhan a nce, whereupon thetter produced a booklet for Qianye to peruse. ¡°Everything the Empire can provide is listed here.¡±

    Qianye flipped through the pages and found most of them filled withmon resources and high-grade equipment in bulk. There were origin guns for instance, which, despite only going up to grade-seven, would be supplied in bulk. Qianye¡¯s Thunderbolt was also on the list, and there were a hundred of them being offered. Even if he did ask for such weapons, Qianye didn¡¯t have that many expert subordinates to use them.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s indifference, Lan Xincheng gestured for Fang Zhan to pass over yet another booklet. ¡°Sire Qianye, this is a gesture of the Empire¡¯s sincerity. I was supposed to show you this only after we get the white fruits, but it¡¯s fine for you to look through it first.¡±

    Fang Zhan used to be quite arrogant, but a single re from Qianye made him rather obedient¡ªthis might wasn¡¯t something he could stand up to. All of the burly man¡¯s posturing and pride disappeared quickly after witnessing that terrifying strength, and his tone almost changed into one of ttery.

    Lan Xincheng seemed rather disdainful. He had seen too many of such aristocratic descendants¡ªthose who would bully the weak but were fearful of the strong.

    Qianye picked up the booklet. It was much thinner than the previous one but exquisitely crafted. He flipped to the first page and found an engine blueprint before his eyes, the caption of which read: ridge-grade warship engine, designed for destroyer-grade warships of the Imperial fleet. Developed in year 30 of the Martial Calendar.

    This type of engine was developed during the end of the previous emperor¡¯s reign, less than thirty years ago. Usually, it would take around two decades to design a new engine, which meant that this ridge-grade engine was the Empire¡¯s main engine model. There was only one newer generation of engines.

    To start the first page with a ridge-grade engine, the Empire¡¯s sincerity wasn¡¯t too bad.

    The next page listed various origin arrays that went with the ridge-grade engine. Their primary use was to iste the chamber from the void origin power in the environment, giving the engine a clean space to operate in. At a nce, it seemed all they would actually do was add weight and energy consumption.

    However, Qianye realized that these arrays were designed for the neutralnds. The environment here was harsh and chaotic, with void origin power causing havoc everywhere. All machinery would wear down quickly, and a ridge-grade engine would be practically unusable. Under such circumstances, one would have to either design a new engine or use this type of method to minimize the effects. Although the installed arrays would add weight and energy requirements, they would also afford a new engine-option for the ship.

 Chapter 1096: A Sincere Trade Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1096: A Sincere Trade Part 1</h4>

    A ridge-grade engine along with its necessaryponents could be considered a generous offer.

    Qianye made sure his thoughts wouldn¡¯t show as he continued flipping through the pages. The contents of the third page caused him to raise his brows: toad-grade warship main cannon.

    The toad-grade main cannon wasn¡¯t the most advanced model in the Empire¡¯s arsenal, but just like the ridge-grade engine, it was the most widely-used cannon in the fleet. Its most useful feature was its triple fire capability, allowing the ship to fire three ballista bolts at the same time, or one at a time. The cannon waspatible with almost all special bolts in the army.

    Most importantly, it was a main-cannon made for cruiser-grade airships!

    The toad-grade cannons were far inferior to the Landsinker in Qianye¡¯s possession, but it was definitely better than the other avable main cannons. Be it in terms of firepower or quality, it was far superior to anything Qianye had in store. Song Zining had also gotten his hands on some destroyer-grade main cannons, but the toad-grade armament was beyond his reach.

    Seeing that the Empire had put such things openly on the table, along with modifications required for the neutralnds, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Is the Empire nning to build a fleet here?¡±

    Lan Xincheng said with augh, ¡°The neutralnds is too far away. The Empire has no desire to add it to the national map. With the war on the void continent in a deadlock, there¡¯s no way we have the extra power to colonize newnds.¡±

    ¡°Since the war there is in a deadlock, I don¡¯t reckon you can bring out these resources easily, can you?¡±

    From what Qianye remembered, the Empire and Evernight were engaged in a fierce fight. The airship fleets had fought several major battles in the void, with small ones urring on a day-to-day basis. The Imperial fleet should be holding onto every small engine under such circumstances, let alone the ridge-grade and toad-grade armaments.

    ¡°These engines and cannons will be transferred in from other ces. These fleets might face some dys, but that¡¯s okay. The bigger picture is more important.¡± Fang Zhan joined the conversation.

    ¡°The bigger picture?¡± Qianye knew that people had very different definitions of this term.

    ¡°The continued existence of His Majesty and the monarch is the bigger picture.¡±

    Qianye nodded in approval. The Empire was facing a period of shortage in personnel. Zhang Boqian had just made his name recently, and there was no telling whether Lin Xitang would break through. The next generation heavenly monarch Zhao Jundu was still young and not even a divine champion yet. If the Longevity Monarch could live for another decade or even just a few years, the Empire would have an extra Heavenly Monarch for that period. Even if the monarch only remained at the capital without doing anything, the invisible intimidation would still benefit the Empire a great deal.

    Qianye continued flipping through the pages, his expression growing odd as he reached the end. Listed in the booklet were all kinds of equipment, materials, and¡­ training courses.

    The equipment was all made for warships, and most of them were up to thetest generation standards. Qianye was already half an expert in the field of airships¡ªhe could tell that therge amount of materials were for use in the production of deck boards, walls, and armor tes. The smaller amount of strong materials was for special areas of the vessel, like the engine room and the chamber for the main cannon.

    The training courses, however, were of a different nature. These sses would train warshipmanders and officers for crucial posts like the helmsman and cannoneer. Operating the main cannon of a warship was no easy job¡ªnot to mention an entire specialized procedure that they would have to follow, some special bolts also required the operator to be powerful. For instance, the homing bolt¡¯s uracy was rted to the cannoneer¡¯s cultivation and perception.

    With the equipment from the earlier pages and this training regiment, did the Empire want Qianye to build a private fleet?

    Seeing this list, Qianye knew where the Empire¡¯s bottom line was. It seemed they were willing to invest deeply for the white-fruits in Qianye¡¯s hand.

    Qianye pointed at the ridge-grade engine and toad-grade main cannon. ¡°How many of these can you provide?¡±

    ¡°Five engines and six main cannons is the Empire¡¯s bottom line. It¡¯s not impossible if you want more, but you¡¯ll have to wait a year.¡±

    Five engines meant five destroyers. Although Southern Blue could also produce engines, its current capacity was only enough for two engines each year. The ridge-grade engine was a mature technology¡ªit wasn¡¯t as good as Song Zining¡¯s newly developed engine, but there was an abundance of parts avable at a lower cost.

    The advantage of Song Zining¡¯s engine was that it was more durable and capable of withstanding the adverse environment of the neutralnds. It could be used almost anywhere.

    As for the toad-grade main cannon, its triple fire mode was more than enough firepower for a cruiser, but its single-shot firepower was somewhatcking. That wasn¡¯t a problem for Qianye because he wasn¡¯t going to build a fleet.

    The Empire wasn¡¯t greedy this time¡ªfive engines and six main cannons for two white fruits or equal value of white-fruit wine. All the other materials added together was also enough to trade for a brand new cruiser. Now that such a sweet deal was before him, Qianye naturally wouldn¡¯t let things be.

    Qianye mulled over the trade for a moment before saying, ¡°Two white fruits and equal value of white-fruit wine, I can ept this deal.¡±

    Lan Xincheng said, ¡°The goods are all outside of the neutralnds. They can be shipped over in three days once I send the signal!¡±

    Qianye was a bit surprised. ¡°Oh, it seems the Empire is rather confident about me epting this deal.¡±

    Lan Xincheng said, ¡°The military is quite big, but the person overseeing this deal is rted to the owner of that secret insignia. We¡¯re a bit confident because of this rtionship. Besides, this deal is rted to the monarch, who would dare disrupt things?¡±

    Fang Zhan looked a bit awkward. There were indeed people who dared to do so. To those people, nothing was a problem if only they could kill Qianye. Even if the Longevity Monarch were to die tomorrow, it had nothing to do with them. Removing Qianye would be akin to severing their opponent¡¯s outside help, and that was the greatest benefit for them.

    At the thought of this, Fang Zhan suddenly became restless. His expression sank when he recalled the people who had given him advice before the current trip. If Lan Xincheng hadn¡¯t reminded him, he probably would¡¯ve fallen for the trick.

    Qianye neither agreed nor refused. ¡°What¡¯s the Longevity Monarch¡¯s situation?¡±

    Lan Xincheng was a straightforward person. ¡°The monarch is in isted cultivation after obtaining a white fruit. He instructed us to get as many as we can, three at the very least.¡±

    With this kind of life-extending medicine, the effects would diminish with each use. Taking five of them in quick session went to show that the Longevity Monarch was quite experienced with the process of life-extension and knew the exact number that would maximize the effects.

    ¡°Three? I surely don¡¯t have that many. I can offer 2 at most.¡± Qianye had no intention of taking out everything he had.

    ¡°Two is fine as well.¡± Lan Xincheng smiled.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s talk about the other resources.¡± With that, Qianye produced a wooden box and pushed it forward.

    Lan Xincheng didn¡¯t open the container immediately. ¡°This is?¡±

    ¡°Medicinal materials.¡±

    Nodding, Lan Xincheng fished out a pair of gloves and donned them. He then used his origin power to seal the box and slowly opened the lid. This was to ensure that the medicinal properties of the contents wouldn¡¯t dissipate. At the same time, Lan Xincheng¡¯s origin power was also neutral and gentle, devoid of all extreme characteristics. This type of origin power might be a bit disadvantaged in battle, but it was exceptionally useful in handling rare medicines and special materials because it would not cause any damage. Inparison, Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn might not be suitable for handling certain delicate goods.

    Seeing sheets upon sheets of scaly herbs, Lan Xincheng gasped. ¡°Dragon Scale Moss! So much!¡±

    The Dragon Scale Moss in the box was the main ingredient for high-grade military-use stimnts. An ordinary patch of moss could produce twenty stimnts. There were dozens of such patches in the container, enough for hundreds of stimnts!

    There was no need to exin the use of stimnts. These high-grade medicines were only distributed to the high-ranking officers of elite corps. It would take a champion to withstand its medicinal effects. Ten such stimnts was enough to tip the scales on a small special-operation. Such a big box of Dragon Scale Moss would be coveted by every corpsmander.

    Lan Xincheng had been in charge of outfitting the army for many years. How could he not know the value of these herbs? He pped the table in excitement, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll make the decision. If you have four such boxes, all the resources at the back of the booklet are yours!¡±

    Qianye broke into augh, and his opinion of the man improved by several points. This fellow wasn¡¯t just an official¡ªhe had lost hisposure because he had the front-line fighters in mind. He wasn¡¯t all that excited when talking about the white fruit just now.

    In fact, both parties knew that the Longevity Monarch would only get one of this newfound life-extension medicine. One would never know for sure where the other would go, but some careful thought would reveal many possibilities. For instance, the Pointer Monarch, Zhang Boqian, even the Emperor and Empress, or the other two heavenly monarchs. On the lower levels, Lin Xitang¡¯s value to the Empire wasn¡¯t inferior to the Longevity Monarch¡¯s. The Empire would gain several more provinces if these people were to live a decade longer.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s all I have.¡±

    Lan Xincheng couldn¡¯t hide his disappointment. ¡°This¡­ isn¡¯t a lot!¡±

    Fang Zhanughed. ¡°General Xincheng, this box will increase this year¡¯s production by twenty percent. Why are you not content yet?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that? It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know that group ofmanders. They¡¯re even fiercer than the dark races when it¡¯s time to fight for medicines. Not to mention twenty percent, they¡¯ll devour everything without blinking even if we produce two times the amount.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Fang Zhan agreed.

    Qianye said, ¡°I don¡¯t have any more Dragon Scale Moss, but I have this.¡± He produced yet another long wooden box and ced it before the two.

    Lan Xincheng opened the box. ¡°Star Cherry!¡±

    There were three pieces of Star Cherry Wood, enough for six restoration medicines. If the Dragon Scale Moss could aid in a dozen special-operation missions, the three pieces of Star Cherry Wood would be able to save six lives.

 Chapter 1097: A Sincere Trade Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1097: A Sincere Trade Part 2</h4>

    There were different views regarding the price of things like Star Cherry Wood. In the past, thismodity had always been in the hands of the Song n. As a n with ample experience in trade, their prices would only shock and never delight. Yet, the military had no choice but to buy because of how important the ingredient was and the fact that the final product would be vastly inferior without it.

    Currently, there were three such pieces in front of Qianye, and of high quality no less. The restoration medicine made from this material would bring almost anyone below the divine champion rank back to life. How was one to price the life of six high-ranking champions?

    Lan Xincheng thought about it for a good while before breaking into a wry smile. ¡°Now this Star Cherry Wood is rather difficult to measure. It wasn¡¯t easy to bring them out, was it?¡±

    ¡°They do take up a lot of space.¡±

    The materials took up valuable storage space. Among the storage gear Lan Xincheng had seen, it was already quite good if they contained two cubic meters of space. Rather than shipping Star Cherry Wood, he would rather stuff more white-fruit wine in.

    The Evernight side was where the white-fruit wine would get a truly high price, much higher than Star Cherry Wood. Qianye¡¯s choice toe back with the material spoke of many things.

    Lan Xincheng understood Qianye¡¯s intentions. He said with a sigh, ¡°That was considerate of you, Sire. How about this? Each Star Cherry Wood will be appraised as half a box of Dragon Scale Moss. If you can take out three more of them, all the materials will be yours.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°I do want to, but this is all I have.¡±

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s only natural. The Star Cherry Tree is difficult to nurture and mature, all the mature ones have already been picked. With these three, our war on the void continent will be less stressful. We really need to give the nobility some sort of assurance if we want their core fighting power on the field,¡± Lan Xincheng said with a smile.

    That wasmon logic. People like Zhao Yuying and Zhao Junhong possessed life-saving treasures to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t fall in battle. Restoration medicine was one of them, and it was highly effective. Neither threats nor enticements couldpare to a restoration medicine when an elite of the family was to enter the battlefield.

    Lan Xincheng looked at Qianye. ¡°We¡¯re making good progress. If you can take out one and a half boxes of Dragon Scale Moss, the stuff on this booklet will be yours. These are hundreds of tons of high-quality boards and tes we''re talking about. It¡¯s not hard to get your hands on a few tons, but only a marshal can mobilize over ten tons of them.¡±

    That was more or less the truth. The Empire produced vast amounts of steel and alloy, but less than one percent of them were allocated to making airship tes. Judging from the quality of Lan Xicheng¡¯s materials, they were probably as rare as tactical resources. Why otherwise would they be listed together with ridge-grade engines and toad-grade cannons?

    Qianye said after a while, ¡°I do have some other things, but they might not be easy to price. Also, what do we do about those training courses?¡±

    Lan Xincheng answered, ¡°They¡¯ll be valued the same as a hundred tons of warship boards.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°The training is only for twenty people. Do you mean to say that each person is worth five tons ofponents?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Lan Xincheng was unmoved. ¡°The Empire¡¯s officer training is done through simtion arrays. Just the operational costs of such an array is equal to a mothership traveling at full speed.¡±

    ¡°How big of an array is that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s bigger than your Dark me headquarters.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite the investment.¡± Qianye was somewhat surprised. This so-called simtion array was simr to the ones in the army training centers where two operators would sit behind their control panels and projected images would do the fighting in the middle. It was just that the array would be hundreds if not thousands of times bigger, bringing the operator into a simted battle in the void. The effects were naturally extraordinary as well.

    ¡°There¡¯s a reason the Imperial fleets can hold their own against more powerful enemies.¡±

    Qianye nodded. As someone who had worked for the army, he knew that the void was a different, bloodless battlefield, the cruelty of which was no less than that of the ground wars. When warships were damaged, those of the crew with ordinary cultivation would have almost no way to survive. They would die without a doubt if the rescue was slightlyte.

    Linken could only save a small part of her crew when Qianye had destroyed her ship. Most of them died immediately when the ship was destroyed, with no hope of escape.

    Being able to hold their ground under such circumstances and protect the Empire¡¯s three continents from danger, the Imperial fleet¡¯s glory was actually built upon the superiormand strategy¡­ as well as the cold corpses of countless soldiers.

    Hearing Lan Xincheng¡¯s exnation, Qianye understood that his idea of asking for an instructor was no longer feasible. ¡°Can these quotas be transferred?¡±

    ¡°Transfer? Of course. But Sire, are you sure?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need that many quotas, but some of my friends might.¡±

    ¡°Very well then. The quotas are yours, so you can do what you wish with them. I must remind you though that the training willst three months and the number of quotas is limited, only a couple hundred each year. Otherwise, how can each spot be worth five tons of materials?¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Dark me didn¡¯t have that many talented people, and there was no guarantee to their loyalty. Song Zining might have some way to control these fellows, but Qianye had no such ability. It was easy to see from how things went out of control once the seventh young master had left. If Qianye was the only one who had gone into the Great Maelstrom, the city would probably remain unchanged.

    On the other hand, Qianye didn¡¯t really attach that great of an importance to warships, nor did he require warshipmanders. What he needed more were qualified cannoneers, people who could maintain on-ship equipment andnding parties.

    Qianye had other uses for therge number of airshipponents, but he wasn¡¯t going to tell Lan Xincheng about it.

    Qianye rummaged through Andruil¡¯s space and found a small box. It was merely the size of a palm, but there were quite a few items inside. Lan Xincheng took the box from him with the utmost care, not daring to be careless.

    The value of treasures wasn¡¯t rted to size. Qianye had already brought out Dragon Scale Moss, white-fruits, and Star Cherry Wood, so the remaining items were worth looking forward to.

    The box opened up to reveal a pile of lustrous blue flower petals that filled up half the container.

    Qianye had found these items on the two-armed natives and didn¡¯t know what they were used for. Even Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann had no idea what they were. But they looked nice and the natives collected them like treasures, so Qianye collected quite a few of them. They didn¡¯t take up space anyway.

    Qianye had brought them out because he wanted to see if Lan Xincheng knew what these crystalline petals were. The man had worked in the armament division for many years and had probably seen a good number of treasures. His judgment was probably well above those appraisers.

    After staring at the crystalline petals for a good while, Lan Xincheng pushed the box toward Fang Zhan. ¡°Lil¡¯ Fang, you nobles know more about jewels. What is this?¡±

    Fang Zhan produced a small bag, which opened to reveal a row of intricate tools. He also possessed a spatial gear, but the space inside was quite small.

    Qianye had never seen some of the tools before, or even heard of them.

    Fang Zhang smiled. ¡°Gem appraisal and crafting is my hobby.¡±

    He fished out a small pair of tongs and covered it with a thin, soft fabric to protect the gem. After picking up a crystalline petal, he ced it under a portable scope. He then set up a small frame with a metallic ball on top. The metallic pearl shot out a beam of light that illuminated the petal.

    He peered into the scope and slowly turned the petal around, constantly adjusting the angle and intensity of the light as he did so.

    Such a professional appraisal method changed Qianye¡¯s impression of Fang Zhan. From what he remembered, a gem appraiser would just look at the item with his naked eyes or wear a pair of magnifying sses at most. They were vastly inferior to Fang Zhan in terms of equipment.

    It would seem that this man had gotten in on this mission for good reason. Those who spent their days drinking and merrymaking were mere prodigal sons, but those who studied a topic deeply would be masters.

    After a long while, Fang Zhan sighed deeply, and his expression became much more gentle. He said while clearing his throat, ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, these are actual flower petals that have turned into gems for some reason.¡±

    Lan Xincheng was moved. ¡°Like the Marine Lotus?¡±

    ¡°More or less, but the lotus retains a portion of its medicinal effects after the transformation. These petals, on the other hand, don¡¯t have sufficient power. They¡¯re just gems now.¡±

    ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s how it is.¡± Lan Xincheng seemed disappointed.

    Fang Zhan replied, ¡°These petals hold great value as well. Look, the patterns in these petals are formed naturally and no two are the same. And in terms of color, shape, and purity, all of them are top-grade gems.¡±

    Lan Xincheng knew gems were valuable, but he had no interest in decorative items. ¡°Sire, can you show us what other treasures you have?¡±

    Qianye had no opinion on these petals, to begin with. He had even less interest after finding out that they were ordinary gems. He had gained a good harvest in the Great Maelstrom; there had to be something good he could bring out.

    Just as he was rummaging through Andruil¡¯s Space, Fang Zhan pulled Lan Xincheng to the side. ¡°General, we should buy those gem petals.¡±

    ¡°This¡­ what¡¯s the use?¡± Lan Xincheng felt awkward. He knew that these petals were highly valuable, and such a big box of them was more than enough to buy over a hundred tons of warship tes. Yet, he was no ordinary peddler¡ªthe reasoning behind his trade wasn¡¯t about equal value in money. He just couldn¡¯t bring himself to use up strategic resources on gems.

    Fang Zhan whispered, ¡°General, this type of petal gem is unprecedented in the Empire. No one else has such things.¡±

    Lan Xincheng merely grunted.

    Fang Zhan finally became anxious. He said openly, ¡°The Empress¡¯ birthday falls two monthster. A highly skilled craftsman can turn these petals into a set of unique treasures! Be it in terms of value or artistry, it will be a great choice for her majesty¡¯s birthday present.¡±

    Lan Xincheng was finally moved.

 Chapter 1098: Added Value

    <h4>Chapter 1098: Added Value</h4>

    Qianye heard the duo¡¯s words clearly. He also got the idea to gift the box of gems to Nighteye¡ªperhaps she would like it?

    Qianye was never the type to attractdies¡¯ favors, nor did he understand the intricate thoughts of a girl. Song Zining would probably urge him to go ahead with the n if he were here.

    However, Qianye couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly when he recalled how easily Nighteye had ughtered the six-armed giant. The vast power gap between the two and Nighteye¡¯s change in character after her awakening wasn¡¯t something that could be solved with a few gems.

    Bloodline was the most important asset in the Evernight world, and one¡¯s strength would decide their ss. The concept of being well-matched existed in the other faction as well.

    The soaring snake would never travel with the forest python, and the falcon would never fly with a sparrow.

    On the other side, Lan Xincheng had alreadye to a decision. ¡°Very well, this box of gems will count as a box of Dragon Scale Moss. One more jar of white-fruit wine and everything in the booklet is yours.¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡± Qianye nodded.

    ¡°These things are easier to trade.¡± Lan Xincheng picked up that thick booklet.

    The lists in there were rather long, but their contents were just ordinary strategic resources. Their advantage was in theirrge numbers and not their quality. Most of the equipment in there could be used to outfit the mercenaries from Dark me, but that was the extent of it. In terms of equipment grade, they were about equal to that of the Imperial elite corps.

    In truth, Lan Xincheng had already obtained a bountiful harvest even without this booklet. Rewards from the Empress were certain.

    Things were simple now. Most of the special products from the neutralnds could be exchanged. With enough shipping capacity, even lumber from the ck Grove was a goodmodity. Other people might not be able to extract lumber there, but Qianye was different. He could fell each tree with a sh.

    Ultimately, Qianye bought off the list with a hundred pieces of lumber and a handful of other resources.

    Lan Xincheng was full of smiles, and Qianye was also quite happy.

    A lot of these things could be produced in the neutralnds, but their quality wasn¡¯t optimal. Even Southern Blue was quitecking in scale in the eyes of the Empire. It would be rather difficult to find ten tons of these tactical resources, even the ordinary alloy tes. There were only a handful of bigger refineries in the entirety of the neutralnds.

    With this batch of resources, Qianye couldplete the construction of some key workshops. Their progress had beengging due to theck of resources. These factories were for the production of precisionponents and processing of special materials, the most important node in the production chain. Without them, no airship would be able to fly.

    All the goods on the lists had long since been prepared, and the airships carrying them were just outside of the neutralnds, ready to drive into the Eastern Sea. The Empire had made ample preparations because Ji Tianqing knew just what Qianye had in hand and what he urgently needed. With her pulling the strings from behind, things naturally went well.

    While waiting for the goods to arrive, Qianye took two airships to the ck Grove and cut down a hundred logs. The entire forest began to turn visibly restless toward the end, but he didn¡¯t really cut down that much and the aura he let out intentionally kept the natives at bay. The strange beasts didn¡¯te out to court death, either.

    The Imperial transports arrived soon after Qianye got back to Southern Blue.

    Ten whole transport barges, along with six destroyer escorts, filled the airship port to the brim. Qianye transferred thousands of mercenaries and dozens of trucks over. Even then, it took one day and night to transfer the goods into the warehouses.

    Manager Song would allocate these resources, so Qianye didn¡¯t need to worry about them. Qianye stayed behind at the airship port to keep an eye on the engines, main cannons, and high-gradeponents as they were loaded onto two cargo airships.

    While the loading was underway, Lan Xincheng said to Qianye, ¡°Sire, we should be heading back now. Our harvest was simply too bountiful, so much so that even Prince Cheng might not have thought of this.¡±

    ¡°This Prince Cheng is?¡± Qianye was alerted by the unfamiliar name.

    ¡°Prince Cheng is His Majesty¡¯s uncle in terms of seniority. He currently aids the Longevity Monarch and is in charge of equipment and training.¡±

    At this point, Qianye understood that Prince Cheng was likely the superior of Lan Xincheng¡¯s superior. Lan Xincheng was probably the prince¡¯s trusted agent since he could report directly without answering to his superior.

    The rtionships within the military wereplicated. The Longevity Monarch was the biggest mountain, with ten marshals each acting as smaller, individual ones. Other outsiders were also trying to reach into the military. For instance, Empress Li, the Minister of the Right, and even the four major ns were trying to establish their own power in the army.

    Qianye had no interest in these rtionships, but therge amount of resources Lan Xincheng had brought made him curious about the power behind him.

    Qianye said, ¡°I still have some Greysteel Thread Grass and Starry Sky, also¡­¡±

    Lan Xincheng was all smiles after hearing about the resources in Qianye¡¯s hands. Both of these materials were important ingredients for military-use medicines, his specialty. The general¡¯s eyes twitched as he said, ¡°Sire, just take out whatever else you have. We two might not be capable in other regards, but we do have good judgment.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye produced three items¡ªa bottle of moss, an unknown rock, and a bottle of void colossus marrow.

    Lan Xincheng picked up a tiny piece of the moss and sniffed it. He then put it in his mouth and closed his eyes to taste the item. Qianye was speechless as he looked on. These things were from the Great Maelstrom, and most of the things there were toxic. Besides, some of them contained powerful poison with no antidotes. True venom didn¡¯t rely on quantity. Little Zhuji¡¯s poison was enough to kill the man ten times over.

    Lan Xincheng finally opened his eyes and muttered, ¡°This poison¡­ mm, is extraordinary! As I see it¡­¡±

    His words started to turn slur, proof of how powerful this poison was. A shocked Fang Zhan stabbed a special antidote into Lan Xincheng¡¯s body, and then made a small cut on his tongue to let out a pool of purple blood.

    Only after that did the general manage to speak. ¡°As I see it, the poison can be processed into a new special drug! Although its uses aren¡¯t clear, I can say that the army will take it! As for the price, I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re satisfied.¡±

    That void colossus marrow was something Master Lu had given Qianye to incorporate into East Peak. Later on, the item was spared as the mysterious existence in the Pond of Life took action. It was a big win for Qianye since a jade lotus head was used to strengthen East Peak instead.

    After hearing the uses of the marrow from Qianye, and through careful inspection, Lan Xincheng understood the item¡¯s value. His eyes lit up immediately. This was an extremely rare material that could meld two pr materials into one. Its most direct use would be to add new material to a grade-nine origin gun, giving it a new attribute.

    The higher the grade of an origin gun, the more difficult it was to upgrade. Additionally, the price of adding attributes would increase exponentially each time. For instance, a four-attribute gun would be twice as expensive as a three-attribute gun of the same grade.

    Each and every grade-nine gun possessed extreme firepower. Adding a new attribute was equal to giving wings to the proverbial tiger, especially if it was well-chosen. For instance, an origin gun with great firepower could be upgraded to have a thirty percent longer range. That would turn a short-range firearm into a long-range weapon, a peerless asset in gunfights.

    Or a shotgun with immense firepower that would put great burden on the marksman¡ªits requirements could be lowered to that of a grade-eight weapon, but the damage would be nearly twice as great.

    Although there was barely enough marrow for a grade-nine origin gun, one could carefully allocate it to a forward location. Finding the right attribute wasn¡¯t a problem since the Imperial treasury contained ample amounts of them in stock.

    Fang Zhan picked up the remaining stone and observed it for a long while, but he couldn¡¯t figure out what it was.

    ¡°How is it? Do you know what it is?¡± Lan Xincheng asked.

    Fang Zhan replied, ¡°The origin power aura is quite intense.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t say! Everyone knows that. Give me specific details!¡± Lan Xincheng was impatient.

    Fang Zhan rolled his eyes. ¡°There are no specific details! I¡¯ve never seen or heard of it before, but I know that the origin power is quite intense.¡±

    Lan Xincheng¡¯s brows twitched. ¡°It¡¯s a new ore then?¡±

    ¡°Most likely.¡±

    Lan Xincheng knew people like Fang Zhan usually understood ores quite well. Since he had said so, this ore was probably something never seen before. And from how dense its origin power aura was, one could say for sure that it was extraordinary.

    Someone in the great empire would surely find a use for such a special material.

    Lan Xincheng returned the three treasures to Qianye reluctantly. ¡°Just these three?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± However, Qianye did not bring out anything more.

    ¡°Then¡­ what does Sire Qianye want? I¡¯ll go back and think of a way to meet your expectations.¡±

    ¡°Skycloud-grade kic sails, phoenix-grade main-cannons, and earth-grade engines.¡± Qianye opened his bloody maws.

 Chapter 1099: Forgotten One

    <h4>Chapter 1099: Forgotten One</h4>

    Lan Xincheng was stunned. He thenughed wryly, saying, ¡°We can offer one type at most and just one unit of it. That is unless you put the origin crystals into the equation.¡±

    ¡°The origin crystals won¡¯t be at this price.¡± Qianye smiled.

    ¡°The origin crystals you have¡­¡±

    ¡°I believe you already know their attributes and have expected as much.¡±

    Ji Tianqing and the other people were present when Qianye condensed his origin crystals. Moreover, everyone had observed his crystal in turn. Apart from the one in the Book of Darkness, the remaining three were never a secret. Those condensed from Venus Dawn would benefit even a divine champion. The one formed from the vampire stars and part of the dark star contained the terrifying power of a vampire constitution. It would allow the expert to cross through the thresholds of many powerful inheritances.

    Thest two origin crystals had never appeared before, and probably wouldn¡¯t in the future. Pricing it like usual origin crystals was simply impossible. Lan Xincheng knew that his little n had been seen through. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to sell it, the military will offer one of itstest battlecruisers in exchange.¡±

    Battlecruisers were a newly developed warship of the Empire, falling between a battleship and a cruiser. It was fast and powerful but slightly inferior in defense. These ships were developed in response to the demonkins¡¯ new high-speed destroyers. They were of the newest ss, be it in terms of weapons or equipment.

    The skycloud-grade kic sail and earth-grade engine Qianye wanted were parts from thest generation of cruisers. The phoenix-grade main cannon was a destroyer-ss main cannon of the previous generation, not something that could bepared to thetest battlecruiser model.

    Qianye was somewhat curious. ¡°How many of these battlecruisers does the Empire own?¡±

    ¡°Three.¡± Lan Xincheng was expressionless.

    ¡°It¡¯s not enough to share, is it?¡± Qianye smiled.

    ¡°The two belonging to the army and the Imperial n can¡¯t be touched. But we can transfer the one in the void fleet after a while.¡±

    The fleet in the void belonged to the forces guarding the Empire¡¯s borders, and their fighting power was only below the Pce Guard Fleet. Normally, their designation numbers were between three and eight.

    Thetest-model battlecruiser could be used as a gship of the fleet. In the neutralnds, it would bring about a situation of one ship annihting an entire squadron.

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty steep investment. Why didn¡¯t you bring the airship along?¡±

    ¡°We need toplete negotiations first. This will be a major transfer involving many people and will probably require a good amount of discussions.¡± Lan Xincheng hesitated for a while, but ncing at Qianye, he finally decided to reveal some secrets. ¡°I heard that even some dukes and marshals were moved by the two top-grade crystals you condensed, especially the two with no chance at making more progress. But all the Empire can afford to offer is a new-model battlecruiser, and even that is still under negotiations.¡±

    The word ¡°negotiation¡± probably wasn¡¯t as cordial as it sounded. A powerful vessel of this sort was rted to the power bnce of an entire region, but a marshal-rank expert¡¯s personal strength was rted to the rise and fall of entire factions. Their fall would bring about the demise of many rted people.

    Hearing this, Qianye understood that Lan Xincheng would probably have a clear n during his next visit.

    Fang Zhan said, ¡°Sire Qianye, people from the major ns might visit you during this time. You should hold out no matter what they offer you. Only the Empire can bring a battlecruiser to the table, and we¡¯ll probably bring it along the next time wee. All you need to do is tell them you¡¯re not trading now and just forget about them.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°I understand.¡±

    Fang Zhan wasn¡¯t wrong. Perhaps only the military would have the power to bring all their chips to the neutralnds and pick out the goods. This feeling was like driving a truck full of gold coins to go shopping, leaving no room for worry or doubt regarding the payment.

    After seeing off Lan Xincheng and Fang Zhan, Qianye gave his subordinates instructions regarding operations in Southern Blue. Then, he set out for the Northern Continent with the new batch of ridge-grade engines and toad-grade main cannons.

    The Northern Continent was much livelier than before. The two towns hadpleted their initial construction ns¡ªmost of the workshops were up and running, and the few remaining ones were waiting on new equipment. Song Zining had delivered over a thousand men, forming a power that wasn¡¯t any weaker than the Highbeards.

    Thetter people were still arriving in a steady trickle. As inherent technicians and warriors, they were also the main power protecting the Northern Continent. Although no one knows about the continent¡¯s existence just yet, it wouldn¡¯t be a secret forever¡ªforming an army was a necessary measure.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was parked outside of town, undergoing modifications.

    The pce had been floating in the void while Qianye was inside the Great Maelstrom, absorbing void origin power on its own. With the heart as its core, new flesh grew along the skeleton and ribs, forming a natural outer wall. Some of the constructed ship walls were now covered and integrated into the body.

    No steel developed by either the humans or the dark races couldpare to the Earth Dragon¡¯s natural body. Void colossi were extraordinary existences. Warship main-cannons could hardly st open their bodies, and the only way to kill them was for Great Dark Monarchs or Heavenly Monarchs to take action.

    The current Martyr¡¯s Pce was now seeing an increased surface area of natural muscle. Most of the chest cavity was now covered in natural flesh, and it was starting to stretch along the spine toward the back. For it to recover entirely, though, would take decades.

    ncing up into the sky, one could see that the Martyr¡¯s Pce had recovered a bit of its living glory. However, there was still arge areaposed of man-made structures and even more empty spaces. The outline of a deck was visible on its back, and its two sides were lined with empty holes where the side-cannons would be installed. Those toad-grade main cannons would be installed in these positions.

    The toad-grade main cannons could produce concentrated fire, but its firepower was somewhat inferior, making it the best candidate for this position. The truly difficult targets would be left to Landsinker to handle. Linken had poured a significant amount of resources to build this duke-grade main cannon, and it was even more powerful than that of the old imperial battleships.

    Seeing a cargo ship descend, Blue Moon ran over immediately. What Qianye saw when he opened the door was dozens of gun barrels aimed at him.

    ¡°Master!¡± Cheering, Bluemoon tossed her gun away and ran forward.

    Qianye was surprised by her sudden enthusiasm. He gave her a pat on the back and plucked her off his body.

    Bluemoon looked up, saying, ¡°You¡¯ve been gone for so long.¡±

    Her eyes turned red as she spoke. Qianye didn¡¯t know how to reply, so he simply pointed at the airship behind him. ¡°I brought some good stuff. Install them on the Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    Nodding, Bluemoon summoned dozens of Highbeard warriors to help with the shipping.

    ¡°Take me to the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Let¡¯s see how much it has progressed.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Bluemoon pulled Qianye onto the pce and showed him around the various parts. The materials stored on the vessel had more or less been used up. While the Martyr¡¯s Pce was parked in the void absorbing origin power, there were hundreds of technicians working constantly on construction, instation, and optimization.

    Having installed the main-cannons and engines in stock, the technicians had begun constructing the cannon chambers.

    The crew living-area had started to take shape, with partitions for the infirmary, leisure areas, warehouse, mess hall, etc. The basic facilities had also been installed. The pce could now hold several hundred people. Only a small part of the Earth Dragon¡¯s body was enclosed, and what little area protected by the dragon¡¯s flesh had to be prioritized for the kic chamber, energy chamber, armory, and various origin arrays. Hence, there wasn¡¯t a lot of space for the crew to live.

    Qianye had brought back arge amount of construction materials. The high-grade boardponents could be used to build the outer wall and fit it with te armor. The ordinary ones could be used to build internal cabins and rooms. This would allow the avable space to expand yet again. The airship would be able to hold over a thousand people after the fitting.

    A massive thousand-meter vessel like this dragonship could easily hold tens of thousands of people. Qianye checked the internalyout, saying, ¡°Add another living space. The insides don¡¯t need to be toofortable, just enough for people to live in for a week or so.¡±

    Bluemoon made rapid calctions. ¡°With the current space, the new living quarters will fit about three thousand people, but we¡¯ll need to remodel the respective warehouses and mess halls. How many people do you want it to fit?¡±

    Qianye wanted to say ten thousand at first, but he changed his mind after some thought. ¡°Three thousand it is then.¡±

    Three thousand happened to be the right fit for the most well-trained of Dark me¡¯s elites. With how mobile the Earth Dragon was, one could easily drop these three thousand soldiers behind the enemy lines and attack their rear.

    The days that followed were spent installing the ridge-grade engines and toad-grade main cannons. Qianye installed everything on the Martyr¡¯s Pce, greatly increasing its speed. It was still no match for a standard Imperial warship, or even the biggest mothership for that matter, but it was much faster than a cargo vessel now. The pce would barelypare to a mothership with the addition of a few more ridge-grade engines.

    Qianye didn¡¯t wait for the instations to beplete before driving the Martyr¡¯s Pce back to Southern Blue.

    Once back in the city, Qianye parked the pce in the void and instructed the technicians on board to continue with the instation. Meanwhile, he flew back toward the Dark me headquarters.

    He asked his men to bring Zhang Xuance. After several days in prison, the man was looking pretty listless, and his usual prideful demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

    He looked at Qianye as though thetter were a lifesaving straw. ¡°Sire! You¡¯re finally back!¡±

    ¡°Oh? You missed me?¡± Qianye smiled spuriously.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been imprisoned here for so long. You¡¯re neither killing nor letting me go, this¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how it is. I was a bit busy, so I forgot.¡±

    Zhang Xuance¡¯s expression was quite interesting. He had thought of every reason but never guessed Qianye had actually forgotten about him.

    This young man had always been in the limelight from a young age. He would still receive some attention even if Zhang Buzhou¡¯s direct descendants weren¡¯t dead. Who would¡¯ve thought he would fall to such an unimportant role one day, so much so that people would forget him?

    This emptied his mind of the words he had been preparing for several days. After some thought, he finally said, ¡°Sire, if you don¡¯t n to kill me, please let me go. My family will surely pay you well.¡±

    ¡°What kind of payment are we talking about.¡± Qianye seemed interested.

    Zhang Xuance could forget about freedom if he couldn¡¯t suggest anything concrete. Finally, he braced himself to quote a price for his life.

 Chapter 1100: Not a Good Leader

    <h4>Chapter 1100: Not a Good Leader</h4>

    ¡°First, let me assure you with my life¡¯s honor that the Zhang family won¡¯t pursue this matter. Everything will end here.¡± This was the first term Zhang Xuance was bringing forth.

    Qianye didn¡¯t say anything and merely looked on with a strange smile.

    Zhang Xuance¡¯s livid expression went from red to white, white to blue. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, ¡°That¡­ we can also ignore the death of City Lord Luo.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°Zhang Buzhou had a hand in Luo Bingfeng¡¯s death. He should be thanking me instead.¡±

    ¡°Sire Qianye, you can¡¯t put it that way¡­¡±

    Qianye cut him short. ¡°Are there any other terms?¡±

    Zhang Xuance was shaken. He immediately forgot about the argument he was about to utter and said in a loud voice, ¡°Of course! There¡¯s a lot we can discuss!¡±

    This time, Zhang Xuance began listing real offers. There wasnd, rare resources, and even a major mercenary corps. If he hadn¡¯t said it, no one would¡¯ve thought the owner behind the corps was Zhang Buzhou.

    Qianye was rather patient, even when the young man¡ªperhaps from the excitement or forgetfulness¡ªsounded somewhat confused. He spoke when Zhang Xuance finally stopped, ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhang Xuance¡¯s expression shifted. Was the bounty not enough to sate Qianye¡¯s appetite? Just as he was feeling perturbed, he heard Qianye ask, ¡°Do you think you¡¯re worth that much?¡± Zhang Xuance choked on the words he was about to say. He couldn¡¯t decide whether he should swallow or spit them out in a sigh.

    As Qianye saw it, the terms suggested were ten times greater than Zhang Xuance¡¯s own worth. The value would only be recouped if he could cross the divine champion threshold one day.

    The young man, on the other hand, thought that Qianye was doubting he would deliver on his promises. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I can have the things shipped over first, and you can let me go after everything is in order. That way, you won¡¯t have to worry about getting scammed.¡±

    This fellow was rather considerate. Qianye said after some thought, ¡°It seems I don¡¯t have a good reason to decline.¡±

    Zhang Xuance sighed. ¡°It¡¯s great that you agree.¡±

    ¡°When did I say I agree?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words mmed Zhang Xuance down from the sky and into the dust. He looked confused as to what expression he should be wearing. After a moment, he stammered, ¡°S-Sire¡­ you¡­¡±

    Qianye stretched out a finger. ¡°I only have one condition. If Heavenly Monarch Zhang agrees, then I¡¯ll let you go. If he doesn¡¯t, he¡¯ll have toe and collect your corpse.¡±

    Zhang Xuance trembled. ¡°What is it? Please tell me.¡±

    ¡°I want Tidehark.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Zhang Xuance trembled all over, unable to believe his ears.

    ¡°I want Tidehark,¡± Qianye repeated.

    Zhang Xuance felt a shiver run down his spine, and even his fingers were numb. He finally suppressed his terror and said, ¡°He won¡¯t agree!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Qianye nodded and made no further indication.

    Zhang Xuance clenched his teeth. ¡°Sire! Even if he does agree to give you that position, it¡¯s just a name! The Wolf King is just beside Tidehark, do you think you can hold that ce? Won¡¯t the city return to the heavenly monarch if he reneges on his words once I¡¯m back at home?¡±

    Qianye shot him a meaningful nce. ¡°You¡¯re quite thoughtful, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die yet.¡± Zhang Xuance was about to cry.

    ¡°Fine, how about this? The things you mentioned just now and the nominal title of Tidehark City Lord. That¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°T-This¡­¡± Zhang Xuance had no idea what to say.

    The title of Tidehark City Lord sounded impressive, but it was no different from sitting atop a volcano. Not everyone could handle such a position. Only someone like Luo Bingfeng could upy it with such stability, and no one dared question him. Qianye, on the other hand, might not even require Zhang Buzhou to take action. The bacsh from nearby forces was probably enough to remove him from the position.

    For instance, the city lord of Southern Blue had always been Ji Rui even though everyone knew the true master was Qianye. This city lord could only manage his own residence and private properties.

    Zhang Xuance felt that just the title alone wouldn¡¯t make much of a difference if there were no armies garrisoned or blood drawn. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t risk his life to object since Qianye was so intent on it.

    ¡°I need Zhang Buzhou to announce that he recognizes me as the city lord.¡±

    This condition wasn¡¯t too difficult to ept. Zhang Xuance agreed after some thought.

    Now that both parties had reached an agreement, the young man mentioned an agent in Southern Blue who would be able to bring news to the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence.

    Qianye didn¡¯t find this surprising. Southern Blue had always been a trade city, counting all kinds of people as its residents. Every power would have a few assets here. Even those without ambition would have some people here to gather intelligence and inquire about certain things.

    Qianye allowed Zhang Xuance to withdraw. Naturally, there were people who would bring him along to get things done. There was no need for Qianye to worry about the details.

    After the young man was gone, Qianye stood in front of the window in silence and watched the gloomy skies.

    Three days and three nights passed in this manner.

    Some servants and subordinates came to persuade him during this period, but Qianye simply waved them away and remained standing. He left his spot only when someone came to report the arrival of a representative from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence.

    Several people were already seated in the parlor, with Zhang Xuance standing on the side. Everyone stood up to greet Qianye as he walked in.

    Qianye shot them a nce. ¡°Did that old master apanying Zhang Xuance note?¡±

    The group from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence looked rather embarrassed. They nced at one another before an elder said, ¡°Master Modao¡¯s status is extraordinary. His movements are never known to people like us.¡±

    Qianye was naturally asking about that divine champion in charge of protecting Zhang Xuance.

    Qianye sat down at the master seat and asked casually, ¡°What is Master Mo¡¯s position?¡±

    The elder replied, ¡°Master Modao¡¯s surname is Su. He¡¯s a guest elder of the residence and an old friend of the heavenly monarch. Master Modao¡¯s name shouldn¡¯t be mistaken."

    Qianye nodded with a smile.

    Judging from their reactions, Qianye knew that Su Modao¡¯s injuries hadn¡¯t healed just yet. Otherwise, why would he not appear and find a way to reim his lost honor? Forced to flee by a young man who wasn¡¯t even a divine champion and even abandoning the heavenly monarch¡¯s favorite grand-nephew, he really had no face left to speak of.

    The Shot of Inception attacked one¡¯s life force. It wasn¡¯t easy to heal after being struck. The Wolf King had only suffered an ordinary attack back then, but he had to use ancestral power to suppress the injury.

    Qianye scanned everyone in the room. ¡°I won¡¯t dy things since you¡¯vee a long way. Did you bring the items?¡±

    ¡°Everything is being shipped in. Your esteemed subordinates are checking them at the warehouse.¡±

    ¡°And that matter about the city lord title¡­¡±

    ¡°The heavenly monarch has agreed and sent notices to all the major cities announcing the assignment.¡±

    ¡°Let me see the notice.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s attitude could be considered rude, but no one could do anything about it since Zhang Xuance¡¯s life was in his hand. The leader of the group seemed to havee prepared¡ªhe immediately produced an envelope and presented it with both hands.

    Qianye went through the contents briefly. The general content was about confirming Qianye as the new city lord of Tidehark after Luo Bingfeng. The literature was concise and contained no other message. Although the writing implied that Qianye was a subordinate of the heavenly monarch, thetter didn¡¯t really mind.

    He ced the letter to the side and nced at Zhang Xuance. ¡°It seems the heavenly monarch does consider you important. Since the promise has been kept, you¡¯re free to go now.¡±

    Zhang Xuance didn¡¯t move, however, and nced anxiously at Qianye. ¡°Sire, about the poison in my body.¡±

    ¡°I only let her blow some air, you were never poisoned.¡±

    Zhang Xuance patted his chest in relief. ¡°I knew it, but there¡¯s no way I would dare to gamble.¡±

    Qianyeughed. This young man was rather interesting.

    Zhang Xuance left hurriedly, but the elder remembered to greet Qianye on his way out. ¡°Sire Qianye, take care.¡±

    Qianye acted as though he never realized the implication. ¡°I will.¡±

    After Zhang Xuance¡¯s entourage was gone, Qianye summoned the leaders from the workshops and mercenary corps. He announced that he would be leaving for a while in the near future and instructed them to continue operations as usual.

    Everyone exchanged nces, not expecting Qianye to leave as soon as he had returned. But since Qianye had already returned from the Great Maelstrom, his existence itself was a formless intimidation. There would probably not be a second Zhang Xuance. Besides, it wasn¡¯t easy to devour arge city in the neutralnds without the backing of someone like Zhang Buzhou.

    As for where Qianye was going and what he was doing, no one dared ask about it.

    This was an ample arrangement as far as Qianye was concerned. He left the conference room and flew up from the headquarters with Zhuji, vanishing into the sky.

    All the Dark me mercenary leaders sighed in admiration¡ªjust that speed of flight wasparable to a divine champion. But they soon realized something was wrong¡ªnow that Qianye was gone again, there was no one to oversee Southern Blue.

    Thinking back to when Dark me had risen to power, Song Zining had taken control of the entire situation andid out the entire factory system. With the Ningyuan Heaven Industries at the lead, he had pushed all majorpanies to invest arge amount of money. On the other hand, Ji Tianqing was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, uprooting the disloyal people early on. This Young Miss Ji looked kind, but most of her opponents had disappeared without a trace. Just thinking about it drenched one in cold sweat.

    As for Qianye¡­

    He seemed to have done nothing apart from taking on the role ofmander.

    His handling of Zhang Xuance was rather clean and tyrannical, but why was he leaving again so soon?

    Thinking about it carefully, it would seem this Qianye wasn¡¯t that good of a leader.

 Chapter 1101: A Hundred Ways to Tell if a Man is Lying

    <h4>Chapter 1101: A Hundred Ways to Tell if a Man is Lying</h4>

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was currently parked in the void, its long tail moving slowly as it drew upon the void origin power in the surroundings. This movement kept the vessel in ce and prevented it from drifting away.

    The long tail moved gently and slowly, forming eddies of origin power nearby which served to maintain its level-flight and cut down energy consumption by half. Even a heavenly monarch would have to sigh in admiration after seeing this ingenious level of control.

    To the Earth Dragon, though, this was merely an inherent skill, something even its remnant skeleton, and what little remained of its spirit, could perform.

    That was why this dragonship was peerless in long-distance void travel. It could float continuously in the void, albeit at a slower pace.

    There was now arge dark-silver area on the dragonship built of warship-grade tes. The color on it was a bit mottled because Qianye hadn¡¯t managed to get enough armor tes. All he could do was install armor tes on some of the more important areas.

    From a distance, the Martyr''s Pce looked like a sleeping colossus in the void, covered in a faint sheen of light.

    Thisyer of light was the forcefield that would protect the crew inside. With it, the weaker staff members aboard the vessel would be able to survive. After all, the Martyr¡¯s Pce still wasn¡¯t entirely sealed, and many parts of it were exposed to the void.

    In addition to blocking out the void, the barrier could also iste one¡¯s aura from leaking out. This served as a concealment mechanism. The void was vast and the dragonship was but a small dot against the entire expanse. Even if one were to search for it deliberately, the slightest deviation would throw the seeker off course. Qianye was currently the master of the Martyr¡¯s Pce and thus shared a natural connection with it. That was the reason he could pinpoint its location every time.

    That was also the reason why Qianye could easily leave the airship in the void every time.

    Qianye was strong enough to traverse the void for a short while. Zhuji was a special exception¡ªher constitution might be even stronger than Qianye¡¯s. Naturally, she didn¡¯t mind the void environment at all.

    As the two rushed out of the protective barrier of the continent, Little Zhuji patted her chest, saying, ¡°It feels a bit tight here.¡±

    That was all she felt from traveling through the void.

    Qianye patrolled the interior of the vessel and confirmed that the important instation projects were going smoothly. Most of the toad-grade ballistae had been installed and were undergoing calibrations. The kic engines were moreplicated¡ªeach of them required meticulous calctions before mounting, in order to ensure the bnce of the entire airship and allow for the instation of even more engines.

    There were two propellers under the current Martyr¡¯s Pce designed to propel origin power and generate forward motion. Each propeller had to be powered by three engines to produce sufficient eleration.

    More engines meant more energy. The main cannon¡ªafter being attached to two dedicated engines¡ªcould now fire at max output. It would still need to recharge for five minutes between shots, however.

    Qianye was fairly satisfied. The pce¡¯s current speed and firepower were sufficient to fight a duke-grade warship.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s skull had been put to good use, containing Qianye¡¯s residence, themand center, Landsinker, and its ammunition storage.

    Qianye brought Zhuji onto the skull and sat down on it.

    Little Zhuji looked on from the side while munching on arge piece of beast meat.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Qianye felt that the little girl had something to say.

    Zhuji asked, ¡°Papa, won¡¯t people think you¡¯re unreliable?¡±

    ¡°Ah, why?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t expecting this.

    Zhuji said seriously, ¡°After taking Southern Blue back, you should be reorganizing the forces and handing out punishments and rewards. Some of them were asked to surrender by mama, but some yielded of their own ord. You should be finding these people and punishing them one-by-one. Otherwise, people will find out betraying you has no consequences and another rebellion might happen.¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah.¡± Qianye looked surprised.

    ¡°Also, you have to beat up those merchant groups at least once. These are things you should¡¯ve done, but you ignored everything and stood there gazing. Then, you came here. Mama will surely me you if he finds out.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, where did you learn all these things?¡± This little fellow wasn¡¯t very old yet, but her reasoning was already giving Qianye a headache.

    ¡°Mama taught me.¡±

    ¡°When did he teach you?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t believe it. Little Zhuji had spent more time with him than Song Zining, apart from when she was very young. Besides, she had only grown rapidly after eating the six-armed giant¡¯s heart. She was still in a rather confused state before that. When did she learn so many things?

    Little Zhuji tilted her head. After some thought, she said, ¡°Mama taught me all this. He taught me all of that soon after I hatched.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t even know how to speak! Fine, what else did he teach you?¡±

    ¡°A lot of things. The history of the Empire and Evernight, theories in war and fighting, thenguage and culture of each race, how girls should dress, style themselves, and match colors, also about space, designs, a hundred ways to tell how a man is lying, love that transcends race¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute! What the heck are those? How did he teach you?¡± Qianye was speechless at the things Little Zhuji had learned. After some thought, though, they seemed to be in line with Song Zining¡¯s style.

    Thess thought hard. ¡°Mama read me books and sometimes just talked nonstop. He said he would give me many books to read when I know how to.¡±

    ¡°When did he have that much time.¡±

    ¡°A lot of time. Mama would always talk to me while looking at the map.¡±

    Qianye understood what was going on. That fellow was actually multitasking¡ªhe would study military strategy while teaching Zhuji. It truly made one wonder what kind of ursed strategy he would think of in this manner. Yet it just so happened that he was always victorious in battle, earning him the title of future strategist god. Was he too much of a genius, or was the enemy too dumb? That was a mystery.

    A hundred ways to tell if a man is lying, how could he teach her such an unrefined thing? Of course, it did have its uses in war, but those old politicians could lie so well that they even deceive themselves. Ordinary people simply wouldn¡¯t be able to see through them.

    Wearing matching colors and dressing pretty were thingsdies knew inherently, but it wasn¡¯t a bad thing to learn them. After all, even those with good looks need to dress up. The problemy in Zhuji¡¯s age. Was it appropriate to teach her all these things from a young age? Wasn¡¯t he afraid she would go astray?

    ¡°What kind of teaching-attitude was that!?¡± Qianye thought angrily. Was reading some books considered teaching?

    Qianye realized something all of a sudden. How did Zhuji remember all of those when she couldn¡¯t even speak?

    To this question, thess replied, ¡°I just remembered them! I didn¡¯t understand what they were back then, but I do now after eating that thing Aunty gave me.¡±

    ¡°You mean, you remember everything he said back then?¡±

    ¡°Yes, is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Nope, nothing.¡± Qianye was speechless once more. He couldn¡¯t help but rub his temple¡ªZhuji¡¯s talents were probably enough to frustrate many people to death.

    After learning about her entire education process, Qianye epted that her words weren¡¯t strange. It was just that he felt rather awkward. The little girl being too smart wasn¡¯t a good thing, especially since she could remember every small detail. Wouldn¡¯t she remember it all if anyone were to treat her badly as a kid?

    Qianye felt lucky that it wasn¡¯t him teaching the girl. Sooner orter, she would realize the mess of things Song Zining had taught her.

    Since Little Zhuji was more intelligent now, he couldn¡¯t treat her like before. Qianye exined with a serious expression, ¡°I¡¯m not in the mood for all those things.¡±

    ¡°Why? Is it because of Aunty?¡±

    The direct question almost caused Qianye to trip and fall. ¡°What nonsense are you spouting?¡±

    Little Zhuji replied earnestly, ¡°That¡¯s not nonsense! You like Aunty, but Aunty doesn¡¯t like you. Isn¡¯t that all there is to it?¡±

    Qianye almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Fortunately, he was level-headed enough to suppress the feeling. ¡°What would a child know?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? It¡¯s written clearly in the book!¡±

    Qianye was both angry andughing. ¡°What book would write such things?¡±

    ¡°A Love that Transcends Race!¡±

    Qianye finally fell to the floor.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a book, that¡¯s a novel!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very interesting! Everything is reasonable! You and Aunty are exactly like what¡¯s written in the book!¡±

    Qianye discovered that reasoning with this all-knowing girl was futile. He muttered through clenched teeth, ¡°Song Zining, just you wait!¡±

    Zhuji was confused. ¡°Why must Mama wait for the matter between you and Aunty? Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s romance between you and Mama? There¡¯s nothing like that in that book, maybe I need to find a new one.¡±

    Qianye shot up from the floor, almost hurting his back in the process. He said in great rm, ¡°You¡¯ve learned enough! No more reading for the time being, training your body is more important.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t growing all about eating and sleeping? Don¡¯t tell me I have to cultivate?¡±

    Qianye was stopped up. It went without saying that ordinary dark races had to cultivate too, but during their growth period, the more powerful one¡¯s bloodline was, the less effective cultivation was. Someone as strong as Zhuji needed only to eat and sleep well.

    Seeing that Qianye had nothing to retort, Zhuji said, ¡°What exactly is going on between you and Aunty?¡±

    The little girl¡¯s eyes twinkled brightly. Qianye could almost see the mes of gossip burning in her eyes.

 Chapter 1102: Call of the Wild

    <h4>Chapter 1102: Call of the Wild</h4>

    The rtionship between Qianye and Nighteye was difficult to exin. It was even harder to summarize it to Zhuji who had suddenly be intelligent. Laughing helplessly, he tried to talk his way out, but the littless wouldn¡¯t let him off no matter what. She questioned him repeatedly, and it seemed she was going to pursue this without relent.

    Having no other choice, Qianye used his final trump card of threatening to throw her into the cabin.

    Only then did the little girl be more obedient. But from how her eyes were shifting about, it would seem that she had thought of some new tricks. Fortunately, she still liked hanging around Qianye despite growing up, even more so than eating beast meat. She would listen if Qianye threatened to drive her away.

    Her mischief, however, left Qianye unable to cultivate in peace. He simply sat there thinking about Nighteye.

    Dragging on this kind of rtionship wasn¡¯t the way to go. Neither Song Zining, Zhao Yuying, Ji Tianqing nor Li Kuann said it to his face, but they had been hinting at it for a while now. It was better to make a decision sooner thanter.

    But was he to leave her just like that?

    Did he have to make a choice between friends, brothers, and his lover? Qianye hiding in the neutralnds was just a form of escape. He didn¡¯t want to be between a rock and a hard ce.

    Nighteye was destined to return to Evernight.

    At the thought of this, Qianye¡¯s chest would hurt so bad that he could hardly breathe. Their meeting in the Great Maelstrom wasn¡¯t his intention, so much so that he hoped they had never met there. There was a fear in the depths of Qianye¡¯s intuition¡ªit seemed the more he met her, the closer it was for them to part.

    The Sacred Mountain was a distant dream, but their parting was close at hand.

    After defeating Zhang Xuance and suppressing the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence, Qianye didn¡¯t know what he should do anymore. Although he did have some ns when he asked for the title of Tidehark City Lord, just the thought of it gave him a headache and deprived him of all motivation.

    In the cold depths of the void, upon the Martyr¡¯s Pce, this was where he belonged.

    He hade to understand the Pointer Monarch¡¯s mood back in the year. Parting while alive or through death, no one could tell which was more painful.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce moved slowly into the depths of the void. Qianye wanted to stop people from finding him, including Nighteye.

    ¡­

    In the Ancient Totemic Castle, the Wolf King was just rushing out of the steam-filled bathroom. He grabbed the bathrobe from a maidservant and wrapped it carelessly around himself. ¡°Any news?¡±

    His attendant replied, ¡°The heavenly monarch¡¯s residence has just dispatched two documents. Also, Zhang Xuance has been released. Qianye left Southern Blue, but his destination is unknown.¡±

    The Wolf King frowned in apparent displeasure. ¡°More missives?¡±

    The attendant said carefully, ¡°Great Chief, this is the first time in two months that they¡¯ve sent a letter.¡±

    The Wolf King snorted. ¡°Is two months all that long?¡±

    Not daring to retort, the attendant simply followed the Wolf King into the study. There were two werewolf generals waiting anxiously.

    The Wolf King became even more displeased. ¡°What¡¯s the matter so early in the morning? I don¡¯t have food for you here!¡±

    One of the generals said, ¡°Great Chief, there are a lot of things in the tribe that require your attention.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so important in the tribe? It¡¯s not even time to offer sacrifices to the ancestors.¡±

    The general said with a bitter expression, ¡°We can handle small matters, but you need to decide on a new shaman.¡±

    The Wolf King was surprised. ¡°What? Didn¡¯t we just get a new one? Three months ago, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just three months.¡±

    ¡°Why do we have to change then?¡±

    ¡°He said he would sense the call of a powerful existence whenever he tries tomunicate with the ancestors. It has been preventing him from receiving the guidance of the ancestral spirits. He tried to resist the mysterious calling and received injuries in two out of three ceremonies.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°Where did this callinge from? Is it a void colossus, an ancestor from the origins of our bloodline, or something else entirely?¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t make it clear, either. The source of this calling ispletely empty and further investigations yielded nothing.¡±

    The Wolf King looked shocked. ¡°Call of the wild!¡±

    ¡°Great Chief, what is the call of the wild?¡±

    The Wolf King sighed while shaking his head. ¡°Nothing. It has nothing to do with us, so don¡¯t mind it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sire.¡± The werewolf general heaved a sigh of relief.

    The Wolf King smiled. ¡°I said it has nothing to do with us because we¡¯re too weak to be a part of it. An event that will change the entire continent usually follows such a call. How can I not worry?¡±

    The werewolf general said cautiously, ¡°Is the call rted to us werewolves?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s not just us. Even if something happens, those fellows from the Summit of Peaks will shoulder this burden. It¡¯s not our turn to worry.¡±

    Seeing the Wolf King ratherposed, that werewolf general felt more at ease.

    The Wolf King said after some thought, ¡°That little fellow must be quite talented to have sensed the call of the wild. Take good care of him. There¡¯s no need to rece him, and there¡¯s no need to summon the ancestral spirits these days since there¡¯s nothing important going on.¡±

    The Wolf King turned to a different general. ¡°What business do you have?¡±

    These two werewolves were great generals under the Wolf King. One was in charge of internal affairs and the other, external. Thetter¡¯s business had a lot to do with the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence.

    For some reason, the Wolf King would fly into a rage whenever he heard people mentioning the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence. This werewolf general knew that he wasn¡¯t wee at the moment, but he braced himself to say, ¡°Great Chief, the heavenly monarch''s residence has dispatched a missive that requires an immediate reply from you. The messengers are still waiting in the castle.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s snort shook the entire study.

    However, his fury wasn¡¯t enough to drive that general away. The Wolf King also knew that the people from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence wouldn¡¯t be waiting for a reply if the message wasn¡¯t important. He suppressed his anger and picked up the two letters, examining the seal on them. ¡°Humph! These people sure know how to posture. Do they think they¡¯re all Zhang Buzhous?¡±

    No one dared to continue on this topic. It was fine if the subject was unrted to their scope of work, but the werewolf general had to deal with the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence quite often. He couldn¡¯t be as frank as he wanted.

    The Wolf King tore open the public document and opened its seal. His expression was fairly interesting as he read the contents of the letter. He reread the short missive thrice before putting it down and turning toward the two werewolf generals. ¡°You all know about this?¡±

    ¡°About Qianye bing the city lord of Tidehark? It¡¯s spread far and wide now.¡±

    ¡°Why did I not know!?¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    The Wolf King had never appeared these days, so how could he know?

    Seeing their difficult expressions, the Wolf King waved his hand. ¡°Fine, fine! So many things have happened while I was rxing for a couple of days!¡±

    He picked up the other document but wasn¡¯t in a rush to open it. He paced around the room for a bit, saying, ¡°Speak, what exactly happened with this Qianye.¡±

    The two generals exchanged nces. They pushed and poked at one another until finally, the one in charge of external affairs said, ¡°Reportedly, Qianye¡¯s condition for releasing Zhang Xuance was to give him that position.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is it reliable?¡±

    ¡°Should be, yes.¡±

    The Wolf King patted the letter meaningfully. ¡°Say, is this Qianye being overconfident, or has Zhang Buzhou underestimated him?¡±

    The werewolf generals looked at one another but didn¡¯t really know how to reply.

    As they saw it, Qianye¡¯s way of handling things was no different from courting death. Extorting a bit of money from Zhang Buzhou was fine because the heavenly monarch might not bother with some fortune leaking out. Asking for the Tidehark City Lord position, however, was just crazy. That title was just nominal, yet upying seats one shouldn¡¯t was no different from seeking an early demise.

    The Wolf King was no longer jittery. He waited patiently for the two to reply.

    The general in charge of external affairs said, ¡°This brat chose Tidehark. T-That¡¯s like snatching meat from your jaws.¡±

    The Wolf King broke into augh. ¡°I thought so too in the past, but I no longer have any interest in the city after the Great Maelstrom passage incident. It¡¯s not so bad if someone else will shoulder this burden in my stead. What do you think?¡±

    The general in charge of internal affairs was more neutral because this didn¡¯t affect him that much. He said, ¡°This person must not be underestimated. He has a great deal of support, and many major powers from the Empire seem to be protecting him as well. Additionally, he would often defeat stronger opponents and escape sessfully from impossible situations. He might have other ns by asking for the city lord position.¡±

    The Wolf King broke into augh. ¡°Defeating stronger opponents and escaping, are you talking about me?¡±

    The general felt rather awkward. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that. Qianye sent Su Modao fleeing immediately after his return, and I heard the old man was injured quite badly. He still hasn¡¯t recovered now.¡±

    That was a new piece of information. The Wolf King said in surprise, ¡°That old thing was injured? Very good, I¡¯ve hated him for a while now. Humph, that old undying thing has no ability but keeps climbing up by licking boots. All he does each day is talk about how those of a different race will be disloyal, humph!¡±

    The two werewolf generals also looked angry. They had often suffered simr circumstances at the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence, and that was also why they were extremely harsh toward the humans under their rule.

    The Wolf King said while opening the second letter, ¡°I can already guess what¡¯s inside.¡±

    He scanned the letter briefly before tossing it to the two generals.

    The letter asked the Wolf King to find an opportunity to kill Qianye but not to cause too much of a ruckus.

    The two generals understood the first part because it only served to confirm their guesses. Thetter part, however, was a bit confusing.

    The Wolf King said indifferently, ¡°Zhang Buzhou himself recognized him as city lord. It wouldn¡¯t do his name well if he killed the man soon afterward.¡±

    The two werewolf generals came to understand the reason behind the instruction, but that also left them with more questions.

    The Wolf King thought about it for a moment. ¡°Qianye wants to shake Zhang Buzhou¡¯s reputation! What exactly is he thinking?¡±

 Chapter 1103: Extreme Benefits

    <h4>Chapter 1103: Extreme Benefits</h4>

    Destroying a person¡¯s reputation did little in the short term, so much so that one could call it folly. However, those looking at the long term couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill run down their spine.

    How great were Qianye¡¯s ambitions?

    The two werewolf generals didn¡¯t dare think too deeply, and the Wolf King wasn¡¯t willing to exin further. He simply drew two circles on the document and tossed them over. ¡°Hand them to the people from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence, have them take the documents back.¡±

    The werewolf generals were dumbstruck as they looked at those imperfect circles, not knowing what they meant.

    ¡°How about the reply?¡± one of them asked.

    The Wolf King pointed at the circles. ¡°That¡¯s enough to tell them I know. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°T-This is disrespect to the heavenly monarch.¡±

    ¡°It has been more than a day or two that I¡¯ve disrespected him. He knows.¡± The Wolf King cut the general short.

    The werewolf in charge of internal affairs said, ¡°Great Chief, you said something big is about to happen. Should we make any preparations in our tribe?¡±

    ¡°No need. I¡¯m not fighting for hegemony, why should I join the fray?¡±

    The two werewolves exchanged puzzled nces. Was the Wolf King nning to close his doors and enjoy life?

    Even they did not understand the Wolf King¡¯s intentions, much less other people. Meanwhile, the leaders of the major families in Tidehark were engaged in an intense argument.

    ¡°If that Qianye dares toe to Tidehark, I¡¯ll make it so that he never returns.¡±

    ¡°Humph! He¡¯s the city lord as recognized personally by the heavenly monarch. You¡¯re overstepping your bounds, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    The first person said furiously, ¡°How am I overstepping? You know exactly how he became city lord.¡±

    The second person sneered. ¡°What I mean is, even the heavenly monarch had no choice but to appoint him as the city lord. Do you think your meager family is enough to do him in?¡±

    The first person¡¯s face flushed red. ¡°My family certainly doesn¡¯t have this ability, but this matter requires everyone¡¯s cooperation, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not the city lord, nor do you have the right to order everyone.¡±

    ¡°Hump! What, are you nning to yield to an outsider already? City Lord Luo¡¯s bones are still fresh, you know. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d turn out to be an ungrateful lowlife!?¡±

    The two families had been at odds for many years. The meeting hadn¡¯t even begun, but they were already starting to quarrel.

    The major mercenary bands of Tidehark helped to defuse the situation and finally managed to calm the two down. A merchant group director said, ¡°This matter is highly important, and so is the heavenly monarch¡¯s true intentions. Who has familiar contacts at the heavenly monarch residence, someone who knows the situation over there? Please share whatever you know so that we can make a decision. Now isn¡¯t the time to hide things.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, that is how things should be.¡±

    However, only silence followed. Some of them tested the waters by offering some information, but none of them offered anything new.

    Now that was a problem.

    A merchant director said, ¡°Perhaps we should just save ourselves some trouble. That Qianye has people like Song Zining at his side. This person might be mediocre in strength, but he is an expert in military strategy. You can see his skills from how Southern Blue was transformed overnight. Qianye being city lord might not be a bad thing.¡±

    These words received nods from several directors and family lords. To them, it was not important who acted as city lord as they would still be able to bask in Tidehark¡¯s prosperity.

    But there were more people who disapproved. Some of them owed debts of gratitude to Luo Bingfeng, while others were afraid of offending the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence. After all, Qianye had taken this position by force. Zhang Buzhou would seek revenge sooner orter.

    ¡°How does the Wolf King see this?¡± someone asked.

    This issue was fairly important. With Zhang Buzhou in istion and Su Modao injured by Qianye, the Wolf King was the only card the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence had left to y.

    The person in charge of contacting the Wolf King looked rather awkward. ¡°The Wolf King has been holed up in his rear courtyard with his concubines. He doesn¡¯t even leave the house anymore. The messengers I sent didn¡¯t get to see him even once.¡±

    ¡°The Wolf King has concubines!?¡± Everyone was surprised.

    ¡°Reportedly, he just took some in.¡±

    ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    ¡°A month ago.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s actions had always been weird and difficult to understand. Not knowing what to do at this point, the crowd resumed their original stances and started quarreling again. This type of argument couldn¡¯t be solved with violence, and everyone had their own valid reasoning. Who knew when they would arrive at an oue?

    Fortunately, Qianye never made an appearance all this time, and this left them with ample time to keep arguing.

    While the neutralnds was filled with undercurrents, the situation between the Empire and Evernight became ever more critical.

    A massive coalition of demonkin and arachne airships had arrived at the void continent, pushing the Imperial fleet back and securing the route to Evernight and the other continents. Under their protection, a stream of transports arrived to unload construction squads and mountains of supplies.

    The Empire naturally would not sit idly by. A mobilization order was issued once again, demanding that the major ns recruit more people and head to the void continent for war.

    At the same time, the national treasury was opened up to recruit independent experts and expedite the production of equipment. The Emperor decreed that two sufficiently equipped sub-fleets be built within a single year. The aerial advantage over the void continent had to be maintained at all costs.

    The Empire¡¯s spies in Evernight had begun taking action as well, seeking to instigate problems between the four major races and thereby reduce the pressure on the front lines. They had used this move several times before and the enemy should¡¯ve noticed it under normal circumstances. But it just so happened that the rtionship between the dark races had always beenplicated and they were always trying to harm one another in secret. At times, they would go into obvious traps to further their ambitions, allowing the Empire to seed.

    The Evernight side didn¡¯t sit still, either. They also mobilized their hidden assets in an attempt to stir up wind and rain inside the Empire.

    ¡­

    Outside of the Imperial Capital, a well-covered carriage was entering a certain courtyard.

    Such vehicles had long since been reced by jeeps, but many of the Empire¡¯s upper echelon favored old things. Hence, some of these decorated carriages could still be seen in the Imperial Capital and some big cities of the Qin Continent. Those who could afford them were either rich or of great status.

    The courtyard wasn¡¯t big, but it was silent and well decorated. The scenery here, simple yet well-thought-out, was evidently the work of a rich master.

    A man in his thirties walked down from the carriage. His face seemed rather ordinary, but there was a transcendent aura about him.

    He asked as soon as he got off, ¡°Has the guest arrived?¡±

    A servant replied, ¡°Already in the study.¡±

    ¡°Very well, bring me to him.¡±

    When he arrived at the study a whileter, he saw a person enjoying tea there. Thetter¡¯s every movement was shrouded in an auraparable to a deepke.

    The middle-aged man sat down and sipped a mouthful of tea. ¡°Good tea! It¡¯s not easy to find something like this elsewhere. You should try more.¡±

    The other man was d in ck, with the depiction of a swallow embroidered on his chest. He looked no more than twenty and was extremely handsome. Picking his cup to drink a mouthful of tea, he said, ¡°Not bad indeed, but it¡¯scking a certain strength. I¡¯ll let you drink the best blood wine when you visit our ce.¡±

    The middle-aged man smiled. ¡°I might not have that luxury. Speaking of which, the other side actually sent someone like you over. They¡¯re quite generous in terms of manpower. Aren¡¯t you afraid your getup will attract attention?¡±

    The young man smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll be able to escape easier if negotiations break down.¡±

    The middle-aged man replied, ¡°You jest, surely. We¡¯ve worked together so many times now. There won¡¯t be any problems even if negotiations fail.¡±

    The ck-robed youthughed. ¡°It¡¯s a good policy to treat humans as first-time partners, no matter how many times we¡¯ve worked together in the past.¡±

    ¡°Caution is always good. Dispatching a duke such as yourself must mean your party has something important to discuss. We shouldn¡¯t remain here for too long, so let¡¯s get down to business.¡±

    This ck-robed youth was actually a vampire grand duke. His appearance outside of the Imperial Capital could be considered extremely dangerous. Oncepromised, he would surely be hunted down at all costs. Back in the year, Habsburg had stirred up a greatmotion just by setting foot on the Western Continent. This person was now at the heart of the Empire. One could also see how capable the owner of this courtyard was, that he would dare make such an arrangement.

    The vampire grand-duke said, ¡°My family lord has sensed some changes in the Imperial Pce.¡±

    ¡°People like us have no chance to interfere, even if there are.¡±

    ¡°My family lord wishes only to remind you. He doesn¡¯t wish to see you wiped out in the internal conflict since we have cooperated quite well. Your race¡¯s pce conflicts are quite notorious.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t trouble your lord with this.¡±

    The grand duke said, ¡°Our family lord wants someone dead.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jundu!¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression fluctuated briefly despite his calmness. ¡°You jest.¡±

    ¡°This is no joke.¡±

    ¡°Is your lord serious?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    The middle-aged man looked serious. ¡°You know what sort of person he is. Your side has schemed and plotted for so long, yet you still can¡¯t kill him. Borrowing our hand to kill him is too far-fetched of a n.¡±

    ¡°The benefits of sess will also be unimaginable.¡±

    The middle-aged man frowned. ¡°What benefits?¡±

    Smiling, the grand duke fished out an exquisite golden dagger, with which he pierced his chest and slowly withdrew. There was a drop of golden blood at the tip of the dagger. It was perfectly spherical like a pearl, a stark difference from ordinary blood.

    The grand duke produced a beautiful box and ced the blood inside. The drop of golden blood rolled about on the ck velvet. One could easily mistake it for a golden pearl if they didn¡¯t look carefully.

    ¡°One drop of my origin blood as the down payment.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s breathing sped up, and his eyes couldn¡¯t move away from the origin blood. A grand duke¡¯s origin blood, given to a human, would turn him into a vampire at the level of a glorious marquis. Strength was just secondary to the long lifespan that woulde with the transformation. This was a priceless treasure for those old men with one foot in the grave.

    And this¡­ was just the down payment.

    The middle-aged man looked up with a sharp gaze. ¡°Tell me the truth, why must Zhao Jundu be killed?¡±

    The grand duke said calmly, ¡°Because his azure blood is the key to opening the new world.¡±

 Chapter 1104: Profits and Profits

    <h4>Chapter 1104: Profits and Profits</h4>

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression turned odd after hearing the secret information, clearly skeptical of the duke¡¯s words.

    He shifted his gaze from the box, saying, ¡°No one haspletely explored the twenty-seven continents. That one at the very top, no one has even set foot upon. Where is that new world you speak of?¡±

    The vampire grand-duke was calm in the face of skepticism. ¡°Even I find it a bit hard to believe, but since my family lord has approved of such a price, he can¡¯t be joking, can he? The price for such a jest would be too great.¡±

    The middle-aged man nodded as he found the logic reasonable. He pointed at the origin blood, saying, ¡°If this is the down payment, then what is the reward?¡±

    The grand duke replied, ¡°One of them would be a drop of Zhao Jundu¡¯s azure blood.¡±

    The middle-aged man was unmoved. ¡°What use does it have?¡±

    ¡°You probably don¡¯t know about this, but with Zhao Jundu¡¯s current cultivation, we can refine three drops of azure blood at most. One of them will be used as a key to open the new world, one drop is reserved for my lord, and you¡¯ll get the remainder.¡±

    ¡°Only three? Why not wait until his cultivation is higher?¡±

    The grand duke sneered. ¡°Who can subdue him once he bes a divine champion? Do you have any special method to kill him?¡±

    Stunned, the middle-aged man slowly nodded. A character like Zhao Jundu could challenge people of a higher-level even as a champion, and it wouldn¡¯t be easy to kill him in a fair fight on the battlefield. Once he had broken through to the divine champion realm and obtained a couple of special powers, he would be like a falcon in the skies and a fish in the ocean. Even a great dark monarch would have to put in some effort to intercept and capture him.

    The grand duke said, ¡°Secondly, there¡¯s only a short window to find the door to the new world. The opportunity would be lost once the origin tides have waned, and the next one wille only after a few centuries. There¡¯s no telling if we¡¯ll be able to find the new world at that time.¡±

    ¡°What will this drop of azure blood do for me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you humans know ways to absorb origin crystals? Just do the same for it. Azure blood can increase your innate talents far beyond what an origin crystal can. You¡¯re probably quite familiar with this method, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Hisst sentence contained hidden implications. Naturally, he was mocking the internal conflict among humans, but the middle-aged man simply remained silent and pretended not to hear.

    The grand duke said impatiently, ¡°What¡¯s there to think about? A drop of azure blood is equal to a third of Zhao Jundu¡¯s bloodline power. With it, even a useless person can be a divine champion, and ordinary divine champions can be a high-ranking one. The only limitation is the heavenly monarch realm.¡±

    The middle-aged man sighed. ¡°Your race is indeed more knowledgeable regarding bloodlines.¡±

    The grand duke said, ¡°The second reward will be a drop of origin blood from a prince, and it wille from one of the twelve major ns.¡±

    The middle-aged man nodded.

    ¡°As for the third¡­¡± The grand duke wrote two names on a piece of paper and passed it over.

    The middle-aged man frowned. ¡°Arachne and demonkin dukes, what¡¯s special about them?¡±

    The grand duke said with a smile, ¡°These two are highly skilled in airship warfare. It seems your Pce Guard¡¯s fleet was never able to gain an advantage over them.¡±

    The middle-aged man said after some contemtion, ¡°Indeed.¡±

    The grand duke spoke while looking into his eyes, ¡°I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re just a subordinate to the Minister of the Right or the minister himself. My lord also understands that the Minister of the Right toils for the human race and the Empire, so he wishes to gift these two fleets to you. Your situation on the void continent will shift dramatically after taking down these two fleets. If the Empire can¡¯t win the war with that advantage, then you really can¡¯t me us for that.¡±

    The middle-aged man was finally moved. ¡°Your lord¡¯s intentions are?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll leak all information regarding the movement of these two fleets and also assign them to a convenient target at a suitable time.¡±

    There was nothing left to wonder at this point. The middle-aged man¡¯s expression shifted noticeably, and he remained silent for a good while.

    The grand duke said, ¡°Your race will lose a peerless genius, but forgive me for saying some ugly things. Our Evernight faction also produces such people every few years, but they are either cut down mid-way orcking in support. There aren¡¯t enough resources to allow every genius to grow to their maximum potential. Fighting for limited resources is also part of their ability.¡±

    ¡°Reasonable.¡±

    ¡°By the same logic, whether or not Zhao Jundu matures is still a variable. My lord is also making a steep investment for these two drops of azure blood. The price we have to pay is also quite significant. From a different perspective, your race will be trading a future expert for present benefits. If this deal seeds, the human race will gain at least ten years of advantage in the war. Whether or not this deal is profitable depends on how much your race develops in this decade.¡±

    The grand duke smiled meaningfully. ¡°I heard the Minister of the Right is a genius in statecraft. It¡¯s inexcusable if he can¡¯t even make good use of an entire decade.¡±

    The middle-aged man remained silent no matter what the other party said.

    The grand duke said with a coldugh, ¡°Once the gateway to the new world opens, the Evernight Council will funnel all resources into pioneering the newnd, a small void continent is nothing at that point. Arge amount of resources and manpower have been reserved for breaking new ground. If we miss the opportunity to open the new world because we don¡¯t have the azure blood, then all of these resources and manpower will be used against the human race. You can easily imagine the pros and cons of this decision!¡±

    The middle-aged man looked up. ¡°It¡¯s a deal, but I want the two fleets first.¡±

    The grand duke broke out in augh. ¡°Your appetite is quite big, but we can agree to this condition in order to express our sincerity. We¡¯ll deliver the intelligence report in a few days'' time. This is a great contribution, you must make ample arrangements!¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    ¡°Then I will take my leave now.¡±

    The middle-aged man said calmly, ¡°The road is dangerous and you¡¯re injured, be careful on the way. It¡¯ll be interesting if you don¡¯t get back to Evernight in one piece.¡±

    The grand dukeughed. ¡°Rest assured! There are a lot of people who want my life, but there are also a lot of people who don¡¯t. I¡¯ll be fine along the way.¡±

    ¡°That will be for the best. See the guest out.¡±

    The grand duke was led to the horse-carriage that had brought the middle-aged man here, on which he left at a steady pace. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man picked up a piece of paper and listed over a dozen names. Upon closer inspection, one would see that they were all geniuses of the Empire, including Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann, and a few other unfamiliar names.

    On top of the list was Zhao Jundu.

    There were two names between Zhao Jundu and Ji Tianqing. One was Song Zining, and the other was unknown.

    He first crossed off Zhao Jundu¡¯s name and, after some thought, wrote a single ¡°Li¡± to the side¡ªjust the surname.

    After some hesitation, he wrote Qianye beside the ¡°Li¡±. Looking at the name Qianye, he sighed lightly and erased half the words again.

    The remainder of the list was easy as he drew here and there at a much quicker pace. By the time it was dusk, the paper was no longer recognizable.

    He looked over the paper repeatedly. Then, he burned it on the candle-me with a sigh.

    The man walked out of the study and said, ¡°Prepare the carriage, we return to the residence.¡±

    Momentster, a horse-drawn carriage drove out of the courtyard and back to the Imperial Capital.

    ...

    There was no peace in the pce deep at night.

    Normally, Empress Li should¡¯ve retired to her chambers at this time of the day. Today, however, she had arrived at the Phoenix Wood Pce, where she would normally meet outside guests.

    Someone was already there when she arrived, and it was the middle-aged schr who had just parted ways with the vampire duke.

    Empress Li sat down and nced at the schr¡¯s face. Slightly surprised, she said, ¡°Minister of the Right, there¡¯s no need to disguise yourself aftering here. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re strangers. Speaking of which, your ability in this field is fairly close to perfection. If I hadn¡¯t known beforehand, I might not have seen through your camouge.¡±

    The Minister of the Right waved a hand over his face. His appearance changed swiftly, and even his body structure was somewhat different now. His temperament was calm, collected, and profound as he bowed in greeting. ¡°Thank you for the praise.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°There will be a lot of gossip if those officials find out that you came to meet me in disguise.¡±

    The Minister of the Right said with augh, ¡°They will gossip even if I do things openly, so I¡¯d rather give them some things to talk about. At the very least, I¡¯ll know what they have to say about me at court. That¡¯ll also save them the trouble of keeping an eye on me all day for material to make a fuss about.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense, but you didn¡¯te just for that, did you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. I actually have something to report.¡±

    Empress Li waved her hand gently, prompting the attendants to withdraw to the corridor. Then, a barrier of light descended to cover both the Empress and the minister. The scenery within also turned blurry. Those outside could see the two people inside, but they would not be able to hear a thing.

    ¡°You can speak now.¡±

    The Minister of the Right said, ¡°I came to ask a favor.¡±

    ¡°What about?¡±

    ¡°I heard the Empress has some ns for the Li family. What is the basis for it?¡±

    Empress Li remained calm. ¡°What do you think it is?¡±

    The Minister of the Right replied, ¡°I heard the Li family will soon produce a peerless genius, is there any truth to the rumors?¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°I guess only you would dare to ask such a question. Why do you want to know?¡±

    The Minister of the Right smiled. ¡°Judging from your expression, my guess is probably right. My thoughts are simple, I was never able to make up my mind regarding what you suggested before. But if your family will truly produce a pir of the Empire, there¡¯s no harm in lending my abilities to your cause.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s hand trembled ever so slightly, but she quickly regained her calm. ¡°Isn¡¯t your decision a bit too sloppy?¡±

    ¡°I only want what¡¯s best for the Empire and the human race. If the Li family produces a peerless genius, I will definitely assist them until they mature.¡±

    Empress Li nodded briefly as she sipped her tea.

 Chapter 1105: Worldly Cage

    <h4>Chapter 1105: Worldly Cage</h4>

    Under the urging of many hidden powerhouses, things went forward at a rapid pace. All these developments were limited to a small circle of people in the upper echelons. Even some of the more experienced officials never found out or got the opportunity to take part.

    However, news regarding the new world and age began spreading slowly, and it soon swept through the upper echelons of the Empire at an incredible speed.

    The new world was just like a fairytale.

    The significancey not in terms ofnd and living space. The Empire currently controlled just four continents out of the twenty-seven, and there was still endlessnd to be imed on the Evernight continent. The new world¡¯s appearance would mostly result in a sh between true experts.

    The human race had been in confrontation with Evernight since they rose to power over a thousand years ago. The millennium of warfare stood to prove one point¡ªboth humans and the dark races were trapped in this world. The fall of the Void Valley Star served to cut off all passages to the outside. Even the apex experts who had set foot on long journeys through the void had never sent back any information.

    A good number of those top experts going out to explore the void would still return in ages past, the three supremes atop the Sacred Mountain for instance. Now, however, the great dark monarchs stepping into the void would vanish without a trace, the most shocking among them was the ck-Winged Monarch, Andruil.

    This vampire was actually the second expert with hopes of ascending the Sacred Mountain. His Spatial sh was a powerful skill for crossing the void, even more so than Zhang Boqian¡¯s Void Traversal. Since his failure to return, the Evernight experts had been extremely careful in exploring the void and no longer dared to take risks.

    This gave rise to an adverse environment for growth. Without the experience from void explorations, the experts were deprived of a pathway to train their power. Although few people actually noticed this, new experts from the recent millennium never managed to surpass the peak power of their ancient predecessors.

    Just like how the River of Blood gradually turned silent, simr changes had taken ce in other races as well. Even though Habsburg had managed to light up the emblem of the ming Crown, causing waves of excitement through the vampire race, he only managed to reach the level of the second generation progenitor, Samael.

    As time went by, the entire Evernight faction no longer held any hopes of Andruil returning. Most of the council members believed that the shining star of Evernight, the ck-Winged Monarch, had fallen.

    At first, people had a lot of hope for the Great Maelstrom as well, thinking it was a pathway to a new world. However, the environment inside was highly adverse, and passage was never convenient. Moreover, the natives and creatures inside were so powerful that it made people feel hopeless. Even if a great dark monarch were to enter personally, they would immediately be amon target of the entire realm, and dangers beyond their ken would appear.

    An arachne great dark monarch tried to explore the core region but had to return in three days because of grievous injuries. If he hadn¡¯t run back to Evernight as quickly as he did, he would¡¯ve lost his life there. His strength fell sharply after his return, falling back down to the duke-rank. As for what he had encountered in the core region of the Great Maelstrom, he couldn¡¯t remember anything except boundless pressure and terror.

    Neither the Empire nor Evernight made any progress in the Great Maelstrom after several hundred years of exploration. In truth, both factions had already expected as much. What could a group of sub-divine-champion experts do in such a dangerous ce?

    The high-gravity region Qianye had set foot on was a ce no one had been to in several hundred years.

    Exploring such a dangerous region naturally yielded great profits. Qianye obtained great amounts of white wine and white fruits, and these new life-extension treasures wouldn¡¯t affect one¡¯s talents, either. The Longevity Monarch believed that the fruit could extend one''s life by at least five years, and this was akin to invisibly raising the Empire¡¯s fighting power by a certain margin.

    His other resource gains were also quite abundant. One could see this from how generous the military¡¯s offers were.

    These gains, however, were not necessary for a peak expert. What they were truly concerned about was their future path.

    Was there a different realm above the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs? That was a question in the hearts of every expert at the top.

    But as trapped beasts fighting within this caged world, they would never have the opportunity toe into contact with higher powers. This had be amonly epted fact. The three supremes and their status on the Sacred Mountain was naturally rted to their experiences exploring the void. However, this pathway was forever closed after the fall of the Void Valley Star.

    Without a passage to the outside world and the Great Maelstrom proving to be a dead-end, the experts of the Empire and Evernight had been trapped inside a cage just like that.

    The significance of this new world wasn¡¯t that evident to the ordinary people of either faction, since their lives would hardly be affected. It wasn¡¯t that important to experts, either, since this talk of the new world was just hearsay at the moment. All tangible information was still in the hands of a few people from Evernight. Besides, everyone had experienced how dangerous the Great Maelstrom was, and the historical Void Valley Star was not a fun ce, either.

    No one knew what this ¡°new world¡± would turn out to be, not even those who held the secret to the gateway. What they had in their grasp was just an opportunity, which, in other words, was mere contact with the doorway. They hadn¡¯t even produced the key.

    What woulde beyond the door was still unknown. If it was a realm simr to the Great Maelstrom, it would hold little significance for those peak experts at the end of their lives. But a realm like that wasn¡¯t too bad¡ªthere was life, a vast world, rare resources, and boundless potential for exploration. All they needed to do was kill those unknown existences hiding in the depths.

    If the new world was a lifeless realm covered in moltenva, everything would be for naught.

    To those existences in Evernight who had lived for close to a thousand years, this thread of hope was enough to drive them crazy.

    Those old fogeys who had been in retirement began making ns once this news started to spread.

    A new world, a new era.

    The opening of a new era signaled the end of the old. Whether it was good or bad, everything had to be built upon the rubble of the old era.

    This year, Duchess An of the Song n reached the end of her life. Thete white fruit ultimately failed to retain the embers of her vitality.

    The entire nation was shocked at the news. The leaders of the Song n rushed back one after another to attend the duchess¡¯ funeral. Song Zining was managing the affairs of the Ningyuan Heavy Industries when he heard the news. He locked himself in his room and would not meet anyone for the greater part of the day. He became fairly withered in half a day¡¯s time, almost as though he had aged ten years.

    There were no tears in his eyes, nor were there any signs of having cried. Only his appearance stood to show that true pain couldn¡¯t be wept away.

    ¡°Send news to the Eastern Sea and prepare my airship, I¡¯m heading back home,¡± Song Zining ordered.

    ¡°Seventh Young Master, what about things on that side?¡±

    ¡°Just let go of everything.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ I understand.¡± The subordinate didn¡¯t dare say too much. In truth, most of Ningyuan¡¯s factories had been moved to the neutralnds. Those that remained were those that couldn¡¯t be moved. The departments left behind were actually even more important.

    They were in charge ofmunicating with the various powers and the military to secure necessaryponents. Others included departments for managing core resources, receiving orders, research and development, etc. In short, most of them were not just in charge of manufacturing.

    Before this, Song Zining was in the process of reforming Ningyuan Heavy Industries. Many things required his decision to proceed. Now that he was letting go, the losses they would suffer were significant.

    But no one dared dissuade him after seeing his expression.

    Song Zining left in a hurry soon afterward.

    The director and a handful of attendants watched until the vehicle was over the horizon. Only then did one of the attendants have the courage to ask, ¡°Will the young master be n lord?¡±

    These words echoed everyone¡¯s sentiments. As someone who had followed Song Zining for a good while, the director said while stroking his beard, ¡°Is this a matter you can wag your tongues about? The young master is still a bit too young to lead the n. It won¡¯t be a problem once he¡¯s thirty.¡±

    The attendants agreed with passionate expressions. Once Song Zining was in control of the n, these people would be able to ride his coattails to sess.

    Duchess An¡¯s death might be sadness for some people, but it was an opportunity for certain others.

    There was a giant airship parked above the void continent, and on its roof, Zhang Boqian had just finished respiring the void origin power around him. He carelessly draped a robe around him and entered the study, where several documents were waiting for him.

    Zhang Boqian picked one of them up in surprise. Even a supreme heavenly monarch like him couldn¡¯t help but feel moved as he went through the contents. He summoned his aide with a gentle call.

    ¡°Duchess An has passed?¡±

    ¡°The information is reliable.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said after some thought, ¡°Is Song Zining on his way back?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll ignore them for now and think about things once the oue is settled.¡±

    The aide was startled. ¡°That might not be good. You¡¯ve announced that you would dy settling the scores with the Song n while the duchess was around. Now that she has passed away, people will start talking if you don¡¯t do anything, and that will affect your name."

    Zhang Boqian said indifferently, ¡°My name is based on my fist, not the mouths of those outsiders. Those who dare speak nonsense about me will have their tongues cut off, we''ll see then how they can keep going.¡±

    The aide was shocked out of his wits. ¡°This isn¡¯t appropriate. Do you want me to keep an eye on the Song n?¡±

    ¡°Song Zining, that fellow, isn¡¯t bad. He¡¯s quite simr to the young Lin Xitang and has a bright future ahead of him. Lin Xitang has always been just and upright, but Song Zining can torment the enemy quite well and he¡¯s also bold enough. Haha! We can give that boy a bit more time and see what he can do. It¡¯s not toote to discuss things once the situation has been settled.¡±

    ¡°What if he really bes the n lord?¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll let the Song n be.¡±

    The aide was surprised again. ¡°T-This¡­ isn¡¯t this¡­¡±

    ¡°There are others who will take action. Do you think the Song n has few enemies?¡±

    Since Zhang Boqian had spoken so decisively, the aide no longer said anything else.

    The heavenly monarch looked through the documents before tossing them into the trash bin. ¡°Any movements from the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°None yet.¡±

    ¡°Send more people to investigate.¡±

    The aide asked, ¡°Is something important about to happen there?¡±

    Zhang Boqian nced at the man who had been following him for over a decade. ¡°Where do you think the door to the new world will open?¡±

 Chapter 1106: Taking the Bai

    <h4>Chapter 1106: Taking the Bai</h4>

    ¡°Prince, everything about this new world might just be fake, we can¡¯t trust the information entirely. I did some investigation and found that the rumors originated from the Evernight side or people closely rted to them,¡± said the aide.

    Zhang Boqian nodded. ¡°Finding out this much in a short time, you¡¯ve actually improved. Although news of the new world came from the dark races, it¡¯s definitely not fabricated. I¡¯ve been going into a trance these days, sensing an enormous world somewhere.¡±

    This was a peak expert¡¯s awareness of the grand origins, the same reason why the Evernight powerhouses were able to confirm this matter. What they had added while spreading the news, however, was unknown.

    The aide¡¯s doubt turned into joy. ¡°Prince, did you break through again?¡±

    ¡°How can it be that easy? I just opened up some possibilities. If I can go and take a look at the new world, I might be able to take a step forward.¡±

    ¡°What can I do for you? I won¡¯t hesitate even if I have to go through raging waters or tread on fire!¡±

    ¡°We just need to wait and see. What I fear¡­¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    Zhang Boqian hesitated for a moment. ¡°I fear the dark races will use this as bait, tricking people from our side to do certain things in the name of the greater good.¡±

    ¡°We must take precautions. Rest assured, I¡¯ll let you know once there¡¯s any movement in the Empire.¡±

    Zhang Boqian nodded. ¡°Pay attention to the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°Is it because of Qianye?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s only part of the reason. The neutralnds is a special ce. It is not without reason that the Void Valley Star fell there. That ce might be the weakest point in our world, so it makes sense that the path to the new world will appear in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°I understand. Please rest assured, I¡¯ve already finished setting up channels there. We¡¯ll receive every little bit of news.¡±

    After ordering the aide to withdraw, Zhang Boqian stepped onto the roof of the vessel and into the void. He walked through the nothingness as though it were tnd, as though he were strolling through his back yard, vanishing into the depths of the void in mere moments.

    ¡­

    A small boat was drifting through the void.

    Like a willow leaf, it was so small that it looked like a fishing boat in a river. It just didn¡¯t look like it could remain intact in the void.

    There was an old man on this boat, fishing with a rod in his hand.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s figure arrived behind the old man in just a few steps. He nced at the rod, saying, ¡°Which big fish did you want to catch?¡±

    The old man replied, ¡°Just seeing which fish would take the bait.¡±

    It was weird because the fishing rod was slightly bent, with the string stretching into the depths of the void. It looked as though he had hooked something.

    Zhang Boqian said calmly, ¡°Some of the fish are too big, and catching them might not be a good thing. Your skills, on the other hand, have improved quite a bit.¡±

    Zhang Boqian had noticed the moment he stepped onto the boat that this was just an ordinary vessel. There really was nothing special about it, and even the wood was civilian-grade. The only reason it could exist in the void was because of the old man. This didn¡¯t seem like a great feat, but to fish here for several days like this would take an ability on par with Zhang Boqian¡¯s void traversal.

    Such shocking ability meant that this was naturally the number one expert of the Empire, the Pointer Monarch.

    The man smiled. ¡°Just an insignificant trick referenced from you and the ck-Wing inheritance. The older one gets, the more afraid of death one bes, so I ended up inventing this.¡±

    Zhang Boqian sensed the origin power fluctuations on the boat with a serious expression. He bowed a whileter, saying, ¡°Thank you for the pointers.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not worth mentioning.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch did nothing to hide the origin power flow of the boat. With Zhang Boqian¡¯s ability, he could naturally understand all the workings of the power. This was akin to the monarch teaching Zhang Boqian the secret art, allowing him toprehend everything after just a while.

    This secret art could¡ªfor an extremely small cost¡ªkeep things afloat in the void or have them advance at a slow pace. It wasn¡¯t as fast as void traversal, but it couldst much longer and the consumption was low, a perfectplement to the former.

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°Even the addition of my secret art can¡¯tpare to Spatial sh. It¡¯s quite a pity, that ck-Wing.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to pity? Our race will have one more enemy to face if he were alive.¡±

    ¡°ck-Wing held no enmity for our race in the beginning. Heter changed because of those greedy and insatiable lowlifes. We¡¯re actually the one at fault.¡±

    ¡°Not being hostile in the beginning doesn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t be hostile in the future. His descendants will be on the battlefield sooner orter, and they¡¯ll inevitably die to human hands. That is how vendettas form between factions, races, and even families.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed but didn¡¯t retort.

    ¡°Well, you managed to hook this small fish, what else are you fishing for?¡±

    ¡°A live fish.¡±

    While speaking, the fishing rod moved all of a sudden. The Pointer Monarch swung the rod backward, pulling out a iling fish.

    He casually assembled a pot and rack, under which he lit the mes with a flick of his fingers. He then tossed the fish into the pot, which was somehow filled with enough boiling water to cook the fish.

    The Pointer Monarch fished out a bottle of wine, poured half for himself, and tossed the remainder to Zhang Boqian.

    Thetter didn¡¯t hold back, either, and took a deep swig. ¡°White fruit wine?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t taste great, but the effects are great. This is a present from our little Tianqing.¡± At the mention of Ji Tianqing, the monarch¡¯s eyes almost disappeared from smiling.

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t hold back.¡± Zhang Boqian emptied the bottle in one go before reaching down to scoop the fish out. Just like that, the two men dug into the food without any utensils and soon finished the entire fish. Zhang Boqian even drank the soup up.

    Having had his fill of food and drink, Zhang Boqian sighed. ¡°Good wine, good fish!¡±

    ¡°I waited three entire days to catch a fish from between that Eastern Sea bastard¡¯s hands. How can it not taste good?¡±

    Zhang Boqian closed his eyes to cultivate for a while. A sh of lightning flickered through his eyes when he finally opened them. ¡°So ites from the Eastern Sea. You really do have some tricks!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch smiled. ¡°I¡¯m old. My cultivation won¡¯t progress, so I have to learn some tricks to pass the time.¡±

    ¡°I ate your fish, drank your wine, and received some pointers. Just tell me if there¡¯s anything you want me to do. Do you want me to take care of Tianqing, or that little fellow who received half your inheritance?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°I was a hothead like you when I was young, but I¡¯ve be quite fearful and talkative now that I¡¯m old. What do you make of those people from the military?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°I¡¯ll kill whoever interferes with my business!¡±

    ¡°Is that all? Those people are getting more and more excessive.¡±

    ¡°Someone is shielding them from above. Naturally, they¡¯re not afraid.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°The Longevity Monarch is two generations my senior. I really have no idea whether I should hope he lives on, or if I should wish him dead.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your Ji family¡¯s business, I don¡¯t think I need to interfere.¡±

    ¡°Of course not. I called you here because I wanted to ask you for two favors.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    ¡°The first one is about Tianqing and her child. I hope you¡¯ll take care of them when needed.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    ¡°Secondly, I want you to go meet someone with me, or should I say intercept them, so that they can¡¯t reach the neutralnds.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was curious. ¡°If it¡¯s just a single person, there¡¯s really no one you can¡¯t stop.¡±

    ¡°This person has a supreme supporting him, they might attack from afar at the critical juncture.¡±

    Zhang Boqian frowned. ¡°Even so, that¡¯s nothing you can¡¯t handle alone.¡±

    The Pointer Monarchughed. ¡°I¡¯m old, and I¡¯m afraid of dying. I¡¯ll feel more at ease with you around.¡±

    ¡°Fine, when do we go?¡± Zhang Boqian stopped asking.

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve agreed, let¡¯s go now.¡± The Pointer Monarch put away his fishing rod and drove his boat into the depths of the void.

    Zhang Boqian stood at the front of the boat. ¡°I thought you would ask me to take care of that boy in the Eastern Sea.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch pped his forehead. ¡°Oh my! How could I have forgotten? Thanks for reminding me. Let¡¯s add him into the deal as well, consider it three favors!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The boat sped off in a sh.

    Atop the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Qianye slowly opened his eyes. This cultivation sessionsted an entire month. The month-long tempering had once again pushed his cultivation forward¡ªhis eighth origin node was now full and shrouded in faint mist.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°This is much slower than in the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    Zhuji was curled up like a ball beside him, snoring loudly as she slept. Her clothes were now a little tight as she had grown quite a bit during this month¡¯s time. Now, she looked just like a thirteen-year-old child and was gradually turning into a youngdy.

    Although Qianye had been cultivating for the entire month, his perception had been linked to the Martyr¡¯s Pce and knew everything that was going on inside. At this point, the instation of the main cannons had beenpleted. Combined with the smaller artillery pieces, the Martyr¡¯s Pce now boasted firepower equal to seven cruisers¡ªand that was without the Landsinker.

    Additionally, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was so big that Qianye had installed all the main cannons on one side. That would allow the warship to unleash its maximum firepower potential in battle. As for one side being empty, the void colossus¡¯ body was so much more flexible than man-made airships.

    Warships circling over to the other side will find, to their dismay, that the cannons would turn over with a flip of the Earth Dragon¡¯s body.

    They were mostcking in cannoneers at the moment, those capable of operating powerful main cannons.

    The newly installed engines were undergoing their final calibrations. Qianye drove the Martyr¡¯s Pce to the Eastern Sea, stopped just outside of the continent, and flew down toward Southern Blue.

    One month had passed, and Qianye¡¯s desk at the headquarters was now piled full of documents that required his attention. He felt a headache as he nced at the pile of paper but ultimately went through them one after the other. Only when he had cleared away all the work did he see Song Zining¡¯s letter.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned serious after reading the letter. ¡°Duchess An has passed and Zining is going back to the n? Is he going to fight for the n lord position?¡±

    Song Zining had only sent him an ordinary letter regarding such important news. That was why Dark me had ced the correspondence on his table, along with other official documents. The manner in which the letter was sent proved certain things, but nheless, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but pace about restlessly.

    He read the letter again from head to toe,bing through the uniquely ordered font. Finally, he mmed the letter onto the table and summoned Manager Song.

    Qianye went right to the point. ¡°Do you think Zining will fight for the n lord position?¡±

    The manager said, ¡°There¡¯s no way people like us can know about something that important, unless the seventh young master announces it himself. All he instructed me to do was hand you the letter.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Prepare a channel into the Empire for me. I¡¯m heading to the Song n.¡±

    The manager was shocked. ¡°You¡­¡±

    ¡°Whether or not Zining wants the n lord position, I can¡¯t allow him to be disadvantaged in a fight.¡± Qianye¡¯s calm words contained a hint of killing intent.

 Chapter 1107: Seven Days

    <h4>Chapter 1107: Seven Days</h4>

    The Song n¡¯s Enlightenment Manor was bustling with activity and its gates never saw rest. Duchess An had no shortage of admirers during her youth, many of whom had be powerhouses with friendly ties to the Song n. The Duchess was a legend. The way she had supported the Song n alone in her old age¡ªseeking change through mercy and wisdom¡ªearned the respect of the masses.

    The Song n had been battered by winds and rains as Zhang Boqian rose to power at an incredible speed. The duchess keeping things propped up under such circumstances was a feat worthy of praise. Even Zhang Boqian himself had hinted that he had no intention of tearing the Song n apart as long as she was alive.

    The n itself was weak, but it was rich and sitting on a pile of rare resources. As traders, they didn¡¯t really possess that many secret technologies to their name, making them a prime target for plundering.

    On the contrary, a business like Ningyuan Heavy Industries was highly reliant on Song Zining, and that made it a difficult target. Even if people could snatch Ningyuan from him, the industry would only turn into a money sink. What was the use?

    It was a different story with resources. To put it bluntly, there was little technological requirement for mining ores. All they needed to do was send some ves down to do the mining, and it wasn¡¯t a big loss even if they all died. Most mines would just make up for theck of technology with human lives. The owners were just sitting there, raking in easy money.

    The Song n¡¯s fortune was big, and it was easy to digest. Who wouldn¡¯t want a slice? Even its allies couldn¡¯t help but waver in the face of great profits.

    Duchess An had held out against this pack of wolves for so long, but unfortunately, there was no one to seed her. The descendants were unworthy and ignorant, all of them thinking they were skilled in statecraft and possessed enough resources to imnd and titles. They had no idea how the duchess was shielding them from the wind and rain.

    The gentry of the Empire grieved at her departure, every n and family sending envoys to convey their condolences. Be it enemies or friends, most of them held a degree of respect for Duchess An. Only the n¡¯s true enemies knew that the calm facade on the surface really wasn¡¯t easy to maintain.

    The Imperial n sent a lord, two princes, and a princess. Empress Li also sent her trusted steward. It could be said that a high degree of respect was conveyed.

    Only Zhang Boqian did not send a representative.

    That in itself was a show of respect. Any other family lord in his ce would¡¯ve been banging on the doors once the funeral banners were up.

    The funeral hall was set up in the duchess¡¯ favorite Lotus House, a silent courtyard with few buildings. Only a handful of servants normally frequented the ce, so there was no way it could amodate so many guests. The Song n might not have other things, but they had the money and manpower¡ªthey simply paid arge sum of gold coins to set up numerous temporary guest rooms for the highest-ranking guests. Only then did they barely manage to fit people in.

    In a short while, the area outside of the courtyard and half the mountain was filled with houses to amodate the guests.

    ording to Imperial customs, Duchess An¡¯s remains would be kept there for forty-nine days before burial. The first few days were the busiest, and only after the guest waves had peaked did the people from the n find time to discuss important matters.

    Due to the space shortage, the elders could only squeeze into a secondary conference room. However, they were dizzy from the exhaustion and in no mood toin.

    Song Zhongnian took his seat in the master chair and nced at the people in attendance. ¡°Our Song n is about to face perilous times. Whatever ideas you have, please speak directly.¡±

    Someone said, ¡°A snake cannot be without its head. Affairs of the n had always been decided by the duchess. Now that she¡¯s gone, we need to pick a n lord to lead our Hignd Song n to new heights and make our predecessors proud.¡±

    Now that was interesting. The n needed a new lord after the old ancestor¡¯s passing? When was there such a rule?

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s eyelids twitched as he nced at the speaker¡ªit was Song Xiuwen. This person did not have much of a background but loved to speak out at the elder assembly. His jumping out first probably meant that someone was backing him.

    Song Zhongnian replied slowly, ¡°The old ancestor spoke nothing about changing a new n lord before her passing. The candidates for this position aren''t chosen from the elder assembly, either. Were you nning on making yourself a grand elder or something?¡±

    Song Xiuwen wasn¡¯t about to hold back. ¡°If you really do rmend me, I will reluctantly ept that position. Even if you don¡¯t count my contributions all these years, it¡¯s undeniable that I¡¯ve toiled for the n.¡±

    Seeing that Song Xiuwen wasn¡¯t even calling him by his title, Song Zhongnian said with a cold voice, ¡°A n¡¯s grand elder has to possess both integrity and talent. Everyone knows about your morals and cultivation talents. It¡¯ll be a joke if our Song n¡¯s grand elder can¡¯t even beat a twenty-year-old!¡±

    Song Xiuwen turned red. mming the table, he said furiously, ¡°Nonsense! Stop unting your n lord powers over here. Tell me which twenty-year-old can beat me!¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jundu.¡±

    Song Xiuwen was stopped up. Momentster, he said with a flushed face, ¡°That doesn¡¯t count. Look at the amount of resources they had invested in him. I might not be inferior to him if I had enjoyed such treatment since childhood.¡±

    This made everyone feel embarrassed. It wasmon knowledge that Zhao Jundu was peerless in the same realm. Song Xiuwen wasn¡¯t shameless enough to im that he could hold his own in a fight against thetter even if their cultivation ranks were the same, to speak nothing of his current inferior rank.

    As for iming that Zhao Jundu¡¯s genius was due to his resources, that was simply making up false arguments.

    Song Zhongnian gave him no room to escape. ¡°There are a lot of guests outside. Why not tell them what you think and let them tell you their opinion?¡±

    Song Xiuwen was furious. ¡°Song Zhongnian, what¡¯s the meaning of this? Just say it directly if you want to target me. There¡¯s no need to beat around the bush!¡±

    Song Zhongnian said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re not worth all that effort. You being part of the elder assembly is enough shame for the Song n.¡±

    Song Xiuwen wanted to say something, but the n lord roared, ¡°Sit down!¡±

    A wave of rolling origin power sent Song Xiuwen¡¯s head spinning. He sat down with his blood and qi in disarray, unable to speak anymore.

    Having suppressed Song Xiuwen, Song Zhongnian said to the elders, ¡°As long as I¡¯m still the n lord, I have the power to act. Let me put it bluntly, whoever ns to rely on foreign powers to split the n up will have his branch of the family struck from the family register!¡±

    These words sent a wave ofmotion through the crowd. ¡°We¡¯re all of Song blood, what gives you the right to remove anyone?¡±

    ¡°Exactly! You can strike names off, but can you strike bloodlines off?¡±

    Song Zhongnian waited for themotion to subside before saying, ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so agitated if you¡¯re not seeking to split the n.¡±

    Only at this point did those people realize that they had overstepped their bounds.

    Song Zhongnian said, ¡°It seems many of you are looking forward to a change in the n lord position?¡±

    Most of the elders nodded.

    Song Zhongnian looked discouraged. ¡°I know I¡¯m not capable enough to manage the current situation and I won¡¯t feel at ease staying in this post. But¡­¡±

    His eyes turned cold as he scanned the group. ¡°If anyone wants this power just to split up the n, don¡¯t me me for being rude!¡±

    The might of the n lord sent shivers down the elders¡¯ spines, prompting them to discard their little schemes. The change in n lord wasn¡¯t just a family issue; it was also a national affair. The Empire might not interfere in a n¡¯s internal business, but a change in hereditary titles had to be reported to the Imperial Capital and approved by the Imperial n.

    It would be quite problematic if Song Zhongnian wasn¡¯t willing to step down on his own. They couldn¡¯t just kill him during the duchess¡¯ funeral, could they? If the elders were that bold and malicious, the internal affairs of the n wouldn¡¯t be this muddy.

    Song Zhongnian saw that the elders had be a bit more reserved. ¡°Now that the n is in danger, we need all the help we can get. Zining is finally back, so I think we should let him join the meeting.¡±

    These words elicited strong reactions.

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t Lil¡¯ Seven left the Song n? Strictly speaking, he isn¡¯t a part of the n anymore, right?¡±

    Song Zhongnian nced at the speaker. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say just now that we can strike off a person¡¯s name from the register but cannot strike off his bloodline?¡±

    The elder didn¡¯t know what to say. Someone else stepped in, saying, ¡°Everything about Lil¡¯ Seven is good, except his skirt-chasing and frivolousness. He might be a good asset after a couple more years of tempering. Why not call him back then?¡±

    This person had sinister motives in criticizing Song Zining for his youth and carefree style.

    Song Zhongnian replied calmly, ¡°You just took in two concubines, and you also have three bastards outside. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re in any situation to call other people lecherous.¡±

    ¡°Zining is still young andcking in seniority. An elder has to be a person of value and prestige, how can the boy convince the masses?¡±

    It was Song Zhongcheng speaking. The n lord couldn¡¯t quite make things difficult for his older brother, so he merely shot him a cold nce. Song Zhongcheng was rather reserved today and didn¡¯t continue saying anything after exchanging nces. A different elder beside him picked up the argument.

    Chaos descended upon the elder assembly as Song Zining sat quietly in front of the duchess¡¯ remains.

    A maid arrived beside him. ¡°Seventh Young Master, you haven¡¯t had anything to eat for three days. You¡¯ll get sick at this rate. Why not eat something?¡±

    Song Zining waved his hand, indicating that it was unnecessary.

    The maid looked anxious. ¡°The old ancestor¡¯s heart will break if she sees you like this.¡±

    Song Zining looked up in a daze. ¡°Ah, but she¡¯s not here anymore...¡±

    The maid looked scared. ¡°Seventh Young Master, w-what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I just lost myself thinking about the past. You may withdraw, no need to care about me. I¡¯ll leave after sitting for a few days.¡±

    The maid gasped. ¡°You must not go! You might not know, Young Master, but many people are looking forward to you bing the n lord!¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡±

    Having overstepped her bounds already, the maid found it inappropriate to continue. She merely bit her lips and left. Those waiting around the funeral hall were the duchess¡¯ personal maids and attendants. They whispered among one another, ¡°It¡¯s only been seven days, yet there¡¯s no longer anyone here at night.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, only the seventh young master remains. It seems the old ancestor didn¡¯t favor him for nothing.¡±

    ¡°Humph, those people are busy splitting up the n. How can they have time to grieve?¡±

    ¡°Shh, keep quiet. You¡¯ll get beaten up at least if someone hears!¡± The Lotus House was filled with people and activity in recent days. These maids couldn¡¯t escape the fate of being shouted at and berated. Shoving and kicking weren¡¯t entirely out of the question, either.

    The first maid¡¯s eyes turned red. ¡°Who would dare treat us like this when the old ancestor was here?¡±

    Song Zining remained kneeling in the funeral hall. He looked up at the remains of the duchess, saying, ¡°Old Ancestor, you¡¯ve long since foreseen this situation, right? Is that why you left very few words? The current Song n has disappointed you to this degree. What do you want me to do? What should I do?¡±

    At this point, an attendant arrived and whispered, ¡°Seventh Young Master, the n lord requests your presence at the elder assembly.¡±

    ¡°I will watch over the old ancestor¡¯s coffin, I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡±

    Not expecting Song Zining to refuse so tly, the attendant was at a momentary loss about what to do.

 Chapter 1109: Iâ€™m the Most Suitable

    <h4>Chapter 1109: I¡¯m the Most Suitable</h4>

    ¡°Young Noble, you should go faster!¡± A tender young maid urged. Qianye had no choice but to hasten his steps and follow her to the side hall.

    The ce was rather quiet, and the little courtyard would be hidden from the outside world once the doors had been closed. The side hall was rather small. With just two rooms¡ªone for rest and the other for meditation¡ªit was only the size of an ordinary house.

    The maid mmed the gates shut. Only then did she heave a sigh of relief, blurting out her thoughts, ¡°Thank god no one saw!¡±

    She ran into the house, saying, ¡°Young Noble, please sit, I¡¯ll make tea for you.¡±

    In mere moments, she was back to offer tea. This was a new seasonal product¡ªjade green, transparent, and deeply fragrant. Moreover, she had brewed the tea at the perfect temperature. The word perfect represented money, time, and concentration, things only a maid of a major family could afford.

    Qianye currently understood a bit about the finer things in life. ¡°Good tea, good technique.¡±

    This type of new tea couldn¡¯t be brewed too hot or too cold. The boiled water had to be rested for a bit before going into the pot, a rather challenging process in terms of technique.

    The maid was all smiles from the praise. ¡°You should drink more. There are quite a few good teas in this courtyard, I¡¯ll brew them for you one after the other.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Such good intentions, afraid that I won¡¯t be able to kill my way out?¡±

    The maid was dumbstruck. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re afraid my identity will leak, and that it will attract an attack.¡±

    The maid chuckled with her mouth covered. ¡°Young Noble is rather insightful, but there¡¯s no need to say that out loud, is there? The seventh young master should be here soon, you two can discuss things when the timees. There are quite a few outsiders in thepound, and the n lord can¡¯t control them. Besides, even if there are no outsiders, the gossip inside our n is quite troublesome in their own right.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°Even with all the deception, people will find out sooner orter. That being said, there can¡¯t be more people here than there were in Indomitable. You need not worry that I won¡¯t be able to fight my way out.¡±

    The maid was stunned momentarily. ¡°There are no people from the Zhao n here.¡±

    These words proved that the girl possessed great knowledge and insight, not qualities an ordinary maid would have. Qianye¡¯s sessful escape from the city of Indomitable was¡ªin addition to his own superiorbat strength¡ªin no small part due to the Zhao n¡¯s secret assistance.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°That is true, but I am no longer the same person I was back then. And the Song n is full of people who fear death. There might be a lot of people, but only a few will ever dare stand in my path.¡±

    ¡°You look civilized enough, why are you so crude in behavior?¡± The maid criticized him verbally, but her sparkling eyes were all over him. Her boldness was indeed deserving of a beating.

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°I never studied much when I was young.¡±

    ¡°The Yellow Springs trains its students in both civil and military arts. Their alumni are never brainless brutes.¡±

    Qianye was a bit surprised by the retort. He nced deeply into her eyes, saying, ¡°The Song n does have talents. It¡¯s not every day that you see a n member changing into maid attire in such a short time, and acting the part so well too.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no other choice. The old ancestor¡¯s funeral is the most important thing at hand, we mustn¡¯t disturb her peace. Those maids are so clumsy and don¡¯t know how to talk. It¡¯s very likely that they¡¯ll botch things up, so it¡¯s better Ie in person. Come, have tea!¡±

    She ced a new pot of tea in front of Qianye, which he duly tasted. The aroma was strong but distant, apletely new realm so to speak.

    While he was enjoying the vor, the maid said, ¡°There¡¯s something else. Song Ziyan wanted me to check on your cultivation and character, to see if you¡¯re worthy of her. As I see it, she has passed her best age of being so picky, and soon there won¡¯t be anyone to marry her. I¡¯m more of a match for you!¡±

    Qianye almost sprayed the tea out. He finally managed to contain the urge and let out a dry cough instead.

    Chuckling, the maid extended a hand. ¡°Allow me to introduce myself officially. I¡¯m Song Hui.¡±

    Qianye shook her hand hesitantly.

    He had nned to merely touch her hand, but Song Hui simply wouldn¡¯t let go. She squeezed his hands a bit while offering words of praise, ¡°So smooth!¡±

    Qianye had imagined the worst-case scenario on his way here, where he would have to start fighting upon arrival and kill his way out of the Empire.

    Who would¡¯ve thought he would be taken advantage of by a female hoodlum?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration. The Song n was indeed full of capable people.

    Seemingly noticing his thoughts, Song Huiughed. ¡°What are you thinking about? It¡¯s just as they say¡­ the seventh young master looks gentle but is ruthless, Zhao Jundu sees nothing else but his objective and ignores all girls, and you look fierce but you¡¯re easily embarrassed. Haha!¡±

    Qianye was tongue-tied, ovee by an indescribable feeling. ¡°What the heck is all that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just some secrets circting amongst us girls. Oh, it¡¯s no longer a secret since almost every noble girl knows about it now. Can¡¯t help it, you three are so awesome and good-looking!¡±

    Qianye had no idea whether or not he should respond.

    Song Hui sat down beside Qianye, grabbing his hand calmly. ¡°Young Noble Xiao Ye¡­¡±

    Pfft! Qianye finally sprayed out his tea.

    Song Hui patted his back with a mischievous smile.

    ¡°W-Who told you about that!?¡± Qianye was furious, his voice filled with killing intent.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do anything to him even if I tell you. Why make it difficult for yourself?¡±

    ¡°I know now, it¡¯s Song Zining!¡± Qianye gnashed his teeth. He had once dressed up as a girl and used the name Qian Xiaoye. That part of his life was a pain that couldn¡¯t be washed away, and he wanted nothing more than to silence everyone who knew.

    ¡°Who¡¯s calling me?¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice echoed from the door.

    Ashen-faced, Qianye walked out with a snort.

    Song Zining was bewildered. ¡°You came all the way here, why the rush to leave?¡±

    Qianye said with a cold face, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare cause trouble for you.¡±

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t make sense of the matter. ¡°I never wanted to be the n lord, what trouble can there be?¡±

    ¡°Why did youe back then?¡±

    ¡°I only wanted to meet the old ancestor.¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice was gentle.

    Seeing his withered countenance, Qianye couldn¡¯t keep up his anger. ¡°I remember her graceful bearing back then. I came to see you. Just do what you want to do, there¡¯s no need to care about other people.¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t even replied when Song Hui praised, ¡°Young Noble Xiaoye is so cool!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned dark, and Song Zining finally realized why Qianye looked like he was about to explode.

    Song Hui wasn¡¯t afraid, though. She stood in front of Qianye with shoulders thrown back, saying, ¡°What, are you going to hit me? Go ahead! I won¡¯t retaliate.¡±

    She even took two steps forward, almost pushing her chest into Qianye. What else could thetter do but take a step back? Song Hui took two steps forward every time he took a step back, almost as though she was throwing herself into his arms.

    Seeing Qianye in a constant retreat, Song Zining stood up with a stern face. ¡°Hui, stop the mischief. Qianye has family.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that. Which man doesn¡¯t have a few wives? Besides, how dare a yboy like you talk about family and responsibility?¡±

    Song Zining was livid, but he couldn¡¯t find the words to retort.

    Seeing no other way out, Qianye extended a finger and poked Song Hui¡¯s forehead. This stopped her from moving forward, and she couldn¡¯t reach Qianye no matter how hard she swung her arms.

    Qianye asked during this moment of safety, ¡°Zining, what¡¯s Miss Hui¡¯s background?¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°Hui was born to the original fifth branch, but they split off during my grandpa¡¯s generation. That¡¯s why she wasn¡¯t named ording to the main family¡¯s scheme. In terms of seniority, she¡¯s my cousin sister. She¡¯s the most talented in our generation, too bad she was born a girl.¡±

    Song Hui snorted. ¡°If you think so highly of me, why did you rmend Song Ziyan to Qianye instead of me? Oh, and there¡¯s that underagess, Song Yunqing.¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t imagined she would remember all those things. Drenched in cold sweat, he replied sheepishly, ¡°Umm¡­ Ziyan isn¡¯t capable, but she¡¯s suitable as a housewife. As for you, you¡¯re¡­ too smart.¡±

    ¡°You mean I¡¯m more suitable as a brother?¡±

    Song Zining remained silent in tacit agreement.

    Song Hui sneered. ¡°You beat around the bush, but ultimately, you¡¯re just afraid that I¡¯ll outsmart you men. I might not have many advantages over Song Ziyan, but I only need two.¡±

    One could see how eloquent this girl was from how she could leave even Song Zining speechless. Qianye was also quite curious about the two points she had mentioned. ¡°What are those?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m younger than her and I have the bigger chest.¡±

    Song Zining had no way to refute this reasonable argument.

    Seeing the two embarrassed, Song Hui kept pushing on. ¡°Fine, fine, my mission has been aplished anyway. The elder assembly is about to start, aren¡¯t you two going?¡±

    ¡°What was your mission?¡± Song Zining asked.

    ¡°Stall for time, which I did.¡± Song Hui didn¡¯t try to hide anything.

    Qianye and Song Zining exchanged nces. Thetter said with a weird expression, ¡°Are you really stalling for time? I think you have your personal goals.¡±

    Why would she remind them about the elder assembly if she were truly stalling?

    Song Hui smiled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong about me wanting to marry myself off?¡±

    ¡°But Qianye really isn¡¯t suitable.¡± Song Zining knew of Qianye¡¯s love for Nighteye, so he wasn¡¯t too optimistic about her chances.

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s definitely more suitable than someone like you.¡± Song Hui didn¡¯t hold back.

    Song Zining coughed. ¡°I-I have my reasons.¡± He might¡¯ve been more convincing if he wasn¡¯t so guilty at heart.

    ¡°No one wants to know your reasons. Go, the assembly has already begun.¡±

    Qianye nced at Song Zining, waiting for his decision.

    Song Zining thought about it for a good while. Finally, he said through clenched teeth, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to take part at first, but since you¡¯re here, we should go in and listen to what those fellows are up to. Do what you want and say what you wish when we get there. There¡¯s no need to hold back on my ount.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Seeing the two leaving, Song Hui sighed softly. ¡°I¡¯ve done my best.

    At the very least, Qianye¡¯s killing intent had lessened greatlypared to when he had just arrived.

 Chapter 1110: All Trash

    <h4>Chapter 1110: All Trash</h4>

    The Song n¡¯s elder assembly today was destined to be lively. Since the very first meeting, the assembly would convene regrly despite the ongoing funeral.

    The elders quarreled every day, but they weren¡¯t idiots who only caused a ruckus without doing anything. The arguments at the assembly didn¡¯t stop them from scheming in secret. Several secret meetings had taken ce these days, the agreements from which were brought to the stage and cemented by voting.

    Eight out of ten topics that had reached a decision in these meetings were rted to the division of the Song n¡¯s businesses and profits. The objective here was to divide the Song n¡¯s jointly-owned businesses among the various families and branches. Some of the other discussion topics sought to target Song Zhongnian.

    Song Zhongnian had been the n lord for many years and had benefited from his position to a certain degree. This became especially evident when he had removed the Grand Elder from his position, sending the only branch that couldpete against him into decline.

    Now that Duchess An was gone, the situation was no longer the same. Surprisingly, all the family branches had reached a tacit agreement on removing him from the n lord position. Only Song Zhongnian and a handful of elders from his family opposed the motion to split up family assets. The others rose up in unison and overwhelmed them with numbers, effectively deciding the oue.

    The repeated urrences angered Song Zhongnian, prompting him to stop attending the meetings. Without his presence, the emboldened elders set their sights on the assets owned by the n lord¡¯s branch, citing equality as their slogan.

    They spoke with a righteous tone, ¡°We¡¯re all descendants of the Song n, why does your branch own so many businesses?¡±

    While mentioning the total assets, these elders naturally wouldn¡¯t bring up the number of people the main branch had to provide for. Nor did they mention the projects maintained by the n lord like schools, social events, and support for distant rtives.

    In the face of this skewed reasoning, Song Zhongnian was still a civilized person with a reputation to consider. He just couldn¡¯t go and settle the score with them one after the other like a cook at the wet market. After making a couple of retorts, he swept his sleeves and left angrily.

    Agreements were made one after the other as the elders took advantage of this period to split the businesses and assign their own people. Some of them had already left to report to their coveted posts despite the funeral period.

    The assets that had been divided were mostly n-owned businesses, the profits from which were used to maintainmon facilities like energy towers, private armies, roads, etc. The flow of money from n-owned businesses was decided by the n lord, so the current decision was akin to weakening Song Zhongnian¡¯s authority.

    By the time Song Zining and Qianye walked into the conference hall, the elders were just beginning their meeting day.

    ¡°The thirty-two stores on the Western Continent, sixty-percent of their ie will go to the fourth branch and the remainder will be split between the third and ninth branches. The manager of the store will be assigned by the fourth branch. Any objections?¡±

    ¡°Seconded.¡±

    ¡°No objections.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think the fourth branch should treat us all tonight?¡±

    A chubby elder stood up and bowed. ¡°Of course, of course! I¡¯ll be the host tonight, everyone muste! Those who don¡¯t are looking down on our branch!¡±

    The other elders agreed with augh.

    It was at this time that a cold voice echoed from the door. ¡°So what if I look down on the fourth branch?¡±

    The entire elder assembly quieted down. The fat elder nced toward the source of the voice, but his anger soon turned to shock. ¡°Zining, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Song Zining had risen to fame in recent years, and his cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds. Many of the elders still remembered him as the boy from the n examination, but they had more or less heard of his aplishments and understood that no one in the younger generation of the n was his match.

    Most people found the person beside Song Zining rather familiar. That beautiful face left too deep of an impression on them, one that they couldn¡¯t forget.

    One of the elders pointed at Qianye. ¡°Y-You¡¯re¡­¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Qianye, don¡¯t mistake me for someone else.¡±

    One of the elders roared furiously, ¡°You actually daree here. Do you know where you are?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Where indeed? What I am certain of is that this isn¡¯t a tiger¡¯s den, and neither is it a bloody battle nor the city of Indomitable. I¡¯lle when I please and go when I want, why must I care?¡±

    The elder trembled from the anger. ¡°Insolence! Are you not afraid that I¡¯llmand the soldiers to capture you?¡±

    Qianye stood with his hands behind his back, scanning the room with his lightning-sharp gaze as he broke into augh. ¡°You don¡¯t even have a divine champion in the entire n, yet you want to capture me? I don¡¯t want to say it, but all of you here are trash on the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°Arrogance!¡±

    ¡°Scoundrel!¡±

    ¡°Which ignorant junior is this? Scram!¡±

    Qianye remained motionless at the door while theshing went on. The elders shouted and cursed, but none of them dared toe within three meters of Qianye. All of them were simply hiding in the distance and hurling verbal abuses. Those in the first row wanted to edge back but soon found that they could no longer squeeze into the crowd. The pale men had no choice but to face Qianye, not daring to utter a single word.

    They were cursing secretly, but it was at their nsmen instead of Qianye. Several pairs of hands had pushed them forward when they were trying to retreat.

    Qianye became thoughtful at the sight of this. ¡°It seems my name can frighten them.¡±

    Song Zining rolled his eyes. ¡°The cheek of you!¡±

    Song Zining walked over to the center of the conference hall and mmed his palm down on the stack of agreements. ¡°So these are the agreements decided upon by the elder assembly. As I see it, we should just burn them here.¡±

    This produced a wave ofmotion through the assembly. These agreements were reached through several days of hard work, and they weren¡¯t about to spit out the meat that had entered their mouths. Several men could no longer worry about Qianye¡¯s presence as they jumped out and started cursing at Song Zining.

    Song Zining channeled his origin power, saying, ¡°These agreements contain everyone¡¯s signature. To be blunt, this is solid criminal evidence. I¡¯m burning it for everyone''s good.¡±

    His voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it suppressed all the background noise and caught everyone¡¯s attention. Many of the elders were shocked. ¡°Lil¡¯ Seven, your cultivation has risen so much?¡±

    Song Zining was currently rank-sixteen, a true expert in every asion. Additionally, hisbat strength in battle was even higher than on paper, meaning that he was almost peerless at the same realm. Only terrifying experts like Zhao Jundu and Qianye could suppress him.

    ¡°You¡¯re at the elder assembly, not somewhere you can behave atrociously!¡± One of the elders said. However, he shrunk back and softened his tone midway, as did many of the other elders chiming in.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Our Hignd Song n has its rules. The businesses listed on these documents are n-owned assets. Ignoring the tant breach of rules, who¡¯s going to pay for the maintenance of n facilities, our private army, and the tens of thousands of mercenaries in our employ? Do you n to kill them off after owing them money?¡±

    ¡°This is something all the elders agreed upon, you don¡¯t need to worry.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°You have no business in the elder assembly. Who gave a young brat like you the right to speak?¡±

    The elders found courage in speaking out together, eventually surrounding the conference table.

    Song Zining raised his cold voice. ¡°Your actions are clearly aimed at splitting the n up! How will you face your ancestors in a hundred years?¡±

    Some of the elders looked rather ashamed, while the others merely saw a shift in expression. There was no way they would be willing to give up the meat in their mouths. It was even more distressing than being killed.

    Song Xiuwen stood out and said furiously, ¡°Lil¡¯ Seven! This is not your ce to speak. Many of those documents were signed by your main branch head. Do you not recognize his authority?¡±

    The head of the main branch was the n lord, Song Zhongnian.

    Song Zining flipped through the papers and found several signed by the n lord. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who signed them. How will these people enter the ancestral hall from now on? The old ancestor has just passed, but you people are already busy splitting the n up. There are still so many people in the courtyard! Ignoring all else, the Song n¡¯s prestige will be destroyed once news of this spreads in the outside world! Do you think your own names will be left intact?¡±

    Song Zining hesitated momentarily. ¡°The current Song n doesn¡¯t have any good reputation left. As traders, you should know how important reputation is. Who will do business with you without a good name? You¡¯re destined to lose all these family assets sooner orter.¡±

    Some of the elders edged back in shame, but most of them were furious.

    Song Xiuwen had already stepped out, so he simply kept going. He said in a fierce tone, ¡°If the business declines in our hands, we¡¯re willing to take that responsibility. What of it? The decision of the elder assembly must be executed! Don¡¯t keep bringing up the old ancestor. Even the Great Qin¡¯sws had to be changed at one point. The n rules were drafted by people, and now it¡¯s time to change them.¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t expected such words.

    Qianye was standing by the door, observing everyone. ¡°Zining, howe I don¡¯t see your grandpa?¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°Let it be.¡±

    Those documents were supposed to be stored in the depository, so why were they all in Song Zining¡¯s hands? The reason was evident¡ªSong Zhongnian was unwilling to face the elders and wished to push all the responsibility on Song Zining.

    The current situation was rted to the continued existence of the Song n. There was no way it would remain standing after being divided among the family branches. The n lord wasn¡¯t willing to take action even under such circumstances; no wonder Song Zining had nothing to say.

    If only Song Zhongnian were a bit stronger, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for someone of his stature to ensure the n remained intact. Preventing its downgrade from a major n, however, was a different matter.

    Qianye understood. ¡°As a n with a thousand years of history, the Song definitely produces a lot of talented people!¡±

    Song Xiuwen had thrown caution to the wind. In his anger, he pointed at Qianye¡¯s nose and roared, ¡°Who the heck do you think you are? How dare you speak about the Song n¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a crisp bang resounded through the hall. Qianye hadnded a square p on his face!

    This p was extremely powerful. Song Xiuwen¡¯s teeth flew everywhere as he spun through the air and mmed into the wall, falling down unconscious in the end. He also crashed into several elders along the way and the hall fell into chaos.

    The trembling elders pointed at Qianye. ¡°Our Song n is a ce of reason. Y-You¡­¡±

    Qianye slowly retracted his hand and smiled brightly. ¡°I have a pretty bad temper. I normally be rather unreasonable when someone is pointing at my face and cursing at me.¡±

 Chapter 1111: The Show Begins

    <h4>Chapter 1111: The Show Begins</h4>

    Song Xiuwen wasn¡¯t really that weak. His rank-fourteen origin power could be considered the average since most of the core members of the n were at this level, on paper at least. He had been rank-fourteen for twenty years. ording to the Song n¡¯s viewpoint, this could be considered an ¡°experienced¡± person.

    Normally, Song Xiuwen would boast that he could escape from anyone below the divine champion rank and even exchange a blow or two against one. As for experts at the same rank, he imed that he had defeated quite a few and that his record was wless. After all, there were too few opportunities for a Song n elder to take action. Whatever fights that came up were fought by hired hands.

    Boasting on a regr basis slowly gave Song Xiuwen more confidence as he started to believe himself. The other elders were more or less at the same cultivation-rank as he was. Since Song Xiuwen felt himself peerless, the others naturally thought, ¡°I¡¯m not inferior to you in any aspect. If you¡¯re peerless in the same realm, I can probably defeat most of my opponents as well.¡±

    In their little world of imaginations, the Song n¡¯s fighting power was at the top of all the major ns. They were just a bit inferior to the Zhang n¡ªand that was because of Zhang Boqian.

    They believed that the Zhao and Bai ns were also discrepant in their generational fighting force, with the old people nearing the end of their lives and the young still brats. They felt that the Song n¡¯s core prime-age lineup was still a bit superior as the n had nevercked aplishments. There were more than just a few examples of people umting merits to countship. The frequency of their transports, supplies, and frontline sentries being ambushed in battle was the same as any other n; those who criticized the Song had to be narrow-minded people.

    Qianye¡¯s p woke everyone up from their little dream. Some of the older members were still confused about how he had pped Song Xiuwen flying. One had to remember that thetter was rank-fourteen!

    The elder assembly fell into silence as everyone was dumbstruck.

    Qianye flexed his fingers and said, ¡°Which elder wants to teach me a lesson? Stand out and speak! Do you think I can¡¯t see you just because you¡¯re hiding in the crowd?¡±

    An elder standing at one of the corners walked out. He was tall, well-built, and possessed bones like steel. He said in a deep voice, ¡°No matter how powerful you are, you can¡¯t be unbeatable. The Song n is not a ce for you to act so atrociously.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Ninth Uncle, are you going to stand with them as well?¡±

    Blushing, Song Tu let out a dry cough. ¡°Lil¡¯ Seven, we¡¯ll talk about thatter. You shouldn¡¯t have brought an outsider to the elder assembly. As the weaponry hall elder, I cannot sit by and watch this go on.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Later? Like when the Song n haspletely copsed? Ninth Uncle, I¡¯ve always respected you for your courage and righteousness. I would have never imagined something like this.¡±

    Song Tu smiled wryly after a while. ¡°The n has itsws. No matter what, our Hignd Song n¡¯s elder assembly won¡¯t allow an outsider to insult us. How can I ignore my responsibilities and sit by?¡±

    With Song Tu taking the initiative, many of the elders were emboldened. Some of them immediately stood out and said, ¡°He¡¯s right! Even you, Lil¡¯ Seven, are no longer a member of the n anymore, let alone Qianye. We did you a favor by letting you into the courtyard, how dare you stir up trouble?¡±

    Song Zining ignored everyone else. He merely stared at Song Tu and said, ¡°Ninth Uncle, what do you say?¡±

    Song Tu¡¯s brows knitted together. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

    ¡°Look at what the n lord is doing.¡±

    Song Tu¡¯s right palm clenched into a fist as he nodded. ¡°Very well. I¡¯m feeling a bit under the weather today, so I won¡¯t be attending the assembly any longer.¡±

    With that, he actually left without looking back.

    ¡°Humph! Useless thing! Since he¡¯s afraid of dealing with this matter, let this old man try you out. Let me see what ability you have under that fame of yours.¡±

    A tall elder walked out from the crowd, the original grand elder of the Song n, Song Zhongcheng. Qianye still remembered how this person had, despite his position, attacked him back at the n examination. If Song Tu and Duchess An hadn¡¯t helped him back then, Qianye would¡¯ve suffered grievous injuries.

    Now, the two of them were standing face-to-face under present circumstances.

    Qianye nced at Song Zining. ¡°What do I do?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°What else? Your p woke me up. I¡¯ve been overly cautious with how I deal with these people. We don¡¯t really need to care about too much when we¡¯re already in a corner.¡±

    Qianye smiled brilliantly. ¡°Understood, can I beat him to death?¡±

    Song Zining rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t actually kill him!¡±

    Nodding, Qianye started cracking his knuckles.

    The exchange between the two silenced everyone¡ªit was as though the entire hall was popted by y sculptures. Song Zhongcheng was absolutely furious. ¡°I wish to see how two little brats like you can beat me to death!¡±

    He was one of the top experts of the Song n and just shy of crossing the divine champion threshold. He simply refused to believe he would lose to a little brat.

    Song Zining replied, ¡°You probably haven¡¯t fought an outsider in ages, right?¡±

    Song Zhongcheng said with a gloomy expression, ¡°So what?¡±

    With a nod, Song Zining turned toward the other elders. ¡°I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s the same for all of you. You hide away to cultivate, counting your little ranks and feeling yourself quite powerful. In truth, what Qianye said is not wrong at all. Compared to those killing on the battlefield, everyone here is just trash.¡±

    The elders were all livid, but aughing Qianye attacked before anyone could act out.

    He took a step forward, shaking the entire hall when his foot struck the ground. A punch then flew toward Song Zhongcheng¡¯s chest.

    The punch was neither heavy nor fast, but it was vibrating constantly and seemed rather profound. Song Zhongcheng spoke harshly, but he didn¡¯t really dare to be careless against the famous Qianye. He channeled every ounce of origin power he possessed and crossed his arms to stop the punch.

    There was a strange smile on Qianye¡¯s face as the arm and fist came into contact. With a sudden roar, eight ps of thunder echoed throughout his body. His vampire bloodline reinforced the eightyers of Excavator as an unstoppable deluge of power rushed into Song Zhongcheng¡¯s body.

    In mere moments, all the bones in Song Zhongcheng¡¯s arms were shattered, and the man was flung backward like a cannonball. He punched arge hole in the wall and shot through three more beforending in the courtyard.

    Only at this point did he spray out a mouthful of blood.

    The elders were stunned. Song Zining, however, was flustered. ¡°Oh my! You opened up a hole! I thought it was fine to block the door, now what do we do?¡±

    Many of the elders felt dizzy. This seventh young master was nning to corner them and beat them up. It seemed he had evil intentions.

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll take charge of this side, you keep blocking the door.¡±

    His limbs weren¡¯t idle as he spoke. He took a step to the side and pped a dozen or so elders with a semi-circr shield that had appeared out of nowhere.

    Half of the elders were sent flying with a muffled bang, while the others staggered back, coughing up blood.

    Qianye turned around and performed a sweeping kick. A crescent-shaped wave of origin power sent several elders flying. Fortunately, the attack was blunt and no one was cut in half.

    He then ran about, ramming people with his shoulders and elbows, each blow backed by the simple, blunt force of Excavator. The elders felt as though they were trapped in a ringing ancient bell and struck with a sledgehammer. Soon, everyone had lost their footing as Qianye¡¯s kicks and punches felled them by the dozens.

    At the height of his excitement, countless red threads emerged around Qianye in a sh of sanguine light.

    ¡°Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing!?¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice grew louder and louder.

    Qianye retracted the bloody threads and said in embarrassment, ¡°I got too excited. It¡¯s instinct, instincts I say! Hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Instincts my ass!¡± Song Zining pointed at Qianye and roared, ¡°What do I do if you get too carried away?¡±

    Only then did Qianye discover that the elders were rolling about on the ground like bottle gourds. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine, most of them are probably pretending. We can try stabbing them to see who¡¯s ying possum, and then beat them up again.¡±

    Song Zining snorted. ¡°Too much trouble. Let it be since you¡¯ve beaten everyone up, I¡¯ll take charge of breaking down the building.¡±

    With that, he stomped a few times, causing the entire hall to shake with increasing vigor. In the blink of an eye, the structure copsed with a loud rumble, burying all the elders in the rubble.

    Qianye and Song Zining were the first to rush out. Some elders eventually removed the debris pressing down on them and made their way out. Others started digging through the rubble to help their friends squeeze out.

    At this point, there was no way things could be settled with just words. Many of the elders threw caution to the wind, roaring, ¡°This insolent little thief! You¡¯re really asking for the supreme elder to take care of you. Where¡¯s Elder Lu? Why isn¡¯t he here?¡±

    A nearby elder said in an awkward hush, ¡°Elder Lu is an external surname. So¡­ we didn¡¯t really invite him to our... negotiations. You understand.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± The elder cleared his throat. ¡°Men, someone¡¯s nning to assassinate the elders! Capture the assassins!¡±

    His voice was full of character and backed with deep origin power, spreading through the courtyard in the blink of an eye. Many of the guests who were still here rushed over, numbering even more than the Song n¡¯s guards.

    Those who could live in the courtyard were guests of considerable status. The staff had been reminded time and again to remember their appearance and treat them with respect. Hence, no one dared to stop them as they rushed over.

    These knowledgeable guests immediately recognized Qianye and were left stupefied. Those who didn¡¯t know him asked around to confirm their guesses. They were enlightened after a round of whispers and began sizing him up like they would a rare treasure.

    A rash person said, ¡°What nerve¡­¡±

    A close friend nearby pulled him back. ¡°Careful, you can¡¯t touch him!¡±

    The first man was shocked. ¡°Why?¡±

    The second person replied with an aggrieved expression, ¡°You might not have seen him in action, but have you never heard of his aplishments? Who under the divine champion rank can even hope to touch him? You¡¯ll be lucky if you get out of the fight alive! Besides, I heard he¡¯s rted to many powerful characters. Sigh, you¡¯re usually quite smart. Howe you¡¯re as dumb as those Song n elders now?¡±

    The first person replied, ¡°Thanks for the reminder! I don¡¯t know what came over me. Perhaps it¡¯s because I increased my cultivation too fast and my realm is unstable? But rest assured, as dumb as I am, I¡¯m not dumb to that degree.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s stop talking and watch the show!¡±

    They took their positions and stretched their necks, ready to watch the show. None of them felt that this was inappropriate considering their status as lineal descendants of a high-ranking aristocratic family.

 Chapter 1112: Blood Relationship

    <h4>Chapter 1112: Blood Rtionship</h4>

    Almost all of the guests were surrounding the scene with simr attitudes. Some of the stronger and less patient people simply rose into the air to get a good view of all the miserable elders. They merely hovered at a moderate altitude, but it was hard to tell whether their carefree manner was a way of showing off or not.

    Almost all eyes fell upon Qianye since he was a legendary character now. His exploits in Indomitable were spoken of far and wide, so much so that even the upper echelons of the Empire started arguing about him. They felt that people should overlook Qianye¡¯s vampire identity since he had contributed greatly to the Empire and the human race.

    This viewpoint was rather popr. After all, no one knew Qianye was a vampire before, and he himself had never lost control. This was clearly different from infected or inherited vampires. The mixture of races in the neutralnds could perhaps exin why there was a human with a vampire bloodline.

    However, to never coexist with the dark races and to kill them on sight once they had stepped into the Empire was the founding ancestor¡¯s rule. Such aw was difficult to change regardless of exceptions. Without this iron-d rule acting as a deterrent, there might be many humans who would sumb to the allure of long life and power.

    Now that this living legend was before them, the crowd naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of this opportunity. The open-mindeddies could not take their eyes off him, wanting nothing more than to tie him with their gazes and y with him.

    In his anger regarding the capture of Nighteye, Qianye had suppressed Li Fengshui and killed his way out of Indomitable, ultimately leaving the Empire and destroying his future path.

    This might not have been wise in the eyes of many men, and Qianye¡¯s rtionship with Nighteye was a mistake, to begin with. But some reconciliation and consideration would probably lead to a solution¡ªthere was really no need for him to use such an extreme method. Even now, many of the nobility were feigning ignorance about him, proof that there was still a way back.

    His story waspletely different in the eyes of youngdies. What they saw was Qianye¡¯s willingness to do anything for the one he loved. Now that they finally had a chance, they wanted to look at him to their heart¡¯s content. Not just that, many of the girls banded together to whisper and remark about Qianye, just as the men would evaluate entertainers.

    Not far in the distance, Song Hui, still in maid attire, muttered in disgust, ¡°Humph! A group of shameless women. They¡¯re not even pretending anymore!¡±

    Maybe because they felt strong in numbers or perhaps they simply didn¡¯t fear the Song n, the guests never kept their voices down while talking. At the very least, some of their conversations reached the Song n elders¡¯ ears quite clearly. Among them, the words ¡°just as dumb as the Song n elders¡± caused their expression to turn ashen.

    Despite their fury, the first thing those elders had to do was crawl out of the rubble and organize their appearance. They might be able to feign death against Qianye, but they couldn¡¯t quite do that in front of so many guests.

    Soon, the Song n elders were back on their feet and patting themselves clean, and those under the rubble flew out. Apart from the former grand elder, who had copsed from heavy injuries, the others were rtively fine. At least, they looked like they were fine.

    Qianye and Song Zining exchanged nces. The former said, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you we¡¯d gone too easy? I shouldn¡¯t have held back at thirty percent strength.¡±

    Song Zining smiled awkwardly. His helpless expression gradually turned deep and indifferent.

    As traders, the Song n elders knew how to observe and adapt to circumstances. They had long since heard Song Zining telling Qianye not to beat them to death. Since there was no danger to their life, wouldn¡¯t they be asking for a beating if they resisted in earnest? What could Qianye do if they simplyy down and yed possum?

    Just as there were troublemakers in the market, there were Song n elders among the nobility. Song Zining hated himself for not being able to see through people¡¯s hearts. Among the three thousand great paths, he had chosen the most unique one that would bring him to the highest realm. He sought to temper all life to bring about a prosperous world, so blood rtions didn¡¯t mean much to him anymore.

    The first elder to mber up pointed at the guards and said furiously, ¡°Why are you in a daze? Capture the two culprits who ambushed the elder assembly!¡±

    The guards had split off a group to send Song Zhongcheng to the infirmary. The remainder looked at one another, but none of them made a move. Their position might be low, but they still possessedmon sense. It was clear to everyone who among these people had grieved the most at the duchess¡¯ passing and who couldn¡¯t even wait forty-nine days to start dividing the n.

    The guard leader stood there for a good while beforeughing. ¡°Elder, isn¡¯t that the seventh young master?¡±

    ¡°What young master? He¡¯s no longer a member of the Song n. He¡¯s an outsider now. Capture him, are you deaf?¡±

    This elder was one of those who had fallen to the ground before he was even punched, but rolling about on the ground didn¡¯t mean he had no temper. He roared hysterically and charged toward the guard captain. He wasn¡¯t about to charge over to capture Song Zining and Qianye himself, though.

    He didn¡¯t notice the odd expressions of the spectators as he vented his anger. Many were beginning to frown as they nced between the elders and Song Zining, thinking about god knew what.

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed for the first time. ¡°I really want to start killing now. Just ignore me, I can fight my way out.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not worth it.¡±

    That elder was livid when he heard these words. ¡°You vampire bastard, we¡¯ll tear your corpse into ten thousand pieces¡­ Ahhh!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered through a ssh of blood as he chopped off the elder¡¯s limbs.

    Ovee with great pain and terror, the old man rolled about screaming and eventually lost consciousness. Not a single elder stepped forward during the entire process.

    Song Zining scanned the entire scene but couldn¡¯t find Song Zhongnian¡¯s shadow anywhere near or far. He couldn¡¯t even produce an expression of disappointment, only raging mes of anger.

    He said in a gloomy voice, ¡°There are no vampires here, Qianye is a human through and through. nder is a punishable offense ording to Imperialws. If there were a vampire here, I don¡¯t think any of you would survive.¡±

    This tant threat was highly effective when coupled with the badly mangled body of the previous elder.

    With that, Song Zining smiled, saying, ¡°Since I¡¯m no longer a man of the Song n, then allow me to kill someone!¡±

    His figure flickered, producing afterimages of different postures, as he appeared behind a young man in the crowd. He tapped lightly on the man¡¯s forehead before returning to his original position.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Song Ziqi, you never thought you¡¯d fall to this fate when you leaked my movements to the Wolf King and caused my capture, did you?¡±

    That young man was the betrayer Song Ziqi. Grasping his neck and gagging, he pointed at Song Zining but couldn¡¯t produce any words.

    An elder from Song Ziqi¡¯s branch jumped out in fury. ¡°Song Zining, what did you do to him? He¡¯s your cousin, how could you be so treacherous?¡±

    Song Zining sneered. ¡°Did he think of me as a cousin back at the Totemic Castle? Song Ziqi, take care.¡±

    The man gasped several times as falling leaves appeared around his head. He soon copsed with a dismal expression, his life force entirely drained.

    Sudden silence.

    No one would¡¯ve imagined the gentle and romantic Song Zining would attack his own rtive!

    Only with Song Ziqi¡¯s death and two elders of the Song n disabled from injuries did everyone do away with their joking attitude. Their hearts were filled with fear and trepidation.

    Although Song Zining and Qianye looked quite handsome, they were unflinching when it came to killing.

    Song Zining nced around and said, ¡°When I came back, I was still entertaining wild imaginations about our bloodline being strong enough to hold things together. I¡¯ve followed the army for many years and won countless battles, so why can¡¯t I use my strength to bring peace to our homnd?¡±

    After a pause, he said self-deprecatingly, ¡°Supporting a building is easy, but guessing people¡¯s minds is hard. If even blood rtives are acting like this, what can someone like me do? I¡¯m finally able to understand a bit of the old ancestor¡¯s mood back then. What can I do with all this rubbish? Should I just ughter the entire elder assembly?¡±

    The elder¡¯s faces turned green, but no one dared speak out loud. Song Zining had drawn first blood already, so there was little difference between killing one and a couple more. The Empire wouldn¡¯t help with internal affairs, and the n¡¯s allies could do nothing in such circumstances.

    A guest sighed emotionally. Those at the scene were mostly main branch representatives of their respective families. Seeing the state of the Song n and how even Song Zining had no way to change the situation, those with ambitions felt greatly disappointed.

    Song Zining¡¯s voice echoed throughout the courtyard. ¡°I joined the Yellow Springs as a child and followed the army as a young adult. My journey took me only through battlefields, and whatever fame I have, was built upon the corpses of my enemies. So, if you think I don¡¯t dare kill people, think again.¡±

    Song Ziqi¡¯s corpse was still warm, so no one doubted Song Zining¡¯s im.

    Song Zining stopped for a while before saying in an icy voice, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t consider me part of the n. I only have one thing to say here¡ªthe Hignd Song n¡¯s businesses from the bloodline of the n and the tens of thousands of mercenaries in its employ¡ªwhoever dares to set their eyes on these assets, or buys them at a lower price, I will consider them a life-long enemy. Those who wish to devour the old ancestor¡¯s blood and sweat should be prepared to be ruined. I have never held back in such matters.¡±

    Such words, spoken by the Empire¡¯s future strategist god, had a different ring to it. Many people woreplicated expressions; no one knew what they were thinking.

    Song Zining turned toward the elders. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this one thing, be ready. Prince Greensun¡¯s envoy should be at the doors anytime soon.¡±

    This news was even more effective than Song Zining¡¯s threats just now. Amotion broke out among the Song n elders as they all lost theirposure.

 Chapter 1113: Reluctance

    <h4>Chapter 1113: Reluctance</h4>

    The elders from the main branch still retained a bit of friendliness with Song Zining. One of them approached to ask, ¡°Howe? There has been no news from his elderly grace up until now.¡±

    This elder was over seventy years old and almost twenty years Zhang Boqian¡¯s senior, yet he still referred to thetter as elderly grace. It truly made one wonder what Zhang Boqian would think if he heard this.

    However, Song Zining was already done talking about this. The people present today did not make up the entire elder assembly. Elders like Song Zhongxing never appeared, and many side-branches were never offered a seat to this meeting. Announcing this news was hisst time making any effort. As for how the nsmen would respond, that wasn¡¯t his business anymore.

    Song Zining said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m no longer a man of the Song n, I shall not interfere.¡±

    The elder was quite sharp. After a momentary daze, he was suddenly enlightened. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is! Prince Greensun won¡¯t make things difficult for us if the seventh young master bes n lord, just like when the old ancestor was alive!¡±

    The guests here were all shaken. They had been staying in the Enlightenment Manor these days because their families and powers shared countless connections with the Song n. Many of them had their own ounts to settle. They weren¡¯t as slow or self-deceiving as the Song n elders¡ªas this was a topic they had paid the greatest attention to, they had heard rumors of Prince Greensun¡¯s stance and made their own judgments.

    With how the Song n elders were nning to drive Song Zining away, they had one less serious case to worry about in the future. Despite that, they were filled with subtle emotions and couldn¡¯t even find it in themselves to rejoice in the Song n¡¯s misfortune.

    At this moment, most of the Song n elders were exchanging nervous whispers, while the others were silent, gazing into the distance or lost in thought.

    Song Zining had already spoken his piece, so he paid no heed to the reactions. He turned to Qianye and said, ¡°I¡¯m done here, let¡¯s go grab a drink. We won¡¯t return without being drunk!¡±

    ¡°With that alcohol tolerance of yours?¡± Qianye¡¯s expression was disdainful.

    ¡°When have I beencking in drinking power?¡± Song Zining started ranting.

    ¡°Back in Yellow Springs¡­¡±

    Seeing that Qianye was about to dig up old wounds, Song Zining cut him short in due haste. He reached out to grab the former as though he were trying to crush him.

    The twoughed and joked as they left the scene, leaving trails of different origin power.

    Qianye¡¯s was a scarlet gold shimmer reminiscent of the first rays of dawn, the renowned Venus Dawn. The trail of energy behind Song Zining was constantly transforming, from the starry sky to a continent, and from there, to a city full of people, pets, and poultry. Everything was projected with great vividness.

    People had never witnessed such a scene before. They were at a loss as to what it was, yet they also seemed to have sensed something. Finally, someone gasped. ¡°That¡¯s Worldly Prosperity!¡±

    Worldly Prosperity and Venus Dawn were among the three top daybreak origin powers. It was difficult to gauge the former¡¯s difference in power, but it was rarer and the requirements were extremely strict. One could even say that there was no sure path to great sess.

    No one would¡¯ve imagined that Song Zining had actually seeded in cultivating Worldly Prosperity. It would seem his talents were even higher than people had expected and likely enough to be a heavenly monarch.

    As with all arts, the higher their level, the more dependent it was on one¡¯s temperament. Due to his nature, there had always been different opinions regarding his talents. With Worldly Prosperity on the table, however, no amount of obstructions could stop him from breaking through to the divine champion realm.

    He had always been better known for strategy, scheming, and divination. As long as he became a divine champion and took up the post of a duke, it was only natural for him to be n lord. Even if Song Zining hadn¡¯t reached such a level now, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to take up the position a couple of years earlier. Prince Greensun¡¯s stance actually reflected that of the upper echelons of the Empire who valued talented people.

    The first few years might be difficult, but as long as Song Zining kept up his progress in power, the high-ranking aristocratic families looking to be major ns would have to weigh their pros and cons. They would likely choose to share in the Song n¡¯s glory instead of recing them since the number of major ns wasn¡¯t fixed.

    It was quite unbelievable that the Song n elders would actually push such a genius out of the family. Many of the guests were already recalcting their alliance with the branches of the Song n.

    After all, it was never a good thing if one¡¯s allies were too dumb. It wasn¡¯t impossible for them to tolerate them, but the Song n would need to cough up more benefits.

    The guests of all sses thought of something else. Was the Song n looking to downgrade themselves in order to protect their core interests and avoid danger? Now, this wasn¡¯t easy toment on. It wasn¡¯t rare for a major n to downgrade themselves, and there were even more that had chopped off the branches to preserve the trunk.

    Now there was something to think about¡­ was Song Zining the branch or the trunk?

    Song Zhongnian stood in front of the study window, watching the receding trails of origin power. He took half a step forward but stopped himself.

    The steward was anxious. ¡°Master, you won¡¯t make it if you don¡¯t chase after them now!¡±

    Song Zhongnian fell into silent contemtion. Only after the two trails of origin power had vanished over the horizon did he say, ¡°The elder assembly was gravely wounded, and their prestige was damaged. But things aren¡¯tpletely out of control. I¡¯ll think about this carefully and try to salvage the situation.¡±

    The old steward sighed since he couldn¡¯t keep insisting.

    It was at this time a flustered attendant rushed over. ¡°n Lord, things look bad! Supreme Elder Lu has left, only leaving a letter for you. We couldn¡¯t dissuade him at all!¡±

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He saw a single sentence when he opened the letter. ¡°Clinging to power amidst the foul turmoil.¡±

    Song Zhongnian snorted angrily. This supreme elder would usually be absent from the assembly, and that was fine, but he had never made an appearance during the recent chaos. Otherwise, with his support, Song Zhongnian wouldn¡¯t be so cornered.

    Now, Elder Lu had actually left after Song Zining¡¯s rampage, leaving only a letter of discontent for Song Zhongnian.

    The n lord said, ¡°What¡¯s with the panic, don¡¯t we have another supreme elder? Elder Lu left during a time of crisis, ignoring the safety of our Song n. Such a person isn¡¯t worth retaining. It would seem we have revered the wrong person all these years.¡±

    The subordinates didn¡¯t dare reply. Elder Lu had never asked for much despite his honored position, and he didn¡¯t take anything during his departure. The Song n had merely paid for his food and daily expenses¡ªthere was really no reverence to speak of.

    Song Zhongnian calmed himself down and said, ¡°Dispatch people to help the elders. Make sure to treat their injuries, understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, n Lord!¡± The attendant and steward left to execute their orders.

    Song Zhongnian finally found some peace and quiet to calcte his wins and losses in silence.

    At this moment, an airship flew across the skies in the distance. Song Zhongnian was momentarily stunned when he realized that it was Song Zining¡¯s vessel, flying higher and higher until it had vanished over the horizon.

    The n lord sighed deeply, but his legs never moved. Using an airship meant that they were leaving the province, or even the Qin Continent itself. Even if he wanted to give chase, it was already toote now.

    On the airship, Song Zining and Qianye were seated across one another. Qianye was rather calm, but the former looked somewhat dispirited, merely swirling his wine about without drinking it.

    ¡°Do you still want the n lord position?¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°What¡¯s there to covet? Not to mention those elders, even my grandpa doesn¡¯t want that position. What¡¯s the use of a junior trying to upset the situation if the n lord doesn¡¯t even appear?¡±

    ¡°I must say, your n elders are truly worthy of admiration. No wonder the old ancestor wanted to pass the inheritance to the younger generation when she was alive.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Did you notice something different about our n? There are only people from my grandpa¡¯s generation at the elder assembly. Apart from the side branch positions like Uncle Song Tu, there are no other middle-aged people. Even Song Zicheng was just there to observe the discussions as his grandpa¡¯s sessor. Passing the position to the younger generation isn¡¯t going to be as easy as you think.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°These people are greedy for powerful positions with little work, isn¡¯t anyone looking to make changes to the system?¡±

    ¡°Everything in the Song n is decided by the assembly. Everyone gets a vote regardless of status, and even the n lord only gets a set number of vetoes each year. The main lines of descent take up eighty percent of the assembly and the branch families, twenty. Those are the rules.¡±

    That was indeed different from the other n assemblies where the n lord would make the decisions and other departments would execute them. The frequency with which the Song n¡¯s elder assembly convened and the triviality of what they discussed was fairly rare in other ns.

    Take the bloody battle, for example, the deployment of troops and the expansion of private armies weremonly discussed on a public scale. There was no shortage of partisans and people seeking personal interests, but the n lord held the right to make the final decisions. Otherwise, Zhao Jundu could forget about heading into the Iron Curtain back in the year.

    Qianye was curious. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t this mean two Song n elders have more weightage than a single divine champion?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s mood was quite low at first, but he broke into augh after hearing this. ¡°Yes, everyone has equal voting weightage.¡± He sighed. ¡°The root of this problem came from the fact that our direct bloodline had difficulty producing descendants. They just wanted to retain the inherited n lord status.¡±

    Qianye was stunned, but he made noment. Under such restrictions, the branch families¡¯ voices would be limited to their seats even if they were able to attend n meetings. Meanwhile, the direct lines would fill their avable seats with unworthy candidates. After tasting power, these people were no longer willing to give up their status, even to their family members.

    ¡°Most of the branch families would split off, and those in the direct line without a seat at the assembly would find their own way out. Those who felt that there weren¡¯t enough seats would usually seek private dealings outside. These alliances of profit were made using the Song n¡¯s name but served as little more than pretty decorations.¡±

    ¡°Changing the governing structure meant destroying their source of ie?¡±

    Song Zining lowered his head. ¡°A lot of people would need to be killed to change the system.¡±

    ¡°Are they that fearless? Didn¡¯t seem like it to me.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re ustomed to the money and position. Quite a few have lost their lives for benefits.¡± Song Zining nced at his hands with a chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of staining my hands with blood, but a certain someone is extremely afraid.¡±

    ¡°Then will you watch as they destroy the Song n?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already said my piece. Although there are people willing to take a desperate risk, quite a few will also give me some face. With less outside plunderers, the n will probably be able to retain about sixty percent of its assets. The Song will surely fall to the ranks of an aristocratic family after Prince Greensun¡¯s attack. I just hope the next n lord will know shame and reorganize the n well.¡±

    ¡°The next n lord? Who?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t see which talented person could bring the Song n out of its dangerous situation.

    ¡°There will be someone.¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice was gloomy. ¡°Throughout the Empire¡¯s thousand-year history, the rise and fall of nobility is asmon as the sun rising and setting. In some cases, branch families will be uprooted to make sure the main trunk produces new sprouts. In others, the main trunk would be cut off while the branch families take root and find new life.¡±

    It would seem Song Zining didn¡¯t have high hopes for the Song n¡¯s future. Qianye asked with a heavy heart, ¡°What will you do from now on?¡±

    At the mention of this, Song Zining stretchedzily and said, ¡°Me? I¡¯ll go to the neutralnds, of course, and run our territory. By the time I finish reorganizing Dark me and produce our own fleet of airships, we can im our ownnd on the Fort Continent and expand slowly.¡±

    Fort Continent was somewhat simr to Evernight Continent. Its location was remote, its resources scarce, and thendscapeplicated. Moreover, it was frequently ravaged by natural disasters. Thend was attractive for neither the Empire nor Evernight. No faction was willing to invest too many troops there, but they were also unwilling to give up.

    As such, the Empire had been supporting the smaller human nations here in half-secrecy. Evernight tribes that had been exiled or fallen from power would go there to find some living space.

    Comparatively, the environment on the Fort Continent wasn¡¯t as harsh as the neutralnds. Ordinary people could still survive there, albeit with a shorter life span.

    Apparently, Song Zining was nning to crown himself there.

    ¡°The Fort Continent? Isn¡¯t the neutralnds good enough? We still have the Northern Continent as well.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The neutralnds is too cruel, and the Northern Continent isn¡¯t suitable for ordinary people, either. In order to prosper, it¡¯s also important to have arge number of ordinary people to serve as a foundation. Most importantly, the neutralnds has the Throne of Blood overseeing it, while the Fort Continent only has a supreme divine champion.¡±

    It was only natural that the Heavenly Monarchs and Great Dark Monarchs didn¡¯t think highly of the Fort Continent. They probably wouldn¡¯t mind if someone took up half the continent as long as the bigger picture wasn¡¯t affected. Expanding too fast in the neutralnds, though, would attract the interference of the Throne of Blood. Even Zhang Buzhou, who imed he wasn¡¯t afraid of the throne, didn¡¯t hold that muchnd.

    Qianye knew Song Zining was proficient in strategy. ¡°Fine, do it your way then.¡±

    At this point, the airship had already left the Qin Continent and was on its way to the neutralnds.

    ¡°Stop for a bit around the edges of the Eastern Sea,¡± Qianye said all of a sudden.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ want to go see Nighteye.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°I see, you might as well. Why don''t we head to Southern Blue first? I¡¯ll get off there and you can go see her.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t that be out of the way?¡± Qianye found it odd.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was somewhat unnatural. ¡°Umm¡­ it¡¯s fine. I have some urgent business in Southern blue.¡±

    Even Qianye could see that he was making up excuses. Song Zining replied, ¡°She won¡¯t want to see me, and it¡¯s best I don¡¯t see her.¡±

    ¡°Why would she not want to see you?¡± Qianye found the situation odd. Their rtionship was quite good back in the year. It wouldn¡¯t have been easy for Qianye and Nighteye to leave Evernight if it wasn¡¯t for his nning.

    Song Zining said, ¡°I was against you continuing your rtionship with her.¡±

    Qianye understood after a momentary daze. ¡°How did she know?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s extremely powerful now. She¡¯ll probably know.¡±

    Qianye was still a bit puzzled, but Song Zining was adamant about not meeting Nighteye. However, circling over to Southern Blue wasn¡¯t practical¡ªthe airship didn¡¯t have that much fuel left, and there were no supply bases nearby. Besides, Qianye had imed the title of Tidehark city lord from Zhang Buzhou, so there was no telling if there would be any trouble whennding in an unfamiliar city. In the end, he decided to park the airship at a distance and head over to see Nighteye alone.

    Song Zining seemed to have remembered something as the Eastern Sea came into view. ¡°Why are you meeting her this time?¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°I just wanted to see her.¡±

    Song Zining nodded.

    The airship arrived at the Eastern Sea andnded in a distant area. Song Zining saw Qianye off the airship and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting here,e back quickly.¡±

    For some reason, Qianye felt that Song Zining was acting odd. However, he didn¡¯t ask too many questions since thetter¡¯s mood might not have recovered yet after the debacle at the Song n.

    Qianye had just started walking toward the edge of the continent when, sensing something, he turned and ran toward Song Zining.

 Chapter 1114: Final Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 1114: Final Meeting</h4>

    Various scenes appeared around Song Zining¡ªcities, streets, as well as buildings filled with nobles andmoners alike. There were also countless leaves weaving tightly into a curtain, almost like theing of autumn. His expression was indescribable, almost as though he were fading into a magnificentndscape.

    A winding sanguine thread appeared in the distance and shed down at Song Zining from above!

    The moment this thread of blood appeared, the grandiose visions around Song Zining were wrecked by natural disasters. The earth quaked, the sky copsed, and people were running for their lives. Countless floating leaves gathered in one direction to block the advance of this sanguine wire.

    However, the thread snaked forward and cut the countless leaves in its wake into two. It was as though someone had descended upon this ethereal world, mercilessly killing their way through all the defensive lines.

    The leaves did naught but dy the sanguine thread, which passed through the city and whipped down again!

    Qianye could no longer make it. He activated Spatial sh in his urgency but barely made it past the ethereal city. Seeing that the tip of the sanguine thread was still dozens of meters ahead, Qianye clenched his jaws and grabbed the string!

    Despite his powerful physique, the sanguine thread cut right through his flesh and dug deep into it, producing a gush of flowing blood. Fortunately, dark golden runes appeared on his bones, and this stopped the thread from going any deeper. Otherwise, Qianye¡¯s palm would¡¯ve been cut in half.

    The sanguine thread was both heavy and sturdy in his hand, almost like holding a heavy weapon. Not to mention cutting it, it wasn¡¯t even certain if he could tug at it. Qianye braced himself as he began pulling on the thread amidst an eruption of blood energy, not caring whether the string would cut his hand.

    With the thread pulled back, thesh aimed at Song Zining missed its mark.

    ¡°Nighteye!¡± Qianye roared. How could he not have sensed that this thread came from Nighteye?

    The blood-colored thread arrived instantly from a thousand meters away, shing through all the projected images as though they were tangible. It would seem she was even more powerful now. Perhaps she had awakened further or maybe it was the effects of that Marine Lotus.

    The sanguineous thread slowly retreated after the momentary deadlock, and Nighteye¡¯s snort echoed in the air. Having narrowly escaped death, Song Zining was pale and drenched in cold sweat.

    Qianye¡¯s hand was still bleeding. Nighteye¡¯s blood energy was powerful, profound, and possessed a suppressive intent. Even his powers of recovery couldn¡¯t close the wound.

    Qianye put pressure on his left hand while staring at the source of that sanguineous thread, guarded against a second attack. If he hadn¡¯t reacted quickly, Song Zining might¡¯ve be a corpse by now.

    Nighteye¡¯s voice finally arrived from a distance. ¡°Come.¡±

    ¡°What about him?¡± Qianye asked in a gloomy voice.

    ¡°Count him lucky.¡±

    Relieved, Qianye shot Song Zining a nce, hinting that he should leave as quickly as possible.

    He never saw Nighteye¡¯s figure along the way. Gazing at the vast emptiness around him, Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with bleakness and misery until Nighteye¡¯s warship appeared before him.

    Jared¡¯s stone house was empty, and it was unknown where he had gone.

    Qianye¡¯s body jolted as he continued walking toward the warship, and he stood there gazing to his front.

    Atop the warship was a figure that had been forever etched into his heart.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t avoid seeing him this time, and it seemed she wanted to talk to him face to face. Qianye didn¡¯t know whether this change was good or bad, but the chill at the bottom of his heart grew denser.

    Qianye inhaled deeply to calm himself. He then arrived behind Nighteye with a leap and followed her line of vision.

    There was a terrifying void tempest slowly forming in front of Nighteye. The space nearby was filled with rolling darkness, blocking the distant scenery from view. Glimpses of the actual void could be seen asionally through the darkness, in which countless spatial rifts were weaving together. The space here was so weak that the void tempest was able to tear it at will.

    Fortunately, this type of void tempest would, by nature, rise up once formed. It would either pierce through the protective barrier of the continent and return to the void, or gradually weaken and disappear. It would be a true disaster if the tempest were to hit the ground during the early phases of its formation.

    Qianye moved his gaze to the warship below. The void tempest was indeed powerful, but this duke-grade warship should be able to withstand it. Besides, it wasn¡¯t impossible for someone of Nighteye¡¯s ability to traverse the void tempest alone.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Zhuji?¡± Nighteye was the first to speak.

    ¡°I had to travel to the Song n and might have to fight, so I left her sleeping in the Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    ¡°Traveling alone into the heart of the Empire, are you just brave or are you purely unafraid of death?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s words contained some mockery, which Qianye duly noticed. Not knowing how to respond, he said with a wry smile, ¡°I had to go¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, had to go? Have you helped Song Zining obtain the n lord position?¡±

    ¡°... No.¡±

    Nighteye finally turned around and looked him in the eye. ¡°Did you really think there¡¯s no one in the Empire who can kill you, or do you feel safe because you know certain people will protect you?¡±

    This question was baffling for Qianye. ¡°Certain people will protect me? The Zhao n?¡±

    Thinking about it, the greatest possibility was the Zhao n. However, the war on the void continent was at its most critical phase. The n had mobilized in full force, and most of its important characters had left the Empire maind. Who woulde to save him? Qianye had never relied on the Zhao n to save him, but no other party came to mind.

    ¡°You¡¯re acquainted with more than just the Zhao n.¡±

    Qianye was startled. He did have a couple of friends among the younger generation of the Empire, but it didn¡¯t seem like they could influence their n¡¯s decisions. The Far East Wei n wasn¡¯t powerful enough. Li Kuann and Ji Tianqing might have their methods, but Qianye didn¡¯t feel that his rtionship with them had reached such a degree.

    Since Nighteye was asking this repeatedly, Qianye replied in due seriousness, ¡°With the Shot of Inception and Spatial sh, I feel that I can easily do a hit and run. No one under the divine champion level can stop me. Even if a divine championes, at most, they¡¯ll force me into a corner and things will end in mutual destruction. The Empire¡¯s divine champions enjoy great status and power; they¡¯re busy either ruling theirnds or on important missions. I don¡¯t think anyone will risk their life against me. So, I can still escape even if worsees to worst. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was waiting in the void, they can¡¯t stop me unless they mobilize a big fleet.¡±

    Qianye exined things so earnestly, but Nighteye remained indifferent. ¡°I have no idea if you¡¯re really ignorant or you¡¯re pretending. But that¡¯s not important since it has nothing to do with me anymore.¡±

    ¡°W-What do you mean?¡± The chill in Qianye¡¯s heart intensified. Nighteye¡¯s words seemed even more distant now.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you asking why I wanted to kill Song Zining?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°You didn¡¯t. If you really wanted to kill him, both my hand and his life would be gone. As for the reason¡­ is it because he wanted to push us apart?¡±

    Nighteyeughed coldly. ¡°Have we ever been together since my awakening?¡±

    ¡°No, but I¡¯ve always believed it''ll happen sooner orter. Give me some time to help you get to the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    The coldness in her eyes finally melted a bit. ¡°You¡¯ve done well-enough already. I know the promise you gave me wasn¡¯t just empty words. In terms of growth, no one did better than you. With enough time, perhaps¡­ perhaps you might be able to apany me to the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    Qianye gazed silently at Nighteye, afraid that she would finish her sentence. But since the exchange had reached this point, it made little difference whether or not she made aplete announcement.

    At the thought of how her attitude had changed all of a sudden, Qianye asked, ¡°Is your decision rted to Song Zining?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat, but that¡¯s not the entire reason. Do you remember that Marine Lotus you gave me? It allowed me to awakenpletely and regain all of my memories. This isn¡¯t a good thing for you because the Nighteye from back then, all of our past, is now like a dream to me. Now I¡¯ve woken up.¡±

    ¡°The Marine Lotus¡­¡± Qianye sighed. ¡°I couldn¡¯t stop myself from giving it to you after I got it.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I say you¡¯re dumb.¡±

    Qianye forced a smile. ¡°What did Zining do? Can you tell me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in the past now, and things can no longer be changed. You really don¡¯t need to know, but if you must have answers, then ask the man himself. However, the answer won¡¯t be a happy one.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was somewhat bitter. ¡°I still want to know what separated us.¡±

    ¡°Time.¡±

    ¡°Time?¡±

    ¡°Yes, time.¡±

    This reason was both understandable and puzzling. Of all the answers, this was perhaps the only one that couldn¡¯t be remedied by trying harder.

    After a long period of silence, Qianye said, ¡°You do know that I can¡¯t go any faster. At present, I can break through to a vampire duke in a short time, but I won¡¯t be able to make any progress after that. And dukes are just pebbles at the base of the Sacred Mountain. That¡¯s why I said I needed time, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll make you wait very long. Currently, there are only a handful of people from my generation that I can¡¯t defeat, even if we count the Demoness in. Is that not enough? Doesn¡¯t that give you enough assurance to wait for me?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s tone was calm, but the slight tremble in his voice gave away his emotions.

    Nighteye nced at him and sighed. ¡°It¡¯s enough under normal circumstances, but now that I¡¯ve awakened entirely, we can¡¯t use normal to measure the circumstances. The time is nigh and I can¡¯t wait any longer.¡±

    ¡°What time?¡±

    Nighteye hesitated for a good while. ¡°Time for the new world to open, and the arrival of a new era.¡±

    ¡°New world?¡± Qianye had never heard about this new world.

    ¡°It¡¯s normal that you wouldn¡¯t know. This information is only circted among a handful of people in the upper echelons.¡±

    ¡°What does the new era have to do with us?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice grew higher. He had decided not to hide his worries anymore.

    ¡°It has nothing to do with you, but it has everything to do with me. It is an undeniable calling to all of us. Those who step through the gateway to the new world will be a different person. Even I have no idea what exactly will happen.¡±

    ¡°Just like¡­¡±

    ¡°Just like my awakening.¡±

    Qianye found it difficult to understand, but he finally saw Nighteye¡¯s deeply hidden worries and pain. He took a step forward and stood in front of her, saying, ¡°Can you¡­ not go?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Nighteye¡¯s reply was clear and concise. She took a deep breath and ced her hand on his chest, feeling the beating of his blood core. ¡°That¡¯s why you should leave. I must leave too. From now on, we¡¯ll¡­ never see each other again.¡±

    As though doused in a bucket of ice water, the cold caused Qianye¡¯s body to stiffen, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even say farewell. Everything that had happened in the past appeared one after the other in his eyes.

    Qianye¡¯s emotions were frozen, and his heart was sealed in ice. When he looked up again, the snowstorm, cliffs, and void tempests were no longer in front of him¡ªhe had already left the edge of the continent.

    And he had no idea how he had walked out.

    At the edge of the Eastern Sea, Nighteye never moved a muscle until Qianye¡¯s figure vanished over the horizon. She stood there silently, lost in thought, almost as though she would stand there until the end of the world.

 Chapter 1115: Show of Cards

    <h4>Chapter 1115: Show of Cards</h4>

    Qianye walked forward as though he were treading through the endless ins of time. There was no future, no past. His existence, in and of itself, was cold and meaningless.

    A pat on his shoulder woke Qianye from his reverie. It wasn¡¯t easy to approach people at his level of awareness. Without even thinking, he immediately swung his elbow back out of reflex.

    The person behind him was also prepared. He raised his arm to block the iing attack but was still sent flying from the impact.

    This attack involved a sh of origin powers, but the explosion wasn¡¯t as loud as one would expect. Qianye felt wave after wave of transforming origin power strike him, cutting up his own energy with each transformation. Although Qianye¡¯s origin power was so pure that it couldn¡¯t be dissolved, its power was greatly reduced after being split up.

    It was just that Qianye¡¯s attack contained his own surging strength in addition to origin power. How could the person behind withstand such an attack? He was sent flying despite his intricate use of origin power.

    Qianye immediately realized something was wrong when he noticed theplicated maniption of origin power, and he quickly held back the follow-up attacks. This was the first time he had encountered Worldly Prosperity in person. It was indeed a wondrous power made by the heavens.

    He turned back with a sigh. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why didn¡¯t you call out to me? Are you hurt?¡±

    With a wry smile, Song Zining drifted back to the ground in three steps. ¡°I called your name several times, but you didn¡¯t respond. I¡¯m okay. I¡¯ll have to quit my line of work if I¡¯m so easily injured. But damn, you really don¡¯t hold back!¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°It wasn¡¯t intentional.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°I was going to ask what happened between you two, but I don¡¯t think I need to anymore after seeing you in this state.¡±

    Qianye revealed a bitter smile. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no need. There are some things I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°What don¡¯t you understand? I might be able to help you analyze the situation.¡±

    Qianye decided not to leave. He looked around for a ce to sit and recounted hisst conversation with Nighteye. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what this new world is, and what it has to do with our rtionship.¡±

    Song Zining also sat down. ¡°I understand now, it¡¯s time. She said the reason is time, right?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°There has also been rumors of a new world among the upper echelons of the Empire. Reportedly, it contains the secrets to the grand origins of darkness origin power, and the first thing to be sensed was the River of Blood. One can easily imagine how this new world would make the dark races go crazy. Information we received from the other side proved this fact. The dark race powerhouses are already in action, preparing to pioneer this new world. As for Nighteye, I still haven¡¯t been able to investigate her past identity, but there¡¯s no way she would sit out given her current fighting power.¡±

    Qianye listened quietly.

    Song Zining said, ¡°She¡¯s always talked about returning to the Sacred Mountain. If this new world does hide the legendary secrets of the darkness grand origin and the River of Blood, it might be the key to restoring her full strength. You don¡¯t currently have the power to interfere in this endeavor, and that¡¯s what she meant by time. You were born ten years toote.¡±

    After finally realizing the reason, Qianye felt even more bitter instead of feeling relieved. Compared to fruitless efforts, theck of an opportunity was even more sorrowful.

    Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s shoulders lightly. ¡°It¡¯s not entirely hopeless though."

    ¡°Ah, how so?¡± Qianye became spirited.

    ¡°Although we don¡¯t know how the seats are reced on the Sacred Mountain, those holding the position are all top characters of each race. It¡¯s natural to assume that a candidate would need a mighty force in addition to personal strength, in order to ascend the mountain. Do you remember why I arrived in the neutralnds to help you rebuild Dark me and even construct a fleet? It¡¯s to build a neutral force that belongs to us, one that can stand between the Empire and Evernight. We might be of some help to her if our force has developed to a certain degree, or if we manage to build a country by the time she returns from the new world.¡±

    ¡°What will we do if she returns quickly?¡± Qianye became quite worrisome.

    Song Zining said, ¡°How can developing a new world be so fast? It would be even harder to obtain the secrets of the River of Blood. The dark races are considered long-lived creatures. She might not be done yet by the time we¡¯re strong enough to enter the new world.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s mood was boosted ever so slightly. ¡°Then what should I do now?¡±

    ¡°Of course we should try hard! Do you need me to teach you?¡±

    Fighting spirit slowly manifested in Qianye¡¯s chest, and his cold world became much warmer inparison. Yes, what was the use ofining if she had always been there on the indiscernible horizon? That was her world, to begin with. What he had to do was try hard to reach the top and stand by her side, not drag her down into the dust with him.

    With his hope kindled, Qianye¡¯s frozen emotions came back to life and that was when he remembered something. He dragged Song Zining over and, looking him in the eye, asked word by word, ¡°Spit it out. What did you do to make her try to kill you?¡±

    Song Zining chuckled. ¡°She¡¯s so powerful, what can I even do to her?¡±

    Hisugh was evidently guilty, and Qianye wasn¡¯t about to let him off so easily. He lifted Song Zining off the ground with a coldugh and shook him about.

    The way he shook the seventh young master was well-nned¡ªevery rise and fall was akin to the tides and contained a reverberating force. Torrential waves of power mmed into Song Zining until he was dizzy and close to throwing up whatever he had eaten the day before. This move made use of the Profound Combatant Form¡¯s vortex power. Qianye¡¯s skilled control kept the damage to a minimum, but the vast energy wasn¡¯t reduced in the slightest. Even a champion would feel extremely ufortable when swept into the void, fairly simr to what Song Zining was feeling right now.

    Song Zining realized something was wrong the moment the torrential power rose up. He iled his arms about, shouting, ¡°Let¡­ Let go of me¡­¡±

    Qianye pretended not to hear. Apparently, he wasn¡¯t going to let him down until the seventh young master promised to spit out the truth.

    ¡°Stop! I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk!¡±

    Qianye let him down with a couple of rough shakes.

    Song Zining retched as soon as his foot hit the ground, and it took a good while for the pale young man to recover. He patted his chest in anger, saying, ¡°Qianye, this is torture! Are we still brothers or not?¡±

    ¡°How else do I make you talk?¡±

    Song Zining said furiously, ¡°Fine, so that¡¯s how you treat me.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to shake ten more minutes?¡± Qianye was expressionless.

    Song Zining stared at him for a good while. Finally realizing that the other party was serious, he said, ¡°Qianye, we¡¯re brothers. Whatever I do is for your own good. Otherwise, there was no need for me to bring Ningyuan Heavy Industries here to build airships. Everything I¡¯d umted throughout the years is in Ningyuan.¡±

    Qianye was touched, his heart filled withplicated emotions.

    Song Zining said solemnly, ¡°There are some things I don¡¯t want to tell you, and you don¡¯t want to know them. Trust me and don¡¯t ask. Do as I told you just now and you might have a small chance. If you must follow through to the end, then just kill me and take Ningyuan Heavy Industries.¡±

    Qianye was startled because he hadn¡¯t imagined Song Zining would actually say such things. He stared at the unfamiliar expression on that familiar face. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t really that unfamiliar¡ªthis was the seventh young master who had removed the mask of nobility, that Song Zining from Yellow Springs.

    Qianye remembered many things from the past. He and Song Zining were twopletely different people who had partnered up in Yellow Springs. After drawing lots during the first examination¡ªperhaps out of tacit understanding or otherwise¡ªboth of them had chosen to forfeit the points gained from killing their partner. Instead, they chose to walk on the de¡¯s edge and held out until thest minute, scoring countless kills topensate for their choice.

    From then on, they had walked while supporting one another. Even when Qianye was tormented by blood poison and at risk of turning into an animal, he trusted Song Zining the most¡ªa brother he could trust with his life.

    Who would¡¯ve thought they wouldy their cards on the table in such a manner.

    Qianye exhaled gently. ¡°Should I believe you?¡±

    ¡°You decide.¡± Song Zining closed his eyes, ready to be ughtered.

    Qianye remained silent for a while beforeughing ruefully. ¡°If I don¡¯t trust you¡­ let it be. I won¡¯t ask anymore. From now on, I¡­¡±

    ¡°You will fight for yourself!¡± Song Zining said resolutely.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to Southern Blue.¡±

    The duo boarded the airship back to Southern Blue, no longer touching the previous subject.

    Along the way, Qianye gave Song Zining a rundown of developments in the city.

    Song Zining found it surprisingly funny. ¡°You actually took up the title of city lord. What should I do with you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t fear the Wolf King, nor anyone else Zhang Buzhou can dispatch. I made him admit my title so that he will renege one day.¡±

    Song Zining was surprised. ¡°You want to shake his reputation? Your ambitions aren¡¯t small.¡±

    ¡°Ambitions?¡±

    Seeing that Qianye was puzzled, Song Zining said, ¡°What¡¯s the use of attacking his reputation if you don¡¯t want to rece him?¡±

    Thinking back to that elbow strike from just now, Song Zining finally realized something. ¡°Yourbat strength has increased again?¡±

    ¡°My cultivation is still the same,¡± Qianye spoke the truth.

    ¡°Nonsense, try punching me.¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a bit before gathering force to throw a punch at Song Zining.

    Song Zining was shocked. He actually found, in that punch, the evolution of the universe and an intent simr to Worldly Prosperity! Just touching upon this knowledge brought about a new world and set it apart from every other martial path.

    ¡°Is this the dao?¡± Song Zining muttered to himself. He raised his hand midway but fell into deep thought and forgot to block.

    Shocked, Qianye stopped his attack urgently. But how could it be easy to stop the evolution of the universe? Even he himself couldn¡¯t quite control the attack when utilizing the intent on the Book of Darkness.

    An unadorned, primal force smashed into Song Zining.

    Song Zining was flung away like a cut-off kite, spraying blood in the air. The blood produced a strange phenomenon as the sanguine beads permeated in every direction. He had used this mouthful of blood to divide the origin power entering his body and expel the invasive energy.

    This was a wondrous ability afforded by Worldly Prosperity, allowing the user to turn a lethal blow into heavy injury, or a heavy injury into a light injury. One could consider this a defensive concept. At his current realm, Song Zining¡¯s body was finally no longer weak.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Qianye tried to grab Song Zining with a wisp of origin power.

    However, Song Zining¡¯s body divided, stored, and sprayed out the iing energy as blood.

    Qianye stopped in shock. Song Zining wiped the blood away from his mouth and said, ¡°It seems our origin powers are notpatible. Don¡¯t help me in the future, I don¡¯t have much blood left.¡±

 Chapter 1116: Impatient for Action

    <h4>Chapter 1116: Impatient for Action</h4>

    ¡°There¡¯s such a thing?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    It wasmon knowledge that even two origin powers of daybreak-attribute could reject one another, unless it was an art like the Yin family¡¯s Nurturing Rain Art which needed to be cultivated to a high level to heal someone else.

    Qianye merely wanted to dissolve the origin power he had shot out. Both parties had no intention to do battle, but who would¡¯ve expected that Song Zining couldn¡¯t even be touched?

    Song Zining said, ¡°Enough with this topic. Turns out you¡¯ve already progressed to such a level, no wonder you¡¯re confident.¡±

    ¡°And what realm is this?¡±

    Song Zining red at him. ¡°That¡¯s a level most divine champions can only dream of! Only superior divine champions would be able toprehend it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything too powerful about it,¡± Qianye spoke truthfully.

    Song Zining was so angry that he broke out into augh. ¡°If it¡¯s not powerful, how did it make me cough up blood twice?¡±

    Qianye only chuckled but didn¡¯t continue with this topic. He wasn¡¯t dumb enough to say bluntly that Song Zining¡¯s body was still weak. Besides, he was the one to me since he couldn¡¯t control his attack power.

    Song Zining rolled his eyes at Qianye and then said with a serious expression, ¡°Qianye, you¡¯re already on the path, and your future has no obstructions. Just keep walking forward! Of the things I¡¯ve done, I¡¯ve never withheld the information that you should know. As for the others, don¡¯t ask and don¡¯t investigate. Remember what I said!¡±

    It felt as though an invisible hand had dragged Qianye¡¯s heart down. He looked up at Song Zining, who stared back at him with calm, deep eyes.

    Momentster, Qianye reached out to pat Song Zining¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Fine.¡±

    The airship flew all the way to Southern Blue. The city was once again busy and thriving as the big merchant groups poured resources and craftsmen in, converting them into airship equipment, walls, and importantponents.

    By the time Southern Blue¡¯s system began to operate, many of the merchant managers realized that Song Zining¡¯s arrangements were extremely efficient. Each product would be sent to the next factory as soon as it was produced and be aponent for the next product.

    The entire workshop area was holistically designed, and no single workshop needed to travel too far to get to the other.

    The unexpected efficiency of the system allowed the merchant groups to better smell the potential gold coins involved in this business. Good efficiency meant lower costs and higher profits. It also indicated a greater number of products, which also meant higher profits.

    There would never be enough airships that could adapt to the environment of the neutralnds. If they started epting orders now, they might have a century¡¯s worth of backlog with their current capacity.

    Having experienced thest shakeup, the big merchant groups, as well as the other powers, realized that Song Zining was the real key to this entire system. He controlled the most critical technology running the entire system, so as long as he wished it, he could jam the entire production chain.

    And there was no way to work around it. The warships designed by Ningyuan Heavy Industries were on par with the empire¡¯s current warships and way ahead of the vessels employed in the neutralnds. However, they were also extremely heavy, and not many locally produced engines were strong enough to operate them. If Song Zining were to stop providing engines, this fleet would turn into a group of turtle shells.

    Having sufficiently learned that Song Zining was irreceable, the merchant groups no longer fostered any thoughts they shouldn¡¯t have and fell obediently in ce within the system. At the very least, this business was much better paying than all the other fields they had dabbled in.

    Naturally, some people weren¡¯t willing to give up on swallowing Southern Blue. Of course, this would involve fighting power instead of just words. They set their sights on Qianye because he was an unavoidable roadblock for them.

    Thetter¡¯s aplishments in battle were almost unbelievable, but his rank on paper was only sixteen. No one knew his vampire rank because of his Bloodline Concealment. People still felt that they could get lucky because he was still not a divine champion.

    Qianye understood that people considered him a breakthrough point and that Zhang Buzhou would arrive to seek revenge sooner orter. Everything was just a matter of time. Just from how he had handled the matter of Qianye¡¯s appointment to Tidehark, one could see that the heavenly monarch had taken this to heart. Once Qianye was in trouble, Zhang Buzhou would swoop down and tear him to pieces.

    However, Qianye performed his daily patrols without fear or avoidance. He even stuck to his usual routine.

    The message couldn¡¯t be clearer. He was weing anyone who wanted to attempt an assassination.

    This actually intimidated people. They thought Qianye hadid out an ambush and was waiting for them to take the bait. Who was going to walk into such an obvious trap?

    No one really believed that Qianye was just alone, that he had made no special arrangements.

    Half a month went by in a sh. Qianye would patrol the city at dawn and cultivate constantly during his free time. As Qianye continuously absorbed void origin power, the skies above the Dark me headquarters were covered in swirling ck clouds which formed a massive vortex. This phenomenon would only clear away at dawn.

    There was no way those who were watching would miss this. They knew that it was caused by a cultivating expert, and only outstanding divine champions could change heaven and earth like so.

    This served to confirm everyone¡¯s doubts. They felt that there was a hidden expert in the headquarters, and that Qianye was serving as bait to draw the snakes out.

    As the schemers became ever more cautious, the situation as a whole became more peaceful. Qianye, however, couldn¡¯t wait that long, and the peacefulness actually made him long for action.

    The words Nighteye had spoken before her departure lingered in his heart. At times, he couldn¡¯t help but want to take bigger risks out of desperation. But the Profound Combatant Form and the Song n Ancient Scroll were already the best cultivation arts. How was he to raise his speed?

    Drawing blood to improve his vampire-side cultivation would hasten things, but the disadvantages were also evident. The absorbed essence blood would contain a fair amount of impurities that would slowly umte and taint his bloodline, causing a drop in quality.

    This shortcut was prevalent among the vampire race because most of them already knew their lifetime¡¯s progress at birth. With enough control, they could keep the contamination at a level where they wouldn¡¯t drop ranks. In the Evernight world where conflict was a daily thing, it wasn¡¯t such a bad deal to pay a small price for quick power.

    This method would no longer be effective after reaching its upper limit.

    Qianye possessed the Mystery Chapter, and his purified dark golden blood energy would reach the level of ancient vampires. The contamination was negligible to him, but the increase in power wasn¡¯t without its limitations. The scroll itself was based on a bnce between light and dark. A break in this equilibrium would easily break down everything.

    This meant that he had to cultivate steadily without rushing.

    For an entire half-month, the heavenly monarch¡¯s manor made no movement, and neither did the Wolf King. It was as though nothing had actually happened. Qianye wasn¡¯t ustomed to such peace¡ªwas he supposed to be guarded for ten years if Zhang Buzhou made no move for ten years?

    Although Qianye was nevercking in patience, waiting like that wasn¡¯t his style.

    Havinge to a decision, he walked out of the cultivation chamber and asked an attendant to prepare the most powerful bike they had.

    ¡°Sire, where do you n to go? Just asking so that I can tell Sire Zining if he asks,¡± the attendant asked.

    ¡°Tidehark.¡±

    ¡°Tidehark?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯m the city lord, so I should report in for duty.¡±

    The attendant was shocked, but he didn¡¯t dare say anything. He merely left in a hurry and returned with a shy motorbike. This vehicle was over a ton in weight, not something ordinary people could even operate. This product was a gift the major merchant groups had presented to Zhang Xuance during his short stay in Southern Blue. Now, it had naturally fallen into Dark me¡¯s hands.

    Qianye hopped onto the bike and left, leaving a trail of dust and the thunderous roar of its engine.

    The attendant ran across half the city before finding Song Zining in a workshop.

    Song Zining waved his hand after hearing the news. ¡°I knew that fellow wouldn¡¯t be able to sit still.¡±

    He fished out some divination tokens and calcted the fate of Qianye¡¯s skirmish. The pieces had just left his hand when all of his hair stood on end! He caught all the tokens at lightning speed and closed his eyes to rest, almost as though he were in a state of suspended animation.

    Momentster, the invisible thunderbolt roaming above his head gradually faded away. Song Zining stood up and wiped the sweat off his brows. He nced at the tokens and found that two of them were slightly cracked.

    If he had reacted any slower than he did, he would¡¯ve been struck by a bacsh of unimaginable severity. In short, it wasn¡¯t a damage the seventh young master could take.

    Song Zining shook his head with a wry smile. Qianye had already parted with Nighteye, so the divination threads should¡¯ve weakened a bit. Who would¡¯ve thought they had grown even stronger?

    Although he had pulled back swiftly, Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but feel apprehensive. What was the reason behind this? What major character had Qianye gotten involved with? Or was there a different reason?

    After some thought, Song Zining still didn¡¯t want to give up. He didn¡¯t dare to calcte directly, but it was fine to nce at the general situation. Momentster, he opened his eyes from meditation and rubbed his temples.

    Song Zining was rendered speechless by what he had seen just now. The heavenly mysteries were in chaos, with countless invasive star trajectories. It was akin to a ball of yarn full of stuck needles. It would seem more powerful entities had be involved. No one knew how many pairs of eyes were paying attention to him from above the nine heavens. Trying to divine Qianye¡¯s fate was like trying to steal from a market during the daytime. It would be weird if he wasn¡¯t discovered.

    After some thought, Song Zining smiled. ¡°That¡¯s not so bad, either. Those trying to scheme against him will surely suffer.¡±

    At this moment, in a certain isted room, an old man in hemp garments was working in great concentration. After a series of incantations, he tossed the divination tokens in his hand.

 Chapter 1117: Killing

    <h4>Chapter 1117: Killing</h4>

    The ten tokens fell into a jade bowl, where they bounced about like pearls before finally calming down. The old man nced at the tokens while calcting with his fingers.

    Just as the tokens came into clear view, his entire body trembled and an expression of terror filled his face. The man got up to flee but fell down with a muffled groan, his face pale as he sprayed blood all over the jade bowl and tokens.

    The first mouthful of blood made way for waves of hemorrhage that couldn¡¯t be stopped. He tried to cover his mouth in vain as his aura rapidly declined.

    The hemp clothed elder didn¡¯t lose hope, however. He struggled up, dipped his finger in the blood, and started writing several big characters on the ground. However, his trembling hands could only produce blurry distortions before he copsed, never to move again.

    The attendant outside the door called out several times. Hearing no response, he knocked again hesitantly. He became rather concerned about theck of reaction, so after some hesitation, he pushed the door open. The screaming man fell on his butt and, soon afterward, fled for dear life.

    Momentster, a serious-looking man in his middle ages walked over in brisk steps. The attendant had to sprint frantically just to keep up.

    As the middle-aged man pushed open the door to the isted room, his expression became extremely ugly.

    The attendant followed from behind, gasping and panting. ¡°He was in this state when I realized that something was wrong and pushed open the door. I ran over to report to you without the slightest dy.¡±

    The middle-aged man arrived beside the body of the old man. There, he reached out to test the elder¡¯s breathing, then touched his ear and heart areas. Standing up with a gloomy face, the middle-aged man followed the victim¡¯s fingers to the blood letters.

    ¡°Sess is in sight, but like a soaring snake exiting¡­¡± The middle-aged man read softly.

    The words after that had merged into a mass of blood. After a good while of reading, he said angrily, ¡°Still writing nonsense on the verge of death!¡±

    The old man might¡¯ve been able to leave some valuable information if he didn¡¯t beat around the bush.

    The middle-aged man asked the attendant to bring pen and paper, with which he traced the messy blood letter onto the paper. He then turned and left.

    The attendant asked, ¡°Sire, what do we do with Sire Huangfu¡¯s corpse?¡±

    ¡°Bury him,¡± the middle-aged man said before he was gone with the wind.

    ¡­

    Roaring like a dragon, a motorbike crossed the vast wilderness as it headed toward Tidehark. This custom-made vehicle was quite outstanding¡ªits massive frame was enough to store a good amount of ck crystals, allowing it to travel all the way from Southern Blue to Tidehark.

    A merchant group and a number of travelers were queuing up to enter the city. Although everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, it couldn¡¯t quite hide the mncholic atmosphere of the city.

    Hidden in a cloud of rolling dust, the motorbike rumbled with the momentum of descending thunder. It was actually charging over like a frontlinebat vehicle! The sentries on the wall became tense upon seeing this uninvited guest and sent a signal to theirrades on the ground.

    The guards in charge of the city-wall segment moved into action. The machine gunners and assistants turned their muzzles in Qianye¡¯s direction, which he duly ignored as he drove into firing range. Tires screeching, the vehicle spun about twice and slid forward beforeing to a stop just short of the gates.

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared as the dust finally dispersed. When he looked up at the sentry tower, the city guards adopted very different expressions¡ªsome were nervous, some were puzzled, while the others shifted their trembling muzzles in a different direction.

    What followed the initial mor was silence.

    A loud click echoed amidst the stillness, the sound of a machine-gun safety being released. The gunman, clearly a newbie, was pale, and his hands were trembling. A nearby veteran sent him flying with a p, scolding, ¡°Are you trying to get everyone killed?¡±

    The new soldier was puzzled. He looked left and right at hisrades, only to find that most of them had already moved their guns away.

    At this point, more and more guards recognized Qianye as the person who had killed Luo Bingfeng. The dangers involved in the fight against Luo Bingfeng was way beyond the soldiers¡¯prehension. It was when he had sealed off the city that his might was actually established.

    Single-handedly sealing off a city was unprecedented, even in legends.

    No matter how fierce and bold the city guards were, they were still humans who feared death. They were even less willing to throw away their lives for nothing. The city had been upied by the Empire and Evernight after Luo Bingfeng¡¯s demise. The fearless men had long since be corpses at this point, and the only ones left were new recruits and sly old men.

    If that weren¡¯t the case, Qianye¡¯s aggressive charge would¡¯ve been met with machine-gun fire.

    Seeing that there was no movement on the city wall, Qianye shook his head in disappointment. He had nned to fight, but the current city guard was unexpectedly spineless.

    Qianye raised his voice. ¡°I¡¯m Qianye, the city lord of Tidehark. Open the gates this instant!¡±

    The guards exchanged nces.

    A city of this size possessed two, or even three, sets of gates. Normally, only a part of them was open for the passage of people and vehicles. The gates would fully open only when there was war because that would involve steam power from the kic towers. The mechanisms couldn¡¯t be operated by just a couple of soldiers.

    Qianye looking at the gates meant that he was demanding a full opening. If he were really the city lord, this demand was more symbolic than not. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that it was a formal announcement of his arrival.

    It was just that Qianye¡¯s appointment was only announced to the higher echelons of the city. The sentry officers might know a few things, but the soldiers werepletely ignorant. After all, this matter was rather humiliating, and the major powers still hadn¡¯t figured out how to deal with this. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t make a big announcement about it.

    At a loss about what to do, the guards all looked to their officer. Knowing that there was no evading this, the gatekeeping officer walked to the ramparts and said, ¡°We greet the city lord.¡±

    Qianye pointed at the machine gun formation. ¡°Why are you aiming your guns at me if you know that I am the city lord? Are you trying to slight Zhang Buzhou?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s position was announced by the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence. Everyone knew the true story behind this, but to outsiders, this was indeed Zhang Buzhou¡¯s will. It wasn¡¯t entirely wrong for Qianye to im that not respecting him was not respecting the heavenly monarch.

    The gate officer, of course, knew that Qianye was here to stir up trouble. He quickly dispatched someone to make an urgent report while roaring at the other soldiers to put down their weapons. Aiming their guns at this murderous star, what was that if not courting death?

    The officer conveniently forgot to issue orders for standby. Two small kic towers rolled into action, and the gates of Tidehark slowly opened to the side amidst whistling steam.

    Qianye started the bike engine and rolled into the city. ¡°Men, lead me to the city lord¡¯s manor.¡±

    The officer appointed several men as guides, but they were all old or crippled soldiers who would take a good amount of time to reach their destination. The officer was clearly trying to stall for time for those inside.

    How could Qianye give him this opportunity? His figure appeared beside the gate officer in a sh, saying, ¡°You, go with me!¡±

    The officer was shocked out of his wits. He started trembling because he had clearly seen Qianye¡¯s frostiness during the short moment of eye-contact.

    The man was already dizzy when Qianye boarded the motorbike. He didn¡¯t even have the time to summon a car before subconsciously running ahead to lead the way.

    The motorbike rumbled like thunder, drawing eyes wherever it went. After seeing the gate officer running frantically in front, people began to wonder what was happening, and the bolder ones followed them.

    The duo arrived in front of the city lord¡¯s manor within moments. Qianye got off here, ncing at the dignified mansion and therge swathe of soldiers in front of it.

    The soldiers were tall, strong, and tightly knit into a formation. Arms folded and chin raised, they looked at Qianye provocatively through the corner of their eyes.

    The officer had vanished at this point.

    Qianye removed his goggles, jumped down the bike, and kicked it away. He then walked toward the manor in a leisurely manner.

    The warriors of the city lord manor stood there without the slightest movement. Clearly, they had no intention of making way. Qianye nced at them and found that none of them wore the decorations of an officer. The highest-ranked among them was a petty officer, with a cultivation of rank five.

    Qianye could destroy such cannon fodder with a wave of his hand, but there was no benefit from doing this. It would only make him a blood-thirsty killer.

    Whether there was someone controlling them or if they were personally intent on this futile endeavor, Qianye had no intention of letting them remain deluded about being able to threaten him.

    He kept walking toward the manor,pletely ignoring the people blocking his way. He then raised his voice, which covered a small part of Tidehark.

    ¡°Are you people ignoring Zhang Buzhou¡¯s words? Are his words all crap to you?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words caused everyone¡¯s expressions to change. Although the city had changed owners quickly in the recent period, no one really dared to disrespect the heavenly monarch. Qianye seemed to be upholding Zhang Buzhou¡¯smand but was actually cursing the man at heart.

    As the city lord¡¯s manor remained silent, Qianye walked over to the first row of warriors. These soldiers were like small giants and an entire size bigger, but the gap in momentum between the two parties grew wider as Qianye¡¯s eyes turned cold.

    ¡°Insolence!¡±

    Qianye took a step forward and crashed into the hundreds of burly men in front of him!

    ¡°Halt!¡± A loud cry echoed from the manor, but it was toote.

    The warriors blocking Qianye¡¯s path felt a tremendous force fall upon their bodies. They felt as though a giant rock was bearing down on them, and all they could hear was the roar of tidal waves.

    The pressure was too heavy for these ordinary soldiers to withstand. Many of them felt their vision grow dark and a sweetness welling up in their throats as they spat out blood. Soon, no one was left standing.

    The damage didn¡¯t stop there¡ªthe main gates of the manor and the tower crumbled under the pressure!

    Debris fell down like rain, smashing the warriors on the ground. The damage quickly worsened, and everyone was left with broken bones and tendons.

 Chapter 1118: Kill and Burn

    <h4>Chapter 1118: Kill and Burn</h4>

    Qianye stepped over the groaning warriors and entered the city lord manor. This time, a group of people rushed out from within, and there were finally some proper-looking experts among them.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes fell upon a well-groomed man in his middle ages. ¡°I thought you would endure for a bit.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s brows rose high, and his expression was dignified and calm. ¡°You¡¯re also an expert. What¡¯s the meaning of attacking ordinary warriors? How can you hope to take the city lord position with such moral conduct?¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t interested in batting an eyelid at such tricks. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°This seat is called Du Yuan!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Never heard of you.¡±

    Du Yuan was furious. He was themander of the city guard and a top expert in the army, someone only below Luo Bingfeng in authority. Even messengers from the heavenly monarch had to give him some face.

    It was fine if Qianye was just mocking him, but iming not to know him was just outrageous.

    After sizing up Du Yuan, Qianye said, ¡°You¡¯re somewhat capable, but why are you still alive when Luo Bingfeng is dead? It seems you¡¯re quite apt at staying alive.¡±

    Du Yuan was so angry that his face turned red. He had fought with his life against the empire, but he was finally rendered unconscious with heavy injuries. His trusted aides had dragged him off the battlefield, and the fight was over when he regained consciousness.

    It was only recently that he had recovered from his injuries and his strength wasn¡¯t at its peak just yet. Everyone, including himself, believed that he had done his utmost. Who would dare say they could stop the empire¡¯s great momentum back then?

    Hence, Qianye¡¯s mockery sounded extremely harsh in his ears.

    His brows rose as he took a step forward. ¡°Thief! I haven¡¯t even settled the score with you for scheming against the city lord, yet you daree bully us at our door! Do you really think there¡¯s no one here in Tidehark?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was ambiguous. ¡°Are you really treating Zhang Buzhou¡¯s words as rubbish?¡±

    ¡°Who allowed you to randomly call upon Heavenly Monarch Zhang¡¯s name?¡± Du Yuan raised his voice a fair bit. One could see his skill at avoiding cmity from how he had avoided Qianye¡¯s verbal trap.

    However, whether or not Du Yuan took the bait didn¡¯t change anything. Qianye didn¡¯t raise his voice, but its range expanded further as he said, ¡°I¡¯m Qianye, the city lord of Tidehark City, officially announced by Zhang Buzhou. This is myst warning to whoever that does not recognize me, or slights Heavenly Monarch Zhang. Don¡¯t me me for being merciless!¡±

    With that, Qianye nced at Du Yuan. ¡°Do I make myself clear? Do you n to throw away the life you got back from thest battle?¡±

    Du Yuan couldn¡¯t quite yield under everyone¡¯s eyes. He said furiously, ¡°Such insolence! How dare you act so rudely toward the heavenly monarch? Someone of your cultivation rank has no right to act like this in Tidehark! Today, I must teach you how to act like a decent human being!¡±

    He took a step forward but didn¡¯t draw his own sword. Instead, he drew the sword of a bystander and pointed it at Qianye. The message was that he could destroy Qianye with any random sword.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to care whether the man was truly stupid or just acting. East Peak appeared with a swipe of his hand, apanied by the sound of dense, rolling thunder.

    Du Yuan felt that things weren¡¯t looking good when he heard the thunderous noise. It was as though a primordial beast was awakening in front of him!

    Before he could decide if he should keep going at it or throw away his face and retreat, Qianye¡¯s wrist moved ever so slightly, bringing East Peak down upon him!

    The sh came with absolutely no warning. It moved almost weightlessly, and even the direction of the de seemed to be drifting, making people wonder whether Qianye was drunk.

    However, Du Yuan and a handful of powerful experts were immediately shocked. They could see that the sh wasn¡¯t drifting because it was weak. The space around the de was actually being distorted from the terrifying strength behind it.

    Within moments, Du Yuan realized that he couldn¡¯t block this attack.

    It was just that he couldn¡¯t retreat, either, because if he were to lose his momentum, he might not evenst one attack. Du Yuan unleashed an odd cry as he swung his de at East Peak, but his de immediately broke into two.

    East Peak was iparably sturdy after its recent refinement, and its sharpness had also reached new heights. Not to mention the random sword in Du Yuan¡¯s hands, even his own sword would not escape the same fate.

    East Peak¡¯s descent wasn¡¯t affected by this parry. The old man¡¯s budding desire to retreat burst into action¡ªas an experiencedbatant, he borrowed the force from the shing des to sh backward and managed to escape the cmity.

    A pale Du Yuan stood ten meters away, staring intently at Qianye with half a sword in his grasp. Nobody could remainposed after narrowly escaping death.

    He was just about to retreat when he felt a ticklish sensation on his face. He noticed a drop of blood roll down between his brows and drop off at the tip of his nose.

    Trembling, Du Yuan raised his sword in front of his face. In the reflected image, he could see a red line running between his brows and a drop of blood seeping out of it.

    His hand trembled with greater intensity. That line of blood wasn¡¯t an illusion; it was solid proof that he had just rolled away from that thin line between life and death. If he had acted just one momentter, he would¡¯ve been shed into two and be a corpse.

    Du Yuan¡¯s origin power rank was still above Qianye¡¯s. The old man knew thetter was famous for fighting people above his level, but the situation called for him to take action. If he had submitted without action, his name would be utterly destroyed. On the other hand, he felt that he could hold his own against Qianye for a while and that someone else would take action meanwhile.

    Those who wanted to teach Qianye a lesson the most weren¡¯t Luo Bingfeng¡¯s old subordinates.

    However, he would¡¯ve never imagined this oue, that he had almost died to a single move.

    Qianye didn¡¯t mind missing one sh. Du Yuan had followed Luo Bingfeng for so many years and was one of the few powerful experts below the divine champion realm. He had also overdone his posing just now. Qianye concluded that he still couldn¡¯t kill such experts in one blow; he would need at least three or four consecutive attacks.

    Since he had already attacked, Qianye had no intention of stopping without an oue. He followed up with a forward step and shed sideways at Du Yuan¡¯s waist.

    Qianye had already channeled Excavator at this point. The surging power was almost indefensible as the sword whipped toward Du Yuan¡¯s waist.

    The attack was so fast that the old man simply had no time to defend. He barely managed to evade the strike when East Peak was whistling down on his head once more.

    Du Yuan threw away the broken sword, but he didn¡¯t even have time to draw his own de. The only choice he could make right now was the direction in which to flee. He clenched his teeth and jumped into the crowd around him! Chaos ensued.

    Qianye calmly adjusted East Peak¡¯s direction and fired a wisp of scarlet gold sword energy. The energy shot out several dozen meters as it went after Du Yuan, ignoring everyone around it.

    The old man moved swiftly, but Qianye¡¯s sword energy was faster. Those watching the show nearby were thus drawn into the cmity¡ªthe people in the periphery threw themselves to the ground, but those close to Du Yuan simply had no time to run or hide. All they could do was swing their weapons in a futile attempt to block the iing sword energy.

    A wave of blood burst out in the crowd as those who were swept into the attack were ground up.

    Du Yuan roared frantically as blood spurted out of his back, but he actually ran away at extreme speeds.

    Qianye did not give chase. He simply put away his de and turned to look at the street in front of the manor, his gaze¡ªintentionally or otherwise¡ªmoving over the building and its windows. He then stepped over the crowd of dead and injured people, and into the residence.

    Momentster, Qianye was seated in the central hall of the city lord¡¯s manor. A tform had been raised here, on which a tall chair had been ced to represent a throne.

    In the past, Luo Bingfeng had always lived in seclusion atop the holy mountain and never in his residence. Hence, the ce hadrgely be an administrative office for the city guard and other civil departments. The conference hall was equipped with a long table and chairs, which Qianye asked the attendants to clear away. He had no intention of ¡°conferring¡± with anyone.

    Qianye was seated high above the masses, but the only problem was that there were only a handful of people below, and most of them were just small leaders. None of the higher-ranked characters were here. Qianye didn¡¯t mind because most of the city guard¡¯s experts had probably been wiped out during the two upations. He also believed that random people weren¡¯t going to jump out and challenge him after Du Yuan was injured.

    ¡±Have you cleared away the corpses outside? What are the casualties?¡±

    ¡±Sire, a total of eleven people fell in battle, fifty-five have suffered grave injuries, and a hundred and twenty have suffered light injuries.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Fall in battle? Does that mean your city lord is the enemy?¡±

    The officer was drenched in cold sweat. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare! But¡­ Sire, they were all acting under orders and had no other choice. Besides, you can kill these weaklings with one hand, why would you take them to heart? How about we help them treat their injuries, then give them stern punishments?¡±

    Qianye tapped the armrest lightly. ¡°Which family is so lenient toward the rebellion?¡±

    Sweat rolled down the man¡¯s forehead when he heard the word rebellion. He fell to his knees and said, ¡°Sire, they were truly confused because someone had led them astray. Also, killing them will just tarnish your name.¡±

    ¡°It seems my name in Tidehark was never good. Why should I care?¡±

    ¡°You should! Of course you should!¡± The petty officer said repeatedly, ¡°Many people were absent not out of disrespect but out of fear. I believe they wille around very soon.¡±

    Qianye nced at the man with a spurious smile. This person was still able to talk well even though his back was drenched. ¡°You¡¯re quite considerate of me, aren¡¯t you? Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll kill you in anger?¡±

    The officer replied, ¡°I have no talent, killing me will only stain your hand.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°You¡¯re quite bold. Fine, I¡¯ll spare them out of consideration for your fearlessness, but they won¡¯t escape punishment. Drag the corpses out of the city, they¡¯re not allowed to be buried. Treat the injured and exile them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire!¡± The subordinates responded swiftly. After some discussion amongst themselves, they split off to execute the orders.

    Qianye simply watched and allowed them to act on their own. These lowly officers were experienced in such matters¡ªthey probably felt that Qianye wouldn¡¯t be city lord for long and that theirrades could return once he was gone.

    Qianyeughed coldly. ¡°Notify all the n lords, have them meet me at the city lord manor in the afternoon. Absence will be considered an act of rebellion! Also, gather the city guard and take me to Commander Du¡¯s residence.¡±

    These orders were suffused with killing intent, but who would dare say no when Qianye had injured Du Yuan so easily?

    Within moments, several military vehicles left the city lord manor and drove toward Du Yuan¡¯s residence.

    These vehicles were modified cargo trucks and not off-road vehicles usually used by officers. There were only a handful of soldiers on the vehicles. Numbering no more than thirty including the drivers, the lineup looked rather pitiful. The higher-ranking officers were nowhere to be found, and the lower-ranking officers were only there to offer lip service.

    Qianye sat in the front passenger seat of the leading vehicle. As his gaze swept through the streets, he could asionally sense malicious gazes from the surrounding buildings, but to his disappointment, no one actually dared to ambush him.

    Du Yuan¡¯s residence was on the western side of the city, a manor upying half a street block. It boasted high walls, big courtyards, and looked rather dignified from a distance. However, the entire residence was in chaos at the moment, with no shortage of people crying and screaming. From time to time, there would be people running out from thepound with heavy luggage, disappearing into the alleyways.

    Qianye jumped down from the truck and looked up at the residence signboard. It was a ck te decorated with golden words, not one bit less dignified than the city lord¡¯s manor.

    ¡°Halt! This is themander¡¯s residence. How dare you barge in? Are you not afraid of death?¡± The two guards at the gate were quite dutiful despite the chaos inside.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to argue. Two sanguineous threads shot out from his fingertips and pierced into the guards¡¯ chests. The attack was withdrawn almost immediately, but the two soldiers copsed to the ground, pale and lifeless.

    Qianye led the officer and a couple dozen warriors into the courtyard, shing down the gates in the process.

    People dressed in servant¡¯s attire were running in, out, and about the messy courtyard. There were clothes and other items strewn across the floor, almost as though a robbery had taken ce. Qianye grabbed a servant and asked him about Du Yuan¡¯s whereabouts.

    The servant went limp from the fright but was fortunately able to speak clearly, ¡°The master came back a while ago, covered in blood, and ordered everyone to pack up and leave. He himself left with the young masters. After his departure, the mistresses also packed up their things and fled.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°This fellow sure runs fast! Luo Bingfeng is a hero of the generation, how could he have appointed such amander?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s evaluation was a bit off. Du Yuan could be considered a fierce and capable general who had led the city guard with great stability, enjoying a good reputation throughout his career. However, he had been set back time and again, surviving the siege on Luo Bingfeng just to brush against death again under Qianye¡¯s de. The two near-mortal experiences just now had exhausted whatever heroism he possessed.

    Qianye put down the servant and walked around the manor.

    The Du Residence looked quite grand, but it was fairly crude in the details. Overall, it was a copy of an ancient imperial garden, but it was far fromparable to the major ns in terms of artistry. Everything in thepound was a mess, with nothing useful to speak of. Those that were truly valuable had probably been taken away by Du Yuan or his concubines. Whatever remained would¡¯ve been plundered by his subordinates.

    Qianye had no designs on the residence, so he wasn¡¯t disappointed. After touring the ce, he said, ¡°Burn this ce down.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Everyone thought they had heard wrong. The Du residence was a big mansion of extraordinary worth. Now that the owner had fled, it made sense to just upy it rather than burn it down.

    Qianye said, ¡°I said, burn it down.¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡± The small officer had already realized that this was Qianye¡¯s style. He shot a meaningful nce at hisrades, who had split off to set the ce on fire.

    Fire rose up in several spots, and the rolling mes swept through the entire residence within moments. Everyone in the city could see the dense smoke.

    Qianye stood outside the manor, gazing at the raging mes for a while. He even had the extra time tomand the city guard to form a parameter, lest the fire spread to other parts of the city. He only left after seeing the Du Residencepletely devoured by mes.

    The officer followed him and asked cautiously, ¡°Sire, where do we go now?¡±

    Qianye stopped and looked back at the timid man. ¡°It¡¯s quite disappointing that no one came to extinguish the fire.¡±

    Everyone looked rather awkward, including the officer. Qianye asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The man replied, ¡°I¡¯m called Du Xinchu, a distant nephew of themander.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected this. He nced at the officer curiously, saying, ¡°Are you not afraid I¡¯ll kill you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll only dirty your hands, there¡¯s no meaning to it.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°So tell me, why do you think no one came to fight the fire?¡±

    Du Xinchu said after a moment of silence, ¡°News of you making short work of themander has spread far and wide. No one wille and throw away their lives without sufficient preparation.¡±

    Aughing Qianye entered the car and called Du Xinchu to his side to continue with the questions. ¡°Why do you think those people don¡¯t want me as city lord?¡±

    Du Xinchu replied, ¡°There are three reasons. Firstly, they think you¡¯re not strong enough. A city lord has to be a divine champion in order to cate the masses. Secondly, Tidehark is just like any other city in that it is rather divided internally, with numerous factions vying for power. Now that many posts had opened up after the two battles, people naturally started to feel that they had a chance. Some people wanted important positions, while others wanted to take a shot at being city lord. Finally, the heavenly monarch doesn¡¯t want you in this position. He has probably pulled some strings behind the scene.¡±

    Qianye was surprised at how candid the man was. ¡°You probably shouldn¡¯t have told me so much.¡±

    Du Xinchu sighed. ¡°I have no other skill, but I¡¯m quite observant. The might of your sword tells me that all the experts in the city added together can only serve as training dummies. Tidehark has lost most of its power and cannot withstand more torment. Having you as city lord trumps being swallowed up by the Wolf King.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°You¡¯re quite confident in me, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    He shot a nce forward and said, ¡°Stop the car.¡±

    The vehicles came to a halt in quick session as Qianye walked out toward a certain intersection.

    There was a long road before him with stores lining each side. The signs and gs in front fluttered in the wind, but there were few passers-by and customers. Mostly, it was just the staff doing their work.

    The road was long and narrow with tall buildings on either side. The sun was shining brightly from the other end of the passage, but leaden clouds bore down upon the area and stifled everyone therein.

    Qianye made a sharp turn after a single nce and walked into the street with confident strides. Du Xinchu¡¯s expression changed slightly¡ªhe wanted to stop Qianye, but thetter was already gone by the time he stretched out his hand. Du Xinchu remained frozen in ce, ncing between his hand and Qianye¡¯s receding figure ten meters away. His expression became solemn.

    Once inside the street, killing intent rushed into Qianye¡¯s face, and the area turned even darker. The wind passing through the buildings was suffused with a bone-deep chill.

    He didn¡¯t need to walk far before the third-floor windows on either side shattered and several dark figures swooped down from above! At the same time, the store staff on the ground floor pulled away the tablecloths to reveal, not a table, but boxed ballistae!

 Chapter 1119: Assassination

    <h4>Chapter 1119: Assassination</h4>

    Multi-shot ballistae!

    This was a weapon made to deal with high-ranking experts. It could fire multiple projectiles in one go, each producing a chain explosion after striking its target. The area of effect was beyond the movement range of an ordinary expert, which made it a lethal weapon at such close distances.

    However, Qianye¡¯s figure became blurry as he took one step forward and effectively evaded all iing projectiles. He then plucked the iing assassins out of the air, as though they were fruits, and threw them to the ground.

    Qianye¡¯s movements looked fairly slow, but in truth, he was outrageously fast. The ¡°plucked¡± assassins never even made it to Qianye¡¯s position.

    The victims never moved again after they were flung to the ground. It was almost as though they were asleep, and no one saw clearly how Qianye had done it.

    The first trap was thus easily dismantled.

    The workers in the nearby stores looked panicked and surprised. All of them threw down their weapons at the same time and fled to the rear.

    Qianye flicked out origin power projectiles from his fingers, which duly produced small bloody holes in the workers¡¯ foreheads.

    The entire street had be quiet in the blink of an eye.

    In the stores up front, many of the staff were watching this scene with outstretched necks. They exhibited overwhelming shock after witnessing everything; even their bodies were trembling. Some of them edged back into their stores while others fell sitting onto the ground.

    This was what Qianye wanted.

    There were surely more assassins hidden among the ordinary store workers. He had no time to differentiate between them. Everyone would be afraid if he were to start killing without discrimination. After all, not many people were truly fearless of death.

    As for their identities, there was really no need to guess. The assassins were still in their warrior attire with their family insignias intact. The ambush was set up so hastily that they were never able to change out of their clothing.

    Qianye stepped forward confidently, sending off a dozen more assassins to meet their maker. He flipped one of the assants over and, as expected, saw the insignia of a different family.

    It was safe to assume that the families who didn¡¯t want him as city lord had banded together and set up what they thought was a solid ambush.

    The street was long, but he had already walked a fifth of its length after dismantling the assassination.

    As Qianye continued forward, the staff in the stores began to grow restless. Following a shout from one of them, several people turned and fled out of the back door. The people nearby called out to them but all was in vain.

    Finally, a series of mournful whistles¡ªthree long and two short¡ªechoed from the end of the street.

    The assassins charging at Qianye were startled. They red angrily at Qianye but eventually retreated toward the end of the street. Qianye didn¡¯t give chase and simply let them go. Hence, the stores on either side of the street soon became empty.

    A crowd made up of hundreds stood waiting for him on the other end of the street.

    Qianye¡¯s pace remained constant as he walked calmly out of the street.

    Some people in the group exchanged nces and walked out of the crowd. These people looked fairly different¡ªa bearded old man, a dark-faced hunk, and an elegant young man. All of them were suffused with killing intent, their eyes either calm or wild as they red resolutely at Qianye.

    These people were the leaders of the various families involved in this operation. They were decisive enough to call back their warriors after seeing the failed ambush, gathering them up for a showdown instead.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes went past them and scanned the entire group. The several hundred people were valiant elites possessing extraordinary strength. If it wasn¡¯t for the gap in training and equipment, they might be equal to the Red Scorpions.

    ¡°What a big investment. If these people die, your families will be crippled. I still don¡¯t understand what enmity we have between us that you would mobilize on such a scale.¡±

    The dark-faced man snorted. ¡°How impressive, Sire Qianye. You were here for only half a day, but you¡¯ve already injured Commander Du Yuan and burned down his residence. You even summoned all the n lords to see you! As I see it, you just want to kill everyone in one go, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Fine with me if you want to think of it that way.¡±

    The civilized young man said, ¡°Sire Qianye, you were quite well-mannered toward us when City Lord Luo was still alive. This time, you start off by killing and establishing your might, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit inappropriate?¡±

    The old man stroked his beard. ¡°Sire, the situation has changed. Unlike before, the Empire and Evernight forces have retreated. Why would you hang on to this empty position? If you¡¯re willing to leave, we will immediately offer up a satisfactory present. Tidehark and Southern Blue can be brethren, helping each other in times of need as we share in the bounty of peace in the Eastern Sea. Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡±

    Qianye nced at the group. ¡°Do you think your group is enough to deal with me?¡±

    The burly man said in a gloomy voice, ¡°I came ready to die. Even if I can¡¯t kill you, I¡¯ll be sure to bite several chunks of flesh off your body! When the timees, do you think you can escape Tidehark?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Ready to die? Fine, I¡¯m thinking the other n lords wille to the residence obediently if I deal with you guys.¡±

    The group¡¯s expression shifted drastically. Just as they had shifted into a defensive stance, Qianye suddenly vanished before their eyes!

    Almost immediately, the force of a great ocean descended upon the area and crushed everyone until their spines were creaking. The young, elegant man was caught off-guard and fell to his knees. The other leaders followed suit. They quickly realized that, if even they were in this state, how could the soldiers behind them resist the pressure?

    A red light flickered before everyone¡¯s eyes. What followed was a sensation akin to a mosquito bite, then emptiness.

    Both shocked and afraid, they did their utmost to channel their origin power and look backward. To their astonishment, they found the hundreds of men behind them strewn across the ground as countless threads of blood slowly retracted into Qianye¡¯s body.

    Oceanic Vortex and Life Plunder together made up a peerless weapon to deal with cannon fodder. This was no exception. Unfortunately, these inexperienced n lords had only thought Qianye¡¯sbat strength was superior to Du Yuan¡¯s. As they saw it, even a divine champion could only kill three to five at a time. They felt that he would need almost a hundred attacks to clear away the entire crowd.

    With the hundreds of warriors dead, these families had lost almost a third of their entire fighting force. One could easily imagine how the power bnce in the city would change hereafter.

    The leaders were both shocked and furious, but the feeling of exhaustion grew stronger. At the moment, they wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep. At this moment, it was difficult for them to even save themselves, let alone attack. Their only will was to hold out as much as they could, because once asleep, they would never wake up.

    They channeled their origin vortices as much as they could, trying to contain the damage and maintain vitality. They found nothing more than little red dots when they tried to check their body for injuries. However, there were fine tunnels below these red dots that stretched all the way to their hearts. This both shocked and filled them with dread. If these tiny tracts were enough to leave them with such a drain, even their lives would be in danger if they were just a bit thicker.

    Qianye left without killing them. The leaders exchanged nces, but none of them dared to speak. All of them were pale in the realization that their cultivation had been damaged. Without proper wound-management, there was no telling if they could still remain champions.

    After returning to the city lord manor, Qianye took his seat and waited quietly for the n lords to arrive. He left a quarter of an hour for everyone to assemble after burning the Du residence and destroying the ambush.

    Qianye didn¡¯t kill the nearby scouts, so the news must have reached their families by now. He wanted to see how they would react.

    The sound of screeching tires rang out in front of the manor gates, followed by hurried footsteps and the guards announcing arrivals.

    In the blink of an eye, a red-faced elder walked energetically into the conference room. He looked intently at Qianye and said, ¡°Liu Minglun of the Tidehark Liu family greets the new city lord.¡±

    Liu Minglun hadn¡¯t even raised his head when Qianye helped him up with a smile. ¡°n Lord Liu came quite fast. It¡¯s not even the appointed time yet!¡±

    Liu Minglun was surprised at Qianye¡¯s movement skills, but the muscles on his face only froze for a second before returning to a big smile. ¡°This old man came immediately when I heard your summons. I wouldn¡¯t dare dy.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Men, prepare a seat for n Lord Liu.¡±

    The guards brought a chair, which they put down in the empty hall ording to Qianye¡¯s instructions.

    The chair was ced just below Qianye¡¯s seat. Liu Minglun was immediately overjoyed and also terrified.

    The original conference room held a long table, and there was an unspoken rule about the seating around it. The seats closer to the seat of honor were reserved for the bigger families, and his current seat would usually be upied by one of the top three families of the city.

    The Liu family was a small mid-ranked family that had suffered greatly in the two battles due to their location. Their power had declined so much that they were almost pushed out of the city. Liu Minglun had approached Qianye out of desperation, in hopes of staking it all in one throw.

    Qianye¡¯s seating arrangement proved that he liked the man, but that in and of itself was a small volcano.

    Liu Minglun clenched his teeth and decided to sit down. There was no need to shrink back at this point since he was already between a rock and a hard ce.

    Yet another vehicle stopped in front of the manor, and a number of n lords were once again led into the conference room. No one in the residence dared question Qianye¡¯s authority after he had injured Du Yuan, killed several dozen, and injured hundreds more. At the very least, they were extremely obedient in front of Qianye.

    The n lords saw nary a familiar face along the way. The officers and guards they knew of looked extremely submissive. This made them think about certain things, and by the time they entered the hall, most of them were much more respectful. Qianye stood up and returned the gesture from his seat, and then ordered the men to arrange seating behind Liu Minglun.

    These people had just been seated when two more n lords arrived. This time, Qianye only greeted them from a sitting position.

    The n lords who had arrived first saw the difference in treatment and how the seating had been arranged. They realized that he didn¡¯t really care about how big or small the families were, only by the order of their arrival. In fact, the earlier arrivals were mostly ordinary powers like Liu Minglun¡¯s. They hade in hopes of seeking opportunities, thinking they couldn¡¯t quite provoke a murderer like Qianye.

    Qianye ignored their petty schemes and seemed lost in his own thoughts.

    With the arrival of more and more family heads, the conference room was soon filled up halfway. Those sitting at the fore grew nervous as their seating and power were highly discrepant. They awkwardly fidgeted about, almost as though they were sitting on a furnace.

    Momentster, four more n lords arrived just as the appointed time was almost up. These four families were much stronger than the smaller ones from before, but their seating was at the very rear.

    The four looked angry, but they quickly understood what was happening when they observed the situation in the hall. As sophisticated people, they exchanged nces and decided to swallow their displeasure.

    After a while, an imposing burly man walked into the hall. The guard leading the way said in a loud voice, ¡°Gao Mingtang of the Gao family has arrived!¡±

    The n lords became restless. The Gao family was among the top five families in Tidehark. Even when Luo Bingfeng was here, their family would be invited to every meeting.¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye wouldn¡¯t even look up at him. ¡°The appointed time is past, you may stand at the back.¡±

 Chapter 1120: Weeding

    <h4>Chapter 1120: Weeding</h4>

    Gao Mingtang¡¯s face turned red, then purple, under everyone¡¯s gaze. He heaved and huffed several times before finally suppressing his anger. ¡°Sire Qianye, are you also nning to discuss things standing up?¡±

    All the seated family heads looked away in a different direction, not daring to look straight at Gao Mingtang. Their families were far too inferior. How could they sit calmly when the man was standing by the door. It was just that the torrential pressure from above was so great that even the families usually reliant on the Gao didn¡¯t dare stand up.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°Since you¡¯rete, then you shall stand.¡±

    Gao Mingtangughed. ¡°Good, good! I want to ask you one more thing. What will happen to those who don¡¯t arrive at all?¡±

    ¡°If they¡¯re not here by sundown, there¡¯s no need toe anymore.¡±

    Gao Mingtang sneered. He wanted to say ¡°What can you do if they don¡¯te?¡± but a sudden notion drenched him in cold sweat.

    Gao Mingtang said after some deliberation, ¡°They won¡¯t have a seat here¡­¡±

    ¡°Not here, not in this city.¡± Qianye¡¯s expression was cold.

    Gao Mingtang was shaken. ¡°Sire, how will you govern Tidehark without the support of all the families?¡±

    A massive entity like Tidehark possessed enough resources and geographical advantage to recover. It was only a matter of time. Theplicated web of interests would make it difficult for Qianye to assign them to certain administrative duties.

    However, Qianye smiled. ¡°Who said I have to govern the city well?¡±

    This time, both Gao Mingtang and everyone else in the hall was startled. Their expressions shifted drastically when they realized the meaning behind Qianye¡¯s words. Since he wasn¡¯t considering the effects, it was only natural that he wouldn¡¯t worry about destroying the city. Whichever family Qianye disliked would encounter misfortune. As for whether the city would tumble and fall because of this infighting, that had nothing to do with him.

    This rendered the self-importance of these families meaningless, and there was nothing left to threaten Qianye with. Oh, reputation you say? Everyone here was a family-head. Empty words like these would only invite embarrassment in the face of Qianye¡¯s attitude.

    Qianye would naturally gain fame if he could sit firmly in the city lord¡¯s seat. Offering up his foundations in the city against dismantling it, which reputation was the better one? The former would paint him weak, while thetter would give him a fierce name. Everyone knew the answer.

    Having thought this through, the n lords arrived at different moods and expressions. Most of them were contemtive and secretly delighted. Tidehark was big, but it couldn¡¯t fit too many families. The small families would only have space to stand out if the big families were removed.

    Gao Mingtang¡¯s expression shifted several times as he struggled inside. Finally, he nced out at the color of the sky, then bowed deeply toward Qianye. ¡°It was indeed my fault for missing your appointed time. I have some biological needs right now, may I leave for a bit?¡±

    ¡°Go.¡± Qianye waved his hand.

    Gao Mingtang left the city lord¡¯s residence in a hurry, then returned within moments. This journey took just long enough for a toilet run, but everyone knew where he had gone. Why else would he need to leave the manor? There were more than enough toilets here.

    The sky outside gradually darkened, and dusk would arrive in less than a quarter-hour. Qianye was seated on his high chair, his eyes closed as though he were asleep. The various n lords remained as silent and calm as old monks.

    Just as thest rays of the sun faded away over the horizon, the sound of screeching tires was heard outside of the gates. Two figures jumped over the wall and appeared at the doors of the conference room before the sounds had even faded away. Their steps were quite calm when they entered the chamber, but their act of jumping over the wall betrayed the urgency in their hearts.

    ¡°Lu Dinghan of the Lu family greets Sire Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Sun Chuansheng of the Sun family greets Sire Qianye.¡±

    All the n lords in the hall became restless. The Sun and Lu were among the top five families in the city. Their hurried arrival was very likely due to Gao Mingtang¡¯s report, but it was rather interesting that the biggest Wu and Du families never arrived. No one knew if they had no intention ofing or if they never received Gao Mingtang¡¯s message.

    The Du family was rted to Du Yuan despite living separately, so it was only natural that they wouldn¡¯te. The Wu family held numerous important positions in the city, boasting a powerful lineup of experts and widespread influence. Their two daughters had been betrothed to Zhang Buzhou¡¯s nephews. This was likely a case of people standing by their rtives.

    The sun had set by the time the Sun and Lu families arrived. The lights in the conference room started to light up at the same time.

    Qianye finally opened his eyes and sat up straight. ¡°Since you¡¯vee, then stand there.¡±

    Being mentally prepared, the two n lords were much moreposed than Gao Mingtang was. There was no anger on their faces as they greeted Gao Mingtang and took their ces beside him.

    Qianye ordered, ¡°It¡¯s about time. Close the doors and refuse all visitors henceforth.¡±

    The guards left to issue the order.

    The original gates and its tower had been demolished by Qianye, but the city lord manor was designed like a small fortress with two thresholds just like the city gates. The reserveyer was made up of alloy doors that were one meter thick, normally hidden inside the walls. Now, they looked rather miserable behind the cracked bricks. The tracks and mechanisms were still intact because Qianye reflected upon his actions and realized that he shouldn¡¯t keep destroying things. This ce could be used in the future, even if just temporarily.

    At this moment, the two steam towers whistled mournfully as the gates slowly closed.

    Qianye waved his hand, and a city guard officer duly presented him a map. The nearest n lord possessed sharp eyes and noticed that it was a map of Tidehark.

    Qianye scanned the map briefly, saying, ¡°Everyone, wait here for a while. I need to do something and will be back soon.¡±

    With that, he left alone with no concern about everyone¡¯s expressions.

    The conference hall fell into silence. The n lords exchanged nces, not knowing what Qianye wanted to do. Even though they had their own guesses, they still felt that the notion was too ridiculous.

    The ufortable silence didn¡¯tst too long before Qianye reappeared at the doors and, with a sh, back on the throne. He casually tossed two heads onto the floor, saying, ¡°Is it these two?¡±

    The lords were surprised when the captives¡¯ faces came into clear view, some even gasped. Their expressions turned odd amidst the surprise and shock. Qianye took note of them and pointed at Liu Minglun. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Liu Minglun looked rather awkward, knowing that this was a job that would offend people. Yet, he had no way to back away due to his seating. He took a good look at the heads and said, ¡°Sire, this person is Wu Chunlei, the head of the Wu family. The other is Du Xifei, a descendant of the Du family and not the n lord himself. The Du family head isn¡¯t in the city at the moment.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°So that¡¯s the case. I dragged that Du Whatchamacallit out from Madam Du¡¯s room. I thought any man in that room had to be the n lord. It seems I was wrong.¡±

    All the n lords looked rather strange. Who would¡¯ve thought they would hear such an exciting piece of gossip here?

    Qianye ordered the heads to be removed. ¡°Regardless, the trip wasn¡¯t in vain. I did get one correct head. As for Du Xiyuan, I will get him if he dares return to Tidehark. Enough with that, let¡¯s get down to business.¡±

    The n lords straightened their backs and readied themselves to listen. Even Gao Mingtang¡¯s group leaned forward ever so slightly, lest they miss a single word.

    Qianye said, ¡°I heard the Great Qin Empire left certain assets in the neutralnds, and the Eastern Sea is no exception. As the biggest city here, Tidehark is definitely housing military spies. I know many of you have connections to them. I want all of their heads!¡±

    The n lords had already been shocked several times today, mainly because Qianye¡¯s every move was unexpected. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would demand such a thing first and foremost?

    This request wasn¡¯t difficult, but neither was it easy. More importantly, Qianye had been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Imperial army just a while ago. Why would he make such a demand? Could it be that he was testing everyone¡¯s loyalty?

    Qianye noticed their thoughts. ¡°The Empire is big and there are many factions within it. It just so happens that I have a fight to pick with the faction they¡¯ve assigned here. I think it¡¯s time for me to clear out these annoying things, and I¡¯ll start at Tidehark.¡±

    At this point, he paused slightly to look at the family heads. ¡°I might cooperate with the Empire from time to time, but don¡¯t ever think I¡¯ll reconcile with this faction. Understood?¡±

    The n lords were shaken as they realized Qianye¡¯s determination. They also heaved a small sigh of relief¡ªcountless people would turn into cannon fodder if Qianye had a vendetta against the Qin Empire, but personal grievances were a different matter.

    Sun Chuansheng cupped his fist. ¡°Sire Qianye, there are some difficulties in doing this. May I speak?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°We¡¯re no longer strangers inside this hall. Speak freely.¡±

    Sun Chuansheng said, ¡°The Empire does have some strongholds in the city, and I know some of them. However, those strongholds were set up by Heavenly Monarch Zhang, even acquiring one of the houses personally. How could he not know if you clear them out?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m the city lord here, so it¡¯s fine as long as I want to do it. It¡¯s not important what Zhang Buzhou thinks.¡±

    Sun Chuansheng¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°I understand.¡±

    Understanding was one thing, but what he would actually do was another thing entirely. The other n lords were also quiet. No one knew whether they would unite together on the same front or dy change.

    Qianye said carelessly, ¡°I know what you¡¯re all thinking, but you should know after seeing those two heads that it¡¯s not time to think about how you will survive against Zhang Buzhou. What you need to think about is how to get past me. If you don¡¯t pass the test now, there¡¯s no need to worry about him anymore.¡±

    That was a threat.

    The Lu n lord took a step forward. ¡°Sire, you¡¯re putting us in a very difficult position. Technically, your position was also conferred by Heavenly Monarch Zhang¡­¡±

    Qianye stopped him with a raised hand. ¡°I got this position on my own. It was indeed announced by Zhang Buzhou, but that doesn¡¯t mean he gave it to me. No need to stress this matter when talking to me. Speaking from a different angle, many people are pretending not to know about that announcement. Would you say they¡¯re rebelling against Zhang Buzhou?¡±

    Gao Mingtang dragged Lu Dinghan back. ¡°Sire, the heavenly monarch is a person of great virtue and prestige. What you¡¯re doing is¡­ not thorough.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of my concern. I want to see the people from the military disappear from the neutralnds. Nothing else is in my consideration.¡±

    ¡°Then how about driving them away?¡± Gao Mingtang asked cautiously.

    ¡°No, uproot them. Understand?¡±

    The n lords noticed Qianye¡¯s killing intent, and even the three big families no longer dared to say anything. They exchanged nces before falling silent.

    Qianye scanned the hall, saying, ¡°I want to see no mishaps regarding this operation. Whatever connections you may have had with them in the past is meaningless to me. If you can¡¯t get this matter done, I can do the same with soldiers from Southern Blue.¡±

    This stance was representative of Qianye¡¯s handling of this matter and the subsequent oue. This would undoubtedly be a disaster for the families here. Not daring to say anything else, the lords headed back to arrange matters.

    That night, mes rose up into the sky over Tidehark. Several buildings were reduced to ashes, and no one inside managed to escape.

 Chapter 1121: Sounding Ou

    <h4>Chapter 1121: Sounding Ou</h4>

    Qianye, who had disappeared throughout the night, finally returned to the residence at dawn. This time, he had another head with him, and it belonged to the head of the Du family, Du Xiyuan. At this point, all n lords who had opposed Qianye openly had be corpses, their family experts suffering grave casualties.

    After his return, Qianye remained inside the city lord¡¯s manor and never came out.

    Meanwhile, in the ancient Totemic Castle. The Wolf King was gazing at the faint silhouette of the distant Tidehark. The cold, damp morning wind had long since drenched his long hair. The Wolf King hated this weather the most, but he had stood there for an entire morning today.

    A trusted servant who had followed him for many years said, ¡°Sire, we¡¯ve already investigated the cause ofst night¡¯s fires. The new city lord, Qianye, has uprooted all of the Great Qin¡¯s strongholds inside Tidehark. Additionally, he assaulted the Du family¡¯s manor outside the city and ughtered Du Xiyuan.¡±

    The Wolf King said after some thought, ¡°These ps are quite resounding!¡±

    The follower remained silent, attempting to fathom his master¡¯s thoughts.

    The Wolf King didn¡¯t need the attendant to speak, either. He paced about a couple of times before issuing an order, ¡°Prepare my warship and gather the finest warriors. I¡¯m going to attack a pirate base!¡±

    ¡°A long-distance raid¡­ on the pirates?¡±

    There were numerous small floating inds in the void between the Empire and the neutralnds. The pirates who called such ces home were few and scattered, usually the size of an airship¡¯s crew, and they survived by robbing scattered transport ships. There was no need for the Wolf King to bring the castle¡¯s elites to get rid of such pirates.

    That being said, most of these void pirates were able to survive because they had the tacit approval of the various powers. They would be asionally asked to deal with dirty work, and most importantly, they would serve as a buffer to invaders.

    The Wolf King was going to attack these pirates with such fanfare? Wasn¡¯t Qianye the more important target?

    As this was an important decision, the follower braced himself and asked, ¡°Great Chief, wouldn¡¯t it be better to capture Qianye first?¡±

    The Wolf King smiled spuriously. ¡°Capture? For what reason? How? And who?¡±

    The attendant was enlightened after a while. ¡°You wish to have the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence worry about this?¡±

    The Wolf Kingughed. ¡°Qianye is a lone man with no attachments. He can attack or escape at will, making it very difficult to deal with him. Judging from his current momentum, it will take a divine champion to capture him. That old man from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence was reportedly injured in one shot. He must be scared witless by now and will definitely feign injury no matter how many experts or equipment they assign him. If I don¡¯t leave quickly, that dirty work will surely fall on my head. Zhang Buzhou is still the master in name. It¡¯ll make things awkward once the order arrives.¡±

    The attendant was puzzled. ¡°Are you still afraid of Qianye?¡±

    The Wolf Kingughed. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid, but that doesn¡¯t mean I want to fight him! His shots are really quite painful.¡±

    The attendant¡¯s expression turned odd and his voice softened quite a bit. ¡°That¡¯s not like you, Great Chief.¡±

    The Wolf King patted the attendant on the shoulder. ¡°Not bad, you¡¯re quite smart. I can send Qianye running if I take action, but I won¡¯t be able to kill him at all. What¡¯s the meaning of that? I¡¯ll only be helping Zhang Buzhou solve a troublesome issue. The longer Qianye stays in Tidehark, the more of a p it is to Zhang Buzhou¡¯s face. I want to see how long he can endure, and whether his isted cultivation was a sess or not!¡±

    ¡°If Zhang Buzhou really exits istion, he might not be satisfied with you.¡±

    ¡°If he doese out, the first thing he¡¯ll do is attack Qianye, not cause trouble for me. Heh! And it¡¯s not certain whether he¡¯ll seed.¡±

    The attendant asked, ¡°Why would you say that?¡±

    The Wolf King said meaningfully, ¡°You all don¡¯t know Luo Bingfeng¡¯s true strength, but Zhang Buzhou and I know all too well. Zhang Buzhou might not be Luo Bingfeng¡¯s match without breaking through to the heavenly monarch realm! The most important link in that battle was an old man who blocked Luo Bingfeng¡¯s final attack and injured him. This old man might still be in the neutralnds.¡±

    This shocked the follower. ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±

    The Wolf King said slowly, ¡°There¡¯s Song Zining in Southern Blue. That fellow has powerful connections in the Empire. There are a good number of shadows behind his back. We must always be careful around him. How could Qianye be so brazen without sufficient backing? His acquisition of the city lord title is already making Zhang Buzhou lower his head, and now, he¡¯s adding a couple more ps. Things are so abnormal that it makes one wonder.¡±

    A sh of enlightenment came over the attendant. He punched his palm, saying, ¡°I understand now! You must really leave immediately, else that old thing will make you into cannon fodder to sound out Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s back up!¡±

    The Wolf Kingughed. ¡°You finally understand!¡±

    ¡°There cannot be dys, I¡¯ll make arrangements immediately.¡±

    An hour after the attendant¡¯s hurried departure, several warships flew up from Totemic Castle and vanished into the distance.¡±

    A high-speed airship was flying toward the castle at this moment. An old man was gazing out from above deck.

    ¡°Eh? What is that? Bring binocrs!¡±

    His subordinates passed him a pair of long-range binocrs. Several fierce-looking generals also peered into their scopes.

    Eight airships were rising into the air above the Totemic Castle, slowly turning about in the air.

    One of the generals said, ¡°What are they doing grouping warships and transports together? Are they going to war? That¡¯s just courting death.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when yet another airship took to the air. The squadron in the sky had already fallen into formation at this point and was moving away at a snail¡¯s pace. The final airship drove on with great effort, following the squadron at a leisurely pace.

    This time, the generals¡¯ eyes almost popped out. Why was such a ship in the fleet? Thest airship was big, bloated, and slow, clearly a civilian cargo ship. But despite the distance, the generals could see that the warriors on the deck didn¡¯t look like a cargo-ship crew.

    Everyone was puzzled, but the old man said with a frown, ¡°Full speed ahead! We must arrive at the Totemic Castle as soon as we can!¡±

    The airship elerated as it shot into the air above the castle where it issued a request tond. The castle was rather amodating toward the guest, going so far as to issue a priority identity verification token.

    But that was the extent of the airship port¡¯s good service. There was still nonding signal or instruction after several minutes. Feeling rather strange, the generals looked down and saw that the port was in utter chaos. There were resources piled up everywhere, with goods of various qualities stored in uneven containers. There were servants moving them about hurriedly, but no single area had been cleared out.

    As such, the airship circled about for an entire half-hour over the castle. Seeing no signs of improvement below, the old man finally jumped down into the small clearing below. ¡°I¡¯m an envoy of the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence! Someone bring me to see the Wolf King!¡±

    The busy workers came to a halt upon hearing his voice, but most of them just stared nkly at the old man. No one responded for a good while, even after three repeats, causing the elder¡¯s face to turn ashen. These people were dressed like manualborers, and there wasn¡¯t even a group leader among them. It would be too embarrassing to pick a fight with them.

    Besides, provoking the Wolf King wasn¡¯t a fun thing to do, and even Zhang Buzhou would treat him with a degree of respect. The old man wouldn¡¯t dare charge into Totemic Castle even if he had ten more galls. At his wit¡¯s end, the old man ran out of the messy loading area and found a soldier at the fixed sentry post, whom he asked to ry his words.

    This soldier looked strong but was slow of wit. His face was covered in ck fur, like an immature wolf pup, and his speech was also incoherent. He refused to go into the castle no matter what.

    After a while of dragging back and forth, a werewolf in servant¡¯s clothing ran out from the main building and jogged over to the old man. ¡°Sire Messenger, I truly deserve death for beingte to wee you! You saw it, right? The Wolf King just left for an expedition, and these clumsy idiots haven¡¯t finished cleaning up.¡±

    The old man was startled. He then dragged the attendant by the cor and asked, ¡°What? The Wolf King isn¡¯t here? Where did he go?¡±

    The attendant replied with a calm smile, ¡°He said he¡¯s going on an expedition and left with the army. As for who he¡¯s going to fight, that¡¯s not something I¡¯m allowed to know. The master has been nning this battle for half a month, but it took until today to get everything ready.¡±

    The old man was livid. ¡°You said the Wolf King just left?¡±

    ¡°His fleet took off just a while ago. Didn¡¯t you see them during your arrival? Ah, your airship hasn¡¯tnded yet. These bumbling idiots! I must whip them into shape.¡±

    The attendant started roaring sternly, and momentster, a space had been cleared for the airship tond.

    The old man¡¯s expression was gloomy. Only when a few of his generals arrived did he look up at the attendant. ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of the castle now?¡±

    The attendant replied hurriedly, ¡°I was ordered to manage the castle affairs.¡±

    The old man sized up the attendant. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll trouble you to round up the warriors in the castle. I have orders from the heavenly monarch to mobilize a squad.¡±

    The surprised attendant¡¯s mouth fell open for a while. ¡°This¡­ is quite an important matter. May I be so bold as to ask whether I can see the heavenly monarch¡¯smand seal?¡±

    The old man passed the token over without further conversation.

    The attendant studied the item for a good fifteen minutes, even activating the origin power signature inside. Only when a white light shed past him did he smile satisfactorily and passed the token back. ¡°This is indeed the heavenly monarch¡¯smand token. Please wait a moment while I assemble the squad for you to pick.¡±

    The attendant didn¡¯t drag things out this time and walked away rather swiftly. Soon, a long siren sted out from the castle as soldiers poured out from every direction and gathered outside.

    During this time, the generals had more or lesse to understand the situation. One of them said, ¡°Sire, we might¡¯ve made it if we had given chase a while ago. Why did you let that boy stall so long?¡±

    Another person patted his chest. ¡°With me at the helm, we can catch up even now!¡±

    The old man said, ¡°Chase? What then?¡±

    One of the generals said with wide eyes, ¡°Of course order him to turn back. Does he dare to ignore the heavenly monarch¡¯s orders? That¡¯s rebellion!¡±

    The other generals agreed. ¡°He¡¯s just a dog to the heavenly monarch. What games can he y?¡±

    The old man shook his head. ¡°We are not the heavenly monarch. The Wolf King listens to the heavenly monarch, but not us. You had better remember that you don¡¯t represent Zhang Buzhou. If the Wolf King is a dog, we are even inferior to a dog! Humph, chase after him? We¡¯ll just be jumping to our deaths.¡±

    ¡°H-He¡­ does he dare¡­¡± The generals were dumbfounded.

    The old man snorted. ¡°Who would dare point the finger at him if he killed us in the wilderness? Enough, let¡¯s look at the squads.¡±

    At this point, most of the soldiers had fallen into formation. The old man¡¯s expression was ashen when he nced at them.

 Chapter 1122: Done

    <h4>Chapter 1122: Done</h4>

    Thousands of warriors eventually gathered on the za and started falling into square formations. They were all well-equipped, uniform, and rather impressive at a nce. The Wolf King¡¯s army could be considered an elite force even in the entirety of the neutralnds.

    However, the old man¡¯s expression turned gloomier and gloomier. What he saw was the non-existent origin power in these burly fellows. To be honest, they were all cannon fodder without a single proper expert among them.

    Such a squad was no different from pieces of rotten meat with no skeleton to hold them together. No matter how many of them there were, even if their average rank was higher than the enemy, they would be easily routed by an expert-backed squad.

    The generals possessed good eyesight as well and immediately noticed something fishy going on. Their expressions became uglier and uglier.

    No amount of such cannon fodder could be of any use in a real fight. On the contrary, it would only increase risk for the generals who had to lead them.

    As a lone wolf, Qianye coulde and go at will without so much as ncing at these cannon fodder. He would only target champion-rank experts. Without officers forming attack and defense nodes, there was no way to weave a defensive line with these soldiers. They wouldn¡¯t even serve as meat shields. These generals had been speaking down on the Wolf King, but they knew they couldn¡¯t even take a single blow from Qianye.

    Heading to Tidehark with an army of cannon fodder was impossible.

    The old man knew these generals quite well, so he didn¡¯t even bother talking about it. After a good while of silence, he said to the attendant, ¡°You¡¯ve seen themand. Mobilize three thousand soldiers to seal the west gate of Tidehark City.¡±

    The servant looked surprised. ¡°Seal the west door?¡±

    The old man snorted. ¡°What, you want to seal all gates with this ragtag group?¡±

    The attendantughed. ¡°That wasn¡¯t my intention. I only felt that it¡¯s¡­ useless.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not for you to decide. Perform the order immediately!¡± The old man¡¯s voice was suffused with killing intent.

    The attendant knew he couldn¡¯t drag this out any longer, or the old man would kill him. There was no one in the castle who could contend with the old man right now and, besides, the Wolf King had no intention of going against Zhang Buzhou directly. Nodding, the servant left to issue the order.

    After the attendant¡¯s departure, one of the generals asked, ¡°Sire, what can such trash even do?¡±

    The old man revealed a sinister smile. ¡°It¡¯s a show of stance.¡±

    ¡°What stance?¡± The generals were puzzled.

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s stance.¡±

    A sizablemotion broke out in Tidehark when the Wolf King¡¯s army sealed off the west gate. What disappointed people was that Qianye didn¡¯t do anything about it. He remained sealed off inside the manor, seemingly intent on cultivating to the bitter end.

    When night descended, those who were waiting to watch the show scattered in disappointment. Everyone could see that the squad at the gates was made up of cannon fodder, without even a single champion or higher rank fighter.

    There was no strategic meaning to this kind of army as they could be routed in one charge. Their only valuey in the Wolf King¡¯s banner flying above them. Attacking them was akin to attacking the Wolf King¡¯s army.

    It wasn¡¯t surprising that Qianye would hold back; no one but an idiot would attack the three thousand soldiers outside the west gate. It wasn¡¯t quite normal, however, that he wouldn¡¯t even leave the manor. This meant that he had long since expected that the Wolf King wouldn¡¯t really attack, that he didn¡¯t even need to confirm it.

    The city lord¡¯s manor wasn¡¯t calm under the twilight. Several men in ck clothing jumped over the wall without alerting any of the guards, avoiding the sentry spots with great familiarity and finally arriving at the rear courtyard.

    Qianye upied a smallpound in the northwestern part of the rear courtyard. There were no servants inside, and naturally, there were no guards either. Apart from the asional patrols, not even a bird would pass by this ce.

    Two cheerful city guards emerged from a nearby corridor and saw the crowd of ck people before them. They gasped in shock, but someone from the other party made a familiar gesture and shook open a document.

    The parchment paper was filled with small, dense letters that were barely legible, but thatrge seal representing the heavenly monarch was something everyone knew about. ÑòÆ¤Ö½ÉÏÃÜÃÜÂéÂéµÄÐ¡×ÖÀ´²»¼°¿´£¬µ«ÊÇÄÇ¿ÅË¶´óµÄÌìÍõÓ¡£¬È´ÊÇÃ¿¸ö¶«º£ÈË¶¼ÈÏµÃµÄ¡£Á½Ãû³ÇÎÀ¾ü

    The two city guards couldn¡¯t help but exchange nces, but just as they were hesitating, the mysterious people passed by them and continued forward.

    Inside the isted room, Qianye slowly opened his eyes and nced at the approaching men.

    It was at this exact moment that the wall behind him burst open and a long, dark sword shot toward the back of his neck.

    These invaders were decoys to attract Qianye¡¯s attention while the real assassin was hiding behind his back all along!

    The assassin was determined to kill with one stab, and the eerie dark blue sheen on the de proved that it was coated in some strange poison.

    Just as the sword¡¯s tip was about to enter the back of Qianye¡¯s head, his body leaned to the side and effectively evaded the de. The two actions happened at almost the same time¡ªit almost looked like Qianye was stretching his body after a long period of sitting, just as mortal peril was about to descend upon him.

    The assassin wasn¡¯t flustered after his certain kill had missed. A blue dagger appeared in the other hand, with which they stabbed at Qianye¡¯s back.

    The two were now locked into a melee stance. It would seem the angle of attack on the isted chamber was calcted¡ªthe debris and furniture happened to restrict Qianye¡¯s movements while the assant¡¯s attacks were designed to minimize any space for retaliation.

    As expected, Qianye didn¡¯t make any obvious movements after dodging the stab. The dagger stabbed through his clothes, robes, skin, and with some difficulty, through his muscles.

    The assassin didn¡¯t have time to celebrate when he encountered sudden resistance, and the dagger refused to progress any further. He hadn¡¯t even reached the bones at this point.

    The assassin wanted to channel more strength but found that he was beyond weak and exhausted. He noticed, through the corner of his eyes, several blood-colored threads drifting through the air. And they were actually retracting into Qianye¡¯s body along with the sparkling sanguine beads hanging at their tips.

    Before he could make sense of this phenomenon, tiredness came over him and he fell into a deep sleep. The sleep came with great speed and was almost unstoppable. The assassin staggered and copsed to the ground, never to move again.

    Qianye stood up to stretch his body. The wound on his back was nowhere to be seen and the poison was nothing to his ancient vampire constitution. There was some ufortable numbness when the de entered his body but everything was fine now.

    Qianye picked up the two weapons and observed them for a while. He couldn¡¯t help butugh when he saw that they were both grade-six. ¡°Wow, they¡¯re really going all out.¡±

    The assassin himself was a rank-sixteen expert who specialized in concealment and terrain utilization. Combining all of his skills into an assassination n, he was able to erupt with great power and seek a one-hit kill. However, his own defense was nothing to write home about, and he couldn¡¯t wear armor in order to maximize his stealth. Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder took the man¡¯s life immediately.

    That person was extremely well-hidden and even Qianye didn¡¯t know when he had entered the courtyard. He only sensed the attack as it wasunched, at a distance even people like Du Yuan wouldn¡¯t be able to react.

    Reaching the peak of assassination techniques required serious training from a young age in addition to talents. It also involved considerable investment in resources. This person¡¯s worth was far above the two grade-six weapons.

    The heavenly monarch¡¯s residence had mobilized quite a bit of resources for this attempt.

    Qianye weighted the dark sword in his hand for a while. Then, with a single step, he appeared near the wall across and stabbed into it. The de was extremely sharp and Qianye¡¯s origin power was near invincible¡ªthe wall was like tofu as he punched through it. Every move of his sword would draw a stream of blood from the wall.

    After several attacks, Qianye calmly opened the door and walked out into the corridor. There were four corpses copsed near the wall of the istion chamber, their skin suffused with ayer of dark blue. Those four people were struck in the waist and abdomen, but what really killed them was the poison.

    Qianye picked off their face coverings and studied them one by one. He also found the document that had scared off the city guard; it was just an ordinary travel permit for the Eastern Sea. Without even looking at it carefully, he crushed the paper into powder, saying, ¡°You guys are finally here.¡±

    These infiltrators were only here to draw his attention and hide the true assassin. They seemed to have heard a muffled thud but everything was quiet when they arrived at the appointed ce. It was as though what they had heard just now was a hallucination. The n was for the four people to serve as back up assants, but they hesitated when they received no further signal and were duly killed during that moment.

    The four assassins were only there to serve as bait but they were still champion-rank experts. Losing so many killers in one go would be a pain for the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence.

    Qianye walked around the four corpses and raised his voice, ¡°Men!¡±

    Two city guards rushed over, their faces pale when they saw the corpses on the ground. They fell to their knees and said repeatedly, ¡°City Lord, we¡­ we let them pass because we saw the heavenly monarch¡¯s order. We really didn¡¯t know they were assassins.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, I don¡¯t want to kill you yet. Bring more men and drag these corpses out, hang them outside the gates of the city lord¡¯s manor. Oh, and there¡¯s one more inside the room. Don¡¯t miss him.¡±

    The two guards then left with two corpses each in tow. In order to save their own lives, they didn¡¯t hesitate to put in more effort.

    Qianye watched their receding figures with a smile. These guards might not know the identity of the assassins, but there was no way these experts would be nameless pawns. He was certain some higher-ups in the city would recognize them. Disying the corpses like this would be a great humiliation to Zhang Buzhou¡¯s face.

    Qianye left after the corpses were hanging outside the gates. He had done what he wanted to do in Tidehark, so there was no need to wait. He only needed to observe the subsequent power-struggle inside the city.

    Song Zining was standing before his desk, gazing at the thick stack of diagrams in front of him. These were the designs for thetest airship, reportedly redrawn to adapt to the neutralnds. It could be considered a custom design.

    Before this, the neutralnd airships were mostly remodeled from old ships from the Empire and Evernight. They were barely passable in terms of performance. Fortunately, the special environment of the neutralnds punished the vessels from these two big factions, making them inferior to these remodeled airships.

    However, the papers in front of Song Zining would be the first true model made for the neutralnds when produced. It would sweep away the current models immediately.

    It was no easy feat to build a warship. The most important factor was Song Zining¡¯s superalloy form and the essentialponents made in the Empire. It would take all of that to build a warship.

    Song Zining was no warship expert, but his many years of experience allowed him to see that the warship designs were wed in actual practice. For instance, the dense web of hand-written notes were all ces that needed modification.

    After finally looking through all the diagrams, Song Zining stretched his body and rubbed his eyes. When he walked over to the mirror, he saw that his eyes were ck and his blood vessels visible.

    It was at this time that a knock came from the door. ¡°Sire, someone wishes to meet you. They im to be from the Empire.¡±

 Chapter 1123: Cooperating Again

    <h4>Chapter 1123: Cooperating Again</h4>

    ¡°Imperial Military?¡± Song Zining said after a while. ¡°Ask them to wait in the parlor, I¡¯ll be there soon.¡±

    Fang Zhang was seated together with two attendants in the parlor. Song Zining was stunned as his gaze fell upon one of them. ¡°General Lan, why are you dressed like that?¡±

    Lan Xincheng turned to smile at Fang Zhan. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you we can¡¯t fool the seventh young master? You don¡¯t believe me.¡±

    Fang Zhang wasn¡¯t quite satisfied, however. ¡°He has never seen you before, how could he recognize you?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t keep the man in suspense. ¡°There¡¯s an art in divination simr to origin power perception. General Lan never did disguise himself, so I can see his rank-sixteen cultivation and the sharp intent in his origin power. That would be his trademark Silken Gold Needles, right?¡±

    Fang Zhang raised a thumb. ¡°I¡¯m convinced. The seventh young master has extraordinary eyesight! Normally, we can¡¯t even see through his cultivation when he¡¯s not using it.¡±

    ¡°Just some small tricks, not worth mentioning. Besides, I¡¯m no longer of the Song n, so I won¡¯t be using that name anymore. You two can just call me Zining.¡±

    ¡°Mister Zining, we won¡¯t beat around the bush anymore. We came to trade for the resources remaining in Qianye¡¯s hands. We also want to report something and see if you can help.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Please speak freely.¡±

    ¡°I came to deliver thetest warship model, something we agreed upon with General Qianye.¡±

    Song Zining was fairly surprised. ¡°You really got your hands on that thing? From what I know, there are only three such airships?¡±

    ¡°There are six more at the shipyard, so there won¡¯t be a shortage in the future. Losing one of them now, however, makes things a bit difficult.¡±

    Song Zining opened his fan and swung it a few times. ¡°Offering such an airship amidst all that difficulty, it seems someone really wants the things in Qianye¡¯s hands.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. The Empire is extremely sincere this time, so please put in some good words for us and make this deal happen.¡±

    ¡°The deal aside, what information did you have to give me?¡±

    Lan Xincheng sent the other attendant out with a wave of his hand. ¡°The Empire is nning to attack the void continent!¡±

    ¡°The void continent? Aren¡¯t things in a stalemate over there?¡± Song Zining frowned. He had taken part in the war back then and witnessed the defeat on all fronts.

    The aristocracy performed differently in the war, but everyone could agree that things changed the night Qianye betrayed the Empire.

    Despite the solid proof of his vampire identity and the military¡¯s unerring position, everyone knew how Qianye had risked his life in every battle.

    In the several battles between the Empire and Evernight, people like Qianye, Zhao Jundu, and Song Zining were gradually tempered to be characters capable of shouldering great responsibility. In the younger generation, Qianye was considered one of the most promising youths to breakthrough to the heavenly monarch realm.

    This information had been circting privately since long before. Without the military¡¯s meddling, his identity would have never been revealed. What did it actually matter if he was human or vampire?

    Apart from the direct effects, Li Fengshui¡¯s methods also shook the major ns and families. The reason was that the military was reaching too far.

    The Zhao n had long since made it clear that Qianye would enjoy the treatment of a core member of the n. Those endorsing this statement weren''t just the well-protected Zhao Jundu, but also Duke You and Duke Chengen. After Qianye¡¯s escape following Li Fengshui¡¯s death, the other aristocracy never med the Zhao n taking his side. On the contrary, they secretly expressed their displeasure toward the military.

    Secretly investigating a core scion and genius of a major n could be considered crossing the line. If even the Zhao n was investigated, how could any other n be spared? Besides, the military¡¯s methods were unscrupulous, actually resorting to kidnapping someone close to Qianye. Who wouldn¡¯t be wary of such methods? Qianye had a bloodline problem, fine, but what about other people? What if they ¡°find proof¡±?

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s hearing was thest straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. Not to mention his personalbat strength, potential, and status in the Zhao n, he was the child of Princess Gaoyi, one of the only two Imperial Princesses. If the military had designs on such a person, was there anyone they didn¡¯t dare to touch?

    Heirs were the foundation of a lineage. This sent a chill down the spines of everyone who had close ties to the military.

    That was why the aristocracy had performed poorly during the short period that the military took over Zhao Jundu¡¯s warzone. The Zhao n drew back without putting in any effort, and the other ns cut off all reinforcements and support, focusing only on their own regions.

    The Empire was weaker, to begin with, so how could they endure such a breakdown in formation? The situation deteriorated rapidly and the frontline copsed toward the Zhao n¡¯s core defensive line. Only then did Zhao Jundu step in hurriedly to salvage the situation.

    With the ground battle at a disadvantage, the air battles were even worse. The aristocratic private armies would retreat once the situation was dire, leaving the Imperial n¡¯s pce guards at the frontlines. The private armies could retreat, but the Imperial guard couldn¡¯t.

    After several grueling battles, the Imperial guard fleet suffered heavy casualties due to theck of cooperation. Although the dark races suffered heavier losses, they had an almost endless supply of troops pouring in while the Imperial guard was alone without reinforcements. After losing a third of their fleet, the Imperial guard could no longer hold the line and had to retreat back to the skies above Indomitable, giving away air dominance over the entire void continent.

    The grievous losses incited the wrath of the Imperial n, and of the Emperor.

    Despite his fury, the Imperial n couldn¡¯t do much against this situation. The military was the first to cross the line. The source of all these small secret operations was the desire to centralize power, and of course, there was proof for Qianye¡¯s crimes. On the other hand, the Imperial n never held enoughmand over the private armies of the aristocracy. This wasn¡¯t the first time these ns had prioritized self-preservation. Avoiding battle to weaken the Imperial guard was one way for them to express their dissatisfaction.

    Normally, a heavenly monarch or marshal would usually step forward to defuse the situation. It was just that the mes this time began from the Zhao n¡¯s twin stars, so even a marshal couldn¡¯t suppress the dissent. However, the Pointer Monarch and Prince Greensun remained silent, and Lin Xitang¡¯s injuries had rpsed; no one even knew where he was. The other marshals weren¡¯t as skilled as Lin Xitang or willing to invite trouble upon themselves.

    In the end, things deteriorated into an absolute mess, and the Imperial n could only take their anger out on themander of the Imperial guard. However, there were only a handful of people who were proficient in aerial battles. No substitute could do the job better than the current Duke Li, who was known as one of the most capablemanders.

    Such a situation was already unsalvageable in Song Zining¡¯s opinion. That was why he had left the war on the void continent and sought out Qianye.

    Now that Lan Xincheng was saying that the Empire nned to send more troops to the void continent, it sounded rather impossible. However, someone of General Lan¡¯s status and character wouldn¡¯t spout random nonsense. Song Zining decided to sit down and listen to the exnation.

    Lan Xincheng was just about to talk when a knock came from the door. ¡°Sire Qianye is back.¡±

    Song Zining stood up and said, ¡°Invite him over.¡±

    He then turned to Lan Xincheng. ¡°You don¡¯t mind Qianye listening, do you?¡±

    Lan Xincheng replied, ¡°Not at all. This matter might require Sire Qianye¡¯s assistance as well.¡±

    Qianye entered momentster and was surprised to see the two people inside. ¡°You¡¯re quite fast.¡±

    Lan Xincheng and Fang Zhang stood up to wee Qianye. After exining their intention to trade, they said, ¡°The Empire wishes to send more troops to the void continent. We seek help from you two.¡±

    Qianye and Song Zining exchanged nces. ¡°Now that¡¯s going to be difficult. To be honest, I just uprooted all of the military¡¯s assets and strongholds in Tidehark. How do we work together under such circumstances?¡±

    Lan Xinchengughed. ¡°Different issues, different issues. The spies in the neutralnd belong to the Minister of the Right. General Qianye removing them would even delight certain higher-ups in the military. Even the elder monarch might feign ignorance about it. After all, you¡¯re the one who had helped him the most.¡±

    ¡°That means, I actually did the right thing?¡± Qianye said in a mocking tone.

    Lan Xincheng wasn¡¯t angry. He said with a smile, ¡°Of course, the timing is just right under present circumstances. Your enmity with the Minister of the Right¡¯s faction is already too deep. He won¡¯t be able to suppress the bacsh from his subordinates without killing you, but he can¡¯t do it openly or during a major event. Who would dare attack you during a nationwide operation?¡±

    Qianye raised his brows, but Song Zining only adopted a spurious smile.

    Apparently, it was meaningless to keep arguing. Qianye invited the other two to sit down after taking his seat. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about what¡¯s going on.¡±

    ¡°The Empire wishes you and Song Zining to lead an airship fleet and attack the enemy¡¯s nk. Then, you should return to the void continent and help the main force in expelling the dark races once and for all.¡±

    While saying this, Lan Xincheng produced a document containing the ns. The bag was sealed with an intricate mechanism made up of tiny cogs that were as thin as hair.

    Song Zining was familiar with this design. It was even more reliable than the Rockheart Jade Letters because the mechanism was also a seal of sorts. The special material and high technology prevented any form of forgery. The mechanism was only good for a single use, and once jammed, the only way was to force it open. It also prevented experts from reading the contents with origin power, so it was virtually impossible for the letter to be opened midway.

    Song Zining released the mechanism and read the contents of the letter inside.

    This was a detailed battle n with many interconnected segments, both intricate and impressive. Song Zining couldn¡¯t help but hold his breath while reading it.

    Qianye knew a bit about strategy by this point. He felt that the arrows representing attack routes on the map were so heavy that it felt stifling.

    Song Zining said after several nces, ¡°The work of an expert.¡±

    Lan Xincheng said, ¡°How rare for something to receive Mister Zining¡¯s praise.¡±

    Song Zining said seriously, ¡°That¡¯s not correct. This isn¡¯t praise but admiration! Someone who can draft up such a n must be vastly superior to myself. I probably won¡¯t reach that level even after a decade. There can¡¯t be more than ten such characters in the Empire.¡±

    Lan Xincheng was somewhat surprised. ¡°Mister Zining definitely has good eyesight. This n was drafted by Marshal Lin Xitang himself.¡±

    ¡°Marshal Lin!?¡± Song Zining and Qianye were both surprised. Now, the weight of this n was different from before.

    Song Zining and Qianye studied the entire n again. Truth be told, they had the same idea while looking at the strategy. The n was great, but it ced great requirements on execution. Some of the key nodes were a risk even for Qianye, not to mention Song Zining. They would need careful consideration and consultation before going ahead with it. If this n came from Lin Xitang, he must¡¯ve made other rescue ns.

    Even so, Song Zining still looked solemn. There was a specially marked red line on the n¡ªit began from a void battle, then circled past the battlefield to attack the enemy main camp. This line was the path designated to Song Zining and Qianye.

    Song Zining looked up and asked, ¡°Where is Marshal Lin currently?¡±

 Chapter 1124: Benefits

    <h4>Chapter 1124: Benefits</h4>

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed quickly because the question was quite thoughtless and came out of the blue. Song Zining understood a lot about the situation in the Empire, so he had to have a reason for asking such questions.

    Fang Zhang was the first to fidget in his chair. Lan Xincheng sat straight in his chair for a good while before finally saying, ¡°I¡¯m filled with admiration for Mister Zining for grasping so much of the situation in the Empire while staying in the neutralnds. So, there¡¯s really no need to beat around the bush anymore. From what I know, Marshal Lin is in a very delicate situation.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Can you exin in great detail?¡±

    Lan Xincheng nodded at Qianye with a mysterious expression, but he turned to find Song Zining staring at him with meaningful eyes, and that caused several notions to shuffle through his mind.

    He said after some thought, ¡°I have a couple of backers in the Imperial court, so I¡¯m able to hear some information from the minor court.¡±

    Song Zining whispered something in Qianye¡¯s ears. The difference between major and minor courts wasn¡¯t in the scale or frequency. Some topics discussed, decided, and executed there wouldn¡¯t even reach the major court. Even the aristocracy would never get first-hand information on such things, not to mention ordinary people.

    Lan Xincheng paused momentarily, waiting for Song Zining to finish before saying, ¡°Reportedly, it was Marshal Lin who suggested that the void continent was a war of national fate. Many people pointed their spears at him for causing arge part of the Empire¡¯s fighting power to be pinned down on the continent. They¡¯re ming him for making careless judgment and hurting the national power.¡±

    At this point, Lan Xincheng nced at Qianye. ¡°There¡¯s something else that¡¯s rted to you. Someone got news that Marshal Lin had taken you in as his adoptive son and raised you into the man you were today. The Zhao n might not know you were a vampire, but there was no way the marshal, with his powerful divination arts, didn¡¯t know.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s fingers moved slightly, and his eyes were filled with killing intent. Song Zining leaned back with his eyes closed, effectively hiding his expression.

    This usation was extremely serious because raising a vampire was a grave crime. If it were proven that he had done this out of malicious intent, somews might even punish his family and party members. Using the Mystery of Heavens Art against him was a sinister move. The marshal had dug out countless ministers and generals from their humble origins. If that were a crime, then there was no telling how far the ripples would go.

    Lan Xincheng continued, ¡°Of course, the marshal is a pir of our empire. There¡¯s no way his position can be shaken by just a few words. The Emperor wouldn¡¯t agree to it, either. Those attacking the marshal aren¡¯t counting on establishing the crime, they just needed an extra point to attack.¡±

    Song Zining reached out to pat him on the shoulder when he saw Qianye¡¯s lips moving ever so slightly. Thetter ultimately calmed down and refrained from asking about the person trying to beat Marshal Lin when he was down. The Imperial court was never a stable ce¡ªeveryone there was quick to switch sides depending on their benefits. Those standing on stage were usually expendable pawns, and there was really no end to such people.

    Qianye remembered when he held the marshal¡¯s hand for the first time. As a kid, he had to look high up in order to look into those eyes¡ªeyes seemingly filled with flowing stardust and the essence of all life. He also remembered the visit to Prince Greensun¡¯s tent after the war at Giant¡¯s Repose. He couldn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t disappointed that he never got to see Lin Xitang that day. Now that he thought about it, the marshal must¡¯ve foreseen the events leading up to this day.

    At the mention of sensitive topics, the atmosphere in the room became somewhat awkward and silent. Lan Xincheng and Fang Zhang were only trading partners to Qianye and Song Zining. They had made happy deals in the past, but that didn¡¯t mean they would be confided in regarding such important matters.

    Lan Xincheng coughed lightly. ¡°It won¡¯t be good if too many people start using him. The situation on the void continent is being watched by all, even His Majesty cannot ignore it. After several court meetings, the Minister of the Right stepped up to mediate things and asked Marshal Lin to provide the strategic n. That¡¯s how the operation n came to be.¡±

    Song Zining said after a nce at Qianye, ¡°This n isn¡¯t a simple matter, it¡¯ll likely drain the Empire almost entirely. Even the Longevity Monarch doesn¡¯t have the authority to mobilize on such a scale. The Minister of the Right mediating things? He doesn¡¯tmand that much face! Are you sure the nes from Marshal Lin?¡±

    Lan Xincheng said seriously, ¡°Absolutely certain! There¡¯s still time before the operation. You can seek confirmation if you don¡¯t believe us. Also, the Minister of the Right has poured great effort into this operation. He has been approving everything in his power without holding people back. As for things outside his power, he would step in to mediate things via his connections. Now that he has been doing everything he should and shouldn¡¯t, even I have no fault to find.¡±

    ¡°I remember him telling Lin Xitang to craft a n using all the chess pieces in the Empire. Marshal Lin needed only to devise the n and the Empire would find a way to make it happen. Not long after that, the marshal came up with his strategy. As someone who knows many secrets, he had led the discussions over several meetings. He believes that this is the only way we can turn the war around.¡±

    Qianye was already in thought, but Song Zining¡¯s expression remained unchanged. ¡°Qianye and I are given critical roles in this n. I want to know what will happen if we refuse to go to war? Will the Empire no longer mount a counterassault on the void continent?¡±

    Lan Xincheng said, ¡°You did ask about this after all. This is an important attack route that''s crucial to the entire n, it cannot fail. Since we need both fleetbat proficiency and personal fighting power, very few people canpare to the two of you. Besides, you will also have the newest Imperial warship in your hands and can be considered the cavalry of this operation. But if you are unwilling to go to war, the Imperial n will take over this duty. The current n is to have Princess Gaoyi take your ce.¡±

    Without waiting for Song Zining to speak, Qianye roared furiously, ¡°Is everyone else in the empire dead? Does the Zhao n need to do everything? You people seem to be quite happy with all the centralization going on!¡±

    Lan Xincheng smiled wryly. ¡°Sire Qianye, please don¡¯t get angry so soon. This battle is rted to our national fate, everyone needs to y their part. There¡¯s really no targeting anyone here. Just take a look at this!¡±

    The document in Lan Xincheng¡¯s hand denoted the fleet battlefields that were predicted to take ce. ¡°If Princess Gaoyi leads this nk attack, the Imperial n will be in charge of the Imperial Guard, and the Minister of the Right will lead the Imperial fleet. If she¡¯s the main general, two Imperial princes will also arrive to help her. There¡¯s also this route...¡±

    Lan Xincheng was pointing at a route that would attack from the edges of the void continent, involving erratic jumps between bothnd and air assaults. It was just as difficult as the one Qianye and Song Zining were in charge of. It was just as demanding and intolerant to failure.

    ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of this?¡±

    ¡°Eldest Princess Haimi.¡±

    Qianye had never heard of this person, but he knew from the title that this was someone from the Imperial family. Song Zining looked rather surprised after a moment of thought. ¡°Princess Haimi? It has been two decades since she went into seclusion, right?¡±

    ¡°This battle is so important that the Imperial n will mobilize everybody at their disposal. Distant members of the Imperial family will be amon sight among the troops this time, and that¡¯s also the reason whymanders are so difficult to find. There aren¡¯t a lot of people who can overshadow these people in terms ofbat, strategy, and prestige. I heard the Emperor had to ask personally for Princess Haimi to exit seclusion.¡±

    Song Zining nced back at the n after a moment of silence. He pointed at the vanguard squad for the mainnd-forces, saying, ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of this route?¡±

    ¡°The mainmander is still being decided upon, but the vanguard has been decided. It¡¯s Zhao Jundu.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression rxed slightly as he stared at the map. Qianye understood the reason¡ªthey were supposed to go behind enemy lines and set up a stronghold there, effectively cutting off the enemy supply lines and path of retreat. The most important factor to an isted group was reinforcements.

    It would seem the Empire had arranged for two routes of support, and both of them were elites. There was no need to discuss Zhao Jundu¡¯s prowess. Although Qianye had no idea who this Princess Haimi was, it was evident from how shocked Song Zining was, and how the Emperor had to invite her personally, that she was an extraordinary person. Lan Xincheng had also imed that she could utterly suppress all the other royal siblings.

    With these two routes in ce, the chances of sess had increased significantly. Meanwhile, Qianye had hidden his powers quite well¡ªhis truebat strength was far above the surface, and he had no fear at all of long, chaotic battles. His current fighting power was capable of holding its own against a divine champion. Song Zining was no easy character, either, and together, the duo¡¯s power would increase severalfold.

    On the other hand, Qianye possessed the Martyr¡¯s Pce and the aid of the Empire¡¯stest warship. Even Linken had lost to him; which other dark race gship did he have to fear?

    At the very least, the n for this route was feasible. They could attack and retreat at will, with enough leeway to shift strategies. Besides, they would show up as a surprise force since they were to set out from the neutralnds. The Evernight Council did not have enough data on this airship route, making them prone to defeat if they were careless.

    Looking at the entire n, every link was tightly interlocked. There was no single route that was safe, nor was there a route resulting in sure death. Every chess piece was well utilized on paper, and all that was left was to see how the execution would go.

    The n wasplicated and orderly. They would first seize the advantage in the air, and then divide the main army on the ground, blocking their retreat. At the end of this rapid assault, the dark race army on the void continent would be surrounded and eventually eliminated. This well-thought-out n might turn the entire situation around if followed closely.

    The key to the entire war was the battle in the void. They could only proceed with the follow-up attacks after defeating the Evernight fleet. Qianye and Song Zining would also take part in the aerial battles, naturally enjoying the spoils as well. There was no need to think about the follow-up if the first battle was lost.

    At least on this route, Qianye and Song Zining saw that they could retreat anytime if the situation turned for the worst. It was unlikely that they would fall into dire straits or traps.

    Qianye pondered for a few seconds and seemed interested in the n. Before he could speak, however, Song Zining cut in, ¡°General Lan, Qianye is no longer an Imperial citizen. What benefits will he get for joining this fight?¡±

    ¡°Contributing to the country is our inherent duty¡­¡± Lan Xincheng threw out some formal remarks, but he quickly discovered that it was inappropriate. ¡°That¡¯s not in my power to say. If you have any suggestions, it¡¯s fine to speak freely. I will report back to my superiors and see if I can help you get it.¡±

    Song Zining was quite confident. ¡°Firstly, I want the blueprints for any three of the Empire¡¯s warships. It doesn¡¯t need to be the newest models, it¡¯s fine as long as the design is within thirty years.¡±

    Lan Xincheng¡¯s expression rxed. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem, I can decide.¡±

    Song Zining raised two fingers, saying, ¡°Secondly, I want to buy five in-service corvettes at manufacturing cost.¡±

    Lan Xincheng¡¯s expression shifted into hesitancy. ¡°This is beyond my power, but it¡¯s not impossible if I pull some strings.¡±

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°We¡¯re not asking the military, so there¡¯s no room for negotiations. Qianye and I must risk our entire fortune and lives for this war. We must have profits. If the military wants us to sacrifice ourselves for the nation, then there¡¯s no need for further discussion.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be intact eggs if the nest topples. Mister Zining, how can we be safe if the Empire falls into danger?¡±

    Song Ziningughed but did not reply.

    Lan Xincheng sighed. ¡°I have noted your requests, it shouldn¡¯t be a big problem. Your military strength would only contribute to the war. What else do you want?¡±

    Song Zining raised a third finger, saying, ¡°Thirdly, I want anded title!¡±

    Lan Xincheng inhaled deeply. ¡°What title do you want?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°I won¡¯t demand a specific title. For now, just give me something no one¡¯s using.¡±

    Lan Xincheng nced at Qianye and Song Zining withplicated expressions. ¡°Does General Qianye need a title as well?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I won¡¯t ept an Imperial title, you guys can¡¯t afford to give me what I want, either.¡±

 Chapter 1125: Thunderfrost Temple

    <h4>Chapter 1125: Thunderfrost Temple</h4>

    The conferment of anded title involved strict rules. Ranks below that of an honorary count could be gained by paying military contributions, but these were empty titles with nond and couldn¡¯t be inherited. Titles rted tond, even viscounts, had to follow strictws regarding title, inheritance, and authority.

    This was especially true for a regional noble title since they wouldn¡¯t downgrade over generations. Each of them had to be carefully selected and not conferred randomly. The recipient of such titles would always have to pioneer newnd at the beginning of their careers. The price for such a hereditary title was that they would have to hold theirnd or risk having their titles revoked.

    Song Zining was nning to build a high-ranking aristocratic family on his own! If that was Song Zining¡¯s n, then what of Qianye? Lan Xincheng thought of something that caused his heart to skip a beat. Could he be nning to build a kingdom? The Great Qin wasn¡¯t the only monarchy in the realm.

    Lan Xincheng¡¯s eyes darted over Qianye and Song Zining. He deftly removed any thought he had before¡ªhe could only feign ignorance since the other party wasn¡¯t nning to say anything out loud. Qianye¡¯s rtionship with the Empire was rather delicate, and there were too many powers rted to him. As a soldier and not a politician, Lan Xincheng knew that getting involved meant nothing good.

    As for Song Zining¡¯s three demands, there seemed to be a fair number of openings in them. Qianye had announced that he wouldn¡¯t be limited by the Empire, but Song Zining nned to remain within the system.

    Border nobility was a special position. After iming this title, Song Zining would formally be a member of the Empire¡¯s upper echelon. At the very least, his status would give him the right to certain secrets. At the same time, border nobles could expand their private armies without limitations and expand theirnd outwards. They could even request help from the Imperial forces when required.

    Requesting this title could be considered an extremely smart move. It looked like the Empire wasn¡¯t losing anything tangible, but from a different perspective, it meant that all thend imed would have to be recognized. Even if it was just for their face, the Imperial n would not allow other powers in the Empire to invade Song Zining without good reason.

    Hence, the value of this title would depend on Song Zining himself. This seventh young master, who had been considered the future god strategist of the Empire, had fully proven his ability with his miraculous aplishments.

    Lan Xincheng came to understand that Song Zining¡¯s demands were all interconnected and that there was no space for negotiations.

    There was one point that he wasn¡¯t clear about. What were the corvettes for? These airships were fast and versatile, but the ring w was their inferior defense and range. They could only follow the fleet and perform very little on their own. This was especially true in long-range battles because their flight range was limited. That was why destroyers were the main fighting force in fleet battles.

    That was also the reason why Lan Xincheng was confident that he could hand over these airships even on the eve of a major battle in the void. Corvettes simply had no ce in the battle outside of the void continent.

    Lan Xincheng was happy to agree since Song Zining was insistent and the demand wasn¡¯t uneptable. As an important member of the military, the general was able to ess a lot of information and had studied Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s battles. Their aplishments, which went against allmon sense, proved one thing¡ªtheir truebat strength was far above what they had on paper.

    Since that was the case, Lan Xincheng decided to clench his jaws and agree to everything. The next step was to proceed with the handover of the airship. Fang Zhang and Dark me would see to the necessary procedures. Lan Xincheng would return to the Empire in due haste and report Song Zining¡¯s demands for participating in the war.

    In the days that followed, Song Zining picked out some mercenaries who had experience as airship crew, and Qianye transferred a batch of sailors and Highbeards from the Martyr¡¯s Pce to apany the handover of the warship.

    By the time Fang Zhang¡¯s airship took to the air, Qianye said to Song Zining, ¡°Are we really going to take part in this war?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already decided that we would, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a while. ¡°I was a bit hesitant. Most importantly, we¡¯re not sure if the n was really devised by Marshal Lin.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be wrong. Only Lin Xitang can produce a n perfectly epassing all the powers of the Empire. Prince Greensun would¡¯ve lost his patience long ago and charged over to duel the dark race experts. Other people might be able to imitate such a n, but it wouldn¡¯t be as grand or as detailed. This n gives off a feeling of perfection. War is an art¡­ turns out Teacher Zhang Jing didn¡¯t lie to me.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s evaluation was fairly serious at first, but hisst words rxed Qianye¡¯s frown.

    He said with a serious expression, ¡°You can choose not to take part in this battle. You don¡¯t owe the Empire anything, it¡¯s the Empire that owes you. If you wanted to give back a bit, what you did in the Great Maelstrom is already more than enough. You have no idea what you did back there implies.¡±

    Qianye smiled faintly. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like I owe them, nor am I trying to make up for anything. I¡¯m doing things that I feel like I should, or perhaps I want.¡±

    Song Zining remained silent.

    ¡°Will you take part in the battle?¡± Qianye inquired.

    ¡°Of course I have to. A border title isn¡¯t so easily obtained, so I¡¯ll have to put in a bit of effort at least. One has to know that the Empire hasn¡¯t conferred new titles below duke rank since the pioneering ended. Even people like Marshal Lin won¡¯t be given such a role.¡± Song Zining was full of smiles.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but shake his head when he saw Song Zining¡¯s love of money and power. The gloominess in his expression dispersed somewhat.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Disregarding everything else, having memand one of their routes will reduce casualties by a big margin.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re going to war, then how can I not?¡±

    Song Zining shot Qianye a nce but decided not to keep pushing this problem. ¡°There¡¯s one important factor. Are you going to bring the Martyr¡¯s Pce into battle?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°The first battle is crucial, so we must use it. The vessel is gradually integrating with me right now, so it¡¯s impossible for anyone to take it away.¡±

    Song Zining frowned for a good while. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s bring it before the eyes of the world. If we contribute greatly to the war, the Empire cannot rob you by force. Besides, even if someone is that greedy, they¡¯re likely to fail. There are a lot of people in the Empire who are willing to help you.¡±

    Thosest words puzzled Qianye. There were of course some people who were willing to help him, but that would depend on the nature of the problem and the method of helping. When it came to profits, people would be either hesitant or move in full force. It was useless talking about this at the present stage.

    However, Song Zining only spoke half the words and would keep things mysterious most of the time. Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to y this game with him.

    Since they had nned to join the war, Dark me¡¯s focus had to be shifted ordingly. Song Zining started recruiting ship crew and cannoneers across the entire neutralnds. At the same time, he started absorbing experienced mercenaries. He also brought out the equipment left behind by the Imperial forces and started equipping the current soldiers.

    Ground forces were also highly important since they would need to hold their ground for a while after getting a foothold. Mercenaries from the neutralnds possessed strong individual fighting power, but they were inferior in terms of organization.

    The forces on the void continent were elites. Their individual fighting power was on par with the mercenaries from the neutralnds, but their discipline andmand were far better than a bunch of ragtags who hadn¡¯t fought in arge scale war before.

    Song Zining had to make up for this gap by strengthening the soldiers¡¯ discipline within a short time. Dark me soldiers had obtained special training before attacking Tidehark City, and many of the veterans had survived the war. Song Zining would use these veterans as a foundation to expand Dark me continuously, training them day and night.

    Qianye was given a special mission to visit the Thunderfrost Temple.

    Qianye shared a connection with Caroline of the Thunderfrost Temple, and her support had helped him through many crucial battles. Dark me¡¯s biggest weakness in this expedition was that they had no divine champion to oversee them. Although Qianye was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with a divine champion, he would still be in danger when facing one.

    Qianye had agreed to help her procure a piece ofnd, and this war was the best opportunity to fulfill his due. At the very least, the Empire wouldn¡¯t interfere if she were to upy a remote piece ofnd in the future. Otherwise, just a representative of the Empire could topple a small country like that.

    Song Zining asked Qianye to make use of this connection to enlist Caroline¡¯s help.

    Caroline wasn¡¯t the only divine champion in Thunderfrost Temple. Reportedly, she had a brother who was far stronger than herself. If he could gain the help of the temple, at the very least, Southern Blue would be safe while they were away.

    Qianye rose into the air from atop the Dark me headquarters. He shot through the clouds, out of the continent¡¯s protective barrier, and into the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The Dragonship turned about slowly and flew into the depths of the void.

    In just half a day, the dragonship appeared near a continent shrouded in silver. This continent was much smaller than the Eastern Sea and barely had a protective barrier. Because it was at an angle away from the sun, the weather was frigid, and thend was covered in snow.

    Qianye stopped the Martyr¡¯s Pce above the continent and jumped down like aet.

    Snow and ice were everywhere on the continent. The winds cut like des, and fist-sized hail would whistle past from time to time. Getting hit by hail was no different from being smashed with a rock. Ordinary people simply couldn¡¯t stand it.

    Through the air, Qianye saw a tall mountain surrounded by steep precipices and strong gales.

    Qianye turned and flew toward the peak. The mysterious Thunderfrost Temple of legends was situated on that mountain top.

    The powerful cold winds blew Qianye toward the mountaintop. He adjusted his posture quickly, spreading his arms and legs to attach himself to the cliffside like a spider.

    There was a small mountain road nearby, but it was so deeply covered in snow that one could hardly see that it was a path.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to follow the path, so he simply climbed up along the cliff. The snowstorms around the mountain might be lethal to ordinary experts, but it was nothing to Qianye and his ancient vampire constitution. He moved up nimbly like a spider and arrived at the peak after a short while.

    The summit was a different world on its own.

    There was no wind, snow, or hail here, but it was covered in deep blue ice that was countless years old. Qianye¡¯s reflection bounced off the many icy pirs, projecting his image in dozens of locations.

    The world here was so beautiful that it felt stifling, but the temperature was despairingly low. Even Qianye could feel the chill invading his body. Roughly calcted, the temperature here was probably a hundred and fifty degrees below zero. Even steel would turn brittle in such coldness¡ªthere was no way ordinary creatures could survive.

    Strands of beautiful light would drift across the sky, each of them dying the frozen peak in brilliant colors. However, these beautiful ribbons of light were extremely dangerous. They were brought about by void origin power seeping through the weak space, and they could easily turn into a spatial rift.

    There was a temple of ice at the center of all the beauty and danger, with its twelve giant pirs glistening brightly under the sun. The icy pce was almost a hundred meters tall and housed an icy bulrush flower atop it. Qianye had no idea what it meant, but he could feel an ancient intent rushing at his face!

 Chapter 1126: Faraway Gues

    <h4>Chapter 1126: Faraway Gues</h4>

    Qianye looked up at the aged outline of the structure. After a momentary pause, he walked straight toward the main doors.

    There were ribbons of light flickering into existence on the path ahead, but he dispersed them with a wave of his hand. It was as though he were walking through an excessively decorated street during a festival. This process seemed easy, but every step was akin to walking on the edge of the abyss. Ordinary experts would lose half their palm after each swing, but the luminous ribbons were fairly obedient and kept their fangs hidden in front of Qianye.

    Brushing away the colorful ribbons, Qianye finally arrived at the doors of the Thunderfrost Temple.

    The doors were several dozen meters tall, making Qianye look like a small ant inparison. The doors were simrly made of deep ice¡ªthey were entirely dark blue with continuous carvings upon it. Upon careful inspection, the images upon them were a depiction of various legends and stories about how the ancients had sought survival in this wastnd and finally constructed this temple.

    There was no better construction material than deep ice upon this cliff. These predecessors who had managed to build the temple under such adverse conditions would be experts by today¡¯s standards. At the very least, people under the champion realm couldn¡¯t survive here.

    Just as Qianye was admiring the sculptures, the door opened on its own and a warm stream of air flowed out of the hall, suffused with a mild fragrance.

    ¡°Esteemed guest, this way please.¡±

    Qianye entered without hesitation as the doors closed up behind him.

    There was no light source inside the hall. However, not only was it not gloomy inside, but the four walls, floor, and roof were glistening with a faint light. Everything was pure, brilliant, and mysterious. The roof was almost a hundred meters tall, making people feel like they were standing in the hall of a primordial giant.

    There was an icy sacrificial altar at the center of the hall, above which an icicle was hovering in slow rotation.

    Qianye nced about, but seeing no one, he walked up to the altar and nced at the icicle.

    ¡°This is the first piece of ice our ancestors chiseled after drifting to this world. It took three hundred years after that to construct this Thunderfrost Temple. Nobody knows this anymore, but countless ancestors were buried under the temple during the three centuries of its construction. The dead would disintegrate quickly in this world, not even leaving a corpse. This ice isn¡¯t an offering, but a memory of past sacrifices.¡±

    The cold voice appeared once again, and this time, Qianye no longer made mistakes with his perception. He turned toward a certain direction and saw a young blue-haired man in long white robes walking over slowly.

    The young man looked unusually young, at most a teenager by human appearances. His face was like an intricate work of art, with almost translucent skin and lips. If it weren¡¯t for the terrifying amount of origin power within his body, Qianye would¡¯ve suspected that he was made of ice.

    The young man stretched his hand out. ¡°Arkfaire, lord of the Thunderfrost Temple. Caroline is my sister. I wee you, Qianye.¡±

    Qianye shook Arkfaire¡¯s hand and immediately lost all sensation on his skin; it was as though he had gripped a block of ice. A faint glow of scarlet gold ignited on Qianye¡¯s hand as the power of Venus Dawn suppressed the cold, protecting his flesh from damage.

    The scarlet gold mes wavered unstably. Although it was only a thinyer, the drain involved was rather shocking, and Qianye could clearly feel the origin power draining from his body. This meant that, although he wasn¡¯t at a disadvantage during the exchange, the difference in cultivation was too big for his Venus Dawn to keep up with.

    Fortunately, Arkfaire pulled his hand back within moments. There was an iprehensible glint in his eyes as he gazed at Qianye. ¡°It¡¯s lunchtime, I hope you¡¯ll honor us by sharing a meal.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°Thank you for the reception. Lunch at the Thunderfrost Temple isn¡¯t something an outsider can enjoy.¡±

    Arkfaire¡¯s brows arched up as he broke into a smile. ¡°Follow me.¡± He led Qianye through a side door and toward the dining hall at the end of a long corridor.

    The dining hall was shockinglyrge as well, at least big enough for hundreds of people to eat at the same time. There was a long table at the center with a chair on either end.

    Arkfaire sat down at the master¡¯s seat and invited Qianye to take the other. Two elders in formal attire began serving the food.

    Despite their age, they were elegant and well-groomed. They moved in utter silence, almost as though they were gliding on water. Whether they were walking, standing, or serving, the soup on their trays never rippled.

    Their exceedingly steady hands could be used to serve food, or they could be used to kill people. With their rank-seventeen cultivation, they could turn into terrifying assassins at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Even the attendants possessed a higher level of origin power than Qianye. It looked like Arkfaire was trying to demonstrate his power, but then again, it didn¡¯t look like that, either.

    The soup in front of Qianye was like clear water with a couple of blue leaves floating in it. The dish looked more like tea than food.

    Arkfaire¡¯s voice arrived from the other end of the table. ¡°This dish is made with water from the first batch of excavated deep ice, and the ice leaf is a local specialty produce. It can only grow in low-temperature environments, so you won¡¯t be able to have them again after leaving this ce.¡±

    With that, he picked up his spoon and sipped a spoonful of soup.

    Qianye followed suit and drank a mouthful of soup, swallowing it along with the ice leaf.

    The soup had no taste of its own, but once inside his stomach, terrifying frost energy erupted and almost froze Qianye from the inside out.

    Qianye¡¯s body reacted instinctively. His blood core pulsed at full force as the blood in his entire body ignited to suppress the invasive cold energy.

    Qianye sat straight and still, when all of a sudden, two streams of sanguineous mes gushed out of his nose.

    His face switched between red and blue, fluctuating several times before finally calming down. The two elders nearby cast their observant gazes away while calming their surprised expressions.

    Qianye gazed up at Arkfaire in utter silence, his eyes surging with a blue intent.

    The young man revealed a clear and mischievous smile. ¡°This soup is a bit tyrannical in the beginning, but it¡¯ll bring about great benefits once you tide over it. The deep ice left behind by the ancestors dwindles with each use, and there are less than ten ice leaves left in storage. I wouldn¡¯t bring them out if you weren¡¯t an honored guest.¡±

    Qianye spat out a cloud of white mist, then his body trembled as more mes gushed out of his nose.

    Since he was already breathing fire, Qianye had no need to hide his situation. After suppressing the chill, he said, ¡°The soup is indeed tyrannical, but what will happen if I¡¯m unable to endure it?¡±

    Arkfaire rested his chin on his palm. ¡°Such an obvious question isn¡¯t something a smart person should be asking, those who can¡¯t endure the effects will turn into an ice sculpture. The ice leaf itself can be considered a powerful poison, but this item is too valuable to be used for killing. In any case, I can only say that my sister misjudged if you can¡¯t endure the effects.¡±

    Qianye snorted but made no furtherments. He took another mouthful of soup and closed his eyes.

    This time, he didn¡¯t gush mes, but his hair flew up and his eyes shot out beams of light when he opened them.

    Qianye exhaled another wisp of white energy. ¡°This is good!¡±

    Just two spoonfuls of soup had pushed his origin power forward. This was extremely valuable to Qianye and his extraordinary origin power requirements. His eighth origin power vortex was about to take form, and he might actually break through by the time he had finished the soup.

    It was just as Arkfaire had said; this soup would provide great benefits if only he could endure.

    The word endure was easier said than done. The cold energy was extremely pure and would break out from the inside. Suppressing it wasn¡¯t just about high cultivation; it was also dependent on the quality of origin power. Qianye could keep the energy in check and melt it because of his Venus Dawn. Any other person¡ªthose divine champions with no hope of further progress for instance¡ªwould probably turn into ice after one bowl.

    This soup was the main course. The other fruits and snacks on offer were rare, but they weren¡¯t that attractive.

    The meal was finallypleted as the origin sundial pointed toward dusk. He had spent most of the time drinking that soup, digesting it for a while after each mouthful. As cold energy umted inside his body, Qianye¡¯s rate of ingestion grew slower and slower until he had to spend half an hour drinking thest small mouthful.

    Arkfaire showed no semnce of impatience. He apanied Qianye calmly, drinking as much as Qianye did, and then waited as thetter digested the energy. Only when the meal was over did he say with a nod, ¡°Finishing this soup means you¡¯ve passed the first test! Follow me.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t really happy about the sudden test, but Arkfaire wasn¡¯t going to care about his mood. The young man walked out of the dining hall, smiling like a mischievous kid as Qianye walked out behind him.

    Regardless of the method, Qianye had obtained a tangible benefit, so he decided not to argue where it didn¡¯t matter. The two walked down a spiral staircase and kept going until they were deep underground. Here, Arkfaire pushed open the doors and brought Qianye into a different hall.

    This hall wasn¡¯t as majestic as the main building, but its height of ten meters made for a fairly grand spectacle. The sculptures in the hall were vivid and lifelike¡ªif it weren¡¯t for them being made of transparent deep ice, people would wonder if they were frozen humans.

    Arkfaire arrived at the biggest group of sculptures. Gazing up at the several dozen sculptures of varying expressions and postures, he said, ¡°These are the heroes of the first ancestral generation. They had fought dangerous enemies in harsh battlefields, risking their lives to carve out the first block of deep ice to serve as the temple¡¯s first foundation.¡±

    He then arrived at the second group. There were noticeably fewer people here, barely over a dozen, and their momentum was weaker than the first. Their equipment, however, looked better.

    Arkfaire said after some hesitation, ¡°These are the heroes of the second ancestral generation. They are smaller in number because most of the ancestors had passed away while pioneering this world of ice. What took their lives weren¡¯t just the cold and monsters, but¡­ also hunger. There wasn¡¯t enough food in thisnd to support so many people. Their main source of food came from the beasts living between the edge of the continent and the void."

    Qianye knew there would be beasts around the edge of the continent. These fierce creatures could move through the void for a short period. Although they weren¡¯tparable to void colossi, they were definitely much stronger than ordinary beasts and not a force ordinary champions could handle. One could imagine the price these ancestors would have to pay in order to hunt them down for food.

    ¡°These beasts are crafty and would rarely set foot onnd. Every time, the ancestors would have to pick one person as bait in order to lure them down."

 Chapter 1127: The Thunderfrost Martyrs

    <h4>Chapter 1127: The Thunderfrost Martyrs</h4>

    Arkfaire went through the groups one after the other but no longer exined their history. The number of sculptures would dwindle with each passing generation, and there was an important reason for that¡ªa reduction in the number of nsmen.

    When they arrived at thest group, there was only one sculpture left.

    Arkfaire walked past this sculpture slowly and came to a stop at the final, unsculpted block of ice. ¡°This is my ce.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows, waiting for what the young man was going to say.

    Arkfaire eventually said, ¡°The Thunderfrost Temple was only finished during the reign of the seventh generation ancestor, giving us some ability to control the destructive power of this continent. It was already toote at that point. There weren¡¯t enough nsmen to maintain reproduction, and our numbers were dwindling constantly. The only way to survive was to take in new blood from the outside. From a different perspective, however, that would also be the end of our n.¡±

    Qianye realized that the thinning of bloodlines was a problem every n would have to face. For instance, the vampire race¡¯s slumbering River of Blood and the demonkin race¡¯s near-extinct Prophets. The inheritance of power in most races was closely rted to one¡¯s bloodline, and without power, the n would decline and fall into ruin.

    It was rather strange, though, because humans were not as strictly bound by bloodline limitations. The Martial Ancestor¡¯s Combatant Form broke through this limitation entirely. The price for that was significant, but in this world full of war and strife, immediate survival was sometimes more important than future prospects.

    Arkfaire¡¯s voice drew Qianye back from his reverie. He pointed at the sculptures, saying, ¡°Starting from the eighth generation, the sculpture no longer depicts heroes but the generational master of the Thunderfrost Temple, the person who had inherited the power of Thunderfrost.¡±

    Qianye understood why Arkfaire had pointed out the location of his sculpture. After his death, the inheritor of his power would sculpt his statue there.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Caroline? What¡¯s her position here?¡±

    ¡°You mean my sister? I was just going to talk to you about it. Follow me.¡±

    Arkfaire left the hall with Qianye and headed deeper underground. This time, the passage seemed deep, gloomy, and endless. They walked hundreds of meters before a door appeared in front of them.

    Arkfaire pushed open the door to reveal a different world behind it.

    This was a natural cave that sloped downward into a bottomless central pit. From the edge of the cliff, one could see deep blue radiance flickering in its depths and arcs of lightning jumping along the walls.

    Just standing at the mouth of the pit caused Qianye¡¯s hair to float upward a bit. He could clearly feel the terrifying energy inside.

    ¡°This is the source of the Thunderfrost Temple. The entire temple is a facility to suppress and filter the frost and void lightning. Otherwise, a great wave of cold would descend upon the continent every few decades, and the void lightning would ravage thend until there was no life left.

    ¡°After the construction of the Thunderfrost Temple, we were able to harness the power of these energies. Naturally, it took great talent to be able to refine such power, but our race had nevercked in geniuses. The first person of each generation to master the power of frost would be the lord of the Thunderfrost Temple. My sister¡­ was the first to grasp the power of frost, but she purposely chose lightning instead. However, I don¡¯t hate her for that.¡±

    ¡°Only those who grasp the power of frost can be the temple lord?¡± Qianye asked.

    Arkfaire nodded. ¡°Yes, only by grasping the power of frost can one operate the entire temple, suppressing the disaster and protecting our nsmen.¡±

    Qianye understood somewhat. ¡°That means the temple lord can¡¯t actually leave, right?¡±

    ¡°Only for a short while. Taking into ount travel times, they can stay on other continents for half a day at most.¡± Arkfaire smiled wryly.

    Qianye suddenly felt sorry for him. Arkfaire was a genius, but he had been bound to this icy temple since youth. What joy was there in such a life? No wonder he said he didn¡¯t hate her for picking lightning.

    ¡°Sister can operate freely outside, but I must protect our n. Once the temple stops running, all the nsmen living here will die in a short while. I¡¯ve only left the temple twice, but that was just to let outsiders know that the Thunderfrost Temple still has me and not just my sister. That was the only way to keep those dirty idiots at bay and make them stop having designs on my sister.¡±

    At this point, Arkfaire turned toward Qianye. ¡°Would you be interested in inheriting the power of Thunderfrost and bing the next temple lord?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. He didn¡¯t even have the time to think whether it was even reasonable when he asked, ¡°I can?¡±

    ¡°Of course that won¡¯t be a problem at all with my help. With the power of Thunderfrost, you can reach the realm of, ording to your standards, a superior divine champion.¡±

    To many people, this type of power was an irresistible allure. It was something they would otherwise have to invest their entire lives to attain.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No interest.¡±

    Arkfaire nced at Qianye, then shook his head with a sigh. ¡°You were the best candidate for us to absorb new blood¡­ but it¡¯s only natural that you would refuse. Someone with Venus Dawn wouldn¡¯t really think too highly of our Thunderfrost power. Since that¡¯s the case, let me give you this present.¡±

    A flick of his fingers elicited a clear, crisp sound, almost like the cry of a phoenix. Hearing this sound ignited an ice-point deep inside Qianye¡¯s body, and a wave of frost washed through his entire being.

    That was the power of the ice leaf soup. Even though Qianye had spent a long time drinking it, most of the energy was still stored inside his body and awaiting refinement.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Arkfaire not only saw through this but also activated all the energy with a snap of his fingers?

    Qianye didn¡¯t even have time to resist as he was frozen stiff by the cold wave. The strange thing was that the stream of cold turned to warmth and merged into Qianye¡¯s body, rushing to his eighth origin node like migrating birds. This origin node was already on the brink of overflowing, to begin with. As the stream of warmth flowed in, there was nowhere for the vast amount of energy to go. It finally copsed into liquid and, with a loud rumble, turned into a vortex.

    Qianye¡¯s aura rose unsuppressed, reaching greater heights with each climb. At this point, he was only one step away from the divine champion realm.

    Qianye could only speak after a good while. ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°It spared you some time and also increased yourbat strength. I can¡¯t have you die since my sister is going to follow you in the future.¡±

    Arkfaire walked out. Qianye was puzzled, but he had no other choice but to follow.

    This time, the young man returned to the residential area and sat down in the parlor. After Qianye was seated, an attendant offered him a cup of crystal clear tea, with a green leaf at the bottom of the receptacle.

    Qianye was overly fearful at this point. He picked up the tea and observed it for a good while without actually drinking it. If this tea was anything like the ice leaf soup, he wouldn¡¯t be able to digest a big mouthful.

    Arkfaire said with a smile, ¡°Rest assured, that¡¯s just tea. We only have a couple of ice leaves left, so we won¡¯t be able to take out too many to treat you. Unless¡­¡± He stopped midway, and his expression turned gentler.

    Qianye sipped a mouthful of tea, shivering as the cold stream entered his stomach. He felt rxed and full of vitality afterward.

    ¡°Tell me about why you came.¡± The two finally got down to business.

    ¡°I promised Caroline that I would help her obtain a territory. Now, there¡¯s an opportunity, but I need her help. After winning the battle, she would be one step closer to her dream of ruling her own territory.¡±

    ¡°Territory¡­¡± Arkfaire¡¯s brows moved slightly. Apparently, this word held great significance for him. ¡°Where is it, and how big?¡±

    ¡°Strictly speaking, it¡¯s only a permission to upy a territory. After the battle, we¡¯ll have umted arge amount of contributions in the Empire. With that as the foundation, they¡¯ll give us tacit permission when we pioneer newnd at the borders and even provide support. Of course, that¡¯s the official exnation, but there¡¯s nothing to expect from the Empire. It¡¯s good enough if they don¡¯t interfere.¡±

    Arkfaire pondered in silence, apparently moved by the thought.

    There were twenty-seven continents in the realm, twenty-three of which had been explored. The seemingly vast realm actually had very little space that waspletely undiscovered. Even the Evernight Council, which had existed for tens of thousands of years, couldn¡¯t set foot on the continents at the top of the realm. The upper continents belonged to the various powerful dark races. Most of them were extremely special and not suitable for any other race.

    The middle continents were the most suitable for life, but most of the fertilends had been upied by the Empire and Evernight. There were small countries and neutral powers, but most of them hadplicated roots stretching in a certain direction, or both. There was no real neutrality.

    The rise to power of the Great Qin Empire was an unprecedented miracle. Looking at the establishment of the small neighboring countries, all of them had popped up during periods of unrest. This went to show that both daybreak and Evernight shared simr methods in certain regards.

    Arkfaire knew full well how difficult pioneering newnd was and guarding it even more so. This was a viable path if they could obtain the Empire¡¯s recognition. Even if no support was offered, there would be one less gigantic entity looking to devour them.

    Qianye felt odd when he nced at Arkfaire. Sometimes, it looked like he cared a lot about his sister, but now, it seemed the value of territory was much higher than Caroline''s.

    Arkfaire woke up from his thoughts and quickly noticed Qianye by his side. He said with a wry smile, ¡°You see how adverse this ce is. If we continue living here, our n will only grow smaller and smaller, because the weaker ones can¡¯t even survive here. But if we have another territory, we can allow those without sufficient strength to keep on living there. That way, we won¡¯t have to face extermination.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat puzzled. ¡°Isn¡¯t the neutralnds empty as well? With the Thunderfrost Temple¡¯s power, you can easily im somend here.¡±

    Arkfaire shook his head. ¡°The neutralnds isn¡¯t suitable for us. Even this ce is better for usparatively.¡±

    Qianye shot to his feet as he realized something. ¡°You¡¯re demonkin!¡±

 Chapter 1128: Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 1128: Alliance</h4>

    Arkfaire made no abnormal movements. He merely nodded and said, ¡°My ancestors were indeed from a demonkin branch. Back then, the demonkin ns were much more segregated and each faction worshipped different powers. My ancestors were defeated in the holy war and forced to the neutralnds. The ce was weing to a mixture of many races, but to our ancestors, the environment wasn¡¯t even fit for survival. In the end, they found the onlynd they could and decided to settle down,pleting the Thunderfrost Temple only centuriester. After looking at these sculptures, you probably understand that our bodies and souls have undergone great changes. At this point, no one would guess we were once demonkin if I didn¡¯t mention it.¡±

    ¡°Dark races¡­ you guys aren¡¯t considered a dark race, either, right?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Arkfaire¡¯s expression was filled with mncholy and helplessness.

    The frost power of the Thunderfrost Temple was situated between daybreak and Evernight, so they were no longer of the dark race by traditional definition. However, the demonkin were the favorite children of the world and known as the sons of darkness. Not only did Arkfaire¡¯s n lose their original origin power attribute, but their bloodlines were also no longer pure. One could only imagine the taste ofparing themselves to their former glory.

    Arkfaire escaped his sentiments very quickly. He looked deeply at Qianye, saying, ¡°Actually, my sister¡¯s talents are greater than mine. She¡¯s currently weaker than me only because I inherited the power of the Thunderfrost Temple. This power is easy to ept, but the drawbacks are easy to imagine; I won¡¯t be taking a single step forward from where I am. That¡¯s not the same for her as she can keep advancing. Even a little bit of hope is better than my state.¡±

    Qianye waited for the continuation message in silence.

    Arkfaire said after a slight pause, ¡°Qianye, you have sufficient talents to lead our n forward. My sister and I might be old by human standards, but we¡¯re still quite youngpared to our lifespans.¡±

    Having guessed what the young man was going to say, a surprised Qianye cut him short in a hurry. ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough, I don¡¯t have the qualification.¡±

    ¡°No, the purity of your origin power has reached an extreme. Your future attainments will be far beyond our ancestral heroes. As a future monarch, you are qualified to have us follow you.¡±

    ¡°But right now, you can p me to death,¡± Qianye made a humble remark.

    ¡°Impossible. I can defeat you, but that¡¯s not going to be easy, either. My intuition tells me that I might not have the power to kill you.¡± At this point, Arkfaire looked absent-minded for a while. ¡°The Thunderfrost Temple is my home ground, so it won¡¯t be that easy for you to escape, that is unless you possess the power to shuttle through space. But I can even track down Demonic Traversal, why am I getting the feeling that I won¡¯t be able to kill you?¡±

    Arkfaire began to contemte in earnest.

    Qianye discovered that this fellow was actually quite simple in certain aspects. Afraid that he would actually test out his theory, Qianye said hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s just intuition, no need to take things too seriously. Let¡¯s get to business.¡±

    Arkfaire woke up from his reverie. ¡°I understand that you¡¯re refusing my first suggestion. Then, let¡¯s switch to a different model. My sister will join your fight and I¡¯ll even send some of my nsmen. As repayment, you must also join us when we fight for our territory, and you must help us once when the Thunderfrost Temple is in danger.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°The terms are so¡­ rxed. What can I even do with my current strength?¡±

    The Thunderfrost Temple had Arkfaire and Caroline, surrounded by a natural fortress. If there was an enemy even they couldn¡¯t handle, it was useless even if Qianye were to step in.

    However, Arkfaire said, ¡°You¡¯re a future monarch, a promise from you is iparably valuable.¡±

    Qianye felt a bit guilty at the thought of it. Arkfaire was like a customer who had fallen for beautiful packaging while he was the profiteering businessman. However, the terms were so good that Qianye had no reason to refuse. Besides, he was the one who hade to seek help.

    The doors to the chamber opened up quietly. The duo looked back and saw Caroline walking in with a pale face.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Caroline.

    Arkfaire was astonished. ¡°Sis, we don¡¯t know what war they¡¯re fighting¡­¡±

    Caroline shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not important.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°I think I should exin it first.¡±

    Arkfaire seconded the motion immediately.

    Caroline tapped Qianye¡¯s chest and said, ¡°Whatever the battle is about, I¡¯ll go wherever you go as long as you help us when we pioneer newnd. Where¡¯s your airship, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Arkfaire wanted to say something but stopped midway. In the end, he said, ¡°Wait, I¡¯ll send some people with you. You can ask them to handle the misceneous stuff.¡±

    Caroline asked with a frown, ¡°Is the battle in the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s fine. Get them ready, Arkfaire, I want to leave right away.¡±

    The young man smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯re always so impatient. Fine, just wait a while.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t see him do anything, but soon, the chamber doors opened once more and four tall men walked in. They stood in a row before the group, their skin so pale that there was even a hint of blue underneath.

    Qianye looked up hesitantly at Arkfaire, but after some thought, he decided to take them onto the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Arkfaire led the group to the roof of the Thunderfrost Temple. ¡°I can give you all a hand.¡±

    He slowly raised his hand to summon a stream of warm air which swept the group upward. The breeze seemed gentle, but it was as firm as it wassting and brought everyone out of the protective barrier before dispersing. Arkfaire had inadvertently revealed his peerless strength, one on par with Luo Bingfeng. Perhaps this was a kind of warning and hint.

    Qianye began flying toward the hovering Martyr¡¯s Pce. With a swing of her whip, Caroline rolled up the four attendants and dragged them along. These men couldn''t fly through the void on their own just yet.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t bring people along, but he was able to fly at great speeds. The four attendants couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished at the sight of it.

    The massive Martyr¡¯s Pce slowly appeared in the void ahead of them. It was as big as a small mountain, assaulting everyone with a wave of stifling pressure.

    As they approached the airship, the barelyposed attendants found their mouths falling open.

    Qianye flew in from the tail side, followed by Caroline and her subordinates. At this point, the walls of the Martyr¡¯s Pce had beenrgely reconstructed, and only the tail area was left. The Earth Dragon¡¯s tail was an extremely powerful weapon. Whoever wanted to enter through the tail would have to think twice.

    Inside the pce, there were craftsmen and warriors from the Highbeard Tribe working alongside the technicians and cannoneers from the Ningyuan Group. There were also hundreds of people working on the instation and adjustment of new facilities. However, the hundreds of people would immediately disappear when spread throughout the airship.

    Most of the construction work on the dragonship had beenpleted, and the vessel was finally starting to take shape.

    Caroline followed Qianye to the residential area where they settled the four attendants in. Then, they ascended along the gangway and arrived at a higher level where the side cannons were installed.

    Caroline was stunned when she arrived here. She walked over to an uninstalled cannon, running her hands over the glistening body and the thick ballista bolts. Momentster, she turned back and asked, ¡°What grade are these?¡±

    ¡°Imperial cruiser main cannons.¡±

    ¡°Cruiser-grade¡­¡± Caroline rose one meter into the air and looked out. There were several other ballistae of the same grade in this wide chamber. There were smaller ones as well, but the difference wasn¡¯t too big, and this was only one side of the airship.

    After Caroline had observed her fill, Qianye brought her forward along the cannon chamber. Despite having installed a dozen or so cannons, the room still looked quite empty. The giant airship¡¯s power would be unimaginable if all the cannon slots had been filled.

    The duo finally arrived at the main cannon area. Caroline was stunned when she saw Landsinker, but she didn¡¯t lose herposure entirely. She nced deeply at the main cannon before heading up onto the Earth Dragon¡¯s head.

    The two stood side by side, looking out at the boundless void in front of them.

    All they felt was a slight tremble as the Martyr¡¯s Pce turned about and flew back to the Eastern Sea.

    Caroline gazed into the distance. ¡°Actually, Arkfaire isn¡¯t rted to me by blood.¡±

    ¡°I know, you¡¯ve mentioned it once.¡±

    ¡°In every generation of our n, siblings would be marked by talents andbat strength, not blood rtionships. ording to tradition, children of the same generation would be raised by the n. That¡¯s why we were never as close as real siblings. Arkfaire inherited frost origin power, while I inherited the power of lightning. As such, we became siblings ording to tradition.¡±

    This was a strange rule, but that didn¡¯te as too much of a surprise since they were even willing to shift their origin power attributes for survival.

    ¡°I told you before, right? I have a werewolf bloodline. Even though it¡¯s quite thin, it¡¯s still there. The reason for that¡­¡±

    Caroline paused for a moment, hesitating whether or not she should continue.

    Qianye said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to say it if it makes you unhappy.¡±

    Caroline shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve suppressed these things in my heart for too long. You¡¯re qualified to listen right now.¡±

    ¡°Our n branch was cursed by a great dark monarch when we were expelled. The power of the curse took root at the source of our bloodline, and we were unable to expel it for many generations. The neutralnds was an adverse ce, but to our race, the effects were even stronger. That was why we decided to settle down on Thunderfrost Continent even though it was difficult.

    ¡°Everyone knew that was our only choice, and they had expected that things would be difficult... but life there was simply too bitter, so bitter that we wanted to give up on ourselves. The n had experimented on interbreeding with other races so that we may live in the other parts of the neutralnds. We just wanted to escape this curse and thend of Thunderfrost. However, the experiment ended in failure and the result was that some nsmen no longer possessed pure bloodlines. I inherited one of those impure bloodlines.

    ¡°The mixed demonkin suffered inferior statuspared to the pureblooded ones, it wouldn¡¯t be too overboard to say we were no more than ves. Even though I had revealed enough talent from a young age and was considered the hope of our next generation, I still can¡¯t forget how my mixed-blood demonkin siblings were treated. That was why I decided to pick void lightning instead of frost power.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference between the two?¡± Qianye inquired.

    As he saw it, the purity of her lightning origin power wasn¡¯t below that of frost. At the same cultivation rank, it was probably even a bit more powerful. In the Thunderfrost Temple, however, the status of frost origin power was evidently higher than lightning.

    Caroline exined, ¡°The quality of these two origin powers isparable, but there¡¯s a vast difference in quantity. The power of frost in the Thunderfrost Temple is virtually boundless, but only a small amount of lightning power would be condensed over a long period. Arkfaire and I picked our attributes only half a year apart, but he¡¯s already at the level of a superior divine champion while I hover around the intermediate rank.¡±

    Qianye understood at this point. Every step beyond the divine champion realm was extremely difficult. Even if there was enough lightning power to absorb, one could only hope of breaking through to the superior divine champion rank. Even Caroline herself couldn¡¯t say for sure if she would take another step forward.

    The girl sighed softly. ¡°I wanted a territory of my own because I wanted to give those mixed-blooded nsmen a ce to live and multiply. Their bloodlines are no longer pure, but they can adapt to more environments than the others. It¡¯s¡­ quite a helpless matter.¡±

    Qianye only listened in silence. Humans were in a difficult phase in this realm, but they were a growing race with boundless room for development. The vampires had always been troubled by their slumbering River of Blood, but they still held a strong position in the Evernight Council and on the Sacred Mountain¡ªthey weren¡¯t in a decline just yet.

    The sorrow of a declining race, Qianye had seen a hint of that in William, but it never left as deep an impression as the Thunderfrost Temple. In this world filled with darkness, every race had the right to survive, even races outside of Evernight¡ªthis was something the daybreak and neutral factions had always said. It was rather encouraging and arduous, but only the humans had ever realized such an ideal.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to console Caroline, but he knew that empty words were meaningless.

    Caroline¡¯s spirits finally recovered. ¡°After listening to the conversation between you and Arkfaire, however, I realized that this new territory should belong to all nsmen.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°However you wish to use that territory, I¡¯ll do my best to help you.¡±

    Caroline nced at Qianye. ¡°Actually, it won¡¯t be easy to pioneer newnd even with ourbined forces.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°We must wait until I grow stronger. At the same time, we need more soldiers, an airship fleet, and the Empire¡¯s nominal protection. We¡¯ll need time to get all that, but you¡¯ll get your territory eventually.¡±

    Caroline said to Qianye, ¡°I really wonder where you get all that confidence from? Maybe you still don¡¯t know the trouble we¡¯ll have to face.¡± Originating from the Thunderfrost Temple meant forfeiting all possibility of protection from the Evernight Council. The Great Qin Empire, on the other hand, would only be less reliable as it grows stronger. ¡°The demonkin willunch an attack once they realize you¡¯ve found a ce to establish yourself, right?¡±

    ¡°Since you already know, why are you still so confident?¡± Caroline asked.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m confident, I¡¯ve been fighting the dark races all my life. Why would I fear the demonkin?¡±

    Caroline nodded. ¡°That almost sounds reasonable.¡±

    Survival in the neutralnds had to be fought for. Origin power was nowhere near as important as absolute power. In truth, Qianye could divide a piece ofnd on the Northern Continent and fulfill his promise of giving them a ce to settle. The environment there was mild enough for Caroline and her people to live.

    However, the Northern Continent was too valuable. Qianye didn¡¯t want to bring it up unless absolutely necessary. With so little resource-richnd left to be developed, the discovery of the Northern Continent would surely lead to war. Qianye didn¡¯t want outsiders to know about the ce until he had the power to protect it himself.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce flew so steadily that one could hardly feel it moving. The inherent power of a void colossus allowed it to move like fish in water.

    Caroline remained silent as she experienced the feeling of gliding through the void. At this point, she felt as though she was one with the Earth Dragon, and every minute of thatprehension was a rare opportunity.

    Just as Caroline was fully immersed in the sensation, she noticed Qianye standing calmly. He looked neither tense nor deliberate as his body resonated with every movement of the Earth-Dragon. Shaken, Caroline said, ¡°You canmunicate with this giant airship?¡±

 Chapter 1129: War Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 1129: War Preparations</h4>

    Qianye was stunned by Caroline¡¯s sharpness. He gave her a nod but didn¡¯t exin further. This was rted to the core control rights to the dragonship; the fewer people who knew this, the better. The girl was smart enough, so there wasn¡¯t really a need to exin further.

    Caroline also understood this. She stopped asking questions and fell into her own contemtion.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce flew through the void and eventually arrived in the Eastern Sea. Qianye brought Caroline off the airship and the duo flew toward Southern Blue. The pce remained on standby in the void.

    Not long before Qianye¡¯s return, amotion broke out in Southern Blue. Many people ran out onto the streets and looked up at the sky.

    A massive shadow was washing over the city as an airship of unprecedented size descended upon it.

    The airship was hundreds of meters long, akin to a gigantic cargo vessel, but that kind of beauty, elegance, and stable cruising ability wasn¡¯t something a cargo ship could possess. The long ballistae poking out from the airship¡¯s bow and stern were killer weapons that the neutralnds had never seen.

    It wasn¡¯t just the bow and stern; there were rows upon rows of side-cannon ports that could deliver terrifying firepower.

    Even people who had no idea at all about airship battles would be shocked by such a sinister-looking monstrosity. It wasn¡¯t just peerless in the neutralnds¡ªfew could ever hope to match it even in the Evernight world.

    Under the eyes of everyone, the giant ship slowly descended to Dark me¡¯s airship port. The port had been expanded to twice its size and many of the facilities had been moved away, but even then, the parked airship looked rather cramped.

    Many people wanted to run over to watch the liveliness, but the mercenaries of Dark me had long since received orders to seal off the paths leading to the airship port. Three guard perimeters were more than enough to block everyone out of the street.

    This perimeter wasn¡¯t enough to block out true experts, but none of the more powerful people would provoke Qianye and Song Zining just to watch the liveliness.

    The giant airship was painted in the ssic dark grey of Imperial warships. All they did was erase the vessel name.

    The cabin doors opened slowly, and a row of Imperials¡ªled by a lieutenant general¡ªwalked down from the vessel.

    Qianye and Song Zining were already waiting on the airship port. The lieutenant general said with a bow, ¡°Bao Yantu of the Great Qin Empire is here for the handover!¡±

    Song Zining returned the bow. ¡°There should be five more corvettes, right?¡±

    Bao Yantu said, ¡°Those ordinary airships can¡¯t catch up to this warship, but they should be here soon.¡±

    He pointed at the sky, bringing to attention a number of faintly discernible dots over the horizon. They eventually grew clearer and bigger until everyone could see the airships flying toward Southern Blue.

    The shaky airships flew far less elegantly than the cruiser, but they were much better than the centuries-old antiques avable in the neutralnds. The corvettes were small, but they were slower and less agilepared to thended cruiser. No wonder Bao Yantu wasn¡¯t too impressed.

    Song Zining was familiar with the various warship models of the Empire. Just by looking at their external appearance and speed, he could tell that these five corvettes were the primary models in the Empire¡¯s employ. These warships had been in service for less than three decades, and could be considered the backbone of the armed forces. They might not be able to offer the highest performance, but they were reliable, well-documented in battle, and recement parts were easy toe by. One could see just how sincere the Empire was this time.

    Bao Yantu said, ¡°All six airships are here. The cargo fleet carrying the cannons and ammunition will arrive one dayter. The blueprints you wanted are in this¡­ patrol ship¡¯s hold. Please check and receive.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. The technician team he had prepared boarded the ship to perform the takeover procedures. At Bao Yantu¡¯s signal, a group of burly men in civilian clothing ran over and formed a square behind him.

    Bao Yantu said, ¡°These are old veterans who have served in the army as nonmissioned officers for many years. Each of them specializes in different mechanical fields. They¡¯ve left military service and have volunteered to work in the neutralnds, a small gift from General Lan.¡±

    Nonmissioned officers were a special rank in the army. These people might not be strong, or have any hope of bing champions, but they were specialists in certain fields. Their role was especially important in the Imperial fleet, where they enjoyed a sryparable to a general¡¯s.

    With the dozen or so nonmissioned officers, Qianye and Song Zining would have an easier time controlling these warships, especially the cruiser. Lan Xincheng¡¯s present was rather significant.

    Naturally, Qianye and Song Zining didn¡¯t refuse. They ordered some men to lead these officers away and settle them in.

    The corvettes had allnded while they were speaking. After the handover waspleted, Bao Yantu said, ¡°Sires, I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s appropriate, but I have something I wanted to say. If you¡¯re trying to build an airship fleet, the currentbination isn¡¯t really the best. The Empire has only three of these cutting-edge cruisers. They¡¯re more suited to solobat or in a conjunction with high-speed destroyers. These corvettes are too old to keep up.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°The military won¡¯t give me high-speed destroyers even if I wanted them!¡±

    Bao Yantu was momentarily stunned, but his expression proved that he hade to understand the reason. High-speed, long-distance destroyers were the Empire¡¯s newest model, and only two have been produced thus far. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t hand them over to the neutralnds. Destroyers one grade below that made up the core fighting force of the Empire¡¯s void fleet. Even the top ns could only get their hands on a few. There was really no telling if the military would say yes or no if Song Zining were to demand them.

    Hence, Song Zining¡¯s demand for the five corvettes was just a move to expand his own military power in the name of war. However, Bao Yantu wasn¡¯t stupid enough to ask. ¡°Since the handover has beenpleted, it¡¯s time for me to go. Someone will deliver the nextbat n.¡±

    Qianye and Song Zining saw Bao Yantu off as he boarded a corvette and left.

    The seventh young master rubbed his chin, saying, ¡°There are still a lot of honest soldiers in the Empire.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t say anything. The Great Qin had risen from the mud and stood tall for a thousand years, and even today, it was showing no signs of slowing down. All of that was possible because countless Imperial citizens and nobility had wrested thesends from the hands of the dark races. Unfortunately, there was rarely any certainty at the intersection of Evernight and daybreak¡ªthere was a lot of static in the path ahead for the human race.

    With Bao Yantu gone, Dark me became busy at every level. There were a lot of inspections, maintenance, and repairs, in addition to protecting the airships against dark race assault.

    Qianye and Song Zining returned to themand center and stood silently in front of the void continent map.

    Momentster, Song Zining said, ¡°Qianye, did you notice anything wrong with the n?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t see anything wrong, and the risks are within normal range, but I have a feeling something¡¯s not quite right.¡±

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°I feel the same, but I can¡¯t put my finger on it. We¡¯ll have to hold out behind enemy lines. The situation looks dangerous, but it¡¯s not that bad in practice. If we can take hold of the advantage in the void, a steady stream of reinforcements will arrive to help us. Besides, we have the advantage of mobility and Zhao Jundu will be in charge of the central army. He knows your location, so he¡¯s sure to charge over and meet up with you. The man isn¡¯t dumb, he¡¯s one to kill on the spot if the Empire ys tricks with the provided troops.¡±

    ¡°How about Princess Haimi?¡±

    ¡°The possibility is even smaller? The Eldest Princess was a legendary figure back in the year, even more famous than Princess Gaoyi.¡±

    ¡°Will we lose the battle?¡± Qianye asked after some thought.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine even if we lose, we were already losing anyway. But if everything goes ording to Marshal Lin¡¯s n, we might have a chance at victory.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Then it¡¯s no use thinking about it.¡±

    ¡°Too bad I can¡¯t use divination¡­¡±

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. ¡°Don¡¯t court death! You definitely must not use divination for this battle!¡±

    The Empire had mobilized in full force for this war, and the Evernight side would surely do the same. With so many elite experts involved from both sides, there was also no telling which major character would be among them. There were too many variables here. Using divination carelessly at this rank would be courting death.

    After some thought, Qianye said, ¡°Don¡¯t use it on me, either.¡±

    Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Rest assured! I¡¯d divine everyone else but not you!¡±

    Qianye cast a suspicious nce at Song Zining. Who would¡¯ve thought the man would listen so readily? He had always been smug when it came to divination and was never willing to lose face. Why was he so intent on avoiding him now?

    There was no point in discussing more battle ns at this point, so Song Zining and Qianye decided to split up to make preparations.

    The next day, the main cannon and ammunition for the airships arrived. Qianye sent a part of them to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, increasing the legendary airship¡¯s firepower. In its current state, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was still far from its maximum capacity.

    After several days of training, the newly assigned crew were bing familiar with the Imperial airships. Although they couldn¡¯t be considered proficient just yet, they were not too far off from a passing grade. There would also be an Imperial officer at each critical post, so the entire airship was appropriately organized.

    At the same time, Dark me also recruited close to ten thousand new mercenaries and started training them. The veteran members were integrated into the newly formed squads to serve as their backbone.

    More cargo airships wouldnd in Southern Blue with each passing day. These vessels would immediately undergo remodeling and be passenger transports. The remodeling wasn¡¯tplicated since all they needed was to barely amodate passengers. The conditions were crude, but the mercenaries in the neutralnds had long since gotten used to extreme environments. They didn¡¯t reallyin about being too crowded since more people meant morerades in battle.

    As the dark clouds of war drifted in, the preparation-work began to speed up. The various workshops in Southern Blue ran day and night, dropping their previous orders to provide equipment and supplies for Dark me.

    The merchants didn¡¯tin about it even though most products were bought on credit. They knew that war was the best way to get rich. As long as they could support Qianye and Song Zining to victory, they would reap a hundred times the profit in the future.

    The neutralnds was small and the poption was sparse. Everyone here longed to head out and kill their way toward a better world. The special environment here offered protection, but it was also a restraint. The Empire and Evernight couldn¡¯t handle the neutralnds, but outside, the neutralnd airships would be destroyed in the blink of an eye.

    This time, Dark me was doing preparations on a grand scale, for a faraway expedition. These merchants were cing their hopes of expanding into the outside market on Dark me.

    Amidst the tension and busy preparations, themand to fight finally came from the Empire.

 Chapter 1130: Man Amidst the Tides

    <h4>Chapter 1130: Man Amidst the Tides</h4>

    After three more days of tense preparations, Dark me finallypleted the initial phase of mobilization and issued the order to fight. The entirety of Southern Blue was aboil as fully-armed soldiers poured out of their barracks and assembled at the airship port.

    A seemingly endless motorcade blocked the streets, each loaded to the brim with resources. Temporary inspection camps were set up along important intersections, where logistics officers flipped rapidly through their lists as they did the final checks on the supplies.

    The inspection process was extremely strict¡ªthe car number, destination, and goods had to match perfectly before they were allowed to pass. This caused considerable dy, as well as a congestion of countless trucks outside of these checkpoints.

    There were people whoined secretly, but military discipline had been established by Dark me and Song Zining. As such, no one dared toin openly.

    The scene was different from a bird¡¯s eye view. The entire city seemed to be in an absolute mess, but after a period of observation, one would see that the vehicles and people were still moving slowly after a certain point. There was no single ce where the congestion was unsolvable. This orderly rush was, in fact, the work of a master.

    The strict procedures on each route actually ensured that the trucks would arrive at the correct ce via the correct route. The dy was much better than trucks going to the wrong ce, and the process made it very difficult for spies to cause disruption.

    Song Zining was fairly satisfied because even the regr Imperial army couldn¡¯t do better. Dark me¡¯s logistic officers were vastly inferior to the Empire¡¯s, so much so that many of them never understood the intention behind Song Zining¡¯s orders. However, they were sufficiently obedient and precise in their execution. Hence, their efficiency was not at all inferior to the Imperial corps who shared all kinds of subtle restraints between one another.

    This also meant that most people were just small cogs in this massive machine. All they could do was move ording to their preset trajectories, unable to affect the bigger picture.

    At this point, almost all eyes were on Southern Blue. Be it within the city or outside, many were observing the details without fail.

    There were several workshops on the teau outside of Southern Blue. These factories worked on metallurgy and ore sorting, the type that upied a lot of space but wasn¡¯t worth much. That was why they were built outside of the defensive perimeter. However, these workshops were high enough to provide a good view of the entire city, and currently, there were a number of people atop a high tower enjoying just that.

    It was impossible for such a location to be undefended. There was a sentry post just below the tower and asional patrolsing by. However, for some reason, these soldiers werepletely ignoring the people on the tower.

    The two old men atop the tower looked rather elegant with their long beards swaying in the wind.

    One of them stroked his beard while gazing at Southern Blue. ¡°Rushed but orderly, this Song Zining¡¯s fame as the future god strategist is well-deserved.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t underestimate that Qianye, either. Even the Wolf King would rather offend us than provoke him,¡± a different eldermented.

    A young man asked curiously, ¡°Who¡¯s more powerful between the two?¡±

    One of the elders replied, ¡°That¡¯s a good question! That Song Zining is known as the future god strategist. He¡¯s reportedly proficient in divination arts, allowing him to maximize his advantages and avoid cmity. Since he¡¯s also capable of leading tens of thousands of men in battle, I would say he¡¯s the stronger one.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not correct. What can an army of ten thousand do before a true expert? He¡¯s strong enough to strike fear into the Wolf King¡¯s heart at such a young age, can you imagine what will happen once he matures? No matter how much Song Zining schemes, Qianye can kill him in the midst of ten thousand soldiers.¡±

    The two elders were of different opinions. Their voices loud and their faces red, it looked like they were about to quarrel. A middle-aged man nearby said hurriedly, ¡°Sires, there¡¯s something you need to decide.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± The man quickly caught the duo¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Dark me¡¯s fleet is about to take off. We need to decide whether we should intercept them midway and teach them a lesson.¡±

    That was indeed an important matter, but the two elders remained silent.

    With such obvious activity in Southern Blue, the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence had already taken necessary steps. They had even hidden an airship fleet in the void to set up an ambush. Their expansive spywork gave them knowledge of Dark me¡¯s flight path and allowed them to move into position earlier.

    It was just that no one knew how powerful Dark me¡¯s fleet was. Their assets were only able to look from afar since the airship port was one of the most heavily guarded areas in Southern Blue, not to mention the current blockade had even extended to the nearby street blocks. The spies were only able to record the new airship¡¯s size and shape; its performance and stats were still unknown.

    The heavenly monarch¡¯s residence didn¡¯t have a mature n when they assembled their fleet. Their initial objective was to attack Southern Blue with great military power. Everyone knew Dark me was going on an expedition, but the residence didn¡¯t dare skimp on precautions. Qianye¡¯s actions in Tidehark were full of malicious intent; who knew whether this was a diversion for attacking the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence?

    That was why people from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence had to discuss whether they wanted to attack or not.

    It would be best if they could destroy Dark me¡¯s fleet in one go. Even Qianye and Song Zining would not be able to withstand such a loss, setting them back several years of progress at the very least. This would also prove to Qianye how powerful the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence was and, at the same time, serve as a warning to other people with disloyal intentions, the Wolf King for instance.

    A sessful assault would be killing three birds with one stone, but what if it wasn¡¯t sessful?

    The two elders noticed the apprehension in each other¡¯s eyes as they exchanged nces. Even though the residence had mobilized arge number of warships and formed a massive fleet, the elders were still hesitant about the decision. What if they were defeated? The heavenly monarch¡¯s residence couldn¡¯t withstand such losses, either.

    The bystanders were anxious, but they didn¡¯t dare to rush the two elders. Their side had assembled several dozen warships, while Dark me had only over a dozen. What was there to fear?

    After a good while of deliberation, one of the elders finally stomped down. ¡°Brother Ji, what do you say we just let it be?¡±

    The other elder raised his brows. ¡°Brother Lu, you must have your reasons for suggesting this. Can you exin?¡±

    ¡°Brother Ji, many people saw Dark me¡¯s giant ship, but no one could tell its model. We couldn¡¯t find it in our documents, either. That¡¯s quite strange.¡±

    A young man nearby interrupted, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s some sort of antique¡­¡±

    Elder Lu red hard at him, stopping whatever he had to say. ¡°Have you ever seen an old ship that looks like that?¡± The spies couldn¡¯t provide a lot of details, but they could still see whatever was visible on the surface, the mechanical origin cannons for instance.

    Elder Ji¡¯s frown locked tighter. ¡°Could it be the Great Qin¡¯s newest warship? T-This can¡¯t be¡­¡±

    ¡°What if? What other exnation is there?¡±

    ¡°T-This¡­¡± Elder Ji¡¯s hands started to tremble as he thought about it.

    ¡°Of course, the Empire also has some core battleships that they would only bring out in a battle against the Evernight Council¡¯s vessels. There¡¯s no data on them, either.¡± Elder Lu¡¯s tone was icy. ¡°Not to mention a new model, do you think a couple dozen of our scrap-metal warships can defeat the current models?¡±

    Elder Ji started to sweat.

    Warships in the neutralnds were too old to be a match for the Empire and Evernight. Their only reliance was the special environment here, which made it difficult for the two major factions to remain for very long. Going head-on against an Imperial battleship, even if it was a current model in the regr army, would be courting death.

    Elder Ji finally came to a conclusion. ¡°We can¡¯t take this risk! Order our fleet to retreat, don¡¯t bump into them.¡±

    A subordinate vanished from atop the tower after receiving these orders. The others remained in ce to continue observing the mobilization in Southern Blue.

    Half a day went by in a sh¡ªtroop movements in the city continued in a slow but orderly fashion, with small patches of confusion being sorted out immediately.

    Even those with great enmity against Dark me couldn¡¯t help but admire Song Zining¡¯s nning abilities. Seeing how he had managed thisrge-scale movement so well, one could imagine how efficient the logistics would be during war. They would be in an invincible position as long as the frontliners did their part.

    At the thought of this, everyone felt more or less uneasy. Was it worth fighting against such an opponent?

    Unfortunately, the seeds of enmity had been sown, and there was no taking them back.

    The lingering echo of bells from Southern Blue reached the tower as well¡ªthis was a signal for the airships to take off. The group opened their eyes wide and observed the process seriously.

    Two warships rose from the airship ports. It was obvious that these small vessels were just corvettes, but their smooth, elegant outlines proved, mercilessly, the difference between them and the airships of the neutralnds.

    Their takeoff procedure was quick and stable. In the blink of an eye, they were patrolling the area from hundreds of meters above ground.

    The two elders and their attendants started to sweat. They knew clearly what this kind of speed meant. In the case of a surprise attack, these corvettes would be airborne before the neutralnd warships could charge within firing range. A head-on battle would then ensue.

    The corvettes took off in pairs until there were six of them guarding the skies. Then, everyone¡¯s eyes blurred as a massive entity rose quietly into the air.

    This airship was extremely elegant despite its size. Like a hunter at the top of the food chain, all of its killing intent was hidden under its beautiful exterior.

    The vessel rose rapidly and quietly, even more so than the corvettes just now. The main cannons at its bow and stern, along with the cannons on either side, made it clear that there were no blind angles to its fire. The top and bottom parts might be weak, but the warship would¡¯ve circled around the enemy before they could find a blind angle.

    Even its take-off speed was much faster than most of the so-called warships in the neutralnds. However, the entire process was too stable to say that it was going at maximum speed.

    Only after personally seeing this massive airship did the group realize what kind of enemy they were up against.

    Even a divine champion would find it hard to assail such a warship alone. They would be hard-pressed to catch up to its speed in the void, to speak nothing of a surprise assault.

    At this moment, Song Zining and Qianye weren¡¯t aboard that ship. The two stood side-by-side in Southern Blue, watching as the most-advanced battlecruiser disappeared over the horizon.

    ¡°Say, will anyone be dumb enough?¡± Qianye¡¯s tone was full of expectation.

    Song Zining broke into augh. ¡°Those from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence aren¡¯t idiots. Why would they court death?¡±

    ¡°What a pity.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nothing important, really. The real problem is can we hold out once Zhang Buzhoues out?¡±

    Qianye said after some contemtion, ¡°I can at least keep him at bay if I be a divine champion.¡±

    Song Zining sighed softly. ¡°Divine champion, huh¡­ all we need is time.¡±

    Qianye sighed secretly as his thoughts went to Nighteye.

    The times were akin to the rolling tides¡ªtheye and go without warning, and would never wait for anyone. Geniuses and mediocre people were all equal before the passage of time.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but wish he was born ten years earlier. Those powerful characters like Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang, who was to say they didn¡¯t have such thoughts, either?

    Those wading through these tides, more often than not, had little choice regarding such things.

 Chapter 1131: No Schemes Here

    <h4>Chapter 1131: No Schemes Here</h4>

    After the warships had receded over the horizon, a series of cargo and troop transports took to the air, slowly falling into formation before flying off into the distance.

    The cargo and troop transport airships moved in squadrons of ten as they meandered toward a distant assembly point.

    This squadron stretched fairly long¡ªit was only noon when the first batch took off, but thest batch was still on thending pad at midnight. Compared to the awesome spectacle of the warship fleet, the supply transports were vastly inferior. Almost all of them were civilian use airships with very mediocre take-off and flying speeds.

    But that was also quite normal. If the neutralnds could produce an elite fleet for logistics, then it wouldn¡¯t be just the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence being restless.

    No matter how organized such fleets were, it couldn''t really make up for thecking performance of each individual airship. This was doubtlessly the biggest fat sheep in the pirate-infested neutralnds. Countless people began to stir, rying this information in every direction and to every dark corner of the neutralnds.

    Pirates normally didn¡¯t dare to take action without careful thought. When the riches in question reached a certain threshold, however, some desperate people would decide to take the chance.

    These people took off under public eyes, but they quickly disappeared and were never heard from again.

    Qianye and Song Zining were traveling behind the transport squadrons. The n was prepared for the people from the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence, but all it raked in were some pirates.

    The journey wasn¡¯t without losses; three cargo vessels were destroyed by pirates, and one sank due to malfunction. The damage was almost negligible to the massive fleet, but none of the attacking pirates were left alive. No matter how clever they were at piloting, they simply couldn¡¯t escape from the clutches of the Empire¡¯s cutting-edge battlecruiser.

    Some pirates fought to the bitter end, while others surrendered in desperation. This journey back and forth added more than a dozen pirate ships and over a thousand captives. ording to the rules of the neutralnds, these pirates would be used as cannon fodder and released onto the battlefield as the first wave. Only the survivors would be truly pardoned.

    In themand room, Song Zining and Qianye had assembled all themanders to announce the battle ns.

    ording to the Empire¡¯s overall n, the airship squadrons would assemble at a designated location to establish connection with the Imperial fleet. They would then move to their assigned battlefields at the right time to fight the Evernight forces.

    Dark me¡¯s role in this expedition was to attack the enemy from the rear. They would have to wait for the main forces to lock horns with the Evernight fleet before making their appearance at a weak nk, either attacking the rear of the enemy fleet, iing reinforcements, or other valuable targets.

    Such a mission didn¡¯t sound too dangerous and it was also in line with Dark me¡¯s high-mobility. Hence, there was really no reason to refuse.

    The mission assignment brightened up the faces of Dark me¡¯smanding officers. A war between daybreak and Evernight would always affect the neutral powers around the battlefield, forcing them to join the fight whether they were willing or not. As veteran mercenaries, the mercenaries of Dark me had experienced this situation more than once.

    In this kind of war, they were most afraid of being sold out unknowingly and bing expendable cannon fodder. Now that the missions were assigned ording to their strength, it seemed fairly reasonable. There was also nothing toin about since they were in a position to both attack and retreat.

    Seeing that no one had any objections, Song Zining ordered everyone back to their posts.

    Momentster, six Imperial corvettes, a battlecruiser, and a warship that could barely keep up with the squadron left for their objective.

    On the bridge, Qianye and Song Zining were gazing out at the boundless void. The former said, ¡°Is this enough? Do you want to use that?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s observe the situation first.¡±

    Qianye frowned for a moment before saying, ¡°There seems to be no scheme going on, at least from the current battle n.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Seeing no scheme in this stage worries me even more.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s y it by ear, step by step. There¡¯s no use thinking about it. We¡¯ll just solve the problems as theye up.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice was calm.

    ¡°True.¡±

    In the depths of the void, a massive airship fleet was slowly moving toward the void continent. The two battlecruisers at the van were exceptionally eye-catching. The fleet was made up of six battleships and a mothership, almost like a fortress floating in the void. The stifling feeling it gave off was almost indescribable.

    On one of the battleships, there stood an elegant man. He looked quiet and gentle, but there was a suppressive might around him that resembled the mountain ranges. This was the Minister of the Right who held great power in the Empire. It was just that the man was fairly reserved, gentle, and even looked weak. He rarely ever raised his voice, even when he was furious. Only today, on this warship, did he reveal a side of him that no one had seen before.

    Those on the bridge were the minister¡¯s trusted aides. Everyone was quiet and trembling under the great pressure.

    It was the Minister of the Right who ultimately broke the silence. Muttering to himself, he said, ¡°So this is the taste of war and murder. Heh! No wonder those generals care little about people from the Imperial court.¡±

    Those standing nearby exchanged nces, not knowing what his words meant. From what they knew, the minister was never one to speak meaninglessly. Since his words were usually of great significance, the crowd began to meditate on what he said in an attempt to decipher the meaning.

    An old attendant, who had followed the family for two generations, said boldly, ¡°Sire, ording to the current formation, this warship will be at the vanguard once the fight breaks out. Your wellbeing is priceless, so how can we take this kind of risk? The Empire will suffer great losses if something happens to you. I think we should change the formation.¡±

    Another person said, ¡°Our lord is a loyal subject of the Empire and not one to fear death. Your words are inappropriate, but I agree that the current formation will put us at a disadvantage during engagement. There¡¯s no telling when the enemy fleet will appear, so it¡¯s best to change the formation.¡±

    These words were much more subtly spoken. The first elder wasn¡¯t angry, either, and merely waited for the minister¡¯s reply.

    The two ced emphasis on different things with their toadying. One was bnced and the other was loyal, but both of them were shoulder to shoulder in terms of verbal skill.

    The Minister of the Right finally turned back with a smile. He raised his right hand but didn¡¯t say anything else. Everyone knew that he was about to make an important decision. The man would usually contemte his options before making a critical decision, and only speak when he was certain there were no problems.

    The longer his silence, the more important the topic would be.

    The minister took longer than usual this time, so long that even the smile on his face seemed distorted. The people nearby felt their craned necks growing tired, but the Minister of the Right still hadn¡¯t spoken.

    Finally, the minister nced over everyone¡¯s faces and said, ¡°This fleet is made up of thebined forces of the Second and Third Imperial Guard. While technically the vanguard, our fighting power far exceeds the main forces of the First Imperial Guard. Since the Empire has assigned me as themander of the vanguard, I must size up the situation and n for everything. It seems the current formation has to change.¡±

    Many of the followers looked delighted, but no one knew if they were happy about the minister¡¯s safety or their own little lives.

    The Minister of the Right said in a deep voice, ¡°Issue my order! Switch to assault formation. Move this warship to the fore of the fleet!¡±

    The old attendant said, ¡°Sire, you must not put yourself at risk!¡±

    The minister raised his hand to stop all the dissuasion. ¡°As themander, I must be at the very front of the army if I want them to risk their lives for me. That is what it means to be the vanguard.¡±

    The massive formation of airships transformed slowly as, one after the other, the Evernight airships appeared over the horizon.

    The Minister of the Right stood before the window, gazing at the endless void and the slowly approaching enemy fleet.

    The Evernight fleet was somewhat inferior in quality, but they were numerous and their airships were big. The two giant vessels on either side of the fleet were even bigger and more sinister-looking than the Empire¡¯s battleships. Clearly, they were duke-grade gships.

    The Imperial vanguard held the advantage, but it was rather limited and a bitter fight was inevitable. The Minister of the Right was expressionless and merely kept on gazing ahead. Only when the two fleets were gradually drawing close did he issue his second order. ¡°This vessel shall take point. All ships, attack!¡±

    Everyone was shocked out of their wits because such a method would leave the vanguard gship in great peril. One had to know that there were no peak experts protecting this warship, and they only had mechanical fighting power to rely on.

    The Minister of the Right suddenly looked back. ¡°I might specialize in trickery and tactics, but there¡¯s none of that in this fight!¡±

    No tactics? Was he nning to lead the army into a brute-force battle? These people were all skilled in subduing political opponents and scheming against people, but none of them were willing to lead the charge.

    But it was toote to turn back. Both armies were charging at full speed and would soon arrive within firing range. All they could see outside of the cabin windows was a firework disy of enemy cannons and sparks.

    As beautiful as those mes were, what the people here saw was death and despair. This was a sign that the Evernight warships had opened fire, with each spark representing a cannon shell.

    On the Empire side, tens of thousands of fiery raindrops whistled past the minister¡¯s gship and fell toward the enemy fleet. Those were the Empire¡¯s ballistae, taking charge of spreading death and destruction among the enemy.

    As expected, the gship at the van of the fleet soaked up most of the enemy fire. Countless cannon shots fell upon the gship and erupted into dazzling balls of fire. The vessel was soon submerged in a pool of mes.

    The Imperial captains all held their breath as they gazed at the sea of mes in front.

    The next moment, the gship leaped out of the firestorm like a phoenix!

    Like an angry immortal bird, the gship charged into the Evernight formation, spewing dozens of ming streams from either side. Several enemy vessels were destroyed within moments.

    After a moment of silence, every ship in the Imperial fleet broke out in cheers. Then all the captains shouted out orders in a hysterical manner, sending the entire Imperial fleet charging into the enemy like a wild bison!

    The Evernight fleet reacted quickly after their initial confusion. They concentrated all their fire upon the minister¡¯s gship.

    The gship was like a buffalo surrounded by a pack of lions. It charged left and right, sustaining injuries all over its body while the bison horde outside tried to push in for the rescue.

 Chapter 1132: The Big Catch Escapes

    <h4>Chapter 1132: The Big Catch Escapes</h4>

    In the depths of the void, Qianye and Song Zining were standing atop the battlecruiser and gazing at the distant battle. The gigantic monster of an airshipy quietly in the darkness, waiting for the moment to attack.

    It was difficult to send out scouts in the void. Those so-called surveince equipment mostly utilized origin power feedback or spatial transmission to scan a certain area at fixed intervals, collecting information in a single direction. They would then remove interference, analyze, and restore the data. However, the void environment was soplicated that the uracy of data received from such surveince was usually a jumping number. That was why an expert¡¯s vision was still the most reliable.

    Qianye was at the greatest distance his superior vision could reach. Supported by True Sight, he was able to observe the ongoing battle in detail and not suffer any interference from the origin power shockwaves.

    Song Zining did not have this kind of visual power, but there was a faint halo of light on his right palm. Upon closer examination, there were threads of rolling light that actually formed a projected image.

    Qianye was curious. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like divination. Is this a refraction from Worldly Prosperity?¡±

    Song Zining said mysteriously, ¡°Worldly Prosperity¡­ Worldly Prosperity¡­ whatever you see is, of course, the truth.¡±

    Qianye wanted to say something but his expression turned serious when he saw the warship bathed in mes amidst the Evernight fleet. Imperial fleets had their own special insignia¡ªthat soaring serpent of gold and blue represented the Imperial Guard, their gship no less.

    Qianye said, ¡°Say, do you think the Minister of the Right is on that warship?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Song Zining replied without hesitation.

    ¡°What¡¯s he doing? Courting death?¡±

    ¡°If his gship doesn¡¯t fall, this is the fastest and least costly way to defeat the Evernight fleet. The price he has to pay personally is quite high, however. Even if he wins the battle, it¡¯s quite likely that he¡¯ll die in the process.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like his usual style. Aren¡¯t those ministers all afraid of death?¡± Qianye asked.

    Song Zining clenched his fist, shattering the motes of light through his fingers. ¡°How can someone at that position be incapable? They might be afraid of many things, and death is one of them, but it¡¯s probably thest on their list of fears. Once they think things through and feel that death is a necessary price, they can be fearless as well. Besides, death in battle is an honorable death.¡±

    Qianye found the exnation reasonable after some thought. It was just that he felt somewhat embarrassed because it was entirely different from what he had been hearing.

    Song Zining knew what he was thinking. ¡°There are a lot of powerful people in court who have forgotten their aspirations of yesteryears, but definitely not the Minister of the Right. From what I know, this man is so highly disciplined and simple in his daily life that he looks rather poor. Even for shows of extravagance and luxury, he merely did enough to maintain a level of dignity befitting of his post. Such a person is surely destined for great things and he will pay any price to reach his objective. If we¡¯re talking about people who are afraid of death, he¡¯s definitely not among them!¡±

    Qianye only uttered one word, ¡°Madman.¡±

    ¡°Yes he is, from a certain perspective, but are we not as well if measured by the same standards?¡± Song Zining replied.

    Qianye pointed at the battlefield, saying, ¡°What do we do? Shall we charge? Do we use the Martyr¡¯s Pce?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The Martyr¡¯s Pce is ourst trump card. We must not use it until we have absolutely no choice¡­¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a ball of mes lit up, and it was visible to the naked eye even at this distance. An Imperial corvette had been blown apart by the enemy warship¡¯s main cannon. The attack was so powerful that there wasn¡¯t even a burning phase.

    Momentster, the airship below the duo rocked gently from the shockwave of that distant explosion. Even at this distance, the massive, well-stabilized body of the battlecruiser was still rocked about. One could easily imagine how violent the explosion was, and that there would be no survivors.

    Soon, two balls of fire appeared again as two Imperial corvettes were blown up.

    The Imperial fleet¡¯s charge was too fierce. They messed up their own formation during the advance, causing the smaller, more mobile corvettes to shoot past their peers to the front of the fleet. Despite losing three warships, morale was high for the Imperial forces. They charged with greater ferocity, eyes red as they rained destruction and firepower upon the enemy.

    ¡°We attack!¡± Qianye issued the order.

    Song Zining said in shock, ¡°Not yet!¡±

    ¡°When is the right time then?¡± Qianye had rarely raised his voice before.

    ¡°The Evernight side might have reinforcements lying in wait. We should at least confirm whether or not they have backup before attacking.¡± Song Zining frowned. ¡°And we still don¡¯t know the minister¡¯s scheme¡­¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯re going to wait until the Empire and Evernight have exhausted one another to a certain degree?¡± Qianye revealed Song Zining¡¯s n.

    The seventh young noble didn¡¯t deny. ¡°Qianye, this is a war, not a battle. We will be the ones to take a loss if we don¡¯t maximize our advantage.¡±

    ¡°Attack!¡± Qianye repeated the order, transmitting his voice clearly throughout themand room. Not daring to go against his orders, the Dark me captain ryed the order to elerate and approach the battlefield.

    Song Zining heaved a sigh but did not attempt to stop him again.

    The battle was growing more and more intense. Airships from both parties were exploding, leaving me wreckages throughout the area. The Minister of the Right¡¯s airship was miraculously holding out¡ªit had broken through the Evernight warfront to rejoin the Imperial forces.

    At this point, there were mes all over the airship''s body. One could see courageous soldiers in simple armor, running along the outside of the ship as they tried to put out the fire in critical locations. The vessel kept firing constantly and seemed to have no intention of retreating from battle.

    Alternating red and blue lights flickered from the bridge. That was amon light signal in the Imperial fleet: fight to the death!

    An elegant giant battlecruiser appeared swiftly behind the Evernight lines and upied an advantageous position. The smaller, more important vessels behind the formation fell into chaos, scattering away in confusion.

    Qianye and Song Zining walked onto the bridge as the people below were busy issuing orders and exchanging information.

    Qianye said in a soft voice, ¡°Sorry, I really can¡¯t watch those soldiers die just like that. The Minister of the Right is one matter, those soldiers, the foundation of the army, is a different matter.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when the entire warship jolted violently as a stream of me shot toward the distant Evernight fleet. The projectilended on a destroyer and immediately sent its rear end flying.

    Song Zining remained silent.

    After the rumble of the main cannon, the airship turned about and took aim at the Evernight fleet with its side cannons. This time, dozens of thinner streaks shot out from the battlecruiser. The vessel kept turning in this manner, firing in turn from its rear main cannon, and then the cannons on the other side.

    The warship changed locations constantly as it poured out a constant stream of rotating fire. Only a new battlecruiser like this could use this kind of tactic. Ordinary warships weren¡¯t stable enough to fire while moving, or they would never hit their targets.

    After a round of artillery, the battlecruiser had finished off a destroyer and messed up the enemy fleet¡¯s rear formation. It evennded a couple of shots on a duke-grade airship, but the vessel¡¯s defense was simply too powerful. The ballista bolts only produced a couple of mes on the target, which were duly extinguished.

    The dark race duke-grade warships were bigger than their Imperial counterparts andparable to a mothership in terms of firepower. It was twice as powerful as Qianye¡¯s battlecruiser. If the two of them were in direct confrontation, the battlecruiser would have to run.

    Dark me¡¯s captain naturally wouldn¡¯t approach the duke-grade ship¡¯s position. After unleashing all firepower, the battlecruiser left the tangent in a beautiful arc.

    Unexpectedly, the scattered Evernight fleet didn¡¯t reform and spread out even further, producing arge clearing. The enemy duke-grade airship then began to turn about slowly.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He jumped down from the operation area and pushed away the captain, taking charge of the ship personally and issuing a series ofmands. The battlecruiser sped up and circled around to the duke gship¡¯s rear, where its uracy would rise sharply.

    However, the battlecruiser¡¯s firepower appeared weak before the duke gship. The side-cannons wouldn¡¯t even scratch the gigantic vessel. Only the main cannons could open up some wounds, but even that was nowhere near damaging enough. It would take forever to circle around and kite the gship until it sank. Meanwhile, the battlecruiser would be crippled by a single shot from the enemy main cannon.

    Battlecruisers were proficient in roaming and not in a head-on battle. Its equipment was geared toward speed and damage. Song Zining¡¯s current course of action was because there was no other choice. The Evernight didn¡¯t make light of this small ambush from a battlecruiser and a couple of corvettes, forgoing the formation of a retaliatory squad to sound out the enemy¡¯s firepower and directly ordering the duke-grade warship to suppress them.

    With Dark me soaking up the pressure, the scales began to tip in favor of the Imperial forces on the battlefield. One of the duke grade gships was upied and the other was locked in a fierce battle with two Imperial battleships. The situation deteriorated for Evernight as their airships were repeatedly destroyed.

    The Imperial fleet also suffered heavy casualties from the retaliation.

    To everyone¡¯s surprise, Qianye suddenly left the bridge and stepped into the void. Charging out was akin to courting death under present circumstances. However, Qianye was extremely fast and had vanished in two flickers.

    Song Zining wanted to say something, but he ultimately kept his silence.

    The battle remained fierce, with warships going up in mes every minute. The situation on the Evernight side looked dire, but they refused to retreat under any circumstances. The two duke gships were iparably ferocious as they rampaged through the battlefield. Despite his best efforts, Song Zining couldn¡¯t keep that duke gship in check. After its return to the main battlefield, it destroyed three Imperial warships with a single volley from its side cannons.

    The battlecruiser shuttled through the fire-filled sky, avoiding the main canons of the duke ship as well as projectiles from other vessels. Even with Worldly Prosperity and Song Zining¡¯s sharp thinking, he could barely hold his ground. There simply was no way to turn the battle around.

    Destroying the two duke-grade gships would involve a bitter price, and from what Song Zining knew about the Evernight Council, these major characters were fighting so staunchly because they had powerful backup. Enemy reinforcements could arrive at any moment, but the Empire¡¯s so-called main forces were still far behind and their strength was only about the same as the Minister of the Right¡¯s vanguard.

    The minister¡¯s gship was almost shrouded in rolling smoke. Although the visible mes had been extinguished, the damage was a shocking sight to see. There were half a dozenrge holes that were several meters wide. It was a miracle the vessel hadn¡¯t exploded, but one could easily see that its propulsion had been damaged. Its main cannon had been sted away, and the side cannons were barely functional. Having lost its capacity to fight, the giant airship could only edge back slowly.

    Having fought to this state, no one couldin about the Minister of the Right.

    It was at this moment that a bright light lit up in the distant void. At first, it was just a faint star, but the radiance grew in the blink of an eye and it was flickering regrly. The mixture of bright yellow and faint purple was characteristic of the Evernight forces.

    The dark race reinforcements had arrived!

    Almost all the Imperial captains roared in frustration, banged on the control panel, or kicked their chair away.

    Everything had been for naught¡ªthat was everyone¡¯s thought.

    If they could get an extra half an hour, or even twenty minutes, they would be able to damage those two duke gships at the very least. At that point, the crew and reserves on those airships would be doomed.

    Such a good situation was difficult toe by. The Imperial fleet wouldn¡¯t have gained such an advantage if the Minister of the Right hadn¡¯t charged in and messed up the enemy formation. But now, the Evernight reinforcements were here and all the advantage the minister had risked his life to buy was now gone.

    The light in the distance grew clearer. The other party had no intention of hiding their presence as this armada of three duke-grade warships was far above the current forces.

    The Empire¡¯s so-called main force was only half the size of Evernight reinforcements. Even if they could arrive on time, there was no way they could turn the tides.

    The only way out for the Empire was to spit out the fish they were swallowing and retreat.

 Chapter 1133: Between Loss and Gain

    <h4>Chapter 1133: Between Loss and Gain</h4>

    The Divination Pavilion stood atop Purple Gold Mountain.

    The hill was the highest point in the capital. Standing atop the nine stone steps of the Divination Pavilion gave one an unobstructed view of the city of Revtion, its roads, streets, energy tower clusters, and street blocks spreading out from beneath one¡¯s feet.

    The city was bustling in this glorious era of prosperity.

    The Unending Pce was located to the north, like a macaque lying across the city center. Looking down from above, there were pces and pavilions dotting thendscape amidst the lush vegetation. It almost seemed as though there were soaring snakes roaming thend.

    The divination pavilion was an important part of the Empire. The building and the mountaintop were usually sealed off when there were no ceremonies. Even divination specialists from the Imperial n would only stay at the hall at the bottom of the mountain.

    The rays of the afternoon sun had washed over the long steps leading to the summit, the za used for every major Imperial ceremony, and the twenty-seven floors of the nine-stratum pavilion.

    The bottom-most floor of the seventh stratum was arge hall surrounded by ss doors. Apart from a set of sofas near the stairs, there was no other furniture at all. Apparently, this ce was used as a temporary rest area.

    There was a simple bamboo chair near the southern window. It looked fairly normal, like the ones used in humble households, making it stand out like a sore thumb.

    The sun was at its brightest this time of the day. The brilliance was faintly reflecting off of the white hair of the person in the chair, but that radiance couldn¡¯t quite disguise the deep-seated grey within. The decay hidden inside the vigor was truly shocking to see.

    The sunlight flickered as a projection emerged slowly from a shadow on the ground, gradually condensing into Habsburg¡¯s appearance.

    This person was vivid, lifelike, and looked just like the actual person. Standing several meters away, he gazed quietly at Lin Xitang sleeping in the chair.

    The Divination Pavilion remained silent both inside and out.

    Only when the origin power sundial had ticked twice did Lin Xitang open his eyes, the tiredness in his expression lingering still. He first nced at the scenery outside the window, then turned toward Habsburg after noticing him.

    Habsburg bowed slightly. ¡°Marshal Lin, good afternoon.¡±

    Lin Xitang made not the slightest movement and his expression was calm. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare ept such a greeting from Your Majesty the Blood Prince¡­ or perhaps even Great Dark Monarch.¡±

    Habsburg shook his fingers with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s just a high dimensional projection art, only capable of pinpointing a target to within ten meters. It¡¯s far inferior to Lilith¡¯s power.¡±

    The medium for that so-called tracking should be the origin blood injury in Lin Xitang¡¯s body. The prince made it sound easy, but the power involved was already beyond most people¡¯sprehension.

    This kind of clone, even if it was just a projection, only existed in legends. The bidirectional interaction here meant that there were even deeper spatial principles at y. Compared to an ability like Duke Wei¡¯s Miraculous Dark Skies, the difference was like that of a continent and an enve.

    Lin Xitang had no intention of arguing. Even the Evernight Council wasn¡¯t sure how strong this vampire prince was. ¡°You¡¯re in the capital of Great Qin, the source of daybreak. Even the Queen of the Night has never set foot here before.¡±

    Habsburg broke into augh. ¡°Is the heavenly mystery different for Daybreak and Evernight? I wouldn¡¯t be able to appear if this ce wasn¡¯t filled with void origin power.¡±

    Lin Xitang looked down ever so slightly, a hint of coldness flickering through his eyes. The Divination Pavilion summit was covered in a special origin array, and there was indeed void origin power. However, as the foundation of the Empire, the situation here was an absolute secret only known to a handful of families who worked in divination. How did Habsburg find out? If he was only guessing, how could he take such a risk without being absolutely certain?

    The prince was a smart person. He immediately guessed Lin Xitang¡¯s thoughts after reading this expression. He shifted the conversation away since he had no intention of arguing about it. ¡°You probably know this already, but the doors to the new world will be opening soon. There will be big changes to the power bnce in the Evernight council. The holy war is on the brink of taking ce, but it has been postponed indefinitely.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression was just as calm and expressionless.

    Habsburg paused momentarily before saying with a frown, ¡°You can¡¯t sense the new world.¡± His tone was certain.

    Li Xitang replied, ¡°Not enough power¡­¡±

    Habsburg cut the man short, ¡°There was never a great dark monarch among the Evernight prophets. There was never a heavenly monarch among the Imperial diviners, either. If you want to say that it¡¯s because your race¡¯s one thousand years of existence is too short, then what about the demonkin? They were born together with this world, yet there¡¯s no great monarch among their prophets, the sable demons. Did you never break through because you couldn¡¯t or because you were afraid of losing your divination powers?¡±

    Lin Xitang stared at Habsburg for a while. ¡°Your Excellency Habsburg, is this the reason for your visit?¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s warm expression had disappeared at one point. His characteristic demeanor as a major vampire n member looked exceptionally sharp in the shadow.

    He heaved a long sigh. ¡°I¡¯m here to say my farewell. I will be leaving once the doorway to the new world opens. That is a calling from the source, something I cannot refuse.¡±

    Lin Xitang nodded. ¡°Farewell.¡± He had no intention of wishing an enemy well, even as a formality.

    Habsburg¡¯s expression grew calmer as his figure gradually faded away into beams of light.

    The short exchange just now drained Lin Xitang greatly. He closed his eyes again, but sleep did not bless him again.

    Habsburg¡¯s words revealed a good deal of information. The holy war within the Evernight faction had never stopped before; this would be one of the rare documented pauses to this civil crusade. This wasn¡¯t good news for the Empire. This meant that the human race would soon be suppressed on all fronts, and there was no telling what that mysterious new world would bring. Habsburg had described the calling asing from the ¡°source¡± and not ¡°bloodline¡±.

    In the void, a high-speed vampire airship was moving circumferentially around a designated point. There were no insignias or markings on its body. The captain was standing in the control room, his expression nervous as he gazed at the various apparatuses in front of him. Their location was too close to the central continent of the Qin Empire.

    The cabin doors opened and a voice drifted in. ¡°Return to the mothership.¡± The captain recognized Prince Habsburg¡¯s close attendant, Marquis Leonard. Greatly relieved, he sent the airship on its course without dy.

    Leonard entered the main cabin with a cup of coffee to find Habsburg sittingfortably in an armchair, fiddling with a couple of crystals holding secret missives. Ordinary parchment documents were stacked in a corner of the desk, most likely already processed.

    The captain and crew had no idea what had gotten into the prince, making him want to stop outside of the Qin Continent for two hours. Leonard knew, but even he had no idea when Habsburg had left and when he had returned. Either way, they had stopped here for a bit too long, somewhat longer than they had previously nned.

    Leonard ced the coffee in front of Habsburg. ¡°Your Excellency, do we return once we reach the mothership?¡±

    ¡°You return to the Twilight Continent with the mothership.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Leonard was somewhat surprised, but he didn¡¯t ask a lot of questions.

    ¡°What¡¯s thetest location of Zhang Boqian?¡±

    ¡°We only know that he¡¯s not in the Empire,¡± Leonard exined. ¡°There were no heavenly monarchs among thetest mobilization to the void continent, so we don¡¯t know of his whereabouts.¡± Heavenly monarchs were extremely difficult to track, doubly so for those without a territory to watch over. Even the Great Qin military had no grasp of his location if he wasn¡¯t going to war.

    Habsburg wasn¡¯t at all interested in the situation on the void continent. The Perth n, just like Nana¡¯s Mammon n, rarely took part in factional wars as they were busy with the holy war most of the time. He gave the attendant a nod to show that he understood.

    Seeing that there were no more orders for him, Lenard bowed and left.

    Sunlight slowly moved over the Divination Pavilion until there was only a small speck of light. It was almost dusk.

    The central elevator hummed softly, followed by a series of highly trained footsteps, then the sound of moving tables and objects being ced.

    Li Xitang didn¡¯t look back. His gaze remained fixed on the long window and the twilight flowing over the city. The people who had arrived were the pce attendants in charge of bringing him food and drink. The familiar procedure had repeated so many times that there was no need to pay it any attention.

    The elevator activated once again, humming as the attendants left quietly afterying out the dinner.

    Li Xitang raised his right palm from the armest to his face. This simple movement seemed slow and exhausting, almost as though he were dragging a heavy object. Upon closer inspection, there was a translucent blue on his pale skin and his fingers were purple, not unlike the deep ice from the frozennd.

    He flexed his fingers a bit before supporting himself up on the armrest. All of a sudden, a pair of arms appeared to support his arm and back, slowly lifting him up from the chair.

    ¡°Your Majesty?¡± Lin Xitang was stunned.

    ¡°Minister Lin is unwell, and this is a private ce. You may ignore the formalities.¡±

    Lin Xitang looked over to find the Emperor of Great Qin in ordinary warrior¡¯s attire, his aura retracted almost entirely. The man looked no different from a normal citizen at first nce.

    The two sat down at the table.

    The Emperor said, ¡°Today, Lil¡¯ Neen came to ask me about his homework. We got to talking about astronomy and the fall of the Void Valley Star. We remembered that it was the first lesson Minister Lin taught me as an attendant tutor.¡±

    Lin Xitang scanned the dishes and utensils on the table but didn¡¯t say anything.

    The meal went by quickly and the two moved to the nearby sofa. The Emperor himself made tea, an art every noble had to learn. Momentster, a delicate fragrance wafted out from the jade-green tea.

    ¡°Brewed from the white fruit and Marine Lotus from the Great Maelstrom. The effects are yet to be confirmed, but the taste is marvelous.¡±

    Lin Xitang took a sip of the tea. As expected, the fragrance filled his entire being¡ªwisps of warmth spread to his bones and limbs, softening his stiff arms and legs.

    The marshal held the teacup in his palms and asked, ¡°Regarding that n, did Your Majesty pick Prince Linjiang or Princess Haimi for themander of the eastern nk?¡±

    The emperor gazed intently at the pouring tea as he replied, ¡°Imperial Sister Haimi.¡± He then continued calmly, ¡°The battle has begun.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s cup trembled slightly when the Emperor ced a new cup of tea before him.

    ¡°I wish to return to the Northern Residence.¡±

    ¡°Things in the Imperial court are quite chaotic. No one cane to this ce, so it¡¯s a great ce to recuperate.¡±

    ¡°The Divination Pavilion is an important ce for the Empire. I¡¯ve lived here for almost a month against rules and tradition. I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s not that appropriate.¡±

    ¡°No one knows that Minister Lin is here.¡±

    The room fell into silence.

    The Emperor enjoyed his tea calmly. After finishing his portion, he ced the empty cup down before him and stood up. ¡°Minister Lin must live on well, even if it¡¯s just for the Empire¡¯s benefit. As for the war, it¡¯s just a certain battle at a certain location over a certain period, losses and gains are just numbers.¡±

    He bent down and stretched a hand toward Lin Xitang. ¡°Teacher, let me help you to your room to rest.¡±

 Chapter 1134: The Trees Long for Peace but the Winds Never Cease

    <h4>Chapter 1134: The Trees Long for Peace but the Winds Never Cease</h4>

    ¡°I don¡¯t dare ept such an address.¡± Lin Xitang didn¡¯t move.

    The Emperor leaned forward and grabbed the marshal by his arm, a dark mist swirling out from his body and almost filling the hall. The mist surged and rolled with great violence, gradually forming the image of a soaring snake with nine scales on its back.

    In a sh, two giant shadows swept past as the serpent spread its wings.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s calm expression was shattered at that moment.

    The soaring snake was the crest of the Imperial family. It was ck with golden ws, but never had the totem spread its wings before! Only an extremely small number of people knew that the innate totem passed down in the Imperial n was iplete.

    ¡°The soaring snake appears from the waters of the Duguang wilderness. Golden ws, lightning horn, and a pair of wings covering its face.¡± Now that was theplete form of the totem left behind by the founding ancestor.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s arm trembled as ayer of light blue frost spread from his elbow toward his fingers.

    Strands of ck mist condensed into the shape of a hand and plucked away the thin ice. As soon as it left the body, the ice transformed into ck mes with a blood-red core, which the mist hand duly extinguished.

    ¡°It seems you can no longer suppress your old injuries without Tuo Hai¡¯s Tigerwolf Medicine.¡± There was no expression on the Emperor¡¯s face.

    Lin Xitang leaned back into the sofa and closed his tired eyes in silence.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you happy to finally know that the path we had taken was the correct one? It¡¯s been one thousand one hundred and twenty years since the founding ancestorid down the ns for the ¡®Chronicle of Glory¡¯. We¡¯ve sacrificed countless Imperial blood and heavenly opportunities, yet no one could tell whether it was meaningful. Now that the totem has awakened, it proves that daybreak is truly awakening and growing stronger. Darkness is no longer the only spirit of this Evernight Realm, and the resurgence of the human race is only a matter of time.¡±

    Lin Xitang¡¯s expression softened. ¡°Congrattions, Your Majesty.¡± After a pause, he sighed softly. ¡°Do you know anything about the opening of the new world?¡±

    The Emperor''s expression changed slightly because news of the new world only appeared after Lin Xitang had entered the Divination Pavilion. However, he didn¡¯t ask how the marshal found out about it. ¡°There¡¯s indeed such a thing, but I know nothing about the world itself.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s such a major change, expanding the war effort on the void continent might not be a good idea.¡±

    ¡°The trees long for peace, but the winds never cease. It¡¯s not like we can stop just because we want to,¡± the Emperor exined patiently. ¡°Let them fight if they want to, otherwise, it¡¯s difficult to suppress human desire. If they don¡¯t find an opportunity here, they will look for it somewhere else.¡±

    Lin Xitang suddenly opened his eyes.

    ¡°Since they want your authority, let¡¯s see if they have the ability to grasp it,¡± the Emperor said calmly. ¡°Prince Greensun once said that there are so many divination families in the Empire, you shouldn¡¯t be the only one to hog the glory. I think he¡¯s right.¡±

    Lin Xitang couldn¡¯t help but frown. Zhang Boqian¡¯s original words were much more unpleasant to hear.

    ¡°The military has sufficient reason to seek battle this time, and it¡¯s rare for the Longevity Monarch to offer the aid of the Imperial Guard. It¡¯s not a bad thing if they can take the void continent. As for whoever is scheming and bickering, it¡¯lle to light as the battle progresses.¡±

    Lin Xitang nced at the Emperor, almost as though this was his first time seeing his master. ¡°Who¡¯s leading the other main unit?¡±

    The Emperor said calmly, ¡°No one will stop you, Minister Lin, if you can go down yourself.¡±

    However, the hall remained deathly silent.

    The moon was already high in the sky by the time the Emperor walked out of the Divination Pavilion. He stood on the top steps, looking down at the Imperial capital. He then raised a palm to eye level and sped it into a fist, almost as though he was holding the lights from myriad homes.

    ¡°Father, look, I¡¯ve finally be what I hate the most.¡± Draped in moonlight, the Emperor of Great Qin thus muttered to himself.

    Below the steps, there were several attendants waiting in the shadows. They turned a deaf ear, saying nothing and making no movement, almost like puppets.

    ...

    There was no day or night in the void, only fierce battles.

    The Imperial warships fired frantically at the enemy as there was some time before the Evernight reinforcements would arrive. The two duke-grade airships changed their tactics after seeing the iing reinforcements and charged toward the exterior instead of fighting to the death.

    The Imperial ships were helpless once the enemy was intent on charging out. The two destroyers blocking their path were sted apart as the duke gship bulldozed through their burning wreck.

    Not far in the distance, the Minister of the Right was standing in the smoke-filled bridge and staring at the two enemy gships. No one knew what he was thinking when he turned back and ordered, ¡°Issue the order! Circle around and block that¡­¡±

    He lost his voice midmand. An old official said with a wryugh, ¡°Sire, our ship can¡¯t move anymore. We can¡¯t intercept.¡±

    Those in the bridge were all strategic advisors. They were proficient in scheming and tactics, but they had very little experience in terms of actualbat. The minister could see that everyone was injured and barely hanging on. The worst among them had lost an entire calf and was leaning on a chair.

    The Minister of the Right remembered that the man was fairly timid and afraid of death, but his eyes were burning brightly at the moment, ready to fight at a moment¡¯s notice. It was as though he had forgotten about the injuries on his body.

    The bridge had been charred ck and there was arge hole on one of the cabin walls. A freezing chill was blowing in through it, but even that wasn¡¯t enough to disperse the heated passion.

    There were several corpses strewn across the ground, including those of some strategists and crew, but also a lot of dark race warriors. Risking heavy losses, arge batch of dark race soldiers had attempted a boarding at the height of the battle. Capturing the Imperial gship would impact the morale of the entire Imperial fleet.

    The Minister of the Right had personally killed a marquis and two dukes who had boarded the airship sessfully. The other attendants also stood their ground. No matter what faction they were from, no one was a coward at the juncture of life and death.

    ncing at the survivors, the minister nodded. ¡°None of you betrayed my trust.¡±

    Everyone looked delighted because this was the highest praise the minister could offer. He sighed. ¡°Unfortunately, man proposes, and god disposes.¡±

    He raised a left hand and said slowly, ¡°Issue the order. The entire army shall re¡­¡±

    This order would conclude the battle. Although the Imperial fleet had the distinct advantage in results, the battle had been lost. Allowing the two duke-grade warships to escape and failing to control the void was lethal to the entire operation. It was likely that this war on the void continent would draw out, eventually bing a ck hole to devour Imperial flesh and blood. Such a protracted battle was something the Empire did not wish to see at all. They might have to pull back from the continent entirely after holding out for some time.

    That was why the minister took so long to issue themand. He couldn¡¯t find it in himself to utter the word.

    The word ¡°retreat¡± hovered at his lips several times, but just as he was about to utter it, one of the attendants shouted, ¡°W-What is that!?¡±

    Stunned, the Minister of the Right looked at the pointed direction. All he could see was a shadow slowly moving over the entire battlefield, washing over the airships locked in a fierce battle.

    A speck of radiant light appeared through this darkness and, with a prismatic trail, fell upon one of the duke-grade airships that had just escaped.

    The multicolored light mmed into the gship, erupting in an earth-shattering explosion that pushed the vessel downward. As the mes cleared away, everyone could see arge hole in the gship¡¯s rear and that its speed had fallen drastically. Apparently, its kic system had been affected.

    The might of this attack was shocking, but a certain someone was even more shocked than the Imperial generals.

    In one of the reinforcement warships, Linken jumped up from her seat and gnashed her teeth. ¡°It¡¯s him!¡±

    A screen of light appeared before her, and on it appeared the stern face of a demonkin elder. His lightning-like eyes nced at Linken. ¡°What¡¯s with the panic!?¡±

    Linken bowed. ¡°I lost myposure after seeing the enemy ambush. Please forgive me.¡±

    The elder demonkin snorted. ¡°Look at yourself, so flustered! No wonder you¡¯ve lost half your fleet. Now that you¡¯re working under me, you should hold yourself appropriately. I won¡¯t be considerate of our friendship if you¡¯recking in battle. You will receive whatever punishment you deserve.¡±

    ¡°I remember.¡± Linken was fairly obedient.

    The elderly demonkin seemed satisfied and the screen duly vanished.

    Linken gnashed her teeth and red fiercely at where the screen was just now. A trusted aide nearby said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that your Landsinker?¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Linken¡¯s re stopped anything the man had to say.

    Linken gazed into the distance with a serious expression, her thoughts unknown.

    The Evernight reinforcements sped up in hopes of reaching the battlefield in time. The ambushed duke gship was a bit flustered at first, but it quickly regained itsposure. Instead of fleeing, the vessel spun around and dug in for defense, all the while summoning the surviving airships to form a defensive line.

    Things became quite difficult once the gship became entrenched. The Imperial battleships could pose a sufficient threat, but even they wouldn¡¯t dare attack head-on. The smaller warships might be destroyed in a single hit, so even the bravest of captains wouldn¡¯t dare approach.

    It was at this time that another prismatic light smashed down from above. This time, the duke-grade vessel was prepared¡ªseveral auxiliary cannonsunched a volley of concentrated fire, and there were experts controlling the weapons personally. This afforded the shots great uracy as they shot down the iing projectile.

    Before the crew could celebrate, however, a massive shadow bore down upon the duke gship.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce descended from the sky and mmed into the gship. The duke-grade vessel was like a small boatpared to the Martyr¡¯s Pce; it would take three of them to match thetter¡¯s length. The gship was sent rolling, and its body had caved in at the point of impact. Apparently, it had suffered great damage.

 Chapter 1135: Like Broken Bamboo

    <h4>Chapter 1135: Like Broken Bamboo</h4>

    The moment the Martyr¡¯s Pce straightened up and swung its massive tail, it seemed as though the Earth Dragon had woken up from its ancient slumber. It was once again the void colossus that had rampaged through the skies. The dragon roared silently as it soared through the void andshed at the duke gship with its tail!

    An earth-shattering rumble, mixed with the ear-piercing sounds of twisted metal, rippled out through the void. Be it humans or dark races, the weaker people would feel their heads throbbing violently. They rolled around on the ground, covering their ears the best they could, yet it was useless. This reverberating sound wave would still enter their bodies and cause great damage.

    Many experts deployed their defensive domains to stop the sound waves. Those who were safe gazed into the distance, utterly stunned.

    The duke gship became evidently bent the moment it was whipped by the Earth Dragon¡¯s tail. Linken¡¯s airship was broken into two halves back then. The damage wasn¡¯t as exaggerated against this massive gship, but its body was clearly bent. Even though the angle wasn¡¯t very big, it was permanent damage to the vessel, let alone the people inside.

    Both dark race and human constructs looked rather fragilepared to a void colossus like the Earth Dragon. Only a heavenly monarch or a great dark monarch could stand their own against such a creature.

    The dragonship didn¡¯t let its prey off just like that. It made an agile turn in the void and, like an elegant whale,pleted the eleration process with a flip of its tail. It charged over and passed underneath the duke-grade vessel, slicing into the hull with its sharp spines.

    The duke gship¡¯s defense and strength were far superior to Linken¡¯s vessel. The Earth Dragon failed to slice through the entire airship despite its momentum and ended up with its spines stuck in the hull.

    As though it knew what would happen, the Earth Dragon moved its body violently and tore through the body of the duke gship before flying away.

    As the Earth Dragon circled about and flew back, a gasp of surprise spread through the Imperial fleet. Experts with good eyesight had finally noticed a familiar yet distant silhouette standing atop the dragon¡¯s head.

    ¡°Qianye!¡± Finally, someone uttered his name. That used to be a taboo in the Minister of the Right¡¯s faction.

    More and more people recognized him, but they had no idea what the thing below his feet was. That massive, thousand-meter body alone brought about a significant pressure upon them.

    The duke gship had been cut in half and was spouting mes as it rolled into the distance, devoid of all power.

    A phantom-like figure drifted out from the gship and charged toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce at lightning speed. It was the arachne duke in charge of the broken gship. Apparently, he was nning to force his way into the pce and destroy the enemies inside.

    The duke didn¡¯t assault the pce¡¯s head portion. No one knew what the thing was, but running near the mouth of such a behemoth would be an idiotic move. He picked an opening near the back of the airship and rushed in.

    Everyone from the Empire held their breaths as the enemy entered the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The arachne duke¡¯sbat strength could not be underestimated, and no one believed Qianye was a match for him.

    As Qianye vanished from atop the Earth Dragon¡¯s head, the massive creature suddenly stopped moving and merely hovered habitually in the void.

    Silence filled the entire battlefield. In truth, the mes and explosions were still happening, but everyone¡¯s attention had been drawn by the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    All of a sudden, a stream of mes burst out from the side of the Earth Dragon¡¯s abdomen!

    There was a silhouette within the mes. Shockingly, it was the arachne duke who had flown out rapidly, fleeing in the direction of the Evernight reinforcements. He didn¡¯t even care about therades nearby who were fighting with the Imperial forces.

    Another silhouette emerged from the stream of mes. The luminous wings behind Qianye were dazzling as he pointed a handgun at the fleeing arachne. Qianye¡¯s body jolted as he fired the shot, and the distant duke erupted in a long howl of agony. Thetter sped up once again and was soon too far away.

    Qianye put away his luminous wings and returned to the Earth Dragon¡¯s head with a flicker. The dragon woke up at that moment and began to circle once more, gazing intently at the arachne duke. It was just that the target was too powerful; even his sprinting speed in the void was far beyond the Earth Dragon¡¯s. There was no way to catch him now that he had joined the enemy reinforcements.

    The Earth Dragon slowly turned about to search for a new target.

    Everyone, be it those from Evernight or the Empire, drew in a breath of cold air. Although they still couldn¡¯t tell whether the Martyr¡¯s Pce was a living entity or a rare mechanical construct, one thing was very clear¡ªthis behemoth was under Qianye¡¯s full control, and he could steer the creature as though it were a part of his own limbs.

    That scene just now happened so quickly that most people never saw how Qianye had injured the arachne duke. Only a handful of powerful experts could tell that Qianye had fired a ck feather of light. The distant arachne roared in pain as the feather flickered in and out of existence, impossible to evade even at such a distance.

    Qianye felt regretful at heart. The arachne was indeed powerful, capable of running away even with a followup shot.

    Caroline appeared beside Qianye. Gazing at the direction of the arachne¡¯s escape, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s no longer a threat after taking a hit from you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be relying on you.¡± Qianye retracted his gaze.

    ¡°You¡¯re also quite powerful, much more than I had thought. It¡¯s just that¡­¡± It seemed like she wanted to say something, but she didn¡¯t continue.

    Qianye turned toward a different direction. ¡°We have one more problem.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s deal with him.¡± Lightning arced across Caroline¡¯s fingertips.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce made a turn and charged toward the other duke gship.

    The duke warship wanted to flee, but it was locked down firmly by Imperial forces. Ignoring the potential damage, the Imperial mothership exchanged repeated cannon fire with the enemy gship, making it impossible for the other party to turn around.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce swam through the void and appeared above the duke-grade warship. Prismatic spheres of light smashed down with great ferocity, sting big holes in the enemy vessel.

    Linken had invested all her resources into building the Landsinker in preparation for her future gship. After being installed on the Martyr¡¯s Pce, the cannon reached new heights by virtue of the Earth Dragon¡¯s power. It was now evenparable to the main cannon of a duke-grade vessel.

    The enemy duke gship burst into mes after taking a series of shots, its counterfire utterly suppressed.

    Two Evernight destroyers appeared from either side, charging at the Martyr¡¯s Pce with fearless momentum. Their main cannons were fully-charged and ready to fire once within range.

    The two destroyers came at great speed, taking an almost straight flight route into the range of the Martyr¡¯s ce. Only at this point did the mist around the pce disperse, revealing the pce¡¯s true appearance. The two captains immediately noticed an entire row of fully-charged ballistae!

    Having fought against the Imperial fleet for many years, these captains could recognize Imperial cannons with their eyes closed. Just on one side, they could see five cruiser-grade and ten destroyer-grade main cannons aimed right at them!

    The two captains secretly groaned in despair as dozens of giant ballista bolts tore through the air and sted them into balls of me.

    In this manner, everyone on the Evernight side came to realize the Martyr¡¯s Pces firepower, and no one dared approach its firing range.

    An earth-shattering roar erupted through the void as a figure rushed out of the beleaguered duke-grade airship. The arachne duke stood hesitantly in the air, not knowing whether he should escape in the direction of the Martyr¡¯s Pce or the Imperial forces.

    The Minister of the Right, who had just switched to a new airship, chuckled. ¡°Time for us to take the field. We can¡¯t let the youngsters hog all the glory!¡±

    ¡°Sire, you must not! That¡¯s¡­¡± The attendants and ministers didn¡¯t even have time to stop the minister before his figure vanished. They weren¡¯t strong enough to fight in the void, so they could only stomp their feet in indignation.

    Two figures flew out from the battleships, forming a three-prong formation with the minister and surrounding the arachne duke within. These two were themanders of the second and third Imperial Guard¡ªboth were divine champions.

    The arachne was strong, but it was difficult to exert force or move through the void. Under thebined assault of the three Imperial divine champions, the duke quickly fell into a defensive state.

    Soon, the desperate wails of an arachne duke filled the void¡­ followed by silence.

    Qianye and Caroline didn¡¯t join the fight and only observed quietly.

    Caroline said, ¡°The trouble isn¡¯t over.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    In the distance, the Evernight reinforcements had finally arrived and were entering the battlefield one after the other. The Imperial formation, on the other hand, was in chaos because there wasn¡¯t enough time to reorganize, and many warships were still cleaning up routed enemies. Most of the warships had suffered damage during the battle and things didn¡¯t look very optimistic.

    Their losses would be big if they had to face the unflustered Evernight fleet.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce leapt out all of a sudden and appeared thousands of meters away with a swing of its body, blocking the path of the Evernight fleet.

    The enemy formation was led by three duke-grade vessels. Facing the sudden appearance of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, the leading gship made an urgent stop just outside of its firing range. This caused the less agile warships at the rear to fall into disarray, but they did manage to stop and none of them collided against one another. It could be said that they were fairly well-trained.

    The entire reinforcement squad was thus stopped by the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    At this moment, the foremost duke-grade gship arrived within the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s firing range and, since both parties were immobile, decided to open fire!

    Both main cannons flickered with a faint glow. They had long sincepleted charging and could fire at the push of a button.

    The vampire duke on the enemy airship shifted in his magnificent throne, adopting a morefortable position. With his chin propped up, he stared intently at Qianye standing atop the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. Beams of sanguineous light shot out from his eyes and made straight for the target.

    Qianye also sensed the duke¡¯s gaze. He turned slightly and met the radiance head-on, not backing down at all.

    Sparks flew as the two gazes collided in the void. Qianye waspletely unaffected by the bloodline suppression and even managed to retaliate.

    The vampire duke narrowed his eyes. ¡°Is that him? Interesting.¡±

    His fingers tapped constantly on the armrest as he muttered to himself. At this moment, a screen of light appeared, projecting the images of a demonkin and a werewolf. The two asked at the same time, ¡°Why are you hesitating? Attack!¡±

 Chapter 1136: Where are The Powerhouses?

    <h4>Chapter 1136: Where are The Powerhouses?</h4>

    The vampire duke¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m the leader here!¡±

    The demonkin and werewolf merely snorted. They didn¡¯t retort, but that didn¡¯t stop them from expressing their displeasure.

    It was at this moment that three figures appeared behind the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Their human silhouettes were negligible against the vastness of the void, but their powerful auras stood out conspicuously. The Minister of the Right and the twomanders of the Imperial Guard seemed determined to fight.

    The vampire duke¡¯s pupils shrank as he looked past the three divine champions. The airships were falling into a battle formation behind the Martyr¡¯s Pce, affording the dragonship protection on its nks and rear. It was no longer possible to surround and attack the target.

    The vampire duke stopped tapping on the armrest. ¡°The arachne are done for, let¡¯s retreat.¡±

    The demonkin and werewolf dukes appeared in projection-form. The former yelled, ¡°Retreat!? If we pull back, the soldiers on the battlefield will fall into human hands!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in charge here! You can issue orders when you have the authority!¡±

    The demonkin was almost roaring at this point. ¡°I will report you to the council!¡±

    ¡°As you wish, I¡¯ll be waiting.¡± The vampire duke revealed a meaningful smile. ¡°It¡¯s also fine if you want to keep fighting. You¡¯ll be in charge of facing that big fellow, how¡¯s that?¡±

    The demonkin duke was startled. ¡°Do you think those humans will stand by while we switch formations?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll surely agree if wemunicate your intentions clearly. It¡¯s also okay if you want to challenge that monstrosity one-on-one. What? Are the demonkin afraid?¡± The vampire duke mocked.

    The demonkin duke was livid, his eyes filled with killing intent, but the vampire duke paid him no heed. Thetter¡¯s expression and words were brimming with provocation. Between the two of them, the younger demonkin was indeed a bit weaker. Why else would the vampire get the right tomand?

    Challenging the dragonship to a one-on-one was pure idiocy. The Martyr¡¯s Pce had just destroyed two duke-grade vessels, and they didn¡¯t even have the power to retaliate. Although the vessel looked like a halfpleted product, it already possessed the characteristics of a legendary warship.

    The demonkin duke ran every scenario through his mind, but he ultimately felt that the only way to defeat the Martyr¡¯s Pce was to board it with top experts. However, the arachne duke¡¯s example was still fresh in his mind, and he knew that his strength was just on par with the former¡¯s. There would be no good oue if he had to board the airship instead.

    Who knew how many experts were hiding in the Martyr¡¯s Pce?

    At the thought of this, the demonkin duke softened his tone. ¡°Fine, I agree to withdraw, but you should think about how to exin your actions to the Evernight Council.

    The vampire duke sneered. ¡°And you need to exin why your duke-grade main cannon is on the enemy ship. The custom-made artillery cannot be mistaken, and it should be on Linken¡¯s gship if I remember correctly. Back then, the cannon couldn¡¯t quite exert its full power, but it seems to be aplete version now. I wonder who made the adjustments for the humans?¡±

    The demonkin duke was furious. ¡°The cannon fell into human hands because Linken¡¯s gship was destroyed. That¡¯s something everyone knows.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so? I¡¯ll believe you then.¡±

    The vampire duke cut off the projection without waiting for the demonkin¡¯s response. The stunned werewolf duke hesitated for a moment before his projection turned dark as well. With nowhere to vent his anger, the demonkin duke broke his throne into two halves.

    The vampire duke stared at the empty receiver. ¡°Idiot! Too bad he¡¯s not that dumb, though.¡± After some thought, he said, ¡°The arachne have changed their formations. Interesting! It¡¯s rare for these bastards to act smart for a change, but it makes no difference in the end.¡±

    The retreating Evernight fleet began to turn about at its rear, followed by the mid-section. The three duke-grade gships slowly edged back until they were a good distance from the Martyr¡¯s Pce before turning about.

    The Imperial warships broke into jubnt cheers as the final Evernight ship vanished over the horizon.

    This was the Empire¡¯s most glorious victory in ten years. They had only lost one battleship and a dozen or so warships. Meanwhile, they had destroyed two enemy duke-grade warships, killing one arachne duke and heavily injuring the other.

    Although only a handful of people knew the true power of Qianye¡¯sst attack, it wasn''t too difficult to imagine the damage it had brought about considering the pain and anguish in the arachne duke¡¯s howls.

    With the Evernight reinforcements gone, the Empire was now in full control of the battlefield. Many of the enemy vessels here were only damaged, and there were dark race survivors within them. Cleaning up the battlefield alone was enough for the Empire to recoup half its losses. And those captives weren¡¯t just ordinary soldiers; they were experienced crewmen as well. This would deal a heavy blow to the Evernight faction.

    With the enemy coalition beaten back, the Empire had officially gained control of the airspace outside of the void continent. Judging from past records, it would take at least a year¡¯s time for the enemy fleet to restore such losses. This meant that their current victory had earned the Empire control over the void for a year.

    Compared to this oue, the losses were almost negligible. This was a great victory by any measure.

    The victory was closely rted to the minister¡¯s decisive tactics. The Imperial gship had dived into the enemy formation in an almost suicidal manner, sowing confusion and the seeds of quick defeat among the enemy ranks. If they had dragged on any longer, the Evernight reinforcements would have arrived on the battlefield, and there would no longer be a chance to destroy the two duke-grade vessels.

    However, the true deciding factor was still the Martyr¡¯s Pce. If the dragonship had not appeared when it did and destroyed the two gships, the Imperial fleet would¡¯ve been forced to retreat. The two duke-grade gships would then retreat safely, and the enemy fleet would have preserved most of its fighting power. What was the use of destroying some of the smaller warships?

    Many of the warriors feltplicated at the thought of this, especially those who knew the entire story about Qianye and the Empire. Him jumping into the battle and single-handedly turning the tables on the enemy left everyone with an indescribable aftertaste.

    At this moment, the Martyr¡¯s Pce leaped into the depths of the void and vanished within mere moments.

    Seeing the Martyr¡¯s Pce leaving, the two Imperial Guardmanders nced toward the Minister of the Right. They shifted their positions ever so slightly, blocking the minister¡¯s path toward the pce. Ordinary people might not notice the subtleties of the upper echelons, but people of their stature knew quite a bit of secret information.

    The Minister of the Right nced at them, and then at the distant Martyr¡¯s Pce. ¡°It seems he doesn¡¯t want to confront us directly. That¡¯s a good thing, otherwise, things will get awkward.¡±

    He smiled when he noticed the expressions of the two Imperial Guardmanders. ¡°Following this battle, the Empire owes him a debt of gratitude, as do the Imperial Guard and myself. It¡¯s best we keep these thoughts to ourselves, there¡¯s no need to say it out loud. If we have the intention, there wille a time when we can repay the debt.¡±

    The twomanders¡¯ expressions improved after hearing this.

    The minister then said, ¡°The battle is over, and I can finally relieve myself of this heavy responsibility. I shall hand over themand rights to you two.¡±

    The twomanders were startled. ¡°Why is that? We still need to clean up the battlefield and meet up with the first fleet before the fight can be consideredplete. Your vanguardmander post was assigned by the Emperor himself. How can it be transferred at will?¡±

    The minister smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s talk after we return to the airship. Have someone invite Song Zining over. Qianye might not want to see me, but he will.¡±

    Momentster, the entire upper echelon of the vanguard forces had gathered in the new gship. The main seat was upied by the Minister of the Right, with the two Imperial Guardmanders on either side. Next down the line was Song Zining. This was an important seat, exceeding all the other veteran generals, but no one was dissatisfied.

    The Minister of the Right nced around as he said, ¡°It can be said that this victory has established the foundations of our war on the void continent. This might just be the beginning of the Empire¡¯s resurgence, but the war here is far from over. We¡¯ve merelyid down the first brick, and going forward, it will take everyone¡¯s concentrated efforts to fight for the Empire¡¯s prosperity and the existence of our human race.¡±

    Everyone rose up and chanted, ¡°We shall give our lives for the cause!¡±

    The minister raised a hand and gestured for everyone to sit down. ¡°The biggest contribution to this battle shall go to Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s Dark me. Does everyone agree with me?¡±

    The generals weren¡¯t blind. They had seen everything very clearly just now, so no one objected.

    Song Zining remained calm in his seat, waiting for the continuation of the speech. Normally, the Minister of the Right would surely say something else after such an announcement. Song Zining wanted to see what ns this merit-hungry minister had in mind.

    The Minister of the Right said, ¡°Now that the battle is over, I can finally transfer this responsibility to the twomanders. I¡¯ll trouble you with the misceneous matters that follow. I¡¯ve already asked my men to prepare an airship that will take me to the void continent. It¡¯s rather embarrassing, but the frontlines are really not my forte.¡±

    He paused for a bit before saying, ¡°Actually, I did have some selfish motives in this battle. That is, I wanted the world to know that I¡¯m not a coward who¡¯s afraid of death, that despite being a civil minister, I also know some military tactics.¡±

    These words elicited nods from the generals. Even Song Zining had to admit that the Minister of the Right had performed perfectly in terms of courage andmand. His luck was quite good as well.

    Seeing this, the minister smiled radiantly. ¡°Okay, now that I¡¯ve said what I wanted to say, it¡¯s time for me to go.¡±

    With that, he left despite everyone persuading him to stay. Momentster, a high-speed airship left the main vessel and flew toward the void continent.

    Even Song Zining was a bit surprised. He was gone just like that? Could it be that the minister had no other schemes?

    The first Imperial Guard fleet arrived after the cleanup waspleted andbined forces with the vanguard. Song Zining and the Dark me vessels left to meet up with Qianye, as well as the arriving troop transports.

    The Imperial Guard had to deploy immediately to patrol the void continent, weeding out the remaining Evernight vessels and removing potential threats. Only when the void was in full control would Dark me set out tond.

    In the depths of the void, Song Zining arrived at the designated location to rendezvous with the Martyr¡¯s Pce. When Qianye walked into themand room, he saw Song Zining standing in front of the void continent map with a serious expression.

    There was a dense array of markings on the map, enough to make ordinary people dizzy just by looking at them. Yet, Song Zining was still adding more strokes to the diagram.

    Qianye didn¡¯t disturb him, either. He merely stood to the side, slowly deciphering the meaning. This was a different version of the battle on the void continent. It was fairly simr to Lin Xitang¡¯s, but there were many different details. It could be considered Song Zining¡¯s own version. The two ns used simr troop power and resources, but there was some difference in the attack.

    This version was still in the works and had reached mid-game at most, while Lin Xitang¡¯s was aplete battle n.

    After moving his forces behind two enemy squads, Song Zining fell into deep contemtion.

    Qianye was drawn into the observation and had long since forgotten the time. Song Zining was also silent due to the difficult problem he had encountered. The two thus stood there until it was night.

    Qianye suddenly remembered. ¡°Where are the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs?¡±

    There was no consideration or nning for those powerhouses in this battle. They didn¡¯t even exist on the map.

 Chapter 1137: Full Mobilization

    <h4>Chapter 1137: Full Mobilization</h4>

    For such an important war, there had to be half a dozen or so of these powerhouses involved across both factions. There was no way a battle n could exclude the movement of these powers, but Song Zining hadn¡¯t taken them into ount up to this point. That was rather strange.

    The seventh young master sighed. It looked like he was exining the situation but also as though he were muttering to himself. ¡°Yes¡­ where are the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs?¡±

    He turned toward Qianye and asked, ¡°Say, how do we predict their movements?¡±

    Qianye shook his head after some thought. ¡°Impossible.¡±

    Song Zining gazed at the map. ¡°Yeah, the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs aren¡¯t chess pieces on your board. On the contrary, we are their pawns. If I can¡¯t even predict their actions, how can I even hope to n for them?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°n their movements? You¡¯re thinking too much.¡±

    Song Zining pointed at the map in front of him. ¡°My deductions can no longer proceed beyond this point. At this point in the battle, there¡¯s no way the great dark monarchs can stand by and watch. When the great dark monarchs appear, the heavenly monarchs can¡¯t stand by and watch, either. So at this point, there really isn¡¯t any point in calcting because there is simply no way to guess their movements. This is how a normal battle n should be.¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    They had little information about the great dark monarchs, but the heavenly monarchs of the Empire could act as they saw fit. Naturally, their foremost duty was to oversee and protect the Empire¡¯s main continents, but they could take action ording to their own judgment, and even the Emperor couldn¡¯t restrict them.

    This wasmon knowledge. Hence, there was no single strategy that could cover every scenario because unexpected changes would surely happen along the way. That was a time for the frontlinemander to show off his skills. Only a fool would feel that the war could be won with a single genius n.

    Song Zining inhaled deeply. ¡°How did Marshal Lin draft this n?¡±

    Qianye had seen the n as well. He didn¡¯t think too much about it back then, but now that he thought about it, there were no heavenly monarchs in that n, either!

    Song Zining stared at the map, as though he wanted to see through the secrets hidden inside. ¡°Then, where have these powerhouses gone?¡±

    ¡­

    In the depths of the void, a little boat was drifting away on the waves of void origin power.

    The Pointer Monarch was staring intently at the fire, on which was a steaming earthen pot that was on the verge of boiling. The exact moment that it started to boil, the old man¡¯s hands moved deftly to remove the pot from the me and poured the water into a teapot. He swirled the tea around before producing two streams of clear liquid into the teacups.

    ¡°The heat is just right, don¡¯t miss it.¡± The Pointer Monarch lifted his cup and drank.

    Zhang Boqian stoodpletely still at the front of the boat as the other cup flew toward him. There, the tea streamed into his mouth before the teacup flew back to its original ce.

    Zhang Boqian swished the tea in his mouth before swallowing everything, leaving the Pointer Monarch angry. ¡°That¡¯ll cool down the tea! You need to drink from the cup for the perfect taste. You need to drink it in one gulp to enjoy the endless aftertaste. Sigh, such good tea is wasted on you!¡±

    Zhang Boqian filtered out the criticism. ¡°There¡¯s no one else you can share such good tea with.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed while shaking his head. ¡°You¡¯re the only agreeable one in the entire Empire. Those little brats are too young, and it¡¯ll take a good while for them to mature.¡±

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t look back. ¡°Now this praise I don¡¯t dare ept. Isn¡¯t there Lin Xitang?¡±

    ¡°That little fellow is full of schemes, I feel tired talking to him. He¡¯s definitely not one of us.¡±

    Nodding, Zhang Boqian turned his body slightly. ¡°Elder Prince, you asked me to apany you here to intercept a person, but we¡¯ve been drifting here for some time. It¡¯s probably time for the war on the void continent to begin, yet we¡¯re here instead. Who¡¯s going to keep those monsters from the Evernight side in check?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch smiled. ¡°No rush, since we¡¯re here, those fellows will surely follow us. As for the person we¡¯re intercepting, they¡¯re always here. We just need to wait patiently.¡±

    Zhang Boqian gazed into the distance where several fragmented continents could be seen. He said in surprise, ¡°We¡¯re already in the neutralnds?¡±

    ¡°Only the borders. That person on the Throne of Blood won¡¯t be happy if we go in, and I have no intention of facing Shattered Moment in the neutralnds,¡± the Pointer Monarch said as he slowly packed away his tea equipment.

    Zhang Boqian frowned. ¡°Elder Prince, now that we¡¯re already here, isn¡¯t it time to tell me who we¡¯re intercepting?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no rush with the interception, we should turn away those who havee to escort our target.¡±

    ¡°Thoseing to greet us?¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression turned solemn as he turned to the depths of the void, where several giant shadows gradually appeared.

    Those airships were hundreds of meters in length but of different shapes. Several names appeared in Zhang Boqian¡¯s head when he saw those giant vessels¡ªMedanzo, Noxus, the Eternal me¡­

    Three great dark monarchs appearing at the same time was an extraordinary spectacle. That was especially true of Medanzo as he was badly injuredst time. How could such a selfish person be willing to take the field again so quickly? There were several warships behind the three¡ªthese duke-grade airships weren¡¯t as big as the leading vessels, but they were still quite behemoths in their own right. A quick count revealed that there were three prince-grade and five duke-grade airships here.

    This kind of lineup was rare even when the two factions were facing off against one another. What kind of person were they here to pick up, that they would need to mobilize in full force?

    Zhang Boqian nced at the Pointer Monarch. Seeing that the old man wasn¡¯t at all surprised, he asked, ¡°Is this within your expectations as well?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch smiled. ¡°I¡¯m older, so I have more sources of information.¡±

    Zhang Boqian stopped asking questions. He turned toward the Evernight fleet with a sharp gaze, stopping briefly on the vampire prince gship. ¡°How do we split them?¡±

    The Pointer Monarchughed out loud. ¡°We¡¯re not going to fight with our lives. It¡¯s fine just to stop them from picking up their target. That old friend across from us doesn¡¯t want to fight to the death, either. So yeah, this fight will only go as far as we take it.¡±

    What kind of tactic was this? How was this different from a street brawl?

    However, Zhang Boqian had his own opinions. His eyes wandered over the group of duke-grade airships, causing their movements to be unnatural. Only the blood princes¡¯ ships sailed forward,pletely unaffected.

    When the Eternal me¡¯s gship came to a stop, the massive fleet also took their stand at a good distance.

    The demonkin, d in ck, appeared quietly and drifted toward the Pointer Monarch¡¯s boat. Medanzo and Noxus followed from behind, and then the grand dukesst. In a battle of this level, even grand dukes could only serve as cannon fodder, while those of a lower rank did not have the qualification to approach.

    The Eternal me stood a thousand meters away. ¡°Ji Wentian, you know this is the will of the heavens. You cannot stop us.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch stood up, his aura rising sharply until it suppressed even the Eternal me, much like a giant indomitable spirit.

    Brushing away his long sleeve, he said, ¡°It has been some time since I stopped using the name Ji Wentian. You can call me Pointer, or if you wanted to challenge me, you can also call me Old Man Pointer.¡±

    The Eternal meughed. ¡°Pointer Kid, how dare you unt your age in front of me?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch replied, ¡°There¡¯s no seniority in learning, and those who are aplished be the teacher. You have always been at a disadvantage against me in every fight. Even if we go by your traditions, you really cannot address me that way.¡±

    The Eternal me was stopped up. He said with a snort, ¡°Enough with these useless things. I don¡¯t know where you got the information, but it¡¯s useless even if you¡¯re here. Be on your way!¡±

    The Pointer Monarchughed. ¡°Now that I¡¯vee, how can I just let you pass?¡±

    ¡°Do you think we can¡¯t fight our way past you?¡±

    ¡°So what? You¡¯ll still have to pick up that person. Once you enter the neutralnds, the Throne of Blood will stand with us. Are you so sure you can take them away?¡±

    The Eternal meughed coldly. ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not here to intercept you, but to make sure you can¡¯t take that person away. It¡¯s also fine if that person dies.¡±

    Hearing these words, the ze around the Eternal me began to flicker. He remained silent for a good while before turning back and saying, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s beat them up first and we can think about it.¡±

    ¡°You can try.¡± The Pointer Monarch stroked his beard with a smile.

    The little boat was floating in the void at first, but all of a sudden, it was swimming in a sea of ck mes! This was the Eternal me¡¯s Demonic Fire. This cold fire used origin power as fuel and could burn through most rare materials. Most fire-resistant materials were useless before its power.

    The boat vanished with a stomp of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s foot and appeared thousands of meters away. The old man walked down from the vessel, saying, ¡°This little boat is all I have to ride. Do you really want to make me walk all the way back?¡±

    Without a word, the Eternal me suddenly appeared before the Pointer Monarch and wed at his chest. The monarch blocked the move with one hand while tapping at the Eternal me¡¯s forehead with the other.

    They began fighting hand-to-hand like two warriors who hadn¡¯t reached the champion stage. However, the Pointer Monarch and the Eternal me had exchanged hundreds if not thousands of blows in the time an ordinary person could throw a punch. Their moves were also clearly visible to everyone.

    Far off in one of the giant ships, one of the sailors was watching the battle intently, afraid that he would miss a single move. After a moment of concentration, however, he fell down screaming with a splitting headache.

    Many people fell down in each of the giant ships, with the stronger ones suffering even more. The captain and a handful of powerful experts ran about, roaring, ¡°Don¡¯t look! No one is to look at the battlefield!¡±

    The battle between the two powerhouses was beyond profound and not something that could be observed casually. Those without sufficient strength would be drawn into the rhythm. Their origin power would channel rapidly and uncontrobly, dealing themselves a fierce blow.

    Those at the captain level didn¡¯t dare look as they truly understood the ferocity within.

    While the Evernight fleet was in chaos, the Pointer Monarch and the Eternal me were locked in a fight. The two had exchanged countless blows, but neither looked flustered. They fought in a regr pattern that looked like it wouldst forever.

    Those at their level could easily break down all area-of-effect attacks and domains. Abilities aimed at weakening the opponent or affecting the environment were also just a waste of origin power. The simplest attacks were still the most lethal. The Eternal me jumped into a melee fight from the very beginning, a disy of his determination to fight to the end.

    On the other hand, Zhang Boqian paid no heed to Medanzo and Noxus. With a single step, he glided toward the two great dark monarchs as though he were skating on ice. But then he shot past the two experts and made a beeline for the dukes and princes behind them.

    This attack was so sudden that Medanzo and Noxus didn¡¯t have the time to react. Shocked and furious, they chased after Zhang Boqian but simply couldn¡¯t close the gap.

    The grand dukes and princes behind had never imagined that their two great dark monarchs would fail to intercept the enemy. Without enough time to think, even the grand dukes could only scatter instinctively.

    Prince Greensun¡¯s fame was young, but his resounding name had spread far and wide. His attacks were extremely violent and powerful, taking life with every move. The weaker ones simply had no power to even resist. Zhang Boqian might not be the strongest human expert, but he was the most respected and feared opponent to those top Evernight experts.

    The monarch appeared like a tiger in a pack of wolves. The three princes had it better, but the dukes spread out as quickly as they could. They had no time to care about their subordinates or their dignity.

    They were very clear that they would most likely die or be crippled if they failed to block a single attack. It was a different story if they were cornered, but now, there were princes and great dark monarchs here. Why would the dukes need to throw their lives away? Dying immediately upon contact would be quite the grievance.

    It was exactly because everyone had the same thought that the scene became quite ugly. Among the crowd of enemy experts, only one was left slowly edging back, looking rtively less shameful.

    This single brave person wasn¡¯t enough to wipe away the humiliation of the crowd. Medanzo and Noxus¡¯ faces had long since turned ashen.

 Chapter 1138: Barbaric Fighting Style

    <h4>Chapter 1138: Barbaric Fighting Style</h4>

    Zhang Boqian sped toward a vampire prince and wed at him. The two parties were terrifyingly close at this point, so close that they could already engage in a melee fight.

    Prince Habsburg almost seemed like he was shocked silly by this unreasonable strategy, so much so that he even raised a hand to block the attack instead of retreating. There was no sign of either party using origin power, and Habsburg, following a muffled grunt, was jolted several hundred meters away.

    Zhang Boqian was quite surprised, but his silhouette didn¡¯t stop there. A follow-up assault saw him pick up a demonkin grand duke and crush him to death. He then gazed at the vampire prince who had just stabilized himself. ¡°Habsburg.¡±

    Habsburgughed wryly. ¡°What an honor for you to remember me.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was just about to say something, but all of a sudden, he turned back at his two pursuers and hurled the demonkin¡¯s corpse at them.

    Medanzo nced at Habsburg with a strange expression.

    Noxus caught the grand duke¡¯s corpse with a wave of his hand. ¡°Prince Greensun, you have quite the temper these days! Going for the kill immediately upon arrival, I wonder how much stamina you have left. Don¡¯t throw away your life for momentary satisfaction, that won¡¯t be good.¡±

    Zhang Boqian snorted. ¡°Come try me if you want to find out how much stamina I have left. Noxus, you can challenge me to a one-on-one if you¡¯re not satisfied.¡±

    Noxus¡¯ expression shifted slightly. ¡°Why me? The vampires are your true enemies, no?¡±

    These words were quite sinister, so much so that Medanzo¡¯s expression turned ugly. He didn¡¯t act out, however, since there was no room for internal fights when facing Zhang Boqian. He would just have to endure a bit of verbal loss.

    Unexpectedly, Zhang Boqian only nced at Medanzo and sneered, ¡°What makes you think a weakling like him has the right to fight one-on-one with me?¡±

    Medanzo was absolutely livid and his eyes were almost spewing fire, apparently on the verge of madness. But he knew his situation quite well¡ªhe had just awakened from the blood pond and set out without a full recovery, just so he could make it for this operation. He was a bit weaker than when he was at his peak, so there was no way he would dare challenge Zhang Boqian. He would have to be careful even if they were beating him up as a group, lest the heavenly monarchunches a surprise attack on him.

    Noxus had taken advantage of this situation to deal Medanzo a secret blow, reducing the respect those apanying council members and powerhouses had for the vampire.

    There was still a limit to attacking rivals because Zhang Boqian was the real threat at hand. Noxus¡¯ body gradually expanded as he pressed forward with a deep breath. Despite his displeasure, Medanzo knew what he should be doing. Seeing that Noxus had taken the front, he circled around to attack the rear.

    Habsburg and the two other princes had retreated to a safe distance and were taking up positions in the encirclement, ready to join the battle at the closest opportunity.

    With a disdainful expression, Zhang Boqian took a step forward and delivered a straight punch at Noxus.

    The arachne¡¯s body was now three times its previous size, almost like a giant as he sped his hands and hammered down on the iing fist!

    A loud rumble echoed in the void asyer uponyer of origin power rippled out into the distance. Neither the princes nor the dukes could control their footing¡ªthey drifted uncontrobly and retreated farther in shock. For most of them, this was their first timeing into close proximity of this new heavenly monarch, and they found that his reputation was well justified. Zhang Boqian¡¯s charge was so fast that he possessed an area of control that was as big as a grand magnum¡¯s. No wonder a grand duke was killed in just one blow.

    Noxus¡¯ expression turned pale blue and his body shrank a bit. Apparently, he had suffered quite a bit from this exchange.

    Medanzo attacked from behind, swiping at Zhang Boqian¡¯s back with ws shrouded in ck mist. Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t even look back when he swung a backhand strike at Medanzo¡¯s head, a move of mutual destruction. With an odd cry, the dark monarch retracted his right hand to perform a cross-arm block against Zhang Boqian¡¯s palm.

    A muffled thud echoed through the void. Medanzo was mmed downward from the impact and only stabilized himself several meters away. Noxus had regained his breath at this point and was once again standing before the heavenly monarch.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s aura also declined after attacking two great dark monarchs.

    Only at this point did the princes and grand dukes heave a sigh of relief. They had seen great dark monarchs in battle, but never with such barbaric tactics. Ultimately, it seemed Prince Greensun was a human and not a god. He still knew exhaustion and weakness.

    Zhang Boqian flicked a finger, firing a streak of lightning toward Noxus¡¯ brow. The arachne dispersed the energy with a casual swing of his arm, flicking out two strands of dark energy toward the opponent¡¯s legs. Medanzo was shrouded in a sea of dark purple blood, from which several fierce beasts emerged and shot toward Zhang Boqian.

    Naturally, these domain-formed beasts posed no threat to Zhang Boqian and would be shattered before they could even get close. However, the trail of blood they had left behind weaved together to form an invisible, gradually restricting the heavenly monarch¡¯s movements.

    The spectating crowd heaved a sigh of relief when both parties started using abilities and domains. This was the kind of battle they were familiar with¡ªdazzling, loud, and without attacks that were overly lethal. Those at the highest level could usually battle several days without an oue.

    This was also a fight where the grand dukes could take part in. They would roam the edges of the battlefield in search of an opening to weaken the heavenly monarch¡¯s power or domain. Melee battles like the one from just now were iparably dangerous, and victory or defeat could be decided in an instant. Zhang Boqian, Noxus, and Medanzo had all suffered some damage after the exchange.

    Only at this point did the princes and dukes realize something off about the fight just now. Some quickly remembered that Habsburg had actually taken a direct blow from Zhang Boqian. He seemed quite alright on the surface, but was he really alright?

    Even those of the same Evernight race had no right to investigate a person¡¯s injuries. If someone of a different race were to do that¡ªand their families harbored some sort of enmity against one another¡ªit might very well lead to war. Hence, the two prices only nced at Habsburg for a split second. The dukes didn¡¯t even dare let their eyes drift over.

    Zhang Boqian switched to a different style after entering a deadlock. His attacks became unpredictable and varied, able to cause damage during any stage of his movement. This was the peak of martial techniques, almost reaching the threshold of art. Daybreak and Evernight origin powers shed repeatedly, the eruptions bearing down upon everyone with great pressure.

    Noxus and Medanzoined inwardly and didn¡¯t dare make even the smallest of mistakes. However, they would expend more energy than Zhang Boqian both during attack and defense. It seemed like they would end up losing no matter how hard they tried.

    Fortunately, the two great monarchs were working together in this battle. Even though Medanzo¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t optimal, he was still a great dark monarch, and there was a group of experts supporting him. Zhang Boqian would lose if they were to slowly exhaust him.

    The Evernight side was far superior to Zhang Boqian on paper, but a battle could never be decided with simplebat strength. It was almost impossible for the dark races to force a quick victory. Noxus and Medanzo were iparably frustrated, but all they could do was contend with Zhang Boqian cautiously.

    In this manner, Zhang Boqian was able to drag down countless enemies on his own.

    On the other side of the battlefield, the Eternal me and the Pointer Monarch seemed like they would keep fighting forever. Then again, a melee fight like theirs could end up with a victory at any moment.

    ¡­

    Someone had built a wooden house here on a small drifting ind in the neutralnds. This small piece ofnd was just like arge rock floating through the void,cking any protective field around it. Even the wooden house could offer no protection against the lethal cold of the void.

    A specter-like warship suddenly appeared outside of the ind and out came several ck-armored warriors. They walked in a single file toward the small wooden house, where the leader knocked on the door.

    There was no sound from within. The ck-armored warrior knocked again after a while but to no avail.

    Finally, he could no longer resist. ¡°Your Majesty, it¡¯s time. We¡¯vee to escort you back.¡±

    The ck-robed soldier¡¯s voice was unusually sharp¡ªit was almost like two sheets of metal rubbing against one another and unlike any living being.

    This time, there was a reply. ¡°It¡¯s not time yet.¡±

    The voice was clear and calm, like a flowing stream or falling ice.

    The ck-armored soldier was surprised. He exchanged nces with his subordinates before saying, ¡°Your Majesty, it is already the appointed time.¡±

    ¡°The time has changed.¡±

    ¡°This¡­ We didn¡¯t hear anything about that.¡± The ck-armored soldier scratched his head.

    A voice echoed behind them, ¡°No one told you because it doesn¡¯t matter even if you know.¡±

    The ck-armored soldiers were shocked out of their wits. Everyone turned back to see a mysterious hooded person floating in the void. He wasn¡¯t too tall and even looked a bit fragile, but the scarlet throne insignia on his hood was exceptionally eye-catching.

    ¡°The Throne of Blood!¡± A ck-armored soldier gasped.

    He clearly understood what the appearance of this insignia meant.

    The mysterious person smiled. ¡°It¡¯s your honor to be able to die in my hands.¡±

    He stretched out his left hand, in which was a giant handgun. That shockinglyrge barrel was carved with decorative patterns and inscriptions that flowed like swimming fish.

    The moment this gun appeared, an indescribable sense of dread and terror gripped everyone¡¯s hearts. Their faces were filled with terror, and their bodies were drained of energy. Some of them grabbed their throats because they couldn¡¯t breathe well.

    ¡°Shattered Moment! Y-You¡¯re the person on the¡­¡± The ck-armoredmander lost his voice midway. His expression was filled with hopelessness because they had no chance of survival against the Throne of Blood, let alone the grand magnum.

    The mysterious man smiled. ¡°No, no, the Shattered Moment isn¡¯t for the likes of you. She¡¯ll get angry if I use her like that. Just the shockwaves from her rumble are enough to kill you. This time, my real target is¡­ her!¡±

    The runes on the Shattered Moment flowed faster and faster as it took aim at the wooden hut. The ck-armored soldiers began to suffer even more, with some copsing to the ground or swaying unsteadily.

    There was still no sound from the wooden hut.

    ¡°Your Majesty Nighteye, are you still not willing to appear? I want to know how much of that legendary monarch¡¯s appearance you¡¯ve inherited. After all, everything will be history after tonight.¡±

    The door of the wooden hut flew open.

 Chapter 1139: Who?

    <h4>Chapter 1139: Who?</h4>

    The interior of the hut was fairly simple with only a table, a chair, and Nighteye gazing at the muzzle of Shattered Moment. The Throne of Blood almost trembled slightly as he arrived in her presence, a shock born from the bottom of his heart.

    Nighteye opened her red eyes and stared at the enemy. ¡°You know me. We¡¯re both scions of the ancient vampire race, why do you want to kill me?¡±

    The Throne of Blood remained silent for a while. ¡°How shocking, you actually inherited that person¡¯s appearance as well. As a descendant of the holy vampire race, please ept my utmost respect. Unfortunately, though, you¡¯ll be the most intricate piece of art to be destroyed by Shattered Moment. That¡¯s because the humans do not wish to see you return to Twilight Continent.¡±

    ¡°Humans¡­¡± Nighteye¡¯s pupils gradually transformed into a deep splendor of soul-shaking red. She looked up at the Throne of Blood, saying, ¡°Why would you work for humans?¡±

    The Throne of Blood smiled. ¡°I thought you¡¯d ask why the humans are so intent on stopping your return, the cost of my help isn¡¯t low. There are two heavenly monarchs in the void here to intercept you.¡±

    Nighteye followed the topic. ¡°Oh, why is that?¡±

    The Throne of Bloodughed. ¡°You want to know? But I don¡¯t want to tell you! Hahaha, it¡¯s time to send you back to the River of Blood!¡±

    Those words were still echoing in the air when Shattered Moment rumbled!

    A mass of dazzling brilliance shot out from the muzzle and sted the small hut. The radiance expanded rapidly as it left the gun, reaching several meters in diameter by the time it struck the house. There were countless prismatic fragments inside which rained down on the wooden hut like a colorful meteor shower.

    Every fragment of light was like a sharp knife, cutting up the small wooden hut into countless pieces and dispersing into void origin power. Even more fragments surrounded Nighteye and shed at her from all directions.

    Nighteye stood up and stretched out her hand, unfurling a blood-colored barrier that kept the countless light fragments outside.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless!¡± The Throne of Bloodughed out loud. He sted two more times amidst the crazedughter, each shot dimming the color of blood from his eyes. It was obvious that the drain on him wasn¡¯t small.

    By the time he had fired the third shot, Nighteye waspletely drowned out by the fragments of light and her sanguine barrier was tottering on the verge of copse.

    Her expression was still calm and collected, almost as though nothing could shake her, even death.

    The Throne of Blood¡¯s expression became increasingly twisted. A sh of insanity passed through his eyes as he muttered to himself, ¡°Yes, just like that! Just like that! Tear away the beauty, so that my Shattered Moment can truly be perfect¡­¡±

    ¡­

    The battle was still going on in the depths of the void.

    Zhang Boqian was single-handedly keeping numerous enemies in check, and the Pointer Monarch¡¯s battle wasn¡¯t something ordinary experts could interfere with. Even the princes didn¡¯t dare to approach them, let alone the dukes.

    At this point, the Pointer Monarch was gradually starting to gain the advantage. The Eternal me was bing a bit passive, but defeat was still far away.

    Both Zhang Boqian and the Pointer Monarch were using the most advancedbat arts and abilities. It was almost impossible for them to make a mistake, and they would surely be thest ones to keep smiling after a long, drawn-out battle. The Evernight monarchs, on the other hand, had to rely on their racial advantage and their deep umted experience to fight a protracted battle with the two human experts.

    However, the Pointer Monarch didn¡¯tunch powerful attacks after gaining the advantage and, instead, guarded his advantage with the stability of a great mountain. Now that was rather puzzling.

    The Eternal me said, ¡°Ji Wentian, it¡¯s useless. You¡¯ll need to defeat me if you want to go help Zhang Boqian.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t need my help.¡± The old manughed.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be so sure about that. Zhang Boqian may be strong, but he¡¯s too young considering how short-lived your race is. The people I brought this time were specifically selected to deal with spatial powers like his. Maybe they¡¯ll give you a surprise after a while.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch remained unmoved. ¡°Perhaps, but it seems Greensun started off with too much power. It looks like your people are afraid of him now! With how far they¡¯re staying, I think whatever killing move they have will end up missing.¡±

    Zhang Boqian, Noxus, and Medanzo were currently surrounded by the other Evernight experts. The three princes were a bit closer to the battlefield, but the other dukes were a fair distance away, probably at the maximum range of their attacks.

    Unlike onnd, long-range attacks would see their firepower falling sharply in the void. At this distance, no one below the great monarch realm could control the power transmission of their attacks. Even if those Evernight experts possessed some special attacks, there should be no difference in the essence of their power, and the damage would be negligible even if they could hit Zhang Boqian.

    It was obvious that Zhang Boqian had intimidated the Evernight experts by killing one of their grand dukes with a secret art. Even the princes were being cautious.

    In truth, some of the princes could even fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the great dark monarchs. Apart from Habsburg, the other two were veteran princes who had no reason to be so cowardly. But Zhang Boqian¡¯s attacks were too powerful¡ªalthough the princes wouldn¡¯t die in one blow, it would be fairly ufortable if they were injured.

    Even Medanzo was shrinking back a bit, and that was the reason Zhang Boqian had so much space to maneuver. Otherwise, he should¡¯ve been at a disadvantage.

    Currently, both the Pointer Monarch and Zhang Boqian were in a position where they could both fight or flee. They looked like they had no intention of trading injuries and were simply holding their ground, but that could also be a feint. Neither of them would let go of a good opening.

    Even if this fight were to drag on and end in a draw, the Evernight side would still be taking a loss. They had, after all, lost a grand duke.

    The Eternal me said, ¡°Did you think you can prevent us from picking up our target just because you¡¯re holding us here?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Of course, you can still pick up the person, but they¡¯ll need to pass through this ce. I can make sure the target stays behind if I pay a certain price.¡±

    The Eternal me snorted. ¡°Since you know who it is, you should know how deep her ties with your race goes. Why are you so intent on attacking her?¡±

    ¡°Letting her go back would be like releasing a tiger into the mountains. Our deep rtionship is nothingpared to king and country. Both myself and Greensun are willing to go with the flow for the bigger picture.¡±

    The Eternal meughed coldly. ¡°You make it sound so pleasant! You humans are all ruthless schemers!¡±

    ¡°Words are meaningless, let¡¯s just fight it out slowly. I¡¯ve been quite bored recently, so I don¡¯t mind fighting for half a month.¡±

    ¡°You want to drag things out until the opening of the new world? Stop dreaming.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said calmly, ¡°You¡¯ll know if we try.¡±

    It was at this time that Zhang Boqian asked, ¡°Who is it that we¡¯re intercepting?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch hadn¡¯t even replied when Medanzo said, ¡°Does Prince Greensun still not know what he¡¯s fighting for? It seems you¡¯re not quite weed by the Imperial n.¡±

    ¡°Enough nonsense!¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s reprimand caused Medanzo¡¯s face to turn red, almost as though he was going to start dripping blood. He gnashed his teeth angrily but didn¡¯t dare jump into the fight. The Lightless Monarch was never good at close-quarterbat. Now that he wascking in strength, closing in without careful thought would be life-threatening to him.

    After cutting Medanzo short, Zhang Boqian said, ¡°Elder Prince, you never told me who we¡¯re stopping. Now, I¡¯m a bit curious and wish to know the details.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°It¡¯s no use even if you know, so it¡¯s better that you don¡¯t. In any case, it¡¯s enough if we keep them busy for several days.¡±

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t let go of his questions. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have dragged me here if it wasn¡¯t critical. The war on the void continent should be starting already, right?¡±

    His words were quite blunt. A total of five powerhouses had been mobilized by the two factions, in addition to several princes and grand dukes from the Evernight side. There was no way such a lineup would be dispatched for an insignificant matter.

    The Pointer Monarch said calmly, ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    Seeing that the monarch had no intention of answering straight, Zhang Boqian frowned deeply. He didn¡¯t continue asking, but several thoughts shed through his mind.

    Zhang Boqian had instructed his subordinates to increase their eyes and ears on the neutralnds, but thetest news was about Qianye and Song Zining heading out to war. He simply couldn¡¯t think of any other special character on that continent. Since the Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t answering him, Zhang Boqian grew suspicious of his own role. It puzzled him even more that the great dark monarchs weren¡¯t revealing anything, either. What was the reason for this?

    Noxus sneered. ¡°Did you think the Evernight Council wouldn¡¯t make other arrangements? I¡¯ll tell you, we¡¯ve already dispatched people to pick up Her Majesty!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t enraged by this. He flickered away from several of the Eternal me''s attacks before saying, ¡°Is that so? You sent people¡­ but won¡¯t they have to pass through here on their way back? Do you think you can take anyone away alive before this old man?¡±

    After a pause, the Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Fine, I can also tell you something to snuff your hopes out. If you can send people to the neutralnds, the Empire can do the same. The person who¡¯ll take her life should be there by now.¡±

    The Eternal me trembled. ¡°That¡¯s not right, we¡¯ve grasped the movements of all the Empire¡¯s experts. There¡¯s no way you can spare anyone for the neutralnds.¡±

    After some thought, the Eternal me gasped. ¡°The Throne of Blood!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch was somewhat surprised. ¡°The Eternal me is indeed wise, you managed to figure out the key point very quickly. Indeed, we¡¯ve asked the Throne of Blood to take action. That person probably hasn¡¯t left the neutralnds at this point. As long as she¡¯s there, she¡¯s definitely not a match for the Throne of Blood and his Shattered Moment.¡±

    The Eternal me attacked with greater ferocity. No one knew what he was thinking, but the demonkin wasn¡¯t as exasperated or panicked as the Pointer Monarch had expected.

    The old monarch fell into contemtion while blocking the enemy attacks. However, there was no other way to change the pieces that had been yed. All they could do was wait for developments.

    ¡­

    On the floating ind, everything around Nighteye had been decimated. Only that sanguine barrier was holding out against the assault of myriad light fragments¡ªbut not for very long.

    The Throne of Blood¡¯s gaze darted about. ¡°Lasting for so long against three shots from the Shattered Moment, Your Majesty¡¯s fame is well deserved. Unfortunately, my grand magnum will im its prize if no one¡¯s here to save you.¡±

    It was at this time that a beam of green light appeared through the void and shot toward the Throne of Blood. Screaming loudly, thetter spat a drop of gem-like blood which sted toward the iing beam.

    The green light was shattered by the gem, but the red stone also lost its luster and returned to the vampire¡¯s body. The exchange had ended in a draw.

    Just as the Throne of Blood was dealing with the green beam, arge hand emerged from the void and dragged Nighteye out from the storm of light fragments.

    The fragments of Shattered Moment weren¡¯t about to give up, but the hand flicked out a ball of green light where it had appeared, attracting all the fragments toward it. In the blink of an eye, the fragments had rolled up into a ball of prismatic ss shards.

    With a loud explosion, the fragments soon flew out in all directions with lethal force.

    One of the fragments grazed past the Throne of Blood himself. He turned his face away to evade the shard, but it still left a streak of red, whence a drop of blood seeped out and dripped down.

    The Throne of Blood paid no heed to that injury and only stared forward.

    A middle-aged man walked out from behind Nighteye. He looked gentle and elegant down to his gaze, not possessing the slightest bit of killing intent.

    The Throne¡¯s gazended on the man¡¯s right hand. It was this hand that had saved Nighteye from mortal danger and ignited the remaining power of Shattered Moment.

    That person had paid a price as well, with fresh blood dripping down from his fingertips. It was just that the blood was green.

 Chapter 1140: Its Useful

    <h4>Chapter 1140: It''s Useful</h4>

    The Throne of Blood¡¯s pupils constricted. ¡°Azure King!¡±

    To the younger generation, or even those in their middle ages, this name was somewhat of a hazy memory. After all, the Azure King was just a legend who showed up even more seldom than the Queen of the Night.

    The Throne of Blood could barely count as a middle-aged vampire. Considering his status and strength, he knew quite a bit about the vampire race¡¯s history. His expression transformed time and again as he saw the dripping green blood. In the end, he gazed deeply into Nighteye¡¯s pupils and left without a single word.

    His departure was decisive and direct¡ªeven though he held the Shattered Moment, even though the neutralnds was his home ground.

    The Azure King and Nighteye had no intention of stopping him, either.

    It seemed as though Nighteye was the only one the Azure King cared about. He paid no heed to the bleeding wound on his hand and merely looked at her with a smile.

    Nighteye watched as the Throne of Blood disappeared entirely before the frostiness in her eyes dispersed a bit. ¡°You guys actually tolerated him for so many years?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no helping it. Most of our secret arts are ineffective against him, even Medanzo couldn¡¯t do anything to him in the neutralnds. The other races are actually quite happy to watch our predicament, so no one will truly help us. We can¡¯t let Her Majesty do the work herself, can we? Of course, we¡¯ll have a new option before long.¡±

    Azure King¡¯s voice was clear, gentle, and free of all worldly attachments, almost like a limpid crystal. This was a stark difference from the inherent aggressiveness of most peak experts.

    Nighteye kept staring in the direction of the Throne of Blood. ¡°I am myself, not anyone from the past.¡±

    ¡°Understood, no one will force you in this regard.¡±

    Nighteye still didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°What are you still waiting for?¡± the Azure King urged gently.

    Nighteye nced at his hand¡ªblood was slowly dripping out, and the wound didn¡¯t look like it would heal anytime soon.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to treat the wound?¡±

    ¡°An injury caused by Shattered Moment isn¡¯t that easy to deal with. It¡¯ll take too much time if I do it here. I¡¯ll just go into deep slumber after I escort you back, and it¡¯ll heal naturally.¡±

    Nighteye finally looked up and met the Azure King¡¯s eyes. His gaze was as pure as crystal, with a hint of green, and it seemed like his eyes were also smiling whenever his lips smiled.

    ¡°Shattered Moment is indeed a difficult opponent, so we can¡¯t drag on. You must¡¯ve spent a good deal of your lifespan bying here, even more now that you¡¯re wounded. Heal yourself, I¡¯ll wait.¡±

    The Azure King said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re not waiting for me. You¡¯re just hoping someone else will appear.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already learned some things about you beforeing here. I know what you¡¯re thinking, but it¡¯s already meaningless now.¡±

    ChapterMid();

    ¡°Why so?¡±

    The Azure King sighed. ¡°How can someone as proud as you be willing to suffer such mistreatment?¡±

    ¡°I told you I am myself!¡±

    ¡°What difference does it make?¡±

    The Azure King¡¯s question left Nighteye dumbstruck.

    He continued, ¡°Seeing you feels like seeing her. No, don¡¯t be angry, I¡¯m not saying you¡¯re the same person, but you two are alike in many aspects, your dignity for instance.¡±

    ¡°Dignity...¡±

    ¡°Dignity.¡±

    ¡°Has my dignity been sullied?¡±

    ¡°As far as I know, yes.¡±

    Nighteye smiled faintly. ¡°Why do I not feel that way?¡±

    ¡°Shall I try to exin?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The Azure King removed his smile and, for the first time, said in a serious tone, ¡°From the information avable to me, there¡¯s a rumor in the Empire that two geniuses will be born to the Empire. And their father is the same person... Qianye.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with me?¡±

    The Azure King said, ¡°These Imperialspletely ignored you when they did their scheming.¡±

    Nighteye turned around to face the Azure King and uttered word by word, ¡°That man has nothing to do with me anymore! He¡¯s just the lover of my pre-awakened consciousness.¡±

    The Azure King wore an indifferent smile over his slightly pained expression. ¡°You¡¯ve awakened, but you¡¯re not her. I know that all too well.¡±

    Nighteye revealed some astonishment for the first time. ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡±

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t be wrong.¡± The Azure King¡¯s gentle voice was irrefutably firm.

    Nighteye neither exined nor denied anything, merely looking on with a puzzled expression.

    ¡°If you really are her, then you would know why I can tell.¡± The Azure King¡¯s exnation didn¡¯t sound like an exnation at all. He sounded awkward and seemed to have no intention of continuing. ¡°That aside, those humans have tried to capture you more than just once. Now, they want to kill you directly.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re vampires and they are humans, it¡¯s normal to kill one another.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± The Azure King didn¡¯t argue this time, and his tone was fairly gentle.

    Time went by in silence. The gentle sound of dripping blood was exceptionally crisp in the void.

    The Azure King¡¯s bleeding wound showed no signs of healing. The blood flowing down his sleeves had turned into a small puddle on the ground. This green blood didn¡¯t freeze in the deep cold of the void and was rippling like an evergreenke.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The Azure King couldn¡¯t believe his ears. He was prepared to stay until thest moment if she wasn¡¯t willing to leave.

    Nighteye took a deep breath, a sanguine me lighting up in the depths of her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve endured far too long.¡±

    It was hard to tell if the Azure King was worried or delighted. It was almost as though all of his emotions were drained when he asked that question. He followed Nighteye toward a warship in the void and, with a wave of his hand, wiped away all traces of the wooden hut¡¯s existence.

    There was only a puddle of green blood on the ind.

    ...

    In a different part of the void, the battle between the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs was still ongoing. The longer the battle went on, the calmer the Pointer Monarch became. He was fairly patient, and it seemed as though he could keep on fighting until the end of time.

    This proved his determination to fight a protracted battle and block the path out of the neutralnds. If Nighteye wanted to leave the area, she would have to do so under the monarch¡¯s watch. With energy left to spare, he could thenunch an earth-shattering attack to injure or even kill Nighteye.

    Having fought for so long, it was actually the experts on the Evernight side who were growing restless. It was bing hard for them to hide their emotions.

    Noxus and Medanzo increased the momentum of their attacks quite noticeably, but the princes and grand dukes didn¡¯t have the same n.

    This was especially true because Zhang Boqian had charged at them again. His target was Habsburg, but the other princes scattered frantically from the shock. They only sought to restrain the target from a great distance and would flee at the slightest breeze. The efficiency was questionable, but it was still better than nothing.

    Clearly, their little lives mattered more than the actual objective. No amount of caution was enough against a fierce person like Zhang Boqian.

    Noxus and Medanzo grew increasingly impatient, so much so that thetterunched numerous risky attacks.

    Zhang Boqian was already at a disadvantage, to begin with, and was only holding out with intimidation. Now that the two great dark monarchs were no longer holding back, things started to turn quite exhausting.

    Zhang Boqian quickly changed his tactics, roaming about the battlefield, and only engaging in defensive moves. His movement through the void was almost unparalleled, and the Evernight experts could do nothing against his evasion and defense.

    Noxus and Medanzo¡¯s urgency proved something.

    The Pointer Monarch had already gained the upper hand, attacking the Eternal me constantly until there were sparks flying out in all directions. ¡°Your Excellency, you shouldn¡¯t be so impatient. This isn¡¯t the only path between the Twilight Continent and the neutralnds, why would you need to risk your life for it? Could it be that the news I got was correct, and that person is really passing through here? Don¡¯t be nervous even if that¡¯s the case, you can just send a message, asking that person to take the long way around. Why are you so stubborn?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch made it sound easy, but everyone knew how difficult it was to transmit messages through the void. It was almost impossible to contact a departed airship before it had reached its destination. Even though top experts might have certain secret methods, there was no way they could be used during an intense battle like this.

    At this rate, it was very likely that Nighteye would run into the Pointer Monarch and, judging from the Evernight monarchs¡¯ behavior, the time was fairly close.

    Changing the route at this point was no longer possible.

    Just as the Evernight monarchs were in a difficult position, Habsburg¡¯s figure flickered and appeared at a certain position.

    Being at the height of their battle, the two great dark monarchs and one heavenly monarch couldn¡¯t pay that much attention to the princes and grand dukes, and Habsburg¡¯s direction looked like he was fleeing the battle. The peak experts, with their powerful perception, immediately noticed the abnormality of his action.

    The next scene shook everyone¡ªNoxus and Medanzo suddenly realized that they had lost their opponent as Zhang Boqian appeared close to where Habsburg had moved to. The heavenly monarch lost the initiative since he hadn''t expected Habsburg to arrive in advance.

    Habsburg could predict Zhang Boqian¡¯s movements?

    Just as everyone was shocked, Zhang Boqian reacted directly and tyrannically.

    ¡°Courting death.¡± With a chill in his gaze, heunched a square punch to the opponent¡¯s chest.

    At the very beginning of the battle, Prince Greensun had attacked and killed a grand duke with such an ordinary attack. Now that this move had appeared again, everyone could tell that he was ready to kill.

    Habsburg didn¡¯t flee. He raised his hand to block the attack, a mysterious projection flickering in and out of existence as he did so.

    Habsburg was pushed back ten or so meters, while Zhang Boqian remained standing in ce. The former turned pale for a moment before recovering.

    He could actually block an all-out attack from Zhang Boqian? Everyone was shaken, and a flickering ze lit up in the depths of Medanzo¡¯s eyes. He was probably the only one who knew what that projection was.

    That was the seal from the River of Blood.

    Having failed to kill the enemy in one blow, Zhang Boqian''s fighting intent surged rapidly. With a crisp howl, his long hair flew up behind him as he gave chase.

    However, Habsburg avoided a direct confrontation at all costs. Releasing his blood domain, he cried out, ¡°How long are you going to waste time here?¡±

    Zhang Boqian sneered. ¡°Trying to scare me with words? Is that even useful?¡±

    Habsburg opened his palm in front of Zhang Boqian. ¡°Look at this.¡±

 Chapter 1141: Which Trade-Piece?

    <h4>Chapter 1141: Which Trade-Piece?</h4>

    Noxus was already charging in this direction, but even someone as powerful as he was couldn¡¯t clearly see what that thing in Habsburg¡¯s hand was. From a distance, it looked like a ball of hazy flowing light.

    What exactly was it that had shaken Zhang Boqian so much?

    Habsburg turned toward Noxus and gestured for him not to get close. At the same time, the arachne sensed a powerful aura contact him from afar. This was usually a greeting between two friendly dark race experts. This was overstepping on Habsburg¡¯s part, even if he was a crown prince and a big shot in the council.

    Noxus still slowed down nheless. His instincts were telling him that the sudden development was extremely abnormal. Additionally, the strength Habsburg had disyed just now was shocking, and that caused Noxus to hesitate whether he should charge into the other party¡¯s domain.

    What were the vampires nning? Just as Noxus was thinking about that, he noticed that Medanzo wasn¡¯t following him closely. Instead, he was floating over from a hundred meters away.

    The arachne warlord came to a sudden stop. He nced cautiously at Medanzo, but the Lightless Monarch seemed ignorant as he drifted steadily to the Noxus¡¯ side.

    With Noxus immobile, Medanzo naturally wouldn¡¯t charge over alone, and the other princes and dukes were even less inclined to do so.

    Zhang Boqian asked, ¡°How did you get this image?¡±

    Habsburg replied, ¡°That¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is that the image is the truth.¡±

    The sphere of light flowed quietly in Hasburg¡¯s hand, and even the two great dark monarchs couldn¡¯t tell what was so special about it.

    Zhang Boqian, however, saw a white-haired man in simple clothing looking over at him. The image was so vivid that even the hems and creases of his clothes, even the most minute expression on his face, seemed like they were within reach.

    The scene was so realistic that it felt like the observer was there in person. Zhang Boqian could even sense Lin Xitang¡¯s aura fading in and out of existence. The man¡¯s gaze was as still as ake¡¯s surface but withering in vitality, and his limbs had clearly lost the ability to make big movements.

    When did Lin Xitang be so weak? Or could it be that he had never let outsiders see him in such a state?

    Zhang Boqian shifted his gaze and was shocked when he noticed the unique scenery outside of the long windows.

    He couldn¡¯t be bothered to disguise things. ¡°He¡¯s in the Divination Pavilion!?¡±

    ¡°Where else?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the one ce he shouldn¡¯t be at!¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t loud, but the killing intent in his tone washed over Habsburg like the tides. The Divination Pavilion was an important location used forrge-scale divinations and sacrificial ceremonies. A single person would not be able to use his divination arts there because of the many restrictions ced upon the ce; every ceremony required a blood sacrifice.

    How could anyone withstand an angry attack from Prince Greensun, even if it was just his suppressive might? Habsburg didn¡¯t dare meet the blow head-on, either. He quickly retracted the projection and backed off somewhat.

    ¡°You know whether this is true or false, some things simply cannot be imitated. What do you say? Will you keep on fighting us here?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°What¡¯s Lin Xitang¡¯s condition now?¡±

    ¡°How should I know? But I think he¡¯s still alive.¡±

    ¡°You think!?¡±

    Habsburg smiled calmly. ¡°Princes Greensun, you seem to be venting in the wrong ce. I¡¯ve always been worried about Marshal Lin¡¯s lifespan because of his refusal to break through. But looking at him now, it looks like he won¡¯tst until the end of the year, let alone the decade.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Zhang Boqian chopped down with his palm. Several beams of lightning formed a barrier, smashing toward Habsburg.

    The prepared vampire prince retreated even farther away. The scarlet blood energy shrouded in golden specks was his famous domain, ¡°Twilight Nation¡±, with which he dissolved half the lightning and evaded the rest.

    ¡°His current situation has nothing to do with me. Several months ago, our prophets said that a great change wasing over your Imperial pce. It seems they were referring to Marshal Lin. Is even the great Prince Greensun helpless? Do the heavenly monarchs of the Empire have no choice but to lower their heads?¡±

    A light flickered through Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes. ¡°There¡¯s no need to sow discord, such words be meaningless when spoken in excess. I, of course, have people and things I must be wary of, but I have no misgivings about this matter!¡±

    He left with a shake of his sleeve, but Habsburg called him back, ¡°Wait!¡±

    ¡°What did you want to say?¡±

    ¡°Please tell Marshal Lin that no matter what he has nned, everything will change with the arrival of the new world. Tell him that he¡¯ll face a meaningless defeat if he can¡¯t let go of the bigger divination picture.¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied directly, ¡°I won¡¯t pass your message to him. Lin Xitang will make his own choices.¡±

    ¡°Prince Greensun, you¡¯re willing to seek the help of a forbidden technique yet not willing to dissuade Marshal Lin from making a meaningless sacrifice?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°It¡¯s not your ce to talk about what goes on between me and him.¡±

    Habsburg said after some silence, ¡°The Council is also made up of many powers. Some want Her Majesty back, others favor the benefits we can gain from the Empire. Prince Greensun, you must be careful along the way.¡±

    Zhang Boqain said calmly, ¡°No one else can stop me but the three Supremes.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too conceited.¡±

    Zhang Boqian looked deeply into Habsburg¡¯s eyes. ¡°Whatever the case, I¡¯ll remember this.¡±

    ¡°No need to thank me, I only want to escort Her Majesty back safely. We won¡¯t be able to do that if you¡¯re around,¡± Habsburg said with augh.

    Nodding, Zhang Boqian left just like that. He had no interest in the identity of the person in question. Meanwhile, a shocked Pointer Monarch almost took a blow from the Eternal me.

    ¡°Boqian, what are you doing?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s silhouette moved away ever so slightly, but he ultimately stopped and turned around. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know what has happened in the capital?¡±

    At this point, Noxus and Medanzo had noticed the change. They held back from attacking Zhang Boqian, which prompted the other experts to follow suit. Habsburg stood in the distance, ready to watch the good show.

    The Pointer Monarch replied while counterattacking, ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Then why would you bring me here to intercept this mystery person?¡±

    ¡°This matter is of the utmost importance, far above anything else. Besides, there¡¯s a priority to everything¡ªwhatever happens at the Imperial Capital is an internal affair, not something we heavenly monarchs should take sides in.¡±

    Heavenly Monarchs neither led soldiers nor meddled in politics. Their influence behind the scenes was inevitable, but even the most power-hungry Longevity Monarch had never jumped into the spotlight before.

    Zhang Boqian snorted. ¡°No rush? No taking sides? Are you not going to care even when things are so chaotic?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch frowned. ¡°The conflicts at capital have always existed. How can itpare to the current business? If we don¡¯t stop that person, Evernight will gain an expertparable to those on the Sacred Mountain. At that time, the entire power bnce will break down and we¡¯ll regret this day.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said coldly, ¡°Whether Evernight gains an expert or loses an expert, that¡¯s their business. What happens in the Empire is ours.¡±

    ¡°But these two things are happening at the same time. We naturally have toe here after weighing the pros and cons.¡±

    Zhang Boqian closed his eyes. ¡°That means those in the pce are trade-pieces for this person you¡¯re trying to intercept. That¡¯s quite the exchange.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°Evernight never gave us a choice. What happened at the pce is bound to happen. The Evernight faction is busy splitting the spoils after their holy-war truce. Otherwise, we won¡¯t even have a chance at intercepting this person. We only need to wait half a day¡­¡±

    The Pointer Monarch was tactful with his words, but Zhang Boqian wasn¡¯t buying it. He cut the old man short, saying, ¡°The dust will have settled in half a day. In the end, it¡¯s still a trade.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°In truth, I don¡¯t know the actual details about the turmoil at the capital, but a heavenly monarch¡¯s stance in civil conflicts has to be neutral. Boqian, you were born to a major n and you¡¯ve always been a leader, but the nobility having too much power over the Imperial party isn¡¯t beneficial to the Empire.¡±

    Zhang Boqian realized the meaning hidden in these words. Was the Pointer Monarch afraid that he would support the nobility and suppress the Imperial party? He couldn¡¯t help but break out in augh. ¡°The nobility suppressing the Imperial party? I think it¡¯s more the Emperor trying to purge ministers with great authority, is it not?¡±

    The two switched to daybreak origin power transmissions when they reached this part of the topic, preventing the other experts from hearing them. The Evernight experts seemed to be understanding as well. They opted not to disturb the exchange, and even the Eternal me slowed down his attacks, allowing the Pointer Monarch to maintain his slight advantage.

    The more this happened, the more the Pointer Monarch realized the reason.

    The Evernight Council had prepared several contingency ns. Since they had already persuaded Zhang Boqian, attacking at this point might have a negative effect instead. The three great dark monarchs were from different races, to begin with, and were wary of one another. None of them wanted to fight to the death against a heavenly monarch.

    The Pointer Monarch simply stopped fighting and appeared before Zhang Boqian. As expected, the demonkin dark great monarch didn¡¯t stop him.

    At this point, the person closest to the two heavenly monarchs was now Habsburg. He wasn¡¯t flustered because of that, though, and merely retreated with a smile and a bow. This time, he pulled back all the way out of attack range.

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Boqian, we only need to hold this ce for another day and that person will surely pass by here. We¡¯ll be able to rid the Empire of a hundred-year cmity. Even if we can only injure her, we can prevent the terrifying growth she¡¯ll go through once the new world opens up. Additionally, all of Evernight¡¯s experts who canmand troops are here. If we restrain them here, the war on the void continent will feel less pressure. They can take this opportunity to take down the continent in one go,ying down the foundation for the Empire¡¯s resurgence.¡±

    Zhang Boqian could already confirm that the Pointer Monarch really might not know the details. To a heavenly monarch, the conflicts of the Imperial court were just children¡¯s games, and it made no difference to them which party was in power. A heavenly monarch was an aloof existence who would only watch the greater picture between Daybreak and Evernight.

    Zhang Boqian suddenly lost interest in arguing with the Pointer Monarch. He said mockingly, ¡°I really have no idea which major character convinced you to agree to this fight without knowing who we¡¯re sacrificing. Maybe even if you knew, you would think sacrificing Lin Xitang isn¡¯t a problem. Oh, there must be a lot of benefits to be reaped regarding the void continent, right?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch was astonished to hear Lin Xitang¡¯s name. As one of the four great ministers the previous Emperor had appointed¡ªmarshal, leader of the cab, and the number one divination expert of the Empire¡ªLin Xitang¡¯s position was only below one person. He was probably among the top ten in the Empire in terms of authority.

    However, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s expression turned solemn. ¡°The war between Evernight and the Empire is the bigger picture. Whoever gets caught in it will be pulverized, and that includes you, me, and Lin Xitang. It won¡¯t be a surprise if we die in battle!¡±

    ¡°Dying in battle cannot bepared to dying to a scheme!¡±

    ¡°Boqian, trading Lin Xitang for the void continent and an expert who might very well ascend the Sacred Mountain, isn¡¯t it worth it?¡±

    Zhang Boqian stared deeply at the monarch. ¡°I have never been amander and never wanted to be one, so I¡¯ve never schemed or nned. You might say this trade is worth it, but to me, Lin Xitang is a rival and arade. He may be many things, but he¡¯s never a chess piece! So what if the Evernight side gains an expert? If we must cut off an arm just because we¡¯re afraid of that, how will we ever topple them?¡±

    ¡°Boqian¡­¡±

    ¡°Speak no more. I am a warrior who does not understandplicated logic. I will fight that person in the void if they be sessful in the future, but if you¡¯re going to stop me again today, don¡¯t me me for not seeing the bigger picture.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch was hesitant, but Zhang Boqian had no intention of conversing further. His clothes red up and mist clouds appeared around him in the void. This was a sign that he was about to fully deploy his domain and pass through forcibly.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s expression changed repeatedly, but all he could do was step aside with a sigh.

    Zhang Boqian paused momentarily as he brushed past the monarch. Without turning back, he said, ¡°You never said who the target was, but I can already guess by now. In this regard, some people in the Empire are truly despicable in their actions. Why would we do that if we knew something like this would happen today?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°Now that things have reached this stage, what else can we do but nip the problem at the bud? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re hoping she¡¯ll be so benevolent in the future?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said after some silence, ¡°Elder Prince, you weren¡¯t like this back then.¡±

    ¡°That year¡­¡± The Pointer Monarch¡¯s smile seemed tainted with the passing years. ¡°Ji Wentian is no more since the day she left. Now, I am but a heavenly monarch of the human race, doing what¡¯s best for our race with these old bones.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s what you¡¯re thinking, you should cut off that venomous tumor taking root in the capital instead of intercepting this target.¡±

    Even the Pointer Monarch found it difficult to meet Zhang Boqian¡¯s razor-sharp gaze. He turned slightly away before saying with a wry smile, ¡°Venomous tumor, huh, that description is too urate.¡±

    Zhang Boqian stepped away without replying and soon vanished into the depths of the void. However, a gigantic shadow appeared in the void in front of him.

 Chapter 1142: The Spider Queenâ€™s Tea

    <h4>Chapter 1142: The Spider Queen¡¯s Tea</h4>

    Even someone of Zhang Boqian¡¯s ability had to stop when he saw this shadow.

    The shadow drew closer and closer until it gradually took the shape of a giant spider. Just its body alone was bigger than thergest warship. The boundless void was so vast that the world felt like a piece of paper inparison, yet this shadow¡¯s presence seemed to blot out the skies and cover up the earth. This was a mysterious feeling in the void.

    Compared to the thousand-meter arachnid shadow, Zhang Boqian was as small as a speck of dust. Yet he only seemed serious and cautious, not fearful.

    ¡°This monarch is honored by the Spider Queen¡¯s arrival. You must¡¯ve been waiting for quite a while?¡±

    It was actually one of the three Supremes of the Sacred Mountain, the Spider Queen! Her leaving the Crystal Kingdom would be an event that would shake the entire Evernight world. Hence, this was likely her clone or projection.

    A female face emerged on the giant shadowy spider. Her appearance was beautiful, but after some thought, one would find that there was no word to describe or praise her¡ªonly the breathtaking impression of the moment remained in one¡¯s consciousness.

    What appeared afterward was a ck-robe with purple hems. It was studded with tinum and silver emblems, depicting various arachne in different poses. The dress covered her down to the ankles, but strangely enough, one could still sense her perfect curves with great rity¡­

    Her cold voice contained a hint of hoarseness, but there was a strange stickiness to it. Hearing her voice filled one with an inexplicable sensation, almost like an itch breaking out from deep inside.

    ¡°I waited for two days.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a rare urrence for someone of your status.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s worth it even if I have to wait a couple more days for Prince Greensun.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you have wasted your time if I never appeared?¡±

    ¡°If you didn¡¯t appear, then our n would have seeded. How is that a waste of time?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s gaze turned cold. ¡°But I¡¯m here now!¡±

    The Spider Queen wasn¡¯t angry, though. With a wave of her hand, a tea table and two mats appeared in the void.

    ¡°I heard you human experts like drinking tea. I happen to have a pot of good tea that was left behind by your Martial Ancestor, aged for several hundred years in the caverns of time. As for the tea set, it was carved from the bones of a void colossus and likely a good fit for someone of your status. Why don¡¯t we sit down and discuss some things over tea?¡±

    ¡°What do you want to discuss?¡± Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t act out immediately.

    The Spider Queen walked out from the giant spider shadow and sat down before the tea table. Her clothing style should¡¯ve stuck out like a sore thumbpared to the tea set and table, but it didn¡¯t look at all out of ce at the moment. Her style was carefree and rxed, without a hint of pressure belonging to the Sacred Mountain.

    ¡°There are many things we can discuss. No one knows what will happen when the new world opens up. Although the Evernight Council has decided to stop the holy war, the ten-thousand years of enmity between the four major races can only be held back temporarily. How can anyone forget? So, there¡¯s definitely space for cooperation, just like many of your race are already doing.¡±

    ¡°Who are these people?¡± Zhang Boqian asked. He had noticed a double meaning in the Spider Queen¡¯s words¡ªone was that the Evernight faction didn¡¯t understand much about this legendary new world, and the other was that they hadn''t rxed after the temporary halt on the holy war. On the contrary, they were even more cautious against one another.

    The Spider Queen chuckled. ¡°That I don¡¯t think I can tell you. It¡¯s naturally those smart people who want to be in certain ces and take advantage of the situation. Especially the descendants of Lilith and Kane, they think they are the favored children of the darkness. But howe you humans have expanded to your current state in just a thousand years? Maybe after another thousand years, your race will have a seat on the Sacred Mountain!¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about trading pieces?¡± Zhang Boqian scoffed.

    The Spider Queen didn¡¯t understand his reaction. ¡°That word is something we learned from you humans. If Prince Greensun wants to y trade, I¡¯m fine as long as it isn¡¯t from our race.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re willing to take such a clear loss?¡±

    The Spider Queen chuckled. ¡°Why not? The demonkin and vampires have been using my descendants to exchange for favors. They really went too far during the battle at the void continent. They actually touched the foundations of my Crystal Legion. Now that the holy war has stopped, I don¡¯t want to offend Lilith¡¯s group openly. All I can do is look for you people in order to get even with them. Who else can be a better candidate for a deal than Prince Greensun?¡±

    Zhang Boqian frowned. ¡°What merits do I have?¡±

    ¡°A lot! For instance, there¡¯s no one you can¡¯t finish off in the void as long as I provide the information. I can also provide you with things you urgently need, that way, you won¡¯t go back on the agreement. Also¡­¡±

    ¡°No need to continue, I won¡¯t be working with the dark races.¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s reply was decisive and resolute, making no exception just because the one across from him was a supreme of the Sacred Mountain. He didn¡¯t express it, but he was indeed slightly moved. Something he urgently needed? What could that be?¡±

    The Spider Queen¡¯s appearance had been utterly weird and unlike their race¡¯s usual straightforward methods. If she were seeking outside allies due to the dangerous shift in power bnce within their faction, who had managed to persuade her? Who could even incite her?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s reply didn¡¯t discourage the Spider Queen. She changed her posture, propping her elbow and chin on raised knees as she said with a smile, ¡°Prince Greensun should think about it. This is something beneficial to your race, so why wouldn¡¯t you do it? Isn¡¯t there a saying in your race that the end justifies the means?¡±

    ¡°There are some things one should and shouldn¡¯t do. How can I ignore the methods just to get results? If I do that, how will I be any different from those lowlifes?¡±

    ¡°From your races¡¯ perspective, that can¡¯t be considered vile, can it? Striving for the race¡¯s benefit is a virtuous cause. As for some personal gains that happen along the way, it¡¯s rather understandable.¡±

    Zhang Boqian replied calmly, ¡°No need to talk about this again, it¡¯s impossible.¡±

    The Spider Queen replied as though she didn¡¯t know anger, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s talk about the terms then. If Prince Greensun is willing to sit with me and finish this cup of tea, I¡¯ll gift you a demonkin fleet led by a grand duke. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t be able to escape your grasp as long as I give you their whereabouts.¡±

    ¡°So generous, huh?¡±

    ¡°This is just interest for my children. Of course, it¡¯s also fine if you want the vampires, it¡¯s just that they¡¯ve increased the number of active great dark monarchs. What about it, will you think about it? Besides, we¡¯ve already spoken for so long, you only need to sit here a while longer.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said calmly, ¡°We both know why you¡¯re here and why I¡¯m here. Though, I must admit I never imagined that a supreme would actually take action from afar. I was talking to you all this time in order to recover my origin power and force you to make way. Thank you for the tea, but I like wine more.¡±

    The smile on the Spider Queen¡¯s face disappeared. ¡°Prince Greensun, must you pass no matter what?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡± Zhang Boqian sneered.

    The Spider Queen revealed a reluctant expression. ¡°Prince Greensun is powerful, but you¡¯re still too young. Even though I¡¯m just a projection, you have virtually no chance of defeating me in half a day. I must see how you intend on passing!¡±

    Zhang Boqian said in a serious tone, ¡°Then don¡¯t me me for being rude!¡±

    He stood up and took a step forward, shing down at the Spider Queen with his palm! A dazzling light lit up at his fingertips as the palm-de descended, leaving a scorching trail behind. That trail revealed its true form upon extendingpletely, and it was actually a half-illusory sword made of light.

    A series of whistling sounds echoed in the void as the attack was about to appear. The formless sound waves spread out rapidly, causing the giant spider shadow that was shrouding the area to tremble slightly.

    The Spider Queen¡¯s expression froze. Zhang Boqian had attacked with unprecedented momentum from the get-go.

    The heavenly monarch would die if she could block this attack, but the spider projection would be destroyed if she could not. There was no third possibility!

    No, there had to be a third possibility.

    The Spider Queen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change much. Countless thoughts ran through her mind, but in the end, she got up elegantly before the tea table.

    This movement was clearly performed while standing in ce, but the entire space seemed to have shifted. There was no longer any obstruction in Zhang Boqian¡¯s path.

    The whistling stopped abruptly as the heavenly monarch retracted his palm de. The origin power ripples expanding wildly through the void vanished without a trace.

    Even the Spider Queen had to raise her brows at the level of control.

    Just as Zhang Boqian was about to disappear, the Spider Queen said, ¡°Zhang Boqian, are you willing to throw away even your life?¡±

    Zhang Boqian smiled indifferently without turning back. ¡°Of course not, it¡¯s just that you¡¯re more valuable than I am.¡±

    The Spider Queen finally revealed an angry smile, but she simply couldn''t trade her projection for Zhang Boqian. Now that great changes were imminent, it was the most dangerous time for every race. She couldn¡¯t risk losing any power.

    The Spider Queen stood in the void and watched Zhang Boqian travel further away. She sighed softly all of a sudden, washing away all of her visible emotions with it. That beautiful robed figure almost looked like an exquisite doll, devoid of any vital aura.

    ¡­

    In a different part of the void, a high-speed airship was jumping out from the darkness toward a rendezvous point, where a small but impressive fleet was waiting.

    The captain stared momentarily at the terrifying shadow behind the fleet through his binocrs. ¡°Send a signal, seeking permission to approach.¡±

    Soon after the corvette sent the signal, a bright light shed back from that unforgettably sleek battlecruiser. That was a signal that the other party could approach.

    The captain nced doubtfully at the distant Martyr¡¯s Pce. Although there were only three cutting-edge battlecruisers in the Empire, and most captains had never even set foot on one, he was more interested in going aboard the legendary Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Qianye and his Martyr¡¯s Pce had almost single-handedly turned the battle around outside of the void continent. Just as the Minister of the Right was about to admit defeat, the dragonship had appeared out of nowhere, destroying two duke-grade gships and forcing back the Evernight reinforcements.

    In the contribution report to the Emperor, the Minister of the Right actually attributed four parts to the vanguard fleet and six parts to Qianye, Song Zining, and Dark me. Some generals believed that it wouldn¡¯t be too excessive to credit eight parts of the victory to Qianye, but the Minister of the Right was a veteran politician. He knew that the vanguard fleet had taken severe damage, so it would reflect poorly on the Imperial court if the difference in rewards was too great. A four-six split was a sweet spot where the court wouldn¡¯t dispute the results and the powerhouses of the Imperial Guard wouldn¡¯tsh back.

    Although the official memorandum stated thus, the Imperial Guard soldiers who had taken part in the battle knew what exactly had happened. As veterans, they knew even better how difficult it was to destroy a duke-grade gship. This was evidenced by how the Imperial fleet had bombarded the two gships at a slight advantage but still couldn¡¯t destroy them. On the contrary, the enemy had almost turned the tables on them.

    After the battle, the Martyr¡¯s Pce became epted as the Empire¡¯s number one warship. There were rumors that it might even be more powerful than the Emperor¡¯s gship.

    That was also the reason why every sailor longed to board the Martyr¡¯s Pce and have a look for themselves.

    But a legendary warship like that wouldn¡¯t just let anyone get on, and the captain was mentally prepared for that. He suppressed the regret in his heart as he lined up with the battlecruiser and passed a sealed box into Song Zining¡¯s hands.

    Song Zining was about to see the captain off after checking that the seal was intact when an attendant said, ¡°Seventh Young Master, I¡¯ll stay behind to help you.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. The shocked captain roared, ¡°Are you crazy? Who allowed you to speak!?¡±

    The attendant ignored the captain and made a hand gesture at Song Zining.

    After a momentary daze, Song Zining issued an order to his subordinates. ¡°Bring General Liu inside to rest. The men he has brought must be tired as well, take them all inside to rest. Divide some crew from the corvettes to take over General Liu¡¯s airship.¡±

    The captain surnamed Liu was shocked out of his wits, but he was dragged away and ced under house arrest, kicking and cursing all the while.

    Song Zining then dismissed his men, leaving only him and that attendant in the room. ¡°We can¡¯t hide the fact that we¡¯ve detained an Imperial warship for very long.¡±

    The attendantughed. ¡°Other people might not be able to, but you surely have a way. Besides, the void is so vast and the war is so chaotic. Who knows when the Imperial Guard will find out that one of their warships is missing. The war will be over by that time, so what¡¯s there to worry about?¡±

    Song Zining stared at the attendant for a good while. He then sighed. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get down to business. What is the Empress¡¯mand?¡±

    ¡°The Empress didn¡¯t say anything. She only asked me to go over and watch.¡±

    ¡°Go over andwatch?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What were her exact words?¡±

    ¡°Those are her exact words, nothing else.¡± The attendant shrugged.

    Song Zining paced about with his hands behind his back, silently digesting the words.

 Chapter 1143: Latest Plan

    <h4>Chapter 1143: Latest n</h4>

    Go over and watch.

    This was Empress Li¡¯s wish. The words were fairly simple, but it forced Song Zining to ponder repeatedly. What did she want to see? Thinking deeper, what must he show her and what must he not?

    What kind of role did the Empress and the Li family y in this war? The Empress¡¯ family and the powerful ministers were archenemies in certain areas. There had been very little news of Marshal Lin since the Great Maelstrom¡ªwas he well and safe? The Imperial Guard had mobilized arge part of its forces, which meant that the Longevity Monarch had to have approved, and greater numbers from the Imperial n were also joining the fight. The Minister of the Right was indeed quite skilled to be able to coordinate all these powers and keep them in bnce, so much so that it seemed rather strange.

    If Qianye and Song Zining had refused to take charge of this route, the next candidate would¡¯ve been Gaoyi. Why was it her? Qianye hadmented that the military was trying to target the Zhao n, but after careful thought, the deputymander was the Emperor¡¯s adult son. And Lan Xincheng¡¯s supply of military arms was all too generous... on whose side was he on?

    Thinking on, Song Zining gradually became distracted and lost inplicated thoughts. During his contemtion, he felt a sudden pain from his forehead, almost as though he had been pierced by a needle. It was so intense that his vision went nk and he reflexively covered his forehead with his palm.

    Only then did he realize that he had subconsciously utilized his divination powers. This could be considered a shoring of divination specialists, a careless reaction.

    The mysteries of heaven were surely in chaos during the war. There were also countless soldiers, generals, and powerful characters paying attention to the fight. In addition, various powers were ying a tug o''war in the dark, their divination masters and prophets disrupting one another from time to time. It was never a good idea to activate divination powers without proper skill and preparation.

    Song Zining was dazed from the bacsh, and he still had no idea which party he had bumped into. He suddenly recalled an old saying as he retracted his divination powers.

    Those who divine much, die young.

    On the surface, these words seemed to exin the dangers of divination, but on the other hand, it was hinting that the art itself was ying with fire. Those who were aplished in the field would always want to take part in every major event. These people were smart, to begin with¡ªhow could they be willing to be left out after grasping a powerful ability?

    With the world in a constantly changing state, Song Zining felt that the war on the void continent was just the tip of the iceberg. There was no way the Li family would sit out on such a grand event. Even if they didn¡¯t have any designs of their own, there would be countless powers knocking on their door and asking them to do things.

    Now that was ying with fire.

    When Song Zining looked up again, there were no longer any ripples in his eyes or any emotions on his face. He gazed at the man dressed like an attendant and asked, ¡°Where do you n to watch? You want to be here with me or with Qianye?¡±

    The attendant said with a smile, ¡°I have a choice? Of course, I pick Qianye.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°That¡¯s true, anyone would want to have a look at the Martyr¡¯s Pce. This airship might be a rare sight, but it¡¯s not one of a kind.¡±

    The attendant said, ¡°It¡¯s mainly because I heard that Qianye is very handsome!¡±

    Frowning, Song Zining¡¯s mouth fell open as he nced at the attendant. Doubtlessly, this person had disguised himself so well that ordinary experts would never see through him. Song Zining had been feigning ignorance¡ªhis n was to avoid alerting the proverbial snake and observe their intentions.

    ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±

    ¡°Now you remember to ask. It seems the seventh young master isn¡¯t as smart as they say!¡± With that, the attendant reached out to wipe his face. His body structure started to change, and his hair grew a bit longer until it reached his ears. In the blink of an eye, a beautiful and petite girl with short hair appeared before Song Zining.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was already strange when he saw the fantastic disguise-art. He was even more shocked when he saw the other party¡¯s face. ¡°Neenth Princess!?¡±

    The girl revealed a charming smile. ¡°You still remember me?¡±

    Song Zining put away his frivolity and said, ¡°I had the honor of meeting you in the Imperial gardens seven years ago. I wouldn¡¯t dare forget.¡±

    ¡°You actually recognize me? I was only ten seven years ago, and I looked very different back then. But then again, you study those divination arts. Who knows how many tricks you have up your sleeve? Just looking at you annoys me.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°The Empress and the Li family are big in the divination field. You should be careful when talking to outsiders.¡±

    Princess Neen yawned. ¡°You speak as if we¡¯re so close!¡±

    ¡°What I mean is, I¡¯m also an outsider.¡±

    Princess Neen waved her hand. ¡°Enough of that, I¡¯m heading to the Martyr¡¯s Pce anyway. Also, arrange a position close to Qianye for me. I¡¯ve long since heard that he¡¯s even more good looking than Zhao Jundu. This is a rare opportunity for me to observe him to my heart¡¯s content!¡±

    This neenth princess became more and more excited. She was like a little girl about to get her favorite toy, wanting nothing more than to go immediately.

    Song Zining¡¯s brows knitted together slightly. He didn¡¯t give this princess too much face and stared at her for a good while. Not to mention seventeen, there weren¡¯t any innocent seven-year-olds in the pce. His actions were so exaggerated that it actually became difficult to pick a quarrel.

    He went through everything he knew about the pce but couldn¡¯t recall much information rted to this neenth princess. From what he remembered, this princess¡¯ maternal family wasn¡¯t very prominent, and her mother wasn¡¯t well known among the Imperial concubines. She was an open follower of Empress Li from a young age, but recently, it became known that she possessed great talent in cultivation. Reportedly, she had been gaining status even before the Emperor.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Empress Li would actually send her here for such an important war? It was a clearw that the rear pce could not participate in politics. Even princes who hadn¡¯t been conferred a title wouldn''t be assigned to a formalbat unit in battle. What was the meaning of a princess running over to the front lines?

    Each of Empress Li¡¯s actions and words involved deep meaning and should be analyzed carefully.

    The more Song Zining thought about it, the more of a headache he felt. The current Emperor of the Great Qin stayed within the Unending Pce most of the time and rarely made public appearances. He was never known for doting on his children, so the princes and princesses didn¡¯t enjoy that much of a presence. Without a prominent maternal family, they would hardly be recognized. And Song Zining couldn¡¯t quite divine the Neenth Princess since she was still of royal blood.

    Since there was no point in too much thought, Song Zining simply decided to let things be. He summoned his attendants and ordered them to arrange a shuttle, on which the two of them headed toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The small shuttle soon arrived safely at the pce. The Neenth Princess was like a kid who had entered a park; everything seemed like a new experience for her.

    Since the Martyr¡¯s Pce had already entered public eyes, Qianye and Song Zining picked out a group of reliable and loyal crew members to man the various sentry posts. At this point, there were technicians, cannoneers, sailors, and warriors¡ªover a thousand people in total on the airship. However, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was so big that the interior looked fairly spacious and empty.

    Song Zining arrived at themand center, which was located in the dragon¡¯s head. This ce was so much bigger than themand center on the battlecruiser. The dragonship was no longer the crude construct it was before. Now, there was a separate staff officer room,mand room, war room, etc., and there was a group of officers hard at work within. Some of these officers came from the Empire, and a part of them was from Ningyuan Heavy Industries.

    Battles in outer space required staff officers of a certain level. Dark me¡¯s officers weren¡¯t well-trained enough for the job.

    Within a specialized war room, Qianye was observing a map that was covered in dense markings. The map was split into two halves, with the first being the initial battle n, and the other was Song Zining¡¯s version. Qianye wasparing the two and studying everything in detail.

    Qianye and Song Zining were experts with powerful instincts. Yet they were clueless despite feeling that something was off¡ªthat wasn¡¯t a good sign.

    Song Zining knocked on the door and, after hearing a response from within, entered with the Neenth Princess. Qianye turned around, his incisive gaze pausing slightly on the princess.

    The Neenth Princess felt an indescribable colde over her and couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Qianye, this is the neenth daughter of the current Emperor, here to observe the battle under Empress Li¡¯s orders. She¡¯s on our side, don¡¯t be rude.¡±

    He gave a slight nod after exchanging nces with Song Zining and bowed slightly toward the princess. A token expression of his respect. Song Zining was going to take up an Imperial title, so he had to maintain a degree of respect toward the Imperial n. That wasn¡¯t the case for Qianye; he didn¡¯t need to be too polite.

    The Neenth Princess didn¡¯t me Qianye for hisck of etiquette. Instead, her eyes lit up as she stared at Qianye constantly, almost as though she wanted to pounce forward and bite him. As for what Song Zining was saying, it didn¡¯t look like she had heard anything.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that an Imperial descendant would be like this. He questioned Song Zining with his eyes, to which thetter replied with a frown, asking him to ignore her.

    Then, Song Zining got down to business. He put the box onto the table and opened the locks ording to the determined sequence. He fished out a couple of documents from within and went through them one by one, categorizing and passing them to Qianye. He then walked over to the map and started marking things on it.

    These documents were the newest versions of the battle n. There was little change in the primary framework, but there were some minor details that had been modified. These papers exined the detailed attack routes and the time ofnding. At the same time, they mentioned other battle ns in the relevant direction, including the arrival times of the main route and eastern route.

    After Qianye had finished reading the papers in detail, Song Zining had alreadypleted the markings.

    He pointed at a small town on the other side of the void continent. ¡°This is our new target. It¡¯s closer to the central route and a bit farther from the Eastern route. In terms of difficulty, it¡¯s harder than our original target, but it should be easier to defend once we capture it. This location is less than a hundred kilometers from the target. Seizing the ce might notpletely cut off the Evernight army¡¯s retreat-path, but considering our fleet¡¯s advantage in the void, we can deal a heavy blow to their forces.

    ¡°Oh, so many of the dark races will still be able to retreat?¡± Qianye frowned.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you want to destroy all of the dark races on the continent? If you do that, the Evernight Council will throw everything they have at you.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°So this n is feasible if we don¡¯t consider wiping them out?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Of course, especially since we have the Martyr¡¯s Pce. When the timees, the dark races will not dig in for a fight to the death and only try to pull back as many troops as they can. Otherwise, their losses would be too severe if they lose another two duke-grade gships.¡±

    Qianye discussed the details with Song Zining for a while longer. All in all, their new target was more practical and involved less risk overall, but their contributions wouldn¡¯t decrease. The retreating Evernight fleet would be like a pack of migrating bison that could be attacked at will. It was hard to say how much fighting spirit these retreating forces would have left.

    The Imperialmand had probably modified the battle n after ounting for the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The one who had formted this n might not be as bold and imaginative as Lin Xitang, but the n was pragmatic and airtight. If he hadn¡¯t guessed wrong, it was probably the Minister of the Right.

    Qianye still couldn¡¯t find any traps after looking through the ns repeatedly, yet he couldn¡¯t wash away that uneasy feeling in his heart.

    Song Zining was also in deep thought. Only after a long while did he say, ¡°This n, how should I put it, might have some problems in execution. The situation in battle is changing constantly. There¡¯s simply no way one can formte apletely fixed n when multiple routes are involved. Not even Lin Xitang can do that. I¡¯ve gotten a good idea of themander candidates for each route, and for now, at least, I can¡¯t find any problems.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Then let¡¯s go ording to n.¡±

    Song Zining said after some thought, ¡°After wend, I¡¯ll take the ground while you guard the skies with the Martyr¡¯s Pce!¡±

    ¡°No, you stay at the Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    Song Zining, of course, disagreed, so the two began to argue.

    The princess who had been forgotten all this time suddenly spoke up. ¡°Isn¡¯t the ground defense more dangerous?¡±

    Song Zining rolled his eyes at her. Was there a need to ask? How could there be any danger at the Martyr¡¯s Pce?

    The Neenth Princess nced at Qianye, then at Song Zining. ¡°You two are fighting over who gets the ground. Wow, you share such a good rtionship!¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°This is a problem of who¡¯s more suited for the role.¡±

    ¡°Suited?¡± The Neenth Princess looked confused.

    Only then did Song Zining realize that she wasn¡¯t listening to their conversation at all and only staring at Qianye. He was a bit surprised¡ªcould it be that she came here just for a stroll?

 Chapter 1144: Attack

    <h4>Chapter 1144: Attack</h4>

    Song Zining¡¯s attention for the Neenth Princess shifted away as he focused on arguing with Qianye. Noticing that she had been forgotten, the princess began to listen intently, but how much she had absorbed was evident from her droopingshes and bewildered expression.

    Finally, Song Zining pounced over and grabbed Qianye by the neck. ¡°Enough! Let¡¯s go down together! The role of Martyr¡¯s Pce is to guard the aerial passage. Our mission on the continent is to defend the outpost until we rendezvous with the main forces, not to escape.¡±

    Qianye found that the argument made sense. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was there as a deterrent and to prevent the aerial pathways from being locked down. They didn¡¯t have aplete fleet despite the apanying corvettes¡ªit was fine as an ambush force, but fighting an enemy fleet on its own would be a struggle. Cutting off Evernight¡¯s retreat and fighting their reinforcements was the Imperial Guard¡¯s duty anyway.

    Their squad¡¯s next duty was mainly on the ground, uprooting the enemy¡¯s strategic strongholds and scattering their defensive line. They would then rendezvous with Zhao Jundu¡¯s central army and push their area of control outward. Only then would they gain control over the void continent. It was probably too early to divide the forces between the two at this point.

    Seeing Qianye nod, Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Princess, you¡¯ve had to endure the long journey here. Why not go freshen up and rest?¡±

    The Neenth Princess stood up calmly and agreed obediently. Song Zining summoned some maids and ordered them to settle the princess in.

    Once the war room doors had closed, Song Zining¡¯szy smile disappeared from his lips.

    Qianye nced at him. ¡°Is there something wrong with her?¡±

    Song Zining rubbed his head in frustration. ¡°It¡¯d be a wonder if there isn¡¯t.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°You intentionally fought with me over the clean-up period deployments. That act was for her to see, right? Unfortunately, she never understood a thing and even dozed off.¡±

    Song Zining cried out in surprise, ¡°A barbarian like you actually saw through my ns?¡±

    Qianye nodded seriously. ¡°I even yed along.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t know what to say. He paused for a good while before saying, ¡°Qianye, you¡¯ve be bad.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not a champion yet, is she?¡± Qianye continued looking at the new markings on the map. ¡°A fighter-rankdy on the battlefield, with no knowledge of war and no attendants, does Empress Li trust in our fighting power or does she not?¡±

    Song Zining recalled the Neenth Princess¡¯ disguise as he meditated on Qianye¡¯s words. ¡°She¡¯s only seventeen, so she shouldn¡¯t be a champion yet, but what you said reminded me of something. The Imperial n has a secret art to produce human-shaped weapons.¡± He exined further, ¡°It¡¯s the same principle as how the dark races activate blood seedlings on the Evernight Continent.¡±

    Qianye thought back to it. ¡°There must be a big price to pay.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°I think they cannot break through again, nor can they reproduce, but their lifespans remain unchanged.¡±

    This sacrifice was nothingpared to survival.

    The two paid little attention to whether the little girl was a human weapon, only about their potential response.

    Song Zining had heard much about this art. ¡°She¡¯s too young. Using that secret art on her will only bring her to rank ten or eleven, and the chances of failure are quite high.¡±

    ¡°Then let her stay at the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Caroline should suffice to keep watch over her.¡± Qianye decided.

    Low-ranking champions couldn''t do anything on the Martyr¡¯s Pce, but the same couldn¡¯t be said fornd battles. Judging from how the enemy vanguard fleet consisted of dukes, it wasn¡¯t too hard to guess that the ground battles would not be easy. Bringing someone suspicious along at such a time was not wise.

    Song Zining nodded in agreement, and thus, the matter was decided.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was so important that either Qianye or Caroline had to be aboard the vessel at all times. Hence, this was the best arrangement both in terms of tactical pairing and safety.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce itself was highly powerful, so there was no need to worry about her safety with Caroline around. Qianye would not be on board, so all abilities and attacks rted to the Earth Dragon¡¯s innate strength could not be utilized. The pce could only serve as an ordinary warship for now, but at the very least, the Evernight airships wouldn¡¯t dare approach on their own.

    Qianye and Song Zining were used to fighting together. They were also more familiar with the troop distributions and the situation on the void continent. Putting Caroline in the field might not increase overall fighting power by a lot.

    After reaching an agreement, Song Zining returned to the battlecruiser, while the Neenth Princes remained at the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Momentster, the fleet slowly began to move toward the depths of the void.

    After an entire day of traveling, the fleet eventually reached its destination, where it waited silently for three days. At the designated time, the Martyr¡¯s Pce led the squadron to a point in the void right above the assigned location.

    Only when the battlecruiser appeared over the small city did the dark races realize what was going on, and over a dozen small airships scrambled to intercept the iing enemy.

    The warships in charge of protecting the city were old models, the biggest among them being corvettes. The new vessels were all serving the mobile fleet, so there was no way they would be here to defend the rear. The ten or so warships were like a group of hunting dogs pouncing on a truly ferocious beast.

    They were only mid-charge when four of them were destroyed by the concentrated firepower of the battlecruiser, and none of them could withstand a single hit from the main cannon. The remainder drummed up their courage to continue the charge, but only when they reached the void did they see the real monster lying in wait for them.

    A single volley from the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s side cannons was enough to destroy two small airships, and two more with another round. The other smaller vessels lost their will to fight and began to scatter. The corvettes around the Martyr¡¯s Pce swarmed out like a pack of wolves that had smelled blood, overwhelming the Evernight warships with their superior speed.

    After the short battle, only two warships from the defending army managed to escape. They didn¡¯t dare reduce their speed or turn back as they scuttled into the depths of the void.

    After defeating the defending fleet, the Martyr¡¯s Pce remained hovering in the void while the corvettes and the battlecruiser patrolled the area in search of enemy squadrons.

    Qianye never saw the Evernight mobile fleet even as their massivending party entered the battlefield. It would seem the Imperial Guard had aplished their mission of restraining the mobile unit, preventing them from sending reinforcements even when an important location in the rear was being attacked.

    Since the dark races were surrendering their aerial dominance, Qianye had no intention of letting this opportunity go. On his order, arge number of modified gunships rushed into the void continent and entered the airspace above the city.

    These gunships were modified from neutralnd airships. They were crude but quite durable and sturdy. After modification, they had thick armor along their hull which added to their defense.

    Dozens of gunships blotted out the skies as they bore down upon the city. Things were already in chaos at that point, with hordes of people running about in the streets.

    In the blink of an eye, a volley of scattered mes shot into the sky as soldiers with quick reflexes opened fire with origin guns. There were a number of hand-cannon shots mixed in as well. It would seem the ground forces down there weren¡¯tcking in experts because the firepower quickly became fiercer and fiercer. Numerous ballista bolts climbed into the air, leaving bright trails behind them as they sted gunships.

    ming flowers blossomed on the warships, and those struck by the ballistae were severely shaken. One of the warships caught fire from its rear and crashed into a corner of the city below, followed by a violent explosion that left half the street block in mes.

    The gunships also began to attack. Several cannons stretched out from their undersides and rained down a hail of bullets into the city below. Many of these airships were equipped with rapid-fire cannons. These old gunpowder weapons were fairly useful against city targets. Although the shells couldn¡¯t kill experts, they managed to quickly silence the enemy¡¯s stationary firepower. They chipped at the turret wallsyer byyer, until finally, the ballista inside was blown apart.

    The town trembled as balls of me rose up in various ces, along with flying human silhouettes. The temporary buildings were sted into pieces, and the casualty rates climbed rapidly. The dark race¡¯s defensive structures were fairly weakpared to the empire¡¯s.

    The low-flying gunships fired with greater ferocity, almost as though ammunition didn¡¯t cost any money. Compared to origin cannons, these old gunpowder weapons were indeed a lot cheaper.

    The modified gunships soaked up the attacks from the ground while retaliating with greater ferocity. The effectiveness of their thick armor became evident at this point¡ªordinary origin guns couldn¡¯t punch through them with just a couple of shots. Only the ballista turrets could pose a threat to these airships, but it wasn¡¯t an easy feat to hit moving targets. Chances of hitting a target were slim unless they used homing ballistae.

    It was much easier for the gunships to hit the ballista turrets, and almost all of the gunships would concentrate their fire on them.

    By the time the turrets had been destroyed, the town had lost all anti-air firepower. All they could do was watch as the gunships ravaged their base.

    At this point, more and more airships appeared in the air. It was easy to tell at a nce that these were troop transports. These big, clumsy airships were slow, but they represented arge number of soldiers, supplies, and arms being shipped.

    The gunships in the air dispersed to the edges of the town and set up awork of firepower to cover the transports¡¯nding.

    The transports hadn¡¯t evennded firmly when the cabin doors opened at the same time and countless soldiers surged out from within. They were d in very different warrior-attires, roaring and shouting as they charged into the town.

    The upper parts of the tall buildings had been sted into pieces. Several dark race experts, including a demonkin, appeared beside a window at this point. The man was livid and seemed hardly able to contain his powerful aura.

    A werewolf count said, ¡°Sire, we can¡¯t hold on anymore. Let¡¯s retreat!¡±

    The demonkin marquis breathed heavily as he gazed at the Dark me mercenaries charging in, a thunderous sound echoing from his nostrils. He was clearly unable to suppress his anger and looked like he would rush out at any moment.

    The werewolf count dragged him back and said while shaking his head, ¡°Sire, the other party surely has experts among them. Look at their attire, they look like mercenaries from the neutralnds, which means that they¡¯re part of Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s unit.¡±

    Hearing these names calmed the demonkin marquis down immediately, almost as though he had been dunked in icy water. No matter how arrogant he was, he knew full well that he wasn¡¯t a match for Qianye and Song Zining, especially the former. The rumors in the Great Maelstrom had proven that the man possessed the power to kill marquises.

    The werewolf count said, ¡°This isn¡¯t our problem. What is the mobile fleet doing? They actually allowed an enemy fleet of this scale to arrive here. If we are defeated, they must take half the responsibility!¡±

    These words were evidently effective. The demonkin marquis¡¯ face twitched a couple times before he finally said, ¡°Retreat!¡±

    Even the sound of cannon fire couldn¡¯t suppress the bugle cry. Many dark race warriors jumped out from behind cover and made to retreat. However, they soon realized a difficult problem¡ªwhere to?

    The town was surrounded by troop transports. The only direction with weaker troop strength was toward the edge of the continent, and that was a natural breakthrough point. But anyone with basic military knowledge would know that the edge of the continent was a path of no return. Even without the Imperial forces in pursuit, just the adversity of the environment there was enough to kill most ordinary warriors.

    Realizing this issue, all the powerful experts turned to the demonkin marquis. He was the one who issued the order to retreat, so he should be the one to decide the direction.

    The demonkin marquis clenched his teeth and said, ¡°Retreat to the town of Ze¡¯er!¡±

    Ze¡¯er was Qianye¡¯s original target, where one of Evernight¡¯s three biggest airship ports was located. As one of the biggest transit stations, there were also numerous military supplies and resource warehouses in the town.

    They would be safe if they could reach that location, but it was evident that Qianye and Song Zining weren¡¯t going to let them.

    There were evidently more transports in the direction of Ze¡¯er, but for some reason, the intensity of the attack wasn¡¯t that great. Apparently, Song Zining and Qianye had a contingency n, and the strategy was quite evident. Instead of joining the battlefield immediately, the soldiers began constructing fortifications once they hadnded. They were preparing for a drawn-out battle,pletely cutting offmunications between this town and Ze¡¯er.

    Attacking and constructing defensive structures at the same time was a fairly brilliant move, and that was bad news for the Evernight experts.

    Breaking through toward Ze¡¯er would involve a steep price, it seemed.

    The other Evernight experts looked toward the marquis but didn¡¯t make a move. Apparently, they understood that charging toward Ze¡¯er was highly dangerous, and it was very possible that they would bump into Qianye.

    Experts didn¡¯t really think too much about the fate of cannon fodder, but they couldn¡¯t remain indifferent about their own life and death. No one was willing to face Qianye, that terrifying harbinger of death.

    The demonkin marquis said in a gloomy voice, ¡°There¡¯s a chance we¡¯ll run into Qianye in any direction, just think about that legendary spatial power of his. Don¡¯t think too much, just follow me as we charge toward Ze¡¯er. We¡¯ll be safe once we¡¯re there.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a voice echoed behind him. ¡°There¡¯s no need to go anywhere.¡±

    Just as the voice entered their ears, their vision was filled with interweaving red threads.

 Chapter 1145: Ambushing Reinforcements

    <h4>Chapter 1145: Ambushing Reinforcements</h4>

    The top floor of the ruined structure was covered in countless sanguine threads as pale Evernight experts copsed one after the other.

    Roaring thunderously, the werewolf count struggled with all his might, but that only served to attract more of the bloody threads. He had already jumped halfway up when he was bound to the ground once more. This time, the copsed count no longer had the strength to jump, and his roars slowly faded away.

    The demonkin marquis let out a shrill scream as his body erupted into demonic mes. Then, he tore through the sanguine threads with brute force and vanished in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye didn¡¯t go after the man. He merely drew East Peak and swung it a couple of times, drowning the struggling dark race experts in violent waves of oceanic power.

    Chasing after an injured marquis involved too many variables, so he decided to consolidate his victory instead. These titled experts made up the foundation of the dark races¡ªkilling them all in one go was still a huge blow to the enemy army, and it would also serve to reduce the risk they posed while sweeping the battlefield.

    With the leaders killed, the retreating dark race soldiers fell into chaos and began to scatter randomly.

    Dark me had the entire ce surrounded, but they had intentionally left small openings for the fleeing soldiers. They would then attack from the side and rear, inflicting great damage to the enemy forces. This was a minor tactic frequently employed by mercenaries¡ªit might not be effective in a head-on battle, but it was highly useful in chaotic situations like this.

    After leaving the neutralnds, Dark me¡¯s mercenaries were able to put their ferocity on full disy. Their individual fighting prowess was far above that of ordinary Evernight and Empire soldiers. They used to be limited by inferior equipment and tacticalmand, but now, they were able to bare their fangs after Qianye and Song Zining had supplemented their deficiencies.

    The battle ended as quickly as it had begun. Although some dark race soldiers managed to escape, most of them fell during their outward charge. The mercenaries of the neutralnds brought out their ferocity and craftiness without restraint, causing shocking damage during the final phase of the battle. Anymanding officer would¡¯ve opted against breaking out, had they known what would happen. They would much rather have defended their post until reinforcements arrived.

    Compared to the aplishments of the battle, Dark me¡¯s losses were unbelievably low. That was also because the top-experts of the defending force were wiped out by Qianye.

    Song Zining entered the city against the advice of his officers and went around in person. This trip allowed him to drag out several dark race snipers hidden in various parts of the city. With Worldly Prosperity in hand, there was no sharpshooter who could actually take aim at the seventh young master.

    After observing theyout of the city and integrating the information with earlier geographical surveys, Song Zining set up several defensive lines outside of the city to prevent a dark race counterattack. Then, he began dividing the city into districts and made ns to construct a new defense system.

    The ce was called Whitetown. The buildings here, built using stones from the nearby mountains, were all white, and hence the name.

    The town was originally built as anding point for the dark races, so the initialyout was simr to a fortress. As the dark races gained an increasing advantage on the continent, the role of their rear logistics gradually diminished and civilian structures popped up eventually.

    That was why Whitetown possessed aplete defensive system that could be utilized with minimal modifications. That saved Song Zining quite a bit of trouble.

    Qianye had it much easier. Instructing his aides not to disturb him, he sat down in a quiet spot and began recovering.

    The dark races reacted swiftly¡ªSong Zining had just finished setting up the outer defensive perimeter when the counterattack force arrived. However, these forces were dispatched in a hurry and without an aerial advantage. They were badly beaten and had no choice but to retreat with great casualties.

    After gaining the advantage, Song Zining stopped the troops from chasing the enemy. Instead, he ordered them toplete the defensive structures the enemy had left behind. The seventh young master didn¡¯t hold back at all with the construction work. It seemed as though he intended to fill every corner and building with death traps.

    The sky gradually darkened with the arrival of dusk.

    Qianye opened his eyes, ending a phase of his cultivation. A good part of the essence blood in his body had been converted, allowing for more space to use Life Plunder.

    There was no light in the building after dark. All energy had been routed to power the city defenses. Illumination was limited in the barracks as well, and even the officers were only given candles. The candle me could barely light up a corner of the room, making everything quite blurry and eerie.

    Qianye had noints about Song Zining¡¯s extreme habits in resource management. This brightness didn¡¯t quite affect his vision, either.

    As Qianye walked out of the building, a rich meaty fragrance filled his nostrils. A young mercenary nearby passed him a tray with two bowls of stewed meat. The stimting fragrance told him that this was stewed beast meat, something reserved for officers above the champion level. The meat could provide arge amount of energy, so ordinary soldiers simply didn¡¯t dare to eat it. Without sufficient cultivation, the meat would turn into poison.

    These two bowls contained five times the amount avable to a high-ranking officer, but Qianye was only half full after eating it. He called for three more bowls of meat before feeling satisfied.

    Theirnding was a sess, and it was also time for the other attack routes to make their move. Soon, the Empire would face fierce retaliation from half a continent¡¯s worth of enemy forces. This might actually be thest peaceful meal avable to them.

    Qianye ced the bowls onto the tray and ordered the young mercenary to return them to the kitchen. He himself headed onto the roof to observe the situation throughout the town.

    The young mercenary suddenly lost his footing as he walked out of the door, dropping all the bowls to the ground.

    The entire town quaked, then a deafening rumble arrived from afar. For a moment, nothing else could be heard except for the explosion.

    Qianye rushed out to check the surroundings and saw a cloud of dust, from which half a building had been flung out. He could even see human silhouettes dropping out from the windows from time to time.

    This shocking explosion had sted half a building dozens of meters into the air and tilted all the structures nearby.

    Such explosive power wasparable to a cruiser main-cannon. Ordinarynd-based cannons would not have such an effect.

    Qianye immediately looked up to find a massive Evernight warship passing slowly over Whitetown. A dozen or so of Dark me¡¯s gunships and transports were scattering in all directions. These old neutralnd airship models were good for bullying ground troops, but they weren¡¯t good enough for aerial battles. Even if ten of them charged together, they would still be picked off by the Evernight cruiser.

    However, this Evernight cruiser seemed to have rushed over to im merits without knowing the situation. It actually dared to maintain low-altitude flight over Whitetown.

    Before Qianye could attack, arge ball of light erupted on the cruiser¡¯s hull, tearing away a block of the vessel¡¯s enclosure. Additionally, the impact tilted the massive airship, pushing it back dozens of meters and drastically reducing its speed.

    Only the Empire¡¯s battlecruiser could produce such damage. As expected, an elegant airship rose into the air and made a swift turn, cing its several dozen side-cannons in range of the enemy cruiser. Fiery flowers blossomed on the enemy cruiser as it was sted to the verge of copse.

    Several Evernight warships appeared behind this Evernight cruiser, but none of them was a match for the Imperial battlecruiser. Thetter paid no heed to these small vessels and focused only on the fleeing cruiser, almost as though it wouldn¡¯t relent until the enemy had been destroyed.

    The Evernight fleet hadn¡¯t imagined that they would encounter such a devastating frontal assault. The warships at the rear lost their formation after witnessing the scene. It seemed as though the captains were beginning to hesitate whether or not to charge over and save their gship.

    The Imperial battlecruiser was too powerful. The dark race cruiser was dealt a lethal blow immediately upon arrival, and chances of it escaping were quite slim. Against this cutting-edge Imperial battlecruiser, a failed rescue would surely drag them down as well.

    At this moment, several Imperial corvettes appeared through the air and charged at the Evernight warships. This time, the warships turned to flee without the slightest hesitation. They had no intention of exchanging direct fire or getting tangled up with those corvettes. No one would be able to escape once that battlecruiser could spare its attention.

    As for the cruiser gship, it would have to pray for the best.

    Not long after the Evernight fleet¡¯s dispersion, the dark race cruiser erupted in mes and tilted toward the mountains. Soon, a massive ball of fire rose up from the crash and slowly climbed into the sky.

    The aerial battle was sessful, but pirs of fire soon erupted from within Whitetown. The ground forces of the Evernight army had arrived and were sting the city with heavy cannons.

    An attack of this degree posed no threat at all. At Song Zining¡¯s order, the scattered gunships came together to bombard the enemy ground forces.

    There were dark race experts firing with long-range origin power weaponry, but none of them dared to fly up without sufficient covering fire.

    This exposed the cannon formation behind the dark race squad to gunship fire. The constant suppression finally broke down enemy morale¡ªbefore long, the enemy squads fell into chaos, and the front lines suffered heavy casualties from thebination ofnd and air attacks.

    With no other choice in sight, the Evernightmander sounded the bugle cry to retreat.

    Song Zining did not go to extremes. After the dark races were out of firing range, he recalled the gunships and sent them back into the void along with the transports.

    As expected, the Evernight mobile fleet appeared not long after the first squadron was pushed back. This unit was led by two cruisers, and the rest were destroyers. All of them were newer, high-speed models with fierce firepower. Those old antique gunships from the neutralnds would definitely suffer against such a fleet.

    Song Zining calmly ordered the battlecruiser to the front, with three corvettes covering the rear.

    This Evernight squadron was clearly different from the one they had just sent running, the only simrity being theirte intelligence. They immediately stopped their charge after seeing the airship formation above Whitetown.

    The difference in fighting power between the two forces was quite clear.

    If they were to attack, that single Dark me battlecruiser could rely on its speed and firepower advantage to circle around and cause constant damage, kiting them until they were entirely destroyed. Even if the Evernight fleet were to go all out, they could take down some corvettes at most. In return, they would lose an even greater number of destroyers.

    After a momentary stalemate, the Evernight mobile fleet decided to edge back and leave the battlefield.

    ¡­

    Far away on the Great Qin maind.

    Following a sh of lightning, a tall figure appeared in the za in front of the Divination Pavilion.

    Zhang Boqian nced up at the nine-strata building and walked straight in.

    On the other side of the city, Lingyun Hall of the Unending Pce was engulfed in a solemn atmosphere. It was halfway through the court assembly when an attendant scuttled out from the rear and rushed to the Emperor¡¯s side, ignoring the ministers who were currently making their report.

    The Emperor immediately stood up while swinging his sleeve.

 Chapter 1146: Cards on the Table Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1146: Cards on the Table Part 1</h4>

    The Emperor¡¯s movement shocked all the ministers in the hall.

    The Emperor had always followed the previous emperor¡¯s footsteps¡ªhe was diligent, attentive, and had always adhered to the rules and customs without the slightest bit of diposure. The only fault people could find about him was that he was too amodating toward Lin Xitang, to the point of diminishing his imperial might. However, Lin Xitang was a minister who had been assigned by the previous Emperor and even granted the title of national guardian, so the inspectors onlyined about it verbally.

    This movement could be considered a loss inposure. A number of old ministers frowned, and some even wanted to criticize the Emperor.

    However, a suppressive might akin to raging tides erupted from the throne, and those who wanted to move realized that it wasing right at them. When they looked up hurriedly, they saw the Emperor¡¯s stern gaze as the cold, tangible pressure mmed into their chests.

    The Emperor¡¯s figure vanished from the hall before everyone could catch their breath, leaving only the attendant standing submissively beside the throne. The man called out in a drawn-out tone, ¡°Court dismissed!¡±

    The entire hall fell into an eerie silence.

    The ministers all reacted differently. The civil ministers at the back were mostly puzzled, while the nobility and powerful ministers wore subtle expressions. There was nock of divine champion level experts among them, and they had naturally sensed the suppressive might from just now. The problem was that its harshness and power caused even them to feel apprehensive. That wasn¡¯t how everyone remembered it.

    The Imperial family was the n among ns, with most Emperors being powerful and unyielding. To be blunt, the current Radiant Emperor was inferior in birth, talent, and ability. Fortunately, he was extremely demanding on himself regarding national affairs, and that won him a basic level of respect among the major ns.

    But the highest-ranking nobles understood that the heavenly monarchs of the Imperial n considered this Emperor to be mediocre at best. It was easy to imagine that the Emperor didn¡¯t have much of a position in his own family, either. Then, what exactly was that just now? Many major characters thought of the same question: ¡°Does the Longevity Monarch know the Emperor¡¯s true strength?¡±

    What everyone was concerned about right now was the Emperor¡¯s whereabouts. He had vanished under countless eyes, yet no one knew where he had gone.

    Zhang Boqian stepped into the ground floor hall and, after observing the surroundings, went straight up to the seventh stratum.

    The white-clothed man was sleeping on a couch near the southern window, just like in the projection.

    Zhang Boqian walked over.

    Lin Xitang was actually awake, but he only noticed Zhang Boqian when he touched the couch. The marshal was stunned when he realized that it was Zhang Boqian¡ªhe opened his mouth slightly but didn¡¯t know what to say. His entire body, and even his hands, never moved during this entire process.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s gaze was as deep and dark as the ocean abyss. He bent down and grabbed Lin Xitang¡¯s hand, only to find that it was like a piece of thin ice that would shatter when squeezed.

    Without a word, Zhang Boqian ced an arm around Lin Xitang¡¯s shoulder and picked him up.

    ¡°Boqian¡­¡±

    Lin Xitang hadn¡¯t finished speaking when the sky outside the windows turned dark for a moment. A powerful and ancient aura descended from the void and engulfed the entire mountaintop. It was a domain! A major domain that had been released within a void-origin power array!

    Zhang Boqian looked up at the Radiant Emperor, mes of anger burning within his eyes.

    The Emperor of Great Qin stood hovering in the air, ck mist surging beneath his feet. The domain on the hilltop had taken shape¡ªthe leaden clouds hung so low that one could almost reach out to touch them, almost like the sky before a storm.

    The Emperor¡¯s voice was gentle yet reserved.

    ¡°Monarch Zhang, this is a forbidden area.¡±

    ¡°So what?¡±

    ¡°Monarch Zhang, are you nning to fight me?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    Lin Xitang moved with great difficulty, hoping to grab Zhang Boqian¡¯s hand. However, thetter didn¡¯t even look at him, merely moving the marshal''s finger away as he flickered out the window and walked up to the void.

    The Radiant Emperor looked dignified in court attire. He flew upward as well, his hands sped in front of his chest and his sleeves hanging below. Cities, in general, did not have the capacity to withstand a fight between two heavenly monarchs, or even between divine champions. The Imperial Capital had stood for a thousand years, with countless arrays woven into the city, but they were but pieces of metal and stone before the might of a heavenly monarch.

    Zhang Boqian moved with his hand behind his back, taking step after step as though he were climbing an invisibledder. With this domain, the Emperor had proven that he had the power to knock on the doors of the heavenly monarch realm. This surprised Zhang Boqian a bit, but he quickly tossed the thought away.

    Looking at the Imperial Capital from above, the massive city was like a pond of boiling jade. Countless streams of ck mist were gushing out from the earth and spiraling into the skies. The odd thing was that the people and cars traveling through the streets werepletely ignorant of what was happening.

    Ordinary people could not see these phenomena.

    Only those at the divine champion level and above could ¡°see¡± that the origin power of the entire city was shifting. They recognized the secret art of the Imperial n, the Emperor Domain! Moreover, it was a supreme Emperor Domain that had activated the entire Imperial Capital!

    The ordinary nobles and officials began to leave the Lingyun Pce after the court was dismissed. Those who had stayed behind were mostly n lords and high-ranking nobility, people who could see such phenomena. What exactly had happened? That was everyone¡¯s question, a question that had almost turned into panic. They subconsciously approached their friends and family, exchanging looks of dismay.

    All of a sudden, someone discovered that an old man had appeared in the opening outside of the Lingyun Pce. It was actually one of the Empire¡¯s five heavenly monarchs, the Profundity Monarch!

    The old man looked up at the skies with a solemn expression. No one dared to disturb him, but the atmosphere of terror calmed down quite a bit.

    Everyone felt their vision blur as another old man appeared beside the Profundity Monarch, the Pointer Monarch.

    Counting the Longevity Monarch who was in the capital year-round, it had been many years since these three heavenly monarchs were together at the capital. At this point, even the dumbest person would know that some big changes were about to happen.

    The smart ministers understood never to interfere in the Imperial family¡¯s affairs. The Pointer Monarch and Profundity Monarch had no intention of paying anyone any attention. The nobles didn¡¯t disturb them, either. They merely waited in silence, but they themselves had no idea what they were waiting for.

    The Pointer Monarch seemed distracted as hended.

    He had left soon after Zhang Boqian¡¯s departure. The three great dark monarchs didn¡¯t try to stop him at all, even as a formal gesture. On the contrary, they became more cautious about one another.

    Especially the demonkin and arachne¡ªthe way they looked at the vampires wasn¡¯t quite right. Habsburg blocking two of Zhang Boqian¡¯s attacks was no small matter, and the power bnce between the races would change once they had met up with Nighteye and the special envoy.

    The Pointer Monarch was in no mood to observe the Evernight Council¡¯s internal conflicts. He didn¡¯t even want to respond when the Profundity Monarch contacted him mid-way.

    However, the monarch reminded him that Evernight would surely take advantage of the situation if the chaos at the capital reached an undisguisable state. Their supreme experts might even attack the Empire¡¯s maind. The Pointer Monarch was filled withplicated emotions when he thought about Zhang Boqian, but he arrived at Unending Pce before he could figure things out.

    Uponnding, the Pointer Monarch sensed that something was wrong. ¡°The Emperor Domain? Who opened it¡­ it¡¯s the Emperor?¡± He had very little dealings with the Radiant Emperor, so what he knew about the man was no different from everyone else.

    The Profundity Monarch said in a deep voice, ¡°The Chronicle of Glory¡ªhas nearly seeded.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch was stunned. Those who understood the Chronicle of Glory¡ªperhaps due to its excessive profundity or timespan¡ªweren¡¯t exactly wearing expressions of joy. Instead, they were ovee by a myriad of emotions.

    ¡°Good, good.¡± The Pointer Monarch only spoke these two words.

    ¡°I never expected the Emperor to challenge Greensun, but getting everything done in one go isn¡¯t a bad thing, either. There¡¯s only Northridge keeping watch outside, we should disperse once things are over.¡±

    ¡°A heavenly monarch challenge? The Emperor is challenging Zhang Boqian?¡± The Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t know how to think of this matter; he only felt that something was off about it.

    A heavenly monarch challenge was a tradition, but things were different between Zhang Boqian and the Radiant Emperor. After all, the two of them were still ruler and subject. Of course, the Radiant Emperor was also different from the previous emperors in that he desperately needed to prove himself.

    The Pointer Monarch gazed at the ck mist aggregating toward a certain direction. ¡°The Emperor is a bit younger than Greensun, right? What¡¯s he in a rush for? I think his chances of sess are slim at this point. He should be just about ready after a year.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch said, ¡°It¡¯s not that the Emperor is in a rush, it¡¯s because of that fellow from the Hidden Pce.¡± The Hidden Pce was the Longevity Monarch¡¯s residence.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s expression was filled with disgust. ¡°What¡¯s he up to again?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch said, ¡°The same thing again, I can¡¯t be bothered to even listen. In any case, it¡¯s the same old rules¡­ we wait and see.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch suddenly realized something. ¡°You called me back because of Greensun?¡±

    ¡°He has just arrived, right? He seemed to have decided at thest minute, there wasn¡¯t any prior information at all.¡± The Profundity Monarch found it strange that the Pointer Monarch would misunderstand this. ¡°I called you here because of the rotten business between the Hidden Pce and the Imperial family. I don¡¯t have the cheek to drag Northridge into this, and Greensun is too young, too arrogant. His stance is also¡­ hard to say¡­¡±

    The two heavenly monarchs exchanged nces as they realized what was going on. It would seem the two monarchs were speaking entirely different things, and the disparity in information was too great. The momentum above the capital had been established, and the two parties were about to sh at any moment. This definitely wasn¡¯t the time to exin details.

    The Profundity Monarch said, ¡°The Emperor¡¯s totem has almost reached perfection. The wings are fully formed, the lightning horn has emerged and is only awaiting maturity. He has also imed full control of the capital¡¯s Emperor Domain. Add to that the power of the Unending Pce, he¡¯s unlikely to lose too badly against Zhang Boqian.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch smiled wryly. ¡°Correct. The Emperor was right to pick Zhang Boqian for a challenge. The next thirty years is his era.¡±

    The Empire¡¯s youngest geniuses would take another thirty years to break through to the heavenly monarch realm. Even with the natural advantage of daybreak, there was no telling how much this period could be shortened.

    The Radiant Emperor challenging Zhang Boqian on his path to the heavenly monarch realm wasn¡¯t about winning or losing¡ªit was, instead, a stance. The Imperial family and the major ns must rule together¡ªthat was the foundation of the Empire, and the most ancient bnce of power.

    In the blink of an eye, the two above hadpleted their first sh and contest of pure power.

 Chapter 1147: Cards on the Table Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1147: Cards on the Table Part 2</h4>

    Zhang Boqian stood in the clouds, his daybreak origin shining like the rising sun.

    The Radiant Emperor was surrounded in rolling ck mist. Whenever the clouds began to fade, mist would surge out from the ground to supplement and reform them. The image of a soaring snake slowly appeared and spread its wings once more. Under the protection of those wings, the mountains, rivers, and states spread out like an ancient drawing.

    Origin power explosions filled the area between the twobatants. The surprising thing was that the shockwaves only moved in a single ne and not even one bit of it dropped downward. That went to show how good their control was.

    ¡°Stillcking a little bit,¡± Zhang Boqian said slowly, the anger from before nowhere to be seen. The moment he crossed swords with the Radiant Emperor, he realized that this was a heavenly monarch challenge, one that had not been scheduled in advance.

    In truth, the oue was already evident with respect to the challenge. The Radiant Emperor had failed to cross the threshold of a heavenly monarch, but unlike most failed candidates, he had already opened up all the checkpoints¡ªall he needed was umtion.

    The fight would turn into a stalemate if they kept on going. The entire Imperial Capital was the Emperor¡¯s home ground¡ªthe founders of the Great Qin Empire had left countless secrets here that had been perfected with each generation. It was like a heavenly-monarch grade war machine. The only way for Zhang Boqian to win was to destroy the domain entirely, but that would leave the city in ruins.

    Prince Greensun couldn¡¯t do that even if he had the advantage. He had already sensed the Pointer and Profundity Monarchs on the ground; there was no way they would stand by and watch.

    The Radiant Emperor was fairly calm. Failing to break through the threshold was within his expectations, but Zhang Boqian appearing at the Divination Pavilion was not.

    He nodded, saying, ¡°I thank Monarch Zhang for the pointers.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, grant me one thing as a reward.¡±

    The Emperor didn¡¯t feign ignorance. ¡°I know you and Marshal Lin are rivals, but you¡¯re a heavenly monarch now. Why can you not let go?¡±

    Zhang Boqian raised his brows. ¡°Your Majesty, does your so-called ¡®let go¡¯ involve imprisoning a marshal and leader of the cab within the Divination Pavilion?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s expression turned odd, but he didn¡¯t reply immediately.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s suppressive might increased, brewing a small origin tempest amidst the clouds.

    At this moment, the Radiant Emperor stared at Zhang Boqian. ¡°What else can I do? Must I drag him into my life or death battle with the Longevity Monarch?¡±

    These words were spoken suddenly and without any form of disguise, revealing the bloody truth beneath the Imperial name.

    Zhang Boqian was born to a major n and named a duke¡¯s heir from birth¡ªthat period was also a bloody past. After a momentary daze, he quickly realized that the Emperor¡¯s current situation was contrary to what he had expected.

    It would seem that the Pointer Monarch really had no idea about the details. There was no way to confirm whether Habsburg had misled him intentionally, whether it was just a fortunate coincidence, or if someone else was scheming behind the scenes.

    It was just that the Emperor had endured for far too long. He would¡¯ve been able to step firmly into the heavenly monarch realm next year, but something made it so that he couldn¡¯t wait anymore.

    Now that his cards were on the table, the Radiant Emperor spoke with shocking honesty, ¡°The Longevity Monarch has been looking for ways to extend his life. He once obtained a demonkin secret art that would allow him to absorb vitality by absorbing one¡¯s bloodline.¡±

    Upon hearing this, Zhang Boqian¡¯s brows couldn¡¯t help but twitch.

    ¡°He has probably tried the art on every race, both on the dead and living. That¡¯s not a big problem, but he seems to believe that the disappointing oue is because he hadn¡¯t utilized the secret art to its greatest potential. The core theory of this demonkin secret art is the conservation of grand origins and keeping the apex of a bloodline constant. It states that outstanding rtives will share and thus weaken the grand origin.¡±

    Zhang Boqianughed. ¡°Utter nonsense.¡±

    The demonkin were a race that loved research. They had established various strange theories and secret arts with conflicting principles, many of which they themselves were still arguing about. This conservation of grand origin theory was fairly well known, but it was an evil doctrine even among the demonkin race. ording to the hypothesis, the Demonkin Emperor would be able to level the Sacred Mountain if he were to devour all the other demonkin.

    The Radiant Emperor tossed an origin array to Zhang Boqian.

    Thetter scanned the information at great speed. This was probably the mostplete version of the war n. Each route looked incredibly well-knit, with at least two pairs of candidates for themander and deputymander. The only thing that would raise eyebrows was that there were more Zhao n members than the rest.

    Zhang Boqian sneered. ¡°Who assigned the personnel? Duke Chengen is the Emperor¡¯s son-inw, are they nning to have all of his wives take to the field?¡±

    ¡°The military suggested the list, I approved it.¡±

    ¡°I know that Qianye and Song Zining were selected for this route, but who¡¯s in charge of the central route?¡±

    ¡°Whoever leads the army in the beginning, there will always be people asking Marshal Lin to take over after the fight breaks out.¡± This meant that the central route was so dangerous that only someone at Lin Xitang¡¯s level could turn things around.

    At this point, Zhang Boqian had realized that the military¡¯s void continent attack-n was trash. He broke into an angryugh. ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of the eastern route?¡±

    ¡°Princess Haimi.¡±

    ¡°Lord Rivernce is more suited to lead the army.¡± Zhang Boqian offered his input.

    ¡°If something happens to me, Lord Rivernce is the best candidate to act as regent.¡±

    Zhang Boqian looked up into the Emperor¡¯s eyes. Only at this point did he realize that the problem with the candidate list wasn¡¯t the Zhao n but Imperial blood!

    Haimi and Gaoyi were the previous emperor¡¯s daughters, while Lord Rivernce was the previous emperor¡¯s younger brother. Numerous princes were listed as deputymanders, even the fourteenth prince, wielder of the Mortal Emperor. The second-choice candidates actually had no choice at all. This was no centralization! The reason the Zhao n was drawn into this mess was because of their Imperial blood!

    Thinking about the Longevity Monarch¡¯s demonkin secret art, even Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t know what to say. After a moment of silence, he said, ¡°He¡¯s crazy.¡±

    ¡°The fear of death will slowly drive one crazy.¡± The Radiant Emperor gave it some thought before adding, ¡°As for those helping him, it¡¯s hard to say if they¡¯re dumb or bad.¡±

    As it turned out, the war on the void continent was the Longevity Monarch¡¯s death trap, and the changes in the pce was the Emperor¡¯s desperate counterattack. No one knew how much effort Evernight had put in behind the scenes, or how many ns had been swept into this conflict.

    This wasn¡¯t just another internal conflict but a cmity at the heavenly monarch level! This wasparable to the incident thirty years ago when the Solemn Emperor had sealed the pce for ten days and buried all blood and tears under the ground. The Emperor couldn¡¯t just announce what was happening today because, if a heavenly monarch would defect just to extend his life, that would signal the copse of the human race¡¯s faith.

    The Evernight faction might already be getting ready to pounce!

    ¡°I met the Spider Queen¡¯s projection at the border of the middle continents.¡±

    ¡°Evernight has never given up on scheming against my life. The movement this time was too big, so it¡¯s not strange that it would attract the attention of the Sacred Mountain.¡± The Radiant Emperor was especially calm.

    He had quietly taken control of the Emperor Domain under these perilous circumstances andmenced a heavenly monarch challenge before the time was right. His mention of a regent candidate also sounded like a dying wish. All of this went to show the severity of the conflicts that had taken ce away from public eyes. It almost felt as though the smell of blood had filled the entire city.

    It was a miracle that the Imperial Capital could keep things normal on the surface.

    Zhang Boqian was astonished. ¡°Is this the only reason?¡±

    ¡°Whether or not he has other aspirations, we¡¯ll just have to ask him about it.¡±

    ¡°What is he nning on the void continent?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t have time to care.¡± The Radiant Emperor was fairly calm. ¡°I¡¯ve made every arrangement I can, but there is no way I will let Marshal Lin go into battle. So what you have in your hands is the upper limit of our losses.¡±

    The void continent was a chess piece that no one could stop from being yed. Even if the Empire didn¡¯t mobilize, the Evernight faction would keep on fighting. Hence, all they could do now was to observe the oue. Who was the victim and who was the schemer?

    To be perfectly blunt, the casualties on the void continent were constant, and it was all in that list. Whoever survived would be a win for the Emperor and the Empire. The deaths at the capital, however, couldn¡¯t even be estimated.

    Zhang Boqian frowned. ¡°What''s wrong with Lin Xitang?¡±

    ¡°Drug withdrawal,¡± the Radiant Emperor replied. ¡°Marshal Lin¡¯s injury from the dark origin mes would affect him for up to three days at a time. The chill would invade his entire body, leaving him unable to move. He has been taking the Tigerwolf Pill to suppress these episodes for many years. Recently, he has reached a stage where he needs to take the medicine with extremely powerful fire poison for it to be effective. He¡¯ll be in this state once he stops taking the medicine, unable to even stand up.¡±

    Zhang Boqian secretly threw a torrent of insults at Gu Tuohai. ¡°This can¡¯t go on."

    ¡°The Imperial Doctor has already tried the best medicines we have. Actually, the dark origin mes are only a bit troublesome when they re up, and the damage to his body is within an eptable range. The actual trouble is the fire-poison remnants in his body, they¡¯ve umted to a point where they can erupt any moment and need to be eliminated little by little. Marshal Lin will be able to stand up once the poison disperses over the next four days or so.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°Treatment can be done anywhere. Staying in the Divination Pavilion wasn¡¯t his choice, was it?¡±

    ¡°Then should I let him join the void continent war or the pce conflicts? Must I have him divine the new world or about the return of that Sacred Mountain character? Marshal Lin only has sixty years to live¡­¡± The Radiant Emperor stopped here and closed his eyes to hide the pain.

    ¡°Chronicle of Glory!¡± In the blink of an eye, an answer that had been shrouded in mystery cried out to him. Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression shifted drastically. That was the reason Lin Xitang had gone against the heaven¡¯s mysteries. How could ordinary divinations and strategy be worthy of that title? Forcibly inverting the Daybreak and Evernight system was the only heaven-defying way to touch the grand origins of this world.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s phoenician eyes filled the sky with shes of lightning. He had learned various secrets of the Empire after breaking through to the heavenly monarch realm, and the Chronicle of Glory was one of them. However, he never bothered with the details before. That name had be iparably serious now that it was rted to the actual operator, so much so that it was difficult to bear.

    ¡°All the divination sects were gravely injured after the war of the orthodoxies. The Chronicle of Glory was a heaven-defying move, to begin with. Lin Xitang had miraculously stabilized the star-trajectories on his own, but he paid for it with his own life-span and future. Even without his old injuries and external factors, he only has a few years to live.¡±

    Zhang Boqian finally understood why Lin Xitang had never progressed past the celestial splendor stage. Since he was destined to live only sixty years, how was he to break through to the highest realm of the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery, the ¡°Four Pirs of Time¡±? The pain from the darkness origin me was nothingpared to the collision of one¡¯s life path and heavenly fate.

 Chapter 1148: Cards on The Table Part 3

    <h4>Chapter 1148: Cards on The Table Part 3</h4>

    Zhang Boqian finally realized something he had been puzzled over all this time¡ªwhy Lin Xitang had been acting more extreme in recent days, why he had been implementing new policies, and why even the Imperial Party was often attacking him. Marshal Lin¡¯s political enemies didn¡¯t include just the cab which he presided over, but also the nobility who had always been wrestling with the Imperial n for power. There were also those old powers who had somehow recovered from their past decline.

    A shadowy surname emerged in Zhang Boqian¡¯s mind. ¡°The Jingtang Li n?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t surprised that Zhang Boqian would mention the Li family. ¡°None of the old ones should be left behind. They stick to their old ways and are willing to be used by the Longevity Monarch. They¡¯re so unscrupulous that I would say that they¡¯re obsessed.¡±

    ¡°Are the young ones your people?¡± Zhang Boqian noticed the hidden meaning.

    ¡°The divination families had always been sparse in familial rtionships and camaraderie. The Li family runs itself like a sect, so before the trajectory of the heavenly path, all family members be expendable. That¡¯s quite a disastrous mindset. Some of them wanted to turn the n back into an ordinary family, and I have no reason to disagree.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s tone suddenly turned to a sneer. ¡°It seems Lin Xitang doesn¡¯t know much about the Li family. Your method of separating them is quite well nned.¡±

    ¡°Marshal Lin has always adhered to the path of a minister and avoided the Imperial family matters of his own ord. I told him not to get involved with the heir issue, and he listened.¡±

    Zhang Boqian recalled how the heir selection had caused a huge ruckus in the Imperial pce. Back then, Lin Xitang had left for the Western Continent to subdue the rebels. ¡°Your Majesty is indeed far-sighted. Your subject hopes you can get your domestic affairs settled quickly.¡±

    ¡°If I manage to get to the end, can Monarch Zhange to the Hidden Pce with me as a witness?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Zhang Boqian replied in a straightforward manner,pletely ignoring his position as a heavenly monarch from outside the family.

    The Radiant Emperor was also a bit surprised. ¡°Marshal Lin cannot use divination inside the Divination Pavilion, but simrly, other prophets and divination specialists cannot touch him, either. I suggest you let him stay there for now.¡±

    ¡°Lin Xitang...¡± Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t continue. ¡°I¡¯ll stay here for now. Call me whenever you need me.¡± His voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when his figure had vanished from the skies.

    When Zhang Boqian appeared in the Divination Pavilion once more, Lin Xitang¡¯s first words were, ¡°Is His Majesty confronting the Longevity Monarch?¡±

    Even without his divination powers, Lin Xitang was as wise as ever. He could already figure out the situation just from how Zhang Boqian and the Emperor had appeared together.

    Zhang Boqian suddenly recalled that Lin Xitang¡¯s ns were always watertight and far-sighted, but it wasn¡¯t impossible to botch up with bad execution.

    Even so, the battle on the void continent had been going on for some time now and might even be reaching its end. There was no more room for gradual changes. Unfortunately, Lin Xitang couldn¡¯t step out of the pavilion in his current state. The ripples in the heavenly mysteries born of the new world and the return of the Sacred Mountain supreme was enough to take his life.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s hands tightened subconsciously behind his back.

    His own way of leading troops was extremely fierce. Every battle would see great aplishments, but the casualty ratio often drew criticism. Sacrifice had never been a reason for him to avoid battles, but that thin origin array in his hand felt rather heavy.

    Lin Xitang didn¡¯t press the question after seeing Zhang Boqian silent. ¡°Did you meet Crown Prince Habsburg?¡±

    ¡°There wasn¡¯t much to say between us during the fight, but how did he get into the divination pavilion?¡±

    ¡°A high-dimensional projection.¡±

    ¡°Is that the power of a crown prince?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the only vampire crown prince in a thousand years. The Empire doesn¡¯t have any information about his powers,¡± Lin Xitang said. ¡°This person is highly dangerous.¡±

    Zhang Boqian couldn¡¯t help but be serious when he heard Lin Xitang¡¯s evaluation.

    ¡°Habsburg is the son of the Sorceress of Fire, Anita. His paternal lineage is unclear, but he was already a duke by the time he returned to the n. The ancient blood pond also recognized his identity, freeing him of all suspicions. The man took only eight years to seize the n lord¡¯s position, bing the youngest ever grand duke and the faction¡¯s number one genius in a hundred years. Only thirty years has passed, but he has once again broken through to be a crown prince. Such progress is rarely heard of even in our human race, let alone the dark races.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said pensively, ¡°Youunched two major operations against the Evernight Council leaders during the Iron Curtain. Was that to kill him?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You see, everyone¡¯s ignoring the abnormalities surrounding that person. The two hundred years before his return waspletely nk, and the attention he has been receiving is not befitting of his genius title. His existence was enough to break the power bnce in many areas, but there was no movement in the Evernight Council or the vampire race. Especially Medanzo, everyone knows how narrow-minded the Lightless Monarch is, but there has been no news at all about any conflict between the two.¡±

    Zhang Boqianughed while looking at the marshal. ¡°Lin Xitang, I¡¯m a crude man who knows nothing about the direction of this world. You don¡¯t need to beat around the bush to warn me of the dangers outside. I know Habsburg lured me to the capital and I have my own calctions, but... nevermind. Let me get Gu Tuohai to take a look at your situation first, otherwise, what can you even do?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the sound of the ascending elevator echoed through the hall and a plump old man walked out from within.

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°Looks like His Highness is the one who understands you the most.¡±

    Gu Tuohai¡¯s appearance had to be an Imperial summon; there was no other possibility.

    Hearing these clueless words, Gu Tuohai agreed without knowing what everything was about. ¡°Producing so many secret treasures in one go, you deserve to be trapped here. You might¡¯ve helped those n descendants, but there¡¯s no telling if they¡¯ll thank you for it.¡±

    He went forward and ced a hand on Lin Xitang¡¯s wrist. Momentster, his expression rxed and he revealed a smile. ¡°Your condition is good, you¡¯ll be rid of the umted medicinal poison in a couple more days. Staying here for a month is worth it, I say.¡±

    It was obvious that Gu Tuohai was in a good mood. ¡°I must say, though, His Majesty did really well. This is the only way to deal with someone like you! Although I was shocked until my heart was beating regrly. Which chatan gave you so many white-fruits? What a waste!¡±

    Lin Xitang muttered, ¡°Recently? The medicine from before...¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Gu Tuohai looked at him cautiously. ¡°You can¡¯t move right now because medicine is spreading throughout your body. Things will be just right after you lie another three or four days. But if you take that medicine without waiting for the previous poison to disperse, then maybe you should start taking poison directly next time.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled. ¡°I won¡¯t. I don¡¯t need to go against the heavenly mysteries now, so I can focus on self-preservation.¡±

    Gu Tuohai said after a moment of astonishment, ¡°Now that you don¡¯t need to endure the bacsh, you seem to be trying to endure poison instead! The little emperor is so cautious that he won¡¯t let me receive any information. Do you think he¡¯ll let me smuggle drugs in?¡±

    He nced at Zhang Boqian and, in his anger, forgot just how scary thetter was. ¡°I don¡¯t have that ability, you should ask Prince Greensun.¡±

    Zhang Boqian looked back at Gu Tuohai, sending a piercing chill down his spine. An undefiable and cold voice said, ¡°Get out.¡±

    At the same time, Zhang Boqian clenched the fist he had behind his back,pletely destroying the origin array in his grasp.

    An angry Gu Tuohai left with a swing of his sleeve.

    Zhang Boqian looked at Lin Xitang for a while. ¡°Do you want me to do this for you?¡±

    His expression was calm, and those perpetually stern eyes looked exceedingly profound at this point.

    Lin Xitang said after some hesitation, ¡°Boqian...¡±

    Zhang Boqian cut him short, ¡°All this time, I¡¯ve always felt that you seeking death was your business. Now, you want me to personally send you to your grave?¡±

    Lin Xitang didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Zhang Boqian shook his head. ¡°Lin Xitang, I know your eerie powers, so there¡¯s no need to exin further. Just answer yes or no.¡±

    Although that was what he said, Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t really wait for a reply. He pushed open the tall window and jumped out immediately.

    Gu Tuohai was still standing in the small za in front of the Divination Pavilion.

    Sensing Zhang Boqian approach, he said in a scoundrelly manner, ¡°When I told you that the forbidden technique might cut it, that was a lie. There¡¯s no way Lin Xitang will dare let anyone see his true situation. Some people are trying to cause problems where there is none, and this time is no different. Lin Xitang had just suffered a great loss in strength after producing secret treasures for the Great Maelstrom, but these people want him to lead all his troops into battle. It seems they want to exhaust him to death because they can¡¯t kill him.¡±

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t act out. ¡°One cycle of sixty years, that¡¯s an ordinary person¡¯s life, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Sixty years my ass!¡± Gu Tuohai began to spew profanities. ¡°He¡¯ll live one cycle only if there¡¯s no other sickness. The way he¡¯s going about things, I¡¯m finding it strange that he¡¯s still breathing.¡±

    ¡°The ming Crown once said that Lin Xitang was using the darkness origin mes to cancel out the bacsh. How did he do that?¡±

    ¡°Even he himself has no idea. That¡¯s an unknown principle of darkness and daybreak bnce, and there¡¯s no way to recreate it. The only possibility is that Lin Xitang was in a minor world when he was injured, and thews that make up the bnce are different.¡±

    Next up, Gu Tuohai said directly, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it, a person¡¯s lifespan isn¡¯t something that can be extended. Even if the ming Crown bes a great dark monarch and his origin blood can block all external damage for Lin Xitang, it won¡¯t be able to extend his lifespan by a single second. The same goes for your daybreak grand source, it¡¯s useless!¡±

    Zhang Boqianughed mockingly. ¡°Lin Xitang once said that heavenly monarchs don¡¯t dare to die. How can someone like him, who¡¯s not even a heavenly monarch, judge whether or not I dare?¡±

    Gu Tuohai sighed deeply. He had calmed down a bit after all the venting. ¡°Marshal Lin¡¯s words don¡¯t make for good listening material, you¡¯ll die of anger.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°This fellow likes to make all living things worry about him, and he likes to trick his own people! How good would it be if I had stayed behind on the Evernight continent?¡±

    Zhang Boqian nced at the scenery of the Imperial capital, his expression silent and lonesome.

    The streets were bustling with activity¡ªsome were happy, some worried, some hurried, and others carefree. However, this prosperous world was as fragile as a piece of ice on fire. Everything would fall apart with just one eruption.

    What exactly was a heavenly monarch? Were they afraid of death like the Longevity Monarch or only mindful of virtuous causes like Pointer and Profundity Monarchs? What was the meaning of life apart from pain, hatred, and me?

 Chapter 1149: Hostage

    <h4>Chapter 1149: Hostage</h4>

    Void Continent, Whitetown. The battle had just ended.

    Qianye took to the skies and observed the entire city, memorizing every small detail. An expert at this level possessed superior memory and could remember the entirendscape after one nce. In the next battle, he would be able to utilize thendscape without surveying it again, almost as though it were his own backyard.

    After observing the geography and setup, Qianyended next to Song Zining and asked, ¡°What are we doing now?¡±

    ¡°Sleep.¡± Song Zining had no hesitation with his reply.

    The dark race attacks so far were only probing attacks, and that was why they had retreated immediately after suffering damage. But they would soon realize the importance of this location once the Imperial army¡¯s assault was in full swing. Moreover, they would find ways to transfer a powerful military force and uproot this ce at all costs.

    As long as Whitetown was there, the Evernight transports pulling back from thending point would be under constant threat. The dark races would never tolerate this, and would very likely fight to the death. The two days that followed would be extremely hard.

    Qianye went through the entire battle n again in his head. ¡°What¡¯s the situation out in the void?¡±

    Current intelligence says the first fleet of the Imperial Guard was leading the forces in the void. The Minister of the Right has returned to the void continent to take part in the battle there.

    Qianye frowned. ¡°The Minister of the Right is going to be a part of the ground battles? Which part?¡±

    Song Zining understood Qianye¡¯s concerns. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the minister won¡¯t be in charge of actualmand, only supplies and logistics.¡±

    Qianye felt slightly relieved, but there was a blurry shadow in his heart that he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on. Perhaps it was because of Lin Xitang? The battle n as well as the secret treasures for the Great Maelstrom came from him, which made it seem that everything was normal. On careful thought, however, all news regarding him had been passed on through various channels. No one had actually seen him in person.

    It was at this time that a familiar figure passed through the corner of his eyes. Without a second thought, Qianye shed behind that person and picked her up by the cor.

    This person, d in ordinary mercenary attire, turned back after being picked up. Qianye was startled. ¡°It¡¯s you?¡±

    This fellow was actually the Neenth Princess.

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank. This princess¡¯ intentions were dubious, and her identity was sensitive¡ªit was best for her to remain in the Martyr¡¯s Pce. That way, she would be easier to control and keep safe. Who would¡¯ve thought she had managed to slip away and actually sneaked into Whitetown.

    But the things on the ground had been settled and Dark me¡¯s fleet had returned to the void to secure the flight paths there, preventing their own retreat path from being blocked. There was no way to call the warships back for the princess alone.

    The Neenth Princess wasn¡¯t at all flustered. She pulled a face, saying, ¡°I was found out after all.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing here instead of staying at the Martyr¡¯s Pce?¡± Qianye asked coldly.

    ¡°This ce is more interesting! I have the Ji family¡¯s blood flowing in my veins and an aplished cultivation. How can I avoid battle?¡± She spoke with great righteousness and spirit.

    Qianye nced at Song Zining. Something of this measure couldn¡¯t have escaped Song Zining¡¯s notice even if Caroline had slipped up. As expected, Qianye saw a familiar shift in the seventh young master¡¯s calm eyes. For some reason, he understood the intention behind this move: hostage.

    The current Emperor was mediocre in terms of talent, but his royal descendants had carried on the family¡¯s powerful bloodline and talents. The ones with outstanding maternal lineage were not at all inferior to the previous Emperor¡¯s children, Haimi and Gaoyi. The Neenth Princess might be inferior because of her obscure maternal family, but there were only about five princes and princesses who were better.

    If news went out that a princess with such great potential had arrived in Whitetown, all themanding officers and marshals would find a way to rescue her. Otherwise, their crimes would be serious if she were to fall in battle, or worse, fall into enemy hands.

    As for how this news would spread and how it would be confirmed, that wasn¡¯t something to worry about. Since she hade, this news couldn¡¯t be kept secret for long. The military would surely find out her whereabouts. At this point, it was no longer possible for them to pick her up on her own. All they could do was to fight a path through the void continent ording to the original n.

    However, everyone on the battlefield would have to put their hands in fate. Such a method would only prevent people who were scheming openly.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but nce at the princess. Her little face was full of expectations and curiosity, not at all like someone who understood that she was a hostage.

    He sighed inwardly. Such an underage princess should¡¯ve grown up in the pce and had probably never seen the cruelties of war. Now, she had been sent straight to the dangerous frontlines.

    Qianye ced the Neenth Princess in front of Song Zining. ¡°Arrange a ce for her.¡±

    The girl wasn¡¯t about to take things lying down. ¡°I¡¯m going to follow you?¡±

    ¡°For what? To drag me down?¡± Qianye left with a swing of his hand.

    Song Zining pulled the princess back with a smile. ¡°What¡¯s so interesting about him? Follow me instead?¡±

    ¡°You? What do we do?¡±

    Song Zining dragged the Neenth Princess into the air. His eyes twitched slightly when he saw that the girl could indeed fly on her own¡ªshe was a champion.

    Several thoughts crossed Song Zining¡¯s mind, but neither of them was evident on his face. The two eventually arrived at the highest point in the city, where three guards were standing by.

    Song Zining passed a sniper rifle to the Neenth Princess, saying, ¡°You take up this position and snipe the enemy officers.¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw the massive sniper rifle. Smiling like a kid who had just gotten a new toy, she inspected the weapon with great speed and familiarity.

    After settling the Neenth Princess in, Song Zining studied the surrounding areas for a while before leaving. No matter what intentions she had, there was no way she would be allowed to follow Qianye.

    The Dark me soldiers grasped the time to rest and eat. As veterans, they knew that the battles would only grow fiercer and more arduous. Who knew if they would have another chance to eat if they didn¡¯t have their fill now.

    The sky eventually grew dark as twilight descended upon the small city.

    There was an old mercenary sitting on one of the peripheral defensive structures. His leatherbat attire was shiny from wear, and the origin handgun at his waist was an antique he had been using for many years. He was dozing off with his back against the wall and his eyes half-closed.

    An officer walked into the fortification at this point. He nced at the old mercenary, but he resisted the urge to act out. He merely asked the soldiers to remain on alert and allowed the old mercenary to keep on resting.

    The officer nced again at the old veteran as a weird restlessness came over him. It was at this time that the old soldier opened his eyes¡ªthose vertical pupils of his sent a chill down the officer¡¯s spine.

    Ignoring this superior officer, the old mercenary jumped up and rushed to the firing ports. He sniffed about here and there before shouting suddenly, ¡°I smell werewolves!¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a giant w reached in through the firing port and swiped at his neck.

    The old mercenary reacted rapidly, lowering his head just as the w struck his helmet and sent sparks flying. Fortunately, the old mercenary¡¯s neck bones were strong enough to endure the sudden impact.

    The werewolf grabbed the helmet in hopes of crushing the old veteran¡¯s head, but the man kicked the wall and flew backward, leaving only a helmet in the werewolf¡¯s hand.

    After escaping mortal danger, the man drew his ancient origin gun¡ªcharging, aiming, firing¡ªeverything happened within a split second. A shotnded on the werewolf¡¯s arm.

    The massive st echoed through the fortifications, deafening all of the newer recruits. The origin gun spat out a long stream of origin fire, which severed the werewolf¡¯s arm and sted arge patch of flesh off of it.

    The severed arm flew across the fortification andnded on the other side, its w stilltched onto the crushed helmet.

    The hysterical cry of a werewolf in pain rang out from outside the wall. Even the fiercest of the race would find a broken limb quite hard to bear.

    The loud gunshot and the wolf howl was more effective than any rm. Within moments, the entire defensive line became alert, and those who were eating or resting picked up their weapons and rushed to their positions. A re shot into the sky and fell down slowly, emitting a dazzling light over the entire front.

    In the blink of an eye, the Dark me soldiers saw that the entire wilderness was filled with werewolves.

    The werewolves who had been running over under the cover of the night were caught entirely off-guard. Many of them didn¡¯t have time to close their eyes before the re struck. Covering their eyes, they fell to the ground and rolled about in agony, while the weaker ones even started to bleed. Only the stronger ones were able to keep on charging after rubbing their eyes a couple of times.

    The werewolf charge immediately fell into disarray. Their momentum also slowed down significantly, giving the defensive party precious time to prepare.

    The white light from the star shell contained intense daybreak origin power and would deal great damage to the sensitive werewolves. Looking straight at it carelessly would blind them for a short while or even injure them in serious cases. Some might even be permanently blinded.

    These res cost a pretty penny for each shot. Even the Empire didn¡¯t have that many in store, and normally, they would be used in fort defense. Song Zining had spent quite a bit of money to buy them, but the effects were evident from the get-go since the dark races had never imagined they would encounter something like this. The charge of the werewolf vanguard squad was half-wasted in such a manner.

    The first werewolves to touch Whitetown¡¯s walls were shadow wolves and the stronger warriors. Their racial talent gave them an edge in concealment, but who would¡¯ve thought the old mercenary would immediately discover their approach?

    At this point, the hundreds of werewolf elites who were in charge of the surprise assault had charged into the defensive formation and were beginning their ughter. A tall werewolf tore off a mercenary¡¯s arm and howled fiercely at the sky.

    During this short pause, three mercenaries attacked from behind at the same time, stabbing their des into the werewolf¡¯s body. These three mercenaries were fairly ruthless in their attack, each striking the weak points on the enemy¡¯s spine.

    Simr scenes were ying out in different parts of the defensive line. These elite werewolves were powerful, but they were at a disadvantage in numbers after charging behind enemy lines.

    The mercenaries from the neutralnds were proficient in small scale battles. They could cooperate well and their attacks were ruthless, easily felling a werewolf warrior with each group attack. Meanwhile, most of the werewolves who were in charge of following up had been incapacitated and dyed by the star shell. This small difference was enough to wipe out the hundreds of elites who had charged into Whitetown.

    Even so, there were still werewolves as far as the eyes could see. It was almost as though there would be no end to them.

 Chapter 1150: Second Impac

    <h4>Chapter 1150: Second Impac</h4>

    The second row of star shells illuminated the night sky, but this time, the werewolves had learned their lesson. They fell to the ground as soon as the brightness changed, and those on high ground covered their eyes with their hands or used darkness origin power to seal their line of sight. As such, this round of res was fairly ineffective and only served to slow the werewolf legion¡¯s movements.

    However, the guards on Whitetown¡¯s walls were now free after dealing with the elites who had charged in. They immediately took this opportunity to attack the enemies in the periphery. The mercenaries fired ruthlessly, sting the enemies¡¯ vitals with each round. The werewolves possessed powerful defense, but they were busy defending themselves from the star shell. It was only natural that they would be overwhelmed.

    The second round of attacks came with great ferocity and uracy. A ssh of blood erupted amidst the werewolf formation as the soldiers fell at shocking speed.

    The tall werewolf count at the rear was ashen-faced, but in the end, he howled loudly at the sky. Upon hearing the howl, the werewolf warriors turned about and retreated. Only a small number of berserk werewolves refused to fall back, but they were soon torn to shreds amidst the concentrated fire.

    ¡°Why are you retreating?¡± A vampire count appeared in the frontline base, roaring at the werewolf leader.

    The werewolf count pointed at his battered squad. ¡°You never mentioned anything about those damned res! And where was the covering fire when we were charging?¡±

    The vampire count said with a frown, ¡°They have gunships! Our heavy cannons have suffered heavy damage and can¡¯t be transported in time. Don¡¯t you know that?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t be transported? Look at the sky, do you see a single gunship? Where is our own fleet? Didn¡¯t your race mobilize a powerful squadron? Where are they?¡±

    The vampire count narrowed his eyes. ¡°The void battles are above my paygrade. You¡¯ll have to exin your bad results to Duke Pratt yourself.¡±

    The werewolf count growled deeply. ¡°So many of my nsmen have died because of you white-skinned bats. And you want me to exin? Shall I exin to your corpse?¡±

    The vampire count¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He took a step back and shouted, ¡°What are you doing? The secondmand is about to arrive. If you kill me, your nsmen will all suffer the same fate!¡±

    The werewolf count¡¯s eyes were filled with ferocity as ws popped out of his fingertips. Just as he was about to attack, a sudden voice rang out, ¡°Hunter, stop. The duke¡¯s orders have arrived, your unit will be integrated into mine and continue the attack. As for that idiot, he¡¯s the one who needs to exin why he lost half a cannon squad.¡±

    Appearing before the duo was an even taller werewolf with long brown hair. His powerful momentum bore down on the vampire count until he couldn¡¯t breathe. Thetter forced out a bow and left hurriedly, not even daring to say a word.

    The werewolf count called Hunter said hatefully, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for him...¡±

    The marquis stopped him. ¡°It¡¯s meaningless to talk about these things now. We must take down that base without any artillery support. The good news is that the humans no longer have their gunships.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve been destroyed?¡±

    The marquis snorted. ¡°How can those mobile squadron idiots have that kind of ability? They can never hit the target unless it¡¯s right under their noses. There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll be in this condition if they hadn¡¯t lost two duke-grade gships back then. The humanmander is smart, he has moved away the gunships because he knew I woulde.¡±

    These neutralnd airships had no other merit except their sturdiness. With the current addition of extra armor, ordinary origin guns simply couldn¡¯t deal with them. A marquis¡¯ long-range attack, on the other hand, was a different story. Having suffered badly in the hands of these gunships, the dark races would surelye prepared for their next wave.

    The werewolf marquis had brought several giant ballistae which could easily pierce through the gunships¡¯ armor. However, Song Zining had already moved all the gunships back into the void, rendering the anti-air ballistae useless.

    At this moment, a blood-colored signal re rose up in the distance. The werewolf marquis found the scarlet hue rather offensive to his eyes. ¡°That idiot Pratt, does he think the vampires are so kind?¡±

    He turned about to face the werewolf count, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you fifteen minutes to reorganize your troops. We attack in half an hour!¡±

    Hunter said, ¡°Is it just our race again?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Pratt¡¯s private army has also arrived, but I have a feeling it won¡¯t be that easy for him to reap aplishments.¡± The werewolf marquis nced at the nearby Whitetown, a deep glint in his eyes.

    Hunter said, ¡°Since he wants the highest merit, why not let his men charge first?¡±

    The marquis replied, ¡°We can¡¯t be too obvious since his position is higher. We¡¯ll charge together when the order is issued, but tell your children to lie low and don¡¯t go berserk for no reason.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Hunter turned and left.

    The marquis stood on high ground, looking down at the army rolling toward the designated attack point. ¡°The one inside this city is Song Zining. How can we capture him alive without paying a price?¡±

    Momentster, Hunter returned in a hurry and said, ¡°Our forces are ready.¡±

    Nodding, the marquis summoned his personal guards. ¡°Issue the order, we attack in ten minutes!¡±

    The guards growled and ran off in werewolf form. Hunter¡¯s blood also started to boil, and he wanted nothing more than to roar with his head to the sky. He stepped forward inrge strides, nning to run into the battlefield.

    Unexpectedly, he was dragged back by the cor before he could leave.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    Hunter¡¯s eyes were filled with killing intent. ¡°Of course to the front lines! I must personally break those lowly human necks.¡±

    The marquis replied calmly, ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to.¡±

    ¡°Is there a different mission?¡±

    ¡°No mission, just watch from here.¡±

    Hunter was confused. ¡°Why?¡±

    The marquis said in a meaningful tone, ¡°Although that arachne idiot hasn¡¯t said anything useful since he escaped, I have a feeling that Qianye is in Whitetown. He¡¯s Pratt¡¯s enemy, so we don¡¯t need to join the fray.¡±

    As brave as Hunter was, he was astonished upon hearing this name. ¡°Qianye?¡±

    The marquis¡¯ expression was gloomy. ¡°Pratt has been hiding it quite well, but I think he has fallen a rank from the injuries caused by Life Plunder. That¡¯s a powerful talent of the ancient vampire race, and I haven¡¯t heard of any other vampire who has awakened this ability.¡±

    ¡°Life Plunder... ancient vampire race? Isn¡¯t that just a legend those bats use to boast?¡±

    The marquis said with a smile, ¡°The vampires love to boast, but they¡¯re indeed powerful. From the past battle records, Qianye¡¯s ability looks like Life Plunder. It¡¯s just that the vampires themselves haven¡¯t been able to confirm it.¡±

    Hunter¡¯s raging blood slowly calmed down. ¡°If we charge carelessly into the front lines, I¡¯ll definitely be Qianye¡¯s target. Maybe...¡±

    ¡°There are no maybes. Even if you run into the man, think of a way to escape if you can¡¯t defeat him in the first round. Otherwise, you¡¯ll likely die in battle.¡±

    Hunter was astonished at the marquis¡¯ high evaluation of Qianye. His expression was unsightly, but he stood to the side in silence. If Qianye was indeed as terrifying as the marquis had said, there was little meaning in him leading the charge.

    Experts integrated into the troop formation were used to control specific nodes on the battlefield. However, there was little meaning in doing so if the power difference was overwhelming. It would be better to just unleash a vast number of cannon fodder.

    The mes on the battlefield illuminated the dense formation of dark race soldiers marching forward like an army of ants.

    Streaks of fire shot through the sky like falling meteors, resulting in huge explosions uponnding. Dark race soldiers were sent flying with each strike, their limbs and flesh shooting off in all directions. This was a result of heavy cannon fire between the two factions.

    The humans possessedplete fortifications, so many of their soldiers were able to remain under cover until the bombardment was over. There were snipers in some of the defensive lines, who would st the iing shells before they couldnd.

    The casualties on the human side weren¡¯t high, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the dark races. Song Zining ced great importance in supplies, and the amount of ammunition he had prepared was shocking. Whitetown wasn¡¯t big, and there were only fifty thousand mercenaries from the neutralnds. Song Zining, however, had brought over five hundred heavy cannons for this force.

    The number of shells raining down on the narrow battlefield was so dense that it made one¡¯s hair stand on end. Some of the dark race experts tried their best, but they could only block a small part of the artillery.

    Higher-ranked nobility were either hiding behind like Hunter and the werewolf marquis, or unwilling to spend their origin power blocking cannon fire. On the contrary, they didn¡¯t feel any pain for the loss of cannon fodder because there were simply too many of these throughout the Evernight faction¡¯s continents.

    Most of the dark race¡¯s heavy cannons had been destroyed by the gunships, so the firepower was highly uneven. The dark race soldiers did not have cover, either, so their casualties were significant. The dark races had always used human wave attacks on the lower levels, and this time was the same. There were so many of them that the damage couldn¡¯t stop their advance.

    The assault forces this time weren¡¯t just werewolves. There wererge servspiders and elite arachne warriors in the mix. There were also hill-sized arachne who would shake the earth with each step.

    The dark races soldiers at the van had already rushed past the bombardment zone and within sprinting distance. The mercenaries in Whitetown fired with all their might, but the tide of dark race soldiers dwarfed their efforts.

    A middle-aged mercenary was picking his target from the trenches. He only had a couple of shots with the origin gun, so it couldn¡¯t be wasted. The stronger werewolves and arachne were usually bigger than their peers inbat mode. This werewolf was clearly the leader.

    Before he could pull the trigger, he felt a sting from his leg and lost all sensation from it. The mercenary looked down to find a fist-sized spider climbing onto his limbs. It had bitten through hisbat suit and was injecting poison into his flesh.

    The mercenary pped at the creature despite the disgust and terror, turning it into meat paste. Only at this point did he notice an odd rustling sound around him. The noise was previously camouged by the sound of firearms on the battlefield, and he only noticed it just now.

    Sensing something strange underfoot, he nced down at the ground under the light of the next explosion. He immediately jumped up in fright!

    There were innumerable spiders big and small.

    The experienced middle-aged mercenary managed to calm himself down at thest moment and stomped the spiders to death one after the other. These creatures were fast and menacing in appearance, but there was little difference from ordinary spiders otherwise.

    The man¡¯s movements suddenly slowed down during this process, and he fell on his back, never to move again.

    A dense wave of spiders crawled over his body and devoured him amidst cringe-worthy noises. Very soon, the spiders¡ªnow fatter than before¡ªleft only a white skeleton behind and kept moving forward.

    The entire formation fell into chaos as soldiers fell down in droves, and the survivors were left stomping about and crying hysterically.

 Chapter 1151: Sweeping Calm Again

    <h4>Chapter 1151: Sweeping Calm Again</h4>

    Under the attack of the arachne and werewolves, the outer defensive line fell to the brink of copse. Under the cover of the fierce battles and the darkness, these countless small venomous spiders brought about grave casualties among the mercenaries. The first defensive line was already full of openings in the blink of an eye.

    A row of star-shells appeared once again over the battlefront. The daybreak-saturated radiance was the bane of those small spiders as well. Screeching, the little creatures began to smoke from their bodies as they curled up under the light.

    Swathes of little spiders were roasted to death, allowing the front-line soldiers to finally breathe easy.

    ¡°Retreat to the second defensive line!¡± The officers shouted at the top of their lungs.

    Under the illumination of the star-shells, the surviving mercenaries sped back to the second line as quickly as they could. The dark race soldiers went berserk from the smell of blood and burnt flesh. The stronger ones chased after the retreating enemy despite their blurry vision.

    The silent second defensive line lit up with the glow of origin power as origin bullets whistled toward the dark race soldiers charging at the front. The heavy cannons rumbled as they rained shells upon the first defensive line.

    This time, the dark race experts didn¡¯t have time to block the iing attack. All they could do was watch as the projectiles erupted into waves of mes upon impact, devouring the dark race soldiers.

    The cover-volley from the heavy cannons was cruel and effective, so much so that the mercenaries who had failed to escape the area in time were sted to death in the first defensive line. The dark race soldiers at the front were naturally drowned in the cannonfire as well.

    The survivors from the first line of defense made use of thispse to retreat to the second line. After that momentary pause, the sea of dark race soldiers once again rushed toward the second line of defense.

    This time, the rain of bullets didn¡¯t juste from the entrenchments but also from some of the buildings behind it. The defense force¡¯s firepower wasn¡¯t only concentrated but also formed an interweavingwork, inflicting heavy casualties on the dark races.

    The werewolf marquis only narrowed his eyes, but Hunter couldn¡¯t help but jump up in fright. ¡°Why are there so many people?¡±

    From the looks of it, the second defensive line contained double the number of soldierspared to the first! This type of troop distribution went againstmon knowledge, but the effects were extremely evident. The dark races who had just seen some hope at victory suffered yet another painful setback, and some of the sacrifices were genuinely unexpected.

    The werewolf marquis said, ¡°Looks like there are more than three to four thousand people in the city. I think Sire Pratt is about to run into a snag.¡±

    ¡°How did they ship so many people here?¡±

    The marquis didn¡¯t reply. His gazended on a tall arachne at the center of the battlefield.

    Under the fierce bombardment from the second line of defense, even that enormous body was finding it hard to press forward.

    At this moment, on an airship hovering at a safe distance. Arachne Vice-Duke Pratt had just finished listening to his subordinate¡¯s report. ¡°How is this possible? They¡¯re just a small force that hasnded behind our backs. No way they have ten thousand men! You useless men, are you all blind?¡±

    The arachne viscount wanted to say something but didn¡¯t dare.

    With a loud snort, Pratt walked onto the deck and gazed into the distance. Considering his powerful eyesight, he could vaguely make out the situation on the battlefield.

    With the Martyr¡¯s Pce around, he wouldn¡¯t dare bring his gship out into the open. Since the dragonship could tear apart a grand duke¡¯s war vessel, he would simply be throwing his life away by going against it.

    That was why Pratt had switched to a high-speed destroyer to serve as his gship. This warship couldn¡¯t approach the battlefield, so it could only look on from afar.

    Pratt observed the situation for a good while, surprised by the ferocity of the battle around the second defensive line.

    Momentster, his expression turned solemn. ¡°The humans cannot have that many people, they must¡¯ve ced all their manpower in the second defensive line. Humph, do you think I will fall for that trick? Issue themand, intensify the attack!¡±

    ¡°Sire, the casualties seem to be quite high on the front lines.¡±

    ¡°Idiots! Cannon fodder isn¡¯t worth shit. We can get as many of them as we want from some of those lower continents. Duke Romier¡¯s main force will arrive if we can¡¯t take down Whitetown in half a day. I don¡¯t want to hand the credits to that old vampire!¡±

    Soon after the werewolf viscount¡¯s departure, the assault on the frontlines increased noticeably. Pratt nodded in satisfaction when he saw an increasing number of mes erupt on the human defensive line.

    At the center of the dark race formation, that tall arachne had finally reached the human defensive line. He stepped out from the raging fire and smoke, his body covered in thick steel armor. The hail of bullets only left dimples on the tes, and only the uncovered ces sustained some minor injuries.

    The arachne had a three-barrel gatling gun in his right hand, each muzzle the size of a fist. This weapon weighed a ton, but it seemed as light as a kid¡¯s toy in the spider¡¯s hand.

    Wherever the gatling gun was pointed, fierce explosions would resound from that direction, and the human soldiers nearby would be sent flying from the st. Those at the center of the explosion would not even have corpses left. Everything else that was a nuisance to the arachne would also be removed from his line of sight.

    There was arge cleaver in the arachne¡¯s left hand. Therge, square de was enough to sh through an armored vehicle, almost like a guillotine.

    ¡°Concentrate fire on that big fellow!¡± a mercenary general shouted hysterically. At the same time, he raised his hand cannon and spat out a mass of red light.

    The cannon shellnded squarely between the arachne¡¯s chest and abdomen, bursting into a big ball of light therein. The arachne¡¯s exposed skin was charred, but his fighting power waspletely unaffected.

    The attack only served to ignite his fury. The arachne charged dozens of meters with a single leap andnded before that mercenary general, where he swung the cleaver down upon his target!

    The mercenary general was in despair, but all he could do was raise his hand cannon to block the strike. The resistance was naturally futile¡ªthe square cleaver promptly bisected the cannon and its wielder.

    This mercenary general was themander of the second defensive line. The arachne was overflowing with ferocity after killing the officer. He beat his chest and roared thunderously, ¡°My name is Virtuous Count Medlosi, who dares fight me!?¡±

    His shout echoed across the battlefield, filling the mercenaries with varying degrees of despair. The dark race army¡¯s morale shot up as they charged forward with greater ardor.

    It was at this time that a certain person appeared in Medlosi¡¯s vision. A slim, fragile-looking silhouette that wasn¡¯t all that tall. It was a vampire, a member of the race he hated the most.

    How could there be a vampire in the human defensive line?

    Medlosi was so consumed by his battle-hunger that his reactions were somewhat slow. He had just thought of this problem when that figure somehow appeared in front of him!

    Gazing at the heavy sword bearing down on him, Medlosi reflexively swung his cleaver to parry it. Unexpectedly, that little fellow who was even thinner than one of his spider legs dared to go head-on against him!

    East Peak¡¯s weight caused Medlosi¡¯s expression to change drastically. However, he no longer had any time or space to evade; all he could do was watch as the heavy word sliced him from between the brows all the way down to his abdomen.

    Medlosi¡¯s giant spider body froze momentarily before copsing with a boom. Even before his death, he still hadn¡¯t realized how such a small creature could possess enough strength to overwhelm him.

    Qianyended on the arachne¡¯s body like a wad of drifting cotton. The fallen count¡¯s remains stood as tall as a small hill, affording Qianye a good view of the entire battlefield.

    The fight had already reached its height, and the second defensive line had been broken through in several areas. The smell of smoke and blood had long since awakened the dark race¡¯s inherent ferocity, forcing them to pounce on any visible target.

    Qianye, who was standing on Medlosi¡¯s body, became an eye-catching objective.

    Almost at the same time, all the nearby dark races pounced at Qianye. They were like a tide of darkness surging over him.

    Qianye simply stood there with his sword in hand, but the dark race soldiers at the front felt as though they had bumped into an invisible wall. Those at the back had no idea what was happening up front, so they kept pushing forward and ramming into the person in front.

    In the blink of an eye, a wave of dark race soldiers were packed densely around Qianye. Some of the more violent ones simply jumped up and stepped over the shoulders of theirrades toward Qianye.

    Seeing that a fair number of enemies had gathered around him, Qianye removed his origin barrier with a cold smile. The dark race warriors suddenly lost their bnce and copsed before Medlosi¡¯s corpse.

    Qianey took a deep breath and shed six times in every direction!

    East Peak shed down silently, almost as though it had no weight, but wherever the sword pointed, droves of dark race soldiers would stiffen and fall to the ground. A puddle of blood would eventually seep out from under their bodies, but no one knew where the wound was.

    In the blink of an eye, the area around Qianye had be and of death, with only a handful of dark race soldiers still standing.

    Everything became silent on the distant dark race gship. With a loud bang, the wine ss in Pratt¡¯s hand was crushed into pieces. This was his favorite wine ss, but he couldn¡¯t feel anything from its destruction.

    Amidst the hundreds of corpses and a handful of dark race soldiers, Qianye was feeling a bit regretful. This Sweeping Calm was something he had tempered back in the year, a powerful move that was suitable against groups.

    However, it was so powerful that it was difficult to control. Even with Qianye¡¯s current attainments and cultivation, he could only manage six shes. He would need to produce eight shes to reach the highest realm and sweep through every direction.

    Even though there were a few missed angles, none of the dark race soldiers could block a single strike. They would lose their lives immediately upon contact with the sword energy, and only those who happened to be at the right location managed to survive.

    Qianye snorted as his eyesnded on the dozen or so dark race soldiers. This soft sound felt like roaring thunder to their ears, frightening them so much that they turned and fled, their ferocity suppressed by the overwhelming strength.

    With the momentum of defeat spreading to all parts of the battlefield, the dark races once again retreated like the tides and the assault was thus dispersed.

    Seeing this, Qianye turned back and vanished into the buildings.

    Pratt stood dazed for a moment before jumping about. ¡°Attack! Keep on attacking! He¡¯s just bluffing, everyone charge!¡±

 Chapter 1152: Challenge

    <h4>Chapter 1152: Challenge</h4>

    The first defeat hadn¡¯t affected the dark races¡¯ firm resolve to attack. Although they had suffered grave losses on the first two lines of defense, they had an overwhelming advantage in numbers. They were able to reorganize swiftly as more dark race warriors were arriving from the rear and squeezing into the forward base.

    The dark races didn¡¯t remain idle while they were reorganizing. They assembled a good number of heavy cannons and kept up the bombardment. There was no way Dark me would be willing to lose out on the artillery exchange.

    The heavy cannons inside Whitetown spat out tongues of me as they poured shells upon the dark race cannon formation. One after the other, dark race heavy cannons were silenced by the overwhelming firepower. However, the determined dark races would rece the lost weapons with greater speed and fire back at the mercenaries.

    The human forces couldn¡¯tpare to the dark race and their ve soldiers in number. Hence, they had to focus on the enemy heavy cannons and could only do limited damage to the assembling soldiers.

    Under Pratt¡¯smand, the dark race experts stopped conserving origin power and did their utmost to intercept the iing cannon-fire. That also reduced the effect of Dark me¡¯s heavy cannons.

    As the dark race army finished assembling, a mournful bugle spread its distant voice across the battlefield. All the dark race warriors felt their blood boiling.

    With the signal to attack given, the dark race warriors jumped out of their base and charged at Whitetown¡¯s defensive line.

    The vanguard warriors had just stepped within firing range when they felt their vision light up. They reflexively sealed off their vision, but they soon realized that the light didn¡¯te from the star shells. Instead, it was a continuous stream of fire that had lit up along the silhouette of the entire city.

    In the blink of an eye, the dark race soldiers at the front fell down in droves. It was almost as though they had run into an invisible wall.

    However, the soldiers at the back stepped on the corpses of their fallenrades and kept charging forward. The defensive fire from Whitetown flickered constantly and without pause, sending forth wave upon wave of bullets to reap the lives of the advancing enemy.

    The Dark me mercenaries fired with despair-inducing density, raising dark race casualties to unbearable levels.

    After some rest and reorganization, the tottering second defensive line quickly became a meat grinder.

    On the warship, Pratt looked on emotionlessly as droves of dark race soldiers stumbled down. Each of the dark race army¡¯s step forward was paved with countless corpses.

    ¡°Sire, should we...¡± an arachne count asked cautiously.

    Pratt said decisively, ¡°That¡¯s all they have left! Issue my order, everyone under the marquis rank shall attack!¡±

    The arachne count was shocked. ¡°Sire, Qianye is in the city!¡±

    ¡°So what? Even Medlosi has died for the cause, do you cowards want to hide behind the lines? Go!¡±

    The arachne count bowed. ¡°As you wish, Sire, but those werewolves have been preserving their strength. Why don¡¯t we...¡±

    Pratt pondered for a good while this time. After a while, his eyes were filled with a harsh killing intent. ¡°Order Marquis Redtooth to oversee the frontlines. His position is too far back.¡±

    ¡°What do we do if Sire Redtooth doesn¡¯t listen?¡±

    ¡°Then I will convince him myself.¡±

    The arachne count left with his orders.

    After paying the price in heavy casualties, the dark race army managed to charge into Whitetown¡¯s defensive lines twice, but they were pushed back both times. The front line soldiers weren¡¯t entirely made up of madmen who weren¡¯t afraid to die. After the death toll had reached a certain level, even the most berserk werewolf would start to shrink back.

    They reorganized outside of firing range, preparing for an attack of greater scale. The third charge had begun, and this time, things were clearly different from before. Therge number of dark race experts moved forward amidst the iing fire and soon brought their units to the defensive line.

    Then, they proceeded to destroy the defensive structures one after the other.

    Escting the battle to this degree outside of the city was a clumsy strategy, to say the least, but regardless of the casualties, it remained true that paving the path with lives was the most efficient way to fight.

    The Dark me mercenaries also fell into confusion, but the veterans in the defensive line knew that retreating meant death. It was better to fight to thest breath and maybe find some hope of survival.

    Due to the influx of experts, the dark races took up the absolute advantage in terms of close-quarterbat. As more and more of them charged into the defensive line, Dark me¡¯s casualty rate shot up exponentially.

    On the wall, Song Zining was gazing down at the fight around the second defensive line. ¡°What an impetuous fellow, sending out your experts so soon? I thought I¡¯d have to wait until you¡¯re at the city walls.¡±

    He produced a silver mask from his robes and fastened it on his face. Then, he reached out to grab the spear his attendant was offering.

    Song Zining jumped out with his spear and soon vanished into the air.

    On the battlefront, a berserk arachne viscount was swinging his axe in a circle, shing three mercenaries through the waist. He roared at the sky as the boiling fresh blood sshed onto his body, but his excitedughter came to a sudden stop. That was because a spear made of unknown material had pierced his throat.

    Song Zining pulled the weapon back with a shake of his hand and moved away. He took three steps all of a sudden and, wielding his spear like a dragon, took the life of a dark race expert with each movement.

    In the dark night, Song Zining¡¯s white robes and long spear were especially eye-catching. He was invincible wherever he went and left no enemy general alive. In the blink of an eye, his silver mask was stained with blood, and his white robes had turned scarlet red.

    If themander was fighting so hard, how could the subordinates not do their best as well? The mercenaries immediately felt their blood boiling as they fought desperately to thest breath. Thus, the tottering defensive line was stabilized once again.

    Right after he had flicked a baron into the air, Song Zining¡¯s flickering silhouette suddenly became clear for a moment. He had spent quite a bit of stamina in the constant fighting, so it was only natural that his Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art would be unstable.

    It was during this split-second gap that the night sky was stained with ayer of red, and a gigantic fang appeared at Song Zining¡¯s back.

    Jolted, Song Zining pulled his spear back and turned around. Without even looking, he knew that he had been locked onto and that there was no way to evade this lethal blow. The only way was to attempt a mutually destructive move and force the enemy to give up.

    No one knew what expression Song Zining had beneath the mask. Considering how the enemy was able to grasp such an opening amidst the chaotic battle andunch a sneak attack, it was easy to guess that he was almost as strong as Song Zining himself. How could it be easy to turn the tables on such an opponent, especially since he had gotten the advantage?

    A faintly discernible figure, almost impossible to spot against the ming background of the battlefield, flickered beneath Song Zining¡¯s spear. The shadow arrived swiftly behind and swiped at his back!

    Just as the w was about to touch Song Zining¡¯s white robes, the faint silhouette became highly alert. He had noticed a certain figure appear out of nowhere in the distance¡ªQianye. Amidst the flickering lights and passing shadows, the werewolf felt as though he could see his own reflection in the enemy¡¯s eyes.

    All of a sudden, a chill surged up in his heart because what he had seen was simply too weird. It was almost like an illusion, and he simply didn¡¯t know what he was afraid of. No matter how powerful Qianye was, he was a thousand meters away. What could he even do?

    The werewolf¡¯s resolution was firm enough. Even though he was inwardly shaken, the killing move he was performing never slowed down. Those sharp ws kept moving forward, tearing through the white robes, inner armor, and flesh before finally meeting resistance¡ªthat was Song Zining¡¯s ribs.

    Recoil from the gushing daybreak origin power impacted the werewolf¡¯s ws, which was then suppressed by the well-prepared darkness origin power. The frail human body was at a clear disadvantage in such melee fights. The werewolf was just about to dig out Song Zining¡¯s heart with the next move when he felt another chill behind his back. The cold cut through to his bones with unstoppable momentum!

    He turned back rapidly, only to find a silhouette several hundred meters away. That was Qianye, but it was only his afterimage.

    Withdrawing the w he had in Song Zining¡¯s body, the werewolf spun around and swiped behind him. However, his vision was filled with a sword radiance as he turned around. The werewolf¡¯s upper body flew high into the air, and only at this point did Qianye¡¯s silhouette slowly appear.

    Qianye nced upward and said in surprise, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a marquis?¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you tell?¡± Song Zining walked over.

    ¡°He¡¯s quite weak.¡±

    ¡°Weak? I almost lost my life there, how is that weak?¡± Song Zining said angrily.

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°There¡¯s no way you¡¯ll die when I¡¯m around. Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Just a surface injury, nothing serious. He didn¡¯t even injure my bones.¡±

    Only at this point did Redfang¡¯s upper bodynd with a thud. He was still struggling to stand up, but the cut edges of his flesh had been charred from Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn origin power. It was easy to see that the marquis wasn¡¯t going to survive.

    Qianye nced at the unresigned werewolf and said in a puzzled tone, ¡°I wasn¡¯t wrong, he looks weak.¡±

    ¡°Why would you feel that he¡¯s weak? His origin power rank is higher than mine, but it is true that the shadow wolves aren¡¯t as strong physically. Wait a minute... turn back to me.¡±

    Qianye looked at Song Zining in confusion. Thetter stared into his eyes for a good while before saying, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. Your eye abilities have improved again.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I didn¡¯t feel it.¡±

    Song Zining red at him. ¡°You didn¡¯t feel it? Were you ever able to restrain a marquis before?¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°There you have it. Enough about that, let¡¯s sound the retreat. You and I will bring up the rear.¡± Song Zining flew carelessly into the air, his spear drawing several trails before he put it away and stood with his hand behind his back.

    A row of star-shells shot out from Whitetown as the heavy cannons rumbled to provide cover fire.

    The dark race experts could break through the restraints of the res and heavy cannons, but Qianye and Song Zining were standing side by side at the center of the battlefield.

    They were waiting for people to fight them, but who would dare when even Redfang was ughtered in one blow?

    All eyes on the Evernight side fell upon Pratt. Only the arachne vice-duke would have a chance at breaking past the duo.

    Pratt remained motionless, much like a sculpture.

    Momentster, the star-shells had dissipated, and the heavy cannons had stopped firing. The smoke eventually dispersed to reveal the outline of Whitetown. The second defensive line was already empty¡ªall the mercenaries had retreated into the city, leaving Qianye and Song Zining standing before the gates.

    Pratt¡¯s pupils constricted as he stared at Qianye.

    As though sensing something, thetter turned his head ever so slightly to meet the gaze from thousands of meters away.

    He raised his brows with a cold smile. A sanguineous line rose up into the air, as did his vigor and imposing demeanor. He was waiting for Pratt to meet him in battle.

    Pratt looked up at the sky and saw that the full moon was actually a hazy color of blood.

 Chapter 1153: Necessary Victory

    <h4>Chapter 1153: Necessary Victory</h4>

    Very few people on the battlefield, with the exception of the top experts, had noticed the color of the moon. Some of the stronger vampires sensed the change and looked up at the same time.

    The dark race soldiers assembled quietly and waited for their new orders. They suddenly realized that their formation was rather frail. There were great numbers of them left and right, but that didn¡¯t stop them from being strangely anxious. Some of the smarter ones noticed that there were a lot fewer officers and experts among them, so much so that there were none in some units.

    Experts were the pirs of each unit. Without them, everyone knew how far these cannon fodder could go. Now that most of the experts were gone, the squads were somewhat shaken.

    Some of the survivors who had retreated from the front looked back at the corpses at the second defensive line and thought, ¡°Did they all die back there?¡±

    On the warship, the arachne count appeared once again, limping and soaked in blood. His voice was weak and hoarse, ¡°Sire, I¡¯ve returned.¡±

    ¡°How are our casualties?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve lost roughly a third of our forces, while the humans have lost around four thousand men.¡±

    ¡°Twenty thousand of our men in exchange for four thousand humans?¡±

    The arachne count said, ¡°Sire, most of our deaths are cannon fodder. Naturally, our death toll would be higher.¡±

    Snorting, Pratt red at the arachne count with harsh eyes. The count lowered his head humbly, no longer daring to look straight at the marquis.

    Pratt had long since noticed that the count was hiding dissent beneath the respectful demeanor. He asked indifferently, ¡°What do you suggest we do now?¡±

    This was a trick question. The arachne count said after some thought, ¡°Sire, losing cannon fodder is fine, but we¡¯ve lost too many titled experts! These people are the backbone of your army! Sire, even Redfang has fallen in battle. I don¡¯t think anyone will be able to block Qianye¡¯s rampage if you don¡¯t take action.¡±

    The corners of Pratt¡¯s eyes twitched briefly. He looked up at the full moon and said slowly, ¡°If that¡¯s the case... let¡¯s retreat.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The arachne count couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    ¡°Retreat,¡± Pratt repeated the order.

    ¡°We can¡¯t, Sire! If we retreat like that, all the credit will go to Romier. At that point, he¡¯ll probably me you for the failed assault! We still have more troops. We should keep up the assault, even if it¡¯s just for show.¡±

    Pratt¡¯s gaze became gloomy. ¡°That¡¯s only if Romier can seed.¡±

    At this point, the arachne count understood Pratt¡¯s resolution. No longer daring to make a sound, he withdrew to perform his orders.

    The dark races slowly left the battlefield as the bugle cry to retreat rang out. Meanwhile, Whitetown opened its gates, and close to a thousand people emerged to sweep the battlefield.

    These mercenaries didn¡¯t have much time to do their work. The window didn¡¯t even reach an hour before a dense crowd of airships appeared in the distance.

    The Evernight warships at the front spread out in a row facing Whitetown, providing cover for the transports as they unloaded an almost countless number of soldiers. A new battle was about to begin.

    A faint suppressive might rolled in from the distance as a massive warship broke through the clouds and flew toward the battlefield.

    This warship was of demonkin make, and judging from its size, it was likely the gship of a duke. Its appearance raised the morale of the soldiers who broke out in loud cheers.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes. ¡°What did they drive the ship here for? Courting death?¡±

    Whatever model the airship was, its movements would be inconvenient while driving close to the ground. This was especially true for the battlefield where two armies were in fiercebat because aerial attacks focused more on uracy and not firepower. If thendscape of the battlefield was special, the warship would have to be aware of its altitude at all times.

    The giant warship¡¯s role on the battlefield was to intimidate and prevent their path of retreat from being cut off. Unless they nned to level both friend and foe, the airship would have to be careful of enemy experts boarding the vessel.

    Moreover, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was out in the void. If the demonkin duke were to join the battle with his gship, Qianye could easily summon the pce and devour the prey that hadnded at his mouth.

    However, the gship stopped several hundred meters away and made no other movement. Apparently, it was only here to oversee the formation.

    The transports arrived one after the other, and countless dark race soldiers poured out of them like the tides. The army didn¡¯t attack immediately and began to construct all kinds of fortifications instead. This move wasn¡¯t too different from when Song Zining attacked Whitetown.

    Soon, the transports had unloaded a number ofrge machinery and fortifications. An unusuallyrge transport then drove over and ced a small kic tower inside the base.

    Whitetown fired two waves of long-distance origin cannons to test the enemy. The range was clearly too short to reach their fort, but the dark races reacted immediately. Their experts took action and blocked most of the iing shells, while the rest fell onto the emptynd between the two bases.

    The speed and power of the interception proved that it was impossible for Whitetown to interfere with the other party setting up their fort. It was better to save ammunition and grasp this time to rest.

    The dark race army worked through the night. By dawn, a fort of the same scale had appeared across Whitetown, with endless rows of barracks behind it. No one knew how many soldiers they had mustered.

    Atop Whitetown¡¯s walls, Song Zining gazed through the binocrs with a serious expression. ¡°Looks like this battle won¡¯t be an easy fight.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°We knew that since the beginning. When will reinforcements arrive?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°No matter when they arrive, we¡¯ll still need to get through this ordeal first.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Just like before, leave the duke to me.¡±

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°Qianye, this isn¡¯t the time to be ying cool. Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°My blood energy is already at the edge of breaking through, I can rank up anytime if I ignore the consequences. At that point, I think I can actually put up a fight despite the gap.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not time to go all out yet, we can discuss that after a few rounds. Heh, I¡¯ve been preparing for a long time. It¡¯s impossible to devour this base without paying a steep price. Everything will depend on their determination now.¡±

    Within the duke gship, Romier was gazing down from his throne, his chin propped upon his hand.

    There were two werewolf experts and an arachne count before him. They were all injured, and blood was still seeping out from beneath their bandages. Their auras were weak, and even standing seemed like a struggle for them. This was the alliance officer whom Pratt had left in charge of the so-called handover procedure.

    Romier was tall,nky, and possessed a pair of deep, falcon-like eyes. He said slowly, ¡°Does that mean Pratt is going just like that? He¡¯s not leaving his forces at all?¡±

    The arachne count said, ¡°That¡¯s not the case. Sire Pratt¡¯s direct subordinates have suffered grave casualties and require urgent rest and reorganization. He wishes to regroup at the rear and join the battle after recovering fighting power...¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when the demonkin duke snapped his fingers with a snort. The arachne count only heard the sound before he felt as though there was a hand around his throat and he could no longer speak. His arachne body appeared as he struggled on, but eventually, he copsed and never moved again.

    Romier¡¯s eyesnded on the two werewolf viscounts. ¡°I¡¯m just killing a coward who fled the battlefield. Do you have any objections?¡±

    The werewolves quickly replied that they wouldn¡¯t dare.

    In truth, counts could be considered important characters in the Evernight society. They could be considered true, upper-echelon nobility. In ordinary times, even Romier wouldn¡¯t dare kill a count for no reason. However, the two werewolves understood that they were on the battlefield, and that killing a deserter wasn¡¯t a big deal.

    In truth, Vice-Duke Pratt¡¯s forces weren¡¯t that much weaker than Romier¡¯s, but he was too greedy for aplishments. He had attacked first without waiting for the truemander¡¯s main forces. Who would¡¯ve thought he would suffer so badly beneath the city walls? Not only did he lose soldiers and generals, but he also lost all of his heavy equipment. Most importantly, a good number of his core titled experts had fallen. This could be considered serious damage.

    Although leaving in defeat wasn¡¯t running away before the battle, Romier could easily report them all. It was fairlymon for minor characters like them to be affected by thepetition between two dukes.

    The werewolves weren¡¯t Pratt¡¯s subordinates, and neither did they have any intention of seeking justice for the arachne count. Seeing their submissiveness, Romier nodded and softened his tone, ¡°Contact Pratt. Have him return here no matter where he is and assign him to lead all the units! That idiot still can¡¯t see the picture at such a juncture. You¡¯ll all die here if you can¡¯t win this battle.¡±

    After the two viscounts were led away, a demonkin marquis in the hall asked, ¡°Are things already that urgent?¡±

    Only the duke¡¯s trusted aides remained in the room. ¡°We¡¯ve lost control of the void airspace, and the survivors are all guarding the most important nodes. They have lost the courage to go against the human fleet for a showdown. Our useless ground forces are also being pushed back repeatedly. Two out of the three human attack routes are obviously heading in this direction. Once they meet up, we can forget about ever getting the city back. The biggest airship port on the void continent is nearby. Without that base, it¡¯ll be lucky even if one-tenth of our army can escape.¡±

    A different demonkin count said, ¡°When did the humans be so powerful? Haven¡¯t we been suppressing them all along?¡±

    ¡°They transferred a lot of experts from the maind, real powerful experts.¡±

    The smarter ones suddenly recalled. ¡°Aren¡¯t they afraid of leaving their backyard empty?¡±

    Romier said coldly, ¡°The Evernight Council will deal with the Great Qin, our battle is here. In truth, we can forget about getting away with a fluke now that the human experts are already here.¡±

    The aides looked at one another. ¡°Who are the leaders of those two routes? Why can¡¯t we intercept them?¡±

    Romier said slowly, ¡°One is Haimi, and the other is Zhao Jundu.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was famous, so there was no need to expound on the subject, but the true upper echelons of the demonkin race were shaken when they heard the name Haimi.

    Seeing that morale was wavering, Romier said, ¡°The Evernight Council has dispatched Dukes Jenson and Doer to intercept her. It should be fine.¡±

    These words were spoken without much confidence, and the subordinates naturally didn¡¯t have much faith in it, either. The demonkin marquis couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°I doubt the two dukes will be enough to stop Haimi. ording to the Empire¡¯s military habits, there should be another deputymander in the unit who¡¯s close to the divine champion rank. That woman¡¯s Imperial bloodline is terrifying. She was already hunting down marquises before she was even a divine champion. Why isn¡¯t the council sending more people, an additional vice-duke even?¡±

    Romier smiled wryly. ¡°Do you think the council hadn¡¯t thought of that? The problem is, who would be willing to go? Now that the mobile fleet has lost control of the void airspace, even a duke gship might not escape the Imperial Guard¡¯s relentless assault. So, there¡¯s really no retreat path in those two directions.¡±

    Everyone was enlightened as to why two mediocre dukes had been assigned to such an important task.

    There were a lot of unspoken rules among the high nobility of Evernight. Titles represented one¡¯s strength and rank, but those at the same rank might have vastly differentbat strength, backgrounds, and status.

    This mission was too dangerous. Ordinary dukes might obey the council¡¯s orders, but even the Evernight Council couldn¡¯t use the core members of powerful ns as cannon fodder.

    ¡°There¡¯s also some bad news. I heard Gaoyi is also on the void continent, we might run into her one day,¡± Romier said slowly.

    This time, the demonkin were shaken even more. The human life-span was fairly limited, so Great Qin¡¯s divine champion roster had always been finite. Among them, the Imperial n members were closely watched by the enemy faction. Just like their dark race counterparts, these experts would only appear in national wars and would be treated with the same importance as the famed ns from the four major races.

    Romier raised his voice, ¡°So! We must win this fight if we don¡¯t want to be thrown into a head-on battle! Issue the order, prepare to attack!¡±

 Chapter 1154: Bombardmen

    <h4>Chapter 1154: Bombardmen</h4>

    Within Whitetown, Song Zining had been standing on the wall all this time and observing the dark race¡¯s movements.

    Having finished patrolling the entire city, Qianye appeared beside Song Zining. ¡°Do we not need the Martyr¡¯s Pce? There¡¯s still time.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The Martyr¡¯s Pce is better used for intimidation. It¡¯s more terrifying for them because they have no idea where the pce is. That duke will not throw his gship into battle because that¡¯s his only tool for escape. Without it, he might very well die here if he were to sustain a heavy injury.¡±

    Qianye nodded in recognition.

    Song Zining pointed at the Evernight airships shuttling back and forth. ¡°I¡¯ve observed them for the entire night. These are the newest model transports, and even a duke can¡¯t mobilize that many of them. It seems the dark races have finally realized the gravity of the situation; they want to concentrate their forces on us and drive us away from the void continent. Be prepared, the true test begins now.¡±

    Qianye nodded. There was a tacit understanding between the two, that Qianye would only watch the ordinary battles and not take action. His targets were the top experts of the enemy formation, including Duke Romier.

    Song Zining was in charge of allmand and mobilization, as well as clearing out the middle-ranked experts. Due to the special characteristics of Worldly Prosperity and the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art, those ordinary experts had no way to lock onto Song Zining in his domain. He would be rtively safe even when moving through an army of ten thousand. The only thing he would need to worry about were surprise attacks from a dark race expert of the same rank.

    At this moment, the Evernight faction had finished installing their kic tower, and many of their temporary defensive structures hade online. A never-ending stream of trucks was shipping things back and forth.

    A mournful steam resonated across the skies as the two heavy doors of the Evernight fort slowly opened up. One heavy truck after the other converged into a deluge of steel, slowly rolling toward the front lines. These trucks were carrying heavy cannons on their back¡ªan almost countless number of them.

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes narrowed as he turned back and shouted, ¡°Issue the order, all heavy cannons are to disperse and take cover! Apart from thebatants of the first defensive line, all other personnel will enter the bunkers!¡± The aide-de-camp ran off to pass the orders.

    ¡°We can¡¯t win?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much ammunition left.¡± Song Zining sighed.

    They had prepared sufficient supplies and ammunition, but consumption in battle was astronomical. Dark me had exchanged these numbers for highly favorable casualty ratios. Against the overwhelming advantage of the Evernight heavy cannon unit, the only viable course of action was to preserve one¡¯s strength first.

    Romier¡¯s cannons were superior in both caliber and range. They were being used to bombard Indomitable at first, but now, they had been shipped to the rear for urgent use against the defense-proficient humans. After the situation in Whitetown became known, the dark races transferred everything they had to deal with Song Zining.

    Hundreds of heavy cannons were deployed outside of Whitetown¡¯s firing range. It was already a great feat for Song Zining to have shipped so many heavy cannons here. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to get his hands on top-grade ones.

    Momentster, a sh of light appeared in the distance, and the sky was soon filled with specks of starlight, almost like falling meteors. A strange whistling came from the sky as cannon shells rained down one after the other. The sound of gunfire rang out in the city; it was the sound of experts trying to intercept the projectiles.

    Song Zining picked up arge-caliber sniper rifle and fired three times into the air, producing three balls of fire in the sky. An expert at this level could already control his body to the finest details, so even an ordinary firearm could have the same interception effect as an origin gun. It was just that such high caliber sniper rifles were slow to fire, and even Song Zining could only intercept three rounds.

    Qianye, on the other hand, had fired eight rounds into the air with his Twin Flowers, destroying a cannon shell with each shot. The consecutive fire brought about a slight dip in Qianye¡¯s aura, but it climbed back rapidly. The Twin Flowers was limited to firing five rounds each before the origin array would have to cool down.

    As more and more experts took action, eighty percent of this volley was intercepted, but the dozens of rounds that didnd still produced a shocking amount of damage. Every earth-shattering explosion kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke that eventually shrouded the entire Whitetown.

    The shockwaves from the first volley hadn¡¯t even dispersed when a shrill whistle rang out in the air once more. This time, most experts found their interception abilities greatly affected by the visual obstruction. Almost half of the shells entered the city¡ªeven the highest cannon tower was sted in half, with its top part slowly copsing onto the streets.

    Romier wasn¡¯t about to give Whitetown any opportunity to catch their breath. The rumble of heavy cannons rang out constantly, each volley raining shells upon the city like falling meteors. The cannoneers and porters around the cannons were working frantically. As origin arrays lit up along the cannon¡¯s body, the temperature of the metal shot up, while the cannoneers¡¯ origin power dipped once more.

    Even so, the inspection team made sure that the heavy cannons kept up the rapid rate of fire. Miserable cries would appear in the field from time to time,ing from the loaders who were identally burned or the porters who were being whipped for running into things. On the firing seat, one exhausted cannoneer after the other was dragged away and reced with a new one. Some of the origin cannons would explode at times, leaving arge charred hole, pieces of scrap metal, and broken limbs.

    The interception from inside the city grew weaker and weaker. Even the wall where Qianye and Song Zining were standing had been drowned in cannon fire, forcing the two to split up.

    The weaker experts no longer had the strength to take action; all they could do was keep themselves alive. The ordinary mercenaries hid inside the bunkers, praying that a shell wouldn¡¯t explode right over their position.

    The rumbling seemed like the only sound in this world. There were raging mes everywhere¡ªthe entire city was shrouded in dense smoke, and no one could see what was going on in the distance. Buildings copsed constantly as even the stone houses couldn¡¯t withstand such barbaric destruction.

    The cannon fire still went on, almost as though the end of the world was nigh.

    The firing finally stopped after an unknown length of time, but everyone could still hear the ringing in their ears and nothing else.

    The city walls had long since turned into rubble, and the defensive line was not even discernible anymore. The neat white street blocks had all turned into charred ruins.

    The scorched ground seemed to move about as the Dark me mercenaries scuttled out from below. They shook off the soot from their bodies and patted themselves down to see if there were any injuries.

    A veteran mercenary who was in charge of the defensive line almost jumped up in fright as he peeked out of the city. The dark race vanguard was less than a hundred meters away from their position!

    He cried out loudly, hoping to call on the heavy machine guns in the bunker to provide covering fire. However, he himself couldn¡¯t hear what he was saying because the residual effects of the heavy cannon barrage were still there. The old soldier turned around and found, to his dismay, that the bunker was long gone, reced by a deep bomb crater.

    No heavy cannon could produce this kind of destruction in one hit. This was a result of multiple cannon shells falling onto a single area. Thoserades inside the bunker had long since be one with the rubble, and even the corpses could no longer be found.

    The mercenary turned back and grabbed his origin gun. He took aim calmly, locked onto a target, and pulled the trigger as the origin array became activated. There was a high-ranking vampire warrior in his crosshairs. This shotnded on the enemy¡¯s shoulder, sending his arm flying high into the air. Without even confirming the oue of his shot, the veteran changed his target to an arachne.

    After two shots, however, the dark races were already too close forfort. The old veteran threw down his origin gun and drew his dagger to meet the iing army. Then, he was eventually swallowed up by the tide of darkness.

    Simr fights were taking ce in every corner of the front lines. The Evernight army was like a ck tide mming itself mercilessly against the walls of Whitetown. The waves immediately seeped into the city, each stream representing a gap in the defensive line.

    The outermost defensive line had already fallen, and the battle was now ying out within the small city. Every street and every building was now a battlefield, where no one knew when a sniper would open fire.

    An arachne was leaping through the rubble in his true form. He climbed straight up to the roof of a small building and ughtered the snipers hiding therein. However, the rooftop exploded all of a sudden, sending his gigantic body into the air. Apparently, there was a high-explosive trap set up in that location, and the snipers were firing from atop a ton of gunpowder.

    Whitetown was already in ruins, but the dark races discovered that the rubble was actually a better form of cover for the enemy. Whatever experience they had was useless here because they couldn¡¯t even find a single trace of the enemy, and the sense of smell they were so proud of became useless amidst the smoke and gunpowder.

    The neutralnd mercenaries were already used to fighting in extreme environments. The towns and cities there were frequently razed, rebuilt, and razed again. There was no need for anyone to teach them¡ªthey were right at home amidst the ruins and masters of alleyway fighting.

    Arge number of dark race soldiers gushed into the city. Even though the battles inside were at a stalemate, they were able to take the advantage due to their superior numbers.

    Far off in the sky, Romier had already walked out of his gship and was looking down at the town below.

    The first wave of soldiers had fought their way into the city, with most of them bottlenecked near the former city wall. It was at this time that raging fires erupted from beneath the city wall, followed by a gush of sticky ck oil that immediately burst into me after leaving the ground. In the blink of an eye, a wall of fire had appeared out of nowhere and separated the dark races inside the city from those outside, devouring thousands of warriors in the process.

    Romier¡¯s expression froze. As expected, the urban battle increased in ferocity, with fights breaking out at the same time in every corner of the city. Moreover, from his bird¡¯s eye view, he could see that the number of dark race soldiers was dwindling at a rapid rate in two districts.

    Even Romier could barely see two faint figures shutting back and forth through the crowd. Wherever these shadows went, dark race warriors would copse in droves.

    Needless to say, they were Qianye and Song Zining.

    The duo was dealing with ordinary soldiers in person now, and this meant that the situation inside had reached the most dangerous stage. However, Romier¡¯s solemn expression didn¡¯t rx a bit. The ferocity of the fight inside the city was far beyond his expectations. At this point in the battle, the mercenaries should¡¯ve suffered grave casualties, but the retaliatory fire hadn¡¯t reduced by much.

    ¡°We should¡¯ve shipped more cannon shells.¡± A thought shed through Romier¡¯s mind, but he quickly cast the notion aside. He knew that mobilizing so many heavy cannons and several times the normal quota of ammunition was the result of his utmost efforts.

    The pressure on other fronts wasn¡¯t any less than Whitetown, perhaps even greater. He was able to secure so much resources because the higher-ups wanted him to end this battle quickly and return to support the front lines. After all, Whitetown¡¯sbined strength on paper was the weakest link in the chain.

    It was at this time that an attendant appeared. ¡°Sire, Vice-Duke Pratt has returned.¡±

    Romier¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Send him into the city, now.¡±

 Chapter 1155: Finale of Life and Death Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1155: Finale of Life and Death Part 1</h4>

    Imperial Capital, daytime.

    Two men of simr age and appearance were standing under a side corridor of the za outside the ¡°Hidden Pce.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the help, Imperial Uncle.¡± The Radiant Emperor cupped his hands.

    Lord Rivernce calmly stepped to the side. ¡°There are no strangers here, there¡¯s really no need to put up appearances.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t at all displeased. ¡°We wait for one more person,¡± without waiting for the lord to ask, he continued, ¡°it¡¯s Prince Greensun.¡±

    Lord Rivernce frowned. ¡°You were able to rope him in? That¡¯s not easy.¡±

    ¡°Prince Greensun is definitely not someone I can rope in. He has never seen eye to eye with Marshal Lin, and his actions have always ignored the rules. It¡¯s just that he¡¯s standing on our side today.¡±

    ¡°Then he¡¯s definitely quite bold. Even the two great-granduncles are only there to help suppress the general situation of the Empire. A different-surnamed heavenly monarch staying in the Empire, not only does he dare to enter the Hidden Pce, but he even dares to stand on our side.¡± With that, Lord Rivernce thought of some past matters and shook his head. ¡°Zhang Boqian, this man is really... ha... unpredictable.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, but rest assured, there¡¯s no way I¡¯d bring Marshal Lin into these muddy waters. He can forget about leading troops before his injuries are healed.¡±

    Lord Rivernce nodded after a momentary astonishment. ¡°That¡¯s good as well.¡±

    Before long, a figurended on the corridor¡ªit was Prince Greensun. The three exchanged nces and nodded in greeting, but no pleasantries were observed.

    The doors to the Hidden Pce were slowly opened.

    The Radiant Emperor entered at the lead.

    The time was close to noon, but the pce interior was abnormally quiet. Be it in terms of vision or perception, there was no one else apart from the three people.

    Zhang Boqian discovered, as soon as he had stepped through the door, that they had entered a sealed space that resembled a minor world.

    The Radiant Emperor and Lord Rivernce unleashed their own domains. As secret arts of the Imperial n, the ¡°Emperor Domain¡± and ¡°Buddha¡¯s Settlement¡± were fairly simr. The surging origin power derived all kinds of scenery and phenomena as they slowly ovepped one another.

    Entrenched in the hall beyond them was a boundless, cryptic aura. It was extremely powerful and seemed dazzling in this sealed space.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was calm and his gaze profound. He was not as unbridled as he was during normal times, but his aura never fell to a disadvantage during the entire process. It remained as vast and endless as the ocean.

    For a moment, the Radiant Emperor couldn¡¯t tell whether Zhang Boqian hadn¡¯t materialized his domain or if he was just standing there entirely unprotected. If it was thetter, it meant that his martial path had advanced yet again during the two days since theirstpetition.

    This question only produced some small ripples in the Emperor¡¯s heart. He quickly cast the thought aside and headed into the pce.

    At this point, every alliance he had made was a gamble, and every step he took was on the de¡¯s edge. One wrong step was all it would take to bring about his demise, and the people he wanted to protect would bepletely defeated and die without a corpse.

    The Radiant Emperor pushed open the carved doors to the main hall. Light flooded into the dark chamber, but it was eerily stopped halfway across the hall. The other half, along with the throne at its end, was buried in the shadows.

    ¡°Daybreak¡¯s resurgence, the Imperial blood no longer suppressed. Who would¡¯ve thought the first to awaken would actually be you, the son of a singer? Are the heavens toying with our Ji family?¡± A sinister voice echoed through the halls.

    As the trio entered the pce hall, the door behind them closed on its own.

    The hall didn¡¯t fall into pitch darkness, but the chamber was hazy, grey, and suffused in a worn pallor. It was like the sky after a gloomy shower. The dark inner half of the hall slowly revealed itself, along with that aged figure on the throne.

    The Radiant Emperor remainedposed in the face of those insulting words and slowly took his ce at the center of the hall.

    ¡°Our Great Qin Ji n bears the fortune of Daybreak and will apany its rise and fall. Of our thirty-three family branches since the founding ancestor, only seventeen remain today. The predecessors spilled their jade blood onto thisnd, so that we may enjoy its fruits and prosper today. As the eldest member of the family, someone who has supported our n for over a hundred years, why would you try to kill your own kin?¡±

    ¡°Little Brat, how dare you lecture this monarch? I did not lose to you, I lost to the will of heaven.¡±

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for your arrangement, how would my mother have the honor of waiting upon the previous emperor? Why would Empress Zhao be killed along with her child for some negligible problem?¡±

    The Longevity Monarch¡¯sughter came to a sudden stop. His gaze shot through the hazy screen tond on the Emperor¡¯s body. ¡°You know quite a lot. It seems the Emperor Domain is now fully in your hands. Even Marquis Riversun and the other families are now ying to a different tune.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Marquis Riversun is no more.¡±

    The Longevity Monarch broke out inughter. ¡°Well done, well killed! You don¡¯t hold back when killing family, either!¡±

    ¡°Riversun, Finence, and Lord Qi were hiding troops in their residence, seeking to rebel as the dark races eye our maind. The crime of undermining the Empire is unpardonable, no matter who they are.¡± The Radiant Emperor¡¯s expression and tone remained calm, but every word he spoke carried with it the smell of blood and fire.

    Now that the trio had entered the Hidden Pce, the Longevity Monarch knew that he had lost control of the situation. After this brief conversation, he had also realized that his contingency ns had been uprooted by the Emperor. Even if some managed to escape, they would no longer be a threat.

    The Longevity Monarch red at the Radiant Emperor. ¡°I have underestimated you.¡±

    He had never thought too highly of this man or taken him seriously. Simrly, most Imperial n members felt that his honored maternal family members and female geniuses were more valuable. Otherwise¡ªthe Longevity Monarch and Lord Solemnity¡¯s branch had been fighting each other secretly for almost an entire month¡ªwhy would he only discover the true mastermind when the Emperor challenged Prince Greensun?

    One wrong move was all it took for the entire chessboard to fail.

    The Longevity Monarch broke into a gloomyugh. ¡°Very well, since you want the reason, let me tell you. My Ji family has been shouldering the fate of Daybreak, and the blood we have spilled goes far beyond what you know. Out of the thirty-three founding branches, only two of them have managed to pass down the line consistently, and those two are our ancestors. The other fifteen might exist in name, but the core members are no longer the same. Even people as powerful as the grand ancestor and martial ancestor have lost their line of descent.¡±

    His tone suddenly grew heavier as he said word by word, ¡°Which n has made more sacrifices than our Ji?

    ¡°The marriage between the Zhao and our Ji isughable. If we test the density of Imperial blood, Gaoyi¡¯s children might be even stronger than you, Rivernce.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expressions changed drastically when they heard these words.

    The Radiant Emperor was just about to say something when the Longevity Monarch ignored him and kept on speaking, ¡°The Zhao¡¯s younger generation took away the Red Spider Lily. What if they activate the Mortal Emperor one day? The Founding Emperor nned the Chronicles of Glory, clipping the wings off of the soaring serpent and heaving it to bear the Wheel of Glory. This left our Ji family¡¯s totem iplete and the Imperial bloodline suppressed in every generation thereafter, but what was all of that for? For the human race? Did he want experts to lose their own bloodlines and allow those weak ants to survive?¡±

    The Emperor was dazed for a moment, but his expression became solemn. ¡°So you wanted to topple the Wheel of Glory...¡±

    The Longevity Monarch¡¯s shriveled finger stretched out from his sleeve and tapped on the armrest, his eyes full of regret at theck of time. He leaned forward and stared at the people in the hall. ¡°Look at what¡¯s left of Ji Sulian¡¯s lineage? Rivernce listened to Lin Xitang¡¯s advice, degrading himself by retreating to the borders for thirty years. And you, Ji Jian! How dare a thief squat on the ancestral temple!?¡±

    The old voice echoed through the halls. It was as cold as a snake¡¯s hiss but also sounded like a curse.

    ¡°Our Ji n is dead!¡±

    The Longevity Monarch¡¯s eyes darted toward Zhang Boqian like a snake. ¡°It is human nature to be forgetful and greedy. No one will remember the earlier sacrifices. In the thousand years of our existence, ns and nobility have risen and fallen like the tides. Certain surnames would rise to power, but the Imperial blood would only be worn down year by year. Those outsider heavenly monarchs will only exploit the Imperial family and support their own.¡±

    The atmosphere in the hall was heavy, and everyone felt as though there was a mountain peak on their chests.

    It was no longer important whether the Longevity Monarch believed in the demonkin secret art. What he was dissatisfied about was the decline of Imperial bloodlines. Perhaps he believed that destroying the Wheel of Glory would serve to unleash the Imperial blood. Who would¡¯ve thought the Chronicles of Glory, which had been asleep for a thousand years, would wake up and seed at such a moment. Topping it was no longer possible.

    ¡°The Empire our Ji family has established, I shall destroy with my own hands. It¡¯s better than being destroyed by the enemy, at the very least.¡±

    The hall became so silent that one could hear a needle drop.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was dark, while Lord Rivernce looked somewhat distracted. The Radiant Emperor, on the other hand, stood calmly with his eyes looking downward.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s voice tore through the dullness like a sharp knife. ¡°The predecessors stood at the river¡¯s bank, their wish was not to be ves again. The grand ancestor used Imperial blood toy down the foundation, his wish was to sustain the glory of Daybreak. Now everything has been realized. This is the Founding Emperor¡¯s true intention!¡±

    The Longevity Monarch broke intoughter. ¡°Haha, haha, hahaha... Brat Jian, if you¡¯re so devoted to righteousness like you said, why would you not dare to let Lin Xitang die?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor narrowed his eyes. The Longevity Monarch¡¯s hoarse voice was harsh on the ears, yet there was a hypnotizing cadence to it. ¡°Now that the Chronicles of Glory has beenpleted, there¡¯s no need for him to keep the heavenly mystery in check. This person possesses near-demonic intelligence and is capable of leading two divination lineages on his own. If you crush his soul and feed it to the Empire¡¯s fortune trajectory, it will shorten the time to reach Daybreak resurgence by half. Isn¡¯t it the fate of a divination specialist to be sacrificed?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a p of thunder exploded in the hall, followed by tempestuous rain. The rolling thunder came together in a continuous stretch as Zhang Boqian threw a punch at the Longevity Monarch¡¯s throne.

    No one had imagined that Zhang Boqian would be the first to attack.

    The Radiant Emperor and Lord Rivernce did their utmost to expand their domains, covering the hall and walls in the blink of an eye.

    At the same time, the haze in the room disappeared along with the walls, floor, dust, and every tangible object. Blue lights flickered in every direction, as if they were in a river of stars at the top of the realm. A terrifying pressure also bore down from all directions, almost as though the chamber was in the deepest part of the ocean.

    This strange phenomenon onlysted for a moment before it was devoured by thebined forces of the Emperor Domain and Buddha¡¯s Settlement. The hazy hall once again revealed its true appearance. The Radiant Emperor and Lord Rivernce only had the chance to nce up at the throne after suppressing the origin array.

    The strange thing was that the earth-shattering punch never happened.

    Just before the attack reached the throne, Zhang Boqian suddenly withdrew his attack and came to a stop. His feet sank into the ground uponnding, and his body swayed slightly. Apparently, withdrawing that punch wasn¡¯t easy.

    The question was, why did he have to stop despite the bacsh?

 Chapter 1156: Finale of Life and Death Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1156: Finale of Life and Death Part 2</h4>

    Even afternding, there were several wisps of leaked origin power drifting around Zhang Boqian. Just like the smell of blood would attract sharks, the origin array within the pce began to stir once more. An azure fluorescence appeared in the air and shot straight for the stray origin power. Prince Greensun drew an invisible arc, pulling all of the leaked origin power and azure light into his sleeve. His body jolted violently as he took on this impact forcibly.

    The Radiant Emperor and Lord Rivernce were stunned, but they knew that Zhang Boqian had to have a reason for resisting the array. They immediately increased the pressure and looked forward.

    They were immediately drenched in sweat when the throne came into clear view.

    There was a daybreak source where the Longevity Monarch was sitting, but with their powerful eyesight, they were able to recognize that it was just a dead object. The main body was entirely motionless¡ªits eyes and mouth closed, and its chest still.

    The Longevity Monarch was nning to deal them a blow before his death!

    Just as the rumors stated, the monarch could no longer attack at his full strength. With the entire Hidden Pce suppressed by the Emperor Domain, there was simply no way for the Longevity Monarch to win against the other three just by making use of the array in the hall. It was very likely that the fight would end in the chamber and no news of it would reach the outside world.

    Thus, the Longevity Monarch condensed his daybreak grand origin at the time of his death. At least before its dispersal, this was still the source of a heavenly monarch¡¯s power. If Zhang Boqian were to attack it, the results would beparable to an all-out exchange between two heavenly monarchs. Not to mention the sealed space and enemy origin arrays in the hall, the impact from the explosion alone could injure the three people here. At the very least, the Emperor and Rivernce¡¯s domains couldn¡¯t stop the shockwaves from rolling out of the Hidden Pce.

    The Imperial Capital had not been peaceful for the past month. Those incidents could still be exined as rebellions and dark race assassinations, but there was simply no way to hide the origin power explosion from the Hidden Pce.

    Even so, the threat was now past and the most optimal oue had been reached.

    The Radiant Emperor heaved a sigh of relief. He was the first to break down and fall to the floor, breathing heavily. He had shouldered the heaviest responsibility along the way, constantly suppressing the Hidden Pce¡¯s domain with his own. Even now, he would need to keep holding on until the core of the Hidden Pce had beenpletely shut down.

    Lord Rivernce didn¡¯t help him up, either. He merely stood guard nearby while recovering his own energy. His own exhaustion wasn¡¯t less than the Emperor¡¯s own since he had to oversee the three stacking domains and the fight against the Hidden Pce¡¯s arrays.

    There were few instances of top-experts ganging up on one person, mainly because the area and domain attacks were prone to friendly fire. There was a lot more space in the void, but it was also more difficult to surround a person. In a ce like the Hidden Pce, on the other hand, they would have to be wary of wanton destruction. Even though their powers shared the same source, the Radiant Emperor and Lord Rivernce had to control their domains carefully in order to stack them together. Zhang Boqian¡¯s existence in and of itself was akin to an ancient divine weapon. He was so sharp and powerful that he could injure both allies and enemies.

    The Emperor was forced to take action earlier because of his unexpected encounter with Zhang Boqian, but then again, without Prince Greensun, their ns here would be fairly strained. Even if they could secure a narrow victory, they might have to pay a steep price in the form of nationwide unrest.

    At this moment, Zhang Boqian was standing on the other side of the hall with his hands behind his back. There was no visible emotion on his face, nor could anyone tell how badly he had been injured by the bacsh just now.

    The great hall was plunged into silence. The body on the throne was emitting an aura of decay, and even that daybreak source couldn¡¯t remove the haze around it.

    The doors and windows to the hall weren¡¯t shut very tightly. Sunlight poured down from an odd gap, erupting into a radiance that would dispel the darkness in the chamber.

    Lord Rivernce broke the silence. ¡°What do you make of what he said just now?¡± The Longevity Monarch said a lot of things, each more piercing than the next. He was clearly nting the seeds of discord in their hearts. The Emperor, a nonfamilial heavenly monarch and a border lord were not of the same path, to begin with, and would never be. But what did Lord Rivernce mean?

    The Radiant Emperor gave it some thought before answering, ¡°Everyone has their own ambitions.¡±

    With that, the uncle and nephew nced at Zhang Boqian.

    ¡°I have my path and my heart, external objects have no influence on me.¡± Zhang Boqian left after saying this.

    Dazzling light filled their entire vision as the doors opened with a bang.

    Lord Rivernce gazed at the sun-washed ground outside the hall, then back at the shadowy throne. An old era had ended, and a new one was about to descend.

    He suddenly asked the Emperor, ¡°Did you ever think about how Marshal Lin will see you after everything is done?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t moved. ¡°I managed to fulfill my ancestors¡¯ will, and my teacher is still alive and well. What else do I need to fear?¡±

    Lord Rivernceughed with aplicated expression. ¡°Teacher? Sigh. Marshal Lin possesses peerless talent, but his heart is empty and his emotions void.¡± His voice had trailed off to a whisper toward thest part, and there was no telling whether the Emperor heard him clearly. The man merely looked up but didn¡¯t say anything.

    After a slight pause, Rivernce said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. As long as he remains, I shall also stay at the border. Your Majesty, let me warn you. I won¡¯t be entering the capital, but I won¡¯t guarantee that the people on my side won¡¯t.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor replied, ¡°Imperial Uncle, rest assured. The Empire¡¯s resurgence is now in motion. It¡¯s within reason even for aristocratic families to ascend to major-n status, so what problem is there with the Imperial family being powerful?¡±

    With the Longevity Monarch gone, there was bound to be a chain reaction in the power bnce within the Imperial n and the distribution of territory. It was well within reason for the nobility factions to see a shift in authority, let alone the biggest Imperial n. The ripples from this matter would go on for a very long time.

    Lord Rivernce nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now, don¡¯t tell him I came.¡± Without waiting for a reply, the man left in leisurely steps and melded away into the sunlight.

    The outside world never knew what had happened in the Hidden Pce.

    That night, the Imperial n announced that the Longevity Monarch had passed away and that he would be buried in a national ceremony. This news shook all the subjects of the Empire, but there was no big panic. There had been widespread rumors of the Empire¡¯s resurgence in recent years. The number of people who could cultivate daybreak origin power had increased noticeably, with the younger generation surpassing their ancestors in cultivation progress. Many more experts who had been stuck at major bottlenecks managed to break through, and the Empire had just added a prime-age heavenly monarch to their ranks. Such an exchange between the newer generation and the old was amon urrence.

    The entire upper echelon of the Empire had noticed that something was changing, but the Imperial n and the major ns would not meddle in each other¡¯s affairs. Apart from those who were directly involved, everyone else decided to stay away from the epicenter.

    Several government decrees soon departed from the Endless Pce, allowing everyone a peep into a corner of the iceberg.

    The cab was also reformed. The four great assisting ministers were removed,pletely ending the system left behind by the previous reign. At the same time, departmental authorities were returned to the government with all officials now overseen by a new Imperial Steward. The army reforms that had been under discussion all this time were finally settled. The number of great marshals was still the same at ten.

    There were personnel changes as well.

    Lin Xitang was released from his marshal position and promoted to Imperial Steward. His official rank of Guardian Marquis was promoted to Guardian Duke, along with an additional title of Imperial Tutor. The Northern Legion was granted to the Guardian Duke as his private army.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s territories of Fuhuang, Jishui, and Juxu were assigned under Marquis Fuling Wu Yazi. Thetter had been promoted to the marshal rank, and to assist him, Marquis Bowang¡¯s heir Wei Potian was promoted to lieutenant general. Marquis Fuling was one of the rare marshals born of andowning household and was also brother inw to Marquis Bowang¡¯s brother, Song Bainian. In this manner, the Far East Wei n had once again regained the marshal position they had lost for many years.

    The Western Continent territories under Lin Xitang¡¯s supervision were now under the leadership of Zhao Gongcheng, who had been promoted to the marshal rank. Currently, the Swallowcloud Zhao n was the biggest n on the Western Continent and its power was nowparable to the Zhang. Lin Xitang¡¯s Riverwest Corridor region had been split into three parts and added to the adjacent military zones.

    Numerous such changes urred throughout the empire.

    The shuffling of titles and appointments sent a clear message. The hidden unrest in the Empire was now past and the current Imperial n had no intention of centralizing power. The Far East Wei n was likely the first high-ranking aristocratic family to open up a path toward bing a major n, followed by the second, third, and more.

    Subjects both inside the court and outside epted all the changes in a quiet and respectful manner.

    The void continent, at this point, was covered in raging mes.

    Looking down from above, one would see three imperial armies sawing through the dark race formation like sharp des. The central and eastern routes, especially, were far more incisive than the western one.

    These two armies stabbed deep into the void continent like fierce tigers running through the forest. They were surrounded by the dark race wolf-packs who were on the constant lookout for the tiger¡¯s weakness.

    The western route marched slowly but with great stability, much like a giant millstone that would crush all enemies in its wake. Comparatively, this route¡¯s foundations were the strongest.

    The eastern side of the void continent was filled withplicatedndscapes and cliffs. It was naturally easy to defend and difficult to assault. The imperial forces were marching swiftly forward on the ground, followed by a slow motorcade of trucks and troop transports. There were also several airships hovering forward at low altitude and keeping pace with the army.

    On one of the warships, Princess Haimi was d in a full suit of battle-armor which covered up most of her face. Only those bright burning eyes, and the long flowing hair behind her helmet, reminded people of her great beauty.

    From time to time, Evernight high-speed airships would pierce through the clouds in an attempt to attack the advancing troops. Every time this happened, the slow-moving imperial warships would retaliate with shocking uracy and make quick work of these uninvited guests. Most Evernight warships would retreat after seeing the difficult situation, but a small number of greedy vessels would be shot down by the imperial fleet.

    The Evernight warships would onlyunch gueri attacks since the Empire had taken control of the void airspace, but even so, their losses were still significant. At this point, the motorcade slowed down all of a sudden as, following a loud gunshot, the armored vehicle at the front burst into mes.

    The warships slowly came to a halt as well.

    A brigadier general who was half-soaked in blood ran into themand room and fell on one knee. ¡°Your Highness, we have encountered an enemy ambush.¡±

    Princess Haimai asked after a moment of silence. ¡°What happened?¡±

    The brigadier general replied, ¡°The dark races have set up a well-hidden defensive stronghold to the front. We never realized it until we were near. My guess is that they have a domain-expert among them to perfect their camouge.¡±

    ¡°Can we fight our way through?¡±

    The brigadier general hesitated for a moment. ¡°Their defenses are airtight. It seems they have been in operation for quite some time...¡±

    ¡°How many soldiers do you need to crush them?¡±

 Chapter 1157: The Power of Three Arrows

    <h4>Chapter 1157: The Power of Three Arrows</h4>

    The brigadier general said, ¡°That... it¡¯s not a matter of troop strength. The dark races havee prepared, and there are powerful experts defending from behind natural barriers. Thus...¡±

    ¡°What kind of experts are there?¡±

    ¡°Our first scouting team confirmed that there¡¯s a mighty marquis on the first line of defense. Calcting from that, I¡¯m guessing that themander should be a duke.¡±

    ¡°Duke, I understand.¡±

    The brigadier general said hurriedly, ¡°Your Highness! That¡¯s just my guess, you must not act without further confirmation!¡±

    Haimi said nothing more, so the brigadier general didn¡¯t dare continue. He only remained kneeling in front of the princess.

    At this point, the Empire¡¯s vanguard was already deployed, and the two sides were exchanging fierce fire. The dark races had upied the two sides of the valley up front and secured the high-ground advantage. The Imperial vanguard was repelled several times by the fierce defensive fire, losing hundreds of warriors without making any progress.

    An Imperial warship tried to approach from the air and provide suppressive fire, however, a streak of meteoric mes shot out from the Evernight camp and made straight for the iing vessel. The airship did its utmost to evade, but it was still struck by the projectile, which shattered the hull armor and left a burning hole.

    The warship immediately turned to flee, nting toward the ground as it did so. Fortunately, it managed tond in Empire controlled territory, and it only caught fire but didn¡¯t explode. The people inside were able to escape.

    This ming streak meant that there was a superior expert operating an anti-air ballista. Ordinary corvettes couldn¡¯t take a single blow from it. This meant that the Empire¡¯s warships couldn¡¯t approach the Evernight base from a low altitude.

    The battle quickly fell into a deadlock. The Empire performed another desperate charge but were, once again, repelled with heavy casualties.

    On the gship, all the generals were paying attention to both sides of the battlefield. The frontal defensive line was so sturdy that they would need to deploy the entire army, and preparing sufficient firepower for that would take more than just a couple of days. However, there were only endless mountain ranges on either side of this valley, with no path for trucks to travel through. They couldn¡¯t just let the soldiers run to Whitetown, could they?

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s here,¡± said Princess Haimi.

    The generals were still trying to figure out her intention when Haimi stretched out her hand, and her attendants passed her a giant bow that was even taller than herself. She walked out to the deck with the bow and slowly took to the air, closely followed by the other generals.

    Haimi turned back and said, ¡°Why is everyone following me? You lote with me. The rest shall return.¡±

    She picked several people to follow her to the Evernight formation. There, she said, ¡°Go and challenge their leader, provoke them intoing out.¡±

    The generals were stunned. ¡°You¡¯re...¡±

    ¡°A duel.¡±

    The shocked generals tried to dissuade the princess, but Haimi said, ¡°If I don¡¯t go, will you people go instead?¡±

    Some of the older generals from the Imperial Guard had seen Princess Haimi in action, but that was many years ago. She had seldom appeared for all these years, let alone engage inbat. At this point, no one knew what her true strength was.

    A military order had to be obeyed. After the princess repeated themand, the generals had no choice but to obey. One of them stood forward and roared, ¡°All of you listen! Who is yourmander? Report your name and get ready to be ughtered!¡±

    The Evernight formation remained silent as no one replied. This general repeated his taunt again and even added some profanities. Just as he was getting excited with his shouting, someone appeared beside him all of a sudden. It was actually Princess Haimi.

    Haimi grabbed this general and tossed him back into the formation. Then, her clear voice echoed through the entire sky, ¡°Dark race bastards! Have your men all died? If your men don¡¯t daree out, just send a male dog or bull!¡±

    This voice spewing this curse was iparably pleasant to the ear, but the contents were simply inexpressible. The generals who hadn¡¯t heard of her style were immediately dumbfounded, and some of the older generalsmented at the disgrace to the Imperial household¡¯s image.

    The Evernight side could no longer maintain their previous indifference. A demonkin man slowly flew up into the sky and stood facing Haimi from afar. ¡°I am Mori of the Bluerose family.¡±

    ¡°Never heard of you.¡± Haimi¡¯s response angered Mori so much that he almost fell off the sky, but she wasn¡¯t about to stop there. ¡°Did you offend the Eternal me or some other old fogey? They sent you out here despite knowing that I¡¯m here!¡±

    Mori¡¯s brows arched up so much that they were almost vertical, and the corner of his mouth was twitching slightly. As an expert born of a small family, he attached great importance to his reputation. Suffering such humiliation before an army of ten thousand would result in a lot of rumors if he didn¡¯t respond.

    However, this was different from the strategy he had been instructed to follow. The upper echelon¡¯s orders were to defend the pass and stall for as long as possible.

    Although, as a duke, Mori had the right to decide on the strategy in the field, he couldn¡¯t help but feel hesitant to attack.

    Haimi saw right through his thoughts. ¡°What¡¯s the point of winning the battle if your reputation is a wreck? They won¡¯t remember your aplishments after you go back, all they¡¯ll talk about is your cowardice.¡±

    Mori finally made up his mind. He slowly drew his sword and said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let me witness Eldest Princess Haimi¡¯s abilities.¡±

    Haimi replied, ¡°Sure, but don¡¯t run away after a while. I will teach you how to be a good demonkin.¡±

    Hearing this, Mori was stunned. ¡°What do you mean by a good demonkin?¡± He wanted to know what the other party¡¯s definition of a good demonkin was.

    ¡°A dead demonkin is a good demonkin!¡±

    These words hadn¡¯t even trailed off when Princess Haimi drew her bow, and a radiant green arrow arrived before Mori!

    Mori was shocked out of his wits. He had never imagined that Princess Haimi¡¯s archery would be that fast! A slight distraction and the arrow was already at his forehead!

    In his urgency, he unleashed an explosive shout, and his body became somewhat ethereal. The arrow shot through his forehead immediately afterward, blowing his head into a cloud of dark demonic energy.

    Mori¡¯s silhouette condensed again afterward, curled up and hugging his knees. It turned out that Princess Haimi¡¯s arrow had grazed past his back and struck a substitute target, seemingly produced by a secret art.

    Mori stretched his body with an unsightly expression, but all of a sudden, several parts of his body exploded into clouds of dark mist, revealing the shadow of his trunk and limbs. His aura immediately weakened after the smoke dispersed.

    Haimi¡¯s arrow had immediately destroyed one of his life-saving powers.

    Even a duke couldn¡¯t help but find his hand trembling after a brush with death. He could be considered one of the younger dukes, and as one born from a small family, it wasn¡¯t easy for him to reach this stage.

    Without waiting for him to calm down, Haimi nocked a second arrow¡ªone shrouded in dazzling arcs of lightning. The arrow flew out inplete silence and traveled like a sh of lightning. By the time the duke noticed it, the projectile was already before his eyes!

    This time, Mori was on high-alert. He deflected the lightning arrow with a sh of his sword, but the lightning spread to his body and began to react with his ck demonic energy. The ck mist was at a clear disadvantage in the fierce battle. It was just that the limited amount of lightning couldn¡¯t ovee the constantly replenishing demonic energy.

    No one could see Haimi¡¯s expression under her mask, but her body was straight and her movements were calm as she nocked the third arrow. This time, there was a hazy yellow light upon it, and it seemed to be thousands of tons in weight. Even Haimi looked a bit strained in the process.

    This arrow was much slower than the other two, but it brought about the pressure of an entire mountain.

    Mori had no time to evade since he was still busy dealing with the lightning. Moreover, the other party had already taken the initiative. He would be utterly defeated if he were to keep edging back. Left with no other choice, the demonkin raised his de, his demonic energy surging as he shed at the arrow with great ferocity!

    A loud, earth-shattering rumble echoed from the exchange. Mori was flung backward from the impact, coughing up blood as his aura declined once more.

    The overwhelming shock was visible on his face. Princess Haimi was even stronger than how the legends made her out to be. It felt like she would determine life or death as soon as she took action, injuring the demonkin duke in just three shots. Seeing that Haimi was whipping out the fourth arrow, Mori immediately turned and fled.

    However, a figure appeared in front of him and effectively blocked his path.

    ¡°What are you running for? The battle is not yet over.¡± After stopping Mori, that person turned to Haimi with a smile. ¡°Eldest Princess¡¯ skill is known as the seven divine arrows. If you use them up like this, what are you going to fight me with?¡±

    Mori was astonished when he looked up. The Evernight Council had sent word that they would be sending Duke Doer to this strategic point, and it was just about time for him to arrive. But why was this person here, instead? This was a veteran council member!

    Haimi put away the fourth arrow, but her voice remained just as cold and calm. Without the slightest bit of surprise, she said, ¡°Ge Situ, has your previous injury healed?¡±

    This problem caused the old man¡¯s face to turn red. Back then, he had descended to the Evernight Continent with great momentum, only to be beaten back by Zhao Ruoxi and her Red Spider Lily. Although it wasn¡¯t a humiliation to be defeated by a Grand Magnum, Ge Situ had to lie in the n¡¯s blood pond for several years after that.

    It just so happened that Princess Haimi sized him up from head to toe. ¡°It looks like the council is out of people. They actually scooped you out of the blood pond. Strange, hasn¡¯t your civil war stopped already? Where are all the people?¡±

    As patient as Ge Situ was, he couldn¡¯t help but feel furious at this point. ¡°Princess, you¡¯ll know in a bit whether or not my injuries have healed. But I am quite curious as to why you seem like you were forewarned. Did someone from the council leak information?¡±

    Princess Haimi said, ¡°With me here, any idiot will know that sending trash like him is suicidal. That is unless he¡¯s so stupid that he wants to tackle this route himself.¡±

    Mori¡¯s face turned red in shame and anger. The council had indeed made corresponding arrangements, but when Princess Haimi challenged him, Mori had felt that he could go all out without waiting for the other duke to join in.

    Who would¡¯ve thought he would be pushed to the brink of defeat by just three shots. That fourth arrow of hers was likely for pursuit and killing. If Ge Situ hadn¡¯t appeared when he did, the demonkin would likely have fallen to the fourth shot.

    Only those who had faced Haimi would know just how terrifying she was.

    Previous Chapter Next Chapter

 Chapter 1158: Casualty

    <h4>Chapter 1158: Casualty</h4>

    Ge Situ realized that something was wrong. He took over the conversation and said, ¡°What¡¯s the point of all the talking? With us working together, do you think you can get past us?¡±

    It was difficult to say whether it was an illusion, but the lips of Haimi¡¯s mask seemed to arch up into a cold smile. She said indifferently, ¡°I only had a thirty percent chance at first, but you arrived toote. That demonkin idiot has been gravely injured, it¡¯s a wonder if he has seventy to eighty percent strength left. What makes me curious is that the idiot has never seen me before, unlike you and I who have exchanged blows in the past. Why did you stay back for so long? And you purposely took action sote.¡±

    Mori¡¯s expression changed immediately. He had never sensed anyone nearby up until Ge Situ appeared in front of him. Apparently, the man was hiding his traces.

    Ge Situ said furiously, ¡°You were just ass back then, there¡¯s no way you¡¯d be the same now.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t thess put up a pretty good fight?¡±

    Ge Situ knew this matter would only shame him the more he tried to exin. He opened his palms, revealing shes of sanguine lightning between his fingertips. ¡°There¡¯s no point in talking, let¡¯s fight!¡±

    However, he had just finished opening his palm when an arrow appeared on Princess Haimi¡¯s bow. This projectile was jet ck, almost as though it could absorb all light around it, and its contrast with the surroundings was the only sign of its existence.

    Ge Situ¡¯s hair stood on end. ¡°The seventh arrow!¡±

    His voice hadn¡¯t even trailed off when the ck arrow began its flight and, in the blink of an eye, appeared behind him!

    The vampire let out a loud scream, drifting away in an extremelyplicated trajectory. He actually couldn¡¯t spare any attention for Mori or the army of ten thousand behind him.

    Mori was stunned by the unexpected development.

    Haimi removed her mask to reveal an indescribable countenance. She looked only twenty, almost as though the years had not left a single trace on her face. It was just that her exquisite face was fairly pale¡ªno one knew whether it was because she had remained hidden beneath the mask for too long, or if she had suffered some injury. However, the two sad but beautiful streams of blood flowing down from the corner of her eyes proved that her condition wasn¡¯t too great.

    She turned toward Mori and said, ¡°Do you know why I removed my mask?¡±

    Mori¡¯s expression was serious, and he knew there was no way the reason was a romantic one. He asked while devoting all of his attention to guarding himself, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I said I only had a thirty percent chance of getting through, right? But after injuring you, I now have sixty.¡±

    Mori said cautiously, ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°And if I put my life on the line, the probability is a hundred percent!¡± Haimi retracted her smile and produced another arrow!

    Mori was shocked out of his wits! He knew that the princess had paid a steep price for shooting that seventh arrow just now, and there were only two left. However, he had no intention of testing their might. Ge Situ had already fled, so he wasn¡¯t about to pay with his life here.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Mori raised both his hands in an attempt to say something.

    But there was no way Haimi would heed his call. She gradually drew her bow to the end.

    Seeing that things weren¡¯t looking good, Mori simply turned to flee, and Haimi didn¡¯t fire at him in the end.

    With Ge Situ and Mori both gone, the morale of the dark race army below was easily imaginable. The Imperial vanguard stopped their attack at just the right time, allowing the Evernight defensive line to retreat in a hurry.

    The Empire didn¡¯t disrupt or chase after them. The Eastern front¡¯s primary objective was toplete the rendezvous and not to kill the dark race forces. The enemy unit was fully outfitted and entrenched, onlycking amander. If they were to be desperate and decide to fight to the death, the Imperial army would be stalled once again.

    Haimi stood with her bow in hand until the Evernight forces had retreated. ¡°Go.¡± She said as she returned to the warship. The princess had donned her mask once more, hiding all her emotions from the masses.

    The Imperial eastern route once again took off. They rolled through the defensive lines and began traveling along the edge of the continent.

    ...

    The central route, on the other hand, was a different scenario.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s forces split into several waves and attacked in tandem. He would be at the forefront of every battle, raising troop morale and cementing their will to die for the cause. They charged through with invincible momentum and made straight for Whitetown.

    Since Zhao Jundu was leading the charge, the Empire naturally attached great importance to this warfront. Duke Wei oversaw the route personally, acting as the main pir. When Duke Doer showed up, Duke Wei naturally took over the duty of facing him, and the two eventually fought their way out into the void.

    Without a duke-grade expert to hold the line, there was no way the Evernight forces could withstand the assault of the Zhao n¡¯s private army. Their defenses crumbled one after the other, and the entire central region was soon cut up into pieces. If it wasn¡¯t for the Misty Wood acting as a natural barrier, there was no telling how bad their warfront would fare.

    In the series of assaults, Zhao Jundu discovered a side of him that used to be eclipsed by his powerfulbat strength. He realized that he wasn¡¯t inferior to the Empire¡¯s first-line generals in terms ofmand talents. His acute instincts would always allow him to find the weakest point in the enemy defensive line and demolish them in one charge.

    On the other hand, the Evernight soldiers had all realized that their hold on the void continent was now lost. No one was in a battle-hungry mood as they were thinking about how to survive; even their desire to defend wasn¡¯t quite firm.

    Some tacticians sensed that Zhao Jundu¡¯s strategic skills had once again improved. The forces under him were never given any form of relief, and regardless of their surrounding situation, he would only advance without the slightest bit of nking or retreat.

    Fortunately, at the rear, Indomitable was being run by Zhao Xuanji. Thus, the supplies never stopped rolling in to replenish the main army. Wherever Zhao Jundu¡¯s army passed through, he would defeat all obstructions with invincible momentum, leaving little room for those strategists to do their job. Additionally, there were two smaller groups from Zhao Weihuang and Zhao Xuanji¡¯s army that served to protect Zhao Jundu¡¯s nks.

    In this manner, the central void continent quickly became the Zhao n¡¯s yground. The eastern route¡ªled by the Imperial n and all the others, including the Greensun Zhang n¡ªwas pushed into the western route.

    This was a rather strange distribution. Some people tried to analyze the reason, but no one could make head or tail of it. All they felt was that there were too many people from the Imperial family and the Zhao n.

    Although the Imperial family and the Imperial Guard had always led the charge in national battles, the void continent war wasn¡¯t really at that scale. Besides, the Imperial family¡¯s territories were mostly on the Qin continent. With the Longevity Monarch on the verge of death, they would have to take up a defensive role once the guardian heavenly monarch had passed. How would they have enough personnel on the maind if they send so many people here?

    ...

    Back in Whitetown. The entire city had changed beyond recognition¡ªthere were only a handful of tall buildings left as most noticeable structures had been leveled by the dark race cannons.

    The city had been reduced to ruins, and its streets were lined with corpses until there was no soil left. Thick smoke lingered in the air, but there weren¡¯t a lot of mes at this point; there wasn¡¯t much left to burn.

    Since the beginning of the battle, Romier had mmed the city crazily with heavy cannons. This kind of violent bombardment was indeed effective. At the very least, most of Song Zining¡¯s cannon units had been destroyed. Qianye and Song Zining didn¡¯t feel that much of a heartache because they had almost used up their ammunition stores.

    They didn¡¯t have time to feel heartache, either, because the dark race army charged up as soon as the bombardment was over. Romier initiated eight assaults in a single day. Although all of them were repelled, every corner of the city was scarred with traces of battle.

    In a room of a dpidated building, Qianye was leaning against a wall, smoking. This was a rare luxury on the current battlefield. Song Zining was covered in dirt and soil, almost as though he had dug his way out from somewhere. He sat down in front of Qianye and muttered, ¡°Ah, that was tiring! Don¡¯t those fellows feel anything about losing so much cannon fodder?¡±

    ¡°How many men do we have left?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter, give me a cigarette. I¡¯ve used up mine.¡±

    Qianye groped around on his body, but there was none. So, he simply passed his current half to Song Zining. Thetter couldn¡¯t care about hygiene or whatnot at this point. He sucked deeply on the smoke and said in a satisfied tone, ¡°For some reason, I feel like smoking whenever I fight...¡±

    After finishing the cigarette, Song Zining put away his domain and said, ¡°We have about ten thousand men left, but there are only a couple hundred fresh reserves. Their attacks are too desperate, something is wrong.¡±

    ¡°We only have ten thousand left?¡± Qianye knew that they had suffered grave casualties, but the numbers went beyond his expectations.

    Song Zining¡¯s view was different. ¡°I think Dark me will be going bankrupt after this war.¡±

    This time, Qianye and Song Zining had brought forty thousand soldiers from the neutralnds. Apart from the ten thousand remaining on stand-by aboard the airships, the remainder were all garrisoned in Whitetown. They had lost almost half their forces in a single day, a testament to just how fierce the battle was. Be it defense or offense, a casualty rate of this degree would¡¯ve caused the army to copse if they were in the neutralnds.

    In the chaotic battle, even Qianye and Song Zining were powerless to take care of those ordinary mercenaries. The titled enemy experts, throwing themselves forward like ants biting an elephant, was enough to keep them busy.

    Thinking about how over ten thousand soldiers had died in this small piece ofnd, Qianye felt everything was almost unreal.

    Song Zining patted his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much. This is war. We lost over ten thousand men, but the enemy has lost three, four times the number.¡±

    The most distressing thing for the dark races was that the humans multiplied too fast, almost as fast as their ve soldiers and cannon fodder. Comparatively, their ve soldiers couldn¡¯t be trained into high-ranking warriors or titled experts. Although only a small number of humans could awaken daybreak origin power, almost all of them could be trained to use weapons. This meant that at an actual warrior-level, the humans were quicker to replenish than the dark races.

    Hence, any battle where the human casualties were smaller than the dark races¡¯ was an eptable oue. The dark races had lost several times the number of soldiers in the assault on Whitetown. The battle aplishment here could be considered glorious by any measure.

    It was just that Qianye¡¯s frown never rxed.

    On the distant warship, Romier felt dark clouds gathering on his forehead as he looked at the casualty report. After a long while, he said, ¡°That means, we¡¯ve lost fifty thousand soldiers in just one day?¡±

    A count said cautiously, ¡°That¡¯s including the ones who are missing.¡±

    ¡°Trash!!!¡± He mmed the report on the count¡¯s head.

 Chapter 1159: Battle of Attrition

    <h4>Chapter 1159: Battle of Attrition</h4>

    Within Whitetown, Qianye hadn¡¯t closed his eyes for long before he was woken up by the rumbling of cannons. He stood up and nced out of the half-standing wall, only to find a group of vampire swordsmen charging over in utter silence.

    Qianye remained still. Under the effects of bloodline concealment, he was able to remain undetected even as the vampire soldiers rushed past him. Only when they had passed did he stand up and aim his Mystic Spider Lily at the back of a vampire knight¡¯s head. He then vanished again after a single shot.

    The knight let out a miserable scream as he fell to the ground, rolling about while clutching his head. The vampire warriors stopped immediately¡ªsome remained on guard, while the others tried to save their officer. The vampire knight was the leader of this squad. Currently, he was critically injured, but not without hope of survival. In the end, the soldiers had no choice but to split off most of their men to carry the knight out of the battlefield. The remaining handful of soldiers became cautious as they explored deeper into Whitetown.

    Qianye¡¯s figure vanished after observing the developments. When he appeared again, he was already on a rooftop several street blocks away, hurling a spear and pinning a werewolf baron to the road.

    That baron¡¯s two followers wanted to help their master, but some of the corpses on the roadside suddenly stood up. A hail of bullets ensued, punching holes in the two followers until they looked like sieves. The mercenaries then scattered in every direction, lying down again elsewhere and pretending to be corpses.

    Every corner, light and dark, might see a bullet or a dagger suddenly appear, so every corpse had to be confirmed for authenticity. It wasn¡¯t even certain if a random pile of rubble was safe¡ªa number of mercenaries might rush out or it might copse and turn into a trap.

    The dark races had dug numerous tunnels under Whitetown to store supplies. After Song Zining took over the city, he expanded these tunnels to form a maze-likework with severalyers. At this point in the fight, all these arrangements were being fully utilized.

    After suffering in the city ruins repeatedly, the dark races soon discovered that the secret was underground, yet they had no way to counter the strategy. They had discovered some underground entrances, but those entering would never return. No one knew which passage was real and which was a death trap.

    The entire city and the area below it were interweaving battlefields, where danger was lurking in every direction.

    In these ruins, two enemies were the most dangerous¡ªQianye and Song Zining. Thetter¡¯s Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art could produce illusions that were difficult to discern. Numerous times, two different dark race units would see the silhouette of a mercenary group and end up killing one another.

    Qianye, on the other hand, was the nightmare of titled experts. His Bloodline Concealment made him look like an ordinary mercenary on the battlefield. The experts who were used to sensing things with their perception would ignore him because he was so simr to an ordinary soldier. Then... there was no more.

    After killing a demonkin viscount, Qianye finally felt a tinge of exhaustion. He had unknowingly been fighting for an entire day and lost count of the number of fights he had joined. Was it twenty or thirty?

    The sky was turning dark, and the moon was glowing with a faint yellow hue, outlined by a thread of blood-red. The void continent would asionally see two moons as well, but their positioning and shape werergely different from the main continents. This filled one with the feeling of being in a distantnd, especially when the fight was at its fiercest.

    A long steam-whistle resounded in the distance. This mournful and lonesome sound was the signal to retreat. The dark race soldiers ran out of the city like the receding tides, many of them falling to the bullets striking their backs. The mercenaries¡¯ tenacity and blood-thirst had been fully awakened; they had no intention of holding back their fire just because the enemy was retreating.

    Qianye climbed on top of a crumbling building and gazed at the direction of Whitetown. In his eyes, the specks of light that represented living flesh had grown sparse. This meant that a good number of mercenaries had once again be corpses. Although he knew some of them were still in the underground tunnels, the number was fairly limited.

    Sensing something, he leaped down onto a pile of rubble in a certain street block. Song Zining was gasping on arge rock. His mask was nowhere to be found, and even his white robe had disappeared. Only his spear was firmly in his hand, its color dim from the caked blood.

    Qianye sat down beside him and sighed. ¡°We don¡¯t have many troops left.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°They lost a lot more.

    ¡°Many of them have been following us for some time.¡±

    Song Zining understood Qianye¡¯s mood. ¡°Qianye, it¡¯s normal for people to die in such battles. This is a frontal war between two major factions. Not to mention a couple thousand soldiers, you, me, and even bigger characters are just small pawns on the battlefield. We have no choice even if we¡¯re pushed to the forefront.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand sometimes, what¡¯s all this fighting for?¡±

    ¡°Survival and resources, what else? Ha, those aren¡¯t things we should be thinking about. What we need to do now is survive.¡± At this point, Song Zining patted Qianye¡¯s back. ¡°You¡¯re a man who¡¯s going to stomp on the Sacred Mountain, how can you be so downcast? Haha.¡±

    ¡°How about you? What do you fight for?¡± Qianye asked all of a sudden.

    Song Zining said after a period of silence, ¡°Before the old ancestor went into death cultivation, I could already feel that she was filled with regret. She regretted not ruling with a heavy hand and cleaning out the family. Speaking of which, I wouldn¡¯t have received training in Yellow Springs if she hadn¡¯t made the final decision back then.¡±

    ¡°She was the one who made the decision?¡± Qianye was shocked.

    Song Zining had never mentioned how he hade to join the Yellow Springs camp. Qianye had always thought Song Zining had been abandoned by the n after his talent test was manipted. That was why he never asked about the details. Now, it would seem that Song Zining did suffer discrimination in the n, and the old duchess was also pulling the strings from behind.

    ¡°Yellow Springs wasn¡¯t a bad thing. Think about it, those on the Evernight Continent would never get such resources even if they sold their lives for it.¡± Song Zining stretchedzily. ¡°I¡¯m so tired, let me lean on you.¡±

    Qianye kicked away a charred piece of metal and sat down with his back against Song Zining. The two reminisced about the past, about Yellow Springs, and the time before they had met.

    This was an era where one had to struggle for survival, not one where one could live upon another¡¯s charity. Even if one could live by kneeling, some would rather die standing.

    Thinking back to the Evernight dumpster, Qianye couldn¡¯t avoid a certain scene from popping up in his mind. That silver-haired man reaching out to him, his body shrouded in lingering green light. It felt as though he had met an angel.

    ...

    Far off in the distance, Romier¡¯s expression was ashen as he observed the long casualty report. His eyes were so red that it looked like he was going to bleed.

    Only titled experts were listed in the document, and that was exactly why this list was so shocking. Those at the scene couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved that they weren¡¯t a part of this list.

    The only one who wasn¡¯t astonished was Duke Pratt, the one other seated person in the room. He had indeed entered Whitetown and retreated when the order was issued. But how could ordinary experts know what he was doing inside the city? Even if some people knew, they didn¡¯t dare speak out.

    Romier had no way to deal with this. Looking at the casualty report, he finally realized Pratt¡¯s mood when he was retreating. Over half of the titled experts under hismand were now dead, including a marquis and no small number of direct rtives. This battle had severely damaged Romier¡¯s forces, and it would take several decades to replenish the loss.

    All eyes were on Romier at the moment. The man knew what everyone was thinking¡ªthey wanted him to enter Whitetown with Pratt. That was the only way to suppress Qianye and Song Zining. To be frank, it was time for a showdown between the two parties.

    This decision, however, wasn¡¯t easy.

    Romier rarely fought in factional wars, but he wasn¡¯t about to underestimate his opponents. As a powerful character of the Mamon n, he knew certain secrets that even Pratt didn¡¯t. He recalled the arachne duke who had charged into the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The spider had to flee for his life almost immediately, leaving his fleet behind and traversing the void forcibly. Later on, he was saved by the reinforcement fleet, and that was the only reason he had survived. Even now, the arachne was still unconscious, and no one knew what had happened inside the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Romier couldn¡¯t stop thinking about that expert who had injured the arachne duke. Where could they be hiding? He had investigated repeatedly, regardless of the cost, but he couldn¡¯t find out the expert¡¯s whereabouts. From the beginning up until the end, there was only Qianye and Song Zining inside Whitetown.

    At the thought of this, Romier couldn¡¯t help but re at Pratt, but the old arachne pretended not to know.

    Romier felt quite hateful at heart. If Pratt hadn¡¯t given him the wrong information, he wouldn¡¯t have lost so many soldiers. At this point, it seemed Whitetown had several thousand soldiers remaining at the very least. That meant Qianye had garrisoned over thirty thousand soldiers here!

    Fitting thirty thousand men into this small ce was crazy. And what ck magic were these human defensive structures made of? They could still be used to fight a battle of attrition after being demolished by heavy cannons.

    Gazing at the distant Whitetown, Romier finally spoke, ¡°How many soldiers do we have left?¡±

    ¡°Sire, less than forty thousand.¡±

    After a moment, Romier said with narrowed eyes, ¡°Issue the order, all forces attack! All tribes, all warriors, I want everyone who can move on the front lines. The gship will retreat back into the void.¡±

    All the followers were shocked. ¡°Sire, you must not!¡±

    This was cutting off one¡¯s path of retreat. Apparently, Romier was nning to burn their boats and defeat Whitetown. The only problem was that Romier was cutting off the retreat of those on the ground. People at his level could retreat immediately once things went south and return to the gship. The other counts and viscounts who couldn¡¯t traverse the void would be left behind to die.

    Pratt understood Romier¡¯s n, but his own gship was also in the void, so he was all too happy to follow the n. The other people didn¡¯t dare criticize Romier directly.

    Having assigned the mission, Romier turned to Pratt with a smile. ¡°Sire Pratt, would you be interested in taking a stroll through Whitetown with me?¡±

    Pratt stood up and said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing to see there, but if Sire Romier is interested, I shall of course apany you.¡±

    ¡°Very good!¡± Romier walked out of the warship and stood in the air. All the experts appeared behind him as the massive warship turned about and vanished over the horizon.

    In Whitetown, Qianye felt as though he didn¡¯t get to sit very long before the sound of cannon shells once again echoed through the air.

    At this point, no one was bothering to intercept the projectiles. Origin power was precious¡ªeven Qianye couldn¡¯tpletely replenish his energy at this point, let alone others. The dark races didn¡¯t have much ammunition left, either. The sparse cannon fire was just for a show of dominance.

    Qianye and Song Zining exchanged nces, ready to split off into the field. It was at this time that Qianye sensed something and looked up at the sky.

    The two Evernight dukes were slowly flying toward them, unleashing their aura without the slightest bit of concealment.

    ¡°Time for a showdown.¡± Qianye realized.

    Song Zining nced at Qianye and performed a hand gesture. Qianye nodded after some thought.

 Chapter 1160: Field of Death

    <h4>Chapter 1160: Field of Death</h4>

    Romier and Pratt didn¡¯t join the battle immediately. Instead, they just watched as their ground forces attacked the city frantically. With two dukes overseeing the battle, all the soldiers fought as though they were crazed.

    The mercenaries felt heavy pressure. There was no escape under the present circumstances, and the only oue was death if they failed to resist this wave. Considering their options, wasn¡¯t it much better to die gloriously in battle? At this point, the survivors were all highly experienced and powerful mercenaries. They made use of every advantage they had, not missing any small opportunity to push back and bleed the enemy.

    At the center of Whitetown, a certain building had changed owners several times. The mercenary gunfire from inside gradually became weak, thenpletely died out as a group of werewolves and vampires charged in. This building had long since turned into ruins and was covered in the corpses of dark race soldiers. After paying a steep price, the dark races finally captured this central bridgehead for their army.

    If they could hold the central region, the mercenaries would be forced to separate. With that, the scales would tip in the dark races¡¯ favor.

    However, the Evernight soldiers had no time to cheer before they noticed something strange. Upon observing their surroundings, there seemed to be some extra objects in their vision. An experienced werewolf nced at his feet reflexively and saw two grenades!

    An explosion engulfed the entire building, the shockwaves and flying debris tearing the Evernight warriors into pieces. There was no blind angle to the explosion, and the smoke itself was enough to suffocate people to death. Who would¡¯ve thought such a violent explosion could be produced by a gunpowder weapon? How terrifying would the intensity have to be to kill all the dark races inside?

    Song Zining appeared quietly and gestured toward the street corner. A small group of mercenaries ran over and captured this point once again.

    Just now, he had used his domain to hide arge number of grenades at the Evernight soldiers¡¯ feet. He managed to kill off a group of elites with such a primitive method.

    Qianye didn¡¯t target the ordinary soldiers deliberately, only killing the unlucky ones who happened to be near him. His attention was entirely on the two Evernight experts in the air, trying to figure out who he should attack first.

    After all, the power gap between the two parties was quite huge, and Qianye would only have one chance for a surprise attack.

    Momentster, Qianye¡¯s gaze locked onto Duke Romier. Pratt had already run back once, and that proved he had no intention of fighting Qianye to the death. If he could deal a heavy blow to Romier, Pratt would likely run away.

    Qianye retracted his aura and merged into the battlefield.

    Romier suddenly shivered in the air. Seeing Pratt nce at him with an odd expression, he said with a snort, ¡°I was making preparations forbat. The time is right, let¡¯s go down!¡±

    With Pratt at his side, Romier naturally couldn¡¯t show any weakness even though he felt a bit uneasy. He simply braced himself and entered the battlefield. The two dukes working together would have an overwhelming advantage over Qianye and Song Zining. The only thing they had to worry about was how much damage the desperate enemies would cause on the verge of death.

    Pratt had other thoughts, but they naturally wouldn¡¯t appear on his face.

    Romier flew over the city at an altitude of several dozen meters, shooting out dark red clouds from time to time. This mist would cover an entire area and reap all life from it. Even the dark race soldiers would suffer injuries from the sanguine cloud if they were not vampires. The only sce was that it wouldn¡¯t take their lives.

    The cannon fodder, though, weren¡¯t that lucky. A sanguine cloud immediately killed two mercenaries and a handful of servspiders who were just about to fight. Only a single arachne knight crawled out from the mist, but his right limbs had been injured by the falling wall. With his ve soldiers gone, his chances of survival were slim at best.

    Pratt nced at the scene but said nothing. As for what was going on in his mind, no one knew.

    In the blink of an eye, Romier had carved out a path of death through Whitetown.

    Several origin bullets sted Romier, but how could these attacks injure him? All they did was reveal the shooters, who soon lost their lives to the sanguine cloud.

    Romier sensed that something was wrong in one of the areas below, but he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it. He tossed a bloody cloud over just in case but noticed Pratt sneering at him from the side.

    ¡°What are you sniggering at?¡± Romier asked gloomily.

    ¡°The duke sure is cautious, you¡¯re even afraid of ambushes from under the rubble. I should learn more from you regarding this ability.¡±

    Romier only responded with a snort. He had forced Pratt back to the battlefield first, then made the man circle Whitetown with him. It was only natural that this arachne vice-duke would hold some resentment.

    Pratt saw that Romier didn¡¯t retort and decided to let things be since he had gained a slight advantage. The vampire duke wasn¡¯t in a good mood, either, since the Mamon n¡¯s forces had suffered grave casualties. This was quite a hefty damage even for one of the twelve major vampire ns.

    At this moment, sanguine clouds had covered the ruined city below. Qianye was crouching in a gap, peeking out of the building through a crevice. The lingering sanguine mist around his body sought to corrode him, but they would shrink away immediately after touching his skin.

    Qianye pinched off some of the sanguine mist on a whim and noticed a peaceful aura from it. Turns out the cloud wasn''t suppressed because of his dark golden blood energy, but rather they considered him one of their kind.

    Qianye dragged over a nearby corpse and flipped it over. Inside of the man¡¯sbat armor, he saw the symbol of a holy grail pouring blood, the insignia of the Mamon n.

    Qianye felt an inherent sense of familiarity from the Mamon blood energy, almost as though a small part of him came from it. After careful thought, he remembered that the purple blood energy inside his body was somewhat simr to the Mamon¡¯s, except it was purer. William seemed to have mentioned once that the crystal, from which the purple blood energy stemmed, could produce another Nana. Didn¡¯t that mean Nana was from the Mamon n?

    That was good news because Romier would be inherently careless about Qianye¡¯s blood energy, and his dark golden blood energy was poisonous to all vampires. Qianye waited patiently, looking for the perfect opportunity to attack.

    With two dukes suppressing the battlefield, even Song Zining could only stall for time despite appearing here and there to take back strategic positions.

    The Evernight army quickly gained the advantage in Whitetown, upying almost half of the city and pushing Dark me toward the underground tunnels. Once the entire battle was out of control, this underground base would be a coffin.

    A group of demonkin warriors was exploring a half-destroyed building at this point. One of them kicked open the door to find an extremely beautiful girl, sitting there in clean clothes. The startled soldier forgot to fire immediately, but just as he was about to question her, the girl opened her mouth and blew gently in his direction.

    The warrior felt his vision go dark as he copsed to the ground. All his otherrades also fell down silently.

    The invisible region of death spread out at a rapid pace, causing the Evernight soldiers around the building to copse in droves. Outside the building, some of the stronger soldiers were able to struggle for a while, but they couldn¡¯t even cry out¡ªthey could only re in vain as they quickly lost their lives.

    In the blink of an eye, the field of death had expanded to a hundred meters, and almost a thousand elite soldiers had turned into corpses.

    Romier¡¯s gaze suddenly shifted toward the expanding field of death. Just as he was turning around, his long hair moved even though there was no wind! Roaring frantically, the vampire duke immediately retreated and found a ck feather in front of him! Qianye¡¯s figure was just about to fade away in the distance.

    Romier made a decision in the blink of an eye. His duke-grade reflexes and judgment told him to give up on evasion and focus all of his attention on defense. At the same time, he swiped at the air to produce a sanguine cloud where Qianye would appear.

    The sanguine cloud contracted and mmed into Qianye¡¯s body like countless iron rods. However, Qianye unleashed an explosive roar as he erupted with a terrifying force that exceeded even Romier''s! The sanguine mist was thus scattered forcibly. Qianye turned pale and coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his figure flickered away and vanished.

    At that moment, the faint ck feather shot into Romier¡¯s chest.

    The duke froze up. It wasn¡¯t just his movements, but even his expression was stered, almost as though he had turned into a statue.

    Pratt carefully maintained his distance and only stared at Romier¡¯s current state. His eyes shifted about, and no one could tell what he was thinking.

    Momentster, expression returned to Romier¡¯s face. His eyesnded on Pratt for a moment, then at the field of death below. The area had expanded to a hundred and fifty meters beforeing to a halt. All of the Evernight soldiers in the field had been reduced to corpses, including two counts.

    Thousands of elites had been lost in the blink of an eye. This was an unbearable loss for the already injured Evernight army. There seemed to be no Dark me mercenaries inside the field, meaning that the losses were all on the Evernight side.

    Compared to Qianye¡¯s strike, Romier clearly felt more of a heartache about this sudden field of death.

    The duke¡¯s expression suddenly turned pale before returning to normalcy. An undisguisable smile appeared on Pratt¡¯s face when he saw what had happened. He then turned toward the field of death as well.

    Romier said all of a sudden, ¡°The mercenaries are down to theirst men, Qianye must be suffering as well. Throw in ourst reserve force and take Whitetown!¡±

    ¡°Sire, this so-called reserve force is made up of our personal guards. They number less than a thousand even when added together.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough! Everyone, including non-essential airship crew, must join the battle!¡± Romier¡¯s tone was strict.

    Pratt didn¡¯t agree. ¡°Sire, those people are the final supporting pirs of our ns. Your status in the Mammon n is already decided at this point, but I still want to advance in the future.¡±

    ¡°Are you avoiding battle!?¡±

    Pratt pointed behind Romier with a smile. ¡°Sire, you won¡¯t win this fight!¡±

    Feeling a sharp pain behind his neck, Romier turned back to find Caroline descending from the distant skies with her lightning whip. The duke¡¯s eyes narrowed as he sized up Caroline. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with her! Pratt, you go down and kill Qianye and Song Zining!¡±

    ¡°Sire, will you be fine dealing with her alone?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Romier was calm and collected. He knew Pratt might change his stance if he were to show some weakness. The arachne vice-duke had been observing his performance after taking the Shot of Inception. It was clear that he had evil intentions.

    Not seeing any openings, Pratt bowed toward Romier and got ready to descend into the city. Qianye had taken a counterattack from Romier, and Song Zining was already exhausted from the prolonged battle. There wasn¡¯t any major threat at this point.

    It was at this time that a streak of mes shot up into the air and exploded. The ze was suffused with a tinge of violet; this was Zhao Jundu¡¯s signature color.

 Chapter 1161: Retreating Without a Figh

    <h4>Chapter 1161: Retreating Without a Figh</h4>

    The mes were actually dozens of kilometers away, but Romier and Pratt knew that the oue had been decided. This distance would take an army half a day, but it would only take a sh for powerful experts.

    Romier hadn¡¯t imagined that the central army would arrive so quickly. He couldn¡¯t help but curse, ¡°Doer, that useless idiot!¡±

    Evernight had already shuffled theirmander deployment in response to the Empire¡¯s attack. The force intercepting the central route was the weakest, but that was because the attacking army would suffer the greatest pressure. It was akin to cutting a path right through the middle of the Evernight army, and they would encounter a three-prong retaliation if the eastern and western routes didn¡¯t go well.

    ording to the current arrangements, the force sent to intercept Princess Haimi was the strongest, followed by the western route, and with the central route being the weakest. Almost all of the movable heavy cannons had been shipped to Whitetown in hopes of swiftly eliminating the de that had stabbed into the heart of the Evernight territory.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that they would fail to take Whitetown after suffering such losses? Moreover, the central route had actually arrived even before the Empire¡¯s Princess Haimi.

    Romier had no more time to curse Doer¡¯s inability. He stared fixedly at Caroline, calcting the difference in strength between them. Perhaps he might have a chance to destroy Whitetown before the central army experts arrived.

    What he didn¡¯t expect was that Pratt would rush into the sky, saying, ¡°Admit your loss, Romier.¡±

    ¡°You!!¡± Romier almost went insane in anger. The fleeing Pratt had ruined theirst chance just like that.

    Pratt didn¡¯t just flee on his own. He issued the signal to retreat, upon which several arachne experts followed him away. Even though it made flight difficult for him, he grabbed his subordinates by the waist and flew off into the distance.

    With the arachne experts scattering, the remaining soldiers¡¯ morale naturally copsed. The surviving arachne warriors retreated out of the city, and the other dark race warriors also understood that things had gone south. Even the supervision unit didn¡¯t try to stop them.

    Romier gnashed his teeth in anger, but all he could do was to issue the order to retreat. He himself turned about to retreat, but his vision was filled with a sh of lightning. Caroline¡¯s Thunderous Whip was descending upon him!

    With a cold snort, Romier drew his de to meet the whip.

    Caroline went all out when she saw this, pushing the lightning glow to its extremes. But only at the moment of contact did she realize that the power behind Romier¡¯s sword was extremely weak. The weapon wasshed away by the whip, and a gap appeared in her overpowered attack. Romier made use of this gap to scuttle away, his figure flickering repeatedly until he was in the void.

    Vampires were known for their speed. Now that Romier was fleeing at full speed, Caroline decided not to waste her energy on a target she couldn¡¯t catch. It seemed the injury Qianye had given him wasn¡¯t light at all. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have sacrificed his de to escape.

    The remaining dark race forces receded like the tides and scattered in every direction. At this moment, the mercenaries had no strength left to chase after them. They didn¡¯t even have the energy to cheer.

    Several older mercenaries stood dazed on the ruinedndscape, gazing at the distant reinforcements. Their expressions were wooden and not at all cheerful. One of them turned back to nce at the nearby street intersection¡ªamong the corpses strewn about on the ground, there were enemy soldiers as well as Dark me mercenaries. Those he had known personally were lying there as well.

    No matter where in the city one looked, those lying on the ground outnumbered those standing.

    Qianye pushed a stone b off of his head and stood up, almost falling down as his left leg buckled. He hadn¡¯t felt this kind of stabbing pain in quite a while, but he knew that he had broken his leg. This kind of injury would take almost a whole day to heal even in his bloodboil state.

    Duke Romier¡¯s counterattack was indeed powerful. Qianye had managed to escape, but the price was a broken leg.

    Qianye also knew that Romier wasn¡¯t having a good time, either. Even a duke couldn¡¯t easily take an upgraded Shot of Inception. Romier had used a secret art to suppress his injuries, hoping to clean up this battlefield as soon as possible. Doing that, however, would make his injuries worseter on. If there were no surprises, Duke Romier wouldn¡¯t be appearing again on the field anytime soon.

    Qianye was slightly disappointed at Pratt¡¯s immediate escape, but Romier was the biggest target.

    Song Zining arrived from a different direction and broke out in a grin after seeing Qianye¡¯s situation. ¡°Wow! Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d be in such a miserable state one day?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he turned pale and almost copsed.

    Qianye reached out to help him, heaving a sigh of relief as he gazed at the lingering violet mes in the distance.

    Song Zining huffed and puffed as he stabilized his footing. ¡°It¡¯s finally over!¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    Caroline appeared beside the two. Just as she was about to speak, Little Zhuji ran over with a cheer and pounced at Qianye and Song Zining!

    The two were shocked out of their wits. How could they withstand the little girl¡¯s charge in their current state? One of them was entirely exhausted, while the other had a broken leg, both unable to dodge even if they wanted to. Ultimately, it was Caroline who reacted quickly and caught the little girl by the waist.

    With a loud thud, Caroline took two steps back with Little Zhuji in her arms. The impact was this severe even in her peak state and full strength. Qianye might be okay, but Song Zining would have broken a couple of bones if he were in Caroline¡¯s shoes.

    It seemed the little girl had epted Caroline after some time together at the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Caroline, please take Zhuji back to the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Please don¡¯t let anyone into the airship unless Qianye or I am there.¡±

    Caroline was startled. Qianye frowned slightly but didn¡¯t say anything.

    Song Zining caught Qianye¡¯s change in expression. ¡°The signal is indeed the Zhao n¡¯s, but we still don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s the Zhao n people who areing. The Martyr¡¯s Pce is our only path out. We cannot take any chances.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Caroline took to the air with Little Zhuji in tow and went back to the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Biting her thumb, Zhuji gazed anxiously at Qianye and Song Zining, but she didn¡¯t throw a tantrum. It would seem that she had also sensed the tense atmosphere.

    Caroline had just left when an indescribable aura covered the entirety of Whitetown. This aura was majestic, cryptic, and pure, but it was also suffused with the strong scent of blood and fire. It gave off a rather strange sensation, almost as though there were several ipatible auras merged into one entity.

    After the aura swept through Whitetown, a certain silhouette appeared before Qianye and Song Zining. He simply stood there and became the center of all attention.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression became unnatural, and he couldn¡¯t help but look down at the ground. His forehead was drenched in sweat as he said with a forced smile, ¡°Fourth Young Noble arrived really fast.¡±

    It was, in fact, the number one expert of the Empire¡¯s younger generation, Zhao Jundu.

    The man nced at Song Zining and said indifferently, ¡°There¡¯s no way someone of your ability can¡¯t tell that it would be me.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare divine you.¡±

    Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t convinced. ¡°You have your ways to know that it would be me.¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°Well, you could say that.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced at Qianye. ¡°It¡¯s good to be cautious, even if it¡¯s the Zhao n.¡±

    These words came out of nowhere. No one could tell whether this was sarcasm after his exchange with Song Zining.

    Song Zining looked increasingly tense until Zhao Jundu asked him, ¡°Why are you so tense? Is there something you¡¯re hiding from me?¡± Only at this point did he realize that his emotions were clearly visible.

    Song Zining shook his head immediately. ¡°I¡¯ve been with Qianye all this time, how can there be anything to hide? Besides, I¡¯ve already moved to the neutralnds and don¡¯t really care about Imperial matters anymore. What can I even do?¡±

    Zhao Junduughed coldly. ¡°The Seventh Young Noble isn¡¯t just any ordinary person. I¡¯m sure you can affect things in the Empire remotely.¡±

    Qianye saw the atmosphere was getting tense and decided to change the topic. ¡°You¡¯re injured?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way I wouldn¡¯t be, considering the rush.¡± Zhao Jundu made light of the situation, but there was no way the battles would¡¯ve been easy for him to arrive at Whitetown ahead of Princess Haimi.

    ¡°Qianye¡¯s leg is also injured, I¡¯ll go and find a doctor...¡±

    Song Zining was just about to leave when two pirs of violet fire blocked his way. ¡°Don¡¯t think about slipping away! Which doctor can act quicker than our recovery speed?¡±

    Zhao Jundu examined Qianye¡¯s left leg while saying, ¡°It¡¯s not so bad. Sit down and let it set, why are you standing there? That guy doesn¡¯t need your support.¡±

    Qianye simply sat down, feeling that it was better for him to remain silent. He then produced a bandage and dressed the external injury roughly.

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we study the defensiveyout.¡±

    ¡°Defensiveyout?¡± Song Zining had a bad feeling about it.

    ¡°There¡¯s an army numbering in the tens of thousands behind me, including a duke.¡±

    Qianye and Song Zining exchanged serious nces. Those overseeing a battle of this scale had to be a duke, so that wasn¡¯t strange¡ªthe problem was the number. One could see that something was up when each of the five fleets in the void was led by a duke.

    The Empire only possessed a limited number of top experts, and most of them were needed to guard the maind territories. With the holy war on hold, the strength of the Evernight forces had increased, and the Empire¡¯s disadvantage became even more evident.

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh. ¡°What¡¯s with that look? Not to mention a duke, we still have to fight all the same even if a prince drops in.¡±

    Song Zining whipped out a map, studied it for a bit, and then threw it away. Whitetown was little more than rubble at this point, and the originalndscape couldn¡¯t even be referenced on the map anymore.

    He found a clean stone b and, using a long piece of charred wood as a pen, drew a simple map of the surroundings. He asked Zhao Jundu, ¡°How many men do you have?¡±

    ¡°One thousand.¡±

    Song Zining and Qianye had never imagined that Zhao Jundu would bring such a small force. But it made sense after some thought¡ªit was already an amazing feat for him to have pushed a thousand men forward at such speed. This also proved the high quality of Zhao n soldiers.

    Zhao Jundu added, ¡°All in light gear.¡±

    This made things worse because it meant that the mercenaries wouldn¡¯t get the emergency supplies that they needed.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t think too deeply about this. At this point in the fight, the Evernight forces were also exhausted, and it was hard to say how much fighting power they had left.

    ¡°Which duke is it?¡±

    ¡°Werewolf Duke Doer, a simpleton who specializes in meleebat. His gear isn¡¯t so good, either,¡± Zhao Jundu replied.

    ¡°Is there no one to deal with him?¡±

    ¡°Duke Wei fought a couple of rounds with him. They¡¯re evenly matched with each sustaining some light injuries.¡±

    ¡°Werewolf, huh? Maybe I can try dealing with him.¡± Such melee enemies were Qianye¡¯s favorite because it was difficult for them to evade his Shot of Inception.

    ¡°He might not dare to enter the city,¡± Zhao Jundu said indifferently.

    The atmosphere was no longer tense as the three continued exchanging ideas about the defense. Since Zhao Jundu¡¯s central army had met up sessfully with Dark me, the war on the void continent could be considered half-won. They only needed to upy Whitetown to cut off the enemy¡¯s path of retreat. It would be lucky if twenty percent of the hundreds of thousands of Evernight soldiers could escape.

 Chapter 1162: Unexpected Developmen

    <h4>Chapter 1162: Unexpected Developmen</h4>

    Whitetown was once again surrounded by the dark races after the troops under Zhao Jundu¡¯smand entered the city. The great army Qianye and Song Zining had brought into Whitetown was now down to little over two thousand men.

    Everyone, including Song Zining himself, had never imagined that the siege would be this bitter. The dark races had left nearly a hundred thousand corpses in and around Whitetown, equal to two entire corps.

    With the addition of Zhao Jundu¡¯s subordinates, there were over three thousand men in the city. However, the dark race army outside was over thirty thousand. Despite the enemy enjoying a ten-time advantage and the presence of a duke, the soldiers in the city werepletely fearless, confident even.

    The only difference was that Zhao Jundu had arrived in Whitetown.

    It was just as he had said¡ªeven though Doer was stronger than the rest of the crowd, he might not have the courage to enter the city for a showdown.

    Zhao Jundu had grown at a shocking rate during this war. His cultivation was only one step away from the divine champion realm, but that wasn¡¯t all. What stunned everyone was that his pristine temperament was now stained with an intense aura of blood and fire. No one could tell just what level this cold, majestic youth¡¯sbat strength had reached. All they knew was that his destructive potential had risen sharply since the start of this war.

    Qianye¡¯s upgraded Shot of Inception was extremely powerful and difficult to evade, inflicting grave injuries once struck. Song Zining, on the other hand, was adept at strategic control. With the three of them working together, even a duke would be easily defeated.

    Outside of Whitetown, Doer was standing with his hands behind his back while a row of titled experts knelt before him. These were Evernight experts who had failed to escape following Romier and Pratt¡¯s retreat. Doer¡¯s army immediately rounded them up after their arrival.

    Doer¡¯s gaze swept across these experts, but no one could guess what the expressionless duke was thinking.

    A werewolf count kneeling before him said, ¡°Sire, surrounding the city won¡¯t do anything. Unless...¡±

    ¡°Unless I enter the city and fight a decisive battle, is it?¡± Doerpleted the sentence.

    The werewolf count lowered his head. ¡°I think that¡¯s the only way.¡±

    ¡°Which tribe are you from?¡± Doer asked.

    ¡°Windtakers.¡±

    ¡°What, do you haveints about our Summit of Peaks?¡± Doer sneered.

    The werewolf count replied, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. The surroundings of the battlefield aren¡¯t peaceful, and there are numerous human experts appearing here. If we want to open up a retreat path, this is the only chance. It won¡¯t be good if the people in the city reform their defensive structures.¡±

    Doer was just about to say something when his face went pale. Although he suppressed it immediately, many people noticed that he had suffered serious injuries.

    There was an injured duke right before their eyes. This was no small temptation.

    Observing the scene, the werewolf duke unleashed his aura without restraint. The powerful suppressive might crushed all experts below the count-rank to the ground. Even the counts could barely kneel.

    He snorted loudly before slowly retracting his aura.

    After this little incident, no one dared to go against Doer¡¯s decision anymore. It was just that Whitetown¡¯s geography was unique, making it difficult to encircle the entire city with the manpower they had. As such, Doer reorganized the entire army and ced the bulk of their forces toward the east, between Whitetown and Princess Haimi¡¯s direction, to prevent being nked on both sides during the fight.

    With this rare gap in events, Whitetown wasn¡¯t about to stay idle, either. Song Zining took this time to tend to the injured, inspect the field, and set up defenses. Therge number of fallen dark race warriors actually provided them with a significant amount of supplies and equipment. That was why the mercenaries nevercked armaments at this point.

    Unlike Whitetown, the other parts of the void continent were embroiled in fiercebat.

    The central army was rolling its way majestically toward Whitetown, its gship slowly hovering above.

    On the bridge, a dignified middle-aged man and a young man dressed in Chinese clothing were ying chess.

    The young man yed a piece, saying, ¡°Duke, your chess abilities are getting better and better. It seems you need to give me a handicap next time.¡±

    The middle-aged man was just about to say something when he began coughing severely. The young man went to support the man and pat his back, saying, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    The middle-aged man was Duke Wei. He gasped for a while before saying with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s just a minor injury, don¡¯t worry. That werewolf had it worse. You don¡¯t need to worry, Fourteenth Prince.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince sighed. ¡°Your old injury hasn¡¯t healedpletely, yet you went into battle again. Sigh, this arrangement wouldn¡¯t have happened if the Empire had more people to use. I¡¯m too useless as well.¡±

    Duke Wei replied, ¡°You¡¯re already able to use Mortal Emperor at your age, the future is boundless for you. You shouldn¡¯t speak irresponsibly like just now, or some of those wavering people will lose confidence.¡±

    There was a hint of warning in what he had said. The Fourteenth Prince¡¯s expression turned cold as he replied with a nod.

    The two were no longer in the mood to y chess, so the prince said, ¡°Jundu went deep into enemy lines on his own, will he be fine?¡±

    Duke Wei said, ¡°Jundu is not yet a divine champion, but he¡¯s just one step away. Those marquismanders on the ground are not his match. After he joins Qianye and Song Zining in Whitetown, their forces will have both brains and brawn. It won¡¯t be a problem if they focus on defense. We will sweep the left and right with the main army, denying the dark races any opportunities. Once we arrive, it will be the end for those dark race bastards.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince praised, ¡°Now that¡¯s the path of a hegemon!¡±

    Duke Wei smiled faintly. ¡°I¡¯ve led armies throughout the years, this is nothing. It¡¯s just that Zhao Jundu and the others will have to suffer a bit for the first few days. With you and me on the central route, Her Highness Princess Haimi in the east, and the western route moving along with great stability, the dark races should realize that the situation has changed. They will need to make an early decision. We changed ournding point to Whitetown in order to leave them a thread of hope. Otherwise, if we take the airship port directly, they will throw everything they have at the ce, and Qianye and Song Zining would be in danger.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince nodded. ¡°Indeed, the first n was too decisive and leaves no room for maneuver. Qianye and Song Zining may be talented, but their troop strength is a bitcking. It won¡¯t be hard to capture the ce, but it¡¯ll be difficult for them to defend. Song Zining might not agree if we had used the first n.¡±

    ¡°We were never afraid he wouldn¡¯t agree, at most, we would just have to pick a new leader. What we were afraid of is that he would ept and then retreat immediately after seeing that the situation isn¡¯t quite right.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    Duke Wei said, ¡°Currently, the battlefield is like a big water bag with a small hole on it. As long as a stream of water can flow out, as long as there¡¯s a thread of hope for survival, the dark races won¡¯t fight to the bitter end.¡±

    At this point, there was a knock on the door, and a chubby old man walked in. He was dressed in ordinary clothing, but it wasn¡¯t too hard to see that he was someone who had served in the pce for a long time.

    The man said in a shrill voice, ¡°Fourteenth Highness, Mortal Emperor has been nurtured and is ready for use.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince said, ¡°Thank you, Eunuch Duan.¡±

    Eunuch Duan said, ¡°This servant doesn¡¯t deserve it.¡±

    After Eunuch Duan was gone, Duke Wei picked up a chess piece and said, ¡°Let¡¯s continue.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince was in no mood to y chess. He said with a distressed expression, ¡°Will Jundu be in danger? If something happens to him, I won¡¯t be able to exin it to Aunty Gaoyi.¡±

    Duke Wei said with a smile, ¡°If something happens to you, I won¡¯t be able to exin things to His Majesty.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince said, ¡°You¡¯re too serious.¡±

    Duke Wei put down his chess piece. ¡°Your Highness, there¡¯s you, me, and Princess Haimi in the east, and as far as I know, the Neenth Princess is in Whitetown. Add to that a handful of your royal uncles, it can be said that the Imperial family has invested quite a lot of manpower here. The Zhao n is also here in full force. You might not know, but Princess Gaoyi has also arrived because she¡¯s worried about Zhao Jundu and Zhao Junhong.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince¡¯s expression changed upon hearing the Neenth Princess¡¯ name. It seemed like he wanted to ask something but was astonished by thest part of the sentence. ¡°Aunty is also here?¡±

    Duke Wei nodded. ¡°The Swallowcloud Zhao n has marital connections to the Imperial family in every generation. Strictly speaking, they have a lot of Imperial blood.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince clearly hadn¡¯t thought about this. After some thought, he was immediately drenched in cold sweat. He said after some contemtion, ¡°What should we do now?¡±

    Duke Wei said, ¡°The scale of this scheme is sorge that we don¡¯t know who¡¯s behind it, or why. Why not just watch the developments quietly and see what will happen.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince nodded.

    Having spoken to this point, it was only natural that the two of them would be in no mood for chess. Duke Wei was injured, so he went back to recuperate in istion. Meanwhile, the Fourteenth Prince went forth to themand room to oversee the movement of the army.

    The central army was fifty thousand strong¡ªthe backbone was made up of the Imperial regr army and mixed in with elite corps from various private armies. Among thetter, the Zhao n¡¯s units were the primary force.

    The fifty-thousand troops, heavy armaments,bor, and logistics formed a long, winding procession. Aplete mixed corps was at the van, apanied by several gunships. Zhao Jundu had pierced through the path forward, but he didn¡¯t have enough troops to clear out the sides. Hence, the main forces still had to be wary of sudden enemy appearances.

    Along the way, they saw the remnants of battle left behind by Zhao Jundu¡¯s vanguard. The Fourteenth Prince was astonished because every battle seemed like a bitter fight.

    The prince felt that he would be hard-pressed to win even one of those battles without using Mortal Emperor. Yet Zhao Jundu had fought every battle with the intent to win, crushing all adversity in his wake and leaving the main army behind.

    Just as the Fourteenth Prince was deep in thought, a streak of fire descended from the sky and mmed fiercely into the gship. A violent explosion ensued, causing the gship to dip sharply!

    This was clearly the work of a warship¡¯s main cannon. Without waiting for the Fourteenth Prince¡¯s orders, a shrill rm rang out across the gship. The captain issued a series ofmands for the gship to speed up and evade the next attack.

    The Fourteenth Prince dashed to the window and looked out. There, he saw one Evernight warship after the other piercing through the clouds and making straight for the central army below. At a nce, there were at least a dozen vessels big and small, led by two cruisers. There were even more warships appearing through the clouds in a seemingly endless stream.

    The Fourteenth Prince¡¯s hands went cold. He thought to himself, ¡°How can there be so many? Haven¡¯t we already gained control of the void?¡±

 Chapter 1163: Forced Breakthrough

    <h4>Chapter 1163: Forced Breakthrough</h4>

    The Imperial army began retaliating fiercely after recovering from the initial chaos of the sudden attack. Under thebined efforts of thend and air forces, they managed to strike down several Evernight warships in a short period. Although the Empire had also lost two vessels to the ambush, they still held an advantage in the trade.

    Seeing that things weren¡¯t going well for them, Evernight increased their altitude and pulled back into the clouds. The Empire didn¡¯t dare chase after the enemy without ample information, so they dispatched a single high-speed airship into the clouds to scout the area.

    The corvette¡¯s captain almost copsed after breaking through the cloudyer as he came face-to-face with a tightly organized enemy fleet. There was an unfamiliar airship that was terrifyingly big¡ªit had to be a duke-grade vessel, if not a grand-duke.

    Duke-grade airships rarely apanied the Evernight fleet after they had lost control of the void. Those that were still in the area would usually operate alone so that they would not be dragged down.

    For such arge fleet to appear, could the Empire have lost control of the void?

    Two warships from the Evernight fleet charged over after seeing the corvette rear its head. Fortunately, the Imperial vessel was cautious enough to maintain a safe distance. It immediately fled after seeing that things weren¡¯t good.

    The corvette flew back with the shocking information it had obtained. The young Fourteenth Prince didn¡¯t know what to do, while Duke Wei remained silent with a gloomy expression.

    The central army switched to a defensive formation with the fleet right above the ground forces. On one hand, it was to protect the forces below, and on the other, it was to borrow protection from the ground forces¡¯ firepower.

    A strong gale kicked up at this moment, sweeping away theyer of clouds and revealing a corner of that giant fleet. All those from the Empire were shaken.

    Seeing that their bait didn¡¯t work, the entire Evernight fleet descended slowly and spread out in front of the Imperial forces.

    The Imperial gship captain finally spoke, ¡°We can¡¯t win.¡±

    The captain hade from the Imperial Guard and was a specialist in airship warfare. Duke Wei only frowned upon hearing these demoralizing words and didn¡¯t act up. He eventually said, ¡°Can we fight?¡±

    ¡°That we can, but we will still lose in the end. The difference in fighting power is too vast! That¡¯s aplete void fleet we¡¯re talking about!¡± The gship captain wasn¡¯t afraid to speak his mind even against Duke Wei.

    Duke Wei pointed at the eye-catching duke-grade gship. ¡°Can we sink that thing?¡±

    The captain shook his head. ¡°That¡¯ll be thest vessel standing after we¡¯re done.¡±

    Duke Wei said, ¡°That means we can wipe out all the other warships?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be wiped out as well.¡±

    Duke Wei¡¯s expression slowly turned cold. ¡°That much loss is eptable. Issue the order to advance!¡±

    The captain was shocked. ¡°We must not!¡±

    Duke Wei was displeased. ¡°Why not!? Even if our fleet is wiped out, the Evernight side¡¯s losses will be greater than ours. They¡¯ve already lost two entire fleets in space, how many more mobile units can they have? This is the most strategic timing for a trade. We must not let that fleet get back into the void!¡±

    The captain understood this logic¡ªthe Empire would face many times the pressure if they didn¡¯t wipe out this fleet here. It might even affect the entire oue of the battle. Yet, it was an uneasy feeling to sacrifice the warship he had driven for so many years.

    Duke Wei nced briefly at the Evernight fleet. ¡°Maintain our position above the ground army and slowly advance into a winged formation. Hold that position and standby until I give the order. Also, send news back to Indomitable. If my guess isn¡¯t wrong, the real showdown is about to begin. It¡¯s about time those old fogeys get to work.¡±

    A high-speed airship flew backward at top speed. The Evernight fleet made no movement, only blocking the Empire¡¯s forward path.

    Under Duke Wei¡¯smand, the central army pushed forward again. The air and ground forces were consolidated into a cohesive unit that slowly rolled toward the enemy like a steel ball.

    The Imperial forces looked like a hedgehog covered in spikes. The Evernight side had two choices now¡ªfight to the death or watch as the enemy passes by. Fighting would result in heavy casualties regardless of victory or loss, but letting them pass would mean they would never get Whitetown back. Even the nearby airship port might fall into enemy hands, signing the death warrant of the Evernight army.

    As the Imperial army pushed closer and closer, the Evernight fleet quickly edged backward in a battle formation. They also shed a message regarding their response.

    Soon, a strange whistle rang out in the air as one airship after another shot through the clouds and descended behind the Evernight fleet. Judging from their trajectory, they were actuallynding!

    Their doors opened up ten or so meters from the ground, and countless soldiers poured out like raindrops. Theynded firmly from that height and werepletely unaffected by the impact. Apparently, they were all elites.

    Countless crates of supplies and armaments were unloaded. The dark race soldiers swarmed over and unpacked several pieces of armored tes, which they assembled into a short wall in front of the Imperial army. Out in the open, the presence or absence of such a wall made a significant difference.

    The first row of dark race soldiers awaited in formation, while the transports at the back spat out an unending stream of soldiers and equipment. In the blink of an eye, a row of heavy cannons had been assembled. Although there were only a couple dozen of them, the ones that could fire giant ballista bolts posed a great threat to the Imperial fleet.

    The Fourteenth Prince was finally moved. ¡°What is the Imperial Guard doing? How could they let such a fleet pass through?¡± It wasn¡¯t just warships. Now that even the transports had gotten through, it would seem the Empire was in a fairly perilous position in the void.

    Duke Wei, who had been silent all along, looked up at the sky. There was a fiery hue in the clouds several kilometers away where, all of a sudden, some burning airship debris came crashing to the ground.

    The remnants were alreadypletely deformed, but one could still barely discern that a part of it was Imperial in origins. There were also some that belonged to Evernight.

    Duke Wei sighed. ¡°It seems the Imperial Guard has done its best.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince noticed the abnormality in the sky as well. He immediately realized that a battle was also taking ce in the void, one so fierce that even main force wreckages were falling onto the continent.

    The Fourteenth Prince looked up at the sky. ¡°I don¡¯t think the Imperial Guard wille down even if they win the battle. They¡¯re more likely to set up a sealed perimeter outside. What do we do?¡±

    Duke Weiughed wryly. Judging from the current situation, perhaps the Imperial Guard hadn¡¯t imagined that Evernight would invest so many troops here, and thus, their main forces were elsewhere. It could also be that they didn¡¯t have enough strength left to stop the enemy forces from breaking through. The first probability was understandable, but things would be pretty bad if it was the second.

    Besides, the Imperial Guard fleet was a pure void fleet, and reinforcing ground forces was never their forte. They just weren¡¯t equipped for it¡ªfrom the type of units to their equipment and weapons.

    The most logical strategy was for them to bleed the Evernight forces as much as they could during the breakthrough, then seal off the void and wait for the enemy to reappear. Airships would need to adjust their formation when entering and leaving the void, so the party lying in wait would always have the advantage. They would be able to easily reap glorious aplishments. As for what the Evernight fleet would do during their time inside, it was quite frankly not the Imperial Guard¡¯s concern.

    Duke Wei said slowly, ¡°Even if I was the onemanding the Imperial Fleet, I would most likely seal off the void as well and wait for the Evernight fleet to emerge.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince waited patiently for the Duke¡¯s continuation.

    The situation, at this point, wasn¡¯t something he could handle. With the appearance of arge number of enemy ground forces, it was actually the Empire¡¯s turn to be in a dilemma. They would suffer heavy losses if they were to attack, but if they remained in a deadlock here, it was easy to imagine what would happen to Whitetown.

    The Evernight faction had invested steeply in stopping the central army, clearly stating their intention to wipe out the forces in Whitetown and remove the nail threatening their airship port.

    Duke Wei didn¡¯t attack immediately and only watched with a serious expression as the Evernight forcespleted their defensive preparations. He raised his right hand momentster, upon which the aide moved closer to wait for themand.

    ¡°Issue the order¡­¡± Duke Wei paused for a good while. ¡°All forces, advance! We will carve a path through them!¡±

    The aide was startled, but not daring to say anything, he left to issue themand.

    Duke Wei turned to the Fourteenth Prince. ¡°Your Highness, please bring out Mortal Emperor!¡±

    ¡°Mortal Emperor? Now?¡± The Fourteenth Prince was a bit surprised.

    Duke Wei said, ¡°Mortal Emperor is a weapon best suited for army warfare. Our only hope of carving a path is to break their air-ground formation.¡±

    ¡°Why the rush?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, Whitetown is already at the juncture of life and death. We have no choice but to charge with our lives on the line. Even if we can¡¯t arrive on time, we must find a way to restrain more enemy experts and reduce the pressure on the other side.¡±

    The Fourteenth Prince noticed the meaning behind those words. ¡°Isn¡¯t this method too risky for the Evernight faction? They will suffer greatly if their strategy fails.¡±

    Duke Wei¡¯s expression was fierce. ¡°That¡¯s all the more reason for us to burn all bridges and attack the enemy with everything we have. We might be walking right into their trap if we act too slow.¡±

    ¡°I understand, please wait a while. I¡¯ll go and retrieve the Mortal Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Good! We¡¯ll be counting on you for the first strike.¡±

    Momentster, the Empire¡¯s unique bugle cry echoed through every part of the battlefield. All Imperial forces on the ground assumed an attack formation as they advanced together with the airship fleet.

    Apparently not expecting the sudden advance, the rear lines of the Evernight forces fell into sudden chaos. Some of the transports that had unloaded their goods began to leave the area at full speed, but there were transport airships still arriving in quick session. This caused a traffic disturbance in the small low-altitude area.

    ¡°Now!¡± Duke Wei issued the order, and the Imperial fleet charged straight for the Evernight airship formation.

    The chaos in the rear had more or less affected the Evernight formation. They suffered significant losses in a single round, with some warships firing before they could leave the area of their own ground-forces. Soon, an Evernight corvette was struck, crashing into their own camp.

    At this point, the Imperial gship sped up and charged down toward the Evernight ground-forces. The Fourteenth Prince stood at the bow with the Mortal Emperor in hand. There was a faint glow around his body that would deflect all bullets and arrowsing for him. The prince was calm, collected, and focused as he fired at the dense formation of enemies below!

    A streak of mes shot out in the blink of an eye, erasing all dark race formations in its wake!

 Chapter 1164: Life Trap

    <h4>Chapter 1164: Life Trap</h4>

    A single attack from the Mortal Emperor moved the winds and clouds. Wherever it went, countless specks of light would shower down and extinguish all life in its wake, only leaving the strongest to struggle on the ground.

    A single strike had felled thousands of dark race warriors and produced a big space in the most important part of the formation.

    The dark racemanding officer seemed to care about that gap quite a bit and immediately transferred more troops to fill it up. After a momentary confusion, the density of troops in that area was much greater. However, the formation was a chaotic mess as the soldiers pushed against one another.

    ¡°This is a good opportunity!¡± The Fourteenth Prince¡¯s eyes lit up. The captain spun the gship about and flew it parallel to the dark race formation.

    The Fourteenth Prince rushed to the side of the vessel. Looking down at the dense array of Evernight warriors, he took a deep breath and flipped a switch on Mortal Emperor. The origin array patterns on the gun¡¯s body immediately lit up with an eerie red glow.

    He took aim at the most densely popted area below and fired!

    Countless red beams intersected into arge, which bore down on the dark race warriors below.

    Those killed by this shot were Evernight¡¯s elites. The Fourteenth Prince did a rough calction and felt that his recently improved cultivation would allow him to fire a third shot. The death of thousands of warriors was enough to tip the scales in the current battle.

    Turning the tables single-handedly, such an aplishment was enough to make him stand out amidst the many princes and princesses.

    All life shall bow before the Mortal Emperor, and this red was its finishing blow. This dark red, heavenly chain would leave no survivors in its wake. The only issue was that the greater the firepower, the more origin power one would need to support it.

    This heavenly was too big of a strain for the current Fourteenth Prince. He suddenly realized that something was amiss as his origin power flowed out like the tides! This drain was much greater than he had expected!

    The Fourteenth Prince was already having a hard time activating the weapon. He could only clench his jaws and hold on because he simply did not have the strength left to retract the attack.

    It was at this time that he heard a soft voice, ¡°Stop!¡±

    The voice was very familiar. It sounded like Duke Wei but also like it wasn¡¯t. The exhausted Fourteenth Prince, in his daze, couldn¡¯t hear too clearly.

    This was a battlefield. How could there be any room for distractions?

    The Fourteenth Prince suddenly woke up to find that his origin power was draining into the Mortal Emperor. The Grand Magnum was like an abyss, showing no signs of anything touching its bottom no matter how much origin power was poured into it. It felt as though the hole would never be full.

    Mortal Emperor was still spitting out streaks of red light over the Evernight formation. Therge red had covered an area several hundred meters in radius. The thousands of dark race soldiers inside were struggling painfully as their life force was being drained away.

    The effects of this shot were far beyond expectations, but the Fourteenth Prince felt his heart freeze up.

    The Evernight soldiers in the were shrouded in a strange dark-red glow, almost like mes. The fire burned their life-force away and, in return, granted them strength far beyond their normal ability. The ze was also highly adhesive. Ittched onto the Mortal Emperor¡¯s heavenly, constantly draining its power.

    There were numerous Evernight experts among the soldiers who were also burning their vitality. The power they produced exceeded the ordinary warriors by a significant margin, but it also brought them more pain. Even the werewolves and arachne, who could normally withstand a lot of pain, were howling and rolling on the ground.

    Such experts were equal to dozens of ordinary soldiers. It was their existence that caused the Mortal Emperor¡¯s origin arrays to operate rapidly, demanding constant origin power from the Fourteenth Prince.

    The ratio of ordinary soldiers to experts here was abnormal!

    The Fourteenth Prince came to a sudden and shocking realization: ¡°It¡¯s a trap!¡±

    No matter how long the Mortal Emperor¡¯s heavenlysted, the dark races below were already done for. Even if some of them could survive, they would lose some or all of their origin power following the burnt vitality. This was worse than death in the Evernight world where strength was everything.

    The Fourteenth Prince wanted to stop, but the Mortal Emperor felt like it was an extension of his limb. It simply couldn¡¯t be flung away and kept on draining his origin power. He didn¡¯t have the time to think about how the dark races had learned of the characteristics of the Grand Magnum¡¯s ultimate ability andid down this trap.

    Below, the dark racemanding officer was still urging squads of warriors into the heavenly. Those warriors would burst into dark red mes upon contact, whichtched onto the and, by extension, the Mortal Emperor.

    In the blink of an eye, the Fourteenth Prince¡¯s vision began to blur. As a Grand Magnum, the Mortal Emperor possessed great power and significant consumption. Considering the prince¡¯s age, it was already an incredible feat for him to activate one of the magnum¡¯s ultimate powers. There was no way he could withstand such a drain.

    His origin power was now bottomed out, and further consumption would start to damage his foundations. Yet, the Mortal Emperor kept on devouring his origin power like a bottomless ck hole. Just as the Fourteenth Prince was on the verge of despair, a strong hand patted his shoulder and sent a deluge of origin power into his body. Feeling his pressure lighten, the prince turned around to see Duke Wei helping him. He almost cried tears of joy at that moment, but his smile immediately disappeared.

    The confrontation between Mortal Emperor and the dark races was still ongoing below. Squads after squads of warriors were driven into the heavenly, draining the Mortal Emperor¡¯s power with their lives. Even some titled experts would jump in from time to time,tching onto the Mortal Emperor in a suicidal manner.

    Duke Wei¡¯s origin power was vast, but it wasn¡¯tpatible with the Grand Magnum¡ªless than a tenth of it was even usable. The Mortal Emperor kept draining the Fourteenth Prince¡¯s origin power, and all the duke could do was slow down the rate of overdraft.

    Apparently, the Mortal Emperor would never stop operating as long as the dark races kept on running into the heavenly.

    Duke Wei realized this fact. ¡°Your Highness, please stop!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t!¡± These words only echoed in the prince¡¯s mind because he could no longer speak at this point.

    Seeing the dangerous situation, Duke Wei tried to p the Mortal Emperor away but to no avail. Not only that, but the gun had also begun to vibrate, and the scales on its back opened up, forming a vortex in an attempt to draw Duke Wei in.

    The duke was shocked to find that the Mortal Emperor could actually counterattack on its own. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t underestimate the Grand Magnum or use his full force. Otherwise, he might¡¯ve been dragged into the weapon. Duke Wei¡¯s expression was unsightly. It would seem this Mortal Emperor wasn¡¯t something he could control.

    Even someone like him didn¡¯t know what to do.

    The Fourteenth Prince would die from over-exhaustion if there was no one to save him. Yet, it looked like such an attempt would involve sacrificing the duke, and even then, there was no telling whether it would seed.

    At this moment, the dark races were still charging into the heavenly in a possessed manner. Duke Wei noticed that those charging into the weren¡¯t cannon fodder but actual elites. There was a shocking amount of high-ranking warriors among them and no shortage of titled experts! Only the ignited vitality of such soldiers could grab firmly onto the Mortal Emperor.

    Even Duke Wei had only one thought in his mind, ¡°Insane, they¡¯re all insane!¡±

    As far as the Empire was concerned, people like the Fourteenth Prince who could use the Mortal Emperor was definitely a rare genius. However, Mortal Emperor wasn¡¯t as picky about its wielder as the Red Spider Lily. Other members of the Imperial family could also activate the Grand Magnum. It was just that theirpatibility wasn¡¯t as good as the Fourteenth Prince, and neither was their origin power strong enough.

    Moreover, there was an untold secret in the Imperial family. The one with the highestpatibility with the Mortal Emperor was actually the previous Emperor¡¯s youngest brother, Lord Rivernce. Mortal Emperor had once followed the lord out of Imperial borders, and no one had realized it, not even the Longevity Monarch who was watching over it. Naturally, Lord Rivernce was punished for this matter and forbidden from approaching the magnum ever again.

    Regardless, it was still a crazy move for the dark races to sacrifice thousands of elites, hundreds of high-ranking warriors, and dozens of titled experts just for the Fourteenth Prince. These people were the backbone of their forces. With enough cannon-fodder, these men could form aplete army corps and pioneer new territories beyond the border.

    No one with half a brain would do such a trade.

    The Fourteenth Prince wasn¡¯t a unique existence like Zhao Jundu. There were many other geniuses at his level.

    While Duke Wei was having a hard time deciding, Eunuch Duan¡¯s gentle voice rang out nearby, ¡°Duke, just let go.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Duke Wei nced back at Eunuch Duan with an odd expression.

    Eunuch Duan was here to apany the Fourteenth Prince and was likely his trusted aide. Such internal attendants were usually either Imperial rtives or people from their maternal family. Yet, he was advising the duke to let go?

    The astonished Fourteenth Prince also nced at Eunuch Duan in terror.

    Eunuch Duan remained calm. ¡°His Highness¡¯ foundations have been injured. He¡¯ll probably lose his cultivation even if we manage to save him. Besides, there are many princes but only one Mortal Emperor. Who will protect the Grand Magnum if Duke Wei is exhausted? This servant is just a bag of old bones, I can¡¯t block a single blow from the enemy duke.¡±

    Several thoughts ran through Duke Wei¡¯s mind in just a sh and he was soon drenched in cold sweat. ¡°Could it be that the dark races¡¯ target is actually the Mortal Emperor?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare make such an assumption. Duke Wei is themander, so you should make that judgment.¡±

    The shocked Fourteenth Prince gazed at Duke Wei with pleading eyes. His lips moved ever so slightly, almost as though he was going to say ¡°save me.¡± However, he was like an arrow at the end of its flight; no sound actually came out.

    Duke Wei finally came to a decision. With a light sigh, he pulled back the hand he had on the prince¡¯s shoulder and took a step back.

    How could the prince hold out without Duke Wei¡¯s support? His aura immediately disappeared, and the terrifying effects of overdrafted power became apparent. His tall stature immediately shriveled up inside his clothes, almost like a dried corpse.

    With the Fourteenth Prince gone, the Mortal Emperor lost its source of energy and finally stopped spitting out red light. This attack had ended with the death of the Fourteenth Prince and thousands of Evernight elites.

    As the Fourteenth Prince¡¯s body slowly copsed, Duke Wei grabbed the Mortal Emperor with great swiftness.

    Eunuch Duan was one step toote. His hand was, embarrassingly, half-outstretched in the air. His eyes shifted about as he pulled his hand back. ¡°It¡¯s best for Duke Wei to hold onto the Mortal Emperor. At least, those dark race bastards won¡¯t be able to snatch it.¡±

    Duke Wei said slowly, ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll return the gun to His Majesty immediately after my arrival.¡±

    Eunuch Duan nodded. ¡°That will be for the best.¡±

    Duke Wei stood at the bow of the gship and said, ¡°Men, lead Eunuch Duan to his room to rest, this ce is too windy.¡±

    The attendants led Eunuch Duan back to his cabin, walking along his left and right as though he was a prisoner. The eunuch didn¡¯t resist and simply returned to his room without the slightest sign of guilt.

    After Eunuch Duan was gone, Duke Wei ordered his personal guards to move the prince¡¯s remains to his room and restrain all of his former attendants, preventing them from moving about or spreading rumors.

    All those nearby finally managed to exhale after everything had been arranged appropriately. They nced at one another and discovered that everyone¡¯s expression was rather unsightly. They themselves were probably no exception.

    The Fourteenth Prince falling in battle was an important matter. Even the generals were shaken, so it was sure to cause big waves in the army below if they were to find out.

    An aide moved closer and asked, ¡°Duke Wei, is something up with that Eunuch Duan?¡±

    Duke Wei said with a gloomy expression, ¡°Regardless of that, everyone can forget about taking Mortal Emperor from my hands as long as I¡¯m alive.¡±

    ¡°Duke, what do we do now? Shall we retreat?¡±

    All generals looked at Duke Wei, waiting for his order.

    The duke nced at the fighting airships up front before saying with a frosty intent on his face, ¡°All troops forward! We will fight our way to Whitetown and leave those dark races without a corpse!¡±

 Chapter 1165: Sanguine Funeral

    <h4>Chapter 1165: Sanguine Funeral</h4>

    The Evernight Council, round-table meeting.

    There were only a total of thirty chairs in a hall hundreds of meters in length, width, and height. Yet, no one felt that there was too much space. The seats weren¡¯t even full, but the shing momentum of powerhouses filled the entire hall, almost as though it would break through the roof.

    A cloud of dark mist rose up on the bronze throne and condensed into the unchanging ck hood and robes of the chairman.

    He looked at everyone in greeting, lingering slightly longer on the vampire side of the table. Thetter race had an unusually high attendance rate today, filling all three of their designated seats. There was also a familiar face among them that people hadn¡¯t seen in almost a hundred years.

    The chairman extended an extra greeting, ¡°Hello dear Reynold, it¡¯s rare to see old friends these days.¡±

    The chairman¡¯s position for this millennium was filled by a demonkin. Most demonkin and vampires would choose to go into prolonged istion or hibernation in their middle-ages to slow down their decline and preserve strength. Yet this world had never been a peaceful one¡ªthey just might wake up one day to see the obituary of a familiar person.

    Reynold nodded in response. ¡°I¡¯ll be going back after meeting some old friends.¡±

    The chairman was a bit surprised. ¡°I thought you¡¯d want to see the new world.¡±

    Reynold revealed a faintly discernible smile but didn¡¯t give any reply.

    Understanding the meaning, the chairman stopped asking questions and went on to host the meeting. However, his shifting gazended briefly on Reynold¡¯s right fingertip. There was no visible wound there, but a drop of blood would appear at regr intervals and vanish into thin air.

    Reynold¡¯s expression was gentle and calm, almost as though he hadn¡¯t noticed the chairman¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t even try to hide the abnormality on his fingertips.

    The meeting thus began.

    The chairman didn¡¯t waste words before throwing out an important piece of news. ¡°Longevity Monarch of the Great Qin Empire has passed. This news has been verified. The Empire issued a formal internal announcementst night.¡±

    The Arachne Grand Overseer Shaska sneered, his shiny white fangs emitting a metallic glow. ¡°Good, so this is the great change Master Melia spoke of. Perhaps we can begin the Sanguine Funeral now?¡±

    The old arachne was even older than the Empire itself. He had been appearing less and less in the council as ofte, handing most of the administration to the younger Noxus. Many people were secretly guessing that he was in his waning years, but at the very least, it would seem his bloodthirst hadn¡¯t declined.

    Amiro, on the other hand, had some doubts. ¡°Where do we focus the attack? The Qin Continent?¡±

    The ¡°Sanguine Funeral¡± could be considered a tradition that had formed over a millennium.

    Apart from some border skirmishes, the Evernight Council had neverunched an organizedrge-scale invasion of the Empire¡¯s four established continents. The two factions would fight over resources in new territory, which served to use up cannon fodder and train new soldiers, but there was little benefit in fighting an overly fierce war on the Empire¡¯s maind.

    There was an exception, however, and that was the fall of a human heavenly monarch. The Great Qin Empire possessed four to five heavenly monarchs at its peak, each overseeing a continent. Whenever one of them fell, the Evernight Council would organize an attack force to assault the continent under his watch. This was called a Sanguine Funeral. On one hand, it was to probe the strength of the seeding heavenly monarch, while on the other, it was to catch a glimpse into the changes in power-structure within the Empire.

    If the new heavenly monarch wasn¡¯t strong enough or the continent¡¯s defensive strength was insufficient, the council would immediately escte the probe into a real national war. Even if there weren¡¯t any openings on that particr continent, there might be other warzones and powers affected by the state of affairs. Perhaps there might be some opportunities to take advantage of.

    Months prior, the Evernight Master Prophet had sensed a great change in the Imperial pce, following his discovery of the new world. However, the myriad threads of fate were so intertwined that there was no way to figure out the exact happening. With the new world about to open and the holy war on hold, any change in the human race¡¯s power structure was an unstable variable that couldn¡¯t be ignored.

    The Evernight Council had made ample preparations, and none of the major races had been idle behind the scenes. Yet, the Sanguine Funeral was a national-level war, and the Longevity Monarch¡¯s continent was the nucleus of the Great Qin Empire. That ce was even more difficult to assault than a void fortress.

    Medanzo raised a third concern. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re still fighting a war with the Empire, and the scale of forces deployed there equals half a national war. ording to thetest information, the situation there isn¡¯t too good.¡±

    The chairman looked at everyone at the table. Seeing that there were no more new questions, he said, ¡°The council reported this matter to the three supremes immediately after Master Melia¡¯s prophecy. Lords Kane and Rosnia replied very quickly.¡± He paused a bit at this point, allowing the great monarchs and princes present to digest the meaning within.

    As expected, the powerhouses began to stir. Everyone knew that the Queen of the Night was in deep slumber. The Demon King and the Spider Queen were awake but also in isted cultivation. The new world was, no doubt, their primary target, but receiving a reply about the change in the Great Qin Empire¡¯s fate trajectory showed just how important they considered this to be.

    The chairman said, ¡°The supremes possess much greater wisdom than ourselves. Since both of them are paying attention to the Empire without prior consultation, there are sure to be important things there that will affect us. The council has thus decided to dispatch all five-star sword-bearers from ck Sun to watch the void outside of the four continents. They¡¯vepleted a full mobilization.¡±

    ¡°ck Sun¡± was moving out in full force! This was shocking news!

    ¡°ck Sun¡± was a unit under the council¡¯s directmand. Even an insignificant officer, a one-star sword-bearer, was a viscount in rank. A third of all the geniuses from every race had served in the unit at one point. Eden of the Dark Abyss had obtained a five-star ranking when he joined the force as a count. From this, one could see just how strong ck Sun was.

    The powerhouses weren¡¯t as surprised as before because everyone understood that a war-n had already been drafted. Perhaps it had even been approved by the Demon King and Spider Queen.

    The chairman said, ¡°The Great Qin has no vacant heavenly monarch seat. In terms of fighting power, the newly ascended Zhang Boqian is more than enough to make up for the gap. The Longevity Monarch¡¯s continent is the Great Qin¡¯s capital. ording to human tradition, they would usually perform a ceremony for the changing of heavenly monarchs, but they haven¡¯t done that from what we know.¡±

    Medanzo interrupted the speech, ¡°Regarding the Great Qin Imperial Capital and the continent¡¯s defense system, if there¡¯s someone in the Imperial family close to the Longevity Monarch in strength and capable ofpletely activating the defense mechanisms, they might not need a heavenly monarch to guard the continent for the time being.¡±

    The powerhouses went silent. The difference between four and five heavenly monarchs was significant. This was even more evident with the addition of the highly mobile Zhang Boqian.

    The chairman nodded, saying, ¡°Correct. ording to our new analysis, the disruptions inside the Great Qin Empire aren¡¯t very big.¡± There was a clear pause as he fell into deep thought, then he added, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just the visible disruptions that aren¡¯t big. Our benefits aren¡¯t that great, either."

    ¡°Hence, my suggestion is that the Sanguine Funeral this time should be purely investigative in nature. As for the void continent, let¡¯s fight a bloody war with the Empire before the new world opens. The council will provide all of the fighting power that we¡¯ve already mobilized at the moment. The candidates from each n joining the factional war should be on standby at all times. We shall set out once the assembly isplete. Finally, the old rules still apply. The oue and aplishments from this battle will decide the first batch for the new world.¡±

    Shaska said, ¡°Seconded.¡±

    Amiro said with a frown, ¡°We¡¯ve already invested deeply into the void continent. I remember the void fleets are all led by duke-grade gships, are we nning to fight a high-tier war?¡±

    The chairman shook his head. ¡°No, not a high-tier war. After all, the new world is about to begin and the racial wars have just stopped. I¡¯m sure everyone has things to handle. As for the void continent, the increase in level of troop strength was the individual race¡¯s decision. The council didn¡¯t impose any requirements back then, but facts have proven that our choice was wise. The Empire sent more divine champions than we had expected.¡±

    Amiro was a bit puzzled at first, but he came to after ncing at Shaska and Medanzo, snorting heavily as he did so. The great dark monarchs weren¡¯t affected, but the three princes at the edges of the table felt a bit ufortable.

    Reynold lightly tapped the table a couple of times with his fingers. Amiro shot him a nce, then retracted his suppressive might.

    Although he was a bit hesitant, Amiro finally said, ¡°Seconded.¡±

    The demonkin at the table consisted of a grand warlock and a demonkin prince representing the Eternal me. The two naturally had no objections.

    Medanzo asked in a serious tone, ¡°Who will be in charge of the Sanguine Funeral?¡±

    The chairman said slowly, ¡°The Supremes Kane and Rosnia are keeping an eye on the ce. Naturally... someone will be in charge.¡±

    Medanzo went silent, his face so gloomy that it looked like water would drip down from it. He then uttered the words ¡°seconded¡± through his teeth.

    Only two vampire great monarchs were here. Reynold simply said, ¡°Seconded.¡±

    ¡°Finally, although we¡¯re not escting the war on the void continent, we need a prince to head over there andmand the entire operation,¡± the chairman said helplessly. ¡°There are too many Imperial n members there, a lot of our dukes are there as well.¡±

    The number of powerful active princes in each race was as small as that of the great dark monarchs. Many of them were upied with racial and administrative duties. They really didn¡¯t want to send one into the field if it weren¡¯t for their awkward investment in this war. The prince¡¯s safety wasn¡¯t anything to worry about since the human heavenly monarchs were too busy with their own business.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes fell upon the vampire race. ording to convention, since the demonkin and arachne were leading the assault on the maind, it would fall upon the vampires and werewolves to hold the fort on the void continent.

    It was just that the werewolves had no one they could offer to fill this special rank. Moreover, they were already stretched quite thin with the war on the void continent and probably wouldn¡¯t fight the vampires formand rights. As expected, Amiro didn¡¯t say anything.

    The chairman said, ¡°I heard Howard the Dark Gospel has been in actiontely?¡±

    Medanzo looked up. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything about that. Since the matter is urgent, maybe we shouldn¡¯t be trying to prove rumors. I think Habsburg is a good choice.¡±

    The chairman wasn¡¯t angry, either. ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as you¡¯ve picked a candidate. Just make your own selection.¡±

    Habsburg didn¡¯t join the conversation or even speak. Soon, the atmosphere became rather tense.

 Chapter 1166: The Stars Will Fade Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1166: The Stars Will Fade Part 1</h4>

    Reynold finally broke the silence. He said to the chairman with a nod, ¡°The war on the void continent doesn¡¯t look good. It seems we¡¯re ready to abandon it?¡±

    The chairman smiled faintly but didn¡¯t reply, only gesturing for Reynold to continue.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re nning to go from a resource-battle to a bloody battle, the calction of aplishments should also be adjusted ordingly. Princes should only oversee the bloody battle and not be responsible for the oue.¡±

    The chairman said, ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± He gave it some thought before saying, ¡°People like Princess Haimi used to be Holy Son Edward¡¯s opponent in the past bloody battles, but human experts mature much faster than us. Maybe we should differentiate a bit?¡±

    Reynold replied indifferently, ¡°Bloody battles are a tradition we maintain to train our youngsters. We¡¯ve already set up a perimeter, are we going to pick weak opponents for them as well?¡±

    The chairmanughed. ¡°You¡¯re right, I was overthinking it. I ept your viewpoint.¡±

    Shaska and Amiro nodded toward Reynold, indicating that they agreed to his suggestion.

    Reynold turned to Medanzo and Habsburg, opening a blood-colored domain with a tap of his finger.

    The other powerhouses looked away tactfully, allowing the vampires to discuss the matter amongst themselves.

    Reynold said, ¡°Habsburg will keep all of his spoils from the battle, and the other participating ns must each fork out ten percent for him. He may also request an extra reward of his liking.¡±

    Medanzo said coldly, ¡°It¡¯s just a bloody battle, and you¡¯ve already made sure he¡¯s just there as an overseer...¡±

    Reynold said decisively, ¡°If you don¡¯t want Howard to get the benefits, just give them to Habsburg.¡± He turned to thetter and said, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Habsburg remained silent for a good while. He then looked at Medanzo, saying, ¡°Roman of the Federran n, I want his blood power.¡± Asking for a vampire¡¯s blood power was no different from taking his life.

    Medanzo was furious. ¡°Habsburg, he¡¯s a grand duke! You were the same just two years ago!¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s sapphire eyes were so cold that they looked almost lifeless. ¡°You can make a puppet like this anytime if you spend some effort.¡±

    Reynold raised his brows ever so slightly. He didn¡¯t have any impression of this Federran n; perhaps it was a vassal n of the Drac family. For ns of this nature, even the n lord would be a vice-duke at best. If they had produced a grand duke, Reynold¡¯s descendants would have reported this as an important case. Their n¡¯s status would rise meteorically and enter the sights of the great dark monarchs.

    One had to know that even for the twelve major vampire ns, their elders and n lords would stop at the grand-duke stage if their crest in the River of Blood remained dim and no one could light it up.

    The Federrans had produced a grand duke yet kept it a secret. The most likely reason was that they had a bloodline problem; for instance, the person in question could no longer be considered a descendant of the Federran n. It could also be some other disease that couldn¡¯t be confirmed by their n¡¯s blood pond.

    Besides, producing a grand duke wasn¡¯t as easy as Habsburg made it out to be. Ignoring the vast amounts of resources involved, only the blood ponds from the twelve major vampire ns possessed this capability.

    Reynold realized that there were unspoken assertions in this conversation. ¡°Habsburg, reason?¡±

    No matter how that grand duke reached his current position, he was already a grand duke. Even a great dark monarch would need a valid reason in order to punish him.

    Habsburg said coldly, ¡°I was injured while fighting Prince Greensun. The best way to treat my condition is to absorb blood power.¡±

    This reason wasn¡¯t fit for public ears, nor could they do it openly, but the two great monarchs could understand the concept. Throughout the long years, they themselves had done such things before in perilous situations.

    ¡°As for why I picked Roman? I¡¯m not really interested in his under-the-table deals with the humans and demonkin, but every time he tracks my movements, I fall into dangerous situations. That makes me very unhappy. Last time, Roman went to ming Beacon Continent, and there, I almost fell into Li Xitang¡¯s trap.

    ¡°Recently, he went to the Imperial Capital, and Zhang Boqian charged at me immediately. And that was in the presence of their excellencies Medanzo, us, and Noxus.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression turned odd. He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something but didn¡¯t know how to put it.

    Habsburg¡¯s exnation contained a lot of holes if one were to argue, but great monarchs didn¡¯t really need a perfect logic to make their decisions. It was the same for Reynold.

    He nodded, saying, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll send someone to notify Roman to report to you.¡±

    Medanzo seemed to have given up on dissuasion. He said in a sinister tone, ¡°Habsburg, you better make it clean. Things will blow up if he escapes.¡±

    Habsburg smiled at Medanzo. ¡°I understand.¡± Yet his cold eyes contained not a single hint of a smile.

    Reynold said at this point, ¡°I¡¯ll be going back into deep slumber after the bloody battle.¡±

    The other two said nothing further.

    With an agreement reached, the council meeting came to an end.

    The chairman and the various powerhouses left the scene, leaving only Medanzo and Reynold.

    Medanzo said angrily, ¡°Dear Reynold, you spoil the children too much.¡±

    Reynold¡¯s gentle expression turned cold and harsh. ¡°Medanzo, old friend, I think it¡¯s Lilith¡¯s idea to grant Young Habsburg the same authority as you and I.¡±

    Medanzo straightened his back. He seemed like he was about to leave with a swing of his sleeve but ultimately decided not to move. ¡°You¡¯re quite generous, aren¡¯t you? This kid might be Nighteye¡¯s rival in the future.¡±

    Reynold sighed with a softening expression. ¡°Dear old friend, we have fewer and fewer opportunities to sit down and talk to our heart¡¯s content. So, I still have to say it even if you¡¯re unhappy. You¡¯ve always disapproved of Habsburg, haven¡¯t you? Why else have you neglected to investigate his true age?¡±

    Medanzo was startled.

    Reynold continued, ¡°The information my descendants gave me says he¡¯ll enter his middle-age in twenty or so years, but don¡¯t you think there¡¯s something wrong there? Habsburg should be fairly simr to Edward of the Perth n.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s face turned pale all of a sudden. A bloody smell drifted up to his throat as his old injury was agitated.

    He recalled that Lilith had seen Habsburg before. There was no reason the Queen of the Night wouldn¡¯t notice something Reynold could, yet she didn¡¯t mention anything.

    Medanzo said, ¡°Are you trying to imply that he¡¯s the awakened consciousness of a certain expert?¡±

    Reynold shook his head. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem to be the case, either. Sigh, too many of our race¡¯s inheritances have been lost in the Sacred River. Haven¡¯t we lost a good part of our memories as well? But old friend, there are two things you probably still remember.

    ¡°First, the family seal in the River of Blood isn¡¯t limited by the primogenitor¡¯s strength. Besides, the ming Crown is the darkest of mes, it¡¯s definitely not weak. Back in the year, Samael remained at the prince rank for so long because he wasn¡¯t willing to devour his own brother.

    ¡°In addition, even if the entire race doesn¡¯t, we as the second-generation primogenitors must remember that the rankings in the River of Blood aren¡¯t permanent. Speaking of which, my n¡¯s ranking is tenth, but when was thestpetition for these rankings? Was it a thousand years ago, or two thousand? Back then, Andruil was still an impetuous little boy!¡± Reynold stood upughing at this point, but Medanzo was in no mood for that. His face remained stiff and gloomy.

    Reynold patted Medanzo¡¯s back, saying, ¡°My dear old friend, it¡¯s not embarrassing to revere strength. Habsburg and Edward aren¡¯t too different in age. That means they have a hundred active years before them.¡±

    These final words were the key. Medanzo seemed convinced as he vanished from the table with Reynold.

    Habsburg walked out of the hall and climbed down the ny-nine steps of the building.

    He reached out to grab his chest as soon as he arrived on t ground. The blood amber was one of the hardest things in the world and where the essence of a vampire princey. A fine crack had appeared in the amber just now, then healed in the blink of an eye. It was as though nothing had happened, and it didn¡¯t even hurt him.

    However, Habsburg knew that the origin blood he had split off far away had once again collided with heaven¡¯s mystery, or as it was better known in the Evernight world, fate.

    He simply couldn¡¯t understand it. ¡°Lin, why would someone like you, who can see fate itself, look down upon it.¡±

    Imperial Capital.

    At noon on the fifth day after Zhang Boqian¡¯s return to the capital, Lin Xitang was finally able to move again. It was after the inner attendants had taken away the meal table and the time to see the Imperial doctor hadn¡¯t arrived yet. The entire Divination Pavilion was drowned in silence.

    Lin Xitang stood up from his recliner and stretched his limbs. Although the Imperial doctor would massage his muscles every day to prevent atrophy, he felt his feet weak after an entire month of inactivity.

    The marshal walked out of the pavilion and, just as the Emperor had said, met no resistance along the way. He only needed to walk another fifty meters from the foot of the mountain to leave the forbidden zone. In that direction were the residences of the divination specialists in the Empire¡¯s employ.

    At this moment, he noticed a boxed carriage with no familial colorse to a sudden stop nearby. Seemingly waiting for him, the driver of this elegant vehicle opened the door respectfully.

    Lin Xitang wasn¡¯t surprised, either. He simply walked over while asking, ¡°Where to?¡±

    The driver bent his back, saying, ¡°This lowly one was ordered to send you anywhere you want to go.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled. ¡°Prince Greensun¡¯s residence.¡± With that, he climbed into the carriage.

    The driver closed the door calmly and jumped up to his seat, almost as though he was taking an ordinary trip with his master.

    Unending Pce, Wave Hall.

    The minor assembly hosted by the Radiant Emperor was justing to an end.

    The two civil officers of the cab were writing swiftly on the side tables, organizing the key points of the meeting and turning some of the details into perfect uses. They had been handling military affairs since the series of promations yesterday. Only now did they get some time for urgent civil affairs.

    The ns and families took this opportunity to form little groups and discuss some lighthearted topics. Prince Greensun¡¯s majestic figure stood tall over the hall¡¯s rear window. It would seem his attention had been attracted by the tall cotton tree therein.

    Behind a pearl-curtain was the Radiant Emperor¡¯s desk. Currently, he was flipping through a book in idle leisure, writing down a couple of names from time to time.

    An inner attendant entered from a side-door and whispered something into the Emperor¡¯s ears. Receiving a nod from the Emperor, he led a different attendant into the room.

    That person reported in an extremely soft voice, ¡°The duke has gotten up... yes, he¡¯s doing well... he has gone to the monarch¡¯s residence.¡± The inner attendant¡¯s shrill voice wasn¡¯t clear when suppressed to a whisper. It wasn¡¯t really clear what he had said before the words, ¡°monarch¡¯s residence.¡±

 Chapter 1167: The Stars Will Fade Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1167: The Stars Will Fade Part 2</h4>

    Considering the cultivation of all those nobles and ministers at the scene, the inner attendant¡¯s voice couldn¡¯t escape their ears no matter how softly he spoke. It was just that the Emperor didn¡¯t try to hide anything, so they wouldn¡¯t go and eavesdrop for no reason.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s expression was calm andposed, almost as though he were listening to an ordinary report. It seemed he understood everything and didn¡¯t ask for a repeat no matter how vague the attendant¡¯s voice was. ¡°Are those things suitable? Did he say he wanted anything else?¡±

    The attendant¡¯s expression froze, not expecting the Emperor to be so indifferent to the contents of his report. He hade to report Lin Xitang¡¯s movements because he couldn¡¯t deliver the items to the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence. Naturally, he had no answer to this question.

    Hearing no reply, the Emperor responded with an ¡°mm?¡±

    The inner attendant was a bit distressed. He bowed even lower and said in a soft voice, ¡°I didn¡¯t deliver it... the documents inside, will it be inappropriate?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said coldly, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with my Imperial Steward reading official documents and battle reports?¡±

    The inner attendant was drenched in cold sweat. The Emperor¡¯s voice was soft and his tone was gentle, but everyone heard it when he said Imperial Steward.

    The attendant had no idea why the Emperor would open up the matter here, but he began to sweat even more after sensing that something was off. He had always believed that it was an unalterable custom that cab documents should not be brought to a heavenly monarch¡¯s residence. Who would¡¯ve thought the Emperor would ask such a question?

    In fact, most of the ministers had already guessed that it was Lin Xitang. How could the Emperor have the leisure to listen to misceneous news about any other duke while handling official business?

    It was just that the monarch¡¯s will was difficult to gauge, and people couldn¡¯t help but think about certain things when the new appointments were announced the day before.

    The title ¡°Imperial Teacher¡± made one immune to the death penalty, but at the same time, it removed Lin Xitang of all military authority. Those who took over his territory and title were people from the Zhao n.

    Back in the year, the rebels were running wild on the Western Continent, going so far as to work with the dark races to attack the Zhao. It was Lin Xitang who suppressed them, and because his other territories were all peaceful, he remained on the Western Continent for five years. There was always a bit of friction among lords regarding territorial conferments, so it was only natural that the rtionship between Lin Xitang and the Zhao n wasn¡¯t great.

    The Emperor¡¯s decision to transfer Lin Xitang¡¯s Western Continent territories to the Zhao was a topic people couldn¡¯t help but think about repeatedly. The n lords and ministers were men of great subtlety. Even when the Radiant Emperor asked that question, they kept on minding their business, either chatting or writing as though they hadn¡¯t heard anything.

    But the Emperor so indifferently followed up with his secondment: ¡°I feel that there¡¯s no ce in this Revtion City where Imperial Steward Lin cannot go. Victory Pce worries too much.¡±

    These words silenced the entire hall. The Radiant Emperor¡¯s voice was calm and gentle, but the pretense would be too obvious if they kept on pretending not to hear.

    The inner attendant fell kneeling to the ground, face pale and lips trembling. This entire time, the Radiant Emperor never deviated from his gentle and modest expression. The side-door opened quietly as some people dragged the inner attendant away. The chief steward of Wave Hall entered and stood solemnly to the Emperor¡¯s side.

    The Radiant Emperor spoke softly, ¡°Tell the Empress to manage her affairs well, don¡¯t let just anyonee before me. If they can¡¯t remember the fact that the imperial harem must not participate in politics, they can copy that line for a hundred and eighty times.¡±

    After the steward withdrew, the Radiant Emperor began flipping through the books again.

    The civil officers who had work to do buried their heads back in their documents, focusing on making their handwriting more intricate and urate.

    The nobles, on the other hand, became quite awkward as they could no longer continue chatting in a leisurely manner. The Radiant Emperor had addressed the Empress and Concubine Zhao of the Laurel Pce in session. It just so happened that people from both the Jingtang Li n and Swallowcloud Zhao n were here.

    Marquis Seagaze, Li Tianshi, had it better because the Emperor¡¯s admonishment of Empress Li was moderate and ambiguous. He could stubbornly think of it as his family being dragged into this.

    Besides, Li Tianshi was rather youngpared to all the n lords who were in their fifties. It didn¡¯t feel as embarrassing for him to be ridiculed.

    Duke Yan, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to keep hisposure. With Zhao Weihuang overseeing the Western Continent and Duke You engaged in battle on the void continent, it fell upon him to deal with things here¡ªpublic matters like the heavenly monarch¡¯s funeral and the conferment of Duke Zhao¡¯s Marshal title.

    With three dukes and one marshal, the Swallowcloud Zhao n could now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Greensun Zhang n. This was easy to say, but the limelight wasn¡¯t so easy to deal with.

    Duke Yan felt that the day before was even more tiring than fighting for an entire day. He would¡¯ve never imagined that he would run into such a case in this minor civil-affairs conference.

    The reputation this time was just too unseemly. Meddling in politics and nting men near the Emperor could be ignored for the time being. The major families wouldn¡¯t mock one another openly.

    But what was the point in getting on Lin Xitang¡¯s case? And using such a crude method no less, sending an inner attendant into a hall full of nobles and ministers to report that Lin Xitang had gone to a certain monarch¡¯s residence.

    Wait... a certain monarch¡¯s residence? Which monarch?

    This problem echoed in the mind of every noble. Since Concubine Zhao was bringing it up in such a manner, it couldn¡¯t be just any monarch. At the very least, it had to be someone that would anger the Radiant Emperor. That attendant had never dared to ¡°let slip¡± and the Emperor¡ªintentionally or otherwise¡ªhad evaded any mention of it. Now, this was an interesting development.

    What could this mean? Was the Swallowcloud Zhao n eyeing the Empress position now, or were they showing interest in the people at the scene?

    Facing these meaningful gazes, Duke Yan felt the sudden urge to demolish the homes of certain old people on the Western Continent! Back in the year, the dissatisfied Zhao n had sent a descendant into the pce as a concubine, and now, it wasparable to smashing one¡¯s foot with a stone.

    Thatdy from the Zhao n was the daughter of a small branch from Duke You¡¯s lineage. Someone like that simply couldn¡¯t outshine the other nobledies who had been raised in great refinement. It also happened that this girl trusted a number of elders from the n, and this wasn¡¯t the first time she had tried to cause trouble for Lin Xitang on their advice.

    It was fine in the past¡ªmany from the aristocracy were dissatisfied with Lin Xitang because he held both civil and military power, and liked to promote people of humble origins. Currently, however, Duke Yan wanted to ask those old fogeys who the heck Lin Xitang had provoked for them to attempt this.

    Besides, it had been proven that the Emperor had been misleading everyone. He wasn¡¯t easy to deal with at all! The Emperor had never bickered with the Imperial harem in the past, but now, he didn¡¯t need to be wary anymore. Regarding whether the Emperor would allow Lin Xitang to hold great authority, it was evident from the title ¡°Imperial Teacher¡± that he was very willing to support him.

    Duke Yan felt extremely regretful that he hadn¡¯t fully supported Duke You back then, allowing the elders in the n to arrange the matters regarding the Imperial harem. There was no real need to send someone into the pce just to upy a position there.

    The Zhao n had enjoyed a thousand years of glory, built upon the bravery and sacrifice of its descendants. Marital rtionships with the Imperial family were akin to gilding the lily, not the foundation of the n!

    Duke Yan sat as straight as a pine tree, with both hands on his knees. There was nowhere to vent the anger in his chest.

    Zhang Boqian, who had his back toward everyone all this time, turned about and said, ¡°I object to the Hignd Song n¡¯s no-demotion proposal regarding hereditary titles. Any constant hereditary title is dependent on many factors, like individual strength and personal as well as familial aplishments, let alone a duke position. If you just want to ensure that the young generation can preserve your family name, they can be re-promoted afterward ording to their contributions.¡±

    After throwing out this heavy cannonball, Zhang Boqian nodded at the Emperor in greeting and left the hall.

    This case was being discussed just now with no decided oue, and Zhang Boqian hadn¡¯t expressed his opinion back then. The conflict between Zhang and Song had been going on for many years, so the family heads didn¡¯t find it strange. But they thought that the proposal had a good chance of passing.

    That was because the current Song n¡¯s territories had been split up from their core regions, and their guarantor, Prince Rui, had enjoyed good standing all along. This so-called no-demotion was only tost for one generation, so all the other families were happy to do him a favor. Additionally, the nobility felt a bit sorry to see a major n copse just like that. Who would¡¯ve thought Zhang Boqian would break his prolonged silence during this awkward moment, then leave after saying his mind?

    All these n lords were old foxes who knew quite a lot. Some of them immediately turned to look at Duke Yan. Now that they thought of it, Prince Rui¡¯s maternal family was from the Swallowcloud Zhao n, and there were certain branches in the Song who were trying fairly hard to pander to the Zhao.

    Was Prince Greensun just bashing the Song n while they were down? Or was the Zhang n finally going to contest the Zhao n for the first ce?

    Behind the pearl curtains, the Emperor suddenly looked up and said, ¡°Since Monarch Zhang has already expressed his opinion, all ministers should proceed to vote on the subject! After all, this is the first time such a matter has been brought up regarding the nobility. It isn¡¯t appropriate for the Imperial n to make the decision.¡±

    The n lords froze up for a moment. Even the most astute schemers couldn¡¯t help but find their thoughts evident on their faces. They had never once hoped so badly that His Majesty would just make the decision like a dictator.

    Zhang Boqian paid no heed to what was happening in the Wave Hall. Momentster, he arrived back at the entrance of his residence, but his steps slowed down after entering the door and finally came to a stop in the small za in front of the second hall. He stood there for a good while.

    He was there for so long that the shadow at his feet had clearly changed its angle, so long that the steward¡¯s figure could be seen rushing past the corridor to prepare dinner.

    Only then did Zhang Boqiane to and called out to the steward. Thetter bowed respectfully and said, ¡°The Lord Duke arrived in the afternoon and has been resting in the small study in the rear building.¡±

    Zhang Boqian nodded and made to walk away.

    The steward asked at this point, ¡°Prince, shall I prepare dinner for the two of you in the side hall?¡±

    Zhang Boqian halted for a while before saying, ¡°No need, he has other business at night.¡± With that, he took a step forward and vanished amidst the buildings.

    Zhang Boqian pushed open the carved door of the small study, and as expected, there was no one inside.

    That man¡¯s aura wasn¡¯t here. In fact, Zhang Boqian hadn¡¯t sensed his aura since he stepped into the residence. Even if he could use his powerful heavenly monarch¡¯s perception to scan the entire street block, city, or even the wilderness further out, what was the use?

    There was an open scroll on the table, and the used pen hadn¡¯t been washed yet, only propped on the pen stand. The western window was half-open, through which the lush cotton tree outside had pushed one flowering branch into the room.

    Zhang Boqian walked over to the table and saw a familiar handwriting enter his eyes.

    ¡°Unworthy am I, the celebrations have ended, yet we cannot view the cherry-apples together.¡±

    The scroll was pressed down by an oblong piece of jade¡ªits material was simple, and its color was light and pale, almost slightly yellow. A caress over the surface proved that the jade wasn¡¯t a single piece and likely a box that could be opened from the middle. It was actually a ¡°Feather of Fortunate Omens.¡±

    Zhang Boqian had asked Li Xitang for one of these, but it was destroyed soon afterward. Who would¡¯ve thought Lin Xitang would leave him another one?

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was calm as he picked up the box. He fiddled around with it for a while before breaking out into a chuckle, ¡°This thing you left me, is it your fate or mine?¡±

 Chapter 1168: Attack! Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 1168: Attack! Attack!</h4>

    The dark clouds above Whitetown filled everyone with despair.

    Everyone in the city wore serious expressions. Those who could still walk struggled to their posts, gripping whatever weapon they had tightly.

    The ground trembled slightly as a strange buzz filled the air. Over the not-so-distant horizon, one Evernight transport after the other pierced through the clouds, dropping a dense array of soldiers and gear onto the front lines.

    The Evernight army outside of Whitetown already held the absolute advantage in terms of military power. Doer had an army of forty thousand under hismand, while Whitetown was being defended by a couple thousand men, including Zhao Jundu¡¯s soldiers. The only advantage they held was the abundance of resources because of their control on the battlefield.

    But now, there seemed to be no end to the Evernight transports. Upon careful calction, the soldiers might number in the tens of thousands and their ammunition supply was almost uncountable.

    Currently, the Evernight side held the absolute advantage in numbers. In terms of experts, Doer alone was difficult enough to deal with. A reinforcement fleet of this scale would surely be led by an expert of corresponding strength, a vice-duke at the very least.

    At the highest point in the city, Song Zining and Qianye were standing side-by-side, with Zhao Jundu in a different corner. All of them were gazing at the descending airships with fairly calm expressions.

    ¡°Howe there are so many transports? How is the Martyr¡¯s Pce faring?¡± Song Zining seemed a bit worried.

    Qianye remained with his eyes closed for a good while. ¡°It¡¯s fighting.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Can you sense who the enemy is?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face turned slightly pale. Apparently, the long-distancemunication ced quite a bit of strain on him. Momentster, he opened his eyes and said, ¡°It¡¯s an Evernight fleet, and a fairly powerful one at that. The Martyr¡¯s Pce can hold its own, but it¡¯ll be difficult to eliminate the enemy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been tangled up. That means the enemy is led by a grand-duke at the very least. It looks like Evernight understands you quite a bit!¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce would perform very differently depending on whether or not Qianye was on board. Thetter could utilize some of the Earth Dragon¡¯s power, but without him, the crew could only use it as a powerful warship. That terrifying strength rivaling the Emperor¡¯s gship couldn¡¯t be brought out.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce could destroy two grand-duke warships in battle with Qianye on board, but without him, a single grand-duke could keep it in check. Fortunately, Caroline was aboard the vessel, so there was no need to fear enemy experts trying to take over the airship by force.

    While keeping the Martyr¡¯s Pce bogged down, the Evernight side braved grave losses to send arge number of warships and transports down to the void continent. This proved how intent they were on taking back Whitetown.

    Song Zining understood this fact. After a momentary daze, he said with a wryugh, ¡°I really don¡¯t understand it. Are the Evernight forces on the void continent that important? Why would they pay such a steep price?¡±

    There was a pattern to the war between the Evernight faction and the Empire. Once the situation was dire or their losses exceeded a certain degree, the dark races would normally abandon their cannon fodder and pull back their elite experts. These long-lived species were usually unwilling to trade losses with short-lived humans.

    However, their current strategy was the exact opposite¡ªinvesting more and more soldiers into taking back a retreat point. These reinforcements were sufficient for them to contend with the Imperial army for a different strategic location.

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°If you have questions, we can discuss that after we survive this. Then, we¡¯ll have more time to ponder on it.¡±

    Song Zining scoffed. ¡°How rare to hear something like that from you. What, does the situation look bleak to you as well?¡±

    ¡°Those who shoulde have not arrived, yet those who shouldn¡¯t have are here. Anyone would feel that things are bad. Be practical and start assigning defensive zones, get ready to fight with your lives on the line.¡±

    Both Qianye and Song Zining nodded.

    There was another possibility that all three of them had thought of, but none of them brought it up. If the dark races¡¯ increase in troop strength wasn¡¯t just here at Whitetown, it would mean that they were nning an all-out counterattack involving the entire continent.

    The trio separated the city into three mutually supporting warzones, one for each person. The presence of an overseeing expert made a significant difference in a defensive fight.

    By the time they hadpleted assigning warzones, the Evernight army had alsopleted their encirclement on three sides, leaving only the path toward the edge of the continent. Everyone knew that heading in that direction meant sure death, so there was no meaning guarding it.

    The rumble of heavy cannons drew the curtains on the dark race army¡¯s assault. A hail of bullets smashed into Whitetown like rain, ravaging the rubble of a city. The defense army¡¯s counter cannon fire was highly scattered and almost negligible. All soldiers were hiding behind cover, waiting for the barrage to end and the enemy charge to begin.

    Almost as though they were venting their anger, the dark races continued firing for an entire fifteen minutes before stopping.

    This kind of cannon fire held little meaning because the city no longer had any clear defensive line. Every rubble, every street intersection could turn into a defensive line for exchanging fire.

    The barrage had just ended when countless dark race warriors charged the city at shocking speed. They forwent all forms of probing strategies and went straight for an all-out assault. This went to show just how desperate and determined the enemy was.

    The silent Whitetown came back to life. Gunfire emerged from behind half-standing walls, stone pirs, and from within ruined buildings. Origin bullets were being fired as though ammunition didn¡¯t cost anything, and physical bullets flew about like torrential rain. Many of the origin bullets were suffused with the sable glow of darkness origin power.

    The mercenaries of the neutralnds didn¡¯t care about Daybreak or Evernight. Just like on the Evernight continent, there were a lot of them who cultivated darkness origin power as well. They would pick up the weapons and ammunition left behind by the fallen dark race attackers and fire everything back at them.

    The first row of dark race soldiers copsed neatly like reaped wheat. Those behind them stepped over the corpses of theirrades as they continued the charge toward Whitetown.

    With the dark race¡¯s speed, a thousand meters took only moments to traverse. They paid with their lives to cover this ground swiftly and enter Whitetown. However, they quickly realized that the true nightmare was within the city. Mercenaries and Zhao n warriors would appear from every ce and direction, vanishing quickly after a round of raking fire. In the blink of an eye, the enemy soldiers who had entered the city suffered grave injuries.

    This was actually the right time for the experts to do their job, but the stronger dark race warriors were also falling in droves as one powerful bullet after the other punched through their armor. The daybreak origin power in the projectiles burned their flesh and innards like a stream of fire. Titled enemy experts fell constantly, ultimately stirring rm in the hearts of the soldiers. They started to fall into confusion. Their attacks were no longer as resolute, and hesitation on these city streets meant only one thing¡ªdeath. As such, the dark race casualties began to rise amidst their predicament.

    The soldiers Zhao Jundu had brought to Whitetown were true elites, with arge number of well-trained snipers among them. The Zhao n had invested deeply in these sharpshooters, so Dark me¡¯s self-taught snipers couldn¡¯tpare to them at all. Their only objective was to take out high-ranking enemy officers and experts.

    On a distant warship, a vampire marquis finally couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. ¡°Sire, the casualties are too great. Our morale will copse at this rate!¡±

    ¡°Continue the attack!¡± Doer¡¯s voice was calm.

    ¡°Lord Doer!¡± The vampire marquis raised his voice.

    ¡°Continue the attack.¡±

    Under Doer¡¯s strict orders, the unresigned vampire marquis could do nothing but retreat. Before leaving, he red at the werewolf duke provocatively.

    The vampires and werewolves had always been at loggerheads with one another. Since the werewolves lost their supreme, the vampire race had been suppressing the wolves on every front. Hence, even though there was a rank difference between them, this vampire marquis didn¡¯t really hold much respect for Doer.

    The werewolf experts behind Doer looked furious, and some of the bad-tempered ones even started to act up. However, Doer calmed them down with a wave of his hand and said, ¡°I can repeat my order once but never twice. Anyone who still can¡¯t hear me clearly will be punished ording to militaryws. As for what happens afterward, that can be discussed at the meeting.¡±

    All the vampire experts wore serious expressions as they turned to a vampire elder at the center of their formation. The man was so old that his eyes were barely open, and his face was full of wrinkles. Even so, his aura was only slightly weaker than Doer, clearly a vice-duke.

    His murky eyes nced at Doer. ¡°Lord Doer is themander here, so he has the final say in this. Are you all tired of living? How dare you question the council¡¯s decision!¡±

    Doer ignored the sarcasm in the old man¡¯s voice. ¡°Thank you, Lord Digger. Now that we have no more objections, issue my order and continue the assault!¡±

    Lord Digger¡¯s eyes twitched, but he said nothing.

    Momentster, a bugle cry carrying a special frequency spread out on the battlefield. This frequency awoke the ferocity ingrained deep within the dark race soldiers. The werewolves went berserk, and many vampires saw their eyes turn red in blood fury as they charged into Whitetown at almost equal speeds.

    The dark race army shed with the mercenaries again as they entered the city. This time, they were no longer apprehensive after being agitated by the secret art. Even the wounded would drag their opponents down with them.

    In the blink of an eye, the outer defensive line of Whitetown had almost copsed entirely. The enemy had also paid a steep price with their corpses lining the entire defensive line.

    The curtains had just been raised on the siege when the dark races had lost over ten thousand elites. The loss of high-ranking officers and experts was even more shocking. Themander, no matter who it was, should be greatly rmed at the sight of this.

    Doer, on the other hand, ignored the ground full of corpses and kept issuing one order after the other. All of them were: Attack!

 Chapter 1169: Reinforcements

    <h4>Chapter 1169: Reinforcements</h4>

    The dark races¡¯ frenzied attack ced great pressure upon the defending army, evidenced by the rising death toll. Many would be corpses immediately after exiting cover.

    Wave after wave of dark race soldiers crashed into the defensive lines like the tides, slowly pushing it toward the city center.

    Half of Whitetown had been lost in less than half a day, and there was no sign of the dark race attacks stopping.

    From the deck of his warship, Doer¡¯s sharp gaze pierced through the smoke and mist tond on the battlefield. All of a sudden, the auras of all dark race soldiers in a certain area vanished into thin air!

    Doer¡¯s face twitched briefly, the first time he was visibly moved since the battle began. His gazended on that area and saw hundreds of werewolf and vampire elites freeze in ce, as though they had been cursed, and then copse one after the other.

    With his keen eyesight, Doer naturally realized that the warriors had lost their vitality in an instant. That was why they froze up before copsing.

    What kind of power could instantly kill so many elites?

    A certain figure appeared amidst the fallen soldiers. As though sensing Doer¡¯s gaze, the man suddenly looked up to meet it.

    Within moments, all Doer could see was a pair of bottomless pupils!

    As a powerful expert, Doer calmed himself down and the visual phenomenon quickly disappeared. When he looked toward the battlefield again, that person was already gone. The werewolf duke said with a light sigh, ¡°That must be Qianye.¡±

    There was nock of experts near him. Another person who had witnessed the scene replied, ¡°That¡¯s him.¡±

    Doer let out a scoff, but no one could tell whether it was born of joy or distress. He turned back and asked, ¡°What are your chances of defeating him if you meet him in battle?¡±

    The werewolves exchanged nces, not knowing how to reply. One of the more violent ones cried out, ¡°Are we not going to fight just because we¡¯re not sure about defeating him? Sire, send me into the field. I¡¯ll fight it out with him!¡±

    Doer looked at him in the eye while shaking his head. ¡°What¡¯s the point? Throwing your life away? Even if that¡¯s what you want, it¡¯s not time yet. Wait a while, and you¡¯ll have a chance to fight with your lives on the line.¡±

    The werewolf¡¯s face turned red, but he didn¡¯t dare retort. Keeping it in made him evidently ufortable.

    He was already a virtuous count and a member of the upper echelons among the werewolves. Qianye¡¯s cultivation rank wasn¡¯t high, but his fighting power was abnormally high. He himself knew that defeat woulde swiftly if Qianye were to fight him in earnest.

    At this moment, all powerful vampire and werewolf experts saw their expressions change. Everyone, including Doer, turned toward Whitetown to observe the battlefield.

    They had sensed the auras of titled experts in the city disappearing at an rming rate. This proved that a true expert had taken action and was starting to reap the core strength of the dark race army.

    Digger¡¯s expression was unsightly. He snorted heavily, saying, ¡°Insolence!¡±

    This battle was mainly led by the werewolves and vampires, so many of the experts in the field were from Digger and Doer¡¯s ns. Suffering grave casualties would affect their ns¡¯ standing in the Evernight world. That was why Digger was so angry. Doer¡¯s expression shifted several times, but in the end, he held back from acting up. ¡°Send all of our reserve forces in!¡±

    Digger could no longer hold back. ¡°Are you just giving them free contributions?¡±

    Doer said without looking back, ¡°Then feel free to join the battle, Sire Digger.¡±

    The vampire turned livid, but after a while, he said through clenched teeth, ¡°Then we shall do as you say!¡± With that, he roared at the vampire experts behind him, ¡°What are you looking at? Everything will be settled at the council!¡±

    Doer knew Digger would stir up trouble for him at the Evernight Council, but his expression remained calm as he urged the attack on.

    At this point, Whitetown was covered in smoke and gravel. There was fighting going on everywhere, and one could hardly tell which was the front and rear lines anymore. To the Evernight experts, this was the beginning of their nightmare. Qianye, Zhao Jundu, and Song Zining had entered the field, and these three were like grim reapers.

    No ce on the battlefield was safe from this moment onward. Death could be lingering around everyone at any time.

    The core titled experts of the dark race army had no strength to retaliate against the three. They would be killed immediately on sight. Normally when these experts take to the field to lead troops, true experts from the army or at least a vice-duke like Digger should have joined them. Yet the top experts of Evernight were now standing on the gship, showing no sign that they would take action.

    Behind Doer, a number of experts were starting to feel uneasy. They could almost sense the burning gazes of the frontline soldiers upon them. They should be stepping forward bravely at such a time, yet they remained motionless in the rear. Digger¡¯s breathing became coarse after witnessing Qianye break the neck of a descendant with great potential. To vampires with their powerful life force, such an injury wasn¡¯t enough to cause instant death. However, it was lethal all the same if help didn¡¯te in time. The descendant fell moaning to the ground, but who would help him on the battlefield?

    Doer didn¡¯t look at the battlefield, only at the sky above.

    A faint rumbling echoed through the air again as armored transport vessels broke through the clouds and made a beeline for the battlefield. These transports braved the bullets and cannon fire tond right beside Whitetown, unloading arge number of heavy-armored soldiers into the battlefield.

    Many of these transports were riddled with bullet marks. Apparently, they had faced a fierce battle in the void, yet their outstanding performance and armor allowed them to reach the battlefield and still have the strength to fly away. Although some of them exploded during thending and take-off, they were much better than the normal transports who couldn¡¯t even get near the battlefield.

    The coat of arms on the airships depicted a crossed pair of blood-stained swords. Digger fell silent for a moment, then nced at Doer withplicated emotions.

    These soldiers were under the directmand of the Evernight Council. They were actually taking the field. Did Doer have a special connection with the council or were the werewolves nning something big?

    Just as he was thinking about it, the new soldiers had charged into Whitetown!

    These troops were stronger than the first batch and their equipment was far superior to ordinary Evernight elites. They had just arrived in the field when the soldiers of Whitetown started to take greater casualties.

    Two mercenaries were firing from behind a pile of rubble when, all of a sudden, two des appeared through their chests! They looked down at their injuries, but just as they were trying to grab the des, they were flung into the air and thrown toward the intersection.

    Two heavily-armored dark race warriors walked out inrge strides. With a sword in their right hands and an origin gun in the left, they arrived before the struggling mercenaries. Just as they were about to finish off the enemy, they saw a young sword-wielding man walking toward them in calm steps.

    On the battlefield of blood and fire, this calm young man seemed as though he was walking through his backyard. He arrived before the two heavy-armored soldiers in just one step and waved his sword about just slightly before leaving again.

    The armored soldiers froze in ce. Even their thoughts stopped at that moment as theirrge bodies crashed down. Up until the moment they lost consciousness, they didn¡¯t know where they were injured or if they were even injured.

    However, they remembered that young man and recalled his name¡ªZhao Jundu.

    On a distant tower, Qianye witnessed this entire scene through his scope. He ced the crosshairs on Zhao Jundu¡¯s back for a while.

    Thetter sensed it but only waved his hand in response without looking back.

    Smiling, Qianye moved his crosshairs to a vampire knight¡¯s forehead. That vampire¡¯s head burst open the next moment, leaving the headless corpse standing and unwilling to copse. Qianye¡¯s target had long since shifted to a werewolf baron.

    In a different battlefield, Song Zining was standing on the second floor of a half-copsed building. A number of Dark me officers around him were listening to his orders, preparing to set up a new defensive line. Song Zining¡¯s armor was now covered in blood and mud. Even his hair was half-singed, and there was a gaping wound on the back of his left hand.

    The officers memorized Song Zining¡¯s instructions carefully. This seventh young master¡¯s simple adjustments to the defensive line would usually produce evident results. Many a time, assaults that seemed indefensible would return bruise and battered against these defensive lines.

    Song Zining stopped talking halfway through and nced briefly in Zhao Jundu¡¯s direction. ¡°Is it beginning?¡±

    ¡°Seventh Young Master, what¡¯s the matter?¡± The officers were baffled.

    Song Zining collected himself and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, the battle is about to get even more bitter than he had expected. Get ready to fight with your lives on the line!¡±

    A tall, burly officer said, ¡°It¡¯s fine to ask us brothers to fight, but where are the reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°There, don¡¯t you see?¡± Song Zining pointed at the descending transports.

    The officer was startled. ¡°Aren¡¯t those Evernight transports?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Song Zining was quite calm.

    The officer realized it after some thought. ¡°Our reinforcements aren¡¯ting anymore, are they?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°They wille after a while.¡±

    The officer said urgently, ¡°What¡¯s the use then? By the time they arrive, all our brethren will have turned into corpses.¡±

    ¡°Some people will definitely arrive to help.¡±

    The officers sighed in relief, but no one noticed Song Zining¡¯s choice of words, that he wasn¡¯t referring to an army. It was at this time that heavy cannon shells exploded near the small building. The smoke hadn¡¯t even dispersed when a group of armored dark race soldiers rushed out from the street corner.

    The burly officer said in a voice full of killing intent, ¡°We can think about reinforcementster, this daddy is going to ughter those bastards first!¡±

    Song Zining pulled him back and said while picking up his spear, ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±

    The officer¡¯s expression became solemn. They understood that Song Zining was different from Qianye and Zhao Jundu. If he was finally going to fight personally, it meant that true danger had arrived.

    Only in realbat did the officer realize how terrifying those armored soldiers were. They were familiar with coordinatedbat, a rare trait among dark race soldiers, and they were also much stronger than their ordinary counterparts. That was why they posed a serious threat even though their origin power cultivation wasn¡¯t very high.

 Chapter 1170: Steady and Sure

    <h4>Chapter 1170: Steady and Sure</h4>

    Those armored Evernight soldiers were equipped with premium gear that was highly resistant to ordinary gunpowder weapons. They could only be shattered with origin bullets. However, even high-ranking officers had a limit to how many origin bullets they could use.

    Overall, these heavy-armored soldiers possessed shocking fighting power, and a group of ten was capable of contending with an Imperial champion. Be it individually or in formation, they were not inferior to elite corps like Red Scorpion and Broken-Winged Angels.

    No wonder Zhao Jundu and Song Zining had to move personally. Qianye¡¯s consumption from sniping titled experts wasn¡¯t low, either.

    The Evernight army¡¯s true experts hadn¡¯t made a move yet.

    Once Qianye, Zhao Jundu, and Song Zining took to the field themselves, the Evernight Council¡¯s forces began to take heavy losses.

    Digger couldn¡¯t endure it any longer. ¡°Lord Doer, these are the Evernight Council¡¯s direct subordinate soldiers. You might have trouble exining things if you let them die off like this.¡±

    Doer replied calmly, ¡°How I exin it is my business, Lord Digger doesn¡¯t need to worry.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Digger stopped talking.

    Doer stood quietly, watching the fight in Whitetown. Thissted for an hour.

    Even the werewolves and vampires who were known for their strong physique would be hard-pressed to fight for an entire hour. It was a mystery how those human mercenaries and Zhao n soldiers were able to keep up.

    Doer asked, ¡°How many men do they have left?¡±

    A werewolf elder said, ¡°From my observations, there should only be a thousand or so ordinary soldiers left in the city.¡±

    Doer nodded slowly. ¡°Is that so? That means the Empire¡¯s so-called twin rising stars must be drained of origin power by now. Rest and reorganize, we continue the attack in half a day¡¯s time.¡±

    Doer didn¡¯t have to wait too long before the second batch of airships arrived. The werewolf duke canceled his order to rest for half a day, integrating his soldiers into the newly arrived squads and ordering them to attack again. This time, Doer ordered count-rank experts to take the field for the first time and assigned a werewolf marquis to oversee the formation.

    Additionally, he and Digger moved theirmand center forward to a point less than a thousand meters from the battlefield. This distance was within the highest theoretical range of a high-ranking sniper. The sharpshooter would only need to sneak toward them a short distance to pose a threat.

    The attacks began again less than an hour after their retreat just now.

    The fights reached a climax from the get-go. The addition of fresh troops and powerful experts elevated this fight greatly. In the blink of an eye, several attack routes had rushed into the city center and weaved into a cruel, bloody street battle.

    Therge number of viscounts and counts allowed their forces to massacre all the ordinary mercenaries in their way. This time, they forced Zhao Jundu and Song Zining¡¯s hand almost immediately. Qianye, however, continued to roam the battlefield, sniping off titled experts from time to time.

    The werewolf marquis who was in charge of overseeing the formation lost his patience and charged at Zhao Jundu with a long howl. Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression never changed as he met the enemy with his sword in hand. A faint green light flowed along his de, leaving fragments of splendor in the air as it danced about. The sword in the fourth young master¡¯s hand used no special moves, only simple shes and stabs. Yet the werewolf Marquis couldn¡¯t evade them and saw numerous flowers of blood blossom all over his body.

    As a marquis, the werewolf was extremely fierce. He moved with lightning speed, and his attacks were as heavy as the mountains. Most of the ruined buildings in Whitetown only had their foundations left at this point. These structures made of hard rock would be pulverized upon contact with his ws, producingrge holes in the ground after each fight.

    Werewolves were known for their speed and inherent talent in close-quarterbat. Even the arachne, with their extraordinary strength, fell short in techniquepared to their wolverine counterparts. Yet, Zhao Jundu only shuttled about within a couple meters in radius, easily evading the marquis¡¯ tempestuous assault.

    Sometimes, he would only dodge the most powerful part of the marquis¡¯ attacks, allowing the shockwaves tond on his body. A violet glow would flicker at that point and dissolve most of the force. In the end, the attack would only leave a couple of scratches on Zhao Jundu¡¯s armor.

    Whenever Zhao Jundu chose to take on the werewolf¡¯s attacks forcibly, the de in his hand would leave an injury on the enemy¡¯s body.

    These wounds were sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, but it remained a fact that the werewolf¡¯s high-grade armor couldn¡¯t stop Zhao Jundu¡¯s de. There was no need to even consider the werewolf¡¯s hide for protection. The only thing that could stop the sword from going deeper into his body was the defensive barrier formed from darkness origin power.

    The two fought back and forth for several dozen rounds, but it took mere moments in reality. The werewolf marquis had taken over ten wounds, big and small. Each of these injuries had cut through his defenses in one blow. They weren¡¯t particrly serious, but the pain infuriated him and caused him to attack with greater frenzy.

    Ordinary titled experts had no ce in the fight between the werewolf marquis and Zhao Jundu. The insightful viscounts stood in the periphery to guard against a surprise attack by other human experts. Only a single count remained in the inner circle, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

    Zhao Jundu, who had been fighting slow and steady, suddenly erupted in a loud roar. Four pirs of violet light spread out in each direction¡ªOmniscient Seal!

    The frantic marquis was startled as all experts within the domain turned sluggish. Just as he was about to help, Zhao Jundu pulled back abruptly and the sword in his hand erupted with blinding brilliance!

    The werewolf count who had been looking for opportunities to strike let out a loud scream as one of his arms flew into the air! Almost immediately, he leaped back several dozen meters away from the fight.

    The werewolf viscounts stood gazing at the long streak of blood showering down from the escaping count. What kind of injury would draw so much blood?

    Gradually slowing down, the werewolf count looked down to find another wound on his chest. This was only an ordinary sword wound at first, but his heart had burst open due to his all-out effort to escape, and the small wound was now as big as a bowl.

    But when did he receive a stab to the chest? He himself had no idea.

    Without even looking at the werewolf count, Zhao Jundu turned to the marquis and said, ¡°Again.¡±

    His domain had been retracted at this point. He was once again that young man who had no other outstanding features but his good looks.

    The marquis¡¯ fighting spirit had beenrgely extinguished at this point. The two had been fighting with great ferocity, so much so that the werewolf was almost in a berserk state, yet Zhao Jundu had killed a count right before his eyes, and with such ease no less. Only when the Omniscient Seal appeared did this marquis realize that Zhao Jundu had never gone all out against him.

    Doer and Digger were observing the battle not so far away. The pride embedded deep in the werewolf bloodline ignited the marquis¡¯ fighting spirit once more. Not only did he not retreat, but he pounced toward Zhao Jundu again.

    With a brief flicker of thetter¡¯s de, yet another wound was opened up on the werewolf Marquis¡¯ arm.

    The trend was evident. At this rate, the marquis would be whittled to death sooner orter, and it wouldn¡¯t even cost Zhao Jundu much origin power.

    Only at this moment did Digger speak, ¡°Lord Doer, your reliable subordinate is going to die here if you don¡¯t take action.¡±

    Doer opened his eyes and said, ¡°We¡¯ve been watching for some time now, and we¡¯ve seen how capable they are. I¡¯ll leave Zhao Jundu to you and head over to deal with Song Zining. How about it?¡±

    Digger smiled. ¡°Deal!¡±

    His words were still in the air when Digger¡¯s figure flickered several times and arrived inside Whitetown. The vice-duke¡¯s overflowing momentum erupted as the sword in his grasp stabbed down toward Zhao Jundu¡¯s head.

    Doer was one step slower to set out, but they arrived at the same time since he was stronger than Digger. With cold eyes, he looked down at Song Zining from above.

    Thetter trembled all over and his hair danced about around him. He slowly looked up after clearing the area with a swing of his spear.

    Doer hadn¡¯t begun his assault, but Digger had already unleashed his domain on the other side of the city. A ten-meter radius around him was filled with sanguine mist, which then condensed into a blurry silhouette that charged at Zhao Jundu as well. From the looks of it, Digger wanted to kill or heavily injure Zhao Jundu before Doer could finish his battle. That was his way of establishing might.

    Doer looked rather leisurely, indifferent even, and paid no heed to Digger¡¯s side. He only nced at Song Zining as a giant axe appeared in his hand.

    At the same time, Doer removed his long overcoat to reveal a set of swordsman¡¯s garb and an origin handgun strapped to his thigh. Just from the caliber of that weapon, one could tell that it wasn¡¯t there for decoration.

    ¡°You¡¯re outstanding and respectable opponents. Unfortunately, I won¡¯t be seeing the day you mature.¡±

    Song Zining asked, ¡°That means, Whitetown was a trap all along?¡±

    Doer said indifferently, ¡°Sharp as expected. As your human race can scheme against us, so can we to you. This ce wasn¡¯t a trap at first, but your presence has made it into one.¡±

    Song Zining asked, ¡°Did someone from the Empire leak information to you?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there always?¡±

    Intelligence battles were a part of war. Some due to carelessness, some intentional, but there were also leaks genuine and false. Add to that the presence of prophets and divination experts influencing the situation, nomander would dare to base their entire strategy based on intel alone¡ªthat was unless they had gotten their hands on inside information.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Of course, there would always be leaks, but only a handful of people know this information. Besides, would you really dare to trust the information you¡¯re getting?¡±

    Doer smiled. ¡°You¡¯re pretty close to guessing the truth, but sadly, it¡¯s toote.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°It¡¯s not toote even if I find out now. As you said a while ago, this wasn¡¯t a trap at first, but it became one after we arrived. If we manage to break out alive, this trap won¡¯t be a trap anymore.¡±

    ¡°Do you think the council will let you escape with your lives after paying such a steep price?¡±

    ¡°Who can say for sure without trying? Just like before, no one would¡¯ve guessed we would hold out for so long, right?¡±

    Doer said indifferently, ¡°Those two are arrogant idiots, there¡¯s no need to discuss them. Now, you need to figure out how to get past me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll repeat the same words. Who can say for sure without trying?¡± Song Zining was so calm that it didn¡¯t look like he was facing mortal peril.

    Doer frowned in apparent puzzlement, unable to figure out where his confidence wasing from.

    The duke¡¯s expression turned cold as he drew his handgun and took aim at Song Zining. ¡°My patience has worn out. It¡¯s better to kill you first and seek answers to my question somewhere else.¡±

    Song Zining raised his spear and pointed the tip toward the skies. After assuming a spear stance, he immediately began to give off an imposing aura,parable to the mountains andkes. This was his Fueled Fire Spear¡¯s strongest stance¡ªEmber Legacy. It was said that this spear-art would always find an opportunity at survival where there was none. This was the first time Song Zining had brought it out since reaching the great sess stage.

    Doer frowned briefly, having sensed the extraordinary qualities of this stance. It was at this time that Song Zining¡¯s figure suddenly turned blurry. At first, Doer thought that his vision had blurred, but he knew that was absolutely impossible!

    He focused harder and found that Song Zining¡¯s figure was indeed a bit blurry, almost as though he was shrouded in a surreal mist.

    Not to mention there was no mist on the battlefield, Doer could see through the rolling smoke and dust all the same.

    There was only one exnation for this phenomenon.

    Doer said solemnly, ¡°Domain?¡±

    ¡°This is the Three Thousand Flying Leaves art, empowered by Worldly Prosperity. Please evaluate it.¡±

    Unable to see Song Zining¡¯s true figure meant that it would be very difficult to lock onto him. Although the seventh young master was only slightly blurry in Doer¡¯s eyes, this also meant that there was a small chance that he would miss the shot, or maybe miss the vitals. The otherwise sure kill was now tainted with a shred of uncertainty.

    What shook him more was that he couldn¡¯t see through Song Zining entirely despite therge cultivation gap. This kind of domain, this kind of talent, was truly terrifying.

    Doer¡¯s eyes turned cold, filled with genuine killing intent. He had never underestimated the youngsters of the human race, but only at this point did he truly realize Song Zining¡¯s potential. This young man was only obscured because Zhao Jundu and Qianye were too famous. If he were allowed to mature, the human race would have an extra powerhouse in the future.

    Up to this point, Doer hadn¡¯t shown a hint of wild violence as was the norm for werewolves. His expression was calm as thousands of mountain peaks appeared behind him, one of them particrly eye-catching.

    This was the sign of the Summit of Peaks!

 Chapter 1171: First Reinforcements

    <h4>Chapter 1171: First Reinforcements</h4>

    Song Zining¡¯s expression became solemn when he saw the crest representing the Summit of Peaks. Possessing such a domain meant that Doer was no ordinary duke. As someone who had obtained the werewolves¡¯ core inheritance, he had probably been holding back against Duke Wei. This duke¡¯s truebat strength was probably far beyond their expectations.

    Doer only deployed his domain but didn¡¯t attack immediately. He had fixed Song Zining in his sights, raring tounch an all-out attack.

    Off in the distance, Digger nced over in trepidation. He had challenged the werewolf¡¯s authority more than once, yet he had never imagined that the difference in power between them was too great. There was simply no way for him to close that gap.

    Doer paid no heed to Digger¡¯s thoughts. A ck sun rose up from the mountain peak behind him as he took aim at Song Zining¡¯s forehead and fired!

    Thetter was focused entirely on defense.

    It was at this time that a faint, ck feather of light appeared behind Doer and drilled silently into his body.

    The change happened so quickly that even Doer was astonished, let alone others. However, the werewolf duke¡¯s hand remained steady and managed to pull the trigger out of instinct. Digger reacted a bit slower and only saw the feather entering Doer¡¯s back.

    The two dukes, of course, hadn¡¯t forgotten that there was another powerful opponent hiding on the battlefield. It was just that Qianye was proficient in concealment and sniping, so it was more difficult to find him. They anticipated that the other party would have toe out and rescue Zhao Jundu and Song Zining the moment they fell into danger. And once he was out in the open, he could forget about escaping the two duke¡¯s lock.

    Yet none of their expected strategies were of use. Doer and Digger had never expected that Qianye would remain undetected and even attack from within the two duke¡¯s perception range.

    Time seemed to slow down as Digger turned around and traced the feather¡¯s trajectory. Only then did he notice Qianye at the street corner. The young man was only thirty meters away, yet no one had noticed him! Digger was ovee by a strange feeling¡ªit was as if Qianye didn¡¯t exist even though he was looking straight at him.

    Bloodline Concealment! Digger immediately thought of an ancient vampire talent. This was the Monroe n¡¯s unique ability.

    Its chances of appearing were shockingly low, and it required the backing of an outstanding bloodline to be effective.

    It was said that this ability had only appeared in Nighteye throughout the years, and with her disappearance, it faded away into being just a legend. For some reason, however, Digger could only think of this name at this moment.

    Naturally, Doer had no knowledge of the vampire race¡¯s inside secrets. After firing at Song Zining, he turned around without waiting to confirm the oue and immediately locked onto Qianye. He then hurled the axe in his hand toward Qianye¡¯s chest!

    The axe couldn¡¯t lock onto Qianye, and neither did it possess any other ability, but it was sufficiently fast and heavy. This outrageously crude violence was definitely the style of a werewolf.

    Doer had no way to counter Qianye¡¯s Bloodline Concealment, but if he could see the target, he could attack it. The n was to make full use of his overwhelming advantage as a duke to meet the enemy head-on!

    With East Peak in hand, Qianye flicked the axe at the moment of peril and spun it along with his de. The weapon revolved faster and faster in an increasing arc before it was sent flying off!

    The strength, technique, and resolve Qianye had disyed in that split second was inconceivable, inhuman even. Doer suffered the second shock for today.

    That axe was hurled at Doer¡¯s full-strength. Despite using a heaven-defying technique to dissolve most of the force behind it, Qianye could hardly withstand the impact. His face turned pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

    On the other side, Song Zining held his spear between his arm and ribs, nting its tip toward the sky and piercing the iing bullet with great precision. The projectile wasn¡¯t big, but it bore the weight of a mountain range. The spear bent into a deep arch from the pressure, then exploded! Song Zining was sent flying backward, crashing through several broken walls and digging a trench several dozen meters in length beforeing to a stop.

    Song Zining¡¯s blurry shroud had dispersed, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. ncing at the spear in his hand, it was already mangled beyond recognition.

    Doer¡¯s attacks were indeed extraordinary, injuring Qianye and Song Zining in just one attack, and not lightly, either. The situation on the battlefield immediately took a turn for the worse.

    Despite the good opportunity, Doer didn¡¯t follow up with more attacks. He scanned the field with a snort, causing all mercenaries and Zhao n soldiers to tremble. They couldn¡¯t help but hold back and assume a cautious stance, allowing the dark race soldiers who were in danger to escape.

    Doer raised his left hand and, drawing two circles, pointed back at their main camp. Digger was astonished because this was the signal to retreat!

    With Song Zining and Qianye injured, Digger simply couldn¡¯t understand why Doer would issue such amand. His killing intent surged sharply. In truth, he had wanted to kill Zhao Jundu the moment Qianye made his appearance, but only at that point did he realize that the fourth young master was quite difficult to deal with.

    His sword techniques looked simple, but there was no opening at all. In terms of technical perfection, Zhao Jundu¡¯s skill wasn¡¯t inferior to Qianye¡¯s stunning axe deflection from just now.

    Although Zhao Jundu¡¯s origin power cultivation was a level below Digger, he possessed much greater endurance. The vampire duke realized that he couldn¡¯t suppress his opponent unless he went all out with every attack. This could only mean one thing¡ªthe grade of his blood energy was far below Zhao Jundu¡¯s daybreak origin power in terms of purity. They weren¡¯t evenparable.

    Only at this point did Digger learn that Zhao Jundu¡¯s fame as the number one character in the younger generation wasn¡¯t just an empty title. He had also realized that Doer wasn¡¯t letting him have the contribution of taking down Zhao Jundu out of goodwill. The vampire probably knew he couldn¡¯t capture the target, or that the price involved would be too highpared to what he was willing to pay.

    He couldn¡¯t deal with Zhao Jundu, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t handle the injured Song Zining and Qianye.

    A thought shed through his mind as he confirmed his target and flickered toward Song Zining. He avoided Qianye subconsciously because this young man¡¯s fame was on par with Zhao Jundu, and there were too many mysteries surrounding him. That spectral entrance just now was enough to make anyone cautious.

    But the moment he pulled away from the fight, Digger felt his hair stand on end as an intense sense of danger filled his heart. At that moment, Zhao Jundu stood straight as an azure brilliance shot up from his body and he was no longer as ordinary-looking as before. A single sh arrived with a momentum that could look down on the world in disdain!

    This sh could neither be dodged nor blocked.

    Digger cried out loudly and ferociously. In an unexpected move, he took Zhao Jundu¡¯s sh and kept on charging at Song Zining. If he could kill this seventh young noble, his contributions would be sufficient even if he retreated thereafter.

    But just as he was approaching his target, Digger suddenly felt his vision turn blurry and Song Zining¡¯s image became hazy in his eyes. The surroundings shifted from the battlefield in Whitetown to a transition of myriad worlds.

    Digger was greatly rmed because he could not lock onto the target! Just how had Doer hit Song Zining just now? Clenching his jaws, Digger erupted with blood energy¡ªfailing to lock onto Song Zining meant that the efficiency of his attack would be greatly discounted. The only way to get over that was to fill the gap with an absolute difference in power.

    Just at that moment, Digger felt his blood run cold! He turned around with every ounce of strength he had, only to see a feather of light flickering through the air. This feather wasn¡¯t ck, but Digger had no time to ponder on the difference. He rushed into the air, made a sharp turn, and flickered back to camp. He became the first to retreat among all the soldiers in Whitetown.

    Doer was in no rush to leave. He gazed deeply at Qianye and asked, ¡°How many more shots like that can you fire?¡±

    ¡°Take a guess.¡±

    Doer shook his head, not willing to put in that effort. He simply took to the air and left at a leisurely pace. The mercenaries and Zhao n soldiers in his path would all move aside to make a path. The lucky survivors from the dark races took this opportunity to escape with their lives.

    It was easy to tell from the sudden retreat order that Doer¡¯s injuries weren¡¯t light, but no one dared to test the calm duke. A violent mercenary raised his gun, but Qianye quickly pushed it down, shaking his head. Even Zhao Jundu had no intention of giving chase. Instead, he walked over to check up on Song Zining.

    The scattered battles in the city came to an end with Doer¡¯s retreat. The soldiers took the time to clear the battlefield and collect necessary supplies for the next fight. Some simply copsed and started sleeping to recover their stamina. All the injured had to dress their own wounds because no one in the city was uninjured at this point. Zhao Jundu was perhaps the only one who hadn¡¯t suffered new injuries.

    Song Zining and Zhao Jundu arrived near Qianye. The former asked, ¡°How powerful was that shot of yours?¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a bit. ¡°How should I know?¡±

    Qianye had hit several duke-rank experts with his upgraded Shot of Inception, but everyone reacted in the same way. The degree of damage was evident on the surface, but they immediately turned away and fled. Doer was the calmest after being shot, proving that he was much stronger than the other opponents. That made it rather difficult to gauge the damage.

    Zhao Jundu asked, ¡°What about your injuries?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I can keep fighting.¡±

    Having fought side-by-side more than once, Zhao Jundu knew of Qianye¡¯s abnormal endurance in battle. He patted his brother on the shoulder and said, ¡°Be careful, survival is the most important.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t n on dying just yet.¡± Qianye¡¯s smile was radiant.

    The fourth young master wanted to say something but hesitated for a while. ¡°I heard you have a good gun that¡¯s rted to the Pointer Monarch. Let me take a look.¡±

    Qianye knew there was no problem, so he fished out Heartgrave and handed it to Zhao Jundu.

    Zhao Jundu fiddled with the weapon for a while before saying with a sigh, ¡°The name Heartgrave... is quite fitting.¡±

    After offering praise, Zhao Jundu returned the firearm to Qianye. ¡°Keep it on your back, you might not have the opportunity to retrieve it in battle.¡±

    Those words were spoken from experience. Qianye strapped the weapon to his back just as advised.

    They had just finished chatting briefly when they heard the sound of distant fighting . At the moment, the rear lines of the Evernight army began to fall into chaos. The three took to the air and gazed into the distance with serious expressions.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°It¡¯s actually her, seriously...¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression was a bit strange as well.

    A figure in simple clothing could be seen shuttling through the distant Evernight base. Although this person was entirely surrounded, she waspletely fearless and fought with harsh ferocity.

    Even though her face could not be seen, just the technique, fighting style, and origin power aura gave Bai Aotu away immediately.

    Who would¡¯ve thought? The first reinforcements to arrive were actually led by her. All three men in the city had a fair bit of conflict with her.

    That courage to charge the enemy formation alone, only she would have it.

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°I really can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s bravery or idiocy.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°She¡¯s letting the dark races know that the Empire¡¯s reinforcements have arrived.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, ¡°Doer is no idiot.¡± That werewolf duke isn¡¯t famous, and he didn¡¯t really shine while fighting the central army, either. But observing his actions just now, he¡¯s definitely not one to be trifled with, be it in terms ofbat strength or insightfulness.

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Are we just going to watch like this? Don¡¯t we need to go over and help?¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Song Zining nced at Qianye with a smile. ¡°She¡¯s no idiot. She¡¯s probably just feigning an attack to keep them upied and will retreat after a while.¡±

 Chapter 1172: Useless Assaul

    <h4>Chapter 1172: Useless Assaul</h4>

    Within the Evernight army, Doer and Digger were standing side by side, watching Bai Aotu¡¯s fearless fight in the distance. These two lookedpletely unharmed on the surface, but Digger¡¯s aura was inevitably weakened and his arrogance was much more contained.

    There were followers beside the two dukes, making the entourage look rather miserable. Their mostpetent subordinates had been sent out to snipe Bai Aotu, yet she was still pushing her way in.

    Doer remained silent and serious, but Digger sneered, ¡°This woman is beyond dumb. This is far enough for a fake charge, it¡¯ll be too excessive if she keeps up the act. Lord Doer, are you going to keep watching? Why not intercept her and let her know when to give up?¡±

    Doer said calmly, ¡°I¡¯m badly injured. It¡¯s already quite a feat for me to be standing here to keep up morale. I might be overreaching myself if I take action. Why don¡¯t...¡±

    Without waiting for Doer to finish, Digger said, ¡°I just hope she¡¯ll go back on her own without us needing to intervene.¡± He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he surprisingly noticed that Bai Aotu had killed her way into the central camp.

    Within Whitetown, Song Zining¡¯s expression was stunned, and Zhao Jundu snorted with an unsightly expression. Qianye, on the other hand, was already charging out with East Peak in tow.

    At this point, it was obvious that Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t just putting on a show. She was really killing her way through the enemy formation and making for Whitetown. Although her intentions were a mystery, Qianye couldn¡¯t just watch her throw away her life. They needed to help her out.

    Zhao Jundu picked up his sword and set out in leisurely steps, one step behind Qianye. Song Zining issued a series ofmands and injected some stimnt into his arm before leaving the city.

    The rear lines of the Evernight formation were in chaos, but the frontlines still had their attention on Whitetown. The moment Qianye appeared, everyone¡¯s immediate reaction was to pull the trigger and fire with all their might. It almost seemed as though firing origin bullets didn¡¯t drain their energy.

    In the blink of an eye, a screen of bullets appeared before Qianye. His figure flickered at that moment and vanished from the spot, reappearing at the center of the dark race forces. Countless threads of blood appeared, freezing hundreds of warriors around him. It looked as though they had fallen into a dream.

    Digger¡¯s breathing became somewhat heavier. Thisbination of Spatial sh and Life Plunder was too powerful, matchless even when fighting againstrge groups of enemies. Although he had long since heard of Qianye¡¯s indefensible abilities, he couldn¡¯t help but feel shaken upon witnessing them in person.

    Zhao Jundu, who was behind Qianye naturally dodged his way through the wave of bullets. The fourth young master sped up abruptly after Qianye had cleared away the mob of soldiers. His sword transformed into a stream of azure radiance, weaving through the dark race soldiers and reaping all life in its wake.

    Whether those in his way were cannon fodder, barons, or viscounts, everyone was dealt with in a single sh. The speed of his assault wasn¡¯t any slower than Qianye¡¯s. In the blink of an eye, he was already deep inside the enemy formation.

    In front of them, Bai Aotu erupted in a loud roar as she mmed a werewolf count into the ground almost entirely. That count was quite strong as well; he merely spat out some blood and, quite surprisingly, didn¡¯t die. While stepping over the count, Bai Aotu stomped down on his shoulder in passing. Half of the werewolf¡¯s shoulder immediately copsed.

    Every move of hers contained great power. It almost looked as though she were charging about violently as she made her way to Zhao Jundu.

    In a sh of green light, Zhao Jundu killed the two vampire viscounts who were charging after her. He then dragged Bai Aotu by the hand and flew back in the direction of Whitetown.

    Seeing their prey escaping so narrowly, how could the dark race experts be satisfied? They swarmed over and gave chase despite knowing they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up. Qianye suddenly appeared in front of them, spinning tens of thousands of sanguine threads!

    The second Life Plunder immediately cleared the area of ordinary soldiers. Only experts at the viscount rank and above managed to survive, but they too were badly injured and staggering.

    Qiaye¡¯s face was flushed with an abnormal shade of red, almost as though he were drunk. Even his powerful constitution found it difficult to withstand two Life Plunders in a row. Despite his condition, he still stabbed two viscounts who were closest to him before beating a retreat.

    His figure vanished abruptly after taking a step back. That wasn¡¯t spatial sh, but rather, Song Zining¡¯s domain concealing him. At the same time, a round of gunfire echoed from Whitetown as a curtain of bullets divided the retreating experts from the enemy.

    At that point, they finally managed to bring Bai Aotu into the city.

    Digger¡¯s expression was so gloomy that it was about to drip water. Not to mention Bai Aotu¡¯s pration affecting the army¡¯s morale, they had also suffered heavy casualties in core titled experts. He was already at a loss about how to exin the situation to his superiors.

    Digger felt indignant when he saw Doer calm and collected; he couldn¡¯t help but curse repeatedly in secret. No small number of werewolves had died in this fight. How could Doer act as though it had nothing to do with him? Even so, Digger no longer dared to go up against the werewolf duke after learning of his true power.

    Doer didn¡¯t remain idle during this time. He issued a series ofmands, including the formation of an extra defensive line outside of the inner encirclement. The direction of this formation was to the rear, targeting the imperial reinforcements.

    Digger was startled. ¡°Will the Empire manage to fight their way forward? Wasn¡¯t it said that they¡¯ve been intercepted?¡±

    Doer shook his head, saying, ¡°Their main army might not be able to, but a small number of experts can still slip through. We saw one just now, didn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Then the Council¡¯s orders...?¡±

    ¡°We shall proceed as nned.¡±

    Doer¡¯s voice was tranquil, but Digger trembled when he heard it. ¡°Lord Doer, you can hardly suppress your injuries right now. It looks like you won¡¯t be able to contribute much going forward.

    The werewolf replied calmly, ¡°Lord Digger, the attack you took is much weaker than mine. Besides, I heard there¡¯s someone called Wolf King in the neutralnds who¡¯s a vice-duke as well. He took two or three shots yet was still able to chase after Qianye. You can¡¯t be much weaker than him.¡±

    Digger cursed inwardly. ¡°Vampire constitutions are inferior to the werewolves¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? That¡¯s good then.¡± Ignoring Digger¡¯s awkward expression, Doer turned toward Whitetown. ¡°Let¡¯s give them fifteen more minutes to rest, then continue the assault.¡±

    Once inside Whitetown, Bai Aotu¡¯s aura fell sharply and she spat out a mouthful of blood. A well-prepared Zhao Jundu passed her a recovery medicine. She had forcibly activated her origin power to charge into the enemy formation. This ced a significant strain on her and unknowingly inflicted internal injuries. If Qianye, Zhao Jundu, and Song Zining hadn¡¯t arrived on time, she might not have died from exhaustion before she could kill her way out.

    Bai Aotu stabbed the needle into her arm and soon regained some color. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°To be honest, it¡¯s quite a surprise that you came, but the method isn¡¯t that smart.¡± This was Zhao Jundu being polite.

    She replied, ¡°The main army can¡¯te, but I can. I simply had to let those dark bastards know that they can¡¯t stop us.¡±

    ¡°But what you did is useless.¡± Zhao Jundu shook his head.

    ¡°I suffered some injuries, but I still have enough strength left for an all-out attack. Even a duke will have to pay a steep price to kill me.¡± Bai Aotu¡¯s voice was filled with pride and confidence.

    Zhao Jundu sighed, ¡°This ce is clearly a trap, why would you evene?¡±

    ¡°You and I have a duel to fight. I¡¯ll have gained a cheap advantage if you died just like that. I¡¯m not about to let people gossip about that. Why don¡¯t wepete who kills more enemies here?¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Zhao Jundu had just spoken when a series of shrill whistles echoed through the air. This was the sound of a heavy cannon barrage, and also the signal for the dark races to attack once again.

    Whitetown was like a lone ind amidst a sea of dark race forces, crashing into its walls wave after wave. The city¡¯s resistance was no longer as strong as before. In the blink of an eye, the dark races had charged into the city and continued their meat-grinder-like battle.

    The number of soldiers on Qianye¡¯s side grew increasingly smaller as one familiar face after the other fell into eternal sleep. The number of enemies around them grew to the point where Qianye could kill a handful of Evernight warriors with a random swing of his sword. At this point, Qianye felt a repeated sense of rm. This was a sign of being locked onto by an expert. It might be a hidden sniper or an assassin hiding in the rubble, waiting to strike.

    East Peak was growing heavier and Qianye could feel his body starting to ache. Enemies were also starting to leave injuries on his body. Under the effects of the bloodthirst bugle, the crazed dark race soldiers threw themselves at Qianye. Meanwhile, the experts hiding amongst the ordinary soldiers became a real threat.

    Even Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire constitution was starting to feel the strain of the enemy¡¯s swarm tactics. If even Qianye was feeling so fatigued, how would Song Zining fare?

    This thought merely flickered through Qianye¡¯s mind. The three of them were in charge of one area each, but they were also mutually dependent, with each covering the others¡¯ backs. The entire defensive line would copse if Qianye were to abandon his post. Currently, Bai Aotu was also in Song Zining¡¯s defensive zone, and someone of her ability would surely reduce the pressure on the seventh young master.

    Qianye suppressed his worries and put his mind back into the killing, especially the enemy titled experts. He didn¡¯t hesitate even if he had to take an injury for it. All he could do at this point was to bleed the Evernight faction as much as he could until they could no longer stand it.

    It wasn¡¯t just Whitetown; fierce battles were raging everywhere on the void continent. The Evernight faction had forciblynded arge number of troops to stop the three army-routes from advancing toward Whitetown.

    Duke Wei of the central route was leading the army from the front, his hair disheveled and his eyes bloodshot. He had already stormed the warfront over a dozen times in one day, breaking through nine defense lines in session. However, the dark races would send more troops every time and build a new defensive line to stop the assault.

    In the Eastern route, Princess Haimi¡¯s bow-grip and fingers were stained in blood. The quiver on her back was nowpletely empty as she had fired all her arrows.

    She nced around to find that the two armies were locked tight in battle. The Empire would push forward continuously, but the dark races would block their way fearlessly. Things in the air were different¡ªthere were eight dark race experts around her, each possessing deep, cryptic auras. It was obvious that these people were of extraordinary strength.

    Haimi nced in the direction of Whitetown and saw that the horizon was entirely empty.

    She retracted her gaze and scanned all the Evernight experts. She then broke into augh, saying, ¡°So, I¡¯m the real target huh?¡±

    Among the enemy experts, there were demonkin, vampires, werewolves, and arachne. All the major races were here, and d in uniform outfits too. This clearly wasn¡¯t an alliance that had been formed on the spot.

    Hearing Haimi¡¯s words, a vampire elder said, ¡°Since Your Highness already knows, please be on your way so that we can return and report back to our master.¡±

    ¡°Your master?¡±

    ¡°Your Highness knows who it is,¡± the vampire elder said.

    Haimi nodded. ¡°So it¡¯s an old friend, and here I was wondering whose strategy could be so far-reaching. But...¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    Haimi pulled out an arrow of light, made purely of origin power. ¡°I admit I underestimated him, but he underestimates me as well. Do you seriously think the likes of you can kill me?¡±

 Chapter 1173: Endless Sacrifices

    <h4>Chapter 1173: Endless Sacrifices</h4>

    To the west of the void continent, the Empire¡¯s steadily advancing western route was no longer as calm.

    A brigadier general ran into the centralmand at great speeds and presented a sealed document tube on one knee. ¡°Sire, an urgent missive from Duke You!¡±

    A middle-aged man with a short beard took the document cylinder, unsealed it, and read the contents swiftly. He became somewhat angry almost immediately, saying, ¡°Rushing us again! What¡¯s the point? I want to get there faster too, but how can I goddamn speed up?¡±

    At this moment, the distant battlefield was filled with rolling smoke and explosions, signs of a fierce battle. A general nearby was disgruntled. ¡°We¡¯ve broken three defensive lines in a single day, how faster can we go? Who knew those dark races would be so crazy? They¡¯re hell-bent on risking their lives instead of running away. Their Zhao-n peoples¡¯ lives are important, but what about our brethren¡¯s lives?

    An elderly general said, ¡°Sire, Zhao Jundu¡¯s fame is too great and has entered the Emperor¡¯s eyes. We can¡¯t treat him like a normal Zhao n member. This battle will be a great aplishment if we seed, but all our troubles will be for naught if we perform poorly.¡±

    The first general red at him. ¡°What kind of words are those!? Our lord has taken to the field personally and returned injured. What else will you ask of him?¡±

    There was a bit of blood seeping out from under the short-bearded man¡¯s robes. He frowned after listening to his subordinates arguing. ¡°Enough arguing!¡±

    After everyone was quiet, he nced toward the frontline, saying, ¡°We hadn¡¯t encountered much resistance since the day we set out. We were only a bit slower because we were cautious all along. Yet now, the dark races haveid down several defensive lines, each akin to an imprable wall. I don¡¯t remember them having that many troops on the continent. It seems there has been a great deal of changes to the situation. If even we are encountering such resistance, it¡¯s easy to imagine what the central and eastern routes are facing. Things don¡¯t look good for Whitetown, either.¡±

    At this point, he paused for a moment before saying, ¡°The dark races¡¯ scheme this time is nothing to scoff at. No matter what they¡¯re nning, we cany waste to all of their schemes if we advance and fight our way through their defenses. Issue mymand, go all out with the attacks from here on out. We must break through two more defensive lines before sundown!¡±

    The fierce general said, ¡°General, our brothers have just returned from the frontlines. We¡¯ll suffer significant casualties if we attack right now.¡±

    The short-bearded man¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°What, are you afraid?¡±

    The fierce general¡¯s face turned red. ¡°Wang Dahai has never been afraid of death! General, please watch. Leave the current defensive line to me!¡±

    ¡°Good! I will go personally if you fail!¡±

    The Empire¡¯s offensive intensified abruptly. With the addition of more powerful troops, the situation on the frontlines became tense for the defending army, and casualties rose exponentially.

    The old general beside the short-bearded general gazed at the distant horizon instead of the frontlines. A constant stream of Evernight transports was appearing there, apparently building a new defensive line.

    The old general looked dissatisfied. ¡°What are those show-offs from the Imperial Guard doing? Are they nning to let the entire Evernight reinforcement army into the continent?¡±

    The short-bearded man gazed up at the sky. ¡°They¡¯re probably not having a great time, either.¡±

    In the void, an Imperial battleship and several other warships were firing at a duke-grade gship. The void was filled with warship wreckage. There was even a battleship that had been broken into two, drifting helplessly in the empty space.

    The duke-grade airship was dauntless. Despite being beleaguered and battered, it stood firm without retreating, its cannons big and small firing back with all their might. And wherever its main cannon aimed at, the Imperial ships there would have to evade immediately. Even the battleship didn¡¯t dare take the shot.

    On the bridge of the battleship, an aged general was issuing orders with a serious expression. He was trying to find a weakness in the enemy vessel and destroy it in one shot.

    An officer rushed into the bridge at this point. ¡°General Niao, another transport squadron has appeared at the rear!¡±

    What should they do?

    All officers¡¯ eyes fell upon the old general. The man¡¯s cheeks twitched briefly as he nced at the desperately struggling grand-duke gship. After a moment of silence, he mmed his fist on the control board and said through clenched teeth, ¡°Keep attacking! Sink that thing before us first!¡±

    The officers immediately returned to their posts to resume the attack. They understood what General Niao¡¯s orders meant. Letting the transports pass meant that the ground-battles on the void continent would increase in difficulty. Once the battle was over, themanders of each army route, especially the Zhao n, would never let the general off easily.

    Yet their squadron had been pinned down by the duke-grade gship. No one dared to turn about before the vessel had been sunk.

    There was, of course, a way if they had to intercept the transports no matter what. They would have to send some of their warships to keep the gship busy while the main forces turned around to deal with the transports.

    Except for the main battleship, all other vessels were basically doomed if they had to face the duke-grade gship. The Empire would surely lose some warships in the short time it would take to intercept the transports.

    General Niao had known the captains of each airship for many years. How could he make the decision to send theserades and friends to their deaths? The old general had been in the Imperial Guard fleet for thirty years and counting, yet he had never been forced to make such a difficult decision.

    The Evernight side had ced their bet in the form of a duke-grade airship, but the Empire¡ªor General Niao at least¡ªwas not willing to fork out the same. This meant that the general was gambling with the ground forces as chips.

    Difficult decisions like this were ying out before several othermanding officers from the Imperial Guard. Some made the same decision, while others would rather lose an arm and a leg to intercept the transports at all costs.

    The Evernight side should¡¯ve been at a disadvantage, but one squadron after another kept appearing in the void. It was obvious that these forces weren¡¯t transferred from the maind on short notice. They had been hiding near the battlefield all along.

    No one had the time toin about the Imperial military¡¯s intelligence failure. They actually didn¡¯t notice the movements of such arge fleet. The Evernight side was also quite ruthless. They had so many soldiers, yet they didn¡¯t send them in earlier during the war, allowing the Empire¡¯s ground forces to topple the entire warfront.

    The Imperial Guard had split itself into several small squadrons to fight the Evernight fleet and take back control of the void. Most of the experiencedmanders from the Imperial Guard chose to eliminate the Evernight fleet¡¯s new fighting power before intercepting the transport squadrons.

    Their choice couldn¡¯t be considered wrong, but this sharply increased the pressure on the ground forces. Standing in Whitetown, one would see a constant stream of transportsnding over the horizon, almost as though there was no end to them.

    Qianye had forgotten how many people he had killed. That normally well-controlled body was now feeling numb, and ughter had turned into a reflexive action. The long-period of blood boil elicited a sharp pain from his blood core, and the crystalline granules embedded in the tissue were mostly drained and dim.

    Yet, the number of dark races before him remained just as high.

    Dazed all of a sudden, Qianye looked around but found norades. Where were they? Were they all dead? Where were the reinforcements? Were they almost here or were they no longering? One question after the other popped into this mind uncontrobly.

    The distraction was broken by the pain on his body. Without even turning back, Qianye shed backward and bisected the werewolf attacking him.

    The wound this time, however, was quite painful. He looked down to see arge gap below his ribs, the werewolf¡¯s w and half his arm was stilltched onto the wound. The wolf¡¯s w had nailed itself to Qianye¡¯s rib bone, but fortunately, Qianye¡¯s constitution had already strengthened his skeleton. That was the only reason it wasn¡¯t broken.

    He took a deep breath and urged this blood core into operation. A spirited glow immediately returned to his eyes. The dark races were inherently sensitive to strength¡ªtheir aggressiveness weakened significantly after sensing the surging power in Qianye¡¯s body.

    However, true experts could sense that Qianye¡¯s aura was somewhat unstable. His current momentum was better interpreted as a dying sh. The experts searching for an opportunity around Qianye grew in number.

    Doer and Digger were paying constant attention to Qianye¡¯s situation. No matter how fierce the battles went, the twomanders made no move, nor did they show any signs of taking the field again.

    Digger would nce at Doer every once in a while, but the werewolf showed no change in expression no matter how injured he was.

    Seeing Qianye on the verge of copse, Digger could no longer sit still. ¡°Lord Doer, do you think he can still fire off one of his attacks?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out if you go and try.¡±

    After some hesitation, Digger checked his own body briefly but ultimately decided to remain where he was.

    Seeing that neither Digger nor Doer had the intention of moving, Qianye stood tall and unfurled his luminous wings. A feather of light shot straight into a vampire marquis¡¯ chest.

    The marquis screamed loudly and fled, but he copsed just outside of Whitetown, never to move again. There was neither blood nor injury on his body throughout the entire process.

    Digger¡¯s eyelids twitched briefly.

    He had already suffered a Shot of Inception and was merely suppressing the injury. In truth, his constitution and defense weren¡¯t much better than that marquis. He would likely suffer a grave injury even if he wasn¡¯t killed immediately.

    Digger nced at Doer with eyes full of fear. He had no idea whether that unfathomable werewolf duke had seen through Qianye¡¯s hidden card, or if it was just a lucky guess.

    It was at this moment that a faint red light flickered in Doer¡¯s hands. As sensitive as he was to blood energy, Digger immediately realized what that red glow was. The bloodline power of this blood energy was so profound that even a vice-duke like him couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    Doer¡¯s expression finally shifted. He gazed toward the battlefield and said, ¡°Finally, I have some results. But we still need a bit more work. Lord Digger, it¡¯s our turn to take the field.¡±

    A nodding Digger followed the werewolf down toward Whitetown.

    Inside the city, Song Zining had just returned to the temporary camp after fending off a wave of attackers. All of a sudden, he noticed a corpse at the corner of the room. The body was covered in abat robe, but the outline was clearly that of a young girl.

    Song Zining¡¯s heart sank, knowing that there were only a handful of young girls in Whitetown. He walked over inrge strides and removed the robe, revealing a child-like face. His mouth was immediately filled with a bitter taste.

    The one lying there was the Neenth Princess.

 Chapter 1174: Truesho

    <h4>Chapter 1174: Truesho</h4>

    Song Zining sighed as he ced an origin grenade at her side. ¡°You know what to do when necessary.¡±

    His personal guard nodded.

    As a member of the Imperial family, her corpse must not be defiled even after death. They also had to prevent the dark races from conducting research on her bloodline or using it as a medium for divination and other secret arts.

    Song Zining nced at her again with a sigh.

    The Neenth Princess wasn¡¯t of age yet. She wasn¡¯t particrly outstanding among the princes and princesses, but she had her own innocent charm. As for why she would appear on the front lines, Song Zining had his own guesses but there was no way to confirm.

    True divination powerhouses were unfathomable in their actions. It was the same with Lin Xitang, and so was it for Empress Li.

    Song Zining¡¯s initial arrangements for her protection were solid. If something were to happen to a princess, he would be ountable to a certain degree. However, Princess Neen wasn¡¯t willing to stay on the Martyr¡¯s Pce and had, instead, snuck into Whitetown by some unknown means. To sum it up, she had brought about her own death. Even in Whitetown, Song Zining had assigned his most trusted personal guards to protect her from close by.

    But at this point in the battle, Song Zining was already hard-pressed to protect himself. How could he spare any attention for her? The guards he had assigned to her had been wiped out entirely, and there was really no one left to me.

    Song Zining left for the front lines as the roar of dark race soldiers rang out once more. Without his support, the mercenaries and Zhao n soldiers would not be able to withstand the assault of the dark race forces and the many titled experts in their midst.

    The moment he arrived at the front lines, subtle changes immediately took over the area around him. For some reason, the dark races¡¯ attacks would deviate from their targets, and their movements were slowed down when trying to evade.

    This was due to Song Zining¡¯s domain interfering with the enemies¡¯ perception. As long as he was present, the defending side would find their fighting power increase many times. That was why, out of the three, he was tasked with defending thergest area and had the most soldiers assigned to him. Comparatively, Qianye was more suited for fighting alone. His Life Plunder couldn¡¯t differentiate between friendly forces and the enemy. Zhao Jundu could perform just fine whether or not he had men assigned to him.

    It was at this moment that Song Zining¡¯s body was jolted by a powerful force bearing down on his domain from above. He couldn¡¯t help but cough up a mouthful of blood from this attack. He quickly wiped away the blood from his mouth and looked up.

    There, he saw the dark race soldiers parting like the tides and Doer¡¯s majestic figure walking out from their midst.

    Song Zining sighed with a wry smile. ¡°What a pity.¡±

    ¡°What about?¡± Doer asked without attacking immediately.

    Song Zining nced at him and said, ¡°You actually daree here despite your injuries. If it wasn¡¯t for your overwhelming advantage in numbers, you probably won¡¯t be able to walk out.¡±

    Doer remained unmoved. ¡°I find it quite regretful as well. If the situation today never happened, you and I could¡¯ve had a satisfying battle a decade or twoter. me your human race if you must me something. What else need be said when even people like you three can be ced on the table as chips? Time is running out. The three of you are probably out of origin power and can¡¯t escape even if you wanted to. So, just be on your way in peace.¡±

    Song Zining let out a longugh. He reached for his spear out of habit, but there was nothing there. He looked back to find that there was no one left around him. The only personal guard left alive was guarding the Neenth Princess¡¯ body.

    It was at this time that Bai Aotu suddenly appeared and pressed a spear into Song Zining¡¯s hands. ¡°Just make do with this, I¡¯ll trust you to guard my back.¡±

    With that, she walked toward Doer with a swing of her long sleeves.

    The werewolf shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re a spent force, what¡¯s the use?¡±

    Bai Aotu spread her arms out in an odd posture, saying, ¡°I have a sure-kill move that I¡¯ve been training for ten years but never had the chance to use it. It¡¯ll make a fitting gift for your distinguished self.¡±

    Doer¡¯s expression was serious. He had immediately realized that Bai Aotu was about to ignite herself andunch a mutually-destructive blow. She was only one fine line away from reaching the divine champion realm. If she was ready to attack with her life on the line, how terrifying would it be?

    Bai Aotu wasn¡¯t about to give Doer the time to think, nor for anyone to stop her. She arrived before the duke with a crisp whistle andunched a punch at his chest, apanied by myriad visual phenomena.

    Doer¡¯s hair stood on end as he morphed into his werewolf form and wed fiercely at Bai Aotu¡¯s fist!

    A muffled thud shook the entire Whitetown. In the blink of an eye, the distant Qianye and Zhao Jundu nced in this direction at the same time.

    Bai Aotu and Doer froze in ce for a moment as one circr shockwave after the other spread out in all directions. Everything in their wake copsedyer byyer, almost as though they had experienced countless passing years. Those affected by the shockwave¡ªbe they mercenaries or dark race soldiers¡ªwould be frozen in ce, their faces suffused with a deathly grey color.

    Blood vessels surfaced on Bai Aotu¡¯s face three times. With a sudden loud roar, a mist of red erupted from her body, and blood flowed out from her ears and nose. Great strength flowing into her fist, she deflected Doer¡¯s w and smashed his chest squarely!

    Doer let out a muffled groan as his entire back exploded into a fountain of spurting blood. Soon after, a ck luminous feather shot out. It turned out that the Shot of Inception never dissolved inside the duke¡¯s body; he was merely suppressing it.

    He retreated with a long howl and vanished in an instant.

    Bai Aotu stood drenched in blood, the austerity of her presence prevented anyone from approaching her.

    The shockwave from her exchange with Doer had cleared out everything within a hundred meters. No one survived apart from Song Zining and a couple of Evernight experts who were above the count rank. Fortunately, the dark races made up the majority of the people around her, with only a dozen or so mercenaries and Zhao n soldiers.

    Song Zining walked over to Bai Aotu to support her, but his hand froze halfway in the air. Bai Aotu¡¯s eyes were shut tight, blood trickling down her eyes. She was also listening intently, but how could she hear clearly with all that blood flowing out of her ears?

    Her expression shifted all of a sudden as she looked up at the sky. Song Zining looked up as well, also sensing something.

    Far over the horizon, a dark race airship was descending through theyer of clouds. There were several long ribbons dancing around the vessel, pushing the airship forward with each movement.

    The warship¡¯s speed was shocking. It arrived outside of Whitetown in the blink of an eye, whereupon a dozen or so majestic silhouettes flew up from the deck. Shockingly, all of them were experts above the count rank!

    Song Zining lost hisposure upon seeing the insignia on their robes. ¡°Sword-bearers!¡±

    The strongest force under the Evernight Council was ck Sun, and these sword-bearers were the strongest in the organization. Eden was once a five-star sword-bearer, just like this batch of experts that had appeared!

    The entire state of affairs had fallen into despair with their appearance. These Evernight experts couldn¡¯t be judged from their rank alone, as they were all geniuses like Eden.

    The number and rank of these sword-bearers proved that they had almost mobilized in full-force. The shadows of the council chairman, or even one of the supremes could be seen behind this operation.

    The sword-bearers came from different races. Even though they had arrived aboard Evernight¡¯s most advanced high-speed warship, it would take a good while for them to travel from their main camp to the void continent. Perhaps they were already on the way when the war began.

    To a certain degree, one could say that the value of these sword-bearers wasn¡¯t inferior to Doer himself, and definitely greater than Digger. Passing the council¡¯s strict star screening meant that they possessed immense strength as well as future potential. Whether they continued serving the council or shouldered their own racial duties, they would form the top-tier backbone of the dark races.

    Why was the Evernight Council making such a big move?

    The sword-bearers arrived with great speed. Before people could figure out the answer, they had already charged into the city center. They were intent on upying the centralmand, to divide the defensive forces and annihte them.

    It was just that only a handful of mercenaries remained in Whitetown, and the Zhao n¡¯s private soldiers had mostly fallen. So, it was obvious who these sword-bearers hade for.

    Without waiting for them tond, Qianye¡¯s eyes flickered with radiance. Each of his pupils reflected the silhouette of a sword-bearer, both marquises. These experts found the flow of their origin power immediately be stagnant.

    It was at this moment that Qianye stopped holding back. The Twin Flowers appeared in his hand as luminous wings unfurled behind his back, and two inky feathers shot into the sword-bearers¡¯ foreheads!

    Even Doer could not dissolve the Shot of Inception immediately and could only suppress it. How could a marquis withstand the attack? The two sword-bearer marquises descended to the ground without so much as a grunt. It was just that theirrades remained hovering while the two of them copsed to the ground, never to move again.

    Qianye¡¯s vision dimmed after firing two shots of inception. His body was entirely drained of energy, and all he wanted to do was sleep. He couldn¡¯t react even when a sword-bearer shed at his throat.

    At the moment of peril, Qianye suddenly heard Zhao Jundu¡¯s voice, ¡°Qianye,e to me. Spatial sh!¡±

    Without time to think, Qianye activated Spatial sh out of instinct, and his flickering body appeared beside Zhao Jundu. That sword-bearer ended up shing empty air.

    Zhao Jundu pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder. Eight streams of violet energy pulsed briefly as Qianye felt his entire body numb and immobile!

    Shocked, Qianye immediately began to struggle, but the bindings around his body showed no signs of giving way. Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal, even though it was just a simple pat, wasn¡¯t something an exhausted Qianye could break.

    ¡°You¡¯ll injure your foundations if you keep moving about.¡± Zhao Jundu roared sternly, forcing Qianye to calm down.

    The fourth young master nced at the sword-bearers who were scouting their way forward. ¡°These people are likely here for me. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll feel good letting them go back empty-handed. So yeah, there¡¯s no need to go back anymore.¡±

    Zhao Jundu grabbed Heartgrave from Qianye¡¯s back and fired without even aiming! A sword-bearer fell down immediately.

    Zhao Jundu moved the muzzle without waiting to see the results. The timbre of gunshots echoed through the air. Whoever was within firing range would find it impossible to evade the shot, regardless of movement arts or domains. One swordbearer after the other fell, unable to escape the one-shot-one-kill streak empowered by his True Shot ability.

    Shocked out of his wits, Qianye began to struggle and il about. Heartgrave was a superior grade-nine weapon, how could it be used like this!?

 Chapter 1175: No Thought of Hatred

    <h4>Chapter 1175: No Thought of Hatred</h4>

    The night sky over the Imperial Capital was clear with neither stars nor moon.

    Myriad lights on the ground flickered so brightly that it was no different from day. It was as though no one had noticed the mysterious changes to the vast sky, or the deep darkness shrouding it.

    On the roof of the main hall of Prince Greensun¡¯s manor, a person was seated in a half-lotus position, pouring a jar of wine into his mouth.

    This type of drinking was extremely satisfying, sending the scent of alcohol wafting out in all directions¡ªit was strong, crude, and pungent. The wine was a northern local product called Mouthburn. The ingredients were crude, the taste was strong, and it would burn on contact with a me. Low-ranking soldiers would usually use it to suppress the cold of winter or wash their wounds.

    A different figure appeared quietly on the eaves across from him, yet no one in the entire residence was rmed of his arrival.

    Zhao Boqian finished thest drop of wine before tossing the jar to the ground and looking up at the guest.

    He had spread his perception throughout the entire city after returning to the residence. However, he still found that Xitang was no longer there. Other people might not have sensed it, but it was impossible for the ruler of the entire capital to not notice. After that, Zhang Boqian sent no message to the Unending Pce to exin, nor did the Emperor send people to investigate.

    However, the Emperor himself had arrived.

    The two exchanged no words for a good while.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was as still as an ancient well, his aura devoid of its usual sharpness and no different from an ordinary person¡¯s. The Radiant Emperor¡¯s aura was vast and mysterious, almost as though he was one with the boundless mountains, rivers, and the earth itself. Both of them had improved since the battle at the Hidden Pce.

    The Radiant Emperor sat down with a sigh. ¡°Teacher has left.¡±

    With his understanding of Lin Xitang, the Emperor had figured out what had happened the moment he sensed Zhang Boqian¡¯s consciousness wash over the entire capital. There was no gap in the way the Radiant Emperor oversaw his subjects, and he surely had a firm grasp on all key locations and personnel. Yet, he had not discovered anything wrong. Every scout and spy reported nothing out of the ordinary.

    ¡°He never went anywhere, nor did he leave any word. He left just like that.¡± The Radiant Emperor¡¯s tone sounded a bit confused, almost like a lost child who had been separated from his parents, at a loss about what to do.

    At this point, the two clearly understood why Lin Xitang had gone straight from the Divination Pavilion to the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence. The moment he was confirmed to be missing, thest ce he had appeared would be strictly investigated. The only ce where he wouldn¡¯t implicate anyone was at Prince Greensun¡¯s residence.

    Zhang Boqian was silent. He only listened and made noment about being used as a shield.

    The Radiant Emperor put his hand over his eyes and said with a wry smile, ¡°Nobody has ever been able to change his mind on something he has decided.¡±

    His voice became gloomy and even a bit hoarse toward the end. ¡°All benefits are negligible before the future of the human race. If and when required, even this Empire doesn¡¯t necessarily have to exist. Yet there are millions of people, so many divination specialists and experts. Since the sacrifice could be anyone, why must it be him?

    ¡°Teacher has saved countless orphans and raised countless geniuses to power, but was he ever sincere? How does he expect his friends to watch as he turns himself into a chess piece, putting himself in danger every time?¡±

    Toward the end, the Radiant Emperor looked like he was muttering to himself. Zhang Boqian, on the other hand, was gazing over the yonder horizon, one hand on his knee and the other on the roof below. Who knew if he had heard what was said or not?

    After the Emperor finished speaking, the rooftop became silent for a moment. The lull was finally broken by Zhang Boqian¡¯s sneer. ¡°Too many whats and whys. The reason one cannot make the rules is that he¡¯s not strong enough, there¡¯s no other reason.¡±

    Zhang Boqian stood up with a gloomy expression. ¡°The void outside of the Qin Continent has been locked down?¡±

    Neither the stars, asteroid belt, nor the two moons could be seen in the sky. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t a change in the continent¡¯s trajectory or the cloudyer being too thick. It was a visual aberration caused by the origin field that the dark race fleet and experts had deployed.

    The Radiant Emperor stood up as well. ¡°Yes, Royal Uncle Rivernce has just returned to the capital.¡± At this moment, there were no more emotions showing on his face. There was not a hint of hesitation or confusion.

    ¡°How about the other continents?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve encountered some probing attacks around sundown. The heavenly monarchs are overseeing their own positions.¡±

    There really was no need to say. Both of them understood very well that the current peace on the Qin Continent was temporary as the highlight of the ¡°Sanguine Funeral¡± was there.

    After some thought, the Radiant Emperor couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°The Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery should have no problem evading the dark races under the great monarch realm...¡±

    The void ultimately wasn¡¯t like the continents. cing a blockade in the vast space might stop Lord Rivernce¡¯s fleet, but there was no guarantee that a small airship couldn¡¯t sneak away. If a void blockade could be water-tight, there wouldn¡¯t be such a thing as smuggling.

    Zhang Boqian nced over and responded calmly, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem to evade the great monarchs, either. Only the Sacred Mountain...¡±

    The Radiant Emperor felt a chill creep into his heart as he met Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes, even though thetter¡¯s expression was calm and there was no fluctuation in his eyes. Zhang Boqian clearly wasn¡¯t referring to the Spider Queen¡¯s projection that he had encountered.

    The heavenly monarch said, ¡°Since unwee guests are at the door, why haven¡¯t you issued the order to fight, Your Majesty?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor was distracted for a moment. Civilian life looked normal at the Imperial Capital, but the entire Qin Continent had been mobilized at the highest level and all warzones could be plunged into battle at a moment¡¯s notice. But Zhang Boqian was suggesting that they sally forth and attack?

    The heavenly monarch¡¯s next words confirmed that the Emperor hadn¡¯t misunderstood him. ¡°Since the Sanguine Funeral is a heavenly monarch battle, why not just fight? Why the need to begin with cannon fodder?¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s tone was calm, but his intent to fight rose sharply.

    The Radiant Emperor was shocked. ¡°Now?¡±

    ¡°Do we really need to pick a good time to fight?¡±

    The Emperor remained silent for a while, then broke into suddenughter. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± His expression rxed, no longer as burdened and stressed as he was when he had arrived. His majestic aura was suffused with the transcendent qualities of a true ruler.

    ¡°Since Monarch Zhang wishes to do battle, I shall bring up the rear for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll trouble Your Majesty then.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor took to the air with a sweep of his sleeves. The entire city of Revtion came alive with his movements, sending streams of dark energy soaring into the air.

    Above the Unending Pce at the center of the Imperial Capital, a hazy dark mist rose into the air and condensed into the shape of a giant rifle. The almost tangible weapon gradually stood up, moving its muzzle upward and its stock down. After rotating to a certain firing angle, it shot a long stream of ck mes toward the sky.

    The ck clouds scattered to either side, much like the curtains on a stage, revealing the dim glow of the void and a ck sun!

    Entirely unmoved, Zhang Boqian shot into the air and made straight for the void like a warship.

    ...

    Void continent, Whitetown. The sound of gunfire never ceased.

    It looked like Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t sense Heartgrave¡¯s consumption at all. His focus was entirely on cutting down the sword-bearers one-by-one. The gun¡¯s massive firepower coupled with Trueshot meant that every hit would hit the enemy¡¯s vitals. He was an indefensible force on the battlefield, killing even a marquis with a single shot.

    In the blink of an eye, all but two of the higher-star sword-bearers had been reaped. The remainder were all counts.

    Every thunderous gunshot would shake the Evernight experts¡¯ heart. The sword-bearers weren¡¯t fearless of death. On the contrary, none of them really wanted to die because they were outstanding people with great future prospects. When the seventh high-ranking sword-bearer fell, their morale copsed entirely, and all of them began to scatter.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t stop firing. A count had already fled a thousand meters away when the gunshot sted him to oblivion!

    In the very end, only a handful of sword-bearers managed to escape. The group that had arrived with great momentum and fanfare was almost wiped out in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands!

    Gun in hand, the fourth young master looked around him and said in a clear voice, ¡°Trading my life for all your sword-bearers, you guys have finally be smart.¡±

    The entire battlefield was quiet. No one had recovered from the battle that hadsted mere moments but shook everyone to the core.

    The sword-bearers made up the core strength of Evernight¡¯s younger generation. There might not be anyone among them who could bepared to Zhao Jundu, but most of them were famous geniuses like Eden. Now that Zhao Jundu had wiped out most of their entire squad, it would surelye as a great blow to the Evernight Council.

    What he had killed wasn¡¯t just counts and marquises but future dukes and council members, maybe even princes and council chairmen.

    No one would be willing to make this trade, no matter how much they wanted Zhao Jundu¡¯s life.

    Doer had fled with grave injuries, leaving the dark races without a leader. The only one who could keep things together was Digger, but considering Doer¡¯s situation, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess that the vice-duke wasn¡¯t faring much better, either. Even if he could fight in the field, there was little hope of him beating a powerful enemy.

    Digger couldn¡¯t tell what he was feeling right now as he gazed at Zhao Jundu hovering in the air like a god and looking down at the world. No one dared approach him, even though they knew he would copse any moment.

    Digger sighed inwardly. The human race would always erupt with unimaginable power when pushed into dire straits. Countless people had ignited themselves to take the enemy down with them throughout the years. That determination was an important reason why they had managed to build a stable foothold in the midst of dark race territory.

    And now, Zhao Jundu was joining their ranks.

    The fourth young master was young, handsome, and his background was also wless. He himself was an outstanding talent and only waiting in leisure to cross into the divine champion realm. Even bing a heavenly monarch before Zhang Boqian¡¯s age was a possibility.

    Such a young man possessed boundless future prospects. Yet, he had never thought about running away from this critical battle, fighting to the bitter and bloody end. In the end, he burnt his life force and met death with great calmness, turning Evernight¡¯s most outstanding geniuses into his gravestone decorations.

    How could one throw away such a brilliant future so easily?

    Evernight had held the absolute advantage, to begin with, and the proud sword-bearers had their own future interests in mind. Who would really fight with their lives on the line? If only half of them had charged forward when Zhao Jundu¡¯s sniping began and fought him to the death, the situation wouldn¡¯t have deteriorated so badly.

    In the end, no one had imagined that the Zhao n young master would be so determined, sacrificing his own body to turn the tables.

    Digger couldn¡¯t help but wonder what this young man was thinking. How could he make such a decision so easily?

    As long-lived races, the vampires indeed enjoyed long lifespans, but that was also the reason why they were so afraid of death. Digger himself had experienced very vividly the terror between life and death.

    Seeing that there were no more opponents, Zhao Jundu finallynded calmly and arrived beside Qianye.

    The bindings of the Omniscient Seal loosened at this point, but Qianye remained motionless like a statue. He opened his mouth and uttered a word with great difficulty, ¡°You...¡± He couldn¡¯t say anything beyond that.

    Zhao Junduughed out loud. ¡°With me around, how can I let my younger brothers and sisters put their lives on the line?¡±

 Chapter 1176: The Battle of Whitetown Ends

    <h4>Chapter 1176: The Battle of Whitetown Ends</h4>

    Zhao Jundu put Heartgrave back in Qianye¡¯s hands. Patting thetter¡¯s shoulder, he said, ¡°Qianye, remember to avenge me when you grow up. No one in our Zhao n is stupid, everyone remembers their enmity. Okay, I¡¯m tired, I need to rest for a bit.¡±

    With that, he walked over to a broken wall and sat down with his back against it. A beam of sunlight showered down on his body like a waterfall. There was a faint smile on Zhao Jundu¡¯s lips as he sat down with his eyes closed, almost as though he were enjoying the sunlight.

    Qianye took a step forward, but he ultimately withdrew the step. Zhao Jundu¡¯s chest was moving weakly at this moment, and Qianye was afraid that the slightest shock would disperse thatst shred of vitality.

    Song Zining and Bai Aotu arrived and stood quietly to the side. Thetter turned her head slightly to the side, hoping to hear Zhao Jundu¡¯s breathing and heartbeat. The mercenaries and Zhao n soldiers came back into Whitetown in session. There were only a couple hundred men left in the entire city¡ªall of them were wounded, and almost half of them had to be supported by theirrades to remain standing.

    The Evernight soldiers in the periphery had fled, shaken by the battle. Those standing in ce were all titled experts, but they were all dispirited and had stopped fighting. They all nced at a single direction without prior arrangement, where Zhao Jundu sat as though he were sleeping. Just a moment ago, this man was a demon to every enemy. Yet, now that he was asleep, they simply couldn¡¯t put in the effort to break that tranquility.

    ¡°Qianye...¡±

    Pointing at Zhao Jundu, Qianye gestured at Song Zining to keep quiet. Thetter sighed, and no longer tried to persuade him.

    Zhao Jundu was still breathing, and his heart was still beating, but everyone knew that he was destined to wither.

    ncing at himself and then at the surroundings, Song Zining threw down his warped spear with a wry smile. Yet somehow, the weapon suddenlynded back in his hands. Song Zining was startled for a moment until he realized that Qianye had caught the spear and stuffed it back into his hands.

    ¡°This battle... isn¡¯t over yet,¡± Qianye said word-by-word.

    The dark race soldiers who had been in the battle just now were either dead or fleeing, all of them shaken to the core and no longer fit for battle. However, there was still a reserve army to the rear, as well as a vice-duke overseeing the formation. Additionally, a council expert of even higher rank had to be here to lead all those ck Sun sword-bearers.

    ¡°You¡¯re...¡± Song Zining saw a thick ck book appear in Qianye¡¯s hands. He couldn¡¯t tell which era this simple old book was from, only that it was extremely ancient.

    The Book of Darkness opened up on its own, each formed page burning itself into oblivion. With each burned page, the vast amounts of blood energy would flow through the giant gemstone on the cover. The power converged into a pir that surged into Qianye¡¯s body where it was thoroughly absorbed.

    A mass of dark golden blood energy converged atop Qianye¡¯s head and shot into the sky. Countless golden specks pulsed amidst the radiance, almost like a dreamy illusion.

    With the appearance of this blood energy, Qianye¡¯s aura rose continuously¡ªdeep, mysterious, vast, and terrifying. In the blink of an eye, the terrifying aura of a duke covered the entire battlefield like a vast ocean.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression went from bewilderment to shock. He shouted, ¡°What are you doing? You¡¯ll die if you break the bnce!¡±

    The Song n Ancient Scroll was founded upon a bnce between Daybreak and Evernight. If one side grew too strong, the bnce would be toppled irreversibly and devour the other side. This would go on until the body could no longer withstand the strain and break down.

    Qianye was very calm. ¡°Before that happens, I can bring you guys out alive.¡±

    ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Qianye interrupted him, ¡°There will be no reinforcements.¡± Song Zining had no response to those words. Even if reinforcements did arrive, they would still be picked off since there was no cover left in Whitetown. Even if Evernight didn¡¯t invest as many troops to fight the other Imperial army routes, the pressure they were facing surely wasn¡¯t small.

    The experts who had remained on the battlefield were intimidated by Qianye¡¯s aura. The trembling men edged back for a good distance before turning around to flee.

    Digger was filled with worry and trepidation. The odd behavior of those titled experts was clearly due to Qianye¡¯s blood energy.

    The Evernight army¡¯s morale had copsed entirely after Doer fled and the sword-bearers were killed. Most of the werewolf tribes in the allied army had already run away, and the remaining vampires were defenseless against Qianye¡¯s unprecedented blood energy. Even Digger himself was trembling in fear, let alone those soldiers on the front line.

    ¡°Dammit! What is that senior council member doing? Why isn¡¯t he here yet?¡± Digger gazed anxiously at the sky.

    There had to be true experts overseeing these sword-bearers, and a senior council member was the lowest rank for this role. Yet, none had appeared even as Zhao Jundu killed off all the sword-bearers.

    In truth, Digger had already realized that the situation had taken a turn for the worse. Whether they lost or won the battle here, Evernight¡¯s losses were far beyond the benefits. No one could afford to bear the responsibility if Qianye and Song Zining were to charge out and escape.

    The mes of war were still raging out in the void. The Empire and Evernight fleets fought with great ferocity, only taking half a day¡¯s break to reorganize before shing again each time. The only thing worth celebrating was that the Evernight side had stopped pouring in more troops. There were almost no more transport fleets charging through into the continent.

    A certain region in the void, above where the central and western routes would converge. The atmosphere was tense and austere.

    A massive Imperial armada was waiting on high alert. Those familiar with the Imperial fleet would know that almost all of the First Imperial Guard Fleet was here.

    At this point in the battle, even the Empire¡¯s strongest fleet was no longer at its full capacity. Having to transfer all these airships into this formation, it was easy to imagine how much pressure the other warzones would be under.

    Yet, the biggest pressure was still before them.

    The emerging Evernight fleet wasn¡¯t very big, but it was made up of top-notch Evernight warships.

    There was a giant warship in their midst. It was entirely ck, and the carvings on its metallic surface were simply magnificent. Each and every one of its folded rams looked amply bloodthirsty and fierce. The entire deck and bridge were sparkling red, and from a distance, one could see the origin arrays glowing like a sea of fire.

    This giant ship was unfamiliar to the Imperial Guard, but from its model and size, one could guess that it was a prince-grade vampire warship! Compared to this colossus, the apanying duke-grade airships to the left and right, as well as the high-speed warship squadron to the rear, looked almost negligible.

    The generals on the Imperial gship were all gloomy as they waited for that terrifying shadow to arrive in the void-space. The insignia on the giant hull also came into view¡ªa ming crown, the crest of the Sperger n, one of the twelve old vampire ns.

    This was the worst news of them all. The enemy was a powerhouse of the Evernight Council, Prince Habsburg himself!

    The Imperial captain mmed his fist on the table and roared, ¡°Dispatch a high-speed airship! We must send back news that Habsburg has taken to the field!¡± Understanding the gravity of the situation, the aide flew out of the door. The entire void continent was embroiled inbat, both on the ground and in the void. Who knew how many strategic points the messenger could run to? Yet this news had to be brought to the other fleets and ground forces. Otherwise, any unit caught unaware would be utterly annihted.

    Despite knowing that there was no chance of victory, the captain would have to figure out how to stall for as much time as possible and maximize the amount of enemy fighting power they could reduce.

    Just as the Imperial fleet wasmencing deployments under the tense atmosphere, the captain suddenly looked up. His eyes went wide, and a drop of sweat rolled down into his eyes. The man rubbed his eyes and blinked hard before looking out the window again.

    He wasn¡¯t wrong!

    The Evernight fleet was turning!

    At this moment, the watchtower also ryed the same information. Habsburg¡¯s gship was slowly turning to the left, and the apanying duke-grade airships were doing the same. After turning about a hundred and twenty degrees, the gship left with the entire fleet in tow.

    This was supposed to be a decisive battle, but the final oue was simply unimaginable.

    On the giant airship, a vampire duke asked Habsburg with a serious expression, ¡°Your Excellency, there will be no one to rescue the sword-bearers if we leave.¡±

    Habsburg was standing in front of the cabin window with a ss of wine in his hands, gazing at the boundless void outside as though it was a wonderful scenery. ¡°It goes without saying that I have more important things to do. What? Are you questioning me?¡±

    The duke bowed in terror. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare!¡±

    After a moment, Habsburg said, ¡°There are some people whose dying brilliance is more dazzling than the midday sun for countless others.¡±

    Habsburg had his back to everyone else, so no one could see his expression. Neither did they understand why he was saying this out of the blue. They nced at one another, but no one raised the question.

    Those in the room were vampire experts above the marquis rank. Most of them had heard that the prince and Medanzo had gotten into a disagreement, and that the Azure King Renault had to step in to solve the problem. At this moment, no one wanted to run into the muzzle of a prince who was in a sour mood.

    Habsburg had no intention of exining, either. He sank back into his own world, sighing. ¡°There are some people...¡±

    The wine in his ss was as red as blood, somewhat harsh to the eyes, even.

    The sky above Whitetown was silent, almost deathly still. Qianye had already assaulted three directions, and each time, the dark races would flee before his terrifying pressure bore down upon them.

    Would Qianye stop at the dark races¡¯ central formation with his next attack? Would he stop there? Would he return?

    Digger realized that someone had to make the decision, issue themand, and shoulder the responsibility. Clearly, this role had fallen to him. Bear the burden of defeat or die bravely in battle? The choice wasn¡¯t too hard.

    He took a deep breath and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Command... all forces, retreat.¡±

    His subordinates ran off with hismand. Digger turned to nce at Whitetown. He knew that, with this retreat, they would never return.

    The battle of Whitetown hade to an end.

 Chapter 1177: Desperate Struggle

    <h4>Chapter 1177: Desperate Struggle</h4>

    Throughout the entire battle, Dark me and its forty thousand mercenaries, as well as the thousand-some soldiers from the Zhao n¡¯s private army, had almost been wiped out entirely. Only a couple hundred of them remained alive.

    Evernight left a hundred thousand corpses in this small piece ofnd, over half of them elites. Countless high-ranking officers and titled experts perished in battle. The number of marquises alone was in the two digits. The Evernight Council¡¯s cream-of-the-crop, ck Sun, also saw all of its high-ranking sword-bearers wiped out in Whitetown.

    This little stone city was a meat-grinder through and through.

    The war on the void continent was like a storm, and the eye of this tempest was Whitetown.

    The eye of the storm had calmed down at this point, but the maelstrom around it was still raging on. It was like a roaring ancient beast, seeking to tear everything up in its wake.

    On the edge of the void continent closest to the Qin Empire, there was a supply base. The structure could barely be considered a fortress as it was normally used as a transit and distribution center for logistics.

    The ce had be more or less idle after the war began since most of the resources had been shipped to the various fortresses. Only small airships would pass through to transmit information and unimportant goods.

    That was why the dark race army had never targeted this location. Naturally, since the entire continent was engulfed in the mes of war, this ce had also experienced a number of short but intense battles. The dark races never expected that there would be a divine champion overseeing this ce, so they were forced to retreat in low spirits.

    There were all kinds of people from the Empire passing through these buildingplexes. Among them, there was a grey silhouette walking swiftly with its head lowered. This person was covered in a cloak that reached down to their ankles, and only the boots were identifiable as an Imperial product. The strange thing was that no one stopped this person or interrogated them the entire way.

    The grey figure went up to the war-preparation room on the third floor of the fortress and pushed open the door.

    The Minister of the Right looked up from a table full of documents, his eyes wide. ¡°You!¡±

    The guest didn¡¯t wait for him to finish before a cold sh shot out from under the cloak and shed the Minister of the Right. The battle ended very quickly¡ªby the time the generals heard themotion and rushed in, the Minister of the Right was no longer breathing.

    The assant had long since removed his hood, revealing a head of dusky grey hair. It was almost as though he had collected a lot of dust on the journey. He stood before the sand-table and moved some of the pieces with great familiarity. He would fish out some papers from the documents on the table and read them quickly before returning to the sand-table again.

    The generals lowered their weapons after seeing the man¡¯s face, their expressions gaping and speechless.

    At this moment, another person charged into the room. It was one of the minister¡¯s strategists. Unlike the hesitant generals, he immediately stepped forward and pointed his finger at the guest. ¡°You...¡±

    Lin Xitang flicked his finger lightly, and an invisible de shed the strategist¡¯s throat. A lifeless corpse soon fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

    Only the sound of heavy breathing could be heard in the room.

    Lin Xitang looked up after he had finished adjusting the symbols on the sand-table and observed the generals at the scene. ¡°The court has been reorganized, and the Imperial military is now under the cab¡¯s control. As the Imperial Steward, I lead the cab and thus have full authority ofmand.

    ¡°Regarding the execution that I just carried out, you may report the truth.

    ¡°The strategy on the sand-table has changed. Record it and deliver the message to all relevant units.¡±

    Lin Xitang left after issuing themands. As he passed by the group of stunned generals, a brigadier general suddenly called out to him, ¡°Marshal Lin! The situation on the front line is dire! We have no idea how the dark bastards transferred so many soldiers here!¡±

    Lin Xitang nodded. ¡°I know, I¡¯m heading there now.¡± With that, he left without ever looking back.

    The generals exchanged nces. Suddenly filled with fighting spirit and energy, they rushed over to the sand-table to do their job,pletely ignoring the two corpses on the chair and floor. Now that Marshal Lin had appeared on the battlefield, there was yet hope of a victory.

    The Imperial eastern army had shed countless times with the enemy. Among those who were ganging up on Princess Haimi, they were already one short, and half of the others were injured.

    Princess Haimi¡¯s fingers had split open, and half her body was drenched in blood. Blood was seeping out of the slow-healing wounds, so much so that even the transparent bow in her hands seemed to have taken on some color. Yet, she stood ramrod straight in the air, graceful and poised. Only that overly pale face of her looked a tad fatigued.

    The Evernight experts attacked again, but they hadn¡¯t even charged a hundred meters when they heard a crisp gunshot echo through the air. A spinning bullet appeared in the vision of every expert, making straight for their foreheads.

    Shocked out of their wits, they had to stop the assault and take protective measures. Only at this point did most of them realize that the bullet flying toward them was just an illusion. Before they could rpose themselves, they heard a miserable scream as one of theirrades fell out of the air. Turns out, that bullet was the real one!

    Haimi turned to look at the eastern void when she heard the gunshot, but there was nothing under the hazy grey sky. A sickly red flush appeared on her pale face. Her standing posture that had never wavered against all those enemy experts was actually rattled.

    One of the Evernight experts cried out in rm, ¡°Illusion Corridor! It¡¯s Lin Xitang!¡± This person¡¯s next action was to turn around and flee,pletely ignoring his otherrades.

    ¡°Illusion Corridor¡± was a divine skill characteristic of Lin Xitang, one of the Empire¡¯s twin paragons. Apparently, this expert had fought Lin Xitang before and was beaten until he was afraid.

    A warm and clear voice replied, ¡°Yes, go back and tell him, I¡¯vee.¡±

    Yet another shot came, followed by several bullet illusions. This time, all of the Evernight experts scattered like birds and beasts. Someone far off in the distance let out a muffled groan. It would seem an unlucky victim had failed to dodge Lin Xitang¡¯s real bullet. However, the man didn¡¯t receive a lethal injury since he was already running away.

    Haimi¡¯s lips moved slightly, but that name ultimately stopped at the tip of her tongue. She didn¡¯t utter it.

    She knew not how long she had been standing. It felt like a quarter-hour but also like a hundred years. There was nothing else left in the air but the scent of smoke and gunpowder. That gentle voice, which had seemingly etched itself into her being, never appeared again.

    Haimi started to cough violently, throwing up blood as she did so. Eventually, she stood straight and nced briefly at her injured hand. Then, with her bow tightly in her grasp, the princess headed toward the fiercest corner of the battlefield.

    As for the skies above the ce, it had finally recovered its vast quietness.

    Off in the depths of the void, a gloomy, frowning Habsburg was urging the fleet to speed up. However, the fleet was close to its maximum speed. If they were to keep up their current consumption, the fleet might not have enough fuel to return to Evernight without resupplying. There was no way they would dare to speed up further.

    The only way to reach optimal speed was for Habsburg¡¯s gship to break away from the main fleet and forge ahead. He had the urge to do just that several times, but he ultimately held it back and kept on leading the fleet. He was the only one who knew their current destination.

    Even the sailors and captain of the prince¡¯s gship were at a loss. All they could do was steer the vessel ording to Habsburg¡¯s instructions. The other vessels in the fleet were understandably unable to make sense of anything.

    After over an hour of flight, they discovered that their fleet was actually expanding. Therades joining them were mostly main-force types, probably from the mobile units operating in the void. Some warships had probably experienced battles when they were summoned, evident from the shell marks on their bodies.

    The captain passed on one of Habsburg¡¯smands, then picked up his own detailed hand-drawn route map. He discovered that they were circling over from the west of the void continent to the east, making two turns before charging toward the middle-continents where the Qin Empire was.

    The captain couldn¡¯t help but rub his short beard as he contemted the matter. This route seemed like they were collecting the other squadrons, but there had to be some other objective. It looked like they were driving something away, or perhaps chasing after it.

    Soon afterward, the captain crushed the map into a ball. Sating his curiosity for a bit was fine, but he wasn¡¯t about to provoke a prince whose mood was at its worst.

    This full-speed flightsted an entire half-day before the fleet arrived in a certain part of the void.

    They were at a mid-way point between the Empire and the void continent. One wrong step and they would be caught in a pincer attack from both sides. Additionally, the void-space here wasn¡¯t calm. Just a couple dozen kilometers away, there was a revolving void tempest.

    Habsburg wasn¡¯t at all concerned about their dangerous position. On the contrary, he issued an order for the airships to take up an interception stance.

    Momentster, a small boat appeared up front, drifting through the void tempest.

    The boat wasn¡¯t big and could fit eight people at the very most. In terms of airships, this was one of the smallest types in existence. This type of small airship couldn¡¯t withstand bad weather, nor could it fly long distances. It was only usable within the continent. Yet now, it was actually in the void, and it was even gliding through the void tempest in a leisurely manner.

    On Habsburg¡¯s gship, all the vampire experts exchanged uneasy nces. This little boat was too strange. One didn¡¯t even need a brain to know that the owner of the vessel was a true powerhouse.

    The wine-ss in Habsburg¡¯s hand shattered with a bang, showering its scarlet contents to the floor. It was as though the floor was covered in blood.

    Everyone was astonished because, throughout the years, they had never seen Habsburg lose hisposure like so.

    Habsburg was already a duke when he first returned to the n. Compared to the murderous and plundering suppressive might that was characteristic of superior vampires, the impression he gave off was gentle and calm. Almost nothing could produce evident changes in his expression.

    But now, he was clearly beside himself andpletely ignorant about it.

    The dripping sound of wine on the floor finally woke Habsburg up. He frowned as he nced at the shattered crystal. He wiped his hand boorishly on his jacket, removed his coat, and left for the deck in hunting attire.

    He had just taken two steps forward when an inexplicable sensation bore down upon him. That majestic and mysterious aura filled the entire world, causing all vampire experts to tremble instinctively. Some of the lower-ranked experts fell to their knees.

    The suppressive might filled the entire void. Experts on the other warships weren¡¯t spared, either, with many of them falling to their knees.

    This indefensible terror, this suppressive might arising from the grand origins of darkness, could onlye from the Sacred Mountain. It was unknown which supreme had cast his gaze here. Who could the person on the boat be, that he would attract the attention of a supreme?

    Habsburg nced at the void. Aplicated expression flickered briefly through his eyes but was soon hidden into the depths of his pupils. The fingers on his right hand moved slightly, but he stopped himself from clutching his chest.

    The moment that small boat appeared, that drop of separated origin blood vanished entirely. It wasn¡¯t a block on perception, and neither was the blood hidden¡ªit was simply no longer in existence.

    Habsburg calmed himself down as he walked out to the deck inrge strides. He then stepped into the void and stood in front of that lone boat.

    ¡°This time, you can¡¯t escape anymore.¡±

 Chapter 1178: The Final Battle Part 1

    <h4>Chapter 1178: The Final Battle Part 1</h4>

    The cabin doors opened and out walked a tall, slender man with silver hair. He was d in a ck, stiff-cored uniform characteristic of the Empire but no military insignia.

    His face didn¡¯t look too old, but he wasn¡¯t young, either. Time itself had little meaning on his body. His eyes were deep, clear, and as calm as still water, almost as though they were reflecting the world itself. A single nce would draw the spectator¡¯s eye and make it difficult to cast their gaze away.

    The frustration and jitter Habsburg had umted to the point of explosion suddenly disappeared, reced by his usual indifference and calm.

    He gazed deeply at those eyes and said after a good while. ¡°Why must it be at this time?¡±

    Lin Xitang didn¡¯t look at Habsburg after walking out. Instead, he observed the surroundings carefully, almost as though the vast emptiness was filled with myriad scenery. His eyes, when they looked towards the Empire¡¯s direction, were filled with undisguised familiarity and love.

    He said slowly, ¡°Why would I be in this state if not for the time?¡±

    At this moment, an invisible fluctuation appeared in the void. It was as though the supreme who had been paying attention to this ce was moved, identally revealing his thoughts.

    Lin Xitang gazed at the depths of the void, saying, ¡°How rare for the Demon King to have time to spare.¡±

    A ck sun slowly rose up through the emptiness, depriving the entire world of light.

    The massive Evernight fleet was robbed of all radiance. Be it their origin arrays, illumination equipment, or their metal or crystal shells, be it things that emit, reflect or refract light, everything was plunged into darkness. This included Lin Xitang¡¯s small airship as well.

    All Evernight experts felt as though they had returned to theiring-of-age ceremony where they were baptized in darkness. All they could see and touch was darkness. None of them remained standing as they submitted to this vast and invincible will.

    Only Habsburg and Lin Xitang remained unaffected.

    A figure slowly walked out. He didn¡¯t look that tall or strong, but his aura filled the heaven and earth, and each step of his would shake the void. The man¡¯s body and face were shrouded in a darkness that even Habsburg couldn¡¯t see through.

    The prince quickly averted his gaze and took half a step back, bowing to show his respect for the supreme.

    The Demon King stood before Lin Xitang and observed him. ¡°How can I note after seeing that you¡¯re headed to the void continent.¡±

    The supreme¡¯s voice was unexpectedly gentle, and his tone was rather casual, almost as though he were talking to an old friend.

    Both the Empire¡¯s own defensework and the Evernight blockade led by a great dark monarch were full of openings before Lin Xitang.

    Only the will of the Sacred Mountain was a force to be reckoned with. Who would¡¯ve thought, though, that the demonkin would avert his gaze from the Empire on the eve of the Sanguine Funeral?

    Lin Xitang smiled. ¡°Thanks to Prince Habsburg, this Lin has been injured for many years. What can I do even if I did get to the void continent?¡±

    ¡°I was only one step toote, allowing you less than half an hour on the continent. Yet, you know what you did.¡±

    With that, the Demon King nced at Lin Xitang in surprise. ¡°You only have a year or so left to live?¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a secret anymore is it?¡±

    The Demon King remained silent for a while. ¡°Calcting from your age, you should have had a bit less than six years.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled calmly. The Demon King probably doesn¡¯t remember his own age, yet he remembered an enemy divine champion¡¯s age so clearly. It was clear that he was privy to certain things.

    The darkness shrouding the Demon King¡¯s body dispersed, revealing a face of near-perfect features. ¡°You are a great cmity to Evernight, but you¡¯re worthy of me facing you directly.¡±

    Lin Xitang was a bit surprised when he saw the Demon King¡¯s appearance. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The Demon Kingughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Rosnia¡¯s mind is on the new world, and Lilith is still asleep. That was why I came the moment I found out that you were headed for the void continent, I¡¯m also the only one who cane.¡±

    Lin Xitang nced at Habsburg. ¡°The ming Crown is probably enough to stop me.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°No preparation is too excessive when ites to you. I wouldn¡¯t feel easy if I didn¡¯te in person. Besides, I also wanted to see you, there might not be an opportunityter on.¡±

    The Demon King paused for a moment. ¡°See? Even Habsburg brought all the forces he could muster to stop you.¡±

    At this point, it was difficult to figure out whether these words were praise or admonition. Habsburg¡¯s expression, however, only listened with a calm expression.

    Lin Xitang said, ¡°He might not be able to stop me if he doesn¡¯t bring enough men.¡±

    The marshal was well-known as a strategist who could conceal entire armies, let alone himself. As long as he was mobile enough, finding him on the big void continent and the endless void would be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. There was nothing special to discuss regarding the strategy; all they needed was for the mesh to be as fine as possible.

    The Demon King, however, understood something different from Lin Xitang¡¯s words. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s how it is. Minister Lin wants to exchange his life for aplete victory on the void continent.¡±

    Lin Xitang sighed emotionally. ¡°How can there be a perfect victory under present circumstances? This battle began with me, so it must end the same. This ending will be for the best.¡±

    Habsburg kept his silence for a long while. Finally, he could no longer bear it. ¡°I simply cannot understand you. You clearly have a good year to live, why must you do this? Besides...¡± At this point, he suddenly came to and stopped talking.

    ¡°What¡¯s so bad about exchanging my crippled life for the void continent?¡±

    Habsburg could no longer suppress his anger. ¡°The moment you let out news of your arrival, both His Majesty the Demon King and I came to stop you. Tell me if your crippled life is more important or the void continent?¡±

    This question threw Lin Xitang off-guard, not knowing how to answer. Momentster, he said with a wry smile, ¡°I guess enemies rate you higher.¡±

    ¡°We know your value precisely because we¡¯re enemies.¡± Habsburg¡¯s voice was extremely gloomy.

    The Demon King interrupted the conversation. ¡°Habsburg is correct. Even if you have only half a year left to live, I would still trade the void continent for you. I remain worried every moment that you¡¯re alive.¡±

    The supreme¡¯s voice was exceedingly gentle, almost as though he were talking about a garden tea party with an old friend.

    Habsburg¡¯s face suddenly turned pale. Habsburg could sense the Demon King¡¯s perception sweep over him, even though the supreme was watching Lin Xitang intently.

    At this point in the conversation, Lin Xitang had already figured out that the problem was with the Longevity Monarch. A conspiring heavenly monarch was a great loss to the Empire. He might not have gone so far as to shake the Empire¡¯s foundations before, but after realizing that the Chronicle of Glory had seeded, the Longevity Monarch immediately realized that Lin Xitang had kept the Wheel of Glory propped up for the crippled sect all these years. Whether it was out of revenge or his deluded wish to topple the Wheel of Glory, the monarch passed this information to the demonkin. Fortunately, the Wheel of Glory was already irreversible.

    There was a question on Lin Xitang¡¯s mind. He nced at the Demon King and decided to sate his rare curiosity. ¡°Since Your Majesty Kane decided toe here personally, you must¡¯ve seen the Empire¡¯s heavenly monarch recement before?¡±

    ¡°Barring a once-in-a-millennium event, what else can be more important than you?¡± The Demon King said frankly, ¡°Besides if we miss this opportunity, it¡¯ll be quite troublesome if you remain on the Qin continent for the rest of your days.¡±

    Lin Xitangughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°It seems I¡¯ve underestimated myself.¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°Not you, it¡¯s your human race and your Emperor.¡±

    Lin Xitangughed while shaking his head. His expression became somewhat rxed as he said, ¡°This matter has nothing to do with His Majesty.¡± At this point, he thought of something else. ¡°There are also some smart people in the Empire who don¡¯t underestimate me. They might not be able to sleep or eat well if I don¡¯te over and clean up the situation.¡±

    ¡°You humans really love infighting,¡± Habsburg said.

    The Demon Kingughed helplessly. ¡°Our four races aren¡¯t any better.¡±

    This supreme was a rather unique character, devoid of an expert¡¯s usual overbearingness. One was a divine champion from the enemy faction, and one was a prince from his own. There was a big status gap between them, yet the Demon King was cordial, frank, and calm, speaking casually as though he would in daily life.

    The lightless void around them, however, reminded everyone that Demon King Kane was at the peak of this realm, one of the strongest existences.

    Lin Xitang asked, ¡°Does Your Majesty have any interest on the void continent?¡± Clearly referring to something, he continued bluntly, ¡°I just killed someone who was dealing with Evernight.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Why not ask Habsburg?¡±

    Lin Xitang replied with a question, ¡°Does that mean you know that the envoy that person had been dealing with was from the vampire race?¡±

    The Demon King couldn¡¯t help butugh, realizing that he had fallen into a word trap. ¡°Fine, all benefits shall be yours.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s deration was extremely important because all of the schemes the Evernight Council had set up on the void continent would be abandoned.

    Having reached his objective, Lin Xitang no longer asked about the schemes that were in ce. He said in a straightforward manner, ¡°It¡¯s about time to end this, but don¡¯t expect me to take it lying down. A soldier¡¯s best ending is to die on the battlefield.¡±

    The Demon King asked, ¡°Do you have anyst wishes?¡±

    Lin Xitang looked momentarily distracted. ¡°I wanted to go and see someone at first...¡± He nced at Habsburg with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s just that Lord Habsburg arrived too quickly. He didn¡¯t leave me much time. Ah, it¡¯s fine, makes no difference in the end.¡±

    Having said that, Lin Xitang¡¯s aura rose sharply, and specks of starlight started to flicker in the lightless world. Although they were extremely weak and faint, they still managed to break through the boundless darkness in the end.

    Domain: ¡°Celestial Transpiration!¡±

    Lin Xitang had deployed his domain at full force before these two powerhouses.

    The Demon King¡¯s hands moved slightly, but after some hesitation, he said, ¡°Habsburg, please send him on his way.¡±

    As his voice fell, the space before them suddenly transformed. The three standing men were now a hundred meters apart, the attack range of a divine champion.

 Chapter 1179: The Final Battle Part 2

    <h4>Chapter 1179: The Final Battle Part 2</h4>

    Habsburg¡¯s expression was cold and expressionless. His sapphire eyes had turned into a blood color at one point, almost as though there was a sanguine river roaring within.

    He stared fixedly at the Demon King, a move that could be considered rude. Thetter wasn¡¯t angry, either, and his deep abyssal eyes contained no signs of feeling offended.

    Habsburg ultimately lowered his head and gaze.

    A haze of light golden hue crept into the space around them. Just like the stars in the night sky, the scattered specks of light felt somewhat dim and feeble. That was because all domains around the dark sun were being suppressed even though the Demon King had been holding back his suppressive might. Finally, this sunset-colored domain still managed to expand and painted the stars with a dusky halo.

    ¡°Nation of Dusk!¡±

    Habsburg raised his right hand. His blood energy reached its peak in an instant as dark mes crept along his arm toward his celebrated weapon¡ªEternus.

    Habsburg looked up at Lin Xitang. ¡°Where¡¯s your ¡®Misty Path¡¯?¡± The two had fought more than once and were quite familiar with each other¡¯s weapons.

    However, Lin Xitang wasn¡¯t holding that long-barreled revolver but, instead, a spear. He took a step back and raised his weapon to form abat stance.

    Seeing the stance, Hasburg said in surprise, ¡°Fueled Fire Spear? The Song n¡¯s spear art?¡±

    Lin Xitang said, ¡°All martial paths lead to the same destination. I only feel that this stance suits me.¡±

    Habsburg stopped the questioning. His eyes became deathly cold as he shed all of his emotions. Only his blood energy surged like a trapped dragon that would soon break free from its bindings. That was a sign that his blood energy had been elevated to its apex.

    The blood energy converged like the tides and soon turned into a sanguine tempest.

    Lin Xitang attacked first. Space seemed to freeze for a split second as man and spear diverged into dozens of images, all of which charging at Habsburg.

    The prince met the assault head-on without evading.

    But this time, half of the Illusion Corridor¡¯s images weren¡¯t mere illusions. Habsburg suffered half a dozen injuries in an instant, with the deepest, most dangerous one on his chest. One could almost see the amber under the opened flesh.

    This was one of the hardest materials on earth, but there was now a scar on that amber.

    Habsburg¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change in the least. The spear in his hand kept going forward steadily, almost as though nothing could stop it.

    The faint golden glow of the spear glided through the sanguine tempest, silencing all life in its path until it pierced Lin Xitang¡¯s body.

    ¡°War God¡¯s Repose!¡± The ming Crown¡¯s ultimate move that was famous throughout the Evernight world. Since killing a grand duke in one move twenty years ago, Habsburg had never used that skill again.

    Going all out and sending the enemy off with one¡¯s most powerful attack, this was the highest expression of respect from an Evernight expert.

    Celestial Transpiration began to copse as the faint golden hue of the ¡°Nation of Dusk¡± engulfed the flickering stars. Stars fell down from the dark vault like snowkes.

    The specks of starlight were scattered and smashed, so weak that they were hardly visible. Some shattered light would asionally enter the corner of one¡¯s eyes, but they would disappear upon turning toward it. It truly made one wonder whether they ever existed.

    It felt as though someone was whispering, ¡°Lin Xitang, don¡¯t you remember?¡± The Demon King¡¯s voice arrived from a great distance, ¡°This is the second time we¡¯ve met. I shouldn¡¯t have allowed you to live the first time, or Evernight wouldn¡¯t be in this passive situation.¡±

    The dark sun shrouding the void suddenly faded away, and there was light once again. Only at this point, the innumerable falling stars became visible over Lin Xitang¡¯s hair, clothes, speartip, and wounds.

    The Demon King looked up, allowing the falling stars to rain down upon his perfect countenance. ¡°Habsburg, I¡¯ll be waiting for you on the Sacred Mountain.¡± The darkness spread out once more to cover the supreme¡¯s figure as he vanished from the void.

    Lin Xitang remained immobile, smiling as he slowly closed his eyes.

    Specks of light appeared from the tip of his spear and flew off into the depths of the void.

    The Song n¡¯s Fueled Fire Spear was performed at the highest level in Lin Xitang¡¯s hands. It was just that no one knew where the light from Ember Legacy hadnded.

    At the same time, the war on the void continent transformed disruptively.

    First, the primary mobile fleet vanished from the void, and control of the airspace returned to the Empire. Then, the iing forces in certain important battlefields withdrew from the fight. Even the duke-grade expert who was supposed to oversee the battle left with them.

    The Imperial army that had been locked in a bitter fight immediately felt the pressure lighten. At least, there was now a visible border on the ck tide upying the battlefield.

    Before long, all army routes received thetest strategic intelligence. Although a single paper couldn¡¯t turn the tables entirely, the generals andmanders were able to draw a new path through the deadlock, almost as though the clouds had opened up to reveal the sun.

    Whitetown was the most peaceful ce on the continent. With Digger¡¯s retreat, there wasn¡¯t a single soldier left on the battlefield.

    Digger learned of thetest situation after returning to the airship port, and dark clouds covered his heart almost immediately. He wasn¡¯t too certain about the actual changes, but the absence of the sword-bearers¡¯ overseeing expert and the sudden transfer of the main fleet for some unknown mission gave him an uneasy feeling.

    He waited for over an hour. After discovering that the transferred fleet was actually leaving, he ordered all of the airships in the nearby port to take off with whatever they could load and leave the void continent. As for the fate of the other units on the continent, that was no longer within the scope of their¡ªor rather, Digger¡¯s¡ªconsideration.

    As long as Whitetown remained standing, the other Evernight forces on the void continent would never reach this airship base. In addition, the Empire would soon regain control of the void after the departure of the Evernight fleet. Perhaps it was because of this that Digger made a firm decision to leave. As for the potential punishment he might be subjected to, that was a matter for the future.

    The situation on the void continent changed in just half a day. The Empire and Evernight had been in a deadlock for a good while, but the other party switched to a defensive stance.

    While taking advantage of this time to rest, the Imperial forces couldn¡¯t help but feel puzzled. Even if Marshal Lin was peerless in strategy, wasn¡¯t this too fast? Only when a couple of hot-headed generals assaulted the Evernight main camps did they discover that the enemy was nning to retreat.

    However, the path home was not easy.

    Perhaps it was because they knew certain things, or maybe it was because they did not know anything, but the higher-ups of the Evernight faction remainedpletely silent. All they did was do their utmost to round up the troops and escape the Empire¡¯s pursuit. The direction of their retreat wasn¡¯t toward their fortresses but a certain airship port.

    It was as though the entire war had returned to its starting point. The Evernight faction was retreating.

    Without the biggest airship port located near Whitetown, the others simply didn¡¯t have the capacity to handle high-flow traffic. There were also numerous problems regarding airship types, geography, flight paths, etc. The situation became so bad that the various ns and tribes began to fight one another for a spot on the transport.

    The real journey of death, however, was in the void. Throughout the entire departure process, therge number of transports would be hunted down by Imperial warships. The Evernight faction didn¡¯t even have enough warships for an escort mission, let alone provide support in the void. As such, the retreat process became a massacre. Every soldier from the Imperial Guard fleet poured out the resentment they had been building up over the past few days.

    The entire sky over the void continent was burning. There were warships crashing down every minute, each representing the death of hundreds of dark race soldiers.

    The higher-ups of Evernight had abandoned the void continent, along with the survivors here. There was no telling how many of these soldiers would return to their homes alive.

    There were only a couple hundred soldiers in Whitetown, but the city was unshakeable with Qianye in his duke-state. The entire void continent was aze, but not a single unit dared to waltz into the city.

    Whitetown enjoyed the first half-day of extreme peace. Unable to get used to the sudden tranquility, many of them would jump up at the slightest sound. Even more of them remained sitting in a state of half-wakefulness, unable to truly fall asleep. To them, it almost seemed like a dream that they had survived. Death was supposed to be their reality.

    There were even more corpses in the city than rubble. Several corpses could be dragged out from under each stone, each broken tile, and there was no way to differentiate between the factions. The survivors were mostly injured. They enjoyed the peace and quiet while they could, waiting for the next round of attacks that might arrive at any time. Only a few of them noticed the changes in Qianye¡¯s body.

    Qianye sat beside Zhao Jundu this entire time. No one knew what he was thinking, or whether his mind was just nk.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t console him, either. He fell into a sound sleep, throwing everything that had happened to one side. His aura rose and fell at certain intervals; no one knew what he was experiencing in his dreams.

    Bai Aotu sat across from Qianye, just as still and almost like a statue. Her eyes were wrapped in white cloth, which had some bloodstains on it.

    The Evernight experts who should havee never did appear. Perhaps they had won this battle, but at this point, no one had the strength left to celebrate.

    The city center was even quieter. This was where Zhao Jundu was sleeping. His breathing and heartbeat were still there as he leaned against the wall, enjoying the rare sunshine. Although it was only evening, the sunlight had more or less disappeared already.

    Be it Qianye, Bai Aotu, or Song Zining, none of them dared to disturb the fourth young master. They couldn¡¯t feel the slightest of relief even though the battle was over.

    They had sensed Zhao Jundu¡¯s breathing and heartbeat slowing down. The process was slow, so slow that one might mistake it for an illusion. It felt as though the destination would never arrive.

    In truth, everyone was already aware that Zhao Jundu had left them. He was gone the moment he fired thatst shot from Heartgrave. The current signs of life were only a false appearance, something that would happen in a powerful expert. The remaining origin power would strive to keep his vital functions intact, waiting for a miracle to happen.

    But miracles wouldn¡¯t be called miracles if they were somon.

    There was a fair number of experts in the Empire¡¯s history, people strong enough to shake the world. Some of them could smile, chat, visit friends, and discuss the dao, only to pass away several dayster. Whoever it was, however high his cultivation was, this fate was unavoidable.

    Zhao Jundu was highly talented, but he wasn¡¯t unparalleled just yet. How could he produce such miracles?

    Sitting beside his brother, Qianye¡¯s blood core would beat faster from time to time. He was hesitating time and again, whether or not to give Zhao Jundu the embrace.

 Chapter 1180: Ember Legacy

    <h4>Chapter 1180: Ember Legacy</h4>

    After some thought, Qianye realized that it was probably impossible.

    Ignoring whether or not Zhao Jundu was willing to live on in such a manner, it wasn¡¯t certain whether someone with divine champion origin power could be embraced sessfully. A case like Qianye¡¯s where daybreak and blood energy existed side-by-side was basically unprecedented. He couldn¡¯t be considered a pure vampire because there was no indication of any n in his blood energy. Although he had obtained some ancient inheritances from the River of Blood, he wasn¡¯t sure if he had the power to give someone else the Embrace.

    Besides, in those legends about how the Embrace could bring the dead back to life, the process was more or less just activating the target¡¯s vitality. What was he to activate if the target¡¯s life force had already been severed?

    The silence was finally broken as dusk arrived. Qianye suddenly opened his eyes, a ring of dark gold lighting up in the blue depths of his pupils. His blood core pulsed strongly, and the entire city could hear that beat. Qianye had entered abat-state.

    A figure appeared over the distant horizon. Despite the great distance, their austerity and killing intent had already arrived. Just like two giant beasts, each could sense the other¡¯s strength even beforeing into view.

    That figure shot toward Whitetown without dy, slowing down just before entering its firing range and retracting its killing intent.

    Qianye left his original spot and appeared before this figure. He kept East Peak pointed toward the ground, and the harsh glint in his eyes gradually faded away.

    Standing before Qianye was an exceptionally beautiful bow-wieldingdy. There were some traces of vicissitudes on her face, but her uneroded elegance added a bit of time-worn richness to her beauty.

    More importantly, Qianye could feel a stabbing pain from the empty bow in her grasp. This meant that, even in his current state, he wasn¡¯t entirely certain that he could defeat her.

    Thedy nced toward the city and looked obviously relieved after seeing Zhao Jundu, Bai Aotu, and Song Zining. She then looked carefully at Qianye, saying, ¡°You must be Qianye? Zhao Weihuang is truly blessed.¡±

    ¡°And you are?¡±

    ¡°My name is Haimi. ording to seniority, you should call me aunty.¡± At this point, she said self-deprecatingly, ¡°Oh my, it has been so long since Ist stretched my legs. Didn¡¯t think I¡¯d grow so old in such a short time.¡±

    Qianye looked at the woman, dazed. For a while, he couldn¡¯t figure out just how they were rted for her to mention seniority.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ our reinforcements?¡± Qianye asked.

    Haimi nodded. ¡°Strictly speaking, yes, but it seems I arrived a bit toote. You guys probably don¡¯t need my help anymore.¡±

    Qianye was ovee by a wave of deep fatigue. ¡°Seems so.¡±

    ¡°The main army will arrive a bitter. There are still some obstructions on the road that they need to clean up. Also, the situation on the void continent has shifted again, the dark races are retreating in full force.¡± Having said that, her expression dimmed down noticeably as she became lost in thought.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to respond. Was he to me her? There was no point. He could see that, just like Bai Aotu, Haimi had only arrived after a series of bloody battles. He could also see that she had been gravely injured and was only suppressing the damage by force. How could he me her under such circumstances?

    Princess Haimi nced at Whitetown once more, taking in the entire battlefield this time. She couldn¡¯t help but feel shocked upon seeing just how fierce and bitter the fighting here had been. Just the density of the corpses lining the ground was enough to tell her everything.

    Compared to the path the eastern army had paved with blood and bones, the battle here was even more ruthless. Her gaze stopped briefly on a certain part of the ruined city, where the Neenth Princess¡¯ corpsey under a pile of rubble.

    Haimi said after observing the battlefield, ¡°It¡¯s good that you won. The losses are still eptable considering the situation.¡±

    ¡°eptable?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sneer. ¡°Aren¡¯t the Zhao n humans in your eyes?¡±

    Haimi was startled. ¡°Zhao n?¡± She looked at Zhao Jundu and the soldiers around him. ¡°Isn¡¯t Zhao Jundu still doing fine?¡±

    ¡°Still fine?¡± Qianye was already on the verge of bursting out. He had given up on chasing down the routed enemies and even watched the vice-duke retreat, all so that he could protect his brother¡¯sst period of peace.

    Even if it was just an illusion, he was willing to believe until the very end that a miracle would happen. With Haimi¡¯s eyesight, there was no way she couldn¡¯t see through Zhao Jundu¡¯s current state.

    It was at this time that Qianye sensed something and turned around. Zhao Jundu, who had beenpletely still all this time, actually stood up and stretched his body. The vitality in his body shot up rapidly along with his movements.

    Qianye, however, wasn¡¯t delighted. He stood frozen and his vision even went blurry for a moment.

    This was the final eruption of vitality, his origin power¡¯sst attempt at saving the body. All was useless, however, because it would only warm-up and not rekindle the fire of life. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Jundu would return to the eternal darkness, and the vitality they could see now would no longer exist.

    Haimi¡¯s expression changed drastically. She was gravely injured and weak, so she only realized the actual situation when Zhao Jundu moved.

    After a brief period of shock, Haimi discovered something abnormal. She pointed at Zhao Jundu, saying, ¡°Something¡¯s wrong, his vitality¡­¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s life force was still strengthening at a rapid pace, so much so that it was ignited and overdrafting. The final struggle of his origin power proved that its grade and purity were not at all inferior to Qianye¡¯s.

    But no matter what, it was still one spark short of reigniting the mes of life.

    Haimi became highly anxious. Considering her experience, she knew that this was an extremely rare and fleeting urrence. Yet even someone like her was helpless to save him. There was no legend in this world that could produce vitality out of nothing and bring life to the dead.

    It was at this time that a speck of light flew in from the void. It made one circle above Qianye¡¯s head, then shot straight into Zhao Jundu¡¯s forehead.

    The mote of light was as intense as the sun, containing daybreak origin power even stronger than Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn. The moment this spark entered Zhao Jundu¡¯s body, it immediately ignited the vitality gathering in his body!

    Qianye¡¯s blood core throbbed violently as the speck of light approached him. The pulsation was so intense that it felt somewhat painful, but before he could think too deeply into it, his attention was drawn away by the miraculous scene in front of him.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes slowly opened!

    His peaceful eyes were shrouded with a lingering purple hue, and that bewildered expression of his looked unexpectedly innocent. He still hadn¡¯t figured out what had happened. ¡°Qianye¡­¡± He called out before copsing slowly.

    Qianye arrived in a sh and helped him up. Haimi also appeared at the same time and supported the other side of Zhao Jundu¡¯s body.

    The two clearly sensed Zhao Jundu¡¯s heart beating. The pulse was weak, but it was real, unlike the illusion from a while ago.

    ¡°He¡­ this¡­¡±

    Haimi examined him briefly before saying, ¡°Although I don¡¯t know why, it remains a fact that Zhao Jundu is still alive. However, he¡¯s extremely weak right now and requires immediate treatment. I must bring him back to the rear Imperial base now, or it¡¯ll be toote.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s current situation couldn¡¯t be solved with a couple of injections. He would need big medical equipment, things that could only be installed in a fortress or base.

    Qianye carefully scanned Zhao Jundu¡¯s body with his perception, afraid that he would extinguish this miraculous ember if he caused too much of amotion. He discovered that Princess Haimi was right¡ªthe vitality throughout Zhao Jundu¡¯s body had dried up and was now like a candle in the wind. He required immediate treatment.

    Qianye hesitated for a bit because he wanted to tag along.

    Haimi seemed to understand his thoughts. ¡°My main army isn¡¯t far, and my gship has emergency medical facilities on board. We¡¯ll surely be able to send him back to the rear without a problem. You should stay here and do what you need to do.¡± Her eyes scanned Qianye¡¯s body as well. ¡°You need to deal with your own injuries too.¡±

    Qianye realized that Haimi was referring to his aura turningpletely into darkness origin power. Without further words, he gleaned at Zhao Jundu¡¯s sleeping face and nodded. ¡°Very well.¡±

    Haimi was just about to leave when Qianye called out to her and brought out a pile of items. ¡°These should be useful for him.¡±

    Haimi nced at the offered items. There were all kinds of rare medicines, but the eldest princess of the Empire had nock of such resources. She was just about to tell Qianye to take the items back when she saw an origin crystal among them. Even someone of her status couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. ¡°You have something like this?¡±

    This origin crystal was the one Qianye had condensed by plundering the vampire race¡¯s major stars. Although its attribute leaned toward darkness, it could be used by both factions since its only power was to strengthen physical constitution. It was beyond suitable for Zhao Jundu¡¯s current situation.

    Haimi always did things in a straightforward manner. She took the crystal and said, ¡°Great, this is going to be very helpful! Keep the rest.¡±

    Time was of the essence, so Haimi simply shot into the air and left.

    Qianye returned to Song Zining¡¯s side and sat down. The seventh young noble had woken up at this point, and Bai Aotu also looked toward them when she heard movement. All three of them felt somewhat delighted when Qianye exined the situation.

    It was at this time that thest glow of twilight vanished over the horizon and night fell upon them.

    What appeared, though, was a strange natural phenomenon. The dark sky was filled with falling stars and rising winds.

    A sheet of meteorites fell into the void continent and burst into mes, filling the sky with streaming fire. It was an impressive sight to behold.

    Both Qianye and Song Zining¡¯s expressions shifted drastically upon seeing this. Qianye felt an empty space in his heart, as though something had gone missing. Song Zining could sense it with even greater rity because he cultivated divination arts. He quickly picked up a segment of broken wood and began to do some calctions.

    The more he calcted, the paler his face became.

    Qianye¡¯s expression became gloomy as he observed Song Zining. Thetter¡¯s countenance grew pale, and his aura gradually became unstable as he repeated the process.

    Qianye reached out and pped his back lightly, scattering theyer of illusory projections around his body. Song Zining looked up and stared nkly at Qianye. There were streams of blood dripping from his eyes, yet he waspletely oblivious about it.

    Qianye said in a gloomy voice, ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as we know the general oue, no need to confirm it repeatedly.¡±

    Bai Aotu said, ¡°Both the heaven and earthment the fall of a supreme power.¡±

 Chapter 1181: The Heaven and Earth Lamen

    <h4>Chapter 1181: The Heaven and Earth Lamen</h4>

    Bai Aotu¡¯s eyes hadn¡¯t healed, but her other senses were even sharper now. She could sense the changes in the heaven and earth without even seeing the visual phenomena.

    ¡°The heaven and earthment the fall of a supreme power...¡± Qianye had heard of this term before. Knowledgeable people from both the Empire and Evernight exined the phenomenon before¡ªas people who couldmunicate with the grand origins of the world, the uncontroble origin power of these supreme experts would affect the entire realm after their demise.

    However, only great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs would be able to reach that state, not ordinary ones. Even if they weren¡¯t on the level of the Sacred Mountain, they would have to be fairly close. For instance, Lilith¡¯s sigh as she woke up from her slumber spread across the entire realm and both factions.

    Only then did Song Zining wake up from his reverie, trembling all over as he threw away the divination token in his hand. He looked at the pieces with lingering fear and said with a wry smile, ¡°The heavenly mystery is unfathomable and full of dangers. Senior, you are gone, but you¡¯re still at such an unapproachable level.¡±

    ¡°Senior, which senior?¡± Qianye had a bad feeling in his heart.

    Song Zining hesitated for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should tell you. If it¡¯s true, then you¡¯ll know sooner orter. The omens indeed point to the fall of a powerhouse, and if I¡¯m not wrong, it¡¯s very likely Marshal Lin.¡±

    ¡°Marshal Lin?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    Lin Xitang wasn¡¯t a heavenly monarch. If he was close to ascending, such important news would be known throughout the world. The Empire wouldn¡¯t hide the presence of a heavenly monarch because they needed to intimidate the Evernight faction. The current heavenly phenomenon was so majestic that the entire void continent was covered in a rain of falling stars. How could the source be Lin Xitang?

    Song Zining collected himself, saying, ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t believe it, because neither did I. Yet, I saw a world devoid of all light, and in it, a vast sky full of stars and Marshal Lin... The entire world transformed into a tearing stream of light.¡± He never managed to finish the sentence because he felt his chest ache so badly.

    ¡°Since there¡¯s no light in that world, how did you see the stars?¡± Qianye shook his head without waiting for a reply. ¡°These divination omens of yours are really weird.¡±

    Song Zining sighed and remained silent. Bai Aotu only listened to the conversation without making anyment.

    Outside of the Qin Continent, there was a ck sun hanging high in the sky.

    In the vast space, two figures were locked in a fierce melee, with gunshots mixed in from time to time. The Evernight fleet, even the duke-grade gships, was parked a good distance away.

    The Eternal me, wielding the ¡°Sable Blessing¡±, was in a heated battle against Zhang Boqian. He seemed to be holding the advantage, but his expression wasn¡¯t rxed in the least. On the contrary, he looked more and more serious as time went by.

    Without so much as a warning, the dark sun faded away.

    Astonished, the Eternal me almost allowed Zhang Boqian to charge into the hundred-meter range, but he immediately put some distance between them. Zhang Boqian stopped entangling the enemy after his failed charge and only stood with his hands behind his back.

    An illusory figure appeared where the dark sun had faded away. ¡°It¡¯s over. Let¡¯s go, Crassus.¡± With that, the shadow disappeared and everything became silent.

    Drastic astronomical changes ensued as the darkness vanished.

    The void was vast, distant, and empty. There were stars drifting down everywhere, as dense as falling rain in certain ces. Everyone wondered whether the small asteroid belt from the top of the world had fallen down.

    That very moment, the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs sensed thews of the entire world shaking. An intense aura of Daybreak wafted over from the falling starlight. Had a powerhouse fallen? Which supreme expert was it? Why was it a Daybreak aura? The aura was simply too unfamiliar. It definitely wasn¡¯t one of the known human heavenly monarchs.

    The Eternal me left immediately, and the massive Evernight armada also began to turn around.

    After the entire Evernight fleet had left, only Zhang Boqian was left in the entire void-space. He remained standing in ce, looking up at the heavens.

    The starlight was no more.

    The Radiant Emperor appeared behind him at some point; no one knew how long he had been standing there. There wasn¡¯t a single flickering light left in the void. This distant emptiness was just as it had been since time immemorial.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Teacher has left.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    The two were calm. Their tone of voice was no different from the norm as one stepped forward and the other turned back. Before Zhang Boqian was the boundless void, and below the Emperor¡¯s feet was the blue-green silhouette of the Qin Continent.

    The Demon King had finally taken the stage and that was one of the worst scenarios. As a supreme whose darkness was closest to the grand origins, those who fall to his de would be eliminated in both body and soul. Not even a single particle would be left behind.

    The Radiant Emperor walked toward the Qin Continent in steady steps, thend gradually expanding in his vision.

    The fighting in the void hadn¡¯t affected the continent just yet, and everything was calm and peaceful before his eyes. The mountains stretched in a continuous line, and the rivers galloped across the vastnd. The cities and towns scattered across the panorama stood testament to the thriving era. Yet, that person couldn¡¯t even return to his hometown as a corpse. Only his love for thisnd would be eternally buried between the heaven and earth.

    The Radiant Emperor himself had never gotten the opportunity to venture too far into the void. The Empire¡¯s borders were his farthest battlefield.

    Back in the year, Lin Xitang had spoken to him as the newly appointed prince-guardian. ¡°A ruler is one who will guard the nation in life and die for the state.¡±

    This teaching had been his guiding post throughout life.

    The void continent gradually calmed down after the starfall.

    Not long after, the main army of the eastern route arrived. The first to appear in the distance was the Imperial Guard fleet with their striking emblems.

    The soldiers in Whitetown didn¡¯t feel any excitement when they saw thete warships. This battle had ended in such a miserable victory that no one could feel happy about it. Besides, the various army routes had failed to rendezvous on time. There was something wrong, either with themand or the strategy itself. These mercenaries from the neutralnds were selling their lives for money. Who would¡¯ve thought their first battle away from the neutralnds would be so bitter?

    The Empire¡¯s warships circled above Whitetown beforending outside the city. The fleetmander then entered the city along with his high-ranking officers. Everyone was shocked by the things they saw along the way. Themander bowed deeply when he saw Qianye and Song Zining, saying, ¡°General Qianye, General Zining, this general arrivedte!¡±

    Themander himself was a lieutenant general, but he saluted the two as though they were his superiors. Also, he didn¡¯t even frown at the darkness auraing from Qianye.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say when he saw that these generals were all injured. Sustaining such wounds in the void meant that their warships had been severely damaged. There might not be any survivors if the damage was any greater. That was why the death toll was usually much higher than the number of injured soldiers.

    Ultimately, it was Song Zining who took over the conversation. He conversed briefly with the generals and collected thetest information from them. There, he heard that Marshal Lin hade to the void continent personally.

    Song Zining nced at Qianye. Thetter was deep in thought, seated on a chair, and tapping subconsciously at the handrest.

    The fleet had arrived, and the ground forces weren¡¯t too far off. The eastern army would soon enter Whitetown and begin clearing the battlefield. The Dark me fleet had also returned to the void continent, leaving only the Martyr¡¯s Pce to guard the airspace.

    The returning squadron was bruised and battered, and two of their corvettes had been destroyed. Clearly, the battle outside was rather fierce. The captain in charge of the battlecruiser summarized the process of their battle. Evernight had used an entire duke-grade fleet to restrain the Martyr¡¯s Pce, with the gship risking damage to keep the pce pinned down. Wave after wave of transport squadrons took this opportunity to charge into the void continent.

    Speed was the only weakness of the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Caroline was nervous, but there was nothing she could do. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was akin to a giant beast that could do nothing against the thousands of tiny creatures rushing past. It would swat down a couple of them with each random movement but could only watch the rest charge into the continent.

    Caroline was decisive as well. She immediately ignored the transports and focused on bringing down the duke¡¯s fleet. Only by clearing this fleet would the corvettes be able to intercept the transports.

    In the end, the Martyr¡¯s Pce sessfully destroyed the duke gship by relying on its absolute advantage in defense. Even then, the unrelenting arachne duke boarded the Martyr¡¯s Pce and fought for an entire day and night against Caroline. He ultimately fell in battle, no match for Caroline who had been reinforced by the Earth Dragon.

    The battle also affected the interior of the ship, destroying a good chunk of equipment and half the crew. This reduced the pce¡¯s fighting power by almost half. That arachne duke was simply prepared to die in this assault.

    Despite the reinforcement of the dragonship, Caroline was also injured by the duke¡¯s counterattack as she delivered the finishing blow. Currently, she was recuperating aboard the vessel.

    Qianye and Song Zining gained an even greater understanding of Evernight¡¯s investment in this battle. They had actually sacrificed an entire duke-grade fleet just to take down Whitetown. Now that raised the question why they would suddenly give up after investing so much?

    It was only reasonable that a senior member of the Evernight Council would be there to oversee the sword-bearers. Where did those top-ranking experts go? It even looked like the sword-bearers and the duke-grade fleet was here to die. It was just that the Empire would also have to pay a price to kill them.

    A bad sensation filled Qianye¡¯s heart, but the central army arrived just as he was lost in thought. A fully-armored Duke Wei flew over to Whitetown on his own without waiting for the gship tond.

    Qianye and Song Zining had to wee the duke since he had arrived personally. Duke Wei observed Qianye and Song Zining from head to toe, then sighed while shaking his head. ¡°Thinking back to the Spring Hunt, you two were just kids. Now, you¡¯re about to surpass this duke. The young will surely surpass us in time! What a pity, what a pity.¡±

    All of a sudden, Qianye sensed his blood energy stirring. The dim, almost ethereal Wings of Inception in his chest seemed like it wanted to spread its wings. He was greatly rmed, almost as though a powerful enemy was arriving, but where was the enemy? Looking up, the rifle strapped to Duke Wei¡¯s back immediately attracted his attention.

    Song Zining and Duke Wei both noticed the change.

    The seventh young master followed his gaze and saw the gun. He gasped. ¡°Mortal Emperor! Howe it¡¯s here?¡±

    Duke Wei sighed. ¡°The central army¡¯s vanguard charged swiftly under Zhao Jundu¡¯smand, while I brought up the rear with the main army in tow. Unexpectedly, Zhao Jundu moved ahead too fast and the dark race army descended from the sky to intercept us. The Fourteenth Prince moved to assist the battle with the Mortal Emperor, but who would¡¯ve thought it was a trap? The dark races used a special method to drag the prince to death. I knew the Grand Magnum was important, so I kept it on me. As long as I remain alive, the gun won¡¯t be lost.¡±

    Qianye and Song Zining could see that Duke Wei was heavily injured and only suppressing the damage with secret arts. Listening to his recount, the dark races had actually set up a trap for the central route. Although they didn¡¯t get the time to chat with Princess Haimi, it was very likely that the eastern route had encountered a simr obstruction.

    Only Bai Aotu managed to charge through the western front; neither its fleet nor ground forces were in sight yet. But it really wasn¡¯t a big surprise, judging from the situation of the central and eastern routes, and considering the identities of themanding officers on the western front. It was also easy to see the dangers Princess Haimi and Duke Wei had braved to push their armies forward.

    At this point, the situation around Whitetown was very clear. The battle was a sure loss if it wasn¡¯t for Zhao Jundu¡¯s final eruption, killing all of the sword-bearers, and the Evernight¡¯s senior council member never showing up. The entirety of Whitetown and most of the top experts from the central and eastern routes might have fallen in battle as well.

    At this moment, Zhao Jundu and Bai Aotu were gravely injured, the Fourteenth Prince and Neenth Princess had fallen, and both Princess Haimi and Duke Wei were heavily wounded.

    At the thought of this, Qianye frowned ever so slightly. Why had this battle turned out so badly?

 Chapter 1182: Such a Nation

    <h4>Chapter 1182: Such a Nation</h4>

    Even Qianye could see that this was a strategic problem, but Lin Xitang¡¯s n itself was fine. Song Zining had also divined the situation several times and found no loopholes.

    That was it! The changes on the battlefield! Even if a strategy had ten different scenarios written into it, one could only progress in a single direction and adjust constantly depending on the actual situation.

    Then who was in charge of intelligence and nning? Qianye thought with a serious expression.

    Duke Wei¡¯s new information was more detailed than the eastern army. Qianye and Song Zining learned that Marshal Lin had arrived on the void continent to reorganize the entire strategy. At the same time, Evernight¡¯s mobile fleet and duke-grade experts all vanished from the void, causing the tables to turn.

    At this point, Song Zining nced at Qianye and saw him in deep contemtion.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t as calm as he seemed on the surface; his firm heart was tightening bit by bit. There was naturally no need to discuss Lin Xitang¡¯s strong strategic capabilities, but the entire matter was too unbelievable. The Evernight faction had invested an outrageous amount of resources into each battlefield. No matter how capable Lin Xitang was, he couldn¡¯t turn the power gap around in such a short time.

    All of the Empire¡¯s maneuverable forces had been mobilized for this battle, and the total military power couldn¡¯t be considered weak. Yet the Evernight side had poured in far more forces than the norm and even targeted the Empire¡¯s generals in a coordinated manner. They were probably able to do this because of the pause in their civil war.

    In the end, why was this war initiated under such unfavorable circumstances?

    Duke Wei, of course, knew more than what he was saying. For instance, about how Lin Xitang had killed the Minister of the Right. Killing a general before the army was never a good thing, and Duke Wei wasn¡¯t about to tell two juniors about it when he himself still hadn¡¯t figured out what was going on.

    The duke refused to give more details, almost as though he didn¡¯t want to discuss it anymore.

    Song Zining asked about Duke Wei¡¯s ns. At this point, both the central and eastern armies had fought their way through the void continent and converged at Whitetown. The duke¡¯s position was the highest, so he naturally held the right tomand. The n was to leave a part of their forces to clean up the battlefield as the main force headed further north to capture thest airship port and its surrounding areas.

    The remaining Evernight forces on the continent had been cut off. A small part of the transport fleet that had charged into the continent managed to escape, but most of them were destroyed along the way.

    As Duke Wei saw it, the war on the void continent was over at this point.

    After sending the duke off, a contemting Qianye felt as though he had caught onto something vague. He suddenly recalled the information he had obtained before the battle, about how the Imperial court had attacked Lin Xitang, and that the Minister of the Right had negotiated for him to produce this battle n.

    Marshal Lin was never part of this war, yet he had appeared at the most dangerous moment. He went through all the events one-by-one until his expression changed when he recalled the falling stars from just now.

    He turned toward Song Zining and asked, ¡°How do we confirm your calctions?¡±

    Song Zining hesitated for a moment before sighing. ¡°Since Marshal Lin is at the void continent and all of ourmunication channels have been restored, you¡¯ll soon hear of all news good and bad.¡±

    Qianye stood up. ¡°I¡¯m going to take a look.¡±

    Song Zining stopped him. ¡°Where are you going? What about your blood energy?¡±

    Qianye had broken through two realms with the help of the Book of Darkness and was now at the vice-duke rank, and that was ording to ancient vampire standards. How could such impatience be without repercussions? He couldn¡¯t sense the River of Blood at all during this breakthrough. The deluge of darkness origin power brought iparable power but also near-tangible darkness. The bnce between Daybreak and Evernight in his body was tottering on the brink of copse.

    Fortunately, Whitetown was surprisingly peaceful after Qianye¡¯s breakthrough, and there was no dangerous situation that required him to take action. That was why he could still control the violent darkness origin power. However, no one could guess what would happen after the dark and light went out of control.

    Song Zining gripped tighter after seeing Qianye¡¯s insistence. ¡°There was no news of him taking part in any battlefield. Where are you going to look for him? You should be thinking of a way to control your condition, or your origin power will just go out of control in front of Marshal Lin.¡±

    Qianye froze up. If his current duke-grade origin power were to erupt, the resultant shockwaves could easily level a fortress. Regardless of his own fate, he might end up injuring Lin Xitang.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Just wait the night, the war on the continent will have settled by tomorrow morning. I¡¯ll send him a message through the military¡¯smunication channels. The marshal will reply if it¡¯s convenient.¡±

    Qianye understood that Song Zining was being reasonable, but he still couldn¡¯t suppress the worry in his heart. It was as though the yearning he had suppressed all these years had ignited into nervousness.

    When Qianye woke up at dawn the next day, he still couldn¡¯t get used to the absence of cannon fire. The first rays of dawn had just arrived, but the entire base was already busy. The soldiers Duke Wei had left behind were clearing out the battlefield. There were a hundred and fifty thousand corpses in this small city, which they had to dig outyer byyer.

    The fortunate survivors gazed at the heaps of dead bodies, stupefied. Many of them were once theirrades and brothers, but now, they were being concentrated for processing just like the dark races, unable to return to their homnd. Even thebined forces of the eastern and central armies didn¡¯t have enough manpower for individual burials.

    Qianye strolled out of the main camp and climbed atop a temporary sentry tower to observe the ruined city. He had never imagined that things would turn out so bitter.

    Although Qianye was rtively young, he had experienced numerous battles at the forefront, and this wasn¡¯t the first time he had fought in life and death situations. It was just that most of his battles were fought among experts, or as a part of the army on the battlefield. A battle of ten thousand men wasn¡¯t too shocking in the vast wilderness, but this time, there were over a hundred thousand corpses in a single city.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes suddenly fell upon a certain figure.

    That person sauntered through Whitetown, moving swiftly in Qianye¡¯s direction.

    Qianye noticed the guest¡¯s presence only when he was halfway through the city. He had no idea when this person had appeared or when he had entered the city. Qianye also realized that he would only notice this person if and when he wanted him to.

    Even after leaping up an entire major rank, Qianye still felt the same as when he had met this man for the first time¡ªthat he was not a match at all and even retaliation was not a certainty. The number of people with such strength could be counted on one¡¯s fingers.

    Qianye jumped down and waited respectfully for this guest.

    That person didn¡¯t waste time, either, arriving before Qianye in a single step. He then sized Qianye up from head to toe, saying, ¡°Your strength has increased again, but what¡¯s with the surging darkness? I¡¯m alone, no need for excessive formalities.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°My respect for you is born from your contributions for the human race and your rtionship to Marshal Lin. You¡¯re also my senior.¡±

    This person was Prince Greensun, Zhang Boqian. He nodded after hearing Qianye¡¯s words. ¡°Not bad, no wonder Lin Xitang thinks highly of you. I only came here to see you, I won¡¯t be staying long. The war on the Empire maind isn¡¯t over yet, there might be some idents if I leave for too long.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a war back in the Empire?¡± Qianye was astonished.

    Zhang Boqian snorted. ¡°It¡¯s just a Sanguine Funeral, what else can they do? Perhaps I didn¡¯t beat them up enough, so they¡¯re here to probe us.¡±

    Qianye was startled when he heard about the Sanguine Funeral. ¡°This¡­ has the Longevity Monarch passed?¡± Judging from the current state of the Empire¡¯s heavenly monarchs, he was the most likely to have fallen. He spent so much effort to collect life-extension materials, but that didn¡¯tst him very long, it seems.

    Most Great Qin citizens had never experienced a Sanguine Funeral, but they remembered well that the Evernight faction wouldunch a probing assault whenever there was a recement of heavenly monarchs. If the defensive response wasn¡¯t good enough, it could easily turn into an all-out war that would decide the fate of the Empire. Qianye had never imagined that the Evernight faction would still fight the Empire even after investing so much fighting power on the void continent.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes flickered with a cold glint. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s him. I¡¯d have to kill him myself if he didn¡¯t die fast enough!¡±

    This was an absolute top-secret. Hearing about a conflict of this degree between heavenly monarchs, Qianye didn¡¯t quite know how to ask about it.

    Zhang Boqian shot him a nce. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for him, how could the void continent fall into such a state? Jundu wouldn¡¯t be heavily injured, and Xitang wouldn''t¡­¡±

    Qianye was so shaken that even his voice was quite sharp. ¡°What happened to my foster father?¡±

    ¡°Xitang remapped the situation on the void continent single-handedly, cleaning up the inside and stopping powerful enemies outside. You guys survived because of this, but he paid the ultimate price.¡±

    The grievous news had been confirmed.

    Qianye felt a chill pierce through his entire body, and for a moment, he couldn¡¯t tell where the vague pain wasing from. Great sorrow brings no tears, great revtion brings no words, so much so that he couldn¡¯t even feel whether he was sad or angry. Only a throbbing pain raged on continuously, dripping into that empty space in his heart.

    He looked up at the lofty man. This prime-aged heavenly monarch was different from before. He wasn¡¯t exuding his usual aura of sharpness and seemed to have returned to his natural state. He was like a sheathed divine-weapon from ancient times, just as powerful even when his brilliance was retracted.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s calm expression was suffused with a hint of destion. He and Lin Xitang were equally famous throughout the years. From the army to the Imperial court, the Twin Paragons of the Empire had been opponents for three decades. It was only when Zhang Boqian became a heavenly monarch did Lin Xitang¡¯s name fell behind.

    However, Qianye had sensed during his limited contact with Zhang Boqian that the two of them were both friends and rivals. There were shadows of Lin Xitang wherever Prince Greensun¡¯s brilliance shone. Now that the Empire¡¯s glorious Twin Paragons were no more, who could say what Zhang Boqian was feeling?

    After a good while, Qianye¡¯s numb and colorless world noticed something other than pain. The grief swept away everything in his being, leaving a frozen yet burning heart.

    He slowly thought back to Zhang Boqian¡¯s words and noticed a deeper meaning. ¡°You said he cleared out the inside, what does that mean?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a big secret or anything. The first thing Lin Xitang did after reaching the void continent was to kill the Minister of the Right.¡±

    ¡°Minister of the Right, Longevity Monarch¡­¡±

    Qianye realized at this point that the masterminds behind this n had been executed, and their assistants had been eliminated one-by-one. Only those ant-like characters remained. These people were fence-sitters, to begin with, and there was simply no end to them.

    The raging mes in his chest turned cold all of a sudden. It felt as though he had walked over a cliffside and stepped into empty air. It seemed he couldn¡¯t even seek revenge for that man. Qianye was ovee by an extremely ufortable sensation, unable to vent his depression and anger.

    However, this was the giant Empire¡¯s path ever since its founding¡ªrough, winding, and bumpy. When the founding ancestor took the first step in the darkness, no one knew where the correct path was. Humans might be united in opinion, but there were many differences among them. The only way to unite millions of people and establish thend of Daybreak was by correcting one¡¯s mistakes and holding fast to aspirations.

    Qianye heaved a long sigh. ¡°Did foster father leave any words for me before his departure?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said after a moment of silence, ¡°He was in the Demon King¡¯s domain when he left. Even the Evernight fleet nearby never saw a thing.¡±

    That night, Zhang Boqian had chased the fleet down to the borders of the upper continents and intercepted a warship that had taken part in the capture of Lin Xitang. But the Demon King¡¯s domain had covered the entire void during thest battle. Even the Evernight nobility were plunged into darkness and had no idea what had happened.

    The Demon King! A supreme had taken action in person!? Qianye took a deep breath in astonishment, a sanguine hue flickering in his eyes.

    Zhang Boqian shook his head. ¡°Lin Xitang had always been one to show his love with actions. He had too many things to do, but there was never enough time in his short life. Even if he was missing someone, he wouldn¡¯t say it. That was why I came to see you after his departure.¡±

    Qianye could no longer speak at this point. He looked up at the sky and felt as though he could see yesterday¡¯s celestial phenomenon, that shower of stars.

    Since leaving Yellow Springs, Qianye had never seen Lin Xitang face-to-face. Every time, there would be a reason not to.

    Qianye had once wondered nervously whether his foster father had abandoned him. After all, he wasn¡¯t the first person Lin Xitang had saved, nor was he thest. As ordinary as he was, what did he have to impress that peerless character?

    After getting to know more about Lin Xitang from other people, Qianye discovered that this person was even more generous and impressive. His great sess in the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery allowed him to see through countless people, yet he never recruited them under his wing. Neither did he require the people he had promoted to work for anyone in particr.

    Despite having no offspring, Lin Xitang had only ever granted the Lin surname to Qianye, naming him his foster son. Qianye wasn¡¯t dumb, either. He could still sense the trickle of warmth from that person even though he was never able to see him.

    Now that Zhang Boqian hade to see him despite his time constraints, Qianye truly realized his importance in Lin Xitang¡¯s heart.

    Everything was toote, however.

    After a moment of silence, Zhang Boqian said, ¡°Where will you go after this, have you thought about it?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s mind went nk for a while. ¡°Since the masterminds have been executed, it seems I have nothing to do in the Empire.¡±

    Zhang Boqian cut him short, ¡°The Minister of the Right isn¡¯t the first, and he won¡¯t be thest, perhaps it¡¯s the same for the Longevity Monarch. What do you mean by there¡¯s nothing?¡±

    Qianye was stunned.

    Zhang Boqian softened his tone. ¡°Be it Lin Xitang, myself, or those people whom you¡¯ve met or not met, everyone believes you haven¡¯t fallen to darkness.¡±

    After a pause, he continued, ¡°But you don¡¯t need to be in the Empire to be of help. I don¡¯t want you to forget about yourself for the greater good, either. One of that kind is enough.¡±

    These words were quite evident, but thest part was a bit tooplicated. He thought he knew the meaning but still couldn¡¯t quite understand all of it.

    At this point, Zhang Boqian said in a dreary manner, ¡°I need to be going, but I should do a bit in his stead before I go.¡±

    With that, Zhang Boqian raised his fist and struck lightly at Qianye¡¯s chest!

    The attack wasn¡¯t fast, but Qianye had no way to evade it. All he could do was watch as Prince Greensun¡¯s fist sted the area of his blood core.

    A casual strike from the heavenly monarch possessed enough power to split mountains and rocks. Qianye¡¯s blood core was shattered by the attack, breaking down into countless crystalline particles that the surrounding flesh kept in the shape of a blood core.

    Qianye was severely injured by a single attack. A blood core injury was no small matter! His blood energy declined repeatedly, dropping from the vice-duke to glorious marquis, and stopping short of reaching the mighty marquis rank.

    Qianye took several steps back and coughed up blood, but he was delighted. ¡°Many thanks to Prince Greensun!¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s attack was extremely well-timed and controlled. The strike shattered Qianye¡¯s blood core, injuring but not crippling it. Considering Qianye¡¯s vampire physique and regeneration, he should recoverpletely after a couple of days¡¯ rest. There would be no hidden injuries. Qianye¡¯s blood energy rank had been struck back down, freeing him of a potential imbnce between Daybreak and Evernight. Perhaps only an outstanding expert like Zhang Boqian would have this kind of heaven-defying method.

    The heavenly monarch produced several hand-written notes and passed them to Qianye. ¡°These are some insights I gained, perhaps you¡¯ll find them useful. Take a look when you have nothing to do.¡±

    Qianye received the documents and saw the title on the first page: Profound Combatant Form!

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°The Martial Emperor left this art behind, but it was iplete. I used to practice the art during my younger years, but I switched to a different er on. I decided to pick it up again since I had nothing better to do recently. I managed to gain some new insights and added some things to the basic version.¡±

    Zhang Boqian made it seem unimportant, but Qianye knew just how valuable thispleted version was.

    Only a handful of people had ever practiced the art beyond fifty cycles. The Zhang n naturally had their own path to the heavenly monarch realm, so Zhang Boqian had no need to practice the Combatant Form.

    Just a few pages of hand-written notes, yet it was as heavy as a mountain.

    Zhang Boqian said as Qianye was putting away the notes carefully, ¡°You¡¯re Xitang¡¯s child, so you need not call me by my title. If you¡¯re willing, call me uncle.¡±

    With that, Zhang Boqian looked around him and sighed. ¡°Such a nation¡­¡± Then, he stepped into the air and drifted away.

    Such a nation, how is it worth spilling one¡¯s blood for? If it isn¡¯t worth it, then why do so many advance dauntlessly?

    Qianye stood in ce, frozen as he recalled the past.

    The human race had walked through the boundless darkness of Evernight for tens of thousands of years, only seeing a sliver of light in the most recent one thousand two hundred years. The predecessors had cut through the thistles and thorns, and the inheritors would pass on the torch; through all the hardships, a spark would soon set alight an entire prairie.

    There was no such thing as a victory without sacrifice, and no such thing as dignity without bleeding. As the fallen martyrs are etched into the stele, the mournful survivors can only weep in songs.

 Chapter 1183: Seed of Hope

    <h4>Chapter 1183: Seed of Hope</h4>

    With the situation on the void continent stable, Qianye decided to return to the neutralnds and leave Song Zining here to deal with the aftermath.

    Song Zining had also learned of Lin Xitang¡¯s fall at this point. He gazed at the outwardly calm

    Qianye and could only sigh. The two merely exchanged a silent nce for they had nothing to say.

    Language had never been so empty and useless before. It was also painful, and even the slightest touch was almost unbearable.

    Dark me was a majestic fleet when it arrived, but it was fairly empty upon its return. Most of the transports were empty, and some didn¡¯t even have enough crew to man them.

    After some discussions, Song Zining and Qianye decided to sell most of the transport vessels to the Empire. Although Evernight had taken grave losses in this battle, the Empire also realized the benefits of arge-scalending of transports. The transports from the neutralnds might be old and shabby, but they were superior in their sturdiness and ease of repair, a good fit for military use.

    There were so many mercenary and Zhao n corpses that it was difficult to identify them individually and differentiate them from the enemy¡¯s. Those who had fallen on the Martyr¡¯s Pce were also buried in the void.

    The Empire followed its usual traditions and collected all the name tags they could find. Then, they cremated all the corpses and buried the ashes under arge stele where Whitetown used to be.

    At the end of the simple but solemn ceremony, Qianye led the surviving veterans on their journey back.

    The battlecruiser served as the gship with the corvettes guarding the wings and therge transports taking up the center. Almost every vessel in the fleet was damaged, so progress was rather slow. Qianye sent the Martyr¡¯s Pce back to the Northern Continent ahead of them, to reorganize and undergo repairs. In addition, the Northern Continent¡¯s mild atmosphere would serve as a good ce for Caroline to recuperate.

    The journey was calm and peaceful as the fleet slowly drove toward the neutralnds. Despite their slow pace, home was in sight after several days on the road.

    Qianye stood gazing out the bridge window, toward the vague silhouette of the neutralnds at the ends of the void. From a distance, it looked like a scattered collection of inds enveloped in a hazy mist. Only from a distance could one see the traces of the fallen Void Valley Star.

    As the destination was drawing near, the captain put the fleet on a new flight path. With the battlecruiser at its lead, the massive fleet turned slightly and moved toward the neutralnds.

    Whaty before them were merely pieces of fragmentednds to an outsider; only Qianye could see the hazy mist. As the warship charged into the mist, the entire vessel creaked faintly, and many of the gauges and meters jumped about. Some of the apparatus even started to shoot sparks.

    ¡°Damn, this again!¡± Cursing, the captain released his origin power to shield the control room. ¡°What are you all staring at? Check and repair! Switch out the damaged parts and see if we have recements for them. Oh and look for older models, the older the better.¡±

    The crew flew into action. The captain rushed them a couple more times before arriving at Qianye¡¯s side, saying, ¡°Sire, we¡¯ve already reced a batch ofponents on our way out, but looks like it still won¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°The neutralnds is always like that. Don¡¯t worry, your opponents here are all antiques. I¡¯ll also arrange a suitable ce tond the airship,¡± said Qianye.

    The captain¡¯s expression improved slightly. ¡°Sire, I¡¯m notining, but my heart aches when I see her like this.¡±

    With that, the captain left the bridge to patrol the entire vessel.

    The battlecruiser was the Empire¡¯stest model, the darling of every captain¡¯s heart. Although it had undergone modifications for the neutralnds, the shipyard still ended up underestimating the adverse environment here. The mist Qianye had sensed contained a clear aura of destructive corrosion, mixed with void origin power. The material used in ordinary origin arrays simply couldn¡¯t withstand the decay.

    What happened on the battlecruiser was just a small interlude. The airship drove through two continents to arrive at an unusuallyrge piece ofnd that was the Eastern Sea. At this point, every mercenary could already recognize their way home. The airship made a beeline for Southern Blue, shooting through a cloudyer as the silhouette of the city appeared far off over the horizon.

    A mercenary beside Qianye was filled with delight. ¡°We¡¯re finally back!¡±

    Qianye sighed from the bottom of his heart. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re back.¡±

    An officer said in a loud voice, ¡°Qianye, Sire, you really must lead us to do greater things after we get back!¡±

    Qianye was woken up by this. Looking back, he saw that the mercenaries in the cabin were all happy, excited, and exuding an extraordinary momentum. In addition to the generals, several of them looked like they were about to break through to the champion realm.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that they would say something like this. ncing over, he saw the mercenary survivors looking at him with eyes full of radiance and passion. Those at his side were all survivors of Whitetown, most of whom were on the verge of a breakthrough after experiencing the great tribtion.

    With nine out of ten men dead, Qianye had thought that the survivors would be depressed and mournful. He was expecting most of them to stay away from the battlefield even if they didn¡¯t quit the corps. Who would¡¯ve thought the great battle would thoroughly ignite these men, instead?

    ¡°So many of our brothers have died this time. At first, I thought you guys would want to take a long break before making a decision,¡± Qianye said.

    The mercenaries nced at one another and, atst, pushed a general in his thirties forward.

    This man was the leader of a smaller mercenary band whom Ji Tianqing had threatened into joining with all his men. He wasn¡¯t all that outstanding among Dark me¡¯s generals, but he miraculously survived the battle of Whitetown. He was pushed forward since his original position was the highest, and he was also the strongest among the survivors.

    He bowed toward Qianye and said, ¡°Sire, mercenaries like us spend our lives on the de¡¯s edge. How can we expect a good ending? Dying on the battlefield is considered a good way to go. What we¡¯re most afraid of are growing old with injuries, unable to join the battle, and living a meaningless life. The mercenary corps would usually take care of us and make sure we don¡¯t go hungry, but it doesn¡¯t get any better.¡±

    Qianye nodded. This was the mostmon ending for the mercenaries of the neutralnds, a naturalw ording to Song Zining. In order to adapt and survive, humans in the neutralnds possessed greater reproductive abilities, and their strength growth was also faster. But the neutralnds couldn¡¯t house so many people, so cruel battles were the only way to reduce the poption.

    The mercenary corps big and small were born to fight. They would either be hired to fight someone else, or they would fight amongst themselves. To sum it up, they had to fight and die, or no one would live.

    The Evernight continent at the lowestyer of the realm was even crueler. It was extremely scarce in resources, so much so that even the young and strong couldn¡¯t walk out of the dumpsters. They lived a life no different from wild beasts.

    That general paused for a bit before continuing, ¡°This bloody battle is simply our fate, nothing too serious. This battle is different from the past. At the very least, our dead brethren died honorably. Their wives and children won¡¯t need to be left under another¡¯s care and suffer humiliation. This battle, you and Sire Zining allowed us to understand that we mercenaries can also die with dignity and without concerns.¡±

    Qianye had never thought about it this way.

    The Empire would follow normal customs andpensate the families of those mercenaries who had fallen in Whitetown. This was also one of the conditions for their participation in this fight. Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that a memorial stele would mean so much to these soldiers.

    The Empire¡¯s standardpensation was also highly significant to the mercenaries of the neutralnds. Their families could at least live on in peace. In the past, there were many mercenary corps that had to disband because they couldn¡¯t pay financial support to the families. Once the mercenaries fell in battle, disaster would befall their families. It wasn¡¯t umon for their wives and daughters to be forced into prostitution.

    That general looked back at hisrades and said, ¡°Sire, actually, we¡¯ve already discussed this. Only you and Sire Zining made us understand that mercenaries are also humans. So we¡¯re not leaving, we¡¯ll keep following you as you carve out a legacy!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t spoken when another older general said, ¡°Sire, split thepensation into three parts and only issue one part, leave the rest for Dark me¡¯s coffers. You won¡¯t forget us when the corps grows stronger.¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly. ¡°You guys trust me that much¡­¡±

    ¡°You were always at the most dangerous locations in Whitetown.¡±

    ¡°Yes, the same goes for Sire Zining.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m only alive because you dragged me out from under that werewolf¡¯s ws!¡±

    The mercenaries began to talk at the same time.

    The leader gestured for them to quiet down. Only when they were silent did he say, ¡°Sire, we mercenaries aren¡¯t good for much, but we can still recognize a true hero, one who is worthy of following with all our hearts! Don¡¯t refuse anymore, just give us themand if you need us for anything in the future! We won¡¯t hesitate even if we have to fight another battle like in Whitetown!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel emotional as he looked at these survivors.

    The mercenaries lived such dangerous lives because of money. The Empire had always been generous with itspensation, and even the standard amount was an astronomical sum for these mercenaries. Their willingness to forfeit most of the money proved how determined they were to follow Qianye and rebuild Dark me.

    An older mercenary said, ¡°Sire Qianye, even with this arrangement, thepensation we get is still much higher than the other mercenary corps. I believe that as long as you¡¯re at the helm, ourte brethren¡¯s families won¡¯t suffer any grievances.¡±

    Having said this much, Qianye could feel the weight on his shoulders. With this promise, he would have to take responsibility not only for the survivors but also for the families of the deceased. That was more than a hundred thousand people.

    The leader said, ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing, the initial rebuilding won¡¯t be a problem. Our dead brethren have children who areing of age. Those over ten years old can be considered adults in the neutralnds. Just give them a gun and they won¡¯t be inferior on the battlefield!¡±

    Qianye finally nodded. ¡°Very well! Follow me well in the future and I will bring you to conquer the vast world!¡±

    An explosive cheer erupted in the battlecruiser!

    Just like that, a seed was nted.

    The fleet¡¯s journey wasrgely uneventful as no one was stupid enough to rob them. Even the poorest, most ruthless of pirates would forget any untoward intentions after seeing the battlecruiser, and slowly shrink away.

    A corvette sped forward to Southern Blue and circled the city several times. It then sent a signal after confirming that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Soon, therge fleet of airships arrived over Souther Blue andnded one after the other.

    The nominal city lord, Ji Rui, was already waiting for them. He approached with a face full of smiles when he saw Qianye walking out of the battlecruiser. ¡°Your victorious return is worthy of celebration!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Most of our brethren have fallen in battle, what¡¯s there to celebrate?¡±

    Ji Rui was stunned. ¡°All fallen? Impossible, you brought roughly¡­ fifty thousand men, right?¡±

    ¡°These are all the survivors we have left.¡± Qianye pointed behind him.

    Only several hundred mercenaries walked down from the airship. Their group looked rather weakpared to the giant vessel, let alone the entire fleet.

    Ji Rui looked at the survivors carefully and eximed, ¡°Such talented people!¡±

 Chapter 1184: Thoughts of Peace

    <h4>Chapter 1184: Thoughts of Peace</h4>

    Qianye looked back at the group of subordinates. As survivors of a great ordeal, all of them were injured and almost half couldn¡¯t move well. The ones with the heaviest injuries were lying on the airship and would be carried downter. Mercenaries didn¡¯t quite care about their appearance normally, and even less now that they were injured. At a nce, they looked more like refugees than mercenaries.

    Their auras were fairly subdued since they were injured. A wounded beast simply couldn¡¯tpare to an undamaged creature of the same species.

    Ji Rui was an old fox. In order to prove that he wasn¡¯t just currying favor, he said with augh, ¡°Sire, the Empire is full of talented people, so these men might seem ordinary inparison, but they are rare talents in the neutralnds. Half of your men have the potential to break through to the champion realm. Once they do, Dark me will no longer be the same.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood what Ji Rui wanted to say. This old fox liked to exaggerate a bit, but it was true that a third of them might break through.

    With enough resources, these promising mercenaries would break through into several dozen champions. Even the Empire¡¯s numbered army corps only had that many experts. Even those who couldn¡¯t ascend would definitely see a great increase in their fighting power.

    The neutralnd¡¯s mercenaries had nevercked valor and ferocity, only resources and environment.

    From this standpoint, it was indeed as Ji Rui had said, all of them were promising talents. It was just that a couple hundred of these talented men had to climb out of a pile of forty thousand corpses.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head back to the city, how are things over there?¡±

    Ji Rui said, ¡°What else can happen? Those merchants and minor families are extremely obedient! No one dares to act up after hearing of your triumphant return. You already cleaned up the bad onesst time.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    There was no change in the situation in the neutralnds. Dark me had mobilized in full force, but Southern Blue and Tidehark remained rtively stable. No one dared to jump out and attempt another coup.

    Qianye had already taught those restless people a good lesson thest time he returned. Even Zhang Buzhou¡¯s nephew was captured and exchanged for Tidehark. Everyone had to reevaluate themselves after that incident; who would dare to cause trouble?

    News of the Empire¡¯s victory on the void continent had also spread far and wide. Dark me had suffered grave losses and was almost wiped out, but as the victorious party, it would surely regain its vigor quickly.

    Those with resources will have manpower, and those with manpower will have strength. No matter how bitter the casualty rate was, the numbers didn¡¯t seem all that shocking in the neutralnds where humans were struggling to survive.

    A jeep was already waiting nearby. Ji Rui personally opened the door for Qianye and invited him into the vehicle, much like a servant. He was still the nominal city lord of Southern Blue and not a weak one, either. It was definitely a surprise that he would be so humble.

    ¡°City Lord Ji, this isn¡¯t appropriate, is it?¡±

    Ji Rui was full of smiles. ¡°Of course it is, why wouldn¡¯t it be? With your status, it¡¯s not embarrassing even if I be your follower. If you remember our old friendship, just give me a position in Dark me.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°That¡¯s too much of an inconvenience for you.¡±

    Ji Rui¡¯s smile disappeared. ¡°Now you¡¯re being a stranger. We¡¯ve actually known each other for a good while. I watched how you grew up, saw how you treat your brethren in Dark me, and how you changed the entire industrial structure in Southern Blue.¡±

    ¡°The industrial structure was through Zining¡¯s efforts.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t want to take credit.

    Ji Rui said, ¡°Zining is your brother, but you are the pir of the entire Dark me. Forgive me for being frank, but I probably won¡¯tst very long if we fight, will I?¡±

    Qianye gave it serious thought. Then, he said with a sincere expression, ¡°You can still... erm,st a good while.¡±

    Ji Ruiughed. ¡°No need to worry about my feelings! If you think of me as a friend, let me be your vicemander or something. An empty title is okay, I won¡¯t be meddling in your operations. Just call me when there¡¯s a battle to fight.¡±

    Qianye merely nodded. He couldn¡¯t quite decline since Ji Rui was so understanding and tactful.

    Ji Rui waited until Qianye had boarded the car before taking the aide¡¯s seat to the front. His posturing was on point. Along the way, he asked, ¡°Sire Qianye, tell me the truth. How long can Ist against you?¡±

    Since Ji Rui was asking so earnestly, Qianye thought about it seriously, but he looked rather hesitant about how to say it.

    His current blood energy was at the level of a glorious marquis, equivalent to a human divine champion. There was already a qualitative difference between him and Ji Rui. Qianye¡¯s abilities were also extremely powerful, belonging to the category of one-hit-kills.

    Since Ji Rui had asked, Qianye first thought about the Shot of Inception. There was no need to discuss the upgraded ck feather; it was sure to kill Ji Rui in one hit. The Shot of Inception might not be able to kill a duke, but it should have no problem killing a human who wasn¡¯t even a divine champion. It didn¡¯t seem like Ji Rui could stand an ordinary Shot of Inception, either.

    Next up was Heartgrave. This weapon could snipe a divine champion both in Qianye and Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands.

    If he didn¡¯t use either of them, he would only have East Peak left. Qianye could perform seven shes with each Sweeping Calm now. If he were to concentrate all of them in a small area, it would kill Ji Rui if he failed to dodge.

    Last was Life Plunder. Ji Rui probably couldn¡¯t escape the current area-of-effect. He might not die when struck, but his capacity to fight would be drastically reduced, and it might even damage his foundations if he were to take a few more threads.

    After some thought, there was only Life Plunder that Ji Rui could withstand for a while. This so-called ¡°a while¡± meant that he wouldn¡¯t fall with the first strike, but he certainly couldn¡¯t withstand the second. Life Plunder was an area-of-effect attack, a skill Qianye rarely used in a one-on-one showdown.

    There was also an indirect method, and that was Little Zhuji. The little fellow¡¯s poison would probably cripple Ji Rui even if he wasn¡¯t killed.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s shifting expression, Ji Rui understood what was going on. His expression was awkward as he said self-deprecatingly, ¡°It seems you don¡¯t need to tell me anymore, I more or less understand. I guess I¡¯ll be lucky if I can take one move from you.¡±

    ¡°One move is still possible!¡± Qianye moved to remedy the situation, but he soon realized his mistake.

    The driver¡¯s body tensed up, then rxed rather slowly. Only then did Qianye notice that it was Guan Zhongliu behind the steering wheel. This formermander of the city guard had also gotten rid of any form of posturing.

    If even Ji Rui couldn¡¯tst one move against Qianye, there was really no need to discuss Guan Zhongliu. At this point, he was filled withplicated emotions that expressed themselves on his body.

    Ji Rui said, ¡°Sire Qianye, it seems my request to be vicemander was too high of an aim, please just make me a petty leader!¡±

    Qianye said hurriedly, ¡°How will that do? There¡¯s no problem with you being vicemander.¡±

    Ji Rui was overjoyed. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best!¡±

    They soon passed through the city and arrived at Dark me¡¯s headquarters. Ji Rui saw Qianye off to the main building before returning to his residence.

    Back on the jeep, Guan Zhongliu said, ¡°City Lord, did we have to be so humble?¡±

    Ji Rui shook his head. ¡°Do you see it that way?¡±

    ¡°Qianye is powerful, that I admit, but you¡¯re the city lord. If worsees to worst, we¡¯ll head out and build another foundation.¡±

    Ji Rui sighed. ¡°Old Guan, you think I was wronged, but do you know what kind of people Dark me¡¯s vicemanders are?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t those two youngsters...¡± Guan Zhongliu¡¯s voice shrank halfway through the conversation.

    Dark me had two official vicemanders. One was Song Zining, and the other was Ji Tianqing. Li Kuann could also be considered half a vicemander. Guan Zhongliu wasn¡¯t privy to Ji Tianqing¡¯s identity, but he did understand herbat strength.

    Ji Rui said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to mention that seventh young master. As for Miss Ji, she possesses suchbat strength at such a young age. Do you think her origins are really simple? Judging from the seventh young noble¡¯s stance, her true identity might be so big that it¡¯ll scare us to death. To be peers with these two, I¡¯m probably the one reaching upward. Think about it, there¡¯ll be no ce for us once they cross the divine champion threshold in a few years.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu opened his mouth but only managed to speak after half a beat. ¡°How can it be that easy?¡±

    ¡°It might be hard for us, but that¡¯s a different matter for them.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Old Guan, we¡¯re both old now. I¡¯ve been a nominal city lord for over a year now, I feel that it¡¯s not so bad. I don¡¯t want to go out and fight anymore. Isn¡¯t it better to find someone to follow and live a simple, easy life?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu opened his mouth briefly but didn¡¯t say anything in the end. He suddenly discovered that the attraction of a peaceful life was growing stronger and stronger. Even if he had to work under someone, it wasn¡¯t an uneptable condition.

    ¡°That Qianye...¡± He couldn¡¯t continue.

    Ji Ruiughed. ¡°Sire Qianye is generous and has great potential. His current strength is way beyond my level now, and it almost makes me tremble in fear. Is such a person not worth following?¡±

    Guan Zhongliu understood that the city lord¡¯s words were reasonable. He only sighed in the end.

    Back at Dark me headquarters, a new building had risen up beside the originalmand center. It could be considered the tallest structure in Southern Blue. The interior hadn¡¯t beenpleted, and thus, there was arge group of artisans going about their work.

    A number of attendants led Qianye to the top floor and said respectfully, ¡°Sire, this is your new office.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t remember this building.

    The attendant said, ¡°After your departure with Song Zining, City Lord Ji felt that Dark me¡¯s presence in Southern Blue wasn¡¯t strong enough, so he constructed this new building for you. The city lord provided the funds and the craftsmen. He and Guan Zhongliu even supervised the construction personally during the rush-period. It was just that we were short on time, so the building isn¡¯t fullyplete just yet. But both your office and Sire Song Zining¡¯s have been prepared.¡±

    Qianye entered to find an interestingyout that was simple but stylish. All the furnishings inside were carefully selected and possessed extraordinary origins. It would seem they were items from Ji Rui¡¯s collection.

    The office took up half of the entire floor. Space itself was a type of beauty; standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see the entire city of Southern Blue and even the city lord¡¯s manor.

    Such scenery naturally lifted the spirit.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°The city lord is considerate.¡±

    The servant asked, ¡°It¡¯s great that you like it. Shall we move your things over?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, you¡¯re all people from the City Lord¡¯s Manor?¡± Qianye recognized that most of the people in the building weren¡¯t from Dark me.

    The servant replied, ¡°We used to serve there, but Lord Ji said he has no intention of serving as the city lord in the future, so there¡¯s no need for so many people. Out of consideration for our many years of good servitude, he allowed us toe to Dark me and help you with misceneous chores.¡±

    Qianye nodded, not at all suspecting that Ji Rui was trying to nt eyes at his side. These attendants looked capable and woulde in pretty handy.

    After Qianye sat down, someone delivered a thick stack of documents, containing data on the operation of Dark me and its subordinate workshops during this period.

    Qianye collected his thoughts, opened a document, and began reading through it in detail. By the time he had finished reading all the reports, it was already dusk. He noticed his eyes feeling tired, something he hadn¡¯t experienced in a long while. Turns out handling official work wasn¡¯t easy, either.

 Chapter 1185: Work and Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 1185: Work and Cultivation</h4>

    Everything in Southern Blue was normal in the period that Qianye had gone to join the void-continent war. The various workshops maintained their usual work rhythm, and some even expanded. The airship equipment produced from this system could be sold anywhere even if the Empire didn¡¯t buy them up. Moreover, they could sell as many as they could produce.

    Having moved out in full force, those of Dark me that remained were members tasked with ensuring smooth logistics. They weren¡¯t idle during this period, either. They had been allocating supplies production, as well as procuring various equipment. A number of warehouses were now stacked full of equipment andponents. Two facilities dedicated to manufacturing footsoldier gear were also nearingpletion.

    The new research department was newly formed, but they had already seen breakthroughs in certain topics and would start producing results soon. Moreover, they wereunching over a hundred projects at the same time. This research department didn¡¯t just pop out of nowhere; its backbone staff were transferred over from Ningyuan Heavy Industries.

    Song Zining had moved almost the entirety of his business to the neutralnds and ced the highest priority on the operations here. Research was no exception. After arriving here, the research center¡¯s projects increased sharply, mainly on how to adapt Imperial weaponry to the environment in the neutralnds.

    The various continents of the Evernight world possessed different geography, weather, and origin power environments. Harsh ces like the neutralnds could be found everywhere. Hence, adaptability was an extremely important sector for both military and airship armaments.

    At this point, an attendant entered and ced a new stack of documents on Qianye¡¯s desk. ¡°The statistics of the families of the fallen have been organized, please take a look.¡±

    Qianye opened the document and looked through it carefully.

    Dark me had lost forty thousand mercenaries this time, most of them external mercenaries they had recruitedter on. Information regarding their residences and families hadn¡¯t been documented yet, but the families of the old dark me members alone reached four hundred thousand.

    Dark me possessed its own base as well as the foundations of the merged Ningyuan Heavy Industries. Their stability was much greater than the other mercenary corps, so most of their soldiers were able to support more family members. Among their families, there were almost thirty thousand boys and girls who were above ten years old, and over half of them possessed origin power.

    At this ratio, their cultivation standards were even higher than on the Qin continent. This was brought about by the special environment of the neutralnds. Of course, these benefits also came with their own downsides. Such rapid growth brought about by survival instincts made for unstable foundations. That was why no one from the neutralnds had ever achieved the heavenly monarch realm. Their so-called geniuses would usually exhaust their potential at the divine champion realm and make no more progress.

    These boys and girls with origin power cultivation would make for qualified soldiers if they were given weapons. They could even be low-ranking officers. There was a qualitative difference between soldiers who could fire origin bullets and those who could only use gunpowder weapons.

    After discounting the old, there were close to fifty thousand women in their prime age. When required, they were also a qualified fighting force.

    The Empire¡¯s standardpensation was ten times the yearly sry. This meant that no matter how much a soldier could earn per year, the Empire would pay ten times that amount. The Imperial army¡¯s pay was already fairly generous, so thepensation couldn¡¯t be considered low.

    Dark me had contributed greatly to the battle of Whitetown and fought an extremely bitter battle. Hence, the Empire decided to paypensation based on their standard sry. Even a third of that amount was double that of mercenary-standards in the neutralnds.

    Dark me had received around four million gold coins inpensation. Two-thirds of that was just short of three million. This was a massive sum of money for Dark me, enough to buy two cruisers or enough equipment to outfit threeplete army divisions.

    Dark me had less than two thousandbat personnel left, so recruitment was imperative. Qianye wasn¡¯t too worried about manpower, though, because the surviving veterans had grown much stronger. With them as the backbone, it would be easy to build up a new squad very soon.

    Song Zining had brought an entire group of instructors when Dark me was preparing for the fight around the Great Maelstrom door, and these people were still in the corps. Add to that the ample equipment in-store, they would be able to quickly set up three divisions. Although these units might not bepletely up to Imperial standards, a quick fighting force could still be produced.

    How to reform Dark me was a test for Qianye.

    Qianye whipped out some pen and paper. He then started drawing draft after draft, but he wasn¡¯t satisfied with any of the ns. There was still no conclusion until the moon was high up in the sky.

    Finally, he threw down his pen and arrived before the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the sleeping Southern Blue. This kind of job used to be Song Zining¡¯s duty, but there was no telling when he would be back. Qianye, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t keep relying on him for everything.

    Watching the city under the night sky¡ªespecially therge, empty headquarters¡ªQianye gradually calmed down and began thinking about how to set out with the n.

    At first, Dark me in the neutralnds was put together merely to defend Southern Blue. Song Zining arrivedter on and began expanding its forces to support Qianye¡¯s dream of reaching the Sacred Mountain.

    That was how Dark me¡¯s objective went from defense to expansion and expeditions. After some thought and integrating the experience from the Battle of Whitetown, Qianye felt that he needed a unit that could coordinate with him.

    The current Qianye was an unstoppable force for ordinary opponents. In a simr fashion, ordinary squads weren¡¯t good enough to coordinate with him. At the very least, he needed a unit on the level of Red Scorpion, people who could keep up with his rhythm.

    Going forward, the Evernight Council¡¯s ck Sun sword-bearers were the final version of this elite unit.

    After some contemtion, Qianye gave up on the idea of distributing equipment equally among three divisions. Finally, he decided to recruit fifty thousand people and outfit them ording to the neutralnds¡¯ first-rate standards. Even then, the cost of outfitting fifty thousand men was only equal to a single Imperial main-army division. With the remaining money, Qianye nned to purchase supplies ording to Red Scorpion standards and arm a group of elites to the teeth.

    ording to that standard, a budget sufficient to equip two main-army divisions would only be able to equip two thousand men. However, these two thousand men would be far more useful than two divisions.

    Only such a squad could keep up with Qianye.

    After reaching a decision, everything else moved along much faster. Qianye didn¡¯t sleep that night as he mapped out aplete n.

    Qianye pressed the bell on his desk and summoned the manager Song Zining had left behind. This manager was in charge of purchasing equipment from the Empire. His face twitched briefly when he saw Qianye¡¯s n, but he carefully hid his emotions and withdrew.

    Qianye¡¯s purchase n wasn¡¯t easy to fulfill as there were quite a few strictly-limited military supplies. But since Qianye had suggested the need, he¡ªas a subordinate¡ªhad to find a way to make it happen. Song Zining was now in the Empire, so they could use his connections for things that were too difficult.

    The next few days saw Dark me recruiting for new soldiers once more.

    News always traveled fast here. In just a couple of days, the results of the void-continent war had spread across the neutralnds. The dark races in every area became much more subdued, while the human powers took this opportunity to expand.

    The mercenaries, especially those independent ones, saw this as an opportunity. Utilizing different channels, they all swarmed toward the Eastern Sea and Southern Blue, waiting for the recruitment.

    A mercenary corps like Dark me that could join wars, and even y an integral role in it, had long since exceeded the scope of traditional mercenary corps. Many people felt that they shouldn¡¯t be described merely as a mercenary corps. In factional wars, the role of mercenaries had always been to serve as cannon fodder, to fill in the gaps, and to perform the most dangerous missions.

    The human race¡¯s victory on the void continent and Dark me¡¯s bitter fight at Whitetown caused the mercenary corps¡¯ fame to explode. They were slowly gaining fame as the number one major mercenary corps in the neutralnds. At the same time, Dark me¡¯s stability and good pay left most small mercenary groups in the dust, so much so that even those highly skilled independent mercenaries were moved.

    After hearing about the corps¡¯ losses at Whitetown, the mercenaries smelled an opportunity instead of feeling afraid. Everyone was nning to try their luck in finding a ce in Dark me.

    Over the course of a few days, Qianye reorganized the surviving champions from the war, forming five regr divisions and one fledgling elite unit with them as the backbone. Then, he began the first round of recruitments from among the families of the deceased.

    The recruitment was met with unprecedented sess. Most boys and girls with origin power cultivation, as well asdies of age, were all willing to join. This provided Qianye with thirty thousand qualified troops. Compared to the mercenaries who hade to apply for a position, the fighting power of these women and children were rather limited. However, their backgrounds were clean, and their advantage in loyalty was iparable.

    As for the unending stream of mercenaries who hade to apply, they were divided and assigned into various units after a strict screening process. After a round of drill training, they would be barely usable.

    Aplete training period would require one month at the very least, and it would take even longer for the equipment from the Empire to arrive. Although Dark me already had an established process for training and organization, important issues still required Qianye¡¯s attention. He soon realized that simply approving documents was taking him entire days unknowingly.

    Things couldn¡¯t keep going this way, or he wouldn¡¯t even have a guaranteed time for cultivation. Zhang Boqian¡¯s notes on the Profound Combatant Form were still in Andruil¡¯s Space. The art was even more profound now, and Qianye needed time to slowlyprehend it. But first, he needed to make sure that he had the necessary time to cultivate.

    On the other hand, his blood energy was still in an imbnced statepared to his origin power cultivation. That was still the case even though Zhang Boqian had used a peerless ability to bring him down to the glorious marquis realm.

    Delegation of authority was the best way to do this. The members Song Zining had left behind were trustworthy, and they could solve most minor problems on their own.

    This matter was easy to say, but Qianye was met with a different headache when the time actually came. The system had been more or less perfected since Song Zining was here. There were clear rules detailing the matters each rank could make decisions about.

    But that only applied to daily workflow. Currently, Qianye was expanding, and the issues that hade before him were important cases withsting effects. This was especially true for Dark me¡¯s core fighting strength and development. They weren¡¯t things ordinary subordinates could decide on. If he were to give people free reign on such important things, the entire Dark me would surely go out of control.

    After several days of sorting out policies, procedures, and rules, Qianye found that there really was nothing that could be changed. Only at this point did he realize how extraordinary Song Zining really was. This seventh young master was buried behind stacks of documents every day, so it was truly a wonder how he managed to cultivate so quickly.

 Chapter 1186: Work of a Heavenly Monarch

    <h4>Chapter 1186: Work of a Heavenly Monarch</h4>

    Some things had to be let go no matter how unwilling one was. Life was full of choices.

    Qianye thought of a way. He would save up documents of simr nature together and process them all in one go every ten days. That would be less efficient, but he was finally able to squeeze one full night¡¯s time to try out the Profound Combatant Form.

    Walking into the cultivation room, he ordered his men to activate the array which served to converge origin power and protect his surroundings. He then fished out Zhang Boqian¡¯s notes and read through them in detail. After looking through them once, he carefully put the notes away and closed his eyes in contemtion.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of words in the notes, and Qianye was already beyond familiar with the contents. Already well-acquainted with the channeling direction and methods, he slowly activated his energy and began to cultivate.

    The Martial Ancestor¡¯s Profound Combatant Form worked by using the cultivator¡¯s energy to draw upon the void origin power, forming a vortex. The cultivation was fast and powerful, but its disadvantages were also ring. That was the extreme strain on the body, and the ease with which it could go out of control.

    If it wasn¡¯t for someone like Qianye whose constitution wasparable to an ancient vampire, cultivating this art would mean death. From what was known, only the Martial Ancestor and Zhang Boqian had touched upon this realm, and neither of them continued training in it. They switched to a different primary cultivation art after reaching that stage.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s version of the Profound Combatant Form had various changes made to it. After mastering it, Qianye found that he could spread his perception toward the void with greater ease and gained various methods to control void origin power. The vortex condensation speed was inevitably slower, but it was now easier to control, and the impact on the body was lighter.

    Momentster, a massive void origin power vortex gradually took form. It was a bit smaller than the Martial Ancestor¡¯s version but much more stable.

    Even though it was stable, the pressure gradually increased until the sound of shattering ss came through. Unable to withstand the pressure, a crack appeared in the space, and threads of void origin power were drawn into the vortex.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s version was unique in that there was a smaller vortex inside the vortex, rotating in the opposite direction. The two vortices happened to form a natural grinding stone that tore and ground down the void origin power as it was flung from the bigger vortex into the smaller one. A good amount of impurities would be centrifuged to the outside, leaving only a small amount of essence for Qianye to absorb.

    The clever design allowed for the same effect as the Song n Ancient Scroll. The origin power produced from cultivation was purer, and the condensation process was much easier. As such, although the current segment of cultivation was slower than the Martial Ancestor¡¯s version, the process was faster as a whole when taking the Song n Ancient Scroll into ount.

    The only issue was that not everyone could use this method. It required an extremely high standard of origin power control, which bumped up the difficulty by a notch.

    The Martial Ancestor¡¯s version required a powerful physique that was virtually impossible for normal humans. Zhang Boqian¡¯s take on the art lowered this threshold somewhat but demanded perfect origin power control. The two requirementsbined made it impossible for anyone to cultivate the Profound Combatant Form.

    Because Qianye had cultivated the Song n Ancient Scroll for many years, he was rather familiar with the processes in this new version. So, it took him only a bit of trial and error to master it. But at this point, Qianye realized that Zhang Boqian had tailored this art for him since it would only add to the difficulty for other people. It was probably easier to search for rare treasures and arts to reinforce the body. On the other hand, the cultivator could only rely on himself to achieve perfect origin power control.

    Qianye became immersed in cultivation as sparkling wisps of purified origin power entered his body. He seemed to sense some sort ofmotion outside but was in no mood to pay attention.

    It was at this time that Qianye heard a crisp ¡°ding¡± echo in his ears. The sound brought him out of his cultivation state but didn¡¯t affect his origin power.

    This was the awakening bell used to rouse cultivators. This particr bell was Song Zining¡¯s, a premium quality item that could catch one¡¯s attention but not disturb the mind. Qianye also had one back at training camp, but it was much inferior.

    Once the bell rang, Qianye immediately realized that something had happened outside.

    At this point, Qianye¡¯s origin power control had reached a level where he could release and retract the art at will. He immediately withdrew his cultivation art and stood up, allowing the origin vortex in the air to revolve on its own. Although the vortex was still there, it would disperse soon since Qianye wasn¡¯t around to control it.

    He walked out of the cultivation room and saw several generals standing in front of the chamber. Some of them weren¡¯t even properly dressed. Apparently, they had rushed over after waking up.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qianye asked.

    One of the generals hesitated. ¡°Sire, you¡¯ll know once youe out and take a look.¡±

    Qianye was stunned as he walked out to the balcony and gazed out.

    Southern Blue was covered by a giant swirling cloud, hanging so low it was almost touching the roofs. The slowly-revolving vortex triggered great rm as it bore down upon the people with a formless pressure. They could no longer tell whether it was the sky or the earth that was spinning.

    There was an intense aura of void origin power within the clouds, filling everyone with a sense of danger that caused their hair to stand on end. Those who had better cultivation could feel it even stronger. The generals here were fearless in the face of death, but no one dared to investigate the cloudyer. Such a clear sense of danger could only mean one thing¡ªapproaching it meant death.

    There was lightning flickering within the clouds, with purple bolts shooting out from its center. Arcs of purple lightning struck Dark me¡¯smand center, causing half of the building to copse.

    The city had long since fallen into chaos in the face of this cmitous scenery. Constant screams filled the air as countless people fled outside the gates. Dark me could be considered calm. The roaring officers kept their men suppressed, preventing the new recruits from falling into disorder.

    A mercenary general spat in dissatisfaction. ¡°These little brats have to be trained to death! Always making amotion out of small matters. We even survived Whitetown, what¡¯s there to be afraid of?¡±

    All the generals felt the same. Speaking of a deathly cmity, nothing could be worse than Whitetown. What¡¯s a little natural disasterpared to that?

    Qianye¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, all of you should disperse soon. Go and check if anyone¡¯s injured and give them immediate treatment. Also, send people to maintain order within the city.¡±

    A mercenary general noticed Qianye¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t quite right. ¡°Sire, don¡¯t tell me...¡±

    Qianye said hesitantly, ¡°This... might have a bit to do with my cultivation...¡±

    He sounded quite guilty. The generals¡¯ mouths fell open, bbergasted.

    Momentster, someone said, ¡°Sire, you¡¯re truly... I think you should let us know when you¡¯re cultivating next time.¡±

    Everyone nodded.

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡±

    The generals spread out to perform their duties. Qianye nced at the vortex in the sky and shook his head helplessly. Prince Greensun was indeed a heavenly monarch¡ªcultivating his art shook the earth and enraged the weather. How was he to cultivate from now on? No wonder the cultivation chambers of the major ns were highly valuable; it was almost as though they were cut from origin crystals.

    While Qianye was worrying about this, Ji Rui and Guan Zhongliu were drinking at the city lord¡¯s residence. Ji Rui¡¯s wine cup shattered to the floor, but he waspletely ignorant, only staring at the swirling clouds in the sky.

    Guan Zhongliu called out several times before Ji Rui returned to his senses. When asked about the issue, the city lord onlyughed. ¡°I¡¯m old, I¡¯m old.¡±

    Guan Zhongliu also had some guesses. He could hardly hide his shock when he looked up at the sky.

    Southern Blue gradually became peaceful as the clouds dispersed. The violet lightning had caused half of Dark me¡¯smand center to copse, but there was no one there so deep at night. Only a couple of patrolling soldiers were hurt. The only problem was that they would have to spend more time building it up again.

    In the days that followed, Qianye was extra careful whenever he cultivated. Since he didn¡¯t have the money to build a dedicated istion chamber like the major ns, he could only rely on his own power to control the scope of the origin vortex. Although the winds and clouds would surge every night, there were no more signs of a cmity like the first day.

    The effects were barely passable as cultivating like this affected his speed. The initial phase of the mass recruitment hade to an end, and next up was the recruitment of independent experts. This process couldn¡¯t be rushed as they needed to be screened carefully. Seeing this, Qianye prepared a high-speed airship and left for the Northern Continent.

    The Northern Continent was big and sparsely popted, a perfect ce to let loose and cultivate. Qianye also hadn¡¯t checked up on the construction progress there in some time.

    Imperial corvettes were known for their speed. The Northern Continent could already be seen in less than half a day. Out of caution, Qianyemanded the airship to fly around the border of the eastern sea. The origins and aim of the mysterious entity at the bottom of the sea was still a mystery to Qianye, even to this day. He really did not want to repeat his previous experience.

    While they were heading toward the Northern Continent, Qianye was jolted violently as an invisible consciousness washed over him. His entire body became so stiff that it was difficult to move a single finger. If even he was in such a state, the other crew would surely have it even worse. The corvette fell straight to the ground after losing kic power.

    Soon afterward, a formless power caught the corvette and kept it suspended in the air.

    Qianye sensed a pair of eyes slowly opening in the distance and ncing toward him. Those eyes seemed like they could see through everything; no secret was safe before them. This feeling of being seen through, Qianye had experienced it before. Even so, he hadn¡¯t imagined that he would be so helpless before the mysterious entity, even after his strength upgrade.

    No wonder the Wolf King, Zhang Buzhou, and the Throne of Blood kept away from the Eastern Sea. They seemed to be entirely uninterested in therge ind, and rarely were there any records of them operating here in person.

    The eyes closed again rather quickly and that consciousness receded like the tides. The other party had no interest in the current Qianye, nor did it want tomunicate further.

    The invisible force lowered the corvette slowly to the ground, and only momentster did the crew regain the power to move. The captain rushed into Qianye¡¯s cabin and cried out, ¡°Sire Qianye! Just now...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all fine now, let everyone recover before heading out on our way.¡±

    Seeing Qianye calm, the captain pulled himself together and left with his orders. The corvette took to the air once again, flying toward the Northern Continent.

    Qianye sat in the airship, thinking back to his experience at the bottom of the sea. He suddenly realized that the mysterious entity in the sea felt that he was still not powerful enough to shoulder that important mission.

 Chapter 1187: Unrest in Zheng

    <h4>Chapter 1187: Unrest in Zheng</h4>

    A fledgling city had already taken form on the Northern Continent, with several small viges scattered in its vicinity. The workshops here were either in production or being constructed rapidly.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was parked outside the city, its massive frame resembling a city of its own. Hundreds of technicians were moving in and out of the vessel, clearing out the damage and recing or repairing the malfunctioning parts.

    Qianye¡¯s corvettended in the outskirts of the city. Immediately afternding, a cemetery at the foot of a small, distant mountain caught his attention. From what he remembered, this cemetery used to be a project on paper, but now, it had be a reality. Most importantly, there were numerous tombstones erected within it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look,¡± he said as he off toward the cemetery.

    The burial ground was divided into many different areas. Each of them possessed a different style; even the tombstones were fashioned ording to their tribal designs. For instance, the tombstones made of mechanical parts and weaponry belonged to the Highbeards. The square-shaped ones made of wood or stone were the humans¡¯. There was a different area that was much smaller than the Highbeards¡¯, with only three graves inside. Each of them was made of white stone, with ice and lightning carved upon them. This was the crest of the Thunderfrost Temple, and judging from the make of the tombstones, the ones buried here clearly weren¡¯t ordinary people.

    ¡°What happened here?¡±

    The attendant in charge of the cemetery replied, ¡°The Martyr¡¯s Pce returned a while ago, and the many corpses it brought back were all buried here. The division of space was decided upon by Lady Bluemoon and Caroline.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He turned toward the small city and, sensing Caroline¡¯s aura, headed in that direction. The Martyr¡¯s Pce had returned to the Northern Continent after the battle of Whitetown, so Qianye never had much time to talk to Caroline.

    In a small, quiet courtyard in the city, Caroline was reading in the yard, wearing a casual dress. She ordered the servants to prepare a new cup of tea when she saw Qianye descending, then gestured for them to withdraw. She sized Qianye up from head to toe, growing more and more surprised as she did so. ¡°I actually can¡¯t see through you anymore?¡±

    Qianye was also a bit surprised. ¡°Really? I don¡¯t think I made much progress. But you...¡±

    Caroline¡¯s aura was evidently weak, not much better than when the war had ended. This meant that her injuries were worse than Qianye had anticipated.

    Caroline said with a smile, ¡°That old spider wasn¡¯t easy to deal with. If he hadn¡¯t damaged the Martyr¡¯s Pce, causing the Earth Dragon¡¯s remnant will to counterattack, you might not see me today.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me your tribesmen were killed.¡±

    ¡°This is our war, a fight to pioneer newnd for my kind. For a territory where we can survive, sacrifices will need to be made and are worth making. That¡¯s why I thought there was no need to mention it specifically, it¡¯s enough to give them a good resting ce. This ce is really nice, I like it.¡±

    Qianye could only sigh.

    The fight on the Martyr¡¯s Pce was fiercer than those on the ground had guessed. Qianye and Song Zining had been too careless, it seems, thinking the pce was safe with Caroline and her nsmen on board. Now, it seemed that desperate arachne duke might¡¯ve caused fundamental damage to the Martyr¡¯s Pce if the Earth Dragon¡¯s will hadn¡¯t counterattacked.

    If the arachne duke had destroyed the control engine on the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, the Martyr¡¯s Pce would no longer be controble¡ªand that was no different from being destroyed. Judging from that arachne duke¡¯sbat strength, his desperate final attack might¡¯ve destroyed the heart itself if Caroline hadn¡¯t blocked it. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was different from other warships in that its heart was alive, allowing the airship to utilize a tiny fraction of the void colossus¡¯ intelligence and power.

    Qianye¡¯s mood was heavy, but Caroline seemed to be calm already. She tilted her head and asked curiously, ¡°Howe you¡¯re here? Have you finished handling things over at Dark me?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s simply no end to them.¡± Qianyeughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°I came here to check up on you and cultivate for a period of time. I want to see if I can break through.¡±

    ¡°Break through? Are you going to assail the divine champion realm?¡± Caroline looked rather astonished.

    Qianye thought about it. ¡°Not necessarily, I¡¯m nning to cultivate here until my injuries are healed.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡± Caroline blinked several times.

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll head back to Southern Blue to reform and train the new troops. The equipment should be ready soon. Next, it¡¯s time for me to keep my promise to you.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Then I¡¯d better recover quickly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll be for the best.¡± Qianye smiled.

    Half a month went by in a sh as Qianye immersed himself in cultivation and lost track of time. The Northern Continent was covered in winds and clouds every day during this time.

    One day, the leaden clouds hung especially low, and one could hardly see the borders of the vortex. The shes of violet lightning looked so intense that it looked like there was a violet pond about to pour down any moment.

    When the violet electricity had umted to its limits, a thunderbolt came crashing down upon the little town¡ªmuch like a waterfall of lightning.

    Just as the cmity was about to strike, a green lightning dragon rushed up into the air and broke apart the violent deluge. Thus, the disaster was resolved. Soon, an uplifting aura shot into the sky and began to roam freely inside the lightning pond, spreading a feeling of inexplicable jubtion.

    Sensing the changes during his cultivation, Qianye slowly opened his eyes. As though a bolt of lightning had shed through the empty room, the walls and roof were suddenly reduced to powder.

    Startled, Qianye slowly withdrew his origin power, stood up, and nced at the direction of the small city. He saw Caroline, with her Thunderous Whip, walking through the air toward him. In the blink of an eye, she was already in front of Qianye.

    ¡°Your injuries have healed?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Yes, it healed faster than I expected. I guess it¡¯s because I can¡¯t wait to get started. How about you? How far are you from the divine champion realm?¡±

    ¡°I should be... one step away.¡± Qianye released his aura. In Caroline¡¯s perception, she could see nine origin vortices emitting an extremely intense radiance, almost like nine small suns.

    Qianye¡¯s daybreak origin power was too fierce. Even someone of Caroline¡¯s eye power felt a scorching pain when she looked straight at it, unable to see through what was inside that burning radiance.

    Qianye sealed off the condition within his body after a moment of release.

    ¡°Why not try breaking through?¡±

    Caroline was curious. Considering Qianye¡¯s high origin power quality, it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to break through. Qianye¡¯s nine origin vortices were already close to perfection at this point. At the very least, she couldn¡¯t see any obvious deficiency.

    As someone who had experienced the process, she knew that this was a sign of having cultivated to the peak. This was also the best time to assail the divine champion threshold.

    She felt somewhat envious as she looked at the sun-like vortices. Foundation-wise, Caroline¡¯s was superior to most of those so-called geniuses. She was able to cross the divine champion realm after sparing no effort to jump up. But Qianye¡¯s current starting point was one rank higher than hers. With just a slight jump, he might be able to reach a level most cultivators could only dream of.

    Regarding this problem, Qianye replied after some thought, ¡°I¡¯ve been gone for too long. It¡¯s time to head back. As for breaking through, there¡¯s no rush, anyway.¡±

    ¡°No rush, anyway?¡± Caroline had a sudden urge to choke Qianye.

    The two boarded the Martyr¡¯s Pce momentster. The Earth Dragon slowly took to the skies and flew back to Southern Blue. For the uing period, Qianye would have the Martyr¡¯s Pce remain on standby in the void. He woulde here to cultivate whenever he needed to.

    Dark me¡¯s dedicated airship port was full of transport vessels. Led by their respective officers, groups of mercenaries were unloading heavy crates and moving them into the warehouses.

    The paint on these boxes was new, clearly a recent paint-job to cover up the insignias. Those familiar with the field could tell that these boxes were the standard type used for Imperial army munitions.

    There were over a dozen transports in the port. The warehouses adjacent to thending pads were full to the brim, so the rest of the crates were being carried to more distant storage sites by truck.

    Qianye arrived through the air andnded right inside the port. A mercenary general was issuing some orders to the men on the field, but he ran over immediately after noticing Qianye. ¡°Sire, you¡¯re finally back.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    The mercenary general replied, ¡°These are armaments Sire Zining has sent over from the Empire. They have just arrived this morning. Here¡¯s the list, please take a look.¡±

    Qianye looked through the list of goods and nodded after seeing that the numbers were correct. It went without saying that a dedicated officer would work on the subsequent inspection and inventory. Qianye didn¡¯t need to worry about that.

    Another general jogged over at this point and handed Qianye a document. ¡°Sire, this is the intelligence report we have just received.¡±

    Qianye took the envelope and tore it open. He looked rather surprised as he went through the contents briefly. ¡°Unrest in the nation of Zheng?¡±

    ¡°Zheng?¡± Caroline seemed to have heard of the name before but couldn¡¯t quite recall.

    The mercenary who hade to deliver the report immediately exined to her.

    The nation of Zheng was a small country on the Fort Continent, popted mainly by humans but also home to a good number of dark races. The ruler of Zheng chose to call himself king instead of emperor and expressed submission to the Empire. It was one of the Empire¡¯s nominal vassals.

    The power structure on Fort Continent wasplicated. There were many small countries belonging to humans and dark races. The Empire and Evernight had both raised a good number of representatives there, and Zheng was one of them. Neither faction thought highly of thend, but they weren¡¯t willing to abandon the profits there and allow their opponents to gain power. As such, both sides ended up fostering local puppets to vie for power.

    That was why the power bnce there was even more confusing than the neutralnds. It was fairly lively as the small countries and cities were always fighting amongst one another. Some of the weaker powers would announce themselves as a country, but in truth, they owned no more than a couple of small cities.

    The nation of Zheng was in a state of unrest because the king had suddenly fallen ill, and it was very likely that he would pass away. The princes, in order to secure the throne, began lobbying the army ministers¡ªthe entire situation was on the verge of ignition. With the only divine champion in the country dead, the dark race powers nearby were also eyeing the nation of Zheng. It seemed like the country would soon fall into turmoil.

    Qianye was familiar with Zheng only because of Nanhua.

    Caroline understood the situation after hearing that Zheng was on the Fort Continent. She looked up at Qianye who made an immediate decision: ¡°Zheng must not fall into dark race hands! Issue the order! Gather the army, we shall quell the unrest!¡±

 Chapter 1188: Just Cause

    <h4>Chapter 1188: Just Cause</h4>

    The entire Dark me mobilized on Qianye¡¯s orders.

    Momentster, the generals and leaders of every department had flocked into themand room. Qianye nced down at the room full of people, feeling greatly satisfied.

    Those qualified to enter themand room were all champions, with the exception of the department heads. In the past, the logistics officers would usually outnumber the frontline generals, but now, most of the people here were champions. Their auras shed against one another, causing the weaker civil officers to turn pale and almost lose consciousness.

    The generals naturally noticed this, but none of them had any intention of holding back. On the contrary, they released their auras with the ardor of a peacock in heat trying to overpower their opponent.

    The number of generals in the room had more than doubled. Now, there were close to thirty champions, a force to be reckoned with wherever they went.

    The new generals were mostly survivors from the battle of Whitetown. They weren¡¯t idle while Qianye was cultivating on the Northern Continent; all of them were doing their utmost to cultivate as well. With the help of supplementary materials that could aid in origin vortex condensation, almost everyone who had umted enough managed to break through. The highest record was three breakthroughs in a single day.

    In addition to the mercenaries from Whitetown, there were two newly-recruited generals who hade to join Dark me with their own small corps in tow. ording to Song Zining¡¯s rules, the mercenaries would be reorganized after joining and spread among various units.

    Seeing that Dark me was so rich and powerful, the two generals didn¡¯t dare say anything and obediently epted the reorganization.

    Such a smooth incorporation was rare even for major ns like the Zhao. The gap was still obvious, though. It went without saying that many of the mercenary generals here had used up their potential after the breakthrough, and their primary cultivation art wasn¡¯t enough to help them break these limits. They were not given meticulously designed equipment,bat arts, or partners who couldplement them. So, in terms of fighting power, ten Zhao n champions would easily defeat ten of these mercenary champions.

    In the neutralnds, however, they were an unprecedented force. Perhaps only a handful of powers like the Throne of Blood and the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence couldpare to Dark me now.

    At the thought of the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence, Qianye remembered something he had neglected for a while. Those ¡°old friends¡± had hidden themselves so well that he had almost forgotten them.

    Putting the matter off first, he looked at the generals and said, ¡°Many of our brothers have grown since the battle of Whitetown. This is great! You guys hoped that I would bring you to conquer the world, now¡¯s the chance. The nation of Zheng is suffering unrest, we need to mobilize our forces and help them stabilize the situation. What do you think?¡±

    A general scratched his head. ¡°Where is Zheng exactly? Also, what does their unrest have to do with us? It seems... we don¡¯t have a good reason.¡±

    None of them was dumb. This so-called moving out to stabilize the situation was the same as offering to help one of the major neutralnd cities maintain order. It was just that they would still need a bit of cover or they might be the butt of public criticism.

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Where is Zheng, good question! I want everyone to start cramming once you go back. The intelligence division has organized all relevant information and maps. You¡¯ll each get a copy of the documents. I¡¯ll give you one day to memorize everything. As for a just cause, Zheng has so many princes seeking the throne. Why don¡¯t we have one of the weaker ones invite us in?¡±

    Finding the n quite reasonable, the generals nodded with all their might. There were also a good number of them with bitter expressions¡ªkilling enemies on the front lines wasn¡¯t out of the question, but asking them to study was simply too much.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to pay attention to them. He dismissed the meeting with a wave of his hand, reminding them that they would be given a spot check tomorrow morning. Those who couldn¡¯t recite the information would be locked in a private cell to study until they could.

    Dark me was no longer small, and they had just finished recruiting recently. A major armament war wasn¡¯t something that could bepleted in a day or two. It just so happened that he could use these days to draw up a more detailed strategy. Qianye intended to lead the new elite corps that had been equipped to Red Scorpion standards, with three divisions providing support. These three divisions would be in charge of upying territory and maintaining order rather than fighting.

    The mobilization process was, of course, left to the people under him. Qianye, on the other hand, needed to make other preparations. At the very least, he needed to conclude his business with the heavenly monarch¡¯s residence.

    The Qin Continent, Imperial Capital. Everyone seemed to be in an anxious rush recently, and a formless tension seemed to fill the atmosphere.

    Strange scenes had been ying out in the Imperial Capital since the void continent war. Many of the ordinary people living under the Emperor¡¯s feet had rtives or friends working in important departments. This facilitated the rapid spread of rumors. In little taverns, hotels, and restaurants¡ªwhen people were tipsy and merry¡ªthere would always be someone talking about the secrets of the heavenly monarchs. It was almost as though they had seen them personally.

    News of the great victory lifted everyone¡¯s spirits, but those in important positions knew more inside information.

    It was... a bitter victory.

    The Imperial n had moved out in full force for the war of national fate. Even those who had remained isted for many years, like Princess Haimi, had epted the order to fight. Geniuses like the Fourteenth Prince and Neenth Princess had also fallen in battle. The former¡¯s death directly impacted the crown prince selection.

    Fortunately, the Radiant Emperor was no longer contained like before and was gradually revealing his power. From the current situation, it looked like the crown prince matter would be settled pretty quickly.

    However, the fall of the Longevity Monarch was a fact. Following the monarch¡¯s death, the Radiant Emperor took control of the capital and core regions of the continent to prepare for the subsequent Sanguine Funeral. That was a n of convenience, however. Uprooting the entire system of the Longevity Monarch¡¯s people wasn¡¯t an easy job. This character had been operating in the Imperial n for over a hundred years, and his roots were deep-seated in many different domains. Add to that theplicated rtionships of the Imperial family, with members married to almost all major ns and high-ranking aristocracy, this clean-up was destined to take years.

    To certain powerful characters, Lin Xitang¡¯s disappearance was another important matter. It was no longer a secret that Lin Xitang had appeared at the void continent, ughtered the Minister of the Right, and rearranged the entire war progress. A number of true ministers were beginning to reveal the Minister of the Right¡¯s crimes in court, allowing those nearby to see the current state of affairs and preventing them from doing stupid things.

    There was no more news of Lin Xitang after his fight in the void. The Radiant Emperor never admitted that Lin Xitang had fallen in battle, only that he was missing. He flew into a rage when someone reported relevant intelligence from the dark race side, and demoted him by three ranks. None of the ministers stepped forward to criticize the move, keeping silent in tacit unison. On the surface, it seemed like they were unwilling to touch the dragon¡¯s proverbial whiskers, but in truth, they were either in the war or had obtained detailed intelligence about it. Their emotions regarding this Emperor were extremelyplicated right now.

    Besides, the information from the other faction wasn¡¯t any different from what they already knew. There was only an oue and no details. The Evernight faction also found this excessively odd. Prince Habsburg never exined the process to the council. He immediately returned to his castle afterward and refused all guests, saying that he was seriously injured and needed to lie in the blood pond. The other vampire nobles in the fleet didn¡¯t dare say a word. With the Demon King present back then, making things up randomly would be courting death.

    Hence, no one in the court mentioned anything about the Imperial Teacher, but the experienced generals all knew that Lin Xitang had likely fallen.

    Only when the marshal was gone did people notice how important he was. So many important matters would pass through his hands, and he would make handling these affairs look rtively easy. People discovered upon receiving his duties that they weren¡¯t so simple. Just like the central pir in a house¡ªpeople paid little attention when passing by, but everyone became restless once it was gone, afraid that the roof would fall on them anytime.

    Everyone was on the edge throughout the court, and the cars on the street seemed to be moving faster than normal.

    Song Zining and some generals were currently discussing matters at one of the Imperial departments. They were apparently well-acquainted since the conversation would include light-hearted jokes from time to time. These men from Zhang Boqian¡¯s lineage had worked with Song Zining for a time, so their rtionship was quite good. They were transferred to the military after the heavenly monarch gave up his office ording to custom. Right now, Song Zining was discussing the price for a batch of military equipment.

    It was at this time that Song Zining¡¯s personal attendant stepped forward and whispered something in his ears. The seventh young master¡¯s expression changed quickly¡ªfrom his initial calmness to shock, then to an odd expression of trying to hold backughter.

    ¡°Seventh young noble, what are you so amused about?¡± someone asked. Even though Song Zining had separated from the Song n, these people were still used to calling him the seventh young noble.

    Song Zining said with a chuckle, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I just learned that that dummy Qianye has suddenly be smart.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s name was a taboo in the military, but things had naturally changed after the void continent war. Many young officers and the generals fighting on the front lines had a good impression of him, and held the actions of Li Fengshui¡¯s group in contempt. Qianye¡¯s identity was still taboo at this point, but in a different way¡ªno one talked about his vampire identity anymore.

    Hearing Song Zining say this, the generals all exchanged nces. The youngest among them said with a wry smile, ¡°Sire Qianye isn¡¯t dumb.¡±

    Song Zining replied in a rxed manner, ¡°When was he ever smart?¡±

    The young general sighed. ¡°I guess you¡¯re the only one who dares say something like that! All of us feel stifled in his presence.¡±

    These generals were a part of the transfer and clean up after the battle of Whitetown. Everyone nodded, recalling that they had felt the same when they saw Qianye.

    Song Ziningughed loudly. ¡°Don¡¯t be so tense. Qianye is a very nice person and very easily bullied.¡±

    ¡°Who would even dare? They must be tired of living.¡± The general put everyone¡¯s thoughts into words.

    Song Zining onlyughed but didn¡¯t continue on this topic. Instead, he went back to their previous discussion about supplies.

    ...

    Outside of Tidehark, a giant shadow swept across thend and flew toward Ancient Totemic Castle. Some in Tidehark had long since noticed the strange phenomenon. They climbed up to high ground one after the other to gaze at the faintly discernible colossus amidst the clouds.

    The rm had set off in the castle, and the giant ballistae on the turrets were taking aim at the approaching giant. The cannoneers could feel their palms sweating as they gazed at the dragonship within their crosshairs.

    ¡°Hold it! Hold steady! No one is to fire without orders!¡± The officers shouted hysterically, afraid that someone would step on the firing pedal.

    Experts with good eye-power had already noticed that the approaching monstrosity wasn¡¯t a void colossus since there were clear signs of human construction on it. This shocked them even more because they had never imagined such an airship to exist.

    A werewolf elder gazed at the dragonship for a long while before crying out, ¡°It¡¯s the Martyr¡¯s Pce! Quick, inform the great chief!¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s voice appeared behind him. ¡°No need, I¡¯ve seen it.¡±

    The werewolf experts turned back. Seeing that the Wolf King had appeared behind them at some point, they hurriedly performed a salute.

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes narrowed as he gazed at the distant Martyr¡¯s Pce. Momentster, he said, ¡°Rx, bring Qianye to see me when hees down.¡±

 Chapter 1189: Convincing

    <h4>Chapter 1189: Convincing</h4>

    The dragonship hovered in the air above the Totemic Castle and remained arrogantly within the turrets¡¯ firing range. Although fortress cannons held a natural advantage over airship cannons, the dense artillery array on the Martyr¡¯s Pce was simply too shocking. Many of them were cruiser-grade main cannons.

    With its natural altitude advantage, the dragonship wasn¡¯t at a disadvantage in terms of range. Most of its auxiliary cannons could bombard the Totemic Castle, but only the castle¡¯s main turrets could reach the airship.

    No one who saw the faint screen of light on the dragonship would think it was just there for decoration. It was clearly a defensive force field.

    The expressions of the werewolves in the castle were unsightly. This feeling of being bullied was not good; thest time they had experienced it was when the Wolf King challenged Zhang Buzhou and lost.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go up and destroy him!¡± A werewolf became furious.

    The great shaman knocked on the ground with his staff, immediately interrupting the warrior¡¯s transformation and calming him down.

    The shaman pointed at the dragonship, saying, ¡°You can¡¯t reach the airship. You¡¯ll make the chief lose face if you act impetuously.¡±

    The werewolf calmed down after hearing the shaman¡¯s words, but he still red fiercely at the dragonship.

    Qianye appeared on top of the Martyr¡¯s Pce and walked down step by step, almost as though there was adder stretching toward the ground. He was still far away, but his terrifying aura bore down from the sky. That aura of ancient Evernight was the sign of a true high expert.

    Many young werewolves inside the castle began to tremble, even those who were known for their bravery. The fear ingrained in one¡¯s bloodline was the most difficult to withstand.

    That shaman who was too old to even walk looked on withplicated emotions. These men might not be very strong, but they were highly experienced. Everyone understood when they saw Qianye¡¯s stance and felt his aura.

    What Qianye had revealed was an aura born of the purest darkness origin power. In terms of bloodline, he wasparable to the highest level members of the Evernight Council. The Wolf King¡¯s bloodline was more mixedparatively.

    When Qianyended inside the castle, a number of old shamans came to offer their respects.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Paying your respects to the darkness grand-origins, I see. Where is the Wolf King?¡±

    ¡°The Great Chief requests that you go see him.¡± The old shaman didn¡¯t convey the Wolf King¡¯s message word-for-word but didn¡¯t express too much weakness, either.

    Qianyeughed coldly. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go see him right away.¡±

    ¡°This way, please!¡± The Great Shaman led the way personally, leading Qianye into the main building of Totemic Castle.

    There was no one else in the great hall apart from the Wolf King. He was standing beside the tall ceiling-height window, gazing at the distant cliffs and Eastern Sea.

    The moment Qianye walked in, the Wolf King turned around and roared, ¡°You dare toe? Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll finish you off now?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°It¡¯s not like this is the first time I¡¯m here. You failed to kill mest time, so you can forget about it this time.¡±

    The Wolf King red at Qianye, steam gushing out of his nostrils. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re growing more confident about your fleeing skills.¡±

    ¡°Even if I don¡¯t run away, you might not be able to kill me now. The best result would be mutual destruction.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes narrowed. All of a sudden, he stretched out hisrge w and swiped at Qianye¡¯s chest!

    Thetter made no move to evade. He actually grabbed the Wolf King¡¯s hand and began applying pressure.

    A thunderous rumble shook the entire main building, sending stone and gravel showering down. The tower atop the structure creaked, groaned, and became somewhat tilted.

    The strength of an ancient vampire glorious marquis versus that of a werewolf vice-duke. This was a contest of brute strength with no fancy moves!

    With a muffled groan, the Wolf King took several steps backward beforeing to a stop. Qianye also moved backward involuntarily. The Wolf King stared at Qianye intently, his eyes narrowing when he noticed that thetter had taken one step more than himself.

    Qianye¡¯s blood energy was an entire rank below that of the Wolf King. The difference between a marquis and a duke was much greater than experts within the same major rank. Despite that, Qianye was only somewhat inferior in a contest of strength, and the disparity was almost negligible. This was truly shocking.

    Qianye had taken an extra step backward, but to begin with, a vampire constitution was inferior to a werewolf¡¯s in sudden bursts of strength. This didn¡¯t signify anything. The vampire physique would not lose out in terms of speed and agility, but they were far superior in terms of first-rate talents and abilities.

    Every burning crest inside the River of Blood signified a terrifying talent ability. There were less than three types ofparable abilities in the entire werewolf race. This proved that the declining vampires still held an overwhelming advantage in this field.

    As a former enemy, the Wolf King understood Qianye quite well. At the very least, he had experienced how frightening the Shot of Inception was. Spatial sh was also a supreme power both forunching surprise attacks and running away. This man¡ªwith such powers and constitution at his disposal¡ªwas only slightly inferior in apetition of brute strength. There was really no telling who would win in a fight to the death.

    Qianye grinned, revealing his white teeth. ¡°It looks like mutual destruction really is the best oue.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s chest rose and fell as his breathing grew heavy. He finally calmed down his emotions and said, ¡°This is my home ground. I have special mechanisms to defend against vampires. Your fate won¡¯t be very pretty if we fight here.¡±

    Qianye nced around the hall, randomly kicking away a rock that had fallen near his foot. ¡°A trap for vampires, eh? That¡¯s quite the investment. If I¡¯m not wrong, you must¡¯ve built them to deal with the Throne of Blood, right? Are you afraid he¡¯lle visit your castle?¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes flickered with ferocity, but he managed to keep himself contained. With anti-vampire measures built into his ownir, no one would believe him if he imed he wasn¡¯t afraid of the throne.

    Qianye noticed that the Wolf King seemed like he wanted to say something but ultimately kept quiet. He also realized something after some thought. ¡°You said you¡¯ve set something up, but it¡¯s not quite possible to deal with the Throne of Blood and his Shattered Moment. The best oue would be to injure him, but what if he recovers and returns? Besides, this isn¡¯t your style. It¡¯s not the werewolves¡¯ style, to be precise.¡±

    Since Qianye had pointed it out, there was no longer a need for the Wolf King to hide it. ¡°Indeed, I wasn¡¯t the one who set it up.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s not you, then it¡¯s Zhang Buzhou. He wants to use your ce as bait and set a trap for the Throne of Blood, right? Then... you¡¯re also part of the bait.¡±

    The Wolf King remained silent in tacit agreement.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°The Throne of Blood is no idiot. Even if he doesn¡¯t know about the trap, there¡¯s no way he¡¯ll enter enemy territory without absolute confidence. The trap here might not be used for many years, or ever. Zhang Buzhou is just afraid of the Throne of Blood.¡±

    The Wolf King sighed. ¡°It has been so many years, you¡¯re the first to dare utter such words.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time I said it.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°Going by what you said, you dared toe and see me alone, does that mean you have full confidence that you can escape?¡±

    Qianye only smiled.

    The ferocity in the Wolf King¡¯s eyes receded after giving it some thought. ¡°I can¡¯t deal with that spatial ability of yours, unless I overwhelm and restrain you. You¡¯re not inferior in a head-on confrontation, either, so I definitely can¡¯t detain you.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I might not need to escape, either.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s pupils shrank. ¡°You still have backup? If it¡¯s Song Zining or that girl... wait, it can¡¯t be them. They can¡¯t match your rate of advancement, that kind of speed only appears in sacred-blooded races who have awakened their bloodlines. Then... the one in the Martyr¡¯s Pce is Caroline!¡±

    ¡°Smart.¡±

    The Wolf King fell into silent thought.

    Caroline herself was fairly powerful, and the Thunderfrost Temple had more than just one divine champion. She had a brother who was even more powerful, someone the Wolf King had no confidence in defeating.

    This alliance between the Thunderfrost Temple and the current Qianye was enough to suppress the Wolf King entirely. The Totemic Castle wasn¡¯t a match for the Martyr¡¯s Pce that could move at will.

    At the thought of this, the Wolf King smiled wryly. ¡°So much talking, but it turns out you¡¯re here to discuss. Just speak openly.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Good! I¡¯m heading out to Fort Continent very soon. Southern Blue will be empty, and there¡¯s no one to look over Tidehark. The factories in Southern Blue can¡¯t be abandoned, either. So, I want to make sure you don¡¯t target Dark me while I¡¯m gone. If there¡¯s anyone else targeting us, I want you to convince them otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Convince?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have many methods of convincing people?¡±

    ¡°But only one that¡¯s absolutely effective.¡±

    ¡°Use whatever is most effective.¡±

    The Wolf King said, ¡°What if I fail to convince them?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯m no saint right now. Whoever that person is, I will cut off whichever limb he stretches into my territory once I¡¯m back.

    The Wolf King said, ¡°I understand. If someone does reach in, they¡¯ll probably have Zhang Buzhou behind them.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Convince him all the same. I¡¯ll have a way to deal with Zhang Buzhou once I¡¯m back. Even if I can¡¯t do anything to him, no one else in his household will survive, not even his wife and children.¡±

    The Wolf King¡¯s eyes turned serious. ¡°You have such a means?¡±

    ¡°Why would he let me have Tidehark if I don¡¯t?¡±

    After some thought, the Wolf King said, ¡°This means I¡¯ll be betraying Zhang Buzhou and joining your side.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been wanting to rebel all this time, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°What words are those? How can I be such a person?¡± The Wolf Kingughed out loud. ¡°I never had a good opportunity.¡±

    Qianyeughed as well. ¡°That¡¯s settled then.¡±

    ¡°I never said I agree.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to. I¡¯m just letting you know that I¡¯ll be back sooner orter, as well as what I¡¯ll do once I am.¡±

    The Wolf King shrugged. ¡°Maybe some people will feel lucky enough to think they can escape when things go south.¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°Run away? Ha! Defeat in my hand means death.¡±

    The Wolf King was shaken. Only at this point did he remember that Spatial sh wasn¡¯t just a powerful ability for escaping; it was also a peerless skill for chasing people down.

 Chapter 1190: New Journey

    <h4>Chapter 1190: New Journey</h4>

    When Qianye returned to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Caroline was already waiting at the cabin doors. ¡°Did everything go well?¡±

    ¡°Of course, the Wolf King is no idiot. He knows what he should do.¡±

    ¡°Is there no way to bring him to our side? I mean, as a true ally.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No. We still haven¡¯t made clear what his true intentions are, or even why he appeared in the neutralnds. An alliance under such circumstances is extremely risky. I still don¡¯t trust him even now.¡±

    Caroline smiled. ¡°Then how can you trust me? You even gave me partial control over the Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to reply for the moment. He tried to respond vaguely and get away with it. Of course, there were a lot of reasons¡ªthe war on the void continent, Caroline risking injuries to defend the Martyr¡¯s Pce, etc. She had spared no effort on her part, andrades who had fought through life and death were naturally dependable allies.

    However, Qianye felt a bit guilty even as he was saying these things. He would be rather dumb if he still hadn¡¯t noticed Caroline¡¯s feelings at this point. It was just that he would rather keep thisyer of mist undispersed, and certain things, unrevealed.

    A sh of disappointment flickered through Caroline¡¯s eyes. She then said in a more spirited manner, ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that you¡¯re willing to trust me. How about this? Let¡¯s head back to Thunderfrost Temple and recruit more people to help. I think I can split two-thirds of the temple guard squad for our operation.¡±

    ¡°Nothing can be better!¡± Qianye said, delighted.

    The members of the temple guard were all attendants who had to be at the level of a human champion to be assigned to the role. They were the result of the temple¡¯s many years of umtion, the elites of their n. At this point, there were only a dozen or so members in the temple guard. If Caroline was going to bring two-thirds of them, this meant that Qianye would have around seven or eight champion-rank experts to aid him.

    Qianye seemingly thought of something as he nced toward the airship¡¯s bow. He patted the ballista cannon beside him and said, ¡°Remove this.¡±

    The ballista was ten meters long. The ammunition in it was also several meters in length and looked extremely powerful. One could tell at a nce that this was a cruiser grade main cannon. Yet, it bounced away with a casual p and fell with a muffled thump. This certainly wasn¡¯t the sound of metal; it sounded like wood instead.

    A number of warriors arrived to carry the giant ballista away toward the crane. Their steps were light and ubored. The ballista cannon¡¯s bottom part was actually covered in wood patterns. Turns out, their so-called main-cannons were models carved from wood.

    ¡°The Wolf King will see it if you remove them now,¡± Caroline reminded him.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°That¡¯s the point.¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand you.¡± Caroline shook her head and went back into the cabin.

    Meanwhile, Qianye was ordering the crew to remove the dummies one after the other.

    Within the Totemic Castle, the Wolf King had just sat down when he heard hurried footsteps in the hall. A young shaman pushed open the door and entered, saying, ¡°Great Chief, you had beste and take a look.¡±

    Seeing the shaman so anxious, the Wolf King chose not to me him for theck of manners, and only followed him to the main tower of the castle. Gazing up, he saw the Martyr¡¯s Pce currently in ascent. With his eyesight, the Wolf King naturally saw that the ballista cannons on the side had disappeared. Someone of his intellect could easily put two and two together.

    In the blink of an eye, most of the cannon ports became empty. There used to be dozens of ballista cannons in varying sizes, half of them representing terrible cruiser-grade firepower. Now, only a single cruiser and five destroyer main cannons were left. It was even less than the odd number from the previous count.

    The werewolves on the ground looked ashen. Who wouldn¡¯t see that they had been tricked?

    The shaman clenched his jaws in hatred. ¡°You actually dared lie to us! Great Chief, we can¡¯t let this be. No matter what requests he made, we should just go ahead and uproot Southern Blue. We¡¯ll see what tricks he has up his sleeve then.¡±

    The Wolf King broke into suddenughter after some thought. ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, we¡¯ll stick to the arrangement we had before. Ry the message to all our troops, no one is to touch Southern Blue from now on. It¡¯s settled!¡±

    The werewolf shaman was stunned. ¡°Great Chief, you saw what he did just now!¡±

    The Wolf King said indifferently, ¡°Of course, I also know that he¡¯s doing that for me to see. So, we continue as nned.¡±

    The shaman was baffled. Judging from the Wolf King¡¯s reaction, not only was he not angry, but he was actually more willing topromise now. All the shaman could do was to issue the order for now. After everything was done, he nned to visit the great shaman and seek advice. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep that night.

    Southern Blue became extremely busy. Be it recruitment or outfitting, everything Dark me did caused a bigmotion that would move countless people.

    On the top floor of one of Southern Blue¡¯s taller buildings, a number of people were gathered in front of the window, looking down at the soldiers training on the drill grounds.

    Dark me was constructed within Southern Blue, so many of its facilities were open to public sight. Song Zining didn¡¯t consider the drill grounds very important, so he made no special effort to cover it up.

    Roughly three thousand soldiers were currently training in groups. The drill grounds wasn¡¯t big, and a couple thousand men looked rather cramped in there. There were thousands of new recruits to the side who had finished their initial training and were waiting to register their new gear.

    There were powerful binocrs on the building, and currently, two elders had their eyes pressed against one each. The scopes were clear enough to see the weapon and equipment models being passed out to the new recruits.

    Using origin power to bolster vision was good and all, but that would easily attract the attention of the other party¡¯s experts. Hence, it was still better and safer to use such equipment during times of peace. One could see just how careful these people were.

    After gazing out for a good while, the two old men put down their binocrs and, ncing at one another, descended with the group in tow. They entered a sealed chamber and heaved a sigh of relief only after locking the door. The first elder said, ¡°Brother Liu, what do you think?¡±

    The other old man fell into deep thought. Only after a good while did he say, ¡°Dark me¡¯s outfit for the new recruits consists of moremon weapons, barely premium goods. From what I know, they¡¯re somewhat inferior to the Empire¡¯s main army corps. It¡¯s not like the bigger mercenary groups in the neutralnds can¡¯t afford such equipment. To be frank, Dark me¡¯s fifty thousand new recruits and this batch of equipment isparable in cost to one main army division.¡±

    Another person picked up the conversation. ¡°The batch of new equipment that came a couple of days ago is the real high-end stuff. ording to insider information, they¡¯re custom made weaponry for the Empire¡¯s elite corps. It¡¯s just that the number is rather limited, reportedly two thousand sets. Half of them have already arrived.¡±

    The elder surnamed Liu said after some thought, ¡°That means Qianye wants to form an elite squad like Red Scorpion and Broken-Winged Angels, with the rest remaining at the top-standard for the neutralnds.¡±

    A number of people nodded. ¡°That should be the case.¡±

    They had been observing Dark me for a good while. Combining their findings with intelligence reports from other sources, their guess wasn¡¯t really too far off.

    Momentster, someone finally broke the silence. ¡°What do we do now? Shall we just watch them leave for Fort Continent?¡±

    This problem plunged the room into silence. A whileter, the old man surnamed Liu said, ¡°Looks like it¡¯s better to lie low.¡±

    Someone objected immediately. ¡°Won¡¯t he grow stronger once he gains a stable foothold on Fort Continent? We¡¯ll have even fewer ways to deal with him then.¡±

    Elder Liu sighed. ¡°No one wants to watch Dark me grow stronger, but we don¡¯t have a good solution. Even if we want to fight, how do we fight and what do we fight? Qianye will surely bring his entire elite force and fleet on this expedition. What do we fight? Do weunch a surprise attack just to kill some ordinary mercenaries and plunder some resources? You saw it, they can recruit tens of thousands of those soldiers in a month¡¯s time.¡±

    Although the group had expected such an oue, they were still reluctant to admit it when the time came. They had never expected that Qianye would use most of his resources to build a small elite-squad while leaving the majority of the forces at the neutralnds¡¯ standards.

    One of themughed wryly. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s cancel the operation.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been preparing tirelessly for an entire month. How can we cancel just like that?¡±

    ¡°What else should we do? We don¡¯t dare to make a move when Qianye¡¯s around, and Dark me has no value when he¡¯s not. The only things of value in the city are the workshops. Do we plunder ourselves then?¡±

    ¡°Ningyuan Heavy Industries have factories here as well, right??¡±

    ¡°Those factories only process raw materials and produce simple parts. The real factories that produce mechanicalponents are in the Empire. The parts in stock here are only valuable in Song Zining¡¯s hands, it¡¯s just a pile of scrap metal to us.¡±

    The conclusion was very clear at this point in the discussion. Elder Liu said, ¡°The n has been aborted. Everyone, be careful not to reveal clues in your daily operations.¡±

    One of the men said in dissatisfaction, ¡°The gears produced from our factory are also importantponents for airships, only we can produce certain models. I don¡¯t think Dark me dares to offend us.¡±

    ¡°Who do we sell those gears to, if not for their orders?¡± This stifled the previous speaker¡¯s anger.

    Everyone gradually departed as the meeting dispersed on bad terms.

    Several dayster, Qianye had finally finished arming Dark me. A big transport squadron took to the skies with twelve thousand soldiers, on track to rendezvous with the fleet in the void and head toward Fort Continent.

    Several high-speed airships had already set out ahead of the fleet to establish content with local assets.

    Afterward, the Martyr¡¯s Pce, the battlecruiser, and some of the faster airships took off with two thousand elite soldiers on board. The ten thousand ordinary soldiers aboard the transports and older warships would slowly catch up from behind.

    ording to Qianye¡¯s n, these ten thousand mercenaries would be used to upy territory and maintain order. It was fine even if they were a bitte.

    Within the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Qianye was confirming the elite-squad roster repeatedly. These two thousand men were the elites of Dark me, made up of Whitetown veterans, Highbeard¡¯s top mercenary warriors, and talents selected from Song Zining¡¯s personal guard. There were also some temple guards from the Thunderfrost Temple.

    The makeup of this group could be consideredplicated, but there was no other way to form a groupparable to Red Scorpion and Broken-Winged Angels. They wouldn¡¯t even have half the required manpower if they didn¡¯t absorb elites from other sources, and that wasn¡¯t counting for the time these elites needed to mature.

    Qianye had read through the list several times and nearly memorized all the contents. He suddenly realized a problem¡ªhe was so busy these days that he had forgotten to give this squad a name.

 Chapter 1191: Best Candidate

    <h4>Chapter 1191: Best Candidate</h4>

    Qianye¡¯s giant fleet drove out of the neutralnds and into the void. There, it adjusted direction before flying down toward the lower continents, away from the sun.

    At the lead was the Empire¡¯stest battlecruiser, with the Martyr¡¯s Pce in the middle of the formation and corvettes guarding the nks. The high-speed transports followed closely behind the pce. Looking from a distance, the kic sails on the Earth Dragon¡¯s back were moving about slowly just like a real void colossus swimming through the void.

    Comparing the fleet to a school of fish, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was like a giant whale and the battlecruiser, a small shark. As for the others, they could only be counted as tiny fish no matter their type and size. Actually, the Martyr¡¯s Pce could easily hold two thousand men or even twenty thousand. It was just that this group was recently formed and contained a fair number of people Qianye wasn¡¯t familiar with. He didn¡¯t want them knowing too much about the pce.

    The fleet traveled several days through the void before the silhouette of a continent appeared before them.

    Qianye stood in the control room, facing a map of the Fort Continent on the wall. The diagram was full of markings, and the little note in the corner proved that this version waspleted justst December. There was also a ring skull on the map, a sign of confidential Imperial intelligence¡ªthose secretly in possession would be executed.

    This map was naturally best for military purposes. The version circting on the ck market couldn¡¯tpare in terms of uracy andpleteness. Song Zining had used his connections to secure this map and delivered it to the neutralnds along with the military supplies. It wasn¡¯t too hard for him to get his hands on such confidential intelligence with his current status.

    Qianye scanned the map carefully until he finally found the nation of Zheng. With the country as the center, he then expanded his scope of observation circle by circle.

    From up in the void, Fort Continent was like a giant maple leaf. The top part was split into three parts, and the bottom was like a thin stalk. There were countless small inds around the continent, remnants ofnd left behind during the continent¡¯s formation. Most of them were uninhabited apart from those closer to the maind and inside the continent¡¯s protectiveyer.

    Zheng was at one of the maple leaf¡¯s tips. In addition to its maind territory, it counted hundreds of little inds as its own, a dozen or so of which was inhabited. It seemed Song Zining put in some effort to get so much detailed intelligence, but the information covered by the map itself was rather limited. Qianye would need to find out more in person.

    Just from its position, one could say that Zheng was a nice stepping stone. Its maind was equal to three Imperial provinces, and the inds added together would make for one.

    Thisnd area wasn¡¯t small. The Zhao n only oversaw two provinces at present and was in the process of engaging in a third. Even though there was a fundamental difference between a lower and middle-level continent, building such a foundation meant that the Zheng ancestors were indeed quite valiant.

    With regards to the entire Fort Continent, Zheng was a medium-sized power that was neither big nor small. It was rather difficult for the corner nation to expand ind, but simrly, it was bordered by fewer powers. It was rtively safer since there were fewer enemies to face.

    The Fort Continent was inhabited by a mix of races, and the biggest power was a nation named Getun at the center of the continent. This country was formed from various smaller tribes. In addition to the king, the Elder Assembly also held great power.

    Qianye was interested in Getun because, with his experience, he could tell that the tribes forming the nation were likely werewolf tribes. This meant that the werewolves also held great power on the Fort Continent, in addition to their homnd.

    Qianye rubbed his chin. ¡°A continent governed by werewolves? Interesting!¡±

    The werewolves¡¯ power among the dark races had been on the decline throughout the millennium. The Empire had studied ande to a conclusion about this trend¡ªthe werewolves¡¯ primitivebat style and abilities gave them no edge against the vampires and demonkin. At the same time, they were stubborn in nature andte to ept new things. This became more pronounced after losing their only absolute powerhouse on the sacred mountain.

    At this point, the ancestral faction who wanted to return to their oldest traditions were still highly influential. Even the Summit of Peaks could do nothing to them.

    The werewolves were used to governing as tribes. Even as a nation, a handful of tribes put together was no different from a scattered te of sand. That was why the werewolves were simply not at the same level as the vampires and demonkin in terms of mobilization.

    The drawbacks of the tribal system were clear to all those who had taken history lessons in the Empire. The twelve major vampire ns had undergone many changes in recent years, but the werewolves were intent on sticking to old traditions.

    Under such circumstances, it was rather interesting that they could maintain authority over the Fort Continent.

    Qianye began to think whether there was something especially useful to their race, perhaps a certain resource or the environment. There had to be something important here for them toe over and take roots.

    While he was lost in thought, a knock came from the control-room doors, and an attendant walked in. ¡°Sire, the envoy we sent out has returned, and they¡¯re waiting for you outside. When would you like to meet them?¡±

    ¡°Back already? Very good, take them to the conference room, I¡¯ll be there immediately.¡± After giving some orders, Qianye studied the map a bit more before heading toward the conference room.

    There were several people in the conference room. Among them was a grey-haired young man who looked rather distracted and restless. He was still in a daze when Qianye walked in and only came to when someone prodded him from the side. He quickly performed a salute and said, ¡°Junior Nan Ruohuai greets Senior Qianye!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry as this was the first time someone had called him senior. He touched his cheek lightly¡ªhis skin was smooth and soft, without a single facial hair. Why would someone think he¡¯s old?

    The person beside Nan Ruohuai poked him again and whispered something in his ears. The man woke up with an ¡°Ah!¡±, blushing as he bowed deeply. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sire Qianye. I was so anxious just now that I spoke incoherently. I hope you won¡¯t me me... I¡¯m... truly....¡±

    Nan Ruohuai was so nervous that he was about to cry. Then, he actually threw himself to his knees.

    Qianye was betweenughter and tears once again. With a sweep of his origin power, he brought Nan Ruohuai back to his feet and said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, speak normally.¡±

    Only then did the young man calm down and return to his seat. He kept his head down in utter silence and his fist, clenched tightly. His performance just now was terrible, but he had no idea how to make up for it. It was better to say less since there would be fewer mistakes.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. Young nobles he had met on the Qin Continent, even people like Song Ziqi, would carry themselves with the style of a n scion. He had never seen someone like this.

    He said gently, ¡°Now tell me who you are and why you¡¯re here to see me?¡±

    ¡°My... father is King Zheng. ording to age, I¡¯m ranked thirty-first with nine little brothers under me. However... I¡¯m ofmon birth...¡± Nan Ruohuai¡¯s voice grew smaller at this point.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were full of praise as he looked at the intelligence officer apanying Nan Ruohuai.

    This man¡¯s talents were passable and his cultivation wasn¡¯t low, but he was simply too timid and was clearly inexperienced. Most importantly, he was ofmon birth. Zheng¡¯s system was basically a copy of the Qin Empire¡¯s, and they attached the highest importance to matters of inheritance. This so-calledmon birth meant that he was born to ady below the level of an Imperial concubine. Unless his mother was eventually conferred concubine status, he had no right to inherit.

    Power and status in the Imperial harem were no different from the court; it was simply a contest of familial and personal strength. How could one convince the masses if they had neither? This was also why the Radiant Emperor suffered endless attacks and criticism following his session. This happened despite the Solemn Emperor abdicating while he was still alive and observing court assemblies. After ascending the throne, the Radiant Emperory low for many years and only rounded up the court and government recently.

    The smaller the nation, the more important the system was to them. This Nan Ruohuai must¡¯ve been bullied quite badly to be so meek.

    His maternal family held no power, and he himself possessed no definite opinion. He was still of King Zheng¡¯s bloodline, after all, so his talents weren¡¯t bad. He should have no problem bing a champion, and there was no worry about his life being short. To Qianye, this was the best candidate. It must have been tough for the intelligence division to find such a target within a short time.

    Qianye chatted with Nan Ruohuai for a bit and asked about his maternal family before allowing him to withdraw. He then looked toward the intelligence officer.

    The man was in his early thirties with slender eyes and thin lips, someone who would be overlooked in a sea of people.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he looked on, the man¡¯s image clearly reflected in his pupils. The officer¡¯s expression changed drastically; his body tensed up before slowly rxing again.

    Qianye nodded as the blue hue faded from his eyes. ¡°Your cultivation isn¡¯t half bad, and your potential isn¡¯t, either. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°This servant is called Song Lun. Both of my parents passed away when I was a child. I used to work for the seventh young master and waster granted the Song surname. I followed him to the neutralnds a while ago and began working for Dark me.¡±

    Qianye nodded. Being granted this surname meant that he was a trusted subordinate and this person was indeed outstanding.

    ¡°You did well regarding Nan Ruohuai, good job digging him out in such a short time. How did you convince him toe see me?¡±

    Song Lun replied, ¡°That was easy. A young master like him who hasn¡¯t experienced any hardships will turn obedient with just a few tricks.¡±

    Song Lun exined the process. He had actually brought his men and seized Nan Ruohuai while he was hunting. He was indeed unimportant because there was only one attendant beside him, one he had raised since young. King Zheng was currently in bad health and all the other princes were fighting over the throne. Nan Ruohuai, on the other hand, remained unaffected by the conflict. No prince came to harm him and no minister came to join his side¡ªthere wasn¡¯t even any probing. It seemed like he was entirely ignored.

    Nan Ruohuai agreed readily under Song Lun¡¯s threat. Regarding the consequences of bringing in a foreign force, there was really no use in him thinking too much about it. He had no objections abouting to see Qianye, either. He even said self-deprecatingly, ¡°No one will remember even if I go hunting and nevere back, a couple of days is nothing.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°This fellow understands his situation.¡±

    Song Lun said, ¡°He has no choice. If he doesn¡¯t understand, we¡¯ll choose someone else. King Zheng might not be capable in other aspects, but he has a lot of children. Someone will eventually fit our bill. Even if all the princes don¡¯t fit, there are a lot of princesses or even royal sons-inw.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Qianye nodded. ¡°Then you follow Nan Ruohuai for the time being and teach him what to do. We can¡¯t have him ruining the kingdom after he does be king.¡±

    Song Lun was surprised. ¡°You don¡¯t n on taking Zheng?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Just a part of it, only as much as we need. Fort Continent is so big, why limit ourselves to just one corner?¡±

 Chapter 1192: Springboard

    <h4>Chapter 1192: Springboard</h4>

    Although Nan Ruohuai was ofmon birth, he was still an adult prince with his own possessions. He owned a moderately sizednd on one of the inds, neighboring a small town with several thousand people. It was a convenient little ce.

    His estate sat near a mountain, facing the river, and the main building was on a small slope with fields below and small viges scattered throughout. It was a peaceful and beautiful scenery. From atop the hill on clear days, one could see the distant town and the yellow road winding back to the manor.

    It was currently the end of summer, and the weather was sizzling hot. The wind, however, would carry a wisp of coolness as it blew past the river. Lying down under a shady tree would make the cruel midday sun quite a bit more tolerable.

    Thisnd had been the same for many years, seeing little change if any. Even though there was an ongoing fight for the throne, that was a matter for the royal capital. This ce was by no means lightyears away from the conflict, but it was separated by the deep void. To those who had toiled on thisnd all their life, the furthest ce they had ever been to was the small town, to speak nothing of the other side of the void.

    This peace was finally broken as a low rumble came from the skies, followed byrge shadows flitting across thend. The farmers looked up in shock, gazing at the giant objects flying overhead. Some didn¡¯t even notice that they had dropped their tools.

    Momentster, chaos also descended upon the small town. Everyone was stupefied as they walked out of their houses and looked up at the sky. Some of the more experienced people knew that these things were airships, but the ones up there were vastly different from the usual vessels bringing guests and supplies from the maind. This was especially true for the battlecruiser hovering at the highest point. It was like a small town in and of itself.

    This unprecedented scenery left everyone in shock. One after the other, these airships began their descent as they approached the manor. The mayor of the town suddenly realized what was happening. ¡°That¡¯s the royal family¡¯s estate!¡±

    He didn¡¯t even have time to drive or care about his plump body. He simply jumped to his feet and ran toward the manor by relying on his rank-three origin power.

    As a royal-family territory, the small estate was rather well equipped. There was a clearing next to the manor fornding airships, but it was so small that three corvettes had more or less filled it to the brim. The other transports had to drive to the rear mountain and find a suitable temporarynding spot.

    One of the corvettes opened its doors. Nan Ruohuai disembarked first and stood respectfully to the side. Upon appearing at the door, Qianye sized up the surroundings before descending step by step. ¡°Not a bad ce.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°This is a gift from my father. The environment and size of thend are top-notch, it¡¯s just a bit remote. I wouldn¡¯t have the right to such a fiefdom, otherwise.¡±

    It was at this moment that a bald fatty came running from the distance. ¡°Your Majesty, is it you?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai waved back at the guest and said to Qianye, ¡°This is the mayor of Rivercross Town, he has always been very helpful.¡±

    The mayor¡¯s shirt and face were drenched in sweat when he arrived before the party. He bowed toward Nan Ruohuai but soon discovered that Qianye was actually the leader of the party. Hence, he stole a nce at Qianye and asked, ¡°Your Majesty, this is...¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°This Lord Zhao, in terms of seniority, is my distant uncle. He has been roaming the world and hasn¡¯t returned to Zheng for many years. I¡¯ve received news that he wanted toe back and see his homnd, so I went to receive him. We¡¯ll camp here temporarily before heading back to the maind.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s exnation was smooth, but it left Qianye rather speechless.

    A wandering rtive returning to visit his family was a story they had agreed on beforehand. It was just that the original n was to introduce Qianye as a distant cousin. Nan Ruohuai was actually a bit older in age, but there was no way he was going to let Qianye call him elder brother. Who knew he would turn into an uncle?

    The mayor went pale as he nced at the airships on thending pad and began to sweat even harder.

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°What do you think of my airships?¡±

    The mayor stuttered badly, ¡°O-Of course, they¡¯re extremely good. These are Imperial...¡±

    He quickly stopped himself, but Qianye said with a smile, ¡°So you do recognize Great Qin¡¯s warships.¡±

    The mayor only nodded since he didn¡¯t dare reply. Qianye nced back at the corvettes, then at the airships in the sky that had yet to find anding ce. ¡°These are Great Qin¡¯s newer standard warships. It¡¯s no surprise that people can recognize them.¡±

    Zheng was a vassal nation in name, so it would send soldiers and experts to fight for the Empire in exchange for equipment and contribution points. As such, many people could recognize Imperial armaments.

    The mayor began to sweat even more. He understood enough to know what the Empire¡¯stest model warships signified. At this moment, one of the transports managed to find an empty space tond, and out came a group of soldiers who were armed to the teeth.

    They were wearing the colors of a mercenary corps, but the mayor wasn¡¯t dumb, either. The entire squad was outfitted in uniform armor and equipment; they even had clear rank insignias on them. The mayor noticed that the soldiers were exuding an extraordinary aura and were probably stronger than him in cultivation.

    What kind of mercenary was that?

    The mayor nced at Qianye, then back at Nan Ruohuai. He had gotten a rough idea about what was going on.

    Seeing this, Qianye said with a smile, ¡°This manor is a bit small, I think I¡¯ll need to go and stay in town. You guys, follow the mayor back and make some arrangements. Be careful not to hurt him.¡±

    Two mercenary leaders walked over and stood to either side of the mayor, then picked him off the ground like an eagle picking up a chick. One of them even showed a sinister smile. ¡°We¡¯re told not to use too much force. Let¡¯s go and get things done first.¡±

    The other turned back and called out, ¡°I want fifty men, fall in line and follow us!¡±

    The mayor had given up all hope. Not to mention fifty fierce men, just ten of them were enough to wipe out the town guard without any casualties.

    Nan Ruohuai said hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯ll go check up on them.¡±

    ¡°Good idea.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Momentster, Qianey was in the mayor¡¯s office, seated on therge,fortable leather chair. The office was decorated in an older style,vish but crude, with the paintings and calligraphy of famous characters hanging on the walls. All of them were likely counterfeit.

    Nan Ruohuai and the mayor stood to either side of him, one respectful and the other nervous. There was a middle-aged man on the other side of the table, drenched in sweat and at aplete loss about what to do.

    Qianye scanned the roster in his hand and said, ¡°You have a hundred and fifty town guards in such a small ce? How can you even afford it?¡±

    Rivercross¡¯ poption was only a couple thousand. How could they afford to keep full-time town guards? Moreover, the town was peaceful with no areas of disorder nearby. The only sources of danger were beasts and refugees, so there was simply no need for such a big guard force.

    The middle-aged man in front of the table was rank-two in origin power, a powerful character in this small town. Yet he couldn¡¯t even speak properly in front of Qianye; fear welled up involuntarily since he couldn¡¯t see through this guest¡¯s power.

    Faced with this question, the captain looked toward the mayor. The chubby man cursed inwardly before replying, ¡°It¡¯s like this, we expanded the town guard to prepare for possible unrest. The posts have been expanded, but not all of them are filled, just preparation for rainy days.¡±

    Qianye understood what was going on. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s an embezzlement, why didn¡¯t I think of that.¡±

    He put the roster to the side and removed the smile from his face. ¡°You¡¯re both smart people, some things you should already know without me having to tell you. Give me the map and as much information as you have on this ind.¡±

    The mayor sneaked a nce at Nan Ruohuai and saw that the man was still smiling, not revealing his thoughts in the slightest. Hardening his resolve, he got up and went to the rear room, then came back with a stack of documents.

    Qianye first picked up the map and flipped through it, then checked it against the intelligence reports.

    Time went by and the sun had almost set in the distance. Only then did Qianye look up quietly.

    Nan Ruohuai, the mayor, and the guard captain waited with bated breath. Momentster, Qianey said, ¡°This ce is really not bad. Ruohuai, I think you should take this as your first fiefdom."

    Nan Ruohuai was startled. Wasn¡¯t his fiefdom on the ind already? But he quickly understood the meaning after some thought and bowed deeply. ¡°Thank you, Uncle.¡±

    Qianye felt helpless, but all he could do was keep on ying this role. He sent the captain and mayor away with a wave of his hand. He then summoned Song Lun and the generals, passing the map between them for perusal.

    The ind itself wasn¡¯t small, almost half the size of an Imperial county. The only problem was that it was a good distance away from Fort Continent, making transportation an issue. The ind was also close to the edge of the protectiveyer, so the weather was unstable and disasters weremon. Only the western side of the ind was suitable for living, while the entire eastern side was deste and uninhabited.

    This proximity to the edge of the protectiveyer, as well as the erosion of the void origin power, granted the ind rich mineral deposits. There were quite a few rare minerals to be found here. It was just that the mining operations could only proceed for two months each year due to the adverse environment.

    This so-called adverse environment wasn¡¯t a big issue for people from the neutralnds. At most, they would feel a bit ufortable after prolonged exposure. Additionally, from the weather report, the weather for most of the year could be considered calm by neutralnd standards. All they had to do was hide when there was a void storm.

    The ind was inhabited by less than a hundred thousand people, most living in self-sufficiency because of the bad transportation. As Qianye saw it, this was a great base and springboard for their operation. The distance to Zheng formed a natural barrier¡ªsomething that was never a problem for Qianye and his Martyr¡¯s Pce¡ªyet it afforded them a ce from which they could advance and retreat.

    The ind¡¯s biggest city was Seclusion, which was located on the western bank of the ind where the void was most stable. It was also the biggest transit point on the ind and home to the ind¡¯s small fleet.

    That little fleet was made up of ten or so airships, which was quite terrifying at a nce, but the generals broke into augh after looking at their models and specs. It would be a stretch to call them warships or gunships, since they were nothing more than ordinary airships with weapons.

    A captain patted his chest and said, ¡°Sire, give me two corvettes and I¡¯ll destroy them all!¡±

    Another general red at him. ¡°You don¡¯t need two corvettes against trash like this. I only need one.¡±

    ¡°Let me go, an armed transport is enough!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t even need a transport!¡±

    Seeing that the generals were going out of hand, Qianye had to knock on the table and quiet them down.

 Chapter 1193: Dispatching Troops

    <h4>Chapter 1193: Dispatching Troops</h4>

    The mercenaries of the neutralnds were famous for their bravery and bloodthirst, more so for these men who had fought their way from footsoldier to general. Each of them might be more capable than the next in battle, but they were mostly strangers to airshipbat.

    Even with Qianye¡¯s experience, he felt that he would need at least two corvettes to maneuver in pincer formation to dismantle the enemy fleet safely. Otherwise, were these generals nning to tear the enemy airships apart by hand? Even if they could destroy small airships on their own, how would they stop them from escaping?

    Nan Ruohuai was standing at a corner, listening with a smile. From the looks of it, he didn¡¯t find it inappropriate at all that he was inviting the wolves into the house.

    At this point, a general opened the door and entered the room. ¡°Sire, all squads have been assembled, we only await your orders.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a moment, then pointed to a couple of spots on the map. ¡°Have half of our forces board airships and capture these three towns. The rest will follow me to Seclusion!¡±

    One of the generals said, ¡°Sire, don¡¯t we need to leave anyone to watch over this ce?¡±

    Qianye nced at Nan Ruohuai. ¡°His Highness the Prince is here, isn¡¯t he? Let him notify them, whoever rebels ismitting treason!¡±

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s calm face turned ever so pallid; this was a clear statement that he was going to fight for the throne. Before this, he had only ever dared to imagine the notion. Even though Qianye hade to him¡ªforcing him to submit with threats and promises¡ªhe had never thought about actual rebellion.

    However, this man¡¯s actions were faster than he had expected. He had shed all pretenses after arriving on Fort Continent and, before his seat was even warm, began taking over nearby territory.

    After some thought, Nan Ruohuai hardened his resolve. He walked out of the room, dragged the mayor and the guard captain to one of the side chambers, and returned after some discussion. Putting a document in front of Qianye, he said, ¡°There should be no more problems on my side.¡±

    Qianye picked up the document and found that it was something simr to a voting certificate, stating that the other party fully supported Nan Ruohuai inheriting the country. The paper was signed by the mayor and the guard captain. Signing this meant putting their entire lives and livelihood in Nan Ruohuai¡¯s hands. If he were to fail the contention, this paper could lead to the execution of their entire families.

    Qianyeughed as he passed the document back. ¡°Not bad, how did you get them to agree so quickly?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai nced at Song Lun and said bashfully, ¡°I learned from Mr. Song.¡±

    Qianye understood that Nan Ruohuai had likely used the same trick he had suffered on the duo. These two were minor characters, to say the least, but they were local bosses who could help greatly in stabilizing the area. There was nothing special about Rivercross, but it just so happened to be next to the royal-family estate, allowing it ample space to maneuver without any bloodshed.

    This Nan Ruohuai wasn¡¯t weak. He was also a fast learner and adapted well to circumstances, a talent through and through.

    At this point, Qianye had already assigned everyone¡¯s missions. The support troops that had arrived behind the transports were constructing a temporary camp outside of the town, providing the soldiers with a ce to rest.

    The citizens of the town discovered after their initial panic that these fierce-looking soldiers might be full of killing intent, but they wouldn¡¯t harass the civilians unless they were provoked. Word soon spread throughout the town that the prince¡¯s maternal uncle had returned and that these were the lord¡¯s soldiers.

    As for when this character became a maternal uncle, there was no record to prove it. The townspeople were relieved, in any case, since the soldiers did not harass them, and they cared little about gossipy topics like how Nan Ruohuai¡¯s maternal uncle would be a prince.

    These people earned just enough to keep them clothed and fed, so there was little value in expropriating them. Qianye had also learned from Song Zining this time, reinforcing logistics and putting together an extreme-elite squad. Most of the transports were filled with provisions, so there was no need tomandeer food supplies. Although it took a bit more time to prepare, this strategy removed the biggest problem while upying territory.

    At dawn the next day, Qianye¡¯s squad moved out in full force with one warship after the other whizzing off into the distance.

    The upation of this Eastern Sun Ind went extremely well. The dispatched forces encountered no setback since these little viges and towns were no different from Rivercross. There were troops on paper, but the actual guards did not exist. Even though there were some men who weren¡¯t afraid of death, they simply weren¡¯t a match for Qianye¡¯s elite soldiers and would turn into corpses in the blink of an eye.

    With these thorns dead and Nan Ruohuai¡¯s men stepping forward to exin things, the people understood the reality of the situation and submitted obediently.

    The only trouble was Seclusion. There was an organized army and guard-fleet stationed there, and the city lord was someone dispatched from the royal capital.

    When Qianye¡¯s battlecruiser arrived above Seclusion, he couldn¡¯t help but frown upon seeing the burning wreckage outside of the city.

    A corvette approached, and the captain jumped into the battlecruiser without even waiting for the ship to dock. He knelt down immediately after seeing Qianye. ¡°I failed in battle, please punish me!¡±

    Seeing that the nearby corvette was damaged, Qianye nced at the burning wreckage on the ground. ¡°Didn¡¯t you destroy the enemy?¡±

    The captain said, ¡°It¡¯s no surprise that we destroyed these weak airships with three corvettes, but the defenders in the city have dug in and won¡¯t surrender no matter what. I tried to attack the city but was pushed back.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s knitted brows rxed. ¡°Trying to attack a city with just three corvettes? That¡¯s quite the wild imagination.¡±

    Unlike gunships that specialized in air-to-groundbat, corvettes were fast and powerful, but weak in defense. Without enough cover or a powerful expert to hold the fort, it was only normal that they would be pushed back by such a big city with a standard defense system.

    Qianye walked over to the bow of the battlecruiser and looked down at Seclusion. ¡°Have you fought the city lord? How is his cultivation?¡±

    The captain said with an embarrassed expression, ¡°I never met him. I pulled back immediately after taking a big hit from the turrets.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s good that you didn¡¯t force it.¡±

    This captain was originally from the military, someone who understood airship warfare. He had charged in recklessly, underestimating the fighting power of the ind city, but reacted immediately after taking damage. He wasn¡¯t willing to risk casualties in exchange for face.

    Qianye scanned the city and saw four main cannon turrets at each corner of the city. They were in range to cover one another and also cover the surroundings. This design was the work of a professional.

    After careful observation, Qianye had formed a general idea. ¡°Which turret hit you?¡±

    The captain pointed at one of the corner turrets. ¡°It¡¯s that one.¡±

    Qianye looked back at the battlecruiser captain and said, ¡°Destroy that turret.¡±

    ¡°No problem, two shots at most.¡± The captain affirmed the order and returned to the bridge. In the blink of an eye, the battlecruiser made one circle and charged toward Seclusion. Almost immediately, therge airship jolted as a giant ballista bolt shot toward the turret!

    The turret crumbled amidst an earth-shattering rumble, sending a ball of fire into the air.

    The cannon shot was extremely urate. It would seem the captain was just giving himself some leeway by saying two shots. With the example of the corvettes just now, the battlecruiser captain also became more alert. It would be an utter joke if he were to sink on this Eastern Sun Ind after surviving the void continent. His colleagues might just die ofughter.

    The battlecruiser then pulled back up, not losing out to a corvette¡¯s agility and grace as it whistled over the city. The rumble of its engines and the heatwave from its exhaust produced amotion down below. There was counterfire from the city, but the scattered arrows and origin bullets were all deflected by the airship¡¯s hull. This was barely a scratch to the thick armor tes of the battlecruiser.

    The battlecruiser flew past Seclusion, circled back, and began elerating once more, clearly aiming for the next turret.

    Meanwhile, the officer in the city¡¯s main cannon turret was about to turn hoarse as he moved the ballista cannon with his men, hoping to catch up with the battlecruiser¡¯s speed. Moving the heavy cannon with machinery was a bit faster than pushing it by hand, but it was too difficult to follow the battlecruiser, let alone aim.

    The warship had just circled about when a figure flew up from the city, shouting in exasperation, ¡°Stop! You are attacking Seclusion. Is this a deration of war on Zheng?¡±

    This person possessed a rank-fourteen cultivation, very likely the city lord.

    Qianye raised his hand, instructing the battlecruiser to slow down and hover outside of the city. Their location was only a couple dozen meters away from Seclusion, just the right distance to pressure the city walls. The turret in this direction had just been destroyed, while the others couldn¡¯t reach the warship. As for the attacks from inside the city, they posed no threat at all.

    Qianye flew out of the battlecruiser and stood before the man. ¡°Who are you? How dare you stop my fleet, are you trying to rebel?¡±

    That person stared at Qianye in bewilderment. He simply couldn¡¯t see through Qianye¡¯s strength, but judging from that warship, he understood that this enemy¡¯s background wasn¡¯t simple. Ignoring everything else, for now, no airship in the entire Zheng could hold its own against this battlecruiser.

    He performed a salute, his tone bing more respectful. ¡°This is Zheng, and I¡¯m the city lord by appointment of His Majesty the King. How can you say I¡¯m rebelling? May I ask who you are? Forgive my ignorance, but there are no legends about your distinguished self in Zheng and its surrounding nations.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Who I am is not important, you¡¯ll know once you see him.¡±

    Qianye beckoned toward the battlecruiser. ¡°Come.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Nan Ruohuai pointed at his nose. Qianye was standing in the air! He was still one step away from the champion realm and thus couldn¡¯t fly.

    Qianye called out again rather nonchntly. Seeing no other way, Nan Ruohuai simply braced himself and jumped out of the cabin doors. He might cut a sorry figure falling from this height, but it was certain that he wouldn¡¯t die. When he reached Qianye¡¯s altitude, however, Nan Ruohuai felt something beneath his feet and he remained standing in the air.

    He nced down in rm but found that there was nothing under him. The prince quickly realized that Qianye was keeping him supported with condensed origin power.

    The city lord couldn¡¯t understand the profundity within it. He looked at Nan Ruohuai in puzzlement, suddenly feeling that the young man looked a bit familiar, ¡°Y-You...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ranked thirty-first in seniority, so it¡¯s normal that you don¡¯t know me. I remember that thest city lord wasn¡¯t you, did my fifth brother put you here?¡±

    The city lord replied, ¡°Yes, Your Highness, are you familiar with our fifth prince?¡±

    However, this person¡¯s expression and demeanor proved that there was no thirty-first prince in his mind. He probably hadn¡¯t even heard of Nan Ruohuai¡¯s full name.

 Chapter 1194: Taking the Island

    <h4>Chapter 1194: Taking the Ind</h4>

    Nan Ruohuai knew his position quite well. He remained smiling without the slightest bit of embarrassment, nor did he take those words to heart.

    Qianye asked, ¡°Do you recognize this person? How is he rted to your fifth brother?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t know me, but I know him. Fifth brother is one of the four most hopeful candidates for the throne. Changing the Seclusion city lord is probably rted as well. This Lord Luo is the fifth brother¡¯s paternal uncle, an actual uncle.¡±

    Qianye understood when Nan Ruohuai stressed the word "actual uncle."

    He sized-up City Lord Luo from head to toe before saying, ¡°From now on, this ind is the thirty-first prince¡¯s territory, maybe he¡¯ll even join the fight for the crown. Surrender or die.¡±

    City Lord Luo was shocked and furious. ¡°Y-You... this is a rebellion!¡±

    ¡°It seems convincing you to surrender is impossible. You can die now.¡± Qianye¡¯s expression darkened as he swiped at the air with his index and middle fingers. In a sh of sanguine light, the city lord¡¯s head flew high up into the air!

    Nan Ruohuai went pale at the sight, his heart almost jumping out of his chest. He had seen murder and his hands weren¡¯t entirely clean of blood, either. In that split second, however, he felt a tremendous pressure that immobilized himpletely.

    The prince sensed with great vividness that Qianye could kill him without lifting a single finger. City Lord Luo was a famous expert rted to the royal family, someone with records of killing enemies above his level.

    Such a celebrated person of great status and martial prowess couldn¡¯t even react before Qianye¡¯s attack, let alone retaliate. Even a butchered chicken might have more dignity.

    Seclusion was in chaos.

    To the folks on this remote ind, City Lord Luo was already a god-like character. Now that someone like him had been killed, what should they do?¡±

    Qianye pointed at Seclusion and said, ¡°Ground forces, enter the city. Kill all who resist!¡±

    The transports drove straight to the gates and dropped one elite warrior after the other onto the city walls. Many of the defending troops dropped their weapons immediately, and the remainder, who showed intentions to resist, were cut down like vegetables.

    In less than an hour, Qianye was already sitting on the city lord¡¯s throne. Standing to his left were the handful of mercenary generals he had brought. The right side, however, was full of people¡ªwell-known characters from every department and industry in the city.

    The sound of cannons could be heard outside the windows¡ªalong with screams of extreme misery¡ªmaking these so-called important characters uneasy.

    Qianye waited for the room to quiet down. ¡°This person is His Highness the Thirty-First Prince, I think everyone knows him.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course!¡±

    ¡°Your fame is resounding!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve long since heard of the name. Seeing His Highness for today, I realize you are indeed a dragon amongst men.¡±

    A tide of ttery washed over the hall, puzzling Nan Ruohuai thoroughly until he had almost forgotten where he was. Fortunately, he had the final rity to remember that these people had no way of knowing the thirty-first prince, and that their ttery was simply giving Qianye face.

    But they weren¡¯t wrong. With Qianye and his fleet around, Nan Ruohuai had jumped from a passer-by to a mighty candidate no one dared to approach. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s unknown background, he might just be in the top three contenders.

    The cannon fire outside continued to echo. Qianye asked the group, ¡°It looks like there are a lot of people who support civil unrest and rebellion. Ruohuai, what is Zheng¡¯s current punishment for treason?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°Zheng imitated the Qin Empire, so the punishments are fairly simr. Once proven, the penalty is execution of the entire n.¡±

    It seemed this prince had done his homework quite well.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°We shan¡¯t pass such a heavy penalty for the first offense. Since they dare rebel in your presence, this is treason. Kill their immediate families but don¡¯t involve their rtives.¡±

    ¡°You are benevolent, Sire!¡± Nan Ruohuai praised.

    The leaders in the room could no longer sit still, and some of them even began to sweat. Qianye noticed this but didn¡¯t point it out, only saying in an amicable manner, ¡°Everyone, you should take this time to make necessary arrangements. I n to stroll around the city after half an hour.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Sire! I do have some things to do at home, I¡¯ll hurry off to make arrangements.¡±

    The sentiment was echoed by numerous people, and in the blink of an eye, most of them were gone. Qianye was giving them half an hour¡¯s time. Those who still dared to offer resistance after that time would be killed. Even City Lord Luo had been ughtered like a dog. Who else could escape?

    Those who remained in the hall exchanged guarded looks.

    Qianye closed his eyes and looked like he had dozed off, getting up half an hourter. ¡°Let¡¯s go around the city.¡±

    Seclusion was simple but beautiful, with its white stone roads and colorful decorations. There were a few signs of fighting inside the city, but the damage was minimal. After all, only a small number of people resisted, and they were quickly destroyed as the big ns helped to suppress them.

    The most bustling business street in the city, next to the airship port. The stores here were currently in a hurry to disy their wares once again. The sudden fight had forced them to close down, but they soon got wind that Qianye was going to make his rounds and feared a silent city would offend this terrifying bigshot.

    Qianye strolled past, asionally dropping into a store he found interesting and asking a couple of questions.

    Seclusion was the ind¡¯s only outward-facing port, so the stores here mostly dealt in local produce, foreign luxury items, and industrial supplies. The ind itself specialized in agriculture and ores, with the only industrial business being ore refinement. They would smelt the raw ores into basic ingots, which would then be shipped back to the maind.

    The ind mainly produced basic materials. Although there were sure to be all kinds of rare strategic minerals, they remained hidden since the locals did not have the technical ability to extract them.

    Qianye chatted with Song Lun and Nan Ruohuai as he observed the street. An ore with flickering green spots caught his attention in one of the stores, so he picked it up.

    This ore was called Green Barium, aposite of many rare ores, and was used in high-grade engines and ballista cannons. Qianye had never imagined that he would find its raw form here, not to mention piled up so randomly among ordinary products.

    Qianye asked Song Lun, ¡°There¡¯s actually something like this here. Don¡¯t they use it themselves?¡±

    Song Lun replied, ¡°They probably don¡¯t know how.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai replied, ¡°This Green Barium costs a lot to smelt and its uses are narrow. Truth be told, only the Empire possesses the necessary technology to build high-grade engines and ballistae. Our little Zheng doesn¡¯t have this ability. Even if we excavate this ore, the only thing we can do is sell it to the Empire, and the price set by the Empire leaves us no profit in doing so.¡±

    Weighing the ore in his hand, Qianye shook his head and tossed it at Song Lun. ¡°Keep this and also buy everything they have.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    The store manager was delighted and offered repeated thanks.

    He saw several other things along the way that satisfied him. Handled well, these ores would immediately prove useful. After all, there was already an established production line in the neutralnds.

    The production chain there required materials, the resources in Zheng needed downstream exports, and the technology would be controlled by Ningyuan Heavy Industries. These three parties would strike a bnce that could not be broken. With three important links in three different ces, if there was any trouble in either ce, Qianye and his Martyr¡¯s Pce only needed to cut off the void passage to turn the industry into scrap metal.

    After asking around for a bit, he simply couldn¡¯t understand why Zheng didn¡¯t develop well despite the ample resources. Nan Ruohuai gave him a simple exnation regarding this.

    Zheng wasn¡¯t actuallycking in learned people, but rather it was a vast country with a sparse poption. Human living environments here weren¡¯t stable as they were fighting with the surrounding dark races most of the time. To Zheng, the quickest way of obtaining high-grade equipment was to fight for the Empire and exchange contribution points.

    It would take several decades for them to develop an entire armament production system themselves. Even if they could build the system, the equipment they could produce would be severely limited if they fell short in research and had to rely on the Empire for technology. The investment involved in core research and development was yet another astronomical number.

    Qianye shook his head after listening to this exnation. ¡°Zheng has been around for a couple hundred years. If you guys had put in the effort since the beginning, wouldn¡¯t it beplete by now? You might not be able to cover everything in research and development, but it¡¯s not impossible to screen local talents and find a niche to breakthrough. At the very least, you won¡¯t be sitting on a pile of resources and selling them off at trash prices.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai was stunned; he had never thought about it this way.

    At dusk, after Qianye had finished eating dinner, aplete list of the ind¡¯s mineral resources arrived before him. The data was meticulously presented¡ªnot only did it include the type, production, and stock, but there were also introductions to the important mines, their environments, and relevant maps.

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s ability was praiseworthy to have organized so much information in such a short time.

    Looking at this list, Qianye came to a general understanding of the situation. The resources here were sufficient to cover the costs of early-stage operations, but it would be far from enough once the main forces arrived.

    Qianye opened up the map of Zheng and asked, ¡°What other inds are worth taking? Also, which city on the maind has an established workshop system?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai had already done his homework. He pointed to the map and said, ¡°Here, the city of Expansive.¡±

    Expansive was on the western side of Zheng, also close to the edge of the continent. This ce boasted a flourishing metallurgy system, with st furnaces throughout the city and workshops of all sizes along the streets. Most of the people in the city made a living from the metal industry.

    Because of this, Expansive and the ind formed a mutually reliant rtionship. Most of the ingots shipped from the ind would go there to be refined or made into crude metal products before being shipped further into the continent.

 Chapter 1195: Fights

    <h4>Chapter 1195: Fights</h4>

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, Expansive was neither good nor bad. After a while, he asked, ¡°Who does Expansive belong to?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai replied respectfully, ¡°The city lord of Expansive is my second brother¡¯s maternal grandfather, who also happens to be his biggest supporter.¡±

    He was rather calm while saying this, but Qianye seemed to have figured something out. ¡°Is there some enmity between you two?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my brother, so it¡¯s not a hatred as deep as the oceans.¡± Nan Ruohuai took a deep breath and said through clenched teeth, ¡°The person I liked the most died in his residence!¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai fell to his knees and said in a deep voice, ¡°Just hand him to me and my life is forever yours.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Is it not mine right now?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai looked up. ¡°I have some meager talents if I do say so myself, and I have not been wasting the past twenty years of my life. I know your intentions for raising me up to the position, but if I follow you wholeheartedly, I will make Zheng flourish on my own ord. You will not have to worry about this small ce. There¡¯s a difference in putting a puppet on the throne.¡±

    For a while, Qianye looked intently at Nan Ruohuai, at the prostrating man¡¯s grey hair and neck. There was no change in his emotions, but he was somewhat moved.

    The prince didn¡¯t look up, yet in that posture, he was even calmer and more collected than in his past interactions with Qianye. After a while, Qianyeughed. ¡°Zheng is small?¡±

    Only at this point did Nan Ruohuai heave a sigh of relief. ¡°This ce is the world to us, but to you, it¡¯s probably just a corner. Not to mention Zheng, even the entire Fort Continent is just a big springboard for you.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Your confidence in me is pretty strong.¡±

    ¡°The truth is that I have never seen, or even heard of, someone like you.¡±

    Qianye stood up and walked to the window, gazing at the void over the yonder horizon. ¡°Do you know what I¡¯m doing?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai hesitated briefly, then said in due honesty, ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I actually don¡¯t have any big objectives. I¡¯m just ying things by ear.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai was stunned. He found this rather incredulous but didn¡¯t ask further, knowing that he was in no position to make Qianye spit out his secrets.

    He really had no idea that Qianye had no personal ambitions. What he wanted to do was protect his brothers and help one person up the Sacred Mountain.

    Now that all of Eastern Sun Ind had been taken, all that was left was to upy the territory and prepare for war. Qianye had locked down the entire airspace outside of the ind, only allowing airships in and not out. In one day¡¯s time, Dark me¡¯s ten thousand soldiers arrived in quick session, relieving the elite squads in each region. At the same time, Seclusion began arge scale construction of defensive structures and reinforced cannon turrets.

    This ind was now Qianye¡¯s first springboard and forward base on the Fort continent, so he attached a fair bit of importance to it. After the first batch of soldiers arrived, Qianye ordered his men to send word back to Dark me. They were to prepare a number of engineering airships and recruit technicians, and fly them to Eastern Sun.

    Several dayster, after all forces were in position, Qianye led his forces toward Expansive.

    Ten thousand soldiers arrived on the ind, but only four thousand left with Qianye. The ind wasn¡¯t small, and the minimum rmended garrison should be around ten thousand. He couldn¡¯t leave any less than six thousand, or the mercenaries themselves might just quit.

    Expansive was home to fifty thousand people and could be considered a big city. Transportation was easy as the ce was built close to the riverbank, and there was a ck stone mine outside providing the factories with an endless supply of energy. The first thing Qianye saw upon arrival wasn¡¯t the city but the ck chimney stacks above the walls.

    Whaty behind the rolling smoke was a stream of gold coins. Expansive boasted established factories and, more importantly,rge batches of skilled technicians who could be put to use in the Imperial factory systems with a bit of training. Zheng had been imitating the Empire in many aspects, so their factories are also quite simr. It was just that they were at the Empire¡¯s standards from fifty years ago.

    An ear-piercing rm rang throughout the city as the airship approached the city airspace. Even Qianye, who was in the battlecruiser, could hear it quite clearly. He walked up to the deck and looked down. There, he saw a tall steel tower, valves open and gushing steam as it produced an ear-splitting whistle.

    A kic tower with a steam whistle?

    Qianye was a bit surprised at how well-equipped this city was. That kic tower might be an older model, but it was a kic tower nheless. Many cities in the neutralnds didn¡¯t even have one. Although it was an older model, its specs and output were rather high.

    Did this mean there might be a high-power cannon turret in the city?

    Qianye¡¯s expression froze as he caught a strange whistling sound. A dark-colored tower opened up in the distance and fired arge ballista bolt. The projectile drew an arc in the air as it flew toward the battlecruiser.

    If this wasn¡¯t an attack from the enemy, Qianye would be rather inclined to praise the perfect timing of the shot. The descending battlecruiser had no time to elerate, and there was no way such a big airship could outrun a homing bolt anyway.

    The entire ship trembled with a loud boom, the intensity of which surprised Qianye somewhat. This bolt was a bit more powerful than he had anticipated.

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared at the bow of the ship, where he saw a ballista bolt half-nailed into the outer te of the battlecruiser.

    As a veteran, the captain had adjusted the airship¡¯s body as soon as he saw that evasion wasn¡¯t possible. The armor on this part was the thickest on the entire airship.

    Qianye went forth with East Peak and cut off the protruding bit. The bolt was extremely solid inside. If it was a homing explosive bolt like the Empire¡¯s newest model, the explosion would have sted away the armor on the airship¡¯s bow.

    The battlecruiser might be able to take this attack, but the other airships couldn¡¯t!

    At this point, three more turrets rose up, their top ends opening as they each fired a homing ballista bolt.

    The first bolt shot toward a corvette, the next at the battlecruiser, and thest one flew toward the back.

    Qianye had no time to think. His silhouette flickered as he appeared beside the corvette. East Peak shed six times, cutting the iing projectile into pieces with Sweeping Calm. The battlecruiser shook violently after it was struck once again. Fortunately, this bolt pierced the thickest part of the ship¡¯s armor as well.

    Qianye¡¯s expression shifted as he looked back. Thest ballista bolt was aiming for the transport at the back! The slow airship naturally couldn¡¯t get away from firing range¡ªthe bolt shot through the vessel and flew a thousand meters into the air before falling back down.

    Arge defect appeared in the mid-section of the airship, ejecting mes and human silhouettes. rms rang loudly on the transport as it fell in a nosedive.

    Just as the airship was about to be destroyed, one of the cabin doors popped open amidst a gush of steam. It was apparently forced open from the inside. The transport then began to spin, throwing out one mercenary after the other.

    Only at this point did Qianye heave a sigh of relief.

    This response was the wisest choice. Those on the airship were elite mercenaries with nock of those at rank five, six, or even higher. Most of them would only be injured and not die after falling from such a height. The alternative was staying in the burning airship that would soon turn into a coffin of raging mes.

    To be able to fling out the mercenaries while avoiding the potential explosion radius, this captain was definitely quick-witted.

    Once the mercenaries were on t ground, Qianye would have no worries about their fighting power. No one was better than these mercenaries in urban warfare.

    Next was Dark me¡¯s turn to fire.

    Even the high-power cannon turrets from the main cities of Great Qin couldn¡¯t fire very quickly. The reloading time for these four cannon towers was even slower. The battlecruiser captain had already started preparing for an attack after the first maneuver, and now, he was ready. The rumble of the main cannon was quickly followed by the destruction of half a cannon turret.

    The battlecruiser kept turning without confirming the oue of thest shot, and was soon aiming at a different turret. The three corvettes in the air were also inbat positions. They charged from a high-altitude, guns zing, and drowning the third cannon turret in a sea of mes.

    Only the final cannon turret was left. Another ballista bolt had just appeared from the inside, and a big cloud of steam drowned out the tower as the gears umted kic energy. This time, its target was no longer the battlecruiser, but one of the corvettes instead.

    In the blink of an eye, the tower hadpleted the umtion process. The giant ballista was trembling and rearing to fire when, all of a sudden, Qianye appeared above it. He rammed a steel beam into the cannon, jamming its cartridge and mechanical parts.

    How could the officer in charge react to the sudden changes? Afterpleting a series of adjustments, he stepped down on the firing pedal out of instinct. However, the giant ballista was jammed, leaving no space for the kic power to escape. Soon, the energy reached critical levels and the steel casing of the turret bulged up visibly.

    The turret exploded amidst the desperate cries of the soldiers and officers. The massive energy flung metal parts¡ªsome weighing several tons¡ªhundreds of meters into the air! How could the human body withstand such a force? The soldiers inside never made it out and died without even a corpse left.

    Qianye returned to the bridge of the battlecruiser to find the captain issuing orders nervously. He gestured for the man to continue, and that he didn¡¯t need to ask for instructions.

    The captain issued a constant stream of orders,manding the massive warship to circle around the city. This maximized the firepower of its side cannons as they destroyed the city¡¯s smaller turrets.

    With the four main turrets gone, there was nothing left in Expansive that could pose a threat to Qianye.

    The defenses in the city were more powerful than expected, so Qianye decided to be patient. He watched as the battlecruiser circled above, clearing away one street block after the other.

    After an entire hour, when there was no more cannon or ballista fire in the city, Qianye ordered thend forces to enter.

    Qianye himself made a beeline for the city lord¡¯s residence, silencing the guards with Life Plunder. As he entered the main hall, he saw a powerful-looking old man with white hair on the throne. The old man slowly stood up and hoisted arge battle axe over his shoulder¡ªit would seem that he was waiting for Qianye.

    Thetter didn¡¯t attack immediately. As such, Qianye spoke, ¡°Nan Ruohuai will make for a good king of Zheng. Why can you not see this? You should know that you don¡¯t stand half a chance.¡±

    The old man snorted. ¡°The nation of Zheng belongs to its people. Who the hell are you!?¡±

 Chapter 1196: Convincing

    <h4>Chapter 1196: Convincing</h4>

    The old manughed. ¡°How is someone of your ability content with helping that trash? I have never heard of anyone as powerful as you appearing in our vicinity. Is there even a need to say who will be the actual one on the throne if that bastard ascends?¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Since you realize my power, you should know that Zheng is but a stepping stone. I won¡¯t be staying here long.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, the second prince is intelligent, strong, and sees far. Why not submit to him and help him ascend the throne? It should be better than that good-for-nothing.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression sank. ¡°Submit? You must be insane.¡±

    The old man gripped his axe and roared, ¡°Ambitious as expected! This old man will eliminate a cmity for Zheng and help my grandson remove an obstacle!¡±

    With that, the old man¡¯s aura rose sharply, his hair ring up like a lion as he charged at Qianye. Halfway through the sprint, the battle axe emitted arcs of lightning as it whistled toward the target.

    Qianye remained motionless, simply activating his Oceanic Vortex domain. The domain that had been modified by Prince Greensun was much easier to control with no change in power. The entire force of the domain bore down upon the old man while the other areas remained quiet and calm.

    The old man¡¯s attack was like an eagle soaring in the sky, but he suddenly found himself several times heavier and fell straight down. Shocked out of his wits, he adjusted his posture as best as he could and ended up with his legs sunk in the ground. The change happened so quickly that the old man had to channel all of his origin power in order to withstand the mountainous pressure. When he looked up again, Qianye was nowhere to be seen.

    Just as a sense of rm welled up in his heart, his body went limp and a head flew high up into the air. Up to thatst moment, he still had no idea how he had lost so quickly.

    Seeing the body fall down, Qianye shook his head with a sigh.

    This old man was strong and unyielding. Although his cultivation was only rank fifteen, even rank-sixteen enemies might not be his match considering his experience andbat strength. He was simplycking insight and too devoted to his grandson, not yielding any ground in this fight for the throne.

    This kind of person had to die.

    A series of hurried footsteps appeared at the door as Song Lun and the mercenaries rushed into the hall, surging with killing intent. Everyone was startled when they saw Qianye.

    Thetter pointed at the corpse, saying, ¡°This should be the city lord. Take his head and convince all those you can to surrender.¡±

    Nodding in affirmation, Song Lun went over to pick up the head.

    One of the mercenary generals scratched his head, saying, ¡°I was wondering why we didn¡¯t see anyone when we charged in. Turns out your elderly self was already here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not that old!¡± Laughing, Qianye flicked that general out of the residence with his sword.

    Expansive was even better managed than the documents stated, and the resistance was fierce. Even with news of the city lord¡¯s death confirmed and the defenders leaderless, the street battlessted several days before dying out.

    During this period, Nan Ruohuai visited the various ns to negotiate support. Qianye had set his eyes on the factories here, so he naturally couldn¡¯t ughter everyone. Other than sealing off all information in and out of the city, the convincing and pacification was left to Nan Ruohuai to tackle.

    Some of these ns veered with the wind, while others spoke kindly but remained on the fence, waiting to observe future trends. There were also those who were indifferent and half-hearted.

    Nan Ruohuai could see all of that. A handful of ns closed their doors and refused to see him. Some went so far as to curse him for inviting bandits into the house and that he would be infamous throughout history, etc.

    No matter what kind of snag he encountered, Nan Ruohuai remained gentle and smiling, even when he was being cursed at. Only when he returned to the city lord¡¯s manor did he reveal a bit of a tired expression.

    Expansive was the second prince¡¯s territory, so convincing the powerful families here was much more difficult than on the ind. The disdain these families had for Nan Ruohuai was deep-rooted. There were so many princes in Zheng, so who knew what kind of trash this thirty-first prince was?

    Some of the better-informed families managed to flip through old records and learned that Nan Ruohuai¡¯s mother was just a songstress who wasn¡¯t even conferred an official status, only appointed the lowest position in the harem because she had birthed a boy.

    The son of a Songstress wanted the throne?

    Just as Nan Ruohuai returned to the residence one day, an attendant said, ¡°Sire Qianye wishes to see you.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai quicklyposed himself. By the time he was before Qianye, he was once again that radiant prince.

    Qianye sized the man up from head to toe. ¡°You didn¡¯t have a good time these days, did you?¡±

    ¡°No way...¡± He paused for a bit, thenughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s true. They feel that the son of a songstress is not fit for the throne. Even if I did get the seat, I would be cursed by every history book.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the son of a songstress? Isn¡¯t His Majesty the Emperor of Great Qin also of simr origins?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s humble maternal lineage was no secret. It was just that the previous emperor had passed him the title directly, so he was entitled to the throne and no one in the vassal states dared to criticize him. If word were to get out, the crime wouldn¡¯t be limited to contempt of the Emperor, but also a challenge to the Qin Empire¡¯s prestige. Besides, the Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t well-known in the past, but now, it was said that he had opened the path despite failing the challenge against a heavenly monarch. Since then, there was no more criticism to speak of.

    Qianye dared to say this, but Nan Ruohuai did not. He said respectfully, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare discuss the Qin Emperor¡¯s affairs.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°It¡¯s good to be cautious. Do you have any suggestions regarding Expansive?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll convince them a bit more.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    Under Qianye¡¯s gaze, Nan Ruohuai felt uneasy and began to sweat all over. He lowered his head somewhat, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you, Sire.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m asking for your opinion.¡±

    The calmer Qianye¡¯s voice was, the more nervous the prince became. He finally said after some thought, ¡°Perhaps... perhaps we should kill a couple of them.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it.¡± Qianye nodded. Nan Ruohuai, who was beginning to sweat again, felt greatly relieved.

    Qianye pushed a sheet of paper in front of Nan Ruohuai, who picked it up to find that it was a list of names. They happened to be the families who had cursed at him these days.

    ¡°Are they all on the list?¡±

    ¡°... Yes.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°All is good then. As you wereing to me, Song Lun was on his way out with his men. He should be there already. Since they want a heroic name, then let¡¯s satisfy them.¡±

    As if to confirm Qianye¡¯s words, a red light flickered outside the window. At a careful nce, that wasn¡¯t the glow of twilight, but rather mes from a part of the city.

    Nan Ruohuai was no longer nervous. He simply nced at the window then looked no more, only saying respectfully, ¡°You are wise!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°If we don¡¯t kill them now, what will we do if everyone imitates them in the future? We¡¯ll end up killing more.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai sighed. ¡°In truth, our Zheng has a tradition of resorting to violence in the fight for the throne. Every throne fight involves blood flowing into rivers, brothers killing one another, or even fights between fathers and sons. The second, fifth, or eleventh brother, whoever wins will eliminate the maternal families of the other two.¡±

    Qianye stood up and paced about in the room. ¡°I came to Fort Continent to imnd. But since I¡¯m imingnd, I¡¯ll of course take it from the dark races¡¯ hands. The fight for survival andnd is between Daybreak and Evernight, not for a single family, nation, n, or ce. I have little interest in Zheng, so I will simply return the ce to you if you work well. If you don¡¯t perform or if you¡¯re disloyal...¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said hurriedly, ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    The man shut up immediately as Qianye raised his hand. ¡°Me having no interest doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll let you guys stir up trouble. In the context of the bigger picture, if you drag the human race back instead of fighting for its survival, the nation of Zheng itself will cease to exist, let alone a king.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai was entirely drenched in sweat. He wanted to make a statement but stopped himself forcibly.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I once met someone from Zheng, maybe you know her. She¡¯s called Nanhua.¡±

    ¡°I know her, she¡¯s my ninth royal sister.¡±

    Qianye said after reminiscing about the past, ¡°She¡¯s good in every other aspect, but confused when ites to issues of principle. No, that¡¯s not the right way to put it. I guess you could say she ignores other people¡¯s feelings and only cares about her own? You Zheng people aren¡¯t great at fighting outsiders but quite the professional at infighting.¡±

    This time, Nan Ruohuai could no longer sit still.

    Qianye gazed at the me outside the window. ¡°There are important things and unimportant ones. The fight for the world is also split into minor conflicts and the bigger picture. I came to Fort Continent for myself and my brethren, but that doesn¡¯t stop me from doing something for the human race. It¡¯s the same the other way around.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai listened silently.

    Qianye didn¡¯t continue, however, and merely gestured for him to withdraw.

    After Nan Ruohuai¡¯s departure, Qianye stood in front of the window, gazing at the raging mes in the distance. The vague sound of cannon fire could be heard in the distance; apparently, there was still some resistance. But how could a handful of ns stand against Qianye¡¯s elite mercenaries? They were suppressed in the blink of an eye, and the sound of gunfire was silenced quicker than everyone had imagined.

    Qianye summoned an attendant and ordered, ¡°Inform all the ns and families in the city to attend a meeting at the city lord¡¯s residence tomorrow. Whoever dares to not show up will meet the same fate as these families.¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, Sire.¡± The attendant left with surging killing intent.

    Qianye stood silently for a while longer after the servant had left. Finally, he said, ¡°Come in.¡±

    A young girl entered from the door, d in a maid¡¯s attire and smiling adorably. Upon seeing her, Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Young Miss Hui, what are you doing here instead of staying at the Song n?¡±

    This person happened to be Song Hui. The two had the fortune to meet at Duchess An¡¯s funeral but never expected to meet again on the faraway Fort Continent.

    Song Huiughed. ¡°I¡¯m here to serve as your maid!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way I would dare ept.¡±

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t like me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do, but why are you here instead of staying at the Song n?¡± Qianye repeated his question.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to serve as your maid!¡± Song Hui repeated her reply as well.

    Helpless, Qianye shrugged. ¡°Zining must¡¯ve called you here? Go back if you¡¯re not going to give me a proper reply.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really not tender toward the fairer sex!¡± Song Hui cried out.

    ¡°Those who are have already turned into corpses, haven¡¯t they?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t hold back.

    ¡°That¡¯s not me! It¡¯s more apt to describe Song Ziyan that way.¡±

    ¡°Zining¡¯s evaluation of you is quite different, though.¡± Qianye remembered that Song Ziyan was simpler and only had the bad habits of a rich young miss.

 Chapter 1197: The Most Valuable Presen

    <h4>Chapter 1197: The Most Valuable Presen</h4>

    ¡°When were my seventh brother¡¯s words ever reliable?¡± Song Hui¡¯s impression of Song Zining wasn¡¯t that great.

    Qianye, however, didn¡¯t quite agree. He was about to retort with a frown when Song Hui said, ¡°Young Master Xiaoye, why do you dislike me so much?¡±

    He was nowmanding an army and hardly anyone was his match. Yet his vision still went dark when he heard this name, almost stumbling forward in the process.

    ¡°Song Hui!¡± Qianye uttered her name through clenched teeth.

    ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± The girl stood ramrod straight, looking extremely obedient, but that protruding tongue of hers went to show that she wasn¡¯t afraid at all.

    Qianye rubbed his temples. ¡°What exactly do you want?¡±

    ¡°To be your maid!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need one.¡±

    ¡°You must need a warship and troops, right? Especially officers and staff officers.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°So, you need a maid too, someone like me for instance.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Get to the point.¡±

    Song Hui was apparently unafraid. ¡°I didn¡¯te empty-handed, though.¡±

    Qianye nced at her. She was dressed indies¡¯ clothing, without even a bag. The only ce she could hide anything was in her chest... quite a few things, in fact.

    Seeing this, Song Hui puffed up her chest and said, ¡°Do you want to do a search?¡±

    Qianye snorted. ¡°Be serious.¡±

    ¡°This wasn¡¯t how you treated me back then.¡± Song Hui pursed her lips, almost as though she was about to cry. Seeing that Qianye was ready to throw her out the door, she put away her flippant manner and said, ¡°I really did bring warships this time. I didn¡¯t bring too many men, but they¡¯re all officers.¡±

    Qianye looked at her with a serious expression before continuing the conversation. Song Hui wasn¡¯t wrong.

    ¡°Is this Zining¡¯s idea?¡±

    ¡°It has nothing to do with him.¡± Song Hui became active again after seeing that Qianye¡¯s demeanor was more rxed. ¡°If you must thank someone, then thank me!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°It looks like I really need to keep this maid?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Song Hui wasn¡¯t just good at making tea, but as someone from the Song n, she was able to learn all kinds of skills. Her cultivation wasn¡¯t bad, either, almost breaking through to the champion realm. She was also well-learned and had dabbled in almost every field; there was definitely no problem for her to work as a staff officer.

    As expected of a major n, a couple of branches from the Song n could afford a destroyer by forking out some private possessions. This wasn¡¯t some old model, either¡ªit was a primary warship that had only been in service for ten years. The person who had nned this squad was quite thoughtful. They knew that Qianye wasn¡¯tcking troops, but rather, the newly-formed Dark me required middle-ranking officers to serve as the backbone of the army. These major and colonel rank officers immediately reinforced Dark me¡¯s waist and back.

    It really was difficult for Qianye to refuse such gifts.

    Thinking back on past matters, Qianye asked, ¡°How¡¯s the Song n doing?¡±

    Song Hui snorted. ¡°Bad, of course. Even though you and seventh brother caused such a ruckus back then, those people simply don¡¯t remember things. What¡¯s their use? As long as you don¡¯t ughter them, they¡¯ll keep pushing for splitting the n. The n lord isn¡¯t capable at all and did nothing well since the ancestor¡¯s passing. He wasn¡¯t even willing to push seventh brother as the n lord. The old ancestor must¡¯ve been blind to have picked him back in the year.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°No one would be happy if they had to vacate their position for someone else.¡±

    Song Hui replied, ¡°Happy or not, he should look at the times. It¡¯s all fine and dandy that he¡¯s clinging to his seat now, but he¡¯ll be notorious for allowing the n to get demoted under his leadership.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°Demoted?¡±

    ¡°The final decision hasn¡¯t been made, but news of it is already spreading. It¡¯s nothing surprising, something that will happen sooner orter. The old ancestor was keeping things propped up during the earlier years. Now, with her gone and those old fogeys stopping seventh brother from taking the seat, what other fate can the n expect? I heard Prince Greensun has already submitted a harsh memorial to the Emperor to demote the Song n.¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Regret is always bitter.¡±

    If Song Zining had taken up the n lord position, Zhang Boqian would have surely given the n some years to reorganize the n. Someone with the seventh young master¡¯s talents wouldn¡¯t perform poorly as long as he had the power¡ªhope would not be lost for the n. But those elders, including Song Zhongnian, were deluded enough to think they could borrow his favor without giving him authority. Such a wild fantasy, but how could that ever happen?

    Song Hui sneered. ¡°There was someone in the assembly who thought they were old friends with Prince Greensun. He actually ran over to the monarch¡¯s residence to reminisce about old times and ask the prince to retract the memorial in his magnanimity.¡±

    ¡°This person... seriously...¡± Qianye was speechless. He simply had no idea what was in those old fogeys¡¯ heads. Prince Greensun suggesting a demotion was a major political event; how could it be a trifling matter? Asking him to retract the memorial was no different from asking him to p himself in the face.

    ¡°What happened then?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°What else? He never even saw the monarch before he was captured by the guards, who broke his legs and threw him outside the gates. Prince Greensun announced that the offense warranted an execution; that person only kept his life because the Song was still one of the four major ns.¡±

    Qianye sighed. Zhang Boqian had made no big movements after the duchess¡¯ passing, but who would have thought he would be so merciless? Was the Song n¡¯s demotion already set in stone? After a quick thought, why would a heavenly monarch think twice about suppressing a n that didn¡¯t even have a single divine champion?

    ¡°What does the Song n n to do?¡±

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s on their own now, what else can we do?¡± Song Huiughed coldly. ¡°Great, those who want to split off have an even better reason. They¡¯re still rejoicing at the moment and eyeing the n¡¯smon properties.¡±

    ¡°How are they splitting themon properties?¡± Qianye asked. The Song n was famed for its wealth, and the value of itsmon properties was an enormous number. If they were demoted from a major n to a high-ranking aristocratic family, theirnd and private army would shrink. They would have to split some of their properties off since they could no longer guard them.With Song Zhongnian¡¯s character, however, he probably wouldn¡¯t let go of a single property. The leading branch didn¡¯t have enough power to protect its interests, either, so it would probably end up in another fight.

    Song Hui nced at Qianye, saying, ¡°What, are you interested in the properties?¡±

    Qianye pointed outside the window. ¡°There¡¯s an entire continent waiting for me, do you think I¡¯m interested?¡±

    ¡°You should be since you have the opportunity to intervene. Are you willing to let so many businesses fall into the hands of despicable people?¡±

    Seeing Song Hui so serious, Qianye replied, ¡°Isn¡¯t this something Zining should be thinking about?¡±

    ¡°Seventh brother has too many things to think about, it¡¯s only natural that he would miss some things. Besides, he doesn¡¯t know how chaotic the n is right now, he wouldn¡¯t care even if he knew.¡±

    Qianye felt emotional. With the building on the verge of copse, all kinds of bad characters would be jumping out.

    Song Hui suddenly thought of something. ¡°If you like Song Ziyan or thatss, Yunqing, you have to move fast. The elders of their branches are madly promoting their marriage.¡±

    Qianye understood. ¡°Seeking marital connections?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what else can their branches even do? As long as the candidate can help them, they wouldn¡¯t care about his status. You can definitely take both of them as concubines if you go.¡±

    ¡°That works too?¡± Qianye was startled. Ignoring Song Yunqing for now, Song Ziyan was a noble daughter of direct descent. Giving her away to be someone¡¯s concubine was, quite frankly, a p to the Song n¡¯s face. After some thought, however, he realized that those old bastards didn¡¯t even want the n anymore; why would they bother with face?¡±

    Qianye sighed secretly. ¡°If you have something to say, just say it straight.¡±

    Song Hui straightened her body and said in a serious tone, ¡°I¡¯m letting you know that I have a warship, a squad of officers, and all kinds of family businesses. Those two branches can only offer you women, nothing else.¡±

    Qianye was drinking water at first, but he almost spat it all back out. ¡°When did I say I¡¯m taking you?¡±

    Song Huiughed charmingly. She moved closer to Qianye, saying, ¡°Am I not skilled enough? I can learn! I think I¡¯m smart enough to learn everything very quickly.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°If you keep doing this, I¡¯ll throw you out immediately. With you around, the image I¡¯ve tried so hard to build will bepletely destroyed.¡±

    Song Hui retracted her frivolity. ¡°Then let¡¯s talk business, then about taking me as a concubine. The proper business is...¡±

    Qianye cut her short. ¡°Only business...¡±

    Song Hui snorted, but this time, she didn¡¯t cause a disturbance. ¡°Our two branches want to support you with all we have, with me carrying the most weightage.¡±

    Qianye nodded in agreement. The warship was simply gilding the lily, not entirely necessary. Someone as talented as Song Hui, however, was extremely rare. Qianye couldn¡¯t think of how to use her just yet, but that wasn¡¯t a problem¡ªDark me would need a lot of talented members once it started expanding.

    Song Hui continued after seeing Qianye¡¯s recognition. ¡°Sooner orter, the n lord will lose control of the situation and realize that he can¡¯t swallow so many businesses. I expect him to hold on for a year at least, however. This one year is our opportunity. I will help you wholeheartedly, but I must also make sure we reap our share of profits. You should umte enough wealth during this period. Once the n lord starts selling the n businesses, we¡¯ll work with seventh brother to take the most valuable parts. What do you say?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°You want to reform the Song n? Quite the ambition.¡±

    Song Hui said, ¡°It¡¯s not me, it¡¯s seventh brother. He¡¯s the best candidate to be the new n lord.¡±

    Qianye was moved by the notion and started thinking about it seriously.

 Chapter 1198: Battle Appointmen

    <h4>Chapter 1198: Battle Appointmen</h4>

    Song Hui was talented and intelligent, but as someone who had grown up in the Song n¡¯s main residence, she had little experience with important situations. Talent would always be limited without tempering. If she had wanted to rebuild the Song n on her own, it could only be said that her ambitions had confused her. If it was Song Zining, however, that would be apletely different story.

    Reforming the Song n, or rather the Song family, wasn¡¯t a bad idea. It would be even better if Song Zining could have a fresh start because of it.

    Song Hui stole a nce at Qianye and said in surprise, ¡°You¡¯re not angry?¡±

    ¡°Why would I be?¡± Qianye found it strange.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to poach seventh brother from you! Once he bes the new n lord, he¡¯ll have to focus most of his attention there. It won¡¯t be possible for him to hang around at your Dark me every day.¡±

    ¡°Why would I object if he wants to do it?¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°Fine, you two are really close.¡±

    Qianye wanted to beat up the girl once again. He drove her away, telling her to seek out the aide-de-camp and distribute the new officers into the army. This was a time-consuming process that would require several days of work.

    upying Expansivepletely took several days. Qianye had brought four thousand mercenaries, but they more or less disappeared when ced inside this giant city. The forces weren¡¯t even enough to guard critical departments and factories, let alone the defenses outside of the city.

    Fortunately, Qianye possessed a fleet of airships, one of which would be circling above the city at all times. Add to that the elite forces always on standby, there was no need to worry about an actual rebellion.

    Nan Ruohuai had been running about to visit the various families, as well as the big tradingpanies and workshops. The culling of those stubborn families a couple of days ago seemed to be rather effective. No one dared to refuse him at the door now. The prince couldn¡¯t be considered an eloquent speaker, but his attitude was always gentle and gave off a feeling of sincerity.

    He was, after all, a formally registered prince, son of the King of Zheng. Hiscking qualifications were mostly rted to his maternal background, but everyone knew that the royal harem¡¯s status came from the court. The son relying on maternal status was normal, but why couldn¡¯t the mother rely on the son¡¯s status? Many families quickly expressed their loyalty and Expansive soon became calm once again. A number of major factories were prepared to resume work, and the merchants came to visit one after the other, hoping to see if Qianye required anything.

    A delighted Nan Ruohuai was hoping to receive praise when he saw Qianye, but unexpectedly, thetter looked gloomy behind his desk.

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s mood for taking credit immediately disappeared. ¡°Sire, is there anything I did wrong?¡±

    Qianye nced at him. ¡°You did well, but to me, it¡¯s still not enough.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai asked bravely, ¡°Then, what should I do?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°The turmoil in Zhenges from the fight for the throne. If you take the position, how will you deal with your brothers?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai clenched his jaws. ¡°The other siblings can be pardoned, but the loudest of the bunch, my second, fifth, and eleventh brothers must die! They will probably rebel one day if kept alive. That¡¯s the only way if you want a country that will cooperate with you wholly.¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°Very well, say we clear them out, do we uproot their entire families or just kill the person?¡±

    This question was difficult for the prince. After a while, he said, ¡°If we only kill the person, their families will surely breed resentment. After all, some of their inws, friends, and descendants will surely have royal blood. The dissatisfied people will continue to fight for the cause, in which case, there will be no peace in the future. If the scope is too broad, however, we¡¯ll end up killing too many people. Besides, many of their subordinates are just acting under orders, without much choice themselves. Perhaps it would be wise to pick something in between.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t want to drag this on for too long. Evernight will start to prepare once they find out our movements. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t have time to y a drawn-out game with your brothers and sisters. Let¡¯s do this, give me a list of names, including stubborn people like the city lords of Expansive and Seclusion.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai trembled as he replied with a deep bow, ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    Qianye shot him a nce. ¡°You¡¯re not even a champion yet. It¡¯ll be difficult to convince the masses if you ascend the throne. However, I see that your talents aren¡¯t bad. I have some supplementary medicines with me. Stop running around for a few days and focus on breaking through. I will give you an area on Martyr¡¯s Pce to cultivate.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai was surprised and delighted, but also slightly disappointed. ¡°Thank you, Sire!¡±

    Breaking through to the champion realm was every fighter¡¯s dream, but advancing with supplementary medicines would more or less affect their future potential. Then again, few kings in Zheng¡¯s history had ever reached the divine champion realm. Nan Ruohuai himself knew that he had no hope, so he didn¡¯t really object to this. Compared to the throne, his unknown potential wasn¡¯t much.

    Qianye stood up with his hands behind his back. ¡°If we want things to go smoothly, we must let those opportunists know that it¡¯s impossible for them. The loudest of the groups is your second brother¡¯s, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he¡¯s the son of my father¡¯s favorite royal concubine. He¡¯s clever, hardworking, and also married to the granddaughter of the Royal Tutor, hence receiving his full support. As I see it, the Royal Tutor is his second biggest support.

    ¡°Royal Tutor? Is it that Liu Zhongyuan?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Royal Tutor Liu has been in the post for over thirty years and his prestige is tremendous. Honestly speaking, second brother¡¯s martial and administrative abilities aren¡¯t that outstanding. He became the best candidate simply because he had the support of the Royal Tutor. There are a handful of brothers who aren¡¯t inferior to him in terms of policy and strategy.¡±

    ¡°That means, as long as Liu Zhongyuan is there, you will never be King of Zheng.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, there¡¯s no need to beat around the bush. Write a letter to Liu Zhongyuan, saying that I will fight him outside of the capital gates in seven days¡¯ time. If he doesn¡¯t dare to take this challenge, then he should retire from his post and no longer interfere in national matters.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai was shocked out of his wits. ¡°You must not! The Royal Tutor is a divine champion, you cannot take this risk!¡±

    Qianye was currently his biggest support. If something were to happen to him, Nan Ruohuai would not meet a good end.

    ¡°Divine champion? He¡¯s just a divine champion at a hundred years of age. What¡¯s there to be afraid of?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai braced himself to try and continue dissuading Qianye. ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask Her Excellency Caroline to do battle?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to trouble her for such small matters.¡±

    Before long, Qianye¡¯s challenge to the Royal Tutor shook the entire nation of Zheng. All the princes were so shocked at Nan Ruohuai¡¯s sudden rise to power that even the forward ranking ones slowed down their fight to figure out where this trash brother was getting his support.

    In the end, they had just gotten word that the second prince¡¯s stronghold had been taken over when news of Qianye challenging Liu Zhongyuan started to spread. There was no doubt that the second prince was in a bad mood. Not only did he smash all of his cherished antique vases, but he also executed two of his maids and concubines. The upation of Expansive reduced the second prince¡¯s power by half. If Liu Zhongyuan were to lose, he would have no way to turn things around.

    Someone with a strong voice like him would meet worse fates than ordinary people once he was defeated. Whoever took the throne would not leave him or his descendants alive.

    After a round of acting up, the second prince ordered his men to obtain information on Qianye at all costs. He wanted to see who was so bold as to challenge the Royal Tutor.

    Liu Zhongyuan had been in his post for over thirty years, even longer than the current King of Zheng himself. Legends of his strength were even more resounding. In Zheng, Liu Zhongyuan was the linchpin holding down the entire nation. No one would dare to provoke his disciples and grandsons without good reason, let alone the man himself.

    The current reports stated that Qianye wasn¡¯t yet a divine champion. That thought gave the second prince a modicum of relief.

    Seven days passed by in the blink of an eye.

    The sky hadn¡¯t lit up, but a sea of people had gathered outside of the royal capital¡¯s eastern gate. Even the highly-restricted city walls were packed full of people. These people were prestigious faces in the city with the power to reach the city walls, and even the city guard wasn¡¯t willing to offend them.

    Those without the ability could only find a ce outside of the city, craning their necks lest they miss anything.

    The eastern gates opened at seven o¡¯clock sharp. Groups of white-robed warriors poured out, each equipped with a sword and gun slung across their back. The men at the front swept the ground and sprinkled water to suppress the dust. Those at the back covered the ground with red carpet, turning the entire ce into a level ground almostparable to a pce hall.

    Several attendants arrived with wooden boards to construct a tform taller than a person¡¯s height. Then, eight strong men arrived with a tall chair and ced it lightly on the tform.

    The throne was made of an extraordinary material that was neither wood nor metal. No one knew what it was made of, but it was extremely heavy.

    With the throne in ce, the white-robed warriors stood to the side, solemn and still.

    This tform and chair were naturally prepared for the Royal Tutor. It was just that the seat remained empty even after the stage was set. The crowd waited a while longer but couldn¡¯t help but grow restless when the Royal Tutor still hadn¡¯t appeared. The hundreds of white-robed men were his disciples, sons, and grandsons. No one dared to provoke these rich and powerful people.

    Just as the people were feeling their necks turn sore from the waiting, the drawn sound of a bell echoed from within the city. It was eight o¡¯clock. This was the normal time the city gates would open. The capital normally kept its doors open, but with the princes fighting for the crown, the capital decided to adopt the old system out of caution. They would close the gates at midnight and open them only in the morning.

    The bell sound hadn¡¯t ended when people felt their vision blur as a person appeared on the throne. He was d in loose robes with big sleeves that flowed in the wind. His hair was as white as snow, but hisplexion was as good as a baby¡¯s. This was the Royal Tutor Liu Zhongyuan.

    The man¡¯s prestige had shaken Zheng for decades. At this moment, he had appeared out of nowhere like an immortal, and no one saw the process clearly. After confirming that the man had indeed arrived at the scene, an earth-shattering wave of cheers erupted from around the eastern gate.

    The Royal Tutor had arrived, but Qianye was nowhere to be seen. Hence, everyone started to curse thete challenger.

    A white-robed warrior in his middle ages arrived near Liu Zhongyuan. ¡°Master, what do we do now?¡±

    Liu Zhongyuan¡¯s eyes remained closed. ¡°The day is young, what¡¯s the rush? Let¡¯s wait until noon. Even though they are barbarians, we cultivators must not lose our manner andposure.¡±

    Looking embarrassed, the middle-aged man stated his agreement repeatedly. Liu Zhongyuan sat calmly with his eyes half-closed, almost as though he would sit there until the end of the world.

    Seeing the Royal Tutor so calm, the crowd¡¯s confidence became even stronger.

    Momentster, just as the group was growing restless, someone suddenly pointed into the distance. ¡°What is that!?¡±

    Everyone looked in the pointed direction, only to see a dark cloud approaching rapidly from a distance.

 Chapter 1199: New Tricks

    <h4>Chapter 1199: New Tricks</h4>

    The dark cloud over the distant horizon moved very quickly. In the blink of an eye, those with better eyesight cried out in shock. That was no cloud; it was an airship fleet! The design of that giant warship at the lead was especially sleek and sharp¡ªterrifyingly beautiful and beautifully terrifying.

    Even those from the capital of Zheng had never seen a battlecruiser, or any big warship for that matter. It was, after all, a small country. Not to mention the newest model battlecruiser, they couldn¡¯t even afford an old-model battleship. That was why the Zheng navy¡¯s gship was only an old cruiser. Even that was a highly cherished national treasure.

    Ordinary civilians didn¡¯t think too much, but the nobles felt their expressions changing drastically. They immediately realized why a heavily-fortified city like Expansive would fall in just a few days, and why the second prince¡¯s uncle in Seclusion was killed.

    The battlecruiser was at the van, Song Hui¡¯s high-speed destroyer brought up the rear, and the corvettes guarded the nks. Behind this formation was a dozen or so high-speed transports, all of them armed. Some of them were especially eye-catching because one could tell that they were the Empire¡¯s newest model.

    These were the transports Song Hui had brought along to ship ammunition and supplies, leaving them after arriving on the Fort Continent. It was only to be expected that they would be a part of Qianye¡¯s fleet. The Song n might not be good at fighting, but their armaments were actually quite stunning.

    On the throne, Liu Zhongyuan opened his eyes abruptly, unable to maintain that immovable calm any longer. His disciples with sharp eyesight could see green veins popping on his hand; he was apparently restless at heart.

    In the bridge of the battlecruiser, Qianye stood quietly with Caroline to his left and a ten-year-old girl to his right. Thetter was bright and beautiful beyondparison. It looked like she had just hit puberty, but she possessed a rather outstanding build and was almost at Qianye¡¯s shoulder.

    She observed her surroundings curiously, almost as though she wanted to see through everything and remember them.

    Caroline said, ¡°Do you really not need me?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Of course I do, why wouldn¡¯t I? This fleet would be in danger without you.¡±

    Caroline rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re getting sweeter and sweeter, did you learn all this from that bad fellow Song Zining? I meant the duel!¡±

    ¡°Just an old man, what¡¯s there to be afraid of?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still a divine champion, and for thirty years no less!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still a divine champion after thirty years, you think he can be stronger than the Wolf King?¡±

    Caroline snorted. ¡°What are you trying to say? I can¡¯t defeat the Wolf King, either.¡±

    Only then did Qianye remember the issue of short-lived species and their cultivation speed. ¡°Of course, he can¡¯t be stronger than you, either.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it.¡±

    At this moment, the airship was already closing in on the capital. At such a close distance, the exerted pressure was frightening. Many people started to cry out, unable to withstand the imminent threat. ¡°Where¡¯s our fleet? How did they manage to get here?¡±

    More ignorant people echoed the sentiment, but those in the know were all ashen-faced. They had guessed that something bad had happened. There were sparks around the battlecruiser¡¯s main cannon, proving that it had just fired.

    The fleet drove until it was a thousand meters away before slowlying to a stop. This distance was at the borders of the capital¡¯s firing range, and with its height advantage, the battlecruiser could also fire back at the royal capital.

    Standing at the bow, Qianye nced down at Liu Zhongyuan before jumping down. Hended right in front of the old man without kicking up any dust.

    Liu Zhongyuan¡¯s eyelids twitched a couple of times, but he remained seated in his chair. ¡°Young man, it seems you do have the means to be arrogant.¡±

    Qianye smiled calmly. ¡°It has been so many days, have you guys not figured out my origins?¡±

    Liu Zhongyuan¡¯s gaze became focused. ¡°Young man, don¡¯t be so ignorant of how vast the heaven and earth are. You might be famous in the past, but you¡¯re still not a divine champion. And this is Zheng, not Great Qin or the neutralnds!¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Listening to your words, it looks like Great Qin should be the one learning from Zheng.¡±

    ¡°The Empire is vast, but it might not be strong in every aspect. Zheng is small, but we fear no one because the masses are united!¡±

    These words were spoken with great ardor and were powerful and resonating. The people around them broke out in loud cheers.

    Qianye felt that the man¡¯s words contained so many problems that he didn¡¯t know which part to reveal first. The fight between the princes had gotten so bad that it was taking ce in the city now. United masses he said? And this kind of power struggle wasn¡¯t the first of its kind, but rather something that would y out every decade or so. Since its founding, the country had focused most of its energy on infighting, their strength falling each time.

    Zheng wasn¡¯t small, but it only enjoyed treatment simr to an ordinary county. The Empire assessed a country¡¯s strength and contributions, so in its evaluation, Zheng was onlyparable to arge county. It simply couldn¡¯tpare to a province.

    Zheng¡¯s national strength was weak, and their attitude, strange. Even their Royal Tutor could utter words like the Empire was big but not strong. Qianye had no idea where they were getting their confidence from. Gazing at the white-haired Liu Zhongyuan, Qianye felt deep sympathy for him.

    His gaze went past Liu Zhongyuan andnded in the packed crowd¡ªthese people looked like they were here to watch a show, despite the imminent war. Then, he looked at the seemingly impressive but incongruous Royal Capital and couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Admit defeat, renounce the title of Royal Tutor, and work for the new King of Zheng. I can give you a good position.¡±

    Liu Zhongyuan was surprised. He broke into augh from extreme anger. ¡°What if I disagree.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°A hundred-year-old divine champion who hasn¡¯t made progress in several decades. It might be a pity to kill you, but there¡¯s not much use in keeping you around, either.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Unable to suppress the fury in his heart, Liu Zhongyuan crushed the armrest of his throne. He slowly stood up with a serious expression and gazed into the distance.

    A small figure fell down from the sky and smashed into the ground like a cannonball. It was the young girl who was standing beside Qianye a while ago. It seemed she wasn¡¯t great at bncing herself since she couldn¡¯t adjust her posture at all during the fall. The girl smashed face-first into the ground, producing arge crater from the impact.

    People nearby held their breaths, unable to even cry out in surprise. Even the spectators felt pained by her fall.

    Under the crowd¡¯s gaze, she actually mbered up and shook her head briefly. It was as though she only felt dizzy from the fall, nothing else.

    The girl nced around before running to Qianye¡¯s side. Pointing at Liu Zhongyuan, she said, ¡°Is it that old man? Let me fight him!¡±

    Qianye pressed down on her head out of habit, pinning her in ce. She swung her arms about and made threatening gestures but couldn¡¯t take a single step forward.

    The little fellow said angrily, ¡°I can beat him!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°And how are you going to do that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll spit at him first...¡± the little girl said righteously.

    ¡°You¡¯ll end up killing everyone in front.¡±

    ¡°... That might happen.¡± The girl looked a bit guilty.

    ¡±What might? That will happen!¡± Qianye knocked on the girl¡¯s head, causing her to clutch her head in an aggrieved manner.

    Everyone who had just seen her fall wasn¡¯t about to believe she would feel pain from that.

    Liu Zhongyuan was so angry that he was trembling all over. He pointed a finger at Qianye but couldn¡¯t utter anything. As he saw it, this young girl was a tool Qianye had arranged to humiliate him. He had been a powerful authority in Zheng for many years, when had he ever suffered such treatment?

    Qianye pressed down the girl in earnest, almost as though he was afraid she would kill too many people. The spectators all felt that this was a deliberate act to humiliate Liu Zhongyuan, a new trick to form a vendetta.

    Perhaps only Qianye and the girl thought otherwise.

    That tall young girl was naturally Zhuji. She was growing faster and faster, almostpletely different after a period of time. Her strength was also increasing at a rapid pace, almost as though there was no end to her growth. The power of her core toxin could be considered terrifying. Even a divine champion wouldn¡¯t have an easy time if they were identally sprayed. If they were careless enough to let the poison into their blood, it would most likely kill them.

    If even a divine champion could contract the poison, there was no need to discuss ordinary experts. As for those civilians who weren¡¯t even considered experts, they would die without a doubt.

    If the wind and weather allowed for it, a mouthful of little Zhuji¡¯s poison mist could probably kill a good chunk of the people at the scene. She was the actual superweapon at Qianye¡¯s side.

    Liu Zhongyuan took a deep breath. ¡°Impressive, Qianye. You actually dare to act so arrogantly! How will I convince the masses if I don¡¯t take your life today?¡±

    Liu Zhongyuan roared with a wave of his hand, ¡°Men!¡± A uniform response arose from around him, but the volume seemed rather insufficient. He looked back in anger to find that only the white-robed men had responded. The Royal Guard and the other squads were all looking at the sky in silence.

    Liu Zhongyuan followed their gaze and was deeply shaken when he saw the battlecruiser. He seemed to have forgotten about this big monstrosity in his anger.

    If both armies were to fight, Qianye possessed the absolute advantage with his battlecruiser. Zheng¡¯s anti-air firepower would not be able to destroy that warship. The only way was for Liu Zhongyuan to charge into the gship¡¯s interior and kill themander. But warships of that grade would surely have defensive mechanisms to counter and cripple boarding-enemies while reinforcing their own men. Liu Zhongyuan wasn¡¯t confident about fighting Qianye under such circumstances.

    No matter how he thought about it, Qianye¡¯s one-on-one duel was the most advantageous choice for him.

    Qianye dragged little Zhuji behind him and said, ¡°Be good and stay here, don¡¯t move about.¡±

    The little fellow¡¯s eyes darted about. ¡°What if people attack me?¡±

    ¡°Kill or cripple them, do as you wish, but don¡¯t spray poison.¡±

    With Zhuji¡¯s current strength, a mouthful of her poison would turn the ce into and of death, not sparing even a de of grass. This was Zheng¡¯s most prosperous region, and Qianye had uses for it. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t let her cause trouble.

    After the girl promised, Qianye turned back to Liu Zhongyuan and said, ¡°It¡¯s our turn now.¡±

    Snorting, the old man reached out with his left hand, whereupon one of his disciples presented a two-meter sword with both hands. From a distance, the Royal Tutor was calm, impressive, and almost like an immortal.

 Chapter 1200: A Lowlife Has its Use

    <h4>Chapter 1200: A Lowlife Has its Use</h4>

    The moment Qianye raised his gun, however, Liu Zhongyuan¡¯s hair stood on end. ¡°No!!!¡± He screamed with a terrified expression and fled!

    For better or worse, he was still a divine champion who could travel hundreds of meters with a single thought. Almost no one saw how the Royal Tutor had fled; just like how no one had seen how he had appeared.

    However, Qianye appeared a dozen or so meters in front of Liu Zhongyuan, his wings unfurled as he aimed a handgun at the man¡¯s forehead.

    Liu Zhongyuan was shocked out of his wits. The long de in his hand danced like a dragon as he shed at Qianye¡¯s waist, sweeping past the target¡¯s torso with a ten-meter sword radiance.

    Qianye¡¯s silhouette dispersed like bubbles when the light receded, leaving only a ck feather of light flying slowly toward him. The feather wasn¡¯t fast, but Liu Zhongyuan looked as though he was facing the reaper¡¯s scythe. He couldn¡¯t move no matter how hard he tried, and in the end, the feather sank right into his chest.

    Crying out loudly, the Royal Tutor came to a sudden stop before slowly looking backward.

    Qianye stepped through the air with East Peak trembling ever so slightly in his hand. At this point, Liu Zhongyuan stopped running and, instead, charged madly at Qianye. The long sword shed Qianye with the momentum of a tempest, filling the area with afterimages and shes of light. Qianye made no motion to evade and actually fought the man head-on with East Peak in hand!

    His attacks were as fast as lightning and as heavy as a mountain. Every hack, sh, and sweep was bold and decisive, shaking Liu Zhongyuan each time his attacks were struck away. In the blink of an eye, he had fallen into a bad disadvantage.

    All the spectators were bbergasted. They had never imagined that their godlike Royal Tutor would lose so quickly and so badly in a fight against Qianye. How could a divine champion lose in a contest of origin power?

    All of a sudden, Liu Zhongyuan¡¯s two-meter sword flew into the air with a thunderous boom. Qianye brushed past him in the blink of an eye and appeared a hundred meters away.

    The Royal Tutor remained frozen in the air. Momentster, he crashed headfirst into the ground, his white robes stained with dirt.

    A group of white-robed disciples swarmed over, but all of them stopped at the same time as they got close. Liu Zhongyuany prone on the ground, not moving in the slightest as a puddle of blood expanded from underneath.

    One of the disciples cried out, ¡°I¡¯ll fight it out with you!¡±

    He charged at Qianye with a loud roar but was pped dozens of meters away with a casual swing. The sword in that disciple¡¯s grasp was now a mass of scrap metal, and the man could no longer mber up.

    There were still a hundred white-robed disciples. Someone cried out, ¡°We¡¯re greater in number, let¡¯s fight it out with him and avenge the Royal Tutor!¡±

    The call to action was vehement, but the response was fairlyckluster and no one actually charged out. ncing at one another, then at the immobile Liu Zhongyuan, the group slowly edged backward.

    Now that their hot blood had receded, they realized that even Liu Zhongyuan couldn¡¯tst very long against Qianye. The Royal Tutor had fled immediately as the battle began but still failed to escape. No matter how big their group was, they would only be throwing their lives away if they fought Qianye.

    An imposing voice suddenly echoed on the walls of the Royal Capital, ¡°Royal Guard, heed my orders, open fire and destroy the rebel!¡±

    The generals immediately realized that it was the Second Prince. He had been amassing power for a good while, so the soldiers reacted immediately upon his orders. The turret on the capital wall opened, and the ballista inside took aim at Qianye¡¯s position.

    Following a loud boom, Qianye remained perfectly fine, but that turret copsed all of a sudden. Its top part was sted away, leaving only half a wreckage.

    The battlecruiser in the air was stirred, aiming its smoking cannon at another turret. The guards on the turret scattered in a panic, with one even jumping off the tower directly. This kind of flustered escape led to no good oue. That person fell straight to the ground instead of onto the city wall, screaming as one of his legs was bent out of shape.

    Soon afterward, a ball of mes erupted from that cannon tower, and the violent explosion sent wreckage and corpses flying in all directions.

    There was also retaliatory fire from the capital. Two giant ballista bolts were sted toward the battlecruiser and stabbed into the armor te. But the airship, having learned its lesson at Expansive, remained at a high enough altitude to weaken the projectiles. These solid bolts were an old design that was at least three generations behind the Empire¡¯s and posed little threat if they couldn¡¯t explode after stabbing into the armor.

    Without any more natural enemies, the battlecruiser bore down from above and destroyed the turrets one after the other.

    Seeing that the situation was dire, the Second Prince issued constant orders in his exasperation,manding the Royal Guard to attack the enemies. It was at this time that he heard a voice in his ears, ¡°Kneel!¡±

    Before he could figure out who it was, a pressure akin to the oceans descended abruptly! The Second Prince fell to his knees with a thud. None of his followers remained standing, either.

    Nan Ruohuai walked through the struggling men and arrived before the second prince. Looking down at his enemy, he sighed. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought I would see second brother kneeling in front of me one day?¡±

    The Second Prince only recognized Nan Ruohuai after a while. He shouted fiercely, ¡°So it¡¯s you! How are you still standing?¡±

    The Second Prince couldn¡¯t stand up no matter how hard he tried. His body would be heavier as he exerted himself, up to the point where even keeping his back straight was a strain. If even he was in such a state, it was only natural that his attendants would have it even worse. The weaker ones saw their bones crushed, coughing up blood as the fragments pierced through their innards.

    As an experienced person, the Second Prince realized that this was the power of a domain, and an extremely terrifying one at that. Within it, those under the champion realm were no better than ants. Yet, why was this Nan Ruohuai still standing?

    Nan Ruohuai approached the second prince and whispered, ¡°That¡¯s a secret. Since you want to know, I can tell you¡­¡±

    The Second Prince never heard clearly what he was saying. His eyes went wide, pointing furiously at Nan Ruohuai as the gushing blood drowned out the words in his mouth.

    The Second Prince spasmed a couple of times before his expression ckened. Nan Ruohuai took a step back, allowing the corpse to fall to the ground. At that moment, those with sharp eyes noticed that there was a dagger in the Second Prince¡¯s chest. Needless to say, that dagger had to be Nan Ruohuai¡¯s.

    In the blink of an eye, everyone felt as though they were in a dream and that nothing was real. The Royal Tutor they worshipped was lying on the ground, and the Second Prince¡ªthe one they had already considered their future king¡ªwas dead. Just like that, he had died to the de of a prince whose name people didn¡¯t even know.

    Was Zheng to be handed to such trash?

    Nan Ruohuai wiped his hand with a clean handkerchief, looking around as though he wasn¡¯t quite satisfied yet. He crouched down and drew the Second Prince¡¯s sword, stabbing several other men with the grace of a breeze.

    These people didn¡¯t even know Nan Ruohuai, but thetter had long since memorized their appearance. These were the Second Prince¡¯s trusted aides, left and right-hand men who hailed from his maternal lineage. Knowing that it would be too difficult to convince them, Nan Ruohuai decided to eliminate them while they could not retaliate.

    After killing several men, Nan Ruohuai¡¯s sword arm was trembling. His eyes, however, were sparkling brightly, proving that it wasn¡¯t fear that he felt toward bloodshed. He nced around briefly and started roaming the crowd with his sword, killing a dozen more people before he was satisfied. He then tossed away the blood-stained de and bowed deeply at Qianye. ¡°Uncle, it¡¯s done.¡±

    Qianye was watching with folded arms, observing each of Nan Ruohuai¡¯s actions and even his expressions. Hearing what Nan Ruohuai said, Qianye retracted his domain power.

    Those crouching people shot up as the tremendous pressure was lifted, iling their limbs about as they fell down again.

    Nan Ruohuai stood quietly. Although he was standing in a group of enemies, that calm demeanor of his frightened everyone and prevented them from taking any reckless actions.

    The prince raised his voice. ¡°The traitor Liu Zhongyuan has been in, and the Second Prince has fallen while attempting to seize the throne. All of you were threatened into following them, so everything shall be written off if you submit now. How long are you going to wait before kneeling!?¡±

    The people had just begun to exchange nces when someone fell to his knees, crying, ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    Delighted, Nan Ruohuai went to help that person up and asked him about his background. With someone taking the lead, the others threw away their hesitation and started to kneel. Some of them were unwilling, but they looked at the battlecruiser and then at Qianye who was standing there like a demonic god. The situation had changed, and there was no choice but to follow everyone in kneeling. Toward the end, only ten or so people remained on their feet.

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s killing intent soared. He pointed at those people and roared, ¡°Stubborn people! Men, seize them!¡±

    Those who had just submitted were eager to contribute. They swarmed over immediately and restrained the dozen or so men, who started spewing profanities in their unwillingness. Nan Ruohuai shot a meaningful nce, which some intelligent people picked up. They smashed the prisoners¡¯ teeth with the hilts of their sword and stuffed mud into their mouths to block them.

    Nan Ruohuai turned around and picked out a handful of Royal Guardmanders from the crowd. ¡°Your group will head out with the current unit, take down the four gates of the Royal Capital. If you cannot control them all at the same time, simply concentrate your advantage and upy one of them. As for the others, this king will quell the rebellion in one strike and retake the nation!¡±

    Everyone affirmed their orders. Just as they were expecting Nan Ruohuai to assail the pce, he ran over to Qianye and said respectfully, ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead with what you think is correct,¡± Qianye replied.

    Delighted, Nan Ruohuai hastily formed a number of squads with the men at hand, assigning them to the front, rear, mid, and nks. He was actually assuming a military formation as he charged through the eastern gate and toward the pce.

    Qianye stood with his arms behind his back, gazing as the crowd departed.

    Song Hui was standing beside him all this time. She finally couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. ¡°He¡¯s a vicious and fickle lowlife! Why are you raising him to this position?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s quite capable, saving me quite a bit of trouble. Besides, aren¡¯t they all the same?¡±

    Song Hui was surprised. ¡°How can they be the same?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I don¡¯t want Zheng, anyway. I only want its resources. It doesn¡¯t matter who sits on the throne as long as I get a steady supply.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t youe here to im territory?¡±

    ¡°I can take that from the dark races.¡±

 Chapter 1201: Be Careful

    <h4>Chapter 1201: Be Careful</h4>

    The battle at the Royal Capital didn¡¯tst long. The roaming airships in the sky were the best form of threat. In order to prevent an ident like in Expansive, the battlecruiser captain checked all the cannon turrets that could pose a threat and destroyed all of them.

    The anti-air fire at the capital looked fiercer than Expansive, but there was not much difference in actual effectiveness.

    Most ordinary people, be they civilians or soldiers, had seen or heard too much about power struggles. This was a fight for the upper-ss people, a conflict between kings, dukes, and nobles. No matter who won or lost, it had very little to do with them¡ªthey would have to pay the same taxes and shoulder the same responsibilities. It didn¡¯t affect their path to fortune, either.

    After every conflict, the new king would make a show of amnesty, reducing taxes and clearing corrupt officers. Before long, however, things would go back to the way it was before. The taxes might even increase since they would have to find a way to recoup the discounted taxes from before.

    People were pretty calm about this so-called fight for the throne. Nan Ruohuai only encountered some resistance when he stormed the pce. Those were the Second Prince¡¯s trusted aides who knew very well that they would find no good oue even if they surrendered. The other prince manors possessed a certain degree of power¡ªsome of them offered a bit of resistance, but the others realized the futility of it and simply surrendered.

    The entire upation process went smoothly. By dusk, the sounds of guns and cannons had died down quite a bit. Squad after squad of Royal Guards moved out from the pce and positioned themselves throughout the city to enforce a curfew. At the same time, they went on arge-scale manhunt for the ruffians who hadmitted arson and robbery during the chaos, restoring order to the capital.

    From all of this, it was quite evident that Nan Ruohuai was fairly capable.

    At this point, Nan Ruohuai¡¯s attendant found Qianye and invited him to the pce for a meeting. Song Lun, who was standing nearby, sneered. ¡°Already adopting the airs of a king, huh?¡±

    The attendant replied, ¡°The King of Zheng hasn¡¯t been crowned, but he¡¯s nheless the supreme ruler of the nation. How can he leave the pce so easily? Who¡¯ll take responsibility if something happens to him amidst the chaos?¡±

    Song Lun was just about to explode in anger when Qianye stopped him. ¡°Let¡¯s go and see.¡±

    Since Qianye had already spoken, there wasn¡¯t much Song Lun could say. He simply boarded the vehicle angrily. He was the one who had picked Nan Ruohuai, so he felt responsible should something go wrong.

    Qianye¡¯s motorcade was only made up of eight vehicles, but all of them were full to the brim with mercenaries and generals. After Nan Ruohuai¡¯s Royal Guard moved out, Qianye intentionally recalled his forces to avoid any potential conflict.

    The mercenaries of the neutralnds were fierce and ruthless, not the type to hold back in a fight. Qianye felt that the Royal Guard would lose too much face if they suffered heavy casualties.

    Nothing out of the ordinary happened as they entered the pce. The Royal Guards were everywhere, and the pce attendants were busy cleaning up traces of battle. The entire eastern gate had copsed, which went to show how fierce the fight was back then.

    The servants were fairly busy since therge pile of rubble wasn¡¯t easy to clear. Most of the officers from the Royal Guard had witnessed Qianye killing Liu Zhongyuan. Who would dare provoke him?

    Qianye¡¯s car drove into the middle-gate beforeing to a stop at a wide, open za. On the other end of the square, atop a flight of thirty-three steps, was the symbol of Zheng¡¯s monarchy: the court hall.

    The za before the hall was rather impressive, but of course, it couldn¡¯tpare to the one in the Great Qin¡¯s Imperial Pce. It was only a quarter of the size. To Zheng, however, it was big enough already. Such spaces were usually reserved for national sacrificial ceremonies and where all the nobles, as well as civil and military officers, would line up. How could Zheng possess a quarter of the Empire¡¯s strength?

    The sign on the court hall read, ¡°Heaven¡¯s Harmony.¡± The pen strokes were straight, sharp, andparable to an unsheathed de. The style was grand, but itsyout was a bit too small. Throughout the Great Qin Empire, its typography focused on neutrality and peace. Only in the military and on the front lines did they pay attention to sharpness. It was vastly different from the style of Zheng where even the center of government looked like it was in a state of hostility.

    Qianye stood for a while at the middle gate, ncing at the great hall and then at the za. At this point, a person came running over at top speed¡ªit was Nan Ruohuai.

    He ran all the way until he was in front of Qianye, huffing and puffing like a bull. ¡°These men are all blind! They didn¡¯t report earlier about your arrival, Uncle!¡±

    Nan Ruohuai stole a nce at Qianye¡¯s expression. Seeing that spurious smile and those deep, abyssal eyes, he couldn¡¯t help but tremble. His mind went nk and he forgot whatever it was that he had wanted to say. His knees suddenly gave way and he fell kneeling to the ground with a plop.

    The pce attendants turned pale with fright. Some of them screamed in rm and wanted to charge over to support him. They had just run past the surrounding mercenaries when a cold gleam flickered and heads started to fly.

    These people failed to express their loyalty and lost their lives instead. Blood gushed out of their severed necks, showering down like rain. Some droplets fell onto Nan Ruohuai¡¯s body and face, causing him to tremble all over. He raised a hand, wanting to wipe away the blood on his face, but he lowered it again half-way and prostrated himself before Qianye.

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°It¡¯s good that you know fear.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said in a trembling voice, ¡°I got dizzy and confused once I entered the pce. With all these people egging me on¡­ I seem to have forgotten who I was.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°If I can raise you to this position, I can raise anyone else with even greater ease. As for why I chose you and not your other brothers, you better think for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will think about it.¡±

    ¡°Rise.¡± Qianye brought Nan Ruohuai to his feet with a raise of his right hand, leaving him trembling and pale.

    Qianye paid him no heed and simply led the group into the pce hall.

    Nan Ruohuai followed from behind. When he walked through the door, a pce attendant asked, ¡°Your Majesty, are you unwell anywhere?¡± This person was indoor just now and hadn¡¯t seen themotion outside.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Nan Ruohuai replied, but no one would believe that judging from how pale he was.

    Nan Ruohuai was thinking about that moment when he killed the Second Prince. Back then, the soldiers nearby were all struggling under the weight of Qianye¡¯s domain, and only he was unaffected. It wasn¡¯t that his strength was outstanding, but rather there was ayer of origin power around him canceling out the power of the domain. Needless to say, thisyer of energy was Qianye¡¯s doing.

    If Qianye could use origin power to protect him, he could just as easily kill him with it. It wouldn¡¯t be any more difficult for him than killing a chicken.

    Back then, Nan Ruohuai didn¡¯t realize this detail as he was fully immersed in the excitement of the throne-fight. Only after facing Qianye¡¯s terrifying presence did he recall what had happened on the city wall.

    Qianye came to a stop inside the Hall of Heaven¡¯s Harmony, observing the furnishings and arrangements. Although he had never been to the capital or the Imperial Pce, he had seen theyout of the Zhao and Song ns. The Zhao n¡¯s main building was majestic and imposing, filled with an air of murderous nobility. The Song¡¯s was secluded, luxurious, and unintentionally exuding great extravagance. Needless to say, the Bai and Zhang ns would have their unique characteristics as well.

    No need to bring the Imperial Pce into theparison, just the main buildings of the four major ns was enough to suppress the Zheng Royal Pce. The decor inside the building screamed of an excessive attempt at disying luxury, yet it ended up giving off a feeling of unsophisticated extravagance. It simply wasn¡¯t on the same level. The ns were truly extravagant when it came to decorative materials, while this pce was filled with crude items. That actually did make sense because Zheng could neither afford nor obtain the truly good items.

    A sudden thought popped up in his mind. Were those dazzling gold ornaments the king¡¯s taste or was he trying to divert attention away from the ordinary materials?

    Having seen the main hall, Qianye formed a direct impression of Zheng. He felt curious as he recalled Liu Zhongyuan¡¯sment on the Empire beingrge but not necessarily powerful. Where was he getting that confidence from? Maybe that was all he could see after living in this remote ce for so long.

    Nan Ruohuai stood nearby, waiting for Qianye to finish exploring. He then said respectfully, ¡°I hope you can go further in, there¡¯s someone at the back who wants to see you.¡±

    Qianye nced at the passage behind the pce hall. From theyout of the pce, that was likely where the royal harem was housed. He nodded and started walking in that direction. Several shocked attendants wanted to stop him but didn¡¯t dare.

    Nan Ruohuai red at them, roaring, ¡°This is my uncle! Who gave you the gall to try and stop him?¡±

    An old attendant said, ¡°Your Majesty, the rear pce isn¡¯t an ordinary ce. If the royal uncle wishes to enter¡­ this lowly one of course wouldn¡¯t dare stop him. But those people¡­¡±

    Qianye understood what was being implied. He turned to Song Hui, Song Lun, and the generals, saying, ¡°Wait for me here.¡±

    Song Hui said, ¡°Howe you¡¯re going in alone?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°Be careful,¡± Song Hui reminded.

    Qianye found it somewhat funny. ¡°What, is there anyone who can harm me in this ce?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say!¡± Song Hui red at him.

    Qianye shook his head and only considered it a young girl¡¯s willfulness. He paid her no more heed as he followed Nan Ruohuai to the rear.

    Song Hui snorted, puffing her cheeks as she did so. A curious Song Lun asked from the side, ¡°Do you not know how powerful Qianye is? Even the entire Royal Guard can¡¯t do anything to him, I think. Unless they use some despicable method.¡±

    Song Hui replied angrily, ¡°What kind of poison would it take to poison him to death?¡±

    Song Lun was startled, but he decided not to respond to the girl¡¯s angry remark. The vehicle of delivery was important for poisons. It would be a joke if they tried to poison food or drink; Song Lun didn¡¯t believe Zheng could get their hands on powerful poisons that could fell a divine champion just by touch or through the air. If he had known about Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire constitution, he would be spared of thest bit of worry.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s figure vanish behind the screen, Song Hui gnashed her teeth. ¡°Hope he gets eaten up bone and all!¡±

    Only then did Song Lune to understand what was going on, and his expression turned odd.

    Zheng¡¯s rear pce was simr to the Empire¡¯s in style. There was actually a small garden with a weather-control array, filled with all kinds of flowers¡ªred, white, yellow, and blue, all tightly packed in an unexciting manner.

    Qianye understood the desire to nt as many flowers as one could after investing so much into this array. As for the Unending Pce, which was an origin array in and of itself, that was way beyond the scope of Zheng and its people.

 Chapter 1202: Dont Go Too Far

    <h4>Chapter 1202: Don¡¯t Go Too Far</h4>

    This little garden wasn¡¯t a ce for discussing official business, nor was it a necessary path to some other ce. Nan Ruohuai¡¯s expression was inevitably a bit proud¡ªwhat he wanted to show was that whatever the Empire possessed, Zheng did too, albeit a bit smaller.

    Qianye understood these little notions, but there was no need to point it out. Small countries like Zheng would have no way to survive if they didn¡¯t find a way to inte their confidence.

    This prince, the new king from today onward, had never left Zheng before. The furthest he had been away from the country was when Song Lun had kidnapped him. His limited experience was a mark of his origins.

    Many people would be affected by their birth or experiences after adulthood, leaving little room for molding after the inherent mindset had been formed. It wasn¡¯t something that could be turned around by resources or teachers. In short, Nan Ruohuai¡¯s performance during this time wasn¡¯t so bad, with all things considered.

    Passing through the garden, they arrived at a secluded courtyard. Mountain, stream, a small pavilion¡ªeverything made for a proper resting ce. The garden just now couldn¡¯t fit a lot of people since it was packed with flowers and nts.

    The small pavilion was shrouded by flowery decorations, exuding a thriving scene that was out of ce with the time of the year. This excessive garishness was actually quite harsh on the eyes. Qianye was used to Zhao Jundu, Song Zining, and even Wei Potian¡ªtheirvishness was in harmony with daily life. This kind of overly eye-catching arrangement made him ufortable.

    There were three people seated in the pavilion, surrounded by several attendants. There was also a group of internal attendants outside. The ostentation was sufficient, but the courtyard was simply too small for such arge group. The person who had made these arrangements clearly had no idea that more people didn¡¯t necessarily mean more power. Space was the most valuable asset at the center of the Royal Capital; every inch ofnd was as valuable as gold.

    Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°Sire, those who want to see you are waiting in the pavilion.¡±

    All three people in the pavilion weredies. Qianye didn¡¯t really observe them carefully when he arrived, only casting a nce when Nan Ruohuai said so.

    The woman in the center was somewhat aged, but her features were graceful and her charm cut deep to the bone. She might¡¯ve been more beautiful when she was younger, but she might not necessarily exude this kind of attractiveness back then.

    The twodies to the side were fairly beautiful, possessing features simr to the olderdy and Nan Ruohuai. Having seen the Second Prince and now thesedies, Qianye understood that these people shared a close bloodline.

    As expected, Nan Ruohuai introduced, ¡°The one at the center is my Queen Mother, and the other two are my sisters. Please have a seat.¡±

    Nodding, Qianye walked into the pavilion and sat down.

    The pavilion was quite small, so it was a bit of a strain to move around when it was so tightly packed. Qianye¡¯s knees were almost touching the girl across from him as he sat down. The youngdy shifted slightly, hoping to make some space for the guest, but she identally kicked Qianye¡¯s foot instead. Her face turned entirely red, and she was at a loss about what to do.

    The woman red at the girl, but even this small movement of hers was seductive and tititing. She stole a nce at Qianye in the process, the nature of which was hard to determine. Was it a peek or was it a flirtatious nce?

    She scolded the girl in a whisper before saying to Qianye, ¡°The Sire hails from the Empire and is someone who has seen the world. Naturally, he won¡¯t be impressed by this small ce. But this courtyard boasts the best scenery in the pce, and I made all the decorations myself. What do you think?¡±

    What could Qianye say? He merely nodded and glossed over things. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    The woman giggled with her mouth covered, her chest shaking from the movement. ¡°It¡¯s great that you like it, Sire. I¡¯m Ruohuai¡¯s mother, granted the title of ¡®Shu,¡¯ but you... you¡¯re my younger brother, so you can just call me by name, Shu Rong. These two are my daughters, your nieces. The elder one is Jinyi, and this ignorant one is Jinhang.¡±

    Qianye nodded, sweeping his gaze over them in a gesture of greeting. Jinhang turned red when Qianye nced past her, but Jinyi met his gaze bravely and even tried to push her chest out.

    Qianye was thinking about something different, though. Thinking back to how Nan Ruohuai had addressed the woman as Queen Mother, it would seem that he had elevated her status after taking the crown. That was the right thing to do with his status. Despite the mother relying on the son¡¯s status, the mother of that Supreme Ruler from Great Qin was still an Imperial concubine.

    The granting of this small title gave one a peek into the subtle rtionship between the monarch¡¯s authority and the powerful aristocracy. Zheng was loyal to Qin, but in the end, the two were fundamentally different. Did Zheng consider the Empire as big but not strong because of matters rted to the ruling family¡¯s prestige?

    Queen Mother Shu¡¯s intention was clear, but Qianye had no n to spend more time and energy on her. ¡°Okay, we¡¯ve already met. So, what does Queen Mother Shu want from me?¡±

    The woman was startled, not expecting things to deviate so far from her script. She reacted quickly enough, however, and said with a smile, ¡°Sire, as my brother, this pce is just like your home. You cane and go as you please. Why not let Ruohuai take you around so that you can judge the architecture of the dynasty?¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye to reply, Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°I¡¯ll of course serve uncle well!¡±

    After some thought, Qianye said, ¡°Very well then, let¡¯s take a look.¡±

    The Zheng Royal Pce was a bit small, but it was somewhat worth taking a look.

    Nan Ruohuai paid no heed to the attendants¡¯ shocked expressions. Seeing that they were frozen stiff, his expression darkened. ¡°Are you all deaf and blind? I¡¯m taking my uncle around the pce, did you not hear?¡±

    The attendantdies exchanged nces. Suddenly, an old attendant fell to her knees, crying, ¡°Your Majesty! You must not! The royal harem isn¡¯t a ce for outsiders! Your name shall be stained throughout history if news of this gets out! You must not! Absolutely not!¡±

    Nan Ruohuai roared with a fierce expression, ¡°A stain throughout history? Why would something from inside the pce spread outside? It must be because of people like you?¡±

    The old attendant was shocked. ¡°Impossible, this servant is most loyal...¡±

    Without waiting for her to finish, Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°Men, behead this disrespectful fanatic!¡±

    In the face of this order, the attendantdies fell to their knees and began pleading in earnest. It would seem this old attendant was fairly influential in the pce. Someone even cried out, ¡°If you must kill, then kill us all!¡±

    Qianye remained silent with his eyes lowered. It was as though he had no interest in this ongoingmotion.

    Nan Ruohuai nced at Qianye, then at the kneeling pce staff. ¡°You people y this game the first day that I ascend the throne. Do you think this king won¡¯t kill?¡±

    He drew his sword and shed down, decapitating the old attendant on the spot!

    The attendants were shocked out of their wits. Those kneeling on the ground went silent, and those who weren¡¯t¡ªthe ones who had sworn loyalty to Nan Ruohuai¡ªwent pale and fell to their knees.

    The king roared, ¡°Who was it that wanted me to kill them? Stand out and I¡¯ll fulfill your wishes!¡±

    Of course, no one replied, but Nan Ruohuai wasn¡¯t about to stop here. He pointed his de at a young attendant. ¡°I remember it was you who said that, do you think you¡¯ll be fine if you keep quiet?¡±

    The de rose and fell, but all of a sudden, a hand appeared mid-sh. It plucked the sword from Nan Ruohuai¡¯s hands and, with a spin, pressed it against his neck.

    Stunned, the new king slowly turned around to find an unassuming middle-aged attendant. He had no impression of this person. Nan Ruohuai was only one step away from the champion realm, so this person had to be far more powerful in order to snatch the sword from him. How could such a person be unknown?

    Since this person was an attendant, Nan Ruohuai hardened his voice and roared, ¡°Who the hell are you? Are you rebelling?¡±

    The attendant replied, ¡°Your Majesty, you should stop before going too far. Such bloodthirst is not appropriate.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°Zheng is my kingdom, must I ask you for permission when I want to kill someone?¡±

    The internal attendant said with a frown, ¡°Your Majesty, the way you obtained the throne is the way you will lose it. At least, the other princes won¡¯t bring an outsider into the pce and cause humiliation to the country! Since you have veered so far from our traditions, I should simply kill you and remove a cmity for the world! For the son of a songstress, being king for one day is already fortunate enough. Time to go!¡±

    With that, he moved to behead Nan Ruohuai in a single sh! The surroundings fell into chaos, mixed with the screams ofdies.

    But everyone¡¯s eyes blurred for a split second as someone appeared in their midst. It was as though the sword was stabbing into a mountain, not moving no matter how much force was applied. The attendant was shocked to find Qianye standing at his side, grabbing onto the sword with one hand. Nan Ruohuai¡¯s sword was a grade seven weapon that had been handed down from king to king. However, Qianye was simply grabbing onto it without any special arts. The de couldn¡¯t move at all, nor could it cut through his palm.

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re quite loyal, but that¡¯s also the unfortunate reason why I can¡¯t keep you alive. Follow your master in peace.¡±

    The attendant¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    In no mood to reply, Qianye casually pped down on the man¡¯s head. The attendant¡¯s expression was solemn¡ªhe bent his knees into a horse stance and, with a loud roar, swung his elbows up to block the palm. However, he was extremely shocked the moment he touched Qianye¡¯s palm.

    Qianye¡¯s palm fell normally as though there was no obstruction, and went all the way down to waist-height before retracting.

    With a loud bang, the attendant was half-buried into the ground, still in his upward defensive stance. The spirit in his eyes scattered as he leaned to the side with a whimper, and never moved again.

    No one in the pce dared look up. Most of these people were simply terrified of being ughtered by the new king; only a few understood that Qianye had pped that attendant to death with great ease. This attendant was the Royal Tutor¡¯s follower and boasted a rank-sixteen cultivation, the most powerful expert in the pce apart from the king and the Royal Tutor. He was often praised for his potential for breaking through to the divine champion realm.

    Nan Ruohuai had been away from the pce for too long. The King of Zheng treated him like an invisible prince, only allowing him to enter the pce and meet his mother at new year¡¯s. That was why he didn¡¯t recognize this person, but he could already venture a guess. Who would¡¯ve thought he would be hiding among the attendants all this time and only made an appearance just now.

    Qianye paid no heed to what these people were thinking. He still couldn¡¯t feel any satisfaction even after pping a high-ranking expert to death. ¡°Such amotion, I think we should stop touring the rear pce.¡±

    After figuring out who this person was, Nan Ruohuai understood that he had just tiptoed over the line of life and death. His ashen face hadn¡¯t rxed yet, and even his voice was a bit distorted. ¡°Of course we tour! Why shouldn¡¯t we? This king wishes to bring my uncle around the rear pce. Not to mention today, it¡¯s fine tomorrow as well. I¡¯ll kill whoever dares to utter half aint about it! If I can¡¯t handle a group of trash like you, how will I rule the nation?¡±

    Previous Chapter Next Chapter

 Chapter 1203: Restrained

    <h4>Chapter 1203: Restrained</h4>

    The pce staff cowered; no one dared to utter another word. There were people who wanted to perform an assassination or stir up trouble, but after seeing Nan Ruohuai¡¯s ruthlessness and Qianye¡¯s overwhelming power, they knew that any reckless action would only be throwing away more lives.

    Those with experience thought one level deeper. Qianye was the actual mastermind behind everything, so what was the point of killing Nan Ruohuai? The man would just drag another prince or princess onto the throne and solidify his influence once more. If he was too annoyed, he could simply kill off the entire royal family and drag some random person onto the throne, iming that he was thete king¡¯s illegitimate son. Who could say anything?

    Besides, internal strife was normal for Zheng, and everyone in the pce had seen their fair share of it.

    Someone wanted to clean up the corpses, but Nan Ruohuai stopped them. ¡°Just leave it like that! I want everyone to see what happens to those who oppose this king!¡±

    That attendant was half-buried in the hard limestone floor, his upper body perfectly intact. This went to show just how extraordinary the assant¡¯s technique was. This was the number one expert in the pce! It could be assumed that those with untoward thoughts wouldn¡¯t dare act recklessly anymore.

    After giving out the orders, Nan Ruohuai ignored his deathly pale mother and sisters to attend to Qianye. ¡°Uncle Sire, please follow me!¡±

    Qianye nodded indifferently and followed Nan Ruohuai around the screen. They first arrived at the King¡¯s chambers, adjacent to the queen¡¯s, currently upied by Queen Mother Shu.

    Qianye found this arrangement rather odd. Did Nan Ruohuai have a wife? The information Song Lun had given him didn¡¯t state anything of that sort, so he simply tossed the thought to the side. The two pce chambers weren¡¯t big, but there were courtyards and flower gardens decorated in tasteless extravagance.

    After viewing these pces in passing, Nan Ruohuai led Qianye to a small courtyard. The sign on the gates read: Shifting Fragrance Pce. The board was made of valuable material and the craftsmanship was exquisite, but the writing was barely passable. Judging from the inscription, it was likely the work of one of the previous monarchs.

    Seeing that the gate was tightly closed, Nan Ruohuai turned livid. He charged over and kicked the doors into pieces, producing a storm of splinters and a painful cry from the courtyard.

    Nan Ruohuai walked in withrge strides and saw an attendant girl, badly injured and her face covered in blood. A kick from someone of his strength wasn¡¯t something an ordinary person could withstand.

    Nan Ruohuai red at the pce attendant. ¡°You blind thing! Locking the door when this king is returning to the pce!? Men, drag this slut and throw her into the immersed prison!¡±

    Two attendants arrived and the girl was dragged off, sobbing and crying mournfully.

    A woman, seemingly in her thirties, appeared from the main building at this point. Calm and aloof, she was the ssic example of an icy beauty. It was just that one could see faint traces of age in her facial features.

    There were clear signs of anger in her eyes, but she forced out a smile. ¡°So it¡¯s His Excellency the Thirty-First. Why are you so angry today? Must you take it out on my ignorant servant?¡±

    ¡°Excellency!?¡±

    ¡°Oh my, I should be calling you Your Majesty now. It¡¯s a habit.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai nodded. ¡°You¡¯re a smart person, how can it be out of habit? Since you¡¯re so unwilling, why not just call me by name? It¡¯s just an address, anyhow.¡±

    The woman bit her lower lips. ¡°I understand my mistake, please don¡¯t take it to heart, Your Majesty.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Since you know your mistake, how should you be addressing yourself?¡±

    ¡°... This consort.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it, how should you perform your greetings when you see me?¡±

    The woman¡¯s eyes became moist as she bent her knees and knelt lightly on the ground, teardrops falling into the dust as she lowered her head.

    Finally satisfied, Nan Ruohuai said to his inner attendant, ¡°Throw that girl into the banishment pce, no need for the dungeon.¡±

    The woman forced herself to speak through her tears. ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai turned to Qianye and said, ¡°This is the royal consort, titled Xue, and father¡¯s favorite. We normally call her Aunt Xue. She isn¡¯t really impressed by us, though, and if not for the circumstances, she probably won¡¯t even know who the thirty-first prince is.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said to Consort Xue, ¡°Get up.¡± Then, he brought Qianye into the bedroom without consulting anyone. Her face went pale as she watched the two marching figures, and it took all she had to not break down in tears.

    Nan Ruohuai didn¡¯t stay too long in the flower garden and instead went into the bed-chambers, fiddling with the small decorative items along the way. He then opened a cab, which by some unlucky coincidence or otherwise, was full ofdies¡¯ undergarments. Nan Ruohuai¡¯s expression remained unchanged as he picked one up and studied it closely.

    Consort Xue, who had just followed them in, went livid, trembling all over as she stood there at a loss.

    Nan Ruohuai tossed away the undershirt and said, ¡°What do you think? Do you want to spend the night here?¡±

    Qianye stood at the doorway with his hands behind his back, indifferent and expressionless as he shook his head.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to another ce then. There are four royal consorts in the pce.¡±

    Having seen the guests off, Consort Xue was just heaving a sigh of relief when Nan Ruohuai turned back at the gate and red at her, causing her to go pale.

    Along the way, they met over a dozen concubines in addition to the four consorts. The pce wasn¡¯t big and the rear pce was even smaller. Considering how the rear flower garden was also taking up space, the four consorts¡¯ pces were actually just small courtyards despite their impressive names. There was a main building with three rooms in eachpound and two side rooms for attendants to live in, and the remaining space was filled with flowerbeds, tables, and chairs.

    If even the four royal consorts lived in such abodes, there was no need to talk about the other concubines. The ones with higher status would live in pairs, while the ones with lower status would live four to a courtyard.

    With Consort Xue¡¯s example in ce, they never went through the awkwardness of being locked out in other ces. The consorts and concubines would receive them with smiles; they were so enthusiastic that they looked more like storedies weing customers than royal concubines.

    Having finished the tour, Qianye concluded that the four royal consorts were indeed a bit more good looking than Queen Mother Shu, and the other concubines were all inferior. It would seem that the old King of Zheng¡¯s harem was ranked ording to his preferences in addition to their backgrounds. But these women were all cooped up in such a small ce, like chickens in a cage, so they had nothing better to do than fight amongst themselves.

    With how small the rear pce was, the tour was fairly short even if they took the time to observe every ce. Qianye said to Nan Ruohuai, ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the study to talk.¡±

    Since Qianye had no interest in staying in the rear pce, Nan Ruohuai didn¡¯t insist on it, either. He simply led Qianye to the front pce study. Thetter sat down in the big chair with Nan Ruohuai standing respectfully at his side.

    Qianye said jokingly, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of leaving a bad name by offering up the harem?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai replied, ¡°You were the one who gave me whatever I have now, so whatever you want in Zheng is yours. If not for you, who would even know who the thirty-first prince is? How could it be my turn to stand here? What is the royal harempared to your great favor?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯tment. ¡°How is your father?¡±

    ¡°We still haven¡¯t found him. The second brother worked together with several royal siblings to move him away from the pce. We still don¡¯t know where they¡¯re hiding him. It won¡¯t be easy to get such a big secret out of the servants, we¡¯ll need to target the leaders. My guess is that he¡¯s still in the Royal Capital.

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Did they hide the king because I was challenging the Royal Tutor?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai startedughing. ¡°You think too highly of them! There¡¯s no way my brothers would be so kind! I¡¯ve asked my father¡¯s close attendants, father hasn¡¯t been in the pce since a month ago. He has been in a delirious state all this time. Meanwhile, my second brother began acting as regent with the Royal Tutor¡¯s support, gaining fame and power in court. These people were afraid father would wake up and take over the government again! What would they do if he appointed another prince as the crown heir? They couldn¡¯t rebel, could they? Unlike me, these people do care about what the history books will say about them.¡±

    Qianye was a bit surprised. ¡°Do you mean they¡¯ll keep him under house arrest if your father remains alive?¡±

    Since he was already being detained, the old King Zheng¡¯s fate was already sealed. He might die naturally if he didn¡¯t recover from the disease, but he might just ¡°pass away naturally¡± if he were to recover.

    At this point, Qianye gained a new understanding of Zheng as a nation. Nan Hua could be considered one of the better-natured ones.

    ¡°How do you n to handle this matter?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai gave it some thought. ¡°Naturally, I¡¯ll have to find my father first. I¡¯ll have to seal off the Royal Capital and perform a thorough search. I¡¯m guessing they will kill father in their desperation and try to me it on me. Even so, I cannot let his corpse fall into their hands.¡±

    ¡°True, I guess. What then? Several important cities in the nation are still in your brothers¡¯ hands. What do you n to do?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai appeared rather confident. "I now control most of the Royal Guard, and the city guard has also announced their loyalty. Our Zheng¡¯s Royal Guard has always been the best elite force in the country. With them under my control, it¡¯ll be fairly easy to destroy my other brothers. Just leave this matter to me, you don¡¯t need to bother.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°That means you n to quell and pacify Zheng on your own?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai retracted his high spirits and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you want me to aplish certain things as the King of Zheng?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s naturally good if that¡¯s what you want. It¡¯s gettingte, let¡¯s discuss tomorrow.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said, ¡°Shall I arrange a ce for you to rest in the rear pce?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°No need, I¡¯ll go back to the warship. I also have some things to discuss with Song Lun and the others.¡±

    A sh of disappointment appeared in Nan Ruohuai¡¯s eyes, but he saw Qianye off respectfully and watched him drive away before going back.

    After returning to the study, he headed over to one of the side chairs out of habit. Only when his bottom was halfway toward the chair did he remember that something wasn¡¯t quite right and moved to the big chair Qianye was sitting before. He plopped down so hard that it looked like he fell into the seat.

    An old attendant who was waiting in the room moved closer and said mysteriously, ¡°Your Majesty, it¡¯s quite a pity he¡¯s not willing to stay.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai said, puzzled, ¡°Indeed.¡±

    The old attendant whispered, ¡°There¡¯s a secret form passed down from the royal ancestors, a poison that has no taste or smell. Nothing happens when first taking it, but it acts up an hourter with a force so potent that even those with powerful cultivation won¡¯tst longer than thirty minutes.¡±

    Nan Ruohuai¡¯s heart started beating faster and his mouth became dry. ¡°T-This medicine...¡±

    ¡°This medicine has a special characteristic; the longer it¡¯s stored, the more potent it is. There¡¯s a bottle in the pce that¡¯s been kept for fifty years!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying...¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty has already grasped power and gained the loyalty of the Royal Guard. Everything has been settled and no other changes can happen. Since that¡¯s the case, why would you be content with all these restraints?¡±

 Chapter 1204: Quick Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1204: Quick Battle</h4>

    Nan Ruohuai shot to his feet and, in a sh of cold light, pressed a dagger against the old attendant¡¯s neck. ¡°Who instructed you to harm me?¡±

    The old man was shocked out of his wits. The trembling caused his skin to rub against the de, breaking and bleeding somewhat. ¡°This servant is entirely loyal to you. It¡¯s just that I simply cannot stand that man¡¯s arrogance. This isn¡¯t fair to you!¡±

    Nan Ruohuai put away his dagger after a while. ¡°If you saw how that man killed the Royal Tutor like he would ughter a dog, you won¡¯t think like this. Your so-called ancestral poison, will it really kill him? What if it doesn¡¯t?¡±

    The old man frowned and said with a surge of killing intent, ¡°Then fight it out with him! You have the army in your hands, what¡¯s there to be afraid of? That warship may be big, but if we are all united in our efforts, there will always be an opportunity to strike it down. What does he have without the warship?¡±

    Nan Ruohuaiughed wryly, shaking his head. ¡°You don¡¯t know. He has an even bigger warship, one that he never drove into the country. It¡¯s just there in the void. All the current vessels added together can¡¯t hold a candle to that giant warship.¡±

    The old attendant was stunned and looked rather doubtful. ¡°How can there be such a big ship?¡±

    Nan Ruohuai shook his head and returned to his seat. Indeed... how could there be such a giant warship? How big was the world outside of Zheng?

    The number of soldiers Qianye had brought wasn¡¯trge. The squad was even smaller than the airsh.i.p.s¡¯ total crew. Hence, they only took control of the airship port outside of the city and the area close to the southern gate. A number of structures that could pose a threat to the airsh.i.p.s were also upied.

    This ced the royal capital in a subtle state of divided rule.

    After returning to the airship, Qianye summoned all the generals to the war room and hung up a scaled map of Zheng beside the map of the Fort Continent.

    Qianye pointed to several cities with the pointer, saying, ¡°Here, here, and here... we need to take these five cities on our own. Eastern Sun Ind is rich in minerals and Expansive can be modified into a military base. Meanwhile, these cities have the resources and manpower to form a corridor into the dark race¡¯s territory, making sure that our mercenaries can fight their way into the center of Fort Continent without any interruptions.¡±

    The generals here weren¡¯t proficient in strategy, but the handful of men from the Song n were so surprised that they couldn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡± Qianye made a clear decision.

    Song Lun said, ¡°Sire, this is equal to slicing off a third of Zheng, and the best parts too. Will there be anyints from the other side?¡±

    Song Hui chuckled. ¡°Yeah, the new King of Zheng has eighty thousand Royal Guards at his beck and call!¡±

    They were actually trying to warn Qianye that the current Nan Ruohuai was no longer the powerless man they could push around as they wished. At least on the surface, he had gained control of the Royal Guard, and to a certain degree, the entirety of Zheng would reject Qianye as an outsider.

    The Nan Ruohuai from before had nothing else, so it was fine to upy Eastern Sun and Expansive in his name. Perhaps it was time for Qianye to consider the new king¡¯s response?

    Qianye replied, ¡°We¡¯ve been held up in Zheng for far too long. It¡¯s not important what he thinks, and there¡¯s no need to worry about it, either. Move ahead ording to the determined strategy. If there are any obstructions along the way, no matter who it is, we will get rid of them. I have only one order for you, and that is ¡®Attack!¡¯ Do I make myself clear?¡±

    The mercenary generals were never afraid of adding more chaos to the situation. One of them said in a strange mocking tone, ¡°What if the Royal Guard fights us for territory?¡±

    ¡°They have so many people! I¡¯m so scared!¡± ¡°Indeed! It¡¯s eighty thousand men we¡¯re talking about here. Forty men against you, Old Lin, it¡¯s going to be a gangbang!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so afraid, haha!¡±

    Song Hui blushed as a series of vulgarnguage erupted. Her scoundrelly teasing might work on Qianye, but she could hardlypete against these mercenaries who were brought up in the actual lower rungs of society. She really wasn¡¯t as thick-skinned.

    ¡°Okay, quiet down.¡± Qianye waited until everyone was well-behaved before assigning them their missions. At the same time, he also sent someone to notify Nan Ruohuai, asking him to organize Zheng¡¯s entire airship fleet and put them under Dark me¡¯smand.

    At the end of the meeting, the mercenary generals sped away to mobilize their men, afraid that their other colleagues would take their contributions. In truth, there were only two thousand elite troops in total. After dividing them amongst the generals, each squad had little over a hundred men. Taking a city might be fine, but upation was near impossible.

    The mercenary generals assigned to each city formed groups to study their task distribution. The generals in charge of deploying airsh.i.p.s were surrounded by people who wanted more support for their squad, even if it was just an extra gunship.

    Song Hui stood beside Qianye, staring at him from every direction. Eventually, thetter could no longer stand it. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Song Hui asked, ¡°Did you really think of this n?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°And I thought you only knew how to fight.¡±

    ¡°What, is there a problem?¡± Qianye sought guidance rather humbly.

    ¡°It¡¯s strange because there¡¯s no problem. You don¡¯t have muchmand experience as far as I know, nor any experience working as a staff officer.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because I always think about what Zining will do in the situation.¡±

    Song Hui shook her head. ¡°This isn¡¯t seventh brother¡¯s style at all.¡±

    Qianye said helplessly, ¡°I think it¡¯s not a bad idea. Opening up a corridor and upying important points will ensure the safety of the rear lines. What else do we need? If anyone blocks our way, we¡¯ll just destroy them.¡±

    Song Hui raised a thumb. ¡°Bold and aggressive!¡±

    Qianye rolled his eyes at her. ¡°There¡¯s no need to waste too much thought on a tiny Zheng.¡±

    Song Hui said, ¡°What do I do then?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be staying behind at the staff office?¡±

    ¡°I want to fight, give me soldiers.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected her to make such a request. Thisss was Song Zining¡¯s favored cousin, so Qianye didn¡¯t want her getting into any idents. Besides, just like her name, Song Hui¡¯s specialty was never on the field.

    Song Hui coaxed and pestered Qianye until he finally gave her fifty mercenaries to watch over the airship base.

    ...

    Back in the pce, Nan Ruohuai¡¯s expression was dark. He tossed a couple of doc.u.ments to the nearby ministers and generals, saying, ¡°Take a look.¡±

    One of the generals cried out, ¡°Hand over all our warsh.i.p.s? Impossible!¡±

    Regardless of the newly-appointed ministers¡¯ opinion, Qianye¡¯s war machine started rolling once again. Elite squads moved out from the capital in two routes, making a beeline for two small cities in the vicinity.

    The poption of these two cities was only in the tens of thousands. Their garrison of a thousand men was only made up of local soldiers, so it was all too easy for the invaders in a fight of equal numbers.

    Regarding the southern gate area and the airship port, Qianye seemed to have no intention of relinquishing them. The Royal Guard who arrived to take over the area were rebuffed rather harshly. Fortunately, however, these people remembered pretty well how Liu Zhongyuan had died. The giant battlecruiser parked in the distant port also served as a constant reminder of who the skies belonged to. This stopped them from doing anything stupid.

    After receiving news of Qianye¡¯s westward advance, the Royal Guard also moved out in full force. Unwilling to be left behind, they split into several routes and marched for the various strategic points in the nation. It seemed as though they werepeting against Qianye for territory. One big army of thirty thousand, a much bigger force than the others, made for the west. From their direction, it was obvious that they intended to take down the important western cities before Qianye could.

    The Royal Guard¡¯s western route attacked madly, sieging cities and dismantling fortifications with valiant momentum. Most of the western border was the domain of the second prince, whose primary powery with the defeated city of Expansive. Having lost their primary reserve forces and outstanding generals, the defensive power of the western cities was fairly hollow.

    With full control of the skies and numerous transport airsh.i.p.s, Qianye¡¯s elite forces were basically transported by air for every operation. The Royal Guard¡¯snd vehicles simply weren¡¯t a match for them.

    The most important city on the western border was Pagoda City, which Dark me¡ªsupported by powerful aerial support¡ªtook in one battle. This was the final and most important stop in Qianye¡¯s great corridor n.

    Pagoda City boasted a poption of a hundred and fifty thousand, and controlled hundreds of kilometers of surroundingnd. It stood guard over Zheng¡¯s western borders. The dark races would have to take down Pagoda City if they wanted to enter the country. If they were to push in recklessly, the consequences of leaving such a major threat behind them would be unimaginable.

    Zheng¡¯s location was at the tip of the maple leaf, with mountains lying across its north and south, making it difficult for armies to march across. The mountains folded at the country¡¯s western borders, leaving a narrow opening of less than a hundred kilometers. Pagoda City stood at the exit of this narrow passage, providing support to the dozen or so smaller fortresses and castles nearby.

    Pagoda City was actually very important, and its garrison normally reached ten thousand in troop strength. However, with the princes fighting amongst themselves and the old king missing, the chaos had spread to the borders as well. Moreover, Nan Ruohuai¡¯s sudden appearance had fully ignited the mes of infighting.

    Under such circ.u.mstances, the border city became less important to the rulers, and the princes set their eyes on the city¡¯s soldiers. In order to bolster their forces, the princes came to Pagoda City to ¡°borrow soldiers.¡± Themander of the city wasn¡¯t anyone¡¯s direct rtive, nor did he want to bet on any single candidate for fear of forming a grudge. As such, he had no choice but to give a small number of soldiers to all those who asked.

    It just so happened that Zheng had too many princes. With each asking for a few hundred men, the city ended up giving out several thousand. By the time Dark me bore down on the city, there were only six thousand soldiers left.

    Against this unprecedented fleet, the garrison general realized that there was no hope. Besides, Qianye was flying Nan Ruohuai¡¯s g¡ªthis prince had already taken the throne and gained great fame, with no small potential for unifying the country. Put between a rock and a hard ce, the general suggested a duel between experts in front of the two armies.

    The mercenaries readily agreed. When it was time for each side to field their champion-rank experts, over a dozen mercenary generals charged the defending general, overwhelming him in the blink of an eye. The rank-sixteen expert could defeat any single mercenary in singlebat, but he simply couldn¡¯t hold out against the wolf-pack. Within moments, he was on the floor as he took a hefty beating.

    Without any other choice, the defending general had to surrender.

    When the man pulled to his feet, his eyes and nose were all swollen, and his clothes and armor were in tatters. This fight was more of a group of hooligans ganging up on a man than a duel.

    TL Note: Hui = Intelligence

 Chapter 1205: Barren Land

    <h4>Chapter 1205: Barren Land</h4>

    The mercenary generals were both quick and dirty with their attacks, using all sorts of unconventional but effective secret arts to break the target¡¯s defense. The defending general was badly injured and actually needed support to stand. The mercenary generals pulled him onto the city wall and made him watch the handover procedure.

    Seeing squad after squad of mercenaries driving into Pagoda City and making a beeline for the defensive structures and turrets, the general could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. ¡°Winning with numbers is not true ability!¡±

    One of the mercenaries broke into augh. ¡°If you¡¯re really capable, why don¡¯t you put together a group of ten champions?¡±

    The general was speechless. None of the ns and families in Zheng possessed that many generals. This went to show just how terrifying Dark me was.

    A different mercenary general said disdainfully, ¡°Your Royal Tutor didn¡¯tst three minutes against ourmander. You can keep on being stubborn if you can take a single p from him.¡±

    The general was once again speechless.

    His social circle was naturally made up of simr experts, and they hade to a fair conclusion about the Royal Tutor. As they saw it, the old man had lost since the first move. After taking Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception, Liu Zhongyuan was destined to be crippled if not dead. The moves that followed were not necessary at all. Qianye had probably intercepted the man because he wanted him dead on the spot. Otherwise, with how old and weak the Royal Tutor was, there was no way he would be able to maintain his divine champion state. That was akin to being crippled.

    These high-ranking experts possessed a different level of insight. Reportedly, one of them had sensed the terrifying might of that shot and imed that anyone under the divine champion realm would die without a doubt. The general thus knew very clearly that Qianye could kill him in a sh.

    It was just that he couldn¡¯t figure out why this murderous god woulde to such a low-level ce like Fort Continent.

    It was at this moment that a massive shadow drifted across the city wall, and the battlecruiser flew over Pagoda City at a low altitude. At less than a hundred meters away, the citizens saw the battlecruiser as an unprecedented colossus, almost as though an entire street block was floating in the sky.

    The main cannon stinging out from its bow, the two rows of auxiliary cannons on each side, and the bullet holes that proved how thick its armor was¡ªall of them filled the beholder with nothing but despair.

    After gazing for a moment, the defending general lowered his head as his anger dispersed. From this distance, he was able to truly see the warship¡¯s indefensible might. Its unusually stable flight and nimble maneuverability proved that this was a powerful weapon with no weakness. Not to mention the unknown fate of Zheng¡¯s airship fleet, this battlecruiser would simply devour the fleet even if it was intact.

    As for himself, he might be able to charge into the battlecruiser if he were a divine champion and perhaps find a way to deal with it from the inside. But at rank-sixteen, he still couldn¡¯t do battle in the void, let alone confront this nimble battlecruiser. He simply couldn¡¯t overrun the warship and would probably be shot into a sieve midway.

    In his dejection, he never noticed that a person had arrived before him.

    ¡°You¡¯re one of Liu Zhongyuan¡¯s disciples?¡±

    The sudden voice startled him. When he saw that excessively beautiful young man before him, he suddenly connected the dots. ¡°You¡¯re...¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Correct, I was the one who defeated Liu Zhongyuan.¡±

    The defending general collected his thoughts and said respectfully, ¡°The Royal Tutor did indeed instruct me for a period of time. Later on, he saw that I had no hope of breaking through to the divine champion realm, and it just so happened that someone was needed to defend the western region. Hence, I was let go. Strictly speaking, I can only be considered his nominal disciple.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re called Xu Jingxuan, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I heard you have .u.mted a fair bit of aplishments against the dark races. Why are there so few soldiers in Pagoda City? Did you really think you can guard such a big region with what you have?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan smiled wryly. ¡°The princes have been fighting amongst themselves recently, so everyone has beening to request troops. Amoner like me with no power or connections has no way to decline. It¡¯s already a wonder that I was able to retain this much.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan trembled as Qianye sized him up from head to toe. He felt himself being seen through entirely, and that all his secrets were being put into light.

    The general felt easier only when the blue tinge in Qianye¡¯s eyes faded away.

    ¡°Now that everything has been settled, would you be interested in following me on a westward expedition to drive the dark races out of this maple-leaf petal?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was excited but also hesitant. ¡°Sire, this won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°I know it¡¯s not easy, so I¡¯ll be at the van throughout the fight. You people can follow me from the nks. Dying on the battlefield while fighting against the dark races is a much better fate than falling in a civil war. What say you? Do you dare?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan¡¯s blood began to burn. ¡°Soldiers like us are born to fight and die on the battlefield. Why would I not want to seize territory from the dark races for our descendants? I would not have taken this post if I were afraid of death!¡±

    But once the fervent episode was over, Xu Jingxuan said with a difficult expression, ¡°It¡¯s just that...¡±

    ¡°What troubles you? Speak freely.¡±

    ¡°My family is in the Royal Capital. All border generals like us leave our families and homes in the core region. If I follow you on this expedition, I will be considered a deserter, and that¡¯s a crime punishable by familial execution.¡±

    Qianye understood that this was a method the country employed to restrain border generals. It was the same for Great Qin in its early years. After a formal system was established for the major ns and families, the border regions were left to them to defend. The restraints ced upon border generals were rxed thereafter.

    The aristocracy located at the borders had to exchange the flesh and blood of their kin for every inch ofndnd they nned to take root on. Hence, there were often examples of the defenders fighting to thest man during dark-race invasions.

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll give you some time. Go to the Royal Capital and bring your family here. I will dispatch a corvette to send you back so that you don¡¯t waste too much time traveling.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Xu Jingxuan looked awkward.

    Qianye said, ¡°Nan Ruohuai will know that you¡¯re one of mine when he sees the corvette. Whatever you do, he will agree. If he really doesn¡¯t let your family go, I will have a good talk with him.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan looked up. ¡°Sire, are those rumors true?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I only needed a reason toe to Fort Continent. As for who sits on the throne, it¡¯s not that important.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true. If you can put the thirty-first prince on the throne, you can easily do the same with anyone else.¡±

    After the emotional thought, Xu Jingxuan asked cautiously, ¡°Sire, since you can put that person on the throne, why not just sit there yourself?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Zheng is too small, I¡¯m not interested. This ce is good as a stepping stone, but that¡¯s all it is.¡±

    ¡°Why would someone like youe to Fort Continent?¡±

    Qianye shot him a nce, replying with a question, ¡°Why do you think Fort Continent is so barren and poor?¡±

    This question made it difficult for Xu Jingxuan, and he still couldn¡¯t grasp the main points after some thought. ¡°I guess thend itself is too infertile?¡±

    All lower continents faced the same problem¡ªthends were infertile andcking in minerals. It wasmon logic that ack of grains meant people couldn¡¯t survive. A small poption in turn meant fewer experts.

    Qianye stretched out his hand after listening to Xu Jingxuan¡¯s exnation. A small origin vortex appeared in his palm, much like a miniature tornado moving around. There were strange wisps inside that were so dark that they resembled a bottomless abyss. Even Xu Jingxuan could feel his hair standing on end when he sensed the aura.

    ¡°Is this void origin power?¡±

    ¡°Correct, one that lies between the darkness origin and the midpoint.¡±

    ¡°No wonder.¡± Xu Jingxuan could feel some sweat forming on his forehead.

    The closer to the darkness origin power was, the purer it would be, and the same applied to daybreak origin power. At the midpoint between daybreak and darkness was pure primal chaos. This chaos was actually very stable. Void origin power that deviated away from these three points would bear strong corrosive and destructive effects. Even the dark races would reject such origin power.

    Seeing the origin power vortex in Qianye¡¯s hands, Xu Jingxuan was filled with iparable admiration. He was also puzzled as to why Qianye would mention this.

    Seeing that he did not understand, Qianye said, ¡°This is the reason why Fort Continent does not produce top experts, it¡¯s also the reason why the werewolves are the dominant race here.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan understood the meaning but found it rather unbelievable. ¡°Are you saying this is Fort Continent¡¯s origin power?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°The void origin power here runs too thin, so you won¡¯t sense it normally. You were able to see it more clearly after I condensed it.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan opened his mouth and stared at Qianye as though he had seen a ghost. He had never heard of origin power being condensed, much less in such a manner.

    However, this was all too easy for Qianye who cultivated the Profound Combatant Form and the Song n Ancient Scroll, none of which Zheng had ever heard of or seen.

    After his shock, Xu Jingxuan meditated on and gradually came to understand Qianye¡¯s words.

    Fort Continent was filled with the corrosive void origin power Qianye had demonstrated just now. Even a negligible concentration of that was enough to bring down the quality of the cultivation environment. The origin power cultivated under such circ.u.mstances would no doubt contain some impurities which, despite the small amount, would ruin the cultivator¡¯s attempt at breaking through to the divine champion realm.

    The ratio of divine champions on the Fort Continent was much lower than in the Great Qin. The Great Qin had fought its way up from the lowest continent, sacrificing countless lives until it reached a middle continent, where it stopped to establish an empire. Perhaps the environment was one of the reasons.

    Seeing that Xu Jingxuan had begun to understand, Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Do you understand now? This is why the werewolves can lord over the continent.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan had fought countless times against the werewolves, but his understanding of the dark races wasn¡¯t too deep. He remained deep in thought, unable to grasp the connection.

    Qianye exined, ¡°This void origin power is both beneficial and harmful to the dark races, it¡¯s especially poisonous to the demonkin. Hence, the true experts of the demonkin and vampire races won¡¯te here for no reason. As for the arachne, they neither benefit nor suffer from it, but they have more important ces to fight for, ces where their race can thrive. Hence, they have no reason to fight with the werewolves.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan understood now. ¡°Fort Continent is so inferior that the other races don¡¯t think highly of it. That¡¯s why the werewolves are dominant?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°Since Fort Continent is so poor, why would youe here?¡±

    Qianyeughed out loud. ¡°I can¡¯t beat people from other ces.¡±

    Xu Jingxuanughed along awkwardly, not expecting such an answer. The environment on Fort Continent was adverse. It was also barren and weak, only a bit better than the lowest Evernight Continent. Despite all that, it felt rather ufortable to have someone else point it out.

 Chapter 1206: How Can We Be selfish?

    <h4>Chapter 1206: How Can We Be selfish?</h4>

    Qianye said with a serious expression, ¡°Your talents aren¡¯t bad, it¡¯s not easy to get to this level of cultivation. You were simply dyed by Liu Zhongyuan. If you correct things now, it¡¯s not like you have no hope of bing a divine champion.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was delightfully surprised, his voice trembling. ¡°Do you speak the truth?¡± He then said dejectedly, ¡°But the Royal Tutor once judged that I have no hope of breaking through in this lifetime.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°The man himself barely broke through, and has not made any progress in several decades. He couldn¡¯t even beat someone like me who¡¯s not a divine champion yet. How good do you think his judgment is?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan trembled faintly. ¡°Sire, what must I do to break through?¡±

    ¡°There are definitely methods. I will naturally tell you once we drive the werewolves away and gain a foothold.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan¡¯s expression fluctuated. After a good while of deliberation, he fell onto one knee and said, ¡°Sire, you are intent on fighting the dark races and you are willing to point me to the light as well. I, Xu Jingxuan, am willing to swear fealty to you. I will remain loyal even if I break through to the divine champion realm in the future!¡± It was the dream of every cultivator to cross this great threshold and be a divine champion. Whether or not this little bit of hope could be realized in the future, it was still hope nheless.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Get up, the dark races are powerful, so our human race has always been the one struggling to seek survival. The werewolves on Fort Continent won¡¯t be easy to deal with, even though they have been abandoned by the Evernight faction.¡±

    ¡°Sire, rest assured. I don¡¯t dare say much about other things, but I¡¯m quite confident about fighting werewolves.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°That¡¯s settled then. We must make haste, the Evernight Faction is nning their trip to the new world. It won¡¯t be a good thing if they get the advantage.¡±

    ¡°New world?¡± Xu Jingxuan was puzzled. He simply had no idea what Qianye was referring to.

    The new world was no longer a secret among the upper echelons of the Qin Empire. All the families and ns would be discussing this topic most of the time during meetings.

    A world that was worth the dark races stopping their holy war, its allure was beyond words or description. What people were worried about was where this world was, what it was like, and what kind of benefits it would bring. In truth, there was no need to answer that final question because the benefits were likely beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Information from the evernight side was strangely deficient. Those standing at the peak of Great Qin seemed to have sensed certain things, but they were keeping their silence. The peak divination experts brought forth fragmented pieces of information but couldn¡¯t piece together aplete picture.

    Some people thought of Lin Xitang. Did he not leave any word regarding such a big event? But those who investigated his whereabouts during that period were disappointed. The marshal had entered the Divination Pavilion before news of the new world began circting, and he sped to the void continent aftering out. The Imperial Capital was filled with undercurrents during that period, so there was no way to hold a major sacrificial ceremony.

    The new world¡¯s existence greatly reduced the impact of the Empire¡¯s absolute victory on the void continent. People were in no mood to discuss the stairway to heaven as their mood was eventually reced by worry.

    There were numerous intelligent minds in the Empire who managed to analyze some characteristics of the new world from small clues. The first conclusion was that this new world could amodate arge number of ordinary life-forms, unlike the Great Maelstrom where only a handful of powerful experts could survive. Also, this new world was iparably vast and would take a massive army to upy.

    These two characteristics could be concluded from how the Evernight faction had been mobilizing much more forces than before. Spies had revealed that the dark races were amassing over a million soldiers and counting. Additionally, they were recruiting more soldiers and expanding their forces. There were hundreds of giant military camps on every continent under the Evernight faction¡¯s control. It would probably take over ten million soldiers to fill up all of them.

    Mobilization on such arge scale was naturally not for the Empire. Both the Demon King and the Spider Queen had shown their faces during the Sanguine Funeral period. There was no need to wait if the two factions were going into an all-out war. With the passage of time, the Empire would stabilize internally and the price of invading it would rise.

    Besides, the fact that there was no mad increase in transport construction proved that these soldiers had other purposes. They were not for invading other continents. Where else could they be used for but the new world?

    The Empire fell into internal debates based on these judgments. One faction favored building arge number of airsh.i.p.s to maintain air superiority. This would allow them to invade one of Evernight¡¯s continents even if they failed to take the new world. The other faction stood by an all-out mobilization to fight the dark race army in the new world.

    All of this held little meaning for Qianye because what he needed to solve now was the issue of Fort Continent.

    While he was reorganizing in Pagoda City, a high-speed corvette arrived with Song Zining¡¯s letter.

    The correspondence¡¯s first half spoke of the Empire and Evernight¡¯s recent movements and important events, together with his own analysis. After that, the discussion went onto Fort Continent.

    This segment opened with a question. ¡°What do you think is the purpose of countries like Zheng?¡±

    Qianye meditated on the matter without reading downward.

    This problem sounded easy. Humans weren¡¯t fast enough and strong enough, nor did they live long enough. Hence, they were at a natural disadvantage in apetition against the dark races.

    Their advantagey in their intelligence, quick cultivation-speed, and unity. From small and medium families to the aristocracy and major ns, all of them worked together for the race¡¯s survival. Small countries like Zheng existed to give shelter to humans so that they would not have to worry about bing the dark races¡¯ food.

    There was another theory among the upper echelons, stating that human cultivation arts were far superior to the dark races¡¯. Otherwise, why would they grow stronger and stronger despite fighting against the dark races for a thousand years? Many arts left behind by the founding ancestors possessed unfathomable power. But just like the Combatant Form, most of them were extremely demanding on the cultivator. Even throughout the entire human race, few could ever seed.

    Where had these artse from? Or was the founding ancestor a genius rarely seen in an eternity? These questions had been a riddle since ancient times.

    All in all, the existence of a nation served to protect the people below and uplift the experts above.

    Everyone in the Empire understood this logic. At the very least, everyone was taught this way from the ns above to thendowning households below. Even ordinary civilians understood that the difficulties of living in human settlements far outweighed life in the wilderness. Qianye couldn¡¯t think of any better reason, so he kept on reading the letter.

    ¡°The foundation of a country is its people and its leader. A country like Zheng that knows only infighting and ignores all outside battles, what use is it in our struggle against the dark races? What use is it for our human race?

    ¡°Prince Greensun talked to you about this before leaving Whitetown. I also went to see him after returning to the Empire. In truth, his intentions are clear. If you don¡¯t like certain things, what¡¯s the point of justining? Only by taking things into your own hands can you do things as you wish. If you¡¯re truly thinking about the human race, appearances don¡¯t matter at all. If Zheng cannot protect its people, what¡¯s the point of leaving it there? Just destroy it. Who says Zheng must belong to the Nans and that can never change?

    ¡°If you be a heavenly monarch, who will dare criticize you? If you do not be one, people will criticize you no matter what you do. All you need to pursue is a clear conscience.¡±

    At this point, Qianye suddenly understood and the questions clouding his mind disappeared. There were no more dark corners.

    He hade to Fort Continent to fight for survival space and to utilize the human poption on Fort Continent to build up his own forces. He would need arge army to join the fray in the new world.

    An army, a power, and a nation, what was the difference? Asking oneself honestly, was Zheng better in Nan Ruohuai¡¯s hands, or was it better in his hands?

    Qianye gradually formed an idea and was just about to put down the letter when he read thest line.

    ¡°Qianye, when we be heavenly monarchs, we cannot just focus on ourselves.¡±

    These words shook him. Thinking back, those who had impacted him the most were Lin Xitang and Zhang Boqian.

    Lin Xitang wasn¡¯t a heavenly monarch officially, but the stronger Qianye grew, the more he understood how unfathomable the marshal was. The more he paid attention to building up and operating a military power, the more he looked up to Lin Xitang¡¯s character. In terms of power and contribution to the Empire, the marshal was not inferior to any of the heavenly monarchs.

    There was even less of a need to discuss Zhang Boqian¡ªthis heavenly monarch was shouldering a great burden for home, for the country, and for the human race.

    As for himself, Qianye¡¯s vampire side was a glorious marquis, a divine champion level power through and through. His Daybreak side was somewhatcking, but that was only an issue of .u.mtion. In terms ofbat strength, Qianye was already above an ordinary divine champion. The way he had ughtered Liu Zhongyuan was proof of this. Under such circ.u.mstances, he couldn¡¯t feel rxed at all. Instead, he felt the responsibilities on his shoulder growing heavier.

    All of Dark me looked up to him as a leader. Even though they were almost wiped out at Whitetown, not only did the survivors notin, but they became even more loyal to Qianye. Dark me¡¯s subsequent recruitment was also fairly sessful, with mercenaries pouring into the Eastern Sea from every corner of the neutralnds. Why was that? The only reason for that was a sense of belonging.

    Mercenaries weren¡¯t afraid of death, but they were afraid of dying without dignity. They were even more afraid of their family members losing their dignity after their passing. At least with Dark me, they were able to find hope. So, even in a bitter fight like Whitetown, no one would shrink back as long as Qianye remained steadfast.

    The more things developed this way, the more Qianye felt his responsibilities growing. No matter what happened, he could not betray the trust of these people.

    His burdens never lightened as his strength rose. On the contrary, they grew even heavier, and it seemed like that would still be the case in the future. In addition to love and brotherly loyalty, there were many things adding to his weight. Once he was a heavenly monarch, he would have to trudge forward with the entire human race on his back.

    Qianye folded the letter in silence. Then, a small tornado of energy appeared in his hand once more, shredding the paper to pieces.

    He walked over to the window and looked down at the busy Pagoda City. Many people were out on the streets, converging toward the recruitment points. A nearby za was packed full of armaments and ammunition. One after the other, the young men who passed the screening test would be provided with weapons and uniforms. Thereafter, they would head to their assigned squad and barracks to begin training.

 Chapter 1207: The Will to Fight

    <h4>Chapter 1207: The Will to Fight</h4>

    Xu Jingxuan was familiar with military matters, to begin with, and he had formed his own strategies against the enemy. It was just that he had no ce to suggest them to, considering the situation. Now that there was an objective in mind, he attended to matters rapidly, drafting a recruitment n for fifty thousand new soldiers. As a key strategic location along the western border, Pagoda City was home to arge store of weapons, ammunition, and supplies. Now, all of these reserves were being poured out for military use.

    As for Xu Jingxuan¡¯s family members, he never had time to pick them up. He only requested Qianye to send someone to the capital to bring them over. It could be assumed that Qianye¡¯s foot soldier would hold more weight than Xu Jingxuan in front of the new king.

    Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t refuse such a small request. Xu Jingxuan was a rare, outstanding talent, one who would¡¯ve broken through to the divine champion realm if it weren¡¯t for having to grow up on Fort Continent. He was also a talented general, producing textbook-worthy aplishments in several battles since his assignment to the western region. It was just that Zheng was too busy with civil strife to consider an expansion, allowing such good opportunities to slip away.

    Now that Qianye was here with an unprecedented advantage, he naturally wouldn¡¯t let go of this opportunity. Having found a glimpse of hope for the aspiration he had hidden deep inside his heart, Xu Jingxuan was highly motivated and dedicated to the cause.

    Three days went by in the blink of an eye, and the army in Pagoda City was starting to take shape. The city itself couldn¡¯t support an army in the tens of thousands, but the western region was quite fertile, so there were small towns and viges scattered all over the area. The poption scattered in the vicinity was several times greater than that of the city itself, serving as the main source of troop replenishment. It was Xu Jingxuan¡¯s familiarity with the situation that allowed him to set such a seemingly-impossible recruitment target.

    But raising an army was no joke. The equipment alone was barely enough, and the subsequent consumption of supplies was no small number. Pagoda City¡¯s food production and reserves were far from enough to support such an army.

    Qianye understood this perfectly, but he did not object to this recruitment target. Xu Jingxuan understood from this that their future supplies woulde from the dark races. He actually became more motivated after finding out Qianye¡¯s will to fight.

    Just as Pagoda City was at the height of activity, another unannounced guest arrived at their doors.

    Qianye was stunned after listening to the attendant¡¯s report. ¡°Royal Guard? What are they doing here?¡±

    The attendant replied, ¡°This Royal Guard officer wishes to see you and discuss matters rted to a handover.¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. ¡°Handover?¡±

    The attendant lowered his voice. ¡°Yes, the officer wishes to confirm when you will hand Pagoda City over to them.¡±

    Qianye was dazed for a minute. This demand was so outrageous that he couldn¡¯t even get angry about it. He simply couldn¡¯t figure out what kind of deity this Royal Guard officer was. For a split second, he really wanted to see what was in that person¡¯s brain to entertain such thoughts.

    But Qianye quickly pushed these wilful thoughts aside as there were numerous decisions for him to make. Xu Jingxuan might be capable, but many strategic decisions required his attention. The remaining time wasn¡¯t even enough for him to cultivate; how could he have enough time to spend on such people?

    He told the attendant, ¡°Assemble all generals, I¡¯ll be waiting for them in the war room in thirty minutes.¡±

    The attendant ran away at top speed. Thirty minutes wasn¡¯t long, and any dy might end up in people beingte.

    Momentster, all the generals had arrived in the war room, some of them huffing and puffing. Apparently, those people were located further away from the center and had to run at top speed. Qianye nced at the time and found, to his satisfaction, that only twenty minutes had passed.

    ¡°I heard the Royal Guard is outside the city, how many people are there, where are they stationed?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan stood up. ¡°They have thirty thousand men under themand of the first and seventh divisions, the best in the Royal Guard. Themander is the vicemander of the entire Royal Guard, Xue Yang.¡±

    ¡°The number one general of the Royal Guard, huh?¡± Qianyeughed. ¡°How strong is he?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan replied again, ¡°Just like me, he¡¯s rank-sixteen in cultivation. However, I heard he switched to a cultivation art handed down in the Zheng Royal Family after Royal Consort Xue was promoted. If we do fight, I¡¯m more likely to lose.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°No wonder his tone is so big.¡±

    At this moment, the generals had all heard about thismander¡¯s demands. His army of thirty thousand was less than ten kilometers from the city, seemingly ready to attack at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The mercenaries were all quite angry. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s presence, they would¡¯ve started shouting to charge out. Xu Jingxuan, on the other hand, was quite reserved and his expression was serious. Even with the defender¡¯s advantage, his six thousand soldiers weren¡¯t a match for Commander Xue¡¯s thirty thousand Royal Guards.

    Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to speak, Qianye said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s talk about organizing the new army.¡±

    The new army¡¯s organization was multi-faced. The food, lodgings, and supplies of fifty thousand men were no small matter. These generals knew that Qianye¡¯s time was precious, so they summarized their reports as best they could. Even then, it took an hour for the discussions to end.

    The attendant at the door peeped into the room repeatedly, looking quite nervous.

    Qianye called the attendant in and asked calmly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    The attendant said, ¡°Sire, the emissary from the Royal Guard has been waiting outside. He¡¯s already quite impatient.¡±

    Qianye turned to Xu Jingxuan. ¡°Is this one of your men?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan stood up hurriedly, sweating on the forehead. ¡°Yes, please punish me for theck of discipline!¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°What¡¯s the point of leaving such a spineless person in the army? Drive him away.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan walked over to the door inrge strides. He picked up the attendant and tossed him to one of his trusted followers, saying, ¡°Take him away and remove his military rank, never ept him again!¡±

    The follower affirmed the order and dragged the crying attendant away.

    After Xu Jingxuan was back at his seat, Qianye said, ¡°Since it has been brought up, let¡¯s get it done with. It¡¯s not an important matter, so there¡¯s no need to discuss it in-depth. Jingxuan!¡±

    Xu Jingxuan stood up and said, ¡°I stand ready!¡±

    ¡°Tell them that the area fifty kilometers around Pagoda City is a forbidden zone. They have half an hour to leave, or remain here forever.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan took a moment toe to his senses, not expecting Qianye to assume such a harsh stance. He was determined enough to ept the order without a single word.

    Qianye retracted his gaze in satisfaction. ¡°Song Lun, Song Hui, set out with the gship and scramble all the other vessels. Start bombarding the Royal Guards¡¯ camp in half an hour, whether or not there are people inside.

    Song Lun trembled as he stood up to ept his orders, but Song Hui¡¯s eyes lit up in excitement.

    The group of mercenary generals was eager to fight and immediately started requesting permission. Some wanted to nk the enemy, while others wanted to charge head-on. Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry when he saw them intent on wiping out the thirty thousand Royal Guards.

    Qianye waved his hand down, gesturing for silence as he summed up the preparation work for the new army. Then, after making some arrangements for defense, he dismissed the generals.

    Half an hourter, several giant shadows moved across thend and began bombarding the distant camp. Dense smoke curled up into the sky amidst thunderous rumbles as raging mes devoured the target.

    One kilometer away from the camp, a tall, burly man was absolutely furious. ¡°Goddammit, this is absolutely intolerable. Let me go, this daddy¡¯s going to fight it out with them!¡±

    The general was so strong that he was dragging over ten Royal Guard officers along, some clinging to his legs and others hugging him at the waist. The officers cried out while trying to pull him back, ¡°Sire, you must not! You must not!¡±

    The man roared back, ¡°What about our brothers in the camp?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote, they can¡¯t be saved anymore.¡±

    The man stamped his feet in a daze. ¡°I was too useless and greedy. I killed them!¡±

    The officers heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°Commander, Sire, we only wanted to show off our might for that person. Who would¡¯ve thought this Qianye would be so ruthless as to bombard the camp?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have a single warship, our only choice was to retreat first.¡±

    ¡°Sire, where there¡¯s life, there¡¯s hope. We wille back even stronger in the future! Why not stoop to his level andpete in the short term?¡±

    The burly man remained silent for a while. ¡°Let it be, it¡¯s all my fault. Why did I leave a few hundred brothers to ambush them? Sigh.¡±

    At this point, the entire camp was drowned in mes. Even a champion would find it hard to escape the zing inferno and the raining cannon shells. The dozen or so airsh.i.p.s eventually stopped their fire and began circling about to hunt for survivors.

    On the warship, Song Hui pointed into the distance. ¡°Those people aren¡¯t leaving yet. It looks like they still haven¡¯t given up their evil intentions.¡±

    Song Lun hesitated for a moment. ¡°They¡¯ve already left the main camp. It can be consideredpliance.¡±

    Song Hui shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not how it should be. Since they¡¯ve been humiliated once, a second time doesn¡¯t mean much. The important thing is not whether they listen, but whether they are convinced. If they are not, we should give them a lesson they won¡¯t soon forget.¡±

    Song Lun said cautiously, ¡°What are you doing? Themander did not order us to start a fight.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t say we should just let it be, either.¡±

    Retorting thus, Song Hui drew a line in the air and said to the captain, ¡°Concentrate auxiliary cannons onto that area, then fire a second barrage thirty meters forward.¡±

    The experienced captain immediately realized the intention and began making the necessary arrangements.

    Momentster, the battlecruiser moved elegantly, turning to the side and lowering its auxiliary cannons in the direction Song Hui had pointed out. The first round of artillery fire began.

    The well-trained cannoneers fired with great precision, forming a line made up of dozens of explosions. The smoke rose several dozen meters into the air, and the consequent rumble was shocking.

    This line of cannon-fire was only a hundred or so meters from themander of the Royal Guard. The explosions left the officers pale and their ears, ringing. They watched the wall of smoke with terrified expressions; this was probably the first time they had experienced the firepower of a giant warship up close.

    The warship slowly adjusted its position and the cannons readied themselves to fire again. The dust hadn¡¯t settled from the first barrage when the second onended thirty meters to the front.

    A hundred meters was the area of effect of these powerful cannons. The officers began to feel the impact with greater intensity as the barrage inched forward thirty meters¡ªthat and, of course, the threatening implications.

    One of the officers watched as the battlecruiser moved sideways and adjusted its cannons. ¡°Commander! They¡¯re nning to bombard us to death. Let¡¯s pull back!¡±

    Commander Xue said furiously, ¡°I want to see if they really have the courage to kill an important member of the royal court!¡±

    His words hadn¡¯t even ended when a third barragended, only fifty meters away this time. The dust and gravel from the impact covered everyone¡¯s faces, and the shockwaves were strong enough to hurt people.

    Seeing the warship slowly moving over and taking aim again, themander said through clenched teeth, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

 Chapter 1208: Money Problems

    <h4>Chapter 1208: Money Problems</h4>

    The Royal Guard retreated hastily from the restricted area Qianye had designated and didn¡¯t stop there. After a short rest, they packed up camp and returned to the Royal Capital. Apparently, Commander Xue had no more face to remain here after being pushed back by the warship. As for how he would report back to Nan Ruohuai, Qianye didn¡¯t care at all.

    In the days that followed, Pagoda City was drowned in strange phenomena. A great maelstrom of dark clouds could be seen spinning over the city. It was as though the end of the world was nigh and that the sky itself was moving.

    Amidst the chaos, Xu Jingxuan went out to the city in-person to inform the people that the phenomenon was caused by Commander Qianye¡¯s cultivation, and that there was no need to be rmed. This calmed the people down but also led to fervent discussions.

    Who would¡¯ve thought a person¡¯s cultivation could move heaven and earth?

    In truth, Qianye himself was feeling quite depressed. Zhang Boqian had considered every aspect during the modification, but he simply didn¡¯t think about themotion involved.

    Although the cultivation caused a fair bit of disturbance, there were unexpected benefits as well. Word spread like wildfire, and everyone in Pagoda City ended up worshipping Qianye like a god. The zealotry was superior to what people felt for thete Royal Tutor. Some even imed that they were citizens of Qianye and Qianye alone, that they had nothing to do with Zheng anymore. Some of them even began discussing what to call the new country.

    With Xu Jingxuan around, operations for the western expedition went on in an orderly fashion. Batch after batch of scouts was dispatched to collect new intelligence on the dark races near the western border. The closest scouting party had returned at this point and added new markings to the big map in the war room.

    By the time Qianye summoned the generals again after a period of cultivation, this map was crowded with a dense array of markings. Even the smallest tribe or fort was clearlybeled.

    Those who understood the field were full of praise for Xu Jingxuan after seeing this graded map.

    The mercenary generals were also able to witness the man¡¯s methods and great prestige during the recent training of new troops. As seasoned soldiers on the battlefield, the generals naturally understood what kind of units were of use in battle. In just ten days, Xu Jingxuan had dragged a bunch of inexperienced civilians to the level of a basic soldier with absolute obedience to orders. Every general wanted such troops.

    Most of these mercenary generals had grown up in the wilderness. But, as people who had survived for so long in the neutralnds, they were able to tell if someone could actually fight or if they were just citing books. Everything on the battlefield was real, and theoretical people would notst long out there.

    Xu Jingxuan stood before the map, his back straightened unknowingly. His demeanor was calm and confident as he pointed to a series of markings. ¡°This great western corridor stretches five hundred and fifty kilometers and is ny kilometers wide. The narrowest point is at the fifty-kilometer point. It turns to the north at this point and stretches a hundred and forty kilometers to the Jade Sea, wherein lies the werewolf main camp.¡±

    He spoke little more about the Jade Sea and instead turned back to the great corridor. ¡°ording to thetest intelligence, there are a total of one hundred and sixty-six tribes living within a hundred kilometers, totaling thirty thousand in poption. Additionally, the dark races have erected two big fortress groups, with two main fortresses and twenty-some smaller strongholds or stone castles distributed nearby.¡±

    Some of the mercenary generals looked serious, but the captain from the Song n looked fairly at ease. ¡°Building small fortresses and stone castles in this day and age? Isn¡¯t that just giving us practice targets?¡±

    Finding the remark to be true, the mercenary generals broke into augh and began mocking the dark races for their stupidity.

    Qianye knocked on the table to quiet them down and allow Xu Jingxuan to continue.

    The general exined with a bit of a blush, ¡°Zheng never had this kind of airship fleet, nor did we have any vessel able to withstand their cannon turrets. Normally, the air force would only be used for exploration, chasing down routed enemies, and wilderness battles. They would never join the siege.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He had seized a dozen or so smaller airsh.i.p.s from Zheng¡ªall of them were old models, and their mobility and firepower was nothing to write home about.

    In truth, Zheng¡¯s city defense cannons possessed certain characteristics, likely to deal with the dark race nobles. They were powerful and possessed great armor pration, so much so that the bolts almost sted the battlecruiser¡¯s armor open. Considering this firepower, even a cruiser might not be able to withstand the turret-fire.

    Qiany¡¯s battlecruiser, on the other hand, was enough to change the rules. The defensive system that had kept the dark races safe all this time would crumble with ease. After uprooting all the small forts in the periphery, the two big ones wouldn¡¯tst long.

    Xu Jingxuan ordered two diagrams to be hung on the wall, depicting the structure and defense distributions of the main fortresses. They weren¡¯t exactly detailed¡ªthe facade was fairly clear, and the internal structures were quite messy¡ªbut this was an extremely valuable piece of intelligence for the current Zheng.

    Qianye went over the information and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re quite thoughtful.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan, ¡°This subordinate¡¯s wish for many years has been to fight our way out of the great corridor and lead our forces to the Jade Sea. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been collecting information in my free time.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°This is a good mindset. Follow me well, and before long, you will see your wishe true.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan took deep breaths and bowed solemnly.

    Zheng was beyond weak¡ªits greatnd and resources had been wasted on internal strife, while its military strength was no better than an Imperial county, regardless of how the ranks were assigned. Such a nation could never push into the depths of the great corridor even if they had a talented general like Xu Jingxuan. All they could do was hold the pass and stop the dark races from charging out.

    After Xu Jingxuan withdrew, Song Hui arrived before the stage and hung up a diagram of her own. The generals below broke into bitter frowns as they looked at theplicated contents filled with charts, numbers, and forms. Most of these generals were used tomunicating with pictures. Even reading was straining for them, let alone these numbers. As for the forms containing both numbers and letters, everything was greek to them. They still couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of things despite their earnest observation.

    Even Qianye had to look carefully to see that this was an economic structure chart.

    Song Hui not only included Zheng in the calctions but even the neutralnds and Ningyuan Heavy Industries. Qianye didn¡¯t remember her ever going to the neutralnds. Could she have drafted such aplicated system just from the doc.u.ments he had brought along with the airship?

    Song Hui made a simple introduction to the model,sting less than five minutes in total. In truth, it was useless even if she said more since even Qianye couldn¡¯t understand all of it. Those generals below watched with mouths agape, almost as though they were listening to some heavenly scripture.

    Xu Jingxuan wasn¡¯t in a better state. He was quite good at leading troops into battle, but how could he understand the Song n¡¯s wealth management methods? He only discerned that there were some rules rted to military affairs and logistics.

    Song Hui skipped over the calctions and went straight to the conclusion. ¡°With Zheng¡¯s current production of ck stone and other fuels, the entire country¡¯s yearly production can support three months of flight for our airship fleet. ording to the information at hand, if we start building new mines and refineries, we can double the production in six months and quadruple it in one year, but that¡¯s the extent of it. This means that we have to either get more mines from Zheng or ship more fuel from the Empire. With thetter, the shipment costs will exceed the value of the fuel itself.¡±

    Qianye frowned. He had prepared arge amount of supplies and fuel for this expedition. It was just that he had never imagined they would expand so quickly after arriving on Fort Continent. The fuel expenditure also doubled. Zheng¡¯s old model airsh.i.p.s were mediocre in firepower, but their fuel demand was not small, each devouring ckstones like a wild beast.

    The current fleet would remain operational for over a month, but they would need to resupply soon.

    Song Hui gave Qianye some time to think before continuing, ¡°We¡¯re only talking about ck stone fuel right now. We still haven¡¯t gotten to spare parts and maintenance...¡±

    Repairing an airship, of course, required a workshop. It wasn¡¯t too hard to imagine how big of a workshop a battlecruiser would require. Building a workshop required equipment, technicians, and a kic tower, as well as lodgings for these people... The rough calction alone contained over a hundred and seventy items, not counting the detailed expenditures under each category. Parts, for instance, contained thousands of items and consumables for varying models. Just the thought of everything made one¡¯s head ache.

    Fortunately, Song Hui¡¯s conclusion was that they could get most things in Zheng. Things that couldn¡¯t be found in Zheng could be obtained from the dark races. Fort Continent itself produced many of the required resources. It could notpare to the higher continents in terms of high-end materials, but the lower-end ones were fairly abundant. It was just that the origin power here was too chaotic and the locals did not have the right mining technology to improve output. This resulted in its current state where no external investments wereing in.

    Things that couldn¡¯t be found here could be shipped from the neutralnds or the Empire. It was just a matter of price.

    Turns out all they needed was money. Qianye heaved a sigh of relief after understanding this.

    Song Hui saw through Qianye¡¯s thoughts and said angrily, ¡°This isn¡¯t just a matter of money.¡±

    ¡°What else then?¡± Qianye asked humbly. He was already quite distressed by those forms just now and in no mood to look through them again.

    Song Hui pped the map, saying, ¡°Didn¡¯t I just say it? Most of the resources can be found in Zheng. What¡¯s the point of leaving it as is? Just take it directly. You¡¯ve already upied a third of the territory, so it¡¯s no big deal if you take the remainder.¡±

    Qianye never realized that this Song Hui was a battle-hungry demon through and through. However, he really didn¡¯t want to go back on his promise to Nan Ruohuai as long as he was loyal and dutiful. Besides, taking thend was easy, but maintaining the upation was much more difficult than Song Hui had mentioned. Save plundering the cities and leaving, things would eventually turn into a war ofw and order.

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°Thisnd is all there is to Zheng. Taking over it entirely doesn¡¯t have much merit. We¡¯ll take whatever we need from the dark races. All departments, begin preparations for war, we set out in one week! Also, the logistics and supply management will be in Song Hui¡¯s charge, you have full authority to adjust the resources within our territory.¡±

    This authority was substantial, but Song Hui wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay at the back, I want to fight!¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to agree, no matter how big her chest was. He ignored her angry gaze and began making other human-resource arrangements, then dismissed the meeting.

 Chapter 1209: Expert Assault

    <h4>Chapter 1209: Expert Assault</h4>

    The new army in Pagoda City was nearing the end of its training period and the general situation throughout Zheng was also bing clear. While taking down the western corridor region, Qianye cleared out all of the Second Prince¡¯s remnant forces. This served to shut up all those who were somewhat suspicious of his power.

    Additionally, the other princes weren¡¯t a match for Nan Ruohuai and his Royal Guard. After a series of bad losses, they were either dead or had fled, leaving only a handful of obstinate factions. Everyone knew that there was no longer any hope for these princes. Even if they could destroy the entire Royal Guard, Qianye would turn back and wipe them out.

    With the general situation growing clearer, a lot fewer people offered resistance. This reduced the number of troops Qianye needed to station in each territory to maintain the upation. He left three thousand men in Eastern Sun Ind and two thousand in Expansive, moving the other five thousand to Pagoda City. At the same time, Qianye sent someone back to the neutralnds to transfer twenty thousand troops over. Dark me started recruiting another fifty thousand soldiers in the meantime and began training them.

    During this period, Qianye never stopped cultivation despite how busy he was with military affairs. His daybreak origin power made sharp progress, and his nine origin vortices were perfectly full three days before the appointed date of the western expedition.

    At this moment, he could see that his vortices were like a golden sea of light. The revolving origin power had condensed to an extreme state, filled with countless golden granules. Above the vortices were plumes of hot golden fire.

    Such origin vortices were at the absolute limit of their progress. They could no longer absorb origin power, not even the purified version from the Song n Ancient Scroll. Qianye, at present, would step into the divine champion realm in just a single tiny step, aplishing something so many people in the Empire could only dream of.

    However, Qianye suddenly discovered a problem on the cusp of advancement!

    It was precisely because the origin power in the vortices was too pure that the golden origin fluid was extremely dense. The speckles within were a sign of natural crystallization, but how could it be so easy to condense everything into solid? At the very least, Qianye wasn¡¯t able topress all the fluid into solid after going all out.

    This meant that he might never be able to cross the divine champion barrier with his own power.

    Qianye fell into a daze after discovering this fact. All cultivators in this world had to worry about their origin powercking in purity. Who would¡¯ve thought an overly pure origin power would bring about such a reverse effect?

    Qianye was slightly distracted, but he was far from dejected. Back in the year when he was injured, every rank-up required him to invest several times the origin powerpared to ordinary people. Even bing a champion was a hazy dream back then, but he had gotten through it all. If he couldn¡¯t get things done on his own, all he needed to do was seek out external opportunities.

    News of Qianye¡¯s imminent western expedition spread throughout Zheng. The response throughout court was far from unanimous, but the main voice was one of opposition. The ministers, led by the grand secretary, did their utmost to persuade Nan Ruohuai to stop Qianye¡¯s expedition. This progressed to the point where their words were bordering on a quarrel.

    The grand secretary¡¯s line was that the great corridor would fall into Qianye¡¯s hands if the expedition was a sess. Zheng¡¯s only exit would then be blocked, and with it, the nation¡¯s hope of future expansion.

    Looking at the impassioned ministers below, Nan Ruohuai felt both anger andedy as he sat on the throne. For several decades, Zheng¡¯s losses and wins against the dark races had been shouldered by Pagoda City¡¯s defense system alone. The enemy was already building fortresses at their door, yet these people dared to talk about expansion? The only reason Pagoda City couldst as long as it did was because of that talented general, Xu Jingxuan. If it was any other person, the dark races would be surging into the country by this point.

    Now, these civil ministers were afraid that Qianye would gain the advantage, acting like dogs in the manger. That was the gist of their attitude.

    At this point, Nan Ruohuai said calmly, ¡°Then, how do you suggest I stop him?¡±

    The ministers began suggesting all kinds of strategies, including working with the dark races. Apparently, they were nning to use all kinds of unscrupulous methods to kill Qianye.

    Nan Ruohuai listened until the ministers¡¯ grew thirsty and had to pause for a bit. Only then did he say, ¡°Good ideas, good ideas. Now, which one of you is willing to lead our troops and take back Pagoda City for me?¡±

    The court fell into utter silence.

    Qianye, in Pagoda City, naturally had no idea about this little interlude. Zheng¡¯s internal movements were not important to him at all.

    There was no unnecessary ceremony on the day of the expedition. He simply issued the usual orders,manding the main army to set out as nned. As for motivational speeches and the like, nothing couldpare to the warship fleet hovering in the air.

    As thend between Pagoda City and the enemy fortresses was frequently used as a battlefield, there were virtually no human settlements or dark race tribes. The only people in the area were wilderness hunters, sly and ruthless men on the prowl for things to hunt.

    Before Qianye¡¯s airship fleet, however, the hunters became the hunted. All they could do was hide as the massive shadows flew overhead, praying that they would not be found.

    The entrance to the great corridor was ovee by an unprecedented tremor as the rumbling airship cannons rocked the mountains and shook the earth. One stone castle after the other copsed, and the small fortresses were drowned in a sea of mes. The troops garrisoned in these structures fled frantically, but what awaited them were low-flying gunships and air-dropped mercenaries.

    The number of mercenaries was small, but they were exceptionally fierce, and their firepower, outrageously dense. A one-hundred-strong mercenary squad was able to firmly suppress an enemy force six times their number.

    With their retreat blocked, most of the dark races went berserk and charged at the mercenaries. They had always looked down on the humans and considered the warriors of Zheng to be the very representation of weakness and cowardice. No matter how many of them there were, a single charge was usually all it took to break them.

    What they didn¡¯t know was that the soldiers before them weren¡¯t forces from Zheng but Qianye¡¯s Dark me mercenaries.

    The fierce firepower reaped most of the dark race soldiers along the way. The short sprint-charges the werewolves took great pride in was an utter joke against the metallic torrent. One werewolf after the other fell, riddled with bullet holes.

    Only a hundred or so out of five hundred remained when they reached their destination. The dark race soldiers weren¡¯t discouraged by the setback; they actually became more excited and entered a state of bloodlust. From experience, a dozen or so dark race warriors could defeat a hundred human soldiers. Close quartersbat was the werewolf¡¯s home ground.

    The mercenaries weren¡¯t panicked by the arriving werewolves. They threw down their origin guns, drew their swords, and threw themselves forward.

    The surviving dark race soldiers felt as though they had run into a wall of metal; their sharp ws were helpless against the mercenaries¡¯ heavy armor. On the other hand, the humans were unimaginably strong and would often cut the werewolves in half with each sh.

    In just a single charge, only a dozen or so werewolves remained standing. These survivors only lived ten seconds longer as they were mowed down by the mercenaries¡¯ counter charge.

    Simr scenes were ying out all along the corridor. Qianye¡¯s forces destroyed the castles and intercepted the fleeing enemy with each assault, uprooting all the smaller strongholds around the two main fortresses. The fleet, transports, and ground forces worked with great unison and structure as they devoured the dark race forces one after the other.

    All of this happened so fast that most of the surrounding strongholds had fallen¡ªwith over ten thousand dark race warriors either captured or killed¡ªbefore the werewolves in the two fortresses were able to react.

    The fortressmander¡¯s orders would never arrive in time to organize a counterattack on the spot. Hence, their only choice was to recall all forces back to the fortress, but only half of the retreating troops survived the intercepting airship fleet.

    The first wave of attacks came to an end at night. Qianye became quite spirited when the generals submitted their battle reports.

    In this battle, they had uprooted over forty peripheral strongholds and crushed over fifteen thousand enemy soldiers, six thousand of them taken in as war prisoners. Most of the prisoners were werewolves, but there was a good number of arachne and vampires as well.

    In this manner, the two fortresses had lost their external barrier despite still holding twenty thousand soldiers. They had also lost fifteen thousand soldiers, which served to lower the difficulty of the next assault.

    When Xu Jingxuan came to see Qianye, his eyes were sunken and he looked fairly tired. However, he was full of excitement when he presented the report and offensive strategy for the two fortresses.

    The n he had put forth was fairly detailed and thorough, so much so that it had taken into ount their air-superiority. ording to his strategy, they would only lose a couple thousand men to take down the fortresses.

    This casualty rate was normally eptable, considering they were taking down such a big fortress. However, Qianye pointed at the main cannon and asked, ¡°You want to focus on these?¡±

    ¡°Yes, ording to our current reports, only your battlecruiser can destroy these two main cannons while taking on their counterfire. During this time, we must provide enough suppressive fire to shut down the other cannon turrets in the city.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Leave this cannon turret to me, you draft up another n.¡±

    ¡°Sire, you¡­¡±

    ¡°Do as I say.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Xu Jingxuan left hurriedly, both terrified and excited to finally see Qianye in action!

    From what he had said just now, he was nning tounch what was called an expert assault. Although most battles were decided by the experts, an expert assault wasn¡¯t a frequent option in actual battle. Even fewer would throw out their ace at the very beginning, especially since they were facing a fortress and the danger level was difficult to guess. If something were to happen, the entire expedition could copse.

    Xu Jingxuan knew how powerful Qianye was, but even Liu Zhongyuan wouldn¡¯t dare attack the enemy fortress¡¯ main cannon alone.

    Dark me¡¯s fleet was already in the air as the first rays of dawn arrived. Like a dark cloud, it bore down toward one of the Wolf Fang Fortresses.

    The airships had just arrived above the fortress when Qianye jumped down toward one of the main cannons.

    The well-prepared cannon rumbled, spitting out an astonishing stream of fire at Qianye!

    In his True Sight, Qianye could see a big mass of darkness origin power rushing at his face. This shot was highly-skilled¡ªit was fired with great uracy despite Qianye being a small and mobile target. However, Qianye¡¯s figure disappeared with a flicker as the projectile barreled up into the air, sting a slow gunship into pieces.

 Chapter 1210: Invincible

    <h4>Chapter 1210: Invincible</h4>

    The gunship fell down into the fortress. This was an air-to-ground gunship that had been reinforced in the neutralnds, but it couldn¡¯t take a single hit from the fortress'' main cannon. The projectile merely brushed the airship, but the impact took away half the vessel.

    Fortunately, the main cannon began turning around without firing the next shot. The downed airship crew scattered in all directions while the battlecruiser¡¯s main cannon began firing at the fortress¡¯ turrets. The other gunships also fired with all their might, quickly overwhelming the counterattack from below.

    The werewolves had probably never faced such a fierce aerial assault. The firing range and angle of their cannons were somewhat limited. They could pose a threat to the gunships but couldn¡¯t even reach the battlecruiser. Within moments, they were reduced to a miserable burning state.

    Qianye cleared out all the werewolves on the surface level of the main cannon tower. However, the massive turret was actually half-buried in the base structure. This so-called base was a big fortification in and of itself.

    Qianye found the entrance leading in. The steel doors had been bolted shut from the inside, but that was no problem for him. The door was immediately warped as he grabbed the handles and pulled hard on them, tearing them off entirely.

    Qianye then reached into the opening and exerted force once again. Following a shout, strength poured out of his body as he dragged the steel door from the wall¡ªone that was several tons in weight¡ªrevealing the dark passage beyond.

    A faint screen of light lit up around him as he walked into the passage.

    Soon after turning a corner, several werewolves suddenly appeared and began firing at Qianye.

    The sheer amount of origin bullets fired at him from such a close distance was on par with the force of an origin cannon. However, the dozens of bullets only dimmed his defensive barrier somewhat and couldn¡¯t break it.

    While the werewolf knights were stunned, Qianye passed through their midst and headed deeper into the fort. The werewolf knights fell down sping their necks; they didn¡¯t even know how the enemy had attacked.

    Qianye walked along the passage, investigating every room along the way until he had visited the energy room, machine room, ammunition room, etc. By the time he could no longer find any more enemies, the entire base structure had gone quiet.

    Qianye walked into arge hall at the bottom where one of its roller-shutter doors led to an opening in the fortress. Through it, he could see dark race soldiers running about frantically, asionally flung into the air by a cannon shell.

    Qianye walked casually through the fortress with his hands behind his back, almost as though he was taking a stroll in his backyard. He was no longer interested in interfering with fights between ordinary soldiers. All he did was save his mercenaries in passing if they were in danger.

    The current battle was an overwhelming victory for them. The dark races were greater in number, but their equipment was more than just a few generations olderpared to the decked-out elite squads. Additionally, most dark race soldiers were dying from the bombardment. They were probably never trained to fight against air raids since their evasion was often ineffective and, at times, even hastened their demise. The small number of experts who did counterattack failed to do so properly.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t just roaming aimlessly. He would move in whichever direction he could sense the aura of an expert. In the blink of an eye, one viscount and three barons had fallen to his de.

    The dark races were numerous, and there were stray bullets flying everywhere. Even Qianye¡¯s origin barrier would ripple from time to time, let alone ordinary soldiers. Yet another titled expert copsed before Qianye. He had killed the enemy barehanded without releasing his domain, but for a split second, he could sense the enemy¡¯s willpower drop sharply. The decline was so sudden that it felt abnormal. This gave him an idea¡ªhe released his suppressive might without holding back in the slightest, drowning half the fortress with the terrifying aura of a glorious marquis.

    Countless dark race soldiers, regardless of race or rank, were ovee by a deep sense of fear from the depths of their bloodline. That was terror born of the darkness origins, an instinct every dark race member was born with.

    In the blink of an eye, all resistance disappeared from half the fortress. Almost all dark race soldiers lost the will to fight, throwing down their weapons and scattering in all directions.

    This feeling wasn¡¯t bad at all. Qianye stood firmly, enjoying the taste ofplete dominance, when he felt a sharp pain from the back of his head.

    He turned around at lightning speed to find a physical bullet flying quietly toward his forehead!

    At that very moment, Qianye saw the intricate structure of the projectile and the mottled ck color mixed into its grey. This was an origin bullet containing arge amount of ck titanium, a powerful weapon for killing human experts.

    The origin bullet sted Qianye¡¯s origin barrier, causing the shield to erupt with light! The bullet forced the origin barrier to shrink steadily but simply couldn¡¯t get through it.

    It was at this moment that the bullet exploded, its outer shell breaking into paper-thin shards that cut through the barrier. The core originally hidden inside the shell prated the barrier and made straight for Qianye¡¯s forehead.

    This was an armor-piercing round made specifically to prate origin power defenses and barriers. The design and craftsmanship were worthy of praise. Its price was probably extraordinary, and only elite snipers would be able to master its use.

    The bullet became reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes, and soon afterward, its trajectory shifted away. The projectile barely brushed past his cheek when he reached out to grab it.

    The bullet was so sharp and heavy that his palm was cut open slightly after catching it, and a drop of blood seeped out. With how poisonous ck titanium was, the hand should¡¯ve been crippled once there was a cut. Yet Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was far above ck titanium in grade. There was no way it would fear the substance. After circting his blood energy, a drop of grey blood squeezed out of the wound and he was fine thereafter.

    Qianye tossed the bullet away and shook his head. He had just unleashed the aura of an ancient vampire, but this sniper was trying to use ck titanium against him. Perhaps the sharpshooter couldn¡¯t react quickly enough, or maybe he didn¡¯t have any other bullet of the same grade. Then again, werewolves would have mithril bullets at best; there was no way they would have the human race¡¯s extreme yang bullets.

    Qianye was somewhat curious about this sniper since they were the first proper opponent since the assault began.

    He looked up in the direction of the bullet and disappeared with a flicker. In his True Sight, he noticed a faint darkness origin power still lingering in the air.

    Qianye appeared several hundred meters away, where he could see the street block down below. The sniper had fired from this location. The person should still be in the vicinity unless he had fled immediately without checking the results of his attack.

    Snipers at this level were usually quite confident and most of them would want to witness the results of their shot. If this person possessed the same weakness, he would be startled after seeing Qianye¡¯s strength as he caught the bullet. This momentary dy made it impossible for the sharpshooter to escape Qianye¡¯s coverage. The street block below was a chaotic mess packed full of fleeing dark race soldiers. Not far away, two small mercenary squads were covering one another as they advanced through the buildings. Every tactical movement they made highlighted their teamwork andbat discipline. Such small squads would usually produce great results on the battlefield even if their individual strength was mediocre.

    The mercenaries joining the ground battle added to the chaos. Adding to all that, Qianye had released his expert¡¯s aura, but no one from the dark race side had stepped up to meet the challenge. Almost all dark race soldiers lost the will to fight¡ªmost of them were focused on fleeing for their lives, and only a small number offered actual resistance.

    Qianye¡¯s gazended on a certain dark race soldier¡ªone that looked fairly mediocre in every way¡ªpushing his way through the ordinary soldiers and toward the next street block.

    Qianyended right behind him and gave him a pat on the shoulder. ¡°Good disguise, but doesn¡¯t thise as a blow to your dignity?¡±

    The dark race soldier turned back, his expression full of terror and shock. He pulled out his dagger and tried to stab Qianye in the abdomen. The attack looked extremely weak, no different from a rank-three fighter.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, however, he could see an extremely faint wisp of origin power dancing about in an erratic trajectory. If Qianye were to doubt his own judgment and be momentarily distracted, this mobile origin power would give the enemy a chance to escape.

    ¡°It¡¯s no use.¡± Qianye strengthened his grip. An indefensible pressure bore down upon the soldier, causing his knees to go weak and forcing him to the ground.

    As the pressure came down onto him, the soldier finally cast away his disguise and resisted with great strength. How was a virtuous count to withstand Qianye¡¯s p? He still ended up mming into the ground.

    He said with a bitter expression, ¡°Since you¡¯ve discovered me, just do it. To die in the hands of a glorious marquis from a famed vampire n is not a dishonor to my tribe.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good that you can think that way.¡± Qianye raised his right hand with a nod, ready to end the sniper¡¯s life.

    A virtuous count sniper was too dangerous; even a marquis of ordinary strength might fall prey if he were careless. This person could not be left alive.

    ¡°Wait!¡± The sniper¡¯s eyes were finally filled with terror.

    Qianye¡¯s palm hovered above the man¡¯s head. ¡°What do you have to say? Don¡¯t tell me you want to surrender?¡±

    The sniper smiled wryly, ¡°Sire, we¡¯re both nobles of Evernight. Why would you lead the humans to fight us? Even if that¡¯s the case, in a war for the glory of darkness, captives are usually allowed to submit or pay ransom. This is the norm on Fort Continent. Even on the higher continents, simr rules apply if there¡¯s no blood feud between the two parties. There¡¯s never been anyone like you who kills without even an exnation.¡±

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°Look closely, I¡¯m no Evernight noble!¡±

    With that, a me lit up at the tip of Qianye¡¯s finger. The power of Venus Dawn produced a scorching effect as it illuminated the werewolf count¡¯s face.

    ¡°Daybreak origin power!¡± The sniper was shocked out of his wits.

 Chapter 1211: A Crazy Idea

    <h4>Chapter 1211: A Crazy Idea</h4>

    Qianye retracted his origin power after letting the werewolf get a feel of it. At this distance, Venus Dawn could easily blind the count.

    The sniper still hadn¡¯t woken up from the daze. ¡°Y-You¡­ Howe you have daybreak origin power? The energy you just unleashed, wasn¡¯t that blood energy? And one that¡¯s extremely close to the grand origins.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Qianye gave it some thought, ¡°am half-vampire, half-human.¡±

    The sniper found it hard to believe. It wasn¡¯t that he had never seen a hybrid before, especially since their numbers were higher on the lower continents. However, their origin powers were usually too impure to cultivate to a high level. So, at one point, one bloodline wouldpletely devour the other, with the dark side usually bing dominant.

    Yet there was living proof right before his eyes. The sniper finally said, ¡°I understand now, but why would you stand with the humans since you¡¯re so powerful? They are weak, greedy, and like to fight amongst themselves.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°That¡¯s not your concern. Prepare to be on your way after you¡¯re done speaking.¡±

    The sniper said with a hesitant expression, ¡°Sire, I see that your subordinates aren¡¯t all humans. There are some ancient demonkin descendants among them, right?¡±

    Somewhat surprised, Qianye praised, ¡°Good observation.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s subordinates were present during the battle. Thunderfrost Temple was an ancient demonkin branch that had drifted to the neutralnds. Who would¡¯ve thought a werewolf count from Fort Continent would have such eyesight?

    The sniper said, ¡°Sire, your power is probably not native to Fort Continent. You must have some greater objective than killing and plundering us.¡±

    Qianye was quite intrigued by this werewolf¡¯s observation and sharpness. ¡°What objective do you think I have? What¡¯s more important than resources?¡±

    ¡°With your power and unparalleled bloodline, you should be building your nation,¡± the werewolf count said, ¡°and purely killing isn¡¯t the most effective way. My tribesmen and I might notpare to those demonkin, but we were born, grew up, and lived here all our lives. Wherever your vanguard points toward, we might be more useful.¡±

    At this point, Qianye could understand the other party¡¯s intentions. He waved his hand in silence, gesturing for him to keep talking.

    ¡°Can you give our tribesmen equal living conditions in your future nation? If you can, I¡¯m willing to vow eternal loyalty to you before the darkness origin. If it¡¯s impossible, then kill me.¡±

    Hearing what he had expected, Qianye fell into deep contemtion. The above conversation would be ridiculous in a war between Great Qin and Evernight Council, and without the experience from the neutralnds, he wouldn¡¯t be listening to a werewolf count, either. But now, he was actually considering whether there might be a quicker way to aplish his ns on Fort Continent.

    Qianye hade to Fort Continent in order to build a territorial power and prepare for theing of the new world. Currently, all information regarding the new world was firmly in the council¡¯s hands, but it would surelye to light one day.

    What he wanted to build, at first, was a human nation. Yet, even with simr consideration for the human race, he was deeply disgusted by the actions of certain people from the Empire. Zhang Boqian had shown him a clear path¡ªthere was no need to consider appearances when protecting the human race. If he felt that the actions of the Empire weren¡¯t agreeable, he could build his territory up as he wished.

    Yet, he had never thought about how much space he would leave for the dark races in this nation. Throughout the millennium, the war between the two factions had been mainly between humans and dark races. How were they to live together in harmony? But from a different perspective, could they not coexist at all? There were always grey areas between borders where the races were able to do just that.

    In neutral territories, big and small, the concept of faction and race would usually be quite blurry.

    Taking the neutralnds, for example, most of the smaller city-states would amodate people from both factions. It was just that one faction would always have the dominant role in each settlement. There were also cases of different races fighting side-by-side as mercenaries.

    Even Dark me now contained a demonkinponent after taking in members of Thunderfrost Temple. Speaking of Qianye himself, he would never be able to eliminate the vampire race because of Nighteye. He would sometimes dream of the moment where he was apanying her to the Sacred Mountain, and those prostrating before them were all dark races.

    The reason why this werewolf count before him wanted to submit was because of his ancient vampire bloodline. The dark races revered strength and powerful experts. Especially in adverse environments, themon objective of all intelligent creatures¡ªafter survival¡ªwas to surpass their divergent bloodlines.

    It was just that a nation of humans and dark races was too crazy of an idea. Yet there was a notion in Qianye¡¯s mind, one that could not be expressed with verbalnguage. Not only did he not refuse the idea immediately, but he actually thought about it for quite some time.

    Politics was never Qianye¡¯s strong suit. Just the thought of all the troubles that woulde in the future made his head ache. It was during this period of meditation that several more people arrived near him.

    Song Lun, Song Hui, an increasing number of mercenary generals, and even airship captains began to appear. The fortress grew progressively quieter, and the sound of gunfire was bing sparse. Arge fraction of the dark races had escaped, while the remainder had chosen to surrender.

    Song Zining hadid down strict military rules prohibiting the killing of surrendered enemies, and this applied to all races. More and more dark races started to yield after discovering that those who surrendered were spared. In the end, entire regions would just give up resistance.

    The battle hade to an end. After some exchange of words, the higher-ups of Dark me understood the situation at hand. Everyone was now looking at Qianye and waiting for his decision. This almost seemed like an insignificant decision, but from a certain perspective, it was a fairly big one as well. Qianye¡¯s decision on whether or not they would ept werewolf tribes would decide Dark me¡¯s direction.

    Was it possible for the dark races and humans to interact with one another? Additionally, this werewolf count was suggesting for them to be granted equal rights. All those born in Great Qin remained silent because this matter had gone beyond their knowledge. In the traditional viewpoint of the Empire, all dark races must die, and one did not need a reason to kill them. Those who had grown up in the neutralnds were much more rxed. Their main considerations were more detailed things like organizational structure and coboration in battle.

    The sounds of distant fighting drifted toward them as thest of the werewolf soldiers resisted obstinately. This was followed by some mournful cries before the entire fortress fell into utter silence.

    The sudden silence actually woke Qianye up. He snapped back from his thoughts and nced at the higher-ups of Dark me. Without asking for their opinion, he cast his gaze at the werewolf count.

    ¡°I can ept the surrender of your tribe, but if you want rights, you will have to work for it on the battlefield. Whether or not you get equal space will depend entirely on yourselves, understand?¡±

    The werewolf count fell to his knees and performed the highest ceremonial salutation. ¡°I, Eiseka, swear upon the spirits of my ancestors and the origin of darkness, to dedicate my life to your cause and never betray you!¡±

    Swearing in the name of one¡¯s ancestors was the most solemn of oaths to a werewolf. The higher-ups of Dark me found it unimaginable that Qianye would ept the loyalty of a werewolf virtuous count, but no one objected. They had already gotten used to Qianye¡¯s style during this period¡ªthey could speak freely when he was seeking advice, but execution was their only role once Qianye had decided on something.

    Qianye did not remove Eiseka¡¯s weapons and gear, only assigning Song Lun to follow him as he organized the prisoners.

    Eiseka was originally the vicemander of this fortress, so his voicemanded much respect, and many of the core positions here were held by his tribesmen. With him on the case, the prisoners of war became much calmer, no longer bursting into violence or trying to escape.

    The situation in the fortress stabilized as all strategic points were captured by the mercenaries. Eiseka led a squad to inspect the entire fortress, urging all of the hiding soldiers toe out and surrender.

    He only returned after the cleanup was done and Xu Jingxuan¡¯s new army had taken over control of the fortress. He was summoned to the conference room at the main hall to join the higher-ups of Dark me at the meeting.

    Qianye¡¯s arrangement surprised Eiseka, filling him with both excitement and pressure. Even an annexation of forces from the same race would require a period of wearing in. Immediately receiving an important position was of course a good thing, but it would depend on him to perform well and secure a stable footing under Qianye¡¯s g.

    Qianye paid no attention to the count¡¯s thoughts; to him, the werewolf¡¯s presence was to advance their intelligence. He cut straight to the chase once the meeting began, asking Eiseka to introduce the dark races¡¯ distribution and defenses in the area. He listened to the werewolf count¡¯s own thoughts about the situation around the Jade Sea while matching them against the information at hand.

    Wolf Fang Fortress was, in fact, garrisoned by three major tribes, and the same went for the other smaller fortress. Eiseka¡¯s tribe was one of them as they were ranked in the top three around the great corridor area.

    The werewolves made a living by farming, hunting, and raiding Zheng. They also worked as mercenaries. Those who were in this profession were fairly used to working for different parties as long as they paid the money. To these soldiers, the continued existence of their tribe was the most important.

    No wonder Eiseka didn¡¯t seem pressured when he submitted to the ancient vampire that was Qianye. From a certain perspective, the racial bnce of Fort Continent was simr to the neutralnds; not entirely under Evernight¡¯smand.

    After passing through the great corridor, there were three dark race nations near the Jade Sea, each of them a bit stronger than Zheng. In recent years, Zheng had been suppressed so badly by these territorial werewolves that they could hardly breathe. Hence, leaders like Eiseka believed that they would be able to fight their way into the country and devour it if they tried a bit harder. They weren¡¯t willing to let the werewolf tribes at the Jade Sea interfere.

    There were four human countries to the southwest of the Jade Sea, each of them a bit weaker than Zheng butparable to one another. The four countries would work together to repel the enemy when faced with pressure from the werewolves, but they would restrain one another once the threat was gone, afraid that one of them would grow too strong and devour the other three.

    As a werewolf, Eiseka only understood that much. He had no idea about the world beyond.

    Song Hui said in a hushed tone, ¡°So primitive!¡±

    Eiseka felt embarrassed when he heard thement. Qianye nced at Song Hui¡ªalthough he didn¡¯t express anything harsh, the action alone was enough to scare her. She poked her tongue out, not daring to say anything more.

 Chapter 1212: The Legendary Expert

    <h4>Chapter 1212: The Legendary Expert</h4>

    Qianye was also having a headache. The decision was easy to make, but the implementation was difficult. He would just have to y it by ear now.

    Regarding this matter, the higher-ups of Dark me couldn¡¯te up with any good suggestions. Some of them were also holding back from making suggestions. The only one who could help Qianye, Song Zining, was tied down far away in the Empire.

    Qianye tossed these distracting thoughts to one side and said after some thought, ¡°The current mission is to take down the second Wolf Fang Fortress. Now that we have Count Eiseka, who can contact his tribesmen in the fortress, our objective is to control casualties and damage to the structure.¡±

    Dark me possessed the absolute advantage in air superiority, so victory was not a problem. What Qianye wanted was an intact fortress to form a circle of fortresses with Pagoda City, allowing them to defend a wide region spanning several hundred kilometers.

    Construction always required more energy, time, and resourcespared to destruction. If he could obtain an intact fortress, that was a profit in and of itself. Hence, no one objected to Qianye¡¯s objective.

    At dawn the next day, Qianye began the assault on the second fortress. Just like before, he handled the main cannon alone. Two out of the three werewolf counts in the stronghold were fierce and unyielding. They chose to fight to the bitter end until they fell to Qianye¡¯s de. The tremendous difference in military power made their sacrifice futile.

    The other werewolf count from Eiseka¡¯s tribe only offered token resistance and surrendered once the other two were dead.

    The werewolf, however, noticed that Qianye¡¯s gaze looked a bit regretful; it was as though the man wanted him to resist. This once-brave werewolf felt all of his hair stand on end as he pressed his head against the ground, praying that Qianye would not be like those Evernight experts who took pleasure in tormenting others.

    Qianye looked away after a moment of regret, his pupils returning to their normal color. ¡°Get up and round up your men, tell them to drop their weapons and assemble at the designated location.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire!¡± The werewolf count was especially respectful.

    Even a virtuous count like Eiseka had already surrendered, so an ordinary count like him had no room for any resistance. Since Qianye had promised the survival of their tribe, there was even less of a reason to resist.

    The werewolf count¡¯s observation wasn¡¯t bad, but the reason was far from what he had imagined. Qianye¡¯s regret was born of his longing for another battle. When he killed the two counts, he discovered that his origin power was actually showing signs of improvement, inching toward condensation.

    It would seem that to crystallize his origin condensate and progress to the divine champion realm, he would need to rely on external forces. Just as a divine weapon had to be tampered thousands of times, he would have to use the pressure frombat as the hammer, and his body as the weapon to produce crystallization.

    Venus Dawn¡¯s grade was so high that it was fairly close to the Daybreak origin. Even in its fluid form, it was more powerful than most divine champions¡¯ crystal state. It would take countless years if he were to do it on his own.

    It was just that counts could hardly pose a threat to him and thus limited assistance. If he wanted to encounter stronger enemies, he would have to head to the Jade Sea. The most powerful expert in the great corridor was a werewolf marquis¡ªhe was reportedly quite old, and his truebat strength might not evenpare to Eiseka''s.

    The second fortress¡¯ post-upation matters weren¡¯t yet done when Qianye¡¯s mind was already drifting to the Jade Sea. The only uncertain thing was that even Eiseka had no idea if the legends about the Jade Sea¡ªabout a duke¡¯s secluded abode¡ªwere true.

    Most of the werewolves on Fort Continent remained in their primitive tribal state. Perhaps this was the earliest form of an emirate. The tribes were also fairly isted from one another, with news and information spreading mainly by word of mouth. Generally, there were no newspapers or the like used across the continent. Some mercenary organizations thus became the most efficient source of news with the greatest coverage. Of course, one could not expect too much regarding their quality.

    The absence of information channels actually proved that werewolves didn¡¯t need a unified life. They were satisfied with their current tribal system, and there were few natural enemies on Fort Continent. Apart from the human nation of Zheng and some areas under arachne control, the rest had no presentable racial power.

    It was near impossible to reach the duke-rank in cultivation, but as a branch that had been half-abandoned by the Evernight faction, their goal was never that high, either.

    Hence, the ancestral sect was highly popr on Fort Continent and the Summit of Peaks had little influence. Only a handful of experts in Eiseka¡¯s tribe had even heard of the Summit of Peaks.

    Since his target was the Jade Sea, Qianye decided not to waste too much time in the great corridor. In the days that followed, the work at the fortresses hadn¡¯t even been rounded up when the mes of battle spread across the entire corridor front.

    Xu Jingxuan¡¯s new army and Eiseka¡¯s tribe swept through the dark races within the great corridor, uprooting all those who dared resist. The bigger and more powerful tribes would call for Dark me to mobilize. Qianye¡¯s elite mercenaries were already ustomed to working together with the warships. Even the two Wolf Fang Fortresses couldn¡¯tst a day under the impact, so how long could an ordinary werewolf tribest?

    The asional expert that popped up wasn''t a match for Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka. Qianye didn¡¯t even need to take action.

    The sweep was so sessful that it was progressing at over ten kilometers a day. They could go faster, but Qianye¡¯s forces were short in number. Even ten thousand people hadn¡¯t caused much of a ssh back when they were spread out into Expansive.

    In this week¡¯s time, Qianye was overseeing the Wolf Fang Fortress, cultivating and checking battle reports. His days suddenly became quite leisurely.

    It wasn¡¯t as though he was entirely free of trouble. For instance, Song Hui woulde to him three times a day, bringing up a troublesome topic each time. What was their next step now that more and more werewolves were surrendering?

    Qianye had, at first, thought that the number of werewolves he could recruit was rather limited. Eiseka¡¯s tribe had over ten thousand werewolves, and that was already a major tribe.

    They had just finished cleaning up the regions near the fortresses, but the number of surrendering dark races was an order of magnitude greater than what Qianye had expected. In fact, it was still growing at an rming rate.

    Once the number of forces swearing fealty to him exceeded fifty thousand, Qianye couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. He summoned all of the generals back and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Don¡¯t tell me all the dark races in the great corridor have submitted?¡±

    The mercenaries kept their silence with odd expressions.

    Xu Jingxuan knew he couldn¡¯t escape, so he braced himself and said, ¡°Sire, not every tribe surrendered. Some offered resistance and have been destroyed. Some have escaped, while the rest surrendered.¡±

    Qianye knew something was off. ¡°Give me numbers!¡±

    Xu Jingxuan no longer dared to y dumb in the face of Qianye¡¯s anger. ¡°Eighty percent of all tribes surrendered to us, fifteen percent have fled, and only five percent that offered any resistance was destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Why are there so many? Was it the same before?¡± Qianye had done his homework before the expedition. He had called up a decade of battle reports to get a grasp of the situation on the continent. From what he remembered, all the tribes big and small would fight back or flee whenever Zheng¡¯s army pushed into the great corridor. There was virtually no tribe that had surrendered.

    Having reached this point in the conversation, Xu Jingxuan pointed at Eiseka. ¡°Ask him, Sire.¡±

    Eiseka got down on one knee. ¡°In order to expedite our campaign, I sent people to each tribe to announce your greatness, and many were willing toe under your glory.¡±

    Qianye felt that something was wrong here. ¡°What did you tell them?¡±

    Eiseka said with an unchanged expression, ¡°I told them that you, Sire, stand at the origins of darkness and would soon be the master of the entire Evernight world, that you are the legendary god of war who would lead us as we break out of this cage. I also announced that you had already killed the king of the Jade Sea as the starting point of your Evernight expedition.¡±

    Qianye was stunned as he listened to these words.

    Throughout the ages, amonnguage had developed between all the different races, but only those of a certain status would be able to learn or grasp it. The nobles would still revert to using the ancientnguage when mentioning certain names or in special situations. This allowed them to urately express their traditions and words that only existed in the ancientnguage.

    This was true for several parts of Eiseka¡¯s recount, where he had to exin certain points for Qianye to get a general understanding. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that the announcement was pure demagogy.

    How was this the description of a person? It was more fitting to describe a god! Even the Queen of the Night couldn¡¯t touch the origins of darkness just yet. This Eiseka didn¡¯t seem like the type to think before making statements.

    The only reliable fact in all that boasting was the killing of the king of the Jade Sea. However, Qianye seemed to remember that this king was a duke?

    Even if he was just a vice-duke, that was still a major level between him and a glorious marquis. Up to this point, Qianye had never killed a duke before. He had defeated some before, but that was a culmination of many factors. ording to Eiseka, however, he was killing dukes as though they were chickens.

    Qianye rubbed his temples. ¡°And they believe all that you say?¡±

    Eiseka¡¯s expression was radiant. ¡°Even I believe it, why wouldn¡¯t they?¡±

    Qianye cursed secretly. He had somehow forgotten the fact that werewolves revered powerful experts. The more primitive the society, the more pronounced this effect was¡ªordinary warriors would blindly believe the words of experts and shamans. Considering Eiseka¡¯s position and strength, it was natural that a good number of people would believe him. It was just that eighty percent of all enemies swearing fealty was way beyond expectations. Apparently, all that talk of whatever legend was quite useful.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, Eiseka added, ¡°Sire, your legend is already beginning to spread. If there are no idents, many more tribes wille under your banner, and you won¡¯t need to spend so much effort.¡±

    Qianye felt more of a headache. ¡°How many is ¡®many¡¯?¡±

    ¡°There are close to four-hundred thousand tribal members in the great corridor. Before long, I expect you will gain three hundred thousand followers.¡±

    Eiseka spoke respectfully, but Qianye was feeling utterly helpless. The total poption of Zheng in the great corridor was less than two hundred thousand, much less than the werewolves.

    ¡°Did you tell them that their status will be below that of humans after they submit to me?¡±

    At that moment, Qianye¡¯s gaze was as sharp as a de, yet Eiseka came prepared. ¡°Only those who sow shall reap, there will be no quarry without hunter¡¯s scars. Land and food onlye to those who umte merits. All werewolves understand this. We¡¯re willing to bleed and sweat on your behalf, to obtain status in exchange for contributions. It doesn¡¯t matter where we start, even a ve can be a warrior one day.¡±

    This reply left Qianye with nothing to say.

    After some thought, he dismissed the generals and Eiseka, leaving only Song Lun, Song Hui, and Xu Jingxuan. ¡°What do I do with three hundred thousand werewolves?¡±

 Chapter 1213: The Crazy Truth

    <h4>Chapter 1213: The Crazy Truth</h4>

    ¡°Pick out the young and strong, then attack the Jade Sea with them as cannon fodder. Problem solved,¡± Song Hui replied quickly.

    Song Lun shook his head. ¡°The werewolves aren¡¯t stupid enough to obey such a death sentence.¡± In truth, Count Eiseka¡¯s performance was far better than everyone in Dark me had imagined. There really was no telling whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that such an intelligent creature of the opposite attribute was working for them.

    ¡°There will always be casualties in war, and it¡¯ll be toote by the time they realize it. As long as we arrange it well, we can at least have forty percent of them die on the battlefield. What can they do even if they realize it at that point? We¡¯ll have weakened the werewolves in the entire corridor and the Jade Sea. If they disobey, it¡¯ll be a good reason for us to destroy them.¡± Song Hui¡¯s n was fairly ruthless.

    Qianye remained silent, his expression unreadable.

    Song Lun already understood Qianye¡¯s character. ¡°That¡¯s not appropriate, the sire has already promised them the right to survive.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to discuss the four virtues with the werewolves.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good to break promises.¡±

    ¡°The dark races are naturally untrustworthy, alright? When have they ever submitted to the humans with full sincerity? Hoping that they won¡¯t rebel is no different from hoping men will not be lecherous, is that even possible?¡± Song Hui¡¯s rapid retort caused Song Lun to choke on his words.

    Thetter took a step back and stopped speaking. Their positions in the Song n were fairly different, to begin with, and the n did enforce hierarchy quite strictly. A short argument like this was already the limit. In the end, the werewolves¡¯ treatment had nothing to do with him.

    Qianye finally spoke, ¡°The werewolves must join the battle but not as cannon fodder. I promised them a basic status and the opportunity to move upward. For now, at least, I don¡¯t see the immediate need to go back on my words. How about this? Reform the new army with human officers as the foundation, and a mixture of humans and werewolf soldiers. Also, organize two units with a higher werewolf ratio andmence basic training. They may take to the field after a month of training.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan had been keeping silent all the while. He affirmed Qianye¡¯s decision but said with a difficult expression, ¡°What do we do about their gear? Almost every adult werewolf is a qualified warrior. We can enlist an army of eighty thousand just from the tribes that have already submitted.¡±

    Song Hui said angrily, ¡°Why would we need to give them gear? Isn¡¯t a leather skirt enough? Are their ws and fangs for decoration?¡±

    Xu Jingxuanughed along before ncing at Qianye.

    Weapons and armor would still make a big difference even for born-warriors like the werewolves, not to mention the werewolves were strong enough to use hand cannons as long as their origin power was at a certain standard. They would easily turn into mobile cannon turrets if well-equipped. The only problem was that the tribes in the great corridor were so primitive that even metal weapons were a rarity. Most of them were still using wooden stakes and beast-tooth arrowheads.

    The thought of outfitting a hundred thousand werewolves was headache-inducing.

    The werewolves in the great corridor possessed very low smelting standards, and the Jade Sea wouldn¡¯t be much better. Most of their metal production had been requisitioned to construct and maintain the two fortresses, as well as to equip those on the front line. Yet those supposedly well-equipped elites were beaten back to their primitive states by Qianye¡¯s airships and mercenaries, and the two fortresses didn¡¯t evenst one day.

    Supplies and logistics weren¡¯t Qianye¡¯s strong suit, and what little Xu Jingxuan knew came from Zheng¡¯s outdated system. So, all eyes fell on Song Hui¡ªthat scene of an entire wall filled with numbers and forms was still fresh on their mind.

    Song Hui sighed unwillingly. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to outfit all of them, but it won¡¯t be too hard to give all of them a weapon and hang a piece of armor on them.¡±

    As someone who knew the werewolves well, Xu Jingxuan said, ¡°A weapon of standard durability and sharpness is enough. We can talk about their armorter on, most of them aren¡¯t used to wearing one anyway.¡±

    Werewolves would grow bigger after changing intobat form, so the type of armor humans was used to would actually be a restraint to them. The hide they were born with offered sufficient protection. The higher-ranking nobles, of course, were much more tasteful. They have customized segmentedbat attire and all kinds of secret arts to reduce the troubles brought about by their form change. None of the werewolves on Fort Continent possessed these things, however.

    Song Hui snapped back at him. ¡°I¡¯m only suggesting it, you guys decide whether or not you want to use them.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°All werewolves must have armor, at least one te to protect their backs.¡±

    Werewolves were proficient in frontal assault, and hence, their backs would be a weakness. With enemies everywhere on the battlefield, this protection would reduce casualties.

    Seeing Qianye so insistent, Song Hui said angrily, ¡°Time is short. There¡¯s definitely not enough time to mine and refine raw ores. Zheng has no steel reserve in the great corridor, either, but there seems to be enough stock right where we are.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was puzzled. ¡°There¡¯s only food and ammunition in the warehouses. Are you referring to our cannon shells?¡±

    It would be insane to smelt something so expensive. Song Hui shook her head. ¡°Isn¡¯t the warehouse itself a steel reserve?¡±

    Everyone was enlightened.

    Song Hui continued, ¡°It¡¯s not just the warehouse. I think many of the steel structures in these fortresses can be recast. For instance, the four fortress gates should be enough to outfit tens of thousands of werewolves. The armor tes on the city towers can also be removed.¡±

    ¡°How do we defend the fortress without its doors?¡± Xu Jingxuan found the notion outrageous. Were they going to disassemble the fortress that they had finally captured?

    Song Hui rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Do we still have enemies in the great corridor? What¡¯s the point of these fortresses? Who are we defending against?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan suddenly understood. With all the werewolves in the great corridor submitting, there was no longer a need for the fortresses. Speaking of potential enemies, it was the country at their back that they needed to be wary of.

    Qianye nodded inwardly regarding Song Hui¡¯s idea. Dismantling a fortress to outfit the army had a hint of Zhang Boqian¡¯s defense style. The man was never one to y defender, and one of his famous quotes was: ¡°Destroying the enemy is the best defense.¡±

    With the steel supply ensured, the training and incorporation went ahead in an orderly fashion. Eiseka rounded up all the talented warriors from the surrendered tribes and worked with Xu Jingxuan to distribute them into the new army. He then used his tribesmen as the skeleton to form dozens of smaller squads.

    Before the campaign, Eiseka produced hundreds of badges with the Dark me insignia upon them and asked Qianye to stain them with dark golden blood energy. ording to him, they were to represent the new multi-race unit. Then, he charged out into the depths of the great corridor with the new squads.

    As Qianye was instilling the badges with his aura, he suddenly thought of a name for Dark me¡¯s elite force: ¡°ze¡±.

    At this moment, the true army was still training in Wolf Fang Fortress while Xu Jingxuan¡¯s new army and the just-arrived Dark me mercenaries were keeping watch, lest the werewolves revolt. Although Qianye felt that the possibility was quite low under the present circumstances, being so close to such a big werewolf army would give the human soldiers considerable psychological pressure, otherwise.

    As for Eiseka, Xu Jingxuan felt that his small squads could barely be considered a scouting party. The bigger units numbered over a hundred, while the smaller ones consisted of a dozen or so men. What could they do in the vast corridor?

    No one thought too highly of Eiseka, but the werewolf returned to the fortress three dayster with a majestic werewolf army. At this point, Wolf Fang Fortress was no longer fortified, with its gates and armor tes removed. The entire army of werewolves caused a bit of disturbance in the new army-in-training. The unrest was soon quelled as Dark me¡¯s elites took up positions and the airship fleet scrambled into position. Just ze and the airship fleet was enough to destroy this ten-thousand-strong army.

    A corvette flew over the arriving army and actually sent back a safe signal. Only at this point did the defenders realize that there was a long motorcade at the back. The soldiers at the front were only armored but not armed. Their weapons were all in the cargo trucks at the back.

    Xu Jingxuan realized, after seeing the first-rank viscount leader, that it was a mixed unit made up of several dozen tribes that Eiseka had recruited. Their objective was to deliver a batch of captured resources, also to transfermand, rearrange, and receive training.

    After the transfer waspleted, the werewolf viscount said impatiently, ¡°Where is Lord Qianye? Please allow us to convey our eternal loyalty to him in person!¡±

    Xu Jingxuan couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. These werewolves were almost fanatical; who knew how Eiseka had brainwashed them? At this rate, was Eiseka going to unify the entire great corridor with a dozen or so small squads?

    He shook his head, realizing that the idea was somewhat crazy. The werewolves had always lived on their own as tribes, attaching great importance to their traditions and territory. How could they surrender so easily?

    In just half a month, Eiseka proved that this crazy idea could be realized. When he finally returned to the fortress, he even brought a new map of the great corridor.

    The map contained notes on the errors and deficiencies of their current intelligence. What attracted everyone¡¯s attention was the dense array of Dark me insignias on the map. These represented the tribes that had sworn loyalty to Qianye, covering the entire great corridor. The two big tribes at the outer endy beyond the great corridor and under the Jade Sea¡¯smand.

    This map stunned all the mercenary generals, even Xu Jingxuan and Song Hui. There was nothing wrong with it. In fact, it was simply too good. The werewolves who had been beating up Zheng all this time had surrendered just like that?

    Song Hui nced at Eiseka, feeling that there was something fishy going on. The other generals had the same idea. Eiseka kneeled before Qianye, saying, ¡°Sire, a total of eleven first-grade tribes, ny-seven second-grade tribes, and over four hundred third-grade ones have sworn fealty to your glory. From my rough calctions, your citizens in the region number around five million. Five hundred thousand of them are warriors you can call upon at a moment¡¯s notice. We have a hundred thousand talented hunters in the roster, men who will be your elite warriors after training.¡±

    Everyone exchanged nces. They were all quite familiar with the werewolf tribal system¡ªa second-grade tribe would have at least one viscount-rank expert, while a first-grade tribe would be overseen by a count. This meant that, in one night, Qianye had gained a hundred experts at or close to the champion level. Although most of the leaders wouldn¡¯t leave their territories, they were willing to move out once required.

    This number was far beyond what was expected. Even the mercenary generals who had just gotten used to the mixed-race fighting force became somewhat restless. Eiseka seemed to understand everyone¡¯s concerns. ¡°Sire, if you¡¯re interested, you can make your rounds to the tribes that have vowed fealty to you. You¡¯ll understand once you see them.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye nodded.

    An unreasonable phenomenon had to have a reasonable exnation. Otherwise, it would be little more than a farce.

 Chapter 1214: The Truth

    <h4>Chapter 1214: The Truth</h4>

    At noon, a high-speed corvette left the Wolf Fang Fortress and drove toward a in near the corner of the great corridor. There were one big tribe and three small ones located in the area.

    Qianye picked the location on the map as they set out, ruling out any fake move by Eiseka.

    Song Hui grabbed the short moment she had with Qianye to express her opinion. ¡°There must be a scheme behind this. That stinky wolf must have an agenda!¡±

    It was obvious that she was quite guarded against Eiseka. Even Qianye himself found his evaluation of this werewolf count changing repeatedly. No wonder Zheng never gained any advantage over the werewolves despite the difference in society and a talented general like Xu Jingxuan.

    However, Qianye had his own thoughts regarding this. ¡°Having an agenda is normal. Why else would he be doing all this? Overwhelming military force? If that¡¯s the case, any n lord from Twilight Continent can take over Fort Continent. As for whether it¡¯s a scheme, we¡¯ll see that very soon.¡±

    This journey wasn¡¯t long, and they very quickly arrived at their destination.

    For many of the mercenaries, this was the first time entering a werewolf settlement as a guest. Even though Qianye had seen quite a few werewolf settlements on Evernight Continent, he was still surprised by the scene before him.

    Compared to the werewolves on the other continents, the tribes here were so much more primitive. The buildings were all made of wood, and the roofs were made of dried grass and mud. The camp was surrounded by sharpened stakes that couldn¡¯t even count as a wall. There were several wooden poles inside where the game was left to hang dry. Thepound wasn¡¯t small, but most of the hunted animals were wild chicken and ducks, with very fewrge games.

    Seeing Qianye walk into the camp, many tribesmen walked out of their thatched huts and looked on in silence. Most of the people here were women and children, with just a handful of them fit for battle. This wasn¡¯t strange since most of them should¡¯ve been recruited for the army. The strange thing was that there were few old people as well. The wargs were lyingzily in the shade, only moving their tails from time to time.

    Most of the werewolves were dressed in animal hide. Many of the children were simply naked, and even some of the women weren¡¯t dressed from the waist up.

    On the kitchen counter near the huts, there were various fruits and dried meat being cooked into a kind of gruel, their staple food. It was just that the amount of meat in it was pitifully small, perhaps only enough to impart a meaty fragrance to the food.

    The werewolves looked curious and respectful toward the guests, but also fairly indifferent and numb. It was as though their difficult life had drained them of all passion.

    Qianye had never observed tribal life from the perspective of a peaceful third-party, nor did he imagine the werewolves here would be in such dire straits.

    The werewolves were carnivores, or at least fairly close. Theck of meat would affect their growth adversely. The Empire¡¯s trick with werewolf prisoners was to feed them grains. After a week or so, even the strongest werewolves would be weak. Not to mention escape, they wouldn¡¯t even have enough strength to resist.

    But the werewolves of the great corridor seemed ustomed to this kind of near-vegetarian diet, or rather, they were forced to.

    Just as Qianye was observing the details in the tribal vige, an old werewolf shaman cried out after a couple of hard sniffs. ¡°It¡¯s His Majesty! His Majesty Qianye!¡±

    He rushed toward Qianye, fell to the ground, and started kissing hisbat boots. A bigmotion broke out as the entire tribe swarmed to Qianye with mad fervor.

    The mercenary generals were shocked, and some of them even drew their weapons.

    Eiseka unleashed his aura, shaking all of the tribesmen. He then roared in a loud voice, ¡°All of you stand back and keep your distance. Whoever dares offend His Majesty will be yed and hung on the poles!¡±

    Only at this point did this dark race count¡ªa sniper who had always fought with steady patience¡ªreveal his ferocity and ruthlessness. The threat was highly effective. The tribesmen all fell to their knees and crawled backward, opening a path for Qianye.

    Qianye looked at Eiseka with a frown. ¡°What¡¯s with that address?¡±

    Eiseka said respectfully, ¡°You¡¯ll understand once you visit the ancestral altar.¡±

    Qianye red at him briefly before heading toward the biggest hut in the vige. This was where the sacrificial altar was located, a holy ce in the vige. Let alone outsiders, not even their own vigers had the right to set foot here without good reason. However, the shamans had no objection to this guest and weed Qianye with uniform prostration.

    Frowning, Qianye entered through the door and found that the inside was almost like apletely different world. What surprised him was that he could actually sense his own auraing from the altar. At present, perhaps only Qianye possessed the dark golden blood energy, so there was no mistaking it.

    At the center of the ancestral altar, the totems of the tribal ancestors stood around a certain insignia. The object was made of steel, crafted so crudely that even the edges weren¡¯t even or round. Such an item would be little more than trash in the Empire and would fetch a couple of copper coins at most.

    If one had to point out its special characteristic, it would have to be that bit of Qianye¡¯s blood energy attached to it. This insignia was one of those that Eiseka had asked Qianye to stain with his blood energy. Back then, Qianye had thought he just wanted some tokens to serve as proof during operations, something verymon in the Empire and Evernight. A true bigshot¡¯s token would always contain a unique aura, making forgery impossible.

    Who would¡¯ve thought such a slipshod product would actually be standing amidst the ancestral totems and worshipped as a holy object?

    Qianye picked up the insignia to take a look, then put it back on the altar. He discovered that not only did his aura not weaken over this long period, but it had grown even stronger. Could this be a result of the werewolves¡¯ worship?

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen it with your eyes. The werewolves of the great corridor consider you as their true king. Your position in their hearts is unique, even exceeding their ancestors. So, you don¡¯t need to worry about their loyalty.¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll believe this? What did you tell them?¡±

    Eiseka fell onto one knee. ¡°Your Majesty, that is the truth. It¡¯s not just them, my tribesmen and I also believe that you are the true king who will lead us out of our plight.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°What¡¯s the reason? What I disyed to you is blood energy. The vampires and werewolves have a generational feud in the upper continents. The holy war hassted thousands if not tens of thousands of years.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that address.¡±

    Eiseka was stopped up; he lowered his head even more. ¡°As you will it.¡±

    After a pause to reorganize his thoughts, he said, ¡°The upper continents are too far from us, and the holy war is but a legend. The werewolves in the great corridor want something very simple, and that is to live on.¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°Every race wants to survive. Get to the point, unless you have nothing else to say?¡±

    Eiseka said, ¡°To the werewolves of the great corridor, even survival is an extravagant objective. For the tribes to survive, we really have no other choice but to fight. Either we bring back spoils from the fight, or we die to lighten the tribe¡¯s burden. With so many of us in this small area, some have to die for the others to live.¡±

    This was a serious but simple reasoning.

    Fighting for survival space was the theme of all unending wars in the Evernight World¡ªbetween factions, within factions, and even within each race, the only difference being the intensity. The situation of the tribes in the great corridor might be worse than most of the other ces.

    Xu Jingxuan said all of a sudden, ¡°This is your reason for attacking Zheng every year?¡±

    Eiseka nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the biggest reason. Otherwise, who would want to attack a fortress with aplete defense system?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan snorted with an ugly expression. Every year, between summer and autumn, the werewolves wouldunch a raid on Zheng, plundering supplies and resources. They woulde like the whistling wind and leave in a simr manner. Even with the help of their fortress, the defenders would suffer a fair number of casualties. In his years as themander of the western border, many familiar faces had turned into names on wooden tombstones.

    In terms of casualties, the werewolves suffered greater than the humans. However, even after seeing the werewolves¡¯ living environment and realizing that they needed to reduce their numbers, hatred was still hatred to Xu Jingxuan. He couldn¡¯t feel any sympathy at all.

    One of the mercenary generals said, ¡°You can¡¯t survive on your own, so you surrender in bulk and want us to feed you?¡±

    These words echoed the sentiments of many people. Many angry eyes fell upon the werewolf count.

    Eiseka looked up into Qianye¡¯s eyes. His gaze was clear, full of courage and pride, but it was also honest, without the slightest bit of guilt at his n being seen through.

    ¡°Our reason for vowing loyalty is indeed to survive.¡±

    These words invited many disdainful snorts and angry res.

    Only the two attendants from the Thunderfrost Temple remained emotionless; no one knew what they were thinking.

    Eiseka suddenly raised his voice. ¡°But we don¡¯t want you to feed us. We werewolves are natural warriors. Our ancestors were born in the mes of war and died in the mes of war. We can provide for ourselves! Even the bit of help we need right now is because the women are about to give birth, so they need to eat a bit more, and I hope the elderly can live until harvest time.¡±

    Qianye figured out the different tone. ¡°You said something about the elderly?¡±

    Eiseka¡¯s voice became gloomy. He pointed at the white-haired shaman and said, ¡°In the great corridor, only the shaman and witch doctors can live to this age. The rest will be sent to the battlefield once their strength starts to decline, or they would head into the mountains in search of their own dying ce. So, you won¡¯t see any elderly werewolves in the viges. The werewolves here have no right to grow old.¡±

    These simple words carried iparable weight.

    Even Xu Jingxuan and the mercenaries went silent. Among the higher-ups of Dark me, they could feel these emotions more than the people from the Song n. In this dark world, humans had always been the weaker race. In the neutralnds and in small ces like Zheng, the life of ordinary civilians who could no longer fight wasn¡¯t all that better from these werewolves. Only the Great Qin which had stood for a thousand years could provide any semnce of peaceful propagation in its hintends.

    Qianye nced at Eiseka with eyes that seemed to look through him, into the depths of the void, or maybe even a certain point in the river of time.

    After a while, Qianye said, ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

 Chapter 1215: Attack on the Jade Sea

    <h4>Chapter 1215: Attack on the Jade Sea</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯re our king, the king of the great corridor, the rightful king of the Jade Sea as well. We swear to you our loyalty, hoping that you will save us from our miserable fate.¡±

    ¡°Why me and not your own race¡¯s experts? For instance, isn¡¯t there a werewolf duke in the Jade Sea?¡±

    ¡°Whitebone Duke Minoka is the reason for the great corridor¡¯s miserable fate. His rule of terror took away our hopes of seeing tomorrow. Tribes that are disrespectful or no longer have any use will be driven into the great corridor to fend for themselves. The werewolves in the corridor have no choice but to attack Zheng constantly, crushing ourselves against its fortress group.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan roared furiously, ¡°You lot attack year after year, yet you make it sound like you¡¯re innocent! You say werewolf lives are important, does that mean our human lives are worthless? What do you have to say about our warriors dying every year!?¡±

    An angry mercenary said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that ourmander came here to destroy you wolf pups for the human race.¡±

    Eiseka wasn¡¯t angry or fl.u.s.tered. ¡°General Xu, humans also face the same problem that we do. A limited area ofnd cannot sustain that many people, or rather, a poption that is peaceful and thriving. Even if we don¡¯t attack you, won¡¯t your country expand after a period of peace? Of course, your first choice might not be the impoverished great corridor. The long years of war serve only to diminish the poption we cannot sustain.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was at a loss for words. Of course, he didn¡¯t believe that war was simply to exhaust the poption, but there was no denying that Zheng would expand if they weren¡¯t always embroiled in political struggles. He could bring up numerous reasons to prove the necessity of war, but in the end, there would always be fighting.

    Song Hui also looked rather surprised. She had always been cautious about Eiseka, but she had never imagined that a werewolf¡ªespecially one from such primitive tribes¡ªwould be able to say such things. His words were difficult to ept since his description of the purpose of war was too crude and bare. However, Song Hui knew that it was fairly close to the truth.

    Limitednd could not sustain too many people. This was true for continents of all levels since there was no standard to measure how much was sufficient¡ªmerely to not die from hunger? A life with a future? With dignity? The standards could be vastly different everywhere.

    Qianye said at this point, ¡°Since war is just a reason, I can¡¯t solve your problem, either.¡±

    ¡°No, Your Majesty can definitely solve it!¡± Eiseka spoke with great confidence.

    ¡°There¡¯s only so muchnd to go around, but the poption will keep expanding faster as peace prevails. How do I solve this?¡±

    Eiseka said, ¡°The actualnd might not increase, but the production from it can. We¡¯re still using the most primitive methods in every field. If our civilization advances to the level of humans, this samend can sustain a poption of ten times or even more. Yet, Minoka would not allow for any change to happen. In his eyes, the ancestral way of living is everything.¡±

    ¡°A zealous ancestral disciple,¡± Qianye spoke.

    Eiseka remained still on the ground, waiting for Qianye¡¯s decision.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts scattered all of a sudden, recalling a name he hadn¡¯t thought of in a while. William of the Summit of Peaks. In that grey-zone market back on the Western Continent was when Qianye first witnessed the werewolves¡¯ internal conflict. After seeing the werewolves of the great corridor today, he still felt that it wasn¡¯t so easy to make a choice between tradition and revolution.

    Besides, the solution Eiseka had suggested wouldn¡¯t solve the problem once and for all. The increase in production would provide for many more people in the short term, but thisnd wasn¡¯t endless. The upper limit would eventually arrive and, with it, new conflicts. Changing the living situation by changing production methods was only useful for this particr time and ce.

    Qianye stood with his hands behind his back. ¡°Since you consider me your king, then it¡¯s time to show me your loyalty. Eiseka, the first batch of werewolf soldiers should¡¯ve received sufficient training by now. Lead them to attack the Jade Sea.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    After leaving the vige, Qianye led the generals back to the warship. Eiseka headed toward the entrance of the great corridor on his own to prepare for the assault on the Jade Sea.

    The baffled mercenary generals exchanged private discussions on the way back while Qianye stood alone in front of the great corridor map, deep in thought.

    A knock came from the door before Song Hui entered and closed the door behind her. ¡°Are you really going to take in those werewolves?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Qianye asked calmly.

    ¡°What else? The best oue is for those werewolves to fight one another until both sides are badly injured. Then, our army can swoop in and pull them all up by the roots!¡±

    ¡°Quite ruthless.¡± Qianyeughed.

    ¡°The benevolent should not wield weapons. I¡¯m learned in both economics and military strategy.¡±

    Qianye was more impressed. ¡°To what degree?¡±

    ¡°As much as seventh brother studied, so too did I. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t have the talent to be the future strategist god. I only learned the theory with no ce to apply them.¡±

    ¡°The same as Zining? That¡¯s pretty good,¡± Qianye praised.

    What Zining had learned was naturally the mostplete military strategy curriculum. It was rare for a girl like Song Hui to have learned so much. The ns she was suggesting had their merits¡ªthey were secretive and ruthless without any half-hearted moves.

    Song Hui walked over to the map and drew her finger over it. ¡°If we can clear out all the dark races from the great corridor and the Jade Sea, this big area is enough for a poption of ten million. We can then bring in people from the neutralnds and annex Zheng to build a nation the size of two Imperial provinces. Even the Zhao n only has that many people under its rule. If we capture the Jade Sea, we will be in a position to attack when we want, and defend when required.¡±

    She flipped the map over and revealed a map of the entire Fort Continent. There, she drew two directions and said, ¡°At that time, we can attack the central region if the conditions allow it. Otherwise, there¡¯s a handful of small human nations to the south. Extinguish them, concentrate their military power, and fight it out with the werewolf chieftain in the center.¡±

    ¡°Those are human countries. Invading them would count as infighting, no?¡±

    Song Hui replied sharply, ¡°Those little countries have been there for ages. Even if we don¡¯t take them down, they¡¯ll just keep fighting amongst themselves. Besides, they¡¯re barely hanging on at the moment. You can wait until the next life if you hope they¡¯ll overturn the werewolf chieftain! Since they can¡¯t do it themselves, they should stop being a dog in the proverbial manger. They should just hand over their poption andnd. We¡¯ll do it ourselves!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that she would speak in such a coarse manner. ¡°First, let¡¯s see how Eiseka does.¡±

    ¡°What if he flushes that Whitebone Duke out?¡±

    Qianye smiled calmly. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go meet him.¡±

    ¡°You!?¡± Song Hui was stunned.

    ¡°Of course, would you rather go instead?¡± Qianye chuckled.

    ¡°But that¡¯s a duke we¡¯re talking about!? I think Eiseka wants to trick you into entering the Jade Sea so that the Whitebone Duke can deal with you.¡±

    Qianye patted her shoulder, saying, ¡°That would make things a lot more convenient.¡±

    Song Hui sighed, knowing that she couldn¡¯t convince Qianye once he had decided. However, her eyes on him grew brighter and brighter, so much so that he could feel his hair standing on end.

    Qianye immediately organized the army after returning to the Wolf Fang Fortress, transporting the fifty thousand newly integrated werewolves into the other end of the great corridor. This would serve as the primary fighting force against the Jade Sea. A hundred thousand werewolf soldiers were still undergoing training in the two fortresses, with moreing in still.

    The arrival of so many new werewolves didn¡¯t worry Qianye at all, nor did he increase the defenses in the fortress. The two strongholds stood with their gates wide open, or rather, absent. Comparatively, Qianye had stationed over ten thousand mercenaries in Pagoda City, making up a defensive army of over thirty thousand. It was just that the direction they were guarded against was Zheng.

    As soon as the thirty-thousand-strong vanguard was assembled, Eiseka set out immediately without even waiting for the main force.

    The number of integrated units was limited. Even with the addition of major ns near the entrance of the great corridor, their military force was iparable to that of the Jade Sea. After the initial chaos, the werewolf tribes of the Jade Sea joined forces and dispatched an interception force of nearly fifty thousand men. At the same time, they started mobilizing troops from the rear.

    The tribes that had been banished to the great corridor were practically abandoned people. Be it in terms of resources or fighting power, they werergely inferior to their counterparts in the Jade Sea. The invasion force from the great corridor should be badly defeated even if they held a numbers advantage, to speak nothing of the current situation where the Jade Sea force was bigger.

    Hence, thetter began charging from a thousand meters away, paying no heed to their stamina consumption as theyunched a torrential attack. They wanted to route the enemy in one indefensible charge.

    However, over a dozen gunsh.i.p.s rose into the air from behind the great corridor forces and began mowing down the werewolves of the Jade Sea. In addition, the Jade Sea forces realized¡ªas they came within range¡ªthat the enemy was lined up in an orderly formation. From what they could remember, the violent werewolf race had never fought in a formation before.

    Soon, the Jade Sea vanguard was drowned in a rain of bullets.

    By the time they had charged past the death zone and arrived within familiar melee range, half of theirrades had already fallen on the path.

    The subsequent hand-to-handbat taught the werewolves of the Jade Sea how formidable abat formation was. Their men were like the tides, crashing onto the reef and destroying themselves in the process.

    The firstrge-scale war between the Jade Sea and the great corridor thus ended with a miserable defeat for the former.

 Chapter 1216: Blood-Stained Jade Sea

    <h4>Chapter 1216: Blood-Stained Jade Sea</h4>

    The results shook the entire Jade Sea. The chiefs and shamans of every tribe gathered in one ce to discuss the encroaching threat from the great corridor. Be it their gunsh.i.p.s, firepower, or their formations, all of them were new things that they had never seen before. Even the most knowledgeable werewolves had only heard of them.

    Naturally, no conclusion was reached under such circ.u.mstances, with most meetings ending with several hours of cursing and shouting. It usually took such a congregation of chiefs and shamans half a month to produce an oue. That was the habit and rhythm of tribal werewolves.

    The tribal viges usually split the year into two parts¡ªof sowing and reaping, or rest and hunt. Whatever it was called, the difference between the two was in whether there was food or not. The werewolves living there were also used to doing two things each year, alternating by season.

    Before the chiefs and shamans could convert their shock into anger, Eiseka¡ªthe traitorous virtuous count¡ªwas already proving that he was decisive enough to go against tradition. He led the army to capture the border viges at great speed, adding several viges to the list each day.

    The count-rank chiefs of two tribal viges were killed by Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan while trying to challenge the invaders. Eiseka¡¯sbat strength was outstanding, to begin with, and he was a rare talent among werewolves in long-range sniping. The gear Qianye had granted him made up for his weaker closebat capabilities, increasing his fighting power sharply. Ordinary counts couldn¡¯t escape death in his hands.

    Under this threat, the chiefs and shamans had no choice but to ignore tradition. They reached a unanimous decision almost immediately and formed an army of two hundred thousand to suppress the great corridor.

    Not daring to be careless, Eiseka rounded up the vanguard forces that had charged too far ahead and turned back to rendezvous with the main army of fifty thousand. This increased his army to almost a hundred thousand soldiers, which he duly entrenched in defensive fortifications.

    Thebination of human firepower and the werewolves¡¯ bravery resulted in a formidable power. The werewolves of the Jade Sea left tens of thousands of corpses with each charge, yet they couldn¡¯t move the great corridor¡¯s defensive line at all. There was even an instance where they were routed before they had even reached the enemy formation.

    More reinforcements arrived as the two armies were locked inbat. Soon, the forces on the Jade Sea¡¯s side had exceeded three hundred thousand, while Eiseka¡¯s side was close to two hundred thousand.

    Their army had just arrived at the scene when the Jade Sea chiefs lost control of their natural instincts, leading to an immediate battle.

    Finally, their great advantage in numbers managed to offset the great corridor¡¯s firepower. The Jade Sea forces arrived at the enemy defensive line and familiar melee range. However, the tenacity of this human-werewolf formation had far exceeded their expectations. With no way to retreat¡ªand seeing their werewolfrades fighting for their lives¡ªthe human warriors who would usually fall apart at this stage felt a rush of bravery and began fighting back with no regard for their lives.

    The bloody battlested from noon to dusk. In the field and the skies, the experts from each side were also fighting with all their might. Due to the participation of Xu Jingxuan and the mercenary generals, the great corridor actually gained an advantage in this field. Eiseka fought valiantly and, in an almost suicidal fashion, killed two count-rank chiefs on his own.

    As night fell, both exhausted factions finally sounded the bugle call to retreat. The Jade Sea werewolves pulled back to their camps, while the great corridor werewolves remained on the defensive line.

    Thend between the two camps was already filled with corpses. There were human remains among them, but most were werewolves. Close to a hundred thousand of these lycanthropes had turned into corpses on the battlefield, with tens of thousands more in an injured state. With the Jade Sea tribes¡¯ current situation, theck of medicines and the ability to send what they have to the front lines in time meant that the badly injured men could only wait in pain for death to arrive.

    The results looked like the battle ended in a draw, but the Jade Sea faction had suffered far greater casualtiesparatively. The loss of a hundred thousand men meant that the two factions were now two hundred thousand versus a hundred and fifty thousand. The number discrepancy wasn¡¯t as great as before, and the great corridor held the advantage in terms of fortifications.

    The chiefs and shamans began quarreling about whether to attack or wait for reinforcements.

    It was at this time that the werewolves of the great corridor made a shocking move. They sent out squad after squad to clean up the battlefield and transport the injured back to camp, regardless of faction.

    These injured soldiers could be saved? While still in shock, the chiefs and shamans realized that their morale was dropping sharply. There was nock of intelligent men among these leaders, who came to a decision that they would attack that very night under the cover of darkness. Night time was the werewolves¡¯ realm, where the humans backing the great-corridor forces would be weakened.

    A fierce battle broke out again that night andsted until dawn.

    Be it for the Jade Sea or the great corridor, the scale and cruelty of this battle far surpassed whatever they could remember. There was no record of such a war even in the stories of the pioneering era.

    From noon on the first day until dawn the next day, over three hundred thousand werewolves had fallen on thisnd. Only half remained of the twenty thousand apanying human soldiers. There were only a hundred thousand survivors on the Jade Sea side, while eighty thousand remained standing in the great corridor army. Both sides were utterly exhausted, and even the experts were tottering on the verge of copse.

    As dawn arrived and the first rays of sunlight illuminated the greatnd, the ground began to tremble faintly. This clear and rhythmic tremor wasing from the direction of the Jade Sea.

    The werewolves of the great corridor stood up and nced silently into the distance. Unable to wait until his wounds had been dressed, Eiseka pushed the human medic away and mbered to his feet. He pushed through the crowd and arrived at the front of the defensive line, frowning. The expression on his face could hardly hide his fear.

    A cloud of rolling dust kicked up from the direction of the Jade Sea. A massive creature charged out of the cloud, almost like a war colossus that had lost its way and arrived on the continent.

    That war elephant was dozens of meters tall, d in a white-bone armor studded with countless fangs and horns. This made the war elephant look like a terrifying mobile fortress.

    Following the giant creature was a majestic army that stretched beyond eyesight, with countless werewolf warriors running forward. Their footsteps caused the earth to tremble, but even that couldn¡¯t drown out the sound of the war elephant¡¯s march, a sound akin to the beating of an ancient war drum.

    The werewolves of the Jade Sea unleashed an earth-shattering howl, many of them transforming into theirbat forms as they did so. The ancient war elephant had existed for hundreds of years as a part of the werewolves¡¯ history on Fort Continent. This was the first time it had appeared in the recent three decades.

    This creature was the Whitebone Duke¡¯s mount and symbol. In the eyes of the Jade Sea werewolves, it was a representation of terror and death that they could neither defy nor resist. This memory hadsted for at least three hundred years.

    Eiseka¡¯s hair stood on end. The terror in his eyes vanished as he unleashed a long howl, frothing from the mouth as heughed. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that small characters like us could force the Whitebone Duke out? Even if I die here, it¡¯s worth it!¡±

    Xu Jingxuan walked over to his side with a wry smile. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die yet. My son is only one year old, I still want to see him again.¡±

    Eiseka said, ¡°The young will head to the battlefield sooner orter, no?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, perhaps he too will die in the Whitebone Duke¡¯s hands one day.¡± Xu Jingxuan straightened his back as the previous fear faded away.

    He nced at Eiseka, saying, ¡°I never thought I¡¯d be fighting side-by-side with a werewolf one day.¡±

    ¡°I never expected to have an old enemy for arade, either.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was just about to say something when his body jolted and hisplexion went pale. The wounds on his body burst open as his muscles tensed up, staining his armor with a mist of blood.

    Eiseka¡¯s reaction was even more intense. His bones creaked and groaned as though he were shouldering a heavy mountain. It was difficult to even straighten his back. Unresigned, he did his utmost to look up. He refused to face that mountain before him in a prostrated state, even if it cost him his life.

    The sky turned dark, almost as though it was night again, as an indefensible might covered the entire scene. The werewolves of the Jade Sea fell to their knees and sang praises to the Whitebone Duke¡¯s name. Most of the werewolves from the great corridor also fell to their knees. Terror gripped their hearts, and even they had no idea if their delirious mutterings were curses or prayers for forgiveness.

    His centuries-old prestige and indefensible domain suppressed the entire battlefield in the blink of an eye. The aplishments of Eiseka and the werewolves of the great corridor were immediately reduced to nothing.

    This was the king who had dominated the Jade Sea for several centuries, the Whitebone Duke. His existence made all the fighting insignificant. The werewolf tribes banished into the great corridor would rather charge toward Zheng and smash themselves to pieces on its fortifications than attack the Jade Sea.

    However, a sliver of dawn¡¯s light cut through the darkness as a massive warship leaped out and glided toward the battlefield. In the eyes of the werewolves and humans, this giant warship seemed to be engulfed in radiant mes as it cut through the Whitebone Duke¡¯s domain with inconceivable elegance.

    This was the arrival of a true monarch. Compared to the airship that was hundreds of meters long, the war elephant almost looked like a toy. Those sharp fangs and bone spikes could do nothing against the warship in the air, and its sinister-looking bone armor might not be able to stand a blow from the airship¡¯s main cannon.

    The true experts from both sides had made an appearance. The light and mes around the warship were just an illusion caused by the intense friction between the two domains. There was no way such a sh wouldn¡¯t be intense, but here, it simply looked like the warship was tearing through the Whitebone Duke¡¯s domain.

    Regardless of how difficult this was to achieve, the Whitebone Duke had lost in apetition of domains.

    Seeing that faintly discernible but familiar figure at the bow of the warship, the werewolves of the great corridor erupted in explosive cheers, chanting, ¡°Our King.¡±

    Qianye looked down at the battlefield from the airship. From his angle, he could see the three-storeyed pce hall on the elephant¡¯s back. It was beautiful and magnificent, but the color was simply too pale, reeking of decay from the inside out.

    The doors on the top floor of the pce were flung open, and the Whitebone Duke walked out onto the balcony, gazing at the warship in the sky. Although there was a mask covering half his face, one could still see the hatred, anger, and shock in his eyes.

    The Whitebone Duke¡¯s raspy voice echoed through the battlefield like the tides. ¡°Where did this ignorant juniore from? How dare you provoke the Jade Sea with your meager ability? The totem on my sacrificial altar happens to becking a decoration. Let¡¯s use your head for it!¡±

 Chapter 1217: Head-on Collision

    <h4>Chapter 1217: Head-on Collision</h4>

    Qianye looked down with a smile. ¡°Old thing, you sure talk big. It looks like I need to teach you a lesson. Issue the order, ughter that monster!¡±

    The battlecruiser moved slightly backward and lowered its head. Then, with a thunderous rumble, a giant ming bolt shot toward the war elephant!

    The creature seemed to have sensed the threat. It let out a loud cry, raising its front legs and swinging its trunk in an attempt to block the attack. However, the giant ballista bolt wasn¡¯t something the giant creature could react to on time. The projectile struck the elephant¡¯s head and erupted in an earth-shattering explosion, sting the bone armor into fragments. The detonation left behind a wild ze that sent the elephant into a frenzy. The creature shook its head and stomped about, killing countless werewolf warriors around it. The pce on its back also fell apart, flinging several drivers and shamans from within.

    The battlecruiser was the Empire¡¯s newest technology. Its main cannon could badly damage or even sink a cruiser. The war elephant¡¯s white-bone armor looked terrifying, but ultimately, it was not made up of origin arrays and steel. The bone armor couldn¡¯tpare to the warship¡¯s armor tes, either. Under the battlecruiser¡¯s attack, a single shot caused it to lose all fighting power.

    The captain didn¡¯t stop there. The main cannon locked onto the war elephant and fired once again!

    He was intent on destroying that war elephant under Qianye¡¯s orders.

    The Whitebone Duke was halfway in the air when he saw the second sting in. Roaring furiously, he moved to intercept the projectile. A giant white-bone w appeared in the air and swiped at the giant ballista bolt, igniting it halfway.

    The duke¡¯s body jolted violently, and with a loud pop, several cracks appeared on the bone armor on his hand. It would seem that intercepting the main cannon forcibly came with a price.

    The battlecruiser had once again recharged at this point and another st arrived!

    At the moment, the battlecruiser was on the verge of entering a critical state. The crew hurried about in the bay, ensuring that the cannon was firing at its top speed without hitting the overheating point.

    Qianye smiled coldly as his eyes turned blue, and the Whitebone Duke¡¯s image appeared within. A ck feather was faintly discernible at the tip of his fingers.

    The duke immediately sensed a chill throughout his body, and his movements slowed down slightly. The dy caused him to miss one of the bolts; all he could do was watch as it struck the side of the war elephant. This armor-piercing bolt nailed itself deep into the war elephant¡¯s head, which had already lost the protection of the bone armor. Then, it detonated in an earth-shattering explosion, producing a terrifying wound that was several meters in diameter. Even the bones inside were now visible!

    The Whitebone Duke finally stopped and focused his attention on Qianye. With him prowling on the side, there was no way he could protect the elephant. The Imperial battlecruiser¡¯s firepower was also far beyond his expectations, requiring his full effort to intercept. He would have to force his way into the airship in order to escape this passive situation.

    In the several hundred years before this, he had never faced an airship of this grade. Be it in the sky or on the ground, he used to be the king of the Jade Sea, a title he could im with a clear conscience. Now, however, his throne in the air had been toppled.

    The Whitebone Duke clenched his jaws. ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    His figure appeared before Qianye with a flicker as he wed at thetter¡¯s throat. Qianye responded in kind, swiping at the duke¡¯s throat instead of evading.

    Furious, the Whitebone Duke hastened his movements slightly, grabbing Qianye¡¯s palms mid-air and locking him into a wrestle.

    This was the most primitive sh of origin power and strength. It was also a favorite first-battle stance among werewolves and arachne. Due to their physique, the demonkin and vampires leaned more toward speed, technique, and domains. Hence, the arachne and werewolves became synonymous with crude violence. It was, however, a fact that the werewolves held an advantage in strength against the vampires, let alone against humans.

    This unknown brat actually dared to wrestle with him! This was simply courting death! Feeling deeply insulted, the Whitebone Duke erupted with power and increased his strength thrice in a row. He wanted to crush Qianye¡¯s hand, or even his entire arm!

    An invisible shockwave erupted from the twobatants. The impact was so strong that even the massive battlecruiser dipped several dozen meters. It was as though a hurricane had crashed into the deck, sweeping away all hanging equipment. Two auxiliary cannons fixed to the deck were sent rolling into the distance, crushing over a dozen werewolves as itnded on the ground.

    Qianye and the Whitebone Duke appeared as the storm subsided. What surprised everyone was that Qianye had actually withstood the sessive impact from the duke.

    Although he looked a bit pale and the impact had sent him leaning backward before regaining his posture, he had ultimately withstood the attack. At that moment, the Whitebone Duke fell from his divine altar, a position he had held firmly for three hundred years.

    As the two separated, Qianye¡¯s silhouette flickered and appeared several hundred meters away, evading the duke¡¯s attack to the head. The Whitebone Duke moved abruptly after the missed strike and appeared in front of Qianye once again. His movement wasn¡¯t that much slower than Spatial sh. The duke threw another punch to Qianye¡¯s face, which Qianye blocked with crossed arms.

    A p of thunder reverberated through the air. This time, Qianye was sent flying several dozen meters backward, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He had finally sustained a bit of injury. This result was already far beyond everyone¡¯s imagination. Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan from the great corridor¡¯s side believed Qianye would be able to contend with the duke, but they never imagined he would charge into a head-on collision like this.

    Greatly surprised, the Whitebone Duke was almost spewing mes from his eyes and his killing intent grew deeper. This time, he finally put away his arrogance and was no longer in a rush to attack. He .u.mted all of his origin power in his ws, preparing to deal a fatal blow in one strike.

    Qianye was young, so young that it made him fearful. If he couldn¡¯t destroy this opponent today, his throne in the Jade Sea would surely fall into the young man¡¯s hands¡ªat least after a few years if not today.

    The duke had just finished gathering his power when a sh of lightning appeared behind him. A long whipshed ruthlessly toward the back of his head. The Whitebone Duke didn¡¯t dare underestimate this powerful strike, so he had no choice but to turn about and deflect it.

    The werewolf¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Caroline swung her Thunderous Whip, drawingrge swathes of lightning along with it. ¡°You don¡¯t need to know that, but it¡¯ll be toote if you don¡¯t run now.¡±

    ¡°With just you two?¡± The Whitebone Dukeughed wildly.

    Caroline sneered. ¡°You¡¯ll know once you try.¡±

    Just as she was lifting her whip for a second attack, Qianye called out to her and pointed downward. ¡°I¡¯ll keep him busy, you dispose of his subordinates and offspring down there.¡±

    Caroline nced at Qianye. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ll be okay?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, such a weak duke can¡¯t do anything to me.¡±

    ¡°Very well, take care, don¡¯t get yourself killed while ying.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die just yet.¡±

    Fast and decisive, Caroline¡¯s figure shot toward the Jade Sea army that had just arrived in a swirl of dust.

    At this moment, the Whitebone Duke¡¯s hair was flying about, and his body was engulfed in faint green mes. He was so angry that his hands were trembling. Caroline¡¯s rank was fairly close to his, and thatsh from just now contained great strength. If the two of them were to work together, it was likely that he would fall.

    Qianye was indeed unyielding, but how dare he im that he could fight alone. After all, there was still a major rank¡¯s gap between the two. The Whitebone Duke had never suffered such humiliation since he started ruling the Jade Sea three centuries ago!

    The duke¡¯s expression was still hidden behind his mask, so no one could tell his actual mood. He simply stood there in silence, allowing Caroline to leave.

    After she was a good distance away, the duke locked onto Qianye with overflowing killing intent.

    In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of his target and threw a ruthless punch, one containing boundless might! Just as before, Qianye chose to take the blow head-on and was sent flying dozens of meters away.

    The duke followed his prey like a shadow. Punches, elbows, knee strikes, and kicks¡ªhis attacks were as wild as a tempest. All of a sudden, Qianye could only defend and had no power to retaliate at all.

    A series of thunderous rumbles erupted in the air, each explosion representing a collision between Qianye and the duke. There was nothing fancy about these shes, nor was there any room for them.

    Qianye was at a disadvantage, like a candle in the wind as he barely held out under the werewolf¡¯s assault. The glow of his defensive origin power grew dim and looked like it would be extinguished any moment.

    Seeing that Qianye was about to fall, the duke reduced the speed of his attacks, but the power behind his strikes only grew stronger. Each strike was like a hatchet, a chisel, and a mountain-splitting sledgehammer, ruthlessly striking an obstinate piece of metal on the anvil.

    Qianye had shrunk down his defensive zone to its smallest extent, leaving only a palm¡¯s space around his body. He could and was still defending every part of his body from head-to-toe, pushing his fighting techniques to their limits.

    However, that still wasn¡¯t enough¡ªthe enemy he was facing was the Whitebone Duke, whose every punch and kick was extremely fast and heavy. Even though he had slowed down, that was just rtive to before. Qianye couldn¡¯t find any gap to take advantage of.

    This battle allowed everyone to understand why the Whitebone Duke could rule over the Jade Sea for three hundred years. It wasn¡¯t just a suppression in rank and brute strength¡ªthis dark duke was simply an inherent genius inbat!

    Qianye¡¯s origin power barrier was punctured time and again, causing him to sustain injuries from time to time. Even his ancient vampire physique could hardly take this degree of punishment. Every time he was struck, his origin power would fluctuate wildly. His dark golden blood energy remained inside his body, focused on strengthening and repairing his muscles and internal organs.

    Every time Qianye¡¯s flickering barrier was shattered, another would appear momentster, only to be crushed again.

    Venus Dawn was pure and fierce. The origin power barrier formed from it was also extremely durable. Even a thinyer, one so dim that it was hardly visible, would take the Whitebone Duke several focused attacks to break.

    In this manner, the shield was destroyed, reborn, and destroyed repeatedly. Qianye remained at a constant disadvantage¡ªit seemed like he was being beaten so badly that he couldn¡¯t even retaliate. Each of the duke¡¯s attacks came with a full .u.mtion of his power, almost as though he would tear the figure in front of him to pieces. Yet, each time, Qianye would miraculously get through the assault.

    Slowly, the showdown in the air revealed a different kind of meaning. Qianye was focused solely on defense and never counterattacked even while his shield was up.

 Chapter 1218: Breaking Through

    <h4>Chapter 1218: Breaking Through</h4>

    As a vice-duke, Caroline¡¯s strength wasparable to the Wolf King and not so far off from the Whitebone Duke. She had unveiled her full power to bring about a quick, decisive victory. She was almost like a god of lightning, shrouded in electricity and mes.

    She wasn¡¯t alone, either. Surrounded by beams of lightning, four Thunderfrost Temple Guards followed her closely on the assault. These attendants weren¡¯t here to fight, though. Their entire focus was to transfer blue lightning to Caroline.

    The Thunderous Whip had extended to several dozen meters at this point. It was like a flying dragon as it rampaged through the battlefield, sweepingrge areas at times and targeting a single expert in others.

    The blue lightning was extremely fast and powerful. The Whitebone Duke didn¡¯t even spare a nce below, so despite their numbers, no one in the Jade Sea army could stop Caroline. Even their strongest warriors couldn¡¯t stand threeshes from her whip before falling with broken spines.

    Caroline ignored the army of hundreds of thousands as she shuttled through the air, focused entirely on hunting down experts. Every move of her figure would only leave behind a lightning afterimage; no one could see where she had gone. She was even faster than an origin bullet.

    Xu Jingxuan felt no relief from the victorious momentum of the ground battle. Most of his attention was up in the air, his head drenched in sweat. ¡°Why are they fighting like this? Why not gang up against the enemy?¡± He hadn¡¯t noticed how many times he had repeated these words, showing just how tense he was right now.

    As Xu Jingxuan saw it, someone as strong as Caroline should be helping Qianye attack the Whitebone Duke. Only by defeating the duke would they be able to take the Jade Sea. Now that the two were fighting on their own, wasn¡¯t this giving the werewolf duke an opportunity to defeat them? What was the use of killing ordinary experts?

    He didn¡¯t dare to think about their fate should Qianye fall in battle.

    Eiseka was a bit faster. He woke up all of a sudden and roared, ¡°Everyone, charge!¡±

    His voice hadn¡¯t faded just yet when he jumped out of the fortifications, dragging his wounded body in a charge against the enemy formation. Although the werewolves of the great corridor had no idea why he would give up the defenses, there was no reason for them to remain while their leader was charging. All the werewolf soldiers, at least those who could still move, mbered up and charged at the giant enemy army¡ªone that far outnumbered them.

    A chaotic battle ensued.

    In the air, Qianye suddenly opened his crystal-clear eyes. His demeanor was calm and profound, entirely different from the sorry, blood-stained figure he was cutting.

    He gazed at the Whitebone Duke and said softly, ¡°As expected of a duke. Unfortunately, you¡¯re too old.¡±

    mes lit up in the duke¡¯s eyes, and his killing intent grew so intense that it was about to gush out. He said nothing, but the strength in his hands increased further.

    What blocked the fist this time wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s inconceivably strong body, but a faint barrier or light.

    Qianye¡¯s origin defenses were just as strong, but it still couldn¡¯t keep up with the continuous barrage of attacks. The Whitebone Duke took a deep breath as he threw a torrent of punches on Qianye¡¯s shield, leaving afterimages everywhere in the process. This wasn¡¯t the first time he had sted this shield apart.

    In the blink of an eye, the Whitebone Duke had mmed Qianye¡¯s shield several times and brought it to the brink of copse. Just as the shield was about to break, the duke shot back several dozen meters in surprise. He clearly remembered that he could break the opponent¡¯s shield with a few heavy blows. Howe it wasn¡¯t breaking now after so many attacks?

    Careful observation showed him that there was a blinding white light hidden within the scarlet shield, a glow akin to thest moments of the rising sun. It looked like it would shoot out at any moment!

    The Whitebone Duke was able to stand as a ruler for hundreds of years because of his talent and experience. He immediately knew that something was off, so he began going over the process of their entire battle in his mind.

    He quickly caught on to an abnormal detail that he hadrgely ignored. Every time Qianye reactivated his shield, it was a bit stronger and brighter than before, almost as though it was hiding something within.

    If he had to describe it, the entire process was like a tempering process. The impurities within Qianye¡¯s origin power were being expelled little by little. But the purity of this young man¡¯s origin power was at a level he had never seen before. Could such an origin power have any impurities in it?

    Qianye was also rather surprised by the Whitebone Duke¡¯s sudden retreat. He said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯spleted. Thank you, Your Excellency.¡±

    The origin barrier around him erupted with radiance, the scarlet gold mes almost dying the sky with its hue. When the color of dawn clouds reached its peak, a scorching luminescence burst into the sky with great elegance¡ªmuch like the sun rising over the sea!

    This sun grew brighter and brighter until it formed a pir of light connecting heaven and earth. Even the Whitebone Duke could barely discern Qianye¡¯s figure against the backdrop of boundless light and heat. No one else was able to see a human silhouette.

    Finally, the pir of light receded and was duly absorbed into Qianye¡¯s body. He was still standing in the air just like before, his armor in tatters and his body riddled with wounds. Only the glow in the depths of his eyes was dazzling, just like a revolving red sun.

    An indescribable aura spread throughout the battlefield. The Whitebone Duke¡¯s domain and aura would disappear immediately upon contact with it. A battle of domains had broken out once again between the two parties, but the results were vastly different.

    Back during their entrance, Qianye and Caroline had worked together to tear the Whitebone Duke¡¯s domain. The sensation ofceration was extremely clear back then, but his domain remained in ce over the battlefield; it still held a clear advantage and wasn¡¯t defeated.

    This time, however, the duke¡¯s domain seemed like it had been incinerated, melting away at the slightest contact with the new domain energy. This new power was formless and intangible, yet it was scorching hot and capable of melting almost anything. At this moment, all the dark race members felt as though they were standing on the surface of the sun, that they would bepletely incinerated at the next breath, not even leaving ashes behind.

    Fortunately, this sensationsted but a moment before the new domain power faded away. The scorching sensation receded, leaving only restlessness and anxiety. Many experts suspected that they would¡¯ve burst into mes had it remained for the next second.

    Even experts felt this way. The ordinary werewolf experts within Qianye¡¯s domain broke into miserable screams, the stronger ones trembled all over, while the weaker ones copsed to the ground. The fierce heat seemed like it had originated from the daybreak origins, causing agonizing pain to all creatures of darkness.

    Having suffered a crushing defeat, the Whitebone Duke¡¯s domain only survived on the edges of the battlefield.

    Those standing at the border all ran forward at the same time, even though the firm walls and swords of the great corridor were waiting for them. Their current location was simply too terrifying. That scorching heat waspletely opposite of their darkness attribute and a hundred times more terrifying than the threat of enemy swords.

    The duke red at Qianye with eyes full of shock, disbelief, and mad jealousy. He clenched his teeth and said word-by-word, ¡°You... have be a divine champion?¡±

    Qianye nodded with a smile. ¡°Without your help, I don¡¯t know how long it would take.¡±

    ¡°You used me!?¡± the duke roared.

    Qianyeughed indifferently. ¡°You just didn¡¯t have the ability to kill me.¡±

    The Whitebone Duke snorted. ¡°You think you can defeat me just because you¡¯re a divine champion?¡±

    Humans who had just stepped into the divine champion stage were only about equal to a glorious marquis. Calcting from the Evernight system, there was still a major rank¡¯s gap between them. Only a mid-ranked divine champion like Caroline could contend against a duke, while ordinary divine champions would have no choice but to retreat in defeat.

    The werewolf himself didn¡¯t have much confidence while saying this.

    Qianye nodded as though he was in agreement. ¡°It¡¯s not supposed to be, but there¡¯s no problem since it¡¯s me against you.¡±

    The Whitebone Duke felt his vision darken for a split second as anger filled his head. The werewolf¡¯s violent nature and the many years of bad temper that he had acquired made him want to charge at Qianye. However, the oue of that contest of domains just now allowed his caution to im victory, and he ultimately managed to restrain himself.

    Defeat meant the copse of his throne, the end of everything he had in the Jade Sea.

    He observed Qianye carefully, rapidly calcting his next move. However, all he could see was a sea of light and heat¡ªhe simply couldn¡¯t discern anything underneath.

    Seeing that the Whitebone Duke had managed to restrain himself, Qianye smiled. ¡°Your Excellency, don¡¯t forget that this is a battlefield.¡±

    ¡°Battlefield!?¡± The duke couldn¡¯t figure the meaning immediately. Only when he sensed a sharp pain from his back did he remember something as he turned around immediately.

    Caroline was charging at him, shrouded in lightning.

    This was a battlefield, one where there was no rule against using a numbers advantage. Now that Qianye had seeded in his ascension, there were two divine champions on his side. The Whitebone Duke, on the other hand, only had himself.

    The werewolf made an immediate decision, rushing into the sky with a loud cry and fleeing toward the horizon.

    Three ck feathers appeared in the air and flickered out of existence almost immediately, all of them sinking into the duke¡¯s back. The werewolf¡¯s body froze in the air for a moment before falling to the ground.

    Caroline appeared beside Qianye. ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve been fighting with him for so long. Didn¡¯t you tell him that he can¡¯t flee from the Shot of Inception?¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°Too busy, forgot.¡±

    The Whitebone Duke¡¯s demise came all too sudden. The entire battlefield fell into silence, almost as though time had frozen. Be it those from the Jade Sea or the great corridor, all the werewolves remained in ce and gazed at where the duke had fallen.

    At this moment, something that had been passed down and kept intact for three hundred years was broken.

    That was tradition, an indescribable emotion¡ªreverence, terror, worship, and mysteriousness. All of these served as a support for the werewolf psyche, and also formed an unerasable part of their history, yet everything hade to an end at this point.

    All werewolves from both factions felt a certain dejection. The gap in their hearts was so big that it could not be filled. Even the werewolves of the great corridor and Eiseka himself felt as though they were in a dream. He had imagined the copse of that high throne countless times, but who would¡¯ve thought it would be so easy? It was almost like a children¡¯s game.

    He was likely one of the few who had barely noticed the three ck feathers, but he couldn¡¯t sense their power at all. How powerful would they have to be to kill the Whitebone Duke in a single blow? There was only one exnation for him to not sense anything. It was that the power difference between the two was too great.

    Eiseka was fairly confident about his own abilities. Even in the Jade Sea, he would be able to squeeze his way into the upper echelons. It was just that his tribe was driven into the great corridor much earlier on, leaving him stuck with that humblebel.

    While he was stunned, Xu Jingxuan poked his waist and asked, ¡°Erm... is he dead?¡±

    Eiseka said with a wooden expression, ¡°I... think so.¡±

    ¡°Then, shall we go and take a look?¡±

    ¡°The enemy...¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re gone.¡±

    The werewolves of the Jade Sea were still in a daze, but their bodies moved faster than their thoughts, opening up a path to where the Whitebone Duke had fallen.

    That ce wasn¡¯t too far behind the Jade Sea army, but the werewolves nearby remained nailed to the ground, not daring to approach. Two divine champions were still standing in the air. Qianye¡¯s domain, specifically, refreshed their memory and definition of fear.

    Whoever dared to approach at this point would be challenging Qianye, and that in and of itself was no different from courting death.

    Xu Jingxuan suggested it and Eiseka also seconded the motion, but the two nced at one another without taking the first step forward. It was still a scary thought to walk through hundreds of thousands of werewolf soldiers to where the Whitebone Duke was.

    Seeing someone gging them, the two turned about to see Song Lun shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s not a good idea to go.¡±

    The duo came to their senses.

    The Whitebone Duke¡¯s body was full of treasures, each of his equipment was probably priceless. Going over now would probably give them a bad name for having untoward intentions.

    In the sky, Caroline nced at Qianye who was standing there calmly with his hands behind his back. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going?¡±

    ¡°You go and see,¡± Qianye said with a smile.

    ¡°That¡¯s a duke we¡¯re talking about, and not a fake one, either. Aren¡¯t you curious about what he has?¡±

 Chapter 1219: Mystery of Whitebone

    <h4>Chapter 1219: Mystery of Whitebone</h4>

    Qianye said nonchntly, ¡°I¡¯m a bit tired, I need to rest a bit.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay? Why don¡¯t you go down?¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do. Once I go down, my glorious image will be gone,¡± Qianye replied.

    Caroline found it both funny and annoying, but she realized things when she nced at the sea of werewolves down below. Qianye¡¯s prestige of killing the Whitebone Duke in one blow had intimidated the hundred thousand enemies below. The entire situation would change if he were to show a drop in power¡ªeven if they didn¡¯tunch a counterattack, things would be extremely troublesome if they fled in all directions.

    Having understood this point, Caroline said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go down and take a look.¡±

    The two had been conversing high up in the air, so no one really heard them. Swinging her whip, she once again summoned a sea of lightning and rode it steadily toward the Whitebone Duke¡¯s corpse. There, she picked up the duke¡¯s remains with a wave of her hand and returned to Qianye¡¯s side.

    All the werewolves were reconciled after witnessing this scene, realizing that their Whitebone Duke would never be revived.

    Qianye scanned the werewolves of the Jade Sea, then roared with a stern expression, ¡°Kneel!¡±

    This shout was apanied by a wave of rolling origin power and his domain spreading out to cover the entire battlefield. Everyone at the scene felt as though they had fallen into an inferno¡ªthe unbearable heat and great pressure were as though they had been submerged in a pool ofva. There was a wisp of ancient vampire aura in the sound waves, one close to the darkness origins. Every werewolf felt a shiver born from the source of their bloodline.

    Under Qianye¡¯s might, the werewolves of the great corridor fell to their knees subconsciously, so too did the weak and feeble-willed from the Jade Sea. With some taking the lead, more and more followed suit until only a few dozen true experts remained standing.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes swept over them like lightning, reflecting their images in his pupils.

    The expressions of these keen experts changed drastically the moment they were reflected in Qianye¡¯s eyes. Trembling, many of the titled experts kneeled in surrender, but there was nock of defiant ones.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to take his time with them, either. His gaze paused very briefly on each of them before moving onto the next. Whether they were willing to surrender or not, no matter how high their rank was¡ªfrom counts to all the way down to knights¡ªQianye would not spare them a second nce.

    Looking all around him, he found eight of them who were still standing.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Kill them all.¡±

    Those werewolf experts woke up from their dream, immediately scattering in all directions with loud cries. Yet how could these werewolvespete with Caroline, her speed, and the power of her blue lightning? She caught them one after the other and killed several of them in session. No matter how high-ranked the enemy was, they would turn into charred masses with a singlesh of her whip.

    The two that had fled the farthest thought they would be able to escape, but their bodies and movements turned sluggish all of a sudden. The lightning whip soon arrived and destroyed theirst hopes of survival.

    In the blink of an eye, the final forces of resistance dispersed from the Jade Sea. As for those prostrating on the ground, there was no more standing up after kneeling.

    Caroline returned to Qianye¡¯s side without dealing with the corpses. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Not very.¡±

    His words didn¡¯t quite fit that radiant smile of his. Caroline knew that the domain apanying his order to kneel and the suppression of the werewolf experts¡¯ secret arts would be rather exhausting.

    Qianye pointed at Eiseka and ordered, ¡°Clean up the field.¡±

    The werewolves from the Jade Sea grew restless as the great corridor forces started to move, but they remained kneeling on the ground. Seeing that no one dared to get up, Qianye stretched his hand toward Caroline.

    Caroline was puzzled.

    Qianye¡¯s smile never changed. ¡°Help me back.¡±

    Only then did shee to. Ignoring whether it was his intention, she took Qianye¡¯s arm with a charming smile and dragged him back to the warship. The countless eyes on the ground could not see any change in Qianye¡¯sposure. On the contrary, they found his stature charming and gentle. After returning to the airship and retiring the attendants, Qianye gave up on maintaining his glorious demeanor and copsed into the chair.

    Caroline was shocked. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t even open his eyes. He said in a daze, ¡°There¡¯s no way I wouldn¡¯t be. I¡¯m... just... tired.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence before his head tilted to the side, and he fell deep into sleep.

    Caroline stared at him for a good while, then let out a sigh. As someone of demonkin birth, she was fairly capable of observing the state of someone¡¯s body. She knew Qianye¡¯s situation quite clearly. He was truly tired and exhausted. The werewolves of the Jade Sea wouldn¡¯t have been so obedient had he not deployed his domain and used the Eye of Control to subdue the experts.

    Qianye didn¡¯t sleep very long before his eyes opened up again. ¡°What is it that smells so bad!?¡±

    At his mention, Caroline realized that the room was indeed filled with a certain odor. It was rather faint at first, almost indiscernible, but a careful whiff filled her senses with aplicated odor of decay.

    Caroline realized that things were looking bad, but it was toote. Considering how sharp her senses were, she could immediately differentiate dozens of foundational notes which mixed together to produce hundreds if not thousands of scents. This impact was no weaker than a p from the Whitebone Duke.

    Caroline¡¯s vision darkened, and she almost fell unconscious. If even a mid-rank divine champion was like this, one could easily imagine how strong the smell was. Even the exhausted Qianye was woken up by it.

    Isting herself with origin power, she finally found the source of this putridness¡ªit was the Whitebone Duke¡¯s body. The corpse was currently rotting at a visible rate, producing a puddle of green fluid on the floor. The stench of rot intensified at an rming rate.

    Caroline was helpless at this point. ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Without much thought, Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn shone upon the Whitebone Duke¡¯s remains. The scorching mes of Daybreak burned the rotting flesh and blood into oblivion, then froze into a thinyer of crystal over the Whitebone Duke¡¯s corpse. The werewolf¡¯s dead body stopped deteriorating after being sealed in this icy crystal.

    The extreme heat of Venus Dawn could actually freeze the target? Qianye had never thought this was possible. He had simply channeled his origin power while thinking about protecting the Whitebone Duke¡¯s body.

    Caroline flipped the duke¡¯s body over carefully and studied it in great detail. After observing the surface, she removed the equipment on his body and ced the objects in his storage to the side. Finally, only that half-decayed body of the werewolf duke remained on the ground.

    Caroline drew a dagger and cut open the duke¡¯s body. After studying his innards, she sighed deeply. ¡°I understand now. You can remove these smells.¡±

    The entire room was suffused with an unbearable stench. The duo had long since held their breath and was spending origin power to converse. Qianye felt great relief after hearing her words. Ayer of Venus Dawn appeared around him,pletely burning away the scent of decay in the room.

    After the light had receded, there was only a wisp of fragrance left in the room. It was the smell of showering sunlight, a lingering scent as everything in the room was illuminated by Venus Dawn.

    Caroline took a deep breath. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought daybreak origin power would smell so good?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°You can interact more with Zining when you have time. His Worldly Prosperity can emte everything in the world, the most basic use of which is to mix all fragrances together. Now that¡¯s something that truly smells good.¡±

    ¡°Those are just ordinary smells, what I mean is the scent of origin power.¡±

    Qianye nced at Caroline in surprise. ¡°Is that even possible?¡±

    Caroline shook her head, puzzled as well. ¡°Perhaps at extreme levels, some origin powers just feel good. And monsters like this fellow just make people sick.¡±

    Qianye walked over to the messy corpse. ¡°What¡¯s with him?¡±

    ¡°He should¡¯ve died long ago, but he has been using all kinds of messed up ways to extend his life. Apparently, he has absorbed too much decaying origin power, and even used daybreak origin power to stimte their effectiveness.¡±

    A thought popped into Qianye¡¯s head. ¡°Daybreak origin power? You mean...¡±

    ¡°Sacrificial offerings or whatever, it¡¯s not important what they¡¯re called. But the remaining traces here tell me that the origin poweres from humans. Only humans know how to cultivate daybreak origin power.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely certain, your Thunderfrost Temple also leans toward Daybreak. That has always been something I couldn¡¯t figure out.¡±

    Caroline replied, ¡°Neither could I. Our ancestors are clearly demonkin who drifted to the neutralnds. You also know what the neutralnds mean for the demonkin. That¡¯s why the earlier ancestors suffered greatly and died early deaths. Only in the recent few centuries did they discover the power of Frost and Thunder. These two energies leaned toward daybreak, yet we are able to absorb and use them. The predecessors of every generation couldn¡¯t tell the reason despite extensive research, so we just consider it a reward for our hardship.¡±

    Qianye nced at the Whitebone Duke. ¡°What did this fellow do to get himself into this state?¡±

    Caroline snorted. ¡°The fear of death drove him crazy, so much so that he was trying to imnt bloodlines, the bloodlines of young, talented werewolves.¡±

    Qianye had never heard of such a thing. ¡°That¡¯s possible?¡±

 Chapter 1220: At the End of Decay

    <h4>Chapter 1220: At the End of Decay</h4>

    Qianye muttered to himself, ¡°Yet he¡¯s alive, and his strength...¡±

    The Whitebone Duke wasn¡¯t too bad in terms of skill. At the very least, it was worthy of someone who had ruled the Jade Sea for several hundred years. Yet, the advantagemon to strength-type races wasn¡¯t prominent in him. As a werewolf duke, his attack was only at the average standard for his rank, not so different from the Wolf King.

    Otherwise, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have been able to withstand the attacks and use them to temper his origin power. The process had condensed the origin power in his nine vortices and transformed them into a single crystal, allowing him to step into the divine champion realm.

    He was able to reach the fighting power standard of a duke although there was nothing to write home about his strength. Perhaps this proved that there was something to learn from his methods?

    Caroline seemed to have noticed Qianye¡¯s thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s not like that.¡±

    From her exnation, Qianye finally realized why the Whitebone Duke hadn¡¯t copsed despite absorbing the bloodlines of numerous young werewolves. That was because, at the same time, he was absorbing daybreak origin power from humans. The existence of this opposing element allowed the conflicted bloodlines to stop attacking one another, maintaining a delicate bnce within his body.

    This could be considered a genius idea, but judging from the oue at hand, it was ultimately a failure. It wouldn¡¯t even be feasible anywhere outside of a ce like the Jade Sea.

    Without the destruction brought about by external forces, a duke¡¯s body would remain immortal throughout the years. That was why the Sacred Mountain of Evernight was also the burial ground of numerous experts. From the Whitebone Duke¡¯s final condition, it would seem that the true state of his body was close toplete decay. It could even be said that he was a walking corpse.

    The reason he was able to maintain his calm appearance was likely because he hadn¡¯t encountered a proper challenger in thest couple of centuries. Even without Qianye and Caroline, the duke¡¯s body would crumble some time in the future and turn into a puddle of pus.

    Defective secret arts like this involved a great price and the ones who had been robbed of their bloodline were naturally young geniuses of the race. Who knew how long the duke had lived in this manner? Was it a hundred years, or two hundred? It probably didn¡¯t matter at this point. Just looking at the vast poption of the Jade Sea and the great corridor, there was only a pitiful number of dukes among them. The one Qianye had encountered at the great corridor was one who had used up his potential and had no hope of another breakthrough.

    Qianye realized that the adverse environment might not be the sole reason for theck of marquis-rank experts. Instead, the true geniuses of each generation had died in the hands of the Whitebone Duke!

    The dark race¡¯s inheritancey in their bloodline, so there were instances where people would rob and absorb another¡¯s bloodline under extreme circ.u.mstances. However, a case like the Whitebone Duke¡¯s would be impossible in the upper continents, a case where the future of an entire n was cut off to extend a single person¡¯s life, let alone just a zombie-like extension. The other top-experts of the ns would never allow anyone to kill the proverbial golden goose for its eggs. Who would¡¯ve thought someone would be doing this in a corner of the Fort continent?

    Looking at the corpse that couldn¡¯t even maintain its shape, Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. In the end, he sighed. ¡°Well, this is a good thing to the human race as well.¡±

    Although the Whitebone Duke had killed a fair number of his nsmen, he had also helped to cut down the number of werewolves reaching the marquis rank. Otherwise, Zheng might not be able to hold out if there were a certain number of marquises overseeing the war.

    At this moment, almost all secrets had been dug out from the duke¡¯s body. Qianye shot a wisp of fire from his fingertip, seeking to incinerate the Whitebone Duke¡¯s body with his dark golden energy.

    The fire would normally reduce everything in its wake to ashes, but it wasn¡¯t entirely true this time.

    Qianye watched in surprise as a squirming mass of flesh appeared from the scattering ashes. He looked at it carefully and, before Caroline could stop him, reached out to grab it.

    The ball of flesh was only the size of a fingernail, probably left over from the duke¡¯s heart judging from its vestiges. Being able to withstand the fire of the dark golden blood energy proved just how strong it was.

    The feeling it gave Qianye was actually a bit simr to that of the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart¡ªa terrifying life force that had lost its consciousness. If that were the case, this little ball of flesh would have great uses if developed appropriately.

    ¡°You dare to touch every unknown object, it seems!¡± Caroline moved closer while saying this, reaching out to touch the flesh and even flicking some lightning onto it. The flesh could even stop Qianye¡¯s dark golden sanguine mes; what was Caroline¡¯s lightning to it? The mass of flesh remainedpletely unharmed.

    Caroline sighed. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought such a treasure would appear at the end of decay? Unfortunately, the duke¡¯s entire body is already breaking down. Even if he didn¡¯t die, he would never be able to control this flesh. It might even retaliate and devour him if it grows stronger, turning him into a different creature.¡±

    Qianye said while looking at the flesh, ¡°Do you think those void colossi were born this way?¡±

    Caroline was stunned. She had no answer to this question, nor did she know how Qianye had associated the two.

    The flesh that had been forged from the duke¡¯s decaying body was definitely a treasure, but no one knew how to apply it. In addition to that, the duke had naturally .u.mted quite a bit of wealth over the years. But there weren¡¯t any dazzling resources on the Fort Continent and the Jade Sea. The werewolf tribes possessed no high-end technology to process raw materials, either. As such, the duke¡¯s possessions were mainly natural materials and beast bones.

    His bone armor was extremely sturdy¡ªit was likelyparable to grade-eight equipment and far superior to ordinary metal alloys. This kind of defense-attribute beast bones could onlye from void colossi. His helmet was even more wondrous; there was a faint trace of life-force flowing within it. This meant, from a certain perspective, that the helmet was still alive.

    The craftsman had made use of the natural shape to produce a helmet and add numerous intricate arrays to make use of the vitality within. The most prominent use of this helmet was to expand the area of one¡¯s domain. That was the reason why the Whitebone Duke was able to suppress Qianye and Caroline in range.

    Every part of a void colossus¡¯ body was a treasure, and parts with vitality were even more so. The most representative was Qianye¡¯s dragonship. Recently, the giant vessel had not only begun to regrow flesh on its own, but its weak consciousness was also growing clearer over time. It was slowly regaining the earth dragon¡¯s past demeanor.

    In addition to his bone armor, the duke also owned a number of rings that could strengthen the body¡¯s different attributes. There were also some bone des and various stone weapons. With East Peak in hand, Qianye had no interest in the bone des, but some of the stone equipment caught his attention. There was a certain dark green dagger with brown spots that he actually couldn¡¯t see through.

    Caroline was much more experienced regarding treasures and resources. Lightning mes lit up on her fingertip as she grabbed the dagger, but the weapon wasn¡¯t affected at all by the fierce energy. There was no sign of it melting, either. The de arced slightly when she tried to bend it, but it promptly returned to its original state afterward.

    Caroline passed the dagger to Qianye, saying, ¡°It¡¯s not very sturdy, but it can withstand high temperatures and inste lightning fire, and that¡¯s just in its raw ore state. It¡¯ll probably be even stronger when refined.¡±

    ¡°Is this thing useful?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s useless as a weapon, the duke never even took it out. But the material itself has a lot of uses. Just the high-temperature tolerance alone would make it a great material for warship engines.¡±

    Qianye understood that Song Zining¡¯s alloy form possessed simr characteristics. That alloy was considered a top-secret of the Empire, and its manufacturing process was extremely difficult. Even now, it could only be produced back in the Empire.

    If this new material could be used in warship engines, their performance would be improved to the next level. There was no need to exin what this meant to the Empire. If he could control the production of this material, it would give him a powerful hold on the other party¡¯s vitals. Although Qianye had no ns to make use of this position, it wasn¡¯t a bad leverage to have for self-protection.

    Qianye took the dagger back and put it away carefully. It wouldn¡¯t be toote to investigate the source of this material after the situation around the Jade Sea had calmed down.

    The duke had nothing else that could impress Qianye.

    All in all, the gains weren¡¯t too bad, but in terms of worth, the Whitebone Duke was far inferior to the dukes on the upper continents. At the very least, he couldn¡¯t even bring out grade-nine gear.

    After looking through the spoils, Qianye had recovered enough to continue his glorious image. Hence, he decided to head to themand room.

    All the generals were already seated in the room. The chamber was currently a mixture of humans and werewolves, with thetter upying a third of the forces. This made the atmosphere subtly strange.

    The human generals sat to one side, while the werewolves upied the other, drawing a clear line between them. The only exception was Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan, who were sitting next to one another. The duo was wrapped in blood-stained bandages, almost like brothers in hardship.

    The mercenary generals were d in uniform equipment and armor. Xu Jingxuan and his two aides were also dressed simrly, using Zheng¡¯s weapons and armor. The werewolves, on the other hand, came in their individual n attire¡ªsome garish, some dull, but no two alike. There were also some with feathers on their heads who, despite looking like giant turkeys, were feeling pleased about their height.

    Qianye found this scene helplesslyical.

 Chapter 1221: For Whom to Exist

    <h4>Chapter 1221: For Whom to Exist</h4>

    The neers included four chiefs and three shamans, all of them count-ranked experts. Three of them were from the Jade Sea, but the rest were from the great corridor. The former were all virtuous counts, one rank higher than the forces of the great corridor. The tall werewolf with a bright plume was the strongest among them. His origin power aura was even stronger than Eiseka¡¯s, showing signs of a breakthrough to the marquis rank.

    The werewolf experts introduced by Eiseka stepped forward and went down on one knee, touching their foreheads. This was the highest form of salutation toward a king.

    Judging from this, it would seem the werewolves¡¯ attitude toward Qianye was far more respectful and loyal than toward the other generals. Even that rather proud-looking turkey general was sincere in his salutation and only recovered his demeanor when he was back at his seat. Some mercenary generals felt somewhat restless upon noticing this.

    After introducing the neers, Eiseka said, ¡°Your Majesty...¡±

    Qianye raised a hand. ¡°Don¡¯t use this address in the future.¡±

    Eiseka found it rather difficult. ¡°But we in the tribes have gotten used to it. After such a great victory, we can no longer stop them, either. Besides, isn¡¯t it only a matter of time before you be a great dark monarch?¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Whatever the future holds, I am not worthy of this address just yet, so don¡¯t use it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire...¡± Eiseka changed the terminology with great difficulty. ¡°Theserades of mine are devotees who wish to follow you whole-heartedly. Your position has been added to their tribes¡¯ ancestral altar.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned odd because, in the Empire, only the dead would be worshipped on the altar.

    Seemingly realizing his thoughts, Caroline approached Qianye and said, ¡°The werewolves of the ancestral school do have a tradition of worshipping their king on the ancestral altar. This is much better than any oath, provided that you don¡¯t fall off your throne.¡±

    Qianye forced a nod despite still feeling a bit awkward, but he understood that this formality would ensure that the entire tribe was loyal and minimize any chances of betrayal. This wouldst until Qianye was killed by a new king, who would then rece him on the altar.

    These three tribes were the first among the Jade Sea forces to announce their loyalty. It would seem their life under the Whitebone Duke wasn¡¯t very good.

    With this batch of werewolves, Qianye¡¯s strength on the Fort Continent grew exponentially. The only problem was that he would have to be careful about how they were utilized. At the same time, he had no choice but to dispel his original intention of forbidding the great corridor werewolves from cing him on the altar.

    Piety was a higher realmpared to loyalty. The best way to bring these people under his fold and prevent them from causing trouble was to maintain their piety. It was much more reliable than a contract written on goat hide. In order to ensure stability, Qianye had no choice but to sacrifice his feelings.

    Next, Qianye asked about the casualty report and reparations.

    Since building a mixed army of humans and werewolves, the battle of Jade Sea was the biggest and most bitter fight. The great corridor had lost over a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, along with over twenty thousand of Xu Jingxuan¡¯s newly trained soldiers¡ªthe number was almost half of the new army.

    Comparatively, the Jade Sea werewolves had suffered over three hundred thousand deaths. As their medical capabilities were rather low and the great corridor was powerless to assist, tens of thousands of heavily injured men passed away in the days that followed.

    Following the death of the Whitebone Duke, most of his frontline and reserve armies had surrendered. Some tens of thousands of them escaped, leaving over three hundred thousand captives in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    ording to the captives¡¯ confession, there should have been several werewolf armies marching for the field, totaling over a hundred thousand men. They were probably running back to their tribal viges now after receiving news of the frontline¡¯s defeat.

    The best strategy was to dispatch an army to intercept these retreating forces and annihte them in the wilderness. That would reduce their pressure when cleaning up the entire Jade Sea.

    However, Qianye nced at everyone in the room and saw that both the werewolves and humans were covered in injuries. He finally dropped the idea since he couldn¡¯t find anyone to lead the operation. And there were over a hundred thousand prisoners outside that he had to deal with as soon as possible. Otherwise, they might erupt into chaos at any moment.

    Rounding up the werewolves of the Jade Sea was aplicated and delicate process, but it went rtively smooth.

    With the Whitebone Duke heading out to war, all the major tribes at the center mobilized in full force, only to end up being captured in one go. The ones that had escaped were from the scattered tribes in the periphery. Tens of thousands sounded like a big number, but they were now dispersed in their viges. Not to mention the massive force right now, Qianye could sweep through them with just the great corridor werewolves, or even with Xu Jingxuan¡¯s army.

    There were also some remote tribes who had received the duke¡¯s summons but never made it due to the distance andck of supplies. Time and patience were the only things needed to recruit these people.

    In the days that followed, Qianye was at the center of various meetings, big and small. Each meeting would take a good part of the day, depriving him of the time to consolidate his divine champion realm. The cement, food, and safety of hundreds of thousands of werewolves were no small matter, and they couldn¡¯t make a single mistake. Only after experiencing things himself did Qianye realize that supply and logistics weren¡¯t so easy after all.

    After the meeting one day, Song Hui followed Qianye back to his private quarters. Qianye knew what she was going to say, so he closed the door and waited for her.

    ¡°Are you really going to take in those werewolves?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡± Qianye felt that this question was a bit strange. The poption of the Jade Sea and the great corridor added together was over twelve million ording to initial statistics. Having such a number under his wing was naturally the best oue. Otherwise, if they were to turn into enemies, just simply ughtering them would be an exhausting chore.

    Song Hui sighed deeply. ¡°This is twelve million werewolves we¡¯re talking about. These people have been attacking the Zheng fortress simply because thend couldn¡¯t amodate all of them.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I know. Thisnd wasn¡¯t able to provide for everyone in werewolf hands, but things will be different in ours.¡±

    Be it the Jade Sea or the great corridor, thend¡¯s yield wasn¡¯t enough to provide for so many werewolves. That was why they had to expand and plunder, exhausting their poption in the process. And of course, Zheng was the easiest to bully among their neighbors and was thus the prime target. Qianye felt that something impossible for the Whitebone Duke might be achievable for him.

    The werewolves here were still at a very primitive level and survived by hunting or herding creatures. Their farming technology was so primitive that it was an entire age behind Zheng, let alone the Empire. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem to keep all these werewolves fed if they could import suitable technology and nt types, increasing the yield and area of farnd.

    Who said werewolves couldn¡¯t eat nts? Those in the great corridor had proven that between eating grass and dying of hunger, the werewolves would choose grass. And cultivating farnd would produce fodder and pastures in addition to grains. This would serve to increase the output of animal husbandry exponentially. All soldiers would be ensured meat rations, at the very least.

    All they needed was two years, and thisnd would be able to support several times the current number of werewolves. If they were to invest more and breed a high-yield crop suitable for the environment, the sustainable poption would only continue to rise.

    The only problem they needed to solve during the interim was that of food supplies. However, the great war had reduced the number of elite warriors by the hundreds of thousands; these soldiers required far more food than ordinary werewolves. Hence, they would still be able to get through this year even if nothing was done. Qianye could also choose to buy food from the Empire to tide through this difficult period.

    Song Hui didn¡¯t think the same, though. Seeing that Qianye didn¡¯t understand what she was getting at, she simply said, ¡°Have you ever thought about how many humans thisnd could amodate if there were no werewolves?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. Admittedly, he had not thought about this. His ns for the next couple of years were based on the current situation, so he hadn¡¯t really considered any extreme measures.

    Since Song Hui had asked, he went through the numbers very quickly in his mind. High-ranking experts and soldiers weren¡¯t suitable samples. If they were to consider ordinary civilians, a human a.d.u.l.t required much less foodpared to a werewolf. They were also disproportionately smaller. An a.d.u.l.t werewolf was twice the size of a human and required four times as much food.

    If Qianye was confident about feeding over ten million werewolves, this vastnd stretching hundreds of kilometers could probably sustain forty to fifty million humans, maybe even more. It was just that the environment here was simrly disadvantageous to humans; ordinary people would live shorter livespared to other ces. If he were to bring people from the neutralnds, however, the difference wouldn¡¯t be that big.

    Song Hui¡¯s words seemed to contain a deeper meaning. Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Do you mean I should kill off all the werewolves, then use humans to fill up the space?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to kill them. Just drive them away.¡±

    Qianye frowned deeply. Even for werewolves, arge-scale migration would bring about countless deaths along the way. Considering how primitive these tribes were, it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if half of them died during the exodus. That was no different from a massacre.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°How is that different from killing them? Song Hui, this is twelve million lives we¡¯re talking about. Do you really want to kill them all?¡±

    ¡°Those of a different race will always have different intentions! Besides, there¡¯s only so muchnd to go around. I would rather amodate humans than raise so many werewolves. From our race¡¯s standpoint, we must exterminate these werewolves. How did you think the Great Qin pioneered newnd? The continents we upied weren¡¯t uninhabited ces before we came.¡±

    The middle continents were, of course, not barren. Especially the territories controlled by the Empire and the major ns, many of them could be considered extremely fertile locations. The foundations of daybreak were forcibly torn out from the dark races¡¯ hands.

    Qianye knew that she spoke the truth. The rise of the human race was filled with sacrifices, and those remains didn¡¯t just belong to the human race. There were countless dark races among them as well.

    He said after a moment of silence, ¡°I remember a certain theory saying that since the energy of this world is divided into Daybreak and Evernight, every race has the right to survive on the continents. Either daybreak or darkness, the destruction of one race will bring about the birth of another one, so blind killing has no meaning. This is the Fort Continent, neither the Empire nor the Evernight Council. Perhaps things can work differently here? Besides, these werewolves are sincere about their submission, they have also proven their loyalty.

    Qianye paused for a moment and said honestly, ¡°Under these circ.u.mstances, I don¡¯t have the heart to do it.¡±

    Song Hui didn¡¯t let go. ¡°How did they prove their loyalty?¡±

    ¡°With two hundred thousand lives.¡±

    Song Hui had no choice but to nod. ¡°Fine, even if that¡¯s the case, what will you do if they revoltter on?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I will give them whatever they were promised. If someone wants to betray me, then do you think I will let them off? No small number of dark races have fallen to my de.¡±

    ¡°Very well then.¡± Song Hui heaved a sigh. ¡°What are your ns for this nation, though? Will it stand on the Daybreak side or the Evernight side?¡±

    This was a problem every kingdom would have to face. For whom did this nation exist, for whom would this nation fight? The most basic of questions, however, had Qianye stumped.

    There was nock of powers iming to be neutral, but everyone knew that this was an overstatement. Those who could truly be neutral were either sufficiently weak or sufficiently strong. It could also be that this neutral state brought about sufficient benefits.

 Chapter 1222: The Course to Take

    <h4>Chapter 1222: The Course to Take</h4>

    Qianye remained silent for a moment since he had no answer. All of a sudden, he wanted to know what Lin Xitang would think of his choice.

    At this instance, a memory buried deep within his mind resurfaced once more. It had been so long that he had forgotten what that dumpster on Evernight Continent looked like. All he remembered was the final moments before leaving that ce. His hands felt cold on the gun, and his little fingers had to stretch quite far in order to reach the trigger. The weapon¡¯s sight was following a small figure staggering into the distance.

    Lin Xitang lost a bet because of that.

    After entering Yellow Springs, Qianye realized that his action that day was uneptable. Even a fleeing enemy might reveal their fangs at any moment.

    Lin Xitang never judged whether he was right or wrong, but Qianye could never forget about it. The bet and discussion between Lin Xitang and Gu Tuohai were so casual that it felt like they were discussing whether a child from their family was picking between water and milk.

    Why did Lin Xitang not point out his mistake? If¡­ that was a mistake.

    Qianye looked up from his distant thoughts and looked at Song Hui. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought it through.¡±

    Song Hui didn¡¯t press the matter, either. She said before leaving, ¡°I wasn¡¯t telling you to kill all those werewolves, just reminding you that there are other options. I just want to give you suggestions from a different viewpoint so that I have value in remaining here. It¡¯s not¡­ nevermind.¡±

    She left quickly following a nod from Qianye.

    Song Hui¡¯s words seemed to contain some other meaning, but Qianye had no intention of asking her about things she wasn¡¯t willing to say. Too many questions would make things awkward for everyone.

    Qianye opened the map and began drawing on it, making one marking after the other. The territory on this map was very different from several months ago. The southwest of Zheng, the great corridor, and the Jade Sea had connected into a vast nation. The surface area of this domain was three times that of Zheng, equal to seven provinces.

    Thend was big, but most of it was barren and far fromparable to the Empire¡¯s richnds. There were over a million humans on thisnd, but there were over ten million werewolves. Fully mobilized, they could produce an army of millions from this poption, but this would stop all development. Qianye didn¡¯t have the resources to equip such a big army, either.

    At this point, it could be said they had full control of the Jade Sea. There were some tribes in the periphery that had not submitted, but dealing with them was just a matter of time. Internal stability would take some time, but judging from the three major tribes that had sworn their loyalty, it would seem that Eiseka¡¯s legendary story was much more effective than expected. This would facilitate the process of unifying all werewolf tribes in the Jade Sea.

    Qianye suddenly felt helpless. It was as though he had been forced onto the throne by Eiseka and his countless werewolves. He had thought about bing a human general, or even a marshal. In his desperate moments, he had also considered heading to Evernight with his vampire identity and live out his life in peace, watching Nighteye from afar. He had never imagined himself as the king of so many werewolves and humans.

    It wasn¡¯t quite possible for the feuding dark races and humans to live together in peace. Although Qianye had made the decision, he felt a bad headache at the thought of all the potential problems. Tactics and statecraft weren¡¯t his strong suits. Even building a foundation in Fort Continent was within Song Zining¡¯s greater strategy framework. Now that Song Zining was tied down in the Empire, he would have to rely on himself for everything.

    Although his strength was sufficient to keep him on the throne, he was far from being skilled enough to run a country. For instance, he still had no idea where to take the nation after unifying the Jade Sea.

    Looking at the map, he felt as though he could see countless werewolf warriors upon it. Their heads peering at him through the crowd, looking restless.

    Qianye ced his hand in front of him. A gentle glow appeared therein, one that was almost white but with a hint of gold and scarlet within.

    This was Venus Dawn after his advancement to the divine champion realm. It looked gentle but was, in fact, filled with boundless power. The domain derived from it naturally contained a burning characteristic.

    This simple characteristic couldn¡¯t be looked down upon because the heat could grow limitlessly. No person or object could truly defend against a ceaseless increase in temperature.

    It could be said that Qianye¡¯s current domain of weight and heat could turn into a raging inferno, provided that he could shoulder the massive drain. Nothing would exist within, nor could any domain power contend against it.

    Was thatbat strength enough to intimidate ten million werewolves?

    The primitive werewolves were naturally ferocious, especially the ancestral school which worked to drive the werewolves back to their roots, abandoning technology and turning them into something akin to beasts. Without any external battles, these werewolf tribes would frequently fight among themselves. They reproduced quickly, anyway, with each litter containing four or five offsprings. Only the high-ranking experts would give birth one-by-one.

    So, there was no safety or peace to speak of in werewolfnds. Even if one of them was looted or defeated, their tradition imed that it was only because the victim was too weak.

    Being weak was a sin in their world.

    ¡°All in all, I can¡¯t let them remain idle.¡± Qianye came to this conclusion. His gazended further out as he began searching for the next objective. He needed to find an outlet for the millions of werewolves to vent their impatience.

    Since he had reached a conclusion, he quickly got down to the execution. Very soon, an arduous task fell upon Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan.

    Both of them wereughing wryly when they walked out of the meeting room. They were both still wrapped in bandages¡ªeven a werewolf couldn¡¯t recover so quickly from such severe injuries. The Great Qin army had nock of regenerative equipment, but such facilities were beyond rare on the Fort continent. Even worse was that the medicines Qianye had prepared for his experts were all of the daybreak attribute, so Eiseka couldn¡¯t use them. His recovery ended up no different from Xu Jingxuan.

    Eiseka was just about to say something when he erupted in a violent cough. Blood began to seep out of his bandages.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Xu Jingxuan asked.

    ¡°This little injury won¡¯t kill me. That mission, though, just might do me in!¡±

    Xu Jingxuan could only sigh as he could find no words.

    A calm voice arrived from the side, ¡°You guys can rejoice in grand deeds now! You must be happy, right?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka turned around to see Song Lun and Song Hui walking out of the meeting room. Song Lun looked helpless, but Song Hui was looking sideways at them in anger.

    As a slick person, Xu Jingxuan decided to keep his silence. Eiseka, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t help his werewolf nature. Heughed out loud, saying, ¡°This mission won¡¯t seed with just us. You guys are probably involved as well, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Song Lun snorted while Song Hui red at the werewolf count. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand why themander treats you so well! I¡¯ve never seen you people wearing armor in thest century. Don¡¯t you have thick hides? Why would you need armor all of a sudden?¡±

    Eisekaughed. ¡°He does treat us quite well.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan said, ¡°They traded their lives for their current treatment. Without the battle of the Jade Sea, the Whitebone Duke wouldn¡¯t havee out so easily. The casualties wouldn¡¯t have stopped here if we had to fight our way to the duke¡¯s castle.¡±

    Song Hui said angrily, ¡°I know that! But our resources are limited and the number of armor we can produce is limited. How do we split things? Why don¡¯t you yield your new army¡¯s quota?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was immediately stopped up. Every general had his own motives, with their men being their first priority. Giving up life-saving items like armors and weapons was impossible to even for the most generous of leaders. The new army had to join the battle all the same, and humans were even more reliant on gear than werewolves.

    Currently, there were roughly three forces under Qianye¡¯smand. One of them was Dark me which hade from the neutralnds. These men were Qianye¡¯s direct subordinates and far stronger than the people on the Fort Continent. Naturally, their status could not be shaken. In terms of number and fighting power, however, the werewolves were the strongest. There were simply too many of them. If they really had to contest for things, it would be between the new army and the werewolves.

    But having experienced life and death together, the two generals were now feeling a bit awkward. Even if Xu Jingxuan didn¡¯t try to rob the werewolves of their quota, it wasn¡¯t possible for him to give up his own.

    Eiseka was the first to realize this. He bowed toward Song Hui in a human-style salutation and said, ¡°The werewolves lead bitter lives. Our soldiers are not afraid of death, but if possible, I would like for less of them to die, so that they can continue fighting for themander.¡±

    Song Hui snorted after hearing this, her initial displeasure lessening quite a bit. Everyone had some measure ofpassion in their hearts. These werewolves had suffered grave casualties in the war in order to prove their loyalty.

    Xu Jingxuan came to and also bowed toward Song Hui. ¡°The same goes for our new army, we¡¯ll always charge at the forefront in future battles. That way, themander¡¯s core forces can be applied at the critical moment. That¡¯s why we¡¯ll count on you, young miss, for their equipment. I have some good wine back at home. I¡¯ll send some to you once we get back to the fortress.¡±

    Eiseka was a werewolf, after all, so he had no idea about this human custom. Only after listening up to this point did he realize that just speaking good words wasn¡¯t enough; he would have to send gifts as well. He immediately remedied his shoring, saying, ¡°Our vige has¡­ that product. I¡¯ll send some over for you to try.¡±

    The two spoke one after the other, ttering and giving gifts in a hurry. Even the werewolf had realized that Song Hui held control over all supplies and logistics. No matter what Qianye had decided, she would be the one to execute the orders. They would need to gain her favor in order to obtain a steady supply of equipment.

    Song Hui¡¯s mood improved greatly and even found Eiseka much more agreeable. As for Xu Jingxuan, he had been working his way up in Zheng for some time, so he had his fair share of survival knowledge. His rtionship with everyone was rather good, to begin with.

    Song Lun simply couldn¡¯t watch on. He coughed deeply, saying, ¡°It¡¯s fine wherever your equipmentes from, just don¡¯t think about taking anything from Dark me.¡±

    Song Hui said, ¡°Supplies will always lean to the front lines. Whoever stays at the front will get better gear.¡±

    Song Lun said indifferently, ¡°Whatever you say, just don¡¯t consider this as your family business and think that whatever you say counts.¡±

    Song Hui said furiously, ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    Song Lun sped his hands inside his sleeves and said calmly, ¡°I¡¯m one of Seventh Young Master¡¯s men. Since he has ordered me to give it my all in supporting Sire Qianye, I must think for his sake. I suggest you do the same as well and don¡¯t think about things you shouldn¡¯t be thinking. To bepletely frank, he can tten the entire Jade Sea himself even without our help.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka had both seen Qianye breaking through in battle and killing the Whitebone Duke with ease. Of course, they knew that Song Lun wasn¡¯t bluffing. Shaken to the core, they immediately agreed to his suggestion.

    Song Hui looked displeased but didn¡¯t retort. In the end, she said coldly, ¡°Themander will decide whether or not I have selfish motives, there¡¯s no need for a third party toment on it. If you think I¡¯m not suitable for this position, I can give it to you!¡±

    Song Lun switched to a smile. ¡°Themander must have a reason for picking you. Why would I question him? Besides, I can¡¯t work well in your position, either. My specialty is serving as a diplomat and liaison. I can¡¯t do other things well.¡±

    Song Hui red at him for a good while. That nonchnt demeanor of his left her with nowhere to vent her anger. ¡°As long as you understand!¡±

    Song Lun said, ¡°This uing mission is indeed difficult. Why don¡¯t we sit down somewhere and discuss? Outfitting five hundred thousand werewolves and new recruits is no easy task.¡±

 Chapter 1223: Sea of Jade

    <h4>Chapter 1223: Sea of Jade</h4>

    Training five hundred thousand werewolves was no easy task, nor was it as easy as just issuing armor.

    Qianye¡¯s requirements were that the werewolf forces had to be incorporated with the new human army. They would also have to go into battle together. Such training was much moreplicated and sharply increased the selection standard for the werewolves.

    The strong but bestial and disobedient could not be selected. In the past, these werewolves were an essential part of the army¡ªthey would go berserk in battle and charge with no concern for their lives, the best cards in a werewolfmander¡¯s hands.

    But Qianye seemed disdainful of such warriors, leaving no room for them in the mixed army. This meant that they would have to mobilize almost every tribe in order to hit five hundred thousand men. The work involved was astronomical.

    No cannon fodder? Eiseka said nothing, mainly because he did not know how to put it. It was a good thing that Qianye wouldn¡¯t use the werewolves as cannon fodder¡­ but!

    The new army had always used the same method to train their soldiers. Now, Qianye had toppled it entirely and decided to use the rapid method Song Zining had used to train Dark me. Hence, Xu Jingxuan¡¯s work wasn¡¯t easy, either.

    At this point, the four of them were exhausted, each burdened by a mountain of things to do. Song Hui said, ¡°Who is he going to fight with an army of such scale?¡±

    These words woke everyone up. That was indeed the case of basic mobilization¡ªthere would be some differences in preparation depending on the opponent. The more detailed this consideration was, the greater their chances of victory and the smaller the casualties.

    Song Lun nced at Xu Jingxuan. ¡°You¡¯re from Fort Continent, what are your thoughts?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan nced at Eiseka. ¡°My home has always been blocked by the great corridor and the Jade Sea. Two months ago, I was still wondering how to stop the next werewolf attack. There¡¯s no way I could¡¯ve bothered with something so distant. Ask him!¡±

    Eisekaughed wryly. ¡°You guys must¡¯ve forgotten. I¡¯m also blocked by the Jade Sea. Our ancestral map doesn¡¯t even have the entire Jade Sea in it. How should I know what¡¯s there on the other side?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we call the Jade Sea chiefs over and ask them?¡± Song Hui suggested.

    ¡°That would be best.¡±

    Momentster, the werewolf chief with the bright feathered headdress walked into the meeting room. ¡°You guys know that I¡¯m the smartest chief in the Jade Sea, right? You came to the right person for your question. Oh, right¡­ what was the question again?¡±

    This turkey chief was rather plump, his body almost twice the girth of an ordinary werewolf. It was difficult to associate him with smart no matter how one looked at him. His past style had always been more reckless than smart. His tribe had grown powerful only because his luck was especially good.

    The group exchanged nces. In the end, Eiseka asked, ¡°Hawk, how much do you know about the other side of the Jade Sea?¡±

    Hawk smiled in a carefree manner. ¡°There¡¯s nothing I don¡¯t know. West from the Jade Sea is some werewolf and humannds. South from the Jade sea is some werewolf and humannds.¡±

    This information was utterly useless.

    Song Lun nced at Eiseka. ¡°Can we find a tribe that lives close to the western border?¡±

    Eiseka shook his head. ¡°That ce is too far, the tribes there have not submitted yet.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Isn¡¯t our objective clear? We¡¯ll just have to take down those tribes first and see!¡±

    Just as everyone was in a heated discussion, Qianye was gazing at the Fort Continent map and contemting his next move. The distribution of various powers, minerals, and resources were clearly marked on this map.

    Qianye had kept this copy of confidential Imperial intelligence. He would make a copy of it only when required and make ns from it.

    At first, Qianye had wanted to rest and consolidate internal power after taking the Jade Sea, however, he had never imagined that so many werewolves would join him. To keep these werewolves busy, he had no choice but to hasten his expansion ns.

    Several dayster, the battlefield had been cleared. Qianye¡¯s new army of soldiers and prisoners marched out toward the capital of the Jade Sea, Cerulean Wave City.

    With such arge army in tow, a journey only a couple hundred kilometers long took several days. Immediately after entering the core region of the Jade Sea, a vast body of water appeared before Qianye. Even from the deck of the battlecruiser, which was hundreds of meters in the air, he could not see the end of the sea.

    The bluish-green waves crashed onto the rocky shores, producing a rhythm that was soft and drawn. The shores were lined with patches of blue or green, making the clear waters seem like a giant piece of jade.

    These waters were actually part of an indke. It was just that theke was so big that it stretched hundreds of kilometers and was thus called the Jade Sea. The region around it was also named after it.

    After marching along the shores for half a day, a majestic city appeared before the army.

    This city was on a penins that stretched into theke. The majestic walls were thirty meters in height, and the main building¡ªthe tallest structure¡ªstood at almost a hundred meters tall. The giant balcony at the top overlooked the beautiful scenery of the Jade Sea. The walls were strong and thick, with bastions protruding at regr intervals. From a defensive point of view, it could be considered almost invulnerable.

    The castle area was big, and outside of it was an even bigger residential area that stretched outside of the penins. It was just that the structures outside were small and shabby, almost like the slums by Imperial standards.

    The castle was visibly chaotic as the army arrived, but themotion soon died down.

    News of the Whitebone Duke¡¯s demise and the defeat of the allied tribal army had already reached Cerulean Wave City. Eiseka had also sent an envoy ahead to pacify them. The world of the werewolves was where the strong preyed on the weak, where the strongest was king. With the Whitebone Duke dead, Qianye was now considered the new ruler. The lower-ranking werewolves now had a new object of worship, and thus, life was no different from before.

    The vanguard battalion spread out just outside Cerulean Wave City. When Qianye walked out of the warship, hundreds of werewolves were standing respectfully on each side.

    These werewolves were all titled experts. Although they were mostly knights and barons, it was already a force that couldn¡¯t be scoffed at. They were all well-dressed, with carvings and bright patterns on their weapons and armor. These wealthy and respectable people were either chiefs, shamans, or people from powerful ns in the city.

    These werewolves exchanged puzzled nces after seeing Qianye, not knowing what to do. From his image and momentum, Qianye was someone they should be waiting upon respectfully.

    But he was simply too young! This was actual youth, not just because of good care andplexion. Additionally, they couldn¡¯t sense a single wisp of origin power from Qianye¡¯s body. He looked just like an ordinary person at a nce, but the pressureing off of him was so strong that it was difficult to breathe in his presence.

    Realizing this, Eiseka whispered, ¡°Sire, your aura!¡±

    Qianye came to and released a wisp of dark golden blood energy. In the blink of an eye, the profound aura from the River of Blood rushed into the depths of every werewolf¡¯s bloodline, causing them to tremble uncontrobly. With a plop, the werewolf chief closest to Qianye fell to his knees, followed closely by one werewolf after the other. They threw themselves to the ground, prostrating in great reverence.

    Caroline¡¯s expression shifted briefly, and her gaze toward him became abstruse.

    At this moment, the feeling Qianye gave her was different again. It was emptier, fleeting, and harder to grasp. That deep, cryptic sensation was akin to a bottomless abyss. After his battle with the Whitebone Duke, Qianye seemed to be improving constantly and at all times. Every other day, his aura would be different from before, and there was no telling how far his strength had advanced.

    Looking at the kneeling werewolves, Qianye withdrew his aura and returned to being an ordinary person. ¡°Get up, everyone, take me into the city for a tour.¡±

    The werewolves remained immobile, only daring to get up and follow when Qianye walked past them. The suppression of bloodline origins was highly evident among the dark races, and the tremendous disparity in status canceled out the antagonism between races. To these werewolf experts, what little defiance they felt toward blood energy vanished after experiencing Qianye¡¯s terrifying pressure.

    A white-haired shaman walked up to Qianye¡¯s side and said, ¡°I was the great shaman of the city when the duke was still alive, I¡¯ve been in this post for over three hundred years. Every little change in this city is carved deep in my soul. As such, I¡¯ll be the one to exin things to you from here on out. Please don¡¯t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions.¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    From outside of the city to the gates was a main road that was ten meters wide, a grand pathway paved from crushed stones. However, the buildings on either side were nothing but small shacks. They didn¡¯t look so bad from afar, but up close, they were made of nothing more than wooden poles and thatched walls. They were so crude that they didn¡¯t even have windows and doors. All they could do was barely keep the wind and rain away.

    The furnishings inside them were also extremely crude. Most of them did not have beds; instead, there was only hay on the floor, and not every house had a cab. The visible tables and chairs were badly damaged, often missing legs and reced with tree branches.

    There was a vomit-inducing stench permeating the slums area. The primitive werewolves had no idea, but the humans couldn¡¯t stand it.

    Qianye was unfazed as an origin power barrier covered his entire body to block out the odor. Those mercenary generals, however, did not have this ability. They were grimacing and looking as though they could cry very soon. Song Hui was looking especially pale, almost as though she would puke any moment.

    Seeing this, Qianye could only send her back to the battlecruiser to rest. Xu Jingxuan and the mercenaries did not have this fortune, though. They could only brace themselves and follow Qianye into the city.

    This road into the city was so long that it seemed endless. More and more werewolves appeared from the shacks and stood on either side of the road, observing the entourage in silence. Their expressions were numb and their bodies filthy,pletely devoid of the bloodthirstmon to their race. The only thing they possessed was weakness and decay.

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought there would be such werewolves?¡± One of the generals said in a whisper.

    Eiseka¡¯s ears were sharp. In the end, he said, ¡°The poor exist everywhere, the werewolves are no exception.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t they go to the great corridor?¡±

    ¡°Going there means death, which is worse than living here in this state. At the very least, they have a chance to reach the skies in one go.¡±

    After asking more about it, the general found out that the Whitebone Duke would pick a batch of young werewolves every year. In name, it was to gather disciples, but in truth, most of them were just servants in the residence. Those who became guards would have to thank the heavens.

    Even bing a servant was a big upgrade to these lowly werewolves, despite the Whitebone Duke appearing less than once a year. As such, these werewolves were gathered outside of the city just for this small opportunity once every year.

    Normally, when the shamans and chiefs in the city required manpower, these werewolves would serve as manualbor or even cannon fodder. And just like that, hundreds of thousands of werewolves lived on the food scraps from those powerful people.

 Chapter 1224: Cerulean Wave City

    <h4>Chapter 1224: Cerulean Wave City</h4>

    This was a natural phenomenon among the poorest of the poor. These people could not provide for the old as all resources would be used on the children, the young, and the strong, in order to preserve their bloodline.

    Such a poption would produce even more qualified soldiers if they were properly fed and trained.

    Finally, they passed through the giant slums area and arrived at the castle gates. Facing one side of the penins, the gates of Cerulean Wave City were majestic. This fifty-meter gate almost felt like it could blot out the sky. There were three towers on either side of the gate, sporting threeyers of firing ports each and a t tform at the top that could fit even more archers.

    The walls were cut from giant stones, each several tons in weight, and such stones were all over the walls. It seemed only werewolves would be able to carry such things up with manualbor.

    The dampness had allowed forrge patches of moss at the base and vines creeping up the wall. Numerous leaves and grasses could be seen poking out from the gaps in the stone, and there were even small trees growing tenaciously among them.

    The mottled green hue painted the city with the color of vicissitudes, the precipitation of time. This giant city almost looked like a piece of art. From a different perspective, however, it seemed to have fallen into disrepair since vines and grass on the walls were a taboo for defense.

    It was obvious that Cerulean Wave City hadn¡¯t experienced war for a good while. Such a majestic city simply had no ce in battle. It was more like a historicalndmark to celebrate the Whitebone Duke. Only the duke, who had ruled the Jade Sea for three hundred years, could mobilize countless people and spend decades building such a city.

    After entering through the gates, Qianye nced up all of a sudden. His eyes paused briefly on two of the towers before he kept walking into the city nonchntly.

    This small movement caused several werewolf nobles to tense up. The shaman who had been following Qianye red fiercely at these people. He then summoned a powerful, young werewolf warrior and whispered something into his ears. That werewolf ran away immediately and vanished up the tower in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye ignored all of this and kept up his pace into the city.

    The main road inside Cerulean Wave City was fairly wide, much more so than human-city standards. The road was lined with stone buildings that stood three to four stories tall. These structures were built ording to werewolf standards, so their four storeys wereparable to a six-storey human building.

    Most of the roads were lined with stores, but business looked cold and customers, sparse. The selection of goods on sale was fairlycking, mostly ham, leather goods, weapons, and armor. There were very few manufactured goods and almost noplex products that required a big industrial system.

    Seeing Qianye observing the stores, the great shaman pointed to arge street on one side. ¡°That¡¯s the most bustling trade street in the city. There are all kinds of resources being traded, and it can be considered the most flourishing market in the Jade Sea. Why don¡¯t we take a look if you¡¯re interested.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye nodded.

    This horizontal avenue was ten meters wide, only second to the main road. It was lined with a great number of stores and definitely bustlingpared to the main road. The manager stepped out to wee Qianye as he entered a tavern, followed by a swarm of servers. With a bow, the manager presented arge bowl of wine and said, ¡°This is the best we have in our collection, usually saved for the duke¡¯s enjoyment. Please try it!¡±

    Qianye took a small sip from the bowl and found the spirit sweet and pungent. It could only be considered passable. If even the duke¡¯s wine was of this level, it was easy to imagine what the others would taste like.

    The three-storeyed tavern looked quite grand, but the interior was rather crude. There were only a couple of tables and chairs in the hall for customers to drink on.

    Rows upon rows of jars were lined up behind the counter, almost using half the storefront as a warehouse. The wine receptacles were barely passable¡ªthe bowls were just crude pottery, and the same went for most others.

    Qianye went up to the second floor and saw that it was a storage area filled with wine barrels suffused with a pungent smell. If this were the Empire, such a big tavern would never be arranged in such a manner since the second floor could be used to disy rare collections. Then Qianye remembered the werewolves¡¯ habits¡ªthey weren¡¯t going to care about rare wines when they were fine with just any alcohol.

    Although such words would breed dissatisfaction, the truth of the matter was that appreciation and taste could only be cultivated with money.

    After walking out of the tavern, the establishment next door was the butcher¡¯s. The room, filled with a strong gamey odor, was lined with various kinds of cured meats for sale. From the looks of it, the werewolves didn¡¯t really mind this smell.

    There were several such meat shops along the street. Apparently, food was everything in this world. There were also a good number of armor and weapon shops. Qianye looked over them carelessly, finding nothing that could catch his attention.

    Qianye actually found a store selling origin guns after passing through half the street and was immediately intrigued. He walked into the store called Thunder God and saw an entire wall decorated with all kinds of origin guns. These weapons were mostly of werewolf-make¡ªcrude, bold, and big. Even the grips were muchrger than normal weapons. The guns had muzzles the size of a fist, and the thick barrels looked rather powerful.

    Most of the guns had barbs around them or even saw des, which truly made one wonder whether they were guns or long war des. Their appearance made them look more like melee weapons than anything else.

    Qianye picked up an origin gun and couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed after careful observation. The gun was big, sturdy, and the materials were solid, but it was too heavy for ordinary humans. The origin array inside the gun was too simple and crude¡ªthe craftsmanship wasn¡¯t great, and the outdated technique was from hundreds of years ago. It could barely form an origin bullet and fire it.

    Not to mention the arrays that couldpress and amplify the bullet, lengthen its range, or apply special effects, Qianye couldn¡¯t even find one that could stabilize the bullet trajectory. Speaking in terms of gunpowder weapons, all this firearm could do was stuff a pellet and gunpowder inside the barrel, then fire it.

    As for why the gun was so bulky, the materials weren¡¯t good enough, so there would be problems if the barrel wasn¡¯t thick enough. The other reason might be that werewolves would also use the gun as melee weapons. At the very least, they were sufficiently sturdy and heavy.

    Qianye put down the gun and asked, ¡°Is this the best you have?¡±

    The shaman replied, ¡°Of course not! These are for ordinary warriors. The true experts are equipped directly by the duke¡¯s manor, where all the best craftsmen work. For instance, this one is from the duke¡¯s manor.¡±

    One of the chiefs nearby removed his gun and passed it with both hands.

    Qianye took the gun and fiddled with it. This one was much better in quality and was even studded with gems and golden veined patterns. The origin array was also much moreplicated and possessed all basic functionality. That was the extent of it, though; there was nothing special about it. So, it would seem that the craftsmen of the duke¡¯s manor wereparable to any random smith in the Empire and Evernight.

    It wasn¡¯t so surprising, considering how primitive this society was. It was virtually impossible for them to grasp high-end origin array technology. Even if they did, they wouldn¡¯t have the relevant processing capacity. On the other hand, even the werewolves of the higher continents preferred meleebat over origin guns.

    Even against a genius like William, Qianye had only exchanged fire with him once under the Iron Curtain. Most of the time, Wim¡¯sbat style was reliant on his innate powers, the most powerful of them being his giant wolf form.

    Among the four races, the use and poprity of origin guns were the worst among werewolves. This was rted to their nature, but there were other reasons as well. The arachne possessed even stronger bodies, but they weren¡¯t too far behind in the utilization of origin guns. Most of them favored hand cannons because of their strength, which increased their mid to short-rangebat strength.

    Qianye returned the gun to its owner. Since there was nothing more to see at this point, the shaman took the lead and brought Qianye toward the duke¡¯s manor.

    The duke¡¯s residence was on the side of Cerulean Wave City that was close to theke, overlooking the surrounding scenery. It took up almost a fifth of the entire city, separated from the rest of the city by a moat and drawbridge.

    Standing at the main gates, the great shaman said, ¡°Since receiving news of your arrival, we have sealed off the duke¡¯s treasure and smithy. The duke¡¯s former residence in the main building remains closed, in the same state he left it.¡±

    Qianye nodded. This great shaman was indeed considerate and thorough with his arrangements.

    The walls of the duke¡¯s manor were well-maintained, a stark contrast to the overgrown vines of the city wall. Moreover, the two big majestic doors were coated in copper. The gates were fully open in preparation for Qianye¡¯s arrival.

    After entering the gates, Qianye saw a tform against each wall, equipped with a capstan and several strong werewolves standing beside it. Who would¡¯ve thought the duke¡¯s manor was being operated by such a primitive mechanism?

    Qianye remembered something all of a sudden. He had felt that something was missing since entering the city¡ªit turned out to be a kic tower. As the core energy source forrge machinery, a kic tower was the mark of every city. Even the cities on Evernight Continent would have one, although most of them were antique models.

    Yet such a big city like Cerulean Wave that could fit a hundred thousand men just on its walls alone didn¡¯t have one. Without a kic tower, not only would they have to operate the city gates by manpower, but they also couldn¡¯t install various types of powerful cannon turrets. No wonder all the towers were manned by archers.

    At this point, Qianye gained a new understanding of how primitive and closed off the Jade Sea werewolves were.

    The duke¡¯s manor was more like a small city than anything, with its own warehouse and workshop districts. The main building was where the Whitebone Duke lived. The great hall and dining chamber could be considered quite big, and there was even a sizable museum that housed the duke¡¯s trophies.

 Chapter 1125: King of Legends

    <h4>Chapter 1125: King of Legends</h4>

    The decorations here were mostly made of beast bones, rather fitting for the duke¡¯s name and yet they made the entire ce look ghastly. The floors above housed all kinds of cultivation chambers,boratories, and even a small workshop, probably where the duke himself worked on his bone gear.

    The duke¡¯s bedroom was on the top floor of the castle, taking up an entire floor. There was arge bed made of beast bones, covered in different kinds of beast skins. This bedroom looked especially werewolf-like¡ªprimitive and bestial.

    What left Qianye speechless was that the bedroom was not sealed. The side that faced the Jade Sea was supported by over a dozen stone pirs but with no wall or windows. The cold wind from the Jade Sea could blow in without restraint and fill every corner of the room with a deep chill. The werewolves weren¡¯t cold-blooded animals; they liked fire and warmth as well. Qianye simply couldn¡¯t understand this duke¡¯s preferences. The bedroom was decorated with arge number of bone carvings, beast heads, and strange-looking rocks. It looked more like a sacrificial altar than a bedroom.

    The shaman said something while Qianye was looking around the room. To which, he couldn¡¯t help but exim, ¡°You want me to stay here!?¡±

    The shaman replied respectfully, ¡°This is a holy area, only you have the right to stay here.¡±

    Fortunately, the weather wasn¡¯t too cold yet. Otherwise, Qianye really suspected whether these werewolves were nning to make him freeze to death. The Jade Sea possessed four distinct seasons, and the winters were fairly cold. The human sea wind at such a height might actually freeze people to death.

    Qianye shrugged and walked over to the white bone-bed. He patted the headboard casually and tried lifting a piece of hide. ¡°Dismantle this bed first and throw it away.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he let out an exmation of surprise and began observing the hide. This beast skin¡ªwith ck patterns on a white base¡ªfelt fairly ordinary to the touch, and it was hard to tell what kind of beast it hade from. This thing had been used as a mattress, so Qianye had no intention of keeping it. What surprised him was that he actually couldn¡¯t tear it away with a casual tug. So, he unknowingly added more strength, but it still wouldn¡¯t budge!

    Qianye¡¯s strength was enough to tear steel tes, let alone beast hides. This ck and white beast skin, however, was entirely unharmed. That was highly abnormal.

    After removing the messy beast hide on the bed, he saw that a corner of it was wedged into the bone. The sturdy beast hide was one thing, but the bones that formed the bed frame were also extraordinary.

    Qianye carelessly flicked the headboard of the bed. An origin power glow flickered at his fingertips, eliciting a sound of shing metal as he made contact. There was now a white spot on the bed-frame, and most of it disappeared when it was wiped.

    Qianye raised his brows in surprise. That flick wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed because he had utilized the power of Venus Dawn. His origin crystal wasn¡¯t entirely stable, and the definitive powers of a divine champion weren¡¯t evident just yet. However, his origin power had inched closer to the Daybreak origin after the recent purification process.

    The might of this flick wasparable to a shot from an origin cannon, yet it had only left a small mark on the bed. It would seem the creature from which these bones were collected wasn¡¯t below the Earth Dragon when it was alive.

    Qianye turned back when he heard a plop behind him, only to find that the great shaman was kneeling with his head lowered to the floor. The werewolf nobles behind him were also in deep prostration.

    ¡°What are you all doing?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ve finally confirmed that you¡¯re the true king of legends!¡±

    ¡°How did that happen?¡±

    The great shaman looked up briefly. ¡°This bed was formed from the remains of a divine beast. No one in three hundred years had left a mark upon it, not even the duke.¡±

    ¡°Since you can¡¯t even dent these bones, how did you make this bed?¡±

    ¡°This bed was constructed under my supervision back in the year. In truth, the framework was made from suitably-shaped natural bones and fixed with leather straps.¡±

    Qianye lifted the hide to reveal the construction of the bed frame. It was just as the shaman had said.

    He then picked up the other pieces of hide and took a brief look at them. The other ones didn¡¯t have the ck and white patterns, but they definitely didn¡¯te from ordinary beasts, either. It was a wonder how the duke had gotten his hands on so many different pieces of void colossus hide.

    It was a waste to use these hides as a mattress, and it wouldn¡¯t befortable at all. Qianye simply couldn¡¯t figure out this duke¡¯s tastes. He rolled up the hides and tossed them to Xu Jingxuan. ¡°Put these away and turn them into armorter on.¡±

    After catching the stack of hides, Xu Jingxuan had to take one step back before he could secure his footing. As someone who knew his stuff, the general¡¯s expression shifted after a nce. ¡°So many!¡±

    Qianye then patted the bed frame, saying, ¡°Disassemble this and send it back to my warship.¡±

    The bones of a void colossus were extremely sturdy, much more so than high-strength alloys. They would need specialized equipment in order to process them. Ignoring everything else, just the saw and drill bits weren¡¯t something any random craftsman would have. Only the Empire or the famed vampire and demonkin ns would have a firm grasp of such technology.

    Even Dark me¡¯s headquarters in Southern Blue could not work on these colossus bones. They would most likely have to be shipped off to the Ningyuan Heavy Industries¡¯ factory in the Empire. As expected, many of the decorative items were made from the remains of void colossi. Using such priceless materials as decorative items was truly a waste.

    Qianye also realized why the Whitebone Duke had his own workshop. He needed to work on these items personally since almost no one else in the Jade Sea was capable enough.

    The void colossus¡¯ remains were light and strong, the most premium of materials. Even the Empire¡¯s best alloys would fall short in certain aspects. Bones with remnant vitality like the ones on the Earth Dragon were priceless treasures. These decorative items might be pieces of art in the Whitebone Duke¡¯s eyes, but Qianye had no intention to appreciate them. He ordered his men to ship the items off onto the warship, and of course, it wasn¡¯t so that he could admire them.

    Qianye sized the bed up for a good while. These were natural bones, so he wanted to try and understand more about the void colossus through observation. In the end, he still failed to grasp any important points. Almost as though he had remembered something, Qianye asked, ¡°Since you were the one who oversaw the assembly of this bone bed, do you still have any materials left?¡±

    The shaman said, ¡°Of course, there¡¯s still a lot in fact. Some of them are at the ancestral altar, while the rest are in the duke¡¯s secret treasury.¡±

    ¡°Secret treasury?¡±

    ¡°That is the duke¡¯s personal storage, but he is the only one who knows where it is. The craftsmen involved in its construction have been executed.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Then take your time looking for it. I¡¯m going to the ancestral altar to take a look.¡±

    ¡°Sire, this way.¡±

    The ancestral altar was close to the duke¡¯s residence and was also a grand hall. The structure was thirty meters tall, with an altar made of stone at the very end. Upon it was the carving of a giant wolf, with colossal bones scattered around it.

    There was a small altar in front of the big one, with over a dozen different werewolf sculptures. Judging from their attire, they seemed to be from different tribes.

    The great shaman said, ¡°These are the seventeen tribal ancestors who founded Cerulean Wave City, and also our totem. The central seat belonged to the duke, but now, it is naturally yours.¡±

    There was a stone b at the center of the altar, upon which was an emblem with Qianye¡¯s aura on it.

    In just a short few days, the dark golden blood energy on the emblem had been activated a fair bit. The effect was even more pronounced than with the tribes of the great corridor. As expected of the royal capital of the Jade Sea, the effects of worship here were much stronger.

    In Qianye¡¯s vision, the sculptures of the seventeen ancestors were also surrounded by origin power, all of them inching away from Qianye¡¯s emblem. It was as though they feared the dark golden blood energy.

    cing the emblem at the center of the ancestral altar was proof of the werewolf tribes¡¯ attitude toward Qianye. If they weren¡¯t truly loyal to him, they would rather destroy the altar.

    At this point, Qianye finally understood that the authenticity of that circting legend was not important. What really scared the werewolves into submission was the aura from the River of Blood, brought about by the dark golden blood energy. More urately, it was the power from the darkness origins located at the source of the river.

    Be it demonic energy, blood energy, or the werewolves¡¯ ancestral power, all of them were a part of the darkness system. They were mutually conflicted because of their location in different regions of the spectrum, but all paths led to the same endpoint¡ªthe darkness origin!

    In truth, these werewolves idolized Qianye as the son of darkness. The peerless strength he had exhibited was what the darkness longed for. As for his bloodline and race, it was no longer important.

    After taking a look at the altar, Qianye ordered his men to carry away the colossus bones near the giant wolf totem. Then, he headed toward the Whitebone Duke¡¯s meeting room.

    The hall was simrly extraordinary. The long metal table was even taller than the height of a human male. Even for werewolves, not everyone could find confidence before this tall table.

    There was a giant stone chair at the end. It was just the right fit for the Whitebone Duke, but Qianye looked like a child on it. The seat was so big that even an arachne would find it rather empty. The Whitebone Duke had too many protruding fangs and spikes from his armor, so he couldn¡¯t fit unless the seat was massive.

    Qianye had taken his ce on the main seat when a brief period of chaos ensued below. Under the guidance of Eiseka and the great shaman, Qianye¡¯s entourage upied one side of the table and the Jade Sea nobles, the other.

    The first item of the meeting was the reports. The great shaman stood up to talk about the situation within Cerulean Wave City¡ªthe number of Jade Sea werewolves, the taxation, the soldiers, and the natural products. Next, Eiseka presented a report on the tens of thousands of werewolves who had deserted that day, the progress in hunting them down, and which werewolf tribes in the Jade Sea were still offering resistance.

    Only the border region was still offering visible resistance. These tribes numbered in the hundreds when added together and possessed a military power of over a hundred thousand. It was a fairly sizable power at a nce, but they were dispersed in various locations, so subduing them was just a matter of time.

    The next topic was about minerals and resources. The Jade Sea werewolves lived primitive lives and possessed very little technology. What little they could excavate were justmon goods. Even with the basic technology that they possessed, the spection was that there were even more bountiful resources beneath the vastnd of the Jade Sea. It would only require time to excavate them.

    As for the other resources, they were just gems, treasures, and rare animals, a means for them to exchange weapons with the outside world.

    Cerulean Wave City was the core of the entire Jade Sea. It relied on the bountiful fishing industry to keep hundreds of thousands of citizens fed. The other cities were so small that they looked pitiful. ording to Imperial standards, they were simply small towns.

    After learning the rough situation around the Jade Sea, Qianye assigned one Jade Sea werewolf, one great corridor werewolf, and one mercenary general each to one of six routes. Every route was assigned twenty thousand mixed soldiers, primarily led by the mercenary general and supported by two titled werewolf experts. These forces set out in all directions to sweep through the tribes that wouldn¡¯t give up.

    Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan were left behind to organize the Jade Sea werewolves and form a new mixed army. Nevertheless, equipping hundreds of thousands of werewolves was a burden that even an Imperial marquis¡¯ territory would need to slowly digest. Qianye¡¯s foundations alone were far from enough.

    After Song Hui reported the avable equipment that could be supplied, even the Jade Sea nobles understood what was going on. ording to the current rate of production, it would take two to three decades to equip these hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Can¡¯t we construct more refineries?¡±

    Song Hui replied, ¡°Even if building them is easy, where do we get the ores? Let alone mine, we haven¡¯t even found the ore veins, have we?¡±

    Military supplies had always been aplicated industry, involving various requirements. Many of the ores had to be excavated and smelted in specific ways, so building aplete mining industry wasn¡¯t something that could bepleted in a single day.

    While Qianye was mulling over things, the bright-plumed chief couldn¡¯t hold himself back. ¡°Your Majesty, what¡¯s there to worry about? We werewolves don¡¯t need these weapons and armor in war! Are we not going to fight if we don¡¯t have them? Rest assured, our ws and teeth are the best weapons, and our hides make for the best armor!¡±

    The werewolf spoke vehemently, but the great shaman and other chiefs rolled their eyes at him. Werewolves were supposed to be brave, not stupid. Only an idiot wouldn¡¯t use armor if one was avable.

 Chapter 1226: Ceremonial Altar

    <h4>Chapter 1226: Ceremonial Altar</h4>

    That chief was just about to speak again when the great shaman, unable to hold back any longer, let out a deep cough. The shaman still held a prestigious position among the werewolves despite not having any bright feathers on his head. The chief nced at the great shaman¡¯s expression and decided to return to his seat quietly.

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°Let¡¯s discuss productionter. Take out all the valuable items and precious stones from the treasury, then ask Zining to trade them for equipment. Buy werewolf and human gear¡­ at the ratio of two-to-one.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan and the mercenary generals looked somewhat dissatisfied, but they didn¡¯t say anything. The werewolves, on the other hand, were delighted. Their numbers were several times greater than the humans, so even this ratio could be considered extremely low. Yet, Qianye¡¯s willingness to outfit the werewolves meant that there was still hope of him keeping his promise.

    The procurement of military supplies was aplicated process involving arge amount of subsequent work. Qianye pushed back the details for the moment and nced at the werewolf nobles. ¡°I already know the reason why Eiseka swore fealty to me. What I want to know now is why all of you are willing to recognize me as king.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the son of darkness¡­¡± The great shaman spoke halfway before shutting up, his face pale. He realized that Qianye had his own intentions for asking such a question. He would not ept any excuse or lie.

    The great shaman had never thought about how to put this into words, and some words, he simply did not know how to say. The other shamans and chiefs went silent as well.

    Eiseka wanted to say something but seemed hesitant. Finally, he scratched his head and fell back into his chair. He was, after all, the representative of the great corridor werewolves. The two sides were enemies at war just a while ago, so it wasn¡¯t his role to mediate.

    ¡°Because you avenged us!¡± A sudden voice shocked everyone out of their wits.

    It was that bright-feathered chief again. He was also startled by everyone¡¯s reactions, but he braced himself and said, ¡°What¡¯s there to hide? We¡¯ve long since wanted to cut the Whitebone Duke up and feed him to the fishes. It¡¯s just that no one dared to say it. Which one of us major tribes did not have ancestors, brothers, sisters, or even children who died in the Whitebone Duke¡¯s hands? You, Shaman Auz, didn¡¯t you just deliver your pup to the duke¡¯s residencest month and never saw him again?

    The shaman lowered his head and sighed deeply.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Qianye asked.

    The shaman looked several years older in an instant. ¡°The Whitebone Duke would demand that the tribes send their most outstanding youths to the residence every year to attend a certain ceremony. Many of them would forever disappear after that ceremony. The duke imed to be selecting experts to cultivate in a secret realm, and those who passed the training would be stronger after their return. But from what we know, that is a sacrificial ceremony, and these missing youths are the sacrifices.¡±

    ¡°Did you not resist?¡± Xu Jingxuan asked.

    The great shaman smiled wryly. ¡°Who would dare to go against the duke? There were some tribes that refused or hid their outstanding children, but those tribes were massacred. The duke didn¡¯t even need to act himself. Just his guards and the army he mustered from the other tribes was enough to rampage through everyone. Those who hid their offspring had no good oue, either. For some reason, the duke would always find out if the child was the most outstanding genius of the generation. If he wasn¡¯t, bad luck would befall that tribe all the same. After several such instances, no one else dared to disobey or deceive the duke.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°They didn''t dare rebel against the duke, but they dare disobey me!? It seems I can¡¯t be too nice to these border tribes. Just kill them all.¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°There¡¯s no need! We¡¯ll split up and head to these tribes after the meeting. We will convince them to swear fealty! It won¡¯t be toote to kill them after we fail.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Fine, you better act fast then. Also, they will serve as ves even if they do submit, and they can only redeem their status after proving themselves.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡± The werewolf chiefs and shamans responded in unison, their attitudes even more respectful.

    Qianye said with a nod, ¡°Where did the duke conduct his ceremonies? Take me there.¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°The altar is in the mountains to the north. I only know the general direction because the duke never allowed anyone near the ce. The children from the tribes were all left at the base of the mountain, and the duke would lead them up personally.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll take my warship, you lead the way.¡±

    Affirming the orders respectfully, the great shaman stood up and followed Qianye to the roof of the residence.

    Song Lun had already sent the signal, so the giant battlecruiser was already in the sky above the duke¡¯s residence. It slowly descended and came to a stop a mere ten meters from the roof.

    At this distance, the pressure brought about by the huge warship body was immeasurable. Even though these werewolf nobles had already heard about its existence, they still wentpletely silent. The city was in turmoil as countless werewolves poured out onto the streets to gaze at the massive object that they had never seen before.

    Qianye rose into the air andnded on the deck. The werewolf nobles boarded the vessel after obtaining permission, fighting amongst themselves to be the first. They were thoroughly stunned as they looked around here and there on the airship.

    ¡°This thing can really fly!¡± One of the werewolf chiefs uttered subconsciously.

    The shaman beside him said, ¡°What¡¯s so surprising about an airship being able to fly?¡±

    The chief red back at him. ¡°Have you seen an airship this big? It¡¯s even bigger than the duke¡¯s demonic elephant! Even all the buildings in your tribe added together won¡¯t be as big, right?¡±

    The series of questions stumped the shaman.

    It was at this time that the vessel trembled slightly and the warship leaped elegantly into the sky. Then, it flew toward the north after some adjustments to its direction.

    Qianye stood at the bow, gazing at the mountains and rivers shifting backward below him.

    To the east and south of the Jade Sea was a boundless grasnd. Thendscape rose and fell ever so slightly, producing the grassy knolls around which the werewolf tribes were scattered. The north of the Jade Sea, on the other hand, was more elevated and the beginnings of a mountain range could be seen. The mountains became steeper and steeper toward the north, with ice-capped peaks jutting into the clouds.

    Strewn across thend between the mountain range and the jade sea were patches of farnd. They looked just like a green carpet upon thend, like a paradise in the mortal world. The crops were so well-grown that it was both delightful and surprising to look at.

    Qianye had never imagined that the werewolves would be able to produce such farnds, so he asked about them. The great shaman said awkwardly, ¡°That¡¯s a blessednd where everything grows extremely well, there¡¯s simply no need for any extra care. What we have nted there is called cloud barley. It can grow even in winter and provides two crops each year. It grows back on its own after each harvest, so there¡¯s no need to sow them again.¡±

    Song Hui¡¯s eyes lit up after hearing this.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Not bad, it is indeed a blessednd.¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°Unfortunately, only that strip ofnd is blessed, the other ces are not as magical.¡±

    The great shaman pointed to a snow-capped peak. ¡°The duke¡¯s ceremonial altar should be on that mountain. Thend there is rugged, and the mountain is inhabited by deadly creatures, even people like us would find it difficult to ascend.¡±

    The great shaman was a virtuous count, which meant that the Whitebone Duke had produced a natural defensive line that could stop count-rank experts. That was probably the reason why he had picked this ce for his altar.

    The werewolf counts might not be able to get through the natural barriers, but Qianye found it no different from nd. He couldn¡¯t even be bothered to observe what kind of dangers there were and simply ordered the battlecruiser to hover above the snowy peak.

    The summit had been artificially ttened and was covered by a dark red barrier.

    The mountain was extremely steep, covered in snowy mist and battered by raging winds. There were several grey silhouettes shuttling through the wind and snow at lightning speed. Just from their speed, it was evident that they weren¡¯t ordinary creatures. An ordinary baron would easily be food for them.

    No matter how treacherous the traps here were, Qianye paid little heed as the duke had long since passed and there was no one to take charge of them. He did bring Caroline along just in case, and the two of them flew together toward the mountaintop. With two divine champions working together, suppressing the duke¡¯s setup would be fairly easy.

    The grey figures in the snow cried out in warning as they approached, but Qianye suppressed them with his dark golden blood energy. The silhouettes immediately lost their ferocity, crying in fright as they rushed into the snow and never appearing again.

    Qianye hovered above the defensive barrier and flicked some origin bullets at it. The barrier rippled violently and seemed as though it would copse. Apparently, the barrier was mainly used to stop the wind, snow, and stray birds; its defensive capabilities were quite limited.

    Those grey shadows were the Whitebone Duke¡¯sst line of defense.

    After some probing, Qianye passed through the barrier without further hesitation andnded on the peak. Caroline waited for a while, only following in after seeing nothing wrong.

    The entire snowy peak was like a smooth stone surface, with oddly-shaped poles erected around it. These mottled dark red poles emitted a steady stream of origin power and served as the energy source to maintain the barrier.

    There were at least thousands of such poles. Their individual output might not be great, but it was rather impressive when all of them came together to form the barrier.

    Neither Qianye nor Caroline had seen this technique before.

    Caroline was curious. ¡°What are these?¡± She walked over and, wrapping one of the poles with her whip, pulled it out of the ground. A startled cry followed immediately as some unknown red material dropped out, revealing the white bones within!

    The scene was so unexpected that even Caroline was shocked. She soon rposed herself and went on to study the bone fragments. ¡°I know now, these are the missing werewolf children!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Qianye was surprised as well. Upon careful examination, the part Caroline had dragged out with her whip seemed to be a thigh. The excess portion had been cut off, and the thinner parts had been supplemented with more flesh to form a rtively even pole, which was then buried in the ground.

 Chapter 1227: Blessed Land

    <h4>Chapter 1227: Blessed Land</h4>

    On the snowy peak, there was only a patch of solidified ck soil surrounded by thousands of poles. Nothing else.

    As Qianye walked to the edge of the rocky area and looked out, he felt that some areas of the mountaintop weren¡¯t normal. He swept away all the snow with a wave of his hand, revealing a shocking pile of white bones beneath. Some of the skeletons could be barely recognized as belonging to werewolves, while the others were just fragmented pieces. There was no way to tell what they were if they weren¡¯t located in the sacrificial grounds.

    Seeing white bones was one thing, but the sheer number of them was shocking. Just the visible portion was several meters thick. Who knew how many more skeletal remains were hidden beneath the snow?!

    ¡°Qianye, I¡¯ve found the entrance!¡± Caroline cried out.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered over and found that she had moved a giant rock several meters in diameter, revealing a wide tunnel below.

    A strong odor rushed at their faces after stepping into the tunnel. Caroline immediately covered her nose while Qianye erupted in sanguine mes, which burned away the stench. The tunnel wasn¡¯t long and they arrived in arge hall just after one turn.

    The hall was dozens of meters tall and extremely wide, carved from a natural cave within the mountain. There was a bone torch every ten meters on the four walls. It was unknown what fuel was being used, but the torches were flickering with jade-colored phosphorescence, painting the hall with a wave of eerie green.

    This darkened the areas beyond the range of the light. Caroline could see in the dark, but her vision amidst the specks of phosphorescence was even more blurry than in the dark night. The eerie environment and the stench that filled every corner of the chamber made her greatly ufortable.

    Seeing her turn pale, Qianye raised his right index finger and a speck of light lit up at his fingertip. This speck of light burned with iparable ferocity, almost like a newborn sun, filling the entire hall with light and heat.

    Miserable screams erupted from several corners as werewolves fell out of their hiding ces. Their hide began to emit wisps of ck smoke upon contact with the light of Venus Dawn, quickly filling the hall with a burnt smell. Their dark silhouettes could be seen rolling on the ground in agony.

    Qianye weakened the origin power from his fingertips and restrained the light. It was enough to illuminate the hall but no longer burning destructively. Caroline dragged all the werewolf-like creatures over with a swing of her whip. Upon careful examination, the duo found that they were indeed werewolves¡ªvery young ones that hadn¡¯t matured. Their bodies were riddled with injuries, holes, and defects. These injuries didn¡¯t look like they were sustained in battle.

    Eyes closed and bleeding, the young werewolf pups howled in anguish. Qianye¡¯s origin mes were too scorching for these creatures of darkness. These werewolves looked straight into the light without knowing how powerful it was and were thus blinded.

    Caroline observed them for a while. ¡°They seem to have lost their intelligence.¡±

    Qianye was also puzzled. Their current state wasn¡¯t caused by burns from daybreak origin power. After inspecting their injuries, Qianye sighed, ¡°They¡¯ve lost a fair number of organs. It¡¯s already a miracle that they¡¯re alive.¡±

    ¡°These are werewolves for god''s sake. What did the Whitebone duke do to them? Did he like torturing people so much?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°He probably¡­ had uses for them.¡±

    ¡°Uses!¡± Caroline was stunned. She couldn¡¯t help but tremble when she recalled the poles on the summit and the unknown energy permeating the ce.

    Qianye scanned the entire hall and found a dark purple stone altar at the center. He found after moving closer, that the color was brought about by the prolonged umtion of coagted blood.

    There was a round basin protruding from the center of the altar, covered in origin arrays. These arrays served to activate vitality and muscr growth. Applied to this altar, they also served to let blood.

    The altar was silent and devoid of reaction. Qianye looked around and found rows of tall cabs on the surrounding walls¡ªhis expression shifted slightly when he opened them.

    The cabs were filled with all kinds of organs¡ªsome fresh, some rotting. Who knew how many werewolves they were harvested from.

    There were a number ofboratory workbenches. Qianye had no idea what these strange apparatuses andplicated pipelines were for, but he could tell that some of them were from the Empire. Thebels told him that these were equipment used for tissue extraction.

    At this point, Qianye realized that this was where the Whitebone Duke refined the young werewolf geniuses¡¯ bloodlines and transnted them into his own body. Although he still had no idea what role that altar yed in the process, he could tell from the setup of this hall that the secret art wasn¡¯t all that brilliant. Most of the equipment on the workbenches were fairly old, only one of them being a newer model. That new one didn¡¯t quite fit in with the other equipment either.

    At this point, there was an answer to the status of those young werewolves. They might have suffered other forms of torment and lost their minds from the pain. They also could not maintain their external appearance and were in a perpetual half-human-half-werewolf state.

    Not letting these victims die even after removing the organs, this Whitebone Duke seemed to recognize the state of his own body. Rather than simply transnting their bloodlines, it could be said that he just wanted to torment them. This was probably born of his natural, deep-seated jealousy toward the young.

    An origin me erupted from his fingertip, which flicked out into sparks. The embers of Venus Dawn ignited the young werewolves into a living torch upon contact.

    At this point, Qianye came to understand more about the Whitebone Duke and why the werewolves of the Jade Sea were so quick to turn. In the past hundred years, the duke had killed countless young werewolf geniuses. This weakened the overall level of the Jade Sea werewolves by about two ranks.

    As primitive as these tribes were, they weren¡¯tcking in knowledgeable individuals. These people understood the source of the Jade Sea¡¯s plight and hated the duke to their bones. The only problem was that the difference in strength was too overwhelming, and this gap only grew wider as time went by.

    Considering theircking technology, the Jade Sea¡ªwith its scarce shallow mines¡ªwas a barrennd. All they could produce were small amounts of grain and meat from hunting. Hence, no expert came forth to fight the Whitebone Duke for this piece ofnd. Otherwise, the chieftains and shamans of the Jade Sea would never be able to hold onto such a big territory.

    All these reasons added together gave birth to the three centuries of the Whitebone Duke¡¯s rule.

    Reaching the end of his life and with no one to restrain him, the duke gradually went mad. Judging from his actions, he might just be nning to take the entire Jade Sea to the grave with him.

    This altar had no other value, except as a testament to the Whitebone Duke¡¯s ruthlessness. Qianye wanted to burn everything to the ground but after some thought, he decided to leave this as proof and let the werewolves see the duke¡¯s actions.

    After walking out of the hall, Qianye went swiftly around the peak and killed off the beasts lurking within the snow. Then he leaped into the sky and summoned the generals and nobles down.

    Seeing the countless limb poles and the sacrificial grounds below, some of the werewolves closed their eyes in pain, and others burst into a howl. One of the chiefs broke down into sobs, hugging a corpse that hadn¡¯t yet rotted beyond recognition. That was his pup, whom he had sent away just a month ago.

    Their keen senses of the werewolves allowed them to discern the aura of their tribal bloodlines. As long as those limb poles weren¡¯t from too long ago, the nobles could tell whether they were from the same tribe.

    Qianye led the werewolves back to the battlecruiser after they had calmed down and issued a temporary order to seal off the altar. They woulde back to collect the remains only after the dust had settled. The nobles had no objections to that.

    There was something else on Qianye¡¯s mind. Did the Whitebone Duke pick this location by chance or was there something special about it?

    After leaving the snowy peak, the next location was the blessednd. Therge area of farnd and its bountiful crop of cloud barley looked rather delightful from a distance. Up close, however, the farms were quite messy. Those barleys were left to grow naturally, with little signs of maintenance and protection.

    The only characteristic of a farnd was that there was very few wild grass. As long as they were willing, pulling weeds was a fairly good manualbor job that suited these werewolves.

    A new idea popped into his head as he looked at the cloud barley. Not all werewolves were suitable for war, but most of them were great at manual work and especially physicalbor. They were so much better than humans in this regard.

    It would seem that the werewolves could provide enough manpower to excavate the resources here.

    Qianye crouched down and grabbed a handful of earth. The soil was loose and fertile, even slightly oily in his hands¡ªno wonder the cloud barley grew so well here. Despite that, these werewolves did not know how to apply fertilizer or maintain the soil. It was quite the miracle that thend had remained fertile for so long.

    Qianye ced his hand on the ground and spread his senses to the depths of the earth, feeling a slow stream of origin power therein. This origin power was overflowing with vitality, which seeped into the soil. This stream of energy was enormous, almost like an underground river of origin power flowing beneath the blessednd.

    That was likely the reason behind thisndscape. Qianye went to many different locations to sense the flow of origin power and finally discerned its direction.

    Qianye stood up and nced at thend, drawing the river of energy in his mind. He discovered that it formed a giant arc, with its center at the Whitebone Duke¡¯s altar.

    He walked along the blessednd to further investigate the flow of origin power. This underground river didn¡¯t quite fit into the naturalndscape. A part of it went into the Jade Sea while the other extended into the mountains, but only the nd between the two would manifest as this blessednd.

 Chapter 1228: Sunrise on the Ocean

    <h4>Chapter 1228: Sunrise on the Ocean</h4>

    After expanding his vision to its fullest extent, he was gradually able to see the trajectory of the energy flow. Considering how big this underground flow was, it was only natural that the areas in the vicinity would be transformed over the millennia.

    Apparently, the Whitebone Duke had picked that location for a reason. This was the extent of Qianye¡¯s geographical knowledge, and there was no specialist in this field around him. He might need to assemble relevant experts back in the Empire if he wanted to get to the bottom of this.

    Back in Cerulean Wave City. Having gotten the answers to all those questions guing him, Qianye could finally get to executing the ns he had been mulling over.

    First was to clear out an area outside and inside the city to serve as an airship port. There was one inside the city, reserved for the Whitebone Duke¡¯s personal use. However, it could barely fit the smallest corvette in Qianye¡¯s fleet, let alone the battlecruiser. This port and a wide area surrounding it would be dedicated to the project, and the relevant facilities constructed. Thending pad outside of the city was so big that it could amodate arge transport fleet.

    Although Cerulean Wave City was at the heart of the Jade Sea territory, there were no special weather conditions in the area. Using airships would shorten the transport and shipping times drastically. Qianye could use arge fleet of transports to move his forces in any direction without fear of retaliation from the werewolf tribes. It was important for him to wield great power as well as quick responses in order to rule the vast territory.

    It was only after this trip¡ªthrough which he confirmed the reason for the werewolves¡¯ fealty¡ªthat Qianye formally took the Jade Sea shamans and chiefs into his fold andid out his ns before everyone.

    The most important part of the next phase was to consolidate power.

    From the great corridor to the Jade Sea, this human-werewolf coalition had grown too fast. In name, the area ofnd and poption they had upied was a shocking number. The entire Jade Sea had to be stabilized¡ªthey needed to reform the army, decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of prisoners, then survey and exploit resources in every area. None of these things could be aplished in a short time.

    Outward expansion lost meaning under such circumstances. Qianye only intended to tten the area around the Jade Sea and send envoys to the smaller human nations in the meanwhile, demanding their surrender and loyalty. These countries added together boasted a poption in the millions and troops in the hundreds of thousands. Be it by force or by negotiation, Qianye would have to spend time to integrate them into his country.

    After making arrangements for everything, Qianye remained in the duke¡¯s manor and focused on consolidating his origin crystal.

    Half a month went by in a sh. One early morning, a thread of sunlight had just emerged in the sky. Most of the werewolves were still in their dreams when a bright light erupted from the top floor of the duke¡¯s manor. A red sun rose into the sky and lit up Cerulean Wave City as though it was midday!

    The radiance possessed great pration powers, so much so that even the walls and roofs could not stop it. The insides of every house lit up brightly, and the soundly sleeping werewolves woke up from the rolling heat, unable to sleep again. They sat up, confused by the light, and unable to figure out whether they were dreaming or not.

    In the blink of an eye, many werewolves rushed out onto the streets to gaze at the sun that shouldn¡¯t be there. All of them were stupefied.

    Not to mention the werewolves, even experts like the mercenary generals and Xu Jingxuan rubbed their eyes. They simply couldn¡¯t believe that a second sun had appeared in the sky.

    In the eyes of true experts, that sun was emitting heat and light so intense that it was almost as though it hade straight out of the daybreak origins. Yet, it didn¡¯t hurt the eyes¡ªnow that was inconceivable for a sun that could illuminate the entire city.

    Some reckless chiefs who tried to stretch their perception toward the sun copsed with painful expressions. The pain was so intense that they couldn¡¯t help but roll about, howling in anguish. Their perception was immediately destroyed upon contact. It happened so fast that they couldn¡¯t even react in time. What followed was unbearable agony, something akin to insects losing their antenna.

    Fortunately, the sun faded into nothingness soon afterward. Everyone looked at one another under the newly recovered darkness. Those who had arrived earlier nced toward the duke¡¯s manor, where it had risen from the main building.

    A sh of thunder lit up the sky as Caroline arrived on a lightning dragon,nding on the main building of the duke¡¯s manor.

    At the top floor where the Whitebone Duke¡¯s bedroom once was, Qianye slowly opened his eyes. ¡°You came so quickly.¡±

    ¡°You caused such amotion that I could even sense it in the void. Of course, I had toe and take a look. Is your origin crystal stable now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I never thought it would take that long. From what I remember, origin crystals should stabilize on their own after an ordinary divine champion breaks through, right?¡±

    Caroline rolled her eyes at him. ¡°They have it easy, but they have no more room for advancement!¡±

    With that, she became curious. ¡°By the way, what power did you obtain? Tell me!¡±

    An expert¡¯s divine champion power was their core personal secret. They would usually keep it a secret for as long as possible, in hopes of gaining an advantage in battle.

    Caroline felt highly curious because of all the ruckus, but she quickly realized that it wasn¡¯t quite appropriate. She shook her head, saying, ¡°Nevermind, pretend that I never asked.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine, not a big deal.¡±

    Caroline almost felt her teeth itching. Qianye¡¯s willingness to divulge his powers showed that he trusted her, but his words made her want to beat him up.

    Qianye didn¡¯t think it was a problem at all. ¡°This time, I obtained roughly two powers. One of them is rted to my domain and the other, my personalbat strength. I¡¯ll show you my domain first.¡±

    A small part of space in his outstretched palm suddenly began to warp and twist, a phenomenon produced by extreme pressure. This was Qianye¡¯s Oceanic Vortex Domain on disy within his palm. This proved that his control over it had reached near-perfection.

    Next, a red sun rose upon the oceanic vortex! This sun-filled the hall with boundless light as the entire vortex began to burn, turning into a sea of pressurized mes.

    If Qianye¡¯s original domain was considered a control type, this rising sun would turn it into a destructive machine. Few low-ranking dark race members would be able to survive within it.

    Qianye closed his palm and put away the sun. ¡°I have another power.¡±

    His joints creaked and groaned as his aura shot up wave after wave, reaching an unbelievable state in the blink of an eye.

    Caroline was quite knowledgeable, to begin with, and she had been following Qianye for a while. Seeing the current situation, she gasped. ¡°Excavator!¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± As the power of Qianye¡¯s Excavator reached the greatest extent, he exhaled and threw an unassuming punch. Caroline shed backward in rm at the moment of his attack, her hair standing on end!

    Qianye¡¯s punch was directed at an empty space. There was clearly nothing there, yet several ck veins spread out from the point of contact, rending everything in its wake.

    This was a spatial tear. This phenomenon appeared because Qianye¡¯s punch had almost shattered the space.

    The ck veins stretched out over a dozen meters before finally fading away.

    Caroline watched Qianye in fright before finally saying, ¡°What happened just now? Why is that punch so powerful? And I feel that your burst of origin power is much stronger than mine. A-Are you already a superior divine champion?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Of course not. I just released the origin power I¡¯ve been umting in one burst, allowing me to exert much greater power than the norm. This reduces my endurance, however. For now, let¡¯s call this zing Impact.¡±

    Caroline was greatly moved by Qianye¡¯s honesty. She still felt a bit scared thinking about that punch just now. She suddenly thought of something. ¡°No, wait, even a burst of umted power shouldn¡¯t be that strong. Even my brother, a superior divine champion, can¡¯t produce such a punch.¡±

    ¡°I guess I¡¯m a bit stronger physically?¡±

    ¡°... What kind of reason is that!?¡±

    Caroline thought Qianye wasn¡¯t clear about it himself, but she had no idea that Qianye was actually telling the truth. If it wasn¡¯t for his ancient vampire physique as a glorious marquis, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to throw such a punch. Any other person would¡¯ve shattered their own bones from the recoil.

    As the two chatted on, Qianye looked out of the window all of a sudden. ¡°Someone¡¯sing, it seems.¡±

    A corvette flew over at high speeds and hovered outside of the main building. A tall female mercenary general jumped out of the airship and arrived before Qianye. ¡°Sire, there¡¯s urgent news. An airship fleet from the Empire has arrived on Eastern Sun Ind, asking to see you.¡±

    ¡°Me? Did they state their identity?¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t say anything concrete, except that their surname is Li and that you would know.¡±

    This mercenary general knew little about the Empire. The only Li family in the Empire was the Jingtang Li n, and seeing as how they were able to pinpoint him to Eastern Sun Ind, they had to be rted to the Empress.

    ¡°Surname Li...¡± Qianye stood up after some thought. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to do anyway, I¡¯ll leave things here to Song Lun, Eiseka, and Xu Jingxuan. Let¡¯s head to Eastern Sun Ind.¡±

    Caroline didn¡¯t mind and Qianye had nothing to pack, so the duo boarded the battlecruiser and headed out.

    The warship was much faster, so it took them only half a day to reach Seclusion.

    The guests had already been settled within the city lord¡¯s estate. Qianye asked to arrange a meeting as soon as he arrived. The one who walked into the guest room was a kind-looking elder with a constant smile. He was rather plump, and there was no semnce of facial hair on his fair countenance. There were a young boy and girl behind him, both of them beautiful but bearing a certain air of arrogance.

    Qianye had never seen this old man, but he could tell that he was an inner attendant from the pce. The man¡¯s origin power was dark, incisive, and well-hidden inside his body. He might not have been able to gauge the man¡¯s power if he hadn¡¯t broken through.

    Seeing Qianye, the old man said with a smile, ¡°You must be Sire Qianye, our master has been talking about you fairly often. Xiaoqing, Panyu,e and greet the sire. He has already aplished great things when he was your age.¡±

    The young boy and girl took a step forward, bowing in unison. ¡°This junior is Li Panyu, I offer my greetings.¡±

    The girl said, ¡°Li Wanqing greets you, Sire.¡±

    Li Panyu naturally hid his arrogance during the salutation, but the youngster¡¯s self-restraint was stillcking. There was a clear hint that he was unconvinced, even showing a bit of hostility. Li Wanqing¡¯s eyes, on the other hand, were sparkling. Her gaze flew all over Qianye, like an excited child who had stepped out of the household to see a bustling city.

    The old man said, ¡°My surname is Liu, and you probably know where wee from. These two are juniors from the main family. The Empress was happy to hear that you were pioneering newnd on Fort Continent, so she sent them here to help you and learn about the world. The Empress has spoken, the children are used to an undisciplined life in the household and don¡¯t know the immensity of heaven and earth. You can punish them as you see fit if they cause trouble. There is no need to hold back.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined the Empress would put forth such a difficult problem. There was no telling when there would be danger in the process of pioneering newnd. He didn¡¯t want to keep these troublesome brats at his side.

 Chapter 1229: Generous Gifts

    <h4>Chapter 1229: Generous Gifts</h4>

    Picking up on Qianye¡¯s expression, Eunuch Liu said with a smile, ¡°Qianye, Sire, don¡¯t be in a rush to decline. Let¡¯s reminisce about old times first.¡±

    Reminisce? Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up with a blue color. The characteristics of Eunuch Liu¡¯s origin power became evident to the Eye of Control, and the man did nothing to hide it, either. Despite that, he couldn¡¯t help but tremble slightly when his image appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye felt a sense of familiarity at first nce, almost as though he had seen this origin power characteristic somewhere. ¡°Could it be that Steward Liu is...¡±

    ¡°My older brother,¡± Eunuch Liu said with a smile.

    ¡°So that¡¯s the case.¡± Qianye¡¯s expression rxed quite a bit. The battle against Luo Bingfeng in Tidehark wouldn¡¯t have ended the way it did had Steward Liu not intervened at the critical moment. It could be said that the man had saved his life, so it was only natural that he felt cordial toward the brother.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°I¡¯m called Liu Yuanwei. My strength is shamefully mediocre, so I rarely bring up our rtionship in order to not humiliate my brother. Only a few of my close friends know of it. The Empress values you highly. She was delighted to hear of your pioneering efforts on Fort Continent and granted you several rewards.¡±

    ¡°This... I thank the Empress¡¯ kindness.¡± Qianye¡¯s reply contained a bit of hesitation.

    He wasn¡¯t a subject of the Empire at the moment, and this newnd was also imed in his name. Even if he decided to build a country out of the Jade Sea and the great corridor, it would be an independent nation. At most, it would be a nominal vassal nation like Zheng. As his strength and resources grew, this nominal designation would eventually be a mere formality.

    The Empress¡¯ delight under such circumstances only brought up questions for discussion. It couldn¡¯t be about Qianye¡¯s independent nation in any case.

    Qianye thought one step deeper. What if it really was the reason? What did this mean?

    A smiling Liu Yuanwei grabbed Qianye by the hand and said, ¡°The Empress treats you very differently, and the rewards are fairly generous. Why note with me and see?¡±

    ¡°Very well, please lead the way.¡±

    Eunuch Liu led Qianye toward the airship port, followed by the children, Li Wanqing and Li Panyu. They were quite well-behaved and didn¡¯t speak a word the entire way. It was just that Li Panyu¡¯s nces at Qianye seemed a bit unfriendly.

    The boy¡¯s little actions couldn¡¯t escape Qianye¡¯s notice, of course. He didn¡¯t really mind and merely feigned ignorance, but he was secretly hoping that they would stir up some trouble. That would give him a good reason to send them back. Otherwise, these outstanding n descendants would be troublesome to take care of. It would be difficult to exin if something were to happen to them on the battlefield.

    Qianye simply didn¡¯t want to keep these two, but an overt refusal wasn¡¯t a great idea, either. He hadn¡¯t yet decided what kind of rtionship he wanted to maintain with the Empire in the future. It was meaningless to offend the Empress for such a small matter, especially with Song Zining in the Empire.

    The city wasn¡¯t very big, so the group soon arrived at the airship port. There were three high-speed airships parked here, including one that looked like a transport. Eunuch Liu led Qianye up to the cargo hold, where severalrge crates were fixed with shock-absorbing mechanisms used for the transport of valuable objects.

    Liu Yuanwei pointed at the first few and said, ¡°These three contain thetestpact mining machines. They can adapt to almost anyndscape and are used to excavate valuable but dispersed minerals. Don¡¯t be fooled by their size, their performance isn¡¯t inferior to the bigger machinery at all. The only problem is that they require a champion to operate. I heard you have a well-trained force and dozens of champions under yourmand. So, this won¡¯t be a problem for you.¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°Is the origin power attribute limited?¡±

    Eunuch Liu smiled mysteriously. ¡°Of course not. The dark races can use them just as well as humans can. So, watch them well because it won¡¯t be good if Evernight gets their hands on it.¡±

    ¡°They will remain mine as long as they don¡¯t leave the Fort Continent.¡±

    Eunuch Liu praised, ¡°Bold and aggressive!¡±

    Li Panyu snorted, muttering to himself. ¡°There¡¯s a duke here for god¡¯s sake. Is he not afraid of pulling a tongue muscle from all the bluffing?¡±

    His voice wasn¡¯t loud, almost as though he were speaking to himself, but who here didn¡¯t possess outstanding ability and senses? They heard everything he had uttered.

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s smile instantly turned awkward.

    Qianye seemedpletely ignorant of the situation and simply walked over to the containers at the back. The eunuch heaved a sigh of relief and followed suit.

    Seemingly dissatisfied, Li Panyu spoke to Li Wanqing with a slightly louder voice, ¡°Say, Sis, do you think dukes are easy to kill?¡±

    Li Wanqing red at him. ¡°I don¡¯t know! But it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for a duke to p you to death.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not a duke¡¯s match, but some people think dukes are cabbages that can be picked from the roadside!¡±

    As Li Panyu¡¯s voice grew louder and louder, Eunuch Liu¡¯sughter also grew stiffer. One of the mercenary generals following the entourage had a bad temper, to begin with. Unable to hold back any longer, he said, ¡°Where did this ignorant brate from? Did your elders not teach you well? How can you know so little about the world and dare to speak such nonsense? You should be the one worrying about pulling your tongue muscle!¡±

    This could be considered rather rude, even throwing the boy¡¯s words back at him. Flushed red, Li Panyu pointed at the mercenary general and said, ¡°Y-You dare say I don¡¯t know the world.¡±

    The mercenary general waved his pinky and said with a mocking tone, ¡°You¡¯re just a weak brat, what do you know? Duke this, duke that, let me tell you, ourmander just killed one a while ago! He can kill five of you in one p, and that¡¯s a humble statement. He can¡¯t even be bothered to squish you to death with a single finger.¡±

    Li Panyu was used to being on a pedestal. Who had ever spoken to him like this? He pointed at the general with a red face, so angry that he couldn¡¯t utter a word for a good while. Toward the end, he could only repeat a single word, ¡°Just you wait and see, the Li family won¡¯t let you off!¡±

    This wasn¡¯t nearly enough to frighten the general. He broke into augh, saying, ¡°This daddy doesn¡¯t give a damn about your Li family or Wang family. Come and catch me in the neutralnds if you have the ability!¡±

    The boy was livid and bit his lips so hard that they were almost bleeding. The neutralnds was notorious for being outside of their sphere of power. It was one thing for each faction to seek representatives in the neutralnds but it was different for the nobility to arrive in person. Besides, the major powers over there weren¡¯t all that weak. If the Li family were to send a random unit to the neutralnds and cause trouble for Dark me, they probably would never return.

    If he were to suggest this to the family, he might be getting more than just ordinary punishment.

    After all, he was still young and his words carried little weight. The best solution right now was probably to challenge this general to a fight, but his judgment wasn¡¯t that bad; he could see that the opponent was too strong for him to contend with. All he would get from this was humiliation.

    Seeing this, the general followed up with words of mockery at every step. At this point, Qianye turned back and said, ¡°Keep quiet.¡±

    The mercenary general said, ¡°Yes, Sire!¡±

    The respectfulness and the sudden change in attitude left Li Panyu dumbfounded. Li Wanqing, on the other hand, gazed deeply at Qianye.

    Qianye said to Eunuch Liu, ¡°Let¡¯s continue.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire. These two machines are hybrid furnaces that can work on most metal ores, but their main use is to solve the problem of refining rare ores. The four behind contain the relevant parts and equipment.¡±

    Eunuch Liu led Qianye to thest few crates. ¡°These containers house the coreponents for a kic tower, each of them can be assembled into one tower. Of course, the basic materials have to be sourced locally.¡±

    Qianye was finally moved. ¡°The Empress sure is generous.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s gifts would allow him to build a production line for the excavation and refinement of rare minerals. The kic towers would also serve to support an equal number of small cities.

    Such equipment could not be purchased even if he had the money. They happened to be things Qianye required urgently.

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s expression rxed after seeing that Qianye was satisfied. ¡°There¡¯s little toin about the way Her Highness treats you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll trouble you to thank her in my stead when you return.¡±

    ¡°Why of course.¡±

    Qianye added, ¡°But I do have a small request.¡±

    ¡°Please speak your mind!¡±

    ¡°When you return, please take him back.¡± With that, he pointed at Li Panyu.

    Li Panyu jumped up in surprise. ¡°You dare!?¡±

    Qianye only looked at Eunuch Liu, ignoring Li Panyu entirely.

    The boy was anxious now. ¡°Our Li family won¡¯t let you off if you send me back!¡±

    Eunuch Liu could no longer hold back. ¡°Young Master Panyu, I will really bring you back if you keep spouting nonsense!¡±

    Li Panyu¡¯s expression shifted drastically, finally shutting his trap.

    Eunuch Liu said to Qianye. ¡°Sire, the boy is young and doesn¡¯t know his manners. Please excuse him.¡±

    ¡°No, I will not keep him here.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t going to give in.

    ¡°Sire, why must you?¡± Eunuch Liu found himself in a difficult situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous here, staying will put his life in danger. I won¡¯t be able to exin it to the Empress when the timees.¡±

    Li Panyu cried out, ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of death!¡±

    Qianye finally spared him a nce. ¡°I¡¯m saying you¡¯re more likely to be executed by martialw.¡±

    ¡°You...¡±

    Li Panyu was just about to speak when Qianye cut him short. ¡°It¡¯s not your ce to speak here!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t loud, but Li Panyu felt as though he had been mmed by a hammer. Dizzy and blurry-eyed, he could no longer speak.

    After things had calmed down, Eunuch Liu said to Qianye, ¡°The Empress has one more message.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    ¡°Her Highness wishes to see you when it¡¯s convenient for you to return to the Empire.¡±

    ¡°What time?¡±

    ¡°The earlier the better, of course.¡±

 Chapter 1230: Other Purposes

    <h4>Chapter 1230: Other Purposes</h4>

    Things were rtively stable in the Jade Sea, and after seeing the Whitebone Duke¡¯s altar, he now had more confidence in the werewolves¡¯ obedience. With Caroline in charge and the Martyr¡¯s Pce as backup, it could be considered absolutely safe.

    Qianye ordered Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan to continue training the new army while keeping an eye out for surrounding movements. There was nothing more to instruct beyond that.

    Empress Li¡¯s gifts were of high quality but not numerous. They couldn¡¯t be applied torge-scale mining operations; only for the refinement and excavation of rare minerals. Eastern Sun Ind was the best ce to do that.

    The people Empress Li had sent were also thoughtfully selected.

    Li Wanqing possessed strong perception and loved nature, a great candidate for excavation. It was a mystery why a delicate girl like her would choose to learn this art. Li Panyu was learned in the martial arts and his dream was to lead the army in battle. Qianye would, of course, have battles to fight in his pioneering efforts, so it was a great opportunity for the boy. For some reason, though, he was hell-bent on picking a fight with Qianye.

    Qianye had no interest in figuring out Li Panyu¡¯s true thoughts, nor did he intend to spoil him. The two were neither friends nor enemies, and his talents weren¡¯t so outstanding that he was irreceable. It was only natural that Qianye wouldn¡¯t indulge his wilfulness...

    So, Qianye brought Li Panyu back on his return to the Empire and nned to return him to the Li family. Whatever punishment befell him afterward was not Qianye¡¯s concern.

    Seeing that Qianye was truly angry, Eunuch Liu realized that he could no longerugh things away. He obediently followed Qianye into the high-speed airship and set out on the journey back to the Empire. The Imperial family emblem on the vessel allowed it to pass smoothly through every checkpoint until they arrived back on the Qin Continent.

    Along the way, they encountered a total of five Imperial squadrons that came to intercept and check them. This granted Qianye a new understanding of the Imperial fleet¡¯s operations out in the void. Apparently, the Empire had gained a transit base in the void after upying the void continent. The frequency of patrols in the void had also increased as a result.

    The airship drove into the continent and all the way into the Imperial capital, finallynding in a courtyard in the suburbs.

    The courtyard was secluded, peaceful, and elegant. The few buildings were buried within lush trees. Even an unsophisticated person like Qianye felt refreshed at the sight of it.

    However, there was killing intent hidden within the elegance. Qianye immediately noticed several eyes staring at him from the shadows. These sharp gazes contained auras that probably belonged to true experts. They were likely the guards of this courtyard, using such a method to contend with iing strangers.

    Under normal circumstances, such spying would surely infuriate the target. It was a different thing, however, if they could not be sensed or located.

    While seemingly enjoying the scenery, Qianye¡¯s gaze paused briefly in certain areas of the courtyard. Those prying gazes immediately vanished without a trace. It would seem that those people hadn¡¯t imagined that Qianye would be able to find them out so quickly.

    A sh of surprise appeared on Eunuch Liu¡¯s expression. ¡°The weather has been hottely, so the Empress is here for a change of scenery. Her Highness decided to meet you here since you happened to arrive at this time.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll trouble you to lead the way.¡±

    Eunuch Liu brought Qianye along a path of willows until they reached a certain courtyard. Here, he stopped and said, ¡°The Empress is inside. Please head inside on your own.¡±

    Qianye sensed no powerful auras in the courtyard, so he simply opened the gates and went in.

    A clear, gentle voice came through from within. ¡°You¡¯re here, close the gates.¡±

    Qianye closed the gates as instructed and circled around the screen to arrive in the courtyard. There was a small pond in thepound, replete with lotuses and fishes shuttling about. There was a beautifuldy beside the pond, spreading fish feed with a silverdle.

    The smalldle could only hold enough feed for a single fish, but she was in no rush and neither were the fish in the pond. They swam about happily in their little world, heading over for a mouthful when they were close.

    The box was small, and the spoon was even smaller. Who knew how long she would keep feeding at this rate. Yet, her every movement was lithe, gentle, and a pleasure to watch. Qianye stood quietly to the side, showing no signs of impatience.

    After an unknown length of time, she finally handed the empty wooden box to the maid and smiled at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re quite patient.¡±

    This person was Empress Li, one whose smile almost lit up the entire courtyard. Qianye didn¡¯t dare gaze at her, so he turned away. ¡°I think anyone would be patient in such a ce.¡±

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°Of course not, those people are just pretending to be patient. There¡¯s no telling what they¡¯re thinking inside. You, on the other hand, are just watching me feed the fish.¡±

    These words made things somewhat awkward, so Qianye had to exin. ¡°I feel that Your Highness¡¯ every movement is aligned with heaven¡¯s mysteries and the dao. That¡¯s why I remained in meditation, it wasn¡¯t my intention to offend you.¡±

    Empress Li waved a hand, saying, ¡°No need to be so cautious. Just rx whenever you¡¯re here, consider this your home.¡±

    Qianye had to respond to this. ¡°How can I do that?¡±

    Empress Li sat down and ced her hands gently on the nearby table. Her fingers rxed and curled up like orchids as she gazed at Qianye with a mysterious smile. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about your exploits on Fort Continent, it seems many people underestimated your power!¡±

    ¡°I just found a footing on the continent.¡±

    ¡°Whether you¡¯ve just found your footing or if you¡¯re already pioneering newnd is not important. Intelligence reports state that you¡¯ve just entered Zheng, so your progress shouldn¡¯t be that quick. I still feel that this isn¡¯t your style. You must have over a hundred thousand soldiers under you, right?¡±

    As calm as he was, Qianye could feel his blood core beating just a bit faster. No one could tell whether the Empress had sensed this minute change. Qianye quickly brought his emotions under control and said, ¡°You give me too much credit. I would love to have an army of a hundred thousand.¡±

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t have it now, you¡¯ll have one before long. You just need to swallow Zheng, and you¡¯ll have an army. You might not know, but news of your pioneering efforts have been brought to the attention of those big shots in court.¡±

    Qianye felt somewhat surprised. ¡°The Empire has so much going on every day. Why would they bother to discuss such an unimportant matter?¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a small issue, either. A prince from Zheng ran over to the Empire, seeking help in the name of his bloodline. Zheng is still our vassal nation in name, so it¡¯s a bit of a humiliation to have it under someone else¡¯s control.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Zheng is not the Empire¡¯s only vassal, and they never really fulfilled their obligations, either. Their family is embroiled in a civil war all the time, making no effort to progress as a nation. Simply a disgrace. It¡¯s not like thend was born theirs anyway.¡±

    ¡°What you say makes sense, but that won¡¯t work in court. Otherwise, people will ask the same about the Qin Continent.¡±

    Now that was a sensitive topic. Qianye was shaken, not knowing what the Empress wanted to say next.

    Empress Li continued, ¡°Actually, all knowledgeable people know that the vast world belongs to everyone. No one was born with heaven¡¯s mandate to rule. If it wasn¡¯t for the founding ancestor¡¯s peerless martial prowess, our national surname might not be Ji. Even now, we might still be wavering under the Longevity Monarch¡¯s machinations had His Majesty not cultivated in secret for many years and surprised his enemies. Regarding the blind stubbornness of those fogeys, it¡¯s more apt to consider it an excuse to suppress outsiders rather than loyalty to the Empire.¡±

    Empress Li spoke so frankly that Qianye didn¡¯t know how to respond. All he could do was nod.

    Empress Li shot a nce at him and said angrily, ¡°I¡¯m pouring my heart out, but here you are, ying dumb. Do you mean to say you¡¯re ready to spread your wings, that this empress can¡¯t hold onto you anymore?¡±

    Qianye replied that he wouldn¡¯t dare.

    The Empress¡¯ expression recovered somewhat. She took a sip of tea and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t say these things for no reason. Some old fogeys have openly asked who you¡¯re pioneering newnd for since you¡¯re a vampire.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression changed slightly, his eyes filled with killing intent. These words were too harsh. If this were to be a general consensus, he would be forced into a confrontation with the Empire, even if that wasn¡¯t his intention.

    Empress Li only watched Qianye in silence.

    Qianye took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart. ¡°I simply don¡¯t understand what they have to gain by forcing me to the Evernight faction?¡±

    ¡°Oh, quite a lot. Besides, their main objective isn¡¯t to force you away. They¡¯re targeting the people who speak up for you more than anything.¡±

    Qianye took a deep breath. ¡°The Zhao n?¡±

    ¡°Now it¡¯s not just the Zhao, the Zhang as well.¡±

    ¡°The Zhang n?¡± Qianye was puzzled. He didn¡¯t remember having any special friendship with the Zhang n. The only contact he had was a brief conversation with Prince Greensun after the battle of Whitetown.

    ¡°When your topic was brought up today in court, Prince Greensunmented that you had made great contributions on the void continent. He said that the entire world would be disappointed if we point our spears at such an outstanding subject once the war was over. He berated the minister as taking advantage of righteousness to harbor malicious intentions. At the very least, he was being over-adherent to old ideas. Prince Greensun¡¯s fame is very real in court, no one dared to continue dragging this matter on after what he said. At least for now, you won¡¯t see the Empire¡¯s punitive expedition at your doorstep.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, won¡¯t you be inviting criticism by giving me those gifts?¡±

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°I dispatched the airships only after that incident. I never nned to hide it, anyway, so many people know about it. As for what they think, that¡¯s their problem. Even if nothing happens, they¡¯ll still find some way to scheme and plot. It¡¯s not a bad thing for me to scheme against them for a change.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but frown as he found it somewhat strange.

    Empress Li spoke cleverly, but the important thing was that both Prince Greensun and the Li family were standing on his side at the same time. Bystanders wouldn¡¯t feel that Qianye was worth such attention. Rather, they would think that the Zhang and Li families had a tacit understanding. The Li family¡¯s momentum had been growing stronger as ofte, with one of its side branches producing an unprecedented genius. Their promotion to a major n seemed to be set in stone.

    An alliance between a heavenly monarch¡¯s n and that of the Empress was big news.

    Qianye knew that he was bad at politics, and as someone who had been away from the Empire most of the time, he had no grasp of the situation here. That was why he remained silent despite having his doubts.

 Chapter 1231: One Reques

    <h4>Chapter 1231: One Reques</h4>

    It was a big thing to be thanked by Empress Li, but Qianye simply couldn¡¯t recall what he had done for her to treat him so well. After thinking long and hard, the only thing worth her verbal gratitude might be his bringing Li Kuann from the depths of the Great Maelstrom.

    On the other hand, Empress Li was likely going to ask something troublesome for him. Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t agree right away.

    Empress Li said, ¡°I must thank you about Li Kuann. This matter is rted to the future of our entire Li family, so it¡¯s not excessive no matter how we judge its importance. Everything I did for you in the past involves little to no effort. In the future, our Li family will always be your support in the Empire.¡±

    These words contained a different meaning when spoken by the Empress. Qianye stood up to express his gratitude and said, ¡°I heard that the Li and Zhao families had always been at odds. I hope you¡¯ll forgive me if I stand on their side if there are any future conflicts.¡±

    Empress Li didn¡¯t show any sign of displeasure. She even smiled somewhat, saying, ¡°I know your background, so I definitely won¡¯t make things difficult for you. Whatever conflict is there between our families will probably stay in the Imperial court. No party is right or wrong in such matters, only standpoints. Most people in the situation have no choice, you¡¯ll understand thatter on.¡±

    ¡°I thank you for your understanding.¡± Qianye¡¯s expression remained the same, but he was slightly rmed inside. He felt that Empress Li¡¯s words contained a deeper meaning.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s talk about my request for you.¡±

    ¡°I listen respectfully.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it yet.¡±

    Qianye almost stumbled onto the tea table.

    Seeing that Qianye¡¯s indifferent expression had finally crumbled, Empress Li chuckled with her mouth covered. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it yet, but I may have something in a couple of days. You should just agree first. In any case, I won¡¯t make you go against the Zhao n or fight your brothers.¡±

    Qianye nodded only after some serious thought. He had no choice but to give the Empress face under present circumstances. She would owe him a big favor, and that was a good thing for his friends in the Empire, even if not for himself.

    At this point, the discussion was more or less over. Empress Li said, ¡°Since you¡¯re back, just stay in the Empire for a couple more days. I¡¯ll send someone to take you to the Li n for a visit. Do give the young ones some pointers and let them know that there¡¯s always someone better. You should also pay the Zhao n a visit, I¡¯ve made arrangements for that as well. You can move about freely after that.¡±

    She pped gently, and an inner attendant arrived with a tray. On it was a jade waist-te with an exquisite ¡°Li¡± character carved onto it. The craftsmanship was beautiful, but it was overly exquisite to the point of losing its boldness. All in all, it couldn¡¯t be considered a top-grade work.

    ¡°This is my identity token when I was younger, the calligraphy is also my work. It feels like a young girl¡¯s scrawl now that I look at it. Keep it for now and feel free to use it when you encounter trouble. Those who recognize it won¡¯t cause trouble for you, and those who don¡¯t recognize it aren¡¯t worth paying attention to anyway. I¡¯ll deal with those ignorant people slowly.¡±

    This was akin to a symbol of Empress Li¡¯s authority, and Qianye didn¡¯t refuse it. As he received the jade token respectfully, he could feel its warmth and a faint fragranceing from it.

    ¡°I¡¯m tired. If there¡¯s nothing else, have the men send you to your next stop.¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°I have a question. I hope you can tell me a bit about it.¡±

    ¡°What would that be?¡±

    ¡°The dark races were making ns for the new world a while ago, but recently, there hasn¡¯t been any news about it. I wonder how much they have progressed and what I should do to prepare?¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°Your informationwork is quite good. This matter isplicated and rarely spoken of in the open. The Evernight side has been mobilizing their forces and bolstering defenses on certain big continents. Their council members have also been moving in greater numbers and frequency as well, mainly focusing on those continents. There¡¯s little news about the higher continents, but for now, we can say that the continents of Twilight, Abyss, and Summit are amassing forces. I¡¯m guessing these ces are rted to the new world. Judging from the magnitude of their forces, they¡¯re probably seeking to fill the gap in fighting power after their experts leave for the new world.

    ¡°The Empire has no counter-strategy against them. We understand nothing about this new world apart from its name, nor do we know when and how its passage will open. Besides, the Empire doesn¡¯t have that much time to spare, either. With the war having just ended on the void continent and the frontline soldiers returning home, the interim units have to be disassembled, and financial support for the families of the dead have to be paid. The withdrawal of soldiers and the construction-work on the continent are enough to keep us busy for a while.¡±

    This raised Qianye¡¯s eyebrows. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the new world be top-priority?¡±

    ¡°Of course, the new world is important, but that¡¯s a matter for the experts. The Empire has just seen a change in heavenly monarchs, not to mention a war has just ended, everything is important right now. The Empire drafted arge number of troops from the aristocracy, and now, it¡¯s time to return them and calcte their contributions. The issuance of rewards alone will eat up all of this year¡¯s military budget. Speaking of which, you took the biggest single reward!¡±

    Qianye turned silent. ¡°Over ny percent of the brothers I led to Whitetown died in battle. I might not have epted the mission if I knew what was toe.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°You would have still epted it. Whitetown was extremely important to the n. If you guys hadn¡¯t held your ground there, Evernight would not have lost so miserably. Not only that, they might have imed the victory before things turned around for the Empire. Besides, that war was Imperial Steward Lin¡¯s final effort. You wouldn¡¯t deny him his long-cherished wish.¡±

    Qianye looked up at Empress Li. ¡°Whose war was the void continent!? If this war is the fruit of hisbor, why was he not allowed to join the main forces? Why was he allowed to go alone at the most dangerous moment?¡±

    Empress Li was startled. She didn¡¯t know what to say, or how much.

    In truth, it wasn¡¯t as though the upper echelons of the Empire were ignorant about the feud between the Longevity Monarch¡¯s bloodline and the Solemn Emperor¡¯s. The recent change of heavenly monarchs and the removal of the Longevity Monarch¡¯s descendants from power was enough to prove many peoples¡¯ guesses. Yet, no one dared to say their knowledge covered everything, not even Empress Li herself.

    Qianye¡¯s obsidian eyes were like a dark abyss. When Zhang Boqian came to see him after the war, the monarch had revealed that all of this was the Longevity Monarch¡¯s n to topple the Imperial bloodline. Qianye was too shocked to ask questions back then, but after thinking about it, there were many things that puzzled him. He was never able to get them off his mind.

    Now that Empress Li had brought this up on her own, he couldn¡¯t help but want to hear her excuse.

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°The fall of a heavenly monarch is the Empire¡¯s pain.¡±

    Lin Xitang killing the Minister of the Right wasn¡¯t a secret. However, just a third of the military¡¯s power wasn¡¯t enough to execute this scheme, or squeeze Lin Xitang out of the pre-war preparations. It was fine to use the Minister of the Right as an excuse for ordinary nobles, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Qianye. Empress Li couldn¡¯t tell how much Qianye had heard, and she had no reason to cover up for the Longevity Monarch¡¯s actions, either.

    Empress Li gazed into Qianye¡¯s gloomy eyes and said, ¡°The mastermind behind everything has been executed. His Majesty, the heavenly monarchs, and the major ns will not tolerate such a malignancy that can shake the Empire¡¯s foundations.¡±

    This exnation was the same as Prince Greensun¡¯s, but there was still no answer to his questions. ¡°Why did my adoptive father have to sacrifice himself to turn the tides? It¡¯s not like... there was no other way.¡± What Qianye didn¡¯t say was that the alternative would mean a lot more casualties.

    Now that Qianye himself was amander, he understood that there would always be sacrifices no matter how much he loved his troops. Considering Lin Xitang¡¯s ability, the Empire would benefit much more from his presence than winning this war. Besides, the man wouldn¡¯t have be an Imperial marshal if he were the type to throw his life away so easily.

    Empress Li was dazed for a moment. She couldn¡¯t pretend to not understand since both of them were smart people, not to mention Qianye would sooner orter hear about the fishy reason behind Lin Xitang¡¯s death.

    After some thought, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what Imperial Steward Lin was thinking, but I do have some guesses. The problem is that this involves Imperial secrets, and I am bound by a divine oath, so I cannot tell you. If you really want to know, you should ask Prince Greensun in the future.¡±

    Qianye frowned somewhat. He knew even before asking that his chances of getting an answer were slim, but he never imagined that she would rmend Zhang Boqian as the person to dispel his doubts.

    He nodded, saying, ¡°Very well, I will ask Prince Greensun personally when the opportunity arises.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°Prince Greensun cherishes talent greatly. He looks cold on the outside but has a warm heart. You will surely be rewarded if you ask him.¡± With that, she added, ¡°Oh right, why are you so interested in the new world?¡±

    Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t say that it was because he missed Nighteye. ¡°If the gates to the new world open, I want to go in and see.¡±

    ¡°You want to go in? News from the Evernight Faction says that only council members can enter when the gates open. The Empire¡¯s standard threshold is a divine champion.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°If the only requirement is to be a divine champion, I can indeed go in and see.¡±

    He released a small bit of his aura. Empress Li¡¯s eyes lit up as she grabbed Qianye by the hand, ¡°You¡¯re already a divine champion?¡±

    The Empress¡¯ hands were soft and cold. Even someone as strong-willed as Qianye couldn¡¯t help but waver slightly. His expression remained unchanged as he pretended not to notice, almost as though his hand was a rock. ¡°I ascended out of sheer luck.¡±

    Realizing that she had lost herposure, Empress Li slowly retracted her hand. ¡°How I envy Duke Chengen for having such wonderful children. You might not know, but Zhao Jundu has reached the divine champion stage after returning from the void continent. He can be considered the first among the younger generation.¡±

    ¡°Jundu has ascended?¡± Qianye had already received news of his swift recovery back in the neutralnds, but who would have thought there would be such a delightful surprise? Then again, why had this news not spread?

    Qianye asked, ¡°When did that happen? Why were there no celebrations?¡±

    Reaching the divine champion realm was a big matter in any n or family, especially for someone who had broken through at such a young age. They should be letting all kith and kin know of it.

    ¡°There were no celebrations this time. As for the reason, you will understand when you go to the Zhao n.¡±

    At this point, a maid arrived to lead Qianye away, and Eunuch Liu apanied Qianye into the airship in person. Just as they were boarding the airship, someone hurriedly ran over and passed them a paper slip. Eunuch Liuughed after opening it, saying, ¡°He¡¯s really fast!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Eunuch Liu crushed the paper and threw it away. ¡°It looks like we need to make a detour. General Song Zining somehow found out that you¡¯re here. He sent word, asking to meet at a certain pce. I owe him a favor recently, so it¡¯s difficult for me to make excuses. Considering your rtionship, I don¡¯t think you would refuse to see him, either, would you?¡±

    Of course, Qianye wouldn¡¯t refuse. The airship thus took the air and flew swiftly in a certain direction.

    The airship arrived at its destination one dayter. Qianye walked out of the cabin doors and into apletely alien locale. A towering grand mansion stood in the distance, one that was not at all inferior to that of the Song and Zhao ns¡¯. The building sat on a vastnd with its many courtyards linked together. This was more like a small city than a manor.

    There were two golden letters on the doors of the main building: ¡°Frozen Jade.¡±

    Frozen Jade Manor was the headquarters of the Bai n. There were many past conflicts between Qianye and the Bai n, almost to the point of bing enemies. Why would Song Zining want to see him here?

    Just as he was thinking about it, he saw a person running over at great speed. He arrived before Qianye in the blink of an eye, not even kicking up dust despite his swift movement. ¡°You arrived so quickly!¡±

    This person was Song Zining. Qianye waited until he was in front before asking, ¡°Why pick this ce? Did they do anything to you?¡±

    ¡°No way. Besides, people who want to harm me will need to think about their own weight.¡±

    That was true. Song Zining was rank seventeen, after all, and only one step away from the divine champion realm. With World Prosperity in hand, even a divine champion might find it difficult to kill him.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Get in the car, let¡¯s go see a certain person.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the car?¡±

    Song Zining pped his forehead, remembering that he had run over in a rush. His car was still over a thousand meters away.

    Qianye didn¡¯t mind a bit of walking. The two chatted along the way until they arrived at the jeep, then drove toward Frozen Jade Manor.

    In the residence of a major n, taking a car was often more convenient than walking since specially marked vehicles could skip checkpoints.

    The jeep passed through numerous courtyards and checkpoints, both visible and hidden. The car soon came to a stop at a quietpound, one that was covered in the shade of tall, ancient trees.

    Song Zining got off and knocked on the gates but, without even waiting for a response, entered with Qianye in tow.

    There was ady in the courtyard seated with her back toward the gate, her hair hanging loose over her shoulders.

    She wore no decorative items, just like that simple courtyard.

 Chapter 1232: Clan Style

    <h4>Chapter 1232: n Style</h4>

    From the silhouette of her back, one would be inclined to think of her as a weakdy who loved nature. Yet, the lethal battles etched her figure deep within Qianye¡¯s heart. He could recognize Bai Aotu from any direction or angle.

    Currently, thisdy was shrouded in an aura of gentle elegance, almost as though she weren¡¯t of this mortal world. It was a stark contrast to her usual murderous state. Even Qianye had to look carefully to make sure he hadn¡¯t mistaken her.

    Bai Aotu turned to the side somewhat. ¡°Is it Qianye?¡±

    ¡°It is I.¡±

    She stood up and faced the two with a smile. ¡°I¡¯d never have expected that both of you woulde. I hope no one caused trouble for you along the way.¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Who would be so blind to cause trouble when we¡¯re using your car.¡±

    Bai Aotu replied, ¡°The elders can¡¯t bring themselves to attack, and the others can¡¯t beat you. Who would dare?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Actually, those grandpas and uncles of yours can¡¯t do much to me, either. They¡¯ll find it even harder to beat Qianye now. So, it¡¯s best that we all remain in peace.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t beat Qianye? The Bai family has indeed declined somewhat, but not to the point where... Eh?!¡± Bai Aotu turned to Qianye in shock. ¡°You¡¯re already a divine champion?¡±

    Qianye had to admire Bai Aotu¡¯s sharpness. She was relying purely on her instincts at the moment. In terms of perception, no one under the heavenly monarch realm would see through his Bloodline Concealment.

    Qianye nodded. He soon discovered that, despite looking at him, her focus was slightly off. This would never happen in an expert at this level.

    Qianye was moved as he recalled Whitetown. ¡°Your eyes?¡±

    ¡°The injury back then was too serious, they never recovered afterward.¡± Bai Aotu spoke as though she were talking about something unimportant. ¡°I can¡¯t see anymore.¡±

    ¡°How can that be? Does the Bai n have no way to treat you?¡±

    ¡°Of course they do, but it¡¯s not worth treating a cripple.¡±

    Qianye said nothing as he nced at Bai Aotu with the Eye of Control. Thetter sensed his probe but, apart from a slight frown, did nothing to resist to hide.

    Qianye was shocked. Bai Aotu¡¯s origin cultivation was barely hanging onto rank sixteen. Her origin vortices were dispersed and unable to take form. At this rate, she would lose all hope of reaching the divine champion realm.

    Rank sixteen would make her a powerful expert anywhere in the world, but it was not enough to upy a core position among the major ns. Back then, she was considered a certain candidate to reach the divine champion realm. She was bold and decisive, racking up impressive aplishments in battle and also making a fair number of enemies within. There were more than a few people who disliked her way of doing things.

    Qianye never expected that her injuries would be so serious. Although she had managed to remain at rank sixteen, she was only a thin line away from having her foundations destroyed. She wouldn¡¯t have been so badly wounded if she hadn¡¯t charged into Whitetown alone and stood to the bitter end with Qianye and Zhao Jundu.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what he should say. He said only after a while, ¡°You... didn¡¯t need to suffer this fate.¡±

    Bai Aotu replied calmly, ¡°I shan¡¯t cower, though the righteous cause may be difficult. Since I have the power to charge in, how could I watch you guys fall to the dark race siege?¡±

    With that, she smiled. ¡°Actually, I just wanted to duke it out with Zhao Jundu. If he died there, I wouldn¡¯t be able to.¡± She clearly wasn¡¯t good at jokes, but the other two had no choice but tough along a bit.

    Qianye was filled with myriad emotions as he looked on at the current Bai Aotu, the enmity from before gone with the wind. If it wasn¡¯t for her, they might not have held out until the end. But for a genius of the generation to fall to such a state, how could it be merely described as miserable?

    Qianye recalled her words from just now. ¡°You said there are ways to treat your eyes, what is it? How much will it cost?¡±

    ¡°What, are you nning to pay for it?¡± Bai Aotuughed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help as much as I can, there¡¯ll always be a way to solve the problem.¡± Qianye was now the ruler of the vast Jade Sea and great corridor, not to mention the treasure trove that was Eastern Sun Ind. The treatment might cost astronomical numbers, but the money could be umted over the years. Qianye felt that it wasn¡¯t impossible as long as the treatment did not involve rare materials that could only be obtained through fortuitous encounters.

    ¡°Thank you, but I¡¯ve already gone past the best time for treatment. It¡¯s already toote now.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart froze upon hearing this. Apparently, the decision to not treat her was intentional! He shot to his feet and said in a harsh voice, ¡°Is the Bai n going to watch with folded arms?¡±

    Bao Aotuughed. ¡°Even I¡¯m not worried about it, why would you?¡± With that, she sighed, ¡°I now understand why so many people like you and are willing to follow you.¡±

    After a pause, she picked up the teacup and took a small sip. ¡°I was able to calm down after going blind, and think about things I never thought about before. I¡¯ve gotten used to the calm, it¡¯s really not so bad. With the mind at peace, I might be able to try out some other cultivation arts that I couldn¡¯t train before. At least I won¡¯tg behind too much.¡±

    Sheughed self-deprecatingly, saying, ¡°With all that I have done in the past, this is already a pretty good oue. What¡¯s there toin about?¡±

    Qianye wanted to say something, but Song Zining pulled him to the side with a meaningful nce.

    The seventh young master ced a box on the table, saying, ¡°This secret art is something I found from the Song n¡¯s depository. It suits your current state very well, so I made a copy for you. When you have time, take a look... have someone read it to you for reference.¡±

    Bai Aotu didn¡¯t take the gift. ¡°Our great Bai n has its own set of inherited cultivation arts. I¡¯m sure I can find something suitable if I take my time. There¡¯s no need to ept a favor from the Song n.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°This cultivation art isn¡¯t our Song n¡¯s art. I have no idea where my ancestors got it from, but it¡¯s been sitting there collecting dust because no one can cultivate it. That is until this perceptive young master dug it out. Ignoring everything else, just the name ¡®Snow White Chapters¡¯ suits you very well.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s power of speech left Qianye speechless. Thetter part of his speech extinguished most of Qianye¡¯s righteous indignation. Snow White Chapters did not sound like a cultivation art at all. It sounded more like a collection of unpopr novels, aplete conflict with Bao Aotu¡¯s vigor. Just the sound of it felt unreliable.

    Yet Song Zining¡¯s speech and expression reminded Qianye of the time when he had brought the Song n Ancient Scroll. Perhaps, there was some big secret hidden within the Snow White Chapters. If that really was the case, then who knew how many treasures were hidden within the Song n¡¯s depository? Just how did their ancestors collect so many mysterious arts and tomes?

    Since Song Zining had pushed the Song n away from this matter, Bai Aotu had no reason to refuse the gift. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll ept this then.¡±

    The two left after saying their farewells and drove toward the airship port. Although they had forgotten their past differences with Bai Aotu, there were still a lot of enemies in the Bai n. It would be wise to leave quickly, lest problems arise.

    On the car, Song Zining said, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Bai Longjia holding the line, she might not even have that courtyard left.¡±

    ¡°Is the Bai n so snobbish? How can they abandon a rank-sixteen expert just like that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that she can¡¯t see anymore. Even a champion might beat her in a fight.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Impossible! I noticed that her aura is stable and strong, even more so than before. The impurities might stop her from advancing in the near future, but her state of mind is growing stronger than before. Once she ovees the blindness, no ordinary person will be her match.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not how others see it. Those who cannot see are crippled.¡±

    As the wielder of the Eye of Control, Qianye naturally understood that perception couldn¡¯t rece eyesight. He could only sigh after hearing Song Zining¡¯s words, feeling unresigned still. ¡°She did so much for the n but was tossed away once she was injured?¡±

    ¡°Do you not know the style of the four major ns?¡±

    ¡°What style?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°The Zhang n is unmovable like the mountains, the Zhao n is solitary and exceptional, the Song n is lenient and humane, while the Bai n is warlike and ruthless. The Bai and Song are like two extremes. The Song n¡¯s internal teachings revere using the pen as a weapon, and disdain martial power, while the Bai n is the exact opposite. They are a n where the strong devour the weak. The strong must remain strong. If they be weak, they deserve to die. That¡¯s why their treatment of Bai Aotu can be considered quite good already.¡±

    Qianye felt a sense of unfairness in his chest. ¡°This applies even to subjects who have done great service?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°That is their family matter, not something we can interfere in.¡± He paused for a bit. ¡°Just like the Song n¡¯s elder assembly.¡±

    Qianye went silent. The Song n did not discriminate between their descendants, but there was no one left in thest three generations to uphold the n and it had now fallen to the verge of being demoted. The Bai n on the other hand refused to waste resources on useless descendants. It was easy for bystanders to criticize this way of doing things, but who was to say they were right or wrong?

    It was at this time that the jeep came to a stop. The driver turned back and said, ¡°Someone is blocking the way.¡±

    Song Zining looked up to see a group of furious young men blocking the road. Qianye¡¯s gaze, on the other hand,nded on some elders ying chess under a distant tree.

    ¡°You stay here, I¡¯ll handle this.¡± With that, Song Zining disembarked.

    A tall young man stepped out from the crowd. Standing half a head taller than Song Zining, he looked down at thetter with a sinister smile. ¡°Song Zining! How dare youe to Frozen Jade Manor!¡±

    Song Zining replied with a smile, ¡°I came to see old friends, is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°Still acting stubborn! Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know how many of our Bai n brothers died because of you. You daree to our n and hope to leave in one piece? Now, you don¡¯t even have the Song n to support you anymore!¡±

    Another young man stepped forward with augh. ¡°There¡¯s someone else in the car, right? Why are you hiding? Our Bai n isn¡¯t a savage ce like the Evernight Continent. We won¡¯t take your life, we¡¯ll beat you half-dead at most. Are you so afraid?¡±

    Qianye was feeling frustrated, to begin with. He didn¡¯t get out of the car because he knew these youngsters could do nothing to Song Zining. Now that he was being called out, he opened the door and got off with a dark expression. ¡°I¡¯m here. Who wants to beat me half dead? Come!¡±

 Chapter 1233: Short Work

    <h4>Chapter 1233: Short Work</h4>

    The boisterous youth immediately shrank back when Qianye appeared. Realizing his loss ofposure afterward, he shouted, ¡°This is the Bai n! D-Don¡¯t act recklessly!¡±

    The tall leader was both furious and humiliated. He dragged the man back and red at Qianye. ¡°How dare you appear in the Empire! A vampire...¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when Song Zining cut him short. ¡°Wee from the neutralnds, participating in the void-continent war, and taking first ce in contributions! You plebeians with no aplishments to your name want to question our identity!?¡±

    This tall young man was no idiot. Realizing the trap in Song Zining¡¯s words, he nced toward one of the old men ying chess. Still holding a chess piece, the elder waved his hand ever so slightly.

    The young man understood the signal. ¡°The seventh young master¡¯s aplishments are resounding, we, of course, respect that. I was a bit too rash just now, so allow me to apologize. But! Since you darede into the Frozen Jade Manor, many people remain dissatisfied. How will we solve that problem?¡±

    Song Zining nced at Qianye, who said, ¡°Fight if you¡¯re not satisfied. What¡¯s with all the bbering?¡±

    The Bai n¡¯s hot-blooded youths saw that the two on the other side weren¡¯t much older. That was actually the case, and in fact, they were even younger than most of the people in the other group. How could those people endure the provocation under such circumstances?

    ¡°This is the Bai n¡¯s territory you¡¯re on!¡± One of them uttered word-by-word.

    ¡°So you guys can be shameless and unruly just because this is your territory?¡± Song Zining had never feared anyone in a debate.

    That person stomped his feet. ¡°What do you mean by that!? Don¡¯t think about leaving if you don¡¯t make it clear!¡±

    Song Ziningughed disdainfully. ¡°Seek revenge if you must, fight if you haveints! Who are you trying to scare with that lineup? Even aristocratic families aren¡¯t shameless enough to swarm an opponent. I have nothing to say if your Bai n has fallen that low?¡±

    The youngsters from the n cursed furiously. The leader said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t know the rules. Since you were the ones who came to our Frozen Jade Manor, I don¡¯t think I need to exin your side of the rules, either.¡±

    ¡°Whatever you want is fine, as long as it¡¯s one-on-one.¡±

    ¡°Very well! The seventh young master really underestimates our Bai n.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t leave him any face. ¡°After Bai Aotu, there¡¯s no one in your Bai n worthy of my respect.¡±

    Bai Aotu was the strongest among the younger generation of the Bai n. Back when she was more powerful than Zhao Jundu, she had also hunted Qianye down until he had his back against the wall. Now that herbat strength had fallen, the Bai n could not find anyone else topete with Zhao Jundu.

    Bai Kongzhao couldn¡¯t be considered a true Bai n member. They would still hold onto this much face, at least.

    The Bai n army had also sustained great damage under the Iron Curtain back then. It could be said that the n had suffered quite a bit in this duo¡¯s hands. Now that Song Zining had exposed this fact, the group found it difficult to retort.

    After apse of awkwardness, the young manughed. ¡°Very well! Since the seventh young master has said so, how can we disappoint you? I don¡¯t see a need to pick a location, let¡¯s just do it here.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Song Zining agreed readily.

    ¡°Men, prepare the equipment, clear the area!¡±

    The young men scattered in all directions to perform their duties. An arena was soon set up outside of the gates, and the ground was covered with armor tes for protection. Several crates were brought to the scene¡ªone was filled with all kinds of melee weapons, while the other was filled with origin guns. The others were all loaded with defensive equipment, ranging from tes as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing to whole-body armors.

    As one of the four major ns, the Bai n¡¯s foundations were indeed deep. The equipment provided were all high-grade armaments, many of which could not be bought for money. Song Zining watched the young man with a smile. How quick and thorough this preparation was!

    The young man pretended not to see. ¡°Please feel free to use any weapon. Our Bai n disciples will also pick from them.¡±

    Providing weapons for thebatants was a tradition of the nobility. After all, those whoe to challenge the n might not have everything they need. This was the perfect time to put the n¡¯s bearing on full disy.

    There was also a different unwritten rule that the challenger would face serial opponents, a significant home-field advantage for the challenged. There was usually a limit to this, however, and thepetition would end at three consecutive losses. For the aristocracy, the oue of a fight was just a temporary status; face was the most important.

    When Song Zining had agreed just now, he even removed this limitation. The Bai n could send as many people as they wanted. Such insolence naturally infuriated the youngsters of the n.

    The first to take the field was a stout man at rank-fifteen cultivation, fully-armored and holding a heavy shield. Apparently, he was equipped for endurance¡ªhis objective was to drain the opponent¡¯s origin power instead of winning.

    This kind of clumsy, shield-wielding opponent was Song Zining¡¯s favorite. His Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art could toy with the opponent until the man begins to suspect his purpose in life.

    Song Zining adjusted his clothes and was just about to enter when Qianye pulled him back. He said with a wooden expression, ¡°I¡¯m not in the mood to y with them.¡±

    ¡°Okay, take care.¡± Song Zining reminded again out of worry. ¡°Go easy on them, don¡¯t go too hard.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I will.¡±

    The mocking conversation between the two was exchanged with great seriousness, greatly angering the people from the Bai n.

    The warrior in the arena banged on the shield with his hammer, indicating his displeasure.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to pay attention to the man¡¯s mood. He jumped into the ring and walked toward the opponent inrge strides, swiping at his chest right off the bat.

    The burly man let out a sinisterugh as he counterattacked with both shield and hammer, striking ruthlessly at the iing arm. This attack was powerful enough to shatter an ordinary expert¡¯s limb, but Qianye made no movement to dodge. He allowed the shield and hammer to connect¡ªalmost as though he couldn¡¯t feel anything¡ªand lifted the opponent up by the throat.

    That strong body fell limp in Qianye¡¯s grasp, unable to move a single muscle. He threw a square p with his left hand, which knocked the warrior out and sent him flying dozens of meters away.

    All of this happened in mere moments. The people hadn¡¯t even reacted when their hopeful warrior was lying unconscious on the ground. Some of the quicker youths ran over to check the injured and said in relief, ¡°No serious injury, he¡¯s just out cold.¡±

    The relieved crowd red angrily at Qianye, while the stronger ones remained in frowning contemtion. It looked like Qianye never used his origin power at all during the entire process; how did that man lose? The ease with which he had imed victory seemed even easier than killing a chicken.

    The leader said furiously, ¡°Qianye, what¡¯s the meaning of such a malicious attack?¡±

    Qianye smiled coldly. ¡°I didn¡¯t touch his vitals. What do you mean malicious?¡±

    The person was stopped up. The face wasn¡¯t a vital area, but such a p hurt more than being struck in the vitals.

    Song Zining wanted to say something but ultimately just shook his head. He knew Qianye was angry after seeing Bai Aotu¡¯s current state and would not leave the Bai n any leeway. Even against the elders of the Song n, Qianye had never blocked the other party¡¯s way out like this.

    Qianye viewed everyone who had fought alongside him in battle as his brethren, and he had never been afraid of making enemies for his brethren.

    At this point, a dark expression appeared briefly on the young man¡¯s face. He said with a gloomyugh, ¡°Good! Very good! Since you¡¯re willing to teach us, our n definitely can¡¯t disappoint you! Bai Longfei, go up and learn from Sire Qianye!¡±

    Bai Longfei was a well-groomed man in his thirties. He floated into the field with a pair of daggers in hand, not kicking up any dust despite his speed. This slow movement was a disy of his talents in speed.

    Having learned from the previousbatant, this Bai Longfei avoided closebat with Qianye. He instead moved swiftly around Qianye, hoping to gain a gradual advantage with roaming attacks. At the very least, he would be able to drain Qianye¡¯s origin power a bit more.

    He circled thrice around Qianye in the blink of an eye, his movements as fast as wind and lightning. Just as he was feeling satisfied with his disy of skill, a big hand suddenly appeared in front of him. The hand seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, catching him entirely off-guard and unable to evade. Thus, the shocked man was caught by the throat and lifted off the ground.

    ¡°How could he be so fast...¡± The thought had just appeared in his mind when his vision went dark. There was a hand, a p... and nothing more.

    As the bystanders saw it, all Qianye did was reach out, and Bai Longfei had mmed into the hand on his own. He was then pped and tossed out of the field.

    The leader was livid, but he clenched his jaws and shouted, ¡°Bai Longjing!¡±

    A short-haired man took to the field. This short-haired man looked tough, formidable, and used no fancy movies. Apparently, he was a true expert with ample battlefield experience.

    This so-called experienced warrior was also lifted up and knocked out with a p.

    ¡°Bai Longyu!¡±

    ¡°Bai Huyi!¡±

    ¡°Bai Chengtian!¡±

    ¡°Bai...¡±

    Whoever came into the arena would be pped out and rendered unconscious. During this entire process, it felt as though he never even used his origin power. Very soon, there were over a dozen men lying near the arena, all swollen and unconscious.

    More and more Bai n descendants had gathered at this point, but there wasn¡¯t a sound to be heard. Those with good judgment had already figured out that Qianye was on apletely different levelpared to these scions. That was why he was making such light work of them, downing them in one p.

    The injuries weren¡¯t serious, but all of them were on the face.

    The young man could no longer maintain his elegance. He said with an unsightly expression, ¡°Are you going to go against us to the end!?¡±

 Chapter 1234: Such Advice

    <h4>Chapter 1234: Such Advice</h4>

    Hearing this, the young man actually calmed down. He nimbly grabbed a round shield and a spear before entering the field. ¡°Bai Longyue of the Bai n is here to seek pointers!¡±

    This person had kept himself hidden as the most outstanding talent of the Bai n. His cultivation rank was seventeen, on par with Song Zining. His face looked young, but he was actually a bit older than Bai Longjia, and it was already quite forced to call him one of the younger generation.

    With his shield and spear, Bai Longyue seemed prepared for both attack and defense. He did not enter the arena for victory, but to exchange a few real blows with Qianye. The past ten battles had all ended up with Qianye grabbing the opponent by the neck and pping them. He didn¡¯t even use a shred of origin power, so this continuous fight was meaningless.

    Only at this point did the Bai n people understand why Song Zining had agreed so readily, even removing the limitations. It turned out that Qianye¡¯s fighting power was on apletely different level; the fight was an overwhelming suppression. Taking turns to wear the enemy down was only meaningful if they could actually fight.

    If it wasn¡¯t for his age and background being well-known, these young men simply couldn¡¯t believe Qianye was younger than them.

    Yet the truth was before them.

    The moment he came face-to-face with Qianye, Bai Longyue felt that his opponent was like a mountain, one he could never climb over!

    In the blink of an eye, his mind was shaken, and he actually felt the urge to flee. At that moment, Bai Longyue realized why his brethren had no ability to even struggle or resist.

    Despite that, the man was born of a famed n and his cultivation was only below Bai Aotu. Although he couldn¡¯t figure out why he was so intimidated, his body reacted instinctively, surging with origin power as he drew back in a defensive stance.

    His reaction couldn¡¯t be considered slow, and his judgment was urate. Qianye¡¯s punch arrived just as he pulled back his shield, mming squarely onto it.

    That moment, Bai Longyue felt as though he had been struck by a heavy sledgehammer. He couldn¡¯t breathe for a split second and his heart almost skipped a beat. His vision went dark, and his body felt lighter and lighter as he flew into the air before mming back to the ground. Even then, he couldn¡¯t feel the pain of the crash.

    ¡°How fortunate, I wasn¡¯t pped...¡± That was actually hisst thought. His mind rxed as his consciousness sank into the darkness.

    ¡°Pop!¡± One of the elders under the tree was just about to y his chest piece when it suddenly turned to powder between his fingers. He looked up all of a sudden, his eyes exuding a sharp glow as he uttered, ¡°He¡¯s actually a divine champion!¡±

    ¡°Divine champion!¡± The other elders nced at Qianye in shock.

    After knocking Bai Longyue away with a single punch, he withdrew and stood calmly with his hand behind his back. No one could sense the grand suppressive might of a divine champion from him, yet even someone like Bai Longyue couldn¡¯tst a single move against him. There was no need to seek further confirmation because one could easily tell that Qianye¡¯sbat strength had reached that level.

    ¡°So... young,¡± an elder muttered in disbelief.

    Everyone knew Qianye¡¯s real age, and it was exactly because they knew that they found it difficult to ept.

    Another elder said, ¡°That¡¯s more or less on the same level as Zhao Jundu, right?¡±

    ¡°No, he¡¯s even earlier than Zhao Jundu. Don¡¯t forget that thetter is one year older.¡±

    ¡°Was Prince Greensun so young when he broke through?¡±

    Everyone went silent at this question.

    Only after a while did one of the elders say, ¡°Prince Greensun spent a good amount of time umting knowledge and polishing his origin power. The profundity of his foundations isn¡¯t something the likes of us can imagine. Only after all that did he soar to great heights and stepped into the heavenly monarch realm. How can this Qianye evenpare? Maybe... this divine champion rank is his final achievement.¡±

    These words made some sense because most people would stop at the early divine champion stage. How far one would go beyond the divine champion realm was decided by the purity of his origin power. At the thought of this, the elders recalled Qianye¡¯s famous Venus Dawn and were filled with sudden bitterness.

    ¡°How dare a vampire be so insolent!¡± The elder had just started voicing his indignance when the chess-ying elder shot him a cold re, stopping him up.

    The chess-ying elder said, ¡°After the void continent war, it has been hinted in the Imperial court that no one should bring up his other identity. This isn¡¯t just Prince Greensun¡¯s opinion, but also Empress Li¡¯s and the Emperor¡¯s.¡±

    The elders were dissatisfied at this undocumented order, but under the chess-ying elder¡¯s gaze, no one was dumb enough to voice it.

    The chess-ying elder stood up and said, ¡°Come, let¡¯s go meet this divine champion.¡±

    On the martial path, the first to attain was the senior. There was no meaning in feigning aloofness before a divine champion, which would only make people suspect the Bai n¡¯s judgment and bearing.

    The group of elders stood up, no longer disguising themselves. They stepped forward with different momentums, some like dragons and tigers, others flowing like wind and water.

    Qianye stood with his hands behind his back, waiting silently for them to arrive.

    The elders looked leisurely but were actually moving at great speeds. They arrived near the arena in the blink of an eye, where they came to a stop and only the chess-ying elder went forward to Qianye¡¯s side. ¡°General Qianye, no, I should call you Marshal Qianye now.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Marshal is an Imperial rank. A civilian like me wouldn¡¯t dare ept such an address.¡±

    The chess-ying elder said, ¡°This old man is Bai Yuantu, currently a retiree.¡±

    ¡°Mister Bai.¡± Qianye cupped his hands in reciprocation. It was just that his address couldn¡¯t be considered respectful at all, even cing himself on the same level as the other party.

    The elders were prepared, but they couldn¡¯t help but feel angered after seeing Qianye not give face even to an aged elder.

    Bai Yuantu, on the other hand, was as calm as still water. He said in a steady tone, ¡°We¡¯ve heard before that Sire Qianye views himself quite highly. Now that we meet, it is indeed the case.¡±

    Qianye replied indifferently, ¡°The ignorantyperson will always make random guesses, no need to take it to heart. It¡¯s just like how people say that the four major ns stand at the peak of the aristocracy, possessing great foresight and judgment. Now, it seems that¡¯s not necessarily the case.¡±

    The chess-ying elder¡¯s brows rose. ¡°Then I must ask you for some advice. Where is our Bai ncking in foresight?¡±

    Qianye pointed to the unconscious Bai Longyue. ¡°This is your favorite, right? He can¡¯t even take a single punch from me. Bai Aotu is much stronger even in her current state, let alone in the future.¡±

    ¡°Does this mean you¡¯re going to speak up for Bai Aotu? That¡¯s not appropriate, is it? We cannot break our centuries-old rules just because of her.¡±

    ¡°It is indeed not suitable for me to teach your Bai n how to do things. I simply came here to see an old friend, and I was going to leave once that was done. Since these children wish to teach me a lesson, I don¡¯t mind teaching them how to behave, either.¡±

    ¡°Is this your way of teaching? Your p isn¡¯t just on their faces.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I feel that this method is quite good. This interception isn¡¯t entirely their idea, so it goes without saying that my p isn¡¯t limited to their faces, either.¡±

    The chess-ying elder looked indignant. ¡°Aren¡¯t you being too arrogant, no matter how much of a genius you are? Are you nning to incur irreconcble hatred with our Bai n?¡±

    Qianye sneered fearlessly. ¡°I should be the one asking this. Is the Bai n going to make an enemy out of me?¡±

    One of the other elders could no longer endure. ¡°Insolence! How dare amoner like youpare yourself to the Bai n? Where will we keep our faces if we don¡¯t make you pay a price today?¡±

    Qianye replied unceremoniously, ¡°It¡¯s going to be hard for you to make me pay a price. I¡¯ll kneel down and apologize if you can take a punch from me!¡±

    That elder was livid. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to utter any unyielding words. ording to reason, he was a high-ranking character in the Bai n and Qianye was just a new divine champion. How powerful would thetter be? How could he not block a single punch?

    Yet he was inwardly hesitant. Even despite his fit of anger, he didn¡¯t dare say: ¡°Then I¡¯ll try taking a punch from you!¡±

    Bai Yuantu narrowed his eyes. ¡°This old man has neglected worldly matters for a while, I never knew such talents have appeared among the youth. But Qianye, you¡¯re just an early divine champion and you probably haven¡¯t even stabilized your powers. It¡¯s too early for you to behave so atrociously in the Bai n!¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°I might have just entered the divine champion rank, but ordinary divine champions will find it pretty hard to escape alive from my hands. If you want to teach me a lesson, then feel free to make your move, but you should better step aside if you lose. Don¡¯t block my path.¡±

    Bai Yuantu broke into an angeredugh. ¡°What conceited nonsense. Aren¡¯t you afraid our Bai n will mobilize all our experts and kill you here?¡±

    ¡°You want to mob me? Which divine champion is so easy to kill?¡± Qianyeughed. ¡°I admit you might have people who can defeat me now, but what about in three years? Five years? If you cannot kill me here, your n can forget abouting out. I will kill every member on sight!¡±

    ¡°You!¡±

    Bai Yuantu¡¯s hair flew up as an astral wind stirred in the arena, and a gigantic pressure bore down on Qianye. Thetter remained as still as a rock, ignoring the surging storm around him.

    Just as a battle was about to break out, Song Zining opened his folding fan and let out a cough. The sound wasn¡¯t loud, but it echoed in everyone¡¯s ears, and the tense atmosphere immediately copsed.

    The Bai n members didn¡¯t think too highly of Song Zining at first. Only now did they realize that this romantic guy wasn¡¯t a simple character at all. Being able to affect a fight between divine champions meant that his ownbat strength wasn¡¯t too far off.

    Someone nced at Bai Longyue and felt that it was lucky that he was unconscious. The setback would be too great if he found out that he wasn¡¯t a match even for Song Zining.

    Clearing his throat, Song Zining said, ¡°The war has just ended. Is this how the Bai n treats subjects of outstanding service?¡±

    These words were neither serious nor light. Some were puzzled as to what it meant, while others noticed the hidden message.

    Bai Yuantu slowly retracted his aura. ¡°The seventh young master makes sense, then I shall learn from Sire Qianye¡¯s skills another day.¡±

    Many people from the Bai n heaved a sigh of relief. This fight wasn¡¯t good for them at all¡ªa victory would not be glorious, while a defeat would be embarrassing. It was a good thing to be able to exit.

    Unexpectedly, Qianye said, ¡°No need for another day. Let¡¯s just settle things now. I must seek pointers from Mister Yuantu right now!¡±

    With that, Qianye threw a punch at the old man¡¯s chest, just as he did with Bai Longyue.

 Chapter 1235: Not Necessarily Impossible

    <h4>Chapter 1235: Not Necessarily Impossible</h4>

    Bai Yuantu hadn¡¯t imagined that Qianye would be so stubborn. With a cold snort, he swung his arm to block the iing blow. This made clear his intent on fighting Qianye head-on. Bai Yuantu flipped his wrist the moment they came into contact, hoping to grab the opponent and make this ungrateful little brat suffer.

    Yet there was only utter silence as the punchnded and the peerless energy Bai Yuantu had gathered vanished like a y ox in the ocean. The next moment, all of the power he had exerted was flushed back by a tremendous force, bearing down upon him with earth-shattering pressure!

    Greatly surprised, Bai Yuantu could no longer bother with a follow-up attack. He erupted in a loud roar as his origin crystal lit up like a small sun.

    Bai Yuantu took three steps backward following the massive sh. The granite floor below was specially treated and even harder than alloy steel, yet it sank in like tofu. The old man suppressed the surging qi and blood, forcibly stopping the bloody taste welling up from his chest. His sleeves ripped open in several areas just as he had stabilized his footing. What followed was pain and some bloody streaks on his arm.

    Bai Yuantu looked down in rm to see a number of faintly discernible ck streaks drifting about in the air, which faded away only after some time. The old man was even more shocked because he knew these were spatial tears. The space in the area had been ripped open, unable to withstand the force of their sh.

    How powerful was a blow from a divine champion! On the battlefield, experts at this level could only go all-out in the air in order to prevent friendly fire. So, it wasn¡¯t a surprise that space would be torn in an all-out sh on the ground. Fortunately, Qianye had only used a melee attack and Bai Yuantu never had the time to unleash other powers; the surrounding Bai n members remainedrgely unaffected.

    Bai Yuantu¡¯s relief was immediately followed by suspense. Only after confirming that Qianye had taken two steps more than he had, did the old man feel that his face was safe. It could be considered a draw since Qianye had taken a couple more steps back and the elder¡¯s sleeves were torn.

    Then again, Bai Yuantu had been in the divine champion realm for over twenty years while Qianye was only several months into it. He was also one rank higher than Qianye yet only managed to eke out a draw. It was the old man¡¯s defeat if one were topare the results seriously.

    Qianye flexed his wrist saying, ¡°I¡¯ve learned much. Zining, let¡¯s go.¡±

    This time no one stopped them as they boarded the car. All they could do was watch as they drove out of the Bai n¡¯s gates and vanished into the distance.

    Bai Yuantu stood there for a good while with his hands behind his back. ¡°Wake them all up! A group of useless trash, you¡¯ve lost the Bai n¡¯s face.¡±

    In truth, some people had already tried giving them treatment, but they refused to wake up no matter what. Under the elder¡¯s instructions, some men carried the injured away for gradual treatment.

    An elder arrived nearby and whispered. ¡°Are we going to let them go? Why don¡¯t we finish them off in the void? Let¡¯s see how long a new divine champion can hang on out there.¡±

    Bai Yuantu red at him. ¡°He came on Empress Li¡¯s airship, do you dare?¡±

    ¡°Empress Li¡¯s airship!? There¡¯s no helping it then.¡±

    Sounds of regret and helplessness emerged from the crowd, almost as though they could detain Qianye if he weren¡¯t riding the Empress¡¯ vessel.

    Back on the airship, Song Zining pped Qianye¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°You¡¯re actually a divine champion now!¡±

    ¡°I became one after getting an upgraded cultivation art from Prince Greensun and a few battles.¡±

    Song Zining asked him a bit more about it before saying, ¡°But you¡¯re not the fastest. Go check up on Jundu, he just broke through a while ago, even a bit earlier than you.¡±

    The airship flew toward the edges of the Qin Continent after leaving the Bai n. This area was full of tall mountain ranges and covered in snow. Add to that themon appearance of void tempests, the area used to bepletely uninhabited. There weren¡¯t any garrisoned soldiers, either.

    Right now, however, a loud rumble echoed amidst the snowynd as hundreds of machines worked to shovel the ice and level the ground. A giant transport ship had justnded on the newly built airship port and theborers were busy unloading construction materials and resources from it.

    Not far from it was a construction site where numerous buildings had risen up from the ground, along with a kic tower. Moreover, a new fleet of transports was arriving from over the horizon.

    Arge stretch of army barracks had been constructed close by. It was just a temporary camp but it was so big that it could fit an army of a hundred thousand. The number of craftsmen working in the various construction sites corresponded to this number.

    This was more or less the same scale as when the Empire constructed the city of Indomitable on the void continent.

    As someone who had been in the field for a good while, he noticed something out of the ordinary with the construction work while still in the air. The construction work outside of bases and cities were mostly defensive structures¡ªwhat they were building here was a self-sufficient stronghold city.

    The Qin Continent was the Empire¡¯s core territory, a ce that had not seen battle for many years. Howe they were investing so much into this barren ce on the maind? The importance seemedparable to the void continent. This kind of high-speed construction was fairly expensive¡ªit had to be either very important or very urgent.

    Just as he was thinking, their airshipnded slowly under the guidance of the patrol vessels. Several officers were waiting outside when the door opened. ¡°Sire Qianye and Zining, please follow us. Sire Jundu is already waiting.¡±

    Qianye and Song Zining boarded the vehicle, which sped toward the only tall building in the camp. They were led to the top floor and into arge conference room.

    There was arge nning map spread out at the center of the room and over a dozen officers were looking at it with rapt attention.

    Zhao Jundu was pointing at a certain area on the map and exining a change in ns. Seeing Qianye and Song Zining enter, he said, ¡°Proceed ording to the changes. Dismissed.¡±

    The officers filed out of the room with a salute.

    Zhao Jundu walked out from behind the meeting table and sized Qianye up from head to toe. He then said with great satisfaction, ¡°Perfect and wless! As expected of a Zhao n descendant!¡±

    Qianye stared at him in a daze, his voice trembling. ¡°Y-You... howe?¡±

    Zhao Junduughed. ¡°I¡¯m very well aren¡¯t I?¡±

    Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t hidden his aura intentionally, so Qianye could sense his brother¡¯s cultivation and even the state of his origin crystal.

    At this point, Zhao Jundu¡¯s origin vortex had condensed into a crystalline solid. He had indeed stepped through the threshold to be a divine champion. However, his origin power was overflowing with violet and contained only a wisp of azure. It could be said that he was barely at the stage of Extreme Violet Yields Azure. This was the realm he had already achieved when he became a champion. With this talent and ability, his origin power should¡¯ve turned entirely azure upon bing a divine champion. That was the peak of the Zhao n¡¯s inherited cultivation art. He would then use it as a foundation to assail the heavenly monarch realm and finally reim the Zhao n ancestors¡¯ glory.

    But now, the grade of his origin power had fallen instead of improving. Although there was still room for advancement, the heavenly monarch realm was no longer in reach. How could Qianye not feel shocked upon seeing Zhao Jundu in such a state?

    Upon careful examination, there was a different origin crystal aura burning in Zhao Jundu¡¯s chest. That was the top-grade origin crystal Qianye had left for him, one that could bestow the host a constitution simr to that of a vampire.

    ¡°Why the rush?¡± Qianye asked.

    Zhao Junduughed in a carefree manner. ¡°What¡¯s the point of dragging it out? Makes no difference really.¡±

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s some way to repair your foundations.¡±

    ¡°Even our Zhao n has no such cultivation art, do you think other ns will have it? Instead of holding onto such ephemeral hopes, it¡¯s more practical to just be a divine champion.¡±

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s frown, Zhao Jundu patted his shoulder. ¡°That crystal you left for me is really useful. With it, I can now train in many arts that I was never able to. There might still be a path beyond the divine champion realm.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s sadness lessened somewhat. He sighed inwardly and started asking about his recent situation.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s injuries back then were extremely serious. Princess Haimi had brought him back in time and treated him with arge amount of rare medicines, but his foundation was still affected in the end. The damage lingered even after his return to the Western Continent and never healedpletely. He could still move about¡ªhe spent several days researching ancient texts in the depository before emerging with the shocking decision to assail the heavenly monarch realm.

    It was madness to attempt a breakthrough when his foundation was unstable, but Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t one to change a decision he had made. Hence, the Zhao n had no choice but to cooperate. Zhao Jundu merged with the origin crystal Qianye had left for him and used the surging energy¡ªalong with all kinds of supplementary medicines¡ªtomence the advancement. In the end, he managed to barely cross through the threshold and condense his vortices into an origin crystal, bing a divine champion.

    The breakthrough was so sudden that the entire Empire was surprised. He had umted an impressive number of aplishments, enough to apply for title and territory. Yet a nominal title wasn¡¯t going to cut it for the son of a princess¡ªthis had great implications. Zhao Jundu¡¯s advancement also happened to coincide with the death of the Longevity Monarch and the Empire¡¯s redistribution of internal power. This threw the entire imperial court and the Zhao n itself into a busy mess.

    The Unending Pce¡¯s subsequent reaction was unexpectedly fast. Before long, a decree arrived at the Zhao n, ordering Zhao Jundu to lead the defense and construction of the Snond military base.

    This mission was beyond anyone¡¯s expectations. Everyone thought this was insignificantbor at first, something the court was using to cate Zhao Jundu for the time being. This wasn¡¯t quite reasonable after careful thought. Not to mention Zhao Jundu¡¯s identity was special, even an ordinary divine champion of humble background wouldn¡¯t be neglected like so. Each and every one of them was a pir of the Empire.

    Amotion broke out when the actual details were revealed. This time it wasn¡¯t because the Empire was slighting him but because the authority was too great. In order to construct this base, the Empire had mobilized close to a hundred thousand craftsmen and ced twoplete army corps under Zhao Jundu¡¯smand. Just the scale of his subordinate forces was double that of Lin Xitang¡¯s Northern Legion, and there was a guard fleet allocated to him as well. This was an organized sub fleet we¡¯re talking about!

    Hence, apart from having no fixed war zone of his own, the resources and troops granted to Zhao Jundu had exceeded most marshals. This wasparable to Zhang Boqian back in the day.

    Naturally, there were some people who imed the Zhao n was bing the number one n. As for the effects of such words, there was no way to find out.

    In Qianye¡¯s eyes, though, this wasn¡¯t a good assignment no matter how much power was granted to him. From his many years of experience in pioneering wildnds, he knew that the work involved in constructing a new base until its stable operation was moreplicated than defending an old warzone. How could Zhao Jundu find time to cultivate if he had to make all decisions big and small?

    Was he to just give up and never attempt the heavenly monarch realm? Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to give up hoping despite knowing of his brother¡¯s physical condition.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s expression, Zhao Jundu said with a smile, ¡°Why worry for me? Even if there¡¯s really no path ahead, you can¡¯t say for sure that I won¡¯t hack one out on my own.¡±

 Chapter 1236: Forward Base

    <h4>Chapter 1236: Forward Base</h4>

    Zhao Jundu had said so, and Qianye also knew how much of a capable genius he was, yet he didn¡¯t feel very optimistic at all. No matter how miraculous that origin crystal was, it was still an outside object. To the heavenly monarch realm, which focused greatly on purity, any kind of outside object meant a breakage in the path. Being a divine champion might be the dream of many an expert, but not reaching the heavenly monarch realm was a failure for Zhao Jundu.

    If Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t fought his way into Whitetown that day, he would never have incurred such foundational damage.

    Song Zining broke the gloomy atmosphere with a change in topic. ¡°What is this base for? Why the great fanfare?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine to tell you guys, it¡¯s not a secret anymore these days. This is the Empire¡¯s forward base for the new world. We had to use such a method because of the pressing schedule.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s news about the new world?¡± Qianye¡¯s ears perked up.

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°We finally received detailed information from the other side. When the new world opens, entrances into the world will appear on every continent, hmm... just like the Great Maelstrom. ording to the calction of powerful divination experts, an entrance will also appear here on the Qin Continent. That was why the Empire decided to build a base here in advance, just in case.¡±

    ¡°If the new world has so many entrances, what are those Evernight powerhouses doing?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re probably off to open the doors.¡±

    At this point, Qianye and Song Zining understood what was going on. Song Zining said, ¡°That means we¡¯ll likely run into dark race experts once the entrance opens here.¡±

    ¡°Likely.¡±

    Song Zining looked worried. ¡°They imed the initiative this time.¡±

    Since the gateway to the new world was opened by the dark races, the first batch to enter was naturally from their faction. By the time the other gateways opened up for the Empire, they would begging behind already.

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°It¡¯s not a pity at all. From the current intelligence we¡¯ve received, Evernight has been preparing for a thousand years. It¡¯s just that all secrets are held in the hands of those supremes. And only they can sense the moment at which to open the gates. There¡¯s no way we can outdo them in this regard. So, just like with the great maelstrom, there¡¯s no need to bother with temporary gains or losses.¡±

    Zhao Jundu then asked about Qianye¡¯s situation on the Fort Continent. He was greatly surprised to find out that the most important support came from Empress Li. The three talked about it for a good while but couldn¡¯t figure out why this unfathomable character was so impressed with Qianye. Song Zining¡¯s expression remained neutral all the while, so the other two never figured anything out.

    Zhao Jundu had no advice for Qianye since he was doing so well there. He ced an order of equipment for Qianye within his scope of power with instructions to ship them to the Fort Continent. With Empress Li¡¯s example in ce, no one could say anything about this batch of armaments. Besides, the equipment wasn¡¯t free¡ªQianye would need topensate the Empire with all kinds of mineral resources from the Fort Continent, with a time limit of three years. This was within range of the Empire¡¯s policy for third-party trades.

    This relieved Qianye¡¯s urgent situation, and the Empire¡ªwith its thousand-year foundations¡ªwas in no rush to find a use for them. They would store up as many rare minerals as they could find and use them as needed, maximizing their value.

    This base could be considered the Empire¡¯s most recent secret base. Although Zhao Jundu was themander here, Qianye and Song Zining couldn¡¯t stay here for too long. Hence, they got ready to leave after a brief chat.

    Just as the two were about to leave, an officer ran over and said, ¡°Commander Jundu, a secret missive!¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ncing at Qianye and Song Zining, the officer whispered, ¡°Sire, this is the highest level of confidential information, only you can read it. Others cannot be present.¡±

    Zhao Jundu paid no heed. He took the secret document, unraveled the origin power seal, and scanned its continents. Then, following an exmation of surprise, he fell into contemtion.

    That officer didn¡¯t dare me him and only stood cautiously to the side.

    Zhao Jundu looked up at Qianye. ¡°Lil¡¯ Five, you must be careful after going back there. Our higher-ups don¡¯t intend to watch as Evernight opens the doors to the new world. They¡¯re going to take action to disrupt them. Whether this fails or seeds, the dark races will retaliate with great ferocity. You¡¯re alone out there, so be careful.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Fort Continent is distant and barren. The gains of sending an army won¡¯t cover their losses. If it¡¯s just a couple of experts, I have no fear of them.¡±

    ¡°Very well then.¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t detain them any longer, either. He ordered one of his men to guide Qianye and Song Zining back to the airship before returning to oversee the construction work.

    ...

    In the depths of the void, an old worn-out airship was driving swiftly on its own. It flew with great speed and stability, not something an old cargo ship could do. Clearly, it was a disguised vessel.

    It flew around a group of floating inds and, using them as cover,nded at a remote edge of Twilight Continent. Several people walked down from the airship. One of them was wrapped tightly in a cloak, his face hidden in the shadows and his aura so well retracted that one could hardly discern his race. The others, however, were humans.

    A middle-aged man produced a sealed wooden box and handed it to the mysterious man. ¡°Do you remember how and when to activate it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡±

    ¡°Very well, don¡¯t disappoint us.¡±

    The group returned to the airship, leaving only the mysterious person outside. Thetter watched as the airship took to the sky and left, finally revealing his face and eyes filled with blood energy. He was actually a vampire.

    Only after the airship had vanished into the void did he wear his hood again and leave. He ran swiftly and soon vanished into the mountain ranges of Twilight Continent.

    In a remote region of Twilight Continent, there was an ancient but elegant-looking castle. It stood atop a precipitous mountain, looking down over the vast ins. The cliffside was covered in traces of wind and frost, yet there were also stubborn vines and shrubbery. Even under the cover of passing years, one could see the scars left behind by past battles. Some sword and de marks stretched dozens of meters long.

    Castle Ducasse was one of Twilight Continent¡¯s oldest and most famous castles. Back during the era of war, it was at the forefront of the vampire race¡¯s fight against the other dark races. Countless great battles had taken ce here.

    Later on, the humans awoke to daybreak origin power and rallied under the founding ancestor¡¯s leadership. It was this castle that they had captured while fighting their way out of the Twilight Continent, and it was here that they defeated their pursuers several times.

    In this castle where every brick had its story, one could see fully-equipped vampire elites everywhere. All patrols contained titled experts among them, and the guards¡¯ ranks were extremely high.

    This wasn¡¯t normal at all because there were rarely any fights here after the human exodus a thousand years ago. The conflict between the vampires and the other races rarely extended to the core region of Twilight Continent. Most of them took ce on the lower continents where different races existed together. Usually, there was only a small force garrisoned in Castle Ducasse, but now, the number of soldiers alone was over ten times that number.

    The main building of the castle was somber and deste. Simply approaching the ce would fill the vampires with a fear that arose from the depths of their bloodline, a natural intimidation exerted by a high-ranking vampire.

    The warriors here all hailed from the twelve major ns and their bloodlines were fairly high. Yet, there was not a single patrol in sight for dozens of meters around the main building. Even titled experts would rarely appear, and those who did would hurry away as quickly as possible. From this, one could see how terrifying the bloodline suppression was inside.

    As for the empty guard posts in the main building, that was not a problem. Anyone who would dare sneak in was truly courting death.

    The ancient castle was made up of four levels, the first of which was exceptionallyrge. The top floor was an open framework supported by countlessrge pirs, overlooking the entire fort. Only the second and third floors were livable. The second level was home to some counts and viscounts, while therge third floor only had three rooms, all upied. Even the owner of Castle Ducasse, Count Pinot, could only squeeze into the second floor.

    The vampires living on the third floor kept their auras under control, but the faint friction of suppressive might between them still made it difficult to breathe.

    A vampire viscount rushed into the main building and straight to the third floor. There, he checked the family crest on the door before knocking.

    ¡°Come in.¡± A cold, clear voice appeared as the thick bronze door opened on its own.

    The viscount entered the spacious living room. Every piece of furniture here had gone through a hundred years of history, perfectlyplementing the exquisite sculptures everywhere. Thebination was a perfect interpretation of magnificence but without overcrowding the space. There was a vampiredy in ck robes seated on the sofa. She was flipping through a thick ancient tome and never bothered to even nce up.

    The viscount¡¯s blood core couldn¡¯t help but beat a bit faster, and his breathing also grew coarse. However, he exerted good control over his emotions and didn¡¯t touch the borders of rudeness.

    Thedy on the sofa was secretly known as one of the most beautiful vampires in history, evenparable to the Queen of the Night. At the same time, her terrifying strength was also a proven fact as she could crush a viscount to death with her finger.

    ¡°Your Majesty Nighteye, a viscount from a lower continent wishes to see you. He ims to be one of your n members."

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze remained on the book. ¡°Lower continent? A nsman? Which branch is he from?¡±

    ¡°No, he ims to be from Evernight Continent.¡±

    ¡°Evernight?¡± Nighteye finally looked up and said after some thought, ¡°Let him in.¡±

    Momentster, a vampire viscount appeared before Nighteye. His grey hair was somewhat messy, the blood color in his eyes was dull, and his sunken face was as pale as a sheet. As a viscount, he seemed to be doing pretty badly in life.

    He stared at Nighteye for a while before recalling his manners and lowering his head. ¡°Are you Nighteye, Your Majesty?¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils lit up with a sanguine hue, reflecting the man¡¯s image in them. She found a familiar scent amidst the turbid blood energy, which gradually merged with her memories, stirring up certain scenes from before her bloodline awakening.

    ¡°Is everything... fine in the territory?¡± Nighteye asked.

 Chapter 1237: Heavenly Monarchâ€™s Projection

    <h4>Chapter 1237: Heavenly Monarch¡¯s Projection</h4>

    The vampire viscount fell to one knee and lowered his head. ¡°The territory...¡± His voice was caught in his throat, almost as though he didn¡¯t know how to reply.

    Nighteye¡¯s voice became softer. ¡°Stand up, howe I¡¯ve never seen you before?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m from a distant branch of Count us¡¯ family, and my bloodline is very mediocre. I was allowed to serve the old count after barely making it to the viscount rank. You were already under the Monroe family by that time, so you probably don¡¯t recognize me.¡±

    ¡°Did something happen for you toe see me?¡±

    ¡°His Excellency wanted me to give you something.¡±

    Nighteye was startled. In truth, she knew without having to ask this person that her small family on Evernight Continent was not in a good state. Edward had captured the old count back then, and the Monroe family wouldn¡¯t sh with the Holy Son for a small side-branch on the Evernight Continent. Who would¡¯ve thought Count us managed to leave something for her?

    The viscount said, ¡°You know that... His Excellency was not on good terms with the Perth n when he was taken away. He seemed to be expecting it when the men reported that a guest had arrived. He gave me this item and told me to flee through the secret passage, saying that I must give this to you no matter what.¡±

    Nighteye was calm but also earnest in listening.

    ¡°I managed to escape, but I never found any concrete information regarding your whereabouts. Later on, I heard you seemed to have gone to human territory. I only dared to seek you out after your official return.¡±

    Nighteye could imagine what had happened back in the castle that was her childhood home. ¡°How many... of our nsmen survived?¡±

    The viscount broke down in tears at this question. ¡°Most of the n scions died after the lord¡¯s passing. The others were reportedly captured for something called bloodline refinement. Those with impure bloodlines were ughtered on the spot. They... they wanted to eliminate our entire family!¡±

    Nighteye remained silent for a while. When she spoke again, her voice was as cold as the frigid winds from the poles. ¡°Who else apart from Edward and the Perth n?¡±

    ¡°There were some experts from the other races as well. Oh, right... I can confirm there were two viscounts from the Drac n.¡±

    ¡°The Lightless Monarch?¡±

    The viscount lowered his head in fear. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if His Majesty Medanzo is involved.¡± The actions of two viscounts couldn¡¯t represent the will of the n. How could someone of his status dare to point fingers without any proof?

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°I understand, I¡¯ll deal with this matter. What about that thing you brought me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± The viscount opened his clothes and fished out a wooden box from within his undergarments. He said restlessly, ¡°Your Majesty, I-I had to do this for fear of being robbed.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, bring it to me.¡±

    The viscount¡¯s hands trembled slightly as he took a couple of steps forward and passed the box to Nighteye.

    The square wooden box was about thirty centimeters give or take, covered in intricate patterns and sealed with a specialcquer. It didn¡¯t look like it could hold much.

    Nighteye had never seen this kind of sealed box, nor could she remember such an object in the old count¡¯s study. The patterns on the box were origin arrays¡ªtheir function was unknown, but Nighteye could tell that their origin power fluctuations were fairly weak. This proved that they didn¡¯t have that big of a use.

    The old count had found a way to send this item out before cmity befell him. What exactly could be in it?

    As Nighteye reached out for the box, the viscount¡¯s hand trembled harder and seemed to activate some kind of mechanism. The box sprang open with a pop and revealed the object inside.

    It was actually a book.

    Shocked out of his wits, the viscount exined repeatedly, ¡°T-This... Your Majesty, I swear I never opened it.¡±

    Nighteye, on the other hand, remained calm. ¡°It¡¯s fine, perhaps this is us¡¯ wish.¡±

    It was actually a human book, not the thick and elegant stylemon to vampires. The cover was also empty without a single word upon it. The pages seemed rather thick as well because the entire book was made up of a couple dozen pages.

    Nighteye flipped the cover page and came face-to-face with a single word: death!

    In the blink of an eye, an indescribable aura erupted from the ancient book. It was like a tall peak, akin to the deep sea, and contained an overbearing aura that could look down on the entire world. The pressure bore down on the entire Castle Ducasse!

    Nighteye¡¯s pupils turned red, reflecting the book in the depths of her eyes. The tome flipped open without any strong wind as an old man walked out from its pages, throwing a punch at her from afar.

    The Pointer Monarch!

    A giant ck sickle appeared amidst a burst of blood energy. She nted the weapon into the ground and fell on one knee, firmly blocking the monarch¡¯s attack.

    The Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t moved by this development. His image passed through Nighteye after the punch and vanished without a second nce. Apparently, it was a projection.

    Nighteye remained motionless while the monarch¡¯s projection faded away. ¡°Bang!¡± The sofa she was sitting on exploded, followed by everything else in the living room¡ªall of them were reduced to fine powder.

    It wasn¡¯t just the decorations. Even the walls, floor, and ceiling burst open one after the other, the damage spreading throughout the entire castle at an rming rate. The sh between the Pointer Monarch¡¯s energy and Nighteye¡¯s was too terrifying. Even an ancient castle with a thousand years of history could not withstand it.

    Just as the main building was starting to crumble, two powerful blood energies surged out from the third floor to resist the destructive power. Their blood-colored domains were filled with various projections, but they would be destroyed immediately after taking shape. In the end, the terrifying duke-rank powers were only able to protect a small area around them.

    The main building soon copsed in its entirety. After the dust was scattered by the frigid wind, only three pirs remained standing amidst the wreckage. On them were Nighteye and the two dukes respectively.

    The two dukes exchanged nces, unable to hide their shock. They arrived beside Nighteye in a single step, saying, ¡°Your Majesty, are you okay?¡±

    Nighteye slowly raised her head. She was deathly pale, and a drop of scarlet blood was trickling down from the corner of her mouth. She tried to support herself up with the sickle, but that bit of exertion reduced a segment of the shaft to fine powder. Nighteye lost her bnce and almost fell down again.

    The two dukes wanted to help her, but they stopped midway and carefully maintained their distance.

    The vampires had always been meticulous and sensitive. If they were to approach recklessly, it might cause some misunderstandings.

    Nighteye finally found her footing and stood up. Looking down, she saw that her abdomen had been punctured, and the defect was the same size as the Pointer Monarch¡¯s fist. Her expression didn¡¯t change much after seeing the injury. All she did was tighten her jacket to block the wound.

    ¡°Was that... the Pointer Monarch just now?¡± One of the dukes asked cautiously. At their rank, the only name that could shake them, apart from the sacred mountain supremes, was probably the Pointer Monarch.

    ¡°It is him but not the person. Just a projection containing the power of a single attack.¡±

    The two dukes felt relieved but were also filled with lingering fear. The Pointer Monarch¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t so easy to withstand¡ªthey might not be able to even stand if the attack just now hadnded on them.

    ¡°Why would the Pointer Monarch¡¯s projection appear here? Is it that bastard from just now?¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°He¡¯s already dead.¡±

    The viscount who had delivered the book was standing at the epicenter of the sh. How could he survive? He waspletely pulverized at the moment of impact, not even leaving a corpse behind.

    One of the dukes said solemnly, ¡°It seems the humans will do anything to kill you!¡±

    The other duke said, ¡°On the day of your return, the Pointer Monarch and Prince Greensun were there to intercept you. Do they already know something?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Everything rted to Her Majesty is the most confidential of information. Even the council chairman does not know more than he should. How could the humans know?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that humans have a lot of divination experts. They¡¯re much stronger than us in that regard.¡±

    ¡°Is divination so powerful?¡±

    While the two dukes were talking back and forth, a speck of darkness drifted in from the void and arrived before them. It immediately expanded into boundless darkness, covering the entire ancient castle until even the dukes couldn¡¯t see a single thing.

    It wasn¡¯t the darkness that was frightening; it was the terrifying aura within that copsed all notions of resistance. They fell on one knee and ced their hands to their chest. ¡°Your Majesty Demon King!¡±

    A figure walked out from the depths of the darkness, but no one could see his appearance or attire. He walked over to Nighteye and said, ¡°How are you doing?¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°It¡¯s not lethal, but my blood core was injured.¡±

    Surprised, the Demon King said after a pause, ¡°Howe? No matter how strong Ji Wentian is, it¡¯s just a projection without any consciousness. This shouldn¡¯t be.¡±

    ¡°They seem to know my weakness very well and used a very targeted method.¡±

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°This is probably rted to your experience in the human world before awakening. They must¡¯ve done something to you back then, to be able to find your location and attack your weakness. If someone as arrogant as Ji Wentian is willing to resort to such a method, it would seem their desire to kill you is immovable.¡±

    Nighteye replied calmly, ¡°This is normal. After all, I¡¯m the weakest link in our chain.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°No, you¡¯re not the weakest even in your current state. In truth, you¡¯re one of the most difficult to kill. They should not have picked you under normal circumstances. I think there must be a different reason behind this.¡±

 Chapter 1238: Why Her?

    <h4>Chapter 1238: Why Her?</h4>

    The Demon King did not ask further. He shot out a beam of ck energy which condensed into a revolving dark ball above Nighteye¡¯s head. Drops of strong darkness origin power dripped down onto Nighteye¡¯s body, each drop causing her to tremble slightly. Soon afterward, a wisp of daybreak origin power seeped out of her body and dispersed.

    The two dukes couldn¡¯t help but feel envious from afar. Every drop of darkness origin power was at the apex of purity, almost an incarnation of the darkness origins itself. If they could obtain just one drop of it, they would gain a new level ofprehension and break through their current bottleneck.

    The sphere of darkness faded away after producing seven continuous drops of darkness origin power. The Demon King looked somewhat exhausted as well. It would seem that the bestowment wasn¡¯t easy.

    ¡°That¡¯s all I can do for now. Also, I¡¯ll push back the opening of the second door by one month, I hope you can recover by then.¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°One month is enough, I don¡¯t need any longer.¡±

    ¡°I hope so. It¡¯s best you clear away the things that might put you in danger during this period. Although this is just a projection, it does take a fair bit of effort for me toe here.¡±

    ¡°I will consider it.¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice was cold.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t force the issue, either, and only reminded, ¡°Don¡¯t forget what you promised.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The boundless darkness dispersed, and the suppressive might faded away. The two dukes were drenched in sweat, almost as though they had just escaped death.

    The Demon King was one who had climbed his way up from humble beginnings, the most humble and moderate of the lot. Yet the two dukes had no wish to experience again the feeling of having their life and death in another¡¯s hand.

    One of the dukes arrived near Nighteye and said, ¡°Your Majesty, is there anything we can help with?¡±

    ¡°Not yet for now, but the soldiers here can¡¯t hold on for much longer. They need treatment.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll see to it immediately.¡± After responding thus, the duke couldn¡¯t resist saying, ¡°Your Majesty, the Demon King¡¯s words have deep meaning. If you have attachments to the human race, you should cut them off as soon as you can.¡±

    Nighteye said coldly, ¡°When was it your turn to criticize me?¡±

    The duke wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°We have a duty to protect you, but we really are helpless if something like that happens again. The opening of the new world is extremely important, and we¡¯re stuck at the second gate. Sigh, even if I don¡¯t say it, you know that the council will voice their displeasure.¡±

    Nighteye said coldly, ¡°Whoever is dissatisfied cane find me!¡±

    The other duke who was listening quietly all along stepped in to dissuade her. ¡°Your Majesty is of course not afraid of them, and they can¡¯t do anything to you, either. What the Demon King said just now isn¡¯t a secret anymore and many people suspect that as well. Those old fogeys have been waiting for over a thousand years. Now that their lives are nearing the end, they¡¯re willing to do all sorts of crazy things. I heard they n to take action and cut off your rtionships from the human side.¡±

    A cold glint appeared in Nighteye¡¯s pupils. ¡°What connections do I have there? And how do they n to cut them?¡±

    The duke said tactfully, ¡°That I have no idea, but since the humans managed to find you here, those people can probably do the same with their human targets. I think they have ample reason to take action after what happened today.¡±

    The killing intent in Nighteye¡¯s gaze slowly faded away, but the feeling of dangering off of her increased. She said word-by-word, ¡°Then tell those old fogeys, I¡¯m not one to be threatened! If they think they¡¯ve lived too long, I can help them move along.¡±

    The duke sighed. ¡°Your Majesty, there¡¯s no meaning in this. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re hell-bent on targeting you. On the contrary, we really think you should consider the Demon King¡¯s suggestion. The humans are simply too treacherous. This isn¡¯t the first time they¡¯ve tried to kill you, and they don¡¯t have any qualms about their method, either. Even the Pointer Monarch is taking action. You might¡¯ve escaped this time, but what about the next time?¡±

    Nighteye revealed no expression and only responded with a ¡°fair enough¡±.

    The two dukes exchanged nces. Realizing that this was the end of the conversation, they left to treat the injured. Numerous elite vampire warriorsy scattered across the ruins of Castle Ducasse¡ªnone of them could get up, and some of the titled experts were on theirst breath.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s sudden explosion of power wasn¡¯t something these vampires could withstand, and the Demon King¡¯s subsequent appearance put great pressure on them again. The supreme cared little about the fate of these vampires, nor would he restrain his domain just to avoid hurting them. His only concern was Nighteye¡¯s injury.

    Nighteye moved into the underground since her room was now destroyed. There was a giant coffin slowly rotating at the center of therge hall.

    This coffin was soaked in a blood pond, calm and emitting a faint fragrance. The iron-coffin blood pond of Castle Ducasse was quite famous as it was the key support for the castle¡¯s expert fighting force back in the day. The first thing the founding ancestor did after upying the castle was to destroy the blood pond. The vampires had to spend a great deal to reconstruct it after taking back the castle.

    After entering the hall, Nighteye said to the two viscounts behind her, ¡°You may leave, wake me up after three days.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    The heavy doors of the underground pce closed behind Nighteye. She slowly took off her armor and looked down at her wless body. The wound around her abdomen had miraculously healed, but the flesh around the wound was almost translucent. Some of the newly regenerated muscles were only the size of a finger, still a long ways from their normal bulk. And that was just the muscles¡ªthe organs hadn¡¯t had enough time to regenerate at all.

    Some faintly discernible embers still lingered on Nighteye¡¯s skin, and that slight frown of hers proved that they were quite painful. These remnant daybreak mes were like stubborn bone-eating maggots; even the Demon King couldn¡¯t clear them awaypletely.

    The metched itself onto Nighteye¡¯s finger as she pressed on it, burning constantly in an attempt to devour her flesh, blood, and origin power.

    She ced the finger before her eyes and watched the leaping sparks. Momentster, she said self-deprecatingly, ¡°They really put a lot into this. Do you people really want me dead so badly? Haha, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve provoked you before.¡±

    Judging from how difficult this daybreak origin fire was, one could easily imagine that it was no ordinary method. Adding a curse-like effect to the fire not only required rare materials but also Nighteye¡¯s own spirit fragments. Back when she had fallen into the military¡¯s hands, Li Fengshui had used the Chaos Millstone to torture her and likely collected her spirit fragments in the process.

    With Nighteye¡¯s current awakening, the value of those old spirit fragments had increased exponentially. The Empire was actually willing to use some of them, along with top-quality origin crystals, to add this curse attribute to the attack. They were truly intent on seeding.

    But what enmity would make them go so far? She wasn¡¯t the only target if they wanted to stop the opening of the new world, nor was she the easiest to deal with. Was her past fetters the only reason? Was it because of those sentiments deep inside her heart, that bit of goodwill and trust toward humans? Was that what made her the easiest target?

    Nighteye exhaled a wisp of blood energy and extinguished the me on her finger. The embers on her abdomen were too fierce to extinguish on her own. It would take three days and three nights in the iron-coffin blood pond topletely extinguish them.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s attack was abnormally well-prepared. He might not have expected her to be strong enough to block the attack, but he didn¡¯t forget to prepare for idents, either.

    This kind of lingering daybreak origin fire could burn her flesh in a short while and destroy herpletely. They had dispatched one of her surviving n members as an assassin in order to lower her guard and fall into the trap easily. This also made it impossible for the two duke bodyguards to react in time.

    Perhaps the Pointer Monarch¡¯s only mistake was not ounting for the Demon King¡¯s quick appearance. The supreme¡¯s projection had arrived almost immediately after the attack.

    It was unknown where the Demon King¡¯s main body was, but he was most likely in the demonkin territory. Traversing the vast distance to send a projection into vampire territory wasn¡¯t easy for him. That one month of rest he mentioned wasn¡¯t just for Nighteye; it was for himself as well.

    Nighteye opened the coffin and slowlyy down inside it. A sigh seemingly echoed through the chamber as the blood covered her face.

    Qin Continent, Imperial Capital.

    Within a quiet courtyard in the suburbs, an old man was fishing near a stream. The long line was floating in the steady current as the mottled afternoon sunlight shone through the leaves and onto the stream. Several small fish swam about in the waters, asionally touching the bait but never biting on it.

    The old man seemed half-asleep, his eyes narrowed and seemingly drifting through the mountains and rivers. ¡°Snap!¡± The fishing line broke all of a sudden, and a wisp of dark energy curled up toward the fisher.

    Only then did the old man open his eyes. A plume of fire flickered on the fishing rod, engulfing the darkness and burning it constantly. The fire was powerful, but the dark energy was exceptionally resilient as well. It took a fair bit of time before it waspletely dispersed.

    This time, the old man finally straightened his back and muttered to himself, ¡°He came personally. Could that person be even more important than I thought?¡±

    ¡°Did you get any fish today?¡±

    The old man replied without looking back, ¡°What are you doing here without handling things in court? There are so many important things in the world that can¡¯t be abandoned just yet.¡±

    The man standing behind the old man was the Radiant Emperor. The man was d in in clothing and his aura was contained, almost like an ordinary farmer. One would be hard-pressed to see that he was the Emperor of the Great Qin Empire. He stood there casually, unbothered by the fact that the old man gave him a lecture and didn¡¯t even nce at him.

 Chapter 1239: Unexpected Gues

    <h4>Chapter 1239: Unexpected Gues</h4>

    If there was one person in the Qin Empire who could ignore the Radiant Emperor entirely, it was the Pointer Monarch.

    The emperor nced at the charred fishing rod in the old man¡¯s hand and said, ¡°It didn¡¯t go well?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch tossed the fishing rod into the stream and watched it drift away. ¡°I lost.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor looked surprised. ¡°We actually failed even with such meticulous arrangements? Don¡¯t tell me that person can actually block an attack from you? Has she matured to such a level?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t say she blocked it entirely, but the Demon King took action to protect her.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor frowned. ¡°Things will be rather difficult if she lives. We¡¯ve used too many resources for her, it¡¯ll be almost impossible to do it again. We must find some other way.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch hesitated somewhat. Finally, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s see when you¡¯ve thought of it.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s wish to see the visitor out was evident, but the Radiant Emperor didn¡¯t leave. He stood in ce for a good while before asking, ¡°Will she fall for it again if we use Qianye as bait?¡±

    ¡°Why not do it since you already have a n?¡± The Pointer Monarch responded with a question.

    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking if I should really do this to him? He is teacher¡¯s only adopted son and someone who has contributed greatly to the Empire.¡±

    ¡°On one hand, it¡¯s for the Empire, yet on the other, sentiments are at stake. There is really no right or wrong,¡± said the Pointer Monarch.

    ¡°Thank you for the guidance.¡±

    ¡°Go back now. I¡¯m sleepy and want to go in and rest. I have to fish again at night.¡±

    ¡°I shan¡¯t disturb you then.¡±

    After saying his farewell, the Radiant Emperor turned about and left immediately. The Pointer Monarch picked up the empty fish basket and walked toward the distant house.

    Back in the Pepper Hall of the Imperial Pce, Empress Li was reading a book at her table. Just as she was immersed in the contents, a maid walked in and said, ¡°Your Majesty, the Emperor summons you to share dinner with him at the Bright Splendor Hall.¡±

    Empress Li raised her head. ¡°Didn¡¯t His Majesty head out of the city?¡±

    ¡°He has just returned.¡±

    Empress Li put down her book and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go then.¡±

    The night was a tad chilly and there were only a handful of dim lights burning in Bright Splendor Hall. The depths of the building were drowned in dark shadows.

    A table had been set up at the center of the hall, the dishes wereid out, and the maids were waiting nearby.

    The candlelight at the center of the hall flickered all of a sudden as the Radiant Emperor appeared out of nowhere and sat down at the table. The maids weren¡¯t shocked by the scene as they had already gotten used to it. All of them fell to their knees in salutation.

    The Radiant Emperor nced at the empty seat and said, ¡°She¡¯s not here yet?¡±

    His voice hadn¡¯t even faded away when the jingle of trinkets came from the courtyard as Empress Li walked in with her maids. After entering the great hall, she curtseyed toward the Emperor and sat down across from him. ¡°I¡¯m notte, Your Majesty is early.¡±

    The Radiant Emperorughed. ¡°I forgot. That¡¯s just how I am, always in a rush.¡±

    The dinner began after Empress Li¡¯s arrival. The two exchanged asional words of romance or conversations about recent affairs in the Empire until the moon was high in the sky. After the dinner was cleared away, the maids brought tea and sweets. The Radiant Emperor brought the tea to his lips but remained in a daze there.

    ¡°Is something on your mind, Your Majesty?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor returned to his senses. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just annoyed by some rumors. There are definitely some things that are difficult to decide on, so I was lost in thought.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s never ack of important matters. Don¡¯t be too worried, just deal with them one-by-one.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s that, but we...¡± The Radiant Emperor suddenly realized that he was using the official self-address. ¡°Sigh, there I go again. I...¡±

    Empress Li reached out to cover his mouth. ¡°Your Majesty is the supreme ruler of the world, it¡¯s not wrong to address yourself as such. The way you¡¯ve been addressing yourself before is wrong. Everyone is observing the decisions you make in court and your every move, how can you break the rules for me alone?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor sighed in tacit agreement.

    Empress Li asked, ¡°What weighs on your mind?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s about my teacher¡¯s adoptive son.¡±

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°What trouble did he get into again? If he did, how do you punish him? You owe Marshal Lin a debt of gratitude, but you have no rtionship with the young man. There¡¯s always a limit to loving the proverbial house and its crow.¡±

    ¡°Qianye actually didn¡¯t do anything. On the contrary, he has contributed much to the Empire. Besides, it¡¯s not so easy even if I want to punish him. You have to know that the young brat is already a divine champion. He caused a huge ruckus in the Bai n the other day, suppressing Bai Yuantu and forcing the experts of the n to avoid fighting him. That¡¯s not easy.¡±

    Empress Li said, surprised, ¡°He¡¯s already a divine champion? That fast? I couldn¡¯t tell that day.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°His bloodline is from the Monroe n, and they¡¯re famous for their Bloodline Concealment. Perhaps he has awakened those powers. It¡¯s quite normal for you to not notice.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is, no wonder I feel that I can¡¯t see through him and divination doesn¡¯t work, either. But why are you worried if he hasn¡¯t caused trouble?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°It¡¯s about the new world. Let¡¯s not talk about it.¡±

    Empress Li did not press the issue since the emperor wasn¡¯t willing. It was fairlyte by the time they had finished tea and desserts, so the maids led them away to wash, change, and head to bed.

    The darkness of night took over the entire pce hall. Soon, only the sounds of gentle breaths could be heard.

    The maids stood outside the hall like sculptures.

    ...

    Twilight Continent, Castle Ducasse. Only one week had passed since the recent destruction, but a support framework had been erected over the ruins. A steady stream of polished stone blocks was being shipped over to reconstruct the main building.

    Nighteye had woken up from the iron coffin blood pond and moved to the auxiliary building, along with the two dukes. Her aura had mostly recovered and was once again near the threshold of the duke rank. Although she was still a marquis at the moment, the two dukes remained respectful toward her.

    They knew that, in her shoes, they wouldn¡¯t havested until the Demon King¡¯s arrival. That unassuming attack was far more powerful than it looked. The more they thought about it, the more terrified they felt. They finally understood the difference between them and Nighteye, that they were no longer her match.

    Just as the entire castle was in a cautious state, an airship arrived at the castle out of nowhere. The vessel was immediately surrounded by elite vampire warriors uponnding, and dozens of origin guns took aim at the cabin doors.

    The door flung open and out walked a beautiful and elegant woman. The powerful aura of a marquis forced the warriors back a step. The leader of the ground forces shouted, ¡°ording to the Evernight Council¡¯s new regtions, whoeveres to Castle Ducasse must report their identity. Otherwise, we will open fire!¡±

    The female marquis revealed amand token. ¡°The council? It just so happened that I was ordered toe here. Do you want to see proof?¡±

    The count¡¯s expression shifted drastically upon seeing the token. This was a fairly high-ranking token of the Evernight Council, issued only by the chairman and vice-chairman. Additionally, only one token would be issued for a single mission and never long term. The count retreated to the side and bowed. ¡°How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Take me to Her Highness Nighteye.¡±

    The count weighed the token¡¯s authority in his mind before saying, ¡°Please follow me.¡±

    The top floor of the auxiliary building. Nighteye was seated on the sofa, reading that unfinished book, when a knock came from the door. She said without even looking up, ¡°Come in.¡±

    The female marquis walked in withrge strides and closed the door behind her. She then gazed silently at Nighteye for a good while, wearing aplicated expression all the while.

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze remained on the page she was on. She turned it only after some time, saying, ¡°You didn¡¯te here just to stand around, did you?¡±

    The marquis sighed. ¡°The first time I saw you, I wondered why the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance picked you even though I was much stronger.¡±

    Nighteye flipped another page, almost as though she wasn¡¯t listening.

    ¡°Later on, I did my utmost and used every scheme at my disposal, yet I still couldn¡¯t stop you. All I could do was watch you leave me in the dust. I wasn¡¯t in despair back then, just puzzled and unresigned.¡±

    Nighteye flipped another page.

    ¡°Later on, you finally ran into trouble and escaped to the human side. I was really happy because I felt that you were no longer my equal. I still wasn¡¯t satisfied because I still hadn¡¯t defeated you in a fair battle. Who would¡¯ve thought you would awaken again and return?¡±

    ¡°This time, I¡¯ve finally given up all hope. The massive gap between our bloodlines has decided that I will never be able to catch up to you, Sister Nighteye.¡±

    Nighteye replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m not your sister, and my current self is not rted to the Monroe n, either.¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember who I am?¡±

    ¡°Twilight.¡±

    Twilightughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Some fortuitous encounters in the Great Maelstrom allowed me to advance to the marquis-rank. I thought that would make me qualified to be your little sister.¡±

    Nighteye looked up. There was a tinge of mockery in her eyes when she said, ¡°Let¡¯s see when you be a duke.¡±

    Twilight wasn¡¯t angry. She said with a long sigh, ¡°I saw Qianye in the Great Maelstrom. To be honest, I never thought he would be so strong. I couldn¡¯t even muster up the courage to resist. He¡¯s... so perfect, just like you. I don¡¯t understand why the best things all belong to you.¡±

    Nighteye replied indifferently, ¡°You only saw a part of things.¡±

    ¡°No, I understand everything. Even if I didn¡¯t understand back then, I do now, perhaps even more than you do.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? You may leave now if you have nothing else to say.¡±

    ¡°Do you not want to know about Qianye?¡±

    ¡°After awakening, I no longer have anything to do with him.¡±

    ¡°Can I seduce him, then?¡± Twilight¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°Do as you wish.¡±

    ¡°Fine. I know where Qianye is right now, so I wanted to take you there to see him secretly. Since you say so, I¡¯ll be going alone.¡±

    With that, she turned and left.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Nighteye called out to her. Closing the book in her hands, she said nonchntly, ¡°Wait for me downstairs, we leave in half an hour.¡±

    Twilight raised her eyebrows, a triumphant smile appearing on her face. She was just about to say something when her vision went dark, and she was outside the building when she came to. She never saw how Nighteye had done it.

    Twilight stuck out her tongue, but she didn¡¯t dareugh at Nighteye again.

    ...

    The Empire, Qin Continent. A sleek airship was tearing swiftly through the skies. It looked natural and at ease, but it was actually moving extremely fast. Clearly, it was the most advanced of high-speed airships.

    An Imperial patrol appeared far off in the distance, but seeing the crests of the Li and the Imperial family on the iing vessel, they simply returned to their original route without trying to intercept it.

    Qianye and Song Zining were seated across one another, watching the continentalnd zooming past the window, the fields, hardworking farmers, and majestic mountains. Even the most beautiful of sceneries felt helpless to them.

    ¡°Your footing on Fort Continent will be rtively stable once we retrieve the shipment at Peng. Who would¡¯ve thought you would gather so many werewolves under your banner? No other person could¡¯ve done this.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation regarding the new world? I feel uneasy.¡±

    ¡°Only the powerhouses of Evernight will know. Divination isn¡¯t all-powerful, especially against the supremes of the Sacred Mountain. All I know is that we probably won¡¯t be getting the benefits. As long as the new world is big enough, we¡¯ll have an opportunity to fight for the things they can¡¯t swallow.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether to feel happy or sad about this. At this moment, a sh of silver light flickered in the distance as an airship jumped out of the clouds and drove toward them.

    Song Zining looked and sounded surprised upon seeing the insignia.

    ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°The Pointer Monarch¡¯s men. Why would they appear here?¡± Song Zining seemed serious. If there was anyone in the Empire who could threaten Qianye, it was the heavenly monarchs and a handful of divine champions.

    Song Zining said, ¡°I never heard about the Pointer Monarch wanting to see you. We must deal with them cautiously.¡±

 Chapter 1240: Meeting Old Friends

    <h4>Chapter 1240: Meeting Old Friends</h4>

    That¡¯s what Song Zining said, but running away wasn¡¯t a viable option at the moment. The other airship approached rapidly and put itself in their flight path. The two airships slowed down at the same time after confirming each other¡¯s identity, hovering together and aligning their doors.

    A capable-looking man in his thirties walked into the cabin and bowed. ¡°Commander Qianye, an old friend wishes to see you. She says you¡¯ll know who she is after seeing this.¡±

    The man produced a small box, which he opened to reveal a gem inside.

    Qianye had never seen the gem, but he could sense the origin power aura from it. His own aura was in there along with an unfathomable, shifting energy that was both alien and familiar. Qianye immediately thought of an old friend, Ji Tianqing.

    Song Zining also sensed her aura. He sighed in relief at first, but he became secretly concerned again after careful examination.

    Qianye never sensed the abnormality. He said to the man, ¡°Who gave you this item?¡±

    The man did not reply. He merely bowed and waited for Qianye¡¯s decision.

    After some thought, Qianye said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go.¡±

    The surprising thing was that Song Zining did not try to stop him or ask toe along. He just patted Qianye on the shoulder and said, ¡°Come back quickly.¡± He stood to the side after that, making clear his intentions to stay out of this.

    Qianye didn¡¯t read too deeply into this. He made arrangements to meet Song Zining at the city of Peng before leaving with the man.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s airship was long and slender, almost like a willow leaf. It flew at great speed and with great stability, but there was little space for the passengers to move around. There was only space for four passengers as the rest of the ship was full of kic machinery. The man in charge of receiving Qianye sat across from him and, for some reason, kept staring at him indirectly.

    Qianye found this ufortable, and such stealthy attention could be considered rude. He respected the Pointer Monarch, but that didn¡¯t mean he had to be polite to his subordinates. His eyes immediately transformed, and the man¡¯s figure was reflected within.

    The man felt his blood run cold and wanted to jump up out of instinct. Yet, his body felt significantly slower, almost as though it was bound in a web of steel. He actually failed to jump up and fell back into his seat.

    Only then did the man realize his excessive attitude. They were on the Pointer Monarch¡¯s airship, inside the Empire, and on such a trip. Was he to sh with Qianye when the other party hadn¡¯t even moved a finger? He immediately dispersed his origin power, and as expected, the bindings also loosened, allowing him to sit normally again. After this shock, his face went pale for a long while.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to injure someone without a clear grasp of the situation. He deactivated the Eye of Control after teaching that person a lesson.

    The man was drenched in sweat, almost as though he had been pulled out of a bucket. His gaze toward Qianye waspletely different now and full of fright. That feeling of having his fate in another¡¯s hand was extremely ufortable for an expert at this level. He was shocked out of his wits just now, yet he wasn¡¯t even able to jump up. This was aplete and utter suppression¡ªhe had no room to resist no matter what the other party wanted to do.

    He wiped the sweat from his brows. ¡°Sire Qianye, this lowly one is Ji Ruofei. Please don¡¯t take myck of manners to heart.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Qianye could see that Ji Ruofei¡¯s talents were top-notch, someone with good potential for breaking through to the divine champion realm. He was probably a genius hand-picked by the monarch. Since the man was behaving now, there was no need to go too far. Otherwise, things would start to look ugly.

    Ji Ruofei nced at Qianye with aplicated expression. ¡°News of your ascension has started to spread and most people are filled with admiration. To be honest, I¡¯m one of the few who were secretly unresigned. I had entertained some thoughts of challenging you while your powers have yet to awaken, but I just realized that I wouldn¡¯t be your match even if I were a divine champion, let alone now.¡±

    This person was flexible with his attitude and quick enough when he needed to bow. Qianye replied seriously but with due indifference, ¡°You¡¯re too kind. I still can¡¯t kill an ordinary divine champion in one move.¡±

    Ji Ruofei felt his breath stuck in his chest, almost passing out in anger. Someone of his status was lowering his attitude like so. Any other person would reply with humble words and resolve the awkwardness. Who knew Qianye would take his words literally and answer truthfully?

    Of course, Qianye was just being honest with him. At the divine champion level, especially for humans, the origin crystal was like a bright energy barrier. He could no longer kill them with one Shot of Inception. The stronger ones wouldn¡¯t lose their fighting power even after taking a hit. Take the Wolf King for instance.

    Even so, Qianye had grown exponentially stronger after the breakthrough. His blood energy could now advance without restrictions. Ordinary divine champions might not die with one hit from the Shot of Inception, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to take Qianye¡¯s follow-up attack. So the only difference was the time of defeat.

    Against Qianye and his Spatial sh, defeat meant death unless the person possessed special life-saving secret arts.

    Ji Ruofei was good at observing expression and bodynguage, so he realized that Qianye was responding seriously. Now that was even more depressing.

    Ji Ruofei sighed helplessly. ¡°I guess only someone like you is a match for her.¡±

    Qianye was baffled by this, but Qianye didn¡¯t press the matter when Ji Ruofei wasn¡¯t willing to talk about it. The two thus became silent throughout the remainder of the journey. All they did was watch as the airship flew out of the void and toward an unknown ind.

    The lone ind was floating in the void, seemingly without inhabitants or a garrison. Although still within the protectiveyer of the Qin Continent, there were small void tempests everywhere because of its proximity to the exterior. Lethal spatial tears would also appear from time to time, so ordinary people would never choose to live here. That was likely the reason why the Empire chose not to build an outpost here.

    However, Qianye quickly realized that this actually wasn¡¯t the case. After circling around to the back of the ind and passing through a small valley, the scenery before him suddenly transformed into a beautiful little paradise.

    The entire valley was protected by an origin array to block external spying. There was a small house beside a little stream, nested under the shade of severalrge trees. The scene gave off a feeling of making home amidst nature.

    The airshipnded in the distance. Ji Ruofei pointed at the small yard and said, ¡°The one who wanted to see you is in there. You should head over on your own, we¡¯re not allowed to go near.¡±

    Qianye got off the airship and walked over to the small yard. He was almost certain that the one waiting for him there was Ji Tianqing. Although he had no idea what she wanted him for, Qianye felt no hesitation to meet someone who had gone through life and death with him in the Great Maelstrom.

    Just as he was about to walk into the courtyard, Qianye sensed someone watching him. He halted his steps immediately and looked around, but to no avail. Even that feeling from just now had vanishedpletely.

    Qianye knew it was not an illusion. He was fairly sure that someone was using some method to watch him just now. This person¡¯s concealment powers were unimaginable, so much so that he couldn¡¯t find a single clue even with his eye powers.

    Qianye¡¯s perception was so powerful that not many at the same rank could escape his notice. Now that someone like that had appeared, it truly made him feel uneasy.

    However, he was currently on the Pointer Monarch¡¯s estate; perhaps even their vacation home. Which outsider would dare linger in the area? Since the spy had left, Qianye decided not to get to the bottom of this.

    The courtyard was quiet, and the resounding creak as he pushed open the door startled the birds away.

    Thepound was small, but there was a pond, there were mountain rocks, and an ancient tree nting in from the outside. Almost half of the ce seemed to be covered in lush flora.

    There was a table and a chair beside the pond, and someone was reading a book therein. The spotted sunlight showered down through the leaves. Everything was perfectly calm.

    Qianye was filled with delight upon seeing her, the happiness of meeting old friends. Although she didn¡¯t look up, and her appearance seemed to have changed again, Qianye knew for sure that it was Ji Tianqing. He seemed to have formed a mysterious connection with her for some reason, allowing him to ¡°sense¡± her presence.

    Knowing that Qianye had arrived, Ji Tianqing looked up and smiled contentedly.

    Simple and elegant, she had only drawn her brows and put on a bit of rouge-like expression. One couldn¡¯t say she was a kingdom-toppling beauty, but it was a beauty well-worth a second look. The more one looked at her, the more her image lingered in the mind. This scenery, the mountains, the river¡ªonly one of such beauty was a perfect match.

    Qianye was stunned as his eyes fell upon Ji Tianqing¡¯s abdomen. The loose clothing she was wearing couldn¡¯t do much to hide the bulge of her abdomen. Apparently, she had been pregnant for some time and might give birth pretty soon.

    Recovering from his daze, Qianye retracted his gaze and said, ¡°Congrattions!¡±

    Ji Tianqing said with a spurious smile, ¡°What are you congratting me for?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you bing a mother soon? Do you know if it¡¯s a boy or a girl? No matter what, the kid can call me godfather when they¡¯re born!¡± Qianye said with a smile.

    Ji Tianqing was the youngest among theirrades-in-arms. Who would¡¯ve thought she would be the first to have a kid?

    Unexpectedly, Ji Tianqing started to giggle with her mouth covered, shaking her head all the while.

    Qianye felt a bit embarrassed. He was over-excited just now, but now, he felt a bit awkward after being refused. What he said just now wasn¡¯t a social nicety; he really did mean it. Even if he wasn¡¯t to be the godfather, a greeting gift was still warranted. He looked through his current possessions, but there wasn¡¯t anything great, especially not anything suitable for a kid.

    Just as he was in a fluster, Ji Tianqing beckoned to him with a smile, ¡°Come here.¡±

    A distracted Qianye walked over to Ji Tianqing¡¯s side, where thetter picked up his hand and put it on her belly. ¡°See if it¡¯s a boy or a girl?¡±

    Ji Tianqing was sudden but not abrupt in performing such an intimate action. Next thing he knew, his hand gently pressed down on Ji Tianqing¡¯s abdomen. Through the thin fabric, Qianye could feel the warmth of her skin and the movement of the child within. A small foot was kicking mischievously at his palm.

    The scene was iparably warm and gentle. Qianye was dazed because the action was excessively intimate, so much so that he couldn¡¯t help recalling the unavoidable scenes back in the Great Maelstrom. He had long since forgotten those things and kept them locked away in the depths of his memories. Now, however, everything was being flipped through one after the other.

    Qianye wanted to withdraw his hand, but Ji Tianqing was determined to keep it pressed down. He didn¡¯t dare to apply force for fear of hurting the baby, but how could he do as Ji Tianqing said?

    Just as he was in utter confusion, Ji Tianqing bit her lower lips and said, ¡°Now do you still want to be the godfather?¡±

 Chapter 1241: Blank Memories

    <h4>Chapter 1241: nk Memories</h4>

    There were too many ways to interpret these words. Qianye stood stunned on the spot, not knowing how to reply.

    Ji Tianqing sat there in calm silence, looking at him. She neither spoke nor pushed for an answer, but she didn¡¯t let go of him, either. Qianye tried to pull his hand back but to no avail. After some hesitation, he simply let his hand stay there to feel the movements of the new life within.

    ¡°This... when did it happen?¡±

    ¡°The Great Maelstrom, where else?¡±

    ¡°I mean when inside the Great Maelstrom?¡±

    ¡°Do you really need to ask? Do you not remember?¡±

    ¡°I really... wait, could it be...¡±

    There weren¡¯t a lot of gaps in Qianye¡¯s memory within the Great Maelstrom, but clearly, this had happened during that nk space.

    Qianye slowly withdrew his hand and scratched his head, his thoughts in a whirl. He suddenly noticed an abnormality¡ªit felt as though something was spying on him just now but had already disappeared. He kept thinking back to the Great Maelstrom, but those nk spaces were still nk.

    In a seemingly empty area in the void, the figures of Nighteye and Twilight gradually came into view. Thetter was breathing heavily while grasping her throat, almost as though she was drowning. She finally recovered from her critical state but only to start coughing badly.

    After catching her breath, Twilight inhaled deeply and said, ¡°I admit you¡¯re really powerful, but I really don¡¯t want to travel with you. Especially not in this manner.¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°It¡¯s your luck to be able to experience Space Traversal in advance.¡±

    ¡°Once is enough! I don¡¯t want that kind of fortune! Are you really leaving? Not going to keep watching?¡±

    Gazing at the distant ind, Nighteye said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ve seen what I need to see, what¡¯s the point? At first, I wanted to ask you what your true motive was, but I don¡¯t really care anymore. Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression changed drastically, but Nighteye already had a hand on her shoulder. Her body suddenly began to warp and distort as though she were in a bubble, then slowly faded away.

    She was still screaming until thest moment. ¡°Let go! You can¡¯t treat me like this. Let me go, I¡¯ll go back on my own...¡±

    ¡°The road is long...¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice echoed in the void.

    On the ind, Qianye had just recovered from his shock. He sat across from Ji Tianqing, not knowing what to say to this familiar yet alien girl.

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Ji Tianqing rubbed her belly, saying, ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m the one who should be saying sorry.¡±

    Qianye inhaled deeply. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the Great Maelstrom. Let it be, whatever I say will just be an excuse. What can I do now?¡±

    Ji Tianqing gazed at Qianye. ¡°I didn¡¯t want you to know about this at first, but my thoughts eventually changed as she grew bigger. I wanted to see you and tell you about things. As for what you can do... what can you do indeed.¡±

    Without waiting for Qianye¡¯s reply, she said, ¡°She¡¯s your daughter, what do you want to do for her?¡±

    Qianye said seriously, ¡°I¡¯ll take care of her and protect her. And...¡±

    Qianye nced at Ji Tianqing but couldn¡¯t say anything. Thetter chuckled. ¡°Will you take care of me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re from the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence, what would you ever need?¡±

    ¡°The kid needs a father.¡±

    Qianye remained silent for a long while, then said with great difficulty, ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°Is it because of her?¡±

    Qianye nodded after a while.

    ¡°I heard her second awakening is very likely a major character from before the Empire¡¯s founding. She¡¯s no longer the person you met on Evernight Continent.¡±

    ¡°You know quite a lot.¡±

    ¡°You kept talking about her when you were unconscious back in the Great Maelstrom. I came to know the general situation between you two after a while.¡±

    ¡°You were awake back then?¡±

    ¡°How else would I know who the father is?¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you resist?¡±

    Ji Tianqingughed. ¡°You think I can? We were in the Great Maelstrom, who can fight a monster like you? You didn¡¯t let me go even afterward and toyed with me until I was half-dead.¡±

    Qianye instinctively wanted to escape this topic. He thought of something after calming down. ¡°While that was going on, why didn¡¯t Kuann...¡±

    He stopped midway because yet another uneptable possibility emerged.

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t going to let him off. ¡°How could she stop you? You had your way with her first. I wanted to help her but you got me.¡±

    ¡°Then... is she...?¡±

    ¡°How should I know? Ask her yourself.¡±

    Qianye forced a conclusion. ¡°Things can¡¯t be that coincidental.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you guys tell me?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even remember it, what¡¯s the point?¡±

    Qianye buried his face in his palm and sighed deeply.

    Ji Tianqing wasn¡¯t taking it. She knocked Qianye on the head with her book, saying, ¡°Hey, we¡¯re the ones who got the worst of it. Why are you being gloomy?¡±

    Qianye looked up at Ji Tianqing¡¯s belly. ¡°Tell me, what can I do?¡±

    ¡°What do you think she needs?¡±

    As Qianye and Ji Tianqing¡¯s daughter, the littless would not becking in talent. And there were all kinds of secret arts and resources in the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence. Who else would be a better guide in cultivation than the number one heavenly monarch?

    The little kid really didn¡¯t need anything else. She already possessed whatever Qianye could offer, but what she really needed, Qianye could not give.

    Ji Tianqing sighed. ¡°Why does it have to be a dummy like you? How about this, don¡¯t leave tonight. Apany me and we¡¯ll call it clear.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not willing to stay?¡±

    ¡°I mean that¡¯s a different matter. I will take care of her.¡±

    ¡°Oh, there¡¯s really no need. Just stay here for the night, chat and read with me.¡±

    Qianye sat beside her, his heart filled with myriad emotions that tangled up into a bewildering mess in the end.

    The ind remained floating in the void as day turned into night and night became dawn.

    When the first light of dawn touched the valley, Ji Tianqing put down the book she was reading and rubbed her fatigued eyes. Qianye walked out from the house with a tray filled with porridge and side dishes.

    ¡°There isn¡¯t much in the kitchen, these will have to do.¡±

    Ji Tianqing smiled as she tasted the porridge and side dishes. She said with a content expression, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought you would be so skilled at cooking?¡±

    ¡°I had no other way to make a living back on the Evernight Continent, so I ran a bar there. That was where I learned to cook. But the lower continentsck resources, so my knowledge is rather limited.¡±

    ¡°Eat with me?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    The two sat down and finished their breakfast in silence. Qianye had a feeling that they wouldn¡¯t meet again for a good while after this meal.

    Momentster, Ji Tianqing put down her empty bowl and said, ¡°It¡¯s about time for you to go and time for me to return.¡±

    ¡°When will you give birth?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, this littless is quite worrisome. Maybe next month, maybe next year. I do hope shees a bitter, that way, I¡¯ll be relieved.¡±

    True geniuses usually stayed longer in the womb. This isn¡¯t as exaggerated in humans as it was with the dark races, but there might be a couple of months¡¯ dy.

    Before leaving, Qianye asked hesitantly, ¡°Do you think I should go and see Kuann?¡±

    ¡°Why would you when she¡¯s not looking for you? It¡¯ll only add to the awkwardness. From what I know, she disappeared from her circle aftering back from the Great Maelstrom. Who knows where the Li family hid her? You don¡¯t need to worry about her, she has the current Empress for an elder sister. What could ever happen? You should be more concerned about yourself. I heard you ran over to Fort Continent. Be careful over there, or this little fellow will be fatherless if you die.¡± Ji Tianqing warned him repeatedly, but her words sounded really awkward.

    ¡°Will you be okay with your family?¡±

    ¡°Not many know about it. And who would dare criticize me? The kid¡¯s father is already a divine champion!¡±

    When the time was up, Qianye left the small courtyard, his heart filled with frustration. Ji Ruofei remained standing in his previous position. It was as though he had never moved for an entire day and night.

    The airship took to the skies and quickly left the ind behind. On the airship, Qianye asked restlessly, ¡°Has she been living there all this time?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not something I¡¯m allowed to know.¡± It would seem Ji Ruofei wasn¡¯t going to talk.

    Qianye¡¯s heart felt heavy, but he didn¡¯t say anything else. The airship flew swiftly and silently until they reached the city of Peng.

    Peng was one of the Empire¡¯s most important arm¡¯s distribution hubs. In the two days of Qianye¡¯s absence, Song Zining had already withdrawn everything on the list and arranged transports for shipping. They were currently being loaded. This went to show how much actual power was in Zhao Jundu¡¯s hands. The allocation order issued in his name was highly prioritized, cutting directly ahead of every other department.

    Qianye and Song Zining stood side-by-side near the warehouses, watching the crates being loaded onto the airships. Neither of them was in high spirits.

    Song Zining was busy checking the goods against his list and had no time for Qianye. However, thetter asked all of a sudden, ¡°Did you know everything?¡±

    ¡°What about?¡± Song Zining tried to feign ignorance, but he was defeated under Qianye¡¯s stare. ¡°Fine, I already know. I was just afraid you wouldn¡¯t be able to take the sudden news.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier!? What do I do now?¡±

    ¡°Would it have changed anything?¡±

    Qianye opened his mouth but no words came out.

    Song Zining nced at him. ¡°Besides, isn¡¯t this a good thing?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s good about it? Tianqing now has a child but no husband, she¡¯ll be the topic of idle gossip from now on.¡±

    ¡°If they find out that the kid is yours, they¡¯ll likely be envious instead.¡±

 Chapter 1242: Divine Champion Ability

    <h4>Chapter 1242: Divine Champion Ability</h4>

    Qianye was in no mood to argue with Song Zining. Seeing the seventh young master¡¯s flippant attitude of schadenfreude, he had to try fairly hard to resist the urge to kick the other party.

    There was no solution to this situation. Qianye also knew that he wouldn¡¯t get an answer from anyone else.

    The loading of military supplies took an entire three days. After everything was ready and the fleet was formed, a small squadron of three airships arrived at the port.

    A dozen or so men walked down from the vessels, whom Song Zining introduced to Qianye. ¡°This is the second young master of the Luo family. This is the Yin family¡¯s fifth elder. As for this person, he has a deep rtionship with us, Zhang Xu of the Zhang n. Let¡¯s get along from now on.¡±

    Qianye was still puzzled after being dragged over to greet these strangers. He had no idea what they were here for, but he noticed that they were all from major aristocratic families. Two of them were managerial-level characters from famed merchantpanies.

    The difference was that everyone was overly respectful toward Qianye this time, almost like a pack of tail-wagging puppies. Qianye had rarely enjoyed such treatment, so he couldn¡¯t quite figure out what was going on.

    After the introductions were over, Song Zining said, ¡°Everyone is interested in our venture on the Fort Continent. Just like Jundu, they decided to contribute what they can to the cause. They will follow you over there to take a look. Of course, not just any random person can stroll around your territory, but these families are very sincere. Their sincerity will arrive very soon.¡±

    None of the men seemed offended by Song Zining¡¯s unceremonious address. After waiting for him to finish, they crowded over in a hurry and began expressing their sincerity.

    They were indeed sincere¡ªsome provided armor, some weapons, and others ammunition and medicines, all quality products from their family industry. From what Qianye knew, these resources were being offered to him at a price lower than the original. Additionally, none of them demanded advance or down payments. Everything was provided for him to use first and repay in future mineral resources.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even need to worry about prospecting and mining. There were those willing to provide all equipment, technology, and manpower for the industry, while others would take charge of the transportation. Apparently, they had already decided on their roles beforehand. There was practically no room for arguments.

    Those equipment and arms might not be free, but there was no timeline for repayment. Such a term was no different from allowing him to pay back if he had the money or not if he didn¡¯t. It was almost giving them to him for free.

    Later on in the discussion, Qianye understood that a dozen or so aristocratic families were sponsoring his expansion efforts on Fort Continent. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t forget about them once his pioneering efforts had borne fruit.

    What puzzled Qianye was why so many aristocratic families would suddenly run over to form a good rtionship with him. The contrast was a bit too abrupt after experiencing conflict at the Bai family.

    Song Zining seemed to know what Qianye was thinking. ¡°Even Sire Jundu has endorsed you, what are you worried about? Don¡¯t hesitate to ept them, just don¡¯t forget everyone when you make profits.¡±

    Everyone chimed in on the words.

    ¡°Exactly! What Sire Zining says is reasonable!¡±

    ¡°As long as you don¡¯t forget us, we can even gift these goods to you.¡±

    ¡°Very true!¡±

    ¡°This little bit of money is nothing, harmonious development is much more important.¡±

    Everyone was so passionate that Qianye had no choice but to nod. After agreeing, he felt somewhat embarrassed at his hesitation. What was there to consider about such a favorable gift of money?

    The atmosphere became even friendlier after he epted the deal.

    Stroking his beard, one of the elders said in a wise tone, ¡°Sire Qianye¡¯s breakthrough to the divine champion rank has shaken the world. People like us can only gaze in admiration. I¡¯m a bit curious, I wonder if you can show us your powers and broaden our horizons?¡±

    This topic was actually quite sensitive, so Qianye nced at Song Zining.

    Song Zining said after some thought, ¡°People will find out a divine champion¡¯s powers sooner orter. Everyone here is a friend, so it¡¯s no problem to tell them.¡±

    Qianye thought more or less the same. The entire world knew of Zhang Boqian¡¯s void traversal powers at this point. Considering how often Qianye was in battles big and small, his fame would surely spread far and wide. His divine champion powers could not and need not be hidden.

    Qianye¡¯s divine champion powers were gradually taking form after the consolidation of his origin crystal. He knew what they were but had never actually used them before. Since Song Zining was not in objection, Qianye stopped hesitating and ordered the men to open a box of alloy armor tes.

    These armor tes were a token of ¡°sincerity¡± from the Zhu family. Their family industry was famous for armor tes that could be installed on city walls, defensive structures, or used as shields for heavy infantry. The sturdiness of the material was only second to airship armor.

    Qianye asked the men to stack the armor tes and fix them to the ground. The thickness of this stack was over one meter, more or lessparable to a battleship¡¯s general armor.

    Everyone here was knowledgeable, so they immediately realized Qianye¡¯s intentions. This thickness was just about the standard of an ordinary divine champion. This also meant that a divine champion could actually attack and board an airship if they could withstand the iing attacks.

    Setting such a standard when he had just ascended meant that he was going to demonstrate in earnest. Everyone was excited because such opportunities were rare. They held their breaths and waited in silence.

    Qianye stood before the stack of armor tes and, channeling his origin power, threw a light punch.

    The attack startled everyone. They weren¡¯t divine champions, but they had seen divine champions in action. Qianye¡¯s attack seemed underpowered, far from the level of being able to st through the armor tes. Moreover, even close to the moment of contact, they never saw any origin power fluctuations. Anyter than that and it would be toote.

    It was at this time that the sound of cracking joints echoed throughout Qianye¡¯s body. The sounds of roaring thunder ovepped repeatedly as a deluge of origin power burst out all of a sudden!

    ¡°Excavator!¡± One of the more knowledgeable members eximed.

    Pushing Excavator to its ninth activation meant that he had reached the point of perfection. This was the Pointer Monarch¡¯s secret art and actually had nothing to do with his divine champion powers. So, what was Qianye¡¯s intention in putting it on disy?

    Before these people could figure out the answer, Qianye¡¯s punch had already sted the armor tes!

    A terrifying aura erupted from Qianye¡¯s body at the moment of contact, and his origin power actually shot up by an entire level! With the Excavator already in action, his strength increased exponentially at that moment!

    The punch made no noise, but the entire airship port trembled! Something shot out from the stack of armor tes, flew across thending area, and mmed into one of the airships, producing arge hole on its side.

    The armor tes didn¡¯t move at all, but there was now a hole at its center, and the cut surface was as smooth as a mirror.

    The crowd went utterly silent.

    A gulp was heard only after a while. Someone¡¯s swallowing woke everyone up at that point.

    The elder who asked Qianye to disy his powers said in a trembling voice, ¡°Sire, did you use your divine champion powers just now?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Yes, right at that moment.¡±

    The elder¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°It can stack with Excavator?¡±

    This was a meaningless question. Qianye using the Excavator first proved that the two could work together. It was just that everyone was shocked to the point of doubting their ownmon sense.

    There was still one person who wasn¡¯t willing to let it be and was intent on making it clear. ¡°Sire, does this mean your power can instantly increase your origin power?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±

    That person¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Your all-out attack is already indefensible, to begin with, now, you¡¯re able to increase the damage further. This... this...¡±

    Everyone was simrly dumbfounded.

    Qianye¡¯s attack power was already famous throughout thend, especially after injuring the Demoness with three Shots of Inception at Indomitable. After advancing to the divine champion realm, he was naturally stronger than his peers in terms of strength. Now that his divine champion power worked to increase his attack power in tandem with Excavator, everyone felt that they had lost track of the math. How powerful was a single attack from Qianye?

    The stack of armor tes had clearly recorded the might of that punch just now, and it didn¡¯t even look like Qianye had gone all out. The group crowded around the tes, studying and touching them. They still couldn¡¯t believe what had just transpired.

    That elder from before was the first toe to. He ran over and tugged on Qianye¡¯s sleeves, saying, ¡°Our family is willing to double our token of sincerity, please don¡¯t refuse us!¡±

    This woke everyone up. All of them swarmed over and started bidding in turn, adding from fifty percent to double their initial offer.

    One of them cried out, ¡°Our Zhu family is willing to contribute a thousand elite private soldiers to Sire Qianye¡¯smand and pioneer thend together!¡±

    Everyone fell silent at this suggestion.

    Contributing soldiers was different from offering money and supplies. Basically, every party contributing soldiers to a pioneering war had the right to imnd afterward. However, Qianye was not a subject of the Empire, and thus, this newnd on Fort Continent would be an independent nation. Qianye would be the ruler even if he didn¡¯t crown himself king. At most, there would be a nominal allegiance to the Empire as a vassal nation.

    This meant that if the aristocratic families here were to contribute troops, they would be Qianye¡¯s subordinates, a vassal¡¯s vassal. This was a stark difference from being the Empire¡¯s vassal.

    Also, a thousand elite soldiers wasn¡¯t a small number. These aristocratic families had their own standards for an elite soldier. It would be offensive if the troops weren¡¯t high enough in rank, so it was better to not make such an offer.

    The fate of these troops would be at Qianye¡¯splete mercy once delivered. If Qianye were to fail in his pioneering efforts, these troops would be buried along with his forces.

    A friend immediately dragged the man back and whispered, ¡°Brother Yue, are you crazy? This is no small matter! You must think carefully.¡±

    The man whispered back, ¡°I¡¯m very clear-headed! The most powerful characters on the continent are dukes. Just look at Sire Qianye¡¯s power, how can ordinary dukes take a single blow from him? Those backwater fogeys are really afraid of death. Unless their home base is under threat, they probably won¡¯t appear no matter how Sire Qianye takes over the territory!¡±

    Everyone came to a sudden realization.

 Chapter 1243: Grudge List

    <h4>Chapter 1243: Grudge List</h4>

    Everyone at the scene was a core character of their family, manager-level characters at the very least. They possessed great experience and knowledge beyond the scope of many ordinary people. The moment they saw Qianye¡¯s divine champion power, especially the ability to stack with other secret arts, even those who weren¡¯t proficient in cultivation realized how powerful it was.

    News of Qianye¡¯s ascension had spread across the upper echelons of the Empire like wildfire. People began digging up whatever they could about him. It could even be said that they were examining him through a magnifying ss.

    Although he did possess Venus Dawn, cultivating the Combatant Form should¡¯ve exhausted his potential much earlier. Hence, everyone found it difficult to believe that it was Qianye who had broken through among the younger generation. His traceable history only involved major factional conflicts, beginning from the war on the Evernight Continent, the Iron Curtain, Giant¡¯s Repose, the Great Maelstrom, etc.

    This seemed to support the ¡°nurturing strength in battle¡± school of thought, represented by Zhang Boqian. Then again, which n descendant apart from the Song n had not walked through fire and blood? Which family had not experienced the pain of losing a genius?

    Among the younger generation, Zhao Jundu had ascended earlier than Qianye. He had to take this risk because his foundations had been damaged. Although his terrifying Trueshot ability remained and had be even stronger, many people felt that he woulde to a standstill since his path to the heavenly monarch realm was now dim.

    This caused Qianye¡¯s sessful advancement to draw even more attention. Especially since he had revealed his Shot of Inception in public back during his fight against the Demoness. Some had already discovered back then that the ability posed a threat to divine champions. That was why Qianye wasn¡¯t just the number one character among the younger generation, but many also believed that he was the most powerful lesser divine champion.

    If Qianye¡¯s divine champion ability could stack with the Shot of Inception¡­

    The crowd couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill down their spine.

    Some from the group began discussing the Bai n in whispers. They felt that they hade to understand why the Bai n would endure the humiliation.

    Qianye felt a bit dizzy from the crowd andmotion, but he maintained a friendly smile all the while. Even his face was starting to feel stiff from all that effort. He had to maintain a basic level of decorum since the number of gifts he had received wasn¡¯t exactly small.

    Gifts were fine since Qianye had to pay them back, at least in name. Dispatching their private armies was an entirely different matter since it was tantamount to granting themnd in Qianye¡¯s territory. No matter how it was exined, they would be tied together almost permanently.

    This was an advance bet, a gambit. Once Qianye broke through or became a heavenly monarch, these families would find themselves attached to a giant tree. Their status would also improve exponentially.

    Those who hade to him probably possessed a certain level of umtion. Qianye heard that some of these surnames used to be high-ranking aristocracy or even major ns hundreds of years ago. However, they weren¡¯t exactly influential anymore in recent generations. The only high-ranking aristocratic family with true power and status was the Yin family. Their representative retained a basic level of reservation, only offering grains and funds. He never made mention of troops or even sensitive resources like military supplies.

    The smaller families weren¡¯t powerful enough, and even the strongest among them could only fork out a thousand elite soldiers. After pooling together in great numbers, however, they managed to put into Qianye¡¯s hands fifteen thousand elite soldiers.

    This unit¡¯s initial equipment and transportation costs would be covered by their individual families. All Qianye needed was to shoulder their funds and provisions after arriving on the Fort Continent. With this unit of elite Imperial soldiers, Qianye would be able to rampage through all the local mobs there.

    The two merchant managers decided to offer a thousand of their mercenaries in total. It would seem that they weren¡¯t too optimistic about the potential profits of this pioneering mission, yet they also had no intention of missing this opportunity totch onto Qianye.

    One of the aristocratic family members mocked, ¡°Short-sighted!¡±

    The two managers weren¡¯t offended, either. ¡°Our small businesses can only rely on making quick trades. We¡¯ve incurred your ridicule.¡±

    Now, the other families felt bad about beating them up any further. Besides, these two merchant groups possessed important backgrounds as well, so the conversation ended with some polite exchanges.

    The aristocratic families were different from the merchants. Many of them had to look hundreds of years ahead for the family. A piece ofnd would pay for itself in a couple dozen years, and everything thereafter would be pure profit. It would eventually be the foundation for continuing their bloodline. In the eyes of the merchants, however, an investment that could only be recouped after dozens of years wasn¡¯t worth it. It was hard to say who was right or wrong; the only difference was how far people were looking.

    Pioneering newnd and racking up contributions was how the aristocracy maintained their status. Territory was fairly important for any and all advancement. This was especially true for those located at the heart of the Empire. They enjoyed peace, but expansion was beyond difficult for them. Now that Qianye was presenting them with a good opportunity, they felt that Fort Continent was a bit better than Evernight Continent at least.

    After everyone had quieted down, Qianye cupped his hands and said, ¡°I understand everyone¡¯s passion and sincerity. I will wait here for seven days before departing.¡±

    Realizing the meaning behind those words, everyone voiced their agreement.

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    ¡°Our family¡¯s sincerity will arrive in seven days!¡±

    Fortunately, Qianye¡¯s powers of identification had improved greatly with his advancement. He managed to remember everyone¡¯s ¡°sincerity,¡± and all he needed now was to wait seven days to receive them.

    With everything proceeding delightfully, the group dispersed after agreeing to meet again for dinner and promising not to go home until they were drunk.

    When they were alone, Song Zining grabbed Qianye by the sleeves and said, ¡°Well, well, look at you! You never told me how capable you were!¡±

    ¡°I just seeded in cultivating it. I couldn¡¯t manage it back at the Bai n!¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Come with me!¡± He dragged Qianye into the airshipmand center and dismissed the idle staff. Then he picked up a piece of paper and started writing rapidly.

    Qianye saw that it was a list of names. Some were familiar and others, he had never even heard of.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°An enemy list! Now that you¡¯re powerful, I can get my revenge!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He pointed at one of the names and said, ¡°This person is from the Kong family, no? When did he offend you?¡±

    ¡°Have you forgotten the Profound Spring Hunt?¡±

    Qianye really would¡¯ve forgotten about it if Song Zining hadn¡¯t mentioned it. The Spring Hunt was set up to select talents from the younger generation. Thinking back on it, it was truly a child¡¯s game. Duke Wei, that heavenly character from back then, was now on par with Qianye after suffering injuries and sickness.

    Thinking about the past, Qianye nced at Song Zining¡¯s serious face. ¡°You¡¯re serious?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°What did he do to youter on?¡±

    ¡°Later? Who cares aboutter?¡±

    ¡°So did you put him on the list just because of the Spring Hunt?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡± Qianye was speechless.

    Song Zining finished the long list of names before saying calmly, ¡°You know how vengeful I am.¡±

    ¡°Is this even vengeance?¡± If this were the standard, Qianye would have countless enemies and he would never finish killing them.

    Song Zining paid him no need. He went through the list once more and put it carefully away. ¡°With this list, I now have more motivation. It¡¯s fine even if you don¡¯t help me, I can do it myself when I be a divine champion.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to ascend now? Isn¡¯t it too early?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s Worldly Prosperity was one of the top three daybreak origin powers, butpared to Qianye, it obviously needed more time to mature. He would need to reach the extremes of purity if he wanted to assail the heavenly monarch realm one day. His current hopes were fairly slim, so it would be best to build a stable foundation before advancing to the next rank.

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s toote.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s toote?¡±

    ¡°The new world is about to open, and I must be a divine champion before that.¡±

    ¡°Why? Does the Empire reallyck divine champions?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    Qianye frowned. Song Zining might speak frivolously out of habit, but he was never one to act recklessly. Who would dare act carelessly for such an important matter? Just like when Zhao Jundu had chosen to face the dangers of breaking through, Song Zining¡¯s resolve couldn¡¯t be shaken, either.

    The duo spent most of the following days in cultivation, up until the seven day period was up.

    The airship port was extremely busy and packed to the brim with transport airships. The first batch of supply transports had already set out to make space for the troop-transports. The private armies of the aristocratic families had to be organized into groups before making for Fort Continent.

    Organizing soldiers from dozens of private armies was aplicated process that took three days even with Song Zining at the helm. After the troops were finally organized and grouped, a massive transport fleet took to the skies and left the Qin Continent.

    The moment they left the protectiveyer of the Qin Continent and leaped into the void, Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with an icy chill, a feeling of pain and loneliness so intense that it sapped the desire to live on. By the time he wanted to search for the source of that sensation, it was already gone.

    Qianye spread out his perception, but there was nothing in the boundless void. He paid it little heed because, as a new divine champion, his perception could¡¯ve deviated somewhat.

    Thus, the massive fleet slowly left the Qin Continent and made for Fort Continent. Song Zining remained in the Empire to continue hatching his unknown ns. As he saw it, Qianye was currently peerless on the Fort Continent, and at least no one would be willing to provoke him easily.

    There were close to thirty champions in the gship, all of them leaders of the private army squads. Perhaps it was to prove their foundations, the two merchant groups actually dispatched three champions each.

    Every one of them treated Qianye with great respect. Today, he was no longer a young genius with an unknown future, who hailed from a lower continent. He was a powerful divine champion, an important character at every power ss.

    Qianye¡¯s sparse words and his suppressive aura caused everyone to fear and respect him. They didn¡¯t even dare breathe loudly in front of him.

    Qianye led this army to the western fortress of Zheng, where hepleted the next step of troop organization. He had no intention of moving them into the great corridor before everything was ready, lest they see his rtionship with the werewolves.

    As the new batch of resources arrived, the Zheng territory became fairly lively. The people in charge of transporting equipment were professionals. Seeing the geographical distribution of thend, they delivered the mining and prospecting equipment to Eastern Sun Ind. Such inds close to the protectiveyer would usually produce rare ores.

    This kind of resource distribution was an important matter. Even Song Hui couldn¡¯t make the decisions on her own, so she had to ask Qianye for a lot of things. This kept him extremely busy for a while.

    A month went by just like that, with Qianye drowned in trivial matters and no time to pay attention to anything else. He had finally set things on track when the Werewolf Count Eiseka sent good news. The rebellious tribes of the Jade Sea had been quelled entirely.

    This progress was much faster than Qianye had imagined. From the reports, Qianye realized that Eiseka had worked together with the great shaman to dispatch several shamans toward each tribe, convincing them to surrender.

    The shamans produced much better results than the chieftains and generals would have. Many tribes submitted. Eiseka then focused his military power on therger rebellious tribes, mobilizing inside assets tounch pincer attacks on each of them. Every tribe was defeated in a single fight.

    After removing the major tribes, the others lost their backbone and either surrendered or moved away.

 Chapter 1244: Changes in the Blessed Land

    <h4>Chapter 1244: Changes in the Blessed Land</h4>

    With the territory stable and the new army taking shape, the werewolves were being armed in the tens of thousands at a time. Everything was going ording to n. The only problem was for Qianye to pick a new direction to attack.

    In one direction was a series of small human nations led by Wang Renyang, better known as the Greensea King. The forces of several dozen small nations added together was just about equal to the werewolves of the Jade Sea, and Wang Renyang himself was only as strong as the previous King of Zheng. Reportedly, he possessed a powerful evasion secret art.

    In the other direction was the werewolves of Darnd. They were made up of countlessrge tribes and upied a good chunk of territory on the maind. This was a lot bigger than the maple leaf corner that was Qianye¡¯s current domain.

    From an expansion perspective, it was natural to pick the human nations. Greensea King Wang Ren was fairly mediocre inbat strength and not likely to be Qianye¡¯s match. With Qianye and Caroline working together, victory was more or less certain. The Storm Duke, on the other hand, was much stronger than the Whitebone Duke. The Jade Sea was a barren cepared to the vast Darnd and its rich ck stone mines. That was why the Storm Duke never found any interest in it, only focusing his assault further ind.

    The central territory connected to Darnd also belonged to one of the strongest experts on Fort Continent, a werewolf duke known as Soulfire.

    The Storm Duke and Soulfire Duke were arch-enemies who had been fighting for dozens of years without a clear winner. This was also one reason why the Storm Duke had no time for other territories.

    Taking down Darnd was not an easy matter. Qianye and Caroline might be able to push back the Storm Duke, but it would be extremely difficult for him to defeat or kill him. Also, the Soulfire Duke might not stand by and watch during the battle. He would likely take advantage of the situation to seek a decisive victory against his enemy. Qianye had no intention of giving up his hard-fought territory to someone else.

    Qianye would often gaze at the map of Fort Continent and contemte the pros and cons when he had nothing else to do.

    The best course of action was to start with the humans. After subduing Wang Renyang and gaining his support, Qianye would have great confidence in defeating the Storm Duke. With the Storm Duke dead, the destruction of the Darnd army would follow sooner orter.

    Yet it was not yet time tounch the assault. The werewolves of the Jade Sea did not have enough grains in storage. He would need to wait for a new harvest of grains and ughter the domestic stock before setting out. Most of Zheng¡¯s industrial territories were in Qianye¡¯s hands, but their agricultural zones were still within their grasp. The supplies offered by the aristocracy hadn¡¯t arrived yet. It would take at least half a month for them to gather such an amount.

    Dering war wasn¡¯t something that could be done overnight, and there was really no rush since Qianye wasn¡¯t hungry for aplishments. He would take his time organizing his territory, power structure, and manpower.

    Less than two days of peace had gone by when a werewolf chief rushed into Qianye¡¯s office, even forgetting to knock. ¡°Sire, there¡¯s been a change in the blessednd!¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°What has happened, speak slowly!¡±

    The anxious werewolf chief couldn¡¯t even speak clearly. ¡°It¡¯s just like that, really strange. I don¡¯t know how to exin, you should go and see for yourself.¡±

    He didn¡¯t seem like he was lying, and Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid of traps at his current strength. ¡°Prepare the airship, let¡¯s go over and see.¡±

    When the airship was in ce and Qianye walked out of the office, he saw many anxious werewolves whispering among themselves. It would seem something had happened at the blessednd.

    The output from the blessednd served to support most of the Jade Sea werewolves and the main reason why this giant city came to be. Otherwise, a city even one-tenth of this size would be a stretch, considering their primitive hunting and ntation methods.

    Qianye boarded a corvette and made straight for the objective.

    Even from a distance, Qianye could see pirs of mist rising up from the ground to form a wall around the blessednd. Moreover, it was extending outward into the depths of the mountain range.

    As the airship drove on, they could see the once-bountiful crops withering at a visible rate. No wonder the werewolves were so worried.

    Some of the werewolves on the ground were charging into the mist, hoping to save whatever they could. They knew very well that the loss of these crops would cause a wave of famine during the cold winter. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of werewolves would die from the chill and starvation.

    ¡°Sire, what is happening?¡±

    A dozen or so werewolf chiefs looked to Qianye with worry. Even the shamans had no idea what was happening.

    The human mercenaries were puzzled, but they also realized the gravity of the situation after seeing the withering nts below.

    The knowledgeable people from Ningyuan looked rather solemn and Song Hui was frowning deeply.

    Most werewolf tribes didn¡¯t have extra grain. Their lives were bitter, and there would always be deaths in winter. Smaller tribes had it even worse. When there was no grain left to tide through the winter, most of the werewolves would choose to take desperate risks and die in battle.

    During the Whitebone Duke¡¯s era, he would push the disobedient tribes toward the Great Corridor and have them attack Zheng. This made more space for more poption and territory. Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t do this, but how was he to fill in for such arge gap in harvest?

    He looked at Song Hui, who shook her head, saying, ¡°Buying grains from the Empire is not practical, how much do you think the shipping alone would cost? Our budget won¡¯t allow for it.¡±

    Qianye also knew that bringing in food from the Empire was an utterly inadequate measure. It might be enough to support his troops, but it was far from enough to feed the hundreds of thousands of werewolves in Cerulean Wave City.

    Qianye watched with narrowed eyes. ¡°When did this begin?¡±

    The great shaman replied, ¡°The mist began this morning, and the farms started to fail at noon. We had to report it to you since we simply cannot find the reason.¡±

    ¡°Can it be a certain tribe¡¯s doing?¡±

    ¡°No ordinary tribe has this ability. It might be the Greensea King or the Storm Duke!¡±

    ¡°Makes sense.¡±

    While the group was whispering among themselves, Qianye stared fixedly at the expanding white mist. The scenery behind the mist had be so blurry that the farms were no longer visible. The werewolves running about in the fields had also disappeared, their voices distant and soft.

    Before long, everything around them was silent.

    One of the chiefs cried out, ¡°Where are those people?¡±

    Everyone was startled. Only then did they realize that they couldn¡¯t see through the mist no matter how hard they tried. The cries, curses, and shouts from just now had disappeared, almost as though there were never any werewolves in the depths of the mist.

    Be it the shaman, chiefs, or soldiers, they could not see far into the mist no matter how hard they tried. Even those with visual advantage didn¡¯t fare any better. Perception would fail swiftly within the mist and dispersepletely after a short distance.

    The mist was an entirely different scene in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    The origin power within the mist was extremely intense. Its attribute was also special and unstable, right in the middle between daybreak and evernight.

    The density would increase deeper inside the mist, almost turning into a fog condensed from void origin power. It was only natural that the perception of ordinary experts wouldn¡¯tst very long.

    Qianye became increasingly surprised as his Eye of Control stretched deeper and deeper into the mist. There was a certain attribute inside that he had never encountered or heard of. It was exceptionally strong, grey, and heavy, with a certain restlessness beneath the calm surface. If one had to describe it, it could bepared to mercury.

    The depths of the mist was an entirely different world where ordinary people would not be able to survive. it was even worse than some of the most notorious danger zones in the neutralnds.

    ¡°You guys wait here.¡± With that, Qianye flew out of the airship and shot into the mist.

    Once inside, Qianye sensed something cold and smooth against his skin, almost as though there was a snake slithering across his body. After sensing it carefully, there seemed to be a kind of origin power eroding his body. Qianye stood still for a moment to study this strange origin power.

    This new origin power was a bit simr to mercury but also somewhat different. It would attempt to corrode and enter the body aftering into contact, but it could do nothing against Qianye¡¯s divine champion physique and Venus Dawn.

    He made a bold move by releasing his defensive shield and allowing the energy to invade his body. This allowed him to discern its main characteristics after a while.

    The erosion wasn¡¯t too strong and the process was long, so ordinary experts might be able to move about for a while inside the mist. It wasn¡¯t as lethal as void tempests. The origin power would release a strange poison inside the body; the toxin wasn¡¯t powerful, but it was lethal after sufficient umtion.

    After understanding what was going on, Qianye slowed down to observe the situation around him.

    The nts and weeds in the farms had all withered away. The leaves were especially crisp, almost as though they had been toasted. These dried nts looked fairly peculiar considering how humid the air in the mist was.

    Several werewolves could be seen copsed in the fields.

    Qianye flew over and pulled one of them up, but immediately sensed that their bodies were as dry and stiff as a piece of wood. Frowning, he turned them over, only to find that they were dried corpses!

    The moisture in their bodies had vanished entirely, and the dried muscles clung tightly to their bones. They were almost like skeletons.

    Qianye went on to check the other remains and they were the same.

 Chapter 1245: White Mist Zone

    <h4>Chapter 1245: White Mist Zone</h4>

    The rolling white mist covered up everything in the area. Qianye¡¯s vision could only prate several hundred meters, far from being able to see through everything¡ªthis area was not even the edgespared to the entire region.

    From the air, one could see that the white mist had covered up the entire blessednd and was expanding constantly. Not only was its area expanding, but the wall of mist was also growing taller.

    The white mist¡¯s disruption to the senses reminded Qianye of the Misty Wood. That ce was strange but still within eptable limits. This white mist, however, gave Qianye an unusual cold feeling¡ªit was like a mutual rejection.

    Qianye¡¯s origin powers, be it daybreak or darkness, were extremely pure. He was at home in almost every corner of the dark world; this was the first time he had faced any kind of rejection. Or perhaps this white mist was the actual alien?

    He gazed into the depths of the fog and saw that the rolling white mist had almost condensed into a cotton-like mass. Even Qianye¡¯s vision couldn¡¯t see through it.

    He was in no rush to take action, so he continued observing the shifting white mist. He could sense a bit of danger from those cotton-like masses, a strange sensation. After all, there weren¡¯t many things left that could make him feel danger at this stage.

    The white mist started bubbling as Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan drilled through. They heaved a sigh of relief only after seeing Qianye. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here! We came in because we were worried.¡±

    They hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye shouted, ¡°Careful!¡± Several grey figures charged out of the white mist and arrived at lightning speed.

    Shocked, the two wanted to block and dodge instinctively but realized that their movements had slowed down somewhat. That bit of difference foiled their interception, and it looked like the grey figures would strike their vitals.

    Qianye swung East Peak to intercept the two figures. The two enemies were sent flying, but the impact also left the de ringing with a sound akin to a dragon¡¯s cry.

    Qianye¡¯s hand was trembling slightly after the sh. The block was definitely rushed, but to push Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire constitution to such a state proved just how fierce they were. If they had found their target, Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan would have been heavily injured.

    Afternding, the grey figures finally revealed their original forms. The two fish-like monsters were about two meters long, with fourrge scales on their abdomen and fins for limbs. Their heads were abnormally pointy, and their mouths were full of sharp fangs. It was obvious at a nce that they were fierce creatures.

    After being struck down by East Peak, the two beasts iled about in an attempt to mber up. It would seem their life force was fairly strong. Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan were drenched in cold sweat after seeing those pointy heads.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Qianye cried out again. East Peak turned into a flurry of afterimages as he felled more monsters.

    Qianye had learned from thest battle. This time, he didn¡¯t block the charge head-on and instead relied on good technique to cut them down mid-flight. These creatures were fast, but their body strength wasparable to an ordinarynd creature. After falling to the ground, the creatures did their utmost to crawl back toward the other part of the body. It looked like they wanted to connect themselves again. Layer uponyer of white froth seeped out from their wound, looking almost like the white mist in the depths of the fog.

    After the two parts were together, the white froth would stick them together, and their flesh would regrow, forming a whole beast once again.

    Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan were dumbfounded at the scene. Fortunately, the creatures were fairly weak afterward and remained immobile on the ground. The duo couldn¡¯t resist the urge to rush forward and cut the creatures into several pieces. Now, those creatures could no longer move anymore.

    Qianye crouched down near the fragmented monsters and picked up a bit of the white froth to study. In the end, he confirmed that this white froth was also born from a special form of origin power just like the white mist.

    Studying the white froth at close distance, Qianye discovered that the water in his body was trying to break through his skin and move toward it. He tried opening his defensive barrier and saw a drop of blood seeping out from his finger and flying toward the froth.

    After leaving his body, the blood dyed the white froth a dark golden color. Thereafter, the froth began to churn and bubble as a fierce battle broke out between it and Qianye¡¯s blood. In the blink of an eye, the dark golden froth turned into a puddle of clear water which was duly absorbed by the white mist.

    A single drop of Qianye¡¯s blood was evenly matched with the froth secreted by an entire monster, ultimately ending in mutual destruction. From the results, it was, of course, Qianye¡¯splete victory. The difference between the two bloodlines was so great that there was no need topare. However, the corrosive properties of the white froth were unprecedented, and there was no telling how many of them there were.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move deeper inside and see,¡± said Qianye.

    Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan stood to either side of Qianye to guard his nks. The three thus walked deeper into the mist on foot. Several waves of monsters attacked them along the way, but most of them were killed by Qianye. A smaller number of them were intercepted by Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan.

    After the initial terror, the group found that these beasts were not so agile despite their speed. Their charge was akin to an ordinary cultivator firing an arrow, difficult to redirect once fired. All they needed was to figure out their trajectory and evade, or deflect them at an angle. Then, they could counter-attack and kill them.

    The bodies of those monsters weren¡¯t very strong. Eiseka could now deal with the sudden attacks in his werewolf form and tear the enemies apart just by hand. Xu Jingxuan was the stronger of the two, and almost at the divine champion level, so it was only natural that he could do the same. Later on, he even managed to st the creatures¡¯ necks mid-flight. Although these monsters could reconnect their bodies, they would bepletely crippled if a part of their bodies was blown apart.

    The three thus went deeper and deeper, until they reached the area sealed in cotton-mist.

    From close-up, the mist was dense beyondmon knowledge. It was akin to giant wads of cotton stacked together to form a wall. It stood almost as tall as the skies and so wide that neither of its ends could be seen.

    Qianye gazed at the mist wall with a frown. He was about to reach out and touch it when he heard Xu Jingxuan exim, ¡°So thirsty!¡±

    They had only been here for a short while; how could an expert like him grow thirsty? Qianye looked back in rm and was shocked at the scene.

    Xu Jingxuan was drenched in pink sweat. It was extremely weird, yet he had no idea what was going on with him. All he did was lick his lips and say he was thirsty.

    ¡°Old Xu, what¡¯s wrong with you!?¡± Eiseka called out.

    Xu Jingxuan was startled. ¡°I¡¯m okay... just thirsty!¡±

    ¡°Y-You¡¯re sweating.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan wiped his forehead and his expression changed rapidly upon seeing the pink sweat on his hand. Considering how strong he was, he immediately realized that the pink in his sweat was actually blood seeping out from his body. He had been sweating blood all along!

    Eiseka said, ¡°I¡¯m also a bit thirsty!¡± He ran his paws through the thick fur and found it full of pink pearls of sweat. Although he wasn¡¯t sweating as much as Xu Jingxuan, it was still a shocking sight to see.

    Qianye said seriously, ¡°This mist can drain water from the creatures within it. This is the limit for you two. Go back first and you should be fine after leaving the area.¡±

    ¡°How about you?¡±

    Qianye nced at the misty wall. ¡°I¡¯m going in to take a look.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do!¡± Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan tried to stop him, but Qianye had already made his decision and had no intention of changing it.

    At this point, Qianye had already gained some understanding of the white mist. The water absorption could be canceled out by the expert¡¯s own cultivation. Xu Jingxuan¡¯s cultivation was a bit higher than Eiseka¡¯s, but the werewolf possessed a stronger body in hisbat form. That was why he had managed tost longer. However, neither of them could control their water before the wall of mist.

    All of this was what led to those dried corpses in the beginning.

    Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka could only withdraw asmanded. They understood that going forward would not only be throwing their lives away, but they would also end up dragging Qianye down.

    Just as the two were about to leave, the white mist from the side began to bubble as a werewolf charged out!

    This werewolf was already in a berserk state. He charged over immediately upon seeing Qianye but was knocked out by a casual p. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was frothing from the mouth, a ssic sign of overdrafting.

    Eiseka reached out to touch the werewolf¡¯s fur. ¡°Howe he¡¯s not sweating?¡±

    This werewolf was fairly weak, so it was strange for him to appear here. Someone of his strength should¡¯ve be a dried corpse long ago, yet he seemedpletely unaffected.

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°Bring him back and keep him under watch. Don¡¯t let him run away.¡±

    Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan understood how important this werewolf was. The duo left in due haste, thetter carrying the unconscious werewolf on his back while Eiseka kept watch.

    The world within the cloud wall was formed entirely of cotton-mist, a hazy expanse where one could hardly see his hands and feet. Walking through this ce made one feel as though nothing was real.

    As Qianye activated his Eye of Control, the white mist dispersed, and his vision extended deeper inside. His body shed left and right all of a sudden, evading two attacking monsters and killing them. Then, without even looking at the corpses, he walked deeper into the mist.

    Theoretically, the depths of the white mist was the core region of the blessednd and should be home to farms and werewolves just like the periphery. Yet Qianye could only sense hazy white mist in every direction, and his perception would fail to prate further after a certain distance.

    Qianye advanced further, killing any monster that got in his way. Before long, the white mist before him became thinner, and a sensation different from the Evernight world rushed at his face.

    After the next step, the scenery changedpletely, and a new world appeared before his eyes.

 Chapter 1246: The World Behind

    <h4>Chapter 1246: The World Behind</h4>

    This world was vast and empty. The soil was filled with gravel and covered in short grass as sharp as des.

    Qianye walked out of the white mist and onto the grass. The moment he pulled back his foot, the grass bounced back to its original posture with only some marks left on the des.

    Qianye picked up a de of grass and crushed it into a ball between his fingers. The process looked simple, but he actually had to use a lot of force. This grass was so strong that it could easily be used to make armor.

    The distantnd also gave one a feeling of emptiness, with mountain ranges billowing over the yonder horizon. Qianye nced about with narrowed eyes and confirmed that he had never been in such a ce or experienced such scenery.

    This was definitely not the blessednd.

    On the other hand, this world felt inexplicably surreal. It was as though everything here was an unnatural illusion. That grass from just now, for instance, there was no way such a nt existed. Be it the Daybreak faction¡¯s records or Evernight¡¯s, there was no such nt on the explored continents. It was almost like a steel spring sheet in terms of physical attributes.

    The world had its ownws, governed by the effects of origin power. A good example would be the wind, rain, and snow¡ªthe reproduction of nature. Although there would be differences based on different origin power attributes, living things would never change in such a manner. No creature would be able to eat such grass, and that would destroy the food chain.

    Just as he was thinking, a ripple spread out from the distant mountain, and everything he had seen just now turned into a painting-like existence. Immediately afterward, dozens of strange beasts shot out from the ripple and charged at Qianye.

    Qianye stood firmly, East Peak nted in the ground beside him. With a casual swipe, he pinched the creatures lightly on the neck and immediately knocked them out. Soon, there were beasts strewn all across the ground near him. The creatures¡¯ attack and defense were unreasonably strong and posed somewhat of a threat in the beginning. After understanding their nature, however, they quickly became characters that could be easily destroyed.

    After cleaning up these creatures, Qianye nced at the peaceful mountain in the distance and began walking toward it. As expected, the scenery changed again after he had taken a couple of steps and the mountains got closer than before. He had arrived in just a few more steps.

    Qianye reached out to touch the curtain of this theater and felt as if his hand had passed through water. There was a strange coolness on his skin, but there was also a powerful heating from it, almost as though there was a me burning constantly in the water.

    Considering his constitution, Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t mind a mere scorch to his skin. What surprised him was the intense daybreak origin powering from it. The world behind this curtain seemed to be bountiful in daybreak origin power. It would be a good source of energy for humans if the initial dampness could be removed.

    It was at this time that he felt a sharp pain from his hand. It seemed he had been bitten by something. This bite was extremely powerful¡ªa mouthful of fangs tore through Qianye¡¯s skin and nailed into his bones. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye reaching the duke rank and the consequent strengthening of his bones, the bite would¡¯ve taken off half his palm.

    Qianye closed his fist and grabbed onto the creature¡¯s mouth, pulling it across the curtain in one move.

    This was a small beast the size of a wild horse. It wasn¡¯t very big, but its biting muscles were exceptionally well-developed, and its sinister-looking teeth shone with a metallic gleam. It swung its body about while maintaining a powerful bite on Qianye¡¯s hand, hoping to tear his flesh off.

    Qianye pressed the creature underfoot and nailed it to the ground with East Peak. However, it would seem the chest wasn¡¯t the creature¡¯s weak point. It remained iling about after the stab and seemedrgely unaffected. Qianye drew a vampiric de and nted it in the creature¡¯s neck, then used his vampiric powers. In the blink of an eye, the creature¡¯s essence blood flowed into Qianye¡¯s body, and the creature soon fell limp.

    The vampires¡¯ absorption powers were the bane of all fleshly life-forms. It would seem this creature was no different.

    This wild horse creature was bigger and stronger than the ones he had encountered before. The previous ones could hardly injure Qianye even if they managed to m into him. This monster, however, managed to leave damage on his bones. This also meant that it could bite through grade sixteen armor as well.

    Qianye drew back his vampiric de and gazed at the withered corpse. The essence blood it could provide wasn¡¯t plentiful, a far cry from the creatures of the Great Maelstrom. This essence blood, though, contained arge amount of foreign origin power. The mixture of daybreak and darkness origin power was almost like a poison to the dark races. A vampire would never absorb such blood unless he was on the verge of copse.

    Fortunately, Qianye had the Song n Ancient Scroll, the Mystery Chapter of which could easily extract the unwanted portions.

    Qianye moved his right hand about and channeled his blood energy, quickly healing the wound. Without even waiting for the wound to closepletely, Qianye took arge step forward and passed through the curtain.

    A real world appeared before him this time.

    This was a real valley area, filled with stones, thorns, and thistles. Intense dampness hung in the air, but the ground seemed fairly arid. The only nts in sight were brambles and cacti, nts that could only survive in dry environments.

    Qianye had no spare time to observe the geography as several wild horse-like creatures locked onto him the moment he stepped out of the curtain. The speed and momentum of their charge were truly worthy of admiration¡ªjust a few of them could rival the march of a thousand-strong army. However, they didn¡¯t seem very intelligent and a straight charge like that could pose little threat to Qianye. A few shes of East Peak and a short while were all it took to kill all of them.

    Although he still had no idea where their weakness was, no creature was strong enough to survive after being cut into pieces.

    After the short fight, amotion suddenly broke out in the valley below. The entire ground seemed to havee alive and was moving. Qianye drew a breath of cold air as he looked on.

    What looked like rocks and withered trees at first stood up, growing arms, legs, and tails in the process. There were at least tens of thousands of beasts in the valley in front of Qianye!

    These creatures split into squads depending on their species, drawing a clear and undisturbed line between one another. Every beast fell into a square formation where they stood and proceeded to rest. The two types of beasts Qianye had seen were among them, with dozens more that he had never seen before.

    These formations would form an unbelievable battle array when stitched together.

    A thought shed through Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°This is an army camp!¡±

    How had these unintelligent creatures managed to form such an army and formation? After some thought, the servspiders of the Evernight arachne came to mind. These critters weren¡¯t exactly intelligent, but as long as one couldmand andmunicate with them, they could turn into fearless warriors.

    Commanding officer!

    Qianye¡¯s hair stood on end as a consciousness fell upon him. A genuine chill ran down his spine¡ªcool and moist but also containing a scorching will. In the blink of an eye, he was plunged into a sea of ice, then into a pool of fire, and this agony rotated endlessly thereafter.

    If even someone of Qianye¡¯s strength could not resist, it was easy to imagine how terrifying the owner of this consciousness was!

    He looked up all of a sudden and locked onto the other end of the valley. There was a tform therein with a stone chair upon it, a white mist shrouding the seated humanoid figure. This silhouette opened its eyes and its pupil-less gazended upon Qianye¡¯s body.

    A sudden voice echoed in Qianye¡¯s consciousness. Although he had never heard of thisnguage, he understood what it meant: ¡°Outsiders!¡±

    This voice belonged to the humanoid creature on the tform, who stood up and stretched its six arms!

    A shrill cry stirred all the creatures in the valley. The first species Qianye had encountered rose into the air and shot toward Qianye!

    Qianye was stunned. No matter how easy it was to kill the beasts, how was he to deal with the tens of thousands that wereing for him? Moreover, there were all kinds of other creatures and themander.

    Although that was his judgment of the situation, Qianye didn¡¯t retreat immediately and cautiously raised East Peak. He wanted to try his best to see what these creatures were capable of before making a decision.

    The tens of thousands of beasts seemed to have crashed into an invisible barrier as they reached the edge of the valley, falling to the ground and spinning about in a daze. Only a couple dozen of them managed to get through the barrier and pounce at Qianye.

    This number wasn¡¯t Qianye¡¯s match at all. He released his domain and forced the creatures in the air to the ground. At this time, East Peak flew past like a dragonfly touching the water, rupturing their brains in an instant.

    A bigger type of strange beast charged at Qianye from the ground but was also stopped by the barrier. These violent creatures threw themselves at the barrier with no regard for their safety. Finally, two of them found a weak point and managed to squeeze half their bodies inside. They exerted their full force with loud roars, but their bodies were soon blown up into many pieces.

    Their deaths did nothing to deter theirrades, though. They were even more angered than before and started ramming at the barrier with all their might.

    The six-armed creature emitted a long howl, which caused all the other beasts to quiet down. Their eyes were fierce and full of enmity.

    The six-armed creature¡¯s voice rang out, ¡°T-The door¡¯s opening... cannot be stopped. You have nowhere to run.¡±

    Qianye looked back and found that he was on a tform as well, a stage akin to the six-armed creature. The mist gushing out from the stone crevices formed a wall, and giant pirs connected the earth and sky. Was this the door?

 Chapter 1247: Imminent Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1247: Imminent Battle</h4>

    The six-armed creature on the distant tform was furious after seeing that Qianye hadn¡¯t retreated. His six arms wed at the white clouds, forming a long spear which he then hurled at Qianye.

    The might of this attack was difficult to describe. The spear arrived before Qianye almost immediately after it had left the assant¡¯s hands.

    Fortunately, the invisible barrier was still there and the weapon exploded uponing into contact with it. The beasts roaming around the barrier were all flung away by the magnificent shockwaves.

    Such power caused Qianye¡¯s expression to shift noticeably. Even through the barrier, he could see that the power of that spear was above that of the Shot of Inception, and he had no wish to have a taste of it.

    A look of surprise came over his countenance while he was thinking about this. The intangible barrier gradually became visible, just like ss. A small crack suddenly appeared on its smooth surface and began spreading in all directions.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes widened as he watched the spider web of cracks expand to over ten meters. Then, with a loud bang, a defectrge enough for a truck appeared in the barrier!

    This hole was enough for most beasts toe through. For the smaller ones, several dozen of them could squeeze in.

    ¡°That works!?¡± A fair number of profanities welled up in his heart, but the other party couldn¡¯t understand any of it.

    At this moment, tens of thousands of gazes were upon this little hole!

    The corner of Qianye¡¯s eyes twitched ever so slightly, almost as though he had noticed something. He immediately picked up East Peak and left, diving into the misty wall. The countless beasts came to at this point, emitting earth-shattering roars as they swarmed into the hole. They pushed past one another to gush out of the hole like a geyser and charge after Qianye.

    Qianye ran through the mist wall at full speed, passing through the misty region in the blink of an eye and returning to the blessednd.

    Once out of the mist wall, Qianye stood solemnly with his sword in hand and waited for the bestial army to appear. Qianye could already see before his departure that the hole in the barrier was slowly closing up. No one could stop the power of its closure, not these beasts at least. Hence, the number of creatures that managed to get through was rather limited¡ªQianye had to deal sufficient damage to them in order to control the potential damage they would cause.

    The first to charge out of the mist wall were the creatures he had first encountered. They specialized in speed and could fly, making them the best in chasing down enemies. Their only problem was their limited fighting power, and Qianye¡¯s domain restricted their flying abilities. The moment Qianye¡¯s daybreak vortex domain was unleashed, hundreds of flying creatures fell to the ground. They were simply throwing their lives away.

    After killing the first wave of flying beasts, next up were the wild-horse types with great biting power. They were much more resistant to the daybreak vortex domain¡¯s powers, but their speed was greatly reduced and were hence cut down one after the other.

    In this manner, several batches of strange beasts were ughtered. Theirbat strength increased with each batch, but their numbers also dwindled ordingly.

    By the time thest mammoth-shaped beast had fallen to Qianye¡¯s de, there were no more creaturesing out from the mist wall.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief, only discovering now that his forehead was covered in sweat. Killing these unknown beasts was no easy job, and their numbers were simply too great. There were corpses strewn all across the ground, almost a thousand of them on careful calction.

    Qianye waited for a while to confirm that no more new creatures wereing out before feelingpletely safe. It would seem the barrier had already closed up. The six-armed giant¡¯s cloud spear was extremely powerful, and its consumption should be the same. Apparently, even someone as powerful as that entity could not hurl them randomly. Otherwise, these beasts would be all over the blessednd.

    The door, represented by the white mist, was still in ce at the moment, and ording to the six-armed creature, it would take a few more days until the barrier waspletely open. This time period was extremely valuable.

    If sufficient preparation wasn¡¯t made during this period, a cmity would ensue once the tens of thousands of creatures charged over.

    Qianye emerged from the white mist with a sh and returned to the corvette. Once on the deck, he ordered, ¡°Prepare for battle! Xu Jingxuan will takemand. Eiseka will go back with me. Everyone else, remain vignt. Pull back the airship and observe from a distance of five hundred meters. Kill anything thates out of the mist!¡±

    The generals affirmed their orders and the corvette lowered its altitude. Xu Jingxuan got off with the generals in tow and formed a defensive line dozens of meters ahead.

    After the defensive line had been formed, Qianye asked, ¡°Where is that werewolf?¡±

    ¡°He just got out of his berserk state and is now unconscious.¡±

    ¡°Bring him along, we¡¯re heading back to Cerulean Wave City. Song Hui, follow us back.¡±

    Song Hui replied, ¡°Okay, but how?¡± They were leaving the corvette to act as the core of the defense line and Cerulean Wave City was a good distance away. Were they going to walk back?

    Qianye paid her no heed. He picked her up by the waist with one hand and grabbed Eiseka with the other. The unconscious werewolf, in turn, was in Eiseka¡¯s grasp. The four thus took to the sky and flew toward the city.

    Song Hui cried out, ¡°This won¡¯t do! You can¡¯t hold on for too long like this, we¡¯ll die! Ahhhh!¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to pay her any attention. He exerted more strength from his arm, making it impossible for her to move as he shot toward Cerulean Wave like a cannonball.

    Momentster, the group was back at the duke¡¯s residence. Song Hui had copsed on the nearby sofa, pale and dizzy like an ordinary person. Eiseka passed the dizzy werewolf to some shamans and instructed them to keep watch. They were to report immediately for any changes.

    Qianye made straight for themand room and summoned all the chiefs, shamans, and the human leaders of various departments in the city. After everyone was gathered, Qianye asked about the situation regarding the new army and werewolf squads.

    Eiseka stood up. ¡°Initial phase training has beenpleted. Fifty thousand men have been assigned basic equipment and formed into a new army corps. The officers are all in ce, and I will serve as themander. Seventy thousand havepleted training but haven¡¯t been outfitted. Thirty thousand more are currently in training. About five hundred thousand soldiers remain on standby, ready to be reassigned. Potential troops that can be mobilized stand at one million.¡±

    Due to the limited number of military instructors, only a hundred thousand soldiers can undergo training at any one time. Qianye knew this, but he still felt that the progress was a bit too slow.

    He said after some thought, ¡°Triple the number of basic trainees at each batch.¡±

    Eiseka was surprised. ¡°There won¡¯t be any guarantee of effectiveness if we do that!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°That... the time is nigh for the holy war! I need arge number of soldiers. Werewolves are born warriors, so all they need is to learn obedience, to understand and execute various orders.¡±

    ¡°Holy war? Who is our enemy?¡± Eiseka, as well as the crowd of chief and shamans, were surprised. In the records of the dark races, holy wars meant the participation of entire races, and everyone would fight to the death.

    ¡°This time, we¡¯re facing enemies we have never seen before.¡±

    Eiseka had personally experienced the strange beasts in the white mist. ¡°Those beasts? Are their numbers great?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Much more than I had imagined. Also, they¡¯re not beasts but an army with its ownmander.¡±

    The chiefs and shamans who didn¡¯t have muchbat experience didn¡¯t feel anything, but Eiseka knew the difference between a mob and an army. He said solemnly, ¡°Sire, please allow me to lead the newly formed army to the blessednd and bolster its defenses.¡±

    Qianye shook his head, saying, ¡°We can leave Xu Jingxuan there, he can lead the new army for defense. Your current mission is to build up the army as quickly as possible and give them basic training. This is a holy war. Whoever disobeys or causes trouble will be punished by militaryw!¡±

    ¡°Understood, Sire!¡±

    ¡°Go and prepare. I will give you powerful reinforcements in three days. Song Hui, stay back.¡±

    After the werewolf chiefs and shamans were gone, Qianye said to Song Hui, ¡°Find some way to wake up that werewolf and use every method at your disposal to find out what he was doing in the mist zone.¡±

    ¡°All means?¡±

    ¡°I want answers.¡±

    ¡°I understand. This matter... I¡¯ll get to it.¡±

    After Song Hui left, Qianye closed his eyes and beckoned into the distance.

    Far away on the Northern Continent, the Earth Dragon was lying quietly like a mountain range. Countless technicians and craftsmen scuttled about, installing all kinds of equipment. The dragonship was no longer the same at this point¡ªthere were different cannons installed on its sides, covering for various firing ranges.

    Half of its cannon ports were still empty because of its massive size, but one could easily see that its firepower was above an Imperial battleship, almost at the heels of a mothership.

    Kic sails covered all of its spines and several more engines had been installed on its body. The outsides of its tail were now covered with spiked armored tes. The Earth Dragon¡¯s tail was a powerful weapon, and now, the countless spikes had increased its might yet again.

    A good number of these equipment, cannons, and sails came from the ¡°sincerity¡± of those aristocratic families. Under the full support of the Imperial nobility, Qianye¡¯s Martyr¡¯s Pce had finallypleted its initial outfitting.

    The dragonship¡¯s interior had turned into a giant construction yard, filled with piles upon piles of resources. The craftsmen had already divided the ship into basicpartments, but the functional, storage, and living quarters only made up half the space. Even with that space, the dragonship could hold fifty thousand people. If fully utilized, it could amodate a hundred thousand passengers or more.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was starting to take shape at this point. Atpletion, she would far exceed a mothership and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with an aerial fortress.

    Just as the construction-work was proceeding at its height, the quiet dragonship began to stir. The Earth Dragon raised its head and gazed into the distance.

    This movement came as an earthquake to all the craftsmen. Everyone began to stagger and trip, with materials flying off in all directions. The Martyr¡¯s Pce moved a bit and shook its tail, almost as though it was about to take off.

    Bluemoon rushed over and stood atop the dragon¡¯s head, crying out in an attempt to calm it down. She had been in charge of the pce¡¯s upgrades and repairs all along, so she could perform a basic level ofmunication.

    The Earth Dragon lowered its head and looked at her, then gradually calmed down.

    A delighted Bluemoon wiped the sweat off her forehead. She was just about to head inside to check when a raspy voice echoed in her consciousness: ¡°Three days.¡±

    Bluemoon gazed at the dragonship. ¡°Three days? I have only three days¡¯ time? Very well, I¡¯ll do my best!¡±

    She ran over to the craftsmen, shouting, ¡°Everyone, go back to your positions! Clear up the damage and continue working. No one gets any rest starting from now!¡±

 Chapter 1248: Undelivered Urgent Missive

    <h4>Chapter 1248: Undelivered Urgent Missive</h4>

    Back in Cerulean Wave City, Qianye rubbed his temples helplessly. The firepower afforded by a well-equipped Martyr¡¯s Pce was far beyond a sub-fleet. Three days of outfitting was definitely worth it.

    After setting aside his worries, he got down to maneuvering the troops for deployment. The aristocratic family troops had not been reassigned since Qianye couldn¡¯t let them see the number of werewolves he had taken in on Fort Continent. As such, they were all assigned to Zheng¡ªthey would serve to guard against Nan Ruohai on one hand while also making up for the empty positions from the recent transfers.

    Relying on the massive fleet, Qianye mobilized over two hundred thousand werewolves from the great corridor and Jade Sea, over fifty thousand Zheng soldiers, and twenty thousand Dark me mercenaries. There was now a massive army amassed outside of the mist wall of the blessednd.

    Even so, Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with a lingering uneasiness whenever he thought about that six-armed creature. Theoretically, his fleet, his army of several hundred thousand, and the hundreds of experts including himself should be enough to deal with the beast army in the valley. What else was there to fear?

    Despite that, Qianye still had no idea about the world on the other end.

    After gazing at the defense map for an entire day, Qianye summoned Eiseka and said, ¡°I want to mobilize an additional three hundred thousand soldiers!¡±

    ¡°This... shouldn¡¯t be a problem! Sire, when do you want them to be ready? I think the fastest is three monthster.¡±

    ¡°No, I want them tomorrow.¡±

    In the depths of the void, an exquisite little airship was flying swiftly. It wasn¡¯t following normal flight speeds but going at full speed, an unusual strategy for intercontinental flights.

    The silhouette of a continent was already appearing in front of the little airship. The Qin Continent was not far off now.

    A warship leaped out of the void all of a sudden and flew toward that high-speed airship. The captain and first mate were in the bridge, observing this vessel through their binocrs.

    Both parties were traveling so fast that they approached one another in the blink of an eye. The first mate whistled after seeing the emblem on the iing airship, ¡°It¡¯s from Dark me.¡±

    The captain shrugged. ¡°Let it pass.¡±

    The first mate wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to inspect it, at least?¡±

    The captain let out a longugh. ¡°What¡¯s there to check on their airships? It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know how big Sire Qianye is. Besides, his battle at Whitetown is one for the military textbooks. It¡¯s best we avoid unnecessary trouble.¡±

    The first mate said unwillingly, ¡°Fine! But at this rate, all the smugglers and pirates will paint the Dark me emblem.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s their business if they want to court death. Let¡¯s head to the next patrol point, we can head home earlier after we¡¯re done.¡±

    The Imperial warship changed directions and watched as the high-speed airship left. Then, it went back to its routine patrol.

    The airship made straight for the void continent, where it used the gravity of thendmass to turn toward the Qin Continent. Just as it was making the turn at lowered speed, a homing ballista bolt appeared and sted the airship¡¯s engine, destroying itpletely.

    A ck warship drove out of the shadows and approached the airship rapidly. It was one of those notorious star pirates.

    The star pirate vessel approached the airship, and several pirates entered after cutting open the cabin doors. A bearded pirate soon entered the airship with hundreds of star pirates in tow. These men swarmed in like insects and began searching every room.

    The sound of shouting and screaming died down rapidly. The star pirate captainughed loudly as he led the men into themand room.

    The chamber was in an utter mess with corpses strewn across the floor. ¡°How many times have I told you not to attack the bridge!? There might be important characters we need to take care of or fragile treasures! You trash have destroyed all my efforts!¡±

    A pirate moved close. ¡°Boss, this is Dark me¡¯s airship. You said just now that we shouldn¡¯t leave anyone alive!¡±

    ¡°Did I? Fine, I guess that¡¯s the case. Dark me is quite famous recently, maybe we¡¯ll find something valuable. Start searching carefully!¡±

    A star pirate pointed to themand table. ¡°Boss, one of them is still alive!¡±

    The star pirate walked over and picked up the man on the control desk. There was a document under his elbow. ¡°This is... an urgent missive... for Commander Jundu. P-Please... you¡¯ll get generous rewards...¡±

    The star pirate captain swiped the document envelope and looked through it. Then he pulled his gun and shot the wounded man. ¡°Are you trying to kill me!? Do you think I¡¯m an idiot?¡±

    The star pirates nearby nced at the document envelope. The leader felt the paper growing hotter and hotter in his hands. After some thought, he tore the document to shreds and said, ¡°Knowing too much is not a good thing. I want to live a couple more years still! Clean up quickly, we must return to the neutralnds.¡±

    The star pirates quickly plundered everything valuable on the airship. The airship exploded after their departure and ultimately faded away into the vast space.

    Back on the pirate airship, the captain sat restlessly in themand room. The first mate asked, ¡°Boss, what exactly was in that envelope?¡±

    The star pirate captain sighed. ¡°I think I missed something very important.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve killed the people and burned their airship. We just need to be careful after going back, hide the plundered items, and deal with them slowly afterward. Who would know that we did it?¡±

    Their airship was no ordinary cargo vessel¡ªthere were nomon goods on board, only high-quality military equipment, weapons, and supplies. These pirates were great at handling such goods. After a series of modifications, even the weapons¡¯ designer wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize them.

    ¡°True.¡± The captain¡¯s mood improved a bit. ¡°Speed up, stop thinking about saving fuel. The most important thing is to get back!¡±

    The subordinates were just about to ry his orders when the airship jolted all of a sudden. It was as though they had crashed into a meteorite¡ªeverything inside was thrown into disarray and the captain himself fell to the floor.

    ¡°What happened!?¡± The furious pirate captain said as he mbered up.

    ¡°Colossus! Void colossus! Something we¡¯ve never seen before!¡± The pirates were full of terror.

    The leader got up and rushed to the windows. ¡°Goddammit, what the hell is this thing?¡±

    A giant white pir of rolling mist had suddenly appeared in the void ahead. A colossus akin to a stingray squeezed its way out from the fog, followed by a swarm of bat-like creatures with sharp heads.

    The stingray colossus circled around in the void before passing by the pirate airship. Its long tailshed at the vessel, sending it rolling away.

    Soon afterward, the horde of strange beasts descended upon the pirate airship and started biting it. Its thick armor was gnawed away like candy, and in the blink of an eye, the airship was full of holes. Miserable screams echoed from the airship as countless creatures made their way inside.

    ¡°W-What is this damned thing!?¡± The leader felt his blood run cold. He had already given up all resistance. A thought shed through his mind¡ªperhaps this was rted to the letter that would never be delivered. Just as he was thinking about it, a strange beast pounced at him and bit his head off.

    The iplete Imperial fortress on the Qin Continent was shrouded in austerity. Zhao Jundu stood gazing at the misty zone through the giant window of themand center. Tens of thousands of soldiers had formed a temporary defensive line outside of the fortress. Even more workers were busy repairing the defenses, both permanent and temporary.

    From time to time, some scattered battles would break out on the defensive line as creatures charged out from the mist and at the Imperial formation.

    An aide knocked on the door and entered. He said with a bow, ¡°Sire, the new species we discovered yesterday has been autopsied, and the initial results are out. All of the documents are here, please take a look. We¡¯ve found four different creatures up to this point.¡±

    Zhao Jundu picked up the document and saw a creature with razor-edged wings.

    The aide said, ¡°This is a flying creature that mainly attacks with an aerial charge. The sawtooth on the wings are its weapons, so we named it the wingstriker.¡±

    ¡°How dangerous is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very fast, with moderate attack and weak defenses. Overall, it¡¯s a threat to the ordinary soldiers on the front lines and support soldiers at back. Additionally, it can tear through thin armor but not medium armor. We believe their role is for harassment and mobility.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°Transfer a squad and equip them for concentrated fire, assign them to guard the weak points deeper in the defensive line. Equip the turrets for concentrated fire as well.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    The first aide hadn¡¯t left when a different one said, ¡°Sire, Song Zining wishes to see you. He¡¯s already waiting outside.¡±

    Zhao Jundu raised his brows. ¡°Song Zining? Send him in now.¡±

    Song Zining walked in momentster, but Zhao Jundu paid him no heed and only kept on gazing at the mist. Song Zining didn¡¯t feel awkward, either, and kept on walking to the fourth young master¡¯s side. ¡°Is the door open?¡±

    Zhao Jundu asked, ¡°What are you plotting this time, speak directly!¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°All my schemes are for the Empire, for the human race, and that idiot Qianye.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s tone softened at the mention of Qianye¡¯s name. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s all just for Qianye.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for his good in any case. Besides, it can¡¯t be considered a loss, can it? Your Zhao n got the most out of it.¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°I really have no idea what you¡¯re thinking about all day. Is there any meaning in this? Speak, what do you want this time?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I¡¯ve been scheming for other people all along, I have to think about myself this time. I came to you to ask for help.¡±

 Chapter 1249: Intense First Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1249: Intense First Battle</h4>

    Zhao Jundu finally turned around and sized Song Zining up from head to toe.

    This seventh young master had never given him a reliable impression. He found the mere sight of the man annoying, especially after the Song n¡¯s sessor examinations. Even though they had no choice but to work together sometimes because of Qianye, the air had always been filled with the scent of gunpowder. Thinking back, however, this young strategist god had never spoken empty words nor had he formally asked for help.

    At the thought of this, Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression rxed a bit. ¡°What help do you need? Speak.¡±

    ¡°You guys have all crossed the divine champion threshold, so I¡¯m feeling a bit itchy inside. I¡¯ve been calcting my fate, and it¡¯s about time for me to shine. So, I came here.¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t even bother to smile after hearing Song Zining¡¯s frivolous words. ¡°Men, drive this swindler away!¡±

    Two guards moved in from the side, ready to seize the target.

    Song Zining called out, ¡°Wait, wait! I¡¯m here to fight!¡±

    ¡°I know that, why else would you be here? Speak seriously or I¡¯ll forbid you from appearing within fifty kilometers.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s word was an order, so Song Zining could no longer crack jokes. ¡°Dismiss them first.¡±

    The group of fierce guards withdrew unwillingly after Zhao Jundu waved his hand.

    After everyone was gone, Song Zining said, ¡°I want to fight on the front lines.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was surprised. He nced at the giant box of supplies in Song Zining¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Zhao Jundu gazed deeply at Song Zining before pping him on the body with a thick stack of documents. ¡°These documents contain information on the alien creatures. Go through them carefully, lest you die from ack of preparation.¡±

    Song Zining took the documents and handed Zhao Jundu an envelope. ¡°Please hold onto this.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°My will. Give it to Qianye if I die in battle.¡±

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t seem moved at all. Instead, he said with a frown, ¡°Why would you give your will to Qianye? Are you trying to use him again?¡±

    Without waiting for him to exin, Zhao Jundu tore open the envelope and fished out the letter from within. Song Zining¡¯s brows twitched a couple of times, but he didn¡¯t stop the other party.

    Zhao Jundu said after scanning the document, ¡°It¡¯s really a will?¡±

    ¡°Why would I fake it? I¡¯d rather leave what I have to Qianye than those so-called rtives.¡±

    Zhao Jundu snorted. A green fire burst forth from his palm and burned the willpletely. ¡°Just live on well! Lil¡¯ Five does notck what you can offer.¡±

    Song Zining raised his brows in apparent protest and seemed ready to argue his case. Before he could speak, however, an aide walked in and passed a letter to Zhao Jundu. ¡°Secret missive from the Imperial Capital.¡±

    Zhao Jundu opened the letter and passed it to Song Zining after reading it. ¡°Not bad, there are no other gates on the Qin Continent.¡±

    ¡°How about the others?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll take time for the news to arrive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good as well, we just need to take care of this ¡®door.¡¯¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with narrowed eyes, ¡°This single door isn¡¯t so easy to deal with, either.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s fight first and then decide.¡±

    Song Zining put down the equipment box and opened it. He then began wearing the armor on the spot.

    A violent tremor broke out from the mist at this point. One beast after the other charged out from the mist and at the Imperial defensive line. Loud gunfire erupted from the field as a fierce battle broke out.

    A bright glint shed through Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes. ¡°The ¡®door¡¯ is open!¡±

    Song Zining¡ªnow equipped with silver armor and a spear¡ªbroke through the ss and shot toward the battlefield.

    ¡°So rushed.¡± Shaking his head, Zhao Jundu issued a series of orders for defense. He didn¡¯t join the front lines afterward but, instead, remained at the centralmand to oversee the battle.

    At this moment, these ¡°doors¡± had opened not just on the Qin continent but also in the void, Evernight, the Transcendent Continent, Western Continent, and even the void continent. Countless monsters charged out from the mist and onto the continents, reaping all life in their wake.

    Numerous specter-like warships roamed the routes between each continent, hunting down the airships carrying messages between them. Only when these ¡°doors¡± appeared and opened did they quietly disappear.

    The Empire had already sensed the disrupted flow of information, that the number of lost correspondence was far beyond normal, but they still hadn¡¯t figured out the reason. Several days had passed since the ¡°door¡± on the Qin Continent had appeared¡ªall eyes were on it, and vast amounts of resources converging there. The top experts overseeing the capital were paying attention to developments, ready to assist at a moment¡¯s notice.

    There was no time for anything else when the ¡°door¡± opened because the battle was fiercer than anyone had expected.

    In less than an hour of its opening, the number of beasts pouring out from it hadpletely overwhelmed the Imperial forces. A dense array of creatures covered up the entire area from the ground to the air.

    The sharp rise in casualties forced Zhao Jundu out of his seat. He roared, ¡°Armor, sword!¡±

    After donning his armor, his figure flickered away and appeared at the center of the beast horde. Eight pirs of violet energy burst into the sky, each suppressing one direction. All creatures within a hundred meters ground to a halt, even those mid-air. A fierce mammoth-like creature struggled with all its might and finally broke free. Before it could even let out a roar, however, its body exploded with a bang, showering blood all over the battlefield.

    The first explosion ignited the fuse, leading to a chain explosion through all the other beasts. In the blink of an eye, arge empty area had appeared around Zhao Jundu.

    After this long period and his ascension to the divine champion realm, Zhao Jundu¡¯s Omniscient Seal had improved yet again. Thousands of beasts were killed in an instant.

    The Empire¡¯s forces were the elites among the elites. With the enemy tide stemmed, they managed to catch their breath and adjust their forces to block the weakest links. When the beast horde rolled in once again, the somewhat loosened defense was once again tightly-knit.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t rxed and became increasingly serious instead. Before long, Eight pirs of indomitable violet energy appeared once again and killed arge swathe of creatures.

    This time, the lull didn¡¯tst very long. In just half an hour, the alien creatures had forced Zhao Jundu to use his Omniscient Seal once again. The violet hue seemed less vivid this time¡ªits power was somewhat weaker, and hundreds of beasts actually survived the attack.

    After three consecutive uses of the seal, Zhao Jundu seemed a bit pale and his forehead was drenched in sweat. He drew his sword and charged forth to fight the beasts surging out of this ¡°door.¡±

    After an unknown length of time, Zhao Jundu found that there was no enemy left except the beast he had just beheaded. He looked up to find Song Zining leaning on his spear, gasping continuously. The stylish seventh young master was covered in blood and injuries; there were also two deep w marks on his face.

    Song Zinging shook his head at Zhao Jundu, indicating that his injuries weren¡¯t too bad. It seemed he didn¡¯t even want to speak unnecessarily.

    Zhao Jundu looked back and saw that there was still fighting going on around the defensive line. Without reinforcements, enemy numbers fell with each creature killed, and soon, the sounds of fighting quieted down. The defending forces were also fairly weak by this point, and the fortifications were filled with corpses. Most of the remains belonged to beasts, but the number of human carcasses was by no means small.

    Zhao Jundu realized the state of their casualties with just a nce. Despite having expected as much, he couldn¡¯t help turning gloomy.

    He walked slowly through the battlefield, inspecting everything along the way.

    No more beasts emerged from the mist, and the reserve forces had stepped in to reform the first defense line. Rescue, treatment, and repairs were already starting across the battlefield. The technicians arrived almost immediately to clean up and reconstruct the fortifications.

    There was little differentiation between the front and rear lines due to therge number of flying enemies present. Fights broke out in every corner of the battlefield, filling it with smoke and corpses.

    Song Zining walked over in the same direction, followed by two medics who wrapped up his wounds. His spear was now a walking stick, and even, then he was limping pretty badly.

    Zhao Jundu said slowly, ¡°It¡¯s just a hundred thousand beasts and we¡¯re already in such a state.¡±

    Song Zining wanted tough, but the movement tugged on his wounds, causing him to inhale deeply. He grimaced for a while before saying, ¡°They¡¯re an army, not an ordinary horde of beasts. You destroyed something akin to an entire Evernight army, are you still not satisfied?¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded, but the darkness on his countenance didn¡¯t disappear. ¡°You really fought hard. Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Mostly flesh wounds, nothing¡­ too serious.¡± His pained expression didn¡¯t look like it was ¡°nothing serious¡± though.

    After passing through the defensive line, Zhao Jundu said, ¡°This won¡¯t do, I must apply for reinforcements.¡±

    Song Zining frowned but didn¡¯t object. They had already lost a tenth of their forces in the first battle. They wouldn¡¯t be able tost very long at this rate.

    Song Zining gazed at the mist, asking, ¡°Have you tried sending people in to investigate?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but none of them were able to go very deep inside, I couldn¡¯t, either. Only those with extremely pure origin power can enter, I¡¯m not capable in that regard.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I can give it a try,¡± Song Zining replied after hearing Zhao Jundu¡¯s judgment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s decide when you¡¯ve recovered. I don¡¯t want you dying here.¡±

    ¡°We have to find a way to deal with the white mist.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s brows were locked in a frown. ¡°Let¡¯s just wait and see what the military finds out.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, the Empire doesn¡¯t have a lot of reserve forces left does it?¡±

    With Zhao Jundu¡¯s current position, he naturally knew some of the Empire¡¯s core secrets. He didn¡¯t hide it, either, and said with a whisper, ¡°Yeah, the void continent was close to a full mobilization. The private armies have gone back to their families, and the oldest batch of soldiers are retiring. It¡¯ll take time to recruit new soldiers and train them. The void continent¡¯s defense is also taking up arge number of soldiers. This means there''s little left in terms of actual reserves.¡±

    ¡°Did you ever think what would happen if there was a ¡®door¡¯ on other continents as well?¡±

    Zhao Jundu stopped walking. ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think there have been very few reports from the other continents these days? Even the ones we received were from several days ago. I¡¯m saying what if there is a door on each continent¡­¡±

    ¡°That would be a disaster.¡± Zhao Jundu sighed.

 Chapter 1250: Fighting Everywhere

    <h4>Chapter 1250: Fighting Everywhere</h4>

    A cmity was spreading all across the Transcendent Continent.

    The locals could not even tell where the source of this cmity was. All they remembered was countless beasts charging out from the mountains and forests, destroying everything in their wake. The invaders possessed extraordinarybat strength, and ordinary beasts were not their match at all. Not to mention the lone hunters, even small squads could do nothing against the enemies bearing down from all directions.

    The Nangong family was currently in disarray. In the study, an elegant man in his thirties was frowning deeply as he gazed at the urgent reports on his desk. He hadn¡¯t even opened thetest reports that were brought in.

    He had just picked up one of them with a sigh when hurried footsteps were heard outside the door. His aide charged in without even knocking. ¡°n Lord, things don¡¯t look good. Darkriver City has fallen!¡±

    ¡°Darkriver!¡± The man¡¯s mind went nk.

    He barely managed to pull himself together after a while. ¡°How did it fall? How about the garrison? What were they doing?¡±

    ¡°The beasts came too fast and there were too many of them! The defenders could not hold! City Lord Xu Zhe said he will die with the city. He sent his aides to break through the encirclement and bring us this information.¡±

    The man opened the document and saw some hurried sketches of various beasts, along with brief exnations. The artwork was fairly careless and done in an apparent rush. It would seem the document was brought here with great difficulty, evidenced by all the bloodstains on it.

    ¡°The messenger?¡±

    ¡°He died at the gates.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Darkriver has a garrison of over ten thousand soldiers and two kic towers, our most heavily-guarded city. It actually fell in a single battle! Who would¡¯ve thought I¡¯d encounter something like this right after bing n lord? This is beyond my ability to handle, convene the elder assembly.¡±

    The aide was just about to leave when the man said, ¡°Is there any news from the capital?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°How long has it been since we dispatched our messenger?¡±

    ¡°Five days including today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s strange... go assemble the elders.¡±

    Momentster, the elders of the main family were all in the conference hall, with the man at the seat of honor. ¡°The elders trusted me and raised me to the n lord¡¯s position, yet I am of humble talent and knowledge. Such a sudden development is difficult for me to decide alone. This matter is rted to the very survival of our Nangong family, so I hope all elders can make a decision together.¡±

    With that, he passed down the urgent missives and documents.

    Some of the elders were still putting on airs, calmly taking a sip of tea before opening the documents. After reading the contents, however, they couldn¡¯t help but spray out the beverage in their mouths.

    ¡°Darkriver has fallen!?¡±

    ¡°Is Evernight attacking?¡±

    ¡°Look at this, what kind of monsters are these? I¡¯ve never seen them before in my eighty years of life.¡±

    ¡°How did we lose so many locations? D-Doesn¡¯t this mean half of our assets are gone?¡±

    The elders broke into fervent discussion. After they had quieted down, an old elder said, ¡°Duanfang, you¡¯re the n lord now, so you must have a decision in mind. Why don¡¯t we hear of it first?¡±

    Nangong Duanfang sighed. ¡°I believe that this is our Nangong family¡¯s biggest crisis since the Sky Demon and Iron Curtain.¡±

    The elders nodded in session. Their family had lost their prestige and some elite soldiers to the Iron Curtain, but this time, they were about to be uprooted. Thend that had apanied the Nangong family throughout history was now being overrun by the beast horde. Xu Zhe, who had fallen together with Darkriver City, was also one of their most powerful experts.

    Seeing the elder¡¯s reaction, Nangong Duanfang said, ¡°My idea is to evacuate our domain and retreat to the central region of the continent. There, we can work together with the Hou, Liao, and Zhangsun families to solidify a small region and await Imperial reinforcements.¡±

    The elders erupted into chaos before he had even finished.

    ¡°Evacuate!? We¡¯re just giving up our ancestralnds!?¡±

    ¡°Our Nangong family has never suffered such humiliation since we arrived on the Transcendent Continent!¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Without our assets, how can we remain as a high-ranking aristocratic family!?¡±

    Nangong Duanfang waited until the elders had poured out their anger. ¡°Thend won¡¯t grow legs and run away. All we¡¯ll lose is our ie for the year if we leave now, at most the buildings and structures. These losses can be solved with money. With our several hundred years of umtion, rebuilding won¡¯t be difficult at all.¡±

    ¡°How about the people? What do we do with all the citizens?¡±

    Nangong Duanfang replied calmly, ¡°That¡¯s even easier. They¡¯re not surnamed Nangong, so it won¡¯t hurt us no matter how many of them die. We can just buy more ves, especially young women, when we return and encourage them to reproduce. We¡¯ll be able to supplement the poption in a single generation.¡±

    He paused for a moment before saying, ¡°But if we aren¡¯t willing to evacuate, those beasts will be at our gates in three days. No one will be able to leave at that time. Take a look at the documents carefully, what special characteristics do you see?¡±

    After studying the information for a while, one of the elders said, ¡°They havend, air, and even underground types. They have creatures specializing in speed, strength, and defense for attacking fortifications. They¡¯recking long-range types...¡±

    Another person said, ¡°Why would they need long-range types when they have so many flying creatures?¡±

    Another elder was shocked. ¡°They¡¯re almost like an army!¡±

    Nangong Duanfang said, ¡°They are indeed an army, at least ording to their current performance.¡±

    The elders fell silent. Everyone knew the difference between a beast horde and an army of beasts. These creatures were like soldiers with origin power cultivation, containing various troop types and roles that worked together in battle. Such an army needed little effort to sweep through the Nangong family¡¯snds.

    The old elder said, ¡°Having Duanfang as our n lord is the Nangong family¡¯s fortune. Yuanbo, he... sigh, let it be. Now, let us vote on the issue of abandoning our territory.¡±

    Momentster, arge number of hands were in the air.

    Seeing the depressed atmosphere, Nangong Duanfang said with a clear voice, ¡°Why worry, everyone? Our Nangong family has hundreds of years in umtion, countless secret tomes, and several secret arts. Our descendants can be found all over the world! As long as our Nangong family members remain, we can rebuild the family again within a decade! There¡¯s no worry about rebuilding another high-ranking aristocratic family!¡±

    His vehement words stirred everyone and ignited a long-lost passion.

    ¡°You¡¯re right! Our foundation is exactly the reason we¡¯re a high-ranking aristocratic family.¡±

    ¡°When Duke Zhao led his family to the Western Continent, were they not burning their boats as well? The Zhao n wouldn¡¯t see today¡¯s prosperity had they not taken the risk back then.¡±

    ¡°If the Zhao can do it, why can¡¯t our Nangong family do it? What¡¯s all the talk about bing a major n if we don¡¯t have this much courage? If the Transcendent Continent falls, we¡¯ll go to the Western Continent. The dark races still have a lot ofnd over there.¡±

    Seeing that the current morale is high, Nangong Duan issued a series of orders for their immediate evacuation. There was an unassuming order among them to recruit strong civilians as militia and provide them with basic equipment.

    This didn¡¯t seem like much, but the elders knew after looking through the documents that local mobs were no match for the beast army. Asking them to resist was just to buy time for the Nangong Family¡¯s direct descendants to retreat.

    This order would inflict great casualties among the civilians. They might even be massacred if they were to anger the passing horde. Despite that, the elders feigned ignorance and went off to manage the evacuation.

    Having lost the barrier that was the Nangong family, the beast army charged into the heart of the continent without obstruction. There, several aristocratic families came together to build an entire defense system and were calmly waiting for the beast army. As for the number of civilian casualties, no one paid attention to whether it was in the millions or tens of millions.

    Compared to the overrun Transcendent Continent, things on the Western Continent were much better. The door happened to open between the Zhao n, the dark races, and the Northern Legion¡¯s garrison. This area was a warzone, to begin with, so both the Empire and Evernight had arge number of soldiers posted there.

    Lin Xitang¡¯s promotion and disappearance were so sudden that the Northern Legion hadn¡¯t been reassigned, or even moved. The fate of this corps wasn¡¯t an easy decision to make because a wrong move would sour things between the Emperor and the military. As such, the legion was ced under Duke Chengen Zhao Weihuang¡¯smand while the matter was dragged out. No one dared to cut off their supplies anyway.

    The beast army put their indiscriminate nature on full disy when they appeared on the Western Continent. For some reason, they split their forces into two to attack the Empire and Evernight simultaneously, greatly reducing their fighting power on each route. The dark races here had been fighting against Lin Xitang for many years, and theirmander was also a famous character. Although the development was sudden, the two factions were unfazed in its wake. They retreated gradually, obstructing and killing the enemy at each step of the way.

    The Empire lost over ten thousand soldiers after several days of battle, but the beast horde numbering in the tens of thousands was finally eliminated. Only a small number of them managed to charge through into the center. Then again, the losses were all elite soldiers that couldn¡¯t be reced easily. The only good news was there were few losses among the experts.

    A door also appeared on the void continent, but the war-tornnd was home to arge number of fortresses, garrisoned by elite forces. Hence, the beast horde that had appeared through the door was eliminated in just a few days. The only problem was that the creatures had appeared from the Misty Wood, so the Imperial army had no idea regarding their source.

    While the Imperial maind was suffering a cmity, the blessednd on Fort Continent was having a rtively easy time with the defense. Qianye had entered the door personally and found out what was behind it, so he was able to make ample preparations in advance. When the barrier was gone and the beast finally army appeared, there was an army of fifty thousand waiting outside the mist!

    These troops weren¡¯t sufficiently trained, and most werewolf soldiers only understood basic orders, but they had the overwhelming advantage in numbers. Qianye was there to provide targeted support during the defense, and the rear lines also possessed sufficient anti-air firepower.

    The beast army was thus ughtered in a single day.

 Chapter 1251: The Price of Offense

    <h4>Chapter 1251: The Price of Offense</h4>

    Qianye wasn¡¯t all too happy even after the easy victory because the six-armedmander never appeared. Additionally, there was a vast world behind this ¡°door,¡± and no one could tell how many secrets were hidden there. That six-armed giant also gave Qianye a sense of familiarity that he couldn¡¯t quite exin.

    After the battle was over and the troops were cleaning up the battlefield, Qianye entered the foggy region on his own to check on the situation. The wall of mist at the center was still there, almost as though it had never changed since that day. However, Qianye could feel a certain obstruction after going in. It felt like there was a thin membrane blocking his way, but he could not find the door no matter how hard he tried to sense it.

    Qianye was confident in his memory¡ªhe knew that the door had to be there, but he simply couldn¡¯t go through it. After several vain attempts, Qianye could finally confirm that this ¡°door¡± was in a closed state and there was no way to go through it.

    Frustrated, he walked out of the misty region to find a number of high-ranking officers waiting for him outside.

    An officer from the Great Qin passed over a document, saying, ¡°Sire, this is a secret missive from the Empire.¡±

    Qianye became focused on the contents after reading the first few lines. Thiste report from the Empire spoke of a ¡°door¡± appearing on the Qin Continent, and that the situation on the other continents was unknown.

    This report came from Zhao Jundu and its intent was to warn Qianye to be on alert for changes on the Fort Continent. Qianye broke into a frown¡ªhe had sent word to the Qin Continent the moment he had discovered the door, but it would seem the messenger never reached their destination. Was this a coincidence, or was it something inevitable?

    Song Hui said as Qianye put away the message, ¡°That werewolf is awake, maybe his information might be of use. He says he had almost died inside the mist, but he ended up killing one of the beasts and identally swallowing one of its organs. He cked out afterward and was already in our hospital when he woke up.¡±

    Qianye nced at all the corpses strewn across the ground. ¡°That means eating their organs will give us the power to resist the white mist?¡±

    ¡°Looks like it.¡±

    ¡°Does he remember the type of beast and the part he ate?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t remember.¡±

    Qianye frowned deeply. ¡°Now that¡¯s a bit troublesome.¡±

    There were over a dozen types of creatures, and each of them possessed hundreds of different body parts and organs. Added together, there were thousands of possibilities. How were they going to pick the right one?

    The great shaman noticed Qianye¡¯s frustration. ¡°This is easy. Just pick a couple of beasts from each species and chop them up, then bring some death row prisoners over to try them one by one. We¡¯ll have results in a couple of days.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan said, ¡°We can also find a lot of death-row prisoners in Zheng. It¡¯ll take only a couple of days to send them over. It¡¯ll take some time, though, if we need them in the thousands.¡± Humans and werewolves were different species, so it¡¯s rare that the same medicine would work for both races. Now that they were in a rush, there was no time for gradual exploration and adjustments. The most effective method was to increase the sample size.

    There was no room to discuss whether this method was humane. Qianye said after some thought, ¡°Just do it that way, then.¡±

    Song Hui wanted to say something, but she ultimately held back. ¡°Leave this to me, you¡¯ll have results in three days.¡±

    The werewolves were currently collecting beast carcasses and sorting them into piles. Qianye couldn¡¯t quite understand why many of them were smiling.

    The great shaman said, ¡°With all the prey we managed to gather, we¡¯ll be able to get through this winter with ease. Many of our pups will grow up, and old blokes like us can live a while longer.¡±

    Song Hui didn¡¯t have a good impression of these werewolves. She said rather impolitely, ¡°You¡¯ll get through this winter, but what about the next? What difference does it make?¡±

    The great shaman wasn¡¯t angry. He said with augh, ¡°Things won¡¯t be the same once we get through this winter. The seeds and techniques from the humans will provide for a lot more werewolves.¡±

    He continued, ¡°With enough to eat, we can grow normally without having to rush maturity. This growth period will ensure that we don¡¯t overdraft our talents and life-span. The werewolves of the Jade Sea are not inferior to those from the upper continents!¡±

    This topic was fairly serious. The way the werewolves of the great corridor and Jade Sea reproduced made it difficult to even see them as long-lived species. This went to show that even racial inheritances would be distorted by the circumstances, quite simr in nature to the demonkin of the Thunderfrost Temple.

    But Song Hui wasn¡¯t taking it. ¡°What, do you guys n to prove yourself on the battlefield? Fight against the Great Qin?¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°We don¡¯t mind fighting the Great Qin if required.¡±

    Song Hui shouted, ¡°We spared your people, now you want to make enemies of us?¡±

    The great shaman replied calmly, ¡°We don¡¯t mind fighting the humans, nor do we mind fighting the Evernight Council. Everything will depend on Sire Qianye. We are loyal to him and his descendants. We are neither the Great Qin¡¯s vassal nor Evernight¡¯s. The Great Qin is not equal to Sire Qianye.¡±

    Song Hui didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Qianye interrupted the argument, saying, ¡°Get to work!¡±

    After dismissing the generals, he went back to an isted room to cultivate and replenish his origin power. This new war had just begun, with a lot more battles toe. A world governed by such differentws would not appear for no reason. The answer was thus clear¡ªthis vast world on the other side of the ¡°door¡± had to be this new world the Evernight powerhouses were talking about. If this theory proved true, they would probably have to fight the dark races again in the future.

    On the Twilight Continent, Castle Ducasse had turned into a giant military base. The ancient castle stood high above, looking down at the fog as it spread across the ins. Over two hundred thousand Evernight soldiers were gathered outside of the misty zone. The battle had just ended, leaving small mountains of beast corpses. Apparently, this first wave had failed to break the first defensive line before it waspletely ughtered.

    On the top floor of the ancient castle, two dukes were standing side-by-side as they gazed down at the battlefield.

    The duke on the left said, ¡°These creatures are truly terrifying. They¡¯re actually an army! I wouldn¡¯t believe it if I hadn¡¯t seen them with my own eyes.¡±

    The other duke nodded. ¡°Our losses would¡¯ve been serious if the higher-ups hadn¡¯t given us preemptive information.¡±

    ¡°How about the humans? They must be in chaos by now.¡±

    ¡°At least they won¡¯t be able to cause trouble for us anymore.¡±

    As the two dukes were chatting away, a sudden and inexplicable sensation bore down upon them. The rmed dukes looked down to find a luxurious airshipnding in the courtyard of the ancient castle. Nighteye walked out from the vessel and headed back to her room in the main building.

    The two dukes watched until Nighteye disappeared into the building before heaving a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Her Majesty is back.¡±

    ¡°The ¡®door¡¯ is open, so of course she¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°Was she wounded? I have a feeling she¡¯s a bit weaker than before.¡±

    ¡°Not just that. It even looks like her blood energy cultivation has fallen back. She¡¯s probably at the level of a glorious marquis right now, isn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°More or less, she doesn¡¯t feel like a duke anymore. I heard the price involved in opening this ¡®door¡¯ will cause a drop in bloodline power.¡±

    ¡°Then, isn¡¯t she weaker than us right now?¡±

    ¡°But why do I feel a sense of terror whenever I see her? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to use my full power if I ever have to face Her Majesty inbat.¡±

    ¡°The same goes for me.¡±

    A group of Evernight warriors had just finished pushing the first airship into the garage when a second arrived on thending pad.

    Several mysterious vampires in ck robes walked out from the vessel and entered Nighteye¡¯s residence in a single file.

    In the great hall. Nighteye slowly removed her battle armor, sword, and handgun, handing them to the nearby attendants. All the while, those ck-robed vampires stoodpletely immobile at the doorway.

    Nighteye picked up a piece of paper and wrote down some names on it. She then passed it to the leader of those ck-robed vampires, saying, ¡°Investigate these people carefully.¡±

    The ck-robed captain took the paper and found that the names included Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann, and Song Zining. He only performed a salute before withdrawing from the chamber.

    Nighteye finally gave in to exhaustion after their departure. She threw herself onto the sofa and slowly rubbed her temples.

    A door opened on the other side of the room, from which a chuckling Twilight emerged. ¡°You¡¯re still going to get to the bottom of this matter, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Nighteye made no movement or sound.

    Twilight sat down beside her, saying, ¡°Thetest news says he¡¯s already a divine champion. The entire Empire was shaken by his breakthrough. There¡¯s no way they¡¯re going to let us have such a person.¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°Stand up.¡±

    Twilight was startled. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Stand up and stand still.¡±

    Twilight didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°I...¡±

    Tapping her temples, Nighteye said impatiently, ¡°Did I say you can sit beside me?¡±

    Twilight was stunned but she stood up unwillingly.

    Nighteye finally looked up with a faint sneer. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you think I¡¯m Nighteye?¡±

    ¡°Could it be...¡± Twilight reacted rather swiftly, swallowing the remainder of her words upon seeing the chill in Nighteye¡¯s gaze.

    Nighteye said coldly, ¡°I am not her, nor am I interested in her matters. As for the people I¡¯m investigating, the reason is simple. Those who target me will have to pay the price for their offense, a price they cannot afford!¡±

    Twilight bit her lips, her expression unnatural. Although Nighteye hadn¡¯t moved, Twilight could gradually sense a sharp, prating cold from her. The chill wasn¡¯t obvious, but it seeped into the depths of her bloodline and numbed her entire body.

    That was Nighteye¡¯s suppressive might, one which she was no longer restraining. Twilight¡¯s blood almost stopped flowing in the face of this pressure. This reminded her of the tremendous distance between her and Nighteye, almost like the distance between two continents.

    Nighteye shot her a nce, saying, ¡°It¡¯s not just humans, whoever dares to sully my dignity will pay a price. Do you understand?¡±

    Twilight forced out a smile. ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Get out if you do. Also, this ce is not for you toe and go as you wish. If you enter without permission again, you can forget about leaving. My country does not wee species of lowly bloodlines.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s expression was unsightly, both from the humiliation and the suppression. Feeling unresigned, she said, ¡°I¡¯m a primo too.¡±

    Nighteye snorted. ¡°Only ording to your standards.¡±

    Twilight clenched her jaws and bowed deeply. She then withdrew in the same posture, closing the door carefully upon her exit.

    A cold gleam flickered through Nighteye¡¯s pupils as the door closed. She nced at Twilight¡¯s direction, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll have to see what exactly you people are up to.¡±

 Chapter 1252: Ancient Ceremony

    <h4>Chapter 1252: Ancient Ceremony</h4>

    The sessive appearance of these doors produced different experiences and results on different continents. Evernight was well-prepared, so they managed to destroy the first wave of the beast army with rtive ease. The Empire had it much worse¡ªthe Transcendent Continent suffered greatly, and the Western Continent lost a portion of their elite troops. The lowest Evernight Continent was aplete disaster, with alien beasts running amok even in the depths of the continent.

    Monsters also appeared in the void, but they didn¡¯t pose much of a threat because the void was so vast.

    Those specter-like assassination airships vanished when the Empire became aware of the problem in itsmunications system and started patrolling the void in greater numbers. Aftermunications returned to their normal standards, the Empire finally summarized all the reports and concluded that the misty zones were ¡°doors¡± leading to the new world.

    The new world had arrived with bared fangs.

    The information had just reached the major ns and continents when the second wave of beasts surged out from the doors. This time, the beast legions were greater in number and their troop types were more targeted. Arge number of armored troops had appeared, and this bolstered their overall tenacity in battle.

    The second wave¡¯s swift arrival was expected yet also unexpected.

    Under the leadership of Song Zining and Zhao Jundu, the Qin Continent forces made urgent repairs to the fortifications. After several days of resistance and fighting, they finally managed to kill all of the invading beasts at the base of the fortress.

    The situation on the Western Continent was fairly good. In the face of amon enemy, the Empire and Evernight decided to put off their longsting enmity and defend their own side of the warfront. The dark races were clearly well-prepared¡ªthey had more men, greater firepower, and there were two dukes on the frontline, a rare sight under normal circumstances.

    There was Zhao Weihuang overseeing the Empire side, but there was no doubt that they were a bit weaker. The Imperial forces were also somewhatcking in military power and targeted arrangements.

    Zhao Weihuang was a talented general who had been fighting the dark races on the western front for so many years. He naturally understood that the Evernight side was already well-informed about the beasts behind this ¡°door.¡± Hence, they had long since transferred their troops over to defend against the charging horde.

    Realizing this now made no difference. The only thing they could do was to mobilize soldiers from the Zhao n and detain the Northern Legion, which had just received their return orders from the Qin Continent. Fortunately, the leaders of the Northern Legion were cooperative. This afforded Zhao Weihuang enough fighting power to barely stem the tide of alien creatures.

    The Transcendent Continent managed to pull through the first cmity, but instead of the Imperial reinforcements they had been hoping for, a new beast army arrived at their doorsteps. Fortunately, the aristocratic families had focused their military strength in one ce and thus managed to maintain the defensive line. The territories they had evacuated, however, could only be left to the heavens.

    Evernight Continent was already a disastrous ce, to begin with. One more cmity didn¡¯t really make much of a difference. Neither the Empire nor Evernight had resources to spare for this abandoned continent.

    Only the Fort Continent was a different scene. Qianye had stacked an army of six hundred thousand in front of the door, a force stretching dozens of kilometers. It could be said that there were soldiers everywhere. The werewolves of the Jade Sea, mercenaries of the neutralnds, and the human soldiers of Fort Continent, these forces might not beparable to a regr army by Imperial standards, but they were desperate defenders with no fear of death.

    The beast horde might be a messenger of death to other people, but the starved werewolves saw them as nothing more than moving piles of meat. Many of them would lose control and charge forward upon seeing the iing creatures, even ignoring military orders at times. The fierce melee involved great casualties, but these werewolves were happy to risk life and limb for this battle.

    As an outsider, Qianye could hardly understand the Jade Sea werewolves¡¯ obsession with food. Being of the four major dark races and a long-lived species with boundless potential, they had no choice but to shorten their maturation and sacrifice their future growth. This kind of pain wasn¡¯t just physical; it was also an affliction to their dignity and pride.

    The werewolves fought bravely, but the second wave was much stronger than the first. Seeing the sharp rise in casualties, Qianye could no longer sit by and watch.

    In order to deal the most effective blow to the enemy, he decided to let Little Zhuji loose on them!

    A mouthful of her poison defeated even the strongest of alien creatures, turning an area hundreds of meters around her into and of death. The unending march of the bestial army was thus cut off in the middle.

    Qianye carried Little Zhuji back to camp before killing his way into the beast army alone. His domain was a disaster to the flying types¡ªthey dropped out of the air like flies and were duly culled by Life Plunder.

    This went on for several times before Qianye¡¯s expression grew uglier and uglier. In the end, he had no choice but to cough up a mouthful of putrid green blood. He looked around, sword in hand, only to find that there were no standing enemies nearby.

    There was too much foreign origin power in their essence blood. Even the glutton that was the Song n Ancient Scroll considered this energy as something that had to be discarded. Absorbing too much would only put more strain on Qianye.

    At this point, the beasts charging out from the mist were no longer in a formation. Qianye heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that they had turned into small, scattered groups. He nced at the ongoing battles around the defensive formation and decided not to take action anymore. He would allow the soldiers to finish up.

    Tens of thousands of beasts posed no threat to a defensive force in the hundreds of thousands. They were killed off entirely within moments.

    Eiseka was drenched in blood as he ran over excitedly. ¡°Sire, this battle is so satisfying! With all this supply of meat, we won¡¯t need to worry about the next three years!¡±

    Qianye shot him a nce and patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Look at your wounds, go get yourself treated.¡±

    Eiseka turned back to find a massive wound on his back, one so deep that even the bones were visible. Qianye¡¯s pat left a wisp of darkness origin power that sealed the defect and stopped his bleeding.

    Eiseka said nonchntly, ¡°This little wound is nothing to us werewolves. I¡¯ve had worse injuries countless times, this is just a small gash.¡±

    Qianye summoned a medic and instructed him to dress Eiseka¡¯s wounds. He then asked the werewolf general, ¡°What of our casualties?¡±

    ¡°A bit less than twenty thousand. Most of them are werewolves, human casualties are low.¡±

    Qianye sighed, frowning. ¡°That¡¯s not a small number, either.¡±

    This death toll was actually extremely low, considering the enemy was a beast army of two hundred thousand. If it weren¡¯t for the numbers advantage and Qianye and Zhuji stepping in with theirrge area-of-effect attacks, the casualty rates would have easily doubled.

    Eiseka didn¡¯t feel that the losses were serious. He said delightedly, ¡°In the past, this time of the year is when our fate would be decided. The Jade Sea would send some tribes into the great corridor or pit them against the southern humans. The great corridor, in turn, would have to attack Zheng. It was not important whether we could win. The most important thing is that they had to die, or our race could not live on. Not to mention there are fewer deaths currently, the yields are massive!¡±

    Qianye knew of the werewolves¡¯ condition, but his mood felt heavy after seeing them hugging the carcasses in joy and listening to Eiseka talking about it again.

    Unknowingly, a group of werewolf shamans and chiefs had gathered around Qianye. They fell to their knees all of a sudden and began chanting something Qianye could not understand. More and more werewolves began to kneel, and soon, the hundreds of thousands of werewolves on the battlefield were praying on the ground. The human soldiers were the only ones standing, not knowing what to do.

    Song Lun moved closer to Song Hui and said, ¡°These werewolves are really sincere about their servitude!¡±

    ¡°I know that!¡±

    ¡°Say, do you think themander will be pulled over to the Evernight side?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! He¡¯s...¡± Song Hui stopped talking all of a sudden. She couldn¡¯t help but worry when she recalled Qianye¡¯s half-vampire identity.

    Song Lun said, ¡°I heard his wife is also a vampire who stirred up quite themotion back in the year. Sigh!¡±

    Song Hui¡¯s eyes lit up at this point. ¡°Back then, he killed his way through Indomitable in order to save Nighteye. Just the thought of it makes me feel so excited, I feel so envious of her!¡±

    Qianye was at a loss about what to do. He tried to help some of them to their feet, but the werewolves would fall to their knees again the moment he let go. It looked like they would not stop until this rite was over.

    Qianye could only stand and y his part as a totem. The werewolves¡¯ ceremony was fairly long, and Qianye could not understand their prayers as they were made up of ancient words. Yet, they had been chanting for so long without any repetitions, now that wasn¡¯t an easy feat.

    The werewolves proceeded solemnly with their rite. The humans knew they shouldn¡¯t disturb, so all they could do was stand there and wait.

    Qianye was starting to feel somewhat bored when an inexplicable powernded on his body, causing him to tremble a bit. This energy was formless, intangible, and it was no origin power. At the very least, Qianye had never experienced something like this before. It was like a stream of ice, seeping slowly into his body and toward his blood core.

    A startled Qianye wanted to stop its progress but didn¡¯t know how to. Be it his flesh, blood, origin power, or blood energy, nothing could stop this stream of ice as it swam toward his blood core and vanished therein.

    Qianye shivered uncontrobly at that moment, almost as though he had just swallowed a big block of ice. A chill emerged from his blood core and spread to every part of his body, filling him with a feeling of rity and translucence. Qianye felt that his body was like a ss window¡ªit was clean, to begin with, but after the chill passed over it, he noticed that there was still a lot of dust.

    There were no words to describe this experience except that it exceeded all forms of joy. Unfortunately, the sensation was rather short-lived and the chill faded away in a sh.

    When he woke up from the deep trance, Qianye suddenly discovered what he had just gone through. That mysterious energy was actually condensing his blood energy once more!

    Although the upgrade was small, it held a significant meaning. Qianye¡¯s blood energy was refined by the Mystery Chapter, and it had already reached the standards of the ancient vampires. It was beyond difficult to improve again. Now that this mysterious energy had purified him foundationally, this meant that his upper limits had improved somewhat.

    Additionally, the power had purified him from the inside out and had thus improved his constitution as well.

    How could there be such a power in this world?

    Qianye opened his eyes to find that the werewolves had finished their ceremony and were standing up. He realized that this mysterious energy came from the werewolves¡¯ ancient rite.

 Chapter 1253: Good News and Good News

    <h4>Chapter 1253: Good News and Good News</h4>

    After the ceremony was over, Qianye instructed the men to clean the battlefield. The werewolves broke out in cheers as the great shaman sang the announcement. They began dancing while picking out their prey, almost as though it was a celebration of sorts.

    Qianye was speechless. At this rate, the casualties would be severe if those beasts charged out in the tens of thousands. Yet, it was already a difficult task for these werewolves to remain in a military formation in battle. Cleaning up the battlefield ording to military standards was too much to ask of them. Even Eiseka couldn¡¯t quite keep his soldiers in check at this point.

    Qianye had just ordered the mercenaries and human soldiers to form a defensive line when a wave of beasts charged out of the mist!

    This wave wasn¡¯t very big, but their numbers were still in the tens of thousands. Ten thousand alien monsters were akin to ten thousand elite soldiers. It wasn¡¯t impossible for them to scatter an army several times their size amidst the chaos and disarray. At least the damage would be significant.

    Qianye¡¯s heart tightened along with his grip on East Peak, ready to step forward and intercept the enemy. However, he was already exhausted in the previous battle and could no longer use Spatial sh. Even flying was a bit forced at this moment.

    The surprising thing was that the werewolves in the periphery weren¡¯t panicked by the iing enemies. Instead, they howled at the sky spiritedly.

    This was their warning signal after discovering an enemy. All the werewolves on the battlefield turned toward the direction.

    ¡°More food!¡± An unknown person¡¯s shout ignited all the werewolves, who charged toward the beast army like the raging tides!

    Tens of thousands of alien beasts were quickly drowned out.

    There was limited space on the battlefront, enough for about a hundred thousand werewolves. Hence, the remaining few hundred thousand of them could only stay outside restlessly.

    Looking at the messy werewolves squeezing themselves through the unformed front lines, Song Lun whispered, ¡°We¡¯d best not mess with those hungry wolves.¡±

    Song Hui agreed deeply.

    As for Dark me¡¯s mercenaries and the human soldiers from Zheng, they were dumbfounded by the entire process. The battle was fairly hard-fought in the beginning, but they couldn¡¯t even get to the front lines anymoreter on.

    When the werewolves finally dispersed, the enemy beasts had already turned intorge chunks of meat and were being hauled away.

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief to see that these werewolves still had the sense to return to base.

    The great shaman moved closer to Qianye and said hesitantly, ¡°Sire, our tribesmen wish to request something of you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°We hope Her Highness Zhuji can stand aside and watch the next battle. She¡¯s too young, after all, and not suited for battle.¡±

    Not suitable for battle? Qianye remembered Song Zining using her to block a divine champion¡¯s punch back in Indomitable. These beasts might be able to tear through armor but not necessarily Little Zhuji¡¯s skin.

    The werewolf shaman spoke tactfully, but Qianye quickly realized his intention. Not knowing whether tough or to cry, he said, ¡°You want more prey?¡±

    The great shamanughed along. ¡°Yes, yes. One breath from Her Highness can render thousands of beasts untouchable. It¡¯s truly... a pity.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the only way to reduce your casualties.¡±

    Zhuji¡¯s breath didn¡¯t just kill all the beasts in the area-of-effect, it would also produce arge residual field of poison. Even before the poison could fully take effect, simple passage through the area was enough to kill most enemy creatures. The soldiers on Qianye¡¯s side would not have been able to catch their breath so quickly had this poison field not weakened the enemies.

    What the great shaman replied was: ¡°Dying on the battlefield is the fate of warriors while prey and food will help many more children grow up. We¡¯re willing to pay the price for this reward.¡±

    He added after some thought, ¡°In the past, we never even dared to imagine we would get benefits out of sacrifice.¡±

    Qianye was helpless against this horde of hungry wolves and could only nod. He felt heavy in his heart, but ncing at the great shaman, he really didn¡¯t know what kind of mood he should be in.

    It was already night by the time the cleanup was over. Most of the beast carcasses had been categorized and shipped to the rear. Here, tens of thousands of female and elderly werewolves had gathered to smoke the precious supply of meat and preserve it for the winter.

    After Qianye returned to the warship, Song Hui came to him with a pile of documents. ¡°I have good news and good news, which one do you want to hear first?¡±

    Different types of good news? Qianye shrugged. ¡°Either.¡±

    ¡°The results of the study are out. Most of the beasts possess a type of nd inside, probably its blood-producing organ. Eating it will allow one to resist the effects of the white mist. The tests show that any warrior with origin power can endure the effects of the peripheral mist and evenst about half an hour in the depths.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that effective?¡±

    Song Hui exined, ¡°The mechanism should involve a change in the body after eating the nd, allowing them to adapt to the misty environment.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the other news?¡±

    ¡°This physical change is temporary. In the limited time we had, we noticed the effects slowly deteriorating. At this rate, one ingestion mightst for around ten days, and they will need to take it again afterward.¡±

    ¡°Is this good news?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is. This means that the change to the body isn¡¯t permanent. You have to know that permanent modifications aren¡¯t a good thing. You might be able to adapt to the environment inside the mist, but what if you can¡¯t adapt to the environment here? It will affect cultivation.¡±

    Qianye finally nodded. ¡°Fine, that¡¯s good news as well then.¡±

    Qianye went straight to the equipment area after leaving themand room. There, he requested a new set of armor and began putting it on. ¡°Tell Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka to wait for me on the front lines. Oh right, have they eaten those things?¡±

    Song Hui replied, ¡°All the high-ranking officers have eaten them.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s movements froze. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°They want to follow you into the mist and scoop out the creatures¡¯ nest. So, they all ate the nds after the results came out. You know these blood nds are everywhere on the battlefield.¡±

    Qianye continued wearing his armor. ¡°This must not happen again in the future! Inform the generals to pick fifty thousand soldiers and prepare blood nds for them. Wait for me to return beforeunching the attack.¡±

    Momentster, Qianye met up with Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka and led them into the depths of the misty region.

    Not long after entering, Xu Jingxuan nced at the surroundings and then at himself. He took a deep breath, saying, ¡°How miraculous, I actually don¡¯t feel any pressure.¡±

    Eiseka said thoughtfully, ¡°If it¡¯s that effective, maybe we can find other methods.¡±

    The three arrived before the wall of mist before Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka started to feel slight difort, albeit still bearable. Qianye stepped into the wall first, followed by the two.

    The space inside the wall of mist had narrowed significantly. The group walked out from the other side after traveling less than ten meters.

    This time, Qianye stepped through the screen swiftly and left no time for the creatures hiding behind it to attack. However, he discovered that there was not a single beast here. Xu Jingxuan and Eiseka emerged soon afterward, both of them stunned upon seeing the vast world.

    Having been here once, Qianye immediately nced at the end of the valley. That high tform was still there, but it was no longer shrouded in mist and that six-armed creature was nowhere to be found.

    Qianye jumped into the valley and crouched down to observe the ground. There were neatly arranged craters all over the ground, and they were more or less the same size. The holes in the neighboring area were muchrger. Apparently, the beasts that used to rest here were much bigger.

    These alien beasts would stop almost all of their vital functions while resting; their vitality was even lower than some of the hibernating animals in the Evernight World, so much so that they were no different from rocks. Their skin contained a thick cornealyer, covered by a hardenedyer that could lock in moisture and prevent it from being drawn out by the surroundings.

    Qianye had seen a hundred-thousand-strong beast army resting in such a state. If they could keep up that condition for a long time, their supply requirements would be extremely small.

    After observing the resting area in the valley, Qianye gestured to Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan to go back and await orders. He then headed over to the stone tform himself.

    The valley was big, but Qianye moved swiftly and arrived before the stone tform in the blink of an eye. The tform was made up of stone blocks of various shapes and sizes. There was a type of inexplicable beauty in natural rocks being pieced together so neatly. There was no binding material between them, yet the rocks formed a perfect rectangle.

    Qianye jumped onto the stage and saw that therge stone chair was still there. From the side, one could see that the four-meter chair was built in the shape of the six-armed giant.

    Qianye circled around the tform but found no secret mechanism or door. He observed the stone chair and found that its surface was smooth. Its back, however, was decorated with several rows of unknown words and patterns. Apparently, this chair was frequently used, and the six-armed creature would frequently appear in this area.

    Now, however, there wasn¡¯t a single beast in the valley, and there was no trace of that six-armed creature. The environment here was weird¡ªthe air was moist and cold, but thend was extremely arid. Qianye simply couldn¡¯t understand how this came to be. One thing was certain, most traces left behind by the living beings would be wiped away.

    Finding no clue around the tform, he jumped past it and began running toward the other end of the valley. He climbed up a hill a whileter and found the scenery before him open up.

    What appeared before him was a barren world, with windswept stone pirs jutting out from the ruggedndscape. The vegetation wasrgely made up of shrubs and cacti, their thorns shining with a metallic glow.

    There were several giant trees over the distant horizon. From what he could see, Qianye guessed that these trees were close to a thousand meters tall and almost a hundred meters in diameter. Each of their leaves was likely the size of a dining table.

    This world was oddly quiet, and there was no sign of life within his vision. It was almost impossible to imagine that the two beast hordes had originated from this ce.

    Taking a deep breath, Qianye spread his senses to the surroundings. The origin power here was chaotic, turbid, and contained an abnormal ratio of daybreak origin power. The only problem was that it was too violent, akin to burning coal. Ordinary people might die of burned innards.

    To Qianye, with his Glory Chapter, this was a great ce to cultivate. This scorching origin power was a far cry from Venus Dawn, nor was it a match for void origin power in its destructive power. With how tyrannical Qianye¡¯s Profound Combatant Form was, it could be said that his cultivation would progress by leaps and bounds here, not at all slower than in the Great Maelstrom.

 Chapter 1254: Boundless Possibilities

    <h4>Chapter 1254: Boundless Possibilities</h4>

    This strange world was abundant in daybreak and sparse in darkness origin power. What made up the bulk of the energy was a chaotic neutral origin power. From what Qianye knew asmon knowledge, something like this should never have appeared.

    Darkness origin power was the foundation of this world¡ªits soil and building blocks. Daybreak origin power was so scorching that a world built on it would be filled with light and fire; no creature would survive on it. Yet not only did this new world before Qianye exist, but it was also fairly stable. The creatures of this realm had adapted to thews here.

    The only bad thing about it was how barren it was.

    Just as Qianye was thinking, he identally kicked a fist-sized rock and sent it rolling down the cliff. Qianye noticed a sudden sh of gold as he watched it fall.

    Remembering something, his figure flickered to the base of the mountain, where he picked up the rock to study it. It looked fairly ordinary except for some dark golden specks, a bit simr to cut metal.

    Qianye shed the stone into two with East Peak and found that the cut surface possessed simr specks.

    This was probably a dark golden sandstone. It could be refined into various rare metals and was a necessaryponent of many high-quality alloys. The price of dark golden sandstone had always been sky-high¡ªjust the raw ore was more expensive than gold. Qianye tossed the ore in his hand and picked up another random rock near his feet. It was dark golden sandstone as well.

    He managed to find five or six of these ores in this tiny area. It would seem there were countless such ores in the wilderness. There were also other types of rocks that Qianye did not recognize. All he could say from the metallic glint and speckles was that they were probably some type of ore and not ordinary stones. These never-seen-before minerals might not have any use, or they might also be priceless resources.

    Qianye stood up and looked at his surroundings. This time, he didn¡¯t feel that the ce was barren anymore. There seemed to be boundless possibilities hidden beneath the unconventional surface.

    A new world came with endless opportunities, but Qianye couldn¡¯t help but think one step deeper. The heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs had been exploring the void for hundreds if not thousands of years, with no tangible developments. Even the three supremes on the Sacred Mountain rarely produced results. To these experts at the apex of the world, the attraction of exploring the secrets of this world was not inferior to struggling for power.

    However, exploring the outside of this world wasn¡¯t that easy. Everyone could look up and see the small asteroid belt at the peak of the world, but the fall of the Void Valley Star and its subsequent destruction of the continents reminded people of how minuscule they were.

    The great vortex itself was a good example. The various restraints inside the world served to reject powerful experts. The risk of death would be much higher for a heavenly monarch or great dark monarch. Qianye himself had reached the core region before, so he knew of the dangers. Back then, his strength was fairly mediocre, so he didn¡¯t attract the attention of that powerful existence. Things would be different for a great dark monarch.

    An elephant might not take notice of a passing ant, but an approaching lion would anger it.

    The new world¡¯s appearance provided yet another opportunity for experts to explore the realm beyond this Evernight World. Qianye also wanted to understand the operations of this unconventional world.

    He nced into the distance but didn¡¯t go deeper in. Instead, he did a quick exploration of the area and confirmed that this was an area rich in dark golden sandstone. He picked a pile of these rocks and ced them in Andruil¡¯s space before returning with Eiseka and Xu Jingxuan.

    Once outside, Qianye immediately boarded a high-speed corvette and returned to Expansive. This city, as well as the Eastern Sun Ind, had be a gathering ce for aristocratic families. The easiest way to negotiate with them was to go there.

    Not long after Qianye set out, the Martyr¡¯s Pce slowly rose into the air and turned toward the Fort Continent.

    The current dragonship was different from before. There were no more open spaces on its body¡ªthe outside was fully covered in armor tes, and neat rows of cannons lined the sides. Although it was not as crazy as Qianye¡¯s dream of installing a hundred battleship cannons, it could easily suppress an Imperial mothership at the moment.

    The important parts of the vessel were covered in reinforced armor tes, and the tail part was fitted with spiked armor for both attack and defense. The kic sails on its back weren¡¯t full just yet, but the airship was already much faster at sixty percent capacity. The ten high-output engines on the airship could provide a basic level of eleration, more than that of cargo ships at least.

    The current dragonship was mighty, but the work involved in its modification was also shocking. The first three days Bluemoon promised was far from enough, and it dragged out several days longer beforepletion.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce would head for Fort Continent immediately after itspletion and guard the ¡°door¡± there. Even considering its firepower and Caroline at the helm, Qianye only felt relieved after adding a hundred-thousand-strong army to the lineup.

    As the dragonship drove away from the Northern Continent and over the Eastern Sea, a pair of mysterious eyes opened in its depths. Sensing the entity¡¯s gaze upon it, the Earth Dragon came to a stop.

    It lowered its head toward the water and met the colossus¡¯ gaze for several seconds. No one knew what messages they exchanged during that period, but after a while, the pair of eyes in the sea slowly closed back and the Earth Dragon continued on its flight toward Fort Continent.

    News of Qianye¡¯s return spread throughout the entire city of Expansive. This was Zheng¡¯s center of smelting and forging industries, so all the aristocratic family representatives dispatched from the Empire decided to pick this ce as their base and not the military base that was the Western Fortress.

    Most of the sorting equipment wasrge and heavy. Bringing them over from the Empire wasn¡¯t a very practical move, so the best way was to utilize local resources. Hence, the first task for the technicians dispatched by the aristocratic families was to test the facilities and workshops in Expansive. They were to assess what kind of modifications would need to be made.

    Most of the forces headed for Eastern Sun Ind were scouting parties as the environment there was likely to produce rare ores.

    The moment Qianye arrived in Expansive, he immediately summoned all of the representatives. Before long, a dozen or so people had gathered before Qianye and taken their seats in the meeting room.

    He didn¡¯t make everyone wait for very long before cing a piece of ore on the table.

    ¡°Dark golden sandstone!¡± A series of surprised gasps echoed through the room.

    The dispatched managers possessed much more experience than Qianye in this regard. He was only familiar with the materials he had seen on the Imperial map and knew a bit about their special characteristics. In the end, he needed a final confirmation from a specialist to be sure. These managers were able to tell most of an ore¡¯s type andposition just by looking at it.

    Everyone took turns observing the ore before putting it back on the table. An elderly man said while stroking his beard, ¡°This dark golden sandstone is of the highest quality, one that I have never seen before in my life. If my judgment isn¡¯t wrong, this ore should be able to produce twice the minerals when refined.¡±

    The old man was a famous specialist in the Empire, so no one doubted his appraisal. Everyone¡¯s fiery eyes fell upon Qianye.

    Qianye picked up two boxes and opened them up on the table. The entire meeting room erupted in amotion because they were full of dark golden sandstone!

    These two boxes were worth one division of equipment each.

    ¡°Each of your families has expressed their sincerity beforeing to Fort Continent, as well as the trust and support that I needed. Consider one of these boxes as my repayment for this year, distribute them ording to the ratio of contributions.¡±

    Everyone became spirited. At first, the provision of supplies and troops could be considered a long term investment for each family. They would reap the corresponding rewards when Qianye¡¯s grand ns came to fruition.

    Most of those at the scene were small to medium-sized families. Most of them were looking toward the future, hoping to form a good rtionship with this expert and his boundless future prospects. Who would¡¯ve thought they would be repaid so soon?

    They hadn¡¯t even warmed their seats yet when their rewards had arrived. One crate wasn¡¯t a big amount after dividing it amongst all investors, but it wasn¡¯t a small amount, either. The value of rare ores couldn¡¯t be measured with gold coins alone. The important thing was the meaning behind these ores¡ªit meant that Qianye had likely grasped an ore vein.

    After the crowd had quieted down, Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, these are troubled times. I will be facing a big battle in the near future. The amount of weapons and armor in my possession are far from enough. I hope everyone can help me in this regard. Consider this other box a form of downpayment, there will be more by the time the armaments arrive.¡±

    The message in Qianye¡¯s words excited everyone. One of them tried to probe, ¡°Sire, how much more will you have?¡±

    Qianye replied with a smile, ¡°It won¡¯t be a small amount.¡±

    It was enough at this point. Everyone began calcting the resources their families could provide and produced an equipment list. Qianye looked through the documents in detail¡ªhe would ask more of the equipment he needed urgently while striking off the ones he didn¡¯t need.

    He was finally done with the lists by dinner time. Before him was a set of equipment for fifty thousand more soldiers. The standard of equipment for the Jade Sea werewolves was much lower, namely some armor tes to cover their vitals. A standard set of human gear was enough to modify into three sets of werewolf armor.

    This batch was what he could obtain right away. If he could expand the timeline, they would be able to provide even more. Some of them had even suggested opening up more factories for him specifically.

    This oue was even better than Qianye had expected. It would seem the price of this dark golden sandstone was higher than his estimations. The early show of rewards was like injecting them with a stimnt; everyone was fighting to invest more.

    It would take some time to send word back and ship the gear over. Fortunately, Qianye held arge werewolf force that had undergone initial training, so he didn¡¯t really need soldiers. And with fifteen thousand private army elites defending the eastern side, Zheng would not win even if they fielded an army of a hundred thousand soldiers.

    After dealing with the equipment, Qianye made ready to return to the front lines. Although he had already entered the door and made sure that there were no new beasts, he wasn¡¯t too certain about his judgment. Thews of the new world were too strange, and no one could say for sure where these beasts hade from. Arge beast horde might just charge out at a moment¡¯s notice, so he couldn¡¯t be careless.

    Qianye had yet to move out when one of his aides arrived. ¡°Sire, an urgent missive from the Empire!¡±

 Chapter 1255: First Step of the Journey

    <h4>Chapter 1255: First Step of the Journey</h4>

    The style of the container told him that the letter came from Zhao Jundu¡¯s legion. Qianye fished out the letter and began reading through it carefully.

    The first part was made up of battle reports from the Qin and other major continents. Although there wasn¡¯t a lot in terms of writing, one could make out how fierce the battle was in the Empire. Zhao Jundu held two army corps under hismand and had constructed defensive structures in advance. Even then, the casualties over the course of two big battles numbered over thirty thousand.

    Eliminating over three hundred thousand beasts with an army of a hundred thousand and losing only thirty thousand soldiers in the process, this could be considered a great victory. Then again, they had Zhao Jundu and Song Zining holding the line, as well as several months of advance-preparations. If this was the result even after all that, how bad would the situation on other continents be?

    Thest part was a summary of battle reports from the Western and Transcendent Continents. The Western Continent fared rtively better with the Fire Beacon Corps and the Northern Legion holding the line, as well as the dark race sharing the burden. In the end, they managed to destroy the beast army with less than fifty thousand total deaths. The Transcendent Continent, on the other hand, was an absolute disaster. The beast army had pinned down the coalition of aristocratic families at the heart of the continent while sending smaller squads to destroy the garrisons in other regions.

    The situation on Transcendent was crumbling. All the major aristocratic families, including the Nangong, were barely hanging on. Most of the Nangong family¡¯s core territories had been lost, and no one knew what the beast-infested areas were like right now, or if there was any life left.

    The nobles constricted their defensive line while transferring back their private soldiers from outside posts. The Empire could not sit by and watch the continent descend into chaos. Two army corps had been dispatched to provide reinforcements. Judging from the intensity of the battles on the Qin and Western Continents, this troop strength should be enough to help the local private armies eliminate the bestial invaders. Hopefully, all was not toote.

    These doors appeared on the void continent as well, but the number of beasts was much smaller than on the maind. The war had just ended on the ind, so the troops and defensive structures there were fully operational. The beast army was swept clean in a very short time.

    The reports finally concluded that during the early phases of the appearance of these doors, themunication channels between the Empire¡¯s continents were disrupted at much greater frequencies. This resulted in ag in the Empire¡¯s internal response and was very likely the dark races¡¯ doing.

    Critical messages from the Empire¡¯s army on the Qin continent never reached the Western and Transcendent Continents. Qianye¡¯s early warning also vanished along the way. This resulted in the Transcendent Continent getting caught off-guard. They were too slow to concentrate their troops in the early phase and too fast in giving up their territories. Later on, this resulted in a bad defeat.

    At this point, Qianye paused to think for a moment.

    From the timing, the dark races¡¯ attack was extremely clever and lethal. As a part of the Empire¡¯s core territory, the fall of the Transcendent Continent was a major blow to their strength. It would likely take decades to rebuild and recover.

    To havee up with such a n, it would seem that the dark races knew much more about the new world than the humans did. That was how they were able to borrow the beast army¡¯s hand to deal such a heavy blow.

    Qianye had unexpectedly managed to subdue the werewolves on the Fort Continent, obtaining hundreds of thousands of soldiers within a short time span. It just so happened that a numerical advantage was necessary to beat the army of beasts. This allowed Qianye to eliminate the two waves of invaders with rtively small casualties.

    The dark races would never have imagined this oue, nor did the Empire. Even Qianye himself felt that his luck wasn¡¯t so bad this time. If the ¡°door¡± hadn¡¯t appeared in the blessednd, which was closely rted to the werewolves¡¯ food supply, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have been informed as quickly or gone inside to investigate. If the ¡°door¡± had appeared in some obscure corner of the continent, they would only realize the danger when the beast army was truly bearing down upon them.

    Following the battle reports was the Empire¡¯s analysis of the ¡°doors.¡± Naturally, the study was conducted on the Qin Continent. The Imperial research team practically moved to Zhao Jundu¡¯s fortress. The scientists were already studying the beasts¡¯ anatomy while battles raged on at the front lines. Once Zhao Jundu and Song Zining had wiped out the enemy, the old men of the research team charged into the mist to study the door despite the potential danger.

    Most of these old men were masters of their craft and also fairly advanced in cultivation-rank. Their concentrated efforts produced results in just a few days.

    The final result was that these ¡°doors¡± were structurally stable. They were not permanent passages to the new world, but they could not be closed, either. Soldiers ingesting the blood nds and other blood-producing organs would be able to adapt to the new world for a short period of time. Their strength wouldn¡¯t be suppressed significantly once inside. As an emergency measure, they could also drink the alien beasts¡¯ blood to achieve the same effect.

    The research team would proceed to analyze theposition of their blood and attempt to develop a means of entry.

    Zhao Jundu had already picked a group of soldiers to ingest the beast blood nd and use it to explore the new world. He also added that Song Zining was to lead this unit.

    Qianye closed the letter and put it away. Then, after making arrangements for the transfer of armaments, he rushed back to the front lines at the blessednd.

    Back on the airship, Qianye was lost in thoughts as he gazed at the scenery flying past him.

    After taking into consideration the present situation and Zhao Jundu¡¯s report, Qianye decided to hasten his exploration efforts. The door on the Fort Continent side was gradually stabilizing, and the barrier that was behind it hadpletely disappeared. During the second exploration, Qianye could feel that the environment within was no longer as difficult to adapt to. It would seem that the two connected worlds were slowly reaching an equilibrium of sorts.

    There were dozens of connecting points between the new world and the Evernight World. These doors were opened by the Evernight Council, so the dark races were already well-prepared for what was toe. Judging from the battles on the Western Continent, the dark race lineup on the other side of the door was several times that of normal. They couldn¡¯t have just arrived on short notice.

    Thinking back now, the dark races had been mobilizing arge number of forces when news of the new world had just appeared. Apparently, their aim wasn¡¯t to change garrison or reinforce their territories, but to deal with the beast army.

    These soldiers had probably entered the new world to begin exploring after eliminating the beast army. The Empire was one stepte in this regard.

    After the victory on the void continent, the battle-worn Imperial army was in dire need of rest and reorganization. Not only did the Empire swap out arge part of its forces as per routine, but they also allowed many veterans to retire. These soldiers had already gone back home by now, so recruiting them again would not only take a lot of money but also a lot of time.

    With the addition of the void continent, the Empire¡¯s scope of defense had increased. However, there were no increased recruitments going on, which meant that there was no increase in total troop-strength. It was easy to imagine how short they would be in mobile reserves.

    Even if they could recruit new soldiers in such a short period, training would take several months or even up to half a year. There simply wasn¡¯t enough time. The only thing they could do to effectively increase their military power was to requisition private troops from the nobility. The price involved was fairly high¡ªthey would need to offer sufficient remuneration, simr to hiring mercenaries.

    Not to conscript private armies without good reason was an irond ruleid down between the founding ancestor and the major ns. This was to prevent the Imperial n from encroaching upon the interests of the aristocracy and ensure the integrity of the Great Qin¡¯s governing system.

    At present, the Transcendent Continent was in utter disarray¡ªalmost half of the aristocratic families¡¯ military power remained scattered outside the defensive line, and the beasts were splitting off to wear these forces down. Fortunately, the Nangong family reacted quickly by abandoning their territory and concentrating all of their forces in the central region. By working with the other families, they managed to retain a good part of their fighting power.

    From this analysis, the Empire had precious little reserves to spare for the exploration of the new world. Even Zhao Weihuang of the Western Continent could not move. Although he had two legions under hismand, the dark race forces on the other side had grown exponentially. This ced him at a disadvantage. He couldn¡¯t explore the new world under the Evernight army¡¯s watch. Otherwise, he would never be able to return if they were to block the entrance.

    The situation on the void continent was simr. Its location between the middle and upper continents made it the first line of defense facing the core regions of Evernight. They had gone to great lengths to conquer the ce and hadn¡¯t even developed it yet. Diverting the defense forces to exploration would leave the ce at risk of an enemy surprise attack. The gains couldn¡¯t justify the potential losses.

    All in all, the forces that could head in immediately for exploration were Zhao Jundu and Qianye¡¯s armies.

    Dozens of doors meant dozens of connections. From the present circumstances, it would seem that the doors led to different parts of the new world. It was just that no one knew how far they were from one another. Probability-wise, they were both more likely to run into the dark race armies after going into the new world.

    This was perhaps good news because the alien origin power of the new world would affect the experts¡¯ origin power. Those with pure origin power and powerful bloodlines would be less affected. The quality of Qianye¡¯s bloodline had once again seen an upgrade following the werewolves¡¯ ceremony. There were few in the entire Evernight with a stronger bloodline than his. The new world had little effect on Qianye¡¯s fighting power, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for other experts.

    Just as he was lost in thought, the airship began to descend with a jolt. He could already see the misty region through the cabin windows. It would seem they had arrived at their destination.

    As the airship came to a steady stop and Qianye walked out, he saw a giant shadow flying overhead. It was the Earth Dragon¡¯s massive body drifting slowly through the air. Its posture was rxed and poetic, swinging its tail from time to time as it circled above the frontlines.

    Qianye didn¡¯t board the jeep that hade to pick him up. He only gave them some instructions before flying up to the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Caroline was waiting for him. ¡°You¡¯re here! Look at the modifications, what do you think?¡±

    Qianye knew the airship inside out because of his connection to the Earth Dragon¡¯s will. However, that did little to dampen his surprise after seeing it in person. The current Martyr¡¯s Pce was like a small city. It was so big that one could hardly find the hundreds of crew members, technicians, and soldiers on board.

    The two divine champions spent quite some time just taking a stroll around the airship¡¯s interior.

    Qianye was naturally satisfied with the Martyr Pce and its modifications. The current dragonship could easily take on a sub-fleet. With this massive weapon in hand, he had no fear of anyone¡ªon the Fort Continent at least.

    Qianye and Caroline arrived at the groundmand center after the tour, where he summoned all the generals to make arrangements for the new world. The night following the meeting was a busy one, with numerous transfers and mobilizations. Of course, ingesting the blood nds was also a step that couldn¡¯t be missed. At dawn the next day, a mixed army of thirty thousand men marched into the mist, taking the first step into the new world.

 Chapter 1256: Crystal Mutation

    <h4>Chapter 1256: Crystal Mutation</h4>

    The new world was just as barren and quiet as Qianye remembered. The army of thirty thousand spent an hour before setting foot in the new world. Although the people selected for this mission were strong elites and all of them had ingested blood nds, many still experienced difort. Some of them even died.

    The first thing Qianye did after sending the ill soldiers back to the rear wasn¡¯t a rushed exploration. Instead, he ordered the military engineers to build defensive structures on the hill in front of the valley and guard the door firmly. On the other hand, he sent out dozens of small scouting parties in each direction and had them draw up a map. This would make it easier for him to grasp the surrounding movements.

    Qianye and Caroline also made preparations to explore deeper into the region.

    The stone tform in the valley remained unchanged; it was just a pile of rocks at a nce. Crossing over the valley brought them to the area of dark golden sandstones. Caroline couldn¡¯t remain calm, either, after seeing the raw ore.

    After a simple survey, Caroline believed that this ce was an ore vein, and it was so shallow that the ores were visible on the surface. Such bountiful deposits were only heard of in legends describing the upper continents of Evernight, all of them core regions of the four major dark races. Who would¡¯ve thought they would see something like this right at the door of this world?

    One could easily imagine how fierce the fight fornd here would be.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t really focusing on the ore veins since he was attempting to fly at the moment. After several attempts, he finally got used to the flow of origin power in this new world and wobbled into the air. From above, the giant pirs in the distance caught his attention. Those structures were hundreds of meters tall, and despite their windswept exterior, they evidently looked man-made.

    A shade of blue-green appeared far off over the horizon. ording to the Empire¡¯s research, the beasts¡¯ diet contained arge number of metallic elements. If this was amon urrence, the nts of the new world would be dark green, blue, or dark red in color. The distance was hard to gauge, either, due to the great distance or his vision turning blurry. All he could say was that it looked like a forest.

    The presence of a forest meant the presence of living things. They might run into arge number of beasts again at that point.

    While he was observing thend, Caroline had also adapted to the cirction of origin power and managed to fly to his side.

    Qianye pointed at the distant stone pirs. ¡°Let¡¯s go over there and see.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    As peak experts, their flying speed increased sharply as they grasped the local origin power. In the end, their speed here was more or less the same as in the Evernight World. They crossed several kilometers in an instant and came to a hovering stop before a giant stone pir.

    The appearance of this pir was even more impactful at close up¡ªits diameter was over ten meters, with cracks and gaps over its surface. Clearly, it was formed of cut stone, but these rocks were several meters in size and dozens of tons in weight. How did they manage to lift them up?

    Qianye flew around the pir and up to the top, but he found nothing special. After some thought, he dug out a piece of the stone, but there was nothing special about that, either.

    He went around the other pirs as well and found that they were all the same. Caroline ced a hand on the stone pir and sensed the interior briefly. ¡°Did you find anything?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°This pir is wet.¡±

    Qianye grabbed a piece of stone from the pir and studied it in detail. The external surface of the rock was dry, but there was a bit of moisture inside.

    After sensing further, Caroline came to a conclusion. ¡°This pir is absorbing moisture and origin power from its surroundings, maybe other things as well.¡±

    The air in this world was moist, but everything else was dry because the origin power here would absorb moisture. This stone pir could actually draw both moisture and origin power from the atmosphere.

    Qianye thrust East Peak into the pir, all the way to its hilt. Then, with a twist of his wrist, he pulled out a piece of the pir¡¯s core. There was nothing special about the stony material itself, but through the hole, Qianye¡¯s True Sight could make out origin power flowing up and down the pir.

    Qianyended at the base of the pir. ¡°Let¡¯s try digging downward.¡±

    The digging process was extremely fast with Caroline and Qianye working together. The ground sank deeper and deeper until they were dozens of meters below the surface. In a sh of blue light, a cluster of light blue crystals appeared before them.

    This cluster was only the size of an arm and half-buried in the stone pir, seemingly growing from it. Qianye¡¯s ears started to ring the moment this crystal appeared, almost like the sharp buzz of bees.

    Caroline crouched down and studied the crystal carefully. ¡°Is this a condensation of the new world¡¯s origin power?¡±

    There was a smokey fluid circting within the magnificent crystal. One could feel the intensity of its aura even through the crystalline container. Apparently, the smoke within was an extremely condensed form of the new world¡¯s origin power.

    Sensing something, Qianye pulled Caroline up. ¡°Something¡¯sing.¡±

    The two flew up to the top of the pir in a sh.

    Dozens of beasts were charging over in a cloud of rolling dust, made up of various sizes and species. After arriving at the base of the pir and seeing the crystal, they pounced madly into the hole. The first beast had just arrived at the opening when it was bitten on the hind leg and flung out.

    This bite was so powerful that it broke the first creature¡¯s leg. The others went wild at the sight of their injuredpanion, swarming over and tearing it into pieces. The sight of blood caused the entire group to be restless, so much so that they began killing one another. By the time the fight was over, the dead and injured were strewn across the ground. Only the most powerful one remained alive, but it was also covered in wounds.

    This beast was like a lion, but it had six legs and a strong tail with bone spikes growing from it. At several meters tall, it was already a giant beast by Evernight standards. Yet, it was only a medium-sized member of the beast horde.

    It jumped into the pit, bit the crystalline cluster into pieces, and swallowed it. The beast staggered like a drunkard afterward and barely managed to climb out of the hole. It then copsed before taking the first step and began grunting in pain. The beast¡¯s body bulged up and squirmed about, almost as though there were numerous little beasts crawling within its body.

    In the blink of an eye, the creature¡¯s skin split open, and one bone spur after the other shot out from within. Scales flipped open all over its skin, causing the creature to bleed all over. This change also brought about a change in the creature¡¯s body size, only stopping when it was quite a bitrger than before. It barely managed to mber up and began devouring the nearby beast corpses.

    The beast began to grow rows upon rows of bone spikes all over its body. Its back, legs, and vitals were now covered in scales, which improved its defenses to a new level. After the changes in its body had stabilized, the creature looked up at Qianye and Caroline atop the pir. This time, its eyes were filled with clear emotion.

    If it was just a wild beast acting on instinct before, it had now turned into an intelligent creature. Qianye was surprised as he observed the changes. ¡°So this is how the officers from the beast army appear.¡±

    The various types of beasts in the horde not only had their own roles, but were also split into strict ranks. Some of them wererger, more powerful, and even looked different. This type of six-legged creature was both strong and swift, the core of the ground attack force. Their officers were the scaled, six-legged creatures with bone spikes, just like this one.

    The creature looked up at Qianye for a while before slowly backing off and running away.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to let it escape. He arrived in the creature¡¯s path in a sh and swung East Peak down on its back. This attack came at lightning speed, leaving no room for the beast to dodge before it was mmed into the ground.

    Qianye had only used the back of his sword because he wanted to try subduing this intelligent creature. However, the beast kept struggling despite the overwhelming difference in power and seemed to have no intention of giving up. After a brief deadlock, Qianye broke its neck reluctantly.

    The two returned to the pir and began digging again. As expected, they found more clusters of crystals. Some of them were pretty small and had just emerged from the pir.

    After examining them, Qianye carefully removed the three biggest clusters and ced them in Andruil¡¯s space. These crystals could activate the wild beasts¡¯ intelligence, so they were definitely not ordinary objects. Qianye decided to send these to Zhao Jundu and have the Empire study them.

    It was at this time that a small movement appeared in a corner of Andruil¡¯s space. This soon developed into waves of intense fluctuations that attacked Qianye¡¯s consciousness.

    Startled, Qianye scanned the location with his consciousness, but he had to think pretty hard to recall what that little rock-like thing was. That was a tiny female bug he had picked up inside the Great Maelstrom. He had never touched it since he stored the little creature, and it had been sleeping soundly in there ever since. Who would¡¯ve thought it would wake up all of a sudden?

    Qianye retrieved the female bug, but the little critter attacked him immediately after appearing. It wasn¡¯t big, but its bite was shockingly powerful, breaking Qianye¡¯s skin in one chomp.

    Not expecting the little critter to be so powerful, Qianye loosened his grip from the pain. The little insect flew out and made a beeline for the stone pir below, where it began biting off the crystal inrge mouthfuls. That firm crystalline substance was like candy to the little bug, who ate everything up amidst crackling sounds.

    In the blink of an eye, it had devoured a piece of crystal that wasrger than its own body. No one knew how its stomach was structured to be able to fit all that food.

    After eating up the crystal, the insect spat out arge amount of white silk and wrapped itself in a cocoon.

    Qianye looked up at Caroline with a wry smile. Thetter was dumbfounded at this point. She never imagined Qianye¡¯s storage space could carry living creatures. After a brief discussion, the two decided not to touch the cocoon and simply wait for further developments. Having witnessed the previous beast¡¯s transformation, it could be assumed that this little critter wouldn¡¯t take very long.

    Before long, the cocoon was torn apart, and out came a giant armored-insect the size of one¡¯s arm.

    Unfurling two pairs of wings from its back armor, it took to the air and dived toward Qianye!

    A shocked Caroline was just about to intercept the insect with her whip when Qianye stopped her. This dy gave the insect enough time to arrive at its destination!

    However, the critter didn¡¯t bite Qianye. Instead, it climbed onto Qianye¡¯s shoulder and stopped there, touching Qianye intimately with its feelers.

    Caroline was surprised. ¡°Is it because it drank your blood?¡±

    ¡°Might be. My bloodline is special, and its intelligence has been activated, so I think it considers me family now.¡±

    ¡°This little fellow looks pretty impressive, but we don¡¯t know how powerful it is.¡± Caroline nced at the insect but didn¡¯t dare touch it. She was, after all, a girl andrge insects were a fairly upsetting sight.

    Seemingly understanding Caroline¡¯s words, the little insect began to squeal and squeak. It soared into the air and charged at one of the beast corpses, ramming in through its head anding out from the other side. The entire process was like shooting the carcass in the head with arge caliber origin gun.

 Chapter 1257: First Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1257: First Battle</h4>

    When the bug flew back andnded on Qianye¡¯s shoulder, he gave the little critter a name.

    ¡°Stinger, I¡¯ll call you Stinger from now on.¡±

    The insect let out a long squeal, apparently quite delighted at the name. It wouldn¡¯t stop rubbing Qianye¡¯s neck whilebing its long antennae.

    Caroline said, ¡°It actually uses origin power!¡±

    Qianye thought back to the scene and recalled that the bug¡¯s body was covered in ayer of origin power when it shot into the dead beast¡¯s head. This was the only way it could erupt with such prating power.

    ¡°It was special, to begin with.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t surprised because many beasts from the Evernight World could utilize origin power, the void colossi being the top existences in that list. No other race could evene close to their prowess.

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand what I meant. What I¡¯m saying is that it can use the origin power here, just like the other creatures.¡±

    Qianye flicked the insect lightly with his finger and sensed the vibrationsing from it, concluding that what Caroline said was true. Even experts of their level had to learn to adapt to the new environment and slowly grasp how to utilize the special origin power. Stinger, however, was able to utilize origin power instinctively and was at apletely different skill level.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because it evolved here?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Caroline wasn¡¯t sure, either.

    The two felt differently about the blue crystal after returning to the pir.

    ¡°Could it be that these crystals can make lifeforms evolve, regardless of whether they are from this world?¡±

    ¡°If that is the case, those dark races will go crazy over it,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just the dark races, maybe it works on humans, too. If even your bug can do it, why can¡¯t humans?¡±

    Stinger let out a short cry of dissatisfaction. Qianye patted it with a chuckle. ¡°He has a name now, it¡¯s Stinger.¡±

    Stinger cheered in agreement.

    Naturally, Caroline wouldn¡¯t argue with an insect. ¡°Regardless, we need to confirm the uses of this crystal. It might be one of the reasons the Evernight Council is so intent on opening this new world.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Easy, just do it the way you did with the blood nds.¡±

    That was direct experimentation. Qianye frowned slightly but nodded in the end. Being humane became secondary in the face of the greater good.

    Qianye nced at the stone pirs in the area withplicated emotions. Each of these structures held several keys that would push a life form to a higher level.

    This might not be significant for ordinary creatures¡ªtheir starting point was too low, so the upgrade wasn¡¯t significant, either. For intelligent species like the four major dark races and humans, this opportunity might drive everyone crazy.

    Suppressing the urge to collect more crystals, Qianye said to Caroline, ¡°Let¡¯s go forward, we¡¯ll stop at that forest for today.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Qianye and Caroline soared into the air and flew toward the forest at an altitude of ten meters. They saw no more pirs along the way, which went to show that these structures only existed in certain regions.

    There were shrubs on the ground, as well as rocks glowing with a strange luster. Qianye could tell at a nce that these stones contained some special ore, but he didn¡¯t stop to observe them. Mining wasn¡¯t their primary objective right now¡ªthe ore veins here were extremely shallow, but theycked the expertise to differentiate between them. The most important business was to protect these resources by scouting out the surrounding area. The best scenario would be to find out the beast army¡¯s movements.

    The two flew faster and faster until the forest was before them.

    Qianye was in no rush to enter the woods. Instead, he flew up to a height of several hundred meters and observed his surroundings. At several dozen kilometers in diameter, this forest couldn¡¯t be considered big. Yet, it stood out quite a bit against the backdrop of barren wastnds around it.

    Qianye flew back down after memorizing the scenery and began exploring the forest.

    The woods contained a range of different vegetation. Some of the species were fairly simr, but they seemed to be two different generations of breeds. Most of the nts here had blue leaves, while some had red foliage. Their crowns were extraordinarily dense, with leaves weaving together to form arge roof.

    Qianyended on the ground and slowly walked into the forest.

    The woods were dark and gloomy, but it felt like he had entered a new world. Stinger arched its body and began crying out restlessly.

    Qianye also felt a sense of unease, so he produced East Peak and held it at the ready before heading deeper into the forest. He was heading toward the source of that uneasiness.

    Caroline followed from a couple of steps behind to guard Qianye¡¯s rear.

    The forest was so dark it almost seemed like there was no daylight. What little luminescence there was came from some of the nts and moss. There was almost no life in the utter silence¡ªno beasts, no birds, not even insects.

    The forest wasn¡¯t that big. Even though every direction looked the same, Qianye was able to arrive at the center of the forest just from memory. There, a strange giant tree appeared before him.

    This tree wasn¡¯t very tall, almost the same size as the other ones, but it was extremely thick. The diameter of the tree itself was several dozen meters, and it almost looked like a giant water barrel from afar. The leaves clustered at the top almost gave it a mushroom-like appearance.

    There was a small pond of pink water near the roots, the contents of which seemed to originate from the burls on the tree. Some of these burls had burst open, and the pink fluid was flowing down into the pond below.

    Qianye arrived under the tree and, after a period of cautious exploration, cupped some of the liquid to sniff. ¡°It smells like beast blood.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s constitution was special, and she was even bolder¡ªshe wet her fingers in the pink liquid and tasted it. ¡°Very simr, tastes more like their blood nd.¡±

    ¡°Will drinking this spring water have the same effect?¡±

    ¡°Gotta try it to know.¡±

    Qianye was gazing at the giant tree, pondering what role it yed in this new world, when he felt a chill run down his spine!

    Without a second thought, his figure flickered into the air a hundred meters away. A faint glow shot through his previous position, digging a deep furrow through the giant tree as it brushed past. Arge amount of tree sap surged out from the new defect¡ªthe pink fluid looked just like the water in the pond.

    The assant failed to hit Qianye and injured the giant tree instead.

    A furious howl echoed through the forest as that six-armed creature Qianye had seen on the stone tform appeared from the trees. He was equipped with five different weapons in each hand, leaving only one free.

    Qianyended slowly, sticking to the tree as he did so.

    The furious six-armed creature swung its weapons about and roared loudly in a show of force. However, it did note forward. Even Caroline had figured out that the six-armed giant was afraid of identally hurting the giant tree again.

    Qianye shot a nce at her and made a gesture, to which she nodded.

    As expected, the giant also took a step back when Qianye stepped away from the tree. His expression also rxed and was no longer as agitated.

    ¡°Shall we fight outside?¡± Qianye pointed to the outside of the forest.

    ¡°Very... good.¡± Unexpectedly, the six-armed creature could actually speak the Imperialnguage. Although his ent was choppy and strange, he could still articte.

    ¡°You first.¡±

    The six-armed creature turned about and walked out of the forest to wait for Qianye.

    Qianye followed him out of the woods, but he didn¡¯t attack immediately. ¡°Who are you people? Why do youe to our world?¡±

    The six-armed creature only spoke one sentence, ¡°You all, must, die!¡±

    It looked like he had no intention of exchanging conversations with Qianye. The long, sawtooth des in his hands swung down toward Qianye!

    The sh came at unbelievable speeds. All one could see was him raising his arm, and the des were in Qianye¡¯s face the very next moment! There weren¡¯t any afterimages, either. It was almost as though his arms had teleported.

    Qianye¡¯s figure sank as he blocked one of the des with East Peak and utilized the impact to move to the side, effectively evading the next attack.

    He had just dodged the first attacks when two more des swung toward him! Qianye simply ced East Peak horizontally in front of him to block the assault. Sparks flew in all directions from the sh of force!

    Qianye was jolted back over ten meters, his feet digging deep trenches in the process. The six-armed giant didn¡¯t have it easy, either. His two swords were knocked upward from the impact, dragging him backward with them. Those arms were no longer as nimble all of a sudden.

    Qianye¡¯s countenance went pale, and a fishy scent welled up in his mouth. The six-armed creature arrived inrge strides before he could recover, swinging his five weapons tempestuously.

    Qianye¡¯s joints crackled as he grasped East Peak under the effects of Excavator. He would block at times or apply skillful techniques to remain on par with the six-armed creature.

    However, the entity possessed an extremely strong physique. Each of his blows was a simple attack that served to overwhelm the opponent with pure speed and power. Each blow felt like being rammed into by a colossus, leaving Qianye in great difort. Although he could still fight shoulder-to-shoulder at the moment, Excavator wasn¡¯t going tost very long. Once the effects of the secret art had worn off, Qianye would no doubt fall into a disadvantage.

    Suppressing Qianye proved how terrifying the creature was. An ordinary divine champion would hardlyst a few minutes before it.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t panicked, though, and stood firm against his opponent. Qianye¡¯s strength weakened soon afterward as Excavator reached its limits. Every strike shook his body and caused him to stagger.

    Seeing hope of imminent victory, the six-armed giant raised his five des with a loud roar. He was ready to deliver a powerful blow and end this annoying creature!

    Charging up thatst strike happened almost instantaneously. His five des came swinging down as soon as they reached the highest point! This strike was so fast and furious that it didn¡¯t look like Qianye would be able to take it.

    It was at this time that muffled thuds erupted from the depths of the forest, almost as though someone was chopping wood with all their might.

    The six-armed creature¡¯s expression shifted drastically. Following a furious scream, the trajectory of his five des suddenly became chaotic and moved in different directions. It was only natural that a lousy attack like that wouldn¡¯t hit Qianye. On the contrary, the disruption in energy flow injured him quite a bit.

    Ignoring everything else, the six-armed giant abandoned Qianye and rushed into the depths of the forest. He was fast, but Qianye was even faster! A single Spatial sh took him above the six-armed creature. A ck feather shot out and disappeared into the back of the creature¡¯s neck!

    The six-armed giant¡¯s body kept charging forward. He was now like a vehicle that had gone out of control, crashing into several trees in his wake. Two more Shots of Inception appeared at this point and found their target.

    The creature barreled forward for several hundred meters, mowing down countless trees before finally copsing with a boom.

 Chapter 1258: Proclaim King?

    <h4>Chapter 1258: Proim King?</h4>

    Qianye slowlynded and nted his sword in the ground for support, gasping for breath.

    Caroline charged out from the depths of the forest. Seeing the immobile six-armed creature, she said in surprise, ¡°You¡¯ve killed it already?¡±

    Qianye kept his eyes closed and said feebly, ¡°It went a bit better than expected.¡±

    ¡°Our n was to force him to retreat, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Qianye had no strength left to speak, so he merely nodded.

    ¡°You rest first, I¡¯ll examine that fellow.¡± Caroline put away her whip and axe before walking toward the corpse.

    The six-armed creature¡¯s body was huge. Caroline removed some small trinkets from the body and put them away after taking a look at them. She then returned to Qianye with one of the creature¡¯s swords.

    Qianye had finally caught his breath after some rest. He took the six-armed creature¡¯s de to study it¡ªthe sword was three meters long and probably several tons in weight. Qianye could only say that the special material was made up of stone and metal which had been blended perfectly into one.

    The de¡¯s serrated edge wasn¡¯t especially sharp, but its weight, material, and the strength of that six-armed creature made it an invincible weapon. Perhaps only Qianye¡¯s current East Peak could go toe-to-toe with it. If East Peak hadn¡¯t been upgraded in the Great Maelstrom, it would probably have been damaged beyond recognition by now.

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°Let¡¯s bring this back.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll carry it.¡± As a divine champion, carrying a few tons wasn¡¯t a problem for her.

    ¡°How¡¯s that tree doing?¡±

    ¡°I chopped out quite a few defects, but I didn¡¯t focus on a single point, lest I really kill it.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    Caroline pulled Qianye up and flew him to the giant tree. There were numerous axe marks on the trunk, some of which were fairly deep and pouring tree sap into the pond below.

    For some reason, the tree was giving off a feeling of listlessness, almost like a wounded animal. A terrified emotion erupted from the tree when Caroline appeared and the trunk actually leaned away from her, hoping to escape.

    Caroline said, ¡°I didn¡¯t chop very hard at first, but Iter discovered that it wasn¡¯t enough to draw that bastard in. So, I gave it some fierce blows until it was howling.¡±

    Qianye said in surprise, ¡°It can talk?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Caroline said after some thought, ¡°it¡¯s a voice from the consciousness.¡±

    Qianye nced at the giant tree before filling a bottle with its tree sap. ¡°It¡¯s about time, let¡¯s go back first.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The two explored the area for a bit more before heading back to the door.

    The framework of a camp had begun to form on the hill near the door. Numerous werewolves and humans were busy with the construction work. Equipped with prior experience, they managed to construct the camp with almost no blind spots. The ground defenses were equally strong in all directions, and the cannon turret at the center was meant for aerial enemies.

    In the face of a very real threat to their lives, neither the werewolves nor the humans feared tiredness. Everyone was working with all their might. Under Xu Jingxuan¡¯s management, the weaker soldiers and those who couldn¡¯t adapt to the environment were transferred to the other side of the door. A new batch was then transferred in.

    Everyone knew that stronger defenses would give them better chances of survival against the beast horde.

    Once the framework waspleted, resources were shipped in continuously and stored in the warehouse. A battlefield hospital was also set up to treat potential injuries and people who could not adapt to the surroundings.

    By the time Qianye returned, the scouts they had sent out were alsoing back one after the other. However, some routes had gone missing.

    Qianye returned to the Jade Sea at first and ordered the men to urgently ship the six-armed creature¡¯s sword, trinkets, and some of the tree sap to the Qin Continent. They were to hand everything to Zhao Jundu.

    He then arranged for some werewolf ves and death row prisoners to test different doses of the tree sap. Then, they were shipped off into the new world half a dayter. Most of those who had drunk the sap were able to move freely inside the new world. Only some of them showed signs of difort and were sent back out.

    This proved that those who had taken the tree sap could adapt to the new world much better than those who had ingested beast blood.

    The world behind the door remained cold and quiet, with no signs of beast activity. Thus, the beast blood-nds became a bottleneck for the armies entering the new world. They would undoubtedly fall into a passive position if they had to wait for the beast army to appear.

    Now, with this tree sap, this problem could be easily solved. However, they would have to grasp the dosage carefully in order to prevent damage to the big tree. That pond of tree sap near the tree was already enough for tens of thousands of soldiers.

    This was an unexpected reward, but Qianye wasn¡¯t given any time to feel happy. Xu Jingxuan arrived hurriedly and said, ¡°Sire, four routes did not return.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°Which direction?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan passed him a map. ¡°This is the map we drew after collecting all the information. Taking the noon sun as the south, these four routes were all headed in the southeast.¡±

    The map contained different geographical features¡ªthere were rising hills, a dried-up river, and some ruins. The most eye-catchingndmarks were the stone pirs and forest Qianye and Caroline had discovered. From the map, the other scouting parties didn¡¯t get too far. They generally turned back after several dozen kilometers.

    After studying the map for a while, Qianye looked up at the sky. There was a giant, dark-red ball of me floating up there, one so big that it was several dozen times the size of the sun in the Evernight World. This was the sun of the new world. It wasn¡¯t exactly dazzling, and those with a decent level of power could look straight at it.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes and stared fixedly at this sun. The clock they had brought from the Evernight World was showing that one day and one night had passed, but this giant sun in the new world was only halfway through the sky and showing no signs of setting. Perhaps there was no night in this new world.

    Just as he was thinking about this, the sky suddenly darkened, almost as though a thin veil had been drawn over it. The entire new world was shrouded in the dusky color of twilight. Startled, Qianye studied the phenomenon carefully and found that there was no change in the sun¡¯s position in the sky. Yet, the brightness had fallen sharply for some unknown reason. This waspletely different from thews of the Evernight World.

    Qianye turned around and pointed in the direction of the missing soldiers. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s this direction?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll go and take a look. Be on high alert here, do not be careless.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan said, ¡°Rest assured, Sire! Actually, the werewolves are quite sharp with their senses. With them around, there¡¯s almost no chance of the beastsunching a surprise attack on us. And they¡¯re actually hoping for the beasts toe! I really wonder how we managed to fight such enemies for over a decade.¡±

    Qianye patted Xu Jingxuan with a smile. ¡°Our human race is not bad, either. Otherwise, how could we have contended with them for so many years and still keep expanding?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan whispered, ¡°You¡¯re the son of darkness, Sire. You can¡¯t be counted as a pure human.¡± He was shocked after identally speaking his mind.

    Qianye noticed that Xu Jingxuan¡¯s attitude was more envy than mockery. Heughed out loud, saying, ¡°Actually, the bloodline doesn¡¯t matter as much. It depends on where the heart is. My heart is with the human race, hence I am human.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan said cautiously, ¡°Your subjects are mostly werewolves. Your words might not be very suitable.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What do you say I do then?¡±

    Xu Jingxuan said, ¡°It is now a fact that we humans and these werewolves are tied together. They are also extremely loyal to you. Their reason, although a bit weird, isn¡¯t unjustifiable. Only someone of powerful darkness origin power like you can obtain their loyalty.

    ¡°As I see it, the werewolves of the Jade Sea and great corridor might be primitive in their ways, but that¡¯s only because their civilization as a whole wasn¡¯t developed. Their ignorance made them unable to provide for their kin, which caused them to exhaust their potential and shorten their maturation period. It¡¯s a destructive feedback loop. The Whitebone Duke never cared about these things, he might have even felt that it was better. That way, no one would threaten his position.

    ¡°Now that you can provide sufficient supplies and bring in Imperial technology, these werewolves might recover their potential. Twenty million long-lived werewolves is a massive force no matter where you put them. You will be undefeatable on the Fort Continent with them at your beck and call.

    ¡°This so-called coexistence between werewolves and humans isn¡¯t just fighting together, it¡¯s living together as well. There¡¯s only one path ahead, and that is to abolish all racial discrimination. All citizens must be equal in their loyalty toward you. Your every word shall be the supreme mandate.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan had been thinking about this for a long time. Hence, he managed to speak his thoughts without the slightest intermittence.

    After listening to the rmendation, Qianyeughed. ¡°You don¡¯t want me to just proim myself king, but a god!¡±

    ¡°Considering your strength, what¡¯s stopping you from bing a god once you step into the heavenly monarch realm?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°The heavenly monarch realm is too far away, let¡¯s deal with the new world first.¡±

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t proim yourself a god, you should proim yourself king sooner. As I see it, you must explore this path to the end. Only then will everyone follow you without reservation and be willing to die for you!¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°No rush. This so-called king is just a title, something that makes no difference. Who would dare to challenge me in the Jade Sea even if I don¡¯t proim myself king?¡±

    ¡°Of course, no one would be that stupid.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that settle it then? I¡¯m setting out now.¡± With that, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered away and vanished over the horizon.

    Xu Jingxuan could only sigh while gazing at his receding figure.

 Chapter 1259: Origin Mist forest

    <h4>Chapter 1259: Origin Mist forest</h4>

    Fort Continent was different from the other lower continents; it was only rtively barren. There was still a sizable deposit of natural resources, just not bountiful enough for the dark races and the Empire to go to war for. There were more important territories for them to fight over.

    Another reason was that top experts weren¡¯t willing to stay here for very long due to the impure origin power environment. Hence, both factions were on the fence about Fort Continent. It was a pity to abandon, yet not beneficial enough to colonize.

    That was exactly why there were numerous small powers on the continent, with nock of people iming themselves kings and emperors. There were even those who imed to be gods. It was just an intimidating title, anyway. True powerhouses like the Evernight Council and the Great Qin couldn¡¯t be bothered to bicker with them. As far as local benefits were concerned, it was best if they could keep the situation under control.

    Xu Jingxuan wanted Qianye to proim himself king and let the outside world know of his name. That was the first step toward expansion. Qianye understood the good intention, but he decided not toment on it. At times, a leader might not want the same things as his followers. Qianye wanted a force that could support him, but he hadn¡¯t thought it through about proiming himself king.

    Qianye pushed this matter to the back of his mind as he walked out into the wilderness. The sun in the sky was turning darker and darker, almost as though that dark red ball of me had been extinguished. The scenery around him became hazy, and the distantndscape was now hidden under the rising mist.

    Qianye sped forward with his aura retracted. After about a quarter of an hour, he came to a sudden stop before a military boot.

    Qianye picked it up and found that it was part of a Dark me soldier¡¯s outfit. There was ayer of dust on it, almost as though it had been abandoned for a long time. There was a deep gash cutting through the tough leather with bloodstains around the defect. Apparently, it was left behind here after a fight.

    He observed the surroundings and locked onto a distant rock, in which a broken metal ring was embedded. There were three w marks on it as well. Qianye arrived beside the rock and, after some pondering, stabbed his fingers into it. This left clear fingerprints in the stone.

    There was no mistaking it; this stone wasn¡¯t very hard. The w marks on it belonged to a werewolf, and the metal ring was a bracelet popr among them. Under the special environment of the new world, the wind would erode stones much faster once their surface was broken and all traces on it would disappear soon afterward.

    That was also the reason why Qianye found no tracks throughout the entire chase. If Qianye had arrived one dayter, the boot and bracelet would¡¯ve disappeared as well.

    With these two clues, Qianye was sure that at least one scouting party had passed by here and that they had engaged in battle. All scouting parties were a mixture of werewolves, mercenaries, and the new army, an arrangement that would allow them to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.

    Qianye continued deeper into the wilderness. Before long, the scenery before him transformedpletely as a forest popped out from the mist.

    This forest almost seemed to appear out of nowhere since everything was shrouded in fog before. Having experienced simr situations, Qianye was able to keep walking into the woods without panicking.

    As he got closer, he could see wisps of mist drifting about in the air like swimming fish. Qianye channeled his Bloodline Concealment and retracted his aura as he entered the area of those misty streaks.

    The misty streaks were startled and scattered into the distance, almost as though someone had jumped into a pond of fish.

    Qianye was surprised to find that his Bloodline Concealment was ineffective. This was the first time he had run into such a situation, but then again, his power wasn¡¯t invisibility. This powerful ability was mostly used to deceive an expert¡¯s perception, which was more useful than blocking vision in most cases.

    Who would¡¯ve thought this unknown misty streak would see through him?

    Qianye paused for a moment and stood perfectly still. Those misty wisps were rather curious¡ªthey gradually calmed down after failing to sense danger, and some of them even came close to him. Qianye reached out and grabbed one of them at lightning speed. The misty streak struggled briefly but disappeared immediately afterward.

    Qianye opened his palm and saw a couple of white water droplets, but the misty streak was gone. The water droplets didn¡¯t seem alive, either. Was the misty streak dead?

    He peered at the water droplets with his True Sight and found that they contained highly condensed origin power. It was practically liquefied energy. The water droplets contained nothing else¡ªthere were no remains, bones, or organs, just pure energy.

    The misty streaks grew frightened after Qianye caught two of theirrades. They shot away into the distance and simply hid themselves in the forest. They looked like a group of living beings and not lifeless energy.

    What was going on? Sentient origin power? Could pure energy gain intelligence?

    Even though this new world had refreshed his sense ofmon knowledge time and again, Qianye still felt distressed by this point. On a sudden whim, he stretched out a sanguine thread and touched the water droplet in his palm.

    Under the activation of his blood energy, the water droplets ignited in a sh of white and burned away. Only a drop of clear water was left behind, which very quickly evaporated due to the origin power in the environment.

    This process allowed Qianye to confirm that there was a disproportionate amount of daybreak origin power. Could this be a world dominated by daybreak origin power, something the human race had been looking for all this time? Qianye¡¯s instincts told him that this wasn¡¯t the case. At least, most of the origin power here wasn¡¯t suitable for humans.

    Qianye nced at the forest in front and walked in withrge strides.

    Once he was inside, he sensed something behind him and dodged to the side without a second thought. At the same time, he also shed backward with East Peak. With Qianye¡¯s current strength, his every move was as fast as lightning. This sh brushed past tworge trees and hacked at some unknown object¡ªa miserable cry ensued.

    Two trees fell with a loud boom and a certain beast came into view. The creature had been cut into two but was still iling about on the ground.

    Qianye found the beast rather familiar. He recognized it as a type of beast that had first appeared through the ¡°door,¡± characterized by the sharp horn on its head. This creature specialized in speed and damage. Who would¡¯ve thought it could conceal itself as well in forested regions. Qianye had only sensed it on the verge of its attack, and there was no telling when it had approached.

    Qianye decided to release his aura since Bloodline Concealment was no use anyway. mes of scarlet gold erupted from his body, and as expected, the range of his perception expanded rapidly afterward. In this environment filled with daybreak origin power, the mes of Venus Dawn drained very little of his energy. This could be considered a utilization of environmental energy.

    The greatest advantage of a divine champion was the ability to utilize the origin power in the environment to strengthen oneself. The origin power of the new world was special in that it was almost inutilizable. Divine champions would need to spend time to adapt to and understand thews here, hence greatly weakening their fighting power.

    However, there was little difference in physical power between the two worlds. Qianye was proficient in close-quarter fighting. With his powerful body and strength, there wasn¡¯t much of a discount to his fighting power.

    However, the ignition of his origin power came with consequences. Qianye sensed several eyesnding on him, and some were even from the depths of the forest. It was a mystery how they were able to ¡°see¡± him.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid since he would be found out sooner orter. He simply walked into the heart of the forest.

    A series of fluctuating sounds echoed through the woods, almost as though a giant swarm of bugs was flying about. In the blink of an eye, several ck specks flew out from the trees and shot toward Qianye at speeds greater than an origin bullet!

    Qianye¡¯s feet moved slightly as he grabbed East Peak and ced it in the path of these ck specks.

    The impact on his hands was shockingly strong. Instead of checking what the fallen ck objects were, Qianye inspected his de first. Only after confirming that East Peak was as good as new did he heave a sigh of relief.

    He flexed his numb arm and looked down at the ground. Those ck dots were fist-sized creatures that looked more like insects.

    Their bodies were covered in a dark grey shell, with horns as sharp as a dagger on their heads. Their lower bodies were shaped like a series of rings, which contracted in tandem to shoot out origin power. These insects did not have wings, but they were able to reach great speeds by relying on this propulsion mechanism.

    It was rather unfortunate that their opponent was Qianye because normal people would never have been able to block their attacks. Qianye had chosen stillness against their movement, and with East Peak in hand, the enemies¡¯ speed became their undoing.

    It seemed like Qianye had managed to fend off this wave without much effort, but in truth, he had used a high-levelbat technique. Despite having dealt with this danger perfectly, he didn¡¯t rx a bit and became even more serious instead. He was currently traversing uncharted waters, not knowing what he would run into at the next step.

    Weird whistling sounds echoed through the forest as more beasts shot toward Qianye like bullets, leaving rings of origin power in their wake. Qianye retreated in narrow bursts, East Peak moving irregrly to block every assault perfectly.

    Following a series of metallic jingles, the ground around Qianye was covered in beast corpses, and the forest fell into a brief phase of silence. It was as though the beasts lurking in its shadows were shocked by this oue.

    Qianye stretched his body, emitting crackling sounds from his joints. Even Qianye felt numb and sore after blocking hundreds of suicidal attacks.

    However, his ancient vampire constitution disyed its advantage in endurance. His blood energy swam to every corner of his body during this short break, clearing away all feelings of difort.

    He had just recovered when a mix-mash of beast sounds erupted from the depths of the forest. One creature after the other charged fiercely at Qianye!

    Qianye was the least afraid of this type of battle. His figure flickered toward the attacking horde¡ªan intricate swordy performance ensued as he fought a melee battle against countless beasts. Wherever his de went, it would always draw blood in a sh.

    More and more beasts swarmed out of the forest, forming a small army containing various troop types. Qianye was silently calcting the range of his domain and Life Plunder, all the while moving and drawing the beast army along with him.

    It was at this time that Stinger crawled out of Qianye¡¯s armor with a shrill cry, angered by the surrounding beast horde. It shot out with great ferocity and drilled into the head of a horse-like creature, emerging from behind. It then flew about and rammed through the head of a different beast.

    In the blink of an eye, dozens of beasts had fallen to Stinger¡¯s attacks. The little critter was even more ruthless than Qianye.

 Chapter 1260: Nutrition for the Holy Tree

    <h4>Chapter 1260: Nutrition for the Holy Tree</h4>

    With Stinger around, Qianye couldn¡¯t use his domain at will. Life Plunder was indiscriminate in its attacks, and there was no telling if the little critter could survive contact with those blood threads.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid even without an area-of-effect attack. He went on to contend with the beast horde with exquisite swordsmanship, felling each beast in one blow. His speed wasn¡¯t slow, either. Considering his regenerative powers, Qianye¡¯sbat endurance only increased after finding a rhythm.

    Stinger was extremely powerful in short bursts, but its stamina was rather limited. After killing hundreds of beasts in session, it returned to Qianye in exhaustion andy down in afortable spot on his body.

    Qianye was in no rush to escape from the endless horde of beasts. He seemed intent on exploring the bottom line of his strength in this new world. He contended patiently with wave after wave of beasts, turning all of them into corpses.

    The ughter went on for the entire night.

    By the time thest creature fell with a mournful cry, the sky had once again lit up. A new day had begun in this new world.

    The ground around Qianye was covered in beast corpses. If the werewolves were to see this, they would insist on dragging everything back at all costs. Stinger was already asleep on Qianye¡¯s body. It looked ready to evolve yet again after devouring the flesh of the biggest enemy beast.

    These ordinary creatures posed no threat to Qianye no matter their numbers. On the contrary, he was now more familiar than ever with the utilization of origin power in this new world. Amotion erupted from up ahead, almost as though a group of beasts was waking up from their slumber.

    Qianye came to a sudden stop when he saw a thin vine in front of his feet. This was a crude trap that would likely activate thorns or mines. Such a roughly-crafted trap could only be used against beasts. A somewhat experienced hunter would never fall for it. But why would there be a trap where beasts lived?

    A shrill whistle echoed from the center of the forest as a long spear tore through the air and arrived before Qianye.

    Frowning, Qianye¡¯s instincts told him that something wasn¡¯t quite right. With a flick of his wrist, East Peak¡¯s movements turned from hard to soft, tapping lightly on the spear and deflecting it to the side. As expected, the force behind this javelin was beyond terrifying. Just the shockwaves were enough to shake Qianye and push him back several steps.

    The spear stabbed into the ground at an angle and vanished. Soon afterward, the earth swelled up and exploded in a rain of gravel. Severalrge trees were uprooted and flung into the air during this process. This was the result of a single spear.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was serious, but that didn¡¯t stop him from going deeper into the forest. Another whistling gale kicked up as two more spears flew in, but this time, Qianye didn¡¯t even try to block them. His figure flickered as he used Spatial sh to evade the attacks. More spears came flying at him after that, but they were all duly evaded. A furious howl erupted from the depths of the forest and with it came a wave of powerful consciousness.

    ¡°Scram! This is not a ce you shoulde!¡± That consciousness nted his message inside Qianye¡¯s mind. It wasn¡¯t a type ofnguage.

    ¡°Return my men.¡±

    ¡°They entered my territory and have thus be food for the holy tree.¡±

    Qianye revealed a cold smile as he walked deeper in.

    There was a ratherrge clearing at the heart of the forest. Three giant trees stood tall at its center, the confluence of tree saps forming a smallke between them. A six-armed creature could be seen on a small stony ind in theke.

    This particr creature was much more human-like than the one Qianye had killed a while ago, not to mention much stronger too. He simply sat there on a stone chair, eyes closed and immobile. There were obvious creases on his face which, like the rings of a tree, probably spoke of his age. That was if this rule applied to the new world as well.

    The six-armed creature grabbed one of the stgmites near his seat and molded it into a spear. The material of this stgmite seemed soft, strong, and more metal than stone. After being molded, the stony-metal weapon had a metallic shine to it.

    The previous six-armed creature¡¯s sword was also made of the same material, but it seemed like this spear was stronger. Qianye also noticed something off¡ªthis six-armed creature neither stood up nor opened his eyes. Only two of his six-arms were moving, while the remaining four hung limp at his side.

    Qianye soon realized that most of the stgmites around him had been chopped away, and the remainder were out of his reach. He could no longer reach them no matter how long his arm was. This was the real reason why the spear attacks had ceased.

    Qianye had a clear idea of things now. This six-armed creature was either injured or hibernating. In short, he was in an immobile state and could only use a pair of hands to retaliate against enemies. He couldn¡¯t even stand up. The spear in his hand was his only remaining weapon; he would have nothing left after hurling it. On the other hand, this immobile fellow was the best target for the Shot of Inception. Three shots would surely cripple him no matter how powerful he was.

    The six-armed creature wasn¡¯t dumb enough to hurl hisst spear, either. He turned his closed eyes in Qianye¡¯s direction and spoke through the mind, ¡°Return and you might live.¡±

    ¡°Where are my men?¡±

    ¡°Your men? Do you mean these creatures? They¡¯re not like you.¡± The six-armed creature pointed at the giant tree near him. His perception was truly sharp and could immediately tell that humans and werewolves were different.

    Qianye followed the creature¡¯s finger to the tree and only figured out the peculiarity after some observation. There seemed to be some human silhouettes on the tree trunks, camouged by the natural pattern of the bark. He might have overlooked them if it weren¡¯t for the six-armed creature¡¯s reminder.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up with a blue hue as True Sight outlined the human body underneath the bark. It would seem that there was still life in him. The tree sap was flowing into his body and being absorbed into his bloodstream. At the moment, that person¡¯s entire cirction was filled with the giant tree¡¯s sap.

    Next to him was a werewolf in the same state.

    The two other trees also had humans and werewolves buried in its trunk. Judging from the number, all of the missing scouts were probably here.

    Qianye¡¯s gazended at the root of the giant tree where several pebbles were scattered, ranging from grey to white. Under his True Sight, he could see some origin power fluctuation from within them, as well as exuberant vitality. These weren¡¯t pebbles but more like eggs.

    Most of these eggs were soaked in the pond waters, which, in turn, was made up of tree sap. This meant that these eggs were absorbing the tree sap to gestate life.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°These eggs are the early form of those beasts?¡±

    The six-armed giant only repeated the same words, ¡°Scram.¡± There was no telling whether he understood what Qianye was saying.

    Qianye wanted to squeeze some information out of him, but seeing that the six-armed creature wasn¡¯t falling for it, he decided not to waste words. He simply pulled out Heartgrave and opened fire!

    This shot wasn¡¯t aimed at the six-armed creature but at the pile of eggs at the bottom of the giant tree. As expected, the six-armed creature was shocked and actually stood up from his stone chair.

    This movement caused pieces of skin to fall off from his body, almost like a cracking rock. The dehiscent parts revealed the flesh beneath, and blood began flowing out from it.

    The wounds were painful just to see, but the creature was in no mood to care about them. He flung the stone spear at lightning speed and struck the origin bullet before it could reach its target!

    A loud roar erupted in the woods, and the resultant sound waves shook the three giant trees. A hemispherical shockwave took form inside the woods and slowly spread outward.

    Despite its great power, the shot from Heartgrave was actually dissolved by the six-armed creature¡¯s spear. Thinking back to the dozen or so spears from before, this six-armed creature was actually able tounch dozens of attacks at the grade-nine level in a state of hibernation. His strength was truly terrifying.

    However, Qianye¡¯s true target wasn¡¯t those eggs¡ªthe moment that six-armed creature jumped out, he turned his muzzle toward him and fired at the stone chair.

    The six-armed creature was drenched in blood, and movement was difficult for him to begin with. How could he stop his forward momentum under such circumstances? Without hisst spear, all he could do was watch Qianye st his chair to pieces.

    After a momentary daze, the six-armed creature¡¯s furious howls spread far and wide. The entire forest was shaken, with leaves falling down like autumn rain. The impact left Qianye seeing stars, almost as though he had been struck by a sledgehammer.

    Just that roar had almost injured him. This six-armed creature¡¯s true strength was above that of a duke, maybe evenparable to a prince. Qianye became more cautious.

    The creature shook his body, shedding pieces of stony skin to reveal the bloody body underneath. Although he was trembling from the agony, this restored his ability to move. He took severalrge steps and arrived before Qianye.

    Of course, thetter wouldn¡¯t fight head-on against this monster; his figure flickered hundreds of meters away in a sh. This infuriated the giant who charged once again, spraying blood in all directions as he did so. One could easily imagine the pain inflicted by this process. By the time he arrived, Qianye had flickered away once more.

    This went on several times before the six-armed creature stopped giving chase. Qianye had just caught his breath and was about to fight back when the creature¡¯s figure turned blurry and appeared immediately in front!

    Qianye was shocked out of his wits. Fortunately, Spatial sh was now an instinctive reaction. The enemy¡¯s silhouette had just materialized when Qianye¡¯s faded away. However, the creature¡¯s figure receded at almost the same time and appeared beside Qianye¡¯s new location!

    Qianye immediately thought of Luo Bingfeng. The Tidehark city lord possessed the ability to counter Spatial sh. Qianye flickered several times in the blink of an eye, but the six-armed creature remained on his heels.

    Realizing that the enemy could lock him down and that there was a substantial strength gap between them, Qianye made a firm decision to exit the forest. As expected, the six-armed creature seemed rather apprehensive of the outside environment¡ªhe stretched a foot out but pulled back almost immediately afterward.

    Qianye stopped hundreds of meters away and stood face-to-face with the six-armed enemy. The creature¡¯s wrathful consciousness rammed into Qianye¡¯s body.

    ¡°All of you humans will be nutrition for the Holy Tree!¡±

 Chapter 1261: Another Beast Tide

    <h4>Chapter 1261: Another Beast Tide</h4>

    With this furious howl, countless consciousnesses awoke inside the forest. In a sh, tens of thousands of perceptions fell upon Qianye¡¯s body and countless more eyes were peering at him from the shadows. Moreover, there was an ancient will slowly waking up in the depths of the forest.

    These perceptions and gazes weren¡¯t formless. Theynded on Qianye¡¯s body like spider webs, and it felt as though he were being weighed down, unable to stretch at will. More and more of these formless spiderwebs stacked atop one another to bring about a sharp rise in resistance.

    Qianye made an immediate decision to leave. He was thousands of meters away in the blink of an eye, and only then did the sticky feeling leave him.

    This forest was muchrger than the previous one, and there were three of those holy trees the beast race was talking about. Furthermore, judging from the feeling he had gotten just now, that ce was likely a beastir. There was really no telling how many creatures at the level of the six-armed creature were sleeping there. Now that Qianye had woken them up, a baptism of beasts was sure to follow.

    After heading back to base, Qianye summoned the entire army and reformed their defenses. He also used up all of their blood-nd and beast blood reserves to increase the rate of transformation, bringing in fifty thousand more soldiers into the new-world base. In order to bolster their defenses, Qianye simply moved a mini kic tower over and used it to support the ship-cannons that had been removed from the corvettes.

    In one night, Qianye¡¯s new base was filled with a hundred thousand soldiers and a dozen or so cannon turrets. There were also tens of rapid-firing airship guns throughout the base and the ammunition had been prepared. Qianye and Caroline took charge ofmand and remained on standby to deal with the six-armed creature.

    Qianye began to feel a sense of foreboding as the new day arrived. Finally, a tide of darkness appeared over the distant horizon.

    A beast tide!

    rms red throughout the base as the soldiers took up positions and waited silently for the enemy horde to arrive.

    Caroline and Qianye stood side-by-side in the air, gazing at the distant swarm. ¡°So many! There must be a hundred thousand of them!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Their formation seems a bit chaotic.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean something happened to their system?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but either way, it¡¯s a good thing. They¡¯re here, let¡¯s fight!¡±

    ¡°Shall we bring Zhuji along?¡±

    Qianye hesitated for a while, then shook his head. ¡°Not this fight, we can deal with it.¡±

    The rolling beast horde traversed the vast wilderness and finally crashed into Qianye¡¯s defensive line. An all-out battle ensued. The winged beasts and assault types bypassed the defensive line and shot straight into the base.

    Awaiting them, however, were several high-speed airship cannons and an endless barrage of origin bullets. The high-speed airship cannons spat out a long whip of mes that swung about in the air, sweeping down swathes of beasts. Those that could charge past the suppressive fire had to face the second wave of interception from the origin bullets.

    The first wave of human soldiers chosen to enter the new world were all elites. Their stamina might not be as good as the werewolves, but their firing skills were leagues ahead. The ample supply of physical origin bullets greatly decreased origin power consumption, allowing each of them to fire several shots in session. Against this powerful barrage of origin gunfire, both the flying and shuttling beasts began to fall one after the other.

    Some of them managed to get through the deadly line of fire, only to face thousands of armored werewolves wielding axes. These werewolves were taller than their peers, ferociously strong, and skilled in fighting techniques. The airborne monsters were simply not their match on the ground.

    On the front lines, groups of smaller high-speed beasts were torn to shreds as they rammed into steel-ted fortifications. Dozens of high-speed cannons fired from the two sides, mowing down the beast horde with streams of ming metal. The forefront of the battle line was upied by rows of werewolves equipped with heavy shields and origin handguns.

    With no way forward or back, the beast tide suffered heavy casualties. Their furious roars turned into painful howls. The warhorse-like creatures at the back were unable to charge the enemy line as they were blocked by the first group, yet they had to suffer damage from the sweeping gunfire.

    Seeing how things were turning out, Qianye said with a nod, ¡°As expected, something¡¯s wrong with their chain ofmand. Unlike before, their troop types are not working well with one another.¡±

    The two waves of beasts outside the door were perfectly coordinated, attacking relentlessly and giving Qianye great pressure. If it wasn¡¯t for him having the absolute advantage in numbers, he would have never been able to produce such outstanding results.

    This time, the beast tide was a lot messier, almost ragtagpared to the past assaults. Although there were a hundred thousand of them, the offensive could not stand up to Qianye¡¯s targeted defenses. There was some maneuvering as well with this beast tide, but it was clearlygging behind. Some listened to the orders, while the others kept on attacking like before, making things even more chaotic.

    Recalling something, Caroline thought about everything that had happened yesterday. ¡°Could it be a result of you destroying the stone chair?¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±

    At this point, the front lines began to quake and tremble as a massive silhouette charged over from a distance. Its mountainous frame stood dozens of meters tall and almost looked like a small mountain shrouded in mist. All those in its way were either flung away or stomped into meat paste.

    The werewolf chief overseeing the front lines shouted, ¡°It¡¯s a terror beast! terror beast!¡±

    This creature¡¯s defense was extraordinary, capable of blocking or deflecting all iing bullets. It seemed nothing could stop its advance.

    With a snort, Caroline picked up her Thunderous Whip and made ready to take the field. Qianye grabbed her hand and said, ¡°No rush, let¡¯s watch.¡±

    The cannon turret at the center of the front line rumbled repeatedly like an ancient war drum. One shell after the other shot out from the cannon and sted at the terror beast like falling stars. This heavy cannon was the main cannon of a corvette, and its firepower was at apletely different levelpared to the rapid-fire cannons.

    The terror beast began to waver under the constant barrage of cannon shells, crying out constantly due to the pain. It managed to charge forward for a short distance before copsing with a mournful cry.

    The main cannon fired ten more times and only came to a stop after confirming that the creature was no longer moving.

    The fall of the terror beast sent the beast army into chaos. Some of them began to spin around not knowing whether to attack or to retreat. The momentum of the assault weakened drastically, and the beasts fighting on the frontline were soon wiped out due to theck of reinforcements.

    Seeing that things had been settled, Qianye turned his gaze toward a small group of creatures in the distance. This squad had not moved since the beginning of the battle. Qianye said with a cold expression, ¡°Found him, the beastmander is there.¡±

    Without the need for instructions, Caroline had already shot out with the Thunderous Whip in hand. She flew so quickly that the long whip of lightning trailed behind her. Qianye also arrived above the group in several Spatial shes.

    This was a group of armored horse-like creatures. They looked simr to the ordinary soldiers fighting on the front lines, but they were covered in scales and sported a sharp horn, with mist flowing beneath their hooves. They almost looked like divine creatures at a nce.

    Seeing Qianye appear out of nowhere, the group of beasts flew up, galloping on thin air as though it were solid ground. They were running away!

    With a low grunt, the air around Qianye became scorching, and the temperature rapidly shot up. At the same time, a mountainous force bore down upon the beasts and pushed them back to the ground. It would be a joke to try and fly without their own counteracting domain power. Even then, it would be almost impossible to resist the terrifying pressure of Qianye¡¯s domain.

    Qianye had just pushed the beasts back to the ground when Caroline arrived. The Thunderous Whip swept ferociously at the enemy, filling the entire battlefield with electricity and fire. The beasts were shocked into utter disarray and copsed in droves despite their strong origin power shields.

    Qianye was frowning despite theplete victory. His gaze swept over the group of beasts andnded on an unusually strong creature.

    He dived down from the sky with East Peak aimed at the head of that creature!

    The beast shot up from the ground and flicked the iing sword away with its horn. Qianye was diving down with such great momentum, yet his attack was deflected by the creature!

    Caroline was ready to follow up after Qianye¡¯s attack. Finding an opening, the Thunderous Whipshed fiercely at the creature¡¯s hind legs. The horse cried out in pain but managed to kick Caroline¡¯s whip away with its hind leg.

    Caroline was surprised. It was already unbelievable that this all-outsh hadn¡¯t broken the beast¡¯s hind leg. Now, it seemed the creature wasn¡¯t even hurt that badly.

    Caroline¡¯s distraction served to slow the creature down for half a beat. Before it had realized what was happening, a ck feathered flickered before its eyes and vanished into its skull!

    The beast erupted in a growl, stomping and iling about in great pain. Caroline raised her whip again andshed its hind legs once more at the same ce. This time, the attack broke one of its hind legs.

    The beast trembled in pain, with several bulges growing bigger and bigger on its back, almost as though something was about to drill out. Qianye, who had been observing in the air, dived down urgently. He flew past the creature¡¯s back, producing a long cut along the back with East Peak.

    Without looking back, Qianye turned around and fired another ck father into the wound. This Shot of Inception was like a bowl of water in hot oil, immediately eliciting an intense reaction from the target. The creature shot into the sky, then slowly fell back down.

    ¡°Des... picable...¡± A familiar voice echoed in Qianye¡¯s mind.

 Chapter 1262: For Food

    <h4>Chapter 1262: For Food</h4>

    This was the voice of the six-armed creature from the forest. Although the voice transmitted through the consciousness was rather blurry, that feeling of extreme anger and agony left Qianye with a deep impression. He immediately recognized the owner.

    He was also able to pinpoint the source of the sound as well. The beast before him was still transforming rapidly, almost as though something was struggling within. The gap left behind from the sh was being pushed open as the entity inside made ready to rush out.

    Whatever it was inside the beast, Qianye wasn¡¯t going to let it climb out so easily. He grabbed East Peak with both hands and made a beeline for the underside of the beast, stabbing into its belly from below.

    However, he immediately realized something was off and pulled back as soon as the de sank in. One of the beast¡¯s rear hooves flew at Qianye, sending him flying hundreds of meters away.

    Caroline¡¯s Thunderous Whip arrived like a poisonous dragon,shing at the beast¡¯s wounds with fire and electricity. The creature howled in pain as the elements crept into the defect.

    Following a loud scream, the beast¡¯s body snapped into two, and a six-armed creature crawled out from within!

    His body was bloody, mangled, and skinless, a mournful and disgusting sight to see. Caroline was startled, but Qianye recognized this being as the six-armed creature he had run into within the forest. Most of his body was already turning to stone back then. His skin crumbled off after Qianye forced it to leave the stone chair, and it still hadn¡¯t recovered.

    Once exposed to the air, the creature¡¯s flesh began to steam and bubble, leaking a disgusting yellow liquid. It was almost as though the being had been sshed with strong acid. Apparently, the environment outside of the forest was extremely toxic to this creature. Qianye finally understood why this creature had stopped chasing him at the edge of the forest, but he would¡¯ve never expected the being to arrive in the body of another beast.

    At this moment, Qianye had used up his two Shots of Inception, and his stamina was more or less spent. Despite that, he produced Heartgrave and took aim at the six-armed creature. Thetter clearly remembered this gun¡ªhe let out an angry roar while moving sideways like a demon, hoping to evade the muzzle.

    However, the creature seemed to have forgotten about Caroline. The Thunderous Whip arrived silently and wrapped itself around the creature, erupting in an unprecedented burst of electricity and mes. The green lightning stretched all over the six-armed entity¡¯s body, burning all of his flesh without mercy. The attack practically roasted him alive!

    Screaming hysterically, the six-armed creature grabbed the whip and tugged hard upon it. He actually tore Caroline¡¯s Thunderous Whip into several pieces!

    With a muffled grunt, Caroline went pale and spat out a mouthful of blood. She staggered back several steps before managing to stabilize herself. It would seem she had been injured quite badly.

    Despite that, her attack struck the enemy¡¯s weakest point. The six-armed creature had lost its skin, let alone defenses, so it definitely wasn¡¯t having a good time. The creature staggered toward Caroline but copsed after a few steps, never to move again.

    Qianye arrived beside Caroline and helped her up. ¡°How are you faring?¡±

    Caroline smiled weakly. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, just a bit injured. I¡¯ll be fine after a day of rest. Is that old thing dead?¡±

    ¡°How can it not be after taking a full hit from you?¡±

    ¡°It has nothing to do with me. I just aggravated his injuries. In the end, he died to your Shot of Inception.¡±

    This wasn¡¯t wrong. Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception attacked the source of one¡¯s life. It could be suppressed temporarily, but there was no way to remove it. The six-armed creature was heavily injured after taking two shots before Caroline stepped in to whip him. The suppressed injuries erupted all of a sudden, leading to his death.

    Faint crackling sounds came from the six-armed creature¡¯s body as a grey hue extended all over him. His blood and flesh were turning into stone. Qianye picked up the six-armed creature¡¯s beast host, while Caroline took charge of the corpse. The duo then headed back to base.

    Qianye immediately sent the remains back to Fort Continent for Song Hui¡¯s team to study. At the same time, he ordered them to send Zhao Jundu a sample as well.

    From the information he had at hand, the six-armed creatures were highly intelligentmanders of the beast army. Studying them might yield the key to this new world. Qianye now had a solid foundation on Fort Continent and ample infrastructure, including research facilities, but he was far fromparable to the Empire¡¯s research institute.

    Knowing that the dark races had entered the new world in advance, Qianye had no intention of withholding information. He was willing to share what he knew with the Empire, but he had the say in who to share it with. Zhao Jundu was fine, but no one else should even think about it.

    After dealing with the six-armed creature¡¯s corpse, Qianye formed two forward units under Caroline and himself. These two units would each head for the two forests.

    They still didn¡¯t know what other resources were in the woods, but the tree sap there would serve as a substitute for beast blood, allowing people to adapt to the environment of the new world.

    The first forest wasn¡¯t very big. The six-armed creature within had been killed, and Qianye hadn¡¯t sensed any other powerful enemy in it. Hence, Caroline was tasked with heading to that location. The second forest boasted three Holy Trees, and although the six-armed creature there was dead, there were still a lot of beast eggs there. There was also an unknown number of beasts hibernating therein, so Qianye decided to go there himself.

    After preparations wereplete, Qianye set out at the helm of a motorcade made up of several dozen trucks. They arrived in the forest after half a day of travel.

    At this point, the forest was filled with an aura of savagery. The roars of alien beasts could be heard from time to time, as well as sounds of them fighting amongst each other. It would seem that the loss of the six-armed creature had reduced the beast army to mere beasts that could only act out of instinct.

    Qianye raised his hand, signaling the convoy to stop a thousand meters away from the forest and spread out. The soldiers carried armor tes down from the trucks and quickly constructed a temporary line of defense.

    Qianye entered the forest alone after the base waspleted. He had just stepped into the forest zone when he was attacked several times. After the death of theirmander, these beasts had turned into real wild animals that could only live ording to instinct.

    After continuing a while longer toward the center, Qianye calcted the distance and unleashed his origin power. The mes of Venus Dawn were as dazzling as the sun, rming half the forest in the blink of an eye.

    Whether this was considered a provocation or a threat to the beasts, the entire forest was now aboil with countless animals charging at Qianye!

    Even Qianye was surprised by how effective this taunt was. However, he wasn¡¯t here to try and kill beasts on his own today. He immediately turned back and fled out of the forest.

    A tidal wave of beasts surged out from the forest and charged at Qianye¡¯s temporary base. Qianye¡¯s soldiers were ready for the iing enemies. They dared not save bullets under the present circumstances and used their greatest speed to pour ammunition down on the enemy. Several high-speed cannons fired constantly, forming awork of mes that would reap the enemy¡¯s lives.

    The beast tide was half gone before it could even reach the defensive line. Qianye raised his sword and stepped forward, ready to use his domain and Life Plunder. However, he felt someone hugging him by the waist before he could even take the first step.

    Eiseka stopped him, saying, ¡°Sire, how can we let you fight personally? You just watch us!¡±

    With that, Eiseka turned back and shouted, ¡°What are you all dazed for!? Charge!¡±

    The dozens of werewolf chiefs and shamans were the first to jump out of the defensive line, charging loudly at the enemy horde. Two thousand werewolf soldiers followed from behind them.

    In the blink of an eye, the two armies rammed into one another. This was a great opportunity to prove the werewolves¡¯ bravery and strength. The tall frame of the werewolf chiefs mmed into one beast after the other, sending the smaller ones flying into the air. The shamans, on the other hand, used all kinds of strange techniques or strafed the enemy with origin hand cannons.

    The werewolf soldiers at the back were much simpler. They charged into the enemy horde and began doing what they did best¡ªa melee brawl. Some went berserk during the battle, throwing away their weapons and shields in favor of ws and teeth.

    ¡°Sire, I should go as well. You stay here and oversee the battle, don¡¯te over!¡± Eiseka then charged into the battlefield like a wisp of smoke.

    Once in the field, he adopted his truebat stance and plowed his way into the horde of beasts. The path was filled with bloody rain, all the way until he reached the heart of the swarm.

    Qianye shook his head. Looking back, he was bbergasted when he saw that the hundreds of soldiers behind him were fighting like there was no tomorrow. These werewolves fought with no care for their lives, choosing to fight at melee range despite possessing other forms of advanced firepower. This went out of hand after Qianye equipped them with armor and war-axes. Now, they were intent on charging at the forefront for close-quarters shes.

    Qianye actually knew that Eiseka and the werewolves were trying to stop him from unleashing the Venus Dawn domain and Life Plunder. They were even more afraid that Qianye would let Zhuji out. Thisbination would easily wipe out everything within a hundred meters¡ªdraining their vitality, charring their skin, and basically making them inedible. Little Zhuji was even worse. Not only did she make the enemy remains inedible, but the entire area would also turn into a forbidden zone. Anyone entering it would die.

    Hence, the werewolves adopted this kind of tactic out of habit. They would do anything for food.

 Chapter 1263: Depths of the Lair

    <h4>Chapter 1263: Depths of the Lair</h4>

    The battle was over after a while. Qianye had also joined the battle in an attempt to minimize werewolf casualties, ughtering the beasts one by one with clumsy sword-strikes.

    Qianye entered the forest again after the werewolves had cleaned up the battlefield and ignited his origin mes, once again luring out a wave of beasts.

    This wave was much smaller than thest, containing only four thousand or so mediocre beasts. Qianye didn¡¯t even need to do anything as Eiseka and his werewolves wiped them out.

    Qianye entered the forest two more times but finally gave up after failing to lure anything out.

    This didn¡¯t mean that the entire area was clear of enemies. There were clearly alien beasts hiding inside the woods, but they already knew fear at this point and weren¡¯t willing to appear. Knowing fear was a good thing. Fearful beasts would not recklessly appear to challenge Qianye and his fully-equipped army.

    Since the creatures weren¡¯t appearing, Qianye didn¡¯t want to experiment on new methods just for the sake of eradicating them. The most important thing they needed to do was grasp thews here and not engage in meaningless massacre. He began walking slowly through the forest and exploring its secrets. Naturally, the ce with the three Holy Trees was where he went first.

    After several days, the piles of beast eggs below the trees had disappeared. Only a couple of smaller ones remained soaked in the water. The liquid in theke had also lessened quite a bit, causing the rocky ind at its center to appear bigger. Only the base remained of that stone chair, sitting amidst some scattered stgmites.

    Qianye activated his True Sight and saw that the missing scouts were still buried within the trees.

    There was no one to stop him this time. Qianye hopped over to one of the Holy Trees and hacked open its trunk with a swing of East Peak. The tree trembled and let out an infantile wail. The trunk below the cut-opening wiggled fiercely, and soon, a human body was spat out. The sticky tree sap then sealed up the cut surfaces like glue.

    This was a naked human warrior. His skin was pale, and his body was covered in small holes where the Holy Tree¡¯s branches had stabbed him. Muddled and confused after falling to the ground, the man wanted to mber back into the tree. However, his limbs were so weak that he could only squirm on the ground.

    Qianye knelt down and pulled his face up to observe. The warrior¡¯s eyes were empty, murky, and unfocused. It would seem his eyes had lost their function. The strange smile on his face never changed, almost as though he wasn¡¯t worried about his current physical condition.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank as he came to an answer.

    The soldier was alive, but his mind was dead. He was nothing but a walking corpse at this point, just like the scouts in the other trees.

    Qianye stood up and remained silent for a good while before knocking on the tree-trunk with East Peak. Trembling all over, the Holy Tree opened its bark and spat out the werewolves and soldiers one after the other. This tree wasn¡¯t the only one; the other two also followed suit with the ejection.

    This proved that these three trees were of fairly high intelligence.

    Qianye moved the bodies to an empty space outside of the forest and swung out a plume of origin mes. These living corpses were reduced to ashes under the fire of Venus Dawn, bringing an end to a life full of fighting.

    After doing all of that, Qianye returned to the three Holy Trees and asked, ¡°Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    One of the Holy Trees stretched out a branch to point at the small ind in theke.

    Qianye jumped over and observed the area carefully. The small ind did not have an underwater part¡ªthe space underneath was filled with the Holy Tree¡¯s roots, and it would seem that the ind itself was formed from the secretions produced by them. The lower half of thendmass was stone, but the stgmites jutting out from it had a metallic sheen to them. So far, it seemed that only the stgmites possessed this stone-metal characteristic.

    This proved that the value of these stgmites was far greater than expected. At the very least, their mode of production greatly limited their avability. Qianye decided that he would go back and pick up all the spears the six-armed creature had hurled at him.

    At the center of the small ind stood the remains of the stone chair. Touching its base filled Qianye with a wondrous sensation, almost as though he hade into contact with three faint spirits. They were vague and weak, only capable of transmitting some basic emotions like fear. Qianye could not obtain anything else apart from that.

    These three spirits were the wills of the Holy Trees. It was just that Qianye had sted apart themunication medium that was the stone chair, so he could no longer converse with them. If he hadn¡¯t destroyed this stone chair back then, he would have to face a beast army that was much stronger. The six-armed creature would not have been forced to appear in the body of a host, either. Qianye would have no easy way to deal with the creature if it were to hide in the forest.

    Judging from the material, the chair was made up of ordinary stone. As for why it could serve as a medium ofmunication and how, Qianye had no idea. sting the chair back then was a decision based on his intuition, a power he had umted over the many years of fighting. He had merely guessed that the chair might be important to the six-armed creature.

    Every rock on the stony ind was formed from the secretionsing from the roots and hence should be valuable. Simrly, this sapke was enough for Qianye to bring a hundred thousand more soldiers into the new world. As for the other ores and resources, he still couldn¡¯t figure them out yet.

    Qianye left the central region and headed deeper into the woods. Before long, he discovered that the ground in the depths of the forest was covered with holes, forming a beehive structure underneath. The openings were of varying sizes¡ªa person would have to stoop in order to fit into the smaller ones, while the bigger ones could amodate a truck. There were many more branches inside these tunnels, simr to thepartments of a hive. The rooms in different areas were structured differently, but those in the same area were identical.

    This was the beasts¡¯ir!

    Compared to the valley behind the ¡°door,¡± this beastir was massive and three-dimensional, almost like a maze. Even at this scale, it would be a fairly tight fit for an army numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

    Qianye jumped into thergest tunnel, nning to explore the depths of their.

    The passage sloped downward in general, but there were some ces with precipitous slopes, while others were more gentle. Qianye walked along the path for a while before branching tunnels appeared on either side. These passages opened into four different chambers to the left, right, above, and below.

    Qianye entered a random room and found that it spanned several meters on each side, and the walls were made of stone. Upon detailed differentiation, they didn¡¯t look entirely like stone, either.

    There was nothing on the ground except for some tree roots. Unlikemon beastirs, there were no bones, feces, scales, or feathers. It almost seemed like these beasts did not have any biological requirements.

    Qianye cut off a random root and held it up, watching as the cut end squirted tree sap. This sap immediately turned sticky upon contact with the air and effectively sealed off the cut-end.

    Qianye cut out some stone from the walls. The cut surfaces were clearlyyered¡ªthe stony material stretched only a few centimeters from the surface and gradually turned into soil toward the center. Qianye cut down some more rocks and found that their thickness was varied. He collected some samples into Andruil¡¯s Space before returning to the main tunnel to continue his exploration.

    Using perception outside waspletely different from applying it within thebyrinth.

    Their¡¯s spatial design was extremely logical without the slightest bit of wasted space. The positioning of the tunnels was also made to maximize efficiency. This was very likely the work of a master.

    Qianye looked back and noticed some sunlight around a corner of the passage. He recounted his tunnel-journey but couldn¡¯t remember any transparent designs. Qianye didn¡¯t care all that much about the architectural details, either, so he merelymitted this characteristic to memory and moved on.

    He remembered back when the six-armed creature was chasing after him, an ancient will had awakened in the depths of the forest. No matter what that was, such a gigantic and ancient existence wasn¡¯t going to be easy to push around.

    Their was now empty after the beast horde moved out in full force. This was the best opportunity because Qianye was sure he could escape even if he were to run into that ancient existence.

    The deeper he went, the clearer his judgment became.

    The design of thisir was too well-knit to be an ordinary settlement. This had to be a professionally optimized military camp. A special tunnel appeared before Qianye as he went deeper in. All the other tunnels were made of stone, but this was made of wood, its walls formed by intertwining tree roots.

    Qianye entered without the slightest bit of hesitation because the me of Venus Dawn was the bane of all wood.

    Within this passage, there were several rooms. Most of them were empty, but the chamber at the very end was full of beast eggs, embedded in the walls, floor, and ceiling. Each of these eggs was connected to a root, which probably served to transfer nutrients.

    This floor was probably the hatching chamber, but the next floor down baffled him quite a bit. Every room here was fairly big with neat arrays of stone tforms inside. On these tforms were rows of indentations that looked to be made for eggs, yet the size was smaller than the beast eggs Qianye had seen before.

    The rooms here were all empty, and it wasn¡¯t evident what they were used for. Yet, it was simply impossible for such chambers to exist in a beastir and not have a special use.

    Qianye pushed his puzzlement away temporarily and went further down. Here, he became highly alert because he could sense an ancient will waking up from its slumber.

    Qianye slowly walked forward with East Peak in his hands. When he once again stepped on even ground, a wide underground space appeared before him.

    This chamber was as majestic as it was massive, almost like a giant pce. There was an undergroundke of Holy Tree sap, and at its center was a spherical object floating in the air.

    The object was greyish-white in color and covered in deep-grey patterns, levitating rhythmically above theke. Qianye almost looked like an ant before this fifty-meter sphere.

    A consciousness touched Qianye¡¯s soul as he approached theke, transmitting a querying message.

    However, Qianye did not know how to decipher this message. It did not belong to anynguage he understood, nor could itmunicate directly with him like the six-armed creature.

    Seeing that Qianye wasn¡¯t replying, the giant grey sphere issued its question once more. Qianye remained silent because he did not know how to reply. Hence, the grey sphere stated its question for the third time.

    In this manner, it repeated the same question every minute.

    Qianye gradually rxed because many signs pointed to the fact that this entity, while ancient, wasn¡¯t that intelligent. It did not have the power to attack, either. All it could do was reply passively, like a machine that needed to be operated.

 Chapter 1264: Guest from Afar

    <h4>Chapter 1264: Guest from Afar</h4>

    He had concluded that this grey sphere was the heart of this entire undergroundir, but its specific function was unknown. Without a certain grasp of the situation, Qianye had no intention of agitating it further. It would be regrettable if some changes were to happen and he had no choice but to destroy it.

    Qianye retracted his aura and slowly backed out of their. He roamed the forest for a while but found nothing abnormal. It would seem that the only enemies left were the unhatched eggs in their. Qianye had given them a rough count¡ªthere were several thousand eggs there, a number that could be easily cleared away even if they were to hatch.

    Qianye returned to his forces and ordered them to reinforce the fortifications outside of the forest. They would turn this ce into a permanent forward supply base and build a sentry post outside of the beastir for early warnings. At the same time, Qianye extracted a good amount of water from the Holy Treeke to bring more soldiers in.

    In this matter, the forward base waspleted in two days. The conversion of the follow-up forces also progressed at a great speed, adding twenty thousand more soldiers to the new world. A group of researchers also arrived to study the Holy Trees.

    Qianye didn¡¯t have high hopes for them to be able to figure out the Holy Trees¡¯ function in a short time. It was fine if they could find the most efficient way to extract their sap without harming the trees.

    During this period, the underground beastir remained fairly quiet. Qianye investigated the ce several times but saw no signs of the eggs hatching. Perhaps the core of the beastir required instructions in order to operate.

    The situation around the forest had stabilized, and the troops under hismand had exceeded a hundred thousand. They could now explore deeper into the world. Qianye traveled alone in the direction of the forest with the three Holy Trees. After several hundred kilometers, he noticed several stone pirs over the distant horizon.

    Each of these pirs housed several crystals that could help creatures evolve to a higher level. Their effects were so strong and precious that Qianye didn¡¯t want to use them carelessly on humans and werewolves. There were too many uncontroble risks in doing so. He wanted to collect some samples and send them to the Empire for research. He would onlye back and mine them when there was a suitable use for them.

    Qianye became spirited when he saw the distant pirs and ran over in swift steps.

    As expected, there was yet another forest near the stone pirs. Qianye already knew at this point that every forest contained one or more Holy Trees, and was also home to a six-armed creature and a beastir.

    Qianye was quite confident about his strategy after taking down two forests in session. He first sneaked into the forest and confirmed that the six-armed creature was still in petrified form and that there were two Holy Trees in this forest. ording to his previous experience, the six-armedmander¡¯s strength was closely rted to the number of Holy Trees. The creature with only one Holy Tree was on par with Qianye, but he could kill it if he went all out.

    The one with three Holy Trees was extremely powerful. Qianye wasn¡¯t a match for the previous one if he weren¡¯t heavily injured by Qianye in his resting state.

    His rank was likely at the level of a great duke by Evernight standards, and his fighting power might be even stronger. Even in an injured state, Qianye and Caroline had to work together to kill that six-armed creature. If that entity hadn¡¯te out of the forest, Qianye would be helpless to do anything to him.

    The six-armed creature in this forest was between the two, likely at the duke rank. Qianye¡¯s overallbat strength was at least at the vice-duke rank now. He also held the initiative of an ambush, so his chances were quite good.

    Having decided, Qianye followed the same n of waking up the six-armed creature with his origin mes and firing at the Holy Tree. As expected, the six-armed creature moved to save the Holy Tree at the risk of sustaining injuries. Qianye quickly destroyed the stone chair during this process. Without the chair, his control over the beast horde was broken and his threat, greatly reduced.

    The six-armed creature was infuriated by the ambush, yet his strength was limited. Qianye used Spatial sh and blessed him once more with Heartgrave before retreating from the forest to guard his base.

    He left traces during his retreat. As expected, a beast army appeared outside of their base at dawn the next day. The enemy squad was only eighty thousand strong and adopted the same lengthened formation. Their vanguard was already destroyed before their forces in the rear could enter the battlefield.

    Equipped with their previous experience, Qianye and Caroline worked together to find the beast hiding the six-armed creature and killed him with rtive ease.

    Without the six-armed creature and the beast army, the third forest also fell into Qianye¡¯s hands. There was also a beastir here, but it was iparable to the one in the forest with three Holy Trees. The first forest with only one Holy Tree did not even have a beastir, only a simple nest.

    The third forest was several hundred kilometers from the door, a distance that would take a while even for an airship fleet. Hence, Qianye did not continue pushing forward. He set up a forward supply base around that forest and went back to Fort Continent to learn more about the situation on the other continents.

    Qianye was quickly surrounded once he returned to Fort Continent.

    The werewolf great shaman squeezed toward Qianye, saying, ¡°Sire, the new batch of tribal soldiers have beenpletely mobilized and are currently undergoing training. The children have never been so passionate before, they¡¯re willing to do anything for you! The training went smoother than expected, and they will be qualified soldiers in two weeks at most.¡±

    Qianye nced at Xu Jingxuan in surprise, to which thetter nodded in confirmation. ¡°Werewolves are born warriors. Theirbat technique is actually sufficient as it is, the training is just to drill them on following military discipline. Now that they are more epting of this, most of the time is spent learning the rules by heart. This should only take about two weeks under normal circumstances.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°We have enough forces inside the new world for now, so the new troops don¡¯t need to be rushed. Be sure to give them a solid foundation.¡±

    After Xu Jingxuan epted his orders, Song Lun pushed his way forward and said, ¡°Sire, regarding the aristocracy, the newest batch of equipment and resources are already on the way, and we have alreadypleted the delivery of dark golden sandstone. There¡¯s one more thing, though. The Kong and Yin family elders are here, currently residing in Expansive. They insist on seeing you.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°The Kong family is here?¡±

    ¡±Also, the Yin family¡¯s elder said you two are old acquaintances. She said she¡¯lle over here directly if she doesn¡¯t see you in three days.¡±

    Qianye was startled. ¡°Old acquaintances? Which elder?¡±

    ¡°An elder named Yin Qiqi.¡±

    Qianye was startled. His expression turned odd as he said, ¡°She¡¯s an elder of the Yin family?¡±

    ¡°Reportedly, she became an elder rather recently,¡± Song Lun replied.

    The Yin family was also a part of the aristocratic families investing in Qianye¡¯s expansion n. It was just that their participation was rather limited. The first time, they only provided funds and relevant resources in an evident disy of their wait-and-see attitude. Now that Qianye had taken over the werewolves of the great corridor and the Jade Sea, his expansion speed was far beyond normal expectations. Hence, The change in stance came as no surprise.

    Why the Yin family sent an elder over¡ªYin Qiqi at that¡ªwas something worth pondering.

    The aloof Kong family, on the other hand, was part of the aristocracy eyeing an upgrade to major n status. Their original stance toward Qianye was neutral, but now that they had sent an elder to serve as a messenger, this proved that they were eager to jump into the train.

    ording to convention, Qianye should be running to Expansive to meet these two big sponsors. This would only take half a day of his time. However, matters in the new world were urgent, and Qianye was the pir of the army, the only one who could fight a six-armedmander face-to-face. How could he leave the front lines without thought?

    He stood with his arms behind his back, frowning in contemtion.

    Song Lun¡¯s group didn¡¯t disturb him and only waited quietly to the side.

    Momentster, he said, ¡°Is the support of these families important to us?¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye was thinking about this. Song Lun was the only one here who could reply.

    He gathered his thoughts for a while. ¡°It¡¯s fairly important judging from the current situation. In the short term, the funds and equipment they supply us can outfit over a hundred thousand soldiers. Mid-term, their surveyors, smelting equipment, and processing technology can help us get our industries off the ground. In the long run, they can help you with pioneering newnd. They will be tied firmly to your benefits once they obtainnd in your new nation.¡±

    Everyone secretly nodded at this analysis. This was especially true for the werewolves¡ªthey felt that the aristocracy of the Great Qin were powerful as they had never seen the things these people had brought with them.

    ¡°Since they are so important, why would they give us so many good benefits? The Yin and Kong are outstanding entities among the aristocracy. Why would theye all the way here to see me?¡±

    Song Lun had no answer to this question.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t hoping to get a reply, either. He gazed into the distance, where countless werewolves were undergoing training in groups of a thousand. There were a hundred thousand of them in total, so the rotation seemed endless.

    Farther out, he could see the outline of Cerulean Wave City, a majestic silhouette that almost seemed to connect the sky and theke.

    Under the walls of Cerulean Wave was the temporary base of the new werewolf army. Tents stretched far and wide, almost covering up the entire horizon.

    A grand city, army tents, andbat wolves¡ªtruly an exceeding disy of military might.

    Qianye pointed at the endless tents and the majestic lineup of werewolf soldiers. ¡°We have to repay those aristocratic families of course, but the reciprocation they seek will onlye in ten years, decades, or centuries even. Isn¡¯t this what they want to see right now? Since they want to see, then why hide from them?¡±

    Qianye turned back and said, ¡°Invite the Kong and Yin family elders here, along with all the other aristocratic families. I¡¯ll meet them here!¡±

 Chapter 1265: My Subjects

    <h4>Chapter 1265: My Subjects</h4>

    A special airship was flying rapidly across the Fort Continent. From a distance, it looked like a fierce bird of prey darting across the skies. This flying style was characteristic of a special warship of the Empire, a model that was both swift and nimble.

    Within the airship, all the passengers were seated firmly despite the asional rocking. These people were of important backgrounds and needed to maintain this level of dignity.

    A beautifuldy with neatly done hair was gazing out of the window from the front row.

    Silence within the cabin was broken by a sudden exmation. ¡°What are those!? Werewolf viges?¡±

    The group felt that this was nothing. There were werewolf tribes and viges all along the way. This ce called the great corridor was reportedly a werewolf habitat. Qianye had just taken over the ce, so there was no way he could¡¯ve cleaned everything up yet.

    Besides, there were many types of ¡°taking over¡± with the mostmon being nominal. For a ce like the great corridor, he could just point on the map proim it as his. That was one way to conquer the ce as well¡ªit would remain effective until someone stood up to challenge him.

    This also meant that most of the aristocratic families believed that Qianye was bluffing about his conquest. They, of course, couldn¡¯t reveal that out of consideration for the dark golden sandstones. What was the objective of conquering territory if not for resources? Everyone was familiar with Fort Continent¡¯s territories, that immigration was impossible. Hence, actual control wasn¡¯t important if there was a steady stream of resources pouring in.

    Additionally, they were quite curious about what Qianye wanted to show them. Had they been flown such a long distance just to see some werewolf tribes?

    Werewolf viges were special in their own right, and some were curious about them. They couldn¡¯t help but exim in surprise as they looked down from the window.

    Not far below, tens of thousands of werewolves were working busily around the silhouette of a city. There were still primitive tribal habitats in the distance, but the nning and operation of this city seemed fairly well-knit even from its silhouette.

    There were too many werewolves here!

    There were tens of thousands of workers, with more elderly and children living in the camps. There were even more of them arriving through the wilderness. From the looks of it, this would be a city of over a hundred thousand after itspletion.

    A city of such standard would pose a great risk to the human race. Someonemented, ¡°The werewolves are already building such a big city. This Qianye¡¯s rule isn¡¯t so peaceful, it seems.¡±

    Many others chimed in, but an elder didn¡¯t quite agree. ¡°I heard Sire Qianye has already killed the most powerful expert in the area, the Whitebone Duke. Conquering thend is just a matter of time now, why worry?¡±

    Everyone found this line of thought reasonable. This lowered their contempt and dissatisfaction quite a bit. As core characters of their respective ns, they understood the role of a top-expert in a fight for territory¡ªespecially one that was rich in resources.

    By the time they had passed the werewolf city, one of them said, ¡°I wonder what Sire Qianye wants us to see?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, he called us over from so far away. He must be trying to show us something.¡±

    ¡°I heard the ¡®door¡¯ is over here.¡±

    Many people became more alert. The ¡°door¡± was the most important event for both the Empire and Evernight. Both sides were so focused on exploring this new world that they were no longer fighting. Of course, neither side would mind taking over some territories if the other side becamex.

    Someone replied, ¡°I wonder if it¡¯s a good thing or a bad thing that the door appeared in Sire Qianye¡¯s territory. The Transcendent Continent fell into dire straits even with so many aristocratic families working together. Sire Qianye can only rely on himself here, I think it¡¯s going to be a rather difficult task.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll have some time to prepare with all these werewolves blocking the way. And with our help, there¡¯s still some hope of stabilizing the situation.¡±

    ¡°But that Western Fortress¡¯ defenses don¡¯t look so strong. Can it hold against the beast horde?¡±

    ¡°Humph! Even if we help him out, what will that change? Are we stronger than those aristocratic families on Transcendent? You have to know that they were all defeated badly and even lost their territories.¡±

    While everyone was in a heated debate, a handsome man in his thirties said, ¡°As I see it, inviting us over at such a time might mean that Sire Qianye has gained a stable footing at the ¡®door.¡¯ Maybe he has even dealt with the second wave.¡±

    He nced at the youngdy, saying, ¡°I wonder how Elder Yin sees it?¡±

    The girl finally turned back, revealing the countenance of a stunning beauty. She looked exceptionally young and almost like a little girl. ¡°Elder Kong is so much more experienced, you¡¯re surely right.¡±

    The manughed out loud. ¡°I¡¯m not that much older than you are, why don¡¯t you forego the formalities and call me by name, or you can also address me by my seniority. I¡¯m fifth among my siblings.¡±

    He offered to let Yin Qiqi address him so, but the others wouldn¡¯t dare disrespect him. Someone asked, ¡°Elder Kong, you said Sire Qianye has found his footing? But he has only managed to take a third of Zheng. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯ll be a bit too difficult with the troops he has?¡±

    Kong Yu said with a smile, ¡°Other people might not be able to do it, but Sire Qianye can.¡±

    ¡°But all those aristocratic families on Transcendent...¡±

    Kong Yu said, ¡°None of those families can walk into Frozen Jade Manor and walk away unscathed, can they?¡±

    That was a battle that shook the Empire. Since then, he became a true major character with the qualifications to lead his own n. No domestic or foreign power dared to challenge his authority anymore.

    Everyone fell silent.

    Momentster, someone eximed, ¡°What is that!?¡±

    That cry was so loud that even Kong Yu became curious. He moved closer to the window and saw a majestic city on the shores of the Jade Sea, standing between the sky and water. The tall buildings jutting into the sky looked somewhat crude but also contained a hint of tyrannical intent. This was definitely a scene of prosperity.

    Who would¡¯ve thought there would be such a city in the middle of this barrennd?

    Even so, everyone could see that the city was rich in werewolf architecture. The airship flew over the outskirts of the grand city, granting the passengers a clear view of the duke¡¯s residence. The mere sight of it shook their hearts.

    ¡°That way, a military camp...¡± The speaker¡¯s voice was soft, almost as though he had no more strength left to gasp.

    All the people here were experienced and insightful people. Each and every one of them had been to the warzone and seen military camps, but not all of them had beheld one this big.

    There was a sea of tents outside of the grand city, covering an area even bigger than the city! How many soldiers would be in such a massive army camp?

    After observing the camp, their eyes fell upon the tens of thousands of soldiers training in the drill grounds. The group was dumbfounded. Their only hope at this point was for the safety of the airship. Otherwise, no one would escape from this massive werewolf army if they were to drop down.

    But their wishes did note true¡ªthe vessel made a sharp descent after flying past the drill grounds. Many of the passengers went pale, their heads filled with words describing their potential fate: hostage, very, extortion, torture, food, etc.

    The military¡¯s style had always been simple and crude. The airship more or less mmed onto the ground, almost as though they were dropping into battle andpletely ignoring the feelings of the nobles inside. The group was fairly strong, but still, many of them were dazed by the sudden impact.

    A good number of them remained seated, pale and unwilling to disembark. After all, a hundred-thousand-strong werewolf army was just nearby. Escape would be impossible if they were to charge.

    Yin Qiqi was the first to stand up and walk out. There was a young man standing at the end of the gangway¡ªhandsome, elegant, and with deep, bottomless eyes. He was an old friend whom she had not seen in many years.

    ¡°Qianye!¡± she called out, jumping down from the ramp and reaching out to touch his head habitually.

    Qianye leaned forward with a smile, making it easier for her. Yin Qiqi¡¯s hand froze as she remembered Qianye¡¯s current status halfway through.

    ¡°What does Miss Qiqi need?¡± Qianye asked with a smile, addressing her the way he used to back then.

    Yin Qiqi¡¯s eyes turned a bit red. She had half a mind to rub his hair, but the stunned gazes behind stopped her. She couldn¡¯t help but sigh when she recalled their statuses; it felt like there was an invisible barrier in front of her.

    Word in the Empire was that Qianye could beat up any early divine champion as soon as he had broken through. Zhao Jundu¡¯s foundations had been damaged, so he was probably not Qianye¡¯s match anymore. Not just anyone could enter the Bai n¡¯s Frozen Jade Manor. There was a superior divine champion overseeing the ce, yet they held back from attacking Qianye. Now, that was rather thought-provoking.

    The Drinking Horse Yin Family might be a high-ranking aristocratic family with a long line of inheritance, but no one in their generation couldpare to Qianye. Even the head of their family would have to act politely if he were to see Qianye. She might be able to rx in private, but with so many people watching, her hands simply couldn¡¯t move forward.

    Yin Qiqi pulled her hand back and bowed respectfully. ¡°Elder Yin Qiqi of the Drinking Horse Yin Family greets Sire Qianye.¡±

    This salutation was performed with great skill. After a brief pause, Qianye came to understand her concern. Myriad emotions ran through his mind, and he simply couldn¡¯t describe what he was feeling now. None of it showed on his face, however. He reached out a hand from afar, ¡°Please, no need for formalities.¡±

    Kong Yu also stepped forward and bowed deeply. ¡°Kong Yu of the Kong family greets Sire Qianye.¡±

    They had performed a salutation reserved for a n lord, lowering themselves by half a generation even though Qianye was clearly younger than them. Qianye nodded and extended the same response.

    With the Yin and Kong families taking the lead, the others had to follow as well. Most of the visitors weren¡¯t even elders yet, so they wouldn¡¯t dare act arrogant. They all stepped forward in greeting, but the difference in status was so great for some that they had no choice but to bow all the way to the ground.

    A good while had passed after everyone had had their turn disying etiquette. Some of those with good judgment had figured out that something wasn¡¯t quite right. ¡°Sire, those werewolves...¡±

    ¡°They have sworn loyalty to me, now they are my soldiers and subjects.¡±

    The group was shocked out of their wits. An elder pointed at the endless formation of werewolf soldiers, asking, ¡°Could it be that all of them are your subjects?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Yes, all of them.¡±

    These words bore down like thunder, throwing everyone into a daze.

 Chapter 1266: Broadened Horizons

    <h4>Chapter 1266: Broadened Horizons</h4>

    There were simply too many werewolf soldiers gathered in formation. The training of a hundred thousand soldiers was proceeding in full swing. All the werewolves were passionate, young, and full of energy, an evident disy of how formidable this fighting force was.

    These soldiers were actually Qianye¡¯s subordinates. Didn¡¯t this mean he had control over an entire army? And it was an elite army, no less!

    No one here was an idiot¡ªthey immediately added two and two together after recalling Qianye¡¯s seemingly endless demand for military supplies.

    The werewolves were fierce by nature. It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine how strong their fighting power would be after undergoing rigorous training and equipped with Imperial gear.

    Somewhat pale, Kong Yu barely managed topose himself and said, ¡°Sire Qianye, I prostrate in awe at your ability. However, the dark races are sinister by nature. You must be careful or you might be training them only to produce a source of misfortune.¡±

    Everyone nodded in session, but the werewolf chiefs and shamans were not going to take it lying down. That strong chief with garish feathers cleared his throat and roared, ¡°What is that white-faced chicken clucking about? Lord Qianye is our heaven, our earth, our god! We won¡¯t ever betray him even if the Jade Sea dries up! We werewolves aren¡¯t like you treach¡­ treacher¡­ whatever that word is.¡±

    This chief was apparently not too well versed in thenguage. A more knowledgeable shaman added, ¡°Treacherous.¡±

    The stout chieftain¡¯s voice grew even louder. ¡°Exactly! Treacherous!¡±

    Everyone felt somewhat awkward at being cursed like so. The Great Qin Empire had indeed engaged in its fair share of scheming, but how could there be room for morals in a factional war?

    Everyone felt a bit dissatisfied, but bickering right now would only lengthen the conversation. This stout chief seemed to be one of Qianye¡¯s generals, so it wasn¡¯t easy to grasp what was appropriate right now.

    Kong Yu was fairly angry. That white-faced-chicken insult was too vivid; he clearly saw Yin Qiqi suppressing a chuckle.

    With a cough, he said steadily, ¡°Those of a different race will always have different intentions. These are wise words passed down from the predecessors. Even if you people can remain loyal, drastic changes on the battlefield can happen in a sh. What¡¯s the point of relying on numbers and reckless courage? You¡¯re nothing but a barbarian even if you take the field, but of course, you¡¯re still a bit stronger than our junior elites.¡±

    Furious, the stout chief took a wide step forward and arrived before Kong Yu. This werewolf was born tall, standing a full three meters in his werewolf form and crowned with garish feathers atop his head. He was practically a giant, and the shadow cast by hisrge frame was enough to cover several people.

    Kong Yu was badly startled. He took several steps back before realizing his loss ofposure, but it was toote.

    The stout chiefughed loudly. ¡°Isn¡¯t strength the deciding factor in the field? If I can¡¯t handle it, don¡¯t tell me you can? Wanna fight me? If I don¡¯t beat the egg out of this chicken, I¡¯m not a werewolf. I¡¯ll bark from now on.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Yin Qiqi could no longer hold back her chuckle.

    A pale Kong Yu could only point at the chief with trembling lips. For a while, he couldn¡¯t think of a sufficient retort that was free of profanity. After thinking back and forth, he found that genteelnguage simply couldn¡¯t overwhelm the other party¡¯s insults.

    The stout chiefughed out loud after seeing that he was at an advantage. ¡°As for what happens on the battlefield, I don¡¯t care all that much. I fight wherever the sire tells me to fight.¡±

    Everyone nodded in secret. Such a loyal, brave, and obedient general could only be encountered by chance. From his actions and words, it would seem that this tall and stout werewolf actually wasn¡¯t dumb.

    Seeing that things were turning a bit awkward, Yin Qiqi said, ¡°Qianye, I see that these soldiers are still undergoing training. Do you have an army that¡¯s already done training?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Yes, there are some others.¡±

    ¡°How many of them are there?¡± Yin Qiqi¡¯s question caused everyone to look at Qianye expectantly. This was a good opportunity to evaluate Qianye and decide on how much their families would invest in him.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°The trained army is several times bigger than the group you see here.¡±

    ¡°Several times!¡±

    There were already a hundred thousand werewolves undergoing training here, far beyond the aristocracy¡¯s wildest imaginations. Yet, these were just greenhorns who hadn¡¯tpleted their basic training. Qianye possessed several times this number in trained soldiers!? Didn¡¯t this mean he had an army of several hundred thousand?

    ¡°This¡­ this military power rivals the four major ns, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Kong Yu snorted. ¡°The major ns don¡¯t have that many private soldiers.¡±

    As part of the aristocracy, everyone understood that equipping random young adults in the n didn¡¯t count. Ordinary soldiers and warriors with origin power could not bepared at all. That was where the human race fell short when fighting the dark races. After all, they couldn¡¯t use other humans as ve soldiers.

    Everyone inhaled deeply.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°The four ns have deeply concealed talents. I might have a lot of soldiers here, but my foundation in terms of experts is far fromparable.¡±

    ¡°Why would you even need experts? Aren¡¯t you the number one expert among the younger generation? Even early divine champions aren¡¯t your match.¡±

    Kong Yu¡¯s expression becameplicated. Everyone knew that Qianye¡¯s potential was endless, that he could face overwhelming odds alone. The four ns were probably fine, but which high-ranking aristocratic family could im that they were above Qianye in terms of experts?

    ¡°Qianye, where are those soldiers of yours?¡± Yin Qiqi voiced everyone¡¯s concern. She added after checking Qianye¡¯s reaction, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to say.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Everyone here is a good friend, so it¡¯s no problem. Come with me, you¡¯ll see them soon.¡±

    Qianye brought everyone onto the airship deck. The airship took off slowly, and a scene of rolling white mist came into view soon afterward.

    ¡°It¡¯s the door!¡± Someone gasped. For many, this was the first time looking at the door to the new world.

    A massive defense line appeared in everyone¡¯s vision as they continued forward. Even from this high altitude, a warfront that had once held five hundred thousand soldiers looked fairly impressive, drawing surprised gasps from everyone.

    The scars of battle remained on the battlefront, which was now garrisoned by tens of thousands of soldiers. The remainder had been put on standby.

    There were military strategists in the group, including Kong Yu himself. They immediately recognized how well-knit the defensive arrangements were¡ªthey covered all directions, and there were even anti-air positions at the center. It could be said that there was no blindspot at all.

    Gazing at the defensive formation on the ground, Kong Yu sighed. ¡°Judging from theyout, I can tell that Sire Qianye already knows about the beast army beforehand. The invaders must¡¯ve been destroyed by now, right?¡±

    Qianye pointed at the endless array of temporary storehouses. ¡°They¡¯re all in storage now.¡±

    ¡°There are only tens of thousands here, where are the other soldiers?¡±

    Qianye pointed at the misty zone. ¡°They¡¯re on the other side of the door.¡±

    Kong Yu was visibly shaken. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? Not only did Sire Qianye eliminate the beast army, but you¡¯ve even started opening up new territory on the other side. I thought the dark golden sandstone was from Fort Continent. Now that I think of it, they must be from the other world, right?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    ¡°Sire, can we go to the other side and broaden our horizons?¡±

    Qianye refused the group with a smile. ¡°I must apologize, only a divine champion can operate freely in the new world. Everyone here is just a tad short of that level, so going to the new world will be quite straining. It might even endanger your life.¡±

    Yin Qiqi said, ¡°Just say that we¡¯ll die if we go in, what¡¯s with that ¡®might¡¯?¡±

    The crowd was eager to experience the new world, but their lives were, of course, more important. Since Qianye had sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers through the gate, it went without saying that he could do the same for them as well. However, their blood ran cold just by looking at the mist. As for how Qianye had managed to send the soldiers in, no one could force him to say it if he didn¡¯t want to.

    In truth, the method of entry was no longer a secret. Although the aristocracy standing here had never discussed it among themselves, most of them had already caught wind of it. It was just that the beast blood and blood nds were all in Qianye¡¯s hands. He could allow or prevent anyone he wanted to go in.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t disturbed after his polite wording was exposed. He didn¡¯t say anything else, either, and only ordered the airship tond on the duke¡¯s manor.

    Without waiting for lodging arrangements, Kong Yu came before Qianye and said seriously, ¡°Can you give me some time, I want to discuss something important.¡±

    Yin Qiqi said, ¡°I have important business as well.¡±

    Kong Yu nced at her, saying, ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, we have the same objective. If Sire Qianye doesn¡¯t mind, we can talk at the same time.¡±

    Yin Qiqi¡¯s yful attitude was gone. ¡°I have no objections.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Very well,e with me.¡±

    The three left for the parlor. The others understood that they were leagues inferior to the Kong and Yin, so they waited peacefully for the second-round meeting.

    Kong Yu didn¡¯t go straight to the point after taking his seat in the parlor. ¡°Sire, how do you see the major ns of the Empire?¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve been away for too long, I don¡¯t understand them well enough to have an opinion.¡±

    Kong Yu wasn¡¯t discouraged after seeing that Qianye wasn¡¯t taking the bait. He nced briefly at Yin Qiqi before saying, ¡°Do you have any intention of founding an aristocratic family in the Empire?¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Everyone knows my family in the Empire. I have no other family apart from them, so what¡¯s the point? It¡¯s better for me to build up my foundations here.¡±

    Kong Yu said seriously, ¡°Sire, you have indeed made good progress here, but can an overseas territory beat a high-ranking aristocratic family?¡±

    ¡°Oh? Is the Kong family nning to help me found one?¡±

    ¡°Correct!¡±

    Qianye said with augh, ¡°My adoptive father, even with his great prowess and deep contributions to the Empire, only managed to bring the Lin family from a low-ranking aristocratic family to a high-ranking one. We are far fromparable to Marshal Lin, so how are you going to help me found a high-ranking aristocratic family? Speaking of which, even if the Kong family does have this ability, can you decide for them?¡±

    Kong Yu clenched his jaws. ¡°I have the power to make this decision!¡±

 Chapter 1267: Borrowing Soldiers

    <h4>Chapter 1267: Borrowing Soldiers</h4>

    Qianye was actually quite impressed with Kong Yu¡¯s words. Such words couldn¡¯t be a bluff even if Yin Qiqi wasn¡¯t here. Those wanting to boast in front of the current Qianye required a certain level of clout.

    Yin Qiqi burst into a chuckle but didn¡¯t try to undermine the other party. Seeing Qianye looking at her, she said with a shrug, ¡°This Elder Kong is not simple at all. He was probably authorized by the n lord for this trip.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s hear how much support the Kong family is offering and what do you want in return.¡±

    Kong Yu said seriously, ¡°I want Sire Qianye to mobilize his army and intervene in the situation on Transcendent!¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°Are you joking?¡±

    Kong Yu shot to his feet and said loudly, ¡°The aristocracy of Transcendent are useless, they still haven¡¯t cleared the beast army. Wouldn¡¯t all life be wiped out if another wave arrives? Sire, you hold a million brave soldiers and are the best power to deal with this horde. Our Kong family will provide enough transports for a hundred thousand men, please send troops to the Transcendent Continent!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡±

    ¡°Sire, the aristocratic families of Transcendent have failed to defend theirnd. By thew of Great Qin, their titles can be removed if they don¡¯t recapture the territories by the deadline. There are sure to be families struck off from the register due to mismanagement. As long as you lead your troops into Transcendent and clear out the beasts there,nd and title will be readily avable to you. Why would you not take such a good opportunity?¡±

    Kong Yu spoke earnestly, but Qianye wasn¡¯t moved by the proposition. ¡°Change your condition.¡±

    Kong Yu smiled wryly. ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to field troops, there¡¯s really not much our family can do.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°It¡¯s somewhat regrettable that we can¡¯t work together, but there¡¯s no helping it. What are your thoughts, Qiqi?¡±

    ¡°Sire, wait a moment, please. I really want to know why you¡¯re not willing to field troops to Transcendent.¡±

    ¡°Why must I?¡±

    ¡°Sire, you¡¯ve gained the loyalty of the werewolves and control a million-strong army. If you don¡¯t use them to im newnd, are you going to just feed them for nothing? This is a great opportunity for you to imnd and cement your position in the Empire. Why wouldn¡¯t you want to?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°My army isn¡¯t too big, it¡¯s too small for what I¡¯m doing. I have no spare troops to send to Transcendent.¡±

    Kong Yu wanted to convince Qianye again, but Yin Qiqi stepped in. ¡°There won¡¯t be any opportunity left if you keep going in circles. You¡¯ll be in hot water if the Kong family sends someone else!¡±

    Kong Yu said through gritted teeth, ¡°Then I¡¯ll be blunt! Our Kong family wants to borrow troops from you!¡±

    ¡°Transcendent again?¡±

    ¡°Yes, our family has several counties of territory in the most fertile parts of the continent. We never had a lot of troops there because it used to be peaceful year-round. Who would¡¯ve thought the Nangong family would move away once the beast horde appeared? This opened up a clear path into ournds. Currently, most of our private soldiers are gathered in Qin Continent, so we really don¡¯t have the spare manpower to defend Transcendent. The families there are now holding onto theirst fortified line of defense and might be routed any moment. I came here hoping to borrow some of Dark me¡¯s soldiers to alleviate the situation over there. As you know, it¡¯s not an easy task to recruit new soldiers when everyone is panicking.¡±

    Qianye nodded. In truth, it was more difficult to get new recruits up to snuff than it was to recruit them. Human life was worth the least on the lower continents, so it wasn¡¯t hard to draftrge groups of adventurers in a sh. Hence, it was almost impossible for them to reach the level of an aristocratic private army. And considering the Kong family¡¯s situation, a horde of cannon fodder wouldn¡¯t really help much.

    ¡°Sire, you now have a mighty army at yourmand. Some ten thousand troops will not only help us resolve our predicament but also recapture all ournds! As for the sry, reward, andpensation of the soldiers, we will pay everything ording to Imperial standards!¡±

    Without taking into ount the Great Qin¡¯s supply of high-end equipment, this offer was even better than the void continent battle in terms of mercenary fees. Qianye didn¡¯t react, however. ¡°What about my benefits?¡±

    Kong Yu said, ¡°After reiming our territory, we can split all newnd between us. How does that sound?¡±

    Transcendent was different from Fort Continent in that it had been under the Empire¡¯s rule for hundreds of years. It was so rich in resources that a random county there couldpare to a province on Fort. The only problem was that the continent was one of the Empire¡¯s core territories, with no space left for a third party to enter. Even under present circumstances, iming new fiefdom there would require help from the Kong or other aristocratic families.

    Qianye didn¡¯t give an immediate reply. ¡°What is the Yin family suggesting?¡±

    Yin Qiqi said, ¡°Our Yin family wants to form an alliance with you, to open up newnd on Fort Continent and on Transcendent. We suggest splitting whatevernd we gain by half. Whatever military supplies you need, our Yin family can supply. Of course, the size of your current army is somewhat... beyond our expectations, so the promise just now isn¡¯t entirely practical. But, we canplete our end of the deal over fifty years.¡±

    Qianye sat quietly, waiting for her continuation.

    Yin Qiqi looked back at him in silence.

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Qianye shifted into a morefortable position and scanned the two. ¡°Both of you mentioned Transcendent. It¡¯s understandable for the Kong, but the ce has nothing to do with the Yin if I remember correctly. Why the sudden interest?¡±

    Yin Qiqi nced at Kong Yu. ¡°Can I say it now?¡±

    Kong Yu shrugged. ¡°What else? I¡¯ve done my best.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. The situation there is so bad that the local aristocracy can no longer clean up the mess. The Empire is also short on hands, so they¡¯ve posted massive rewards to encourage the other nobility to help. This is also to discourage Evernight from taking advantage of the chaos. However, every family is busy trying to protect themselves. Who would have the spare energy to save other people? After some thought, you¡¯re the only variable in this equation.¡±

    ¡°Massive rewards? What kind?¡± Qianye sat firmly on the fishing tform, waiting patiently for the price quotes.¡±

    ¡°Merits,nd, and candidacy for major n status.¡±

    ¡°Oh, not bad.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t that interested. These three things might be a tremendous boon to the high-ranking aristocratic families, but they held little value for Qianye. He had no intention of jumping into the Great Qin¡¯s system, anyway.

    ¡°What do you want? As long as our Kong family can do it, we will.¡± This promise was sufficiently serious. Qianye¡¯s origin and life were no longer a secret among the nobility. They had also seen Qianye¡¯s tendency for independent operation after the void continent battle. Hence, Kong Yu knew that it wouldn¡¯t be easy to move Qianye. He was mentally prepared to fork out quite a bit.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I¡¯m not going to meddle in the Empire¡¯s affairs, at least not now. If the Yin and Kong family can provide sufficient resources, officers, and technical talents, I can consider working together on the pioneering of Fort Continent.¡±

    Kong Yu shook his head. ¡°These are troubled times, we don¡¯t even have enough soldiers to solve our own problems. How can we have extra resources?¡± The new world was alluring, but everything was unknown and spective. The threat of the ¡°door¡± had already shaken these families to the core, so preserving their foundations took priority.

    ¡°Our Yin family will provide five division¡¯s worth of equipment!¡±

    Yin Qiqi¡¯s words came as a shock. Kong Yu jumped to his feet, saying, ¡°Where would you get so many?¡±

    ¡°We have resources stored away throughout the years. Every family should have their own stash, no?¡±

    ¡°T-That¡¯s for emergencies! How can we touch them? Won¡¯t that affect the family foundations?¡±

    Yin Qiqi replied, ¡°This is precisely the time to utilize these reserve equipment. What¡¯s the use of these lifeless items once the opportunity is gone?¡±

    Kong Yu fell silent, but Qianye finally seemed interested. ¡°What does the Yin family want?¡±

    Yin Qiqi said, ¡°We want to be a part of the new world¡¯s pioneering efforts and im our fair share of the rewards. Also, please give us some help on Transcendent if possible.¡±

    Qianye fell into contemtion. ¡°Pioneering the new world is fine. As for Transcendent, is it the second wave over there? Have they not eliminated the beasts?¡±

    ¡°It is indeed the second wave. Roughly a third of the beasts are roaming about outside, and more of them are stilling out from the door. Although the new arrivals are small in scale, it remains that ordinary troops can¡¯t deal with them.¡±

    ¡°I see...¡±

    While Qianye was pondering, Kong Yu said, ¡°Our family is also willing to offer five divisions worth of equipment!¡±

    Qianye nced at him, saying, ¡°Not bad, then the Kong family can also join the new world expedition. As for Transcendent, I can only offer a bit of help and I can only help one family.¡±

    Kong Yu nced at Yin Qiqi, saying, ¡°The Yin family has no territory on Transcendent, why not work with us?¡±

    Yin Qiqi nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, how do we split?¡±

    Kong Yu said decisively, ¡°Each family will bring out half of our private armies, save the Kong family first, and then move on to imnd. Regarding the rewards after the battle, your side can take seven parts and we will im three.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough, it¡¯s a deal.¡±

    The two thus concluded their split in a few short words. Qianye seemed indifferent, but he nodded secretly. There was a tradition among the aristocracy¡ªeach would take what they needed and split things fairly in a win-win fashion. Reaching a deal in such a short time would help the two families work together better in the future.

    Now that the two parties had reached an agreement, they looked to Qianye eagerly for his answer. They wanted to know what kind of help he could offer.

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°The difficulty in dealing with the beast army is because of their speed. Ordinary forces will find it hard to clean them up once they spread out into the wilderness. From my personal experience, I can say that your private armies are sufficient for the fight. However, they might not be as mobile, and therger beast squads are usually led by powerful monsters. How about this? I¡¯ll send someone to help you. Caroline!¡±

    Caroline responded to the call and entered the parlor. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Head to Transcendent Continent for a while and help them clear out the rampaging beast army. You can return after the Kong family¡¯s predicament has been solved.¡±

    Caroline replied, ¡°I¡¯m okay with that, but what about here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it.¡± Next, Qianye introduced Yin Qiqi and Kong Yu to Caroline.

    Seeing that she was an Evernight descendant, Kong Yu reached out to shake Caroline¡¯s hand. However, thetter ignored him and, instead, released a sh of lighting aura from her forehead.

    Kong Yu was badly shaken, taking several steps back almost as though he had been struck by lightning. Shocked and overwhelmed, he eximed, ¡°Divine champion?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°To be precise, Her Excellency Caroline is an intermediate divine champion. So, don¡¯t be careless.¡±

    Kong Yu¡¯s expression turned from shock to great delight. With a divine champion to hold the fort and the elite soldiers he had just mustered, the endeavor was bound to be a sess. He adjusted his headdress and bowed deeply, saying, ¡°This junior was too short-sighted and failed to recognize your honor. Please forgive me for inadvertently offending you just now!¡±

    Caroline, of course, wouldn¡¯t hold it against him. She actually understood Qianye¡¯s intention¡ªthe Yin and Kong would owe her a big favor for helping them on Transcendent Continent. These two families would have to return this favor when she imed territory and migrated her nsmen. It would also serve to silence objections in the Imperial court.

    Even someone like Qianye who was opening up newnds outside of the Empire¡¯s influence would need inside support. At the very least, it would serve to reduce unnecessary trouble.

    To a massive entity like the Great Qin Empire, there was a stark difference between the rise of a power and that of a nation within its sphere of influence.

    With an agreement reached, Kong Yu did not want to dally any longer. He made straight for the Empire after discussing a rendezvous point with Caroline. He needed to round up his forces and produce the resources he had promised Qianye.

    Yin Qiqi didn¡¯t follow Kong Yu, leaving most of the arrangements to him. Kong Yu didn¡¯t refuse the extra work since every extra day was dangerous for the Kong family¡¯s fortress.

    After Kong Yu and Caroline had left, Yin Qiqi jumped up and grabbed Qianye by the cor. ¡°How many more secrets are you hiding from me? You can casually send a divine champion to help people?¡±

 Chapter 1268: Additional Sincerity

    <h4>Chapter 1268: Additional Sincerity</h4>

    Qianye hadn¡¯t replied when Yin Qiqi loosened her grip on his cor and ced a hand on his chest. She gazed up at Qianye¡¯s face, saying, ¡°You look just like before, not the slightest change.¡±

    ¡°I... I guess I age slower because I¡¯m half a vampire.¡±

    ¡°I see, you¡¯re truly a badpanion to have. Look, I¡¯m starting to grow old.¡±

    ¡°No way, you look just as good.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Yin Qiqi¡¯s expression cleared up into a beautiful smile.

    Qianye secretly praised Song Zining¡¯s methods for their effectiveness. A single word had turned gloom to sunshine. Seeing that Qiqi was no longer depressed, Qianye calmly removed her hand.

    The glow in Yin Qiqi¡¯s eyes dimmed down. She then asked casually, ¡°Do you have a family now?¡±

    Qianye was startled, not expecting to encounter such a question. ¡°Since long ago.¡±

    ¡°Still Nighteye?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t she missing?¡± It was clear that Yin Qiqi wasn¡¯t privy to certain secrets.

    ¡°She¡¯s just at a faraway ce right now.¡±

    She was smart enough to guess the truth. ¡°She has returned to Evernight?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to lie to an old friend, so he replied with a nod. Yin Qiqi, however, wasn¡¯t about to let it be.

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you follow her? You¡¯re a vampire, too. I know, you guys actually broke up, right?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°You can say that.¡±

    Yin Qiqi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°What will you do in the future?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t my current life pretty good? She¡¯lle looking for me after some time.¡±

    ¡°You need someone to take care of you, you shouldn¡¯t keep that position empty all the time.¡±

    Qianye looked straight into her eyes, saying, ¡°What exactly are you trying to say?¡±

    She suddenly started to panic. ¡°N-Nothing. I¡¯ve finished speaking.¡±

    Qianye saw her out with a nod, allowing the other aristocratic family members to enter. Unlike the Yin and Kong family, they knew their position very well and quickly drowned him in enthusiasm.

    ¡°Sire Qianye¡¯s leadership skills are unrivaled!¡±

    ¡°Please bring us along when you pioneer the new world. We¡¯re willing to do menial tasks!¡±

    ¡°Sire, please allow me to kneel...¡±

    ...

    The mad overflow caused Qianye¡¯s head to spin. It took a good while for the toadying to die down and the main topic to arrive.

    Without further ado, the families began adding to their ¡°sincerity.¡± This time, they weren¡¯t just contributing money and soldiers, but also men and women. The men were fine¡ªthey were talents in various fields who could take on important technical roles, even if they couldn¡¯t join the battlefield. The fight to give him women, however, was simply too fierce. These aristocratic families almost broke into a fight regarding the selection of Qianye¡¯s personal maid.

    Even though few people understood the actual situation between Qianye and Nighteye, the aristocracy knew very well about how Qianye had shed with the military at Indomitable. Observing his recent movements, most of them hade to the conclusion that his first wife position was impossible, but those unnamed concubines and maid positions became a popr topic. Everyone knew that intimacy with an influential person could only bring benefits. Even if he didn¡¯t grow fond of the girl over the years, perhaps some mistakes might happen while intoxicated.

    Qianye epted all of the men but rejected the women.

    The crowd naturally tried to persuade him with countless reasons, one of which everyone agreed on. How could a genius like him not leave more descendants? It would be best for him to propagate as much as possible and have an army of children.

    Qianye felt distressed by the arguments, but he had no choice but to smile wryly and refuse. His expression was growing dark toward the end.

    Seeing that they were overreaching themselves, the crowd could only give up in the end. Fortunately, Qianye not only promised them a share in the new world expedition but also assigned them a different mission.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up at the mention of this mission, feeling that it was time for them to show their devotion. They began asking what this matter was?

    After thinking for a moment, Qianye brought out the map and pointed at the borders of the Jade Sea. ¡°There¡¯s a different werewolf power there, the Storm Duke¡¯s territory. I heard there have been some minor conflicts near the border, with the Storm Duke¡¯s werewolves repeatedly harassing my territory. I don¡¯t have the energy to spare for them, so I¡¯ll leave that battlefield to everyone here. How does that sound?¡±

    The crowd broke into amotion.

    ¡°The Empire has stood for a thousand years, all of our families fought our way up thedder.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, just leave small things like fighting to us!¡±

    ¡°Who cares about a storm or whatnot, we¡¯ll beat them until they turn into a tornado!¡±

    ¡°Bro, isn¡¯t a tornado a bit too big...¡±

    At least someone was clear-headed amidst the ruckus. ¡°Sire, how do we respond if the Storm Duke arrives?¡±

    This was the most important part. To the aristocracy of the Great Qin, an empire founded on war, ordinary battles were no problem at all. The average fighting power of those on the Fort Continent was much lower than the core ns of the Evernight Council. The only obstruction here was divine champion opponents. Some aristocratic families might have their secret arts to deal with divine champions, but the price involved was too high to use on a lower continent like this.

    Qianye drew a line on the map, saying, ¡°There should be no problem as long as you don¡¯t cross this line. You only need to stall for three months, I will deal with him if he really does attack after that time.¡±

    Having calmed down, the crowd filed out of the room to discuss military affairs between themselves. These mid and low-ranking aristocratic families added together would make up a formidable, well-supplied fighting force. The only thing they werecking was a peak expert to stabilize morale. Since Qianye had promised to fight the Storm Duke, there was no longer a problem.

    ording to convention, these families would get half of thend they conquered. As such, it was only natural that they would rack their brains to make sure they performed well.

    Only Qianye remained in the parlor, recounting the day¡¯s harvest in a daze.

    At first, he had thought the many werewolves under hismand would be the greatest obstacle. Who would¡¯ve thought the Yin, Kong, and other minor families would readily ept this truth after the initial shock? They didn¡¯t even mention this topic again. It was as though Qianye¡¯s million subjects were humans and not werewolves.

    Kong Yu even wanted Qianye to send troops to the Transcendent Continent.

    Qianye¡¯s main reason for refusing him was the potential bacsh from sending such arge number of werewolves into the Empire. The Empire had always held a harsh stance against the dark races. It was surprising how easily they were able to cast aside the conflict during troubled times. It truly made one wonder whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

    On the other hand, Qianye had no choice but to remain guarded against the Empire. Even though he had only encountered good intentions as ofte, the internal affairs of the nation was never a solid te of steel.

    Regardless, Qianye had no intention of letting his werewolf army set foot in the Empire. He would only use this force on Fort Continent and the new world.

    Havinge to a conclusion with his n, Qianye summoned all of his generals to arrange matters rted to the training of new troops. He could now equip at least a hundred thousand additional werewolves with the help of the Yin and Kong families. The resources provided by the other smaller families could be used to develop infrastructure in the new world.

    The forward base at the third forest was at a fair distance from the door, so Qianye decided to build arge supply and transit base there. He would then use that fortress as the foundation to explore and subdue other forests, gradually pushing forward.

    ...

    Inside the new world, Zhao Jundu lowered the binocrs he was holding and tossed them to his aide. ¡°It¡¯s blurry again. This thing isn¡¯t good, tell those elders from the academy toe up with something better.¡±

    Behind him was a bustling construction yard, where a defensive fortress was growing at a visible speed. Tens of thousands of soldiers were working with all their might, expending great stamina in the process.

    ¡°When will the kic tower arrive?¡± Zhao Jundu asked.

    ¡°The second tower has been shipped into the new world and is on the way. Three more are being moved out right now, and they¡¯ll arrive at the door the day after tomorrow at thetest.¡±

    Zhao Jundu frowned. ¡°Only five kic towers? That¡¯s only enough for the next round of expansion. Is there no more?¡±

    ¡°Additional kic towers will need to draw on army reserves, we need approval from the military.¡±

    ¡°Approval?¡± Zhao Jundu sneered. ¡°We¡¯re already at this point, yet those old fogeys still cling to power. Whatever, let them take their time approving if they want. Order the fleet heading to Transcendent to turn back.¡±

    ¡°Sire, this...¡±

    ¡°Execute the order!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced at the time, saying, ¡°Howe Zining hasn¡¯t returned? Any news of him?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve already sent people to search for his squad.¡±

    It was at this time that a messenger ran over. ¡°Sire Zining reports that he has found another forest and is already attacking it!¡±

    Zhao Jundu was surprised. ¡°Already fighting? Is he in such a rush?¡±

    He nced at the officers around him and said after some thought, ¡°Don¡¯t stop. Hasten the construction and send reinforcements after we¡¯re done here.¡±

    One of the officers was a bit concerned. ¡°Sire, every forest holds a beastir. Sire Zining¡¯s forces are fairly small, I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be able to hold out on his own.¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°He went ahead with the attack because he didn¡¯t want me to interfere. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll have to see if that future strategist god of the Empire can catch up to Lin Xitang.¡±

    The officers nced at one another in silence, then headed out to rush the construction progress.

    Zhao Jundu went up to higher ground and gazed into the distance.

    One of his trusted aides asked, ¡°Sire, what are you worried about?¡±

    Zhao Jundu pointed in a certain direction. ¡°I have a feeling that we¡¯re going to run into the dark races in that direction.¡±

    The aide wasn¡¯t afraid, though. ¡°Then we can take this opportunity to give them a good beating. Our Zhao n has never been afraid of anyone!¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°This fight won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    The aide was surprised. ¡°You weren¡¯t like this before.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°Things are no longer the same. Most battles before could be settled on our own, but we cannot afford to lose this time. If I lose here, the Empire will never be able to make aeback in the new world.¡±

    The aide came to understand the gravity of the situation. His expression became more serious as he said, ¡°What do we do then?¡±

    ¡°We fight the way we should, what¡¯s so hard?¡±

    Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a certain aura shot into the clouds. Despite the distance, one could clearly see the pir of energy connecting the earth and sky. Even more mysterious were the myriad images shifting within the pir.

    The soldiers of the Empire were dazed as they had never witnessed such a spectacle before.

    Zhao Jundu was stunned, but soon, a smile appeared over his lips. ¡°Good! That damn Song Seven actually dares breakthrough in battle! I¡¯ve underestimated you!¡±

    The people nearby were shocked after hearing this. ¡°Could it be that Sire Zining...¡±

    ¡°Zining has passed the divine threshold. Our Great Qin Empire has another divine champion!¡±

 Chapter 1269: Good Future

    <h4>Chapter 1269: Good Future</h4>

    News of Song Zining¡¯s breakthrough spread throughout the Empire like wildfire, eliciting a greater reaction than when Zhao Jundu had broken through. Themotion was perhaps even greater than when Qianye walked away unscathed from Frozen Jade Manor.

    The Empire was in a resurgencetely, with numerous geniuses appearing from the younger generation. The aplishment was much greater than the previous generation¡¯s. Some of the major-n scions who had been hidden as reserves progressed by leaps and bounds, so much so that they could now be ced on the stage. But no one would¡¯ve imagined that the next to breakthrough after the twin stars was Song Zining.

    The natural phenomenon produced by Worldly Prosperity was witnessed by tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers. His future was definitely boundless.

    People in the Empire reacted differently¡ªsome jumped for joy and others sighed in admiration, but there were also people who fell deep in thought. However, everyone who recalled the Song n¡ªwhere it used to be and where it was now¡ªfelt the same resonating schadenfreude.

    ...

    At the Hignd Song n¡¯s Enlightenment Manor, Duchess An¡¯s old residence remained neatly kempt. Song Zhongnian walked through the gardens, watching his busy family members moving things about.

    This used to be the duchess¡¯ favorite ce, so the Elder Assembly made the decision to preserve and seal the ce in her memory.

    There was a beautifuldy beside Song Zhongnian, a quiet, charming, and graceful young woman. She looked somewhat sad and almost as though she wanted to memorize the current scenery.

    ¡°Ziyan, what are you thinking about?¡±

    Song Ziyan said in a whisper, ¡°I was just thinking about how well the old ancestor treated me back then. I fear I won¡¯t be able toe here anymore.¡±

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s face was full of worry and sorrow. His creases had deepened, and it seemed like he had aged ten years. He sighed deeply, saying, ¡°There¡¯s no helping it. Us unworthy descendants are too ashamed to face the ancestor. Those old fogeys probably don¡¯t want toe here anymore, either, and hence, this decision. Even I don¡¯t want toe here. After all, the Song n was demoted in my hands. I don¡¯t know how the history books will describe me, but it can¡¯t be good.¡±

    Heughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Things aren¡¯t fortunate for you. These are tough times for our Song n, no, Song family, and that has affected your marriage. The Kong family has also refused the engagement.¡±

    Song Ziyan shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to marry, to begin with!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t say that! A girl has to marry sooner orter. No rush, I¡¯ll help you make arrangements.¡±

    Song Ziyan looked up. ¡°My marriage isn¡¯t important, but are you not going to summon seventh brother back even at this point?¡±

    ¡°Will he even be willing toe back?¡±

    ¡°Our family is in trouble, he¡¯lle back.¡±

    Song Zhongnian sighed. ¡°You might not know, but Song Zining and Qianye have made great progress on Fort Continent. That Qianye is on track to proim himself king, and considering their rtionship, Zining¡¯s status won¡¯t be too far off. There¡¯s nothing in the family to impress him. Besides, Song Zining made his intentions clear when he left the family, how will he face those elders if hees back?¡±

    Song Ziyan said, ¡°Grandpa, you¡¯re still thinking about those elders? They see nothing but themselves. When have they ever worked for the greater good? Why should we listen to them? As I see it, we should just disperse the elder assembly.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! The assembly is a ruleid down by the ancestors, every n has the same system. This is noughing matter.¡±

    ¡°If we must keep the assembly, we should change all of its members.¡±

    ¡°What do you know? Won¡¯t that make us even less unified?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s still better than having them slowly break the Song family apart.¡±

    Song Zhongnian¡¯s face was ashen. He said with a loud snort, ¡°This isn¡¯t a topic for a girl like you.¡±

    Song Ziyan sighed. She then softened her tone, saying, ¡°Seventh brother will surely be able to suppress those elders.¡±

    ¡°Suppress? What is he going to suppress them with? He¡¯s not even a divine champion, who¡¯ll listen to him?¡±

    ¡°He will breakthrough sooner orter. Besides, who else in the family is his match even if he isn¡¯t? He also has Qianye¡¯s help.¡± Song Ziyan¡¯s expression changed at the mention of Qianye, then quickly recovered to normalcy.

    Song Zhongnian said with a frown, ¡°It¡¯s not your ce to speak of family matters! If bing a divine champion is so easy, we won¡¯t be without one for so many years since the old ancestors. Let¡¯s see when that day actuallyes.¡±

    It was at this moment that an attendant arrived hurriedly, shouting, ¡°Lord, urgent... report!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s with the panic? Look at yourself. I¡¯ll send you off to Transcendent if you don¡¯t learn to be calm!¡± In his bad mood, Song Zhongnian berated the attendant while opening the envelope. He then fished out the contents and looked through them.

    His hand froze up after a single nce; he didn¡¯t even notice the report falling to the ground.

    A curious Song Ziyan picked up the paper. After reading the continents, she cried out in joy, ¡°Seventh brother is a divine champion now!? This is great news! Our Song family finally has a divine champion! Grandpa...¡±

    Her voice slowly faded away when she saw Song Zhongnian¡¯s expression. She suddenly realized something at this point¡ªthere might have been some chance of Song Zining returning if he couldn¡¯t break through. Now that he had broken through the divine champion threshold, there was no longer any hope of him returning.

    The Imperial Pce, Pepper Hall. Empress Li was leaning on the couch, stroking the cat in her arms. The pce hall was warm, but she was still d in a thick woolen shawl and her face was abnormally pale.

    An old inner attendant walked in with a booklet and began reading to her the important happenings in the Empire. The first of them was Song Zining¡¯s breakthrough to be a divine champion.

    Stunned, Empress Li¡¯s grip tightened unknowingly. The cat struggled out of her arms in pain and scuttled toward a corner.

    ¡°So he has also broken through. Now that¡¯s unexpected.¡±

    The old attendant said, ¡°This is indeed unexpected, perhaps the Song n can return to being a major n.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°There might¡¯ve been some chance if he hadn¡¯t broken through, but now, there¡¯s none. That is unless he¡¯s ruthless enough to clean up all of those elders.¡±

    ¡°This matter is all too easy for the seventh young master. Who in the entire n is his match? Even all the elders together can do nothing against the Seventh Young Master and his Worldly Prosperity.¡±

    ¡°Can and willing are two different matters,¡± Empress Li said with augh. ¡°Besides, why would he need to stain his hands when his future is so good.¡±

    ¡°The Empress is wise.¡± The attendant was enlightened.

    Empress Li shifted her posture, frowning in contemtion.

    ¡°The Empire has acquired another expert. This is something worthy of celebration. Why do you look unhappy?¡±

    The Empress sighed. ¡°I¡¯m concerned about something. Say, do you think this Zining should cultivate divination or not?¡±

    ¡°Is there even a need to ask? Your Majesty must be testing me. The seventh young master naturally... naturally...¡± The old attendant stopped halfway.

    ¡°What? Is there any difficulty?¡±

    The attendant sighed. ¡°I was thinking at first that he should at least attempt the heavenly monarch realm due to his World Prosperity. Lord Jundu is now shut out of the next realm, and Qianye is, in the end, not of our race. Young Noble Zining is the only candidate throughout the Empire. On the other hand, he might not be inferior to Marshal Lin if he cultivates divination. A heavenly monarch or a second Marshal Lin, I cannot say which of them is more important to the Empire.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°That¡¯s what¡¯s distressing me.¡±

    She stood up from the couch and, with a wave of her hand, summoned the cat back into her arms. Empress Li caressed the feline while saying, ¡°This matter, I think I¡¯ll just let him worry about it. Why would I have to feel stressed?¡±

    The attendant wanted to say something at first but was hesitant. Finally, he said, ¡°You¡¯re right, Your Highness.¡±

    Empress Li waved her hand, sending the attendant away. Two other attendants were whispering among themselves outside of the hall.

    ¡°Did you hear? The seventh young noble is now a divine champion!¡±

    ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°The one from the Song n, of course, who else could¡¯ve broken through?¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t the Song n be in despair?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen people court disaster with such enthusiasm, they even drove away someone like the seventh young noble. The heavens won¡¯t tolerate it if the Song n isn¡¯t demoted.¡±

    The old attendant shouted with a serious expression, ¡°What are you two gossiping about!? I¡¯ll pull your tongues out if I catch this again.¡±

    The two attendants were shocked out of their wits. They said with faces full of smiles, ¡°This isn¡¯t such a big matter, won¡¯t the entire Empire know after half a day.¡±

    The old attendant felt that it was true, so he simply left with a swing of his sleeves. He arrived at a remote courtyard, where he opened up a piece of paper and filled it with tiny writing. He rolled the paper up carefully and put it in his pocket, then left the pce in civilian apparel citing outside business.

    The attendant walked through the streets for a good half hour beforeing to a store selling products from differentnds.

    The manager immediately weed the guest with a big smile. ¡°Sire! What do you want this time?¡±

    The attendant picked up a random vase, then put it back down. ¡°Any interesting stufftely?¡±

    The manager went back into the store and soon returned with several boxes. ¡°All our new goods are in here. If you ask if there¡¯s anything special, I must say we have more goods from Fort Continent these days.¡±

    The old attendant shook his head after looking through the contents. ¡°There¡¯s nothing good, next time then.¡±

    ¡°Take care!¡± The manager saw the old attendant away before moving the boxes back inside. He thought back to the sequence in which the old attendant had opened the boxes and fished out one of them. There was now a sheet of paper inside.

    Two dayster, this paper arrived on Twilight Continent and into the hands of a mysterious person. This messenger could only see a pair of eyes as the person was d entirely in armor.

    The man opened the letter and read the contents several times before putting the correspondence away. He then produced a drop of translucent origin blood and ced it in the hands of the messenger, saying in a raspy voice, ¡°Well done, this is the reward.¡±

    The delighted messenger fell to his knees. ¡°Thank you, Sire!¡±

    The mysterious person turned and left, leaving dark-purple mes with every step.

    ...

    Castle Ducasse was currently undergoing arge-scale expansion. There was nothing special about this mysterious person except for the lowered visor, something ordinary people would only do when in battle. He was just like any other ordinary vampire.

    He arrived at a distant hall and entered a certain room in the corner. The decor here was in and crude, with only some simple furniture. He had just sat down when the door opened and an old vampire with white hair walked in.

    This elderly vampire gazed at the mysterious person with pale eyes. ¡°Have you gotten it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How is it?¡±

    ¡°Just as we had guessed, perhaps even more.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡±

    The white-haired vampire elder left without asking for the paper. The mysterious vampire sat down with his back against the wall, gazing at the yellow light on the ceiling. No one knew what he was thinking.

 Chapter 1270: The Storm Duke

    <h4>Chapter 1270: The Storm Duke</h4>

    The region of unrest to the west of the Jade Sea boiled over when squadron after squadron of warships arrived.

    These airshipsnded on the vast ins, unloading a steady stream of fully-equipped human warriors. These troops were even better outfitted than Dark me¡¯s mercenaries. The lineup almost seemed fit to fight a small war, but the many different colors made them look a bit messy.

    These people were the private armies of the Imperial aristocracy. At first, they were positioned in Expansive, but now, they had been transferred to the west.

    A big, bearded general gazed into the distance and saw smoke rising over the horizon. He said with a wave of his hand, ¡°You, bring a couple dozen men and take a look.¡±

    The aide responded to the order, then drove away with some of the family¡¯s warriors. Several other off-road vehicles also set out in the same direction.

    That bearded general spat. ¡°Damned lot, fighting for such minor contributions!¡±

    As the vehicles grouped up, they saw a group of werewolves running in their direction. One of the private soldiers grabbed the mounted gun out of habit and opened fire, the stream of bullets quickly approaching the werewolf at the front.

    ¡°Halt! Hold your fire!¡± One of the werewolf warriors shouted, but the private soldier paid him no heed.

    That warrior mmed the machine gun operator away, turned the gun at the surrounding jeeps, and began firing. The gunfire struck the soil near the cars, sending dust and gravel all over the vehicles. This startled the private soldiers, causing them to turn around.

    Seeing that he had forced the machine gunners to stop, he shouted, ¡°These are our tribesmen, Sire Qianye¡¯s subjects! Are you outsiders nning to betray him?¡±

    ¡°What a joke! When did Sire Qianye be a werewolf? We¡¯re the outsiders?¡± The private army soldiers mocked the werewolf, but they stopped firing.

    A fierce-looking veteran pointed his spear at the werewolf, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t care about all that crap, but I will kill you if you aim your gun at me again! Sire Qianye will not protect a wild dog who fires at his allies.¡±

    The werewolf soldier put down the machine gun and said, ¡°You won¡¯tst long, either, if you massacre our tribesmen. Don¡¯t forget about your wife and children, don¡¯t make them collect your corpse.¡±

    While the two parties were facing off, one of the private soldiers shouted, ¡°Werewolves! A lot of them!¡±

    Everyone turned around to see a cloud of dust rising over the horizon, converging into the shape of a dragon as it rolled over thend. As for how many werewolves were running in that formation, no one knew.

    This time, that werewolf soldier¡¯s expression changed. He shouted, ¡°Those are the Storm Duke¡¯s men! We have to stop them!¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy!? How do we stop them with this small group?¡±

    The fierce veteran said, ¡°He¡¯s right. Our brethren at the rear justnded and haven¡¯t gathered up. No one will survive if the enemy charges them!¡±

    An officer jumped out from one of the cars at this moment. ¡°Who¡¯s the youngest here? Step forward. Drive one of the cars back to report the situation here. Everyone else, assume defensive positions, we fight to the death! Don¡¯t think about dying with an intact corpse if we fall into those bastards¡¯ hands.¡±

    At this point, he turned toward that werewolf soldier and said, ¡°Sorry, I wasn¡¯t talking about you.¡±

    The werewolf replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll get eaten up all the same if we¡¯re captured.¡±

    The officer was somewhat surprised. At this point, the soldiers were already moving out ording to their orders. The officer picked a position andy prone on the ground, then said while taking aim, ¡°I thought werewolves didn¡¯t eat their kind.¡±

    ¡°I heard that¡¯s the case on the upper continents, but here, we might starve if we don¡¯t.¡±

    The officer wanted to ask if the werewolf had eaten his kind before, but he ultimately stopped short of it.

    The werewolf warrior seemed to have guessed his thoughts. ¡°Most werewolves would rather die in battle or in the mountains than touch their kind. I am the same.¡±

    At this point, the veteran said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind having a werewolf friend if we survive.¡±

    The werewolfughed. ¡°I already have quite a few humanrades.¡±

    The officer shook his head, saying, ¡°We can discuss that in our next lives. None of us will live today.¡± His expression was calm, almost as though he wasining about the food.

    Everyone became quiet. The dozens of soldiers assumed a scattered formation and waited for the werewolf army to arrive.

    A shade of light yellow appeared in the dust cloud, quickly increasing in number until they formed a deluge of yellow. Countless werewolves in light yellow armor charged out of the dragon-shaped dust cloud and charged at the airshipsnding in the distance.

    The airship sentries had already noticed the situation, and the fleet was starting to panic. Some of the airships halfway in descent hovered in the air, not knowing whether they should continuending. The forces that had emerged from the airship charged forward to try and build a temporary defensive line.

    All experienced officers felt despair upon seeing the scale of the iing army.

    At the very front, the veteran swallowed hard despite having prepared for death. ¡°So goddamn many!¡±

    The officer said, ¡°Makes no difference, we¡¯ll die either way.¡±

    The veteran muttered, ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time, but this daddy still feels afraid.¡±

    The officer said, ¡°So do I.¡±

    The veteran was surprised. ¡°I thought you were never afraid of anything.¡±

    ¡°I just didn¡¯t say it. That is why I¡¯m a major and you¡¯re a second lieutenant.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it because of your cultivation?¡±

    ¡°... That¡¯s why you¡¯re still a second lieutenant.¡±

    The torrent of yellow arrived, the werewolves¡¯ footsteps shaking the ground as they ran. Those lying prone on the ground could hardly keep their guns steady. Instead of shooting in a rush, the soldiers waited patiently until the werewolves were in a certain firing range before opening fire.

    Every soldier poured out every bit of origin power and ammunition they had. However, their firepower was simply too weakpared to the werewolf army, so weak that they couldn¡¯t even slow down the enemy¡¯s charge.

    The solemn officer shot to his feet and fired a final round from his hand cannon. The moment that origin shell left the chamber, his face went pale and he could no longer stand firm. Even so, his right hand reached for the dagger at his waist.

    The cannon shell flew into the werewolf army and erupted in an earth-shattering st. The explosion sent dust and gravel hundreds of meters into the air, along with countless werewolves. The army¡¯s momentum faltered for a moment!

    The officer was dumbfounded. He hadn¡¯t imagined that a single shot from his cannon would be so terrifying. That wasn¡¯t like a hand cannon at all but rather a concentrated fire from ten heavy cannons. Even a volley like that might not produce such an effect.

    He gazed at the enemy, then at his hand cannon, puzzled as to what had happened.

    It was at this moment that a second earth-shattering explosion began, the shockwave throwing countless werewolves into the air. The charging vanguard had taken yet another head-on blow.

    The officer looked up as a massive shadow flew past his head, only to see an unimaginablyrge warship appear in the sky. That massive thousand-meter vessel was almost like a floating city.

    ¡°The Martyr¡¯s Pce!¡± someone cried out. The fame of Qianye¡¯s airship had long since shaken the world. The gigantic warship body and its void-colossus-like appearance became the topic of fervent discussions. Despite not having seen it before, some were immediately able to recognize this legendary war vessel.

    The officer finally realized that the two massive explosions had nothing to do with his hand cannon. They were actually attacks from the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce slowly lowered its altitude and opened its side cannon ports, weaving a terrifying of firepower over the werewolf vanguard battalion. The entire area was turned into and of death.

    The Storm Duke¡¯s forces were numerous yet scantily equipped. They might be a bit stronger than the Jade Sea werewolves, but not to any significant extent. This kind of primitive forcecked strategic nodes and was easily massacred by the Martyr¡¯s Pce and its sub-fleet-level firepower.

    Even the bravest of warriors wouldn¡¯t be willing to throw away their lives for nothing. The Storm Duke¡¯s werewolf army finally came to halt, most soldiers gazing at the zone of death in terror.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce slowed down its barrage and finally stopped firing. At this point, soldiers with good eyesight seemed to notice someone standing atop the Earth Dragon¡¯s head.

    Under the g of the werewolf army, dozens of werewolf experts were drawn to that silhouette. They craned their necks in hopes of figuring out what exactly it was, but when the smoke finally dispersed, there was nothing on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head.

    ¡°Where is that person? Where did they go?¡± an impatient chief asked.

    A gentle voice rang out in the ears of all the werewolf experts. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    They turned back in shock to find Qianye standing a couple of meters behind them.

    ¡°You!¡± Most werewolf experts didn¡¯t even have the time to react before an unbearable heat washed over them. Their bodies were racked with scorching pain as their vision turned a dark red color and the scenery around them began to distort. It was as though they had fallen into an apocalyptic hell. They wanted to struggle, but their bodies felt inexplicably heavy, so much so that even running was a distant dream. The weaker ones were even pressed down to the ground.

    This pressure also contained an aura that filled them with dread. This was a fear that came from the depths of their bloodline, an inherent trepidation in the face of an expert who was close to the darkness origins. This fear caused the werewolves to turn limp, reducing their fighting power to sixty percent of their capacity.

    ¡°How can this be?¡± The werewolves had yet to finish digesting their fear when countless intersecting threads of blood appeared in their vision.

    The standard of the werewolf army slowly copsed.

    The werewolf soldiers did not continue their charge after the Martyr¡¯s Pce stopped firing. Instead, they gazed at the centralmand, waiting for their next order. Only when the g had fallen did they realize that no one within a hundred meters of the centralmand was standing.

    Those werewolf experts and leaders had all turned into corpses.

    The wind grew stronger as a powerful suppressive might covered the battlefield. A gigantic voice boomed, ¡°Your Excellency Qianye, treating these tribal warriors in such a way, do you not fear that your name will be tarnished?

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°They have offended me, so that is the fate they deserve. You wouldn¡¯t have appeared if I didn¡¯t punish them, or would you, Storm Duke?¡±

    A whirlwind appeared before Qianye and walking out from it was a tall werewolf elder. His eyes were mysterious, and his creased face was filled with traces of aging. The elder arrived near Qianye and said, ¡°I have appeared.¡±

 Chapter 1271: Troops vs Troops

    <h4>Chapter 1271: Troops vs Troops</h4>

    The Storm Duke was d in a simple robe and turbanmonly seen among desert-dwellers. The hems of his robes were somewhat worn, and the leather on his scabbard was covered in a shiny patina, all proof of passing time.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the manner in which he had appeared¡ªand the suppressive might covering the entire battlefield¡ªno one would¡¯ve noticed that this unassuming old hunter was the Storm Duke of Fort Continent.

    The duke walked step by step toward Qianye. Thetter only watched as the werewolf entered within a hundred meters of him, which was the safe distance between divine champions, then thirty meters, which was the assault range for most experts. By the time the Storm Duke came to a stop, the two were almost at an arm¡¯s length.

    The duke¡¯s big-jointed fingers moved ever so slightly with each step, the scimitar at his waist humming along to them.

    At this distance, either opponent could hurt the other with just an eruption of origin power; there wasn¡¯t even a need to move. One could tell from his name that the Storm Duke specialized in speed and explosive power. At this range, victory and defeat were on a thin line.

    Qianye¡¯sshes didn¡¯t even tremble. ¡°Your men have crossed the border, they have to pay the price.¡±

    ¡°Young man, there was no border here, to begin with. Where my warriors go, that¡¯s where the border is.¡±

    ¡°If what you say is true, then your border just shrank a hundred meters.¡±

    A sharp glint flickered in the Storm Duke¡¯s eyes. ¡°Young man, are you trying to provoke me? Is this a deration of war?¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°A fight is inevitable, but after seeing you, I feel that we can discuss how we fight.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Let our underlings fight on their own, we stay out of it.¡±

    The Storm Dukeughed out loud. ¡°Do you think you¡¯re my match now? Why must I listen to such a silly suggestion?¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°The Whitebone Duke thought the same, now he¡¯s a corpse.¡±

    ¡°Hmph! Whitebone is a useless madman, how can youpare him to me? Don¡¯t tell me you think you can win against me just because you... Eh?¡±

    The Storm Duke¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He retreated a hundred meters in a sh, almost as quickly as Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh. In his vision, the essence blood in Qianye¡¯s chest was billowing as a sanguine moon rose up over it! The abrupt increase in power forced him to retreat involuntarily.

    ¡°Vice duke!¡± The Storm Duke¡¯s tone was different

    ¡°A bit short of it, but just a tiny bit.¡±

    The Storm Duke narrowed his eyes. ¡°Turns out you killed Whitebone as a glorious marquis.¡±

    ¡°I was somewhat fortunate back then, but now, I¡¯m stronger. It won¡¯t take as much effort to kill him.¡±

    ¡°Whitebone is Whitebone, I am me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not alone, though. I have that.¡± Qianye pointed at the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The Storm Duke focused on the Martyr¡¯s Pce and sniffed in that direction. He said with a serious expression, ¡°It¡¯s alive?¡±

    ¡°Just a remnant will. Why not go in with me and see for yourself?¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡±

    ¡°And I thought you woulde without being invited.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words contained a deeper meaning, and the Storm Duke understood what he meant. After some thought, he said, ¡°I still think my chances are better.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t stop me with this airship on my side. I can level all the cities in your territory with rtive ease. Well, I can¡¯t stop whatever you do, either, but don¡¯t forget that this isn¡¯t my home.¡±

    The Storm Duke¡¯s eyes shifted about. He had to admit that Qianye had pointed out his weakness. The duke, of course, knew that Qianye was aplete stranger despite having obtained the vast territory and army. This meant that his foundations weren¡¯t here, and neither were his core forces.

    This meant that if both sides were to throw away the rules and start a massacre, the Storm Duke would be losing his core interests. Qianye would only need to replenish cannon fodder no matter how steep his losses were. The duke would have to cross continents to the neutralnds to pick a fight.

    The Storm Duke said slowly, ¡°If you and your gship stay out of this, I will as well.¡±

    ¡°Swear to the spirit of your ancestors.¡±

    ¡°I swear to the spirit of my ancestors.¡±

    After both parties had given their pledge, the Storm Duke took one step back and disappeared in the form of a whirlwind.

    The werewolf army below didn¡¯t know what to do. They nced at one another, waiting for the order to either advance or retreat. But Qianye had killed all the chiefs andmanders at the center, leaving only a handful of ordinary experts. The werewolf army had no idea who to listen to, and the experts themselves did not know who among them should take the reins.

    Qianye felt somewhat surprised¡ªthe situation on the battlefield was a bonus beyond what was promised. He had, at first, thought that the Storm Duke¡¯s tribes would be more organized than the Whitebone Duke¡¯s, but it would seem they were still ways off from the Great Qin¡¯s system.

    Following the setback, the aristocratic private armies had already constructed their defensive line. They had brought with them mobile armor tes which they pieced together to form a small steel fortress.

    The soldiers sent to Fort Continent were either elites or troublemakers. Thetter kind could also be considered elites on their own right since none of them would fear a group of primitive werewolves as long as they had enough cover and ammunition.

    Besides, everyone was in high spirits after seeing Qianye force the Storm Duke back. Everyone was shouting, rearing for a good battle.

    Of course, they weren¡¯t stupid enough to charge out of the fortifications, no matter how hot-blooded they were. The Storm Duke¡¯s werewolves were leagues apart from the country bumpkins of the Jade Sea. Although their strategy was fairly backward, at least many of them were armored.

    The werewolf army finally began to organize after a period of chaos. No longer able to watch from the sidelines, several of the Storm Duke¡¯s aides stepped out to take overmand.

    There were simply too many werewolves here. Even after suffering attacks from Qianye and the Martyr¡¯s Pce, there were over a hundred thousand of them left. On the other hand, the allied forces of the aristocratic family numbered a mere twenty thousand¡ªthat was including the thousands of werewolves Qianye had transferred over. This five-to-one advantage was too enticing for the enemy army.

    Hence, after a period of reorganization, a long bugle cry echoed from the army, and squad after squad of soldiers marched toward the allied fortification.

    A battle ensued.

    The Storm Duke¡¯s werewolves erupted in full force, mming repeatedly into the fortification as the private soldiers retaliated with all their might. Yet, they soon discovered that there were simply too many enemies, so much so that they couldn¡¯t mow them down fast enough. After several waves, arge number of werewolves managed to break through the defensive line and into the fortification.

    The primitive tribal werewolves might not becking in equipment, but they were fairly powerful in close quartersbat. The casualty rates would surely increase now that they had closed in. The private soldiers sent to Fort Continent were also brave people; they immediately split off some forces to engage in meleebat. The thousands of werewolves Qianye had dispatched also sallied forth to kill all enemies who had managed to enter the fortification.

    Qianye¡¯s werewolves were all well-armored, with shields and axes of far greater quality than the Storm Duke¡¯s men. Thetter found themselves unable to prate the defenders¡¯ armor. Their weapons and gear, on the other hand, were easily damaged. This batch of well-trained werewolves wasn¡¯t beneath the Storm Duke¡¯s soldiers in terms of strength, so the overwhelming weapons advantage brought them swift victory.

    With Qianye¡¯s werewolf elites standing guard, the private soldiers could let loose on the iing enemy. Their firepower increased abruptly, mowing down the iing enemies in droves.

    Even so, the difference was so great that more and more openings appeared in the make-shift fortress.

    It was at this time that a squadron of airships appeared in the distant sky. A concentrated volley of cannon fire immediately swallowed up the Storm Duke¡¯s werewolves. This airship squadron was made up of very different vessels, all kinds of them in fact. There were fairly new warship models among them, as well as cargo ships equipped with a few cannons.

    Despite their disuniformity, there were dozens of airships and close to a hundred cannons in this squadron. The weapons weren¡¯t exactly high-caliber armaments, but the firepower was still quite impressive.

    In the blink of an eye, the Storm Duke¡¯s werewolves suffered grave casualties and fell into dire straits. They could neither push forward nor retreat.

    Howling winds appeared in the sky once more, and with it came the Storm Duke¡¯s angry voice. ¡°Qianye, you broke your promise!¡±

    Qianye replied coldly, ¡°I said my Martyr¡¯s Pce wouldn¡¯t join the battle, I didn¡¯t say the other airships can¡¯t be used. If you feel that it¡¯s not fair, feel free to transfer your airforce as well.¡±

    The Storm Duke said after a moment of silence, ¡°Good, just you wait. I¡¯ll let you know that Fort Continent isn¡¯t a ce you can do as you wish.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

    A long, mournful bugle-cry echoed throughout the battlefield. The Storm Duke¡¯s werewolves finally started to retreat, unable to withstand the attack from the air and ground.

    However, it was toote. Qianye¡¯s fleettched onto the enemy as they fell back, raining ammunition down on them along the way. During the hunt, some airships even lowered their altitude and began to sweep the ground with their gatling guns. This type of attack was fairly outrageous, but who was to me for Qianye¡¯s side holding the overwhelming advantage?

    Only a small number of airships came from Dark me, while most of them were escort vessels from the aristocracy. These families had always prioritized quality over quantity, putting great emphasis on air dominance. Now that a dozen or so of them were working together, they were able to form a small squadron with just three warships from each family.

    This kind of rabble was nothing in the face of a regr air force, but they were on Fort Continent. The Storm Duke could hardly boast a handful of presentable airships, nor had they ever brought these vessels to the front line. They weren¡¯t about to call their airships over just tomit suicide.

    Additionally, Qianye had killed off all of themanding officers in the central army. This meant that there were no experts to fight back against aerial attacks, let alone pose a threat.

    The allied squadron thus had no fear. They hunted the retreating forces for hundreds of kilometers and only returned when the great enemy army was scattered.

    Not only did they manage to take back the territories belonging to the Jade Sea, they even pushed several kilometers into the Storm Duke¡¯s territory. The private armies had no intention of pulling back¡ªthey saw one out of every two kilometers gained as their own, so why would they retreat? It was just as the Storm Duke had said, wherever they brought the fight was the border.

    Despite the victory, the arrogant private army alliance woke up to the reality of Fort Continent and the reason why Qianye had dispatched five thousand well-equipped melee fighters.

    After the battle was over, the first thing themanding officer of the alliance did wasn¡¯t to sweep the field. Instead, he wrote two letters, one of which was dispatched to the Empire to request more experts. Fear of the Storm Duke¡¯s forces had taken root in his heart, but they also knew that the experts under the duke were a force the alliance could tackle.

    The other letter was for Qianye. After a voluminous series of praises, in the beginning, he tactfully requested a couple thousand more armored werewolf warriors and that they would provide more equipment in return.

    Qianye had left almost as soon as the Storm Duke had departed and was now back in Cerulean Wave City. He was naturally happy to ept the proposal after reading the letter.

    Qianye¡¯s role didn¡¯t seem too big in the fight against the Storm Duke. At the very least, there was no way to foretell the oue until his fight to the death with thetter. However, it was fine for the allied army to push a hundred or so kilometers into the Storm Duke¡¯s territory. This was a loss the enemy would have to ept.

    Qianye jumped to the end of the letter to check the results. Enemy losses: seventy thousand. Most of them were killed in battle, with only a couple thousand captured.

    Now this number was rather interesting.

 Chapter 1272: Son of Darkness

    <h4>Chapter 1272: Son of Darkness</h4>

    Qianye closed the report and dispatched five thousand newly-trained werewolves to the allied army. Then, he summoned the great shaman and asked, ¡°You say I¡¯m the son of darkness, but why do the werewolves of the storm territory not submit to me? Why is their will to fight so firm?¡±

    The great shaman did not panic. He said with a bow, ¡°Sire, there can be many sons of darkness. In truth, the Storm Duke is the true son of darkness to the werewolves in his territory. The duke himself nevermented on this rumor, but he did make the effort to spread this news.

    ¡°Does the son of darkness really exist?¡±

    ¡°Of course, you are one.¡±

    Qianye was nomittal. ¡°You said there can be many sons of darkness.¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°Legends about the son of darkness have been circting for hundreds of years, and no one knows when it appeared. The mysterious thing about it is that most werewolves already have memories of it when they awaken to their intelligence. This nted the legend even deeper into our hearts and faith. That was probably why every werewolf duke would secretly or openly im themselves to be the son of darkness, thus strengthening their rule. They know that was actually not the truth and so do we.¡±

    ¡°Did the Whitebone Duke im to be the son of darkness?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Sire.¡±

    ¡°Then why do you believe I am the son of darkness?¡±

    ¡°The feeling, trepidation, and terror. You merely need to stand there to make me believe that the darkness origins have appeared before me. That is why the werewolves of the Jade Sea serve you, even though you belong to the vampire bloodline.¡±

    Qianye said after some contemtion, ¡°You can sense the purity of darkness origin power?¡±

    ¡°I myself cannot, but I can if I borrow the eyes of the ancestors.¡±

    A plume of golden-red mes lit up at his fingertips. ¡°How about this?¡±

    The great shaman said, ¡°This power of blood is very pure, but it¡¯s still quite a distance from the darkness origins. This isn¡¯t the original state of your power.¡±

    Qianye was observing the great shaman while he was speaking. The great shaman¡¯s eyes were covered by ayer of green light when he nced at the me, almost as though he was using a different pair of eyes. This was probably the ancestral eyes he was talking about.

    Regardless, the great shaman¡¯s conclusion was fairly urate. The blood energy he had just released was an imitation of Nighteye¡¯s original blood energy. It was indeed inferior to his true ancient vampire bloodline, but only true experts could see through this difference. It was simply miraculous that the great shaman could see the difference despite being a virtuous count. It would seem his ancestral eyes were quite useful.

    ¡°Then, how do I force the werewolves under the Storm Duke to submit?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s both simple and difficult. You just need to kill the Storm Duke and put your true power on disy. The great shaman there will submit to you and recognize you as the true son of darkness.¡±

    Qianye gazed deeply into the great shaman¡¯s eyes. ¡°Sounds like all shamans are the same.¡±

    The great shaman¡¯s expression remained calm. ¡°Of course not. Our allegiance is true faith, while theirs will be forced.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°His ancestors are blind.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say to this. He said after some thought, ¡°Is there a way I can force the Storm Duke to yield to me?¡±

    ¡°Can you defeat him?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°When can you beat him then?¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°At most half a year.¡±

    With Zhang Boqian¡¯s version of the Profound Combatant Form, Qianye¡¯s cultivation rate had increased by leaps and bounds. After reaching the divine champion realm, his daybreak origin power foundation was enough for his blood energy to reach the duke rank. With both sides in equilibrium, Qianye was eighty percent certain of defeating the Storm Duke.

    The great shaman wasn¡¯t too surprised. ¡°Then let¡¯s see after you defeat him.¡±

    Qianye found that to be logical. He could advance to the vice-duke rank anytime and easily defeat the Storm Duke by borrowing the strength of the Martyr¡¯s Pce and Caroline. However, it would be fairly difficult to kill or even capture the werewolf duke, let alone subdue him.

    Qianye pushed this matter to the side for now and summoned Xu Jingxuan to inquire about the new world base.

    ¡°We¡¯ll need ten more days at least, Sire.¡±

    Progress was slower than expected, but then again, building arge base in such a short time involved vast amounts of manpower and resources. This wouldn¡¯t even be possible without the hundreds of trucks and machinery from the aristocratic families, as well as the hundreds of thousands of strong werewolves.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll give you ten more days.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan epted the order, then asked cautiously, ¡°Sire, shouldn¡¯t we be building a steady foothold in the new world, why the rush?¡±

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°I have a feeling that the enemy has made much more progress than we have. We might be kicked out from the new world if we don¡¯t make haste.¡±

    The intuition of a peak expert wasn¡¯t an intangible existence. Xu Jingxuan nodded, saying. ¡°I understand. Sire, there¡¯s something that requires your decision.¡± He then produced a sheet of paper which he passed to Qianye.

    Qianye saw that this was a list, categorized ording to race and position. The bigger categories were fairly strange, namely Zheng, storm werewolves, tribal werewolves, and Imperial aristocracy.

    Without waiting for Qianye to ask, Xu Jingxuan said, ¡°These people have been transmitting information to the outside. I have separated them ording to the direction they have been sending information. How do you want to punish them?¡±

    Qianye understood that these were spies. His forces had grown so rapidly that there was never time to screen the men individually. It was only natural that people with different intentions would¡¯ve found their way in. Those on the list were probably just a small portion of those lurking in the shadows.

    Qianye picked up a brush and drew a cross under the storm werewolves. ¡°Capture and ughter all of them. As for these...¡±

    He drew a circle on the tribal werewolves. ¡°Capture them and assign them to forcedbor, no need to kill them.¡±

    The tribal werewolves came from the Jade Sea and belonged to those who didn¡¯t submit to Qianye early on. Qianye felt that there was still a chance he could subdue them, so he had no n to ughter them randomly.

    Qianye drew a cross on Zheng and a tick under the Empire.

    Xu Jingxuan understood that he had to kill the spies from Zheng, but he had no idea what the mark under the Empire meant. Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Let those from the Empire do what they want and transmit whatever information they want to. There¡¯s no need to be guarded against them, just let them know whatever they should know.¡±

    Xu Jingxuan was surprised. ¡°Then won¡¯t our real situation in the new world bepromised?¡±

    ¡°I just want to let them know.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Xu Jingxuan didn¡¯t quite understand, but he didn¡¯t ask further since Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to exin. He merely affirmed his order and withdrew.

    Qianye asked for his equipment and supplies, then once again entered the new world to explore its depths. He wanted to confirm the next direction before the base waspleted.

    ...

    Twilight Continent. Arge shadow fell over Castle Ducasse as a transport fleet moved in, almost blotting out the skies. The castle had already expanded its airship port several times over yet still couldn¡¯t amodate such a massive fleet. Hence, they could only choose to unload the goods in batches.

    Walking out from the first batch of airships were fully-armed warriors with tactical backpacks. They fell swiftly in line after alighting and were led to their designated camps.

    Their so-called camp area was just an empty plot ofnd, but the well-prepared vampire soldiers brought out various equipment and set up their own tents. They had just finished setting up camp when several cars drove into the area and a viscount came down from the first vehicle.

    He confirmed the designation and number of people in this squad with the officer in charge, before waving his hand inmand. The peopleing down from other cars were all doctors carrying boxes of injection medicines. The new squad fell into line and epted the injection one by one.

    Very soon, hundreds of vampire soldiers had been injected. The viscount said in a satisfied tone, ¡°Observe them carefully, they can enter the new world if nothing abnormal happens by tomorrow night. I¡¯ll be leaving now if there¡¯s nothing else, I need to head to the next camp. I have to cover eleven camps in total today.¡±

    The squadmander asked, ¡°Sire, what¡¯s the condition in the new world?¡±

    ¡°Everything is going well at the moment, but I heard...¡±

    ¡°What did you hear?¡±

    The viscount nced at the castle and shivered all of a sudden. ¡°Let it be, that¡¯s not something you should know. I¡¯m leaving!¡±

    With that, he left hurriedly with his entourage, leaving the other officer no time to stop him.

    Several vampire elders were seated in the conference room of the ancient castle. A marquis with snow-white hair walked into the room and hung a map on the wall. The markings on the map were fairly strange¡ªit wasn¡¯t in the shape of any known continent. The orientation wasn¡¯t vertical but instead an arch.

    The marquis nced at the empty chair at the center. ¡°Is Her Majesty noting?¡±

    ¡°Just like before, she probably won¡¯te. Let¡¯s begin.¡±

    The old marquis sighed. ¡°Without her, our progress mightg behind the other races.¡±

    ¡°We have no right to question Her Majesty¡¯s decision. Let¡¯s begin,¡± a duke spoke.

    The old marquis stopped speaking and drew a winding path on the map. ¡°This is our progress in the recent three days.¡±

    ¡°The Lightless Monarch¡¯s progress is passable.¡±

    ¡°The ming Crown¡¯s progress is quite good.¡±

    ¡°The Azure King isgging behind.¡±

    ¡°The slowest is our side.¡± The room fell into silence.

    Momentster, one of the dukes said, ¡°How are the other three races doing?¡±

    The old marquis drew three more paths on the map. These lines represented different expansion points, but it was easy to see that they were all moving toward the center. Different colors represented different races¡ªck for the demonkin, green for the werewolves, and grey for the arachne.

    Some of the dukes jumped to their feet upon seeing the three paths. ¡°The demonkin are progressing so fast!¡±

    The old marquis said, ¡°These are the numbers they gave us, who knows if it¡¯s real.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way the numbers exceed their progress. This won¡¯t do, we must discuss this matter with Her Majesty and make haste to catch up. She must join the battle.¡±

    ¡°The problem is, who will talk to Her Majesty?¡±

 Chapter 1273: Voice of the Sacred River

    <h4>Chapter 1273: Voice of the Sacred River</h4>

    This problem silenced the crowd.

    Seeing this, the old marquis sighed. ¡°Right now, we¡¯re only a bit faster than the werewolves. Don¡¯t forget that the werewolves only control two entrances while we have four. Perhaps we should send more soldiers into the new world.¡±

    A duke said, ¡°We¡¯re almost out of holy tree sap, so the number we can add is limited.¡±

    ¡°As long as we conquer the fourth forest, we might be able to catch up to the demonkin.¡±

    ¡°The fourth forest, do you mean the one with four holy trees? I¡¯m not willing to face the Brightsun Tribe there.¡±

    Anotherpse of silence ensued.

    After a good while, someone broke the silence. ¡°Judging from their progress, the demonkin have probably taken two forests with four holy trees.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t help it, the Demon King is awake at the moment.¡±

    ¡°We should¡¯ve been pretty close too...¡±

    A white-haired duke said, ¡°There might be a way to have Her Majesty join the battle.¡±

    ¡°What method?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not willing to use it, let¡¯s wait until there¡¯s no other choice.¡±

    The meeting room fell into silence once again. Perhaps to break the awkward atmosphere, someone said, ¡°Let¡¯s discuss our progress in detail.¡±

    The marquis collected his thoughts and said, ¡°Up to this point, the Azure King and the Lightless Monarch have each taken down a three-tree forest. The ming Crown has taken two in one go. Habsburg is currently scouting the four-holy-tree forest for a potential assault.¡±

    ¡°The ming Crown sure lives up to his name!¡±

    ¡°With Prince Habsburg¡¯s strength, will our vampire race produce yet another great dark monarch?¡±

    ¡°Recently, I can faintly sense the River of Blood trembling. Perhaps the prince is close to a breakthrough.¡±

    ¡°The probability isn¡¯t too high. It hasn¡¯t been long since he became a prince, how can it be that fast? Even if he is epted as someone with greater potential than the second generation progenitor, the fastest a prince can be a great dark monarch is a thousand years.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that His Excellency has ignited a seal.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the second-generation progenitor do the same during ancient times? He spent close to a thousand years as well to break through.¡±

    ¡°Humph! What you say makes sense, but how will you exin the recent activity in the River of Blood?¡±

    ¡°... Perhaps the river is about to wake up from its slumber?¡±

    At this point, everyone exchanged nces, unable to hide the excitement on their faces. The River of Blood had been asleep for many years, and with its dormancy, the vampire race was somewhat weakened as a whole. This was something everyone above the duke rank understood but wouldn¡¯t say.

    After Habsburg reignited the ming Crown, the sacred river unleashed several waves of mysterious energy. This undoubtedly made people excited. These days, the dukes actually started to sense the River of Blood¡¯s vague existence, and that was an inexplicable sensation of joy.

    Despite the tion, the sensation the dukes could feel was still fairly weak. Even the eldest among them had never witnessed the river in its active state, so most of them simply thought that it was a misconception. Now, they immediately realized that it was no illusion since everyone could sense it.

    ¡°Perhaps someone from our race has broken through.¡± A duke mentioned another possibility.

    ¡°A breakthrough that can move the River of Blood? If that is the case, their future prospects cannot be inferior to Prince Habsburg.¡±

    ¡°We should pay attention and see who is preparing to break through.¡±

    ¡°The strange thing is that none of the primos have shown any movement. Twilight is the only one who¡¯s about to break through, but I think she¡¯s too weak to stir the river.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps someone is undergoing a second awakening?¡±

    ¡°The possibility is low, but let¡¯s observe for now.¡±

    It was at this time that the dukes¡¯ expressions shifted drastically. They could clearly sense a massive wave rising from the River of Blood. The sensation from the river was crystal clear¡ªthat wave rose from the source of the river and flowed downstream, eventually vanishing into an unknown corner of time.

    This surge in the River of Blood resonated with the bloodlines of all sacred-blooded scions. A wondrous scene appeared all of a sudden¡ªwisps of blood energy shot out from the source of the river and somehow showered down from the void. Everyone at the scene¡ªincluding the old marquis¡ªsat still with their eyes closed, focusing on this divine boon.

    This was blood energy from the source of the River of Blood, and its quality was far superior to any single duke¡¯s. Although they could only obtain three to five strands each, the sensation was indescribablyfortable. It was as though their organs had all been washed by a clear stream.

    The change from the River of Blood vanished as quickly as it had appeared. It disappeared into the depths of the void within moments, almost as though it had never appeared. No one could sense it again. Some of the dukes slowly opened their eyes, still intoxicated in the feeling and feeling regretful. Someone said, ¡°If only it couldst a bit longer.¡±

    Everyone felt the same.

    If only they could exchange their blood energy with that from the River of Blood, breaking through to the great dark monarch realm would be a natural process. Unfortunately, that was just a dream, something even the Queen of the Night could not aplish. That was why she was known as the second drop of blood from the river.

    The wisps of blood energy were negligible for duke grade experts. This amount could do nothing to help their cultivation, but something seemed to have changed aftering into contact with the source of the river. Several experts felt that their bloodline power had improved somewhat. In this regard, even a minuscule amount of improvement was valuable.

    The awakening of the river was enough to excite everyone, let alone one involving such a bounty.

    The experts eventually woke up from their reverie, and one of them remembered. ¡°What was with the River of Blood just now?¡±

    The dukes jumped to their feet, saying, ¡°Quick, investigate who just broke through!¡±

    Such amotion was taking ce not just in Castle Ducasse, but in all vampire camps across the continents.

    Thest time every expert had sensed the resonance was when Habsburg broke through. Moreover, the river had stirred quite strongly this time, and this signified the birth of yet another vampire genius and expert.

    The Frostpole Continent, right outside the door to the new world. On these ins covered year-round in snow, there was a fortress so big that it could be called a city.

    The scale of this fortress wasparable to Castle Ducasse. Tens of thousands of demonkin and their vassal races had gathered here. Team after team of craftsmen were building one workshop after the other, seemingly turning the ce into a permanent base.

    There were three hundred-meter towers at the center of the fortress, joined together by a ring. There was an icy pce hall at the center of this ring overlooking the entire city.

    This pce hall was currently themand center of the entire Frostpole Continent, a peerless existence¡ªthe sole reason being that the lord of the Masefield family was currently in this hall.

    Over a dozen demonkin were scattered around the room, all of them sporting profound presences. The weakest among them was a glorious marquis. There seemed to be a ck hole in the central seat, seemingly devouring all aura and never releasing them. That tremendous, deep darkness filled the spectator with an involuntary fear.

    At this moment, a deep, imposing voice echoed from the darkness, ¡°Any news regarding the stirring of the River of Blood?¡±

    A demonkin duke said with a bow, ¡°Your Highness, the incident happened suddenly, there has been no news yet.¡±

    The Masefield n lord said, ¡°Go and investigate immediately, especially the ns with members breaking through recently.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    A surge of coldness emerged from the depths of the darkness, signaling the end of this meeting. The dukes and marquises withdrew, leaving only two great dukes behind.

    ¡°Pay attention to the vampires while exploring the new world, check whether any experts with potential have appeared. You can also get rid of them while you¡¯re at it.¡±

    The two great dukes were surprised. ¡°Your Highness, the appearance of the River of Blood is a rare urrence. Even considering it¡¯s true, Habsburg alone can¡¯t turn the tables between our races. Targeting their children at such a time might invite a strong bacsh; the werewolves and arachne won¡¯t stand with us, either. Isn¡¯t this price too steep just to kill a vampire expert with potential?¡±

    There was a brief fluctuation in the dark voice. ¡°You don¡¯t understand. Habsburg stirring the River of Blood isn¡¯t just about him gaining power. It¡¯s also this world summoning and calling upon the river. If this keeps up, the River of Blood will grow stronger and move closer to our world. Stopping the river from awakening is an important mission for our race.¡±

    This was the first time these great dukes had heard of such detailed secrets, but as high-ranking characters, they regained theirposure after a moment of surprise. ¡°Your Majesty, rest assured. We willplete the task.¡±

    The deep darkness gradually began to expand. The two dukes left the hall and entered the new world in a hurry.

    The Fluid Hall of the Imperial Pce was shrouded in steam. The deep smell of sulfur, mixed with the fragrance of herbs, seeped into one¡¯s soul. The wisps of origin power in the steam were so dense that they were visible to the naked eye. It almost seemed like the entire hall was filled with a strange glow.

    Ordinary people could not withstand such intense daybreak origin power. Those who stepped in here would feel as though they were breathing fire, and their innards would be reduced to charcoal in just a couple of breaths. Even a champion couldn¡¯t stay here for long; perhaps just a few minutes.

    This was a holynd for cultivation, but the daybreak origin power was too pure and intense. It would be torture for those with slightly inferior talents and just a bit of impurity in their cultivation.

    There was a pond at the center of the hall that was constructed to look like a natural pool. Someone was lying still in its golden waters.

    This was the supreme ruler of Great Qin, the Radiant Emperor.

    After an unknown length of time in the pond, he finally opened his eyes and sat up slowly. Once out of the water, a gentle tune echoed in the hall as several maids filed in with towels and clothes. These maids weren¡¯t young, and their cultivation was extraordinary. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be possible for them to remain in the Fluid Hall for long.

    The Radiant Emperor walked out of the pool. Scanning the towel in one of the maid¡¯s hands, he said with a frown, ¡°How many times have we told you that we have no need for such things.¡±

    An origin me flickered on his body, evaporating all the water as he picked up his clothes and put them on.

    An inner attendant said, ¡°Your Majesty, you are the supreme ruler of the world. This kind of etiquette is a must or people will criticize you.¡±

    ¡°Only when I tten the Evernight faction can I be considered the supreme ruler of the world.¡±

 Chapter 1274: Fate and the Hear

    <h4>Chapter 1274: Fate and the Hear</h4>

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s aspirations only became evident after the Pointer Monarch had been uprooted. Although there was still criticism behind the scenes regarding his over-ambitiousness, he remained true to his path.

    After leaving the Fluid Hall, the emperor headed toward Wave Hall where his study was. This was where he usually handled official matters. The emperor would never stay here for long when the Longevity Monarch was still alive; only for specific official discussions and the like. After the monarch¡¯s death, he seemed to be spending all his time here, to the point of neglecting the harem.

    After he had taken his seat in the Wave Hall, an attendant brought out a thick stack of documents. The emperor went through them one after the other, delighted at times and gloomy in others. His brows rose sharply in surprise when he arrived at a certain document. He didn¡¯t put it down immediately after reading it and, instead, went through it again. He then asked someone to summon Empress Li.

    Once Empress Li entered the hall, the emperor said, ¡°Things look dire on the Transcendent Continent, do you have any good ideas for me?¡±

    Empress Li smiled. ¡°I can¡¯t even use my divination anymore, how can I have any good ideas?¡±

    ¡°Transcendent¡¯s danger has greatly weakened the Empire¡¯s strength. Our progress in the new world is probably far behind Evernight. Humph, those useless people! I must drag them out and sacrifice a few once the situation in the new world is stable!¡±

    ¡°Nothing in the world, big or small, is worthy of you getting angry. Speaking of which, didn¡¯t we dispatch two army corps?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor stood up with a sigh and paced around a bit. ¡°Ignoring the fighting power of these rushed troops, they¡¯re still fighting on their own on Transcendent Continent. The aristocratic families want them to be the frontline cushion, but there¡¯s no way those twomanders will fall for that. They¡¯re giving all kinds of excuses to withhold their forces. In the end, everything is just a loose te of sand.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°Is it the Nangong family leading Transcendent?¡±

    ¡°Who else?¡±

    ¡°That sure sounds like their style, but using the Imperial army as cannon fodder is too excessive.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor snorted. ¡°Do they think I have no idea what they¡¯re plotting? The Nangong have lost theirnd. What do I do if all the other aristocratic families lose their territories as well? I can¡¯t just toss them all into thendowning caste, can I? They¡¯re only one step away from that state.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°These aristocratic families are all failing, there¡¯s no good solution even after a thousand years. Unless...¡±

    The Radiant Emperor shook his head, stopping the empress from continuing. He brought out a document and passed it to her. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not all bad news. The good news doesn¡¯t disappoint.¡±

    Empress Li opened the document, looking rather surprised as she read the contents. ¡°The Yin and Kong borrowed troops from Qianye and returned to Transcendent Continent. They¡¯ve already annihted one beast legion and released the Kong family¡¯s territories. Now that¡¯s fast. How many soldiers did Qianye lend them?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor stretched out a finger.

    ¡°Ten thousand? Nah, that¡¯s too little. A hundred thousand?¡±

    ¡°Just one, a divine champion.¡±

    ¡°Divine champion!¡± After the initial surprise, Empress Li sighed. ¡°Now that¡¯s a pretty powerful hand to y. Has he already found his footing on Fort Continent?¡±

    ¡°Not just that, I have a feeling his progress in the new world is even faster than Zhao Jundu and Zining. Just look at this.¡±

    Empress Li received the document, eximing in surprise when she opened it. ¡°Five hundred thousand! And werewolves, no less! How is that even possible?¡±

    The Radiant Emperorughed wryly. ¡°I also thought it was impossible at first, but this is certain. The informationes from an old asset. That person has remained hidden on Fort Continent for many years and only acts on big news. He has never made a mistake before. Besides, multiple other channels have confirmed this fact. Even some of the aristocracy dispatched to Fort Continent have witnessed Qianye¡¯s werewolf army. The part they saw only contained about a hundred thousand soldiers, but those are only new troops undergoing training. His main forces have probably entered the new world already.¡±

    ¡°This Qianye really is...¡± Empress Li didn¡¯t know how to describe him.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°This Qianye is rising to power so rapidly. He was just a young man with potential back then, but now, he¡¯s a capable and powerful leader. As I see it, his ambitions have just started taking shape; his future is limitless. Humph, if only those idiots hadn¡¯t pushed him out of the Empire.¡±

    ¡°At least Qianye¡¯s heart still belongs to the Empire. After all, he possesses a vampire bloodline, so it¡¯s not entirely appropriate for him to upy a high position in the Empire.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, but whatever the case, it¡¯s time to rope him in with everything we have.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°We have Duke Chengen, Zhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi, and Song Zining. There¡¯s no worry of him joining Evernight.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor shook his head. ¡°We can¡¯t becent. Don¡¯t forget how he killed his way into the militarypound and killed Li Fengshui, who was so much more powerful than him back then. He managed to escape with Nighteye in the end, but that¡¯s only because the Zhao n helped him secretly. He was prepared to die when he walked in. So, we can¡¯t be certain those friends of his are enough when ites to Nighteye.¡±

    Empress Li said warmly, ¡°Then what should we do, please instruct us.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°This Qianye is sentimental and loyal to his friends, but Ji Tianqing alone might not be enough to make him stay. If you have any other tricks up your sleeve, you¡¯d better use them all.¡±

    ¡°I do have my ways, but there will be a price involved. I wonder how much of a price you¡¯re willing to pay.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said after a moment of silence, ¡°Any price!¡±

    Empress Li affirmed the order, then left with a bow.

    The Radiant Emperor didn¡¯t return to his desk immediately. Instead, he turned toward a disy wall covered in drawings and calligraphy. These masterpieces from famous artists would be rotated out every ten days. Every Emperor of Qin shared love for calligraphy, drawing, or both. The work of these masters embodied their experiences andprehensions, so appreciating their work was one way to boost one¡¯s cultivation.

    The Radiant Emperor walked over to thetticework, where a small piece of artwork sat between several mountain and river paintings. He stared at it with a tired smile, then leaned his head lightly on the wall beside the inscription.

    ¡°Teacher... one day, you will see the bright sun rising from this world.¡±

    After leaving Wave Hall, Empress Li summoned Eunuch Liu. After the old man had taken his seat and had some tea, she said, ¡°You¡¯ve seen Qianye before in the neutralnds. What do you think of his potential?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said slowly, ¡°Do you even need my evaluation? He has already proven everything at the Frozen Jade Manor and on Fort Continent. He¡¯s already a lord of and, and his future is still boundless.¡±

    Empress Li asked again, ¡°That¡¯s what I do not understand, why was he able to gain the werewolves¡¯ loyalty?¡±

    It was clear that Eunuch Liu knew all about the situation on Fort Continent. ¡°After some thought, I can only think of one reason: bloodline power.¡±

    ¡°Please tell me more.¡±

    ¡°Qianye isn¡¯t a werewolf, but his darkness origin power is probably at an extremely high level and just as pure as its Venus Dawn counterpart. The dark races¡¯ bloodline power is, at its core, just a measure of how pure one¡¯s origin power is in the system. The closer one is to the darkness origins, the stronger he is. Whether it¡¯s blood energy or demonic energy, that¡¯s just the external appearance.¡±

    Empress Li was surprised. ¡°True. So does that mean Qianye possesses first-rate talent in blood energy as well?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my only exnation.¡±

    ¡°Inconceivable.¡± Empress Li sighed while shaking her head. ¡°How did our Empire lose such a talented person?¡±

    Eunuch Liu didn¡¯t think it was a serious matter. ¡°Talented people will arise in every generation, missing one or two doesn¡¯t affect the big picture. Song Zining is pretty good as well, and as I see it, it¡¯s not the end of the road for Zhao Jundu, either.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jundu?¡±

    ¡°After his foundations were damaged, he forced a breakthrough and buried himself in secr military affairs. Other people might think he¡¯s being ignorant, but I think this child is tempering his foundations like one would temper true gold in mes. Sess is not impossible.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°This Swallowcloud Zhao n sure produces a lot of talents.¡±

    ¡°The Zhao n is smart, but they don¡¯t have any top talents, so there¡¯s no need to fear them. This n produces geniuses in every generation, but it¡¯s precisely because they are so talented that they¡¯recking in polish; their progress has always been too smooth. Look at them, they have a host of divine champions but so few heavenly monarch candidates. If Zhao Wuji hadn¡¯t moved his entire n to the Western Continent, they would not be enjoying today¡¯s power and prosperity.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I think our Li n is also enjoying too much peace.¡±

    Eunuch Liu made noment. ¡°All of that is just my opinion.¡±

    ¡°Prince Greensun¡¯s path looks smooth, but after careful observation, it¡¯s actually full of sacrifices. He gave up everything except the martial path and every breakthrough was apanied by fatal perils. He would¡¯ve fallen if there was any mistake along the way.¡± Empress Li sighed at this point, almost as though she had thought of something.

    ¡°Are you thinking about that engagement, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°... Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Forgive me for being blunt, but Prince Greensun never agreed.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°You might not know, but the engagement could¡¯ve happened that day. It¡¯s just that the prince has just ascended to the heavenly monarch realm and is entirely focused on the martial path, he has no wish to be bound by anything. His reply was to discuss in ten years, but Kuann can¡¯t wait that long.¡±

    ¡°Since we cannot sacrifice ten years of youth for this engagement, then it was bound not to happen.¡±

    Empress Li nodded. ¡°At that point, I understood that all sess involves sacrifices. The more one wants, the more they will have to give. It¡¯s the same for a family or a country, prosperity always involves someone¡¯s sacrifice.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said calmly, ¡°The Li family is bound to be a major n, it¡¯s only a matter of time. What are you worried about?¡±

    Empress Li shook her head. ¡°People will talk about us if we ascend right now, we don¡¯t have nearly enough aplishments. On the other hand, it¡¯s only because of the Imperial Steward¡¯s departure that our family has this opportunity. We were utterly inferior to him in the divination field.¡±

    ¡°I wonder if I should say this.¡±

    ¡°Please speak freely.¡±

    ¡°Xitang¡¯s genius is not at all inferior to Prince Greensun. Competing with him is just seeking frustration.¡±

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°I know that¡¯s the case, but I¡¯m still unresigned. He¡¯s already gone, but he has left behind so many ns in motion. I just want to see if I can defeat him this once.¡±

    ¡°Where do you n to take action?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s Qianye.¡±

    ¡°... Then good luck, Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think my chances are good?¡±

    ¡°If the ns wereid down by Xitang, then Qianye will surely be at the heart of it. It¡¯s fine if you want to try, but don¡¯t be depressed if you fail.¡±

    ¡°A scheme is dead if it cannot adapt to the situation. He¡¯s gone now, so even if there¡¯s a n, it¡¯s a dead n. Why can¡¯t I win?¡±

    ¡°Fate reflects the human heart. Xitang might be gone, but Qianye remains... and that means the n is still alive. Your Majesty might be peerless in calcting heaven¡¯s mysteries, but the human heart...¡±

 Chapter 1275: Impossible

    <h4>Chapter 1275: Impossible</h4>

    In a serene courtyard in the outskirts of the capital, a figure in blue clothing was engaged in swordy. Her movements were carefree but precise, delivering lethal blows without the slightest of extra movement. It was just that her somewhat swollen body didn¡¯t quite match her killing moves.

    Empress Li¡¯s voice rang out from the side, ¡°Still practicing the sword in your condition?¡±

    The sword wielder was Li Kuann. She returned the de to its sheath after hearing those words and said, ¡°I feel ufortable if I don¡¯t move about a bit.¡±

    Empress Li sat down on one of the stone chairs and ordered the maid to prepare tea and refreshments. ¡°Come and try some, I made these myself. The ingredients are all quite rare.¡±

    Rather indifferent, Li Kuann walked over inrge strides and stuffed a piece in her mouth without even taking her seat. She was just about to swallow it in one go when her expression transformed into an interesting state.

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°How does it taste?¡±

    Li Kuann raised her head and swallowed hard. ¡°That tasted so bad!¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°This isn¡¯t so bad, considering I¡¯ve never cooked my entire life. The maids who tried them out said they taste good.¡±

    Li Kuann said, ¡°They¡¯ll probably die if they eat these pastries. How can they evenment on the taste?¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s smile remained unchanged. ¡°This is a new form, so someone has to try out the effects before I can give it to you. This medicine is highly beneficial to you, but you can only eat it once. I had to grasp the best ratio for this rare opportunity, and of course, a few of them had to die trying the product. If they don¡¯t die or die too slow, that means the medicine isn¡¯t strong enough.¡±

    At this point, Empress Li nced at the maids nearby. ¡°You may withdraw.¡±

    The maids looked pale, yet none of them dared to even breathe hard. The Empress¡¯ words sounded like an amnesty in their ears as they scattered off in all directions.

    Empress Li nced at Li Kuann¡¯s abdomen. ¡°How long?¡±

    Thetter said after a while, ¡°Probably this month.¡±

    ¡°This kid¡¯s talents are so great that it has be a bit of a headache. Nothing regr works on him. It¡¯s lucky that I managed to find some secret medicines from the national treasury that will benefit both you and the child. Eat all of these pastries.¡±

    Li Kuann picked up a piece and swallowed it after chewing briefly.

    ¡°You need to chew carefully for maximal medicinal effect,¡± Empress Li reminded.

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression turned rather unsightly, but she began chewing little by little before ingesting the food. Looking at the pastries remaining on the te, her face couldn¡¯t help but turn green.

    Empress Li chuckled. ¡°You can swallow them, I¡¯m just kidding.¡±

    Li Kuann couldn¡¯t even spare the effort to argue with the Empress. She immediately picked up the te and stuffed all of the pastries into her mouth, swallowing hard afterward.

    ¡°These pastries don¡¯t taste all that great, but you have to eat it all for the child. You won¡¯t dare offend me even if you have your doubts.¡±

    Li Kuann snorted but made no reply.

    ¡°So, stop struggling. Everything I do is for you.¡±

    Stroking her belly, Li Kuann said coldly, ¡°I acquiesced to even something like this. What else do you want for me? Sleep with more men? Even if you do, it¡¯ll have to be after I give birth.¡±

    Empress Li paid no attention to her angry sarcasm. ¡°There¡¯s something you need to do right now.¡±

    ¡°I knew it. What is it?¡±

    ¡°Qianye has been pioneering newnd on Fort Continent these days. Go meet him after you give birth, best let him see the child as well.¡±

    Li Kuann raised her voice with an angry expression. ¡°Impossible!¡±

    Empress Li patted her hand. ¡°You two already have a child, why are you afraid?¡±

    Li Kuann fell into a rare state of panic. ¡°No, this is not the same. He still doesn¡¯t know about it, and I don¡¯t want him to know about it, ever! What do I tell him when I see him?¡±

    ¡°The child needs a father.¡±

    ¡°In short, this is impossible!¡±

    Empress Li wasn¡¯t angry at all. ¡°You know my style. I will not sit by and watch Qianye get drawn into the Evernight Faction. If you¡¯re not willing, then don¡¯t me me for using extreme measures.¡±

    ¡°What are you nning!?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for me to use these methods if you listen to me. As such, you don¡¯t need to know them, do you?¡±

    Li Kuann slowly calmed down. ¡°You will destroy my martial path like this.¡±

    ¡°To the Empire, Qianye¡¯s position is more important than your martial path.¡±

    ¡°Leave, I don¡¯t want to see you or hear these things. At least, not until the child is born.¡±

    ¡°Then I shall return after he is born, but I¡¯m not so sure if I can wait that long.¡±

    Empress Li stood up and walked over to the gates, where she turned back and said, ¡°No matter how rare of a talent Qianye is, he still cannot reach a level where he can go toe-to-toe with a heavenly monarch. Besides, his gift still isn¡¯t at that level yet.¡±

    After Empress Li left, Li Kuann suddenly grabbed her sword. The grasp was so forceful that even her joints had turned green, but ultimately, she loosened her hand with a sigh.

    ...

    In the new world. Qianye slowly opened his eyes, within which countless runes could be seen pulsing in and out of existence. He hadn¡¯t expected that an opportunity to breakthrough would arise the moment he re-entered the new world. Hence, he immediately went into isted cultivation to refine essence blood and supplement his blood energy.

    The process went fairly smooth since he had broken through to the vice-duke rank back at Whitetown. Later on, Prince Greensun had used a peerless method to strike him back down to the marquis realm. It was only natural that he would break through after sufficient umtion.

    Although he was just a vice duke, there was a great difference between the duke and marquis realms. Qianye¡¯s bones were being remodeled by the blood energy, adding specs of dark golden color to them. The reformed areas were extremely firm, much more so than high-density alloys. He even suspected that his skeleton would slowly be top-grade material for making weapons.

    What he didn¡¯t quite expect was that he could stillmunicate with the River of Blood in the new world. Although he didn¡¯t experience a bloodline resonance like before, it still brought him great benefits. Not only did it bring himrge amounts of pure dark golden blood energy, but he also obtained numerous ancient inheritances and knowledge.

    Qianye stretched out his hands, and a pair of dark golden gloves appeared to his will. He moved his fingers about and found that the gloves felt quite real. If they weren¡¯t condensed from his own blood energy, he would easily have mistaken them for a pair of armored-gloves.

    He performed a grabbing motion through the air and a giant, blood-colored sword appeared in his grasp. A casual swing of this weapon shed the steel table in front of him into two.

    These sanguine armaments were gifts from the River of Blood. As long as there was enough blood energy, he would be able to summon all kinds of unique weapons. Neither the Whitebone Duke nor Storm Duke had used such a technique before. This was perhaps a skill unique to vampires, a boon from the River of Blood to the ancient vampires.

    Sensing something, Qianye walked out of the room and onto the terrace. From here, he could oversee the entire base and the door was right behind him.

    Within the base, close to a hundred thousand werewolves were kneeling in prayer at a shaman¡¯s lead. That familiar energy once again fell into Qianye¡¯s body, optimizing his bloodline at its core.

    Qianye had asked the great shaman before and understood that this was one of their oldest holy rites. It was used to express their devotion to the ancestors or some supreme being.

    It sounded as though this kind of ceremony did little except for appearances, but Qianye could feel a very real yet mysterious power both times. This energy was different from origin power, and he couldn¡¯t quite tell what it was or where it was from. Qianye had never read about it anywhere, either.

    He asked the great shaman several times but could only give up since the old wolf couldn¡¯t tell him much.

    For some reason, the werewolves of the entire base were engaging in the rite once again.

    The holy ceremony couldn¡¯t be disturbed, so Qianye could only wait while enjoying the baptism. After the prayer was over, Qianye summoned one of the shamans and asked about what was going on.

    The shaman said, ¡°When you were cultivating just now, all of us shamans sensed the darkness origins calling out to you. We had to stop and pray in the face of such a divine sign.¡±

    Qianye nodded and soon sent the shaman away.

    These primitive shamans were indeed sharp with their senses, but unfortunately, what Qianye had stirred just now was the River of Blood and not the darkness origins.

    The river was indeed simr to the darkness origins to a certain extent. It was possible that most people would simply perceive it as a stronger source of power in the darkness system, but to an expert at Qianye¡¯s level, the River of Blood was the River of Blood. It was fundamentally different from the darkness origins.

    Of course, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to exin the difference to these werewolves.

    After some rest, Qianye set out for the forward base outside of the forest with three holy trees. From there, he would explore deeper into the new world. The forward base had already beenpleted, and it was big enough to amodate a permanent garrison of fifty thousand troops. Qianye also paid a steep price to raise a kic tower here¡ªit would serve as the energy source for the base¡¯s ten cannon turrets!

    Such firepower could be considered crazy!

    Not long after he had set out, Qianye came upon a forest that stretched across an entire valley. He didn¡¯t enter recklessly since he could already sense great danger at its borders. Equipped with ample experience attacking forests, Qianye already understood their generalyout. Normally, the bigger the forest, the more holy trees there were at the center, and the stronger the six-armedmander.

    Judging from the size, this forest had to have at least four holy trees inside and the six-armed giant within was probably at the duke-rank. After a while of observation, Qianye approached the forest, caught a lone beast, and drenched himself in its blood.

    The initial results of the Empire¡¯s study had revealed that these creatures possessed a highly developed sense of smell. Bloodline Concealment could only hide his aura and not change his scent, but he could trick the creatures for a while by using their blood. It was enough if he could buy just a bit of time.

    After entering the forest, the first thing Qianye did was to move perpendicrly for a while. He then used the fluctuation from the holy trees to calcte where the heart of the forest was and began moving toward it.

    The deeper he went, the more beasts he encountered. Qianye carefully avoided the patrol squads, but as he closed in on the center of the forest, the creatures became so dense that they covered the entire field of vision. This meant that there was no more room for evasion.

    Seeing that it was no longer possible to go deeper in, Qianye simply unleashed his origin mes. The entire forest boiled over in the blink of an eye. There were so many of them that Qianye felt his scalp go numb!

 Chapter 1276: Taking Down a Four-Tree Fores

    <h4>Chapter 1276: Taking Down a Four-Tree Fores</h4>

    There were beast auras everywhere, so many that one could hardly keep count. His best guess from intuition was that there were at least two hundred thousand of them. This was equal to the second wave that had emerged from the door. Who knows how many more in the forest were still dormant?

    Qianye immediately calmed down after a moment of panic; there was no more fluctuation at all. It wasn¡¯t as though he didn¡¯t know that exploring a forest of this level was ying with fire at his level.

    Safety was never a prerequisite in his operations, mainly because he didn¡¯t have enough time. The distance between him and the Sacred Mountain was a distance others could only gaze upon with envy, something that would plunge anyone into despair. That was a distance he would need to cover.

    He had no good way for it, either. All he could do was forge ahead continuously, taking one step at a time. The only thing he needed to pause and think about was how to forge ahead amidst the perils. Stopping was never an option for him.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered continuously through the horde of beasts and soon arrived at the heart of the forest.

    The arrangement here was generally the same. The Holy Trees standing at each corner confirmed his guesses. The pond between them was deeper, bigger, and almost the size of a smallke.

    The ind at the center of theke was several times bigger and now sported a stone hall, supported by twelve stone pirs. The throne at the center was more magnificent and imposing. Upon it, the six-armedmander was asleep with his head propped up on his palm, his elbow on the handrest. This six-armed monster was even more enormous than the ones from before, and his entire body was covered in a strange type of armor. It didn¡¯t quite look man-made but rather a naturally formed armament.

    Just as before, there were several stgmites outside of the hall, just taller and wider. Each of these was a mobile resource depot, but they were also lethal weapons in thismander¡¯s hands.

    Qianye felt a sense of deja vu when he remembered the six-armed general from the Great Maelstrom. The two were somewhat simr¡ªthe current creature was a bit smaller but was definitely stronger. At the thought of this, he felt that creature ormander wasn¡¯t a suitable term for these beings. It would be better to call them generals.

    The observationsted but a moment before the six-armed general shook all over, apparently sensing the intruder.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to give him the time to react. He fired at the holy tree just as usual, and the six-armed general reacted simrly to its peers. Enraged, the general rushed out of the stone hall in his petrified state and blocked the origin bullet with a swing of hisrge palm. The impact sent shattered pieces of stone flying in all directions and elicited a pained growl from the creature.

    The next moment, the general roared in extreme fury as Qianye sted most of the stone chair away. Qianye, who had just taken advantage of the distraction to attack, was also startled by the results. He had never imagined that a st from Heartgrave would fail to destroy the throne entirely. This forest with four holy trees was indeed different.

    His thoughts shifted quickly as he raised his gun and took aim at the remaining portion of the throne. Shocked out of his wits, the general flew back to the hall and blocked the throne with his body. Such intense movements not only produced cracks all over his body, but there were various parts where his petrified skin sloughed off to reveal the flesh beneath.

    The general had managed to block the throne, but the gunshot he was waiting for never came. He looked up all of a sudden to see two, almost-connected ck feathers appear in front of him!

    The six-armed general didn¡¯t have the time to react before the feather vanished into his forehead.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered from his previous spot, not waiting to see the results at all. Behind him, the six-armed general roared while grabbing his head, his pained howls shaking the entire forest.

    Qianye appeared outside of the forest in a sh. He fell to the ground with a plop after stepping out of the void and had to struggle to mber up. He had used Spatial sh continuously to escape the massive beast army, so he was already drained at this point.

    It wasn¡¯t quite safe even outside of the forest. Qianye checked the direction and dragged himself behind a giant rock, where he produced the motorbike he had prepared earlier. He then started the engine and sped away.

    Countless beasts charged out from the forest, and the rumbling motorcycle undoubtedly became a noticeable target for the beasts to chase after. It was just that most of them stopped after leaving the forest, evidently confused. Only a couple dozen of them kept up the chase.

    On the motorbike, Qianye¡¯s blood was surging inside his body as he reached a state of blood-boil. His stamina was recovering fast. All of a sudden, he hit the brakes and charged back into the chasing pack of beasts, killing them all in just a few shes. He then mounted his vehicle and continued back.

    Qianye calmed down quite a bit after returning to base. Although some of the six-armed generals were stronger and others weaker, the arrangement in each forest was exactly the same. This gave him a lot of opportunities.

    This time, the six-armed general had been badly injured by two Shots of Inception. Despite that, he would surely leave the forest and seek revenge. Qianye was waiting for this moment. The heavy airship cannons on his ten turrets were prepared just for them.

    Once back at the base, Qianye ordered all troops to get ready for battle. At the same time, he urgently transferred soldiers from the bases at the rear. In half a day¡¯s time, eighty thousand soldiers had been stuffed into a base that could hold fifty thousand. Countless guns were aimed at the distant sky, waiting for the beast army to arrive.

    Qianye finally heaved a sigh of relief when the horde appeared over the horizon at dawn. This proved that the six-armed general couldn¡¯t stop himself from seeking revenge against Qianye despite his wounds. Qianye wouldn¡¯t be able to do much if the general had decided to hide in the forest and focus on recovery. The six-armed general¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t below Qianye¡¯s, to begin with. Who could kill such a creature if he were to hide behind a hundred thousand beasts?

    Everything would be much easier now that he was willing to lead his troops out of the forest.

    Qianye climbed up to the kic tower at the center of the base and cried out, ¡°Prepare for battle!¡±

    rms red across the fortress. The kic tower spat out arge cloud of steam, emitting a sharp whistle as it did so. The tower was now running at maximum capacity.

    As the first batch of beasts entered firing-range, countless rapid-fire cannons opened fire and formed a tightly knittedwork of mes. The firepower immediately shaved off severalyers of enemy beasts. The heavy airship cannons rumbled immediately afterward, producing arge empty space on the battlefield. By the time the enemy air creatures arrived, an almost-imprable of firepower was waiting for them.

    Thest injured beasts that managed to charge into the base found themselves in a sea of steel. The cold glint of heavy shields and axes shone as they ground the fallen creatures into paste like a grinding machine.

    This beast army was almost equal to the second wave that had appeared from the door, but because the throne had been destroyed, the chain ofmand was no longer as responsive. This greatly reduced their cohesion. Another reason was that Qianye¡¯s army was no longer the same as before. The werewolves back then were still in the primitive era, and what little armor they had was just two tes on the chest and back. Now, they were armed to the teeth.

    Having been in the new world for so long, Qianye had already developed a set of targeted strategies for his battles. The most useful one was more rted to logistics and supplies than strategy. That was to use all kinds of threats, promises, and enticements to borrow or buy vast amounts of ammunition.

    The best way to deal with these beasts was fierce firepower. If one had to suggest a better method, that was even fiercer firepower.

    At this moment, Qianye¡¯s fortress was like a hedgehog covered in quills, bloodying the beast horde that was charging at it. Rather than say that the sea of creatures was falling to the defensive firepower, it could be said that they were being smashed to death with gold coins. Even a high-ranking aristocratic family wouldn¡¯t give the soldiers a nk check when it came to origin bullets.

    The bloody battle ended with an overwhelming victory for Qianye¡¯s side. He also managed to find the six-armed general¡¯s hiding spot.

    All these creatures shared the habit. Not only did they like hiding at a distance to issuemands, but they also hid in the same type of beast. One could easily spot a group of these rare species, and thergest one among them was surely where the six-armed general was hiding.

    Of course, Qianye was fairly cautious as well¡ªhe had learned back in Yellow Springs that one shouldn¡¯t be careless just because of prior experiences. However, the pattern was so identical that Qianye felt speechless after taking ample precautions. In the end, this kind of repetitiveness greatly reduced the cost of victory. That really wasn¡¯t a bad thing.

    Just like that, the six-armed general became the target of several heavy cannons. The high-firepower homing ballista bolts sted the beast apart, stunning and injuring the six-armed general hiding within. This damage, though, was far from enough to kill it. The only true injury it had received was from Qianye¡¯s two Shots of Inception.

    The six-armed general possessed great life force and actually started to flee under present circumstances. Qianye attacked him all along the way but still couldn¡¯t kill him before he fled into the forest.

    Naturally, Qianye wasn¡¯t going to give up. He rested for half a day outside of the forest and snuck in once again when a new feather appeared. This time, the entire forest was empty with almost no traces of beasts. Apparently, they had all fallen at the fortress.

    Qianye arrived smoothly at the center of the forest, where the four holy trees and pond remained the same. Only the base of the throne remained inside the hall as the debris had been cleared away. The six-armed general was lying near the pond, half of his body soaked in the water. Under the effects of this bath, a thin membrane had appeared all over his body, and it seemed like he was already regenerating.

    This was the first time Qianye had witnessed the six-armed generals¡¯ healing process. Such strong lifeforms requiredrge amounts of energy to regenerate, much more so than ordinary creatures. Being able to heal so quickly proved just how miraculous the tree sap was.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t going to let it heal in peace. With a wave of his hand, four origin grenades flew toward the four holy trees, shaking them fiercely and stirring waves in theke.

    The six-armed general woke up from themotion and roared furiously when he saw the damage to the trees. Most of the healed wounds on his body once again opened up and began spurting blood. A pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye as he fired a feather of light that vanished into the six-armed general¡¯s forehead.

    The creature grabbed its head and emitted a miserable howl of agony. His body trembled all over, shedding pieces of flesh and producingrge gaping defects.

    Even though the general was in a truly bad shape, the level of danger Qianye could sense didn¡¯t decrease in the slightest. His firm trust in his instincts led him to flee immediately. As expected, several stone spears whistled over andnded at the spot where he was standing.

    Qianye stopped only when he was outside of the woods. He trusted that the injured creature would not follow him out.

    Just like that, he rested for half a day until he had recovered another Shot of Inception before going back in. There, he delivered yet another fierce blow to the six-armed general.

    Three days passed by in this manner, and the six-armed giant took an entire six of Qianye¡¯s attacks. Finally, his body broke downpletely and left a piece of translucent crystal.

    Employing every trick up his sleeve and with the help of some good luck, Qianye had finally taken down this forest with four holy trees.

 Chapter 1277: Some Credi

    <h4>Chapter 1277: Some Credi</h4>

    A forest with four holy trees meant even more opportunities and resources. Just the water of theke would allow for two hundred thousand additional troops to be brought into the new world.

    The stone on the ind at the heart of thiske had been analyzed as a metal that could change shape and form. It wasn¡¯t exactly hard, but it was durable and very pliable. It was likely that new alloys for armor tes could be developed with its addition, strengthening everything from airships to individual soldiers.

    The main restriction behind the development of weapons in the Evernight World, apart from technology, was material. Especially when reaching the fortress level, the materials had to bebined with different specialponents in order to produce their respective attributes. However, there wasn¡¯t much production to speak of when it came to such materials. Most of them were simply chanced upon, and their extraction process could be duplicated sometimes.

    This meant that a single type of special material might only be enough for a couple of fortress weapons. People would have to figure out something else if they wanted to build more weapons at the same level. The design, production line, and auxiliaryponents had to be changed. Hence, the discovery of high-end material held significant meaning for the Empire as it might lead to a new fortress weapon.

    The beasts themselves were a form of resource, and more research was needed on how to utilize their coreir. The appearance of minerals was also greatly increased within the forest, with almost every rock in their being a different ore.

    In short, everything here was a valuable treasure. Up to this point, Qianye had only been using dark golden sandstone to repay his loans since it was avable inrge supply. This came to the point where the market price for dark golden sandstone had dipped in the Empire.

    It was still extremely valuable despite the dip, and they were picked up from the ground, anyway. That was why Qianye had no hesitation exchanging them for vast amounts of ammunition despite Song Hui¡¯s warning about supply and demand.

    Qianye¡¯s forces were currently expendingrge amounts of ammunition. Usually, they would wipe out a stash equal to a year¡¯s supply for an ordinary army corps.

    Of course, Fort Continent could not produce such numbers. The ck market wasn¡¯t exactly reliable, either, so the Great Qin was the only stable route. The aristocratic families that dealt in arms were greatly delighted by the recent developments.

    Not only did they assign overtime work to satisfy Qianye¡¯s demand, but they also spread good word about him both in court and outside. They applied various methods for permission to trade certain sensitive equipment and ammunition, or greater export quotas. The current Qianye was like a ck hole that would take up any and all armaments they had for sale.

    Some voices were speaking against his case in court, and quite a few were worried that Qianye¡¯s rise would harm the Empire. As for how many of them were sincerely worried about the impact of a newly-risen power and how many were secretly worried about Qianye¡¯s subtle rtionship with the Empire, no one really knew.

    The suspicious voices and objections were soon drowned out by the rising deluge of voices supporting Qianye. The status of those who could deal in weapons had never been mediocre in any given era. Not only did they possess great power and connections, but they were also now working together toward a single cause, affording them a fairly big voice. Families like the Drinking Horse Yin Family, the Kong family, and the Zhao n were the leading representatives in this argument, followed by arge number of smaller families.

    The surge of orders from the Fort Continent brought great benefits to various parts of the arms industry. Zhao Jundu required arge amount of resources as well, not to mention the void continent was also a bottomless pit, but how could the Empire match the returns Qianye was bringing them. Besides, rare minerals was a much more wee form of paymentpared to gold coins.

    Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t so bad since he could harvest simr rare materials from the new world, just not as much as Qianye. The Transcendent Continent, though, was in shambles. The aristocratic families were barely hanging on and couldn¡¯t even afford to pay the soldiers¡¯ sry. Who could bring out supplies and equipment? All they could do was seek help from the Empire and rack up more debt.

    This didn¡¯t mean that these families didn¡¯t have a private stash, but who would take out money if they could buy things on loan? Things had already deteriorated to this state, anyway. It couldn¡¯t get any worse.

    This meant that those firearms giants felt increasingly unhappy with these families and had been giving them countless eye rolls. They would only fork out a batch of old goods when rushed by the Empire¡¯s negotiator. Their most advanced factories and technicians were working overtime for Qianye, doing their best to meet the orders from Fort Continent.

    The aristocratic families of the Transcendent Continent were naturally dissatisfied, so they also joined the side attacking Qianye. It was just that their role in court was different from before¡ªeveryone looked at them with sympathy and a bit of mockery.

    Losing territory was a fundamental mistake that could shake an aristocratic family¡¯s foundations. They would¡¯ve long since lost their status if it wasn¡¯t for the special circumstance that was the new world. Before Qianye and Zhao Jundu¡¯s aplishments, they couldn¡¯t even say that humans were helpless against disasters. After several attempts, the aristocratic families of Transcendent Continent finally gave up the meaningless struggle.

    It was simply a case of stunted ambitions in poverty.

    As for the Bai n, their attitude toward Qianye was even stranger. Qianye had gained fame at their Frozen Jade Hall, so they should rightfully hate him and cause trouble at every step. The strange thing was that they would remainpletely silent whenever Qianye was brought up. Those who had hoped to gain the support of the Bai n could not understand this at all.

    The separate reasons added together to form a giant wave. In recounting Qianye¡¯s good points, they elevated his pioneering efforts on Fort Continent to the same level as his aplishments on the void continent. Considering his aplishments, it was only right to sell him several dozen divisions¡¯ worth of supplies.

    Everyone was dumbstruck by the way these firearms giants were acting for the sake of business. Even the Song n, famous for their business tactics, still acted with a degree of elegance.

    That being said, the Kong and Yin families were top aristocratic families with significant inheritance and connections. These people used to focus on their safety. Now, even these people had jumped out to speak for Qianye and looked like they would bite anyone in opposition. Those speaking against Qianye found nothing beneficial in it, so they eventually fell silent.

    The entire Imperial court was filled with praises of the expedition on Fort Continent. Of course, the top contribution had to be the Emperor¡¯s. It was only because of his brilliance that a capable subject like Qianye hade into being.

    As for what the supreme ruler was thinking inside, the ministers did not know. The Radiant Emperor treated this matter the same as any other court business¡ªsince there was a clear conclusion among the ministers, he simply ordered for the matter to be recorded and executed.

    And since the Imperial military was reorganized, the suppression in and out the court against the Zhao n had lessened significantly. The eyes of many major characters fell upon Duke Chengen Zhao Weihuang.

    A n with so many divine champions, perhaps only Prince Greensun and his rapid progress could rival them.

    Zhang Boqian was still heirless, while Zhao Weihuang had already produced divine champion scions like Qianye and Zhao Jundu. Zhao Ruoxi, with her Red Spider Lily, was a special existence as well. In addition, Zhao Junyi, Zhao Junhong, and Zhao Junxiao were also highly talented. Zhao Junhong had also been evaluated as having the potential to pass the divine champion threshold.

    From this, it was obvious that Zhang Boqian could not catch up to Zhao Weihuang at all in terms of children. Before Qianye¡¯s appearance, the aplishments of Duke Chengen¡¯s branch had mainly been attributed to Princess Gaoyi. After all, she possessed pure Imperial blood and was a genius herself. Qianye¡¯s rise to power sent an entirely different message because it proved that the bloodline came from Zhao Weihuang.

    The number of people seeking familial ties kept growing by the day. Zhao Junyi was already married so he was out of the question, but Zhao Junhong was only promised for an engagement and hadn¡¯t even held a small ceremony. There was still a chance that it could be canceled. Zhao Jundu was naturally a hotmodity since his bloodline was still top-grade despite his damaged foundations. His descendants would surely be talented as well. Zhao Ruoxi had so many suitors that she had to hide in her courtyard every day.

    Some with even more flexible thoughts saw that thepetition was too fierce for the children, so they actually started to have designs on Zhao Weihuang¡¯s concubine position! Of course, that was just in private, or else Princess Gaoyi wouldn¡¯t be happy.

    Behind all the gifts¡ªin the form of money and daughters¡ªthese families had only one request. That was to give them one of the children, be they boys or girls.

    The intention was to use Duke Chengen as a breeding stallion. Princess Gaoyi was furious upon hearing about it, but the aristocracy acted secretly with a smile on their faces, and there were so many of them that the princess couldn¡¯t quite erupt in public. All she could do was refuse them one after the other. There was so much smiling involved that the princess felt her face stiff at the end of the day. The only one she could vent her anger on was Zhao Weihuang.

    Duke Chengen looked serious, but he was fairly delighted inside. In private, he would frequently say, ¡°What¡¯s the use of a heavenly monarch? I would never trade these kids for one.¡±

    These words inadvertently offended all of the heavenly monarchs, so some of the more talkative ones started spreading it.

    The Profundity Monarch and Northridge Monarch could be ignored since they were both in istion and no one knew their whereabouts. Zhang Boqian merely nodded in acknowledgment after hearing about this. The Pointer Monarch was in a leisurely mood¡ªhe carefully listened to the recount about the Zhao n¡¯s prosperity but made noment on the matter. All he did was stroke his beard with a mysterious smile until the minister who came to report the matter excused himself out of fear.

    Even after leaving the residence, that minister couldn¡¯t help thinking about the Pointer Monarch¡¯s smile. He had a feeling that the old man¡¯s smile contained a deeper meaning, almost like he was delighted and satisfied.

    Delighted? Satisfied? He simply couldn¡¯t figure out what was there to be satisfied with Zhao Weihuang bing the number one stallion in the Empire.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that after his departure, the Pointer Monarch immediately ordered his men to seal the gates and refuse all visitors. He returned to his study to brew a pot of strong tea. He then produced a set of flexible armor and a set of small instruments.

    This flexible armor was so small that it would only fit on a newborn, but the craftsmanship was iparably intricate and the materials were extremely rare. Every leaflet in the armor was covered in runes, which weaved together to form arger array.

    Once ced on the table, the surrounding origin power would gather toward the armor, drawing in pure daybreak origin power and expelling murky energy. As though it were breathing, the inside of the armor was eventually filled with pure origin power.

    Such an array could be considered a work of the gods!

    The Pointer Monarch picked up a leaflet and began carving an array on it using delicate instruments. This nail-sized leaflet was soon densely packed with runes. Even someone of the monarch¡¯s caliber had to spend an entire half-hour to finish the array.

    He carefully attached thest leaflet to the flexible armor and said while stroking his beard, ¡°It looks like my skills haven¡¯t deteriorated since I was young. With such a divine item, my grandson will be able to cultivate immediately after birth. He¡¯ll have achieved some progress by the time he¡¯s one year old, the other kids are still drinking milk by then! Humph! Zhao Weihuang, humph, humph!¡±

    But after some thought, he felt that his attitude wasn¡¯t entirely excusable. He shook his head and said to himself, ¡°Let it be, let¡¯s just say that Zhao Weihuang contributed a bit. Bah! A bit is too much, just a tiny speck.¡±

 Chapter 1278: Awakened Fores

    <h4>Chapter 1278: Awakened Fores</h4>

    Qianye did not have the power to expand further after taking down this forest with four holy trees. All he could do was slow down his steps and consolidate his territory.

    Not to mention other things, the forest with four holy trees was already a fair distance from the door. Even cargo trucks driving non-stop would take one day to arrive, so the construction of the forward base would only take up more time.

    He would have no way to destroy the beast hordes without a base and defensive systems. And without destroying the beast army, he could not kill the six-armed creature, so it was useless even if he discovered more forests.

    The construction of this base was destined not to go too smoothly. The cleanup work in this forest was much more difficult as small beast squads would appear from time to time. Qianye had scouted the forest twice, yet he still couldn¡¯t figure out the distribution of beasts. In the end, they would need to use the clumsiest method of killing all enemies that charged at the construction site. This would take several days of work.

    Qianye continued exploring while the construction was underway and soon discovered two more forests with three holy trees, one in each direction going forward.

    After some consideration, Qianye decided not to open up a new battlefield before his rear lines had stabilized. That didn¡¯t stop him from skirting around them to explore farther ahead.

    A problem arose at that point. Qianye had traveled less than two hundred kilometers when he saw the vague silhouette of a forest in the distance. An immense pressure bore down upon him in all directions at this point, almost as though this entire world was rejecting him as an enemy. The worst part was that his sense of direction grew blurry, and he couldn¡¯t even remember where the door was.

    This was no trifling matter. The new world seemed almost boundless as no one could see its borders. Losing track of the door meant that the person would be lost.

    Qianye stopped decisively and immediately ran back while his head was still clear.

    It was quite strange because Qianye¡¯s senses immediately recovered after crossing the two forests that he had not cleared. He could clearly sense the suppressive force being driven away by a different type of power. These two types of energy came from the same source, but their effects were very different¡ªone was suppressive, and the other served to bolster Qianye¡¯s consciousness.

    Where he was standing, Qianye could feel the strengthening energy was much greater than its counterpart.

    After some investigation, Qianye discovered that this energy was actuallying from the forests with the holy trees. The strengthening force wasing from the one with the four holy trees, while the suppression arose from the ones with three holy trees.

    The magnitude of this power was proportional to the number of holy trees, but the rtionship wasn¡¯t linear. In terms of surface area, the size of the beast legion, and the current contention between the two sides, the forest with four holy trees was approximately twice as powerful as the ones with three holy trees.

    Qianye never really tried to sense the power of these trees. Now that he had, he was puzzled as to why the forest with the four holy trees would support an outsider like him. Could it be because he had entered the core of the beastir? Or did he gain control over the forest after killing the six-armed creature?

    These questions could not be answered with Qianye¡¯s previous experiences. All he could do right now was to trust the reality of his feelings and try to figure out the rules from everything.

    Whatever the case was, it remained a fact that he would have to take down the two forests before pushing further in. There was no other way to push his army forward. If even Qianye had been suppressed, there was no way other people could get past it.

    At first, Qianye had no ns to open up new battlefields for fear of instability. Now that the three-tree forests had be obstacles, he had no choice but to fight.

    Having gained experience in the four-trees forest, Qianye didn¡¯t return to base in a rush. He adjusted his equipment and decided to scout out one of the forests first.

    If the six-armed creature was still asleep, he wouldn¡¯t mind dealing with the problem there and then. Having entered the vice-duke rank, Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception had grown even more powerful, and the color of the feathers was now even darker. Two Shots of Inception might not be able to kill a six-armed creature at the grand duke rank, but the ones from these three-holy-tree forests would surely feel it.

    Once in the forest, however, Qianye sensed that something wasn¡¯t quite right.

    The process of sneaking in didn¡¯t go well as there were countless beasts roaming the forest. During his journey from the border to the heart of the forest, he saw that the number of creatures here was far beyond that of the forest with three holy trees he had seen before. Also, the way they moved was different.

    They weren¡¯t just wandering aimlessly. After a bit of observation, he found that their routes went in a regr pattern, almost like a patrol. The routes were also wellid out without any blind spots, covering all areas every once in a while.

    That wasn¡¯t all. There was a type of mutant beast with especially sharp senses; it would remain immobile in the shadows and observe the surroundings with its all-seeing eyes.

    Wasn¡¯t that a hidden sentry? Qianye cursed inside. If he didn¡¯t possess True Sight, long-distance vision, and the cautiousness to remain at a distance, he would¡¯ve been exposed long ago. It was a rather strange feeling to see these beasts so intelligent.

    Fortunately, the beasts¡¯ perception hadn¡¯t risen ordingly. They hadn¡¯t sensed the presence of an intruder, so they were still in a rxed state. Qianye would make use of every small gap to move forward into the heart of the forest.

    Three vigorous holy trees stood towering over the heart of the forest. Their positioning was a bit odd and not an exact triangle. After scanning the area, Qianye discovered a small sprout half the height of a human. A holy-tree sprout! This was even more valuable for research than the holy tree itself, irreceable even.

    Qianye¡¯s gaze traced back from the tree sprout and toward the center of theke. To his surprise, he found the throne empty, and the six-armed giant was actually standing at the side of a stone table, tinkering with pieces of ore.

    His hands moved rhythmically for a while before the ore merged into one, gradually taking the shape of an armor te.

    Qianye had faced the six-armed general from the forest with four holy trees, so he immediately recognized the identical armor. It would seem that this forest and creature were in the process of upgrading from three to four holy trees. One could tell from the way he was preparing armor for himself.

    Things would be a bit difficult now that the six-armedmander was actually awake and in the process of breaking through. After some thought, Qianye decided to try attacking and see what difference there was between a general that was asleep and one that was awake.

    Perhaps it was because of his Yellow-Springs education, he favored striking at the enemy leader to tip the scales of battle instead of using a cannon-fodder strategy. He was willing to take some risks himself to gain the advantage in battle and raise the effectiveness of the assault.

    The six-armed creature measured thepleted armor against his body and, seemingly quite satisfied with the ratio, fastened it to his shoulder. The armor then merged into his body quite mysteriously.

    Just as the merging was halfway through, he heard a sudden click behind him. He immediately turned around to see a dark item stick itself to one of the holy trees. Two more such objects were flying toward the other two trees as well.

    He hadn¡¯t figured out what those things were when he sensed a terrifying origin power fluctuation from them! The six-armed giant let out a loud roar, but his voice was drowned out in the explosion.

    The three trees trembled, sending leaves showering down like rain. The six-armed general was trembling as well, almost as though he could sense the pain.

    The origin grenades were powerful, but the holy trees were quite sturdy as well; even a point-nk explosion was only enough to take a small chunk off of the trunk. What followed the rumble, though, was a grenade flying toward the holy-tree sprout in a leisurely fashion. Another one was spotted flying toward the throne at the same time.

    There was a certain distance between the two, so the six-armed giant could only pick one side to protect. He erupted in shocking speed and appeared several meters away, grabbing the origin grenade while still in the air! The explosive blew up in his hand, but the creature only staggered somewhat and seemedrgely unharmed. One could easily see how strong his physical body was.

    The six-armed general was just about to run toward the other grenade when he let out yet another howl. He watched with wide eyes as an origin bullet tore through the air and blew up the throne!

    The might of this st was much more powerful than the grenade, so much so that it sent a shiver down his spine. The throne exploded into pieces from the impact. After all, this throne wasn¡¯t at the level of the one from the forest with four holy trees. It wasn¡¯t enough to withstand a shot from Heartgrave.

    The six-armed giant¡¯s eyes immediately turned red. He roared at the sky before charging at Qianye¡¯s hiding ce; thatst shot hadpromised his location. That full sprint brought him above Qianye¡¯s head in an instant. Seeing the little insect who had dared to break the throne, the six-armed giant sped four of his palms together and mmed down!

    Nheless, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered into a blur and vanished just as the attack was about to connect. The six-armed giant¡¯s attack missed its target and struck the ground, sending ripples in all directions. Trees fell, and thend copsed wherever the shockwaves went. Soon, a hundred-meter pit had appeared in the forest.

    The creature seemed surprised at the development. Suddenly ovee with a sense of danger, he looked back to find Qianye dozens of meters in the air with his wings unfurled. The four dark feathers looked exceptionally eye-catching against the radiant plumage.

    Two of the feathers shot out with a p of his wings and vanished into the general¡¯s body.

    The six-armed general let out an earth-shattering roar. The entire forest red up, and countless roots shot out from the soil, wrapping up the six-armed creature.

    This was something never seen before. Qianye reacted quickly, tossing dozens of origin grenades at the target. A series of continuous explosions ensued. These roots weren¡¯t as strong as the holy trees, so they were quickly sted into smithereens. Within the explosion, the six-armed giant roared continuously, almost as though he could feel the pain.

    Despite that, the roots kept surging out without pause. Qianye could sense them dragging this six-armed general down toward the heart of their.

    It was rather surprising that this creature actually chose not to fight to the death against him. Qianye wasn¡¯t about to let him off, though. He knew from experience that the advantage gained in the forest would make the subsequent battles easier.

    He simply waved his hands again, tossing out the remaining thirty origin grenades at the roots.

    This round of explosions erupted with great ferocity. The six-armed general¡¯s distant cries were also rather miserable. Pieces of wood and soil flew about in the air as the bottom of the pit copsed to reveal a passage into their.

    Countless beasts were running about in confusion within their. Many of them stampeded through the narrow tunnels in fear, killing a fair number of smaller creatures.

    Qianye could clearly sense the painful wail of the forest and the three holy trees¡¯ infantile cries. Apparently, all or most of the roots present throughout their belonged to them.

    This round of explosions was so effective that Qianye decided to put in arge order next time.

    After a nce at the pit, Qianye flickered to the ind inside theke. There, he drew East Peak, gathered his origin power, and stabbed it into the base of the throne. East Peak sank all the way to its hilt, producing countless cracks that extended across the entire ind.

    The entire forest trembled. The six-armed giant¡¯s furious howls could be heard vaguely across the groundyers. Qianye moved swiftly around the ind, picking up pieces from the throne and tossing them into Andruil¡¯s Space. He then used Spatial sh to exit the forest and run toward his base.

    This time, the entire forest had been roiled up, and he also seemed to have injured the six-armedmander. Qianye had a feeling that the next battle would be hard-fought.

 Chapter 1279: Painful Victory

    <h4>Chapter 1279: Painful Victory</h4>

    The forward base outside of the forest with four holy trees was small, but its firepower was fierce. There were actually two mobile kic towers supporting eight airship cannons.

    The twenty thousand werewolves were so tightly packed that there was no space for them to pitch tents. The soldiers could only sleep while lined up on the ground, but fortunately, it rarely rained in the new world, so it wasn¡¯t all that bad.

    Small squads of beasts would sometimes emerge from the forest. The base was already quite far from the rear lines, so the shipping of construction materials and supplies would take at least a day¡¯s time. Add to that the construction-work that was underway, it was definitely better to have morerades than not. There was really no need to think.

    That was why none of the soldiersined about the living conditions. They simply split themselves into two halves and rotated between chores and standing guard. Standing guard was equal to resting.

    After Qianye¡¯s return, the entire base went into high alert. The mobile kic towers and turrets all powered up, and the ammunition was stacked up.

    They didn¡¯t have to wait for all that long before the first wave of the beast army arrived. First to appear were the flying-type beasts and swift-ground-types. Such beasts that would usually take up scouting roles could do nothing against the defensive force.

    The strengthened anti-air fire proved its effectiveness as the enemy air attackers fell like rain.

    The second wave of heavy-troops arrived half an hour after the first wave was destroyed. Without the support of othernd and air units, however, these slow-moving troops were little more than living targets.

    Most of them were mowed down before reaching the walls, and the rest wereid to rest at the barricades. Qianye didn¡¯t even need to take action himself. The consumption of ammunition, however, was so shocking that the supply officer¡¯s face turned green.

    The third wave of the army, made up of several terror beasts, arrived quitete. Now, this was a fairlyplete army corps¡ªthe faster troop types among them were moving at a snail¡¯s pace to amodate the terror beast¡¯s speed.

    This was the only unit that possessed any semnce of an army. Thepse in cooperation between the previous two was as wide as the distance between two continents.

    Apparently, the six-armed creatures possessed a single weakness whether they were asleep or awake. Even though the six-armed creature was wide awake, its ability tomand was sharply reduced after the throne was destroyed.

    The squad that this six-armed creature could control directly was barely over ten thousand. Any troops beyond this number, he could only guide them in a certain direction and have them arrive in the form of an army. It was impossible to have them work together or assign roles to different troop types.

    Qianye calmed down quite a bit because the beast army was the strongest in numbers. This small unit of ten thousand was fairly limited in fighting power and had little hope of winning against the firepower of twenty thousand defenders.

    Qianye also managed to pinpoint the six-armedmander at the rear. The creature this time wasn¡¯t hiding within the body of a beast, perhaps because he was in an active state. Instead, he was marching with a small escort unit at the rear.

    Seeing that themander could actually move about freely outside of the forest, Qianye immediately charged out after issuing the order to attack.

    A battle broke out on the ground and in the sky.

    Qianye was fairly experienced in fighting these creatures, but he had always imed victory by taking advantage of their overprotectiveness toward the holy tree. This was the first real face-to-face battle.

    The six-armed general attacked at lightning speed, its six-arms swinging different weapons from all angles. Each of his blows was so powerful that Qianye felt numb after blocking a couple of them.

    He was already a vice-duke by ancient vampire standards¡ªit could be said that there were no weaknesses at all after being remodeled by the newfound blood energy. He had also be much stronger, yet he was still suppressed by the opponent in this respect. Even in speed, he didn¡¯t hold that much of an advantage.

    Qianye knew that the enemy had taken two Shots of Inception, so he wouldn¡¯tst long with these injuries. This was the reason why Qianye kept holding on without running away, only using Spatial sh to evade. As for those escort troops, they had been wiped out by his Venus Dawn domain and Life Plunder.

    The battle between experts today was a contest of who couldst longer. If Qianye failed to y the six-armed general under such an advantage, he would have to pay a much higher price once the creature had fully recovered and returned with even more troops.

    This six-armed creature was extremely powerful, and his strength almost seemed boundless. He fought with Qianye for over half a day, through the air and on the ground¡ªmuch to the surprise of the soldiers in the fortress.

    The beast horde was utterly destroyed soon after Qianye took to the field. Facing absolute suppression in firepower and a numbers disadvantage, these creatures were no match for the well-trained soldiers despite a degree of air-ground cooperation.

    None of them could interfere with the fight that followed, so they could only observe from the fortress.

    Drawing on the essence blood stored in the Book of Darkness and the asional bloodboil, Qianye fought with increasing ferocity and showed no signs of fatigue. The six-armed general¡¯sbat techniques were a far cry from Qianye¡¯s, so his consumption was much greater. At around dusk, Qianye finally found an opening and managed to fire a Shot of Inception into his forehead.

    The six-armed general fell to the ground, clutching his head. The umted injuries red up at the same time, causing his aura to decline rapidly from the duke-level to that of a marquis. Qianye didn¡¯t dare act carelessly even then. He unfurled his wings and fired thest, lethal shot he was capable of unleashing.

    Having taken two consecutive shots, the six-armed general realized that it was the end of the road for him. He shot up from the ground and flew straight toward Qianye. There was no way thetter would be caught in such a clumsy attack; he immediately used Spatial sh to evade to the side.

    The general red ferociously at Qianye, then shot down toward the newly constructed fortress like a meteor!

    Qianye was rmed, but it was toote to stop the creature now. His spatial sh was still recovering and would need a breath¡¯s time for subsequent activation. He could only watch as the general¡¯srge body fell into the fortress and blew up in an earth-shattering explosion!

    A cloud of dust filled the air, covering the entirety of the fortress. The kic towers were sent flying, and the cannon towers¡ªoriginally standing above the dust¡ªslowly copsed. Countless werewolf and human soldiers were sted into the air, their bodies evidently disfigured.

    By the time the dust had settled, most of the fortress was gone, and thend a thousand meters around them was littered with machine parts, debris, and bodies. A pit ten meters in depth had appeared at the center of the fortress, its walls crystallized from the shocking heat.

    Ignoring his utter exhaustion, Qianyended on the ground to save the survivors.

    Things only settled down a bit after an entire night¡¯s work. Over half of the twenty thousand soldiers had been killed by the st, with the remainder injured. Four thousand of them were in a critical state and no longer fit for battle. One of the kic towers had beenpletely destroyed, and the other one was in need of repair.

    The loss of these towers meant that the turrets and airship cannons were now useless. Therge number of airship cannons was an important link in Qianye¡¯s defensive system. Without them, they would not be able to mow down the weaker beast squads, not to mention the casualty rate would rise sharply.

    Fortunately, a new batch of supplies arrived at dawn, and with them came over ten thousand reinforcements. Only then were they able to clear the rubble and restore the fortress somewhat. Qianye instructed the transports to bring the injured soldiers and damaged kic towers back to base. He himself went back to Evernight World ahead of the pack.

    Having sustained such damage, Qianye had no intention of provoking the other forest until the base had beenpletely stabilized.

    Qianye could not endure another self-detonation if the othermander was also wide awake and in a bad mood. He was pretty much on par with the enemy in terms of overallbat strength, so defeating the enemy head-on was still too difficult. It would be almost impossible for him to stop the creature from detonating.

    Qianye thought back to the battles since entering the door and secretly shook his head. There was no telling how bad things would go if he hadn¡¯t crippled them in one go and deprived them of the ability tomand. Just looking at the state of thetest fortress, it was only natural that the casualty rates would involve terrifying numbers.

    The matter of utmost importance at the moment was to secure greater firepower. Such an endeavor required Qianye to head out personally.

    After returning to Cerulean Wave City, the first thing Qianye did was summon the aristocracy to a conference. The hall that could fit over a hundred people was filled to the brim, so much so that most of the attendees had to stand. Qianye nced at the crowd and saw many new faces among them.

    Without waiting for Qianye to ask, Yin Qiqi stood up and said, ¡°Mr. Shang is a manager of the Taixing Trading Company, the biggest merchant group in the Empire. Mr. Sun is from the Longyu Trading Company. They arrived on Fort Continent by order of their superiors and wish to express their goodwill in your endeavors. The two merchant groups have expressed great sincerity, this is the list of gifts. I took it upon myself to bring them to see you.¡±

    Qianye took the list and saw that it was full of weapons and armor, resources he needed urgently. ¡°I thank the two of you.¡±

    The two managers bowed deeply, saying, ¡°These are products from our humblepanies, just a small token of respect.¡±

    Seeing that Yin Qiqi had taken the initiative, the Kong family¡¯s representative wasn¡¯t willing to be left behind. ¡°Sire Qianye, this Mr. Ji represents the Wugong Workshop, one of the top three arms manufacturers in the Empire. He alsoes in good faith.¡±

    The list was filled with all kinds of cannons, shells, and ballista bolts, but the level of sincerity was slightly inferior to the other two.

    Qianye had heard of the Wugong Workshop before. It was one of the Empire¡¯s main weapons suppliers. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would also dispatch a representative to Fort Continent? Judging from Mr. Ji¡¯s head ornament, he was probably ranked third or fourth among the executives. His arrival proved how much importance they attached to this trip.

    The three merchant groups had done their homework. They knew exactly what Qianye required and what they could offer him. Having the Kong and Yin families do the introductions proved theplicated rtionships between them.

    Qianye liked this kind of straightforward business. He waved the gift-list and said, ¡°Since all of you are here, I¡¯ll just be straightforward about it. I need weapons and ammunition at the moment. The amount for the first batch will be ten times on these lists. What do you think?¡±

    The three managers exchanged nces, then replied in great delight, ¡°No problem at all!¡±

    Manager Ji said, ¡°Our workshop can lower the price by twenty percent from the market price!¡±

    Since even the Wugong Workshop had said so, the other two tradingpanies could not fall behind. Counting the gifts they had forked out, this deal was closed at more or less a thirty percent discount.

    Both parties were satisfied with the deal. At this point, the other families began introducing their contacts¡ªsome were merchants, while others were members of the nobility, people who wanted a slice of the cake on Fort Continent. With so many people here, it was only natural that all kinds of people would be present.

    Qianye didn¡¯t say much. Song Hui took a step forward and said, ¡°Friends, you must all remember some rules if you wish to do business with ourmander.¡±

    ¡°Please tell us, we will surelyply.¡±

    Song Hui said with a smile, ¡°First, all resources will be paid for upon delivery. Secondly, we will pay in the form of produce and ore from Fort Continent or the new world.¡±

    Everyone replied happily, ¡°That¡¯s only natural!¡±

    ¡°Rest assured, we will find a way to ship everything back. There¡¯s no need for you to worry.¡±

    Song Hui said, ¡°Thirdly, the battlefield is no ce for jokes. If your resources do not reach our standards, you will be asked to take them back. Those found pumping up numbers with inferior goods will be punished by militaryw; do not expect me to consider friendship and sentiments. The families who rmended them will also be removed from Fort Continent.¡±

    Everyone was frozen stiff, and many of them saw their expressions change drastically.

 Chapter 1280: Dog and Wolf

    <h4>Chapter 1280: Dog and Wolf</h4>

    No one had doubts whether or not these rules could be enforced. The third one, especially, struck everyone in their weak spot. Many of these people had flocked to Fort Continent in order to take advantage of Qianye¡¯s simplicity and riches. There was nock of people who wanted to flee after earning a fortune.

    As someone from the Song n, how could Song Hui not know about these market practices? This rule of associating the guarantor in punishment blocked any loophole that was left behind.

    Only the first batch of aristocratic families who hade to Fort Continent and the bigger ones like Kong and Yin had the right to rmend other families. It just so happened that their greatest interest here wasn¡¯t gold butnd, and all territory here could only exist attached to Qianye.

    Of course, if the family was big enough, they could turn these territories into independent nations. That, however, would be a direct challenge to Qianye¡¯s authority.

    Withnd and territory in the equation, the scope of profits wasn¡¯t just limited to a couple of years. It would take hundreds of years and several generations to reach the apex of prosperity. These aristocratic families, of course, wouldn¡¯t sacrifice their long-term ns for minuscule profits.

    The aristocracy of the Empire had always considered Fort Continent as a barrennd where top experts could not cultivate. Hence, its status was only somewhat higher than Evernight Continent. Things had changed entirely now that a door to the new world was here.

    With the rule in ce and no one in objection to it, Qianye said, ¡°Currently, I need five mobile kic towers, thirty airship cannons of varying types, and twenty sets of ammunition. I also need ten mini-kic towers and, just like before, as many armaments as you can supply.¡±

    The size of this order produced amotion.

    After the noise died down, everyone left to see Song Hui. Qianye wasn¡¯t about to deal with such small matters. He left the duke¡¯s manor and arrived outside the city with a flicker. The barracks, with its endless stretch of tents, was bustling with activity. There were always werewolves undergoing training in the field.

    This giant training field that could fit a hundred thousand soldiers was actually not enough. The next batch could only receive training after the first batch was done, and there were at least two hundred thousand waiting to undergo training.

    This would bring the number of werewolf soldiers close to a million. Adding the new army from Zheng and the mercenaries of the neutralnds, Qianye¡¯s forces had formally exceeded a million.

    Qianye felt somewhat emotional as he gazed at the training grounds.

    It wasn¡¯t just luck that the werewolves could be one of the four major dark races. Their upper limit in cultivation was not inferior to the other races, and they once had a supreme on the Sacred Mountain. As natural warriors, they possessed a certain degree of fighting power since childhood and couldmunicate with theirpanion wargs. The adults possessed bnced fighting prowess, capable of fighting on the front lines. This made over half of the werewolves qualified soldiers.

    Comparatively, the werewolves¡¯ lifespans were evidently shorter than the vampires and demonkin. They should¡¯ve been a fairly powerful race, but their weakness was all too clear¡ªthey were stubborn and ignorant.

    Most of the race¡¯s strength and knowledge came from their ancestral totem. This instilled them with an almost fanatical love for their primitive tribal culture. Many werewolves would go to the extremes and reject all recent technology, including origin guns. Their firm belief was that the world¡¯s profundityy within the body, that they would be invincible as long as they kept unlocking their potential andmunicating with their ancestors¡¯ spirits.

    The ancestral school had spread so far and wide among the werewolves that even the Summit of Peaks¡ªwho had been doing their utmost to break new ground¡ªwould asionally be questioned for deviating from tradition. The worst part was that the Summit of Peaks hadn¡¯t found any promising candidates for the Sacred Mountain in a thousand years. Their geniuses would usually exhaust their potential at the great dark monarch realm, with only a couple of them reaching the ultimate level.

    There was at least a reason for the vampires¡¯ decline; it was because of the disappearance of the River of Blood. In the case of the werewolves, though, the deterioration was mostly self-inflicted. One could see just from their state on Fort Continent.

    If the Summit of Peaks were overseeing this territory and its ten million denizens, they would¡¯ve destroyed Zheng several times over. There would be no need for the elderly to die in the mountains or for the young to charge into battle. In the race as a whole, even the experts from the Summit of Peaks could only hold the right to speak. They didn¡¯t really have an advantage in authority.

    Only after taking in the subjects of the Jade Sea did Qianye realize that werewolves had been leading lives that were greatly inferior to humans. Their lives were filled with strong colors of tragedy.

    In the past, Qianye¡¯s mind was only filled with hatred when facing the dark races. He would kill without mercy, without the slightest intention of understanding them or judging whether they were good or bad. Now that the duty had fallen onto his shoulders, he had no choice but to view his subjects from a werewolf¡¯s perspective.

    There was a mountain peak not so far away, the best ce to enjoy the surrounding scenery. Qianye¡¯s figure arrived at the summit with a flicker and stood at the edge of the cliff. He could see tens of thousands of werewolves undergoing training below as well as the clear waters of the Jade Sea beyond them. Now, he was onlycking a friend to confide his worries in.

    All of a sudden, Qianye felt something warm rubbing against his back. Turning back, he saw a giant wolf rubbing its golden mane against him.

    Qianye was both surprised and delighted. He reached back to rub the wolf fiercely, saying, ¡°You¡¯re really ying the role of a dog!¡±

    The giant wolf spoke in humannguage, ¡°Wolves and dogs used to be family tens of thousands of years ago. There¡¯s nothing bad about that.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He picked the wolf up by his neck and shook him. ¡°You¡¯re a werewolf, not a wolf!¡±

    The giant wolf roared, baring his fangs at Qianye. ¡°I¡¯ll fight it out with you if you grab me by the neck again!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Ruoxi grab you like that every day?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the same! She doesn¡¯t know who I am. What gives you the right?¡±

    ¡°I gave you a bone before.¡±

    The giant wolf¡¯s hair puffed up as he turned around to bite Qianye. The movement was lightning fast, but fortunately, Qianye was even faster. He pulled his hand back in the nick of time and barely managed to escape.

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°You¡¯ve grown stronger again!¡±

    The giant wolf didn¡¯t really appreciate thepliment. ¡°There are too many bad guys these days, how can I protect myself if I don¡¯t even have a bit of strength?¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you progressing too fast? Is it because you ate the bones?¡± Qianye pondered.

    The giant wolf lunged at Qianye¡¯s leg, yelling, ¡°Bones my ass! It¡¯s because of the Constetion Well!¡±

    Qianye flickered away. ¡°You¡¯re looking more and more like a dog. Have you learned to sit?¡±

    The giant wolf lowered his bottom halfway before realizing that he had been tricked. Absolutely furious, he appeared behind Qianye with a leap and tried to bite his neck.

    Qianye flickered away at the exact moment. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s talk nicely! I won¡¯t tell anyone.¡±

    The giant wolf was still spouting steam from his nostrils. Apparently, he was still quite angry.

    Qianye finally raised his hand. ¡°Stop biting me, what if I fail to evade? Besides, William, are you going to keep talking to me in that form?¡±

    William stared at Qianye for a while before vanishing momentarily. He then appeared again in the form of a human. Just like before, the man was tall and stout with golden hair flowing in the breeze. The worn hunter¡¯s attire added to his strong, radiant character.

    Qianye sized him up from head to toe. He then said while shaking his head, ¡°I still can¡¯t get used to this form. Now I can¡¯t even feed...¡± William¡¯s murderous gaze stopped him from uttering the keyword.

    William¡¯s aura was well hidden and almost undetectable in his werewolf form. In his distraction, Qianye hadn¡¯t even sensed the approaching guest. In human form, though, the man¡¯s true aura gradually became evident. Qianye gazed at William for a while and finally used the Eye of Control to agitate him, bringing out his true power.

    ¡°Glorious marquis!?¡± Qianye could hardly believe his eyes. William wasn¡¯t even a virtuous count back then, but now, he was a glorious marquis. This rate of advancement was even faster than human geniuses.

    ¡°I had a fortuitous encounter in the Constetion Well and absorbed a fair bit of star power, breaking through several ranks in one go. I stoppedter on because the advancement was too fast. Maybe I¡¯ll go back and take a look if there¡¯s an opportunity.¡± William downyed the process.

    Qianye made the worst guess he could. ¡°Your foundations must be unstable, right?¡±

    ¡°Impossible! Who do you think I am? I¡¯m the number one genius of the Summit of Peaks. How can I make such a mistake?¡±

    ¡°The number one throughout history, eh? You just made that up, didn¡¯t you? It looks like I need to reconsider my rtionship with the werewolves.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re the number one genius, then the werewolf race is too weak.¡±

    Who would¡¯ve thought William didn¡¯t retort. He merely sighed with a dejected expression. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true. The werewolves are too weak. We¡¯ve been weakening for a thousand years, and we never found the reason why.¡±

    Qianye was just joking. Seeing him this way, he shifted the topic, saying, ¡°What did youe here for?¡±

    ¡°I actually came to see you.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡±

    ¡°... Business.¡±

    Qianye sized William up again until thetter was feeling ufortable. ¡°Why is a glorious marquis here to discuss business instead of pioneering the new world? Could it be that your number one position is in business?¡±

    ¡°Stop shifting the topic! I wouldn¡¯t havee all the way here if you hadn¡¯t been taking care of my people. Just be straight, do you want to work with me or not?¡±

    ¡°What business?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯recking gear, right? Our Summit of Peaks has recently constructed a series of workshops, including armament factories. I wanted to sell you some goods.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Qianye¡¯s refusal was clear-cut.

    ¡°Why? You haven¡¯t even seen my goods.¡± William was surprised.

    Qianye said unceremoniously, ¡°Considering your werewolf race¡¯s technology and standards, I think I¡¯ll pass. The second-rate manufactured goods from the Empire are still a bit better. Even if I have to buy from Evernight, why wouldn¡¯t I buy from the vampires or the demonkin? They probably produce better goods, right?¡±

    William¡¯s momentum was cut short. ¡°We were indeedcking in technology before, but can¡¯t we catch up? Besides, who understands werewolves more than werewolves? If you want werewolf gear, we¡¯re of course the best suppliers.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°That¡¯s not entirely correct. Be it humans, vampires, demonkin, or arachne, every other race understands the werewolves more.¡±

    William was startled. Those who truly understood the werewolves were their thousand-year enemies?

 Chapter 1281: Its a Deal if its Cheap

    <h4>Chapter 1281: It¡¯s a Deal if it¡¯s Cheap</h4>

    Although he couldn¡¯t outargue Qianye, the business still had to be done. William scratched his head hard, trying to think of a way to move Qianye.

    Looking at his clumsy figure, Qianye recalled the first time he had met William on Evernight Continent. The difference between the first impression versus after bing familiar was so great that they almost felt like two different wolves. He then recalled someone mentioning that William was either underage or had juste of age.

    Qianye felt a bit guilty for bullying a kid, and he really didn¡¯t want to keep making things difficult for the fellow. ¡°What kind of equipment do you produce? What kind of things do you want to sell me? You brought samples, right?¡±

    The words woke William up. He produced several items with a flip of his hand andid them out in front of Qianye. The equipment included a set of light armor, a set of heavy armor, several melee weapons, and a crude-looking origin gun.

    Out of professional habit, Qianye picked up the origin gun and observed it carefully. The crude weapon was double-barreled and loaded from the rear, almost no different from an ordinary shotgun. Its bullets were also pellet shells. The meticulous structuring of its gun-barrel was what set it apart.

    Qianye tried pulling one of the switches, but the mechanism rotated to a different side. This time the origin array was different.

    He tried to study the array for a while, but he simply couldn¡¯t figure out the structure so ended up asking William directly.

    William exined, ¡°These two arrays focus on different aspects. One serves to shrink the scatter to improve range and firepower. The other will increase the scatter for greater effect at close range.¡±

    Qianye understood now. This was abination of a long-barreled shotgun and a sawed-off shotgun, a fairly good idea. William exined its stats, which Qianye converted to imperial standards, and found that it was around grade-three. Yet, those at rank-one could use it since it was a specially enhanced type.

    Its only shoring was also quite evident¡ªthe weight and uracy. But considering the werewolves¡¯ habits, they wanted nothing more than to press the muzzle against the enemy¡¯s head before opening fire. Weak uracy wasn¡¯t that much of an issue since this was a shotgun.

    Qianye looked over the other equipment. The armor was produced for the werewolf physique, allowing for great flexibility and even transformation. From a design standpoint, it was indeed tailored for a werewolf. The craftsmanship of the body armor wasn¡¯t bad, either. The materials were solid and the set was a fairly good fit for individual soldiers.

    The weapons were also the types most favored by werewolves. There was even a w-glove that could extend their ws by half a meter, something Qianye found entirely unnecessary.

    After looking through them, Qianye said, ¡°Not bad.¡±

    William grinned wide and was just about to blow his own trumpet when Qianye added, ¡°They¡¯re pretty good for an ordinary workshop, but it doesn¡¯t make sense for the Summit of Peaks to produce such goods. Any second-rate workshop from the Empire can produce better weapons.¡±

    ¡°Design, it¡¯s in the design! They aren¡¯t werewolves, so their designs don¡¯t fit werewolves.¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed. ¡°What about the price?¡±

    A depressed William reported a string of prices. He shook his head with a sigh, ready to put the items away, when Qianye stopped him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take them. Let¡¯s start with... two hundred thousand sets. I only have ore, though.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice sounded like heavenly music to William¡¯s ears. ¡°Two hundred thousand sets? Oh my, we might not have enough stock. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll figure it out! Ore¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll take ore!¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but shake his head after seeing William beside himself with joy. This fellow was probably the worst candidate toe out and do business. He was clearly wise and unflustered back when he was dealing with the werewolves¡¯ internal conflict and all the hidden friction with the vampires.

    Qianye¡¯s thoughts wandered here and there. Could it be that werewolves returning to their ancestry would grow more childish as they grew stronger?

    William paid no heed to Qianye¡¯s weird gaze, nor his reason for ordering two hundred thousand sets of armaments in one go. In truth, there was only one reason¡ªthe price he had quoted was only half of the Empire¡¯s products of the same level.

    The young werewolf was clearly preupied with other things. He suddenly turned serious, saying, ¡°Can I see the city and army camp?¡±

    Qianye found it odd. ¡°With your ability, who can stop you if you want to go and take a look?¡±

    ¡°I want you to take me on a tour.¡± William was insistent.

    Qianye had no idea what he was thinking. He said helplessly, ¡°Follow me, then.¡±

    The two moved swiftly, Qianye with Spatial sh and William gliding through the air in his giant wolf form. The two arrived in Cerulean Wave City in the blink of an eye and, after touring the city briefly, proceeded to the military camp. Qianye showed William around the camp and introduced the various facilities.

    William showed little interest in traditionally important locations like the armory and cannon turrets. Instead, he was quite interested in the tents, mess hall, and toilets.

    He then asked about the military contributions system. Qianye had no reservations in this regard¡ªhe called for one of his men to bring a ready-made booklet and passed it to William.

    After reading through the contents carefully, William said with a sigh, ¡°Clear cut punishments and rewards, an orderly hierarchy, and the werewolves¡¯ position in the army is not lower than the humans and your mercenaries from the neutralnds. How did you manage it?¡±

    ¡°Just like that, what¡¯s so difficult?¡±

    ¡°You used to be ruthless toward the dark races, including us werewolves.¡± William looked aggrieved. ¡°Including me, your good friend.¡±

    Qianye blinked innocently. For the longest time, William¡¯s strength was overwhelmingly above his. He wouldn¡¯t even be able to escape if he didn¡¯t go all out. Later on, they fell onpletely different sides as factional wars broke out.

    William wasn¡¯t really looking for an exnation, either. After the joke, he said, ¡°Howe you¡¯re amodating werewolves now?¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°The werewolves here have suffered so much, and they arepletely sincere with their submission. There¡¯s no way I can kill ten million werewolves who wish to follow me. That¡¯s no longer killing enemies, that¡¯s a massacre.¡±

    William patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Regardless, I¡¯ve already seen how the werewolves under your rule are living. Let¡¯s go, I want to take you to see a certain person.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know when we get there.¡±

    Qianye simply followed William, not at all worried about a trap.

    Having reached a certain level of strength, the two of them moved with great speed. Qianye had the advantage since he could use Spatial sh, but William¡¯s saunter through the air¡ªdespite looking slow and rxed¡ªwas also extremely fast. The two had reached the edge of the Jade Sea in less than half a day.

    Qianye came to a stop, saying, ¡°We¡¯ll be in Storm¡¯s territory if we go further. We have an agreement not to take part in the battle.¡±

    William didn¡¯t reply and only pointed downward. Qianye¡¯s expression shifted noticeably as he gazed in the direction.

    Below were the remains of a destroyed tribal army camp. That was no surprise since burning enemy cities and depriving them of a base wasmon practice. However, there were numerous stakes erected around the camp, and a werewolf impaled on each of them. Many of them were in strange postures, which went to show that they had been impaled alive and burned to death on the stake.

    The most eye-catching feature was that these werewolves were rather small, children apparently.

    Qianye sighed, ¡°What? You can¡¯t ept this?¡±

    William shook his head. ¡°These werewolves live under primitive conditions. To the Summit of Peaks, these barbaric and bloodthirsty werewolves still don¡¯t know the difference between prey and intelligent species. They can¡¯t even count as a member of our race, really. You humans would probably be eaten alive if you were to fall into these werewolves¡¯ hands. Anything is possible in the face of such hatred. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t feel good after seeing what¡¯s going on.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to console him, either. This was the plight of the werewolf race¡ªabination of ancient and modern, ignorance and intelligence.

    William said, ¡°The Summit of Peaks has always held a neutral stance against the ancestral school, neither recognizing nor interfering with their activities. At first, I thought there was no good solution, but you showed me a path.¡±

    ¡°What path?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°A path for them to escape the ancestral school, to embrace reason and intelligence.¡±

    William didn¡¯t exin further. Instead, he transformed into his giant wolf form and howled at the sky. He had channeled sufficient origin power, causing his voice to spread far and wide. Qianye managed to catch a certain note in the howl, a low beat akin to a war-drum. Ordinary people couldn¡¯t hear it, but its travel range was much further than ordinary soundwaves.

    Momentster, a faint howl that sounded like a reply arrived from the distance. A second howl rang out within moments, and this time, it was much closer. A whileter, a tall elderly man with white hair appeared before the two.

    ¡°Storm Duke!¡± A pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye as he made ready to attack at full force.

    Qianye had formally reached the vice-duke rank. He would normally be quite confident about defeating the likes of the Storm Duke, but this werewolf was extremely swift and powerful. A moment of carelessness might see the tables flip.

    Startled, the Storm Duke retreated almost immediately upon seeing Qianye. Two sharp des popped out of his sleeves and into his grasp as he stared intently at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re going back on your words!¡±

    ¡°I brought him here.¡± William transformed back into his human form and began dressing up.

    The Storm Duke didn¡¯t rx in the slightest. ¡°I know you. You¡¯re William, the number one genius from the Summit of Peaks and a candidate for the next sessor. You people have always held yourselves high, why are you here on this impoverished continent?¡±

    William was expressionless as his blue eyes gazed deeply into the Storm Duke¡¯s. He went straight to the point, saying, ¡°I hope you¡¯ll admit that Qianye is the true son of darkness.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± The Storm Duke¡¯s volume rose sharply.

    Admitting that Qianye was the son of darkness meant giving up his entire territory. How could the arrogant duke ept this? Besides, Qianye was only a vice duke¡ªalthough he had forced the Storm Duke to hold back even as a glorious marquis, the difference on paper was substantial. It would be a humiliation for him to submit to Qianye.

    William had long since expected such a situation. Heughed coldly, saying, ¡°Look at the werewolves under your rule! They don¡¯t even get a basic period of maturation! You¡¯ve been pretending for far too long. You can forget about leaving today if you aren¡¯t willing to relinquish the authority.¡±

    The Storm Dukeughed loudly, ¡°With just you two? William, you are indeed powerful but you¡¯re still a glorious marquis. How can you beat me? Laughable! Have you all gone mad without the protection of the ancestral spirits?¡±

    William spoke no more. He transformed into a giant wolf again and let out an earth-shattering howl!

    The Storm Duke¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He could feel his aura declining rapidly in the face of William¡¯s howl. In the blink of an eye, he had fallen to the vice-duke realm!

 Chapter 1282: Summit of Softies

    <h4>Chapter 1282: Summit of Softies</h4>

    ¡°Wolf King¡¯s Roar! Why are you able to use Wolf King¡¯s Roar!?¡± The Storm Duke¡¯s expression was full of shock. A gale kicked up around him as he made ready to flee, but he turned around to find a giant wolf standing in his path.

    The Storm Duke¡¯s aura was currently fluctuating, and his limbs seemed so sluggish that he didn¡¯t look like a veteran duke at all. As William¡¯s howl continued, the Storm Duke¡¯s realm was suppressed all the way down to the vice-duke rank.

    Naturally, Qianye would not give up such a good opportunity. He appeared less than ten meters behind the Storm Duke and unfurled his wings. The four ck feathers had fully recovered and were flickering with a terrifying luster.

    Storm slowly lowered his hands andughed wryly. ¡°The first is also thest, the werewolves¡¯ ultimate form is a giant wolf. Losing to the future wolf king is not a humiliation. It¡¯s just that the upper continents are vast and their experts, countless. Why would youe and bully this old wolf with no prospects?¡±

    William stopped howling and stood there with a cold expression. However, the Storm Duke¡¯s aura didn¡¯t recover immediately. It gradually rose back up after a good while and rather slowly, too. At this rate, it would take at least half a day to get back to his previous realm.

    Qianye watched calmly but was secretly surprised. This Wolf King¡¯s Roar was so tyrannical that even his blood core had reacted to it. It was just that Qianye¡¯s ancient vampire blood energy was just as powerful and so no negative effects were produced. On the other hand, the werewolf Storm Duke was probably even more sensitive to the howl and dropped an entire level.

    This wasn¡¯t as simple as the dropping of a rank. The Storm Duke had gotten used to his duke-rank strength. This sudden plunge threw his movements, techniques, and even gait off bnce. It would even interfere with many of his powerful secret arts. Hence, his truebat strength was probably on par with a glorious marquis.

    William was no ordinary glorious marquis; even ordinary vice-dukes might not be his match in battle, let alone the fact that someone like Qianye was also there to help.

    The Evernight faction¡¯s hierarchy was strict and carved into their marrow. The vampire and demonkin exhibited a powerful suppression across ranks, and the arachne would be stronger and bigger the more powerful their bloodline was.

    Qianye had thought that the werewolves were the most bnced, but who would¡¯ve thought there was something like the Wolf King¡¯s Roar. This ability could actually ignore the level gap and suppress a duke down one rank. A werewolf who had inherited the Wolf King¡¯s Roar would be able to suppress others of the same race. It was likely a divine skill devised by their primogenitor in order to stabilize his position.

    The Storm Duke¡¯s expression turned pale. ¡°Since you¡¯ve managed to inherit such power, you¡¯ll surely carve your name in our race¡¯s history. Your Highness William, why do you help an outsider to suppress me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because the werewolves under Qianye¡¯s rule live better lives. They will truly be more powerful as there is no need to banish people or abandon their futures for the sake of survival.¡±

    ¡°The werewolves of thisnd have lived this way since ancient times!¡±

    ¡°Enough! I do not want to hear that ancestral school rhetoric! If you¡¯re not willing to submit, I can only return you to the embrace of the ancestors. At least, the surviving werewolves in your territory will live dignified lives.¡±

    The Storm Dukeughed loudly. ¡°You say werewolves will live dignified lives under a vampire?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen how they live in the Jade Sea.¡±

    ¡°Humans and vampires can not be trusted. They¡¯re all liars!¡±

    ¡°I trust Qianye.¡±

    The Storm Duke slowly calmed down. ¡°Do you n to do the same with me?¡±

    Clearly hesitant, William turned to Qianye. ¡°That¡¯s going to be a bit troublesome. me¡¯s bloodline descends from one of the seventeen original tribes of our race. My Wolf King¡¯s Roar will have a limited effect on him and might not be able to suppress him to the vice-duke realm. He might not listen to me without sufficient suppression. What do you think?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°If the me Duke is on par with Storm, we can work together to kill him even without the Wolf King¡¯s Roar. It looks like you don¡¯t really want to kill him, though.¡±

    William had no intention of ying dumb. He said with a nod, ¡°Every duke is a treasured fighting power for the werewolf race. I wouldn¡¯t do this if it wasn¡¯t for the tens of millions of our people. Storm, it¡¯s time to make a decision. Submit now or I¡¯ll be forced to kill you.¡±

    Storm crossed his daggers and said word-by-word, ¡°I have my dignity. After all, I¡¯m a duke who has ruled this ce for hundreds of years. If it¡¯s just a matter of life or death, I¡¯d rather die in battle than submit.¡±

    William wasn¡¯t angry. On the contrary, his eyes lit up. ¡°Then let me give you a reason. First reason, Qianye, show him your true power.¡±

    Qianye stretched his hand out and a plume of sanguine mes lit up on his palm. The fire was, at first, a deep violet which then turned to gold, and then dark gold.

    When the blood energy turned dark gold, the Storm Duke¡¯s expression shifted drastically and was evidently filled with trepidation. That was an instinctive terror that came from facing a higher bloodline. William already knew that Qianye¡¯s bloodline power was beyond that of a primo, but he still couldn¡¯t suppress the shock every time.

    The dark golden blood energy transformed once again. Its color grew deeper and deeper until there were a few strands of pure darkness within.

    William¡¯s mouth fell upon, almost as though his jaw had fallen off the joint. ¡°Y-You¡¯ve moved closer to the darkness origins!¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that such a change would happen. Thinking back, it was probably the mysterious energy from the werewolves¡¯ prayer that had purified his bloodline. He didn¡¯t really think too deeply back then, but the change had started to affect the external appearance of his sanguine mes!

    The Storm Duke was dazed, and his hands were trembling. As a member of the dark race, he could only dream of seeing the darkness origin in this lifetime. Yet who would be able to achieve such a lofty dream except those on the path to bing a great dark monarch? Naturally, Qianye¡¯s sanguine mes were not the darkness origins, but the wisps of darkness in the ze were fairly close.

    Seeing that something wasn¡¯t quite right, he closed his palm and put away the mes.

    Only then did Williame to. He gazed deeply at Qianye and then turned to the Storm Duke. ¡°What say you? Is this sufficient reason? Qianye¡¯s future prospects are far beyond what you can imagine. Your descendants will only praise you for your wisdom in choosing to follow him.¡±

    The Storm Duke also snapped back to his senses and regained his old fox character. ¡°This reason is quite ample, but that¡¯s just one of the reasons. I want to hear the second one.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no second reason!¡± William wanted to act dumb, but his acting was too poor. Even Qianye couldn¡¯t keep on watching.

    There was no way the Storm Duke would fall for it. The old fox closed his eyes and said, ¡°If there¡¯s no other reason, my dignity will not allow me to make a decision. Do it!¡±

    William was so angry that he began gnashing his teeth. ¡°To hell with your dignity! You weren¡¯t like this a while ago.¡±

    Storm wasn¡¯t moved. He kept his eyes and mouth closed.

    William was so helpless and angry that he wanted to shout at the duke. Yet, he couldn¡¯t act willfully when the other party was starting topromise. ¡°You don¡¯t have the blood of the ancestral tribe, but there¡¯s still hope for you to advance further. We have a special method at the Summit of Peaks that can flush your bloodline of impurities and refine your origin power. With some luck, even you might be able to break through.¡±

    The Storm Duke was surprised. ¡°This method must be very expensive.¡±

    ¡°Because it involves a precious resource, we get only one quota every three years.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that valuable.¡± The Storm Duke didn¡¯t continue, but what he really wanted to ask was whether William had the authority to decide on that quota.

    ¡°The quota three yearster belongs to me. It¡¯ll be worth giving you that quota if I can save ten million werewolves.¡± William expelled the Storm Duke¡¯s suspicions in just a few words.

    The old werewolf put away his des, saying, ¡°I can give up Storm Territory, but me isn¡¯t that easy to deal with. Besides, the ancestral school might not agree with your methods.¡±

    The Storm Duke¡¯s word usage was rather reserved, but everyone understood the meaning.

    ¡°Have they grown that bold?¡± William sneered.

    ¡°They¡¯ve always been crazy,¡± Storm said meaningfully.

    ¡°You stay here and help Qianye take care of the werewolves. If you work a full three years, the next quota is yours.¡±

    Storm raised a key issue. ¡°What do we do if the ancestral school attacks?¡±

    A cold gleam flickered in William¡¯s eyes. ¡°Then they no longer belong to our tribe. You surely understand how werewolves should treat our enemies.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a small matter. It¡¯s not just about Storm Territory; it¡¯s perhaps rted to the entire Fort Continent.¡± The worried Storm Duke wasn¡¯t convinced by Wiliam¡¯s token constion. The upper continents didn¡¯t think too highly of Fort Continent, but Fort had no choice but to pay attention to the upper continents. Hence, Storm knew quite a bit about those bigger tribes.

    ¡°The Summit of Peaks has been discussing this matter. Currently, our werewolf race as a whole isn¡¯t in a good position. Our pioneering efforts in the new world have been met with numerous obstacles as well. We¡¯re at the crossroads between survival and destruction, so we can¡¯t let those idiots from the ancestral school do as they wish.¡±

    ¡°From what I know, the elders and shamans from the summit aren¡¯t willing to use force, especially when they are being provoked by the ancestral sect.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why the Summit of Peaks is known as the Summit of Softies.¡± William¡¯s voice wasced with killing intent.

    ¡°Summit of Softies?¡± A surprised Qianye recalled the bone incident from back then, but his random thoughts were stopped by William¡¯s re.

    Storm¡¯s eyes shifted about, saying, ¡°It¡¯s rather surprising that you would say these things.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because they will soon be history.¡±

    ¡°Those old fellows might be soft toward outsiders, but the reverse isn¡¯t necessarily true,¡± Storm reminded.

    ¡°We will grow tougher. If they still aren¡¯t willing to change, I can only say that their time has passed.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll be looking forward to it, but I¡¯m not too optimistic about things.¡±

    ¡°Fort Continent will be our new main camp.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Qianye stepped into the conversation. ¡°I don¡¯t want to get dragged into your race¡¯s internal conflict.¡±

    The current topic was moving in an unexpected direction. Qianye felt that things were getting so far out of hand that he needed to call for a time out.

    William shrugged, saying, ¡°You have no choice, that is unless you don¡¯t want to take in Storm¡¯s werewolves.¡± He added, ¡°Oh, the ones from the Jade Sea count as well.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t speak for a good while. No matter how he looked at it, giving up on ten million werewolves wasn¡¯t his first choice.

    At this point, Qianye had already figured out William¡¯s true reason foring to Fort Continent. Thetter had actually been worried since a while ago, but it was Qianye¡¯s surprising growth and expansion that had brought the topic onto the table.

    Gazing at Qianye, he began to exin things clearly, ¡°The ancestral school won¡¯t let you go once you take Storm Territory. Those old bastards from the Summit of Peaks might not sit idly by as you lead several dozen million werewolves.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, didn¡¯t you say the werewolves of Fort Continent don¡¯t count as your people?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll naturally count after you raise them well.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

 Chapter 1283: Uncontrollable Future

    <h4>Chapter 1283: Uncontroble Future</h4>

    Although Qianye was prepared to face pressure from the werewolves of the upper continents, the reason for their interference was quite an eye-opener.

    The werewolves of the primitive tribes had never been recognized because they were backward, ignorant, and possessed limited potential. But once Qianye had pulled them out of primitiveness and led them to a standard epted by the Summit of Peaks, these werewolves would be ¡°their people.¡± And those bastards from the Summit of Peaks would never let Qianye rule over ¡°their people.¡±

    This meant that the werewolves of Fort Continent would be left to their fate if no one had stepped in, but the Summit of Peaks woulde over to reap the fruits if someone were to take the helm.

    Qianye cursed inwardly. And looking at William¡¯s helpless appearance, he knew that it was useless to reason with them.

    Qianye said angrily, ¡°Then what do you intend to do with these ¡®people¡¯ of yours? What will be of all the resources I invested?¡±

    ¡°What else do you want? You¡¯re already quite fortunate if we won¡¯t prosecute you for very! You want rewards? Dream on!¡± William mocked.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Then don¡¯t me me for being rude.¡±

    Williamughed out loud. ¡°You finally understand, right? But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m on your side at least.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like a lot of help.¡±

    Now, William was angry. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m a powerful character now! Ordinary vice-dukes are not my match at all!¡±

    ¡°You said it, the keyword is ordinary. I¡¯m a vice-duke as well, why don¡¯t we spar?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± William red furiously at Qianye, but he didn¡¯t have the slightest intention of fighting. He wasn¡¯t even interested.

    William had fought Qianye more than once, so he knew all too well that he could never win against him while at the same rank. Now that thetter was one rank above him, a defeat was inevitable.

    Seeing William stifled, Qianye felt just a tad better. After some thought, he didn¡¯t feel that it was that big of a loss on his part. He had gained the entire Storm Territory without shedding a drop of blood, and a powerful helper like the Storm Duke could be considered a great boon, even if it was just for three years. Of course, he would have to pay a price, and that price was being swept into the werewolves¡¯ internal conflict.

    The Storm Duke was both a powerful help and a hidden danger. No matter how powerful Qianye¡¯s momentum was, there would surely be a time when he was down. How could he be sure that the duke wouldn¡¯t stab him in the back at that point?

    William had long since thought about that. He said to the duke, ¡°Since we¡¯ve agreed, please swear on the spirit of your ancestor.¡±

    The Storm Duke¡¯s expression shifted ever so slightly. ¡°I swear upon the spirit of my honorable ancestor, thete Liziche Tribe Chieftain...¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± William interrupted him. ¡°You should be invoking the spirit of the Liziche Tribe¡¯s Great Shaman.¡±

    The Storm Duke¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°You know that too?¡±

    ¡°There areplete genealogy and inheritance records of every bloodline at the Summit of Peaks. That¡¯s why you should forget about ying tricks or things will get ugly.¡±

    The Storm Duke remained silent for a good while before continuing to recite a long oath, and this time, he was solemn and respectful. Qianye could feel a mysterious energy enter the Storm Duke¡¯s body. This cryptic power was rather simr to the one produced by the werewolves¡¯ prayer ceremony. He might not have been able to sense it if his own body hadn¡¯t been transformed by that same energy.

    It would seem that this ancestral oath imposed a tangible restriction on werewolves, and judging from the Storm Duke¡¯s reaction, he treated this oath quite seriously.

    After this process, the Storm Duke no longer harbored untoward thoughts, and so the vague sense of danger faded away from Qianye¡¯s perception.

    The Storm Duke didn¡¯t linger for very long. He immediately returned to his territory to handle the handover affairs. Qianye sought out the aristocratic alliance at their camp and instructed them to stop the assault and avoid sadistic killings in the future.

    The aristocratic army disyed stunningbat strength with the elite werewolves in their ranks, winning battle after battle. They had pushed the battlefront almost a hundred kilometers forward and killed close to a hundred thousand of the Storm Duke¡¯s tribal armies.

    Of course, Qianye wasn¡¯t going to let these forces remain idle. Once the Storm Duke hadpleted the transfer process, he would shift them to the front lines and pit them against the me Duke. The ancestral school would surely cause trouble for Qianye, and the me Duke would be their vanguard.

    Qianye had no good impression of the ancestral faction, either. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t mind dealing a blow to the me Duke.

    The Storm Duke and the me Duke had been archenemies for decades, with neither gaining the advantage against the other. This meant that they were not at all at a disadvantage in terms of experts. In terms of troops, the well-trained aristocratic elite soldiers held the absolute advantage over the primitive werewolves.

    Now that all the arrangements had been made, Qianye finally found the time to discuss things with William and ask about their progress in the new world.

    William smiled wryly. ¡°Things aren¡¯t good in the new world. We¡¯re currently stuck in front of a forest with three holy trees, making no progress while racking up casualties. And that¡¯s the route with the best progress. The other two continents are doing worse since they were caught unprepared. Our defensive force on one of the continents was routed andpletely wiped out.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Didn¡¯t you guys open the door? You¡¯ve also been amassing troops well beforehand. How did something like that happen?¡±

    ¡°There are no werewolves among those in charge of opening the doors.¡±

    ¡°How exactly were those doors opened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± William replied frankly.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that the werewolves would be so marginalized that they couldn¡¯t even take part in something so important. It looked like their status as one of the four major races was in grave danger. The temporary halt to the holy war didn¡¯t do much to improve the werewolves¡¯ situation. On the contrary, it deprived them of the right to speak in high-ranking military matters.

    It was no wonder that William would help Qianye subdue the Storm Duke and put ten million werewolves in his hands.

    Apparently, the opening of the new world had truly agitated the Summit of Peaks, so much so that they had decided to get rid of the internal gue that was the ancestral school.

    Qianye¡¯s position was now rather awkward. Was he to help free these werewolves of their binding and guide them to prosperity? Werewolves were, after all, long-living species, one of the four major dark races and an enemy to the human race. It didn¡¯t sound all too wise to nurture the enemy.

    The situation of the werewolves on Fort Continent was special. Qianye¡¯s initial n was simply to give them food so that they wouldn¡¯t need to sacrifice the old and weak for survival. Without outside intervention, elevating the werewolf society on Fort Continent to the level of the upper continents would take a very long time. After all, Qianye possessed neither the means nor the intention to bring about an evolution in their systematic strength. Things would bepletely different, though, if the upper continents were to intervene.

    To Qianye, there was no middle option. He could smash the chains binding the werewolves of Fort Continent and face a future he couldn¡¯t control, or watch as they continued to struggle against fate.

    At the very least, the werewolves of the great corridor and Jade Sea were truly loyal. They not only followed his orders on the battlefield but also considered him half a god. The mysterious power from the werewolves¡¯ prayers was the truest form of feedback.

    Qianye shook his head inwardly and continued listening to William¡¯s exnation of the werewolves¡¯ condition. Because they had been left out during the opening of the new world, their subsequent information sharing wasn¡¯t really sufficient. All they knew was that they needed to amass troop strength, but not where.

    The overlord of one of the three werewolf continents was an extremely arrogant individual. Not only did he reject gathering troops, but he also didn¡¯t construct enough defensive structures or assign a full array of troop types. In the end, their forces suffered grave losses during the first wave and werepletely routed by the second.

    The worst part was that themander of these forces belonged to the ancestral faction, but the subordinates came from the progressive tribes. Some of the older, more conservative elders from the Summit of Peaks had yielded the position as apromise. After all, the ancestral school was also full of powerful experts. Who would¡¯ve expected such an oue? Close to a hundred thousand elite soldiers were wiped out entirely.

    Qianye asked about the details of the battle and found that the key culprits were a shortage of soldiers and lousymand.

    That ancestral factionmander was furious after the first defeat. He marshaled the remnant troops for a second battle with no consideration of aerial and rear defenses. In the end, their main firepower in the rear waspletely annihted by a massive swarm of aerial beasts.

    Although the Summit of Peaks took immediate action and managed to stabilize the situation, their pioneering efforts were greatly dyed. The number of soldiers they could send into the new world was too limited.

    The werewolves¡¯ situation in the new world wasn¡¯t any better than Qianye¡¯s when he had just entered. They could only obtain a limited amount of information from the other three races, so they had to rely on themselves to fumble about. After several fierce battles, their forces had grown weak and weary.

    Something surprised Qianye quite a bit. That was the fact that the six-armed creatures in the forests were all awake when the werewolves attacked. Add to that the assistance from the beast army and their environmental advantage, the werewolf experts suffered grave losses while killing eachmander.

    Qianye understood all too well how terrifying a sober six-armed general was. Only now did he truly realize just how lucky he had been. Not only had he caught the generals in a dormant state, but he had also discovered their weak point. He was able to sneak attack and injure them at the first exchange. Then, he would destroy the beast troops and focus fire on the six-armed general¡¯s host. The general would once again suffer heavy injuries during this process. Even a god wouldn¡¯t be able to take a double blow like this.

    The werewolves, on the other hand, had to face a fully active six-armed general. With no other tricks up their sleeve, they could only fight the enemy head-on. It was no wonder their progress had been so difficult.

    Qianye hesitated for a bit but ultimately decided against telling him the creature¡¯s weakness. After all, the werewolves were a powerful enemy force, a force they might have to fight after a certain degree of exploration. The rtionship between Qianye and William was rather subtle. He had always maintained a friendly stance, yet he couldn¡¯t represent the entire tribe.

    After seeing William off, Qianye returned to the duke¡¯s residence at Cerulean Wave City. That was Qianye¡¯s residence, so ordinary people weren¡¯t allowed to enter without special permission. Qianye never had the time to renovate the ce after taking over the city. The entire structure remainedrgely in its original state, with dark corridors.

    Qianye¡¯s footsteps echoed through the long, empty corridor. When he walked past one of the torches, an unnatural distortion appeared in his shadow.

    Qianye stopped, saying, ¡°Come out on your own, it¡¯ll be bad if I have to take action.¡±

    A shadow walked out from the darkness, arrived behind Qianye, and blew softly on his neck. ¡°What? Do you not wee me?¡±

 Chapter 1284: New Bankroller

    <h4>Chapter 1284: New Bankroller</h4>

    Qianye stood perfectly still, not even looking back. ¡°You clearly know the answer, why the extra effort?¡±

    She said, ¡°But you didn¡¯t attack, did you? That means you still want to listen to what I have to say.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Not inviting me for a drink first? I came with good intentions, you know.¡±

    Qianye finally turned back. The person in front was d in a ck gown, but that did poorly to hide her lithe figure. Those eyes of hers possessed an exceptional reflection of her wild nature as well as a familiar beauty.

    ¡°Twilight, this isn¡¯t the Empire, but I have no good impression of you. Since you¡¯re here, I hope you¡¯re prepared to never return.¡±

    Twilight chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re not that heartless. Besides, it¡¯s not that easy to keep me here, is it?¡±

    She hadn¡¯t finished speaking when Qianye grabbed her throat and lifted her into the air. This move was as swift as lightning¡ªshe had seen his actions, but her entire body was limp and sluggish. She could do nothing but watch as she fell into Qianye¡¯s hands.

    That kind of feeling was an absolute bloodline suppression from a superior expert, something that would only appear against a grand duke or a prince.

    ¡°Duke!¡± Twilight cried out.

    Qianye paid her no attention. He dragged her into the nearby guest room and flung her onto the sofa. He himself dragged a chair over and sat down, saying, ¡°Speak and we¡¯ll see if I¡¯ll let you off.¡±

    Twilight sat up buty back down after seeing Qianye¡¯s re. Her eyes shifted about as she switched to a different position and opened her robe, revealing arge area of her cor. ¡°Did you want to see me this way?¡±

    ¡°Not the least attracted.¡±

    Twilight¡¯s nce was fluid. ¡°You don¡¯t need to hold back. You can try and see the difference between a human and a pureblood member of the twelve ancient vampire ns.¡±

    ¡°Not interested.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really different!¡±

    Twilight suddenly lost interest under Qianye¡¯s cold gaze. She sat up straight and said self-deprecatingly, ¡°I¡¯m a primo too! Am I so unattractive?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m only a half-vampire.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the real reason, is it? It¡¯s Nighteye, right?¡±

    Qianye remained silent in tacit agreement. He had no intention of beating around the bush since Twilight was being straightforward. ¡°How¡¯s she doing?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Do you not know, or are you unwilling to talk? If you know nothing, then you are of no value to me.¡±

    With a sigh, Twilight put her hand on Qianye¡¯s, grabbing on tightly as he pulled back. ¡°What do you know? You can speak now.¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t know. All I heard was that she had returned and was taken away by the Evernight council. Reportedly, several veteran members weed her personally in a show of extravagance.

    It didn¡¯t show on his face, but he believed most of what she said. Nighteye¡¯s power was unfathomable after the second awakening. She was, after all, a true powerhouse.

    Qianye felt that Twilight wouldn¡¯t know much anyway. He pulled his hand back and asked, ¡°What are you here for?¡±

    ¡°To join you, of course!¡±

    ¡°Are you so bad at humor?¡±

    Twilight looked rather aggrieved. ¡°You can even take in werewolves, why are you so biased toward me? Don¡¯t forget that you have our n¡¯s blood.¡±

    ¡°Those werewolves submit to me wholeheartedly. The same can¡¯t be said of you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sincere as well. Look, I¡¯m even willing to give myself to you. Is that not enough?¡±

    A plume of sanguine mes lit up on his fingertips, which he brought closer and closer to Twilight. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. Say what you have to say because my patience is running out.¡±

    Twilight sighed. ¡°So boring. Fine, I heard you¡¯ve been doing really well on Fort Continent and have made some progress in the new world as well. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ll need arge number of resources and equipment. That¡¯s why the elder assembly sent me to see if we can make a deal.¡±

    ¡°Deal? What can you give me and what do you want?¡±

    ¡°Vampire weapons are famous throughout the world, be they origin guns or des. Additionally, we can sell you a batch of ves, most of them are vampires with blood pacts.¡±

    A vast number of vampires also be ves for various reasons. Some were traitors, some had been defeated in battle, and others owed massive debts. Vampire ves with blood pacts usually made for good fighting power, the best kind among mercenaries and cannon fodder. As long as the owner possessed the contract, there was no worry of them defecting.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected the vampire race toe knocking on his doors. ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Equipment, essence blood, ves, castles, and blood ponds, all of them require money. Those old bastards in their blood ponds worry most about being unable to wake up from their hibernation. Their desire for eternal life is stronger than anything else. As long as they can earn more money for that cause, there¡¯s no bottom line that they won¡¯t cross. News of your recent purchases has even reached our faction. They aren¡¯t about to let go of such a big spender.¡±

    Twilight was mocking those people the entire while. In the end, she added, ¡°You¡¯re not the only such bankroller, either.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°The best would be water from the holy treeke and ore from the ind.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot ofke water, either. Ind ore? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Twilight gazed into his eyes, saying slowly, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t have the ore. Can you share someke water with us? Ten thousand soldiers¡¯ worth should be enough. You can trade the rest for dark golden sandstone.¡±

    ¡°Dark golden sandstone isn¡¯t that useful to your people, is it?¡±

    ¡°There are uses. Some giant statues require strong metal alloys, and dark golden sandstone is the perfect ore for that.¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°I agree.¡±

    This deal was beneficial to both parties. Qianye would obtain a considerable amount of resources that would increase his fighting power and a vampire squad that was entirely loyal to him. All these things could be invested into the new world and immediately prove their worth.

    The vampires, on the other hand, would obtain some strategic resources and luxury goods. This deal posed little threat to Qianye in the short term but would grant him significant profits in the long run.

    The knowledge Qianye had gained from the River of Blood contained some information about the blood ponds of the ancient vampire race. In order to maintain the effectiveness of these ponds, they would need to add a constant supply of rare medicines and the blood of wild beasts, even colossi. Simply maintaining them every day involved astronomical costs. Twilight¡¯s words hence made sense.

    In addition to that, the vampire race also wanted wood from specific trees in the forests. As Qianye saw it, those were just trees that had lived rtively longer. The vampire race also passed a fairly important piece of information.

    Qianye didn¡¯t agree immediately. He only said that he would consider it, and that, if he were to agree, he would have them prepared by the time the vampire race¡¯s transports arrive.

    Havingpleted her mission, Twilight made an appointment for their next meeting and left.

    Qianye headed into the new world after she was gone. He went around the first forest and discovered a fair number of trees that matched the vampires¡¯ request. He ordered his men to cut down some of them and sent them back to the Evernight World for an analysis.

    The results came out rather quickly¡ªthe wood from these trees was light and sturdy, somewhat simr to those in the Great Maelstrom. They were highlypatible with origin arrays and made great material forrge origin arrays.

    Such wood was valuable but not especially expensive. There were better resources of this sort in the Great Maelstrom, but they weren¡¯t extracted in the end. It wasn¡¯t worth transporting such amodity with the highly limited shipment capacity.

    There was no such problem in the new world¡ªthey could extract the wood inrge quantities and send them back through the door for a fairly reasonable cost. The production capacity in each forest was limited, while the demand was endless. The best application for this wood was foundational material for airships.

    Havinge to a conclusion, Qianye entered the new world again and toured all of the forests under their control. The number of ancient trees was evidently greater in the forest with four holy trees. The oldest batch among them was extremely strong, almost on par with the ones in the high-gravity region of the Great Maelstrom.

    Qianye immediately gathered people to fell a batch of trees for the Martyr¡¯s Pce. These resources would elerate the pce¡¯s remodeling process¡ªthe internal structure and external body would finally take shape, leaving only the internal details to be figured out.

    As for the vampires, there was no way he would let them have such top-grade materials. After pondering for a while, he asked his men to harvest a batch from the most ordinary forest for the deal.

    Fort Continent had turned fairly busy in the past two days with airshipsing and going frequently. Large cargo ships weren¡¯t a rare sight, either, which served to attract a lot of pirates.

    These ouws traveled great distances only to find that every cargo ship belonged to a colossal power. Just the escort warships alone weren¡¯t the kind these pirates could handle, not to mention these powers would seek revenge after the robbery. Additionally, they could see the shadows of Imperial patrols along the flight paths.

    Qianye had wanted to take the other forest with three holy trees at first, but he was tied down by secr affairs on Fort Continent.

    The Storm Duke moved quickly, announcing that Qianye was the true son of darkness and that the werewolves of the Storm Territory would merge with the Jade Sea. This news shook the entire Fort Continent. Before the major powers could react, Qianye had arranged for the aristocratic armies to capture all the major crossroads around the border of the me Duke¡¯s territory.

    As expected, the me Duke openly dered that Qianye was a fake and led an all-out attack against Storm Territory the next day.

    However, the hundred thousand soldiers he had mustered crashed right into the steel wall that was the aristocratic alliance. These werewolves who knew little besides charging in a group suffered grave losses in the face of the unprecedented defensive firepower. They were mowed down in droves; the massacre was so fierce that the alliance soldiers felt their arms growing tired.

    The me werewolves stormed the battlefront for an entire day, but they produced little change except for the corpses they left behind. They couldn¡¯t even charge past the defensive line.

    The storm werewolves guarded the nks vigntly. In just one day, over half of the attacking army had fallen. The furious me Duke charged to the front lines but was duly intercepted by the Storm Duke. The two fought a fierce battle, which ended in a draw just like before.

 Chapter 1285: Ember Troubles

    <h4>Chapter 1285: Ember Troubles</h4>

    Some good news finally arrived after a couple of days. Caroline had alreadypleted her mission on Transcendent and was back on Fort Continent. With her and Storm, Qianye¡¯s forces now contained three duke-rank experts. He decided to assail the second forest immediately.

    When Qianye explored the forest, he discovered that the six-armedmander was indeed in an awakened state. Heunched a decisive surprise attack when a fleeing opportunity presented itself. He was able tond one Shot of Inception, but the second one was blocked by a dark golden me that it had spat out!

    This was the first time in a long while that a Shot of Inception had not found its target.

    He immediately pulled back and went out of the forest, but how could that six-armed general let him go? He chased Qianye all the way out of the forest, leaving the army of beasts far behind.

    Once out of the forest, he found that Qianye was waiting for him to arrive. To his left and right were the two duke-rank experts.

    A great battle ensued.

    No matter how powerful the six-armed giant was, he simply couldn¡¯t stop thebined attacks of three experts. Finally, Qianye found an opening to fire two more Shots of Inception andpletely ended its life.

    By the time that six-armed general had copsed, an area hundreds of meters around them was littered with pits of varying sizes. Many of them still contained mes or lightning sparks, signs of the battle just now.

    Qianye was merely tired, but Caroline was pale and seemed to have suffered some damage to her vitality. The Storm Duke was the most miserable one among them. Part of his beard had been singed, and the armor on his body was in tatters. There was also a shocking hole on his thigh.

    The duke was proficient in speed, but he became the slowest whenpared to the other two. Even the six-armed general was faster. Hence, the six-armed general began focusing on Storm after realizing that he couldn¡¯t catch Qianye. If thetter hadn¡¯t stepped in to trade a couple of direct blows with themander, thereby blocking his lethal attacks, it was unlikely that the Storm Duke would be standing intact.

    This was the first time Qianye had fought with a six-armed general in its peak state. Only then did he figure out their truebat strength.

    The six-armed general didn¡¯t sport any special powers. He was just fast, fierce, and highly tenacious. These three qualities made for a lethalbination that was stronger than any fancy moves. The battle would¡¯ve been even harder had Qianye notnded a Shot of Inception earlier.

    Qianye finally understood why the werewolves had been facing obstacles in the new world. It definitely wasn¡¯t easy to defeat a six-armed giant with dukes alone. Besides, there was no telling how well the races of the Evernight faction were adapting to thews of the new world. Then again, where were the werewolf great dark monarchs? William didn¡¯t discuss the matter, so Qianye probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten an answer even if he had asked.

    Caroline cleaned up the battlefield quickly and tied the six-armed general¡¯s weapons to her back in a bundle. At this point, the Storm Duke began to sway on his feet and his aura fell sharply.

    When Qianye nced over in surprise, he found the duke deathly pale with no color on his lips. ¡°I must leave now! The origin power here... something¡¯s not right!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, the duke copsed and couldn¡¯t even continue speaking.

    Qianye rushed over to support him. At the moment of contact, Qianye could sense that the origin power within the Storm Duke¡¯s body was fairly chaotic and contained quite a lot of origin power from the new world. The odd origin power was like a spark falling into a barrel of oil, igniting the Storm Duke¡¯s own origin power and producing mes in many ces.

    This was happening inside the body. No matter how strong the duke was, he couldn¡¯t stop the congration within. He was trying his utmost to suppress the violent origin power, so much so that he had lost the power to stay in the air. After careful observation, Qianye discovered even more shocking details.

    The duke¡¯s injuries were mostly caused by his own origin power. Pure darkness origin power was hardly affected by the strange energy of the new world, but the impurities in the duke¡¯s origin power were immediately ignited like fuel. The origin mes produced from this would then spread to the unaffected darkness origin power. The entire process was like stoking the mes in a furnace¡ªfirst light up wood shavings and firewood, which would then ignite the ck stones.

    Continuing this process was actually a good way to purify one¡¯s origin power, but unfortunately, the victim was made of flesh and not steel. Even Qianye wouldn¡¯t be able to stand origin mes burning inside his body. Perhaps he could attempt this when he was a great dark monarch and his organs had all been strengthened.

    The Storm Duke was already at his limits. The origin power throughout his body was catching fire here and there. At this rate, there was no way he would be able to hold out long enough to leave the new world.

    Qianye made an immediate decision. ¡°Don¡¯t resist, bear with me.¡±

    The pale Storm Duke couldn¡¯t manage a response. Qianye stretched out his finger and tapped the duke¡¯s body in several ces. At every point of contact, a sanguine thread would shoot into the werewolf¡¯s body, bringing back with it a spark that would enter Qianye¡¯s body.

    These sparks were the embers causing chaos within the Storm Duke¡¯s body. The old man¡¯s face went even paler as these sparks left his body, but his aura stabilized and started to recover. The remaining embers were no longer a threat as the Storm Duke could extinguish them on his own.

    Having survived the cmity, the Storm Duke was in a good mood despite his weakness. He said to Qianye, ¡°That was Life Plunder, right? Legend has it that it¡¯s one of the most powerful vampire bloodline powers. Awesome indeed. But from what I heard, Life Plunder will indiscriminately wipe out everything within a certain radius. You, Sire, actually managed to control it with such uracy, this is unimaginable!¡±

    Unknowingly, the Storm Duke was using a respectful address when talking to Qianye.

    ¡°There¡¯s no technique that can¡¯t be controlled. There must be people in the twelve major ns who can control Life Plunder, right?¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°You might be right. I¡¯ve been on Fort Continent for far too long, I know very little, please forgive me,¡± Storm said self-deprecatingly.

    In truth, he had no idea that Qianye¡¯s control over Life Plunder was an inheritance from the River of Blood. The knowledge belonged to the ancient vampire system and required the corresponding physique to operate. Perhaps some of those old monsters sleeping in blood ponds could control Life Plunder, but it was definitely not as ordinary as Qianye had made it out to be. Their level of control would surely be inferior to the river¡¯s inheritance.

    There was little need to exin this fact¡ªvery few among the younger generations had been able to obtain such inheritances, so much so that such divine abilities had turned into legends.

    Moreover, Qianye had a feeling that there were numerous gazes scanning the area when the River of Blood had appeared. They seemed to be searching for his existence, but the river had lowered his aura and protected him from being detected by those mysterious entities. Combined with the theory that the River of Blood had disappeared, Qianye could almost smell a conspiracy going on. There was no way he would tell a werewolf duke about the vampire race¡¯s secret arts.

    The Storm Duke couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised when he saw that Qianye waspletely fine after absorbing the embers.

    These embers made up the bulk of the mes that had been wreaking havoc in his body, nearly killing him in the process. Yet, they werepletely silent after entering Qianye¡¯s body. It didn¡¯t even seem like he needed to channel his origin power to eliminate them. Just from this, the duke could tell that he knew very little about Qianye¡¯s true strength.

    The Storm Duke was as white as a sheet, but Qianye¡¯s face was flushed red. It looked like he was about to enter a state of blood boil.

    It was inevitable that Life Plunder would bring some of the Storm Duke¡¯s essence blood out. This amount wouldn¡¯t hurt the duke¡¯s foundations as he could replenish the loss in just half a year. To Qianye, however, every drop of a duke¡¯s essence blood was an irreceable supplement containing vast amounts of origin power. The few drops of essence blood would rece half a month¡¯s worth of cultivation for him.

    As a werewolf who understood vampire abilities, the Storm Duke had already sensed this. Yet, he didn¡¯t expose or discuss the fact; salvation came with its prices. Now that the danger had passed and he had recovered a fair amount of fighting power, the duke worked with the other two to move the six-armed general¡¯s body back to the base, then to Fort Continent.

    Once back in Fort Continent, the Storm Duke immediately returned to his territory. He had to confront the me Duke, lest thetter discovers his prolonged absence. The old fox kept his injuries well-hidden, not letting anyone else figure out the truth.

    Qianye had to focus on expanding in the new world, so he had no time to deal with the me Duke.

    Only after this battle did Qianye discover how terrifying the new world was. Here, even a duke-rank expert had to be careful about sustaining injuries. Otherwise, things would turn disastrous once the strange origin power invaded the body.

    The Storm Duke had been living in Fort Continent for a prolonged length of time, so the purity of his origin power was quite bad. That, however, was just rtive to the dukes of the upper continent. His darkness origin power was naturally at a certain standard for him to have reached the duke-rank. That being said, the duke had suffered quite a bit of torment in the new world and nearly died.

    Caroline¡¯s actual talents were much higher than the Storm Duke¡¯s. It was just that she had chosen to merge with lightning power, which put a halt to her future progress. However, there was still hope of her reaching a superior duke rank. She was proficient in roaming battles, retreating and advancing like lightning. Her lightning was so tyrannical that even the six-armed generals were wary, and that was also why she wasn¡¯t quite injured.

    Qianye was a different case altogether. Both his blood energy and daybreak origin power were close to the origins. The odd origin power from the new world could find nothing to ignite after entering his body. Qianye didn¡¯t even need to heed the sparks produced from them as the flowing auric me blood would extinguish them in passing. In terms of strength, the mes of the strange origin power were inferior to the auric me blood in Qianye¡¯s cirction.

    Through this battle, Qianye discovered that he alone was the backbone of these pioneering efforts. The others, even Caroline, had to be protected carefully.

    At this point, Qianye felt lucky that he had taken the risk to eliminate that six-armed general from the forest with four holy trees. If that monster had woken up entirely, even the three of them would hardly be able to defeat it. That forest would be an insurmountable obstacle in their path. Who knew how many sacrifices would be required to ovee it?

    Perhaps only a prince-rank expert coulde and go at will in this new world, but even they couldn¡¯t afford to be too arrogant.

    This was a world where the true contest was in innate talents.

    After taking down the forest with three holy trees, Qianye had no choice but to slow down his expansion.

    He had stretched his forces too far, with thest base being one thousand five hundred kilometers away from the door. On the other hand, he would need to build arge central base around the forest with four holy trees. The other two three-tree forests also required outposts. He needed five hundred thousand soldiers just for the garrison and for defending against beast attacks. The werewolves needed more time to train, so they could no longer keep up with this speed.

    Noticing Qianye¡¯s distress, Caroline said, ¡°Airships can¡¯t enter the new world, but what about the Martyr¡¯s Pce?¡±

 Chapter 1286: Sun of Nothingness

    <h4>Chapter 1286: Sun of Nothingness</h4>

    Caroline¡¯s words woke Qianye from his dream.

    Ordinary airships couldn¡¯t enter the new world because their key kic systems were too fragile to stand the corrosion of the strange origin power.

    The environment there was even more adverse than the neutralnds, and only the sturdiest old models could operate there. Trucks could hold out fine, but airships would have to be scrapped after one week in the new world. Another consideration was the adaptation to the new origin power¡ªeven without considering wear and tear, it was still unknown whether or not the origin arrays could function normally.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was different. Its body was the skeleton of a void colossus and thus should be able to withstand the environment of the new world. Furthermore, the remnant consciousness allowed the dragonship to form a protectiveyer around itself, protecting the equipment, weaponry, and origin arrays from being affected.

    Perhaps, he could try?

    At noon the next day, when the origin power of the new world was at its most stable, almost all of the experts under Qianye¡¯smand gathered outside of the ¡°door.¡± A fair number of werewolf chiefs and shamans had rushed over to witness this historical moment.

    Qianye stood on a tall tform with the Storm Duke and Caroline at his side. The duke was recuperating at first, but he rushed over immediately after hearing about the event. On a lower level of the tform were the werewolf experts. Some of them were new faces that Qianye didn¡¯t recognize, but it just so happened that they were all a fair bit stronger than the werewolves of the Jade Sea.

    The Storm Duke had led these experts here from the Storm Territory, all of them important characters in theirnd. He wanted them to meet Qianye and express their loyalty.

    An attendant ascended the stage and whispered, ¡°Sire, it¡¯s time.¡±

    Qianye nodded and pointed at the door. An rm red loudly in the base as the kic towers spoutedrge clouds of steam. The cannon turrets were on full alert and pointed in different directions.

    A shadow appeared in the sky and slowly grew bigger and bigger until the massive silhouette of the Martyr¡¯s Pce slowly descended.

    Even those who had seen the pce several times felt as though they couldn¡¯t breathe. That feeling of having a city floating above their heads was too shocking.

    The werewolves of the Jade Sea had it better, but the chiefs and shamans from the Storm Territory were all bbergasted. They had never seen anything remotely close. One of the shamans was so confused that he fell to his knees and began praying.

    The shamans of the Jade Sea looked at him in disdain, but Qianye and the Storm Duke were in no mood tough. Qianye¡¯s gazended briefly on the white-haired shaman, saying, ¡°What a pity.¡±

    The Storm Duke said, ¡°Can¡¯t help it, this is the Fort Continent. Hees from a small vige, so it¡¯s a miracle that he¡¯s still alive.¡±

    The werewolves of Fort Continent matured early, constricting their life to the shortest in order to survive the harsh environment. The effects were even more pronounced in smaller tribes. Children who grew up too slow were simply abandoned. As for whether they might be geniuses, that was a problem to consider if they could grow up.

    This old shaman praying to the Earth Dragon wasn¡¯t funny. It wasn¡¯t that he had mistaken the airship for something else. He was in prostration because he had sensed the earth dragon¡¯s will, a disy of reverence toward a void colossus.

    In truth, void colossi were worshipped as gods in many parts of the lower continents. As the master, Qianye knew that the remnant will did not possess an opinion. To others, however, it was already a rarity to sense the Earth Dragon¡¯s will.

    At this moment, the Martyr¡¯s Pce had arrived in position. Even the ¡°door¡± seemed a bit narrow before the massive airship.

    Qianye stood on the tform with a wooden expression. In truth, his consciousness was connected to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, so whatever the dragonship saw, he did as well.

    Only the most basic crew members were aboard the Martyr¡¯s Pce. These were all strong people who had taken the holy tree sap¡ªthey were in charge of observing the changes inside the airship and driving it. The hovering dragonship looked more like a giant monster than a human-driven warship.

    Under Qianye¡¯s urging, the vessel waved its tail and slowly drifted toward the door in the misty region.

    Qianye sensed a burning pain in his consciousness as the Earth Dragon entered the mist. Even the Earth Dragon couldn¡¯t adapt to the strange origin power of the new world. Without the need for an order, the pained Earth Dragon activated its protective barrier and isted itself from the origin power. The sensation of pain also vanished thereafter.

    Feeling relieved, Qianye drove the airship forward until it finally entered the ¡°door.¡±

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s vision was different. In the white mist, it could clearly ¡°see¡± a tunnel formed from the strange energy, surrounded by turbulent void origin power. Qianye felt quite rmed upon witnessing this scene. This passage seemed quite fragile, yet it remained intact amidst the violent tempests.

    Qianye¡¯s vision changed entirely as the Earth Dragon sped up and exited the tunnel. That eternal sun of the new world appeared in his sights.

    Startled, he stared at the sun for a moment.

    Through the Earth Dragon¡¯s eyes, that sun was a burning mass of origin power. It emitted scorching daybreak origin power at all times while absorbing the strange energy. After thetter entered the sun, all that came back out was daybreak origin power. No one knew whether they had disappeared or if they had been converted.

    Most importantly, Qianye discovered through the Earth Dragon¡¯s will that this sun wasn¡¯t real. At least, it wasn¡¯t a massive tangible body like the sun back in the Evernight World.

    It was a ball of nothingness, burning with origin power. Qianye could vaguely sense that this sun likely held the secrets to this world.

    However, even the Earth Dragon had no way to approach the sun, let alone fly inside to study it. This sun in the new world was spitting out raging daybreak origin power, something that could burn down any physical object. Let alone the dead Earth Dragon, even Sky Demon¡ªthe colossus that hadid down the iron curtain back on Evernight Continent¡ªcouldn¡¯t get too close.

    Qianye drove the airship forward after a momentary daze. The massive body of the Martyr¡¯s Pce passed through the door and arrived in the new world!

    A roaring cheer broke out from below. Qianye slowly shifted the Earth Dragon upward and looked down, where all the soldiers hade out from behind the fortifications in a boisterous fashion.

    This was Qianye¡¯s first base in the new world. It was currently quiterge with aplete array of facilities. Not only did it possess arge-scale hospital, but it also housed a sizable warehouse, research facility, and training infrastructure. New recruits would be trained here for a week and only dispatched to the front lines when they were fully ustomed to the environment.

    Hence, this base was big enough to amodate a hundred thousand soldiers, most of them werewolves.

    The base wasn¡¯t too far from the door, so the Martyr¡¯s Pce covered up the entire sky above the fortress as it appeared. Many of the werewolves were shaken to the core¡ªall of a sudden, a shaman fell to the ground in loud prayers, followed by all the other werewolves.

    This scene was rather familiar. Qianye soon felt a mysterious energynd on him, slowly raising his bloodline powers.

    Qianye was startled as he gained a new understanding of this mysterious power. It couldn¡¯t be insted even by the difference in worlds. What was it exactly? A million werewolves simply sang praise in his name, and the blessing was delivered to him across such distances and barriers. This was simply miraculous.

    There were too many secrets in the new world that he needed to explore.

    After entering the new world, Qianye received a message in their shared consciousness. The Martyr¡¯s Pce was feeling suffocated. This was an entirely new sensation because void colossi didn¡¯t need to perform any routine breathing. The Earth Dragon had been dead for so many years, with only the skeleton, heart, and some flesh remaining. Why would it feel suffocated?

    Qianye didn¡¯t try to stop the Earth Dragon¡¯s reflexive attempt to breathe. He watched as the dragon opened its mouth and took a deep breath. A yellow tornado appeared as boundless origin power was drawn into its body!

    A gale kicked up in the base, with many of the weaker soldiers being blown about. The interior of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, on the other hand, was wrecked by a storm. Many of the equipment inside were uprooted and blown about; some of the walls were even destroyed.

    Fortunately, the pce had been modified once more before entering the new world. Everything inside had been reinforced to stop interference from the strange origin power, and that was what stopped a full-blown disaster from taking ce.

    The origin tempest rushed to the dragonship¡¯s chest and wasrgely absorbed by the heart and muscles. A small amount broke through the airship walls and exited the body from what seemed like natural air-vents.

    After drawing in the origin power, Qianye felt as though he had inhaled a mouthful of smokey air. It was a bit irritating, but it also served to relieve the suffocating feeling; the Earth Dragon¡¯s entire body was now full of energy.

    Every part of the body? Qianye was startled. He had never sensed any other body part except the heart when he shared consciousness with the Earth Dragon in the past. Now, he could even sense the bones. If not for the fact that he could see the Martyr¡¯s Pce personally, he might¡¯ve mistaken the vessel for an actual Earth Dragon.

    The Earth Dragon seemed to have undergone a mysterious change as it entered the new world. There were actually vague signs of it reviving. It would be aplete miracle if that were the case. When Qianye first saw it back in the underground world, the dragonship was nothing more than a skeleton and a heart.

    Now that the Earth Dragon had regained its energy, Qianye drove it slowly around the new world. He slowly sped up, went deeper in, and tried to fly higher as well. The Martyr¡¯s Pce flew faster and faster, even more so than when it was in the void. And this was without activating any of the auxiliary engines and kic sails. The pce was flying just from the Earth Dragon¡¯s instincts.

    Qianye felt suffocated again after roughly half an hour of flight. He allowed the Earth Dragon to move ording to its instincts again. The dragon opened its mouth and exhaled a mass of murky origin power, kicking up another storm in the air. It then breathed in again¡ªthe feeling of suffocation vanished, and its body was once again full of energy.

    Qianye thus flew the airship for a good while, even circling above the first forest before turning back and passing through the door into the Evernight World.

    Qianye finally woke up from his distracted state when the airship returned.

    ¡°How was it?¡± Caroline and the Storm Duke asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s a bit of a problem, but it can indeed enter the new world,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Then there should be no problems with the expansion!¡± Caroline was delighted.

    With the Martyr¡¯s Pce, they had the equivalent of a mobile fortress. There was no longer a need to fear the beast armies.

 Chapter 1287: Troublemaker Ambitions

    <h4>Chapter 1287: Troublemaker Ambitions</h4>

    It just so happened that a new batch of goods from the aristocratic families arrived in the next couple of days. This expedited the repair of the Martyr¡¯s Pce¡¯s interior.

    Qianye modified the internalpartment structure ording to the flow of origin power and built dedicated vents for the energy flow. With the help of thousands of technicians, the entire remodeling process waspleted in less than a week.

    The aristocratic families did their utmost, holding back neither in terms of manpower or money. The chance to tour the interior of the Martyr¡¯s Pce was a rare opportunity, something they couldn¡¯t miss even if it was just for intelligence.

    At this point, the aristocratic families had fully epted that Qianye was extremely powerful. With the addition of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, he would be unmatched in the void unless the Imperial Guard dispatched two of their three biggest fleets.

    The current Qianye was already quite established. With the Martyr¡¯s Pce around, it could be said that he could dominate both thend and the air on Fort Continent. There were simply no openings. It would take a great dark monarch or heavenly monarch topletely defeat him.

    The aristocratic families were fast to pull out all the stops once they had figured out this truth. Countless secret reports were ryed back to the Empire through various channels, followed by numerous reply missives.

    Qianye reacted differently to the secret correspondence depending on their destination. He ignored all those going to and from the Empire but routinely captured all peoplemunicating with the Evernight faction. The captured agents would suffer grave misfortune. Those dealing with Zheng under the table were punished severely without reservation.

    When the secret letters from the Empire returned, the representatives duly forwarded them to the private armymanders. Having fought shoulder-to-shoulder for so long, the aristocratic alliance generals had be closerades. Hence, they were fine with some minor secrets being known.

    One of themanders blurted out when he received the missive, ¡°What? We are to heed Qianye¡¯smand entirely without exception? There¡¯s even a note that we should listen to him even if there¡¯s a conflict between his orders and the main family¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this asking us to swear loyalty to Sire Qianye?¡±

    After the discussion, an old veteran said with a cold smile, ¡°Isn¡¯t it clear? What¡¯s the surprise? There are others who want to join Sire Qianye¡¯s banner but aren¡¯t qualified to do so.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense, but... do we still belong to the main family in the future?¡±

    ¡°Let it be, isn¡¯t our role in the main family already clear when they sent us here? Would we meet here if we had done well in the family?¡±

    The other generals agreed and broke out inughter. After the tension eased and the initial surprise was gone, they slowly began to reflect on it. One of them said, ¡°Say, is this a good thing?¡±

    ¡°Should be... I guess?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean should be!? It is! Just think about it. All of us were dispatched to the lower continent because we were difficult people, and the reason we were difficult was because those lousy people in the leadership role were not worthy of obedience. Now, we¡¯ve finally met Sire Qianye, and there aren¡¯t many people like him who are worthy of following.¡±

    ¡°Not many? How many do you think there are? Sire Qianye has always been a genius on par with Zhao Jundu of the Zhao n, the one and only apart from Prince Greensun. He has to proim himself king on Fort Continent. Won¡¯t we be his pioneering subjects then?¡±

    A burly man with a cold expression said, ¡°This daddy doesn¡¯t care if we¡¯re his first subjects, but I¡¯m happy to serve him! Just how old was he when he gained fame on the battlefield. I was just a brat at that age.¡±

    The discussions went on in excitement. Halfway through, however, everyone was silenced by the arrival of a certain general. This person was fairly young at just about thirty years of age, but one could see that he enjoyed a fairly high level of respect. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to intimidate these fearless generals.

    This person was Kong Su, a general hailing from a branch of the Kong family. He had followed Kong Yu here during hisst visit but was never transferred back. Since the Yin family hadn¡¯t left behind an expert of the same status, he became themander of the aristocratic alliance.

    Kong Su didn¡¯t get there just by relying on his background. He was indeed quite powerful, having reached rank-sixteen at his age and still showing some breakthrough potential. It wasn¡¯t easy to convince everyone with fighting prowess alone, but this Kong Su knew how to do things and eventually gained everyone¡¯s trust after leading them through numerous victories.

    The generals stopped speaking when he appeared. They all came from lesser aristocratic families or rather pushed out of them. They didn¡¯t feel a strong sense of belonging. Kong Su, though, was from a high-ranking aristocratic family. Although no one in his lineage was Qianye¡¯s match, their overall foundation wasn¡¯t something Qianye couldpare to. This was obvious from the resources they had forked out and how they had equipped a hundred thousand soldiers.

    The alliance generals wanted to change their allegiance, but Kong Su might not share the same sentiment.

    Seeing everyone¡¯s expression, Kong Su said, ¡°I heard what you were talking about just now.¡±

    Everyone exchanged awkward nces. That burly man from before said, ¡°Then what does General Kong think of this?¡±

    Kong Su smiled. ¡°The aristocratic army might be an allied army, but that¡¯s just in name. The only reason we had to pick amander was for victory in battle. Changing allegiance will leave you with a bad name if you were in the Empire.¡±

    Many looked worried, edging backward and assuming a vignt stance.

    Kong Su pretended not to notice. ¡°But as I see it, you might not be able to im this bad name even if you wanted to.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    Kong Su pointed in the direction of Cerulean Wave City. ¡°Sire Qianye¡¯s top priority right now is breaking ground in the new world. Fort Continent will be his sooner orter, anyway. We still cannot step into the new world with him and are instead being tasked with fighting a group of tribal werewolves. Do you think we¡¯re that important to him?¡±

    These words were ugly, but they were the truth. These generals didn¡¯t feel that their subordinates werecking in skill, just that they didn¡¯t have enough time to build trust. Theck of trust also proved that they weren¡¯t that important.

    An impatient general asked, ¡°What do we do then?¡±

    These generals were no match for Kong Su in terms of strategy. All of them looked to him in silence, waiting for an answer.

    Kong Su said, ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for only a short while, but we¡¯ve fought together in several battles, and battles are exactly where we can best see people¡¯s characters. I¡¯m guessing you were all difficult people back in your ns?¡±

    Everyone smiled.

    Kong Su said, ¡°I¡¯m no troublemaker, but my situation in the family isn¡¯t any better. The reason is simple, it¡¯s because I was born of a concubine.¡±

    A series of ¡°oh¡± echoed from the crowd. The status of a concubine-born was vastly different from a direct descendant, sometimes even inferior to the children of the main family¡¯s generational servants.

    If a vassal family could produce a genius with divine-champion potential, the main family would go all out in promoting them. For instance, the newly promoted marshal Wu Yazi came from andowning household under the Far East Wei n¡¯s banner.

    However, these aristocratic families weren¡¯t willing to split their ns because an uncontroble branch would only serve to dilute the family¡¯s interests and take up avable resources as well as survival space from the lineal descendants. They might even seek to overthrow the n lord. Recing the main branch with the son of a concubine wasn¡¯t a good thing as this proved that the n had already suffered a fair bit of internal strife. Everyone could refer to the Great Qin Imperial family as an example.

    Kong Suughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Calling myself the son of a concubine is me trying to look good. My mother was just a maid.¡±

    In the aristocratic world where bloodline was everything, this man was telling everyone about his inferior lineage. Many of the generals exchanged nces, feeling the gap shorten quite a bit.

    Kong Su said, ¡°We aren¡¯t that well-liked in the Empire. Are we going to be treated as unimportant people here, too? The reason Sire Qianye hasn¡¯t taken notice of us isn¡¯t because of our backgrounds, but because of trust andbat strength! He has eight hundred thousand werewolves under hismand. What do we have? Only twenty thousand men. But is that important? Not really. Someone of his character will only look at the results! In order to gain his trust and recognition, we must produce more aplishments. If we use twenty thousand soldiers to hammer out results equal to two hundred thousand werewolves, he will surely recognize us. We will then have a share in the pioneering efforts in the new world!¡±

    Everyone felt their blood boiling. These people were troublemakers simply because they had no opportunity as their superiors from the main family had them firmly suppressed. Now that they had a chance to prove themselves, these people were poised to be the enemy¡¯s nightmare on the battlefield.

    Seeing that the morale was something he could use, there was a gleam in Kong Su¡¯s eyes. ¡°What do you call awe-inspiring? Easy, we will push forward. We keep going past the warfront set by Sire Qianye and the Storm Duke, all the way until we beat that me Duke out of his hiding ce! Now that¡¯s awe-inspiring.¡±

    ¡°What if the duke is shameless enough to attack us?¡±

    Someone else said, ¡°What¡¯s there to fear? Don¡¯t we have the Storm Duke? It¡¯s just that some of us might die if me sneaks up on us. What, are you afraid the me will fall on you? Go to the rear if you are. I¡¯ll stand in front of you!¡±

    The first person was furious. ¡°When have I ever been afraid? When have I killed fewer werewolves than you have?¡±

    Kong Su finished drafting the missions while the others were busy quarreling. Just like that, the aristocratic army soon left their position and killed their way into enemy territory.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t noticed the little interlude. At this moment, he was on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head, gazing into the distance. A forest with two holy trees was still smoking behind him, and there were beast corpses strewn across the ground. Several thousand soldiers were cleaning up the field and building new structures.

    This base was much smaller and didn¡¯t even have a kic tower installed. It could only be considered an outpost upied by a couple of thousand soldiers.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce functioned as a mobile fortress, so there was no need for him to build forward bases every time.

    The airship contained enough space to easily transport a hundred thousand men. This meant that they only needed to build outposts outside of each forest.

    Qianye and Caroline had discussed the size of the bases. They both felt that a couple of thousand men were the right garrison-size for each point. That number was enough to maintain a steady fire-concentration and should be enough to deal with ordinary beast squads. They would also be able to hold out for a while againstrge beast hordes, enough for them to send word of the attack.

    This meant that Qianye¡¯s expansion speed was much faster than before. He would sweep through one forest every two to three days. In the blink of an eye, he had conquered three forests with dual holy trees.

 Chapter 1288: Third-Party

    <h4>Chapter 1288: Third-Party</h4>

    At this point in the expansion process, the regional map in Qianye¡¯s hand was growing increasingly refined, and he had found certain regr patterns in the process. Normally, the bigger forests were surrounded by lower-grade ones. For instance, the forest with four holy trees was surrounded in three directions by forests with two holy trees.

    The geography of the new world was full of strange characteristics, but every region was centered around the forests with holy trees. The one with four holy trees was the highest-ranked one in Qianye¡¯s domain.

    Even until now, Qianye hadn¡¯t cleaned out this forest entirely, and some beasts would still charge out from the woods from time to time. Their forces weren¡¯t strong, but their presence stopped people from moving around at will.

    Fortunately, these beasts no longer had amander. They favored charging in groups but didn¡¯t know how to work cohesively between troop types. It really wasn¡¯t too hard to deal with creatures that simply charged on sight.

    The sheer size of the beastir inside the four-holy-tree forest was terrifying. Qianye went in personally to scout the route, but he couldn¡¯t find the core even after entering hundreds of meters. Instead, he suffered a few injuries from shing with the beasts in their and had no choice but to return to the surface.

    The forest couldn¡¯t be considered conquered without finding the core of their. Qianye needed to face the core and intimidate it with his consciousness, forcing it to stop operating. Otherwise, it would keep producing a continuous stream of beasts.

    There were benefits to exploring their as well. Qianye discovered that most of the beasts actually came from eggs. All eggs looked the same and were, in fact, identical. At the very least, the researchers from the aristocratic families couldn¡¯t find anything different about them. Why a single type of egg could produce different types of beasts was most likely a secret.

    During the exploration, Qianye frequently saw chambers on either side of the tunnel packed full of eggs. He took the time to start clearing them out, but the number of beasts attacking him increased so quickly that he had to eventually retreat.

    He never managed to check just how many eggs there were in the forest. The only thing he could do was wait patiently for the eggs to hatch and the beasts inside to be destroyed. Only then would the forest truly belong to him. All this waiting took up a lot of time, but he simply couldn¡¯t think of a better n.

    Setting the forest with four holy trees as the center and using the ones with three holy trees as a guide, there were three directions to expand in. Qianye had already cleaned up the areas around the three-holy-tree forest and one two-holy-tree forest beyond it. ording to the pattern, there would only be single-holy-tree forests with no beastirs beyond this point.

    Qianye was in no rush to attack. Instead, he left the Martyr¡¯s Pce above one of the forests with two holy trees, allowing the crew to disembark and construct a new forward outpost. On one hand, he was used to building camps at every step, while on the other, it was to let the strained soldiers catch some air and reorganize. Ordinary soldiers, be they humans or werewolves, were made up of flesh after all. They couldn¡¯t keep fighting without rest like the monster that was Qianye.

    The troops were resting, but Qianye didn¡¯t need to. After his breakthrough, he sensed that there was a lot of room for tempering in terms of strength, control, and technique. The fastest way to train was in actualbat. Since there was nothing else to do, he decided to explore deeper into the new world.

    ording to the pattern, there should be a single-holy-tree forest up ahead. This type of forest was clearly yet to mature, and the six-armedmander inside was the weakest type, barely at the level between a glorious marquis and a vice-duke. Such an enemy would be rushing to their deaths if they ran into Qianye. After all, thetter had grasped their habits entirely after killing so many.

    This time, Qianye ran for half a day before reaching a forest. The outline of the woods didn¡¯t look very big from a distance, clearly that of a forest with one holy tree. Qianye, of course, wouldn¡¯t hold back after finding prey. He adjusted his gear and advanced swiftly at ground level.

    He was about to arrive in the forest but came to a stop after sensing the aura within. The grove was entirely silent and without the slightest sign of vitality, more like an ordinary thicket rather than anything. ording to his experience, there would always be some activity in the forest even if the six-armedmander was asleep. The auras of those powerful beasts stuck out like a sore thumb in Qianye¡¯s experienced eyes.

    Qianye retracted his aura and walked quietly into the forest. After a short distance, he stopped to nce at a nearby tree, where he saw several deep sh-marks. They were clearly visible despite already in the process of healing.

    Qianye touched the cut-edges and found them to be smooth. This was the work of a heavy weapon like a cleaver or an axe rather than a beast.

    Qianye looked around and noticed some shrubbery nearby. He walked over and brushed the leaves away, revealing the bulging soil and a silhouette of a beast. A simple press confirmed his suspicions¡ªthe carcass had already turned to stone, and the shrub was growing out from it. The vegetation was using it for nutrition.

    He could see simr traces of battle everywhere. The holy-tree forest possessed powerful regenerative abilities and would wipe out all unnatural traces in a short period. The fallen beasts and other entities would be nutrition for the forest.

    Judging from the traces, it would seem that the battle had just ended a couple of days ago. The battle seemed to have taken ce on arge scale, covering every corner of the forest.

    This was the first time Qianye had discovered traces of battle in the new world. At the moment, he couldn¡¯t discern whether they belonged to the natives of the new world or outsiders like Qianye.

    Qianye became more vignt as he crept into the heart of the forest and was utterly shocked upon arrival.

    The pond at the center waspletely dry, and the holy tree was littered with deep axe-marks. There was a vague fluctuationing from the tree¡ªordinary creatures might not be able to sense it, but Qianye could interpret them as painful groans.

    The Empire¡¯s research team had confirmed that the holy-tree sap was akin to blood for the tree. The sap would only umte in the pond if there was excess in production. The sap was also vital to nurturing elite troop types, providing for the six-armedmander and the production of the metallic stone material on the ind. The reason behind all that was still pending research.

    Now that someone had drained the sap and damaged the source, the holy tree would wither after a while. This forest would also disappear after losing its foundations.

    It was certain that the holy tree was a mystical species. Even Qianye wasn¡¯t sure if they were actually trees in the traditional sense since the beasts, six-armed creatures, and theirir were all dependent on the existence of the holy tree.

    Qianye remained still. No matter who had attacked this forest, it was obvious that they would return since they hadn¡¯t chopped down the holy tree and taken it away.

    Before long, footsteps rang out in the woods as expected, and a squad of well-equipped werewolves appeared in Qianye¡¯s vision. These werewolves were different from the soldiers of Fort Continent in that they were well-equipped with quality gear, including rifles, handguns, tactical backpacks, and all kinds of melee weapons. Even the elite gear of the Empire was onlyparable and not superior.

    This group of werewolves wore different emblems, representing their different tribal origins. There were tens of thousands of werewolf tribes, so Qianye had no idea which power they belonged to. All he knew was that they were not from the Summit of Peaks. The werewolves weren¡¯t too cautious as they arrived at the center of the forest. An old shaman wearing a green cloak led the group and walked several times around the tree, muttering all the while. Momentster, he fell screaming to the ground, clutching his head with both hands.

    ¡°This is an evil tree! Chop it down! Burn it!¡± the shaman screamed.

    The soldiers moved immediately at the shaman¡¯s orders. Two strong werewolves removed the battleaxes strapped to their back and walked toward the tree. There, they swung their axes at the holy tree with ruthless force!

    Qianye acted immediately, arriving behind the werewolves with Spatial sh and stabbing them from the back with his vampiric de. He moved like a specter, roaming through the werewolf squad and attacking like lightning. In the blink of an eye, werewolf corpses were strewn across the ground; none of them could pull the trigger on time.

    Qianye ced a foot on the howling shaman. ¡°Where do youe from and why are you here? Be honest or I don¡¯t mind pinning you to a stake and letting you air-dry.¡±

    ¡°It hurts, I¡¯m hurting...¡± The shaman grimaced.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to fall for this. He drew a dagger and stabbed it into the shaman¡¯s thigh, moving it about mercilessly as he did so. The shaman wanted to scream, but Qianye had pressed down the werewolf¡¯s jaws. He bit the hand with great force but managed to do little damage or even break the assant¡¯s skin.

    Qianye only released his hand when he saw the shaman¡¯s face turning red. Thetter gasped for air, shouting, ¡°I¡¯ll speak, I¡¯ll speak!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t retract the de just yet and only looked down at the werewolf with cold eyes. This shaman was clean and well-dressed. Dressing so well in the new world meant that his status was considerably high, and also that he wouldn¡¯t be willing to suffer too much. As expected, Qianye managed to subdue him in just a single move.

    ¡°We hail from Moond Continent, and we¡¯re subordinates of Overlord Sousa. Of course, we¡¯re here to explore the new world. What else is there to do?¡±

    Qianye recalled the intelligence reports. Moond Continent was one of the three werewolf-controlled continents, and Overlord Sousa was a werewolf great dark monarch, the core of the ancestral faction.

    Reportedly, Sousa hailed from the first werewolf king¡¯s bloodline. His ancestral spirit was thus formidable, bestowing him with great power. The violent Sousa had always been merciless toward enemies and all kin who opposed him. The forces under him would frequently hold human blood feasts. The main difference between them and the vampires was that they would use humans and some powerful creatures as sacrifices.

    In the eyes of the Empire, Sousa¡¯s werewolves were a target for immediate elimination and not to be considered for imprisonment. Eventually, Sousa became even more cruel and insane against the humans. Those who fell into his hands would be ves in the best scenario but were frequently tortured to death or eaten.

    It was just that many of their tribes pulled out of the faction wars as the holy war against the vampires waged on, and their living space gradually shrunk. That was why Qianye had very little contact with them.

    ¡°Who are you and what happened just now?¡± In order to reinforce the effect, Qianye pushed the dagger a bit deeper in.

 Chapter 1289: Attacking Moorland

    <h4>Chapter 1289: Attacking Moond</h4>

    The screaming shaman told Qianye everything as quickly as he could.

    He was a very distant rtive of Lord Sousa, and even that was enough tond him a fairly important position. The responsibility of dealing with the holy tree also fell into his hands. He heard something calling out to him the moment he saw the holy tree, and he responded without much thought. All of a sudden, the vague call erupted into a thunderous boom that stabbed into his consciousness like sharp stakes. The pain had almost knocked him out.

    Qianye asked in greater detail and finally understood that the call probably came from the holy tree itself. The Moond werewolves almost destroyed the holy tree, so the fate of this shaman who dared to respond to its angry consciousness wasn¡¯t all that great.

    The Moond werewolves had always been ferocious, but they had suffered setbacks at every step of the pioneering process. Unfamiliar with the beast horde¡¯sbat style, Overlord Sousa did not have sufficient troops or defensive arrangements when the door opened. As a result, their forces were immediately overrun once the enemy appeared.

    The Moond werewolves ultimately eliminated the beast army in a bloody battle, but the shaman squad that should¡¯ve been hiding away at the back was wiped out in the process.

    Shamans were the ryers of knowledge, as well as the schrs and doctors of the tribe. The loss of such important members threw many of the tribes into chaos. In the end, Sousa himself had to take to the field and suppress the confusion.

    The werewolves were quite cautious during the early phases of expansion in the new world, building outposts at every step. They managed to wipe out the beast army, but one werewolf duke and three marquises suffered injuries while fighting against a six-armedmander. Their injuries deteriorated rapidly, and it was only because of the fortunate distance that they managed to retreat in time. Even then, one of the marquises eventually died from his wounds.

    The current forest was the second one they had attacked. They had already dealt with the army and its six-armedmander, but Sousa¡¯s shaman believed that the holy tree would make good material for a statue of the overlord. That was why this squad had entered the woods again.

    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t the tree chopped down back then? How about the holy tree in the first forest?¡±

    ¡°We suffered so much damage that the overlord burned the entire forest in a fit of anger.¡±

    Qianye was curious. ¡°How did he burn it?¡±

    The forests of the new world weren¡¯t like ordinary woods back in the Evernight World. The trees here were fairly resistant to ordinary mes and could only be ignited by origin fire. It wasn¡¯t too hard to burn a couple of trees, but it would take quite a bit of power to burn an entire forest.

    The shaman replied, ¡°The overlord summoned a hundred thousandborers to transport ck stones into the forest, filling it almost entirely.¡±

    ¡°Were there any special people among the injured?¡±

    ¡°The one who died was the overlord¡¯s nephew.¡±

    ¡°No wonder.¡± Qianye finally understood. Sousa probably wasn¡¯t stupid enough to engage in such a waste of manpower and resources without a special reason.

    Seeing that there was nothing else to gain from the prisoner, Qianye reached out and grabbed the shaman¡¯s neck. ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything, shouldn¡¯t you let me go?¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I don¡¯t think I ever promised that.¡± Qianye thus crushed the werewolf¡¯s neck.

    Qianye picked up the shaman¡¯s body and was just about to throw it away when he sensed a feeble beckoning. He nced at the holy tree and saw that its leaves were moving rhythmically. How could the tree move when there was no wind in the forest? Qianye didn¡¯t respond to the calling as he recalled the shaman¡¯s experience, but he ced the werewolf¡¯s body against its tree trunk.

    The holy tree¡¯s bark split open, shooting out countless tendrils that crept along the shaman¡¯s body, engulfing it entirely. The roots then merged and hardened into tissue simr to tree bark, only leaving the shaman silhouette on the surface.

    Qianye watched quietly, sensing that there would be more changester on.

    As expected, a great flow of origin power surged inside the holy tree. It was almost as though the vitality within had been reignited¡ªa branch grew out from where the shaman had been absorbed and then began to flower at a visible rate. In the end, a green, fist-sized fruit was born. The fruit¡¯s skin immediately turned from green to brown before dropping to the ground and rolling toward Qianye.

    The holy tree reached the end of its life after the fruit had been produced. The body of the tree withered noticeably, and its leaves turned a dry yellow as they fell off.

    The miraculous effects of the forest were lost after the holy tree¡¯s death. The origin power within immediately became simr to the outside. Water seeped continuously out of the soil, causing it to turn arid and infertile.

    Qianye picked up the holy tree¡¯s fruit and immediately felt something was odd. There was a bit of the shaman¡¯s aura in it, but regardless, this was no time to be studying it. He returned quickly, calling upon the Martyr¡¯s Pce on the way. The airship was ready for battle by the time he was back.

    Qianye filled the pce with weapons, ammunition, and tens of thousands of werewolf soldiers before flying toward the Moond werewolves¡¯ ¡°door.¡±

    ording to the shaman¡¯s confession, the Moond werewolves were still busy building their base, and the construction was being overseen by a vice-duke. The soldiers had yet to recover from their previous skirmish in the forest, and they were currently in the process of transferring new experts from the Evernight World. Their forces in the new world were currently in a weakened state.

    To Qianye, all werewolves from Evernight¡ªwith the exception of William¡ªwere enemies, to speak nothing of the ancestral faction. It would seem that the status of the Moond werewolves wasn¡¯t that high in the Evernight Council, or else they wouldn¡¯t have missed out on such vital intelligence regarding the new world.

    A werewolf fortress was being constructed at full speed within the giant valley. Tens of thousands ofborers were moving rocks and gravel from the surrounding areas to the construction site. They would then pour their load between vertical steel tes, covering them with another te at the top when thepartment was full.

    This used to be a human method of quick-construction in the field, something the werewolves had also learned after many years. However, this was a massive fortress that could fit a hundred thousand soldiers, so the progress wasn¡¯t all that fast.

    A group of soil-carryingborers slowly walked into the fortress and dragged themselves toward the designated area. One of them staggered and copsed to the ground at that point. Seeing this, a werewolf soldier walked over and whipped that person on the back. ¡°Get up and work! What are you pretending for?¡±

    Theborer screamed in pain. He wanted to get up, but the whip-wound was so bad that he ultimately stopped moving entirely.

    The werewolf soldier spat. ¡°What luck, another that couldn¡¯t hold out.¡±

    He waved the whip around and shouted at the remainingborers, ¡°Everyone, work hard! You may leave this ce if we finish the construction on time! If not, you¡¯ll all die in the new world like him! Hear me?¡±

    Theborers continued forward, moving a bit faster than before.

    The outline of this massive base had just taken shape at this point¡ªmany walls were still under work, and only a couple of cannon turrets had been erected. Atop a high tower overlooking the base, a tall, stern-looking werewolf was watching everything with narrowed eyes. His duke-rank aura caused all the werewolves around him to tremble.

    No amount of scheming could find shelter before this vice-duke. His strength also allowed him to stand there from dawn to dusk, almost as though he needed no rest.

    Not far away, some werewolf viscounts were working together to lift a ballista cannon onto the turret. The vice-duke¡¯s expression rxed somewhat when he saw this scene. The instation of fixed heavy weaponry meant that the construction-work was slowly progressing toward the end. He would be able to leave this ursed ce soon.

    The ballista cannon had only been lifted halfway when an earth-shattering rumble echoed from the distance. The entire cannon turret shook from the impact! The stunned viscounts dropped the ballista cannon, crushing the werewolf soldiers below into meat paste. Most importantly, the priceless heavy ballista cannon was also ruined.

    The vice-duke¡¯s eyes narrowed as he nced into the distance. A giant shadow was slowly emerging from the edges of the valley, but he couldn¡¯t see it clearly because of the direction of the sun.

    A sudden flicker appeared from within the shadow as a massive ballista bolt flew over. The vice-duke was shocked out of his wits when he noticed the pulsing origin arrays upon the projectile.

    The giant bolt flew rapidly, tearing thousands of meters across the sky andnding on one of the half-constructed gate-towers. A part of the structure was blown into the air with an earth-shattering boom, and the unfilled fortress wall was tilted to one side. When the third bombardment arrived, a hundred-meter segment of the wall copsed with a loud rumble.

    The vice-duke was woken up from his shock, his heart filled with rm. ¡°It¡¯s a main cannon! At least at the regr warship grade! How can the beast army have such a weapon?¡±

    He sent out a series of orders, upon which his aides ran out of the tower and in all directions to deliver them. Chaos ensued in every area of the base as anti-air weapons were moved out from the storage. However, the second round of attacks arrived before they could even load the cannons.

    Two more giant ballistae exploded on the fortress¡¯s kic tower. Although the werewolves¡¯ kic structure was coarse and sturdy, it couldn¡¯tst very long against the bombardment from an airship cannon. It broke from the middle after two more sts, copsing onto a block of buildings below.

    Only at this point did the Martyr¡¯s Pce appear above the fortress, revealing its massive frame before the Moond werewolves.

    The dragonship turned sideways. The main cannon was no longer in range, but the dense array of side cannons filled the werewolves with dread. The Moond soldiers hadn¡¯t even figured out whether the enemy in the air was an airship or a void colossus when countless streams of fire bore down upon the fortress, turning it into a living inferno.

    Hundreds of cannons fired at different frequencies, stirring up a row of mes that pushed forward. All buildings in its wake were reduced to rubble, and the soldiers andborers were turned into charred corpses.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce was just too fierce. Waves of natural suppression descended from the Earth Dragon, pushing the defenders¡¯ morale to the bottom. That vice-duke hadn¡¯t finished issuing his orders when the soldiers began to flee in all directions.

    Before he could find somewhere to vent his anger, he flew up with a drastic change in expression. The tower below him was now engulfed in mes, with explosions erupting everywhere. The structure was simply too eye-catching, and it quickly became the target of the cannoneers after the carpet barrage.

 Chapter 1290: Might of Desolate Blaze

    <h4>Chapter 1290: Might of Deste ze</h4>

    In the blink of an eye, the fortress the Moond werewolves had spent an entire month building was drowned in a sea of fire. Arge number of werewolves andborers could be seen running about in mes.

    In truth, over half of the werewolves had managed to escape the fortress, but the ze raged on and the miserable cries of the dying werewolves could not be suppressed. The will of these bloodthirsty werewolves soon copsed, and all they wanted now was to flee for their lives.

    They wanted to run, but the only exit was the door.

    The werewolves made a beeline for the portal, only to find that a steady stream of people wasing out of it. From the looks of it, that was a new squad that just so happened to be entering the new world.

    The new werewolves hadn¡¯t even recovered from the difort of the spatial tunnel when their senses were filled with fire, heat, and the sound of explosions. They also noticed countless werewolf soldiers rushing past them and into the door.

    That was just the beginning. Chaos befell the ¡°door¡± in the blink of an eye as soldiers from inside squeezed out and the ones outside started pushing in.

    The worst part was that the chain ofmand had been entirely paralyzed, and no more orders came from the officers after the first wave. The soldiers who managed to escape only remembered that they hade under a destructive attack. The memory of being ughtered by the beast army was still fresh on their minds, so much so that they hadn¡¯t realized that the assant this time was different.

    There were now two parties shing at the gate¡ªpeople on one side were looking to flee, while those on the other could only advance since their orders still hadn¡¯t changed. They kept marching into the door until the path was entirely congested and blocked.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t about to let such a good opportunity go. ¡°Prepare the main cannon and load the highest grade anti-personnel shot.¡±

    The cannoneer was a bit surprised. ¡°We only have two of those.¡±

    ¡°Use it!¡±

    Not daring to question Qianye, the cannoneer worked together with a couple of assistants to load a deep red ballista bolt into the main cannon. The airship then slowly turned about to face the door. Without even waiting for the cannon to aim, Qianye guided the Earth Dragon¡¯s head toward the routed soldiers outside of the gate.

    ¡°Fire!¡±

    At Qianye¡¯s order, the deep red ballista bolt flew out like a bolt of lightning. It exploded a couple of dozen meters above the ground, sending countless misty streams showering down onto the ground.

    Some of the braver werewolves reached out to touch the smokey liquid. They were immediately rmed, but before they could scream, a me appeared in the air and ignited the misty liquid!

    An iparably big ball of mes appeared outside of the door and slowly rose into the air. It ascended several dozen meters before transforming into a giant ck mushroom cloud.

    Even the misty region was pushed back for ten meters.

    As the mes receded, and of death spanning hundreds of meters appeared outside of the door. It was filled with charred corpses lying in various grotesque postures. The ball of fire onlysted for a short while, but the weapons in the hands of the deceased had either melted or warped. One could see just how fierce the ze was.

    Some of the werewolf experts with strong vitality were still struggling to move, but it was easy to tell from their entirely charred bodies that they would not survive.

    The shot had killed off most of the retreating werewolf soldiers, reaping over ten thousand aggrieved souls. They were simply so congested and unprepared that a single st had wiped them out.

    Qianye could not be more satisfied with the strength of the main cannon.

    This ¡°Landsinker¡± was a weapon he had snatched from Linken back then, along with its specialized ammunition. Despite being a vice-duke, Linken possessed rich resources and deep connections. Her warship wasn¡¯t all that special in other aspects, but she had invested deeply in this main cannon until it was at the level of a grand-duke¡¯s warship.

    Qianye had asked the aristocratic families to produce special ammunition for the Landsinker, and those old fellows from the Imperial Research Academy gave Qianye some rounds¡ªoriginally meant for the Imperial guard¡ªin exchange for some holy tree sap.

    This deep red ¡°Deste ze¡± was the work of the research academy.

    A sudden shout arrived from nearby, ¡°So it¡¯s His Excellency Qianye! I was wondering who was behind this grand entry.¡±

    Qianye turned around and saw the werewolf vice-duke in the air ring at him.

    His hands sped behind his back, Qianye said with a smile, ¡°So it¡¯s you! I was just ying around. I didn¡¯t pay any attention to you since you wouldn¡¯t dare attack anyway.¡±

    These words were even more effective than hurling profanities. That vice-duke¡¯s face turned ashen, saying, ¡°You¡¯re just a¡­¡±

    Qianye said with a spurious smile, ¡°What am I?¡±

    ¡°Y-You¡­¡± The vice-duke wanted to say marquis at first, but at a closer nce, he realized that he couldn¡¯t see through Qianye at all.

    This was something he had never encountered before. There was no shortage of aura-concealment experts in the Evernight Faction, but none of them could hide their powerspletely like Qianye.

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t too hard to figure this out; all he needed was to go up and trade a few blows. Yet, the vice-duke felt a powerful sense of foreboding, almost as though the opponent was a colossus from the deste wilds.

    Qianye said in a carefree manner, ¡°Enough, don¡¯t be too nervous. I¡¯m also a vice-duke just like you. You probably don¡¯t dare attack me since we¡¯re in the same realm, and you''re pretty close to the door so I don¡¯t think I can kill you, either. I¡¯ll stay my hand and save myself the trouble if you go back to Moond.¡±

    That vice-duke stared at Qianye but didn¡¯t make a move. If he were to go back like this, he would lose all face and suffer serious punishment.

    Seeing that the enemy wasn¡¯t moving, Qianye said with a serious expression, ¡°It looks like you won¡¯t give up without feeling pain. I might not be able to kill you, but beating you within an inch of death isn¡¯t a problem if I pay a certain price.¡±

    With that, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye. The vice-duke recalled all the rumors he had heard about Qianye when he saw the four ck feathers. Palpitating, he charged toward the door with a startled cry, leaving afterimages along the way. He then dived straight into the mist upon reaching his destination.

    Now that themanding general had fled in a panic, how could the remaining werewolves still have the will to resist? They scattered from the scene and made a beeline for the door. Moond had obtained concrete information about what had happened, so the iing stream of troops had stopped. The escaping werewolves were finally able to fight their way in.

    ¡°Sire, do we fire another round?¡± the cannoneer asked.

    ¡°No need, Deste ze is highly valuable, we can¡¯t waste any more.¡±

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce didn¡¯t chase after the fleeing troops. Instead, it hovered above the fortress to clear out the werewolves below with its rapid-fire cannons, lowering its altitude as it did so.

    The fortress had been more or less destroyed at this point, and there was no resistance to be seen. The Martyr¡¯s Pce opened one of its side doors, unloading countless werewolf warriors to clean up the battlefield.

    Qianye scanned the area below and said with a smile, ¡°As expected of an overlord, that¡¯s quite the investment! All the better for me.¡±

    Severalrge warehouses on the side of the fortress were opened to reveal mountains of weapons and ammunition, all highly suitable for Qianye¡¯s soldiers. There were so many resources in storage that it took tens of thousands of werewolves an entire hour to load them onto the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    ¡°Call the men back.¡± Under Qianye¡¯smand, the dragonship emitted three long and one short res. The werewolf soldiers scattered around the fortress retreated like the tides and climbed up onto the Martyr¡¯s Pce via the ropes hanging from it.

    Once the soldiers were gone, Qianye ordered the dragonship to ascend and fly back to base. Something shook him around a hundred kilometers out, prompting him to gaze back.

    Only the rolling hills remained at the end of his vision, but something in that direction caused Qianye to palpitate. A true undefeatable expert had appeared therein.

    The one who had arrived was, in fact, Overlord Sousa, who had no choice but toe over and take a look at the damage.

    This was within his expectations, but he kept the Martyr¡¯s Pce on a steady course without speeding up. As expected, Lord Sousa¡ªwho had suffered one setback after another in the new world¡ªdidn¡¯te chasing after him.

    This new world was just like the Great Maelstrom. The environment was difficult to grasp and sportedpletely differentws from the Evernight World. Even a great dark monarch would face great dangers when operating here. The races of Evernight became increasingly cautious after multiple great dark monarchs fell in the Great Maelstrom. Few of them dared to force their way into uncharted territory.

    Sousa was no exception. He hadn¡¯t grasped thews clearly, so he wouldn¡¯t enter carelessly.

    This time, Qianye had sessfully destroyed Sousa¡¯s main base in the new world. The dy he had brought about wasn¡¯t just a month of progress. It wasn¡¯t easy, even for an overlord, to gather so many resources.

    The werewolves¡¯ production rate was far below that of the Empire¡¯s. It was difficult for them to even amass modr steel tes for the fortress walls. In order for him to build a fortress immediately, Sousa had surely borrowed some from the Summit of Peaks and purchased arge amount from the market.

    Now that the structure had been utterly ruined, the tes had to be reforged in the furnace before they could be used again. This undertaking was too great for the werewolves. Their race was now in an awkward position in the Evernight Council, and everyone else was also in the midst of pioneering newnd. As such, it was easy to assume that they wouldn¡¯t be getting much outside help. Necessary defense materials like steel tes had probably all sold out on the market. Qianye had gotten his hands on the necessary resources because of the many aristocratic families backing him.

    From a different perspective, these families were increasingly willing to help because Qianye¡¯s expansion was going smoothly.

    The Moond werewolves had been dealt a heavy blow in addition to theirte start, so it would only be more and more difficult for them to obtain more strategic resources. They would need to produce everything themselves.

    And this was only for the steel tes¡ªthey had lost a stash of armament and supplies enough for two hundred thousand werewolves. That wasn¡¯t something they could rece in half a month.

    A terrifying storm kicked up behind the Martyr¡¯s Pce! Even from such a distance, Qianye could feel Overlord Sousa¡¯s anger. However, this tempest didn¡¯t expand and was getting farther and farther away.

    Everything was within Qianye¡¯s expectations, so he decided to stop thinking about it and kept driving the Martyr¡¯s Pce back to base. The overlord wouldn¡¯t dare to move deeper into the new world anyway.

    This world was full of strange things, perhaps even more so than the Great Maelstrom. The stronger experts had to be even more careful because it would be easier for them to die once they were injured to a certain degree. Besides, who could say that there wasn¡¯t a forest with five holy trees? If there was one, then what about six?

    At the thought of this, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill run down his spine. He felt quite lucky that the six-armed general in the forest with four holy trees had been asleep back then. Had it been awake, Qianye might not have gotten such a wee advantage.

 Chapter 1291: A Stiff Letter

    <h4>Chapter 1291: A Stiff Letter</h4>

    Qianye let down his guard too soon.

    Sousa was cautious enough not to chase after him, but a consciousness bearing intense hatred crossed the great distance to fall upon the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Qianye was greatly startled. He hadn¡¯t imagined that Sousa would have such a trick up his sleeve. He had learned from the River of Blood that experts at the heavenly monarch and great dark monarch level could not be underestimated in a sh of willpower. Serious attacks would damage the soul, while light attacks could serve to reveal the target¡¯s status.

    Sousa¡¯s consciousness mmed down like a massive wave. Qianye controlled the Martyr¡¯s Pce to erect a hazy barrier that protected the entire vessel from Sousa¡¯s will.

    The sh of these two powerful consciousnesses should¡¯ve been silent, but in fact, the impact produced a greatmotion. Countless sparks erupted from the airship¡¯s barrier, resulting in lingering mes.

    The fire died out only after a while, and the airship itself had also dipped a few meters during the impact. From this, it was easy to see how terrifying Sousa¡¯s consciousness was.

    A deep, imposing voice rang out in the sky, ¡°I will find you, Qianye!¡±

    Qianye paid him no heed and simply drove the Martyr¡¯s Pce away. Of course, he couldn¡¯t respond even if he wanted to. All he could do was borrow the Earth Dragon¡¯s consciousness to barely defend against the assault; there was no way he could project his consciousness that far.

    Far away outside of the Moond ¡°door,¡± a werewolf d in traditional hunter¡¯s clothing was standing in the air above the rubble. Sousa slowly opened his eyes and found countless werewolf experts kneeling around the wreckage. They had taken up such distant positions, not out of disrespect, but because Sousa¡¯s spirit storm just now was too terrifying. No one dared to approach.

    The overlord nced at his many subordinates, then at the burning fortress. ¡°Build a new fortress at half the size, all of you will stay here to help. Also, transfer a couple of warships here and see how long they canst.¡±

    Sousa¡¯s voice was calm, but his subordinates knew that this was his scariest state. It was better if he were stamping about furiously because he would rarely kill random people in that state.

    The werewolves were naturally blunt, but these experts had followed him long enough to act intelligently. No one asked about the results of the distant battle of wills. Sousa hadn¡¯t made the slightest mention about the battle after stirring up such a storm, so the results probably weren¡¯t great. Whoever was dumb enough to provoke him now was courting death.

    Some of the true experts were curious, but now, they knew that it was Qianye who had attacked. The boy was still a little brat when he became known in the Iron Curtain blood battle a few years ago, so howe he could arm-wrestle with Great Dark Monarch Sousa now?

    They sneaked a nce at the vice-duke from before since he was the only one who had crossed paths with Qianye. However, this vice-duke remained expressionless and never met hisrades¡¯ gazes. It was as though he was resolved to receive his punishment.

    The other werewolves couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit angry and gave up any thought of pleading leniency for him. They were also rather curious about what this vice-duke had experienced, something that had left him with nothing to live for.

    Sousa didn¡¯t stay too long in the new world before returning to Moond. After returning to his pce, he drove everyone else out and headed toward the ancestral altar. This was amon urrence because Sousa liked to cultivate before the altar, sometimes locking himself there for years on end.

    At close to two hundred meters tall, the ancestral hall was the most majestic structure in Sousa¡¯s pce. Such a grand architecture was enough for a void colossus to rest within. There was a giant hundred-meter statue at the end of the hall, depicting the first ancestor who had opened up the path to the werewolves¡¯ rise to power¡ªtheir former supreme on the Sacred Mountain, the Lupine King.

    Sousa stood for a good while in the hall before eventually calming down. The surprising thing was that he had encountered a tremendous consciousness, the likes of which he had never run into before.

    This consciousness wasn¡¯t a pool of stagnant water. When his consciousness became aggressive toward the obstructing will¡ªwanting to destroy or damage it¡ªthat was when he suffered the real counterattack.

    Akin to a reef, a mountain peak, or a cliff, Sousa had shattered his wave of consciousness upon the entity but couldn¡¯t so much as stir it. The feeling was akin to facing a giant¡ªthe werewolf overlord had finally woken it up with repeated provocations, but all it did was shoot him an indifferent nce.

    The apathetic nce was simr to a void colossus looking at a naughty child making threatening gestures.

    Sousa still couldn¡¯t forget that feeling. He took a deep breath to calm down and muttered to himself, ¡°Qianye, Martyr¡¯s Pce... interesting, interesting!

    As Qianye saw it, the contention just now was between Sousa¡¯s consciousness and the Earth Dragon¡¯s remnant will. A void colossus was so terrifying that it wasn¡¯t inferior to Sousa even after its death. None of them could best the other in such an intangible contest, that was unless Sousa could find a way to break Qianye¡¯s connection to the Earth Dragon¡¯s will.

    Considering the great distance between the Moond door and Qianye¡¯s base outside the four-holy-tree woods, a slight deviation would send them entirely off course. Qianye wasn¡¯t afraid the werewolves woulde chasing after him since all traces of his route would be destroyed by the environment in the new world.

    In the Evernight World, great dark monarchs could exert their might wherever they set their sights. Things weren¡¯t as simple in the new world where danger lurked in every corner.

    People could choose to expand in any direction from their door. Knowing Qianye and the Martyr¡¯s Pce was in this direction, the wisest choice for the Moond werewolves was to expand in another. They could think of what to do when they had umted enough power.

    But as a great dark monarch, Sousa was notorious for being temperamental. Qianye wasn¡¯t about to bet his safety on logic.

    After some thought, he decided to hasten his expansion progress, taking the opportunity to conquer a couple more forests and gather resources. If things didn¡¯t go well, he could seek reinforcements from the Empire and share the benefits with them.

    The Empire wasn¡¯t having an easy time with their expansion, anyway. The heavenly monarchs would have toe in sooner orter once the major factions started fighting at close quarters. Judging from his encounter with the Moond werewolves, that day wasn¡¯t too far off. That was the case even though he had adapted better to this new world and could move much farther than everyone else.

    Having decided on a n, Qianye drove the airship back and switched duties with Caroline. She was to lead the expansion effort from now on. He reminded her to seek him out if she encountered a forest with three holy trees before heading back to Fort Continent.

    Once he was back, Qianye locked himself in the study to write a letter. He held the brush in the air for some time before writing the words Ji Tianqing.

    He shook his head, feeling that the address was too stiff, not like a close friend at all. Even if they didn¡¯t share an intimate rtionship, they wererades who had shared life and death in the Great Maelstrom.

    He wrote down ¡°Tianqing,¡± then tore the paper because it didn¡¯t feel right. He repeated the process several times just to decide on how to call her.

    Slowly, the amount of paper on the ground increased, and the thick stack of papers on his desk started to thin out. The entire afternoon was spent writing and tearing letters. He finally finished writing in the evening, but the process left him sweating. A letter with just a couple of hundred words was more tiring to produce than fighting a battle.

    He nced at thepleted letter and sighed when he noticed some corrections in the writing. He really didn¡¯t want to copy it again because he would want to modify the contents in the process. When would this ever end?

    His sentiments regarding Ji Tianqing were extraordinarilyplicated. It could be said that Ji Tianqing had treated him with great kindness, having done things that she should and should not have. On the other hand, Qianye couldn¡¯t figure out what she was thinking or nning.

    It was as though she was living in a mist, and her appearance most of the time wasn¡¯t even real. How was he to face this familiar stranger, someone bearing his child, a rtionship he couldn¡¯t cut off?

    This letter should¡¯ve been simple. Qianye had encountered the Moond werewolves and Overlord Sousa, so he wanted to hear Ji Tianqing¡¯s opinion.

    She was extremely intelligent despite not being famous for her strategy. Her thoughts on this matter would help Qianye greatly. On the other hand, Qianye wanted to probe the Pointer Monarch¡¯s stance on this matter.

    Currently, Qianye had no way to face Sousa head-to-head. That was a matter for people at the heavenly monarch level. The pioneering ofnd in the new world was so important that even someone like the Pointer Monarch couldn¡¯t sit by and do nothing. It would be more than wee if he could step in for a bit.

    Qianye was no expert in asking for help, and his rtionship with Ji Tianqing was a bit awkward. Yet, he could think of no better way than to contact her.

    Prince Greensun was the best candidate, but he had always operated alone and his whereabouts were uncertain. Qianye wasn¡¯t too familiar with the Zhang n, either, so he didn¡¯t have a secure channel to contact the heavenly monarch. Especially after the war on the void continent, Prince Greensun rarely made an appearance in court. Many people were guessing that this young heavenly monarch might be about to break through again.

    Of course, one¡¯s tone of voice should always be soft when asking for help, let alone someone who shared a different rtionship with him. But every time he held the pen, Qianye would see Nighteye¡¯s face shing through his thoughts.

    Even though she had already left, though her spirit was now entirely different, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to give up thatst strand of hope. He wasn¡¯t willing to speak intimately with other women in her absence.

    In the end, it was still a stiffly written letter.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to modify it anymore, so he ced it in the envelope, applied a sealing array to it, and signed his name. He then walked out of the study and ordered an aide to deliver the missive to Ji Tianqing of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence.

    The aide affirmed his order and left, walking past Yin Qiqi as he did so. Thetter watched the aide leave pensively before walking into the study.

    ¡°Do you need me for anything?¡±

    ¡°Can I note otherwise?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, you cane anytime.¡± Qianye hid his emotions with a smile.

    Yin Qiqi stared intently at him until he was ufortable. ¡°Is something troubling you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing big.¡±

    ¡°Fine, if you say so. I brought something for you to see, I think you might be interested.¡± With that, she ced a document in front of him.

    Qianye opened up the paper to find an armor design, with numerous descriptions on the tes. This armor was actually made of wood from the new world.

    ¡°The smiths from my family have discovered that soaking the wood in diluted holy-tree sap and coating them with a special paint will greatly increase the strength of the material. It¡¯s not inferior to high-grade alloy and can be easily used to make armor. It¡¯s also a lot lighter. The greatest benefit is that the wearer will be able to adapt to the new world much easier.¡±

    Qianye thought he understood. ¡°So the key is in the holy-tree sap?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s actually the paint.¡±

 Chapter 1292: Hoard for Appreciation

    <h4>Chapter 1292: Hoard for Appreciation</h4>

    ¡°Paint¡­¡± Qianye intended to listen to what Yin Qiqi had to say. Making exorbitant demands was the style of the aristocracy, but it wasn¡¯t quite hers.

    Yet her first words immediately set Qianye back. ¡°Without our paint, this armor won¡¯t be as outstanding. Additionally, we own the rights to this design, so you can¡¯t use it without our permission.¡±

    Qianye studied the design repeatedly. He couldn¡¯t use it without permission? This armor was just a prototype idea, no more than a design concept to be frank. Naturally, a concept could be realized, but the key was the paint.

    Qianye believed that the effects of the holy-tree sap were much greater than the paint.

    ¡°What do you guys want?¡± Qianye¡¯s time was limited, so he had no intention of beating around the bush.

    ¡°The price of the paint will take up over half of the quoted price. Additionally, you have to ensure a steady supply of wood and holy-tree sap.¡±

    This meant that the wood and holy-tree sapbined were valued less than this so-called mysterious paint.

    Qianye was indifferent. ¡°What are the effects of this paint?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    ¡°How do you trust its effects then?¡±

    ¡°You just have to trust us.¡±

    ¡°The form?¡±

    ¡°A secret as well.¡±

    Qianye waved his hand with a smile. ¡°Goodbye.¡±

    Yin Qiqiughed. ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to discuss any further?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to discuss if these are the terms.¡±

    Yin Qiqi said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to bargain against my sky-high demands?¡±

    ¡°When did your people turn so simr to the Song?¡± Qianye shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t need armor at the moment. Let¡¯s talk when I do need them.¡±

    ¡°I can reduce the price, but you have to ensure the supply of holy-tree sap.¡±

    Qianye finally looked up. ¡°The tree sap is what you really want, right? That¡¯s the most critical product from the new world. I¡¯m not going to hand it to you without sufficient benefits.¡±

    ¡°Resources are useless if you just leave them in storage. It¡¯s only valuable if you put them to use!¡±

    Qianyeughed out loud. ¡°That¡¯s not right. There¡¯s value in keeping it in storage as well.¡±

    ¡°What value?¡±

    ¡°Wait for appreciation, of course!¡±

    ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re no different from Song Zining!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re brothers after all.¡±

    Yin Qiqi shrugged. ¡°I really can¡¯t handle you. How about this? I¡¯ll help you out of consideration for our rtionship. Our spies in Evernight im that Evernight has found a way to utilize holy-tree sap and requires arge amount of it. The old men from our n just want to store some to sell at a higher price when the Empire develops something simr.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. Who would¡¯ve thought the Yin family would have the same idea? In truth, he had over ten forests and twenty trees under his control. No one could actuallypare to his stash¡ªother people were hoarding sap, but Qianye was hoarding holy trees.

    It was apparent from the Moond werewolves¡¯ battlefield that the holy trees would normally suffer a degree of damage after each battle. This meant that the Evernight races would never be able to umte as much holy-tree sap as Qianye could even if they managed to conquer more forests.

    Despite that, Yin Qiqi¡¯s information was fairly important. Qianye knew that the holy-tree sap was important, but this intelligence made him attach even more importance to the scarce resource. He wasn¡¯t going to sell it for any price before its use had been decided. The same went for that fantastic metallic stone material from theke ind.

    Havinge to a decision, Qianye said to Yin Qiqi, ¡°You¡¯re quite crafty!¡±

    Yin Qiqi shrugged. ¡°You can¡¯t me me since I¡¯m from the Yin family, after all. I¡¯m not going to help you if you fall for it.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s with that armor design, then?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s real, the paint is also real. The effects of the paint aren''t as good as I im, but it still makes an apparent difference.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought before attempting to probe her. ¡°How about we trade 1 portion of holy-tree sap for ten portions of paint?¡±

    Yin Qiqi sighed. ¡°You¡¯re still too honest. The actual price in my mind was fifty, we won¡¯t lose even if it¡¯s sixty. Song Zining would start bargaining at five hundred portions.¡±

    Qianye immediately rectified his mistake. ¡°Then let¡¯s do fifty, but you¡¯ll have to move the workshop to Fort Continent and produce the armaments here.¡±

    Cutting transportation costs was their intention, to begin with, so Yin Qiqi readily agreed. She nced at Qianye before leaving, seemingly wanting to say something.

    Qianye didn¡¯t pay attention to such minor changes since he was focused on how to deal with Sousa and the Moond army. In theory, the werewolves of Fort Continent were far from being able to defeat Sousa¡¯s regr army. After Qianye¡¯s strict training regimen, outfitting, and a mixture of tactic-proficient human warriors, they finally possessed the power to hold their own.

    The key element here was Sousa.

    Qianye had taken everything into ount¡ªStorm, Caroline, himself, and the Martyr¡¯s Pce together were not Sousa¡¯s opponent. Just like a heavenly monarch, a great dark monarch was on an entirely different level.

    Sousa hadn¡¯t chased after him back then, but that wasn¡¯t a perpetual certainty. Qianye had adapted to the new world at shocking speed, but there was no guarantee that the great dark monarchs of Evernight wouldn¡¯t follow suit.

    He hadn¡¯t expected to encounter powers from other continents so soon. Since the enemy powerhouse had already made his appearance, everything would now depend on the Pointer Monarch¡¯s stance.

    Qianye made some arrangements for the affairs in hand, then headed back into the new world to conquer more forests with the Martyr¡¯s Pce. After taking down the four-holy-tree forest and the two subsequent ones with two holy trees, the formless pressure lingering around him had eased up quite a bit. The force would lessen each time he subdued a forest, and his adaptation to the new world would increase.

    After taking down several forests in Moond¡¯s direction, the holy trees began to resonate and reinforce Qianye. Instead of being crippled in the new world, his strength began to rise. He was now one level stronger here than he was on Fort Continent.

    It was this finding that led him to hasten his reaping of the six-armedmanders. Every ounce of extra strength was an additional wisp of hope for his survival against Sousa.

    Qin Continent, just outside of the door. A pir of killing intent shot up from the rolling mist, sending a chill down everyone¡¯s spine. The more cowardly people fell to the floor!

    In the blink of an eye, rms red throughout the fortress, and all soldiers ran to their positions. The ballistae atop the cannon towers lit up with origin power.

    All soldiers held their breath as countless weapons took aim at the door. No one dared to be careless because there was no telling what would emerge from the portal.

    Zhao Jundu had ordered them to keep their weapons pointed at the door at all times. Even an army of ten thousand could easily be wiped out in the new world.

    The men in charge of guarding the fortress were elites who had been transferred from all corners of the Empire. They had seen all kinds of powerful enemies in battle, yet the killing intent surging out from the door wasparable to princes and dukes rampaging across the field. That was why even the most experienced veterans were quite tense.

    The white mist parted all of a sudden, forming a path as a figure walked out from within. This person was holding a long spear, and his steps were as steady as the mountains.

    His every step caused the earth to tremble and the mist to part in his wake. Even the most powerful beasts couldn¡¯t force the mist to recede. This was no ordinary mist but a tangible form of the new world¡¯s origin power.

    Some new soldiers began to sweat, and their fingers began to tremble on the trigger. There was a gunshot all of a sudden! Someone had sumbed to the pressure and identally pulled the trigger.

    Arge caliber origin bullet whistled toward the figure¡¯s forehead.

    The man looked fairly rxed. He casually reached out to pluck the projectile from its trajectory and tossed it to the side after a nce. ¡°Good aim butcking in willpower.¡±

    Hearing this raspy voice, a general stood up and shouted, ¡°Everyone, hold your fire! It¡¯s Sire Jundu!¡±

    The person walking out from the mist was indeed Zhao Jundu. It was just that his appearance shocked everyone at the scene. That general from the Zhao n rushed over and said, ¡°Sire¡­ W-What happened to you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s head was in a mess¡ªmost of his long hair had been cut short, and his clothes were covered in mud. His armor was in tatters as well, with pieces of ting dangling from certain parts. That perfectly handsome face of his was now decorated with numerous scars, one of which shot through his brows and across half his face.

    Only his eyes remained bright and clear.

    Seeing the tense and dumbstruck soldiers on the defensive line, he realized what was wrong and slowly retracted his aura. Many soldiers heaved a sigh of relief and copsed to the floor, exhausted.

    Zhao Jundu said to the generals, ¡°I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just a bit of injury. There¡¯s nothing to be rmed about.¡±

    With that, he tossed the spear to one of his subordinates. ¡°Forge one just like this, double the weight. Goddammit, that Song Zining¡¯s weapons are too light, they¡¯re so hard to use.¡±

    Everyone was stunned.

    Zhao Junduughed. ¡°What are you looking at? Haven¡¯t you seen this general curse before? Get me a change of clothes, my current set is unusable.¡±

    Most of these generals were veterans from the Zhao n. Even they were inclined to believe that this Zhao Jundu was an imposter had they not seen him in person.

    Momentster, the servants had ced arge tub of hot water in the central hall. Zhao Jundu entered with a satisfied groan, and the clear water immediately turned red from the blood seeping out of his countless wounds.

    He paid no heed and only closed his eyes, almost as though he had fallen asleep. The maid nearby was scared, but she drummed up the courage to ask, ¡°Sire Jundu, shall I call the doctor?¡±

    Zhao Jundu opened his eyes. ¡°No need, just bring a towel over.¡±

    Momentster, Zhao Jundu walked out of the bathroom and sat down in his study. This short journey stained his robe with blood in several areas.

    He nced at the time and muttered, ¡°It¡¯s about time, where is he?¡±

    ¡°Waiting for this daddy, eh? Hahaha!¡± Coarseughter rang out from the hallway, after which the study doors were kicked open.

 Chapter 1293: No Meat This Time

    <h4>Chapter 1293: No Meat This Time</h4>

    ncing at the visitor, Zhao Jundu pointed at his watch. ¡°You¡¯re five minuteste.¡±

    That person threw himself into the chair and unceremoniously sized Zhao Jundu up from head to toe. ¡°You bastard, how did you get yourself into this state? I thought an Imperial marshal would be nothing short of awe-inspiring. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d be drenched in blood?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied expressionlessly, ¡°I¡¯m still doing better than a fellow who couldn¡¯t even be a marshal.¡±

    That person shot to his feet. ¡°This daddy will be a marshal sooner orter. What¡¯s so good about being a marshal? The difficult step is bing a heavenly monarch!¡±

    Zhao Jundu broke into augh. ¡°Did anyone say you have a chance?¡±

    That person¡¯s momentum deted sharply. ¡°No...¡±

    Zhao Jundu leaned forward while holding the hand rests. ¡°Do you think you can reach that level?¡±

    The detion intensified. ¡°This daddy is a man capable of breaking through the heavens. A mere heavenly monarch... is still... fairly difficult.¡±

    ¡°Forget the sky for now, can you defeat Yuying?¡± Zhao Jundu revealed a weird smile.

    The one sitting before the table was Wei Potian. The fellow immediately looked satisfied as he said, ¡°I can¡¯t defeat her yet, but she can¡¯t beat me, either!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s smile became even weirder. He pointed at Wei Potian¡¯s face, saying, ¡°Is this what you mean?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Smiling, Zhao Jundu drew a shiny knife and moved it in front of Wei Potian¡¯s face. ¡°Just look for yourself! I might be bloody, but I¡¯m doing much better.¡±

    Wei Potian used the de as a mirror and saw his ckened eyes. That bruise was clearly caused by a beating.

    Wei Potian jumped up, both surprised and furious. ¡°This has nothing to do with Yuying. I fought an arachne during thest battle, and it went on for quite some time. I was careless enough to take a couple of punches to the face, but of course, I won in the end. Who would¡¯ve thought that fellow would be so ruthless? These two bruises are still unhealed.¡±

    ¡°No need to exin, it¡¯s fine even if you were beaten up by Yuying.¡±

    ¡°Of course not! She can¡¯t beat me at all!¡± Wei Potian cried out.

    Zhao Jundu switched to a morefortable position, saying, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s stop talking about this. You made such a hurried appointment, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°What else is there? Of course, it¡¯s about pioneering the new world with you! You won¡¯t refuse this little request, will you?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to leave Far East just like that?¡±

    ¡°The defense should be fine without me. Those dark-blooded bastards have been pretty well-behavedtely. I heard most of them have been transferred to the new world, and I had to provoke them really hard just to start a couple of battles. I don¡¯t need to stay in such a boring ce! Wei Potian lives to fight on the battlefield!¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°You can go back if you don¡¯te back down to earth. I¡¯m in charge of this ce, so no one else can help you.¡±

    Wei Potian stared at Zhao Jundu for a good while, his haughtiness vanishing as he realized that thetter was serious. ¡°I heard even that Song Zining fellow broke through, how can I ept that? So, I wanted to head into the new world and give it a try. My Thousand Mountains can only improve in battle now.¡±

    ¡°Zining risked life and limb to breakthrough.¡±

    ¡°When have I ever been afraid of death!?¡± Wei Potian was excited again.

    Zhao Jundu gestured for him to calm down. ¡°That wasn¡¯t just danger, he was really an inch away from death. The bloke is still copsed in the new world now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine with that as long as I can break through this threshold. I refuse to let that bastard leave me behind, I¡¯m unresigned!¡±

    Zhao Jundu spoke no more. He said with a nod, ¡°Fine, pack your things. We¡¯ll leave in a bit.¡±

    Wei Potian pointed at the blood-stained robe. ¡°Your wounds are still bleeding.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. A w from that thing will leave you bleeding for at least half a day, there¡¯s no way to stop the outflow. Just let it bleed.¡±

    He produced a map from the drawer and pointed to several areas, saying, ¡°This is our n for the uing segment of the operation. These forests are the main camps of the beast army, as well as our capture objectives. I¡¯ve already sent you the relevant intelligence about the forests and how the enemy army is structured.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already studied them.¡±

    ¡°Good, we currently have a forest with three holy trees, four with dual holy trees, and seven with a single holy tree. Your mission is...¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s the one with three holy trees! Is there even a need to discuss this?¡± Wei Potian said recklessly.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s a forest with one holy tree.¡± Apparently, Zhao Jundu wasn¡¯t going to discuss this decision. He immediately issued a military order for Wei Potian, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t die, I don¡¯t want to see Yuying depressed.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, she¡¯ll be sad for a couple of months at most if I die.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°I was thinking three days at most. She¡¯ll forget you after a couple of drinks.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Wei Potian red fiercely at Jundu, seemingly eager to debate his status in Zhao Yuying¡¯s heart.

    Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t give him the opportunity, though. He stuffed themand into Wei Potian¡¯s jacket, saying, ¡°Take your men and retrieve medicine for them. I¡¯ve also prepared a unit to cooperate with you on this mission. Consider yourself lucky, the Imperial Research Academy has just developed a new medicine to help soldiers adapt to the new world. You arrived just in time.¡±

    Wei Potianughed out loud. ¡°My luck is always good! Oh right, don¡¯t we need to use that holy-tree sap or whatever? What is this medicine made of?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also made of holy tree sap.¡±

    Wei Potian found it weird. ¡°Then why do we need to turn it into medicine?¡±

    ¡°To reduce material consumption. One drop of holy tree sap used to be enough for one person, now it can help five people.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, but there must be some shorings, right?¡±

    ¡°There will be some difort, moreover, the time you can stay inside the new world will shrink from a month to ten days.¡±

    ¡°Ten days!? Isn¡¯t that too short?¡±

    Zhao Jundu patted Wei Potian¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s too long for you.¡±

    With that, he swaggered out of the study.

    Wei Potian stood dazed for a while, then started stomping about angrily when he finally realized the meaning. ¡°What the heck do you mean by that!? Hold it and exin things clearly! Are you saying I¡¯ll lose or that I won¡¯t survive very long, or both? Y-You! Stop right there!¡±

    Zhao Jundu simply walked away, paying him no attention.

    Wei Potian was helpless. He hade to fight under Zhao Jundu¡¯smand, so he couldn¡¯t really fight it out with him, not that he could win against him even if he did.

    There was no major issue with the equipment for the soldiers. The Far East Wei n was a high-ranking aristocratic family that had been fighting against the dark races year-round. Their umtions were fairly strong, and their gear could only be better than the Imperial legions, not weaker.

    However, their province was extremely far away, so it wasn¡¯t possible to ship all of their heavy weaponry here. They would need Zhao Jundu¡¯s help in this regard. Besides, the more adaptation medicine there was, the better. Otherwise, were they to run back and collect if they ran out?

    Only when he saw the small mountain of resources at the supply depot did Wei Potian break into a smile. ¡°This little brat only talks harshly.¡±

    He hummed a small tune as he led a band of ruffian-like soldiers into the new world.

    Several dayster, a motorcade appeared at the Imperial base outside of the door. The trucks were all battered up and shooting out so much steam that the area around them looked like an immortal realm.

    The trucks were full of soldiers with various items hanging from their sides. There were sandbags, armor tes, luggage, and half-dried beast legs. If this weren¡¯t the new world and the trucks were new models from the Empire, the fortress guards would¡¯ve thought they were a refugee family.

    The forward base was in charge of guarding the doorway into the Empire. This duty was extremely important, so the soldiers wouldn¡¯t let an unknown motorcade approach. The guards fired warning shots and stopped the vehicles several hundred meters away from the fortress.

    A burly man with a messy beard jumped down from the car. He was covered in mud, and his armor was in tatters. ¡°This daddy just fought a victorious battle. You don¡¯t recognize me anymore!? Tell Jundu toe and see me!¡±

    The officer was startled upon hearing that kind of tone. ¡°I have a duty to inspect you. After all, there can be no mistakes when ites to this fortress. Sire, who...¡±

    He looked carefully at the burly man and found him rather familiar. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Marquis Bowang! How did you turn into this state?¡±

    ¡°What Marquis Bowang!? This daddy is Marquis Potian! I just came back from a battle, I never had the time to clean up. Besides, look at my brothers, aren¡¯t they in the same state?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s style really did resonate with the frontline soldiers. The officer became much friendlier. ¡°Marquis, you really do love your men as though they are your children. Please follow me, I¡¯ll take you to the resting camp.¡±

    The officer jumped into Wei Potian¡¯s car to guide them personally.

    As they started discussing the war, Wei Potian said, ¡°Damn, I didn¡¯t expect that six-armed giant to be so difficult to handle. I had to spend quite a bit of effort to take him down. Jundu, that evil bloke, didn¡¯t give me any tips. Fortunately, this daddy was strong enough and my brethren were reliable. Otherwise, I might not be able to return!¡±

    The officer offered words of praise, ¡°You¡¯re indeed strong! You actually took down a forest on your own. I heard you racked up a lot of aplishments in the Far East Province, you definitely live up to your reputation!¡±

    Wei Potianughed, pretending to be humble. ¡°Those dark bloods in the Far East aren¡¯t as strong as this six-armed monster. Damn, if they¡¯re so strong in a forest with one holy tree, I¡¯d be dead meat in a forest with three. What¡¯s Jundu doing right now?¡±

    ¡°He and Sire Song Zining set out a couple of days ago to take down the forest with three holy trees.¡±

    ¡°What? Those two went to get the good stuff while I got the scraps?¡± Wei Potian was furious. He hadpletely forgotten his words from just now.

 Chapter 1294: True Gold Refinemen

    <h4>Chapter 1294: True Gold Refinemen</h4>

    Far in the distance, Zhao Jundu was sneezing. ¡°Is someone plotting something against me?¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°There are too many people plotting against you, but I think there might be more people who want to marry you.¡±

    Zhao Jundu waved his spear, saying, ¡°Cut it out with the meaningless stuff, the fight isn¡¯t over yet. We have to clear out thisir before nightfall.¡±

    Song Zining said helplessly, ¡°Don¡¯t be such a vedriver! Even if I don¡¯t wait to recover my origin power, I still need to dress my wounds.¡±

    ¡°Why would you need to dress minor flesh wounds? You¡¯ll get injured again, anyway.¡± With that, Zhao Jundu dragged Song Zining away.

    Struggling, thetter pointed at therge body of the six-armed general. ¡°Let¡¯s collect the spoils first, spoils!¡±

    ¡°Others will deal with it,e with me. Your blood will cool down in a bit and the effects will diminish.¡±

    Song Zining kept struggling. ¡°I¡¯m already a divine champion, I don¡¯t have any more ambitions! Go ahead if you want to temper true gold in mes, why drag me along?¡±

    ¡°Training together isn¡¯t bad, even if you¡¯re not true gold.¡± Zhao Jundu was quite literally dragging the seventh young master.

    Song Zining was furious. ¡°Nonsense! My foundations are much better than yours, I¡¯m the real true gold here.¡±

    ¡°Then you need to be tempered.¡±

    Along the way, Song Zining found an opening to grab onto arge tree and wouldn¡¯t let go no matter what. He squealed like a pig about to be ughtered, ¡°I¡¯m not going! I want to rest, I want to recuperate!¡±

    Zhao Jundu grabbed Song Zining by his legs and pulled him away. ¡°Stop trying to act cute, it¡¯s useless against me!¡±

    Song Zining shouted hopelessly, ¡°I¡¯m a divine champion now, I don¡¯t want to fight, I want to enjoy life...¡±

    The cries slowly receded into the distance and vanished into the beastir.

    At midnight, somewhere deep underground, Song Zining sat with his back against a stone wall, huffing and puffing with his tongue protruded. Zhao Jundu fished out a cigarette and passed Song Zining the rest. ¡°Want one?¡±

    Song Zining waved his hand feebly. ¡°This young master... refuses to smoke such inferior tobo. Y-You monster...¡±

    Zhao Jundu smiled. ¡°I¡¯m tired, too.¡±

    ¡°Your wounds are still bleeding.¡±

    ¡°Just a bit, I¡¯m used to it.¡±

    Song Zining propped himself higher. ¡°When did you start smoking? Not to mention something so low-quality at that.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s not easy to get cigarettes on the battlefield. It¡¯s good enough if you find one at all. I¡¯ll just stick to the inferior ones, lest I can¡¯t adapt in the field.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t smoke before.¡±

    ¡°I thought I didn¡¯t need to, but Iter discovered that it¡¯s good to have some distraction after fighting for your life. Otherwise, the mind remains in the ughter and can¡¯t calm down. That might just drive people crazy over the long term,¡± Zhao Jundu replied calmly.

    ¡°I say, this method of refining true gold in mes, is it even reliable?¡±

    ¡°The Martial Ancestor did the same thing back then and ruled the world. What do you think?¡±

    Song Zining snorted. ¡°That¡¯s just a wild rumor, you believe that? Besides, even if it is true, you¡¯re no Martial Ancestor!¡±

    Zhao Jundu onlyughed without giving a reply. He inhaled deeply on the cigarette and only tossed it away when the me was close to his fingers.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Look at you. You look like someone of poor birth, going all out in order to advance.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so bad about that? Only now can I really feel the desperate resolution of those without a way out.¡±

    ¡°No one will dare marry you this way. Who knows when you¡¯ll leave the house and never return.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said in a carefree manner, ¡°I have so many outstanding brothers and sisters, I don¡¯t need to leave a descendant. People like us should live and die on the battlefield.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°All of you people from the Zhao n are madmen on the battlefield. It¡¯s your business if you don¡¯t think this is a problem, but don¡¯t drag others into it. What do you say about Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Qianye?¡±

    ¡°Since Nighteye came into his heart, there¡¯s no longer space for anyone else. We both know Nighteye¡¯s current situation, and it¡¯s no longer possible for them. I won¡¯t feel sorry if you want to be alone your whole life, but Qianye isn¡¯t you. He can¡¯t be alone his whole life, can he?¡±

    Zhao Jundu stared intently at Song Zining. ¡°Haven¡¯t you already tricked him in the Great Maelstrom? I heard it¡¯s two.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°That has nothing to do with me! Don¡¯t speak nonsense.¡±

    Zhao Jundu looked suspicious. ¡°This thing has your name written all over it, no matter how I look.¡±

    ¡°Impossible! I, erm...¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice grew softer and softer under Zhao Jundu¡¯s gaze. In the end, he sighed. ¡°I wanted to help him. How will he survive in the Empire without a couple of powerful backers? Can he rely on your Zhao n alone?¡±

    Zhao Jundu snorted. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s all, is it?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, I got a little something out of it as well. The details aren¡¯t all that important. ns don¡¯t mean anything if fate doesn¡¯t allow for it. This is the will of the heavens as well. They were destined to be connected. I¡¯m no god, how could I have calcted everything in such detail?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°Those people you¡¯re working with aren¡¯t easy to push around, so good luck. Just don¡¯t drag Qianye down if something happens to you in the future.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jundu! We¡¯ve fought so many battles together, how can a friend say things like that?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not friends.¡± Zhao Jundu gave him no face.

    He stood up and, picking up his spear, walked toward the giant core of their.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to try subduing it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mad! That¡¯s a contest of willpower. Look at that giant thing, how can you...¡± Song Zining was just about to stop Zhao Jundu when a prismatic bridge of origin power appeared between him and the core.

    In the blink of an eye, Zhao Jundu began to tremble and his entire body was covered in sweat. All of his wounds burst open, drenching hisbat robes in blood.

    Song Zining stood up but slowly sat down again. He grabbed his head with both hands, muttering, ¡°True gold tempering only refines the body, not the will. Goddammit! Trying such a thing in this goddamn ce! Now I have to avenge you if you go and get yourself killed, how troublesome... damn! Why didn¡¯t I pull him back?!¡±

    Song Zining knew he could do nothing else at this point but wait for the results of the battle. Even if he were to separate them by force, the bacsh would deal tremendous damage to Zhao Jundu¡¯s spirit, causing him to be an idiot in the best scenario. Besides, experts suffering grave injuries in the new world were sure to die. No amount of medicines could save them in time.

    He didn¡¯t even dare watch.

    Just as he was ming himself constantly, someone patted him on the shoulder. ¡°What are you mumbling about?¡±

    The shocked seventh young master jumped to his feet. Seeing the young man standing in front of him, he said, ¡°Done so fast?! Wait... you actually won?!¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not right! I don¡¯t mean to say you shouldn¡¯t have won... but damn, you shouldn¡¯t have won, and so fast at that! How did you do it?¡±

    ¡°Simple, I said I¡¯ll poke it full of holes with my spear if it doesn¡¯t submit.¡±

    Song Zining scoffed. ¡°You¡¯d be dead if you had lost. How are you going to poke it?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said,ughing, ¡°They only possess simple intelligence, so it¡¯s not hard to lie. You can try next time.¡±

    This time, it was Song Zining¡¯s turn to look at him suspiciously. ¡°Nope, I¡¯m not an idiot.¡±

    Zhao Junduughed. ¡°Of course you¡¯re not an idiot, you¡¯re too smart in fact. I might¡¯ve been the same as well, but now, I¡¯ve noticed the problem.¡±

    ¡°Did you get any from subduing it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What did you get?¡±

    ¡°For instance, it gave me some information. Our location is only the surface of the new world. The true entrance lies in the central region. It¡¯s not so far away, but we¡¯ll have to pass through a forest with four holy trees along the way.¡±

    ¡°Four holy trees... that won¡¯t be easy.¡± Song Zining became solemn.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to worry about the six-armed general. It told me just now that the forest has already fallen to an outsider and the core has been subdued.¡±

    ¡°Outsider? It can¡¯t be Qianye, can it?¡± Song Zining was startled.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably not Qianye. ording to its description, they¡¯re likely demonkin.¡±

    Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°Now that makes things easier. I like the demonkin.¡±

    ¡°So do I.¡±

    The two exchanged nces.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m feeling ufortable here. Are you okay to walk or do you need me to carry you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced at Song Zining. ¡°You? Carry me? Even your weapon is so light. What else can you carry but women?¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°Would you say these things if you aren¡¯t strained? Is your spear feeling too heavy now?¡±

    Zhao Jundu snorted after being poked where it hurt. He simply kept walking without continuing the conversation. The duo started their slow climb toward the surface. There was no telling how long it would take at this rate.

    Song Ziningined, ¡°Do these creatures have nothing better to do? Why dig so deep? Speaking of which, I still don¡¯t understand how their system works. Can these coresmunicate with one another remotely?¡±

    ¡°Not all, only the adjacent ones.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it. They¡¯re rying information from one to another.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s indeed the case.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s return to the Qin Continent first. Thetest intelligence reports should¡¯ve arrived by now, and we also need to switch out our troops. Fighting beasts is different from fighting the dark races.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I also want to invite some dukes over to help out. The demonkin should have needed at least three dukes to conquer the forest with four holy trees, and we still don¡¯t know who¡¯s holding the line. You and I are far from enough.¡±

    Song Zining red at him. ¡°So you do know some limits. I thought you¡¯d keep tempering yourself by challenging three dukes.¡±

    ¡°I might just do that after some time.¡±

    Song Zining became alert. ¡°Do that yourself, don¡¯t drag me into it.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you need to join. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be too boring.¡± Zhao Junduughed out loud.

    Song Zining was angry, but he couldn¡¯t do anything except clench his jaws. ¡°Oh, I heard that idiot Wei Potian is here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I sent him to take down a forest with one holy tree.¡±

    ¡°Not a bad idea, let him stay there for a couple of months.¡±

    ¡°We might see him by the time we get back,¡± Zhao Jundu replied.

    Song Zining was skeptical. ¡°Someone like him?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that the dumb have their dumb luck.¡±

    Song Zining had no retort for this.

 Chapter 1295: Terrifying

    <h4>Chapter 1295: Terrifying</h4>

    Several dayster, the Empire¡¯s gigantic war machine kicked into full gear. Vast amounts of resources and equipment arrived at the fortress outside of the door. Batch after batch of soldiers who hadpleted adaptation training¡ªand those who were still in the process¡ªheaded toward the fortress. They would undergo the final preparations there before being shipped into the new world.

    Almost all of the Empire¡¯s spies in Evernight were mobilized at the same time. Secret missives were sent back to the Empire, containing all kinds of information from troop movements and experts¡¯ activities to the prices ofmodities in certain areas.

    These reports were sorted and analyzed by dedicated personnel until many things became clear. Some major movements gradually became apparent.

    News from the dark races had already spread among the upper echelons of the Empire. Everyone knew that a battle of unprecedented scale wasing. In most previous skirmishes between the Empire and Evernight¡ªeven on the void continent¡ªthe dark races had always been tripping one another. None of them were doing their utmost in the fight.

    The new world was different. The four major races were now working together, and they had even put their ten-thousand-year feud on hold for it. Even though the werewolves had been somewhat ostracized, the remaining three still made for a formidable foe.

    Fortunately, the number of soldiers they could send into the new world was limited, and the rotation was also much faster than local battles. However, there was little to no restriction on the number of experts. The Empire was now facing unprecedented pressure.

    Within the fortress, Zhao Jundu finally raised his head after reading intelligence reports for the entire day. He exercised his stiff neck and said, ¡°There¡¯s finally some good news. The dark races have reached the upper limit of troops they can send into the new world. That means the number of enemies we face won¡¯t increase.¡±

    Across from him, Song Zining poked his head out of a small mountain of documents. ¡°That¡¯s good news? Then let me tell you some bad news. Even if they don¡¯t send more troops in and we discount the werewolves, we¡¯re still facing an enemy force six times our own.¡±

    ¡°Winning against the odds will prove your ability.¡± Zhao Jundu spoke rather seriously.Song Zining couldn¡¯t tell if it was sincere or if he was being mocked. ¡°I don¡¯t have that kind of ability. We¡¯ll have to rely on our Marquis Potian to break the enemy ranks, no?¡±

    There was no reply from the other corner of the room.

    Song Zining turned around to find that Wei Potian was still properly seated with his eyes wide open, yet his expression was empty and his breathing was slow. The fellow¡¯s head was nodding rhythmically, his gaze moving along with it. The bastard was actually asleep!

    Song Zining was left speechless by Wei Potian¡¯s ability to sleep with his eyes open. All he could do was shake his head as he couldn¡¯t even feel angry.

    ¡°If we really have to face the dark races, how we fight them is one matter, but why we fight them is more important. Jundu, what exactly do you think is in the new world that the dark races would go all out for it? Thest time they formed an alliance like this was when the human race rose to power. No, even back then, their cooperation didn¡¯tst very long.¡±

    Song Zining continued asking about the things that had been weighing on his mind. ¡°After all, Daybreak and Evernight are two different origin power systems. If the resources of the new world are useless to us, do we really need to pay such a steep price to fight the dark races?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°How should I know? How we fight this battle is your problem.¡±

    ¡°When did it be my business? You¡¯re themander here.¡±

    ¡°In name, yes, but you¡¯re themander for this battle.¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jundu, you¡¯re trying to push the responsibility onto me. I¡¯m certainly not going to serve as themander.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°You have no choice, the Imperial mandate has been issued.¡±

    ¡°A mandate? When did that happen?¡±

    ¡°After obtaining news about the dark races, I submitted a memorandum to the court, asking for you to be granted full authority as themanding officer in this battle. The edict itself should arrive soon.¡±

    Song Zining stood up. ¡°I¡¯m already a part of the neutralnds now. Strictly speaking, I¡¯m no longer an Imperial citizen. I¡¯m not suited to serve as themander.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said seriously, ¡°Zining, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re worried about, but you know this battle is going to be long and hard. I¡¯m not as skilled as you are inmand and strategy. A small mistake will set us back significantly. Can you really bear to see ourrades making needless sacrifices?¡±

    Since he had put it that way, there was really nothing Song Zining could say. He stood dazed for a moment¡ªhis mouth opened several times, but the refusal simply didn¡¯te out.

    It was at this time that an aide called out from beyond the door, ¡°An Imperial emissary has arrived!¡±

    Song Zining nced at Zhao Jundu helplessly, then stood up to wee the emissary. Who would¡¯ve thought Wei Potian would also wake up and shoot to his feet. ¡°Imperial emissary? Did theye here tomend my contributions?¡±

    With the full support of the Empire, the main force under Zhao Jundu and Song Zining waspletely equipped in a single week. They were then moved quietly into the new world in preparation to fight against the demonkin main force.

    Song Zining adopted his usual style, arming his soldiers to the teeth and finding ways to recruit arge number of experts to join the formation. Fortunately, the expansion in the new world came with great benefits, and the Empire also announced a high standard of rewards. The aristocratic families weren¡¯t willing to be left behind, either, but the situation on the Transcendent Continent had just stabilized and the progress on the Western Continent was fairly stagnant. Only the Qin Continent was making good progress and seeing new developments constantly.

    Thebination of Zhao Jundu and Song Zining didn¡¯t impress people at first. After all, they were too young and their strength wasn¡¯t sufficient on paper. However, no one would¡¯ve imagined Song Zining to actually break through and be a divine champion. With two divine champions overseeing the operation, this route could no longer be considered weak.

    Now that the dark races¡¯ movements were evident, the Empire also began mobilizing their experts. Four dukes were sent into the new world in session. They were nominally under themand of Zhao Jundu and Song Zining, something that would¡¯ve been unimaginable in the past. After all, the two young men were newly minted divine champions and inferior in both experience and seniority.

    Zhao Jundu possessed a powerful background. Back then, the Zhao n¡¯s reputation came from having three dukes in one n, and now, Duke Chengen¡¯s residence alone boasted three divine champions. And that wasn¡¯t counting Princess Gaoyi. The entire Empire knew that Qianye was Zhao Jundu¡¯s younger brother. This young man was already opening up new territories at his age and would soon proim himself king. Hence, the four dukes kept themselves well-restrained and seemed to have no intention of fighting for authority.

    This was the path of the experienced. They would naturally gain significant benefits in the case of a victory. In defeat, it was their decision if they wanted to help clean up the mess or leave.

    Song Zining understood their intentions, but he paid them no heed. He held onto the Imperial mandate and used it to deploy the four dukes as though they were ordinary generals.

    These shrewd generals made noment and simply followed Song Zining¡¯s orders. Fortunately, thetter¡¯s aplishments in battle were outstanding, and there was no one else in the Empire widely-epted as a better tactician. All people could say was that Song Zining was too young and inexperienced.

    Just like that, amidst the blur of maneuvers, the advancing Imperial army finally ran into the demonkin¡¯s forward guard.

    The demonkin squad numbered in the tens of thousands. They had just attacked and conquered a forest with one holy tree¡ªthe soldiers were dragging the body of the six-armedmander onto a truck, while the experts were either resting or recuperating. They had never imagined that Imperial forces would appear all of a sudden.

    Many of the demonkin soldiers were still clearing out the remaining beasts in the forest and had no idea what was going on outside. The guards outside, on the other hand, were mostly injured. Many of themy moaning on the ground, waiting for treatment that might or might note. When they saw the Imperial soldiers, the troops were dazed for a good while before confirming that they weren¡¯t seeing things¡ªthat was indeed the Great Qin¡¯s war banner.

    The rms went off only when the first volley of cannon shells bore down upon them. It was toote, however. The Imperial forces began splitting their ranks to nk in an attempt to wipe the enemy out entirely. As the tired demonkin experts rose into the air to fight, one of their marquises copsed all of a sudden, and an origin power trajectory slowly appeared through the air.

    Seeing this evident green arc, many of the demonkin found it iparably familiar, and yet none of them could say where they had seen it before. That was until someone cried out, ¡°Zhao Jundu!¡±

    This green trajectory was indeed Zhao Jundu¡¯s trademark ability, Trueshot. This unique green trajectory had gained great fame back on the void continent, but those who could join the new world expedition were true experts. People like them wouldn¡¯t join a battle of that level, so they had only heard about this trajectory and not seen it.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s position among the dark races didn¡¯t fall just because of his foundation damage. To them, whether or not the man could be a heavenly monarch was too far in the future. What was the point of worrying so far when they couldn¡¯t even beat him in the present?

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s power increased sharply after the breakthrough, and his Trueshot had be a bona fide divine ability. Even a grand duke wouldn¡¯t want to take a blow from Zhao Jundu, but the existence of his Trueshot meant that it was impossible not to get hit. Even when surrounded, the fourth young master could kill anyone at will, dragging anyone down with him.

    To the dark races, Zhao Jundu was an enemy they weren¡¯t willing to face at all.

    While none of their experts died while fighting against the six-armedmander, many were wounded. Those who had taken more damage were cautious since injuries were difficult to control in the new world, but the fallen marquis only suffered flesh wounds, so he stepped forward carelessly. Who would¡¯ve thought Zhao Jundu would fell him in one shot?

    Two counts rushed over to support the marquis, but they knew there was no saving him when they noticed the big hole in his chest. That was the location of the origin furnace, which was a vital area just like the vampires¡¯ blood core. Even a marquis would fall when the furnace was entirely obliterated.

    The experts hadn¡¯t decided whether or not to retreat when the dead six-armedmander stood up all of a sudden. The scenery before them transformed as countless more drilled out of the ground.

    One of the experts was shocked out of his wits. ¡°Song Zining!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, the confused demonkin army immediately crumbled and people began to flee.

    Song Zining was dumbfounded, so much so that he even forgot to maintain his domain. ¡°Am I that scary?¡±

    Zhao Jundu gave him a ruthless kick. ¡°After them!¡±

 Chapter 1296: Dangerous Evolution

    <h4>Chapter 1296: Dangerous Evolution</h4>

    Chasing after the routed troops was beyond easy. The demonkin were fast in their retreat, and they had experts bringing up the rear to deter Zhao Jundu and Song Zining from killing the ordinary soldiers. This limited the damage to their forces outside of the forest, but the fate of those within had more or less been sealed.

    The demonkin fighting the beasts inside the forest made up the bulk of the unit, so Song Zining didn¡¯t chase the retreating soldiers for very long. He turned his forces about and led them to exterminate the demonkin in the woods.

    Due to the istion effect of the forest, most of the demonkin inside had no idea that their forces outside had fled. By the time they had noticed something was wrong, they were already caught between the Empire and the beasts.

    Woondbat wasplicated, and after eliminating the demonkin, the Imperial soldiers had to deal with the surviving beasts. These creatures would attack anyone regardless of faction. By the time everything had been settled, it was already midnight.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t in a good mood. He kept asking Zhao Jundu, ¡°Am I that scary now?¡±

    Thetter rolled his eyes without hesitation. ¡°What would you think if you were a demonkin and you saw Song Zining charging at them at the head of an army?¡±

    Song Zining was enlightened. ¡°I understand now!¡±

    ording tomon sense, Song Zining would only charge so recklessly if he was absolutely certain of a victory. The enemy experts also knew that Song Zining¡¯s domain¡ªwhile not lethal¡ªwas top-grade at trapping people. They would find it almost impossible to escape once they had been entangled, to speak nothing of the killer god that was Zhao Jundu nearby.

    That was why they turned around and fled once they realized that things weren¡¯t right. They had sacrificed the squad inside the forest, but they had retained some fighting power after running away. This result was better than fighting to the death and allowing Song Zining to wipe them out in one go.

    Song Zining shook his head after realizing this. ¡°Sigh, the beast hordes make for better opponents. They won¡¯t run no matter what, all they know is to charge.¡±

    A winged-beast struggling on the ground caught Zhao Jundu¡¯s attention. He picked it up and observed it for a while before passing the creature to Song Zining. ¡°The beasts aren¡¯t so easy to deal with, either.¡±

    Song Zining immediately noticed something different. There were numerous firm, hard granules at the base of its feathers¡ªthese were scales that hadn¡¯t taken form.

    The seventh young master was familiar with all of the beast-types that had made an appearance, but he was sure he hadn¡¯t seen this one before. Additionally, the scales were especially evident around the creature¡¯s soft abdomen. Once these scales were fully developed, their defense would increase significantly.

    Song Zining reached out to pluck some scales off and pinched them between his fingers. ¡°Once these scales are mature, our high-caliber machine guns might not be effective anymore.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°They didn¡¯t have these scales before, do you understand what I mean?¡±

    The two exchanged nces, each noticing the worry in the other party¡¯s expression. The beast army evolving was fine, but it would be horrible news if the six-armedmander were to transform as well.

    Song Zining froze as he nced at the corpse of the six-armed giant. ording to the usual pattern, the six-armed creature in a forest with one holy tree was the weakest.

    This type of forest hadn¡¯t formed a pond of holy tree sap. At most, there would only be a puddle. Without the pond, there would be no ind to produce that mysterious metallic stone material. Naturally, there was no throne, either.

    The six-armed creatures were usually naked except for their weapons. It was also obvious that the weapons weren¡¯t from the forest since the ruined ones couldn¡¯t be reced, unlike the three-holy-tree forests where the inds were full of stgmites. The generals could grab them at will and turn them into weapons.

    The six-armed creature here was wearing armor. Although it was just a simple, sleeveless chest te, its defenses were much higher than its naked peers. Its weapons were also better designed and crafted.

    This six-armed creature¡¯sbat strength was far greater than the others from its race. No wonder the demonkin had to gather so many experts to defeat it. Their lineup boasted half a dozen marquises and a vice-duke leader, yet their victory was hard-fought and everyone was wounded.

    That vice-duke had clearly suffered greater injuries. He hadn¡¯t taken any action at all and fled immediately once the Imperial army appeared.

    ¡°Looks like the battles going forward won¡¯t be as easy.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded seriously.

    ¡­

    At this moment, in a different corner of the new world. An austere Qianye was standing beside the corpse of a six-armedmander. Caroline looked abnormally pale as she walked over to him.

    Qianye nced at her. ¡°Are your wounds under control now? Do you need to head out and recuperate for a bit?¡±

    Caroline shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. My lightning physique recovers quite fast, but I¡¯ll be weak for the next couple of days. Who would¡¯ve thought this monster could actually fire arrows?¡± She nced at the six-armed giant with a bit of lingering fear.

    Qianye picked up the giant bow. At more than three meters, Qianye couldn¡¯t hold this gigantic weapon vertically. He could only lift it horizontally to observe the details.

    The bow was made rather crudely from the stony metal of theke ind, but it was very hard and flexible. The core of the bowstring was also made from the same material, coated in ayer of weaved tree bark. In terms of craftsmanship, an apprentice cksmith from any race could produce a better weapon.

    Qianye put down the bow, and keeping it pressed down with one foot, he tried using both hands to pull back on the string. He exerted abrupt force with a shout, yet the string only opened up a bit. Qianye was startled¡ªhe had already exerted sixty percent of his strength for this pull.

    Qianye¡¯s face flushed red as his blood core pulsed and auric me blood began to churn throughout his body. Erupting in a burst of great power, he pulled the bow open to as far as his arms could extend.

    Qianye rxed his arms and allowed the bow to bounce back. ¡°What a bow!¡±

    ¡°How much force did you have to exert?¡± Caroline was curious.

    ¡°Ny percent,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean it''s even stronger than you are?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    Qianye had to use so much force just to pull the bow back, yet that six-armed general had been firing tempestuous volleys of arrows at them. Even someone of Caroline¡¯s speed was struck by the projectile, producing arge prating cavity. The wound didn¡¯t even bleed as the edges had been crystallized upon impact.

    Fortunately, Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh was the bane of bow-type opponents. He grasped this opportunity to fire four Shots of Inception in a row in order to kill the six-armed general. It was just that three shots was the limit at his current level, and overdrafting himself left him with hidden injuries.

    Caroline touched the six-armed general¡¯s armor and said with a frown, ¡°It wasn¡¯t like this in the past.¡±

    ¡°We changed our strategy and gear to deal with the beast army. They¡¯re doing the same.¡±

    ¡°Looks like we were quite lucky before.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Qianye nced at his surroundings. The constant sounds of fighting could be heard as the werewolves and mercenaries worked to clear the forest.

    This was a forest with three holy trees, after all, and the beasts were superior both in number and in quality. Although Qianye and Caroline had kept the six-armed general in check, the others still didn¡¯t have an easy time. Fortunately, the aristocratic families had bet heavily on Qianye, each sending forth experts to aid his cause. Afterbining forces with the Storm Territory, the number of werewolf experts under Qianye¡¯smand had also increased greatly. That was why he could ovee the beast army on his own.

    The main reason for this fair oue was because the six-armed general couldn¡¯t control and coordinate the troops.

    Qianye could vaguely sense the existence of a forest with four holy trees in the distance. He shook his head and gave up on any notion of attacking it.

    He had managed to defeat that six-armed general by a fluke back then. Now that they had evolved, taking that forest down would surely involve a painful price.

    Qianye decided not to touch any quad-tree forest without more experts to help him.

    ¡­

    In a different corner of the new world, there was a single-holy-tree forest that was rather lively. The images of mountains flickered in the air above as trees copsed with loud rumbles. Apparently, the battle here was rather fierce.

    Before long, howlingughter erupted from the center of the forest. ¡°What can a mere six-armed creature do to me?¡±

    This voice was crude, vulgar, and inexplicably arrogant. Who else could it be except Wei Potian?

    He was standing at the center of the forest. Behind him was a holy tree, and in front was the corpse of a six-armedmander. This creature was wearing a short piece of armor, and his equipment was better made, but Wei Potian noticed none of that. Origin power flickered around him, and the mountain projections hadn¡¯t yet dissipated.

    A group of experts appeared from the forest at this point and started to praise him. ¡°Young Master, your might is on full disy today! You¡¯ve really broadened my horizons by breaking through in battle!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on advancing to rank-seventeen. You¡¯re only one step away from bing a divine champion.¡±

    ¡°As I see it, the divine champion realm is just around the corner!¡±

    Everyone fell silent following the round of ttery. These people were experts from the Wei n. Some of them might have external surnames, but there were no strangers here. Those words just now were too shameless¡ªeven Prince Greensun had to spend most of the year to go from rank-seventeen to divine champion. Wei Potian was a far cry from Zhang Boqian no matter how one looked at him.

    Wei Potian¡¯s eyes sparkled as he propped his chin upon his hand and said, ¡°This daddy might really break through in the new world if I encounter more of these things!¡±

    Surprised, everyone asked him about it and Wei Potian exined without holding back.

 Chapter 1297: Period of Advantage

    <h4>Chapter 1297: Period of Advantage</h4>

    The Wei n¡¯s secret inheritance, the Thousand Mountains, was a profound art on par with those of the four major ns. The most awesome part was that the cultivator could borrow the enemy¡¯s hand to temper his origin power in battle. The underlying mechanism was simr to Zhao Jundu¡¯s refinement in fire.

    In the battle just now, Wei Potian had managed to take on most of the six-armed creature¡¯s attacks on his own. The other experts from the Wei n would seek out opportunities to attack and add more injuries to its massive body.

    These people from the Wei family had been working together with him for a long while. They might not be the strongest in overall fighting power, but they were proficient in focused attacks and knew the best timing to strike. Each of them could only use a couple of powerful moves, but that was enough.

    Wei Potian was mostly on the defensive, wielding a pair of shields in an airtight defense. He was staggering under the constant blows of the six-armed creature but refused to copse no matter what. His origin power gradually depleted as time went by, but the lone peak above his head only grew higher and clearer.

    He hadn¡¯t realized it at that moment, but he had already reached the ¡°above myriad mountains¡± realm. This was something he should¡¯ve achieved only after bing a divine champion. None in the entire Wei n had seeded before.

    The six-armed creature possessed boundless strength, but its attacks were a tad too crude and its weapons were only a bit better than stone-age instruments. Wei Potian loved such opponents.

    The Thousand Mountains wasn¡¯t without its risks since the defense wasn¡¯t imprable. Wei Potian feared opponents like Eden who could abruptly attack a single point. Against such foes, he might be killed before he could even activate Thousand Mountains. Comparatively, the six-armedmander was an easier opponent.

    While Wei Potian was lost in thought, one of his subordinates said, ¡°Big bro, since you can advance just by getting beaten up, why would you need to wait for those six-armed creatures? Won¡¯t you break through if we band together and beat you up every day?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face turned green. He grabbed that thin man and shook him up. ¡°Looks like you have other intentions! Tell me how you want to die, this daddy will help you!¡±

    The person screamed, ¡°Big Bro Potian, you¡¯re mistaken! I have my reasons for thinking that way.¡±

    Wei Potian paused briefly, shouting, ¡°Speak, what reasons? If you can¡¯t, I¡¯ll beat you to death and help you breakthrough.¡±

    That person replied hurriedly, ¡°Your cultivation increased sharply after getting beaten up every day by Sis Yuying. Everyone knows this.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s face turned red. He snorted deeply, saying, ¡°You guys aren¡¯t Yuying! I let her beat me up, understand?¡±

    Despite the stern words, Wei Potian released his grip on the fellow and tossed him to the ground.

    ¡°What are you all standing here for? Go and clean up the forest! We aren¡¯t done killing the beasts.¡±

    After driving his subordinates away, Wei Potian fell on his butt and leaned against the holy tree. Now that he was no longer tense, he felt his entire body aching, and every little movement caused him to grimace. Fortunately, there was no one around, so his glorious image wouldn¡¯t be affected.

    Thinking back to the battle just now, he patted the tree behind him, saying, ¡°Looks like that monster really does worry about you. Next time, I¡¯ll run around you and see what they¡¯ll dare to do.¡±

    Before long, a capable subordinate jogged over. ¡°Big Bro, we¡¯ve cleared out the forest. The brothers are shipping things back to the cars now. What do we do next?¡±

    ¡°Let me think about it...¡± Wei Potian felt a bit of a headache.

    That person said, ¡°Sire Zining¡¯s orders were to scout for dark races in the area, but we took down a forest instead. Aren¡¯t we going against hismand?¡±

    Wei Potian felt angry the moment he heard Song Zining¡¯s name. ¡°What do you know? If we don¡¯t take it, are we supposed to leave this forest for the dark races? Give me the map.¡±

    The obedient subordinate produced a map of the new world. Wei Potian observed the map repeatedly and discovered that something wasn¡¯t quite right. He observed the map again after bending it at an angle, then pped his thighs, saying, ¡°No wonder we deviated from the route! So this is how we have to look at it. That bastard Song Zining is so evil, he actually didn¡¯t tell us. Does this mean that this t earth we¡¯re seeing is actually curved? Mm, it¡¯s possible...¡±

    After some thought, Wei Potian said, ¡°Tell our brothers to stop shipping the spoils. Hide our cars in the forest and put our scouts in position. Prepare an ambush!¡±

    ¡°Ambush? Who are we ambushing?¡±

    ¡°The dark races, of course. Who else? Do you think they can ignore this forest when they see it from a distance?¡±

    The other person immediately understood.

    Wei Potian pointed at the corpse of the six-armed creature. ¡°We can¡¯t just leave him here. Clean him up and prop him up in a seat at the center of the forest. We can¡¯t cut down wood or we¡¯ll leave traces. Use some rocks for the chair and make it look like he¡¯s nodding off.¡±

    A couple of experts arrived and carried the six-armed creature¡¯s corpse away to set it up.

    Wei Potian leaned against the tree, muttering, ¡°Will I really be lucky enough to see those damned demonkin?¡±

    His luck was indeed quite good.

    A hazy ck mist appeared outside of the forest before long. There was no telling how many people there were in the blurry scenery. This was a special characteristic of demonkin units, a mist that could conceal origin power and voice. The ability was visually striking, but most powerful creatures relied on origin power fluctuations to sense the surrounding world.

    The squad set themselves up outside of the forest and made no movements. Two faintly discernible figures entered the woods and made straight for the heart of the forest. They were evidently experienced in this type of operation. Soon, the scenery before them opened up to reveal a six-armed creature sleeping on a stone chair.

    The two demonkin were startled, but they seemed delighted after getting a clear look. ¡°It seems to be asleep!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re quite lucky! We ought to take this aplishment. You take the left and I¡¯ll go right, we¡¯ll attack together in one minute.¡±

    The two marquises split up and moved into advantageous positions. Then, they attacked at the same time!

    An arrow and a dagger stabbed deep into the six-armed creature¡¯s body. However, the creature only fell backward¡ªthere was neither a scream nor a roar, not even the slightest normal reaction.

    The two marquises were stunned. The one wielding a crossbow sensed someone grabbing his free hand! To his surprise, he smashed the assant with his crossbow, but all he saw was a sh of yellow light. The other party blocked the attack with an arm. He shook his head like it was nothing, keeping one hand locked onto the marquis¡¯ wrist like an iron vice.

    The marquis felt as though he had struck a block of rubber. The target was so tenacious and slippery that not even half of the force went through. The crossbow wasn¡¯t a melee weapon, either, so using it was beyond awkward.

    He was hesitating whether or not to toss his priceless crossbow and fight hand-to-hand, but Wei Potian wasn¡¯t going to give him an opportunity. He pounced forward like a raging wild beast and knocked the marquis to the ground. Soon afterward, the two powerful experts began trading blows¡ªa punch for a punch¡ªas though they were ying ping pong.

    The other demonkin marquis wasn¡¯t as fortunate. He sensed eight powerful origin power reactions around him at the moment of his attack. The demonkin immediately turned around, only to find all kinds of weapons and origin bullets hurtling toward him. The ambush was so urate and ruthless that it shattered his demonic energy barrier and littered him with injuries.

    The marquis was both shocked and furious, having suffered injuries right off the bat. He could even feel his demonic energy scattering around one of the wounds, likely due to some ursed material like the Refined Silver Bullet of Extreme Yang. As expected, eight human experts charged at him from all directions, drowning him in a barrage of attacks.

    The oue became evident in the blink of an eye. When the two parties separated, the demonkin was drenched in blood and could barely stand. All he could do was re furiously at the group around him. He had noticed that these people were only strong in appearance¡ªeach of them only possessed a couple of powerful moves, beyond which they could do little to harm him. He could kill them all one by one if he could hold out for just a couple more minutes.

    Unfortunately, the first round of attacks had injured him too badly, and he wasn¡¯t going tost these couple of minutes. The marquis could feel demonic energy flowing out of his pores like evaporating water. He staggered toward the closest Wei n warrior but was immediately stuck full of des.

    The demonkin fell to his knees, but just as his head hung down, a short de flew out of his hand and pierced through the chest of a Wei n expert.

    Only after dragging someone down with him did this marquis copse and die.

    On the other side, Wei Potian had gained theplete advantage and was beating that marquis down. Demonkin made the best assassins and snipers, but melee brawls were simply not their forte. Utilizingbat techniques and domains, the demonkin might¡¯ve been able to hold his own under normal circumstances. However, Wei Potian refused to let the demonkin turn the tables in this wrestling match.

    With the leaders dead, the remaining forces didn¡¯tst very long. They were quickly routed by the fierce attack from the Wei n¡¯s private army, leaving thousands of corpses as they fled the battlefield.

    Wei Potian had first taken a forest and then wiped out the demonkin unit he had encountered. Having reaped all possible aplishments, he returned to the forward base to reorganize.

    At this point, the Empire had also taken down a forest with four holy trees. The Empire had sent Eunuch Liu and Zhao Xuanji, who attacked at the critical juncture and injured the six-armed general. That allowed for the sessful takedown of the forest.

    After the skirmish, Eunuch Liu left the new world in a hurry and returned to the pce. Zhao Jundu built yet another forward base with this four-holy-tree forest as the foundation, and the construction work wasing along quite well.

    After returning to base, Wei Potian allowed his soldiers to rest and reorganize. Some of his men headed to the supply depot to withdraw resources while he himself made for themand center to check on thetest reports.

    After reading the reports in half a day, Wei Potian looked rather unhappy. ¡°This fellow seems to be somewhat capable.¡±

    How was Song Zining merely capable? Every report contained news of victory¡ªthere were a couple of routes that had repelled the enemy on their own like Wei Potian, while others worked together to push back powerful enemy forces. Song Zining and Zhao Jundu had taken yet another forest with two holy trees, thenid an ambush for the arriving demonkin. The enemy¡¯s main force was pushed back, and their duke-rankmander was heavily injured.

    Piecing all the reports together, it would seem that the Imperial forces had worked in tandem and beaten the demonkin ck and blue. Song Zining¡¯s troop mobilization was well thought out, cing every route in a position of advantage. Even when there was no advantage, they would only need to hold out briefly before friendly troops would rush over in a pincer attack.

    The demonkin were strong, but this pioneering force contained soldiers from just one continent. The Empire had basically thrown its entire support behind the Qin Continent since Transcendent had lost and the things on the Western Continent weren¡¯t going too well. It was only natural that they held the advantage against the forces from just one out of four demonkin continents.

    Certain about this oue, Song Zining went all out from the get-go and didn¡¯t give the demonkin any time to recuperate. He nned to magnify their results while they still held the advantage, lessening the pressure of the inevitable battle that was about toe.

 Chapter 1298: Behind the Warped Space

    <h4>Chapter 1298: Behind the Warped Space</h4>

    By the time Song Zining and Zhao Jundu¡¯s main force returned to the base, the Empire¡¯s overall aplishments were beyond glorious.

    This round of attacks led to the capture of four groves¡ªincluding one with two holy trees¡ªand the death of more than fifty thousand demonkin forces.

    One had to know that the soldiers transported into the new world were all elites. There was no cannon fodder here because every transported soldier would consume holy tree sap, a valuable resource they couldn¡¯t afford to spend on inferior troops.

    In the expert department, two of the demonkin dukes had suffered grievous injuries. One of them managed to survive but had no choice but to retreat from the new world. The damage wouldn¡¯t heal without ten or more days of rest.

    Wei Potian¡¯s aplishments were beyond splendid, having taken down two marquises, one of which was captured alive. His fame blew up so quickly that several aristocratic families began looking at the Wei n closely.

    While most people of his age were fighting for their inheritance, Wei Potian had already been dubbed heir. This was a clear indication of how much importance his family attached to him and a testament to his talents. Even so, every aristocratic family would always have one or two secret seed-characters. The Thousand Mountain was notorious as a turtle shell, and at a nce, it seemed inferior to the top-secret arts of the major ns.

    Things were no longer the same now that he had proven himself capable of converting defensive advantage into fighting power.

    Some proficient schrs sought out historical texts from the Empire¡¯s inception and proved that the Wei family was one of the earliest ns to follow the founding emperor. Although they were but an unknown little household, their members were close guards who had apanied the ancestor at his side. The Wei n¡¯s Thousand Mountains had to have received some pointers from him.

    This would exin Wei Potian¡¯s miraculous aplishments. The family¡¯s value was immediately re-examined, and the unmarried Wei Potian once again became a hotmodity. His poprity even overshadowed Song Zining¡¯s for a short while.

    Song Zining might not like Wei Potian that much, but he wouldn¡¯t keep talking about it like thetter. After looking at Wei Potian¡¯s reports, the seventh young master simply transferred the Wei n heir to his unit to fight alongside himself and Zhao Jundu.

    Wei Potian spoke as though he wasn¡¯t willing, but his smiling face betrayed the secret in his heart. This fellow was thinking, ¡°You guys didn¡¯t want me in the beginning, huh. Now you know my value, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu made noment. As someone tempering himself in fire, he wasn¡¯t afraid of battles but wouldn¡¯t mind having a meat shield, either. Individual cultivation was one thing, while the ability to kill more enemies was a different matter. Thetter was more beneficial to the Empire.

    After a period of rest and with the troops having replenished their dose of holy-tree-sap medicine, Song Zining set out with the army once again. He didn¡¯t split the Imperial forces this time, opting to focus all troops in a single unit and leaving only small scouting parties along the nks. This grand army marched straight for the demonkin¡¯s main stronghold.

    There was a forest with three holy trees in this direction, one that had long since fallen into demonkin hands. ording to Song Zining¡¯s judgment, the enemy would surely build a fortress here and install a powerful defensive garrison.

    The expansion efforts in the new world had reached mid-game, and every faction understood how important the forests were. Each grove was like an ind in the ocean¡ªone had to hop between them to expand continuously.

    After subduing the core of their, Zhao Jundu came to understand the importance of its reinforcement effect. It could be said that the holy tree was a protective talisman on the surface of the new world¡ªthe more one possessed, the less obstruction they would face. From every angle of consideration, the demonkin would have to fortify themselves in this forest.

    The Empire held the advantage at the moment. After subduing the core, Zhao Jundu became aware of the surrounding region and the distribution of beastirs. There was no longer a need to scout ahead and risk alerting the enemy.

    Hence, Song Zining decided to deal a heavy blow to the enemy before they could regain their footing andplete their troop mobilization. If they could uproot this forest with three holy trees, it would be equal to reducing the demonkin forces by the tens of thousands.

    Under Zhao Jundu¡¯s directions, Song Zining umted all of the Empire¡¯s main forces. The four dukes were also in the formation, bolstering their lineup to six divine champions and close to a hundred thousand soldiers. It could be said that they had moved out in full force.

    The Imperial army did not rest along the way. If a truck broke down, the soldiers would be moved to a different vehicle. In this matter, the demonkin fortress finally appeared before them after one day and night.

    The fortress was rather impressive and almost like a small city. The forest behind it stretched endlessly, and there was even an airship floating above it. This was a fairly big investment.

    Airships from both factions wouldn¡¯tst long after entering the new world. Ordinary airships would onlyst a week at most before breaking down. Hence, this airship above the fortress was a desperate measure on the demonkin¡¯s part, an attempt to bolster their forces by burning money.

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t expected the airship, but that didn¡¯t affect the situation all that much. He simply ordered the troops to set up the airship cannons they had brought and shoot it down with homing ballistae.

    These anti-air equipment were there to deal with flying beasts. Song Zining gave it some thought before they had set out and finally decided to bring them along on this march. They actually proved useful after all! Even Wei Potian had to admit that Song Zining¡¯s luck was rather uncanny.

    After a couple of rounds, the experts in the fortress tried to intercept the ballista bolts but were duly blocked by the Imperial side. Without covering fire from long-distance city defenses, the airship¡ªwhose speed and evasion capabilities had been reduced in the new world¡ªbecame an easy target.

    The fortress had discovered the Imperial forces in advance, but that didn¡¯t affect Song Zining¡¯s n tounch a concentrated attack. The Imperial army soon spread out into an orderly formation, setting up all kinds of heavy weaponry to attack the demonkin fortress.

    The Empire held the absolute advantage in both troop and expert strength for this battle. The defenses on this newly-constructed fortress weren''t that strong, either. They were mostlyid out to defend against the beast army, focusing heavily on aerial defense and short-rangeworks of defensive fire. This lineup waspletely useless against their old enemies, the humans, and even became their weak point.

    nketed by the Empire¡¯s long-range firepower, the fortress walls soon copsed, and some cannon turrets were taken out by the four dukes.

    As for the experts garrisoned in the fortress, Zhao Jundu and Song Zining worked together to suppress them. After half a day of fiercebat, the thirty-thousand strong defensive force waspletely wiped out. One of the two defending marquises was injured, and the other was killed. Only two cowardly counts managed to flee. The empire lost a couple of thousand men, and their experts only sustained light injuries; they would be back on their feet after some rest.

    It was a clean victory. After uprooting the demonkin¡¯s most important stronghold in the periphery, the only big target remaining was the one outside of the door.

    Song Zining immediately dispatched scouts to explore the area, drawing things repeatedly on the map as the information came in. Before long, he said to Zhao Jundu, ¡°The demonkin ¡®door¡¯ is probably in this area.¡±

    Zhao Jundu frowned in contemtion after a nce.

    Wei Potian said in a carefree manner, ¡°Let¡¯s charge at them since you know where they are!¡±

    The four dukes only looked at Song Zining. They were entirely convinced of thetter¡¯s skills during the recent battles, so none of them had anyints.

    ¡°The location is only my guess,¡± Song Zining said to Wei Potian.

    Wei Potian¡¯s mouth opened but nothing came out.

    Song Zining ordered one of the men to bring a new map of the new world. He made several markings on it while writing down a row of forms. ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone here has noticed that the space here is a bit warped, right?¡±

    The dukes nodded one after another. As top experts, they were highly sensitive to even the smallest changes in space.

    Song Zining pointed at the form he had just written. ¡°I¡¯ve been calcting this problem recently and found that the degree of distortion is different for each forest. Groves with more holy trees produce a stronger warp. This current forest, for instance, is producing a fairly strong distortion. The exact calction is as follows.¡±

    Song Zining wrote down a long string of forms, saying, ¡°This is it.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s puzzled eyes went wide. He could recognize every word Song Zining had written, but he simply couldn¡¯t understand what they meant when ced together. These numbers made zero sense to him.

    Three of the four dukes wore the same expression; only one of them seemed to be lost in thought.

    Song Zining continued, ¡°The ground we¡¯re standing on looks t, but it¡¯s actually curved. It¡¯s just that our senses are distorted as well, making us think that it¡¯s t.¡±

    Wei Potian was even more baffled. He nced at the others and only calmed down after seeing that many were just as confused. He was fine as long as he wasn¡¯t the only one who couldn¡¯tprehend it.

    Song Zining drew several lines on the map that connected the forests, but none of them was a straight line. They were all curved.

    He then drew a dotted line toward a certain region and drew a circle there. ¡°The distortion in every area follows a fixed pattern. Calcting from this pattern, the distortion in this area is simr to the area around our door. That means, the demonkin¡¯s door is probably in that area!¡±

    The only duke among the four who understood Song Zining¡¯s form said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, what are we waiting for? If we charge over right now, we might be able to catch them off-guard.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t reply. He pointed to a different area, saying, ¡°If the door really is where I guessed, then I have a different theory.¡±

    He wrote down several forms, plotting one or more lines from each of them. He ended up drawing an arc connecting the two doors, the focus of which was far in the distance and well beyond the coverage of this map.

    Song Zining drew a line through the midpoint of the arc. ¡°This is the most important location. If I¡¯m correct, all the distortions in the new world are pointing to this focal point. The space there is entirely and perpetually warped, which means there might be a giant door leading to an unknown world. That door is the ultimate objective of the dark races!¡±

    Duke Mu was a divination expert himself. He stood up and walked over to the map, observing the forms one by one. After a long while, he said, ¡°There really might be a door there, or perhaps the word door isn¡¯t suitable to describe it. If there¡¯s indeed a passage there, it¡¯s likely a gigantic portal, the likes of which we have never seen before. The doors that have appeared in our world are like tiny nails used as a support to open the true door!¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°The question at hand is whether to charge at the central door or to capture the little demonkin door?¡±

    Everyone at the scene, including Zhao Jundu, frowned in silence. The choice was so important that no one coulde to a decision.

 Chapter 1299: Fated yet Not Destined

    <h4>Chapter 1299: Fated yet Not Destined</h4>

    After a good while of silence, Zhao Jundu broke the tense atmosphere. ¡°This matter is too important. Let¡¯s report back to the Unending Pce and let the Imperial court decide. Defeating the demonkin is the more important mission. We¡¯ll deal a heavy blow to them no matter what they¡¯re nning.¡±

    Song Zining said after some thought, ¡°It¡¯s decided then! We rest one night and set out the next morning!¡±

    At dawn the next day, the Imperial army moved out and advanced toward the demonkin door.

    ...

    Imperial Capital, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s study. The monarch lifted his weasel-hair brush and wrote down a powerful word, ¡°Yuan.¡± Ji Tianqing was standing nearby. She muttered the word a couple of times, her heart filled with so many emotions that she didn¡¯t know what to say.

    The Pointer Monarch nced at the word from different angles and said in great satisfaction, ¡°Ji Yuan. Not bad, right? A single word epassing thews of the entire world.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sighed. She was d in in attire, and her body had returned to its former shape.

    The Pointer Monarch smiled while stroking his beard. ¡°Lil¡¯ Yuan is a blessing. I used to be indignant before, but the moment I saw Lil¡¯ Yuan, I understood that everything that happens in this world is fate.¡±

    Ji Tianqing seemed a bit frustrated. ¡°Then there¡¯s no need to do anything, just sit around and wait for fate.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true, either. Sometimes, you need to fight for your fate. It¡¯s yours if you fight for it, it¡¯ll be someone else¡¯s if you don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°That exined nothing!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch broke into augh. He said while shaking his head, ¡°Little brat, howe your temper worsened after getting a kid? You even dare criticize me now.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°So what? It¡¯s not like I wanted her!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch stroked his beard. ¡°Then bring her to my ce. I¡¯m getting old now, so I can look after her when I have nothing to do.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do!¡±

    ¡°You see?¡±

    Ji Tianqing said after a moment of hesitation, ¡°What do we do about that side?¡±

    ¡°Which side?¡±

    Ji Tianqing said through clenched jaws, ¡°What else? That... about the new world.¡±

    ¡°I heard Jundu and Zining are making great progress. The young sure are capable. This old man will just wait at the Imperial capital, ready to take on a couple of moves when the old monsters from the other side throw away their face and attack.¡±

    Ji Tianqing stomped her feet. ¡°Not them!¡±

    ¡°Who else if not them?¡± the Pointer Monarch asked despite knowing full well who she was referring to.

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice turned soft. ¡°It¡¯s... about Qianye...¡±

    ¡°Oh him!¡± The Pointer Monarch feigned a sudden realization. ¡°Isn¡¯t he doing well? A whole drove of aristocratic families are betting on him! Even the Yin and Kong families couldn¡¯t stay out of it, bringing out their hidden stashes.¡±

    Ji Tianqing said hurriedly, ¡°They¡¯re useless! That¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch finally replied in a serious tone, ¡°Of course I know what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯ve already read that letter, but why should our Ji family help him just because of that one letter?¡±

    ¡°Sousa is a great dark monarch, how can Qianye repel him?¡±

    ¡°He can choose to do things he isn¡¯t capable of. Speaking seriously, his expansion efforts are for his foundations. He¡¯s not contributing to the Empire at all. It¡¯s his problem if he provokes characters he can¡¯t afford to.¡±

    ¡°But he pushed back the werewolves of Moond. That¡¯s beneficial to the Empire, is it not?¡±

    ¡°Among the four major races of Evernight, the werewolves are already on the decline. From what I know, they didn¡¯t even have a part in the opening of the new world. That¡¯s why their operations in the new world don¡¯t affect the situation at all. Jundu and Zining are facing the demonkin, and it¡¯s very likely that the old fellow from the Masefield family will act. He¡¯s quite difficult to deal with, so I need to keep an eye on that side.¡±

    Ji Tianqing sighed. ¡°I know you¡¯re angry because of that letter.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll be frank since you¡¯ve brought the topic up. Your background, talents, ability, and looks, what about you isn¡¯t worthy of him? What happened in the Great Maelstrom is fate, let it be, but you two have Lil¡¯ Yuan now. Even if he doesn¡¯t like you that much, shouldn¡¯t he think about the kid at least? Does he need to write such a stiff letter? And he¡¯s asking for help no less!¡±

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°You can¡¯t me him, he only found outter.¡±

    ¡°Do you not understand? His writing is so formal because he still has that Nighteye in his heart.¡±

    ¡°I know, I¡¯ve always known.¡± Ji Tianqing¡¯s voice was fairly lighthearted.

    The Pointer Monarch snorted coldly. ¡°That Nighteye isn¡¯t simple at all. Her escape from that death trap was my first failure in a long time.¡±

    Ji Tianqing trembled. ¡°What? Y-You went out to kill her!?¡±

    ¡°That was a good opportunity, what a pity.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Ji Tianqing went pale.

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°The matter is of great importance. Nighteye¡¯s fate is closely rted to the bigger picture, not something children¡¯s romance can control.¡±

    Ji Tianqing¡¯s vision went dark for a moment. ¡°I understand. I take it you¡¯re not going to help Qianye, is that correct?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch didn¡¯tment.

    Ji Tianqing said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll go.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch frowned. ¡°How will that help?¡±

    Ji Tianqing replied, ¡°The Empire never treated Qianye well, but he has always kept the Empire in his heart! Now that he has encountered the Moond werewolves, he would never sit by and let the enemy march into the new world unchallenged. He¡¯ll surely encounter Sousa sooner orter, there¡¯s no avoiding it!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch replied, ¡°Then there¡¯s no helping it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the grand scheme of things or whatnot. If you¡¯re not willing, I will go and help him. The Ji family is powerful enough, anyway, Lil¡¯ Yuan will never be bullied.¡±

    With that, Ji Tianqing turned around and left. She had just taken a single step, however, when her entire body went numb. Her origin power had been sealed, and she could no longer move.

    The Pointer Monarch summoned some maids, saying, ¡°Take care of her. She is not to leave the residence without my order.¡±

    Seeing that the Pointer Monarch was angry, the maids didn¡¯t even dare breathe heavily as they carried Ji Tianqing away.

    When the study was empty, the Pointer Monarch nced at the word he had written. ¡°This Nighteye must die. Lil¡¯ Qing, you and that person are fated but not destined.¡±

    ...

    The Imperial pce. Empress Li, who was reading a book in her room, stood up and summoned Eunuch Liu. ¡°I have the sudden urge to take a stroll outside. I wonder if you have the time to apany me?¡±

    ¡°I obey.¡± Eunuch Liu never asked where they were headed.

    Empress Li and Eunuch Liu drove into arge estate in the city. Momentster, an unassuming vehicle left the estate from the rear gates and exited the city. Empress Li and Eunuch Liu had changed into casual attire, but the simplicity of the garments could hardly conceal the empress¡¯ beauty.

    The car drove a great distance and arrived at an unremarkable courtyard. After getting off, the Empress said, ¡°What do you think of this ce?¡±

    Eunuch Liu opened his sleepy eyes and nced around. ¡°Good, a fine ce indeed. There¡¯s nothing special about it, it¡¯s just good.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°There¡¯s no helping it. Who knows how many eyes are on that child? We went through a great deal to find this ce.¡±

    ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I think I should leave.¡±

    ¡°Eunuch Liu is a pir of the Empire, there¡¯s no need to hide this from you. Actually, I brought you here because I wanted you to take a look at the child and see what his future holds.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said after some thought, ¡°I obey.¡±

    The courtyard didn¡¯t seem very big at a nce, but it ran fairly deep inside. They had to pass through two courtyards to arrive at the rear garden. Here stood a warm chamber, and despite the marks of the passing seasons, one could feel a gush of gentle warmth after walking in.

    Empress Li and Eunuch Liu took off their cloaks and went up the stairs. They had just turned a corner when they heard the cry of an infant. There was a crib at the center of the room, and Li Kuann was rocking it gently.

    She was in women¡¯s attire at the moment, her every movement filled with grace and beauty. Those eyes of her were full of love as she gazed at the crying baby.

    It was a dry cough from Eunuch Liu that woke her up from her daze. Only then did she greet the two guests, ¡°Sis, Eunuch Liu, howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°The baby is a hundred days old, so I wanted Eunuch Liu to assess him.¡±

    Li Kuann made way, albeit with some hesitation.

    Eunuch Liu nced at her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Young Master, I won¡¯t harm the young lord.¡±

    Eunuch Liu addressed her as Young Master Kuann out of habit, prompting her to turn away with a blush.

    Empress Li picked up the baby and Eunuch Liu ced his right hand on the child¡¯s forehead, his eyes closed. Momentster, a wisp of green energy rose above Eunuch Liu. The old man¡¯s forehead was covered in sweat, and his pale hands were trembling. Empress Li couldn¡¯t help but clench her fists in anxiety. Li Kuann was trembling all over, unable to contain her nervousness.

    Eunuch Liu had assessed the young princes and princesses before, but he had only taken a moment for them. The process had never once taken that long, nor had it ever involved that much effort.

    The child broke out in a sudden loud cry, with a sound akin to roaring metal. Nine beams of light shot out from the infant¡¯s body and filled the room with radiance.

    Eunuch Liu retracted his hand and said weakly, ¡°I¡¯ve seeded.¡±

    Empress Li was delighted. ¡°Please give us some pointers.¡±

    Eunuch Liu spoke more than usual, ¡°The child¡¯s talents are one of the highest I¡¯ve ever seen. If I mustpare, it¡¯s on par with the twin paragons of the past generation, Jundu and Zining of the present. His origin nodes are all open from birth, so cultivation shall be iparably smooth for him. But...¡±

    Empress Li became tense at this point. She tugged on Eunuch Liu¡¯s sleeves, saying, ¡°But what?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°I fear he mayck tempering if things go too smoothly."

    ¡°We understand, thank you, Eunuch Liu.¡±

    The old man said, ¡°I know a bit about the child¡¯s origins. If I may ask, Empress, you went to such great lengths for this child. What do you expect of him?¡±

    Empress Li led Eunuch Liu to a seat, saying, ¡°By inviting you here, I also wanted to reveal some of my thoughts. I¡¯m just a woman, and it¡¯s only natural that I have my motives. My wish is to see the Li family rise to the rank of a major n before I die, and this child is the key.¡±

 Chapter 1300: The Path to Promotion

    <h4>Chapter 1300: The Path to Promotion</h4>

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s expression was still without a shred of joy. ¡°There are several ways to be a major n. Which are you referring to, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°As the Empress of the Great Qin, I of course have to follow the ancestors¡¯ teachings and adhere to the ancient ways.¡±

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s expression cleared up slightly. ¡°You¡¯re indeed wise, far wiser than a man. I¡¯m full of admiration.¡±

    This so-called ancient way was a ruleid down by the founding ancestor¡ªfight fornd, umte contributions for a title, and expand gradually until the family was qualified for a promotion. This was the oldest and most traditional path. Ordinary high-ranking aristocratic families would need to collect vast amounts of military contributions in order to ascend to the major n status. That was why the rise of each n had always been paved with the corpses of countless dark race members.

    It was just that this method was too slow. Even if an aristocratic family did produce geniuses in every generation, they would need to work toward this objective for several generations over the span of centuries.

    During the Martial Ancestor¡¯s resurgent reign, there was a court full of capable generals and hidden experts. Many people had racked up glorious aplishments, yet their families couldn¡¯t be a major n ording to the oldw.

    The Martial Ancestor thus adapted to the times and added more pathways for an aristocratic family to be a major n. The nine major ns back then were highly qualified, and no one in the world wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    The Empire fell into a moral decline after the Martial Emperor¡¯s reign. The following Emperors sought grandiose deeds to leave their names in history, yet they did not possess the peerless might of the Martial Ancestor. Following the advice of people with untoward intentions, they set their sights on the major n pathways.

    More and more ways were opened up until there were dozens of them at the peak. The number of ns also increased explosively.

    With so many major ns around, the status eventually lost its value. Many of the families did not have enough power to expand outward, so they could only rely on infighting to gain territory. Hence, the entire Imperial court fell into unspeakable turmoil.

    Fortunately, a wise Emperor finally appeared. He used force to bring the chaotic ns under control and forcefully reinstated the oldws, bringing the number of major ns down to five. These five were the truly worthy ones.

    The emperor also modified history, but he didn¡¯t avoid mentioning the chaos. Only five major ns were recognized, while the others werebeled as false ns. The involved parties had always argued about this matter, saying that a single dynasty shouldn¡¯t reverse the work of three previous ones, that they should receive special treatment. Yet the following emperors neverpromised on this matter.

    After bringing the ns under control, the Great Qin Empire once again sorted out the means to bing a major n and ultimately left five pathways. Up until this day, the most debated use was one that allowed a heavenly monarch to found a major n.

    This use had been invoked several times before, but the major ns were built on several decades of history, inheritance, and umtions. These things couldn¡¯t be put together in a short while. It wasmon for the descendants to squander the family¡¯s resources once the heavenly monarch had passed. Additionally, the status of a major n wasn¡¯t just about benefits and fame; it came with responsibilities as well. Just the defensive and wartime duties were enough to exhaust an entire family¡¯s wealth.

    Rumors of the Empire¡¯s resurgence had been circting for several years, but the actual movement had only just begun. Starting with the Song n¡¯s demotion, a fluctuation of major ns had just begun, and many aristocratic families were eyeing a promotion.

    Now that Empress Li had expressed her desire to take the ancient pathway, the Li family would have to im vast amounts of military aplishments in the uing war and contribute greatly to the Empire in the process.

    That was why Eunuch Liu was sighing in admiration. In truth, the Li family¡¯s status as a divination family was special. There were at least two other paths she could¡¯ve chosen, but the Empress had chosen the most difficult road, a disy of great determination and bravery.

    Choosing this pathway was actually choosing the Empire¡¯s benefit over her own. After the praise, Eunuch Liu said, ¡°I¡¯m full of admiration for your virtue and wisdom, please let me know if I can do anything to help.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking, and there is indeed something you can help with.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°The child¡¯s father is currently pioneering the new world from Fort Continent. I heard he has run into the Moond werewolves and that Overlord Sousa himself has appeared in the new world. What do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°Dealing with a great dark monarch is the duty of a heavenly monarch. This servant is too weak, I also do not dare overstep my bounds.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°Eunuch Liu, to tell you the truth, this matter involves two different groups with differing opinions on how to treat the child¡¯s father. One side thinks that ¡®those of a different race will always have different intentions.¡¯ Not only do they not intend to help, but they also want others to stay out of it. They want to borrow the Moond werewolves¡¯ hand to remove that person. ¡°But think about it, that child grew up in the Empire and is also Imperial Steward Lin¡¯s adopted son. When has he ever done anything bad to the Empire? If he hadn¡¯t destroyed the two duke-grade airships during the void continent war and defended Whitetown with his life, we wouldn¡¯t have won that fight. Treating an outstanding subject in this manner is bitterly disappointing.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said after a good while, ¡°Those of a different race will always have different intentions. These words were left behind by the founding ancestor, those are his teachings. It¡¯s most certainly not my ce toment on them after a thousand years. What that person is doing on Fort Continent does invite criticism, taking in so many werewolves proves his intention to split off and establish his own power. As I see it, we should just consider the present and see how we can help him out of his predicament with Sousa.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right, but Sousa is no ordinary person. How do we deal with him?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said slowly, ¡°After some thought, the only heavenly monarchs the Empire can afford to mobilize are Prince Greensun and the elder prince.¡±

    Empress Liughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s a bit awkward to ce this matter on Prince Greensun¡¯s head.¡±

    ¡°It looks like I¡¯ll need to run this errand on your behalf.¡±

    Empress Li closed her eyes. ¡°What do you think will happen if we ignore the situation?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Li Kuann blurted out.

    Empress Li red at her. ¡°It¡¯s not your ce to speak.¡±

    Li Kuann didn¡¯t dare go against Empress Li¡¯s power.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°You already know the other group¡¯s ns, do you think we can still pull that person back to our side?¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°I do know their ns, that¡¯s why I sought you out. Even if we can¡¯t pull him back to our side, we have to make sure he doesn¡¯t get pushed to the other faction. If the elder prince wasn¡¯t among them, I really would start doubting their intentions.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°I have a n, perhaps it can help.¡±

    ¡°Please exin.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a treasure in the pce, a rifle crafted by the number one smith under the Martial Ancestor¡¯s reign. Its name is Dragonspring. That smith harbored great aspirations. He was hoping to produce a Grand Magnum on his own, but the product ultimately failed. Unable to withstand the Martial Ancestor¡¯s mighty origin power, Dragonspring was damaged in a great battle, only leaving the gun-body intact. I heard Qianye possesses a gun barrel called Heartgrave, a weaponparable to a Grand Magnum. If he were given Dragonspring, I think the resultant weapon wille fairly close to a Grand Mangum. He might even be able to contest against Sousa for a while.¡±

    ¡°Dragonspring? I¡¯ve never even heard of it.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, you were devoted to the study of divination. The Imperial warehouse is full of misceneous items, and Dragonspring is little more than a piece of scrap metal. How could you have noticed it?¡±

    Li Kuann was curious. ¡°Why didn¡¯t the Martial Emperor use the Mortal Emperor back then?¡±

    ¡°The Mortal Emperor¡¯s attack is widespread andcks focus. It¡¯s not very helpful in a fight between monarchs. The Martial Emperor was a fierce character whose every attack would engulf the world with destruction. Mortal Emperor is too weak for him. That was why he gathered the best smiths in the world to forge him a Grand Magnum, and that¡¯s how Dragonspring came to be.¡±

    Li Kuann finally understood.

    Empress Li still had some doubts. ¡°If it¡¯s in that warehouse, I can get it out. But how do we send it over and how do we install it?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that easy to piece two different gun-parts together, especially weapons like Heartgrave and Dragonspring that were made by grandmaster craftsmen. Their power might decrease sharply if a different craftsman were to tinker with them.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Your Majesty. Since I suggested this, I¡¯ll be sure to run the necessary errands.¡±

    Empress Li stood up and bowed deeply, ¡°Thank you, Eunuch Liu.¡±

    ...

    Fort Continent, Cerulean Wave City.

    Qianye returned to the duke¡¯s residence again and immediately summoned the generals. He wanted an intelligence update and to follow-up on the progress here. What Qianye didn¡¯t expect was that the aristocratic alliance hadunched a fierce offensive and pushed over two hundred kilometers into the me Duke¡¯s territory. They had taken over severalrge cities and killed over two hundred thousand enemy troops.

    With the werewolf infantry taking on the hard work of meleebat, the aristocratic elites were able to make full use of their firepower and equipment advantage. They even installed air-to-ground cannons on cargo airships. The me Werewolves would lose half of their forces before even reaching the front lines.

    Before this fully-armed army, the me Werewolves were ughtered before they could reveal their bravery.

    The heavy losses in open battles stoked the me Duke¡¯s wrath. Several times, he couldn¡¯t hold back and wanted to challenge the Storm Duke to a showdown. Thetter hadn¡¯t recovered from his previous injuries, so there was no way he would fight it out with the enemy.

    Fortunately, William had delivered a set of valuable equipment from the Summit of Peaks. They included a short de, a long sword, and a set of armor that could strengthen one¡¯s speed and defense. This gave the Storm Duke a great advantage in his fight against me. In the end, thetter never dared to go all out.

    The me Duke was now at his limits. Fighting a war on two fronts wasn¡¯t a wise decision at this point.

    On the other hand, Qianye ordered his army to build a fortress at the borders of the Storm Territory and garrison arge number of troops there. At the same time, he ordered the alliance army to withdraw from the enemynd and reorganize for war in the new world. The Storm Duke was also transferred away in secret.

    The aristocratic families were delighted by the order. Even though it was a pity to let go of the territory they had already captured, they could finally enter the new world¡ªand where there were gold and treasures everywhere. This meant that Qianye had finally epted the aristocratic forces and would allow them to fight the most important battles.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t rx all this time. He knew he would have to face Sousa after heading back into the new world and see how powerful the Moond Overlord was.

 Chapter 1301: Bright Pearl Covered in Dus

    <h4>Chapter 1301: Bright Pearl Covered in Dus</h4>

    Qianye had just returned to his study after the meeting when Song Hui followed him in. Once inside, she said directly, ¡°Are you nning to fight Overlord Sousa?¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°You¡¯re quite smart.¡±

    ¡°The resources you asked for are not for ordinary people. I gave it some thought and realized that Sousa is the only opponent you would need to use them on.¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°What advice do you have?¡±

    ¡°What else? I want to stop you from going!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Song Hui looked into Qianye¡¯s eyes and said seriously, ¡°You can¡¯t win! Do you need a reason? Besides, you¡¯ve done so much for the Empire all these years. And look at how they treat you? Why would you risk your life for the Empire?¡±

    ¡°This is for myself.¡±

    ¡°Is that even possible?¡± Perhaps noticing that she was too harsh, Song Hui softened her tone. ¡°If you were really thinking about yourself, you wouldn¡¯t be facing Sousa at this point. Fighting a great dark monarch is a heavenly monarch¡¯s job. There¡¯s no reason for them to stay their hand and let you die!¡±

    ¡°The heavenly monarchs have important duties. They probably can¡¯t make it,¡± Qianye replied.

    Song Hui scoffed. ¡°It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t make it, they just don¡¯t want toe at all! These people want to borrow Sousa¡¯s hand to kill you. How long has it been since you sent that letter asking for help? If they wanted toe, even the Emperor would be here by now. Even I can see through their scheme, why can¡¯t you figure it out?¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°So what? I never hoped for too much. If I ignore the Moond werewolves, their armies will pour into the new world undeterred. It¡¯ll be impossible to repel them by the time they capture a couple of forests and stabilize their footing. In this ursed ce, who knows when they¡¯lle into contact with the Empire¡¯s rear lines? I have a lot of grievances against the Empire, but my siblings and brethren are still there. I don¡¯t want to leave a powerful enemy force on the battlefield just because of personal problems.¡±

    ¡°But what about Nighteye? Isn¡¯t she in Evernight?¡± Song Hui regretted saying this. She stomped her feet and said hatefully, ¡°Whatever, I don¡¯t care anymore!¡±

    With that, she ran out without even looking at Qianye.

    Qianye only shook his head but didn¡¯t chase after her. Instead, he opened the window and said, ¡°Your Elderly Grace, howe you didn¡¯t notify us beforehand. I could¡¯ve sent someone to receive you.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay for long, so why bother with the unnecessary formalities?¡± The one standing outside the window was Eunuch Liu. His back was slightly bent, and like an old person, his steps were slow. He came to stand before Qianye almost as though he were standing on solid ground and not in the air.

    Qianye invited the eunuch to sit. ¡°I haven¡¯t thanked you for saving my life in the neutralnds. I wonder what business do you have with me? I¡¯ll do my best as long as it¡¯s within my power.¡±

    Eunuch Liu sized Qianye up from head to toe. The spirited glint in his eyes erupted in a sh of lightning that filled the room. All of a sudden, Qianye felt as though he had been seen through entirely, that there were no secrets left to hide. Reflexively, he soared into the air and used his luminous wings to protect himself and block Eunuch Liu¡¯s vision.

    This was a momentary reaction. Qianye soon noticed that something wasn¡¯t quite right, but he didn¡¯t retract his wings, either. ¡°Eunuch Liu, what is your intention?¡±

    The eunuch remained seated. The gleam in his eyes receded as he said, ¡°This old servant was tasked with helping you with something, and to do that, I need to understand your strength.¡±

    Now that his suspicions had been cleared, Qianye retracted his wings and sat down once again. There was no change in his expression, but auric me blood surged throughout his body. He was ready to attack at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Eunuch Liu sighed as though he hadn¡¯t noticed anything. ¡°A peerless talent as expected! Sigh, our generation is indeed getting old.¡±

    He nced at Qianye. ¡°The Pointer Monarch¡¯s gun barrel, Heartgrave, is still with you, right?¡±

    Back then, Song Zining had sent Heartgrave back to the Empire for assembly, and Zhao Jundu had also used it to y the iing sword-bearers in Whitetown. The weapon caused quite amotion since then. Add to that the widespread fame of the Martyr¡¯s Pce, relevant people from all levels of society knew that Qianye had received the Pointer Monarch¡¯s inheritance.

    Qianye nodded and passed Heartgrave to Eunuch Liu.

    The old man¡¯s murky eyes lit up somewhat as he caressed the weapon that had gone beyond grade-nine. ¡°This gun barrel has a long story behind it. Who would¡¯ve thought it wouldnd in your hands after so many years. You have quite a long story yourself. Looking at you feels like looking at the elder prince when he was young.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°How can I everpare to the elder prince?¡±

    Eunuch Liu scoffed. ¡°He didn¡¯t have your aplishments when he was your age. Sigh, heroes must be born for the uing chaos. Your group is indeed much stronger than us old men.¡±

    Qianye had yet toe up with a reply when Eunuch Liu twisted his hands. With a loud crack, the body of Heartgrave was twisted into pieces!

    Qianye was stunned as he looked at the fallingponents of the rifle. He didn¡¯t use Heartgrave that often, but it was still a top-grade weapon in his arsenal. It was even a level higher than East Peak. Eunuch Liu had destroyed it for some reason, but looking at his carefree expression, it didn¡¯t seem like he had evil intentions.

    Eunuch Liu brushed off the shatteredponents, leaving only the smooth gun barrel in his hands. Only then did he say in satisfaction, ¡°A bright pearl covered in dust, this is much better.¡±

    He then produced a gun body, from which Qianye could feel deep pressure assaulting his senses. There was an inexplicable murderous will in the body, an intent that seemed to look down on all living beings.

    Just from the aura, it was obvious that this gun body was extraordinary.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°This gun is called Dragonspring, once wielded by the Martial Emperor himself. Despite the damage, it can still be considered one of the strongest weapons.¡±

    ¡°You mean...¡±

    ¡°Dragonspring and Heartgrave make for a perfect match.¡±

    ¡°But this gun has to be a priceless treasure. What price do I have to pay for it?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°You said it just now, your family and brethren are all in the Empire. The regard you have for the nation is sufficientpensation. But I¡¯ll need some materials in order to affix the two weapons. I heard you managed to get your hands on some stony metal from the holy treeke, bring me some.¡±

    Qianye retrieved a few pieces from Andruil¡¯s space. The ones he had kept in hand were naturally of the best quality. They were more or less recovered from the six-armed general¡¯s throne.

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s eyes lit up immediately upon seeing them. ¡°Priceless treasures! Truly priceless treasures!¡±

    ¡°You can take these if you like them, Eunuch Liu.¡± Qianye had a lot more of these rocks in Andruil¡¯s space. The six-armed generals possessed gigantic bodies, so their thrones were naturally big as well.

    Eunuch Liu hesitated for a bit. ¡°I have some family members in the secr world. This ore possesses special qualities, perfect to forge them some familial weapons to pass down through the generations. I thank you for this gift, Sire Qianye.¡±

    Qianye replied hurriedly, ¡°There¡¯s no need, Eunuch Liu. I¡¯ll never forget how you saved my life back in the neutralnds, these material objects are far from enough to pay you back.¡±

    Eunuch Liu sighed. ¡°Humans ultimately can¡¯t get rid of worries and attachments. It just gets worse as one grows old. I had never thought much about my family when I was following the previous Emperor into battle everywhere. Now that I¡¯m old, I feel a bit ashamed of my negligence. I don¡¯t have much hope for them, but it¡¯s enough if they can hold onto their position as a low-ranking aristocratic family.¡±

    The topic reminded Qianye of a certain matter. ¡°Eunuch Liu, my adoptive father had never mentioned anything about his family when he was alive. How are they doing now that he¡¯s gone?¡±

    ¡°The Lin is a military aristocratic family, but they have always upied a low-ranking status. They rose higher after producing a genius like Xitang. Even though the marshal never sought any benefits for his family, other people would always treat them favorably on his ount. But Xitang left too early, before the family could gain a steady foothold. As I see it, they¡¯ll be demoted to a mid-rank in less than three years.¡±

    ¡°What are theycking? Territory or contributions?¡±

    ¡°Xitang¡¯s contributions keep them afloat. That won¡¯t be enough in the end, but people won¡¯t talk about it for at least a decade. Xitang was the Emperor¡¯s teacher, and His Majesty treats him with the utmost respect. He most certainly will not stand by and watch as the Lin family declines. But some people have found various reasons to freeze thends that should¡¯ve been granted to him when he received the duke-title. Currently, the Lin family is sporting the title of a high-ranking aristocratic family, but their foundations are no different from when they started out.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said emotionally, ¡°The previous Emperor granted Xitang the marquis title too early. In order to appease the masses, he never gave him the correspondingnd. He must¡¯ve felt that it was just a matter of time considering all the contributions Xitang was making. Later on, things became... difficult in the Imperial court. Xitang never fought for his rights, either.¡±

    A cold gleam flickered in his eyes. ¡°Who¡¯s so bold as to do this? Shall I go and reason with them?¡±

    Eunuch Liu nced at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re already quite aggressive at such a young age, but there¡¯s really not much you can do with your current abilities. Even I might not be your opponent after a couple of years, but you¡¯re no longer a citizen of the Empire. To be precise, you¡¯re not even a human. It won¡¯t be appropriate for you to go knocking on their doors to reason with them. Additionally, those people have a good reason to take over thend.¡±

    ¡°What reason?¡±

    ¡°There are four territories promised to the Lin family, two on the Western Continent and two on Transcendent. Thetternds aren¡¯t big, but they are certainly quite bountiful and fertile. But the continent was overrun by the invading beasts, and even now, there are still pockets of beast activity that hadn¡¯t been cleared away. Every family on Transcendent has to take responsibility for losingnd. The Lin family¡¯snds there were ravaged beyond recognition. As for the Western Continent, their territories are located at the borders and would have to face the attack of the dark races. No one in the Lin family is willing to go there and take up this responsibility. Hence, there¡¯s no way to ess thosends.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°No one is willing?¡±

    Eunuch Liu looked up at Qianye. ¡°Of course. Not everyone graduated from Yellow Springs, not everyone is used to killing and fighting since a young age. To most people, the best life involves peaceful days and not making the family worry about them. Fighting at the borders could get you killed any day.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a while. ¡°If the Lin family¡¯s descendants aren¡¯t willing to go to the Western Continent, I can help them guard thends there.¡±

    Eunuch Liu shook his head. ¡°You can help them for a while but not forever.¡±

    Qianye frowned as he had no good response.

    If it was just as Eunuch Liu had said, the Lin family neither possessed thend nor resources that were fitting of the title, and the family had not produced any talented youths. It would seem the Lin family¡ªrather than their willingness¡ªdid not have the power to guard their territory. This wasn¡¯t a problem a couple of experts could solve.

    It was just like the Hignd Song n¡ªthere were no capable people in two generations, which ended up in a great copse in the third. Even a genius like Song Zining didn¡¯t have much sway over the overall situation.

 Chapter 1302: The Rise of a Magnum

    <h4>Chapter 1302: The Rise of a Magnum</h4>

    Eunuch Liu no longer continued this topic. He picked up the biggest piece of stony metal and weighed it in his hands. ¡°I¡¯ll need this much for the modification. I¡¯ll shamelessly ept the remaining pieces.¡±

    After exining repeatedly that it was fine, Qianye arranged an entire floor for Eunuch Liu to work. He also announced that no one was to disturb the old man.

    The eunuch put down his backpack and produced one part after the other until an incredibly intricate workstation had been assembled. Then, he fished out several packages, each containing dozens of different-sized tools. Just the sight of his equipment proved how extraordinary the eunuch¡¯s skills were.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°Modifying these two weapons is no easy feat. Fortunately, this old man brought enough materials for the procedure. Three days should be enough. Out of caution, I would ask you not to travel very far. I¡¯ll call for you immediately if I need help.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°I¡¯ll certainlyply.¡±

    The eunuch spoke no more as he picked up an unknown piece of metal. Cutting off a finger-sized piece, he began refining it with origin power in a small furnace the size of a teapot. The furnace spat out green mes as the metal slowly melted down.

    After about a quarter of an hour, Eunuch Liu added a couple more materials into the furnace. Minuscule grains of each item were used, but he would count them with the utmost care. There was even one time when he divided a single grain into three parts.

    After yet another quarter of an hour, Eunuch Liu poured the contents of the furnace into a mold. Without waiting for it to cool down entirely, Eunuch fished out a ring-like object from it and began carving it by hand. Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up as the old man¡¯s de sank in.

    Qianye¡¯sbat techniques at present had reached an outstanding level. Some of his sword stances had begun to touch on the highest standards and could easily be added to the ranks of a high-ranking aristocratic family¡¯s core inheritance.

    But after seeing Eunuch Liu¡¯s knife work, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration. That single move resembled nature itself, the muscles in his body were all in motion and individually regted. The force exerted was just the perfect amount, and not the slightest bit of origin power was released. He had actually used physical power to perform this movement.

    There were harsh requirements on environmental factors during this forging process. Some of the materials would¡¯ve been tainted if he had used origin power. This wasmon knowledge among high-end craftsmen, but Qianye had only heard a little bit about it.

    Despite not using origin power, the force involved in the cut was extremely powerful. The burst of might was enough to cut through Qianye¡¯s bones, bones that had been refined by his blood energy.

    One had to know that Eunuch Liu wasn¡¯t a specialist in physical power. His constitution was fairly mediocre, perhaps just a tad stronger than an ordinary divine champion. But at the exact moment, he was able to produce a burst of strengthparable to Qianye¡¯s own. In terms of utilizing the physical body, the man had reached an incredible realm.

    Qianye had thought that he was fairly close to the peak of martial techniques, but after seeing Eunuch Liu in action, he realized that he was a frog in a well. Just a roughparison told him that there were hundreds of areas where he needed to improve.

    Realizing that this was actually a good opportunity to learn, he retracted his aura and activated Bloodline Concealment. This produced the best environment for the eunuch to work and for him to observe.

    The moment Qianye¡¯s aura vanished, Eunuch Liu¡¯s aura also fluctuated ever so slightly. He was apparently shaken inside, but he immediatelyposed himself and focused on the work at hand.

    Eunuch Liu meticulouslypleted each step, almost like a student performing in front of an examiner. Qianye watched quietly until a pinion finally appeared in Eunuch Liu¡¯s hand.

    If he hadn¡¯t seen the process personally, Qianye wouldn¡¯t have thought that making a pinion would involve so much effort. Considering Eunuch Liu¡¯s eyesight and methods, it would be all too easy to produce such aponent. Qianye couldn¡¯t understand why the old man would go to such lengths.

    Eunuch Liu observed the pinion again and again until he was satisfied. Then, as though he understood Qianye¡¯s thoughts, he said, ¡°Combining two supreme treasures like Heartgrave and Dragonspring is beyond difficult. This old man wishes to take it a step further. Not only do I want them to retain their power, but I also want to make the weapon slightly stronger. That means eachponent has to be absolutely perfect without the slightest of deviations. That¡¯s why I have to devote all of my attention to it. The materials I¡¯ve brought are also extremely rare, only one grade below the stony metal. I can¡¯t be responsible for any waste, no matter how small.¡±

    There was no reason for Eunuch Liu to lie. This was just oneponent; he would require several dozen times the amount of materials toplete the entire modification.

    Considering the wastage in the process, Eunuch Liu actually didn¡¯t gain much from Qianye, nor did he talk about extra remuneration. Just the crafting fees of a grandmaster alone was a sky-high price. Taking into ount the old eunuch¡¯s miraculous skills, there was no way his fees would be cheap.

    Qianye felt bad about it, so he took out more stony metal from his storage, but Eunuch Liu wouldn¡¯t ept them. In the end, he said that the ones he had epted were sufficient to produce a set of armor, a de, and an origin gun.

    These would end up as grade-eight armaments. That level of gear wasn¡¯t enough to attract the attention of top-experts, so his descendants wouldn¡¯t need to sleep atop their family treasures out of worry. Eunuch Liu felt that this was the best standard.

    The good thing about this material was that¡ªin addition to being a top-grade material¡ªthere would be a mysterious connection betweenponents made of the same piece.

    The bigger the original volume, the stronger the connection. Naturally, a top-grade smith like Eunuch Liu would maximize this effect and produce a set of armaments that could resonate with one another and greatly increase one¡¯s might.

    The pieces of stony metal Qianye had taken out were from the six-armed generals¡¯ thrones. They were probably unmatched in terms of size.

    This process seemed like the crafting of individualponents, but Eunuch Liu¡¯s every movement was a disy of his supreme martial prowess. Qianye managed to learn a lot just from observation.

    The martial path would grow more difficult as one progressed. It was extremely difficult to take another step forward at Qianye¡¯s realm. Many powerful experts from each generation remained stuck at this point, making no more progress in life.

    Qianye¡¯s status was different, so it was only natural that he had heard some news from the aristocratic scions. ¡°I heard from the aristocratic families that Eunuch Liu is a hidden expert, the number one character below the heavenly monarch realm. After seeing you in action, I must say that your fame is indeed justified!¡±

    He was offering heartfelt praise, but who would¡¯ve thought Eunuch Liu would re at him with a stern expression. ¡°Those ignorant brats know nothing about the world, so it¡¯s fine to let them say what they want. It¡¯s not right for you to follow whatever people say.¡±

    Qianye noticed something wrong with the old man¡¯s tone, so he immediately sought an exnation, ¡°Please give me guidance!¡±

    Eunuch Liu nodded after seeing Qianye¡¯s sincerity. ¡°You were rarely in the Empire. Although Xitang is your adoptive father, he probably never had time to teach you anything. The most he could do was arrange some hidden assets and contacts to help you. As for Duke Chengen, let¡¯s not talk about him. His talents are so good that he stillcks tempering despite being on the battlefield all the time. His standards are on par with you at best, so there¡¯s nothing he can teach you.¡±

    The corners of Eunuch Liu¡¯s eyes curved slightly at the mention of Zhao Weihuang; it was as though he wanted to smile.

    Qianye had heard that Duke Chengen¡¯s recent poprity was mostly because of him. It was just that Qianye could only keep the awkward topic to himself. The duke was someone who valued face above all else. He never announced it, but he had helped out Qianye a lot in secret. The resources from Zhao Jundu¡¯s residence alone couldn¡¯t ount for the Zhao n¡¯s support for him.

    Eunuch Liu let out a dry cough after noticing his change inposure. ¡°I¡¯m getting old and none of my descendants are capable enough. These arts will probably be lost in time. I see that you have a good level ofprehension. Why not follow me during these three days and get a basic understanding of weapon crafting techniques. Learn whatever you canprehend during this time.¡±

    He said it was the art of weapon crafting when, in fact, he was imparting the martial path. Qianye would be able to learn most of his teachings during these three days, and the remainder would be up to him toprehend in battle.

    Understanding that this was a rare opportunity, Qianye let go of all random thoughts and focused on Eunuch Liu¡¯s movements.

    Eunuch Liu produced an unknown rock and carved into it, peeling off ayer so thin that it was almost translucent. Qianye observed and analyzed the movements to the point of forgetting himself.

    Three days went by in a sh. Only when Eunuch Liu poured his explosive origin power into the gun did Qianye wake up from the state of concentration. The work had beenpleted.

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s aura had weakened significantly, and it seemed as though there were more lines on his forehead. The luster in his white hair had also receded somewhat. His eyes were full of love as he gazed at the long origin gun in his hand, almost as though he were looking at his child. One could immediately tell that he was somewhat reluctant to let it leave his hands.

    Qianye understood that Eunuch Liu had actually injured his foundations in order to forge this weapon. He could only sigh in secret.

    The eunuch put down the gun after a good while. ¡°Back in the year when Dragonspring waspleted, the entire Empire was in jubtion. They had thought that a new Grand Magnum had been born after a thousand years. With Dragonspring, the Martial Ancestor would be able to rampage through the world with his peerless might. However, the Martial Ancestor ended up fighting against three great dark monarchs in an unprecedented battle. Dragonspring failed to withstand the Martial Emperor¡¯s power and broke down at the critical moment. The emperor had no choice but to flee, and the Evernight faction once again gained the upper hand ever since.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°The Martial Emperor faced three great dark monarchs on his own, wounding two of them and escaping unscathed. What an unimaginable feat!¡±

    Eunuch Liu spoke slowly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t just the emperor who had to fight against three opponents, it was the same for Dragonspring. The three great dark monarchs were wielding Shattered Moment, Sable Blessing, and Soulrender respectively.¡±

    ¡°Soulrender?¡±

    ¡°You must be cautious of Soulrender, it is an old enemy of this gun.¡± Eunuch Liu passed the gun to Qianye, continuing before thetter could observe the weapon in detail, ¡°Do you know why Dragonspring was damaged?¡±

 Chapter 1303: Dragonsgrave

    <h4>Chapter 1303: Dragonsgrave</h4>

    What had destroyed Dragonspring in battle? Information like this had always been a top-level secret. Since the eunuch was willing to tell him, Qianye paid rapt attention to the old man. He needed to know since the gun¡¯s body was now in his hand.

    ording to the eunuch, Dragonspring had faced off against three enemies. If it could hold its ground under such circumstances, the weapon¡¯s title wouldn¡¯t just stop at being a magnum¡ªit would probably sit among the top three.

    Although the gun was ultimately destroyed, the gun¡¯s body and bolt remained intact, while the origin array on it had only suffered some damage. Whatever parts remained could have been easily used for a rare supreme treasure.

    Qianye found it unbelievable that a gun part that had only existed in the legends wouldnd in his hands. There was no need to think too hard to know that the Imperial family¡¯s shadows were behind this matter. However, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to refuse such a gift since he was currently pioneeringnd in a chaotic world.

    Since Dragonspring and Heartgrave had beenbined, Qianye had to know all of its strengths and weaknesses. He wouldn¡¯t even have tears to cry if this weapon were to be destroyed again in his hands.

    Eunuch Liu seemed to have sunk into old memories, waking up only after a good while.

    ¡°The state teacher who crafted Dragonspring was a peerless talent in divination arts, but his strength was somewhat limited. He barely managed to break through to the divine champion realm and had no future prospects. Dragonspring used up several treasures from the Imperial treasury, one of which the Founding Ancestor obtained from the depths of the Great Maelstrom. Thisponent required extremely powerful origin power to temper. The state teacher did his utmost, but it was still not enough¡ªa tiny blemish remained in the material. Even the craftsman himself had no idea about this imperfection, let alone an outsider.

    ¡°Yet even the tiniest ws became a trap in a battle of that scale, so much so that Dragonspring finally broke apart. They only found out about this after studying the damaged parts after the battle. The state teacher, who was already in a weak state from crafting Dragonspring, sumbed to the remorse soon afterward. Before his passing, the man contributed his entire life¡¯s savings to the Empire in exchange for a powerful cultivation art. With the state teacher dead and his family and properties scattered, outsiders didn¡¯t find it in them to me him.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°How many guns can even contend against three Grand Magnums in the hands of the Martial Emperor?¡±

    Aftermenting the story, Qianye asked, ¡°Even though the gun is gone, the remaining body is still a supreme treasure. The Empire has no shortage of geniuses, so repairing the weapon shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Why give it to me so easily?¡±

    ¡°There are two main reasons.¡±

    ¡°Eunuch, please exin.¡±

    ¡°The Martial Ancestor passed away less than ten years after that battle, he wasn¡¯t even old at that time. How could someone of his cultivation leave so early? Most of the civil and military ministers guessed that the ancestor must¡¯ve sustained some hidden injury that reduced his lifespan. Since then, Dragonspring was considered a weapon of cmity and left in a corner of the treasury.¡±

    Qianye sighed softly. ¡°How can that be?¡±

    Eunuch Liu nodded slightly. ¡°The second reason is that Dragonspring¡¯s foundations and gun-body were still intact. Repairing it would require a divine champion with skillsparable to the state teacher. These two requirements make the endeavor quite difficult.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Then you...¡±

    Eunuch Liu sighed. ¡°The state teacher back then is my ancestor. He abandoned his wealth and life in exchange for a powerful cultivation art that his descendants could use to pave a path forward. I followed the previous Emperor since he was just a prince, fighting everywhere around the Empire. Later on, when he ascended the throne, I simply joined the pce to protect his descendants. Although there were other reasons as well, this can be considered me doing what I can topensate for my ancestor¡¯s failure.¡±

    ¡°The state teacher¡¯s merits were much greater than his mistakes, no?¡±

    Eunuch Liu shook his head. ¡°The ancestor admitted that he had felt something was off back then, but he had hoped the worst wouldn¡¯te to be. Who would¡¯ve thought that the unthinkable would indeed happen at the most critical juncture? This shows that the ancestor made a mistake, a big one at that. If such an ident hadn¡¯t urred, the Martial Ancestor wouldn¡¯t have been injured. It wouldn¡¯t have been this serious even if he were.¡±

    ¡°These are just guesses, there¡¯s no way to prove anything.¡±

    Eunuch Liuughed out loud. ¡°True... it seems I still can¡¯t let go of what happened with the ancestor back then. What¡¯s the use of thinking about those things when I¡¯m one foot in the grave? Try out the gun and see if it¡¯s a good fit.¡±

    Qianye was barely holding back, to begin with. He was delighted after obtaining permission to test-fire the new weapon.

    He had just poured in his origin power when an attractive force appeared from the gun, drawing on his Venus Dawn origin power and blood energy at the same time. Shocked out of his wits, Qianye¡¯s hands trembled ever so slightly as he made ready to cut off the connection.

    It was at this time that a dark golden glow emerged on the gun¡¯s body. Although it was extremely faint, Qianye of course recognized that it was born of his dark golden blood energy.

    Calming down somewhat, he allowed the origin gun to freely absorb his origin power and blood energy. Using Heartgrave alone ced a great deal of strain on him, but things were much easier now that the gun was using both sources of energy.

    The glow on the rifle faded, and it suddenly died out after it was one-third full. Yet, the dim and silent weapon sent a chill down Qianye¡¯s spine.

    No ordinary situation could give Qianye a sense of serious danger.

    And why was this gun able to absorb his dark golden blood energy?

    Seeing Qianye nce at him, Eunuch Liu said with a smile, ¡°Although it goes againstmon sense, I noticed that you possess both daybreak and evernight powers. Since this weapon is yours to use, it has to suit the actual circumstances to maximize its power. That¡¯s why I modified it a bit.¡±

    ¡°This is simply brilliant!¡± Qianye offered his heartfelt praise.

    The highest grade weapons of Daybreak and Evernight weren¡¯t usable by the opposing attribute. The main reasony in the origin array. Weaponsmiths would surely have to study all kinds of arrays, but then again, knowledge and application involved very different levels of difficulty.

    Eunuch Liu pointed at the gun. ¡°A bullet has formed in the gun, and it can hold two at most. The bullet will possess different properties depending on the ratio of origin power and blood energy you pour into the gun. In general, blood energy will increase the pration power while daybreak origin power will increase its damage. You¡¯ll need to figure out the details by yourself. Oh, right... it has no name yet. Think of one.¡±

    Qianye said respectfully, ¡°This gun is your masterpiece, so you should be the one to name it.¡±

    ¡°Dragonspring was crafted by my ancestor, and Heartgrave was the fruit of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s painstaking efforts. I merelybined the two, so how can it be considered my masterpiece?¡±

    Eunuch Liu was being humble. Fitting the two parts together perfectly and modifying them to amodate different energy attributes required nothing short of supreme craftsmanship. He wasn¡¯t too far off from the state teacher back then.

    After Qianye refused several times, Eunuch Liu said, ¡°This old man is far from creative. The gun¡¯s body is Dragonspring and the barrel is Heartgrave, so let¡¯s call it Dragonsgrave. How¡¯s that?¡±

    Qianye said repeatedly, ¡°Good, good!¡±

    He was greatly satisfied with this extremely powerful and long-ranged sniper rifle. It could also hold two bullets, greatly increasing its burst firepower. Just in terms of firepower, it wasn¡¯t that far off from a Grand Magnum. The only thing itcked was the miraculous special powers typical of these supreme weapons.

    Qianye caressed Dragonsgrave to get a feel of it. ¡°I love simple and fierce weapons like this!¡±

    Eunuch Liu shook his head with augh. ¡°Seriously... Since Dragonsgrave has been assembled sessfully, you should find a ce to try it out.¡±

    ¡°Where should we try it out?¡± Qianye was surprised.

    Eunuch Liu stroked his chin and said wisely, ¡°The best ce to test the gun is the new world. No ordinary opponent will suffice as a test subject for Dragonsgrave. Why not just try it out on Sousa?¡±

    ¡°Sousa?¡± Qianye was startled. Despite owning Dragonsgrave, he still didn¡¯t have the confidence to face a great dark monarch. He was already having a hard time hiding from the werewolf monarch, but now, he was supposed to go and knock on the enemy¡¯s doors? Wasn¡¯t that somewhat inappropriate? It would be rather troublesome if Qianye really angered the werewolf overlord to the point where he would ignore the dangers and give chase to the end.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s Sousa. Who else is there? But rest assured, since I¡¯m the one who made Dragonsgrave, I¡¯ll be around when you try it out. It just so happened that I¡¯ve never been in your famous Martyr¡¯s Pce. I¡¯ll take this opportunity to stay there for a couple of days.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re most wee!¡± Qianye said sincerely.

    That afternoon, a fully-resupplied Martyr¡¯s Pce took to the air. Its tremendous frame passed through the door and once again entered the new world.

    Once inside, the pce made straight for the Moond werewolves¡¯ door.

    After a day and night of flight, they finally arrived near their destination. The vague outline of a forest appeared in front. Qianye remembered that this was a forest with two holy trees, and a couple of hundred meters ahead was the door leading to Moond.

    Qianye had some reservations at this point. They were heading into the werewolf stronghold, where Sousa had the greatest degree of freedom to move. He might even be able to go all-out.

    It was at this time that Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up. He saw a werewolf base under construction outside of the distant forest. This base was fairly mediocre in terms of features and scale¡ªit was even inferior to Qianye¡¯s forward base outside of the forest with three holy trees.

    ¡°Eunuch Liu, look, there¡¯s a werewolf base over there. We might be able to lure Sousa out if we attack it first. What do you think?¡±

    Eunuch Liu narrowed his eyes. ¡°That might work. As expected, werewolves never think too far ahead. An entire continent¡¯s worth of resources, and yet their base still can¡¯tpare to yours.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°I dealt him a heavy blow a while back. Not only did I destroy most of his fortress but also plundered his resources and equipment. I think he lost most of his stock to me.¡±

    Eunuch Liu nodded. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, you should be more careful. Sousa might appear faster than you think.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    Qianye drove the Martyr¡¯s Pce toward the werewolf base. Landsinker rumbled from a great distance, firing a gigantic ballista bolt toward the werewolf fortress.

    In the blink of an eye, a gigantic fireball slowly curled up from the base as the newly-erected kic tower copsed with a boom.

 Chapter 1304: Test Fire

    <h4>Chapter 1304: Test Fire</h4>

    The werewolves in the fortress fell into chaos. The range of the lookout systems in the new world was entirely different from back home. The werewolves did notice the iing enemy and took certain precautions, but the gap wasn¡¯t something they could cover.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to tell which direction the attacks wereing from at this point. Only when the entire fortress was drowned out by the shadow of the Martyr¡¯s Pce did they notice the massive frame of the airship.

    Amidst the confusion, a dense volley of origin bullets flew toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Even though the werewolves had strengthened their anti-air firepower, their main target was still the beast army¡ªmost of their arsenal was made up of small, rapid-fire weapons. Besides, not many fortress weapons could pose a threat to the dragonship, even back in the Evernight World.

    The rapid-fire guns on the ground couldn¡¯t even cut through the origin power barrier around the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Only therge-caliber cannons would get through from time to time, but the damage would be soaked up by the thick armor tes.

    The hundreds of side-cannons rumbled as the Martyr¡¯s Pce turned about, drowning this small werewolf fortress in a sea of fire.

    Qianye frowned because the fight was going too quickly. At this rate, the battle would be over within half an hour. What if Sousa didn¡¯t appear after they were done? Moreover, the cannons were using up terrifying amounts of ammunition, and all of that cost money. Even Qianye, with his current wealth, couldn¡¯t support such frenzied bombardments over the long term.

    Soon after ordering the cannoneers to slow down their fire, Qianye sensed a terrifying aura far off from the distance. Sousa¡¯s furious roar echoed through the sky. ¡°How dare you?!¡±

    The werewolf overlord was still a great distance away when his aura erupted, but he approached at stunning speeds. He almost seemed to cross thousands of kilometers in a sh as he arrived at the battlefield.

    With such terrifying speed, it would take him less than a day to travel between continents. It was obvious that Sousa was beyond angry and had very likely utilized his full potential.

    A storm kicked up around the base in the blink of an eye. Even that perpetual sun in the sky dimmed down as an all-present aura swept through the area. Sousa¡¯s thunderous roar even knocked the werewolf experts to the ground.

    ¡°Qianye! Do you think you can escape this time?¡±

    Qianye did not reply. He stood atop the Martyr¡¯s Pce with Dragonsgrave in hand and aimed at the distant figure. The recoil from the shot pushed the gun back and even caused the Martyr¡¯s Pce to tremble slightly. An origin bullet left the muzzle in utter silence and flew toward Sousa.

    This bullet was so fast and silent that Sousa only noticed the attack when it was fairly close. Shocked, he wed at the origin bullet and grasped it in his fist before charging at Qianye. ¡°Is that all you can do?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when he felt an intense heat in his hand, then countless beams of light erupted. As though he were holding a sun in his hand, Sousa felt an intense scorching heat burning the skin.

    The overlord¡¯s expression changed drastically. He let out a loud cry as a torrent of dark green origin power exploded from his body. He tightened the grip on his left hand in an attempt to crush the explosion by force. The light and me were immediately suppressed by the dark green energy, but the scene didn¡¯t make Sousa happier. On the contrary, a dark shadow drifted over his expression.

    In the midst of suppressing the intense mes, Sousa let out a sudden muffled groan and looked down at this abdomen. There was a small hole in his hunter¡¯s attire with green blood flowing out from it.

    The werewolf overlord looked up at Qianye. ¡°You actually have a second shot left!¡±

    ¡°I have a third, too.¡± The gun was shrouded in a dark golden glow as Qianye aimed at Sousa¡¯s forehead.

    The werewolf stared at Dragongraves¡¯ muzzle with narrowed eyes, not daring to be careless. It was at this moment that a sudden change urred¡ªa faintly discernible silhouette shot out from the side and brushed past Sousa¡¯s body.

    The great dark monarch staggered back with a groan. Without even looking back, he roared furiously, ¡°Liu Daoji, it¡¯s you again!¡±

    Eunuch Liu appeared over a hundred meters away, smiling. ¡°I haven¡¯t used this name in a good while. I¡¯m ttered that you still remember me, Mister Sousa.¡±

    Sousa said through clenched teeth, ¡°You humans are always so shameless and despicable, seeking victory in numbers!¡±

    Eunuch Liu wasn¡¯t angry. He said with augh, ¡°We¡¯re just small, insignificant characters. How can we y with you if we don¡¯te in numbers?¡±

    Sousa said coldly, ¡°What are you doing here instead of looking after those hateful brats?¡±

    The eunuch said, ¡°I¡¯m growing old, so I wanted to take this time to move around and see the world. I heard the scenery here is quite good, so here I am.¡±

    ¡°You speak as though you¡¯re on a pic!¡± Sousa said coldly.

    ¡°How did you know I¡¯m on holiday?¡± Eunuch Liu replied.

    Sousa snorted. ¡°I¡¯m in no mood to joke around with you!¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°You¡¯ve been talking for so long, aren¡¯t you worried?¡±

    Sousa¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°What¡¯s there for me to worry about? You guys?¡±

    Eunuch Liu only pointed to the ground. Sousa¡¯s expression turned ashen. ¡°How did you know?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only natural that we have eyes and ears in the Evernight Faction. I do wonder why you¡¯re so surprised about something even humans know.¡±

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s words revealed certain things, but Sousa only snorted without replying. He shot a nce at Dragonsgrave and said, ¡°Good gun.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the praise.¡±

    ¡°This forest is yours now, I wish you the best in holding it.¡± Then, with a wave of his hand, a strong gale extinguished the mes below. All of the surviving werewolves were swept up and ced outside of the fortress. These werewolves realized that Sousa was in a state of fury, so they simply left without even bothering to gather their things.

    Only when Sousa¡¯s figure disappeared did Eunuch Liu return to Qianye¡¯s side. He broke into a coughing fit with foamy blood seeping out of the corners of his mouth.

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Eunuch Liu waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯s no big deal. Going within melee range of a great dark monarch involves a price, but he isn¡¯t having a good time, either. In the end, the only wound he might find troublesome is the one from your Dragonsgrave. Looks like this gun is even more powerful than I expected. How you use it in the future will be up to you.¡±

    ¡°Please rest assured, I¡¯ll use it well.¡±

    Eunuch Liu shook his head. ¡°Say, do you think this Dragonsgrave will be a cmity for the human race?¡±

    ¡°It will not as long as it remains in my hand!¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°I¡¯m getting old and frequently thinking about useless things. When you¡¯re done with things, visit the Duke Chengen residence for a while.¡±

    ¡°It... won¡¯t be too convenient, will it?¡±

    ¡°I know Gaoyi very well. She has let go of the past entirely, why else would she help you so many times in secret?¡±

    Qianye said after a while, ¡°Very well.¡±

    Eunuch Liu pointed at the forest below. ¡°What do you n to do with this forest?¡±

    ¡°This ce is too close to the Moond base. Sousa can rush over in mere moments and he can stay a good while, too. We won¡¯t be able to hold onto this ce, but we can¡¯t leave the resources for him, either. We can¡¯t just cut down the holy trees...¡±

    The holy trees were a core resource of the new world. The Imperial researchers knew too little about them at this point, but just the ability to produce tree sap and stony metal made them priceless.

    Qianye could already sense a formless connection with this holy forest. If he were to cut down the holy trees here, he would be amon enemy of all holy trees. He had no wish to experience rejection on the conscious ne again. The holy trees were important existences that were on a totally different level from humans.

    Qianye had the sudden idea to move the trees away since he could neither cut down nor leave the trees.

    He immediately put his thoughts into action. There were too many soldiers in the Martyr¡¯s Pce, so there was nock of manualbor. The dragonship slowlynded beside the abandoned werewolf fortress and opened its doors, pouring out tens of thousands of soldiers from within. Some of the troops split off to clean up the werewolf fortress and plundered the abandoned resources. The elites and experts followed Qianye and Eunuch Liu into the forest.

    The two holy trees at the center of the forest were in bad shape, and many of their branches had been cut off. It was easy to see that Sousa wanted to study the trees, but there was little to expect considering how the ancestral faction liked to work.

    The holy trees were sentient. Sensing the aura of the other holy trees on Qianye when he ced a hand on them, they gradually calmed down.

    Qianye summoned all of the experts under hismand to dig out the two holy trees, along with the pond below. These things were extremely heavy, but Qianye himself was extremely strong and Eunuch Liu¡¯s cultivation was unfathomable. With the duo guiding the move and everyone else working in unison, the two holy trees were finally moved into the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    With the holy trees gone, the entire forest was filled with the scent of death and decay. The life activities of all the ancient trees came to a sudden halt, and even the wind stopped blowing.

    The wood in the forest was a high-quality resource, perfect for building warships as a recement for alloy tes. Qianye ordered the soldiers aboard the Martyr¡¯s Pce to chop down these ancient trees. The elite werewolf soldiers sported great strength and endurance. With tens of thousands of them working together, most of the good lumber in the forest had been extracted in just half a day.

    Qianye knew that he couldn¡¯t remain here for long, so he ordered the soldiers to return after umting a sizable batch of lumber. The Martyr¡¯s Pce then took to the air and drifted away.

    Far off in the distance, there was a pair of eyes on the Martyr¡¯s Pce this whole time. It even tried to tail the departing airship, but the dragonship soon sped up and left the eyes behind.

    ...

    Back in Moond, Sousa was seated on his throne with his eyes closed. An elderly werewolf shaman arrived hurriedly. ¡°Your Majesty, I wasn¡¯t capable enough to follow the Martyr¡¯s Pce. I did confirm their direction, however.¡±

    Sousa said without opening his eyes, ¡°The Ancestral Eye won¡¯t be able to keep up with an airship of that grade. You did your best, you can rest now.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, their direction is...¡±

    Sousa waved his hand impatiently. ¡°It¡¯s not important. Do you think they¡¯ll head straight back to their stronghold?¡±

    The old shaman wanted to say that Qianye never discovered the Ancestral Eye, but he didn¡¯t dare speak more when Sousa clearly wasn¡¯t interested.

    The overlord stood up and headed to the rear of the hall, a storm brewing on his face.

    ...

    At this moment, Qianye was asking Eunuch Liu, ¡°What exactly is the new world hiding that even a great dark monarch has to fear?¡±

 Chapter 1305: Accidental Blessing

    <h4>Chapter 1305: idental Blessing</h4>

    ¡°Malice.¡±

    Eunuch Liu¡¯s answer was clean and precise, but Qianye couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it. Why would a great dark monarch¡ªone who could suppress an entire continent¡ªfear something so intangible as malice?

    This malice had to have a source, right? Experts with a sharp perception would indeed sense certain things beyond the five senses, but if that was the extent of it, Eunuch Liu would¡¯ve mentioned the source of this threat.

    When Qianye inquired further, Eunuch Liu replied with a question, ¡°You¡¯ve been pioneering newnd here for a while, did you not sense the malice?¡±

    Qianye thought back carefully and recalled that he did feel restless and ufortable in the beginning. The human body would also react to stress under adverse environments, so he couldn¡¯t say for sure if it was due to malicious intent.

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°Speaking of which, this is actually a good thing for us humans. There¡¯s an extremely powerful malicious intent targeting top experts here in the new world. ording to the pieces of intelligence we obtained from the Evernight side, we can be sure that the malice is much stronger against the great dark monarchs of Evernight than toward the heavenly monarchs of the Empire. I don¡¯t know why that is the case, either.¡±

    ¡°Then what exactly is that malice?¡±

    ¡°The elder prince has already experienced the new world for himself. Upon his return, he said there is indeed a strong malicious intent here. There seemed to be something hiding in the new world, watching every person from the shadows. Even someone with cultivation as profound as the Pointer Monarch might not be this entity¡¯s match, let alone other people. Other heavenly monarchs have also gone in to explore the new world, but fortunately, this malice never took action. It only watched from the sidelines even when the Profundity Monarch took down the forest with four holy trees.¡±

    ¡°Is it close by or in the void?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way to judge its location. No one knows where it¡¯s hiding, and that¡¯s what makes it all the more terrifying. That¡¯s why both heavenly monarchs and the great dark monarchs have to be on guard at all times. I wouldn¡¯t have seeded so easily just now if Sousa hadn¡¯t been distracted.¡±

    Qianye understood what had happened. Even Sousa might lose to Eunuch Liu if he couldn¡¯t concentrate on the fight. Since the malicious intent was much stronger toward the Evernight experts, the great dark monarchs would have to be more cautious.

    They would be either heavily injured or killed if a heavenly monarch from the Empire were tounch a sessful surprise attack.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t really sensed this malice Eunuch Liu was speaking about. He could onlyugh at himself for being so weak that this entity wouldn¡¯t even take notice of him.

    Eunuch Liu left after the Martyr¡¯s Pce returned to the Fort Continent. Qianye could only say his farewells as the old man flew up into the sky. There was probably an airship waiting in the void.

    Qianye went back into the new world without further dy and continued attacking new territories. He paid more attention to this so-called malicious intent but couldn¡¯t sense anything at all.

    On the contrary, invisible energy descended upon him from the void as he returned to the new world. Qianye felt his body grow lighter and almost as though his origin power had grown more active. The strange origin power in the environment that used to be difficult to control began to umte around him to express their eptance and delight. It was almost as though they were alive.

    The sudden change startled Qianye. He had spread out his perception to try and sense the malice of the new world, not expecting to receive a friendly will in return. This was so far off from his expectations that he found the situation rather difficult to ept.

    He hadn¡¯t imagined that there would be such a stark contrast before his departure and after his return. There had to be a reason behind this, but what was it?

    Qianye ordered the Martyr¡¯s Pce to hover in the air and stop its advancement. He wanted to be cautious before the reason was clear.

    Sousa¡¯s vignce set off rm bells in Qianye¡¯s mind. Even a great dark monarch had epted his loss, albeit a minor one, against an enemy who wasn¡¯t a heavenly monarch. Apparently, he was more afraid of this malicious intent than he was of losing face.

    Considering the size of the new world, the hidden entity here was likely even more powerful than the mysterious entity at the bottom of the Eastern Sea. It might even be stronger than void colossi like Sky Demon.

    It was best to be cautious against such a monstrosity. He couldn¡¯t drop his guard just because of the friendly will.

    Qianye simply sat down and thought back to everything that had happened, trying to find anything that was out of the ordinary. A sudden idea came into his mind. Could it be the two holy trees on the Martyr¡¯s Pce?

    Qianye immediately went back into the airship and to where the trees were stored.

    The holy trees had been ced in the biggest storage area on the airship. Even though each of them was dozens of meters tall, the Martyr¡¯s ce could still amodate them quite readily. This area hadn¡¯t been partitioned into cabins and only walled off from the outside, so it was just the right ce for the trees.

    Qianye was startled when he walked into the chamber.

    The leaves and branches on the two holy trees were flourishing. The protective soil around the roots had spread out on the floor, and theke of holy tree sap was nowhere to be seen. The roots of the holy tree were stretching out in all directions, almost as though the trees were nning to take root on the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Qianye came to the trees and noticed something different about them. He knelt down and dug out some of the soil, only to find the holy-tree roots piercing deep into the Earth Dragon¡¯s muscles.

    Qianye felt his chest tighten. The holy trees were alive, but the Earth Dragon was only a lingering consciousness. The gains would never make up for the losses if he were to ruin the dragonship just to transport two holy trees.

    Hemunicated with the Earth Dragon¡¯s consciousness and sensed waves of joy. Qianye soon discovered that the airship had already taken control of the two holy trees and was absorbing the new world¡¯s origin power through them. The trees were also happy and willing to start a new symbiotic life.

    This was an oue Qianye hadn¡¯t ever expected.

    If one were to consider the dragonship a living creature, these trees would serve the function of extra noses and lungs through which it could breathe and eat. Origin power was the only form of nutrition for void colossi. In the past, the dragonship had to rely on the heart to absorb origin power and maintain a slow rate of regeneration. The efficiency of energy absorption had increased tenfold with the addition of these trees, so much so that ayer of muscles had already begun to appear under the roots.

    Whether or not the Earth Dragon woulde back to life afterplete regeneration, now that was apletely different issue.

    It would seem that these two holy trees were the main reason the new world was so friendly toward Qianye.

    They were now bound to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, which was linked to Qianye¡¯s consciousness. There was now an intersection on the ne of consciousness. Hence, not only did the new world recognize Qianye as a native, but as a high-authority native on par with the holy trees. The holy trees possessed a natural ability to utilize the alien origin power, and this also benefited Qianye. That was why all the origin power had gathered toward him.

    At that exact moment, Qianye felt as though he had really run into dumb luck. Who would¡¯ve thought the two trees he had moved out of caution would bring him such a surprise? He hadn¡¯t made that decision out of mercy for the trees but rather because of their value and out of fear that the other trees would retaliate in unison.

    After identally obtaining the friendship of the new world, the biggest benefit Qianye obtained was the ability to utilize the origin power in the environment.

    The alien origin power of the new world was ufortable for both humans and the dark races; rarely would anyone be able to use it without a hitch. This would cause many experts¡ªfrom the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs down to dukes and divine champions¡ªto feel awkward upon entering the new world. The sensation was akin to multi-millionaires suddenly deprived of their money.

    Fighting under such circumstances was beyond dangerous because they might just fall from simple, careless mistakes; even Sousa was injured by Eunuch Liu¡¯s attack. Those who had reached this level were all heroes of the era. No one wanted to die in such a clumsy manner.

    After understanding this point, Qianye changed his original n and ordered the Martyr¡¯s Pce to fly in the direction of the Moond werewolves.

    He drew an arc on the map and made preparations to keep the dark races on the other side of this line. There wasn¡¯t a lot he could do, though, since it was already a near-impossible endeavor to go against a force backed by an entire continent.

    The dragonship became more flexible as it roamed the skies of the new world and took down forest after forest. It almost seemed as though the airship hade to life.

    At the same time, an unending stream of resources arrived on Fort Continent. Every day, thousands of newly trained werewolves would be outfitted and injected with medicine before heading into the new world. The Imperial research academy had developed a medicine using the holy-tree sap as the raw material, greatly improving its efficacy.

    With the direct help of the aristocratic families and secret assistance from Zhao Jundu, the Imperial army finally agreed to allow Qianye to exchange the medicine for holy tree sap. The price was also fairly reasonable. In short, Qianye would be able to exchange one portion of holy-tree sap for two doses of medicine. This ratio was equal to Qianye and the Empire going half-half on the costs, a delightful deal for both parties.

    This improved the time Qianye¡¯s army could be maintained in the new world and allowed him to expand further out.

    During the expansion process, Qianye discovered an interesting development. The six-armed creatures and beasts became a lot more aggressive toward Qianye after he obtained the friendship of the new world. They would go after him and fight him to the bitter end.

    The forest, on the other hand, became a friendly party. It no longer issued warnings when Qianye entered and would instead hide his aura with a gentle breeze. This allowed Qianye to sneak into the forest center with rtive ease. There, he witnessed a part of the six-armed creatures that not many knew about.

    Whenever Qianye encountered the six-armed creature, it was either asleep or searching for outsiders and ready forbat. This time, Qianye finally saw the six-armed creature in its normal daily life.

    There was a single holy tree at the center of the forest, and the holy sap had only formed a tiny pond. That six-armed creature was on one knee beside the water, knocking on a long rod with a stone. One of the ends gradually became sharper as he banged on it, and it would seem that this was how their weapons were made.

    The stone spear had already taken a rough shape and was ready for delicate crafting. The six-armed giant started banging with greater care, hoping to make the spear sharper.

    Qianye was speechless. Normally, the weapon would need to be sharpened at this point and not banged on. It did not seem like the six-armed creature knew about this, and Qianye wasn¡¯t about to tell him. He merely observed in silence.

    The six-armed giant was, of course, working with the stony metal. This strange metal was the best material for several kinds of origin arrays, but it wasn¡¯t the best for making weapons because of how pliable it was.

    The six-armed giant kept hammering for a good while, but there were no signs that the spear was growing sharper. The creature seemed dispirited as he put away the shavings and crushed them into a ball. He then cut open his arm, showered the weapon with his blood, and carefully ced it in the pond.

    Once inside, the stony metal started absorbing the tree sap and surrounding origin power.

    Previous Chapter Next Chapter

 Chapter 1306: A Contest of Consciousness

    <h4>Chapter 1306: A Contest of Consciousness</h4>

    Qianye finally understood the source of the stony metal. Remembering the two holy trees aboard the Martyr¡¯s Pce, he couldn¡¯t help but want to capture a six-armed creature alive.

    He dismissed the notion rather quickly, however. Even the weakest among the six-armed creatures was a glorious marquis, more or less a human divine-champion. Capturing such an expert was much harder than simply killing him. Besides, there was no telling if the creature could be subdued.

    At this point, the six-armed creature produced yet another stony material and sprinkled his blood on it before letting it soak in the pond. After the material had absorbed enough of the sap, he began banging on it once more. This time, it looked like he was making a stone sword.

    Things didn¡¯t go smoothly this time. Growing impatient, the six-armed creature ced the stony material back into the water. He looked up at the holy tree before breaking off one of its branches.

    The moment the branch snapped, Qianye also felt a vague pain from his body. His consciousness expanded involuntarily, allowing him to sense the holy tree to a greater degree and even merge into its consciousness.

    The holy tree was emitting mournful wails, seemingly unable to handle the pain of its broken branch.

    Only then did Qianye realize that these holy trees could actually feel pain.

    It was at this moment that Qianye came into contact with a cold, slippery existence that was full of unfriendly intent. Soon, a white ball of flesh appeared in his consciousness.

    This was the core of the beastir. Qianye had seen such entities in more than just one forest. He had destroyed some of them but left most of them intact, only ordering the sentries to patrol and observe it.

    This was the first time he hade into actual contact with its consciousness. The six-armed creature¡ªhaving sensed the connection¡ªstarted to look around vigntly.

    Hesitating no more, Qianye brought out Dragonsgrave and fired the pre-formed origin bullet! He didn¡¯t have time to adjust the origin power ratio.

    Dragonsgrave was so powerful that even Sousa could hardly stand the blow. The current six-armed creature was among the weakest of their kind, so how could it survive? It had just turned around when the origin bullet arrived at its forehead, sting his skull apart. The creature staggered briefly before copsing to the ground.

    The beast army in the forest became restless once the six-armed creature was killed. They climbed out from the ground and began searching for the invader.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes narrowed. He didn¡¯t move intobat this time and, instead, connected to the beastir¡¯s core through the holy tree¡¯s consciousness. He had a guess that he wanted to confirm.

    In the blink of an eye, a cold intent flew over like an arrow and stabbed ruthlessly into Qianye¡¯s spirit. Thetter sneered as the ancient aura stemming from the River of Blood surged forth to face the consciousness of the beastir.

    The arrow of consciousness copsed upon contact, and a mournful howl came from the depths of the earth. Qianye could sense the consciousness of the beastir¡¯s core leaving the holy tree and receding into the earth.

    This battle of wills was no different from flipping cards. It was a contest to see which consciousness was of a higher rank. As someone who couldmunicate with the River of Blood at each breakthrough and obtain new inheritances, Qianye¡¯s foundations were beyond solid. Why would he even put this little beastir core in his eyes? Besides, this one wasn¡¯t even mature yet.

    After the core was defeated, the beast army lost its chain ofmand and fell into chaos. Some began running through the forest in all directions, while others dug into the soil and continued their hibernation.

    Qianye knew where the core was, so finding the entrance to their was easy. The core seemed to have sensed the approaching danger¡ªit sent wave after wave of beasts to obstruct Qianye, risking damage to its consciousness.

    Yet, this invader did not fear group battles at all. The sword in his grasp flickered irregrly, cutting down numerous creatures each time. The entire process flowed naturally without the slightest waste of energy.

    Even the fiercest beasts would sumb to a single sh. The extreme weight of East Peak seemed no more than a willow leaf in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    asionally,rge groups of beasts would appear in the tunnel entrance. Qianye would unleash his Venus Dawn-empowered domain and suppress all of the creatures, then turn hundreds of them into corpses at a time with Life Plunder.

    Qianye had no interest at all in these alien beasts. Their essence blood was full of impurities and was thus useless despite containingrge amounts of origin power. Even the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s purification effects were limited. He would need to put in far more effort to achieve the same effect.

    That was why Qianye would pour all of the absorbed essence blood into the Book of Darkness, with the intention of emptying it at some point.

    During this Life Plunder, however, Qianye sensed the strange origin power locked within the beasts¡¯ essence-blood starting to loosen. A single thought from Qianye and the Book of Darkness flipped to a new page to store all of the essence blood.

    No morerge beast waves appeared afterward. As he went further in, Qianye noticed that there were only scattered groups of enemies in twos or threes. They were also growing weaker, and some were still covered in egg-white. Apparently, these creatures had been rushed out of their eggs.

    Qianye didn¡¯t need to do anything beyond moving forward with East Peak in hand. He could simply stomp all of the beasts to death by relying on East Peak¡¯s weight. Before long, he had arrived at the cave where the core was located.

    The core of this beastir was apparently rather new. It was merely the size of a human, and the cave chamber was a far cry from the one in the forest with four holy trees.

    Their was still emitting cold fluctuations of aggression. There wasn¡¯t the slightest sign that it would submit.

    Seeing that this core didn¡¯t know what was good for it, Qianye swung East Peak with a cold smile and cleaved it into two. Then, he burned the two halves with sanguine blood until there were only ashes left. He had an abundance of beastirs that would no longer breed, so there was no need to keep this little one for study.

    After clearing out the core, the beastir lost its function, and the beast eggs no longer hatched. Qianye soon tasked his men with clearing out all of these eggs as the Imperial research academy was paying a high price for them in terms of holy-tree-sap medicine.

    Qianye nned to stay here for a day so that his troops could clean up the remaining beasts before heading to the next forest.

    After returning to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Qianye added yet another marking on the map. The forests he had captured connected to form a curved line, the center of which was pointing toward the Moond door.

    Qianye carefully plotted his route along the curved path. The n was to suppress the Moond werewolves¡¯ sphere of power without getting too close. This was so that Sousa would not have enough time to take action. After the fight with the great dark monarch, Qianye had a good grasp of each party¡¯s strength and range. He would need to plot out the distribution of forces carefully.

    A week went by just like that, and the Martyr¡¯s Pce took down two more forests before retracing its path. The first batch of troops that had boarded the airship needed to rest and replenish their supply of medicine. The new soldiers who had justpleted their training would take their ce.

    Cerulean Wave City, at this point, was bustling with activity. Most of the slums in the city had been removed, reced by a mixture of human and werewolf architecture. The city was now full of foreign faces. It was amon sight to see women in revealing clothing from both the werewolf and human races.

    The first thing sought by soldiers on holiday was wine and women. This applied to both humans and werewolves. The massive rise in demand not only provided a business opportunity for the impoverished but also attracted werewolf women from across the Jade Sea. The human mercenaries liked werewolfdies, while the human girls from Zheng were a favorite of the werewolf chiefs and shamans.

    This city on the shore of the Jade Sea had changed almost entirely in just a few months. Almost a million werewolves popted this city, helping it prosper far beyond Tempest City, the capital of the Storm Territory.

    Qianye put down the map he was holding and walked out to the balcony. From here, he could see the entire za of the duke¡¯s residence and the Jade Sea far off in the distance.

    Now that the war was in full swing, the za of the duke¡¯s residence had been modified into anding pad. This was the only ce in the city whererge aircraft couldnd.

    There were several crates lined up beside the za. The handful of boxes were guarded by hundreds of elites, led by two chiefs and a shaman. These three werewolves were already count-rank experts, yet they didn¡¯t dare act carelessly.

    Qianye was satisfied. These werewolves truly believed that he was the son of darkness and were fully devoted in both body and mind. They took their work with the utmost seriousness and didn¡¯t fear death in battle. Qianye couldn¡¯t ask for better subjects.

    Looking at things from his current angle, it almost seemed that the werewolves and humans weren¡¯t all that different after all. The werewolves were even cuter and more obedient sometimes.

    These crates were neither big nor eye-catching, but the airship carrying them was one of the fastest and most advanced vessels in Qianye¡¯s possession. There was also a marquis-rank expert escorting the fleet at all times. Naturally, such a lineup was because the goods were priceless.

    Those crates were full of holy-tree sap from the new world. Qianye controlled dozens of forests of varying sizes, yet this was all he could produce in a week.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t extract too much tree sap at a time if he wanted to keep the forest in an operational state. This current rate was just the right amount. Every week, Qianye would send an airship full of holy-tree sap to the Empire and bring back medicine and supplies. That airship was the fastest corvette in his fleet and was solely dedicated to shipping holy-tree sap and medicines. The aristocratic families would ship the general military supplies on their own.

    Qianye noticed that something seemed to be missing on the empty za. Frowning, he had a bad feeling when he noticed a general running toward the duke¡¯s residence.

    This general had been in Dark me for many years and had always been a calm person. That was why Qianye put him in charge of logistics and resources. Now that he seemed so frantic, there had to be something difficult going on.

    Qianye returned to his study and waited calmly for the man¡¯s arrival. Before long, there was a knock on the door as the general came in. The first thing he said was, ¡°Sire, the most recent batch of medicines haven¡¯t arrived!¡±

    ¡°Exin, what¡¯s the reason?¡±

    ¡°The Empire isn¡¯t issuing the goods.¡±

    ¡°Give me the list.¡±

    The general had already prepared the records for Qianye¡¯s inspection. Thetter¡¯s expression sank after looking through the data. ¡°Not including the batch at the airship port, we¡¯ve made three shipments to the Empire. Yet, they¡¯ve already stopped shipments sincest week?¡±

    The general replied. ¡°At first, I thought there were some unexpected dys. I didn¡¯t dare make baseless guesses, so I asked some of the aristocratic family members and found out that the Empire has stopped issuing the goods.¡±

 Chapter 1307: War Tax

    <h4>Chapter 1307: War Tax</h4>

    Qianye put down the records, saying, ¡°Where is our contact person from the Empire? Bring him to me.¡±

    Momentster, the general brought anky man in his middle ages. The person was d in Chinese clothing and hailed from an unheard-of lower aristocratic family. Perhaps it was something he did back in the family, or maybe he just wanted to stand out from his peers, but the man had traveled all the way here to Fort Continent to serve as the liaison between Qianye and the Imperial military.

    Qianye had no good feelings toward this person. He ced the two records in front of him, saying, ¡°I heard the Empire has stopped shipping the medicine. What¡¯s going on?¡±

    That person cupped his hand unhurriedly. ¡°This matter is quite simple. The Empire is also strained from the war in the new world. The higher-ups in the military think that the current exchange price is too favorable for you. This isn¡¯t appropriate in times like these where the Empire is also undergoing hardship. That¡¯s why they stopped the deliveries to renegotiate the price.¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°What price are you suggesting?¡±

    ¡°The higher-ups want to exchange three portions of holy tree sap for one dose of medicine.¡±

    ¡°You guys are crazy!¡± The nearby general jumped out of his seat. This was akin to raising the price three times. How could they ept this?

    Qianye stopped the general with a wave of his hand. He gazed at the Imperial liaison with a darkening expression. ¡°You already knew about this beforehand, right?¡±

    The emissary¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°I did get the news a couple of days ago, but I thought I¡¯d wait for your return since this isn¡¯t an emergency.¡±

    He worded it nicely, but Qianye understood that they just wanted to trick Qianye into shipping out more holy tree sap. Every extra batch of holy tree sap would count as his aplishment.

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°Who do you think you are to y tricks in front of me?¡±

    He just tapped on the table without making any other movements, but the emissary felt something akin to a sledgehammer m into his chest. His face went pale as origin power ran amok in his thorax, almost as though a maelstrom was about to burst outward.

    ¡°Sire, please spare me!¡± The emissary fell to his knees. He finally understood that Qianye could crush someone like him with a single finger.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you off out of consideration for your status. Go and tell those higher-ups of yours that I can ept a two-for-one ratio, nothing beyond that. Also, tell those people to sit tight in their seats. I¡¯ll being for a chat once I¡¯m done with the expansion efforts in the new world.¡±

    Not daring to utter a word, the emissary wiped the sweat off of his brows and bowed out in a hurry.

    The general nced worriedly at the man¡¯s receding figure. ¡°Sire, are we going to let him off just like that? He¡¯ll surely work against you once he¡¯s back.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°What else can they do after tripling the price? It might be true that the battles on the Qin Continent side aren¡¯t going too well. Giving them a bit more can be considered supporting the Empire. These people might y some tricks from time to time, but I don¡¯t have time to deal with them yet. We¡¯ll see when the dust settles.¡±

    After some thought, the general found this to be reasonable. With the expansion in the new world going on at full capacity, shedding all pretenses with the Empire now would take up too much energy and time. This man had followed Qianye for a long while and thus knew a fair bit about his past. ¡°Since it¡¯s Sire Jundu leading the war efforts over there, it¡¯s only natural for us to support them.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Things aren¡¯t that simple. The price increase is just the beginning.¡±

    The general was startled. ¡°Considering Sire Zhao Jundu¡¯s status and yours, would anyone be so bold as to pluck the proverbial tiger¡¯s whiskers?¡±

    Qianye walked over to the window, gazing at the bustling Cerulean Jade City. ¡°This ce was just a remote and deste ce when I arrived. It was never worthy of the Empire¡¯s attention, nor did anyone care about the benefits here. The earliest aristocratic families who joined us were just minor characters. Rather than say they saw potential in Fort Continent, it would be more urate to say that they were betting on me. Now, things are different. Just this city and the consumption from millions of werewolves is a massive business opportunity. I think those people have their eyes on this fat piece of meat.¡±

    As someone of mercenary background, the general had his temper moments. He red hard, saying, ¡°They want this piece of meat?! They might just choke on it!¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°That¡¯s how it is. Go now, pay attention to the movements from the Empire¡¯s side. We still have several batches of resources on the way.¡±

    The general was surprised. ¡°Those are military supplies from the aristocratic families, no?¡±

    ¡°True, but theye from the Empire.¡±

    The general¡¯s voice rose sharply. ¡°But you¡¯ve already paid for them!¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°That¡¯s no longer important at such a time.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± The general was speechless.

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll just consider them as support for Jundu¡¯s pioneering efforts. We can let go of the resources, but we can¡¯t ignore where they are going. It¡¯s fine if these things are being shipped to the front lines, but I will get to the bottom of it if they¡¯re missing. Pass my word to the Empire.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    Qianye arrived by the window after the general¡¯s departure. His rxed expression was nowhere to be seen as mes of anger gradually surged up. He spoke to his subordinate in a fairly calm manner, but he didn¡¯t really have that kind of good temper.

    The Empire was still trying to impede their people at such a time. Qianye had relied on himself to rise to power on Fort Continent and suppress the Moond werewolves¡¯ expansion in the new world. This was a great contribution to the human race and the Empire. Who would¡¯ve thought he would run into something like this?

    Qianye slowly calmed himself down and made ready to see what tricks these people were up to. There was no meaning in getting angry under the present circumstances. He would need to wait and see how he could retaliate.

    News arrived pretty quickly this time, but the contents did not make Qianye happy. It was already a great test on his patience just to remain calm.

    The military supplies from the various aristocratic families had finally arrived, but there were fewer airships than expected. A good chunk of goods on the airships that did arrive was also missing.

    Reportedly, they had been intercepted by patrols. The Imperial Guard had boarded the airships by force and announced a neww, stating that from today onward, all military supplies leaving the Empire would be taxed.

    Unfortunately, most of the goods being shipped to Fort Continent were ssified as military supplies. It also happened that Fort Continent was outside of the Empire. Qianye wanted to build up his own country, so he never went through any vassal-state procedures. Vassal states were ssified as beyond Empire borders anyway.

    The tax rate was half of all the resources, and that was a ¡°special rate¡± that the aristocratic escorts had tried their utmost to negotiate.

    Qianye did not express his anger in front of everyone and merely asked about the details.

    The managers in charge of the fleet were clever people. Sensing that something was off, they called on favors to ask around for more information.

    It turned out that the Empire had issued an order to heavily tax outbound military supplies during times of war.

    This kind of order wasn¡¯t a problem under normal circumstances. Limiting the export of some staple resources in times of war was amon urrence. Although there was still the ck market, the aristocratic families who wanted to earn money during critical times would need to sneak about or look for representatives. They were only taxing the resources at the moment, so it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. Targeting Qianye, however, was a different matter.

    Qianye¡¯s expression was as calm as still water. ¡°Those people must know that the resources from my side will stop as well.¡±

    A merchant manager said, ¡°Sire, those people might not see it that way.¡±

    ¡°Oh, how do they see it then?¡±

    ¡°Just think about it. In this back and forth exchange, you gain resources and we gain profits. There¡¯s nothing that benefits the Empire, much less those people. The sries of those decision-makers won¡¯t be affected at all even if you don¡¯t ship anything to the Empire.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What do you think we should do then?¡±

    ¡°Find the key character and take appropriate steps!¡±

    Qianye asked, ¡°What if the appropriate steps aren¡¯t effective? Or if they take too long?¡±

    ¡°Erm... there¡¯s no good way out of it then, this is the only effective method. Those people dare to do such things because they¡¯re not afraid of you or the Zhao n.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Looks like this piece of meat is too attractive.¡±

    The manager adapted to the flow of the conversation. ¡°Fort Continent became what it is today under your management.¡±

    Qianye was indeedforted by this ttery. ¡°I was just lucky.¡± After the humble words, he sized up the manager in delight. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The manager said, ¡°This little one is Sun Degui of the Four Seas Merchant Group.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Keep an eye out of any changes in the Empire. Report directly to me if there¡¯s anything important. Also, ask around for who¡¯s targeting this ce.¡±

    Sun Degui replied hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll be all.¡± Qianye dismissed the group before penning a letter to Zhao Jundu, to be forwarded by the Zhao n¡¯s stronghold. Having done all of that, he went back into the new world to continue his expansion and suppress the Moond werewolves.

    ...

    The defense forces were on full alert outside of the door on the Great Qin Continent, staring nervously at the boundless white mist. It wasn¡¯t just beasts that mighte through the door but also demonkin scouting parties.

    At this point, the Empire and the demonkin alliance led by the Masefield family were at war in the new world. Both sides had figured out each other¡¯s doors and were sending in suicidal scouting parties.

    There was a sudden movement around the Empire¡¯s door. A sharp killing intent shot into the sky, causing everyone to tremble. The meek soldiers with weaker cultivation fell on their buts.

    A general roared in dissatisfaction, ¡°What¡¯s with the panic?! It has to be Sire Junduing back. How many times has it been? It¡¯s not like you guys haven¡¯t seen him before. There¡¯s no need to act like frightened chickens!¡±

    The soldiers obeyed but weren¡¯t resigned at heart. That general himself was pale and clearly trembling from the killing intent. How was he any better?

    Heavy footsteps echoed from the mist, causing the earth to tremble as squad after squad of soldiers marched out.

    The soldiers¡¯ clothes were in tatters and many of them were covered in bandages, but their killing intent and the mechanical uniformity of their movements caused the beholder to tremble in awe.

    The general said in a soft voice, ¡°Now that¡¯s an army!¡±

    After the warriors were done marching out, a dark green pir of origin power shot out from the depths of the mist. It almost seemed to stab right through the horizon.

    Everyone from themander of the fortress down to the ordinary soldiers felt a chill from the depths of their heart. Someone muttered, ¡°Did the color grow deeper again?¡±

 Chapter 1308: Non-Negotiable Terms

    <h4>Chapter 1308: Non-Negotiable Terms</h4>

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s figure emerged slowly from the misty region. Unable to adapt to the sunlight of the Qin Continent, he narrowed his eyes as he nced at the fortress.

    This casual nce caused everyone in the fortress to feel their hearts tighten, almost as though an invisible hand had gripped them. An old general went pale and sped his chest, muttering, ¡°This suppressive might feels almost like a heavenly monarch!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s killing intent had receded, but his body was shrouded in dark green origin power that resembled mes. This ze was extremely tyrannical, turning an area dozens of meters around him into and of death. No one dared approach.

    Zhao Jundu looked up at the fortress, saying, ¡°I¡¯m injured, so I need to suppress it with origin power.¡±

    An old man with white hair said, ¡°It¡¯s fine! Sire Jundu is a pir of the Empire. You must take care of your physical condition.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded and flew away over the horizon, leaving a trail of dark green in the air.

    A middle-aged general looked up at the trail, then whispered, ¡°General Zhang, do you think Zhao Jundu... has cultivated darkness origin power?¡±

    The old man snorted. ¡°Nonsense! He¡¯s refining himself in fire and forcibly changing his fate, that¡¯s something everyone knows.¡±

    ¡°But just look at it, it looks more like an evil art than true gold being refined in fire. Besides, isn¡¯t that a im made by the Zhao n? Also... the way he was acting just now feels more like a show of force rather than suppressing his wounds!¡±

    The old man¡¯s eyes twitched. ¡°I can¡¯t protect you if the Zhao n somehow hears of what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    The middle-aged man said hurriedly, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m only discussing this with you.¡±

    The Imperial Capital. The Zhao residence¡¯s gates were shut tight, and everything inside was silent. All of a sudden, a p of thunder erupted from the ce and all lights dimmed down. The servants, however, simply went about their business as though they were used to this.

    Zhao Jundu entered his study and took a seat at the desk. Immediately, a maid delivered tea, refreshments, and a clean robe. ¡°Sire, the medicinal bath has been prepared. Do you want to bathe and change first?¡±

    ¡°Very well. Is anything up recently?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a letter from Fort Continent.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was already heading toward the bathroom, but he came to an immediate halt. ¡°Bring it to me.¡±

    The aide ran back and forth at full speed. Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression turned dark as he went through the contents of the letter. ¡°Prepare my armor, I¡¯m heading to the military department.¡±

    Not daring to disobey, the subordinate headed out to perform her duties. A certain person walked out from the corridor. ¡°What are you going to do at the military department?¡±

    This person was Duke You, Zhao Xuanji. Zhao Jundu said with a bow, ¡°Of course, I¡¯m going to see who else dares to target our Zhao n after the Longevity Monarch.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji frowned deeply as he gazed at the dark energy surrounding Zhao Jundu. ¡°Isn¡¯t your refinement in fire too fierce?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°I find myself growing impatient, but things are still under control.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji pointed at the lingering ck energy. ¡°What is this, then? Our Zhao n doesn¡¯t have anything like this.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°Extremes of violet yields azure, then what of the extremes of azure? The extreme of any color is ck.¡±

    ¡°Is this darkness origin power?¡±

    ¡°Not just darkness origin power but also enmity, killing intent, flesh, and blood. It¡¯s a result of everything mixed into my azure energy.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji nced deeply at him. ¡°This isn¡¯t the right path.¡±

    ¡°The right path leads to a dead end.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s words contained a dual meaning. The duke could only sigh. ¡°You¡¯d better not go to the military department in your current state.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s lips curled into a strange smile. ¡°I turned this way because I killed too many dark races. Does anyone haveints?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji sighed. ¡°Come with me, we haven¡¯t had tea together in a good while.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve never had tea together.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji shook his head helplessly. ¡°You people from the Duke Chengen residence are all the same. No wonder Gaoyi always ends up cleaning after the mess.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s dark energy receded somewhat at the mention of his mother¡¯s name. He followed Zhao Xuanji into the tearoom where thetter carefully fished out some tea leaves from a small wooden box. He then boiled some water and began the brewing process in utmost concentration.

    Zhao Jundu waited quietly, making neither sound nor movement. It was easy to see from the flickering ck energy that sitting still in this manner was no easy task for him.

    Momentster, Zhao Xuanji passed him the tea he had finished brewing. The dark energy around Zhao Jundu melted away like snow as he finished the drink in one gulp.

    Zhao Jundu bowed deeply and expressed his gratitude.

    Zhao Xuanji waved his hand, saying, ¡°You and I might be of different seniority, but our status is now the same. Besides, the Zhao n has never been too focused on secr formalities, there¡¯s no need to be too polite.¡±

    Once the ck energy was gone, blood began to seep out from Zhao Jundu¡¯s robes. He looked down and pressed a ball of origin power into the wound, stopping the bleeding. ¡°These impurities really do help with the fight.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not wise to take on great harm for small advantages.¡± With that, Zhao Xuanji¡¯s expression turned solemn. ¡°Are you going there for the military tax?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°This is a rule with precedence. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be terrible if the aristocratic families start smuggling supplies out for sale.¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied, ¡°That I know, but Fort Continent is the only major shipment destination. The Imperial Guard didn¡¯t go anywhere else and were only waiting on that route, you understand what they¡¯re ying at, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji said calmly, ¡°But they have the justification.¡±

    ¡°There are many ways to reason with them.¡± Zhao Jundu smiled coldly.

    Zhao Xuanji stroked his beard. ¡°We¡¯ve already done the reasoning.¡±

    ¡°Oh, how so?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji said calmly, ¡°The mandate will arrive in a few days, granting you the title of Duke Rong .¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s brows rose sharply. ¡°Surprising title!¡±

    The title of Duke Rong could be considered extremely glorious, evident from the word itself. It was even more evident if one were topare it to Zhao Weihuang¡¯s title.

    ording to custom, all duke titles were hereditary. As long as the family could maintain their territory, there was room for negotiation even if the bearer¡¯s aplishments were somewhat inferior. Duke Wei Song Zhongnian was such an example.

    The title of Duke Rong was fairly deserved. This meant that the Zhao n now sported four dukes in a single n, no different from the Zhang. The only difference was Prince Greensun.

    Although Zhao Jundu had advanced to the divine champion realm, he had injured his foundations, and his path forward was blocked. The usual method was to grant a non-hereditary duke title or a marshal rank, tasking the person with leading troops into battle. After he had reached old age, his descendant would be granted a hereditary marquis title.

    This was the normal treatment for a divine champion with no future.

    How intelligent was Zhao Jundu? After some thought, he sneered. ¡°So it¡¯s a trade! Is Fort Continent that attractive now?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji sighed. ¡°There was no choice. The other party holds the moral high-ground and ample reasoning.¡±

    ¡°Whose reasoning is it? Qianye has been suppressing the Moond werewolves on his own, isn¡¯t that a great contribution?¡±

    ¡°The Moond werewolves are right beside him. He has to fight them anyway, that¡¯s not a viable term for negotiation.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t they afraid of losing their supply chain? Without a steady stream of holy tree sap from him, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to amass an army that can rival the dark races¡¯. We wouldn¡¯t be able to produce the results we have today, either!¡±

    Zhao Xuanji sighed. ¡°Amassing the army is just one of the factors. Themand skills you and Song Zining disyed brought victory after victory for the army. Even I think that you guys yed a bigger role.¡±

    Without waiting for Zhao Jundu to interrupt, Zhao Xuanji shook his head and said, ¡°No matter what they do, you two have contributed greatly to the Empire, so there¡¯s always some room for negotiation.¡±

    Zhao Jundu snorted. ¡°They seem to have calcted well! But did they think clearly about their fate after the war is over?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Who exactly are they?¡±

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°The proposal was delivered to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence before this decision was made. His elderly grace said: ¡®Prioritize whatever benefits the Empire and the greater good.¡¯¡±

    Zhao Jundu was surprised. ¡°The Pointer Monarch? Why would he...¡±

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°Many people know that the elder prince and Qianye share a special rtionship. Perhaps that was why they sought a decision from him.¡±

    Zhao Jundu remained silent for a good while. ¡°Do you think this is the elder prince¡¯s will?¡±

    ¡°Consolidating central power while weakening the branches, it isn¡¯t unreasonable,¡± Zhao Xuanji said meaningfully.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s momentum receded slowly. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I won¡¯t be going to the military department now.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji asked as he got up, ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going back to the new world. I won¡¯t be able to swallow this if I don¡¯t uproot the demonkin fortress.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t stop him. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll send word to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence.¡±

    Momentster, Zhao Jundu boarded the airship after donning his armor and flew back to the door.

    At this moment, the Pointer Monarch was sipping tea in his study, listening to his aide¡¯s report about recent matters. He said after some thought, ¡°That little fellow must¡¯ve guessed some things, that¡¯s why he¡¯s being so ruthless. Nevermind, this old bag of bones has been idle for too long. It¡¯ll be nice to see some old friends.¡±

    He stood up and gave some instructions to the aide before leaving the residence.

    Several dayster, a certain piece of news shook the entire Empire.

    Zhao Jundu and Song Zining had led the Imperial army to a decisive victory against the demonkin forces. They broke the Masefield fortress and drove a famed demonkin n out of the new world. The Masefield n lord attacked to salvage the situation but was duly intercepted by the Pointer Monarch.

    The two top experts initiated the first fight between heavenly monarchs in the new world. In the end, the battle attracted the retaliation of the malicious intent and both monarchs ended up with injuries.

    The fight between the Pointer Monarch and the Masefield n lord wasn¡¯t conclusive, but having an entire n driven out of the new world was a terrible loss.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s name shook the Empire once again after this battle, and his poprity rose to unparalleled heights.

    [1] "Rong" means Glory.

    [2] This Duke Wei is not the one we know. The characters are different.

 Chapter 1309: Crackdown

    <h4>Chapter 1309: Crackdown</h4>

    The new world, outside of the Imperial forward base. Countless airships were in the process ofnding and unloading a steady stream of troops, as well as resources. Within the main building, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but whistle when he saw the formation of soldiers. ¡°That¡¯s quite the investment! When did those old fogeys from the military be so generous?¡±

    Song Zining was studying a war map at a nearby desk. Hearing Wei Potian¡¯sment, he asked casually, ¡°What investment?¡±

    ¡°Come and see for yourself, they¡¯ve mobilized dozens of airships.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t look up. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s nothing. Evernight has also started using airships to transport soldiers. Our airships can onlyst seven days, but I heard they have it worse. Their transports are breaking down after five days at most, so we still have the advantage in consumption.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the troops, not the airships. They sent twenty thousand... nah, thirty thousand soldiers!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± A surprised Song Zining nced out of the window. ¡°Howe? There shouldn¡¯t be that many!¡±

    Wei Potian found it puzzling. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing? We¡¯ll be able to supplement all of our losses during this period with more to spare!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°That¡¯s not the point. The amount of holy tree sap determines the number of soldiers we can maintain in the new world.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    Song Zining rolled his eyes at him. ¡°Don¡¯t just think about fighting all day, use your brain for once! Think, where does the holy tree sape from?¡±

    ¡°From our side, and some from Qianye¡¯s. The others...¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no other ce! Our entire supplyes from Qin Continent and Fort Continent. There¡¯s no way to gain anymore. There¡¯s only one exnation for the arrival of so many reinforcements. The medicine meant for Qianye has been taken over.¡±

    Wei Potian scratched his head. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. But... we¡¯re both fighting the dark races anyway. What difference does it make?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was ugly. ¡°It¡¯s fine if that¡¯s all there is to it, the more troops we have, the better. But the problem is the reinforcements are far too few if they really did take Qianye¡¯s quota.¡±

    ¡°This is too few?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Qianye has already sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers into the new world!¡±

    Wei Potian was shocked. ¡°That bastard is already so awesome?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, he¡¯s being targeted because of his rapid growth.¡±

    Wei Potian frowned angrily. ¡°Who has the balls to do that?! This daddy will beat him to death!¡±

    Song Zining cut him short. ¡°Think about Qianye¡¯s background and strength. If they even dare target him, do you think they¡¯ll fear a mere Marquis Potian?¡±

    Wei Potian said happily, ¡°You finally remember my title!¡±

    ¡°To hell with it! I wonder which secretary with a fried brain approved of such a title,¡± Song Zining cursed. ¡°Go and pack up, prepare to leave!¡±

    ¡°Leave? Where to?¡±

    ¡°To war, of course! Since reinforcements have arrived, we should go and help Jundu push into the heart of the dark racends.¡±

    Seeing that Song Zining was angry, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty. He mumbled, ¡°Fine, we just need to fight, right? Why so serious? But we can¡¯t stand around and let Qianye suffer, can we?¡±

    Song Zining turned back. ¡°The harder we attack the dark races, the more we help Qianye get back at them.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Wei Potian didn¡¯t understand.

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°Only a handful of people in the Empire can block Qianye. I can more or less guess who it is. Whether I¡¯m right or not, those people will be forced to take action if we fight the dark races hard enough. The human race faces far less malicious intent than the dark races in the new world. If we don¡¯t dare fight even under such circumstances, we can forget about fame and glory.¡±

    Only then did Wei Potiane to understand. He stuttered, ¡°You mean, the heavenly monarch...¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Song Zining stopped Wei Potian with a shout and left. Thetter scratched his head and stomped. ¡°What¡¯s with that attitude?! I¡¯ll see what you can do when I be a divine champion.¡±

    Despite theints, he almost flew out to get things done.

    Half a dayter, the army at the forward base assembled and boarded several batches of airships. The vessels then moved out in a fleet. Soon, the army at the forward base had been assembled. They boarded batch after batch of airships, which then set out into the distance.

    The airships crossed vast distances to where the Masefield door was located. There, Zhao Jundu was already building a temporary fortress. The defensive structures were so close to the door that even the gateway was within firing range.

    Traces of battle were scattered before the fortress. Moreover, there were also numerous demonkin corpses that hadn¡¯t been cleared away and even some burning airship wreckages.

    Song Zining sprang out of the airship and arrived beside Zhao Jundu on the fortress walls. He nced into the distance, saying, ¡°They¡¯re nning to use the airship wreckage to form a defensive line. Looks like they haven¡¯t given up!¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced at him. ¡°Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°How do I help you withouting?¡±

    ¡°Do I look like I need your help?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Why so angry?¡±

    Zhao Jundu gazed into the distance. ¡°Because a certain person has been pulling the strings from behind the curtain, Lil¡¯ Five has offended someone he shouldn¡¯t. Now, the other party is causing trouble for him, what do you say I do?¡±

    Song Zining went silent for a while. ¡°I didy down some schemes, but that¡¯s for his own good. The results actually aren¡¯t that bad, you know.¡±

    ¡°This is called not bad?¡±

    ¡°It would have been much worse if I didn¡¯t make those ns.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s gonna believe you?¡±

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°You have no choice but to trust me. Certain things you¡¯ll never get out of my mouth.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stared intently at Song Zining, an eerie dark red emerging in the depths of his eyes. However, his killing intent gradually subsided and his expression rxed. ¡°I¡¯ll trust you this once.¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°I have never let my brothers down.¡±

    Zhao Jundu sighed. ¡°What¡¯s the n now?¡±

    Song Zining pointed at the silent field before them. ¡°Abandon this ce.¡±

    ¡°Abandon this ce?¡± Zhao Jundu was surprised.

    ¡°Do you think someone as powerful as Masefield can¡¯t break through?¡±

    Zhao Jundu raised his brows. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I want!¡±

    ¡°The problem is, Evernight controls several continents and several doors. The demonkin alone have four doors. Why must they keep throwing themselves at you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°If they don¡¯t capture this door, Masefield won¡¯t have any face left in the future.¡±

    ¡°That is definitely the case under normal circumstances, but their interests in the new world are too important. They might not care about face when there are greater benefits in sight.¡±

    Seeing Zhao Jundu go silent, Song Zining continued, ¡°They can use one continent to keep you busy here and still have the capacity to keep expanding in the new world. It won¡¯t be worth it if we let the dark races take over the new world while we stand guard here.¡±

    ¡°What exactly do they want here?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°The new world is too big. My divination arts can only grasp some blurry hints, but one thing is certain, the doors to the new world were opened by the three supremes of the Sacred Mountain. That¡¯s probably why the malicious intent here is stronger against their great dark monarchs.¡±

    ¡°That means there¡¯s something hidden here, and the dark races are going all out to get it.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Whatever they¡¯re looking for, we must find a way to stop them. Qianye¡¯s forces are weak, and it looks like his door is quite far from us. The Moond werewolves alone will be quite difficult for him to tackle. It¡¯s not a bad thing to focus all military power on our hands. The fiercer we fight, the less time the dark races have to pay attention to him.¡±

    Zhao Jundu produced a map and drew an arced line. ¡°What are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s keep advancing along this line and we¡¯ll probably end up at the next dark-race door.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s too slow.¡±

    ¡°What do you have in mind?¡±

    ¡°No matter what the new world is hiding, it¡¯s very likely at the center. The focal point of this arced line is the center of the entire realm. If we ignore everything and charge in that direction, it¡¯s very likely that the dark races wille looking for us.¡±

    ¡°Good idea! Are you really looking to die, though?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I fear death more than anyone.¡±

    ¡°Then did you consider what kind of forces we¡¯ll encounter in that direction? Princes and great dark monarchs are a given. We might even run into supremes like the Demon King and the Spider Queen.¡±

    Song Zining pointed upward. ¡°We have other people to deal with them. Isn¡¯t that what you wanted?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied calmly, ¡°I used to be very confident, but I¡¯m not so sure right now.¡±

    Of course, Song Zining understood that Zhao Jundu was referring to the heavenly monarchs being unreliable.

    He didn¡¯t reveal the hidden message but said, ¡°It would have been difficult to say in the past, but now that the monstrosity under the new world has been infuriated, the great dark monarchs will probably not act recklessly. That is unless they¡¯re much braver than we are.¡±

    Zhao Jundu snorted. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a great dark monarch who doesn¡¯t fear death.¡±

    ¡°There was one. The ck-Winged Monarch Andruil actually dared to challenge the Queen of the Night.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s dead now,¡± Zhao Jundu replied curtly.

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Haha, true. So... do we fight?¡±

    ¡°Of course we fight! But before we do, we will present all of our battle ns to the superiors, several copies in fact.¡±

    Song Zining clicked his tongue. ¡°Looks like the refinement in fire didn¡¯t make you dumb after all.¡±

 Chapter 1310: Third in The Same Realm

    <h4>Chapter 1310: Third in The Same Realm</h4>

    In just ten days, the Empire swept through the new world with great momentum.

    Just as Song Zining had predicted, the dark races became evidently nervous when theyunched an attack toward the center. They also began to mobilize more troops to block the Empire¡¯s advance.

    Song Zining once again put his dual talents in divination and strategy to use, maneuvering his troops with great finesse until the giant dark race army was running about in circles. Ultimately, they were divided and eliminated.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s style waspletely different. He led his troops forward like a slow-rolling boulder, mercilessly crushing whatever strategy the enemy threw at him. After several battles, enemy casualties had risen so sharply that they eventually lost count. Many glorious ns were wiped out under the spearhead of Zhao Jundu¡¯s army, forever erased from the annals of history.

    In the field, Zhao Jundu would always be at the forefront of the charge. The dark race experts, of course, wouldn¡¯t let go of the opportunity to finish off this powerful enemy in one fell swoop.

    It was already widely known that Zhao Jundu had damaged his foundations. The dark races felt that his strength hade to a standstill, that his resounding fame was only due to his solid foundations. If they could kill the number one genius of the Empire, it would surely deal a powerful blow to them. The dark race experts thus charged in unison, hoping to harvest the glory of killing Zhao Jundu.

    Unable to pay attention to all directions at the same time, the beleaguered fourth young master quickly sustained countless injuries. But the pain hardly affected the momentum of his urate and ruthless attacks, as if he didn¡¯t feel anything each time he traded a small wound for an enemy¡¯s life.

    The dark races attacked time and again, thinking that they would be able to finish him off if they just tried a bit harder. Yet in the end, they were the ones who would be badly shaken. They had lost track of the number of times a demonkin or vampire would try to take advantage of the staggering Zhao Jundu, only to be corpses while thetter remained standing.

    The dark races had also thought about using their superior numbers to wipe out Zhao Jundu¡¯s army first. However, things would never turn out the way they had expected¡ªSong Zining would always appear at the critical moment, eitherunching a pincer attack or cutting off their reinforcements. The dark races would always fail and end up incurring heavy losses instead.

    As things started to heat up on the front lines, the Imperial military steeled their hearts and sentrge batches of airships into the new world for Song Zining tomand. A steady stream of troops and resources also poured in without stop.

    Airships could only be used for seven days, a sky-high cost for any operation. It was just that the dark races had it even worse because their airships would risk breaking down after four to five days of use. Themanding dukes and marquises on the front line would revolt if they were ordered to move troops bynd.

    Fighting Song Zining was already an arduous task. Wouldn¡¯t they be led by the nose if they were deprived of mobility on top of that?

    Hence, the dark races could only grit their teeth and provide transports despite the grave losses.

    No longer able to withstand the damage, a demonkin prince summoned several divination experts to duke it out with Song Zining on a different ne. However, the seventh young master was nowhere to be found when these experts worked together to search for him. It was almost as though he was hiding in the void. However, they suffered a strong bacsh from Song Zining¡¯s divination art as soon as they rxed and ended up either dead or deranged.

    In just a short few days, over half of the dozen or so experts had fallen. The remainder no longer dared to get involved and started giving all kinds of reasons to escape this mission. The great divination masters back in the maind were also ying deaf and mute, ignoring all correspondence from the new world.

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t the slightest bit dyed by this interlude. He kept on leading his troops into battle, attacking the dark races until they were in unbearable pain. He even took to the field and killed two marquises.

    Only then did that demonkin prince understand that song Zining was truly gifted in the divination arts. He couldn¡¯t help but feel great regret at his n. Who would dare target Lin Xitang in the divination field when he was alive? That was simply courting death. Even whenparing strategy and nning, the great masters of Evernight would always be at a disadvantage.

    Song Zining was already disying a simr style in this battle.

    The Imperial army was unstoppable¡ªit stabbed thousands of kilometers into the new world and finally arrived at the central region. This was aplicatedndscape with rising hills and slopes. The origin power environment was also chaotic, frequently producing tempests of energy.

    This kind of adverse environment was Song Zining¡¯s favorite. Here, he was able toy ambushes to his heart¡¯s content. One famous Evernight general after the other met their defeat.

    Zhao Jundu understood that this was the best ce for strategicbat, so he simply handedmand of his subordinate troops to Song Zining and headed into battle on his own.

    Only at this point did the Empire discover that the dark races had already reached the center and had even built a forward base there. The environment here was worse than in the periphery, with the corrosion effect being vastly more pronounced. The steel tes normally used by the dark races would be worn down in just a few days, so they had no choice but to extract local stones for construction.

    It went without saying that such primitive methods did nothing to help the construction-progress. Yet the dark races seemed determined to dig in here, building fortresses of varying sizes.

    Of course, Song Zining wasn¡¯t going to ignore these fortifications. The structures were difficult to build here but took just about the same effort to destroy. He swept through the region with his army, leveling several fortresses in a single day. This severely damaged the advantage the dark races had gone to great lengths to obtain.

    After observing the dark races¡¯ set up in the central region, Song Zining dispatched a secret report to the military. The report stated that the dark races were indeed after the central region, but there were no signs that they had found what they wanted.

    The Empire treated Song Zining¡¯s report seriously. All kinds of resources poured in ceaselessly, almost as though they were backing him with the entire country.

    All suspicions dispersed before his shocking aplishments. There were even those who believed that Song Zining and Zhao Jundu were the new twin paragons of the Empire. The only concern was that, although thetter was peerless in his current achievements, no one had ever seeded in refinement by fire. Without bing a heavenly monarch, the two of them would never be able topare to Zhang Boqian and Lin Xitang.

    After a month of bitterbat, the Empire had gained a firm foothold in the central region, and Song Zining had also gained fullmand over the army. At this point, there were a total of five dukes under his banner, with nock of capable but arrogant individuals. Duke Yuanguang was such a person and would always criticize Song Zining¡¯s arrangements.

    The seventh young master didn¡¯t bicker with him on the spot and, instead, invited the duke to the empty area behind the camp for a private ¡°debate.¡±

    Duke Yuanguang and Song Zining were only arguing about strategy before, but it was clear that thetter was looking to solve the issue with fists. Divine champions were all top experts of each generation. How could they back down against an opponent of the same rank? Under the eyes of all the spectators, Duke Yuanguang said with a cold snort, ¡°This duke will y with you!¡±

    The other dukes and generals tried to dissuade the two from a fight, but they already knew their efforts were in vain. Just like that, the duo headed to the back for a ¡°debate.¡± Who would¡¯ve thought they would return in just three minutes?

    Duke Yuanguang was utterly silent and his expression, ashen. It was easy to see from Song Zining¡¯s smile who had actually won.

    The crowd had already expected Song Zining to win in a duel to the death. Worldly Prosperity was one of the three top origin-powers¡ªagainst weaker arts, it was simply too superior. But no one would¡¯ve imagined the victory woulde so swiftly! Didn¡¯t this mean Duke Yuanguang had lost right off the bat?

    Of course, a spar betweenrades wouldn¡¯t involve lethal moves. Duke Yuanguang wasn¡¯t expecting to defeat the opponent, either. He was nning to drag it out until Song Zining was too embarrassed to keep fighting.

    Unexpectedly, the oue couldn¡¯t even be considered a fast defeat. It was more like he was utterly crushed.

    The duke came from amoner lineage on his father¡¯s side. His childhood foundations were insufficient, stunting his prospects after breaking through to the divine champion realm. That was the case for his rank, but hisbat strength wasn¡¯t weak at all. After some thought, the other four dukes felt that they were on par with him at most¡ªnone could im certain victory.

    Everyone knew what this meant. Their fate would not be any better if they were to go against Song Zining.

    Apart from Duke Yuanguang, the other dukes were all smiles as they invited Song Zining to the main seat.

    The seventh young master nced at the crowd. ¡°When Qianye broke through the divine champion realm, he was known to be peerless among those at the same realm. Everyone knows this, I assume?¡±

    The crowd nodded in session, but one general from the Bai n looked fairly awkward.

    Qianye had actually gained fame before he was a divine champion by forcing the Bai n¡¯s superior divine champion to stay his hand, allowing him to leave unharmed from the Frozen Jade Manor. It could be said that Qianye had stepped on the Bai n for his rise to fame. Of course, his reputation was cemented when he slew a duke and subdued ten million werewolves.

    From the Bai n¡¯s perspective, they would feel less embarrassed the stronger he was.

    ncing at the crowd, Song Zining said, ¡°My talents are rather mediocre, so I rank third in the Empire. No early divine champion is my match except for Zhao Jundu. That¡¯s why I¡¯d like to urge all of you to forget about doing unnecessary things. If there¡¯s anyone who can¡¯t ept this, I¡¯ll be happy to enter a ¡®debate¡¯ with him. Don¡¯t me me if you lose face when the timees.¡±

    The message wasn¡¯t the least reserved and more or less an open threat.

    As divine champions, who wasn¡¯t a major character in theirnd? They considered their prestige even more important than their lives. Although everyone knew that Song Zining was strong, things were slightly different before and after a duel. Duke Yuanguang would likely be a hot topic of discussion in the future.

    The Bai n general wasn¡¯t quite satisfied. ¡°Does early divine champion include rank neen as well?¡±

    Rank neen meant that the divine champion had condensed an extra origin crystal. Although much smaller than the foundational one, it still represented an extra ability. Hence, from a certain perspective, the difference between rank eighteen and neen was greater than between rank neen and twenty.

    Song Zining said with a smile, ¡°Naturally, I include rank neen when I say early divine champion.¡±

    Now that was arrogant.

 Chapter 1311: Bloody Resistance

    <h4>Chapter 1311: Bloody Resistance</h4>

    Song Zining might be arrogant, but his words made Duke Yuanguang feel a bit better. It wasn¡¯t too embarrassing to lose to the number three young expert in the Empire.

    Song Zining had always presented the romantic young master image in public, but after staying in the army for a good while, he had learned how to use his fist. He challenged all dissatisfied people to a debate in the field behind the barracks, but no one was willing after Duke Yuanguang¡¯s swift defeat.

    After subduing the difficult ones, the army under Song Zining¡¯smand was finally in a state of absolute obedience. Hence, he began tounch a series of battles that left everyone bbergasted. Instead of building a fortress, he gathered a giant fleet and shuttled around the central region, attacking dark race squads whenever the chance arose.

    Many people objected to this idea. The first to voice their opinion were those from the aristocratic families. They had an unchangeable love fornd and felt that the territory wasn¡¯t fully upied until there was a fortress on it. Of course, the fact was that they didn¡¯t really upy thend because Song Zining had no intention at all.

    On the other hand, this strategy raised the demand for airships; it was practically burning money. The Empire was now using the most barebones model it could muster, to the point of developing a new model solely for this purpose. It was nothing more than a motor stuffed inside an airship casing, with many areas left uncovered. Even with such a method, the military expenditure had now reached an astronomical number, and the Imperial treasury was slowly draining away.

    The major characters back at the Imperial court could no longer sit still. The Radiant Emperor would hear several treasury bnce reports each day¡ªhis expression would grow uglier after each one, but ultimately, he would always steel his heart and approve the airship construction costs.

    The old powerhouses from the military were in great conflict. On one hand, their military budget was draining at an rming rate, but on the other, the daily reports were beyond glorious. The long list of fallen enemies frequently contained names that had left a deep impression on the Empire¡¯s past. Considering the fact that the dark races were expending far more resources than the Empire, they could only endure.

    This was a fight between two bleeding giants, each waiting to see if the other would copse first. The Empire was bleeding slower than Evernight, but thetter was muchrger in size. It was truly difficult to tell who would be the winner.

    This was a painful process. Eventually, the Pointer Monarch stoppeding to the military department and only ordered the people there to call him when needed.

    Who would¡¯ve thought the fight would reach such a state? It would seem the dark races couldn¡¯t bear it much longer and were beginning to change their strategy.

    The Masefield familyunched a sudden counterattack and took back their fortress outside of the door. The Empire had only left a small squad there, which fled immediately once the demonkin army appeared.

    The Masefield army continued pushing deeper and deeper, only to find that the Imperial fortresses were all empty. The small garrison inside would flee without even fighting.

    After taking down several strongholds, the demonkin duke in charge of the army became hesitant. They were now a good distance from the door and closing in on the central region. Could this be Song Zining¡¯s plot to lure him deeper inside and wipe out his forces?

    His mission here was to keep the Imperial army busy, optimally forcing Song Zining to return and help. It was fine to lose some troops, but nomander would want their subordinates to be wiped out, even when luring enemy troops.

    The demonkin squad¡¯s movements slowed down to a cautious crawl amidst the hesitation, yet they did not encounter the Empire¡¯s main force until they reached the Empire¡¯s base outside of the four-holy-tree grove.

    This forest was an important strategic node as the holy tree sap produced here was key to supporting the Empire¡¯s operations in the new world. They would never let go of this ce.

    The demonkin duke finally lost his patience andunched an attack on the fortress. This time, he encountered sizable resistance. The defending armysted an entire day under the fierce assault before retreating miserably.

    Although their losses were heavy, the demonkin duke felt that it was well worth it when he saw the warehouse full of resources.

    The sky grew dark as night arrived in the new world.

    As the sky dimmed down, so did the duke¡¯s mood. He was starting to doubt whether this was a trap. He wanted to summon his forces and retreat immediately, but he hesitated after seeing the long stretch of forest before him.

    As the core character of a famed demonkin n, he knew very well what this forest with four-holy-trees meant. It would be a great service to the n if he could capture and hold onto this forest. The merit would be enough to gain him rare resources that could raise the ceiling on his talents.

    The forest under the night sky was so tempting that the duke couldn¡¯t look away. This wasn¡¯t just a forest¡ªit meant authority, riches, position, and much longer life. In short, it meant everything to him.

    The duke passed the night in hesitation. He had just calmed down around the break of dawn when he saw a tightly packed fleet of airships over the horizon. The numbers were so great that his heart sank right to the bottom.

    It was already toote to retreat. The Empire was so generous that the whole army was being transported by airships¡ªthere was no way to outrun them.

    The Imperial fleet arrived outside of the forest in the blink of an eye. Considering the duke¡¯s visual acuity, he could already see Song Zining and Zhao Jundu¡¯s gs on the deck. He finally understood that Song Zining had lured him here and used the allure of the forest to make him stay. This allowed the Imperial army to move over in leisure.

    The trap was simple, and the bait was very real. He might have had a chance to escape if he had abandoned the forest, but now, he only had one choice left. That was to abandon the troops and flee.

    There wasn¡¯t much to think about regarding this decision. The duke made some defensive arrangements and put some experts in leading positions before fleeing at full speed.

    Fortunately, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu only shot him a nce with no signs of giving chase. The duke grew a bit calmer as he ran away as quickly as he could. The utter despair of the troops he had left behind was no longer his concern.

    He couldn¡¯t be med for running away since the Masefield reinforcements were nowhere in sight.

    As he was flying away at top speed, an old man in dark-colored robes suddenly appeared in his path. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡±

    Startled, the duke felt a sudden and unstoppable chill emerging from the depths of his heart.

    ¡°Profundity Monarch!¡± The duke¡¯s voice was full of despair.

    ...

    Evernight Council. The majestic Sacred Mountain stood just as solemnly. A figure tore across the skies and appeared outside of the council. It then slowly walked up the steps and entered through the doors.

    A bleak, ancient bell tolled loudly, its sound spreading far across the continents and reaching several special locations. The toll contained seven notes, an emergency signal that would summon all of the great dark monarchs and princes to a meeting.

    Momentster, several powerful auras appeared at the council hall. There were also several marquises who hade instead of their respective princes and great dark monarchs. They would be in charge of recording and reporting the contents of this meeting.

    The hall was fairly empty, and no supremes were present on the Sacred Mountain. This was a rare urrence since the supremes would usually leave a projection to make important decisions when needed.

    Even the space in the hall became distorted as a raspy voice said, ¡°Progia of the Masefield n, why have you summoned all of us here, and why are you so angry?¡±

    ¡°Our n¡¯s youngest hope, Duke Freyr, has fallen in the new world. Wasn¡¯t the n for us to attack their rear and keep them busy? Why did their main force turn back all of a sudden? Even that despicable Profundity Monarch appeared! What are you people in the central region doing? Are you all useless?¡±

    The Azure King replied, ¡°Our vampire race has also suffered grave losses, did you not know?¡±

    ¡°The arachne have lost three dukes.¡±

    Progia¡¯s voice rose sharply. ¡°But Freyr did not need to die! If I wasn¡¯t busy fighting the Pointer Monarch, there¡¯s no way I would¡¯ve let the Profundity Monarch seed.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no helping it, the Masefield n¡¯s door is too close to the humans.¡±

    Progia said in a gloomy voice, ¡°I needpensation.¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± Medanzo immediately declined the notion.

    Progia said coldly, ¡°Your vampire race fielded princes and great dark monarchs too often in a scramble for profit. Why else would the world¡¯s malicious intent grow so strong against us? Now things have gone south! None of us dares to attack at will, while the humans have no limitations.¡±

    Medanzo sneered, ¡°As if the demonkin used any fewer experts.¡±

    The Arachne Warlord Noxus tried to mediate, ¡°Let¡¯s not quarrel over such matters. Both your ns have mobilized a lot of experts, only the arachne held back a bit.¡±

    All of a sudden, Medanzo and Progia¡¯s anger turned to Noxus. Medanzo said, ¡°Your arachne race took the biggest slice of the pie.¡±

    Progia said coldly, ¡°Yeah, even the Spider Queen was involved. It would be a wonder if the will of the new world wasn¡¯t agitated.¡±

    Noxus hadn¡¯t thought things would turn out this way. After some thought, he tried to draw the fire away. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about the werewolves. I heard Sousa appeared several times as well and without any disguise. I think he might be one of the biggest reasons. The Summit of Peaks has been plotting something as well. I heard they¡¯re working together with humans on Fort Continent.¡±

    Medanzo said impatiently, ¡°What¡¯s the point of discussing a mere divine champion? We need to think about how to deal with the heavenly monarchs.¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°How long do you think it¡¯ll be until the humans also draw the ire of the new world?¡±

    This was a serious question. The Eternal me, who had been silent until now, finally spoke, ¡°Two attacks.¡±

    The hall went silent.

 Chapter 1312: Who Else?

    <h4>Chapter 1312: Who Else?</h4>

    Human heavenly monarchs wouldn¡¯t take action so easily. When they did, it was either to face-off against great dark monarchs as with the Pointer Monarch and Progia, or to kill special targets as in the case of the Profundity Monarch.

    The problem was that the humans also knew of the qualitative difference in the malicious intent¡¯s reaction. They would surely make use of these two opportunities. The heavenly monarchs would be able to go all out, safe in the knowledge that great dark monarchs couldn¡¯t stop them.

    Experts at the heavenly monarch and great dark monarch realm were overwhelming forces in battle. Princes might be fine under such circumstances, but some of the grand dukes would be in danger. Those who were powerful inbat but weak in running away might fall in the new world.

    Dukes were the pirs of each n, and the grand dukes, even more so. Each loss could change the power bnce of the entire family. Even powerful races like the demonkin and vampires would find it difficult to handle the loss of a grand duke. The weakest among the twelve major vampire ns relied on their grand duke to keep up their prestige.

    At the mention of this topic, the top-experts of the three races went silent. In truth, the Profundity Monarch¡¯s attack was rather surprising. No one knew why the humans had targeted that kid from the Masefield n when he had almost never appeared in battle before. This set a pretty bad precedent.

    The Azure King said, ¡°Why don¡¯t we have the werewolves shoulder some of the burden?¡±

    Progia said, ¡°That won¡¯t be possible. We kept them out during the opening of the new world and only think of them when there are sacrifices to make. Neither the Summit of Peaks nor Sousa will agree.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll have no choice but to agree,¡± said Noxus.

    ¡°It¡¯s easy to see that this is impossible. We¡¯ll only gain the opposite result if we pressure them."

    ¡°Would you rather take this risk yourself?¡± Noxus asked.

    The vampires and demonkin went silent.

    Momentster, the Azure King said, ¡°We can¡¯t suppress the werewolves. Don¡¯t forget that the werewolf sovereign of the Summit of Peaks is fairly close to the Sacred Mountain level, not to mention a storm has been brewing inside the peaks all this time. The ancestral faction has a werewolf ancestor in addition to Sousa.¡±

    ¡°Is that old bastard still alive?¡±

    ¡°The most recent intelligence says he¡¯s still alive and quite well.¡±

    Everyone understood the Azure King¡¯s meaning. The werewolves might not have a supreme on the holy mountain, but they were still one of the four major dark races. It wasn¡¯t that easy to bully them, and things would only be more difficult if they were pushed to a corner.

    Excluding the werewolves in the opening of the new world was a secret n involving countless under-the-table negotiations. It would be inexcusable to leave them out from the benefits, then force them to step out and take on the bacsh.

    The three races would have to shoulder the two attack quotas.

    Progia said, ¡°I¡¯ve already sacrificed a duke and thirty thousand elite soldiers. The remainder is no longer my business.¡±

    This was within reason, but it also meant the Eternal me would have to bear the entire quota of the demonkin race. And this time, it wouldn¡¯t be as simple as losing a duke.

    The ze representing the Eternal me showed no fluctuation, almost as though he hadn¡¯t heard a thing.

    The Azure Kingughed. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that our vampire race holds an extremely important character. As the price for helping out at the critical moment, we won¡¯t be taking on this risk, either.¡±

    Noxus said coldly, ¡°Are you guys saying that our race should take on the two quotas?¡±

    It was impossible to have the arachne bear all of the damage. The Eternal me finally said, ¡°I can take on this quota, but I¡¯ll need ten holy trees aspensation.¡±

    The Eternal me¡¯s proposal wouldpensate him with one-third the value of a duke while shouldering two-thirds himself. This was something all parties could ept. Neither the Azure King nor Medanzo had any objections, so the meeting came to an end.

    Before leaving, Medanzo said, ¡°I heard two human youngsters have been acting arrogantly. Can the demonkin really do nothing about them?¡±

    The force closest to the Empire was the Masefield n, and the first to sh with them in the central region were the arachne. These two had suffered the most in Song Zining¡¯s hands, while the vampire race had it better. They had lost several small squads in battle but nothing that would hurt them to the bone.

    Both the demonkin and arachne looked rather unsightly as the Lightless Monarch poked at their wounds. Progia replied, ¡°They¡¯ll reach your borders very soon. I hope your subordinates can perform better.¡±

    Medanzoughed out loud. ¡°Of course, our vampire race is different.¡±

    He was just halfway through when Progia and Noxus broke into howlingughter. Even the silent Eternal me formed a mocking smile with his ze.

    All the great dark monarchs had received thetest report at that moment.

    Song Zining had suddenly appeared in the central region andunched a surprise attack on four vampire fortresses, killing three glorious marquises and routing two reinforcement units. The vampires had lost over fifty thousand elite soldiers and were now catching up to the demonkin in terms of casualties.

    This p to the face was resounding.

    Medanzo was unable to remain calm. ¡°Didn¡¯t he just kill Freyr? How can he appear in the central region? Unless his entire army is moving around by air.¡±

    Progia said, ¡°It probably is.¡±

    Medanzo narrowed his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s no ordinary expenditure.¡±

    ¡°Our losses are grave as well.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression darkened. He snorted deeply but surprisingly didn¡¯t act out and merely left together with the Azure King. Progia and the Eternal me were left talking secretly among themselves as they watched their receding figures.

    Noxus said, ¡°That¡¯s not his usual character.¡±

    Progia said, ¡°Perhaps they do have a hidden ace.¡±

    ¡°That person?¡±

    The fire representing the Eternal me flickered briefly in agreement.

    Noxus nced at the two demonkin monarchs and said meaningfully, ¡°Your race¡¯s Demoness is also a rare genius. She might be affected if she¡¯s overtaken by that person.¡±

    Progia sneered. ¡°That person¡¯s origins are mysterious, we still don¡¯t know who the awakened character is. I heard only the Queen of the Night knows. Regardless, she¡¯s an ancient character even for us, while the Demoness is from a much younger generation. There¡¯s no need topare.¡±

    ¡°Others might not think that way, but the Demoness might.¡±

    ¡°You guys should just keep an eye on your Basil.¡±

    ¡°Basil¡¯s bloodline is closer to the Spider King and not the Spider Queen, it has been since his birth. We¡¯re still waiting for the next messiah¡±

    The arachne had always been a matriarchal race. Warlord Noxus, for example, was already at the limits of a spider king. He would need the Queen¡¯s bloodline in order to take the next step forward.

    ¡°Then we wish you find one soon and not have to wait a hundred years.¡±

    ¡°A hundred years is fine so long as we can obtain one. What we really fear is finding the messiah, then someone elseing along to destroy everything.¡±

    Dark undercurrents flowed throughout the hall as the great dark monarchs dispersed unhappily. The other representatives recorded the meeting at great speed, not daring to make a single mistake.

    ...

    At the central region of the new world, a normal-looking valley was filled to the brim with parked airships. Large groups of Imperial soldiers were setting up camp nearby while the technicians made use of the time to maintain the machines and exchange damaged parts. There were also people constantly recording data.

    As more and more airships broke down, these technicians were beginning to grasp which parts wore down quicker and which materials were more resistant to the corrosion of the new world¡¯s origin power. The Empire¡¯s manufacturing system now revolved around the requirements of the new world. The data sent back to the Empire would return very quickly in the form of new technology or engine parts in bulk.

    Song Zining was atop a hill, scattering a handful of divination tokens onto the ground. He studied it for a while before shaking his head and repeating the process.

    Zhao Jundu sat down beside him and gazed at the distant sky. ¡°Did you find anything?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just practicing. You¡¯ve asked countless times now, it¡¯s annoying.¡± Song Zining stared at Zhao Jundu briefly. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m used to it, but... you¡¯re bleeding too.¡±

    Song Zining looked down and saw some blood seeping out of his leg. ¡°It¡¯s just a small wound, I have already forgotten about it.¡±

    Zhao Jundu turned his nose up at him. ¡°Stop bluffing, you clearly couldn¡¯t heal it.¡±

    ¡°As if you can.¡±

    ¡°Of course I can! It¡¯ll be better after bleeding out a bit.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°I do miss that aloof Zhao Fourth and not the naggy monster shrouded in killing intent.¡±

    Zhao Junduughed in a carefree manner. ¡°Refining true gold in mes is a path of mortal peril, just a minor carelessness will get me killed. If I don¡¯t nag now, there might not be an opportunity in the future.¡±

    Song Zining put away his divination tokens. ¡°Then go on, I¡¯ll listen.¡±

    Zhao Jundu pointed at the tokens. ¡°Do you really n to take this path?¡±

    ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say, but who else will take this path if I don¡¯t?¡±

    Zhao Jundu looked at him. ¡°Divination is prying into the workings of fate, it will definitelye with a price. Marshal Lin¡¯s example is right there in front of you. If you choose divination, you¡¯ll never be a heavenly monarch. Have you really thought it through?¡±

    ¡°The path of divination brings great benefit to the Empire and to the human race. Someone has to walk this path. Marshal Lin must¡¯ve faced such a dilemma as well back in the year, but he made the same choice. It¡¯s my turn now.¡±

    Zhao Jundu stretched his body. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought someone like you would care so much about the nation and this world?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°In my shoes, you¡¯ll find that there¡¯s no difference between love for the country and for oneself.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I admit I can¡¯t outspeak you. I heard the Empire has a divination project that has been in the works for countless generations, something called the Chronicle of Glory. Only the Emperor and a handful of top characters know the details, but I heard that divination experts who are a part of this project never meet good ends. Think about it carefully.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

 Chapter 1313: Fall of the Dark Moon

    <h4>Chapter 1313: Fall of the Dark Moon</h4>

    The new world¡¯s sun was always hovering in the sky. The wind contained a faint trace of killing intent, constantly seeking to break down everything in its path.

    The Imperial soldiers in the valley took advantage of thispse to rest¡ªthere was no telling when the rm for battle would ring once again. Many of the troops simply wrapped themselves in a nket andy on the ground. No matter how hard the soil was, it was definitely better than sleeping in the airships. The intense vibrations and the deafening roar of the engine would drive anyone insane.

    The new airship models made for this world contained little in terms of passengerfort, but there were too many ces on the battlefield that were much more difficult. This much was nothing for the veteran elites following the Zhao-Song duo.

    Song Zining picked up the tokens and scattered them again.

    ¡°How is it?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s an opportunity in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Zhao Jundu got up to prepare for battle.

    Song Zining called him back. ¡°There¡¯s no rush. They won¡¯t take the bait unless we go back and forth for a while. Go and invite Prince Greensun in the meantime.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t the Profundity Monarch do?¡±

    ¡°Prince Greensun is the safer bet.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Zhao Jundu left.

    In the days that followed, Song Ziningtched onto an allied army of vampires and arachne. Themander of this squad, however, was extremely crafty. They avoided fighting head-on against Song Zining at all costs, always pulling back after a brief skirmish. They also maintained an orderly formation at all times, making use of temporary fortifications to contend with Song Zining. They neither left nor headed into a decisive battle.

    Song Zining really seemed helpless against such an opponent. Both sides sustained a fair bit of damage over several days ofbat. Evernight lost three marquises, while the Empire saw two rank seventeen generals perish.

    This stalemate was disadvantageous to the Empire. Just as before, Song Zining relied on mysterious maneuvers that made it impossible for the other side to grasp his movements. He would avoid cmity and seek openings with his powerful divination arts, asionally dealing heavy blows to the enemy divination experts. Every time he attacked, the target would either die or suffer grave injuries.

    If it wasn¡¯t for a number of powerful characters putting pressure on them, no divination expert would be willing to enter the new world. Those who dide would put in the bare minimum to get things done. They would never go all out for fear of Song Zining targeting them.

    A showdown in divination was different from other battles in that the two sides were fighting remotely. Distance was not a problem as they could kill one another even across continents.

    Unlike the divination units of Evernight with dozens of experts specialized in their specific roles, Song Zining was a one-man-army. He shouldered many roles such as prediction, scrying, and attacking, yet he wascking in neither of those fields. There was simply no weakness to make use of.

    This kind of enemy filled them with despair. Thest expert like that was Lin Xitang. Who would¡¯ve thought Song Zining would walk in his shoes?

    Hence, the dark races could only use the clumsiest method. They would do their best to keep him pinned down but wouldn¡¯t chase if he were to break free. Furthermore, themander of this squad never made an appearance, only sending out generals proficient inbat to do battle.

    Just as everyone was thinking that he was going to retreat again with his tails between his legs, Song Zining made a sudden turn and charged into the heart of the central region.

    Within a certain fortress, an ordinary-looking demonkin was gazing at Song Zining¡¯s army moving away. He said with a gloomy expression, ¡°Is he trying to lure us?¡±

    A young demonkin walked over from the side; it was actually Anwen. He said helplessly, ¡°My divination is not for this purpose.¡±

    ¡°This matter involves the entire race.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine, enough about that. I¡¯ll do the divination, but I must warn you that I have no confidence about the results.¡±

    The other demonkin¡¯s expression softened. ¡°Just do your best.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any troubles left if trying one¡¯s best is helpful.¡± Mumblingints, Anwen waved his hands. Demonic energy sprayed out to form arge swathe of numbers which began to move rapidly, transforming into shifting forms that dazzled the beholder.

    The other demonkin stared for a good while but finally gave up. Toward the end, he couldn¡¯t even understand what each simple rune stood for.

    He nodded in praise, saying, ¡°Your divination arts have reached a different realm!¡±

    ¡°This power should be used to explore the void and break through our cage, not for creatures trapped within the cage to kill one another,¡± Anwen said without looking up.

    The other demonkin sighed. ¡°You might think that way, but those humans sure don¡¯t. Look at how many of our kin have fallen to their des recently. You saw it with your own eyes.¡±

    ¡°Humans are a weak race, to begin with. They would¡¯ve been wiped out already if they weren¡¯t fierce enough in battle.¡± At this point, the transforming numbers had finally concluded and formed aplicated three-dimensional diagram.

    Anwen was fairly surprised at the oue. He stared at the image for a long while before reaching out to erase it.

    The demonkin nearby said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s no use, the people up there are watching everything.¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression shifted several times as he pulled his hand back.

    ¡°What does this diagram mean?¡±

    Sighing, Anwen looked up at the sky and at the several gazes that had cast their sight here. ¡°A cmity, one that is sufficient to destroy our race lies hidden in the depths of the new world. Is that what you people are looking for?¡±

    The other demonkin asked, ¡°Did the humans leave because of that?¡±

    ¡°Song Zining is much better than I in divination. There¡¯s no way he can¡¯t divine something that even I can. Leaving all of a sudden means that he¡¯s headed there to look for clues.¡±

    The other demonkin¡¯s expression shifted from hesitation to resolution. ¡°I understand now, this is a trap. The humans are forcing us to leave the fortress and intercept them.¡±

    Anwen was puzzled. ¡°Why?¡±

    The demonkin beside him said, ¡°You¡¯re still young, so there are a lot of things you don¡¯t know. Whatever is hiding in the new world is not just a cmity but also an opportunity, a chance for us to eliminate a long-standing trouble. We cannot lose such an opportunity, so we have to stop them even though we know it¡¯s a trap.¡±

    With that, he gazed at the direction of the Imperial forces. ¡°This Song Zining is indeed very skilled, he already knows that I¡¯m themander of this allied force. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll have no choice but to oblige.¡±

    Anwen noticed that something was wrong. ¡°Why do they want us to leave the fortress?¡±

    The demonkin patted Anwen¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You have no idea who¡¯s waiting for me there. Well, someone has to face them in one way or another. My potential and progress havee to a dead-end, but the same can¡¯t be said for you. You¡¯re the future of our race, but the only problem is that you¡¯re too soft to be a leader. If one day you¡¯re having a hard time making a decision, think about me and those who have sacrificed themselves for the n.¡±

    With that, the demonkin flew after the Imperial army without bringing any soldiers.

    Anwen remained stunned until the man¡¯s figure vanished over the horizon. Only then did he mutter to himself, ¡°What kind of trap can put you in peril? Unless it¡¯s the human race¡¯s... Prince Greensun!¡±

    Waking up all of a sudden, he rushed down the main building and grabbed a high-ranking officer along the way. ¡°Take me to the basement now or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±

    The arachne officer recognized Anwen. Not daring to resist, he brought thetter to the underground area. Once inside, Anwen sensed a familiar origin power aura behind a tightly-locked door. He kicked down the door without the slightest hesitation and charged right in.

    As expected, there was a giant origin array hidden under the fortress. Its functions were to bolster defense and tear space for teleportation.

    Anwen immediately realized what was going on. This was an escape path that had been prepared for the demonkinmander, the fruit of their experience from previous losses.

    Anwen charged out of the building and flew up into the sky, shouting, ¡°What are you all doing? Are you going to watch just like that?¡±

    The sky was empty, and those gazes from before were nowhere to be seen.

    A marquis appeared behind Anwen and whispered, ¡°Young Master, the lords have left.¡±

    Anwen turned back. ¡°Why?!¡±

    That marquis apparently knew quite a few secrets. ¡°The human heavenly monarchs can attack twice before they thoroughly anger the new world. Our n has to take up one quota.¡±

    ¡°Two quotas... two quotas...¡± Anwen murmured to himself. He didn¡¯t know whether he wanted tough or to cry, but before he knew it, his face was full of tears.

    All rules would copse at the climax of a war. Apromise from those high up would end up as despair for those below.

    Several dayster, thetest battle report spread throughout the Empire¡ªa grand duke of the Dark Abyss, Jaero the Unfeble Dark Moon, had been killed in the new world.

    Jaero was a legendary character among the demonkin who had fought Lin Xitang to a draw at his peak military strength. He had salvaged a losing war with his power and protected the dark racends on the Western Continent.

    He always led his troops steadily, not to mention he himself was also extremely powerful. Even Lin Xitang once sighed in admiration, saying that Jaero was an opponent with no openings. All he could do was rely on troop advantage and divination arts to seek victory.

    As a famed demonkin general, he had tipped the scales in many stormy battles and proved himself a great danger to the human race. Who would¡¯ve thought the Unfeble Dark Moon would fall in the central region this day?

    Only when the battle reports came in did everyone understand that Jaero had run into Prince Greensun and fought for half a day before meeting his end. Considering Zhang Boqian¡¯s ferociousbat style, the man¡¯s death could be considered honorable even in defeat. No one had expected him to hold out for that long. This proved one thing¡ªhe might not be able to reach the great dark monarch rank, but there was a good possibility that he could be a prince.

    However, this defeat meant death, and whatever potential he had would never be realized.

    All these years, Jaero had stood tall against the other three races in civil conflict and against the Twin Paragons of the Empire in external battles. This oue wasn¡¯t because Song Zining¡¯s ability in strategy was better than Lin Xitang but rather due to the time and situation. The bigger picture demanded his sacrifice.

    The Unfeble Moon wasn¡¯t without his weaknesses. His Achilles¡¯ heel was his n and race.

    Following this battle, the humans finally understood that there were also valiant warriors who did not fear death among the long-lived races.

 Chapter 1314: Blacksun Valley

    <h4>Chapter 1314: cksun Valley</h4>

    A human heavenly monarch had broken the unspoken rule of staying away from troop battles, yet none of the great dark monarchs had spoken out. Many of the Evernight nobles began to understand how the humans must¡¯ve felt under certain circumstances.

    Most of the Empire¡¯s warships were destroyed in that earth-shattering battle. Back on the ground, Song Zining¡¯s assault was even more resolute, and his attacks remained fixed on the central region.

    Whether or not Song Zining had figured anything out, the Evernight side could not allow him to break through into the central zone. Hence, the dark races sent numerous squads to chase after and intercept Song Zining¡¯s Imperial forces.

    Song Zining split their forces into two units led by himself and Zhao Jundu respectively. One would rest in the rear, while the other pushed forward with the attack, routing all iing enemies with unstoppable momentum.

    The dark races had dispatched elite forces, but there was no longer anyone at Jaero¡¯s level. There were only glorious marquises or vice-dukes leading their forces, not even dukes. These people possessed the origin power rank, but none of them were from well-known ns. This also meant that their talents and weapons were all second-rate.

    Naturally, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu wouldn¡¯t put such opponents in their sights. Zhao Jundu¡¯s current origin power was turning from azure to an odd dark color, but hisbat strength had increased sharply. Ordinary vice-dukes would have to flee for their lives or they would be killed on sight.

    In the span of a few days, Song Zining had pushed a few kilometers toward the central region despite moving bynd. Such speed made a joke out of the dark races¡¯ interception.

    The main reason for thisy with the arachne. With Jaero¡¯s death, the demonkin had kept their part of the promise, but the arachne hadn¡¯t decided who would be the sacrifice. They were still wrangling amongst themselves regarding this matter.

    This was the death of a duke at the very least, not a matter anyone could decide on their own. Even the Spider Queen was silent, either unable or unwilling to pass the verdict. Many among the arachne were secretly hoping to drag this out, hoping the problem would solve itself eventually.

    The thought was well and good, but Song Zining took advantage of this brief opportunity tounch a crazed attack toward the central region. The effects of Jaero¡¯s suicidal attack on the Imperial fleet were more or less gone now. In just a few days, the Empire would deliver a new batch of warships, and their army would once again regain its mobility. Song Zining would be unstoppable at that point.

    Seeing that the situation was going south, the vampires and demonkin put pressure on the arachne. In the end, thetter race picked a duke so old that he was about to die on his own. They wanted to trick their way out in such a manner, but how could such a target even enter the heavenly monarchs¡¯ eyes?

    Without the need for a heavenly monarch, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu routed the duke¡¯s forces in a pincer attack and heavily injured him. He wouldn¡¯t have escaped if it wasn¡¯t for his strong arachne constitution.

    There was no way such an oue would appease the vampires and demonkin, so the arachne once again fell into the process of arguing. Song Zining¡¯s army wasn¡¯t going to wait for them, though¡ªit pushed forward with great momentum, breaking through several blockades and finally arriving at the heart of the central region.

    At the end of the rolling hills, there was a valley of iparable size. Were it not for the steep drop and a mysterious intuition, Song Zining might¡¯ve mistaken this valley for a nd, just a thousand meters lower than the rest of thendscape.

    Unlike the daybreak-leaning origin power that pervaded the entire new world, this valley was filled with dark energy. The darkness origin power here was so strong and congested that it almost seemed tangible.

    The darkness origin power was clearly demarcated from the strange daybreak origin power of the new world. The two weren¡¯t mixing at all, so it looked like there was a grey dome covering the valley.

    Even Song Zining and Zhao Jundu found it difficult to breathe in the face of this majestic scene. At this moment, their senses had expanded to the point of epassing the entire valley.

    The ravine was so big that it spanned hundreds of kilometers. This sudden and strong contrast almost felt like it would devour one¡¯s soul.

    ¡°It¡¯s so¡­ big!¡± Song Zining couldn¡¯t find the right word for a moment.

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°Perhaps a void colossus¡¯ vision is this wide?¡±

    ¡°Void colossi aren¡¯t that big. Reportedly, the biggest void colossus that lives in the depths of the void is only around ten thousand meters in length.¡±

    ¡°Us not knowing doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t exist.¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    Zhao Judnu pointed at the valley. ¡°Look, what is that?¡±

    Song Zining nced over and saw a sinkhole at the center of the valley. It was bottomless and gave off an extremely unusual feeling. Song Zining had sensed this back at the Constetion Well of the Great Maelstrom; this should be a natural spatial tunnel.

    The tunnel was constantly spewing out darkness origin power, but there was no way to sense what was on the other end. The sinkhole was surrounded by numerous hills with a dark me burning atop each of them. Despite the great distance, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu could feel a pricking pain just by looking at them.

    The two exchanged nces, each noticing the astonishment in the other¡¯s eyes. It was obvious that they had to avoid the fire at all costs, leaving them with very few ways into the sinkhole. The widest and shortest path among them was located between two mountains, one tall and one short. Yet to bepleted, and there were thousands of craftsmen buried in urgent work.

    ¡°So this is the true ¡®door.¡¯¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. Looks like the dark races¡¯ true objective is here.¡±

    ¡°The valley is filled with darkness origin power, that makes things difficult.¡±

    Zhao Jundu walked over to the edge of the cliff and tried touching the ck energy. ¡°It¡¯s fine, the dark races can¡¯t use the darkness origin power here.¡±

    Song Zining did the same and felt a burning pain on his fingertips, a sensation akin to dipping one¡¯s finger in acid. ¡°Indeed. The darkness origin power here is poisonous to all living creatures, there¡¯s no way to use them. The dark races might have it worse in such an environment.¡±

    Song Zining turned around and went off to assemble the troops. Although a mysterious power had allowed them to see the entire valley, it would take an entire day to get to the center even by airship.

    During that brief bird¡¯s eye view, Song Zining hadn¡¯t noticed any dark race squads near that fortress. It would seem that the higher-ups of the council believed this ce to be the safest, so they didn¡¯t bring in any more troops.

    The dark race could only bring in a certain number of troops into the new world, and most of them had been defeated by Song Zining. Perhaps they had no extra soldiers to garrison in the valley.

    This was the best opportunity. The Evernight faction would not have expected the Empire to replenish its airships so quickly. The great efficiency of the Imperial engineering system was put on full disy here.

    ¡°It¡¯s not hard to take down that fortress, but what then?¡± Zhao Jundu asked.

    ¡°Take what we can and burn what we can¡¯t. We must not leave a single brick.¡±

    Zhao Jundu gazed at the massive valley. ¡°Do we not need a base? It¡¯s not easy to resupply in the valley. We might lose.¡±

    ¡°We have a chance of survival if we don¡¯t have a base. We¡¯ll lose for sure if we have one.¡±

    Zhao Jundu realized things after some thought. ¡°Turns out you want to bleed the dark races as much as you can.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a limit to the number of forces they can bring into the new world. Also, we have one quota left, so the great dark monarchs don¡¯t dare take action. Such a good opportunity is beyond rare, we¡¯ll never get one again if we miss this one. That¡¯s why I¡¯m willing to let them have whatever treasure they¡¯re looking for and deal their backbone forces a heavy blow in exchange. The results of our battle today will be evident thirty yearster. The Empire will be able to take down an entire continent by then.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Our core forces will never be able to match Evernight. They¡¯re currently strong in numbers but not willing to let go of certain things. Someone will think it through one day. You have to know that there will never be such a good opportunity to close the gap outside of the new world. I¡¯m already in such a state, so I need to take back my money¡¯s worth!¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°The other side might not be entirely ignorant of your scheme. Military power decides only one facet of war, while the expertspete for the other. If that thing really is helpful to the dark race, they might be willing to trade.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s fight first and see. We don¡¯t know what exactly they¡¯re looking for, so we should just get our job done first. Let the higher-ups shoulder the heavier burdens.¡±

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s all we can do.¡±

    Momentster, the Empire¡¯s massive fleet rose up once again and charged into the valley, making straight for the iplete fortress.

    ¡­

    In the hall of the Evernight Council, the bell signifying an urgent incident rang out once again and traveled toward the various continents.

    Countless auras arrived from every direction. Several princes tore through space from great distances. They had sensed that the origin power of the three supremes was present on the Sacred Mountain, observing everything from afar.

    All the members who coulde rushed to the scene, knowing that something that would affect the entire Evernight World had happened.

    That was indeed the case. All those who entered the hall bowed toward the Sacred Mountain in shock and awe.

    The three figures atop the lofty Sacred Mountain were tall and majestic. They remained motionless as they waited for the arriving council members. This wait took an entire night and day, but this period of time was no longer than a blink for them. The long-lived races were nevercking in patience.

    Finally, the Demon King slowly opened his eyes. ¡°Those who cane have arrived, let us begin.¡±

    The Queen of the Night nodded as well. Only the Spider Queen expressed nothing, almost as though she were an eternal statue.

    A duke from one of the lower seats stood up and made a short report. He then said, ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone has seen the detailed report. The humans have destroyed our base in cksun Valley, someone has to take responsibility for that.¡±

    Another duke said, ¡°Who do you think is responsible?¡±

    The duke who had made the announcement said, ¡°Considering how important cksun Valley is, it won¡¯t be excessive even if we chase this responsibility all the way to the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    The entire hall fell silent for a moment.

 Chapter 1315: Taking Responsibility

    <h4>Chapter 1315: Taking Responsibility</h4>

    Atop the Sacred Mountain, the three figures remained as still as the hills. The council members below began to whisper among one another, discussing the situation around cksun Valley.

    Many of them had received the intelligence before the meeting and knew what cksun Valley was. It was quite normal for such important issues to be announced only when necessary.

    That duke belonged to one of the most marginal members, and it was already quite fortunate that he was able to sit here in the council. There was an entire line of experts at the same rank, waiting to take his ce.

    Normally, it would never be his turn to speak in the extremely hierarchical council. Who would¡¯ve thought he would aim straight for the Sacred Mountain directly?

    It was the Demon King who spoke up amidst the silence, ¡°Then who do you think is responsible?¡±

    It would seem this duke was intent on shocking people to death. ¡°I believe that the responsibility lies with you, Your Majesty Demon King!¡±

    Amotion broke out in the great hall. Members whispered, gasped, and used origin power to exchange secret conversation, causing a fair bit of ruckus. The undercurrents of origin power flowed about into a chaotic mess.

    The Demon King¡¯s projection made a light pressing motion, suppressing the agitated origin power with a rain of demonic energy. All those conversing in secret could no longer hear the other¡¯s voice. Some of the members noticed that the Demon King hadn¡¯t even released his suppressive might.

    When the great hall became silent, the Demon King said, ¡°Why do you say that the responsibility is mine?¡±

    ¡°The reason is simple, Sire Jaero¡¯s suicidal attack was too reckless! As a celebrated general of our holy army, how could you sacrifice him? Who else should be held responsible if not you, Your Majesty?¡±

    The Demon King only sighed after a moment of silence.

    The duke continued, ¡°The second reason is still about Jaero, his death wasn¡¯t worth it! While fighting Zhang Boqian, Duke Jaero also crippled the human army¡¯s mobility. But ten days have passed now, what has changed? The humans have replenished their fleet and are once again undefeatable. They¡¯ve also discovered cksun Valle, and even destroyed our fortress. This is akin to upying the gateway to the new world. So I ask Your Majesty, what did Sire Jaero even die for?¡±

    The Demon King still did not reply. In addition to being moved, many of the council members picked up the hidden meaning in the exchange. Their gaze couldn¡¯t help but drift up to the Sacred Mountain.

    In the end, that duke channeled his origin power and raised his voice. ¡°Since the three races have made a promise to share the two quotas, let me ask where the other sacrifice is right now? Howe he has not appeared even as the humans break into cksun Valley? How can those humans be so unrestrained if not for the protection of their heavenly monarchs? If cksun Valley is not important and we¡¯re only looking for someone to fill those quotas, why must we sacrifice Sire Jaero? Could it be that the other race¡¯s candidate is so much more outstanding? Let him step out then! I wish to see who this person is!¡±

    These words were spoken quite vehemently, prompting nods from many of the council members. The Spider Queen could no longer sit still. ¡°So you¡¯re actually trying to me me.¡±

    The duke said loudly, ¡°I¡¯m not ming anyone, but there will be a general consensus on who¡¯s responsible.¡±

    ¡°Consensus, haha.¡± The Spider Queen sneered, then stopped talking.

    Many people stole nces at that duke, secretly feeling sorry for him. The Spider Queen has always been the most vengeful of the lot, and she would definitely take this insult to heart. As a supreme, she had too many ways to kill a duke in secret.

    The man went pale. ¡°That¡¯s all I have to say. Everyone, please make a decision.¡±

    The three supremes said nothing, so some of the council members stood up to speak. Their suggestions were more bnced, mostly covering topics on how to deal with the human attack. However, none of them coulde up with a tangible n.

    There was simply no easy way to repel thebination of Song Zining and Zhao Jundu. Their supply of airships seemed endless, and at least three dukes would be in their army at all times. Besides, the situation in the new world was different from before. Because of the limited supply of holy tree sap, their faction could no longer maintain a superior flow of troops.

    Song Zining¡¯s divination skills exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations, so much so that they could do nothing against him without mobilizing the council¡¯s resident experts. In terms of fighting power, the duo¡¯sbined strength could easily defeat a duke.

    With a group of human divine champions gathered in one ce, it was beyond difficult to besiege any one of them. The only way to block their advance was to send a powerful duke with a strong bloodline, someone like Jaero.

    Then again, the human heavenly monarchs were waiting in the shadows, and no one knew when they would attack. A powerful duke or grand-duke taking the field would simply be throwing their lives away.

    The other option was to gather an army of experts, led by someone ofparable talents to Song Zining and Zhao Jundu. A frontal challenge of soldiers vs. soldiers and generals vs. generals.

    The only ones with such talents in the Evernight Faction were the Demoness and Anwen, and perhaps William and Basil to a certain extent. William was a werewolf, and they definitely weren¡¯t going to help the other three races in this matter. Basil alone wasn¡¯t enough, either. In the end, it was only up to Anwen or the Demoness, but the demonkin would never risk losing their two young geniuses after sacrificing Jaero for the cause.

    Any of the human heavenly monarchs would go all out to kill the Demoness and Anwen given the chance, eliminating a future threat. If only the great dark monarchs could take action, they would never let a dangerous character like Song Zining escape, either.

    There was still no answer after a long while of back and forth discussions.

    Just as the situation was in a deadlock, the Spider Queen spoke, ¡°In the end, the debate is all about a sacrificial piece. The demonkin have already suffered many losses, so let them be. But for the remaining quota, I must ask who it was that angered the new world¡¯s consciousness?¡±

    Most of the council members could only scratch their heads. In truth, they didn¡¯t even know what the will of the new world was, let alone how to anger it to the point where it was targeting the great dark monarchs with such enmity.

    What the Spider Queen meant was that there might¡¯ve been other supremes or great monarchs who had contended with the consciousness of the new world. The result was obvious for all to see. The three supremes wouldn¡¯t be so helpless, otherwise.

    ¡°What¡¯s done is done.¡± The Demon King wanted to mediate.

    ¡°That was indeed the case at first, but now, I¡¯ve been reminded of this problem. It¡¯s fine if my people must make sacrifices, but others cannot simply stand by and do nothing.¡±

    The Queen of the Night finally spoke, ¡°Then how about we let you take care of the work our race should be doing?¡±

    The Spider Queen was stopped up. The atmosphere became so tense that the hall was plunged into icy coldness.

    Those below would never dare interfere in a quarrel among the supremes. Even the princes and great dark monarchs kept their gazes near their feet, never looking upward.

    Seeing that the atmosphere was getting awkward, the Demon King said, ¡°What¡¯s done is done, let¡¯s just maintain the status quo regarding the agreement. As for what we should do now, I think we must bring the werewolves in. That will at least give the humans more pressure.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± said the Spider Queen.

    At this moment, a werewolf duke stood up and said, ¡°You people kept our race out when there were benefits to share. Now, you think of us when you can¡¯t solve your problems? We might not agree to whatever you want!¡±

    ¡°I will inform the Wolf Ancestor and Sovereign on my own, I don¡¯t need your agreement,¡± the Demon King said calmly, unleashing his unparalleled might.

    The werewolf duke¡¯s face turned red. He wanted to speak but couldn¡¯t utter a single word, stopped by the Demon King¡¯s terrifying suppressive might. He wanted to leave but ultimately didn¡¯t have the courage to do so. The Demon King could easily take his life or toss him to the human heavenly monarchs.

    The Demon King¡¯s word choice just now was ¡°inform.¡± There was never any intention of seeking the opinions of the Wolf Sovereign and the Wolf Ancestor. This went to show just how awkward of a position the werewolves were in.

    This was also the reason why the Wolf Ancestor and Sovereign weren¡¯t present at such an important meeting. Why would theye here to get insulted?

    After suppressing the werewolves, the Demon King turned to the Queen of the Night. He said in a much gentler tone, ¡°It looks like we¡¯ll need the vampires to fend off the human army. We¡¯ll have to count on you to alleviate cksun Valley¡¯s danger while we sort out the problem regarding the human heavenly monarchs.¡±

    The Queen of the Night said, ¡°Fine, but the elites from your two races will have to be under ourmand.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°No problem. I can even make Anwen and the Demoness cooperate with you. Eden is already in your army. Let us know if you want any other genius from any n.¡±

    The Spider Queen could only nod since even the Demon King had already agreed. ¡°I have no problems.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still a problem. Where is the sacrifice? I want to see a qualified sacrifice in three days.¡±

    The Spider Queen¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°Don¡¯t go too far!¡±

    ¡°Really? Then I¡¯ll go back to sleep now.¡±

    Even in her projected form, the Spider Queen¡¯s expression of anger and frustration was clearly visible. She sighed deeply, stirring up a whirlwind in the hall. ¡°You will see your sacrificial offering in three days.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about just one.¡±

    The Spider Queen was furious. ¡°How many do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want you to shoulder half of the sacrifices for our race.¡±

    ¡°How do we even do that?¡± the Spider Queen asked.

    ¡°This is something you need to figure out.¡± With that, the Queen of the Night¡¯s figure slowly faded away. She had left.

    The Spider Queen mmed the armrest. The impact shook the entire hall, but the Sacred Mountain remained entirely still.

    The Demon Kingughed wryly. ¡°How about this? You, me, and the werewolves can each share a third of the vampire race¡¯s sacrificial offerings.¡±

    The Spider Queen said after some thought, ¡°Is this the only way?¡±

    The Demon King replied, ¡°There is no other way, we can only rely on the vampires.¡±

    The Spider Queen said after a longpse, ¡°Very well, let¡¯s do it that way. I won¡¯tpromise at all next time.¡±

    The council members dispersed as the Spider Queen and the Demon King left. Some stayed behind to discuss the situation among close friends. The division of interests had been settled by the three supremes on the Sacred Mountain.

    As for the werewolves, they could only wait for their notice.

 Chapter 1316: It has to be you

    <h4>Chapter 1316: It has to be you</h4>

    The werewolves¡¯ situation inevitably became the focus of the entire Evernight faction. As one of the four major races, their strength was still far above the other minor races.

    Although they did not have a supreme on the Sacred Mountain, the Wolf Sovereign of the Summit of Peaks and the Wolf Ancestor of the ancestral school were regarded as superior to the great dark monarchs. They were fairly close to the supremes in power. As the wielder of the Tempest¡ªthe fastest and most ferocious of all grand magnums¡ªeven a supreme would find the Wolf Sovereign an extremely difficult opponent.

    The werewolves were highly populous and boasted a great number of experts across their three continents.

    Despite all that, the werewolves were mercilessly left out during the pioneering of the new world. The reason behind this was definitely a topic worth pondering on. Some people believed that the werewolves had offended a certain supreme, while others felt that the great prophets had foreseen the fall of their race.

    None of the various exnations was enough to convince anyone, but one thing gradually became certain.

    There was something of great benefit hidden in the new world, something so big that even the supremes were willing to lower themselves to fight for it. It was so important that they weren¡¯t willing to share, and that was why the supreme-less werewolf race was mercilessly left out. It was all so that they wouldn¡¯t have to split another quota.

    The werewolves¡¯ state of affairs deserved sympathy, but the vampires¡¯ sudden change in attitude was also quite surprising. It would seem that the dark races were starting to push for superiority in their contest for the number one Evernight race. The demonkin were as arrogant as they were powerful, oftentimes surpassing the vampires in the distribution of benefits.

    In the most recent decade, there was a stark contrast between the two races¡¯ active great dark monarch. The Eternal me with his Sable Blessing was widely epted as superior to the Lightless Monarch Medanzo. The gap in strength never changed even with the rise of Prince Habsburg.

    The Queen of the Night Lilith was undoubtedly the number one expert, but she remained in deep slumber most of the time and would only appear on the Sacred Mountain in the form of a projection. This was the first time the queen had made repeated demands and forced the other races to make concessions.

    The Demon King and Spider Queenpromised at every step, going so far as to pay a steep price for the vampire race to take the field as per the agreed policy. Didn¡¯t this mean that the entire Evernight faction was helpless, that only the vampires could deal with Song Zining and Zhao Jundu?

    When did the vampire race produce such a genius?

    The topic of vampire geniuses led the Evernight council members to a certain name: Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s renunciation of the Empire and escape to the neutralnds was a big incident that shook the entire nation¡ªa general had fallen to his de after all. On one hand, the matter involved the fall of a high-ranking officer, while on the other, it proved Qianye¡¯s peerless talents. Pushing such a person out of the Empire was simply inexcusable.

    Then again, there were a lot ofplicated leads behind these things. The Empire ced a gag order, and surprisingly, the news didn¡¯t spread to Evernight, either. Without further information about his progress, Qianye eventually faded away from everyone¡¯s memories. He was now being mentioned again because people remembered that he was a bona fide vampire¡ªhe had even revealed his blood core back then.

    This theory was also refuted because Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn was extremely famous, and many dark race members had suffered in his hands before. Compared to Song Zining¡¯s Worldly Prosperity, Qianye¡¯s energy was purer, fiercer, and much more destructive. How could someone with Venus Dawn be a vampire?

    The entire Evernight faction was discussing this matter, but they were destined to never get an answer.

    When they dug up Qianye¡¯s achievements in detail, people discovered that the young genius had already broken through the divine champion realm and was now an important character. Not only had he taken down arge territory on Fort Continent, but he had also killed the Whitebone Duke.

    Although Whitebone wasn¡¯t a qualified duke¡ªand Qianye hadn¡¯t imed victory on his own¡ªbeing able to kill the target still spoke volumes of his ability.

    There were rumors that even Sousa had lost out in the new world.

    The more discussions took ce, the more Qianye became a puzzling mystery.

    ...

    In a secludednd unaffected by the storm outside, Nighteye was sitting at a cliffside and gazing at the boundless sea of clouds. This ce was extremely high up and the sky was clear, making it easy for one to forget about all secr worries.

    An elegant man in his middle ages walked over from behind. It only took him a few steps from over the horizon to Nighteye¡¯s side.

    He gazed out for a moment before sighing. ¡°Since I was a kid, I¡¯ve always wondered what exactly lies beneath this sea of clouds. Why would this Genesis Continent be a second holynd of our vampire race, a ce even more important than the Twilight Continent at certain times? Even now, I still wonder if the end of the River of Blood is indeed here or on one of the seven higher continents. Unfortunately, we can never reach the higher continents, and we cannot go down this sea of clouds.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°A ce even the great Azure King can¡¯t go, I naturally cannot, either. I¡¯m just here to take a look, I¡¯m not going down there.¡±

    The Azure King said, ¡°That¡¯s good then. This sea of clouds has always been an irresistible attraction for our race, but all of those who have gone down never returned. Even ck-Wing, with his Spatial sh and fearless nature, regretted his decision halfway after jumping in. He actually teleported out, but his divine wings had turned ck ever since. He might¡¯ve reached the Sacred Mountain if he didn¡¯t have to go through that.¡±

    ¡°There wouldn¡¯t even be a ck-Winged Monarch if he didn¡¯t dare to jump.¡±

    ¡°True. I looked everywhere before realizing you were here. What, interested in the River of Blood now?¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°No, I just felt that it¡¯s quieter here.¡±

    The Azure King nced back at the distant castle, saying, ¡°It is indeed. There are too many rumors swirling about in the outside world, things that might make you unhappy. Those rumors probably won¡¯t reach this ce.¡±

    ¡°Oh, they did.¡±

    ¡°Then you...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve tossed those who drivel in there.¡±

    The Azure King shook his head helplessly. ¡°You, sigh...¡±

    Nighteye replied indifferently, ¡°I know those who can actuallye here are descendants and geniuses of certain races. But, they¡¯re courting death if they think they can rely on that to offend me. If any of those powerhouses are dissatisfied, they cane to seek me out. I don¡¯t think they have the guts, though.¡±

    The Azure King said gently, ¡°There¡¯s really no need to go that far.¡±

    ¡°This body is too young, so young that people forget to maintain the basic level of respect. I don¡¯t have any tangible aplishments, either, so this is the only way to make a deeper impression. See? This ce is now a lot quieter after tossing those people down.¡±

    ¡°You still have a lot of resentments.¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been friends for over a thousand years, how can I not understand you?¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have such an old friend! I only just awakened my spirit, I¡¯ve forgotten the past.¡±

    The Azure King said helplessly, ¡°You just said this body is too young... Fine, whatever you say.¡±

    ¡°What business did you have with me?¡±

    The Azure King heaved a sigh of relief. ¡°You¡¯re finally willing to listen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been speaking all this time, haven¡¯t you? Did I stop you?¡±

    ¡°You would have driven me away if I had gotten straight to business.¡± The Azure King seemed helpless. ¡°Our current situation doesn¡¯t look good. The humans have arrived in cksun Valley and destroyed our base there.¡±

    Nighteye sounded surprised. ¡°What should I say? That it¡¯s not because we¡¯re useless, the enemy is simply too crafty?¡±

    The Azure King coughed. ¡°Erm... that is more or less the meaning.¡±

    ¡°So, they still want me to take the field?¡±

    ¡°It has to be you?¡±

    ¡°Why should I?¡±

    ¡°The demonkin and arachne have agreed to shoulder half of our sacrificial offerings. That¡¯s the lives of tens of thousands of our people we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°The cksun Valley, humph, that ce should never have been excavated.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already paid such a steep price, we can¡¯t turn back now.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight the humans, it¡¯ll affect my control of this identity. This girl¡¯s willpower is very strong and very troublesome. Find a way to deal with it yourselves.¡±

    The Azure King said after a moment of silence, ¡°This body¡¯s consciousness is still there?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    The Azure King sighed. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, how about we have someone elsee and persuade you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be the same whoeveres.¡±

    ¡°That person might be different.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Edward of the Perth n.¡±

    Surprised, Nighteye said coldly, ¡°You should know what will happen if you send him to me.¡±

    ¡°I know, Her Majesty knows, he knows as well.¡±

    ¡°Fine then. Let hime and I¡¯ll listen to what he has to say before his death.¡±

    The Azure King nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving then.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t see you off.¡±

    The Azure King sighed softly. ¡°You were just as cold a thousand years ago.¡±

    ¡°How should I know what I was like a thousand years ago?¡±

    Seeing that Nighteye had no intention of continuing the topic, the Azure King left while shaking his head. After taking the first step, he looked back and asked hesitantly, ¡°Are you really...¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You just said?¡±

    ¡°What did I just say?¡± Nighteye looked puzzled.

    The Azure King said, ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll ask you after we finish up in cksun Valley.¡±

    Nighteye nced at him with a frown. ¡°That¡¯ll take some time. Your time is limited, you should go back to sleep in the blood pond.¡±

    The Azure Kingughed wryly. ¡°How can I rest now? You saw the mess Medanzo has gotten the race into while Lilith and I weren¡¯t around. cksun Valley is really important, it¡¯s worth it even if I have to lose some lifespan. At least Her Majesty won¡¯t have to worry that much.¡±

    ¡°You worry about too many things.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t help it.¡±

    Seeing that she couldn¡¯t convince him, Nighteye asked, ¡°What did you want to ask just now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing important, it¡¯s fine even if I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Fine, as you wish.¡±

    The Azure King shook his head and drifted away. Gazing at his receding silhouette, Nighteye did feel somewhat curious as to what exactly he wanted to ask.

 Chapter 1317: Persuasion

    <h4>Chapter 1317: Persuasion</h4>

    The Genesis Continent held a mysterious attraction for the vampire race. Thendmass was in the shape of a circle, the center of which was upied by a boundless sea of clouds.

    The vampires had established a circr string of cities here. The environment was raging hot because of its proximity to the upper continentyer, and there was a mysterious attractive forceing from the depths of the sea of clouds. That was why the ordinary ns could only build establishments in the periphery; none but the twelve ancient ns possessed the right to build cities close to the center.

    Closest to the center¡ªwhere the sea of cloud¡¯s calling was the strongest¡ªthere was a small castle called Noctiluna.

    The Queen of the Night, Lilith, had built this castle personally when she first set foot on the Genesis Continent. It was little more than a stone house back then, far from the castle it was today. One after another, the subsequent second-generation primogenitors would upgrade the structure once they were strong enough to set foot on the continent.

    These people were just minor characters when they came to work on the castle. Their talents were high, but they had yet to bring them out at that point. It was already quite the struggle for them to remain near the sea of clouds, let alone build a majestic castle.

    The expansion of Castle Noctiluna stopped after the fall of the first second-generation primogenitor and was kept in the same shape thereafter. Each generation of vampires would only do maintenance and repairs, no longer building new structures. This was a form of respect for the Queen of the Night and tomemorate the fallen primogenitors.

    To this very day, only those with the highest bloodlines could approach the castle.

    At this moment, there was a ck-cloaked vampire walking slowly along the ins. He pulled back the hood to reveal a pale, sallow face. The handsomeness of yesteryears had been ruined by the ck, sunken eyes and pallid lips. There was no longer an ounce of spirit and vigor in him befitting of a vampire holy son.

    He paused to look up at the sky, narrowing his eyes at the overly fierce sunlight and revealing a disgusted expression. This ce was too close to the upperyers; vampires did not appreciate sunlight this strong.

    Edward put his cloak back on to block out the annoying sun and gazed into the distance. He could vaguely see the sea of clouds at the ends of his vision.

    His face flushed red, his breathing hastened, and his blood core began to beat faster. The calling from the depths of the cloud sea was so strong that he wanted to jump down.

    As a core character of the vampire race¡¯s newer generation and a primo who had epted Medanzo¡¯s origin blood, Edward was someone with both talent and willpower. Even someone of his caliber found it difficult to handle the attraction from the sea of clouds.

    This wasn¡¯t a bad thing, though. Edward felt quite proud of it in fact because the stronger one¡¯s bloodline, the stronger the attractive force. Now that the call was near-irresistibly strong, it could only mean that his talents had reached the peak.

    Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have be the holy son of the Perth n. No one had imagined, though, that the Queen of the Night would refuse to recognize the title that the Evernight Council had granted him. This caused his status among the vampires to drop drastically.

    When he failed to woo Nighteyeter on and resorted to threatening her, he also sowed the seeds for today¡¯s ending.

    He looked up at the distant Castle Noctiluna. Although he wasn¡¯t walking very fast, the end-point was right there, and he would get there sooner orter. He had already thought back to his entire life¡ªthe good things, the bad things, the satisfaction, and the regrets, everything.

    The conclusion he came to was that it wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t try hard enough. It was because this world was too unfriendly. He would never be able to withstand the majestic will of this world even if he were to reach a state of perfection.

    If only the Queen of the Night had valued him a bit more, if only Nighteye¡ªthen an ordinary primo¡ªhad followed him rather than betray the entire vampire race to be with that bastard, if only...

    There were too many ifs in his life. These scenarios never happened, nor would they ever happen, but they pierced into his heart like a thorn.

    Edward hastened his steps toward Castle Noctiluna, reporting his identity and intention as he arrived.

    There were actually two marquises in charge of the castle gates. They were still quite young in terms of vampire age, but they had clearly heard of Edward¡¯s name. Their expressions became rather odd when they heard he was here to see Nighteye; a bit of terror as well as a hint of schadenfreude. It was clear that Edward wasn¡¯t the one they feared.

    The holy son didn¡¯t care about these things anymore at this point. His thoughts had drifted to the depths of the sea of clouds, to the summoning call of the parent entity. He had avoided it for all too long, and now, it was finally time to respond.

    ¡°Enter! Why are you in a daze?¡± one of the guards said harshly.

    Edward felt anger well up in his heart. A small marquis would never dare talk to him like this under normal circumstances. However, Edward was in such despair that he couldn¡¯t be bothered to bicker with them. Even ring at them would be an unnecessary waste of energy, so he just entered quietly.

    Whisperedments arrived from behind him. ¡°What holy son? Just someching onto the Lightless Monarch¡¯s thigh.¡±

    ¡°If he had endured for two more years, the Azure King would¡¯ve woken up and he would¡¯ve gotten a better thigh.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, even Habsburg the ming Crown is much stronger.¡±

    These discussions weren¡¯t exactly hushed¡ªit was clear that those marquises didn¡¯t really care about Edward hearing them, but thetter was too dispirited to care. Was this the reason he had offended both Nighteye and the Azure King?

    He smiled wryly, ignoring the idle chatter behind him as he passed through the castle and walked toward the sea of clouds.

    Nighteye was still sitting there, almost as though she had never moved.

    Edward arrived beside her. He had already let go of everything at this point and was no longer afraid to look straight at her like he was a while ago.

    At a careful nce, he was able to appreciate Nighteye¡¯s beauty and her utter perfection¡ªshe was perfect from head to toe, even with the highest standards of beauty. It was a beauty that had far surpassed stunning and made one subconsciously want to distance themselves from her.

    She simply sat there, but Edward had to take a step back.

    Nighteye kept gazing at the sea of clouds while in deep thought, as though she never realized that Edward was here. The holy son said after a while, ¡°I¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    Nighteye remained motionless, nor did she seem like she was going to talk.

    Edward felt an indescribable sense of defeat. He had to muster his courage to even speak. ¡°I¡¯vee to convince you to do battle, by request of the Azure King.¡±

    This time, he had learned to be smarter. Without waiting for Nighteye to reply, he kept talking, ¡°I know you¡¯re going to ask me why must you fight, I also know you said you don¡¯t want to fight the humans. You said it¡¯s to suppress the residual will of this body, to make it easier for you to control. We all know that¡¯s just an excuse, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°If you think you can say what you want just because you¡¯re about to die, you can go and die now. The Azure King will find someone else to convince me.¡±

    Edward took a deep breath, his face red. He threw caution to the wind and said in a loud voice, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give it straight to you! There¡¯s no original will or whatnot, you¡¯ve always been you! You just can¡¯t let go of the human race, of that person, you just don¡¯t want to make an enemy out of him.¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°You think you¡¯re so smart, but saying it out loud is where you¡¯re dumb. Do you think the Azure King doesn¡¯t know?¡±

    Edward was livid. ¡°I know I¡¯m stupid, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve fallen to this kind of fate. What I want to say is that fighting humans is different from fighting that person. You have a reason to fight because the humanmander is a great enemy!¡±

    ¡°All my human enemies are dead.¡±

    ¡°No, there¡¯s still one alive and well, Song Zining!¡±

    ¡°What do I have against him?¡±

    Edward produced a letter and passed it to Nighteye. ¡°This is from one of the deepest assets we have in the human race.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression changed drastically as she read the short message. She looked up and said coldly, ¡°You¡¯ve been investigating my business in secret. The nerve!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the Lightless Monarch...¡±

    ¡°What the hell is Lightless? What is a great monarch to me when countless second-generation primogenitors have already fallen? Does he think himself immortal?¡±

    This topic was too shocking, so much so that Edward didn¡¯t dare continue even under present circumstances. He only said, ¡°Whatever the original intention was, at least we discovered some secrets rted to that person. Your former partner already has two children.¡±

    Nighteye was like a stone sculpture. She didn¡¯t move or even blink, almost as though time had frozen.

    Edward continued, ¡°Combining all the information we have, we came to the conclusion that the two children were conceived in the Great Maelstrom. That person was with Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann at the time. Li Kuann always dresses like a man but is actually Empress Li¡¯s younger sister.¡±

    Nighteye remained unmoved.

    ¡°Back then, the Young Lord Anwen had also entered the Great Maelstrom from the neutralnds. ording to him, the high-gravity regions of the maelstrom were odd in that people needed white fruit to get through the frigid nights. But those fruits were also extremely potent aphrodisiacs, a tool used by the locals to reproduce. This will exin why he has two children, that person has likely lost control and reasoning under the effects of the fruit. ¡°

    Nighteye crushed the paper into powder.

    Edward said, ¡°The key is in who arranged for Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann to be at Qianye¡¯s side. It¡¯s Song Zining! Other people might not know about the Great Maelstrom, but he¡¯s different. Song Zining¡¯s attainments in divination are shocking, and that didn¡¯t happen overnight! These human divination experts have a lot of power, at least they have ess to certain information and records. It¡¯s impossible for him not to know about this oue. Also, he made a lot of secret arrangements before entering the Great Maelstrom. From what we know, it was only after he met Empress Li in secret that the empress dispatched Li Kuann to the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°I have more, do you want to listen?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

 Chapter 1318: Secret of the Sinkhole

    <h4>Chapter 1318: Secret of the Sinkhole</h4>

    The tactful Edward stopped talking and gazed at the sea of clouds. He suddenly heaved an emotional sigh. Once upon a time, he was a representation of the vampire race¡¯s future, gathering all glory and favor upon himself. The only ones he needed topete against were people like the Demoness, Anwen, and Basil. William was still young, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about the fellow for a good while.

    How could he have expected such an oue back then? The world was constantly changing and uncontroble, just like the rolling sea of clouds.

    Just as Edward was lost in thought, he heard Nighteye¡¯s voice from behind him. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you jumping?¡±

    Edward was startled. As a spirited warrior, he felt truly aggrieved and unwilling that he was given no choice but to return to the dust. He let out a long howl and leaped toward the sea of clouds, shooting forward over a thousand meters at the speed of lightning. It was at this moment that a powerful force locked into his body and slowed down his flow of blood energy by more than half.

    Unable to keep himself afloat, Edward slowly sank down with no way of making it back to shore.

    In his despair, Edward turned back and shouted, ¡°Do you feel just a bit of regret? Is that why you¡¯re not doing it yourself?¡±

    Nighteye said coldly, ¡°I just couldn¡¯t be bothered.¡±

    In despair, Edward fell into the clouds and disappeared thereafter.

    Nighteye finally stood up and returned to the castle. Several young counts surrounded her, passing her tea and attending to her every need along the way.

    These vampires were young geniuses of the race and came from respectable backgrounds, yet Nighteye had immediately tossed several of those who had been gossiping about her and Qianye into the sea of clouds. The families behind those unlucky souls didn¡¯t dare say a word, so the others understood that none of them could afford to offend her.

    The holy son of the Perth n was a glorious marquis in rank. He had also obtained a drop of Medanzo¡¯s origin blood, which made him half a descendant. Who else would dare provoke her when even Edward had been forced to jump into the sea of clouds? Vampires were a long-lived race. None wished to forfeit their lives when they still had a good thousand years ahead of them. All they needed was to have a sense of tact and propriety.

    Hence, these young geniuses dispensed with their posturing and wouldn¡¯t even hesitate if they had to bury their faces in the mud. They were even more devoted in attending to Nighteye than they would the Queen of the Night.

    Nighteye sat down before her study window, enjoying some random snacks and tea. ¡°Inform the Azure King, tell him that I need my armor and weapons. Also, schedule an airship to the door on Twilight Continent.¡±

    Mustering up his courage, a young vampire said excitedly, ¡°Are you going into battle? Can you bring me? I¡¯m willing to die for you!¡±

    Considering her status and looks, Nighteye could be considered the dream of every vampire. This young count even fell to his knees and begged to be taken along.

    Nighteye kept sipping tea and didn¡¯t even look up. ¡°You guys are too ugly.¡±

    ...

    cksun Valley in the new world. A group of people was traveling carefully through the area, avoiding the ck fires scattered almost everywhere as they advanced.

    Every member of this group was a divine champion, clearly the cream of the Empire¡¯s crop. Song Zining and Zhao Jundu walked side by side at the front, and none of the dukes behind them looked dissatisfied about having to follow them.

    After Duke Yuanguang¡¯s incident, these dukes clearly understood that Song Zining, despite his young age, possessed a top-grade origin power and was extremely powerful despite his recent ascension. Zhao Jundu, on the other hand, was even stronger ording to Song Zining himself. Although it was said that Zhao Jundu hade to a stop at the early divine champion stage, weren¡¯t the other dukes the same? Besides, fighting power wasn¡¯t dependent on rank alone.

    Having passed through the ck mes, the group arrived before the sinkhole. Their expressions shifted drastically as they gazed upon the ck fire pirs bursting out from it.

    Back when Song Zining and Zhao Jundu had seen the entire valley, the sinkhole didn¡¯t look all that big from their angle.

    Only when they were standing at its edge did they realize that it was tens of thousands of meters wide, and there seemed to be no end to the ck fire spurting out from within. No one dared approach despite being divine champions as a simple contact with the fire would reduce them to ashes.

    One of the dukes said, ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°This is the dark race¡¯s secret? T-This... What kind of secret is that? Even if there¡¯s some sort of secret down there, there¡¯s no way to go down and look for it.¡±

    The experienced Duke Shunmu said, ¡°Even a heavenly monarch might not be able to enter with these ck mes around.¡±

    Another duke chimed in, ¡°These fires are produced by burning darkness origin power, ordinary shields won¡¯tst long in them. I wonder what exactly is in there that would produce such vicious mes.¡±

    Song Zining and Zhao Jundu frowned in silence. Momentster, the former said, ¡°These ck mes seem to be distorting our perception. I can barely use my divination arts here, even at the expense of efficiency.¡±

    Zhao Jundu reached out to touch the ck fire. When he pulled his finger back to observe, the skin at the point of contact had been charred ck. The origin barrier he had used to resist the fire was only half effective.

    After observing the wound, Zhao Jundu said, ¡°These mes are just as damaging to the dark races. If we can¡¯t go down, they can¡¯t, either. But...¡±

    Seeing his hesitation, Song Zining shot him a strange nce. ¡°There are no strangers here, what¡¯s there that you can¡¯t say?¡±

    Zhao Junduughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s nothing really, I just didn¡¯t want to believe it myself. It¡¯s just a guess and might not be correct at all.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your guess, let¡¯s hear it?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, your understanding is nothing but brilliant.¡± The other dukes were also curious.

    Zhao Jundu pointed at the sinkhole. ¡°Look, don¡¯t you think the sinkhole is too round and the insides too smooth?¡±

    The dukes were puzzled. ¡°There are a lot of round sinkholes in the Empire as well. As for the walls, the prolonged exposure to the ck mes must¡¯ve made them smooth. What¡¯s wrong with it?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°The aura here makes me feel restless, and it¡¯s not just one type.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Jundu had been undergoing refinement in fire for quite some time. His origin power had turned from azure to purple, and then almost entirely dark. However, he had used energy systems to exin that this wasn¡¯t darkness origin power but a form of daybreak energy that no one had seen before. Many Imperial experts had confirmed this statement, suppressing the suspicions people had about his cultivation art.

    As he went deeper and deeper into the refinement, Zhao Jundu¡¯sbat strength increased exponentially. Not to mention an ordinary early divine champion, he might even have a chance against a superior divine champion. Even a great dark monarch might not be able to instill fear in him.

    The dukes held their breath in silence, waiting for the conclusion. Although they were prepared, the final guess still shocked everyone.

    ¡°I suspect that this sinkhole didn¡¯t exist before. It must¡¯ve been dug out by the supremes of the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    Duke Yuanguang swallowed hard. ¡°Such a massive sinkhole, is that even possible?¡±

    Each supreme of the Sacred Mountain had lived longer than the history of the Empire itself, and their might was a legend.

    Some people even believed that the three of them could cut a continent in half if they so willed it. Additionally, there were also differing opinions on why the Void Valley Star had fallen down to the neutralnds.

    It wouldn¡¯t be impossible for the three supremes to work together to create this sinkhole. But what was going on with the unending stream of ck mes?

    Song Zining¡¯s brows rxed. ¡°I¡¯ve figured it out now that you mentioned it.¡±

    ¡°What did you figure out?¡±

    ¡°Darksun valley is so important that Jaero would risk his life to stop us from approaching, but there aren¡¯t many soldiers here. The reason is probably because the three supremes had opened this sinkhole but couldn¡¯t get into the passage. Hence, they focused their limited troops on expansion. That is the only way to get more troops into the new world.¡±

    Song Zining continued, ¡°There was no proper response even after we destroyed that fortress. This proves that they know we can¡¯t enter, either. These ck mes are fierce, but they will die out at one point. That is when the dark races will retaliate in full force.¡±

    ¡°Then what do we do?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°We¡¯ll fight myriad changes with consistency, we continue bleeding the dark races. Even if we can¡¯t get our hands on whatever is inside, we must have them pay an arm and a leg for the treasure.¡±

    The dukes¡¯ fighting spirit saw a sharp increase.

    Song Zining said after a moment of silent calction, ¡°We have about three days of safe time. I¡¯ll trouble you all to map out the surroundingndscape with as much detail as you can. Divination doesn¡¯t work very well here, so the quality of this map will decide our fate.¡±

    The dukes epted their respective missions, with Zhao Jundu taking on three areas alone. His current origin power was a bit simr to the ck mes, so his tolerance was much greater. Song Zining didn¡¯t hold back, either, emboldened by the principle of letting the capable do more work.

    Song Zining¡¯s intention was clear at this point. He was seeking to use theplicatedndscape to contend with the dark races, dealing as much damage as he could to their elite troops.

    Only at this point did the dukes understand why Song Zining had no intention of building a base here. Being tied down to a stronghold would make it easier for the enemy to trace them. Roaming battles were currently the best tactic to bring out Song Zining¡¯s skills.

    ¡°I wonder who the dark races will send to their deaths this time.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be an easy enemy for sure. The useless ones will die in our hands without even needing the heavenly monarch to take action.¡±

    ¡°Haha, Brother Zheng¡¯s Thousand Bindings is a celebrated take-down art. The dark races won¡¯t be able to escape once caught.¡±

    ¡°You praise it too much. If we run into a prince or a great dark monarch, it¡¯ll only serve to restrict them for a moment. Tying them down is impossible.¡±

    The dukes chatted happily as they left toplete their objectives.

 Chapter 1319: Battle at the Sinkhole

    <h4>Chapter 1319: Battle at the Sinkhole</h4>

    The dark races didn¡¯t give the Empire much time to prepare. Several armies arrived in less than three days, assailing the sinkhole from several directions.

    The sinkhole itself was tens of thousands of meters wide, surrounded by an even wider area covered in ck mes. The entire stretch ofnd was about the size of an Imperial province.

    A hundred thousand soldiers hardly made a ssh when they were spread out in the region. The Imperial forces never left the sinkhole, a clear indication that Song Zining nned to fight the enemy head-on.

    The dark races had no reason to shy away from the challenge. The sinkhole was filled with raging mes at the moment, but even the supremes didn¡¯t know when they would die out. Every day that the humans remained near the sinkhole was an extra day of risk.

    The battlefield was so wide that neither side could lock down the other¡¯s movements. Even though there were only a couple of routes near the sinkhole, there were still too many leading to the periphery. The ck mes in the hilly terrain were also changing constantly, and no one knew when it would gush out from a crack in the ground and cut off a path. This added greatly to the variables involved.

    At this moment, Zhao Jundu and Song Zining were atop a mountaintop, surrounded by raging ck mes. However, there was a dark origin power pulsing around the former¡¯s body which served to suppress the ze. He was actually deploying Omniscient Seal with his newfound origin power.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s ck origin power was draining at an unusually slow rate amidst the mes. It looked like he would have no problem holding out for one day and night.

    Song Zining was looking much more rxed within the range of the Omniscient Seal.

    He nced at Zhao Jundu, saying, ¡°Your origin power is really strange. It can actually resist the ck mes. I¡¯dst a couple of hours at most in your shoes.¡±

    ¡°My origin power was refined in the new world, so it¡¯s only natural to be a bit more resistant.¡±

    ¡°I... guess that¡¯s a valid reason.¡±

    Song Zining gazed into the distance. A dozen or so kilometers away, a group of dark race soldiers was advancing toward the sinkhole. Their formation stretched far behind the lead, consisting of at least ten thousand people. This unit was not inferior to the Empire¡¯s Red Scorpion or Broken-Winged Angels, be it in terms of their aura or equipment.

    Although they weren¡¯t too far, the duo was not afraid of being exposed because of the ck mes. The ze suppressed perception exponentially and, although they didn¡¯t emit light, looking at them was even more ufortable than looking straight at the sun. Only those who could inste the mes with origin power would remain unharmed.

    Song Zining frowned slightly. Apparently, he had sensed that the enemy wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Zhao Jundu spoke all of a sudden, ¡°We¡¯ve already seen three such squads, haven¡¯t we?¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°This is the fourth. If we count the ordinary ones, the dark races have gathered... at least three hundred thousand soldiers?¡±

    He was shocked by the number as he said it, but his expression rxed soon afterward. ¡°No matter, more contributions for us.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°Don¡¯t rush. Are you really confident about winning against so many dark race soldiers?¡±

    ¡°We can slowly whittle them away. Do you really not trust me?¡±

    Zhao Jundu frowned. ¡°Give me a reason to.¡±

    Song Zining shrugged helplessly. ¡°Fine, the reason is that I can still use divination even in this ce. It¡¯s just that the results are blurry and it involves more effort.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was surprised. After some thought, he fished out some divination tokens and tossed them to the ground.

    ¡°So you know a bit of divination as well...¡± Song Zining hadn¡¯t finished speaking when the tokens burst into mes and were soon reduced to ashes. Zhao Jundu groaned and went pale.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Seeing you so cautious gives me confidence that you won¡¯t go mad any time soon.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°But I think you¡¯ve already gone mad.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Is three hundred thousand soldiers a lot?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a sizable number, considering they were sent here.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s reasoning was sound because those who could fight in cksun Valley were the elite among elites. The Empire could only send a hundred and fifty thousand qualified soldiers, while the dark race reinforcements were arriving constantly.

    ¡°There will be three hundred thousand more if I¡¯m not wrong.¡±

    ¡°That many?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that the werewolves have three more continents.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t they exclude the werewolves?¡±

    ¡°That was before Jaero¡¯s death. I¡¯m guessing they¡¯ve reshuffled their power structure after the general was lured out and killed by Prince Greensun. I think we¡¯ll see the werewolf army before long.¡±

    ¡°I would never send my elites here if I were the werewolf leader,¡± said Zhao Jundu.

    ¡°Those who can enter the valley won¡¯t be very weak.¡±

    Zhao Jundu slowly nodded.

    ¡°What, afraid now?¡±

    Zhao Jundu replied calmly, ¡°I fear that if there are too many enemies, the Empire won¡¯t be able to reward us for all of them.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°We can demand two more provinces for your family.¡±

    Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help but look surprised despite his usual calmness. That was because Song Zining¡¯s suggestion had actually stepped over an unspoken red line. In the past, a major n would never be granted more than five provinces no matter how prosperous it was. Even the Zhang n, at its current peak, only owned four. Even then, the fourth province was away from their ancestral territories and still in the process of development.

    The Zhao n already owned You and Yan provinces. They had already captured their third but hadn¡¯t named it because the rebel army hadn¡¯t been wiped out just yet. In truth, the Zhao n was already making ns for a fourth province, a territory tailor-made for Zhao Jundu. However, it was dyed because of the war in the new world and Zhao Jundu¡¯s damaged foundations.

    People didn¡¯t expect too much from him at first, but now, things were looking decent after going through refinement in fire. At least, he had reached a realm no one had ever reached before. Seeing that his origin power was turning into pure darkness and about to break out, some in the family started bringing up this project again.

    An important part of the n was to use Qianye as a bargaining chip to seek an honorary duke title that could be inherited.

    Zhao Jundu and Song Zining had racked up countless contributions in the new world. If they could route the dark race army here at the gateway to the inner world, two provinces would not be enough as a reward.

    The Empire¡¯s rewards for military aplishments had always been the most generous, and they were almost never discounted. This was the founding principle of the Great Qin Empire. Hence, even though it would break ancestral traditions, adding two more provinces to the Zhao n wasn¡¯t impossible.

    Zhao Jundu had never thought about this, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel excited at the idea. After all, he had grown up in a major n, so the concept of territories and status were a part of his being. Even though he had little in terms of desire, his heart began to beat faster after hearing about the possibility. Morend meant more space for his n to expand and grow.

    It was the same for Song Zining. He nced at Zhao Jundu enviously, saying, ¡°You have it good, at least you still have family and foundations. I¡¯ll get a province at most, everything else will just be empty rewards.¡±

    ¡°A prince title isn¡¯t empty.¡±

    Song Zining replied hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯ll pass on that.¡±

    ¡°Empress Li will make arrangements for you,¡± Zhao Jundu said meaningfully.

    Song Zining shivered. ¡°Please, no!¡±

    ¡°You seem to be afraid of her?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve done some shameful deeds.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s expression was stern.

    ¡°Of course not, all I do is beneficial to the Li family.¡±

    ¡°Things that are beneficial to them means it¡¯s detrimental to other families?¡±

    Song Zining was cautious with his words, but Zhao Jundu simply wouldn¡¯t let go. In the end, the former shrugged helplessly and said, ¡°What do I do if I don¡¯t work for Empress Li? Do I help that Imperial consort from your n?¡±

    Zhao Jundu was dumbfounded. Compared to Empress Li, that consort was far inferior both in terms of ability and looks. She was the result of the elder generation¡¯s stubbornness that hadsted until this very day.

    Especially that incident where she tried to incite disharmony between the Emperor and Imperial Steward Lin, then brought Prince Greensun into it as well. The heavenly monarch still wasn¡¯t happy whenever he met the Zhao n¡¯s dukes. This kind of skill in offending people was practically unmatched. This also made people gossip about the Zhao n¡¯s ambitions in the Imperial court.

    ¡°Enough about these things, let¡¯s get ready for war. I have a feeling that this fight won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°The dark races have suffered greatly in our hands, so they¡¯ll surely try toe up with countermeasures. They¡¯ve probably picked the sacrificial piece as well, so we¡¯ll have to decide whether to take it or not.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    The two left the mountaintop to join their units and prepare for the uing battle.

    The sounds of battle broke out near the gateway to the inner world, much to the surprise of Song Zining and Zhao Jundu as they once again split up.

    Making use of the local terrain, the Empire set up fortifications at the major crossroad leading to the gateway. Apparently, they were going to fight a head-on defensive battle against the dark races. Song Zining, on the other hand, roamed about unpredictably. His whereabouts were difficult to pinpoint, making it so that the dark races would always have to worry about their rear and supply lines.

    Splitting up was a bad idea at first, especially as the Imperial forces were weaker than the enemy. The dark races¡¯ frontlinemander thought that the humans had finally revealed an opening, so he issued the order for a fierce assault.

    However, the dark race army faced fierce resistance beneath the Empire¡¯s makeshift fortifications. Zhao Jundu himself stood atop the barricade to fight alongside the soldiers, his dark origin power sweeping the enemies in like a tornado and grinding them into pieces.

    Zhao Jundu was soon covered in wounds. This time, however, the dark race experts were broken down into essence within the ck origin power. Zhao Jundu¡¯s wounds began to heal at a visible rate as he absorbed this energy.

    How was anyone to fight him like this? Even the arachne and demonkin found this strange ck energy to be rather evil. And Zhao Jundu¡¯s current regeneration was even faster than the vampire¡¯s bloodboil state.

    Just like that, the dark race army¡¯s losses reached an rming level, but themander clenched his jaws and hung on because the defenders were also falling in droves.

    The dark races¡¯ losses were greater, but they knew they had superiority in numbers. The humans would be the first to fall at this rate, and themander felt that his losses might not be too bad in the end.

    It was at this time that killing intent burst out behind as Song Zining appeared with arge army. The rear guard couldn¡¯t even send a message as they were wiped out.

    The dark races¡¯ three-hundred-thousand-strong army was routed by the pincer attack, with less than half of them making it back.

    When the same scenario repeated itself, the dark races finally realized where the problem was. How had Song Zining taken out the forces in the rear without letting a single person escape?

    The dark races didn¡¯t want to attack again before solving this problem, but the Empire began to bring in arge batch of construction machinery. It looked as though they wanted to build up and research the gateway.

 Chapter 1320: Reopening Trade

    <h4>Chapter 1320: Reopening Trade</h4>

    Compared to the raging war in the new world, Fort Continent was as calm as a secluded paradise.

    Since realizing the existence of the new world¡¯s malicious intent and identally obtaining its goodwill, Qianye no longer feared Sousa all that much. Heunched repeated attacks, beating the Moond werewolves into a miserable corner.

    Qianye had proven that he could harm Sousa with Dragonsgrave, and thetter had no idea whether or not Eunuch Liu had left. So, he simply chose not to appear and ignored his subordinate werewolves no matter how badly they were being beaten.

    Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t push things too far¡ªthe great dark monarch might just appear andunch a thunderous attack if he were to get too close to the Moond door, and he might be able to escape back to the Evernight World before the malicious intent could damage him.

    As for whether Qianye himself could take on an attack from Sousa, there was no need to even think about it.

    Qianye thus drew a border three hundred kilometers from the Moond door, attacking all werewolves who had crossed the line. He himself would not take a step beyond it, either. The werewolves also realized the presence of this line as time went by. They no longer expanded in this direction, choosing instead to pioneer newnd on the opposite side.

    As Qianye flipped through the battle-reports, he found that some of the numbers didn¡¯t make much sense. The Moond werewolves had been expanding for so long, yet their numbers in the new world were actually dwindling?

    Qianye relied on the concealment of the holy trees to investigate the area around the werewolves¡¯ door. Could it be that Sousa felt so ashamed that he had decided to give up on the new world?

    Qianye immediately refuted his own idea. The benefits in the new world were unimaginable¡ªthe holy tree, its sap, and the stony metal were all priceless treasures. Even random rocks on the roadside were treasures like dark golden sandstone.

    Seeing that Qianye had stabilized his footing, all kinds of people from the dark race flocked to Fort Continent in hopes of doing business with him. There were quite a few demonkin, arachne, and vampires in Cerulean Wave City. Of course, there were a lot of humans as well.

    The many different races were able to live harmoniously since all of them were here for business. As for war, that was something beyond the walls of the city.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected such a situation. All those arriving in Cerulean Wave would head over to tour the ancestral altar after hearing about Qianye¡¯s legends as the son of darkness. And the great shaman never refused anyone¡ªhe was all too proud and happy to let these ignorant bumpkins gaze upon the aura of the son of darkness.

    The level of Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was so high that all spectators were left in awe. The weaker ones would go weak in the knees and fall down in prostration. Experts with stronger bloodlines were also shaken as they could vaguely sense the darkness origins within.

    Seeing everyone¡¯s shock and awe, the great shaman felt so satisfied that all of his pores were gushing with darkness origin power. The werewolves of Fort Continent had always been looked down upon, but they could finally feel proud at this moment. He secretly uttered some words of disdain, ¡°Ignorant fools!¡±

    This made the dark races of Cerulean Wave City even more obedient. Especially those experts who could sense the darkness origins, they were as docile as little kittens.

    The other three races had it easier, but the vampires were badly suppressed by the bloodline. Many of them fell limp to the ground. After hearing of this, new vampire arrivals would head to the ancestral altar in an attempt to prove themselves. Most of them went in walking but ended up being carried out by the werewolves. They didn¡¯t mind this oue, however, and only paid respect to the altar and left.

    Everyone had a tacit understanding of what this meant.

    With the experts being so docile, their subordinates also turned into good-tempered people. In addition to always greeting native werewolves with a smile, they treated the humans even better. After all, the humans had money and were potential business partners.

    The humans in the city wereposed of those from Zheng, the Empire, and the neutralnds. Those from the neutralnds had always lived together with the dark races, so they had no problem at all. Zheng was a country that had been pushed to the brink of destruction at one point, so there was no way they would dare to act rashly in the presence of so many foreign experts. As for the Imperial nobility, they understood that there was money to be made by trading with the dark races. Why would they want to kill instead of doing business?

    Qianye was initially worried about putting so many races together in Cerulean Wave City, but every time he came back from the new world, he would see them living together in joyful harmony.

    He had a feeling that something was odd, but Song Hui¡¯s reports grew better and better each day. Although the Empire had jammed Qianye¡¯s sourcing route by means of the war tax, there was still a steady stream of military suppliesing in from the Evernight faction, eventually exceeding the Empire in volume. From a certain perspective, one could even say that Evernight was supporting Qianye¡¯s expansion.

    It was rather ironic, but it was the truth.

    Qianye was expanding faster and faster in the new world, and his territory was growing at great speed. Since obtaining the goodwill of the new world, he suffered no more limitations when entering the forests, and that proved to be a cmity for the six-armed creatures and beasts. If the surprise attack was sessful, even a six-armed general from a four-holy-tree grove would have its head blown off by Dragonsgrave.

    Qianye discovered that the holy tree was like a parent, while he and the six-armed creatures were children fighting for its favor. It was just that things were crueler in the new world and the fight would go on until one was dead.

    As his territory grew bigger and the holy trees under his control grew in number, the tactical resources in his grasp began to pile up like mountains.

    Since the Empire was treating him like this, Qianye had no ns to give them any resources. On the other hand, he also kept tight control on the amount of holy tree sap and stony metal flowing into the Evernight faction. As for the other resources, he couldn¡¯t be bothered too much.

    The situation made it evident that the schemers in the Empire had miscalcted. Qianye could still obtain a steady stream of necessary supplies from the other side, not to mention a fair number of elite armaments. Although it would be a bit troublesome to remodel Evernight equipment for humans, werewolves made up the bulk of Qianye¡¯s army, so the supply from the neutralnds was just enough.

    Besides, the Evernight Faction was different from the Empire in that each major race controlled their own domain. There were also many minor races without a definite leader. It was difficult to restrict all of them when everyone wanted to do business and get rich. They couldn¡¯t just block the shipping routes like the Empire and its Imperial Guard. As for the council, things in the new world were enough to give them a headache. How could the supremes have time to deal with the flow of weaponry?

    Since Qianye could obtain resources and supplies from other routes, his expansion efforts were hardly affected by the Empire¡¯s restrictions. For those who had been expecting Qianye to lower his head and ept the excessively harsh conditions, the oue couldn¡¯t be farther from their expectations.

    Things fell into a deadlock. They knew Qianye held arge stash of holy tree sap, but there was no way for them to get their hands on it. At the moment, they needed it urgently to send more troops into the new world. All they could do was rely on the harvest from the Qin and Western Continents, but it was impossible for them to contend against Evernight¡¯s dozen or so continents with the supply from two. This war would end in defeat no matter how miraculous Song Zining¡¯s skills were as amander.

    At first, this group criticized Qianye in the Imperial court. They med him for having untoward intentions, for stashing holy tree sap rather than supplying the Empire.

    But this kind of imusible argument was beyond empty. Very soon, others could no longer sit still and started ming them for destroying the good deal that had existed before. No one with half a temper would continue working with a fifty percent levy.

    A steady stream of reports arrived from Fort Continent while the two sides were attacking one another. There were many signs that Qianye had firmly suppressed the Moond werewolves, so much so that even Sousa didn¡¯t dare make an appearance. He was also expanding at extreme speeds and had upied nearly three continents¡¯ worth of forests, far exceeding the Empire in this regard.

    With Qianye¡¯s full support and the potential recovery of the Transcendent Continent, the Empire would control a supply of holy trees equalling six continents. Evernight only controlled twelve continents after the exclusion of the werewolves, so it was no longer impossible to fight them. They only needed to follow the same strategy of focusing all attacks on a single race while keeping the others divided.

    More importantly, Qianye possessed the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The airship was a superweapon in the new world, almost capable of going up against Evernight on its own.

    Such a great situation had been ruined, all for a few crates of holy tree sap.

    Those who had been iming they had Qianye in their grasp decided to throw caution to the wind, suggesting that the Empire use military power to force Qianye to bow.

    The group came under fierce attack once this suggestion was proposed. Someone made it clear for them to see¡ªQianye was a rare genius of the generation, to begin with, and now, he was equipped with Dragonsgrave, a weapon almostparable to a magnum. Who would be able to defeat him? Was the Empire supposed to mobilize a heavenly monarch for this?

    If one of them was wounded for such a matter, who would guarantee that Evernight wouldn¡¯t send one of their great dark monarchs to attack the Empire? And that wasn¡¯t even considering whether they would agree to attack Qianye.

    Additionally, the aristocratic families who had interests in Fort Continent utilized all kinds of connections to attack this group. It was said that cutting off one¡¯s path to riches was akin to killing one¡¯s parents. These people hated the group to the bones and werepletely unscrupulous with their methods.

    The number of people who wanted a slice of the cake wasn¡¯t small. Even some of the high-ranking aristocracy were interested. Not willing to let the Yin and Kong families take all of the good stuff, these families also helped out in secret. In the blink of an eye, the group sumbed under thebined assault of all these aristocratic families. They had no choice but to push out some low-level characters as scapegoats.

    ...

    At this point, the battles in the central region of the new world had reached the climax. The Song-Zhao duo was sending three urgent reports a day, asking for men and equipment.

    Song Zining made it clear that he would conscript experts from a handful of aristocratic families if he wasn¡¯t given more soldiers. The families he specified by name were the ones who had imposed a tax on Fort Continent. Sending in more troops meant a greater amount of holy tree sap.

    Song Zining held great power at this point and was the key to the Empire¡¯s fate in the new world. He had penned this report himself, shedding all forms of pretenses and leaving no face at all for the involved parties. He listed all these families one after another, demanding that they either resolve the issue regarding the holy tree sap or send their core experts into the new world to join the fight.

    Everyone knew that these nsmen would never return once they were in Song Zining¡¯s hands.

    Thenguage was even harsher in thestest urgent missive. He stated that while his soldiers were fighting to the death on the frontlines, some people were obstructing their supplies for personal gains. He warned that this was beginning to hurt morale, and that he wouldn¡¯t be able to control the troops if the issue wasn¡¯t resolved as soon as possible.

    A mutiny on the front lines would affect the Empire¡¯s fate. This urgent report shook everyone within and outside the Imperial court.

    In truth, some people had doubts whether or not the situation had deteriorated to the point of mutiny, but no one dared to take that risk with Song Zining. There was simply no telling what he would do. Back in the year, Lin Xitang and Zhang Boqian would keep each other in check, but there was no one to deal with Song Zining at this point. Zhao Jundu? The fourth young master was even less reasonable.

    The Pointer Monarch stood silently for a while after reading the report. ¡°Good move, very bold.¡±

    Early the next day, the Radiant Emperor summoned the Imperial court to discuss re-opening trade with Fort Continent.

 Chapter 1321: Escaping Calamity

    <h4>Chapter 1321: Escaping Cmity</h4>

    Fort Continent. Qianye had once again returned to Cerulean Wave City from the new world.

    Standing on the balcony of the duke¡¯s residence, the city before him felt somewhat unfamiliar.

    The city borders and arge stretch ofnd outside of the gates used to be a poor, filthy area upied by small huts. Now, thend had been leveled and was covered in buildings of diverse characteristics.

    The neatly plotted street blocks made it easy to see the areas belonging to the demonkin, vampires, and werewolves. Thetter race upied several such areas, with the Jade Sea, great corridor, and Storm Territory werewolves exhibiting their preferences. The werewolves from Evernight¡¯s continents shared a different characteristic altogether.

    The same was true for humans. At a nce, there were different styles in architecture between people from the Empire, Zheng, and the neutralnds.

    Each district was neatly divided into squares, divided by wide roads. By contrast, the old city area where the chiefs and shamans were staying looked more like a poor district.

    How could those proud werewolves be willing to take this? The werewolves of Fort Continent might be primitive, but these important characters were quite wealthy. The resources they had umted over the years were only good for show before the influx of foreign trade, but now, they could be converted into money.

    Their eyes lit up when they saw the outsiders¡¯ buildings. They soon invited craftsmen from either the Empire or Evernight to renovate their quarters ording to their preferences.

    As such, Cerulean Wave City turned into arge construction-site with buildings everywhere being overhauled. Before they were finished, Qianye could tell that their styles were different even within the same district. The finished work would surely be a disorderly mess and still inferior to the new districts.

    In truth, the nning of the poor district was Song Hui¡¯s work. She couldn¡¯t be bothered to follow the Empire¡¯s tradition of building perfect cities¡ªleaning on mountains, facing the water, and beautiful scenery at every step. She only drew simple horizontal and vertical lines on the map to get the job done. The only thing she contributed to the good nning was making the roads wider.

    It just so happened that the werewolf shamans in charge of architecture were fairly limited in their knowledge, and this kind of drawing was their favorite. They implemented it down to the smallest details, bringing about the brand new Cerulean Wave City of today.

    In addition to the residential areas, there were alsorge districts dedicated to trade where stalls and shops were popping up like bamboo shoots after the spring rain. One could almost see gold coins rolling in just by looking at the bustling crowds.

    Naturally, Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered with such trivial matters. He was just about to return to his room when he noticed a familiar figure from the corner of his eyes. Surprised, he flickered out of existence and appeared before that person. Qianye¡¯s movement skills had reached near-perfection at this point, so much so that no one in the bustling street block noticed his Spatial sh.

    Before him was a poor-looking man with unkempt facial hair. It was William.

    Thetter looked up without much surprise. ¡°Perfect, I was just about to visit you. Treat me to a drink, I¡¯m in a sour mood.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Shall we drop into a random tavern or go back to my ce.¡±

    William waved his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s look for a tavern. Your ce is too empty, there¡¯s no drinking-atmosphere.¡±

    Qianye had no special preference. Cerulean Wave was now a city of many races, but fortunately, everyone¡¯s alcoholic requirements remained the same. Hence, there were all kinds of taverns scattered across the city.

    Qianye had retracted his aura and William was safe behind his bedraggled disguise. No one could recognize the duo as they made their way to a crowded establishment and took up a table in the corner.

    They hadn¡¯t sat down when William sniffed about, saying, ¡°They actually have Legrange at such a ce? Ah, Sherry too... and what¡¯s that? St. Rnd?¡±

    His eyes lit up as he named several famous drinks.

    Qianye knew little about alcohol as all wine tasted rather simr to him. Since William was interested, he called a waiter over and said, ¡°Do you have the wines he just named?¡±

    The waiter replied proudly, ¡°Sire, don¡¯t be fooled by the small storefront. We¡¯re actually a famous chain tavern with over four hundred branches across three continents. This is our first store on Fort Continent. If you can name a good wine, we¡¯re almost sure we have it.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Fine, then bring us two of each.¡±

    ¡°Three!¡± William stepped in.

    Shocked out of his wits, the waiter said cautiously, ¡°Sire, this will require quite a bit of money.¡±

    William patted Qianye hard. ¡°My brother here isn¡¯t skilled in anything else, but he¡¯s rich!¡±

    Qianyeughed wryly; there was no reason for him to be carrying gold coins around. The things in Andruil¡¯s Space weren¡¯t appropriate measures of wealth, either. Finally, his consciousness swept over two crates inside the space. A single thought brought a number of medicines into his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll pay with this.¡±

    The waiter was surprised. ¡°This is the humans¡¯ holy tree sap medicine! And this is the original version issued by the military. It¡¯s more than enough!¡±

    Momentster, several bottles of famous wines piled up on the table. William opened one of them and gave it a taste. ¡°Good wine!¡±

    He then raised his head and gulped down half the bottle. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought there¡¯d be good wine here?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting it, either.¡± Qianye was speaking the truth. The supply of luxury goods was proof of the area¡¯s financial capacity¡ªhe never thought Cerulean Wave City would one day surpass the major neutralnd cities in consumption.

    ¡°Come, bottoms up!¡±

    William didn¡¯t waste time on chatter and got down to drinking. Since William didn¡¯t want to say it, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to ask, either. He only apanied the werewolf in drinking, and soon, most of the bottles between the two were empty.

    William was definitely strong, but alcohol tolerance was a different story. Without using origin power, he gradually lost out against the intoxication and his gaze began to drift.

    Qianye felt somewhat tipsy since the beginning, and he was still feeling a bit dizzy now. It seemed he would still be this way if he kept drinking.

    William clearly had a lot on his mind and was nning to knock himself out.

    After he was fairly inebriated, William said, ¡°You know, in that damned new world, people are just waiting to eat you up if you¡¯re a bit weaker. No strength, no dignity!¡±

    ¡°I might feel sorry for other people, but you? Save your breath.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me? I¡¯m only progressing a bit faster than others because of my two spiritual awakenings.¡± William wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    ¡°Wait, what did you just say? Spiritual awakening? And twice at that!¡± As the leader of five million werewolf subordinates, he knew about these things quite well.

    Spiritual awakening involved a series of special ceremonies, in which the subject would ept all kinds of trials from their ancestral spirits. They would be granted a part of the ancestors¡¯ powers if they could pass the ordeals.

    Only the geniuses among geniuses would be qualified to undergo spiritual awakening. Even then, the rate of sess was fairly low.

    The werewolf¡¯s strength would increase exponentially once they passed the trial and obtained the ancestors¡¯ blessings. There were even records of someone breaking through two ranks in one go. Unlike humans breaking through with medicine, this process almost had no side-effects at all. The strength they obtained varied greatly as well¡ªsome would see a pure upgrade to physical strength, some would gain a more powerful origin power cultivation, while some would even be prophets.

    The existence of spiritual awakening was the main reason why the ancestral school had remained strong until this day. It was also why the primitive werewolf tribes could produce a steady stream of experts, maintaining their position among the four major ns.

    William spoke as ifpleting two spiritual awakenings was as easy as having a meal.

    ¡°Your current rank is...¡± Fairly sober by this point, Qianye asked cautiously. It would seem that William¡¯s strength had undergone a thorough change despite his depressed appearance.

    After all the drinks, William had no guards up against Qianye. ¡°I¡¯m a duke, but what good does that do?¡±

    He let out a long sigh and emptied yet another bottle.

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re already at the duke rank which is even higher than me. What¡¯s there toin?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t quite satisfied.

    William red at Qianye, saying, ¡°Let alone a duke, even the Wolf Sovereign and Ancestor couldn¡¯t do anything. They still had to lower their heads and give up the werewolf race¡¯s interests.¡±

    ¡°Are you referring to the Sacred Mountain?¡±

    William nodded with a gloomy expression, then kept drinking.

    The Wolf Ancestor was one foot in the grave, but the Wolf Sovereign of the Summit of Peaks was in his prime. Even a supreme would find it difficult to make him yield. The likely scenario was that two supremes had worked together to suppress the werewolves. That was why William was so dispirited.

    William nced at Qianye. ¡°Why do you think I came to see you? Guess.¡±

    Qianye leaned back. ¡°Definitely not topete in drinking, you¡¯re not that dumb.¡±

    William red at Qianye. His lips moved somewhat, eager to spew out fiercenguage, but he was sober enough to know thatpeting with Qianye was a path to sure doom.

    But this little interruption eased William¡¯s frustration. He sighed. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m here to lie low and avoid a cmity.¡±

    ¡°Lie low?¡±

    William said, ¡°I¡¯m the only one in a thousand years who haspleted two spiritual awakenings. The Wolf Sovereign locked down this information and told me to leave the werewolf territory and roam the outside world. It¡¯s because he¡¯s actually worried that I would be conscripted into the new world. There, my fate will no longer be in my hands.¡±

    Qianye understood the general situation in the new world. ¡°Are you talking about the sacrifice?¡±

    Williamughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Am I not a great target? I¡¯m sure even Prince Greensun will take action if it¡¯s to kill me.¡±

    Qianye sighed. He really didn¡¯t know how to console the fellow. From the Empire¡¯s perspective, William¡¯s value was even greater than that of Jaero. They would never hesitate to kill him.

    Yet Qianye had never viewed William as a real enemy all this time. Not only had this werewolf saved him many times when he was weak, but as an Evernight noble, he had never targeted the Daybreak Faction or humans specifically. He was more like a lone-wolf searching for a grey zone between the two sides.

    ¡°If they do that, won¡¯t they be archenemies with the werewolves?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf Ancestor and Wolf Sovereign were both worried about that. That¡¯s why they asked me to leave and not give them this opportunity.¡± There was a hint of misery in his voice.

 Chapter 1322: Power of the Spirit Sea

    <h4>Chapter 1322: Power of the Spirit Sea</h4>

    Qianye felt William¡¯s remorse in those words. As the leader of one of the four major races and an entity only one step away from the Sacred Mountain, the Wolf Sovereign stood far above the other great dark monarchs. Yet his reason for sending away a rare genius was so that they wouldn¡¯t fall out with the other three races.

    How was the current situation different from hostility?

    William nced at Qianye and seemed to have guessed his thoughts. ¡°You¡¯re too optimistic. The Wolf Sovereign isn¡¯t afraid that they¡¯ll bully us. He¡¯s afraid that they¡¯ll bully us so badly that we¡¯ll have no choice but to counterattack. You understand?¡±

    So it was fine to p as long as they didn¡¯t p too hard?

    Qianye found it difficult to understand. How could the werewolves be so cowardly?

    William wasn¡¯t willing to talk about it anymore. ¡°This is something for the higher-ups to worry about, nothing to do with small people like us. They don¡¯t want us to get involved, either.¡±

    ¡°What are your ns? Looks like you won¡¯t be able to return before the expansion in the new world ends.¡±

    William nodded. ¡°I gave it a lot of thought, I guess I can only hang out with you now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee to stay, of course, but I¡¯m currently fighting against the Moond werewolves. Won¡¯t you feel a bit awkward?¡±

    ¡°Awkward?¡± William sneered. ¡°All thepromise was because the Wolf Ancestor made repeated concessions and even turned around to suppress the Wolf Sovereign. That old thing is getting more and more fearful of death with each passing year. Our werewolf race wouldn¡¯t have fallen to this state if it wasn¡¯t for him.¡±

    ¡°What kind ofpromise?¡± Qianye was most concerned about this.

    The humans had managed to grow through the gaps between the Evernight races to reach their current strength. Qianye was now trying to find a neutral foothold between the two factions, so any kind ofpromise or alliance between major powers could mean danger for him. He needed to treat them rather seriously.

    William said, ¡°The werewolves will stop expanding in the new world and only maintain their current territory. All holy tree sap will be handed to the Evernight Council. We must muster an army of five hundred thousand, including experts at various levels, and ce them under the council¡¯smand in the new world. They also gave us a list of tactical resources that we¡¯ll need to fulfill.¡±

    ¡°And what will you get in return?¡±

    "After the expansion seeds, we will be given a territory befitting of our status.¡±

    ¡°Such an empty promise?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s quite practical, is it not? What status do we have, if any at all?¡± Williamughed self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s talk about the present, what do you n to do?¡±

    William gave it some thought. ¡°I want a piece ofnd. I was too stubborn in the past, so now, it¡¯s time for me to learn how to manage my own territory.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Qianye possessed bothnd and poption. He was onlycking experts.

    William said, ¡°I won¡¯t take it for free. I¡¯ll repay you with military contributions as we go along. Also, I haven¡¯t been to the new world after all this time. Take me along if you need help with your expansion.¡±

    Qianye was delighted.

    A genius like William was far superior to an ordinary duke. Even against Qianye, he might not be weaker if both parties refrained from using their ultimate moves.

    Qianye possessed both blood energy and daybreak origin power, but William was still one rank higher. Rank wasn¡¯t equal to fighting power, but the gap would still affect things in a contest between geniuses. However, William wouldn¡¯t be a match once Qianye umted enough blood energy to ascend to the duke rank.

    In addition to umting enough blood energy, Qianye would need to modify his body as well. Only after his entire skeleton had been modified would he be able to advance to the next rank. He was currently just one-third of the way there.

    With William¡¯s help, not only would he be able to suppress the me Duke and obtain yet another piece of territory, but he would also gain tens of millions more werewolf subjects. William would also serve to suppress the Moond werewolves in the new world. After all, he held a certain status among the werewolves and few would want to go up against him.

    The two were once again tipsy at this point. A drinkingpetition ensued, and it went on until Qianye had to drag William back to the duke¡¯s residence like a dead dog.

    The werewolf slept for an entire day and night before waking up. He immediately went to see Qianye and started making ns for his territory. How miserable was it that the sessor of the great Summit of Peaks was now interested in a ce like Fort Continent?

    Qianye didn¡¯t look down on him because of that. Instead, he brought out the territorial map and began discussing the matter in earnest.

    Qianye wanted to give himnd around the door and Cerulean Wave City at first, but William was eager to break new ground.

    At this point, the expansion process in the new world had be a routine matter. Qianye was almost invisible after obtaining the goodwill of the holy trees, so bringing William along would actually make things less convenient. It just so happened that the great werewolf army here hadpleted their training but couldn¡¯t obtain enough holy tree sap medicine to enter the new world. Since they were going to be idle anyway, Qianye lent a hundred thousand soldiers to William and assigned him the me Duke¡¯s territory.

    William was going by the Empire¡¯s methods where the major ns would capture their own territory. William agreed to hand over two-thirds of the captured territory and keep a third for himself. Of course, Qianye had no objections to this.

    Qianye didn¡¯t want to give William any pushback when he was so proactive about this territorial game.

    He currently had enoughnd and people under his rule, with one million outfitted soldiers. What he needed to do now was digest everything¡ªincrease the prosperity of his territories and expand in the new world. A bit ofnd on Fort Continent was no longer as important.

    William left hurriedly after confirming territorial matters and returned with some werewolves. These experts were all at the marquis realm. Their auras were well-contained, without the unbridled characteristics that weremonly seen among werewolves. It was easy to see that they were nobles who specialized in administration.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but nce at them a couple of times. This changed hismon impression of the race as a whole. Although every race had its own characteristics, it would seem that there were still a lot of simrities in certain areas. This was quite interesting.

    William said, ¡°These men work under the Wolf Sovereign, in charge of technology, trade, and supplies respectively. I brought them here to see if we have areas we can work together in.¡±

    One of the marquises bowed, saying, ¡°Honorable Son of Darkness, pioneer of the new world, lord of all the tribes on Fort Continent...¡±

    All these titles made Qianye dizzy; he simply had no idea when he had gained so many names. The only title missing was the king of the universe.

    The werewolf marquis went on, ¡°Your great aplishments have spread throughout the Evernight World. Your legends flow through every tribal vige, and upon the ancestral altars of countless werewolves...¡±

    Qianye wanted to stop the marquis, but all of a sudden, he felt a mysterious energy descend upon him.

    It was simr to the mysterious power produced when the werewolves of the Jade Sea had submitted to him. It served to upgrade the essence of his bloodline by removing impurities. This was a rare asion since it was already quite difficult for him to improve the quality of his superior bloodline. He wouldn¡¯t have known there were impurities in his dark golden blood energy if it wasn¡¯t for this mysterious energy.

    As such, Qianye simply stood there and listened to the werewolf¡¯s verbose citation. The marquis spent an entire hour beforeing to a stop, and there was no repetition at all during the process. He even dug out Qianye¡¯s exploits back in Yellow Springs and sang praises about it.

    He finally ran out of things to praise toward the end and started bringing out Qianye¡¯s physical appearance¡ªnot short, not tall, not thin, not fat, every description avable to him.

    By the time the marquis finally shut up, Qianye¡¯s bloodline strength had increased a bit more.

    William was greatly surprised. ¡°You really can sense the power of the Ancestral Spirit Sea!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s an Ancestral Spirit Sea?¡±

    ¡°Our powerful werewolf ancestors remain in spirit form after death, retaining a part of their strength, inheritances, and knowledge. The Spirit Sea is where their spirits return. To undergo Spiritual Awakening is tomunicate with this power and use it to improve one¡¯s bloodline. If I didn¡¯t know full well that you have nothing to do with the werewolf bloodline, I¡¯d think you¡¯re the descendant of some powerful ancestor.¡±

    It turned out that this mysterious energy was the power of the Ancestral Spirit Sea. It sounded rather simr to the River of Blood, an intangible existence that could only be sensed. No one had ever reached that ce before.

    Qianye realized that the marquis¡¯ lengthy praise wasn¡¯t without meaning.

    The marquis was sweating, pale, and weakened after the hour-long discourse. Apparently, drawing upon the Spirit Sea was quite draining.

    This marquis said, ¡°At first, we were worried whether you could receive it. This proves that the legends in the tribal viges are true, and that Prophet Sadine¡¯s scrying eyes can truly see through space and time. Sire Qianye, this is the Summit of Peak¡¯s gift to you. In order to obtain the power from the Spirit Sea, one has to gain the recognition of the ancestral spirits who reside therein. That was why I had to recite your deeds to them, so that they¡¯ll be willing to pour more of the sea¡¯s power into you.¡±

    Qianye finally understood why the marquis had sung his praises like an aria.

    The werewolf said with a smile, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought Sire Qianye would aplish so much at such a young age? The ancestors were so moved that each of them poured out quite a bit of power from the Spirit Sea. The results were unexpectedly good. The most important factor was that Sire Qianye had gained the devotion and loyalty of countless werewolf subjects. The ancestors saw this and believed that you would not abuse them despite being of a different race.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Since they have given me their loyalty, I have a responsibility to take care of them. This gift is too valuable, how can I repay the Summit of Peaks?¡±

    The marquis said, ¡°We are very much interested in your training regimen. If you don¡¯t mind, we hope to send some new recruits here for training. We¡¯ll also dispatch some military instructors to learn and work for you.¡±

    This was actually a sensitive issue, but the power of the Spiritual Sea just now was just as priceless, so Qianye agreed after some thought.

    He knew that this would constitute half an alliance between him and the Summit of Peaks, but this wasn¡¯t a bad thing if he could divide the Evernight Faction.

    Qianye would¡¯ve never imagined that he would run his own country one day and that all kinds of races would be living together in it. This went against all reason, but it had actually happened. Qianye felt a sense of self-deprecation¡ªit would seem that the outcasts and marginalized people from all races were gathering in hisnd.

    Just like that, troops from the Summit of Peaks began to arrive in Fort Continent. The instructors had already assembled here ahead of time.

    In the beginning, the elites from the Summit of Peaks looked down upon their peers from Fort Continent. In fact, they didn¡¯t even think of the werewolves here as their kin. They weren¡¯t used to mixed-race training and cooperative warfare, either.

    It was deeply ingrained within their minds that the humans should only appear on the opposite side of the battlefield.

    This proved to be a headache for both parties. In order to solve this problem, Qianye decided to have his human-werewolf army fight a mock battle against the werewolves from the Summit of Peaks.

 Chapter 1323: Mock Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1323: Mock Battle</h4>

    Qianye set up three consecutive mock battles for a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand men respectively. For this exercise, special bullets would be used, containing a dye that was difficult to wash off.

    The exercise was naturally expensive, but this was nothing to the great supporter that was the Summit of Peaks. William promised to take on the entire cost with a wave of his hand.

    The Summit of Peaks won the hundred-man battle; there was no suspense at all. A single charge brought them past the defensive line where they started a massacre.

    But things were harder to distinguish in the thousand-man battle. Qianye¡¯sbination of werewolf warriors and human sharpshooters managed to mow down a third of the enemy along the way.

    Despite being protected by their wolverinerades, the human warriors also disyed great tenacity in melee battles. The fight went on for an entire hour before Qianye¡¯s mixed squad was defeated.

    Finally, it was the ten-thousand-man battle. The battleground was a hilly region withplex terrain, an environment that was advantageous to the werewolves.

    The mixed army contained quite a few aristocratic troops, under themand of Xu Jingxuan and Caroline overseeing the field. The Summit of Peaks also dispatched a glorious marquis.

    Once the battle began, Xu Jingxuan rushed for an advantageous terrain and began building fortifications there. Only the framework had beenpleted when scouts from the Summit of Peaks found the mixed army¡¯s traces.

    Xu Jingxuan had to prepare for a sudden fight. Hurried but not confused, he pulled his troops into the newly-built defensive structure and made orderly arrangements.

    When the werewolves from the Summit of Peaks began their charge, a hail of bullets dyedrge swathes of them.

    Many of the werewolves were startled to find themselves ¡°fallen.¡± They nced around in confusion only to see that theirrades were also dyed in red.

    The great werewolf army ¡°fell¡± in droves, and the sharp rise in casualties caused the marquis¡¯ eyelids to twitch. He hadn¡¯t imagined that there would be such a qualitative change when there were enough human sharpshooters. The barrage of bullets inflicted great damage over arge area.

    Individual martial prowess was rendered negligible within the range of sufficiently dense firepower. Only experts who were more powerful than their rank could withstand the onught.

    Born fearless warriors, the werewolves¡¯ morale wasn¡¯t shaken by the grave losses; it even excited their ferocity instead. Roaring loudly, they began to charge the defensive line, but the enemy did not copse like before.

    By the time the defensive line was within a hundred meters, the werewolves charging at the front began to feel puzzled. When did the humans be so fearless? They seemed perfectly calm even as the enemy was about to charge into their defensive line.

    In the blink of an eye, row after row of tall figures appeared behind the lines. These werewolves were armed to the teeth, not at all inferior to the warriors from the Summit of Peaks in terms of strength and gear. The summit¡¯s soldiers possessed betterbat techniques, but this did nothing to help the massive gap in numbers.

    Two-thirds of the charging soldiers had ¡°fallen¡± by this point.

    The elite werewolves of the Summit realized they had fallen into an impasse. They would surely lose if they were to keep charging, but they would also be easy targets should they stop. Many more turned to ¡°corpses¡± during this moment of hesitation.

    Seeing the miserable situation, some of the dissatisfied soldiers wanted to creep up and continue the charge. It was just that the red marks on their bodies were too eye-catching; even the overseeing marquis couldn¡¯t put up with that.

    ¡°What the hell are you guys gazing for? Charge! Even if we die, we must die while charging!¡±

    Afterward, the marquis added, ¡°The dead ones better lie down! It¡¯s embarrassing enough already.¡±

    The soldiersy back down with embarrassed expressions.

    The leader¡¯s roar woke up the army. The werewolves let out furious howls as they charged the defense and were duly surrounded in the melee fight.

    The close-quarters fight was beyond fierce. The warriors of the Summit fought desperately for their dignity, but the werewolves from the mixed army held the absolute advantage. The mercenaries and aristocratic elites wouldunch pinpoint attacks whenever there was an opening, drawing blood with each strike.

    The soldiers from the Summit of Peaks dwindled until, finally, thest sword-wielding soldier roared as his body was covered in dye.

    Although the Summit had imed victory in the hundred and thousand-man battles, the final results made it impossible for them to smile. Even the optimistic William looked somewhat unsightly.

    Everyone¡¯s impression of the werewolves was that they were primitive andcked strategy. The top Evernight nobles, however, understood that the wolves would never have be part of the four major races if they were that backward.

    The werewolf race as a whole was influenced by their inheritance and tradition, but in terms of top elites, the difference between the four races wasn¡¯t evident at all. That was also why the oue of today¡¯s mock battle set William back even more.

    The mixed-army had sacrificed just a third of their forces to wipe out the Summit of Peaks. Over half of the Summit¡¯s forces had fallen during the charge despite the terrain being advantageous for werewolves.

    With their werewolfrades forming a wall of iron in front, the human mercenaries and private soldiers were able to fire calmly. They didn¡¯t seem frantic at all even during thest phase of the fight, dealing the attacking werewolves a heavy blow.

    The survivors of the charge burst into the enemy formation only to find opponents that were simr to them¡ªtall, strong, and fully-armed werewolf elites. Naturally, the side with greater numbers would win such a fight.

    The results of the mock battle might¡¯ve been unexpected for the Summit of Peaks, but Qianye had long since expected it. He had seen too many examples of mixed-race formations in the neutralnds.

    Every race possessed different characteristics, so a mixed formation would allow each race to cover for the other¡¯s shorings. The most powerful mercenary bands in the neutralnds were made up of a mixed lineup.

    The Summit of Peaks might not be as extreme as the ancestral faction, but there were quite a few among them who supported orthodox traditions.

    They looked down on the other races and weren¡¯t willing to work with them on the battlefield. Their impression was that the humans would crumble as long as they could charge into the defensive line. In the same scenario, the arachne would fight back hurriedly, while the demonkin and vampires were more difficult to predict. These two races were rather crafty, so they might just retreat first.

    They had never witnessed humans who could fire without shaky hands even when they had charged into the defensive line.

    In truth, this problem wasn¡¯t limited to just the werewolves; the entire Evernight faction was more or less the same. One could easily tell from the battles that had broken out between the Empire and the council.

    The only problem that had risen from the mock battle was that some of the warriors failed to hold back in the mock battle, resulting in the death of several dozen soldiers. The werewolves believed that dying in battle was an iparable honor, so this little setback wasn¡¯t enough to hurt rtions.

    William and the higher-ups of the Summit fell into contemtion after seeing the results.

    The marquis in charge of the army came to Qianye, saying, ¡°We thank you for pointing out our shorings and narrow=mindedness. We had never expected such a result. Going forward, I think we should seriously discuss how we can cooperate better.¡±

    Qianye wouldn¡¯t refuse this proposal, of course.

    The two parties engaged in discussion for an entire day. In the end, it was decided that the Summit of Peaks would outfit fifty thousand of Qianye¡¯s best warriors. At the same time, they would also build a training ground on Fort Continent at their expense.¡±

    Qianye was quite experienced in mixed-race army formations, but he was surely inferior when it came to training the werewolves themselves. This kind of cooperation would allow both sides to train the best elite forces.

    William offered himself as a guarantee that these trained troops would not be used against the Empire. This raised the self-evident issue of who these troops were going to fight.

    The strange origin power seeping out from the new world also brought changes to the environment in Fort Continent. The origin power from both ces contained degenerative properties, but it just so happened that they were pr opposites in attribute.

    Fort Continent leaned toward the Evernight side, while the new world was closer to Daybreak. Mixing the two together served to improve the areas around the door, including the Jade Sea and Cerulean Wave City. At the very least, the werewolves from the Summit of Peaks found that they could cultivate without concern because of the purity of origin power.

    Thend around the Fort Continent door became a paradise for cultivation. The experts from othernds could now live here for prolonged periods without worry.

    The alliance with the Summit of Peak forced the other powers with untoward intentions to give up entirely. They instead focused their attention on trade and found that their gains were just as good. There was no need for any fighting, either.

    Just like that, war raged on between the Empire and Evernight in the continent¡¯s central region, while Fort Continent was thriving amidst song and dance.

    It was at this time that Eunuch Liu came to visitte at night, appearing outside Qianye¡¯s window once again. Thetter was reading when he saw the visitor and quickly invited him inside. ¡°What brings you here?¡±

    Eunuch Liu said with a smile, ¡°Something good, of course.¡±

    Qianye became spirited. Thest time the Eunuch came to visit, he had given Qianye Dragonsgrave and helped him scare off Sousa. There weren¡¯t a lot of things that the old man would consider ¡°good.¡±

    ¡°Please exin.¡±

    Eunuch Liu said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing tooplicated. The military has thought it through and decided to resume trade with you. The war tax will be set at one-fourth. What do you think?¡±

    This levy wasn¡¯t small at all, but it could be considered reasonable seeing as they were exporting military supplies in times of war.

    Qianye was in no rush to give his answer. ¡°Is the war not going well?¡±

    If things were going well, the Empire would have no reason topromise. Qianye couldn¡¯t just export holy tree sap to the Evernight faction, either. Now that the Empire was proactively seeking reconciliation, it was more likely that they¡¯d been suffering great pressure in the new world.

    Themanders there were Song Zining and Zhao Jundu, so Qianye wouldn¡¯t want anything to happen to them.

    Fortunately, Eunuch Liu replied, ¡°The war is going quite well. The enemy faction has lost eight generals to Song Zining and Zhao Jundu. The casualty ratio has always been three-to-one.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°We¡¯re bleeding the dark races.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the n. It¡¯s just that a ratio of three-to-one is still not enough. The dark races keep adding more troops, while the Empire is hard-pressed to keep up. The battle will end in defeat no matter who leads the army.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure there are people in court who don¡¯t want to see the trade continue.¡±

    ¡°The matter has been decided. Zining sent threats of mutiny from the frontline, and the Emperor beheaded some people from that faction in his anger.¡±

    Qianye was surprised and couldn¡¯t help but feel worried. He would have never imagined someone like Song Zining would push things so far.

 Chapter 1324: Bloodletting

    <h4>Chapter 1324: Bloodletting</h4>

    Throughout the history of the Empire, there had been incidents of great generals overestimating themselves and attempting to threaten the Imperial court. However, none of them met good ends.

    Even if the Imperial Capital didpromise at the moment, they would surely find ways to look into the matterter on. This was to prevent sessive generals from doing the same. Song Zining had threatened the court for Qianye, and that was a great taboo.

    Qianye never attached too much importance to the trade with the Empire. No amount of riches couldpare to people like Zining and Jundu.

    If he had known beforehand, he would¡¯ve tolerated the Empire and continued trading. There was no such thing as tree sap before the new world opened anyway. He could just pretend the thing did not exist.

    Having guessed Qianye¡¯s thoughts, Eunuch Liu spoke to console him.

    He exined that Song Zining¡¯s move might not be a bad thing. Everyone could see that the war in the new world had reached a critical stage. Without sufficient troops, even a celebrated genius like Song Zining would not be able to escape ultimate defeat no matter how intelligent he was.

    In addition to Song Zining and Zhao Jundu, there were several dukes and experts like Wei Potian who were just one step away from the divine champion realm.

    These people weren¡¯t idiots¡ªeveryone could tell that only death awaited them if there were no reinforcements. There were actually people stirring up trouble for no reason at such a time, depriving the Empire of its critical supply of holy tree sap. Everyone knew about the sequence of events, and the Empire could bring forth no good reason, so a mutiny wasn¡¯t out of the question.

    Hence, Song Zining¡¯s statement was likely true. Of course, it was also possible that he had secretly encouraged the issue.

    Besides, Song Zining¡¯s aplishments were beyond glorious. The Emperor would never do anything to him no matter how muddle-headed he was, let alone the fact that he was a man of great talent himself.

    Qianye felt a bit more rxed after hearing Eunuch Liu¡¯s words. How much tree sap to trade to the Empire was a matter that required much thought¡ªit had to be just the right amount.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t quite confident regarding this. So, he asked for Eunuch Liu¡¯s advice which the elderly man was all too happy to give. In the end, the amount agreed upon made up two-thirds of the Empire¡¯s production capacity. This would leave room for negotiations without dying war supplies.

    Only elite soldiers could enter the cksun Valley. The Empire had transferred numerous elites over, but they required a week of special training before they could be considered barely eligible. There weren¡¯t enough troops no matter how much medicine there was. Qianye needed to leave some stock for himself as well in case someone stirred up trouble again.

    Reason and logic didn¡¯t work in the face of absolute profit¡ªonly strength was enough to make one¡¯s voice heard.

    After the sessful trade, Eunuch Liu had aplished his primary mission on Fort Continent. Instead of leaving immediately, however, he went around Cerulean Wave City to observe the ces and trade between different races. He didn¡¯tment on the situation and only informed Qianye briefly before taking his leaveter on.

    Eunuch Liu didn¡¯t hide his movements from Qianye, but it was obvious that he had little interest in the Summit of Peaks, so much so that he didn¡¯t even visit the new training ground that was undergoing construction. He only buried himself in the trade district to observe the different races haggling for wares. He bought so many items there that Qianye couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he could fit all that in his spatial gear.

    Of course, the eunuch wasn¡¯t going around for fun. It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t even guess what the man¡¯s objective was.

    After Eunuch Liu¡¯s departure, Qianye arranged for a corvette to deliver several crates of holy tree sap to the Empire, escorted by experts from the Yin and Kong families. The escort for this mission was extremely important, so Qianye had to coax Young Miss Yin until she finally agreed to board the ship.

    Considering Song Zining¡¯s victory in the central zone and a matching supply of holy tree sap from Fort Continent, it would seem that the Empire¡¯s situation was fairly good. Feeling relieved, Qianye saw William to the me Duke¡¯s territory before heading back into the new world. The pioneering efforts here weren¡¯t just about himself. It involved the fates of Zining, Jundu, the Empire, and even the human race to a certain extent.

    The existence of cksun Valley itself gave Qianye a feeling of familiarity and a strange sense of terror.

    Unknowingly, the Empire and Evernight had been fighting in cksun Valley for over a month.

    Song Zining had changed his tactic and was setting up camps at every step. He had constructed several fortresses in the area, around which several siege battles had taken ce over the week. At the same time, he had dispatched several smaller squads to roam the valley and attack enemy supply lines whenever the opportunity arose.

    There were no more satisfying battles that were worthy of military textbooks nor was any army wiped out. The war became slow and steady, but that didn¡¯t stop the death toll from rising as time went by. The casualty list sent back to the Empire each day formed a thick stack of papers, and there were still a lot of soldiers missing.

    This way of fighting attracted a fair bit of criticism.

    The casualty rate for this month had almost caught up to the entire pioneering phase. The mysterious halo of constant victory seemed to have disappeared from around Song Zining as people began to im any general could lead fortress defense battles.

    Only a handful of learned people could tell that the dark races had always held the advantage at every siege. The advantage was never enough to im a decisive victory, but just enough that they would not abandon the attack. And when they did attack, they would always find that they had chewed off more than they could chew. Even if they did manage to capture the fortress in the end, it was only because the Empire had abandoned it voluntarily. Rarely did they ever break the defense.

    Once or twice might be a coincidence, but the repeated performance was proof of Song Zining¡¯s aplishment in strategy and divination. This was a bleeding strategy, and each fortress was like a grooved de that served to drain the dark races¡¯ elite fighting power.

    The Empire¡¯s losses were also shocking. The most solemn moment at every morning meeting was the announcement of yesterday¡¯s casualties. Experienced veterans and new recruits alike would be dumbfounded by the heavy numbers.

    In just a month, the Empire had lost over a hundred thousand soldiers, all of them elites and not cannon fodder. Who wouldn¡¯t feel pained at the loss of core fighting power equalling three army corps?

    Although the dark races had lost three times this number, many people remained skeptical of Song Zining¡¯s tactics. The oue of this war was too bitter. Every new day, countless living soldiers would turn into corpses¡ªthis was in exchange for even more enemy corpses.

    The Evernight Council, of course, wasn¡¯t having a good time, either. Yet they kept sending a steady stream of soldiers into the new world and the Empire kept holding on.

    With every passing day, the voices criticizing Song Zining grew stronger. Fortunately, some people understood themselves well enough¡ªthey knew they couldn¡¯t take Song Zining¡¯s ce, so the only thing they did was to question the strategy. Song Zining ignored everything happening back in the Empire and kept his focus on exhausting the enemy forces.

    ¡°The dark races will give-in one day because they are three races and we are only one.¡± Every day, Song Zining would repeat this before donning his cold metallic mask to enter the battlefield.

    There were asional bright beacons amidst the dark, gloomy, and bloody battlefield. Some of the units Song Zining had sent out to ambush the enemy¡¯s rear would fail, but some of them would produce dazzling results.

    Of them, Wei Potian¡¯s squad was one of the most eye-catching.

    This self-proimed Marquis Potian¡¯s best fight was when he identally led his unit into dire straits. It was there that they disyed unbelievable tenacity and fended off a force ten times their size for an entire day and night. Wei Potian held back five enemy marquises on his own.

    The entire battle was a bitter defense with no chance to counterattack at all. It looked like they would be defeated at any moment.

    However, that sharp mountain peak hovering above the battlefield never copsed. That gave the Wei family warriors boundless courage to fight against their enemies, repelling one wave of attack after another.

    In the end, the five marquises attacking Wei Potian were exhausted. Whatever attacks theyunched on him would lose eighty percent of their power, barely an itch for the target.

    Wei Potian¡¯s Spirit sher was also a killer weapon that struck fear into the enemy. Wounds opened by the de would not heal within a week, and the effects were even more pronounced in the new world. Even a non-lethal injury might take one¡¯s life.

    At every critical juncture, Wei Potian would fight as though he was about to drag someone down with him. Those marquises were long-lived creatures who held the advantage in the field; there was no way they would y along with the madman.

    Toward the end of the bloody battle, several human squads appeared in the vicinity. Song Zining himself arrived to surround the enemy forces, killing tens of thousands in one fight.

    Wei Potian¡¯s fame sky-rocketed, and that solitary peak was recognized as a realm only divine champions of the Wei n could reach: the Supreme Peak.

    Wei Potian hadprehended this state before reaching the divine champion realm. This gained him endless praise, and some even thought he might be the third genius of the Empire beneath Zhao and Song.

    Such a young genius with a powerful background was a prime marriage candidate.

    Some of the well-connected families even came to see him on the front lines. ¡°Marriage? What marriage? I¡¯ve been thoroughly taken advantage of by Zhao Yuying. How can I find anyone else?¡±

    This caused a wave ofmotion, and Zhao Yuying became famous.

    Duke Yan should¡¯ve been furious, but he only said in a carefree manner, ¡°Young people can be a bit rash sometimes.¡±

    Such an attitude could be interpreted as a sealed deal.

    The marital alliance between Zhao and Wei was thus decided. The Zhao n had found yet another powerful ally in the Far East Province, and the Wei family would gain much from the Zhao. With the Zhao n¡¯s support, the Far East Province¡¯s expansion efforts would be much easier. How so many families had to return disappointed was a different story.

    Many capable young leaders had also emerged, and these people made for good targets. It seemed many marriage negotiations would ensue after the war.

    Of course, no one would do this during the war¡ªon one hand, it was to prevent affecting the army¡¯s fighting spirit, while on the other, it was to see who would survive until the end.

    As more and more corpses umted on the battlefield, the scales of victory slowly tipped toward the Empire. However, this was still not enough in Song Zining¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 1325: Scenery

    <h4>Chapter 1325: Scenery</h4>

    In the skies of the new world, a magnificent vampire-style airship was flying steadily toward cksun Valley.

    Intricate airships broke down faster in the new world. That was why most dark race airships here were built for speed, so that they may do more efficient work within the few days of their lifespan. Yet this extremely expensive-looking airship was flying at such a leisurely pace.

    The atmosphere in the control room was tense. Crew members would rush in frequently to report damaged parts.

    The captain was drenched in sweat, something that was quite rare for a high-ranking vampire, but he kept on issuing calm orders despite his anxiety. Actually, there was only one order that he had been repeating all this time¡ªrece.

    A crew member whispered, ¡°Sire, we won¡¯t reach the base at this rate. Shall we drive faster?¡±

    The captain was visibly moved, but in the end, he clenched his jaws and said, ¡°Keep flying just like that! Until it¡¯spletely destroyed!¡±

    ¡°But, this airship...¡±

    ¡°This airship is neither yours nor mine! There was never any intention of driving this airship back from the new world!¡± The captain¡¯s voice was exceedingly stern.

    The crew member didn¡¯t dare make a sound. He promptly exited themand room and began his round of the ship to do repairs.

    Within the main cabin, Nighteye was quietly gazing out of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

    Actually, there was no scenery to speak of in the new world¡ªonly deserts, cliffs, and dangerous storms. There was a hint of green over the distant horizon from the woods, but the forests here didn¡¯t represent bountiful peace. It was a true sign of danger.

    The woods here were alive¡ªbeasts would charge out without warning, the vegetation was odd, and there was no telling when the six-armed creature would appear.

    These powerful six-armed creatures were beyond mysterious. There was no sign of their existence at all in the undergroundir, almost as though they were just outsiders. Even though the council had already killed hundreds of these six-armed creatures, even mobilizing great dark monarchs to capture some of them, there had been no progress in studying them.

    The captured six-armed giants would immediately turn to stone after leaving this world, losing all signs of life thereafter.

    Neither the Azure King¡¯s azure ice seal nor the Arachne Warlord Noxus¡¯ disabling threads could halt the petrification process. Even the Demon King¡¯s isting barrier could not save the six-armed creature from death.

    This attempt to ship several living six-armed creatures out thoroughly angered the consciousness of the new world. It began searching for great dark monarchs and princes from the Evernight Faction, attempting to kill them.

    Perhaps the supremes from the Sacred Mountain had fought the consciousness in secret, but judging from how they had all withdrawn from the new world, the oue wasn¡¯t really very optimistic.

    Nighteye simply sat there in silence and no one knew what she was thinking. She had been in this state since the very beginning¡ªCastle Ducasse, Noctiluna Castle¡ªand now.

    No one dared disturb her as Nighteye¡¯s temper was notorious. Be it the bold admirers who confessed to her or those who gossiped about her behind her back, everyone was tossed into the sea of clouds. The families of the unlucky bastards kept utterly quiet, almost as though it wasn¡¯t their kin who had just died.

    Just like that, Nighteye eventually found the peace she desired. Otherwise, many people would harbor untoward notions due to her rank as a glorious marquis.

    ¡°Maybe I should upgrade my blood core?¡± She then shook her head. ¡°That¡¯ll be like bullying children, let¡¯s just go with this.¡±

    The airship sank several hundred meters with a jolt before stabilizing itself again. Nighteye simply gazed out at the lifeless new world, almost as though she hadn¡¯t noticed what had happened.

    The rocking of the airship grew fiercer but it miraculously held out until reaching its destination¡ªthe Evernight Council¡¯s base in cksun Valley.

    This was their biggest base in the new world and thest transit point before the warzone in cksun Valley.

    The ce was guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers, a powerful defensive setup, and two dukes on standby at all times. These old experts were powerful but alsocking future potential, unlikely to be the target of the Empire¡¯s heavenly monarchs. The humans surely would not waste their precious quota on them.

    Song Zining appeared before this fortress once, but he immediately left with his army after seeing how difficult it would be to assail the ce.

    The vampire airship staggered downward and nearly mmed into thending pad.

    The vampire duke in charge of the base rushed over and grabbed the captain who had just gotten out from the airship. ¡°T-This... is the Nightwing? Am I seeing things?¡±

    The captainughed wryly, ¡°It is she, or rather, it was. There will be no more Nightwing hereafter.¡±

    Nightwing wasn¡¯t the vampire races¡¯ oldest, most advanced, or strongest airship, but it was the most elegant. No one would¡¯ve imagined that she would be dispatched to the new world.

    The duke sighed, ¡°What took you so long?¡±

    The captain replied, ¡°It took three days on the road.¡±

    ¡°Three days?! How did the airshipst that long?¡±

    ¡°I prepared two sets of every part and swapped out an old model engine. Even after all that, it¡¯s a miracle that she managed to get here.¡±

    ¡°Why not fly faster?¡±

    The old duke had just uttered the word when the captain shushed him. ¡°Quiet! Her Majesty wanted to enjoy the scenery.¡±

    ¡°Erm... scenery? Just... sigh!¡± The duke hesitated several times during the speech. Clearly, he was a big fan of the Nightwing and felt pained at her destruction. He didn¡¯t even mind offending Nighteye.

    Over a dozen followers walked out of the airship at that point and stood in neat rows. Nighteye appeared at the door and slowly walked down.

    The duke stepped forward to wee the guest. ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯ve finally arrived.¡±

    This duke was much older than Nighteye and his blood energy cultivation was much higher, but he actually performed a descendant¡¯s salutation. This was a fairly humble gesture.

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°How¡¯s the war going?¡±

    ¡°The documents have been prepared in the great hall, please follow me.¡±

    Nighteye followed the duke into the war room where a war map of the cksun Valley hung on the wall, filled with a dense array of markings.

    The duke cleared his throat, saying, ¡°This is the current situation. The humans have built fortresses here, here, and here. This one is the closest to the gateway and the humans have built a research center there. Hence, I think we should capture it first and stop the humans from prying into the secrets of the new world. But the other two fortresses will pressure us if we attack this one and the area is where humans are most active, so we should be prepared for losses. ording to previous experience, we still don¡¯t have enough troops in hand. I n to wait for the council¡¯stest batch of reinforcements to arrive beforeunching the assault.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°Must you attack just because they built fortresses?¡±

    The duke was startled. ¡°But the humans have built a research base there. What if they discover the secrets of the ck realm...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s in there?¡± Nighteye asked.

    The duke hesitated. ¡°This is the council¡¯s highest secret, how will I know?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t even know what¡¯s inside, how can you tell the consequences of human exploration?¡±

    ¡°This... should be pretty serious, right?¡± The duke responded.

    ¡°The seriousness can be decided when they manage to get in, the ck mes haven¡¯t died out at the moment. There are, however, some things I need to do. Where is the werewolf squad?¡±

    The other duke arrived at the scene, the person in charge of supplies and troop replenishment. Hearing Nighteye¡¯s question, he said, ¡°The werewolves have delivered fifty thousand soldiers and they¡¯re currently undergoing training. They should be ready to join the battle in a day or two.¡±

    ¡°No need to train them, send them to attack the fortress.¡±

    The duke was shocked and could hardly believe his ears. ¡°Are you saying, we should let them attack the fortress on their own?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°But there are thirty thousand troops in that fortress, the werewolves will be rushing to their deaths.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the intention. Contact them for the second and third batch of soldiers after they¡¯re all dead.¡±

    ¡°They might not agree.¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°A fixed number of people need to die. If the werewolves don¡¯t die, shall we sacrifice your demonkin race instead, or the arachne?¡±

    Nighteye added. ¡°Prepare a unit for me. I want a mixed rank of all three races and three times the usual experts.¡±

    The demonkin duke seemed conflicted. ¡°Yes, Your Majesty, how many soldiers do you need?¡±

    ¡°Ten thousand should be enough.¡± The demonkin duke sighed in relief, but he grew worried. ¡°Your Majesty, isn¡¯t the squad too small? Human heavenly monarchs might appear any minute, your safety is of utmost importance.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a glorious marquis, probably not worth a heavenly monarch¡¯s time.¡±

    The two dukes replied hurriedly, ¡°Your Majesty, that¡¯s not right. You can advance any time you want, can¡¯t you? This rank is just temporary. But you seem to have your own ns, we wouldn¡¯t darement on it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re smart, unlike some bastards who like to speak nonsense.¡± Nighteye¡¯s tone softened somewhat.

    The relieved dukes exchanged a secret nce, deciding to keep their subordinates¡¯ mouths tightly shut.

    More than once, they had heard their subordinates gossiping about Nighteye¡¯s awakening. Some people felt that an awakened ancient character wouldn¡¯t have been stuck at the glorious marquis stage for so long.

    The two dukes, however, knew more than those subordinates. They had heard of Nighteye¡¯s feats back in her territory. A lot more people would die if she were to somehow hear about the gossip. Those who could gossip near the dukes were, of course, their trusted aides, not people they wanted dead for no reason.

 Chapter 1326: Brotherâ€™s Woman

    <h4>Chapter 1326: Brother¡¯s Woman</h4>

    Nighteye¡¯s arrival at the base spread rapidly among the dark races on each battlefield. Those who understood things became excited, feeling as though some darkness had finally arrived amidst the ring daybreak.

    The Empire had been struggling during this battle, but the dark races were in just as much pain. Everyone would write their wills and farewells before the battle¡ªnone of those going into battle expected themselves to return alive. The situation was even more serious than the holy wars.

    Themanders of each unit were just as troubled. The loss of troops always apanied the fall of numerous officers and experts as well.

    The dukes in charge of each battlefield weren¡¯t spared from the pressure, either. Although there were reinforcementsing in steadily, the deaths on the front line were just as numerous. The supremes of the Sacred Mountain took no action even under such circumstances. The only order they had issued was to attack and drive the humans out of the sinkhole area.

    The dukes felt helpless as they took to the field in turn, suffering one defeat after the other in the hands of Song Zining and Zhao Jundu.

    There was a rumor circting among the dark races that Song Zining¡¯s divination arts were already close to Lin Xitang in his early years.

    This kind of conjecture only served to suppress the injection of experts from the Evernight Council. Only a few top masters could perform divination in the sinkhole region, people the council would protect like treasures. There was no way they would be willing to send them into the field.

    This was a lesson they had learned from Lin Xitang. Back when the Twin Paragons of the Empire were on the rise, the factions had fought both in the field and remotely via divination.

    That period of time was a particrly low point for the Empire¡¯s divination schools, a time where the seeds of internal strife had started to sprout. Hence Evernight¡¯s prophets were highly effective against the Empire¡¯s overall strategy. Some rumors, minor changes to the flow of fate on the battlefield, and a bit of suppression from the top experts and the Empire¡¯s war zones would be up to their ears in problems.

    Back then, Lin Xitang¡¯s aplishments weren¡¯t that evident and the casualty ratio was just within an eptable range. But as time went by, the Evernight side finally discovered that something was wrong. All prophets who had fought against Lin Xitang would gradually fall ill after returning to Evernight and pass away after several months. Some would take years but their fate was no different.

    It took a good deal of secret information and several years after the end of the Empire¡¯s internal strife for the Evernight Council to connect the death of their prophets to Lin Xitang.

    Some even suggested an absurd but terrifying idea that Lin Xitang¡¯s true objective was to hunt down Evernight¡¯s prophets.

    It was already toote by that point. Although Lin Xitang hadn¡¯tid his hands on the grandmaster level prophets, the fallen geniuses who had actively taken part in the war¡ªeither in nning or for observation¡ªwere people who would¡¯ve be grandmasters one day. Moreover, they would be prophets with ample battlefield experience.

    Many of them had fallen victim to Lin Xitang¡¯s trick and met their eventual ends. Even the supremes could do little against this kind of spiritual injury.

    Just like that, Lin Xitang had single-handedly caused a cross-sectional destruction among Evernight¡¯s prophets.

    Since then, the Evernight Council had been extremely careful in the deployment of their prophets¡ªthey would only observe the situation in ordinary battles and never appear in the field. It was thereafter that the Empire¡¯s Twin Paragons truly began to shine.

    History was once again repeating itself on the battlefield around the sinkhole. Song Zining¡¯s high rate of sess couldn¡¯t be a strategy alone; he had to have used divination. This meant that the Evernight Council would have to be more careful in the deployment of their own prophets, putting their forces in an even more passive state.

    This was the situation when Nighteye had set out with her forces, but she spared little thought for it. All she did was lead the army slowly toward the sinkhole, almost as though she were on a leisurely trip.

    ...

    On a mountain peak somewhere, two marquises were gradually turning pale and weak as they fought Wei Potian. Exchanging nces, they attacked with their most powerful moves at the same time and then fled almost immediately after the round of attacks.

    With a peal of drawn-outughter, Wei Potian shed at one of the marquis from afar. The blow opened up a big gash on the fleeing expert¡¯s back, a wound so deep that the bones were almost visible. The marquis lurched forward but his steps remained swift. He couldn¡¯t even afford to care about his soldiers as he vanished over the horizon.

    Wei Potian retracted the Thousand Mountains andughed coldly. ¡°ying this game with me again? It¡¯s been over a dozen times, you think I¡¯ll fall for it again? Take this marking before you go!¡±

    Wei Potian turned back to find that the dark races on the frontline were retreating like the tides, and the foot of the hill was full of corpses.

    With a shout, he charged out at the front. The Wei n soldiers jumped out from behind cover and followed their young master to kill the routed enemy. This ruthless assault cut down thousands more dark race soldiers beforeing to a halt.

    Wei Potian said in satisfaction, ¡°Check our battle results, help the injured and clean up. We¡¯ll go back and rest afterward!¡±

    The warriors erupted in a thunderous cheer. Many of them were already pondering on how to spend their money and rx after going back.

    Wei Potian scolded them with augh, ¡°Look at you guys, what do you guys know apart from wine and women? The contributions from this battle are enough for you to buynd or start up a business. Hand over ny percent of your contributions after we return, and this daddy will help you guys find some goodnd in our province. Everyone will be andowner after the war!¡±

    The soldiers broke out in cheers. Of course, it was impossible for them to be a part of the nobility, but owningnd and business would give them the foundation to build a family. If they kept trying hard enough, they could one day be andowning household. If these small families held a stable footing, they would also add to the Far Eastern Province¡¯s foundation. The aristocracy of each generation had to slowly develop just like that.

    A cold voice echoed in everyone¡¯s ears amidst the cheer. ¡°In such a rush to go back?¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He turned around to see a dark race squad emerging from the valley entrance. Their numbers were small, but the dense array of expert auras caused one¡¯s scalp to go numb. The unit was made up of ten thousand soldiers at most, but there were actually ten marquis in their lineup.

    The dark race army had appeared silently, almost as though they had popped out of the void. Wei Potian never sensed this army¡¯s arrival, and even the fleeing Evernight soldiers just now probably had no idea of this unit¡¯s existence.

    As an experienced leader, Wei Potian roared immediately, ¡°Return to base!¡±

    The Wei n soldiers turned and ran, charging toward their fortifications on the hill. As long as they were behind defensive lines, a normal squad of ten thousand could forget about defeating this elite imperial unit of five thousand.

    Wei Potian brought up the rear with his private guard. That mysterious army wasn¡¯t in a rush to chase after them, either. They only advanced at a steady pace, filling the field with gradual pressure.

    Wei Potian rxed somewhat after seeing that his forces had reached the fortifications. He was just about to join them himself when his vision blurred¡ªthere was someone in front of him all of a sudden.

    He looked up in surprise. "Y-You... howe it¡¯s you?"

    Nighteye said, "Why can¡¯t it be me?"

    Wei Potian said, "This isn¡¯t the ce to talk. Follow me to the rear, the dark races will charge us any moment now.¡±

    Seeing his state, Nighteye said, "Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t."

    "They won¡¯t? There¡¯s no way they¡¯d let go of such an... opportunity..." Wei Potian looked back to find the crowd of experts standing still several hundred meters away.

    Wei Potian nced at the dark race army then back at Nighteye, his jaw dropping wider and wider.

    "Correct, that¡¯s my squad," said Nighteye.

    Wei Potian scratched his head with a difficult expression. "What do I do? What do I do? You¡¯re Qianye¡¯s wife, how can I fight you?"

    Nighteye¡¯s tense expression rxed ever so slightly, but it was soon reced by cold indifference. All this time, there was a mixed expression, something betweenughter and tears, that never receded. ¡°I have nothing to do with him anymore. Even if I did, he¡¯s not from your side, is he?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s that, but he¡¯s still a brother. How can I fight his woman?¡± Wei Potian was serious.

    The two armies couldn¡¯t hear their conversation, but the dark race marquis wasn¡¯t too far from them. Their expressions turned odd all of a sudden, and it looked like they were having a hard time holding theirughter back.

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t going to hold back against them. He roared with a dark expression, ¡°What are youughing at?! I can¡¯t fight Nighteye, but you guys are a piece of cake. Come at me in groups of two, I¡¯ll take all of you on!¡±

    This kind of challenge was normal, and it was advantageous for Wei Potian¡¯s defensive strategy. This time, however, it provedpletely ineffective. An arachne marquis said, ¡°Of course we¡¯lle at you together. What will the others do otherwise? Watch?¡±

    Wei Potian spat loudly. ¡°What a disgrace to your so-called sacred blood!¡±

    This provocation had no effect, either. The marquis stood still like wooden dummies, looking at Nighteye.

    Nighteye said, ¡°They¡¯re here to spectate. Enough talk, let¡¯s fight.¡±

    Wei Potian began to scratch his head again. ¡°I told you I can¡¯t attack you..¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when Nighteye appeared in front of him and a cold, delicate hand grabbed him by the neck. Wei Potian was then lifted into the air and mmed hard to the ground. This m was so powerful that even his Thousand Mountains had erupted out of reflex.

    Nighteye let go and stood looking down at him from above.

    Wei Potian flipped over and got back to his feet, his head still spinning and in a daze. ¡°Leave! There are heavenly monarchs in this area, they might attack you.¡±

    ¡°Why would they target me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so powerful that even I an not your opponent. The heavenly monarchs might consider you a sacrifice," Wei Potian said seriously.

    An unnoticeable smile emerged on Nighteye¡¯s cold countenance. "I¡¯ll be targeted if I defeat you? You really... think highly of yourself."

    Wei Potian shook his head in an attempt to wake himself up. "Isn¡¯t that normal? No ordinary marquis is my match. You¡¯re a genius, so it¡¯s very likely you¡¯ll be a sacrifice. You don¡¯t know what those behind the curtain are thinking, they prefer targeting young geniuses too and not just dukes."

    Nighteye said, "Enough, use your Thousand Mountains! I¡¯ll tell you whyter."

    Helpless, Wei Potian unleashed a mountain peak above him and assumed abat position.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t attack immediately. She pointed at Wei Potian¡¯s waist, saying, "Your sword."

    "It¡¯ll be bad if I wound you with that."

    "As you wish."

    Nighteye¡¯s figure flickered and appeared in front of Wei Potian. She then pped the Thousand Mountains gently.

    This p seemed fairly light, but it sent Wei Potian¡¯s ears buzzing. It felt as though he were standing inside a bell. His vision was filled with a spectrum of colors.

    That tall mountain peak cracked like ss, its remnant projections barely holding its shape.

    Nighteye was rather surprised that she couldn¡¯t shatter the Thousand Mountains in one go. Her lips rose in a faint smile as she realized the solution.

    If the first p didn¡¯t work, then all she needed was a second p.

    The Thousand Mountains vanished immediately as Wei Potian was knocked out.

 Chapter 1327: Message

    <h4>Chapter 1327: Message</h4>

    Wei Potian woke up after god knew how long.

    All he saw when he opened his eyes was a small piece of the sky surrounded by darkness. He gazed, puzzled, at the scene for a good while before realizing that he was actually in a pit. The depression in the ground was an almost exact fit for his body, almost as though it was tailor-made just for him.

    His thoughts cleared up after a while. This was no tailored pit! He had been mmed right into the ground.

    Wei Potian struggled up and had to use both arms and legs to make it out. The stony ground of the new world was extremely hard, so much so that mming into the soil felt impressive.

    He had just poked his head out when he saw a pair of ck boots in front of him. The beautifulbat boots outlined the owner¡¯s lower leg perfectly.

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t need to look up to know that it was Nighteye. ¡°Was I knocked out?¡±

    ¡°You did well to resist one strike.¡±

    Wei Potian stood up and nced at Nighteye, who was sitting on a nearby rock. ¡°Where are my brothers?¡±

    Nighteye pointed down the mountain. ¡°They¡¯ve been captured.¡±

    ¡°Captured?¡± Wei Potian looked over with a serious expression, his eyes going wide when he saw the number of captives. ¡°Did they not resist at all?¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°I told them I¡¯ll pop your head if they don¡¯te out from the fortifications andy down their weapons. They obeyed.¡±

    Wei Potian stamped his feet. ¡°Idiots! How can I, the great Marquis Potian, have a squad that gives up without fighting?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d be dead if they didn¡¯t surrender.¡±

    ¡°So what?! I¡¯ve lived enough. After I die, send a message to Yuying if you have the opportunity. Tell her I fell in battle because of my inferior skills, that I¡¯m resigned to my fate and not to avenge me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re afraid she¡¯ll die in my hands?¡±

    Wei Potian became serious. ¡°Yuying is stubborn, she¡¯ll seek you out if it¡¯s not made clear. And she¡¯s not your match, never will be.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the rtionship between you two?¡±

    ¡°We just got engaged. If you ask about rtionships, well... it began in the Great Maelstrom.¡± Wei Potian seemed happy as he reminisced about things.

    Nighteye¡¯s expression also softened a bit at the mention of Zhao Yuying. ¡°That¡¯s wise of you to know that she would be throwing her life away if she came.¡±

    Wei Potianughed wryly. ¡°That¡¯s because I just realized you were serious.¡±

    Nighteye broke intoughter. ¡°Why else would I be here? A tour?¡±

    Wei Potian sighed. ¡°I know the military wronged you in the past. Those people are all dead now, but it still gave you a reason to hate us. Now that you have defeated me, there¡¯s nothing toin about if I die to your de, and I won¡¯t let anyone seek revenge for me. My brothers, though... can you let them live, seeing as they didn¡¯t resist? Hardbor is fine as well.¡±

    ¡°Since you want to die so much, I guess I¡¯d better help you out.¡±

    Wei Potian jumped up after hearing this. ¡°Wait, wait! Do you mean you were going to let me off? Then we should discuss.¡±

    Nighteye was startled. ¡°Discuss what?¡±

    Wei Potian rubbed his hands in delight. ¡°As expected of Qianye¡¯s wife. Didn¡¯t I say so? There¡¯s no way you¡¯d be so merciless toward your husband¡¯s brother! Let¡¯s talk terms. How about ransom?¡±

    Nighteye found this both annoying and amusing. ¡°I¡¯ve changed my mind, it¡¯ll be quieter if I kill you.¡±

    Wei Potian shut up almost immediately. He knew there was a limit to jokes when it came to life and death.

    Nighteye said, ¡°I¡¯ll spare you this time. Run an errand for me, tell the Empire that I¡¯m here and that certain wretches better not let me run into them.¡±

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it. ¡°Which wretched people? Except for those dukes, all of us here are your hubby¡¯s brothers. It won¡¯t be too easy to kill them, you need to be aware of the heavenly monarchs as well...¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Nighteye scolded.

    Wei Potian went silent immediately.

    Nighteye red fiercely at him, saying, ¡°Tell your men to leave all equipment and make themselves scram!¡±

    After replying with a ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡±, Wei Potian cried out at the top of his lungs, ¡°Everyone! Shed your armor, get into formation, retreat!¡±

    This fellow was so quick to obey that Nighteye couldn¡¯t help but find it amusing. ¡°I will kill you as well if I see you again on the battlefield!¡±

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t worried about himself and was instead concerned about Nighteye¡¯s safety. ¡°You weren¡¯t sent here as a sacrifice, were you?¡±

    Nighteye had no strength left to be angry. She said unceremoniously, ¡°The heavenly monarchs can¡¯t do anything to me. What do you think this is?¡±

    A massive origin gun appeared in her hands¡ªtwo meters long and as thick as a bucket. How was this a gun? It was clearly a cannon! She held up the giant weapon as though it was made of paper and tossed it to Wei Potian.

    Wei Potian caught the gun and immediately felt a weight far beyond his expectations. His arms sank to the point where he had to unleash his origin power to catch it steadily and not embarrass himself. This giant gun was close to ten tons in weight and so heavy that it was on par with an airship¡¯s cannon.

    The design was fairly odd¡ªthere was an array of four square barrels with sinister-looking wolf totems carved on their sides. At a careful look, these totems were made up of intricate lines that formed manyyers of origin arrays.

    Such an exquisite array was rare even in the Empire, likely the work of a grandmaster. Wei Potian sensed a frosty killing intent rush at his face, almost as though he were being targeted by a void colossus; even his hands began to tremble. Amidst the murderous will, there was also a deep hatred for daybreak origin power.

    This was a sentient weapon!

    And considering its unique shape, Wei Potian gasped. ¡°The Tempest!¡±

    ¡°Correct, this is the Tempest.¡± Nighteye nodded.

    Wei Potian felt that something wasn¡¯t quite right. This was the werewolves¡¯ Grand Magnum, but wasn¡¯t Nighteye a vampire?

    At the same time that he caught the Tempest, he had a sudden urge to run away with it. However, he quickly dispersed the impractical notion. Ignoring how fast Nighteye was and whether he could even outrun her, it was easy to imagine what would happen to the thousands of Wei n soldiers if he chose to do so.

    In his heart, his brothers-in-arms were more valuable than this magnum.

    Nighteye nced at him with a spurious smile. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to run off with it?¡±

    Wei Potian sighed as he returned the weapon to Nighteye. ¡°I can¡¯t trade a gun for the lives of thousands ofrades. Besides, I can¡¯t use it even if you give it to me, what¡¯s the point?¡±

    ¡°You have some conscience after all.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the Tempest from the werewolf race? Why is it in your hands?¡±

    ¡°Pioneering the new world is a major event for the Evernight Faction. The council has decided that the werewolves need to be a part of this, so we¡¯ve allowed them to join us. I have to be guarded against your so-called heavenly monarchs, so I needed a good weapon. I¡¯ve always felt that the Tempest was suitable for me, so I borrowed it for a couple of days.¡±

    Nighteye made light of the situation, but Wei Potian felt secretly surprised. Getting her hands on the Tempest meant that Nighteye¡¯s position in the council was even higher than the werewolf race.

    And for her to have no fear of the heavenly monarchs after arming herself with the Tempest, that was rather inconceivable as well. After all, she was still a glorious marquis, a thousand miles away from a heavenly monarch. Wei Potian, though, didn¡¯t think that she was bluffing¡ªletting her bring a Grand Magnum to the front lines proved their confidence in her.

    With the Tempest in hand, none of the Empire¡¯s frontline generals would be a match for her.

    Nighteye seemed to have read his thoughts. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t be using it against anyone but the heavenly monarchs. Otherwise, it¡¯ll be too boring. Well, we¡¯ve wasted enough time, now scram!¡±

    Wei Potian left with the Wei n soldiers in tow, his mind full of concern.

    The dark races did make it difficult for them. For instance, they demanded that shoes were a part of the soldiers¡¯ armor, so many of the warriors had to leave barefooted. This bit of hardship was nothingpared to survival. The men were moved to tears at how Wei Potian had given up a Grand Magnum for their lives; their loyalty to him was absolute and unconditional.

    Back at the Imperial forward base, Song Zining was deep in thought in front of a map as the sounds of killing and fighting echoed outside. An aide ran in at this point, saying, ¡°General Song, half of the enemy have fallen, they can¡¯t hold on for much longer! Our nking units are already in ce to surround them. These werewolves can forget about escaping!¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t happy at all. He muttered to himself with a deep frown, ¡°Yeah... the werewolves, why are there werewolves in the field? And why are there only werewolves?!¡±

    There was a series of hurried footsteps as Wei Potian¡¯s loud voice arrived ahead of the person. ¡°Zining, I¡¯m back. Guess who I ran into?¡±

    Without waiting for Song Zining to guess, Wei Potian said excitedly, ¡°It¡¯s Nighteye! Qianye¡¯s wife!¡±

    ¡°Nighteye!¡±

    Song Zining dropped the brush in his hand.

    Wei Potian was surprised. He watched as the pen bounced on the floor, saying, ¡°Why are you so surprised?¡±

    Song Zining regained hisposure and said with a forced smile, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I haven¡¯t seen her in a good while. How¡¯s she doing, and how did you meet her? Come, let¡¯s sit down and talk.¡±

    After Song Zining had dismissed the staff, Wei Potian threw himself onto the sofa and said, ¡°Sigh, I don¡¯t even want to talk about it, it¡¯s so embarrassing. I thought I was quite awesome to be able to handle four marquises at the same time, but who would¡¯ve thought my Thousand Mountains couldn¡¯t even take one p from her? The second p knocked me outpletely.¡±

    Song Zining would ask an asional question while listening. His expression became unsightly when he heard that the Tempest was in her hands.

    Wei Potian noticed the change. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Song Zining seemed restless. ¡°Do you really believe her?¡±

    Wei Potian was stunned. ¡°Why not? She¡¯s Qianye¡¯s wife.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s no longer.¡±

    ¡°When did that happen?¡± Wei Potian was confused.

    ¡°Sigh, you won¡¯t understand even if I tell you.¡± Song Zining rushed out and assembled all of the staff officers,manding them to withdraw all soldiers fighting who were still roaming the field.

 Chapter 1328: Ominous Signs

    <h4>Chapter 1328: Ominous Signs</h4>

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t really understand why Song Zining was so anxious.

    He knew warfare well enough to tell that those roaming squads were vital to Song Zining¡¯s hold on the mid-field fortress. These units were preventing the dark races from an all-out attack and forcing them to leave soldiers to guard their rear.

    The rear guard couldn¡¯t be too big or too small. This posed a problem when there was a limited number of soldiers to invest in the war. Assigning too many to the rear would weaken the assault and increase casualties, while the opposite would allow Song Zining¡¯s focused attacks to devour the supply lines.

    As only Song Zining could use divination, the dark races were more or less fighting a miserable blind battle. They could only brace themselves and take Song Zining¡¯s bait.

    They would still do some damage to the Empire while attacking fortresses, unlike roaming battles where their casualty ratio was so much higher. Hence, the dark races had no other choice but to attack no matter how high the walls were.

    Recalling the roaming assault forces was akin to cutting off an arm. Wei Potian simply couldn¡¯t understand.

    After the recall, Song Zining formed the army into three units and assigned a duke to each of them. He also reminded them repeatedly to exercise utmost caution.

    At the same time, a bright re shot up into the air and lingered in the sky for some time. This signal was to alert the heavenly monarchs to the region. This meant that Song Zining wasn¡¯t too assured even with the dukes leading the army.

    When all arrangements had been made, Wei Potian could no longer keep quiet. ¡°Is this really necessary?¡±

    The fortress defense battles reduced the need for mobility and the exhaustion of airships. This allowed the Empire to barely keep up.

    The roaming troops were mostly transported by off-road vehicles, only summoning airships when required. The three units at the moment were excessively equipped, and all of them were to be transported by air. This would increase the requirements by many times.

    These three armies were strong, but the expenditure could match six roaming squads. Wei Potian felt that thetter would give them a greater advantage.

    Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief after making all the arrangements. He unfastened his top button and poured a ss of chilled alcohol. After finishing it all in one go, he said, ¡°Did she say she¡¯ll kill you if she sees you again?¡±

    ¡°She did, but...¡±

    Wei Potian wanted to exin, but Song Zining said, ¡°I understand. You should return to the Empire immediately, and bring your Wei n soldiers with you.¡°

    Wei Potian was shocked. ¡°Wait! Why must I go back? My Thousand Mountains is almost at the perfection stage.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you won¡¯t see her again? Do you think she¡¯ll let you off this time? Do you want Qianye to not be able to face us in the future?¡±

    The three questions tightened themselves around Wei Potian until he could no longer breathe. He stood dazed for a while before his expression crumbled, saying, ¡°That can¡¯t be. The meeting wasn¡¯t so bad, except the fact that I got beaten up pretty bad.¡±

    Song Zining said word-by-word, ¡°She will kill you if she sees you again, do not doubt that.¡±

    ¡°Then I just need to avoid her, right? Don¡¯t you know divination? Just do some calctions and help me avoid her. Must I hide away just because I can¡¯t afford to provoke her?¡± Wei Potian felt that things weren¡¯t so serious.

    ¡°I can¡¯t divine her.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I just can¡¯t,¡± Song Zining repeated.

    ¡°So there¡¯s something you can¡¯t scry, didn¡¯t you say the only ones you can¡¯t divine are great dark monarchs? There aren¡¯t any here.¡± Wei Potian was skeptical.

    Song Zining asked, ¡°Do you really think she¡¯s easier to deal with than a great monarch?¡±

    Wei Potian was stunned. ¡°Looks like Qianye won¡¯t have an easy time in the future.¡±

    Covering his face, Song Zining sighed at Wei Potian¡¯s train of thought. ¡°Let¡¯s worry about you first.¡±

    Wei Potian wasn¡¯t willing to ept. ¡°I¡¯m still Qianye¡¯s brother-in-arms regardless. She won¡¯t go so far, will she?¡±

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t be bothered with him, but he also couldn¡¯t let him do whatever he wanted. Otherwise, it would be impossible to clean things up when the time came. Just as he was thinking about how to exin it to the fellow, an aide rushed in urgently.

    That person cried out in a panic, ¡°Sire, things don¡¯t look good! Duke Yuanguang¡¯s unit was ambushed by the dark races. The entire unit was wiped out, only the duke escaped with heavy injuries!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Song Zining¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°Take me there!¡±

    Wei Potian stood dazed for a moment before following the others.

    Lying within the hospital at the duke quarters, Duke Yuanguang was as pale as a sheet despite theck of bloodstains on his body. The Imperial doctors around him looked anxious and helpless.

    Song Zining rushed to the bedside. ¡°What happened?¡±

    Duke Yuanguang opened his eyes and said with a wry smile, ¡°The dark races... appeared without the slightest warning. I saw Nighteye... it¡¯s not a shame to lose to her. What the Empire did to her, we¡¯re finally... reaping what we sow.¡±

    ¡°As expected.¡± Song Zining looked gloomy as he observed the duke¡¯s injury.

    The duke waved his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time, I know my condition. She has crippled my foundation, I¡¯m no longer a duke from here on out. I can tell that she didn¡¯t want to kill me, else I wouldn¡¯t... be back. Too bad our brethren...¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression grew unsightly as he checked the damage. Duke Yuanguang¡¯s origin crystal had shattered and was bound together by a wisp of dark golden blood energy. This lingering blood energy formed an ancient rune that could be interpreted as ¡°death!¡±

    The dark golden blood energy was absorbing the duke¡¯s essence blood to empower itself, but they couldn¡¯t remove it because it was the only thing holding his origin crystal in shape. Once removed, Duke Yuanguang¡¯s origin crystal would crumble. He might not even survive, let alone maintain his divine champion cultivation.

    Yet the dark golden blood energy would drain him entirely if it was left alone. This blood energy was like a bone maggot that could neither be extracted nor be left alone.

    Only then did Song Zining realize why the doctors were so helpless. Removing this blood energy would require someone stronger than the assant in both cultivation and origin power quality. Nighteye had set up a battlefield on the duke¡¯s origin crystal and challenged the entire Empire.

    Song Zining pulled his hand back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The wound is troublesome, but it¡¯s not impossible to treat. Also, it won¡¯t act up immediately. You must avoid using your origin power from now on. I¡¯ll dispatch an airship to send you back to the Empire, I¡¯m sure the princes will think of something.¡±

    Duke Yuanguang grabbed Song Zining¡¯s hand excitedly. ¡°I can still recover?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Song Zining said decisively.

    Duke Yuanguang heaved a sigh of relief. Some color returned to his face as he said, ¡°That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great! I still have so many things I need to do. I was wondering why you didn¡¯t catch the dark races squad with your divination, but I understood when I saw her. She... sigh... she won¡¯t live long with the heavenly monarchs around.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s lips moved ever so slightly. He wanted to say that Nighteye had the Tempest, so the heavenly monarchs might not be able to do anything to her. However, he felt that it wasn¡¯t quite appropriate to say it considering Duke Yuanguang¡¯s state.

    The duke might¡¯ve been speaking logically in his despair, but the words he had spoken after seeing some hope were his true thoughts. This person was notorious for being petty. It would be bad for Wei Potian if the duke were to hold a grudge and spread word that he was working with the enemy.

    Wei Potian was frank but not dumb. He still had some measure as to what he should and shouldn¡¯t say.

    Song Ziningforted the man somewhat and arranged for him to be sent back to the Empire once his injuries were stable.

    Watching as Duke Yuanguang¡¯s airship left, he said, ¡°She¡¯s moving fast...¡±

    ¡°Is it really her?¡± Wei Potian couldn¡¯t believe it.

    ¡°Who else?¡± Song Zining had a feeling that the ¡°death¡± on Duke Yuanguang¡¯s origin crystal was actually a message for him.

    The dark golden blood energy made it impossible for him to calm down.

    While Song Zining was lost in thought, an aide ran over and said, ¡°There¡¯s a report from the frontlines. Profundity Monarch has found traces of the enemy and is about to attack. He asks us to make preparations to defend against beast movements and make arrangements to return to the Empire.¡±

    Song Zining was in a daze. ¡°Load the hibernation chamber onto the airship and order them to remain on standby... what did you say?¡±

    The aide was shocked out of his wits. Song Zining¡¯s expression changed drastically as the message was repeated. ¡°Damn, he¡¯s ruining the n!¡±

    The aide was astonished. The Profundity Monarch was a god-like character who was far above everyone. When did he need other people¡¯s agreement to take action?

    In truth, it was already good manners that he had sent word in advance. All he needed was to appear and takemand of everything with a single word.

    Yet Song Zining was speaking as if he were a failure. The aide simply didn¡¯t dare to continue the conversation.

    Wei Potian was utterly confused with no idea what was going on.

    Song Zining nced at him and sighed. ¡°The best strategy now is not to y our piece. Once the Profundity Monarch attacks, we¡¯ll have nothing left to intimidate the dark races. Besides, his attack might not even seed.¡±

    Wei Potian nodded in agreement.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Ah, let it be. Heavenly monarchs are human, after all, and it¡¯s only normal to make mistakes. But erring at such a time is really not worth it.¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°You can¡¯t do anything. It¡¯s not like you can control the heavenly monarchs.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression grew fierce. ¡°Back during Marshal Lin¡¯s era, even the heavenly monarchs had to listen to his orders!¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re not...¡± Wei Potian stopped halfway. ¡°Now that I think about it, you do have some simrities with him. It almost seems like yesterday that we were in ckflow City.¡±

    Song Zining shot him a nce. ¡°Aren¡¯t you just one step away from the divine champion realm as well? Many years have passed. We might be in our prime, but we¡¯re definitely getting older.¡±

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help letting out a sigh as he thought about the years.

 Chapter 1329: Defea

    <h4>Chapter 1329: Defea</h4>

    Song Zining stopped dwelling on what had been done and began issuing a series of orders. The entire base kicked into urgent action and everyone became busy. Wei Potian had nothing to do, so he could only follow the seventh young master.

    Seeing the soldiers shipping crate after crate of ammunition onto the cannon turrets and the resting squadrons assuming battle station, Wei Potian couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Are we forming a battlefront here?¡±

    ¡°Why not? Weren¡¯t we fighting just now?¡±

    ¡°I thought you wanted to make this a supply base.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve changed my mind.¡±

    Wei Potion was surprised. ¡°How can you change your mind so randomly?¡±

    Song Zining stopped walking and shot him a nce, ¡°We have to. You guys over there, move the remaining resources into the transport airships!¡±

    A number of officers left to perform the task. Only Wei Potian was left hanging around, not knowing what to say. ¡°So she has scared us away, just like that?¡±

    Song Zining said seriously, ¡°Don¡¯t mention her in front of anyone if you don¡¯t want to die, let alone what¡¯s in her hand. Not just you, make sure your soldiers are quiet as well or the entire Wei family will be in trouble.¡±

    Wei Potian was shocked. ¡°Is it that serious?¡±

    ¡°It is. Now go and pack! There are still some empty airships that you and your men can squeeze into. Send a reserve squad once you¡¯re back in the Empire.¡±

    ¡°This is an order!¡±

    Wei Potian didn¡¯t know what to do when Song Zining was suddenly so serious. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll obey. What do I do after I go back?¡±

    ¡°Far East Province, Transcendent, Western, void continent, anywhere you want to go. Just don¡¯te here.¡±

    Wei Potian opened his mouth as though he had remembered something. However, he unexpectedly refrained from arguing and only walked toward the airship.

    Seeing that there were no other people, a Wei-n general said with a bitter expression, ¡°Young Master, are we really going back?¡±

    Wei Potian red at them. ¡°What else do we do? Wait to get killed? General Song has issued a military order! Do you think this daddy can disobey?¡±

    A different general said, ¡°We¡¯re not asking you to disobey, but how do we raise our heads if we go back to the Empire like that?¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we? We have contributed a lot to the war effort and we didn¡¯t lose a lot of soldiers.¡±

    The general said, ¡°That¡¯s not wrong, but our defeat this time was too humiliating. Our brethren were stripped naked and had to return barefooted. Did you hear what those people in the base were talking about us? They¡¯re saying, ¡®Oh my, howe those people came back butt-naked?¡¯¡±

    Wei Potian was furious. ¡°Those bastards dare gossip about me?! Would they have let us return if it weren¡¯t for my strength?¡±

    His voice was so loud that a good part of the base heard him.

    The officers and soldiers knew that Wei Potian shared a good rtionship with Song Zining. The Wei family behind him was also powerful, and the man himself was almost a divine champion. The crowd went on with their own business, pretending not to hear what Wei Potian had said. Making fun of the soldier was fine, but they would be courting death if they were to ridicule the leader.

    Wei Potian looked around. Seeing that no one was continuing the topic, he beckoned to his men in an impressive manner. ¡°Everyone, get on the airship. We have important things to do once we get back!¡±

    The Wei n troops roared in response and ran toward the airships. Some dissatisfied officers in the distance whispered, ¡°Still acting like that after a defeat, what a rare performance.¡±

    The words were neither loud nor soft. Some of the sharp Wei n soldiers heard thement, but they only lowered their heads and left since they were too embarrassed to argue.

    The short interlude had just passed when a loud cry echoed through the base. ¡°Call the doctors! There are returning soldiers from the front line, so many injured soldiers!¡±

    A burning airship flew in unsteadily and practically mmed into the ground outside of the fortress. The cabin doors were kicked open, and a burly man covered in blood rushed out. ¡°Doctors! Where are the doctors? So many of ourrades are about to die!¡±

    Wei Potian rushed over without a word and started helping with the injured. The entire airship was filled with wounded soldiers, many of them already devoid of life when they were brought out.

    The airship was still burning and might explode at any moment. Wei Potiain grabbed a battle-axe and shed ruthlessly at the cabin wall, opening up a big hole in just a few swings. He then picked up two wounded soldiers and ran for the hospital. He suddenly came to after a couple of round trips and drove arge truck over to the airship.

    There were quite a few who were quicker to react. There were already dozens of trucks shuttling back and forth with injured soldiers. The hospital was packed to the brim. Dozens of doctors were sweating as they worked to save the patients. They had to ask other soldiers for help as there weren¡¯t enough nurses.

    This facility could be considered fairly big as far as field hospitals went, yet it could hardly manage when a thousand soldiers poured in at the same time.

    Wei Potian grabbed one of the less injured generals and asked, ¡°Which unit are you from? How did this happen?¡±

    That general recognized Wei Potian. He bowed hurriedly and said, ¡°Our unit was under General Zhang Shixuan¡¯smand. We were attacking the dark races¡¯ supply lines. Who would¡¯ve thought they¡¯d appear out of nowhere? There¡¯s an extremely powerful woman in their unit. Somehow, she immediately downed two of our airships. General Zhang ordered the airships tond and brought up the rear with his personal guard. Then...¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s heart sank. ¡°It¡¯s that woman¡¯s doing?¡±

    The general shook his head. ¡°She didn¡¯t get her turn. There were over a dozen marquises under hermand. We had to fight with all our might to save theserades.¡±

    It was Nighteye, no doubt. Only her unit would have so many experts.

    Song Zining passed by at this moment. He said hurriedly when he saw Wei Potian, ¡°Why are you still here? Go!¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°I¡¯m not leaving anymore.¡±

    Song Zining was startled. ¡°What are you going to do? Court death?¡±

    Wei Potian pointed at all the injured in the base. ¡°Look at them, how can I leave just like that?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°You¡¯re confused again! How are you the same as them? People die every day on the battlefield. The other party might not try too hard to wipe them out in the field, but do you think you can return alive?¡±

    ¡°No one is immortal in war. So what if this daddy dies?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing if you die, but your soldiers will be wiped out! You¡¯re forcing her to attack!¡± Song Zining¡¯s voice rose higher.

    ¡°So what if I can¡¯t beat them? Must I hide away and never appear in the field?¡±

    Apparently, this argument was getting nowhere and people were starting to look over. Song Zining said with a solemn expression, ¡°Do what you want, but you can only leave half of your forces. We must leave some seedlings for the Wei family!¡±

    Wei Potian said calmly, ¡°Leave a third of them or let them all go back.¡±

    The Wei n¡¯s elites were all gathered here. The family would suffer greatly if they were wiped out. The n had no one to seed Wei Potian, either. There was no way to find a young scion with enough talent to reach the divine champion realm in a short time. At that point, the entire territory and its interests would be at risk.

    Wei Potian understood this reasoning. As he grew older, he started to realize that he couldn¡¯t act recklessly for momentary satisfaction.

    Song Zining nced at him. ¡°The Wei n¡¯s true foundation is you. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯ll be a pity if you die without bing a divine champion?¡±

    Wei Potian lowered his head in apparent contemtion. ¡°Men shouldn¡¯t be so overcautious! I wouldn¡¯t have reached where I am today if I were such a coward. Say no more! Life and death will be in heaven¡¯s hands. This daddy will ept my fate if I am to die under her de!¡±

    Song Zining patted his shoulder. ¡°Fine, stay then. But you have to remember to listen to mymand and not move recklessly.¡±

    ¡°Understood, I don¡¯t n to die just yet.¡±

    ¡°Yuying will marry someone else if you die.¡±

    Wei Potian was furious. ¡°You and your auspicious mouth.¡±

    Song Zining patted the fellow¡¯s back with a peal of loudughter, then sauntered off.

    A small joke didn¡¯t add a lot of light to the dreary mood. As one airship after the other flew back, the entire base fell into a wave of depressed activity.

    The field hospital here could no longer fit that many injured soldiers, so the surrounding space had been put to use as well. There were moaning soldiers everywhere, with doctors scuttling about busily. They could only spare each patient a quick nce and give out instructions before moving onto the next bed.

    Medical supplies were soon used up, to the point where using bedsheets as bandages wasn¡¯t enough. Cries of misery could be heard from time to time as the soldiers passed, plunging the entire base into a gloomy atmosphere.

    An azure light suddenly flickered above the hospital, showering the patients with a drizzle of fine rain. The injured soldiers felt their pain subside and their senses dulled. Many soon fell asleep.

    Song Zining turned around to find a middle-aged man walking over. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Duke Qingyun.¡±

    Duke Qingyun said, ¡°I did what little I could to alleviate their pain. Speaking of which, what caused all of this?¡±

    Duke Qingyun was rather famous for his Spring Rain Domain. The domain possessed an extremely wide area of effect. It wasn¡¯t very powerful, but the rain had a numbing effect that could weaken the enemy army. It was also quite effective on the injured, but it could only numb the pain and not heal the injuries.

    Song Zining suddenly remembered. ¡°Where¡¯s the Profundity Monarch?¡±

    Duke Qingyun was the Profundity Monarch¡¯s trusted aide. Hearing Song Zining¡¯s question, he said, ¡°The prince sensed something, so he has headed to the front lines to search for the target. Before leaving, he said that the target this time is worth even more than Jaero. He said he¡¯d be satisfied if he can take down this target.¡±

    ¡°That would be for the best.¡± Song Zining didn¡¯t sound like he meant it.

    Duke Qingyun noticed this. ¡°Do you have any thoughts on this?¡±

    ¡°I naturally hope that the prince¡¯s trip won¡¯t be in vain.¡±

 Chapter 1330: A Fight Between Kings

    <h4>Chapter 1330: A Fight Between Kings</h4>

    The Profundity Monarch walked out of the void, stroking his beard with a smile as he looked down at the elite dark race unit below.

    The dark races had set up base to rest. The tents had been pitched in a neat formation, at precisely the same distance from one another. This unit might not be vast in number, but every soldier possessed great fighting power and there were countless experts in their ranks.

    The Profundity Monarch saw eight marquises at a single nce, as well as innumerable counts. He could kill droves with a random p.

    The monarch slowly descended to the ground. ¡°This is the Profundity Monarch speaking! I feel it¡¯s below me to attack you people, but I¡¯ll make an exception during special circumstances. I¡¯ll consider letting the rest go if all those above the marquis realmmit suicide. If I must take action, I will wipe out every living creature here!¡±

    These words were spoken with origin power. The mandate of a heavenly monarch contained such might that the soldiers in the camp copsed to the ground. Those below the count-rank simply couldn¡¯t stand up. Only the marquises and counts remained on their feet.

    The profundity monarch scanned the base and actually saw over ten marquises and dozens of counts. The densely packed lineup brought him a fair bit of surprise, and he even regretted saying that he would let those below the marquis realm leave.

    These marquises formed the core strength of the Evernight Faction, and losing them would deal a massive blow to the dark races.

    But he quickly set the enticing thoughts aside¡ªit was already a taboo for him to kill ten marquises in passing. If he were to go overboard, the Evernight Council might ignore everything and set out on a path of revenge. Even the Profundity Monarch would suffer a fair bit of criticism if the conflict were to affect the Empire.

    In truth, there was already a big risk involved in killing these marquises. The argument that the council was sending sacrificial pieces was barely valid. Killing these marquises would grant the Profundity Monarch massive contributions, an amount even those on the frontline like Song Zining and Zhao Jundu could hardly catch up to.

    The army below was in a difficult situation, but there was neither chaos nor terror. This surprised the Profundity Monarch a fair bit. He was also angered by the response.

    He wasn¡¯t as illustrious as the Pointer Monarch or Prince Greensun. He had only stood guard over his domain during the internal strife at the Imperial court and rarely appeared in public. Hence, his sense of existence was grossly inferior to Lin Xitang.

    Yet he was a true heavenly monarch who had enjoyed great power for many years, and he had ughtered a genius demonkin duke just a while ago. Why were these dark races not cowering in his presence? Why were they so calm? This was looking down on him.

    No matter how calm the Profundity Monarch was, he still had his temper. ¡°Notmitting suicide yet, huh? You¡¯re forcing me to attack and send you all off?¡±

    The marquises below exchanged nces. Despite looking fearful, all of them began to umte power, unwilling to give up without resistance.

    The Profundity Monarch shouted, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I won¡¯t be holding back.¡±

    He slowly lifted his right palm, stirring up raging winds that formed a tempest at the center of the dark race camp.

    Ordinary dukes and divine champions couldn¡¯t easily draw upon the strange origin power of the new world. The Profundity Monarch, however, could forcibly bend the energy here to his will. A single move from him was so powerful that it stirred the wind and clouds.

    The marquises and counts below finally started to panic andunched one attack after another. The sound of gunfire echoed loudly as a storm of origin bullets whizzed toward the Profundity Monarch.

    The monarch sneered as a light green origin power emerged around him. The glow was rather faint, but the barrier was extremely strong. The countless origin bullets only produced ripples on its surface; there was simply no sign of it breaking.

    At this point, the Pointer Monarch¡¯s palm had already reached the peak of its trajectory. As he flipped his hand and brought it down, the tempest in the air turned into a dark green storm that bore down upon the camp below.

    The tempest had just taken form when countless arcs of electricity shot out from within, causing all of the dark race soldiers to panic. The stronger the expert, the more they were able to sense that the energy in this storm was enough to destroy them, theirrades, and everyone in the base.

    A heavenly monarch¡¯s wrath was anything but ordinary.

    Several marquises went pale and fled after discarding their weapons. They dashed out at lightning speed at first, but there was a terrifying pull emanating from the tempest that only grew stronger the further the target was from the center.

    Those marquises grew slower and slower until they were moving at a snail¡¯s pace by the time they were around the edge of the camp. The storm descended slowly, but it was growing stronger with each passing moment. The marquises still at the center of the explosion realized that there was no chance of survival at all.

    This scene of chaos put a satisfied smile on the Profundity Monarch¡¯s face.

    It was at this time that a surge of razor-sharp blood energy shot into the sky. A clear, cold voice filled the entire battlefield. ¡°A bunch of useless trash!¡±

    The Profundity Monarch locked onto the blood energy. ¡°You¡¯ve finally appeared. Unfortunately, you have no chance in my hands.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a beam of sword energy flickered from down below!

    The energy was ck, with a hint of gold within the utter darkness. The glow was supposed to be dim, but it became dazzling against the backdrop of darkness. The Profundity Monarch actually felt his eyes stinging ever so slightly.

    Greatly astonished, the monarch didn¡¯t have time to do anything before the sword-glow shed again. One, two, three beams grew into countless streams!

    The radiance weaved into a single point and crushed the Profundity Monarch¡¯s tempest. Some of the beams even struck the Profundity Monarch himself.

    This rude gesture infuriated the Profundity Monarch. Before he could act up, though, he heard cracking sounds from the green protective barrier. The sh had actually produced countless cracks in it, and a thin stream of sword energy slipped through the cracks,nding on his body.

    This invincible blood energy was already at the end of its flight, only producing a small cut at the edge of the Profundity Monarch¡¯s robes. One could hardly see it unless they were close.

    Yet it remained a fact that the Profundity Monarch had been tainted by an enemy attack. As a heavenly monarch, this was no different from a resounding p to his face. This was especially true since he was just ordering the other party tomit suicide.

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s expression went from red to blue, then to purple. Slightly narrowing his eyes, he shot out two beams of bright light from his eyes. The gaze passed through the still-churning storm andnded on a figure standing at the center of the camp.

    ¡°It really is you!¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°Who else?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s gazended on the ck, two-meter de in her hands. ¡°This is... Awakening Dream?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought the council would let you take one of their three holy weapons? Looks like they think quite highly of you.¡±

    ¡°You should be praising how I managed to wound you with it.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch was livid. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be so troublesome today if the military had removed a scourge like you back then.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s countenance paled ever so slightly at the mention of her past. ¡°I wasn¡¯t a scourge back then.¡±

    ¡°Those of a different race will always have different intentions! For the Empire¡¯s peace and stability, you should still be removed even if you¡¯ve hidden your intentions. Your escape back then led to the trouble today. This monarch will have to see how the Zhao n will exin things now.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Those of a different race will always have different intentions... well said! Profundity Monarch, didn¡¯t you want to kill me? What are you waiting for?¡±

    The monarch was furious. ¡°Insolence! No matter who you were in your past life, you¡¯re just a marquis at the moment. How dare you speak with such arrogance?! This monarch wanted to give you some time to speak, but don¡¯t me me since you¡¯re courting death yourself! That Awakening Dream is now the Empire¡¯s!¡±

    The Profundity Monarch grabbed at the air, condensing the origin power into a ck tempestuous mass. It was more a ball of lightning than anything!

    The ball of lightning shot downward with a swing of his hand. He didn¡¯t even try to aim since death would descend within a thousand meters from the impact. No one could escape.

    The ball of lightning would condense the origin power of the world as it descended, growing stronger and stronger as it did so.

    The Profundity Monarch had the leisure to say with a cold smile, ¡°What can you do against my Deicide Lightning, even with Awakening Dream? The sword is a holy weapon, but you¡¯re too weak to activate its full power.¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t panic, however. She thrust Awakening Dream into the ground and produced a tyrannical-looking origin gun!

    ¡°The Tempest!!!¡± The Profundity Monarch was shocked.

    As a famed powerhouse of the Empire, he was no stranger to the four square barrels of the Tempest. Whenever this gun appeared on the battlefield, it would always be a bitter fight.

    Back when the Profundity Monarch was still in the field, the werewolf race¡¯s active great dark monarch was the Wolf Sovereign. The sovereign was extremely powerful on his own. With the Tempest in his arsenal, even the Profundity Monarch could hardly beat him.

    That was a matter from many years ago, but seeing the Tempest brought back memories that made the Profundity Monarch¡¯s brows twitch.

    This was actually a good opportunity. The Profundity Monarch unleashed a long peal ofughter, saying, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d bring such great gifts...¡±

    He was only halfway through when a thunderous st interrupted his speech.

    The Tempest¡¯s four barrels spat out mes of origin power, its shots connecting into a terrifying stream of fire that sted the Deicide Lightning. The Tempest had fired hundreds if not thousands of rounds within moments!

    The Profundity Monarch could feel his right hand shaking fiercely. He couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised that the lightning ball was almost sted apart. The Tempest was the number one in terms of firepower, and that fame was entirely deserved. What surprised him more was that Nighteye could actually draw out such firepower. The monarch almost felt that he had exchanged blows with the Wolf Sovereign.

    The Profundity Monarch roared loudly, ¡°We¡¯ll see how long you can hold out!¡±

    Almost immediately, the origin power of the world once again converged into the ball of Deicide Lightning. The almost-dispersed lightning recovered and even doubled in size as it smashed downward.

    Unknowingly, the Profundity Monarch had used ny percent of his strength. He considered Nighteye a worthy opponent.

 Chapter 1331: Failure

    <h4>Chapter 1331: Failure</h4>

    The Tempest fired like a raging storm, but the drain on the wielder was just as terrifying. The Profundity Monarch was certain that Nighteye would not be able to hold out for more than three breaths¡¯ time.

    Yet one minute had passed and the Tempest was showing no signs of stopping. On the contrary, it was the Deicide Lightning that could not absorb enough energy to keep up with the Tempest and was slowly being pushed back by the hail of bullets.

    The Profundity Monarch nced over to find the entire base covered in a hazy glow of dark golden blood energy. There were birds flying out from the blood and toward the dark race experts. The experts would tremble once the birdsnded on their bodies, but they would remain still and allow the bird to stay.

    These sanguine birds would stab their sharp beaks into the experts¡¯ bodies, drawing out a steady stream of darkness origin power. The energy would then merge into the domain and flow into Nighteye¡¯s body.

    There was a bird on every Evernight soldier. The counts had at least ten on them, while the stronger marquises were almost covered in birds.

    This was akin to an army of ten thousand elites, and the countless experts among them worked together to contend against the Profundity Monarch. That was why the Tempest¡¯s firepower was so fierce andsting.

    The Profundity Monarch might be a heavenly monarch, but it was still quite straining for him to face the might of ten thousand Evernight elites at the same time. After all, fighting in the new world wasn¡¯t quite as smooth as back in the Evernight World, even though the origin power here favored the daybreak side.

    The trembling of his right hand grew worse and worse until the Deicide Lightning began to shoot sparks everywhere, almost as though it was about to break down. Where would the Profundity Monarch put his face if he were to be defeated by Nighteye?

    Without further hesitation, the monarch spat out a thin stream of green origin power which duly entered the lightning. The Deicide Lightning was immediately ignited, growing several times stronger as it suppressed the stream of bullets and descended upon the base!

    This was the Profundity Monarch¡¯s full strength.

    Seeing this ball of lightning and the green glow emanating from every crack, a look of despair finally emerged on the dark race experts¡¯ faces. Even under the protection of the Tempest, they could sense that this was thest minute of their lives.

    The unstoppable lightning sphere descended meter by meter. The beginning of the end would start the moment it came in contact with the ground. Even with the aid of the Tempest, those heaven-defying sanguine birds, and thebined strength of the entire dark race camp, Nighteye was still no match against the tremendous power of a heavenly monarch.

    Yet she held firmly onto the Tempest and continued firing, determined to stop the green lightning. It would seem she had no intention of letting go until thest moment, and neither did she have fear in the face of death. On the contrary, there was only calmness and pride in her eyes.

    This kind of expression made the Profundity Monarch feel rather ufortable. The other party was clearly a weak prey, but it simply wouldn¡¯t ept its fate.

    An indescribable feeling descended from the void just as the green lightning was about to reach the ground. It was as though an invisible hand had grabbed the Profundity Monarch¡¯s heart, slowing it down by a beat.

    The Profundity Monarch looked up with some difficulty, and through the normal-looking sky, he saw a single eye, a giant terrifying eye full of anger. In the depths of that pupil, there was boundless darkness and an attractive force drawing the spectator¡¯s soul into it.

    The monarch was drenched in sweat as he woke up in fright and quickly drew his consciousness back from the boundless darkness. He was shocked and terrified as he thought back to the legends. He understood that the use of his full strength had rmed the malicious intent of the new world.

    No matter what the source of that malice was, he could tell from the brief contact just now that he was not this mysterious entity¡¯s match. No wonder none of the great dark monarchs under the three supremes dared make an appearance here.

    He nced at Nighteye with a sh of hesitation in his expression. He only needed half a minute more to kill this entire base and Nighteye, iming both the Tempest and Awakening Dream for himself.

    Only half a minute...

    But the monarch could already sense something rushing through the void at shocking speed, a speed much faster than his own!

    The Profundity Monarch made his decision in the blink of an eye. He withdrew his hand and took to the skies, flying back to the Imperial base like a stream of fire.

    The old man didn¡¯t need too long to decide between killing enemies and saving his life. He was a heavenly monarch, a cornerstone of the Empire. Risking his life to kill Nighteye and grab the two weapons wasn¡¯t a good deal, not when the Empire was on alert and there was no clear direction regarding the war in the new world.

    The mysterious entity in the void arrived so quickly that there was no room for the Profundity Monarch to hesitate.

    The green lightning weakened after the monarch¡¯s departure and was soon sted apart by the Tempest. The remnant energy scattered into a shower of lightning.

    The sanguine birds in Nighteye¡¯s domain flew up to meet the green lightning, crashing into them in the air. Only a small part of the lightning bolts rained down but was once again weakened by the hazy blood energy. What little remained of the green lightning would turn even barons and viscounts into ash, let alone the elite soldiers. Only a count would be able to resist the damage.

    Even his lingering might was that terrifying.

    Nighteye retracted her domain and looked around. ¡°Check casualties.¡±

    The marquises and counts immediately got to work, ignoring their wounds and exhaustion.

    After a short while, a glorious marquis got down on one knee before Nighteye. ¡°Your Majesty, we suffered a total of two hundred and sixteen deaths. There were eleven titled experts among them, including a first-rank viscount.¡±

    This death toll could be considered quite small, especially since they had just faced off against a heavenly monarch without a great dark monarch on their side.

    Nighteye shot him a cold nce. ¡°Useless!¡±

    Despite their simr rank, the glorious marquis lowered his head until he was almost touching the ground. This respectful attitude was not something seen among peers; there was no need to do so even against a prince. Such etiquette was reserved for great dark monarchs.

    He whispered, ¡°I was too inexperienced, I had no idea Your Majesty was so powerful. I¡¯m willing to give my life for you if you¡¯ll give me another chance.¡±

    This marquis was the fastest among those who had run away just now. He was also the one who had reached the farthest. Unfortunately, no one below the duke realm could escape the gravitational force of the Deicide Lightning.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t me him, nor did she ept his loyalty. All she did was order the men to arrange doublepensation for the deceased before heading back to rest.

    Her subordinates would deal with the cleanup.

    ...

    Back in the Imperial base, many soldiers heard a strange whistle all of a sudden. They looked about in all directions, not knowing what to do.

    Song Zining rushed out of themand building at this point, his voice covering the entire base. ¡°Prepare the hibernation chamber! Issue the signal for Airship One to leave within three minutes!¡±

    Airship One was reserved specifically for the heavenly monarchs. The entire base kicked into action after hearing this order, all relevant people running about like madmen. Three minutes was too short, but an order was an order¡ªheads would roll if they couldn¡¯t aplish it.

    A small ck dot appeared over the horizon and arrived above the base in a sh. It was the Profundity Monarch. Only at this point did a red signal re shoot into the sky, indicating the location of Airship One.

    Without so much as a word, the monarch¡¯s silhouette flickered as he entered the airship. He was lying within the hibernation chamber following a second sh, its cover slowly closing over him.

    The operators nearby felt their vision blur as the person appeared out of nowhere. Fortunately, they had practiced this procedure hundreds of times. They were beyond familiar, and almost everything was a reflexive action. The hibernation chamber was switched on almost immediately.

    Layer uponyer of origin arrays activated. The glow within the hibernation chamber turned from white to red, then from red to blue, and finally settled on a peaceful light blue.

    Through the cover, one could see ayer of frost forming over the Profundity Monarch¡¯s brows. The old man¡¯s eyes were shut tight, and there was neither a heartbeat nor any breathing. The temperature within the chamber was a hundred degrees below zero, freezing the monarch¡¯s vitality and origin power.

    The operation had just beenpleted when an indescribable sense of restlessness gripped everyone¡¯s hearts. Everyone froze in ce like wooden statues, afraid that the slightest movement would draw the enemy¡¯s attention. A cmity would surely descend at that point.

    Even Song Zining was stiff, his eyes on the ground three feet in front of him. He never nced sideways at any point.

    In the depths of the void, an eye containing lightning and thunder was scanning the Imperial base. The destruction and anger it represented were beyond clear, something even ordinary soldiers could sense.

    Time seemed to have stopped in the entire base. No one dared to move, and everyone¡¯s expression seemed to have frozen as well. Even the slightest movement might very well invite a destructive thunderstorm.

    That gaze scanned back and forth until finally, it fell back empty-handed. The entire process was fairly short, but the span of time felt like centuries in everyone¡¯s hearts.

    Song Zining roared, ¡°Take off!¡±

    Airship One slowly took to the skies and flew swiftly back to the Empire.

    Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief only when the airship vanished over the horizon.

    Wei Potian walked over, still palpitating. ¡°What was that just now?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Probably the malicious intent of this world?¡±

    ¡°But this is too...¡± Wei Potian grabbed his hair, not knowing how to describe it. ¡°Even Sky Demon wasn¡¯t that terrifying, was it?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°How can something that can force the three supremes into hiding not be terrifying?¡±

    Wei Potian was startled for a moment. ¡°I used to think I was quite capable, that even divine champions and grand dukes aren¡¯t that scary. But in this damned new world, a random six-armed creature can beat me ck and blue, not to mention this kind of existence.¡±

    ¡°The sky we see in our little cage is limited, there¡¯s actually an entire world outside of our prison. This is why the peak experts of every era would risk death to explore the void.¡±

    ¡°Prison? What prison?¡±

    Song Zining pointed in the Empire¡¯s direction. ¡°The Evernight World we were born in is but a small ind in the ocean, a natural prison if you will. This new world might be the boat that will carry us out of it. Meh, it¡¯s useless telling you these things.¡±

    Wei Potian pped his forehead. ¡°I remember! Didn¡¯t that Anwen or whatever say the same thing?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Anwen. He¡¯s indeed a genius, too bad he¡¯s a demonkin.¡±

    Wei Potian suddenly remembered. ¡°Say, did the Profundity Monarch seed?¡±

    ¡°How should I know?¡±

    ¡°The old man didn¡¯t even say a word, don¡¯t tell me he failed?¡± Wei Potian¡¯s guess was full of evil.

    Song Zining red at him but said nothing. Wei Potian would often exhibit inappropriate naivety and resentment, but fortunately, it didn¡¯t affect things all that much. Song Zining thus followed him.

 Chapter 1332: Changing World

    <h4>Chapter 1332: Changing World</h4>

    News of the Profundity Monarch¡¯s slip up shook the entire Empire.

    This involved a heavenly monarch¡¯s face, so the details were known to only a few. However, many people asked around and added their own take on the story, weaving countless new versions of it as time went by. Naturally, most of these stories wouldn¡¯t reach the monarch¡¯s ears.

    Some said the Profundity Monarch was on the decline due to his age, some said it was due to carelessness, and others imed he was ambushed by the dark races. Some even said that he was attracted to Nighteye. There were too many different rumors floating about.

    The one certain thing was that Nighteye¡¯s name had spread throughout the Empire.

    The people from the lower strata exchanged gossip and legends, but those from the upper echelons were focused on a different matter. Ordinary experts were more interested in the Awakening Dream, one of the three holy weapons, as well as the might of the Tempest.

    It was said that the Awakening Dream was so sharp that it could sh through the void. It was one of the Evernight Council¡¯s three holy weapons, a status not inferior to the Grand Magnums.

    Reportedly, this de was designed after the spear of a space-tearing marlin in the depths of the void, and the material was extracted from the king of said species. The space-tearing marlin was already a legend that hadn¡¯t appeared in centuries. When they did, they would usually appear inrge schools, and each one of them possessed the strength of a marquis. After all, they were also a species of void colossi.

    There was no longer any information on how that powerhouse had killed the king amidst thousands of space-tearing marlins, but Awakening Dream remained a weapon to pass down in the council¡¯s treasury. Who would¡¯ve thought it would shine so brilliantly in Nighteye¡¯s hands?

    The divine champions cared little for treasures at their stage; even the Awakening Dream was forgotten after a short discussion. What they focused on was why the Tempest was in Nighteye¡¯s hands.

    There was no reason for a race to lend their guardian weapon so easily. Did the werewolvespromise, or did the other three races invite them to join the pioneering efforts after realizing their importance? Or was there some unknown reason behind everything?

    As they saw it, the Tempest was an important sign that the power bnce in the Evernight was about to change. The mainds descended into a strange calm as all eyes were on the new world, but neither side dared rx. It was simr to when the holy war had just stopped in the Evernight Faction; everyone¡¯s nerves had grown even tenser.

    One level above, the heavenly monarchs and superior divine champions had their attention on Nighteye.

    This matter was too important. Of course, the Profundity Monarch did nothing to hide the fact that he had wasted a rare opportunity to kill an important character. He exined everything in a detailed report and handed it to the Radiant Emperor, who then passed it to the other heavenly monarchs and superior divine champions.

    The Profundity Monarch described her domain down to the smallest details. He felt that this domain had umted the strength of the entire Evernight army, allowing her to contend against a heavenly monarch for a short while.

    Such a domain had never appeared before, and it possessed unimaginable potential. It was hard to say how powerful the domain would be with even more dark race experts. Who would be able to stop her if she were to be a great dark monarch and attack the Empire with a million-strong army?

    Yet every heaven-defying secret art had to have its limitations. This domain possessed two likely shorings¡ªwhether its capacity would increase with Nighteye¡¯s rank and how long it couldst. Unfortunately, the battle was too short to draw a conclusion.

    The heavenly monarchs and superior divine champions went through ancient records but found no records of this domain. At least, it had never appeared before in battles involving the Empire.

    ording to the Profundity Monarch¡¯s description, the domain was filled with blood energy flying around in the shape of birds. The Empire thus gave it a temporary name¡ªFlightbird.

    In a single night, Nighteye became a great problem for the Empire.

    Some people analyzed the situation and felt that Li Fengshui was right in doing what he had done back then. This problem should¡¯ve been removed at the roots. It was just that Li Fengshui was limited in his foresight and wanted to extract as much value as he could from the prisoner. In the end, he fell headfirst in Qianye¡¯s hands.

    The mention of Nighteye would, of course, remind people of Qianye as well.

    After a brief exchange of information, people were greatly surprised to find that Qianye had already aplished so much on Fort Continent. He was already a dignified regional power and one of great strength no less! He had tens of millions of werewolf subjects as well as millions of human followers. The size of his army was roughly a million with close to a hundred thousand human soldiers and mercenaries.

    In terms of experts, there was Caroline and the Storm Duke in addition to Qianye himself. These three were at the rank of dukes and divine champions. In addition, Qianye was no ordinary divine champion.

    Caroline couldn¡¯t be underestimated, either, since she had the Thunderfrost Temple as her backing. The temple master was her brother, a bona fide superior divine champion¡ªa grand duke. There was no way this temple lord would stay out of it if his sister were angered.

    In the end, only the Storm Duke seemed a bit easier to deal with. Then again, none of those crafty old dukes were easy to handle.

    The Empire did have some vassal nations on the Fort Continent, like Zheng for instance, but all of them put together would not be Qianye¡¯s match. Besides, Zheng was almost Qianye¡¯s vassal nation at the moment. At least, he was the one who ced King Nan Ruohuai on the throne.

    Not to mention encircling and destroying him, they were already lucky that Qianye hadn¡¯t taken over them.

    Destroying Qianye¡¯s force was no easy task.

    Not counting the Zhao n, at least four high-ranking aristocratic families and over a dozen mid to inferior families had deep ties with Qianye.

    These families had all dispatched private soldiers to fight under Qianye¡¯s g. The influx of gold and resources from Fort Continent was enough to move these experienced elders, not to mention theirbined share of territory on Fort Continent was already greater than a province.

    They had only been there for such a short time! On top of all that, there were profits from the new-world expansion efforts.

    There were also rumors of Qianye having close ties with the Li family and the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence.

    Many people discovered that, unknowingly, Qianye had already be a powerhouse. It almost seemed like yesterday that he had killed his way out of Indomitable.

    Back then, Qianye was nothing but a small character that no one paid attention to. A retired marshal intercepting him was already considered an overreaction. At present, though, the bigshots from back then could only gaze up at Qianye.

    The world had changed, that was all.

    Many people in the Empire formed a connection. Some suggested that Qianye was currently leaning close to the Empire, but killing Nighteye might push him to the other faction. Wouldn¡¯t the Empire gain a powerful enemy then? Even if they did want to kill her, who could even do it when the Profundity Monarch had failed?

    Qianye and Nighteye were both in the Empire at one point. Qianye was serving the army and Nighteye was living in seclusion¡ªthose were beautiful days. The former would¡¯ve be a pir of the Empire, while thetter would forever conceal her identity and live at his side.

    Everyone only imagined this possibility and never said it out loud. The Empire¡¯s core policy was still the same¡ªthose of a different race will always have different intentions.

    This was especially true given the deep shadows the vampires had left on the human race; the hostility was almost in the bloodline. As long as Qianye was a vampire, as long as thews of the vampire still existed, he could not be trusted. Who knew when the River of Blood would awaken him and turn him into a great cmity for the Empire, just like Nighteye.

    Regarding this matter, the Radiant Emperor convened with the heavenly monarchs and ministers that very night. The ministers and monarchs broke out in an unstoppable quarrel regarding how Nighteye should be dealt with.

    One faction wanted to kill her, while the other side was worried that it would push Qianye to Evernight, that the gains would not make up for the losses. Besides, how were they going to kill her? Nighteye possessed the Tempest and Awakening Dream. Who from the Empire could kill her and what weapon would he wield?

    There seemed to be no end to the arguments. In the end, there was no choice but to request the Emperor¡¯s opinion.

    The Radiant Emperor had remained motionless all this time. At this point, he turned to Zhao Xuanji and said, ¡°Duke You hasn¡¯t spoken yet, what is your opinion?¡±

    The duke replied, ¡°Whatever the Empire decides, the Zhao n will execute it with our full power.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. ¡°We all know Qianye¡¯s rtionship with the Zhao n. I¡¯m greatly satisfied with Duke You¡¯s focus on the bigger picture. As for Nighteye...¡±

    He remained silent for a good while, gazing at the wall behind the crowd of ministers. ¡°Kill!¡±

    ...

    Within the forward base in the new world, Song Zining was standing still before arge map. His hair was a mess, and his clothes were no longer as tidy as before. His eyes were also red and sunken.

    An aide walked in, saying, ¡°Sire, thetest battle reports havee in. Duke Yunyang has been defeated and General Duan Yong has fallen in battle. The routed army is on the way back...¡±

    Without waiting for him to finish, Song Zining said, ¡°Put it on the table.¡±

    The aide carefully ced the document on the desk, stealing a peek at the stack of documents on the right as he did so.

    The left stack belonged to battle reports, while the right stack involved reports about supplies and resources. The two stacks were both rather tall, but good news was few and far between.

    The aide held his breath and withdrew quietly. The soldiers outside the office were all moving with hurried steps and worried expressions. Even the officers who usually worked at the rear were more or less injured.

    The entiremand center was dark, gloomy, and cold.

    The staff officer remembered how things used to be different not so long ago. The days were busy¡ªthere were casualty lists to process every day and the hospitals were full of injured soldiers, but everyone was strong and smiling. Even those who were in pain could stillugh loudly.

    That was because every battle was a victory despite the casualties, and the dark races would lose far more soldiers than the Empire would. The situation filled people with hope because the dark races would be the first to copse.

    Sacrifices were bearable as long as there was hope.

    But now, the death toll was rising sharply as news of defeat rolled in one after another. The undefeatable marshals of the past were being routed, and the blood of many famed generals stained the battlefield. Some of them would sleep eternally on foreign soil.

    The halo around Song Zining had faded away. He was no longer that strategist god who was always one step ahead of the enemy. He could make mistakes and sometimes fail to grasp the enemy¡¯s movements. Some of the mobile forces he had set up outside also suffered miserable losses.

    Comparatively, Wei Potian¡¯s naked return was the most fortunate incident.

 Chapter 1333: Endless Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1333: Endless Battle</h4>

    Wei Potian walked out from the barracks and toward themand center. His armor was in tatters and covered in grime. His beard was also unkempt. Apparently, he hadn¡¯t been grooming in several days, just like everyone else in the base.

    Not noticing Wei Potian¡¯s arrival, two soldiers were chatting as they moved resource crates.

    ¡°When will this battle end?!¡±

    The older soldier said calmly, ¡°Just keep fighting. We won¡¯t need to worry if we¡¯re both dead.¡±

    The younger warrior said, ¡°Looks like it¡¯ll be our turn soon.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re alive today, at least.¡±

    The dissatisfied young warrior whispered, ¡°How many defeats have been suffered? What kind of strategist god is he when we¡¯re being defeated so badly?¡±

    The veteran shushed at the young man. ¡°Be careful what you say! You¡¯ll be punished by militaryw if you criticize amander!¡±

    The young soldier wasn¡¯t in a good mood, either. ¡°It¡¯s death all the same! How many days more can they live after punishing me?¡±

    The old soldier sighed. ¡°At least, we¡¯re still alive now. There might be a miracle if we stay that way.¡±

    ¡°To hell with miracles! As I see it, that other one should be called a strategist god, now that¡¯s a miracle.¡±

    The old man looked up. ¡°That¡¯s not something you should know.¡±

    The young soldier said carelessly, ¡°I know several aristocratic disciples, they told me.¡±

    The old veteran sighed. ¡°Fine, you guys are of noble birth after all.¡±

    The young warrior replied angrily, ¡°What¡¯s the use? Aren¡¯t we still being used as cannon fodder?¡±

    Wei Potian couldn¡¯t keep listening, so he let out a dry cough.

    The two soldiers jumped to their feet in shock. They went pale and bowed hurriedly when they saw Wei Potian. Thetter wanted to act out at first, but he could only sigh and shake his head when he saw the two men covered in blood-soaked bandages.

    Momentster, he walked into Song Zining¡¯s office. The seventh young master was buried behind a pile of documents, reading through them at great speed. He didn¡¯t even look up as Wei Potian entered the room, only pushing a pile of documents toward him. ¡°Help me process these.¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°Look at the situation! You¡¯re still buried in documents!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s pen stopped moving. ¡°How many times have I told you, the front line isn¡¯t the only important part in a war. Rear support and logistics are just as important, if not more so. A war like this will crumble if the supplies are insufficient for even a single day. Can you imagine a fight without airships? These documents are all rted to logistics. The entire system wille to a halt if we don¡¯t process...¡±

    Wei Potian took the documents, saying, ¡°Fine fine, enough with your reasonings. I¡¯ll help you. Do you know what people are saying about you?¡±

    ¡°I can guess.¡±

    ¡°Humph, they¡¯re saying that you¡¯re a fake strategist god. You were just lucky before, but now, you¡¯ve revealed your true skills.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s expected.¡±

    Song Zining wasn¡¯t too concerned, but Wei Potian was angry. ¡°How can they say that! It was clearly those greedy fellows, they gave various reasons to drag out the retreat after receiving the orders. That¡¯s what ruined the battle and allowed the dark races to route them. Now, they¡¯re putting all the me on you.¡±

    Song Zining looked up. ¡°Nevermind, the military department will decide.¡±

    ¡°Those bastards have taken for granted that you can stay ahead of the enemy! Does divinatione free? What right do they have?!¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°One of the main reasons for giving me this seat was because my divination can suppress the dark races. So, this me is not entirely excessive.¡±

    Wei Potian was awakened by the cruelty, his expression unsightly. Song Zining was ultimately different from himself and Zhao Jundu in that he had no family support during his rise to power. The meteoric promotion was only because he was useful and there was no one to rece him.

    Wei Potian sighed after a long daze. ¡°You can¡¯t calcte her movements?¡±

    ¡°What do you think? She can even repel the Profundity Monarch. I won¡¯t be able to divine her even if she has only one weapon, either the Tempest and Awakening Dream.¡±

    ¡°Then what do we do?¡±

    ¡°Fight a normal battle.¡±

    ¡°How...¡± Wei Potian shrugged without finishing the question. ¡°Let it be. How to fight is your problem, I won¡¯t take on this stress. I¡¯ll go work on these documents first.¡±

    The office quieted down, only leaving the sound of rustling paper.

    Momentster, Wei Potian said to himself with a sigh, ¡°How did she be so ruthless?¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s hands stopped for a moment, but he soon went on with his work.

    ...

    There was another stronghold on a hill not too far from the Imperial forward base.

    This base was smaller, but the defenses were even more solid. Apparently, it was made just for defense. Its position was fairly good, overlooking wide-opennd on three sides. This allowed for the base to control a vast area around it.

    The long-distance cannon-fire from this base could almost reach the main base at the rear. This turned the wide strip ofnd between the two into a death-zone.

    Zhao Jundu stood in the wind atop the fortress walls, gazing into the distance with narrowed eyes.

    The vague silhouette of arge base was visible over the horizon. The dark race¡¯s base was much bigger than this fortress, ten times at least.

    A nearby general said worriedly, ¡°Sire, the dark races have changed their strategy. They¡¯re pressuring us at every step and squeezing us into a corner. We can¡¯t even move!¡±

    Zhao Jundu looked up. ¡°Correct, theirmander has also changed.¡±

    ¡°Now that feels strange. The dark races have never liked one another, and they also like to fight on their own in battle. That¡¯s why they almost always favored field battles to base defense. But look, they¡¯ve been building bases along the way this time. Their forward base has even reached this far. Their cooperation has been fairly good!¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°You won¡¯t be surprised if you know who theirmander is.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯m not their match anyway, but Old Ma has never feared those dark bastards in troop battles!¡±

    Zhao Jundu patted the man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll leave the rear to you when I charge.¡±

    The general¡¯s face turned red. ¡°There¡¯s no way we could¡¯ve held them back if you hadn¡¯t taken on their experts. Eh, what is that?¡±

    Amotion was stirring in the dark race camp. Soon, dozens of fire streams shot into the sky and weaved into a mesh of mes.

    Several airships appeared over the horizon, charging full speed through the defensive fire.

    Caught off-guard, the dark race¡¯s defensive barrage wasn¡¯t dense enough, and some airships managed to get through. One of them was ame, yet it kept on flying and refused to fall.

    ¡°It¡¯s our men! Prepare to help!¡± Zhao Jundu issued the order.

    Some of the heavy cannons on the fortress made fire-preparations. Amidst loud rumbles, a belt of explosions erupted in the region between the two bases. This stopped the dark race pursuers in their tracks.

    Some airships finally reached the fortress andnded one after the other. The burning airship forced itself to glide a bit longer before crashing outside of the fortress.

    The fortress gates flew open as hundreds of soldiers poured out to save the survivors. Fortunately, those in the aircraft were elites, and most of them had managed to survive their heavy injuries. The wounded were all rushed back into the fortress.

    In the blink of an eye, the empty space within the stronghold was filled with wounded soldiers. Many of them were treated here while the more serious cases were transported back to the main base for treatment.

    Zhao Jundu patrolled back and forth between the injured soldiers.

    He suddenly noticed a group of soldiers gathered together. They seemed to be full of vigor, a stark contrast to the wounded soldiers all around them.

    This group was clearly better-equipped than the regr Imperial forces, and the leader was a young man of considerable strength. He was already a champion.

    Zhao Jundu walked over. ¡°Which family are you from?¡±

    The young man might be arrogant on his own, but he had to stand up and greet Zhao Jundu respectfully. ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Tianhe, born of the Zhang n¡¯s side branch. These are private soldiers from my family, people who¡¯ve followed me for many years.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced at the group. ¡°You have quite a lot of ammo left, looks like things went pretty well on the front lines.¡±

    Zhang Tianhe¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°The direction we were in charge of wasn¡¯t the dark races¡¯ main target. Also, we¡¯ve been careful to invest in ourrades¡¯ gear, and our ammunition reserves have always been bigger.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°Good, it just so happened that I need people here. You will stay behind to help defend the front of the fortress. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s nock of enemies here nor any chance of leftover ammo.¡±

    Zhang Tianhe was shocked. ¡°Sire, you jest! Our unit has received orders from headquarters to return to the Empire. We¡¯ll be going against orders if we stay here.¡±

    ¡°The orders have changed.¡±

    ¡°How can a military order change so randomly? That secret missive is still on General He Yong¡¯s body, I¡¯ll go fetch it.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said word-by-word, ¡°The orders have changed.¡±

    Zhang Tianhe came to a sudden stop, a chill spreading throughout his body.

    He knew that taking another step might anger Zhao Jundu, and his fate would be ugly if that were to happen. But staying behind in this fortress was also half a dead-end. He had already seen the enemy base when he flew past them just now¡ªit was full of soldiers! There had to be a hundred thousand at least.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s small fortress was garrisoned by a few thousand at most. How were they going to face the dark race army?

    At the thought of this, Zhang Tianhe hardened his resolve. ¡°Sire, how can you change the orders just like that? I cannot obey you! I will confirm with the military once I return. If there is indeed a change, I will return to beg for your forgiveness.¡±

    ¡°Are you going against orders?¡±

    Zhang Tianhe said loudly, ¡°Sire, I don¡¯t know how I offended you that you would target me so, but I won¡¯t hold back if you¡¯re going to force my hand. Others might not know why the dark race army is so powerful, but I know quite a bit. It seems the lord on the other side used to be a woman of your Zhao n. Are you trying to hide the Zhao n¡¯s collusion with the dark races?¡±

    ¡°Are you done?¡± Zhao Jundu said.

    ¡°Is this not enough yet?¡±

    ¡°Okay, as long as you¡¯re done.¡± Zhao Jundu raised his gun to Zhang Tianhe¡¯s forehead.

    The man¡¯s eyes went wide, not expecting Zhao Jundu to actually shoot him. His face was still full of shock and surprise as he fell on his back.

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°I won¡¯t pursue his nonpliance out of consideration for the Zhang n, put him on the casualty list.¡±

    With Zhang Tianhe removed, how could his subordinates dare to resist? Dejected, they walked obediently to their positions in the fortress.

 Chapter 1334: Fight to the Bloody End

    <h4>Chapter 1334: Fight to the Bloody End</h4>

    Under the strict constraints of militaryw, no one dared to go against Zhao Jundu no matter how arrogant they were, or how powerful their background was.

    Zhao Jundu had expressed very clearly that he would kill anyone who disobeyed him and add their name to the casualty list. Even if there were arguments afterward, what was the use if the person was already dead? Besides, amanding general had a quota that he could exercise to maintain discipline. It would involve more than one person if their names were ced in that list.

    While disying his might, Zhao Jundu intercepted over a thousand able-bodied men to add to the defense forces. This sharply increased the strength of the defending army.

    The damaged airships eventually left with the heavily injured soldiers. They would return to the main base and then back to the Empire.

    Zhao Jundu gazed at the distant Evernight camp, his brows locked in a tight frown.

    It was at this moment that a loud cry rang out from the sentry tower. ¡°The dark races! The dark races are here!¡±

    A rolling tide of darkness appeared over the distant horizon. Countless signal res shot up into the sky as airships took flight and began cruising toward the Imperial base.

    One of the generals swallowed hard. ¡°Damn, they¡¯re even using their gunships. That¡¯s quite the investment.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s brows rose somewhat, but he remained as still as a mountain.

    The giant tide that was the dark race army surged toward the foothills and ultimately crashed into the fortress!

    Facing the countless charging arachne and vampire soldiers, Zhao Jundu let out a sudden roar. Like a p of thunder under the clear skies, the sound startled both enemy and friendly soldiers. No one could hear a thing!

    Zhao Jundu arched his body and shot toward the dark race vanguard!

    In the blink of an eye, countless dark race soldiers were thrown hundreds of meters away. Countless beams of ck energy shot out and locked onto some viscounts, bisecting them in the air.

    The army of a hundred thousand men came to a brief pause just because of Zhao Jundu¡¯s charge.

    After putting a damper on the dark races¡¯ morale, Zhao Jundu flew back to the walls. His body was shrouded in ck mes, almost like a demonic god that had descended from the ninth heavens.

    It was just that the army had its own rhythm, rules, and chain ofmand. The soldiers at the front might have been drained of fighting spirit, but the ones at the back surged forward like the tides and pushed theirrades into the defensive fire.

    They would die if they didn¡¯t charge through the barrage of bullets, so the soldiers made for the walls with great ferocity.

    An intense fight broke out thereafter.

    The dark race army was so big that it couldn¡¯t fully spread out at the front of the fortress. Hence, the giant servspiders began to move toward the nks. Werewolves, vampires, and even demonkin could be seen hanging onto therge creatures for the ride.

    These giant spiders stood as tall as four meters, but they were as swift as the wind, moving across any terrain as though it were tnd. They didn¡¯t slow down in the slightest despite the fully equipped passengers on them.

    The fortress cannon turrets turned to fire at these servspiders. The creatures possessed sufficient intelligence to run in a zig-zag pattern.

    Yet, the fortress was equipped with rapid-fire cannons, not to mention the cannoneers were elites from the Imperial army. The defensive fire was both ruthless and urate, mowing down one servspider after another and dealing great damage to the soldiers on them.

    In the blink of an eye, close to a hundred servspiders in the first wave were ughtered, and the thousands of soldiers on them quickly became corpses.

    The dark racemander seemed to not have expected such fierce firepower from the fortress. Momentster, two more servspider squads rushed the nks again while the main army bore down on the front. The entire force spread out along the fortress¡¯ outer walls and formed an encirclement.

    The rapid-fire cannons in the fortress poured down a barrage of bullets as the second wave arrived. This time, though, the effects were greatly discounted.

    The dark races had changed their formation. Every servspider was apanied by a viscount who would do their utmost to intercept the cannon-fire. Over half of the ammunition was intercepted in this manner, and the rest weakened by their domains. The damage fell sharply as a result.

    The ineffective cannon-fire increased the amount of ammunition required to st a servspider to death. Barely a hundred servspiders had been killed by the time their two units had gathered behind the base.

    Another squad made up of nearly a thousand servspiders was circling around the fortress from a good distance, effectively blocking the path from the fortress to the main base. This unit carried arge batch of materials, ready to build defensive structures on the spot.

    A general ran over to the wall and said hurriedly, ¡°Sire, they¡¯re nning toy siege and attack our reinforcements!¡±

    Zhao Jundu had his eyes on the front. He said without even turning back, ¡°Let them go.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± That general couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    Zhao Jundu turned around. ¡°I said let them do it.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we should stop them with heavy cannon-fire?¡±

    ¡°Our ammunition is limited, we focus on the front.¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Do you think there¡¯ll be reinforcements?¡±

    The general¡¯s mouth fell wide open, and his expression changed drastically. As a core member, he understood that the war was dire, and that every base could hardly look after themselves.

    His expression soon turned resolute. ¡°I understand! Sire, rest assured. Whether there are reinforcements or not, this subordinate will fight the dark races to the bitter end!¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°Good! But remember that survivales first, we might not lose this battle.¡±

    The general bowed and ran back to his position.

    Zhao Jundu drew his sword and took a step forward, lopping off the head of an arachne that had just scaled the wall. At the same time, he fished out his handgun and fired several rounds into the air. Every shot brought down a flying viscount.

    After several bursts, no one was arrogant enough to fly up into the air anymore. All they could do was push forward on the ground.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s innate ability was the bane of aerial targets.

    The cannon turrets rained barrage after barrage on the grounded enemies, shaving off the dark races¡¯ assault power. Zhao Jundu had long since charged into the enemy lines, spreading ck mes and reaping all life in his wake.

    The Imperial soldiers held a single line formation as they shed against the dark races. Everyone knew that they were doomed if they took a step backward, so even the eyes of the most fearful were bloodshot¡ªthey would fight to the death no matter how many shes they had taken.

    Just like that, several thousand Imperial soldiers used their bodies as a fortress to hold the line against an enemy force ten times their number.

    No one remembered how long they had been fighting. All they noticed was that the sky was gradually turning dark.

    Zhao Jundu suddenly appeared back on the city wall. He cut down some dark race experts as he walked into the base, tossing two heads onto the ground. ¡°Hang them up. A third-rank marquis and a glorious marquis.¡±

    With that, he turned around and charged back into the enemy formation, leaving a trail of ck mes around him.

    At this point, there was already a long row of heads on the city gates.

    When Zhao Jundu returned, there were countless werewolves and arachne outside the gates. A roaring sweep of his sword sent ck mes sweeping toward the enemy like a whip, igniting all the dark race soldiers. A general walked out from the gates after the area had been cleared.

    Zhao Jundu said with a frown, ¡°How did things get so bad? Where are your men?¡±

    The general pointed behind him. ¡°This is all we have left.¡±

    A dozen or so scattered soldiers followed him out, and all of them were leaning on something to stand. Zhao Jundu remembered that there were close to a hundred defenders when he left. Who would¡¯ve thought only this many were left by the time he was back?

    At this time, a series of cannon-fire erupted as ming streams flew across the sky. A row of warships had spread out over the dark race army, raining destruction upon the fortress turrets.

    Both sides sustained damage in the exchange. The turrets were destroyed one after another, while two of the Evernight vessels crashed to the ground, the explosion killing countless dark race soldiers.

    Less than half of the defending force remained in the fortress, and there was a thick circle of dark race corpses around the walls.

    Zhao Jundu did not need to charge into the enemy lines anymore because there were enemies everywhere on the walls. Many enemy experts charged into the fortress, only to find that the fortifications inside were just as air-tight. The ambushes waiting around every corner plunged them into a nightmarish street fight.

    A group of vampire soldiers charged into the barracks to find some humans inside. The two parties froze momentarily, with each side aiming their weapons at the other. Opening fire would end up in mutual destruction.

    ¡°What¡¯s there to be afraid of?! They¡¯re a long-lived race, they fear death more than we do!¡± a soldier cried out as he began sweeping the room with gunfire!

    Only a few Imperial soldiers remained after the fierce gunfight.

    The man was huffing and puffing, but he was delighted at the oue. ¡°How¡¯s that? Didn¡¯t I tell you guys they fear death more than us?¡±

    Noticing that the nearby survivors were giving him strange nces, the man looked down to find the lower half of his body missing. He had likely taken a hit from arge caliber firearm.

    The man forced out a smile, saying, ¡°This daddy, never cowered... even in death...¡±

    The other soldiers had no time to worry about theirrades¡¯ remains when another group of enemy soldiers rushed in. Another fierce gunfight ensued.

    The gunfire hadn¡¯t stopped when a third wave was drawn in. Momentster, the room finally fell quiet, and some dark race soldiers walked out. However, there were only ten of them left out of the three waves.

    Simr scenes were ying out in every building; the death toll was on the rise for both sides.

    Within the dark race army, a pale demonkin duke was frowning as he gazed at his subordinates entering the fortress, never to be heard of again.

    A count ran over and whispered, ¡°Sire, Count Hiller of the vampires refuses to do battle!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The duke was surprisingly calm.

    The demonkin count hesitated for a moment. ¡°Sire, I think I should remind you about Hiller¡¯s identity.¡±

    ¡°Rather than his status, I think we should be considering our punishment after we return. Get him on the field by any means... words, des, whatever it takes!¡±

 Chapter 1335: The Last Defense

    <h4>Chapter 1335: The Last Defense</h4>

    The dark race army seemed endless in the eyes of the defending army, almost like a swarm of migrating locusts.

    Their bodies were already numb, and their minds were gradually bing so as well. They would simply sh at the nearest enemy silhouette out of instinct. It was as though they were experiencing a nightmare that would never end. Even if they would only wake up to find themselves dead, it was also a form of release.

    Combat and death were the only fate left for the living.

    They watched as countless familiar faces fell before their eyes, their bodies gradually turning cold. They saw one dark race soldier after another charge toward them before turning to corpses.

    The ground was covered in lifeless remains, leaving almost no room for one to set foot on. From time to time, an arachne would get stuck in a narrow passage-way.

    Whenever that happened, an Imperial soldier would jump onto its back with suicidal intent and hack the arachne¡¯s spine with an axe. They would then die to the arachne¡¯s attack or be killed by other dark race members.

    The fortress was like a ck hole devouring soldiers from both sides.

    After an unknown span of time, amotion broke out in the dark race army. A vampire squad actually turned on theirrades in an attempt to leave the battlefield.

    The dark race army split into two units and quickly suppressed this small squad from both sides. It was just that the riot caused a sharp drop in morale, and the dark races found it difficult to continue the assault. Finally, the bugle call sounded for the retreat.

    Most Imperial soldiers stood dazed as the dark races retreated, waiting for the next wave of enemies toe.

    Zhao Jundu appeared on the walls, the ck fire around him so dense that it was almost tangible. The mes would asionally emit some sparks, and the dark race corpses that came in contact with them would immediately burst into mes.

    All Imperial soldiers stayed far away from him. No one dared risk touching his mes.

    Zhao Jundu made his way through the fortress, patrolling for survivors.

    He slowly retracted the ck mes during this time. Only when the ck ze was entirely contained within his body did the generals dare approach him.

    One of them said, ¡°Sire, we have less than a thousand soldiers remaining. Are there no reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°There will be no reinforcements. Clean up the battlefield, we withdraw afterward.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± The generals couldn¡¯t believe their ears. They had never heard Zhao Jundu say anything remotely simr to retreat.

    ¡°Sweep the field within the hour, then we will retreat.¡± Zhao Jundu repeated his order.

    The generals immediately dispersed to do their work. An hour was too tight of a schedule, so they couldn¡¯t afford any mistakes.

    One hourter, the Imperial soldiers began withdrawing from the fortress. There were only two trucks left in the entire unit, and even then, they were barely operational.

    All airships and military supplies, along with the turrets, cannons, and kic towers had been destroyed in the battle just now. These two trucks were pieced together with avable parts from the rubble.

    The Imperial forces had just left when a fire broke out from within the stronghold, growing into a raging me that devoured everything. All items that could not be brought along had been torched, along with the corpses from both factions.

    Some of the generals traveled alongside Zhao Jundu on the way back and proceeded to report the results of the sweep.

    ¡°Sire, a rough estimate shows that we lost around six thousand men while the enemy lost close to forty thousand. The death ratio is almost one-to-six, a glorious oue.¡±

    A different general sighed. ¡°We had eight thousandrades at first, but now, we barely have a thousand left. Such a bitter victory, sigh!¡±

    ¡°What? Are you questioning the sire¡¯smanding ability?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, I was just thinking how to exin things to the family.¡±

    This silenced everyone.

    Thebat environment in the new world was unusually cruel. Most of the Empire¡¯s regr soldiers did not meet the requirements, so arge number of elite private soldiers from the aristocracy families had to join the fight.

    Many of these generals were leading their nsmen and friends into battle, a true family force. Now that eight of ten were dead, it would seem their hometown was soon to be full of people in mourning garbs.

    Zhao Jundu had been silent up until this point. ¡°You¡¯re going to find it hard to exin, but the dark races have it even worse.¡±

    The generals understood this reasoning, but that didn¡¯t make them feel any better.

    ...

    The conference hall of the main Imperial base. Song Zining was standing before the map, facing a group of dukes, generals, Imperial ministers, and elders from the nobility.

    He said slowly, ¡°Just as I said before. We¡¯re having a hard time, but the dark races are having it worse. We have reached the cruelest phase in the war. Both parties are bleeding and will continue to bleed! If we shrink back now, all the sacrifices from before would¡¯ve been in vain. The only path right now is to keep draining the dark races. We must let them see our determination, faith, and hope!¡±

    Amotion broke out below as people whispered to one another.

    Momentster, an aristocratic elder stood up. ¡°What¡¯s the exact strategy?¡±

    Song Zining pointed at his feet. ¡°We will remain here and fight a fortress defense battle.¡±

    Conversation erupted once again.

    Someone said without much thought, ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean we¡¯re giving up our mobility advantage and ying in the enemy¡¯s field?¡±

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°We no longer have the mobility advantage, nor can we remain ahead of the enemy.¡±

    That person was stunned. ¡°Does that mean, you...¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°I cannot divine Nighteye, I assume you¡¯re all aware of this.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! What qualifies you to be themander if you cannot stay ahead of the enemy?¡±

    Song Zining was calm as ever. ¡°I¡¯m indeed barely fit for this role, but I had no choice but to take it out of consideration for the Empire. Feel free to rmend someone if you think they can do better. I¡¯ll be happy to relinquish my post.¡±

    That person said loudly, ¡°The Empire is vast and full of talented people. There¡¯s no way you¡¯re irreceable. I already have several rmendations in mind.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°The army is in a critical state at the moment. Whoever themander is, they will have to guard this fortress to the death and never retreat. You know very well what the punishment for failure is. So, whichmander were you going to rmend? Pray tell.¡±

    That person¡¯s face went red, not knowing whether to sit or stand. He was just about to offer some polite words when Duke Wei snorted heavily. ¡°A clown with no self-awareness!¡±

    Knowing that he had angered everyone, that person sat down with his tail between his legs.

    Actually, everyone knew that Nighteye was a great enemy, someone whom the Profundity Monarch couldn¡¯t seize and Song Zining couldn¡¯t divine. She had already injured two dukes and defeated countless generals. Holding this fort meant that themander was more or less carrying his coffin into battle.

    Moreover, the guilt from failing this defense was not small. It was fine if Song Zining continued his duties since his aplishments were sufficient to make up for a mishap. Those taking over midway wouldn¡¯t have that luxury.

    Besides, Song Zining already proved himself as one of the top rising powers in divination. If even he couldn¡¯t divine Nighteye, who else could say they would surely seed?

    Back when people startedparing Song Zining to Lin Xitang, many divination geniuses began to spread gossip about him. All of that stopped when the Profundity Monarch¡¯s assault met failure. Only divination experts understood how dangerous the trajectory of fate around peak experts was.

    People discussed back and forth but arrived at no better strategy. The Empire¡¯s airship production was at its limits, and the supply line from the door to the base was already quite strained. There were no more reserves to draw from. Under such circumstances, a fortress defense would at least give them a basic advantage.

    When the n was finally decided, Song Zining started discussing the matter of resources. It would seem that he had already prepared the topic well in advance. With everything settled, there were no more ignorant people who dared to cause trouble in this regard. Hence, everything Song Zining requested was passed without a hitch.

    Many of the elders left immediately after the meeting since every minute in the new world was an extra moment of danger. They weren¡¯t being cowardly¡ªit was more because the fall of these powerful figures would cause great damage to the Empire.

    Holding this meeting on the front lines was also to let these people see how cruel the battles were.

    Everyone¡¯s heart was heavy, be it those in the base or those rushing back to the Empire.

    The Empire might hold a slight advantage in a defensive battle, but they understood that the casualty rate would only rise and never fall. And the previous rate was already enough to make one gasp for air.

    At this point in the war, many people were already prepared to ept any oue.

    From today onward, there would surely be a shockingly long list of casualties every day. People would have to get used to looking for the names of their loved ones on that list.

    There was a question in everyone¡¯s hearts. Was this sacrifice worth it?

    Clearly, the true upper echelons of the Empire and people in important positions like Song Zining knew what they were doing. Yet they chose not to utter a single word.

    Where did the tunnel in cksun Valley lead? What exactly was inside? Everything was an enigma at this point. The Empire would rather pay a painful price than let the dark races approach the sinkhole, or at least hold onto the right to enter as well. It was apparent that whatever secret was inside was earth-shatteringly big.

    The only good news was that Song Zining had not lost his skill. He had no intention of defending blindly against an enemy attack. Instead, he was nning to build a group of interlocked fortresses. Small mobile units would operate under their cover,unching surprise attacks whenever the opportunity arose. There was still some hope since they wouldn¡¯t just be sitting there to be attacked.

    At this point, all they could do was trust Song Zining¡¯s strategic decision and skill.

    ...

    In the skies above the burning fortress, a strong gale kicked up all of a sudden, extinguishing the mes with its shocking chill.

    Under thepany of numerous dark race experts, Nighteye set foot on thend Zhao Jundu was defending.

 Chapter 1336: Scent of Unres

    <h4>Chapter 1336: Scent of Unres</h4>

    The fortress had long since been reduced to rubble. Due to the origin-power incendiary materials within them, the fires kindled with military fuel burned at extremely high temperatures. Many of the steel structures had melted into liquid metal.

    Corpses from both factions had been burned together until there was nothing left but charcoal. It was impossible to differentiate between them.

    Nighteye strolled around the fortress in silence beforeing to a stop at the center. ¡°Who will exin to me about this casualty rate?¡±

    The dark race experts exchanged nces, unable to understand why Nighteye was suddenly angry.

    Only the demonkin in charge of frontlinemand were rmed. The highest-ranked among them was that old duke. He was clearly of a higher rank, yet he couldn¡¯t help but tremble in fear as he stood before her.

    Nighteye¡¯s gazended on his body. ¡°There are very few demonkin corpses and a lot of vampires. Especially that Count whatever...¡±

    A vampire marquis moved close to her and said, ¡°Count Hiller.¡±

    ¡°Right, that Count Hiller. You clearly knew he¡¯s the Azure King¡¯s descendant, yet you sent him to his death. Are you intent on making an enemy out of the Azure King¡¯s lineage, or are you trying to challenge my authority?¡±

    The old duke said, ¡°The Azure King has tens of thousands of descendants. There¡¯s no way he¡¯d care about someone with such a thin bloodline.¡±

    ¡°So... that means you¡¯re provoking me?¡± Nighteye¡¯s brows rose.

    Before the duke could exin, Nighteye¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you received a secret order or if it¡¯s for selfish motives. I will have you and everyone else here know that the honor of the upper echelons is not to be challenged!¡±

    The duke¡¯s expression changed drastically. He noticed ayer of dark golden blood energy shrouding the scenery around him, yet he didn¡¯t dare counterattack. Instead, he immediately took to the air and fled!

    A small dim sun appeared in the boundless world of dark golden blood energy, slowly sinking into the sanguine ocean.

    ¡°Eventide: Bind!¡±

    The sun descended faster all of a sudden and sank into the scarlet waters. As though he had been constrained by an invisible hand, the old duke was dragged to the ground, iling and struggling.

    ¡°Rising Moon: Behead!¡±

    A full moon appeared in Nighteye¡¯s domain, from which four des descended one after another.

    The old duke¡¯s demonic energy churned as he formed all kinds of armor, shields, and barriers. Yet, the four moonlight des shed through them all, ultimately severing the demonkin¡¯s limbs amidst miserable cries.

    Nighteye stood with her hands behind her back. ¡°This is a small lesson to teach you the price of provoking a superior. Go back and recuperate!¡±

    Several demonkin experts picked up the duke and his limbs before hurrying away.

    They didn¡¯t forget to go down on one knee and salute Nighteye before leaving. Only after the full ceremony did they dare to get up and leave.

    The dark race experts nearby held their breaths, not daring to move a muscle. Nighteye¡¯s domain was still in ce, and the dark golden moon was still gleaming with cold light.

    The other two dukes at the scene were a bit stronger than the duke from before, but the difference was fairly limited. A single nce at those moonlight des told them that they would not be able to block a single attack. Nighteye had produced four des with a wave of her hand and still had the strength to spare.

    They had never even heard of such a terrifying domain.

    Nighteye¡¯s gaze swept across the experts¡¯ faces. ¡°Any objections?¡±

    Who would dare? Everyone shook their heads quickly.

    Only then did Nighteye retract her domain. ¡°From now on, you will follow my orders exactly without any discounts.¡±

    Everyone agreed profusely.

    Nighteye slowly flew up until she was high in the air. The group of experts followed suit, but intentionally kept themselves one level below her. With the old duke¡¯s example before them, no one dared to provoke her again.

    The demonkin had all his limbs severed from his body. Although the limbs weren¡¯t crushed, it would still take him a decade or so topletely heal himself with secret arts. How many decades could this old expert afford to squander?

    The old duke had taken advantage of his front-line authority to send arge number of vampires to their deaths. Nighteye¡¯s punishment was akin to crippling him for the remainder of his life, not at all giving the Demon King any face. The sensitive people could already smell the brewing unrest.

    The ongoing war against the humans served to barely suppress these matters, but how knew how long it wouldst?

    Nighteye stood calmly in the air, gazing into the distance.

    Everything was hazy to ordinary eyes, but true experts could see the vague outline of the Imperial fortress. That was the Empire¡¯s main base and one of the Evernight Council¡¯s final objectives.

    No one knew what Nighteye was thinking at this point.

    ...

    The atmosphere in the military department was so dreary that it was difficult to breathe. The staff officers and aides hurrying along the corridors looked panicked. That was because the reports in their hands contained unprecedented numbers, be it the casualty rates or the supplies requested from the front line.

    Some of the staff found it unbearable when Song Zining began his blood-letting strategy a while back. But now, they were numb even as the numbers reached a whole new level. The only thing they could do now was to perform their duties like machines, squeezing as much resources as they could from the Empire¡¯s different warehouses.

    The disheartening news spread throughout the Empire at great speed. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised when Song Hui and Song Lun finished their reports.

    Momentster, he said, ¡°The reports say that the Evernightmander is Nighteye?¡±

    ¡°Correct, she¡¯s the dark... no, the Evernight faction¡¯s frontlinemander.¡±

    ¡°Nighteye...¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s an important character of the vampire race. It¡¯s said that she¡¯s somewhat... rted to you.¡± Song Lun was tactful.

    Qianye said after a while, ¡°What else did the report say?¡±

    ¡°Just that, but the casualty rates are astronomical! Isn¡¯t your woman too ruthless?¡± Song Hui couldn¡¯t hold back.

    Song Lun said hurriedly, ¡°What are you talking about? The sire is no longer rted to her. Even if he is, that¡¯s his personal business!¡±

    ¡°Do we have data on the Evernight side¡¯s losses?¡±

    ¡°Erm... I didn¡¯t pay attention to that. Give me a while, I¡¯ll ask those from the Summit of Peaks, they have to know,¡± Song Lun replied.

    The Jade Sea under Qianye¡¯s rule was home to various races. Cerulean Wave also became a capital city where many races lived and worked together.

    An evident shift in power between humans and dark races took ce as the Summit of Peaks moved in. The former was now greatly disadvantaged.

    However, Qianye¡¯s support of the human race was clear to see. As a god-like existence to the native werewolves, his weight in the matter kept things in a delicate bnce. There was no conflict and everyone had learned to respect one another.

    The humans had stopped addressing the other side as dark races and instead called them the Evernight races. Thetter had also stopped using derogatory names when mentioning humans.

    The distant war in cksun Valley almost seemed unrted to the Jade Sea. The only thing that did happen was Cerulean Wave City bing a major trade hub between the two factions.

    Qianye¡¯s stance was clear¡ªimportant strategic resources would be shipped exclusively to the Empire, leaving only regrmodities for the Evernight side. Even then, he would only trade with the Summit of Peaks.

    But regarding the secret deals urring between the Imperial nobility and the dark races, Qianye had no idea, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them even if he did. This wasn¡¯t unique to the Fort Continent. The two factions had never stopped trading even in the lowest Evernight Continent.

    Now that the topic of the cksun-Valley war had been ced before him, there was no way to avoid it.

    ¡°Sire, what shall we do?¡± Song Hui asked.

    Qianye waved his hand. ¡°Let me think about it, you guys go back first.¡±

    Song Hui wanted to say something, but she was quickly dragged away by Song Lun.

    Once they were outside, Song Lun said in a whisper, ¡°Can¡¯t you see the sire¡¯s not in a good mood?¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°No buts! He knows much better than us, let him decide. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Qianye stood quietly before the window. He really didn¡¯t know how to make a decision. On one side was his true love and on the other side were his brothers¡ªhow was he to choose?

    After a long while, he walked out of the room and headed to a small building near the duke¡¯s residence.

    This was the representative office of the Summit of Peaks, where the upper echelon of the tribes were stationed. Recognizing Qianye, the werewolves weed him to the chief delegate¡¯s office.

    ¡°Where is William?¡± Qianye asked.

    The chief delegate was a marquis. ¡°Sire William is training the new recruits in person, he should be in the drill grounds.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Following a nod, Qianye¡¯s figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

    The werewolf marquis stood dazed for a good while before realizing that Qianye was gone. He suddenly broke out in cold sweat.

    Momentster, Qianye appeared above the Summit¡¯s drill grounds.

    This camp covered a vast area neighboring Qianye¡¯s training ground for new recruits. Judging from its scale, the facility could train thirty to forty thousand soldiers at the same time. And there were already twenty thousand gathered in the field at the moment.

    The Summit of Peaks had worked on this project with shocking efficiency. It also went to show just how much they yearned for group training.

    When Qianye released a bit of his aura, a beam of golden light shot up from below and a giant golden wolf leaped up to where Qianye was.

    Qianye observed the giant wolf¡¯s fur. It was silver below the bristles but a faint golden color at the tip. This caused a wave of gold to appear whenever the giant wolf moved.

    Qianye pointed at him, saying, ¡°Are you trying to show off your new fur-color?¡±

    ¡°How is it? Beautiful, right? It screams of grandeur!¡± William seemed satisfied.

    Qianye was in no mood to y games with him. ¡°Let¡¯s get to business.¡±

    ¡°Fine, what did you want from me?¡±

    Qianye got right to the point. ¡°I want the Evernight Council¡¯stest battle reports.¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of reports, you...¡±

    ¡°I want to see the report only you can see.¡±

    William sighed. ¡°The reports we get are quite limited. I didn¡¯t want to tell you at first, but... I¡¯ll show you since you¡¯ve brought it up.¡±

 Chapter 1337: The Cruel Truth

    <h4>Chapter 1337: The Cruel Truth</h4>

    William brought Qianye into his office.

    Returning to his human form inside, he ced a stack of documents in front of Qianye. ¡°Take a look yourself.¡±

    Qianye went through the papers one by one, his expression turning serious as he did so.

    Momentster, he looked up. ¡°Why did you not tell me that she became the frontlinemander? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know about our rtionship.¡±

    The many things that had happened between Qianye and Nighteye were no longer a secret, and the information only spread further as they rose in status and power. Currently, Qianye held a powerful position on Fort Continent while Nighteye had be themander of the Evernight alliance in one go. Not only that, she even managed to repel the Profundity Monarch¡¯s attack. Qianye killing his way out of the Empire for her thus became a legend throughout both factions.

    The surprising thing was that many young girls became fans of Qianye, be they humans or dark race members.

    William sighed. ¡°You¡¯re no longer rted to her, are you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s our business.¡±

    William shrugged. ¡°She kills whoever dares mention her past. After a dozen or so loud-mouthed fellows lost their lives, everyone came to understand that she doesn¡¯t want to hear about it. At least no one dares to mention it to her face.¡±

    Qianye listened quietly.

    Wiliam said, ¡°You know that the werewolves were left out during the early phases of the new world¡¯s opening. We still have no idea how they opened the first doors, or what the true door is. There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll know why she was picked as themander, nor can we interfere in the choice. And I also felt that you wouldn¡¯t want to know.¡±

    Qianye sighed as he flipped through the documents. ¡°Are these casualty numbers real?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Why would they bring the werewolves into this if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they can¡¯t hold out any longer? It¡¯s just that the Evernight Council¡¯s conscription methods were simply uneptable, or I wouldn¡¯t have fled here. Our werewolf race alone lost over five hundred thousand soldiers in the first week. Heh! Song Zining and Zhao Jundu are really merciless!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to continue. He sighed in a distracted manner. ¡°These contributions...¡±

    William nced at the document. ¡°The contributions are naturally true as well, all the credit went to her. Speaking of which, she¡¯s really awesome. She repelled the Profundity Monarch and tipped the scales of battle all on her own, pushing the humans back to their fortress...¡±

    He stopped halfway after noticing Qianye¡¯s expression.

    Thetter rubbed his temples, saying, ¡°That means at least a hundred thousand Imperial soldiers were killed in her hands?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely the case, they died to the allied army. She¡¯s just themander. How many can she kill personally?¡± William defended Nighteye. ¡°Of course, she was the one who killed that duke whatever. The other two managed to escape, but they¡¯ll probably be crippled for a good while. Human names are so annoying, I just can¡¯t remember.¡±

    Qianye put down the reports after a moment of silence, muttering to himself, ¡°How... can she be so ruthless?¡±

    William patted Qianye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. Our factions have been at war for a thousand years. Considering all the umted hatred, there¡¯s really no room to discuss mercy or ruthlessness. She also has family and friends who died in the fight, what do we say about that? Truth be told, things between us won¡¯t be as friendly if not for your darkness origin power and status as the Son of Darkness. We¡¯d probably be fighting to the death, wouldn¡¯t we? We might be able to let things slide in private, but on the battlefield, mercy for the enemy is cruelty to your kin.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I understand that logic, but... I still find it hard to ept. You don¡¯t understand, she loved nothing more than peace and quiet back when we were together. Even when we arrived in the neutralnds after that incident, she never thought about revenge. Sigh, now everything has changed.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re referring to those dukes, I say they were courting death. They just couldn¡¯t stay put in their fortress and wanted to get in on the action. Who else would be ughtered if not them?¡±

    William¡¯s constion didn¡¯t have much of an effect. Qianye smiled bitterly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do now.¡±

    William sighed. ¡°I understand. I can¡¯t help much, but I can join you if you need to drink.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    William had his men bring in crates of good werewolf wine and began drinking in the office. Qianye was feeling depressed, so he didn¡¯t refuse the offer. In the blink of an eye, the duo was surrounded by empty bottles.¡±

    ¡°Qianye, did you know? When I first met you...¡±

    ¡°Drink!¡±

    ¡°Qianye, don¡¯t think too much, we¡¯re not great dark monarchs after all. We¡¯ll still be bullied all the same, even if we are.¡±

    ¡°Bottoms up!¡±

    Whatever William said, Qianye only responded by offering more wine.

    Momentster, Qianye staggered out of the office and flickered out of existence. William was left lying amidst a heap of empty wine bottles, snoring like there was no tomorrow.

    Qianye was entirely sober by the time he returned to the great duke residence. He immediately summoned his forces and boarded a warship into the new world.

    The only way for him to forget his troubles somewhat was to deal with the holy trees and the beast army. William was right about one thing¡ªQianye would not be able to resolve the hatred between the two factions even if he were a great dark monarch. He had no power to solve this dilemma in front of him.

    Fort Continent¡¯s current state of paradise was an exception, something that would not have existed if it weren¡¯t for the precise time, ce, and person. This peace would very quickly turn into a storm of chaos if something were to happen to him.

    He could only hang onto a faint wisp of hope that Nighteye, Song Zining, and Zhao Jundu would hold back against each other and not push the other party into a corner.

    That being said, Qianye couldn¡¯t lie to himself. The dreary casualty numbers and the once-famous names on the document proved that the battle had reached an irreconcble moment. There was no more room.

    Whoever was defeated¡ªbe it Nighteye, Song Zining, or Zhao Jundu¡ªQianye had no idea how he should face the survivor. He also had no idea how he should face the dead.

    All he could do was escape.

    ...

    The map in themand room of the Empire¡¯s central fortress was full of markings. There were now dozens of symbols representing steel fortresses around the main stronghold. These fortresses seemed to have popped up from the ground overnight, and they were only growing in number as the war raged on.

    Standing in front of the map, Song Zining¡¯s eyes were sunken, and even his divine champion cultivation couldn¡¯t hide his exhaustion. Rubbing his face to wake himself up, he picked up some new fortress markers and began thinking about where to ce them. Every marker meant that a new fortress would be constructed there in a matter of days.

    After some field testing, the Empire¡¯s forces could now assemble these mobile fortresses in a single night.

    The echoes of gunfire arrived from outside the window. These sounds had been ringing day and night, so much so that everyone had gotten used to it.

    At this point, there was a knock on the door as Zhao Jundu walked in.

    Song Zining looked delighted upon seeing him. ¡°You¡¯re back, looks like the fight went well.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, only a quarter of our forces were lost today.¡±

    ¡°This can be considered good news.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°I came to you to discuss something important. You must know what it is.¡±

    Song Zining was dazed, but he nodded after a while. ¡°It is time to discuss.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°We¡¯ll be facing her on the battlefield very soon. My n is to notunch a lethal strike immediately. I¡¯ll observe how she reacts before making a decision.¡±

    Song Zining said after a while, ¡°You¡¯re ying with your life.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s Lil¡¯ Five¡¯s woman when all¡¯s said and done, I can¡¯t do it. If she attacks with lethal force, then I can fight without holding back,¡± Zhao Jundu said calmly.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Considering her current strength, you... might not be able to take it if she goes all out.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said indifferently, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Tell Qianye that he¡¯s not allowed to seek revenge if I die in battle.¡±

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m only telling you my n, not asking for your permission.¡±

    Song Ziningughed wryly. ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll remember the friendship from back then?¡±

    ¡°She will, if there¡¯s no one scheming in the shadows, that is.¡±

    ¡°Very well...¡±

    The gunfire outside grew louder all of a sudden. One of the central fortress¡¯ cannon towers began to rumble, firing glowing shells toward a warship in the distance.¡±

    An aide ran in, calling out before he had even entered the room, ¡°Sire, the dark race army has arrived!¡±

    Song Zining frowned. ¡°What¡¯s with the panic?! Didn¡¯t they arrive a long time ago? Who do you think we¡¯ve been fighting all these days?¡±

    The staff officer calmed himself. ¡°It¡¯s different this time, their main force is here. They have at least two, no, three hundred thousand troops of all races!¡±

    Zhao Jundu nced at Song Zining. ¡°They¡¯re finally here. A thunderous move from the get-go, as expected of Lil¡¯ Five¡¯s woman.¡±

    Song Zining looked worried. ¡°Won¡¯t you reconsider?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°My judgment can¡¯t be wrong.¡± He said after a brief pause, ¡°And I¡¯ll take sole responsibility if I am.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s brows were almost knitted together as he watched Zhao Jundu leave. Finally, he let out a long sigh.

    The dark race soldiers covered the entire cksun Valley as they surged toward the Imperial fortress.

    Countless airships were shuttling back and forth through the air, shipping soldiers and equipment to the front lines. Their desire to win a decisive victory was evident from how they had mobilized all these airships.

    The four major races were all present on the ground, their four armies poised to sh at the Imperial fortresses like four giant swords. Additionally, the numerous figures standing in the air were all celebrated characters.

    On the deck of an airship above the demonkin army, Anwen was gazing at the distant fortresses as countless numbers flickered in and out of existence around him. Every movement of the army below him would be disyed as a number in front of him.

    There were vast amounts of data flowing through his eyes as well. He was clearly serious about this battle, and the worried expression on his countenance only grew deeper and deeper.

    ¡°Are you sure you canmand the army like this?¡± The Demoness¡¯ voice echoed in Anwen¡¯s ears.

 Chapter 1338: Dark Sky

    <h4>Chapter 1338: Dark Sky</h4>

    ¡°Everythinges down to probability, there¡¯s always a chance that I¡¯ll make mistakes. As long as I make choices with the highest probability, our chances of making errors will be smaller than the enemy. Victory will then be ours,¡± Anwen replied.

    ¡°If only wars could be decided by numbers,¡± the Demoness said coldly.

    ¡°My sess rate has been pretty good so far.¡±

    ¡°A weakmander like you is truly rare.¡±

    Anwen wasn¡¯t satisfied. ¡°Strength and weakness should be viewed across centuries and millennia. You¡¯ll understand the meaning of these numbers when you explore the void one day.¡±

    ¡°No matter how important these numbers are, it¡¯s no match for absolute strength. Wait, look at that side. Why are the arachne and vampires together?¡±

    Anwen nced over and saw the arachne army was mixing with the vampire troops. The two forces were reforming their units in a certain pattern. Their smooth maneuvers went to show that this was a nned effort and not a sudden idea.

    ¡°Let them do what they want,¡± said Anwen.

    Rolling explosions erupted as streaks of fire shot up over the horizon. The demonkin vanguard had already entered within range of the Imperial fortresses. The battle had begun.

    The numbers around Anwen increased exponentially. Countless forms descended, turning into orders that were eventually transmitted to the army.

    The demonkin squads worked together to form a of suppressive firepower that drowned out the Imperial volley.

    The Imperial fortresses might be at a disadvantage, but they were extremely tenacious. Their firepower never faltered regardless of the enemy attack. Even more fortresses spat out ming tongues as the demonkin forces spread out to the nk, effectively stunting the enemy attack.

    In a different direction, Nighteye was standing in the air with Basil.

    This arachne genius was fairly respectful around her. ¡°The squads have been reorganized. Your Majesty, shall we...¡±

    ¡°Attack.¡± Nighteye¡¯s words were short to the point.

    An excited Basil waved his hand and pointed forward. A long bugle cry erupted as the mixed arachne-vampire army charged toward the Imperial fortress.

    There were several bigger fortresses in the second row. They acted as the backbone of the fortress cluster, reinforcing and shielding the smaller fortresses nearby. The reserve troops in them would also mobilize when needed.

    In the biggest fortress among them, Zhao Jundu was sitting in utter silence, resting for the uing battle.

    An officer ran in, ¡°Sire! The dark race units are starting to nk us. Shall we send out the mobile units?¡±

    Zhao Jundu slowly opened his eyes. ¡°What¡¯s the rush? The real battle hasn¡¯t even started.¡±

    He walked out of the room and took to the air, arriving at the top of the wall in just a few steps. Gazing at the dark races mobilizing in the distance, he said, ¡°Call me when their experts move out.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡±

    In that short moment of absence, a faintly discernible figure entered Zhao Jundu¡¯s room and swiped a box of origin bullets from his weapons rack, recing it with an identical box.

    The battle was now in full swing. The second and third line fortresses were soon engaging inbat as hundreds of thousands of dark race soldiers bore down on the front lines. No one noticed this little interlude amidst the chaos.

    As the dark races pushed in with full force, the Empire¡¯s first-line fortresses were destroyed one after another, and the troops within them fell in droves. At this point in the fight, both sides were clear that there would be no prisoners.

    Be it on the ground or in the air, experts from both sides were joining the battle, and fights were breaking out in every corner of the field. Strange whistles could often be heard in the sky as experts chased and flitted past one another, shes of light or showers of origin bullets erupting between them.

    In front of the Empire¡¯s backbone fortress, a ck pir of fire rose into the sky and engulfed several counts. The only thing ejected from the whirlwind were white bones. The sable ze was so tyrannical that it could reduce these powerful experts into skeletons.

    Soon, a screaming Basil rushed out from the mes. Dozens of embers clung to his giant golden arachne body; one of his limbs was gone, and only half a sword remained in his hand.

    Once out of the fire, he flew back to his forces without so much as looking back. Apparently, his injuries were so serious that he couldn¡¯t even care about his race¡¯s dignity.

    Off in the distance, a pale Duke Wei appeared out of nowhere and began coughing up blood. He looked down to see blood seeping out of his chest. There was lingering demonic energy around his wound, effectively blocking his daybreak origin power and preventing the wound from healing.

    Duke Wei took a deep breath. His resolve was visible on his face as he swung his sword, ready for the next fight. In front of him was a mass of rolling demonic energy which served to hide the Demoness¡¯ appearance.

    There was a demonkin duke bringing up the rear behind her.

    Duke Wei nced at that duke, but then he ced his full attention on the Demoness. Just now, he had slipped up because he was wary of that duke. Now that he was badly injured, his resolve to fight to the death was stronger than ever, and the glow on his de grew even brighter.

    However, the Demoness¡¯ lock on Duke Wei suddenly disappeared. Her gaze was already on that ck pir of fire in the distance.

    The Demoness vanished in a surge of demonic energy and appeared before that pir. ¡°Zhao Jundu, let us end that unfinished battle from Indomitable.¡±

    The soaring ck fire spun back into Zhao Jundu¡¯s body. Standing with his hands behind his back, he said, ¡°Very well!¡±

    The most outstanding geniuses of each faction thus began their showdown.

    However, Nighteye¡¯s cold voice echoed in their ears at this point. ¡°He¡¯s my opponent, withdraw.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± The Demoness¡¯ demonic energy churned furiously.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you to back off.¡± Nighteye left her with no face.

    The Demoness had never suffered such humiliation. Her demonic energy expanded and contracted in turn, almost as though she were breathing heavily. But when Nighteye¡¯s cold gaze turned toward her, she ultimately swallowed her pride and left.

    ¡°Fleeing in battle, note it down,¡± Nighteye instructed her subordinates before facing Zhao Jundu.

    A dark origin-gun appeared behind the fourth young master. Its long barrel, slender body, and simple design proved that it was an ancient gun¡ªa weapon Zhao Jundu would bring into battle had to be something extraordinary.

    ¡°Dark Sky? This gun suits you well.¡± Nighteye immediately recognized this rifle¡¯s history.

    Dark Sky was one of the Empire¡¯s masterpieces. Although it was inferior to the ten Grand Magnums and Dragonspring which was destroyed in the Martial Ancestor¡¯s hands, it was only second to the most powerful ss of weapons.

    The Dark Sky was powerful, but its weakness was also clear¡ªits firing rate was slow. Missing the first shot would lose the wielder his initiative.

    But for Zhao Jundu and his True Shot, Dark Sky¡¯s weakness waspletely negated. On the contrary, it was extremely powerful, and its long firing-range could be put to best use. Paired with its special bullet, Dark Sky possessed firepower almost rivaling a Grand Magnum. Even a duke might be heavily injured in a single shot.

    Hearing Nighteye¡¯s words, Zhao Jundu said, ¡°It¡¯s suitable for you.¡±

    Nighteye smiled. ¡°You¡¯re wee to try.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the Tempest?¡±

    ¡°I only need it for heavenly monarchs.¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s pupils shrank. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll take the slight handicap then. I won¡¯t go all out with this shot, either. Feel free to retreat if you can¡¯t take it. If we fight again tomorrow, we can go all out as though we don¡¯t know one another. What do you say?¡±

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°Very well.¡±

    She summoned Awakening Dream with a swipe of her hand. The sword scattered moonlight within a thousand-meter radius, covering several fortresses.

    Dark golden specks emerged in the lunar glow, blossoming into illusory flowers with countless birds flying among them.

    This area was where experts were doing battle. Many of them had deployed their domains, which shed against one another amidst countless visual phenomena.

    But they were all reduced to nothingness the moment Nighteye¡¯s domain appeared. A sea of flowers and flying birds covered the entirendscape. Only Zhao Jundu¡¯s ck fire remained, but he had restrained it to within ten meters of himself. It almost seemed pitifulpared to Nighteye¡¯s tyrannical domain.

    Nighteye was ready to face Zhao Jundu¡¯s Dark Sky with her domain and Awakening Dream.

    Even though he was at a disadvantage in a contest of domains, Zhao Jundu never appeared panicked. He picked up Dark Sky, pushed a bullet into it, and took aim at Nighteye¡¯s throat. Many Imperial experts saw their eyes light up.

    This shot, bolstered with True Shot, was likely a chance for them to turn the tables.

    Nighteye stood motionlessly. The two parties were less than a hundred meters away, the best distance for Dark Sky to exert its power. It was also extremely difficult to evade at such a distance.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyes narrowed as Dark Sky jolted in his hands. A long, slender origin bullet left the chamber before the timber of the shot was heard.

    Nighteye¡¯s hands turned almost illusory. Awakening Dream drew an indescribably beautiful arc through the air and shed at the iing bullet.

    Although no one could see the flying projectile, they could tell that Awakening Dream would surely slice it into two.

    As Awakening Dream bore down upon the bullet mid-flight, it not only lit up the projectile but also everyone¡¯s hearts. It was as if a blinding light had jolted people awake from a beautiful dream.

    It was at this time that a dazzling light erupted from the bullet. A sun seemed to have risen on the battlefield, and the eruption of terrifying energy caused everyone¡¯s heart to skip a beat.

    Experts from both factions immediately thought the same thing¡ªa heavenly monarch! Previous Chapter Next Chapter

 Chapter 1339: Investigation

    <h4>Chapter 1339: Investigation</h4>

    People from both sides felt their minds go nk. ¡°How did a heavenly monarch appear?¡±

    A heavenly monarch didn¡¯t arrive, yet that bullet Zhao Jundu had fired contained the power and aura of one. The bullet elerated rapidly to an unimaginable speed, leaving only a slowly expanding ring of light.

    As expected of the Evernight Council¡¯s holy weapon, Awakening Dream immediately sensed the abnormality. Its sword radiance erupted just as rapidly and shed at the bullet.

    But the radiance was shattered, and the bullet only shifted slightly before disappearing into Nighteye¡¯s chest.

    Such might, such terrifying power could only belong to one person in the Empire¡ªPrince Greensun!

    In the distant fortress, Song Zining¡¯s expression was one of shock as he gazed at the distant battlefield. A heavenly monarch¡¯s power caught his attention despite the great distance.

    The change came so fast that Nighteye had already fallen on her back by the time Song Zining looked over.

    Song Zining instinctively reached out to grab at the air, where a projection of Nighteye had appeared. Dozens of divination tokens materialized and spun around her image.

    This was perhaps his only chance to check on her with divination.

    On the battlefield, the dark golden blossoms wilted, and the swift birds disintegrated amidst mournful cries. Nighteye¡¯s domain was reduced to countless golden specks that slowly rose into the air, painting the battlefield with a sad but beautiful color of blood.

    All of the dark race experts were shocked. They risked life and limb to fly over, shielding Nighteye in their midst, yet none of them dared touch her. All they did was channel their origin power to support her.

    Nighteye opened her eyes all of a sudden. ¡°Trying to divine me, eh? What great coordination! You really want me dead!¡±

    Her eyes were suffused with a tinge of red, but it soon settled into a dark golden hue. There were mountains and fields in her eyes but no more pupils.

    The new world before Song Zining immediately transformed into the depths of the void, where a pair of dark golden eyes were slowly opening. There were no pupils in these eyes, yet they contained the world of the night within them.

    The moment he was gazed upon, Song Zining let out a loud cry. He fell on his back as the divination tokens shattered, and his eyes started bleeding.

    The eyes nced toward Song Zining, then slowly closed up. They looked rather tired at this point.

    The void faded away, and the new world appeared once more.

    Nighteye closed her eyes and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Issue the order, attack!¡±

    ¡°Yes! Your Majesty!¡± The dark race experts responded in unison. Then, they spread out to lead their own forces. The vampire experts, especially, were gnashing their teeth as they red at the Imperial soldiers with hatred in their eyes.

    It was at this time that a p of thunder echoed in the sky. An indescribable feeling of palpitation bored down, as though they were being strangled.

    The experts from both factions were familiar with this sensation¡ªthe malicious intent of the new world was here. Clearly, that burst of heavenly monarch power had drawn its attention. This was doubly true because the energy belonged to a celebrated top expert like Prince Greensun.

    All the experts on the battlefield were like ants before this malicious intent. It couldn¡¯t be bothered under normal circumstances, but if these death-courting ants wanted to unt their power at such a time, the new world¡¯s intent wouldn¡¯t mind spending a bit of effort to crush them.

    Without prior arrangement, experts from both sides retracted their domains and separated at the same time. Showing off at such a time would be idiocy and not valor.

    Nighteye was barely able to stand at this point. There was now a dark golden armor made of blood covering her body.

    She gazed at the Imperial army, saying, ¡°We¡¯ll let them live for three more days, withdraw.¡±

    A long bugle cry echoed as the dark race army receded like the tides.

    A handsome vampire marquis spat, saying, ¡°This is your so-called ¡®not going all-out?¡¯ As expected of a lowly race that¡¯s only worthy of being food!¡±

    Zhao Jundu stood silently with his rifle in hand, not a shred of emotion on his face. He neither argued nor retreated, and only watched as the dark race army retreated.

    The malicious intent of the new world swept back and forth across the battlefield, but it didn¡¯t unleash its wrath upon the soldiers below. However, that feeling of being observed lingered for a long while.

    Perhaps it would take a couple of days for it to return to where it came from and forget about this incidence. That was why Nighteye said she would give the Empire three more days.

    Once the dark race army had retreated, Zhao Jundu said, ¡°I want an investigation into the stock and records of all bullets made by Prince Greensun!¡±

    The aide was shaken. ¡°Sire, your authority isn¡¯t enough to check these records. Will you¡­¡±

    ¡°Check what you can for now. As for authority, I¡¯ll get that in a couple of days.¡± After giving out instructions, Zhao Jundu shot into the air and flew back to the Imperial central fortress amidst the odd gazes.

    A bearded officer whispered, ¡°Was that¡­ a scheme just now?¡±

    Hisrade was shocked out of his wits. Quickly covering the man¡¯s mouth, he said, ¡°Stop talking nonsense! Don¡¯t make guesses! Go and restock on bullets, the dark races will be back in three days.¡±

    The bearded officer came to and left without saying a word.

    Back at the central base, Zhao Jundu entered Song Zining¡¯s office with steady steps.

    Thetter was standing before the window, wiping his mouth with a white handkerchief. ¡°I knew you¡¯de, but I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be here this fast. Looks like the change in origin power also changed your temperament.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°How did you get injured?¡±

    ¡°Divination bacsh.¡±

    ¡°I just fired a bullet made by a heavenly monarch and you followed up with divination. Quite the effort to deal the killing blow.¡±

    Song Zining turned around with a wry smile. ¡°Will you believe me if I say it¡¯s just a coincidence?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too much of a coincidence. Has your divination reached a stage where it activates once you sense something? Or is it to say that you can already divine a heavenly monarch?¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s eyesight was sharp¡ªthatpse after firing Dark Sky was so short that it couldn¡¯t even be described as a moment. How could Song Zining have caught this opportunity without prior nning? If he really could, then how advanced were his powers?

    Song Zining let out a cough as he flipped the handkerchief over and folded it neatly. There were visible bloodstains on the cloth, a testament to his serious injuries.

    ¡°It was really a coincidence.¡±

    Zhao Jundu red at him for a good while. He finally said with a sigh, ¡°I can believe you, but other people won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already sent people to investigate the stock and records of Prince Greensun¡¯s bullets.¡±

    Song Zining shook his head. ¡°You know you won¡¯t find anything, why the effort?¡±

    ¡°I have to get to the bottom of this no matter what.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°A heavenly monarch¡¯s handcrafted products belonged to the highest level of confidentiality. We don¡¯t have the authority to investigate their records. I know you might have a way to raise your ess, but it¡¯ll take several days for that to happen. By that time, there won¡¯t be any useful information on the document they give you. They¡¯ll have done whatever they need to do by then.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way Prince Greensun¡¯s hand-made bullet would¡¯ve fallen down from the sky.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s really no need.¡±

    ¡°I must know who is behind this. I must get my hands on some aplices at the very least!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll only get some scapegoats at most.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine as well.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°You¡­ sigh¡­¡±

    Zhao Jundu said all of a sudden, ¡°You exchanged blows with her too, do you think that shot is enough to kill her?¡±

    Song Zining was dazed. ¡°Prince Greensun¡¯s power is the bane of all dark races. She¡¯s¡­ not going to have a good time.¡±

    After some thought, he added, ¡°This might not be a good thing for you and me, but it¡¯s beneficial to the entire Empire. You know how many soldiers have died since she joined the fight.¡±

    ¡°That means you know about this matter?¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s gaze was cold.

    Song Zining coughed a couple of times. He then said with a ruefulugh, ¡°It¡¯s really a coincidence. I¡¯m only judging the matter as it stands.¡±

    ¡°That will be for the best.¡±

    Zhao Jundu turned and left, not even closing the door behind him.

    Song Zining watched his figure disappear before returning to the window with a sigh. There, he watched silently as the people went about their work in the fortress below.

    The soldiers and officers who had been discussing the matter immediately went quiet when he returned to the frontline fortress. Their attitude was perfectly respectful, but the look in their eyes betrayed their thoughts.

    Zhao Jundu gave them brief instructions before assembling all of the officers in the conference room. ¡°I want all records of people going in and out of the fortress in thest three days, and a list of outsiders stopping over for an extended period. I will immediately execute anyone who tries to hide information!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s ims could not be discounted. The group of officers responded respectfully and dispersed to do their work.

    Zhao Jundu remained alone in the conference room.

    Momentster, a general walked in and ced a stack of documents in front of him. ¡°Sire, all the records are here. It¡¯s just that¡­¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve had to prepare resources and fight every day during this period. Our base also happens to be a transit hub, so all those retreating from the front anding in from the rear will pass through the ce. Everyone has been so busy that the records are actually quite vague, and there were missing entries.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Zhao Jundu¡¯s temper was surprisingly good. He picked up the document and went through them one by one.

    The three days of free time was a rare opportunity for the Empire to repair and reorganize. Countless soldiers took this opportunity to rebuild the first-line fortifications that had been destroyed. They added smaller forts to the side as well to stop the dark races from nking.

    Zhao Jundu spent these three days reading documents, including thoseing in from the rear lines. His application for higher ess was granted pretty quickly, and a batch of documentsbeled ¡°highly confidential¡± was delivered to him by a group of elite escorts.

 Chapter 1340: Clues

    <h4>Chapter 1340: Clues</h4>

    Imperial experts above the champion realm could inject their origin power into physical bullets and exchange them for contributions. Divine champions and heavenly monarchs would have to submit a fixed quota of origin bullets each year, which the Empire would store as strategic reserves.

    The withdrawal and usage of such bullets, especially those produced by heavenly monarchs, involved an extremely rigorous process. Every intake and withdrawal had to be recorded in detail.

    Zhao Jundu was given permission to view these records, but they would not be left in his hands. The Imperial military only gave him an hour, after which the escort unit would bring the documents back.

    When Zhao Jundu opened the records, the four officers took up positions in each corner of the room, watching his every move.

    As someone who had experienced many things, the fourth young master was calm and collected. He flipped through the pages at a steady pace until he was at the veryst leaf. The rm rang as he finished reading thest page. It was exactly one hour¡ªnot a minute more, not a minute less.

    ¡°Sire, we should be reporting back now.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. He watched as the four officers stowed the records away, reformed the seal on the container, and left.

    There was nothing suspicious in the records. Every intake and withdrawal of heavenly monarch bullets was fully registered, and none of them had been missing.

    Just as Song Zining had expected, Zhao Jundu might be able to see the records at his authority level, but it was certain that he wouldn¡¯t find anything. It wasn¡¯t too hard to figure out that someone of that caliber¡ªone who could put a bullet produced by Prince Greensun into Zhao Jundu¡¯s gun without anyone knowing¡ªwould be extremely powerful. Changing the records wouldn¡¯t be a problem for them.

    Zhao Jundu summoned his aides. ¡°Prepare a report and send it to the military using the highest-grade enclosure. Say that a bullet containing Prince Greensun¡¯s origin power has appeared on the battlefield. Advise them to perform an in-depth investigation into the likely theft of strategic resources.¡±

    The follower was shocked. ¡°Sire, that¡¯s not appropriate, is it? Your shot was a great achievement and contribution!¡±

    ¡°Do it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire.¡± The follower left in a hurry, not daring to persuade Zhao Jundu any further.

    Considering Zhao Jundu¡¯s status, this report had to be processed via the swiftest channels, and there had to be an oue. Someone had to take responsibility for this.

    The one to take responsibility couldn¡¯t be Zhao Jundu. Someone would have to step up and take this me, and it couldn¡¯t be someone of lowly status.

    The follower simply didn¡¯t understand why Zhao Jundu would dispatch such a report, but a military order had to be obeyed. He had to do it even if he couldn¡¯t figure things out.

    ...

    The Evernight camp had also been busy for three days. Various units rushed over to join the main army and bolster their fighting power. Then again, the humans had alsopleted and strengthened their fortress cluster, so it was easy to see that the uing battle wasn¡¯t going to be easy.

    There was an independent courtyard at the center of the base. The buildings in it were built in a distinct vampire style, and the guards were all vampires. There wasn¡¯t a single person from the other three races.

    This was Nighteye¡¯s residence, and also themand center. After taking the shot that day, Nighteye had shut herself off in the building and never appeared.

    Now that the malicious intent of the new world had disappeared, the time to fight was once again drawing near. The restless experts from the other three races were beginning to seek news about Nighteye¡¯s condition.

    That shot was akin to an actual attack from Prince Greensun, and it had also hit her vitals. It was already a miracle that Nighteye hadn¡¯t fallen on the spot.

    An airship flew in from the distant horizon at shocking speed and dived toward the center of the camp. This was a dangerous move even during times of peace.

    The officers ignored the incident entirely when they noticed the Azure King¡¯s insignia and the faintly discernible great dark monarch aura.

    Three dukes and six marquises walked out of the airship, more or less the entire reserve force from the vampire mainds. Such a lineup meant that they were escorting something important.

    The duke leading this party held the Evernight Council¡¯s highestmand token, so there was no obstruction along the way. He arrived at the small building where Nighteye was staying and stopped outside the door. ¡°Edelman of the Morway family is here to see Her Highness Nighteye by order of the Queen of the Night, the Azure King, and the Evernight Council. The Queen wishes me to give you an important item.¡±

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    Edelman and two other dukes walked into the building, while the marquises remained outside to stand guard. Their attitudes were extremely respectful.

    Edelman went up to the second floor, where the reception area was. Nighteye was seated on the throne at the end of the hall, looking down upon the guests.

    Edelman took a step forward and went down on one knee, respectfully presenting a box with both hands. ¡°This is what the Queen of the Night wishes to give you, with the Azure King¡¯s blessings.¡±

    The box was made of ck jade, a material so dark that it seemed bottomless. There were actually little stars flickering in the depths of the night sky, almost as though there was an entire world hiding within it.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t take the item immediately. ¡°What else did she say?¡±

    ¡°Her Majesty said nothing. The Azure King said you¡¯ll understand once you open it.¡±

    ¡°Leave it and go.¡±

    ¡°Yes... Your Majesty.¡± Edelman changed his address.

    Nighteye did nothing to refuse this. She waited until everyone was gone before ncing at the ck jade box on the table.

    A swift bird flew over and opened the container. A beam of dark golden light gushed into the air, rising all the way up until it was blocked by the ceiling.

    Countless stars and continents were floating about in the luminous pir. It was like a miniature model of a world.

    The floating continents weren¡¯t illusory. The great continents under vampire rule were among them as well, and there were minute changes to their aura. At Nighteye¡¯s level, she could naturally tell that these changes reflected the actual world.

    This was a projection of the vampire realm produced by the Queen of the Night¡¯s aura. This also went to show that the Queen¡¯s consciousness could already cover every corner of her domain.

    This was the true power of the Queen of the Night, known as the second drop from the River of Blood, one who had reigned on the Sacred Mountain since time immemorial.

    Nighteye¡¯s gazended on the two topmost continents. These twondmasses were covered in shadows and only its outline could be made out.

    They were clearly not continents upied by vampires, nor did they belong to the other races. Only one-third the size of other continents, the twondmasses could be seen slowly revolving around one another.

    Nighteye opened her narrowed eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve been to such heights?¡±

    A gentle voice echoed. ¡°I¡¯ve been there, but many ces could not be explored.¡±

    A beam of light split off from the radiant pir and formed a projection of the Queen of the Night. Nighteye watched her attentively and she gazed back at Nighteye.

    Finally, the Queen spoke first, ¡°This is our first meeting, right?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°In this life, yes.¡±

    The Queen of the Night said, ¡°The number of times is no longer important because you¡¯re about to return to the past very soon.¡±

    A certain glow flickered in Nighteye¡¯s pupils. ¡°Was this your design?¡±

    ¡°No, this is the human race¡¯s scheme. You know very well that their craftiness is beyond our imagination.¡±

    ¡°What was the great prophet doing?¡±

    ¡°The great prophet has always been trying to crack the secret hidden by the human race. He can¡¯t control a heavenly monarch¡¯s movements even if he were free.¡±

    Nighteye said with a hint of mockery, ¡°He has been at it for hundreds of years, still no progress?¡±

    ¡°To be precise, it has been two hundred and forty-three years including the previous great prophet. I believe they¡¯ve found some clues?¡±

    ¡°Chronicle of Glory?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°The name is all we know for now.¡±

    ¡°Even I know this name. This is the so-called clue?¡±

    The Queen of the Night was fairly calm. ¡°No one can remain indifferent in the face of great power and millennia of extra life-span. That¡¯s why those willing to be prophets are all mediocre people with no hope of bing a great dark monarch. There were some exceptions, but they couldn¡¯t really change the situation. Humans, on the other hand, are an extremely unique species. They suddenly rose to power a thousand years ago and are still giving us surprises today. They are inherently suitable for divination, and the price they have to pay is far smaller than ours. Many experts are willing to forfeit a hundred years of lifespan to give their race an advantage. Lin Xitang, for instance.¡±

    Nighteye remained silent for she had no retort against the Queen¡¯s words.

    ¡°I sent this thing only now because I was waiting for you to save yourself, but now, it seems you have failed. ept this gift and return to the past, say goodbye to this life.¡±

    ¡°How did the humans know Zhang Boqian¡¯s origin power can restrain me?¡±

    ¡°Zhang Boqian¡¯s origin power is the bane of all holy-blooded races. The weakness could¡¯ve been avoided if you had ascended to the duke-rank, but you suppressed your power to avoid responsibilities, this is your own choice.¡±

    ¡°A duty you people pressed onto me. It was never my responsibility, to begin with.¡±

    ¡°Even if it was forced, you never fulfilled it.¡±

    At this point, the Queen of the Night sighed. ¡°This is the greatest difference between us and the humans. The stronger we be individually, the more we focus on the self. The humans, on the other hand, have nock of geniuses in every generation willing to sacrifice themselves for the race. We used to mock the sacrifices made by a short-lived race, but it seems we are the ones who deserve to be mocked.

    ¡°With you around, the vampire race will never change. It makes no difference whether myself, the Azure King, Medanzo, or Habsburg are around or not. We¡¯ve lost many second-generation primogenitors throughout the millennia, even the thirteenth n, yet we remain strong all the same. Now, the River of Blood is showing signs of awakening, so I don¡¯t see anything to worry about.¡±

 Chapter 1341: The World is Dark

    <h4>Chapter 1341: The World is Dark</h4>

    The Queen of the Night disappeared. Nighteye stood there in a daze, almost as though the Queen had never left. She didn¡¯t even notice the slender figure that had appeared in the room.

    After a long while, that person sighed. ¡°Why go through all the trouble?¡±

    As though she had just woken up from a dream, Nighteye said while shaking her head, ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    The man¡¯s face gradually appeared¡ªit was the Azure King. He pointed at the jade box, saying, ¡°Not going to take a look?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no doubt a drop of her origin blood. What¡¯s there to see?¡±

    The Azure Kingughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s the Queen¡¯s origin blood. If this gets out, people will stop fighting the war in cksun Valley ande for the blood instead. Even I am very willing to give it an extra nce.¡±

    Nighteye turned the box in his direction. ¡°Look at it then.¡±

    The Azure King sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve already seen it and neutralized a portion of Her Majesty¡¯s power with my own, making it easier for you to absorb.¡±

    Seeing that Nighteye was still unmoved, the Azure King said, ¡°You¡¯ll lose a portion of your memories and emotions if you abandon this form, but you¡¯ll lose even your past life¡¯s memories if you don¡¯t do it. You wouldn¡¯t have waited until now to do battle if you had any other way.¡±

    Nighteye nced at the Azure King. ¡°Did anyone tell you that you¡¯re very annoying when you speak?¡±

    This was a grave disrespect for a great dark monarch, but the Azure King didn¡¯t mind. ¡°No one will say these things to you if I don¡¯t. So, I have to say it even if you hate me.¡±

    ¡°I understand now.¡± Nighteye¡¯s reply was cold.

    ¡°The past years...¡±

    ¡°Memories from my past life are too far away, I don¡¯t remember anything.¡±

    ¡°Nevermind then. It¡¯s about time, an army of ten thousand and all the experts from the other races are all looking at this ce.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s gazended on the ck jade box.

    There was a lustrous drop of origin blood inside the container, as big as a human head. If a prince¡¯s condensed origin blood was amber and a duke¡¯s was ruby, it wouldn¡¯t be excessive to say that this drop of blood was like diamond.

    It was both beautiful and big.

    It was just an ordinary drop of blood inside the Queen¡¯s body, but it grew massively after leaving her body. Without the constraint and suppression of its host, the blood¡¯s original volume could no longer contain the terrifying amount of power.

    The Azure King walked over to the window, gazing out into the distance with his back against Nighteye. Although it was just his projection, the man looked no different from the real person. He did not vanish or leave, clearly intent on monitoring her until the blood had been absorbed.

    At this point, Nighteye¡¯s face gradually turned pale and her aura became unstable. There was a faint trace of light emerging from her body as she could no longer suppress the heavenly monarch¡¯s power inside her. Prince Greensun¡¯s destructive energy contained an extremely pure aura of daybreak, and it was starting to destroy her body.

    The Azure King¡¯s fingertips moved slightly, but he held back from taking action.

    Nighteye finally reached out, grabbing the Queen of the Night¡¯s origin blood and sucking it in. The origin blood softened and shrunk back to its original form, turning into a drop of dark origin blood as it flew into her mouth.

    Ayer of darkness spread over her entire body. She let out a muffled groan, curling up and falling to her knees in the process.

    Countless flowers began to bloom inside the room, swaying without any wind. The sea of flowers spread over the entire building; it filled the entire courtyard, then the entire dark race camp. It kept spreading out for a great distance beforeing to a stop.

    This was a massive domain that could cover a hundred-thousand-strong army. Comparatively, the Demoness¡¯ domain was like a firefly next to the moon.

    Many dark race experts became restless. This rapidly-expanding domain filled them with a sense of foreboding, almost as though it would control and devour them at any moment.

    This wasn¡¯t an illusion. Nighteye had shown everyone how terrifying this domain was when she faced off against the Profundity Monarch. The entire dark race army had fallen under her control back then, and all their power was at her disposal. That was how she had managed to achieve that glorious aplishment.

    Although they knew she wouldn¡¯t take things too far, the experts couldn¡¯t help but worry about what was happening in the small house.

    The boundless floral sea came to a stop after stretching far and wide. The swaying flowers were supposed to be fragrant and beautiful, yet they filled everyone¡¯s hearts with terror.

    All of a sudden, the dark golden petals peeled off, leaving only the outermostyer and the long stamen stretching out from within. The moment the stamen appeared, everyone gasped in fright. ¡°Spider lilies!¡±

    This wasn¡¯t just one spider lily but a sea of spider lilies. The flower came in a dark color and not in the bright red shade everyone knew of.

    As the flowers faded away, Nighteye slowly stood up within themand building. There was unnoticeable darkness in the depths of her eyes and a lingering ck energy at the tips of her slender fingers.

    ¡°Turns out... this world is so dark...¡± she whispered to herself.

    The room waspletely empty as the Azure King had long since left.

    Nighteye walked out of themand building to find countless dark race experts gathered around the door, waiting for her to appear.

    Yet they were highly respectful and none of them dared take a step into the courtyard. No one had any doubts about her strength after seeing the flowers just now.

    Standing before the host of experts, Nighteye held herself with a temperament of one who could look down upon the world. ¡°Assemble the army, we attack!¡±

    Momentster, a long bugle cry echoed through the air as the dark race army erupted in an earth-shattering cheer. Countless dark race experts poured out like the tides and swarmed toward the Imperial fortress cluster. The sky was quickly filled with airships, along with countless experts.

    The curtains had been drawn again over the war, and this time, there would be no lucky developments.

    By night, the Empire¡¯s outer fortresses had fallen, and only Zhao Jundu¡¯s core second-line fortress and Song Zining¡¯s central fortress remained standing.

    The core second-line fortress was right on the frontline, but fortunately, the area between the two fortresses was covered by heavy cannons. The dark races could not surround it entirely; they could only attack from three sides.

    Zhao Jundu stood atop the city walls, looking fearlessly at the dark race army.

    A general beside him whispered, ¡°Sire, only a few thousand men remain in the fortress, and most of them are injured. Sire Zining has already issued the order to retreat. We can¡¯t hold this line, let¡¯s retreat.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°This fight is inevitable, let¡¯s see after I¡¯m done with it. You can head to the rear if you¡¯re afraid.¡±

    That general¡¯s face turned red. ¡°I¡¯ve fought for the Zhao n for twenty years and been through many dangerous situations. If you think that I¡¯m afraid of death, then leave me to guard the rear. You should retreat with the army!¡±

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s tone softened. ¡°It¡¯s good if you¡¯re not afraid. We can no longer retreat, look.¡±

    In the direction Zhao Jundu was pointing at, the dark race army was parting like the tides as Nighteye walked out from their midst.

    Every step she took would push the sea of spider lilies forward. By the time she was at the front, the entire fortress and even the dark race army were under her domain.

    Even someone as strong as Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help but look worried.

    Nighteye took to the air, climbing higher and higher until she was above everyone else. She said to Zhao Jundu, ¡°Our fight is not yet over, let¡¯s continue here.¡±

    Zhao Jundu retrieved Dark Sky and held it at his side. ¡°Very well.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s lips curled up into an expression thaty between a smile and mockery. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t go all out in this battle.¡±

    Zhao Jundu had never been a talkative person. Without another word, he erupted in a burst of dark fire that surged hundreds of meters into the air! The raging ze began to devour the sea of spider lilies with great ferocity.

    These flowers looked rather weak, but they took quite some time to wilt amidst the mes. The dark mes were stunted after expanding several dozen meters.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s silhouette disappeared into the fire.

    It was at this moment that a pair of golden eyes opened behind Nighteye and stared at a certain part of the mes. Under its gaze, Zhao Jundu¡¯s figure reappeared and could no longer merge into the fire.

    The Tempest appeared in Nighteye¡¯s hands, and its four barrels began spitting out tongues of fire. Countless bullets converged into one and bombarded Zhao Jundu.

    Zhao Jundu remained fearless in the face of a weapon that had once held back the Profundity Monarch. He held his sword crosswise and produced a shield, both covered in raging ck mes. He then crashed into the Tempest¡¯s stream of fire.

    The battle reached its most critical phase right off the bat. Nighteye had moved to suppress Zhao Jundu with a tempestuous barrage, foregoing technique in favor of absolute power.

    Even Zhao Jundu had no choice but to go all out with his defense. The Tempest constantly dispersed his ck mes, but they were immediately drawn back to supplement the front.

    Even against a Grand Magnum known for its fierce firepower, Zhao Jundu¡¯s ck fire remained highly tenacious and slow to drain.

    Several swift birds appeared in the sea of spider lilies andnded on the dark race experts in the vicinity. Specks of darkness origin power gathered unto Nighteye, stabilizing her aura and allowing her to calmly st Zhao Jundu with the Tempest.

    The Imperial soldiers were shocked.

    Everyone could see that he was not Nighteye¡¯s match as long as the dark race experts in the domain kept on providing her with darkness origin power. Only the owner of such a domain was the most suited to use the Tempest.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s pir of ck mes was gradually reduced to a ball of fire, shrinking continuously until it was only enough to cover his body.

    The Tempest was still roaring.

    The Imperial soldiers felt their hearts at their throats, knowing that victory and defeat would be decided very soon. But what could they do? A fight of this level wasn¡¯t something they could intervene in. Even divine champions and dukes were helpless.

    Finally, the fire around Zhao Jundu copsed with a loud rumble. Countless embers rained down in all directions, charring everything they came into contact with.

    Has it been decided? Everyone nced at Zhao Jundu, only to see a hazy azure emerge amidst the dying ck embers.

 Chapter 1342: Overwhelming Danger

    <h4>Chapter 1342: Overwhelming Danger</h4>

    The azure glow was dim, drifting, and barely discernible. That bit of aura contained an indescribable feeling of rity, almost as though it weren¡¯t of this world.

    It was like fire but also unlike fire, just a mote of hazy azure light hovering on Zhao Jundu¡¯s forehead.

    The ck mes had actually left this azure ember after burning out.

    The ephemeral glow phased in and out without the slightest conflict with this world, a stark contrast to the fierce ck mes from before. The me might look unassuming, but it possessed an iparable sense of existence once noticed¡ªit was clearly one level above the violent ck ze.

    Nighteye¡¯s brows rose. ¡°You can actually rise from me and ashes. As expected of the Empire¡¯s number one genius.¡±

    Her voice turned cold. ¡°But that¡¯s far from enough!¡±

    She tossed the Tempest backward, almost as though she were throwing away a useless item and not a magnum that the world would fight for. Awakening Dream appeared in her hand, erupting with a murderous glint that stunned the world!

    The long sword pierced through Zhao Jundu¡¯s chest and emerged from his back. There were countless experts on the field, but none of them managed to see how she had done that.

    ¡°Halt.¡± A calm yet august voice arrived from the distant skies. Many of the top experts were familiar with this voice, so much so that they had heard it in their nightmares.

    That was Prince Greensun Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice.

    The heavenly monarch appeared out of thin air and swung his palm toward Nighteye.

    ¡°You want him? Here, take him!¡± Nighteye shook her sword, flinging Zhao Jundu away.

    Zhang Boqian did not continue with his attack. His swat became a grab as he picked up Zhao Jundu and left.

    Awakening Dream rose again at that moment and its water-like sword radiance shed at Zhang Boqian¡¯s back. Some people felt that they had heard a soft grunt from Zhang Boqian, but no one could confirm if they really did hear it.

    Space parted like rippling water and Zhang Boqian disappeared with Zhao Jundu in tow. It was as though he had never appeared.

    Nighteye sheathed her de and exhaled. ¡°Let this strike be the end of our karma.¡±

    The battlefield remained silent for a while before the dark races erupted in a thunderous cheer. Their army moved out on their own, charging toward the Imperial fortresses in a frenzied state.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s name was like a giant rock that pressed down upon the dark races, making it difficult for them to breathe. Many well-known dukes and princes had lost to him, then the great dark monarchs fell to a disadvantage.

    Although there were all kinds of reasons for Zhang Boqian not to fight, when all was said and done, Nighteye had managed tond a sh on him. Zhao Jundu was also utterly defeated, ending his unbeatable legend among those of the same generation.

    Dark race morale was so high that the younger ones entered a frenzied state. They charged without fear of death, vowing to take down the Imperial fortress to prove their loyalty to Nighteye.

    The ck tide soon engulfed the Imperial stronghold.

    The defenders¡¯ morale had long since hit rock-bottom. The troops were quickly routed after Zhao Jundu was taken away by Prince Greensun, with only a small number making it back to the central fortress.

    Many soldiers in the dark race army had gone berserk¡ªthey didn¡¯t even listen when the officers tried to regroup. All they did was chase after the retreating Imperial forces toward the central fortress. Another fierce battle thus broke out at the walls of the stronghold.

    The crazed dark race soldiers knew neither pain nor fear as they charged forth through the rain of bullets. They used thest bit of vitality in them to charge up the walls and take down a target with them.

    Wave after wave of dark race soldiers crashed against the fortress, their madness instilling fear into the most experienced of veterans. The defending soldiers had to rely on mechanical reflexes and numbed emotions to remain in their posts. They shred apart as many of the charging dark races as they could, up until they were torn apart themselves.

    The sturdy fortress walls began to warp and distort as the ck tides mmed repeatedly against it. Countless corpses filled up the trenches and obstructions in front of the fortress. More dark race soldiers would step on theirrades¡¯ bodies to rush onto the walls, only to be corpses themselves.

    The battle immediately reached its climax from the get-go. Attacks came in from all sides with neither strategy nor pattern¡ªbut they were sufficiently bloody and fierce.

    This was the kind of wear-down Song Zining always wanted, just not in the way he had hoped for.

    The dark-race morale was through the roof, and they had all too many cards to y. The four major races had set aside their differences and united under the glow of Nighteye¡¯s spider lilies. Their strength in this state was far beyond the Empire¡¯s, so much so that even the young strategist god of the Empire felt suffocated.

    The chips in his hand were too few for this grand gamble. This was a game of chess, but the two sides didn¡¯t have an equal number of pieces.

    This crazy exchange of pieces with no regard for cost just happened to be Song Zining¡¯s weak spot.

    Three dayster, the Empire¡¯s central fortress fell.

    Song Zining pulled back with the army, fighting a series of brilliant tactical withdrawal battles, obstruction, and ambushes until they had rid themselves of the pursuing army. The Empire had lost the strategic objective that was cksun Valley. They had already failed to achieve the main objective of this fight, but fortunately, not all hope was lost.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t pull back to the Great Qin Continent¡¯s door. Instead, he relied on the supplies mustered by the Empire to wage gueri warfare on the cksun Valley, hoping to uproot the dark race strongholds. However, things were now quite different from when they had just entered the valley.

    The dark races were no longer segregated, and at least under Nighteye¡¯smand, they were as solid as a steel te. The four races working together enforced their advantages and eliminated their shorings. The increase in fighting power wasn¡¯t trivial.

    On the other hand, Song Zining was no longer able to n a thousand miles ahead like before. The reason for this was also Nighteye. Her existence itself did away half of Song Zining¡¯s divination. He had to consolidate his fighting power at every step and could onlyunch attacks when the situation was favorable. It was no longer possible to field troops in his usual bold and unpredictable manner.

    Having lost both advantages in stronghold and mobility, Song Zining¡¯s ns for a war of attrition had naturally gone to waste. The Empire could not even afford a two-to-one trade, let alone any worse.

    Nighteye changed her strategy after sweeping out the Imperial forces. She more or less ignored the gueri attacks and imitated Song Zining¡¯s previous strategy. The dark races built fortress clusters and staged an airtight defense, not giving Song Zining any opportunity to divide and conquer.

    The council wasn¡¯t idle during this period. Every day, a massive fleet of transports would fly between cksun Valley and the doors of the dark race continents. The Empire utilized their assets and learned that they were transporting arge number of low-ranking soldiers into the valley.

    It was rather odd that these low-ranking soldiers would be sent here because they would hardly be able to adapt to the harsh environment. They would only have half a month¡¯s lifespan before dying in droves. Was the dark race nning on transporting them back after a few weeks?

    The expenditure involved in such a move would be colossal, even if the effectiveness wasn¡¯t a topic of discussion. Just the transportation costs would be astronomical, let alone the limited holy tree sap that would be wasted on them.

    All these signs proved that the council was nning something else, something important rted to the sinkhole. The Empire could only drift around the edges at this point, so they would never know what was going on, let alone stop them.

    Song Zining racked his brains to find a way¡ªhe did win several small battles in the days toe, but he still couldn¡¯t change the oue.

    Nighteye kept her main forces garrisoned at the major crossroads and was immovable as a mountain.

    Despite the many sessful reports, one could see that Song Zining was growing thinner by the day.

    Voices of criticism stirred up once again, and under their pressure, the military began urging for progress. Everyone was restless because the four Evernight races working together would easily shake the world.

    Knowing that he had no way back, Song Zining finally made the decision to use his divination powers to scry Nighteye¡¯s movements.

    Once activated, he appeared in the depths of the void where that familiar pair of dark golden eyes was waiting for him. In the world and to the very end of the void, there was nothing else but those eyes!

    Song Zining groaned as the divination tokens burst into mes and became ashes. He copsed without a sound and fell unconscious.

    The change happened so quickly that the Imperial generals were caught off-guard. Seeing that he hadn¡¯t improved after one day, they decided to send him back to the Empire for treatment.

    At this point, Song Zining was a priceless treasure to the Empire.

    All those well-known divination families couldn¡¯t put forth a single candidate to rece Song Zining in the Empire¡¯s time of danger. The many experts at the Divination Pavilion held severalrge-scale ceremonies, yet they couldn¡¯t produce a single result. This proved how powerful Song Zining was.

    Although no one discussed this openly, many people believed that losing Song Zining following Lin Xitang¡¯s passing would shake the Empire¡¯s foundations.

    Nighteye moved out in full force once Song Zining was gone, splitting her army into numerous independent units to seek out and fight the Empire¡¯s main force. The Imperial army suffered numerous defeats in just a few days and took grievous losses. They changed onemander after another, but none of them made a difference.

    At this point, people found out just how difficult it was to achieve the small victories Song Zining had managed to rack up. He was a worthy strategist even without relying on his divination powers.

    The dark race army held the absolute numbers advantage as they mobilized in full force, sweeping the valley with the intent to wipe out all Imperial forces.

    The Imperial marshal in charge of the forces made a small mistake in his anxiety and was captured. Nighteye took this opportunity to destroy three supply fleets continuously.

    This deprived the Imperial forces of supplies and plunged them into dire straits.

    Every day, the topic of discussion in the Imperial court was whether they should pull back their forces from cksun Valley.

    It wasn¡¯t as though the Empire had run out ofmanders, but the war between the dark races and the Great Qin was being fought on multiple fronts. Defeat in the new world would put more pressure on the maind, where the defensive dark race forces would attempt to scout the Empire with greater frequency. If they were to transfer a powerhouse from the continental warzones to the new world, there was a chance that the maind forces might suffer a defeat.

    Yet they couldn¡¯t just sit by and do nothing. There were tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers in cksun Valley. All of them were veteran elites, and losing even a few of them made one¡¯s heart ache.

    Facing such a situation, the Radiant Emperor asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the Empire will undergo a resurgence in my era? Is this it? Who is going to bring about this resurgence?¡±

    This was a question no one could answer.

 Chapter 1343: Serve the â€œCountryâ€

    <h4>Chapter 1343: Serve the ¡°Country¡±</h4>

    Actually, everyone could tell that the four races of Evernight were far stronger than the Empire if united. There were only two reasons as to why the Empire had thrived for the past millennium.

    One of them was that the four major dark races treated humans as the fifth race instead of facing them as a faction. The enmity between their races wasn¡¯t inferior to their hatred for the human race¡ªbetween the vampires and werewolves, between the vampires and the demonkin, between the demonkin and the arachne, etc. One or two races would form the primary fighting force in every war, while the remainder would do their best to trip them and increase their casualties.

    There was also a difference between long-lived races and short-lived ones. The humans lived shorter lifespans, so they attached great importance to moments of glory. There would always be heroes willing to risk life and limb for the country. Comparatively, it was much more difficult for the dark races to sacrifice hundreds or even a thousand years of life.

    That was why the Empire would usually im the final victory in decisive battles.

    Now the four Evernight races had united under Nighteye. Although they were still afraid of death, transferring power to Nighteye through her domain wouldn¡¯t put their life at risk. The two great advantages the Empire had enjoyed in the past were no longer viable after Nighteye¡¯s appearance.

    The Empire¡¯s talented geniuses below the heavenly monarch realm had lost one after the other¡ªthere was actually no one left to pick.

    The heavenly monarchs couldn¡¯t join the fight, so only a handful of superior divine champions remained that could outperform the Zhao-Song duo. These people were either too old, timid, unsuitable, or unwilling.

    The only ones remaining were n powerhouses like Zhao Weihuang, but they were too important. It was fine for them to lead troops, but they couldn¡¯t be allowed to risk their lives on the front line.

    The Radiant Emperor asked again, ¡°Who is my agent of resurgence?¡±

    The court once again fell silent.

    The Radiant Emperor was nning to ask a third time, but his eyesnded on the exhibit wall at the other end of the hall. It was as though his gaze could pierce through the structure and see the small calligraphy-work on the other side.

    The hall was full of honorable subjects, but the absence of that one person made things quite lonely.

    ¡­

    Fort Continent. By the time Qianye had returned to Cerulean Wave City, he found out that an imperial emissary was there for him and that he had been waiting for an entire day.

    Qianye had no idea what the Empire would want with him at this point. He summoned the envoy after dealing with internal matters.

    Kong Yu arrived with this emissary and began by apologizing. ¡°I went back to the Empire for some business and found out that Lord Pei was nning to visit you. So, I volunteered to be his guide. Lord Pei is an old friend, he¡¯s now working at the military department and his future is limitless.¡±

    The emissary seemed around thirty years of age¡ªelegant, handsome, and somewhat proud. He cupped his hands at Qianye, saying, ¡°I¡¯m Pei Zijun, currently working as an assistant to themander of the staff office. I came here to request Sire Qianye to serve the Empire. Please lead your troops to cksun Valley and defeat the dark race alliance!¡±

    Qianye sat still. ¡°Serve the country?¡±

    Pei Zijun said with a loud voice, ¡°Sire Qianye, you¡¯re a hero of the generation. Now that the Empire is facing difficulties, you should step up and fight for the country, for the human race, do your powerful cultivation justice.¡±

    Kong Yu¡¯s expression changed slightly as he let out a dry cough. Pei Zijun, however, ignored the gesture.

    ¡°What if I don¡¯t?¡±

    Pei Zijun took a step forward. ¡°Sire Qianye, everyone has a duty to help when the country is in danger! How can you feign ignorance when you¡¯re so powerful? Do you feel no shame? Even if you don¡¯t, did you ever think about the consequences of disobeying the Empire¡¯s summons?¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Disobedience? Whose order am I disobeying? Who has the right to give me orders? Give me a name.¡±

    Pei Zijun¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Sire Qianye, are you intent on refusing? I must report everything back to the superiors when I return. The oue¡­¡±

    Qianye let out a drawn-outugh. With a wave of his hand, a surge of origin power mmed into Pei Zijing¡¯s body and sent him flying out of the door. The man¡¯s entire body became embedded in the structure.

    Pei Zijin coughed out a mouthful of blood, unable to move a muscle as he was stuck in the wall. Only at this point did he reveal an expression of shock, not having expected that Qianye would really attack.

    Qianye roared, ¡°Destroy the dark races? Do you really think I don¡¯t know who theirmander is? How dare youe here and demand that I destroy them. Are you tired of living? I¡¯ve killed quite a few people from the military back in the day, and I won¡¯t hold back if I have to kill some more today!¡±

    Kong Yu¡¯s expression was ashen. He fell to his knees and said hurriedly, ¡°Sire! I really didn¡¯t know he was here to say these things. Brother Pei has always been devoted to his work, perhaps he¡¯s just too eager to distinguish himself. It probably isn¡¯t his intention to offend you, and it¡¯s not a crime worthy of death, either. Please spare his worthless life!¡±

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°Eager to distinguish? At the cost of his life? Then why not go to the battlefield? Have the cursed remnants of the Longevity Monarch still not given up on trying to kill me?¡±

    Kong Yu was shocked out of his wits. He knew that a cmity would befall him should he make a wrong answer.

    Fortunately, Qianye didn¡¯t wait for him to reply. ¡°Since you brought him here, you shall take him back. Your Kong family had better find out who sent this idiot here, and you know what you should do after you figure it out. If your Kong family wishes to make an enemy out of me, I¡¯ll make sure you cannot take half a step onto Fort Continent!¡±

    Kong Yu was finally panicked. ¡°Rest assured, Sire! I¡¯ll handle everything!¡±

    He carefully plucked Pei Zijun from the wall and walked out. Thetter was in a semi-conscious state, but he woke up from the pain of being moved around.

    He poked his head out from behind Kong Yu¡¯s shoulder and cried out, ¡°My death¡­ isn¡¯t worth anything, but the Empire¡­ its existence is in peril¡­ How can you¡­ ignore¡­¡±

    His voice slowly faded into the distance, but its echo bounced off the corridor walls.

    All of a sudden, Qianye felt a strange sense of frustration. He walked over to the window and gazed out at the boundless Jade sea, his thoughts flying out to the distant cksun Valley.

    Qianye had never been to the ce, but he had heard the name countless times. Recent battle reports both big and small were all rted to the cksun Valley. Even someone without a lick of tactical knowledge could tell that the two armies were locked in a showdown.

    Why had the imperial military picked Pei Zijun to persuade Qianye? Was it to provoke him, or were they really at their wit¡¯s end? Or was it this man¡¯s personal actions?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t tell, nor did he try. He simply stood in front of the window until night fell upon thend.

    William appeared behind him at one point. ¡°Got time for a drink?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    The man was holding a crate of wine, which he duly ced on the ground. They didn¡¯t pick any particr ce and simply started drinking in Qianye¡¯s office.

    William looked like he wanted to say something a few sses in, but the hesitant werewolf didn¡¯t know where to begin. Qianye said, ¡°If you¡¯re trying to console me, let it be, just drink.¡±

    ¡°Okay, bottoms up!¡±

    The two filled ss after ss until they had emptied half a crate. William eventually got drunk¡ªhe flipped over in his giant wolf form and fell into a snoring sleep.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes were clear at this point, without an ounce of intoxication. His heart was so heavy that no amount of alcohol could make him drunk.

    He sauntered down the stairs and was just about to take a stroll in the city when he heard a certain ruckus. Some aides were chasing after a man, who ran straight for Qianye and grabbed his arm.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dodge because it was actually Wei Potian.

    The guards soon arrived and surrounded the area. The captain¡¯s forehead was drenched in sweat as he said, ¡°I was incapable and simply couldn¡¯t stop him! Please forgive me.¡±

    Qianye waved his hand. ¡°This is my brother. It¡¯s fine, you guys can withdraw.¡±

    The guards were relieved to hear that the intruder was a friend. Knowing how powerful Qianye was and that there was no need to worry about his safety, the soldiers bowed and left.

    After the guards were gone, Wei Potian said, ¡°Qianye! Please save the Empire!¡±

    Qianye was surprised. He didn¡¯t continue the topic and instead pointed at Wei Potian¡¯s left sleeve. ¡°What happened? Who did this?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice contained a hint of killing intent.

    Wei Potian¡¯s left sleeve was empty, his arm nowhere to be found.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t important¡­¡±

    Qianye cut him short. ¡°Not important? Tell me, who did it?¡±

    Wei Potianughed wryly. ¡°It¡¯s no use telling you, why bother?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression was as gloomy as still water. ¡°Why would you say so? Even if the enemy is a prince or a great dark monarch, they will still die in my hand one day.¡±

    Wei Potian shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine if it was anyone else, but her¡­ let it be.¡±

    ¡°You mean¡­¡± Qianye¡¯s heart sank.

    Wei Potian said, ¡°You can¡¯t me her for this. She¡¯s already let me live twice, but I insisted on appearing in front of her with the army. And she only cut off an arm thest time, anyone else would¡¯ve died several times over. An arm is nothing, I¡¯ll just get a recement. It¡¯ll be expensive, but I have nock of money,¡± Wei Potian said casually, almost as though the lost arm wasn¡¯t his own.

    A new arm could be transnted and with gradual cultivation, it could be used naturally. If there were no irreversible hidden injuries, all he would need was a vast amount of resources. But his strength would be greatly discounted during this period which meant a greater chance of death during wartime.

    How could it be the same?

    Since the topic had been breached, Qianye stopped avoiding the obvious. He took a deep breath and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t she recognize you?¡±

    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s possible? I¡¯d be dead if she didn¡¯t recognize me.¡± Wei Potianughed wryly, breaking Qianye¡¯sst hope.

    ¡°She¡­ why is she doing this?¡±

    Wei Potian sighed. ¡°I should be asking you, how should I know? But¡­ you need to find a way to stop her. I don¡¯t want you to kill her, but please find a way to make her withdraw. The Empire¡­ our forces in the new world are doomed!¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t Jundu holding the fort?¡±

    ¡°Jundu was stabbed through the chest. He¡¯d be dead by now if Prince Greensun hadn¡¯t taken the risk to save him. Zining fell unconscious while fighting her through divination and is still out cold. One general after the other has taken the field, but all of them were defeated. At least¡­ at least forty thousand soldiers have fallen in her hands.¡±

    Wei Potian¡¯s voice was trembling, and Qianye¡¯s body had long since turned cold.

 Chapter 1344: Historical Contribution

    <h4>Chapter 1344: Historical Contribution</h4>

    Momentster, Qianye was standing on the balcony and looking down quietly at the vast Jade Sea.

    Wei Potian stood behind him, his left sleeve fluttering in the wind.

    He was no longer speaking by this point for he had already recounted everything he should, including the battles and their current situation.

    Truth be told, Wei Potian did not know what he would do, either, if he were in Qianye¡¯s shoes.

    After an unknown length of time, Qianye sighed. ¡°Adoptive Father, what would you do if you were faced with such a situation?¡±

    Wei Potian felt his eyes sting a little. He naturally didn¡¯t feel as much of an attachment to the man as Qianye did. It was only before the Great Maelstrom that the Wei family had gotten closer to the Northern Manor, but that gave him the opportunity to learn up close what kind of person the marshal was. All of a sudden, Wei Potian felt as though he could feel Qianye¡¯s hidden pain and sorrow.

    After a while, Qianye looked back at him. ¡°Does the Empire... still have troops?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we¡¯re justcking a general.¡±

    Qianye finally turned around. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll go back with you!¡±

    Contrary to expectation, Wei Potian didn¡¯t feel d at all. He sighed. ¡°Qianye, you know I came to you with this shameless request because there¡¯s no other way. Actually she... you can¡¯t me her for this arm, I was simply asking for it. If you don¡¯t make an appearance, the Empire has no other candidate! We¡¯ll be forfeiting everything in the new world!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there in the new world?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, either, I only heard Zining say that there might be a shocking secret and that we must stop the dark races from obtaining it at all costs. Failing that, we must stop them from obtaining sole ownership or our human race will be doomed.¡±

    ¡°What are the heavenly monarchs doing?¡±

    ¡°What can they do? It seems holding the borders is bing quite a strenuous task.¡± Wei Potian wasn¡¯t entirely ignorant of military strategy and could also guess the situation.

    Qianye nodded.

    The dark races were currently in a rare state of unity to contest over the new world. Although the great dark monarchs couldn¡¯t set foot in there, they could exert their power in different ces. If Qianye were in their shoes, he wouldn¡¯t just sit by and watch, either. He would surelyunch surprise attacks in different ces to keep the enemy busy.

    The dark races were doing just that at the moment. The Evernight faction had the greater number of great dark monarchs, to begin with. Now that they were working together to fight the Empire two-to-one, the heavenly monarchs were having a hard time keeping up with the defense.

    At a disadvantage in the Evernight World and defeated miserably in the new world, the Empire had never faced such a crisis in recent years.

    Wei Potian arrived in a hurry without any luggage, and he was ready to leave again immediately. Since Qianye had made his decision, there was no reason for further dy. He transferred a high-speed corvette to carry the two back to the Empire.

    The first stop was the Imperial capital.

    The military department was located in the western part of the capital, a city within the city.

    This ce was themand center of the entire war machine. From the four main continents down to the lower realms and even the void continent, dozens of army corps, the elite corps, and all airship fleets outside of the Imperial Guard answered to this department.

    They also had the power to mobilize and conscript aristocratic private armies during times of national war.

    Such an important ce was naturally well-defended. Outside of the pce, the second-tallest structure in the city was located here. The military department¡¯s unique defense system consisted of an array of high-speed anti-air cannons hidden amidst the buildings and countless anti-ground cannons.

    The vast number of turrets were powered by a total of seven kic towers. These individually-operated towers were protected in underground locations. On the surface, the military department was nothing more than an old city. There was no way to see through the profundity of its hidden power with the n.a.k.e.d eye.

    Under the guidance of the Imperial guide-boat, the corvettended at the military¡¯s dedicatednding pad.

    There were dozens of people waiting outside by the time Qianye came down the ramp, and everyone was at the rank of general or above. It was quite the ceremony.

    At a nce, Qianye was surprised to see Zhao Xuanji at the lead. He took a few steps forward and bowed in greeting. Qianye had always treated the old man with respect, both in private and in official business. Duke You was a pir of the Zhao n who had propped up the family¡¯s prestigious name throughout the years.

    Duke Chengen¡¯ster rise to fame was mostly reliant on his three children and Princes Gaoyi. On the contrary, no one really cared about his personal strength, and many people made light of his glorious aplishments on the Western Continent.

    Hence, Zhao Xuanji was better known as the number one character in the n. The man had given Qianye much assistance both in secret and in public.

    Qianye simply couldn¡¯t posture before a true senior.

    Zhao Xuanji pulled Qianye up, sighing. ¡°You¡¯ve grown so much in the blink of an eye. We¡¯re definitely getting old.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in the prime of your life, the word ¡®old¡¯ has nothing to do with you yet.¡±

    Zhao Xuanjiughed wryly. ¡°If I¡¯m not old, why would His Majesty bind me here and not allow me to enter cksun Valley?¡±

    Another aged general with mottled white hair said, ¡°The Empire is full of young talents. When we need you to charge at the frontlines, now that¡¯s when the country is in a true crisis. Now that Sire Qianye is back, there¡¯s no need to worry about the battles toe.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°His Majesty is perfect in everything else, but he¡¯s just too soft-hearted. Qianye,e with me, I need to discuss the hand-over with you.¡±

    Qianye followed Zhao Xuanji toward the military department. This journey wasn¡¯t short, but fortunately, the generals were all of extraordinary strength. In what seemed like a leisurely stroll, the group was actually traveling much faster than a car. It was just that seeing a group of generals hurrying along on the ground was a bit odd.

    An elderly general said, ¡°This is a ruleid down by the Martial Ancestor. No one apart from the Emperor is to drive or fly here, only walk. Thew is still in use to this very day.¡±

    The outer wall of the military department was more decorative than defensive. The doorway leading to the airship port was dozens of meters tall and full of majestic austerity. The gates were half-open at this point, a weing gesture for Qianye¡¯s arrival.

    The main gates of strategic locations would normally remain closed, opening fully only for the Radiant Emperor. Even the emperor would sometimes take the side door if he was simply dropping in.

    Now that the main gates were half-open for Qianye, it was truly a rare honor.

    Qianye didn¡¯t really feel anything about it. He did pause briefly at the threshold, gazing up at the gates leading to the Empire¡¯s highest military organization, before taking the next step inside.

    The world within the gate seemed entirely different.

    Once inside, Qianye was shaken as he noticed countless sharp auras descend upon him. Those were the auras of true experts, including a few that made him feel a sense of danger. One among them was especially old, deep, and decayed, almost like an ocean of putridness.

    This aura was extremely powerful, so strong that Qianye could only look up to it. Like a void colossus at the end of its life, it could still level a mountain in a single move despite being shrouded in death.

    Qianye came to a sudden halt. He said cautiously, ¡°The Longevity Monarch?¡±

    He already knew of the old monarch¡¯s doings, and that he was the culprit behind Lin Xitang¡¯s demise. The marshal wouldn¡¯t have been forced onto a path of demise if it weren¡¯t for the internal strife, the trap on the void continent, and a political enemy like the Longevity Monarch.

    Wasn¡¯t it said that the Longevity Monarch had passed? Why was his aura still here?

    Qianye¡¯s gaze turned cold. As the oldest heavenly monarch of the human race, the man could still kill Qianye even if he were at the end of his life. Could this be... a trap?

    Zhao Xuanji seemed to know what Qianye was thinking. ¡°The old prince is gone. This is but a portion of his power, a part of the military¡¯s defensive system. Pay it no heed.¡±

    Qianye nodded, his expression clearing up a bit as he followed the group forward.

    At the center of the military department was a gigantic structure, made up of a circr main building surrounded by four tall satellite towers.

    A young general exined, ¡°This is the military¡¯s main building. The four auxiliary towers represent the four divine beasts, while the main building represents the Empire.¡±

    ¡°The four divine beasts?¡±

    The general said, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what the records say.¡±

    This was the first time Qianye had heard about the four beasts. So, he asked a bit more out of curiosity.

    The young general said, ¡°Actually, these so-called divine beasts only exist in records. They¡¯re... more like legends. One of the four beasts is the Empire¡¯s totem, the soaring snake, there¡¯s also a zing bird, a tiger, and a giant turtle. I don¡¯t really know where theye from, perhaps they¡¯re void colossi from the depths of the void.¡±

    Qianye followed the entourage inside and climbed up until they were in a small hall.

    The hall wasn¡¯t big, but it was ancient and solemn. Once inside, Qianye could feel countless faint but tyrannical auras, each of them unique and different. There were also faint auras among them... Lin Xitang¡¯s, for instance.

    Qianye turned around to search for the source of this aura and saw an entire b of ck jade embedded in one of the walls. The ck jade was split into two halves, each side engraved with a dense array of names. Lin Xitang¡¯s was also among them but fairly low on the list.

    Qianye didn¡¯t recognize most of the preceding names, but the first few in the list were names he had heard countless times. Those were the founding fathers who had followed the Great Emperor in building the Empire, people whose exploits everyone had heard of.

    The list on the other side was rather short, and thetest entry was Prince Greensun Zhang Boqian.

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°This is the Empire¡¯s contribution list, a record of people who had done great service to the Empire since ancient times. I¡¯m getting old, I¡¯ll be able to die without regrets if I can carve my name here.¡±

    A general nearby said, ¡°Duke You¡¯s foresight helped the Empire obtain a great victory on the void continent. Your name will surely have a spot on the stone wall.¡±

    Another name on the wall grabbed Qianye¡¯s attention. ¡°This is the Longevity Monarch?¡±

    The generals dared not reply, but Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t care. ¡°Indeed.¡±

    The old man paused for a bit before saying, ¡°Although he made a grave mistake in his old age, the Longevity Monarch contributed greatly to the human race throughout his life. Comparing the two, his merits still exceed his crimes by a bit. This wall records historical contributions. As long as you achieve great aplishments, it will be recorded and cannot be erased so easily.¡±

    Qianye nodded after a moment of silence.

    Zhao Xuanji said solemnly, ¡°This Heavenly Merit Hall is most suited to honor people. Qianye, are you willing to take on this responsibility?¡±

 Chapter 1345: Determination

    <h4>Chapter 1345: Determination</h4>

    Just as everyone was thinking he would agree, Qianye shook his head and said, ¡°I can¡¯t right now.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji didn¡¯t seem all too surprised, but all the other generals were anxious.

    A middle-aged general stepped forward and said earnestly, ¡°Sire Qianye, this matter is rted to the Empire¡¯s fate. Please do not let your emotions affect your decisions. Let us know whatever you need, and the military will provide everything at its disposal. As I see it you¡¯ll need processing resources, technology, and equipment to really expand on Fort Continent. I¡¯m currently in charge of the military¡¯s supplies production, as untalented as I am. I promise you, you can designate any five resources, and I¡¯ll have all the necessary equipment and tech ready tomorrow.¡±

    Seeing that Qianye was unmoved, an elderly general said, ¡°This old man is in charge of troop structures and assignments. You¡¯ll need men when you expand, and for that, you¡¯ll need fame, status, and a base. If you¡¯re willing to take on this task, Sire, it¡¯s only natural for someone of your position to lead an army corps of your own. If you don¡¯t like any of the Empire¡¯s army corps, you can form one of your own.¡±

    Many generals were visibly shaken, their gazesnding on the old general. The man, however, remained entirely calm. Apparently, he had already gained permission from his superiors.

    If Qianye could recruit yet another regr army corps from the Empire, he would have a hundred thousand more soldiers. This kind of power was superior to most high-ranking aristocratic families. This unit woulde with the army¡¯s standard outfit and, considering Qianye¡¯s foundations were not in the Empire, wouldn¡¯t be bound by the Empire¡¯s control. This was no different from making him a feudal lord.

    Such a term could be considered extremely handsome and much more practical than contribution rewards.

    However, this was after the war was over.

    And this was a war Qianye did not want to fight.

    ¡°I want to see Jundu and Zining first,¡± Qianye suggested his own demands first.

    Zhao Xuanji sighed. ¡°Of course that is fine, you¡¯ll know once you see them.¡±

    Song Zining and Zhao Jundu were both recovering at the Imperial capital. Thetter was closer and hence his ce was the first stop.

    Zhao Jundu¡¯s residence was a quiet and secluded courtyard with fixed medical staff assigned to it. Every day, the most brilliant doctors of the Empire woulde to check up on him. Zhao Jundu was in the courtyard when Qianye entered.

    He sighed after seeing Qianye. ¡°Lil¡¯ Five, you ended uping.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t heard this address in a good while.

    Zhao Xuanji said, ¡°You youngsters chat first, I¡¯m going out for some fresh air.¡±

    Once Zhao Xuanji and the generals were gone, Zhao Jundu dismissed the attendants as well. ¡°I knew they¡¯d seek you out, and I knew you¡¯de.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t respond directly. ¡°How are your injuries?¡±

    ¡°I was stabbed through the chest and entirely powerless to retaliate. Prince Greensun had to take a sh in order to save me, and his injury was much more serious.¡±

    ¡°Let me see your wound.¡±

    ¡°No need, it¡¯s no big deal. The attack was well-controlled, hitting neither the heart nor origin crystal. In the end, it¡¯s just a flesh wound.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said after a moment of hesitation, ¡°She said that the strike was to sever all karmas of the past. Many people thought she was referring to Prince Greensun, but actually, I think she was talking to me. She showed mercy with that attack because I helped you guys leave Indomitable back in the year. She will fight to the death next time we meet in battle.¡±

    ¡°Why go so far?¡±

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either.¡± In truth, there were countless possibilities as to why this problem had grown so big, but no one could say for sure which one it was.

    Qianye didn¡¯t ask further. He apanied Zhao Jundu for a while before leaving to see Song Zining. Thetter was at the central hospital, in his own independent building under heavy security.

    Despite being apanied by people from the military, Qianye was inspected thrice before being let in.

    Countless doctors were rushing about in the small building, all of them looking grave.

    An elderly doctor came to greet them. The apanying general said, ¡°This is Divine Doctor Lu, one of the top three doctors in the Empire. He¡¯s most proficient in treating difficult cases and is in charge of Commander Song¡¯s case.¡±

    Qianye followed them upstairs and asked on the way, ¡°How¡¯s Zining doing?¡±

    Divine Doctor Lu said, ¡°Commander Song suffered a divination bacsh, trying to touch someone he shouldn¡¯t. This kind of injury is the most difficult to treat. It¡¯s only because of his extraordinary talents that we still have a thread of hope. He is awake for a short while every day, but he must not be overly fatigued. Keep the conversation short, or do not talk to him at all if possible.¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    The group ascended to the third floor and entered a sealed area, finally arriving at Song Zining¡¯s room.

    Song Zining was lying quietly on the bed, almost as though he were asleep. He was so pale that he seemed translucent, his longshes trembling slightly. Who knows what he was dreaming of?

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but take a step forward, only to be pulled back by Doctor Lu.

    ¡°You must not agitate Commander Song for any reason, let him wake up on his own.¡±

    Qianye nodded, impressed with the Divine Doctor. Pulling him back required a certain level of cultivation.

    The doctor arrived near the bed and observed for a while. ¡°Commander Song might need to sleep a bit longer...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for him here,¡± Qianye replied.

    Divine Doctor Lu wanted to object but refrained from it when the generals pulled him back. In the end, he simply left with the group.

    Only Qianye and Song Zining remained in the room.

    Qianye sat down near the bed, quietly holding Song Zining¡¯s hand as he observed the patient.

    At this moment, the seventh young master was like a crystalline doll. He was translucent and delicate, as though the slightest touch would shatter him. This was also true of his vitality¡ªit seemed limpid and resplendent, but it could shatter any moment.

    Song Zining¡¯s hand felt cold in Qianye¡¯s palm, and his body felt empty, as though only a shell remained.

    Qianye had learned a tiny bit of divination basics, enough to know that this was a realm that belonged to divination experts. Even with his current power, he was in no position to help. To heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs, wherever their will went was where their power would go; there was no blind spot to speak of.

    Just as Divine Doctor Lu said, Song Zining had tried to scry someone he shouldn¡¯t. The power shrouding Song Zining and trying to extinguish his life came from this person.

    Qianye, of course, knew who that person was.

    Qianye¡¯s hand trembled slightly. He had noticed that Song Zining¡¯s life was hanging by a thread, that he could pass away at any moment. Forcing Song Zining into this state when she wasn¡¯t even a great dark monarch meant only one thing¡ªshe had attacked deliberately and with ample preparation, going all out without leaving any leeway.

    Just like a desperate personmitting suicide, was it the hand holding the de that hurt the most? Or was it the heart that had been pierced through?

    Qianye¡¯s breathing grew faster, and it took quite a bit of effort to calm himself down. This kind of pain was akin to countless snakes gnawing at his heart.

    The sun gradually began to set, and gentlemplight lit up the room. Wave after wave of doctors and nurses came and went. All of them quietly held their breath as they recorded the patient¡¯s data, not daring to disturb the two.

    Soon, it was midnight.

    Song Zining heaved a long sigh as he slowly opened his eyes. ¡°I feel so tired.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re awake,¡± Qianye said.

    Song Zining was dazed for a while. ¡°You came after all.¡±

    ¡°How could I not when you¡¯re in such a state?¡±

    Song Zining was calmer than expected. ¡°Since you¡¯vee, I¡¯m thinking you¡¯ve made a decision already.¡±

    Qianye nodded slowly.

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°I know you¡¯re in a difficult position, but you must be very careful. I suspect that she¡¯s already a different person. She will not show mercy when you meet her on the battlefield. Don¡¯t go if you cannot get yourself together.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s voice grew softer and softer. The consciousness that had just returned to his body had left once again for the battlefield of fate, life, and death.

    Gazing at his empty body, Qianye stood up and slowly walked out, locking the door gently behind him.

    ¡°To the military,¡± Qianye said to the generals.

    Momentster, the small Heavenly Merit Hall was fully upied by generals. All high-ranking officers from the military department had arrived to witness this historical moment.

    Zhao Xuanji sat in the first row, solemn and emotional. His lips moved slightly but no sound came out. One could see from the movement of his lips that he had said, ¡°How great would it be if Weihuang was here as well?¡±

    All discussions died down as the appointed time drew near. Everyone¡¯s eyes were on the side door, which opened at the exact time, and out walked a heroic-looking young man.

    He was unimaginably handsome but also full of might and austerity. The grandeur rushing at everyone¡¯s face made it difficult to breathe, but no one from the army was dissatisfied. On the contrary, their eyes lit up.

    Only this kind of peerless aura could match the marshal¡¯s uniform on him.

    An old general walked up to the stage and announced in a clear voice, ¡°Receive the Imperial edict!"

    Qianye stepped forward and bowed, waiting quietly for the continuation.

    Imperial citizens had to kneel while epting an edict; on the other hand, n lords, grand elders, dukes, and marshals could go down on one knee. Qianye¡¯s disy of etiquette was only allowed for heavenly monarchs. Heavenly monarchs formed the pirs of the Empire, so there was no need for them to kneel to anyone.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t being viewed as a heavenly monarch, but rather, it was a recognition for his independent status on Fort Continent.

    The old general sighed secretly as he nced at Qianye¡¯s young countenance. He quickly collected himself and announced in a sonorous voice, ¡°The Empire confers upon Zhao Qianye the titles of Duke Weiyuan and Sceptered Grand Marshal. He shall lead the Empire¡¯s armies andmand all military affairs in the new world, every department must cooperate. Thus mandates the Emperor.¡±

 Chapter 1346: Immediate Escape

    <h4>Chapter 1346: Immediate Escape</h4>

    Weiyuan was a special title in the Empire, meaning one whose might rose beyond the borders. It represented a great honor. By conferring such a title, the Empire hoped Qianye would take his aplishments even further, iming the titles of Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, and perhaps go on to be a duke or prince.

    A sceptered marshal was also higher than a normal marshal by half a rank and enjoyed the authority to control other marshals as needed. This rank was a necessity because Qianye would have troublemanding a group of dukes and marshals otherwise.

    One title denoting honor and the other granting actual power; this was a great disy of the Empire¡¯s sincerity. Qianye would have full control over the cksun Valley.

    However, this also proved that the Empire had reached a state of desperation where they had no one else they could send. That was why they had pinned their hopes on Qianye, even forgetting his vampire identity.

    The conferment ceremony was short and solemn. No other dukes or marshals apart from Zhao Xuanji were present, which served to reduce the awkwardness. After all, the rtionship between Qianye and the Imperial military wasn¡¯t just unpleasant. It was just one step away from a vendetta.

    After the ceremony was over, the generals in power stayed behind to engage in the final handover procedures with Qianye.

    ¡°How many soldiers remain in cksun Valley? Who is themanding officer? Where is our stronghold? How much supplies are being shipped and how often? How big is the enemy force and how are they distributed?¡±

    Qianye asked a series of questions in one go.

    The generals hung up the war map and exined things in turn. By the time thest question had been answered, Qianye heaved a long sigh¡ªthings were even worse than he had anticipated. At the moment, the Empire had less than fifty thousand soldiers left in the valley, supported by a number of small secret bases. Comparatively, Evernight held a force of five hundred thousand.

    The Empire had lost battle after battle after Song Zining¡¯s injury, causing a sharp rise in casualty rates that far exceeded Evernight¡¯s. Only at this point did everyone realize just how amazing Song Zining and Zhao Jundu¡¯s one-to-four death ratio was.

    The miserable loss on the ground also affected the air. The Empire¡¯s transports were repeatedly damaged, greatly affecting logistics. Although Evernight didn¡¯t really gain an advantage in airbat, the Empire couldn¡¯t afford a one-to-one exchange at this point.

    This led to a situation where no one dared step up to themanding position, and those who were qualified to do so, the Empire would not let them. That was the reason why Zhao Xuanji had been stuck in the military department.

    After all, the new world was still an unknown factor. People knew that allowing the dark races to have their way would be detrimental to the human race, but no one could tell how long that would take. If the Empire¡¯s fighting power at the borders were to waver, millions of people would be ughtered and be food for someone else¡¯s table.

    An officer passed a calendar to Qianye. ¡°Sire, would you like to pick a suitable date to assume your duties?¡±

    Qianye pushed the calendar away. ¡°No need. Arrange an airship to cksun Valley immediately.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sire!¡±

    Momentster, an airship took to the sky and drove toward the door.

    Only after meeting up with the Imperial units in cksun Valley did Qianye realize how desperate they were.

    What remained of the Empire¡¯s routed forces was garrisoned in a secret base. This so-called secret stronghold was actually just a hidden valley with enough caves to hide the soldiers.

    Qianye¡¯s arrival stirred neither excitement nor curiosity among the troops. Some of them were chatting amongst themselves, while others were either sitting or lying with numb expressions. Nothing could really rouse their interest.

    Only a number of low-ranking officers came to greet Qianye, while the three divine champions were nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Duke Wenyuan, Minghai, and Marshal Liu?¡± Qianye recalled some unfamiliar names.

    ¡°The three sires are injured and exhausted, so they¡¯re resting at the moment. Your arrival was too sudden, please forgive theck of a proper wee.¡±

    ¡°Take me to see them.¡±

    The officers brought Qianye to a cave where the three divine champions had taken up a corner each, resting in meditation. They only shot Qianye a nce when he entered butter dragged themselves up after recognizing the military personnel behind him.

    Qianye sized up the environment. This cave was a bit more spacious and better kempt, but the furnishings were extremely simple. The three divine champions only had one camp bed each. Things were just that dire.

    The general who hade with Qianye read the Imperial edict and introduced Qianye to the others.

    While the general from the military was here, Qianye summoned all the other generals to hold the first war meeting.

    ¡°Why are there so few men?¡± This was Qianye¡¯s first question.

    Duke Minghai, an elderly man with white hair, replied, ¡°Sire Qianye probably doesn¡¯t know, but it¡¯s not because of the Empire¡¯sck of support. It¡¯s that we don¡¯t need the soldiers. The force we have is already quite big, and it has been difficult to hide and move. It took us quite the effort to throw the pursuing dark races off and find this ce, and who knows how long this willst.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan said, ¡°The previousmander lost five battles and thirty thousand soldiers in seven days. He himself was gravely wounded and is back in the Empire for treatment. All we could do was try to maintain our presence. I personally think it¡¯s already quite good that we were able to save this base and these troops.¡±

    Qianye nced at the general from HQ, to which thetter only shrugged.

    Qianye came to a sudden realization¡ªthe three before them were either people who had lost favor with their higher-ups or those at the end of their lifespans like Duke Minghai who hade to risk his life in exchange for his family¡¯s future. In short, they were all marginal characters whose fate no one cared about. The previousmander was sent back to the Empire for treatment, but not them. They would have to be wounded so badly that their foundations were damaged or die in cksun Valley. There was no other choice.

    It would be a wonder if their morale was high.

    Qianye scanned the three in detail and recalled their data as he did so.

    Duke Minghai was surnamed Zhou and came from a low-ranking aristocratic family. As a rare genius of the family, he sessfully broke through to be a divine champion. Yet theck of resources during his younger years left him with a shaky foundation and this realm was his limit.

    He had fought and toiled throughout the years to make his family a high-ranking aristocratic family, but he did not have Lin Xitang¡¯s peerless talents. His family never went past the peak of the lower-ranking families.

    He had only chosen to join this fight so that his family could consolidate their position with his contributions.

    Even Lin Xitang, with his title of Imperial teacher, could not prevent his family from a steady decline after his death, let alone Duke Minghai. Even without anyone causing dissension, the family had to produce sufficient fighting power in order to maintain its status. Some descendants would grow jealous of their predecessor¡¯s favor of certain individuals, while others would ignore the ancestors¡¯ sacrifices and plunge theter generations into difficult times. The beneficence would surely dry up over several generations, only that it wasn¡¯t so easy to define how many. One thing was for certain, though¡ªthere was no policy to safeguard fairness.

    Duke Wenyuan Chen Tongqi¡¯s story was a different one. He used to be the Longevity Monarch¡¯s trusted aide and was also a part of his great scheme, someone who should¡¯ve had his entire family beheaded. However, as a divine champion, Duke Wenyuan was allowed to make up for his mistakes with service. If he could distinguish himself in battle, he would be able to save his entire family from certain demise.

    Liu Chengyun, on the other hand, was a retired marshal whose situation was simr to Duke Minghai. The two were both stationed here as ast-ditch effort before their old age.

    These three were early divine champions, and judging from their flimsy auras, there weren¡¯t worthy of attention at all. That being said, they were still divine champions and would make for good assistants.

    Qianye inquired about their strengths and abilities until he had gotten a good idea about them. Just as he was about to discuss the next step, an officer ran into the room. ¡°The dark races have been spotted far away!¡±

    Duke Wenyuan shot to his feet. ¡°So fast?¡±

    Qianye stood up calmly. ¡°That¡¯s good as well. Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    The Imperial forces had only built simple fortifications in the valley. It was better than nothing since there was neither time nor resources to build anything properly. They had ended up discarding all heavy objects and resources during the repeated retreat.

    The pursuing dark race force only contained ten thousand or so men, but the three generals were already in favor of a retreat.

    Qianye nced at his left and right, saying calmly, ¡°The enemy force isn¡¯t big, we can easily fight back.¡±

    Liu Chengyun had been with the army for a good while. He said, ¡°Sire, you might not know, but their small units contain double the ratio of experts and are usually led by a glorious marquis. More squads will converge on us from all directions once we¡¯re tangled up with them. That¡¯s why retreat is the best option.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°Isn¡¯t this one of Zining¡¯s strategies?¡±

    ¡°This... seems like it.¡±

    Back in the day, Song Zining had also spread his forces out in the field. Dark race forces that had split off carelessly would suddenly find themselves surrounded by converging enemy squads. How ironic for the Empire to be getting a taste of their own medicine?

    The key to this tactic was the use of divination. Song Zining had used his powers to gain the initiative every time, racking up glorious aplishments along the way.

    The Empire lost its advantage in divination after Song Zining was injured from bacsh, but they still possessed a great number of experts and soldiers. All the dark races needed to do was seek out the Imperial main forces and push them into decisive battles. Thetter was the side that could not afford to take on losses.

    Seeing the distant dark race army, Qianye said, ¡°Sound the bugle! All-out attack!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The three generals couldn¡¯t believe their ears.

    ¡°Mobilize the entire army, attack! Did you three not hear me, or are you trying to disobey orders?¡±

    The general from the Imperial military hadn¡¯t left yet and was still watching from the side. The three generals were minor characters, so they naturally did not dare disobey. Moreover, they couldn¡¯t just cower from the first battle before this youngster. Hence, they headed off with bitter expressions to collect their forces and meet the assants inbat.

    Momentster, the two armies came into firing range of one another.

    The Empire clearly held the numbers advantage, but the dark race unit was the first tounch the attack. As the vanguard pushed in, the spreading cannon-fire also bore down on the Empire¡¯s forces.

    The scattered artillery barrage actually threw the Imperial army into chaos. In truth, most of the shells were intercepted in the air, and only the asional explosion would reach the ground. The soldiers, however, were all ncing back in hopes of seeing the retreat order.

    Their past experience told them that getting tangled up with the enemy was trouble, and they had always fled on sight in recent battles.

    Under the gaze of tens of thousands of soldiers, Qianye stood tall and still. ¡°Where are our heavy cannons? Why aren¡¯t we firing?¡±

    Once the cannons were deployed, they couldn¡¯t be packed away so easily. The three divine champions exchanged nces, realizing that Qianye was determined to fight the dark races.

 Chapter 1347: Victory at the First Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1347: Victory at the First Battle</h4>

    The Empire had always upheld strict military discipline. Fleeing before battle and disobeying orders were not only punishable by death, but their families would also be implicated. That was why most people would rather die on the battlefield than shoulder such a charge. This way, their families would be protected andpensated instead.

    The three divine champions had no choice but to execute the orders, regardless of their opinion.

    Duke Wenyuan was still in his prime and not willing to die just like that, so he couldn¡¯t help but remind Qianye, ¡°Sire, Nighteye will appear if we drag things out. That was how the previousmander received his injuries and had to be transported back to the Empire for treatment.¡±

    He noticeably stressed the words transported back for treatment, tomunicate that the injuries weren¡¯t ordinary.

    Qianye only replied calmly, ¡°I¡¯m counting on seeing her.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan stopped speaking when Duke Minghai tugged on his sleeve and shot him a meaningful nce. The young duke was shaken as he recalled Qianye¡¯s past. He retreated thereafter, secretly cursing the Empire for picking this person of all people. The rtionship between him and the enemies¡¯mander was all too difficult to describe.

    With the order issued, the Imperial soldiers no longer hesitated. They set up the heavy cannons as quickly as possible and began suppressing the other side with artillery fire.

    These Imperial soldiers were elites, to begin with, and had only lost their sharpness because of the repeated defeats. Qianye had brought ten thousand more soldiers with him. The absolute order and clear objectives filled everyone with spirit as they put their full military might on disy.

    The dark racemanding officer was a bit surprised. Usually, the Imperial forces would retreat once they started firing their cannons, and they would be able to take a bite out of the enemy¡¯s rear with ease.

    ¡°Struggling on their deathbed, eh?¡± The handsome vampire marquis sneered.

    He raised his right hand and pressed it fiercely in the Empire¡¯s direction.

    The experts in the unit erupted in battle-cries, channeling their ferocity from the depths of their bloodline. The werewolves went berserk as they charged forth under the cover of the arachnes¡¯ giant frames.

    A small number of demonkin experts rose halfway into the air or stood on the arachnes¡¯ backs to snipe the enemy targets.

    The demonkin were smaller in number, but their sniper fire was much harder to defend against the heavy cannons. They had dealt a fair amount of damage to the Imperial defensive line in the blink of an eye.

    Seeing the confusion on the other side, the glorious marquis let out a longugh and rose into the air. He then charged forward, leaving a trail of resplendent blood energy behind him.

    Charging through the air in battle could be considered an insolent move, but as a glorious marquis who had racked up victory after victory in the recent war, he had the qualifications to be insolent.

    Seeing the main general on the assault, numerous dark race experts felt their blood boiling as they chased after the radiant trail. Many of his peers felt regretful that they had missed the opportunity to rush to the front first.

    The glorious marquis had unleashed his blood energy entirely. He had his bloodthirsty eyes set on the Empire¡¯s centralmand. The three powerful auras there did not stop him from charging straight toward his objective.

    As he saw it, the old and crippled human divine champions couldn¡¯t be a match for him. Moreover, he had two other glorious marquises serving as his assistants in this unit. This went to show just how much Nighteye favored him.

    As a true expert, he had to be able to fight freely against enemies of the same rank. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be worthy of the title.

    He was going to harvest the merits today!

    His blood energy boiled alongside his high spirits. He circled once in the sky before diving toward the centralmand like a meteor!

    Halfway through the dive, he noticed a young man with his hands behind his back looking coldly at him. The three divine champions were standing guard around him.

    His aura could not be detected at all, so much so that the marquis hadn¡¯t discovered his existence in the beginning. The first thought that came into his mind was, ¡°There¡¯s someone who looks even better than me?!¡±

    He recognized that face in an instant. ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Without a second thought, he came to a screeching halt in mid-air. The change was so fierce that a sanguine ring of light erupted from his body. Fortunately, he was able to stop his forward momentum and flee.

    The other two glorious marquises were shocked, but without any time to think, they immediately followed theirmander back.

    They reacted with due swiftness. Themanding officer was evidently stronger than they were, so why would they remain when even he was fleeing so frantically? Otherwise, were they supposed to go and find out what had frightened their superior so much? They had managed to live this long because curiosity had never gotten the better of them.

    Running away just like that wasn¡¯t a solution, either. The other marquis chased after themander and called out to him, ¡°Sire, what do we do with the soldiers?¡±

    ¡°Tell them to scatter and surrender if they cannot escape! I¡¯m going back to report!¡± With that, the vampire marquis sped up and vanished into the distance.

    The remaining marquises exchanged nces. One of them said, ¡°You issue the order, I¡¯ll leave first.¡±

    He was gone in a sh.

    Only a single werewolf marquis remained stunned in the air. He felt a sense of responsibility as he gazed at the charging soldiers on the front line.

    If he were to order a retreat, some soldiers would be able to escape at least. The enemy would not take captives if they kept fighting until the damage was too severe and the army was routed.

    During this brief moment of dy, his vision blurred and a person appeared before him.

    The werewolf marquis saw the other party¡¯s face clearly this time. He immediately understood everything. ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Qianye stood there rather casually. He shot a nce into the distance and said in surprise, ¡°Wow, they sure run fast! Do they think I can¡¯t catch up?¡±

    But he didn¡¯t really attack or chase after the escapees. Instead, he nced at the werewolf marquis and the emblem on his chest. ¡°So you¡¯re from the Summit of Peaks, it¡¯s not a bad deal letting those two off in exchange for you. William is on Fort Continent at the moment and we can be considered good friends. Out of consideration for him, I¡¯ll give you two choices... surrender or die.¡±

    The marquis smiled wryly. He realized why the vampire marquis had run so fast, even abandoning his soldiers. Competing with Qianye and his Spatial sh in speed was a sure way to court death. The only way to survive was to leave a bait big enough that Qianye would have to stay and devour it.

    And this bait, needless to say, was him and his squad.

    The werewolf marquis gazed deeply into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°If they had stayed behind, we might not lose to you in a three-to-one battle.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°And that kind of thinking was why you were left behind.¡±

    After a moment of silence, the werewolf marquis went down on one knee and said, ¡°Marquis Tatumu of the Giant Rock Tribe from the Summit of Peaks is willing to swear loyalty to you on our ancestral spirit, under two conditions.¡±

    ¡°What would those be?¡±

    ¡°First, I will not fight against my own race. Second, let me leave if you be enemies with the Summit of Peaks one day.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°The ancestral faction isn¡¯t included in the same-race limitation.¡±

    After a brief thought, Tatumu said, ¡°Very well! They submitted to the Evernight Council and sold out our race¡¯s interests. We must settle this ount with them sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°Then there¡¯s no problem. Your post is not here but on Fort Continent. Do you have any problems?¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    Tatumu was fairly delighted even. He knew that the Summit of Peaks had built a base on Fort Continent to train soldiers, and that base was built in cooperation with Qianye. Now that he was being dispatched to Fort Continent, he would be joining his tribesmen. That was a great oue for him since his fate in cksun Valley was just to serve as cannon fodder.

    After subduing Tatumu, Qianye said, ¡°Go tell them to surrender, I won¡¯t be epting prisoners after a while.¡±

    Shaken, Tatumu flew back to the army, ordering the troops to withdraw and surrender. The unit was leaderless at the moment and taking a painful beating from the Empire. The vanguard had suffered grave losses, so their morale wasn¡¯t as high as before.

    Most of the troops surrendered under Tatumu¡¯s orders, and the few headstrong ones were killed by him. The demonkin resisted with the most ferocity, but they fared no better than the mantis who tried to stop the proverbial cart.

    The great victory left the three Imperial divine champions speechless. How could it be so easy? They didn¡¯t even need to fight before the enemymander fled in a hurry. No matter how confident they were, they knew that this reaction wasn¡¯t because of them.

    There was only one exnation¡ªQianye was so strong that the opponent had to flee on sight.

    This was unbelievable but not too difficult to understand. The three divine generals were from the older generation, and even the youngest Duke Wenyuan was one who had risen to fame twenty years ago. Qianye hadn¡¯t even been born when Duke Minghai rampaged through the battlefield.

    Qianye had risen meteorically in recent years, but he had little contact with the older generation. These people had also been deliberately ignoring young talents like Qianye, Song Zining, and Zhao Jundu.

    The older and less important characters weren¡¯t really interested in facing the youngsters¡¯ rise to fame. They didn¡¯t even want to hear words like the twin stars, new strategist god, etc, let alone look up Qianye¡¯s abilities and aplishments.

    This was a stark contrast from the dark races¡ªtheir assessment of Qianye was decided by the corpses of countlessrades, and a mistake would end up with them losing their lives.

    After stepping into the divine champion realm, he was no longer a genius waiting to mature but a true expert with sufficient clout. There might be some people who weren¡¯t familiar with his rise to power, but as time went on, more blood would be spilled in a disy of his might.

    Long-lived creatures valued their life more, and opponents were more aware of their enemies. That was why the vampire glorious marquis had fled immediately and Tatumu had surrendered. Those who couldn¡¯t see reality would be reduced to a name on the casualty report.

    The battle was fairly short. The dark race losses weren¡¯t severe, but two out of their three generals had fled before reaching the battlefield, while the remaining one had surrendered. Morale had hit rock bottom when some of the men heard whispers of Qianye¡¯s name, and this rumor was further proven by theirmander¡¯s actions. As such, many men decided to surrender in despair.

    Seizing close to ten thousand prisoners was an unprecedented victory for the Empire. Even the three divine champions became spirited as they made arrangements to bind and transport the prisoners of war. The way the entire army looked at Qianye was different now.

    There was respect and fear in their eyes, but it also seemed as though they were looking at some monster.

    Many Imperial soldiers had heard of Qianye, but those stories felt more like legends than anything. It was only after fighting under hismand that they had the opportunity to witness such a ridiculous scene.

    To have scared away a vampire glorious marquis with a mere nce, they really wanted to know what kind of terrifying creature was hiding under that beautiful countenance. How strong was he that even high-ranking experts were scared of him?

 Chapter 1348: Welcome to Seek Death

    <h4>Chapter 1348: Wee to Seek Death</h4>

    Qianye stood with his hands behind his back, watching the generals clean up the battlefield. The old general Liu Chengyun walked over and said, ¡°Sire, shall we move our base? The ones who ran away will be back with reinforcements soon.¡±

    ¡°Build defensive structures here, we¡¯ll discuss after we finish off the reinforcements.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s prestige was at its height at the moment, so a single order sent the entire army into action. The soldiers immediately built simple defensive structures and made ready to defend the area. The captives were ced under watch in a sealed cave. Should they try to escape, the cave entrance could be sted to bury everyone alive.

    Not long after the defenses had been set up, clouds of dust appeared over the distant horizon as three dark-races armies appeared from different directions. These three units contained around thirty thousand soldiers each, double the Empire¡¯s forces inbined strength. Their overall fighting power was likely even higher since the dark races had assigned twice the number of experts for cksun Valley.

    The dark race army hadn¡¯t even arrived when a terrifying aura rushed into everyone¡¯s faces.

    Liu Chengyun¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°That¡¯s a duke! Sire, we might still make it... if we retreat now.¡±

    Duke Minghai and Yuanwen were both rmed, but they didn¡¯t voice their opinion, only waiting for Qianye to make the decision.

    Evernight dukes were all famous characters qualified to run for office at the Evernight Council. Qianye¡¯s three assistants were all early divine champions who had exhausted their potential,cking in both ability and equipment. They were fine for dealing with ordinary experts, but against duke-rank enemies, they could hardly even run away.

    This duke leading the enemy forces seemed to be in the prime of his life, not an old man at the end of his lifespan. It was only natural to fear such an enemy. Before his rebirth in mes, even Zhao Jundu had to use everything in his arsenal to avoid being defeated.

    Qianye stood motionlessly. ¡°What, are you guys afraid?¡±

    Liu Chengyu and Duke Minghai didn¡¯t reply, but Duke Wenyuan still had a bit of sharpness in him. ¡°Not me. If you¡¯re really sure, I just need to pay with this life if need be. But as themander of the entire army, you must be cautious and not let emotions affect your decision. A single order from you will decide the fate of tens of thousands of warriors.¡±

    Qianye replied, ¡°Makes sense. Makes things easier if you¡¯re not afraid.¡±

    With that, he pointed in the direction of the duke¡¯s aura. ¡°The enemy¡¯s centralmand is surely in that direction. I n to fight my way in there and fight against the enemymander. Who has the courage to follow me on the charge?¡±

    Liu Chengyun¡¯s expression shifted somewhat. Duke Minghai remained in silent thought, not daring to meet Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye understood what was going on, that the old feared death. They might be here to fight onest war for the family¡¯s future, but of course, it was best if they could survive as well.

    Only Duke Wenyuan Chen Tongqi said, ¡°If you charge, I will of course follow! I¡¯m just waiting to die anyway. Falling in battle is better than in the gallows.¡±

    ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing.¡± Qianye nodded. He then shifted his gaze onto Duke Minghai and Liu Chengyun. ¡°The edict states very clearly that I have full authority on the front lines! What I said just now is not a negotiation, but an order! Do you think I won¡¯t execute you if you keep ying coward? There¡¯s no need for two divine champions like you.¡±

    Liu Chengyun¡¯s countenance copsed. ¡°Young Man, why the rush to say such big words? No one knows where you were when Duke Minghai and I became divine champion! Back in the year, I also served as an assistant to a sceptered marshal. Stop thinking so highly of your scepter.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t angered by this. ¡°That means you want me to invoke militaryw?¡±

    Liu Chengyun threw caution to the wind. ¡°Threatening to execute a general on the eve of battle, are you sure you¡¯re serving the Empire? Do you think we won¡¯t resist such a random order?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Fight or flee, do whatever you want. If you dare take action, your family will have to collect your corpse within three moves.¡±

    Seeing that the atmosphere was growing tense, Duke Minghai said, ¡°Why fight amongst ourselves when the enemy is here? Sire Qianye, General Liu¡¯s temper is a bit straightforward since he¡¯s been a soldier all his life, please excuse him. We¡¯re already here on the front lines, so why would we fear death? If you charge, we¡¯ll just put our lives in your hands. If we have to die, we should die under the enemy¡¯s de.¡±

    Following a couple of rough pokes Liu Chengyun said unwillingly, ¡°Since you want it so much, this old life is yours.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well then. Issue the order! Have the soldiers prepare to attack and gather all the generals for a meeting!¡±

    Momentster, everyone was present for the meeting.

    Qianye scanned all the generals, then picked several out from the crowd. ¡°You, you, you, and you, step out and gather here.¡±

    Half of the officers had been picked out, leaving only a dozen or so in ce. The ones left out were either wounded, too old, too weak, or had served too long in support roles.

    After picking out the men, Qianye said, ¡°Everyone, you¡¯ve done well tost through the many battles. Speaking bluntly, many of you were dumped by the Empire and are simply trying to protect your families by fighting to the bitter end. Some are here because of certain mistakes. Finally, there are loyal and righteous warriors, but who knows how many of them there are.¡±

    The generals exchanged nces, not expecting Qianye to be so blunt. This speech would cause quite a bit of criticism if spread back home, but everyone was just doing their best to get through the day in cksun Valley. No one had the extra energy to y such games.

    Qianye continued. ¡°Zining is my brother, and so is Jundu. You guys fought many victorious battles under theirmand.¡±

    The generals became spirited. ¡°Exactly! Back then, we beat up the dark races until they were crying for their lives.¡±

    ¡°The men were tired but also extremely satisfied!¡±

    Qianye waited until the group was quiet. ¡°I came all the way from Fort Continent to lead you into victorious battles, but my way of fighting is a bit different. You need to get used to it.¡±

    ¡°What is your way? Please tell us!¡±

    ¡°Yes, the enemy is at our doors!¡±

    Seeing everyone¡¯s urgency, Qianye said after a brief pause, ¡°My way is to fight head-on and charge at the centralmand! Those who are not afraid can follow me!¡±

    Qianye dispensed with further verbosity and left straight for the dark race¡¯s central army. The generals felt their blood boiling as they followed suit.

    The Imperial soldiers parted to let Qianye pass. Then, they assembled behind him and marched forward to meet the dark race army.

    ¡°Insolence!¡± Within the dark race army, a demonkin duke pped a small table flying. Even the mountainous body of the servspider below his seat sank a bit.

    He turned to a vampire near him and said, ¡°So this person scared you so badly that you abandoned your troops and peed yourself?

    This vampire marquis was themanding officer whom Qianye had scared off.

    The merciless reprimand embarrassed him greatly. The vampires and demonkin had always shared conflicted views. He said with an ambiguous tone of voice, ¡°That lord is no ordinary expert. Many experts have fallen to his de.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just Qianye,e on. What lord?¡± The demonkin duke snorted disdainfully.

    The vampire marquis replied, ¡°He was once Her Majesty¡¯s partner. Someone she favors is naturally much stronger than we are. I just hope you won¡¯t run away after we start fighting.¡±

    The duke was furious. ¡°How dare you insult me?! I can kill you right now!¡±

    The marquis wasn¡¯t going to take things lying down. ¡°This is not an insult. And don¡¯t forget that Her Majesty is themander here! You demonkin are in no position to speak. If you kill me, do you think your tiny family and its two dukes can stop Her Majesty¡¯s wrath?¡±

    The demonkin duke snorted. ¡°When have I, Larga, ever fled from battle? Just wait and see, Lord Margo.¡±

    He stood up and shouted, ¡°All forces, attack! We¡¯ll see if those lowly humans can reach me! Of course, Lord Margo has no need to join the battle. He¡¯s too scared to fight, anyway. Oh, right... do you even have any subordinates left?¡±

    Roaringughter erupted from the army, most of them demonkin and werewolf. The vampires were all left feeling awkward.

    Marquis Margo¡¯s face was ashen. ¡°Lord Larga, I¡¯ll remember this!¡±

    Larga didn¡¯t even try to hide his disdain. ¡°By the time you can challenge me, it¡¯ll be a hundred years from now. You really do need to remember it well!¡±

    Margo snorted heavily but spoke no more.

    The fight had already begun by this point. Larga was busy urging the servspiders forward and had no time to bother with Margo.

    Qianye had formed a spearhead with the three divine champions and all the other generals. This small unit shot past firing range and pierced into the dark race army in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye didn¡¯t go airborne. He simply walked forward at a steady pace, swinging East Peak and clearing out a path with Nirvanic Rend. This was a technique he had developed back in the year, and now, it was performing better than ever. His techniques hadn¡¯t fallen behind after breaking through to be a divine champion.

    Every Nirvanic rend mowed down the dark races in droves, almost as though they were grass. Behind Qianye, the three divine champions were doing their best to kill their way through the nks and widen the opening. The Imperial army was rolling in from the distance, making a beeline for this gap.

    Moving forward inrge strides, Qianye noticed a bullet whistling toward him. The powerful projectile wasing in from a tricky angle, so Qianye had to stop and sh it open.

    Two swords thrust at him from the side, all of them as swift as lightning.

    Qianye looked around while calmly evading all the attacks, realizing that he had beenpletely surrounded. The three divine champions were surrounded at the rear and in no condition toe and help him.

    Qianye shook East Peak and said coldly, ¡°Wee, all those who seek death.¡±

 Chapter 1349: Might of Excavator

    <h4>Chapter 1349: Might of Excavator</h4>

    The dark race experts attacked in a coordinated fashion. At the lead were the arachne and werewolf marquises, while the demonkin and vampires roamed the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity to attack. The counts formed groups of three that covered for one another as they harassed the target from a distance.

    A form of cooperation between the four major races had started to take shape, each making up for the other¡¯s shorings while amplifying their overall strength. Apparently, the Empire¡¯s high evaluation of Nighteye wasn¡¯t without reason. She was the only one who could force the races to set aside their differences and work together, and this would ce a great deal of strain on the Empire.

    Such a strategy might be effective against ordinary experts, but Qianye paid them little heed and simply produced his domain. A tremendous pressure bore down upon the counts, making it difficult for them to even walk. The scorching daybreak glow burned them all over and made it impossible to open their eyes.

    Ordinary dark race experts fell in droves under Qianye¡¯s domain; they simply had no power to resist. The domain stretched only a hundred meters or so, far inferior to Nighteye¡¯s, but the destructive power within the domain was much more terrifying. Anyone who wasn¡¯t a titled expert would be immediately annihted by the oceanic pressure and daybreak origin power.

    After sealing the area with his domain, Qianye raised East Peak and shed once in each direction. Every move of his sword would see an expert cleaved in half.

    Sweeping Calm!

    ¡°Stop!!!¡± Larga roared furiously.

    Unfortunately, all was toote. A total of seven experts, including three marquises, had fallen to Qianye¡¯s de. Only a single glorious marquis managed to survive, albeit with arge gaping hole and nearly half of his body cut open. With one hand pressing on the wound, he shot into the air and flew away. He didn¡¯t even stop at the centralmand.

    Larga went berserk in an instant, wrenched by the heartache of losing so many men.

    The two fallen marquises were his trusted aides, and one of them was even a distant cousin. His family¡¯s strength would fall sharply now that the man had been killed. He would¡¯ve never imagined that Qianye¡¯s attacks would be so terrifying. The fight reached its climax almost instantly, and the killing move was so fast that even his shout was half a beatte.

    Only at this point did he realize why Margo had fled on sight. A fight with Qianye would reach the life and death juncture within an instant; it would be toote to flee at that point.

    Larga wavered for a moment, hesitating whether or not he should fight Qianye. He had seen very clearly that Qianye was already at the duke-standard in both the power of his domain and sword techniques. Even if he were a tad inferior to a veteran duke like him, the gap would be fairly limited.

    But he immediately noticed Qianye turning pale and his aura dropping sharply after the attack. Such a powerful strike was no doubt exhausting, and Qianye had to have paid a price to cut down three marquis and four counts.

    Larga immediately came to a decision. Laughing loudly, his expression turned dark as he said, ¡°You ignorant human brat, I, Duke Larga, will be the one to take your life!¡±

    Qianye leaned on his sword. He slowly retracted his domain and curled his finger in a gesture of challenge.

    Ovee by anger, Larga crossed hundreds of meters in an instant and appeared before Qianye. Hended on the ground with a loud thud and unleashed his fierce origin power. The energy formed a shockwave that pushed all warriors and experts away, clearing the field for him and Qianye.

    Qianye sneered. ¡°What, afraid of injuring your subordinates? Is your control of origin power so useless?¡±

    Larga was angered further by the mockery. It was true that he didn¡¯t want to hurt his men because experts at his level would rain death upon everything within several dozen meters of them. Moreover, Qianye¡¯s domain could easily kill all of the dark races that were swept in. This act of valuing his soldiers¡¯ lives became a topic of mockery for Qianye.

    ¡°Enough nonsense! It¡¯s a worthwhile death for you today with so many people apanying you. Now die!¡±

    A pair of daggers appeared in Larga¡¯s hands as he sprinted toward Qianye at lightning speed, aiming for his vitals. As a duke, he was highly confident about his close-quarterbat abilities.

    The attack was so fast that most enemies wouldn¡¯t be able to even react. Even though Qianye parried the blow quite cleverly, the slight dy allowed the iing des to cut through his robes.

    Larga then withdrew ten meters away, effectively dodging Qianye¡¯s Nirvanic Rend.

    ¡°How¡¯s that? Those who look down on the demonkin must pay a steep price. You¡¯ll be the next one!¡± Larga circled behind Qianye and stabbed once again with his twin des.

    The two exchanged several blows in the blink of an eye, and Qianye sustained some shallow wounds in the process.

    Larga was extremely fast and agile, twisting and turning like smoke over short distances. It was almost as though the environment of the new world had little effect on him. Even Qianye was somewhat inferior in terms of pure speed.

    Apparently, speed and mobility were Larga¡¯s specialty. Ordinary dukes would never have such ridiculous speed. Although his attackscked power, all he needed was to keep adding more wounds and bleed the target dry over time.

    Qianye seemed lost in thought, but Larga was stunned as he watched Qianye. Every cut he hadnded on the target only left a shallow cut on the skin, yet the effort involved felt like he was cutting battle armor.

    Larga had never been known for his attack power, but he was still a duke when all was said and done. Why did it feel like he was fighting against an arachne grand duke?

    Larga collected his thoughts, telling himself that bloodletting was a viable tactic. His daggers then went for Qianye again like venomous snakes.

    It was at this moment that he felt his surroundings turn hot, and at the same time, his body started feeling heavy. There was no noticeable brightness, but his eyes stung as though he were staring into the sun.

    That was the effect of the daybreak origin power in Qianye¡¯s domain. Wherever his Venus Dawn existed, the dark races would feel a constant burning pain.

    Larga¡¯s movements inevitably grew slower, but fortunately, Qianye also seemed out of it. He failed to evade the iing blow, which cut right through the skin to his rib bones.

    A metallic ¡°ding¡± echoed as the de came into contact with the bone, bouncing back from the impact. A surprised Larga stared at the wound, only to find that Qianye¡¯s rib was dark golden and metallic.

    ¡°You¡¯re a prince?!¡± he cried out.

    Qianye¡¯s East Peak arrived in his face before the duke could ovee the surprise. Under the effects of Qianye¡¯s domain, Larga couldn¡¯t evade in time and was flung back by the impact. He withdrew with a loud cry, applying pressure on the wound as he did so.

    This sh was much stronger than Larga¡¯s attack, cutting through two of his ribs in one go.

    The demonkin was bewildered. The metallic bone he saw inside Qianye made him uneasy as it was the hallmark of the prince and grand duke ranks.

    Arachne could refine their skeletons at the duke rank, which made them the number one race in terms of physical strength. The demonkin would need to wait until they were great dark monarchs before they could remodel their bodies. Larga was starting to attempt this process, but every step was full of difficulties.

    The vampires stood between the arachne and demonkin, so they would need to be at the grand duke rank to reform their skeleton and improve their physical strength.

    Could Qianye be a prince?

    Larga quickly dismissed the idea because Qianye would¡¯ve beaten him ck and blue by now if he were a prince. Besides, no one had heard of such a young prince¡ªwhat were the chances that the vampire race could awaken another powerful expert, and that he would be standing with the humans?

    Larga sealed his wound with demonic energy, then charged toward Qianye once more. This kind of injury would not affect his fighting power.

    Once again, Qianye did not evade and simply brought East Peak down upon Larga¡¯s head. The demonkin had no choice but to dodge. He wasn¡¯t dumb enough to trade wounds with this monster after finding out how strong his body was.

    When he charged at Qianye the next time, the domain around him suddenly doubled in strength. Qianye was like a ck hole, emitting an indefensible wave of gravitational power that kept drawing him in.

    Just as rms went off in Larga¡¯s mind, East Peak arrived above his head with a momentum capable of splitting mountains.

    Larga immediately pulled his des back and focused on defense. He was a veteran duke, after all, so blocking Qianye¡¯s first strike wasn¡¯t out of the question.

    The strike was heavy, but Larga felt that he could deal with it. Qianye¡¯s stance made it clear that he was performing Sweeping Calm, and the next few strikes should be targeting different directions under normal circ.u.mstances. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye¡¯s bones would start to emit crackling sounds at this moment? The power of Excavator stacked up with each sword strike that swung down at the demonkin duke.

    By the time the seventh blow came, Larga was trembling all over and bleeding from the nose. But he ultimately managed to block the attack.

    However, the eighth strike had yet toe.

    Qianye let out a loud roar as his momentum shifted precipitously. It felt as though an ancient void colossus was slowly opening its eyes.

    Qianye channeled his divine champion power at the height of Excavator¡¯s strength. Augmented by the ovepping empowerment, Sweeping Calm¡¯s peerless eighth strike descended upon Larga, eliciting a startled cry from the duke!

    His twin des broke under the strain. Larga managed to move ever so slightly during the de¡¯s downstroke, barely avoiding being cleaved into two. Yet, the attack opened up a long wound from his shoulder all the way to his legs, cutting halfway into his body. This wasn¡¯t an injury that could be sealed.

    ¡°This is for you!¡± Larga tossed out an item in his urgency and fled.

    Noticing the familiar aura, Qianye caught the object subconsciously. Larga had fled a thousand meters during this briefpse, and he was going faster and faster. It was toote to go after him.

    A clear voice echoed on the battlefield. ¡°Lord Larga, you¡¯re running away? The battlefield is this way! Are you fleeing? Sire? Duke Larga? Your soldiers are over here!¡±

    The voice traveled far and wide. It was extremely prative as well, a testament to the person¡¯s extraordinary cultivation. When Larga heard the call from afar, his demonic energy almost exploded from embarrassment and anger. He had to try fairly hard to keep the wound on his body from expanding further. Red in the face, he simply sealed his ears with demonic energy and fled.

    A moment¡¯s dy would mean death.

    The person calling out from the air was Margo. This call had more or less destroyed Larga¡¯s life-long reputation and prestige. A glorious marquis running away was fundamentally different from a duke doing the same thing. After all, there was a gap of two levels between the two.

    Margo felt rather satisfied seeing Larga¡¯s reputation go down the drain. Before he could feel delighted, however, he heard a voice behind him. ¡°That was quite the shout.¡±

    Margo¡¯s body went stiff. He slowly turned around to find Qianye looking at him with his hands behind his back.

    In his urgency, he pointed in the direction Larga had escaped. ¡°He can¡¯t have gone far, go after him! This is a duke we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    But Qianye didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Duke...¡± Margo¡¯s expression turned bitter.

 Chapter 1350: Is this really appropriate?

    <h4>Chapter 1350: Is this really appropriate?</h4>

    Qianye stared intently at Margo. ¡°What about him? Let him run. He won¡¯t be able toe out and meet anyone without five years of recuperation. You, on the other hand, are someone I remember. You ran quite fast back then, why aren¡¯t you running now? Are you nning on fighting me to the death?¡±

    Margo¡¯s breathing quickened.

    He discovered that Qianye¡¯s aura wasn¡¯t stable, a clear sign of weakness. This wasn¡¯t strange because Qianye had just killed so many experts and then injured a demonkin duke. How could he not be drained? He was likely a spent force at this point and only feigning his power.

    Wasn¡¯t this an opportunity?

    In the blink of an eye, all he could see were contributions, fame, endless resources, and willing beauties. Even the aloof Nighteye might view him in a new light.

    The more Margo looked at Qianye, the more he liked him. It was as though a massive bag of merits was standing before him.

    Qianye immediately noticed the man¡¯s expression and guessed what he was thinking about. He then looked around to see a group of counts and viscounts gathering around, hoping to take advantage of the situation.

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought? There are quite a few brave ones.¡±

    He appeared amidst the Evernight experts in a sh and unleashed his domain. Life plunder followed, and most of the experts lost their lives. Only two marquises were left on the verge of copse and were duly cut down by Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s blood core pulsed quickly as the essence blood poured in, sending him into a state of bloodboil.

    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°I surrender!¡± Margo was as decisive as ever.

    The dark race army was thus routed.

    The defeated army was so big that the humans couldn¡¯t take any prisoners. All they could do was watch as the enemy scattered in all directions.

    Following the long, cruel war with the Empire and the temporary unification under Nighteye, the dark races had learned to be smart. They escaped in all directions, leaving no opportunity for the Empire to chase after them.

    Qianye stood at the center of the battlefield, watching the soldiers clean up the field. This kind of victory was something they hadn¡¯t tasted since Song Zining¡¯s departure. Everyone was in high spirits, and their gaze toward Qianye was full of worship. Soldiers had always revered the strong, and Qianye had shown them unparalleled heroism in charging the enemy centralmand, killing their experts, and wounding the duke.

    Everyone could see that even the three divine champions produced little results in the fight. All the merits belonged to Qianye alone.

    Of course, the divine champions wouldn¡¯t get involved with menial tasks like cleaning up the battlefield. They all arrived near Qianye with odd expressions.

    Margo was on Qianye¡¯s heels,pletely ignoring the three weak divine champions and paying full attention to Qianye. ¡°Sire, never in my life have I seen someone of your style and looks! The council surely has a ce reserved for you. You¡¯ll be a senior member at the very least if you¡¯re willing to join.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I will not go.¡±

    The three divine champions heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Your decision is sound. Truth be told, the council is currently in a decline and upied by useless old people. I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t be happy if you join them. Only someone of your talents and looks is a match for that person.¡±

    Qianye finally reacted after hearing thest part. He nced at Margo and said, ¡°You¡¯re a part of the twelve vampire ns. Look at yourself, is this even appropriate?¡±

    Margo spoke as though everything was right and proper. ¡°Why not? Dignity is just like floating clouds before a true king. I¡¯ve heard about your exploits, that even the Summit of Peaks has submitted to you. What can a small marquis like me do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m only working together with them, and the people they¡¯ve sent only go up to William¡¯s generation.¡±

    ¡°William! The same William who has undergone two spiritual enlightenments? The one who¡¯ll reach the duke rank once he matures? Even he is following you?!¡± Margo¡¯s hands were on his chest, almost as though he were about to sing.

    Qianye stopped him with a frown. ¡°William and I are... old friends. We¡¯re simply working together, understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir. Whatever you say is the truth.¡±

    Qianye nced at Margo. ¡°What do you want? Do you want to join Tatumu?¡±

    ¡°If possible, I would love to buy back my freedom. My family holds a good position within the n and is fairly well-off. They can surely give you a satisfactory price.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan could no longer hold his thoughts in. ¡°Sire, do... you not n to restrain him?¡±

    Qianye seemed surprised. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°What if he... tries to attack you...¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°He won¡¯t dare.¡±

    Margo said obediently, ¡°I¡¯m a long-lived species, I want to live a few centuries more!¡±

    ¡°But he might run away...¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Last time, I stayed behind to capture Tatumu. This time, though... he¡¯s the only one. He can try fleeing if he wants.¡±

    Margo smiled wryly. ¡°Sire, your Spatial sh is famous throughout Evernight. I¡¯m not dumb enough to run. I fledst time because there were people to serve as a sacrifice.¡±

    Qianye stood with his hands behind his back. ¡°She should know that I¡¯m here by now.¡±

    Margo said, ¡°The report should¡¯ve reached the rear by now. Her Majesty should have seen it if she¡¯s still working on military affairs?¡±

    ¡°Should¡¯ve?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this, Her Majesty doesn¡¯t like working on military affairs. I don¡¯t know when she¡¯ll be in the mood to flip through the battle reports.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°That means you guys have been fighting on your own during this time?¡±

    ¡°We just followed Her Majesty¡¯s previous battle ns.¡± Margo was clever with his words.

    Qianye shot the three divine champions a nce. Among them, Duke Minghai was the eldest, yet his face was entirely red at this point. Now that actually impressed Qianye a bit.

    Divine champions could stay in full control of every part of their body, and it was all too easy to remain indifferent to everything. How could Duke Minghai fail to control something even a champion could? His flushed countenance was for Qianye to see, a show of embarrassment.

    Qianye felt bad about making a bigger fuss about this. These three had actually been beaten until they were scared. How could they win if they were so intent on fleeing?

    They had thought that they were facing Nighteye, but thismander had long since been ignoring military affairs. All she did was send some subordinates to beat the Empire ck and blue.

    ¡°What¡¯s she doing then?¡±

    ¡°This... how should this subordinate know?¡±

    Margo¡¯s shamelessness drew nces from the three divine champions. He had just surrendered, but now, he was calling himself a subordinate.

    Nighteye actually wasn¡¯t handling military affairs at the moment. She did go past her office but didn¡¯t even look at the mountain of doc.u.ments on the desk. A baron rushed over at this point and ran straight into Nighteye. The man was so shocked that he almost dropped the doc.u.ments in his hand.

    ¡°Your Majesty, this is thetest battle report... the urgency level... is the highest.¡± The baron was so nervous that he couldn¡¯t speak clearly.

    ¡°I understand, just leave it there.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, but...¡±

    ¡°I said, leave it there!¡± Nighteye repeated her words.

    The baron went pale and started trembling all over. He ced the doc.u.ments on the desk with great effort, then scrambled out of the room. He stumbled as soon as he got out of the door,nding with a loud thud.

    Without even looking at the papers, Nighteye walked over to the ss doors leading to the balcony.

    What entered her vision was a sizable fortress with tall walls protecting a wide stretch ofnd. The street blocks inside were divided in an orderly fashion¡ªworkshops, barracks, warehouses, airship port, etc. There were a total of nine kic towers to provide for the massive fortress¡¯ energy requirements.

    At the far end of her vision, a pir of ck fire could be seen gushing into the sky. Before this majestic natural phenomenon, ordinary experts could only bepared to insects.

    Although only she could see the mes because her vision was far superior, the fortress could already be considered close to the sinkhole. It was also guarding a confluence of many roads leading toward it.

    There was a lone mountain in the distance that was more suitable for controlling the sinkhole, but the mes were simply too fierce at this point. Only a handful of experts could set foot on that mountain peak.

    Nighteye¡¯s gazended on that peak for a moment before moving away.

    An anxious vampire duke outside of the office dragged back the baron from just now, asking, ¡°Have you delivered the report?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡± The baron began to tremble. He was still quite young, and the effects of bloodline suppression were too strong on him. It was alreadymendable that he could stand in front of this duke.

    ¡°Did Her Majesty look at it?¡± the duke asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Seeing the dark expression in the duke¡¯s eyes, the baron said, ¡°I left after leaving the doc.u.ments on the table. I don¡¯t know if she read it afterward.¡±

    The duke¡¯s expression eased up a bit. He arrived at the door and knocked on it.

    ¡°Enter.¡±

    The duke opened the door and walked in but saw no one.

    Nighteye¡¯s voice arrived from the balcony. ¡°Just speak from there, I¡¯m enjoying the scenery.¡±

    Calling cksun Valley a hostile environment was an understatement. How could there be any scenery to speak of? But the duke wouldn¡¯t say that out loud. He stood at the door and said respectfully, ¡°Thetest battle report from the frontlines says that Duke Larga suffered a defeat and fled on his own. He was badly injured and needs to recuperate back in their maind.¡±

    ¡°Then send him back, put a reserve in this ce.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, the reason for his defeat. I think...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m enjoying the scenery, I don¡¯t want to know right now.¡± Nighteye¡¯s voice was cold.

    ¡°You should know because he lost too quickly and miserably. I think you will know the only person capable of defeating him so.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Qianye.¡±

 Chapter 1351: Ransom

    <h4>Chapter 1351: Ransom</h4>

    It wasn¡¯t as though Nighteye didn¡¯t react to the name, but the result was rather unexpected for the duke. She asked him rather calmly, ¡°Does that name have anything to do with me?¡±

    ¡°How could it not...¡± The duke looked rmed after blurting out those words, knowing that he hadmitted a mistake.

    Nighteye nced at him. ¡°Do you think you can ignore my rules just because you¡¯re a duke?¡±

    The duke¡¯s forehead was drenched in cold sweat. He fell onto one knee and lowered his head. ¡°I was simply too anxious, please forgive me!¡±

    Seeing his humble posture, the chill on Nighteye¡¯s countenance rxed somewhat. ¡°How¡¯s Larga? Not dead yet?¡±

    The duke was stunned. He knew that the vampires never liked the demonkin, but such ominous words weren¡¯t exactly appropriate.

    However, Nighteye¡¯s status was extremely high¡ªnot only because she had racked up great aplishments, but also because her methods were ruthless. There was once a disrespectful vice-duke whose four limbs were cut off. Since then, no one dared to challenge her authority.

    Since Nighteye had asked, then a reply had to be made. ¡°Larga¡¯s injuries are grave, and his demonic furnace was also damaged. There¡¯s only a sixty percent chance that he pulls through the current crisis, and he¡¯s bound to drop in rank even after a full recovery. The environment of the new world isn¡¯t friendly to us.¡±

    Nighteye seemed distracted for a good while. She then said, ¡°That person went for his life right off the bat, yet Larga still managed to escape. I¡¯m guessing he was busy with something and didn¡¯t have the time to deal the final blow.¡±

    The duke replied, ¡°We¡¯ve lost contact with the three squads under Larga¡¯smand. Considering that person¡¯s strength, he probably didn¡¯t want to bother with dying trash like Larga.¡±

    The duke spoke tactfully and even ced Qianye in a higher position. His intent was clear and seemed to be effective as intended. Nighteye¡¯s coldness melted quite a bit as she said, ¡°Probably busy taking prisoners.¡±

    Seeing that his strategy was effective, the duke said, ¡°But since that lord is here, we need a way to deal with him. We lost seventy thousand men in one battle. If this goes on a couple more times, even we won¡¯t be able to take it.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°Combine the squads two-by-two and put a duke in charge of them. They won¡¯t die as long as they don¡¯t challenge him one-on-one. The humans will likely attack proactively, so all you guys need to do is whittle away at their military power. The humans can¡¯t oust us, he cannot oust us.¡±

    The duke hesitated for a while. ¡°But the casualties will be very high.¡±

    ¡°They need to die anyway.¡±

    The duke was speechless. ¡°Your Majesty, this...¡±

    ¡°Are you questioning me?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare! But Your Majesty, please consider your subordinates¡¯ mood. Even Larga has been reduced to such a state, I think all the dukes are in low spirits now.¡±

    Nighteye said after a moment of silence, ¡°What is your opinion?¡±

    ¡°I believe only you can deal with that person. Of course, it¡¯s best if he can join us. The council will surely give him a ce.¡±

    Nighteye replied calmly, ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible?¡±

    ¡°If he isn¡¯t willing to do so at the moment, the only way we can secure victory is for you to take the field.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡±

    ¡°This...¡±

    Nighteye tossed the Tempest at the duke, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll lend you this one. You can¡¯t lose with such a weapon, can you? If you lose the Grand Magnum, go to the Wolf Sovereign and forfeit your life.¡±

    The duke¡¯s hands were trembling as he caught the Tempest. There was no telling if he was excited or scared, but he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°Your Majesty, I¡¯m willing to die for you, but I also want to know why you¡¯re not willing to fight.¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°We still owe the new world two dukes, remember?¡±

    The duke felt a chill in his heart, and the Tempest felt heavier in his hand. He went down on one knee and said, ¡°If you order it, I won¡¯t hesitate even if it means my death.¡±

    ¡°Very well, go.¡±

    The duke stood up and left with the Tempest in his arms.

    Nighteye returned to the balcony and continued gazing at the distant pir of ck fire. No one knew what she was thinking.

    ...

    Back in the Imperial base, Qianye was currently holding a war meeting. It was just that the atmosphere was rather odd¡ªon one side were the three divine champions and Imperial generals, while on the other was Tatumu, Margo, and over half a dozen titled experts. This lineup wasn¡¯t at all like an Imperial war meeting.

    The Empire and Evernight had been fighting for a thousand years. Early on, the races would always fight to the death, so there were few instances of taking prisoners. The Empire slowly toned down its ruthless policy after solidifying its foundations and started taking captives.

    Even so, something like this had never happened before. There might be some exceptions on the lower continents or in zones of active conflicts but never was it done publicly.

    As though he never saw the odd expression in the generals¡¯ eyes, Qianye merely gazed at the map on the wall. No one knew what he was thinking, and no one dared break the silence before he had spoken.

    But the lull went on for far too long. Finally, Duke Minghai decided to take advantage of his seniority to speak up, ¡°Sire Qianye, we managed to route the enemy¡¯s first attack in a glorious victory, but we¡¯ll need you to decide on the direction.¡±

    Qianye remained silent.

    ¡°Sire, Sire?!¡±

    Duke Minghai had to call out twice before Qianye woke up from his reverie. ¡°What did you say just now?¡±

    Duke Meinghai was able to remain fairlyposed. He said with the same smile, ¡°Our army gained a huge victory, but there are a lot of problems left. We need you to make the decisions.¡±

    ¡°What kind of problems?¡±

    ¡°Well... we have too many prisoners. You issued the order to spare all who surrender, to capture and not kill them. Currently, we have over forty thousand prisoners, almost more than the number of soldiers we have. We simply cannot hold more captives.¡±

    Margo and Tatumu seemed rmed. The words just now were a hint¡ªeither, deal with the current captives or stop taking in more.

    In truth, the war in the new world was waged at a national level, with neither side taking captives. The Empire had no capacity to do so while the dark races had suffered too much in the early phases of the war. They could not control the experts¡¯ bloodl.u.s.t, nor did they want to control them.

    At this point in the war, things were beyond what could be described as ruthless.

    Qianye¡¯s glory was at its peak because he had not only routed the dark race army but had done so almost single-handedly. No one dared go against the orders he had given. Even someone of Duke Minghai¡¯s status could only remind him indirectly.

    Qianye replied, ¡°The Imperial decree states that all military affairs will follow my decision and the spoils will be mine to distribute.¡±

    The three divine champions nodded. The authority granted to Qianye was almost unheard of. This was also because of his willingness to take on this role when the Empire was in such dire straits. Moreover, the so-called spoils would only exist if a battle was won. There would be nothing in the case of a defeat.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°That means all these captives are my property. I will send them to Fort Continent and have them join my country. Do you have anyints?¡±

    The three divine champions exchanged nces at the unexpected development. These were the strongest elite soldiers of Evernight, with arge number of experts in their ranks. The destruction would be shocking should they revolt. Qianye was indeed quite brave to dare take them in. Fortunately, these captives were heading to Fort Continent and not the Empire maind, so the one who would suffer in the case of a mutiny was Qianye.

    Tatumu stood up. ¡°Sire, rest assured. I will be fully responsible for watching over them. I assure you no one will dare to make a move!¡±

    Qianye said after some thought. ¡°Well, there¡¯s no need to keep all of them. If there¡¯s anyone who doesn¡¯t want to stay, they may leave after paying the usual ransom.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Sire. I will arrange it.¡±

    Qianye said to the experts at the table. ¡°The same applies to all of you. This is yourst chance if you don¡¯t want to remain. You may leave after paying a ransom.¡±

    Duke Minghai and the old general Liu Chengyun exchanged nces, feeling that Qianye had ulterior motives. They felt that he was allowing the disobedient ones to jump out on their own, making it convenient for him to ughter them. It was just that his methods were too crude and obvious.

    Some of the dark race members were more candid than expected. Two arachne counts stood up and said, ¡°We¡¯ll pay double the ransom!¡±

    ¡°Out with it then.¡±

    An arachne ced his dagger on the table. ¡°This is a token of our n, I will have them deliver the ransom to Fort Continent and redeem the item.¡±

    Another arachne removed a bracelet from his wrist. ¡°This is a Spatial Gear. The space might not be big, but it should be enough to pay for my ransom.¡±

    Qianye gestured to his men to receive the items.

    ¡°Very well, you may leave now.¡±

    The two arachne counts couldn¡¯t believe their ears. Exchanging nces, they walked slowly out of the camp and fled into the distance.

    During the entire Process, Qianye sat at the table without moving.

    The three divine champions were stunned while the Evernight side heaved a sigh of relief.

    Qianye fell deep into his thoughts once more, returning only after a while. ¡°Margo.¡±

    ¡°What would you have me do?¡± Margo now considered himself Qianye¡¯s servant.

    ¡°Go back, tell her to pick a time and ce for a fight!¡±

    Not to mention the three divine champions, even Margo himself couldn¡¯t believe his ears. ¡°Sire, are you letting me... go back?¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°After delivering the message, you may return if you wish. Otherwise, send someone to deliver the ransom money.¡±

    Margo¡¯s expression becameplicated, clearly conflicted inside.

    Duke Wenyuan could no longer hold it in. ¡°Sire, this is a path to future cmity! Besides, the dark races have never been trustworthy. What if he doesn¡¯t pay up after going back?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°He knows that there¡¯s a ce for me at the council. If he reneges and I happen to take that seat one day, his n will be paying more than just several times over. As for trust... heh.¡±

    There was no need for further boration.

    Duke Minghai tried to persuade Qianye against it. ¡°Sire, this... Brother Margo is not weak. The Empire will be facing yet another strong foe if you let him go. You mustn¡¯t!

    Margo¡¯s identity was special at this point, so Duke Minghai didn¡¯t know how to address the man. Long-lived species were all much older than the humans, so he decided on an ambiguous address in the end. Even Margo couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes upon hearing it.

    Qianye shot the marquis a nce. ¡°Afraid of returning a tiger to the mountains, eh? No matter how many of him... well, it would be a bit troublesome if eight of him came at me at once.¡±

    Margo looked rather embarrassed.

 Chapter 1352: The Tempest Appears

    <h4>Chapter 1352: The Tempest Appears</h4>

    As a glorious marquis, he was among the upper echelons of Evernight. It was rather embarrassing that it would take eight of him to cause trouble for Qianye. After all, Qianye was just a vice-duke and some distance away from the next rank.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t bluffing, though. It had long been known that he had no fear of group attacks and group battles. Thebination of Spatial sh and his destructive killing blows was a nightmare to many lower-ranking enemies.

    Margo¡¯s awkwardness only appeared for a moment before he regained his calm. ¡°Sire, rest assured. I¡¯ll be back.¡±

    Qianye was a bit surprised. ¡°Is my side that good?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing good at the moment, but you¡¯re the biggest reason.¡±

    Margo¡¯s face was beyond thick, so much so that the other divine champions had to admit they were inferior.

    Qianye arranged for an airship to take the prisoners back to the Empire and then to Fort Continent. There were tens of thousands of captives but only a few hundred Imperial escorts. The one actually responsible was Tatumu.

    And after finding out that they could redeem themselves after reaching Fort Continent, the prisoners stopped entertaining any thoughts of escape. All of them boarded the airsh.i.p.s quietly and left cksun Valley.

    Qianye reorganized the army after absorbing a new batch of reinforcements and supplies. He then led his forces out of the secret base and made for the central region.

    Following this supply run, Qianye had only sixty thousand troops under hismand, while the dark races had garrisoned hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the central zone. He was actually going head-on against the enemy with these meager numbers. This made old generals like Liu Chengyun feel deeply restless.

    Qianye ran into a series of arduous battles before Margo¡¯s return.

    The dark races repeatedly assembled superior forces to intercept him. This time, even Qianye couldn¡¯t avoid being drawn into a long, bitter fight. The enemies weren¡¯t arrogant enough to face off against Qianye one-on-one like Larga had.

    Every time, the overseeing duke would surround Qianye together with several marquises and work together to cover all blind angles. Qianye would have to use Spatial sh and powerful moves like Sweeping Calm to take down a couple of marquises.

    As time went on, Qianye also sustained a fair number of injuries. This was especially true in battles against dukes, where he would have to trade wounds in order to threaten the opponent. And these dukes would run away once the battle was at a disadvantage.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t really do anything against a duke who was intent on running away. Even Larga managed to flee with such horrible injuries. The current dukes were highly vignt and would retreat at the slightest damage, denying Qianye the opportunity to kill them.

    The long-lived races¡¯ fear for their lives was on full disy here.

    After five battles within seven days, Qianye had repelled five enemy forces and defeated five different dukes. The wounds on his body only increased in number, and the soldiers under hismand dwindled. Even though the Empire was replenishing him as best they could, it was impossible to make up for the grave losses.

    The dark races¡¯ losses shot up to four times the Empire¡¯s own. Such a loss-ratio was right on the heels of Song Zining¡¯s battles before Nighteye¡¯s arrival.

    This could be considered a glorious aplishment. Looking at the reports from the front line, the old men from the military clenched their jaws as they forked out whatever manpower and resources they could muster for the ck hole that was cksun Valley.

    Although it was a victory all the same, it was just as Qianye had said¡ªhis methods were different.

    Song Zining calcted every move and detail, maneuvering troops strategically to outsmart the enemy. Every dazzling operation would end up with the dark races falling into a trap. After Nighteye¡¯s appearance, however, Song Zining could no longer rely on divination. The only way left was to build fortresses to regain some advantage.

    Qianye¡¯s way was simple and direct. He would charge straight into the centralmand and target the enemymander. He would single-handedly keep most of the enemy experts busy while the three divine champions went on a killing spree against the viscounts and counts in the field.

    Qianye was always at a disadvantage in battle, but he would always persevere until the end and trade blow for blow. It was always the dark races that would fall in the end.

    Seeing the increasing number of wounds on his body, including those that were difficult to heal, the three divine champions couldn¡¯t help but shudder. For some reason, this reminded them of Zhao Jundu. The fourth young master had also killed his way in and out of the enemy forces like a demonic god, turning his origin mes from azure to a nightmarish ck.

    Looking at Qianye was like seeing Zhao Jundu from back then.

    Perhaps due to the repeated defeats or because the Empire was once again marching for the central zone, the enemy mustered an army of a hundred thousand and an extremely special enemy.

    Qianye hade face-to-face with the Tempest.

    Among the ten Grand Magnums, the Tempest was even more well-known than the Red Spider Lily. Thetter would frequently leave public eyes owing to ack of operators, while the Tempest had always been in the hands of the Summit of Peaks.

    Its unique square barrels were iparably eye-catching, and its fame reached new heights after Nighteye wielded it against the Profundity Monarch.

    Seeing the weapon but not the intended wielder, Qianye¡¯s gazended on the person carrying it.

    It was an exceptionally handsome vampire. He looked fairly young and seemed to have juste of age. Those near-perfect facial features and tall nose pointed to his noble bloodline, while his young age hinted that his strength was just approaching its peak with even more room to grow.

    The insignia depicting a bat holding a de in its mouth proved that he was from the Morway n. He was probably a descendant of the Azure King, otherwise, Nighteye wouldn¡¯t have entrusted him with the Tempest.

    Qianye suddenly recalled a piece of information he had learned back in the Empire. Reportedly, Nighteye had awakened the soul of a mysterious character from ancient times, someone who had close ties to the Azure King.

    For some reason, seeing that handsome youth filled Qianye with a surge of hatred. It felt as though he was looking at the young Azure King from the past. Qianye couldn¡¯t exin this unreasonable feeling; all he knew was that he didn¡¯t like the man.

    Qianye led his army forward until they were just beyond the dark race¡¯s firing range. There, he stopped the march with a raise of his hand and ordered the troops into formation. He flew into the air and arrived before the dark race army,pletely ignoring the hundred thousand soldiers below.

    ¡°The Tempest is here, where is she?¡±

    The vampire duke said proudly, ¡°What gives you the right to ask about her Majesty¡¯s business? Defeat me, Saniel, if you wish to know about her.¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes, scanning Saniel from head-to-toe. ¡°Where is the Awakening Dream?¡±

    Saniel replied, ¡°It seems you know quite a bit. The Awakening Dream is one of the three holy weapons of the Evernight Council. Naturally, it is in Her Majesty¡¯s hands.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°True, you won¡¯t be able to wield that sword. Even the Tempest is a bit forced.¡±

    Saniel had enjoyed dozens of years of fame since his rise to power. He was much younger than the other dukes, but in fact, he was well over a hundred years old.

    He couldn¡¯t suppress his anger in the face of Qianye¡¯s mockery. ¡°If I¡¯m not suitable for the Tempest, who else is?¡±

    ¡°Me,¡± Qianye replied.

    ¡°Ha! You...¡±

    Saniel broke out in a peal of loudughter, but he suddenly noticed something off about it. ¡°What did you just say?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure suddenly blurred out before him.

    Spatial sh! Saniel was just thinking that it was impossible when Qianye appeared right in front of him.

    The vampire only wanted to scream that Qianye was crazy. Thetter had actually left his three divine champions in the rear and teleported into the central army?! Could he not see how many experts there were? Did he not notice his opponent was a duke with the Tempest strapped to his back?

    The questions merely shed past because there was no longer any time to think. Qianye¡¯s body erupted in a thunderous boom as one sh after another descended on Saniel.

    The duke responded with a flurry of sword strikes that intercepted all of Qianye¡¯s blows, but each parry became more arduous than the one before. By the time he had gotten to the sixth and seventh blow, his hands were already trembling.

    Qianye was like a mature void colossus hiding beneath that delicate exterior. Every move contained such terrifying power that Saniel felt as though he were facing an arachne prince.

    He suddenly recalled the eighth blow of the Sweeping Calm.

    ¡°Save me!¡± Saniel shouted, no longer caring about his dignity.

    There were over ten marquised in the army, four of them at the glorious marquis rank. Experts at that level could take part in the fight between Qianye and Saniel.

    It was just that they knew theirmanding officer rather well. They were concerned about him losing face, so they didn¡¯t dare join in without his express consent. However, Qianye had struck so fast and hard that the fatal eighth blow was there in the blink of an eye.

    Saniel and the other keen experts realized things were dire when they saw the changes in Qianye¡¯s aura¡ªit had be ephemeral and cryptic, even causing the surrounding space to warp. Qianye had reached an entirely new realm in terms of strength to be able to warp space even before the attack. How terrifying would that power be if he were tounch it?

    Saniel no longer wanted to take that eight sh. He hade to understand how the wound on Larga¡¯s body came to be. Back then, he simply thought the demonkin was useless, but now, he understood that escaping this eighth sh with one¡¯s life was no easy task.

    At this point, all the glorious marquises had noticed that the key to victoryy in stopping Qianye from unleashing this eighth sh. They went all out on Qianye himself, shrouding him in origin bullets and sword radiances.

    Qianye flickered away with Spatial sh, effectively dodging all the iing attacks. Saniel turned around all of a sudden and found Qianye behind him, the eighth sh ready tounch!

    By the time East Peak came down, Saniel was over a hundred meters away. He also possessed a skill for escape, just not as good as Spatial sh.

    But only when he was a good distance away did he realize that Qianye had changed the direction of his attack. That sh was nevering for him. East Peak descended upon an arachne marquis, eliciting a miserable cry as he was cleaved into two. Even the arachne core was visible through the cut surface. Such an injury was no doubt fatal.

    The fleeing Saniel could hardly celebrate after seeing a subordinate take his ce. His blood core was immediately flooded with anger and embarrassment.

 Chapter 1353: To Death with Me

    <h4>Chapter 1353: To Death with Me</h4>

    Despite having the Tempest in hand, Saniel saw that there wererades all around him within the area of effect. Ultimately, he decided to keep the weapon strapped to his back as he flickered toward Qianye andunched a sword-strike.

    As the inheritor of a top vampire bloodline and a true expert, he sported an intricately crafted sword as his weapon. The duke managed to find a gap through East Peak¡¯s airtight assault and tore open a wound on the target.

    Saniel was shaken as the armor split open and the criss-cross of wounds on Qianye¡¯s body came into view, many of which hadn¡¯t fully healed.

    Qianye ignored the sh entirely, almost as though he knew not what pain was. If anything, bathing in blood was more like a release for him.

    Qianye erupted in a long howl which echoed into the sky and seemingly pierced through the nine heavens.

    Even though Saniel felt that the pressure was still bearable, he still found the pure heat of Venus Dawn extremely irritating. This caused him to reflexively narrowed his eyes in a bid to shield himself from the daybreak sun that was Qianye.

    At that split second, Saniel immediately realized that he had made a mistake. How could such a dy be forgiven in a battle of his level?

    Through the corner of his eyes, he suddenly noticed numerous sanguine threads shooting toward him and countless more stretching out in every other direction.

    Life Plunder!

    Most of the dark red threads shooting at Saniel¡¯s body were blocked by his armor. As a duke, his current gear had been passed down for five hundred years. The defensive power of an armor made from void colossus bones was beyond words.

    However, there were a number of dark golden threads hidden amidst the red. These invisible fments pierced right through the armor and made straight for the blood core!

    There, they were blocked by the crystalline structure that had condensed in the core. However, the impact also left some cracks.

    Saniel felt dizzy all of a sudden. In his daze, he saw the other experts falling to the ground. Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn domain and Life Plunder might not be enough to take the life of all the marquis, but they could do little to resist the attack, either.

    In the blink of an eye, Saniel was left alone in the air.

    The duke felt a chill run down his spine, ovee by an inexplicable sense of danger. He activated his blood core by reflex and cleared away the sanguine threads, entering a state of blood boil in the process. He shed a hundred meters away and drew the Tempest!

    It was at this moment that his vision went nk. All he could see was a pair of eyes.

    Those were Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    The moment he looked into those eyes, Saniel felt as though the world had slowed down. His blood energy, thoughts, and even time itself had stagnated.

    Wait, there was no way time could be changed!

    He finally saw Qianye and the pair of luminous wings behind him. Each and every feather at the tip of his wings was shrouded in a grey hue. There was a feather on each wing that was pitch ck, much like the deepest parts of the world. Simply beholding them shocked one to the core.

    Qianye fired four radiant feathers with a shake of his wing, the two grey ones first, followed closely by the two pitch-ck ones. All of them sank into Saniel¡¯s body in the blink of an eye. Just like that, the Azure King¡¯s descendant, pir of the Morway n, and member of the Evernight Council, Duke Saniel¡¯s consciousness went nk.

    The duke¡¯s body fell from the sky and crashed to the ground, bounced a couple of times in an unsightly fashion, and stopped moving.

    Qianye slowlynded beside the duke¡¯s body and nced at the copsed experts nearby. ¡°Here¡¯s a big stack of contributions, is no oneing for me?¡±

    The dark race experts nced at Saniel¡¯s body, but no one dared to take action. No one seemed interested in taking back the duke¡¯s remains, either. Their faces were full of shock and bewilderment.

    Qianye picked up the Tempest and roared thunderously, ¡°Tell her! If she refuses to see me, I will keep fighting until she¡¯s willing to!¡±

    His words echoed hundreds of kilometers as a pir of dark golden radiance shot into the sky!

    Qianye¡¯s blood energy had recovered at this point. The short window of opportunity to kill him was now gone for good.

    The Evernight experts had long since extinguished any notion of achieving victory. Saniel¡¯s troops¡ªmost of them vampires¡ªgazed at the dark golden me pir with expressions of awe. They came before Qianye in session, going down on one knee with a hand on their chest. After the reverent salutations, the experts left in a single file.

    Ten thousand dark race soldiers dispersed to each side of Qianye, no one daring toe within a hundred yards of him.

    The great battle thus came to an end.

    The three divine champions arrived around Qianye, filled with shock and awe as they gazed at the dead Saniel. Their eyes were filled with greed when they nced at the Tempest, but the thought quickly vanished. They knew full well that it wasn¡¯t a weapon they could use. Even without considering the wastage during origin power conversion, the gun would still suck them dry within a minute.

    Liu Chengyun sighed, ¡°The Empire has gained one more Grand Magnum.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan said, ¡°Sire Qianye has gained a Grand Magnum.¡±

    Liu Chengyun nodded awkwardly, saying, ¡°Yes, it is indeed Sire Qianye¡¯s.¡±

    Fact is, the possession of a Grand Magnum had always been an earth-shattering incident. It was difficult to say whether the Empire would just sit by and watch as Qianye took possession of the gun.

    The werewolves would certainly not ignore this. It was possible that either the Wolf Sovereign or the Wolf Ancestor would attack in person and reim the Magnum. Once outside of the new world, the great dark monarchs would no longer be bound by any limitations. Hence, it was doubtful whether Qianye would be able to hold onto the gun.

    Qianye paid little attention to Liu Chengyun¡¯s thoughts. He merely gazed at the receding dark race army and said, ¡°You guys heard what I said just now, right?¡±

    The three divine champions nodded, a sense of foreboding filling their hearts.

    Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking how to beat those dark races into a corner.¡±

    The three divine champions exchanged nces. He had defeated six dukes, killed one, and even robbed a Grand Magnum¡ªhow was this not beating the dark races into a corner?

    The thought went unvoiced as they waited for Qianye¡¯s continuation.

    ¡°You guys have followed me for a while now and .u.mted a fair amount of contribution. Now, I¡¯ll give you a choice. Will you follow me into the central region for a fight to the death, or turn back from here?¡±

    Duke Minghai was surprised. ¡°You¡¯re going to fight a decisive battle with these troops?¡±

    There were only fifty thousand men left under Qianye¡¯smand, while the Evernight army was four-hundred-thousand strong. There was no telling how many more troops they had replenished during this period. Charging in would be no different from tossing eggs at a rock.

    Although Qianye had defeated numerous experts along the way, those dukes were neither dead nor gravely injured. Most of them were merely scared off. Even Qianye would not be their match had they swarmed forth together. Besides, it wouldn¡¯t make much of a difference even if Qianye could beat all the dukes. The real overseer was Nighteye. As long as she remained undefeated, the dark races would never truly lose this war.

    The Tempest might¡¯ve fallen into Qianye¡¯s hand, but she still had the Awakening Dream. The Evernight side possessed four other Grand Magnums. Since she could borrow the Tempest, who was to say she wouldn¡¯t pick up the Sable Blessing next?

    Qianye ignored Duke Minghai¡¯s question and merely watched the trio.

    Having followed him for some time, the divine champions understood Qianye¡¯s thoughts quite well. They knew that something he had decided would hardly change; it was only a matter of choice now.

    Liu Chengyun was the first to speak. ¡°The Empire¡¯s soldiers came here to fight, not throw their lives away...¡±

    ¡°Make your own choice, do not preach.¡± Qianye cut the man short.

    Liu Chengyun seemed furious, but he didn¡¯t dare act up. ¡°I choose to withdraw.¡±

    Qianye nodded, then said to an aide, ¡°Very well. Record his cowardice in the face of battle. Remove all of his contributions and send him back to the Empire.¡±

    Liu Chengyun was livid. ¡°I risked life and limb to fight for the Empire, how could you treat me so? Do you think you can do anything you want?¡±

    ¡°I most certainly can in the new world.¡± With that, he said to the subordinates, ¡°Seal his origin power.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Liu Chengyun red furiously at the soldiers, but the men would only listen to Qianye. The old man might be a divine champion, but he didn¡¯t dare put up any real resistance. He knew that Qianye would not hold back if he were forced to take action.

    After watching how Saniel was defeated, Liu Chengyun knew that he would never be able to escape Qianye¡¯s hands.

    In the blink of an eye, the old man had been pressed to the ground and bound tightly. The guards nailed an entire set of sealing equipment into his body, effectively shutting off the flow of origin power.

    Then, some aides carried Liu Chengyun away for his trip back to the Empire.

    Duke Minghai sighed after Liu Chengyun was gone. ¡°The only reason we¡¯re here at this age is to win the n some protection with our final contributions. We never nned to go back alive, so why cower at thest moment and suffer such humiliation. This old man Liu is so muddle-headed.¡±

    After the emotional sigh, he said to Qianye. ¡°I leave my old bones in your hands!¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Double Duke Minghai¡¯s contributions, use Liu Chengyun¡¯s share first and take mine as well if it¡¯s not enough.¡±

    Duke Minghai was surprised. ¡°This won¡¯t do!¡±

    Qianye replied calmly. ¡°I don¡¯t n to go back alive, either, so what¡¯s the point of keeping these contribution points?¡±

    Duke Minghai was startled. ¡°How can you say such words? You¡¯re still so young, the heavenly monarch realm awaits you in the future!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t see that day.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan said all of a sudden, ¡°Since you¡¯re prepared to die, I¡¯ll join you on the way.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Qianye was surprised, not expecting Duke Wenyuan to be so proactive about joining the fight.

    Duke Wenyuan said, ¡°I¡¯m already a dead man, to begin with. I won¡¯t escape punishment even if I go back, so why not die in battle? All I ask is that you ensure my family is cleared of all punishment and that my contributions reach them. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not hard considering your connections.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I promise you that.¡± Qianye nodded. He nned to hand this task to the Zhao n and Zhao Jundu. It wasn¡¯t difficult to make some arrangements for a divine champion who had died fighting for the Empire.

    Next in line were the champions. Their attitudes were different¡ªthey were willing to fight, but not all of them were willing to die in battle. A small number of them withdrew, but Qianye allowed them to return without removing their contributions.

    Then came the officers and the soldiers.

    Many high-ranking officers withdrew, and it was actually the lower-ranking officers and the warriors who stepped forward. There were so many who wanted to go back that Qianye had to make them draw lots, picking only one out of ten, in order to keep the majority in the army.

    At dawn the next day, Qianye led the thousands of suicidal soldiers toward the gateway to the inner world.

 Chapter 1354: Through the Defenses

    <h4>Chapter 1354: Through the Defenses</h4>

    The Evernight fortress in the central region. Nighteye was on the sofa, entranced in a history book. Margo was standing beside her looking uneasy.

    A knock came from the door as a baron entered with a thick stack of doc.u.ments. He bowed toward Nighteye before cing the files on the rack. The desk was already covered in battle reports, so there was no more space for new ones. Afterpleting his job, the baron bowed again and left.

    Another knock was heard almost immediately afterward.

    ¡°Enter,¡± Nighteye saidzily.

    A demonkin duke entered. Performing an appropriate salutation, he said, ¡°Your Highness, did you not read the battle reports?¡±

    Nighteye remained silent, but Margoshed out furiously, ¡°Mind your words, Lord Rodney!¡±

    Rodney said proudly, ¡°This is no ce for a mere marquis to speak!¡±

    Margo was red with anger. He wanted to do something, but he knew he wasn¡¯t the other¡¯s match.

    Nighteye finally looked up. ¡°If you think killing you will affect my rtionship with the Eternal me, then you¡¯re gravely mistaken.¡±

    Rodney smiled coldly. ¡°How am I mistaken?¡±

    Nighteye replied calmly, ¡°My rtionship with him is beyond bad, killing you will make no difference.¡±

    The duke was visibly moved. He bowed slightly, saying, ¡°I was rude just now, please forgive me. I have indeede under the orders of the Eternal me, His Highness will also be in a difficult position if you kill me here.¡±

    Nighteye returned to her book. ¡°What does he want?¡±

    ¡°His Highness is concerned about the recent battles. He heard... some bad news. That¡¯s why he asked me toe to the front lines and observe the progress here.¡± Intentionally or otherwise, Rodney nced at the tall pile of doc.u.ments on the desk.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s going well.¡±

    ¡°Howe I heard differently?¡±

    ¡°What did you hear?¡±

    Rodney said in a loud voice, ¡°I heard a certain person has been ignoring their military duties, causing our front lines to be pushed back repeatedly. Now, even the Tempest has fallen into human hands!¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°Those who don¡¯t listen to me will meet this fate. As for the Tempest, it neither belongs to the vampire race nor the demonkin. The Eternal me surely knows this reasoning and won¡¯t make a fuss about it. Unless...¡±

    Nighteye stared intently at Rodney, killing intent surging in her eyes. ¡°Unless you¡¯re here to cause trouble!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, Rodney felt as though he had fallen into a cold abyss. He was unable to move his body at all, and all he could see was a pair of eyes.

    Nighteye walked over and delivered a resounding p. This p was neither too strong nor too light, but Rodney fell on his back and couldn¡¯t get up for a long while.

    After that, Nighteye returned to her seat nonchntly and picked up her book once more. ¡°Since you look down on the marquises, you may return to that rank and experience it again.¡±

    Rodney mbered up unsteadily and nearly copsed again. His aura fell rapidly until it reached the glorious marquis level before stabilizing. Furious and shocked, he cried out, ¡°Y-You! What did you do to me?¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t even be a glorious marquis anymore if you don¡¯t make yourself scram.¡± Nighteye didn¡¯t even look up at him.

    ¡°The Eternal me won¡¯t let you off!¡± Rodney left after saying this.

    After he was gone, Nighteye said, ¡°Close the door.¡±

    Margo closed the door obediently and stood on attention, just like an elementary school kid.

    Nighteye walked over to the desk and picked up the top-most battle report, sighing as she read the contents.

    Margo held his breath, not daring to make a sound.

    Nighteye put the report down and walked over to the window. She spoke as if she were opening up but also as though she were just muttering to herself, ¡°Saniel was really talented and had great ambitions. I thought he would be able to aplish something.¡±

    Margo said, ¡°Lord Saniel is the pride of our vampire race. He... did he fall?¡±

    Margo wanted to p himself after asking so¡ªeven the Tempest had been lost; there was no way Saniel¡¯s fate would be any better. People would rather lose their lives than lose a Grand Magnum.

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°He was too arrogant. I already warned him not to face that man alone, but he clearly didn¡¯t listen. How will I face the Azure King now?¡±

    Margo agreed entirely. ¡°Indeed! My mind went nk when I saw him back then, and I immediately fled. That¡¯s how I managed to live until now.¡±

    Nighteye shot him a nce. ¡°You have such insight?¡±

    Margo said, ¡°That¡¯s my innate ability. I can sense potential danger, and...¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    Margo spoke honestly, ¡°I trust someone rted to you would surely be at your level, people like us simply can¡¯tpare. Since I can¡¯t beat him, why not just run?¡±

    Nighteye chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re quite honest.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps a bit too honest. Your Majesty, when do you n to let me go back?¡±

    ¡°For what? To throw your life away?¡±

    Margo seemed puzzled.

    ¡°What are you going back for?¡±

    ¡°I promised Sire Qianye that I would return. If I cannot serve him, I must still hand him the ransom money. Only then will I be at ease.¡±

    Nighteye replied, ¡°Just stay at my side for now. Deal with these matters after the showdown.¡±

    ¡°Showdown? My presence doesn¡¯t really affect the oue, does it?¡± Margo wasn¡¯tcking in self-knowledge.

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Nighteye nced at him. ¡°I said before, right? We still owe the new world two dukes.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Margo didn¡¯t feel that it had anything to do with him. The gap between a glorious marquis and a duke was still considerable. One was definitely not a substitute for the other.

    Nighteye looked at him intently, saying, ¡°If we can¡¯t hand over two dukes, one duke and several marquises will also do.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do! Isn¡¯t that cheating?¡± Margo almost jumped up.

    He quickly mmed up afterward, noticing his loss ofposure.

    Nighteye paid him no heed and merely went on with her reading.

    After standing beside her for a while, he simply couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. ¡°Your Majesty, the demonkin are getting outrageous. They actually dare to treat you with disrespect, this is unbearable! That was a great lesson you gave him.¡±

    ¡°Just a lesson? He probably won¡¯t ever return to the duke rank.¡± Nighteye smiled indifferently. ¡°But I spared his life at least, so I guess it counts as a lesson.¡±

    Margo¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°J-Just a p...¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t exin what the Eye of Destruction was, nor did she need to. ¡°I¡¯m only a duke at the moment, so their address is beyond fitting.¡±

    ¡°So what? You¡¯re the incarnation of a powerhouse.¡±

    Nighteye sighed, then stopped speaking. Margo stepped to the side tactfully and stood there like a statue. He knew that Nighteye would spend days on end once she started reading. Standing day and night wasn¡¯t that difficult a task for a glorious marquis.

    A day¡¯s time went past just like that. Nighteye remained engrossed in her book, while the baron in charge of delivering reports visited with increasing frequency, and his expression looked more and more distressed each time. However, no one dared to disturb Nighteye after witnessing Rodney¡¯s fate. After upying the desk, the doc.u.ments filled up on the shelf and then spilled over onto the floor.

    The reports came in so frequently that Margo could no longer remain still. He risked his head to offer a reminder, ¡°Your Majesty, would you like to take a look at what¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°The defensive line has probably copsed, hasn¡¯t it?¡± Nighteye seemed nonchnt.

    Margo was stunned. ¡°Copse of a defensive line? T-This is the umpteenth defensive line that they¡¯ve broken. The humans will soon be at our door.¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t fight their way here. He¡¯s not that dumb.¡±

    Gazing at Nighteye and her almost nonexistent aura, a thought came into Margo¡¯s mind. Maybe that person wasn¡¯t fighting his way toward this fortress because he didn¡¯t know Nighteye was here.

    ...

    At this moment, a group of human soldiers was rushing through cksun Valley. Their numbers were small, their armor was in tatters, and the weapons they carried were mostly damaged. Most of them had even switched to using dark race weapons. But everyone in this unit was as swift as the wind, as fierce as a tiger, and overflowing with killing intent.

    Qianye was marching swiftly at the lead, with Duke Minghai and Wenyuan at his side.

    Duke Minghai¡¯s eyes were full of spirit. His old, declining state was nowhere to be found, and there was even some ck hair around his forehead. It was as though he was growing younger.

    Duke Wenyuan, on the other hand, was a lot thinner than he used to be. Despite being wrapped in bandages, he was as tough as steel and akin to an unsheathed sword. That enigmatic schrly appearance from the past was entirely gone.

    Qianye stopped all of a sudden and stared into the distance.

    The two dukes followed his gaze but saw nothing.

    Qianye pointed in that direction, saying, ¡°There¡¯s a pir of ck fire over there. That should be the true passage into the new world.¡±

    Duke Minghai said, ¡°I was there when Commander Zining set up the central fortress. There¡¯s only one ce with a pir of ck mes. Speaking of which, those mes are truly miraculous. I¡¯ve never seen or even imagined anything like it.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan also chimed in, ¡°That fire pir is made of burning darkness origin power. Who knows how much darkness origin power is down there.¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes as he looked silently in a different direction.

    ¡°Sire, what¡¯s in that direction?¡±

    ¡°A dark race fortress. It¡¯s probably bigger than Song Zining¡¯s fortress from back then.¡±

    ¡°Do we attack?¡± Duke Wenyuan asked calmly. It was as though he had no idea they had only three thousand soldiers left.

    Along the way, this squad had pressed forward no matter how big the enemy forces were. There was no such thing as retreat. After killing their way through countless defenses, they had finally arrived at the doors of the Evernight camp.

    Duke Minghai and Wenyuan could not see the dark race¡¯s final fortress from this distance; only Qianye could.

    After gazing for a long long while at the yonder horizon, Qianye shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

 Chapter 1355: The Final Battlefield

    <h4>Chapter 1355: The Final Battlefield</h4>

    Duke Minghai, Duke Wenyuan, and the group of generals arrived beside Qianye, waiting for their next order. Qianye scanned the men with his eyes.

    Everyone here had been reborn, regardless of their person or status. Just like the demonic army Zhao Jundu had led back then, they were devoid of fear and keen to push the limits of their strength.

    Some of them found it strange. Why would he stop right as their destination was in sight?

    With a wave of his hand, Qianye summoned a map of the area with his blood energy. There was a bright spot on a mountain close to the entrance.

    ¡°The final battle will be here.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, easy to defend and difficult to attack,¡± Duke Wenyuan said.

    ¡°The prolonged exposure to the ck mes have made the nearby mountains even harder than top-grade alloy. None below the marquis rank can even damage it. It¡¯s definitely a good battleground where our geographical advantage will remain constant,¡± said Duke Minghai.

    Duke Wenyuan added, ¡°The only problem is that we have no supplies. If the dark races surround us without attacking, we won¡¯t be able tost long. We¡¯ll need to plunder some supplies if we are to fight.¡±

    ¡°Correct, the Empire¡¯s supply line can¡¯t reach this ce.¡±

    After the generals had finished discussing this matter, Qianye said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll figure it out when we get there.¡±

    A route appeared on the projected map, more or less a straight line stretching towards the final battlefield. It shot past the vicinity of a fortress defended by a hundred thousand soldiers.

    Yet, no one had any objections about this path.

    The silhouette of the fortress appeared over the horizon not long afterward. In the dusky environment of cksun Valley, the stronghold looked like a sleeping void colossus.

    Since the imperial soldiers could see the fortress, it was only natural that the other party would¡¯ve seen them too. The soldier in charge of the sentry tower immediately sent a report, which was ryed up the ranks until it reached themander of this fortress, Vampire Duke Dominica.

    The man was having lunch when the report was delivered. The table before him was full of good food¡ªthe array of eleven main dishes went to show how high his status was. Vampire nobles paid particr attention to every detail of their lifestyle, no matter where they were.

    Seeing his aide enter with a report, Dominica said in a bored tone, ¡°You must be mistaken? What kind of report is so urgent that you need to bring it here, can¡¯t you seem I¡¯m having lunch?¡±

    The aide looked terrified, but that didn¡¯t stop him from speaking, ¡°Lord Dominica, I¡¯m sorry for disturbing your meal, but this is an urgent report that requires you to make a decision.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so urgent? Are the enemies at the gate?¡±

    ¡°In fact, they are passing right by our gates.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Dominica was so surprised that he spilled a bit of his wine. A sense of foreboding arose in his mind. ¡°Bring the report to me.¡±

    The aide hadn¡¯t even moved when Dominica snatched the report and walked out of the hall, reading along the way. ¡°So slow.¡±

    The duke was nowhere to be found when the aide exited the hall. Fortunately, he understood Dominica¡¯s habits quite well, so he made straight for the gates. As expected, the duke was already on the gate towers, staring into the distance with a serious expression.

    The aide followed the gaze. With his visual power, all he could see were soldiers moving toward the sinkhole. He could tell that the enemy forces weren¡¯t big and probably just around three thousand men. A random marquis and his direct subordinate forces could outnumber them two to one.

    As the aide saw it, the brazen passing by of this unit was no different from a resounding p to the sacred blooded races in the fortress.

    It wouldn¡¯t be too excessive for Duke Dominica to respond to this insult in person.

    Yet the duke seemed pensive. The anger and impulse on his face slowly faded away, reced by a shiver that ran down his spine.

    He said with a swing of his sleeve, ¡°This matter is of utmost importance. Write a report and send it to Her Majesty as quickly as possible!¡±

    The aide was startled. ¡°They¡¯ll be gone by the time I finish writing.¡±

    Dominica¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Write what I tell you to! If you utter more nonsense, I¡¯ll put you in the blood pond and turn you into nutrients.¡±

    The aide wanted to say something, but arade dragged him off to the side. After the duke was gone, that person said, ¡°You idiot! That human squad made it here with so few people, how do you think they managed that?¡±

    The aide was startled. ¡°Could it be... that person?¡±

    ¡°Who else? The Tempest is in his hands now.¡±

    The aide was enlightened, but he still wanted to argue. ¡°But, the duke won¡¯t necessarily lose to him!¡±

    ¡°What if he does? Go write your report. I think your position is in danger.¡±

    The aide left hurriedly.

    Outside of the fortress, Duke Wenyuan¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly. ¡°Those dark race bastards are afraid toe out and fight us! Such cowards!¡±

    ¡°Themander probably put the fear of god into them. With the Tempest in his hands, which ordinary duke would want tomit suicide against him?¡± Duke Minghai chimed in.

    Duke Wenyuan, ¡°I wonder how big of a bang you and I will go out with!¡±

    Duke Minghaiughed, ¡°No matter how big, we¡¯re both apanying the sire.¡±

    ¡°True, true.¡±

    The two had formed a heroic bond amidstughter.

    Qianye stared intently at the fortress, but seeing no movement, he turned back and went on with his journey. What he didn¡¯t know was that the entire fortress was busy, brainstorming how to write a report to Nighteye.

    This report had to be carefully written. Nighteye might not look at it now, but she might flip through them at ater date. Even if she never read it, some council members might do it one day. They couldn¡¯t say that they were afraid of meeting Qianye and the Tempest in battle, could they?

    The report stated that the forces in the fortress were waiting for a decision from the higher-ups because the matter was of great importance. Both imperial and Evernight nobles were quite familiar with this tactic.

    The small human squad thus left the massive fortress behind and inched closer to the ck pir of mes. Even the ordinary soldiers could see it now.

    Half a dayter, they arrived at the foot of the tall mountain.

    Standing less than a thousand meters tall, this mountain wasn¡¯t all that high. However, it was the only high-ground in the t region. The geography at the summit wasplicated, with giant rocks dotting the area. These rocks closer to the sinkhole were round and smooth, a feature that had formed after prolonged exposure to the mes.

    The mountaintop was even more advantageous for them than Qianye had anticipated. The wide road leading to the sinkhole was under the control range of this mountain. upying this peak effectively cut off the connection between the sinkhole and the fortress as they could fire upon anyone trying to travel between them.

    The mountaintop was still hot at this point, so much so that even champions were sweating and ordinary soldiers found it difficult to bear with the heat. This was probably why the dark races hadn¡¯t upied this ce yet.

    The mes were already weakening by the day, so it was likely that troops would be able to upy the peak in a few days¡¯ time.

    ncing at the surroundings, Duke Minghai and Duke Wenyuan were both somber. Fighting here would demand even more resources than normal. Their supply of drinking water alone wouldn¡¯tst that long.

    Qianye gazed at the distant sky, at a small ck dot that was moving toward them at a leisurely pace. The dukes eventually realized that the approaching object was actually a void colossus. It was just that the creature was sporting dozens of origin-sails on its back, an odd integration of human technology.

    ¡°Martyr¡¯s Pce!¡± Duke Minghai cried out.

    It was no secret that Qianye possessed the Martyr¡¯s Pce. The humans had relied on this massive airship to destroy two duke-grade vessels on the void-continent and im victory. The only problem was that few had everid eyes on the airship despite its fame. Even Duke Minghai and Wenyuan took a while to snap out of their reverie.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce arrived slowly, stirring quite a bit of ruckus in the Evernight fortress.

    It was flying well beyond the fortress¡¯ firing range. Moreover, the Evernight side never had any air force advantage, to begin with. Most of their airsh.i.p.s here were just for transport since they couldn¡¯t bear to mobilize those expensive ones. None of their experts dared fly up to fight the colossus, either.

    The more intricate and advanced the airsh.i.p.s were, the faster they would degrade in the adverse environment of cksun Valley. And there was no need for such advanced vessels unless mobility was a requirement.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce traveled unobstructed until it slowly descended onto the mountain peak.

    The great army everyone was expecting did not appear as the doors flew open; only Caroline walked out with a big crate.

    ¡°This is the thing you want.¡±

    Qianye scanned the box, saying, ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°And this, I managed to get one after paying an exorbitant price.¡± Caroline passed Qianye a tightly sealed box.

    ¡°Whose is it?¡±

    ¡°It should be the Longevity Monarch¡¯s.¡±

    Duke Minghai and Wenyuan exchanged nces, realizing the topic of that conversation. The box contained an origin bullet imbued with the Longevity Monarch¡¯s origin power, and there was no need to exin who that bullet was for. What shocked them was how such a treasure would actually leak out.

    Qianye weighed the box in his hand. ¡°A thousand years of development, yet there will always be maggots in the Empire.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s inevitable. As long as the backbone isn¡¯t rotten, the general situation will remain intact.¡± Duke Wenyuan understood quite well.

    Qianye put away the box and said to the two dukes. ¡°Your journey with me ends here, the Martyr¡¯s Pce will send you back to the rear base. Come find me seven dayster when the pir of ck mes subsides.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± the dukes cried out in rm.

    ¡°From here on out is my battle, you two will lead our troops back. All the soldiers who have managed to get this far are great men. Don¡¯t sacrifice them needlessly. Now, get on the airship!¡±

    The two dukes weren¡¯t willing, but they didn¡¯t know how to refuse Qianye¡¯s order. The same went for all other soldiers. An impatient Caroline began rushing them; the environment here was too adverse. The longer the Martyr¡¯s Pce remained here, the greater the risks.

    The two dukes boarded the pce reluctantly. As the massive vessel took to the air, all the men were crowded around the windows.

    On the summit. Qianye had produced a big g and written a giant ¡°Ye¡± on it, thest word of his name. He was satisfied as he observed his very own standard.

    As the Martyr¡¯s Pce drilled into the clouds, that big g fluttered proudly in the air.

    Qianye sat down beneath the g, waiting quietly for the dark race army to arrive.

 Chapter 1356: Focused Killing

    <h4>Chapter 1356: Focused Killing</h4>

    Within the Evernight Fortress, severalrge slender sh.i.p.s had justnded. They brought a new batch of soldiers for rotating duty and the necessary supplies.

    Duke Dominica was there to inspect the resources. He nodded satisfactorily after seeing some specially-marked cold storage boxes. These boxes contained premium ingredients and wine for the nobles in the fortress.

    Only good food and wine could bring joy to Dominica while in this fortress. He quietly counted the days to himself. ¡°Seven days, just seven more days...¡±

    He nced at the time and felt better since it was only one hour until dinner time. What surprise would the chef bring him today?

    He walked toward the main building in anticipation.

    He was merely in charge of this fortress, but Nighteye held the highest authority in the new world. Following Duke Rodney¡¯s reduction to a glorious marquis, not even dukes dared to challenge her authority again.

    After all, the Eternal me didn¡¯t react in the slightest while the Demon King only feigned ignorance about this matter. Perhaps the demonkin might find a way to get their revenge at ater date, but for now, they had no choice but to endure.

    As Dominica saw it, Nighteye¡¯s life was one of bitter cultivation. She only ate simple food every day and refused to touch wine, drinking only water.

    The duke simply couldn¡¯t understand what her great strength and authority were for. Life was long; shouldn¡¯t one fill it up with good food, drinks, and enjoyment?

    After a moment of distraction, Dominica decided to head to his personal dining hall. The table there was probably filled with meticulously prepared cuisine by now.

    He had just left thending pad when a viscount ran over hastily. ¡°Sire, things aren¡¯t looking good!¡±

    Dominica¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Why are you so fl.u.s.tered?¡±

    The viscount said, ¡°You¡¯ll know when you see it.¡±

    Dominica wasn¡¯t happy about his ruined dinner ns. He followed the viscount with a gloomy expression, nning to punish the tactless bastard if there was no good reason.

    After ascending the watchtower, the viscount passed him a pair of binocrs and pointed in a certain direction. Snorting heavily, Dominica pped the binocrs away and focused his vision in the direction.

    A lone peak appeared at the far end of his vision. It was just that something seemed to have appeared on the barren peak.

    Dominica¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He rose into the air and flew toward the mountain; he needed to confirm what he had seen just now.

    He rushed back in the blink of an eye, crying hysterically before he had evennded. ¡°Assemble the troops! Assemble the troops! Mobilize every avable unit! Attack that mountain, we must take it down before midnight!¡±

    Momentster, an ear-piercing whistle echoed through the base. Soldiers rushed out of their barracks, some still holding the armor as they didn¡¯t have time to put it on. The marquises shuttled through the chaotic drill grounds, shouting at the top of their lungs in search of their own units.

    The warehouse doors were opened, and piles of heavy shields and axes were distributed to the werewolves and demonkin.

    The entire scene was a mess. The supply officers were busy noting down the withdrawals and roaring at the soldiers. Their shouts were in vain, however¡ªthe violent werewolves and arachne mmed the officers away and began picking up whatever they wanted before heading over to assemble.

    A cloud of steam emerged from the fortress as therge, hundred-ton gates slid open under thebined effort of the machine and gears.

    The squads preparing to assume duty drove out of the fortress, finally making space for more soldiers to assemble in the drill grounds. Just like that, one mobile squad after another equipped themselves and left the fortress.

    Seeing the resting, heavy-armored units beginning to assemble, Domnica seemed to remember something all of a sudden. ¡°Tell the remaining forces to remain on standby. Let¡¯s send.... thirty thousand troops first. Contact Demonkin Duke Tanner and the Arachne Duke Ben, tell them that they must arrive before midnight.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Excellency,¡± the aide duly conveyed the orders. He was a bit curious, however, not understanding what the conflicting orders meant.

    If he did think highly of the enemy forces, why would he only dispatch thirty thousand soldiers out of the two hundred thousand? If he didn¡¯t think too highly of them, why did he summon the two dukes as though he were about to face a great enemy? And why did he not report such an important development to Nighteye?

    The aide remained puzzled, but the frontline marquis had gotten their answer.

    As they arrived at the mountain peak, they saw the g fluttering in the wind. They also saw their enemy.

    There was only one person.

    The group of marquises was stunned as they gazed at the man under the fluttering g. They knew he was Qianye and just how terrifying he was. Yet, what was this scene before them? Was this man going to challenge the entirety of Evernight by himself?

    Had Qianye gone crazy? Or was this world crazy?

    The marquises stood for a good while before confirming that they had not made a mistake. Their forces had long since spread out behind them and surrounded the lone peak, waiting for the next order. However, the order they were waiting for didn¡¯te even after a long while.

    Everyone looked up at that g on the summit. Every stroke of that ¡°Ye¡± was akin to a peerless sword strike; simply watching it made one¡¯s eyes ache.

    Slowly, the forces began to grow restless and some impulsive soldiers felt humiliated by this development. They wanted to charge up in a frenzy and attack Qianye¡ªand some of them did that.

    An arachne viscount roared at the sky. Brandishing a heavy shield and axe, he turned into his spider form and shot toward the summit. Many other arachne warriors were agitated by his roar and followed suit.

    The werewolf soldiers nearby also went berserk and started to break rank. Steep precipices and tnd made little difference to them.

    The vampires didn¡¯t move. The demonkin were smaller in number, to begin with, and most of them were long-range attackers positioned in the rear.

    The arachne viscount raised his limbs and swung his axe at the target with thunderous momentum!

    Qianye finally moved.

    He stood up and drew East Peak, which he had nted in the ground beside him. He returned to his original spot after a single horizontal sweep, and East Peak was once again in the ground.

    The arachne viscount¡¯s upper body flew over Qianye. He was still holding tightly onto the axe, the momentum from which flung the bisected upper body to the other side of the mountain.

    The lower half of the viscount¡¯s body charged past Qianye and crashed into some stone pirs, its limbs still moving subconsciously. The sharp forelimb produced sparks as they scratched the ground but couldn¡¯t leave any marks.

    The arachne viscount¡¯s death did nothing to intimidate the rest of the crazed dark race experts. As the horde arrived, Qianye finally picked up East Peak and shot into the enemy forces.

    In the eyes of the distant marquises, Qianye¡¯s every move was clear, rhythmic, and devoid of any excess. It was as though they had returned to their youths when their instructor was demonstrating a high-level sword art.

    Just as the marquises were engrossed in the swordy, they heard a sigh from above. ¡°Such... concentration!¡±

    The group looked up to find that Dominica had appeared at some point. He was standing in the air, distracted as he gazed at Qianye from above.

    Dominica was in apletely different realm. His reminder allowed everyone to see what was different.

    Qianye was quiet, concentrated, and each of his strikes was iparably serious. He treated even the most ordinary of soldiers like a great enemy, avoiding the slightest of mistakes and leaving no opening at all. Just like that, he kept on killing with great focus¡ªit felt as though he could slowly whittle away a million-strong army.

    Qianye was like an intricate yet reliable machine made to take life from the moment he was born.

    Slowly, a formless chill arose in the hearts of the marquises that sapped them of the will to fight. They had a feeling that Qianye would kill them with a single sh even if they did go up, no different from how he was killing those soldiers.

    The calm Qianye was the most terrifying.

    At this moment, this man was a god of war.

    The marquises turned to Dominica without prior arrangement; only a duke might be able to take Qianye¡¯s attacks at this point. Yet, they found that Dominica¡¯s hands were shaking¡ªunbeknownst to the duke himself.

    Dominical screamed, ¡°Attack! Everyone, attack! Whoever kills him, I will grant a drop of origin blood!¡±

    The marquises were shocked, their minds filled with a sense of uneasiness. They exchanged nces in the face of the attack order, yet not one of them moved.

    Ordinary dark race soldiers couldn¡¯t see what was happening behind the scenes. All they could tell was that Qianye was being surrounded and fighting for his life. Encouraged by the promise of origin blood, they forgot about the terror of death and charged toward the mountain peak.

    Dominica red sharply at the group of marquises who had stayed behind, but thetter simply feigned ignorance. All of them remained nailed to the ground and didn¡¯t move.

    Snorting heavily, Dominica¡¯s figure flickered out of existence. He had gone back to the fortress.

    Once in the stronghold, he issued a loud order, ¡°All troops assemble! Move out and attack ording to your roster sequence, three divisions every hour. Also, send for the two dukes immediately. Tell them that they must arrive ahead of time! Tell them... tell them it¡¯s her majesty¡¯s orders!¡±

    The aide was shocked out of his wits. ¡°Erm... should we let Her Majesty now?¡±

    Dominica red at him. ¡°I think we need to rece you.¡±

    The aide replied hurriedly, ¡°Sire, please forgive me. I¡¯ll get it done immediately!¡±

    Yet, everything was toote¡ªDominica had thrust his sword through the man¡¯s blood core. The duke kicked the aide¡¯s body away and grabbed a nearby viscount, ¡°From now on, you¡¯re my aide-de-camp, understand? Go and ry my orders.¡±

    The new aide left swiftly.

    He looked a bit better for a moment, but his countenance darkened when he nced at the g in the distance. He really wanted to know how many of their two hundred thousand soldiers that man could kill?

 Chapter 1357: Like the Night Eternal

    <h4>Chapter 1357: Like the Night Eternal</h4>

    This question in Dominica¡¯s mind was something both Duke Tanner and Ben wanted to know. When they arrived, the small mountain peak was already full of dark race corpses, and more were falling off the sides because there was no more space.

    The battle on the summit was still ongoing. That man¡¯s figure shuttled back and forth¡ªneither slowing down nor speeding up as he reaped all life around him.

    The g was still flying.

    Duke Tanner said unhappily, ¡°Why are there so many vampire survivors? When did they be such cowards?¡±

    Dominica mocked, ¡°There are even fewer demonkin casualties, where have they gone?¡±

    ¡°Thest duke to die died in your race¡¯s hands.¡±

    Dominica smiled coldly. ¡°You dare question Her Majesty? Looks like you want to experience the life of a glorious marquis again.¡±

    Tanner went quiet with a fearful expression. Nighteye¡¯s several bloody incidents had proven that provoking her was stupid, no matter who it was.

    Ben cut the two of them short at this point. ¡°Are you guys going to ignore his arrogance?¡±

    Dominica and Tanner remained silent in tacit agreement.

    Ben pointed at that g. ¡°That g is flying right before hundreds of thousands of Evernight soldiers! What we do today will be passed down in history. If we cannot put it down today, how will we go back and face the Evernight Council?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Dominica didn¡¯t find this embarrassing at all. ¡°I¡¯ve been a member for far too long, it¡¯s fine to resign from my position.¡±

    Tanner wasn¡¯t that shameless, but he didn¡¯t say anything, either.

    Ben was fuming in anger. The arachne were an impatient race, to begin with, and this one had an especially bad temper. He immediately tore off his robes to reveal a set of dark scarlet armor, shouting, ¡°I thought the vampires are a true noble race that seeks glory and faith. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d be such cowards! Look! Look at that human, have you no shame calling yourselves a superior race?¡±

    In the army below, many titled vampire experts lowered their heads in shame.

    ¡°This battle will add another arachne legend to the history of this world!¡± Ben produced a long battle axe and roared at the sky. He then charged toward the mountain peak with the speed of wind.

    Dominica and Tanner exchanged nces,ughing as they noticed the pity in each other¡¯s eyes. They seemed to have grown even closer than before.

    Ben swept all the soldiers away with a swing of his axe. He then stared at Qianye, saying, ¡°Ben Teaker of the Silvernk Tribe is here to fight you! Don¡¯t think Jaero is the only fearless long-lived race.¡±

    Qianye remained devoid of joy and sorrow. Without so much as a word, he shed nimbly at the arachne duke, as if thetter was no different from an ordinary soldier.

    Bennded on the ground and transformed into hisbat state! The mountain peak trembled under the impact, which he leveraged to swing his axe at Qianye.

    The duke¡¯s giant arachnid body was shaken as the sword and axe met, pushing his limbs deep into the ground. Qianye¡¯s strike was unimaginably heavy!

    Ben hadn¡¯t caught his breath when Qianye¡¯s second sh arrived. The duke raised his axe with both hands to block the attack, but the third ones followed, then the fourth. There seemed to be no end to the attacks.

    Qianye held his de with both hands, reaching a level of focus that could only be described as zealous. The strikes came one after another, like a constant drizzle of spring rain that covered the arachne duke.

    Underneath those silent, well-oiled movements, every sword strike was extremely powerful and propelled in a fashion that drained the most origin power.

    Ben suddenly realized that Qianye hadn¡¯t held back at all. He no longer needed to use the eight strikes of Sweeping Calm because the first blow was no weaker than thest.

    He was facing the strongest version of Qianye, one who gave no thought about the future.

    Understanding this, Ben erupted in a loud roar and unleashed his full power. This pushed Qianye back for half a step, giving the arachne time to raise his deformed axe. His strength rose sharply with the repeated surge of darkness origin power; he was burning his life force!

    An earth-shattering roar echoed in cksun Valley. The axe containing the power of a duke¡¯s lifetime thus descended¡ªthen froze halfway through.

    Qianye had blocked this destructive attack and flicked a luminous feather into the duke¡¯s arachnid core.

    Despite losing his strength, a trembling Ben pressed down on the axe with all his might.

    A fluctuation finally appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes. He loosened his right hand slightly and allowed the axe to fall onto his shoulder. A thin wound opened on his skin, and a drop of fiery blood seeped out.

    Looking relieved, Ben heaved a long sigh. ¡°I finally... wounded you.¡±

    ¡°You could¡¯ve fled. Why didn¡¯t you run?¡±

    Benughed. ¡°Run? How can I?¡±

    He pointed at the g with trembling hands. ¡°After you erected... this standard, I can no longer run. Everyone up there is watching... both from the Empire and... Evernight. My tribesmen, my children, and my descendants, everyone is watching! As a warrior, I must... die... standing...¡±

    Ben¡¯s voice faded away.

    Qianye grabbed the arachne¡¯s hand and carried him to the g. ¡°You are a true warrior. Stay there under my banner and watch my battle.¡±

    ¡°Very well...¡± Ben¡¯s head hung down, but his body remained standing.

    Far in the distance, the mockery on Dominic and Tanner¡¯s faces had disappeared.

    ¡°Avenge the duke!!!¡± No one knew which arachne expert shouted, but it sessfully stirred up the arachne forces. Countless spiders fought their way to the peak and swarmed Qianye.

    Corpses fell like rain once more, but with bloodshot eyes, the arachne soldiers pushed through theirrades¡¯ corpses and climbed up the mountain. They hoped to kill that man before their duke¡¯s corpse.

    This was a formidable force no matter the era, but unfortunately, their opponent was Qianye¡ªjust as it was for the true warrior, Ben.

    That night, he was a true god of war.

    No one knew what he was thinking, or what emotions he was harboring while cutting down enemies in the thousands. Perhaps his heart was just like his eyes, deathly cold and silent.

    Dominica felt that this man was already dead. It was not his body that had died, but his heart.

    He didn¡¯t know what made him feel this way. He was never a close friend of Qianye; he had never even seen the man before. Why would he feel this way?

    An unknown length of time went by as squad after squad of dark race soldiers climbed the peak, never to return. At first, it was only the arachne leading the charge, but the werewolves joined inter on, followed by increasing numbers of demonkin and even vampires.

    The night eventually ended and dawn arrived.

    The king¡¯s standard was still flying.

    Dominica and Tanner were still standing in the air like statues. Ben¡¯s body was still standing under the royal standard, bearing witness to this historic moment.

    At some point, a vague suppressive feeling began to fill the atmosphere. A true powerhouse was watching this ce from far out in the void, but no one knew if it was a supreme, a great dark monarch, or a heavenly monarch.

    All they did was watch silently.

    There was a tremendously powerful aura above all, and that was the will of the new world. It had alsoe to watch the battle between those that were no more than ants to him.

    Who would¡¯ve thought this fight would turn into an epic battle involving both factions? All of this came to be because of that g.

    A demonkin marquis suddenly appeared in front of the two dukes. He bowed in greeting before saying to Tanner, ¡°Uncle, our demonkin race must have its glory and dignity as well. We cannot let the arachne be the only race of true warriors. I¡¯m heading out, please tell my father that I didn¡¯t shame the Masefield family.¡±

    Tanner looked solemn, but he eventually nodded. ¡°Go then, there will be a ce for you in the n¡¯s records.¡±

    The marquis bowed. He then drew his sword and shot toward the battlefield like a shooting star.

    His corpse fell from the mountain not long afterward. What remained of his sword stabbed into the ground near him, trembling from the impact.

    Countless demonkin soldiers charged past his corpse on their way to the mountain.

    After an unknown length of time, Tanner said, ¡°I thought I already understood a lot of things, but I just realized that I still have no answers.¡±

    Dominica asked, ¡°About?¡±

    Tanner said, ¡°I¡¯ve always wondered about the rise of the human race, just what their secret is. Are honor and dignity tangible? Can they bepared to over a thousand years of life? Which is more important?¡±

    Dominica felt that he didn¡¯t need to reply to this question because the answer was already clear. The words reached his lips, but he couldn¡¯t say them out loud.

    Tannerughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Now, I want to know the answers.¡±

    ¡°You, don¡¯t tell me...¡±

    Tanner said, ¡°Ben was right, our race, our children, everyone is watching us. It¡¯s not just now but in the future as well. Perhaps a thousand yearster, people will still mention our names when they talk about this battle. I don¡¯t want my descendants to feel shame at that point.¡±

    Dominica watched Tanner fly toward Qianye¡¯s royal standard. He felt something stuck in this throat, making it impossible for him to breathe.

    Momentster, Tanner barely propped himself up on his sword. Gazing at Qianye, he asked with great difficulty, ¡°That was...¡±

    ¡°The Shot of Inception.¡±

    ¡°Good. I... managed to injure you... too.¡± The glow of life slowly went out of Tanner¡¯s eyes.

    Qianye gave him no reply, and only carried his corpse to the g andid him down beside Ben. In addition to the two dukes, there were some marquis remains as well. The unworthy ones had already fallen off the cliffside.

    The blood battle went on without pause.

    Dominica suddenly woke up from his reverie. ¡°How long has it been.¡±

    One of his personal guards replied, ¡°Sire, it¡¯s the third day now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s gone on for that long. Unknowingly...¡± Domnica rubbed his face, his eyes subconsciously avoiding that g.¡±

    Therge banner was now soaked in blood, so much so that the words on it were no longer clear. Yet the duke could still feel every stroke of the word ¡°Ye¡± cutting his heart like a sword.

    Amotion arose in the troops below as a beautiful girl weaved through the crowd and appeared before Dominica.

    The duke¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He said in a trembling voice, ¡°W-Why are you here?¡±

    The girl went down on one knee. ¡°The vampires cannot stay out of this battle! Father, forgive me for I cannot listen to your orders this time.¡±

    The girl left like the wind, leaving Dominica with no strength to stop her.

 Chapter 1358: Like the Night Ends

    <h4>Chapter 1358: Like the Night Ends</h4>

    Qianye could no longer tell apart race and age. All he knew was that they were enemies.

    He had forgotten how many wounds he had sustained, nor how much blood he had shed. Pain no longer existed, only numbness. His heart was a sea of deathly cold and silence, seeking the most efficient way to take life.

    A beautiful vampire girl appeared before him, adding a bit of color to the battlefield. However, this color faded away very quickly, so much so that Qianye couldn¡¯t even remember whether she had retaliated or what the oue was. All he could focus on was the next enemy.

    All of a sudden, he heard a soft crack. The noise rumbled like thunder in his ears and woke him up. He looked back to find a werewolf soldier swinging his axe at the gpole.

    Qianye was furious!

    Before he could take action, however, a werewolf count dragged the soldier away. He pointed at Qianye while shouting at his subordinate.

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand the entirety of their conversation since they were talking in the werewolfnguage. The rough meaning was that they would need to kill Qianye in order to dismantle the g.

    The werewolf soldier looked embarrassed. He soon charged toward Qianye in a frenzy and was quickly turned into a corpse.

    This small interlude cleared up Qianye¡¯s sluggish thoughts. He nced at his surroundings and thrust East Peak into the ground, unleashing countless sanguine threads throughout the battlefield!

    It was just that there were too many dark race soldiers. Even Life Plunder could only clear away a small portion of the mountaintop.

    The soldiers charging up were stunned and soon plunged into despair.

    Tap, tap, tap!

    A continuous string of gunshots echoed atop the mountain. Just like crops being reaped, the Evernight soldiers copsed in droves. Counts, marquises, and ordinary soldiers¡ªeveryone arrived at the same fate.

    All the dark race experts were shocked. It was the Tempest!

    This time, the Evernight soldiers could not keep up with the Tempest¡¯s speed. If the fight before was a battle, then this one was more of a one-sided massacre.

    Dominica¡¯s expression shifted repeatedly. He simply couldn¡¯t understand why the Tempest wouldst so long. Qianye was firing the gun alone, without anyrades to supply him with energy.

    The duke finally approached the battlefield, but Qianye kept on firing without pause. A ck tome materialized above his head, its pages flipping as blood energy poured into Qianye¡¯s body like a waterfall. The power transformed into the Tempest¡¯s wrath which in turn wiped out everything in its wake.

    The duke tried several times to make up his mind, but in the end, he never dared to rush into the battlefield.

    Qianye shot him a nce before looking away. Dominica felt his face burning; it would seem he was no different from an ordinary soldier to Qianye. Perhaps he was even less than an ordinary soldier for he didn¡¯t dare enter the battlefield.

    The destructive power of the Tempest destroyed the Evernight army¡¯s will to fight. For the first time in three days and nights, Qianye had no more enemies to fight.

    He put down the Tempest and rented the tilted g.

    All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind filled the heavy banner and sent it fluttering in the wind.

    There were dark race corpses all around the lone peak, piling up from the bottom of the mountain like a big slope. The souls of a hundred thousand warriors had ignited into brilliant fireworks that illuminated the one and only royal standard.

    Everyone knew that the king beneath this g would copse at any moment, but no one could tell when. Perhaps in the next minute, perhaps never.

    The reason one Evernight soldier after the other had thrown themselves forward wasn¡¯t to kill Qianye. His name would be untarnished even if someone did manage to kill him. All they wanted to prove was the pride and dignity of the long-lived races, something that could not be profaned.

    It was just that Qianye was still standing while countless Evernight experts were already feeling exhausted.

    It wasn¡¯t quite fear but a tiredness born of despair.

    The Tempest wouldn¡¯tst long¡ªclear skies would follow the most violent of storms.

    If he were allowed to close the curtains in this manner, then there would only be one main character in this show. The countless experts of Evernight would be reduced to background characters. Few cared about how theter generations saw them, but it was extremely important under these circ.u.mstances.

    Dominica slowly drew his sword.

    Before he could take the field, however, a wave of cheers erupted throughout the area and countless soldiers fell to their knees. ¡°Her Majesty! It¡¯s Her Majesty!¡±

    Countless dark golden spider lilies appeared in the air, forming a radiant path from the fortress to the lone peak.

    Nighteye appeared on the other end of this road with Awakening Dream in her hands. Her peerless aura stifled everyone as she slowly walked along the floral road and onto the mountain peak.

    As she came to stand before Qianye, they each carved the other¡¯s figure deep into their hearts.

    ¡°Can you still fight?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Enough for onest attack.¡± A pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye. A speck of darkness emerged from the tip of his feathers and spread over the entire plumage. The legendary pair of ck wings had once again appeared in this world!

    Aplicated emotion appeared briefly on Nighteye¡¯s countenance. ¡°Very well! I shall use the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance to offer sacrifice to my de.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t all.¡± Qianye dropped the Tempest and produced Dragonsgrave along with a small box. A supreme daybreak aura shot into the sky as the casing was flipped open.

    Nighteye¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°The Longevity Monarch¡¯s power?! Very well, I can finally test myself against a heavenly monarch¡¯s power again."

    As though he heard nothing, Qianye pushed the bullet into Dragonsgrave and performed a weapons check. After confirming that everything was ready, he looked up at Nighteye.

    The ice in Qianye¡¯s eyes seemed to melt as he saw her, but the frost quickly reformed and settled.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t attack immediately and waited quietly until Qianye was ready. ¡°Ready?¡±

    ¡°Thest step.¡±

    Qianye unleashed a long howl.

    The ck wings behind him dispersed, its countless luminous feathers merging into Dragonsgrave like the raging tides.

    Gasps echoed through the field and many experts who had thought their victory was certain became restless. Even Domnica grasped his sword so tightly that his fingers were turning pale.

    It was at this moment that the Wings of Inception and Dragonsgrave became one with the power of the heavenly monarch. Qianye¡¯s final shot was likelyparable to an all-out attack from a heavenly monarch.

    Nighteye held her de in great focus. This was the first time she was going all out since her awakening.

    Far off in the distance, an airship was flying over at great speed. It was just that no one could pay attention to it at such a juncture.

    Nighteye cried out, ¡°Let¡¯s do this! Both the Empire and Evernight will witness our battle!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes reflected Nighteye¡¯s figure, shrouding it in shades of blue.

    His reflection was also in Nighteye¡¯s pupils, ravaged by des of dark golden blood energy.

    The Eye of Destruction against the Eye of Control!

    No one knew the oue of this showdown, nor did they need to know. At this silent moment, Nighteye could no longer move, and that origin bullet had left its chamber amidst a maelstrom of destructive power.

    This shot was an .u.mtion of Qianye¡¯s entire lifetime. It was unstoppable.

    A de radiance appeared in Nighteye¡¯s hands, a sh that stunned the entire world.

    In their daze, everyone seemed to have dreamt a deep, beautiful dream. There, they saw the pinnacle of power that they sought as experts. That shot was a perfect marriage of day and night, the ultimate destruction.

    That bullet flew into the air, tore through the cloudy sky and into the boundless void.

    Countless experts sighed¡ªthey had finally seen the ultimate pinnacle of power, even though it was only possible as a dream.

    Then, the dream awakened.

    They snapped back to reality as they gazed at the hole slowly closing in the sky. Why was thatst shot fired into the air?

    In the blink of an eye, countless eyes returned to the battlefield and the g.

    Life finally returned to Qianye¡¯s eyes, almost as though he were smiling. He was standing as straight as a javelin beneath the g¡ªthe muzzle of Dragonsgrave was aimed at the sky and the Awakening dream had pierced right through his chest.

    Nighteye¡¯s hands trembled uncontrobly.

    She suddenly let go of the de and caught Qianye in her arms. ¡°Y-You.... why...¡±

    Qianye said softly, ¡°It has been difficult. There¡¯s no other way, so I can only choose to escape...¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. I won¡¯t make it difficult for you anymore.¡±

    Qianye looked at her with gentle eyes. ¡°I... let you down. It wasn¡¯t... intentional... but I still... didn¡¯t know how to face you. Perhaps escape is the only release for me.¡±

    Nighteye could no longer control herself. She embraced him tightly, saying, ¡°I know, I know everything. I never med you. Let¡¯s not talk about that anymore, okay? Don¡¯t leave me. I beg you, don¡¯t leave me.¡±

    Qianye stroked her face gently. ¡°You¡¯ve awakened, you¡¯re no longer her. I just couldn¡¯t ept this fact... this kind of parting... isn¡¯t so bad...¡±

    ¡°No, no! I did awaken, but I¡¯m still Nighteye! I never changed!¡±

    However, Qianye¡¯s hand sank down and his voice faded away. Evernight Continent and Lighthouse town appeared in his vision. He had returned to that little tavern, with a half-lit sign that read Red Spider Lily.

    He had returned to where they had first met.

    ¡°Ah!!!¡± Nighteye roared at the sky.

    A thunderous explosion erupted, reducing the near-indestructible mountain peak to half of what it was.

    The experts instinctively erected origin power barriers to protect themselves from the terrifying power. By the time their vision cleared up, the summit was empty, and the two were nowhere to be found.

    The sound of rumbling engines arrived from over the horizon as countless airsh.i.p.s came into view. From their insignia, it would seem that the first, second, and third fleets of the Imperial Guard had arrived in full force.

    The gship rushed over at stunning speed, leaving the main fleet behind and paying no heed to the countless dark race forces that had assembled ahead.

    At the helm, Song Zining was leaning on the par.a.p.et. His hands suddenly went cold when he saw the mountain top.

 Chapter 1359: With All Karma Cleared, We Shall Meet Again

    <h4>Chapter 1359: With All Karma Cleared, We Shall Meet Again</h4>

    Aboard the gship, Song Zining started shouting like a madman, ¡°Attack! All forces, attack! I must kill all of these dark races!¡±

    Some aides surrounded Song Zining. ¡°Marshal, no! The fleet is way behind us and you haven¡¯t recovered yet. You¡¯ll die if you go over like this!¡±

    Song Zining struggled with all his might. ¡°Scram, give me the order seal, I must attack!¡±

    The generals grabbed him by the hands and legs, doing their utmost to keep him in check. The gship also slowed down a bit to allow the main fleet to catch up.

    Seeing the airship slowing down, Song Zining started shouting hysterically, ¡°How dare you disobey me and ruin important matters?! I¡¯ll execute your nine generations!¡±

    The officers paid him no heed and only held tighter onto him. It was apparent that Song Zining hadn¡¯t recovered because he couldn¡¯t break free despite being a divine champion.

    The airship gradually slowed down to a hovering pace. Song Zining said anxiously, ¡°Fine, you guys can stay, but let go of me and bring me my armor. I¡¯ll go myself, okay?¡±

    One of the generals said, ¡°Sire, you are a pir of the Empire. The Empire¡¯s fate for the next thirty years depends on you! Sire, you cannot act impulsively, the country is more important!¡±

    ¡°My brother is right there, and his fate is unknown! He fought the Evernight forces alone for four entire days! Howe you guys never talked about the country back then?!¡±

    The general only said, ¡°Please calm your anger, we were only acting on orders and had no choice. Please don¡¯t make this difficult for us.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s struggle weakened. He stopped moving all of a sudden and said coldly, ¡°I understand, let me go.¡±

    The generals exchanged nces, hesitating whether or not they should let the man go.

    Song Zining said calmly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m alive and well. Since you guys are handing me the Empire¡¯s fate for the next thirty years, isn¡¯t it better to not offend me? The only bad thing about me is that I hold grudges.¡±

    The shocked generals let go of him, but they still kept him surrounded for fear that something would happen to him.

    Song Zining patted his clothes. ¡°These robes are dirty now, get me a change of clothes and prepare tea!¡±

    A general went to fetch the clothes while another one went to prepare tea. The other four generals stayed close to Song Zining, not taking half a step away.

    Song Zining changed and enjoyed his tea quietly, almost as though nothing had happened. The generals secretly heaved a sigh of relief but also felt a strange chill down their spines.

    The gship finally joined the Imperial Guard fleet, and hundreds of airsh.i.p.s bore down on the dark races with earth-shattering momentum.

    The Empire had mobilized all of its elites for this operation. The Evernight side held great numbers, but they had suffered gravely in Qianye¡¯s hands; at the moment, morale was already at rock bottom. Moreover, they were all made up of ground forces since no one had imagined the Empire would attack with their fleet.

    Hence, the battle ended with the dark race¡¯s expected defeat and subsequent retreat to their fortress. How could the Imperial fleet stop there? They quickly fell into an aerial formation andunched a follow-up assault, seeking to destroy Evernight¡¯s core fortress in one fell swoop.

    At this moment, everyone in the area began to feel suffocated. Like fish removed from water, they grabbed at their throats in a vain attempt to inhale yet no air came in.

    The Imperial fleet fell into chaos. Several vessels began to spin, crash into one another, and slowly drift toward the ground.

    Fortunately, the Imperial Guard was full of talented officers. One of them channeled his origin power and transmitted his voice to the entire fleet, ¡°This is a suppressive might! Use your origin power to protect your mind! All champions, protect your subordinates.¡±

    Themand proved rather effective. Order was quickly restored in the fleet, but most of the crew still required protection from the foreign power. There was no way to fight under such circ.u.mstances.

    The dark races weren¡¯t in a better state. The fortress was now deathly silent¡ªthe fierce counterattack was gone, much like a meek young girl who had been stripped bare. It was just that the attackers were in no condition to invade, either.

    Song Zining sat at the helm,pletely unaffected by the developments. All he did was smile coldly.

    A burly man walked up to the deck inrge strides and bowed. ¡°I¡¯m sure Marshal Song has things nned out, can you give us some instructions?¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t even look at him. He sipped a mouthful of tea before saying, ¡°This is Commander Fang¡¯s first time here, so it¡¯s only normal that you¡¯re not familiar with the ce. That suppressive might we felt is the malicious intent we were talking about. Since it has arrived, we¡¯ll be provoking it if we keep on fighting.¡±

    General Fang was bewildered, so he could only ask again, ¡°What should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Wait?¡±

    ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°It normally leaves after a day or two.¡±

    ¡°A day or two!¡± Command Fang gnashed his teeth. ¡°The fleet willst half a day at most! Any longer and we¡¯ll lose all the airsh.i.p.s here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t take my word for it. Just look at what happened with just a gaze, can you keep on fighting like this?¡±

    General Fang was no longer calm. ¡°This is just a gaze?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡±

    Themander was livid. Momentster, he said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, we might have to retreat.¡±

    Song Zining stood up at this point and pointed upward. ¡°There¡¯s no rush. Those above are probably negotiating right now. There will be a result before long.¡±

    ¡°Those above?¡± Commander Fang was dazed.

    Song Zining couldn¡¯t be bothered to exin. He walked over to the edge of the airship and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to take a look at where my brother fell. I¡¯m not rushing to my death, so you don¡¯t need to send anyone after me.¡±

    With that, Song Zining leaped off the deck and, like a willow leaf, drifted toward the isted peak.

    ¡°Good skills!¡± Commander Fang praised secretly. Song Zining was still quite weak, so he shouldn¡¯t have been able to fly. Yet, he had utilized what little origin power he could muster to soar freely like a bird.

    Commander Fang understood that he was far from that level of origin power control. He became even more surprised after thinking about it. Even someone like Song Zining was seriously injured in a showdown against Nighteye who woke up only recently. Just how powerful was thatdy?

    Commander Fang suddenly felt relieved that the Imperial Guard was never sent into the new world. Otherwise, it would be quite the misfortune if they were to run into Nighteye.

    Song Zining¡¯s sleeves were like wings that carried him to the mountain peak. Fragmented scenes of the battle appeared as he paced around the ce. Many of the images were of dark race corpses, some on the ground and others falling through the air. Many others were just unrecognizable specks of light.

    Song Zining walked around, observing quietly until he arrived at a high ground.

    This was where the peak used to be, where Qianye had fought his final battle. Song Zining arrived at the ce where the royal banner had stood tall; he could almost look up and see the flying standard.

    What was Qianye¡¯s mood when he nted this banner here to challenge the dark races? There was no one to apany him but his sword.

    That g was gone, just like the mountain top.

    Song Zining knelt on one knee in front of the g. ¡°I arrived toote, Qianye. Give me thirty years! I will clear away all gratitude and grudges in three decades. I will help you get back everything you were owed. After thirty years, when all karma has been severed, we shall meet again.¡±

    He stood up slowly and swung his sleeve with a cold smile. ¡°From now on, no one can restrain me. Who have I ever feared on the path of tactics?¡±

    Song Zining waspletely calm by the time he was back on the gship. General Fang had been observing him in secret, but he never figured out what exactly the seventh young master wanted to do. He really didn¡¯t want to go against Song Zining, so it was a relief to find him back in one piece.

    ¡°Marshal Song, when will those above finish their negotiations. Our men can¡¯t hold out much longer.¡±

    ¡°The same goes for the dark races, so it will end very soon.¡±

    General Fang was a bit hesitant. ¡°How do you know the dark races can¡¯t hold out?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Because they have more experts among them, and that attracts more of the new world¡¯s malicious intent.

    General Fang sighed in relief, but he quickly realized that something was off. ¡°Does that mean we¡¯ll lose if we actually start fighting?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s likely from the looks of it.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t Qianye kill over a hundred thousand dark races? Their corpses are still there.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression betrayed his emotions as he turned toward the Evernight Fortress. ¡°Qianye killed almost half of their forces, but most of the demonkin and vampire experts remain. We¡¯re still at a disadvantage against their two racesbined.¡±

    General Fang bowed. ¡°Thank you for the exnation.¡±

    Song Zining had regained hisposure when he turned around. ¡°You¡¯re being too polite! Don¡¯t hesitate to ask if there¡¯s anything I can help with.¡±

    General Fang replied hurriedly, ¡°No way, we¡¯re the ones looking forward to your guidance.¡±

    It was already a known fact that Song Zining was adept in strategy. The copse of the situation after his injury further proved his ability as a leader.

    Only after these difficult times did people from the Empiree to understand how difficult it was for him to produce such glorious results back in the year with such limited resources.

    Song Zining had finally woken up, and his foundations were unharmed. Recovery was only a matter of time, and he would surely obtain great authority in the Empire sooner orter.

    Commander Fang was building friendly rtionsh.i.p.s with Song Zining because he had realized this. Some words of guidance from him during difficult times would be extremely helpful.

    Song Zining had his own ns as well. The two seemed to have hit it off quite well after he made a sharp switch from the initial mockery to cordial friendship.

    It was at this time that Profundity Monarch¡¯s voice echoed through the skies, ¡°This is an order! Unload the soldiers and cargo at the following location and build a base there. The Imperial Guard fleet shall return to the Empire.¡±

    Origin power gathered at the center of the Imperial forces, forming a map of the sinkhole region. There was a mark near it to show the new base¡¯s location.

    The new base was several hundred kilometers away from the Evernight fortress, forming a triangle with the sinkhole as the apex.

    It was clear that they had reached an agreement with the Evernight faction. The surprisedmander was now entirely convinced of Song Zining¡¯s wisdom.

    The seventh young master picked up his teacup and finished his drink. A cold smile emerged on his countenance, hidden behind his long sleeves.

    Orders were issued in the Evernight fortress as well, and a council member arrived to takemand.

    As for how confused, surprised, and angry the dark race survivors were about this ceasefire, that was no longer important.

    Several energy fluctuations spread out in all directions. One of them shot through a demonkin door, manifesting as a number of silhouettes in the void above one of their continents.

    The Demon King was still cloaked in ayer of mist. ¡°What¡¯s the situation on Habsburg¡¯s side?¡±

    ¡°The ming Crown is still behind closed doors.¡± The one replying was the chairman of the Evernight Council.

    The Demon King chuckled. ¡°Habsburg¡¯s recuperation seems to be taking quite a bit longer, so long that he could¡¯ve gone to the new world for a while.¡±

    The chairman mumbled, ¡°He had some obj... erm... concerns about joining the fight on the void continent. After the war, he refused to be debriefed by the council, and it was said that things turned pretty sour between him and Medanzo. Your Majesty, should we seek the Queen of the Night¡¯s opinion?¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°The void continent war has ended, what¡¯s there to debrief? There¡¯s no need to disturb Lilith at all. Why should I care about the vampire race¡¯s internal dispute regarding contributions? My dear Mark, you seem to have misunderstood my intention. I just wanted a certain item from the spoils of war Habsburg obtained. This is a personal deal, just a personal deal.¡±

    The chairman bowed. ¡°Yes, Your Majesty, it¡¯s a careless mistake on my part. I¡¯ll send someone to call on His Highness Habsburg again with generous gifts.¡±

    The Demon King turned to a tall young man, saying, ¡°Predica, you haven¡¯t seen Habsburg in a while, right?¡±

    This blond young man was d in a wizard¡¯s robe, and his countenance bore an inherent shade of haughtiness. His external appearance was more like a warrior than a prophet.

    Most Evernight nobles might not be familiar with him, but this young demonkin was extremely famous in the top circle. He was thest treasure of the Dark Nightmare, known as the Judgment Prophet. It was very likely that he would im the crown of number one prophet once he matured.

    Brows twitching, Predica said with a bow, ¡°When your subjectst saw Habsburg, neither of us hade of age. It has probably been a few decades. I have never left our traditional territory since awakening.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Then you go and meet him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, if Habsburg has any concerns, I can see him personally as well.¡± With that, the Demon King nodded at the chairman and vanished.

    Only after the ck mist before him had dispersed did Predica nce at the cloaked chairman. ¡°What happened?¡±

    No matter how polite the Demon King was, one must never ignore his dignity as the supreme darkness. Predica was close to the Demon King due to his birth and knew all too well about the decisiveness and tenacity hidden beneath his amiable demeanor.

    Recently, there had been a lot of undercurrents between the demonkin and the vampires. The friction wasn¡¯t quite contained even in the presence of human heavenly monarchs. There was no telling what would happen if the Demon King were to visit Habsburg in person.

    In truth, all the powerhouses in the council were feeling uneasy. Everyone was wondering if an irreversible conflict would break out between the young Demon King and the Queen of the Night who had ruled supreme for so many years.

    The council chairman was just as worried. He said after a moment of silence, ¡°Your Excellency Predica, I¡¯m actually not very sure about the details behind this. His Majesty has made a most generous offer in exchange for a certain looted item. I don¡¯t know what it is, and His Majesty never exined, but Habsburg surely knows. Thest couple of times, he said he didn¡¯t have that item.¡±

    Predica couldn¡¯t help but p his forehead. ¡°Oh my...¡± He then stopped speaking.

    The council chairman shot him a puzzled nce, suspecting that Predica already had the answers.

    But having lived more than a thousand years, the chairman didn¡¯t have much curiosity left in him. He waited patiently, but seeing that the man had no intention of borating, he summoned his subordinates to make arrangements.

 Chapter 1360: Those Who Forget to Fight Will Face Peril

    <h4>Chapter 1360: Those Who Forget to Fight Will Face Peril</h4>

    cksun Valley, the Empire¡¯s side.

    The Imperial Guard duly executed the heavenly monarch¡¯s orders. The fleet unloaded the ground forces and cargo at the designated location, then set out on the return journey.

    Tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers grasped this opportunity to begin constructing a fortress. No one knew when another attack woulde.

    These new soldiers weren¡¯t clear what had just happened, nor did they understand when the Empire regained the power to build another fortress. None of that was important to these ordinary soldiers because all that mattered was for them to have a defensive stronghold. The presence or absence of a fortress would make a big difference in the death toll.

    They didn¡¯t really care about what was going on above, only about how long they would survive.

    Now that Song Zining had woken up, he naturally resumed his post as themander of the Empire¡¯s forces in the new world. It was just that his body hadn¡¯t fully recovered, and there would be no active battles in the near future. So, he finally gave in to everyone¡¯s persuasion and went back to the Empire to rest for three days, getting a checkup in the process.

    After sending him away, the core generals finally heaved a sigh of relief. They no longer needed to worry about him dashing into the dark race camp.

    After returning to the Empire, Song Zining discovered that there was no news at all about thest battle at cksun Valley. All intelligence channels merely described the Empire¡¯s return to the valley and the ongoing construction work. There wasn¡¯t a single word about the process or any mention of Qianye¡¯s name.

    All records of Qianye¡¯s ragtag army¡ªa force that had broken through countless blockades and defeated forces several times their own¡ªhad been wiped clean.

    The weird thing was that the Evernight side was also quiet, almost as though their tremendous loss in titled experts didn¡¯t affect them at all.

    Duke Minghai and Xuke Wenyuan did receive their rewards but under a different name.

    Duke Wenyuan could only sigh when he heard of these developments. He was in no position to speak out as his crime had just been pardoned and the final processing had yet to bepleted. Not only had his faction offended the Radiant Emperor, but they also failed to gain the favor of Prince Greensun¡¯s group. They had beenpletely marginalized to the point where he couldn¡¯t get a glimpse of anything remotely ssified.

    Duke Minghai imed sickness and had applied for leave to recuperate in his hometown. The doc.u.ments had been delivered to the military but not yet approved.

    Liu Chengyun regained his old post. He went around begging everyone after being sent back to the Empire by Qianye and, in the end, his contributions weren¡¯t docked as Qianye had ordered. The old man was rather active in seeking more errands to do.

    Although he wasn¡¯t a part of the final assault, he had followed Qianye into several big battles before that. Those who survived such fights without injuries would always make some progress in cultivation, and Liu Chengyun¡¯s benefits weren¡¯t small. ording to the doctor, he would live ten more years at least.

    News of his prolonged lifespan changed everything. He started making ns for himself, no longer eager to earn contributions with hisst breath.

    Liu Chengyun hated Qianye to the bones for trying to dock his contribution points. Once he was free, the old man immediately submitted several memorials to the Imperial court, using Qianye of one crime after the other. Unfortunately, however, the old man failed to grasp what was going on in court. Some of the higher echelons didn¡¯t want to bring up Qianye¡¯s topic at all, be it good or bad.

    Liu Chengyun¡¯s memorials only invited severe rebuke from the Imperial court, and even the army corps assigned to him as a reward was revoked. His supporters also shut their doors and refused to meet him. In the end, Liu Chengyun couldn¡¯t act recklessly anymore and had no choice but to keep his grudges to himself.

    This was the scene Song Zining saw when he returned to the Empire.

    Many people believed that Song Zining would go about crying injustice for Qianye. Who would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d leave again after reading half an hour¡¯s worth of battle reports?

    Just as he was about to leave the military, a general called out to him. ¡°The elder prince wishes to invite you to his manor if you can spare some time.¡±

    Song Zining nced at the time. ¡°I¡¯ve heard so many good things about the food at the elder prince¡¯s residence but never had the opportunity to try. Judging from the time, I guess I¡¯ll be able to try the chef¡¯s cuisine today?¡±

    The generalughed. ¡°That¡¯s a given. The elder prince is already waiting at the table.¡±

    ¡°What are we waiting for then?¡±

    Momentster, Song Zining walked into the Pointer Monarch¡¯s residence where he was led to a pavilion by thekeside. The cutlery had beenid out on the table and the maids were starting to deliver the dishes.

    The Pointer Monarch was fishing at thekeside. He greeted the seventh young master upon noticing his arrival, ¡°Zining, you¡¯re here at the right time. Have a seat. These dishes won¡¯t taste as good if you were anyter.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t refuse the invitation. He sat down at the second seat and drank three cups with the Pointer Monarch.

    After three cups, the old monarch sent the attendants away with a wave of his hand.

    After there was no one around them, he said, ¡°Do you have any objections about how Qianye¡¯s case was handled?¡±

    ¡°Was it your idea?¡±

    ¡°Not entirely, but I did give them the nod.¡±

    Song Zining said after a moment of silence. ¡°It¡¯s impossible for me to be satisfied with this, but you must have your reasons for doing so. Zining wishes to know so that I¡¯ll learn how to handle such matters should they arise in the future.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°I know this isn¡¯t fair to Qianye. I was just like you guys at one point, I¡¯ve done my fair share of impulsive things. As I grew older, I came to understand that family and countrye before all.¡±

    Song Zining listened attentively.

    The Pointer Monarch sighed, ¡°You must¡¯ve heard some stories about my youth. Truth be told, that matter was stuck in my chest for an entire twenty years without pause. One day, I realized that the world is so big, with so many people. How can there be justice for everyone?

    The pointer monarch went down memoryne for a moment. ¡°Actually, Qianye received my inheritance and can be considered half a disciple. The Empire and I owe him too much. Do you know why I did what I did?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I understand Nighteye¡¯s matter. Although I don¡¯t know which ancient character she¡¯s awakened, she will be a cmity for the Empire once she¡¯s at full power. The Empire is in the process of resurgence and three supremes is already too much for us to handle. We cannot allow for a fourth.¡±

    ¡°That is indeed the case. Although I feel ashamed, I really have no choice. She might not have any enmity toward the Empire, but if one day she does, no one can shoulder that risk. We cannot allow it to happen even if the chances are one in ten thousand. A powerhouse like the one she¡¯s awakened has to be nibbed at the bud, or the Empire¡¯s resurgence might die young.¡±

    Song Zining nodded.

    The Pointer Monarch nced at him. ¡°Whether or not you understand now, you¡¯ll know ten yearster when the reigns of the Empire are in your hands.¡±

    Without waiting for a reply, the old man continued, ¡°Do you know what we¡¯ve been relying on to sustain the people¡¯s fighting spirit?¡±

    This was a difficult question. Although Song Zining knew a fair bit of history, he wasn¡¯t a researcher in this area. He felt that there were numerous answers but none of them sounded right.

    Noticing the silence, the Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Those of a different race will always have different intentions. These words were left behind by the founding ancestor.¡±

    ¡°This...¡± Song Zining hadn¡¯t guessed this would be the answer. He had found himself growing quite averse to these words in recent years. At the very least he wouldn¡¯t just bundle all dark races up into one.

    The Pointer Monarchughed. ¡°The Empire now has billions of people under its rule. So many people, so many differences, how many of them do you think are educated enough to know reason? Most of them toil to get through the day and all they want is to rx, there¡¯s no use reasoning with them. The only way to unite everyone is amon enemy. A strong, evil, and extreme enemy that can¡¯t be easily defeated, best add a deep mutual hatred and a sea of blood to the story.

    ¡°After the Empire built its first foundation, the generation that had suffered the cruelty of the dark races were starting to leave this world. The newer generations wanted a peaceful life. They had never experienced being raised like livestock nor the fear of being eaten any day. They didn¡¯t want to, either. Taking the temporary peace for granted, they felt that a single continent was enough to live and multiply on. The grey deals they made under the table became a future for them to look forward to.

    ¡°The popr thought among the people was that the humans had proven that they were independent and free, that the ceasefire was proof of that. They felt that the ceasefire should be expanded into a permanent agreement for peace. The holy war between the dark races was due to conflicts .u.mted over tens of thousands of years. The humans didn¡¯t have this kind of history with them, so peaceful coexistence wasn¡¯t out of reach. It was then that the elders realized the founding ancestor¡¯s foresight and the words he had spoken. Since then, the Empire stopped tolerating any other race¡ªin the eyes of ordinary people, at least. Then they used various channels at their disposal to spread news about the dark races¡¯ violent conduct. Just like that, the hatred grew with each generation until this very day.¡±

    Song Zining listened with bated breath.

    ¡°With an external enemy, things became easier to manage inside the Empire. All the major aristocratic families and ns understood this logic. Besides, the war with Evernight was simply a fight for resources¡ªa contest between and within factions. As the nobility grew stronger, the resources they needed increased as well, so a fight was inevitable. Look at the four major ns and all aristocratic families, all of them own industries rted to war.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. The Song n had made a fair bit of their fortune in arms, and their crafts manor was also famous throughout the world. They could even build airsh.i.p.s on their own. Other big ns like the Bai n excelled in making armor, while the Yin family specialized in ammunition.

    ¡°I know you¡¯ve seen a lot of mutual exchanges between the Empire and Evernight. Just think about it, whatmon traits do they share?¡±

    Song Zining saw through the point. ¡°They¡¯re all rted to the top powerhouses.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. The Imperial family, the major ns, and the military understand this very clearly. Evernight has the resources we need, and we also have things they want. Dealings were inevitable. We were afforded an advantage in price because their races were locked in a holy war. This has contributed much to the growth of the Empire as a whole.¡±

    That was indeed the case. The higher Song Zining¡¯s position grew the more frequently he saw dealings between the two factions. Yet, the Empire had only grown stronger instead of weakening.

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°These mutually beneficial arrangements had to be in the hands of the major ns. Otherwise, ordinary people will find out that the dark races are potential business partners, that they have their own reasoning and dignity, just like humans.

    ¡°It¡¯s human nature to fear difficulty and seek easiness, to the point where they would start to entertain impractical illusions. Just look at the provinces that haven¡¯t fought in territorial wars for a long time, see how they were easily routed by the beast army of the new world? Will humans have eternal peace today if we had secured a seat at the Evernight Council? Ignoring the small races that have disappeared throughout history, just look at the werewolves¡¯ situation. It¡¯s only been a thousand years since they lost their supreme.¡±

    ¡°The bloodthirsty will surely die, and those who forget how to fight will surely be in peril. The founding ancestor and predecessors sacrificed their blood and bones for the human race¡¯s honor. They didn¡¯t do it just so we can join their council, follow their rules, and ultimately disappear as a declining race. This world was full of darkness, to begin with. We, humans, were always the aliens here.¡±

 Chapter 1361: A Perfect Solution (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1361: A Perfect Solution (Part 1)</h4>

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s words left Song Zining with no answer.

    The monarch sighed after a moment of silence. ¡°The higher one¡¯s position is, the more the country means for them. You¡¯re now a pir of the Empire, so you¡¯ll start to see this. For the country and for the human race, you sometimes have to do things that go against your heart.¡±

    Song Zining finally spoke, ¡°What I fear is that some are waving this g of justice on the surface, then doing shady business for their personal benefit.¡±

    ¡°Everyone is selfish. What can you do when you¡¯re in a high position? Can you stop everyone?¡±

    Song Zining shook his head after some thought. People would always find loopholes to exploit, harming the country and its people. The worst kind were those not seeking money, but rather taking advantage of the reason to harm people. The Pointer Monarch was right; there was no way to stop them.

    ¡°How do we deal with them, then?¡± Song Zining asked humbly.

    The Pointer Monarch replied, ¡°Only two words, one is ¡®block¡¯ and the other is ¡®hold.¡¯ Try to nip them at the bud and stop the source, which is the so-called block. Hold means to hold everyone ountable for every crimemitted, make no exceptions for anyone. Over time, people will be fearful and naturally avoid doing such things. If you only work on the ¡®block,¡¯ people will keep on minding their business and no work will get done.¡±

    Song Zining carefully digested the profundity of these words.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re done with the reasoning, so let¡¯s talk about Qianye. I don¡¯t want to leave a knot in your heart without clearing things up.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    The monarch said, ¡°Qianye as a person has contributed deeply to the Empire and its subjects. His heart is always with the human race. The country owes him much for all these years.¡±

    Song Zining felt his eyes sting and had to try hard to regain hisposure.

    ¡°The Empire would¡¯ve lost miserably if he hadn¡¯te through during the crisis. I also watched hisst battle very clearly. No one would be able to stop Nighteye if it weren¡¯t for their emotional restraints.¡±

    Song Zining suddenly felt angry. He blurted out, unable to control himself, ¡°So after failing to kill her yourselves, you used Qianye to deal with her. You calcted Qianye¡¯s nature and nned to have them kill one another, am I right?!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch went silent for a while. He then said, ¡°Zining, the words family and country are as heavy as Mount Tai. Nothing is more importantpared to them. If you ask me if I¡¯m ashamed, I am, but all that I do is for the continued survival of the Empire and the prosperity of the human race. I have no regrets in that regard.¡±

    Song Zining was stopped up, not knowing what to say. After a while, he said hatefully, ¡°That idiot Wei Qiyang! Wait till I deal with him!¡±

    Pei Zijun had already messed things up back then. Qianye would have never gone out to war if it weren¡¯t for Wei Potian.

    ¡°Do whatever it takes to ease your mind.¡±

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d tell me to control myself.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°You¡¯ll only be fit to work when your mind is at ease. You hold great authority right now, and every decision of yours will decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. This isn¡¯t something to be taken lightly. Comparatively, sacrificing a handful of people is nothing.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°Since you¡¯ve said it, I won¡¯t be holding back.¡±

    ¡°Do what you need to do.¡±

    ¡°What I do has nothing to do with the Empire. I¡¯ll be clearing up some personal grudges and perhaps earn some money in the process.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch smiled. ¡°Those destined to achieve great things have no need to focus on trifling matters. Do what you want to do, no need to ask me.¡±

    It was time for the banquet to disperse now. Some words weren¡¯t spoken out loud, but it was enough. As someone with a controversial vampire identity, how could Qianye be hailed as a hero who had pulled the Empire back from the brink of defeat? Doing this would cause the thousand years of nationalism to copse.

    The human heart wasplicated, yet it was also the easiest to rile up and incite.

    Just like that, all of Qianye¡¯s sacrifices and contributions were removed. Ten yearster, perhaps no one would remember this person and his deeds. The Evernight would never admit that someone with a vampire heritage had actually refused to ept their noble dark bloodline. This went against the thousand-year rule of hybrid descendants.

    Song Zining looked up at the sky as he walked out of the manor. He understood the reasoning, but that did nothing to ease the suffocating feeling in his heart.

    Why should one pick between a brother and the country? Why was there no perfect solution?

    With nowhere to vent his anger, he stomped hard as he got into the car. The shocked officer asked hurriedly, ¡°Sire, is there anything you need me to do?¡±

    ¡°No, let¡¯s go back.¡±

    The officer didn¡¯t dare ask and simply drove Song Zining to the ry station.

    ...

    Twilight Continent, the Sperger n Castle. Everything was quiet and still here.

    The mobilization for the new world had long since called away most of the young and strong.

    Fortunately, Habsburg was among the first to enter the new world. There were great difficulties during the expansion process and the casualties were high, but none of that could match the bitter fights against the Empire.

    Within the empty hall, Habsburg was seated quietly on the throne. He was dozing off with his chin propped up on one hand. Normally, thisrge hall was only used for n meetings, but he had taken to the cold and quiet ofte.

    There wasn¡¯t a single noise throughout the castle, not even the sound of breathing. The prince had been in a jittery state for a while, and most people found it prudent to let him rest.

    After god knew how long, Habsburg opened his eyes and said, ¡°Leonard, let him in.¡±

    Within a rowdy group in the courtyard, Marquis Leonard listened attentively to the instructions before waving his hand down. They allowed a certain demonkin marquis to pass through but stopped his escorts.

    The demonkin marquis had been protesting against the vampires¡¯ refusal to announce his visit. He still felt angry at the treatment, but now that there was finally some change, he decided to leave his men outside to avoid further trouble.

    The demonkin entered and saw Habsburg on the high throne. He bowed ording to the norms, saying, ¡°Revered Prince Habsburg, I came to greet you on behalf of the Evernight Council.¡±

    Habsburg remained still. ¡°If the chairman still wishes to talk about that matter, there¡¯s no need. I¡¯ve already told him that I don¡¯t have what he wants. Go back and tell him that there¡¯s no need to send anyone else.¡±

    The demonkin marquis was refused a meeting during thest two visits, and this time, he was about to be driven away with a single line. Finally angered, he said, ¡°Your Highness, the chairman is giving you face by telling you to consider this matter. As a matter of fact, this is the Demon King¡¯s will, how can there be any room for deliberation?¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s expression never changed as he said with a cold voice, ¡°Then there¡¯s no need to consider anymore. I am a vampire, hence the Demon King is not my king.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± The demonkin marquis jumped up, pointing at Habsburg in anger.

    Blood energy flickered through Habsburg¡¯s blue eyes as the demonkin was suddenly pressed to the ground by an invisible force.

    He wed feebly at his throat but to no avail. The man¡¯s face turned red, yet no voice came out of his mouth. Very soon, his struggling weakened, and blood began to seep out of his skin until his figure was entirely sanguine.

    Habsburg never lost hisposure. He didn¡¯t even remove the hand under his chin as he watched the demonkin slowly lose his breath. It was as though he were watching a speck of dust.

    After the demonkin waspletely still, he said, ¡°He¡¯s dead, noting out yet?¡±

    Predica was standing at the door with aplicated expression. He slowly walked in, pausing briefly near the dead marquis before walking over to the throne.

    ¡°Long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on a perfect awakening. The bnce of fate has ushered in a new master for the Dark Nightmare.¡±

    Predica nced at Habsburg with open arms. ¡°Old friend, won¡¯t you give me a hug?¡±

    After a moment of silence, Habsburg finally got up and walked down the steps.

    The duo left the hall after a greeting hug and arrived at Habsburg¡¯s study. Meanwhile, no one paid attention to that unlucky marquis.

 Chapter 1361: Perfect Solution (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1361: Perfect Solution (Part 2)</h4>

    Leonard delivered tea for the two and closed the door behind him.

    The translucent red tea was served in a well-maintained antique tea set, along with exquisite desserts. The aesthetic and scent were fairly delightful. If it weren¡¯t for the bloody circ.u.mstances, it would certainly be a good opportunity for old friends to catch up.

    After all, every time a member of a long-lived race went into hibernation, they might just wake up in apletely unfamiliar world.

    Predica was engrossed in the fragrance of the tea for a while. Seeing that Habsburg had no intention of speaking, he could only sigh. ¡°Dear Habsburg, you¡¯ve changed quite a lot.¡±

    ¡°Did the Demon King send you this time?¡±

    Predica shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything yet. That unlucky fellow just now was sent by the chairman. His Majesty Kane only asked me to tag along and see.¡±

    Habsburg turned the cup in his hand. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to see. That which the Demon King wants is not here.¡±

    Predica¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°What exactly is that thing?¡±

    Habsburg responded with a question of his own, ¡°When did you wake up from your slumber?¡±

    ¡°After the Holy War cease-fire,¡± Predica added the exact time after some thought, ¡°during the Sanguine Burial.¡±

    His face turned pale as he seemed to remember something. ¡°Is it... rted to that person?¡±

    Habsburg stood up, went to the window with his teacup, and gazed out at thend that had sustained his n and bloodline. It was only after a.d.u.l.thood that he returned here.

    ¡°Leave.¡±

    Predica mmed his cup on the table in anger. ¡°Habsburg! That¡¯s a human we¡¯re talking about, an Imperial marshal, an enemy of Evernight. He wouldn¡¯t live much longer even if he hadn¡¯t died back then! We¡¯ve known each other for over a hundred years. Are you ending our friendship because of a human¡¯s death?¡±

    ¡°The vampires and demonkin are also enemies.¡±

    Predica¡¯s fingers gripped tightly.

    When Habsburg turned around after a while, his faint blue eyes were as calm and distant as the skies. They seemed amiable enough, but there wasn¡¯t a shred of emotion in them. ¡°Preddy, you¡¯re probably the strongest prophet in Evernight right now. Did you not notice the Wheel of Fate deviating?¡±

    Predica didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Preddy, go now. The Demon King wille personally.¡±

    Predica wanted to say something, but he suddenly noticed a familiar fluctuation close by. His face became as pale as a sheet.

    Habsburg, though, didn¡¯t seem at all surprised. He turned around as the Demon King¡¯s figure walked out of the void.

    The supreme¡¯s clone was so contained that one could hardly sense its aura, but the darkness origin power in the vicinity bowed down in submission as it arrived through space. The higher one¡¯s rank, the stronger one could sense this change.

    The atmosphere froze up.

    Predica came to after a moment and bowed deeply. ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    The Demon King said gently, ¡°Predica, you may leave with your man. I wish to talk with Habsburg.¡±

    Predica¡¯s pallor never recovered. He merely bowed after listening to the instructions and left.

    The Demon King said to Habsburg, ¡°Habsburg, have you seen the human race¡¯s fate trajectory?¡±

    Habsburg remained in a silent daze.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t mind his attitude, either. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it. The fate trajectory he revealed to me is iparably rich and beautiful. Compared to it, the summit of this world and its asteroid belt feel like a destend. The only thing that canpare is the Wheel of Fate that belongs to the people of darkness and its slow revolution through time.¡±

    Habsburg mentioned the name of a ce, ¡°Kumara?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I was there during that time. Not killing him there is my life¡¯s greatest mistake.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s gone now.¡±

    ¡°He could¡¯ve looked down on all life from the stars, yet he was willing to fall into the soil and turn to ashes. All of this for those ugly, insignificant lives.¡±

    ¡°We only respect the strong, but they recognize their peers.¡±

    The Demon King was lost in thought for a while. He then shook his head and looked at Habsburg in the eye. ¡°Give me his remains. We need to extract some information from him.¡±

    ¡°Those who die in the void don¡¯t leave corpses.¡±

    ¡°Short-lived races don¡¯t have spiritual reincarnations or awakenings. Their death is permanent.¡±

    Habsburg remained quiet.

    The Demon King sighed softly. ¡°Then give me his origin crystal, at least. You know that humans have been targeting us for several hundred years with that n. Even with intelligence from the Longevity Monarch, none of our prophets were able to analyze the effects behind it. The man might be gone, but things haven¡¯t changed for the better. We need to investigate where his fate connects to.¡±

    The supreme looked down at his hands. ¡°Even his thread of fate would have been destroyed if I were the one attacking. Yet who would have the heart to destroy such a beautiful celestial trajectory?¡±

    Habsburg replied slowly, ¡°Your Majesty Kane, there¡¯s only one way to solve this problem. Destroy me and this entire castle, then it will no longer be important whether or not I¡¯m hiding that thing.¡±

    Habsburg felt a chill bearing down on his blood core. Despite the rude answer, the Demon King wasn¡¯t angry at all and his gaze was just as amiable.

    However, Habsburg wasn¡¯t naive enough to think that he had managed to threaten the Demon King. This might only be a clone, which probably wasn¡¯t powerful enough to destroy a prince along with his n castle, but how long would it take for the main body to arrive?

    ¡°I heard the human emperor is his disciple, and he refuses to believe that his teacher has fallen. No one could fill that man¡¯s position in the court, so much so that even his sry was still being issued as though he were alive. This can be considered a sentimental act, and no one is willing to offend the Emperor for some money.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s voice was just as gentle, almost as though he were talking aboutmon things. ¡°But what if word went out that the person everyone believed to be a hero wasn¡¯t dead but had be a captive instead?¡±

    Habsburg said slowly, ¡°I am indeed inferior to Your Majesty.¡±

    Rumors had always been easy to market because everyone had their own considerations. The Evernight Council would never let the Empire build the image of a hero who could turn the tides. The clowns within the Empire didn¡¯t want their political adversary¡¯s glory to be written into the history books. It was all too easy to smear a martyr because they could no longere forth and exin.

    Habsburg knew that it was because of the Demon King¡¯s suppression that no one dared to speak nonsense about that battle. Otherwise, all kinds of rumors could spread about a battle no one had witnessed. He wasn¡¯t debriefed about the fight, nor was there any proof of contribution. This would give his opponents in the vampire race bullets to fire at him.

    ¡°Habsburg, I hope you will challenge me on the Sacred Mountain one day, but that day isn¡¯t now.¡± The Demon King¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°I don¡¯t want to cause a ruckus on Twilight Continent and make the Queen of the Night unhappy. The new world is where ourmon interests lie. Lilith is getting old.¡±

    Thosest words didn¡¯t really fit the Demon King Kane¡¯s refined image, but it revealed this young supreme¡¯s ambitions and arrogance.

    The Demon King¡¯s gaze shifted in the direction of the castle¡¯s blood pond. ¡°You can give it some thought, but my patience is limited.¡±

    After the Demon King¡¯s departure, Habsburg drew a line in the air with his index finger.

    A projection of energy systems materialized.

    Darkness origin power emerged from the darkness origins on one side and stretched all the way to the other. It slowly transformed along the way, turning into various shades of grey until it passed the neutral zone and connected with the first rays of dawn.

    The deduction stopped there. This was all that the people of Evernight knew regarding the energy system.

    If the darkness origins was the starting point of this world, where was the end of daybreak? Was there a daybreak origins as well, or was it something else? If the daybreak origins could also form a world of its own, what would it look like? Would it be like the celestial trajectory the Demon King had seen?

 Chapter 1362: Phase Two (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1362: Phase Two (Part 1)</h4>

    At dawn, the Imperial ry station.

    Song Zining rose at first light and headed toward the military department. Considering the seventh young master¡¯s status, his office was fairly big despite the scarcity of space in the military department.

    Holding office in the military came with one perk at least. He was able to see every battle report immediately and grasp the overall situation of the fight against Evernight.

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t even taken his seat when his aide announced that a guest was here to see him.

    Song Zining instructed the man to lead the guests to the conference room, to which he headed only after reading the morning¡¯s reports.

    There was a young but capable-looking general, seemingly in his thirties, seated in the meeting room. He first bowed at Song Zining before speaking, ¡°This subordinate is Zhang Zhao, I work under themand of the Profundity Monarch.¡±

    It turned out to be one of the Profundity Monarch¡¯s men. Song Zining gestured for the man to sit while he himself took the main seat.

    Zhang Zhao said, ¡°The prince has some military affairs that require your help.¡±

    ¡°Whatever that has caught the prince¡¯s attention must be an important issue. Please speak freely.¡±

    Zhang Zhao said, ¡°This matter is of the utmost importance. The prince didn¡¯t issue any written doc.u.ments, only an appointment letter for me. Here it is, please take a look.¡±

    With that, Zhang Zhao produced an official letter and passed it to Song Zining.

    Seeing that the seal was intact, Song Zining opened the letter and fished out a paper from within. After going through the contents in detail, he said, ¡°The prince must trust you to pen a letter of appointment personally. Very well, what does the prince need?¡±

    Zhang Zhao said, ¡°This matter is rted to Qianye. Despite him ending his life in mutual destruction with Nighteye, there are a lot of things that need... cleaning up.¡±

    ¡°What are you implying?¡±

    Zhang Zhao continued after confirming that Song Zining¡¯s expression was normal. ¡°The prince said that Qianye was highly capable, he had built up such a force and foundation within a short period. He might be gone, but his power remains and that power cannot fall into Evernight hands. The first matter of business is the Martyr¡¯s Pce. This guardian national treasure must be retaken.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°The Martyr¡¯s ce has always been mysterious and no one can tell where it is. The vessel disappeared immediately after Qianye¡¯s departure. How do we even find it?¡±

    Zhang Zhao replied, ¡°The pce might be partially sentient, but it¡¯s still under human control. From what I know, there are tens of thousands of soldiers garrisoned in the pce. These people have to return to the ground at one point, and the most likely ce for them tond is Cerulean Jade City.¡±

    He paused to observe Song Zining for a bit, only continuing after seeing no change in hisposure. ¡°ording to our investigations, there are three groups on the Martyr¡¯s Pce, the humans of Fort Continent, the werewolves of the Jade Sea, and the backbone forces from Dark me. The overseeing expert on the Martyr¡¯s Pce is Caroline of the Thunderfrost Temple. That¡¯s why the prince believes you have the natural advantage in taking back the airship. Please ept this important task and do not refuse it.¡±

    ¡°Are you telling me to head back to Fort Continent, kill my old subordinates, and take over the Martyr¡¯s Pce?¡±

    Zhang Zhao noticed something wrong in Song Zining¡¯s tone. ¡°Of course you don¡¯t necessarily need to kill them. It would be best if they¡¯re willing to see the light and work for the Empire. We can also give them sufficient rewards.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Is this the prince¡¯s intention or your opinion? If the Profundity Monarch sent you to tell me this, please go back. I will talk to the prince personally at ater date! I¡¯m not that easy to bully!¡±

    A shocked Zhang Zhao stood up and bowed deeply. ¡°Please, curb your anger. I don¡¯t know how I offended you, but I know you¡¯re a magnanimous person, please forgive me.¡±

    Song Zining looked down. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to say, let¡¯s end this discussion here.¡±

    After a while of hesitation, Zhang Zhao said, ¡°There are some things the prince instructed me to tell you only after you¡¯ve agreed. I can reveal it in advance, but please do not mention that to the prince or my life will be in danger.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°The prince said that you¡¯ll be the main contributor in this operation. He¡¯ll arrange a new army corps designation for you and your old subordinates from the neutralnds. All human mercenaries will be granted an official identity in the prince¡¯s territory and be a citizen of the Empire. You will be given half of Qianye¡¯s territory on Fort Continent and half of the profits that came from it. To deal with the forces on Fort Continent, the prince can dispatch his trusted subordinates and even take action himself if needed.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s territory on Fort Continent was nothing to scoff at; it was far bigger than an ordinary vassal state. Even half of that was several provinces worth of territory, not to mention how prosperous Cerulean Jade City was. Thend would return to its divided state sooner orter if there was no leader to take the reins. With the Summit of Peaks around, the humans might be driven out very soon. Taking over thatnd would be much faster with the Profundity Monarch¡¯s promise.

    Song Zining¡¯s expression eased up. ¡°Now that¡¯s more reasonable. What else?¡±

    Zhang Zhao cursed inwardly¡ªthis Song Zining might be famous, but his attitude had changed immediately after seeing the benefits. The man was all smiles as he said in a hushed voice, ¡°The prince has a small condition.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression darkened again. ¡°What condition, speak.¡±

    Zhang Zhaoughed. ¡°It¡¯s not a big burden. You see, the prince has some granddaughters. The eldest and second princesses have always received his favor. They are also famed beauties in the territory. Since Marshal Song isn¡¯t married yet, why not pick one to be your wife? It¡¯ll be a fine thing if two families can be one.¡±

    Song Zining was lost in thought. He seemed attracted by the idea, but he finally shook his head, saying, ¡°I¡¯m only back in the Empire to recuperate for a few days, I¡¯ll be heading back to the new world tomorrow. There¡¯s no time for these things.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any wars in cksun Valley for a while. You¡¯ll be able to return before long. It¡¯s fine to start working on this case at that time.¡±

    Song Zining stood up and paced about. ¡°There are more than just werewolves and natives on Fort Continent. The Summit of Peaks is also there, so I¡¯m expecting things to be difficult. I won¡¯t have any soldier on my hand to deal with the situation once things go in an unexpected direction.¡±

    Seeing that Song Zining was moved, Zhang Zhao said hurriedly, ¡°Rest assured, the prince has already made arrangements for this matter.

    Song Zining nodded slowly. ¡°That will be great! It¡¯s just that those men must head to Fort Continent first and remain hidden there. That way, we¡¯ll be able to operate when the timees. We¡¯ll be a big target if they operate with me. Also, this mission must be keptpletely secret! The Summit of Peaks has a powerful military presence there. We¡¯ll be in trouble if they discover us.¡±

    Zhang Zhao became spirited. ¡°Of course! Don¡¯t worry, Marshal Song, I¡¯ll make all the necessary arrangements after reporting back to the prince! Everything will be ready once you return from the new world, waiting for you to set out!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll trouble you then.¡± Song Zining saw the guest off with cupped fists.

    Zhang Zhao understood that this scheme had deep implications, so the less he interacted with Song Zining before its sess, the better. Now that he had aplished his objective, he decided to leave as quickly as possible.

    After seeing Zhang Zhao off, Song Zining continued reading the battle reports as usual. He also ordered his men to bring a series of doc.u.ments rted to Qianye, including regional battle reports and several doc.u.ments rted to the aristocratic families.

    The doc.u.ments he had gone through only proved that Song Zining was preparing for his position in the military. Any marshal would have to familiarize himself with the military affairs of the entire country.

    After going through the doc.u.ments, Song Zining instructed his men to prepare a car for him and made ready to head out.

    ...

    Evernight Council.

    There were still thirteen seats at the roundtable conference.

    Unlike the past meetings where the powerhouses¡¯ surging aura would fill the entire hall, no one released their power this time despite it being a full house.

    The members overseeing the meeting were also different. Apart from the Lightless Monarch Medanzo of the vampires and the Moond Overlord Sousa, the rest were all demonkin.

    The bronze throne that belonged to the chairman was now upied by a mass of pure darkness. Although one could hardly sense any aura from it, whoever paid attention to it would feel a chill down their spine. It was as though they had been baptized by pure darkness.

    To the left of the Demon King was the Eternal me, us, and down the line were famous n lords such as Masefield, the Dark Abyss, and Jeruson.

    To the right of the Demon King was a young warlock with light blonde hair. Down the line were the cloaked chairman and some of Evernight¡¯s famous prophets.

    No one objected to such an unusual seating arrangement, not even Medanzo and Sousa who would usually pay attention to their status.

    A demonkin prince stood up, bowed toward the Demon King, and began presenting the recent war reports.

 Chapter 1362: Phase Two (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1362: Phase Two (Part 2)</h4>

    Unlike the usual reports, it was split into two parts¡ªone of them was a total death toll epassing all races.

    The other section was categorized into regions with detailed analyses into the casualty rates of different races. There was also a standard deviation that had never appeared in any other report. From the conclusion of that report, over ny percent of regions had already met the criteria. The new world had reached a hundred and twenty percent.

    After the prince concluded his report, the chairman¡¯s muffled voice emerged from under his hood. ¡°We can begin phase two of the operation. Set up observation stations ording to the n. For the regions that haven¡¯t met the criteria, increase troop strength by thirty percent. The Jeruson and Wace families will be in charge of the transportation and instation of survey facilities. We ask Master Melia to coordinate all prophets.¡±

    ¡°Additionally, please be careful not to let the new world exceed a hundred again.¡± With that, the chairman looked up at the Masefield n.

    Progia hadn¡¯t forgotten the pain of losing their promising young duke, Freyr. He couldn¡¯t help but re at Medanzo, saying, ¡°It¡¯s all because of those scheming vampires. Our losses are always heavy when they¡¯re in charge of the warzone.¡±

    Medanzo didn¡¯t even look up at him. ¡°Reynold is themander of the vampires, and you¡¯ve alreadyined to him I believe.¡±

    Progia didn¡¯t have the time to reply before the chairman cut him short. ¡°Arrangements have been made on the Azure King¡¯s side, no need to bring it up again. Lightless Monarch, how is the progress on your end?¡±

    Medanzo said, ¡°The Queen of the Night has returned to her slumber. If there are no idents, like someone with authority waking her up, things outside of the Perth n¡¯s territory won¡¯t catch her attention.¡±

    Those with authority were, of course, referring to the existing second-generation primogenitors. There were four of them in total operating in the outside world at the moment¡ªthe Azure King Reynold, the Lightless Monarch Medanzo, Habsburg of the ming Crown, and the Dark Gospel Howard.

    Howard and Medanzo were archenemies. After his awakening, the former only appeared once in public before fading away from sight. The only confirmed news was that he hadn¡¯t left the Twilight Continent.

    After some thought, the chairman looked up at the Demon King. ¡°The ming Crown...¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°I¡¯ll handle his case, you avoid the Sperger n¡¯s castle.¡±

    The council chairman was surprised because this went against the original n, but he immediately replied, ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    Medanzo didn¡¯t seem any different on the surface, but his fingers tightened under his sleeves. Immediately, a wave of consciousness swept over him. Medanzo didn¡¯t move a muscle, and even his blood core stopped beating as he knew that this was a warning from the Demon King.

    ¡°Lastly, the Eye of Control and Eye of Destruction.¡± The council chairman paused briefly.

    The Great Demonkin Prophet Melia stood up and bowed toward the Demon King. ¡°I apologize, Your Majesty. I simply cannot see their whereabouts.¡± He nced at Predica who was standing to the right of the supreme. ¡°Perhaps the young highness of the Dark Nightmare can...¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Predica will not join any factional activity.¡±

    His words were decisive and firm. Melia immediately replied, ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. Then I will discuss a n with my colleagues.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Let it be. It¡¯s only normal that you can¡¯t see through abination of human divination and vampire secret arts.¡±

    Naturally, no one doubted the Demon King¡¯s words. Many eyes fell upon Medanzo, who kept his eyes lowered and his sleeves drawn together, almost as though he didn¡¯t hear anything.

    Predica said after some thought, ¡°Your Majesty, do you mean after all that has gone down in cksun Valley, some humans want to save Qianye and some vampires want to save Nighteye? This game of trading pieces is quite interesting.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°The short-lived races have always been full of conflicts, and the vampires are quite simr to them.¡±

    Predica seemed raring to have a go. ¡°Perhaps I could give it a try.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°You better stay away from touching the daybreak side until the effects of Lin Xitang¡¯s divination are entirely gone from this world.¡±

    The round table fell utterly silent. This was the first time Lin Xitang¡¯s name had been brought up at the council¡¯s round table since the void continent war.

    As the overseer of the entire operation, Habsburg had cited injuries and refused to be debriefed. The sheer amount ofints the Evernight Council had received regarding the miserable loss of sword-bearers and the sudden withdrawal of the fleet was enough to bury him.

    However, no one was able to bring theseints up for discussion mainly because of the Demon King¡¯s suppression. This supreme had made it clear that he didn¡¯t want to listen to anyone talking about that war. Yet, he had brought it up himself today.

    The chairman coughed for attention. ¡°Actually, we¡¯ve already made some hypothetical ns after Marshal Lin passed away.¡±

    ¡°One is to strike at the heart of the Great Qin. From our current intelligence, it¡¯s very possible that we can stir up a conflict between their Emperor and his important ministers. This method is a bit more difficult because we need to find a good entry point, otherwise, it¡¯s possible that the entire operation will fail to mobilize. The good thing is that we won¡¯t need to invest too much afterward; all we need to do is watch as their internal dispute unfolds. Of course, the oue will also be beyond our control. It might bring about another transformation in fate or it might fail just like the previous Operation Blueblood.¡±

    ¡°The other solution is to begin from the Western Continent warzone where he was once posted, that is, Fire Beacon Continent. The power bnce there isplicated¡ªthe Zhao n, the military, and two provinces controlled by rebels. This method will be easier since there are already people who are in opposition, all we need to do is provide some fuel, and those with a brain will know how to make use of it. The Western Continent is the farthest from the heart of the Empire, so we have more time and space to turn rumors into opposing voices.¡±

    At this point, the council chairman shot the Demon King a nce. Seeing no response from the supreme, he continued, ¡°The first method will require an inside asset. How are your men over there?¡±

    Medanzo said, ¡°The Empire went through a major cleanup after the Sanguine Burial. I don¡¯t have any assets left, even the peripheral spies have been exiled to remotends.¡±

    The chairman nodded. ¡°Actually, we¡¯ve already done a pressure test on the second route. We passed some ambiguous words about the marshal to the relevant people in the Qin Empire. Their upper echelons are fairly cautious, so much so that our envoy couldn¡¯t figure out if they had sensed the problem or if they¡¯re already under pressure. The response among the opposition is fairly good; they seem quite happy to hear bad news about those suppressing them.¡±

    The chairman finally received a reply from the Demon King.

    ¡°We¡¯ll leave that here for now. Continue your tests while setting up the observation posts on the

    Fire Beacon Continent.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡± The chairman scanned everyone at the table. ¡°If no one has any questions, we shall enter phase two of the n after we go back.¡±

    Sousa, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke, ¡°What do we do about Fort Continent?¡±

    The chairman said, ¡°That ce is not within our survey ns.¡±

    The werewolf said, ¡°That means, I can do what I want?¡±

    The Demon King butted in all of a sudden, ¡°The Summit of Peaks no longer owns the Tempest¡¯s advantage. I hope you don¡¯t cause a ruckus in unimportant ces.¡±

    Sousa nodded. ¡°Of course, as you wish.¡±

    As the meeting came to an end, everyone bowed toward the Demon King and left in session. Only the chairman, Predica, and Melia remained in the end.

    The chairman said after gathering his thoughts, ¡°Your Majesty, what do we do about the previous n where we follow a part of Marshal Lin¡¯s traces?¡± He was still quite respectful of Lin Xitang.

    The Demon King said slowly, ¡°That¡¯s just to obtain a control group in the daybreak system. Just clear out a few human settlement zones and you¡¯ll get your numbers.¡±

    The other three stopped speaking. It would take a lot more than a small number if they were to use ordinary people here, and what¡¯s more, Lin Xitang wasn¡¯t just a control group. However, no one spoke words of objection.

    Master Melia said, ¡°I must report the changes in the n to His Highness Anwen and hasten the modifications.¡±

    The chairman nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯ll work on the war preparations.¡±

    After Melia and the chairman had left, the Demon King chuckled softly. ¡°Only he would care about those ants. It¡¯ll be worth it if we can clear away more of them in exchange for giving him peace, isn¡¯t that right?¡±

    Predica leaned back in his chair and put a hand over his eyes. ¡°Only under the assumption that the man didn¡¯t leave any backup ns.¡±

    The matter thus returned to the starting point. The answers to Lin Xitang¡¯s thread of fate could only be found on Lin Xitang¡¯s body.

    The Demon King¡¯s tone was always gentle. ¡°Then I hope Habsburg will realize this sooner.¡±

    Predica¡¯s heart skipped a beat and his hands turned cold. However, he maintained hiszy posture without making a single movement.

 Chapter 1363: Call of the River of Blood (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1363: Call of the River of Blood (Part 1)</h4>

    At the imperial military department, a simple-looking car had juste to a stop before Song Zining.

    The seventh young master was now a marshal in terms of strength and authority, so his transportation was also fairly grand. Even in the capital, a jeep would lead the way and serve as an escort. There were a total of ten guards assigned to him at all times.

    These ten guards weren¡¯t there to defeat enemies as they were far inferior to a divine champion marshal. Their duty was to take a bullet for him at the critical moment, earning him a split second to act.

    The motorcade slowly left the capital under Song Zining¡¯s orders and headed toward the suburbs where they entered an elegant courtyard district. The independentpounds here were neatly arranged¡ªthey were well-knit but not crowded, and the area was secluded and peaceful. It was definitely a great ce.

    The entire district was rather quiet. There were few cars and people on the streets, and there weren¡¯t any checkpoints or guards at the entrances. Instead, there were military police standing guard.

    Song Zining¡¯s entourage entered without any obstruction, all the way until they arrived at a small courtyard. The aide checked the number te and said, ¡°Number 67. We¡¯ve arrived, Sire.¡±

    ¡°You guys wait here.¡± With that, Song Zining left the car and entered thepound.

    The courtyard wasn¡¯t big, but it still had a front and back entrance. Song Zining walked through the central hall and arrived at the rear courtyard. Wei Potian was standing beside the pond,zily scattering fish feed into the pond.

    Wei Potian never sensed Song Zining¡¯s arrival. He picked up another handful of fish feed with his left hand and tossed them clumsily into the water.

    After watching for a while, Song Zining said, ¡°General Wei, you¡¯re living quite thefortable life, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Shocked out of his wits, Wei Potian flickered away almost immediately. After seeing that it was Song Zining, he patted his chest, saying, ¡°Goddammit you scared me, why do you always like to y this game?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a hard pnded on his face! The p was so strong and swift that even the Thousand Mountains couldn¡¯t stop it in time. All he could see were stars.

    ¡°What are you doing man?!¡± Wei Potian was both shocked and angry. Half of his face was swollen all of a sudden.

    Song Zining roared with a cold expression, ¡°How can I be in the mood to y with you?! Qianye is gone now, yet you¡¯re livingfortably here!¡±

    Wei Potian was stunned. ¡°Gone?¡± Realizing something, his voice started to tremble. ¡°What?! Qianye¡¯s gone? How is this possible?!¡±

    They were currently in the Imperial Hospital¡¯s recuperation district. Wei Potian had just received a new arm and was currently under observation. The ce was serene, but there was no way to obtain battle reports firsthand. Moreover, all records about thest battle in cksun Valley had been wiped away, so Wei Potian still had no idea what had happened.

    Song Zining immediately realized this and understood that Wei Potian wasn¡¯t acting. But this did little to ease the anger in his heart. The scenery in the courtyard shifted with a wave of his sleeves, locking all sounds inside his domain.

    After setting up the domain, Song Zining said through gritted teeth, ¡°If you hadn¡¯t gone to Qianye, there was no way he would¡¯ve gone to battle! Now he and Nighteye have died together in cksun Valley. Are you satisfied now?¡±

    Wei Potian stood frozen in ce, almost as though he had been struck by lightning. ¡°Died together? H-How did this happen? I only wanted him to stop her for a bit.¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s eyes were red as he roared, ¡°What the f.u.c.k do you know about all the strings being pulled in this matter? You bumbling idiot! What else do you expect Qianye to do after pushing him onto the battlefield? You forced both of them off the cliff! I wronged Nighteye in many ways because of the things I did for Qianye, and I¡¯m willing to die for that. I woke up so many times in between, did I go and find Qianye?! Zhao Jundu almost died in her hands, did he call Qianye? Even we didn¡¯t speak out, do we need an idiot like you to meddle?! Is losing an arm that important?!¡±

    At the mention of this hateful topic, Song Zining grabbed the sword at Wei Potian¡¯s waist and shouted, ¡°You ran over to Fort Continent with a lost arm. Of course, Qianye wouldn¡¯t just sit by and do nothing. You actually dragged him back with that lost arm of yours, I¡¯ll make sure you lose it forever!!!¡±

    Song Zining shed at Wei Potian¡¯s left arm!

    Thetter stood there, ashen-faced, and didn¡¯t try to evade.

    Song Zining stopped the swift strike as soon as it had entered the flesh, cursing Wei Potian to his face. ¡°Goddammit! Dodge,e on! What are you doing?¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°You¡¯re right, Qianye wouldn¡¯t havee back if I hadn¡¯t lost an arm. He came back for me. I killed him. Please cut me down!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s hands trembled, causing the de to cut through the flesh and drawing a stream of blood. He drew back the de and said, ¡°Qianye lost his life for you, losing an arm is letting you off too easy. I have my reasons as well. Wait until I¡¯ve cleaned up all the bad karma. I wille to find you and take your worthless life, then we¡¯ll all go and meet Qianye!¡±

    Wei Potian remained silent. He reached out to grab the sword and dragged it down forcibly. Ignoring the massive flow of blood, he twisted the sword and dragged it toward his heart.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Shocked, Song Zining grabbed the man¡¯s wrist.

    Wei Potian struggled a few times but to no avail. ¡°It¡¯s my fault, I killed him. I¡¯ll go see him now and kowtow in apology!¡±

    Song Zining red at Wei Potian. ¡°You idiot! You¡¯ll just make him angrier if you go see him. Since you want to die so much, help me do some things so that you don¡¯t die in vain.¡±

    ¡°I owe Qianye, not you!¡± Wei Potian didn¡¯t have any good impression of Song Zining.

    Thetter said, ¡°Qianye has just left, but someone¡¯s already eyeing hisnd.¡±

    Wei Potian was furious. ¡°Who¡¯s so bold?! I¡¯ll kill him!¡±

    ¡°Kill? How?¡± Song Zining sneered. ¡°The other party is a heavenly monarch!¡±

    ¡°So what? At most I¡¯ll die!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I say you have no brains! What¡¯s the point of dying like that? All you¡¯ll get are some positivements about brotherly loyalty.¡±

    Wei Potian finally calmed down. ¡°What do you need?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I heard your Wei n has a few suicidal soldiers. Transfer a thousand of them over to Fort Continent and have them contact Caroline. I¡¯ll give them their orderster on.¡±

    Wei Potian said, ¡°These soldiers do not fear sacrifice, but their death must be worth it.¡±

    Song Zining said coldly, ¡°They¡¯re all unfamiliar faces, so it¡¯s easier to clean up afterward. Just send the men over and tell me how to give them their orders.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t I need to go?¡±

    ¡°What for? To let everyone know it¡¯s your doing?¡±

    ¡°Then what do I do?¡±

    ¡°Stay here and recuperate.¡±

    Wei Potian knew he was far inferior in terms of strategy, so he fished out amand token and said, ¡°This is the Wei n¡¯s secretmand token. You can use it tomand the suicide soldiers.¡± He then exined how to activate the origin array.

    Song Zining picked up the token and left.

    ...

    In the depths of the endless darkness of the void, a faint voice echoed, ¡°Qianye, Qianye...¡±

    The call reverberated through space, spreading far and wide.

    A consciousness slowly awakened in the darkness and listened intently at the distant summoning. After an unknown length of time, a single thought emerged: ¡°So dark...¡±

    He thus opened his eyes and saw that it wasn¡¯t just endless darkness before him. There were small specks of light floating in the air, but his reactions were so sluggish that he couldn¡¯t see what they were or how far they were from him.

    That calling grew clearer and clearer.

    And just like that, a second thought emerged: ¡°I am Qianye...¡±

    As though he had woken up from a dream, everything before him became clearer. He saw the endless void before him. However, the void wasn¡¯t entirely empty; there were many strange things floating around. There were mountain peaks, giant skeletons, and what looked like the remains of mechanical fortresses, their damaged surfaces revealing the warped steel beams within. It was as though a certain giant had torn it apart.

    Qianye wanted to move over to examine the ruins. This fortress was even bigger than a mountain range; the Martyr¡¯s Pce was like an antpared to it. It could probably fit a small chunk of the Empire¡¯s poption if it wereplete.

    With this thought, Qianye soared into the air and flew toward the ruins. He looked down and saw that he was still in the void and only then did he realize that he had no physical body.

    He raised his head again and saw that the ruins were moving away rapidly. The distance between them was even greater than before. The giant rock, the skeletons, and the mountain peaks, everything was moving at unimaginable speeds. How could he ever catch up?

    After some hesitation, Qianye gave up any thought of flying over. He had a feeling that things would go really bad if he were to crash into anything.

 Chapter 1363: Call of the River of Blood (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1363: Call of the River of Blood (Part 2)</h4>

    Qianye turned toward the direction of the call and flew over. The summoning gave him an inherent feeling of familiarity.

    It was just that he couldn¡¯t reach the source of that call even after flying endlessly. He couldn¡¯t figure out whether he had actually moved because there was nothing to reference in this endless void.

    All he could do was keep flying with all his might.

    As time went on, even this incorporeal consciousness began to feel some exhaustion. Qianye suddenly noticed a pair of giant golden eyes slowly open. The eyes merely shot him a nce, but that was enough to send his world spinning. The scenery before him had changedpletely when he regained control.

    Before him was a raging river. He could not tell whence this giant river stemmed from or where it went; all he knew was that the source of the summoning call came from upstream.

    With this thought, Qianye flew along the river.

    This time, he knew he was flying. The river gradually became narrower, and the waters turned red, dark red, and then a hint of gold began to appear within. In the blink of an eye, the river had narrowed down to the size of a stream, with golden light flowing between its banks.

    The calling grew even clearer; it wasing from the source of the river.

    Qianye suddenly realized what he was seeing. This was the River of Blood!

    ...

    Glorious Marquis Margo was enjoying his tea under a big courtyard umbre. The fragrant flowers and the sunlight shining through the leaves did little to improve his mood.

    This was his own territory back at the n, located on Fire Beacon Continent. Although thend here was small and squeezed up against human territory, it was a good beginning for his family.

    Margo was thest batch of experts to be transferred out of cksun Valley. He had been feeling sullen for many days, but his mood worsened after returning to Evernight. The showdown on that mountain peak never appeared in any of the records.

    He realized what was going on after someone exined it to him. Thatst battle and its relevant contributions were still under inspection. The process was now halfpleted, and the rest was in a pending state.

    Margo happened to be among the half that was being investigated. He didn¡¯t have much to say since he was captured in the fight, and he didn¡¯t want to wait on Twilight Continent. So, he simply cited injuries and returned to his territory.

    Noticing something was off, Margo looked around all of a sudden. Two demonkin had appeared at the entrance to his courtyard.

    The marquis recognized the two. He stood up and said in puzzlement, ¡°Your Excellencies Anwen and Eden?!¡± His expression then shifted drastically. ¡°Eden, what are you doing?!¡±

    The muzzle of Eden¡¯s rifle was staring at him in the face. Margo knew Eden¡¯s special power quite well, and despite being a level higher, he knew it was impossible to escape unscathed.

    Eden said calmly, ¡°My apologies, Your Excellency Margo, we¡¯re on a mission. Please return with us.¡±

    Margo said furiously, ¡°If I have to take responsibility, it should be toward Twilight Continent! What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±

    Incidences of high-ranking experts being captured were few and far between, but it wasn¡¯t as though there weren¡¯t any examples. The exchange of prisoners and ransom couldn¡¯t be made public, but there were always parties operating in the dark.

    As for submission, it was naturally impossible between factions. Things, however, could get a bit messy once there was a neutral power involved. For such cases, the council would allow the individual races to settle the matter on their own and only observe the resultster on.

    Margo had sensed something bad after the battle at cksun Valley, but he wasn¡¯t too worried. He was ready to get thrown into another war, but who would¡¯ve thought the council would interfere before the vampire race¡¯s punishment had arrived?

    Eden didn¡¯t say anything to him and simply pulled the trigger.

    Margo¡¯s hair stood on end as he entered a state of bloodboil. Without a care for the potential damage, he immediately transformed into a shadow and fled. His speed was even faster than an origin bullet!

    However, he ran into an invisible wall before he could escape the courtyard. Wisps of dark energy appeared before him as Anwen appeared nearby. The demonkin then captured Margo with his domain as though he were catching an insect.

    Margo attacked at the speed of lightning, using his vampiric de to cleave an escape path on the wall of demonic energy.

    Eden¡¯s bullet tore through Margo¡¯s back at that moment. Anwen and his domain suddenly disappeared just before arge shadowy mass flew in and engulfed the vampire marquis.

    The vampire castle outside was also in chaos at this point. Large batches of Evernight council soldiers poured in and started massacring everyone in the stronghold. All of them were titled experts who could reap a life with a single strike.

    Several transportsnded at the borders of the territory, their escort warsh.i.p.s still hovering in the air. There were supply crates scattered on the ground and several technicians were busy setting uprge equipment on the unupiednd.

    The shadow that had devoured Margo was fired from a cannon-like instation from this ce. That dark mass didn¡¯t disperse after engulfing the vampire marquis and instead remained erect on the ground.

    Only high-ranking demonkin nobles could clearly see the dissection process that was going on inside. The vampire marquis was being separated into different tissues and broken down into blood energy, which was then converted into pure darkness origin power.

    In the end, Margo was reduced to a single blood core and arge cloud of essence, containing half blood energy and half darkness origin power.

    During this process, a serious-looking demonkin elder was busy recording the data onto a piece of parchment paper.

    At this point, Anwen turned around and said to someone in his guard squad, ¡°Your Excellency, you can go back now that you¡¯ve observed the scene. His Majesty will worry if you run out here like this.¡±

    That tall, soldierly man was Predica.

    Predica watched the old demonkin disperse the demonic energy and collect the blood core into a special receptacle. He couldn¡¯t help but rub his chin, saying, ¡°Your matter extraction methods are getting more and more urate.¡±

    The demonkin nodded and said with a bow, ¡°For darkness and glory. Thank you for the praise, Your Excellency. This is the most cutting-edge extraction method under development. The error control is within half an energy unit and works with any energy system. Well, of course, we still haven¡¯t grasped enough data on void origin power.¡±

    Predica shook his head. ¡°But I feel that His Majesty won¡¯t be willing to offer up that person for such an analysis.¡±

    The old demonkin knew sufficient inside information. ¡°If it¡¯s just for reference data, adding two more provinces under the daybreak system should suffice. We¡¯ve already handed the calction results to His Majesty Anwenst night. Things turned out quite well. We need to clear away the little insects tainted by darkness origins anyway. It makes little difference if we do it now orter.¡±

    Predica and Anwen exchanged nces, but neither of them said anything. The two were just observers; the decision-making would be left to the other great dark monarchs and princes. Before this senior warlock of the research institute, they had to be careful no matter how high their statuses were.

    A soldier arrived at this moment. He bowed first and said, ¡°Lords, there¡¯s a food pen inside with humans among the stock.¡±

    The old demonkin waved at him. ¡°No need to pick them out especially. Daybreak food doesn¡¯t affect the overall data.¡±

    The soldier had just turned around to leave when Predica said, ¡°Wait, I want to take a look. I haven¡¯t seen humanmoners before.¡±

    Predica returned after a while and was duly dragged onto the return flight by Anwen.

    This time, the demonkin didn¡¯t try to dilly-dally. It was just that he kept gazing out the window after the airship had taken off. After a long while, he asked in puzzlement, ¡°That marshal¡¯s people, are you sure they¡¯re not different species?

    Anwen felt that there was a lot to say, but at the same time, he had nothing to say.

    Predica¡¯s identity was special, so he had received strict protection from the demonkin race. Even among the upper echelons of the dark races, not many knew of his existence. He rarely left the race¡¯s territory, and even his experience-excursions were limited to special zones that were far away from the daybreak continents.

    Also, what did his people mean? What was the power of bloodlines?

    Back on the ground, Eden was standing quietly on high ground with his gun.

    The territory belonging to a vampire n was now being leveled rapidly before him. Everything was disappearing¡ªlife, castle, and even they of thend. Everything was being reduced to thin air and transformed into sets of data in the researchers¡¯ notebooks.

    After the entire territory had been wiped clean, the transports shipped over a mountain of equipment. Then, they began assembling a massive entity made of metal, stone, and other unknown materials.

    A giant shadow was thus cast over the greatnd.

 Chapter 1364: Profit and Sentiments

    <h4>Chapter 1364: Profit and Sentiments</h4>

    There was a ck mist shrouding the ends of the river. The water flowing out from the mist was barely a trickle, seemingly about to break at any moment.

    Qianye flew toward the source and saw several faint runes floating in the waters. Those were the insignia of the second-generation primogenitors. Some were still shining, while others had gone dim.

    Qianye was filled with a strange feeling each time he saw an emblem. Those weren¡¯t just the emblems of each n, but they also contained a method of energy maniption, a pathway of advancement.

    The seals sat at varying distances from the source and were also of different sizes. Perhaps this difference was the source of the power gap between the second-generation primogenitors.

    He also realized that the distance between them wasn¡¯t constant. Some of them were growing farther away in the river-flow, while some were growing closer. There might just be a change in their ranking given enough time.

    Qianye suddenly realized the ultimate question¡ªwas the legendary first drop of blood located at the source of the river? What did it look like?

    Would he get the answers if he could fly to the very end and pass through the mist?

    Growing more and more excited, Qianye sped up and flew toward the ck mist. It was at this moment that he was shocked by a sense of grave danger!

    He looked up to see the ck mist surging, and out leaped a fierce beast. This creature looked strangely awkward¡ªit was ugly and twisted without a single symmetrical part on its body. It almost seemed to have stemmed from the evil source of the primal chaos, destined to disgust all beholders.

    It charged at Qianye the moment it appeared. Qianye was shocked because he had nothing at the moment, not even a body. How could he be a match? He evaded with all his might, but his speed was vastly inferior to the creature. Soon, the beast caught up to him and swallowed him into its gaping maws.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness once again entered the darkness.

    ...

    Imperial Capital, the Divination Pavilion.

    A group of divination experts was walking out in a single line. Each and every one of them looked solemn and exhausted. There were cars waiting to pick them up.

    After most of the people had dispersed, ady with long hair and wide-sleeved robes emerged from the building. She wasn¡¯t wearing a single piece of decorative jewelry, but her beautiful countenance was unparalleled. She was Empress Li.

    An inner attendant arrived and bowed to her. ¡°Your Majesty, His Majesty is waiting for you at the Misty Grass Garden.¡±

    Somewhat surprised, Empress Li picked up a cloak and drew the hood over her head. ¡°Very well,¡± she said as she boarded the car.

    The ¡°Misty Grass Garden¡± was called a garden, but it was actually one of the smaller pce halls in the pce. The Radiant Emperor used to live here when he was just one of the many princes.

    Naturally, no one was allowed to live here after his ascension, and it had always been well-maintained. The Emperor would sometimes visit, but he forbade concubines and princes from setting foot inside.

    Empress Li had never entered the ce before, but she knew that there was a room there that had been precisely maintained for many years. It was in the exact same state as when the previous Empress was still alive. The passing of the previous Empress was a great taboo, hence no one dared to touch upon this topic. Even the most tactless Concubine Zhao could only pretend to be ignorant of this special location.

    ¡°Misty Grass Garden¡± was a rather cramped ce. The entrance to the main hall stood right in front after passing through the gate and divider wall. There were no scenic decorations in the yard as every inch of soil was covered in lush Mist Grass that they almost seemed like wild grass.

    The vegetation had been left alone on purpose and without so much as a trim. They were allowed to rely on their own power to take root and grow in the soil. The small white flowers at the top swayed in the wind, much like the l.u.s.trous stars in the night sky.

    The entire Misty Grass Garden was quiet; even the inner attendant had stayed behind at the door.

    Empress Li entered alone. As someone hailing from an old aristocratic family, she might not have had her own courtyard before, but she had also never lived in such a small building.

    The Radiant Emperor was in the left side-hall, which was a study. There was an embroidery canopy under the window, with numerous needles and threads lying around. It was as though thedy of the house would enter any moment.

    Empress Li found the embroidery station rather novel. As someone who had developed great talent since a young age, the arts she had learned were no different from a man¡¯s. The feminine arts were never in her curriculum.

    Half of this room was the lord¡¯s study, while the other half was thedy¡¯s embroidery room. The Empress couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit absent-minded. This was probably what it was like for amoner family.

    The Radiant Emperor was standing before a certain painting. This ink painting and the words on it conveyed the joys of a new marriage, a work that couldn¡¯t be considered a masterpiece by any measure.

    Empress Li walked over and couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit emotional when she saw the familiar style. Wasn¡¯t this the work of the Imperial Teacher?

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Marshal Lin came from a humble family. He joined the military academy at a young age, so his literary attainments are fairly mediocre.¡± At the mention of this, heughed. ¡°I remember when he was just the prince¡¯s teacher, the first thing he said was that he was no match for Monarch Zhang in calligraphy.¡±

    Empress Li revealed a faint smile on the surface but was distracted inside. She had never heard the Radiant Emperor mention Lin Xitang¡¯s personal matters; something felt different today.

    The Emperor turned around and said, ¡°Thanks for putting in the effort. Is everything done over at the Divination Pavilion?¡±

    Empress Li snapped back to reality and bowed formally, saying, ¡°The sacrificial ceremony is over. However, I¡¯m sorry to tell you that we didn¡¯t gain anything apart from stirring up the threads of fate and confusing the other side. We still don¡¯t know what the dark races are after in the new world.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. ¡°The Demon King is there in person, and it¡¯s already a difficult endeavor to keep things from him. The younger generation¡¯s battle has ended, it¡¯s our turn now.¡±

    Empress Li frowned. ¡°Since Song Zining rose to power, the prophets of the Evernight side have been avoiding a direct confrontation. I was able to sense it even more clearly.¡±

    She continued after a pause, ¡°I have a feeling that the Evernight faction has kept their fate well camouged, much more so than any other point in time. In truth, the council has many other famous prophets. Judging from their lifespans, there should be more of them than the ones they have on the table.

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not strange, it¡¯s an advantage afforded to them by their long lifespans.¡±

    He sighed deeply, saying, ¡°Back when the holy war was put on hold, Marshal Lin judged that the dark races would undergo a great internal change. It¡¯s not strange for dormant dark race members to awaken.¡±

    Empress Li seemed surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t it because of the new world¡¯s arrival?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°That¡¯s not the only reason.¡±

    Empress Li said after a momentary daze, ¡°As expected, I¡¯m too inferiorpared to Marshal Lin. I still can¡¯t see that.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°That wasn¡¯t divination. He was still in the divination pavilion back then.¡±

    Empress Li listened quietly. She had heard bits and pieces about that incident, but she didn¡¯t dare touch on the topic since it would annoy the Emperor. Now that he had mentioned the case on his own, it was likely that he had more to say.

    The Emperor walked over to the embroidery station and touched the halfpleted embroidery. ¡°I hated my father¡¯s attitude toward the princes. He simply watched as they killed one another. I wasn¡¯t a target during the peripheral courts¡¯ rebellion, but who would bother to discern the target during a massacre? It was Marshal Lin who had taken me into hiding during the craziest days.¡±

    Empress Li was shaken. She didn¡¯t know whether she had enoughposure to keep herself calm, but the Emperor didn¡¯t turn to look at her, either.

    ¡°Later on, when my father chose me as his inheritor, some smart people told me that Marshal Lin had saved me deliberately because he had foreseen the events with his divination powers.¡± The Radiant Emperorughed. ¡°There was actually a divination expert among them.¡±

    Empress Li naturally understood that such words wereughable. Divination wasn¡¯t an omnipotent power; how could it see everything in detail?

    There were instances where the diviner would make mistakes after barely touching on the mysteries of fate and missing the bigger picture. Why else would the divination war happen back then? Lin Xitang had to .u.mte correct results for many years in order to shut up all the other divination sects.

    Besides, the mysteries of heaven were never constant¡ªjust like the threads of the dark races¡¯ fate. The future was only a possibility, and the present was only one of the countless possibilities. In the end, every living being wished to pry into the workings of fate, but why? Did they want to ept their fate? Or did they want to defy the heavens and change their destiny?

    After changing fate, was the future that they had seen really still the future?

    ¡°What happened that night, I know all too clearly. I don¡¯t need anyone to tell me the truth. They were all wrong to think that my father the Emperor had let me into the minor study in order to cultivate me. In truth, he had forgotten about me, and the concubine in charge of the princes had also neglected to assign me a teacher.¡±

    ¡°Even after the rebellion, my father hadn¡¯t settled on me as the sessor, my talents were never enough to satisfy him. Because of my weak maternal family, I could hardly go against the other bigshots of the n and would suffer all sorts of trouble when he was not around.¡± The Radiant Emperor stood up. ¡°I sought this supreme seat on my own because I saw Lord Rivernce force Marshal Lin to kneel and apologize.¡±

    Empress Li felt her hair stand on end.

    The Radiant Emperor turned around at this point. His expression was amicable, and there was no great change in his countenance. He looked as though he was just telling a story instead of the pce¡¯s secrets¡ªthings he had experienced in person.

    He focused on Empress Li, saying, ¡°Only when I took that position in the Lingyun Hall did I understand why my father had allowed the bloody incident to y out. Sentiments and profits nevere together. Benefits can be measured, but are there shallow sentiments and deep sentiments?¡±

    ¡°To Wuyue, to you, and to all my other concubines and princes, I was never a good husband and father. Everything I hated about my father, I did the same as well. Fortunately, no one else after Wuyue really discussed feelings with me.¡±

    Every nobledy had a family supporting her, and every concubine position came with a contract. The Radiant Emperor¡¯s maternal family was of humble origins, so as a prince, he never had any women around him.

    Empress Li heaved a sigh, knowing that the words to follow were the focus of today¡¯s conversation.

    ¡°I know you have your aspirations. With your current attainments, you can easily be the head of the Divination Pavilion. I will inform the heavenly monarchs and grant you this position.¡±

    ¡°But no prince or princess under your name shall have the right to seed the throne. Especially if you want the Li family to be promoted to major n status in this generation, there shall be no Emperor surnamed Li. From today onward, as long as the Li surname remains head of the Divination Pavilion, we will not ept anyone else surnamed Li into the Imperial harem.¡±

    Empress Li was extremely calm. She bowed deeply, saying, ¡°Yes, Your Majesty, your subject obeys.¡±

 Chapter 1364: Profit and Sentiments (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1364: Profit and Sentiments (Part 2)</h4>

    The Radiant Emperor said slowly, ¡°Come and listen to the defenseyout of the heavenly monarchs. I¡¯ll be joining them in battle as one of their peers.¡±

    Empress Li looked up.

    The Radiant Emperor smiled. ¡°You look nice in this outfit. There¡¯s no need to change into court apparel, let¡¯s go now.¡±

    All the inner attendants from the ¡°Wave Hall¡± were standing outside, and at least ten meters away from the door.

    The auxiliary hall to the right used to be a resting chamber, equipped with tall seats, soft cushions, reading desks, and a zither stand. It was the perfect ce for heavenly monarchs to gather because there was no need to sit ording to seniority, and everyone could find afortable spot.

    The Pointer Monarch and Profundity Monarch were seated on opposite sides, one enjoying tea while the other yed chess. They seemed rather leisurely. The Northridge Monarch was lying on the soft cushions and seemingly dozing off. His territory, the Western Continent, was the farthest from the heart of the Empire. He rarely came to the capital unless there was something important.

    The door curtains moved gently as Fang Qingkong entered the room. He was d in a civil officer¡¯s attire, with a hint of coldness in his expression.

    The man wasn¡¯t shaken at all by the room full of heavenly monarchs. Without disturbing the powerhouses¡¯ individual activity, he walked over to the Profundity Monarch and whispered some words.

    The chess piece in the Profundity Monarch¡¯s hand froze midway. He said in an odd tone, ¡°The Martyr¡¯s Pce? Shouldn¡¯t you ask the Zhao n about that? Last I heard, Qianye has a daughter on Fort Continent. Besides, Pointer is the one who built that airship. You should be asking him how to deal with it. What opinion can I have?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch might be keen in sight and hearing, but he wasn¡¯t going to listen in on a hushed conversation between the two. He turned around only when his name was mentioned, and seeing Fang Qingkong¡¯s nk expression, he more or less realized what was going on.

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Fang Qingkong, just speak in a straightforward manner. Don¡¯t keep things half-hidden like Lin Xitang.¡± He then said to the Profundity Monarch, ¡°I know a bit about this. Your great-grandson sent an unknown brat from one of the Zhang branch families, borrowing your name to negotiate a deal with Song Zining. He ns to split the profits from Fort Continent with him.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch was surprised. ¡°Which great-grandson?¡± He then asked, ¡°And Song Zining believes him? I don¡¯t think he¡¯s that dumb, is he?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch stroked his beard and nced meaningfully at Fang Qingkong.

    After Lin Xitang¡¯s departure, the duty of managing the highest level of intelligence reports fell upon Fang Qingkong. This divine champion wasn¡¯t dumb, buting over to mention this matter in front of the heavenly monarchs wasn¡¯t a matter rted to his intelligence.

    Fang Qingkong stood there like a wooden statue, not saying a single word.

    The Pointer Monarch shook his head with a smile. He realized that the man was forcing him and the Profundity Monarch to express their opinions, but he didn¡¯t mind this bit of scheming. ¡°Profundity, Zining came to seek my opinion a while ago. I told him not to hold back, do whatever makes him feel better.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch didn¡¯t seem surprised. He said with a nod, ¡°That¡¯s how it should be.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°I told him sacrificing a handful of people is nothing.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch said, ¡°Why stop me when you¡¯ve already spoken? Those youngsters of mine probably think they¡¯re so talented that the family won¡¯t abandon them. If they think the contributions I gained in the new world aren¡¯t enough for them to use, they¡¯re free to try and get more. They can¡¯t me anyone if they go about it the wrong way and lose their lives, can they?¡±

    At this point, the Profundity Monarch was furious. He turned to Fang Qingkong and said, ¡°Which one is it?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°No rush. Since Zining asked me about it, he probably has a n already. Just let him borrow your name for a bit.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch was stunned for a brief moment. After realizing what the elder prince meant, he said, ¡°Fine. That ce is full of dark races, it¡¯s not a bad thing to let him do a bit of suppression.¡±

    At this moment, the Radiant Emperor and Empress Li walked in. The heavenly monarchs stood up to offer their salutations; the Northridge Monarch got up from the couch as well.

    The group was already on alert, to begin with, so they got right to business. Fang Qingkong began exining the recent situation.

    The Evernight Council¡¯s movements had been extremely odd. During the process of tallying contributions, they began capturing members of their aristocracy. And not just any noble; those were high-ranking nobles of the four major races.

    This was a rare urrence. The resolution might¡¯vee from the council, but their direct forces would only touch the smaller races under normal circ.u.mstances. The four major races would work things out on their own.

    Ignoring what their crimes were, touching members of the nobility would always bring up the problem of military power. Yet the council had brought out some unnamed machines that had never appeared before on the battlefield.

    Fang Qingkong had to look through the archives in the Imperial library to finally get some clues on a few of the equipment.

    ¡°Back when Marshal Lin heard about the ceasefire of the holy war, he said there would be great internal changes to the Evernight faction. The new world¡¯s opening covered up these changes, and we were unable to monitor the exact situation.

    ¡°The Founding Emperor and the Martial Emperor had both pointed out that our race will face great peril when the four races are united, but that never truly happened despite the council¡¯s presence. That gave our race the much-needed space to grow, but this state won¡¯t go on indefinitely. Our race must keep a cautious eye on the power ratio between the four major dark races. Once the bnce is broken, danger will soon follow.

    ¡°Back during the founding years of the Great Qin Empire, each of the four major dark races maintained four great dark monarchs in their fighting force. Two of them would actively participate in the race¡¯s affairs and could be swapped out for the two dormant monarchs at a moment¡¯s notice. The maximum number of great dark monarchs that could be kept awake was a top-secret of each race. We never learned the numbers, and it¡¯s likely that the other races have not, either.

    ¡°But in the recent century where the dark races stopped directly attacking the Empire¡¯s maind, the four major races¡¯ rotation of great monarchs evidently decreased in number.

    ¡°And within the past millennium, the vampires have managed to wipe out twenty-three percent of the werewolf race¡¯s n totems in the holy war. They have also reduced fifteen percent of the ns to half their original poption. The size of their ve army wasn¡¯t evidently affected, but we don¡¯t have precise data on the quality of their ve army, either. Additionally, the werewolves have not produced a supreme in thest millennium.

    ¡°The vampires have been leveraging their sess to challenge the authority of the demonkin race. ording to historical records, thetter race¡¯srge-scale war machines were much more advanced than the ones in use today. We¡¯ve always attributed this to a decline in technology, owing to their falling poption.

    ¡°That¡¯s why our higher-ups and research organizations have always believed that the vampires will be the ones to break the power bnce, that they would attack the Empire again after annexing the werewolves. That¡¯s because the number of people being kidnapped or traded via grey channels is not enough to satisfy their need for low-level members. This is a factor restricting them from producingrge numbers of ve soldiers like the werewolves and arachne.

    ¡°Because high-ranking vampires look simr to our race, the number of human and vampire hybrids are quite high in the grey zones. They are also able to transform those of our race into their own. It has always been their side that has actively sought to prate the Empire. The agent who had been in touch with the Longevity Monarch during the void continent war was a great duke. He has gone missing now, and we can¡¯t say for sure if he obeys the Lightless Monarch Medanzo or the ming Crown Habsburg.

    ¡°Since the opening of the new world, we¡¯ve been making full preparations for an all-out war. If the Evernight side starts moving, that means the ancestors¡¯ prophecy is about to arrive. The council¡¯s movements prove that a powerful authority figure has appeared.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not certain who the other side¡¯s leader is. Is it the vampire race or is it the demonkin?¡±

    After a period of silence, Empress Li said, ¡°The Evernight side has camouged their fate very tightly. They¡¯re not responding to provocations, either. Even if our side tries to prate and explore, they only seek to expel and never chase us down. The heart of the new world is still shrouded in ck mist.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch fell into a moment of thought. ¡°Do we have a map indicating all the territory the Evernight Council has captured?¡±

    Fang Qingkong shook his head. ¡°The difficulty of gathering intelligence has greatly increased since the holy war ceasefire. We only managed to obtain some scattered information this time. There was one clear report because that one took ce on the Western Continent."

    ¡°Western Continent, huh?¡± The Northridge Monarch frowned. ¡°Does the Zhao n know about it?¡±

    Fang Qingkong said, ¡°We¡¯ve already notified them. There¡¯s no news of the Empire¡¯s main territory being invaded, but we should be cautious.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch nodded. ¡°Agreed.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor and the other heavenly monarchs also expressed their agreement.

    Fang Qingkong added, ¡°Because the situation at hand is fairly close to an all-out war, I would like to confirm the tactical contraction n while the heavenly monarchs are here.¡±

    Tactical contraction referred to the pulling back of the war front under adverse conditions so that the core regions could be protected.

    Fang Qingkong flipped through the doc.u.ments, saying, ¡°The Empire currently holds the least territory on the Western Continent. There are only three more aristocratic families in addition to the Zhao n. Its development came at ater date, so our defenses are the weakest there.¡±

    ¡°The Transcendent Continent has been recovering at a snail¡¯s pace following the beast horde¡¯s rampage. This became more evident after the Fort Continent¡¯s rise. Most aristocratic families have been diverting their resources over to that side.

    ¡°So, from the current fighting power distribution, Transcendent seems to be the best contraction point. The beast horde damaged the surface structures, but the continent-grade weapons can still be activated.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch said, ¡°I agree.¡± He then said to the Pointer Monarch, ¡°One of us has to defend the contraction point, I¡¯ll go this time.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch agreed, and so did the Northridge Monarch.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Monarch Zhang is recuperating, so I¡¯ll be the reserve.¡±

    These words drew all eyes upon him. The Great Qin¡¯s Emperors had always been outstanding in calligraphy, statecraft, and martial power, but very few of them had joined outside wars since the Empire stabilized its footing.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°The wounds he sustained in the new world are difficult to treat. It¡¯s best if he has time to heal and remove hidden injuries. Lord Rivernce and I came from the same line, so it won¡¯t be a problem for him to control the Emperor Domain at the capital. Monarch Zhang will also remain at the capital and ensure the Great Qin¡¯s foundations are not lost.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Your Majesty, do you understand the implications of this decision?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°The Empress will take office as head of the divination institute. Her sons and daughters will not be heir. Henceforth, whoever is head of the divination institute, their nsmen will not be epted into the Imperial harem.¡±

    The room became silent.

    Momentster, the Pointer Monarch said, ¡°I approve, but the vote to relieve a heavenly monarch must be unanimous. We need to ask Greensun¡¯s opinion.¡± The others nodded.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°That¡¯s a given. I will visit Monarch Zhang tomorrow.¡±

    At this point, the meeting came to an end.

 Chapter 1365: Iâ€™m Back (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1365: I¡¯m Back (Part 1)</h4>

    ¡°Qianye... Qianye...¡±

    The calling appeared once again. He moved ever so slightly in an attempt to open his eyes, but it felt as though there was a mountain pressing down on his eyelids. He couldn¡¯t open them no matter how hard he tried. He was gasping, but not as a normal person would. Every part of his body was respiring, so he didn¡¯t feel as great a difort.

    Just like an origin arraying back to life, he gradually began to sense some parts of his body and couldmand them to make small movements. Energy rolled into his body, seeping in through his skin and rousing his slumbering shell.

    He finally opened his eyes.

    Before him was an azure screen of water, and on the other side was a familiar countenance¡ªNighteye.

    Qianye struggled to sit up, but all he managed to do was raise a single hand. Overjoyed, Nighteye reached out and carried him out of the water.

    Qianye looked around in puzzlement and realized that he was in a dark, ancient hall. The walls were covered in relief sculptures, which seemed worn despite them being indoors. It would seem this hall had been around for countless years.

    The sculptures depicted numerous historical battles, none of which was familiar to Qianye. It almost seemed like another world to him.

    Some of the enemies in the sculptures were races Qianye had neither seen nor heard of before. They looked strange and grotesque, but the armor and weapons they were wielding proved that they were a highly intelligent race and not primitive beasts.

    These sculptures caught his full attention. From the contents, it would seem that the vampires suffered grave casualties during that war. Entire legions would end up in mutual destruction with the enemy forces, but the sanguine moon g never fell.

    When had the vampires fought such battles before?

    Qianye turned toward Nighteye. He didn¡¯t look at her immediately, not because he didn¡¯t want to, but because he didn¡¯t dare. He was afraid that this would be another fleeting dream, just like the River of Blood.

    What came into his eyes was a familiar face, a countenance that brought joy every time.

    Qianye reached out. He wanted to caress her face at first but ended up hugging her tightly. He closed his eyes and felt a familiar scent creep into his senses.

    She was the first to speak after a long while, ¡°Do you not n toe down?¡±

    Qianye suddenly realized that he was still being carried in her arms. Startled and embarrassed, he tried to jump down in a hurry, but his legs gave away, nearly causing him to fall.

    His struggle to stand was ultimately in vain. He thought he had found his footing when he stumbled forward. Just as his forehead was about to hit the ground, an odd power within his body reacted to his thoughts, dragging him back to his feet.

    Qianye was dazed after returning to his feet, puzzled as to where that power hade from. This energy was unusual and strange¡ªit was neither Daybreak nor Evernight; it wasn¡¯t a neutral grey, either.

    The power vanished once he was standing properly, much like a hazy dream after awakening. Qianye looked down at himself and found that his body was still intact, although being buck n.a.k.e.d felt a bit embarrassing. Nighteye chuckled when he tried to cover himself with his hand.

    ¡°Still trying to cover up, huh?¡± Sheughed.

    Qianye blushed. ¡°Erm, where are my clothes?¡±

    ¡°Of course they¡¯re totally ruined, I¡¯ve thrown them away. There are new ones outside.¡±

    ¡°Where is this ce?¡± Qianye noticed that the ce he was lying in was a small stone pond, just big enough for three people to lie down in. It was half-filled with a clear azure liquid that gave off a soothing feeling.

    ¡°This is the Azure King¡¯s secret realm, a ce he prepared for his next phase of hibernation. This Pond of Azure Darkness can be considered his primordial blood pond. It was full of powerful blood energy, but almost all of it has been used up in your recovery.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°Then what about the Azure King?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°I owe him for this and I¡¯ll find a way to repay himter. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Qianye frowned. This Pond of Azure Darkness seemed to be close to ten thousand years old, who knew how long it would take to fill it up again? Moreover, hibernation was rted to a vampire¡¯s lifespan. How could it be easy topensate him for such a priceless pond?

    Nighteye said, ¡°Well, you¡¯ve already used it up. If worsees to worst, you can help me repay him.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s frown rxed. ¡°Okay!¡±

    Nighteye rushed into his arms and held him tightly. ¡°I thought... you wouldn¡¯t be back. If it wasn¡¯t for the Azure King¡¯s help... I wouldn¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m back.¡±

    Nighteye wiped her tears away before leaving the embrace. ¡°Don¡¯t do such stupid things anymore and I¡¯ll forget what happened. It¡¯s decided.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He had gone through life and death, but the most important thing was that she had returned to his side. Qianye felt that life was more or less perfect.

    The two left the chamber. Qianye changed into the full set of clothes that had been prepared for him. He checked the mirror in passing and saw an elegant vampire youth in the reflection. Every little detail was up to the strictest of vampire aesthetic standards, a great match for Nighteye.

    Of course, there was only vampire attire in the Azure King¡¯s secret realm. Although Qianye wasn¡¯t quite used to the ornate formal attire, it was still eptable. As he walked out of the ancient hall with Nighteye, the vampire attendants outside fell on one knee. This was a form of utmost respect paid to the strongest.

    These vampire maids were performing an ancient rite, but as someone who had partially inherited the River of Blood¡¯s inheritance, Qianye was familiar with them. He nced at Nighteye, surprised that others would salute him in such a manner.

    ¡°You convinced all vampires with yourst battle. This is something you deserve, ept it.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat at a loss, but he didn¡¯t ask more about it. The duo walked along a long corridor and arrived outside.

    There was a garden outside of the door. Every tree, stone, and de of grass here seemed natural and inexplicably elegant. Gazing at the distant peaks from the garden filled the heart with a distant mood of leisure.

    A person was standing in the garden. It was the Azure King.

    Nighteye¡¯s expression becameplicated upon seeing the man. She said to Qianye, ¡°Wait for me here, I have something to say to the Azure King.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Qianye nodded.

    The garden was half-open, the other side being a steep cliff beyond whichy green mountains, lush valleys, and rising clouds.

    Nighteye and the Azure King arrived near the cliffside.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The Azure King smiled. ¡°What¡¯s there to thank? He happened to have that treasure on him, and I happened to know how to use it. That¡¯s what saved him. This is called fate, ording to human words.¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°But your blood pond has been used up, you won¡¯t be able to hibernate for the next decade at least.¡±

    The Azure King said, ¡°I¡¯ve lived long enough, what is a decade to me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say such things.¡±

    He said with a smile, ¡°I still prefer the past era, although she rejected me back then as well.¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t have much of those memories left.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to care about that. You are the same now as you were back then, and I never changed, either. Since neither of us has changed, the oue will be the same even if you awaken again.¡±

    ¡°But I owe you too much.¡±

    ¡°I was willing, so it can¡¯t be considered a debt.¡±

    At this point, Nighteye had nothing left to say.

    The Azure King said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get back to business. Are you both willing to take on more responsibilities now? He¡¯s already a vampire, is there a problem?¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to force him to do anything.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Nighteye felt that something was off. ¡°Did some problems arise?¡±

    ¡°There are always problems, the only difference is how we deal with them. If you¡¯re willing to look, you will naturally see the dangers.¡±

    Nighteye frowned. ¡°What dangers, please tell me clearly.¡±

    The Azure Kingughed. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t need to exin anymore, you¡¯ll see very soon.¡±

    A re shot up in the distant valley, flying high up into the sky and bursting into the image of a full moon. The scene was both dazzling and tragic.

    ¡°It¡¯s a signal re! How did people find out about your secret realm?¡± Nighteye was surprised.

    The Azure King was calm. ¡°No secret can be kept forever, this ce is no exception. You leave with him, I¡¯ll keep them busy for a while.¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°I won¡¯t go, let¡¯s fight together.¡±

    The Azure King said, ¡°We were young during the ancient era, and we¡¯ve fought together before. There¡¯s no need for you to fight now, this battle is not one you can take part in. Since they daree, that means they¡¯re confident of victory. You¡¯ll only drag me down if you stay behind.¡±

    ¡°Who is the enemy?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to know right now, you¡¯ll surely know in the future.¡±

    ¡°Why won¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    ¡°My guess might not be right. Besides, it¡¯s no use even if I do tell you, it might be an enemy neither of us is expecting.¡±

    Another re shot up at the moment. This time, there was an additional signal¡ªthe invaders were from a foreign race!

    This time, the re was just outside of the valley. These sentries had been cleared away at such shocking speeds. As someone familiar with the vampire race¡¯s usual defensive arrangements, she couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised...

    The Azure King said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Few were our match back in the year, and it¡¯s the same right now. It¡¯ll be easy to escape even if I can¡¯t win. All my azure blood is in Qianye now, there¡¯s no point in defending this ce to the death.¡±

    Nighteye said hesitantly, ¡°Which race dares to attack your secret realm? This is a deration of war against our entire race.¡±

    The Azure King¡¯s expression darkened as he sensed something. He looked toward Nighteye, saying, ¡°It¡¯s a great monarch from a foreign race.¡±

    A surge of blood energy appeared in his eyes. A message only top vampire experts could sense spread out rapidly, stirring up propagating ripples in the River of Blood. It was as though a bird had just fluttered across the water surface.

    Considering her connection to the River of Blood, Nighteye felt these ripples as well. Knowing that the Azure King had just issued summons, she felt a bit relieved and a bit worried. What kind of enemy could make the Azure King call for reinforcements?

    Two responses emerged in the blink of an eye¡ªone was the Lightless Monarch Medanzo, and the other was the ming Crown Habsburg. Thetter was located too far away, so much so that the message was unclear, but Medanzo could hurry over within moments.

    The Azure King said to Nighteye, ¡°You have to go, Qianye is powerless right now. I suspect they¡¯re here for him.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression shifted drastically. He clenched her jaws, saying, ¡°Very well, you... must take care!¡±

    The Azure King broke into augh. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I still want to take a look at the new world.¡±

 Chapter 1365: Iâ€™m Back (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1365: I¡¯m Back (Part 2)</h4>

    A battlefield between great dark monarchs wasn¡¯t for idle people to spectate. Only a duke would have the power to protect himself; those below the marquis realm could hardly hope to survive. Nighteye had only recovered to the vice-duke realm. Although she might be able to take part in a battle between dukes, Qianye was as weak as a newborn child after waking up from the blood pond. He might lose his life at the slightest touch.

    Nighteye hesitated for a moment, gazing deeply into the Azure King¡¯s eyes before running back in Qianye¡¯s direction. She noticed something in her hands as the king¡¯s voice echoed in her ears, ¡°Use this, it¡¯ll take you part of the way.¡±

    Nighteye saw an azure crystal as limpid as the sea and skies. It was covered in an intricate web of origin arrays and contained a terrifying amount of power. It even caused her hair to billow upward.

    She felt a bit of uneasiness in her heart, yet she couldn¡¯t exin the reasons why. The Azure King might be nearing the end of his lifespan, but he was one of the few experts who had inherited the primogenitor¡¯s authority. Few could match him in the same realm.

    Even now, he was still unfathomable. The Lightless Monarch Medanzo would arrive very soon. With two dark monarchs working together, they could probably even flee from a supreme.

    Qianye was the one in real danger at the moment. Nighteye¡¯s senses were iparably sharp after her awakening, allowing her to sense that the Azure King was right. The enemy¡¯s target was very likely Qianye.

    ¡°Could it be those humans again?!¡± Nighteye clenched her teeth and activated the crystal!

    A terrifying wave of power erupted from the crystal and spread out to level the entire garden. Qianye and Nighteye were enveloped by ayer of green energy which took them thousands of meters into the air.

    Another ring of light exploded in the sky, and this time, the duo was transported thousands of meters away. The next ring of light took them over ten thousand meters away.

    One azure ring after another erupted from the crystal, taking Qianye and Nighteye further and further away. By the time thest one appeared, they were tens of thousands of meters from their starting point.

    Moreover, the azure rings started shifting directionster on, which would serve to shake off any potential pursuers.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye and Nighteye were in a secret realm filled with bright sunlight, chirping birds, and the scent of flowers. There was a wooden house in the woods, and next to it was a simple stone hall.

    Once at the location, the azure jade produced a mass of green light and slowly carried the duo to the ground in front of the house. The stone then flickered and dispersed in the form of green smoke.

    The dispersion of the light was like an invisible switch that brought the stone hall and wooden house to life. The lights lit up, rows upon rows of books appeared on the shelves, and the cabs were filled with all kinds of supplies.

    The well in the courtyard began to bubble with spring water. Within the stone hall, the beast head embedded in one of the pirs began to pour out a stream of sanguine fluid into an empty stone pond, stopping only when the water level was enough to cover a person.

    The surrounding scenery also began to undergo subtle changes. An invisible barrier rose up and sealed the secret realm off, preventing even a bit of aura from leaking out. The barrier was mild and gentle; even a passing great dark monarch might not sense it easily.

    Nighteye¡¯s expression changed a bit after seeing the surroundings. Qianye also went silent.

    This secret realm wasn¡¯t big, but the setup was well thought out. That istion barrier alone was a magnificent piece of work.

    The two also noticed some subtle differences in the worldlyws. They had both experienced entering a small world back when they were searching for Andruil¡¯s treasure. This ce was precisely one of those rare half-dimensional small worlds.

    The Pond of Azure Darkness in the stone hall was small, but that was a hidden card the Azure King prepared for his own recovery. How could it be normal?

    This secret realm was clearly the Azure King¡¯s final hiding ce. That crystal would send the user to this location no matter where he was. Such a treasure was far more valuable than normal treasures, catching right up to magnums and holy weapons. Did the Azure King sense something by giving them this item?

    Nighteye forced herself to remain calm as she said, ¡°This blood pond can be used once. You¡¯ll recoverpletely afterward.¡±

    ¡°Wait, something¡¯s not quite right with my body.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother with other things yet, just recuperate first.¡± Nighteye gently and firmly pushed Qianye into the Pond of Azure Darkness. Once inside, Qianye felt indefensible exhaustion well up over him. In the end, he could no longer withstand the tiredness and fell into a deep sleep.

    Seeing Qianye lying quietly at the bottom of the pond, Nighteye walked out of the stone hall and closed the door softly. She then sat down on a stone chair in the garden, dazed.

    Her heart grew increasingly restless.

    ...

    When Anwen and Predica walked into the great hall, the Demon King was standing before an intricately crafted model of the world.

    This apparatus was different from the metallic onesmonly seen outside; all of the parts were made from a material that looked like stone. However, it was more l.u.s.trous and coldpared to ordinary stone. The material was simr to that of the thrones of the six-armed creatures in the new world but much more polished.

    The entire model was mobile, with each miniature continent and slowly moving along its trajectory. Upon careful observation, the ck connecting threads were almost ephemeral and made up of extremely condensed demonic energy.

    Anwen and Predica had seen it many times, but they couldn¡¯t help but feel attracted by its profound beauty.

    ¡°You guys are here,¡± the Demon King said softly.

    White light flickered in the duo¡¯s eyes, following which they found themselves standing in boundless darkness. Above, below, left, and right, there was only boundless darkness. This sable space did not cause one to tremble in fear like a dark baptism. Instead, it filled one with a wave of greatfort, as though their bodies had grown lighter.

    ¡°Mytest travels took me to a small asteroid belt at the top of this world.¡±

    These ordinary words stirred up great winds and waves in the duo¡¯s hearts. They couldn¡¯t tell whether the emotion was excitement, shock, or adoration.

    For the longest time, thes and continents higher up in the world had been a forbidden region for the various races. Every great dark monarch yearned to explore the void, and even on the human side, there was a king who went missing on the path to the peak.

    Up to this point, the Queen of the Night, Lilith, was the only one confirmed to have been to that ce. That was also one reason why she was considered the number one expert in Evernight.

    The Demon King said, ¡°The profundities of this world are truly fascinating. Looking up at the sky from the top of the world will show you apletely different starry sky. It¡¯s so beautiful that words cannot do it justice. I was only one step away from crossing over to the other side, to experience that kind of beauty. It would have been worth it even if destruction is the price to pay.

    ¡°But, at that moment, I looked back at our own world... and saw the truth.¡±

    At this moment, the boundless darkness around Anwen and Predica started to change.

    The world was dark.

    Yet that pure darkness came alive in their senses, filling them with vital energy. Two ck suns hung in the sky, bathing everything below with their light. They were the fountains of energy that kept all living beings alive.

    The indigenous people harvested energy in the form of grass, rocks, and liquid. This energy entering their body would give them joy, and their joy, in turn, would activate the surrounding darkness element.

    The entire world was full of life.

    All of a sudden, a bright speck appeared in a certain part of the world. This bright spot gradually expanded like rippling water, distorting the darkness element in its wake. The ripples finally stopped and some ces returned to normal, but there were also some ces that had grown pale.

    After an unknown period of time, some creatures stood up in the pallid regions.

    Those creatures staggered into the wilderness after standing up. They probably didn¡¯t know where they were going, nor did they have any objective; they just walked in a random route. Wherever they went, a greyish-white mark would be left behind on the dark ground.

    Those creatures disappeared after a long time.

    After some time, a group of aboriginals appeared yet again. They had no idea what that greyish white track was. Some people jumped over, while others kept on harvesting energy.

    Just like that, the white mark spread like poison. They eventually climbed onto the aboriginals¡¯ feet and were carried to ces farther away.

    As time went by, the earliest natives who hade into contact with the white mark began undergoing some changes. They were no longer of pure darkness. Some of the ces they went to were tainted, while others were not. The ces they stayed for prolonged periods began to fade in color.

    This process went on repeatedly in many ces of the world.

    A speck of light would fall, and the white patch creatures would appear.

    The natives eventually discovered the problem and no longer dared to touch the white marks. They ran after the trails as they were made and shouted after them. Yet it would seem the natives and the creatures couldn¡¯t see one another. Everything was in vain.

    The aboriginals tried to clear away those marks, but the effect was rather limited. The worst part was that the white marks would slowly cause the area to fade if left alone.

    Up until one day, the entire world seemed to light up just a little bit. The brightening might be negligible in the eyes of ordinary people, but experts knew that the darkness was now different. The world was no longer as pure.

    Some of the natives woulde to discover this fact. One such terrified person was facing a patch of seriously taintednd. Arge white patch had appeared and was spurting out a luminous aura. The world there began to crack, and thews changed beyond recognition, much like a disorderly giant beast.

    The native panicked. He ran and shouted before finally flying into the air, but the bright energy was so fast that it devoured him not long afterward.

    After an unknown length of time, that mass of still light spat out a creature that looked the same as that native, but its body was translucent like ss. The creature began moving around, but his movements were inexplicably strange and twisted.

    He seemed to remember where his tribal vige was. He walked and walked until he arrived at a small vige. The moment he stepped into the vige, the entire ce turned into a sphere of light.

    The changes came to a sudden stop with a wave of the Demon King¡¯s hand. The boundless darkness reverted to when Anwen and Predica arrived.

    The two were sweating so much that their shirts were drenched. Their beating hearts only recovered after returning to the quiet darkness.

    The Demon King¡¯s voice almost seemed toe from another world. ¡°You two once foresaw very different futures leading to the same oue, destruction.¡±

    ¡°What you saw just now is the truth of this world. The darkness that had given birth to us is being tainted. Thews of darkness are being twisted, and its people are turned into monsters. Through the countless years, our ancestors have been trying their best to turn our fate around. Yet we keep losing our knowledge of this world and forgetting the inheritance of space and time.

    ¡°Every race has legends about powerful experts reaching the top of this world. I can tell you for sure that it is true, there is a world outside of this world, and the strong can choose to leave this tainted, twisted world. But... how about our people?¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°One thousand two hundred years ago, the War of Daybreak...¡± His voice started to tremble.

    ¡°That is the weeping of our world. The darkness origins had been tainted to its limits.¡± The Demon King continued, ¡°The great elders have waited for thousands of years for theing of the new world. For the past ten thousand years, the darkness origins could no longer repair itself. There¡¯s something in the new world we need, something that can help us.¡±

    Anwen and Predica became silent.

    These young men were the core of the demonkin race¡¯s upper echelons, so they were privy to some of the grand ns. Although they didn¡¯t know the deep meaning behind them, the Demon King¡¯s words today cleared things up for them.

    At the same time, they understood why the Demon King had called them here to exin the truth of the new world.

    ¡°Pure, strong power deserves respect. We are the same in that respect,¡± the Demon King said. ¡°I passed by Kumara on the way back from the peak and met Lin Xitang there. He was an enemy worthy of our utmost respect.¡±

    ¡°Back then, someone told me that Predica has ced him among the most dangerous people of the Daybreak Faction.¡± The Demon King¡¯s perfect countenance revealed a bitter smile. ¡°See? I made a grave mistake once again.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s sigh filled the entire space, seeminglying from the shores of the vast darkness itself. ¡°When the world copses, we can head to the new world, but how about our people? How about the origins that gave us life?¡±

    When Anwen and Predica returned to their senses, they were standing in an empty hall. The two exchanged nces as they walked out.

    The sun was shining splendidly. Who would hear the world crying?

 Chapter 1366: Private Discussion (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1366: Private Discussion (Part 1)</h4>

    Back at the Imperial Capital. After returning to his temporary residence at the ry station, Song Zining began going through the doc.u.ments after dinner.

    Late in the quiet night, someone knocked on the door and entered without waiting for a reply.

    He closed the door carefully and sat down beside Song Zining¡¯s table. ¡°Marshal Song, you instructed me toe here in secret. Is there anything you need?¡±

    The one before him was, surprisingly, Duke Wenyuan. He had been in the Imperial Capital during this period, waiting for his crimes to be pardoned.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Duke Chen, you really contributed a lot in the recent period.¡±

    Chen Tongqi replied, ¡°It was always Sire Qianye fighting at the forefront. We merely followed him and picked up some benefits, it¡¯s no big contribution.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Duke Chen, your crime warranted the execution of your entire n and confiscation of properties. After risking life and limb in cksun Valley, your contributions were just about enough to cancel out your charge.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan was shocked. ¡°What? Were there new variables?¡±

    Song Zining replied, ¡°Of course there are, it depends on how you act. I wonder how you see Qianye?¡±

    Chen Tongqi said, ¡°Sire Qianye is a rare genius with a good temperament. After you and Marshal Jundu were injured, the Empire only regained a series of victories after his arrival. Although I¡¯m also a divine champion, I am vastly inferior and won¡¯t evenst three moves against him.¡±

    After a brief pause, he said emotionally, ¡°Frankly speaking, Sire Qianye killed his way through countless enemy defenses and marched us straight into the central region. With two thousand men, he forced a force hundreds of times the size to cower in their fortress. Why were his aplishments wiped away? Won¡¯t this demoralize the three thousand men who walked into hell with him?¡±

    Song Zining knocked on the table. ¡°Duke Chen, forgive me for being blunt. Your charges haven¡¯t been cleared at the moment, so you¡¯ll invite trouble on yourself if you speak recklessly.¡±

    Chen Tongqi said casually, ¡°I already have enough troubles, no? What if I invite a bit more? Besides, how can I call myself a warrior if I don¡¯t even dare speak up for Qianye¡¯s contributions?¡±

    Song Zining asked, ¡°Back then, Qianye sent Liu Chengyun back to the Empire and canceled his contributions. When you and Duke Minghai returned,ter on, the man shared a fair bit of his own contributions with you two. Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Are you investigating me?¡±

    ¡°This issue is rted to your future at this point, I hope you can tell me the truth.¡±

    Chen Tongqi said after some thought, ¡°Liu Chengyun was the first to shrink back when Qianye was selecting men to charge with him. He had also acted against orders several times before that, so he had to be punished. Duke Minghai and I followed Sire Qianye to the end without the slightest bit of cowardice. We dared not refuse the reward he granted us, and we dared not say no when he asked us to leave. We would only drag him down by staying behind.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°This is the reason for your new crime.¡±

    Chen Tongqi was puzzled. ¡°What¡¯s the crime?¡±

    Song Zining ced a doc.u.ment in front of the man. Thetter cried out after a mere nce, ¡°Colluding with other races and submitting false contribution reports?¡±

    He mmed the table furiously. ¡°Which other race? Who did this duke collude with?¡±

    The surrounding scenery shifted ever so slightly as Song Zining deployed his domain, isting the inside environment. After everything was safe, he said, ¡°That other race... is Qianye.¡±

    Chen Tongqi was startled for a moment. He then stood up, livid, and mmed the table again. ¡°Preposterous! Sire Qianye aplished so much for the Empire. How dare you people treat him like that after his death? Do you not have a shred of conscience? There¡¯s simply no way the Empire could¡¯ve gained a foothold in cksun Valley if it wasn¡¯t for him.¡±

    Song Zining replied calmly, ¡°This letter was penned by Liu Chengyun. It has already been rejected.¡±

    Chen Tongqi¡¯s expression darkened, and his voice grew cold. ¡°Old Liu must be tired of living. At first, he could¡¯ve lived for a couple more years, but I don¡¯t mind sending him on his way!¡±

    ¡°Why would you go so far?¡±

    ¡°These despicable people. Ruining my life is fine, but he¡¯s trying to ruin Sire Qianye¡¯s name! Every day he¡¯s alive is another day of injustice.¡±

    Song Zining said slowly, ¡°Duke Wenyuan, you¡¯re determined, but you must be wary of your strategy. You wouldn¡¯t be in such a state if you hadn¡¯t been so rash. From what I know, you weren¡¯t a part of the core schemers.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan¡¯s expression shifted slightly. In the end, he said with a sigh, ¡°My temper has always gotten me in trouble all these years. I owe the Profundity Monarch for recognizing me, how could I betray him? I didn¡¯t utter a single word no matter how they interrogated me, and thatnded me where I am now.¡±

    Song Zining put away the doc.u.ment, saying, ¡°There are people pulling the strings. Liu Chengyun was merely pushed onto the stage to be the gunman. Your past crime, though, can only be reduced and notpletely acquitted.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you have a n, can you give me some advice?¡±

    Song Zining said slowly, ¡°My advice is to admit to the charges.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan was surprised. ¡°This... what about my family members?¡± Some charges couldn¡¯t be easily admitted to.

    ¡°Your family is small, with little more than a hundred core members. Although the crime itself won¡¯t change, your contributions in the new world are enough to change the punishment. We can go from forcedbor and military service to exile. You will remain in the army and serve the Empire.¡±

    ¡°Exile? Where to?¡±

    ¡°The neutralnds.¡±

    Duke Wenyuan started to understand. He said after some thought, ¡°Then I¡¯ll trouble you to take care of my family.¡±

    He had given it some thought. The neutralnds was Song Zining¡¯s domain¡ªthere would be no suffering for his family there, but they would be in the seventh young master¡¯s hands. Only then would Song Zining feel assured enough to make him run certain errands.

    As expected, Song Zining said, ¡°You¡¯re quite familiar with cksun Valley, so I will transfer you over to a new post there. Afterward, I have other arrangements for you. You¡¯ll know when the timees.¡±

    ¡°I obey.¡± Duke Wenyuan bowed with cupped fists and left.

    Song Zining produced a paper and wrote down several names on it. Duke Wenyuan¡¯s name was on it as well. Most of the names on the list had been marked with only two left.

    He took a look at the list, then struck off Ji Tianqing¡¯s name. ¡°I¡¯ll let the elder prince talk to her. It will be whatever he wants to tell her.¡±

    He lit up the list and watched the paper burn to ashes before turning in. An icy blue sword appeared over his neck just after he hadid down.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t panic. ¡°I was thinking when I should go see you. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯de to me first?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s expression was cold. ¡°I should¡¯ve just cut your head off, but I¡¯ll spare you until the situation is cleared. You will answer everything I ask, you can forget about seeing the sun tomorrow if I¡¯m not satisfied with the answers.¡±

    Song Zining pushed the de a bit out of the way and sat up. ¡°Ask away.¡±

    ¡°Is Qianye... gone?¡±

    Song Zining thought about it for a good while. ¡°No one saw it, but there were heavenly monarchs at the scene. ording to them, Qianye should be dead now.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear ¡®should.¡¯ I want to know if he¡¯s really...¡±

    Song Zining asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be asking the Empress?¡±

    Li Kuann¡¯s hands trembled for a bit. ¡°I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s really doing things for the child and myself. I really don¡¯t know! I heard you were back, so I came to see you.¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°I might not know more than you do. What I do know is that someone is already making a move on his enterprise.¡±

    A cold gleam appeared in her eyes. ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you yet. I¡¯ll handle matters and tell you if I need your help.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I trust you.¡±

    She had always been swift and decisive. Seeing that there was no more information to be gleaned from Song Zining, she turned around and left.

    Song Zining could no longer sleep at this point. He simply stood at the window, gazing at the bright moon in the sky.

    A clear voice suddenly echoed in his ears, ¡°Not bad, you didn¡¯t say things you shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    Song Zining looked back with a wry smile. ¡°Empress, we¡¯re in the Imperial Capital right now. It¡¯s not too appropriate to run out in the middle of the night, is it?¡±

    The one who had appeared behind him was, quite shockingly, the Empress. She was d in casual clothing, but that did little to hide her kingdom-toppling beauty.

    She said, ¡°I can go anywhere in the capital as long as I avoid those old fogeys.¡±

    Song Zining said respectfully, ¡°Congrattions on the great achievement in divination.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°So many things have happened ofte. There¡¯s no way I can remain in the Empress position if I don¡¯t break through. I saw everything you¡¯ve been nning these days. Don¡¯t let things get too far out of hand, or I¡¯ll have a hard time helping you.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°I didn¡¯t sense a thing. Looks like I¡¯m far inferior in terms of divination.¡±

    There was no telling whether or not the Empress believed Song Zining¡¯s humble words. She merely said with a smile, ¡°The Three Thousand Flying Leaves, the three thousand great dao. The art you cultivate is not inferior to the Li n¡¯s own, it¡¯s not hard to surpass me in the future. Now that you¡¯ve picked this path, there won¡¯t be anyone in this generation to inherit the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°The Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery is a divine art, only a handful of people throughout history have managed to cultivate it. Perhaps only a peerless genius like Marshal Lin can reach its peak. I¡¯m stillcking in talents, so it will be beyond difficult for me to cultivate that art.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°Your talents are not inferior to Marshal Lin¡¯s, but since you¡¯ve chosen your path, no one can force you.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I mighte around one day.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°You must have a reason foring to see mete at night. What do you need? I will do whatever is in my power.¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°There¡¯s definitely something, and there¡¯s no room for you to refuse. Our Li n has a child of great talent. I¡¯ve been giving this a lot of thought these days, I want to find him a good teacher. After all, the scope of our Li n¡¯s knowledge is a bit too narrow. Are you willing to fill this position?¡±

    Song Zining went into a daze. ¡°Could it be... that child?¡±

    Empress Li was quite direct. ¡°Qianye and Kuann¡¯s kid.¡±

 Chapter 1366: Private Discussion (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1366: Private Discussion (Part 2)</h4>

    Song Zining looked rather serious. ¡°Both Qianye and Kuann are highly talented in the martial arts. This child will be a genius in this regard. Why would you need me?¡±

    ¡°Your martial prowess isn¡¯t bad, either.¡± Empress Li red at Song Zining. ¡°That kid from the Ji family will probably start building a foundation from birth and focus on the martial path in the future. We are hardly the elder prince¡¯s match in this respect. I hope our kid will be smart and not do dumb things like his father.¡±

    Song Zining bowed deeply. ¡°Since you¡¯re cing this important duty on my shoulders, I will do my utmost not to disappoint you.¡±

    ¡°cksun Valley is still dangerous, you must be careful when you go back there. Be sure toe back alive, I don¡¯t want the qualified teacher I just found to be a dead person.¡±

    Song Zining said seriously, ¡°Rest assured, not many can kill me if I don¡¯t want to die.¡±

    Empress Li sighed. ¡°You¡¯re as sly as a fox, not many people can trick you. If only Qianye was half as cunning as you are. Enough about that, time for me to go back.¡±

    Song Zining called out to her, ¡°Empress, Qianye... is he really dead?¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s face turned pale. Her aura weakened noticeably, and a trickle of blood dripped down the corner of her mouth. ¡°I tried confirming before but the result was the same.¡±

    Song Zining smiled wryly. ¡°I never underestimated Nighteye, but who would¡¯ve thought she would be so powerful? Who exactly was her past incarnation?¡±

    ¡°That existence is definitely from before the Empire. We have very little information from that era, so we can¡¯t investigate.¡±

    The era before the Empire appeared to be a strangely slow period of development for the dark races. Their society rarely underwent any changes throughout the millennia. Historical records were mostly iplete, especially those regarding the major characters. Their stories were more legends than historical facts.

    Only when the founding ancestor rose to power and established the Empire did a clear boundary between the two factions be clear. Humans developed a great amount of new technology, which they put to use on the battlefield. And from the battlefield, these inventions eventually found their way to the Evernight faction and triggered a revolution. Countless new inventions began to surface and that, in turn, affected their society as a whole.

    It was then that the vampires split into new and conservative factions. The werewolves formed the Summit of Peaks to contend against their ancestral faction. The demonkin warlocks gradually faded away from the battlefield. The arachne, however, didn¡¯t undergo a lot of change.

    In short, the intensity of factional wars had weakened throughout the millennium. There were little to no instances where several provinces were rendered uninhabitable after the war.

    Imperial history books summarized the past era as the dark era. That wasn¡¯t an attempt to smear the other side but simply because the Evernight faction¡¯s past was shrouded behind a curtain of darkness.

    Observing the dark races¡¯ history from the Empire¡¯s perspective felt rather strange. Perhaps because those long-lived species didn¡¯t have that great a memory after living so long, there would always be some problem with the stories that had been passed down through word of mouth.

    The worst were the vampires; they had actually forgotten the recement of an entire n and second-generation primogenitor. This meant that there was little reference about whether the character Nighteye had awakened was from the dark ages.

    Song Zining was no longer in the mood to sleep after Empress Li¡¯s departure. He began going through the battle reports until dawn.

    Someone picked him up the next morning and sent him to the airship port for his return to cksun Valley. Once in the car, an aide secretly handed him a letter. Song Zining realized what it was after seeing the Profundity Monarch¡¯s insignia on a corner of the envelope.

    Song Zining opened the letter and looked through the contents before destroying itpletely. The aide remained silent throughout the entire process.

    Momentster, the airship took to the sky and flew off into the distance. Song Zining revealed a cold smile as he watched the scenery moving along outside the window. ¡°They really sent their men. Good! Do they really think the world is full of idiots like that Wei Wild Boar?¡±

    ...

    The ¡°generals¡¯ quarters¡± were made up of a neat row of small buildings, arranged like a barracks.

    This ce was in the military district. There were few idle personnel as most of the generals qualified to live here had been assigned to the new world and various warzones. There wasn¡¯t so much as a single shadow in the entire street block.

    A standard military vehicle stopped in front of a small building. There was only the driver and a single passenger on board, thetter d in the city-garrison uniform and covered in a field cloak.

    He alighted and entered the courtyard with great familiarity before entering the building. It was as though he were the owner of the house.

    The rooms on the second floor were a tad different from an ordinary barracks. On each side of the corridor were rooms of the same size without any extra decorations.

    The guest entered one of the rooms and removed his cloak¡ªit was actually the Emperor of the Great Qin Empire. There was one other person in the room. Prince Greensun, d in long, wide-sleeved robes, was boiling tea.

    This small building was assigned to Zhang Boqian when he was just a general. Later on, he was granted the title of Duke Dan and given his own residence in the Imperial Capital. He never transferred his residence in the military district until this day.

    The Emperor sat down in front of Zhang Boqian without bothering with formalities. Thetter kept on brewing his tea and finally poured a cup for the Emperor.

    ¡°Monarch Zhang, how are your injuries?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± With that, Zhang Boqian flicked out a ball of greyish energy and passed it to the Radiant Emperor.

    The Emperor produced a wisp of dark green energy and engulfed the greyish energy with it. After sensing the foreign power for a while, he said, ¡°Thews of the new world are indeed strange.¡±

    The greyish energy shrunk by half at this point, yet it gave off a feeling of increased concentration. The Radiant Emperor put away the ball of energy and said, ¡°Did you gain anything?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°It¡¯s the vampires again.¡±

    ¡°As expected.¡± The Radiant Emperor summarized the contents of Fang Qingkong¡¯s report and also mentioned the situation at the divination institution.

    Zhang Boqian frowned while listening. "The Demon King?¡±

    The movements of the dark supremes were difficult to grasp. Also, thews in the new world were different, and the environment wasplicated. They would be untraceable after a period of time.

    Zhang Boqian moved on rather quickly. ¡°Are we getting ready for an all-out war?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Yes, we¡¯re also reassigning some heavenly monarchs. I want to switch with you.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Teacher¡¯s ¡®azure bird¡¯ is with me, so mobility won¡¯t be a problem at all. I¡¯ll summon Uncle Rivernce to the capital and have him operate the Emperor Domain.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s brows twitched slightly. He gazed deeply into the Emperor¡¯s eyes, saying, ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°Back when our founding ancestor rose to power at the Luo River, he said: Our Ji family is but the precursor to the daybreak path.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said after a moment of silence, ¡°Is the time nigh?¡±

    There was a hint of mockery in his expression. ¡°You really are Xitang¡¯s student, both of you like to court death.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°There are records of a semi-dimensional weapon in the wars of a thousand years ago. The risk will be worth it if I¡¯m fortunate enough to witness it. That¡¯s why, Monarch Zhang, please guard the capital in my stead.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he observed the Radiant Emperor. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll agree to the transfer.¡± He produced two doc.u.ments that had been folded repeatedly. ¡°What¡¯s with these doc.u.ments from the military?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor opened them and read the contents, but he didn¡¯t seem too surprised.

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°There are rumors circting on the Western Continent. Even if there was any news of Lin Xitang, it shouldn¡¯t originate there, should it? Besides, the news spread like wildfire, epassing two provinces in two days. If the rebels were that efficient, they would have more than two provinces under their control.¡±

    ¡°The Zhao n has four dukes and one marshal now, so they have their eyes on the crown prince position again.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with Lin Xitang? When did he ever interfere with the heir seat?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said calmly, ¡°Back when the heir selection issue stirred up the Unending Pce, Teacher sought permission to head to the Western Continent and quell the rebels. The Zhao n felt that Marshal Lin was there to suppress them. When Iter announced that I won¡¯t be picking an heir within ten years, they med him for that as well.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°I warned him several times not to meddle in other people¡¯s business!¡± He suddenly red at the Emperor. ¡°What happened with Red Scorpion back then? Why did he refuse to see you for half a year afterward?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor remained calm. ¡°That child¡¯s identity had already been exposed back in Yellow Springs. Some believed that Teacher adopted him to deal a blow to the major ns¡¯ designs on the heir position. They produced an incident where signs of collusion with a vampire great duke could be found, an effort to frame Marshal Lin.

    ¡°The major general in charge of the Northern Legion¡¯s paperwork was from the Imperial n. They used Teacher¡¯s seal andmand token to issue the Red Scorpions an order. He only found out when he saw a copy of the case at my ce. The operation had already started at that time, and we have no idea what was going on over there. How could I just let him head to the scene? As such, I detained him in the Unending Pce for five days before letting him leave.¡±

    Zhang Boqian could already connect the dots. ¡°So you wiped away all public records of the incident.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Correct. Barring a testimony from the enemy faction, all evidence had been prepared and was stacked against him. I must praise the Zhao and Li ns in this regard. Both of them have daughters in the pce, yet they¡¯re surprisingly unified when trying to frame Teacher. Fortunately, they had their own agenda in the end and began acting on their own. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to suppress this matter.¡±

    ¡°I executed that major general without any questioning or trial. I then summoned the Red Scorpion captain and exined the matter to him. All rted doc.u.ments were confiscated, and a gag order was issued to those involved. The man himself was transferred three monthster. Of course, the copy of the case files was never returned to them. Some circting records were the only pieces of evidence left, nothing to be worried about. It was just that the military was split into many different factions, so it was impossible to keep everyone¡¯s mouth shut. Before long, rumors began circting that the Imperial faction was trying to centralize power.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor gave it some thought. He then said with a gentle expression, ¡°Teacher must¡¯ve suspected me from the very beginning.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was assailing the heavenly monarch realm during that time, so he paid little attention to matters outside his warzone. Only now did he realize that all the difficulties Lin Xitang had faced during his time away from the Imperial capital were due to the heir position.

    No wonder the rumors implied that the ns were rallying behind him to contend with Lin Xitang.

    He suddenly realized something. ¡°You¡¯re summoning Rivernce but still not announcing a crown prince?¡± Zhang Boqian was a major n descendant who had been named heir since birth. He couldn¡¯t be bothered with this business, but he was no stranger to the possible oues.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°This so-called Imperial n is nothing more than amon lord elected by the major ns. Since the nobility can govern themselves, isn¡¯t it best to just let them?¡±

    Zhang Boqian remained silent for a good while before saying, ¡°You should know that Lin Xitang and I have very different views on politics.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded, waiting quietly for the continuation.

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°But I know he wouldn¡¯t do this if he were alive.¡±

    The Emperor did not reply.

    Zhang Boqian shook his head. ¡°Let it be, this is your family business. It¡¯s fine as long as you and Rivernce are aware.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Uncle Rivernce will arrive at the capital in two days, I will of course talk it out with him.¡±

    Zhang Boqian plucked one of the doc.u.ments from the Emperor¡¯s hand and wrote some words on it. ¡°Do as you wish, Your Majesty. I¡¯ll be taking my leave now.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s figure had vanished before the Radiant Emperor could get up.

    The Emperor sat there for a good while, sipping on the cold tea. Only afterward did he unfold the doc.u.ment to check on its contents. Under the subject of the newly-carved name in the Heavenly Merit Hall, the letters read: if you don¡¯t want the name under a major n, ce it under aristocratic families.

    The Emperor couldn¡¯t help but smile as he put the doc.u.ment away. He then put on his hooded cloak and left quietly just as he had arrived.

 Chapter 1367: Azure Edge

    <h4>Chapter 1367: Azure Edge</h4>

    During the short time that Nighteye and Qianye were in spatial transit, the Azure King¡¯s ancient castle had been reduced to nothingness. Even the mountain peak had been leveled.

    There were wisps of ck smoke rising from the ruins, filled with an inexplicable sense of decay. There were also scorching mes hovering in the air that wereposed of daybreak origin power.

    With one hand outstretched, the Azure King was supporting a green barrier around him. Several mysterious experts d in ck cloaks were bombarding the barrier with bullets. At set intervals, one of the cloaked men would send a wisp of ck energy drifting toward the Azure King¡¯s shield.

    This energy looked rather unassuming, but it was apparently quite strong since it would cause the Azure King¡¯s shield to fluctuate intensively.

    The great dark monarch seemed rather strained under the furiousbined assault. The ck-robed expert at the center possessed an aura as vast as the sea, perhaps even a bit stronger than the Azure King himself. Yet every wisp of dark energy fired would cause his body to tremble ever so slightly¡ªthe drain was apparently quite significant as well.

    The dark energy would linger on the Azure King¡¯s shield after contact. It would constantly erode the barrier and only disperse after its power had been drained. The ratio of exhaustion was almost two-to-one.

    The azure energy was the Azure King¡¯s original blood energy, and it was anything but simple. However, the ck energy was surprisingly superior in destructive power.

    At this point, the ck-robed expert¡¯s figure shifted in apparent movement. However, the Azure King moved to block his path toward the ring of light.

    Seeing that his intentions had been seen through, the ck-robed expert lowered his hood. The old demonkin expert beneath the cloak possessed a countenance as sharp as an eagle. He stared at the Azure King, saying, ¡°Are you really going to stop me? Why go to all this trouble?¡±

    The Azure King said, ¡°I knew this day woulde, but I never thought you guys would move so quickly. Can¡¯t you wait a couple more decades? Perhaps I¡¯d have returned to the River of Blood by then and there won¡¯t be so much trouble.¡±

    Progia said, ¡°Even a century would¡¯ve been fine, but who would¡¯ve thought the new world would open at such a time? We naturally cannot let it be. Speaking of which, are you really going to risk your life protecting Nighteye? Your rtionship is a thing of the past. The only one in her heart after this awakening is Qianye.¡±

    The Azure King smiled in a carefree manner. ¡°You demonkin are a cold-blooded lot. It¡¯s useless to exin since you won¡¯t even know what sentiments are.¡±

    Progia said, ¡°Indeed, I do not understand those useless things. What feelings and love? All they do is make people weak. You guys have been affected too deeply. I don¡¯t see what good cane out of it. For instance, you¡¯re doing a very dumb thing right now. The one we want is Qianye, a hybrid who dares to im himself as the son of darkness. And here you are protecting him? If you step aside, I can promise not to harm Nighteye¡¯s life.¡±

    The Azure King sighed. ¡°That¡¯s why I said you people don¡¯t understand. I will not step aside, get to it.¡±

    Progia spoke slowly, ¡°I was not yet born when you rampaged through the world, but now I stand here with the Sable Blessing and you are at the end of your lifespan. This battle can only end one way.¡±

    The Azure King said, ¡°It¡¯s definitely not because of chance that the Masefield family got to where it is under your leadership. You might not be able to defeat me even with the Sable Blessing. Where is the Eternal me? Stop hiding since you¡¯re already here.¡±

    A pale ze slowly appeared from the void. The mes briefly took the form of a person¡¯s silhouette, a gesture of greeting.

    The Azure King was fearless in the face of two great demonkin monarchs. ¡°Then I won¡¯t be holding back.¡±

    The Eternal me retreated a hundred meters to indicate that he wasn¡¯t taking part in the fight, leaving the Masefield Lord Progia to face the Azure King alone with his Sable Blessing.

    Progia was happy toply. ¡°The Sable Blessing might have a new owner after this fight.¡±

    The Eternal me¡¯s fire flickered for a moment. ¡°Nothing can be better.¡±

    The Azure King was rather patient and waited for the two to finish their chatter. This ind wasn¡¯t suitable for a battle between great dark monarchs, let alone a group assault. The side with more people would have to spread themselves apart, and thend would copse once the fight began.

    The Azure King knew why these two great dark monarchs had charged into the secret realm instead of choosing the void as a battlefield. Their primary target wasn¡¯t to kill him but to target Qianye and Nighteye.

    Progia gazed at the distant horizon where the faint green halo was slowly receding. He shouted impatiently, ¡°I¡¯ll let you see the Sable Blessing¡¯s true form!¡±

    The Grand Magnum turned into a mass of ck light in his hands, firing wisps of ck energy toward the Azure King.

    Thetter focused entirely on defense, withoutunching any counterattacks. ¡°Are you not afraid the Queen will settle this score with you? No matter how strong the Demon King is, his aplishments are still inferior.¡±

    Progia¡¯s assault didn¡¯t waver. ¡°No need for you to worry. How can the vampires contend with us when they have one less great dark monarch?¡±

    The Azure King smiled. ¡°You want to take me down? Quite confident, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    The Azure King, who had been defending all this time, suddenly made his move. He drew a rhomboid figure in the air and pushed it forward, the green light at his fingertips transforming into numerous geometric mirrors that blocked the Sable Blessing¡¯s trajectory. The ck energy vanished entirely into the mirror and shot out once again, but this time, it was aiming for Progia.

    The startled demonkin n lord shot into the air, but the Azure King moved even faster. A sh of azure light erupted beneath his feet as he appeared above the enemy. There, he formed arge mirror with a swing of his hand, which mmed into Progia head-on.

    Caught off-guard, thetter crashed into the mirror and was sent flying from the impact.

    Passing through the mirror, shattering it, or even being transported into the void was within Progia¡¯s expectations. He never would¡¯ve imagined, though, that such a thin screen of light would send him bouncing.

    Even the body of a great dark monarch couldn¡¯t withstand the recoil from crashing into the mirror at full speed. His vision went dim, and he could feel his head spinning.

    This was an utter embarrassment. Progia let out a furious howl, stirring wind and thick clouds within a ten thousand meter radius. shes of lightning danced in the clouds, almost as though the end of the world was nigh. The ck-robed experts who had been attacking the Azure King realized the danger and flew out of the lightning clouds¡¯ range.

    Progia was absolutely furious at this point. He was drawing upon the origin power of heaven and earth at full throttle, producing a zone of death for the weaker experts. There was room for others to help only because the Azure King was defending. Now that the two great dark monarchs were getting serious, they could no longer interfere.

    Progia raised his hands and shot a mass of demonic energy into the clouds. In the blink of an eye, the energy poured down in the form of countless demonic lightning bolts. An area of ten thousand meters turned into a purgatory of demonic lightning.

    The Azure King had one hand behind his back and was only brandishing his right hand like a sword. He shed at the air above him, summoning a shade of azure light which blocked the demonic lightning. With every continued swipe of his fingers, an azure screen of light would appear around him. Finally, he pointed at Progia, and one of the giant barriers around him went spinning toward the vampire monarch!

    Wisps of demonic energy shot out from Progia¡¯s hands, which duly transformed into a giant axe that hacked at the iing azure light.

    However, the azure glow shot past the interception without so much as a sound or a pause. It went straight for Progia¡¯s throat.

    The vampire monarch stepped sideways to dodge the iing attack. The green light grazed past his body and vanished into the distance.

    Progia nced at his arm. An extremely even opening had appeared in his robe and armor, with threads of blood slowly appearing on the exposed skin.

    Clearly, the azure glow was iparably sharp and would cut through anything.

    Progia¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Yourprehension of space has reached such a level!¡±

    The Azure King said calmly, ¡°Only some tricks I learned as a youngster, I never made any progress throughout the years.¡±

    He turned his sword-finger around, sending even more screens of azure light spinning toward Progia from different angles.

    Progia was a great dark monarch as well. With a loud cry, he turned the demonic lightning into sharp des that met the iing attack. Under the assault of countless demonic swords, the azure screens of light were finally shattered one after another.

    However, the Azure King swung his right hand at this point, and a sheet of azure radiance appeared before Progia at the speed of lightning! Even by great dark monarch standards, this azure attack was almost unimaginable.

    Progia was shocked out of his wits. He moved sideways with all his might and finally managed to evade the sh. However, the attack had cut through his helmet and left a stream of blood trickling down his face.

    The demonkin were never known for their strong bodies, but managing tond a blow was already a big matter. Progia¡¯s gaze toward the azure light waspletely different now; it was full of seriousness and fear.

    The azure edge was so sharp that it was almost invincible. He would¡¯ve never imagined that this civil and almost weak-looking Azure King was so terrifying inbat.

    The Azure King drew a circle and swung it forward, sending several azure shards toward Progia. This time, the azure glow was so fast that demonic swords couldn¡¯t block them at all. With a loud roar, the demonkin monarch fired several threads of ck energy from the Sable Blessing and escaped while the azure light was tangled up with the dark wisps.

    The Sable Blessing was extremely powerful, but its form in Progia¡¯s hands wasn¡¯t quite proficient in speed. Several shots were fired in session, yet only half of the azure light shards were intercepted.

    Progia retreated at full speed and finally managed to evade the Azure King¡¯s attack. However, thetter chased him down at even greater speed, shing at him with more azure radiance. His posture didn¡¯t even change during the pursuit, except for a hazy azure glow beneath his feet.

    In the blink of an eye, Progia fell into a miserable situation. The sky full of demonic lightning became a joke as he couldn¡¯t use it.

    The Azure King moved with great skill, each of his attacks enough to kill a duke and heavily injure a great dark monarch.

    The Eternal me could no longer watch from the sidelines. Without waiting for Progia to ask for help, the ze flickered out of existence and reappeared behind the Azure King. The Eternal me shot out of the fire and made straight for the Azure King¡¯s back!

    A great dark monarch¡¯s attack was nothing to scoff at. The Eternal me had just emerged from the pale fire when he elerated to extreme speeds!

    It was at this moment that a screen of azure light appeared before him. The monarch had no time or choice to react; all he could do was crash into it.

 Chapter 1368: No Choice

    <h4>Chapter 1368: No Choice</h4>

    A muffled thud echoed in the air as the azure light was shattered from the impact. Unlike Progia¡¯s casual movement, the Eternal me¡¯s full-speed collision managed to crush the barrier of light.

    The scene was rather spectacr. The ze around the Eternal me¡¯s body was scattered randomly, so much so that he was close to reverting to his original form. Clearly, the recoil from the collision was mostly absorbed by his body. It might¡¯ve been better if he had been bounced back like Progia.

    The Eternal me was already feeling a bit ufortable withunching a sneak attack. He had never imagined that the Azure King would set up a barrier in anticipation of the move. The only fortunate thing was that he was merely elerating to join the battle, otherwise, the injuries from the recoil wouldn¡¯t be this mild.

    In front, the Azure King¡¯s pursuit of Progia never ceased. Shards of green light shed at the target with boundless momentum.

    Progia was in a bitter situation. Those radiant fragments were actually a physical manifestation of the Azure King¡¯s blood energy. The power within them was boundless, but they wouldn¡¯tst very long¡ªall the enemy needed to do was exhaust him over time. The only problem was that the demonkin could not afford to do so.

    The Eternal me finally recovered, but the Azure King hadunched an attack before he could chase after the other two. The vampire monarch closed his fists, shattering one of the green barriers in the air into countless fragments. The shards turned into a tornado and bore down upon the Eternal me!

    The Eternal me¡¯s fire was in utter disarray under the relentless assault. The individual plumes of fire were no longer connected, turning into scattered embers that slowly died out.

    Even someone as strong as the Eternal me had no time to split his attention. He finally roared, ¡°Return the Sable Blessing! You can¡¯t bring out its maximum potential!¡±

    Progia said while dodging, ¡°The Demon King himself said that the Sable Blessing will be under my care this time. You can talk to him after the battle ends.¡±

    Progia wasn¡¯t willing to give up the Sable Blessing because only the dark energy from the gun could block the Azure King¡¯s shes.

    The Azure King¡¯s blood energy was simply too restraining to their demonic energy. Both Progia¡¯s corrosive power and the Eternal me¡¯s white fire were easily cut down by the green screen.

    Only the energy from the Sable Blessing was superior to the Azure King¡¯s power, but its firing speed was rather limited. There was no way it could spit out attacks in a leisurely fashion like the Azure King.

    Seeing Progia in an increasingly miserable state, the Eternal me had no choice but to help despite the anger.

    In truth, facing the Azure King was no different from facing the heavenly monarch Zhang Boqian. Both of them possessed a power that could suppress their opponents. Allowing them to hold the dominant role in battle would result in an ugly fight, even if the opponent was stronger.

    The best method was to trade injuries and shrink the other party¡¯s advantage, but this would lead to their defeat at the final showdown where absolute power was a deciding factor.

    The Eternal me had fought Zhang Boqian several times, so he was quite familiar with this logic. The problem was that Progia was weaker than the Azure King, a fairly bad candidate for this type of operation.

    The Eternal me finally managed to clear away the thin shards and, with a loud howl, shot toward the Azure King at top speed. But another azure screen appeared as soon as he made his move!

    Cursing inwardly, the Eternal me crashed into it once again.

    The barrier shattered and transformed into another storm of cutting shards.

    It took a while for the Eternal me to clear away all the fragments, and this time, he was much more cautious. He observed the surrounding for spatial fluctuations before approaching the Azure King.

    This process of observation was all fine and dandy, but Progia was in a state of dire urgency at the moment. ¡°Things will go south if you keep dragging it out. You can forget about getting away scot-free. I haven¡¯t fully recovered from my battle with Pointer, but you don¡¯t have that excuse.¡±

    Considering the proud nature of their race, it was quite an embarrassment for Progia to admit his injury. Yet, he had no choice because the Azure King was beating him ck and blue.

    The Eternal me was still approaching at a steady pace. ¡°How long are you going to hold onto that stash?¡±

    With a pained expression, Progia shouted, ¡°Fire!¡±

    The dukes and vice dukes in the vicinity charged into the battlefield and opened fire. Shockingly, all of their bullets contained a powerful aura of Daybreak.

    Even the Azure King couldn¡¯t ignore this. Heid down multiple Azure screens to block the iing attacks while controlling several green beams to chase down Progia.

    Progia was absolutely furious, but he had no choice but to evade and block.

    The Eternal me said in a serious tone, ¡°Reynold, the way you¡¯re fighting will hurt your life-source. It won¡¯t be a problem for you to live a couple more centuries if you rest well. Do you not want your remaining years anymore?¡±

    The Azure King blocked yet another wave of daybreak bullets. ¡°I might be in trouble if you had more daybreak bullets, but you¡¯re out of ammo now. Since that¡¯s the case, you can stay behind and keep mepany. I don¡¯t mind ying until tomorrow.¡±

    The demonkin dukes had pulled back at this point. It was clear that they were out of bullets. This wave of attacks had also drained quite a bit of the Azure King¡¯s blood energy.

    As sharp as he was, Progia immediately turned around tounch a counterattack. The Eternal me alsounched a coordinated strike¡ªpale mes covered the entire sky as they sought to engulf the Azure King.

    Two great dark monarchs were attacking at the same time, and one of them even possessed a Grand Magnum. The Azure King was slowly pushed into a corner, but that didn¡¯t stop him from going all out with his attacks. For the moment, the other two great monarchs couldn¡¯t find a way to deal with him.

    Realizing that words weren¡¯t going to help, the Eternal me simply let loose and attacked with all his might. Progia was even more ruthless after going through the precarious situation just now.

    The Azure King¡¯s situation became increasingly strained, yet he still refused to retreat.

    At this moment, the azure ring in the distance had slowly faded away from sight. Progia roared furiously, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, we¡¯ll take your life instead of those two!¡±

    The Eternal me sighed, ¡°As long as Qianye hands over the Book of Darkness, I can beseech the Demon King not to kill him. Why go to such lengths? The book was never his, to begin with. Why would you risk your life so?¡±

    The Azure King said calmly, ¡°You guys won¡¯t understand. Just think about how you¡¯ll face the Queen¡¯s wrath after this! Besides, I didn¡¯t fight so long just to die here.¡±

    A loud roar arrived from the distance. ¡°How dare you! What the hell are you doing?¡±

    The Lightless Monarch had finally arrived.

    ...

    The Demon King¡¯s form as he traveled through space was no different from a dark storm sweeping through the void.

    His current location was extremely close to the top of the world. The orbit of the alpha star was close by. The celestial body had already passed by, but there was a trail of scattered light and explosions as well as asteroid fragments and mes of unknown attributes.

    The Demon King slowed down all of a sudden as the silhouette of andmass appeared in what was supposed to be empty space.

    The floating ind wasn¡¯t big, just about the area of an ordinary mountain range, but it felt rather ethereal. This was especially true of the borders where there were clear ovepping images. It was as though the entirendmass was just a projection.

    The Demon King walked straight over.

    The blurry imagery before him immediately stabilized and split into two, revealing a path covered in ancient runes.

    Inside was an extremely odd space, the ends of which were invisible from the entrance. There was only darkness inside, except for what seemed like a bustling city in the distance with big structures built in the arachne style.

    Dark tones filled the entire realm as there was a meshwork of webs spanning across the entire sky. The spherical light source hung high up in the air¡ªthe light it cast upon the realm was rather dark but there was a strangely gentle feeling to it.

    As though it had sensed the guest, the spherical light moved ever so slightly and projected a bright space before the Demon King.

    The Spider Queen was lyingzily on her arachnid abdomen, with only her upper body in human form. She looked like a beautifuldy lying atop a ck tform, a scene that was inexplicably charming and just as eerie.

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± The Demon King asked.

    The Spider Queen twisted her supple waist until she was ncing sideways at the Demon King. ¡°Quite well. The Shadow World is slowly recovering. But I wonder if I should be thanking or cursing you. Five hundred thousand of my children perished.¡±

    The Demon King said indifferently, ¡°More will die. The recovery of the Shadow World means the darkness origins will slowly be purer. All arachne that have been irreversibly tainted will die, but the survivors and their children will slowly recover their ancient inheritance. Which side will you choose?¡±

    The Spider Queen seemed distracted for a moment, leaning forward with a sigh. ¡°Kane, can you not console me?¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Are you going to collect the fragments that havee out from the mother realm?¡±

    This location was the birthce of all arachne, the Shadow World. Since time immemorial, this world had been suffering slow but irreversible damage. The earliest stages saw cracks appear in the crystalline walls. As time went on, the cracks grew bigger and bigger until fragments began to peel off.

    The Spider Queens of every generation would do their utmost to stop this kind of damage. Even though they managed to collect some realm fragments, it did little to stop the damage to the mother realm.¡±

    After the opening of the new world, the Demon King gave the Spider Queen a string ofws from the peak of the world.

    Afterbining it with her origin power, she found that it could really halt the copse of the mother realm. Moreover, she obtained some ancient memories in the repair process.

    The original Shadow Realm was a projection of the Evernight World. The arachne of ancient times were shadow creatures, the most loyal allies and subjects of the demonkin¡ªthe children of darkness.

    If the demonkin could be considered a living manifestation of the darkness origins in the Evernight world, the arachne were a projected life form.

    The Spider Queen gave it some thought, knowing that the Demon King wasn¡¯t going to help her for free.

    She replied, ¡°It¡¯s best if we can get them back since it¡¯ll hasten the repair process, but it¡¯s not a big problem if we can¡¯t. At most, it¡¯ll be a couple of decades or centuries longer. You want those fragments?¡±

    The Demon King admitted honestly. ¡°Correct.¡±

    The Spider Queen replied, ¡°Very well, you can keep the ones you find.¡±

    The Demon King nodded and left.

    The Spider Queen called out to him. ¡°Kane, I learned of some fun news.¡±

    ¡°I heard Mark went to see Habsburg for a certain spoil of war but was refused three times. That warlock has done nothing to break the bnce in a thousand years; all he does is y dead at the council. He¡¯s running an errand for you, right? When was your temper so good? Howe my children don¡¯t receive the same treatment?¡±

    The Demon King nced back. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    The Spider Queen shrugged. She was already in a prone position, to begin with, so the movement produced a beautiful outline. ¡°I only wanted to remind you not to be the second Andruil. The ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s folly was a good thing for you, me, and Lilith, but things won¡¯t be too good if you follow the same steps.¡±

    The darkness shrouding the Demon King¡¯s face dispersed, revealing a perfect countenance that was the manifestation of all things beautiful in the eternal darkness. ¡°Rosnia, just like you, I have no other choice. A handful of people and a couple of ns might not be important, but what about entire races? When were we ever given a choice.¡±

    The Spider Queen mumbled. ¡°True, there is no choice.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°I hope there is, but I still can¡¯t find it.¡± With that, he vanished from the Shadow World.

    The giant sphere of light turned away, returning the Spider Queen into the darkness. That doll-like face of hers was filled with sadness for a brief moment. Even with their recovered memories, there was still no other choice.

    To a supreme of the Sacred Mountain, they themselves were the bigger picture. Even great dark monarchs and princes were simply chess pieces to be yed. Descendants were nothing more than an experience across a long span of time. Yet when a choice involved the fate of the entire race, there was no longer any choice.

 Chapter 1369: Traitor

    <h4>Chapter 1369: Traitor</h4>

    Progia and the Eternal me slowed down their attacks at the same time. The Eternal me blocked the Azure King¡¯s path, while Progia fired several dozen streams of demonic energy toward their subordinates.

    With the aid of this demonic energy, even the dukes saw their speed increase sharply. This allowed them to leave the battlefield quickly.

    Even with a Grand Magnum on their side, Progia and the Eternal me were unexpectedly at a disadvantage against the Azure King.

    Behind that elegant and calm demeanor, was a force not inferior to a grand magnum as well as a shocking speed.

    Although Progia and the Eternal me knew that the king would exhaust himself as long as they could drag things out for a bit, this stalling would be nothing short of perilous.

    If they were to encounter the Azure King one on one, there would be no other choice but to retreat. The Azure King was already at the end of his lifespan, and every attack would drain what remained of his life force. So, he certainly would notst long.

    Now that the Lightless Monarch had arrived, it was only normal that they would n to retreat. The two were great dark monarchs in the prime of their life, so it wouldn¡¯t be a good deal if they were to sustain injuries after finishing off the Azure King.

    Seeing that the two demonkin were about to withdraw, the Azure King said, ¡°Why not leave something before you go? Won¡¯t it be too rude otherwise?¡±

    He opened his arms wide, azure light flickering at the tips of his fingers. The lights connected with one another to form aplicated web, which the Azure King shot out with a swing of his arm. Dozens of azure threads flew out at lightning speed, shing at the two great dark monarchs and the retreating dukes.

    The azure threads left rippling afterimages in the air. A shocked Progia roared, ¡°Don¡¯t block! Run!¡±

    However, the threads arrived so quickly that the warning was a moment toote. Two dukes and a vice-duke blocked the attack instinctively, only to find that nothing could stop those threads, not their weapons, not their armor, nor their demonic energy and flesh.

    Only when the threads had passed by did they realize that the faint shadows behind the threads were sundered space.

    The three duke-grade experts¡¯ saw the fire of life snuffed out of them as their demonic furnaces were cut into two. Even the two great dark monarchs at the scene couldn¡¯t save them.

    Of course, the threads weren¡¯t fast enough to hit Progia and the Eternal me. The Azure King fired three threads each at the duo, merely to stop them from helping their subordinates.

    This power came at a terrifying price. After the attack, the Azure King¡¯s blood energy dropped sharply and only stabilized after an entire level of decline. Yet, he had managed to kill three demonkin dukes in front of two great dark monarchs. One could still see the Azure King¡¯s style from back when he was famous throughout the world.

    The king sneered with his hands behind his back. ¡°This matter won¡¯t end here¡­¡±

    Hisughter came to a sudden stop along the way. Looking down, he saw a hand piercing through his chest, grasping a giant azure gem that was his blood core.

    The Azure King turned back and saw that it was the Lightless Monarch Medanzo. The man¡¯s eyebrows were twitching, and his expression was so sinister that it looked distorted.

    Medanzo had concealed his own aura while leaving decoy traces during his approach. This threw off the Azure King¡¯s judgment, something only possible due to his understanding of the king and his exhausted state after the battle. Medanzo himself felt surprised that the sneak attack was sessful. He would have doubted the results if it weren¡¯t for the reality of the blood core in his hands.

    ¡°So, it was you¡­¡± The Azure King came to.

    Medanzo¡¯s eyes shifted slightly and his blood energy was aboil. Clearly, his emotions were in turmoil. ¡°You¡¯re quite the sly one, aren¡¯t you? You actually gave them your life-saving ace. But that will only cause a bit of a problem for us. Even if you sent them to the upper continents, we will find them sooner orter.¡±

    The Azure King¡¯s astonishment had subsided by this point. Ten thousand years of life was enough for him to look at everything with indifference. ¡°You¡¯ve renounced the River of Blood and betrayed the Queen. You will get your just deserts before long.¡±

    Medanzo suddenly red up. ¡°River of Blood? The Queen?! Haha, what a joke! The river has been growing increasingly distant each year. My seal is even starting to fade away. The river betrayed me! Our entire race will be done for if we rely on the river! How will I remain a great dark monarch after the seal fades away?¡±

    The Azure King didn¡¯t argue and merely gazed at Medanzo like a pitiful character.

    Medanzo found the gaze to be iparably annoying. He became even more agitated. ¡°What does the Queen know apart from sleeping?! How many times has she woken up throughout the years? What has she ever cared about? I¡¯m the only one propping up the internal affairs of the race. Yet, she doesn¡¯t appreciate all that I¡¯ve done! She actually treats that little bastard Habsburg better! He¡¯s just a prince who was lucky enough to ignite a seal. How many years has my seal been there?! Also, she actually produced a drop of origin blood, not for me but for that s.l.u.t Nighteye! All of this while knowing how hard I¡¯ve been working for the vampire race all these years!¡±

    After a brief pause, Medanzo clenched his jaws and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With me around, the Queen won¡¯t know anything that¡¯s happening outside. She will just sleep on in ignorance. Even if we can¡¯t find her drifting ce, she won¡¯t sense anything as long as we keep the entrance of the Twilight Continent sealed. Even if she finds outter on, the die will have been cast! As for you, Azure King, you should¡¯ve died a long time ago! Just like her!¡±

    The Eternal me appeared beside Medanzo. ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡±

    Medanzo was stunned. Only then did he realize that the Azure King¡¯s vitality hadpletely dispersed at some point. Yet, the pity in his eyes was still just as annoying¡ªit was this gaze that had driven Medanzo out of his mind.

    The Lightless Monarch eventually remembered his status as a great dark monarch. With a loud snort, he flung the Azure King¡¯s body away, allowing it to fall into the dust.

    However, a gentle wave of demonic energy lifted the body and sent it flying to Progia¡¯s side.

    The demonkin picked up the Azure King¡¯s body with both hands and passed it to one of the nearby dukes. ¡°Take him back and bury him properly.¡±

    That duke bowed in affirmation and took the Azure King¡¯s body away, carrying it adrift over his head. Not touching the remains by hand and carrying it overhead showed the deep respect he had for this great dark monarch.

    Although the demonkin had lost three dukes, a true expert like the Azure King naturallymanded the respect of his enemies.

    Medanzo felt ufortable at the sight of this.

    The Eternal me extended a hand. ¡°Hand it over.¡±

    Seeing the demonkin¡¯s eyes on the Azure King¡¯s blood core, Medanzo frowned. ¡°This belongs to our race.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty wants it.¡±

    ¡°Why would the Demon King want it?¡± Medanzo was puzzled. He held onto the blood core still, nning to stow it away.

    The Azure King had shown extraordinary prowess in thatst battle, filling Medanzo with greed for the blood core.

    Comparatively, the Azure King¡¯s bloodline quality was far above the Lightless Monarch¡¯s. The man was at the end of his life, and the overdraft had left his blood core on the verge of copse; this was a good thing for Medanzo since there would be no bacsh. The value of this blood core was no less valuable than a drop of Lilith¡¯s origin blood.

    Why did the Demon King want it?

    Seeing that Medanzo was unwilling to let go, the Eternal me took a step back and Progia also arrived quietly nearby. The two great dark monarchs stood on either side of the Lightless Monarch in a clear posture of threat.

    The Eternal me said, ¡°You¡¯ve already betrayed the Queen of the Night. Are you nning to betray the Demon King as well? Perhaps you want to seek the Spider Queen¡¯s protection? That is if you manage to leave with your life.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s expression changed drastically. He was no Azure King¡ªwithout a speed that could look down on the entire world, there was no way he could escape. In fact, where would he run to? Considering what he did today, the Queen of the Night would be the first to kill him and not the demonkin.

    He had no choice but to hand the Azure King¡¯s blood core over. ¡°My loyalty to the Demon King never changed.¡±

    ¡°That will be for the best. Don¡¯t worry, the king will reward you handsomely for your devotion.¡± The Eternal me put away the blood core with utmost care.

    For some reason, Medanzo felt a sense of unease when he saw the Eternal me¡¯s expression.

    Progia nced at the surroundings and then went over to two of the dukes. ¡°You two stay here and clean up the area. Don¡¯t leave any traces behind. You must be done by the time Habsburg arrives.¡±

    After making arrangements, Progia said to Medanzo. ¡°We¡¯ll rely on you to lock down the flow of information on the vampire side. At the very least, we must avoid rming the Queen until our ns have been realized.¡±

    Medanzo bowed slightly. ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯m the only great dark monarch of the race now. No one will dare to go against me.¡±

    The Eternal me frowned. ¡°Be careful of Habsburg.¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s eyes were filled with killing intent. ¡°Why don¡¯t we send him back to sleep in the blood pond for a couple hundred years?¡±

    Progia said, ¡°His Majesty will decide how to deal with Habsburg. There¡¯s no need for us to interfere, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Medanzo was dissatisfied, but he could only leave helplessly.

    The Demon King had already warned Sousa not to cause a huge ruckus, and this warning applied to him as well. The king¡¯s demand was for each race to keep up a stable appearance. Without the supreme¡¯s consent, he couldn¡¯t take action even if he could knock Habsburg back into the blood pond.

    ¡­

    The small stone hall in the secret realm. The waters in the Pond of Azure Darkness bubbled as Qianye slowly sat up. This time, his eyes were bright and clear, without the slightest hint of sleepiness.

    He checked himself, then the pond. The waters had lost their color and turned into a pool of clear water. All of the energy and vitality within had been absorbed.

    Qianye stood up and stretched his body before walking out of the pond. Just as he was about to grab his clothes, he suddenly stood there in a daze.

    In his perception, he could no longer feel his blood core and heart. There was only the Book of Darkness slowly revolving in his chest.

 Chapter 1370: Book of Darkness: Flourish and End

    <h4>Chapter 1370: Book of Darkness: Flourish and End</h4>

    Below the eye on the book¡¯s cover, there was now arge dark-colored crystal. Upon closer inspection, it was made up of countless minuscule particles. The strange thing was that the fist-sized crystal felt multi-dimensional in Qianye¡¯s perception, with each crystalline granule linked to his flesh, blood, and solidified dark golden blood energy.

    Even in the inheritance from the River of Blood, Qianye had never heard of the dark golden energy solidifying, let alone other types. Then again, the knowledge he had obtained up to this point was at the level of a vice-duke. Perhaps he would gain more in the future.

    The Book of Darkness flipped open when he willed it. It would seem the transformed book could be opened.

    The first page depicted a pair of eyes, each side giving off a very different feeling to the observer. One of them was blue and the other, red¡ªthey were the Eye of Control and the Eye of Destruction respectively. The two eyes weren¡¯t exactly symmetrical, as though there were two more eyes that weren¡¯t visible at the moment.

    After the title page, came the genesis chapter. The Book of Darkness seemed to have returned to its original form after this transformation. The pages with other abilities hadpletely disappeared.

    A different feeling came over Qianye as he observed the genesis chapter once more. The contents were fairly easy to understand¡ªit didn¡¯t take much effort for his understanding of the Evernight World to reach the next level.

    This type of understanding might not trante immediately tobat strength, but Qianye now had greater confidence in drawing upon the power of the world. In other words, the Book of Darkness had granted him power for the Heavenly Monarch realm.

    A new chapter emerged after Genesis, and it was called Flourish.

    In this chapter, the world had evolved to near perfection. The continents were filled with living creatures who had formed powerful races and factions. These people were all surrounding a tall mountain in worship.

    Qianye instinctively realized that this was the Sacred Mountain.

    How was such arge mountain moved into the hall of the Evernight Council?

    The next scene was that of war as the various races began killing one another. Perhaps in the world within the Book of Darkness, this was the meaning of prosperity.

    There were seven strong races in this chapter, which was in line with the legends passed down in Evernight. Three of these races Qianye had never seen before but he was quite familiar with the rest, the four races of Evernight.

    The demonkin looked the same as they were today, and the same went for vampires. It was just that the vampires in the Book of Darkness looked bigger and fiercer. The arachne, however, were quite different from their appearance today. They were slim, elegant, and possessed intricate crystalline scales on their body. These scales formed natural patterns that were highly pleasing to the eye.

    The werewolves were in their primitive state. The Summit of Peaks hadn¡¯t appeared during that era.

    There was no telling if the arachne and vampires had gradually transformed into different forms over time or if the Book of Darkness believed this to be the correct form. The depictions Qianye had seen in Andruil¡¯s ruins and the Azure King¡¯s ancient hall were somewhere between the two forms.

    There was actually another chapter after Flourish, the End.

    As the name implied, this was the end of the world. Qianye flipped through the End chapter and saw that the world had returned to an era of darkness. It was there that he saw a speck of powerful light, which slowly expanded and propagated. As more and more light appeared, the world¡¯s silhouette gradually became visible¡ªit was actually the shape of an asymmetrical pagoda.

    Countless motes of light emerged at the edges of the world, gradually linking together to form a line. Radiance and heat surged into this world through the gaps and burned everything, including the darkness itself.

    There was light and heat everywhere outside of this world. Just like an apocalyptic tide, they soon engulfed the entirety of Evernight. Although he couldn¡¯t see it, Qianye could feel the pained cries of countless lifeforms as they turned to ashes. Almost every living being was destroyed in that world-ending moment. Only a handful of experts with powerful auras charged out of the border and vanished into the unknown.

    The world finally became silent, and the mes gradually faded away. It would seem the light and mes couldn¡¯tst without darkness to burn as fuel.

    This was a long process but the Book of Darkness hadpressed it into mere moments. Within that split second, the pain from all living beings was so strong that Qianye couldn¡¯t breathe! He had never imagined that living beings would undergo such misery before death.

    After the End, the world became a lifeless and homogenous grey. Perhaps a new world would grow upon the remains of the old one after countless years. And by that time, the previous era would¡¯ve faded away into the river of time as though it had never existed before.

    Qianye heaved a long sigh as he struggled free from the End Chapter. He finally felt a bit better.

    As he closed the Book of Darkness, Qianye noticed that there was something under the cover. He flipped the book over and found that it was actually a live, beating heart. The organ wasn¡¯t big and there were glistening golden crystals embedded within it.

    Two origin crystals appeared on either side of the heart, still growing by the looks of their size. One of them was fairly close to maturing, only waiting for the daybreak origin power inside to merge with the heart and the first origin crystal.

    Qianye found this to be quite incredulous. Was this his heart and origin crystals?

    In response to his thoughts, the second origin crystal erupted in bright light. The daybreak origin power inside broke through the restraints and merged with the heart. The heart was full to the brim with daybreak origin power, almost like a burning ocean.

    When the second origin crystal was newly formed, Qianye felt strength welling up in every part of his body. His consciousness also grew stronger and stronger. The second crystal appeared in his mind, growing increasingly distinct until a new origin imprint also appeared.

    When he willed it, several diamond-shaped screens of light appeared and began revolving around him. These light barriers were made of pure Venus Dawn origin power, seemingly fragile but actually quite robust.

    These screens provided Qianye with anotheryer of defense and could also be used to attack enemies. Such a power would greatly increase his strength, a practical ability for Qianye¡¯s current fighting power.

    This was the divine champion ability brought about by his second origin crystal, Azure Rampart.

    Qianye had never heard of such a divine champion power before, nor did he possess any foundational power rted to it. The first divine champion power made sense because Qianye had cultivated the Excavator before and possessed teleportation movement skills. How did this Azure Ramparte to be? Qianye was never fortunate enough to get a well-bnced skill like this one.

    The other question was why the origin crystals were in his heart? Qianye had scanned his entire body but couldn¡¯t find any other origin crystal.

    Could it be because the Book of Darkness had absorbed his heart?

    Qianye turned the book around and observed the blood core on the front cover, naturally recognizing it as his own.

    Currently, his heart, blood core, and the book of darkness had all merged into a single, two-sided entity. By some miraculous and iprehensible method, the darkness origin power of his blood core had integrated with the Venus Dawn in his heart and origin crystals. Within the boundless space inside the book, these powers hadbined to be a new origin power¡ªhazy, chaotic, and indescribable.

    As for his body, the entire skeleton had undergone a drastic upgrade and was already close to the great sess stage. From a purely physical point of view, Qianye had already reached the level of a duke by ancient standards and was fairly close to that of a grand duke.

    This didn¡¯te as a great surprise since the Pond of Azure Darkness was something the Azure King had prepared for himself. It would be a surprise if he didn¡¯t reach his current stage after absorbing a blood pond of that level.

    It was just that Qianye couldn¡¯t get used to his new origin power just yet. With a single thought, a plume of scarlet gold mes lit up in his left hand¡ªthe fire of Venus Dawn. Literally, on the other hand, was the dark golden ze of his blood energy.

    Daybreak and Evernight had appeared at the same time in a single person.

    Before this, Qianye could only use the two powers alternatively. The dark golden blood energy was in charge of strengthening his body, defense during meleebat, and recovery after each fight. It was also required to activate the Wings of Inception.

    But now, his blood energy and daybreak origin power were present at the same time.

    He could control this new power at will, switching between Venus Dawn and dark golden blood energy.

    Just as he was in a daze, Nighteye¡¯s voice arrived from outside the hall. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    Her voice was a bit hoarse and her aura was also unstable. Qianye walked out of the stone hall and saw her sitting on a rock near the pond, gazing at the waters.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Qianye asked in concern.

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°Reynold¡­ is gone.¡±

    ¡°Reynold?¡± Qianye was puzzled for a moment before realizing that it was the Azure King¡¯s name.

    He had a deep impression of the Azure King from back when he had woken up the first time. The king was just like the spring breeze, without the faintest sign of decline. He could easily live a hundred more years or so if he took care of himself, a thousand years or so if he were to remain asleep in the blood pond.

    How could such a great dark monarch fall?

    ¡°The Azure King, he¡­¡±

    ¡°Call him Reynold, he was my friend and that means he¡¯s yours as well.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Very well.¡±

    The Azure King was actually far superior to Qianye in strength, age, and status. But since Nighteye had requested so, Qianye could only ept an equal status.

    Nighteye gazed at the fish in the pond for a long while. ¡°I thought you had already died in that battle. I¡­ didn¡¯t intend to live on, either.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He held her hand and said gently, ¡°Why go so far?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I want.¡±

    After a pause, Nighteye continued, ¡°At the final moment, Reynold activated the Awakening Dream at the risk of angering the new world and brought us to his castle. That Awakening Dream was originally his sword, and I had used it before as well.¡±

 Chapter 1371: Itâ€™s Actually You

    <h4>Chapter 1371: It¡¯s Actually You</h4>

    Habsburg woke up on his throne, startled.

    In his consciousness, he could hear a message from the perpetually calm River of Blood¡ªit was a summon from the Azure King Reynold.

    Ever since the Sacred River had gone quiet, the great dark monarchs and princes rarely used such an ancient method of transmission. That was because the river would often not respond, not even a ripple. Hence, they couldn¡¯tmunicate through it.

    Habsburg found this matter strange, but he decided to set out immediately after replying to the call. There was one continent between him and the Azure King¡¯s location, so he didn¡¯t really have the time to ponder on the situation.

    All of a sudden, his steps came to a halt and his figure vanished from the spot, reappearing in the corridor of the castle¡¯s seventh basement floor.

    The corridor still retained its ancient sandstone walls. It was narrow but tall with two bronze doors at its end, covered in runic carvings.

    There was a person standing before the threshold. He did not possess the slightest aura of an expert, almost as though he were an ordinary person.

    Yet he wasn¡¯t just any ordinary person. A vampire castle¡¯s underground chamber was where the blood pond and altars were located. Especially in a castle belonging to the twelve major ns, just the suppressive power alone could immobilize a youngster of the n.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t look back after hearing the approaching person and merely looked up at the majestic door. He had been standing there for a long time, yet he never reached out to push the doors open.

    Habsburg walked over slowly.

    Although a vampire held the home-field advantage in his own castle, it was not more than a small inconvenience for the Demon King. There was no safe distance in the entire castle, let alone this corridor.

    ¡°A personal visit from the Demon King, what an honor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just here to visit him.¡±

    Habsburg went silent. The Demon King didn¡¯t say anything more, nor did he move. The two stood ten meters apart before the bronze door, much like stone statues.

    After a good while, the doors slowly opened to reveal the boundless darkness within.

    The Demon King had no intention of going in. He simply cast his gaze in that direction, where the endless darkness appeared in his eyes like a differentyer.

    There¡ªin the embrace of mes darker than darkness and colder than frost¡ªwas a small mass of radiance. This glow wasparable to an eternal cier, an entity that would not change in myriad years.

    The Demon King could tell that the glow wasing from four floating origin crystals. One of them did not have aplete edge and was apparently damaged.

    Gradually, the faint glow formed the silhouette of a person. He was seated in a half-lotus position with his left hand on his knees and using the spear in his right hand to support himself. Motes of starlight would leak out from his chest from time to time and revolve behind him.

    However, a speck or two would drift away into the darkness asionally and fade away into nothingness.

    The Demon King watched on expressionlessly at first, but at one point, he was visibly moved. ¡°Has his originspletely disappeared?¡±

    Habsburg lowered his head, seemingly deep in thought. He nced up in surprise when he heard the question, apparently puzzled as to why the Demon King would ask.

    The supreme observed Habsburg¡¯s reaction, then vanished without asking anything else.

    Habsburg frowned. He nced briefly at the realm of dark mes before following the supreme.

    The Demon King stood in the void above the Sperger n¡¯s castle. He raised his hand as Habsburg appeared, producing a drop of pure darkness origin power between them.

    The Demon King said, ¡°You possess the darkest mes in the world, which is closer to the darkness origins than any other blood power. It has been said that the previous ming Crown¡¯s blood seal ran into problems. It wasn¡¯t because he wascking in strength, but rather because taking the power to the next level involved devouring one¡¯s kin.¡±

    Habsburg listened quietly as the Demon King mentioned something that could be considered a top-secret of the race.

    The supreme said, ¡°I can give you aw of darkness. With your ability, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll greatly reduce the time needed to purify the power.¡±

    Habsburg replied calmly, ¡°Thank you for the kindness, but I¡¯m happy with my current strength.¡±

    The Demon King wasn¡¯t angry about being refused outright, nor did he try to persuade the man. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, you should fulfill your responsibility as a council member.¡±

    At this moment, a sense of foreboding welled up in Habsburg¡¯s heart, but he had no spare energy to figure out the source of this abnormality.

    His frown rxed as he replied, ¡°I never refused my duties.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°There¡¯s a councilboratory near the human borders on the Fire Beacon Continent. We¡¯re getting ready to clean up the ce, Mark will talk to you about the details.¡±

    Habsburg couldn¡¯t control his blood core as it skipped a beat. This location sounded too familiar.

    The Demon King acted as though he hadn¡¯t noticed it. ¡°As for his remains, it looks like something happened. It¡¯s slowly deteriorating even in the Everfrost environment of the darkness origin mes. We have no precise data on the body of a fallen heavenly monarch, but human divine champions certainly don¡¯t react this way.¡±

    The Demon King paused for a bit. ¡°Sometimes, I remember the words he told me. Perhaps this world really cannot keep him chained, the world beyond is where he belongs.¡±

    Habsburg didn¡¯t really understand what the Demon King was trying to say. He chose to remain silent since he didn¡¯t know how to continue this topic.

    An irregrly-shaped crystal flew out of the Demon King¡¯s hand and stopped beside the previous drop of origin power.

    The Demon King said, ¡°You can control that minor realm, so you should know how to use this shadow fragment.¡± With that, he nodded at Habsburg as a gesture of farewell before vanishing into the void.

    The council chairman was waiting at the borders of the Twilight Continent.

    ¡°Dear Mark, go and investigate if there were any abnormalities among the humans following Lin Xitang¡¯s death.¡±

    These words came out of nowhere. The council chairman asked, ¡°Your Supreme Majesty, your instructions are rather unusual¡­¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°I just have a bad feeling about it.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s premonition wasn¡¯t something that could be ignored. Mark replied, ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll start investigating their divine champions and work my way down.¡±

    With that, the group faded away into the void.

    In the air above the Sperger Castle, Habsburg was observing the two things before him.

    That grey crystal looked unassuming, but after careful contact with his origin power, the prince realized that there was a realm within. An attribute thaty between the demonkin and the arachne was rather strange, and probing with his perception, he felt that the realm inside was like a mirror image.

    Habsburg had heard of this before. Reportedly, the arachne possessed a Shadow World, and the fragments that fell off from this world could form miniature realms of their own. They were holy items highly sought over in the ck market. It was a wonder where the Demon King had gotten his hands on one.

    The Everfrost attribute of his origin mes could freeze space, but it could barely freeze time, resulting in the slow deterioration of Lin Xitang¡¯s remains. This breakdown was extremely slow and would take hundreds of years to destroy an origin crystal.

    Things would bepletely different with the addition of the minor shadow realm. It was like a mirror reflection of this world¡ªthe other side of the coin¡ªcapable of locking down everything on this side.

    Habsburg didn¡¯t think further before putting the minor shadow realm away. The moment he touched the drop of darkness origin power, though, the Demon King¡¯s aura spread out to form a scene.

    A young human was looking in this direction, his long, ck hair hanging loosely in front of his chest. The background was a forest.

    Habsburg found that the young man wasn¡¯t all that young when their gazes met. There was starlight flowing in thetter¡¯s eyes, almost as though they were reflecting the world.

    ¡°The starry skies outside of this world are vast and magnificent. To this day, I still cannot see its ends.¡±

    ¡°I, for one, can see the ends of my world¡­ it¡¯s sixty years.¡±

    ¡°Such a lifespan is much longer than ordinary civilians, enough for me to do many things I want to do.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why we cannot explore¡­¡±

    The scene stopped at this moment, and the drop of origin power dispersed into thin mist.

 Chapter 1371: Its You! (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1371: It''s You! (Part 2)</h4>

    This was a fragment of the Demon King¡¯s memory that was rted to Lin Xitang.

    That smiling man¡ªone of such indifference that he seemed devoid of emotions¡ªultimately failed to live out his sixty years.

    Habsburg calmed himself and looked down at his ancestral territory. His gaze scanned everything from nearby to a fair distance; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Yet, he still couldn¡¯t forget that moment of abnormality from just now.

    Habsburg sank his consciousness into the River of Blood. The waters were as calm and quiet as a mirror¡¯s surface. The Azure King¡¯s message had long since vanished without a trace. He stretched his perception toward the source of the river and the twenty half-floating seals gradually appeared.

    The seal belonging to the Azure King wasn¡¯t the brightest since he wasn¡¯t in his usual active phase. Habsburg observed the seals for a while, but he couldn¡¯t figure out which one was abnormal. After some thought, he decided to head over to where the Azure King was.

    By the time Habsburg arrived at the secret realm, the Azure King¡¯s ancient castle was in ruins, and the valley had been entirely deformed. There were strong traces of daybreak origin power everywhere, so much so that even Habsburg couldn¡¯t find any clues.

    There was only a single wisp of violet blood energy pointing in a certain direction. That was a mark Medanzo had left behind.

    Habsburg frowned as he nced at the rubble. He looked thoughtfully in the direction of the Lightless Monarch¡¯s marking, but ultimately, he turned back to Twilight Continent instead of following it.

    ¡­

    The cksun Valley was no longer flooded in the mes of war. The Empire and Evernight were now building fortresses on either side of the valley. They might not be far, but neither side interfered with the other¡¯s construction work. The patrols also kept their distance from one another, so there was little chance of a misfire.

    Judging from the scale of the strongholds, however, this peace was merely temporary.

    The Evernight stronghold was a colossal structure being built upon the original foundations. Following the suppression of the Imperial Guard fleet, the dark races reflected on their pain and began adding defensive firepower to the fortress. One cannon turret after another rose up in the fortress, almost like a stone forest. Even the strongest fleet would feel their scalp grow numb at the sight of it.

    The Empire wasn¡¯t willing to be outdone, either. Although their fortress was newly constructed, the number of defensive turrets wasn¡¯t too far behind the enemy stronghold. Most of the turrets were ground-target weapons and homing ballistae for targeting experts.

    Just like that, the two factions engaged in a construction race while targeting the other¡¯s weakness.

    Song Zining was the idlest one in the fortress. Every day, he had nothing else to do but read through some battle reports. He could see the ck pir of fire from his window, growing weaker by the day. It might disappearpletely in a matter of days.

    ording to the agreement between those behind the curtain, a new round of battles would begin after the mespletely disappeared.

    It was at this moment that a knock came from the door, quite urgent from the sound of it.

    Song Zining was startled as he opened the door. ¡°General Zhang Zhao, what brings you here?¡±

    The man was indeed Zhang Zhao. He looked rather worn with sunken eyes that spoke of his nonstop journey. The man fell to his knees immediately, crying, ¡°Marshal Song, please save me!¡±

    Song Zining helped him up quickly. ¡°Stand up first, what¡¯s so urgent?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re injured?¡± Song Zining realized this as he was helping the man up.

    Zhang Zhao said, ¡°Just a minor wound, not a big deal. I came here because I had no other choice. Please give me some advice.¡±

    ¡°Get up first and we¡¯ll talk.¡± Song Zining helped the man to a seat and returned to his own, waiting for the continuation.

    Zhang Zhao said, ¡°The prince dispatched a thousand elites and dozens of experts to Fort Continent to secretly await your arrival. Who would¡¯ve thought we would run into an ambush immediately after our arrival. There were enemies everywhere! In the end, only a couple ofrades and I managed to break free. The others have all¡­¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°They¡¯re the prince¡¯s elites?¡±

    ¡°Most of them used to be the prince¡¯s followers, people who had received instruction from the monarch himself. The unit was made up of three thousand men, but we lost two-thirds in a single fight.¡±

    ¡°If the unit is made up of elites, why did so few make it out alive?¡±

    Zhang Zhao had calmed down at this point. ¡°Things happened all of a sudden, we were surrounded as soon as wended. There were simply too many of them, spanning all across the wilderness and mountains. There¡¯s also a duke among them! Commander Yang was injured soon after the battle began and had no choice but to flee. We still don¡¯t know his fate.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Looks like there was a leak. What do you want with me now?¡±

    Zhang Zhao said, ¡°The only method left is for you to go personally and take back the Martyr¡¯s Pce. I received news that the pce has returned to Cerulean Wave City and is right outside the city.¡±

    Song Zining stood up and patted Zhang Zhao on the shoulder. ¡°General Zhang, looks like you¡¯re confused. This marshal is in charge of cksun Valley, how important do you think this ce is? How can I leave just like that? As for how you¡¯ll exin your blunder to the prince, that¡¯s none of my concern. I wouldn¡¯t care about a divine champion, let alone a small general like you.¡±

    Zhang Zhao was stunned. ¡°Marshal Song, what do you mean?¡±

    ¡°What you should know is that you escaped not because of your own ability, but because I told them to let you go. You didn¡¯t dare face the prince, so you came to me instead. Well, since you¡¯re here, you should get some good rest. Your wounds are about to act up anyway, you won¡¯t live long.¡±

    Zhang Zhao was shaken at the sudden realization. ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when he spat out a mouthful of blood and copsed. Only then did he recall that Song Zining had patted him on the shoulder just now, but that realization came toote.

    Song Zining opened the door and shouted, ¡°Men! General Zhang¡¯s wounds have acted up, give him emergency treatment!¡±

    Some aides rushed over and carried Zhang Zhao away.

    Momentster, one of them hurried back to report, ¡°Sire, we were incapable. General Zhang¡¯s injuries were too severe, he sacrificed himself for the country.¡±

    Song Zining said with a frown, ¡°What did he say before his death?¡±

    ¡°General Zhang was delirious. He kept repeating ¡®Werewolves! So many werewolves!¡¯ Nothing else.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°General Zhang traveled ten thousand miles to get here. Unfortunately, he left before he could say a word. This matter is of utmost importance, you¡¯ll be in charge of reporting everything to the military. Don¡¯t hide anything, understand?¡±

    The aide left to perform his duties.

    Song Zining heaved a sigh afterward, knowing that he had resolved one worry. Next up was to read the detailed battle report from Fort Continent and wait for the military¡¯s response.

    Zhang Zhao was truly useless, and even as a lobbyist, his words were full of loopholes. Song Zining couldn¡¯t be bothered to leave him running around. He hoped the next one would be more intelligent.

    Heavenly Monarchs would only oversee the battle and not lead troops after breaking through. If those elite troops had indeed fought alongside the Profundity Monarch, they would have to be seventy years old at the very least. It was doubtful whether or not they could still hold a sword. A different possibility was that they were honor guards assigned to the heavenly monarch at ater date. Ignoring whether or not the monarch would have the spare time to instruct these soldiers, the maximum number of honor guards was one thousand and five hundred men.

    Even someone like Prince Greensun who had just retired from an elite army corps only had two thousand honor guards, men reformed from his old unit. If Zhang Zhao¡¯s troops were indeed old honor guards called back to duty, losing well over a thousand of them would no doubt cause quite the ruckus.

    Song Zining was in no rush to figure out the truth. Waiting patiently for the enemy to exhaust themselves was a great strategy. It would save him the trouble of figuring things out. It would seem the upper echelons of the werewolf race were also seeing some change. He decided to borrow the heavenly monarch¡¯s name for a bit, whether it was real or not.

 Chapter 1372: Feelings and Responsibility

    <h4>Chapter 1372: Feelings and Responsibility</h4>

    The secret realm was like a cepletely detached from the world. Qianye sat there quietly listening to Nighteye talk about the past.

    ¡°We were young back then, an age of pride and arrogance. The vampire race was having a hard time surviving, we had countless enemies including other dark races and outsiders who had appeared in our world. My memories from back then were all about battles¡­¡±

    This was likely a fragment of memory from ages ago. There was hardly any record of outside invasion in the Empire¡¯s records; there would be the asional void colossus, at most. The Evernight side had also categorized such stories as ancient legends.

    ¡°Later on¡­ there was nothing. I don¡¯t remember how I fell. All my memories of the time are nk, as though they had been wiped away. I asked Reynold after my awakening, but he didn¡¯t reply. Reportedly, my whereabouts were unknown when news of my death started to spread.¡±

    ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±

    Nighteye sighed softly. ¡°I am Nighteye, I never changed. Awakening is just a lot of memories appearing in the consciousness.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you leave?¡±

    ¡°After my awakening, the new-formed blood core sent a message through the River of Blood and received a reply. I realized then that they would seek me out sooner orter and take me back. If we were together, you would be in danger. My ancient incarnation had a lot more enemies than friends like Reynold. If I can awaken, so can they.¡±

    ¡°No matter what kind of enemies they are, we can face them together. Look, not much time has passed since then.¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°In addition to danger, there¡¯s also duty. If the Evernight Council summons me back, I¡¯ll have no choice but to go back. There was no way you would be willing to work for the council, even if they promised not to pit you against the Empire.¡±

    Qianye was silent. That was indeed his mindset back then.

    Nighteye continued, ¡°Later on, the council¡¯s emissary found me and Reynold came as well. You know what happenedter on.¡±

    ¡°The Azure¡­ Reynold, why did he save me?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t understand.

    From all the signs and from Nighteye¡¯s words, it was obvious that the Azure King had special feelings for Nighteye. Even though she never responded, the king¡¯s sentiments never changed throughout the millennia. If Nighteye was the one injured, it would make sense that he would give his life-saving treasure for her use. Qianye could be considered a love rival, so why would Reynold be so generous?

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°He wanted to save me, not you.¡±

    Qianye suddenly realized that if he were to die, Nighteye would not continue living with the guilt of having killed him. The Azure King had noticed this, and that was why he went all out with the rescue.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was filled with a feeling that he could not exin. ¡°I was too rash.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all in the past now.¡±

    Qianye pointed at his chest. ¡°What¡¯s up with my body? The Book of Darkness seems to have merged with me.¡±

    Nighteye red at him unceremoniously. ¡°You ask what¡¯s up?! You tricked me! That sword strike contained all of my power, else I would never be able to block that shot of yours. Awakening Dream will always find the target¡¯s weak point, so your blood core and heart were shattered.¡±

    ¡°Then how did things end up like this?¡±

    ¡°Fortunately, you had the book of darkness. That book was called the Book of Genesis in ancient times, an object reportedly born together with this world. Recorded within are the lower world¡¯s true profundities and secrets. All the races would fight over the book whenever it appeared. Thest owner of the book was Andruil, who gained great power and even sought to challenge the Queen of the Night.¡±

    Qianye knew the book was extraordinary, but he hadn¡¯t expected it to have such an impressive origin. It was actually a treasure sought after by the powerhouses throughout history.

    Nighteye said, ¡°At one point in time, Reynold had obtained the book and studied it for a while. He used the Book of Darkness¡¯s power of genesis to reform your heart and blood core, then he used the blood of azure darkness to seal them in the book of darkness.

    This was a miracle. The Book of Darkness possessed such wondrous powers, yet the Azure King had done his utmost to save Qianye instead of taking the book. This kindness was truly difficult to shoulder.

    It was at this time that Nighteye¡¯s brows knitted together. She looked hesitant and puzzled, but also hopeful. Qianye reached out to smooth her brows, asking, ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    Nighteye said in a daze, ¡°My connection with Reynold¡¯s blood seal waspletely cut off just a little earlier¡­ but now¡­¡±

    It was at this time that they both sensed something and looked up at the sky. There was a faint ripple in the River of Blood as one of the seals dimmed down¡ªit was the Azure King¡¯s seal.

    The ripple was cryptic, weak, and extremely short-lived, yet Nighteye and Qianye were able to catch it. They were both dukes now, with a much stronger connection to the river than many of their peers.

    Nighteye was just feeling hopeful when the seal dimmed even further. Fortunately, it stopped there.

    Nighteye mumbled, ¡°I must¡¯ve sensed something wrong because of the anxiety.¡±

    Qianye held her hand, saying, ¡°Not many can threaten Reynold, considering how powerful he is. Unless a supreme takes action.¡±

    Qianye pulled her into his arms, the warmth of the embrace allowing both of them to rx.

    Nighteye said, ¡°Maybe we should go out and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Wait, there¡¯s no rush. You should get used to your new body first.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t object. He was not familiar with his current body; every joint felt rusted and difficult to control. His fighting power was no more than thirty percent under such conditions.

    The Andruil¡¯s Space still remained. Even that powerful explosion couldn¡¯t destroy this treasure. After a while of rest, Qianye stretched and brought out East Peak. Following a casual shake, the de began to vibrate dramatically, creaking and groaning in the process.

    Qianye was surprised. During that shake, the book of darkness had poured out chaos origin power and greatly increased his strength. The force had almost destroyed East Peak.

    East Peak had been reinforced first at the Zhao n and then upgraded with the giant rhinoceros horn at the Pond of Life. It was practically invincible, showing no signs of strain even against giant hammers and axes. Howe it was almost ruined with a single shake?

    Qianye carefully sensed the structure of his body. There was little change in his muscles, and the auric me blood was still flowing in his veins. The only change was that the me granules within his body had be more cryptic. His skeleton had reached apletely remodeled state. This could be one of the reasons why he could withstand more energy flow, but that wasn¡¯t enough to exin the explosive strength from just now.

    The only exnation at the moment was the special power flowing out from the Book of Darkness.

    Qianye no longer dared to apply strength at will. He decided to keep his power output controlled at half the capacity during practice. He would slowly increase his power after he was familiar with it.

    Qianye¡¯s heart was as calm as still water when he entered practice mode. He no longer cared about the surroundings and only focused on practicing his sword arts and techniques.

    Three days passed by in the blink of an eye before Qianye woke up from his practice.

    Surprised after checking the time, he stretched his perception to the River of Blood. He was relieved to see that the Azure King¡¯s seal hadn¡¯t disappearedpletely.

    Nighteye had been sitting nearby all this time, watching Qianye in silence.

    Just as he was about to dial down his origin power and walk toward Nighteye, a surge of origin power appeared from the Book of Darkness. The blood crystal on the cover began to grow rapidly, releasing arge amount of auric me blood to repair thest bit of damage in Qianye¡¯s body.

    Qianye¡¯s aura rose sharply until he was almost at the level of a grand duke.

    ¡°That¡¯s about right,¡± Qianye said.

    Nighteye had already packed. She passed Qianye a backpack full of supplies, which he ced in Andruil¡¯s Space. Then, he changed into a good set of battle armor before leaving the secret realm with Nighteye.

    ¡­

    On one of the demonkin continents, there was a magnificent castle overlooking the dark central region. This was the demonkins¡¯ holy ground, the Demon Pce.

    The Demon King was seated within the pce, gazing at the Azure King¡¯s blood core in silence.

    Progia and the Eternal me stood quietly at the side.

    ¡°So you two didn¡¯t find Nighteye and Qianye?¡± The Demon King¡¯s voice was always that gentle, but Progia and the Eternal me were evidently anxious.

    It would be hard to believe this scene without witnessing it. There was definitely a gap in power between great dark monarchs and supremes, but the suppression shouldn¡¯t be so great. The Eternal me was just like the Wolf Sovereign, an entity considered fairly close to the supreme rank. Yet, the duo was, for some reason, fearful of the Demon King.

    Progia said, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought Reynold could erupt with such terrifying power at the end of his life?¡±

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°You didn¡¯t underestimate his strength, but rather his resolve. Not all vampires are like Medanzo.¡±

    Momentster, the Demon King waved his hand gently. Several wisps of demonic energy weaved together into an intricate polyhedron around the Azure King¡¯s blood core.

    ¡°Keep this safe. The blood core contains hisst bit of vitality. As long as it remains intact, his seal in the River of Blood will not disappear, and the Queen of the Night will not be alerted. Medanzo didn¡¯t disappoint me this time.¡±

    The Eternal me stowed the blood core away, guiding it with a thread of white fire.

    The Demon King said after some thought, ¡°It would be great if we can use this blood core to find out some of the River of Blood¡¯s secrets. I feel a bit uneasy about what those humans are up to.¡±

    The Demon King remained standing after Progia and the Eternal me left; no one knew what he was thinking.

 Chapter 1373: Whose Heart Demon (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1373: Whose Heart Demon (Part 1)</h4>

    There was a small airship port to the north of the Imperial Capital, reserved for the inhabitants of the region.

    Lord Rivernce¡¯s airshipnded there at noon.

    As the number one character among the noble lords, he could bring a total of one thousand and nine hundred fully-armed soldiers into the Imperial Capital, even more than the heavenly monarchs. However, his entourage was only half-full at the moment. It was clear that the passage of time had instilled some humility in this once arrogant and reckless lord.

    The couple hundred men was already a strain on this smallnding pad. The warsh.i.p.s had to take turns to unload their crew, and the soldiers were lined up in a tight formation on the grounds.

    No one noticed when a certain member of the weing party boarded the gship and never came down.

    Dressed in full ceremonial attire, Lord Rivernce came down the ramp after the troops and officers were in position. He then boarded a long military vehicle and the motorcade set out immediately.

    The airsh.i.p.s took off one after another. They couldn¡¯t remain in the capital, so they had applied for campgrounds outside of the city where the remaining half of Lord Riverlgance¡¯s guards would be garrisoned.

    By the time all of the airsh.i.p.s had reached a certain height, they turned toward the west in unison. Only the gship kept ascending until it was in the void before going into an orbital trajectory.

    In the main cabin of the gship, the Radiant Emperor and Lord Rivernce were seated across one another. In addition to the tea equipment, there were various doc.u.ments and books on the table between them. From the looks of it, some of them were from the Radiant Emperor, while the rest were brought in by Lord Rivernce.

    Lord Rivernce picked up a memorial which, from the envelope, appeared to be from the cab. He scanned through the contents impatiently, then tossed it back onto the table.

    The Radiant Emperor looked rather leisurely. His eyes were fixed on the green tea in his thin porcin cup, fully enjoying the tea-tasting process.

    Lord Rivernce said, ¡°Have you dealt with the Longevity Monarch¡¯s family?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Everyone at the grandson generation and below have been struck from the familial records. They were allowed to pick a new surname, and their fiefdoms have been exchanged with ones outside of the Imperial family¡¯s domain. I¡¯m guessing the move will take about a year or so.¡±

    Although the Longevity Monarch had almost caused the copse of the Empire, Lord Rivernce couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry about all his descendants being expelled from the family.

    Lord Rivernce¡¯s eyes fell upon that memorial. ¡°The military is now a mish-mash where everyone cane in and interfere. It was definitely troublesome when the Longevity Monarch was in power, but at least there was some semnce of order. Your move of pulling the military under the cab might bring more harm than benefit.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Even the Founding Ancestor and the Martial Emperor never turned the military into a dictatorship. In the Empire, the major ns rule themselves while the generals oversee the battlefield. The military department is the only ovepping area that coordinates between them and allocates bnced resources. Since its founding, the department has always been a ce of arguments and contests.

    ¡°At least on the surface, the heavenly monarchs appear to be staying away from politics. Few civil officers were ever able to suppress the military generals. Now that the Longevity Monarch has passed and the court appointments have been adjusted, the original alliances have been broken up, and new ones have not yet formed. The big mountains have be little mountains, it¡¯s normal for things to be a bit messy.¡±

    Lord Rivernce frowned. The military department was where the Imperial family, the major ns, the aristocracy, and the army wrestled for power. Even Lin Xitang¡ªas a marshal and the leader of the civil ministers¡ªonly possessed a certain degree of power there.

    After the Longevity Monarch¡¯s fall, the military was downgraded and incorporated into the cab. Things might still be in control if Marshal Lin were in the Imperial Steward position, but now, that post was empty and the newly appointed Minister of the Right needed time to stabilize his footing in the political field.

    Such a massive entity was akin to a machine with thousands of intricate parts. A couple of damagedponents could be quickly repaired, but removing the rebellious Longevity Monarch was like pulling out the main axle. It wasn¡¯t quite enough to destroy the entire system, but it would take a good deal of repair and remodeling. How could it be that easy?

    Lord Rivernce picked up his cup of tea and had a sip, feeling angry about the utter mess. He remembered a certain person at this point, the man who hade to his territory to announce the summons.

    ¡°How about Fang Qingkong? I remember he used to be the inspector emissary of the right. He might becking in experience, but it¡¯s not impossible to promote him to the head minister of the cab.¡±

    ¡°Fang Qingkong used to handle intelligence reports for Marshal Lin, and he¡¯s still performing the same duties now.¡± With that, the Radiant Emperor said with a smile, ¡°He has already asked for permission to return to the Northern Legion.¡±

    Lord Rivernce was surprised. ¡°Is there any problem there?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°The legion itself is fine, but Fang Qingkong wants to return to his original rank and name, Lin Wu.¡±

    The Northern Legion was, at present, categorized as a duke¡¯s private army, but it had remained on the Western Continent to fend off the beast army¡¯s invasion. The Lin family never had a suitable candidate, so the procedure was neverpleted. It would be too much for the Lin family¡¯s early champion-rank experts to lead an elite corps.

    Lord Rivernce knew more about Fang Qingkong¡¯s origins than outsiders. This man was born in the military¡¯s assassination camp, a suicidal soldier without family background who had made his way from the dark to the light. Of course, this part of his history would have to be modified a bit if he were to join the civil ministers.

    Considering Fang Qingkong¡¯s cultivation as a divine champion, even the position of corpsmander would be too low for him. He should be a deputy marshal at the very least. However, Lin Xitang¡¯s warzone on the Western Continent had been ced under the Zhao n¡¯s marshal. It wouldn¡¯t be a good thing to ce them together.

    Lord Rivernce was still thinking about this when the Radiant Emperor said, ¡°I¡¯ve already given him permission. The intelligence division will be in your hands from now on.¡±

    The lord¡¯s expression went dark as this wasn¡¯t a good job. Strategic intelligence reports were vital to the Empire¡¯s operation, a grave responsibility.

    Then again, Lord Rivernce knew why the Emperor would give him this department. The Imperial Family¡¯s divination department served to assist in war preparations, and their findings would have to be matched against strategic intelligence reports. Now that the Empress was in charge of the divination department and Lord Rivernce was to act as regent, it was vital to control all sources of information.

    The lord hadn¡¯t expected the Radiant Emperor to be so thorough.

    Lord Rivernce couldn¡¯t help but jab at the Emperor. ¡°I would¡¯ve brought more men if I knew you were so generous.¡±

    The Emperor was nonchnt about it. ¡°Ah, Uncle, it would be best if you transfer your entire Historical Manor over here.¡± In order to show that he wasn¡¯t being sarcastic, he added, ¡°We really are short on people.¡±

    Lord Rivernce pointed at the memorial, saying, ¡°Since the intelligence is in Fang Qingkong¡¯s hands, what¡¯s up with these rumors about Lin Xitang? It has even reached my ce.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said indifferently, ¡°Oh that. It came from the rebel province of Serene South and reached the Imperial Capital within days. As for the bridge, one of them is the Victory Pce.¡±

    Lord Rivernce¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°The Zhao n again?! Are you done yet?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor pointed at a pile of doc.u.ments on the table. ¡°Get used to court affairs as quickly as you can, I want to visit the Western Continent for a bit.¡±

    The lord had already listened to Fang Qingkong¡¯s reports about the heavenly monarch meeting and major developments in the Empire. He had already read through some of the doc.u.ments in the big pile, but he couldn¡¯t help but look a bit pained.

    Lord Rivernce suddenly thought of something, ¡°How about the heir position?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said calmly, ¡°There¡¯s no need for one as long as I¡¯m still alive.¡±

    The Emperor was already a heavenly monarch. As long as he didn¡¯t fall and as long as he was willing, he could pick someone from the grandson generation as heir. But who could say for sure that they would return from the battlefield? It wasn¡¯t as though the Emperor didn¡¯t understand this logic. He had made all the necessary arrangements, so why did he forget this one?¡±

    Lord Rivernce looked serious as he stood up and looked intently at the Emperor. ¡°The crown-prince position is the foundation of the Empire.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°No, Uncle, the heir position really isn¡¯t important.¡±

    Lord Rivernce pondered on these words, his expression turning solemn as he did so. ¡°What did the heavenly monarchs say?¡±

    The Emperor smiled. ¡°The Imperial family doesn¡¯t interfere with the internal affairs of the aristocracy, and the reverse holds true. What opinion can they have?¡±

    ¡°But our two heavenly monarchs...¡± Lord Rivernce suddenly went quiet, frowning.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Is there a difference today between the Imperial n and the aristocracy? The Greensun and Vastnorth Zhang families are both surnamed Zhang. The Imperial family and n are both surnamed Ji. That¡¯s all.¡±

    Lord Rivernce didn¡¯t have a good reply. The ns and aristocratic families had seen some division throughout the years, only the Ji surname did not.

    The Ji family¡¯s mode of inheritance was actually no different from the other families, a deepwork of marital connections and alliance agreements forming its core. The rtionship between the Emperor¡¯s branch and the rest of the Imperial n might not be any better than that of the aristocracy and their branch families.

    There were thirty-six branches in the Ji family, fifteen of which had changed their ancestry. After driving out the Longevity Monarch¡¯s descendants from the Ji family, the only branch left that hadn¡¯t lost their inheritance was the Solemn Emperor¡¯s.

    Lord Rivernce was quite aware of his own familial issues as well. His great-grandmother was a member of the Imperial n and had too many traces of aristocracy on her. In his earlier years, he was a representative character among Lin Xitang¡¯s political enemies¡ªjust as Zhang Boqian had be the de-facto leader of the major ns.

    The difference between them, however, was that Rivernce did not possess thetter¡¯s special status, nor his unrestrained boldness. Hence, he could only seek permission to be assigned to a border region.

    After a moment of silence, Lord Rivernce said, ¡°I remember five princes went to war on the void continent. One was killed, two were crippled, and two injured. In the end, there was an additional princess on the casualty list.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor drank his tea calmly; there wasn¡¯t the slightest ripple on his expression.

    Lord Rivernce continued, ¡°The Empress¡¯ children have been excluded from seeding the throne. Only Concubine Zhao¡¯s children remain if something happens to you. Is that truly wise?¡±

    There wasn¡¯t anyone from below the aristocratic family level in the Imperial harem. Under such equal terms, the status of the princes and princesses came from their individual talents and their maternal families.

    If the Radiant Emperor were to fall without naming an heir, the throne would surely turn into a warzone for the major ns. Concubine Zhao would most likely be the final victor. Without a strong will to rule as an Emperor, the princes would naturally be the spokespersons for their maternal ns. And all of that was discounting Concubine Zhao¡¯s temperament.

    The Radiant Emperor asked, ¡°What¡¯s so bad about that?¡±

    Lord Rivernce was stopped up. ¡°When that timees, the Zhao n will probably fall into a degree of internal conflict as well...¡±

    The Radiant Emperorughed. ¡°I¡¯ve never held back from giving the Zhao n what is due. Even though Duke Weiyuan never gained the fame he deserved, his title and contributions have all been credited to the Zhao n. How they distribute it is none of my business, however. As for the carved Heavenly Merit record, I have no idea why they would send such a report to Monarch Zhang. He wrote those words himself, so even the elder prince wasn¡¯t willing to interfere. Then again, the Swallowcloud Zhao n has nock of names on the merit wall, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll mind one less.¡±

    Lord Rivernce couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly. No family was a block of steel¡ªto ask whether one¡¯s family or inws were more important was no different from asking one to choose between the wife and one¡¯s mother. The Zhao n¡¯s branches had remained unified for four generations, with hundreds of descendants. Who would they nurture and who would they suppress? It could be considered a just oue if the elders followed family rules and did not interfere too much.

    At present, the Zhao n¡¯s fame had already surpassed the Zhang n¡¯s; all they needed was a heavenly monarch. Their internal bnce of power was disrupted in this generation when the n lord¡¯s position was taken by Duke Chengen, deviating from their usual sequence. Suddenly gaining the Emperor¡¯s position might seem great, but it would be like pouring oil onto raging mes.

    Lord Rivernce sighed. ¡°You really hate the Zhao n, don¡¯t you?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said indifferently, ¡°They also hate me, and that¡¯s fine, but why would they hate Teacher? Besides, even as the Emperor, I can¡¯t just deduct their contributions, ignore their daughter, and treat their descendants differently. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m trying to centralize power, why should I suppress them?¡±

    Lord Rivernce was dumbfounded. The rtionship between the Zhao n and the Radiant Emperor was simply a mess.

 Chapter 1373: Whose Heart Demon (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1373: Whose Heart Demon (Part 2)</h4>

    The reason stemmed from the previous Empress Zhao. Reportedly, the Solemn Emperor had epted an entertainer into the harem, angering her so much that she went into prematurebor. Both mother and child were lost. Who would¡¯ve imagined that this entertainer¡¯s son would be the emperor a couple of decadester? This was like a big p on the Zhao n¡¯s face.

    It was only normal that the Zhao n wouldn¡¯t be happy with the Radiant Emperor. It was just as expected that they would extend this hatred to Lin Xitang.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°If the Zhao n feels that the Ji family owes them an emperor, then we shall repay them with an Emperor.¡±

    Lord Rivernce was stunned. ¡°Who¡¯s spreading such news? Are they mad?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor smiled. ¡°The Emperor position is the leader of all aristocracy, to be held by one of might and virtue. The Founding Emperor said thus when the aristocracy elected him to be the Emperor. So, Uncle, the Emperor might be the head of the Empire, but the Ji family isn¡¯t necessarily so. It¡¯s been a thousand two hundred years since our Ji family ascended the big stage. Let thise to a close with the end of the Chronicle of Glory.¡±

    With that, the Radiant Emperor fished out two doc.u.ments from the stack and opened them up before the lord.

    ¡°I¡¯ve prepared two orders for you, Uncle. One is a regent¡¯s position, and the other is to supervise the Empire. You may pick whichever you like, I have no objections.¡±

    Lord Rivernce covered his eyes with his hand and remained silent for a good while.

    The Radiant Emperor was calm and collected; he even had the leisure to pour himself another cup of tea.

    Finally, Lord Rivernce looked up at the Radiant Emperor and crushed the regent order into powder. ¡°Marshal Lin would not do this if he were still alive.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor revealed a longing expression. ¡°Monarch Zhang said the same.¡±

    Lord Rivernce sighed. ¡°How is that child? Has he fallen?¡±

    ¡°No, I hope he can remain safe and uninvolved in this matter.¡±

    Lord Rivernce noticed that something was off. ¡°How many people know of this?¡±

    ¡°Monarch Zhang, you, and me.¡±

    Lord Rivernce¡¯s expression darkened, holding back the urge to curse. ¡°You brat, you only act pure and good in front of your teacher.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor replied, ¡°You can¡¯t even act.¡±

    Both of them paused for a brief second and finally broke intoughter.

    Thisughter traversed the passage of time, returning to a period where a young prince and his uncle would bicker behind people¡¯s backs, just like now. What about one¡¯s high status? What about one¡¯s warm temperament? It was all the same in the eyes of that person.

    Lord Rivernce sighed. ¡°Marshal Lin has been pushing new policies in recent years but with little sess. There are many things left undone now that he¡¯s gone. I thought you¡¯d continue his path. Who would¡¯ve thought you would be bringing the Empire back to the self-ruling system from before?¡±

    ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re wrong. What I want is to close the curtain on the Ji family, and have the neers pick their own path. In truth, you object to a lot of Teacher¡¯s new policies, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Lord Rivernce stared nkly into space. ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°The same goes for Prince Greensun,¡± the Radiant Emperor said. ¡°We¡¯ll disregard personal stances and discuss political views. Teacher wanted to expand the protected poption and give them resources, then pick out the best among the best. Prince Greensun thinks that it¡¯s too idealistic and only good on paper.

    ¡°Actually, Teacher¡¯s views aren¡¯t new. Look through the Empire¡¯s history and you¡¯ll see people who have suggested and implemented this system before. Humans are born weaker than the dark races, so as soon as they left the livestock pens, they had always stuck together as one. The Empire was built upon this foundation.

    ¡°Currently, the starting point of most humans is decided by the strength of their family and their position within the n. That means the weaker powers, civilians, refugees, and those humans from the lower Evernight Continent will only be able to obtain minuscule amounts of resources.

    ¡°The Empire set up the four training camps Yellow Springs, Dark Flower, Sword Rain, and Great Path with the intention of training everyone regardless of their birth. They had been operating for nearly a hundred years, but the results were barely passable. Yellow Springs was only allocated more resources than the other camps after producing Teacher and Monarch Zhang. The problem was that they weren¡¯tmoners.

    ¡°Igniting a person¡¯s origin power was just the first step, what followed was a long, long process. Such a pouring in of resources might put amoner fighter on the same level as their aristocratic peers, but they would still run into problems. Theycked family support, resources, secret arts, experience, and connections.

    ¡°That¡¯s why Teacher¡¯s selection process was nothing more than a greenhouse in Monarch Zhang¡¯s eyes, breeding a group of sheep that would never be lions. He felt that it was better to let nature run its course because no one could tell how long such handholding would be necessary.

    ¡°Resources don¡¯t pop out of thin air and everyone has different thoughts. Investing arge amount of resources intomoners would raise the overall rate of awakened daybreak origin power among humans. Yet, how many ns are willing to sacrifice the resources meant for their own descendants for such an uncertain project?

    ¡°Judging from our thousand-year history, this project would only be possible on a small scale. The nobility might contribute a portion of their resources for the Empire¡¯s use and they themselves might distribute rewards tomoners and servants, but there would never be enough for everyone. In the end, the Empire is too small and weak.

    ¡°The biggest failed test is without a doubt the two provinces of rebels on the Western Continent. They are currently no different from other grey zones, relying on both the humans and dark races to get by. They are also falling into different social strata, providing no new answer to the aforementioned problem of ours. At this point, we can only pass on the experience of our failure to the sessors.¡±

    Lord Rivernce sighed. ¡°Marshal Lin was too aggressive in helpingmoners. Actually, the biggest problem wasn¡¯t shaking the interests of the major ns but rather his refusal to form a faction. Just like you said, the problem of different starting points is present everywhere.

    ¡°Marshal Lin helps people based on their talents. He never considered their background, nor did he ever use those people. Without sufficient background, those he helped up will always run into a new obstruction once they reach the next level. Those with background would have to draw a clear line in order to prevent their own faction from suspecting them. There were also despicable people who criticized Marshal Lin after receiving help from him, using it as an excuse to join a particr faction.¡±

    ¡°There was one such person in Red Scorpion, reportedly a graduate of Yellow Springs as well. He produced quite a bit of gossip in order to connect with me through the Nangong Family. It would seem he had quite a bit of friction with Song Zining as well, weaving quite a few stories of mixed truth about him and Marshal Lin.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor frowned. ¡°There¡¯s such a person in Red Scorpion?¡±

    Lord Rivergalnce replied, ¡°Since that person is so ambitious, I gave him sufficient opportunities to realize them. I haven¡¯t heard from him in a long while.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor felt relieved, not knowing whether tough or to cry. This Imperial uncle was never a saint.

    Lord Rivernce stood up and paced about the room, finally stopping near the window. He gazed out at the void for a while before saying, ¡°If we engage in an all-out war against Evernight, what do you think the best oue will be?¡±

    ¡°The best result will be a small loss followed by peace talks.¡±

    The Empire¡¯s overall strength was much weaker than Evernight. If the Empire could force the other side into peace talks despite a small loss, it meant that neither side could afford to continue fighting. Ignoring the loss of the Empire¡¯snd, the fall of Heavenly Monarchs was inevitable. Judging from the current setup, the first to fall would be the Profundity Monarch and the Radiant Emperor.

    Lord Rivernce¡¯s expression shifted. ¡°What¡¯s the worst oue?¡±

    ¡°The Empire is routed and most humans will return to the dark ages.¡±

    The Emperor made light of it in conversation, but the lord¡¯s expression grew more and more unsightly.

    Shooting him a nce, the Emperor said with a chuckle, ¡°Of course, there¡¯s also a third possibility. There¡¯s a seat for the human race on the Sacred Mountain. If the Empire can produce a heavenly monarch as strong as a supreme, the council might extend such an invitation again.¡±

    Lord Rivernce felt that things wouldn¡¯t be so simple. ¡°What were the terms?¡±

    ¡°Give up the ¡®blood for blood¡¯ practice, and allow the trade of humans below rank-five.¡±

    ¡°Blood for blood¡± was the Empire¡¯s unyielding response to the dark race¡¯s blood feasts. Whenever there was such an instance, they would hunt down the culprit until the bitter end. If they could not find the culprit, or if they had no power to chase after the culprit, they would start a massacre in the immediate region, blood for blood.

    Many policies had been modified throughout the millennium of rule. This was the only firm rule that everyone followed despite the grave losses.

    Lord Rivernce said after a while, ¡°Who would agree to such conditions?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said coldly, ¡°Who knows? Maybe someone will be willing to merge in the future.¡±

    The two suddenly remembered some rumors, and they couldn¡¯t help but feel distressed about the conflict between those three surnames. ¡°There was never any talk about the Sacred Mountain. Apparently, none of my predecessors had the intention to give in.¡±

    The Emperor said, ¡°Only the true powerhouses and the Emperors of each generation knows of this. Of course, it¡¯s hard to say if other non-familial heavenly monarchs have been persuaded.¡±

    After listening to all these secrets, Lord Rivernce felt as though he had been trapped. ¡°Your Majesty, you told me so many secrets only privy to the Emperor. If Concubine Zhao¡¯s son seeds the throne one day, do you need me to pass him the information?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor gave it some thought. ¡°No need.¡±

    Lord Rivernce couldn¡¯t help but feel stifled.

    The Emperor remembered something else. ¡°Ah, I almost forgot. I n to abolish the rule that says only the Imperial family can wield the Mortal Emperor. Every divine champion from the major ns and high-ranking aristocratic families can apply for a tryout. The Grand Magnum will be given to whoever has the highestpatibility. Do you want to try first?¡±

    Lord Rivernce said expressionlessly, ¡°I can¡¯t be bothered, it¡¯s so weak.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t expecting this answer. He blinked a couple of times in surprise and had to try hard to suppress his chuckle. ¡°The ¡®Mortal Emperor¡¯ will be very disappointed.¡±

    Lord Rivernce was in no mood to y along. ¡°I actually don¡¯t understand. You became a heavenly monarch a bit earlier than Prince Greensun, and you might even rival a supreme in the future. You¡¯re the best candidate to take the reins of the Empire¡¯s future. Do you really want to let those people do what they want?¡±

    ¡°Teacher once said to me, the celestial trajectory is always changing. The future may be better or it may be worse. It might be better for some people and worse for others. Choices made with the aid of divination are only the best options at the time, not the absolute best. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t care about fame or failure. All I want is to have more options.¡±

    ¡°I had never dreamed about the throne when I was young. Now that I¡¯m on the throne, I never thought of bing an outstanding ruler. All I want right now is to go and see the results of the Chronicle of Glory in his ce.¡±

    Lord Rivernce closed his eyes, hiding his expression behind his hands.

    That person was always like this. All he knew were the stars and clouds of this world, and never looked at himself. He had saved countlessmoners and nobles along the way, but he never looked back at whether it was gratefulness or hatred that he had left behind. Nothing could brighten or dim the neb in his eyes.

    When Lord Rivernce opened his eyes, he was the only one in the room. The Emperor was gone.

    It felt as though he had returned to thirty years before. Everyone had walked forward, leaving him with the burdens he didn¡¯t dare¡ªor perhaps didn¡¯t want¡ªto let go of. This was his confinement.

    Those with a heart demon would never be the strongest.

 Chapter 1374: Depths of Twilight

    <h4>Chapter 1374: Depths of Twilight</h4>

    After passing through a formless barrier of water, Qianye and Nighteye arrived at a primitive forest. There were majestic mountains on the horizon, and the void was visible on the other side. The sky was filled with magnificent colors, through which one could see two continents drifting in the distance.

    Nighteye observed the two continents, saying, ¡°That¡¯s our New Moon Continent and the demonkin¡¯s Azir Continent. That means we¡¯re on Twilight Continent.¡±

    ¡°Reynold hid us on Twilight?¡± Qianye felt that setting up a hiding ce on Twilight Continent wasn¡¯t a suitable choice. If even the Azure King had to flee for his life, it was very likely that Twilight had also fallen.

    Nighteye saw it differently. ¡°Considering the small size of this secret realm, it¡¯s safer to ce it on Twilight Continent. No one willb this ce to search for us.¡±

    The border regions of the continent were indeed quite deste and full of dangers. The vampire race¡¯s poption density was much lower than the Empire¡¯s, to begin with. Most of them lived as ns, and those with good inheritances possessednd at the heart of the continent. The newer families were more inclined to fight for fertilend on war-torn continents, so very few people would choose to settle here.

    Qianye and Nighteye were advancing cautiously at first, but theyter let loose and started running at full speed. After traveling for hundreds of kilometers, they finally saw an ancient castle in the distance.

    The castle was built on a mountainside and, judging from the size, probably belonged to a marquis. The castle itself was pretty close to the summit, with an array of buildings scattered around the hillside. The small city at the foot of the mountain seemed to be home to tens of thousands of people. The settlement was surrounded by farnd, and there were numerous workshops of varying sizes situated along the river.

    This was Qianye¡¯s first time seeing a castle on the vampire maind. It somehow felt different from those on the lower continents and other war-tornnds, yet he couldn¡¯t exin what it was at the moment.

    Nighteye said, ¡°Look, the style of the castle¡¯s main structure is different from the surroundings. It was built from an unpolished natural rock, an architectural style of the ancient vampire race. This proves that the castle was constructed quite a long time ago; it has at least one thousand and five hundred years of history. The structures below are different. They were built from cut stone, a technique only mademon after the daybreak rebellion.¡±

    ¡°Daybreak rebellion?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the War of Daybreak as humans call it.¡±

    The War of Daybreak was the war in which the Empire was founded, an out-and-out rebellion in the eyes of the vampire race.

    With Nighteye¡¯s exnation, Qianye now saw the castle differently. The main structure was crude and strong, with only long narrow windows around it. Apparently, the main use of this castle in ancient times was for war. It could be expected that living inside wouldn¡¯t befortable, especially for people like the vampires who preferred to live a life of luxury.

    The cl.u.s.ter of buildings below was much more refined. They were made of cut stone, many of which were engraved. The buildings down the next level were even more extravagant with wide floor-to-ceiling windows. These structures were clearly not made for war.

    Even the lowest point in the castle was a fair distance from the foot of the mountain. The city on the t ins was a mixture of various architectural styles, and there was even arge section that looked like the slums.

    Nighteye nced at Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re aplete vampire now.¡±

    ¡°... I know.¡±

    His blood core was on the cover of the Book of Darkness, while his heart was at the bottom¡ªthe dominantponent was clear. Qianye¡¯s origin crystals had moved into his heart as well, so he was aplete vampire at the moment. The only things that made him human were at the bottom of the tome.

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°Are you adapting well?¡±

    Qianye said frankly, ¡°Not so much at first, but the body is just the body. What we are will ultimately be decided by what we do.¡±

    Nighteye looked at him, saying, ¡°Are you still standing with the human Empire?¡±

    This problem caused Qianye to go silent. He had always been avoiding the issue, but it was no longer possible for him to escape since Nighteye had asked.

    After some thought, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t understand why the Empire wants to kill you at all costs.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the concrete reason, but I can make some general guesses. Everyone on the Sacred Mountain hopes I can return because only I can truly open the door to the new world.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. He hadn¡¯t realized that Nighteye was the true key to the new world.

    ¡°There are also some in the council who hope that I won¡¯t return. They don¡¯t know about my connection to the new world nor do they care. The Sacred Mountain is a ce they can never hope to see in their lifetime, so the long-standing hatred passed down since ancient times is the most important. Since they couldn¡¯t openly oppose the Sacred Mountain, some of them decided to leak my information to the Empire. If you were a figure of authority in the Empire, would you let me return to Evernight?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve lived in the Empire before and have no enmity toward humans.¡±

    ¡°Enmity? There¡¯s quite a lot. Have you forgotten why we went to the neutralnds?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Must they do this just to remove a potential threat?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s words betrayed his thoughts; he understood that the Empire had enough reason to prevent the appearance of a new supreme and the opening of the new world.

    ¡°And it¡¯s not the first time, either. I don¡¯t think Jundu knew about the heavenly monarch bullet in his gun.¡±

    ¡°Jundu¡¯s heavenly monarch bullet?¡± Qianye was shocked.

    Nighteye exined what happened that day, ¡°Jundu is not one to lie, even on the battlefield. At least, he wouldn¡¯t lie to me. As for how that heavenly monarch bullet appeared in his gun, that¡¯s something we have to ask the Empire.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned solemn. He had never imagined that Nighteye had already been struck by a heavenly monarch bullet before, and one fired by Zhao Jundu no less. This matter wasn¡¯t included in any of the reports he had received.

    Qianye also discovered something in Nighteye¡¯s words; she had no good feelings at all toward Song Zining. After checking all the facts and listening to Nighteye¡¯s exnation, Qianye realized that his entanglement with Ji Tianqing and Li Kuann in the Great Maelstrom wasn¡¯t without reason. Song Zining was likely the one pulling the strings.

    He recalled the seventh young master¡¯s gentle expression as he said, ¡°Qianye, leave her. She¡¯s no longer the Nighteye you know. You have a life to live, you can¡¯t sink into depression like this. Trust me, I¡¯m doing this for your own good. There are many other good women in this world.¡±

    The next scene was of Song Zining lying unconscious in bed. Only in this state did he shed all pretenses fitting of a romantic n descendant. It was as though he had returned to Yellow Springs¡ªthe solitary young man who had nothing but himself and his partner.

    Qianye shook his head with a wry smile, expelling Song Zining¡¯s image from his thoughts. Perhaps Song Zining¡¯s actions were correct from his standpoint, but it was nothing short of hatred from Qianye¡¯s.

    After a long period of contemtion, Qianye sighed.

    ¡°Have you thought it through?¡± Nighteye asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then what¡¯s your decision?¡±

    ¡°The same thing. Who we are is decided by what we do, brothers are brothers, the Empire is the Empire.¡±

    Nighteye heaved a sigh of relief, patting her chest as she did so. ¡°Thank goodness, I thought you were going back to work for them.¡±

    ¡°Do I look like an idiot?¡±

    Nighteye said seriously, ¡°You don¡¯t look like one, you, are, one!¡±

    Pretending to be angry, Qianye picked her up and said, ¡°We haven¡¯t had a go since you awakened!¡±

    Nighteye went limp in Qianye¡¯s arms. ¡°That... we have all too many opportunities. What are your ns from now on?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I might be a vampire now, but that doesn¡¯t mean I approve of the vampire ways. But I discovered when I was on Fort Continent that it¡¯s not impossible for various races to exist together. There were also quite a few vampires in cksun Valley who were willing to work for me. Not everyone was willing to give up their lives for tradition. I¡¯ve thought about it, I can try to change the parts that I don¡¯t approve of.¡±

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°I feel relieved.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t change anything at the moment since I¡¯m just a duke. I might not even be a match for a prince even when I reach the grand duke stage. But I will naturally be able to change more things once I grow stronger.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s expression dimmed down after hearing this. Qianye asked her what was wrong.

    She forced a smile, saying, ¡°I was thinking that if I hadn¡¯t been so wilful andpleted the awakening process early, I would be a crowned prince by now. I would¡¯ve ignited a blood seal. Maybe I could¡¯ve prevented Reynold¡¯s fate.¡±

    Qianye patted her on the back. ¡°What has passed has passed. We need to live on and seek revenge for Reynold.¡±

    Nighteye nodded, struggling free from Qianye¡¯s arms. ¡°I¡¯ll exin more about the vampires.¡±

    ...

    In the city below, most of the inhabitants weren¡¯t vampires but other ¡°inferior¡± races, many of them treated like livestock that existed to provide blood. Naturally, there were humans among them since human blood was the vampire race¡¯s favorite delicacy.

    Before the War of Daybreak, these inferior races were mostly ves and manualborers. The races that could provide blood, led by the humans, were even worse than ves. They were penned up like livestock and treated like animals.

    The vampires on the lower continents habitually turned humans into blood thralls for use as cannon fodder. This act had always been a controversial topic. The demonkin objected strongly to such a gue-like production of rabid beasts. The werewolves and arachne reared their own ve soldiers, so they were in no position to object.

    After the War of Daybreak, the founding ancestor led the humans to power, killing their way out of Twilight Continent and shocking the entirety of Evernight. After that, the vampire race began to reassess the human race¡¯s potential and realized that treating them as livestock was too much of a waste.

    Hence, some of the enlightened vampires tried giving humans some rights and freedom. They passed on some knowledge to them, allowing them to break new ground, farm, and build structures. They would have to provide blood at regr intervals and a set amount of meat.

    The effects were fairly surprising. The humans performed with great vigor under these restrictive terms. Cities popped up one after another, andrge areas of the wilderness were cultivated. As the human poption increased, it became less of a problem to provide meat and blood.

    In addition to cultivatingnd, they also began to mine and set up workshops, providing raw materials and some processed parts for the vampire factories. Some people even obtained higher positions to manage the other inferior races.

    That was how this city before Qianye came to be. However, humans who had developed in such a manner were a vassal race of the vampires. There was a fundamental difference between them and the Great Qin Empire both in terms of life and habits.

    The true vampires lived in the ancient castle since the superiors insisted on upholding this tradition. Many of the descendants with mixed bloodlines chose to move to the city below for convenience. Their district was clearly demarcated from other races.

    To Qianye, however, this was a mixed-race culture in the making.

 Chapter 1375: Council Mission

    <h4>Chapter 1375: Council Mission</h4>

    There was a long g hanging from the castle depicting a white bone harp. This went to show that the castle belonged to the Carltons, one of the twelve major vampire ns.

    The Carltons were rankedst among the old ns, one that had not seen any improvement in thest century. When Nighteye needed to save Qianye¡¯s life, it was from the Carlton n that she had extracted origin blood.

    Judging from the scale of this castle, it was likely constructed before the n fell into a decline.

    Nighteye gazed at the castle for a while. ¡°From the emblem, it should be the Mueller family of the Carlton n. The Mueller family had sufficient history behind it, yet their talents were quite mediocre. Even counts were rare among their descendants. The only reason they had survived up until now was due to theplicated marital connections they had made throughout the years.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°This is good, he¡¯ll probably cooperate if we want to ask some questions.¡±

    Nighteye and Qianye were both at the duke rank. With two such characters knocking at his door, a mere marquis would have no choice but to be tactful.

    Nighteye agreed. ¡°That¡¯s not bad, either. Their family is reallycking in strength but they¡¯re rather well-informed. At least, they¡¯ll know what¡¯s happened in the recent days.¡±

    It was at this time that a ball of fire burst out from the main building and set some of the gs alight. More fire began emerging from the windows, sending a billowing wave of smoke into the sky.

    Something had happened. Was this a coincidence?

    Qianye said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered away. Nighteye faded out of vision, drawing an arc in the air as she flew forward like a fairy. Her speed wasn¡¯t inferior at all and could easily keep up with Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh until they were above the castle.

    A dozen or so wooden stakes have been erected in the castle za and some armed warriors were nailing vampires onto them. Some of the stakes were already burning, and the vampires on them were howling in agony. They weren¡¯t just ordinary mes; they contained an intense daybreak aura.

    Nighteye¡¯s countenance shifted.

    A fire execution wasn¡¯t just cruel and painful for a vampire, but it was also humiliating and provocative. Burning the dark races at the stake was one of the Empire¡¯s blood-for-blood tactics, a retribution for the blood feasts. The Empire had openly announced that dark races who were burned to death with daybreak mes would find their souls forever destroyed.

    Although it was just a one-sided im, it remained that daybreak mes caused great agony to the dark races. After the daybreak energy system came into being, the dark races invented many ways to torture their own kind with it. Even the Empire found it hard toment on this.

    ¡°It¡¯s the demonkin.¡± Nighteye couldn¡¯t hold back. She shot into the za like aet, kicking up a gale that extinguished the mes in an instant.

    She fired dozens of dark golden des with a wave of her hand, cutting many of the demonkin soldiers in half.

    An aura that belonged to a glorious marquis shot into the sky, and a thunderous roar arrived from a distance, ¡°Who dares attack the council¡¯s troops? What gall!¡±

    He flew over at the speed of lightning, his speed stirring up a thundering st in the air. All of a sudden, however, his vision blurred as a person appeared out of nowhere. The shocked demonkin hit the brakes frantically and barely managed to stop right in front of the person.

    He looked up in anger but ended up gasping in surprise. ¡°Qianye!¡±

    Qianye stood with his hands behind him. He made no effort to defend,pletely ignoring the fact that they were close enough to reach out and touch one another. All he said was, ¡°What¡¯s the rush? Stay and chat with me.¡±

    The demonkin¡¯s expression changed drastically. ¡°The entire council is after you, yet you actually dare to step out?¡±

    Remembering something, he immediately turned around to flee, but Qianye appeared in front of him once again.

    ¡°Why are you running away all of a sudden? Tell me, what does the council want? Whose order is it?¡±

    The demonkin drew his sword without a word and thrust at Qianye¡¯s blood core. The strike was as swift as lightning, but Qianye merely swung his hand, swatting away the de along with its wielder. The marquis ended up smashing into the mountain like a cannonball.

    Qianyended slowly beside the glorious marquis. ¡°You¡¯re not in a rush anymore, are you?¡±

    The glorious marquis¡¯ sword was deformed beyond recognition, and his right hand was also bent at an unnatural angle. He was huffing and puffing, his eyes filled with fear as he gasped. ¡°You¡¯re a grand duke now? No, a prince! You must be a prince.¡±

    Qianye crouched down near him. ¡°I¡¯m quite far from the prince-rank, but that¡¯s not important. Now answer my questions if you don¡¯t want me to dig out your origin furnace and roast it in daybreak mes. I might even spare you if I¡¯m in a good mood.¡±

    The demonkin marquis went silent for a while. ¡°I suggest you ept reality, you¡¯re wanted by the entire council. I¡¯m a direct subordinate of the council, so if you kill me, the council might expand the scope of its hunt.¡±

    Qianye frowned as he realized the marquis¡¯ implied meaning. He was the only wanted person at the moment. If they were to expand the scope, where would they start?

    The demonkin observed Qianye¡¯s expression and said, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to threaten you, that is the truth. I¡¯ll pretend I never saw you if you let me go. One day should be enough for you to leave Twilight Continent.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a great piece of advice.¡±

    The demonkin broke out in a miserable scream as his left leg was cut off at its base. Qianye shot out a thread of scarlet gold mes, which crystallized the marquis¡¯ flesh upon contact. This fire thread was made up of Venus Dawn; it was as sharp as a high-grade sword, and the wound was extremely difficult to heal for the dark races.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I cut out too much just now. You should be able to recover if you go back and rest up for about ten years... that is if a grand duke heals you.¡±

    Qianye said he was sorry, but he moved his finger and aimed the fire thread toward the demonkin¡¯s crotch.

    The marquis was panicking now. ¡°What are you doing? That part can¡¯t recover.¡±

    ¡°Who knows? Maybe you can grow a new one?¡± Qianye¡¯s mes moved closer.

    The marquis squealed like a butchered pig. ¡°No! That won¡¯t recover, take it away. Don¡¯t do this!¡±

    ¡°Why does the council want me?¡±

    ¡°They said you¡¯re not dead yet and that you have a treasure on you. The council wants that item.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I heard it looks like a book. All we needed to do was find you and hand you over with all your belongings.¡±

    Qianye immediately thought of the Book of Darkness. That was the only book-shaped treasure he had in his hands. It couldn¡¯t be the Song n Ancient Scroll since the art required daybreak origin power to cultivate.

    After asking several questions and confirming that the marquis didn¡¯t know what exactly the council was looking for, Qianye said, ¡°Which level does the ordere from?¡±

    ¡°From the Sacred Mountain.¡± At this point in the conversation, the demonkin marquis felt rather confident. ¡°I suggest you surrender obediently or flee to the human side. The supremes haven¡¯t issued a direct order in a long time. They will find you wherever you¡¯re hiding.¡±

    Qianye frowned in silence. Thinking that Qianye was wavering, the marquis said, ¡°My mission here isn¡¯t to capture you, and no one else saw you. As long as you let me go, I¡¯ll swear on the darkness origins that I won¡¯t tell anyone. You can escape and hide, what do you say?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯tment. ¡°What¡¯s your mission? Why are you killing vampires?¡±

    ¡°I came here on the council¡¯s orders to take over the Mueller family¡¯s blood pond, but that old fellow wouldn¡¯t give it up and even injured my subordinates. I decided to put his descendants to death in order to protect the council¡¯s authority.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°You have such power?¡±

    The marquis said, ¡°Of course. The council made my authority clear when they assigned the mission. As themander, I have the right to decide everything in the scope of this mission. I¡¯ve been quite merciful because I¡¯m actually allowed to destroy the Mueller family and all of its vassals. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t have done what I did if he were willing to give up the blood pond. Unlike the werewolves, I don¡¯t have anything particr against the vampires.¡±

    It was at this time that the screams in the castle suddenly changed. Dozens of figures shot out of the castle and fled toward thending pad, hoping to escape. Two airsh.i.p.s quickly rose into the air, but a dark golden ribbon appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself gracefully around the vessels.

    The airsh.i.p.s spat out dazzling mes as they swayed toward the ground, erupting in balls of me. Not one person made it out alive.

    Nighteye appeared beside Qianye and nced coldly at the demonkin near him. The trembling man barely managed to force out a smile.

    ¡°Did you get anything out of him?¡±

    ¡°He said he¡¯s here for the blood pond. You didn¡¯t leave anyone alive?¡±

    ¡°Killed them all by ident. You have one here, don¡¯t you?¡±

    The demonkin marquis was drenched in cold sweat. He subconsciously propped himself up and tried to move away, but that only drew Nighteye¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Tell us the reason behind your mission.¡±

    The marquis exined everything honestly, ¡°I was in charge of capturing the blood ponds and origin blood of the Robert, Mueller, Fayne families. I was instructed to kill all those who resisted and to call Duke Darren for help if the defense was too fierce. The duke¡¯s airship fleet is parked in the void. My first stop was the Robert family, and things went pretty well over there. Who would¡¯ve thought the Mueller family would be so troublesome?¡±

    ¡°Who allowed you to use fire execution?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my aide, not me. He was in the ancient castle just now, if you saw him.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°This order is rather strange. Did the vampire powerhouses in the council not object?¡±

    The demonkin marquis was surprised. ¡°This mission wasn¡¯t discussed in the general assembly, and my rank is not high enough to participate in the smaller assembly. Oh right, I heard the recent battle is being investigated, and they¡¯ve discovered a betrayal. Many people were implicated. Perhaps this is rted to the case?¡±

    Qianye shot Nighteye a nce. ¡°Do you have any news about the Azure King?¡±

    ¡°The Azure King Reynold has fallen.¡±

 Chapter 1376: Similar Misfortune

    <h4>Chapter 1376: Simr Misfortune</h4>

    The Azure King had fallen?

    Nighteye¡¯s blood core started beating faster upon hearing this. Qianye roared with a dark expression, ¡°The fall of a great dark monarch is a matter of great importance. How dare you make personal judgments? Speak the truth or die.¡±

    Shocked out of his wits, the demonkin marquis cried out, ¡°I¡¯m not lying! I swear to the darkness origins, I¡¯m not lying! As a Jeruson family member with duke potential, I¡¯m privy to this much information! The Azure King has fallen. A blood rtive elder told me personally.¡±

    Qianye softened his tone. ¡°Since you¡¯re from a famed demonkin n, you should know about the connection between vampires. Why would other vampires not know about the fall of a great dark monarch?¡±

    ¡°That...¡± The demonkin¡¯s eyes shifted about. ¡°I know some inside information, but will you spare me if I tell you?¡±

    ¡°Speak!¡±

    The marquis didn¡¯t dare bargain anymore. ¡°I heard the Azure King¡¯s blood core is still intact... cough, cough, that¡¯s why the secret connection wasn¡¯t cut off entirely. That might be the reason.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s body swayed weakly for a brief moment. She then said through clenched teeth, ¡°Ask him who killed Reynold.¡± Seeing as they could tell that Reynold was dead and that his blood core was intact, the demonkins¡¯ role in this matter was self-evident.

    The marquis exined without Qianye having to ask, ¡°I heard the Eternal me and Progia went with the Sable Blessing.¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°I know Reynold¡¯s strength very well! Those two can¡¯t take him down. Reynold... fought to the end for us.¡±

    A fight between great dark monarchs was beyond Qianye¡¯s knowledge. He had no idea how to console Nighteye, so he simply reached out and touched her hair.

    Nighteyeposed herself, saying, ¡°Looks like the demonkin are ready for an all-out war. I just wonder why they choose to do so at this point.¡±

    Qianye took things one step further. ¡°How many blood ponds are included in your operation? How many ns have been affected?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about the others, but the Jeruson family was assigned fourteen blood ponds. Three of them belong to the old ns,¡± the marquis said obediently.

    Nighteye and Qianye exchanged nces.

    There was still no telling whether these missions were the council¡¯s actual decision or if the demonkin were issuing fake orders for personal gains. Even with the most optimistic calctions¡ªassuming only the seven major demonkin ns were leading this operation¡ªthe number of blood ponds being captured was well over a hundred.

    The vampire realm might be big, but even counting lower-grade ones like the Mueller family¡¯s, the number of true ancient blood ponds was fairly small. The demonkin were capturing over a hundred of them, which was at least one-third if not half.

    The blood ponds were the vampire race¡¯s true strategic resource. Vampires at the end of their lives required them to extend their life. They also needed them to restore themselves after awakening.

    The blood ponds required time to .u.mte. Many of them needed hundreds of years to .u.mte enough blood energy for a duke¡¯s slumber¡ªthis was the definition of an ancient blood pond. The vampires, without blood ponds, would beparable to a shortage of grains for humans. The entire race¡¯s foundations would be shaken.

    From the scale of this operation, this was likely an all-out war.

    Seeing that there was nothing else the marquis could tell them, Nighteye shed the man in half with her dark golden blood energy.

    Qianye frowned, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    Nighteye understood what he was thinking. ¡°Burning at the stake is to the vampires, what blood feasts are to humans. It¡¯s a humiliation and provocation that cannot be endured. What they did here just now is enough for all the old ns to dere war on the Jeruson n.¡±

    Qianye touched Nighteye¡¯s head. He didn¡¯t say anything and merely followed her to the castle grounds. A group of sobbing vampiredies and some young vampire barons were standing around an old man. The man looked rather weak as he sat leaning against a stone pir, half of his body charred ck.

    Seeing Qianye and Nighteye appear, Marquis Mueller struggled to kneel on one knee. ¡°Thank you for the help, Your Majesties. I am dying, but these children still have a future ahead of them. We offer you eternal loyalty, this territory we¡¯ve owned for two thousand years, as well as the castle and blood pond! All I ask is the continuation of the Mueller family¡¯s bloodline.¡±

    He wanted to be a vassal to Qianye and Nighteye.

    Nighteye said, ¡°Where is the Carlton n Lord?¡±

    Marquis Mueller said, ¡°The current lord of the Carlton n is Grand Duke Ronnie, and the elder assembly consists of four dukes and a prince. The old prince has been asleep for three hundred years and never ignited a seal in the River of Blood. Duke Ronnie is also asleep fairly often, only waking up every three years.¡±

    Even Qianye was frowning by this point.

    It would seem the Carltons had fallen quite far as a member of the major vampire ns.

    There were two types of slumber¡ªone in which the person could wake up on his own, and one which required external stimuli to awaken. The former was mainly undertaken tomunicate with the River of Blood and improve one¡¯s strength. Thetter was to enter a state of stasis and conserve energy, requiringrge amounts of resources.

    The Carlton n¡¯s prince had been asleep for three hundred years. He would be near the end of his life even if he could be awakened. Moreover, an uncrowned prince like this one might not be all that strongpared to a duke in his peak state.

    Nighteye said, ¡°The Carlton n¡¯s strength has been on the decline since a long time ago, but some of the higher-ranked ns have been giving them help and offering protection for theirnds. That¡¯s because those of the Carlton bloodline have the highest chance of igniting their blood seal.¡±

    Qianye realized the reason after this exnation.

    Half of the seals in the River of Blood were dim. Protecting the Carltons was akin to saving an opportunity for the vampire race to light up another seal. This was also why the twelve major ns never lost their inheritance despite the infighting.

    Perhaps one day, the Carltons would produce a young genius who could light up their blood seal. He would be able to lead the entire Carlton family to glory, just like Habsburg.

    Qianye could venture a guess by now. ¡°Since the demonkin are targeting three of the major vampire ns, are they trying to cut off their inheritance?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    This was a move to uproot these families. As a peerlessly powerful being, why was the Queen of the Night ignoring this? Why did she allow such a n to pass? Things didn¡¯t make sense at all. The werewolves would be all too happy that things were ying out this way, while the arachne were probably unconcerned. But what of the vampire powerhouses?

    What Qianye could think of, Nighteye could as well. ¡°We should head to the Perth n. We must let her know what has transpired here.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Qianye was curious about Nighteye¡¯s stance toward Lilith. There was a basic level of courtesy at the very least.

    Nighteye turned back toward old Mueller. ¡°Summon all your descendants with potential.¡±

    The old marquis issued the order. A whileter, a total of eleven young vampires were kneeling before Qianye and Nighteye. There were men and women among them, the strongest being a viscount and the youngest one, a knight.

    Nighteye¡¯s blood energy condensed into a map, saying, ¡°From today, you are my vassals. Pack up your resources and your blood pond, then head over to this location and hide. Repair the castle there while waiting for my next orders. Go prepare.¡±

    The eleven young vampires remained kneeling on the ground. Each of them cut their wrist, sshing blood onto their vampiric des as they swore loyalty to Nighteye.

    The entire process was short and solemn. Only after the ceremony wasplete did the Mueller descendants leave toplete the move.

    Marquis Mueller¡¯s eyes were full of emotion and pain. ¡°From now on, the Mueller family is no more. But to be able to continue our line under your protection is somewhat of a relief to my guilt.¡±

    The old marquis sat down and closed his eyes, his life force dissipating as he did so.

    While Nighteye was making arrangements, Qianye walked around the castle and observed the surroundings. There were traces of battle in many areas, as well as badly mutted corpses that hadn¡¯t been cleared away. Apparently, the vampires had suffered a fair bit of humiliation and abuse before their passing.

    This wasn¡¯t a war, but rather a one-sided massacre. The Mueller family wasn¡¯t strong, to begin with, and had no chance against the overwhelming forces of the Evernight Council. Of course, another reason was that the demonkin had entered the castle in the name of the council. This allowed them to bypass all defensive measures.

    Themander of this operation could be considered rather moderate in nature, but his second-inmand was apparently not so. This person, a werewolf, had already fallen to Nighteye¡¯s de. No matter the point of view, it was clear that the demonkin marquis wasn¡¯t going to restrain his subordinate.

    There were also quite a few corpses that belonged to the warriors of the council, many of them arachne and werewolves. The execution wasn¡¯t limited to the za, either. There were also stakes in the rear courtyard.

    After Nighteye killed the council warriors in fury, the surviving vampires quickly extinguished the mes and released their kin from the stakes.

    Qianye came to a stop before a petite corpse. It belonged to a vampire girl who hadn¡¯t even reached a.d.u.l.thood. Her small, pale face used to be pretty, but now, it was distorted in an expression of pain¡ªher eyes wide open and the corners of her lids torn as she screamed silently.

    Perhaps because she was too young, her beautiful face remained untouched even though her body was mostly charred. A lingering wisp of demonic energy proved that one of their experts had protected her face. This wasn¡¯t out of pity, but rather so that they could see her agonized expression more clearly.

    Several more corpses were being moved over and covered in scarlet cloth.

    Qianye trembled as he sank into that girl¡¯s pain and her expression that had remained frozen at the peak of agony. He could almost feel himself being burned at the stake.

    Qianye sighed deeply. He realized that this was war, a hatred that extended tens of thousands of years. The dark races¡¯ infighting was not at all inferior to the wars between the Empire and Evernight.

    Some of the survivors looked sad, some looked numb, and others sobbed quietly.

    ncing at those faces, Qianye suddenly realized that he had seen such faces a long long time ago. It had been fairly long since hest witnessed a blood feast, but the scenes from Evernight Continent remained deeply imprinted in his memories. Even though their faces had already turned blurry, the pain and desperation still lingered in his mind.

    At this moment, the misfortune that stemmed from racial issues came to ovep in his mind. The vampires¡¯ situation before him wasn¡¯t that different from the plight of the humans back then. Everyone¡¯s reaction to tragedy was simr to that of ordinary people.

    Not every dark race member was born a warrior. Even the long-lived races would die and grow weak. They would feel pain at losing rtives and kin.

    Because of his blood core, he could vaguely sense the emotions of the vampires around him. This was supposed to be his advantage as a superior expert, yet he felt drowned in sadness.

 Chapter 1377: Commoners and War

    <h4>Chapter 1377: Commoners and War</h4>

    After observing the daily life of the upper-continent vampires, Qianye discovered that they were quite different from his previous impressions. He had thought they were all born for war.

    The vampires before him were living in a rtively peaceful environment, which meant that there was a clear difference between soldiers and civilians.

    The vampires in the ancient castle all possessed blood energy, but one could tell from their movements and apparel that many weren¡¯t trained warriors. They looked more like smiths, designers, and management staff. The true warriors only made up a tenth of their numbers.

    In the peaceful parts of the Empire maind, people like these would be considered general civilians and most of them wouldn¡¯t even awaken daybreak origin power. There might be some skirmishes in the Empire but they rarely involved ordinary civilians.

    In the areas where the two factions were at war, however, there were very few true civilians. Those who could find their footing in the border regions were either n or tribal settlements. Due to their racial advantage, everyone would awaken darkness origin power and thus everyone was a soldier. No one was going to care whether they were young, old, or weak in times of war.

    Hence, this was the first time Qianye had actually seen vampire civilians. Whenever they saw Qianye, these people would fall to their knees in greeting no matter what they were doing. Their eyes were full of reverence and fear.

    Many of the corpses in the za belonged to civilians. Going by the authority given to this operation, most of the vampires in the castle would probably be killed if Qianye and Nighteye hadn¡¯t arrived to stop the second-inmand.

    On the contrary, the ves and inferior races were more likely to survive. After all, they were considered properties instead of enemies.

    Qianye was ovee with a faint sense of difort. Even though they were vampires, his heart felt heavy when so many civilians were being ughtered. Life and death on the battlefield was one matter. That was war and not a one-sided butchering, nor was it a systematic extermination of families and ns.

    Qianye looked back to see that Nighteye had appeared behind him.

    ¡°Done with arrangements?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What do we do about them?¡± Qianye pointed at the civilians.

    ¡°We can only leave them behind.¡±

    ¡°Is there no other way? Can they not go to the ce you just mentioned?¡±

    ¡°That is a secret hideout of the vampire race, for use when the entire race is in danger. The resources there are limited, and the road ahead is long. Only those with sufficient strength can escape the pursuit and reach the shelter. These people... won¡¯t get there even after a month.¡±

    Qianye nced at the surroundings. ¡°They¡¯ll find out about their missing unit after a while. Shall we stay behind and finish off their reinforcements as well?¡±

    Nighteye hesitated for a bit, then shook her head. ¡°The leader might be the Jeruson family, but the soldiers under them are the council¡¯s direct subordinate forces. Let¡¯s not fight them until we¡¯re clear about the situation. We can still argue that this incident was a misunderstanding, but there will be no more leeway once we kill the reinforcements.¡±

    Nighteye spoke tactfully, but Qianye understood her meaning.

    The suppression across hierarchies was much more serious in Evernight than it was in the Empire. Considering Nighteye¡¯s status and identity, she could easily ¡°exin¡± why she had killed some soldier who had dared to burn vampires at the stake. It would be difficult to get away with a second ughter, however. That would be a clear resistance against the council¡¯s operations.

    She said after a while, ¡°The currentmander of the council¡¯s direct forces is Arachne Warlord Noxus. He¡¯s young, headstrong, and difficult to deal with. I¡¯d like to avoid making an enemy out of the arachne.¡±

    Qianye sighed. It was easy to see what would happen to the remaining vampiremoners once the follow-up forces arrived. ¡°Tell them to flee as far as they can.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Nighteye also felt that this was the only way.

    ¡°What do we do next?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°I n to head to the closest Perth n territory. That¡¯s the only ce I can get in touch with Lilith or at least Medanzo. The daily affairs of the vampire race are being handled by the Lightless Monarch and, to a certain extent, Habsburg.¡±

    ¡°The Lightless Monarch... I don¡¯t have a good impression of him. He wanted to capture you when you were in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t know my identity back then. Medanzo has been stuck in his current realm for many years, so he¡¯s intent on supplementing his weakness in bloodline. That was why he has been collecting the origin blood of talented people. Right now, though, he¡¯ll have to think hard even if my origin blood is dangling in front of him. He might not be able to pay the price.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°He¡¯s a great dark monarch after all. If we get into a direct fight, I might not be his match.¡±

    Nighteye was surprised. ¡°Why would we have to fight him?¡±

    ¡°In short, you should be careful. I have a bad feeling about him.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, looking for him is just the first step. He can¡¯t take responsibility for this matter, either. We still have to inform Lilith.¡±

    After some thought, Qianye couldn¡¯t really give her better advice regarding the vampire race¡¯s internal affairs. The two instructed the people in the area to scatter before vanishing into the night.

    ...

    Castle Ava was located at the edge of the Twilight Continent¡¯s hintends. Constructed nine hundred years ago by Duke Lynch, its history couldn¡¯t be considered that long. Today, the lord of this castle was the Junior Lynch, a mighty marquis. The old duke had reportedly been asleep this whole time, but no one could tell whether or not he would awaken.

    It was dusk at the moment. The setting sun was ming red and the moon was already visible in the sky, a beautiful moment to say the least. Marquis Lynch Jr. was seated before a floor-to-ceiling window, reading some ancient texts. He would asionally pick up the beautiful golden goblet to enjoy the high-quality blood wine, all the while enjoying the scenery outside the window.

    A scene of near-withering like this would fill his heart with an inexplicable sadness whenever he gazed upon it. This was the marquis¡¯ favorite emotion because only with it could he write satisfactory pieces of poetry.

    This time, however, he waspletely startled to find two figures standing outside. They were only one ss window away but the marquis never discovered their arrival. The castle¡¯s defenses weren¡¯t activated, either.

    Nighteye removed her hood. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to let us in?¡±

    The marquis trembled in fright as he opened the window. He then ced his hand over his chest and bowed deeply, ¡°Please forgive me, I¡¯d never expected you to visit a small ce like Castle Ava.¡±

    Nighteye entered and sat down in the marquis¡¯ chair. Qianye simply stood beside her but didn¡¯t reveal his countenance.

    Marquis Lynch closed the window, stopping the cold mountain winds outside from entering. ¡°Your Majesty, how can I help you? Shall I prepare a grand banquet? Due to the urgent nature, some of the famous local dishes may not make it to the table, please forgive us.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°I don¡¯t need a banquet, don¡¯t let anyone else know of my arrival. Things seem calm here. I take it the demonkin and the council have not arrived?¡±

    The junior Marquis Lynch¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Why would the councile here? As for the demonkin, this is the Twilight Continent. I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll have the guts to move freely in our hintends?¡±

    Nighteye frowned. ¡°None of them have arrived?¡±

    Lynch seemed puzzled. ¡°No, if you want I can summon the soldiers in our territory and confirm everything. From what I know, no unfamiliar demonkin have appeared in ournds in the past month. There are demonkin in the city below, but those families have been working their factory here for three hundred years.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°That¡¯s good. I suggest you immediately strengthen your castle guards and contact the main Perth family. It¡¯s best if you can go and hide out over there, or have them send troops reinforcements.¡±

    Lynch was shocked out of his seat. ¡°T-This is something big, isn¡¯t it? What has happened, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°I suspect an all-out war with the demonkin is beginning.¡±

    ¡°An all-out war!¡± Lynch cried out. ¡°How can this be? Isn¡¯t the holy war on hold? And you¡¯re the leader of the new world¡¯s pioneering efforts!¡±

    ¡°Do as I say.¡± Nighteye didn¡¯t want to exin. She then got up and said, ¡°How is the old duke doing? Is there a mechanism in Castle Ava to contact Her Majesty the Queen? I need to use it.¡±

    Marquis Lynch looked surprised. ¡°Your Majesty, we do have such equipment, but it¡¯s been hundreds of years since fatherst used it. I might have the family bloodline but I¡¯m not strong enough to activate it, you¡¯ll need my father.¡±

    It was easier to contact the Queen of the Night on Twilight Continent than from other ces. Even so, the operation would require a duke from the Perth n. The dukes were important characters of the race. If they needed to contact the Queen, the matter had to be of great urgency.

    The Queen¡¯s slumber could not be disrupted so easily. Lilith awakened fewer and fewer times as the River of Blood distanced itself; even her projection rarely appeared. Comparatively, the Demon King and the Spider Queen were much more active.

    Not every duke of the Perth n had the right to build their castle on Twilight Continent.

    Nighteye picked Castle Ava because the ce was likely to house a method ofmunication with the Queen.

    Marquis Lynch¡¯s expression seemed a bit unnatural when he heard Nighteye¡¯s request. In the end, he said, ¡°Follow me, Your Majesty.¡±

    Qianye naturally followed when Nighteye moved. Marquis Lynched said with a frown, ¡°Your Majesty, it won¡¯t be convenient for your follower to enter the ce.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not my follower.¡±

    Qianye revealed a wisp of his blood energy, producing a terrifying suppressive might that turned Marquis Lynch pale. The man took a couple of steps back and nced at Nighteye in shock. He no longer dared to say anything and merely led the two down the castle.

    The trio passed through a long corridor and six checkpoints until a giant bronze door finally appeared before him. They were now deep inside the mountain.

    ¡°This is where my father lies asleep. It was three hundred and fifty years ago that Ist woke him up.¡±

 Chapter 1378: Blood Poison Trap

    <h4>Chapter 1378: Blood Poison Trap</h4>

    Every apparatus that couldmunicate with the Queen involved a particr set of activation rules. For instance, Castle Ava¡¯s required a duke from the Lynch bloodline to activate. Marquis Lynch was just a mighty marquis, so they would have to wake up the duke for this matter.

    Marquis Lynch arrived before the door and activated the mechanism, summoning a control panel from the floor. He punched in the password and cut his wrist to ssh blood onto the panel. The giant door soon began to tremble and open.

    Behind the door was a dark hall illuminated by a few sanguine lights. The dim glow was barely enough to outline the room.

    The patterns on the wall began to revolve as Nighteye and Qianye entered. A coffin slowly glided out of the wall andnded at the center of the hall. Several pipes stretched out from the ground andtched onto the coffin, pumping blood from the blood pond into the coffin. This would allow for the vampire within to awaken from his long slumber.

    Nighteye and Qianye couldn¡¯t sense the presence of blood in the tubes. Marquis Lynch had produced the coffin but wasn¡¯t supplying blood?

    The marquis sighed as he ced a hand on the lid and released his blood energy, dripping the remaining blood from his wrist onto the coffin. The patterns on the coffin flickered, and the lid opened with a loud creak.

    An old vampire was lying inside the container. His hands were in front of his chest, holding onto a sword. The entire body was withered and dried up like a skeleton, so much so that his facial features were no longer visible.

    Vampires at the end of their lives would drain their blood into the blood pond and mummify themselves. Reducing their life functions to the lowest point allowed them to extend their lives. Only the top experts could remain in the same form during hibernation. Apparently, Duke Lynch was not that powerful.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t sense any vitality from the duke¡¯s body. In his perception, the person in the coffin was a dead creature with no life at all. Qianye had never seen a vampire in hibernation, so he wasn¡¯t quite sure whether this was normal.

    Nighteye frowned. ¡°The duke has passed? Why are you keeping him here then?¡±

    Marquis Lynch smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough, so I feared I would not be able to protect Castle Ava and our businesses without him. That¡¯s why I decided to keep the news hidden until I¡¯m at the next level. I n to announce his passing once I be a glorious marquis.¡±

    ¡°When did this happen?¡±

    ¡°About ten years ago, I discovered something wrong with my father¡¯s hibernation. I tried waking him up but to no avail,¡± he said helplessly. ¡°I knew it would be impossible to convince anyone with just words, so I had to trouble you toe and see the situation.¡±

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no helping it then. Let¡¯s go, I have some things to ask you.¡±

    Marquis Lynch seemed a bit relieved as he sealed the coffin and sent it back into the wall. ¡°It¡¯s my honor to be able to work for you, Your Majesty.¡±

    After leaving the mountainbyrinth, Lynch led Qianye and Nighteye to his personal guestroom, then ordered his men to bring some blood wine. ¡°This is the best in our collection, containing a drop of viscount grade origin blood in every ss. Even my father drank only ten or so sses in his entire lifetime. We have about five sses left.¡±

    Nighteye finished it in one go, but Qianye was a bit hesitant about drinking it.

    Marquis Lynch said, ¡°Please ept our family¡¯s tribute.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°This is wine, not blood.¡±

    Qianye inwardly shook his head. Blood wine wasn¡¯t just a tonic for vampires, but it also contained some connotation of loyalty. Marquis Lynch had treated him as Nighteye¡¯s follower at one point, but he was now quite respectful after a show of power. The level of respect given to the duo was now equal.

    Seeing no other choice, Qianye picked up the ss and finished it. The drink wasn¡¯t tart or fishy at all. On the contrary, it contained manyyers of lingering fragrance that uplifted the spirit. Even someone like Qianye who didn¡¯t really attach too much importance to the quality of alcohol felt rather delighted. Once the spirit was inside his stomach, it released waves of pure blood energy that could be immediately utilized.

    ¡°Good wine!¡± Qianye finally understood why so many powerful people in the Empire liked vampire wines, so much so that they would pay exorbitant prices in the ck market. Even without the drop of origin blood, it was still a great drink.

    After the praise, Qianye suddenly noticed a wisp of coldness within the released blood energy. Wherever this chill went in his body, that part of him would lose all sensation. The energy possessed powerful adhesive properties as well and would freeze his blood energy upon contact.

    It was poison! A poison that specifically targeted vampire experts!

    A cold gleam flickered in Qianye¡¯s eyes. He shot to his feet, shouting, ¡°You put poison in this wine?!¡±

    However, he quickly fell back into his chair. His face paled as his body went limp and cold, almost as though he had fallen into an icy cave. Beside him, Nighteye also fell back into her chair with a grunt.

    Marquis Lynchughed maniacally. ¡°Save the effort! Even dukes cannot resist this miraculous medicine! Haha, Your Majesty? Your Majesty? You guys will never be rulers!¡±

    Nighteye barely managed to prop herself up. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Since you guys already know that the demonkin wille here, why ask so much? The Demon King will restore the order of the old ages, and this world will return to pure darkness. Our vampire race will have our sins washed away and be reborn in the darkness¡¯ mercy! Very soon, a new era will be born, and a new order will be established. The Sacred Mountain has only one supreme, and that is...¡±

    Qianye¡¯s voice echoed in Marquis Lynch¡¯s ears. ¡°Definitely not you.¡±

    He turned back all of a sudden to find Qianye standing behind him, almost at arm¡¯s length. But Qianye was clearly sitting over there just now! Marquis Lynch turned back to see Qianye¡¯s seat empty. It felt as though he had seen a ghost; he simply didn¡¯t know how the man had appeared behind him.

    Realizing what had happened, he let out a loud scream and wanted to flee. However, the boundless pressure erupting from Qianye¡¯s body stripped him of the ability to move.

    Qianye lifted Marquis Lynch up by the neck. ¡°Who instructed you to poison us? You better not lie if you don¡¯t want your blood core crushed little by little.¡±

    Lynch asked, ¡°Y-You weren¡¯t poisoned?¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°You¡¯re too naive if you want to use poison against us.¡±

    Nighteye was also back on her feet, the weak demeanor from beforepletely gone. She blew a limpid ice droplet out of her mouth and put it away in a small bottle. ¡°This blood poison is actually quite valuable, don¡¯t let it go to waste. Qianye, where¡¯s yours?¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve put it away.¡±

    His Book of Darkness was a treasure that could contain all forms of energy. The blood poison was inside it now.

    Marquis Lynch looked utterly desperate. ¡°This is impossible! The grand duke said even great dark monarchs won¡¯t be able to resist this poison.¡±

    ¡°Which grand duke?¡± Qianye asked coldly.

    Lynch trembled. ¡°Grand Duke Sway of the Jeruson family.¡±

    ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°H-He said...¡± Seeing Qianye¡¯s cold gaze, the marquis immediately continued, ¡°The darkness will once again regain its glory.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°As a descendant of the sacred river, you actually believed in a demonkin? Are you dumb or what?¡±

    Although the marquis knew that his life was hanging on a thread, he wasn¡¯t convinced about this topic. ¡°The River of Blood is leaving us behind every day. How many years has it been? Even dukes cannot get half a response.¡± He nced at Nighteye and said, ¡°Of course, you¡¯re a favorite of the river, but what are we?¡±

    Nighteye smiled coldly. ¡°And the demonkin will give you what the river cannot?¡±

    Marquis Lynch hesitated for a moment, but he didn¡¯t dare hide what he knew. ¡°They will allow us to get closer to the darkness origins.¡±

    Both Nighteye and Qianye frowned.

    Blood energy was categorized as a part of the darkness energy system. Although their power stemmed from the River of Blood, the endpoint of all dark races was the darkness origins. That was the peak of power in this world.

    The two had no idea how the demonkin would upgrade the vampires¡¯ blood energy to bring it closer to the darkness origins. The marquis didn¡¯t seem like the type who would trust just about anything. At the very least, the demonkin had proven to him that there was a possibility.

    Qianye knew that it was useless to argue about the river. ¡°Sway cannot have known of our arrival. Who was this trap prepared for?¡±

    The marquis replied, ¡°There¡¯s no specific target. The grand duke merely instructed me to kill anyone trying to contact the Queen.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Is that all?¡±

    Lynch¡¯s eyes sparkled.

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°It¡¯s useless if the other party doesn¡¯t drink the blood poison. Did the demonkin not leave any other cards?¡±

    Anyone arriving to contact the Queen must¡¯ve encountered a disaster like the Carlton and Mueller families. They would surely be cautious about what they consume, and urging them too forcefully would only make them more suspicious. Hence, there had to be a backup n.

    Snorting, Qianye shot out a sanguine thread from his fingertips that drilled it into the marquis¡¯ neck. Thetter iled about in agony until he was crying in hysteria. ¡°I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk!¡±

    Qianye pulled the thread back, leaving Lynch gasping for air. He would¡¯ve copsed to the ground were it not for Qianye holding him up.

    The marquis finally caught his breath. ¡°I was told to direct them to Castle Cercis for help.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°Castle Cercis? Isn¡¯t that Medanzo¡¯s territory?¡±

    Medanzo was the one managing the vampire race¡¯s affairs, so it was natural for people to seek help from the Drac n. It was strange, however, that a demonkin duke would suggest this.

    Qianye tightened his grip. ¡°Why there?¡±

    Marquis Lynch was also puzzled. ¡°That¡¯s what he told me. There will be someone there who can handle people I cannot.¡±

    ¡°Who? Medanzo?¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡±

    A sanguine thread emerged from Qianye¡¯s finger once again, eliciting painful screams from the marquis. ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡±

    Nighteye said calmly, ¡°When did the old duke die?¡±

    Marquis Lynch replied as soon as Qianye loosened his grip, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you just now...¡± Feeling the thread on his skin, he quickly changed his words, ¡°It was... a couple of days ago?¡±

    ¡°Who cut off his blood supply?¡±

    ¡°That was the grand duke¡¯s orders. He was going to exterminate the entire family if I didn¡¯t obey.¡±

    ¡°Take us to themunication apparatus.¡±

    ¡°... Very well.¡±

    This time, Lynch brought Qianye and Nighteye to the stargazing room on the castle¡¯s top floor. There was a sacrificial altar here that could be used tomunicate with the Queen of the Night. However, the room was in an utter mess¡ªall origin arrays had been destroyed, and the equipment used to test bloodlines had been plundered.

    Without waiting for the two to ask, Lynch exined, ¡°All of this was Duke Sway¡¯s doing. He took away the bloodline testing equipment and... some blood cores belonging to sleeping ancestors. Father was spared because I needed to deceive potential visitors.¡±

    Nighteye asked, ¡°What do the demonkin want with so many blood cores?¡±

    Qianye was also puzzled.

    From the current situation, it could be concluded that the council¡¯s operations began after the Queen of the Night¡¯s slumber. On one hand, they were destroying all means of contacting Lilith, while on the other, they were either destroying or converting some ns to their cause.

    It was just that Duke Sway never expected the first ones to walk into the trap would be Qianye and Nighteye. Their bloodlines were so powerful that even blood poison couldn¡¯t do anything.

    ¡°Is there any other way to contact the Queen?¡± Qianye asked.

    Nighteye said, ¡°The founding ancestors have ways to contact the Queen, and the main Perth n will have the means to awaken her directly. But Medanzo...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we should go to the Perth n,¡± said Qianye. It would seem most of the families under the Perth n had been prated, and Nighteye¡¯s Monroe family didn¡¯t share a good rtionship with them. There was no telling what would happen if they made an appearance there.

    Nighteye nodded. ¡°Then should we seek out the ming Crown Habsburg?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have any other choice, do we?¡± If Medanzo was unreliable, Habsburg might be just as dangerous. Regardless of whether the demonkin were lying to the vampires or if they really possessed a way to bring them closer to the darkness origins, they could still threaten people in submission. Who knows how many experts could hold out?

    Nighteye went silent for a good while. After some thought, she suddenly remembered something. ¡°Wait! We should go to the Byrne n.¡±

    ¡°The Dark Gospel Howard?¡± Qianye recalled that this primogenitor¡¯s blood seal was still shining.

    ¡°There was news of his recent awakening! But I know he¡¯s probably in light sleep.¡±

    Qianye immediately understood.

 Chapter 1379: Blood Relations

    <h4>Chapter 1379: Blood Rtions</h4>

    ording to a long-standing rule, the internal affairs of the vampire race would be handled together by active primogenitors. Those who weren¡¯t primogenitors would have to be assigned such authority by the Queen of the Night even if they were a great dark monarch. Even though Habsburg had illuminated a blood seal, it was only after Lilith¡¯s personal recognition that older great dark monarchs like Medanzo had nothing more to say.

    There were two active second-generation primogenitors in the race. First was Medanzo, but there was clearly something wrong with him. The other one was Habsburg, but as the person in charge of the holy war, he had always worked closely with the council. It was currently difficult to say who was a friend.

    There was recent news of Dark Gospel Howard¡¯s awakening. He was different from the Azure King in that his lifespan wasn¡¯t at its end yet. Being able to wake up on his own meant that he could still act independently for a period of time.

    Howard and Medanzo had never seen eye to eye, so much so that the former didn¡¯t appear in public this time. If Howard had gone back to light slumber, it was likely that the demonkin would see him as an objective to attack. That was because Howard was a second-generation primogenitor who could wake up at any moment, and he also possessed the ability to awaken Lilith, a difficult variable to control.

    At the thought of this, she found answers to many questions she had in the past. The demonkins¡¯ actions on Twilight Continent almost seemed crazy, but their likelihood of sess was quite high.

    They were using the council¡¯s investigation into wartime misconduct as an excuse to persuade the werewolves and arachne to join their operation. Those two races wouldn¡¯t refuse this opportunity to weaken the vampires, destroying their altars and capturing their blood ponds. The werewolves might be even more proactive since they had suffered greatly in the centuries of war.

    This operation was probablymencing on various fronts at the same time, using various methods to destroy all methods ofmunication with the Queen. The Azure King had passed, and Medanzo and Hasburg¡¯s stance was unclear. Under such circ.u.mstances, it was all too easy to make sure that sleeping second-generation primogenitors would never wake up. Ordinary vampires would never even realize what had happened.

    By the time the Queen of the Night woke up one day, everything would be toote.

    Nighteye was filled with killing intent after realizing these things. She was just about to kill Marquis Lynch when Qianye stopped her. ¡°What¡¯s this new order you speak of?¡±

    Lynch said, ¡°The Demon King believes that the vampire race has been slowly leaving the darkness origins since the Daybreak Rebellion. He says our bloodlines have been tainted, and that¡¯s a sin. The River of Blood¡¯s recession is the best proof of this. The vampire race must wash away our sins and return to the darkness origins to be reborn.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Qianye was furious.

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± Lynch nodded repeatedly.

    Qianye was in no mood to keep asking. Thoughts were a strange thing¡ªwhether Lynch¡¯s betrayal was due to a fear of death or if he truly believed the demonkin¡¯s words was fairly difficult to discern from words alone. Even the man himself might not be able to say for sure.

    Qianye nced at Nighteye and saw the chill in her countenance. He exerted more force, sending a thread of blood that crushed Lynch¡¯s blood core.

    ¡°You guys said... you won¡¯t kill me...¡±

    ¡°Did I? I¡¯ve forgotten.¡± Qianye tossed the marquis¡¯ corpse away. He then jumped out of the window with Nighteye and eventually vanished into the night.

    The duo traveled through the darkness after leaving the castle, crossing mountains and rivers across great distances.

    Qianye suddenly asked, ¡°What do vampires feel about family? Why would Marquis Lynch submit to someone who cut off his father¡¯s blood supply.¡±

    ¡°This is unrted to the race. Long-lived races might be less sentimental, but they do have feelings. The greater reason would be power and benefits. I have zero impression of this person in my knowledge about their family, which means his siblings were much more talented than him. And yet he had be the head of the family. I¡¯m sure humans also see cases of fratricide for power.¡±

    Qianye felt a bit better after listening to her exnation. ¡°Am I considered a vampire now? Why do I feel nothing different?¡±

    ¡°Of course you¡¯re a vampire. Your human part is now at the bottom of the Book of Darkness, Reynold cannot be wrong.¡±

    Qianye said gloomily, ¡°Why did my body be fully vampire?¡±

    ¡°Reynold said your human body was too weak. You were technically already dead back then. Only a vampire constitution can be repaired and thus allow you toe back to life. Also, only a vampire could use his Pond of Azure Darkness.¡±

    Qianye had already guessed even without Nighteye¡¯s exnation. He shook his head with a sigh.

    All of a sudden, they saw a pir of fire burst into the sky. The ze illuminated a burning ancient castle. The ferocity of these mes meant that the fire wasn¡¯t natural.

    Qianye and Nighteye exchanged nces. ¡°This is the third castle now. Aren¡¯t we already quite a distance away from the Mueller¡¯s Castle?¡±

    Nighteye narrowed her eyes. ¡°Clearly, not every family is willing to give up.¡±

    ¡°What do we do? Shall we help them?¡±

    Nighteye clenched her teeth. ¡°No! We must hurry to the Byrne n territory!¡±

    Qianye nced at the burning castle. ¡°Those are Monroends.¡±

    ¡°I know... we¡¯re not saving them.¡±

    Qianye spoke no more and merely followed Nighteye toward their destination.

    They still had a long way to cover before reaching the Byrne n¡¯s core territory. At one point along the silent journey, Nighteye said, ¡°Do you think I¡¯m cold-blooded for not saving my n members?¡±

    Qianye said honestly, ¡°Imperials would probably stop to help.¡° Howard¡¯s potential danger was still a conjecture at this point. What they had seen before them was true peril and death. Only on the battlefield did one have to face such choices.

    Nighteye said after a while, ¡°Long-lived races have different perspectives when ites to these things. A human heavenly monarch can ensure a hundred or so years of peace at most, but crown princes and great dark monarchs can protect a race for hundreds if not thousands of years. Throughout the passing years, rank differences be more important than anything else. It can be said the Dark Gospel is more important to the vampire race¡¯s fate than all the other marquisesbined.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll try to digest this.¡±

    Nighteye came to a stop so sudden that Qianye almost ran past her. He barely managed to find his footing beside her.

    Nighteye looked into his eyes. ¡°You... should go.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°The neutralnds or Fort Continent, there are many ces you can go to. Just don¡¯t go back to the Empire or Twilight Continent.¡±

    ¡°Then how about you?¡±

    ¡°I must go to the Byrne Territory.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll follow you of course.¡±

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°No, this is not your war. You¡¯re not a true vampire. This enmity between the vampires and demonkin, we will resolve it ourselves. But, you have to promise me not to return to the Empire. You¡¯re already a full vampire now, so there¡¯s no telling when they will stab you in the back.¡±

    Qianye looked serious. ¡°Did you sense something?¡±

 Chapter 1379: Blood Relations (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1379: Blood Rtions (Part 2)</h4>

    ¡°We¡¯re already on the verge of defeat right from the very beginning. We¡¯ve passed by five marquis castles along the way, belonging to three different minor families. Three of them have been destroyed, while the remaining two have probably turned into traps. I think a real battle awaits us at Howard¡¯s castle.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Since you¡¯re joining this battle, I shall fight as well. Are you worried that I¡¯ll feel prejudice toward the vampires?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of past enmity between your race and mine.¡±

    Qianye went silent for a moment. In truth, there was something he never mentioned. When he heard Habsburg¡¯s name a while ago, there was a sharp pain from his heart followed by an insuppressible killing intent.

    Back when Zhang Boqian had gone to observe the battlefield, he merely said Lin Xitang had fallen in the Demon King¡¯s domain. The council also kept a tight lid on this matter, making no announcements regarding this matter. There were of course bits and pieces of information still¡ªfor instance, it was confirmed that the spoils of war and contributions had gone to the vampire race. The one overseeing the war on the Evernight side was Prince Habsburg.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether Nighteye had noticed his loss ofposure, nor was he certain he could stay his hand aftering face-to-face with this legendary ming Crown.

    A good while passed by as the two gazed at each other under the starlight.

    Qianye eventually said, ¡°I have a lot of problems with the werewolves as well, but on Fort Continent, I came to understand that there¡¯s no such thing as irreconcble hatred between factions, let alone races. War is war... even if there is hatred, that¡¯s something between experts. It has nothing to do withmoners.¡±

    In the end, he said, ¡°In short, I¡¯m not leaving.¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry at his childishness. ¡°You never listen, let¡¯s go then.¡±

    The two sped along afterward. By the time the sun was starting to rise, they had traversed nearly half of Twilight Continent to arrive near Castle Midas.

    Midas was called a castle, but it was so big that it looked more like a giant fortress, or even a big city.

    The castle was constructed atop a lone peak with buildings dotting the sloping hillside. The other side was a precipitous cliff that dropped into a ravine thousands of meters deep. The bottom of the valley was filled with flowing dark-redva.

    The scent of earth-fire was something the vampires and dark races hated the most. This ming valley made for an excellent natural barrier for the castle¡¯s rear. Only top experts could enter the stronghold via this route. Troops would never be able tounch a sneak attack from here, not even the council¡¯s forces.

    The Byrne n had never encountered a gap in primogenitors. Hence, they were able to build Castle Midas into a true fortress over the years. Every building and window was designed to spit out mes of death.

    The castle before them was currently in a true state of battle.

    It was hard to say just how many cannon turrets there were inside. Hundreds of fiery streams could be seen shooting into the sky every second, sting at the swarm of airsh.i.p.s above.

    The outermost walls below the castle had mostly copsed. The battle was already unfolding around the secondyer halfway up the mountain. The explosions happening behind this checkpoint went to show that it was also on the verge of defeat.

    There was a series of mes in the distance as groups of giant transports hurried to the scene. These airsh.i.p.s were fast, stable, and easily recognizable as the council¡¯s direct forces. Needless to say, they weren¡¯t here to help Howard.

    The Evernight Council¡¯s troops had already set up a temporary camp outside of the castle, their supplies piled up into mountains. Their soldiers could be seen lining up in the field before charging into battle.

    Only at this point did Qianye fully realize the meaning of war.

    ...

    On one of the upper continents, the Eternal Hall of the Evernight Council.

    The sky here was an eternal night. The seven totems of the founders hung above the main doors. There wasn¡¯t the slightest sign of decay on them. These totems were eternal, unlike the races they represented.

    Living creatures were nothing more than a speck of dust before thisnd of miracles.

    Habsburg stood in the sky, gazing at the void fortress that shouldn¡¯t have appeared here. To be precise, it was the projection of a fortress-like city. The city itself was semi-dimensional and fixed to those coordinates, only revealing its giant mirror image in this world.

    The city was dotted withbat-type buildings, sporting high walls and small windows. With Habsburg¡¯s eyesight, he could even see the soldiers of varying races on the streets and in sentry positions.

    The soldiers looked different from the dark races of today. The vampires were taller and fiercer, while the arachnes¡¯ slim frames were full of power. The soldiers stood still in different positions¡ªthey looked as if they had been frozen in time but also as though they would rush into battle the very next moment.

    That was the demonkin superweapon that only existed in legends, a semi-dimension of war.

    The council chairman appeared beside Habsburg and proceeded to observe this majestic instrument of war together with him.

    After a while, the chairman said, ¡°Your Highness, it¡¯s time to set out. The advance forces left three hours ago. They will havepleted the beheading operation by the time you arrive on Fire Beacon Continent.¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°Lord Mark, can you tell me the real objective of this operation? Why mobilize such a weapon? The council didn¡¯t bring this out even when the void colossus Sky Demon appeared around the lower-continents.¡±

    ¡°Void colossi usually don¡¯t attack inhabited continents. Why risk angering it?¡± the chairman said. ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it. Our targets are the two human provinces there.¡±

    The chairman said after some thought, ¡°If you must ask why the number of soldiers the council can dispatch is limited this time, just enough for a beheading operation...¡± He looked up at Habsburg¡¯s expression andughed. ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t need to worry. There¡¯s no need to maintain order. We don¡¯t need the resources and popce there, so you can simply level the ce with the ¡®City of Eimer.¡¯¡±

    Habsburg understood the chairman¡¯s meaning. ¡°Even though the two provinces have already broken off from the Empire, doing so might cause the heavenly monarchs to interfere. The council is...¡±

    The chairman nodded. ¡°Yes, we do not exclude the possibility of an all-out war.¡±

    Habsburg frowned upon hearing these words.

    Even with the council¡¯s authority, recklessly upgrading the battle to a national war was overstepping his bounds. ughtering two human provinces in front of the Empire would inevitably lead to this upgrade.

    The chairman said, ¡°In truth, the heavenly monarchs will have to think about their territories after seeing the City of Eimer. The city can attack more than once, after all.¡±

    Habsburg finally understood the n. The council had mobilized this semi-dimensional weapon in order to intimidate the Empire. ¡°Lord Mark, I think the council should ask that great dark monarch to oversee the operation.¡±

    The chairman said, ¡°His Majesty Kane has ordered that you will have full authority tomand the City of Eimer. If a human heavenly monarch insists on witnessing its power, they¡¯ll be in for a big surprise.¡±

    Habsburg couldn¡¯t help butugh wryly. ¡°The Demon King thinks too highly of me.¡±

    Wielding the City of Eimer would give him the ability to contend with a heavenly monarch. Habsburg wasn¡¯t too worried about escaping from one, but this authority did go to show that the council wasn¡¯t going to use him as cannon fodder just yet.

    The chairman watched as Habsburg departed before donning his hood once more. Hended on the ground and walked step by step toward the Eternal Hall.

 Chapter 1380: Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 1380: Destruction</h4>

    The battle below Castle Midas was unfolding rapidly on Twilight Continent. Qianye had led troops into battle before, but he looked to Nighteye since he wasn¡¯t familiar with civil battles between the dark races.

    Nighteye had been watching the battlefield all this time. ¡°Let¡¯s head into Castle Midas first and check on Howard¡¯s condition.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye jumped forward after Nighteye and vanished.

    The interior of Castle Midas was in utter disarray, with vampires running back and forth everywhere. There was a titled expert at every important passage, barely maintaining order within the castle.

    The depths of the castle was located at the center of the mountain peak, yet the incessant vibrations still managed to reach this ce. Those sts came from the council¡¯s airsh.i.p.s bombarding the stronghold.

    Arge hall in the deepest parts of the castle. A row of viscounts sat with their backs against the wall, their hands outstretched as they watched their essence blood dripping into a golden chalice.

    Every time the goblet was almost full, someone would take it away and pour the contents into a stone tank at the center of the hall. The tank was only half full, with a small sanguine glow flickering at its center.

    An old duke was standing beside this tank, looking extremely nervous. ¡°Not enough, far from enough! Find some way to get more blood! The prince won¡¯t wake up in aplete state with just this.¡±

    A nearby baron said, ¡°Sire, all the n experts we can spare are here. The others are fighting on the front lines. The enemy will charge right in if we call them back.¡±

    ¡°His Highness the Prince must awaken!¡± The duke clenched his teeth as he took out a dagger and stabbed himself in the c.h.e.s.t.

    A bestial growl could be heard from behind a pair of thick steel doors. Apparently, the Dark Gospel Howard was already awake and in a state of recovery. The attacks on the outside, however, were growing increasingly fierce. It would seem the final defenses would crumble before Howard could fully awaken.

    The old duke drew out his vampiric de, allowing several drops of origin blood to fall into the stone tank. With the addition of the duke¡¯s blood, a spurt of sanguine mes surged fiercely from the tank.

    ¡°We need more blood! Where¡¯s the person who has gone to get more blood? Why isn¡¯t he back yet?¡± the duke roared.

    A count ran into the hall at this point. The duke¡¯s expression shifted drastically upon seeing him return with empty hands.

    The count¡¯s expression looked lifeless. ¡°The reserve tanks have been tainted with blood poison.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± The old duke couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    He grabbed the count by his cor and lifted him off the ground. He then roared right into the man¡¯s face, ¡°Only a handful of people cane into contact with the reserve ponds, all of them direct descendants. Who poisoned the blood? Which pond was poisoned?¡±

    The count clenched his jaws. ¡°All of them!¡±

    The old duke swayed back, his aura dropping rapidly as he dropped the count on the floor. The count quickly helped the duke up and only then did he notice the wound on the old man¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. He quickly produced a towel and covered the injury, releasing some blood energy in an attempt to close it.

    The old duke was in a state of extreme weakness after losing a lot of essence blood just now. He could hardly even stand. ¡°That means, it¡¯s one of our own who poisoned the blood pond? Why would they do that? How will the Byrne n¡¯s destruction benefit them?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not one of ours,¡± said the count.

    ¡°Oh? Why is that? Exin.¡±

    ¡°Half a month ago, Marquis Bonier from the Perth n came to visit. He said he was nning to build an ancient-style blood pond in his castle and wanted to reference our design. We allowed them to look at the reserve blood pond back then.¡±

    ¡°Perth n? Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely Marquis Bonier himself. You know that his wife is a direct descendant of His Majesty Medanzo. He only asked to see one of the reserve ponds, so we couldn¡¯t refuse.¡±

    The old duke¡¯s expression was serious. His hands trembled as he muttered to himself, ¡°Let¡¯s just hope it¡¯s not him.¡±

    The count didn¡¯t dare respond.

    The duke nced briefly at the depths of the hall. ¡°Take me to the ancient hall! I must contact Her Majesty!¡±

    The count was startled. ¡°The prince is about to wake up soon, do you really need to? Considering the state of your body, you might not seed in contacting Her Majesty.¡±

    ¡°No time to wait for his awakening. I must act immediately and report this matter to the Queen.¡± Seeing that the count was hesitant, the old duke said, ¡°Even if the blood pond is Bonier¡¯s doing, the prince was only supposed to be in light sleep. Why was the primary blood pond not enough?¡±

    The count couldn¡¯t help but shudder at the thought. Prince Howard had just awakened not long ago, so all of his equipment should¡¯ve been well-maintained. Seeing the old duke¡¯s staggering figure, the count had no choice but to help him toward the top floor of the castle.

    Once out of the main hall, they could feel constant explosions and sand dropping from the ceiling. Even the structure itself was swaying. They could see countless giant flying shadows through the window, pouring a steady stream of fire upon them.

    Countless origin bullets and ballistae from the fortress were firing into the night sky as well. From time to time, a burning airship would crash to the ground, but more of them kept flying in.

    All of a sudden, a shadow mmed down from above and forced the old duke back a couple of steps. A steel transport airship had crashed into the corridor, tearing it apart with a loud boom. The cabin doors opened, and a dozen or so elite soldiers rushed toward the old duke.

    ¡°Insolence!¡± The old duke was furious. He pushed away the count who was just about to draw his sword and stepped forward himself.

    These council soldiers were merely at the knight rank. Although superior equipment and techniques allowed them to fight a baron on equal grounds, they were nothing before a duke, even an injured one. The old man could p all knights and viscounts to death.

    The old duke took a step forward, firing several beams of light that wrapped around the council soldiers. The soldiers¡¯ bodies were cut into several segments as these light strips dissipated.

    The old duke passed through their corpses and arrived before the transport. He moved an airship several dozen tons in weight with a single push and opened up a path forward. He walked hastily through the corridor and soon arrived at the top floor.

    The fight here was even more violent. One airship after anothernded on the structure, almost destroying the roofpletely. There was fighting everywhere as the vampire soldiers defended their positions desperately. Seeing that the duke did not need his help to walk, the count simply jumped into battle and started opening up a path for the duke.

    The old duke advanced through the battlefield, running along a rtively silent corridor until he was before the doors of a giant hall. He was shocked to find the doors of the hall half-open.

    He rushed into the hall to find a man and a woman standing beside the altar used tomunicate with the Queen. In his fury and shock, he charged forward and thrust his dagger at the man¡¯s back. However, that person¡¯s figure flickered out of existence and appeared beside the duke, holding his wrists in a firm lock. The old duke never saw clearly just what had happened!

    The old duke struggled with all his might, but his hand wouldn¡¯t budge at all. The other party¡¯s strength was far above his own. Although he was severely weakened from the loss of origin blood, he could tell that he wasn¡¯t a match for this person even in his peak state.

    At this point, the woman turned around. The old duke was startled and quickly filled with joy. ¡°Your Majesty Nighteye!¡±

    Nighteye shot him a nce. ¡°Qianye, release him. This is Duke Rnd, Howard¡¯s direct descendant. He¡¯s the one in charge of the Byrne n¡¯s daily affairs.¡±

    Qianye nodded and set the old duke free. The man¡¯s eyes were filled with fright, fear, and delight as he looked at Qianye. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Qianye... His Highness Qianye.¡±

    How to address Qianye was a rather awkward decision. He clearly wasn¡¯t a great dark monarch, but that attack just now proved that he was far more powerful than an ordinary duke. The old duke had also heard much about the battle in cksun Valley, so it wasn¡¯t excessive to address him like that.

    Nighteye said, ¡°Why has themunication altar been destroyed?¡±

    The old duke was shocked. ¡°What?! This is the most heavily-guarded ce and the council never attacked this ce. How?¡±

    Nighteye moved sideways, making way for the surprised duke to rush to the altar.

    There were several cracks at the base of the stone basin on the control desk. The cracks were small, but they had thoroughly destroyed the arrays in the stone basin.

    This stone basin was the core of themunication apparatus, as well as a device used to test one¡¯s bloodline. It served to absorb blood energy and activate the altar formunication with the Queen. Destroying this stone basin was akin to paralyzing the entire machine. Repairing it wasn¡¯t going to be easy.

    The old duke roared furiously, ¡°Who?! Who did this?!¡±

    The duke¡¯s cries echoed throughout the castle, almost suppressing the explosions and sounds of fighting. The fury didn¡¯t scare the enemies away, however, and only served to draw fire toward him. Several of the council¡¯s experts shook off their vampire opponents and began searching for a path.

    Nighteye said, ¡°Looks like the demonkin¡¯s core strategy is to seal off all information and prevent Lilith from finding out. It¡¯s fine if the apparatus is destroyed, Howard can contact her directly.¡±

    The duke said, ¡°His Highness hasn¡¯t fully recovered. Our reserve blood ponds were tainted with blood poison, so there isn¡¯t enough blood for him to quickly recover. I¡¯ll be heading back since this ce is destroyed, and perhaps try to buy him some time.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Very well then. We have to hurry toward the Perth n.¡±

    With that, he faded away from sight with Nighteye in tow.

    ¡°You...¡± The old duke hadn¡¯t imagined the two would leave without staying to help defend against the enemy. His expression soon changed from shock to calm. ¡°Yeah, why would they stay to help in a fight that¡¯s impossible to win?¡±

    He nced out the window and saw even more airsh.i.p.s roaming the skies. The counterattack from the ground forces, on the other hand, were thinning out. Wherever their transportsnded was where a fierce battle would break out.

    There was no need to keep this passage a secret anymore. The old duke ran down the side of the castle, punching through the roof of a great hallway in his hasty return into the mountain hall. He ordered his men to bring him his full gear and a ss of blood wine. He drew a chair to the main doors of the hall and sat there with his wine, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

    Battles were erupting in every part of the castle, and it looked like they would arrive at the underground hall in less than an hour. All of a sudden, the duke felt the hall grow darker. He rubbed his eyes and peered forward with great effort. Only then did he notice that a ball of darkness had appeared in front of him.

    That was a deep darkness, through which no light could prate or escape. A chill-inducing aura of terror from within caused the duke¡¯s hands to shake involuntarily.

    ¡°Rnd, it has been eighty years since west met. Howe you¡¯ve turned so frail?¡±

    The old duke stood up with an expression of desperation. The golden chalice in his hand fell to the ground, spilling wine everywhere. ¡°Progia! It¡¯s actually you! You guys think so highly of our Byrne n, huh?¡±

 Chapter 1381: The Dark Gospel

    <h4>Chapter 1381: The Dark Gospel</h4>

    ¡°It¡¯s never excessive to take one of the twelve major ns seriously, let alone the fact that the Dark Gospel Howard is here. Even though our spy seeded in stopping him from aplete recovery, a crown prince isn¡¯t someone an ordinary duke can handle. There will be a lot of problems if he escapes. So, it¡¯s best for me toe personally.¡±

    Progia nced into the hall. ¡°Those pawns weren¡¯t bad at all. Who would¡¯ve thought there would be traitors among the vampires, considering how strong their bloodline restraints are?¡±

    The old duke clenched his teeth. ¡°You¡¯ll have to step over my corpse if you want to go in!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that, you¡¯re too weak.¡± Progia swung his hand casually, sending the duke flying into the wall. The old man immediately fell unconscious from the impact. He had lost arge amount of essence blood to awaken Howard, so much so that he couldn¡¯t take a single blow from the great dark monarch.

    Progia entered the great hall, saying, ¡°Howard, are you still noting out?¡±

    The roaring sounds behind the thick doors came to a sudden stop. A dark suppressive force expanded outward to cover the great hall. ¡°Progia?! Are you trying to provoke an all-out war?¡±

    ¡°The war has already begun.¡± A shadowy wave flung the giant door off its hinges and flung it to the side.

    In the inner hall, an ancient coffin stood upright and slowly opened its lid. Howard¡¯s voice erupted from within, ¡°When did the Masefield n be so rampant?¡±

    The darkness surrounding Progia didn¡¯t budge. ¡°That¡¯s something you can take your time pondering on after you return to the river.¡±

    The coffin lid shot toward Progia all of a sudden, but the demonkin split off a mass of ck shadow toward the iing projectile. The coffin lid immediately dissolved into nothingness after sinking into the lid.

    ¡°Spare yourself the trouble. As the Dark Gospel, you should enjoy a certain level of dignity before you return to the River of Blood.¡±

    An old vampire was standing inside the open coffin, still in a sleeping posture with his hands crossed in front of his c.h.e.s.t. His body was dried and shriveled. Although it wasn¡¯t as dried up as a vampire in deep hibernation, he was still a ways off from full recovery. Apparently, Howard hadn¡¯tpleted his recovery process.

    Progiaughed coldly. ¡°It¡¯s said a crowned prince isparable to a great dark monarch in strength. You¡¯ve fought great dark monarchs before as well. I wonder how much strength you have left at the moment?¡±

    Howard opened his eyes and walked out of the coffin, his movements clearly a bit slower than usual. He drew arge sword from behind and raised it high. ¡°Since you people have failed to uphold even the most basic level of dignity, there¡¯s nothing left to say. Her Majesty will not let you off!¡±

    With that, a storm kicked up in the great hall as Howard¡¯s body bulged up. As though he had inted himself, his aura began to rise exponentially as gushing blood energy enveloped his body. He let out a loud cry when his energy reached its peak, firing countless beams of blood energy from the gemstone embedded in the hilt of his sword.

    Progia roared furiously as he condensed numerous dark spears. The weapons burst out in all directions and nailed themselves into the walls.

    Howard¡¯s figure vanished. Soon, the entire hall trembled as he collided into a dark barrier that had formed on the ceiling.

    The barrier was shattered, but the prince also came crashing back down from the impact.

    Outside of the great hall, numerous vampires copsed with blood pouring out of their orifices. It was clear that they would not live long.

    Howard and Progia had engaged in a direct confrontation just now. The shockwaves produced from the sh weren¡¯t something ordinary experts could handle.

    Howard¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°The Forbidden Spear! You¡¯ve even brought out the council¡¯s holy weapon!¡±

    Progia said, ¡°What¡¯s so surprising? Isn¡¯t Awakening Dream in the vampire race¡¯s hands? But all of them will soon belong to His Majesty the Demon King. I think you should save some energy to figure out an escape route.¡±

    Howard¡¯s expression darkened slightly.

    The Forbidden Spear possessed the power to freeze space, the bane of all teleportation abilities. With this holy weapon in hand, Progia had effectively blocked Howard in the mountain hall. The prince would not be able to escape even if he were in his peak state.

    Howard revealed a bitter smile. ¡°Looks like you made ample preparations to kill me.¡±

    ¡°The fall of a crown prince will weaken the vampires for hundreds of years. No price is too great.¡±

    ¡°Very well, let¡¯s fight then! Let¡¯s see how capable the Masefield n lord is!¡±

    Progia nced at his surroundings in a leisurely manner. ¡°This is a pretty good ce for a fight.¡±

    With that, the darkness around him formed a giant palm. The simple act of this hand forming a fist caused the entire castle to tremble, the shockwave turning hundreds of vampires into corpses.

    Sensing all the deaths through his bloodline connection, Progia was infuriated. ¡°Progia! Do you have no dignity left?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the vampires dying anyway, saves me having to clean up.¡± Progiaughed

    Even Castle Midas couldn¡¯t handle a fight of this level. Most of the castle had copsed from the fight. Progia wasn¡¯t holding back as monarchs usually do when they fought on the ground. On the contrary, he was even more reckless than normal.

    The tens of thousands of vampires living and fighting in this ancient castle thus became sacrifices. How could Howard not feel angry?

    Progia was clearly making it difficult for Howard to attack, thereby increasing his chances of victory. This was a shameless tactic, but the vampire prince could do nothing.

    Howard raised his de once more, saying, ¡°The Queen will punish you for your evil!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve said that twice now.¡±

    Howard ignored Progia¡¯s provocation and simply focused on muttering something. Soon, a letter of blood condensed in the air, covered in drifting runes.

    The blood energy appeared and vanished in a sh as the blood letter shot through the walls and into the void. The surrounding ck barrier could do nothing to stop it, almost as though the paper could traverse space itself.

    Howard didn¡¯t seem happy even after he had sent the message, his gaze fixed on Progia.

    The demonkin was exceptionally calm during this process, making no move to interfere. He even voiced his surprise, ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how the blood river letter looks like. It must¡¯ve drained a lot of your blood energy?¡±

    ¡°Why did you not stop me?¡± Although he didn¡¯t believe Progia could¡¯ve stopped this unique ancestralmunication method, Howard couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Progiaughed. ¡°Why should I?¡±

    The speed with which the message traveled through the void wasn¡¯t measurable with the normal concept of speed. It should¡¯ve reached the Queen of the Night by the time they had exchanged a few words. However, his connection with the message was cut off at this point.

    The feedback at that moment allowed him to understand a lot of things. ¡°Medanzo!¡±

    Progiaughed out loud. ¡°With the Lightless Monarch around, you can forget about sending a message to the Queen.¡±

    ¡°Why would he betray the Queen and the race?!¡± Howard was livid.

    He sank his consciousness into the River of Blood, calling out to the other primogenitors to see if any of them was awake. However, the river remained still.

    ¡°That... you¡¯ll have to find a way to ask him after you return to the river.¡±

    Progia formed four long swords of darkness, which shed at Howard at lightning speed.

    The vampire prince lifted his sword with a grunt, deflecting the four des with exquisite swordsmanship. It was just that he would be pushed back ever so slightly with each parry.

    Progia let out a longugh. ¡°This is where you return to the river!¡±

    This time, dozens of swords formed in the air. The next barrage was going to be extremely violent.

    In the blink of an eye, countless swords began attacking Howard at lightning speed. Even someone as strong as the prince seemed to be in despair. He was merely defending to uphold his dignity as a primogenitor, hoping to draw hisst breath inbat.

    It was at this moment that the two heard a crisp sound, the sound of the Forbidden Spear¡¯s domain cracking. Immediately afterward, the dark hall was filled with a dreamy resplendence.

    This radiance was something Progia was highly familiar with. Who would¡¯ve thought it would appear here?

    Awakening Dream!

    It was a contest between two holy weapons, but the Forbidden Spear was not specialized forbat. Add to the fact that Awakening Dream had focused all of its power on one point, it managed to hack open the ck barrier and sh at Progia.

    The demonkin was extremely calm. ¡°Insolence!¡± He condensed his demonic energy into a giant palm that grasped at the sword radiance.

    After all, Progia was the lord of the Masefield n and a great dark monarch. Even though he was splitting off part of his energy to keep the Forbidden Spear active and attacking Howard ferociously, he could still spare the power to block Awakening Dream head-on.

    The giant ck palm was split into two, but the de radiance had also turned into an arrow at the end of its flight. The attack sank into the darkness and was slowly dissolved.

    Progia turned around to find himself reflected in a pair of eyes!

    His image in those blood amber eyes wasn¡¯t just a mass of darkness but his actual form. Progia was shocked. Just like the Eternal me¡¯s fire, the darkness around him was born of his demonic energy. It wasn¡¯t so easy to see through it.

    In those eyes, cracks appeared all over Progia¡¯s reflection, which soon shattered into pieces.

    Progia felt his demonic furnace suffer a heavy blow. The darkness around him scattered all of a sudden, vaguely revealing his outline.

    ¡°Eye of Destruction!¡± Progia¡¯s voice hadn¡¯t even faded away when he felt a chill from the bottom of his being, spreading all over his body.

    This was a sign of mortal peril!

    Progia turned around to see Qianye standing nearby, his luminous wings just merging into Dragonsgrave. Soon, a bullet of extreme heat shot out from the barrel, and a small ck feather flew around it!

    In the blink of an eye, Progia recalled Qianye¡¯s final shot in thetter¡¯sst battle.

    He had fired that shot into the air, but its might left a deep impression on the demonkin. From up close, Progia could tell that this shot wasn¡¯t inferior to an attack from a heavenly monarch. However, he quickly realized that he had still underestimated its power.

    The origin bullet arrived in front of the great dark monarch almost at the same time that he saw it.

    Amidst a thunderous howl, the Forbidden Spears in the vicinity shattered, and the fragments formed a ck wall in front of Progia. The barrier copsed immediately upon contact, barely managing to affect the bullet¡¯s momentum. All of the darkness around Progia immediately swept forward to engulf the iing origin bullet.

    The origin bullet finally exploded in a shower of Venus Dawn This purest form of light and heat immediately evaporated the darkness. That small ck feather emerged from the engulfing energy and drilled into Progia¡¯s body.

    The demonkin monarch let out a muffled groan. He red at Qianye with a pair of eagle eyes, overflowing with killing intent. Being injured by a duke was a great humiliation to him.

    Progia¡¯s breath resounded like thunder. The darkness around him reformed in the span of a single breath, slowly hiding his body once more. However, he had no time to settle the score with Qianye. Awakening Dream and the great sword struck him with neither pause nor mercy.

    Qianye frowned. He hadn¡¯t expected that this shot would only wound the Masefield n lord and not actually deprive him of his fighting power. A great dark monarch was indeed powerful.

    This was the perfect moment to strike at the weakened Progia, but Qianye had no more bullets condensed from Venus Dawn.

    Qianye had no time to think since opportunity would never knock twice. He poured his new chaos origin power into Dragonsgrave, forming a bullet that had never been seen before.

    This bullet possessed no resounding power, nor did it bring about a chill in the eyes of the beholder. All it carried was a strange scent as it tore through the darkness and entered Progia¡¯s body.

    The demonkin was stunned for a split second as the darkness around his body melted away like snow in the sun. His expression shifted drastically in a mixture of shock and fury. Then, with an explosive roar, Progia crashed his way through the mountain and vanished into the mes of war.

 Chapter 1382: The Thirteenth Seal

    <h4>Chapter 1382: The Thirteenth Seal</h4>

    Nighteye made a short introduction, ¡°This is His Highness Howard the Dark Gospel. This is Qianye. I¡¯ll head out to deal with the battle outside.¡±

    Progia had already retreated, but his escape was so fast that the council¡¯s armies were still fighting ferociously. Nighteye¡¯s n was to charge into the central army and finish off the expertsmanding the forces.

    After her departure, things turned a bit awkward as Qianye and Howard were left in the great hall.

    Qianye was in a weakened state after firing two consecutive rounds and forcing Progia away. He leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, looking somewhat drowsy.

    Howard, on the other hand, had been forced to fight a powerful enemy before finishing his awakening procedure. His skeleton-like body was currently unclothed, and the destruction from before had wiped out everything in the vicinity.

    Howard let out a cough. ¡°I couldn¡¯t see through thatst shot. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen that kind of origin power.¡±

    ¡°I was in too much of a rush, I should¡¯ve used a Venus Dawn bullet. It¡¯s a shame I only managed to form one bullet along the way,¡± Qianye replied honestly.

    A great dark monarch¡¯s opening wasn¡¯t easy to grasp. If it wasn¡¯t for the cramped space and Qianye¡¯s Bloodline Concealment, the two shots wouldn¡¯t have gone off so smoothly.

    Howard said pensively, ¡°I didn¡¯t sense how powerful that type of energy was, perhaps because I¡¯ve never seen it before. But judging from Progia¡¯s reaction, the second shot seemed even more powerful than Venus Dawn. This is inconceivable.¡±

    The attacks outside had ceased during the span of this short conversation. After one of the airsh.i.p.s burst into mes and crashed to the ground, the others simply left. The soldiers still fighting on the ground were left to their fate¡ªdeath.

    Nighteye appeared in the hall once more, her clothes torn in many ces and some blood trickling down her neck. However, her vigor was still intact.

    ¡°I drove themander, Grand Duke Philip, away. He probably needs about ten years of recuperation before he can fight again. Your Highness Howard, make arrangements for your nsmen. We should leave soon.¡±

    ¡°Where to?¡±

    ¡°You probably can¡¯t send a second letter in a short while, can you? Themunication apparatus here has been destroyed, and your reserve blood ponds have been poisoned. The castle itself won¡¯t hold much longer, either. The council troops probably won¡¯t return, but we should head over to the Morway n right now. Reynold has fallen, but I want to save his family.¡±

    ¡°Reynold has fallen?!¡± Howard was shocked. He nced at Nighteye¡¯s expression and realized that it was the truth, although he couldn¡¯t sense the passing for some reason.

    Howard didn¡¯t move just yet. He pointed above and said with a wry smile, ¡°If you can sense the River of Blood, you¡¯ll know my condition.¡±

    ¡°River of Blood?¡± Nighteye stood there with her eyes closed, her aura rising sharply until it was an entire rank higher. The quality of her bloodline also rose step by step.

    At the ends of the void, the River of Blood began to surge in response to her calling, slowly unveiling itself once more.

    Nighteye¡¯s aura stopped at the extremes of the grand duke rank; she had traversed oneplete rank right under Howard¡¯s eyes.

    After reaching the grand duke rank, Nighteye¡¯s temperament transformed once again. An abstruse aura gradually arose around her, and her every move was apanied by resounding thunder.

    She gazed at the void. Her vision passed through countless obstructions to arrive on the River of Blood.

    Nighteye¡¯s breakthrough had awakened the River of Blood, dragging it out from a hidden state. It was no longer difficult to sense like before, but all three of them sensed a problem at the same time. Nighteye had awakened the River of Blood, but none of the other vampires could sense it.

    The River of Blood had been asleep for a long time. Habsburg igniting his blood seal was once considered the beginning of the river¡¯s rejuvenation. The river did awaken a couple of times after that for reasons unknown, but even the major characters above the duke rank couldn¡¯t figure out the source. They only knew that someone was breaking through.

    If Qianye were to find out about their puzzlement, he would discover that those times were probably caused by him.

    No one had discussed this issue openly. Even the second-generation primogenitors hadn¡¯t talked about it amongst themselves. The main reason was that this dialogue would touch upon a horrible conjecture. Even if the river was awakening, it had nothing to do with most vampires. The river had been out of reach and unresponsive to them for several millennia. The only exceptions were the primogenitors and extremely powerful experts.

    It was only natural that Nighteye, Howard, and Qianye wouldn¡¯t discuss this matter now.

    Nighteye continued with her advancement.

    Qianye shared a close rtionship with the River of Blood, to begin with. So, he cleared his thoughts and focused all of his attention there.

    This was a good time to observe the river. Its previous re-ups were in response to Qianye¡¯s breakthroughs. Immeasurable amounts of knowledge would descend upon him each time, so much so that he could only try to absorb as much as he could. There was no time to care about anything else.

    Only at this moment could he go upstream and experience the river to its fullest.

    The closer he was to the source, the more difficult it was to proceed. This wasn¡¯t a ce a duke could approach, but Qianye managed to do just that by relying on his connection to the river. Approaching the ce was already his limit.

    Here, Qianye could vaguely sense several sources of energy. Each of them was different, but they were all equally pure.

    This was the true appearance of the seals in the river.

    Qianye was stunned, so much so that he was almost ejected from the river. The seals he could sense here werepletely different from the ones he had seen before.

    Sensing the corresponding energy was the first step toward igniting a blood seal. This wasmon knowledge among vampires, but it was something most vampires could never aplish.

    The twelve major ns possessed bloodlines that gave them an advantage in sensing the corresponding blood seal. This was the root of vampire inheritances. Even with a bolstered bloodline, it would be exponentially difficult to reignite a blood seal once it had been extinguished.

    Qianye sensed eight seals at the source of the river, and some of them were exceptionally distinct. How could he not be surprised? He even felt that his senses were deceiving him. This level of rity meant that he would be able to ignite one of them after sufficient .u.mtion.

    And throughout history, it would seem a blood seal could only be ignited by one person at any time. If Qianye were to ignite one, wouldn¡¯t he be depriving one of the old ns of a crown prince? What would he be if he could .u.mte sufficient power to ignite two seals? A double-crowned expert?

    This was so surprising that Qianye had to reconfirm the situation several times. Although whether or not he could ignite a seal was a matter for the future, he wasn¡¯t about to give up on this opportunity to observe the river¡¯s source. Every seal represented a different path of origin power. Simply studying theirws would bring him great benefits.

    Qianye matched these seals against the information avable to him. He quickly identified eight seals, five of which were publicly known as extinguished.

    The other two, however, were rather surprising. One of them belonged to a vampire who had been asleep for six hundred years, the Death Penance Moray. Could it be that he had passed and news of his continued hibernation was fake?

    The other one was the thorns and castle seal of the Lightless Monarch Medanzo. The man was still alive, so why did Qianye sense his seal?

    Puzzled, Qianye observed the final seal. This one was much weaker to his perception than the others and barely discernible. He might not have sensed it if it wasn¡¯t for an invisible connection between him and the seal.

    Qianye found, to his surprise, that this seal actually didn¡¯t belong to any n in his knowledge.

    A thirteenth seal?

    Qianye observed it repeatedly and finally confirmed that this seal waspletely new. There were no records of it at all.

    It was at this time that the River of Blood began to recede into the void. That mysterious connection between Qianye and the seal was also cut off.

    Nighteye nced at Howard. ¡°Your blood seal has been extinguished?¡±

    Howardughed wryly. ¡°I had a bad feeling, so I woke up a while ago to confirm the situation. Now that I was rushed awake, it¡¯s only a matter of time before it¡¯spletely extinguished.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°I saw you send Lilith a letter, did Medanzo really intercept it?¡±

    ¡°Medanzo! Who else can it be?!¡± Howard couldn¡¯t help but gnash his teeth at the mention of this name.

    ¡°Medanzo...¡± There was no change in Nighteye¡¯s expression, but Qianye knew this information woulde as a shock to her.

    Dawn gradually arrived in the blink of an eye.

    Qianye, Nighteye, and Howard stood atop the mountain, looking down at the ancient castle.

    At the base of the mountain, a dozen or so raging mes could be seen burning in the clearing. A steady stream of people was moving back and forth, tossing corpses into the ze. There were council soldiers among them, but most of them were vampires.

    There were fires in many parts of the ancient castle. Some of the mes ignited by special methods hadn¡¯t been extinguished just yet. Qianye observed the entire stronghold from where he stood. Even without looking, he could tell just how fierce some of the battles here had been.

    Howard was rtively active, so Castle Midas had thrived for over a thousand years. Close to a hundred thousand vampires lived in and around the ancient castle. It was truly an ancient city.

    The rise of humans sufficiently demonstrated to the dark races that ordinary civilians were the foundation of civilization. Although there was a fundamental difference in the way Daybreak and Evernight inherited their power, it was only after the Empire¡¯s establishment that every race began to attach more importance to ordinary civilians.

    Just like how Nighteye had awakened as a primo from a fairly distant branch family, she would never have been taken seriously during ancient times. The vampires and demonkin were the most progressive in this regard, and the werewolves were the most stubborn. As for the arachne, they were still trapped in the method of multiplication.

    The council soldiers who had been airdropped into the castle naturally killed all vampires on sight¡ªyoung, old,moners, and soldiers. Hence, scenes of a civilian massacre took ce under the illumination of raging mes.

    The mes of war had never broken out in the core ancestralnds in a millennium. Even the holy war wouldn¡¯t extend to the n castles. The civilians here werepletely inexperienced, so they weren¡¯t a match for those well-armed elites.

 Chapter 1383: This Isnâ€™t War

    <h4>Chapter 1383: This Isn¡¯t War</h4>

    Howard was now d in a hood which kept his appearance hidden. No one could see his expression.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a war! This is genocide!¡± Howard roared.

    The corpses being tossed into the mes included children and even infants. The council soldiers ughtered every vampire they ran into. Progia picked the ancient castle as their final battleground with the intention of wiping out the Byrne n. He didn¡¯t even mind killing some of his men in the process.

    The demonkin had no intention of leaving survivors in this battle and were intent on permanently wiping the Byrne n out.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye and Nighteye, Howard would¡¯ve fallen and the beleaguered n would¡¯ve been exterminated.

    Nighteye said, ¡°There are a lot of traitors in your n. You might need some time to deal with them.¡±

    These traitors were the reason the coffin didn¡¯t get sufficient blood supply, why the reserve ponds were poisoned, and why Howard couldn¡¯t wake up in time. Without them, themunication equipment wouldn¡¯t have been destroyed, and the Queen would¡¯ve been notified of this treachery.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t have enough information to judge the situation when the council attacked the Mueller Castle, but things were no longer the same now. Progia¡¯s assault on the Byrne n¡¯s castle had crossed the bottomline of the holy war. Only in ancient times would wars progress to such a degree.

    Howard seemed to have aged hundreds of years in an instant. He said in exhaustion, ¡°No need. If they are still alive, they probably understand by now that the demonkin never had any ns to let them live. Instead of wasting time on capturing them, I feel that I should think about why there are so many traitors.¡±

    The sun had once again cast its rays upon the Twilight Continent. The lingering clouds in the sky softened the harsh rays of the sun as it showered down onto the vastnd.

    Castle Midas was growing farther and farther away, but the rolling smoke remained just as eye-catching from afar. Howard paused briefly as he stepped through the mountains and couldn¡¯t help but nce back at his home. He then increased his speed until he was just behind Nighteye and Qianye.

    ...

    Habsburg walked into the City of Eimer, but he didn¡¯t even spare its weathered walls a single nce.

    Walking through the old sand-colored streets, he sensed thews of the world were different here. This was a characteristic of all semi-dimensions and minor realms.

    Habsburg might be an extremely young prince, but he wasn¡¯tcking in experience. The change in surroundingws didn¡¯t affect him at all; he even had the leisure to size up this battle city.

    This city was constructed in a ssic Apennine style, with a small za behind the city gates. It was originally designed for travelers to park their carts, but now, it was fully upied by a flounder-shaped airship.

    The shape of this airship was rather odd, but it looked sleek and streamlined. The outer frame waspletely sealed, and even the exhaust wasn¡¯t visible. Theck of weapons made it seem like a civilian airship.

    Habsburg narrowed his eyes. This was the legendary void colossus, Golden Flounder. However, it was hard to tell whether this airship was an imitation or if it was constructed from the creature¡¯s skeleton.

    There were two grand dukes standing at the base of the gangway. Habsburg recognized one of them as Duke George of the Dark Abyss. The arachne duke was a woman, someone Habsburg had never heard of.

    The two bowed in salutation upon seeing him. Habsburg was expressionless as he returned the gesture, but inside, he was puzzled as to why they were so respectful.

    After George finished greeting Habsburg, the arachne duke introduced herself as Melina. She was one of the vice-captains of the Crystal Spider Corps, which served as the Royal Guard to the Spider Queen.

    Habsburg wasn¡¯t all that surprised when he saw the council¡¯s observer in the cabin¡ªPredica of the Dark Nightmare. The two greeted one another amicably.

    Soon afterward, the two dukes presented a simple report on the situation.

    Habsburg sensed something when he heard that Duke Doer was the one overseeing the vanguard unit. The lineup of experts here wasn¡¯t weak at all. It was easily enough for war even without a great dark monarch or the City of Eimer.

    The council chairman¡¯sment about their limited forces was likely because they hadn¡¯t brought any cannon fodder at all. Habsburg observed the report and noticed that his mission was quite ordinary. What was not ordinary was the Demon King personally asking him to perform his council duties.

    Predica nodded after listening to the reports. He turned to Habsburg and said, ¡°The semi-dimension will jump after fifteen minutes. Do you want to take a look around the city?¡±

    Habsburg shook his head. ¡°No need.¡± He leaned back into the chairfortably. Although it wasn¡¯t so bad that one would consider him rude, it definitely wasn¡¯t the most appropriate action for a half-formal setting like this one.

    Predica shot him a nce before turning back to discuss some matters with the two dukes. Thetter then left after a while.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t want to observe how the City of Eimer is controlled and operated?¡±

    Now that only the two of them were left, Habsburg leaned his head against the backrest and closed his eyes. ¡°The chairman said I¡¯ll have full control, right?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be inmand when the timees.¡±

    Predica didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He then noticed the man¡¯s undisguised tiredness and couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit worried. ¡°Has your wound from the new world healed yet?¡±

    ¡°The injury is fine now, I just feel tired.¡±

    Predica went silent for a while. He knew that Habsburg had been summoned in advance to the nearby Ci Ind. There, he worked as the chairman¡¯s assistant in managing the great number of troops from the new world.

    That ce was called thend of vestige, not an easy ce to stay in.

    The Eternal Hall and its attached inds were located fairly close to the top of this world. The origin power, the pressure from the void, and the effects of the Sacred Mountain made it almost impossible for those below count rank to live normally.

    Habsburg had remained there for three days without taking a single step outside. Someone of his rank shouldn¡¯t have been adversely affected, but the injuries he had sustained in the forests of the new world had yet to heal.

    After a moment of silence, Predica discovered that Habsburg¡¯s breathing had calmed down and his aura weakened. Thetter had actually fallen asleep.

    Predica was stunned for a while, but he ended up smiling wryly. Should he consider this as Habsburg¡¯s trust in him? Or should he take this as a form of protest and neglect? Predica¡¯s figure faded away from the room, leaving space for the vampire prince to be alone.

    Momentster, the entire City of Eimer trembled briefly as it went into a spatial jump.

    Dozens of dark race airsh.i.p.s were hovering silently in the void outside of Fire Beacon Continent.

    The gship of the fleet was a duke-grade vessel, and its external appearance proved that the duke was a werewolf. Half of the other warsh.i.p.s sported an insignia depicting crossed swords stained in blood, a sign of the council¡¯s direct subordinate forces. The other half contained sh.i.p.s of various styles and were likely a coalition of different races.

    In the gship, the Werewolf Duke Doer was performing maintenance on arge-bore firearm. He seemed rather calm, almost as though he wasn¡¯t on a battlefield and rather enjoying some rare free time.

    A knock came from the door as an aide walked into the room. He didn¡¯t pass Doer the doc.u.ments but began reading them out loud as usual.

    The werewolf duke listened quietly while the aide went on with the recital until all the doc.u.ments had been reported.

    Doer nodded. ¡°Not bad. They did quite a good job this time.¡±

    The aide, a werewolf count, added, ¡°There are no proper experts in the two provinces. Johnny¡¯s group should just go back home if they can¡¯t even get this done right! Sire, the Zhao n¡¯s Serenity pass is too close forfort. Shall we set up a defensive line there, lest they interfere?¡±

    Doer nced at the origin sun-dial on the table. ¡°No need, just proceed as nned. Pull back the troops at the appointed time, no matter what the oue of the battle is. Remember mymand, pull everyone back. The lords should be arriving in about fifteen minutes.¡±

    The werewolf count didn¡¯t understand the reasoning behind themands, but he knew well enough to obey. He repeated the orders loudly and left the room after Doer¡¯s nod.

    The werewolf duke lowered his head and went on with his gun-cleaning.

    In one of the vampire-styled airsh.i.p.s in the periphery, the first mate¡¯s room. A vampire marquis was reading a sheepskin book in a manner even more rxed than Doer.

    He suddenly looked up to see a person in the room. There was no telling when or how he had appeared.

    Marquis Leonard was shocked, but he didn¡¯t make any unusual movements. He straightened his body and stood up with great agility, bowing deeply at the projection before him.

    Leonard then produced an item made of crystal and blood, which released a sound-istion array.

    Habsburg nodded in satisfaction. ¡°Anything new in the n?¡±

    Leonard said, ¡°We were drafted to the cksun Swordbearer¡¯s base the day after you left with the chairman.¡±

    After some thought, Habsburg asked an unrted question, ¡°Have you seen the holy river during cultivation recently?¡±

    Leonard replied truthfully, ¡°No, apart from that one time where the river appeared during the advancement of a certain powerhouse. I can see its shadow when I¡¯m around you, but I was never able to touch it or elicit a response.¡±

    Habsburg nodded. ¡°Leave the squad during ground operations, don¡¯t go back to any vampire continent. Find a ce to lie low.¡±

    Leonard¡¯s expression shifted visibly, but he didn¡¯t ask extra questions. ¡°Will you not go with me?¡±

    Habsburg said after a mary daze, ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You are just like me, you don¡¯t belong there.¡±

    ¡°But they are Samael¡¯s descendants.¡± Habsburg gazed at the pouting young vampire with a gentle expression. He was quite obstinate and childish, just as he was when Habsburg picked him up back in the year.

    Leonard asked, ¡°Is it the council? Or have the demonkin learned about the Lost Paradise incident?¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°Forget this matterpletely. It has nothing to do with you.¡±

    Leonard went quiet once again. Only after a while did he say, ¡°Very well, Father. I will do as you wish.¡± He then went down on one knee before Habsburg, almost as though he were performing a final salutation.

    Habsburg ran his fingers through the young man¡¯s hair, sighing gently as he did so. The prince¡¯s figure faded away, leaving Leonard in a daze as he stared at the drop of origin blood in his palm.

 Chapter 1384: True Betrayal

    <h4>Chapter 1384: True Betrayal</h4>

    On Twilight Continent, Qianye, Nighteye, and Howard were running forward at full speed.

    Howard sighed as he muttered, ¡°Castle Midas isn¡¯t my first castle, but it¡¯s one that I built with my own two hands. The Empire and humans didn¡¯t even exist when I settled there. Who would¡¯ve thought my home of a thousand years would be destroyed just like that.¡±

    After running for half a day, Howard¡¯s breathing was a bit strained. He looked up at the sky, saying, ¡°My connection with the blood seal is growing weaker by the day. Are you two sure you want to bring along a useless old man like me?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°There¡¯s only one Dark Gospel, the Byrne n won¡¯t die as long as you¡¯re around.¡±

    Howard took a short break to catch his breath. ¡°Very well, you¡¯ve convinced me.¡±

    To any of the major ns, their earliest primogenitor was the source of all power. A living primogenitor or a great dark monarch was everything to the family. It could be said that the Dark Gospel was more important than any of his nsmen at the moment. This was the vampire race¡¯s traditional standard.

    Seeing that Howard wasgging behind, Qianye slowed down a bit and reached out to him.

    Howard was a bit hesitant at first, but he soon broke into a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯m already a useless old man. There¡¯s no need to overthink things at this point!"

    He grabbed Qianye¡¯s arm and felt a wave of energy enter his body, sharply increasing his speed. Nighteye also sped up ordingly, gliding across the mountains and rivers at great speed. Only then did Howard realize that the duo had been holding back without going at their top speed.

    ¡°You two don¡¯t look like dukes at all.¡± He sighed emotionally.

    By dusk, the trio had finally reached Castle Fritz... or what was left of it.

    This stronghold was one of the Morway n¡¯s two biggest castles on Twilight Continent. The lord, Van Cleef, was an earnest vice-duke. He never managed to awaken the ancestral bloodline, but he was a gentle and helpful person who was well-liked in the race.

    With the Azure King in deep slumber for several hundred years, the Morway n was also heading toward decline. There was nock of dukes in the n, yet Van Cleef was ced in charge of one of their most important strongholds. This only proved how important he was.

    Howard¡¯s Castle might¡¯vested a couple more days if the lord of the Masefield n hadn¡¯t appeared. There were no signs of a great dark monarch¡¯s appearance here, yet it seemed they didn¡¯t evenst a single day.

    Some figures could be seen flickering cautiously through the rubble, but none of them could escape Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s notice.

    ¡°The demonkin. Looks like they stayed behind to capture vampire scouts and messengers,¡± Nighteye said.

    Qianye pointed into the distance. ¡°Their camp is there, in that half-copsed building. I¡¯ll go.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered away. A field of scarlet gold erupted from the building as it slowly copsed.

    Several demonkin tried to fly out of the domain, but they fell helplessly after flying ten meters or so. All buildings within were reduced to nothingness, forming a sharp contrast against the intact ones outside.

    Howard¡¯s brows twitched. ¡°Such a powerful domain!¡±

    The daybreak origin power inside Qianye¡¯s domain was so powerful that even the prince found it dazzling. The former¡¯s Venus Dawn domain was immensely damaging to the dark races.

    Qianye retracted his domain after a while and gestured toward the two, who promptly flew over.

    There were copsed demonkin strewn across the ruins, dozens of them in fact. Only the two counts among them were barely sitting, and a single marquis was still able to stand.

    All of them gazed at Qianye with eyes full of terror. As the children of darkness, that Venus Dawn domain was something they did not want to experience ever again.

    ¡°Where is Duke Van Cleef?¡± Howard got straight to the point.

    The marquis sneered, ¡°You lingering vampire remnants, how much longer do you think you can escape your fate? You can forget about getting anything out of me.¡±

    Howard wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°Then you will know very soon why they call me the Dark Gospel.¡±

    Momentster, a mournful scream echoed through the sky.

    ¡°How¡¯s that? Feel like talking now?¡± Howard never moved from where he was standing, but that marquis had copsed to the ground, spasming and frothing.

    The marquis screamed again after hearing Howard¡¯s voice, edging backward in terror as he did so.

    With a wave of Howard¡¯s hands, a cold wave of blood energy bore down upon the marquis and silenced him.

    This time, the marquis was no longer stubborn. ¡°Van Cleef isn¡¯t dead yet. He surrendered at thest moment and is being held at Marquis Eir¡¯s castle. They¡¯ll be transferred to the demonkin continents after two day¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°Eir, thest time I saw him, he was just a child. He¡¯s already a marquis now? Who would¡¯ve thought even he has joined the demonkin.¡± After a moment of deep emotions, Howard said, ¡°We¡¯ve already seen the war. I think we need to find out the reason for it and why so many have submitted to the demonkin.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s out of fear. Three werewolf and vampire marquises surrendered to me back in cksun Valley. There are even more on Fort Continent.¡±

    Howard shook his head. ¡°Long-lived races fear death, but that doesn¡¯t apply to everyone. Besides, your real identity on the battlefield is a third party. This subtle difference leaves ample room for surrender and ransom. These traitors are different. I know some of these fellows quite well, they are fairly opinionated and dependable, not the type to bow to threats. That¡¯s why we should figure out what made them follow the demonkin, going so far as to betray the Queen of the Night and the river.¡±

    Qianye nodded pensively. Few things could really attract a member of the long-lived races, especially those who had no fear of death. It had to be either authority or strength. As for faith, there wasn¡¯t much to discuss. The River of Blood was their religion. If they could even abandon the river, what faith would they have left?

    After listening to Howard¡¯s thoughts, Qianye felt that the reason behind all of this was indeed a critical factor. He regretted killing Lynch too quickly without questioning him further. Back then, the two didn¡¯t think voluntary submission was a possibility.

    Lynch was no longer there, but Eir would also be a good candidate. It was just that Van Cleef had already surrendered. Was there any value in saving him? Qianye cast a questioning nce toward Nighteye.

    Thetter thought about it for a while. ¡°Reynold doesn¡¯t have any more direct descendants. Van Cleef is his sister¡¯s descendant and his closest rtive. Let¡¯s go take a look no matter the case.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye nodded.

    ...

    Zhao n territory.

    Serene Pass was the foremost line of defense at the junction of three territories belonging to the Empire, the rebels, and the dark races.

    Dark clouds of war were .u.mting in this majestic stronghold.

    At noon, the Zhao n¡¯s defensive systems discovered a duke-grade airship fleet over the rebel provinces of Serene South and Deste North. Some of these vessels had the Evernight Council¡¯s insignia on them.

    From a perspective of airspace safety, that fleet wasn¡¯t close enough to threaten the Empire, but it was not too far off.

    The Imperial forces went on high alert. Although the movements were kept secret, all family heads and officers above the lieutenant general rank were on standby. Lieutenant General Zhao Ruqin, themander of Serene Pass, was also among them.

    The man was adept in defensive warfare and strategy.

    There have been reports of instability and infighting among the dark races, but Zhao Ruqin didn¡¯t just ignore the matter. He personally boarded an airship to patrol the void.

    After returning to the ground, he immediately dispatched a messenger back to the Zhao n.

    The Zhao n reacted quickly. An hourter, a high-speed airship arrived with Zhao Jundu on board.

    Zhao Ruqin was surprised to see Zhao Jundu. He had heard that thetter was recuperating at the Imperial Capital. Who would¡¯ve thought he had returned to the Western Continent?

    Zhao Ruqin stepped forward to wee the guest. ¡°Wee, Fourth Young Master. Have your injuries healed?¡±

    Zhao Jundu returned the gesture, saying, ¡°Northridge Monarch is at the main branch. We were just talking about an abnormal fluctuation in the void when your letter arrived. That¡¯s how I ended uping to take a look.¡±

    ¡°Unknown fluctuation?¡± Zhao Ruqin was stunned. How powerful was a heavenly monarch¡¯s perception? Yet even he couldn¡¯t figure out the source.

    Zhao Jundu followed Zhao Ruqin onto the city wall. From the corner of the ramparts, they could see the distant Serene South City. ¡°Have you informed the men?¡±

    Zhao Ruqin was just about to reply when two Imperial airsh.i.p.s arrived at great speed. Without waiting for the vessel tond, two figures jumped out from the airship and flew toward the wall.

    One of them was a handsome young man. He was the vicemander of the western theater, Zhao Junhong.

    This time, Zhao Ruqin didn¡¯t need to exin things anymore. Zhao Jundu exchanged greetings with Zhao Junhong and cast his gaze at the second person. The other party was also d in an Imperial uniform; only the badge was different.

    Zhao Jundu found him somewhat familiar but couldn¡¯t remember the name. Seeing this, Zhao Junhong made some introductions, ¡°This is Major General Lin Wu, the current supervisor of the Northern Legion.¡±

 Chapter 1385: Vibrations in The Void

    <h4>Chapter 1385: Vibrations in The Void</h4>

    He was also themander of the military police. At least in name, the Northern Legion was the private army of a duke. Appointing such a person to supervise the unit was rather inappropriate, and a divine champion to boot.

    Although Zhao Jundu introduced this person as Lin Wu, what Zhao Jundu recalled was his status. Not long ago, he was still cab inspector Fang Qingkong. The Northern Legion and Fang Qingkong used to be old subordinates of Lin Xitang, so there was definitely a connection there. Zhao Jundu decided against further questions after recalling this.

    Both Zhao Jundu and Lin Wu looked calm and collected as they exchanged formalities.

    The Zhao n, the military, and the Northern Legion were the top three military powers on the Western Continent. Now that all the yers were here, Zhao Ruqin briefly summarized all the intelligence reports for them.

    Judging from the present circ.u.mstances, the foreign dark race fleet was targeting the rebel provinces. There were also reports that they had invested ground forces as well. Only two hours had passed since the onset, so they hadn¡¯t received news about the actual situation on the ground.

    The Empire simply couldn¡¯t understand the purpose of this operation.

    Although the rebel provinces were officially at war with both the Empire and Evernight, they were actually involved in far fewer armed conflicts between the two factions. Comparatively, they were more involved in shady trades.

    Serene South and Deste North produced very little natural resources; their wealth came from factional smuggling. The rebel provinces didn¡¯t have any divine champion rank expert holding the fort. Themander of their White Heron Corps was reportedly at the threshold of the divine champion realm.

    Hence, there was little meaning in the Evernight Council¡¯s attack. The dark races should be very clear that the Empire wouldn¡¯t sit by and watch them swallow the two provinces.

    After Zhao Ruqin¡¯s report, Zhao Junhong said thoughtfully, ¡°That fleet consists solely of warsh.i.p.s, without any transports. That means their troop strength should not exceed twenty thousand.¡±

    Zhao Ruqin nodded. ¡°Yes, their deployed ground forces number around ten thousand.¡±

    ¡°No matter the quality of their troops, these numbers aren¡¯t nearly enough to upy two provinces,¡± Zhao Junhong said after some thought, ¡°a beheading operation is quite suitable.¡±

    Zhao Ruqin was a bit puzzled. ¡°Whose head are we cutting off? The rebels? There has been no report of the dark races sending out their forces. Who is our target?¡±

    It was at this moment that a smallmotion arose outside, and someone ran over with heavy footsteps.

    That person huffed and puffed, shouting, ¡°General, please help Serene South! The dark races are ughtering entire cities over there!¡±

    Zhao Ruqin was shocked. He nced over at his subordinate and the vice-captain of the city guard, Qi Ming. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Where are our scouts? Tell them to report to us immediately.¡±

    Qi Ming paused. ¡°The scouts haven¡¯t returned.¡±

    Lin Wu said in a sinister tone, ¡°The Zhao n is indeed full of capable people. News reaches the defensive positions even faster than the dispatched spies.¡±

    Zhao Jundu and Zhao Jundu turned to Lin Wu.

    As an inspector, Lin Wu was notorious for being harsh, but it was also a proven fact that he never made things up or spoke without thinking. Saying such a thing now probably involved a deeper meaning.

    Zhao Ruqin wasn¡¯t in the mood to solve riddles. His subordinate had charged through the defensive perimeter in the presence of the Zhao siblings, only to make this random report. This mistake would be his to bear, so he couldn¡¯t help but ask angrily, ¡°Where did you get this information?¡±

    Qi Ming mumbled, ¡°Some people escaped from Serene South and have arrived here.¡±

    Zhao Ruqin frowned. There were too many problems behind this reply, but this wasn¡¯t the right time to bicker with the man. All he could do was give the most direct order, ¡°Summon them!¡±

    Qi Ming immediately ran down the building.

    Lin Wu spoke at this point, ¡°General Zhao, you know that the times are special. You should be more cautious about the defenses, don¡¯t let them trick you into opening the gates.¡±

    Zhao Ruqin was angry, but he had nothing to say. There was really an incident where the rebels had helped the dark races attack the Zhao n by pretending to be refugees. It was just that such a scheme wouldn¡¯t work so well in a ce like Serene Pass, where there were powerful experts.

    Zhao Jundu and Zhao Junhong said nothing besides exchanging a few nces. The two of them could sense some faint hostility from Lin Wu¡ªit was as though he knew some secrets¡ªthose that could harm the Zhao n.

    Qi Ming returned swiftly, bringing with him a panicked middle-aged man.

    After questioning him, they learned that he was a trader who happened to be delivering some goods to White Heron Corps¡¯ city of Fucheng. There, he ran into the dark races ughtering the entire city.

    The trader couldn¡¯t recount the details because he turned and fled from the city gates. He was fortunate enough to have used a small airship to transport his goods. There was no way he would¡¯ve escaped otherwise.

    His message confirmed a few points. Firstly, the city gates were open, which meant that the battle had broken out before they could prepare. Second, the White Heron Corps had been devoured by mes. Third, the dark race soldiers were killing indiscriminately on the streets. The citizens there were mostly mixed-breeds who looked more like dark race members, but the soldiers did not care. Fourth, he saw signs of fighting in several other cities on his way to Serene Pass.

    Everyone was surprised.

    Zhao Ruqin waved his hand, gesturing for Qi Ming to take the man away. Thetter only apanied the merchant to the stairs before returning to the room, seeking permission to do battle.

    Zhao Ruqin frowned deeply. This matter wasn¡¯t so simple¡ªnot to mention this message from the merchant was a one-sided story, the Zhao n would have to think carefully even if he were speaking theplete truth.

    Marching bynd would draw fire from the rebel cities along the way. Going by air would put them within range of the duke-grade fleet in the void. They would have to be prepared for a major battle.

    Qi Ming was clearly anxious. He could recognize the Zhao siblings, and he could also tell from Lin Wu¡¯s clothing that he was a general. He didn¡¯t dare speak loudly after the initial burst of recklessness. All he could do was try to convince Zhao Ruqin quietly.

    Thetter cut him short, ¡°Go and see if our scouts have returned.¡± They could not rely on a single merchant¡¯s words for such an important matter.

    Qi Ming wanted to say something, but Lin Wu suddenly jumped down from the city wall and returned with the merchant from before.

    Without so much as a word, he cut open the merchant¡¯s shirt and revealed the bluish-white flexible armor within.

    This was an inner armor characteristic of elite soldiers, and the color happened to match the White Heron Corps. Apparently, things were so urgent that he had no time to change his inner armor.

    The man began to tremble in fear. Qi Ming¡¯s expression also shifted drastically.

    Zhao Ruqin¡¯s expression turned dark as he red at the man.

    It was clear that this merchant and Qi Ming were acquaintances. How else could a stranger visiting Serene Pass for the first time meet the vice-captain of the guard and even convince him of his story? No one pointed that out because both the Empire and rebels were humans. Despite the state of war, the two sides weren¡¯t without contact.

    As vice-captain of the guard, however, it made a big difference whether his friend was a member of the rebel army or an ordinary merchant.

    Knowing that he could no longer hide the truth, Qi Ming exined urgently that this person was actually the White Heron Corps¡¯ logistics officer and that everything he said was true except for his identity.

    Zhao Ruqin summoned the guards and ordered them to take the logistics officer into custody. Before they could deal with Qi Ming, however, everyone nced toward a certain direction at the same time¡ªthey seemed to have sensed something.

    Even from this distance, they could see something akin to a curtain in the sky being lifted by a giant hand. And from this space emerged a city in the sky!

    Those with a greater visual range like Zhao Jundu and Lin Wu could even see the silhouettes of dark race soldiers within. The little dots in the sky above the city were actually warsh.i.p.s.

    The monitoring sentries sent an urgent report at this point, saying that the duke-grade fleet had descended into the airspace of Serene South.

    Zhao Ruqin eximed in shock, ¡°What is that thing?¡±

    Qi Ming cried out, ¡°General, look! I told you, this is an invasion!¡±

    Lin Wu said, ¡°Even if it¡¯s an invasion, it¡¯s an invasion of Serene South. What does that have to do with you?¡±

    Qi Ming turned around with bloodshot eyes, no longer caring what major character Lin Wu was. ¡°Those in Serene South are also humans!¡±

    Lin Wu said coldly, ¡°They¡¯re humans, yes, but why must the Empire fight for them if they¡¯re not part of the Empire?¡±

    Zhao Jundu and Zhao Junhong frowned. Lin Wu¡¯s words were a clear trap, and Qi Ming was already jumping into it.

    Before anyone could stop him, Qi Ming tightened his fists. ¡°Even if they are rebels, there are a lot of civilians too!¡±

    Lin Wu¡¯s expression was indifferent as he sized the man up. ¡°I¡¯m guessing your family is there?¡±

    Even Zhao Qinru, who had been unresponsive all this time, realized that things weren¡¯t going well.

    As expected, Qi Ming said, ¡°Correct, my wife is in Fucheng and she just gave birth to a son three months ago. War is war, but the women and children are innocent. As humans, we should be helping one another against the Evernight!¡±

    At the same time that Lin Wu let out a soft chuckle, Zhao Ruqin knocked Qi Ming out and asked the men to drag him away.

    Lin Wu said calmly, ¡°There are quite a few people exchanging information between the two sides, but I really wonder why he would put his family there.¡±

    Zhao Ruqin had nothing to say at this point. Zhao Junhong cleared his throat and said, ¡°Commander Lin might be in the capital most of the time, but you seem to know a lot about the Western Continent.¡±

    Lin Wu said, ¡°Rumors that Marshal Lin wasn¡¯t dead yet spread from Fucheng of Serene South. It spread through the Swallow West Province in a single day, reaching the Imperial capital by the second. The news had reached Victory Hall by midnight and even to the city of Revtion. I finally know where this efficiencyes from.¡±

    Lin Wu¡¯s words were so direct that there was no way to feign ignorance. Even Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t help but look distressed and Zhao Ruqin wanted nothing more than to be deaf at this point.

    Only Zhao Jundu looked the man in the eye. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely give Commander Lin an exnation about this.¡±

    He pointed at the floating city in the distance. ¡°That flying fortress looks like the semi-dimensional weapon we have in our records. What are your thoughts on that?¡±

    Lin Wu said, ¡°Northridge Monarch said he sensed a vibration in the void; that must¡¯vee from the floating city¡¯s spatial jump.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said with a frown, ¡°Does this mean only heavenly monarchs can sense it?¡±

    Lin Wu said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. There¡¯s no guarantee that our current surveince technology can detect it reliably. There is no moment of calm in the void, and the vibrations could be from void tempests, star trails, or prismatic turbulence.¡±

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go and take a look.¡±

    Lin Wu said, ¡°You¡¯d best not. Our records say that this weapon¡¯s range can cover an entire province, and it¡¯s capable of destroying allnd structures. Now that it has appeared after a thousand years of dormancy, I have a feeling it¡¯s not just to intimidate us. They¡¯re going to fire it. Let¡¯s observe the situation before doing anything.¡±

    Zhao Jundu repeated, ¡°Destroy allnd structures.¡±

    Everyone was silent. They could tell what this meant if the records weren¡¯t exaggerated.

    Lin Wu said, ¡°ording to the Empire¡¯s weaponry ssification, this is at least a heavenly monarch grade weapon. However, we shouldn¡¯t ask the Elder Prince before we get some data at least.

    The silence this time was even longer. No one dared to mention anything about helping Serene South. Regardless of whether the rebels were setting up a trap for the Empire or if they were purely victims, the sole purpose of grey zones¡ªas far as the Empire was concerned¡ªwas to serve as buffer zones. To be blunt, it was also to .u.mte data about the new weapon.

    A sudden voice descended from above, ¡°The Old Prince will oversee Evesting City.¡±

    A figure slowlynded before the group, a man wearing a marshal¡¯s uniform with no insignia whatsoever. Apart from the ramrod-straight posture of a soldier, there was no special characteristic about him.

 Chapter 1386: Eimerâ€™s Attack

    <h4>Chapter 1386: Eimer¡¯s Attack</h4>

    Zhao Jundu and Lin Wu were the first to recognize this person. They bowed deeply, saying, ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    Zhao Junhong and Zhao Ruqin followed suit, suppressing the shock and awe on their faces.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°No need for formalities on the battlefield. I¡¯ve already checked the situation on the other side, and I¡¯ve alsomunicated with Northridge Monarch. ce the entire realm on level onebat readiness.¡±

    Everyone turned serious. Zhao Ruqin immediately jumped off the city gates and began issuing a series of orders.

    That monstrosity on the other side might be able to traverse space, but the Empire¡¯s interior territories possessed all kinds of anti-air defenses. Even ordinary warsh.i.p.s would rarely enter enemy airspace without proper reconnaissance, let alone their superweapon. This ced Serene Pass at the top of the ces at risk.

    All of a sudden, everyone felt their consciousness shake. It was hard to tell whether the entire world was trembling or if they were feeling dizzy.

    The flying city in the distance was shrouded in a hazy light. It seemed translucent at this point and somewhat surreal, almost like the work of a master sculptor.

    The vast space below it was upied by an entire province, an area ordinary experts couldn¡¯t hope to cover with their eyesight. Currently, thisnd was being lifted, folded, and crushed by a giant, invisible hand.

    This feeling of distorted spacested mere minutes, but it left a shocking impression on all beholders. All the soldiers watching this scene were petrified; only certain experts returned to their senses after a while.

    The Serene South looked strangely spacious now. Only after a long while did people realize that they were looking at an endless in with nothing on it. At the end of their vision was the horizon because the entire province had disappeared.

    Perhaps the Radiant Emperor, Zhao Jundu, and Lin Wu were the only ones unaffected by the scene. Even Zhao Junhong looked pale and couldn¡¯t help but shudder.

    Fear became somewhat of a feeble reaction before this kind of space distortion, an attack that could destroy every physical object. Everything felt surreal because people simply couldn¡¯t register that lives could be wiped away with such ease. There wasn¡¯t even any bloodshed.

    Their most deep-seated fears only lingered in their imagination. Not thinking about it made things a bit better.

    Zhao Jundu ced a hand on his second brother¡¯s shoulder. Zhao Junhong grabbed the hand, taking deep breaths until he was finally calm.

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°Utilizing thews of space with such power, the only way to neutralize it is with an energy of equal rank.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. ¡°Duke Rong is correct.¡±

    At this point, the intermittent rumble of a malfunctioning aircraft came from the sky. A shuddering airship could be seen flying toward them, or rather, toward the nearby ground.

    This kind of airship could only fit three people, a vessel used for surveys and scouting.

    Lin Wu shot into the sky, his figure flitting past like a faint shadow as he made for the airship. With a single wave of his hand, he stabilized the out-of-control vessel and brought it back to the ground. It was as though he were dragging a big toy behind him.

    Three people mbered out from the airship and copsed into a sitting position on the ground. All of them were clutching special papers, pens, and instruments. These people were researchers who had been observing the weapon¡¯s data and numbers. It seemed they had underestimated the range of the semi-dimensional weapon¡¯s shockwaves and ended up nearly destroyed.

    Returning to their senses after a while, the eldest one among them said, ¡°ording to our calctions, the time it takes for that weapon to charge up is fifteen to twenty-five minutes. We can try intercepting it with the ¡®Little Lady!¡¯¡±

    Lin Wu acknowledged the report. The elder immediately dived into the airship and fished out a box. The container was filled with all kinds of mechanicalponents, which the old man pulled outyer afteryer. It was actually an extremelyplicated miniature origin array.

    Lin Wu produced a core the size of a fingernail and ced it in one of the slots. The old man then set out to operate the machine at great speed. A wisp of origin power flowed out from his hand, bringing the entire machine to life.

    Lin Wu asked, ¡°What¡¯s the level of that first attack?¡±

    A young man who had just recovered said, ¡°It¡¯s roughly equal to an all-out attack from a heavenly monarch. Of course, that¡¯s just a measure of power without taking into ount thews of space.¡±

    The young man¡¯s reply was orderly and logical, but that did little to conceal the fear in his voice. Even heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs were little more than numbers and forms to these researchers. What intimidated them was the unknown.

    Attacks from great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs possessed great destructive potential, capable of causing prative damage to the continents. However, none of them were known to have such a level of mastery over thews of this world to be able to wipe out all surface structures without causing damage to thend. The power of a domain might produce the same effect, but the energy required to cover such arge area was enough to sink an entire continent.

    Lin Wu nodded indifferently and returned to the wall. He bowed toward the Emperor and said, ¡°We can try intercepting the second attack with Marshal Lin¡¯s ¡®Little Lady.¡¯¡±

    Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°That flying city must take an astronomical amount of resources to activate. How many shots can it even fire?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said after some thought, ¡°If their targets are the two rebel provinces, they will surely have enough to fire two shots and one in reserve.¡±

    Lin Wu said, ¡°The Empire has records of two semi-dimensional weapons, but this one isn¡¯t included.¡±

    This was depressing news.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s focus was a bit different. ¡°Why did Marshal Lin call that equipment ¡®Little Lady?¡¯¡±

    Lin Wu¡¯s expression turned a bit awkward. This bit of helplessness removed his gloomy countenance and revealed a handsome rity.

    After a while, he said seriously, ¡°The version I heard is that Marshal Lin wanted a daughter at the time.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor was stunned for a split second before breaking out inughter.

    The Zhao brothers exchanged nces.

    It was at this moment that the airship in the distance started glowing once more.

    The second attack was about toe.

    Habsburg had woken up when the City of Eimerunched its first attack. He didn¡¯t walk out of the cabin immediately. Instead, he expanded his perception outward before opening the doors.

    There were only operation staff left on the airship as all the titled experts had left. Habsburg walked onto the bridge, nodding at some demonkin who were bowing to him.

    Amunications officer jogged over and said, ¡°Your Highness Habsburg, Lord Predica asks that you go over directly after you¡¯re out.¡±

    The man nodded and walked out of the airship. The City of Eimer was no longer below his feet.

    The golden flounder had left the small za and was hovering over the light screen in the sky. The floating city itself was flying at the upper limits of the Serene South¡¯s terrestrial airspace.

    Predica and two other dukes, as well as Duke Doer, were gazing forward. The great earth below was now a wide expanse of nd, allowing everyone¡¯s vision to stretch far and wide. They could see a winding shadow on the distant horizon, the mountain pass constructed by the human Empire.

    The four VIPs here were all very young. Even the eldest among them was only at the core generation, so none of them had seen a semi-dimensional weapon in action. Judging from their expressions, they weren¡¯t calm at all.

    Habsburg scanned their expressions and realized what was going on. He seemed the least shocked in the group, without the slightest fluctuation in his eyes.

    The City of Eimer began moving as Predica turned around to greet Habsburg. Even on the same ne, the movement of a semi-dimensional weapon waspletely different from an ordinary airship.

    Habsburg paused briefly to sense thews.

    By the time he had joined the group, the City of Eimer was above the Deste North province. There were cities dotting thendscape, the mes from the previous beheading operation still burning below. The smoke curling up from below made the ce look like a gaseous ore mine.

    The chaos in the attacked cities was too minuscule to see clearly from this height. The characters here didn¡¯t care, either.

    The vanguard forces were on the ground for a mere three hours from airdrop to extraction. Neither the residents¡¯ escape nor the human Empire¡¯s interference could affect the big picture.

    Predica exined the situation to Habsburg, ¡°The charging time is fifteen minutes. After the second shot, we¡¯ll need about two hours to collect data.¡±

    Habsburg nodded to show that he understood, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    The werewolf duke was themander of the ground forces, so he was eager to know more. ¡°The Great Qin might not have enough time to gather arge enough force in two hours, but they will likely mobilize experts. An attack from Eimer is equal to a great dark monarch¡¯s peak attack, so their heavenly monarchs might appear.¡±

    Predica said, ¡°We only need to send in measurement apparatuses for the data. I¡¯ll persuade the warlocks not to descend to the ground. That way, we can control the damage.¡±

    Doer rxed a bit. The council¡¯s researchers were crazy people. There would be a lot less pressure if they could remain in the city.

    Predicaughed. ¡°Besides, the City of Eimer can fire more than just twice. We have no n to attack the Great Qin this time around, but I¡¯m not too worried if they want to engage in a border skirmish. Don¡¯t worry, we have mobilization authority for this operation. We can call on the forces on Fire Beacon Continent.¡±

    The others never asked about Eimer¡¯s defense and attack numbers, so hearing Predica¡¯s exnation put them at ease. None of them was afraid of a fight, but they didn¡¯t want to be cannon fodder, either.

    Momentster, the light barrier around Eimer glowed brilliantly. The second attack was ready.

    It was at this moment that specks of light lit up across thend below them. Most of them were situated in the cities, but there were some in the wilderness as well. These specks of light were neither strong nor densely packed. They looked more like household lights after sunset.

    Before the Evernight characters could react, a pir of colorless light shot into the sky from a corner of Deste North. Even from such a great distance, the pir looked to be the size of a mid-sized city.

    The pir brought with it an intense aura of daybreak. It first shot through the clouds, then showered down like a precipitous waterfall. The energy swept across the entirety of Deste North. Everyone could feel that this light was faintly connected to the starry specks on the ground.

    Wherever this deluge of light passed, the specks of light would be increasingly active. The motes gathered together into small masses, growing bigger and bigger like a snowball.

    Eimer¡¯s second attack fired at this moment!

 Chapter 1387: Qin Emperorâ€™s Sword

    <h4>Chapter 1387: Qin Emperor¡¯s Sword</h4>

    The entire province looked as though it had been picked up by an invisible hand. This time, however, the specks of light rolled into a torrential snowball over thend. Space was still distorted, folded, and crushed¡ªand the torrent of radiance was also shattered in the process¡ªbut things within range of the light weren¡¯tpletely destroyed.

    That snowball bounced around repeatedly within the distorted space. It would shrink considerably with each jump, but the space around its point of contact would also recover.

    This proved that the attack from the City of Eimer was being neutralized. The energy andws required to activate this defense were astronomical, but it gave everyone some peace of mind to know that the attack could be blocked.

    No one knew what would be left behind in the province after the cmity. That torrent of light couldn¡¯t withstand a single attack from the City of Eimer, but it proved that the iprehensible strength could be broken.

    On a tower in Serene Pass.

    Lin Wu said calmly, ¡°The Little Lady fired a scattered defensive assault this time around. It should be able to defend against the floating city¡¯s attack if it¡¯s in full defense mode. Judging from the intensity of scattered energy, though, it seems the pration waves will still damage ordinary civilians.¡±

    This was simr to how most objects would be destroyed within the range of a heavenly monarch¡¯s attack, but some experts might be able to escape.

    The Radiant Emperor asked, ¡°What were those bright specks on the ground just now?¡±

    Lin Wu nced at the Zhao brothers with a strange expression. ¡°Weunched a defensive attack over a long distance. Those light specks act as guidance coordinates.¡±

    The pir of light hade from one of the Northern Legion¡¯s camps, at the most front-line of Lin Xitang¡¯s defensive region. Its location was already within the rebel provinces.

    Garrisons and borders were adjusted slightly after the Empire redefined its warzones. That camp had already been abolished, not to mention all of its ground structures were destroyed, but neither the Zhao n nor the rebels found out about the superweapon hidden underneath.

    Everyone felt curious about how the entire Deste North was covered in guiding coordinates. Lin Wu paused briefly topose his message.

    He said, ¡°Those beacons are actually origin arrays installed on various weapons.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor and the Zhao siblings were sharp people. The first channel that came to mind when they thought of tampered weapons was smuggling.

    Zhao Jundu suddenly recalled some old secrets. Back in the year, he had investigated Song Zining several times because he didn¡¯t feel at ease about his close rtionship with Qianye. He discovered some traces back then, but he never found any hard evidence. For instance, Ningyuan Heavy Industries¡¯ grey trades, its supplier status to the Northern Legion, and its many shady connections.

    This was one of the reasons he didn¡¯t like Song Zining. Today, it felt as though he had suddenly found the answers to all the suspicions of the past. Even someone with his mental capacity found it hard to describe his current emotions.

    ¡°Divine silence,¡± Zhao Jundu uttered.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes, and his gaze toward Zhao Jundu became much sharper. However, he didn¡¯t say anything in the end.

    The Radiant Emperor sighed. ¡°The Northern Legion¡¯s research team is not inferior to the Imperial Family¡¯s. The Empire hasn¡¯t produced a new superweapon in several hundred years.¡±

    There were many reasons for this. The more important reason was the long years of peace, which brought about arguments in the distribution of resources. The design, construction, and maintenance of a superweapon involved astronomical numbers. It was only natural that people would growcent when there was no use for it in war.

    The design and testing of a new weapon was a different level of difficulty altogether. The marshal¡¯s warzone and the n territories shared little harmonious rtionship. And since superweapons happened to be area-of-effect weapons, coordination and confidentiality would be major issues.

    Even the nearby Zhao n didn¡¯t know about Lin Xitang¡¯s secret weapon. Lin Xitang had already passed when the hand-over was officially carried out. The Northern Legion didn¡¯t inform the Zhao n when they handed the territory over, otherwise, the base wouldn¡¯t have been abandoned. There had to be a deeper story behind all of this, and no one could say who was in the wrong.

    The distant flying city began to move once again. No one knew whether the dark races were going to continue attacking Deste North or if they were turning toward the Empire.

    Zhao Junhong had been feeling awkward all this time, but he ended up asking, ¡°Commander Lin, can the Northern Legion¡¯s weapon fire again?¡±

    Lin Wu shook his head. ¡°No, it can only fire once. This is actually the Little Lady¡¯s first real test-fire.¡±

    He pointed at the three researchers on the ground. ¡°They¡¯ll organize the weapon blueprints and today¡¯s data, then hand everything to the Zhao n.¡±

    Zhao Junhong nodded in thanks. There was nothing else he could do anyway. The Western Continent was the newest territory added to the Empire¡¯s map, so their continental defense system wasn¡¯t a match for the others and their long .u.mtion. The West Pole City might be able to withstand a couple of attacks, but Serene Pass did not possess such capability.

    There was a mystery that no one managed to figure out all this time. Such superweapons would take vast amounts of resources with each shot. What was the Evernight Council trying to achieve?

    With its second move, Eimer stopped between Serene South and Deste North. Its fire could cover Serene Pass at this distance.

    The atmosphere grew tense.

    The City of Eimer didn¡¯t remain still. The entire city turned around slowly until it was facing the mountain pass!

    Amotion broke out in the stronghold. The first airship squadron to finish preparations scrambled into the air, with more of them forming up on the ground. All cannon turrets and fire ports opened up as the officers ran about to check the equipment.

    All of a sudden, a tremendous suppressive might arose from Serene Pass. It quickly spread out to cover the entire stronghold, then pushed toward the rebel provinces like a tornado.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s figure rose into the air, with mist and winds swirling beneath his feet. It was as though a storm were brewing beneath him. Leaden clouds gathered in the sky, forming the vague figure of a nine-scaled soaring serpent.

    A silent streak of lightning tore through the firmament, almost as though a giant path had been opened up therein.

    The soaring serpent revealed its form at this point. It possessed golden ws, thunderbolt horns, and was shrouded in a sphere of radiance. This mixture of light and fire wasn¡¯t really harsh on the eyes.

    In a sh, the soaring serpent spread its wings, and the sphere of light burst into myriad beams which merged into the sky.

    After that initial radiance, the world was covered in darkness. People looked up in fright, only to find that the soaring snake had spread its wingspletely and blotted out half the sky.

    The City of Eimer looked like a constant light source in the alternating brightness of this world, never growing brighter or darker.

    A majestic aura surged into the sky from the floating city, one that seemed to have traversed the ages to descend upon this world.

    A faint golden hue emerged in the sky where the soaring serpent¡¯s wings did not cover. It felt as though the world was past afternoon and closing in on twilight.

    The calm was quickly broken as the void tempest stirred up by the soaring serpent rushed into the dusk-washednd.

    The Great Qin Emperor¡¯s ¡°Clear Sky¡± domain and the vampire primogenitor¡¯s Nation of Dusk shed with one another, initiating a battle that spanned thousands of kilometers!

    Following this sudden sh of domains, the Radiant Emperor¡¯s suppressive might pushed across the midline between two provinces. Habsburg, on the other hand, pulled back as far as an arrow could fly.

    This went to show that even the youngest crown prince of Evernight was at a disadvantage against a newly ascended heavenly monarch.

    Predica was furious. ¡°A heavenly monarch! When did the Great Qin gain a new heavenly monarch?¡±

    Duke Doer had already gone down to the surface with the warlocks. Eimer¡¯s second shot failed to exert its full force, but the situation wasn¡¯t so bad. The humans here possessed lower origin power overall. Their few experts had been killed in the beheading operation a while ago, so survivors were few and far between. ording to the great warlock, there wouldn¡¯t be too much of a deviation. This was good news because this meant that they wouldn¡¯t have to redo half the mission.

    The demonkin and arachne dukes on the airship wore unsightly expressions, just like Predica. The humans had produced yet another heavenly monarch, and he was right in front of them. Although they didn¡¯t need to run away in fright, it was a new variable nheless. The most hateful thing on the battlefield was the turning of tables.

    Habsburg was the only calm person. It was even hard to tell that he had just released his domain in a long-range battle.

    He walked forward, his blood energy intensifying with each step. A sanguine armor quickly formed around his body, and a long spear appeared in his hand.

    Predica came to at this point. The Radiant Emperor¡¯s power came so suddenly that he didn¡¯t have time to stop Habsburg from releasing his domain. Seeing that Habsburg was about to leave Eimer, Predica shed over and grabbed his hand.

    ¡°Habsburg, what are you doing?¡±

    The blood armor around Habsburg had already formed. He stood quietly in the air with his spear and nced back at Predica.

    The surprising thing was that Habsburg wasn¡¯t in apletebat state. His deep blue eyes were like gems, as limpid as the clear skies, and his voice and expression were just as calm. ¡°Heading to battle.¡±

    Predica didn¡¯t know what to say for a moment. Facing battle was a warrior¡¯s honor, and he himself had never shrunk back against powerful enemies, so how was he to tell Habsburg not to fight?

    He loosened his grip with a nod, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll bring up the rear.¡±

    Soon, a cryptic aura erupted from Predica¡¯s body as a staff emerged in his hand. The weapon was entirely ck and seemed to be condensed from the purest of darkness origin power. Wisps of light were floating about near the tip of the staff, resembling a half-open eye.

    It was only after Habsburg and Predica had left Eimer that the two dukes came to. Completely suppressed by the duo¡¯s might, they didn¡¯t even dare to move, let alone interfere.

    George and Melina exchanged nces. Seeing a simr experience in each other¡¯s eyes, they found amon topic to discuss.

    Melina said, ¡°That weapon in Lord Predica¡¯s hands... is that the council¡¯s holy weapon, the Keeper of Destiny?¡±

    George nodded. ¡°Yes. His Highness Predica is probably the only one who is a match for it.¡± He said after some pause, ¡°His Highness Habsburg is so strong. It turns out it¡¯s true that a vampire crown prince can contend with a great dark monarch. No wonder His Majesty Kane treats him with such importance.¡±

    Habsburg traversed the destend at a steady pace.

    The grand mountain pass of the human race stretched below the grey skies. The giant soaring serpent lingered in the air, its wings fully outstretched as it guarded the Empire¡¯s territories.

    Habsburg halted as a figure appeared before him, a man in Imperial military clothing. He was in the prime of his life, bearing a mild temperament that hardly matched the violent tempest from just now.

    ¡°The ming Crown Habsburg?¡± The man smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Lin Xitang¡¯s student.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s blood core skipped a beat, tugging on the scar upon it. Then, his vision was filled with sword shadows, seemingly covering the entire sky.

    A frost of death and murder bore down upon the enemy as sword energy gushed into the air.

    The Great Qin Emperor¡¯s sword was called ¡°Teia.¡±

 Chapter 1388: Sovereignty and Justice

    <h4>Chapter 1388: Sovereignty and Justice</h4>

    Meanwhile, in Castle Eir...

    The sky above the ancient castle was filled with austere killing intent. Many of the vampires walked out to gaze at the highest point of the castle, their expressions filled with fear andplicated emotions. Many of the soldiers dropped their des, and the experts looked pale, their auras weakened by a level.

    A suppressive might as deep as the oceans could be seening from high up on the ancient castle. It poured down wave after wave, washing over all the vampires in the ancient castle. The ancient vampire aura contained within caused every vampire to tremble. That fear arising from the depths of their bloodline weakened their ranks. The experts felt as though their blood cores were sealed in ice; it was almost impossible to .u.mte blood energy.

    That suppressive might was a clear deration of bloodline authority. It was vampire tradition that those closer to the source of the River of Blood possessed greater natural authority and righteousness. That was precisely why most vampires in the ancient castle lost the power and will to resist. The deep-seated ideology was that they weremitting a form of treason by going against such a superior expert.

    A different blood energy gushed into the air from the top floor of the castle, tearing through the suppressive might covering the entire building. A cold but pleasant voice echoed between heaven and earth, ¡°Eir will submit to no one!¡±

    A thunderous roar emerged from the depths of the void as the River of Blood emerged¡ªit was formally responding to her call. The phenomenon was brief and the response was vague, but obtaining any form of response meant that the summoner had been blessed by the river.

    Eirughed loudly as her blood energy rose repeatedly, its color growing deeper and a tad golden.

    ¡°See? The River of Blood is responding to me! I¡¯m a duke now, you daybreak-tainted bastards! Do you not know your crime?!¡±

    Sheughed maniacally as she pushed Nighteye¡¯s de little by little, struggling to get up.

    The Dark Gospel Howard sighed. ¡°Yet another genius who can call upon the River of Blood, what a pity.¡±

    Nighteye was holding Awakening Dream rather carelessly, keeping it on Eir¡¯s shoulder and pinning her down. Now, however, the vampiredy had actually erupted with great power and broken through to the duke rank, even stirring the River of Blood in the process. This was perhaps due to the unwillingness or the humiliation of defeat.

    Even Howard sighed in admiration. The Dark Gospel had been active throughout the recent centuries, so he knew that the river was moving further and further away. It was extremely difficult to obtain a response from it.

    Ironically, a genius who could call upon the river¡¯s power had actually betrayed the race. From the looks of it, she had given the Demon King her unswerving loyalty.

    All this time, the River of Blood had been the faith of the vampire race, the only righteousness in their world. Howard felt somewhat embarrassed; just what did the Demon King offer that was more important than their faith?

    Just as Eir managed to return to her feet, Nighteye covered her mouth and yawned. She then exerted a bit more force, sending Eir back to her knees.

    ¡°Is it so hard to call out to the River of Blood? Qianye, when was the first time you obtained the river¡¯s inheritance?¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°Probably when I was a viscount?¡±

    ¡°Viscount?¡± Howard was visibly moved. The river had surged only a handful of times in recent years. Judging from Qianye¡¯s age, it would seem that most of those instances were due to him.

    Qianye was shrouded in faint golden sanguine mes, leaking a constant stream of suppressive might. This bloodline power was keeping all the vampires in the castle in check.

    Qianye snorted after seeing Eir break through and iming she would not submit. The golden mes turned dark golden, and an ancient aura descended upon them, one that seemed to havee from a distant era. This energy immediately extinguished Eir¡¯s blood energy and silenced the entire castle.

    Eir was pale and trembling. The most difficult thing for her to ept was that there was a deep-seated fear of Qianye inside her, and it was even stagnating the normal rhythm of her blood core.

    This also meant that Qianye¡¯s bloodline was far superior to hers. Their statuses were no different from that of a superior and subordinate.

    Her prideful self couldn¡¯te to terms with this truth.

    Nighteye had acted so quickly that Howard didn¡¯t even have time to stop her. He sighed. ¡°We should¡¯ve asked her the reason for her betrayal. It¡¯s such a pity to kill her just like that.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve always attached great importance to bloodlines. People could get away with anything as long as they were talented enough. Unfortunately, she miscalcted because I will never forgive betrayal. Besides, the future of our race does not depend on her. Qianye is enough.¡±

    Howard watched those dark golden mes in a daze. ¡°True.¡±

    With Eir dead and Qianye suppressing the entire castle, all the vampires lost the will to fight and surrendered one after another. The Azure King¡¯s nsmen who were being imprisoned here were also released.

    Within the parlor of Castle Eir, Qianye finally met Van Cleef, but he simply couldn¡¯t connect this plump white man to his name.

    Van Cleef¡¯s aura was weak, but there were no injuries on his body, nor were there any signs of torture. It would seem that Eir was someone who followed traditions as proven by the level of respect given to Van Cleef as a prisoner.

    But this made it difficult to exin the man¡¯s weak aura. Qianye felt that the glorious marquis he had encountered before were stronger than this vice-duke. He suspected whether this man had even reached the mighty marquis realm.

    Van Cleef entered the room with a big smile, but his eyelids began to twitch when he scanned the room.

    In terms of seating, Qianye was at the center, with Nighteye and Howard on either side. This seniority arrangement felt unreal to him.

    Van Cleef¡¯s smile became even more resplendent. ¡°Greetings, Your Highnesses.¡±

    Qianye started speaking, ¡°Duke Van Cleef...¡±

    ¡°Just call me Vanny!¡±

    Qianye was so astonished that he didn¡¯t know what to say. Heposed himself before saying, ¡°That¡¯s not... quite appropriate, is it?¡±

    Vampire elders rarely used nicknames like this, unless they were close descendants who were intimately familiar.

    A vampire and his direct descendants shared not only a bloodline rtionship but also absolute control authority. This waspletely different from the human race. Hence, the rtionship between them was usually even closer than father and son. That was why Van Cleef¡¯s suggestion gave Qianye the goosebumps.

    Van Cleef ignored Qianye¡¯s ugly expression entirely. He said with a smile, ¡°Why not? It¡¯s actually very much suitable. You are Her Majesty Nighteye¡¯s... ah, I mean Her Majesty Nighteye is yours...¡±

    Qianye felt the urge to curse and almost did blurt out profanities. He turned to nce at Nighteye, only to find her almost smiling. The room almost seemed brighter all of a sudden.

    Van Cleef said, ¡°The Great Dark Gospel Howard is also your friend. He¡¯s my senior, someone I¡¯ve admired since childhood. That¡¯s why it¡¯s only right that you call me Vanny.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m listening to instructions.¡± Van Cleef was as respectful as a subordinate.

    Qianye finally understood why this fellow had surrendered. It was hard to say if it was the correct decision or not because he did manage to save most of his nsmen and avoid pain.

    ¡°How many nsmen do you have left? What resources do you have remaining?¡±

    ¡°We have three hundred or so men remaining. One hundred of them are warriors, and fifty of them are titled experts. Our castle is gone, along with its treasury and blood pond. I do have some secret stashes outside. I can offer all of them up. It¡¯s not much, but please ept my sincerity.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. Did this Van Cleef think he was asking for benefits? Qianye couldn¡¯t be bothered to exin. ¡°The resources here and your stashesbined should be enough to get your nsmen to the nearest secret location, right?¡±

    ¡°Secret realm? We have one close by, I do maintenance on it quite frequently. Let¡¯s head there, then,¡± said Van Cleef.

    Twilight Continent was the main base of the vampire race. The world long ago wasn¡¯t so peaceful, so several secret hideouts had been constructed throughout the centuries. Most of the secret realms here were from before the rise of the human race, constructed as defensive strongholds and hiding spots during times of strife.

    Many major characters would also construct smaller secret realms for themselves. For instance, the ce where the Azure King had sent Qianye and Nighteye was one such ce. Van Cleef wasn¡¯t strong, but he sure was afraid of dying. He even constructed one for himself.

    Qianye said, ¡°Very well, take your men there along with the vampires in this castle. Wait for us to contact you.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°No need to wait too long. We¡¯ll send airsh.i.p.s to pick you up.¡±

    Nighteye didn¡¯t mention their final destination, and Van Cleef didn¡¯t dare ask. He simply withdrew and went off to make arrangements for the retreat. With Eir dead, the highest-ranked among her nsmen was a count. Van Cleef was more than enough to deal with them.

    After the man had left, Qianye pointed at his seat. ¡°Are you sure this is okay?¡±

    The Dark Gospel was the first to speak. ¡°I think it is. Since this is war, we need someone with war experience to lead us.¡±

 Chapter 1389: Memories

    <h4>Chapter 1389: Memories</h4>

    Looking down on Western Continent from a height.

    The vastnd was littered with signs of destruction. A ravine had torn through half of Serene South, at the end of whichy a giant ditch several kilometers in diameter. There were countless cracks fanning out in every direction.

    The ravine was oozing dark mist. The energy seemed sparse, but no one could see through it or find out how deep the gully ran.

    The air in the giant ditch wasn¡¯t calm, either. Dark mist drifted about like wads of cotton, erupting into miniature storms as they collided into other objects. Amidst mes and sparks, the earth was trembling from the impact of the origin power explosions.

    The soil around the ravine and giant pit were now covered in b.a.r.e earth and rocks, almost as though they had been tilled. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of animals or vegetation.

    Up in the sky, where ordinary people could not hope to see, origin power fluctuations were shuttling about irregrly. Appearing, disappearing, and shing together from time to time amidst a tempest of mes.

    This apocalyptic scene had appeared within a mere ten exchanges.

    Neither the Radiant Emperor nor Habsburg chose to observe orunch probing attacks. They had both chosen to let loose and go all out from the beginning.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s Teia shed against the Spear of Eternity, producing a hum that spread far and wide. It sounded as though the world itself was weeping.

    Thunderbolts flew in all directions, so much so that the mountains and rivers trembled! And the gods were silenced!

    Despite the distance and the protective light barrier, they could clearly sense the terrifying suppressive might and shockwaves from the battle. Even the dukes couldn¡¯t muster up the courage to contend against this enemy. The scars in the ground below were a testament to the situation they were in.

    After the initial phase of fierce weapon shes, their domains once again covered the entire battlefield. The dark mist and golden twilight contested fiercely for supremacy, producing surging winds and clouds. The two experts¡¯ figures were no longer visible.

    Melina sighed. ¡°Heavens. I never thought His Highness Habsburg would be such a reckless fighter.¡±

    George gazed at the slowly revolving battlefield, then at Predica¡¯s figure hundreds of meters up into the sky. The man was extremely calm.

    Although Habsburg had managed to block the Radiant Emperor¡¯s attack just now, everyone could see that he was at a disadvantage. There was a rank gap since the enemy was a heavenly monarch, albeit a newly ascended one.

    It might be easy to decide the victor in a fight between princes and great dark monarchs, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for their life and death. The fight could go on for an entire day and night. Habsburg, however, had gone against convention by using his ultimate attack since the very beginning. That wasn¡¯t a good sign.

    George could only sigh after hearing Melina¡¯sment. Habsburg wasn¡¯t the one he was worried about, but rather Predica. If something were to happen to this lord, it would be a crime worthy of familial execution. Yet, Predica couldn¡¯t remain idle when Habsburg was in danger.

    Predica turned about at this moment and arrived before George. ¡°Tell those on the ground to move faster. They must return within an hour or risk being left behind!¡±

    The duke understood Predica¡¯s message. ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± He couldn¡¯t help but add some words of constion, ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. His Highness Habsburg is very strong. The heavenly monarch can¡¯t do anything to him.¡±

    He himself was a demonkin prince who had awakened the power of two primogenitors. The only people they needed to fear were the supremes of the Sacred Mountain. But on the battlefield, though, there was no room for error.

    The Radiant Emperor and Habsburg were both standing in the air above a small hill, facing one another.

    The ce was close to the northwestern edge of the Deste North Province, closer to the dark race territory. Because of how barren thend was, the closest dark race settlement was dozens of kilometers away, forming a natural uninhabited zone in between.

    There were some ruins in the ins. It wasn¡¯t very big, at most the size of a small town, with charred walls and windswept buildings. Apparently, the ce had been neglected for some time after a battle.

    Currently, these ruins were like a half-sliced cake. One part of it had been cut up into a precipice with a high difference of six meters.

    Apparently, this small town wasn¡¯t as simple as it seemed on the surface since there was arge underground structure here. This secret should¡¯ve been destroyed in Eimer¡¯s attack, but the Little Lady¡¯s interference left many ces across the Deste North in such a state.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°It was here that you almost killed my teacher, and now, we¡¯ve circled back here. Will you be satisfied with this ce as your grave?¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s eyes were like deep ponds filled with blood energy. He simply gazed at the Radiant Emperor in silence. Thetter didn¡¯t rush the man, either, and simply stood there with his sword behind his back. His aura was akin to the ravines and mountains, as though he were one with the world.

    ¡°You¡¯re the Emperor of Qin,¡± Habsburg spoke for the first time since the battle began. ¡°You have something to ask me.¡±

    As intelligent men, Habsburg understood the Radiant Emperor¡¯s meaning. Killing too quickly would result in the loss of clues. He said after some thought, ¡°Do you know what your Empress¡¯ family did in the past?¡±

    The Radiant Emperors said, ¡°I think all those who worked with you are dead. You can tell me now if anyone escaped.¡±

    Habsburg was finally moved. The blood energy in his eyes faded away, restoring a rity and calm that resembled the blue skies.

    He said after some thought, ¡°That scheme wasn¡¯t mine. On the contrary, I was among the hunted. This town was one of the Evernight Council¡¯sboratories that studied bloodline seedlings. The direction of the study is to use the lower-ranking vampire bloodlines and blood thralls as a reference group. Back then, I had just be a senior member of the Evernight council and gained half the authority to theb.

    ¡°One day, the council informed me that theb had beenpromised, that the Empire will soon dispatch an elite corps to clean up the ce. Normally, we would simply abandon suchboratories oncepromised. There was no need to defend such a territory. However, someone suggested that elite soldiers would make good research subjects and that we should capture some if we could do so at a small price. There was an interesting name on the list they produced, Lin Qianye, with a remark that he was Marshal Lin¡¯s son.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I only figured out muchter that he was just an adopted son.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s expression was calm as he listened without the slightest bit of emotion. ¡°You weren¡¯t at the scene when the battle broke out.¡±

    Habsburg said honestly, ¡°I did some things in theb that the council cannot know about, so I¡¯ve been very cautious. It just so happened that I heard from a different channel that Marshal Lin was developing a new weapon nearby. The range of that weapon happened to cover this town.¡±

    A sh of killing intent flickered in the Radiant Emperor¡¯s eyes.

    The Radiant Emperor nced at Habsburg for a while. ¡°Who is the contact on the Evernight end?¡±

    Habsburg replied, ¡°I¡¯ve killed them all.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said indifferently, ¡°I¡¯m guessing you already know who¡¯s pulling the strings, but that person¡¯s status is equal or higher than yours. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t want to go into open hostility.¡±

    Habsburg merely watched him without saying a word.

    The two were quick thinkers. There were many words that didn¡¯t need saying, many things that didn¡¯t need admitting.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Very well, I understand. What else do you have to say?¡±

    Habsburg turned in a different direction. ¡°I remember Marshal Lin has a big camp nearby. Can I go and take a look?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    To get from this small town to the Northern Legion¡¯s abandoned forward base, they would have to traverse the entire Deste North Province. However, this distance was nothing to the Radiant Emperor and Habsburg.

    At the highest point of this stronghold was themand center. Habsburgnded on the balcony,pletely ignoring the fact that the Radiant Emperor was a mere ten meters from him. Both men looked inside at the same time.

    The surprising thing was that themand center had retained its old appearance. There was a work area on one side with a desk and bookshelves. On the other side were a sofa, a mechanical map, and a conference table.

    For some reason, this room had remained intact through wars, a transfer ofmand, and enemy capture.

    It was as though this corner of the base had beenpletely forgotten by everyone.

    Habsburg pushed open the ss doors of the balcony, breaking the lock in order to do so. He then walked in and looked at the surroundings.

    The Radiant Emperor walked over to the desk and found that its surface was clean, as though someone had been keeping it tidy. There weren¡¯t any important doc.u.ments, only some overdue news reports andmunication papers. There weren¡¯t any doc.u.ments carrying Lin Xitang¡¯s signature, either.

    The Radiant Emperor identally stepped on something as he turned around. He looked down to see that it was an old wooden box, probably knocked down by ident.

    He was visibly moved because the box looked somewhat familiar. Things became clear when he picked it up and saw what was inside¡ªit was a personal object of Lin Xitang.

    The box contained some military tags, most of which were broken and missing. Every one of them was stained with traces of battle and a fragment of Lin Xitang¡¯s unforgettable past.

    Habsburg observed every item in the room in detail, but he never touched anything. He couldn¡¯t help but whisper when he saw the box and name tags, ¡°Is it that child¡¯s?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor did not reply, nor did he check the name tags in the box. He closed the container properly and ced it on the table, then he walked out onto the balcony.

    Habsburg didn¡¯t remain in themand room, either. He emerged soon afterward, and gazing calmly at the Emperor, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s make it here, I like this ce.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. The projection of a flying serpent flickered briefly and vanished as countless streams of dark energy flowed into his body. The domain covering the vastnd also slowly disappeared.

    At the same time, the line of vision cleared up for the Evernight and Imperial experts who had been paying attention to the fight.

    Predica, though, witnessed a different scene in his consciousness.

    As the dark mist and golden glow faded away, a majestic stone fortress came into view. The moonlight showering down on the balcony outlined the figures of two people standing face to face.

    The Great Qin Emperor put away his de just as Habsburg withdrew his spear. However, this wasn¡¯t a ceasefire because immediately afterward, they sprinted toward one another and collided! Origin power erupted into a violent storm, which eventually turned into beautiful strips of resplendence in the air.

    With each of the Radiant Emperor¡¯s movements, his dark energy would take the shape of various wild animals. Habsburg, on the other hand, maintained a coreyer of ck fire around his body and golden runes danced about his fists.

    A fist-fight! Predica¡¯s expression shifted drastically.

    Maintaining a safe distance was extremely important for experts of this level. A fist-fight was even more dangerous than a fight using melee weapons, akin to a fight to the death.

    Habsburg was clearly at a disadvantage, so why would he keep fighting?

    The imagery was interrupted at this point because remote vision could only be maintained for a short while. He summoned a warlock and said, ¡°Prepare Eimer for spatial...¡±

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a sharp omen flitted past his ears, depriving him of his hearing.

    By the time he managed to figure out what this omen was, his hair was standing on end. ¡°Mobilize the troopers! Immediately! Aim for the human mountain pass! Send the City of Eimer into spatial jump!!!¡±

    A ck whirlpool appeared in the sky and Predica leaped straight into it. That was the demonkin¡¯s escape skill, Demonic Traversal. His voice was still echoing in the air after his figure vanished.

    The experts on the City of Eimer went pale; only the warlocks remained calm. ¡°Everyone! Execute the orders immediately. His Highness has probably fled because he saw an omen.¡± The warlocks and researchers started running about.

    The demonkin duke turned around in a daze, only to find a great warlock patting him on the shoulder. ¡°Little George, make preparations to assist. The countdown is ten minutes.¡±

    The demonkin duke was about to ask something when the entire City of Eimer jolted violently. The flying city tilted thirty degrees to the side, and the light barrier began to recede. This sent countless soldiers sliding off the city streets like a crashing tide.

    George was stunned for a brief moment before realizing that these soldiers were the figures that had been standing all around the city like stone sculptures. He turned around rigidly and finally realized what that omen was.

    Aet was shooting over at an unimaginable speed from the horizon,nding in the way as the first batch of troopers reached the ground.

    With a p of thunder, a blinding sh of light tore through the troopers and mowed them down like grass. These soldiers crumbled into dust as soon as they touched the ground. Arge empty clearing appeared in therge formation of troopers.

    Spacerender!

    This was a signature move of Prince Greensun, the human heavenly monarch. There was no need to exin who had just arrived.

 Chapter 1390: Asylum

    <h4>Chapter 1390: Asylum</h4>

    As the war on the Western Continent was reaching its peak, the ancient castle on Twilight Continent was enjoying a rare moment of peace. Although no one knew for sure the scale of this attack, Qianye could venture a rough guess from the scattered pieces of intelligence that had arrived yesterday.

    The enemy deployment was clearly intending to settle things quickly and aggressively. They had led the council¡¯s troops into Twilight andunched an assault on numerous targets at the same time. Most of their objectives were castles at the marquis grade or above, as well as the important strongholds of the twelve major ns. They also targeted important characters like Howard.

    An operation of this scale required a significant mobilization of troops. Even with traitors working on the inside, they would still need experts to oversee the operation. It would be safe to say that the demonkin wouldn¡¯t want to fight a protracted battle on the vampires¡¯ home continent.

    This also meant that Qianye¡¯s group would face a lot of pressure. It was only because of their headstart that they hadn¡¯t run into council reinforcements and great dark monarchs. Progia was, of course, an exception.

    News of Qianye and Nighteye disrupting the council¡¯s operations should¡¯ve reached the enemymand by now. The council also happened to be searching for the Book of Darkness, so they would surely hunt him down once they knew his whereabouts.

    Qianye and Nighteye might be able to flee, but it would be impossible to do so with so many vampires in tow.

    Howard rummaged through the study and found a map of the Twilight Continent, which he hung on the wall. He and Nighteye then marked out all the castles along the way that had been attacked.

    After marking everything, his expression became even more unsightly. The group had traversed half of Twilight Continent since their first encounter with the enemy. Almost half of the castles along the way hade under attack, and there was no telling how many of the survivors had surrendered like Van Cleef.

    The ces they had passed by were in such a state, so it was likely that the other locations were no different.

    Looking at this copsing situation, Howard let out a long sigh. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought the demonkin would strike so fast and so ruthlessly? Many of those sleeping fellows will never wake up again.¡±

    The Twilight Continent was the main base of the vampire race, so most core families of the major ns were located here. Experts who had reached the end of their lives would also choose to go into hibernation here.

    It was no exaggeration to say that every castle had an expert hibernating inside. Normally, the experts left to run the castle affairs were marquis-rank characters. The major ns would have dukes taking on this role. These people weren¡¯t weak by any measure, but they simply couldn¡¯t defend against a targeted attack from the Evernight Council.

    Even the Dark Gospel Howard would¡¯ve fallen if Qianye and Nighteye hadn¡¯t arrived on time and injured the Masefield n Lord.

    Qianye walked over and observed the map with a frown. ¡°I¡¯m guessing most of the secret hideouts have beenpromised as well.¡±

    ¡°Very likely.¡± Howard looked rather worried. Medanzo knew about most of the shared secret realms. The private ones didn¡¯t need to be reported, but they wouldn¡¯t remain hidden for long if there were high-ranking traitors in the n. This meant that the secret realms were no longer safe.

    ¡°Retreat from Twilight,¡± Qianye said all of a sudden.

    ¡°Why?¡± Howard and Nighteye were puzzled.

    To the vampire race, Twilight wasn¡¯t just their home but also their totem and religion. Every n possessed their own territory here where they would build a castle to enshrine their glory. And yet Qianye was asking them to pull out.

    Qianye said, ¡°All the secret realms here are probably unveiled. Even the ones controlled by princes and great dark monarchs. Also, there aren¡¯t a lot of vampires left for us to save. Among the ones we have left, half of them are of an ambiguous stance, and there should be quite a few who have surrendered like Van Cleef. The survivors we¡¯ve saved might not be a lot, but they still number in the tens of thousands. They¡¯ll be a massive target no matter where we put them.¡±

    Howard nodded thoughtfully.

    ¡°Twilight is located at the heart of all middle continents, a hub that connects various others. That¡¯s also the reason why it¡¯s not suited for defense. The demonkins possess great mobility and assault capabilities. They can amass a big army any time, and we cannot hold them off on Twilight.¡±

    If this were an upright war, the vampires were confident they could hold their own against the council¡¯s allied army. With Medanzo around, however, the vampire race¡¯s hidden cards would easily be disrupted.

    ¡°The enemy¡¯s weakness is clear, they don¡¯t have enough manpower. That¡¯s why they¡¯re using an elite force strategy. Every soldier, every warship, and every expert has better equipment, gear, and trainingpared to the other races. This results in a superior fighting force at a much higher cost. For the same number of soldiers lost, they will suffer more and have a harder time replenishing them. In short, they aren¡¯t built for a protracted war of attrition.¡±

    Back in cksun Valley, Song Zining¡¯s exchange tactics were mostly targeted at the demonkin. They did not have the werewolves on their side at the time, which deprived them of high-quality cannon fodder. Now that Qianye was mentioning this, it was evident that he had pinpointed their weakness.

    ¡°We can¡¯t afford to exhaust our forces, either,¡± said Howard. The vampires they had gathered were only about the force of a single vampire n. That wasparing them to a n like the Carltons, which had members with nobat experience.

    ¡°Of course, we can¡¯t fight arge-scale battle of attrition. That¡¯s why we need to rely on geography to lock down the demonkin with a smaller force. We¡¯ll find such a ce and fight a defensive battle against them.¡±

    ¡°There is such a ce, but what will you do about air attacks?¡±

    ¡°I can lock down the air with my Martyr¡¯s Pce.¡±

    Howard¡¯s brows rxed a bit. ¡°Things will be a lot easier if they cannot fly their airsh.i.p.s in. I know a suitable ce on the Dawn Continent.¡±

    ¡°Dawn? Isn¡¯t that a higher continent?¡± Nighteye said.

    ¡°Is the void route stable?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s stable, but the paths are winding andplicated, so high-speed flight is impossible. This is exactly what we want under present circ.u.mstances.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a while. ¡°Then we can set up an asylum on the Dawn Continent for the direct descendants of the ns. The ordinary vampires and some vassal families can head to Fort Continent. My territory there views every race as equals, they can find work and shelter there. If possible, we should discuss this matter with William and find out the Summit of Peak¡¯s attitude. I¡¯m curious whether the werewolves and arachne will see themselves as the next target after the demonkin have wiped out the vampires. I think the Summit of Peaks will have to think hard about this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s settled then. I¡¯ll head off to save some people and make arrangements for transportation,¡± said Howard.

    ¡°What about the Perth n?¡± Qianye asked. This problem was a headache for both Nighteye and Howard.

    Nighteye gestured for Howard to do the exnations. Howard said, ¡°The Perths are the descendants of the Queen, so their status is special. The n¡¯s internal affairs are managed by one of the active great dark monarchs or crowned princes. I also managed their family for a couple of decades.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°This system is rather interesting. Does the Perth n not fear outsiders interfering with their n?¡±

    Howard said, ¡°They say manage, but in truth, we¡¯re just there to protect the n. I would never meddle in their true internal issues. I even had to supply some resources when they needed them. Who would really dare to touch their family with the Queen around?¡±

    Qianye finally understood. It turned out that this management role wasn¡¯t a fun job. Not only would they have to put in the effort and money, but they also couldn¡¯t even make any real decisions.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I understand now. We definitely can¡¯t remain on Twilight anymore.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s split up here. I might not be very useful in my current state, but I can take care of myself. I¡¯ll wait for you at the designated location after I round up the other families.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye nodded.

    The Dark Gospel Howard was a crowned prince. Even though his blood seal had faded, he wasn¡¯t a character ordinary dukes could match. There would be no danger for him unless he was unfortunate enough to run into great dark monarchs like the Masefield n Lord.

    Qianye and Nighteye would move together. The trio thus divided the territories to work on and left the ancient castle. They decided to spend only three days on search and rescue. Once the time was up, they would meet up at a designated secret realm to start moving the vampires away from Twilight.

    By the time of Qianye¡¯s departure, Van Cleef had more or less finished rounding up the captives and stripping the castle. Perhaps because he wanted to recoup the losses of his castle, he took everything in this one, even Eir¡¯s funeral objects. Even some of the murals and sculptures were taken away.

    After his departure, the entire ancient castle waspletely barren, as though a locust swarm had just passed by.

    In the castle¡¯s destroyed blood-pond chamber, long after everyone was gone. A coffin slowly opened up in an inconspicuous corner, and a viscount climbed out from within.

    The coffin here was only a half-finished product without any origin arrays. The coffin material wasn¡¯t copper, so Van Cleef found no interest in it. That was how the viscount managed to remain hidden.

 Chapter 1391: Simply Forward

    <h4>Chapter 1391: Simply Forward</h4>

    A circr ck vortex appeared in the air above Deste North Province. Predica shot out from it like an arrow, forming yet another vortex in front of him.

    The demonkin nced back while transitioning between the two traversals. His expression shifted drastically at this moment, and he was so fl.u.s.tered that he almost crashed right into the traversal gate.

    Zhang Boqianpletely ignored the troopers. He immediately made for Habsburg and the Radiant Emperor after clearing a path!

    The City of Eimer was like a tilted chalice, pouring all kinds of soldiers onto the ground. There seemed to be no end to its output. Those soldiers slid off the light barrier and onto the ground, then charged at the walls of Serene Pass. A duke-grade army soon amassed on the ground, a force capable ofunching a fierce attack on any target.

    The well-prepared defensive force immediately started counterattacking. The gunpowder and origin weaponry on the walls spat out tongues of me. Several airsh.i.p.s scrambled into the air and dived toward the charging enemy. All of a sudden, a tall warrior on the ground jumped up and hurled his spear at one of the airsh.i.p.s. Not only did thence prate the vessel, but it also kept flying toward the city walls.

    An origin bullet flew out from one of the corner towers, destroying that rod of burning steel midair. Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help but frown as he lowered his gun and gazed at the troopers.

    The generals at Serene Pass weren¡¯t as calm, however. Everyone looked somewhat distressed.

    They couldn¡¯t decide what those soldiers were exactly, but judging from the state after their death, it could be said that they weren¡¯t real people. Then again, that spear throw from just now was at least at the level of a count. Did this army have the same ratio of experts to normal soldiers?

    Some of the survivors from Zhang Boqian¡¯s attack werecking limbs or even entire parts of their body, yet they could still stand up unsteadily and join the march. The battle was destined to be difficult if the enemy was an entity that did not know pain.

    Predica halted for a split second while jumping between the two demonic traversal gates. Grabbing his staff like a long pole, he raised the weapon and swung at Zhang Boqian. A stream of dark demonic energy shed toward Zhang Boqian, taking the shape of a fierce beast with its jaws opened.

    Monarch Zhang was famous for his speed, so Predica could not allow him to keep elerating without pause. Otherwise, even Demonic Traversal would not be able to keep up with that speed. Predica did not have the time to turn around afterunching the attack and flew into the traversal door in a backward position.

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t even look at that iing ck energy. He simply waved his hand and the iing energy exploded, almost as though an invisible fist had struck it.

    Surprisingly, the demonic energy didn¡¯t disappear immediately. On the contrary, it contracted briefly before exploding into a ck wall in front of Zhang Boqian. There were countless faces on this wall, their eyes shut and their mouths wide open. Their facial contours were shifting so furiously that it was difficult to figure out what kind of expression they were wearing.

    ¡°Netherworld.¡± Predica had awakened the power of a great dark monarch when he was just a marquis. It was called the ¡°Chain of Sighs¡± when attacking, but in defense, it would transform into the ¡°Wall of the Faithless.¡±

    Even someone as knowledgeable as Zhang Boqian couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. A demonkin in warlock attire had actually fired such an attack-defense ability at him.

    On the balcony of the stone castle, the fight between the Radiant Emperor and Habsburg was still going on.

    Judging from their surroundings, there was no major damage to the floors and railings. Even the windows right next to them hadn¡¯t shattered. The fight might not seem that intense at a nce, but one could hardly keep up that thought after seeing the state of their bodies.

    Bothbatants had sustained injuries in the few minutes that they had been fighting.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s wounds were less serious, with cuts at his waist and arms. A couple of them were oozing blood. On the other hand, there was a cut on Habsburg¡¯s armor extending from his left c.h.e.s.t to his abdomen. The x shirt within was stained with blood.

    The vampires possessed stronger regenerative powers and physical strength, capable of repairing their bodies even during battle. Hence, the amount of blood Habsburg had lost proved how serious the damage he had received.

    The two fighters looked over at the same time when Zhang Boqian charged into the terrestrial space of the Western Continent. The Radiant Emperor seemed faintly surprised, but Habsburg was utterly calm. It seemed as though the arrival of a second heavenly monarch couldn¡¯t faze him.

    It was only when a ck vortex appeared nearby that Habsburg¡¯s eyes went wide and hisposure was lost.

    Predica practically tumbled out of this vortex. Fortunately, the angle didn¡¯t affect him too much, and the demonkin quickly found his bnce. At the same time, something that looked like a shooting star was growingrger at a terrifying speed. Zhang Boqian was almost here.

    The man¡¯s figure wasn¡¯t clearly visible when a thunderous explosion erupted on the balcony. A dose of Spacerender went straight for Habsburg.

    Predica cried out, ¡°Are the Great Qin¡¯s heavenly monarchs so shameless?!¡±

    Habsburg was pale as he wiped the blood seeping out from the corner of his lips. He didn¡¯t look at the two heavenly monarchs on the other side and merely patted Predica on the shoulder.

    Zhang Boqian stood close to the edge of the balcony, his expression cold. ¡°This Monarch is here to offer a blood sacrifice to an old friend. Who dares stop me?¡±

    Habsburg looked up quietly, only to see a mixture of thunderous mes and undisguised sadness. At the same time, he felt Predica¡¯s hand tighten around his arm. ¡°Preddy, let go.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Predica swung his staff once more, and this time, the attack didn¡¯t undergo any transformation. A ¡°Wall of the Faithless¡± sprang up on the balcony.

    A traversal gate slowly opened up behind Predica and Habsburg.

    A ck mist emerged on the balcony and swept toward the duo,pletely ignoring the Wall of the Faithless between them. Zhang Boqian, on the other hand, simply threw a punch, and the wall melted away like snow in the sun.

    Predica started pulling Habsburg toward the traversal gate afterunching this attack. Thetter had his eyes on a single point during the process. All of a sudden, he pulled hard on Predica¡¯s hand and switched ces with him.

    This time, he couldn¡¯t help but cough up a mist of blood. He did, however, manage to shift to just the right angle, using the impact to hasten their escape into the gate. Even that wasn¡¯t quite enough¡ªZhang Boqian would soon arrive before them in a single step.

    It was at this moment that a faint glow spun around Predica¡¯s staff, almost like a slow-opening eye.

    A ck sun rose into the air.

    A domain of pure darkness devoured the ck mist as it climbed onto the balcony and enveloped the entire deserted base. The two heavenly monarchs were also within its range.

    Within the darkness, there was a man standing quietly with his hands behind his back. The figure was neither tall nor lofty, but his aura filled the entire domain, as though he were one with the darkness.

    ¡°The Demon King?¡± Zhang Boqian uttered the name as he prepared to attack again.

    However, the domain and the man both vanished just as he had formed his fist. The dissipation of the domain was even faster than its appearance. All of a sudden, the clouds had parted, and there were clear skies as far as the eye could see.

    Of course, a single breath¡¯s time was all it took for Habsburg and Predica to disappear behind the traversal gate.

    ¡°Humph!¡± Zhang Boqian snorted as his figure shot toward the other end of the battlefield. The troops had fully assembled at this point and wereunching a fierce attack on the mountain pass.

    Zhang Boqian elerated sharply, breaking the sound barrier with a loud boom. Sparks flew everywhere as he sted the City of Eimer with a solid punch.

    The entirend shook fiercely! The light barrier on the city froze for a moment, almost as though it was about to materialize. The flowing streams of origin power looked indestructible, but some cracks had begun to appear on its surface. Thatsted but a mere moment, however, as the City of Eimer faded away from existence at the very next moment.

    Zhang Boqian stood in the air, gazing at the ce where the floating city had disappeared. He didn¡¯t attempt another attack. Eventually, the Radiant Emperor¡¯s figure appeared beside him.

    ¡°How¡¯s the city¡¯s defense?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°A strike with ny percent of my power wasn¡¯t enough to break its defense.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Were you able to figure out the Demon King¡¯s strength from his projection?¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°That was just a passive projection, probably stored within that staff as a life-saving measure. The power is roughly the same as an attack from you and me. I have, however, encountered the Spider Queen¡¯s active projection before, and I can tell that the Demon King should be stronger.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded. ¡°I remember that the Pointer Monarch probed the Queen of the Night during the Sky Demon incident. The old heavenly monarch only said he can contend with her for a few bouts. I wonder how strong the Demon King ispared to the Queen?¡±

    Zhang Boqian gave it some thought. ¡°That¡¯s hard to say.¡±

    Zhang Boqian immediately realized the Radiant Emperor¡¯s meaning. ¡°Only the Sacred Mountain remains behind the great dark monarchs, but you think it isn¡¯t Lilith?¡±

    The Emperor nodded. ¡°It might sound a bit outrageous, but that¡¯s what I believe.¡±

    ¡°The ck mes in the new world are about to die out soon. The council will surely make a move when the timees.¡± Zhang Boqian nced at the battlefield in front of Serene Pass. ¡°I came over here because I sensed a certain fluctuation in space. Now that there¡¯s no more business here, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°You¡¯ve gone into the new world multiple times. Although you suppressed your powers while doing so, the damage is still significant. You should recuperate well.¡±

    Zhang Boqianughed. ¡°You also learned this from him, didn¡¯t you? That heavenly monarchs don¡¯t dare to die. That nagging fellow is already gone, so I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t me me.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor exhaled deeply. ¡°Monarch Zhang...¡± He paused for a bit as he lost words to say.

    Zhang Boqian turned around and said while waving his hand, ¡°Are you afraid that my path will diverge? Who can say for sure if a path is correct until they¡¯ve reached the end? The martial path reflects the heart, all we should do is follow it and forge ahead. Why hesitate and look at other people?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wanted to say something, but in the end, he just watched Zhang Boqian vanish into the void. Only afterward did he look over at Serene Pass.

    The battle had reached its end.

    Habsburg and Predica emerged in a corner of the flying city, tumbling onto the ground as they did so. Both of themy huffing and puffing on the ground, unable to get up for the moment. Facing two heavenly monarchs at the same time was too much of an exciting experience.

    Habsburg said, ¡°Preddy, don¡¯t do such dangerous things in the future.¡±

    Predica seemed to have calmed down a bit. He still felt a bit aggrieved, but he was no longer angry. ¡°How about you? His Majesty Kane never held any enmity toward you. He also hopes to see you return safely from this operation.¡±

    Habsburg said nothing. He believed that the Demon King had no intention of letting him die in this mission. If it were any other demonkinmander, even a great dark monarch would not have chosen to engage in a melee fight against two heavenly monarchs. Zhang Boqian was notorious for his swift and powerful attacks; no one was willing to pit themselves against him. The question was... what was the Demon King hiding behind that kind facade?

    Footsteps echoed from the other end of the street as the demonkin duke ran over in a hurry. The man heaved a sigh of relief upon finding the two alive and well. ¡°Your Highness, we¡¯ve entered the void.¡±

    Predica nodded. He mbered up and patted the dust off of his robes, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s wait in the void for a while. Prince Greensun of the Empire possesses powerful void powers. It might be dangerous if we move out recklessly.¡±

    The demonkin didn¡¯t question his instructions. Seeing that the two lords did not need his help, he ran back to execute the orders.

    Habsburg nced suspiciously at Predica. ¡°Why?¡±

    Predica¡¯s lips moved briefly, but he didn¡¯t reply in the end. He merely dragged Habsburg across the street block and entered a tall building. Several warlocks and researchers were at work here. There were strange apparatuses everywhere in the hall as well as glowing origin arrays. Apparently, this ce was themand center of the City of Eimer.

    Predica brought Habsburg into a smaller hall to the left of the entrance. The entirety of this room was upied by a disk-like object, at the center of which was a human figure. It was the Demon King!

    The Demon King gazed gently at the two men. ¡°Dear Habsburg,e see me!¡± With that, his projection faded away.

    Habsburg finally understood why Predica had ordered the City of Eimer to stop. However, there was little meaning in not turning back because the Demon King¡¯s projection could reach any ce with a traceable coordinate.

    Predica finally spoke, his voice tense and hoarse, ¡°Habsburg, leave now if you don¡¯t want to go back. You can go anywhere you want. His Majesty did not leave an imprint on you, so it¡¯ll be very difficult to track you down once you leave.¡±

    The vampire prince went silent for a while. He reached out to wipe the dust on Predica¡¯s hair. ¡°Let¡¯s head back, this is my fate.¡±

    Predica clenched his fists tightly. ¡°Then Habsburg, please listen to His Majesty patiently, okay? He actually respects you quite a bit, so please listen to what he has to say and give it some thought!¡±

    Habsburg wanted to say something, but he swallowed those words after seeing the look in Predica¡¯s eyes. ¡°Fine, I promise.¡±

    Predica grabbed Habsburg¡¯s hand tightly before leaving the room. He issued the order in the great hall, setting the City of Eimer on course to a location south of the Twilight Continent.

 Chapter 1392: Old Friends

    <h4>Chapter 1392: Old Friends</h4>

    Lava Castle was the longest-standing castle in the Sperger n¡¯s territory. The n lords of each generation had used it as the n¡¯s center ofmand for over a thousand years.

    The current n lord, Habsburg, had only returned to the n upon reaching the duke rank, so he did not have a separate castle of his own. He simply used the n¡¯smand center as his residence.

    At this point, the n¡¯s long gs were being removed one after another. The crown of raging mes was being rolled up in brocade. However, there was no smoke, fire, nor any signs of battle. The weapons here weren¡¯t stained with blood.

    The council soldiers were busy removing the Sperger n¡¯s gs and hanging up the council¡¯s own. On either side of the castle, countless vampires had gathered on the streets to watch what was happening.

    There was nock of experts among these people, but even the counts and marquises were pale and had no intention of resisting. The entire takeover and changing of gs proceeded in silence. The invaders did nothing excessive, and the vampires showed no extreme reaction.

    The battle here was clearly different from the rest of the Twilight Continent.

    On the top floor of the castle, an elegant man in demonkin apparel was standing on the balcony with the best views.

    There was no one on the balcony, or the top floor for that matter. This high position was for him alone.

    Ripples began to form in the distant sky as a person walked out. Habsburg paused briefly in the air before taking a step forward, appearing near the balcony amidst simr ripples.

    The sanguine armor on his body had been removed, reced by a ck shirt showing the council¡¯s insignia. It wasn¡¯t quite conspicuous, but the color around his rib area was a bit deeper since his wound hadn¡¯t stopped bleeding. The Qin Emperor¡¯s origin power wasn¡¯t as scorching as the other daybreak experts¡¯, but it was difficult to remove once it had invaded a wound.

    Habsburgnded on the balcony. He nced at the Demon King but did not perform the usual salutations. ¡°It¡¯s quite the honor for the Demon King himself to invade my small territory.¡±

    Habsburg noticed several duke-grade airsh.i.p.s in the sky above and the mes of war still burning in the neighboring territories. Comparatively, the Sperger n¡¯snds were still in an orderly shape. This wasn¡¯t strange because even dukes had no way to resist the Demon King¡¯s suppressive might.

    The Demon King turned around with a smile. ¡°Dear Habsburg, you came rather quickly. I thought you would hesitate for a while.¡±

    Habsburg replied indifferently, ¡°This is my n and these are my people. Thisnd would¡¯ve be their grave had I not returned, no?¡±

    There was no real need for the council soldiers to take action. The Demon King¡¯s domain was enough to cover the entire core territory, drowning all life in darkness. Should he wish, he could make it so that these souls would be forever lost in the darkness, unable to return to the River of Blood.

    The Demon King did notment on the matter. ¡°I always thought the vampires believed the primogenitor bloodline to be above everything else. As a crown prince, you should be more important than all of the Sperger nbined.¡±

    The Demon Kingughed. ¡°You should already know that the Queen of the Night cannot protect you at this moment. You can¡¯t change anything bying back here. Unless... there¡¯s something in this castle that¡¯s more important than your life?¡±

    Facing the Demon King¡¯s prating re, Habsburg said, ¡°Considering your great power, you should already know whatever is in this castle. No one can stop you from taking things away. I am only doing what I should, when I should, and where I should.¡±

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°I really don¡¯t know whether I should praise you or say you¡¯re dumb.¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°If only Medanzo were just as dumb, the Twilight Continent wouldn¡¯t be in such a state today.¡±

    ¡°He thinks he¡¯s the smartest one. In fact, the great dark monarchs on my side all think the same.¡±

    ¡°I told you before, not everyone shares the same opinion.¡±

    The Demon King nodded. ¡°Then Dear Habsburg, do you know why I mobilized this war?¡±

    Habsburg stood looking into the man¡¯s eyes. He could not see the slightest ripple, almost as though the topic at hand was nothing out of the ordinary.

    Now that he thought about it, this supreme had always worn such an indifferent expression. He had never paid attention to any form of offense, including those other superior experts would never tolerate. That gave people the illusion that he was calm and gentle.

    All of a sudden, Habsburg felt that he had underestimated the Demon King all along. Or rather, the entire Evernight World had underestimated him.

    The Queen of the Night had always reigned supreme. From her bloodline and power to her appearance, she was a being that embodied perfection. Her power and prestige exerted the same authority over all the races. Compared to her, the Demon King, the Spider Queen, and even the ancient supremes paled inparison.

    There would always be shadows under the bright moon. Everyone had forgotten how a young warrior of unremarkable birth had climbed his way to the peak of the world.

    The Demon King was the most amiable among the three supremes. He was also the most active because he was the youngest, giving him the opportunity to set up such a deep-reaching plot.

    Habsburg left the Twilight Continent for a mere three days. From the information he had obtained from Leonard, he could tell that the fight here wouldst two days at most. Routing the entire home base of the vampire race in such a short time meant that Medanzo¡¯s betrayal wasn¡¯t the only reason.

    The new and old factions within the vampire race had been at loggerheads for thousands of years, and Medanzo had quite a few opponents. The holy war between races hadsted for ten thousand years, but this fight against the vampire race was no holy war. The werewolves and arachne weren¡¯t dumb enough to side with the demonkin overnight.

    This was a scheme, an intricate ploy that had been devised for countless years.

    The demonkin gained the absolute advantage right from the outset of this war. At this point in the fight, the reason behind this war could be considered both important and negligible.

    Habsburg didn¡¯t understand why the Demon King would waste words on him.

    Habsburg sneered. ¡°Oh, is it not? Medanzo has defected, the Azure King has probably fallen by now. I bet the Dark Gospel¡¯s fate isn¡¯t any better. If my guess is right, the other sleeping primogenitors won¡¯t be waking up, either. As for me, I don¡¯t expect to leave this ce alive now that I¡¯ve returned. How can there be a vampire race without the primogenitor¡¯s bloodline?¡±

    The Demon King said patiently, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to destroy the primogenitor bloodlines but purifying them.¡±

    ¡°Purify?¡± Habsburgughed coldly.

    The Demon King said slowly, ¡°Dear Habsburg, how do you see the River of Blood¡¯s departure?¡±

    Habsburg frowned. He knew that certain things could not be kept a secret in front of the Demon King, but hearing him mentioning this matter straight up made things ufortable. However, the departure of the river was a distressing matter to the upper echelons of the vampire race. Compared to that, even an all-out war was not as important.¡±

    ¡°Even the Queen of the Night doesn¡¯t know why it¡¯s moving away from us. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve figured it out?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t figure it out, but I guessed it.¡± The Demon King looked up, as though he could see through the castle roof and gaze upon the River of Blood. ¡°The departure of the river began when humans appeared in our world.¡±

    Habsburg said with a frown, ¡°That¡¯s probably just a coincidence. Humans aren¡¯t the only daybreak species, either.¡±

    ¡°Is it a coincidence, though? It was when humans appeared on your menu that the thirteenth n¡¯s seal disappeared, right?¡±

    The Demon Kingughed. ¡°The thirteenth race¡¯s seal was supposed to be the one closest to the source of the river, no? It¡¯s even purer than your ck fire. The core of your ck fire is still in the form of blood energy, but the thirteenth can change its form at will.¡±

    Habsburg was stunned. All primogenitors had lost their memories regarding the thirteenth n. He was the youngest among his peers, so he had even less knowledge regarding it. He felt a bit uneasy, not knowing what the Demon King was trying to get at by citing so many vampire secrets.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t leave him guessing for long. ¡°Humans are natural daybreak lifeforms. Your bloodlines were tainted the moment they appeared in your diet. The thirteenth n perished because of that.¡±

    ¡°That is... just a guess.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Perhaps. This world is made of darkness, but the true Evernight slowly started disappearing when the humans appeared. At first, the human race¡¯s existence was no different from the flora and fauna, so no one noticed anything. They didn¡¯t connect the dots even when a new origin power appeared in the energy system.

    ¡°As time went by, daybreak origin power increased in our world, slowly tainting the darkness origins to the point where it had lost its original appearance. It was only a thousand years ago that this erosion reached a tipping point. As the first protectors of the human race, the vampires were punished during the Daybreak Rebellion. That is why the River of Blood grew distant.¡±

    Habsburg turned serious. ¡°You mean to say that daybreak origin power is the reason?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my guess.¡±

    Considering the Demon King¡¯s identity, this guess was probably something he had a good grasp of. Habsburg calmed down after the initial phase of surprise. ¡°No matter what, I am a vampire through and through. This fight is mine as well.¡±

    ¡°I have no reason to believe you at this point in the war.¡±

    ¡°Actually, you¡¯re the only one in whom I¡¯ve confided my spection. Do you know how I convinced Medanzo and the others?¡±

    Habsburg said coldly, ¡°Weren¡¯t they bought?¡±

    The Demon Kingughed. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have been so easy to buy them if they weren¡¯t convinced.¡±

    Habsburg gave an unexpected reply, ¡°I don¡¯t want to know.¡± Blood energy sn.a.k.e.d out of his raised arm, forming a set of sanguine armor around him.

    The Demon King sighed. He simply stood there without doing anything, but his suppressive might immediately covered the balcony and suppressed Habsburg¡¯s armor. ¡°Metatron, old friend, you¡¯re still just as stubborn.¡±

    Habsburg crashed into the stone wall of the balcony, his face shifting from pallor to an unnatural flush. His body froze upon hearing the name the Demon King had just uttered. Heter stood up straight and said, ¡°I¡¯m not an awakener.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Nighteye isn¡¯t a true awakener, either. Can you guys not sense the problem with your River of Blood?¡±

    Habsburg wasn¡¯t expecting the Demon King to use that as an argument. He didn¡¯t have a retort for the moment.

    The Demon King was just an ordinary warrior during his days as an adventurer. If there was anything special to be told about him, it was the fact that he was a traveling bard. On the other hand, the elder among the Sperger twins was known to be mediocre in strength but was celebrated for his talent in music. Kane and Metatron came to know each other in the saloon of a nobledy in the neutralnds.

    Habsburg said after a while, ¡°Do not call me that anymore.¡±

    The Demon King epted the request. ¡°Very well, Habsburg, it seems you don¡¯t want to talk about the past. Let¡¯s talk about the results from theb on the Fire Beacon Continent, isn¡¯t it enough to prove what I say?¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°No matter what you say, I have no intention of betraying the River of Blood.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°But are you willing to resign to your fate? You and your brother clearly have the same talent and the same bloodline, yet you are forced to make such a painful choice... and that¡¯s not even the worst part. It¡¯s not as if you can let Samael have the only candy between you two. To be crowned and obtain all of the seal¡¯s inheritance, one of you would have to devour the other twin.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s expression grew unsightly, and thebination of fatigue and emotional strain caused him to stagger.

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°When I heard you went into hibernation at two hundred years old, I thought you would never wake up again. But now you¡¯ve awakened... that means Samael has given you his energy.¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°Kane, you¡¯re always able to see through people¡¯s hearts, but...¡±

    For the first time, the Demon King ignored his manners and cut Habsburg short, ¡°Such a tragedy will not happen again if the River of Blood can recover to its ancient state.¡±

    Habsburg could already guess how the Demon King had persuaded all the traitors. In truth, no one knew if these problems would be solved by restoring the River of Blood. But the river had been asleep for over a thousand years. The appearance of a few favorites did not kindle hope among the vampires... it filled them with despair instead.¡±

    Habsburg said after a while, ¡°Your words might be enough to persuade them, but you and I both know that this is just a guess. That¡¯s not sufficient to make me a traitor.¡±

 Chapter 1393: Unnecessary Sacrifice

    <h4>Chapter 1393: Unnecessary Sacrifice</h4>

    The Demon Kingughed. ¡°Traitor? To whom? The River of Blood, the blood seal, or the Queen of the Night? The River of Blood is in an abnormal state. Normal vampires below the great dark monarch realm might not know so clearly, but primogenitors like you know very well. If you say the thousand years of our research is wrong, then show me what¡¯s right.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t uproot the tainted blood seals, this disaster will only spread. The extinguished seals will never light up again as time goes on. In the end, even the memory of your existence will disappear just like the thirteenth n. Habsburg, I only captured the blood ponds of those ns so that they stop affecting the river. If I really want to destroy the vampire race, there¡¯s no need for me to fight such a war.

    ¡°As for the Queen of the Night, you vampires believe that primogenitors are more important than the entire n. The Queen is even more important than the entire race. Then why do you stand before me? Even if you cannot reach her for the time being, there will be a time when the Queen of the Night will awaken on her own.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s tone hardened. ¡°I told you, not everyone shares the same opinion!¡±

    ¡°My dear old friend, look at you, you can¡¯t even convince yourself. Your stubbornness will not give Samael release. For a primogenitor, he didn¡¯t even live as long as a grand duke. You never liked how the lower vampires devoured flesh and blood like beasts. You also hate the path where you need to devour a rtive in order to be stronger. What are you afraid of?¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s voice was like a sigh that could pass through time, stirring up countless distant memories. Sweating, Habsburg took a step back and leaned against the wall to stabilize his footing.

    ¡°Is it that rumor about how only the purest bloodlines can ignite blood seals? I heard there are some dukes in the Sperger n who are dissatisfied because your bloodline isn¡¯t as pure. Well, those aren¡¯t exactly rumors... It¡¯s just that no one has ever told them that the so-called purity isn¡¯t innate and that devouring bloodlines isn¡¯t the only path to purity.¡±

    ¡°Enough, Kane, Your Majesty.¡±

    The Demon King seemed to be able to see through everything. ¡°I didn¡¯t argue with you a thousand years ago, but things are no longer the same. And did you never suspect anything? The Queen said she needs to rest due to overexertion, but even you cannot tell her real intentions, can you?¡±

    Habsburg sounded fatigued. ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯ve never spoken so much to me before. You must know that you cannot persuade me.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s do it this way. You just sit by and watch, all you need to do is watch and see if I¡¯m right. As repayment, I¡¯ll ensure that the Sperger n remains intact. I¡¯ll also revert this war to the standards of the previous holy wars. How does that sound?¡±

    Of course, very few people were privy to things the Demon King had just spoken to Habsburg. No matter what kind of reasoning the demonkin had used to mobilize the allied army, a follow-up war was inevitable even after the mission had been announcedpleted.

    If the Demon King was willing to control the scale of this war, this meant that many ordinary vampires would survive. It would also prove the Demon King¡¯s statement as he had alreadypleted the purging of the tainted ns.

    Habsburg closed his eyes for a while. He then looked straight into the Demon King¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°Why did you choose this timing?¡±

    ¡°The arrival of the new world is our only opportunity to purify the darkness origins. Otherwise, there¡¯s no telling how many more millennia we would have to wait. The ck mes will die out in a couple of days, and you¡¯ll get the proof you want at that time.¡±

    Habsburgughed wryly. ¡°I still don¡¯t know if the new world represents a scheme or a ray of hope.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see soon enough.¡±

    ¡°If everything goes smoothly, the object in the new world will thoroughly purify the darkness origins. The human race will no longer be a problem at that point. New daybreak lifeforms will always appear if daybreak itself is not uprooted. All the sins of this world will be expelled once glory returns to the darkness.¡±

    ¡°What if I say no?¡±

    The Demon King said gently, ¡°Many people will die with you. More than you can imagine, and not just on the Twilight continent.¡± After a brief pause, his voice became even softer. ¡°I¡¯ve already made a decision out of necessity. Habsburg, don¡¯t make me do this a second time.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s breathing froze for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m humbled by your favor, but why exactly?¡±

    ¡°Simple, the new vampire race will need a leader. Someone needs to seed Lilith when she returns to the River of Blood in the future. No one is more suitable.¡±

    Habsburg was stunned. ¡°What¡¯s this ancient glory you wish to restore?¡±

    ¡°A time when the seven races stood on the Sacred Mountain. War and propagation are part of the wheel of fate, the rise and fall of life is what makes the darkness thrive.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s blood core shook violently for a moment. The Demon King¡¯s description reminded him of a vision he saw a long time ago in a minor realm. They were actually very simr. ¡°You expect too much from me, I¡¯m not even a great dark monarch yet.¡±

    ¡°The great dark monarch realm is not as difficult as you expect.¡±

    ¡°Medanzo? He¡¯s not suitable to be a leader, he¡¯ll never be.¡±

    ¡°What do you look for in a leader?¡±

    ¡°One who can draft and uphold thew, one who can make decisions.¡± At this point, the Demon King paused for a moment. ¡°Well, there are times when even the supremes don¡¯t have a choice. That¡¯s probably because we¡¯re not strong enough. Habsburg, the sacrifice you wanted to make was never meaningful, and now, there¡¯s no longer a reason. Join me and witness the future... let¡¯s see if my choice was right or wrong.¡±

    After a long while of silence, Habsburg said, ¡°Fine...¡±

    At this point, the Demon King looked up at the distant void. Habsburg also sensed the River of Blood moving, and amidst the waves, he could make out a faint aura of the Morway n.

    The Demon King said thoughtfully, ¡°I¡¯m reminded of a human saying: pirs emerge in times of danger. Perhaps this war is a good thing for the new vampire race.¡±

    Habsburg gazed into the distance. Apart from a few times the river had surged for unknown reasons, this was the first time he had sensed another n calling on the river. Was it really possible to restore the lost fate by going back to ancient times?

    ...

    The battle at Serene Pass had ended.

    The battle, however, wasn¡¯t easier than any other battle. The military engineers were installing temporary armor tes on the charred walls; the actual repairs would have to wait until they were certain the fight was over.

    The Radiant Emperor appeared in the air above the tower. ¡°Duke Rong, I have something to say to you.¡±

    After Zhao Jundu followed the Emperor into the air, Lin Wu said to Zhao Junhong, ¡°Please remind Duke Rong about the matter he agreed to before. I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡±

    Zhao Junhong called out to him, ¡°Commander Lin, why not speak openly?¡±

    Lin Wu let out a sinisterugh. ¡°Openly? Would you have believed me? You people couldn¡¯t even trust Marshal Lin. I¡¯m just a small character, what right do I have? Besides, it takes more than a few people to get this thing done.¡±

    Zhao Junhong said, ¡°More than a few people? Commander Lin has been an inspector for many years. You should know full well thatplicated matters require more hands, why not work with us?¡±

    Lin Wu said indifferently, ¡°Work with overprotective people like you? To investigate your internal matters? Ha! How did you deal with the copse of Zhao Guanwei¡¯s camp? And that¡¯s just a champion.¡±

    Even someone as calm as Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t help but feel anger.

    Lin Wu said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to probe my bottomline. I will return if things don¡¯t go ording to my will.¡±

    Zhao Junhong was both shocked and furious. As a suicide soldier, Lin Wu was adept at concealment and assassination. Now that he had crossed the divine champion threshold, no one could say for sure what his newfound power was. If it was also concealment or a burst attack, the mere thought of it was shiver-inducing.

    Zhao Junhong hadn¡¯t finished sorting out his emotions when he sensed a familiar fluctuation in the air. It was Zhao Jundu calling out to him.

    Things had ended so quickly? This span of time was only enough to exchange a few words.

    Zhao Junhong took to the air and found Zhao Jundu gazing at the two destroyed provinces. There was no saving Serene South at this point. Some parts of Deste North might have survived, so the Zhao n and the Imperial forces sent out a joint rescue force. It was hard to say how much that would help.

    Zhao Jundu turned around. ¡°Second Brother.¡±

    Zhao Junhong was surprised. His brother had never revealed such aplicated expression even when Qianye was lost and found, and even when he was injured to the point of losing his heavenly monarch potential.

    Zhao Junhong collected himself and repeated what Lin Wu had told him just now. ¡°Did the Emperor say anything that¡¯s annoying you?¡±

    Zhao Jundu revealed a wry smile. ¡°His Majesty asked me if I had any intention of splitting from the Zhao n.¡±

    This shocked Zhao Junhong so much that he almost lost his footing. Fortunately, Zhao Jundu reacted quickly and caught him with his origin power.

    Zhao Jundu said after some thought, ¡°Their attitudes are the same, but the matter is different. The worst part is that there¡¯s probably more toe.¡±

 Chapter 1394: Family Interests

    <h4>Chapter 1394: Family Interests</h4>

    Zhao Junhong realized that he was being too extreme just now. The Imperial family and the aristocracy would never interfere with each other¡¯s internal affairs.

    Although the n lords could only be appointed by the Emperor, that was just a formality. The candidates were submitted by the ns themselves. There was once an incident where two n lord candidates were submitted to the Imperial court. The archives department sent both submissions back since they weren¡¯t interested in whatever internal dispute was going on.

    As expected, the Radiant Emperor¡¯s reason was:

    ¡°Duke Rong is my nephew so to speak. I rarely see Sister Gaoyi now that she has been demoted, only at family banquets and such, but I¡¯m greatly delighted to see that her beloved child is now an outstanding person. I wonder if Jundu has any intention to split off from the family? Thend in Tiansui County isn¡¯t bad, but it doesn¡¯t suit you very well. The Imperial family¡¯s reserve territory might be smaller, but it¡¯s rich in natural resources and should serve you better.¡±

    Zhao Jundu was puzzled upon hearing such words, so he only gave a vague reply.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°The Zhao n is full of courageous warriors and is a pir of the Empire, but it¡¯s also within reason for me to bestow the Imperial family¡¯snd to my sister¡¯s son. Jundu, it¡¯s fine to let me know once you¡¯ve thought it through.¡±

    That was the extent of the conversation between the two. The Emperor left via the void afterward, probably leaving the continent directly.

    Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t help butugh ruefully. He had almost forgotten that the Radiant Emperor was actually their uncle, a rtive within three generations. They were even more closely rted to the Imperial family than Duke You¡¯s branch. There was nothing wrong with an older rtive being concerned about a junior¡¯s first conferred territory.

    Things weren¡¯t that simple, however. Gaoyi and the Radiant Emperor might be siblings, but they were never close. Gaoyi was the direct descendant from a family of high status, and her Imperial blood ran thick. She might not even remember what the Radiant Emperor looked like back when she was in the pce.

    There was a long period of silence after the Radiant Emperor seeded the throne. Duke Chengen¡¯s line was just a branch of Duke You¡¯s lineage. Gaoyi herself was too busy with family matters to pay attention to this inconspicuous royal brother.

    Picking up this connection at such a time went to show that the Emperor was trying to give Zhao Jundu a suggestion as an older rtive and not as the Emperor.

    Zhao Jundu was left wondering why the Radiant Emperor would bring this up.

    The Empire always followed a set procedure when conferring title andnd. An empty title was the quickest to process, with all paperworkpleted within a month regardless of the rank. Anded title was different¡ªthe process was much longer unless the person was being assignednd from his family¡¯s territory.

    Things weren¡¯t as simple if things involved the transaction ofnd in the Empire¡¯s maind. Most territories in the heart of the Empire had already been conferred. A small portion of them was masterless for various reasons and under the trusteeship of the Empire. Suchnds were usually extreme¡ªeither extremely good or extremely bad¡ªso they would need several years of negotiation with various parties before a confirmation could be reached.

    After fighting in two territorial wars and receiving a hereditary title, Zhao Jundu would obtainnd not just on the void continent but also a county in the Empire¡¯s maind. This size was equivalent to the fiefdom of a count¡¯s family, not something so easily squeezed out. Zhao Jundu didn¡¯t really care about this matter at first.

    ¡°Mynded title wasn¡¯t supposed to be confirmed so quickly... Why is the county name already out? I remember Tianshui is a famous eastern province. I don¡¯t think newly ascended dukes would be granted such territories.¡±

    Zhao Junhong seemed to have found some clues. He said with a helpless sigh, ¡°Tianshui was supposed to be conferred to Duke Zhengguo, Lin Xitang.¡±

    Even someone as calm as Zhao Jundu couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. ¡°The Lin descendants are sure to face a demotion, but why did the Emperor take back their conferrednd? Moreover, his Zhengguo title was conferred by the previous Emperor, and he was never promoted again all this time. He should¡¯ve been conferred another duke title at least considering how much he had contributed to the Empire. How big is the Lin family¡¯s current territory anyway?¡±

    In truth,nded titles were bing more and more difficult to confer since the Empire settled on its four continents. This was especially true today where the mainds have enjoyed prolonged peace. There wasn¡¯t enoughnd for all thended titles. The items used to ssify the aristocracy included contributions and enve earnings in addition to the conferrednd.

    The Lin family was a lower-ranking aristocratic family, and most of its members were low-ranking officials. They only possessed a county ofnd in the Empire and a small one at that. Lin Xitang was serving as the leader of the cab back when he received the title of Marquis Zhengguo. That was a time when he was under the most attack both in court and in public. Hence, he never received additionalnd although his title was anded one.

    The territories Lin Xitang pioneered during his time as a marshal were considered his designated warzone. After leaving office, he could keep a portion of them as a part of his territory and exchange his contributions for a big county back in the maind.

    At the thought of this, Zhao Junhong couldn¡¯t help but press on his forehead. Instead of replying to Zhao Jundu¡¯s question, he said, ¡°I heard the Lin family submitted a proposal, saying they wish to return thends to the Empire because they do not have the power to defend them.¡±

    Zhao Junhong had thought of this matter one step ahead; he just didn¡¯t know how to start talking about it. Seeing as Zhao Jundu was bringing it up, he said with a deep sigh, ¡°It just so happened that the beast horde attacked when the Northern Legion was being relieved. Father personally requested the Northern Legion to stay and help with the defense.¡±

    Zhao Jundu wasmanding the Empire¡¯s forward base at the time. Later on, he paid little attention to matters on the Western Continent after hearing that the situation was much betterpared to Transcendent.

    One had to know that Zhao Weihuang and Lin Xitang didn¡¯t share a great rtionship despite being neighbors on the battlefield. The highest-ranked officer on the Western Continent right now was the General of the Northwest, Zhao Weihuang. In name, he was to oversee the transition and withdrawal of the Northern Legion from the Western Continent, but Zhao Jundu could say for sure that the man had never even set foot in the Northern Legion¡¯s camp.

    Besides, considering Zhao Weihuang¡¯s character, the first thing he would do in the face of an invasion was lead his troops into battle. There was no way he would head over to the Northern Legion on his own.¡±

    Zhao Junhong sighed. ¡°Regardless, no one would have objected.¡±

    Zhao Jundu understood what Zhao Junhong meant. Now that he thought about it, he wouldn¡¯t have found anything wrong with this matter even if he were at the scene; it was only right that the Empire¡¯s soldiers would fight to protect the Empire. However, the Zhao n¡¯s actions actually served to detain the Northern Legion on the Western Continent. The fact that the Northern Legion hadn¡¯tpleted its withdrawal procedures became all the more eye-catching today.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s with Tianshui?¡±

    ¡°It was the n¡¯s decision to go through with your title andnd conferment procedures,¡± Zhao Junhong said with a wry smile. ¡°In fact, we¡¯re not the only n eyeing thatnd. Tianshui boasts a well-defined border, prosperous cities, and it¡¯s located in the heart of the continent, a good ce that¡¯s rare to see in recent years. Duke Zhengguo¡¯s contributions, experience, and status allowed him to jump the queue and take thend. No one could object even if they weren¡¯t quite satisfied. The Zhao n can¡¯t stay idle now that everyone in line for conferment is making a move for this territory.¡±

    Imperial fiefdoms were a major topic for the entire n. It was impossible for the titled person to do all the misceneous procedures himself, so the usual rule was to discuss everything within the n first. Then, the family would dispatch a capable representative to obtain the greatest benefits for the n. This wasn¡¯t something a handful of people could decide because it involved the interests of the n and its single primary, two parallels, and eighteen auxiliary manors.

    Zhao Junhong sighed. ¡°Every maind territory conferred involves countless power contests behind the curtains. It¡¯s not something a single family can do. What exactly did His Majesty want?¡±

    Zhao Jundu said calmly, ¡°Perhaps this matter wasn¡¯t orc.h.e.s.trated by the Zhao n. It¡¯s just that we¡¯re not entirely innocent.¡±

    Zhao Junhong was dazed momentarily. He wanted to argue but didn¡¯t know what to say. Now that it was clear that the Lin family was incapable of holding onto the territory, he couldn¡¯t guarantee that he wouldn¡¯t take advantage of the situation and simply allow the other ns to im the benefits. It was easy to talk about maintaining proper conduct when people weren¡¯t looking, but how many people could actually follow the principle?

    Zhao Jundu pondered for a while before saying, ¡°I think I understand what Commander Lin meant. One cannot help but make certain associations regarding those rumors. Rumors seem easy, but investigating them is fairly difficult. Considering the friction between the Zhao n and Lin Xitang throughout the years, few will actually consider this as idle gossip.¡±

    At this point, Zhao Jundu recalled the Emperor¡¯s praise. ¡°The Zhao n is full of courageous warriors.¡±

    The Zhao n specialized in warfare. Its descendants would join the battlefield the moment they came of age. From the twenty high-ranking elders and the head of each branch family to the n lord himself, no one was a weakling. Zhao Jundu was able to lead his own manor at such a young age, not because he was a genius but because of his strength and ability.

    Even the weaker ones among these elders were respected for their great contributions to the Empire. This was also the reason why the Zhao n was able to stand firmly as one of the top ns despite their arrogance, their refusal to intermarry withndowning households, or curry favor with the Imperial n.

    This also caused the n tock a single loud voice. At first, the n lord position had been shouldered by the Dukes You and Yan in turn. The main and branch families were in a rtive bnce of power, something Duke Chengen broke when he took up the n lord¡¯s position.

    This was especially true because it had been less than fourteen years since Duke Chengen¡¯s lineage had broken off from Duke You¡¯s branch. The two dukes You and Yan were older than Zhao Weihuang by one generation. And apart from Zhao Jundu, the heads of all the other auxiliary manors were either his seniors or peers. Hence, the residences tended to mind their own business, unless the n¡¯s ancestral teachings were being vited.

    At this point, Zhao Junhong suddenly remembered something. ¡°The Emperor asked you about splitting off... did he find out about that time...¡±

    Zhao Jundu immediately understood what Zhao Junhong was trying to say. He patted his second brother on the shoulder, saying, ¡°I¡¯m totally fine, no need to bear what outsiders say in mind.¡±

    Zhao Junhongughed ruefully.

    This matter started at the end of the void continent war. Princess Haimi had saved Zhao Jundu using every medicine at her disposal, yet he didn¡¯t recover for a long while. The worst part was that his origin power grade had slipped significantly.

    This was a major development for the Zhao n. Before this, the Dukes You and Yan had stood their ground against the masses to pick Zhao Jundu as the next n lord, skipping over traditional procedures. Although this matter hadn¡¯t been announced yet, it had already passed the elder assembly.

    It almost seemed like he had no hope of bing a divine champion back then. Throughout its long history, the Zhao n had never had a n lord who wasn¡¯t even a divine champion. As such, it was only natural that some people would start giving out other suggestions.

    Among Duke Yan¡¯s grandsons, Zhao Fenglei was in detention for two years because of the incident on the void continent. Their main resources were shifted to two other young descendants, who showed great improvement in cultivation and warfare.

    Everyone was delighted that there would be no gap in the n¡¯s core descendants, but they had to consider the matter of the next n lord. One of the ns was to suggest Zhao Junhong as the sessor.

    Back when Zhao Jundu¡¯s brilliance was shrouding the entire younger generation, the outside world viewed him as a man of mediocre talents. The n members, however, saw him as a veteran in governmental affairs and an expert in military strategy. There was a chance he could break through to the divine champion realm with proper training and the right opportunity. By the time Zhao Junhong was conferred the title of Vice-Marshal, he was already rank seventeen.

    At this moment, a signal re exploded in the distant sky. This was the Zhao n¡¯s withdrawal signal.

    Zhao Junhong said, ¡°It¡¯s time for me to head back, otherwise, people will start looking for me.¡± It was fine for the Radiant Emperor and Prince Greensun to leave, but the two siblings had to appease the defending army at Serene Pass.

    Zhao Jundu nodded. ¡°Second Brother, let¡¯s not tell anyone else about today¡¯s matter.¡±

    Zhao Junhong sighed. ¡°I was just about to persuade you not to tell Mother about this. It¡¯s great that you think the same, let¡¯s just discuss this together first.¡± As the closest among the siblings, Zhao Junhong understood that Zhao Jundu¡¯s warning did not include their mother and other siblings.

    Zhao Jundu said with a frown, ¡°How is this rted to mother?¡±

    Zhao Junhong was already tired of producing wry smiles at this point. ¡°I remembered something. Whether or not it¡¯s rted to the current matters, it¡¯s best I let you know first. Back when Marshal Lin produced secret treasures to send people into the Great Maelstrom, our little sister robbed someone¡¯s treasure and went in. Back then, Mother said she would settle this score with the marshal.¡±

    Zhao Jundu hadn¡¯t expected this. ¡°What kind of reasoning is this? There¡¯s no way the marshal could¡¯ve controlled little sister.¡±

    Zhao Junhong said, ¡°She must¡¯ve said so because she was in a bad mood, but someone managed to blow it up. Everyone knows about it now.¡±

    Even Zhao Jundu could only sigh. These trivial matters had alle together to form a sinister oue, painting the Zhao n as a viin.

    Zhao Jundu shook his head. ¡°How can there be so many schemes? Many of these things are happening because weck secrecy in doing things, things other people took advantage of in passing. Comparatively, Command Lin is the one I¡¯m worried about. I¡¯m afraid someone will think themselves clever and try to cause trouble. Not only will they get themselves killed, but the scandal will also be made known to the entire world.¡±

    Zhao Junhong felt a headachee over him as he recalled Lin Wu. This man had faced countless assassinations during his time as Fang Qingkong, and none of them had ever seeded. Moreover, news of the attempt would always spread out at the critical juncture. One had to know that the ns sought face above all else. They would rather fight in secret without letting these things surface in public.

    But even Zhao Junhong had to admit that the man¡¯s tone of voice made him want to challenge him to a duel.

    Zhao Junhong also came to understand at this point. ¡°Lin Wu wouldn¡¯t have said those things if it was only about the rumors. No n will do a thorough purge just because of some rumors. Someone in the n might¡¯ve done something extreme, and Lin Wu either has proof of it or is trying to rm us into revealing the proof.¡±

    Zhao Jundu said, ¡°We must deal with those rumors anyway, so let¡¯s start there. Ask all manors to restrain their members and investigate the source. You and I will work in secret to check what this is all about.¡±

    Zhao Junhong nodded, and the two returned to Serene Pass afterward.

 Chapter 1395: True Purification

    <h4>Chapter 1395: True Purification</h4>

    Bandari Continent was the youngest among the demonkin continents.

    Its sky wasn¡¯t as colorful as the Twilight Continent¡¯s, but it was filled with dynamic beauty. Countless streaks of light would gather and spread out slowly in the sky, forming circles, curtains, and arcs.

    The demonkin continent possessed differentndforms and florapared to the middle continents. The further one went into the continent, the more of an ancient aura one could sense in the air. The ce looked quite a bit different from the other dark race continents.

    Therge sea of crystalline flowers before them reached the ends of the in, almost as though there was no border to it.

    An ancient castle could be seen sitting on a gentle slope, almost upying the entirety of the hill. This castle did not possess the austerity of an ordinary fortress¡ªevery corner, every line, and every carving wasplex and elegant. It was like an intricate work of art against the sea of crystal flowers.

    Habsburg stood before the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, gazing out at the scenery. An unfinished board of chess sat silently on the nearby tea table.

    In the air outside of the window, the Demon King Kane was standing with his harp, entirely focused on ying a tune.

    The music pouring out from the fourteen chords was as clear as the crystalline flower petals beneath him. The unhurried melody was like an aurora reflecting upon flower petals, merging into a hazy mist as it swept across thend.

    Habsburg listened in silence. This was a joyous tune popr in the Evernight World, a song about how a traveler found enlightenment during his travels... the purest, most majestic, and eternal darkness.

    A variation appeared just as the song was about to end¡ªthe boundless darkness transformed into a world of manyyers that opened up into a sky full of glorious stars.

    The harp came to a sudden stop here.

    The Demon King stood there with the harp in his arms and his head slightly lowered; only his silhouette could be seen from the side. Only when a fluctuation appeared from the main building did he look over. He then reached out and pulled a parchment paper out of thin air.

    He scanned the contents briefly before sending it away with a flick of his finger.

    The Demon King said, ¡°The ck mes in the new world are about to die, but the remainder seems to be burning at a much slower rate and releasing a lingering mist in the area. The gravity in the area has risen so much that both the Empire and our forces had to pull back. It looks like we¡¯ll need to wait a couple more days.¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°That ce is too chaotic.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s thews that are chaotic. This is an extreme manifestation of apressed origin power, just like how a low-ranking expert copses in the face of a high-ranking expert.¡±

    Habsburg understood after some thought. ¡°What exactly is inside?¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°A substance, or rather, an energy that can repair our darkness origins. We cannot guess its form just yet.¡± Heughed while exining, ¡°There¡¯s something else that¡¯s interesting.¡±

    Habsburg nced at him. ¡°Something that interests even you?¡±

    ¡°Nighteye and Qianye have appeared.¡±

    Habsburg looked up, waiting quietly for the continuation.

    ¡°Qianye has recovered his strength so quickly, looks like I underestimated him.¡±

    ¡°Qianye should be a duke by now, and he has Nighteye with him. Even Progia suffered against the two of thembined, that¡¯s no unimportant character.¡±

    The Demon King broke out into augh. ¡°You don¡¯t need to remind me. Even if I didn¡¯t promise you, I¡¯m not about to head over to Twilight and bully those kids.

    ¡°Twilight Continent?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they rescued the Dark Gospel and some vampires. It looks like they intend to take them away from Twilight.¡± The Demon King seemed pensive.

    Habsburg¡¯s words interrupted the demonkin¡¯s thoughts, ¡°Howard can¡¯t wake up Her Majesty anymore, and you¡¯ve already purged the blood ponds. It probably won¡¯t affect your ns even if they join Genesis or New Moon, will it?¡±

    The Demon King shot Habsburg a nce. He said while waving his hand in a friendly manner, ¡°The Book of Darkness is with Qianye.¡±

    ¡°The Book of Darkness?¡± Habsburg was startled. ¡°This holy relic¡¯s legends have spread far and wide. It was rumored that Andruil¡¯s power rose by leaps and bounds after obtaining the ancient secrets recorded within. We, on the other hand, know that none of those things are true. What makes you so interested in the book?¡±

    After reaching the prince rank, vampires could no longer see the path forward by external means. Having be a primogenitor, Habsburg had, of course, walked part of the path himself.

    Communicating with the River of Blood, obtaining the race¡¯s inheritance, sensing the blood seal, and igniting it were just some of the paths based on one¡¯s bloodline. Observing, contemting, and understanding the nature of this world was a different path.

    Then again, the former was more dangerous. People believed that the best way to understand thews was to explore the upper continents. To do this, they would have to traverse the boundless void and contend with suddenly appearing void colossi.

    Experts from every race above the prince level would have to walk this difficult path.

    That was why Habsburg didn¡¯t believe in any secret method to skip the prince bottleneck, and someone at the Demon King¡¯s level had no use for the Book of Darkness.

    The Demon King said, ¡°Actually, I have seen the book as well, and it¡¯s definitely not a secret art. The Book of Darkness is also called the Book of Genesis, a treasure born together with our world. Its actual function is to record and evolve, in addition to some minor uses that aren¡¯t worth mentioning.¡±

    Habsburg asked, ¡°Is this evolution a disy of thews of this world? That would be rather interesting if so.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ll know if you see it. The Book of Darkness¡¯ evolution is quite different from the real Evernight World we know today.¡±

    Seeing that Habsburg was puzzled, the Demon King said, ¡°The records in the Book of Darkness date back to the moment the Evernight World was created. Its evolution is a deduction of how the world should¡¯ve progressed and prospered.¡±

    At this point, the Demon King paused for a bit. ¡°That means the world derived from the Book of Darkness is how this world should be, a world that is truly pure.¡±

    After a momentary daze, Habsburg suddenly recalled a problem, ¡°Did you say the world in the Book of Darkness is different from this world?!¡±

    Qianye had no idea what a pure Evernight World looked like, nor did he care. However, he sensed something as the Demon King said those words. He suddenly turned back and gazed into the distance.

    Nighteye noticed the change. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Qianye¡¯s face was somewhat pale. He quietly channeled his concealment powers for some time before he managed to cut off the mysterious intent that had locked onto him. This short period of contention resulted in his aura dropping a bit.

    Nighteye was surprised. ¡°Who is it?!¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I think they¡¯re onto me.¡±

    Howard arrived. ¡°The airsh.i.p.s on my side are ready. The direct descendants of all the ns have reported in. When will your airship arrive?¡±

    Qianye nced into the distance and saw a dark fleet of transports driving over at full speed. The vampires in the secret realm emerged from their tents and gazed at the iing airsh.i.p.s, their faces full of excitement.

    The trio¡¯s rescue operation went off without a hitch,pleting almost one day early. For some reason, the council withdrew on the second day, almost as though they were conducting a normal mission.

    Whatever the reason was, it made things a lot less troublesome for Qianye¡¯s group. Their main objective was to save people, so they avoided the territories that hadn¡¯t been invaded lest they fall into a trap like at Marquis Lynch¡¯s ce.

    Just like that, tens of thousands of vampires had gathered at the secret realm.

    Hearing Howard¡¯s question, Qianye replied, ¡°It¡¯s already here.¡±

    The clouds over the distant horizon gushed upward as an airship of unimaginable size tore through the skies and appeared above Twilight Continent. That city-sized airship could only be the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    The pce drove straight toward the secret realm andnded before the other transports. It looked as though the Earth Dragon had made a dive toward the ground before switching to a gentle descent at thest moment.

    The vampires in the valley were stunned. How could they have ever seen such an airship?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Board the airship! Leave the useless stuff. We can¡¯t hide the Martyr¡¯s Pce for long.¡±

    Howard also regained hisposure and immediately left to oversee the boarding procedure. All of these people had just escaped from the clutches of death, so it wasn¡¯t too difficult to make them board faster.

    On the other side, the massive transport fleet had just arrived and wasnding one after another. They would be in charge of delivering ordinary vampires to Fort Continent. Tens of thousands of vampires were crowded near thending site, filling each airship soon after it hadnded. Those vessels didn¡¯t linger in the area afterward and quickly set out on their journey to the Fort Continent.

    Qianye felt relieved to see that the process was rather efficient despite being messy. He had just turned around when a ck shadow shot toward him at great speeds, kicking up gusts of wind in its wake. Qianye did not have enough time to dodge and was smashed right into the ground from the impact.

    Qianye shook his head and saw a child clinging onto him like an octopus. Her strength was so great that it felt as though he were in the jaws of a void colossus; even his modified bones were creaking.

    A beautiful little face appeared in front of his eyes, and the girl smiled radiantly as she nted several big kisses on Qianye¡¯s face.

    ¡°Papa!¡±

    Trying hard to suppress a counterattack, he gazed at the girl for a good while. ¡°Zhuji?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me! I look better now, don¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Wait, get up first, you¡¯re about to break my ribs.¡± Groaning, Qianye reached out and grabbed Zhuji by the neck.

    Fortunately, the littless¡¯ weakness never changed despite growing a lot taller. She would go limp once she was lifted up from the nape of her neck and curl up into a ball.

    Qianye climbed out from the pit and shook the dirt off his clothes. Only then did he have enough time to observe Zhuji.

 Chapter 1396: Good-Looking Stepmom

    <h4>Chapter 1396: Good-Looking Stepmom</h4>

    That young little girl now looked like a fifteen-year-olddy, and she was starting to catch up to Qianye in height. From her external appearance, no one could tell that this slender young girl possessed such explosive power within.

    Her eyes were clear, bright, and contained a hint of cunning, a stark difference from her usual confused state.

    ¡°You¡¯ve grown up.¡± Qianye felt emotional. She was but an egg back when he found her in a count¡¯sir. Qianye and Song Zining were only young geniuses back then¡ªall the major characters had to say about them was that their potential wasn¡¯t bad.

    How time had flown! This little girl had already grown up. Qianye, Song Zining, and their brothers from back in the year had all be awe-inspiring experts.

    Little Zhuji said with a smile, ¡°I grow fast, but I¡¯m still very young.¡±

    Qianye was astonished. ¡°How did you be so smart?¡±

    The girl replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know. One day, I stopped being so hungry, almost as though I had woken up from a long sleep. Then, I understood everything.¡±

    ¡°That... alright...¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Arachne talents were truly enviable. This littless had done little besides eating and sleeping since she was born. When she fought, she did so out of instinct, and her innate talents decided her cultivation. She had m.a.t.u.r.ed even faster than Qianye, shaming all of the geniuses from either faction.

    This little fellow had actually be an extremely beautifuldy, but Qianye¡¯s impression of her was stuck in that period where she wastching onto him.

    ¡°Howe you¡¯re here?¡±

    Thess didn¡¯t reply. Instead, she gestured with her eyes, saying, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going? They¡¯re going to start fighting soon.¡±

    Qianye turned around and saw Caroline ring at Nighteye, arcs of lightning flickering on her whip. She was clearly preparing for a fight.

    Nighteye looked rather puzzled, but she wasn¡¯t one to think twice about retaliating against challengers.

    Qianye hurriedly stepped in between them. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Caroline contained her killing intent. ¡°She¡¯s Nighteye, right? The one who almost killed you in thest battle?¡±

    Nighteye replied calmly, ¡°Outsiders don¡¯t need to interfere with our couple¡¯s spat.¡±

    Caroline¡¯s expression was ashen. ¡°How can a spat go so far?! The word on the streets is that he¡¯s dead! If it wasn¡¯t for the information from the Martyr¡¯s Pce, I... I wouldn¡¯t even know if he¡¯s alive!¡±

    Nighteye shot her a smiling nce. ¡°What? Were you nning on avenging him?¡±

    ¡°That was the n if he really did die. I¡¯ll kill that person whoever she is!¡± Caroline admitted honestly.

    Smelling the tension in the air, Qianye wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere.

    However, Nighteye ced one hand on his shoulder and covered his mouth with the other. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to say no one can meddle in our affairs, but it¡¯ll be better if you¡¯re a hundred and eighty years younger.¡±

    ¡°Bang!¡± Lightning erupted on Caroline¡¯s whip, sting a small hole in the ground. Her c.h.e.s.t heaved rapidly as arcs of electricity crawled all over her body. Clearly, she was beyond furious. She might¡¯veshed at Nighteye if she weren¡¯t standing so close to Qianye.

    This Dark Gospel was peeking in this direction at first, but he unexpectedly turned away the moment he met Qianye¡¯s gaze and began shoutingmands at the vampire civilian airsh.i.p.s.

    The acting was beyond fake.

    Qianye cursed at the old man forck of camaraderie, but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    On the other side, Caroline seemed to have thought things through. Her killing intent receded as she said with a smile, ¡°Speaking of age, I wonder how an awakener¡¯s age is calcted. I think there¡¯s amonly epted form for this.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s smile froze stiff for a moment.

    Off in the distance, Howard turned away once more. He was simply watching the vampire airsh.i.p.s this time, and his aura was so well contained that he felt more like an ordinary vampire elder.

    Nighteye¡¯s loosened her grip on Qianye¡¯s mouth. She said nonchntly while squishing his face, ¡°This fellow might be dumb, but you might be a bitcking to be able to avenge him. To be frank, anyone below the grand duke rank will be throwing their lives away.¡±

    Caroline said, ¡°Even if I can¡¯t, I still have my brother. Our Thunderfrost Temple isn¡¯t easy to push around in the neutralnds.¡±

    ¡°Neutralnds is it? I think I¡¯ve heard of the Throne of Blood. I might just head over when I¡¯m free and remove all those shrines and temples.¡±

    Nighteye patted Qianye¡¯s face, saying, ¡°Look, I think I need to go to the neutralnds.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t remain silent anymore. ¡°She¡¯s one of ours, there¡¯s no need to go that far.¡±

    ¡°One of yours?¡± Nighteyeughed coldly.

    Qianye pulled Nighteye back and said to Caroline, ¡°I tricked her in that battle, that¡¯s how she ended up injuring me. I¡¯m fine right now, see?¡±

    Caroline¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Looks like the rumors are true, you really did want to die. Fine, I understand.¡±

    She put away her Thunderous Whip and walked into the Martyr¡¯s Pce, unwilling to reveal herself any longer.

    Qianye sighed.

    ¡°Go after her.¡± Nighteye prodded.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Let it be, I¡¯ll find some time to exin. She¡¯s not a bad person.¡±

    From her tone, Qianye knew that this problem was over. As slow as he was in the romance department, he knew he couldn¡¯t go after Caroline at this juncture.

    After all the vampires had boarded the airship, the Martyr¡¯s Pce slowly rose into the air, leaping into the void as it flew toward Dawn Continent.

    At the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Qianye was seated in front of the window, gazing at the scenery outside. Nighteye sat beside him with Howard and Zhuji across from them.

    Zhuji¡¯s bright sparkling eyes remained fixed upon Nighteye all the while.

    Toward the end, Qainey could no longer ignore her dazzling gaze. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Little Zhuji propped up her cheek with her palms. ¡°I was thinking that they¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°About what?¡±

    ¡°They say the stepmother is always better looking.¡±

    The atmosphere in the Martyr¡¯s Pce immediately reached subzero temperatures.

    Nighteye turned toward Qianye with a spurious smile. ¡°That means she has a birth mother?¡±

    Qianye felt nervous as he looked at her raised brows. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her! She just grew up and doesn¡¯t know much!¡±

    ¡°Of course I know! I remember everything you guys said since I broke through the eggshell!¡± Little Zhuji stabbed him again.

    Nighteye tilted her head. ¡°Then... who¡¯s your birth mother? Is it that woman from just now?¡±

    Little Zhuji blinked innocently. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m talking about Mommy Zining. He doesn¡¯t look as good as you.¡±

    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief, his forehead drenched in sweat. He red furiously at Little Zhuji, puzzled as to whether she was doing this intentionally or otherwise.

    Nighteye stared at Qianye and said coldly, ¡°The weather¡¯s not hot at all. Why are you sweating if not for a sense of guilt?¡±

    ¡°Well... it¡¯s not exactly cool, either,¡± Qianye said vaguely.

    Howard¡¯s expression was rather odd, almost as though he would break out inughter at the next moment. Fortunately, he remembered his identity and managed to maintain his image as a primogenitor.

    Qianye said to Zhuji with a stern face, ¡°Where did you learn all this nonsense? We were the ones who brought you to the neutralnds, don¡¯t you remember?¡±

    ¡°Of course I remember, but that was Aunty Nighteye!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t she the same person?¡±

    ¡°She has awakened and no longer the same.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°Who taught you these things?¡±

    ¡°Aunty Nighteye¡¯s identity? I just knew after I woke up.¡±

    Qianye had no way to deal with her or her special inheritance.

    ording to Evernight customs, an awakener would possess an awakened status. For instance, Nighteye became a member of the Monroe n after awakening as a primo. After her second awakening, she was treated with the same ceremony as a dark monarch.

    ¡°Who taught you the first part? Who are ¡®they¡¯?¡± Qianye was shrouded in killing intent, prepared to take it out on the little fe.

    Zhuji pointed downward, saying, ¡°The crew. Whatever they say on the airship I know.¡±

    Qianye was stunned¡ªthe littless¡¯ perception couldn¡¯t have reached this stage no matter how powerful it was. He immediately found an answer after connecting with the Earth Dragon. ¡°You canmunicate with the Earth Dragon?¡±

    Zhuji nodded. ¡°It¡¯s really slow, though. I need to talk to him for half a day before he gives me a reply.¡±

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce began to tremble constantly at this point. This was abnormal because this airship used to be a void colossus, and traveling through the void was second nature to it. There was no way it would be unstable.

    Qianye looked out the window and saw the entire area shrouded in resplendent light. It almost felt like they were in fantasynd.

    The appearance of such radiance in the void space between continents usually meant great danger. Even the Martyr¡¯s Pce would suffer constant impact while passing through; ordinary airsh.i.p.s wouldn¡¯tst for long.

    Nighteye looked serious. ¡°This is the rainbow belt that separates the upper and middle continents. Howe it¡¯s here?¡±

    Howard said, ¡°Correct. I found the hidden flight path after noticing the abnormality in the rainbow belt, which led me to the ce on Dawn Continent.¡±

    Qianye merged his consciousness with the Earth Dragon and began steering the massive airship through the prismatic light.

 Chapter 1397: Life on Dawn

    <h4>Chapter 1397: Life on Dawn</h4>

    The void here was no longer full of boundless emptiness but filled with a waterfall of rainbow colors stretching hundreds of kilometers.

    As beautiful and resplendent as it was, it represented an extremely fierce eruption of power. Even the strongest of airsh.i.p.s would have to be cautious in its vicinity, else they would soon find that even a vessel capable of withstanding a duke¡¯s attack would be easily twisted apart.

    Fortunately, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was built from the remains of the Earth Dragon. Moreover, the dragon was slowly regaining its consciousness under Qianye¡¯s care, especially after the gains it received in the new world. Its flesh had regrown in many parts of the airship.

    The void colossus¡¯ body was the best structure to withstand void tempests and prismatic light. Currently, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was traversing through the rainbow belt with no damage save for a few bumps.

    Watching the Martyr¡¯s Pce travel unobstructed through the area, Howard sighed. ¡°I thought it was inconceivable that we had lost two duke-grade airsh.i.p.s at the void continent. Now I can see that they were indeed outmatched.¡±

    Nighteye asked while gazing at the prismatic curtain, ¡°How did you find this flight route back then? The Byrne n¡¯s fleet probably can¡¯t reach this ce.¡±

    Howard blushed slightly. ¡°To be honest, I was fighting against a heavenly monarch from two generations back. My fleet was scattered and I was badly injured, so I had no choice but to flee in this direction. My small airship back then was easier to maneuver. In the end, I ended up on that flight path.¡±

    At this point, Qianye¡ªwho had been connected to the Earth Dragon¡¯s consciousness¡ªsaid, ¡°There! The flight path!¡±

    In front of the airship, the prismatic lights rolled up like curtains and revealed a path behind them, one that had remained securely hidden behind an intersection of rainbow screens. They could see the dark red silhouette of the Dawn Continent far in the distance.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce sped up and headed toward the Dawn Continent. By the time its massive frame had left the rainbow belt behind, their destination was already in front of them.

    Even in the void, they could sense the terrifying power of the sun. Although the radiant sphere hung high up in the sky, the experts could see amazing scenery that was impossible to find on the lower continents.

    Giant pirs of fire gushed out from the surface of the sun. These pirs weren¡¯t bright red as one would expect but rather a dark, hazy color. Following the explosion of each me pir, a terrifying heatwave and origin power storm would engulf the area. Even the Martyr¡¯s pce began to tremble violently from the impact.

    Heat and violent origin power bore down from above and swept over the Dawn Continent, leaving red clouds in its wake. These clouds were different from the beautiful twilight clouds from the middle continents; they were made up of actual fire.

    Even the continent¡¯s natural barrier could do little to protect its interior from the constant erosion of the origin storms. With his True Sight, Qianye could see the intense heat scorching the continent and driving the darkness origin power toward the continents below.

    A portion of the sun¡¯s origin power was blocked by the continents higher up. The remainder would pour down toward the rainbow belt, growing significantly weaker in the process. There, it would collide with the existing void origin power, stirring upyer afteryer of prismatic light. After all that, the all-destroying sr power would be more or less neutral.

    In Qianye¡¯s vision, the me pirs gushing out from the sun weren¡¯t singr but a mixture of daybreak and darkness origin power. It was just that both types were in the form of scorching fire.

    Only when the storm reached the Dawn Continent did the darkness and daybreak power separate. Most of the daybreak origin power would remain on Dawn Continent, while the darkness origin power sank deeper toward the world below.

    Most of the daybreak origin power from the sr winds remained on the Dawn Continent, hence the intensity of daybreak energy here was much higher than the lower continents. Even dukes would feel as though they were inside a raging furnace since breathing daybreak origin power was beyond diforting, not to mention the fact that the daybreak origin power here was burning at all times.

    Only primogenitors like Howard who possessed someprehension of the basicws could build a minor isted environment around them. This served to protect them as they explored the upper continents, but even with that, they couldn¡¯t stay for very long.

    The Dawn Continent was a ce of intense daybreak origin power, but the ferocity of this energy was no weaker than void origin power. No ordinary expert could absorb and utilize it.

    Qianye gave it some thought and found that only the Combatant Form could make use of the daybreak origin power here. The Imperial nobility might have some ultimate arts that could do the same, but they would no doubt have strict requirements. Few experts would ever seed.

    Both the daybreak and darkness origin power was in a constant burning state, not to mention the sr storms that would erupt from time to time. Such an environment would be a difficult ordeal for the frail human body. The dark race experts might be able to stay a bit longer here as they were blessed with a tough constitution.

    If Dawn Continent was in such a state, it was easy to imagine how the continents higher up would fare.

    Was there really a ce for the vampires on this continent?

    Howard was staring fixedly at the Dawn Continent all this time. At this moment, he said, ¡°Five degrees to the right!¡±

    The helmsman nced at Qianye. Only after receiving a nod did he repeat the order, ¡°Five degrees to the right.¡±

    ¡°To degrees left!¡± the helmsman repeated.

    The massive airship was like a nimble fish adjusting its trajectory as it approached Dawn Continent. As the Martyr¡¯s Pce approached the protective barrier, a hint of distant green came into Qianye¡¯s view.

    How could there be anything green on the Dawn Continent?

    Green was a color usually associated with life.

    The dragonship turned slightly and drove in that general direction.

    As the Dawn Continent grew bigger and bigger in everyone¡¯s vision, that green patch also became increasingly noticeable.

    A giant valley soon came into view in a corner of the Dawn Continent, surrounded by a wall of tall mountain ranges. The scorching winds from the center of the continent would run into the tall mountains and arc over the valley, leaving the continent fully protected.

    Close up, the valley looked as though it were covered in a giant barrier of mes. It looked nothing out of the ordinary from a distance, so much so that even Qianye could only make out a shade of green. Howard had stumbled upon this well-hidden ce back in the year.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce passed through the screen of mes andnded slowly inside the valley.

    There was a dense array of caves in the surrounding cliffs. The biggest among them were dozens of meters wide, while the smallest was only a couple of meters in diameter. There were giant trees growing out of these caves, stretching high toward the sky. To be able to grow in such a harsh environment, one couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the tenacity of life.

    Qianye looked beneath his feet where the soil was covered in grass. The des of grass were dark red in color and extremely sharp.

    He reached out to grab the air, locking in some of the origin power in the atmosphere with his blood energy.

    Most vampires would not be able to utilize this origin power. On the contrary, it might even cause harm to them. Hence, only counts and above could remain in this valley. Fortunately, the amount of violent origin power here wasn¡¯t great, so ordinary vampires could also survive here for a while.

    Howard arrived beside Qianye and picked up a stone from the ground. He then crushed it, allowing the powdery pieces to flow down from his hand. This revealed the glittering specks of light inside the dust.

    ¡°This ce might be deste, but it¡¯s rich in ore. There was no urgent need before, but now, this industry might serve as the foundation of our race¡¯s recovery.¡±

    Qianye only half-understood the ore industry, most of which he had learned back on Fort Continent and applied in the new world. He had little idea how to manage irregr ore distributions.

    Qianye observed the surroundings repeatedly, thinking about how to set up defenses and deal with possible pursuers.

    Qianye might be able to escape the Demon King¡¯s detection if he were alone, but the Martyr¡¯s Pce was a massive entity, and there was a horde of vampire descendants behind him. It would be impossible to keep this hidden from a supreme. A big army might just appear in the sky very soon.

    The fire screen covering the valley wasn¡¯t for random airsh.i.p.s to pass through, either. With this natural barrier, most small aerial battles would be kept on the outside of the valley. And the Martyr¡¯s Pce could easily deal with major battles.

    The demonkin would have to find anding spot outside of the valley and attack the vampire defense bynd.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered along the cliffside as he performed a routine check of his surroundings.

    Howard apanied him around while introducing Qianye to the results of his investigation. ¡°There¡¯s a massive rock at the center of the valley. The constant erosion of void origin power has made it beyond hard, almost like a giant piece of metal alloy. We can build our fortress on top of it. The natural barrier will help us build a fortress that cannot fall!¡±

    However, Qianye looked up at the distant precipice. ¡°No, we will build our defenses there.¡±

 Chapter 1398: Back Against the Wall

    <h4>Chapter 1398: Back Against the Wall</h4>

    The ce Qianye was pointing to was an area dotted with caves, located in a corner formed by two cliffs. Howard was puzzled. ¡°That ce is indeed easier to defend but we¡¯ll be too crowded. Won¡¯t that make things easier for the demonkin snipers?¡±

    The demonkin army contained arge proportion of long-range shooters. Almost all their members in the council army werepetent snipers. The defense would be a nightmare once they were pinned at a narrow corner.

    Qianye¡¯s arrangement went against the experience they had gained from a lifetime of fighting against the demonkin.

    It wasn¡¯t just Howard. Nighteye also nced at Qianye in puzzlement.

    Qianye waved his hand, saying, ¡°This area is more or less an open field with no cover to speak of. The demonkin won¡¯t build any defensive structures within our firing range. Of course, that would be a great opportunity for us, but theirmander won¡¯t be that dumb. The only way we can deal with that is to use the two cliffsides for cover.¡±

    There were some cracks and caves in the cliffsides to the left and right, but not as many as the ce Qianye wanted to make his stand. With the vampire army positioned here, there would be very limited space for the enemy to position their troops.

    Howard wasn¡¯t too happy with this. ¡°Our advantage will be almost negligible if the demonkin lineup is made up of skilled sharpshooters. Don¡¯t forget that they have a constant supply behind them while the squad on the airship is our entire fighting force.¡±

    Howard¡¯s argument was not without sense. Although the men who had been shipped here were all direct descendants of the vampire ns, they were uncoordinated and irregr. The overall fighting power wouldn¡¯t be too different from ordinary vampires on Fort Continent.

    Even though they were trading vampires for elite demonkin snipers, this kind of trade would not bring them victory. This was no holy war, so the demonkin would have a constant stream of reinforcements.

    While Howard was calcting quietly, Qianye said, ¡°Here, we might have a chance at trading one for one. That would be all.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°That might be the case in the beginning, but a fortress on t ground will be overrun at one point. Once that happens, we will be wiped out entirely and the loss-ratio would have no meaning whatsoever.¡±

    ¡°They might not be able to overrun the fortress with me overseeing the defense.¡±

    Howard wasn¡¯t bluffing. His title was the Dark Gospel because his most powerful skill served to enhance his units, raising their fighting power by an entire level.

    ¡°In that scenario, they will wait for reinforcements instead of attacking.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t deploy our entire force near the cliffside.¡± At this point, Howard seemed to have understood. ¡°Were you nning to fight a battle of attrition?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°How do you know they can¡¯t oust us?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already tested the casualty tolerance of each race back in cksun Valley, including the vampires.¡±

    Howard said, ¡°Since you know the limits of our race¡¯s tolerance, what makes you so confident they can hold out until the end.¡±

    Howard thought about this for a long while before finally nodding his head. He then headed out to summon the vampires from the airship and began constructing the defenses.

    Nighteye sighed as she watched the busy vampires. ¡°You still don¡¯t consider yourself a vampire, do you?¡±

    ¡°No, I am indeed a vampire.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you set up this kind of strategy?¡±

    ¡°Because we have no choice. Only fierce cruelty can force the demonkin back.¡±

    ¡°What if they don¡¯t retreat?¡±

    ¡°Then these nsmen will be wiped out. The demonkin will also pay a steep price, one they won¡¯t want to recall.¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°Very well, the legacy of four major ns will end in your hands if the demonkin won¡¯t retreat.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°They will retreat. Zining has long since figured out their bottom line back in cksun Valley.¡±

    She and Zining had fought as enemies back then, each leading their armies to ughter the other. Although she let Wei Potian off and showed mercy to Zhao Jundu, she hadn¡¯t gone easy on Song Zining at all. Thetter knew this as well and switched to an all-out defense mode, turning the fortresses into meat grinders. The Evernight Faction¡¯s losses were so great that it stifled the entire faction¡ªthe vampires weren¡¯t spared, either.

    Even someone as cold and indifferent as Nighteye felt her heart race at the sight of corpses strewn across the entire wilderness.

    The humans would ship back several airsh.i.p.s full of corpses every day as they suffered equally painful losses. Toward the end of the war, the dark race experts started to wonder if the humans were indeed intelligent creatures. Howe they were so unafraid of death?

    Who would¡¯ve thought the vampires would be in their shoes in such a short time? A long-lived race that had once reigned supreme was now following the lowly short-lived races, rolling in blood and mud to see who would remain standing in the end. Perhaps the only fortunate thing for the vampires was that no ve armies could be deployed on the Dawn Continent.

    In a single day and night, a fortress had risen up in a corner of the valley. The stronghold was constructed against the cliffside, utilizing the caves as fire ports. The trees stretching out from the caves provided cover for the marksmen.

    Howard instructed the vampires to dig tunnels into the mountain, forming awork between all the caves. It was just that the stone on the Dawn Continent was too hard. Although the n descendants weren¡¯t weak, thisbor ced a great deal of stress on them.

    The excavation of the tunnels progressed at a snail¡¯s ce. They had only finished connecting some of the caves when the vampires heard the dragonship roaring.

    The demonkin had arrived.

    A dozen or so airsh.i.p.s appeared above the valley and advanced in abat formation. A mighty demonkin elder stood on the deck of the gship, the insignia on his c.h.e.s.t announcing his identity for all to see.

    His eyes narrowed as he gazed upon the dragonship entrenched atop the cliff. A glorious marquis nearby said, ¡°That should be the Martyr¡¯s Pce, the airship that destroyed two duke-grade airsh.i.p.s outside the void continent.¡±

    Even though there was only one grand-duke airship in the fleet, Brock showed no signs of fear. ¡°If the Martyr¡¯s Pce is here, it means Qianye is also here. Issue the order, makendfall, and attack from the ground. All airsh.i.p.s assumebat formation, our target... the Martyr¡¯s Pce!¡±

    Seeing the iing fleet, the Earth Dragon could no longer endure this provocation. It let out a long howl and sallied forth to meet the enemy.

    As someone in charge of arge demonkin fleet, Brock was not a mediocre person. He had to have his hidden aces to dareunch an assault despite the enemy¡¯s aplishments.

    Grand Duke Brock gazed at the ascending Earth Dragon and said, ¡°Fleet, attack!¡±

    The gship began to elerate toward the Martyr¡¯s Pce, leaving all the other warsh.i.p.s in the dust. Before the giant dragon, a three-hundred-meter duke airship was akin to a cub standing next to a grown beast. Yet Duke Brock kept on charging and seemed to have no intention of backing off.

    Atop the skull of the Earth-Dragon. Qianye didn¡¯t fully understand the duke¡¯s logic, but he weed this kind of charge nheless. If nothing else, the war on the void continent had proved that duke-grade airsh.i.p.s from Evernight did not have enough power to beat the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Qianye sped up the pce as well and charged up the main cannon, preparing to st the opponent to oblivion.

    Within the demonkin warship, Duke Brock turned around and said, ¡°Was it confirmed in the end? That used to be your main cannon, right?¡±

    She clenched her jaws, saying, ¡°Correct! That¡¯s indeed Landsinker, the main cannon I spent so much effort building. It¡¯s fit for a grand duke¡¯s airship! Robbing my Landsinker... I¡¯ll...¡±

    ¡°Enough, return to your post.¡± Brock interrupted her. He kept his gaze at the fast-approaching dragonship, his expression growing harsher as time went by.

    In the blink of an eye, the two giant airsh.i.p.s were within firing range. Their main cannons fired at almost the same time.

    Brock¡¯s main cannon had clearly been enhanced, and its firing range was far greater than ordinary airsh.i.p.s of the same level. Landsinker had also undergone various modifications during its time on the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Add to that the endless supply of origin power from the Earth Dragon¡¯s heart, its might had grown significantly. The artillery was evenly matched.

    At the exact moment of Landsinker¡¯s rumble, Brock¡¯s eyelids and cheeks twitched unnaturally. He took a step forward and mmed the control table, pouring a terrifying amount of demonic energy inside.

    The duke gship performed an inconceivable drift, moving a small distance sideways. This unbelievable movement spared the airship from the most devastating angle of impact. At the same time, a wall of ck mist appeared in front of the vessel and countless grimacing faces materialized upon it.

    The giant armor-piercing bolt fired by the Landsinker slowed down noticeably as it struck the illusory wall, almost as though it had shot into mud. By the time it had prated the wall, its firepower was greatly weakened. It only managed to nail itself to the hull armor and not prate it.

    An attack that couldn¡¯t prate the hull armor did little in terms of damage. This shot could be considered useless.

 Chapter 1399: Dragged out Dog Fight

    <h4>Chapter 1399: Dragged out Dog Fight</h4>

    Brock¡¯s projectile was an armor-piercing explosive bolt. It struck the Martyr¡¯s Pce square in the head, erupting in an earthshattering explosion. Bone shards flew in every direction as a shallow defect several meters in diameter appeared on the skull.

    The st from that duke-grade airship¡¯s main cannon jolted the Martyr¡¯s Pce so badly that it veered to the side.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s skull was thick enough to withstand several dozen such sts, but Qianye staggered from the impact, his expression solemn.

    ¡°Damage check!¡± Qianye¡¯s voice echoed through the airship.

    ¡°Main cannon normal!¡±

    ¡°Seven port cannons malfunctioning, twenty men lost.¡±

    ¡°Three starboard cannons damaged, fifteen men lost.¡±

    As the damage reports from various parts of the airship arrived, Qianye realized that his worries weren¡¯t unfounded. This demonkin airship wasn¡¯t an opponent to be taken lightly¡ªeven if the Earth Dragon could block its attacks, the impact would damage the crew and equipment within.

    Brock¡¯s gship brushed past the Martyr¡¯s Pce and returned with a lithe turn. The giant bolt in its hull apparently had no effect on its mobility and fighting power.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Brock is a demonkin expert best known for his skill in airship battles. The airforce under hismand had faced few defeats. He¡¯s best known for his ability, the Wall of Sighs, which possesses unimaginable defensive power. Rumor has it that the skill descended from a great dark monarch primogenitor. The Jeruson family experts are proficient in defense, to begin with. This skill of Brock¡¯s will make them even more difficult to tackle.¡±

    Qianye suddenly recalled the demonkin viscount he had encountered back in ckflow City. That person was probably from the Jeruson Family¡ªhe could use a skill called the ¡°Shield of Dark Glory,¡± which caused a bit of trouble for Song Zining. ¡°How many times can he use the Wall of Sighs?¡±

    ¡°At most three times ording to previous records.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows rxed somewhat. Such a powerful defensive ability of course came at a great cost. Although it could only be used three times, those three times could easily decide the oue of a battle. Not many grand-duke airsh.i.p.s could exchange three main-cannon sts and survive.

    Unfortunately, Brock was up against the Martyr¡¯s Pce. Qianye could calmly exchange half a dozen sts if he was willing to pay the price.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce elerated once more and made a pass above Brock¡¯s gship. There, it swung its tail andshed fiercely at the enemy vessel.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s tail whip was one of its most powerful moves. Landsinker might be extraordinary, but it wasn¡¯t on the Earth Dragon¡¯s level.

    Just as the attack was about tond, the front of Brock¡¯s gship came to a sudden halt and its rear end swung to the side. This momentum sent the entire airship flying off of its original trajectory, effectively evading the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t fl.u.s.tered by this. He adjusted the Martyr¡¯s Pce with a swing of its tail and once again fired the Landsinker. This attack was once again stopped by the Wall of Sighs, while the enemy counterattack struck the Earth Dragon¡¯s skull. Even Qianye felt a bit dizzy from the impact.

    The two airsh.i.p.s thus became tangled together. The head and tail portions of the Martyr¡¯s Pce were both danger zones with great destructive potential. Brock¡¯s airship disyed iparable agility as it circled the Martyr¡¯s Pce like a fly, narrowly evading most of its attacks.

    Even after a long while, Qianye and the Martyr¡¯s Pce failed to hit it even once. The Landsinker¡¯s attacks did reach the target but could do little damage after being weakened by the Wall of Sighs.

    Qianye finally understood why Brock dared to meet him in battle with a single duke-grade airship. It would seem that this duke, in addition to the legendary mobility of his own airship, had studied the Martyr¡¯s Pce in great detail.

    His most notable performance was the ability to anticipate attacks from the Martyr¡¯s Pce while it was charging up, evading the most lethal tailshes.

    Qianye would still emerge the final victor if this went on, but the demonkin possessed more than a single gship. The majority of their fleet was made up of transports.

    These carriers begannding while the Martyr¡¯s Pce was locked in battle, always pouring out the passengers and equipment down before leaving.

    Tens of thousands of demonkin and council troopsnded on Dawn Continent. After forming up, they began charging at the hurriedly constructed vampire base.

    The fights in the air and on the ground were equally intense.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce couldn¡¯t leave the defensive zone, either, because it had to protect the vampires below. Otherwise, Brock¡¯s gship could deal irreversible damage to the defensive lineup with a single volley.

    Just like that, the situation in the air became a stalemate.

    In the bridge, Brock was constantly pouring demonic energy into the control panel. Four other dukes, including Linken, were also doing the same.

    It was the power of these top experts that afforded the massive airship its incredible mobility, bringing about a small miracle that was facing off against the Martyr¡¯s Pce on its own.

    Linken was the first to falter among the dukes. After all, she had just advanced to the rank and by special means, no less. This unstabilized strength made her much weaker than her peers.

    She had just left the control desk when her body was dragged forward by an invisible force,nding in Brock¡¯s grasp.

    The grand duke grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up like a small chicken. ¡°Is this the Landsinker you im no one can modify!? Look at that firepower! It¡¯s vastly different from the numbers you gave us!¡±

    Drained of all demonic energy, Linken could hardly breathe at the moment, let alone speak.

    Brock wasn¡¯t expecting her to reply, either¡ªall he wanted was somewhere to vent his anger. He tossed Linken to the ground and said coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t think you can do whatever you want just because you¡¯vetched onto that old thing. I could kill you anytime if it weren¡¯t for what little use you have. Scram!¡±

    At the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Qianye was controlling the Earth Dragon as it chased after the gship. The opponent would make a mistake sooner orter as long as he could sustain this kind of attack.

    The battle on the ground was growing fiercer every moment. The demonkin vanguard suffered grave losses in the first charge. They hadn¡¯t yet adapted to the new environment afternding and were thus unable to suppress the vampires¡¯ defensive fire.

    Even so, these men were still elites of the council. They quickly recovered from the setback and made for the cliffs on either side in search of cover. Their centralmand set up some barriers out of the vampires¡¯ firing range, hoping to use it as their forward base.

    The defenders were well-prepared as well. Those who had followed the Martyr¡¯s Pce here were all direct descendants of the major ns. Their strength might not be remarkable, but they had amplebat experience and had undergone strict training. This became evident since the first volley¡ªthey were much more urate than an ordinary unit of mixed soldiers. The first hailstorm of bullets dealt significant damage to the demonkin.

    The demonkin and council elites were also powerful with their assault after finding cover nearby. The problem was that the area leading to the corner fortress was an open space with no obstructions. Unable to charge through the hail of bullets and without a ve army to exhaust the enemy, the council forces could only exchange fire from a distance.

    In the blink of an eye, the battle quickly entered a trajectory Qianye had expected. The vampires and demonkin were now in a stalemate of long-range battles. The invaders boasted skilled snipers among their ranks while the vampires had constructed defenses at an advantageous position.

    The ratio of casualties was a bit better than Qianye had expected; these major n vampires were indeed outstanding inbat. Of course, the council¡¯s side would be reinforced periodically while every dead vampire was one less ally.

    With the war on the ground entering a phase of attrition, the contest was now about willpower. The vampires would not fail in this aspect since they had no way out. The council forces, on the other hand, were an allied army. Morale would be a problem once casualties reached a certain point.

    On the gship, Brock¡¯s expression was grim. It was as though a storm were brewing around him. The frequency with which he had to inject demonic energy was increasing but the effects didn¡¯t improve.

    In fact, the Landsinker¡¯s power level didn¡¯t affect the oue all that much. Brock had studied the Martyr¡¯s Pce beforehand, but he quickly found that reality was vastly different from paper. What he thought was an overestimation turned out to be an underestimation instead.

    Brock was under great pressure at the moment. He was rather confident of victory at first, and the four dukes were just a backup n for emergencies. Now it would seem that his lineup was far from enough.

    He med Linken simply because he was furious.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t having an easy time, either. In addition to stabilizing the internal environment of the airship, he had to pay attention to the battle on the ground. The Dark Gospel¡¯s expression was dark, his face twitching every time a vampire descendant bit the dust.

    Momentster, he let out a long sigh, ¡°Some of the children down there are descendants of my enemies, but my blood core aches every time one of them perishes.¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°We were all born from the River of Blood, we¡¯re all a part of it. The loss of each blood seal is a loss for the river.¡±

    Howard shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s easy to see that the Demon King wants to remove these families¡¯ seals from the River of Blood. What¡¯s his objective, I wonder? If he wanted to destroy the entire race, he should have started from the Perth and Monroe ns.¡±

    To all the vampires, the Queen of the Night was the foundation of the entire race, and the twelve major ns were the core pirs. The leaders were the Perth and Monroe ns, which ranked first and second respectively. These two ns were prosperous with many branch families in addition to their main n.

    However, the trio found that the truth was somewhat different from their expectations. These two families hadn¡¯t suffered nearly as much damage as some of the lower-ranked ns. It made no sense to say that the demonkin were afraid of the Queen¡¯s wrath.

    Brock¡¯s airship was like an agile hunter, rendering the massive creature that was the Martyr¡¯s Pce helpless. The end result was within expectations, but no one knew how long it would take.

 Chapter 1400: Battle Inside the Ship

    <h4>Chapter 1400: Battle Inside the Ship</h4>

    Qianye stood atop the Earth Dragon¡¯s skull, his will connected to the dragonship and fully engaged in attacking Brock. Since obtaining the Martyr¡¯s Pce, this was the first time someone had managed to fight one-on-one against it.

    This allowed Qianye to discover his airship¡¯s weaknesses. An attack from a duke-grade airship would indeed cause damage to the pce. The skeleton might not fear such attacks, but the equipment and crew inside were nowhere as strong. The impact from the hits caused quite a bit of damage.

    Targeted reinforcements and the instation of defensive arrays were things he needed to doter. He was, at the moment, focused on an entirely different scene, made possible with the aid of the Earth Dragon¡¯s perception. He could see vast amounts of demonic energy surging within the duke¡¯s gship. This energy was being transported to various parts of the airship by some unknown means, forming a rune that was almost as big as the airship itself. This was the source of the airship¡¯s inconceivable mobility.

    Qianye sighed in amazement at this method of energy utilization. This was an entire level beyond the normal origin array applications humans were used to seeing. No wonder the demonkin were famous for their research and technology. It was just that their advanced technology never appeared noticeably in factional wars.

    Even during the fierce battle, watching the different distribution of demonic energy made Qianye feel as though a new door had opened up to him.

    The runes themselves were priceless treasures, and the airship¡¯s corresponding tactics only served to confirm its power. This was akin to Brock demonstrating how to utilize the power of the Evernight World.

    Qianye¡¯s .u.mted strength was bordering the grand duke level at this point, but hisck of a system was giving him problems. There were signs that his rapidly growing power was escaping his control, and the tactics he had used in the past had limited effect. He needed to learn how to channel the worldly origin power in order to fight like a true duke.

    After watching yet another rune from its formation to extinction, Qianye felt as though he had actually seen this process before somewhere. He searched through his memories and finally recalled a segment from the Book of Darkness¡¯ projected evolution, one that hadsted less than a second.

    The Book of Darkness could do that?

    If it wasn¡¯t for the ground forces reaching a casualty level that could only be described as cruel, Qianye really did want toprehend a bit more. Brock was different from the weak dukes he had met before, an expert befitting of the saying that demonkin were half a rank stronger than their counterparts from the other races. At the very least, his utilization of thews was only a hair¡¯s breadth away from the level of crown princes and great dark monarchs.

    There were already signs of an ultimate attack in the making. This was akin to Brock showing how a real Evernight duke fought, albeit in airshipbat.

    After a period of observation, Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯m going to board them.¡±

    Howard looked spirited. ¡°Be very careful.¡± He raised his staff, sending two beams of sanguine light onto Qianye¡¯s body.

    A set of blood-red armor appeared around Qianye. Its style was magnificent, and there was a pair of sanguine wings at its back. The wings moved to Qianye¡¯s thought, carrying him into the air.

    The luminous wings of inception were only projections brought about by overflowing origin power. The sanguine wings Howard had given Qianye possessed true flying power. He would be able to fly freely until the blood energy added to it had been used up.

    Howard¡¯s aura fell sharply after reinforcing Qianye with the armor and wings. ¡°That¡¯s all I can do for you at this point.¡±

    Without further dy, Qianye jumped off the Martyr¡¯s Pce and made a beeline for Brock¡¯s airship.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce made a swift turn andunched a feint with its tail, forcing the duke¡¯s gship to make a sudden evasive stop. This moment¡¯s pause gave Qianye enough time to appear right above the objective. Instead of attacking immediately, he .u.mted some energy andid down a wall of blood energy.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t enter the airship after this strike. That attack just now contained her full power¡ªit punched through the defensive barriers as well as the ship¡¯s armor, gravely damaging the gship. This used up all of her blood energy, so she needed to head back to the Martyr¡¯s Pce to recover.

    Qianye pped his sanguine wings and entered through the opening Nighteye had just produced.

    In the bridge, Brock shuddered as though he had taken a strong hit. The other two dukes also cried out from their positions. One of them was even flung out of his seat, his nose bleeding and his aura, weak. The other was also pale. It was clear that he wasn¡¯t having an easy time.

    Nighteye¡¯s strike just now was practically a fight with Brock and the two dukes using the airship as the medium.

    ¡°How did she punch through my warship? How is this possible?!¡± Brock roared in shock and fury. Even though her identity was special, she was just a duke¡ªthis was the undeniable truth. Brock had never imagined her strength would be sufficient to st through his defenses.

    ¡°Lord Brock, Qianye has boarded the airship,¡± the duke who was still in his post reminded.

    Brock¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Youngsters these days are so presumptuous, my gship isn¡¯t that easy to board. You take over control, draw away from the Martyr¡¯s Pce. I¡¯ll have to see what¡¯s so special about this Qianye that even His Majesty is impressed.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± The duke bowed as he took over control authority.

    Qianye nced around as he entered the airship. Row upon row of cabin roomsy on each side, each grander than thest. Apparently, the ce he had arrived in was the living quarters of high-ranking officers.

    A single strike turned a ten-meter area around him into rubble. Superheated steam gushed out from the damaged kic pipeline and even ignited a fire! The steam contained vast amounts of demonic energy, which was probably the reason why the area turned into a death zone. No ordinary life forms could survive here.

    The steam also gushed over Qianye¡¯s body, but his sanguine armor managed to keep the superheated gas from touching him. There was no need for him to expend blood energy for defense.

    Just like before, Qianye rushed forward andunched yet another Sweeping Calm. This time, he heard a furious howl from behind, ¡°Stop!¡±

    Of course, Qianye didn¡¯t care about him at all. Heunched eight rapid strikes and finished up with a Nirvanic Rend, destroying yet another cabin section. Only then did Qianye turn around to face the grand duke.

    ¡°How did you know where my airship¡¯s kic engine is?¡±

    Qianye only gave Brock a simple reply before shing at the kic area.

    Even with the Nirvanic Rend¡¯s power, all he managed to do was leave a deep gash in the wall.

    This duke-grade airship was made up of solid materials. Even the walls in ordinary cabin rooms had been processed by specialist experts.

    The cabins were nothingpared to the airship; no amount of destruction here could make Brock¡¯s heart bleed.

    ¡°How dare you?!¡± Brock was furious. His figure flickered over between Qianye and the kic chamber of the aircraft.

    Holding his sword with both hands, Qianye took a step forward and channeled all of his might. Sweeping Calm!

    Brock¡¯s expression was as gloomy as a stillke. He attacked with lightning speed, actually taking on all eight of Qianye¡¯s strikes. However, he couldn¡¯t avoid paying a price as the demonic energy around his body weakened.

    Actually, Qianye still couldn¡¯tbine all eight strikes into one yet. At least five of these strikes wouldn¡¯t have found their mark if it weren¡¯t for the fact that the kic chamber was right behind the grand duke. Evading or missing a single strike would damage the cabin wall, perhaps even cleave it open. This deprived Duke Brock of any leeway and forced him to take on the attacks head-on.

    The flow of battle was now in Qianye¡¯s hands. The gship¡¯s kic chamber was like a hostage.

    Having seen through this, Qianye understood what he should be doing next. He gave no thought to what the duke thought of him or what he was nning; he always followed his own battle tempo. He fished out some special origin grenades from Andruil¡¯s Realm and tossed them behind.

    These grenades were produced with Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn origin power. After leaving Andruil¡¯s space, the daybreak origin power grew so strong that it was practically overflowing. The explosives rolled along the ground afternding, dripping origin power along the way. Every drop of energy would eat through the cabin floor and produce small holes therein.

    The gship¡¯s floorboards were made of alloy metal and processed with demonic energy for extra protection. Yet this overflowing origin power could dissolve through them.

    Duke Brock¡¯s eyes locked onto the rolling grenades, his expression growing more and more unsightly. He suspected that they were divine champion grenades, but he quickly realized that they were so much more. The bastard who had made the grenades had actually injected more origin power than was necessary, almost as though he wanted to show off his abundant origin power.

 Chapter 1401: Miniature Black Sun

    <h4>Chapter 1401: Miniature ck Sun</h4>

    The mes of Venus Dawn ignited the rubble and spread through the entire area.

    The demonkin rushing over through the corridor were swept into the ze; those at the front were either killed or injured. Many of the survivors were also drowned in the intense mes of Venus Dawn. As veterans, the remaining men took immediate action after getting through the first wave. Arge wave of demonic energy swept forward in an attempt to control and extinguish the mes.

    Brock let out a muffled groan, sending more demonic energy through the chamber and extinguishing the mes like a raging tidal wave.

    Qianye nced at his surroundings contemtively and at the broken cabin walls above.

    ¡°What are you nning again?¡± the duke asked cautiously.

    ¡°I was thinking that Venus Dawn is useful, but its mes are a bit weak. Next time, I should imitate the sr winds when I produce grenades. The effects will probably be better.¡±

    The raging origin mes looked powerful, but burning required time to cause damage. The sr winds also contained fire, but the extreme temperatures and impact caused damage at the same time. It was much more destructive than an explosion followed by slow fire.

    Qianye¡¯s n made sense, but this kind of distraction in battle was almost a form of disdain. A furious Brock shed at Qianye and thetter simply raised his de to lock down his attack trajectory.

    Brock¡¯s attack froze mid-sh and split off a single sword shadow. The image brushed past East Peak¡¯s interception and shed Qianye¡¯s body.

    This single sword shadow managed to elicit a muffled groan from Qianye as he took a step back from the impact. He looked down to see that the de had torn through his sanguine armor, but it wasn¡¯t strong enough to shatter itpletely.

    Brock seemed rather astonished. He said with a cold snort, ¡°So it¡¯s the Dark Gospel¡¯s masterpiece. His escape is truly a humiliation to our demonkin race. But even with his reinforcement, you can forget about leaving this airship alive!¡±

    Grand Duke Brock advanced while swinging his sword, firing two more sword shadows that tore open Qianye¡¯s armor. These sword shadows were extremely fast and powerful. Qianye¡¯s blood energy and Venus Dawn could only weaken it a bit, while East Peak waspletely ineffective at deflecting the attack.

    Seeing as Brock dared to meet Qianye and the Martyr¡¯s Pce on his own, he naturally had his reasons for being confident.

    The grand duke¡¯s aura dropped slightly after firing three sword shadows. This attack could traverse space itself and possessed great power, but the price forunching it wasn¡¯t small.

    Of course, the sanguine armor could only take so many of those shadow des. However, from the looks of it, Brock wouldn¡¯t have much demonic energy left by the time he had broken the armor.

    Brock stopped attacking directly after the three strikes. ¡°Looks like you think I can¡¯t deal with you because you have the Dark Gospel¡¯s armor.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s silence was akin to a tacit agreement.

    Brock sneered, ¡°You still don¡¯t understand whose home ground you¡¯re in!¡±

    A giant rune appeared behind Brock. A deluge of origin power turned into demonic energy within the rune and poured into his body. The grand duke¡¯s aura rose sharply, returning him to his peak state in the blink of an eye.

    With a loud roar, he filled the air with afterimages as he shed at Qianye like a tempest.

    Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Qianye sustained five hits in session. The armor could no longer hold out by this point and shattered with a loud explosion.

    Fortunately, the Dark Gospel was an experienced crown prince of extraordinary foresight. The blood armor didn¡¯t just shatter in random directions; the pieces shot toward the source of the attack and blocked thest couple of blows. There was no way this damaged armor could take on so many strikes in session.

    Brock stood there proudly with his sword in hand. ¡°As expected of Howard¡¯s famous armor, it blocked eight of my sword shadows. If only he weren¡¯t so badly injured, I would¡¯ve loved to challenge him after I became a prince.¡±

    Qianye said after the man was done, ¡°Youunched five more shadow des, and now my armor is gone. How many more can youunch?¡±

    Brock let out a longugh as he swung out one more shadow de. The rune appeared behind him once again to fill him with demonic energy. ¡°You¡¯ve forgotten whose home field this is!¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered just as the attack was about tond. However, Brock¡¯s shadow de could actually chase after its target. It teleported whenever Qianye used Spatial sh and would continue its attack once the target had reappeared.

    This speed and power made the attack practically indefensible. It could also traverse space and home in on the target. This grand duke¡¯s attack was truly a divine skill.

    After several evasive maneuvers, Qianye stopped with a frown and allowed the shadow de to strike his arm.

    ¡°Pointless strug...¡± Brock¡¯s smile froze midway.

    The shadow de cut through Qianye¡¯s robe, armor, and shirt, leaving a long cut on his skin.

    This was a direct strike. Qianye was of course wearing armor, but Brock knew the power of his shadow de well enough. He was expecting the de to cut through and sever Qianye¡¯s arm.

    But the shallow cut showed no signs of change.

    Grand Duke Brock stared fixedly at the cut. The target¡¯s movements proved that his arm was intact. At the very least, the wound should¡¯ve expanded until the bones were exposed¡ªor even cut through.

    Qianye¡¯s overall fighting power was shocking! His skeleton shouldn¡¯t have been refined to such a level at his rank. Not to mention Qianye, even the Dark Gospel Howard would be injured if he were to take a strike directly.

    Qianye nced at the cut on his arm and even tried opening it up with his fingers to see how deep it went.

    Brock was in no mood to wonder why Qianye didn¡¯t look like he was in a life and death battle. Instead, he seemed like he was studying the wound out of curiosity. Seeing this, Brock¡¯s eyes were wide in shock.

    Spreading the wound revealed the flesh inside. A trickle of pale golden blood seeped out and soon burst into dark golden mes.

    That was all.

    Grand Duke Brock did not see Qianye¡¯s bone or even his deeper muscles. All he saw was a cut no deeper than two fingers¡¯ breadth.

    For a moment, Duke Brock thought Qianye was wearing flesh-colored armor but the auric me blood reminded him that it was indeed just his arm.

    The shadow de caused even less damage to Qianye than it had caused the sanguine armor. Didn¡¯t this mean that Qianye¡¯s body was stronger than Howard¡¯s sanguine armor?

    Qianye tossed the grenade into the hole in the floor, sending it into the cabin below.

    The fierce explosion tore apart the internal structure of the airship, with Brock and Qianye located right at the center. Having experienced it firsthand, the grand duke could tell that this grenade possessed the power of an all-out attack from a divine champion.

    Even as a grand duke, Brock saw stars from the impact and had to take two steps back. The kic chamber was right behind him, so he had no choice but to spread out his demonic energy and block out the brunt of the explosion. This left him with many extra wounds.

    He rejoiced secretly that Qianye only had that one grenade left.

    However, the duke saw a bright sphere of Venus Dawn origin power in Qianye¡¯s hand as he looked up. This was soon followed by the appearance of dark golden blood energy which encased the former. Following the activation of the blood energy, theposite grew smaller and smaller until it was the size of a grenade.

    With a flip of Qianye¡¯s hand, theposite material fell to the floor and rolled over toward the grand duke.

    ¡°Ah, no!¡± Brock¡¯s hair flew up as he let out a loud cry.

    The duke could already sense extreme danger when the dark golden blood energy appeared. Yet, Qianye¡¯s external projection of origin power was too fast¡ªthe time he took to condense thisposite mass wasn¡¯t enough for the duke to retract his demonic energy andunch another shadow de.

    An explosion no weaker than a divine champion¡¯s attack erupted in the chamber. Fierce impact and raging mes swept through everything, including Qianye and Grand Duke Brock.

    Qianye¡¯s figure appeared as the mes dispersed. His robes were torn, and his armor had been charred in many ces. The wound on his arm had opened up again, and his aura was just a bit unsteady. He could hardlye out unscathed from the explosion of a divine-champion level grenade, even though he was the one who caused it.

    Brock was much more miserable. His face was covered in dark patches, and half of his flowing long hair had been singed. To a demonkin who cared about his looks more than his life, this only proved that the injury he had suffered was so serious that he couldn¡¯t care about his appearance any longer.

    The beautiful armor on his body was now warped and twisted. Some parts had been torn open altogether with demonic energy gushing out. Blood flowed liberally from his sword-hand, dripping off from the cross-guard.

    Brock lowered the arms he had raised to protect his head and face. His eyes were almost spewing fire as he roared, ¡°How did you do it?!¡±

    It was no secret that Qianye possessed both daybreak origin power and blood energy. Even so, Brock found it difficult to believe after witnessing it in action.

    The fact he didn¡¯t want to ept was that Qianye had disyed a near-perfect level of control over the origin power and blood energy. This level was far beyond that of an ordinary grand duke. Even Brock himself hadn¡¯t reached that level of mastery over demonic energy.

    The next truth he didn¡¯t want to face was that Qianye no longer needed to use origin grenades.

    The collision of daybreak and evernight was no doubt violent. Moreover, Qianye was using Venus Dawn and his dark golden blood energy. Once they were free from the bncing powers of the Song n Ancient Scroll, any contact between the two would result in an earth-shattering explosion. This st was not inferior to the origin grenades Qianye had carefully prepared.

    It could be said that this was the most basic of origin grenade prototypes.

    Brock shot up and pounced toward Qianye, shooting several sword shadows along the way. This time, the duke was no longer as calm. F.o.r.c.i.b.l.y raising his speed would end up injuring him, but this wasn¡¯t the time to care about that.

    Swinging his sword with one hand, Qianye blocked all of Brock¡¯s physical attacks and took the shadow des with his arms and back. Having bought some time, Qianye decisively hurled the origin bomb between him and Brock.

    The grand duke staggered back amidst the explosion. He supported himself against the kic chamber wall for a moment, then pounced at Qianye again. The power of the origin bomb was too great, so much so that Brock couldn¡¯t bet on the opponent running out of energy first. He had to restrain Qianye or this airship would bepletely destroyed.

    Qianye was cautious but fearless against the new round of attacks. When Brock¡¯s attacks finally slowed down, he hurled yet another origin bomb.

    Explosions erupted constantly. The battleground was in utter ruins, and even the ground was sinking. There were four other dukes on the airship, but three of them were exhausted from controlling the airship. The only remaining duke arrived in the vicinity but left quietly after seeing the constant explosions.

    Qianye¡¯s method was a double-edged sword since the explosions affected him equally. The narrow interior of the warship only served to amplify the damage and made it impossible to dodge.

    Qianye possessed an ancient vampire constitution and his dark golden origin power was fairly close to the darkness origins. He was even somewhat stronger than an arachne of the same rank. He could withstand the explosions and sword shadows, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Brock.

    The demonkin possessed the weakest constitution among the four major races. Duke Brock was known for his attack and speed, as well as his divine sword skills. He never found a need to improve his constitution. Considering the race¡¯s innate talents, it wouldn¡¯t make much of a difference even if he did¡ªthat was unless he possessed some special inheritances or experiences.

    After several rounds of explosions, Brock was badly injured and on the brink of copse. How would any other demonkin interfere with the way Qianye was fighting? None of the dukes on the airship specialized in physical strength, and the narrow space made it difficult to evade. They would surely copse after taking a couple of sts.

    Brock was deathly pale and didn¡¯t even have the energy left to feel anger. What pained him most was the airship¡ªall equipment in this one-third of the airship had beenpletely destroyed. The kic chamber remained, but everything else had been destroyed so he could no longer condense runes.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t in the best shape, either, but he could still fight. To deal with an abnormally powerful bastard like him, they would need to surround and bombard him from a distance, using numbers to whittle away at his energy. Yet this strategy was impossible in the narrow corridors of this airship. Even all the experts aboardbined weren¡¯t enough.

    At this rate, they would lose the airship, and Brock himself might fall if he was a bit careless.

    The grand duke red fixedly at Qianye and roared, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to use it! You should be proud to die to His Majesty¡¯s attack!¡±

    A gem of bottomless darkness appeared in Brock¡¯s hands, in which a speck of radiance began to light up. Upon careful nce, it was actually an extremely small sun!

    Qianye sensed extreme danger the moment this gem appeared. His hair stood on end all of a sudden.

    This was an instinctive fear of death. The energy contained within that gem was enough to destroy him entirely!

    Qianye was no longer a young genius like back in the year. He was easily capable of facing an ordinary grand duke, or even a member of the old vampire ns. He could even escape from weaker great dark monarchs like Sousa. In the face of his gem, however, Qianye felt a fear that came from deep within. This was a force capable of annihting him.

    There was no need to ask where such power came from.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t try to flee immediately. He could sense some subtle changes in the environment as the gem appeared. Something told him that he shouldn¡¯t use Spatial sh at this point. Qianye couldn¡¯t tell where that sense of foreboding came from, but he decided to follow it.

    Qianye observed that gem despite the scalp-numbing feeling. ¡°It¡¯s a crystallization of the Demon King¡¯s demonic energy. You truly have the favor of the supreme.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty granted me this to help with my next rank advancement. Who would¡¯ve thought I¡¯d be using it on you? It¡¯s your honor to die from His Majesty¡¯s attack.¡±

    Duke Brock activated the demonic energy within the crystal. The small sun expanded all of a sudden, and the gem rose into the air. It was actually a ck sun!

    The ck sun erged rapidly in the air and shot toward Qianye.

    Its movement produced a terrifying gravitational force. Qianye suddenly understood why he had that sense of foreboding. It turned out that the energy within the gem had already warped the surrounding space, rendering Spatial sh useless. If he were to use it f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y, he would¡¯ve ended up crashing into that ck sun. Then again, things weren¡¯t any better now. He felt as though his entire body was encased in mud; he could hardly move his arms.

    The ck sun would soon swallow him up!

 Chapter 1402: A Fair Victory

    <h4>Chapter 1402: A Fair Victory</h4>

    Brock wasn¡¯t having a great time, either. He was using his entire power to resist the draw of the ck sun and barely managing to not get swept in.

    The duke-grade airship began to warp and distort around this sun, almost as though it would copse into its center. Qianye was right in the middle of the area of effect, so there was no way he would get lucky.

    It was at this time that the ck sun started to grow smaller. A hazy darkness appeared and enclosed the sun entirely.

    Brock was just hesitating whether or not he should retreat further when he witnessed this scene. He could hardly believe his eyes because he could see the genesis of this world within the darkness.

    Bothbatants saw the world within the darkness.

    The ck sun fell into this forming world and exploded with a force that was just as terrifying as the darkness origins. However, the resulting energy didn¡¯t destroy the world within the Book of Darkness, rather, it even hastened the evolution.

    All of a sudden, the worldpleted a process from birth to infinite expansion. Next was a scene familiar to everyone currently living in this world¡ªthe continents formed, the protective barriers appeared, and all kinds of creatures came into being.

    The demonkin, vampires, werewolves, and arachne appeared on the continents. Although they were a bit different from how they looked today, it wasn¡¯t difficult to recognize them as such. There were also some other main species that were no longer in this world today.

    Brock said excitedly, ¡°What is that? The other three holy races? So that¡¯s how they should be!¡±

    Qianye was also observing the evolution within the Book of Darkness. When the Demon King¡¯s energy shot out, the mysterious tome opened up on its own and absorbed all of the demonic energy within the crystal, releasing this evolving world in the process. This time, the Flourish Chapter was disying so much more detail.

    Qianye immediately came to after hearing Brock¡¯s words. He immediately put the Book of Darkness away without waiting for the evolution to continue. Fortunately, there was nothing out of the ordinary with the book, which returned obediently into his body.

    Up to this point, Qianye still had no idea what the Book of Darkness¡¯ true use was. In the beginning, it was just a container for origin power. Not long ago, it had helped Qianye understand how to utilize the origin power of the Evernight World. This allowed him to execute grand-duke arts one level earlier.

    Brock¡¯s reaction was much more interesting. This also proved that the evolving world within the Book of Darkness wasn¡¯t meaningless. Those creatures Qianye had never seen before were likely the three races that had disappeared from the Sacred Mountain. Qianye felt that Grand Duke Brock was abnormally excited, and since the book was now his blood core and heart, he couldn¡¯t just let other people observe it.

    After retracting the Book of Darkness, Qianye tossed yet another origin grenade toward Brock.

    Qianye arrived outside with a flicker. He couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised as he gazed in the grand duke¡¯s direction. The man had actually fled?

    It wasn¡¯t too hard to exin Brock abandoning his ship. The kic chamber was as good as gone; Qianye¡¯s double-edged strategy of charging into the heart of the vessel was simply unstoppable. It was better to leave since he would be left with a piece of scrap metal in the end if this deadlock were to keep going on.

    As for the demonkin dukes in the airship, they werepletely exhausted and wouldn¡¯t recover so quickly. One could hardly expect them to face the Martyr¡¯s Pce.

    If Brock were to retreat with his four dukes and wait for reinforcements, it would still be quite troublesome for Qianye. Yet he had fledpletely, abandoning hisrades and tens of thousands of elite soldiers.

    After careful thought, Qianye didn¡¯t think he dealt the man a major blow. Did any of the origin bombs deal especially serious damage? He shook his head inwardly, discarding such an impractical possibility.

    Qianye turned around after sensing something. There, he saw Nighteye appear on the slow-sinking airship, gazing in the direction of Brock¡¯s escape. ¡°He fled so quickly.¡±

    Qianye realized that the grand duke probably ran away because he had sensed Nighteye¡¯s approach.

    At this point, an earth-shattering explosion erupted from the sinking airship, and a powerful gush of demonic energy shot into the sky. Qianye and Nighteye looked over to find the demonic energypletely empty; there wasn¡¯t a single expert within it. Amidst the explosion, four dim silhouettes shot out in four different directions.

    Those were the four demonkin dukes. Qianye hesitated for a bit but ultimately decided not to give chase. Even he would have a hard time hunting down dukes, especially when they were intent on fleeing.

    With all the dukes gone, the damaged airship could no longer remain in flight. It burned and crashed to the ground. Experts flew out one after another during the fall, hoping to find some way to survive. Some crew members who couldn¡¯t fly also jumped out. They were more willing to fall to their deaths than be burned alive.

    Having lost control of the air, the ground forces also stopped attacking and began plotting their retreat. There was no way Qianye would give them this opportunity. Hemanded the Martyr¡¯s Pce to descend and began bombarding the demonkin squads the entire way.

    Themanding officer of the demonkin fleet was exceptionally brave. They made a dive against the dragonship¡¯s cannon fire and did their best to extract the ground forces. In the end, they managed to save what was left of the elites on the ground, at the expense of half the fleet. As for those who did not make it for the extraction, they were left to their fates.

    Qianye steered the Martyr¡¯s Pce to the edge of the continent, blocking any escape path for the council forces. The demonkinmander naturally took this opportunity tounch a furious assault. With nowhere to go, thending forces had no choice but to surrender.

    This was a fairly good victory.

    The vampires only sustained a couple hundred in losses, and it seemed like a good number. But then again, those they had brought to the Dawn Continent were all direct descendants. The most valuable thing about them was their bloodline. Howard¡¯s expression was gloomy as the death toll was being counted. Every death made his heart ache.

    If the vampires here were all wiped out, the Carolin, Lakins and Vander ns would be wiped out entirely. Their seals in the River of Blood would also disappear. These three ns had been without a primogenitor for a long time, and they had just lost their wealth and blood ponds. And the chances of those ordinary branches that had moved to Fort Continent producing a primo was extremely slim.

    The demonkin, on the other hand, had suffered much graver losses.

    Brock and the four dukes managed to flee, but they lost two-thirds of the elites they had brought here. Only half of their airship fleet remained intact, and most of their transports had been destroyed. The loss of their duke-grade gship was something they wouldn¡¯t recover from for several years.

    The only problem was that the Martyr¡¯s Pce was unimaginably powerful, so much so that Brock had been forced to use the Wall of Sighs repeatedly. Additionally, they had to spend great amounts of demonic energy to execute extraordinary maneuvers.

    It was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination that Nighteye would be able to punch through the airship¡¯s barrier and armor, allowing Qianye to enter the airship. Throughout this entire battle, almost all the critical links in their n had deviated from expectation. Brock¡¯s eventual defeat was unavoidable.

    With the first battle ending in victory, Howard finally looked a bit relieved and happy. He knew that this was just the beginning. Brock¡¯s unit was just the vanguard of the council¡¯s army. These vampire descendants wouldn¡¯t survive if a great dark monarch were to appear.

    Of course, no one mentioned this grim fact.

    After pushing back the demonkin vanguard, Howard instructed the vampires to clean up the battlefield. The crashed airsh.i.p.s out in the field contained the resources they desperately needed.

    Over ten thousand demonkin and arachne soldiers had been captured, which meant that they had manualbor to rely on. With sufficient resources and manpower, the vampires would be able to set up aplete defensive base in just a few day¡¯s time.

    ...

    Twilight Continent. The Sperger n¡¯s core territories were just as before¡ªthere were council gs flying in key areas, but Lava Castle was once again decorated with the ming crown.

    Habsburg¡¯s spacious desk was buried under a pile of papers. There were books, doc.u.ments, and the like piled up on, under, and everywhere around the table. These doc.u.ments were of different shapes and styles, including scrolls ced in crystal boxes. There were also a lot of hand-bound tomes with no specific size-category.

    Habsburg was leaning forward on his desk with his eyes closed, almost as though he were napping.

    The Demon King sat near the floor-to-ceiling window with a book, gazing out at the distant scenery. The book in his hand was an old vampire-styled book, with a beautiful hardcover and binding threads that changed color in the waning sunlight. The binding was clearly the work of a master artisan, and the contents were also penned by a famous character.

    The Demon King put down the book and sighed in satisfaction. ¡°What a great book...¡± He looked over to the desk and said with a smile, ¡°Dear Habsburg, you seem more rxed here.¡±

    Habsburg wasn¡¯t actually asleep, but he didn¡¯t open his eyes. ¡°You have so many things to do every day. Even keeping a clone here might be dying your business quite a bit, no?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s worth it if I can read these ancient writings.¡±

    ¡°I should be the one thanking you for keeping all the ancestors¡¯ books safe from the fighting.¡±

    The Demon King lowered his head and opened the next page of the book. ¡°Valuable ssics and rare resources should be treated with the same respect. This book allowed me to see how difficult the lives of early vampires were as they pioneered newnd. Every one of them is a legend back in their time.¡±

    ¡°That book was written by Kate of the Morway n. The bard never broke through the count rank her entire life, so the book is fairly limited in its knowledge of bloodlines, talents, and warfare. Its value lies in the fact that the records were plenty and truthful, as well as her penmanship.¡±

    ¡°All I want is the truth. I want to know the truth of those ancient times.¡± The Demon King nced at Habsburg buried behind the pile of books. ¡°This bard¡¯s writing is fairly interesting, looks like I¡¯ll be staying for a while.¡±

    The Demon King smiled. ¡°I trust you, but I don¡¯t trust myself that much right now.¡±

    Habsburg slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the Demon King. Considering his identity, the supreme couldn¡¯t be referring to reneging his promise.

    At this moment, the setting sun cast its light through one of the side windows and lit up the floorboards. It almost seemed like a rippling pond of gold.

    Momentster, Habsburg said calmly, ¡°Regardless, I thank you for allowing me to return here. The n castle is the foundation of every n. Even if I die in battle and my spirit returns to the river, I hope my remains can return to my hometown.¡±

    The Demon King became silent. ¡°I feel sorry about what happened to Lin, but I¡¯m not going to apologize.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s harder to make you feel sorry than to make you apologize,¡± Habsburg said mockingly. Possessing Metatron¡¯s memories, he of course knew that this supreme wasn¡¯t one to look back constantly.

    The Demon King said, ¡°Habsburg, did you not notice? I still haven¡¯t walked out of his influence.¡±

    Habsburg blurted out, ¡°How can divination arts affect a supreme?¡±

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°Supreme? Ha...¡±

    ¡°Kane, Your Majesty, what¡¯s your decision then? Will you eradicate the root of your uneasiness?¡±

    The Demon King smiled without giving an answer.

    It was at this time that Habsburg nced out of the window. A demonkin warship appeared over the distant horizon and was flying over at top speed. It began to slow down only when it was close to the castle.

    A figure shot out from the airship without waiting for thending. It flew around the area and, after sensing the Demon King¡¯s aura, flew over in this direction. He didn¡¯t even go through the door, entering straight through the window to stand before the Demon King.

 Chapter 1403: Source of Unrest

    <h4>Chapter 1403: Source of Unrest</h4>

    ¡°Brock?¡± The Demon King said, ¡°What brings you all the way here? I remember you should be on the Dawn Continent.¡±

    Brock fell onto one knee. ¡°Your Majesty, I apologize. I have failed.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s expression remained calm and gentle. ¡°Oh? Now, this is a surprising oue. The Masefield n lord reported that the Dark Gospel Howard is on the verge of death from his injuries. With you and George working together, in addition to Master Mitas¡¯ oversight, you should¡¯ve gained a marginal victory if not a big win.¡±

    Habsburg frowned unnoticeably¡ªthese demonkin experts were famous experts in the Evernight camp. George was a bit younger than the rest, but Grand Duke Brock was almostparable to a prince. They had dispatched two famed experts and a warlock to hunt down some escaped vampires from the Twilight Continent.

    That warlock was especially impressive. The man hadn¡¯t been seen on the battlefield for quite some time, but Habsburg remembered through Metatron¡¯s memories just how difficult it was to fight an army under hismand. His secret arts and superior weapons would improve his troops¡¯ fighting power exponentially. Howard would have a hard time fighting him even if he were at his peak.

    Brock bowed deeply. ¡°I rushed too far ahead before they were in position. In the end, I only managed to save a small portion of the vanguard, and my airship was also destroyed.¡±

    The Demon King ced the book to one side, his gentle expression fading away. ¡°This isn¡¯t good news. Did youe all the way here to apologize?¡±

    Brock said, ¡°Before seeking punishment, I have something very important to report.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°Habsburg, you don¡¯t need to leave. Brock, you may continue whatever you were saying.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty. I met Qianye there and engaged in a fierce battle with him. In the end, he used the Book of Darkness, which projected the following scenery.¡±

    Brock produced a mass of demonic energy from his palm, which took the form of Qianye and the evolutionary process of the Book of Darkness.

    Seeing how the continents had taken form and how the races had appeared, the Demon King shot to his feet but sat down again after a while. ¡°That¡¯s why I said I¡¯m not so confident about keeping my promise.¡±

    Habsburg raised his head ever so slightly and watched the Demon King in silence. He said nothing, nor was there any emotion on his face. His pair of sapphire eyes contained a hint of coldness in them.

    The Demon King looked away. ¡°Demonstrate it to me again.¡±

    Brock reyed the projection again until the world was flourishing. The projection came to a sudden stop there.

    The Demon King was fully engrossed. ¡°What happens after that?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no more.¡±

    ¡°Qianye withdrew the book.¡±

    The Demon King said with augh, ¡°That kid has sharp senses, but he¡¯s also quite careless sometimes. Brock, recount every detail of your battle, do not leave anything out.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    Grand Duke Brock began describing how Qianye had charged into the airship and how he had fled in defeat. Not only did he exin Qianye¡¯s techniques and power in detail, but he also added his own analyses about the opponent¡¯s rtive strength andw variations. Qianye would be greatly surprised if he were here. This duke had seemingly started off in arrogance and fled in cowardice, but he was a true expert. The Demon King listened patiently and, with due seriousness, asked questions periodically.

    After the discussion, Brock said in embarrassment. ¡°It was my fault for underestimating the enemy this time. I hope you will give me another chance. With Master Mitas¡¯ reinforcement, George and I will surely be able to beat Qianye and Nighteye. The Dark Gospel Howard can only sow chaos from the sidelines, he can¡¯t do much now.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°It might be fine the first time, but you¡¯ve already traded blows. They will be prepared.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re just dukes...¡± Brock wanted to insist.

    The Demon King said, ¡°Hmm, have us... never mind, he has other missions. Someone has to oversee cksun Valley. Go to Mark and retrieve a token with my seal on it, then seek Sousa out. He has fought Qianye before.¡±

    Brock felt rather surprised at how serious the Demon King was taking Qianye.

    Habsburg¡¯s mockery was so obvious that Brock nced at him in anger.

    The Demon King cut the enmity short. ¡°Brock, go and get things done.¡±

    Brock immediately turned around with a respectful attitude and left after performing his salutations.

    The atmosphere in the study was no longer as peaceful. Almost as though the air had frozen, there was a hint of coldness.

    The Demon King stood up and paced about, something highly abnormal for him.

    The dark supremes of the Sacred Mountain were akin to gods in the eyes of many. People like the Queen of the Night would only send their projections to the council, yet everyone felt the urge to prostrate before her. The Demon King might be the closest to the masses, but he had never disyed any sign of hesitation or struggle.

    Habsburg closed his eyes, as though he were taking a short nap. He said after a while, ¡°Your Majesty Kane, is it not enough that you killed Lin Xitang? Must you kill everyone rted to him?¡±

    The Demon King came to a stop and nced over at the source of the voice, but Habsburg didn¡¯t open his eyes. In truth, this was the first time the two had discussed this topic.

    ¡°Before the Longevity Monarch¡¯s demise, he sent a message about a secret n to topple the energy system of our world.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not something that can be achieved overnight and simply hearing about it sounds ridiculous, but the portion upied by daybreak energy has been growing all this time.¡± The Demon King said gently, ¡°The master of the n for this generation was Lin Xitang.¡±

    ¡°This is an inconceivable scheme. Do you think humans can aplish something we never even imagined?¡±

    ¡°Dear Habsburg, I¡¯m not the only one who can listen to thews of this world. I¡¯m also not the only one on the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    Habsburg suddenly opened his eyes and gazed at the Demon King. Thetter¡¯s words were so shocking that he almost thought he had heard wrong.

    ¡°Whether this information is right or wrong, whether our people believe it or not, it will cause great panic in the Evernight World. That¡¯s why you¡¯re the fourth person to know about it.¡±

    The Demon King had made it clear that Habsburg hadn¡¯t heard wrong. The supremes, who understood thews of this world the best, had sensed some unnoticed changes and reached a consensus on the matter.

    ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that such a beautiful star trajectory can onlyst sixty years in this world. It¡¯s not even long enough for our kids to turn into a.d.u.l.ts. What¡¯s worse is that we are merely enemies for him to eliminate, and I couldn¡¯t find a way to change his opinion.¡±

    Momentster, Habsburgughed wryly. ¡°The stubbornness of the short-lived races stems from their short lives. Things that are too far ahead in the future hold little meaning for them. Marshal Lin was even more unmoveable because his fate was set in stone.¡±

    ¡°Yes, humans are such contradictory creatures. Their short lives make them focus on the present, yet this limitation never led them down the wrong path.¡± The Demon King paused for a bit. ¡°That is our enemy.¡±

    The Demon King remained silent for a good while before saying, ¡°If you¡¯re referring to Lin, I can¡¯t kill him a second time. Besides, I don¡¯t know how he managed to do it, but his life source has been extinguished thoroughly. That¡¯s why his remains are also highly unstable. It will crumble and copse the moment the origin crystals leave his body.¡±

    Habsburg was surprised. ¡°Life source? Isn¡¯t origin power the source of life?¡±

    ¡°Our demonkin research institution is only there for show. They believe that short-lived creatures possess a type of life source simr to the soul of long-lived creatures. Our souls might awaken in a future generation if they can withstand the grinding wheel of fate. Short-lived creatures cannot do that because their life source will disappear along with their bodies.¡±

    Habsburg said after a momentary daze, ¡°So you n to eliminate Qianye.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°No, Dear Habsburg, Qianye might be important, but the Book of Darkness is even more important. The death of one or two people won¡¯t affect the bigger picture. Once a clean, new world has been established, those who do not fit in will gradually die out.¡± He sighed. ¡°Only Lin is different.¡±

    A breeze of demonic energy swept through the room, forming the Flourish Chapter¡¯s scene in the air. The Demon King watched it silently until it was cut off. ¡°This never gets old.¡±

    ¡°This is how the purified world should look?¡±

    ¡°To be precise, this is how the world used to be. No matter how hard we try, daybreak origin power has left too many marks on our world. Even if we clean it uppletely, we cannot deny the fact that it existed at one point. That¡¯s why the world in the Book of Darkness is just an ideal that can never be reality. However, that won¡¯t stop us from working toward it.¡±

    Habsburg stood up silently and walked out from behind his desk, arriving near the floor-to-ceiling windows. ¡°You seem to be talking a lot these days.¡±

    Habsburg nced curiously at him. ¡°I thought we were the only ones with such trouble.¡±

    The Demon Kingughed. ¡°Dear Habsburg, you¡¯re the one who should have the least problems. What¡¯s the fundamental difference between this ¡®I¡¯ and ¡®we¡¯?¡±

    Habsburg was somewhat dazed. This went againstmon knowledge regarding ranks in the Evernight World. How could a supreme be the same as ordinary nobles? But he refrained from arguing. There was little change in temperament between Adventurer Kane and Demon King Kane.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll admit you¡¯re right.¡±

    The Demon King picked up a book and flipped through it. ¡°This one is about logistics management during ancient warfare! This is rare!¡±

    Habsburgughed. Instead of continuing this topic, he asked, ¡°So, Your Majesty, have you decided what your n is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere. I¡¯ll just stay here reading until the gates open in cksun Valley.¡±

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t yet? Haven¡¯t we passed the initial estimated date?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what¡¯s puzzling me. The will of the new world seems to be resisting our attempts to open the gates. It didn¡¯t respond to our investigations, either. This consciousness is so intelligent that it doesn¡¯t feel like a world anymore.¡±

    ¡°What exactly is the will of the new world?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, either.¡± The Demon King was honest.

    At this point, Habsburg felt like a young student who couldn¡¯t answer his teacher¡¯s question. Metatron¡¯s memories surged into his mind. From a certain perspective, it could be said that Adventurer Kane was no less difficult to deal withpared to Demon King Kane.

    Habsburg shook his head and returned to the desk, where he picked up a random book to read. These were all hidden ssics of the vampire race, and many of them he had never even seen before. As for that delicate peace between him and the Demon King, no one knew how long it wouldst.

    ...

    The Empire, outside the gates into the new world. A mysterious unit was gathering here¡ªtheir numbers were small, but they were armed to the teeth with the most advanced gear. Their airship was also one of the Empire¡¯s newest models. The airsh.i.p.s looked dark and hazy from the outside,pletely different from the Forbidden Guard¡¯s camouge.

    Not far from the fleet, the Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian were seated face to face within an unassuming little airship.

    ¡°Monarch Zhang, you must be careful on this trip. Your safety is the most important, just retreat if things don¡¯t look good.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°This campaign is vital to the entire war. I will look for an opportunity to remove a couple of enemies for the Empire.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor frowned. ¡°Why force yourself?¡±

    ¡°Evernight¡¯s internal situation is already clear. How will the Empire survive if the Demon King eliminates the vampire race and rules over the entire Evernight faction?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°There will always be a way.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°Then why do you insist on joining the fight, Your Majesty?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor rubbed his chin, thinking about how to change the topic. ¡°Then, the Red Spider Lily...¡±

    Zhang Boqian interrupted, ¡°Just an external object, makes no difference whether or not I have it. Using it forcefully will just take away its power, why the need? If a Grand Magnum can change the oue of a war, why don¡¯t you and Lord Rivernce use the Mortal Emperor?¡±

    After being stoppered up a second time, the Radiant Emperor started to understand how his teacher must¡¯ve felt.

    Seemingly sensing something, both of them nced toward the door at this point. A knock came from the door, and a female officer entered with the Emperor¡¯s permission. At a careful nce, it was actually Empress Li.

    ¡°How are the preparations going?¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°The new warsh.i.p.s have returned. They stayed a total of four days in the new world and suffered only minor damages to their machinery. Judging from this rate, they should be able to remain there for two months in total. The environment around the cksun Valley is terrifying, so they will onlyst two weeks.¡±

    ¡°Any omens regarding this battle?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor merely asked without hoping for too much. Even supremes were helpless against the will of the new world. Trying to divine it would be no different from suicide. The Empire¡¯s divination specialists could only skirt around the objective, and all they could see was a cloud of chaos.

    Unexpectedly, the Empress said, ¡°Thest time... the will of the new world seems to be friendly toward the human race.¡±

    ¡°Friendly?¡± The Radiant Emperor was curious. Zhang Boqian was also surprised. He had entered the new world several times¡ªboth in secret and in in sight¡ªbut he had never sensed it.

    ¡°Correct. I found it to be inconceivable, so I initiated contact and obtained some feedback. The will of the new world hopes humans will enter the inner world.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian exchanged nces. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful, but we should also be guarded against a distorted divination result. Monarch Zhang, you must be careful.¡±

    Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t interrupt him this time and only nodded.

    The Radiant Emperor nced at Empress Li with a gentle expression. ¡°Don¡¯t do such dangerous things in the future.¡±

    Empress Li was dazed for a bit. ¡°I obey.¡±

    Zhang Boqian stood up and said, ¡°Since everything is ready, I¡¯ll be heading out now.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor stood up to see the monarch off. ¡°I wish Monarch Zhang a great victory.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s figure faded away and vanished from the room.

 Chapter 1404: Soft East Peak

    <h4>Chapter 1404: Soft East Peak</h4>

    Dawn Continent. A fortress had risen up against the mountainside in just a few days. This fortress¡¯s outer walls were made up of salvaged airship armor, which made it far stronger than ordinary structures.

    Taking advantage of the naturalndscape, the diverging cliffsides were now dotted with hidden sentries and firing ports. The ces where the demonkin had taken cover during thest battle had been leveled. Now, invaders would have to pave a path with their lives to reach the fortress.

    Even now, Howard wasn¡¯t all that satisfied yet. He appeared in a corner of the fortress and began making minor adjustments to the defensive arrangements and personnel, all in the name of maximizing their role.

    Nighteye and Qianye sat atop the cliff, gazing at the distant skies. The raging sun hung in the sky, spewing out burning origin power from time to time.

    Qianye asked as he watched Howard¡¯s busy figure, ¡°Is there a way for him to recover?¡±

    Nighteye sighed. ¡°Howard suffered heavy injuries during his awakening process and didn¡¯t get enough essence blood. Such injuries can only be treated with an ancient blood pond, but the Byrne n¡¯s blood ponds are all in demonkin hands. There¡¯s really no way now.¡±

    ¡°How long will it take to rebuild a blood pond?¡±

    ¡°ording to ancient standards, a blood pond needs to absorb a hundred years of origin power. Blood ponds with ancient in their name have absorbed at least a thousand years of .u.mtion. Now that the River of Blood is moving further away, the recovery of blood ponds will require an even greater time.¡±

    This move by the Demon King targeted the vampires¡¯ weakness. Without their ancient blood pond, these descendants would have to re.u.mte for hundreds of years even if they could survive and remain hidden. To restore their past glory, they would have to work for thousands of years.

    But people weren¡¯t entirely in despair because the Queen of the Night was still around, and she was the hope of the vampire race.

    At this moment, Zhuji ran over from a distance. ¡°Papa, look what I caught!¡±

    A giant bug with a spiked carapace was struggling wildly in her hands, spraying out dense yellowish mist. It was easy to see that the poison was extremely strong. However, this so-called poison was a joke to Little Zhuji, and the bug¡¯s spiked body was locked tightly in her grasp.

    Qianye¡¯s smile froze up as he turned back. ¡°Careful!¡±

    Just as she was wondering, arge shadow crept over her. Zhuji turned around in surprise and saw an exceptionally tall man behind her. This person¡¯s tyrannical aura covered the entire clifftop.

    ¡°So this is your daughter.¡± He let out a burst of muffledughter.

    ¡°Sousa! Stop!¡±

    Sousa ignored Qianye¡¯s roar as he grabbed Little Zhuji. He then lifted her to eye level for further observation.

    Qianye felt his entire body run cold. His half-initiated sprint came to a halt, afraid that an angry Sousa would crush Zhuji to death. He was fast, but he wasn¡¯t confident he could outpace Sousa¡¯s fingers. This werewolf Sousa was famed for his strength.

    ¡°Haha! Who would¡¯ve thought...¡± Sousaughed out loud, but hisughter came to a stop halfway through.

    Little Zhuji pried the great monarch¡¯s fingers open and jumped down. She then ran toward Qianye at lightning speed.

    Sousa was stunned. He nced at his hand, hardly able to believe what had just happened.

    As a werewolf great dark monarch, he had always been proud of his strength. He had even modified his own body to obtain greater strength, turning him into a four-meter giant in his fullbat state.

    Sousa had never imagined that this pretty little girl¡ªone who looked like she might break in half with a casual squeeze¡ªcould pry his fingers open and escape. This feeling was akin to an ant lifting the finger trying to squish it.

    Sousa moved his fingers about and felt a bit of pain from his joints. This young girl¡¯s brute strength could probablypare to certain grand dukes. He had even suffered some pain because he was caught off-guard.

    Sousa lowered his hand as though nothing had happened. He scanned Qianye and Nighteye, saying, ¡°Where¡¯s Howard? Tell him toe out and meet me.¡±

    Qianye grabbed Zhuji and put her behind him. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Sousa sneered, ¡°Do werewolves need a reason to exterminate vampires?¡±

    Nighteye said indifferently, ¡°I said the same to the werewolves some time ago.¡±

    Sousa¡¯s eyes lit up with mes of fury. ¡°The council made youmander of the allied army, yet you sent all of my soldiers to die at the Imperial fortress! I bet you never thought it¡¯d be your turn one day, huh?¡±

    Nighteye said mockingly, ¡°To wear down the werewolves was a decision made by the vampires, demonkin, and arachne. You¡¯re the only part that doesn¡¯t know. Now you think you¡¯ve found a protector in the Demon King, but the end result will be the same. The vampires will rise again while you be cannon fodder.¡±

    Sousa was furious. ¡°Even if the vampires rise again, you won¡¯t be around to see it! I heard Howard is half-crippled now. Looks like the news is true since he doesn¡¯t dare toe out. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll send you two young brats back to the River of Blood!¡±

    They weren¡¯t in the new world at the moment, and the environment on the Dawn Continent favored those who were stronger. Hence, it was only natural that Qianye and Nighteye wouldn¡¯t fight him head-on. Instead, the group fled in different directions. The moment he tried to move, Qianye discovered that Sousa¡¯s palm strike had generated a gravitational force that made it difficult to move.

    Nighteye was also affected, but as an ancient legend, she managed to charge out in a burst of blood energy.

    Little Zhuji ran with all her might and actually managed to escape the pull of this attack. Only Qianye remained under Sousa¡¯s palm.

    The werewolf monarch was stunned. He had already increased his estimation due to Zhuji¡¯s performance, but he hadn¡¯t expected both Nighteye and Zhuji to escape his attack range. However, he kept on with his attack since Qianye was still there. He was rather confident that he could p Qianye into oblivion without Nighteye to share the load.

    He was a mere duke.

    With no way to evade, Qianye decided to just let loose. His blood core throbbed with the sound of a giant bell as he raised his arms to block the attack!

    A thunderous rumble ensued. Half of Qianye¡¯s body sank into the ground, sending a spiderweb of cracks out in every direction.

    Due to the prolonged exposure to daybreak origin power, the rocks and soil on Dawn Continent were as strong as high-grade alloy and highly resistant to heat. Qianye had used an inconceivable technique to spread out the impact across arge area, producing the current phenomenon.

    Even so, Qianye was still mmed into the ground. A single m from Sousa contained enough force to shatter half of an airship¡¯s armor.

    Just that?

    Sousa nced at his hand and then at Qianye. Thetter¡¯s speed of recovery wasn¡¯t a lie¡ªthe man had managed to take a p head-on, only receiving slight injuries. He didn¡¯t even cough up blood, and what little blood that did trickle out of his mouth burst into mes and vanished almost immediately.

    The werewolf great monarch¡¯s judgment was wrong once again. This time, even Sousa himself felt that it was inexcusable. This ce wasn¡¯t the new world where experts were restrained by the environment and unable to utilize thews.

    All of a sudden, a de radiance lit up behind Sousa and shed at his back. Sousa couldn¡¯t ignore this attack from Awakening Dream. He swung his arm backward, turning the terrifying gravitational power to a repulsion force. Nighteye was pushed dozens of meters away and Awakening Dream missed its mark.

    Qianye took a deep breath, entering a state of blood boil.

    Sousa didn¡¯t chase after Nighteye and instead turned back to size Qianye up. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know better, I would¡¯ve thought you were the Spider Queen¡¯s descendant.¡±

    ¡°The vampires¡¯ potential is much higher than you think,¡± said Qianye.

    Sousa snorted. ¡°Is that so? You won¡¯t have the opportunity to realize that potential. Eunuch Liu won¡¯t be here to save you today. As for Nighteye, even I might not be her match if she recovers her full strength, but now? She¡¯s just a small inconvenience.¡±

    Nighteye¡¯s figure flickered away from the repulsion force and fired yet another sword radiance at Sousa¡¯s back. However, the attack was mutually canceled out by a ck wall.

    ¡°You appeared a bit earlier than expected.¡± Sousa¡¯s voice was cold.

    Brock had no intention of leaving the werewolf any face. ¡°His Majesty¡¯s missiones first. I can¡¯t let them escape just to humor your vanity.¡±

    Sousa¡¯s brows knitted together as a terrifying aura spread out in the air. ¡°How can two mere dukes escape from my hands?¡±

    ¡°Mere dukes?¡± Brock chuckled. ¡°I heard that the one in front of you once injured a great dark monarch. He¡¯s also the one who took on an all-out attack from a great dark monarch.¡±

    Sousa¡¯s face turned red. ¡°He used an underhanded method to ambush me back then!¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I only see the results.¡±

    Sousa had no way to retort because, in the end, the werewolves of Moond were forced to contain themselves near their door. They had to avoid Qianye even if they wanted to expand outward.

    Back then, Qianye had kept Sousa busy while Eunuch Liuunched a sessful sneak attack. There was also the will of the new world hovering above head, so the werewolf monarch had no choice but to flee. Brock¡¯s mockery was difficult for Sousa to refute. What would he say? That Eunuch Liu was much stronger than Brock?

    That was indeed the case, but what would that prove? His baseline level of pride as a great dark monarch wouldn¡¯t allow him to argue like this. Moreover, the situation at hand was special, so he couldn¡¯t do anything to Brock. At least, he didn¡¯t dare to break out in full hostility against the demonkin nor did he dare affect the Demon King¡¯s ns.

    Qianye was surprised to find that Brock and Sousa were here for the Book of Darkness. Apparently, it was more important than wiping out the vampire descendants. It looked like they still had no idea that the Azure King Reynold had fused Qianye¡¯s blood core and heart into the Book of Darkness. Handing over the book was likemitting suicide.

    Qianye said, ¡°Surrendering without a fight isn¡¯t my style.¡±

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t hold back anymore.¡±

    ¡°Working so hard for the demonkin, huh? Did you ever stop to think about the consequences? The Summit of Peaks won¡¯t agree to this, would they?¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°Summit of Peaks? They¡¯ve long since abandoned tradition and ancestry. They are all sinners who do not respect our ancestors! Compared to the vampires, we feel more disgusted by the Summit of Peaks.¡±

    Qianye said coldly, ¡°So sanctimonious about a betrayal, no wonder you¡¯re the weakest great dark monarch.¡°

    This time, Sousa was truly livid. ¡°Who told you I¡¯m the weakest?¡±

    ¡°Is there anyone who can¡¯t beat you among the great dark monarchs?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Of course there is! For instance...¡± Sousa wanted to put out some names when Brock cut him short. ¡°He¡¯s stalling for time!¡±

    ¡°What meaning is there in stalling?¡± Sousa asked.

    ¡°Of course there is.¡± The one who had replied was Qianye and not Brock.

    Sousa narrowed his eyes. ¡°Are you making fun of me?¡±

    Qianye produced Dragonsgrave, saying, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to make fun of a great dark monarch. I¡¯m just saying that if I were a werewolf, I would neither put down my hatred of the vampires nor would I bend my knee to the demonkin. At least in name, the werewolves are one of the four holy races, and a great dark monarch should be afforded a certain level of respect.¡±

    Sousa¡¯s expression was gloomy. ¡°Very good, you¡¯ve really angered me.¡±

    Qianye retreated several dozen meters, putting some distance between him and Sousa.

    ¡°No use!¡± Sousa arrived in front of Qianye with a single step, his giant palm bearing down on Qianye like a leaden cloud.

    Qianye was just about to channel his origin power to evade when Sousa stomped on the ground. The tremors of origin power broke down Qianye¡¯s own .u.mted energy.

    Qianye felt as though his feet were stuck in mud, unable to exert force at all. Watching Sousa¡¯s giant palm descend, he could only attempt to block the attack again.

    A thunderous explosion resounded as the giant palm came down.

    Sousa let out a muffled groan and actually took half a step back. There was a burning sensation on his palm, almost as though it had been cut with a knife. This p seemed to havended on an erect dagger. His palm was as hard as a war axe, but he still couldn¡¯t avoid sustaining a bit of damage.

    Qianye had actually wounded him while defending? Sousa nced at Qianye in surprise.

    The young man was gazing at East Peak with a surprised expression. The de was slightly bent, and there were some signs of damage. This de had been infused with the giant rhino¡¯s horn and soaked in the Pond of Life. Qianye had thought it would never suffer any damage. Who would¡¯ve thought blocking Sousa¡¯s attack would damage it? It would seem that invincibility was rtive to the opponent.

    Sousa damaging East Peak was something Qianye hadn¡¯t expected. He had just taken a blow from the werewolf¡ªit was hard but not impossible to block. The second blow might¡¯ve been stronger, but Qianye didn¡¯t feel like he couldn¡¯t take it.

    What exactly was going on? Could East Peak have be soft?

 Chapter 1405: Disadvantageous Situation

    <h4>Chapter 1405: Disadvantageous Situation</h4>

    Sousa and Qianye seemed contemtive after the fight, but the others weren¡¯t idle.

    Nighteye¡¯s sword radiance spread out once again, only to be blocked by the Wall of Sighs. Brock stared at her, saying, ¡°I¡¯m your opponent.¡±

    ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°Correct. Even with a holy weapon, you¡¯re not a grand duke just yet.¡± Brock pointed forward gently, producing several walls that blocked the iing attack.

    The demonkin duke stood in the air with one hand behind his back, only using the other to fight. A wall would appear with a mere pointing of his finger, which then would move and sh as he swung his arm.

    As an ability that was close to the level of a great dark monarch, the wall of sighs had undergone variations in Brock¡¯s hands. It could turn into a thick square for defense or a paper-thin sheet that could fly out and attack. This had exceeded the Jeruson family¡¯s traditionally defensive strategies, showing signs ofbining both offense and defense.

    Awakening Dream¡¯s attacks used to be indefensible, but they were greatly weakened after passing through the Wall of Signs. Duke Brock was able to take the attacks calmly even if they didnd on his body.

    Grand Duke Brock nced down at the shallow cuts on his armor and smiled proudly, ¡°As expected of a holy weapon, it could even damage my armor. Looks like winning against you won¡¯t be easy. Then again, you¡¯ve only recovered to the level of a duke. The Awakening Dream has been the Azure King¡¯s weapon since ancient times. It might be in your hands now, but I doubt it would recognize you as the master. How many attacks can youunch with your strength?¡±

    ¡°Reynold...¡±

    Brock said, ¡°The Azure King was a respectable expert indeed. Unfortunately, he sacrificed himself for you people. That truly wasn¡¯t worth it.¡±

    Brock¡¯s tone while talking about the Azure King wasn¡¯t as irreverent as when he was talking to Sousa. Reynold had suppressed the Eternal me and the Masefield n lord in thest battle. Even though he had done so by burning through his life, the battle had left the enemies full of respect for him.

    At the mention of this matter, Nighteye¡¯s gaze turned cold and her long hair began to dance about. Grand Duke Brock¡¯s figure appeared in her eyes.

    ¡°The Eye of Destruction? It¡¯s useless against me.¡± Brock sneered as heid down a Wall of Sighs, effectively disrupting the attack.

    Brock began to quiver after sessfully blocking the Eye of Destruction. He wasn¡¯t as confident as before, almost as though something wasn¡¯t quite right. Sensing something, he looked up from behind the wall, only to find a boundless wave of sword radiance rolling toward him!

    Brock was shocked out of his wits. This was Awakening Dream? It could be used this way?

    Now that Awakening Dream was in action, Brock knew that it was useless for him to hide or evade. The only thing he could do was block.

    In the blink of an eye, his hair and beard stood on end as demonic energy gushed out of his body. Four Walls of Sighs appeared in front of him, the most he could produce before the de arrived.

    The sword radiance was like a raging tide. It crushed the four walls in an instant and swallowed up Grand Duke Brock.

    The demonkin was still standing as the de radiance scattered, seemingly unharmed. It was just that his gaze was filled with helplessness and regret.

    Nighteye¡¯s aura fell sharply as she used up almost all of her blood energy. Grand Duke Brock, on the other hand, was in a fairly good stateying down all those walls in hurried session didn¡¯t even drain three parts of this demonic energy.

    Yet it was the grand duke who wasughing bitterly. ¡°How did you do that?¡±

    Nighteye patted Awakening Dream. ¡°I was the one who lent Reynold this sword.¡±

    Brock was stunned in disbelief. ¡°So... that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    The demonkin leaned forward ever so slightly, then toppled over. The moment his body hit the ground, his armor shattered into many pieces and vanished. Yet, there wasn¡¯t a single wound on his body. With nothing left to restrain them, the abundant demonic energy seeped out and scattered in every direction, finally fading away into the world.

    Unexpectedly, he had grossly underestimated Nighteye despite his knowledge of her. Awakening Dream was notorious for being difficult to tame. He never would¡¯ve thought that the sword was hers initially.

    Nighteye hadunched dozens of shes during their showdown. Draining all of her blood energy in one attack, she managed to raise her attack power exponentially. Brock on the other hand could only utilize thirty percent of his power.

    Nighteye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was close to the darkness origins in grade. Duke Brock¡¯s demonic energy was also pure, but it was still one grade inferior to Nighteye¡¯s. It was near impossible for him to surmount this gap.

    A hero of the demonkin race thus fell.

    Sousa and Qianye were still contemting at this point.

    The two nced over at the fallen Brock, and quite surprisingly, Sousa was neither angry nor surprised. There was even a hint of undisguised mockery in his eyes.

    ¡°I thought he¡¯d only lose, who would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d die altogether. Looks like he¡¯s never had a proper opponent all these years.¡±

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d be worried about the disadvantageous situation.¡±

    Sousaughed. ¡°I can pull out my real powers now that the hindrance is out of the way. I¡¯ll be able to better exin things to the Demon King after I take your heads, lest he mes this on me.¡±

    ¡°Why not? I was a bit worried about Nighteye at first, but she used up all of her blood energy to kill that idiot. Even if she does have a secret art, it¡¯ll take some time for her to recover. This period is enough for me to kill you several times over.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You¡¯re quite confident, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Sousaughed. ¡°If you think that light feather ability can injure me, you¡¯re wrong. Besides, there¡¯s probably a limit to how many times you can use it, no?¡±

    ¡°You can try.¡±

    ¡°Of course I will, but it looks like your sword isn¡¯t holding out very well.¡±

    Streams of golden azure blood energy appeared in front of Qianye and condensed into an azure sword.

    Howard appeared nearby, saying, ¡°Use my sword. I¡¯m too old to use it, anyway.¡±

    Sousa was stunned as he gazed at Howard. ¡°So you¡¯re already this weak. Why are you running about instead of hiding in a blood pond? Are you tired of living?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re already in such a state, so what if I die? At least we¡¯re doing better than the werewolves. You were humiliated in the opening of the new world, yet you run over once the Demon King gives you a bone.¡±

    Howardughed, ¡°I couldn¡¯t beat you back then, but I didn¡¯t lose either. You couldn¡¯t even capture me as a great dark monarch. I heard you had a difficult time exining it to the Wolf Ancestor.¡±

    Sousa¡¯s expression grew ugly. ¡°It¡¯ll be your turn once I kill this little fellow. I¡¯ll make you suffer a long period of pain. As for her, the Demon King didn¡¯t give me any specific instructions, so I guess I¡¯ll have a taste of an ancient character.¡±

    Qianye picked up Howard¡¯s sword. ¡°How can you be so shameless?!¡±

    ¡°What? Wanna kill me?¡±

    Nighteye said, ¡°Qianye, calm down.¡±

    With a sinister smile, Sousa licked his lips. ¡°Calm down? It¡¯s no use. Unless she flees right now, she¡¯ll fall into my hands sooner orter.¡±

    Nighteye wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°I¡¯ll recover if you keep bbering.¡±

    ¡°Very well, since you guys want to die quickly, I¡¯ll help you.¡±

    Sousa arrived before Qianye in a single step and pped down again, just like before.

    Qianye was shocked. Gazing at the mountainous palm descending upon him, Qianye got down on one knee and met the iing attack with the azure gold sword!

    A muffled rumble shook thend as Sousa¡¯s palm struck the ground violently, producing a pit several dozen meters wide.

    Qianye had disappeared, likely mmed into the ground by the attack. However, a sword tip appeared on the backside of Sousa¡¯s hand. That azure gold de was definitely Howard¡¯s sword.

    Sousa raised his hand with a muffled groan and plucked out the protruding de. The wound closed up immediately once the weapon was removed; it didn¡¯t even bleed. Qianye was still in the same posture at the center of the pit, except for the fact that he was now embedded in the rock.

    Sousa¡¯s eyes lit up as he lifted his right foot and stomped down on Qianye. Howard¡¯s sword was extremely sharp, but such stabs could do little against the body of a werewolf great monarch. Additionally, sharpness usually apanied fragility, so there was no telling how it would hold out after a couple of exchanges.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flicked away from the pit. Sousa let out a low growl as that terrifying attractive force appeared once again beneath his feet. Once again, he dragged Qianye out of his Spatial sh and stomped down on him!

    With a loud boom, the rocky clifftop sank down several meters. Sousa¡¯srge frame also sank into the ground, a testament to how powerful that stomp was. It was as though arge warship had rammed into the ground. Sousa was known only for his body and strength, but he had cultivated to the extreme in these fields. Every movement of his was apanied by earth-toppling power.

    And they were on Dawn Continent, where thendscape was as hard as steel. On any other continent, Sousa¡¯s stomp might¡¯ve shattered an entire mountain.

    However, Sousa didn¡¯t seem all that delighted after the stomp. All he saw was a deep footprint in the ground, and Qianye was gone.

 Chapter 1406: Beleaguerment

    <h4>Chapter 1406: Beleaguerment</h4>

    Against the Shot of Inception, even Sousa couldn¡¯t remain careless. He stepped back quickly while raising his arms to block the attack; speed, however, was not his forte. It would seem that Sousa¡¯s estimation was still off, even without the environmental factors of the new world. His arms did little to stop the ck feather as it shot into his c.h.e.s.t.

    Sousa let out a muffled groan, and his expression turned odd. His body swayed briefly before he found his footing once again.

    After suppressing his injuries, Sousa turned to Howard instead of Qianye. ¡°Courting death!¡± He arrived before the vampire prince in a single step and swung a heavy fist at his c.h.e.s.t.

    Howardughed. ¡°Now that¡¯s ying dirty.¡± A long staff appeared in Howard¡¯s hand, with which he tapped the ground, conjuring a cloud of blood around him.

    Under the gravitational force of Sousa¡¯s attack, the cloud of blood was firstpressed to a single droplet and then into a barely discernible crystal. Howard, though, was no longer around.

    Sousa observed the surroundings and saw the man appear hundreds of meters away. ¡°You vampires and your petty tricks. Howard, when all is said and done, you¡¯re still a second-generation primogenitor. Are you going to keep running away?¡±

    ¡°Fleeing requires energy too. Do you want to try and see how many more times I can flee?¡±

    Sousa only snorted in response. Howard was using his essence blood to mitigate the gravitational force, so every escape involved a certain price. Sousa wasn¡¯t about to underestimate this prince, however. The man had been alive for thousands of years and .u.mted an abundance of tricks up his sleeve. He might be injured, but there was no telling how many times he could run.

    Seeing that Howard was still avoiding a fight, Sousa took to the air and made a beeline for Qianye. Thetter of course wouldn¡¯t let him get close; he immediately moved back and put some distance between them.

    However, Sousa let out a sinisterugh at this point. His body expanded once again until he was one meter taller than before. An invisible force bore down on Qianye and pulled him back toward the werewolf great monarch.

    At the same time, Sousa swung his left hand and pushed Nighteye far into the distance. He no longer paid any attention to Howard.

    Dragging Qianye in, Sousaunched a punch. A giant dark fist of energy formed in the air and sted the iing target.

    Qianye held the azure de with his right hand while pushing onto the backside of the de with his left. He would block this giant fist using the sword as a shield.

    Sousa¡¯s strike contained two opposing forces, which locked down Qianye and made it impossible for him to flee.

    In the end, his movements came to a standstill as he took on the giant fist!

    Qianye was sent flying hundreds of meters away, mming into the ground like a cannonball. The impact left a deep groove in the hard rock.

    Qianye struggled up and couldn¡¯t help but spit out a mouthful of blood. That punch was so powerful that it felt almost indefensible; even his ancient vampire constitution couldn¡¯t quite take it.

    This time, Qianye was noticeably slower as he climbed out of the hole. The two heavy attacks had dealt quite a number on him.

    Sousa was even more surprised. ¡°No ordinary duke can take two strikes, let alone injure me. It looks like that idiot Brock didn¡¯t die an unjust death.¡±

    Qianye staggered for a bit before reiming his footing. His aura began to rise again.

    Sousa was in no rush to run him down. Instead, he sized Qianye up from head to toe, saying, ¡°It¡¯s bloodboil again. That vampire ability looks useful, but it¡¯ll only make you lose faster. Blood energy isn¡¯t unlimited.¡±

    Those words made sense, but Sousa said after some thought, ¡°Then again, you have the Book of Darkness. This is the main reason I¡¯m here to capture you. Looks like I can¡¯t let you catch a breath, let¡¯s beat you half-dead before further discussion.¡±

    He took a step forward and performed the usual p.

    This time, arge projected image of a vampire appeared behind him. The illusory shadow pounced on Qianye and synchronized with his movements. Qianye held the sword up to the sky with both hands as he faced the iing palm.

    Qianye¡¯s resistance was unexpectedly strong this time around. Sousa actually failed to m him into the rocks like before. Instead, his palm was pierced through by the de.

    Qianye activated Spatial sh and moved a hundred meters away once Sousa had retracted his palm. This distance might be enough for an ordinary expert but definitely not sufficient against a great dark monarch.

    This time, however, the vampire projection expanded abruptly and was peeled off by the gravitational force. Qianye himself was freed from the restraining force, allowing him to fire yet another Shot of Inception.

    Having taken two losses in a row, Sousa realized that he had no way to evade the iing attack. Rather than waste energy, he simply took that Shot of Inception head-on.

    He turned to Howard nonchntly, saying, ¡°As expected of the Dark Gospel to interfere in the battle like so. Looks like I should kill you first.¡±

    That sanguine illusion was a form of blessing produced by Howard. Not only did it greatly increase Qianye¡¯s strength, but it also served as bait to deceive Sousa¡¯s gravitational power. These two abilities were tailored to deal with the current battle situation. Qianye¡ªwho could do little except take a constant beating¡ªwas now able to retaliate.

    The azure de in Qianye¡¯s hand was also Howard¡¯s item. It could break through the defenses of a great dark monarch, adding some wounds to Sousa¡¯s body. Even mosquito bites could get rather annoying over time.

    Howard waved his staff after seeing that Sousa wasing for him. Two vampiredies appeared near Qianye and merged into his body.

    ¡°I prepared the Sanguine Gemini especially for you. I can¡¯t use them for the time being, so Qianye will activate them in my stead. You¡¯ll see just how powerful they are.¡±

    Sousa ignored whatever Howard was saying. He didn¡¯t even look back as he charged forward and swung a palm at the vampire prince. Howard repeated the proven method, using one drop of essence blood to escape the heavy blow.

    Now that he had reached a distance where he could use the Shot of Inception, Qianye wasn¡¯t going to let this opportunity slip by. He immediately produced Dragonsgrave and unfurled his wings. A bullet infused with the power of Venus Dawn shot out and struck Sousa in the back.

    A wound that could be considered grave for a duke was negligible to Sousa¡¯s body. He gave up on Howard and nced at Qianye in anger.

    Following a long howl, Sousa produced a set of dark armor around himself and charged at Qianye again. The man hadn¡¯t even arrived when the gravitational force had bound Qianye to the ground. Thetter had no choice but to respond by drawing his azure de and shing at the iing fist!

    Standing to Qianye¡¯s left and right, the Sanguine Gemini actually pushed the gravitational power away, allowing Qianye to utilize his full power.

    At this moment, Qianye had no more time to separate the chaos energy into Venus Dawn and dark golden blood energy. A hazy radiance appeared on the de as he channeled the origin power in its raw form, so much so that the azure glow was suppressed.

    At the same time, Qianye¡¯s joints began to crackle and groan under the power of the Excavator. His strength reached its peak in the blink of an eye, imparting boundless power to his sh!

    The azure de shed right through Sousa¡¯s giant fist projection. The dark origin power condensed around the fist melted like snow in the sun and soon scattered.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined that the punch that had forced him into a corner a while ago was so easily broken through. Sousa¡¯s expression seemed odd. ¡°What¡¯s this origin power?¡±

    Even Sousa couldn¡¯t tell what the hazy origin power on the azure de was. Yet, this grey energy had destroyed most of Sousa¡¯s own origin power. The great dark monarch had never seen this type of origin power throughout his long career in war.

    Naturally, Qianye¡¯s only answer was to charge forward with his de, the twin girls mirroring his every move. He could feel that his strength had increased by at least thirty percent.

    As the sword and palm met, Qianye was once again sent flying from the impact, but this time, he was only knocked back a dozen meters. Sousa didn¡¯t give chase and simply stood there while gazing at the deep gash in his palm.

    The wound was shrouded in greyish energy. It was destroying his flesh, blood, and origin power indiscriminately, causing his wound to expand.

    Sousa found this unbelievable. He was a great dark monarch, and his origin power was already quite close to the darkness origins. Yet before this mysterious grey matter, his origin power was losing like a new soldier who had never seen the battlefield. Even against Nighteye¡¯s dark golden blood energy and Qianye¡¯s Venus Dawn, his blood energy was only at a slight disadvantage.

    A thought suddenly appeared in Sousa¡¯s mind. Perhaps only the supremes would have this level of origin power.

    It was at this time that his heart skipped a beat. He nced back to find a rolling deluge of sword radiance barreling toward him.

    Nighteye had recovered?

    Sousa roared in fury. The dark armor around his body thickened abruptly as he swung out several fist shadows to st the iing des. It was just that Sousa¡¯s brutish attacks couldn¡¯t weaken Awakening Dream as much as Brock¡¯s Wall of Sighs.

    The Wall of Sighs ranked high among the demonkin secret arts,parable to Qianye¡¯s Life Plunder. Brock was at a rank disadvantage, while Sousa wascking a secret art of sufficient quality to deal with Awakening Dream.

    Sousa attacked ferociously but only managed to negate half of the attacks, with the other half shing his dark armor into a miserable state. All of a sudden, a hidden sword radiance erupted and shed Sousa¡¯s c.h.e.s.t.

    Sousa was just about to suppress the sword wound when he felt an intense pain within his body. One of the ck feathers had exploded! The previously suppressed Shot of Inception had taken the advantage to deal a massive blow to the werewolf¡¯s internal organs.

    This explosion surprised Sousa quite a bit. Only then did he realize that his origin power rank had actually dropped by an entire rank.

    Upon careful observation, Sousa discovered that there was a strange poison inside him silently eating away at his origin power. If it wasn¡¯t for the Shot of Inception, it might¡¯ve taken him some time to realize this.

    He also realized how he was poisoned. ¡°Howard! How can you be so despicable?!¡±

    Howardughed. ¡°I have quite a lot of tricks to deal with you, and this is just one of them. I¡¯ll show you more if you manage to survive.¡±

 Chapter 1407: Return to Fort Continent

    <h4>Chapter 1407: Return to Fort Continent</h4>

    Not long afterward, Sousa witnessed more of Howard¡¯s tricks.

    The Dark Gospel was two hundred years older than Sousa, and his .u.mtedbat experience was much more abundant. He had been roaming the edge of the battlefield all this time, avoiding a direct sh or any form of retaliation. He would even expend essence blood to flee when there was simply no way to evade. In short, he wasn¡¯t going toe into direct contact with Sousa.

    Howard was surrounded by several prowling beasts. These creatures were formed of blood energy and possessed different abilities.

    These creatures were vivid and lifelike, possessing different abilities. Some of them would increase Howard¡¯s speed and eleration, or help him redirect a blow. These sanguine beasts doubled Howard¡¯s power and agility, making it difficult for Sousa to attack him

    Sousa¡¯s thoughts went back to theirst battle. He had just be a great dark monarch back then, but he simply couldn¡¯t capture Howard despite the clear rank advantage. This vampire primogenitor had been secretly fighting with the Lightless Monarch for many years.

    Howard still had the capacity to reinforce Nighteye while evading Sousa¡¯s attacks, granting her a pair of sanguine wings that increased her speed by ten percent. Nighteye was fast, to begin with, and now, she was as swift as lightning. She followed Sousa whileunching constant attacks, adding more and more injuries with her de.

    Under the effects of the Gemini twins, Qianye¡¯s strength had reached a level where he could contend with Sousa. The chaos origin power also began to prove its might by slowly draining the werewolf¡¯s origin power.

    With Qianye tanking the great dark monarch at the front, Nighteye attacking from the rear, and Howard disrupting from the sidelines, Sousa couldn¡¯t find the opportunity to put his shocking strength to use.

    Howard seemed the least useful person in the field, but he would pull off various unimaginable tricks at the most critical moments and save the other two from danger.

    Then again, taking down Howard was no easy task. This old fellow was as sly as a fox and had countless tricks up his sleeve. He might have prepared a different seat of blood beasts for every enemy. Besides, both Qianye and Nighteye were far stronger than ordinary dukes. A single misstep might end up with him getting injured severely. Things would probably be easier if he were fighting two princes instead.

    It would seem that a certain price was inevitable in order to win this battle and capture Qianye alive.

    Understanding this, Sousa stomped on the ground and pushed the trio away with a repulsive force.

    Sousa stopped attacking, the anger on his facepletely gone. He was so indifferent that it seemed like the fight from before had nothing to do with him.

    ¡°Since that idiot Brock is dead, why would I keep risking my life?¡±

    The change came so swiftly that Qianye was startled.

    Sousa adjusted his robes. He picked up a drop of grey-tainted blood from his wound and licked it. He then gazed meaningfully at Qianye, saying, ¡°I¡¯m going back to report in, do you have any intention of stopping me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Qianye replied.

    Sousa¡¯s departure was naturally a good thing. This battle had shown Qianye that this werewolf great dark monarch wasn¡¯t all brawn and no brain. His strength was indeed fitting of a great dark monarch. The powerful gravitational power and brute physical strength worked together perfectly, turning several hundred meters around the monarch into a death zone.

    Talking about weaknesses, Sousa¡¯s attack and control range was limited. Theoretically, abatant who could roam about at high speed could whittle him down. That was no easy feat, however, since Qianye was dragged out of Spatial sh several times.

    The problem was that the Demon King had mobilized Sousa this time, but what about the next? The Wolf Ancestor? The Eternal me? Or even himself?

    The Demon King would not let them go now that Grand Duke Brock had fallen on Dawn.

    Qianye and Nighteye retreated to either side and opened up a path.

    Sousa said, ¡°Oh right, I forgot to do something.¡±

    He raised his hand and squeezed out a drop of blood from the wound on his palm. The blood began to burn and soon turned into a giant rune that fell onto Qianye¡¯s body.

    This rune was faster than any other attack he hadunched. It appeared on Qianye almost at the same time that it appeared. Someone watching without blinking might see the rune appear in two areas at the same time.

    ¡°A curse!¡± Nighteye drew her sword and shed at Sousa.

    The great dark monarch pushed Nighteye away again, saying, ¡°Yes, this is a curse, but it won¡¯t affect him for the time being.

    Howard said gloomily, ¡°This is an ancient rune, something akin to a tracking mark.¡±

    Sousaughed. ¡°As expected of the Dark Gospel. You even know so clearly about our ancient runes. Now that Qianye has been marked, there¡¯s no need for me to tell him what he should do. I hope he¡¯s not as dumb as Brock.¡±

    With that, the werewolf left and disappeared into the distance. Momentster, an airship flew a couple of circles above the trio and flew off into the void.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed. Despite knowing that a mark had been left behind, he simply couldn¡¯t find where it was.

    Howard said thoughtfully, ¡°From what I know, the werewolf ancient runes are extremely powerful, but they¡¯re not as detailed in the utilization of energy. If this is indeed a tracking rune, Sousa will have one on him as well, and he will have to find your location by relying on the connection between them. A third rune is actually needed in order to pinpoint you urately. I¡¯m sure Her Majesty Nighteye knows more than I do.¡±

    Nighteye said after some thought, ¡°That¡¯s indeed the case. The current rune can only sense the general direction and not Qianye¡¯s actual location. This means that Sousa can only sense Qianye¡¯s direction whether he¡¯s a thousand or ten thousand kilometers away.¡±

    Howard said, ¡°If the target moves fast enough and far enough, he can still lock onto the distance by sensing the changes in the connection.

    Nighteye shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯smon for such runes to deviate ten degrees or so. This error will only disappear if the target moves thousands of kilometers. This move waspletely unnecessary.¡±

    ¡°Why would he do this then?¡± Howard was puzzled.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Howard fell into contemtion. ¡°The Demon King might not need the tracking rune, but the same can¡¯t be said of other people. The supremes¡¯ movements are impossible to fathom. The Demon King must have his reasons for not appearing in person, but that doesn¡¯t mean other great dark monarchs won¡¯te.¡±

    All of a sudden, the atmosphere grew tense. Sousa alone was difficult enough to handle; they would have no choice but to flee if two great dark monarchs came after him.

    Qianye said all of a sudden, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, letting me stay here will just keep attracting more experts.¡±

    Nighteye and Howard exchanged knowing nces. The two recent fights had proven that the target was actually Qianye.

    The Dawn Continent was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The secret flight route itself was a natural barrier that could restrain the size and speed of enemy fleets. The demonkin vanguard fleet had arrived so quickly because of Brock¡¯s Wall of Sighs.

    This guess wasn¡¯t unfounded. On one hand, Qianye had seen how half of the fleeing airsh.i.p.s had fallen into dire straits after leaving the continent¡¯s airspace. Several of them were destroyed by the scorching flow of origin power. On the other hand, he had learned from the captives that they had a sizable main army and rear-guard when they set out, but those forces never arrived. This went to show that the Dawn Continent wasn¡¯t so easy to approach.

    If Qianye were to leave now, the demonkin would lose their real objective. It wasn¡¯t a certainty whether they would risk greater losses in order to wipe out some weak vampire descendants. Staying here would only give the enemy an urate target, drawing out more people like Sousa.

    Howard said after some thought, ¡°Ignoring Sousa¡¯s n, for now, the best way to deal with the rune and scrying is to keep moving. Even the supremes¡¯ perception will take time to cover all the continents. It¡¯s best if you go into hiding.¡±

    After some discussion, Nighteye would follow Qianye and Howard would stay behind to lead the vampire survivors and build a new home here.

    Not only was Fort Continent a domain he had built up from scratch, but it was also where William and the Summit of Peaks were present. He needed to understand the Summit¡¯s stance since the demonkin seemed intent on unifying all of Evernight. The vampires and werewolves shared a long history of enmity, but this was no longer important in the face of extermination.

    Qianye did not drive the Martyr¡¯s Pce to Cerulean Wave City out of caution. Instead, he left the airship with Nighteye and Zhuji to enter the city in secret.

    After his return, Qianye was stunned by the scenery before him.

    The slums outside of the city had beenpletely leveled, and there were buildings being constructed everywhere. The area had expanded far beyond their previous scope.

    The slums had been divided into areas of different shapes and sizes, each housing buildings of different styles. The different areas were now marked by different gs and totems, showing who the owner and protector were.

    Although the area looked just as messy as the previous slums, the scent of potential prosperity was in the air.

    It hadn¡¯t been very long since Qianye left the city. How did it thrive so quickly?

 Chapter 1408: The Werewolvesâ€™ Standpoint

    <h4>Chapter 1408: The Werewolves¡¯ Standpoint</h4>

    The original slums area outside the city had doubled, and new residential areas had popped up around this construction zone. The residents of the original slums had moved there.

    All of a sudden, Qianye saw a bunch of garish feathers drift into his vision¡ªhe had found an old acquaintance. Gesturing for Nighteye to remain in ce, he moved toward the werewolf chieftain.

    In this period of Qianye¡¯s absence, this werewolf had actually grown fatter and taller. The bigger frame made space for him to wear more bright decorative items and show off his wealth.

    The chieftain was shocked at the unexpected approach. At first, he was furious, but his face blossomed into smiles upon seeing that it was Qianye. ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯re finally back!¡±

    The chieftain¡¯s natural joy removed some of Qianye¡¯s doubts. ¡°What¡¯s going on in the city?¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t get any worse!¡± The chieftain¡¯s voice rose an octave. ¡°You might not know, but we have all kinds of races here now, and they¡¯re noisy as heck. We clearly have no more space, but we still get dozens of airsh.i.p.sing in every day. Just look! Does it still look like the Cerulean Wave City we know?¡±

    The chieftain said angrily, ¡°Those bastards outside are so crude and uncultured. Be it the vampires, demonkin, or werewolves, the first thing they say is ¡®Find me a piece ofnd, I¡¯ll build the biggest store in the area, I have all the money you need!¡¯ They speak as though we¡¯re so poor.¡±

    That¡¯s clearly a good thing... Qianye thought to himself as he continued listening.

    The chieftain waved his hands about. ¡°These fellows think they could humiliate us, so we need to use our money to humiliate them back! Yes, that¡¯s how we do things.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t the werewolves retaliate against humiliation with force?¡± Qianye was puzzled.

    ¡°Can¡¯t beat... oh, okay.¡± Qianye was at a loss for words. He didn¡¯t really believe that these werewolves who were in a primitive state a few months ago would have .u.mted that much wealth.

    The chieftain quickly tossed this minor unhappiness to the back of his head. When he started talking again, his hands were waving about, and there was spittle flying everywhere. ¡°However, we seem to have given those outsiders a lesson on what real wealth is! Thisnd beneath our feet is the ultimate wealth. Without ournd, where will they build their stores? In the sky? They need to buynd no matter how big or small their businesses are.¡±

    Qianye finally understood the reason after some questioning.

    It turned out that Cerulean Wave City was starting to be a trading hub for all the different races. The demand for all kinds of resources shot up after war broke out in Evernight.

    The vampires had been soundly defeated on Twilight Continent, but their power on the other continents was by no means shaken. This was especially true of the continents upied by different races. The lords of those territories were adventurers, to begin with, so they weren¡¯t going to sit by and do nothing. Resistance broke out everywhere, and the council¡¯s forces were driven out entirely in some of the remote ces.

    It would seem that the political state had returned to the holy-war era, so both the vampires and demonkin requiredrge amounts of resources. There was also a surging market demand for grey goods, and Fort Continent happened to be the best ce for this.

    There was no better ce for this on Fort Continent than Cerulean Wave City. The lord of this territory was Qianye, with two subordinate dukes overseeing it in his absence. With the Summit of Peaks setting the first example, this ce was indeed much safer than any other location.

    Even though the demonkin had issued a wanted order for Qianye, most people were not privy to the convoluted reasons behind it. The races of Evernight had been at war with one another¡ªand even amongst themselves¡ªfor thousands of years. Unless there was a certain confirmation that Qianye had been killed or captured, no one would dare to cause trouble. That was, of course, unless they were confident in seizing the entire city.

    Traders and adventurers from all walks of life surged into the city, filling it to the brim. The massive demand represented by each of these merchants became the foundation of the city¡¯s prosperity.

    The demand for manpower began to attract more werewolves from the nearby tribes, and that was how the current state of the city came to be.

    The chieftain pointed at the slums outside the city. ¡°We chieftains have discussed things in your absence. You¡¯re the son of darkness, and it¡¯s only right that you should be the ric.h.e.s.t person. That¡¯s why everyone agreed that this entire area should belong to you.¡±

    Qianye was rather surprised. There was very limited space within the city, and the old slums outside had been transformed into a business district. If thisnd was his, the rent from all the businesses here would pour into his coffers. This was a small fortune. It would seem that werewolves of the Jade Sea hadn¡¯t lost their piety because of his absence.

    Out of an abundance of caution, Qianye had Nighteye remain concealed as he walked back to the duke¡¯s residence with the chieftain.

    Qianye instructed the chieftain to inform William of his return but limit the news otherwise.

    William arrived swiftly, and the first thing he said was, ¡°You still dare to appear?!¡±

    ¡°Just showing my face around here, I¡¯ll leave soon.¡±

    William seemed relieved. ¡°That¡¯s good. I was worried you would fight the demonkin to the death.¡±

    Qianye shrugged. ¡°I haven¡¯t lived nearly enough.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the troublemaker this time, the council came to me. Besides, the Azure King saved me, so I couldn¡¯t just let his family get massacred.¡±

    William frowned. ¡°That¡¯s that, but the course of this war won¡¯t be altered by personal reasons. Sigh!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I came back because I want to know clearly about the werewolves¡¯ stance in this war. The demonkin and Sousa were trying to kill me a while ago.¡±

    ¡°Sousa?¡± William¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°He¡¯s a crafty one. His true fighting power is far beyond what people know, and all those who have underestimated him have be corpses. It¡¯s not all that surprising that he would work for the Demon King. The werewolf race is actually in a divided state at the moment. The wolf ancestor is now standing with the Demon King, and most of the ancestral faction have rallied to his call.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Even someone of his stature? This is truly difficult toprehend.¡± The vampires were desperate to approach the darkness origins because the River of Blood had left them. What reason do the werewolves have?¡±

    William said, ¡°Reportedly, the Demon King promised to restore the werewolves¡¯ position on the Sacred Mountain. The Wolf Ancestor was swayed by the offer.¡±

    Qianye more or less understood the council¡¯s structure by now. He said, ¡°Promising a supreme position? Even if there¡¯s a seat up there, can he get up without sufficient strength? Can he hold onto it?¡±

    Williamughed wryly. ¡°The Wolf Ancestor is at the end of his life. Not to mention such a promise, he might be willing even if they let him sit on the Sacred Mountain for a while. He won¡¯t live much longer if he doesn¡¯t be a supreme. That¡¯s why he¡¯ll take this chance no matter what.¡±

    With the Longevity Monarch as an example, Qianye understood how attractive lifespan was to people with one foot in the grave.

    William said, ¡°The Wolf Sovereign has already offered the Tempest and arge number of warriors for the new world. This can be considered a greatpromise, and the only rebellious decision he made was to hide me. Reportedly, the Demon King has no intention of looking into this matter. That¡¯s why we won¡¯t be taking part in this war.¡±

    ¡°Once the vampires fall, the werewolves will be next.¡±

    Williamughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°You don¡¯t understand the power bnce of Evernight well enough. Even if they do take action, the Demon King will turn to the arachne first and not the werewolves. We are not a threat at all in his eyes.¡±

    Qianye sighed. It was true that he didn¡¯t understand much regarding the entanglement between the dark races, but he couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that the werewolves¡¯ judgment was wrong. However, he didn¡¯t say anything else because William wouldn¡¯t have any say in such a major topic, anyway.

    All they could do wasin to one another.

    William said with a weird expression, ¡°Oh, right. I have two pieces of news that aren¡¯t all that great. Wanna hear?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°First, the demonkin have already put a bounty on your head and requested the cooperation of all Evernight races.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I know that, yet you dare meet with me? Aren¡¯t you afraid the demonkin will cause trouble for you?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the second?¡±

    ¡°The second is just gossip, and no one knows if it¡¯s true.¡± Wiliam started off by dering that this news wasn¡¯t reliable. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. Why would William bring up random gossip when he knew how precious time was at the moment? He soon came to understand why.

    ¡°After losing the Twilight Continent, the vampires no longer have a primogenitor level expert, but did you sense it? The demonkin have been keeping the intensity of the holy war in check.¡±

    Qianye gave it some thought. ¡°Do you mean the number of experts participating in the war?¡±

    ¡°In the past, the core territories of each race would rarely, if ever, suffer a direct attack, but the demonkin have broken this rule by attacking Twilight. That¡¯s why it¡¯s rather strange that their princes and great dark monarchs have stopped appearing afterward.¡±

    Apparently, the Summit of Peaks was rather cautious despite iming neutrality. The demonkin had imed victory with a tempestuous momentum, but they slowed down the pace of their invasion. This left the werewolves puzzled. Qianye still hadn¡¯t noticed this issue before William mentioned it. Now, he couldn¡¯t help but feel curious.

    William said, ¡°I heard the Demon King promised Prince Habsburg that the two races would decide the oue in a holy war.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s understanding of Habsburg didn¡¯t involve any happy memories. He said with a frown, ¡°Habsburg is still alive?¡±

    ¡°He should be,¡± William said, ¡°this promise is no small matter. There are rules to observe in the holy war, along with restrictions and bottom lines. It¡¯s greatly beneficial for the vampires if the demonkin agree to follow these rules. At least, they won¡¯t massacre the inhabitants after upation. This means the vampires will be able to hold out for a while longer.¡±

    At present, the two had no idea that the reason why the Demon King wanted Qianye had nothing to do with the war. Nor did they know about the major characters butting heads behind this gossip. However, William¡¯s analysis was fortunately on the mark¡ªor pretty close at least.

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°No wonder Sousa left a tracking rune on me.¡±

    ¡°An ancient tracking rune?¡± William asked with a frown. ¡°Now that¡¯s odd. Why go that extra step? The supremes can easily guess your location as long as they have some clues to go on. That young demonkin prophet from the Dark Nightmare is also active. Prince Predica is reportedly even more powerful than his uncle and the previous chair of the Evernight Council, Master Grey. If they want to scry your location, he can produce an even more urate result. Either way, those methods won¡¯t be inferior to our ancient tracking rune.¡±

    The two discussed Sousa¡¯s actions for a while but couldn¡¯te to a conclusion, and the Demon King¡¯s attitude toward the war also left them puzzled. William asked Qianye about his ns.

    ¡°Flee, keep running.¡± Qianyeughed.

    William nodded. ¡°I feel relieved. When do you n to begin?¡±

    Qianye stood up. ¡°Now.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to see anyone else?¡± William was surprised.

    ¡°I¡¯ve shown my face briefly, so let¡¯s wait and see how each party responds. As for the others, there will be lots of opportunities to meet them.¡±

    William understood his meaning. ¡°Fort Continent is indeed a good ce.¡±

    What Qianye had just said meant that he wouldn¡¯t be leaving Fort Continent for the time being. The environment here was harsh, and the chaotic origin power diminished the experts¡¯ cultivation speed. The effectiveness of tracking, divination, and prophetic scrying will also be discounted, just like in the neutralnds.

    The Fort Continent was a single continent that was muchrger than the neutralnds. There was ample space to roam about and shake off any pursuers. The demonkin had almost no foothold on Fort Continent, so they were pure foreignerspared to Qianye and his long history here.

    After meeting William and learning about the werewolves¡¯ stance, Qianye left Cerulean Wave City and disappeared into the depths of the continent. Now that he was wanted by the demonkin, it would be a good thing if he could keep the pursuing council forces in check.

    ...

    At this moment, in Habsburg¡¯s Lava Castle. The Demon King slowly put down the ancient scroll and asked Sousa, ¡°Can you tell me why you used an ancient tracking rune?¡±

 Chapter 1409: Chase

    <h4>Chapter 1409: Chase</h4>

    In the depths of Fort Continent, Qianye and Nighteye were standing side by side at the edge of a cliff. Before them was a green ocean of mist-shrouded trees, stretching far off until it met the sky over the horizon.

    ¡°Here we are,¡± Qianye said.

    Nighteye did not say a word.

    Qianye hugged her gently. ¡°This is a key period for your recovery. You must find a safe ce to recuperate, not run around with me. Seek me out when you¡¯ve be a prince or even a great dark monarch.¡±

    ¡°What will you do then?¡±

    Qianye smiled as he produced a hazy mass of origin power. ¡°With this chaos origin power, no one but the Demon King can capture me.¡±

    Nighteye was still worried, but Zhuji said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be around to fight those Papa can¡¯t beat.¡±

    Little Zhuji was in a fairly strange state. Her bloodline powers hadn¡¯t m.a.t.u.r.ed, but her physical strength had reached an extreme level. Her constitution was akin to thebined strength of the ancient vampires and arachne, hardly measurable with ordinary standards. A while back, she even managed to break free from Sousa¡¯s grip while he was distracted. Having her around would be a great boon for Qianye.

    Nighteye was also a decisive person. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll be going then.¡±

    She nted a gentle kiss on Qianye¡¯s lips and left.

    Only when her figure had vanished did Little Zhuji ask, ¡°Why did you ask aunty to leave?¡±

    ¡°She needs to look for an ancient blood pond and sleep for a while. She¡¯ll be even more powerful after she wakes up. Oh, weren¡¯t you calling her ¡®sis¡¯ a while back? When did she be ¡®aunty?¡¯¡±

    ¡°I recently learned that a woman¡¯s age is very important. I should call her aunty so that people don¡¯t misunderstand my age! After all, I¡¯m still young. Mama said humans usually start counting from the time we break out of the eggshell.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry, what had Song Zining put into her head? He didn¡¯t know how arachne counted their age, but only eggying creatures could be counted in that manner.

    This littless was as smart as she was mischievous, and her intelligence was expanding particrly quickly. Qianye could no longer treat her as a kid, but her own perception of age was probably less than ten years old.

    Qianye nced up at the sky where the Martyr¡¯s Pce was moving farther and farther away.

    The demonkin had mobilized Sousast time, so there might be more great dark monarchsing for him. The dragonship wasn¡¯t enough to hold its own before such experts, so Qianye had to send it away to protect his foundations.

    Back then, Brock was utterly defeated because Qianye had charged into his airship and kept him restrained. He wasn¡¯t about to subject himself to this fate.

    The visibility inside the forest was limited as almost all light was blotted out by the giant trees and lingering mist. It was difficult to tell night and day apart. The tree trunks were covered in glowing moss, which provided the b.a.r.e minimum of illumination to see things.

    The environment was dark, damp, and filled with a bone-deep chill. Even a champion might fall sick after staying here for too long.

    In a clearing within the forest, Qianye lit up a fire and began roasting a small creature he had captured. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    Little Zhuji looked up at the sky. ¡°I still can¡¯t see clearly, but I can make out some clouds now.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, keep practicing. Perception is the most important factor for a good hunter.¡±

    Nodding, Little Zhuji stared earnestly at the misty treetops, hoping to see through them.

    This sea of trees was fairly well-known on Fort Continent as a death zone. The woods were covered year-round in a dense mist that could obstruct perception, and there were drifting wisps of origin power under the cover of the moisture and cold. This origin power provided no benefit to living beings. In fact, even experts would feel weakened after prolonged exposure to it.

    These things posed no problem for Qianye, and Little Zhuji was entirely at home in this environment. He hade to this forest to hide in the special environment and lie in wait for the demonkin hunters. He couldn¡¯t pick his opponent, so it was important for him to pick the battlefield.

    Not only was perception limited inside the forest, but it would also be distorted. Thetter might be fatal under certain circ.u.mstances. Little Zhuji was born for such adverse environments¡ªher perception was even improving gradually, leaving Qianye speechless. This was also the reason why he had brought her along.

    After some thought, he decided to stir up some trouble for the arachne after this crisis. He needed to rob some top-grade inheritances for her.

    The meat on the fire hadn¡¯t finished cooking when Qianye sensed something. He looked up to see an airship enter from the void ande to a stop above the sea of trees. The cabin doors opened, and several figures stepped out¡ªone of them was almost four meters tall, with a strange ashen-colored face.

    ¡°Duke Minica, Duke Basil, we¡¯re here.¡±

    The gloomy Duke Minica nced at the boundless sea of trees below. ¡°ording to His Majesty Predica¡¯s prophecy, this is a possible hiding ce for that person. Our mission is to search the ce thoroughly and, if we find Qianye, keep him busy until the warlord arrives. Everyone, remember to be extra cautious and focus on survival. We cannot make the same mistake as Brock, understand?¡±

    The experts confirmed their instructions.

    Minica said to the giant, ¡°We¡¯ll count on you if a battle breaks out, Lord Pedro.¡±

    The giant said in a deep voice, ¡°Rest assured. I have orders from the Spider Queen, I won¡¯t remain idle or act like that trash Sousa.¡±

    Duke Minica said, ¡°I feel so much more at ease.¡±

    The three top experts jumped out of the airship and flew in different directions to begin their search. It was just that the vast sea of trees would take a long while tob through, even with their top talents.

    Predica was in front of his desk in the central study, thinking long and hard as he gazed at the map. Some parts of the cartography were glowing faintly.

    At this moment, a knock came from the door and a demonkin officer walked in. ¡°Your Majesty, Duke Minica reports that he has reached the target area and is now conducting the search. All search parties are in position now.¡±

    Predica nodded. ¡°I hope they won¡¯t be as dumb as Brock. That arrogant bastard thought he could go toe-to-toe with Nighteye and her Awakening Dream. It¡¯s no surprise that he fell. Though, it¡¯s rather unfortunate that he would die even with Sousa around.¡±

    There was no way that officer wouldment on such a topic.

    Predica seemed a bit tired. ¡°I¡¯m going to rest. Tell them I¡¯ll recalibrate the location one dayter.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    Predica didn¡¯t leave after the officer¡¯s departure. Instead, he nced at the four scattered locations on the map and shook his head, ¡°The deviation range is so big. Is it because of Qianye or the Book of Darkness? If it¡¯s the book, I¡¯d really want to take a look.¡±

    Qianye came to a sudden stop while running through the woods. He could sense a gaze from the void, passing through the many obstructions tond on him. Neither space, clouds, nor trees could obstruct this gaze.

    Qianye instinctively channeled Bloodline Concealment and retracted his aura, fading away into the environment. All of a sudden, the Book of Darkness absorbed that gaze and split it into four parts, which shot off in different directions.

    Qianye was no stranger to the divination and prophetic arts of each faction. As his cultivation and perception grew stronger, his senses toward such things also grew sharper. Yet, this was the first time he was able to see the entire process like so.

    In the past, Qianye would vaguely sense these arts after they had missed or were blocked for some reason. Other times, he never realized. This time, he could do nothing but watch as the Book of Darkness interfered with the scryer, splitting the prophetic power into four and sending them off in different directions.

    Naturally, this meant that Qianye¡¯s n tounch a fierce counterattack also went down the drain.

    Qianye thought back to the perception from before and confirmed that the gaze hade from the Evernight Faction and not the Empire. He changed his direction after some thought and crept in the direction of that aura.

    On the airship in the void, Predica woke up from his nap. He rubbed his tired eyes and looked once again at the marked map. With a sigh, he summoned themunications officer on duty and said, ¡°These are the new possible locations, forward them to the search party.¡±

    The current officer on duty, an arachne, was startled as he nced at the map. ¡°Your Majesty Predica, this... isn¡¯t this too different from yesterday?¡±

    Predica¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°What, are you arachne trying to question my prophetic powers? Tell Fokash toe if you want my position.¡±

    The arachne was shocked. The fight for the council¡¯s head prophet was fierce. After the death of Master Grey, neither Gonza of the demonkin nor Weber of the vampire race were able to convince the masses. As for Fokash of the arachne race, thismunications officer didn¡¯t know whether he wished topete for this position. What he did know was that he couldn¡¯t afford to offend this prophet.

    The arachne left hurriedly after repeated apologies.

    He had never run into such interference before, and it wasn¡¯t a sh between divination and prophecy as he had suspected. Even he couldn¡¯t tell where the problem was or why there would always be four zones each time.

    Predica knew that the Demon King had never allowed him to touch the flow of destiny for fear of Lin Xitang¡¯s lingering influence. The young prince had always followed this limitation, but he was never satisfied. He might not be a match for a living Marshal Lin, but the man was already dead. Even a great dark monarch couldn¡¯t leave asting effect after his demise.

    This time, the Demon King actually allowed Predica to join the operation after Sousa¡¯s defeat, and one involving Qianye no less. Predica shook his head with a sigh¡ªthere was no other way now.

    Back on the ground. A streak of light fell toward the forest from the sky. Minica¡¯s figure appeared in the air and grabbed an alloy tube from this light.

    He opened it to find a map inside. His countenance turned dark as he said with an angry snort, ¡°Is this a joke?! How can Qianye escape hundreds of kilometers away under my watch?¡±

    After some hesitation, he flew toward the new objective as marked on the map.

    Qianye moved through the forest like a specter, with Little Zhuji in tow. Thess didn¡¯t fall behind at all. In fact, she was having a lot of fun running through the woods. She would often jump between giant trees at the speed of lightning, but she was able to do so without making a single sound. This was an early sign of a top-tier hunter.

    Qianye came to a sudden stop and his gait froze in the air. He slowly pulled back his foot, crouched down, and brushed away a leaf on the ground.

    There was a metallic grey spider under the leaf, lying silently in wait. If Qianye had put his foot down, he would have surely crushed this insect.

 Chapter 1410: Grey Domain

    <h4>Chapter 1410: Grey Domain</h4>

    ¡°Sentry spiders?¡± Qianye frowned. ¡°Now they¡¯re sending arachne after the werewolves have failed? I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a great dark monarch, though.¡±

    Qianye couldn¡¯t understand the Demon King¡¯s intentions. After Sousa¡¯s failure, he had thought that his next enemy would be two great dark monarchs. Of course, it was possible that this hunting party was just the vanguard.

    In truth, this demonkin hunting party was anything but ordinary. Not only had they mobilized a warlock, but it was Prince Predica himself. The only issue here was that the oue wasn¡¯t going as they had expected¡ªPredica¡¯s prophecy was actually unable to pinpoint Qianye¡¯s location.

    Qianye ced another leaf on the sentry spider without touching it. These creatures were a type of servspider that would be ced in strategic areas, and their death would be sensed by the arachne expert who had set them there. This made them the best guards in critical areas.

    The appearance of sentry spiders meant that an arachne expert wasn¡¯t too far away. Qianye checked his location and felt a bit hesitant.

    From the traces in the forest, there should be two arachne experts of considerable rank. However, they were now a good distance apart after searching through the forest in different directions.

    This distance was a bit awkward. This was an opportunity for him to defeat them one by one, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them from informing the others. He would have to flee the forest if they managed to lock onto him.

    While he was hesitating, Little Zhuji tugged on his sleeve and pointed in the direction of the weaker aura.

    That was only a duke, so there shouldn¡¯t be any problem, right? Qianye nced at Zhuji in worry, but the little girl was raring to go. She promised repeatedly that she wouldn¡¯t overdo it, that she would run once there was danger. Qianye finally nodded after seeing that she was about to cry while hugging his legs.

    After their reunion, Qianye and Nighteye didn¡¯t neglect Little Zhuji¡¯s training even while they were on the run. The little fellow¡¯s foundations were simply too good. She had inherited Qianye¡¯s sharp perception and senses in addition to her innatebat abilities. Even Qianye would have to spend some effort in order to deal with her.

    It wouldn¡¯t be a problem for her to restrain and harass an arachne duke.

    At the thought of this, Qianye finally nodded in agreement. Little Zhuji cheered as she got up and vanished into the forest, not giving any chance for Qianye to change his mind.

    The arachne possessed an advantage in the forest, but Qianye was able to see the remaining dark wisps of origin power with his Eye of Control. That expert wasn¡¯t making an effort to hide himself, either.

    Qianye contained his aura and proceeded at a steady pace. Experts scanning the area with their perception would only think it was an ancient tree. If they did spend some more time, they would notice that this ancient tree was moving rapidly.

    After an hour of tracking, Qianye ran into a bl.u.s.ter of raging winds¡ªa giant creature could be seen gliding forward with the gale, scanning every inch of his surroundings.

    This method of scanning was extremely efficient, but it would be impossible to sense Qianye¡¯s concealment. However, the arachne expert wasn¡¯t stupid, either. Instead of just relying on perception, he was scattering sentry spiders everywhere he went.

    These sentry spiders could live weeks without food, so Qianye might be discovered if he were careless.

    The arachne experts did not use the more convenient human form in the forest and, instead, went back to their arachnidbat forms. Theirrge bodies were strangely agile amidst the trees, making for a difficult opponent.

    While searching, the arachne expert came to a sudden stop and nced cautiously at his surroundings.

    He could already feel an intense sense of foreboding. Without further thought, he could tell that Qianye was likely hiding somewhere in the forest. Retrieving the shield and spear from his back, the expert shed down several trees with his sharp limbs and made a clearing for a battlefield.

    Qianye had been observing his opponent for quite some time. ¡°He actually discovered me.¡±

    The shocked arachne held his shield up as Qianye appeared before him. Thetter¡¯s punchnded squarely on the shield.

    The arachne let out a loud roar as his body sank downward, his eight limbs stabbing deep into the ground. A single punch from Qianye had nearly pushed him halfway into the ground.

    Comparatively, Qianye was only pushed back slightly from the impact.

    The arachne struggled free from the soil and saw his shield crumble into several pieces. That coarse arm holding up the shield was trembling ever so slightly.

    The expert¡¯s aggressiveness was mostly gone by now, reced by an unprecedented solemnity. ¡°Not many can suppress me, Pedro, in strength. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been hiding your true rank?¡±

    Pedro stared intently at Qianye, waiting for an answer. As someone with a special bloodline, the spider¡¯s strength wasparable to a prince despite being at the grand duke rank. He had maintained his spider form throughout the search, simply because this was his advantage. Who would¡¯ve thought Qianye would surpass him so?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Neither fleeing nor reporting, are you nning to die here?¡±

    Pedro threw the broken shield pieces to the ground and switched to a smaller but thicker round shield. ¡°Come, let¡¯s get into a real fight.¡±

    The arachne rushed toward Qianye in an instant andunched a flurry of spear strikes. His weapon struck like a dragon, transforming the surrounding environment as it did so. The trees were soon covered in spider webs, and there was even one in the sky.

    Pedro clearly treated Qianye like a powerful enemy, using the full power of his domain from the get-go.

    Qianye drew his azure sword and deflected the iing spear.

    Following this sh, the environment dozens of meters around Qianye began to change. All of a sudden, everything became hazy, almost as though there was a mist rolling in.

    This was Qianye¡¯s domain!

    Pedro took several steps back in caution, feeling a bit puzzled.

    The arachne expert couldn¡¯t figure out what use Qianye¡¯s domain had, nor could he sense any effect on his own domain. The two domains coexisted in a mutually undisturbed state.

    This went against allmon sense, especially for someone with great knowledge and experience like Pedro. An idea came into his head as he nced at Qianye. Thetter looked a bit anxious, which wasn¡¯t a normal reaction in battle.

    Pedro ventured a guess. ¡°He hasn¡¯t fully grasped his domain!¡± At the thought of this, the arachne expert discarded all hesitation and shot countless spider webs at Qianye.

    These tens of thousands of threads were enough to turn Qianye into a cocoon. Pedro then took a step forward and thrust his spear at Qianye¡¯s heart.

    Shocked out of his wits, Pedro jumped backward. ¡°What kind of domain is that?!¡± Even experts at the same rank couldn¡¯t break free of his spider webs. Why would they vanish just like that?

    He hadn¡¯t finished speaking when he let out a muffled groan and blood trickled from his nose¡ªhis domain had been shattered. The bacsh injured him no matter how sturdy of a man he was.

    Qianye made no reply. He appeared before Pedro in a single step, engulfing the target in his domain as he shed down!

    This sh was abnormally heavy.

    Pedro blocked the strike with his spear, but his trusted weapon of many years was actually folded from the middle. His giant frame, one that was twice as big as ordinary arachne, was smashed into the ground.

    Pedro wanted to struggle up after blocking the attack, but his body froze as a wisp of grey energynded on his body.

    ¡°Why is it so heavy?!¡± The arachne was stunned.

    This wisp of unassuming grey energy felt like a small mountain on his body. If one such wisp was so heavy, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to walk if dozens of them were to arrive.

    There was grey energy drifting everywhere around him at this point. Pedro let out a loud roar as a dark moon lit up within his body. The terrifying might forced Qianye to retreat and put some distance between them.

    After Qianye¡¯s retreat, Pedro jumped onto the spider web threads and fled into the distance.

    He actually ran?

    Qianye shook his head helplessly, discarding the notion of giving chase. Pedro was a terrifying creature, and killing someone of such physical strength would be a difficult feat. It wasn¡¯t going to be easy to intercept him, either, if he was intent on fleeing. Qianye¡¯s favorite prey were people like Brock¡ªweak and inclined to fight to the end.

    Since Pedro had fled, Qianye hurried toward a different battlefield. He didn¡¯t really have time to observe the change in his domain.

    In the depths of the forest, Basil was advancing rapidly with his aura concealed. His movements were more cautious than Pedro¡¯s, as their secret arts were quite different.

    It was at this time that he heard a gentle snap from the side, as though someone had stepped on a twig. Feeling even more cautious, Basil retracted his aura and began channeling his power. He then picked up his shield and axe before making his way toward the source of the sound.

    What appeared before him was an empty area. There was nothing else there, and he didn¡¯t find any fallen branches, either. As someone with sufficientbat experience, Basil quickly noticed something out of ce. He drew his handgun quietly and fired at a certain ce in the forest.

    Amidst the flurry of leaves and branches, Basil heard a tender voice cry out in pain. A silhouette scuttled out from the trees and fled into the depths of the forest.

    ¡°Trying to flee?!¡± Basil started chasing with a coldugh.

    He had guessed the opponent¡¯s strength during that brief contact¡ªthat person was strong, but he was a bit stronger. Basil had no weakness in speed since he possessed the golden arachnid bloodline. He might even be a bit faster than the fleeing target.

    He made a quick decision to give chase.

    And momentster, he caught up to this escapee.

    Basil never let his guard down while facing this beautiful girl. He roared with a stern face, ¡°I am the Darknight Duke Basil, heir to the ancient Anubarakan lords and wielder of the golden bloodline. You can forget about escaping from me!¡±

    The girl looked panicked, almost as though she were intimidated by the long name. Like a startled little critter with no road to escape, she walked toward Basil with her head lowered.

    Basil sighed as he thought to himself. ¡°Looks like I need to knock her out and ask for more information. Right, I should hold back a bit when I attack.¡±

 Chapter 1411: Robbery

    <h4>Chapter 1411: Robbery</h4>

    Basil was never one to go soft. He might be a bit lenient toward weak insects, but he had always been fierce when facing his enemies.

    He had nned to hold back a bit against this girl because he could sense an inexplicable sense of connection with her. This feeling puzzled him deeply.

    He immediately decided to intimidate this littless first before questioning her origins. He needed to find out why she was here.

    Basil rushed over and mmed into the girl with his shield, swinging his axe out of habit. He suddenly realized halfway through that he might¡¯ve used too much force. So, he spun the axe about and smashed downward with the backside of the weapon.

    At the moment of that attack, Basil suddenly realized that he hadn¡¯t figured out what race that little fellow belonged to. This was definitely not his usual way.

    ng! Basil felt as though he had mmed into a mountain.

    The silence in this ancient forest was broken as trees fell down one after another. Blocks of soil were flung into the air, along with the trees growing on it. The birds and beasts of the forest were startled as they did their utmost to flee from the source of this cmity.

    Two figures rushed out from this disastrous scenery¡ªone was running and the other was chasing.

    The one at the front looked iparably miserable, and it was actually Basil! He looked like a scavenger at this point¡ªthe beautifulbat robes on his body had been shredded apart, and his armor was in tatters, with arge piece missing at the back. The arachne¡¯s hair hung loose, and his face was unrecognizably swollen as he fled for dear life.

    Zhuji was hot on his trail. She had a shield in her left hand, an axe in her right, and was wearing a golden helmet on her head. All of these things belonged to Basil.

    She was noticeably faster than in the past, even a bit faster than Basil. She caught up to him in a sh and knocked him down with the shield.

    Basil cried out while trying to resist. ¡°Wait! Stop, listen to me first! Ah, not my face!¡±

    Little Zhuji didn¡¯t care about hisints at all. She kept Basil underfoot and gave him a good beating.

    Zhuji rolled her eyes. ¡°Who¡¯re you calling the same race, ugly?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! This duke isn¡¯t ugly...¡± Basil hadn¡¯t finished talking when his vision went dark. Zhuji had mmed her shield in his face and stomped him to the ground for another round of beating.

    This had happened countless times already. The two were ying a game of ¡°Listen to me! Listen to me!¡± and ¡°No! Not listening, not listening!¡±

    Basil protected his face as best he could, ignoring other vital areas. Zhuji¡¯s attacks would be lighter if he didn¡¯t resist that much, but the problem was that she didn¡¯t keep her hands to herself. She began plucking Basil¡¯s equipment and ornaments one after another.

    ¡°Is this... a robbery?¡± Basil felt a bit distressed.

    As he saw it, Zhuji was just a kid who had barely passed the infant stage. Yet, she was beating him ck and blue with just her physical strength. She was a rare genius, one that wouldn¡¯t appear in a thousand years! And it was clear that thisss had never learned any advanced secret arts, let alone the top-grade ones.

    Since discovering that Little Zhuji was an arachne, Basil simply couldn¡¯t attack her at all. He didn¡¯t dare to use any of those ultimate arts in his possession.

    Yet, he was not a match for the littless in terms of physical strength and he couldn¡¯t suppress her entirely with origin power, either. This made it difficult for him to control his damage output. His fear of going too hard on Zhuji left him in a position where he was being beaten ck and blue.

    He might look fairly miserable, but he didn¡¯t mind it all that match. This little kid was bound to get tired at one point.

    All of a sudden, Basil felt as though he had been doused with icy water. The terror of impending doom gripped his entire consciousness! With a loud cry, he erupted with origin power and struggled free from her grasp, moving hundreds of meters away in the process.

    Little Zhuji hadn¡¯t expected that this beaten-up fellow still had the strength to escape. The translucent thread of ice she had just spat out struck the ground where Basil had been lying.

    The attack opened a small hole in the ground, extending downward for an unknown distance. A circr area of grey spread out rapidly from this hole, destroying all life in its wake; even the ancient trees withered upon contact. In the blink of an eye, Little Zhuji had produced a hundred-meter zone of death.

    Basic gasped. Even with one of the top poison-resistances in the Evernight World, one afforded by his golden bloodline, he would be in deep trouble if that poison had struck him.

    He was pleasantly surprised but also scared and drenched in cold sweat.

    Little Zhuji was not happy that she had failed to kill Basil. She jumped up and pounced at him with increased speed.

    A startled Basil felt even more rmed as he looked at the girl¡¯s puckered lips. How could he dare let her close in on him? An opponent he couldn¡¯t attack yet could threaten his life, now this was even more lethal than fighting a prince or a great monarch.

    Basil immediately shot into the sky and elerated a total of three times as he disappeared into the void. He had clearly utilized some kind of life-saving item.

    Zhuji swung her fists angrily at the escaping arachne. But her anger turned to delight when she looked down on the ground. There was a pile of ornamental items for her to count. If it wasn¡¯t for these things, it might¡¯ve been possible for her to give chase. However, she just wasn¡¯t willing to let go of these treasures.

    As a special genius who had been nurtured by the Spider Queen herself, Basil had broken through to the duke rank after entering the Great Maelstrom. This proved that he was an expert with both strength and potential. The items he had on him were also fitting of his current status; there wasn¡¯t a single inferior piece.

    Little Zhuji didn¡¯t know that much about the items¡¯ market value, but she could tell how much origin power they contained or whether the origin arrays were well crafted. This was especially true of the golden armor¡ªeach and every piece was an extraordinary work of art. It was one of the best both in physical and origin power defense.

    Just from herbat instincts, Little Zhuji took a great liking to the armor and thus yanked it off of Basil. She was now picking up everything piece by piece and putting it on herself. However, the armor wouldn¡¯t quite fit her as it was made for a burly arachne warrior.

    The littless refused to take it off even so. She sensed Qianye¡¯s distant call at this point and promptly responded to him.

    Qianye walked out from amidst the trees and saw a highly disproportionate ¡°arachne¡± warrior. He was startled at first nce but he soon didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.

    Little Zhuji was d in a suit of golden armor, with a few pieces missing, holding a shield in her left hand and an axe in the other. The oversized helmet piece was hanging loose, so she needed to tilt her head upward in order to see. Also, she didn¡¯t have any spatial gear, so she had simply tied everything to her waist with a vine. nging sounds followed her wherever she went.

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Where¡¯s the enemy?¡±

    ¡°I beat him running, but I got all of his things!¡± The little girl was excited.

    Qianye put his hand on his face with a sigh. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you kill him?¡±

    Qianye snorted. ¡°His things would have been yours after you killed him anyway.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right!¡± The girl pped her forehead.

    Qianye saw right through her acting. ¡°You wanted him to return, so that you can rob him again!¡±

    Zhuji hopped over and clung to Qianye¡¯s arm. ¡°Ah, how did you know? Actually, it¡¯s not that I like to rob people! But his things are so shiny, I like them.¡±

    Qianye was speechless, puzzled as to when this girl became so greedy. Was it an arachne instinct to like all things that glitter? He had never heard of such a trait before.

    Looking at the armor that had been badly fastened, Qianye said helplessly, ¡°Take it off.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± The answer was absolute and decisive.

    ¡°It¡¯ll affect our movement, we have to leave this ce quickly. I¡¯ll keep them for you. Don¡¯t worry, I guarantee you won¡¯t lose a single piece.¡±

    With Qianye¡¯s promise, the girl reluctantly removed her armor and handed it over for storage in Andruil¡¯s space. The storage space wasn¡¯t small, but Qianye had stuffed it full of things, so every bit of space was valuable. If it wasn¡¯t for Basil¡¯s armor being a top-grade item, Qianye would be more inclined to toss it away.

    ...

    Out in the void, several figures could be seen flying toward a giant warship and entering one by one. Predica sat leaning against the sofa in a giant, well-decorated hall. His expression was unfathomable, and no one could tell what he was thinking. A tall figure stood before the cabin window, staring at therge continent that filled the viewport.

    Minica and Pedro walked in one after another, keeping a deliberate distance between them.

    Once inside, Grand Duke Minica said, ¡°As a genius of the arachne race and a candidate for the warlord position, how could you lose so quickly? You didn¡¯t even inform me, so that I can help out.¡±

    Pedro was shrouded in shocking killing intent. ¡°Do the demonkin have only arrogant bastards left? If you doubt my strength, I don¡¯t mind going into a life and death duel with you. Show me how powerful the Dark Eye of the demonkin race is.¡±

    Minicaughed coldly. ¡°Everyone knows thatbat is not my forte. If you want a duel, there are others in my race who can apany you.¡±

    Pedro rebuked, ¡°Then shut up if you don¡¯t know how to fight!¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, this is a time for reflection and I must offer my opinion. As for the final evaluation, I¡¯m sure the warlord will decide.¡±

    The man in front of the window turned back, unmoved by the daggers-drawn atmosphere between the two. ¡°Basil will return soon, let¡¯s wait for him.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Minica and Pedro sat down in different ces, causing the temperature in the room to drop sharply.

    Hurried steps were soon heard in the corridor as Basil staggered in, almost tripping in the process.

    Seeing his tattered clothes and swollen face, even Warlord Noxus was surprised. ¡°What happened to you? Did you run into Qianye?¡±

 Chapter 1412: The Shadow in Basilâ€™s Heart

    <h4>Chapter 1412: The Shadow in Basil¡¯s Heart</h4>

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t Qianye but a different yet interesting opponent.¡± Basil became rather vague halfway through.

    All eyes in the room fell upon him. Basil was finding this opponent interesting after taking such a beating? When did the arachne have such inclinations?

    Grand Duke Minica said, ¡°Who else in this region is strong enough to make you so miserable? If there really is one, I guess His Highness Predica¡¯s observation of fate is no longer as urate as it used to be.¡±

    Noxus snorted. ¡°We have no intention of questioning a prophet, but we will not allow anyone to doubt our valor.¡±

    Predica said indifferently, ¡°Both Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s fate trajectories are very difficult to track. Even I can only see a blurry outline, especially now that I must pay more attention to Nighteye.¡±

    The room quieted down for a bit as Noxus maintained a poker face. A demonkin warlock bing so humble, that wasn¡¯t a good thing.

    Minica was somewhat moved. ¡°His Majesty¡¯s decree seems...¡±

    Predica replied, ¡°I know what His Majesty¡¯s orders are, but I have a feeling that Nighteye¡¯s effect on fate is no smaller than Qianye. It might be even greater.¡±

    Minica was even more shaken. ¡°Isn¡¯t Great Monarch Sousa going after her?¡±

    Predica shook his head while Noxus cut in unceremoniously, ¡°If he can fail once, he will fail a second time.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the battles,¡± Predica said. ¡°Let¡¯s hear what the situation is with Qianye, then Basil¡¯s interesting incident.¡±

    Pedro said, ¡°I was ambushed while searching the forest and remained at a disadvantage throughout.¡±

    Minica frowned. ¡°He even managed to ambush you?¡±

    ¡°Correct, I didn¡¯t sense him at all.¡±

    Minica sighed. ¡°If you couldn¡¯t detect him, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to, either. Fortunately, you were the one to run into him.¡±

    There was no mockery in these words. Minica¡¯sbat strength was no weaker than Pedro, but his constitution was far inferior. He might not be able to take a single blow if he were ambushed by Qianye. The arachne, on the other hand, possessed extremely sharp senses despite his crude appearance. With the aid of his sentry spiders, he was one of the top experts for outdoor search-and-destroy operations.

    Predica tapped lightly on the armest. ¡°To be able to ambush and defeat Grand Duke Pedro, is that Qianye a prince?¡±

    Pedro said, ¡°Judging from his bloodline power, he¡¯s just one step away from breaking through to the grand duke rank.¡±

    Minica¡¯s expression was unsightly. ¡°That means you lost to a duke?¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°The council and the Spider Queen know full well how strong Pedro is. He can even use secret arts to contend with a prince. Pedro, can you tell Master Predica what was special about this fight?¡±

    Pedro said, ¡°I think I saw an origin power on Qianye that has never been seen before. It¡¯s... very likely between Daybreak and Evernight, but not exactly like the case, either. The domain it formed was extremely terrifying, I sensed both gravity and destruction from it. Thebination is not weaker than the domain of any great dark monarch.¡±

    ¡°Any great dark monarch?¡± Minica repeated the question.

    ¡°Any.¡± Pedro¡¯s response was firm.

    Minica¡¯s expression was fluctuant. ¡°That means we might have to adjust our ns.¡±

    ¡°We need to assemble more experts or wait until we have a clearer direction,¡± said Pedro.

    Predica shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s a protective barrier or something special around him. I cannot break through it alone.¡±

    Everyone looked serious. Predica was different from most other prophets in that he always spoke honestly without deliberately mystifying things. What he said he could not do, he could not do. That was why there were no objections. There were people in both factions whose fate was impossible to scry, and they weren¡¯t always powerful experts.

    Minica noticed a certain possibility. ¡°What if we mobilize the council¡¯s subordinate warlock group?¡±

    ¡°Could it be that the n is already in motion?¡± Noxus asked.

    Predica nodded. ¡°It won¡¯t be a secret very soon, so it¡¯s fine to speak of it.¡±

    At this point, the group had nothing more to discuss so they turned to Basil. For some reason, however, this young duke was no longer willing to exin what had happened. He wouldn¡¯t speak of whom he had encountered and only insisted on returning to the arachne main camp.

    Minica¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good because this was akin to fleeing from battle.

    However, Basil was a king among the arachne younger generation who might be the next warlord. His position in the arachne race was much higher than Pedro, so they couldn¡¯t just force him to speak. Noxus wouldn¡¯t sit by and watch the demonkin bully Pedro even if his authority was being challenged.

    After a period of argument, Basil said, ¡°In truth, what I countered is an internal matter of my race. I¡¯m very willing to report this matter to the warlord, but I think this has little to do with the lords Minica and Predica.¡±

    Without waiting for Minica to express his anger, Predica said, ¡°That makes things simple. We¡¯ll leave this ce to you. Let¡¯s go, Minica.¡±

    Predica stopped briefly and nced at Basil as they passed by. There was no special expression apanying that nce and Basil didn¡¯t even sense any suppressive might. However, Noxus frowned when he saw this.

    After the two had left, Noxus said, ¡°Basil, I expect you to give me a very good reason for this. After all, the demonkin are the ones controlling the new order of the council. Master Predica¡¯s authority in the council is much higher than you think, and he¡¯s an expert worthy of respect even before he awakened his prophetic powers. Why would you offend him for no reason? The Spider Queen will favor you less if she finds out.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Pedro protested. ¡°His Highness Noxus and I are the only arachne experts who can defeat you.¡±

    Basil took a deep breath. ¡°She¡¯s not an expert we know. In fact, she has just passed her early growth phase.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± It was Noxus this time.

    ¡°Your Highness, you know my ability. It¡¯s impossible for me to make a wrong judgment here.¡±

    Basil¡¯s innate bloodline allowed him to see through other arachne, unless they were great dark monarchs like Noxus. It was because of this power that he was considered a king in the younger generation and a sessor to the Spider Queen¡¯s attendant position, even though his bloodline wasn¡¯t pure enough to suppress everything, nor was he the Spider Queen¡¯s descendant.

    ¡°To defeat a duke after just passing the initial growth phase...¡± Pedro murmured with a puzzled expression.

    An arachne¡¯s initial growth period was no different from a human infant,sting up to a point where they had awakened sufficient intelligence. The subsequent second and third growth phases were akin to a human child. It was there that the arachne would strengthen their body and awaken their bloodline talents.

    Basil¡¯s defeat was akin to a human a.d.u.l.t losing to an infant.

    Noxus was startled. ¡°Did you mean... her?¡±

    The arachne warlord was visibly shaken. He exchanged nces with Pedro, saying, ¡°Can it be... the Spider Queen¡¯s sessor has appeared?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I hope!¡± Pedro¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement.

    If this were true, they could totally understand why Basil would rather risk this tension than leak this information.

    In the arachne race, only the matriarch could awaken the strongest bloodline. Pedro, the other grand dukes, and princes would be limited to a great dark monarch as their final destination. Even Basil, who was highly favored by the Queen, would only end up a bit stronger than Noxus. In essence, he would still be a great dark monarch.

    Only a single Spider Queen was at the top of the arachne race.

    Basil shook his head. ¡°No, she isn¡¯t of the Spider Queen¡¯s bloodline but apletely new one. I wasn¡¯t able to figure it out. If I must describe it, I felt that she was abination of the Spider Queen and the Queen of the Night.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?¡± These words had been spoken too many times.

    Basilughed wryly. ¡°I would never have believed it, either, had I not met her.¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°Tell me everything again from the beginning, don¡¯t leave out a single detail.

    Basil nodded and recounted everything he had encountered, including all the embarrassing details.

    After listening to everything, Noxus and Pedro exchanged nces. They simply didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Momentster, Noxus said, ¡°This matter is extremely important, much more so than capturing Qianye.¡±

    Pedro said, ¡°If a sessor appears beside the Spider Queen on the Sacred Mountain, we will be at the heart of the new order in the new world.¡±

    Nodding, Noxus nced at Basil with a serious expression. ¡°You know how serious this matter is. Are you really sure you didn¡¯t see wrong?¡±

    ¡°I swear on my ancestors and bloodline, I can¡¯t make such a mistake.¡±

    Noxus made up his mind. ¡°We must bring her back to the Temple, and we must do so without alerting the demonkin. Pedro, report this back to the Temple, request the Spider Queen to send a clone or at least a projection. I will keep Predica and Minica busy here. Basil, you will be in charge of keeping her in ce until we hear back from the Temple. Don¡¯t let her disappear¡±

    Basil was stunned. ¡°How do I keep her here?¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°You just said she¡¯s obsessed with riches, all you need to do is let her rob you a couple more times. I have some valuable armor sets in my collection. Pedro, bring out some as well. We¡¯ll give them to Basil so that he can get robbed a couple more times.¡±

    Basil didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Because she¡¯s not as cautious around you.¡±

    Noxus spoke delightedly, but Basil didn¡¯t like the tone.

    What did the man mean by ¡°not cautious?¡± Basil was simply beaten ck and blue after finding out her bloodline. He didn¡¯t dare to use any secret arts or excessive force in retaliation.

    ¡°Maybe we can send someone else. I think she¡¯ll be careless all the same with other dukes, even glorious marquises.¡± Basil made a feeble attempt.

    Noxus blocked all of his hopes in one blow. ¡°The fewer people involved in this matter, the better. Before we get a decision from the Spider Queen, only the three of us can know of her existence. Predica is no idiot, he was trying to probe you just now. You have a king¡¯s bloodline, and if that little fellow is the new Spider Queen, yourbined fate trajectories will be difficult to see through immediately. If we put a random duke in your ce, it won¡¯t be easy to fool Predica¡¯s eyes.¡±

    Pedro said, ¡°Predica just said that most of his attention is on Nighteye. We must not let him turn his attention to us. Sigh, the demonkin are surely suspicious already, but I doubt they can guess something so inconceivable. To be honest, even I don¡¯t feel easy in front of Predica. Who else can do this?¡±

    Basil let out a long sigh, finally giving up his futile struggle.

    To keep Zhuji around would require more than just a few items. Of course, even the things of the lowest value from Noxus and Pedro¡¯s collection were some of the best pieces.

    Basil believed that the little money-grubber would surely be able to sniff him out. Noxus and Pedro paid in riches, while Basil would have to sacrifice something else¡ªlike his mental health.

    Zhuji wouldn¡¯t hold back while robbing him. Even someone as sturdy as Basil would see stars at times. He started to wonder if this experience had left a shadow in his heart.

    He had no one to me since he was the one who had handled it so crudely. He would have to pay the price and bear the consequences now.

 Chapter 1413: Power of Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 1413: Power of Chaos</h4>

    To the arachne, the appearance of the next Spider Queen was undoubtedly a matter that surpassed everything else. It was doubly exciting because this new queen possessed apletely different bloodline, which meant the start of a new line of inheritance.

    If a second Spider Queen could appear on the Sacred Mountain, they would be able to suppress the Queen of the Night. No one would be able to stop the rise of the arachne race. They would be able to surpass the demonkin and vampires to step onto the apex of the Evernight World.

    It was a given that they couldn¡¯t let the demonkin or the other races know about this.

    Hence, even though Basil was unwilling, he had no choice but to take the pile of treasures and try to keep Little Zhuji around. As for the shadow in his heart, he would just have to deal with it.

    Soon afterward, Pedro applied for permission to return to base. He had sufficient reason because he needed to recuperate. The current situation was clear¡ªPredica couldn¡¯t pinpoint Qianye¡¯s location even if he were to go down personally. They would need a lot more experts in order to capture him.

    That was why Minica didn¡¯t react all that strongly after hearing this news. Basil would remain here anyway. Predica¡¯s gaze made the arachne feel a bit uneasy, but they would have to hold fast for the new Spider Queen.

    Basil¡¯s journey wasn¡¯t smooth. He went through the forest for several days without finding the young robber girl.

    Qianye and Zhuji had long since left the woods and entered the central mountain ranges.

    Qianye would cover hundreds of meters with each leap, almost as though he were flying. Zhuji was keeping up close behind him, shooting from point to point with great strength. Qianye was holding back a bit, but even so, not getting left behind proved that she was swifter than most experts.

    The littless seemed to have endless stamina as she followed Qianye for half a day without any sign of fatigue. The two only came to a stop when Qianye saw that it was almost dusk.

    ¡°Why are we running so far away?¡±

    ¡°A lot of enemies will be arriving soon, and even I can¡¯t defeat them.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t seem so powerful, though.¡±

    ¡°But they have the advantage in numbers,¡± Qianye replied with a smile.

    The girl nodded earnestly after some thought. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    Qianye lit a fire and started roasting a giant piece of beast meat for thess. Then he watched her fall asleep. He started thinking about Nighteye once again after everything was quiet under the night sky.

    She needed to break through; that was one reason. On the other hand, she needed to split up with him so that the demonkin would have to divide their pursuit efforts.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be fine,¡± Qianyeforted himself.

    Actually, she could easily escape from a great dark monarch even before reaching the prince rank. Not many people could capture her unless the Demon King himself were to appear.

    Ultimately, he decided to calm down and focus on cultivation. The origin power within a thousand-meter radius around him was drawn in wisp by wisp. Some of them were harmful and others were not, but Qianye simply swallowed everything.

    He was no different from a ck hole that would absorb any kind of origin power without end.

    The Profound Combatant Form modified by Zhang Boqian himself was operating at full capacity within his body, forming a giant whirlpool. This attractive force drew in a steady stream of origin power from the void, which was then broken down into daybreak origin power.

    There was just one problem after his body was modified by the Azure King¡ªno matter how much origin power the profoundbatant form absorbed, it would all be sent into the Book of Darkness. There, it would wait for further purification by the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    The origin power from the Profound Combatant Form wasn¡¯t pure; its only advantage was the vast amount it could harvest. The output from the book was much purer, so much so that it somewhat hastened the Song n Ancient Scroll¡¯s processing time. The resultant Venus Dawn origin power would be thoroughly absorbed again and stored in the Book of Darkness. When he needed origin power for use, the energy that woulde out was a hazy stream of chaos origin power.

    Now, Qianye finally had enough time to observe the chaos origin power. This energy could be divided into Venus Dawn and dark golden blood energy, or it could be used as-is. The chaos origin power could be used to operate both human arts and vampire secret arts. It would also affect the might and efficiency of said arts.

    For instance, Qianye¡¯s original domain, Oceanic Strength, was transformed into Dawn Domain by his Venus Dawn origin power. The marriage of extreme heat and gravity became a terrifying killing weapon against the dark races. Channeling chaos origin power deprived the domain of its burning powers, but the gravity became extremely powerful. Just a couple of wisps were enough to make movement quite strenuous for Pedro, so he had no choice but to flee.

    Another power it possessed was suppressing other domains. In the past, his domain would be at a slight advantage at best when going against other dukes. A grand duke like Pedro could fight Qianye¡¯s domain with his own.

    Ignoring those with upward potential, even experts whose limit was the grand duke rank possessed extremely pure origin power. They were only one level inferior to Venus Dawn, a gap that could be bridged with rank.

    The Book of Darkness, with its two sides, could absorb Venus Dawn as well as dark golden blood energy. Whatever the input, it would transform the energy into chaos origin power.

    Qianye lost track of time while cultivating, and soon, it was morning again. With a single thought, he sent a wisp of chaos origin power through every part of his body for strengthening and repairs.

    Qianye¡¯s body and skeleton had beenrgely remodeled at this point. Theposition of his bones was neither metal nor jade, yet they were glistening with a dark golden hue. After the transformation, his blood energy started repairing his blood core. Once his blood core had advanced to the next level, he would be a grand duke. This final step was not difficult at all, and it was only a matter of time.

    Wherever his chaos origin power went, the faint golden glow of his skin, blood, and bones would fade away. The golden particles in his auric me blood also precipitated into roaming wisps of grey origin power, an energy that couldn¡¯t be limited by the physical body.

    This modification came like the spring rain, gentle, quiet, and hardly noticeable. Qianye carefully sensed the changes and found that his blood had be more viscous after being modified by the chaos origin power. It almost looked like solid jade whenpletely still and would flow normally only when pumped forward by his blood core.

    The same went for his muscles and bones. Their strength had taken a leap forward, so much so that Qianye himself couldn¡¯t say for sure what was happening.

    His previously-strengthened internal organs also saw some changes; they were now even more solidified. Qianye could sense that his internal organs were much denser than before, each weighing dozens of kilograms. It was just that the weight wasn¡¯t obvious since they were being supported by the chaos origin power. And this was just the beginning of the process.

    Such a state of strengthening wasparable to a great dark monarch. True monarchs possessed the same level of strength inside and outside, with no weakness to speak of. Sousa, for instance, could take Qianye¡¯s Shot of Inception and suppress it within his body. It was nothing to him.

    At the current level, the ancient vampire knowledge imparted by the River of Blood was no longer useful.

    That was also the reason why the Profound Combatant Form¡¯s unreasonable characteristic became the most suitable for Qianye. Its absorption power was ten times greater than any other cultivation art.

    As for the terrifying pressure brought about by its use, Qianye could bear it by shielding himself with chaos origin power.

    At this level of cultivation, Qianye had already realized that the founding and the martial ancestors probably had other secret arts to purify their origin power, arts not inferior to the Song n Ancient Scroll. The Book of Darkness saved him most of the purification effort and hastened his progress.

    Qianye would¡¯ve needed a couple of years to pass the grand duke threshold, and then he would have to spend some time stabilizing his realm and upgrading his body and blood core. Now with his chaos origin power, the entire process would bepleted in less than a month¡¯s time.

    Comparatively, the Evernight aspect of his cultivation was nowgging behind. Fortunately, the Book of Darkness was a coin with two sides¡ªthe endpoint was always chaos origin power no matter what he cultivated.

    Qianye was training during this escape journey, so there was little dy in his growth. Thinking about Nighteye, the vampires, and the demonkin hunting them down, the killing intent within him grew stronger and stronger.

    He suddenly produced the azure sword and cut his palm twice. It took such a sawing motion in order to leave a shallow cut, from which a drop of blood seeped out.

    This drop of blood immediately congealed into a spherical pearl. Qianye flipped his palm sideways and allowed the pearl to drop, watching as it sank halfway into a rock. This drop of blood was even heavier than steel or mercury.

    Qianye touched his hand and found that it was just as smooth and soft. Without trying to cut through it, no one would¡¯ve imagined its defensive power would be so strong. Qianye¡¯s skin was even stronger than armor by this point.

    With his strong body as the foundation, there was no longer a limit to what cultivation arts he could practice. He would also be able to utilize the Profound Combatant Form at will, especially on the battlefield.

    Qianye¡¯s go-to strategy against the demonkin was to trade blows and wounds. Now that his body was stronger, the hunters would surely be in for a great surprise once they caught up to him.

 Chapter 1414: Secret Sword Emissaries

    <h4>Chapter 1414: Secret Sword Emissaries</h4>

    Out in the void, a shuttle-shaped airship was flying rapidly toward the Fort Continent to rendezvous with the council airship.

    Several ck-armored experts boarded the gship and arrived before Predica.

    Noxus was visibly moved. ¡°It¡¯s you guys!¡±

    The leader bowed slightly. ¡°His Majesty¡¯s determination is unwavering.¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°Where¡¯s Soma?¡±

    ¡°You should know by now that we have no name, only our designations. However, I can make a small exception out of respect for you.¡±

    He turned around and said, ¡°Call twenty-seven.¡±

    Momentster, a ck-armored expert walked out. ¡°Your Highness Noxus!¡±

    Even as a great dark monarch, Noxus could feel his hands trembling. ¡°Good, since you¡¯re here, do your duty... and don¡¯t humiliate your father¡¯s name.¡±

    Twenty-seven bowed silently and went back to the rear.

    Predicaughed wryly. ¡°This matter is rather difficult. I can¡¯t see Qianye¡¯s fate trajectory clearly, so you¡¯ll have to search over a wide area.¡±

    The ck-armored expert wasn¡¯t moved at all, almost as though he had expected this. ¡°The Demon King has instructed us to bring this to you.¡± With that, he passed a square box made of ck jade.

    Predica opened it up to find half a yellowed page and couldn¡¯t help but exim, ¡°Book of Revtion!¡±

    ¡°His Majesty wants that item, no matter the cost.¡±

    Predica said, ¡°With this page from the Book of Revtion, the mists of fate won¡¯t be able to cloud my eyes this time.¡±

    He picked up the piece of paper, which immediately burned up in his hand. As the mes flickered, the mist in his pupils slowly faded away and Qianye¡¯s figure appeared.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the snowy mountains.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll head over to investigate, I hope the warlord will oversee things from the void.¡±

    The ck-armored expert briefly scanned a map of the Fort Continent and left after checking where the snowy mountain range was. Noxus stood there gazing silently at their receding figures.

    Soon after, the ck-armored experts withdrew from the room. Their airship turned toward the snowy region before finally departing. Noxus also went back to his airship and followed them.

    Of course, the arachne warlord didn¡¯t need to take part in the tedious initial search. They would only need his help once Qianye had been flushed out.

    Predica gazed out of the cabin windows, distracted at the sight of the continent below. ¡°They even sent this group? Is the Book of Darkness really that important?¡¯

    ...

    In the study of Lava Castle, the Demon King put down his book and nced at Habsburg who was resting with his eyes closed. ¡°Dearest Habsburg, you don¡¯t seem very spirited these days. Has your injury from the Fire Beacon Continent not healed? Why don¡¯t you rest a while longer?¡±

    ¡°Rest¡± for a vampire was to enter the blood pond, where their healing would be expedited.

    Habsburg replied indifferently, ¡°No need, it¡¯s not that serious. You¡¯ve already dispatched the Secret de Emissaries, so the matter is likely at its climax. These thirty sword emissaries represent several hundred years¡¯ worth of .u.mtion for the council.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°The book is extremely important. You could say it¡¯s iparably important for the present phase.¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°There are quite a lot of forces being upied by Qianye and Nighteye. I think you also recalled Grand Duke George¡¯s forces from Dawn Continent? The Fort Continent is a tiny ce, searching the entire ce is just a matter of time. The Great Qin Empire might notice if your movements are too big.¡±

    Habsburg opened his eyes with a frown. ¡°Do we have the power to seal the gates?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, but it¡¯s fine to slow down their information flow.¡±

    ¡°There will always be loopholes and lucky people breaking out of the lockdown. They¡¯ll discover the truth soon enough.¡±

    The Demon King said thoughtfully, ¡°Do you mean... I should let Qianye and Nighteye go?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say your objective is not to eliminate the vampire race? Their importance...¡± Habsburg paused for a bit. ¡°Except for the Book of Darkness, I don¡¯t think they pose a threat to you.¡±

    The Demon King broke into augh. ¡°My dear Habsburg, why do you still not trust me? You¡¯re right, my objective is not to destroy the vampire race. An intact vampire race untainted by daybreak is an essential part of the new world order. Those who have escaped don¡¯t amount to much, even those direct descendants hiding on the Dawn Continent. When the new world order arrives, the impurity in their bloodlines will only be a burden for them. Before long, they will find themselves losing their power and descend into mediocrity. They won¡¯t be important anymore at that point.¡±

    Habsburg was somewhat moved. The Demon King had mentioned the results of this purification several times, but this time was the clearest of them all. ¡°The source of their strength is the River of Blood.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°The thirteen seals in the river weren¡¯t there since the beginning, nor are they eternal. Since it wasn¡¯t thirteen in the beginning, nor is it thirteen at the moment, why would you think it will always be constant?¡±

    Habsburg went quiet because he had no reply to this question. What exactly was the first drop of blood? What was the essence of blood energy? Even the Queen of the Night might not have these answers. In the past, everyone believed that the loss of blood seals would weaken the power of the river, but thinking a level deeper, these seals were a derivative product. This formed a paradox.

    ¡°You¡¯ve said this many times, but your new world won¡¯t seed unless you can defeat the humans before the Queen of the Night awakens.¡±

    At this point, Habsburg looked straight into the Demon King¡¯s eyes. This was the first time he had tried to probe the Demon King from Lilith¡¯s perspective.

    However, the Demon King smiled warmly and replied ambiguously, ¡°True...¡± He then went back to reading his ancient book.

    Habsburg felt a sudden pain in his c.h.e.s.t. It wasn¡¯t all that intense, but fatigue flowed into his being like spinning silk. Yet, he still had no intention of going to sleep in the blood pond. In the ckfire Realm connected to Habsburg¡¯s origins, a crystalline speck flew out from Lin Xitang¡¯s remains. However, the formless boundary produced by the shadow shard fragment stopped it from drifting away. All it could do was roam about in the small space.

    ...

    An airship suddenly appeared in the sky above the snowy mountain range, its deck full of ck-armored Secret Sword Emissaries.

    The leader gazed down at the hazy mountain range below. ¡°We may have signed up for different reasons, but as Secret Sword Emissaries, our lives are no longer ours. There¡¯s no need to say that this battle will be extremely dangerous. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    He jumped straight down into the mountain range, followed by the rest of the emissaries who scattered themselves across the hills.

    A snowy forest. Qianye was on a rock, wiping his azure sword at this moment.

    ¡°You can say that it is, or that it isn¡¯t.¡± Qianye smiled.

    While wiping, threads of greyish energy would scatter from his body andnd on the azure blood sword. Every shred of energy would cause the glow on the azure de to dim down slightly, almost as though it were covered in dust. The original sharpness and blood-thirst also weakened a bit.

    Little Zhuji wasn¡¯t afraid of anything, but she seemed fairly cautious against this chaos origin power and would keep a safe distance from it. Herrge eyes followed the grey energy constantly¡ªshe didn¡¯t dare to take her focus off of it for even a second, afraid that it would so much as touch her.

    Qianye shot her a nce. ¡°Is it that scary?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The littless nodded furiously.

    ¡°You¡¯re armored, though.¡±

    The little girl was wearing a set of bright golden armor. The gear was both beautiful and heavy, but there were some signs of twisting and crushing in certain areas. This set used to be Basil¡¯sbat armor, but the girl had modified it by force so that it would fit her.

    Basil¡¯s armor was of the highest quality, but the girl still didn¡¯t feel safe in it.

    Little Zhuji gazed at Qianye for a while before saying, ¡°Aren¡¯t we running anymore?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t we doing pretty great at running away?¡± The little girl was puzzled. She knew instinctively that there were people chasing after them. The auras of these people terrified her so much that she didn¡¯t want to face them.

    Qianye pointed upward. ¡°We¡¯re being watched, so we won¡¯t be able to flee this time.¡±

    Little Zhuji¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to flee? We¡¯ll be able to run once we kill those pursuers, right?¡±

    ¡°Smart!¡± Qianye praised.

    A cold voice echoed from the forest. ¡°Smart? I say it¡¯s stupidity.¡±

    A dark-armored expert emerged from the woods. He was holding a spear in one hand and a double-barreled shotgun in the other.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even look up and simply kept on wiping his azure sword. ¡°Should I say your luck is too good to have found me immediately, or that your luck is really bad?¡±

    The ck-armored expert let out an oddugh. ¡°Secret Sword Emissaries like us consider ourselves dead. My death will be worth it once I ry your location.¡±

    Qianye finally looked up. ¡°What¡¯s a Secret Sword Emissary?¡±

    The ck-armored warrior was startled; he couldn¡¯t even finish whatever he had nned to say. Anger red up in his eyes as he fired his gun twice¡ªonce into the sky and the second shot at Qianye.

    The origin bullet whistled toward Qianye, sting the rock he was sitting on. The fierce shockwaves overturned several dozen snow-capped trees.

    However, Qianye was no longer where he was a moment ago. He appeared behind the expert and whacked him on the nape of his neck. ¡°Secret Sword Emissary? Nothing too impressive, it seems.¡±

    The expert¡¯s bones crackled as the p broke countless bones. He staggered forward, coughing up blood and innards, but he still managed to look back at Qianye with a fiery expression.

    This ferocity did little to intimidate Qianye. He stood there with his hands behind his back and didn¡¯t even draw his sword.

    The emissary revealed a weird smile. ¡°You still don¡¯t understand what a Secret Sword Emissary means, but you¡¯ll... know... very soon...¡±

    ¡°What can a marquis do?¡± Qianye hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when his expression shifted drastically.

    The Secret Sword Emissary spat out a mass of faintly discernible demonic energy, whichnded on Qianye¡¯s body. Next, the expert¡¯s body burst into mes, ending in a terrifying explosion. The force from this eruption was drawn toward Qianye by the lingering demonic energy.

    Caught off guard, Qianye only managed to drag Little Zhuji behind him before he was drowned out by the impact.

    By the time the dust and smoke had settled, Qianye looked up to find several Secret Sword Emissaries near him.

 Chapter 1415: Windswept Clouds

    <h4>Chapter 1415: Windswept Clouds</h4>

    Qianye¡¯s gazended on the four Secret Sword Emissaries. ¡°Interesting.¡±

    That emissary from just now had exploded with extreme force, almostparable to an attack from a grand duke. Moreover, the direction of that explosion was fairly targeted. He had managed to direct most of the impact onto Qianye with that mouthful of demonic energy.

    And the effects were not limited to that alone! The man had used this explosion to alert hisrades and send an unknown message into the void. Qianye guessed that the message would contain the man¡¯sst scene beforemitting suicide.

    Qianye came to understand what kind of existence the Secret Sword Emissaries were. This was a suicide squad that cared nothing about survival or the methods they used, so much so that they would even utilize self-detonation to kill the enemy. Such a method would definitely be able to injure experts many levels above them.

    The four experts surrounding Qianye weren¡¯t all demonkin; there was even a vampire among them. ¡°You¡¯re a vampire, are you going to try and kill me?¡±

    That Secret Sword Emissary¡¯s face was hidden beneath a hood, but his eyes were cold and emotionless. ¡°The moment we became Secret Sword Emissaries, we¡¯ve given our entire lives to the Evernight Council.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Qianye paid him no more attention.

    A demonkin said, ¡°Sire Qianye, please return with us to meet the Demon King.¡±

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible?¡± Qianye sneered.

    That Secret Sword Emissary sighed. ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing left to say. Sire, this ce will be where you fall.¡±

    ¡°With just the four of you?¡±

    ¡°We might not be enough, but more of us will arrive soon. Besides, four emissaries are enough to kill a grand duke.¡±

    Qianyeughed coldly as he formed a fist with one hand. This simple movement actually caused the air around his palm to explode.

    The Secret Sword Emissary¡¯s brows jumped. ¡°T-This strength! No, don¡¯t let him attack...¡±

    However, Qianye was already in front of him before he had even finished speaking.

    The leader¡¯s demonic energy surged rapidly, but he cked out before he could detonate or even spit out the demonic energy. The mountainous pressure crushed him thoroughly soon afterward.

    Only the vampire behind Qianye managed to self-detonate. The raging flood of origin power mmed ruthlessly onto thetter. That emissary never saw that the attack he hadunched with his life had only left some shallow wounds on the target.

    Qianye took a deep breath and circted his origin power. Soon, the wound on his back had vanishedpletely.

    Qianye had flung the little girl away when the Secret Sword Emissaries appeared. Thebat had progressed so quickly that she only managed to return just now.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± she asked while searching the corpse parts for spoils.

    Qianye picked up the little money-grubber and pointed in a direction. ¡°Charge with me?¡±

    ¡°Are we fighting?!¡± The little girl was excited. She put on Basil¡¯s golden helmet and equipped herself with the shield.

    ¡°Protect yourself well.¡± Qianye¡¯s figure flickered into the distance before he had even finished speaking.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Little Zhuji jumped up and followed suit.

    After the duo vanished from the forest, space began to warp as eight Secret Sword Emissaries appeared. Moreover, the space in the area was still fluctuating constantly¡ªit would seem more of them were rushing over.

    ¡°He can¡¯t have gone far, search!¡± the leader shouted.

    It was at this moment that a series of earth-shattering explosions rang out from the distant forest and swathes of ancient trees toppled over from the impact. The Secret Sword Emissaries at the scene immediately blurred out and appeared at the new battleground.

    They had just stepped out of the void whenyer afteryer of sword radiance descended upon them.

    The emissaries had no time to contemte why Qianye could still retaliate after suffering from several self-detonations. All they could do now was give it their all to block the iing attack.

    The world became hazy after the sword radiance receded. Wisps of grey energy drifted about in the air,tching onto the emissaries who were preparing to counterattack. Their movements immediately became sluggish, as though several tons of weight had been added to their bodies.

    Only at this point did Qianye¡¯s figure be clear. He activated his chaos domain once more, producing even more grey energy to assail the emissaries. With each additional wisp of grey energy, the Secret Sword Emissaries would stagger and slow down.

    Countless threads of blood energy shot out from Qianye¡¯s body and pierced through the bodies of half a dozen emissaries! By the time the sanguine threads were drawn back, only a withered husk was left of these experts. All of their essence blood had been plundered.

    The remainder managed to survive Life Plunder, but they were more or less in a miserable state. Many of them chose to self-detonate decisively while they still had the opportunity. Four torrents of origin power sted Qianye¡¯s body in an instant.

    As the dust and smoke scattered, five more Secret Sword Emissaries appeared. They nced at the battlefield in a surprised daze.

    The strongest in this group slowly removed his mask. ¡°I¡¯m number three.¡±

    ¡°So where¡¯s one and two? Tell them toe out.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re... probably dead already.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°Is that so? Too bad, I thought you guys were all the same.¡±

    Number three didn¡¯t know what to say. The Secret Sword Emissaries could sense one another¡ªas one of the three most powerfulmanding officers, he naturally understood how many of hisrades had already fallen. What pained him was that less than half of them had managed to self-detonate.

    Number three red at Qianye, saying, ¡°You¡¯re actually... that powerful. So many of myrades never even managed tomit suicide.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t havee looking for me.¡±

    Number three said, ¡°Indeed, you¡¯re exactly the type of enemy we don¡¯t want to meet, but our sacrifice is not in vain. You will fall here today!¡±

    He grew increasingly excited as he went on. Qianye felt a bit speechless as he pointed at the remaining Secret Sword Emissaries. ¡°You guys have no more men, do you? If not, your numbers will vanish from the Evernight Council from now on.¡±

    Qianye had already learned what these madmen were capable of. Until his chaos domain was at a higher level, he would have to flee if a second group were to appear. He also wasn¡¯t too sure if he could lose these emissaries even with Spatial sh.

    Even at his current strength, Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to get sted again.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s rapid recovery, number three could hardly suppress his shock. At the same time, heined hatefully, ¡°Our intelligence is inurate! Your actual fighting power is far beyond an ordinary grand duke. We shouldn¡¯t have been deployed for this battle.¡±

    ¡°You should tell that to the Demon King.¡±

    Number three¡¯s expression stiffened up before he could reply. He looked down at his c.h.e.s.t, where a ck feather had just entered. All signs of life vanished from his body¡ªhis expression was full of clear dissatisfaction, but he couldn¡¯t say anything.

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to take another explosion from a marquis. So, rest well.¡±

    The other four Secret Sword Emissaries didn¡¯t move at all as number three fell down, all of them looking at Qianye as though he were a dead man.

    Qianye frowned ever so slightly. There were only four of them left, so he wouldn¡¯t die even if they were to self-detonate at the same time.

    It was at this moment that the void raged and churned. A massive figure slowly emerged from the void, apanied by boundless might. He was three times taller than Qianye and several times bigger in girth.

    Qianye realized that these so-called Secret Sword Emissaries were actually living tracking devices, unaffected by the interference of prophecy and divination. They couldmunicate, track, and transport one another. Only one group needed to discover the target before the entire unit could form a capture. This meant that the Book of Darkness¡¯ interference power was no longer useful. And at the end of this contracting... was a great dark monarch.

    These people were trained specifically by the Evernight Council to deal with special characters. It was pretty generous of them to use this team for tracking Qianye down.

    Unfortunately, this capable secret team was easily dispatched by Qianye and his chaos domain. These Secret Sword Emissaries would never have imagined such an oue, but did the Demon King foresee it?

    Qianye discarded that bit of hidden uneasiness in his heart as he faced Noxus. This was the first time he was facing the arachne warlord¡¯sbat form.

    Noxus was holding a weapon in each of his four arms, namely a hand cannon, a shield, an axe, and a spear.

    Even against a great dark monarch, Qianye remained just as calm. ¡°You guys won¡¯t have anything left to track me with after this battle.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be a need after this battle!¡± Noxus roared as dark red origin mes flickered on his body. His aura rose sharply, and his expression grew stern.

    He was clearly more irritable after entering abat state, sending a bucket-sized origin bullet sting toward Qianye!

    Qianye made no effort to evade the st, taking it head-on with crossed arms.

    His stance remained the same during the explosion, but he was sted several dozen meters back, his feet drawing deep lines in the soil. Qianye¡¯s arm-armor was sted into pieces, revealing his muscr forearms.

    Noxus narrowed his eyes. A full-powered st from his cannon only managed to inflict a flesh wound! When did vampires be so strong?

    He flung the hand cannon away with a snort and sped up with his spear raised. He arrived in front of Qianye all of a sudden and thrust at the target¡¯s c.h.e.s.t!

    Noxus¡¯ figure appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes at this point. The Eye of Control only managed to slow down the arachne warlord by a fraction of a second, but Qianye¡¯s figure was already growing blurry.

    It was at this moment that a figure dashed over at lightning speed and stopped in front of Qianye. It was actually Zhuji!

    Shocked out of his wits, Qianye reached out to grab the little girl. He was fast, but Noxus wasn¡¯t slow, either. The spear was going straight for Zhuji¡¯s c.h.e.s.t!

    Noxus¡¯ expression changed drastically at the moment of imminent peril. He raised his spear upward at thest moment, the inertia dragging his massive body over Qianye and Zhuji until he was hundreds of meters away.

 Chapter 1416: Stagnant Nation

    <h4>Chapter 1416: Stagnant Nation</h4>

    Things happened so suddenly that even Qianye failed to deal Noxus a good blow to his weak points.

    The little fellow simply stood there in a daze. Having no time to exin things in detail, he roared, ¡°Hide!¡± Then, he picked the little girl by the neck and tossed her away.

    Noxus¡¯ gaze followed the girl into the distance as she vanished into the forest. Only then did he nce back at Qianye with an ambiguous expression.

    Qianye stood watching the arachne warlord with the azure sword in hand.

    Noxus said, ¡°Are you nning to fight me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like I can run away.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Noxus swung his spear horizontally, sending out a wave of radiance spanning hundreds of meters.

    At that moment, streaks of grey energy appeared in the surrounding and weakened the force of the spear radiance. By the time the attack had arrived before Qianye, it contained less than half of its might and was blocked with rtive ease.

    Noxus was visibly moved. ¡°This domain, this origin power...¡±

    He banged his shield and axe together, summoning a hazy golden glow that resembled an all-epassing spider. The arachne warlord¡¯s domain ranged thousands of meters, almost blotting out the sun and sky.

    Judging from its nature, the spatialws within seemed to have been affected. This meant that Qianye would not be able to escape even with Spatial sh.

    Spider webs appeared constantly in the void and drifted down onto Qianye¡¯s body. These webs felt sticky to the touch and ufortable, to say the least. This was Noxus¡¯ domain, Stagnant Nation.

    The warlord was calm enough, but the distant sword emissaries were dumbfounded.

    The movement restriction imposed by Noxus¡¯ domain was famous throughout Evernight. Ordinary dukes wouldn¡¯t even be able to move after touching the spider webs, and even grand dukes would be slowed down significantly. It was easy to guess the oue of fighting Noxus at melee range in his domain.

    Noxus could sense that Qianye¡¯s bloodline aura was that of a duke but probably not a grand duke just yet. Yet he could move around under the effects of Stagnant Nation with little to no impediment.

    In the face of Qianye¡¯s charge, Noxus swung his axe down with a growl.

    Qianye blocked the blow with his sword and was duly mmed to the ground from the impact.

    This time, neither party held back. The sh between sword and axe sent ripples that shattered all rocks within a hundred meters. The ground they were standing on had sunk by one meter.

    Noxus raised his eyebrows. ¡°Good strength! Let¡¯s try this!¡±

    He lifted his spear and, instead of thrusting, swung the shaft at Qianye like a staff. Qianye was parrying the warlord¡¯s axe with his right hand. Seeing the iing spear, he formed a fist with his left hand and sted out several eruptions of the Excavator.

    Yet another rumble shook the entire area. A clearing that was close to a thousand meters wide appeared in the mountains, sinking down almost ten meters beforeing to a stop.

    A mere duke had charged in to contest the arachne warlord in physical strength. It was already a great feat if Qianye wasn¡¯t pped to death, but he had actually managed to take both blows from the warlord. One had to know that Noxus was no ordinary great dark monarch. In terms of physical strength, he was far above Sousa and overwhelmingly stronger than the vampires and demonkin.

    Qianye¡¯s body trembled ever so slightly, but he managed to block the iing attacks. In the end, though, Qianye only had two hands, while Noxus had four arms in his spider form.

    Noxus¡¯ shield whistled over at great speed and mmed Qianye away.

    The warlord didn¡¯t rx after swatting the enemy away. He gave chase immediately, swinging his axe and shield at the target. His empty hands weren¡¯t idle, either¡ªthey followed up with punches, ps, and chops. Sometimes, he would even hold his spear with two hands and try to smash Qianye with it.

    Qianye held on with great difficulty and actually remained standing amidst the torrent of attacks. He could no longer deal with the flurry when Noxus started using his front limbs and was duly mmed away.

    Qianye flew hundreds of meters away and produced a deep pit as he mmed into the ground. He staggered up soon afterward and stretched.

    Noxus¡¯ gaze froze. ¡°Not even a fracture? Good! Try my secret arts this time...¡±

    Bang!

    Noxus¡¯ body was jolted about a palm¡¯s breadth to the side. He looked back to find that Little Zhuji had appeared out of nowhere and mmed into one of his hind legs with her shield. This impact was so great that even Noxus was caught off guard and almost lost his footing.

    Despite her unstable footing, she tossed the shield away and grabbed an axe from her back. She swung the weapon with a loud cry and struck Noxus¡¯ limb.

    The warlord seemed rather amused after seeing this. He simply stood there without making any movement, allowing the girl to hit him as hard as she wanted.

    Noxus¡¯ gigantic spider body trembled fiercely as the axe fell. The little girl¡¯s axe actually cracked open Noxus¡¯ exoskeleton and sank halfway in!

    This was Noxus¡¯ shell after all! The arachne warlord¡¯s shell was one of his best protective gears, far stronger than a grade nine armor. Even Qianye¡¯s azure de only managed to hack slightly deeper than this.

    Little Zhuji¡¯s all-out attack actually managed to chop Noxus!

    Her cheeks puffed up as she pulled the axe out with her childish strength, raising it again for the next blow.

    Noxus didn¡¯t dare remain careless after receiving the first strike, so he shifted his giant frame to the side. He might be gigantic, but each of his legs weren¡¯t all that thick. They might just break if he let the girl hack a couple more times, and that would be quite the funny scene.

    Fortunately, the axe cracked and shattered as Little Zhuji started to exert some force. This weapon used to be Basil¡¯s, so its quality wasn¡¯t bad at all; however, it ultimately failed to hold out in a collision between Noxus¡¯ peerless body and Zhuji¡¯s terrifying strength.

    Noxus heaved a sigh of relief.

    Noxus¡¯ expression shifted drastically after grabbing Little Zhuji. He immediately propped his shield up in front of his body, which erupted with a green hue.

    A scarlet gold origin bullet¡ªsuperimposed with the image of a ck feather¡ªstruck the shield at this moment.

    The shield burst into countless pieces, pushing the warlord one step back.

    A hundred meters away, Qianye was holding Dragonsgrave with a pair of luminous wings behind his back. ¡°Put her down or else!¡±

    Qianye was stunned halfway through his words. He saw that Noxus¡¯ upper body was turned backward, his four arms shielding Little Zhuji safely within. The flying shield fragmentsnded on the warlord¡¯s body without harming the girl.

    Qianye had barely managed to hold his ground against the arachne warlord just now and was rather badly shaken a number of times. Only aftering to did he realize that the little girl had snuck back to attack Noxus and that she had been captured.

    In his urgency, Qianye immediately fired a Shot of Inception with Dragonsgrave, which Noxus blocked.

    It would seem that this attack was so powerful that he had almost hurt Zhuji.

    Noxus turned around and nced at the girl in his hand struggling with all her might. Her actions were so vigorous that even the great dark monarch was finding it hard to keep her in ce.

    Failing to extricate herself, the littless bit down on Noxus¡¯rge hand, her steely fangs drawing blood almost immediately.

    Even the arachne warlord came close to letting go because of the pain. Noxus grabbed the little girl and tried to pull her off, but she simply wouldn¡¯t let go.

    Noxus didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He quickly circted his origin power to protect his arm, or else the little girl might just bite a chunk of flesh off. The kid was extremely strong, and her sharp fangs were even sharper than Basil¡¯s axe.

    This was a delicate task, and Noxus couldn¡¯t quite catch how much force he should be using. He was afraid that he would damage Zhuji¡¯s teeth.

    Noxus heaved a sigh of relief after finally removing the girl. Sensing an ominous premonition, he looked up at the sky all of a sudden.

    Qianye was right above him, surrounded by a vivid cloud of greyish origin power as he bore down with his sword.

    As a peak expert of the Evernight World, Noxus could guess that this was Howard¡¯s azure de. However, the sword was now giving off a much more dangerous sensation after being shrouded in grey energy. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have felt so restless even if Howard were the one wielding the de.

    The arachne mostly relied on their strongbat instincts, and Noxus was no exception. He moved dozens of meters away the moment he sensed danger, so fast that it looked like he had teleported.

    After evading Qianye¡¯s strike, Noxus found that his hands were empty. Little Zhuji had returned to Qianye¡¯s arms at one point.

    Qianye edged back slowly with Zhuji in one hand and his sword in the other.

    ¡°You actually snatched her from me, now that¡¯s quite the feat.¡± Noxusughed as he closed in. His massive frame pushed the floating grey feathers away and soon arrived before Qianye.

    Qianye nced at the golden spider webs on his body. These webs were restricting his movements, but the grey origin power from Qianye¡¯s body transformed into grey feathers that revolved around his body, dissolving all the spider webs closing in on him.

    This went to show that Noxus¡¯ domain had little effect on Qianye.

    Qianye looked up at Noxus and said, ¡°I wanted to fight you, but ns have changed since this troublesome girl is here. See you.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s figure blurred out and vanished with Little Zhuji in tow.

    However, the first thing Qianye saw when he emerged from the void was Noxus.

    This time, a voice echoed from up above. ¡°What¡¯s the rush?¡±

    That unusual voice was cold and raspy, almost like a cool breeze on a hot, humid day. Just hearing the voice made Qianye¡¯s skin crawl. It was an inexplicable feeling.

    This was an unfamiliar voice and aura, yet it was so special that even aplete stranger would immediately know its owner¡¯s identity.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned quite unsightly.

 Chapter 1417: A Temporary Parting

    <h4>Chapter 1417: A Temporary Parting</h4>

    ¡°Spider Queen.¡± Qianye nced down at his body instead of looking up. Several threads of translucent silver had wrapped around him and Little Zhuji at some point. These unassuming spider webs had actually dragged them out of Spatial sh.

    When looking up afterward, he saw a faintly discernible projection in the sky.

    The Spider Queen was in her human form, gazing down at the world with pupil-less silver eyes. Although she could be described as beautiful, no spectator would be in the mood to admire her beauty. Even as a projection, that ten-meter frame of hers was constantly emitting suppressive might even more terrifying than the physically present Noxus.

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought even you would appear? Looks like I¡¯m far more valuable than I had anticipated,¡± said Qianye.

    The Spider Queen said, ¡°Your value is immeasurable to the Demon King, but there¡¯s something even more important to me. If you cooperate, I¡¯ll let you live.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t intimidated by the Spider Queen¡¯s presence. He looked up into the beautifuldy¡¯s eyes, saying, ¡°You¡¯re only here as a projection. It won¡¯t be that easy to kill me.¡±

    With that, a coat of feathers appeared around Qianye and dissolved the sticky spider webs.

    The Spider Queen smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing for the young to be brave, but all I need to do is lock down your Spatial sh. If we get into a serious fight, Noxus will do most of the heavy lifting. Besides, that girl won¡¯t be able to escape even if you can.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank as he subconsciously hugged Zhuji tightly. He had already discovered that he could only clear the webs around himself and not Zhuji. He might be able to flee with Spatial sh, but the girl wouldn¡¯t be able to.

    Watching Qianye¡¯s expression, the Spider Queenughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous. The Demon King wants the Book of Darkness, but I have no interest in it at all. I used a projection and came here not to kill you but to work with you. Of course, I will also express my sincerity before we discuss.¡±

    ¡°Discuss? Sincerity?¡± Qianye frowned ever so slightly.

    ¡°Precisely.¡± The Spider Queen flicked a finger, shooting out several webs at lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, they pierced into the bodies of the Secret Sword Emissaries who were still alive.

    Once the webs had pierced their bodies, the sword emissaries lost control of their origin power and blew up one after another. There wasn¡¯t even a corpse left behind.

    ¡°Now that the troublesome fellows are gone, we can get down to business.¡± The Spider Queen raised her hand gently, drawing Little Zhuji into her grasp.

    Qianye panicked as his arms felt lighter. A radiance flickered behind him as Dragonsgrave and the azure de appeared in each of his hands, yet he didn¡¯t dare to attack for fear of hurting the girl.

    He could only watch as Zhuji wed at the giant projection like a little kitten, growling in menace.

    The Spider Queen watched her with great interest, and Noxus¡¯ eyes also lit up. As someone from the arachne race, not being suppressed by the Spider Queen¡¯s aura meant that her bloodline was undoubtedly powerful.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zhuji! Let me tell you, if you bully me and my papa, I¡¯ll...¡± Zhuji bared a mouthful of steely fangs.

    ¡°How is biting better than poison?¡± The Spider Queen pointed out with a smile.

    Zhuji nced at her and then at Noxus. ¡°It¡¯s useless against you, also useless against him.¡±

    ¡°How sharp,¡± the Spider Queen praised. She then shot out a spider web and asked, ¡°Can you use this?¡±

    Zhuji looked a bit puzzled. She tried fl.i.c.k.i.n.g her fingers after a good while, but what she shot out wasn¡¯t a spider web but instead a sanguine thread.

    It wasn¡¯t just the Spider Queen and Noxus, even Qianye was surprised. This little girl didn¡¯t just shoot out any blood-colored thread¡ªit contained the power of Life Plunder, a top-grade vampire talent.

    Noxus¡¯ brows locked into a frown, while the Spider Queen gazed deeply at Zhuji. Her gaze pierced through her body and saw through everything.

    Momentster, she said, ¡°She has the bloodline of an ancient vampire, but her body is of our arachne race. Strange, how can two races merge together?¡±

    Noxus was delightfully surprised as he listened. All was good as long as thess was an arachne. A power like her ancient vampire bloodline only served as wee additions to her arsenal. There was no such thing as too many powers like Life Plunder.

    The Spider Queen seemed to have discarded her doubts as well. The question of bloodline fusion would not yield an answer even in several hundred years, especially since the ancient vampire bloodline only remained in Lilith and some old great dark monarchs and princes.

    All of them, with the exception of the Queen, were so old that they could only remain in slumber. After the recent cmity that was the Demon King, no one could say how many of them were still alive.

    The only exception was Nighteye and Qianye. Nighteye was an awakener, while Qianye¡¯s bloodline had been a mystery all along.

    The Spider Queen¡¯s line of thought was the same as Noxus. As long as Little Zhuji was an arachne, she could ignore the other aspects. They might even gain some benefits from Lilith because of that vampire bloodline.

    She nced at Qianye and said, ¡°Give her to me. An arachne has to be in the arachne nation to truly m.a.t.u.r.e.¡±

    ¡°No!!!¡± Little Zhuji struggled with even greater ferocity.

    More and more silvery threadsnded on her body as she moved, binding her tightly. The threads stretched and moved as she iled about; it almost seemed like they were about to break.

    The Spider Queen watched with an expression of praise. She shot out some more threads and bundled the girl into a cocoon. ¡°She¡¯ll follow me and learn the arachne race¡¯s peerless secret arts. All resources at my disposal will be made avable to her, realizing her talents to their maximum potential. She might even be able to approach the Sacred Mountain before long, and in the near future, there will be a seat for her at my side.¡±

    Qianye seemed thoughtful and much calmer than before, but he didn¡¯t retract his aggressive stance. ¡°She¡¯s already in your hands, why ask me?¡±

    Qianye gazed at Little Zhuji with a sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have a choice here.¡±

    The Spider Queen said delightedly, ¡°You won¡¯t be disappointed.¡±

    ¡°No! I want to follow Papa!¡± the littless roared and started biting through the spider webs.

    The Spider Queen patted her head gently. ¡°It¡¯s not that he doesn¡¯t want you. He has no other choice. He¡¯s being hunted down by the demonkin, so you¡¯ll only serve to slow him down.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the ones hunting him down!¡±

    The Spider Queen smiled. ¡°That was the case, but not anymore.¡±

    Noxus shrugged and put away his weapons. This was the first time he had seen the Spider Queen so patient. She was actually thinking from another person¡¯s perspective and even exining it to the girl.

    Among the supremes of Evernight, Lilith was aloof and treated all life with contempt. The Spider Queen was known for being ruthless and merciless. Only the Demon King was gentle and more approachable.

    Qianye suppressed the unwillingness in his heart. He knew this was the best oue under the present circ.u.mstances. The vast power disparity aside, Zhuji would not have any secret arts to cultivate at his side. She was fighting out of instinct all this time. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t safe for her with the Demon King on his trail all the time.

    These words seemed rather effective. The littless nced at Qianye and then back at the Spider Queen with a nod.

    Delighted, the Spider Queen said, ¡°I¡¯ll start teaching you immediately once we return!¡±

    ¡°How long will it take for me to be powerful? Will three days do?¡± The little fellow nced hopefully at the queen.

    The Spider Queen was shaken, but her expression remained unchanged as she said, ¡°Thirty years!¡±

    This time, it was Noxus¡¯ turn to be shaken. He almost slipped and fell after hearing Zhuji¡¯s reply.

    ¡°Too long!¡±

    The Spider Queen nced at Qianye. ¡°That¡¯s not long at all. Rest assured, your papa won¡¯t die even when the world ising to an end.¡±

    The girl was doubtful. ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression darkened. He felt that he had spoiled the girl too much; it wouldn¡¯t be too bad to give her a bit of a spanking.

    The Spider Queen left with Zhuji a whileter.

    She clearly attached great importance to the little girl. She would rather expend energy to maintain her projection than entrust the task to Noxus.

    Qianye felt a bit relieved after seeing that the girl was being treated well.

    Noxus didn¡¯t leave with the Spider Queen. Instead, he tossed Qianye a case and said, ¡°These are from my personal stash, perhaps they mighte in handy.¡±

    Qianye opened the container to find two origin bullets isted from one another with origin power. One of them was a heavenly monarch bullet, while the other contained the power of a great dark monarch.

    The great dark monarch bullet didn¡¯t contain Noxus¡¯ aura but some other unknown expert¡¯s energy.

    Since Qianye could channel both Evernight and daybreak powers, he could use both of these bullets. With such powerful ammunition, Dragonsgrave, and the Wings of Inception, Qianye could give the demonkin a big surprise¡ªeven if it were the Masefield n Lording after him.

    Qianye picked up the box and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll be taking this. There¡¯s something else I wanted to ask you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°How is the council tracking me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that... the council¡¯s head prophet, Prince Predica, is the one tracking you with prophecy. There are some ways you can escape the scrying...¡±

    Next up, Noxus exined the principles of Evernight¡¯s prophetic powers and how to avoid them, especially the tips and tricks regarding demonkin prophets. He exined things in great detail without hiding anything, even the secrets the arachne had learned about the demonkin.

    The arachne race¡¯s attitude toward Qianye shifted drastically after obtaining Zhuji. They were now in a neutral stance, and Noxus clearly didn¡¯t want Qianye to fall into the demonkin¡¯s hands. Regarding his intention to weaken the demonkin while helping Qianye, that was unavoidable.

    Of course, there was no guarantee whether or not Qianye could utilize Noxus¡¯ tips effectively. After all, it wasn¡¯t that easy to escape a prophet. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have such a high position in the Evernight Council.

    Especially Predica, who was known as the Prophet of Apocalypse, and had just gone through a second awakening. Noxus¡¯ understanding of him was merely from their short interaction during this mission. This information was quite useful for Qianye. At the very least, he was now guarded against some of the demonkin¡¯s strange abilities.

    Qianye said after listening seriously, ¡°It looks like I must thank you.¡±

    Noxus said, ¡°No need. We might be opponents in the future, but you¡¯ve proven yourself as someone worthy of respect.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I actually want to prove I can defeat you.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps in the future but not now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now, take care of Zhuji.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s called Zhuji, is she? Nice name.¡±

    Qianye took to the air and flew off into the void. Noxus watched as Qianye¡¯s figure vanished into the distance. Then, he finally went back to his fleet.

    After entering the void, Qianye contacted the Martyr¡¯s Pce and returned to the airship.

    The Earth Dragon¡¯s voice echoed. ¡°Master, where to?¡±

    ¡°Serafis Continent.¡±

    Serafis meant the ¡°first descent of darkness¡± in the demonkinnguage, and it was one of their core territories.

 Chapter 1418: Borrowing

    <h4>Chapter 1418: Borrowing</h4>

    In the skies above Fort Continent, Predica suddenly opened his eyes and walked out of the isted chamber. He passed through the corridor and onto the deck, where he gazed up at the vast void.

    That direction was where the core continents of the major racesy. A light flickered briefly on his staff, the Guardian of Destiny, almost as though an eye had opened up in the darkness.

    ...

    The sky above Lava Castle on Twilight Continent was just as calm as before, distant from all worldly affairs.

    Presently, the Demon King was enjoying tea with Habsburg under a gazebo of wisteria. It was a rare sight for him to emerge from his books ofte.

    The refreshments on the table were a bit different from the norm. They looked somewhat crude, a far cry from the standards of Evernight nobles.

    In terms of value, they were several times more expensive than the highest grade tea and pastries. That was because these refreshments were local specialties that the City of Eimer had brought back from the neutral region near the Star Corridor.

    The Demon King smiled as he finished a pastry that looked like a maple leaf. ¡°The taste didn¡¯t change. I heard thedy boss is that person¡¯s great great-granddaughter. Meta... ah, Habsburg, what do you think?¡±

    Habsburg put down his fork and said, ¡°It¡¯s pretty nice, but I don¡¯t remember the original taste.¡±

    The Demon King gazed at Habsburg with a smile. ¡°Very well, my stubborn old friend.¡± After a while, he said, ¡°Will you fall out with me if I break my promise?¡±

    Habsburg nced at the Demon King in silence. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee I won¡¯t take action if that child appears in front of me.¡±

    Habsburg said with a frown, ¡°He¡¯s heading to the demonkin continent? Howe? You¡¯ve always known his whereabouts, so why would you send the Secret Sword Emissaries?¡±

    ¡°All I can see is the arrowhead of fate,¡± the Demon King said gently.

    ¡°Your Majesty Kane, you¡¯re a supreme of the Sacred Mountain. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything you truly fear if you want to do it. In fact, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re that weary of Lilith, either.¡±

    Habsburg said after a momentary daze, ¡°It has always been nature itself for each race to have only one supreme. I¡¯ve never even thought about this before you mentioned it.¡±

    The Demon King asked, ¡°Why did Andruil give up on challenging Lilith back then?¡±

    Habsburg said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it because he¡¯s not strong enough?¡±

    The Demon King only smiled in response. He said after a while, ¡°I¡¯m really looking forward to the curtains falling on the new world. Dear friend, are you not willing to awaken a second time?¡±

    Habsburg stared deeply into his eyes but didn¡¯t say anything. He also made no response to the question about a second awakening.

    The Demon King¡¯s expression was just as gentle. He stopped talking and shifted his attention back to the crude but sentimental table of pastries.

    ...

    In the depths of the void, the Martyr¡¯s Pce was swimming forward while moving its long tail like a fish. Qianye was standing atop the Earth Dragon¡¯s head and gazing into the distant void. His thoughts were entirely inside the Book of Darkness, taking note of all the powers at his disposal.

    The unexpected truce with the arachne didn¡¯t lessen his pressure by much. The demonkin alone possessed several great dark monarchs and the Demon King himself, let alone the legendary aces they had .u.mted over the millennia.

    Qianye nced at his hands. Simply flexing his fingers produced faint rumbles of thunder. The explosions weren¡¯t frompressed air but void origin power. Qianye¡¯s body had been modified from the inside out by chaos origin power. The strength of his innards was well beyond a grand duke¡¯s.

    Gaining a special bloodline power after internal strengthening would make him a prince, and igniting a blood seal at the source of the vampire race¡¯s power would make him a crown prince.

    Even without a special bloodline ability, he would see an uplift in his entire being when his physical and spiritual strengthening reached its limit. That was the hallmark of a great dark monarch.

    Only at his level of strength did he realize that the prince rank wasn¡¯t a necessary step between the grand duke and great dark monarch levels. Sometimes, the awakening of a special bloodline might dy the ultimate goal, just as not every second-generation primogenitor was a great dark monarch, and simrly, not every great dark monarch was a primogenitor.

    Qianye was now a grand duke, but he was already at the doorstep of a great dark monarch. After being strengthened by chaos energy from the inside out, this new body was even strong enough to contend with Noxus, albeit barely. The arachne warlord was known as the strongest great dark monarch in terms of physical strength. When it came to pure strength and constitution, the demonkin great dark monarchs might not be Qianye¡¯s match.

    However, he had no intention of rxing just yet. Although he had learned from Noxus the promise between the Demon King and Habsburg, Qianye wasn¡¯t about to bet his safety on the supreme¡¯s integrity.

    Not to mention that promises only worked between experts of the same level, it was easy to see from the current hunt that the Demon King would stop at nothing for the Book of Darkness. As Qianye saw it, the promise itself was fairly odd. He wasn¡¯t too confident that the newly-ascended vampire primogenitor could actually keep the Demon King restrained.

    Qianye put down his hand and said thoughtfully, ¡°My strength isn¡¯t enough just yet...¡±

    After some contemtion, he turned the Martyr¡¯s Pce in a different direction.

    Western Continent, the Zhao n manor.

    The city-sized manor was bustling with activity¡ªthe roads leading in and out of the manor were filled with all kinds of trucks and vehicles, so much so that there were already signs of congestion.

    An endless stream of materials was being moved into the crafts manor, where they would pass through different workshops to be warsh.i.p.s,bat vehicles, and main cannons.

    The mountain nearby had been leveled to make way for dozens of new workshops. The alreadyrge crafts manor had now doubled in surface area.

    The Zhao n¡¯s resources from its two and a half provinces weren¡¯t enough to maintain such a production rate. The expansion could only mean one thing¡ªthe Empire was now in a state of war preparation.

    The inner residences of the Zhao manor became rtively empty with only servants scuttling about quietly. Most of the main family members weren¡¯t home, so they had little to do. Those who did remain were all in a bad mood because of the rising casualty rates, and any mistake would lead to punishment for the servants.

    Qianye appeared outside of the manor gates and looked up at the signboard with a sigh.

    His figure flickered as he entered the threshold, reappearing deep inside the manor where he walked along the central path.

    Some people passed by in a hurry, but none of them noticed him. Under the guise of his Bloodline Concealment, Qianye was no different from a normal servant at a nce.

    Qianye simply stood there and waited for someone to arrive. Actually, it was only natural that he would be discovered because the inner estate of the Zhao manor was almost as well defended as the Imperial Pce. If an outsider could move undetected with Bloodline Concealment alone, the dark races would¡¯ve killed countless important characters already.

    An old inner attendant arrived before Qianye and bowed. ¡°What a rare asion for the fifth young master to return to the manor. The Eldest Princess wishes to see you.¡±

    ¡°Lead the way.¡±

    Momentster, Qianye arrived at Princess Gaoyi¡¯s courtyard and was led to her study. The princess was d in a loose dress, seated behind a tall pile of doc.u.ments that required her attention.

    Seeing Qianye enter, Gaoyi finished noting some things on the current doc.u.ment and put down her brush. ¡°Weihuang cares little about anything besides the army. I didn¡¯t want to get involved in these matters, but there¡¯s no choice considering the special circ.u.mstances.¡±

    ¡°We definitely can¡¯t leave military matters to outsiders.¡± Qianye nodded.

    Gaoyi nodded as well, her unaging face showing some signs of fatigue. ¡°They¡¯re all fighting with their lives on the line out there. Every bit of missing resources might lead to the loss of lives. I couldn¡¯t feel at ease, so I stepped in myself.¡±

    With that, she nced at Qianye calmly. ¡°It¡¯s definitely a surprise that you¡¯ve returned, but seeing you alive is the best news these days.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I thought I would die.¡±

    ¡°Set on greater heights.¡±

    ¡°You... have you finally given up on the Empire?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°It¡¯s not exactly giving up, I still stand for the human race. However, I am working to save some remnant vampires at the moment.¡±

    The princess¡¯ expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°The vampires are a great enemy to the Empire, perhaps even the greatest. Are you still willing to help them?¡±

    ¡°Not every vampire is my enemy, and not every human is my friend. From a certain perspective, I think I have more human enemies,¡± Qianye replied calmly.

    Gaoyi sighed. ¡°The Empire certainly owes you, but...¡±

    Qianye cut her short, ¡°Not everyone. I will exact what is due from those who made an excuse of the greater picture to seek personal gains. As long as I don¡¯t die, I will settle the score with them one by one.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve changed...¡±

    ¡°Anyone would change aftering back from the verge of death repeatedly. Or rather, I¡¯m no longer as gullible.¡±

    Gaoyi nodded. ¡°What did youe back for this time?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°To borrow something.¡±

 Chapter 1419: The End of the Carnes

    <h4>Chapter 1419: The End of the Carnes</h4>

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The Red Spider Lily.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi was visibly moved upon hearing this. ¡°Not everyone can use her.¡±

    ¡°I can.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi ced one of her hands under the table. ¡°Are you still holding a grudge about what happened in the past? Or do you think you can do anything you please because our Zhao n doesn¡¯t have the power to restrain you?¡±

    Qianye said frankly, ¡°I¡¯ve long since forgotten about that. The old man who came to get me referred to me as the fifth young master, which means I¡¯m still a part of the Zhao n. I¡¯m only here for the Red Spider Lily because that¡¯s my only chance of going against the Eternal me and his Sable Blessing.¡±

    ¡°Do exin more.¡±

    Qianye gave her a short summary of how he was saved by the Azure King Reynold, only skipping the part about the Book of Darkness.

    Gaoyi couldn¡¯t help but look surprised. ¡°I realize more and more how stupid the military was back then. They¡¯ve been following the Longevity Monarch all these years, even as that old man went mad over thest decade.¡±

    She sounded a bit frustrated. After all, the Longevity Monarch was one of the pirs of the Imperial n. Before the Radiant Emperor had revealed his powers, it was the Longevity Monarch who had been holding the fort at the capital. Whatever the case was, the heavenly monarchs were the only reason the Empire hadn¡¯t been invaded by Evernight.

    Qianye said, ¡°I won¡¯t borrow the Red Spider Lily for free. I¡¯ll leave this gun here, I think it¡¯ll be of greater use to the Zhao n at this point. I¡¯lle and trade it back if I return alive.¡±

    With a loud bang, a giant, sinister-looking gun with multiple barrels appeared on the table.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Princess Gaoyi remained silent, her expression rather conflicted.

    The Red Spider Lily was mysterious, unpredictable, and extremely powerful. Zhao Ruoxi had badly injured Ge Situ with it back in the year. It was one of the strongest magnums for dealing damage to top experts.

    To Princess Gaoyi, however, it was a weapon that wasn¡¯t all that useful.

    Zhao Ruoxi was the only one who could activate the Red Spider Lily¡¯s ultimate ability; not even Zhao Jundu could do it. Yet no matter how strong she was, Gaoyi wasn¡¯t about to let Ruoxi bring the gun into the battlefield. With the fourteenth prince setting an example, the princess had always been worried that Zhao Ruoxi¡¯s weak body would be drained in just a few shots.

    The Tempest, on the other hand, was a lethal weapon on the battlefield, and its rate of fire was leagues beyond the Red Spider Lily. Comparatively, the Mortal Emperor wasn¡¯t really strong against top experts. With its gigantic area of effect, the magnum was more useful for intimidation and cleaning up the rabble. Outsiders might not understand too well, but Gaoyi knew that the Mortal Emperor was also reliant onpatibility.

    There was no such issue with the Tempest, although it had always belonged to the Evernight Faction. If Zhao Jundu were to wield a Grand Magnum, it would be akin to granting wings to a tiger. The tables would turn if the Tempest were to appear on the Zhao n¡¯s warfront.

    Gaoyi didn¡¯t take long to consider. ¡°Very well! I agree.¡±

    She left in a hurry while Qianye sat there peacefully. He wasn¡¯t worried at all that she would return with a group of experts and rob him of the gun.

    Qianye paused very briefly. ¡°I will.¡± He replied without looking back before vanishing into the air.

    After returning to the Martyr¡¯s Pce, Qianye steered the airship toward Serafis Continent. He was just about to cultivate on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head when he sensed himself being watched.

    Qianye activated his Bloodline Concealment. He also used chaos origin power to channel a secret art, producing a faint illusory projection nearby. This image looked just like him, but it didn¡¯t have any facial features. Its face was just a t surface.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce kept swimming through the void, but the illusion stayed behind where it was summoned.

    Qianye discovered that the focus on him had lessened significantly. Just like that, he produced several illusions until he could scarcely sense the power locked onto him. Only then did he continue toward the Serafis Continent.

    ...

    In an isted chamber on his warship, Predica opened his eyes helplessly. A number of demonkin experts approached as he walked out. ¡°Your Highness, do you have a conclusion?¡±

    Recalling the series of confusing fate indicators, he shook his head and said, ¡°He seems to have learned how to avoid my scrying. Quite unexpectedly, he has learned to avoid my strong points and habits, maybe... he even knows the characteristics of my secret art.¡±

    The leader of the demonkin group was surprised. In the field of prophecy, the difficulty level in scrying individuals was much greater than looking at a more general trend. Powerful prophets might be able to see the waves in the river of fate a hundred years from now, but they could hardly discern singr droplets. This was especially true of people with special bloodlines and connections¡ªthe interference was simply too strong.

    Targeted evasion of a prophet¡¯s power was an entirely different matter. The strengths and habits of master prophets who had been around for hundreds or even thousands of years were no longer a secret to the Daybreak side. The two factions had been contending in terms of strength most of the time. That was why the prophets of Evernight were helpless against Lin Xitang when he was alive; the man was simply too powerful.

    Predica waspletely different. He had only awakened very recently, so how did Qianye do this in such a short time?

    Was there a traitor?!

    The leader of the demonkin group thought of something. ¡°Is it them?!¡±

    Predica waved his hand in frustration. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. You guys are on your own now. Also, report to His Majesty that it¡¯s no longer within my power.¡±

    The expert took a step forward. ¡°Can you exin it in greater detail? So that we can respond appropriately.¡±

    Predica nced at him with a spurious smile. ¡°Respond? You speak as though you dare to fall out with the Spider Queen.¡±

    The demonkin expert¡¯s expression was unsightly, but Predica wasn¡¯t in the mood to care about that. He simply left with a swing of his sleeves.

    After returning to his room, Predica threw himself onto the sofa and covered his face with his hands. ¡°Your Majesty, the new world is indeed vast, but what is there to discuss if we can¡¯t even win the war at hand? Why won¡¯t you allow me to try unraveling that man¡¯s secrets?¡±

    ...

    In the void, Qianye was seated quietly on the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. ¡°Eh?¡± He opened his eyes all of a sudden. He had a feeling that something big was about to happen.

    Qianye focused on the Book of Darkness. In his perception, the book had be somewhat illusory; there seemed to be a boundless universe within. Through the book, Qianye¡¯s perception became much lighter and capable of stretching vast distances. At times, he would catch some strange fragments of information.

    This feeling was fleeting and odd, to say the least. Qianye eventually put it aside and continued cultivating, absorbing the nearby void origin power on his way to the Serafis Continent.

    ...

    On Serafis, dusk was falling upon Castle Mist and the city below.

    Numerous ves were starting to return from their fields, but the mines in the mountains were always brightly lit. Strong men, as well as ves who were proficient in mining, worked day and night. Most of the workshops had wrapped up for the day, but there were some that worked through the night.

    An old demonkin with an austere expression was patrolling each and every factory in the workshop district, followed by arge group of people. The officer in charge of the district was exining things along the way.

    The old man cut him short all of a sudden, ¡°When will the next batch of alloys ship out.¡±

    ¡°My question is, when will the goods ship out?¡± the old man repeated his question.

    The administrator began sweating buckets. ¡°Lord Marquis, erm... ten days!¡±

    ¡°I want it in three!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible, all avable hands are already working around the clock.¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have enough ves, get to work yourself! It¡¯s the duke¡¯s order, no more dys!¡±

    ¡°... I understand.¡±

    At this point, the old marquis stopped patrolling the ce and went straight back to the castle. He then returned to his study after giving out orders for dinner.

    Entering the room, he saw a person reading the doc.u.ments on his desk.¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The old marquis drew his pistol.

    The man put down the papers and turned around with a smile. ¡°Marquis Carne? You probably don¡¯t know me, I¡¯m Qianye.¡±

    ¡°Qianye!¡± Carne was so frightened that even his gun was trembling. Even so, his voice was fairly calm as he said, ¡°What gall! You actually daree to Serafis!¡±

    ¡°I heard Serafis hasn¡¯t experienced any battles since the holy war seven hundred years ago.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s indeed the case.¡±

    ¡°That history ends tonight.¡±

    At midnight, a raging me broke out in the ancient castle. The workshop district also saw fierce explosions as the main furnace of its most important factory toppled over, sending mes out in all directions.

    The ancient Carne family, the demonkin race¡¯s biggest producer of metal alloys, thus came to an end.

    ...

    Inside a tent in the mountains, Qianye was going through a thick family register under themplight.

    The demonkin were a race that attached great importance to history and culture. They were still gued by the loss of inherited skills, but there was no big gap in their history like the vampire race.

    This family register in Qianye¡¯s hand was as thick as a brick and held records of the Carne family¡¯s rise, its changes, and distribution. Add to that each family¡¯s marital connections, there were records of over a hundred families in the book.

    The doc.u.ments were fairly detailed. It contained not only the names and history of every major character, but also their talents and abilities.

    The family register was the most important doc.u.ment for every demonkin family. Long before the humans rose to power, the wise demonkin had already begun keeping family registers. They hoped to find a way to purify and strengthen their bloodline through this method, all the while testing out the effects ofbining various bloodlines.

    A family register, especially from a family with a long history like the Carnes, was more or less a detailed academic paper.

    Qianye had a question after looking through the abundant resources. Why were the demonkin deteriorating in technology even with such a detailed record system?

    He didn¡¯t have much time to ponder on this before the present matters grabbed his attention. He spent the entire night reading the register and gained a deep understanding of the entire Carne family.

    After observing the evolution of the world through the Book of Darkness several times, especially the evolution of the dark races, Qianye had gained a deep understanding of bloodline evolution.

    ¡°Interesting, the Carnes have been trying to produce a duke for the past three hundred years. Hmm, they¡¯ve been going the bloodline purification route... for instance, the marriage to the marquis of Eimer... let¡¯s see, Marquis Eimer and Marquis Carne shared amon ancestor in the fourth generation.¡±

    Qianye flipped several dozen pages and arrived at the name of a different family. ¡°But ording to the records here, it¡¯s best for them to acquire a different bloodline. After all, Carne¡¯s bloodline can¡¯t be considered strong. For instance, the Taurean family is a good marriage candidate.¡±

    Qianye broke into augh. ¡°Why am I worrying about the demonkin?¡±

    He closed the family register and put it into Andruil¡¯s space. The data collection, analyses, and calctions in this book were all very interesting. It might even be useful for the management ofrge poptions, so Qianye decided to keep it as a reference.

    Qianye sensed something at this point, so he opened the Book of Darkness. There was now a new page in the book, holding all the contents of the Carne family pedigree.

 Chapter 1420: End Years

    <h4>Chapter 1420: End Years</h4>

    It was a meticulously detailed andplex family registry. There were some flickering points on the family tree, including the Taurean family that Qianye had spotted a while ago. The Eimer family that the Carnes had been forming marital connections with wasn¡¯t among them.

    Surprised, Qianye soon fell into deep contemtion. He hadn¡¯t expected the Book of Darkness to be able to derive family trees in addition to energy andws.

    Qianye finally understood why the Demon King was intent on getting his hands on the book. As a supreme standing at the peak of the world, he was only interested in things that transcended power. What he wanted to use the book for was something to ponder on.

    Qianye decided to think about thatter and focus on how he could use this newfound function.

    From this family registry, the key to this demonkin bloodline¡¯s strength was very clear. This oue would¡¯ve been of tremendous value to Marquis Carne, except the old man and his descendants had lost their lives in the raging mes.

    The Carnes were a big n and thete Old Carne was only from one of its branches. This registry would still be useful to the others.

    In Qianye¡¯s hands, however, it would produce apletely opposite effect!

    His gaze fell upon the glowing emblem of the Taurean family. If he were to cut off this branch as well as the others with glowing emblems, the ancient Carne bloodline would lose the ability to take a step forward.

    The Carne bloodline was a duke¡¯s bloodline. All other families with dukes and princes were famed ns overseen by a great dark monarch. They also possessed their own pedigree that could be derived from the Book of Darkness.

    This meant that, with the guidance of the book, Qianye could cut off the future prospects of these bloodlines one by one. This would shake their very foundations, just like what the Demon King had done to the ancient vampire ns.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t discouraged. In fact, it wasn¡¯t important whether he could guess the Demon King¡¯s thoughts at this stage. In this world, only the strong possessed the right to speak¡ªit was the same whether or not the words were just, be it in war or in negotiation. He would need to obtain greater power in order to face the Demon King.

    Qianye opened his map and found where the Taurean family was located. He nned to head over and see what value he could find there.

    The Taureannds weren¡¯t too far off. Hence, it was only dawn when their ancient castle copsed in a sea of mes and the family registry was added to the Book of Darkness.

    The current head of the Taurean family was just a count, and they had only produced two marquis during their most prosperous era. They didn¡¯t even have a single mighty marquis under their roster, so it was no wonder the Carnes didn¡¯t think highly of them. What the old marquis didn¡¯t know was that the key to upgrading this bloodliney in this count bloodline.

    The Taurean family register gave Qianye a pleasant surprise.

    The Meistan bloodline was merged into this family nine hundred years ago. In the Book of Darkness¡¯ deductions, this Meistan bloodline was fairly powerful and possessed great potential. Its merger allowed the Taurean family to slowly undergo a change, to the point where they might produce a duke in the future¡ªperhaps even more. However, all of their hopes were gone now.

    Recalling the vast amounts of information from the day before, Qianye recalled that the current Meistan lord was the lord of the Lutheran Ind, Duke Sidney Meistan.

    Qianye began looking for the closest Meistan n territory. Breaking off a grand duke bloodline was more interesting than destroying a marquis¡¯.

    Battles broke out in several areas across Serafis Continent as one ancient family after the other copsed. Although they were just marquis-rank families, the demonkin felt that the mes of war were raging even fiercer than seven hundred years ago. These people had enjoyed peace for so long that it almost felt like time had stopped.

    The fleet soon arrived at an ancient castle. This was the Wenton family, one with a long history. Although they only had a marquis as the strongest expert at this point, Grand Duke Wenton was the leader when they had split off from the Masefield n one thousand two hundred years ago. The duke fell in one of the holy wars that followed, the highest-ranked expert to have fallen back then.

    Each family was independent, but their connection to the Masefield n made the Wentons one of the most desirable marriage partners. The Meistons were one of them.

    The warship hovered above the ancient castle as Duke Meiston looked down at the burning rubble with a serious expression.

    The duke was fairly tall. His silver hair was perfectlybed and his nasal bridge was as prominent as a mountain.

    ¡°Is it Qianye again?¡± He asked.

    ¡°No confirmation. We¡¯ve asked all the survivors, but there are no experts among them and no one can say clearly what just happened. The battle took ce too quickly and the level was far beyond their scope.¡±

    ¡°How about the casualties?¡±

    ¡°Marquis Wenton and his direct descendants have all fallen in battle, along with almost all experts above the viscount rank. Only a single viscount managed to escape.¡±

    The Duke was furious. ¡°What¡¯s the point of leaving these trash alive if their direct bloodline is gone?! Kill them all!¡±

    The duke calmed his anger for a bit and said, ¡°Take me to the scene.¡±

    A group of experts jumped down from the airship andnded in the burning stronghold. All mes within ten meters of the duke were immediately extinguished, producing a path for them into the castle.

    Marquis Wenton had died in his study, which the lingering demonic energy had more or less preserved from utter destruction.

    Duke Meiston arrived before the corpse in silence. The old marquis¡¯ expression was one of great shock, and his hand was still reaching forward to stop something.

    A nearby demonkin marquis said, ¡°He was killed in a sh. Lord Wenton never had the chance to retaliate, or even gather his demonic energy.¡±

    Another expert said, ¡°The marquis hasn¡¯t fought for over a hundred years.¡±

    All the demonkin looked solemn.

    The world outside had always been drenched in the mes of war, but none of that had anything to do with Serafis. This Continent had been peaceful for far too long, so much so that people had started to forget what war was.

    Many demonkin at the end of their years would choose to rule over a small territory or encampment here. Thend was rich in resources, and the abundant darkness origin power was highly enjoyable, a perfect environment through and through.

    Duke Wenton¡¯s experience was a ssic example. He had already lived in that castle for over three hundred years. He was an admirer of art and sculptures, as well as a master in management. The only thing he wasn¡¯t good at was fighting.

    Duke Meistan¡¯s eyesnded on the marquis¡¯ c.h.e.s.t, where he saw some barely discernible blood spots. The nearby flesh was dried and withered.

    Fury flickered in his eyes. ¡°Life Plunder!¡±

    ¡°But I can¡¯t sense any signs of blood energy,¡± a marquis said in puzzlement.

    Duke Meistant also frowned, puzzled as to what was going on.

    ¡°Lord Duke, it has been several days now. Has the council not responded? If it really is Qianye...¡± the marquis didn¡¯t continue, but the message was clear enough.

    A hint of helplessness appeared in Meistan¡¯s expression. ¡°The council has no spare manpower. The fight against the vampires is still ongoing, and even the half-retired Hasai has been mobilized for an emergency. It will take a week for new reinforcements to arrive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great news.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice echoed.

    The duke turned around all of a sudden, but some grey energynded on his body, slowing him down.

    However, countless grey feathers appeared in the area, and the duke¡¯s domain was quietly dissolved before it could even take shape.

    Only then did he meet Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Qianye?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve long since known the answer, is there a need to ask?¡± The reply was calm.

    ¡°How bold of you toe to Serafis.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you guys the same when you started killing on Twilight Continent?¡±

    Meistanughed loudly. ¡°Ha! Tell that to the Demon King!¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I heard Grand Duke Meistan is at the end of his years, and most family affairs are handled by his third son. That should be you, I¡¯m assuming.¡±

    ¡°So what if I am?¡±

    ¡°The old duke can no longer reproduce at this age and the Meistans have not produced any outstanding talents in the recent generations; even counts are quite rare. Half your bloodline will be gone after I kill you.¡±

    Duke Meistan was shocked and furious. ¡°The first emergency forces from the council will arrive soon, so you¡¯d better hurry up if you want to kill me.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You think I can¡¯t kill you quickly?¡±

    Frowning, the duke produced a shield from each hand and crossed them in front of his c.h.e.s.t. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of your aplishments, and I also know you have the Tempest, but a grand magnum might not be enough to take my life.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°I know that the Meistan n¡¯s defensive skills are well-known among the demonkin, even known as the Aegis Wellspring. I do have a grand magnum with me, but it¡¯s not the Tempest...¡±

    With that, a magnificent handgun appeared in Qianye¡¯s grasp, followed by a rumble!

    Countless mirrored surfaces appeared in the air, each facet reflecting Duke Meistan¡¯s image! His face was full of terror as his entire body was sealed into the mirror ne.

    The multitude of mirrors shattered without a sound, turning into a radiant stream of ss fragments. All of a sudden, the entire world felt like a dreamy illusion.

 Chapter 1421: Bloodline Family Tree

    <h4>Chapter 1421: Bloodline Family Tree</h4>

    Duke Meistan¡¯s figure appeared hundreds of meters in the air. He paused there for a while before crashing to the ground like a meteor.

    Hisst moments were filled with utmost astonishment as his vitality dispersed rapidly. He nced at Qianye with all the strength he had left, ¡°You... you...¡±

    Qianye watched the duke until there were no signs of life left in him before raising his head. Countless sanguine threads shot out in all directions, reaping the lives of the duke¡¯s followers within a hundred meters radius. His figure then flickered away and vanished over the horizon.

    In the depths of the void, there was a giant airship shrouded perpetually in pale mes. The Eternal me, in his me form, was hovering in the control room as he listened to the military reports.

    The first part of this report was about the happenings on Serafis Continent, where the situation was deteriorating rapidly. Five marquis and two duke families had suffered severe damage; a number of smaller families were also implicated, but count families and below weren¡¯t included in the emergency report.

    Halfway through the presentation, the Eternal me picked up the count with a stream of fire and dragged him up front. ¡°Duke Meistan has fallen?!¡±

    How could that count withstand the monarch¡¯s mes? His demonic energy dropped sharply until he was on the verge of death.

    The Eternal me snorted deeply and tossed the man down.

    Another count hurried into the room at this point. He trembled upon witnessing this scene, but he had no choice but to brace himself. ¡°Your Majesty, thetest intelligence hase in.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    Having seen the Eternal me¡¯s wrath just now, the count turned rather pale. He knew that he was not a bearer of good news. ¡°Lutheran Ind was attacked. Old Duke Meistan was killed in the void, but most of his descendants managed to survive.¡±

    The Eternal me¡¯s ze flickered unstably. ¡°More details.¡±

    The count went through theplete report rapidly. It turned out that Grand Duke Meistan joined the battle after Lutheran Ind was attacked. He never returned from his fight in the void, but it would seem that the attacker was wounded as well because he didn¡¯t continue attacking the ind. Hence, the Meistan descendants managed to survive.

    The Eternal me snorted. ¡°Those descendants are all trash, what¡¯s the use of keeping them alive?¡±

    The count said hurriedly, ¡°At least the Meistan bloodline remains.¡±

    The Eternal me¡¯s fury receded a bit. ¡°True. As long as his blood descendants remain, even if they¡¯re useless, they can still strengthen themselves bit by bit. After all, the Meistan bloodline is the Aegis Wellspring¡ªit must not die off.¡±

    The Eternal me said, ¡°Even if he did get his hands on some family registers, he won¡¯t be able to figure it out. The power of bloodlines is a mysterious subject, even the Demon King can¡¯t im to be proficient in it. There are over eight hundred bloodlines in our race, making for countlessbinations. Even the vampire prophets wouldn¡¯t have been able to touch Meistan¡¯s Aegis Wellspring. Qianye has just turned into a vampire recently, right? I never heard anything about him knowing divination.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s indeed the case. I might¡¯ve been overthinking things.¡±

    ¡°Very well, you may withdraw.¡±

    After the subordinate had left, the Eternal me still couldn¡¯t get rid of the doubts in his heart. It was then that he suddenly recalled the Book of Darkness that the Demon King so d.e.s.i.r.ed.

    Frowning, his gazended on therge screen that upied an entire wall. This was a map of the entire Evernight World, dotted with a dense array of light specks representing the movements of different army corps.

    Even without looking, the Eternal me knew that the demonkin race, as well as the council as a whole, had reached their limits in military power. There was simply no leeway.

    The two major factions were in a rare state of ceasefire at the moment, but a holy war had once again stirred up within the Evernight side. To the upper echelons, an all-out war could break out anytime.

    If that was the case for Evernight, the same was likely true of the Empire as well. Each side was eyeing the other like a proverbial tiger watching its prey, just like how a great dark monarch like him was tied down watching cksun Valley. The problem with Qianye was that cannon fodder and ordinary elites could do almost nothing against him.

    The Eternal me had never doubted the Demon King¡¯s decision, but at this point, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder what the supreme was thinking. What would the king do? Or would he simply do nothing?

    Qianye was standing in the air, gazing at a distant castle. The long banner hanging from the castle depicted thorned branches and crossed swords¡ªthe emblem of the Heizo family, a count-rank family.

    In the entire Serafis Continent, the Heizo family was the least eye-catching. Among the families qualified to build a castle here, they were ranked right at the bottom. A report of their destruction would only be bundled into ¡°other families¡± by the time it reached the Eternal me.

    In the Book of Darkness, however, the Heizo family was rted to many others. The Meistans, especially, gave them a lot of protection and support. This meant that the Meistan family¡¯s bloodline required the Heizos to reach its full potential.

    ¡°The Aegis Wellspring will vanish after I destroy the Heizo n,¡± Qianye said to himself.

    The register of each demonkin family wasn¡¯t a simple doc.u.ment. After absorbing the essence blood of relevant individuals, the Book of Darkness would produce even moreplicated family trees.

    Qianye discovered that the demonkin emblems weren¡¯t simple, either. Every depiction held an associated meaning. Under most circ.u.mstances, the Book of Darkness could derive their bloodline after seeing it.

    Qianye had a feeling that the bloodlines within the Book of Darkness had already touched upon the demonkin race¡¯s greatest secrets.

    Qianye leapt into the sky and flew into the Heizo family castle. He was back in the air within moments and was flickering away from the burning castle below.

    He was lost in thought along the journey.

    Their n was famed for their origin power shields, an aspect in which even the major ns couldn¡¯tpare. This was the most important power for the physically weak demonkin.

    The Meistan Bloodline didn¡¯t have any other special characteristics, hence, they werepatible with most other lineages. For thousands of years, many demonkin families had been forming marital connections with the Meistan in order to strengthen their barriers and subsequently, their overall fighting power.

    Abination with the Meistan bloodline would produce different types of effects for different families. That was why they were known as the Aegis Wellspring among the upper echelon and enjoyed a statusparable to the three strongest bloodlines.

    The razing of the Heizo family meant that thest of the Meistan family line had been cut off. To bring it back, the Meistan descendants would have to strengthen their bloodlines generation by generation. With the current techniques avable, this process might take hundreds to thousands of years.

    Qianye felt rather satisfied as he nced back at the burning castle. His figure flickered once again and quickly disappeared.

    The giant building that was the demonkin race had thousands of pirs propping it up, and Qianye had just cut one of them off.

    Qianye was hundreds of kilometers away by nightfall. He set up a small camp, lit a fire, and was resting quietly. In truth, he no longer needed a fire to stave off the cold, nor did he have to fear insects and snakes. Setting up camp was simply because of reminiscence.

    Poking aimlessly at the firewood, Qianye sank his thoughts deep into the Book of Darkness and observed the expanding collection of pedigrees.

    Only the demonkin could construct such a system in the Book of Darkness¡ªthe vampires, werewolves, and arachne couldn¡¯t do the same. With the help of this familial system, the demonkin would slowly grow stronger over the years. Comparatively, the other three races were still focusing on the purity of bloodlines, and the werewolves were hoping to return to their ancestral era.

    Tracing the purity of these three ns to their source, one would only arrive at the point where they had awakened their first ancestor¡¯s bloodline. The defects were still there.

    At this point, Qianye was beginning to understand the special characteristics of the demonkin race and why they could upy the top spot among the dark races. The vampires were slowly declining despite the blessing of the River of Blood, and half their ancient ns had been destroyed by the demonkin.

    The unique strength they still possessed was the Queen of the Night.

    Qianye tossed the branch he was holding into the fire and sat down cross-legged. He then focused his attention and began circting the Profound Combatant Form. At this point, he could use just about any type of origin power absorbed by the form.

    Wisps of void origin power seeped out of the void. The attractive force gradually expanded until there was a terrifying vortex in the sky.

    In the distance, a group of demonkin experts was guarding a person as they traveled through the mountains.

    The young man was staring at the shifting lights from a strange apparatus and guiding the group¡¯s movements.

    An expert looked up at the distant sky. ¡°Your Highness Anwen, something¡¯s wrong with the origin power environment here.¡±

    Anwen put on a pair of sses and nced at the surroundings. Countless numbers appeared on the spectacles. ¡°The flow of origin power is indeed abnormal. The void origin power seems to be converging in that direction.¡±

    Anwen frowned. ¡°Not exactly, but let¡¯s go and take a look.¡±

    One of the experts said, ¡°Your Majesty, why don¡¯t we go ahead and take a look? Just in case there¡¯s danger...¡±

    Another person said, ¡°What danger can there be on Serafis Continent?¡±

    ¡°Who can say for sure? Don¡¯t forget, Qianye has reportedly killed several families here.¡±

    ¡°You believe those rumors?¡± An expert with some background sneered. ¡°His Majesty has even sent Prophet Predica to hunt down Qianye. There¡¯s no way he won¡¯t know if Qianye has run over here. And the council¡¯s forces should¡¯ve arrived by now, right? It would be more believable if a human heavenly monarch were here but not Qianye.¡±

    The experts found this reasonable. Anwen said all of a sudden, ¡°Eh? This flow of origin power is very interesting, I must go personally. As for safety, I have you guys, don¡¯t I?¡±

 Chapter 1422: The True Stairway

    <h4>Chapter 1422: The True Stairway</h4>

    The experts didn¡¯t object. This group wasn¡¯t that big, but their overall strength was impressive. Even Anwen himself possessed powerful cultivation and would prove a great adversary in the same rank.

    These experts had no idea what mission Anwen was carrying out, not even the vice duke in charge of his safety. All they knew was that it was of a high level.

    Anwen kept drawing and writing along the way. He wasn¡¯t really trying to leave everyone out, but no one else knew what those numbers were. In short, it was an important matter.

    The group crossed over a mountain ridge in this manner and arrived at a wide valley. There was a massive vortex of origin power rotating in the air, but there was no one at all at the heart of this phenomenon.

    Anwen¡¯s eyes lit up¡ªthe formless origin power in the air became visible to him as he dissected, organized, and analyzed the data.

    ¡°The Combatant Form of the Great Qin? Yet it¡¯s not exactly the same. What¡¯s the point of absorbing all those impurities? Could it be some kind of secret art? That can¡¯t be right...¡±

    Anwen pondered to himself. ¡°It looks like this person has some way to increase the purity of origin power. Only the Scroll of Chaos can show this kind of efficiency... it¡¯s Qianye!¡±

    He was shocked out of his wits as a sudden chill shot up his spine, almost as though a hunter had locked onto him. He could no longer move!

    Through the corner of his eyes, he saw several sanguine threads flicker in and out of existence. He felt a prick on his back as one of the threads shot into his body, causing him to stagger and almost fall. A weakness came over his entire being, as though he had been starving for a month.

    Arge hand caught him at this moment, and soon, a bit of essence blood returned to his body. Anwen¡¯s demonic energy was quickly replenished like a burst of fireworks.

    ¡°Sorry, I lost control for a bit.¡± Qianye¡¯s voice rang out behind him.

    Anwen looked back with a wry smile. ¡°I was assigned this mission for safety reasons. The other fronts are either preparing for battle or already fighting. Who would¡¯ve thought I¡¯d run into you on Serafis?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Can¡¯t help it. Your supreme isn¡¯t leaving me with a lot of options. Since it makes no difference where I run to, isn¡¯t it better to enjoy the scenery on the demonkin continent?"

    Anwen smiled ruefully. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to meet you if possible.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote now.¡±

    ¡°What will you do now? Kill me?¡±

    Qianye was silent. He had a favorable impression of Anwen and Eden, so it wasn¡¯t entirely necessary to finish him off. He had avoided Anwen while using Life Plunder just now, and he had even returned the bit of essence blood that was identally absorbed.

    Anwen nced at his surroundings. ¡°You killed all my guards in a sh.¡±

    ¡°To collect data.¡± Anwen said after a pause, ¡°I am to collect andpile data on the flow of origin power throughout the continents and set up survey stations in key locations to continue .u.mting data. I have dozens of locations to survey on Serafis Continent and sixteen stations to set up.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re at war, though.¡± Qianye raised his brows. ¡°Since you¡¯re performing research now, is it rted to the war?¡±

    ¡°The war will decide our losses or gains for the moment, but data is the real stairway to the new world.¡± Anwen¡¯s eyes lit up at the mention of his work.

    Qianye observed the man for a while. ¡°Give me a reason not to kill you.¡±

    Anwen asked all of a sudden, ¡°Why were you taking our family registries?¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°These records are an important part of every demonkin family¡¯s inheritance. Neither flood nor fire can destroy these family trees, so the clean-up team will collect them after the family¡¯s destruction. The other races never showed any interest in these things, only the families you destroyed have their records missing. There might be another exnation for this, but the most likely reason is that you have them.¡±

    ¡°What do I even do with them? Study their coat-of-arms?¡± Qianye remained calm on the surface, but he was shaken inside. This demonkin was no idiot; he had immediately found the problem.

    Anwen stared at Qianye. ¡°You must already know the secret of our pedigree and inheritance, right?¡±

    ¡°How can you be so urate if you haven¡¯t figured it out? In addition to Meistan of the Aegis Wellspring, you¡¯ve also wiped out three small branches withser focus and uracy.¡±

    At this point, Qianye could onlye clean. ¡°Correct, I¡¯m targeting your bloodline inheritances. Speaking of which, does this mode of strengthening even work?¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t the effects quite obvious during the war with the vampires?¡±

    Qianye nodded.

    During the raid on Twilight Continent, Qianye felt that the first and second rankings among the four major races weren¡¯t entirely urate.

    The vampires were exceptionally strong¡ªthey wereparable to the demonkin and even a bit stronger due to their poption. Yet, thetter had gained an overwhelming victory right off the bat and wiped out almost half of the old vampire ns.

    Although it looked like the demonkin had dragged the arachne and werewolves into the fight, that was just an overall observation. The other two races didn¡¯t put in that much effort when it came to real conflict. The demonkin weren¡¯t about to give them full control over important sectors.

    Although it was said that the Queen of the Night was still asleep, the Demon King didn¡¯t really take action himself. All he did was keep Habsburg in check. Medanzo¡¯s betrayal was, of course, an important reason, but why would he? The allure of strength was definitely there, but he wouldn¡¯t have jumped ship so readily if he hadn¡¯t seen the difference in strength.

    Judging from the results of this war, the demonkin hadpletely surpassed the vampires.

    Qianye opened it up to find a demonkin family registry, except that it wasn¡¯t as detailed as the information derived by the Book of Darkness. The direction was simr, though.

    In fact, the records Qianye had collected from the demonkin families were mostly inurate. Their method of research was likely a trial and error between families, the data from which would be graduallypared to find out the best bloodlinebinations. As long-lived races, they had all the time in the world.

    Their results today probably came from thousands of years ago.

    Those family trees were iparable to the results derived from the book of darkness. Qianye naturally followed thetter. The uracy of their original research wasn¡¯t all that high, so Qianye hadn¡¯t expected to be discovered so quickly.

    Qianye understood everything when he picked up this notebook. The conclusion, which came about from a series ofplicated forms and calctions, was about six parts simr to the Book of Darkness.

    ¡°This is?¡±

    ¡°My results from the past seven years,¡± Anwen replied.

    Qianye was silent. The forms and calction methods in the book were tooplicated. The inexplicable spatial construction was reportedly based on the gic makeup of the demonkin bloodline. He couldn¡¯t understand a single page of extraption out of the several hundred.

    The process wasn¡¯t all that important¡ªthe key was in the conclusion.

    Anwenughed wryly. ¡°You didn¡¯t expect it, the same goes for the old men from our research institute. They won¡¯t believe that I¡¯m correct even if they see this.¡±

    Qianye sighed. He had already realized that Anwen was actually a talent that could shake the world itself. It was rather unfortunate that such a talent wasn¡¯t born in the Empire.

    Qianye drew his azure sword, but after some thought, he switched to the Red Spider Lily. ¡°I now have sufficient reason to kill you, anyst words?¡±

    Anwenughed wryly. ¡°I¡¯m too weak, not worth dirtying your hands.¡±

    ¡°A marquis who might be a great dark monarch one day, you call that weak?¡±

    ¡°My character isn¡¯t good...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll improve once you¡¯re dead!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really dumb...¡± Even Anwen himself chuckled.

    Qianye wasn¡¯tughing, though. All of a sudden, grey feathers fluttered down from the sky and locked Anwen to the ground.

    ¡°You¡¯re too smart. I don¡¯t understand any of those numbers, who knows what tricks you have to flee. It¡¯s better to suppress you first.¡±

    The feathers felt like mountains falling upon him. Even standing felt quite tiring for Anwen, let alone to resist or escape. He felt helpless because whatever powerful secret art he used would be locked down by that barbaric pressure.

    Anwen finally extinguished all of his ns. ¡°Your domain is almost at the level of a great dark monarch, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s such an overkill to use it on me. I don¡¯t want to die right now, I still want to see the vast world. How about this, I¡¯ll bet you my life.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°First, I¡¯ll tell you how to evade the prophetic powers. Secondly, I¡¯ll tell you the secrets of the new world and the truth of this world. In exchange, you let me go and promise not to kill off a certain bloodline. I know you can do it, although I don¡¯t know how.¡±

    Anwen added, ¡°No one will figure out anytime soon the fact that you¡¯ve already touched upon the secrets of the demonkin family trees. It will probably take a lot more casualties before those old bastards start admitting their conceit, but that supreme existence is very different from them.¡±

    Qianye understood Anwen was talking about the Demon King. He didn¡¯t feel that the demonkin was merely trying to scare him.

    ¡°I already know how to avoid prophetic scrying.¡±

    ¡°There are many ways to do so, but none of them will be as effective as my method. I myself am an outstanding prophet after all.¡± Anwen was quite confident. ¡°Besides, don¡¯t ever underestimate a demonkin warlock, sometimes, possibility is just a matter of price.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Qianye nodded. The Evernight prophets had experienced a longer history than the human divination experts. Although Lin Xitang had ended up suppressing them, there was no way Evernight would¡¯ve maintained an upper hand if this was their entire strength.

    ¡°So do we have a deal?¡±

    ¡°Not yet. Tell me those secrets first, and I will be the judge of whether it¡¯s worth it.¡±

    Anwen chuckled. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s talk about the new world first. In truth, there have been records of that ce since ancient times. Back then, there were six major races and five supremes on the Sacred Mountain. The supremes sensed the approach of the new world, so they worked together to pull it close and open up a path for a subsequent expansion. Yet this new world was a tremendous entity. Even with thebined power of the six races, the n ended up in a failure. One supreme fell during the process, and another followed not long afterward.

    ¡°The process, however, stabilized the new world sessfully and stopped it from moving away. The three supremes only dared to try opening the new world now because they had sensed that it was close enough.¡±

    ¡°What we opened before was only the surfaceyer of the new world. The entrance to the true heart of this world lies in cksun Valley. The passage will appear once the ck mes recede.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°I know this already.¡±

 Chapter 1423: Excessive Distance

    <h4>Chapter 1423: Excessive Distance</h4>

    Anwen understood the situation. ¡°Her Majesty Nighteye must¡¯ve told you.¡±

    ¡°Why do you guys refer to her as Her Majesty?¡±

    Anwen replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know which ancient character she has awakened to, but that character is definitely more powerful than ordinary great dark monarchs. It¡¯s not excessive to refer to her respectfully.¡±

    ¡°Very well, continue.¡±

    ¡°Inside cksun Valley is reportedly the very origin of darkness.¡±

    ¡°Darkness origins? The source of darkness? Does it really exist?¡± Qianye was surprised.

    More often than not, the daybreak and darkness origins were just a concept. It might be absolute in numbers and logic, but that didn¡¯t mean they physically existed.

    ¡°It¡¯s the darkness origins, not the source.¡±

    Qianye still couldn¡¯t understand. Normally, the word was used to describe the root of each faction¡¯s power, like the daybreak origins of human heavenly monarchs and the darkness origins of the great dark monarchs. This thing in the new world, could it be a world in and of itself?

    Anwen had no way to exin this concept further. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what kind of existence it is. We call it that because its appearance will change the origin power ratio of this world.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°The origin power ratio?¡± This really made one think a lot. ¡°Will it change the energy system?¡±

    Anwen said with an approving expression, ¡°Your connection is reasonable. Although I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s really the case, the fact that it will change the ratio of origin power is the truth. At the very least, our supreme said so.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s brows locked into a frown¡ªthis wasn¡¯t good news. A shift in origin power ratios was much more important than a ten-degree change in the world¡¯s temperature.

    From the natural origin power environment of cksun Valley, it would be safe to assume that all intelligent daybreak lifeforms would be greatly weakened if there was a sharp increase in darkness origin power. This was especially true for humans, and even the heavenly monarchs would not be an exception.

    The fortunate oue at that point was to be something akin to a marginalized race. The humans might be able to remain a separate race, but the four continents would be lost. In the worst-case scenario, the Evernight faction would dere war on the Empire. People would be taken captive as ve soldiers and livestock.

    At the thought of this, Qianye suddenly noticed that the reason behind the war was a special matter.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the truth about the world we are in?¡±

    ¡°The world we are in is actually a cage. Everyone here, from the lowest races to the highest supremes, is just a captive, no exception.¡±

    ¡°You mean to say we¡¯re being held here?¡± This was the first time Qianye had heard of such a theory.

    ¡°Ourselves?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡± Anwen pointed at his head. ¡°To be precise, our intelligence is what keeps us imprisoned.¡±

    ¡°Speak human please!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a demonkin...¡± Anwen¡¯sical expression faded away when he saw Qianye¡¯s face.

    He produced a notebook and began drawing on one of the empty pages. In the blink of an eye, the twenty-seven continents of the Evernight world appeared on paper, along with some of therger neutralnds.

    ¡°This is our world. Most people think our world is vast enough, so much so that even the grand dukes only end up exploring the upper continents.¡±

    ¡°Correct, the upper continents are indeed dangerous.¡± Qianye sighed emotionally.

    Back when he had led the vampires toward Dawn Continent, the journey was full of danger even with the Martyr¡¯s Pce opening up the way and the trio overseeing everything. And that was because Howard had already figured out the path. Any other transport fleet would¡¯ve lost about thirty percent of their spacesh.i.p.s.

    After arriving there, the torrent of fire from the sr winds allowed Qianye to experience the true might of heaven and earth. Even a great dark monarch wouldn¡¯t dare face them head-on.

    Anwen said, ¡°Our direction of exploration is wrong. We shouldn¡¯t be exploring the upper continents. Instead, we should focus our efforts on understanding our world, reforming our intelligence system, and finding ways to better utilize origin power.¡±

    He drew a circle on a different paper and pointed to the center. ¡°If you consider our world as a whole, this is the point at the center. The only thing stopping us is the vast distance of the void. What we need to cross isn¡¯t strength but intelligence. We never found a good way to travel through the far void. That¡¯s why I said we¡¯re captives of our own intelligence.¡±

    ¡°Why do I remember you saying something different before?¡± Qianye thought back to when he had discussed the new world with Anwen.

    The demonkin replied, ¡°Back then, I only had a rudimentary knowledge of the world. I thought our greatest obstruction inmunicating with the outside world was the dangers in the void, especially those void colossi. Supreme experts from each generation returned empty-handed either because they ran into these beasts or fell to indefensible dangers. Only now did I realize that the true obstruction is a different matter¡ªit was just pure distance.¡±

    He drew something on the paper and said, ¡°I have set up several demonic energy lenses with different filtration effects, using them to observe a single star and analyze its light spectrum. The results were fairly interesting. One of them is the starlight thates from the peak of our world. Some are physically here, but others are just shadows. These shadows were cast from other small worlds like Evernight.¡±

    Qianye was astonished, but this was definitely a possibility after some thought; for instance, that passage at the bottom of Giant¡¯s Repose on Evernight Continent. If there could be passages that connected continents, why couldn¡¯t there be tunnels between worlds?

    Anwen said, ¡°Another thing is, they¡¯re extremely far from us.¡±

    ¡°How far?¡±

    ¡°Beyond our imagination.¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°Let¡¯s put it this way. If we take the distance between the lowest Evernight Continent to the top-most sun as one, the distance between us and the nearest new world is in the trillions.¡±

    ¡°Trillions?!¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel shaken despite his indifference in the face of great dark monarchs.

    He thought about it but still couldn¡¯t wrap his head around this number. The only thing he could think of was that even Lilith flying at full speed might not be able to cross this distance in her lifetime.

    ¡°But this cage isn¡¯t unbreakable.¡± Seeing Qianye¡¯s interested demeanor, Anwen continued without keeping the former in suspense, ¡°The primary method is to study our world and understand its basicws. For instance, what¡¯s the theory behind your Spatial sh? Can airsh.i.p.s be brought along in a sh? Can the jump distance be increased limitlessly as long as there was enough energy? Why can void colossi live in the void? Can we replicate their organs and install them on our airsh.i.p.s?

    ¡°You demonkin also have a spatial secret art, something called demonic traversal or space traversal, right?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°We have both of them.¡± Anwen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°In fact, our race did have a technique simr to your Spatial sh, though not at the level where it¡¯s enough to break through this world. Unfortunately, the inheritance has been lost in the long river of time. If we can solve this problem, we might be able to build an airship that can travel through the starry skies and explore the boundless realms beyond. Now that is where experts like us belong!¡±

    Qianye was a bit fascinated by the speech, but he quickly broke out in a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯m still being hunted down by the Demon King. I can¡¯t even think about exploring the unknown world. We¡¯ll see if I manage to survive.¡±

    Anwen nced at Qianye and said seriously, ¡°Your progress is the number one in the Evernight world, and the ck-Winged Monarch¡¯s inheritance gives you an instinctive understanding of space. Finally, you have the Martyr¡¯s Pce, which was built from the Earth Dragon¡¯s remains. Rumor has it that there¡¯s a living organ on board. All in all, you¡¯re the most suitable pioneer in this realm. If you¡¯re willing, I will follow you on this journey.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡±

    Anwen was fairly honest. This person was definitely the odd one out among the countless experts in the Evernight faction. Qianye could tell from their short encounters that he was a highly intelligent individual. If he were to spend all of that effort on cultivation, even the Demoness might not be his match.

    Yet Anwen had little interest in strength and wars. On the contrary, he was exceptionally fascinated with exploration. Qianye had never read or even heard about his theories andplicated forms.

    Anwen¡¯s theories weren¡¯t just empty thoughts. His ability to derive the correct demonkin bloodlines proved that he was capable. His hypothesis on space distance was another factor.

    Qianye put his sword away and said, ¡°You may leave. This world is already messed up, at least it¡¯ll be more interesting with people like you around.¡±

    Anwen didn¡¯t leave immediately. ¡°How about you? What¡¯s your n? Keep killing like this?¡±

    ¡°This is war and not something I have much of a choice in. All I can do is make that warmongering Demon King of yours feel a bit of pain. That¡¯s the whole reason I¡¯m here.¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°The demonkin of Serafis Continent, even the experts, have forgotten battle over time. They¡¯re more civilians than warriors, so killing them won¡¯t bring you glory.¡±

    ¡°Many of the killed vampires were also civilians. As for the humans, there¡¯s no need to even talk about it. Besides, ording to you, a war is inevitable once the inner world bes essible.¡±

    Anwen sighed. ¡°It should¡¯ve been seven days since you arrived here. You¡¯ve killed over a thousand during this time, is it not enough?¡±

    Anwen said with a frown, ¡°I know I can¡¯t dissuade you, and my own strength is also not enough to dissuade His Majesty.¡±

    Qianye suddenly felt a bit curious about this supreme. ¡°Does the Demon King not believe what you say?¡±

    Anwen¡¯s expression seemed a bit strange. ¡°His Majesty Kane is different from those old men at the academy...¡±

    Qianye waited for the continuation, but Anwen didn¡¯t speak further.

    ¡°And?¡±

    Anwen sighed. ¡°His Majesty is already at the peak of this world. He has his own considerations, but they should be more or less resolved after the cksun Valley business.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes flickered, but he said nothing.

    Anwen didn¡¯t notice the change in expression. ¡°If you promise to pull out from Serafis, I will tell you a secret about the River of Blood.¡±

    Qianye pondered for a while. He was already nearing his time limit on Serafis Continent; any longer, and he would be surrounded and hunted down. Besides, the fact that he had intentionally cut off the Aegis Wellspring could hardly be hidden from the Demon King. He had to be wary of the supreme arriving in person.

    Qianye nodded without further contemtion.

    Anwen opened his notebook and wrote down a series of forms.

    He chuckled when he saw Qianye¡¯s puzzlement through the corner of his eyes. ¡°Let it be, I¡¯ll just get to the summary. I¡¯ve discovered that the disappearance of the River of Blood has something to do with the arrival of the new world.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. ¡°How are the two rted?¡±

    ¡°That I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Qianye asked after some thought, ¡°Do you think the supremes know this?¡±

    Anwen¡¯s conclusion felt a bit conflictedpared to what he had said just now. Since the Queen of the Night was the only one remaining among those who had tried to pull the new world closer back in the year, did she know that this act would cause the River of Blood to disappear?

    Just as Qianye expected, Anwen couldn¡¯t give him a definite answer, but that didn¡¯t make Qianye doubt his conclusion. The two exchanged nces for a bit. Qianye was about to let Anwen go and leave Serafis soon afterward. All of a sudden, Qianye¡¯s heart beat rapidly as he looked at the sky.

    The River of Blood had appeared in the depths of the void, and unlike before, it was extremely clear. The giant surging waves stifled everyone who could sense it.

 Chapter 1424: The Thirteenth Seal

    <h4>Chapter 1424: The Thirteenth Seal</h4>

    Anwen¡¯s expression changed drastically, almost as though he had sensed it as well. He brought out some sort of board-like metallic object. The l.u.s.trous time was covered in pulsing runes that looked like they were forming a profound principle.

    Qianye¡¯s focus had beenpletely attracted by the River of Blood. He moved against the flow with rtive ease and soon arrived at the source of the river, where he felt that the change was taking ce.

    The moment he had captured the aura of the river, he sensed several extremely powerful consciousnesses casting their gazes over. And they weren¡¯t vampire experts!

    This was an inexplicable sensation, something that shouldn¡¯t be happening. Yet Qianye knew that his senses couldn¡¯t be wrong and Anwen¡¯s reaction also served as proof. This also meant that it wasn¡¯t only the vampires who had sensed themotion in the River of Blood.

    The strength of this tremor was irrefutable; even Qianye didn¡¯t cause such a ruckus during his breakthrough to the duke rank. Comparatively, he only managed to stir up some waves.

    A thought flickered through his heart. Did the River of Blood¡¯s movement touch the world¡¯s baselinews?

    He carefully discerned the experts¡¯ consciousness and found some of them were rather familiar. For instance, that powerful and tyrannical aura was clearly Zhang Boqian. There were also several streams that were vague and blurry; Qianye could only tell that they were present. Apparently, those heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs did not want to be discovered¡ªnor identified even if discovered.

    Qianye began to worry. He might be growing at the fastest rate in this world, but he was still far from significant in the eyes of those powerful consciousnesses. He could prevent nothing if they decided to act.

    Qianye quickly did away with the unnecessary thoughts and advanced toward the source of the river. Simply approaching the ce was enough to sense its majesty and magnitude; it was even bigger than a continent. Back in the year, Qianye¡¯s cultivation wasn¡¯t enough to understand much about the river. Now that he was at the doorstep to the apex, he could sense the source of the river¡ªit was a vast expanse of waves with no end in sight.

    The River of Blood surged with greater ferocity as more streams of perception appeared. Apparently, even the hidden powerhouses and those on important missions had sensed the movement.

    Everyone was waiting for what woulde next.

    It was at this moment that the faint mes in the cksun Valley raged fiercely. Some demonkin experts who had been exploring the region were swept into the ze and reduced to ashes.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye had passed by most of the powerful consciousnesses. He was already fairly close to the true source of the river, but Qianye felt that he still had the strength to spare. He nced forward and saw five powerful consciousnesses that made him hesitate for a bit.

    Qianye could sense more and more people noticing him, but it was toote to turn back now. There was nothing to be afraid of if the technique he had imitated from those blurry auras was working. If it wasn¡¯t working, he would¡¯ve beenpromised long ago, and it would be useless even if he were to hide.

    Bracing himself, he moved past three more consciousnesses before reaching his limit. At this point, there were only two more in front of him¡ªthe Demon King and the Spider Queen.

    Qianye understood that this didn¡¯t mean he was the number one character under the supremes. It was only because the River of Blood was his home ground.

    The other heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs would need to prate thews of the world and find the fluctuations of the river before moving upstream. People like Anwen who weren¡¯t strong enough could only rely on special equipment to observe. Qianye didn¡¯t need to go through this trouble because he was on the same wavelength with these raging waters.

    From this point, he could barely sense the source of the river. Twelve blood seals were slowly revolving around it¡ªmost of them were dim, and two more were on the verge of dispersing.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sigh, even though this wasn¡¯t the first time he had witnessed this scene.

    The River of Blood gradually calmed down, but the undercurrents were flowing with even greater vigor. It seemed as though something was brewing down below. None of the visiting consciousnesses had the attention to spare as they focused on this rare scene.

    Under the eyes of the world¡¯s strongest experts, the River of Blood roared as a wall of water rose up from the source and crashed downstream.

    It eventually returned to the embrace of the twelve seals and joined them in their rotation. The scene felt right and proper, as though this was how it should and always had been.

    Qianye had never seen that seal before, and he was curious to know who had lit up this new seal.

    ...

    Far off in the Lava Castle, Habsburg opened his eyes with aplicated expression. The Demon King stared off into space for a good while before saying, ¡°This... how did this happen?¡±

    Habsburg said in an odd tone, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be happy that the thirteenth seal has appeared?¡±

    The thirteenth vampire n had appeared when people were starting to doubt whether it ever existed! All of a sudden, dark undercurrents flowed through the void as every top expert received this shocking news. Everyone began to ponder on what this might mean.

    That seal wasn¡¯t at the level of a great dark monarch, which meant that the vampire race had produced a new crown-prince-rank primogenitor during these troubled times. However, this seemed to pale inparison to the change in thews.

    After the seal was ignited, the River of Blood slowly faded away into the depths of the void.

    In Qianye¡¯s senses, the thirteenth seal was a bit different. He already understood that each seal represented a different system, a different path to power. It would allow the initiator to use a portion of the river¡¯s power.

    After the thirteenth seal appeared, the missing pieces of memory began to appear in his inheritance memory.

    Qianye discovered that, along with the Perth n, this thirteenth seal was one of the two sitting closest to the darkness origins. The Perth n¡¯s seal contained the widest path to the River of Blood, a method topletely activate the power of blood for a vampire.

    The thirteenth seal, on the other hand, showed no signs of blood energy. It seemed to contain only darkness origin power, one so pure that it didn¡¯t look like a vampire seal.

    Darkness origin power was expressed in many different forms in the energy system, with each race upying a different segment in the spectrum. Although there were special circ.u.mstances, this was thew in most cases. The dark races had, through the countless years of evolution, developed paths that were the most suitable for them. For instance, the demonkin¡¯s demonic energy and the vampires¡¯ blood energy. Neutral darkness origin power was, on the contrary, more difficult to control. For instance, there might be many different paths up a mountain, and it wasn¡¯t impossible to climb from ces with no trails, only more exhausting.

    Looking at this seal, Qianye came to understand why the thirteenth n had vanished back then. Not strengthening blood energy as vampires meant that they would only make half the progress for double the effort, and thus they were gradually eliminated. Although it was said that their descendants also vanished all of a sudden, the entire matter was still a puzzle to this day. Even if they did manage to survive all this time, they would probably be a negligible power by now¡ªjust like the blood seals that had gone dark for various reasons.

    In the depths of the seal, Qianye could sense a familiar aura, Nighteye¡¯s aura. With what the vampires had been going through these days, there was probably no other candidate who could be a crown prince.

    Qianye retracted his perception and fell into contemtion. He had to speed up his progress as well.

    The flickering runes in Anwen¡¯s hands slowly receded, but the man still seemed lost in thought. After some calctions, he said, ¡°The vampires have gained yet another primogenitor, and it¡¯s very likely Her Majesty Nighteye. Who would¡¯ve thought she would still seed despite the council sending such a strong force after her? As expected of someone who has awakened an ancient powerhouse!¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°I hope it¡¯s her. You can go now. I¡¯ll be leaving as well, but I will still be heading to other demonkin territories.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Before leaving, the demonkin couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Do reconsider your next destination. I¡¯m not saying this because you¡¯re heading to other demonkin territories. The connection between family trees is our race¡¯s greatest secret, even some of those families don¡¯t understand the profundity within. This is also something His Majesty pays great attention to. He now has one more reason to kill you, and the ming Crown alone might not be able to stop him.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s expression seemed odd. ¡°The ming Crown... might be an enemy as well.¡±

    Anwen was stunned for a moment, but he seemed to realize something afterward. He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but ended up not saying anything in the end.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t hoping for an exnation, either. So he simply nodded at the man and jumped up into the void.

    ...

    In the cksun Valley, countless Evernight Soldiers were lined up in formation¡ªthey were waiting for the fateful moment to arrive. The Eternal me¡¯s pale ze hung in the sky, looking down at the giant pit nearby.

    There used to be a pir of ck mes here, but now there wasn¡¯t a single ember. Even the heat was no longer there and the entire valley had turned cold.

    A demonkin flew over to the Eternal me. ¡°Your Majesty, the vanguard is ready.¡±

 Chapter 1425: Opening Battle

    <h4>Chapter 1425: Opening Battle</h4>

    There were tens of thousands of soldiers at the front¡ªwerewolves, vampires, and even ve soldiers made up of humans and some other races. These ve fighters were strong, but they were neither armored nor did they hold any weapons. All of them seemed to be in despair in the face of this sinkhole.

    As the bugle sounded, the Evernight army moved forward slowly, pushing the sacrifices forward with their sharp spears. The front lines pushed and squeezed, but in the end, they still couldn¡¯t avoid the fate of falling down into the hole.

    Every time a person fell down, the sparse mes at the bottom of the pit would burst into a pir of mes to engulf the victims. Although the ze was surging wildly, the embers at the bottom of the pit were weakening at a visible pace. By the time thest batch of sacrifices had fallen in, the ck mes shot into the sky and died out entirely.

    All the spectating Evernight experts heaved a sigh of relief, looking delighted. A marquis said, ¡°Your Majesty us, I¡¯ll go and scout the path ahead!¡±

    One of his peers said, ¡°Marquis Turam, you¡¯re a bit too weak. Leave the dangerous work to me!¡±

    ¡°I should be the one!¡±

    ¡°Me!¡±

    The demonkin fought amongst one another to be the first to enter the new world¡¯s gates. The inner world might be dangerous, but the first expert to enter would surely leave his family name in the annals of history. Hence, the experts weren¡¯t willing to give way.

    Amidst the endless quarrel, the Eternal me said, ¡°Lord Leeroy, do you have anyone who wants to charge in first?¡±

    The arachne grand duke was standing a bit farther away at first, maintaining a humble posture. He was a bit surprised to hear the Eternal me¡¯s words. ¡°Our race¡¯s experts will be honored to!¡±

    Since the Eternal me had said so, the other experts had no choice but to stop fighting and watch an arachne marquis jump into the pit.

    He flew back out momentster. Ignoring the ck mes on his body, he cried out, ¡°The gate to the inner world! I crossed it!¡±

    He paused for a moment. All eyes fell upon him, waiting eagerly for information about the other world. The marquis, however, became a bit hesitant and uncertain. ¡°I saw the purest of darkness! That... might be the darkness origins!¡±

    The darkness origins!

    The crowd broke into amotion.

    The Eternal me¡¯s pale fire also flickered briefly; he was apparently excited as well.

    Unable to hold back any longer, the demonkin experts charged into the doorway to the inner world. The Eternal me calmly ordered the Evernight alliance to set up defenses around the sinkhole, then slowly moved inward to the gate.

    It was at this time that a sh of silvery-white appeared in the distance and a disturbance broke out in the peripheral troops. The Eternal me moved swiftly in the direction of the silvery light.

    In the blink of an eye, countless Imperial airsh.i.p.s appeared from the clouds and began charging toward the sinkhole.

    The Eternal me shot into the sky with a snort.

    He came to a sudden stop halfway through and slowly turned around. There, he saw the Pointer Monarch step out calmly into the air. ¡°us, where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    The Eternal me pointed a plume of fire toward the disorderly armies below. ¡°We can fight, but only the Evernight races will be affected by our battle right now. Your troops will soon join the fray. Are you sure you want to go there?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Where else? Did you want to just sit by and watch? Or do you want to do it in the new world?¡±

    That was, of course, impossible. The Eternal me was in charge of overseeing the cksun Valley. How could he leave everything just for a human heavenly monarch? Even if this person was the Pointer Monarch.

    The Eternal me¡¯s fire flickered. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s fight here then!¡±

    The Empire¡¯s warsh.i.p.s charged straight into the battlefield andnded practically next to the Evernight formation. They poured down frantic gunfire to suppress the enemy attacks, all the while unleashing soldiers onto the ground.

    The Imperial soldiers charged straight at the enemy army, killing their way in amidst the confusion. This threw the battlefield into utter chaos.

    The Eternal me¡¯s raging ze ascended to the sky, almost like a pale sun as it unleashed rings of fire that swept out in all directions. The Pointer Monarch¡¯s figure flickered unpredictably, appearing above, below, to the front, and to the rear.

    The Pointer Monarch simply drifted about like an immortal, always passing through the me rings at the right moment. He would only block the attack when there was absolutely no way to avoid it.

    Upon contact with the Pointer Monarch, the mes there would brighten significantly, while the other areas would dim down. Apparently, this attack could focus all of its power on a small area. This did well to supplement the low attack power of area of effect attacks.

    The Eternal me¡¯s attack seemed endless, almost as though there was no bottom to his demonic energy, yet the Pointer Monarch¡¯s fighting style remained the same. With a flip of his hand, the heavenly monarch produced a sinister-looking gatling gun. The weapon roared as a torrential stream of bullets poured toward the Eternal me. The st caused the pale me to flicker wildly like a candle in the wind.

    ¡°The Tempest!¡± The Eternal me wasn¡¯t too surprised to find this magnum in the Pointer Monarch¡¯s hands. ¡°As expected, Qianye joined you humans.¡±

    ¡°He has always been a human, why would he need to join us?¡± the Pointer Monarch replied.

    A voice erupted from the distance, ¡°Return the Tempest!¡±

    The Lightless Monarch Medanzo stepped into the battlefield, hoping to join the fight against the Pointer Monarch.

    Before he could take a second step, however, the surrounding space rippled as a man walked out from nowhere. This person was in the prime of his life and d in an Imperial marshal¡¯s uniform. However, his aura wasn¡¯t that outstanding at all; he felt more like an unknown divine champion than anything.

    ¡°Lightless Monarch, don¡¯t be in a rush to leave. And also, the Tempest isn¡¯t rted to the vampire race, is it?¡±

    Medanzo was startled as he recalled a certain person, but he also found it hard to believe. ¡°Human Emperor? Why are you here?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor replied calmly, ¡°Why can¡¯t I be here? There is no emperor on the battlefield, only a heavenly monarch.¡±

    Medanzo snorted. ¡°You just entered the heavenly monarch rank, yet you dare challenge me? Quite bold!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor replied, ¡°It¡¯s precisely because I just broke through that you¡¯re a good opponent for me.¡±

    The implied meaning behind these words was that the Lightless Monarch would no longer be a match once the Radiant Emperor had consolidated his realm. Medanzo never expected this inconspicuous human emperor would have such a sharp tongue. He drew his sword with an ashen expression and shed a beam of dark violet mes toward the Emperor.

    A cold gleam appeared in the Radiant Emperor¡¯s hands as Teia left its sheath. With a gentle swing, the Emperor scattered the sanguine mes andunched a counterattack at Medanzo.

    The Lightless Monarch thought he could easily suppress the Radiant Emperor by relying on the techniques he had .u.mted over the centuries. At most, the result would be a drawn-out battle that wasmon between experts of their level. Who would¡¯ve thought this quiet emperor would be so skilled in swordsmanship? In the blink of an eye, he had forced Medanzo¡¯s back against a corner until he could do nothing else but defend.

    The fight between Medanzo and the Radiant Emperor looked even more intense than the other fight. In truth, though, the Eternal me and the Pointer Monarch had both drawn their Grand Magnums, so the stakes were much higher.

    With four peak experts fighting up in the air, just the shockwaves alone were enough to turn an area thousands of meters around them into a death zone. Soldiers from either faction who were swept into the fire didn¡¯t even have a corpse left.

    These elites were all suicide soldiers!

    Death and destruction rained down wherever the shockwaves from the battle passed by. The Evernight army¡¯s casualties far surpassed the Empire¡¯s. The Eternal me had already realized the enemy¡¯s strategy.

    Yet, it was toote to change locations at this point. The Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t easy to handle, and both parties were already using Grand Magnums. The slightest misstep would loosen the Eternal me¡¯s grip on the battlefield, so he had no choice but to focus on contending with the opponent.

    Even dukes were intimidated by the current situation and didn¡¯t dare interfere in the fight. They all dived down into the sinkhole and fought their way into the inner world.

    The Empire¡¯s divine champions also followed suit. Apparently, a battlefield would begin once they were all inside.

    The great dark monarchs and princes¡ªwho were debating whether they should help¡ªchanged their minds and turned toward the new world. The ordinary soldiers on the ground had suffered over fifty percent casualties, so there was no way to save them now. The gate to the inner world required more sacrifices to maintain, so they didn¡¯t think too much of the death of a hundred thousand soldiers.

    The situation in the air changed subtly over time as the Eternal me started to gain the upper hand.

    The Sable Blessing was one level higher than the Tempest, to begin with. As a demonkin weapon, the Eternal me could not be more familiar with wielding it. The Pointer Monarch had whipped out the Tempest despite the drain because he needed to extend his attack range.

    The greatest negative factor was still the environment. Firstly, the new world exerted a suppression on heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs. Now that the gateway to the inner world had opened, the darkness origins on the other side seemed to have sensed the origin power of the heavenly monarchs. The purer one¡¯s daybreak attribute, the more he would be affected, and it would take some time to limatize to this pressure.

    Medanzo was still holding out despite being suppressed by the Radiant Emperor. Thetter had to pay attention to thews here since it was his first time fighting in this environment. As such, he wasn¡¯t able to defeat the opponent immediately.

    The two parties thus fell into a deadlock.

    It wasn¡¯t umon for a fight between heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs tost several days. After the battle reached a stable point, both sides became fairly patient.

    The Evernight faction still had several great dark monarchs in reserve, while the human side had yet to show their Prince Greensun.

    Even though the Evernight faction held the advantage in high-ranking fighting power, a sessful ambush from Zhang Boqian would badly injure or even kill any one of them. No one wanted to take this chance.

    The Empire had quietly sent two heavenly monarchs into this battle, and there was at least one more waiting for an opportunity. Even the Emperor himself had joined the fight. This was a rather generous lineup, to say the least.

    In this short span of time, the stormy winds and raging mes plunged the entire cksun Valley into an infernal state. Breaks and cuts appeared everywhere in the extremely hard soil of the region. The fight was truly terrifying.

    Just as the fight was at its peak, the Radiant Emperor suddenly retracted his de and pulled back. At the same time, several floating mirrors appeared in the air and engulfed the Lightless Monarch.

 Chapter 1426: Enemy of my Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 1426: Enemy of my Enemy</h4>

    The Red Spider Lily!

    This kind of visual phenomenon belonged to the Red Spider Lily¡¯s ultimate skill, the ¡°River of Forgetfulness.¡±

    Medanzo was shocked. He remembered that the Red Spider Lily¡¯s owner for this generation was a little girl with no origin power. How could she be in the new world?

    The environment in the cksun Valley happened to be her greatest enemy, so she wouldn¡¯t be able tost beyond a few minutes here. Moreover, the Red Spider Lily¡¯s power was rather limited in her hands. There should be no problem injuring a duke, but she would be hard-pressed to injure a great dark monarch.

    That was precisely why Medanzo was furious and humiliated. A little girl with no origin power had caught him off-guard... This was a massive humiliation for someone who wanted face more than anything else.

    A ck moon appeared above Medanzo¡¯s head, with only a red edge forming its outline. The moon then erupted in the air, dying everything in the mirror pitch ck.

    This ck hue was actually a darkness so thick that not a shred of light could pass through. All tangible and intangible objects would crumble under its corrosive properties. This was the Lightless Monarch¡¯s most powerful stance, a move he didn¡¯t use even when he was at a disadvantage against the Radiant Emperor.

    Medanzo might not think too much of Zhao Ruoxi, but he was cautious enough to know that being locked onto by a Grand Magnum was no small matter. This was especially true for the Red Spider Lily and its strange appearance on the battlefield. The vampire had relied on caution to remain standing after a thousand years and had no intention of taking risks. So, he unleashed his strongest power to break free from the binding immediately. However, the mirrors were merely cracked but not shattered when the darkness receded.

    Medanzo looked utterly surprised because his all-out attack had actually failed to shatter the Red Spider Lily¡¯s lock on him. Surprise soon turned to shock as he recalled something.

    At this moment, an origin bullet flew in from the distance. The lofty aura surrounding the projectile could only belong to a heavenly monarch. It struck the cracked mirrors and shattered thempletely.

    Medanzo appeared in the air, faltering momentarily before finding his footing. He nced around with a cold expression. ¡°Who is it?!¡±

    His gazended in a certain direction from which Qianye was slowly walking over.

    ¡°Medanzo, you¡¯re a traitor to the vampire race. This is just a small advance payment,¡± Qianye said.

    Medanzo wanted to say something, but his face went pale all of a sudden. The dark moon appeared briefly, but it dimmed down again as the great dark monarch failed to hold on. He grunted deeply as two streams of purple blood flowed down from his nostrils.

    Medanzo looked panicked at this point. He nced left and right but did not find the expected reinforcements. ¡°Damned arachne!¡± he roared as his figure faded away from the spot.

    With a cold expression, Qianye immediately fired a ck feather, but the projectile merely shot through Medanzo¡¯s afterimage. It circled around the area a couple of times, searching for a target before finally dispersing.

    The Radiant Emperor, who had just escaped the River of Forgetfulness¡¯ range, stood quietly to the side. He didn¡¯t take part in the fight at all.

    ¡°Great dark monarchs have all sorts of escape methods. Their understanding of space is also on a different levelpared to divine champions. It will be rather difficult to keep them locked down unless you have the speed and destructive powers of Greensun. The true showdown is inside, no need to waste your energy.¡±

    Qianye had never seen the Radiant Emperor before. He merely nced at the person speaking to him and nodded in response. Qianye had no intention of avoiding the Imperial expert when he used the Red Spider Lily¡¯s ultimate power to lock Medanzo down.

    The other party¡¯s reaction did impress him, though. Not only did the man move one step ahead of Medanzo, but he also refrained from trying to take advantage of the situation. In a fight of this level, keeping a safe distance was the best way to make sure there were no misunderstandings.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°There¡¯s actually one more person in the world who can wield the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    Qianye was suddenly ovee by a strange sensation. The other party was saying the Red Spider Lily¡¯s name, but he didn¡¯t even nce at the gun once. He had kept his attention entirely on Qianye.

    ¡°You are Qianye?¡±

    ¡°It is I.¡± Qianye didn¡¯t ask who the other person was. Who else in the Empire had reached this level and who else possessed such a demeanor? The answer did not make sense from a military strategy point-of-view, but it was rather obvious. There were things he wanted to call the Emperor to ount about, but at the same time, he didn¡¯t have much to say to him. His mind was surprisingly calm at this point.

    The Radiant Emperor seemed a bit dazed, as though his gaze was fixed upon a point in the void. For some reason, Qianye felt a bit ufortable when he saw the man¡¯s expression.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°The Emperor tossed an object toward Qianye. The slender bronze item hovering in the air looked rather familiar; it was a standardmand token used for equipment distribution. The origin array on it would decide its level and authority.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°No matter where you are in the future, you can use this to withdraw divine-champion-level resources at Imperial stations.¡±

    Qianye put away the token after some thought. ¡°Why?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°An enemy of an enemy will make for a good ally.¡±

    Qianye gazed at the Radiant Emperor. That question from just now meant many different things, and the Emperor¡¯s reply touched on most of them.

    Qianye chuckled. ¡°I know a saying, not sure which faction it¡¯s from, though: there¡¯s no eternal enemy in this world, nor are there any unchanging allies.¡±

    A bit of warmth appeared in the Emperor¡¯s eyes. ¡°The source isn¡¯t reliable, but Marshal Lin once exined this to me.¡±

    Qianye was a bit surprised. ¡°Did he agree with it?¡±

    Qianye nodded contemtively.

    The Radiant Emperor said with a sigh, ¡°You must be careful when you meet the Lightless Monarch in the future. You managed to injure him only because he was caught off-guard and failed to destroy the Red Spider Lily¡¯s binding in one go. He¡¯s a crafty fellow, with many tricks and schemes up his sleeve. He¡¯s also ranked toward the top in life-saving powers. He won¡¯t slip up like this next time, so I¡¯d be more cautious if I were you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the pointers.¡± Qianye replied politely, ¡°I have something else to ask, can Evernight and Daybreak not coexist?¡±

    ¡°Good question.¡± The Radiant Emperor said after some thought, ¡°This is just like how tigers and lions will always fight when they meet. The only reason for this is territory and food. Even wild horses and cows will fight for pasture and water. The two factions might be able to coexist, but the world is only so big, so there wille a time when we can no longer fit. There will also never be fairness in how resources are distributed. That and the thousand years of enmity, along with too many things outside of one¡¯s allegiance... love, for instance, is not something one can just escape from.¡±

    The Radiant Emperorughed. ¡°I heard your territory on the Fort Continent wees a mix of all races and is and of harmony. That¡¯s truly a rare feat. As for me...¡± he paused for a moment before continuing, ¡°wait until our general is dead and gone, the next generation can decide for themselves.¡±

    Qianye was moved after hearing this, yet he also felt a bit of pain in his heart. This sent him into a contemtive silence. This conversation had surpassed his expectations,rgely because the frank Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t how he had imagined the man to be. His undisguised sharpness in his speech was probably the actual, una.d.u.l.terated truth.

    On the other battlefield, the Eternal me gradually reigned in his attacks. The Pointer Monarch was at a slight disadvantage, but that was also because he hadn¡¯t gone all out the entire time. The Tempest wasn¡¯t a great match for him, either, so he also stopped attacking after noticing the situation.

    The Eternal me shot Qianye a nce. ¡°Just a slight oversight and we¡¯ve let you m.a.t.u.r.e to this point. But you must know that what His Majesty wants, he will always get. Even the Red Spider Lily can¡¯t save you.¡±

    The Eternal me was still thousands of meters away, but his voice rang true in Qianye¡¯s ears. Thetter¡¯s brows didn¡¯t even move as he replied, ¡°We¡¯ll talk when the Demon King is standing before me.¡±

    The massive sinkhole was the size of a city, so surrounding itpletely would take a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. Even Evernight would have trouble getting so many troops into the new world on such short notice. The allied Evernight forces had suffered massive casualties by this point, with tens of thousands of them losing their lives to the effects of the monarchs¡¯ battle. The Empire had also lost thousands of men.

    Qianye paid no attention to what ns the experts of the two factions might have as he was simply acting to aplish his own objectives. Seeing that neither side was moving, he said his farewells to the Radiant Emperor and jumped into the bottom of the sinkhole. The closer he was to the bottom, the more restless the Book of Darkness became. It was almost urging him to enter the inner world.

    None of the experts seemed to have any intention of stopping him. After Qianye had disappeared, the Eternal me said, ¡°I¡¯ll be entering now if you two have no more ns to fight.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor raised his hand. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    After the Eternal me¡¯s departure, the Evernight army regrouped and fell into formation. Then, arge batch of experts moved into the sinkhole. The Radiant Emperor and the Pointer Monarch simply stood in the air, watching the near-bottomless pit.

    ¡°Everyone will be scattered after entering, so there¡¯s no need to worry about an ambush. What I worry about is the so-called will of the new world. What exactly is it?¡± the Pointer Monarch said.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s a void colossus like Sky Demon, just a bit stronger,¡± the Radiant Emperor said.

    The Pointer Monarch frowned. ¡°Whose judgment is that?¡±

    ¡°The Empress.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor sighed. His expression dimmed down, but he said nothing.

    The Pointer Monarch gazed at the sinkhole. ¡°Profundity and I will go in. You and Greensun are still young, you have to watch the younger generations grow up.¡±

 Chapter 1427: Living Origin Power

    <h4>Chapter 1427: Living Origin Power</h4>

    Charging into the new world was a careful decision on Qianye¡¯s part.

    A while ago, he had gone to Serafis Continent and killed Duke Meistan, the n lord. Although he didn¡¯t actually wipe out the n entirely, the situation was pretty close. The n hadn¡¯t produced a single worthwhile genius in the past century, so no one among them was even qualified as a breeding partner.

    Under such circ.u.mstances, it was probably Duke Meistan himself who was doing the cross-breeding. He had also unintentionally touched upon a secret of certain significance.

    In truth, Qianye didn¡¯t really feel that there was anything so outstanding about Duke Meistan¡¯s origin defenses. Not to mention the current Qianye, even his past self was on apletely different level in terms of defense¡ªbe it the offensive defense of his Venus Dawn on the daybreak side or his perfect constitution on the vampire side.

    If even Meistan could be called the Aegis Wellspring, couldn¡¯t Qianye call himself the warship armor or something? A double armor at that.

    Then again, the demonkin had always been frail, only a bit stronger than humans. Their defenses weren¡¯t anything to write home about, either.

    Their physical bodies might not be powerful, but the demonkin had many other ways to make up for it. For instance, they held a unique advantage in the crafting of top-grade equipment. Even the vampires were a bit inferior in that regard.

    That said, Qianye¡¯s killing of Meistan was no different from a fierce blow to the demonkin¡¯s greatest weakness. This couldn¡¯t be described as a simple enmity.

    The demonkin might not find this serious at the moment, but since Anwen could see through it, there was no guarantee that the other demonkin wouldn¡¯t. Besides, Qianye trusted Anwen¡¯s judgment¡ªthe Demon King wasn¡¯t one to be easily tricked. Habsburg might not be able to stop him once he was furious.

    No one knew what the inner world was like. Most importantly, the will of the new world prevented the supremes from using their full power or descending with a projection. Divination and prophetic powers were useless even in the outer new world, let alone the inner.

    Entering the inner world meant that even the Demon King wouldn¡¯t be able to chase him down easily. They would need to increase their manpower and intercept him as a group.

    From a different perspective, Qianye knew that the Book of Darkness was something the Demon King wanted at all costs. The darkness origins in the inner world was also something the council had been targeting since ancient times. With these two factorsbined, the entire council¡¯s focus should be tied up in the inner world, and Nighteye would be safe outside. The demonkin would not target her even if she was now a crown prince.

    Behind the ck fire appeared a world of light and shadow, somewhat simr to the Great Maelstrom passage. It was just that this one was fairly short; he had already exited through the other end before he could figure out the surroundings.

    Qianye found himself falling from dozens of meters in the air. Landing firmly on the ground with a flip, Qianye nced at his surroundings.

    His current location was a valley. The ground was made of ck rock, covered in all kinds of strange nts. There were also human-sized nts that resembled spikey meatballs. There were also giant trees, with leaves that were dozens of meters in size growing around a spherical body.

    Additionally, there were grasses with jagged edges and a metallic l.u.s.ter.

    Qianye bent down to touch the grass and flicked it with his finger, eliciting a pop as he bent it. He was a bit surprised¡ªthe vegetation of the new world was definitely sturdy. That flick of his was enough to break metal, yet he could only bend this de of grass.

    This grass alone could be made into weapons of good quality if he could export them.

    Qianye picked up a rock and tried crushing it with his fingers. The rock crumbled into powder, revealing specks of metallic particles within.

    This rock was an ore of the highest quality, with preformed metallic particles within. Qianye didn¡¯t know what kind of metal it contained, but the ore formed in the environment of the new world would surely have special properties.

    Qianye¡¯s eyes turned blue as he switched to origin power vision. There were wisps of strange origin power floating around in the air, almost visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye. The outer part of the new world contained abnormal amounts of daybreak origin power, while the inner world was the exact opposite.

    And this was Venus Dawn; any other human would find the situation even more ufortable. It would seem that the human experts weren¡¯t going to have a great time.

    Qianye was rmed as he carefully sensed the flowing darkness origin power. He could actually sense a familiar scent in the air. That was a type of... vitality?¡±

    Origin power was the foundation of every world, almost like elements in the physical world. How could it be alive?

    Yet with Qianye¡¯s Eye of Control, which was much greater than the Eye of Destruction when it came to perception, he could clearly sense the life energy in the darkness origin power, almost like early life-forms that had juste into this world.

    No, the streams of darkness origin power couldn¡¯t be considered life since they were somewhere between inanimate and animate. They might turn into living creatures the next moment, or they might stay in this state for eternity.

    Or perhaps they were already a special type of life form, just different from the biological system of the Evernight World. Such strange energy forms would be an important target in studying thews of this world.

    Qianye felt a bit regretful about Anwen not being here. The enthusiastic researcher would be ecstatic and even stay here for prolonged periods to study the environment. With enough time, he might even be able to produce some shocking results.

    He sighed secretly at the thought. From a certain perspective, he was graduallying to recognize the demonkin. Perhaps the two factions should be working together to explore the world outside instead of fighting one another. This was their true path out of the Evernight World.

    Otherwise, there would be no point even if the killing one day ended up with one faction ruling the entire world. They would still be trapped. When the expanding poption had saturated the avablend and resources, would they have to start internal wars to drive down the poption?

    Qianye snapped back to reality after a momentary daze. The reality was that the demonkin were stopping at nothing to hunt him down; all this talk about the world and whatnot would have to wait until he had cleared this hurdle.

    Qianye reached to grab at the air, using his dark golden blood energy as a primer to gather some of the darkness origin power into a ball. This mass of darkness origin power was wriggling, almost as though it were made of countless insects.

    Qianye¡¯s expression turned rather odd. How was he to use this darkness origin power? This kind of living darkness origin power was indeed rare, but just like the corrosive origin power of the upper continents, it was not within the normal energy spectrum.

    After absorbing this darkness origin power, he would need to spend a considerable amount of time digesting it. The efficiency would be much lower than ordinary darkness origin power.

    Speed wasn¡¯t that big of a problem, but the most critical issue was that the origin power¡ªwhile usable¡ªwasn¡¯t entirely obedient and would stir up a bit of trouble now and then. Victory and defeat were only separated by a thin line in a battle between experts. How could there be any room for mistakes?

    How was one to fight if their arts wouldn¡¯t activate?

    Hence, the darkness origin power here wasn¡¯t beneficial to the dark races, either. It would be an awkward and difficult process be it in cultivation or fighting.

    Comparatively, the humans were only suppressed in the might of their secret arts and could gradually fight their way to a steady victory. The dark race experts might find it lethal as their secret arts would fail to activate two times out of ten.

    Both the inner and outer parts of the new world were full of odd things, almost as though it was suppressing the Evernight side¡ªintentionally or otherwise.

    The darkness origin power struggled in an attempt to escape the sphere, but the chaos origin power formed a solid framework to stabilize the structure. Qianye only needed to hurl this ball out to deliver an attackparable to a shot from a grade-eight gun.

    He decided to try out several secret arts in passing. The living darkness origin power was unable to cause trouble in the presence of the chaos origin power, so every ability was a sess.

    Qianye¡¯sbat strength would not be affected much now that he could utilize the energy in the environment. Feeling more confident, he jumped out of the valley and arrived at a high ground to observe the surroundings.

    This was an infernal world ofva, but the light and darkness here were a bit abnormal. The sunlightnding on the body felt exceedingly fierce.

    rmed, Qianye looked up at the sky and was promptly startled.

    Hanging on the dome of the world was a ck sun, outlined by a ming halo.

 Chapter 1428: Danger Everywhere

    <h4>Chapter 1428: Danger Everywhere</h4>

    Gazing up at the sky, Qianye found the ck sun to be somewhat surreal. It was clearly there, yet it didn¡¯t feel like it. It was a phenomenon he couldn¡¯t exin at all.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes, his pupils changing color as he scanned different parts of the light spectrum. Yet, whatever vision he used, all he could see was the same unchanging ck sun.

    This meant that the ck sun was probably something imprinted in Qianye¡¯s consciousness, unaffected by any traditional istion methods.

    If that were the case, did this ck sun truly exist? Qianye began to contemte.

    He retracted his gaze from the ck sun and flickered hundreds of meters in the air. There were rolling hills in every direction, with only one side showing any signs of a downward slope. Qianye gazed in that direction, but he could see nothing even at the extremes of his long-range vision.

    After some thought, Qianye decided to observe his surroundings before further exploration.

    The inner world wasn¡¯t deste at all; one could almost say it was full of life. Many of the hills were carpeted with strange giant trees, and the ground was covered in thick shrubbery. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the local fauna was entirely different from that of known continents, a neer might just mistake the ce for a hospitable world.

    This world was not safe.

    There was no telling what kind of creatures this origin power environment had produced, not to mention the Evernight experts who had arrived earlier on.

    Qianye was puzzled about something. Ordinary experts would never be able to survive such an environment. His initial analysis of the attributes here told him that those below the champion rank would onlyst a couple of minutes before being invaded by the darkness origin power, a taint that could not be removed.

    Why then had the dark races sent a hundred thousand soldiers to Backsun Valley? Ordinary warriors simply couldn¡¯t enter the new world, only those at and above the marquis rank would be suitable. Counts might be able to enter, but they would run into all kinds of limitations, from defense to cultivation.

    Within a certain forest, a werewolf expert fell from the sky and crashed to the ground. He immediately shot back to his feet and shook his head, ncing at the surroundings in puzzlement.

    All of a sudden, his expression became pained as he clutched his throat and gasped for air. He could only exhale and not inhale.

    The werewolf count fell to his knees, his face red as darkness origin power surged throughout his body. He looked like he was about to explode any moment.

    Arge hand grabbed the werewolf¡¯s face just as he was on the verge of death. All of a sudden, he could breathe again. The count took a deep breath and looked up at the person who had just helped him.

    A demonkin expert stood before him, emitting traces of marquis-level demonic energy.

    ¡°Count Zack Aiden, a somewhat famed legend among the werewolves. Who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d be in such a miserable state?¡± the demonkin marquis said.

    Zack struggled up. ¡°I was merely careless, but you have my thanks all the same.¡±

    The demonkin marquis said, ¡°My brother was defeated in your hands back in the year, but that was a fair fight. There¡¯s nothing toin about. Even I sense danger everywhere in this ce, so what say you to working together?¡±

    Count Zack¡¯s expression behind his mask was a bit hesitant. ¡°You saved my life, so I¡¯m willing to let go of my pride and work with you.¡±

    The demonkin passed over a set of armor to the werewolf.

    Zack put it on without any hesitation and found that the armor isted him from the origin power outside. His expression improved slightly. ¡°This goddamn ce.¡±

    The marquis nodded. ¡°The darkness origin power here is almost poisonous, I still have no idea how we willst in the long run.¡±

    ¡°Is there any way to go back?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Zack¡¯s expression became even more unsightly. ¡°Even people from famed ns like you?¡±

    ¡°I was referring to myself when I said no. Well... there is a way, but we have to wait for the powerhouses to enter the new world. They¡¯ll have to work together to build a passage back. Only then will we be able to return.¡±

    Zackughed wryly. ¡°Had I known, I wouldn¡¯t have suppressed my level in pursuit of a purer bloodline.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote for that now, but your fighting power will be helpful here.¡±

    The marquis said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. Let¡¯s try contacting the others.¡±

    He fished out a re and hurled it high into the sky, where it exploded. In addition to a bright sh, the re unleashed a unique origin power fluctuation that spread far and wide.

    However, the signal was like a stone tossed into the ocean. It received no response whatsoever. ¡°It looks like we¡¯re quite lucky to havended near one another. Let¡¯s discuss further when we find other people.¡±

    Zack nodded and was just about to follow when he saw a ck shadow flicker in his vision. A small creature shot out from a nearby bush and brushed past, vanishing into the distant woods.

    ¡°So quick!¡± The marquis was surprised.

    Zack was as calm as before. ¡°We can deal with it.¡±

    He was prepared when the next ck shadow shot out from the shrubbery. Reaching out at lightning speed, he managed to catch the creature through the air.

    The cute animal was the size of a small dog, with four eyes and long ears.

    The marquis approached with a frown. ¡°This should be a herbivore, how can it be so fast? Even ordinary counts won¡¯t reach this speed.¡±

    Neither demonkin nor werewolves at this level feared toxins all that much, so they didn¡¯t really consider if the meat was edible.

    The little creature seemed to have understood Zack. It was rather quiet at first, but it began to struggle fiercely.

    The werewolf chuckled. ¡°This little fellow is rather smart, don¡¯t tell me it knows we¡¯re about to eat it. It¡¯s quite strong... wait! I¡¯m losing grip.¡±

    Its small frame exploded with energy as it struggled free from Zack¡¯s grasp. The werewolf count reacted rapidly by strengthening his grip, hoping to squeeze this dangerous little thing to death.

    However, the critter¡¯s fur was oddly strong, almost as strong as some of the top wild beasts. It felt as though the animal were wearing leather armor. It ended up escaping since Zack failed to w through its hide.

    The little critter stomped on Zack¡¯s hand with shocking force as it jumped away, leaving several bloody gashes on his hand. The impact even forced him to take a step back as the animal sped past the demonkin and toward the forest.

    The marquis was astonished. He was just about to say something when Zack roared in rm, ¡°Careful!¡±

    The demonkin turned around to find the little animal unfurling its ears like a pair of wings. It made a sharp turn in the air and flew back at him. The critter kept on charging after Zack called out, and bit down on the marquis¡¯ shoulder!

    With a loud crack, the animal bit through the marquis¡¯ shoulder armor and tore it off along with a chunk of flesh. It chewed loudly on both armor and flesh before swallowing everything.

    Zack counterattacked with all his might. This time, the critter couldn¡¯t escape anymore as the werewolf crushed all of its bones.

    The little animal¡¯s eyes suddenly turned white. It emitted a prating scream that was soon echoed by numerous others from various directions. Countless shadows leaped through the trees and had soon surrounded the two Evernight experts.

    ¡°So many?!¡± The marquis took a deep breath. He was just a momentte in his reaction and ended up getting bitten. He didn¡¯t even have time to clean that wound before he was forced to draw his weapon.

    These little animals all possessed the strength of a viscount, and judging from the squeaking in the forest, it would seem that hundreds of them were surrounding the ce. Not to mention the marquis was injured, he would never be able to stand against hundreds of viscounts even at his peak.

    Even the bloodthirsty werewolf was pale.

    The beast horde didn¡¯t attack immediately after arriving. Instead, they waited until the victims werepletely surrounded before pouncing. The marquis and Zack erupted with whatever power they had left. The mixture of demonic energy and scorching darkness origin power converged to form a terrifying storm, but the two expertssted but a few moments against the endless onught of beasts. Miserable screams ensued.

    Qianye had just stepped into that forest at this moment. Only up close did he gain an objective understanding of those trees.

    The forest was dark, gloomy, and filled with a gentle breeze. From time to time, one could hear unknown sounds that resembled the cry of birds and beasts.

    Qianye didn¡¯t get very far before a ck shadow flitted past from the shrubbery, nning to dive into the depths of the woods. ¡°Eh?¡± Qianye reached out and plucked the critter out of the air.

    Qianye simply couldn¡¯t figure out why this animal was so fast. After repeated examination, his eyesnded on its two long ears which, at a nce, seemed like they could be used as wings.

    But even birds couldn¡¯t fly at the speed it was flying at just now¡ªnot the birds in the Evernight world, or the flying creatures in the outer new world. Unless... it was using origin power!

 Chapter 1429: Heart of the Undercurrents

    <h4>Chapter 1429: Heart of the Undercurrents</h4>

    This harmless-looking creature could use origin power? Qianye would have never discovered this if he hadn¡¯t observed closely.

    The creature remained quiet in Qianye¡¯s hands, almost as though it was too startled to do anything. However, that adorable state onlysted a single second before it exploded with great strength and twisted itself out of Qianye¡¯s grasp.

    Surprised, Qianye reached out at twice the previous speed and caught the creature again. The little fellow was no longer pretending this time as it tried to struggle free with all its might. Yet, no matter how hard it tried, Qianye¡¯s grasp was as tight and immovable as a mountain.

    Unable to struggle free, the little critter suddenly twisted its body around and chomped down on Qianye¡¯s hand. This bite ended up breaking all four of its incisors.

    Qianye raised his brows, surprised at its biting power. The little animal¡¯s bite was enough to tear through steel and wasparable torger wild beasts. It should feel proud to be able to leave some red marks on Qianye¡¯s skin.

    Having suffered enough pain, the animal let out a sharp squeal, a sound that wasn¡¯t so simple to Qianye¡¯s ears. The cry traveled far and wide, well beyond the range of normal hearing.

    All of a sudden, squealing sounds rang out in every direction as hundreds of small creatures appeared and surrounded Qianye. This time, there was no pretense¡ªevery one of them red at him with bloodthirsty expressions.

    Qianye nced around without the slightest movement.

    Following another cry, all the animals pounced toward Qianye at the same time. A sh of red erupted in the air! Then, it was followed by a rain of animal carcasses.

    Life Plunder was a powerful weapon against groups, be they human or animals.

    After the beast horde was ughtered, the environment fell into utter silence. A shade of red emerged on Qianye¡¯s face, receding only after a while. The amount of essence blood from these animals was shocking. With hundreds of them added together, it was a difficult load even for Qianye.

    He stood there until the Book of Darkness had absorbed all of the blood energy. After that, he checked the supplies and equipment in Andruil¡¯s space before running toward the tallest mountain peak.

    The beasts just now had proven that this world was extremely dangerous. In his cautious observation, Qianye discovered another suspicious point. The sky here was extremely clean and devoid of all flying creatures. He didn¡¯t want to risk bing the target of some unknown beast in the air, especially when his ground movement speed wasn¡¯t slow.

    After half a day¡¯s time, Qianye finally reached the tallest mountain range. Before him was an expansive forest filled with strange trees. The round parts enveloped by giant leaves had already turned red, almost as though they were ripe.

    Be it the forests or the grasnds, Qianye could sense a bit of danger from them. And there weren¡¯t a lot of ces left these days that could threaten him.

    It was at this moment that a sh lit up the sky at the ends of his vision, followed by a faint oscition. Qianye understood that this was an emergency signal used by the demonkin. The light produced was highly prative, traveling far and wide even in this world.

    These res were expensive, so only important characters could afford to use them. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it would be a mighty marquis waiting at the source of that signal.

    A mighty marquis was a worthwhile target by any measure. Qianye couldn¡¯t help but smile coldly as he ran in that direction.

    He came to a screeching halt soon after setting out. His eyes changed color as he nced in a different direction where a bit of light was flickering in the distant sky. The plume of pale fire grew clearer andrger in his vision.

    The Eternal me!

    Qianye had never imagined that the great dark monarch would enter the inner world so quickly. It would seem the heavenly monarchs weren¡¯t able to restrain the Evernight powerhouses.

    After some thought, he decided to halt his advance. If Qianye could see the Eternal me, it meant thetter could see him as well. He did not think for once that the great dark monarch would have weaker eyesight than him. Attacking a demonkin within his range of vision would be an open invitation to get hunted down.

    After observing a while longer, Qianye circled around and sneaked past the Eternal me. No matter how strong the Eternal me was, he was but a single person. He couldn¡¯t keep tabs on all Evernight experts.

    Qianye had no idea what the future held beyond the opening of the inner world. Before he could set foot on the peak of this world, all ideals were simply ideals. What he could do now was kill as many demonkin experts as possible and weaken their power.

    A promise was too weak of a restraint on a character like the Demon King. Should the supreme go back on his words, Qianye would never be able to escape his clutches¡ªunless he was willing to hide in the Empire. So what if he did keep his promise? Qianye wasn¡¯t going to forget that Lin Xitang had died in the Demon King¡¯s domain.

    The living darkness origin power in this world would give the supremes quite a bit of trouble. The span of time it would take for them to make up their minds to enter was where Qianye¡¯s opportunityy.

    Qianye nced at the Eternal me once more as he left hastily. There were many factors in the new world that made him stronger, and only his chaos energy was unaffected by the living origin power here. Qianye¡¯s n was to go on a killing spree before facing the Eternal me head-on. He would be apletely different person by the time he was standing before the great dark monarch again.

    There were more woods in the inner world than imagined, as well as aplicatedwork of tunnels and sinkholes in the ground. After roaming the jungle for an entire day, Qianye encountered at least hundreds of creatures that he had never seen before.

    Hemitted the information regarding these animals to his memory, but he neither studied them deeply nor ughtered them. He didn¡¯t want to leave too many traces because some Evernight Experts were born trackers.

    After an entire day of exploration and traversing two mountain ranges, Qianye decided to rest and spend the night in one of the forests.

    He picked arge tree and set up some traps around it before hiding himself in its crown. He circted his Bloodline Concealment and channeled the Mystery Chapter, slowly condensing the essence blood stored in the Book of Darkness.

    Even the vampires could only absorb a certain amount of essence blood, else they would be unable to digest it. The reckless drawing of blood would end up tainting their bloodline. This limitation didn¡¯t apply to Qianye since he possessed the Mystery Chapter. The only bottleneck he would face was the chapter¡¯s conversion speed.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether there was any precedent to the changes he had undergone. He did feel a bit baffled at times, but the imminent pressure and surrounding dangers gave him no time to hesitate.

    Nights were fairly calm in the inner world, strangely so even. The ck sun was still hanging in the sky; it was the light-emitting halo around it that had vanished.

    By the time the halo appeared again, it was dawn in the inner world.

    Qianye tried toprehend this phenomenon with the knowledge he possessed but to no avail. At this point, he wondered whether the demonkin or vampires would have ancient books about this or whether the founding divination experts knew of any simr legends.

    A whole night of cultivation helped Qianye digest the essence blood and origin power. At this rate, he would be taking the next step rather soon. After all, there was never a ce as good as this where even small beasts could provide ample power.

    Qianye stood up and sensed the blowing darkness origin power around him. He hadn¡¯t been going around randomly the past couple of days. Instead, he was following and doc.u.menting the flow of origin power at all times. Comparing the findings he had noted down, Qianye found that the darkness origin power here was flowing along a mysterious trajectory.

    The flow was always in a single direction and in the form of an arc. Extending this arc continuously would produce a giant circle that was hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The circle was sorge that this vortex would be impossible to notice¡ªunless one possessed senses as sharp as Qianye or used special recording equipment.

    Qianye shifted his direction toward the center of this circle. If there was any secret to this world, its chances of appearing would be greatest at the center.

    Considering Qianye¡¯s speed, he could traverse several hundred kilometers each day even while moving cautiously. He was at the center of the area before long.

    Three shadows were chasing one another. They shed all the way from the ground into the air, then all the way from the air back to the ground. The strange trees below, as well as the giant rocks in the surroundings, copsed from the shockwaves. Even the predatory animals of the inner world remained in hiding and did not dare appear.

    An arachne and a demonkin expert were attacking an Imperial divine champion. Even against two enemies, the divine champion¡¯s defenses never faltered, and it seemed like he could keep on fighting for a long time.

    Qianye snuck close to the battlefield, fished out Dragonsgrave, and locked onto the demonkin vice duke. Perhaps because they were at an advantage, the vice duke was rather rxed and his movement arts weren¡¯t at their maximum. The man¡¯s movements were full of openings in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    The vice duke was just about to evade backward when his body turned sluggish for a brief moment. An apparently knowledgeable person, he cried out, ¡°The Eye of Control!¡±

    However, the discovery was toote. Despite his utmost efforts to evade, his knees burst into a bloody mist. The demonkin¡¯s origin power defenses were like paper against Qianye¡¯s origin bullet.

    Seeing the vice duke gravely injured, the arachne expert turned and fled at the sight of Qianye.

    Thetter frowned but didn¡¯t give chase. Little Zhuji was in the Spider Queen¡¯s hands, so Qianye decided that it would be wise not to kill arachne experts unless necessary. Besides, the arachne was also a vice duke, and his speed was far beyond ordinary arachne.

    The demonkin expert had been heavily injured, but he hadn¡¯tpletely lost his fighting power just yet. He was doing his utmost to maintain his demonic energy output and flee through the air.

    Having made the decision, Qianye charged straight over to the target and cut him down from the sky. During this process, he paid no attention to the Imperial divine champion and his reaction.

    Qianyended beside the vice duke. ¡°Do you want to live or die?¡±

    The vice duke red stubbornly at Qianye. ¡°You won¡¯t live long after I die. His Majesty will not let you off.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s in the future, but now, you will die before me.¡±

    The vice duke sneered. ¡°I entertain no such hope after running into you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you have to die. If you happen to know something and I happen to be interested in it, I might leave you with your life. You¡¯re no longer a threat, after all.¡±

    The demonkin¡¯s expression shifted quite a bit, apparently struggling inside.

 Chapter 1430: Unknown Equipment

    <h4>Chapter 1430: Unknown Equipment</h4>

    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t know much,¡± the vice duke finally spoke after a long moment of hesitation.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, just tell me what you know.¡± Qianye knew this would be the case.

    The vice duke produced a palm-sized box from his armor. ¡°My primary mission is to bring this little thing into the inner world and hand it to the Eternal me.¡±

    Qianye took the item and studied it for a bit. To his surprise, this item was a spatial gear. Qianye opened the box without a hitch and scanned the space inside, only to find that it was filled with all kinds of machinery parts. The item that attracted his attention the most was a transparent tube, inside of which Qianye could see a row of ck crystals.

    ¡°What are these?¡±

    The vice duke pointed at the tube, saying, ¡°I only know this one. This is a new energy source developed by the Evernight Council. The purified ck crystals inside contain ten times more energy than ordinary ones.¡±

    ¡°It must be quite expensive,¡± Qianye said.

    He had set up an entire industrial system on the Fort Continent, so he had naturally developed an eye for quality. The price of a product that had been condensed ten times would rise by hundreds of times. These high-density power sources were luxury items through and through.

    ¡°Well people like us can never afford it,¡± said the vice duke. These words contained some answers to the question. If even people like him couldn¡¯t afford it, the items had to be at the strategic resource grade.

    ¡°Then what are these parts for?¡± Qianye went through the parts. He couldn¡¯t piece them together, but judging from their shape, they seemed to be parts of a bigger machine. Perhaps these parts didn¡¯t form a set.

    ¡°I have absolutely no idea what they are.¡±

    Qianye frowned slightly but didn¡¯t pressure the man. ¡°How many sets of these parts are there?¡±

    ¡°From what I know, everyone at or above the marquis rank is assigned a transport mission. The only difference is the quantity and value of the goods. The true core equipment is likely in His Majesty¡¯s hands.¡±

    Qianye nodded because that was likely the case. These parts seemed rather important; unfortunately, he could do nothing since the main machinery was in the Eternal me¡¯s hands.

    At this point, he could only take the initiative to hunt down the Evernight Experts and get his hands on the parts.

    Qianye removed all of the vice duke¡¯s equipment and left him with only his u.n.d.e.r.g.a.r.m.e.n.ts. The vice-duke didn¡¯t try to bargain, either. He simply cut off some branches and fashioned them into a staff before leaving in a hurry. The inner world was full of danger; his chances of escaping in one piece were still unknown, but the demonkin was determined to struggle for it.

    Qianye only turned to the Imperial divine champion after he was done with everything.

    The schrly middle-aged man had been standing silently all this time. In terms of demeanor, this person looked more like a noble than the Radiant Emperor himself. Unfamiliar divine champions who looked like this could be narrowed down to a small handful.

    Qianye turned away with a frown.

    The divine champion was caught off guard. Not hiding his embarrassment, the man quickly changed his address. ¡°Lord Qianye, your fame definitely precedes you. Today, I realized that your reputation is not excessive at all, understated even.¡±

    Seeing that the other party was lowering himself so, Qianye paused his step. ¡°You need not be humble. You were able to fight two enemies on your own, and you could¡¯ve retreated with ease even if a victory wasn¡¯t possible. How should I address you?¡±

    ¡°My name is Ji Sujin, a prince of the Empire and titled Xuanwei. It has been a long time since I left my territory, so you might not have heard of me.¡±

    The Imperial n was massive, boasting princes of varying strengths and ranks. This title, however, was that of a border lord. It would seem the Empire had started dispatching its hidden aces.

    ¡°The Imperial Family... has invested much in this campaign.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t trying to be polite. He had first run into the Radiant Emperor himself on the front lines, and now, there was this Prince Xuanwei. He might be prejudiced against the Empire, but that didn¡¯t stop him from praising the Ji n¡¯s might.

    Ji Sujin said, ¡°Sigh, I do regret not trying enough. I¡¯m not even one ten-thousandth as capable as my forebears.¡±

    The two exchanged pleasantries before Ji Sujin tried probing Qianye. ¡°Sire, what are your ns from now on? Why don¡¯t we work together?¡±

    Qianye replied with a question, ¡°What is the Empire¡¯s objective here?¡±

    Now those were honest words.

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, we¡¯d better act separately. The Evernight Council must have a major n to have mobilized with such fanfare. Traveling with me might not be a good thing for you.¡±

    Ji Sujin tried to persuade Qianye a couple more times but gave up after seeing that he wasn¡¯t willing. He passed Qianye a piece of signaling equipment, saying, ¡°The Ji n¡¯smunication signal will travel great distances under any circ.u.mstance. The origin power environment here is odd, but there shouldn¡¯t be a lot of interference. You can use it whenever you feel the need. Of course, I hope you can also help others using this signal if it¡¯s convenient.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. Just how many of the Ji n were here? He put away the signal device, saying, ¡°Naturally.¡± He then said farewell to Ji Sujin and vanished into the depths of the forest.

    After leaving Ji Sujin¡¯s reach, Qianye went in the direction of the two Evernight experts.

    There had to be a reason why the arachne and demonkin vice dukes had chosen to take the same route in general. They had probably gotten some sort of information on where to assemble. Perhaps that was where the passage back into the outside world was situated.

    The sinkhole in cksun Valley was basically a one-way tunnel, so the people inside would need to find another way to go back. The Empire had no information regarding this, so even heavenly monarchs who entered had to be ready to die.

    There was also a bit of hope. The tunnel into the inner world was something the three supremes had opened together, so it was reasonable to think that the three supremes would be able to open another tunnel back out. Opening a second tunnel between the two worlds would be much easier than the first.

    Qianye wanted to see what the dark races were up to since they couldn¡¯t be aiming for a one-way leisure trip.

    After reaching the deep parts of the forest, the demonkin vice duke left a clear marking on one of the giant trees before heading into the distance. He also left some of his aura on it.

    At this point, Qianye decided to follow the arachne.

    Having lost the important cargo and his legs, the demonkin was now half a useless cripple. His fate would not be pretty if he were to return just like that. The best way was for him to find a ce to hide and recuperate. He would reappear when the situation was stable or the demonkin had found a way back.

    Qianye didn¡¯t understand the meaning of this vice duke¡¯s marking, but he knew that there was no point in following him.

    Following the arachne might lead to new discoveries. More importantly, he should also have a set ofponents on him.

    This meant that Qianye could rob the arachne of parts and supplies even if he couldn¡¯t find the council¡¯s mysterious base.

    Qianye traversed the woods like a crouched panther. In his vision, a wisp of dark green origin power would appear from time to time¡ªthose were traces of the arachne vice duke¡¯s origin power.

    After a while, he came to a sudden stop and nced up. There, he saw a small segment of spiderweb stuck to one of the giant leaves.

    The spiderweb was only the size of a finger, something most people would just overlook. Qianye flew up to observe the web and noted how the leaf was tugged. He nced in the direction he had formted from these findings and saw more traces a couple dozen meters away.

    Standing under the fourth spiderweb trace, Qianye revealed a cold smile.

    The arachne vice duke¡¯s traces seemed faint, but they were highly noticeable to the trained eye. It looked like the spider was making sure even an unskilled hunter could follow him.

    This could be exined by the fact that arachne do not specialize in concealment, but cutting off spider webs intentionally was a bit too excessive. Also, Qianye knew that there were no spiders here in the inner world.

    Other experts might keep chasing after the arachne even if they discovered something wasn¡¯t quite right. After all, this was the only lead. Even if the arachne wanted to mislead them, he would have to set things up manually. They would still be running along the same route, the only difference being who was faster.

    Qianye, however, possessed the Eye of Control and origin power vision. He wasn¡¯t relying solely on physical traces to follow the arachne; all he needed was the lingering aura.

    The stronger an expert was, the more difficult it was for his lingering aura to be assimted by the environment. The arachne vice duke had fled just a while ago, so the aura was fairly noticeable to Qianye. With his Eye of Control, Qianye simply didn¡¯t need those intentional traces. He could just follow the origin power aura.

    The arachne vice duke made several turns and circled around twice before finally heading in a different direction. Qianye was in no rush¡ªhe simply followed the target from a consistent ten-minute distance along the way.

    The arachne vice duke started changing his route after he was confident that he had thrown his pursuer off. There was now a clear direction to where he was heading.

    Qianye, who had been following the target¡¯s origin power aura along the way, suddenly looked up into the air. There, he saw a mass of dark origin power that had more or less faded away. This was what remained of the Evernight Council¡¯s signal re, something that had been fired half a day before. The arachne vice duke must¡¯ve had a secret art that could follow the direction of this signal.

    Since he had found the arachne vice duke, Qianye didn¡¯t really care about small matters like that. He retracted his aura and began making his way toward the dark race rendezvous point.

    Hourster, Qianye saw a tall tower on a distant hill. Only the top parts of it remained iplete. Several dark race experts were delivering a batch ofponents to the top of the tower, where a group of technicians was waiting to install them.

    These technicians were all at the marquis rank.

 Chapter 1431: Sacred Star

    <h4>Chapter 1431: Sacred Star</h4>

    The tower was already over a hundred meters in height, and there were over a dozen Evernight experts gathered around it. Among them, there was a count d in a full set of armor and an enclosed helmet; the rest were all marquis-level experts.

    These experts didn¡¯t make for a huge group, but their movements were shockingly fast. For instance, a pot-shapedponent that was over ten meters in diameter was moved up to the top of the tower and assembled in one go. There were also others working to fortify the foundations with square rock columns that were several dozen tons in weight.

    The person in charge of the scene wasn¡¯t the Eternal me but Qianye¡¯s old acquaintance... the Masefield n Lord.

    Qianye didn¡¯t act recklessly. He retreated into the forest and set up an observation post on a tall tree where he could study the dark races¡¯ activity. There had to be some experts operating on their own.

    The giant tower was more or lessplete by the second day, with all kinds of equipment installed on the structure. A group of experts was carrying exploration instruments on their backs, seemingly about to survey the surrounding area for ores and natural resources.

    This group was made up of two arachne and two werewolf experts, led by a single demonkin vice duke.

    Qianye calcted the power difference¡ªhe felt that his chances of taking down this group were good, albeit a bit strenuous. There was a chance that the Masefield n lord might be alerted, so he would have to end the battle rapidly and quietly. Now that was a difficult task.

    However, Qianye didn¡¯t really intend to round up everyone in one go. As long as he could wipe out a couple of them, it was fine even if half of them managed to escape. He would¡¯ve aplished his aim of bleeding the Evernight Faction.

    Having confirmed his n of action, Qianye jumped down from the tree and followed the group¡¯s route in secret. All of a sudden, he sensed a gaze sweep over him.

    Qianye immediately became still.

    He had been channeling his Bloodline Concealment all this time, so his presence was no different from a rock to other experts. That didn¡¯t exin why this rock was moving at lightning speed, however.

    Having reached first-rate standards in perception, Qianye had rarely ever missed any experts approaching him. This gaze had appeared without warning and waspletely undetected by Qianye, something that rarely ever happened.

    Qianye slowly turned around with a prating gaze. He had already retracted all forms of active perception and was now relying solely on passive senses.

    Erupting with volcanic strength, he shot out from his hiding ce and barreled toward the shadow. He traversed a thousand meters at maximum speed until a faint silhouette appeared in his vision.

    Startled, the creature bounced up from the tree and moved between the giant trees with great ability¡ªjust like a ricocheting rubber ball.

    Qianye¡¯s figure flickered as he channeled Spatial sh with chaos origin power. That was the only way he could keep up with this shadow.

    He had already seen clearly that this was a humanoid creature with exceptionally long arms and legs that could bend in two directions. This ¡°person¡± also possessed a pair of short wings on its back, allowing him to make sharp turns through the air.

    He was so fast that even among the dukes of Evernight, he would stand above average, making it quite a bit strenuous for Qianye to give chase. Additionally, his aura was rather strange¡ªit was almost one with the woods, simr to how Qianye¡¯s Bloodline Concealment worked. Once the target was out of sight, he could no longer be tracked with perception.

    Hence, Qianye gave chase relentlessly and refused to let it vanish from his sight. The two parties drew closer and closer until, eventually, they were only a couple hundred meters away. Qianye would arrive at his back with a single sprint.

    It was at this moment that Qianye felt a strong sense of danger wash over him. He tilted his body to the side in response and drifted upward in a strange trajectory.

    A ck shadow flew over silently at this point and darted past Qianye¡¯s previous position, shooting through dozens of ancient trees before disappearing. The trees remained quiet for a brief moment before bursting out in massive explosions, clearing up a long corridor several hundred meters in length.

    Qianye saw that this ck shadow was a primitive spear. It was more a piece of sharp rock tied to a wooden staff. It was this kind of spear that had arrived with enough force to injure a marquis. Even Qianye wasn¡¯t willing to take on such a blow.

    A tall figure slowly walked out from the forest, quite simr to the humanoid creature Qianye had been chasing. It was just that this person was much taller at about five meters and surrounded in a faint ck mist.

    Qianye¡¯s pupils narrowed upon seeing this man. The ck mist around him wasn¡¯t natural, but rather darkness origin power that had been concentrated to an extreme.

    The darkness origin power in this world possessed a bit of life and was extremely difficult to control. Yet, Qianye could see that the origin power around this humanoid creature was delighted and subservient.

    Being able to elicit a life-like response from origin power was the sign of a great dark monarch or heavenly monarch. Their control over origin power had reached a state where everything bent to their will, producing all kinds of strange phenomena. In the eyes of the bystanders, the origin power almost seemed alive.

    The giant before Qianye was different. The origin power around him possessed their own life, and they were listening to the man¡¯s everymand. This granted the giant tremendous strength with every move. Even a single spear possessed such astonishing power.

    Qianye could still sense peril even when facing this giant in the open. His fighting spirit surged as he scanned the giant from head to toe.

    The creature was massive in size and possessed great strength. The Eye of Control probably couldn¡¯t freeze him, but it did allow Qianye to see the target¡¯s flow of origin power. The only issue was that the origin power vision was rather limited when the environment was so active in energy.

    Living origin power could react on its own, and these reactions were difficult to gauge. That was why attacks from heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs were difficult to fathom. As for the three supremes, it was said that their origin power was close to being truly alive. Hence, their attacks could be as earth-shattering and destructive or as gentle as a willow in the spring breeze.

    In this regard, this giant before him was already starting to show faint hints of the supreme realm. Although this state wasrgely due to the special origin power of this world, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to consider him the equivalent of a powerful grand duke or a much water-downed supreme.

    It wasn¡¯t as though great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs no longer needed equipment. Even for the supremes of the holy mountain, or the Martial Ancestor of the human race, equipment was still equally important. The only problemy in finding weapons and armor that would be a fit for them.

    The giant¡¯s equipment was so crude that it was almost negligible, and itsbat strength was also greatly discounted because of that. A conservative estimate would put the giant thirty to forty percent stronger if he were equipped with top-grade gear.

    This giant was currently the best training target for Qianye to get used to facing supremes. Additionally, Qianye was also interested in the living origin power of this world. Hence, this opponent was a great starting point.

    The giant was furious upon seeing Qianye advance instead of retreating. He looked down at Qianye like he would a little cat and roared in an unknownnguage.

    Qianye drew his azure sword in response.

    The two parties might not be able tomunicate, but there was no need for words to understand Qianye¡¯s intention. Bellowing in extreme anger, the giant reached for his two spears and adopted abat position.

    Qianye stood there with his sword pointed toward the ground, silent and unmoving. Enemies familiar with Qianye understood that he was the most dangerous when standing still since there was no telling when he would activate Spatial sh. Usually, he would use Spatial sh to evade the enemy attack and strike the enemy¡¯s weak point.

    The giant clearly had no idea as he gathered up energy for an attack. The surrounding origin power stirred up into a tempest.

    All of a sudden, a pair of ck wings emerged on his back!

    The enemy was so fast that he had practically teleported. Qianye didn¡¯t even have the time to activate Spatial sh before the two spears were at his waist.

    Caught off-guard, Qianye raised his azure de to block the attacking weapons.

    As the spears and de crossed blows, an inexplicable force flowed onto him like a falling mountain. The azure de began to bend under its weight, and Qianye¡¯s hands also trembled.

    The giant possessed unimaginable strength, one that had far surpassed its physical frame and stood on par with some colossal creatures. Qianye had only experienced this level of power with Great Dark Monarch Sousa.

    The enemy was stronger than he had expected, but Qianye wasn¡¯t the same person as before. Fighting spirit welled up in his heart as he stomped down on the ground, covering a hundred-meter radius with gray origin power. This area became his home ground. With a low growl, his modified body erupted with great strength to block the giant¡¯s attack. He thenunched a daring counterattack with equal force.

    The giant¡¯s spears bounced upward, bending the giant¡¯s arms at an odd angle. Ordinary humans and dark races would¡¯ve had their arms broken at such a posture. But the humanoid creatures of this world, including the giant, seemed to have a greater degree of joint flexibility.

    Unable to withstand the massive strain of this sh, the spears burst apart from the middle. The giant¡¯s body flew backward and slid over a hundred meters on the ground.

    Qianye was inexplicably satisfied after toppling the giant head-on, and the frustration he had pent up over the days was cleared away. He seemed rather thoughtful as he nced at the azure sword in his hand.

    This de was the Dark Gospel Howard¡¯s sword and naturally a weapon of great quality. It was even stronger than East Peak after incorporating the giant rhinoceros¡¯ horn and currently the only weapon that could withstand Qianye¡¯s chaos origin power. Its only defect was that it was too light for Qianye¡¯s style.

 Chapter 1432: Sacred Star (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1432: Sacred Star (Part 2)</h4>

    The giant nced at Qianye, then back at the spears, his eyes full of disbelief. He had never imagined that this scrawny little fellow¡ªwho wasn¡¯t even as big as his t.h.i.g.h¡ªwould possess such strength.

    No matter how he looked, he felt that Qianye was as weak as an ant. It was a humiliation to have one¡¯s weapon broken by such a weak enemy.

    He raised his giant palm and pped down with great force, only realizing his mistake halfway.

    It was toote by then. A bulge appeared on the back of the giant¡¯s hand, almost as though he had pped a nail. The skin there was stretched to its limits before bursting apart in a cloud of blood. Qianye rushed out from the opening, sword still raised upward.

    The azure de was iparably sharp, and its material was almost indestructible after many years of tampering at Howard¡¯s side. The weapon was unharmed even after taking on the two spears the size of tree trunks. No matter how tough this giant¡¯s palm was, it couldn¡¯t be tougher than the wood in the inner world. That was why swatting Qianye could only end one way.

    Qianye circled around in the air and mmed onto the enemy¡¯s back like a bullet. The giant was sent flying, almost as though a void colossus had rammed into him. However, a pair of ck wings unfurled as the giant came to a weird stop in the air. He then spun about and stomped Qianye away.

    This time, Qianye flew back hundreds of meters and crashed into several trees beforeing to a stop.

    This exchange of blows seemed to have injured both parties quite a bit. The giant¡¯s arrogance and contempt were nowhere to be found, reced by shock and seriousness.

    Qianye¡¯s gazended on the enemy¡¯s wings. Those ck wings were rather short, but they seemed to be able to control space, allowing the giant to perform some unbelievable maneuvers.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but find these wings somewhat familiar.

    The giant checked his back repeatedly afternding. There was a hole there spurting a fountain of blood. A mere beast hide shirt wasn¡¯t capable of stopping the azure de.

    Qianye mbered up from the ground and stretched his body. He then put away the azure de and made a provocative gesture at the giant.

    This time, Qianye met the enemy with his fists. The two parties traded punch after punch, fighting until the world almost lost its light.

    After god knew how long, Qianye caught one of the giant¡¯s legs. He spun the enemy about with a loud roar and mmed him ruthlessly into the ground like a hammer. A pit several dozen meters in diameter appeared amidst a cloud of dust. The excessive force caused Qianye to lose his grip on the giant, flinging thetter away after the impact.

    The giant rolled through the woods, destroying countless giant trees until he came to a stop several hundred meters away. He tried to stand up several times but ended up copsing.

    Qianye looked rather pale as this battle had ced a great strain on him. However, his aura was already recovering rapidly as he walked over inrge strides. Qianye¡¯s endurance inbat was now unparalleled following the remodeling with chaos origin power.

    Qianye still didn¡¯t draw his sword because he wanted to capture the giant alive. The other party was an intelligent creature, so there would surely be a way tomunicate with him given enough time. Those who were strong enough could evenmunicate directly via consciousness. Capturing this giant would reveal a certain portion of the new world¡¯s secrets.

    Just as the matter of this giant had just been settled, Qianye suddenly felt a sharp sense of threat. He halted his steps and nced around.

    Rustling sounds echoed through the woods as countless figures slowly emerged. These creatures looked simr to the one Qianye had been chasing in the very beginning¡ªthey were smaller versions of the giant.

    This time, Qianye could clearly see their appearance.

    They were about two meters tall and looked ratherical with their long limbs. Most of them were d in leather armor and holding spears or javelins. Their weapons and clothes were just as crude as the giant¡¯s.

    Despite the crudeness of their equipment, they were extremely fast. This granted great power to their spear and javelin attacks, so much so that even Qianye couldn¡¯t ignore them.

    And now, there were hundreds of them.

    These ¡°people¡± didn¡¯t attack immediately after appearing. Instead, they cried out loudly with hatred and fear in their eyes, waving their weapons at Qianye. It was only after more of their number arrived that they pressed forward.

    Some of the stronger ones scooped out some greyish white powder and put it on their faces. This powder emitted a pungent odor that Qianye could smell from some distance away.

    Apparently, they felt that Qianye would fear them more after applying the powder. Their speed of advance increased a bit.

    Qianye felt puzzled more than anything. He had no idea what these primitive warriors were trying to do. Were they trying to smoke him away with the odor? No matter how incapable Qianye was, he could still go on without breathing for half a day or even longer. All he needed to do was absorb origin power.

    Qianye might not understand their intentions, but the enemy numbers were simply too great.

    A glint appeared in Qianye¡¯s eyes as the other side arrived within a hundred meters. All of a sudden, he shed into their midst, grabbed one of the warriors, and vanished over the horizon.

    The soldiers fell into chaos. They did their utmost to run after Qianye, so much so that they didn¡¯t even bother with the injured giant. However, Qianye¡¯s Spatial sh was so fast that he was gone in the blink of an eye.

    Half a dayter, Qianye appeared outside of a natural stone cave and tossed the warrior to the ground. The many limp with his eyes closed, not making the slightest movement.

    ¡°Enough, stop ying dead. I know you¡¯re conscious,¡± Qianye said. He had used his consciousness to aid in transferring the message. An intelligent life form should be able to understand the gist. This was a method used by the Empire and Evernight tomunicate with unknown intelligent creatures. The earliest form was developed formunicating with void colossi.

    The warrior actually understood Qianye¡¯s words. He jumped up from the floor in shock andtched onto the roof of the cave, all his limbs reversed.

    Qianye said impatiently, ¡°Come down. You can¡¯t escape from me even in the woods, let alone in this cave.¡±

    The warrior¡¯s tension and hostility slowly eased up. Hended from the roof but maintained a cautious, arched posture that would facilitate a potential escape¡ªalthough that would be a vain attempt.

    He stared at Qianye. ¡°What... do you want?¡±

    Qianye was surprised that the fellow could also use consciousness tomunicate. He was speaking his ownnguage, but the message was still expressed quite fluently. In terms ofnguage, he wasn¡¯t below Qianye at all.

    Only a duke would be able to master such a secret art. The man before Qianye, however, was only about marquis rank in overall capability. This meant that hismunication arts were superior to those in Evernight.

    Since they couldmunicate, that made things a lot easier. Qianye simply sat down in front of the person and said, ¡°I want to know about this ce, where this is, who are you people, how you live, and why the sun is ck.¡±

    ¡°This ce... is this ce...¡± He didn¡¯t know how to express it.

    Qianye understood after giving it some thought. To this native warrior, this was where he was born and where he lived; there was nothing special that he could tell Qianye.

    ¡°Let it be then, let¡¯s ignore that question for now. What people are you?¡±

    ¡°People?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what we call ourselves.¡±

    The man understood. ¡°We are the Attawa, which means children of light and darkness. There are thirteen tribes in total, representing the thirteen stars between Daybreak and Evernight. I am the son of the second tribe¡¯s chieftain.¡±

    Qianye walked out of the cave and looked up. The ck sun hung high in the air, but its halo was gone now that it was night. There was only darkness in the background, so how could there be any stars?

    ¡°What do you mean by stars?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°Stars are stars. They appear only at night and release their radiance to guide our lost tribesmen.¡± The Attawa chieftain¡¯s son spoke quite a bit.

    Qianye nced out of the cave once more but still couldn¡¯t find any stars in the sky. ncing at the Attawa¡¯s dark red pupils, Qianye thought of something and promptly switched his vision.

    Yet Qianye couldn¡¯t see any stars no matter what vision he used. All he could see at a nce was the all-suppressing sun, emitting origin power that couldn¡¯t be seen with the n.a.k.e.d eye.

    Qianye simply dragged the chieftain¡¯s son to the entrance and pointed at the sky. ¡°Where are the stars you speak of?¡±

    The man pointed at his c.h.e.s.t. ¡°Of course they¡¯re within our hearts. Why are you searching in the sky?¡±

    ¡°In your heart?¡± Qianye felt somewhat angry.

    ¡°Of course, where else can they be?¡± The chieftain¡¯s son wasn¡¯t afraid. On the contrary, he spoke as though it was right and proper. ¡°The thirteen sacred stars are extremely far from our world. You cannot see them, but you can sense them with your heart.¡±

    With that, he added, ¡°Tribes with different bloodlines can sense different sacred stars.¡±

 Chapter 1433: Mystery of the Other World

    <h4>Chapter 1433: Mystery of the Other World</h4>

    ¡°The thirteen sacred stars? In a faraway world? Sense them with your heart?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. He said after a while, ¡°What do the sacred stars look like?¡±

    ¡°Each tribe can sense a different star. Our tribe¡¯s sacred star is like this...¡± He drew it out on the ground.

    The diagram was crudely drawn, but it was definitely a flower¡ªthe flower of dread, the datura.

    The datura was the Monroe n¡¯s insignia, the source of Qianye and Nighteye¡¯s bloodline. This young warrior here could also sense the datura as his sacred star, and this star was also ranked second in the list. This could not be a coincidence.

    Qianye picked the man up and looked into his deep red eyes. With a light tap, he sent a sanguine thread into his body and dragged out a drop of blood.

    Qianye closed both eyes as he sensed the taste of that blood. After a while, he said, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Su... Shi.¡±

    ¡°This name...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Nothing. Why would you pick this name?¡±

    Su Shi looked puzzled. ¡°My father gave me this name. Is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just asking why it¡¯s in that style?¡±

    ¡°The Attawa race has always named ourselves like this. Is that a problem?¡±

    Of course, there was a problem. Su Shi was a typical Imperial name, while Attawa was an Evernight name. These two styles mixed together simply felt awkward.

    ¡°Where do you usually live? How do you live?¡±

    ¡°Our second sacred star tribe lives at the peak of the ck mountain, the others are scattered in different ces.¡± Su Shi puffed his c.h.e.s.t out. ¡°The ck mountain is the holy mountain of the Attawa, and our tribe is its guardian.¡±

    ¡°Your tribe is the guardian tribe? What about the first sacred star tribe?¡±

    ¡°You mean the Perth tribe? They¡¯re the weakest. They live in the northern icy ins, a big territory with nothing but ice and snow beasts. They have to wait until the warm season to break through the ice and hunt sea beasts.¡±

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Qianye was surprised.

    ¡°Why are they weak?¡± Qianye asked.

    Since even the names were the same, Qianye could confirm that the Attawa race of the inner world and the vampires of the Evernight world were rted.

    That being the case, it was rather unbelievable that the Perth tribe was so weak. The Perth bloodline was the immovable number one in the Evernight world. The descendants might be weak, but the Queen of the Night¡¯s presence was something that couldn¡¯t be ignored.

    There was little reference left regarding her peak state prowess, but even in the current era where she needed to spend most of her time in hibernation, she could still suppress the entire realm when she woke up. Even an ambitious character like the Demon King had to wait until she was asleep in order to put his ns into action. Even then, he had to take ample precautions not to alert her.

    Qianye had found the Monroe n¡¯s taste in Su Shi¡¯s blood just now. Although it was rather faint and distorted by the origin power environment of the inner world, the hint of Monroe aura in the deepest parts of the blood was unmistakable.

    Since there was Monroe and Perth, others like the Sperger n had to exist as well. Why was the Perth n¡¯s bloodline so weak, though?

    Qianye asked in greater detail, but Su Shi could no longer answer. After a while, Qianye had no choice but to give up on this topic and move to the local geography.

    At the mention of this, Su Shi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°As the guardians of the holy mountain, our Monroe territory is naturally the most bountiful of them all. With the holy mountain as the center, ournd stretches thirty rundays to the north, twenty-eight to the south, twenty-five to the east...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a runday?¡±

    ¡°What standard is a rank one warrior?¡±

    ¡°I am a rank one warrior.¡± Su Shi puffed his c.h.e.s.t out.

    Qianye had ventured a guess, but he was still surprised. Su Shi was at the marquis level in overall strength, but his speed wasn¡¯t slower than an Evernight Duke.

    This meant that the Monroe tribe¡¯s territory alone stretched over fifty rundays from north to south, bigger than a continent in the Evernight world. It would seem that this inner world was iparably vast.

    ¡°What other ces exist outside of your territory?¡± Qianye was curious.

    ¡°There are of course other tribal territories outside of ours.¡±

    ¡°What about beyond those territories?¡±

    ¡°That I don¡¯t know. I heard the Sperger tribe¡¯snds are the furthest away, and all they can see beyond theirnd is a boundless ocean of trees. They expanded continuously into the woods and gave up the newly pioneered territory to stronger tribes.¡±

    ¡°What lies beyond the sea of trees?¡±

    The tremendous size of the inner world was unimaginable. After some thought, another question emerged in Qianye¡¯s mind. ¡°How many people make up the Monroe tribe?¡±

    ¡°We have an entire ten thousand tribe members! The other tribes only have about seven thousand!¡±

    Qianye was surprised yet again. This number was too small, almost unbelievably so. Considering how vast the Monroe tribe¡¯snds were, it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise even if Su Shi had said there were a billion of them.

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Why are there so few of you? Why are there only ten thousand people on such a vastnd?¡±

    Su Shi was shocked. ¡°How is that few? Our tribe is the biggest, and our warriors are the strongest of them all. The other tribes cannot match us in numbers and in bravery.¡±

    Realizing that he wouldn¡¯t get any more information in this manner, Qianye switched to other topics like their lifespans, marriage customs, reproduction cycles, etc. After a good while of questioning, he finally understood more about this world.

    Just like the vampires, the Attawa were long-lived races¡ªeven more so than the vampires. Su Shi had just reached a.d.u.l.thood in the tribe, but he was over five hundred years old in terms of the Evernight time system. Every Attawa would live between three to five thousand years, and the oldest was reportedly six millennia old.

    Such long lifespans meant long reproduction cycles and thus smaller poptions. An Attawa couple would produce at most six to seven generations of progeny during their lifespan. Childhood alone took up over two hundred years.

    The Attawa could be considered the ancient vampires of the inner world. They were individually strong, but their technology and culture were still at a primitive level. The werewolves¡¯ ancestral faction still adopted the primitive tribal system, but that was only the system. Their technology and knowledge were no different from the other dark races.

    Qianye had nothing more to ask the man, but the questioning just now had left Qianye with a deep intrigue for the Attawa tribes.

    He could basically ascertain that the sacred stars sensed by the Attawa were the n insignias within the River of Blood.

    The River of Blood was an iparably mysterious entity in the void. It wasn¡¯t a surprise that other races could sense its existence and draw upon its powers, but why were the tribe names identical?

    Qianye had obtained the river¡¯s favor more than once, as well as its inheritance and knowledge. However, there was nothing in that knowledge rted to the n names. Even if the knowledge Qianye had obtained was iplete, it wasn¡¯t as though the twelve ns hadn¡¯t changed their names before. Why were even the changed names identical?

    That being said, there was no answer to this question no matter how he questioned this man. After some thought, Qianye decided to let Su Shi go if only out of consideration for his Monroe bloodline. It could be considered fate that had brought them together.

    Su Shi seemed rather surprised at his sudden freedom. He stood there in a daze, saying, ¡°Are you really going to let me go?¡±

    ¡°Unless you want me to kill you? Go.¡±

    Su Shi reached a hand out toward Qianye. ¡°Can you... hold my hand?¡±

    Qianye was a bit puzzled, but he wasn¡¯t afraid of any sneak attacks, so he gave the man his hand.

    In truth, the Attawa were rather simr to the vampires if one could look past the bodies that had been affected by the environment.

    Qianye felt a strange perception sweep over his body when he touched Su Shi¡¯s hand. It felt as though some of his secrets had been seen through.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Qianye roared. Applying greater force to his hands, he pulled the man over and pressed him to the ground. A couple of shakes left Su Shi limp, almost as though his skeleton had been entirely disjointed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any malicious intentions, I just wanted to confirm if you¡¯re one of our brothers from a different world.¡±

    Qianye raised his brows. ¡°You know?¡±

    Su Shi nodded. ¡°There are countless other worlds outside of our own. Every one of them is blessed by the thirteen sacred stars, only to different degrees.¡±

    Qianye was surprised because this knowledge wasn¡¯t something a primitive civilization could grasp. It would seem that this Attawa tribe was even more mysterious than he had imagined.

    Su Shi stepped back slowly as Qianye loosened his grip. ¡°I¡¯ll be heading back now. I will inform my tribe that you guys are our brethren from a different world. Please don¡¯t attack our tribesmen when you see them in the future.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Su Shi gazed deeply at Qianye. ¡°We will meet again.¡± With that, he jumped up and left the cave at lightning speed, vanishing into the night.

 Chapter 1434: Difference in Civilization

    <h4>Chapter 1434: Difference in Civilization</h4>

    Qianye didn¡¯t leave immediately after letting Su Shi go. He instead brought out a paper and drew a map ording to the man¡¯s description, frowning as he fell into deep thought.

    The Attawa were only at a basic level of civilization. Their mathematics and cartography skills were only at the elementary level. Their understanding of space and geography came from their superior perception and strength.

    Hence, there were a lot of conflicts in the locations andy of thend that Su Shi had described. It wasn¡¯t that obvious when Qianye was simply listening, but things weren¡¯t quite right when he put them on paper. The world was so vast that a bit of deviation would end up with hundreds of kilometers in error.

    Qianye finished drawing the map, but it wasn¡¯t useful beyond simple reference.

    This produced even more confusion. Why were the Attawa, such a strong people, so undeveloped as a civilization? Any other race would see a qualitative upgrade when their strength had reached a certain level. Just like how the void colossi had always been more intelligent than the humans. That being said, civilization was the culmination of countless years of collective experience. The void colossi were small in number and loners by nature, so they couldn¡¯t form anything even close.

    The thirteen Attawa tribes put together would number close to a hundred thousand, and that was enough to form the foundations of civilization. There was no reason for them to be so backward.

    This was probably a deep-seated issue, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that Su Shi couldn¡¯t give Qianye an answer. There would be opportunitiester to find an answer.

    Qianye pushed his questions to the side for now. He sat down in the cave, tore open the void with his fingers, and began cultivating. He had .u.mted vast amounts of essence blood just from the prey he had killed in passing. The Evernight side of his cultivation had reached its limit more or less.

    Although he had the Book of Darkness that could convert both sides of his cultivation to chaos origin power, Qianye was still used to striking a bnce between the two.

    The daybreak origin power in this world was beyond thin. Fortunately, he could still slice through the void and absorb the void origin power there. The Profound Combatant Form was iparably tyrannical in that it could produce daybreak origin power from void origin power. Hence, there was no need to worry about the energy supply for now.

    This cultivation took an entire night. Qianye felt better only when his daybreak origin power was full to the brim. Next up would be for the Book of Darkness to slowly convert this energy. The Mystery and Glory chapters also served to elerate the refinement process.

    Now that he had finished cultivating, Qianye¡¯s thoughts went back to his mission in the inner world.

    What exactly was the darkness origins? What were the dark races doing with it? Qianye knew nothing. Why would Anwen tell him all of this?

    Ignoring Anwen¡¯s intentions for now, Qianye made ready to head back to where the demonkin were building their tower. Even the Masefield n Lord would be gravely injured if Qianye couldunch a sessful sneak attack. One had to know that Progia was already injured and likely not fully recovered yet. If he were to suffer another wound and an Imperial heavenly monarch was to take this opportunity to attack, it was very likely that he would fall in the inner world.

    The more he thought about it, the more Qianye felt that the n was feasible. Even if he couldn¡¯tnd the hit, it would still serve to spook the demonkin n lord and slow down their operations.

    After making up his mind, Qianye spent yet another half a day making preparations. The preparations weren¡¯t anything tooplicated¡ªit was to instill three powerful bullets with origin power. Two of them with chaos origin power and one with Venus Dawn.

    Not a lot of materials could withstand Qianye¡¯s origin power at this point. Qianye had spent all of his savings before entering the inner world but only managed to gather enough materials for two and a half bullets. The third bullet could withstand chaos origin power, but it would not be able to amodate a power-up from the Wings of Inception, so Qianye decided to substitute it with Venus Dawn instead.

    Fortunately, the power of Venus Dawn was at the extreme of yang and served to restrain the dark races.

    With these three bullets formed, Qianye inspected his equipment and left for the tower.

    He didn¡¯t move all that fast, taking his time to inspect traces of dark race movement along the way. He wanted to see if there were small squads in the vicinity that he could eliminate, plucking some feathers off of the demonkins¡¯ wings.

    On the way out, Qianye had chased the Attawa warrior with all his might and gone all out to cover thousands of kilometers. The journey back was like a cautious stroll that would take several days.

    The trees of the inner world were as tough as steel, and it would take great strength to topple one over. Qianye¡¯s pupils shrank as he scanned the surroundings. First, he searched for signs of movement before moving to the fallen tree to search for clues.

    There were two different parts to the cut edges¡ªone was clean and smooth, while the other was somewhat shaggy. It was likely that the tree had been sliced through with a de first and then mmed with great force.

    Qianye ran his fingers along the cut surface and saw some darkness origin power stuck to his hand. This darkness origin power wasn¡¯t the type active in the inner world but the one used by Evernight experts. It was so pure that traces remained even after it had been eroded by the living origin power of the inner world.

    Only the source origin power remained so Qianye couldn¡¯t tell which race it belonged to. All he could ascertain was that it belonged to a dark race expert.

    The Evernight experts had reached this ce with their exploration?

    Qianye got up and explored the surrounding areas and soon found traces ofbat everywhere. The remnant energy in the environment proved just how fierce the battle was.

    Qianye followed these tracks through the woods and soon began to see bloodstains. He looked up to see an Attawa body. The person was dead, nailed to a tree with a wooden spear.

    The spear was the Attawa¡¯s own weapon at first, yet it had been used to kill him.

    Continuing forward, there was arge patch of forest that had been leveled. All the ancient trees within a hundred meters had copsed toward the periphery in a radial pattern, almost as though a hurricane had erupted therein.

    Qianye walked toward the center of this storm and noticed a small shrub still standing therein. The leaves moved with his hand as he reached out to touch them.

    There was nothing special about this bush. It had only survived the tempest because it happened to be right at the center. However, Qianye did find a drop of coagted blood on one of the leaves. This wasn¡¯t the faint fluorescent green blood belonging to the Attawa but rather the blood of an Evernight expert.

    Qianye could sense that this blood belonged to a demonkin.

    He knelt down and sniffed the dried blood, then looked up to find simr traces of blood on a nearby tree.

    Qianye appeared over there in a sh. After a brief observation, he confirmed the direction in which the demonkin had left and followed suit at great speed.

    He saw yet another battlefield before long, or rather, a massacre.

    Dozens of Attawa warriors had fallen here, many of them disfigured beyond recognition. What attracted Qianye¡¯s attention the most was the giant that had copsed on the ground.

    One of his hands had sunk deep into the ground. The man¡¯s body had been frozen in his final battle posture, and even his pained expression was clear to see.

    Qianye circled around the giant¡¯s corpse like a spirit.

    The weakness of the Attawa¡¯s freely mobile joints became clear¡ªtheir durability.

    The giant was valiant in battle, but he had ultimately fallen to a group attack by dark race experts.

    In truth, Qianye had fought the giant to a draw a while ago only because it was a contest of brute strength. He hadn¡¯t even used anybat techniques.

    If Qianye had used everything in his arsenal like the Wings of Inception, Dragonsgrave, and chaos origin bullets, a single shot would¡¯ve taken the giant¡¯s life. One should not forget that he also had the Red Spider Lily.

    Qianye could take down several of those giants if it were a life-or-death situation. These giants possessed constitutionsparable to grand dukes, but their technology was simply too primitive. They had no equipment to speak of, which reduced their fighting power by halfpared to experts of the same rank.

    With such a difference, an Evernight grand duke could easily take down a couple of giants on his own.

    From how this giant had died, Qianye could tell that he had been surrounded and attacked by a number of powerful experts. His death was inevitable.

    Qianye found yet another fierce battle nearby where an arachne glorious marquisy frozen on one knee. His eyes were wide open in shock, but there was no longer any spirit in his gaze.

    The lethal blow was a half-spear through the back of his head. Apart from that, there were over a dozen broken spears of varying lengths in other parts of his body.

    Yet even the biggest spear among them had barely managed to pierce the shield. The others were only stuck on the surface. Several spearsy on the ground before the marquis, their tips distorted after failing to go through the shield.

    The same went for the injuries on the marquis¡¯ body. There were several dozen stuck in his body, but most of them had only managed to inflict flesh wounds after going through the armor. This kind of injury was nothing to the arachne.

    Qianye picked up one of the spears and put it back after a brief observation.

    The Attawa spears were crudely made. Even the metallic ones were at a very basic level of cksmithing, inferior to the humans¡¯ craftsmanship before their awakening as intelligent beings.

    The arachne marquis wasn¡¯t that much stronger than the Attawa warriors, perhaps one rank higher than people like Su Shi, yet they were iparable in terms of gear.

    The number of native warrior corpses around the marquis numbered close to a hundred.

 Chapter 1435: Promise Concluded

    <h4>Chapter 1435: Promise Concluded</h4>

    Having observed to this point, Qianye already had an idea of the battle.

    The Evernight side was led by a duke, and the group contained around ten experts in total, the strength of three small squadrons. The Attawa had mobilized hundreds of warriors, overseen by a giant. It was unknown why the two sides had broken into a conflict, but the result was a bloody battle.

    On paper, the Attawa warriors held the absolute advantage. Their ordinary soldiers were already at the count rank, and their rank-one soldiers¡ªSu Shi for instance¡ªwere around or close to the marquis realm.

    Fighting power on paper was just that; actual fighting power was a different case.

    From these results, it was obvious that the gear difference between the two parties was sufficient to decide the oue of the battle¡ªdespite the heavy injuries on several Evernight experts and the death of a glorious marquis.

    The wooden spears used by the Attawa could hardly break through the Evernight experts¡¯ heavy shields. They could barely pierce body armor, leaving only light injuries after doing so. On the other hand, the Evernight experts¡¯ bullets drew blood with every shot. Their axes and swords could also cut through the Attawa¡¯s mediocre bodies.

    Even the giant couldn¡¯t get through the repeated volleys of origin guns.

    The battle had begun half a day before. The Attawa had probably retreated due to heavy losses, while the Evernight squad continued with their exploration.

    Qianye gave chase with his aura concealed. Evernight experts were old friends to him by now; the Attawas might not be able to defeat them, but Qianye had all too many ways.

    The new world was fairly strange. The scenery in the vicinity never changed despite chasing after the enemy for half a day. There were still giant trees everywhere, along with the usual shrubbery and dangerous little animals. If it wasn¡¯t for Qianye¡¯s stunning memory, he might¡¯ve started to think he had been running in circles.

    A normal person would probably go mad after staying in such an environment for so long. They would start to lose judgment of direction and distance after a while.

    That was not the case for Qianye, though. He was a master in tracking, so he was naturally able to ovee such problems. Later on, he simply closed his eyes and used his perception to determine the direction and distance.

    In this manner, Qianye finally saw some different traces.

    There was a shallow mark on one of the giant trees. The mark was barely recognizable, but it looked like a scratch mark with a wisp of Evernight darkness origin power lingering around it. Qianye knew that this was a mark left behind from an arachne limb. The energy had grown so faint that it looked like it would disappear very soon. The living origin power environment would slowly destroy any foreign origin power.

    Seeing these traces confirmed that Qianye had not been chasing in the wrong direction. He immediately sped up and vanished into the distance.

    In the distant sea of trees, a demonkin expert was gazing at the unchanging scenery. Anger suddenly welled up inside him, then he drew his sword and hacked at some of the nearby leaves.

    All of a sudden, the swinging de was stopped by a different sword. The old demonkin who was at the head of this group had intercepted this expert.

    The demonkin expert stared deeply into the old man¡¯s eyes. ¡°I-I... was just...¡±

    ¡°No need to exin. Remember, we have more than those natives as enemies. These strange trees, shrubs, beasts, and bugs, even this entire world might be our enemy.¡±

    The demonkin expert was surprised. ¡°The inner world is our enemy?¡±

    The old duke nodded. ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s not like they can move... don¡¯t tell me those lifeless stones are the same?¡±

    ¡°Under the will of the new world, any object can have consciousness and intelligence, even a soul.¡±

    The demonkin expert was somewhat skeptical, but for some reason, he felt that everything around him seemed to have eyes and were observing him.

    Only then did he discover why he had be so irritable. It was due to that faint sense of uneasiness and fear of the unknown.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, don¡¯t expose us because of your loss of control.¡± The old duke put away his sword and returned to the front of the group.

    Peter shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. The entire operation is managed by Lord Leeker alone.¡±

    The arachne marquis said, ¡°I heard what Lord Leeker said just now. This ursed ce is really odd, but we came prepared so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Danger? Those natives? Our forces can easily destroy them all, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Peter rxed ever so slightly. ¡°Indeed. Those fellows were quite shocking when they first appeared, but they only know how to charge. They were more or less rushing to their deaths. Rory was a pity.¡±

    The arachne marquis said, ¡°His luck was particrly bad.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, the sooner we finish this mission, the earlier we can head back. I don¡¯t want to stay too long in this damned forest.¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    Peter and the arachne marquis hastened their steps, promptly catching up with the squad. Just as they were walking past a giant tree, Peter came to a sudden stop and looked up. His entire body was trembling.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± The arachne marquis asked. It was unbelievable for a glorious marquis to be showing such signs of fear.

    ¡°T-There¡¯s a leaf there.¡±

    Peter kept staring at that leaf as he grabbed the hilt of his sword.

    ¡°Nevermind, it¡¯s nothing.¡± Realizing his loss ofposure, the demonkin collected himself and walked on. After taking a few steps, he nced back at that leaf with lightning speed.

    The giant leaf hung there quietly, just as it always had. There was no movement since there was no wind in the woods; the same went for all the other leaves.

    It was as though the entire world had frozen in ce. Apart from the advancing group, the scenery around them seemed to have been sampled from a certain point in time.

    Peter stared at the leaf until the arachne marquis rushed him to continue the journey.

    ¡°That¡¯s just a leaf, what¡¯s wrong with it?¡± the arachne marquis asked out of curiosity.

    Peter hesitated for a while. ¡°I have a feeling that it¡¯s looking at me.¡±

    ¡°Looking at you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it moved a bit as we passed by. Almost like... it turned to look at us.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I was seeing things,¡± Peter said self-deprecatingly.

    The arachne marquis¡¯ expression slowly grew uglier. As a famous sniper and assassin of the demonkin race, Peter¡¯s perception and eyesight were extraordinary. How could he have been seeing things?

    Since Peter had said so with a meaningful nce, he nodded. ¡°Perhaps you were too tired these days. It¡¯ll be fine after taking a rest.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, the group has gone ahead pretty far.¡±

    As the duo left in a hurry, the leaf slowly twisted around to watch them disappear.

    ...

    At this moment, under thepleted tower back in their base. The Masefield n Lord Progia was gazing silently at the vastnd stretching out before him.

    A demonkin duke was reporting some information from behind. ¡°Allponents have been installed, and only the final testing and sealing remain. We have rounded up a total of seventy-six subordinates. The thirty counts require special equipment to move around freely in this environment. After several days of limatization, their protective armor has adapted well to the environment.

    The duke paused for a while. ¡°We¡¯ve collected a total of one hundred and ten boxes ofponents. This is enough to construct two extra towers. The positioning uracy will be much greater with three towers.¡±

    The Masefield n lord¡¯s gaze was deep. ¡°How many groups are still out there?¡±

    ¡°Two more are out there. One of them was just dispatched, so it¡¯s not yet time for them to report back in. Lord Leeker¡¯s party should¡¯ve returned yesterday, but there¡¯s still no news. I¡¯ll send another squad to back them up if they don¡¯t return by tonight.¡±

    Progia said, ¡°No need, they won¡¯t being back.¡±

    The duke was startled. ¡°This...¡±

    ¡°Assemble abat squad. I¡¯ll lead it myself, and we set out tonight. We¡¯ll see what secret this new world is hiding.¡±

    ¡°The Demon King wishes for you to wait for the Eternal me before taking the next step.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still no news of him yet, and no one knows where he is. I¡¯ve already found some clues, so it¡¯s time to move out. There¡¯s no need to wait for him.¡±

    The duke was hesitant. ¡°But, this tower will be unguarded if you¡¯re gone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll return within two days.¡±

    The duke heaved a sigh of relief. Not daring to dissuade the great dark monarch, he left hurriedly and made preparations for battle.

    Progia¡¯s face was expressionless. He merely gazed into the distance, and no one could tell just what he was thinking. There was, however, a faint glint in the depths of his eyes.

    ...

    Back in Lava Castle, the Demon King had reached thest page of the book he was reading. He closed the pages with a smile, saying, ¡°Every good book muste to an end eventually. Habsburg, I think our deal has been concluded.¡±

 Chapter 1436: In the Face of Death

    <h4>Chapter 1436: In the Face of Death</h4>

    Gazing down at the inner world from a height would reveal a peculiar scene that was both magnificent and icy.

    This painting, however, had been marred with greyish ck scars. Such stains would appear from time to time and expand forward, much like an inexperienced painter¡ªor perhaps even a child¡ªscribbling randomly.

    If one were to expand this scene, he would discover that those leaking colors were actually battlefields. The battlefields were of varying sizes and intensities, leaving Attawa corpses or beast carcasses in their wake.

    In one of these greyish marks, a giant waved his weapon in vain as he let out a final roar and copsed in a flurry of mud and gravel. Before him, the Masefield n Lord Progia stood wiping the blood on his hand with a handkerchief.

    He then tossed the handkerchief away, which his subordinates naturally picked up and put away.

    The copsed giant¡¯s head happened tond exactly in front of Progia¡¯s toes, yet the sshing mud didn¡¯t touch the n lord at all.

    Progia gazed coldly into the giant¡¯s ring eyes. ¡°Where is your holy mountain?¡±

    He had transmitted these words directly into the giant¡¯s mind. This method was different from Qianye¡¯s method ofmunication in that it would inflict intense pain upon the recipient.

    The giant g.r.o.a.n.e.d with an expression of pain. He wanted to clutch his head with his hands but his limbs fell down halfway. Afterward, he gave up on resisting and decided to respond via consciousness.

    ¡°You massacred... my people. This world... will not let you go... the Attawa, will never surrender!¡°

    Progia said coldly, ¡°Then die.¡±

    He pointed a finger at the giant¡¯s head, which exploded immediately afterward.

    ¡°To the next location, until we find the holy mountain.¡±

    Progia slowly took to the air and began flying forward. Wherever he went, the surrounding scenery would change color. The environment slowly lost its color, not unlike a cloth that had faded with repeated washing. All that was left was a silhouette of dark colors. This was how the greyish marks came to be.

    The Evernight experts cleaned up the battlefield in due haste and followed their lord. The two dukes among them exchanged nces, feeling somewhat uneasy.

    The Demon King¡¯s instructions were for such important objectives to be left to the second phase of their operation. They shouldplete the towers and wait for all the great dark monarchs of Evernight to arrive before revealing these secrets.

    However, Progia was the lord of the Masefield n. At least no one here had the power to object to his decision, nor did anyone dare.

    There was also a different meaning to this.

    Despite their primitive state, the Attawa were strong and intelligent creatures. Such a species could be considered priceless to the Evernight council. They would be extremely powerful warriors with some training and equipment.

    The way Progia was acting would remove all possibility ofmunication. In the future, there would only be two ways to deal with these natives¡ªeither exterminate them or enve them. There would be no more room for cooperation.

    As the group moved forward, Progia¡¯s domain continued to destroy all life in its wake. He was practically announcing his arrival to this world.

    This was a deration of war, a provocation.

    At this point, the environment was no longer icy cold and silent. There were leaves dancing in the breeze, producing rustling sounds that made one palpitate. Creatures big and small were scuttling in every direction, some dropping to the ground before they could take a few steps away. As for the immobile trees, their leaves curled up and the dark red balls at their center squirmed fiercely in what seemed like pain.

    Progia ignored all of this as he moved forward. He had transformed into an emotionless god of death, reaping any and all life around him.

    ¡°His injury has healed?¡± Qianye muttered to himself.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t seen Progia directly, else the Masefield n Lord would¡¯ve sensed him as well. This also meant that Qianye only had one chance even with a surprise attack from a distance.

    At first, Qianye had arrived here by following Leeker. Who would¡¯ve thought he would run into Progia? This great dark monarch wasn¡¯t hiding his aura at all, so it wasn¡¯t too difficult to find him.

    Gauging the demonkin¡¯s aura from afar, Qianye could sense his demonic energy raging like the oceans with no opening whatsoever. It would seem that the injury he had inflicted on the man was nowpletely healed.

    Now that this great dark monarch was back in his prime state, Qianye¡¯s original n was no longer viable. He might not be able to kill the man even if he were to simply stand there and let Qianye do whatever he wanted. If he couldn¡¯t deprive Progia of his fighting power, the counterattack that followed would be the end of him.

    This was a difficult situation indeed.

    All he could do now was wait for a better opportunity. Hence, Qianye decided to put some distance between him and Progia¡¯s squad.

    Fortunately, the demonkin was fully upied with keeping his domain active and hadn¡¯t discovered the lurking enemy.

    Qianye climbed down from the tree only when he saw the greyish dark clouds recede. He was just contemting whether or not to give chase when he heard a rustling behind him.

    ¡°How did you find me?¡±

    Su Shi pointed at a nearby tree. ¡°The entire world is a living organism, they serve as the eyes and ears of our guardian race. Even the rocks and shrubs will help us if needed. They will tell me where you are if I want to find you.¡±

    Qianye pointed at the ck aura. ¡°You know about that?¡±

    ¡°I sought you out because of that.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Those are your enemies, right? The Mother Tree told me that you killed some of them after you arrived in our world,¡± Su Shi said.

    Qianye admitted, ¡°Correct. Those from the Evernight faction are my enemies. There is a different group from the same world called the Empire. The experts of the Empire are also their enemies.¡±

    ¡°The Empire? The Mother Tree did not mention them. Perhaps theirnding points are not within the range of her power.¡±

    ¡°Try not to get into a conflict if you find them, perhaps there is room for cooperation.¡±

    Gazing at Qianye, he finally drummed up his courage and said, ¡°Us holy guardians are in danger, we need your help.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply immediately. ¡°This isn¡¯t easy.¡±

    ¡°What do you need? Brother from a distant world, I will give you everything we have. Just look at him, he¡¯s leaving irreversible damage in our world, both above and under the ground.¡±

    ¡°That is the lord of the Masefield n. He¡¯s... very powerful. Even I will have only one opportunity to attack him, and that won¡¯t be enough to kill him, either.¡±

    ¡°Is it because of the defenses around his body? We have a way to weaken his defensive domain temporarily, or even remove it entirely.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°If you can disable his defenses, I can heavily injure him. That might not be enough to kill him, but I can make sure he doesn¡¯t return to the battlefield for a while. Do you really have a way to do this?¡±

    The most terrifying aspect of a great dark monarch was his control of origin power. Wherever they were, they could unleash their domains with a single thought and the origin power in the vicinity would bend to their will. This allowed them to conjure a powerful defensive forcefield in a sh.

    For instance, even if Qianye couldunch a sessful sneak attack, Progia could fill his surroundings with defensive power just as the bullet arrived. Qianye¡¯s all-out attack would barely be able to tear through this force field. There wouldn¡¯t be enough force left to damage the target. At most, it would leave him with some light wounds.

    The demonkin were the most proficient race in controlling origin power, so their great dark monarchs were afforded great defensive capability.

    This problem left Su Shi somewhat hesitant. He had personally witnessed how strong Progia was. No matter how strong the warriors were, they would all die once they stepped into his domain. And up to this point, Progia still hadn¡¯t disyed his true power.

    It was at this time that an Attawa female appeared behind Su Shi. ¡°We can dismantle that doomsday demon¡¯s defenses!¡±

    This neer was half a head taller than Su Shi. She exuded a heroic aura and wore an expression of determination. The spear in her hand was decorated with strips of red and yellow cloth, colors that were even more vibrant than Su Shi¡¯s. Even with the anger and urgency in her eyes, she didn¡¯t forget to size Qianye up from head to toe.

    Thetter understood that the Attawa¡¯s weapons were all pretty simr, so they used vibrant decorations to differentiate their status. This young woman¡¯s status was higher than Su Shi¡¯s, and she was probably stronger too.

    ¡°And you are?¡±

    ¡°Su Wen, Su Shi¡¯s sister. We can agree to any demand on behalf of the guardian tribe, but I must confirm your strength before that.¡±

    Qianye was unfazed in the face of this forcefuldy. ¡°And how do you propose we do that?¡±

    Su Wen assumed abat stance with her spear. ¡°Simple, beat me...¡±

    She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when Qianye had arrived before her! Immediately afterward, Su Wen felt the entire world spinning¡ªit felt as though countless colorful patterns were whirling in the air, and as though countless beasts had stampeded over her body. She simply had no idea what was happening.

    Su Shi was dumbfounded as he watched Qianye pick up Su Wen and m her into one of the giant trees.

    Su Wen wasn¡¯t weak at all, but the attack left her dazed and barely conscious.

    Qianye paused for a moment before retrieving her from the tree. ¡°Does this count as proof?¡±

 Chapter 1437: Singing March

    <h4>Chapter 1437: Singing March</h4>

    Su Wen finally recovered from her daze. ¡°What the giant wargod saw wasn¡¯t your true strength!¡±

    ¡°You mean that big bloke? Of course, that¡¯s not my true power. I was just ying around, I had no intention to kill him.¡±

    Su Wen¡¯s delight eventually turned to seriousness as she said, ¡°Very well! We will weaken the ck demon¡¯s defenses to a certain degree. The rest will depend on you.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem, but do you guys have a n in case the attack fails?¡±

    Su Shi looked rather worried, but Su Wen said, ¡°That¡¯s not a big deal. If worsees to worst, we guardians will take them down with us. It¡¯s not like we can make them leave the holy mountain bypromising.¡±

    Su Shi realized this as well. ¡°That is indeed the case. We cannot give in since they¡¯ve killed so many of our tribe. The Attawas will not submit!¡±

    Su Wen said, ¡°My brother will stay with you and serve as your assistant. I¡¯ll go and summon the tribe!¡±

    Su Wen was just about to leave when Su Shi pulled her back. ¡°What¡¯s your n?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided, but I¡¯ll fulfill our side of the promise at all costs.¡±

    Gazing at Su Wen¡¯s receding figure, Su Shi seemed like he wanted to say something. However, he failed to stop her in the end.

    Qianye understood that Su Shi was staying to keep an eye on him, but he didn¡¯t really mind. It would be a good opportunity to understand more about this world and the Attawa. This so-called bloodline connection across worlds wasn¡¯t going to close the gap between him and the locals.

    Although Qianye did feel a bit of closeness to the Attawa, he never let down his guard.

    Three giants stood shoulder to shoulder in Progia¡¯s path, apanied by three hundred Attawa elites. These warriors stood in a solemn formation, their eyes filled with anger as they red at Progia.

    The Attawa formation was even stronger than the one from before, but Qianye could only frown. He had already learned of the Attawa¡¯s military lineup. Those giants, called giant wargods, were warriors with special talent. They were specially trained and raised since childhood, growing far stronger and bigger than their peers after reaching maturity.

    There was a fundamental difference in fighting power between these giants and ordinary Attawa warriors. They were more or less an amplified version.

    Raising such giants cost vast amounts of resources, and only those with special talent could be trained. Hence, their numbers were rather small. Most importantly, these giants had to start off as ordinary Attawa warriors and evolve as they m.a.t.u.r.ed. After bing wargods, they would lose the power to reproduce.

    All these limitations ced a fairly low ceiling on these giants. Their numbers would more or less determine a tribe¡¯s standing in the race.

    Bringing three giant wargods and three hundred soldiers in one go was quite the lineup. Even so, Qianye understood the two parties well enough. These grand-duke-level giants were no match for the demonkin great dark monarch.

    The three hundred Attawa soldiers made for a strong lineup, but there were thirty or so experts on Progia¡¯s side. These assistants would make it difficult for the Attawa to do whatever they had nned to do. An ambush might¡¯ve been possible, but they looked like they were ready for a head-on collision.

    Qianye was speechless. ¡°Don¡¯t you have stronger warriors in your tribe?¡±

    ¡°The giant wargods are our strongest warriors,¡± Su Shi replied.

    ¡°Our guardian tribe always fulfill our promises, whatever the cost.¡± Su Shi was surprisingly insistent.

    Qianye spoke no more and merely approached the battlefield in silence. All this time, Qianye had thought the Attawa tribe would have some hidden experts at least one level above the giants. With this lineup, however, all he could do now was pray for a miracle.

    Progia revealed a disappointed expression as he faced the Attawa formation. ¡°Is that all?¡±

    An older giant wargod roared, ¡°Today! This ce! Will be the grave of this dark demon!¡±

    ¡°Why do they call him the dark demon of destruction?¡± Qianye asked randomly.

    ¡°He destroys everything, and he uses darkness origin power unique to the demons. That¡¯s why we call him the dark demon of destruction.¡±

    Qianye more or less understood. The Attawanguage wasn¡¯t exactly rich in vocabry, and there was only one word for destruction. As for demons, they were depicted in local legends as creatures who wanted to destroy everything in the world.

    Qianye wasn¡¯t going to judge the Attawa for their simple and primitive view of good and evil. After a brief chat, he noticed that Su Shi started to look nervous. ¡°It¡¯ll get dangerous in a bit, you stay here.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Su Shi was determined.

    At the center of the battlefield, Progia¡¯s disappointment grew increasingly evident. He said with a sigh, ¡°If you cannot give me a surprise, all of you shall die here and now.¡±

    Without even using his weapon, the demonkin drifted toward the Attawa formation and brought his greyish ck domain down upon the enemy.

    This Masefield n lord was actually going to wipe out the enemy with his domain. He wouldn¡¯t even need to attack.

    The Attawa warriors on the front row advanced toward the iing danger. They seemed to be shrouded in faint dark mes as they charged into Progia¡¯s domain and at the great dark monarch.

    The demonkin monarch shook his head. ¡°Imbeciles¡±

    The Attawa soldiers slowed down dramatically once inside the domain, almost as though they were moving in viscous oil. The two parties were less than a hundred meters away, but it would take a fairly long time for these snail-paced soldiers to reach Progia.

    The dark mes around the Attawa soldiers grew faint as they came in touch with the demonic energy and were soon extinguished. The soldiers revealed pained expressions after the fire was gone. Some of them even threw down their weapons and clutched at their throats, trying their best to breathe. s, all was in vain. Unable to breathe, the soldiers copsed soon afterward and stopped moving altogether.

    The dark fire on their bodies was actually the living darkness origin power. The Attawa warriors could control this energy to a certain extent, allowing them to reach the glorious marquis realm in advance.

    The soldiers weren¡¯t crushed immediately as the dark me could contend with Progia¡¯s domain for a while. However, the power gap was simply too great. The Attawa could no longer hold out after a short while and copsed one after another.

    The three giant wargods¡¯ expressions went from calm to shocked.

    Everyone knew that Progia¡¯s domain was a death domain. In the past, even other demonkin experts didn¡¯t dare go too deep into his domain, let alone near the man himself. This time, however, there were a number of marquises near him. They were d in special armor that glowed faintly with magnificent runes, effectively blocking Progia¡¯s domain power.

    Moving was extremely difficult inside Progia¡¯s domain, and now, there were even guards near him as well. How was one to fight the great dark monarch?

    Qianye lowered Dragonsgrave, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s wait for a different opportunity.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯ll reach the holy mountain if they keep going forward...¡± Su Shi dragged Qianye back anxiously.

    Qianye looked calmly at the man. ¡°No buts. If this goes on, all of your tribesmen will die, and the n might not even seed. This will be a massacre.¡±

    Su Shi slowly released his shaking hand. He didn¡¯t know what to pick between the honor and the lives of his tribesmen.

    On the battlefield, the three giant wargods exchanged nces. As the strongest fighting power of the race, their intelligence was also greater than ordinary warriors.

    One of them seemed to have made up his mind. He raised his fists and smashed the ground with great force, letting out a thunderous battle cry as he did so.

    The warriors looked determined and zealous as they echoed with their own war cries. Then, they charged at Progia like enraged lions.

    The great dark monarch simply raised his left hand and said in a singing voice, ¡°No number of insects can stop a giant¡¯s steps.¡±

    The death domain¡¯s power rose again when he closed his hand into a fist. The Attawa soldiers at the front immediately lost color and copsed.

    But this only served to instill greater bloodthirst in the remaining soldiers as they charged into the heart of the domain. The strongest warriors ran at the very front, while the others followed in a tight formation. All of them were ready to give up their lives to reach the demonkin great dark monarch.

    Willpower alone couldn¡¯t do much against the terrifying power of the domain. Forced to bear the greatest pressure of them all, the dark mes around the first-row warriors flickered like a candle in the wind and eventually went out. Without the dark mes, they would have only their bodies left to withstand the corrosion of the domain.

    The first warrior took several faltering steps before letting out an earth-shattering howl. He thrust a hand into his own c.h.e.s.t, pulled out a fist-sized crystal, and then crushed it.

    As the crystal shattered, the warrior¡¯s body inted rapidly and exploded violently. A mixture of flesh, blood, and living origin power assailed the domain with great ferocity. For a moment, the greyish ck domain shook restlessly. One ripple after another formed on the surface of the unsteady domain, spreading about ten meters from the starting point.

    The other Attawa soldiers chanted a tragic war song as they marched through theirrades¡¯ blood and toward the objective.

 Chapter 1438: This is War

    <h4>Chapter 1438: This is War</h4>

    After the first Attawa warrior¡¯s self-detonation, several more followed suit in the same fashion. The suicidal detonation would impact the domain of death, opening up the path for the warriors behind.

    Not every Attawa soldier had a crystal within their body. Only those who were evidently stronger than the average would possess one, and only they could self-detonate. These strong soldiers would charge at the front andmit suicide when they could no longer make any progress, making room for theirrades.

    Wave after wave of self-detonation moved Progia visibly. His lofty domain of death began to waver under the assault.

    One had to admit that the Attawa warriors had found the best way to maximize their power against Progia, which was to self-detonate. Only this method could bypass the gap in equipment andbat techniques. It was just that this method was too tragic.

    The charging Attawa didn¡¯t feel that way, however. Their eyes were on Progia alone as they charged forward to pave a road with their flesh and blood.

    But... what could they do after reaching the great dark monarch?

    ¡°What else can you do?¡± After a brief moment of surprise, only a cold smile remained on the Masefield n Lord¡¯s face.

    In the blink of an eye, only a hundred or so of the charging warriors remained. With no more soldiers left who could self-detonate, Progia¡¯s domain once again became steady and the Attawa soldiers began to fade in color.

    The demonkin experts who had been biding their time attacked once again, reaping the lives of the survivors in the domain. The death domain immediately turned into a ughter ground.

    At this point, the closest Attawa warrior was thirty meters away from Progia. This distance could usually be covered by a single jump, yet it almost seemed insurmountable at the moment.

    ¡°Brave ants are still ants,¡± the great dark monarch said.

    As the demonkin experts continued to reap the lives of the attacking natives, they noticed their vision darken as two gigantic shadows blotted out the sky! Two of the giant war gods had jumped into the fray, mming into Progia¡¯s subordinate experts.

    These demonkin experts were from the Masefield family, many of them were close rtives of Progia himself. They had gone through many battles and possessed ample experience in the field. The iing giants might¡¯ve stirred up a greatmotion, but their movements were full of openings to the demonkin experts.

    The experts attacked decisively and at lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, the giants¡¯ bodies were covered in injuries.

    The more experienced demonkin experts weren¡¯t that happy after seeding in the attack. The victory was simply too easy. The giant war gods never retaliated or even resisted the attacks.

    A glorious marquis noticed the giant war gods thrusting their hands into their c.h.e.s.ts. His mind went nk as he blurted out, ¡°Run!¡±

    Two sanguine tempests erupted in the domain, forming two mushroom clouds that slowly rose into the air. The impact crashed over everything in the area of effect.

    The demonkin experts caught in the st were torn into shreds, bing a part of the bloody tempest. Several dozen meters of the domain were sted open by the explosion.

    The self-detonation of two grand dukes was a force that could hardly be described. While Progia was ovee with shock, the final giant war god arrived before him with¡ªhis hand was already moving inside his c.h.e.s.t.

    However, a pale slender hand with prominent bones grabbed the giant¡¯s wrist. The war god¡¯s hand froze, unable to move a single inch further. He could already touch his crystal but he no longer had the power to crush it.

    Progia stared at the giant war god with narrowed eyes. ¡°Ants will always be ants. Did you think your sacrifice would be meaningful? As long as I remain standing, even if I¡¯m the only one left standing, the Masefield will always be a famed n.¡±

    The final giant war god opened his mouth but no sound came out. His body had long since stiffened. Tears flowed down his barely mobile eyes as he nced at the flesh and blood strewn across the ground.

    The death domain was badly shaken, but Progia¡¯s defenses remained perfectly intact. The giant war gods never saw that shocking attack that they were hoping for.

    This battle... had been lost.

    Qianye¡¯s hand was as still as a rock. His finger was firmly on the trigger, but he never pressed it. The current moment was when Progia¡¯s domain was at its weakest, but this was also when his cautiousness and defenses were at their peak. Even if Qianye could hit him, the damage would be minimal, and there would never be another opportunity like this again.

    A faintly discernible shadow appeared in the air, diving toward Progia at an unbelievable speed!

    A beam of greyish energy appeared on Progia¡¯s forehead, which shot out like an extremely sharp, grey de. The iing shadow did nothing to evade the attack, allowing the de to shoot through it. It then dropped downward abruptly and stabbed Progia¡¯s shoulder with a spear!

    It was Su Wen.

    Progia gazed up into Su Wen¡¯s brave and beautiful eyes, praising, ¡°You injured me, not bad!¡±

    Su Wen¡¯s spear had pierced through Progia¡¯s defenses and through his shoulder te. The tip of the spear had sunk about one finger¡¯s depth into the flesh¡ªthat was all.

    It was already a miracle that an Attawa was able to injure the Masefield n Lord. However, they had lost this battle. The power disparity was too great, to begin with, so this victory had actually gained them honor.

    Su Wen didn¡¯t think this way, however. ¡°The Attawa will never surrender!¡± Her left hand shot into her c.h.e.s.t at lightning speed, and a storm of blood engulfed Progia immediately afterward.

    Momentster, the Masefield n Lord¡¯s figure appeared once again, scattering flesh and blood in all directions. The spear-wielding maiden had disappeared.

    None of the scattered bloodnded on Progia¡¯s body. It would be a humiliation for the Masefield n Lord to be tainted with the blood of these primitive natives.

    In the blink of an eye, he turned around to find a bullet with a pair of ck wings flying toward him.

    Progia had no time to draw his sword. All he could do was raise his hand to block this strange origin bullet. A muffled sound echoed in his ears as the projectile tore through his palm, and the only price it paid to achieve that was the ck wings.

    The bullet pushed through Progia¡¯s depleted defensive field, prated his armor and c.h.e.s.t, promptly exiting from the back.

    Progia¡¯s body puffed up all of a sudden, almost as though he had been inted. He grew to several times his original size before the greyish ck demonic energy pressed him back to his original form.

    Yet another ¡°Pfft¡± was heard as a mass of grey energy gushed out of the wound on his c.h.e.s.t and back. This was the chaos origin power within the bullet being forced out by the monarch¡¯s shocking demonic energy.

    Gazing at the wisp of chaos origin power, Progia reflexively reached out to grab it. The moment itnded on his palm, he discovered that this wisp of origin power was stunningly heavy. What this extreme weight brought on was extreme sharpness. The chaos origin power sliced through Progia¡¯s palm and fell to the ground, producing yet another slit in the earth before disappearing.

    The great dark monarch was expressionless as he took to the sky and flew off over the horizon.

    He had actually fled,pletely ignoring the fate of his twenty or so subordinates.

    Everything had happened too quickly. It was only when Progia was in the clouds that Su Shi¡¯s hysterical scream resounded, ¡°No!!!¡±

    Qianye gazed up at Progia who was flying away through the clouds. Instead of chasing the great dark monarch, his gazended on the remaining Evernight experts.

    None of these experts had realized what had happened. Only when Qianye appeared did a handful of people understand. They immediately turned to flee, not intending at all to remain and fight. Even Progia had fled, so why would they stay behind to get killed?

    The others were one step slower, but they scattered immediately aftering to.

    A dramatic change had just taken ce, and considering Qianye¡¯s notoriety, it wasn¡¯t a surprise these experts chose to flee. It was already widely epted that Qianye¡¯s fighting power was far above an ordinary duke. Moreover, he was known to decide the enemy¡¯s fate with the first attack, so there was no room for flukes.

    This made Qianye an enemy no one wanted to run into. Comparatively, they would rather fight Nighteye despite her being stronger.

    They knew Qianye would lose if they all stayed behind to fight, but he could retreat whenever he wanted. There was nothing stopping him from reaping several lives before leaving. The Evernight experts enjoyed long lives, so none of them wanted to be the unlucky person.

    Qianye was prepared to deal with these scattering targets. His figure shuttled rhythmically between them, and soon he cut down eight Evernight experts. The rest took this opportunity and managed to escape.

    After the oue was confirmed, Qianye returned to the battlefield where he saw a trembling Su Shi on his knees, holding some bloody soil in his hands.

    There was no telling whose flesh and blood was in the soil, but Su Wen¡¯s was surely among them along with the three giant war gods. The demonkin experts¡¯ remains should be in there as well.

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°This is war.¡±

 Chapter 1439: Sneaking Into Base

    <h4>Chapter 1439: Sneaking Into Base</h4>

    What was war?

    Su Shi didn¡¯t seem to understand Qianye¡¯s words very well, and thetter was in no mood to exin. Conflicts between the Attawa couldn¡¯t be considered war.

    The objective of a war was the final victory and not the life or death of a single person.

    The Masefield n Lord had suffered a serious injury from Qianye¡¯s shot and would not be able to return to the battlefield for some time. Qianye himself did not know just how bad the damage was. Great dark monarchs like him would possess powerful life-saving measures. Not to mention Qianye, even Zhang Boqian or Lin Xitang might not be able to take him down.

    Rather than chase after Progia in vain, it was better to kill the Evernight experts who were the pirs of this operation. This would be more effective in weakening the enemy fighting power and make the council truly feel some pain.

    The Attawa had paved the way for this single opportunity with their lives, and Su Wen had self-detonated in the end. Su Shi¡¯s hatred for Progia was bone-deep by now, but Qianye had no time to take care of his emotions. This was war, after all.

    The Attawa man remained on his knees, sobbing quietly as he pondered whether to me Qianye or himself. In the end, he picked up his emotions and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be heading back now. There are too many of my tribesmen here, I need to bring more people to clean up their remains.¡±

    Qianye understood his mood. He said with a sigh, ¡°Evernight has more than one such monster.¡±

    Su Shi¡¯s body trembled, but he eventually nodded and disappeared into the forest.

    Qianye walked around the battlefield once and did a simple cleanup. He had just killed eight Evernight experts: a duke, three marquises, and four counts. These experts added a fair bit to Qianye¡¯s worth. This was especially true of their contribution tobat supplies and ammunition.

    Su Shi¡¯s departure was within Qianye¡¯s expectations. The Attawa tribe would have to seek him out again pretty soon. The number of great dark monarchs from Evernight was far beyond the natives¡¯ imagination.

    Both great dark monarchs or heavenly monarchs would cause great destruction whenever they battled. The scars Progia had left in this world were proof of that. Even with the living origin power negating the effects, it would take centuries for thend to recover.

    In the past battles between the Empire and Evernight, these powerful experts would always pay attention to the damage they were doing and would take care so that it wasn¡¯t irreversible. They would be careful even when they were fighting in enemy territory for fear of retaliation.

    Things were different in the inner world. This iparably vast and mysterious world possessed a regenerative power far surpassing that of the Evernight world. And the native Attawa here were fairly primitive in their technology. The great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs hardly felt any sympathy for them. Even if they wanted to subdue these people, they would have to kill a good portion of them as an example and make them abandon all thoughts of resistance.

    After leaving the battlefield, Qianye ran in the direction of the tall tower. This time, he didn¡¯t hold back in terms of speed and ran with all his might. The tower was within sight by the time night started to fall.

    Qianye concealed himself as he approached the area, quietly killing two counts who had been posted as sentries. Looking at the armor on the deceased counts and their face-covering helmets, a bold idea came to Qianye.

    He removed all armor from one of the counts that possessed a simr body frame to his. He then donned the gear and continued toward the tower.

    An orderly base had already popped up around the tower at this point. One could see a neat formation of counts standing guard at the gates, and the lights had been lit all around thepound.

    When Qianye walked through the gates, the nearby counts only shot him a nce without asking further questions. All the counts in this expedition were assigned the same mass-produced armor, so everyone looked the same.

    Qianye felt that the armor wasn¡¯t a great fit, and its istion effects weren¡¯t that great. Ordinary counts would still find themselves tormented by the living origin power and feel quite ufortable. Add to that the fact that no one knew when they would be able to return to Evernight, the general morale was quite low. Be it the guards outside or the other counts inside the base, everyone looked rather depressed.

    Qianye strolled through the camp at a steady pace, neither rushed nor slow.

    This base was constructed with wood from the inner world. The barracks were fairly spacious and rather extravagant considering this was a military expedition.

    In addition to the residential barracks, there were warehouses, defensive structures, and entertainment facilities as well. Some of the rooms even had equipment that could iste the interior from the origin power outside, allowing the experts to rest undisturbed.

    There was a row of workshops at the edge of the camp. These workshops were all assembled from mobile equipment, so their value was ten times higher than stationary workshops. This row of workshops alone was more valuable than all of Qianye¡¯s factories on the Fort Continent.

    The tower had been fullypleted, and only a handful of technicians were left to do the final adjustments.

    One of them came down from the tower and entered one of the residential tents. Having gotten a sudden idea, Qianye slowly ¡°strolled¡± over to that tent.

    The technician finished showering and changed into casual attire, then walked toward a building located in a corner of the encampment. The marquis was no longer wearing a mask at this point.

    A marquis-rank technician... Pondering on this matter, Qianye changed his route nonchntly and followed the man. After watching the target enter the building, he then went and knocked on the door.

    The marquis emerged momentster. Seeing a count at his door, he rebuked impatiently, ¡°Haven¡¯t I finished all my work for today? I told you guys not to disturb me if there¡¯s nothing important! Mm... Mmmm...¡±

    He looked down to find that a pistol had appeared out of nowhere and was now pressed against his c.h.e.s.t. His face went pale as he said, ¡°Red Spider Lily?¡±

    ¡°Good eyesight, won¡¯t you invite me in?¡±

    Qianye walked around the room. ¡°Not bad.¡±

    The living quarters included a bedroom, a kitchen, and an independent living room. There was even a study. The living conditions here were rather good, to say the least, not at all like a temporary abode used for an expedition. Comparatively, the Imperial quarters were much simpler. Qianye himself had been sleeping out in the wild, not even bothering to pitch a tent.

    The marquis technician seemed somewhat restless. ¡°Lord Qianye, I will cooperate with whatever you need me to do. However, I must remind you that Lord Progia will be returning soon.¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°He was badly injured in my hands and won¡¯t be returning anytime soon. There¡¯s no need to wait for him.¡±

    The marquis trembled all over. He was somewhat skeptical, but he didn¡¯t dare question the im. All he could do was sit down obediently in the chair across from Qianye.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Answer my questions and I won¡¯t make it difficult for you. What is this tower for?¡±

    The technician seemed a bit hesitant. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not too sure, either.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t know. The one thing you should know is that I can kill you and retreat easily. There¡¯s really no one here apart from Progia who dares to stand in front of me.¡±

    The marquisughed wryly. ¡°You have Spatial sh, the Shot of Inception, and the Red Spider Lily. Whoever stops you will die, how can I not know that? It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know what the real purpose of this tower is.¡±

    ¡°To be frank, the tower was designed by Master Predica. All we learned was how to construct and assemble it. The core equipment used in the tower was shipped over from the Evernight World. They were all premade and sealed. Those with damaged seals will be discarded immediately. All I can do is guess some of the tower¡¯s functions based on my experience.¡±

    ¡°Very well, what is your guess?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°I believe that the purpose of this tower is to measure and analyze origin power fluctuations of a certain frequency. It emits extremely high-frequency waves and thus consumes vast amounts of energy.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s in charge of operating it?¡±

    ¡°His Majesty Progia himself. Its activation requires his aura.¡±

    Qianye said after some thought, ¡°What¡¯s the progress?¡±

    ¡°The equipment has been installed, and most of the individual tests have beenpleted. Everything will be done in half a day¡¯s time. The final step will require His Majesty to activate.¡±

    Qianye switched postures and tapped lightly on the armrest. ¡°How many of these do you need to build?¡±

    ¡°At least one and at most three. The current project was a smooth sail, so we¡¯ve already sent out parties to look for the next construction site.¡±

    The marquis shrugged helplessly. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the Demon King and Progia might know. At the very least, my friend Grand Duke Rndo doesn¡¯t know how to go back.¡±

    ¡°Then are you in contact with the other side?¡±

    ¡°We can use the tower tomunicate, we just tested the function. The information we can send and receive is fairly limited, however.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°That¡¯s not right, the inner and outer worlds are connected by a passage. It shouldn¡¯t be that difficult to transfer messages. Don¡¯t tell me this ce is just like the Great Maelstrom.¡±

    The marquis said, ¡°I found it strange as well. The signals were unexpectedly difficult to transmit, almost as though someone was intentionally interfering with them. It¡¯s not like we can¡¯t establish a connection, but we can¡¯t hear clearly what the other side is saying. The transmitted information and diagramse out as iprehensible gibberish.¡±

    Qianye walked over to the window and gazed at the nearby tower. ¡°Where is the tower¡¯s coreponent located?¡±

 Chapter 1440: Tower Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 1440: Tower Destruction</h4>

    Momentster, Qianye walked out of the living quarters, respectfully cupped his hands toward the door, and left.

    Inside the room, the marquis-rank technician sat leaning against the tall chair with his eyes closed as though he were resting. Even a passing duke wouldn¡¯t disturb him for no reason. As one of the main technicians in the construction project, this marquis¡¯ value was much higher to the Demon King and Progia than others of the same rank.

    Upon closer inspection, however, one would find that the marquis was no longer moving. He had long since lost all signs of life.

    Qianye had no intention of leaving such a special character alive.

    He was still disguised as a count when he arrived under the tower. The technicians on the structure had justpleted their work and were starting to leave. Only two counts were left behind to guard the equipment.

    The natives weren¡¯t interested in the tower. Also, Progia had intentionally left his aura in the area. Even Imperial experts would be deterred by the profound aura of a great dark monarch, let alone the natives.

    Hence, the guards weren¡¯t that strict with their duty. Only two counts were left here to suffer the torment of the living origin power.

    One of them nced at Qianye, who barely resembled a count. ¡°Work¡¯s done for today.¡±

    Qianye waved the toolbox in his hand. ¡°The master will be using these tools tomorrow. He asked me to put them on the ninth level.¡±

    The guard recognized the insignia on the toolbox. Seeing as Qianye had cited the correct workstation, they simply let him pass without further questions.

    In truth, Qianye had already gotten all the necessary information out of the marquis. He could answer any question the guards could throw at him. If worse came to worst, he would just have to kill them.

    These metals were a material Qianye had never seen before. They contained a bit of living origin power, so they must¡¯ve originated from the inner world.

    The Evernight Council was indeed full of talented people. They had just entered the new world for a couple of days, and yet they had already managed to produce such armor tes. With enough time, Evernight technology would soon appear in the inner world.

    From the eighth level onward, one could find separate chambers that housed different apparatuses. Everything looked highly intricate, but Qianye had no idea what they were used for.

    Qianye did not need to understand, either, because he simply needed to destroy them.

    There was nothing remotely simr to tools inside the toolbox. It was filled with grenades and explosives.

    Qianye extracted the contents on the spot and brought out additional materials from Andruil¡¯s space. In the blink of an eye, he had produced a batch of explosives, which he installed in every chamber. He would also throw in some origin grenades for some of the biggerpartments.

    Having installed everything on the eighth level, Qianye went up to the ninth.

    Half of the ninth level was upied by arge hall, filled with all kinds of control equipment. There were a whole ten control consoles and a master control panel at the end of the hall. All in all, there were hundreds of switches and buttons.

    Just like before, Qianye installed explosives in every console and then headed over to the master control panel. He paid extra ¡°attention¡± to Progia¡¯s seat, piling up ten origin grenades in case the explosion wasn¡¯t big enough.

    Qianye was out of explosives at this point, but the antennae were easy to deal with. He simply drew his azure green de and sliced them into dozens of pieces. He then leaped into the air and vanished over the horizon.

    There were numerous Evernight experts in the camp who noticed Qianye¡¯s unconcealed movement. However, the dukes only exchanged strange nces without chasing after him.

    A mere duke would be courting death if they were to go after Qianye.

    It was during this moment of dy that a fireball erupted from the tower, followed by a series of explosions that left the tower full of holes. This was especially true of the middle part where the ck energy crystals were stored. Their ignition led to a number of earth-shattering explosions thatpletely destroyed the tower¡¯s structure. The upper half of the tower thus copsed to the ground with a loud boom.

    In the blink of an eye, only a raging firestorm remained where the tower once stood. The ze illuminated the camp as the dust cloud from the falling tower covered everything in the area. The crackle and rattle of residual explosions felt like hammer blows in everyone¡¯s heart.

    This time, all the Evernight experts were pale. The tower they had risked life and limb to build in the inner world had been destroyed just like that?

    Most of the keyponents in the tower were manufactured back in Evernight. Two of them were personally crafted by Predica himself. The explosion of this tower would no doubt set back the Evernight Council¡¯s ns considerably.

    The dukes exchanged nces, wondering where Progia could have gone at such a time.

    Qianye understood little about the tower, but a control panel that could withstand the power of a great dark monarch was not easily obtained. The materials alone would be fairly limited, and the council couldn¡¯t have prepared one for every great dark monarch.

    That was reasonable.

    It was just that even Progia had been ambushed and injured by Qianye, so none of the other experts believed themselves an exception. There was no telling which race this hidden expert belonged to, but things would be even easier if he were a demonkin. Only a great dark monarch¡¯s defenses could give Qianye a headache; the rest were simply negligible.

    The demonkin were fairly weakpared to the other dark races. This hidden expert would die if Qianye were to ambush him.

    Thetter¡¯s current n was to flee as far away as possible, then circle back to search for an opportunity.

    Several consecutive Spatial shes took him hundreds of kilometers away. Only then did the faint sense of dangerpletely disappear.

    Heaving a sigh of relief, Qianye slowed down his movements. He was just about to climb one of the trees and get some rest when he heard some faint footsteps in the distance. He could immediately tell that they were the Attawa and not people from Evernight.

    Several Attawa warriors appeared before long. Seeing Qianye, they ced a hand on their c.h.e.s.ts and said respectfully, ¡°Respectful brethren from a different world, our holy spirit wishes to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Holy spirit?¡± Qianye frowned.

    ¡°The holy spirit resides high up in the heavens, guiding our direction and warning us of dangers. Right now, the holy spirit has summoned you.¡±

    Qianye noticed that these Attawa warriors dressed differently from Su Shi. ¡°Which tribe are you from?¡±

    ¡°Brother, we are from the Sperger tribe.¡±

    ¡°How did you find me?¡±

    ¡°The mother tree sees all life in this world. She told us you would stop here.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    The Attawa from the Sperger tribe were just as swift. They led Qianye across mountains and ridges, traveling for an entire day and night before a mountain peak appeared in the distance.

    There were a number of cylindrical buildings at the summit, surrounding arge central structure. These buildings were constructed with wooden pirs and walls made of mud and gravel. The giant leaves in this world made for some of the best roofing materials. All they needed was a bit of trimming to be a roof.

    This small setup might be simple, but it was home to dozens of Attawa, mostly a.d.u.l.t males and some women and elders. The ce looked like it had been constructed to guard something. The stone totems at the entrance of the vige probably represented the Sperger n members.

    An entire day and night of running had only taken them two rundays of distance. In theory, they should still be in the Monroe tribe¡¯snds.

    This settlement wasn¡¯t big, but it housed a holy altar which was the most important to each tribe. It was through this altar that the Attawa wouldmunicate with the holy spirit and obtain guidance.

    There was more than one holy spirit, something Qianye had just learned.

    Qianye followed the three Sperger warriors into the tribal vige and toward the central building.

    This so-called holy altar was just arge polished rock. The material, however, drew Qianye¡¯s attention because it was somewhat translucent and neither rock nor metal. Qianye felt that the rock was rather unstable, almost as though it would tear through the void and disappear any moment.

    There was an elder waiting at the altar. He bowed deeply toward Qianye and said, ¡°We thank you, brethren from a different world, for helping us drive the ck demon away and protecting our holy mountain.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s something I should do,¡± Qianye replied, a bit surprised at the swiftness of their information transfer.

    ¡°The holy spirit wishes to see you.¡±

    ¡°What do I do?¡±

    ¡°ce your hand on the altar and drink this wine. Let go of your spirit and listen with all your heart. The holy spirit will touch your soul, and you will hear his voice.¡±

    This was a fairly primitive procedure, but this was normal considering the level of their civilization.

    A young Attawa girl presented Qianye with a ss of scarlet wine. Giving it a sniff and confirming that there was no poison, Qianye finished it in one gulp. Even if the Attawa did want to poison him, not many poisons could harm his modified body.

    Once the sacrificial wine entered his body, a long-lost sensation came over his entire being. Qianye felt his consciousness floating out of his body and rising up like smoke.

    This was beyond what he had expected. If he were to keep floating endlessly and never return, wouldn¡¯t he die?

 Chapter 1441: The Holy Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 1441: The Holy Spirit</h4>

    In his daze, Qianye sensed the Attawa elder below saying something to him¡ªit was something about listening carefully because the holy spirit¡¯s voice was soft and difficult to catch.

    ording to the old man, channeling methods like this did not have a high sess rate. It was likely that the medium would not hear the holy spirit¡¯s voice.

    Qianye¡¯s consciousness flew higher and higher until the mountain peak below was just a tiny speck. It was quite surprising that the sacrificial wine possessed such an effect.

    Things grew clearer by the time his consciousness was close to the clouds. It was there that Qianye saw a figure in front of him.

    It was a handsome young man with a somewhat malicious expression. His long hair hung down over his shoulders like a ck waterfall. Hisplexion was as pale as pottery and almost translucent. There was a blue pattern between his brows, and his eyes gave off an inexplicable glow; it was almost as though the world would grow brighter wherever he cast his gaze.

    d in long ck robes, the man¡¯s slender frame stood firmly in the air. He seemed somewhat surprised upon seeing Qianye.

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought you would actuallye here?¡±

    ¡°Where are we? Is it a special ce?¡± Qianye nced at his surroundings but didn¡¯t notice anything unusual. He could fly to this height with his main body as well and quite easily at that.

    The man across from himughed all of a sudden. ¡°It¡¯s not strange for your real body to reach this height, but it¡¯s not easy toe so high up with your consciousness.¡±

    Seeing that Qianye didn¡¯t understand, the man exined patiently, ¡°The origin power in this world is alive. This kind of living origin power exerts a suppressive effect on the consciousness. Without a powerful spirit, it would be impossible to even leave the range of the altar. In other words, those below the duke rank won¡¯t even be able to leave the altar¡¯s range, let alonee up here to see me.¡±

    ording to the man, it was quite the feat for his spirit to have reached this height. Qianye asked, ¡°What requirements would one need to get here?¡±

    The manughed wryly. ¡°Let¡¯s put it this way, even I would need some luck to fly from the altar to this ce.¡±

    Only dukes could leave the altar, so those who could fly here were definitely stronger than dukes. This man was the holy spirit of the Attawa race, so he was probably a prince or a great dark monarch.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t know who you are,¡± Qianye said.

    The man nced at Qianye with augh. ¡°You might not have seen me before, but you definitely have heard of me. And I¡¯m sure you recognize this.¡±

    With that, he unfurled a pair of ck wings!

    Qianye was shaken. ¡°The ck-Winged Monarch?! No, you¡¯re not him. Who are you?¡±

    Qianye had seen Andruil and sensed his aura back when he received the monarch¡¯s inheritance. One¡¯s external appearance might be changeable, but the innate aura wasn¡¯t so easily altered. The man before him did possess a pair of ck wings, as well as top-tier blood energy, but he was not Andruil.

    The man said, ¡°Of course not. Teacher and I are separate individuals.¡±

    Qianye was a bit cautious. ¡°I¡¯ve always kept my aura contained and I¡¯m only here in spirit form, how did you know?¡±

    The manughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I... fine, looks like you don¡¯t like jokes. I¡¯ll just get straight to the point. The Monroe n¡¯s Bloodline Concealment is extremely famous, and Teacher was the n¡¯s second-generation primogenitor. This power originates from him. As teacher and disciple, I understand the power well and know how to deal with it. Of course, knowing and being able to deal it are two different matters. It just so happens that I can do both.

    ¡°The second reason is simple enough. I contributed to the development of the Wings of Inception. There¡¯s a hint of my own bloodline aura in it, so I can¡¯t be mistaken.¡±

    Qianey was surprised. ¡°Who exactly are you?¡±

    ¡°Rex, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of me.¡±

    Qianye nced around vigntly, seeking a way to return to his body.

    Rex, however, did not move. He smiled as he noticed Qianye¡¯s subtle movements. ¡°Did Teacher say I betrayed him?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡± Qianye was rather candid.

    Rex sighed dejectedly. ¡°There was indeed some conflict between us regarding the wings¡¯ construction. To put it simply, I believed that I was the most suitable candidate to wield the Wings of Inception, but Teacher believed that I was insufficient to take it to the apex. That was why he insisted on leaving the Wings of Inception in the inheritance realm, where ity in wait for a suitable candidate to appear.¡±

    ¡°Why did the ck-Winged Monarch not use it himself instead of leaving it as an inheritance?¡± Qianye asked.

    The Wings of Inception was inherently on par with the Grand Magnums. Considering how terrifying Andruil was back in the day, he could easily control and wield it.

    Rex¡¯s gaze peered through Qianye¡¯s spirit for a while. ¡°Teacher built the Wings of Inception in order topletely suppress the Red Spider Lily. Only in the final stages of fine-tuning did he discover that perfecting the wings required a bloodline of unprecedented power. Not even the current ancient vampire bloodlines were sufficient!

    ¡°Back then, I thought he was simply lying to me and that it was just an excuse. That¡¯s why I left him, but I returned to his side before long.

    ¡°Teacher said what he said in his inheritance in order to conceal my return. That was because he needed me to do something very important, something the council could not find out.¡±

    Qianye was somewhat skeptical, but there was still a modic.u.m of trustworthiness in Rex¡¯s words. The dark races were the first to find out about Andruil¡¯s inheritance and the ones who worked together to dig it up. This meant that Andruil¡¯s inheritance might have fallen in the hands of other vampires¡ªhad it not been for Qianye¡¯s purer Monroe bloodline.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s going on here? Why did you want to see me?¡±

    ¡°I knew the Evernight Council would finally open the passage into this world and send people in. Your appearance here, though, was more of a surprise. I would¡¯ve never expected that I would meet Teacher¡¯s sessor.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°You¡¯ve been in this world since long ago?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out more and more as you go. I wanted to see you in order to stop the council from taking control of this world.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°The council has dispatched the great dark monarchs Progia and the Eternal me. I only managed to injure the Masefield n lord with the Attawas¡¯ sacrifice and good luck. We will need to work with the Empire if we truly wish to stop them.¡±

    Rex seemed a bit hesitant. ¡°The vampire race has always been enemies with the humans. Cooperation will be rather awkward.¡±

    Qianye said with a frown, ¡°Around half of the vampires have been eliminated back in Evernight. Even the Twilight Continent has been upied. Are you still trying to maintain a posture of superiority under such circ.u.mstances?¡±

    Rex was surprised. ¡°What? The Twilight Continent has been captured? By whom? When did that happen?¡±

    Qianye gazed out in a daze. ¡°This happened after the opening of the new world, quite recently in fact. The demonkin and the arachne, along with some of the werewolves,unched a sudden assault on the vampire race. Things happened so quickly that their forces fell apart.¡±

    Rex was furious. ¡°Impossible! We still have the Queen of the Night! Even if she¡¯s asleep, Medanzo and Reynold are still around, aren¡¯t they? The Lightless Monarch might be useless, but Lord Reynold is a true powerhouse no weaker than the Eternal me!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Reynold fought Progia and the Eternal me in order to protect me and Nighteye. However, Medanzo defected at the critical moment and killed Reynold.¡±

    ¡°Medanzo... a traitor?¡± Rex¡¯s expression copsed in disbelief. ¡°Why would he? He¡¯s a vampire and a great dark monarch at that. Where can he go after betraying the race? What is there to gain?¡±

    Rex¡¯s expression grew increasingly solemn. Apparently, he hade to understand the gravity of this situation.

    Qianye asked, ¡°My current strength is at the level of an ancient vampire grand duke. What is yours? Can we work together to fight the Eternal me?¡±

    Qianye held certain expectations when he asked this question. As Andruil¡¯s most trusted disciple, Rex had to be a highly talented individual. He had also cultivated for a great length of time, so he should be close to a great dark monarch by now.

    Rex nced at Qianye with aplicated expression. ¡°Not long ago, I reached the level of a crown prince. My n¡¯s blood seal is still burning, so I can¡¯t ignite it again to formally be one, but I expect to be able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Howard and Habsburg.¡±

    Qianye felt a bit relieved since things would be easier with such a powerful backup. Combining the power of Daybreak and Evernight, as well as that of his chaos origin power, Qianye was fairly close on the heels of the prince-rank. The weaker ones might not be his match.

    With him and Rex working together, they would at least be able to survive against the Eternal me. A battle was not out of the question.

    However, Qianye discovered that there was something odd about Rex¡¯s expression. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

 Chapter 1442: Secret

    <h4>Chapter 1442: Secret</h4>

    ¡°There is indeed something wrong,¡± Rex replied helplessly.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°The biggest problem is that I¡¯m already dead!¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± Qianye was surprised.

    Not many people were strong enough to kill Rex. Only top existences like the supremes, the ck-Winged Monarch, the Eternal me, and the Azure King would be able to do so.

    ¡°Who? When?¡± Qianye¡¯s voice trembled with killing intent.

    ¡°What? nning to avenge me?¡± Rexughed spuriously.

    Qianye sighed deeply. ¡°Time is on my side. Maybe not now, but even the Eternal me is not out of the question in the future.¡±

    He understood full well the potential of his strength and chaos origin power. By the time he was a great dark monarch, even the Eternal me might not be his match.

    ¡°Bold ims to make, let me see what you¡¯re capable of.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll summon my body.¡±

    Rex waved his hands. ¡°No! I¡¯ve been dead for a long time. This spirit is extremely weak, so I cannot get close to your body.¡±

    After listening to the exnation, Qianye opened his left palm to reveal a projection of his heart. There were an entire five origin crystals on it. This meant that Qianye¡¯s Daybreak side had already stepped into the divine champion realm and was only one step away from rank twenty-four, the widely epted threshold of a heavenly monarch.

    Qianye¡¯s right hand showed the structure of his body. Someone at Rex¡¯s level could see that Qianye¡¯s body had been reforged from the inside out¡ªhis constitution had reached a terrifying level and had almost no ws left. The only thing left unupgraded was the soul, blood core, and the brain.

    As an Evernight expert, Rex understood that Qianye was currently at the grand duke rank, but that didn¡¯t stop him from feeling frustrated. How could there be any grand duke as strong as this person? Even a great dark monarch was merely at the same physical strength.

    If an ordinary grand duke¡¯s physique wasparable to steel, Qianye¡¯s was like a super-alloy that was several times stronger.

    ¡°You really are... a monster.¡± Rex sighed despite no longer needing to breathe.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s actual strength, the man stopped keeping up pretenses. ¡°You had better give up on any thoughts of avenging me. The one who killed me is... the Queen.¡±

    ¡°What?! Oh, you mean the Spider Queen?¡±

    Rex destroyed any illusions Qianye might have formed. ¡°It¡¯s the Queen of the Night, Lilith.¡±

    Qianye listened solemnly, curious about the reasoning.

    ¡°This matter ignited a fallout between Teacher and the Queen.¡± Rex sighed.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to evaluate the situation. ¡°What exactly is in the new world that is so important?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the darkness origins. In truth, this darkness origins...¡± Halfway through the conversation, Rex¡¯s voice grew hoarse, and Qianye could no longer hear him clearly.

    Rex discovered something. ¡°Looks like all of my memories regarding the darkness origins have been erased. That¡¯s not important, you¡¯ll find out very soon.¡±

    Qianye asked a couple more times, but Rex was in the same state. He couldn¡¯t talk about anything rted to the darkness origins.

    At this point in the conversation, Qianye had also discovered that the current Rex was notplete. His situation was somewhat simr to the Pointer Monarch¡¯s remnant will back in the year.

    It was clear that Rex had really passed.

    Having confirmed this, Qianye changed the conversation. ¡°Since you¡¯ve been waiting here all along, did you have anything to say to me?¡±

    This problem was the key to opening the door.

    ¡°What should I do?¡±

    ¡°Do whatever you can to stop them! You have to kill the people they send here. The Attawa tribes have all heard this revtion, and they will be your most loyalpanions. At the same time, the mother tree and the earth itself will help you, every tree here will be your eyes and ears.¡±

    ¡°Rex?¡±

    The glow in Rex¡¯s eyes disappeared as he returned to his holy form. He nced at Qianye with a surprised expression, saying, ¡°You actually managed to get here?¡±

    Everyone seemed to have returned to before. Rex was like a looping machine that had been reset.

    Speechless, Qianye went through all the questions again in hopes of finding out more from Rex. This projection possessed a part of Rex¡¯s intelligence¡ªit could still see through Qianye¡¯s Wings of Inception and remembered quite a lot of secrets. Apparently, he couldn¡¯t forget it even before his death.

    In the end, Qianye understood that Rex had left this consciousness in preparation for the Evernight Council¡¯s invasion of the new world. He wanted to round up experts to foil the council¡¯s n with the help of the Attawa.

    Realizing that there wasn¡¯t anything left to ask and feeling fatigued in spirit, Qianye made ready to return to his body. It was at this time that a sudden glow ignited in the depths of Rex¡¯s eyes. A figure rose in the depths of those pupils, almost as though it had just woken up from a deep slumber.

    ¡°So it¡¯s you,¡± he said in a gloomy voice.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve seen you before.¡±

    ¡°When?¡±

    Rex paused for a bit. ¡°It should be... in the depths of space-time turbulence. I only saw a fragment of fate, but I¡¯ve been waiting for this day all along.¡±

    ¡°Who are you at the moment?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Rex, a consciousness left behind in the holy spirit¡¯s will. The reason for my existence is to tell you one thing, all the answers you seek are in the holy mountain.¡±

    ¡°Why go through all this trouble?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because some secrets must be kept eternally. They cannot be described, nor even remembered. They can only be stored in a certain state,¡± Rex said implicatively.

    Qianye understood that it was probably something rted to the darkness origins. It could not be spoken of nor remembered, only ced in a certain location. What the people needed to do was to remember that location.

    Havingpleted his mission, the glow in Rex¡¯s eyes faded away, and the silhouette began to disappear.

    Qianye¡¯s body was still leaning against the altar. He moved his body about after his return and felt relieved after finding that everything was fine.

    The elder knelt on the floor, saying, ¡°The Sperger tribe of the Attawa is willing to destroy the invading demons at all costs!¡±

    The other warriors also fell on their knees and repeated the elder¡¯s words.

    Qianye allowed them to stand and proceeded to ask about the Sperger n¡¯s territories, distribution, and military power.

    The thirteen Attawa tribes were fairly simr in their structure and development. The Sperger tribe was also supported by the dozen or so giant wargods, fairly simr to the Monroe.

    Back then, the Monroe tribe had sacrificed life and limb to pave the way to Progia, ultimately weakening his defensive field. The effect wasn¡¯t that great, either. It was far below expectations. Progia had fled immediately because Qianye¡¯s shot was much more powerful than he had expected.

    That battle wiped out hundreds of Attawa soldiers; not a single person survived. Over half of them had lost their lives as soon as the battle began.

    Now that he had a choice, Qianye didn¡¯t really want the Attawa soldiers to just throw their lives away.

    After thinking for a long while, Qianye said, ¡°Have some of your men take me to the holy mountain, the rest should go back to the tribe and prepare for war.¡±

    The elder tasked the same three soldiers who had led Qianye here to take him to the holy mountain. He himself gathered the other tribesmen and left for their stronghold.

    Having assigned the missions, Qianye set out with his guides. As for the elder, he probably would never receive the order to mobilize.

    Things were different on their way to the holy mountain. Two of the soldiers walked in front and one brought up the rear, ready to fight to the death at any moment.

    It was one runday¡¯s distance to the holy mountain. Chatting along the way, Qianye noticed that the three Attawa soldiers hated the council¡¯s soldiers, but they were neutral toward humans and vampires. Now that was interesting.

    Qianye asked them why, but they couldn¡¯t exin it clearly, either. All they kept saying was that the demons would destroy this world.

    Since there was no answer, Qianye decided to stop asking. He would see the secret Rex had left behind when he arrived at the holy mountain. Perhaps it would tell him what exactly the darkness origins were¡ªsomething that could even make Andruil and Lilith fall out.

 Chapter 1443: The Holy Mountain Mother Tree

    <h4>Chapter 1443: The Holy Mountain Mother Tree</h4>

    The Attawa holy mountain stretched tens of thousands of kilometers, spanning over three rundays across the entirend. The ten-thousand-meter peak jutted into the skies with its upper half hidden behind the clouds.

    The inner world¡¯s boundaries were limited by the sea of clouds above, making it almost impossible to venture beyond it. That was why the Attawa¡¯s holynd wasn¡¯t on the peak itself, nor had anyone gone up there before. Even the giant wargods wouldn¡¯tst long if they were to go that high up. Qianye wouldn¡¯t be able to move about at will, either.

    The Attawa holynd was located on a smaller adjacent mountain. It stood just a couple hundred meters below the sea of clouds.

    The Attawa who lived on the holy mountain numbered around two thousand. Their tall houses were cut from giant stones, with doors that stood over ten meters high.

    Qianye felt as though he had entered a giant¡¯s nation. Some of the buildings were three stories high and fairly grand.

    The Attawa had built these tall buildings not because they loved spacious lodgings, but rather in preparation for their giant wargods.

    The Attawa possessed long arms and legs, with the stronger giant wargods standing seven to eight meters in height. They could touch the ceiling of these massive buildings just by raising their arms. In that context, the size of the structures wasn¡¯t ridiculous.

    In this inner world, the Attawa tribes were at the top of the food chain. Apart from some rare beasts, no other creature was their rival. Their long lifespans and peaceful living environments allowed for masonry to flourish.

    Hence, the buildings were covered in stone carvings, and as if that wasn¡¯t enough, there were hundreds of stone pirs showcasing the residents¡¯ craftsmanship.

    Qianye followed the guide to the highest point in the holynd, where there was a giant stone hall that stood hundreds of meters tall. There were thirteen pirs in the za, each depicting the emblem of a different tribe.

    The rear side of the Attawa race¡¯s holy temple was connected to the holy mountain.

    The first thing to greet Qianye¡¯s eyes upon entering was an iparablyrge hall with a holy altar at the far end. This altar was simr to the one Qianye had seen at the Sperger tribe¡¯s ce, just ten times bigger.

    A row of aged Attawas stood before this altar, elders of the Monroe tribe judging from their clothing. On one side of the temple stood a dozen or so giant wargods. Taking into ount the ones that had fallen, the Monroe tribe apparently had over twenty giant wargods and were much stronger than the Sperger n. They certainly did not fail to live up to their name.

    On the other side were warriors and people of status from the tribe. Su Shi was also among them, just a bit further at the back. If Su Wen hadn¡¯t died, she would have had an important ce here as well.

    When Qianye arrived at the center of the hall, the elders walked forward to greet him. Observing the guest carefully, one of the elders scattered a cloud of mist with a wave of his hand. The mist gradually turned dark red aftering into contact with Qianye.

    The old man¡¯s expression shifted drastically as he fell to his knees and called out, ¡°There¡¯s no mistaking it, you are the Messiah the holy spirit spoke of. Our guardian tribe and the entire Attawa race have waited one thousand two hundred years for your arrival!¡±

    Time wasn¡¯t the key here. Qianye said in a deep voice, ¡°The holy spirit has sent me a revtion and instructed me to visit the holy mountain. The secret to resisting the ck demons is here.¡±

    Qianye had to y along, seeing as how everyone was so solemn.

    The elder said, ¡°As expected, you have heard the holy spirit¡¯s guidance. No one but the elder guardians know of the secrets the holy spirit had left behind.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. The Attawa called this ce the holy mountain and built a city here. Anyone could tell that the most likely ce to find any secrets would be here.

    The elder stood up and led Qianye to one of the side windows. The giant hundred-meter window opened up toward the distant main peak of the holy mountain.

    ¡°The holy spirit¡¯s inheritance is at the peak of the holy mountain. No Attawa can reach the peak, so you¡¯ll have to go there on your own and search for the secrets.¡±

    Qianye felt a bit anxious as he gazed at the distant mountain. Where was he going to search for a secret in such arge ce?

    The holy summit was a sacred ce for the Attawa, so they simply wouldn¡¯t step into the ce. How would they know where Rex¡¯s secret was?

    Qianye felt helpless because there was no other choice. He would have to go up to the peak in search of the secret.

    All the Attawas were rmed and angry.

    A giant wargod unleashed a loud warcry while beating his c.h.e.s.t. A loudmotion broke out as Attawas of all ages rushed out from every corner of the holynd to assemble in the za. There were even youngsters.

    Only the elders were calm. ¡°Follow us to the mother tree forest and see which of the ck demons have arrived.¡±

    This invitation was exactly what Qianye wanted; he also wanted to see what the mother tree looked like. This tree could detect his movements and lock onto him across great distances; it was surely not a simple tree at all.

    After leaving the great hall, the elder brought Qianye to a forest halfway down the mountain. The woods here were lush and verdant, no different from any other forest, except perhaps for the especiallyrge trees scattered around the ce.

    Qianye¡¯s attention was immediately drawn to those trees, as well as the strong entrenchment of Attawa soldiers around the forest.

    The elder said, ¡°The mother tree serves as the eyes of our Attawa race. She watches the entirend for signs of those destroyers and demons. That¡¯s why we have always sent our strongest warriors to guard the mother tree.¡±

    The guards bowed respectfully upon seeing the elder and opened up a path.

    There was a small trail in the forest snaking toward the giant mother trees. A small house could be seen under each of them where the keepers lived.

    Only a handful of elders possessed this ability. The keeper¡¯s position was fairly important since they served as the tribe¡¯s scouts.

    Qianye and the elder arrived under one of the mother trees, the one that had found traces of the ck demons in its area.

    The elder talked to the keeper briefly before cing a hand on the mother tree and closing his eyes.

    He opened his eyes a whileter, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve found the demons¡¯ whereabouts, and the mother tree¡¯s attention has been focused on that region. You can give it a try.¡±

    Qianye imitated the old man by cing a hand on the tree. Although Rex had imed to have bestowed upon him the power tomunicate with the mother tree, a confirmation was still in order.

    The moment Qianye touched the mother tree, he felt as though his entire being was soaked in warm water. A warm sensation washed over his senses; even his consciousness turned hazy. It was just like when he had drunk the sacrificial wine back at the Sperger tribe¡¯s altar, only stronger.

    He was epted soon after his consciousness was suffused with warmth. Qianye came to understand that this warmth was likely the consciousness of the mother tree. It was just as Rex had said¡ªhe had been epted.

    Qianye rxed, allowing his spirit to leave his body and merge into the mother tree. The scenery before him transformed immediately afterward¡ªthe mountains and rivers shed past his eyes and came to a stop in a certain part of the forest.

    The image was made up of countless scenes stitched together and ovepped. After adapting to the vision, Qianye realized that each individual scene originated from a single tree. The mother tree would simply bring all of them together and convert them into a singlerge image.

    Qianye could see hundreds of Evernight soldiers cutting down trees and clearingnd. Some other experts were helping to process the lumber into wooden boards, which they would use to build wooden buildings.

    Most of them were arachne, but quite surprisingly, there were some vampires as well!

    Although Medanzo had sided with the council after the war on Twilight Continent, few vampire experts had ever appeared among the council¡¯s ranks. It could be that there were very few vampires following Medanzo, or maybe the council simply did not trust them enough.

    It was the same when the Evernight forces marched on the inner world; Qianye did not see any vampires in the Eternal me¡¯s army. So, it was quite surprising that they had appeared here in this forest.

    A vampire walked out from behind the trees and entered Qianye¡¯s vision. The mother tree¡¯s projection of the man¡¯s image was actually a bit distorted.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± The vampire nced toward Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s expression shifted, and his gaze immediately turned cold. This person was actually the Lightless Monarch Medanzo!

    It could be said that the Azure King¡¯s demise was Medanzo¡¯s doing. The Demon King could not have destroyed half of the vampire race if it wasn¡¯t for his betrayal.

    Medanzo had yed the most crucial role in the war as he was the one who had sealed off all channels ofmunication with the Queen.

 Chapter 1444: On the Holy Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 1444: On the Holy Mountain</h4>

    Qianye stared at Medanzo through the mother tree, almost unable to contain the killing intent welling up inside. Why had the Lightless Monarch suddenly entered the new world? Had the vampires outside beenpletely suppressed?

    One thing he did know for sure. Since Medanzo had arrived here, he would have to remain here for eternity.

    Luck was on Qianye¡¯s side as well. Medanzo¡¯s arrival happened to coincide with Qianye¡¯s ambush on Progia. The council had lost too many of its core experts, so Medanzo did not have much manpower to mobilize.

    There wasn¡¯t a single duke near Medanzo, and the strongest subordinate he had was a vampire glorious marquis. Qianye could restrain any vampire with his dark golden blood energy, making it impossible for them to bring out their full power.

    Qianye quickly calmed himself down despite the killing intent. No matter how weak Medanzo was, he was still a great dark monarch who had enjoyed great fame for hundreds of years.

    Just like with Progia, Qianye understood that he only had one opportunity. Without sufficient damage, he would not be able to force Medanzo into hiding.

    The Monroe tribe elder also saw everything through the tree. He was visibly shaken upon setting his eyes on Medanzo. ¡°Is this a ck demon of destruction as well?¡±

    Apparently, the word "destruction" was somewhat equivalent to "great dark monarch" in the Attawa tongue. Only great dark monarchs could render the Attawa tribespletely helpless and bring utter destruction.

    ¡°I¡¯m... afraid so.¡±

    Qianye realized that this wasn¡¯t good news, especially to the Monroe tribe who had lost arge number of elites.

    Unexpectedly, the elder said after some silence, ¡°If their objective is the holy mountain, our guardian tribe will pay any price to keep them out!¡±

    ¡°I will help as best I can, but I need time. At least three days.¡± Qianye could only give them such a promise.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem if he¡¯s not approaching the holy mountain. If he does, we will do our best to give you three days¡¯ time.¡±

    After some thought, Qianye felt that he should let the Attawa know a bit more. ¡°I¡¯m going to prepare a weapon during this time. With it, we might just be able to put this ck demon of destruction to sleep in thisnd. Without it, we will only be able to injure him, and he¡¯ll surely return once he has healed, just like that previous one.¡±

    The elder bowed deeply. ¡°We thank you for your trust. We will pay any price to get you three days¡¯ time! Even if the holy guardian tribe is wiped out, it will be worth the sacrifice if we can kill the ck demon.¡±

    Qianye had no absolute confidence against a great dark monarch, but he might be able to escape with Spatial sh and Bloodline Concealment even after missing the shot. Medanzo would not be able to capture every Attawa if they were to scatter, but he could take them down little by little if they dug in at the holy mountain. Experts at that level could not be killed with numbers alone.

    However, the elder was firm with his decision. ¡°We aren¡¯t just the guardians of the Attawa race, but also the guardians of this world. Our Attawa soldiers were born to protect this world. Those ck demons are destroyers, devourers that leave nothing alive in their wake. No soldier of ours can allow this to happen. This world nurtured us to destroy these otherworldly locusts!¡±

    These vehement words left Qianye speechless.

    He did feel a bit awkward after hearing all that. With his understanding of the vampires and Medanzo, the Lightless Monarch was not a tyrant who would destroy everything in sight. On the contrary, he was a man who reveled in the finer things in life like wine, women, and food.

    The first thing on the mind of such a monarch would be to upy and develop the territory. He probably wouldn¡¯t destroy everything and leave this world lifeless as the Attawa believed.

    Judging from the elder¡¯s expression, this was clearly a belief that spanned many generations. Qianye knew that it was useless to exin, so he kept silent.

    Three days of time wasn¡¯t enough for Qianye to explore the holy mountain, but it was possible for him to search for Rex¡¯s secret. Since the man had instructed him to go there, he must¡¯ve left clear markings.

    Additionally, Qianye would use this time to fill the three bullets with dark golden blood energy. Qianye¡¯s bloodline was, after all, superior to Medanzo¡¯s. The effects of bloodline suppression were quite evident among the vampires, so this bullet woulde in handy against the Lightless Monarch.

    No matter how strong Medanzo was, he definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to take three shots of dark golden blood energy. If he didn¡¯t die from that, Qianye would still have the opportunity to close in and finish him off.

    While Qianye was lost in thought, Medanzo¡¯s expression in the projection shifted noticeably as he turned to face the elder.

    Thetter let out a pained cry, tears flowing out constantly as he closed his eyes. Meanwhile, Medanzo¡¯s image became greatly distorted and almost indiscernible.

    The elder cut off the projection and fell limp to the ground. Qianye went over and asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I won¡¯t be able to see things for a few days, but the mother tree will be my eyes.¡±

    ¡°Can you still monitor him?¡± Qianye said with a frown.

    ¡°No problem. He might¡¯ve discovered that we were watching him, but not how we did it. It¡¯s useless even if he does, the mother tree can see through every tree, every nt, every bird, and every stone. He cannot destroy everything, so we will always find him.¡±

    Feeling a bit calmer, Qianye went on to discuss where they would meet up upon his return. He then picked up the food and water the Attawa had prepared for him and left for the main peak.

    After leaving the holynd, Qianye stopped holding back with his speed. He immediately channeled Spatial sh and vanished into the distance.

    After his departure, two giant wargods walked out from the ancient trees and exchanged nces.

    ¡°Impossible. The mother tree granted us the power to merge with the ancient trees.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, we cannot catch up to him. He¡¯s too fast.¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen a creature move faster than the Attawa.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s return and report to the elder what we saw.¡±

    Conversing in the local tongue, the two giant wargods merged back into the tree.

    At this point, Qianye was already shing across great distances, covering several kilometers with each move. The holy mountain was massive¡ªeveryone could see it from a distance, but the distance up the mountain was much greater than expected. Qianye spent an entire hour just to reach the base of the main peak.

    Standing below the main peak, Qianye finally came to appreciate just how tremendous and grand this mountain was. His vision waspletely upied by it. It was almost as though the earth had surged up at this point and pierced into the sky.

    Anyone could tell that this mountain was at least hundreds of kilometers tall; there was simply no end in sight.

    Qianye took a deep breath and began his ascension.

    Back in the Evernight World, Qianye could¡¯ve reached the cloudyer in the span of a single breath, but things here were not the same.

    The higher he went, the greater the pressure he experienced.

    An immeasurable amount of living darkness origin power assailed him from all directions, almost like a congested road. All he could do was push through little by little until he was less than a hundred meters from the cloudyer. At this point, the density of darkness origin power was at a terrifying level.

    Qianye could even feel the darkness origin power be tangible. He could reach out and grab a handful of this cotton-like energy.

    The biggest issue here was that this origin power wasn¡¯t inanimate. It was alive and moving, much like a dense crowd of insects. This made the environment rather terrifying.

    From a certain perspective, this soft darkness origin power was extremely resilient and almost impossible to destroy. Moving through this environment felt like countless steel wires cutting into the flesh.

    Simply cutting in wasn¡¯t that much of a problem, but this living darkness origin power was no different from a powerful poison. Once inside, it would transform or activate the victim¡¯s tissues, turning them into dozens if not hundreds of different microscopic lifeforms. Even Evernight experts would find their bodies breaking down under such circ.u.mstances.

    Giant wargods could also no longer survive at this point. Their massive but rtively frail bodies happened to be their weakest aspect. Speed and strength provided little help.

    Qianye didn¡¯t dare test out the waters with his body. Even if he could hold out against the origin power, his armor and clothes would break down. With a single thought, he unleashed his chaos domain¡ªthe greyish origin power pushed the living darkness energy away in a domineering fashion.

    The other side of the cloudyer was like apletely different world. The ce was cold and deste, without a single shred of origin power. The cloudyer was like a barrier that kept the darkness origin power out.

    This cloudyer was less than ten meters thick. Qianye shot through it in the blink of an eye and finally came to witness the real face of the holy mountain.

 Chapter 1445: Lord of Evernight

    <h4>Chapter 1445: Lord of Evernight</h4>

    The ce above the clouds was deste, but it wasn¡¯t entirely without life. There were some strange giant trees with pir-like trunks and leaves that spanned dozens of meters. These dark green leaves wererge, thick, and had countless feelers stretching out from their ends.

    These trees grew sparse, with thousands of meters between one another, almost as though they had their own territories.

    These trees reacted the moment Qianye arrived. The leaves arched up ever so slightly, almost as though they were about to attack and capture something.

    Qianye instinctively activated his bloodline concealment, upon which the leaves rxed and went back to their normal state.

    Had they sensed the changes in origin power? Qianye activated his origin power vision to observe carefully.

    There was almost no origin power above the cloudyer, almost like a vacuum of energy. ording to reason, this kind of environment wasn¡¯t suitable for any living being. Those with origin power would find their energy leaking out under the pressure.

    Then again, nature was full of miracles, just like how these trees were able to grow here.

    As for Qianye, his body was so strong that this bit of vacuum was negligible before his chaos origin power.

    After a moment of observation, a feeble wisp of origin power appeared in his vision. This shred of energy seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and simply began drifting along in the air. It had just arrived near one of the giant trees when the tentacles on the edges of the leaves swooped down and absorbed it, then returned to their normal state.

    Qianye finally understood. It turned out that these giant trees survived by capturing stray origin power in the air.

    Since they could capture origin power, they naturally could capture creatures with origin power. In that sense, these trees were carnivores that were more dangerous than they seemed.

    Qianye arrived underneath one of those giant trees and released a bit of origin power from his outstretched hand. Sensing the energy, the leaves swooped down at lightning speed and engulfed half of his body with its tendrils.

    The giant tree absorbed origin power to sustain itself, but Venus Dawn was no ordinary delicacy. Ingesting this zing origin power was more like swallowing fire than eating.

    The trees nearby immediately sensed the emergence of Venus Dawn. This time, they weren¡¯t hungry for it but rather fearful. The tendrils withdrew into the leaves, which rolled themselves tightly until they looked like sharp thorns.

    Qianye reached out to touch the tree trunk and stretched his consciousness inside.

    The giant tree was hard and firm, with a small cavity at the center. This cavity was actually filled with liquid origin power!

    The origin power inside the tree was neutral, perhaps even a bit toward the daybreak side. Most importantly, this origin power was extremely pure and showed no signs of life. Anyone could just absorb it as is.

    Qianye drew his azure de and stabbed at one of the trees, producing a deep hole in the trunk. The sword energy drilled into the bark until the hole had reached the depths of the cavity.

    Faint green sap flowed out from the hole as Qianye pulled out his sword. This green sap was fairly viscous and had a silvery shine to it. Qianye cupped the fluid with his hand and, after some thought, drank it straight up.

    Within moments, he felt as though a fire had lit up in his c.h.e.s.t. The sudden surge of origin power kicked the Glory and Mystery chapters into motion, ready to devour the iing food.

    Since Qianye surpassed the glorious marquis and divine champion ranks on either side of his cultivation, the Glory and Mystery chapters seemed to have gained a bit of spirituality. They would start moving whenever they encountered suitable origin power. That being said, it was rare to see them both so restless at the same time.

    This simultaneous operation went on naturally without a hitch, moving several times faster than they would on their own. Qianye suddenly realized that this was the true face of the Song n Ancient Scroll. The two chapters working in tandem was the true path.

    However, the world was always either Daybreak or Evernight, how could there be energy that could activate both chapters? That was why the Song n Ancient Scroll¡ªor the Scroll of Primal Chaos as it was known in earlier times¡ªwas eventually forgotten and no one knew how to cultivate it. It certainly didn¡¯t help that training in just one aspect was a sure path to demise.

    Only the Song n with its vast riches would dabble in the collection of ancient tomes. That was how some ignorant curator ended up paying arge sum for the Song n Ancient Scroll.

    Only after arriving in the inner world anding into contact with the strange tree sap did Qianye realize that he could activate both chapters at the same time.

    The Glory and Mystery chapters revolved faster and faster in a clearly demarcated bnce. This process produced an increasing supply of Venus Dawn and dark golden blood energy.

    The two top-grade origin powers entered the front and back covers of the Book of Darkness, nurturing the blood core and heart. The two organs began growing and evolving at a near-visible rate. At this point, a single thought from Qianye would send the origin power into the book to produce chaos origin power. However, he felt that it was better to upgrade his blood core and heart at this point. A better foundation would allow him to amodate even more chaos origin power.

    This origin power was extremely powerful, heavy, and resilient. Qianye would need to modify his body once more in order to wield it at will. It was rather taxing for him to channel chaos origin power with just his ancient vampire physique.

    Qianye lost track of time while cultivating. Two days had passed by the time the two chapters came to a stop and he had finished digesting that sap.

    Qianye slowly opened his eyes and sensed the changes to his body. Two days of cultivation had brought about benefits equalling several months of work in the past. This speed was shocking!

    This speed wasn¡¯t without its limits, and the restriction was the giant tree¡¯s sap.

    After two days and nights of cultivation, Qianye understood more about the origin power in the tree sap. This unstable energy was at the midpoint between Daybreak and Evernight, and the slightest nudge would send it off to one side.

    In essence, this strange origin power and chaos origin power were both at the midpoint between the Daybreak and Evernight. Yet, they were at opposite ends of this neutrality.

    Chaos origin power was heavy, resilient, and immovable once formed. The domain formed from it could be as light as a feather or as heavy as a mountain, even going so far as to suppress other domains.

    On the other hand, the strange origin power was at the extreme of transformation. It was constantly shifting between darkness and daybreak depending on the environment.

    The two wereparable in power, just standing at different ends of the spectrum.

    Qianye had only managed to condense chaos origin power with the help of the Book of Darkness. This strange origin power relied on the giant tree to exist and could only be stored in liquid form.

    Each and every tree here was a priceless treasure to Qianye. As long as he could keep absorbing the sap here, he would gain several decades worth of cultivation in just one month. With the Glory and Mystery chapters in hand, he simply had no fear of bottlenecks. All he needed was .u.mtion.

    This cloudyer was a priceless treasurend that could make up for his shorings. The only pity was that there were only a handful of such trees on this massive mountain.

    Qianye still needed to deal with Medanzo, but after finding this secret realm, he felt that there was no rush. Considering his skill in stealth and assassination, he could easily kill the vampire after .u.mting enough power to break through to the heavenly monarch realm.

    He had spent two days cultivating. With only one day left, there was no way he could finish three origin bullets. He would be able to produce one at most, so his chances of killing the Lightless Monarch weren¡¯t very high.

    Just as Qianye was pondering on his options, a familiar voice echoed behind him. ¡°You¡¯ve already discovered how to use the mirage moon origin power. That was fast! Although it¡¯s a bit of a waste to absorb it like that, you already have chaos origin power anyway.¡±

    This voice came out of nowhere and without prior notice. What surprised him the most was that he hadn¡¯t sensed the man appear at all. Qianye¡¯s perception could be considered equal to the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs, even if not the most powerful in Evernight.

    Few experts could leave himpletely helpless at this point.

    Turning back with a serious expression, Qianye saw a slender man standing there. His heart jumped wildly the moment he saw the person. ¡°Howe it¡¯s you?!¡±

    The man stood with his hands behind his back. ¡°Why can¡¯t it be me?¡±

    ¡°You... weren¡¯t you...¡± Qianye didn¡¯t know how to put it. There were countless theories about the man¡¯s fate, but two were the most prominent. One was that he had left to explore the void, the second was that he had fallen.

    ¡°What does the world say about me?¡±

    The manughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine if other people don¡¯t recognize me, but you? Haven¡¯t you already met the consciousness I left behind? Seeing how well you¡¯ve raised the wings, almost to the point of great sess, I can tell that my decision was not wrong.¡±

    ¡°Andruil!¡± Qianye finally called out his name.

    ¡°I have many names, but Andruil is the name that apanied me all this time. As for the ck-Winged Monarch, that title is not entirely necessary. If you wish to address me ording to thew of the River of Blood... you should call me Lord of Evernight.¡±

 Chapter 1446: Fall

    <h4>Chapter 1446: Fall</h4>

    Lord of Evernight. This was an address that would make everyone sigh; even Qianye felt his c.h.e.s.t tighten.

    The dark race titles weren¡¯t given just randomly. They were given ording to the attributes and power of the expert. This was especially true for princes and great dark monarchs. Certain powerful great dark monarchs obtained their titles from the River of Blood and the darkness origins.

    For instance, the Eternal me had resonated with the darkness origins during his ascension and was subsequently granted his title. Princes from any of the twelve major ns would receive a relevant title if they could ignite their n¡¯s seal, a prime example being the ming Crown Habsburg.

    A title bestowed by the origins wasn¡¯t just about fame or pleasantries. The expert had to possess corresponding power in order to be called as such.

    The only exception would be the supremes. Their titles were a form of recognition.

    Knowing full well about this tradition, Qianye naturally understood the meaning behind the title ¡°Lord of Evernight.¡±

    It meant that Andruil had already reached the Sacred Mountain and could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Demon King and the Queen of the Night.

    Qianye¡¯s emotions wereplicated. The vampires had produced yet another supreme, but they were almost wiped out by the war on Twilight Continent. Although it was widely epted that the vampires would always thrive as long as the Queen of the Night was alive, it remained that the Azure King had already fallen.

    If only Andruil had appeared earlier...

    Qianye put these impractical thoughts aside and gazed deeply at the ck-Winged Monarch.

    This person... the Lord of Evernight... was simr to the image back in the secret realm, down to his demeanor and temperament. His long, dark hair flowed freely across his shoulders, and his skin beneath the ck robes was as white as snow. He was shrouded in ayer of hazy light, and those eyes of his were as deep as the blue ocean.

    The man¡¯s aura was like the boundless night sky, boundless, majestic, and endless!

    Qianye collected his thoughts and said, ¡°I understand now. The secret of the holy mountain... is you!¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°But why did you hide yourself here? Unless... there¡¯s something special about this ce?¡± Qianye had his doubts. With Andruil¡¯s might as a supreme, why would he need to hide here? Even the Demon King himself would be on par with him at most.

    ¡°There is no particr secret here. If there¡¯s anything special here, it¡¯s the mirage moon origin power hidden within those trees. This type of origin power is too unstable for people to utilize, and you were simply using it as fuel just now. Even I have only grasped a fraction of its characteristics.¡±

    Andruil gazed deeply into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°You should¡¯ve realized by now that the apex of this world is the coexistence of daybreak and evernight. Be it the daybreak origins or the darkness origins, both of them are defective on their own. They require each other to provide meaning to their existence and draw out their power. That¡¯s why your chaos origin power and my mirage moon origin power are far stronger than all the others out there.¡±

    Qianye nodded, shaken by this sudden revtion. At the very least, Andruil had proven that he had sessfully cultivated the mirage moon origin power. Andruil¡¯s strength was at the peak of the great dark monarch realm, to begin with. With the mirage moon origin power aiding him, it was only a matter of time before he would be a supreme.

    At this point in the conversation, Andruilughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°It¡¯sical that fighting is the only way for us to measure power. In truth, this type of mysterious strength can be applied to many fields. There are hundreds of types of doc.u.mented origin power, perhaps thousands if we dissect them in detail. There is no useless type of origin power; people just didn¡¯t know how to apply them. Over tens of thousands of years, we only saw one single use for origin power and that is to kill. At the very least, we should use it to explore the void.¡±

    Qianye remembered hearing about this somewhere. ¡°I met an interesting person, a young lord of the demonkin race called Anwen. He has no interest in fighting and only wishes to explore the void. He says he wants to break through this cage and reach for the vast world outside.¡±

    ¡°Inconceivable.¡± Qianye sighed. Anwen was one of the rare dark race members that Qianye admired. Suddenly remembering something, Qianye said, ¡°Your other consciousness canmunicate with your main body?¡±

    This was something even the Pointer Monarch couldn¡¯t do.

    Andruil said, ¡°This is just one of the simplest uses of the mirage moon origin power. I had only touched on the hems of it back then. I will hear and see whatever my projections do.¡±

    Qianye finally understood why the legendary ck-Winged Monarch dared to challenge Lilith. He had already stepped into the realm of mirage moon.

    At the mention of this, Andruil sighed. ¡°But... this thought didn¡¯t originate from Anwen. It was Yuqing. She was the one who made me understand how vast this universe was, so vast that there was no need to fight or exterminate a certain race. Every de of grass, every tiny creature was a part of the greater whole.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°The thought is all well and good, but it¡¯s not practical. All else aside, the Empire and Evernight have been fighting for a thousand years, the enmity .u.mted cannot be dissolved so easily.¡±

    Andruil said, ¡°Correct. In truth, it¡¯s not just between humans and Evernight. The races of Evernight also have deep vendettas between them that cannot be resolved. The only way is to be the strongest, even stronger than the supremes. Only then will you be able to suppress the entire realm and wipe out all enmity.¡±

    ¡°Those who are unresigned to the suppression will still start wars.¡±

    ¡°A war to stop all wars...¡± Andruil shook his head with a sigh. ¡°I know this isn¡¯t practical, but there¡¯s an ancient human saying that goes ¡®do what you can but resign yourself to fate.¡¯ I only did what was within my power. As for why I¡¯m hiding here...¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Qianye was shocked.

    Andruil¡¯s figure turned a bit blurry at this point. Only then did Qianye realize that this person before him was only an illusion.

    Qianye possessed the Eye of Control yet he still failed to realize it. This went to show just how powerful the mirage moon origin power was in terms of illusions. What truly shook Qianye was the fall of a supreme.

    Andruil didn¡¯t really mind. ¡°Actually, my fate was sealed the moment I made my decision. To speak of the details, we have to begin from the discovery of the new world...¡±

 Chapter 1447: Lost Season

    <h4>Chapter 1447: Lost Season</h4>

    Everything began during ancient times.

    Andruil had yet to be the ck-Winged Monarch. He was just a youngster with wild ambitions, talented but not at the peak by any measure. The Monroe n was full of powerful talents, and that made it hard for him to stand out.

    All changes began when Andruil awoke.

    After his awakening, Andruil¡¯s bloodline reached the extreme of strength, and his cultivation improved meteorically. Looking at his bloodline talents, the prince in charge of the Monroe n announced that this youngster had awakened the bloodline of a second-generation primogenitor. Thereafter, he came to be known as Andruil.

    After the awakening, memories rted to this world appeared in Andruil¡¯s mind. Back then, he only remembered the existence of the new world and that experts had made their way there before. He was one of the pioneers.

    The new world changed after that attempted invasion, driving off all outsiders and hiding itself in the depths of the void.

    Yet the experts knew that the world would appear again, so they had been waiting for this opportunity.

    Whatever he remembered about the new world was blurry and fragmented. Whatever he could recall was no different from an old man recounting his childhood.

    ording to reason, this shouldn¡¯t happen to experts like Andruil. He should¡¯ve been able to remember everything down to the smallest detail.

    Seeing Qianye¡¯s puzzled expression, Andruil said, ¡°Have you realized it? Be it Evernight or the Empire, their memories of the past are now blurry, and many historical facts are contradictory. None of this should¡¯ve happened. After all, there are some old monsters still living to this day.¡±

    Qianye felt that this really was the case. Humans of the Empire used to be ves and livestock before their rise to power, but why would Evernight have the same problem? At the very least, their three supremes had lived through the long millennia.

    Ignore those distant characters, even Nighteye couldn¡¯t remember her identity after awakening, either. The Azure King never mentioned anything about it despite frequently apanying Nighteye. Perhaps he wasn¡¯t trying to keep it a secret, but rather, he didn¡¯t remember things clearly, either.

    ¡°In fact, the rise of the human race was the dividing line, that period where the Empire was established,¡± Andruil said in a rxed tone.

    The Lightless Monarch was an awakened second-generation primogenitor. He had personally witnessed the Founding Ancestor of the human race rise from the lowest rungs of society. He watched as the man swept through all adversaries, walking out of the Twilight Continent and onto the path that would lead to the Empire¡¯s founding.

    ¡°The Lost Season?¡± Qianye had never heard of this name.

    ¡°This is a legend known only amongst the higher echelons of the Evernight Council, it¡¯s natural that outsiders are not privy to it. I just happened to be qualified enough to hear of it. The so-called Lost Season was a wave of forgetfulness that struck the most powerful experts. Just like a dream, we saw and experienced many inconceivable things, but we forgot them in the blink of an eye, so much so that I can no longer recall whether certain events were dreams or reality.

    ¡°Only after the Lost Season ended did we realize that the humans had risen up in rebellion and mustered several impressive armies. Almost overnight, they had found suitable cultivation techniques and possessed top experts of their own. Even the supremes couldn¡¯t say they could beat the Founding Ancestor back then! How did these experts appear out of nowhere?¡±

    ording to the Empire¡¯s history, the Founding Ancestor had led the twelve generals¡ªpirs of the human race¡ªacross thousands of kilometers. He first defeated the pursuing army, then fought the Evernight alliance to a draw with both sides sustaining heavy damage. The council was forced to recognize the human race¡¯s status, allowing the Empire to build their first home on Evernight Continent.

    Thinking back on it, things had been all too easy. Qianye understood that the humans had managed to get through the cmity only because of the Lost Season, during which the strongest great dark monarchs and supremes were unable to take action.

    Andruil recalled the matter in silence. ¡°Actually, I sensed the daybreak origin power of the world bing much denser for no good reason, it used to be beyond sparse. All of this came about after the fall of the Void Valley Star. My memory of that time is rather fuzzy, and I simply don¡¯t remember when or why the star fell.

    ¡°That time period was called the Lost Season because all top experts could no longer recall the events clearly, almost as though some great power had wiped away our memories. With each passing day, more gaps appeared in our memories. The Queen should¡¯ve been the most resistant to this erosion of memories, but something happened to the River of Blood. She was deeply impacted by the event and had to hibernate for long periods of time since then.

    ¡°Because of the Lost Season, everyone¡¯s memory of the new world is unclear. Only a handful of people remember its existence and kept on waiting for the next opportunity to enter. To the supremes, there is nothing more important than the new world because the darkness origins are here.¡±

    Qianye finally took the opportunity to ask, ¡°What exactly is the darkness origins?¡±

    Qianye looked up in surprise.

    ¡°That¡¯s the darkness origins?! Even if it is, what use does anyone have for it?¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t help but say.

    The ck sun was more of a natural phenomenon than a resource. He had only heard of people seeking to upy certain inds and continents. No one has ever tried to conquer the upper continents, let alone the sun.

    Qianye gazed at the ck sun, thinking how the darkness origins could be utilized.

    Andruil broke out inughter. ¡°Who said you need to ¡®use¡¯ the darkness origins? Its existence is the most meaningful thing in and of itself.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Qianye said honestly.

    Andruil said, ¡°It¡¯s not hard to understand. Think, what would we do if we wanted to wipe out the humans entirely?¡±

    As someone who had led armies and conquered numerous territories, Qianye replied immediately, ¡°Of course, you would have to muster a great force. First, keep the divine champions and heavenly monarchs in check, then destroy the Empire¡¯s army. Lastly, you¡¯ll have to wipe out the civilians and round up the escapees.¡±

    ¡°Will that even work?¡± Andruil asked.

 Chapter 1448: No Daybreak

    <h4>Chapter 1448: No Daybreak</h4>

    Qianye cast his thoughts to the side. ¡°This will be a long process with many variables...¡±

    ¡°Evernight and the Empire have fought for a thousand years, yet the humans grow stronger and stronger instead of being destroyed. Why do you think that is?¡±

    This problem was aplex one. Countless schrs had studied this topic, but there were many different answers. Qianye himself knew of five different theories, including bloodline, heavenly intervention, natural selection, etc.

    With Qianye¡¯s experience in leading a pioneering force on Fort Continent, he felt that the Empire produced intelligent people at every level of society and that was something Evernight could not hope to match. In addition to that, there was nock of people willing to die for the cause when necessary. There were people like Lin Xitang who had decided the Void Continent war single-handedly, with Song Zining picking up the marshal¡¯s g in cksun Valley.

    By the time Evernight had dispatched Nighteye to defeat the Empire, Zhao Jundu and Song Zining stepped forward to hold thest line of defense. Meanwhile, Qianye raised a royal banner to challenge Evernight¡ªthat was how that earth-shattering battle began. Finally, the Empire gained the right to set foot in the new world.

    After the war in cksun Valley, word in the Empire was that the new generation of generals had taken up the mantle of the Empire¡¯s paragons and be pirs of the nation.

    Yet, Qianye knew that relying on generals and talented experts wouldn¡¯t solve the problem of a millennium-long war. There were too many unpredictable factors¡ªthose ¡°heroes¡± were heroes whether they won or lost. The thousand years of the Empire¡¯s history could not be ced in the hands of a select few. If the discussion was about heroes, Evernight produced a steady stream of them as well.

    After some thought, Qianye simply couldn¡¯te up with a perfect exnation. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Andruil smiled. ¡°That¡¯s only normal. Countless schrs have tried to exin this throughout the years, yet they were never able to produce a satisfactory answer. Whatever the exnation is, the coincidence is too uncanny. Perhaps coincidence itself is the real exnation. There can only be one reason for all these coincidences happening at the same time... it¡¯s fate, this is how it should be.¡±

    ¡°This... isn¡¯t right, is it?¡± Qianye had never imagined that the great ck-Winged Monarch was a believer of fate. In truth, the Evernight Council prophets were the ones who believed the least in fate, especially Predica¡¯s faction.

    ¡°You only need to look back at the rise of the human race to see that there were all too many coincidences. A single broken link in the chain of events would¡¯ve led to the elimination of the human race, yet the Empire had breezed through the crises and remained standing. Isn¡¯t that good fortune?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    Qianye said, ¡°I don¡¯t have that much of an effect, do I?¡±

    Andruil said, ¡°Oh but you do, so much more than you think. Think of it this way, fate was always on the humans¡¯ side at every critical juncture. Once, twice, or even for hundreds of years is not an issue, but it has been this way for a thousand years. Now that¡¯s not normal, is it?¡±

    Qianye was stunned. He also found it rather inconceivable after some thought. The chances of this happening was even lower than a sudden rock from the sky killing the Demon King in his home.

    Andruil said, ¡°That¡¯s why there can only be one conclusion. Humans have a way to control fate, and at the very least, we still don¡¯t know what that is. Centuries have passed by, and yet the so-called prophets of the council are like barbarianspared to the human experts.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to say. From his standpoint, he would never help think of a n to destroy the human race. On the other hand, he was not privy to the secrets of the Empire since he was never an official part of the upper echelons.

    ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s definitely not practical to try and exterminate the human race, or even stop their rise. The supremes came to this conclusion several hundred years ago. The power of fate is too mysterious and unpredictable; it¡¯s almost impossible to set it to work in that direction. And quite frankly, they want to destroy their archenemies more than they wanted to destroy the Empire.¡± At this point, Andruilughed self-deprecatingly. ¡°Even if I were in their shoes, I¡¯d prioritize destroying the werewolves instead of the humans.¡±

    Infighting was an old problem for the dark races. Only after bing a vampire did Qianye realize that this so-called in-fighting was something the Empire saw from its perspective. For each of the dark races, any race other than their own was an outsider.

    ¡°That being said, humans are still amon enemy of the dark races. The supremes won¡¯t mind working together temporarily to destroy them.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°I refuse to believe that different races cannot coexist. In fact, my territory on Fort Continent is home to werewolves and humans, there are also people from other races. Everyone lives a fairly good life.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say humans cannot be exterminated?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely hard to destroy a race that can secretly control fate itself. After all, something would always disrupt the flow of things at the most critical juncture. There is, however, something that can overpower fate itself.¡±

    Qiuanye asked in surprise, ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Humans are the only daybreak lifeforms, and their existence relies on it. The best way to exterminate the human race isn¡¯t to kill all of them, but to wipe away all daybreak origin power.¡±

    ¡°How is that even possible?!¡± Qianye couldn¡¯t believe what he had just heard. This would be even more difficult than killing off every human in the world. This was a naturalw!

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible under normal circ.u.mstances, but the darkness origins can make that a possibility. Look, do you see daybreak origin power in the inner world?¡±

    ¡°Of course there¡¯s... hmm?¡± Qianye stopped halfway through.

    Andruil chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ve finally realized it? This world can actually exist without any daybreak origin power.¡±

    This was different from what Qianye had learned since childhood. What he knew was that daybreak and darkness existed alongside one another, maintaining a mutual bnce that was the foundation of this world. Even the Song n Ancient Scroll was hinting at this logic.

 Chapter 1449: Path to Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 1449: Path to Destruction</h4>

    Could the world exist if there was only darkness or daybreak origin power? There was no need to reply to this question. That was because the races of Evernight had only experienced one world¡ªperhaps the Great Maelstrom could also be considered one. Daybreak and darkness existed side by side in these two worlds.

    Only experts could set foot in the recent new world, and they didn¡¯t really make for good test subjects regarding the world.

    ording to Qianye¡¯s observation, the inner world wasn¡¯t totally devoid of daybreak origin power. That wasn¡¯t important anymore because humans had no way to survive under such conditions.

    Noticing Qianye¡¯s thoughts, Andruil said, ¡°Do you understand now? The daybreak origin power around the darkness origins will erode and transform, producing a pure Evernight World. And humans will surely perish in it.¡±

    Qianye looked up at the ck sun hanging in the sky, a never-setting sun that illuminated the entire world in silence. It was pouring down darkness origin power every moment of its existence, just like a single eye looking over myriads of life.

    Qianye suddenly realized something. ¡°Could it be that the daybreak origin power in the outer new world was repelled by the inner world?¡±

    ¡°You could say that, but those are just scattered remnants. One day, the inner world will surely assimte the outeryer, and there will be no more daybreak origin power left here.¡±

    At this point, Andruil paused for a bit. ¡°A bit of daybreak origin power can still remain in this world and the surfaceyer, but how about Evernight? Where will the daybreak origin power go? The most probable scenario is that a thinyer of daybreak origin power will form around the Evernight World, but the humans will die off all the same.¡±

    Qianye turned silent.

    Even if ayer of daybreak origin power were to form, the energy would be as thin as a sheet of paper after spreading across such an area. And how would humans live at that time, on airsh.i.p.s?

    The Empire¡¯s current technology wasn¡¯t enough to cross the boundless void in search of a new home.

    Throughout history, the Empire and Evernight had been trying to destroy one another other, but neither had thought to destroy a type of origin power to this end.

    Qianye said all of a sudden, ¡°The Demon King spoke of a pure Evernight World. Is this what he was looking for?¡±

    Qianye still felt skeptical as he gazed at the sun in the sky. ¡°But how is he going to move this sun back to the Evernight World?¡±

    Andruil shook his head. ¡°You underestimate the darkness origins. This is a terrifying power that can change entire worlds. They only need to set up a stable passage between here and Evernight. Before long, the entire world will be and of darkness.¡±

    ¡°Even the demonkin won¡¯t be able to adapt to this living origin power, will they?¡±

    ¡°Not in this generation, but they will evolve and adapt at one point. Even the supremes of the Sacred Mountain are determined to make this sacrifice for the future.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t thispletely different from what the world believes? Everyone says as long as the supremes remain, it¡¯s fine even if all the other members die.¡±

    Andruil said, ¡°That¡¯s because they don¡¯t understand the supremes, nor will they evere into contact with them. From what I know, the Spider Queen has been making sacrifices to produce more arachne experts. Otherwise, she would be stronger than she is now. The Demon King and Lilith... sigh!¡±

    At the mention of the Queen, Andruil let out a long sigh and went silent.

    After a while, Andruil said, ¡°Our first conflict was on the topic of bringing in the darkness origins. I felt that introducing the origins would change the Evernight World too drastically, and that might not be a good thing. There had to be a better way to suppress the humans. I met Yuqingter on. It is she who made me realize that every intelligent creature in this world had a right to live. We can fight and can kill enemies on the battlefield, but we should notmit genocide.

    ¡°Lilith changedpletely after the Lost Season. She became more stubborn and believed firmly that humans were the greatest threat to the Evernight World, even more so than the demonkin. In the three hundred years following the Lost Season, she pushed war after war against the Empire¡ªall the while ignoring the Demon King. Back then, neither Reynold nor I managed to dissuade her. At one point, I asked her what exactly she had seen that made her that way. She said she saw the future during the Lost Season but that her memories were blurry afterward.¡±

    ¡°I lost the battle. She didn¡¯t kill me, but just like she wouldn¡¯t give up on the darkness origins, I wouldn¡¯t let Yuqing and her people die in my generation. Everything that followed was no different from the legends. I arrived in the new world on my own and converted my blood energy to mirage moon origin power.¡±

    Qianye suddenly noticed something familiar in Andruil¡¯s aura, almost as though he had sensed it somewhere recently. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me...¡±

    ¡°Correct, you¡¯ve noticed it. The so-called will of the new world is my will. For countless years, I attempted to merge myself into the world because that is the only way I can stand against the three supremes. Yet, time was not on my side. All I can do at this point is nudge the world in certain directions.¡±

    Qianye finally understood why the malicious intent of the new world had ignored the Empire and targeted Evernight.

    ¡°War cannot wipe out the human race. It will, at most, weaken them, and that is an oue I can ept. But to draw in the darkness origins and wipe out an entire race is something I cannot agree to. It¡¯s not like I want to help the human race, but I don¡¯t want Yuqing¡¯s descendants to be wiped out.¡±

    ¡°Since you can channel the will of the new world, why did you die?¡±

    With Andruil¡¯s strength and the new world as his foundation, he should¡¯ve been more or less immortal. Why did he fall?

    ¡°She discovered my existence after entering the outer world. The three supremes then worked together to break the world between the inner and outer worlds. The passage through which you entered was their masterpiece. It¡¯s just that a certain person appeared when the passage opened, and her existence forced me toe out and fight the supremes. Lilith is still the same as before. Even in my peak state, even with my perfect control over the mirage moon origin power, I was only able to fight her to a draw...¡±

    At this point, Andruilughed. ¡°She didn¡¯t want to kill me, but the Demon King and the Spider Queen didn¡¯t show any mercy. I already knew this day woulde hundreds of years ago. Well, they also paid a steep price to kill me, suffice to say they¡¯re not having a good time now.¡±

 Chapter 1450: All For One Person

    <h4>Chapter 1450: All For One Person</h4>

    Qianye finally realized why the supremes went silent after the opening of the new world, even though the various races hade together.

    In the very beginning, he had thought that the united dark races would be able to suppress the Empire even without the supremes taking action. It turned out that the supremes had actually fought a perilous battle against Andruil at the opening of the new world. The cksun Valley was a scar left behind by that battle.

    It was now clear why the will of the new world was so hostile toward the dark races.

    As an expert growing ever closer to the apex, Qianye knew very well what it meant for a single person to fight an entire race. If this was true for a grand duke, how would it be for a supreme like Andruil who had sessfully cultivated the mirage moon origin power, something no one had ever done before? He would surely be an expert on the same level as the Queen of the Night given enough time, perhaps even stronger.

    However, he had chosen to fight the supremes to the death¡ªto guard the darkness origins and save humanity from destruction.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know what to feel at that moment. He simply felt that it was unreal and unbelievable.

    How did things turn out like this?

    Andruil seemed to have seen through Qianye¡¯s thoughts. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it for the human race, much less for the Empire. I only have one reason, and that is Yuqing.¡±

    ¡°Nangong Yuqing?¡± Qianye became absent-minded. He had gone through the records rted to thedy and found very few doc.u.ments that mentioned her. She was leagues away from Andruil be it in terms of status or background.

    At the mention of Nangong Yuqing, Andruil sighed mournfully.

    Keeping a promise at all costs, Qianye was no stranger to this feeling.

    Qianye had a feeling that the entanglement between the supremes was much deeper than he had imagined. This was, after all, something that had gone on for hundreds of years.

    ¡°You said someone unexpectedly appeared and that led to your loss? Who is she?¡±

    ¡°The loss was inevitable; I¡¯m not sure I could¡¯ve defeated Lilith even without the Spider Queen and the Demon King. Even if I could kill her, I wouldn¡¯t have the heart to do so since she had spared me several times already. My fate was already sealed, so why bother? The sooner this ended, the sooner I would get to see Yuqing. Say, do you think there¡¯s a next life after death?¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to reply.

    Andruil had long since fallen, yet he was still asking such a self-evident question. Apparently, he already knew the answer but was simply unresigned.

    Without a next life, there would never be a reunion.

    Andruil didn¡¯t wait for Qianye to reply, nor did he want to tell Qianye who it was that he had run into. He turned toward the distant skies and said, ¡°Regardless, I want to believe there is. My time is up, I¡¯ll be going now. The mirage moon origin elixir here will pave thest leg of the way to you bing a great dark monarch.¡±

    ¡°Do you need me to do anything?¡±

    Waving his hand, the ck-Winged Monarch thus walked toward the horizon and vanished.

    The legendary ck-Winged Monarch, the Lord of Evernight, had left this world forever. His fight against the three supremes was destined to fade away in the river of time, never to be known.

    And Qianye was the only one who knew the reason behind that fight. For some reason, he felt his eyes start to moisten¡ªit was perhaps the strong wind blowing into his eyes.

    Only when that familiar figure had faded away did Qianye remember something. ¡°Come back! You haven¡¯t told me how to use the Wings of Inception!¡±

    His voice echoed in the empty space, but no one replied. Dazed, Qianye thought he saw Andruil appear in the air, waving his hand casually as he said, ¡°Use it however you want to.¡±

    Momentster, Qianye returned to his senses. Andruil was gone... forever. Perhaps a fragment of his consciousness might remain in some unknown corner of the world, but that was just a mechanical projection with no spirit.

    Qianye had many questions he wanted to ask, especially about the rtionship between the Queen of the Night and Andruil. However, Andruil seemed intent on taking the past to his grave.

    Qianye felt emotional. If Andruil and the Queen had not fallen out like this, another Lord of Evernight would have appeared on the Sacred Mountain, and the vampire race would surely surpass the others.

    This power structure would remain until this day. With the addition of Nighteye and Qianye, the vampires might even conquer the entire Evernight World. The war on Twilight Continent would not have happened, and the Azure King would be able to wake up from time to time for a stroll.

    Andruil was gone, but the war was still ongoing. Qianye and his chaos origin power could be considered a different version of Andruil.

    This war against the demonkin and the Evernight council was destined to stretch to the end of time.

    Qianye stood silently for a while, then left the secret realm for the holynd. He could absorb the mirage moon origin power anytime; the urgent matter at hand was to stop Medanzo.

    The journey back was much faster. After a series of Spatial shes, Qianye was once again at the borders of the holynd.

    The area was filled with the mor of moving soldiers as they assembled in the za. A number of giant wargods were sitting on the ground, and other tribesmen were helping them don their armor.

    Every a.d.u.l.t male and female was a soldier, so the children had taken up the duty of shipping and moving things about.

    Qianye arrived in the air above with a single sh. There, he saw a small group of twenty soldiers setting out toward the battlefield.

    Qianye pulled a nearby elder over and pointed at the group. ¡°Where are they going?¡±

    ¡°The battlefield, of course! We¡¯ve started fighting against the ck demon!¡± the elder said.

    The elder was puzzled. ¡°Won¡¯t that just dy things? There¡¯s half a day¡¯s distance between here and the battlefield.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. ¡°Tell them to stop and wait. Set out when the entire force has been assembled. Where is the battle taking ce, I¡¯ll head over now.¡±

    The elder told Qianye the direction, which he confirmed with his perception.

    If even the Attawa had to run for several hours, this meant that the battlefield was over a thousand kilometers away from the holy mountain. Their forces were sparse, to begin with, yet they had chosen such a distant battlefield. Qianye simply didn¡¯t know what to make of this.

    The elder said as if everything was right and proper. ¡°We will not let those ck demons taint our holy mountain! That¡¯s why we should fight them as far away as possible!¡±

 Chapter 1451: Madness

    <h4>Chapter 1451: Madness</h4>

    Qianye knew he couldn¡¯t hope for the Attawa to have any knowledge of war. The holy mountain was more like a religion to them, and there was little room for negotiation when it came to religion. Even the blessing he had received from the holy spirit did little to change this fact.

    Qianye discarded any thoughts of contracting the frontlines to near the holynd, but he wasn¡¯t about to ignore the Attawa¡¯s lousy tactics. It was toote to rush over now¡ªa couple hundred Attawa and their giant wargods would notst against the Lightless Monarch.

    Hence, Qianye grabbed the elder and practically roared into his ears, ¡°Listen to me if you don¡¯t want your soldiers dying for nothing. Only I can handle that ck demon of destruction, understand?¡±

    The elder stared at Qianye for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you, but I trust the holy spirit.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your trust, either, if not for that ck demon.¡± Qianye felt tired, having to deal with such stubborn and primitive people. He had just gone through an eternal parting with Andruil, so he wasn¡¯t in a great mood.

    Perhaps realizing his inadequacy or maybe due to the heavy losses from the battle before, the elder¡¯s tone rxed a bit. ¡°We¡¯ll listen to you for this battle, but remember that the Attawa are not afraid of sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°Sacrifice and throwing away one¡¯s life are two different things.¡± The meaning behind these words was probably tooplicated for the elder.

    Having obtained the authority ofmand, Qianye immediately reorganized allbat-ready forces into one unit. He also appointed a newmanding officer. This time, there were a total of five hundred soldiers and three giant wargods. Only the old and the sick would remain in the holynd after this squad left.

    Facing this organized unit, Qianye hesitated for a while before saying, ¡°Those with crystals, stand out.¡±

    Roughly a hundred soldiers stepped out. ¡°You know what to do when the battle begins, right?¡±

    Qianye nodded, then proceeded to do an equipment check. There wasn¡¯t much to do in that regard since the Attawa wore very simple gear. They couldn¡¯t really develop anything new, either, in this short period of time.

    Havingpleted the battle preparations, Qianye ordered the army to move toward the battlefield. He did restrict their speed of advancement, just enough so that they would meet the enemy forces in a rtivelyplicatedndscape.

    Far off in the distance, the Lightless Monarch was hovering over a swathe of corpses. Two lifeless giant wargods remained fixated in abat position, having fought to their veryst breath. They had died a fairly miserable death with missing limbs and body parts.

    Medanzo¡¯s vampire subordinates started sweeping the battlefield while the monarch was lost in thought. He came to after a while and said, ¡°There can¡¯t be anything good on these natives, stop searching and let¡¯s just set out.¡±

    The vampires of course didn¡¯t question the order, but an arachne marquis said, ¡°Your Majesty, these natives possess considerable power, the bodies themselves are quite valuable.¡±

    Medanzo raised his brows. ¡°Are you questioning my order?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. This is just a suggestion.¡±

    A dangerous glint flickered in the depths of Medanzo¡¯s eyes as his voice became noticeably gentle. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that the Queen of the Night is still the most important pir after we establish the new world order. The arachne race still isn¡¯t qualified to reign above the vampires, let alone a tiny marquis like you. It¡¯s very possible and likely that you¡¯ll fall in battle here.¡±

    The marquis wasn¡¯t afraid. ¡°I¡¯m a direct descendant of the Spider Queen.¡±

    The arachne marquis¡¯ expression shifted drastically. He was just about to flee when Medanzo¡¯s figure blurred out and disappeared. A sword appeared through the marquis¡¯ c.h.e.s.t almost immediately afterward.

    A downward movement of the monarch¡¯s wrist split the arachne into two, spraying blood all over Medanzo. Thetter remained still with his eyes narrowed, seemingly enjoying the sensation. He opened his eyes after a while, saying, ¡°As expected, the Spider Queen¡¯s taste is matchless.¡±

    All vampires went about minding their own business, almost as though they were deaf and dumb. No one saw or heard anything.

    Medanzo let out a suddenugh. ¡°No need to fear or worry. The arachne have been a lowly race since ancient times, they simply cannot bepared to a noble race like ours. In fact, you guys don¡¯t understand the foundations and history of the vampire race, nor do you know how many powerful entities the River of Blood has produced. Even the demonkin can only be our servants in the future.¡±

    The vampire subordinates below nodded repeatedly as though they were greatly honored. What they were actually thinking, though, was an entirely different matter. At the very least, these vampires were those who had surrendered back on the Twilight Continent. Such an action couldn¡¯t be considered noble by any measure.

    As capable experts, they did have a modic.u.m of self-realization. They understood pretty well that even if the vampire race rose to power in the future, it would have nothing to do with them.

    The Lightless Monarch didn¡¯t force things, either. A wave of dark purple origin power swirled around him as he absorbed the blood on his body.

    He gazed in the direction of the holy mountain with a fervent expression. ¡°You guys will never know that the vampire race had two supremes at one point! You will never know...¡±

    The vampire subordinates began heading out to scout the path, keeping their distance from Medanzo. They were just small characters and had no idea what the rtionship was between the Queen of the Night and the Lightless Monarch, nor did they know where he had gotten the confidence to kill the Spider Queen¡¯s descendant. As members of a long-lived race¡ªand people who had surrendered before the war even began¡ªall they wanted was to leave this damn ce alive.

    Immediately after taking the first step, he stopped all of a sudden and fired several des of dark purple blood energy at the nearby trees.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you watched enough?¡± Medanzo sneered.

    The vampires didn¡¯t know what Medanzo was saying. They merely followed from behind, trembling and afraid to nce around.

    Far in the distance, Qianye¡¯s consciousness was connected to the mother tree as he gazed coldly at Medanzo. The image darkened in several areas as the trees were cut down, but it was repaired very quickly. Medanzo would never be able to escape this surveince unless he could cut down every tree.

 Chapter 1452: Lightless Domain

    <h4>Chapter 1452: Lightless Domain</h4>

    It wasn¡¯t easy for two small squads to run into one another in this vast world, but Qianye had the help of the mother tree and Medanzo was also actively searching for the enemy. The two armies soon came face to face at the designated location.

    Thendscape in the area wasplicated, with several giant stone pirs. The trees between these stone structures weren¡¯t any shorter, and thend itself was uneven.

    They of thend made it difficult to snipe from a distance, but it was suitable for the Attawa soldiers. The Lightless Monarch, of course, wouldn¡¯t mind such a minor inconvenience. On the contrary, he hoped enough natives woulde together. That would save him some time.

    When he sensed a tremendous killing intent between the quiet trees in front of him, the manughed and led his troops forward.

    A wind stirred in the quiet forest, carrying the strange warcries of the Attawa soldiers. It was difficult to tell just how many people there were as the cries stirred from all directions. Medanzo¡¯s subordinates looked rather fearful as they stuck closer to the monarch.

    These Attawa were like ants to Medanzo; their great numbers only meant that he would have to spend a bit more time. It was different for his subordinates¡ªany random soldier in the Attawa army was no weaker than them, and those giant wargods were far more powerful. Just like a fight between a well-equipped hunter and a wild beast, it was difficult to tell who woulde out alive in a duel.

    Medanzo noticed his men¡¯s expressions. ¡°Trash.¡± He sneered as his figure vanished from the spot. When he reappeared, there was an Attawa in his hand.

    Medanzo grasped the man¡¯s throat tightly, his expression so warm that it felt eerily distorted. Just like that, he watched the prey in his hand struggle and descend to his inevitable doom.

    More Attawa appeared from nearby, waving their weapons in anger. Medanzo¡¯s smile only grew more exaggerated as he found their furyical.

    Finally, one of the soldiers could no longer hold back. He charged over with a loud roar, reaching for his crystal halfway through.

    Medanzo did nothing for a while. Only when the soldier was close by did he reach out at lightning speed and tossed the soldier away.

    Qianye¡ªwho had been observing the scene in secret¡ªraised his brows in surprise. It would seem Medanzo had already experienced this tactic and had developed a way to deal with the suicidal attacks.

    However, Qianye wasn¡¯t moved by this. He simply remained in ce like a cold rock, his aura contained as he waited for the perfect opportunity.

    The battle reached its climax very soon as one Attawa after another jumped at Medanzo. The giant wargods also attacked at the same time. The air was filled with the sound of spears and javelins. The weapons were hurled with such power that even Medanzo didn¡¯t want to block them head-on.

    The Lightless Monarch¡¯s figure flickered repeatedly within a small area, evading all of the attacks with rtive ease. His subordinates, however, did not have his capability. Miserable cries rang out as three vampires were pierced by javelins and copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Trash!¡± Medanzo couldn¡¯t care less about the fate of his men. All he did was express his dissatisfaction.

    The man attacked all of a sudden, throwing back several Attawa soldiers who had just crushed their crystals. His movements were brief and swift¡ªthe three warriors flew back dozens of meters back into the crowd, where they exploded after a brief pause. The powerful explosion did little to Medanzo, but the charging Attawa behind were gravely injured.

    Qianye was moved ever so slightly. He knew that over a hundred Attawa had fallen, but he remained motionless still.

    During the first battle, his opportunity had onlye after Su Wen sacrificed herself.

    The situation on the battlefield changed once again. The Attawa soldiers learned to adjust their tactics amidst the pain and losses. They no longer sent their elites forward tomit suicide and instead conserved their fighting power. Using the giant wargods as support, they began encircling Medanzo from a distance. The ordinary soldiers moved to protect the giant wargods, whose attacks even the Lightless Monarch wasn¡¯t willing to take head-on.

    In the blink of an eye, there were dozens of Medanzos on the battlefield, making it difficult to tell where the real person was. The blood beasts that appeared in the domain were all transformed into images of himself. Just from this, it was easy to say that Medanzo¡¯s title as great dark monarch was well deserved.

    One Attawa soldier after another fell during this process. Their counterattacks only struck the illusions, unable to threaten the real Medanzo. With enough time, Medanzo could take down even a thousand Attawa soldiers. These weren¡¯t ordinary natives but a thousand experts, the weakest of whom were counts.

    Only a single giant wargod in the entire Attawa force could barely keep up with Medanzo¡¯s movements. However, his spears would always curve around the great dark monarch as though space itself was distorted there.

    The giant wargod was both furious and puzzled. He did the only thing he could¡ªhurl the spears with even greater power¡ªyet none of them hit their target. Even the lightning and wind powers on the javelins would always warp and deviate from the target.

    The giant wargods¡¯ frustrated roars filled the battlefield, but all they received in return was a sneer from Medanzo.

    The Lightless Monarch¡¯s vicinity wasn¡¯t empty in Qianye¡¯s vision. Countless strands of blood energy weaved together to form mirrors that distorted the vampire¡¯s image. Medanzo¡¯s body wasn¡¯t where others perceived it to be. It wasn¡¯t that the spears¡¯ trajectories were distorted or curved, but rather, they had aimed at an empty spot in the first ce. It was just that the spears¡¯ imagery was warped, so the giants saw their weapons going in a curve.

    Qianye was as calm as still water when he pulled the trigger. But all of a sudden, his origin power began to churn as Medanzo turned in his direction with an eerie smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡±

 Chapter 1453: Truth

    <h4>Chapter 1453: Truth</h4>

    Medanzo¡¯s words did not shake Qianye. He pulled the trigger as though he had heard nothing at all, his finger as firm as a mountain.

    Dragonsgrave rumbled as an origin bullet left the chamber and shot straight toward an empty space near Medanzo. The monarch¡¯s expression shifted drastically as his figure flickered in an impossible direction, appearing right in front of the bullet.

    However, the ck hue surrounding the projectile unfurled into a pair of vivid ck wings¡ªthe bullet turned toward an empty space beside Medanzo once again!

    ¡°The Wings of Inception!¡± Medanzo cried out in surprise. The monarch¡¯s illusion burst apart like a bubble and his real body appeared¡ªright in front of the bullet!

    The ck wings carried the origin bullet quietly into Medanzo¡¯s left abdomen. The Lightless Monarch¡¯s figure suddenly became distorted and fluctuant, almost as though he were in a soap bubble. His expression made it clear that he was in great pain, almost as though he were screaming silently.

    The distortionsted but a moment before his figure disappeared along with all the illusions.

    Of course, Qianye wasn¡¯t going to think that he had sted the man to oblivion. Medanzo had obviously fled, and it was hard to say how much damage the shot had done.

    Qianye stood up atop one of the stone pirs and scanned the battlefield, hoping to find any traces of Medanzo.

    ¡°No need to look, I¡¯m here.¡± The Lightless Monarch¡¯s voice echoed behind him.

    Qianye slowly turned around, unfl.u.s.tered by the sudden development, and found three Medanzos in front of him. After careful observation, he had to admit that it was difficult to tell them apart even at this distance. Even in Qianye¡¯s origin-power vision, the imagery was exactly the same. It would seem that this was the apex of his domain, capable of producing two illusions that could even deceive the Eye of Control.

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°Is this the real Lightless Monarch in front of me?¡±

    ¡°Two of them are fake and one is real. You wouldn¡¯t be standing here, either, if they were all fake.¡± Medanzo sounded pretty calm.

    Medanzo¡¯s gaze changed very subtly when Dragonsgrave vanished. A sh of anger appeared in his expression as he nced at the azure de. ¡°That shot I can endure. It¡¯s quite the feat for you to be able to utilize Andruil¡¯s secret art to this level. Unfortunately, the man himself is gone, and as his sessor, you will follow suit.¡±

    Qianye shook the de in his hand. ¡°Everyone will die one day, and the vampire race will fall in time. Since all paths lead to the same oue, why not live with dignity while alive? Is it fun being thepdog of a different race?¡±

    Medanzo was furious. ¡°What do you know? You¡¯re just a little bastard who has never seen the Sacred Mountain before! Only those at the highest peak can see the truth of this world. Andruil is an exception, he became stupid because of his infatuation with that human girl. If things had kept going the way he wanted it, the entire Sacred Mountain would¡¯ve been destroyed by now!¡±

    ¡°Andruil¡¯s position, whether as the ck-Winged Monarch or the Lord of Evernight, is much higher than yours, no? If he can¡¯t see the truth, are you saying you can see it?¡± Qianye mocked mercilessly.

    Who would¡¯ve thought Medanzo would remain unfazed by this. ¡°I couldn¡¯t see, that¡¯s why I chose to trust those who can. For instance, the Demon King and the Queen.¡±

    ¡°You betrayed the Queen! What gall!¡±

    ¡°Time will prove who the real traitor is. At the very least,pared to Andruil, I¡¯m the one who has the vampire race¡¯s interests in mind.¡±

    Qianye gripped the azure sword tightly. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t massacre yourrades if you had the vampire race in mind, nor would you stab Reynold in the back. You wouldn¡¯t lead the remainder of the vampires to be the demonkin¡¯s dogs! I might only be half-vampire, but for Nighteye and Reynold, I will not let you remain alive in this world! Lightless Monarch Medanzo, your eternal dream ends here!¡±

    Medanzo sneered as he pointed at the azure sword. ¡°Trying to kill me with Howard¡¯s little toy? This sword could do nothing against me in Howard¡¯s hands, are you saying it¡¯s more powerful in yours?¡±

    ¡°I told you that shot didn¡¯t do much damage! I might¡¯ve fled if it was Andruil who unfurled the Wings of Inception, but you¡¯re not qualified. Your blood energy is rather strange, but it¡¯s not enough to be a threat.¡±

    When all was said and done, the Lightless Monarch Medanzo was still a second-generation primogenitor. His dark purple blood energy might be inferior to Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy, but its grade was also extremely high. Considering the home ground and numbers advantage, he could keep Qianye¡¯s origin power at bay for the time being.

    ¡°That means you took the shot f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y in order to lure me out?¡±

    ¡°Smart. I didn¡¯t think it was you at first, I thought it was some human bastard hiding behind the natives. Who would¡¯ve thought I¡¯d catch such a big fish?¡±

    Qianye sneered. ¡°Well, I say you thought you¡¯d be able to dodge the shot.¡±

    Medanzo snorted heavily. ¡°Insolence! So what if you managed to hit me once, can you escape now? Perhaps you can try taking a one out of three chance and see if you can find my real body. Of course, you¡¯ll die if you lose this bet.¡±

    Qianye became much calmer. ¡°You thought I didn¡¯t know your n to lure me out? Also, you didn¡¯t know that I only wanted to weaken you with that shot. Now that you¡¯ve been weakened, you can forget about leaving here alive. That¡¯s because the grand finale isn¡¯t the azure sword, but the Red Spider Lily.¡±

    Seeing the legendary revolver appear in Qianye¡¯s hand, a look of utter terror washed over Medanzo¡¯s countenance. ¡°Howe it¡¯s in your hands?! Why did you not use it against Progia?!¡±

    A pair of ck wings appeared behind Qianye and much smaller ones on the Red Spider Lily. Space transformed as the trigger was pulled¡ªeverything was rippling, as though they were looking at this world through the surface of a windyke.

    An origin bullet then flew out from the Red Spider Lily and shattered the mirrors!

 Chapter 1454: I Surrender

    <h4>Chapter 1454: I Surrender</h4>

    Under present circ.u.mstances, the Red Spider Lily was the bane of Medanzo¡¯s existence. Even his strongest domain no one knew about was shattered under its power.

    As the mirrors shattered, Medanzo fell from the air and tumbled downward, almost unable to control himself. His face was pale, withrge clouds of dark purple blood energy seeping out from his body.

    This wasn¡¯t Medanzo disying his might but rather him unable to control his blood energy. All of a sudden, his figure split into dozens of illusions that ran off in different directions.

    The Red Spider Lily had doubtlessly injured Medanzo, but no great dark monarch could be killed in a single shot. The vampire knew Qianye had the power to end his life at this point, so he no longer dared to be careless.

    However, countless feathers appeared in the air at this moment, and these feathers shattered Medanzo¡¯s illusions upon contact. In a sh, only the real body remained in the area.

    On the verge of life and death, Medanzo was unimaginably swift. Several afterimages appeared in Qianye¡¯s vision, flickering haphazardly as the monarch shifted his speed erratically. This rendered all lock-on techniques useless. The only way was to use a homing projectile, but what kind of bullet would it take to catch up to a fleeing great dark monarch?

    Medanzo had just rushed out a short distance when a grey feather fell upon him. His figure sank downward the moment that feather touched him, slowing him down sharply. In the blink of an eye, even more chaos feathersnded on his body. Each of them added a mountain¡¯s worth of weight to his body and slowed him down by an order of magnitude.

    By the time there were eight feathers on him, Medanzo had slowed down to a crawl. Not to mention Qianye, even a random marquis could catch up to him.

    Medanzo¡¯s heart sank.

    Eight didn¡¯t seem like a lot of feathers, but that was the entire number in Qianye¡¯s domain, and all of them were focused on Medanzo. This was akin to Qianye pressing down with the entire power of his domain without any waste.

    Seeing that the grey feathers were obstructing his movements, Medanzo tried to burn away the feathers with dark purple blood mes, but the feathers remained intact as the fire receded. Medanzo¡¯s fire had lost entirely.

    The Lightless Monarch¡¯s heart sank yet again.

    He had long since known that Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was powerful, but he had always believed that he would be slightly superior. After all, he was a second-generation primogenitor, someoneparable to the likes of the Azure King and the ck-Winged Monarch. In truth, however, Andruil had long since left him in the dust and be a supreme.

    Qianye¡¯s origin power capacity was clearly inferior to Medanzo, yet the former was able to suppress the great dark monarch immediately. This proved that Qianye¡¯s unassuming grey origin power was far superior to Medanzo¡¯s dark purple blood energy. The two were simply not in the same grade.

    Medanzo suddenly sensed the air begin to transform as countless mirrors appeared around him. He cried out in great rm, ¡°Wait! I surrender!¡±

    Qianye only pretended not to hear as a transparent origin bullet shot out from the Red Spider Lily. This crystalline projectile actually contained a frozen red spider lily inside of it.

    The bullet sted the mirrors apart, leaving behind the image of a wilting red spider lily.

    Medanzo once again appeared in the air, coughing up a mouthful of air as he mmed to the ground.

    ¡°You¡¯re still alive?¡± Qianye was a bit surprised. Who would¡¯ve thought this Medanzo would be so powerful that he was still alive after taking two shots from the Red Spider Lily powered by the Wings of Inception? Only at this point did Qianye truly understand how tenacious a great dark monarch¡¯s vitality really was.

    The Red Spider Lily required terrifying amounts of energy to fire, and the Wings of Inception also tapped into his reserves in order to empower the grand magnum. Qianye couldn¡¯t activate the gun using its own energy like Zhao Ruoxi. He had to channel his chaos origin power to drive the weapon, and this consumption would only growrger after the lilies blossomed.

    Medanzo struggled to his feet after a couple of tries. His expression was full of terror at first, but he quickly realized that Qianye was also staggering and that the gun had been put away. As an old fox who had lived over a thousand years, he immediately understood that Qianye had run out of energy and could no longer fire the third shot.

    The terror faded from the monarch¡¯s countenance, reced by a livid expression as he propped himself up against a nearby tree.

    Qianye watched him with a weird expression. ¡°What? Still trying?¡±

    Medanzo sneered. ¡°I¡¯m badly injured, but you don¡¯t have the strength to attack anymore, do you? Now that you haven¡¯t killed me in two shots, you have no more opportunity. Next, we¡¯ll have to see who recovers faster. I don¡¯t think you canpare to a great dark monarch in that aspect.¡±

    ¡°You speak as though you can escape. You can¡¯t even stand.¡± Qianyeughed.

    ¡°Who said so? Watch, I¡¯ll stand up.¡± Several streams of dark purple blood energy surged out from Medanzo¡¯s body and propped him up.

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°You recover pretty fast.¡±

    Although Qianye¡¯s domain had vanished after firing two shots, it was still a surprise that Medanzo would recover so quickly and be able to stand up. This arachne-like regenerative ability was actually Medanzo¡¯s hidden ace, one he had kept a secret all this time.

    ¡°You can¡¯t use that Dragonsgrave anymore, can you? Can you injure me even if I stand here and do nothing? Oh, right, let me remind you that I can leave after ten minutes. You¡¯d bettere up with a good idea within that time.¡±

    Qianye simply watched Medanzo with a strange expression.

    Medanzo frowned, saying, ¡°There¡¯s still enough time if you want to change your mind. Perhaps you should be thinking about how to calm my anger so that I won¡¯t hunt you down afterward. You cannot bear the consequences of infuriating a great dark monarch, nor should you.¡±

    ¡°So you want me to surrender?¡± Qianye¡¯s expression became even stranger.

    ¡°You could say that.¡±

    Medanzo was heavily injured but recovering at a rapid pace. His defenses were fairly strong, so normal attacks would not go through his skin even if he were to stand there doing nothing. Considering his vengeful nature, he would surely cause endless trouble once he escaped.

    Qianye said, ¡°You¡¯ve grown old, your memory seems to have faded quite a bit. I have something that can deal with you.¡±

    Seeing the azure sword appear in Qianye¡¯s hand, Medanzo cried out, ¡°I surrender!¡±

 Chapter 1455: Searching for the Holy Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 1455: Searching for the Holy Mountain</h4>

    Medanzo cried out with such force that Qianye felt like tripping over. He didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Do you think a surrender will work?¡±

    ¡°Why not? We have no unresolvable hatred between us. Even if we do, it¡¯s nothingpared to a thousand years. Descendants are no longer important once you reach my level of achievement. There are dozens of geniuses among them, and it¡¯s fine even if half of them end up dead.¡±

    The Lightless Monarch spoke as if it was all right and proper. In fact, he did make a certain degree of sense¡ªthose at the great dark monarch level lived much longer than their descendants. It wasn¡¯t a rare sight to see primogenitors living well even after the descendants of their descendants had passed. Their enmity also bes rather judicious and at times diluted.

    Medanzo was overjoyed when Qianye lowered his de slightly. ¡°My existence will be highly beneficial to you. At least, I can teach you many things I have learned over a thousand years, things even the Queen and Andruil cannot give you.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Do you mean to say you¡¯re stronger than them?¡±

    Medanzo shook his head. ¡°Of course not. Not to mention the Queen, I¡¯m no longer a match for Andruil following the War of Daybreak. Even the Azure King is stronger than me. However, it is precisely because I¡¯m weaker that I have .u.mted more knowledge than they have. This is also why the Demon King was willing to ept me and not Reynold.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the reason? Not because Reynold would never surrender?¡± Qianye sneered.

    Medanzo wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t think that if you have heard about the Lost Season.¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°What is the Lost Season?¡±

    ¡°The Lost Season is the Evernight World¡¯s greatest secret. It only exists in those who had been alive since ancient times, namely great dark monarchs and supremes. One cannot even sense it otherwise.¡± Medanzo seemed deeply fearful as he spoke of it, and there weren¡¯t a lot of things in Evernight that he was afraid of.

    Qianye seemed rather curious. ¡°Be more specific.¡±

    ¡°How do I describe it? It¡¯s a formless power that once washed over the entire Evernight World. As a type of energy, it is far superior in quality, so only those with sufficient power could sense its existence. It didn¡¯t remain very long, receding like the tides soon after covering the entire realm. It was more like... a passerby.¡±

    ¡°Passerby?¡± Qianye found it difficult to believe.

    Medanzo nodded in certainty. ¡°Yes, it seemed to be passing by. It seemed to have found something... or not... and left just like that. No one knows where it came from or where it went.¡±

    ¡°Just like that?¡±

    ¡°Not just that. Although it was just passing by, its existence in and of itself affected our world irreversibly and decisively. One of the side-effects of its arrival was the rise of the humans.¡±

    Qianye simply watched as Medanzo¡¯s aura rose... until thetter felt rmed by the attention.

    Medanzo¡¯s expression shifted several times. Finally, he squeezed out a smile, saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think you know too many details about the Lost Season?¡±

    Medanzo said in shock, ¡°Of course, I know. I experienced it myself.¡±

    Qianye had no intention of circling around this topic. ¡°Andruil didn¡¯t go into that much detail.¡±

    Medanzo was startled. ¡°You¡¯ve met Andruil?¡±

    ¡°His remnant consciousness.¡±

    Medanzo wanted to say something, but then held back from doing so. ¡°That mysterious power is extremely special. Only those strong enough tomunicate with the world itself can sense its existence, and once that happens, the person would be affected. The stronger one is, the deeper his connection with the world. Hence, those at or above the supreme level lost most of their memories from the ancient era. Although Andruil hadn¡¯t reached his peak back then, his strength had reached the level of a supreme, so the impact he suffered was only a bit weaker. Back then, I¡¯m the one who was the least affected.¡±

    At this point, Medanzoughed self-deprecatingly. This was more or less an admission that he was the weakest among the great dark monarchs.

    This exnation was fairly usible. The power of the Lost Season had impacted the highest echelons of this world. Great dark monarchs were connected to the origins of the world, and the supremes were more or less a part of the realm. They were sure to be affected the most deeply if the world itself had undergone a change.

    That question was rather difficult for Medanzo to answer. ¡°I could only sense its existence, there was no way for me to touch its essence. If I had done that, I would¡¯ve been assimted, and my memories would be a part of its existence. If I must describe it... that thing is closer to daybreak, but it¡¯s definitely not daybreak origin power. Daybreak saw a momentous rise in the Evernight World after itsing, so the supremes believe it to be the reason. However, that¡¯s just a guess because their memories regarding it have been assimted.¡±

    Qianye was surprised. Who would¡¯ve thought there would be such an inherently powerful and tyrannical existence. If it had stayed in the Evernight World for a while longer, perhaps the entire realm would¡¯ve transformed. Perhaps humans would¡¯ve be the lords of the world in that scenario. After all, they were the most suitable creatures to wield daybreak origin power. ording to the ratio of an ordinary lifespan, humans were much more talented than the four major dark races.

    Of course, the world could no longer be called Evernight at that point.

    There was nothing more to ask by this time. Rather than the loss of memory in the most powerful existences, the Lost Season¡¯s greatest effect was more a change in the origin power structure and bnce of the world. That was what allowed the humans to rise to power, and that was how heroes like the Founding Ancestor appeared.

    ¡°Then,st question. Why are you here?¡±

    Medanzo sighed. ¡°I wanted to find Andruil¡¯s final resting ce and see if he left behind anything good.¡±

    ¡°Andruil¡¯s inheritance is useless to you, no?¡± Qianye was a bit surprised. Every great dark monarch had to carve his own path. Other people¡¯s things were probably useless at that point. Only weapons like grand magnums and tools like the Wings of Inception would be somewhat helpful.

    Qianye possessed the Red Spider Lily and the Wings of Inception, no different from having two grand magnums in one. He could only fire two shots with chaos origin power, and those two shots only managed to injure Medanzo to the point of copse.

    A great dark monarch wasn¡¯t easy to kill, no matter how weak he was.

    Even more surprised, Qianye waited for the remainder of the conversation.

    Medanzo took a deep breath and said, ¡°What Andruil left behind is a path that can allow anyone to reach the Sacred Mountain!¡±

 Chapter 1456: Searching for the Holy Mountain (Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 1456: Searching for the Holy Mountain (Part 2)</h4>

    Qianye simply gazed at Medanzo, with knitted brows that disyed his skeptical attitude.

    Medanzoughed wryly. ¡°I know this goes againstmon sense, but Andruil¡¯s existence itself goes againstmon sense. Normally, the ck-Winged Monarch would forever have to be the ck-Winged Monarch, even after bing a supreme or beyond. Yet, he could not be a supreme as the ck-Winged Monarch. As vampires, we are inherently powerful, but we are also bound by our bloodlines. Our paths will always end at a certain height. This is the truth.¡±

    After reaching his current level, Qianye had alsoe to understand much about bloodlines and the fetters it posed on the person. It could be said that the highest level of achievement in each vampire¡¯s life was determined from birth, with no way of changing this destiny.

    The only way forward was to obtain the origin blood of a powerful character and raise their bloodline. After pushing oneself up to a certain height, their entire bloodline would undergo a change. From a certain perspective, such vampires would no longer be themselves at that point and instead be that powerful character¡¯s progeny.

    Medanzo said angrily, ¡°It¡¯s because he¡¯s the ck Wing that he was never destined to reach the Sacred Mountain, and as the Lightless, I am even farther removed. That eternal existence on the mountain is simply there because she is the Queen of the Night, the second drop of blood from the River of Blood! Do you understand? You should know by now that our ultimate potential is decided by our bloodlines. We can do nothing but wait for a thousand years!¡±

    Qianye nodded ever so slightly. Medanzo was correct¡ªLilith was destined to be the most powerful being from birth.

    Medanzo¡¯s face became abnormally flushed. It would seem the excitement had worsened his injury. He clutched his c.h.e.s.t and said in a loud voice, ¡°I was also a genius back in ancient times! I became a great dark monarch even sooner than Reynold. What happened after that? Howard, that bastard, became more and more arrogant, simply because my bloodline wasn¡¯t suitable forbat! They might¡¯ve forgotten about the Lost Season, but I remember! Even though it¡¯s a disgrace...¡±

    Qianye could understand the man¡¯s feelings. If it wasn¡¯t for his dual-attributes and the Song n Ancient Scroll that constantly purified his bloodline, he would probably have stopped at the marquis level. There was no way he would enjoy his current aplishments.

    Medanzo collected himself for a bit and gazed at Qianye withplicated emotions. Momentster, he said with a sigh, ¡°Among the second generation primogenitors, Andruil is the only one who wasn¡¯t willing to ept his destiny. Who would¡¯ve thought he would seed... and finally be the Lord of Evernight... how enviable!¡±

    Medanzo propped himself up, looking a bit more spirited. ¡°ck Wing gave us all a ray of hope to cast off our restrictions. He proved to us that there was a way forward after reaching the end of our paths, something beyond hovering at the same rank for centuries. Although he was still a Monroe on the surface, his origin power has be something else entirely! This is hope, hope for all the great dark monarchs! This is the path to bing a supreme!¡±

    An opportunity to progress was extremely attractive to those great dark monarchs who had been stuck at that rank for over a thousand years. No wonder Medanzo had rushed over to the new world.

    Qianye asked, ¡°What about the Twilight Continent? Aren¡¯t you afraid someone will report to the Queen?¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Qianye¡¯s heart sank.

    Medanzo said slowly, ¡°The Lost Season holds special meaning to the supremes. They might¡¯ve lost their memories in the process, but they had also obtained some omens that ordinary great dark monarchs cannot see. The three supremes fought Andruil during the opening of the new world. Reportedly, the three supremes received a revtion during this process, and it was because of that revtion that the Demon Kingunched the war on Twilight Continent.¡±

    ¡°How did you know? You could not have taken part in the fight.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t polite, but he spoke the truth. He had the qualifications to say such things at the moment. Although he hadunched a sneak attack with the first shot, the following fights were head-on battles. Besides, concealment and ambush were Qianye¡¯s specialty. Regardless of the process, the fact remained that Medanzo was now copsed on the ground. Qianye could now stand shoulder to shoulder with the man at the very least.

    Medanzo¡¯s expression was unsightly, but his fate was in the other party¡¯s hands. ¡°The Demon King told me what happened. The revtion was rather blurry, but it was because of this revtion that the Queen of the Night remained silent and let the Demon King do as he wished.¡±

    ¡°What are the contents of this revtion?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to the apocalypse. All I know is that it¡¯s rted to daybreak origin power. Back in the year, the factions behind ck Wing and the Queen fell out because they couldn¡¯t agree on a stance against daybreak origin power and humans in particr. The Demon King has always wanted to return the world to its pure state before the Lost Season.¡±

    Qianye frowned. ¡°What does the revtion have to do with the vampires? Why must he destroy those ns?¡±

    ¡°Several ancient seals among the thirteen were tainted with daybreak origin power, and it was the vampires who had transmitted it to the River of blood. The Demon King believes that it is because of this taint that the river is slowly leaving this world. This has always been the Queen¡¯s greatest concern. Also...¡±

    ¡°After opening the new world and channeling the darkness origins to Evernight, the power of the ck sun will push all daybreak origin power outward. When that timees, all humans and daybreak creatures will die, along with the tainted vampires and werewolves. That¡¯s why it¡¯s the same whether we kill them sooner orter.¡±

    ¡°Onest question. Andruil said someone unexpected appeared during thatst battle. Who is it?¡±

    Medanzo stared nkly into space. He seemed a bit hesitant, but he finally said, ¡°This is just a guess. Only supremes could¡¯ve taken part in the final battle, even I couldn¡¯t get close. The only one who can get close apart from the supremes... is Nighteye.¡±

    ¡°What is her rtionship to the Queen?¡±

    Medanzo revealed a crafty smile. ¡°You will find out if you let me go.¡±

    Qianye stopped speaking and ignited a small mote of hazy light from his fingertips. ¡°What do you think this is?¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s blood core almost stopped beating for a moment. ¡°This is... the path to bing supreme!¡±

 Chapter 1457: For Reynold

    <h4>Chapter 1457: For Reynold</h4>

    That was indeed a bit of mirage moon origin power. That constantly transforming aura was unique in the entire world.

    Medanzo had clearly seen this origin power before. At the very least, he knew its characteristics enough to name it on sight. This was the sole reason he had taken such a big risk to enter the inner world.

    This origin power was now before his eyes, a ray of hope to break his thousand-year shackle. Even the calm Medanzo couldn¡¯t help but lose hisposure.

    This was how Andruil cast off his title as the ck-Winged Monarch and built his foundation to be the Lord of Evernight.

    Medanzo¡¯s voice was hoarse as he reached out a trembling hand, only to see the energy extinguish. His hand remained frozen in the air for a good while before he drew it back.

    Medanzo collected himself and said, ¡°Give it to me. My talents are no worse than ck Wing, I just wasn¡¯t as brave as him. I can do whatever he managed to do. If only you will give me that seed, I can break through the limits and be a supreme.¡±

    ¡°Be a supreme? What then?¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s hands were trembling in the face of this simple question. He stared at Qianye and said with a raspy voice, ¡°Let me see it, that thing you nned to subdue me with.¡±

    ¡°What will that aplish?¡±

    Medanzo said in a serious tone, ¡°If you can subdue me, I will be subservient to you even on the Sacred Mountain. I will be your most loyal friend even if I fail to be a supreme. This I swear upon the River of Blood.¡±

    Qianye was unmoved. ¡°Did you say the same to the Demon King?¡±

    Medanzoughed. ¡°The Demon King¡¯s offer was much better. I was to manage the new vampire race from here on out, one who answers only to the Queen of the Night. My authority among the demonkin is on par with the Eternal me and even higher than the Masefield n lord.¡±

    ¡°Then why would you submit to me, instead?¡±

    Medanzo¡¯s breathing turned rapid. ¡°That means you have a chance at reaching the supreme realm?¡±

    ¡°Answer me.¡±

    ¡°The Demon King¡¯s courtesy toward me is simply because I¡¯m a great dark monarch of pure bloodline who has lived through the Lost Season. On the other hand, we are great dark monarchs with no hope or craving for future progress. There¡¯s nothing that can bind us, so the only way to move us is with a generous offer. You are different! You have an open path to the supreme rank, so it¡¯s different for you!¡±

    Returning to a serious tone, he said, ¡°In truth, I don¡¯t really care about the authority thates with being on the Sacred Mountain. What I want is to go up there and see what it¡¯s like. That is all.¡±

    Qianye could sympathize somewhat, but he was still puzzled in other areas.

    Medanzo waited quietly for Qianye¡¯s answer.

    After a moment, Qianye said, ¡°There is more than one path to the Sacred Mountain. Just like there are two types of origin powers, the path to the supreme realm is split into transformational and evesting.¡±

    With that, Qianye stretched out his left hand and sent a mote of hazy light circling around his palm. Upon careful examination, one could see that the energy was transforming endlessly. Even someone as powerful as Medanzo could not grasp all of its changes. This was the mirage moon origin power Andruil had relied on to reach the supreme rank.

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t that Qianye had grasped the essence of this origin power. He was simply releasing some of the tree sap¡¯s power, which would eventually run out.

    Just as Medanzo was intoxicated by the disy, a grey feather appeared in Qianye¡¯s right hand. This feather simply hovered in silence, as though it would remain the same until the end of the world.

    Medanzo was no stranger to this feather. In fact, his impression of it was beyond deep. It was these feathers that had pushed him to the ground as he was about to flee. Even his raging dark purple blood mes could only burn the feather at a snail¡¯s pace, a bad trade through and through.

    Back when he was running for his life, he had no time for anything beyond amazement. Only now did he get the chance to take a good look.

    The grey feather wasn¡¯t ethereal but an actual existence. It simply remained in its position without the slightest movement. This subtle feeling was rather amazing, so much so that Medanzo fell into deep but fruitless contemtion. He stared at the feather for a long while and then at the mirage moon origin power. He finally understood afterparing the extremes of transformation and calmness. ¡°As long as daybreak and darkness origin powers exist in this world, it will never move!¡±

    The grey feather did not drain any energy. It was simply absorbing the two origin powers from the environment to sustain itself in bnce. As long as there were two types of origin power in the air, it would remain in existence for eternity. It would only start to degrade and recede only after one type of energy was gone.

    The mirage moon origin power was constantly transforming between different types of energy, while chaos origin power transformed different types of energy to keep itself constant. The two were indeed pr opposites.

    Medanzo was an intelligent person who had merely been limited by his bloodline for a thousand years. He had already seen through the reasoning that had blocked his path for so long, and a path to the supreme realm was slowly taking shape in his thoughts.

    The only problem was that he would never be able to break the limitations of his bloodline and take that final step. He needed the two seeds in Qianye¡¯s hand in order to modify his bloodline.

    Looking at the feather for a while, Medanzo shook his head in regret. ¡°Eternity is good, but the foundational requirements are terrifying. That¡¯s not something I can withstand. This mirage moon is actually much better. At the very least, I would have a chance at controlling it.¡±

    Mirage moon represented change, so the requirements to control it were speed and intelligence. In this regard, the great dark monarch possessed a lot of secret arts. Although he was a ways off from being able to control this power, there was still some hope.

    The chaos origin power was apletely different story. It was firm, heavy, and posed great requirements upon the practitioner¡¯s foundations. Its existence alone could tear the void apart. Medanzo would never dare to bring such a seed into his body.

    Medanzo quickly remembered something at that moment. ¡°Y-You, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve already...¡±

    Medanzo finally understood. He sighed with aplicated expression, ¡°No wonder, no wonder...¡±

    He struggled to get up and knelt down on one knee. ¡°You have convinced me entirely. I am willing to be your servant even if I be a supreme.¡±

    However, he hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when an azure de stabbed through his blood core!¡±

    Medanzo nced at the sword in disbelief. ¡°Why...¡±

    ¡°For Reynold.¡±

    ¡°But Reynold is dead, and I... am a future supreme. Why?¡±

    ¡°For Reynold.¡±

 Chapter 1458: Old Stories (Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1458: Old Stories (Part 1)</h4>

    Medanzo couldn¡¯t understand why Qianye would cling to past grievances so much, even refusing his submission and loyalty.

    A supreme offering his fealty was absolutely unprecedented since even their friendship was priceless. How many times has this urred throughout Evernight¡¯s history?

    Medanzo¡¯s eyes were full of disbelief up to the moment his life was extinguished. The rapidly draining vitality brought the monarch back to his senses. He said with a sinister smile, ¡°Qianye, you moved too fast! There¡¯s something I haven¡¯t told you, nor will I ever tell you. When the timees, you will regret it! The price of my friendship... is far beyond your imagination.¡±

    Uttering thesest words, the Lightless Monarch¡ªone who had roamed the world for a thousand years¡ªfinally reached the end of his life.

    The moment he fell to the ground, Qianye could feel the entire world trembling. A faint fluctuation brought with it a mournful song from the depths of the void.

    At that moment, the River of Blood appeared once again. It was calm and rxed, but there was a certain sadness in its flowing waters.

    At the source of the river, Qianye saw the seal representing Medanzo¡¯s bloodline slowly fade away and sink into the waters.

    The Lightless Monarch had fallen, and the seal representing his bloodline faded into nothingness. It would only be ignited once again when one of his descendants had reached a sufficient level.

    The River of Blood seemed to be in pain at Medanzo¡¯s death. Truth be told, the river¡¯s reaction was beyond Qianye¡¯s expectations. The effects were even stronger than when the Azure King fell.

    Qianye was a bit surprised. Could the River of Blood consider this mediocre monarch more important than Reynold?

    After the episode of sorrow, the river slowly faded back into the void and disappeared. Qianye stood gazing at the sky with a serious expression. Through his blood core, he could sense some changes happening to the River of Blood; it was just that he couldn¡¯t tell exactly what the changes were.

    It seemed to be moving farther away?

    Qianye wasn¡¯t clear regarding the rtive positions of the new world and the Evernight World, nor how the surface and inner worlds were structured. The twoyers definitely weren¡¯t separated just by a single wall. Hence, Qianye couldn¡¯t say whether the River of Blood was moving closer or away.

    After the river vanished, Qianye did away with his doubts and began searching Medanzo¡¯s body. As a second-generation primogenitor who had lived for a thousand years, Medanzo¡¯s stash was indeed bountiful. Unfortunately, there was nothing useful for the current Qianye. Even for those high-grade origin crystals and ores, he would have to bring them back and trade.

    Qianye discovered several drops of essence blood from various other great dark monarchs. There were three drops of Reynold¡¯s blood among them. It would seem Medanzo had gotten his hands on quite a few of the Azure King¡¯s possessions.

    After putting away the valuable items, Qianye cleared some space on the ground and carved the words ¡°Here Fell the Lightless Monarch Medanzo.¡± onto a giant tree.

    Perhaps countless yearster, there might be vampiresing here tomemorate their second-generation primogenitor.

    After carving the headstone, Qianye shot out a mass of grey energy onto Medanzo¡¯s body. The mes formed of chaos origin power immediately reduced Medanzo¡¯s body to ashes.

    Considering the man¡¯s status, it was only appropriate to go out in such a manner.

    A wave of Qianye¡¯s hands sent the Lightless Monarch¡¯s ashes scattering in all directions, bing a part of this forest and world.

    ...

    Outside the Demon King¡¯s Pce, a long flight of stairs stretched toward the pce high above.

    It was at this time that the sound of grinding gears echoed through the air. The six giant beasts on the wall were spouting steam from their nostrils as they drove the machinery with all their might, pushing open the ten-meter gates to the Demon King¡¯s Pce.

    A handsome yet frail-looking man appeared behind the gates. Predica opened his arms, saying, ¡°Wee, ming Crown! The Demon King Pce hasn¡¯t opened its gates in ten years, and you have be a character capable of doing so.¡±

    Habsburg stopped in front of the threshold and said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯d rather not be this person. So, does this mean Lightless has fallen?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a vampire prince who has ignited a blood seal, why would you need to ask?¡± Predica said. Noticing the sadness in Habsburg¡¯s eyes, he said, ¡°You should be happy that he¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°That is indeed the case if I consider only Medanzo as a person. The reason I¡¯m sad is not because of him but for his title and the vampire race.¡±

    Predica shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to console you, or if I should console you. Someone as smart as you should know that the vampire race is due for some change. Otherwise, only the abyss awaits your people at this rate.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s voice was deep. ¡°I know, but it¡¯s still difficult to ept.¡±

    ¡°Let it be, let¡¯s go in first. I¡¯ve made some new discoveries on the trajectory of fate, let me share them with you.¡±

    Habsburg followed Predica into the Demon King Pce. It was only after he had passed through the spacious za that the main gates closed behind him. This disy was fairly respectful. One had to know that this was the Demon King¡¯s official residence, at least in name. The pce¡¯s courtesy represented the supreme¡¯s respect for Habsburg.

    The hall was crafted from dark bronze¡ªit was fairly sturdy and filled with the aura of passing time. There were numerous diagrams depicting the Evernight races carved intricately upon the walls. The majesty of this thirty-meter hall rushed straight at the visitor¡¯s face.

    Predica ced a hand on the doors and slowly pushed them open.

    Habsburg calmly ced one hand on the door as well, and this hastened the process of opening.

    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ve been exhaustedtely.¡± Predicaughed self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°No matter, we all know His Majesty¡¯s habits.¡± Habsburg smiled kindly.

    The Demon King did not like steam kics and origin arrays, a preference only privy to the highest echelons of Evernight. That was why the frail Predica found it somewhat difficult to push the heavy door open.

 Chapter 1459

    The doors to the Hall of Fate opened to reveal an empty space within.

    There were beams of light shooting across the deep emptiness, reflecting upon several metallicponents.

    As Predica and Habsburg walked in, the flowing lights in the chamber increased in number. The scenery inside the hall slowly became visible as well.

    There was a strange machine floating in the emptiness, surrounded by countless tracks arcing around the central point and moving at different speeds. Some would intersect in certain ces but theseplicated tracks would never collide.

    It was hard to say how the apparatus was powered or why it was moving. The mechanism looked simple enough, but the profundity within was something even Habsburg couldn¡¯t figure out. He would feel dizzy just from looking at it for too long.

    Predica sighed. ¡°I must admit, the power of nature is extremely miraculous. I would¡¯ve never imagined something like this fate apparatus would exist. It can operate on the mysterious force that exists within the void and reveal to us the lowestyer of fate¡¯s trajectory.¡±

    Habsburg endured the difort and studied the trajectory in detail, realizing certain things during this process. ¡°His Majesty refused to use any form of steam machinery or origin arrays throughout the years. Is it so that he can control the power in the depths of the void?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Predica nodded.

    Habsburg said thoughtfully, ¡°Does he n to... take the next step?¡±

    Predica smiled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s not just His Majesty, who doesn¡¯t want to take the next step? Aren¡¯t we all the same? Unfortunately, our bloodline and power also act as our restraint, our ceilings have been destined the moment we were born. How can it be so easy to find something that can rece our bloodlines? The only one who has seeded throughout the millennia must be the one who fell in the new world.¡±

    Habsburg went silent for a while, apparently unwilling to continue this topic. ¡°Perhaps a substitute is easier to find in the new world?¡±

    Now, this was amon agreement among the Evernight experts. Unexpectedly, Predica said, ¡°Actually, the power we need might not be in the new world, nor is it in our Evernight World. Maybe we¡¯ve been walking the wrong path for millennia. You¡¯ll understand once I introduce a young friend to you.¡±

    Predica called out into the emptiness, ¡°Anwen!¡±

    A door opened in the void space and in walked Anwen. Through the half-open door, one could see the miraculous space inside. There was only a floor but no ceiling, nor was there anything else apart from the table, chair, and an array ofplicated machinery. There were at least thousands of gears within the mechanism. Simply thinking about their movement gave one a headache.

    It wasn¡¯t just Habsburg who was gazing at the machinery inside; even Predica seemed curious. Anwen scratched his messy hair and said helplessly, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s like this... I¡¯ve been requiring a lot ofputational powertely, and my demonic energy isn¡¯t quite enough. That¡¯s why I had to build that thing to help me with my calctions.¡±

    Habsburg nodded, still gazing expressionlessly at theplicated machine. Even with his power as the ming Crown, he couldn¡¯t figure out even a portion of the machine¡¯s rhythm, nor did he understand what Anwen meant byputation. Didn¡¯t all Evernight experts rely on sensing and understanding their bloodline to advance in rank? The name of this process itself was something he had learned from the humans.

    The sensing part was easy enough, but why they attached such importance to understanding was a mystery.

    In Anwen¡¯s case, origin power was apparently more than just an energy to be channeled. It could be quantified and calcted?

    Fortunately, Habsburg had shot a stealthy nce at Predica and saw that thetter was also puzzled. That made him feel much better. It would seem that Anwen was a... special case and not because vampires were particrly dumb. Even the demonkin great prophet had no idea what Anwen was up to.

    Seeing Predica and Habsburg¡¯s expressions, Anwen scratched his head again and began exining what exactly he was doing. After all, it was only because of Predica that he had gotten this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in the Hall of Fate.

    Even as the Young Lord of the demonkin race, Anwen understood that he should be taking responsibility for his sponsor.

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m still not at the stage where I can explore the unknown... wait, listen to my exnation!¡± Anwen immediately noticed the killing intent in Predica¡¯s expression.

    Predica said, ¡°Fine, I must hear of it, and it just so happens that Habsburg is here to listen as well. You¡¯ve used three years¡¯ worth of the hall¡¯s funds, yet you haven¡¯t even begun your primary job. I do wonder what you¡¯ve been doing.¡±

    Habsburg couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What do the hall¡¯s yearly funds look like?¡±

    ¡°Roughly enough to build three Lava Castles.¡±

    Habsburg no longer said anything and merely paid attention to Anwen. He wanted to know how the man had managed to spend in three days the resources he had to umte for hundreds of years.

    Anwen felt rather pressured under the gazes of the two top experts. He gathered his senses and said helplessly, ¡°I can exin, but you guys must be patient. What I¡¯m about to say isn¡¯t... very easy to understand.¡±

    Habsburg possessed theposure befitting of a crown prince, but Predica was notorious for being narrow-minded. His face almost turned green, and there was a hint of anger in his eyes.

    Anwen immediately realized he had misspoken, but it was toote to take back the words. All he could do now was think of a way to salvage the situation. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to convey the countless numbers and abstract diagrams into an easy-to-understand summary.

    ¡°There are many types of origin power in our world. To be precise, the darkness origin power manifests in many different forms, and what we control is only a handful of them. The bloodline power we know of actually corresponds to a specific form of origin power.¡±

    This wasmon knowledge from the top-ranking experts of Evernight down to the children who had just started school.

    Anwen¡¯s topic took a sharp turn. ¡°There are even more forms of origin power that people do not know of. It could be, no, I¡¯m quite certain that the origin power we have grasped is but a tiny fraction of the whole. There are countless other manifestations that we do not know about, some in this world, some lying undiscovered in the void.¡±

    After leading with this concept and noticing that the duo could follow his topic, he continued, ¡°We can split origin power into essence and manifestation. From a certain perspective, darkness origin power is the manifestation of a deeper essence.¡±

    The demonkin¡¯s old habits began surfacing at this point. When he started throwing outplicated forms and diagrams, Predica had no choice but to interrupt, ¡°You haven¡¯t told us what exactly you¡¯re studying.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this, if we want to break the shackles of our bloodline, we must search for new forms of energy. To be precise, we must find other forms of manifestation. Only then will we be able to find a new path that suits us. The ck-Winged Monarch, or rather, the Lord of Evernight¡¯s path is notpatible with us.¡±

    Predica and Habsburg nodded seriously. They had believed that there was no path forward for the experts of Evernight, but Anwen had ignited a flicker of hope for them. Origin power wasn¡¯t just divided into daybreak and darkness, to begin with. It could exist in countless forms.

    ¡°In short, we need to find more energy forms or rather the states in which they exist. However, the realms in which most of these energy forms reside are far beyond our sensory range. There are certain forms that we can never sense via normal methods, their existence can only be theorized. This makes it extremely difficult to prove their existence, but this is a necessary step that cannot be avoided. The only way we will understand our bloodlines and break through the shackles is to understand more about origin power.¡±

    Habsburg and Predica grew increasingly excited. The great prophet¡¯s hands were even trembling as he asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, your work all this time is...¡±

    ¡°Yes, those machines were designed to help me find these origin power manifestations, and they¡¯re almostplete!¡± Anwen¡¯s voice was bright and clear.

    Predica seemed at a loss. He nced at Habsburg and saw that the man¡¯s ming crown was on the verge of flickering out.

    ¡°Wait...¡± Predica tried to calm himself down. Even if he was going to erupt in anger and beat up Anwen, he could wait a while until he had gotten things clear.

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying you haven¡¯t begun searching for these origin power forms. You¡¯ve only been building the tools to search for them?¡±

    ¡°Well, we have to sharpen our axes before cutting wood,¡± Anwen replied philosophically.

    The great prophet¡¯s anger fizzled out, feeling that fate was messing with him. He roared, ¡°You spent enough resources to cover a quarter of the cksun Valley war and upied the fate apparatus for half a month... just to build these... tools?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still building them,¡± Anwent corrected.

    ¡°And you¡¯re not even done?!¡± The gentle prophet spoke in a volume he had never used in his life, almost tearing the void in the process.

    Anwen shrugged. ¡°Well, the money is gone now. Are you going to stop me frompleting them?¡±

    Predica¡¯s expression immediately turned dark. He had no choice but to allow Anwen toplete his machines at this point.

    However, he was a great prophet after all. He immediately caught Anwen¡¯s weak point. ¡°Fine, I will keep funding the project, but if you can¡¯t find those so-called energy forms...¡±

    ¡°What then?¡± Anwen felt uneasy.

    ¡°You will be fully responsible.¡±

 Chapter 1460

    Anwen¡¯s face went pale. It didn¡¯t take great intellect to understand what this kind of debt meant; he would need hundreds of years even after bing a great dark monarch to repay it.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do this!¡±

    ¡°Of course I can, and I¡¯m not joking.¡± There was no smile on Predica¡¯s face.

    Anwen frowned. ¡°What did I do wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to help you, but I cannot if this is how you choose tomunicate. At the very least, you have to make things clear before you spend so much of the council¡¯s money. You must exin what this tool is for. I know you can find a way to do that.¡±

    Anwen calmed down for a bit. ¡°The machine will give us a new and extremely efficient way to explore the world. Once it has beenpleted, it can be used to calcte the forms in which origin power exists amongst other things. For instance, it can analyze the trajectory of fate or simte the flow of void origin power, even predict weather and disasters. In short, it will be useful for any sort ofputational work. I¡¯ve been adjusting and expanding its scale of operation to this end. My own calction powers will improve by a hundred times with its help, and it can be continuously upgraded in the future.¡±

    Predica fell into deep thought in the face of this lengthy report. ¡°If it can really do what you say, the council will be able to suppress the human race in terms of technology. Perhaps in a hundred years, we might be able to counter their cultivation advantage. At the very least, our warship main cannons will improve by two generations.¡±

    Anwen sighed. ¡°It can definitely optimize ballistics, but I do not wish for my invention to be used for killing. There are many more meaningful things in the world.¡±

    ¡°You do not have the right to decide what is meaningful, not now. We can talk a hundred yearster when you have the power to make these decisions. For now, let¡¯s see how effective your tool is.¡±

    Anwen said after some thought, ¡°I¡¯vepleted a good portion of it. It¡¯s still struggling to predict disasters, but it¡¯s capable enough to assist the fate apparatus.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll attempt a new prophecy. Let¡¯s begin once you¡¯re ready.¡±

    Anwen ran back to his room and began activating his miraculous machine at lightning speed. The start-up procedure was excessivelyplicated, involving several hundred switches and pinions.

    Predica waited patiently until Anwen was ready before activating the fate apparatus. Compared to the busy Anwen, Predica¡¯s movements were practiced and leisurely. With a wave of his hand, hundreds of wisps of darkness origin power fell upon the apparatus nodes.

    The trajectories of the fate apparatus began to transform, and a dim light began to flicker at the center of the machinery.

    As Habsburg saw it, these lights were simply meaningless motes and belts of luminescence. Yet, every flicker resonated with his blood core.

    Habsburg frowned because he felt that this prophecy was rted to the vampire race.

    Predica¡¯s pupils expanded as the fate apparatus kicked into action, almost filling his entire eyes. In this state, he was almost able to peer into changes along the river of fate.

    This was Predica¡¯s unique talent and the reason he became the new master prophet of this generation. He was capable of capturing the flow of fate despite its myriad transformations.

    Anwen stared fixedly at the changes in the apparatus. Countless numbers flowed out of his hand and transformed into a beam of light as they poured into the machine. Every pinion, lever, and crystal in the machine would generate even more numbers. These digits would converge and go through iprehensible forms before returning to Anwen. Just like that, Anwen and the machine slowly turned into a constant deluge of numbers.

    While observing the process, Predica had the extra energy to exin to Habsburg, ¡°The origin power I injected into the apparatus was prepared specifically for the topic I want to prophesize. The different origin power entering different time nodes represent factors interfering with fate. Once all the main factors have been prepared, the fate apparatus will reveal the true face of our future.¡±

    Habsburg asked, ¡°Will my being here influence the oue?¡±

    ¡°It will,¡± Predica said expressionlessly.

    Habsburg understood that this was Predica¡¯s personal motive. Vast amounts of resources were required to activate the fate apparatus each time, so even as the controller, he couldn¡¯t use it as he wished. However, the situation had been changing rapidly in recent days, and the vampire race was now at the heart of it.

    Perhaps because he had heard or sensed something, Predica wanted to throw Habsburg into the prophecy as well.

    The vampire prince didn¡¯t refuse. The fate apparatus was already halfway in operation, so it was toote anyway. On the other hand, needing such methods to peep into the workings of fate meant that there might be some factor in the future capable of destroying Habsburg.

    Seeing Habsburg retain his silence, Predica heaved a sigh of relief and went on with his work.

    The apparatus continuously drained the injected origin power, up until the light in the apparatus faded away and the trajectories returned to their original state.

    This moment¡¯s work left Predica pale and his aura unstable. Apparently, the price was not small.

    He said with a frown, ¡°There are too many variables, everything is a mess. It¡¯s even harder to confirm anything about the vampire race now. I think the fate of the race will undergo several drastic changes in the near future before heading in its final direction...¡±

    It would seem that Predica couldn¡¯t fully understand the fate of the vampire race. That was indeed the case. After all, he was trying to prophesize one of the four major races, one overseen by the Queen of the Night.

    Anwen cried out all of a sudden, ¡°The River of Blood is moving away!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Habsburg cried out in surprise.

    Predica wasn¡¯t moved. ¡°The River of Blood has been moving away for decades now, that¡¯s not news. Did you not know?¡±

    Anwen said, ¡°No, that¡¯s not what I meant! The River of Blood was moving away at first, but it was just going along its trajectory. It would¡¯ve returned after some time. Now, I just found it has changed its trajectory entirely! This path will only take the river away, and it will never return!¡±

 Chapter 1461

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Predica asked quickly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. Normally, there can be only one reason for this kind of situation, and that is the interference of outside forces.¡±

    Predica asked seriously, ¡°Is your conclusion reliable?¡±

    ¡°Compared to traditional prophetic powers, I¡¯m more confident in my own conclusion. The results are clear numbers after all and not hazy predictions.¡±

    In truth, Predica already believed Anwen; this person¡¯s intellect far surpassed this generation. His thought process, research system, and even the tools he designed were things no one had ever thought of. Even the present great prophet couldn¡¯t figure out what he was thinking.

    ¡°What¡¯s the current situation of the river?¡± Habsburg asked. He had just tried tomunicate with the river and did receive a response; things were no different from before. As a crown prince, his ability tomunicate with the river was unparalleled.

    Anwen quickly drew an oval circle and an arced line. ¡°The river was traveling along this orbit at first. It¡¯s at the farthest point at the moment, but it would¡¯ve returned after a couple of decades. The ice age of the vampire race would¡¯ve ended at that point. But now, the river is slowing down and shifting to a straight-line trajectory. As for where this line goes, I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°That means the vampire race will disappear?¡± Habsburg sounded serious.

    The River of Blood was the source of the vampire race. Its departure wouldn¡¯t just cause a weakening; it might just bring about the destruction of the entire race.

    Anwen said, ¡°This process will take a long time, centuries at least. You might have time to do something.¡±

    ¡°Anwen, do you think this change has something to do with Medanzo?¡±

    Predica was surprised. ¡°Medanzo? The Lightless Monarch might be a great dark monarch, but he¡¯s not powerful enough to affect the river¡¯s flow, is he?¡±

    ¡°No, you might not know this, but Medanzo is one of the few who got through the Lost Season. His strength is only limited by his inherent talents. To the River of Blood, his importance might be far beyond our expectations. I even sensed the river¡¯s grief when he fell.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Predica was surprised.

    Anwen said after some thought, ¡°If Habsburg really did sense the river¡¯s sorrow, it proves two things. One, the river possesses a consciousness, much like the will of the new world. Secondly, Medanzo was truly important to the River of Blood, but that¡¯s the extent of it. It¡¯s not that easy for the river to change its course in the depths of the void. It¡¯s more likely that some external force is interfering with it.¡±

    ¡°What might that be?¡± Habsburg asked.

    Anwen shrugged with a wry smile. ¡°How should I know?¡±

    Habsburg knew this question would only make things difficult for Anwen, so he kept his silence. Predica said all of a sudden, ¡°I¡¯vee up with a conjecture.¡±

    ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    ¡°Although I don¡¯t know why the river is moving away, I do know one way we can halt the process. That is the breakthrough of a greater number of vampire experts. If I¡¯m not wrong, the vampire race still has a lot of powerful experts. Especially those two, their existence might be a forbidden topic, but they are vampires after all.¡±

    Habsburg¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Correct! Her Majesty Nighteye is a given. I don¡¯t know who she was before, but she¡¯s headed straight for the Sacred Mountain soon after awakening. There is no doubt about that. The other, Qianye, might still be a grand duke at the moment, but I heard he hasmunicated with the river since he was a count. The favor he receives from the river isparable to Nighteye¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Her Majesty Nighteye is definitely a great candidate, but that person...¡± Predica smiled wryly.

    Habsburg woke up to reality and fell silent. From the race¡¯s perspective, he didn¡¯t feel that Qianye was wrong. It could even be said that he was a hero who had averted a great disaster for the vampire race.

    Predica understood Habsburg¡¯s mood. ¡°Qianye doesn¡¯t know the truth behind all this. Even if he does, we cannot change him. Don¡¯t forget that his heart belongs to the human race as well.¡±

    ¡°True, the human race...¡± Habsburgughed ruefully.

    Anwen interrupted at this point, ¡°I still believe that we shouldn¡¯t eliminate the human race. Perhaps what awaits us after eradicating all daybreak lifeforms is destruction.¡±

    ¡°There were no daybreak lifeforms before the War of Daybreak.¡± Predica¡¯s tone was cold.

    Anwen argued, ¡°A world cannot exist on a single type of energy. Darkness might¡¯ve been prevalent during ancient times, but daybreak couldn¡¯t have been absent entirely. Pulling in the darkness origins will produce an absolute region of darkness origin power in this world. Many of our people will also die under such an environment!¡±

    ¡°The doors have opened, and the Lord of Evernight has also fallen, the darkness origins is under our control now. As long as we release a sufficient amount of its energy and close the door, this absolute region will not ur.¡±

    Anwen sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t stop you, so I can only hope what you say is true, that you can close the door as soon as you have enough energy. I fear that you will no longer be able to control yourself at that point. You people will eventually understand what it means to remove an intelligent species from this world.¡±

    Predica said, ¡°I understand your insistence, but you do not understand the end result of keeping the humans around. After I grasped the power of prophecy, I gradually discovered a mysterious power shrouding the fate of the human race. This has allowed them to make the right decisions at every critical juncture and avert some form of great disaster. The race seems to be boosted by this effect as well, making it so that experts arise in droves in every generation. This is simr to the werewolves¡¯ ancestral power, but its level was much higher. If we do nothing, they¡¯ll overtake our sacred races in a few centuries.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just a guess. The real objective is to purge the world, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Predica shook his head with a sigh. ¡°His Majesty might think that, or maybe he has some unspoken reason. The fact remains that humans have be a great enemy to our faction. We cannot let go of any opportunity to wipe them out in one go. You are the future of the demonkin race, perhaps even that of Evernight itself, so you should do your best at such an important time. If you disagree with our methods, you can change all of that once you be a supreme.¡±

    Anwen shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think I will ever reach that ce.¡±

    ¡°You have the talent.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about talents but about the path. Bing a supreme is an old path, and the one I¡¯m walking is vastly different.¡±

 Chapter 1462

    After marking Medanzo¡¯s resting ce, Qianye simply stood there for an entire day and night instead of returning to the holynd.

    Fate was too serious a topic, something he had no choice but to start contemting.

    The moment Medanzo fell, Qianye suddenly understood that he had reached a new phase in life. He was now able to influence the fate of an entire race. Whatever method he had used, it remained a fact that he had killed Medanzo on his own.

    This meant that he was now able to stand at the same level as those top experts he could only gaze up at before. Perhaps there was still a gap but that gap was no longer qualitative.

    Now that he was at a certain height, he was gradually able to see the truth of this world.

    And more often than not, the truth was like a heavy weight on the heart.

    Qianye finally opened his eyes at dawn the next day and disappeared toward the holynd.

    A mournful bugle call would echo through the air above the holynd from time to time. The Attawa could be seen hurrying about the ce.

    The za was full of injured soldiers, groaning painfully on the ground. The anxious elders shuttled back and forth between them, but all they could do was use some herbs to alleviate the pain. They could do nothing about the putrid wounds.

    The Attawa were naturally strong, and their regenerative powers were nothing to scoff at; only grave injuries could bring them to the ground. There were hundreds of warriors in the za at the moment. Their injuries were terrifying, and some were missing limbs.

    All the wounds were putrid and leaking odorous pus. Even the strongest of them could not recover, even with the aid of their natural regeneration power and herbs. On the contrary, the wounds were worsening at a steady rate. There was dark origin power lingering around their wounds, an energy belonging to the experts of Evernight.

    The living origin power of the inner world was like poison to the Evernight experts, and the reverse was true for the Attawa.

    Qianye was surprised to see this scene upon returning. He dragged an elder over and asked, ¡°What happened?¡±

    The elder replied with a sorrowful expression, ¡°After you left, the great elder gathered up the remaining warriors of our tribe. Working together with two other tribes, he went forth to eliminate the ck demons¡¯ foothold in this world. Who would¡¯ve thought more ck demons would appear from their base? Less than a third of our soldiers returned.¡±

    ¡°There are new ck demons?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and it isn¡¯t just one.¡±

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank as his guess was proven correct. The dark races couldn¡¯t have repelled the powerful Attawa without a great dark monarch overseeing them. Theck of top-tier fighting power was the Attawa¡¯s shoring. They would¡¯ve been badly defeated if it weren¡¯t for Qianye.

    In truth, Rex and Andruil had already given their lives to resist the invaders. If it wasn¡¯t for Andruil fighting the three supremes alone, the inner world would¡¯ve been captured long ago.

    Even with Progia heavily injured and Medanzo dead, the gap in power between the two parties saw little change. Evernight could readily dispatch more great dark monarchs. Who knew how many hidden powerhouses there were between the four major races and the minor ones.

    Qianye alone could not turn the tables.

    Looking up at the ck sun in the sky, he said, ¡°Take me to the mother tree.¡±

    This time, the will of the mother tree was clearly restless. This simple but wise existence had likely sensed the impending danger of eradication.

    Qianye knew little about how the supremes nned to draw on the power of the darkness origins. Andruil had long since fallen out with the council, so he had no idea, either. After amunicating tunnel was established, the inner world would irreversibly affect the Evernight world. The reverse was also true.

    After connecting with the mother tree, Qianye immediately grasped the situation on the front lines.

    After failing their assault on the tower, the Attawa forces retreated promptly. However, the Evernight experts had no ns to let them go just like that, so the Attawa had no choice but to appoint a rearguard for their retreat. Although these soldiers fought with their lives on the line, the disparity in equipment was too great, and the other party was led by a demonkin prince.

    ¡°I¡¯m heading out to the front lines.¡± Qianye left after giving some instructions.

    Judging from the current situation, the dark race experts might just follow the retreating forces back to the holy mountain.

    Although Qianye had already taken most of the tree sap atop the holy mountain, he couldn¡¯t discount the possibility of someone from Evernight grasping the mirage moon origin power.

    With a history spanning tens of thousands of years, the dark races had produced numerous outstanding talents. There were countless experts like Medanzo whose progress had been limited by their bloodline, destined never to progress. If the trees at the summit were to fall into the council¡¯s hands, it was difficult to say how many top-exerts would emerge. By that time, the council would be far superior to the Empire even without bringing in the darkness origins.

    All of a sudden, Qianye had the sudden urge to destroy those trees. That way, chaos origin power would be the only energy left that could truly surpass daybreak and darkness.

    However, the thought merely shed through his mind before he dismissed it. Every natural treasure was a gift from the world, just like the ten Grand Magnums of the Evernight World. These strange trees of the inner world were an umtion of the realm¡¯s essence, the end-point of all life. Destroying them would cause irreversible damage to the world.

    Channeling Spatial sh continuously, it took Qianye less than half a day to reach the front lines.

    He immediately noticed the burning forest in the distance, sending billowing smoke into the sky. The air was filled with the stench of burning flesh, and the darkness origin power in the environment was restless. There were even some that tried to attack Qianye, but they were promptly scattered after crashing into his body.

    Qianye could sense several points where the fighting was fiercest. Dozens of Attawa soldiers were scattered in different ces¡ªsome copsed on the ground, some still fighting, and some prowling the battlefield.

    Qianye made his decision quickly. He appeared in the air and shouted, ¡°I am Qianye! The Lightless Monarch Medanzo is dead! Who is in charge of the dark races now? Show yourself.¡±

    Amotion ensued on the ground. Many Evernight experts stopped fighting, some even giving up the opportunity to deal the final blow, just so they could put some distance between them and Qianye.

    Qianye¡¯s domain was fierce and tyrannical, notorious for being able to kill weaker Evernight experts in one go. No one wanted to remain within its range.

 Chapter 1463

    Momentster, a middle-aged demonkin appeared. His looks were almostparable to Qianye¡¯s, with an indescribably romantic bearing.

    ¡°Hailing from the Dark Abyss, I am Pentheus, Prince of Barota. If you must find the person responsible for this warfront, that would be me,¡± the man said with a wry smile.

    Qianye found it odd. ¡°I¡¯m looking for the highestmanding officer in the area.¡±

    Pentheus sighed. ¡°That can only be me. Perhaps the person you want is the council¡¯s representative in charge of the inner world.¡±

    ¡°Your attitude is a bit strange.¡±

    ¡°Not at all. To be honest, I would rather let go of the glory here and head back to Evernight. I¡¯m more looking forward to dating some foreigndies, drinking wine, and writing poetry. But... since you¡¯ve called me out by name, I have no choice but to step forward. I do have my n and my honor to consider after all.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected Pentheus to be so straightforward. He touched his face, thinking if he was that terrifying.

    Pentheus seemed to have noticed Qianye¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Did the Lightless Monarch fall in your hands?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he has paid the ultimate price for betraying the vampire race.¡±

    ¡°There you go. Medanzo has fallen, and Progia¡¯s badly injured and nowhere to be found. Say, do you think I want to fight you? I¡¯m a poet, and my de is reserved for my love rivals, not for the filthy battlefield.¡±

    Qianye was speechless, but of course, Pentheus¡¯ words weren¡¯t enough to move him. The other party was a prince¡ªhe might be a bit entric, but his cultivation was still above Qianye¡¯s.

    Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯m here to suggest we stop the fighting here. Both sides shall retreat and not fight again within three days. What say you?¡±

    Pentheus said, ¡°Can you guarantee it?¡±

    ¡°I can.¡± Qianye was quite straightforward.

    The Attawa had suffered heavy casualties during this attack, so they wouldn¡¯t have the power to attack again anyway. The natives were sparse in poption, and their fertility rate wasn¡¯t exactly high. Losing a thousand men had set the three tribes back considerably; it would probably take hundreds of years to recover.

    Pentheusughed. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t agree, but it just so happens that I hate fighting. Very well, I will agree to your three-day ceasefire.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t go back on your words, will you?¡± Qianye felt that this prince wasn¡¯t all that reliable.

    ¡°How can a prince¡¯s reputation be exchanged for a mere three days? Then again, you have to know that the oue will be no different whether we pause for three days or thirty days.¡± Pentheus nced at Qianye with an expression of pity.

    Qianye said, ¡°Can you be more specific?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine to tell you. The council¡¯s ultimate victory is a given, and the reason is simple. Qianye, you might be one of the top experts since ancient times and even the supreme realm is not beyond your reach. However, you are alone, how do you intend to fight the council and its ten thousand years of umtion? The allies you chose... haha... I think they will disappoint you. The only one worthy of our respect has fallen on the void continent.¡±

    ¡°Whatever they do, it¡¯s a choice that I made.¡±

    Pentheus bowed. ¡°Very well, I wish you all the best.¡±

    Qianye stood in the air, watching as the Evernight experts receded like the tide. The surviving Attawa gathered around him during this time, waiting for their orders.

    ¡°Return to the holynd for now.¡±

    Having received themand, the warriors cremated theirrades¡¯ remains and set out on the way back.

    Qianye simply stood there without any movement.

    A voice echoed through the air, ¡°Young Friend, were you waiting for me.¡±

    Qianye slowly turned around to face the man who had just appeared. This person appeared forthright and sincere, with a constant smile on his face. There was, however, a hint of coldness and pride as well.

    His aura was boundless and ephemeral; even the current Qianye found it difficult to fathom his power. Needless to say, he was a heavenly monarch.

    Qianye cupped his hands ording to Imperial customs. ¡°May I know your name?¡±

    ¡°Fang Shunxuan, better known as the Profundity Monarch.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to finally meet you.¡± Qianye performed proper salutations.

    The Profundity Monarch swung his sleeves. ¡°You¡¯re not my subordinate and we¡¯re also in foreignnds, so you can ignore the formalities.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Since the Profundity wished to keep him at a distance, there was no reason for Qianye to approach the man.

    ¡°Such a young man injuring the Masefield n Lord and killing the Lightless Monarch. Your aplishments are unprecedented. The Empire will definitely reward you in the future.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°I have no interest in rewards. Are Zining and Jundu doing well?¡±

    The monarch stroked his beard. ¡°One is a marshal and the other is now a duke, they¡¯re definitely doing good. The Empire will have to rely on them in the future. Some say the next twin paragons of the Empire are slowly taking shape.¡±

    ¡°Will theye here?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not certain. The inner world is full of danger, so it¡¯s better for old people like us. It might not be a good thing for the future to risk sending them in here. We¡¯re not so short on men that we would need to bet the Empire¡¯s future pirs.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch was polite and calm. Qianye said expressionlessly, ¡°You¡¯ve long since discovered Evernight¡¯s tower, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    The monarch was stunned for a bit, but he wasn¡¯t willing to lie. ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°Why did you not attack? Why wait for Evernight toplete their construction?¡±

    ¡°This is an important matter that requires careful deliberation.¡±

    Qianye stared at the monarch without even blinking, but thetter was also calm and unmoved.

    Momentster, Qianye said, ¡°Did you not know that the Empire would still have to step in if the Attawa and I failed to stop them? Are you still scheming at such a juncture?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s smile remained unchanged. ¡°Young Friend, this monarch has always acted impartially. I would¡¯ve taken action if it warranted me taking action. I see that your fighting power is shocking, capable of taking on two great dark monarchs, killing one and injuring the other. There was simply no need for me to act.¡±

    Qianye pointed at the pile of Attawa corpses on the ground. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t have needed to die if you had stepped in.¡±

    ¡°Those are foreign tribes, what¡¯s so important about them?¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°These long-limbed creatures would be no different from beasts if they hadn¡¯t developed some knowledge. Do you consider them your own?¡±

    Qianye was speechless. A frustrating feeling churned in his chest for a good while before he spat out, ¡°The wise ancestors have said before that all life is equal. Even the Evernight Council would give an intelligent race an equal ce. Don¡¯t tell me the great Empire is inferior in this regard?¡±

    ¡°Young Friend, since you know of the wise ancestors¡¯ words, how can you not know of the Founding Ancestor¡¯s words? Those of a different race will always have different intentions.¡±

    Qianye had heard these words countless times. He looked closely at the Profundity Monarch¡¯s unchanging smile and said, ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll be taking my leave.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t see you off.¡± The monarch was still smiling.

 Chapter 1464

    Once back at the holynd, Qianye summoned all of the elders and asked them about the war situation. Those gathered here right now weren¡¯t only from the Monroe tribe; men from the Byrne and Sperger tribes were also present.

    The Attawa were simple and primitive, but they weren¡¯t dumb. They viewed Qianye as the messenger of the gods since he hadmunicated with the Holy Spirit before. They had also witnessed enough bloody battles to know that Qianye was the only one capable of stopping the ck demons. No matter how brave the Attawa were, they could do nothing against the great dark monarchs. At most, they would be able to drag things out a little.

    Hence, all the elders were cooperative during the assembly and no unexpected hups happened. Qianye slowly gained a clearer picture of the situation after listening to their reports.

    This attack was a proactive effort by the Attawa to drive the Evernight people out for good¡ªbut they ended up losing the fight. The Attawa started off with their elites charging in to self-detonate while the ordinary soldiers followed up to restrain the enemy. The giant wargods came inst to deliver the final blow.

    The problem was that their strategy was too old, and the Evernight faction wasn¡¯t inflexible. Experts from the other side who managed toe into the inner world were the elites among the elites.

    The Attawa assault was immediately discovered. Under Pentheus¡¯mand, the Evernight experts assumed a defensive formation and turned the fight into a fort defense.

    No primitive tribe could beat a high-tech civilization in fortified defenses. The Evernight side didn¡¯t field their great dark monarchs at all. They merely relied on focused fire to mow down half of the iing enemy.

    The scattered self-detonations could do little against the Evernight defensive lines. All they did was leave the ordinary warriors behind exposed to the suppressive fire.

    The battle became a ughter from the very beginning.

    The Attawa moved at lightning speed, but the Evernight warriors were counts at the very least. With an origin gun in hand, they could follow at least a dozen targets and hit three of them. Some of the Attawa jumped high up into the air and tried charging in from above, only to end up being sted into sieves.

    Even the giant wargods didn¡¯t get the opportunity to charge into the enemy formation.

    The offensive soon broke down. Fortunately, the Evernight side didn¡¯t try too hard during the chase. It looked more like they were trying to drive the Attawa back home.

    After learning of the situation, Qianye didn¡¯t know what to do for the time being.

    The Evernight side had fought this battle fair and square, relying only on their superior firepower to defeat the Attawa. Two of the three attacking tribes had been crippled at this point.

    The only way out was to work with the Empire and borrow their heavenly monarchs to make up for theck of top-tier experts. That would¡¯ve been a perfectbination capable of stemming the Evernight assault and buying some time.

    The Profundity Monarch was clearly around, yet he had chosen to only watch from the sidelines. It was clear that they intended to watch until the Attawa and Evernight had finished fighting to the bitter end.

    Qianye felt a surge of anger. Was the Profundity Monarch so certain that he would stand on their side?

    With a loud crack, Qianye¡¯s chair shattered into several pieces and broke down into fine powder. Only then did he realize that his origin power had leaked out due to his emotions. ncing at the shocked expression of the people around him, Qianye quickly recollected himself. Now that there was no longer a chair, he simply stood up and conjured a map of the holynd with a wave of his hand.

    ¡°We must not let the ck demons taint the holy mountain, nor can we let them obtain the treasures left behind by the gods! However, the ck demons are powerful and difficult to deal with. That¡¯s why my suggestion is to issue a call to war, asking all the other tribes to assemble here. We will theny down a defensive formation and stop the ck demons before they can enter the area.¡±

    The defensive line Qianye had settled on did not give them any special advantage. It was, however, close enough to the holynd that they could keep their defenses consolidated. Thendscape advantage wasn¡¯t going to do much against the experts of Evernight.

    The elders did not have any experience withrge-scale wars, much less against Evernight. All their fights against the dark races had ended in grave losses. They would¡¯ve been utterly defeated if it weren¡¯t for Qianye.

    Fortunately, the Attawa elders didn¡¯t crave power all that much. No one objected to Qianye¡¯s suggestion.

    Qianye knew that the n was just a stopgap measure. Even with the battlefront contracted, the dark race experts could still field their dukes, princes, and great dark monarchs to whittle away at the defenses. In truth, Qianye would not be able tounch a surprise attack if the great dark monarchs remained on high alert.

    Qianye decided that he would have to visit the Empire¡¯s camp and discuss things with the Profundity Monarch. This was rted to the survival of the entire human race, not something that could be decided rashly.

    Having reached a decision, Qianye left the holynd and made for the Empire¡¯s approximate location.

    ...

    A small encampment had just appeared in the depths of a certain deep valley. From a distance, this ce looked no different from any other part of the inner world. Only after closing in would one notice the clear aura at the center of the valley¡ªthe ce was almost like an immortal paradise.

    Eight unique and naturally formed stone pirs stood at the center of the camp. There was a different painting hanging from each of them¡ªthey depicted lush trees and natural scenery that almost blended in with the seams of the world itself. They were no doubt works of divine art.

    Moreover, the eight stone pirs contained an origin array in each of them. Thebination of all eight formed yet a bigger formation.

    At this moment, a gush of springwater appeared out of nowhere, flowing down the pirs and into the small pond below. Lotus flowers danced in the wind, stirring up ripples on the clear water surface.

    Two men could be seen ying chess near the pond.

    On one side was the Profundity Monarch. He had been holding his piece for a fairly long time, lost in deep contemtion. Finally, he yed the piece and nced up at the Pointer Monarch.

    The old man was surprised at the move. He then said with a frown, ¡°Your move puts me in a difficult position. Should I respond or should I not respond... hm...¡±

    The Profundity Monarch smiled. ¡°This is how it goes when leading armies, the entire aim is to make it difficult for the enemy to decide.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch picked up a piece. Instead of ying it, he asked, ¡°Your move isn¡¯t the best, though. There¡¯s one other move that would have ensured your victory, and you probably know it. Why did you not y it?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch stroked his beard. ¡°That move is definitely the best under normal circumstances, but my current move is better in throwing the opponent off. It might just be enough to put him in a hopeless situation and draw out a wrong y. When that timees, the best move from before might not be the best move after all.¡±

    ¡°But if I push back forcibly, you¡¯ll be in a passive position.¡±

    Profundityughed. ¡°How can a young kid possess your level of calmness? Besides, how will we know his bottom line if we don¡¯t force him? If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll apologize to him. There¡¯s nothing to lose for the Empire.¡±

 Chapter 1465

    While walking through the forest, Qianye would receive periodic information from the mother tree. This meant that he had gained even more recognition, and his authority in the inner world had once again increased. Now, he couldmunicate with the mother tree through any tree in the forest.

    Every direction was transparent to Qianye because of the information he was receiving.. However, there was a patch of deep darkness in the valley ahead, and he couldn¡¯t see what was going on inside at all.

    This meant that the mother tree¡¯s connection had been cut off in the area. This situation wasn¡¯t unique; the region around Evernight¡¯s tower was also in a simr state.

    This could definitely stop information from leaking outside, but the ck void also served to highlight the location. A force capable of producing an information void far from the dark races¡¯ operation area¡ªit was easy to guess the identity of the people inside.

    Qianye flickered forward at extreme speeds, not hiding his aura in the slightest.

    In the blink of an eye, he was standing before the ck void.

    Soon, a refined middle-aged man walked out from behind a tree and stepped into Qianye¡¯s path.

    Somewhat surprised, he shook his head with a wry smile. ¡°It really is you.¡±

    Qianye also recognized Duke Wei since the two of them had crossed paths before.

    Duke Wei gazed at Qianye withplicated emotions. ¡°You were but a boy during the spring hunt. Back then, Zining was going about trying to get you engaged to my granddaughter. Who would¡¯ve thought you would grow into such a powerful character? I can only say she wasn¡¯t fortunate enough.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Duke Wei shouldn¡¯t think of it that way. It would be troublesome if the marriage had indeed happened. I am a vampire, after all, and might not fit in well with humans. The Founding Ancestor¡¯s words are still written on the Imperial court after all.¡±

    Duke Wei sighed. ¡°Looking at your past actions, you¡¯ve contributed much to the Empire! To the human race! Don¡¯t tell me those bastards with selfish motives are more human than you are! Is it only because they have a human heart and human blood?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Those with a human heart and human blood are indeed humans.¡±

    ¡°Then what about their actions?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s discuss thister. I remember a certain senior who said it¡¯s enough if the heart belongs to the human race.¡±

    Duke Wei snorted. ¡°No matter how strong the determination is, the heart will go cold when enough cold water is poured onto it.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    Duke Wei¡¯s expression shifted slightly. ¡°The two monarchs are inside, please head in.¡±

    With a nod, Qianye walked slowly into the valley. Of course, he knew that Duke Wei was trying to probe him. It was only natural that the two men inside had already heard everything.

    And... Who was the other monarch?

    Qianye felt rxed as he entered the valley; it felt as though he had set foot in an immortal paradise. Under the green trees beside the mistyke, the two heavenly monarchs were seated amidst the rockery. No one knew how long they had been ying that game of chess.

    Qianye came to stand beside the table, quietly observing the match with his hands behind him.

    The Profundity Monarch and the Pointer Monarch seemed to have unlimited patience. The former was contemting his next move. It was as though nothing could grab his attention outside of the chessboard, nor did it seem like he had noticed Qianye¡¯s arrival.

    There was no telling how long he had been thinking on that move, and there was no telling when he would y it. The Pointer Monarch seemed to be resting with his eyes closed, not at all in a rush. He had no intention of urging the other party to y even if they took forever.

    Finally, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but sneer. ¡°Who are you putting on a show for?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch said without looking up, ¡°The young can be so irritable. You¡¯ll know after a few days that patience is a good thing.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be here watching the game if I wasn¡¯t patient. Age might be a good thing, but it¡¯s definitely not the older the better.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch raised his brows, seemingly wanting to smile.

    The Profundity Monarch felt indignant, but the anger only flickered briefly on his expression before fading away. ¡°The board has been set, so you¡¯ll have to y a move whether you like it or not. Since I¡¯m a part of the board, I get to decide when and how to y. Young Friend, you¡¯re just an observer, so you can only keep watching. There¡¯s nothing bad about patience.¡±

    ¡°These words are better said by a long-lived race.¡± Qianye smiled coldly.

    The Profundity Monarch rubbed the piece between his fingers. ¡°Young Friend, are you saying you wish to join Evernight instead?¡±

    ¡°What I want to know is where you¡¯re getting your patience from. You might be dead if you keep ying for three more decades.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch pulled back the chess piece. ¡°It is said that gentlemen do not speak while observing a game. You may do as you wish when you be one of the yers.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I might not be part of the game, but I don¡¯t necessarily have to sit by and watch. Maybe it¡¯s better that I just flip the table.¡±

    ¡°Forcing your way into the game before your time, why would you bring this upon yourself?¡±

    ¡°The hundred thousand Attawa would be dead by then.¡±

    ¡°Those are just foreign creatures. It is quite fitting that they die to pave the way for the king.¡±

    ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, they should die a worthy death. There are better ces where we can put them to use, why are we not doing that?¡±

    ¡°This is an important matter decided by the court...¡±

    The conversation became heated, but the heat was only limited to Qianye. The Profundity Monarch grew calmer and slower as Qianye became more and more agitated.

    Qianye suddenly nced around the valley. He then raised his voice, saying, ¡°If the ck-Winged Monarch had not fought the supremes to the death, do you think you lot could handle thebined forces of the Evernight Council?¡±

    Thisment was rather rude, so much so that the Profundity Monarch was visibly moved. Some divine champions and dukes appeared from their concealment, ming Qianye for his insolence.

    Qianyeughed in the face of the rebuke. ¡°It has always been the Evernight faction that is afraid of me. Meanwhile, any random person from the Empire dares to jump out and point their finger at me. It looks like I haven¡¯t killed enough of you yet.¡±

    A divine champion marshal from the military roared, ¡°How dare you! Are you not afraid of inviting a cmity upon yourself? It is your honor to be used by the Empire, when was it a kid¡¯s turn to speak like so?¡±

    ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s an honor...¡± Qianye gazed at the divine champion. ¡°And who the hell are you to speak to me that way? Or how about we duke it out. I¡¯ll take up your surname if I can¡¯t kill you in one hit.¡±

    The old divine champion trembled in anger, but he had little to say despite pointing at Qianye. ¡°Insolence! Utter insolence!¡± Ultimately, he didn¡¯t have the courage to fight.

    Qianyeughed as he nced around him. ¡°Shut up if you dare not fight me.¡±

 Chapter 1466

    The Profundity Monarch sighed as he put the chess piece back into the box. ¡°Young Friend, why do you like to force people so?¡±

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s because I¡¯ve been pushed around for too long, I think I want to see what it feels like to flip the table.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch shook his head. A nearby duke shouted, ¡°Zhao Qianye! Are you not afraid that your insolence will drag the Zhao n down?¡±

    Qianye turned nced expressionlessly at the man. ¡°How so? Is it like this?¡±

    Several threads of blood shot toward the duke at extreme speed! This attack was almost unbelievable. That man could do nothing but watch the iing strike with an ashen face. He was simply unable to evade!

    At this moment, the Pointer Monarch sighed.

    He appeared between Qianye and the duke, stopping the threads with a swing of his sleeves.

    Having returned from the brink of death, the man pointed at Qianye, saying, ¡°Y-You! The nerve...¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t follow up with the attack and merely gazed at the Pointer Monarch.

    The monarch sighed, ¡°Can you people not let an old man rest?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid this matter is too important for you to be enjoying peace and quiet.

    He still maintained a bit of respect for the Pointer Monarch.

    Someone wanted to speak but the Pointer Monarch shut him up with a wave of his hand.

    ¡°Why would you risk angering the Empire over some native tribes?¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t entirely rted to the Attawa. Even without them, I think some people will wait until I¡¯m done fighting the Evernight to the death.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t hold back at all, eliciting unnatural reactions from quite a few people. The Pointer Monarch didn¡¯t say anything since lying would be unbing for someone of his status.

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Speaking of which, didn¡¯t someone just say I¡¯ll implicate the Zhao n? Why not exin how I will implicate them?¡±

    ¡°That was just an angry statement, why take it seriously?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch naturally had no fear of the Zhao n, but that was the extent of it. The n had deep connections to the imperial family, so trying to topple it was no easier than eliminating the Zhang n. The one who had tried to threaten Qianye just now was one of the Profundity Monarch¡¯s men, so he had no choice but to step in. Otherwise, there would be turmoil once this spread back to the Empire.

    Qianyeughed, ¡°No need to take it seriously?¡±

    ¡°No need to take it seriously.¡±

    ¡°Then, I don¡¯t think I need to take Evernight seriously, either. Whatever they want to do is their business.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s a different matter. There¡¯s a profound enmity between you and the other faction, how can you just sit by and watch?¡±

    ¡°There are some in the Empire that I hate no less. Am I not letting them do whatever they want?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°If you look at it from the Empire¡¯s perspective, the military did nothing wrong back in Indomitable. Besides, Li Fengshui and the Longevity Monarch are both dead. Why would you cling onto old animosities?¡±

    Qianye seemed angry, but his expression eventually rxed.

    He stared at the Profundity Monarch, saying, ¡°Monarch, you¡¯ve gotten something wrong.¡±

    ¡°Oh, how so?¡±

    ¡°You said I¡¯m not a yer in this game of chess.¡±

    ¡°And how is that wrong?¡±

    ¡°I killed the Lightless Monarch a couple of days ago.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch narrowed his eyes, a cold gleam shining through them as he did so. ¡°As expected of a heroic youth, I¡¯ve underestimated you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit toote if you want to kill me.¡±

    The Profundity Monarchughed. ¡°Young Friend, you jest. We all fight for the Empire, there¡¯s no way I would engage in infighting.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°How true! Since we¡¯re from the same side, we should be fighting shoulder to shoulder. How could anyone let arade fight on the front lines while cowering in the rear?¡±

    No matter how restrained the man was, his expression couldn¡¯t help but grow stiff. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Simple, the Attawa are my people.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch frowned but said nothing.

    Qianye had already made his stance clear. He viewed the natives as his soldiers, so sacrificing more of them would affect Qianye¡¯s interests.

    The Profundity Monarch said calmly, ¡°The dark races are crafty, and we still don¡¯t know what they¡¯re here for. It won¡¯t be wise to make reckless moves until we have a grasp of things.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Is this your stance or the Empire¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°What difference is there?¡±

    Qianye nced at the Pointer Monarch, but thetter remained locked in a silent frown.

    ¡°It looks like the monarch is still finding it difficult to decide. Let it be, since you¡¯re intent on watching as I fight tooth and nail against the dark races before swooping in to im the benefits, don¡¯t me me for being rude.¡±

    ¡°What are your ns?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re doing everything out of consideration for the Empire, I¡¯m assuming you don¡¯t really care about personal interests. What¡¯s gone will be gone when it¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°Can you speak clearer?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Affairs of the natione first, that¡¯s not wrong, but nothing is stopping me from taking care of personal enmity. Since you have no fear of making an enemy out of me, you should probably make preparations to take care of your offspring. Once you fail to walk out of this ce alive, I will have to seek them out and uproot them one by one. That would be rather troublesome.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°How dare you!¡±

    This time, it was Qianye¡¯s turn to be calm. ¡°I fought the entire Evernight army alone at cksun Valley. What do I not dare to do?¡±

    ¡°Do you feel no shame?¡±

    ¡°What, you¡¯ve already lost your calm over a couple of descendants? What are theypared to the Empire and the bigger picture.¡± Qianye sneered.

    Killing intent appeared once again in the Profundity Monarch¡¯s eyes. Meanwhile, wisps of grey energy seeped out from Qianye¡¯s body.

    The Pointer Monarch finally let out a cough. ¡°Such a ruckus, how is this proper?¡±

    ¡°Indeed it is not.¡± There were different implications to his words.

    The Profundity Monarch said coldly, ¡°Why seek the satisfaction of winning a verbal argument? I might be old, but I can still fight!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Oh, so you do know that you¡¯re old. If you fail to kill me today, you will have no chance once I be a heavenly monarch in three more years.¡±

    ¡°Three years...¡± The Profundity Monarch murmured.

    The Pointer Monarch was finally angry. ¡°This matter stops here!¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Qianye simply turned and left.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± The Profundity Monarch called out.

    ¡°What otherments do you have?¡±

    The monarch stared at Qianye and said word by word, ¡°You¡¯re intent on going against me, aren¡¯t you?¡±

 Ep

    [V6C67 ¨C Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

    Zhang Boqian stood up as Qianye¡¯s car left the external camp gates and walked through a side door. Lin Xitang was standing in the open passageway with his back against a cast-iron rack, looking at the ground without much focus.

    As Zhang Boqian arrived before Lin Xitang, his gaze fell upon the grey hue under thetter¡¯s silver hair. He asked slowly, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to meet him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good for things to end here. This oue isn¡¯t bad.¡±

    ¡°Why did you go to the dumpster on Evernight Continent back then?¡±

    ¡°It was by chance.¡±

    ¡°Then what aboutter on?¡±

    Lin Xitang looked up in a daze.

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was indifferent, but his eyes were resolute. Apparently, he wasn¡¯t about to let this matter drop without a clear answer.

    Lin Xitang couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°The matterster on are, of course, not just chance. How can there be so much coincidence?¡±

    Zhang Boqian was somewhat angry as he said with a deep voice, ¡°Lin Xitang, you should be clearer than me as to which matters you should and shouldn¡¯t meddle in. Don¡¯t think that your divination art can read everyone. Wasn¡¯t thatst lesson with the Queen of the Night not enough? Are you looking for even more enemies?¡±

    Lin Xitang remained silent for a moment, then said softly, ¡°I was indeed wrong in this matter, but it¡¯s over now.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s anger subsided as he looked on. ¡°So, it turns out you also have selfish motives.¡±

    Lin Xitang smiled helplessly without anyment.

    At this moment, the light and shadows around them flickered briefly as the originmps in the corridor were extinguished in session. The sunlight showering down from the courtyard swept away part of the dark corner and cast a shadow over another.

    It was dawn over Evernight Continent.

    Qianye felt extremely tired after returning to the Zhao n camp and wanted nothing more than to take a long nap. Meeting and exchanging a few words with Zhang Boqian felt even more tiring than a battle against a powerful enemy. The exhaustion wasparable to the Shot of Inception.

    But Qianye had too many things he needed to do. He only went back to his room and washed his face with cold water before calling upon Zhao Xuanji.

    Thetter was sitting behind a tall stack of documents just as before¡ªthere seemed to be no end to those papers. Qianye had heard a fair number of rumors about Duke You during this period and understood that he was a person who attended to every detail personally.

    Qianye recounted his meeting with Zhang Boqian briefly. Zhao Xuanji appeared quite happy with how things had gone and immediately offered words of encouragement. The marshal wasn¡¯t one to do something as senseless as making one wait in vain; his willingness to spend this much time proved that he had taken notice of Qianye. This would be greatly beneficial to Qianye¡¯s future.

    Qianye could onlyugh wryly. He said immediately after Zhao Xuanji had finished speaking, ¡°Duke, I n to return to ckflow City for a while if there aren¡¯t any major events in the near future.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji asked with a frown, ¡°Right now? How about your injuries?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re no longer a hindrance,¡± Qianye replied, ¡°I heard military airships can¡¯t be used for private business, so I¡¯ll just take thend route.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji¡¯s frown rxed slightly as he inquired, ¡°Oh right, why did you save up the contributions? The rewards this time contain quite a lot of premium quality equipment. For instance, their custom-made grade-seven guns are better than the ones produced by the Zhao n. It shouldn¡¯t be too far off from Jundu¡¯s Blue Firmament.¡±

    Qianye had long since prepared an answer to this question. ¡°I already have a good weapon. Moreover, my origin power is soaring rapidly these days, and I should be able to use grade-eight weapons sooner orter. I thought it¡¯s better to save up the contributions and request a grade-eight itemter on.¡±

    Zhao Xuanji nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not a bad thing for young people to aim higher. Very well, you may go but remember to be back in ten days no matter what.¡±

    Qianye nodded. He then visited the quartermaster for an off-road vehicle and left the imperial army camp for ckflow City.

    While Qianye was speeding across the endless wilderness, the fierce battles in the cavern world of Giant¡¯s Repose wereing to an end.

    Bai Aotu stepped over an arachne marquis¡¯ body to retrieve an ancient essence fragment from the cave wall and tossed it into a special bag. Stored within a differentpartment in the bag was a crystal left behind by Sky Demon¡¯s avatar. The waves of heat it was emitting could even ignite ck stone, but the bag was made of a special material which remained unaffected by the heat and could even block out external probes.

    At this moment, there were no more enemies around as Bai Aotu retraced her path. She sensed several tyrannical auras near the edges of her perception range, and they had also discovered her. However, they were apprehensive of her power, and as such, everyone simply went their own way.

    One of those powerful auras deteriorated sharply after everyone had left. Within a certain cavern, Eden was drenched in sweat as he sat down slowly. For a while, he didn¡¯t even have the strength to stand up.

    Across from him, Bai Kongzhao was gazing intently at the ancient essence fragment in her hands. Both Eden and Bai Kongzhao felt quitefortable as they basked in the gentle light pouring out from it.

    Eden asked after catching his breath, ¡°Where did you find that medicine? It can actually let me feign a marquis¡¯ aura. This is a bit too tyrannical.¡±

    ¡°This kind of medicine arouses one¡¯s potential at the expense of vitality. You can imitate the aura of a marquis because you¡¯re a count. This kind of life-saving item isn¡¯t rare in the slums.¡±

    ¡°Life-saving?¡± Eden was puzzled. He simply couldn¡¯t figure out how this violent drug with severe side-effects could be used to save lives.

    Bai Kongzhao nced at him and said matter-of-factly, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s a life-saving medicine. People in the slums have neither good weapons, cultivation arts, nor bloodline powers. They can only fight with their lives on the line. That¡¯s why, to them, this medicine is a life-saver in emergency situations. No matter how great the side-effects are, that¡¯s a matter that can be left forter.¡±

    Eden hadn¡¯t expected this kind of reply. He asked after a moment of silence, ¡°Where are these slums that you speak of?¡±

    Bai Kongzhao recited a couple of areas. Eden had a vague impression of only one ce, an underground market in dark race territory. The poor civilians living there were mostly dark race members and a small number of mix-breed humans.

    ¡°You grew up in such a ce?¡±

    ¡°No, the ce where I grew up is even worse, but...¡± She didn¡¯t finish her sentence.

    Eden possessed the basic tact and manners of a famed demonkin n. ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t ask anymore. What do you n to do now that you¡¯ve gotten what you want? My words still stand, do it quickly if you¡¯re taking my life.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao shot a nce at Eden, but the focus of her gaze clearly wasn¡¯t upon him. Instead, it fell far away in the unknown distance. She came to after a long while and said, ¡°I want your n¡¯s secret art.¡±

    ¡°Impossible,¡± Eden refused immediately.

    Bai Kongzhao stood up and walked toward Eden. However, that which arrived wasn¡¯t the ughter he had been expecting but instead half an ancient essence fragment. She had somehow split the ancient essence into two, and the piece she had tossed to Eden was even slightly bigger than the one in her hand.

    Eden caught the object and cast a puzzled nce at Bai Kongzhao. ¡°This isn¡¯t like you at all.¡±

    Bai Kongzhao waved the ancient essence fragment in her hand. ¡°I only need this much.¡±

    With that, she stuffed the fragment into her backpack and walked away into the tunnel leading outside.

    Eden shouted at Bai Kongzhao¡¯s receding figure, ¡°Hey! We can only be considered even, don¡¯t think I owe you a favor!¡±

    Bai Kongzhao raised a middle finger without looking back. ¡°So garrulous, not like a man at all.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Eden felt stifled.

    Perhaps Bai Kongzhao didn¡¯t need any more of the ancient essence, but this fragment was extremely important to Eden. With this fragment, he would be able to recoverpletely from the wounds he had received during his battle with Edward. Even his bloodline foundations might take a leap forward.

    Eden nced at the ce where Bai Kongzhao had disappeared. Then, his emotions became ratherplicated when he recalled the giant backpack filled with demonkin weapons.

    In a different area, Edward¡¯s face waspletely ashen. He had two Sky Demon crystals in his hand as he smashed a fist into the stone wall. This venting strike immediately left a ten-meter hole in the wall and nearly forced out a new passage.

    But he was quite clear that any amount of anger was useless. Nighteye had likely escaped at this moment and even might¡¯ve left Giant¡¯s Repose. Meanwhile, he had failed to find even a single ancient essence fragment. Sky Demon¡¯s avatar, on the other hand, he encountered twice, but their crystals werepletely useless to him. The only thing he could do with them was to reward his subordinates.

    But in Edward¡¯s heart, all of his subordinatesbined wasn¡¯t half as important as himself. As such, gaining two Sky Demon crystals was no different from returning empty-handed.

    ¡°Eden!!!¡± Edward uttered a name through gritted teeth. If it weren¡¯t for Eden, how could he have fallen to this state? He would¡¯ve forced Nighteye into submission already.

    Edward grew increasingly furious as he thought about it, but a chill emerged in his heart at the same time. Others might not know, but Edward clearly saw the frost in Lilith¡¯s eyes when she heard that it was the council who had bestowed him the title of Holy Son¡ªher gaze had almost frozen his soul.

    Dragging an ancient essence fragment in her left hand, Li Kuann pointed Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace at the enemies in front¡ªtwo werewolves and an arachne¡ªand said in a carefree tone, ¡°You lot,e at me if you want this thing. Stop being so cowardly!¡±

    The ones confronting Li Kuann were counts and, at least on the surface, on par with her in terms of strength. However, they felt a vague sense of fear and actually didn¡¯t dare go forward.

    Li Kuann and Cold Moon¡¯s Embrace had killed their way to fame during thest part of the journey. All who had fallen under the crystal edge were famous experts of the various races. These three dark counts didn¡¯t feel confident at all despite holding the advantage in terms of numbers.

    Li Kuann wasn¡¯t going to wait, though. She simply charged over toward them with a powerful chill erupting around her body.

    The arachne count finally let out a loud roar. He quickly retreated with the two werewolves in tow and soon vanished into the maze-like tunnels.

    Li Kuann let out a long, domineeringugh and swaggered out with the ancient essence fragment behind her.

    In a different tunnel, Zhao Jundu was walking steadily with Blue Firmament strapped to his back. He wasn¡¯t working together with the Zhao n squad during this operation, and few people from both factions had ever encountered him.

    At this moment, there wasn¡¯t a single emotion on Zhao Jundu¡¯s frosty yet handsome countenance. It was as though nothing in the world was rted to him and battles were merely battles. No one knew his actual aplishments. The only proof he had was a crystal from Sky Demon¡¯s avatar in his backpack.

    In the majestic castle at the center of the Evernight Council battle line, Lightless Monarch Medanzo let out a heavy snort. His fury sent the blood and qi of all the dark race soldiers in the camp into turmoil and caused their origin power to scatter. It was inexplicably ufortable. The weaker soldiers and cannon fodder copsed in droves, some of them never to rise again.

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 Chapter 1467

    Qianye left abruptly, leaving the host of divine champions and dukes angry, apprehensive, and, indignant. One of them said, ¡°The Emperor raised him and Marshal Lin treated him like his own son. Yet he spouts insolence instead of fighting for the Empire. This kind of person should be executed!¡±

    Another person said coldly, ¡°His willingness to join the vampire race itself is a crime worthy of punishment. Even with a sinful body, he¡¯s still not willing to repay the Empire. How ungrateful!¡±

    Duke Wei could no longer stand and watch. ¡°You should¡¯ve spoken to him while he was here, now he¡¯s gone and no longer able to hear you.¡±

    The tant ridicule caused the two men to turn beet red. One of them shouted in embarrassment, ¡°Duke, are you standing on the vampires¡¯ side?¡±

    Duke Wei sighed. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking when our Empire reached such a state.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch coughed. ¡°Duke Wei need not worry, the Empire¡¯s fortune is like the midday sun. You might not know some important things, so it¡¯s only natural that you¡¯d worry.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sent the divine champions away with a wave of his hand, leaving only the two heavenly monarchs at the scene.

    ¡°Shunxuan, why go so far?¡±

    The Profundity Monarch said seriously. ¡°I came into this world prepared to die for the Empire, you know that.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve never doubted your loyalty to the Empire.¡±

    ¡°A normal strategy would see us working with Qianye as the best route, but we¡¯re not at that phase yet since the natives here will wear down the enemy for us. Yet, Qianye came to talk on their behalf. Are we to sacrifice the pirs of our Empire, our divine champions, alongside those barbarians? Nonsense!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said nothing.

    Be it in the Empire or Evernight, equality was but an empty word. It was also quite easy to see how much importance the Empire attached to the Attawa. On the other hand, these natives were born powerful and their potential was difficult to gauge. Now that they had begun to serve Qianye, things had indeed gotten a bitplicated.

    The Profundity Monarch wasn¡¯t expecting to convince the Pointer Monarch. ¡°If there¡¯s a better chance of survival, I will always choose that path. Your family has gained a qilin of a son, a powerful descendant, but my family is fairly mediocre. They will surely fail to hold onto everything I have built. ¡°The inner world appeared too suddenly, leaving me no time to make the necessary arrangements. I would¡¯ve spread my possessions out if I had the opportunity, leaving my offspring just enough to make a living. Now, I fear they will meet their end after I fall here.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about what Qianye said. Judging from his actions in recent years, he has always been kind-hearted. He surely won¡¯t go about ughtering an entire family. The Empire has other people apart from us, Greensun won¡¯t just sit by and do nothing.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch sighed. ¡°What I truly fear is that they will court their own death.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch had nothing to say to that.

    If only the Profundity Monarch had a couple more years, he could¡¯ve given away a part of his possessions to ensure his descendants¡¯ survival. If the monarch were to pass without such arrangements, his descendants might be inclined to cling to their glory days and bring disaster upon themselves. People might not say anything about the domineering attitude of his descendants while the monarch was still alive, but they would surelye seeking trouble once he was gone.

    The Profundity Monarch added, ¡°It was only a faint ray of hope at first, but now that the Masefield n Lord has been injured and Medanzo is dead, our chances are much better. If Qianye can engage in another fight against Evernight and wound another great dark monarch, our forces will be able to overwhelm Evernight. No one will be able to stop us.¡±

    Seeing that the Pointer Monarch had nothing to say, the Profundity Monarch said, ¡°What the Empire needs now is time. As long as we can keep the enemy bogged down here, we will have achieved victory. Even people like us need to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good, let alone some natives and a vampire.¡±

    Toward the end, the Profundity Monarch added, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you want to make an exception for him because of your great-grandchild?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch wasn¡¯t going to let his displeasure show. ¡°The bigger picture is important, but one can hardly forget righteousness. Qianye has sacrificed so much for the Empire. I¡¯d rather question the motives of people who question his motives.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch stroked his beard. ¡°What if I have a way to make Qianye fight Evernight?¡±

    ¡°What way?¡±

    Profundity said, ¡°Duke Qi came in yesterday and brought a new batch of intelligence reports. There¡¯s one among them that¡¯s rather interesting.¡±

    He passed the Pointer Monarch a paper.

    Thetter opened it to find a drawing, depicting a host of Evernight Council members walking out from the great hall. On the other side was an endless formation of soldiers stretching into the distance. The group of princes and grand dukes were led by an arachne prince, Bradley, the Weaver of Nightmares. He was d in full armor, with a long sword strapped to his waist.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s eyesnded on the familiar de, feeling as though he had seen it somewhere.

    This drawing was no doubt produced by one of the Empire¡¯s spies hidden in the upper echelons of Evernight. Or perhaps he was more than just a spy. He might be a liaison for making shady deals with the Empire.

    While the Pointer Monarch was pondering on it, the Profundity Monarch produced a small box containing some dark race blood. Picking up his brush, he unleashed a bit of origin power¡ªmost of the blood evaporated immediately, leaving only a wisp of pure darkness origin power. The Profundity Monarch then used the brush and added a decorative piece to the hilt of the de.

    The Pointer Monarch raised his brows. ¡°Ah, Awakening Dream!¡±

    ¡°Precisely.¡± The Profundity Monarch put away his pen with a smile.

    The Pointer Monarch quickly noticed that the arachne prince¡¯s de was actually not the Awakening Dream, else the other monarch wouldn¡¯t have needed to take this extra step. It didn¡¯t take too much thinking to realize how venomous Profundity¡¯s scheme was.

    Awakening Dream was the Evernight Council¡¯s guardian weapon, granted to Nighteye during the battle of cksun Valley. The weapon and Nighteye both went missing after war broke out on the Twilight Continent.

    ¡°What are you nning?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. I¡¯ll just send this to Qianye, then let him decipher it however he wants.¡± The man seemed fairly rxed.

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Is this painting real?¡±

    ¡°Everything is real except for the final stroke. Qianye can ask any random dark race marquis, and they¡¯ll tell him that the Weaver of Nightmares received a new de recently. As for the sword¡¯s origins, no one knows because Bradley has never told anyone.¡±

 Chapter 1468

    By the time Qianye returned to the holynd, yet another Attawa tribe had arrived. The remainder were fairly distant, so it would take two weeks or more for them to arrive. And that was because they could exchange messages between mother trees; it would take even longer otherwise.

    The Mamon n brought an entire three thousand warriors, almost every adult male and female in the tribe. They were even thinking about bringing older children along. ording to a senior tribe member, less than a thousand of the children and elderly stayed behind.

    This was aplete mobilization. Reportedly, the other tribes were doing the same.

    The elders who had stayed behind were nearing the end of their lives. They would be able to take care of the children until they were mature, then this new generation would be in charge of taking care of the younger ones.

    There were four tribes gathered at the holynd at this point, so the ce was starting to feel a bit packed. Several clearings were full of tents. Qianye suddenly smelled blood as he walked through the area.

    It wasn¡¯t the decaying smell of blood from the wounded but fresh blood.

    Following this smell, Qianye entered a small stone hut and saw two Attawa lying on the bed. One was an old man, while the other was a strong, healthy adult. Some elderly medics were busy dripping some herbal fluid into the wounds on their chest. The medicinal fluid seemed to have miraculous effects, allowing the flesh to grow back and close at a visible rate.

    Qianye, however, could see that this medicinal fluid was extremely tyrannical. While its healing properties were mediocre, the medicine could draw upon the Attawa¡¯s own life force to produce the healing effect. The amount of vitality burned was out of proportionpared to the healing achieved, draining around ten times more than the healing.

    The only thing good about it was its speed. The young adult was fit forbat in less than an hour.

    However, the old man didn¡¯t have much life force left to begin with. It looked like he would die any moment.

    Qianye dragged one of the doctors over and asked, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Crystal transnt?¡±

    The doctor pointed at the strong warrior. ¡°Aya did not have a crystal, but old man M has one, so we transnted the crystal to Aya. That way, he can contribute in battle.¡±

    This so-called contribution was just self-detonation.

    It was easy to see how long that old man who had just lost his crystal would live.

    Qianye didn¡¯t tell them to stop. It was no use since they had alreadypleted the transfer. He simply hastened toward the great hall and sought out the Monroe elder on the upper floor. ¡°Why do you transnt crystals?¡±

    The elder led Qianye to the window and pointed at the tribal soldiers below. ¡°Warriors from every tribe will being. As a guardian tribe, the Monroe must perform in the defense of the holy mountain.¡±

    ¡°The Monroe tribe has sacrificed enough.¡±

    The elder said calmly, ¡°We are the first andst line of defense for the holynd. We make the most sacrifices, and we gain the most aplishments. We will fight to thest man, woman, and child against invaders. That is our duty and our faith.¡±

    The elder was insistent no matter what Qianye said. In truth, he already knew that most transntation processes had probably beenpleted at this point.

    Looking at the Attawa around the holynd, Qianye sighed. ¡°Maybe we should give up on the holy mountain.¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡±

    ¡°The holynd is attached to the holy peak. I¡¯ve already gone through theyer of clouds and reached the peak. I know what is up there. We can take those things away first and return to capture the ceter.¡±

    As Qianye saw it, the only thing important up there were the trees that could produce mirage moon origin power. He had already extracted a portion of it into the Book of Darkness. The mirage moon origin power could be added directly onto his daybreak origin power, so the entire conversion process didn¡¯t even take a single day. He would only need to go up to the peak one more time in order to extract all of the tree sap.

    It would take hundreds of years for the trees to produce more sap.

    What Qianye was worried about was actually people discovering the mirage moon origin power. The three supremes had probably seen the power of the mirage moon origin power following their fight with Andruil. Qianye was worried that a great genius might figure out the cultivation method from those trees.

    Evernight had no shortage of geniuses like Anwen, and it was Andruil who had managed to develop this origin power, gaining himself the Lord of Evernight title.

    There was no telling how long it would take for the next Andruil to appear, but the survival of the Attawa was at hand.

    That was why Qianye wanted to leave with the Attawa and let Evernight take over the holynd. In this manner, the tables would turn in a different direction. The dark races wouldn¡¯t be able to return for a while after upying the peak, and that would give Qianye time to contend with them.

    Most importantly, Qianye was growing stronger over time after obtaining the mirage moon origin power. His daybreak origin power had reached rank-twenty-two, only one step away from the heavenly monarch rank. Now that his Venus Dawn foundation was solid, his evernight side was no longer being restrained. He was improving sharply and would soon reach the great dark monarch realm.

    All he needed was some time, and he was even confident that he could hold his own against the Eternal me.

    Surprisingly, the elder would not agree to leave the holynd no matter how Qianye persuaded them. They were hell-bent on protecting the ce even if it meant their death.

    Their only reason was, ¡°This is our faith.¡±

    Qianye had met both Rex and Andruil; he even took the time to learn the Attawa¡¯s legends and history.

    He found out that the Attawa¡¯s history and intelligence were born of Andruil and Rex¡¯s secret guidance. The belief that they had to defend the holy peak and destroy the ck demons had been embedded deeply in their minds. He also discovered that the natives¡¯ simplicity, frugality, and love of nature were also imnted.

    Diligence and frugality were virtues in a world short on resources, but there was no need for the Attawa to be so in this bountiful world. On the contrary, it clipped their ability to progress as a society. Their love for nature also stopped them from making and using tools, especially anything rted to mass production. This kept them frozen in a primitive state.

    Qianye had already guessed Andruil¡¯s motives. Only primitive tribes would cling firmly to their beliefs.

    The Attawa¡¯s real mission was to stop the Evernight experts and prevent them from obtaining the darkness origins.

    These natives should¡¯ve been the favored children of this world, yet their fate had been altered by Rex and Andruil. They ultimately became weapons to target the council¡¯s experts. They would never realize that the holy mountain they were protecting was simply an existence from a different world.

    Qianye felt somewhat hesitant, thinking whether or not he should tell them the truth. However, the unadulterated gleam in the elder¡¯s eyes taught Qianye what conviction truly meant.

 Chapter 1469

    For countless years, the holy mountain had been the psychological pir of the Attawa race, a totem representing everyone. An invasion of the holy mountain was an encroachment upon their bottom line.

    It mattered little how many holy trees there were on the peak, nor was this rted to Andruil and Rex. The Attawa were made to be this way; they would rather die thanpromise.

    Their civilization was primitive andcking experience and insight¡ªso much so that they had no idea there was another world outside of the inner world¡ªbut that didn¡¯t stop them from building up a paradise in their hearts, a divine totem that they had to protect. The faith and conviction itself was more important than what they were protecting.

    The ck-Winged Monarch simply adjusted to and took advantage of this process. He simply conformed to their nature instead of leading them in a different direction, obtaining their devotion in the process.

    What Andruil did was attach the fate of the human race to this devotion.

    Having realized this, Qianye knew that it was useless to convince the Attawa.

    There was no use in further conversation. The only path ahead was to fight.

    Qianye said farewell to the elder and made his way to the holy mountain. In less than half a day, he was once again standing among the strange trees where he had met Andruil.

    The ck-Winged Monarch of the past¡ªwho had be the Lord of Evernightter on¡ªwas no longer in this world. This stunning genius had challenged the supremes of the Sacred Mountain on his own. Despite his title, this move was no doubt a suicidal decision.

    Reality proved that to be true.

    Andruil didn¡¯t do this just for the human race or Nangong Yuqing. Perhaps it could be said that he had grown a bit stubborn after gaining sufficient power and talent.

    Qianye stood silently for a while, thinking about this friend and teacher whom he had never actually met.

    At this silent moment, a grey feather appeared atop the holy mountain. It drifted elegantly in the air but never fell.

    The entire holy mountain began to tremble, and the trees began to shake despite theck of wind. Wisps of formless energy surged upward and curled around the feather, trying to drag it toward the ground.

    Qianye sensed it when the feather sank downward, and he himself almost fell on his knees.

    It was just as he had expected; the chaos origin power and the mirage moon origin power were on opposite ends of the spectrum. The appearance of aplete chaos origin power form stirred up the trees that had been nurtured by mirage moon.

    This was contention between origin powers at the source¡ªthere was no room to hide or escape. Even the unsprouted trees deep within the soil would contribute some power to try and assimte the grey feather.

    Qianye regained control just as his knees were about to hit the ground. He let out a deep roar as his blood core and heart kicked into action. A torrential surge of origin power gushed out to fight against the energy of the holy mountain.

    It wouldn¡¯t have been so difficult if he had absorbed and digested all of the tree sap. It was just that Qianye had no more time.

    His knees creaked and groaned, but he managed to stand up little by little.

    All of the trees were lifted slightly off the ground.

    The grey feather in the air trembled constantly and cracks started to appear on its surface. Some grey pieces were starting to rise, as though they were being peeled off by the mirage moon origin power.

    Finally, a piece of grey fell from the feather, which the mirage moon energy promptly tore and devoured. This set off a chain reaction as the feather started to crumble into countless fragments that fell to the ground.

    The grey energy receded and Qianye felt the weight on his body gone. How could he let go of this opportunity? He erupted once again, and the chaos energy became boundlessly powerful. In a sh, all of the trees had been lifted into the air and were slowly circling around Qianye.

    At this moment, Qianye was the center of the universe.

    However, an unexpected event urred. Cracks appeared all over the trees soon after leaving the ground, breaking down into countless pieces in the process. Specks of light emerged from each fragment, containing endless transformation within the tiny frame. The seemingly endless torrent of mirage moon origin power bore down upon Qianye like a giant.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Qianye immediately realized that things weren¡¯t quite right.

    There wasn¡¯t a lot of tree sap left on the summit, and Qianye had no fear even if all of them were to transform into mirage moon origin power. Yet, he had never imagined that these trees would be able to release all of their energy in an instant. This kind of lossless release should not have been possible.

    There was only one possibility¡ªQianye¡¯s intention to destroy the trees and absorb all of the mirage moon origin power had threatened the very foundation of this world. This invited a proactive retaliation from the world. It just so happened that Qianye was the wielder of chaos origin power, so he became a ring target.

    Now that things had progressed to this point, Qianye immediately curled up into a ball and released a hazy glow around him. This was an all-out attempt at fighting against the massive of mirage moon origin power. As the mesh closed in, Qianye¡¯s bones began to emit cracking sounds.

    Both Venus Dawn and dark golden blood energy would break down upon contact with the mirage moon origin power. Only the chaos origin power stood a chance.

    Qianye channeled a constant supply of chaos origin power and held on with gritted teeth. Of course, he was not a match for the world itself, but the only thing the world could do to threaten him was attack him with the mirage moon origin power. Qianye would be able to find a way out if he could exhaust this tremendous energy. It was now a battle of attrition.

    The mirage moon origin power was still abundant, while Qianye¡¯s chaos origin power supply wasn¡¯t yet exhausted. However, countless cracks began to appear over his bones, much like awork of spider webs.

    Qianye¡¯s heart sank.

    His origin power could still hold out, but his body was not yet at the level of a great dark monarch; its strength was far from perfect. It seemed like Qianye¡¯s body was about to break down during this power struggle.

    A sigh echoed in the deep darkness as Andruil walked out from the void. He said while shaking his head, ¡°I knew you would be impatient, good thing I left a backup n.¡±

    He reached out, grabbed at the empty space, and lifted his hand upward. The giant of mirage moon origin power was now missing a corner, torn away by Andruil.

    The of origin power turned into countless specks of radiance in Andruil¡¯s hand, then restored to its original form. He pointed once again, and the origin power turned into a stream of energy that shot into Qianye¡¯s body. The attributeless mirage moon origin power was immediately guided into the book of darkness in the form of Venus Dawn origin power.

    Andruil grabbed yet another piece of the, removed the will of the inner world, and transferred it to Qianye.

    As vast amounts of Venus Dawn origin power gushed into Qianye¡¯s heart, the sixth crystal slowly appeared. The appearance of this crystal seemed to have broken a certain bnce, causing the crystals to bundle up together.

    Qianye¡¯s face turned pale, and his body began to tremble.

    This process of crystal aggregation was a process that involved a repeated tearing and healing of the heart. Wherever the origin crystal went, life itself was extinguished and nothing could grow back. Only then did Qianye realize just how difficult it was to step into the heavenly monarch realm.

    Apart from having origin power that was pure enough to amodate six origin crystals, the body had to be strong enough to withstand the formation process as well. To humans and their inherently weak bodies, this was the maximum extent they could withstand.

    Of course, the danger was no less serious on the Evernight side¡ªperhaps even greater. Bing a great dark monarch meant allowing one¡¯s bloodline topletely remodel the body, finally reaching a stage where the expert could move the entire world on his own. Bloodline was an impetus as well as a restraint for them. Those born with special bloodlines and powerful bodies could naturally withstand greater energy and go further in resonating with the origin power of the world.

    Once formed, even the greatest genius would find it near impossible to go beyond it. This wasparable to how a structure with a weak foundation couldn¡¯t be extended upward.

    That was why Medanzo was only the Lightless Monarch despite his talent. Without a special pathway, the Queen of the Night would always be the second drop in the River of Blood, an existence no one could surpass. Andruil was only able to exceed his status because he had grasped the mirage moon origin power, allowing him to challenge the supremes.

    Regardless, Qianye¡¯s body had been modified by the chaos origin power, and few could match its resilience. Only the will of the world acting through the mirage moon origin power could cause Qianye¡¯s body to break down.

    Finally, the six crystals merged into a single piece, and even the heart could no longer cover them entirely. They might be symbiotic, but now, the crystal was in control.

    The formation of this crystal seemed to have opened a pair of invisible eyes. He was now able to sense and see things he could never before. His consciousness began to drift away, almost touching the depths of the entire world.

    Was this the heavenly monarch realm?

    Qianye hadn¡¯t experienced all the changes in detail before Andruil appeared in front of him. The man waved his hand, saying, ¡°This is my final consciousness, and it¡¯s about to disappear. I have onest request to make.¡±

    Qianye nced doubtfully at Andruil. ¡°You¡¯ve said this many times...¡±

    ¡°This is really thest one.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    A sh of sorrow appeared on Qianye¡¯s face. ¡°I hoped there would be more.¡±

    ¡°Now that the final bit of mirage moon origin power is gone, there is nothing left to contain my will. This you will understandter.¡±

    ¡°Very well, what do you need my help with?¡±

    Andruil remained silent for a while. ¡°I was fairly young and rash back in the year. I once told Lilith that I would wait for her at the end of the River of Blood. It¡¯s just that I met Yuqingter on, a girl with only a short few decades to live. I cultivated the mirage moon origin power as time went by, so I am no longer a pure vampire. I can no longer return to the river.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why if you see Lilith, please tell her that I can no longer wait for her at the river¡¯s end.¡±

    Qianye was surprised, not knowing how to reply.

    Andruil asked, ¡°You humans have hearts. Tell me, can a heart love two people?¡±

    Qianye had no answer.

    Andruil did not wait for a reply, either. He only sighed with a wry smile and vanished.

 Chapter 1470

    Qianye stood there in silence even after Andruil was gone. It was only after a while that he realized how Andruil was truly gone this time.

    There was nothing left on the holy mountain as all the trees had been destroyed during the release of mirage moon origin power. There weren¡¯t even traces left.

    Even the smallest of sprouts couldn¡¯t have survived this sh between chaos and mirage moon origin power. Everything was destroyed. There would be no more such trees in the new world thereafter, nor would there be any mirage moon origin power. They might grow again after several hundred years, but that was a topic forter.

    Right now, he was a heavenly monarch on the daybreak side. The darkness side was also on the verge of assailing the great dark monarch realm. There was still a prince rank in between, but he could skip that if he so wished.

    A prince would possess some of the power and characteristics of a great dark monarch, but they hadn¡¯t fully reached the next rank. Considering the rank of Qianye¡¯s dark golden energy, he could easily be a great dark monarch without taking that half-step. All he needed was umtion¡ªhe needed to kill.

    As the only one who had married daybreak and evernight in one body, Qianye was perhaps the very first person who couldpare the two top powers in detail. The Evernight side utilized bloodline and constitution as the foundation to seek more physical strength than its counterpart. Even in environments where they couldn¡¯t draw on the origin power in the environment, they could still remain peerless by relying on their physique.

    The might of a heavenly monarch relied heavily upon the formation of an origin crystal. By the time humans had formed six of them, the invisible boundary between the crystals would break, and they would merge into one. The final crystal was technically not an origin crystal anymore. It was more like a new organ that would give the expert several new powers.

    The stark difference between a heavenly monarch and divine championy in the difference between their origin crystals. No divine champion could evene close to a heavenly monarch¡¯s abilities. Even a superior divine champion was a long way off.

    Qianye had just stepped into the realm. He hadn¡¯t even taken the time to consolidate his newfound powers, yet he could already sense the world changing around him. Everything felt fine and fragile. It only took him eighty percent of his strength to deliver the same blow. As his new crystal became more stable, the power required would drop even further.

    Was this the power of a heavenly monarch?

    Qianye frowned slightly. He didn¡¯t need lower energy consumption or finer control of force. After his body was modified by the chaos origin power, Qianye¡¯s endurance in battle was now iparable¡ªfew could hope to best him in a battle of attrition. In fact, Qianye¡¯s most terrifying aspect was his ability to instantly crush experts of the same rank.

    Be it his Shot of Inception, Excavator, Dragonsgrave, the current Red Spider Lily, or even East Peak, most of the weapons in his arsenal were able to quickly dispatch opponents of the same rank or higher. These moves, however, involved great consumption, so much so that he could only use them a handful of times. That being said, the enemy could hardly withstand this handful of attacks. Most of them would be dead with the first blow.

    That was why Qianye didn¡¯t need fine control and reduced strain in the heavenly monarch realm. On the contrary, what he needed was an earth-shattering attack that was as powerful as a falling mountain.

    It was rather mysterious how the crystal began to change at a single thought. Qianye¡¯s perception of origin power stopped at the current stage, and the fine details of the world no longer progressed. The only thing that continued in Qianye¡¯s senses was the world growing more fragile.

    Qianye reached out and performed a gentle grasp, catching a flickering ck shadow in his palm. Bolts of lightning appeared immediately afterward, shooting hundreds of meters forward and leaving charred marks on the ground.

    The surrounding space couldn¡¯t even withstand a single grasp.

    Qianye looked up and saw a dark spot hanging above him.

    The spot was incredibly small, so much so that Qianye couldn¡¯t even sense how small it was. It simply existed, drawing in and assimting everything around it.

    Qianye finally realized that this was the true face of his chaos origin power. The grey on its surface had receded during the fight against the mirage moon origin power.

    The true chaos origin power was a tremendous force of existence, yet it was microscopically small.

    Having reached this enlightenment, Qianye immediately found a connection with the dark intent. The existence was a part of his chaos origin power, to begin with, so he could control it as he wished.

    As Qianye collected the dark speck into his body, all of his chaos origin power gathered around it to form a grey sphere floating within the Book of Darkness. The entire process was quite odd because the grey sphere was so small that it couldn¡¯t be measured, but that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t be tested. One could say the two were inherently different in nature. Qianye could sense that this grey sphere was slowly copsing and turning into dark specks.

    As for why this grey sphere could move about unhindered in the Book of Darkness, Qianye had no answer. Perhaps it was because chaos energy itself was produced by the book.

    At this point, Qianye hade to a conclusion between daybreak and darkness origin power.

    The new origin crystal was more mystical and gave off a feeling ofplete transformation. And this was just its raw form. The level of transformation would rise continuously as more origin crystals formed and merged with the host.

    And there was a certain spirituality in the depths of this origin crystal. The spirit was still young and tender, like a child, but there was no telling what it would be once it matured.

    Unlike the dark races, human heavenly monarchs would undergo a qualitative transition upon reaching the rank. Did this mean that the human race¡¯s cultivation system was one level higher than the other faction? The dark races were only relying on their great talent, bloodline, and their advantage in darkness origin power to remain superior.

    Even though few things could surprise Qianye at this point, he felt deeply shaken at this moment. He had never imagined that such a great secret would be waiting for him at the heavenly monarch realm. Merging the six crystals to form spirituality was a shocking process. How did the Founding Ancestor develop this cultivation art back in the year?

    Qianye had thought that the heavenly monarch realm was the absolute ceiling, but now, it would seem that the heavenly monarch realm was but the starting point of apletely new life. It was just that he had no idea what kind of transformations the crystal would undergo after reaching maturity.

    This was a great secret of the human race, something no one had divulged for a thousand years. It was only today that someone who was not entirely human had learned of it.

    The chaos origin power inside his body sank slightly as his body lifted off the ground and vanished.

    Momentster, he was back at the Attawa holynd.

    An elder rushed over when he saw Qianye. ¡°There¡¯s a strange person who wants to see you. He looks like you.¡±

    ¡°Bring him over.¡±

    Before long, the elder returned with a grey-bearded man. Thetter bowed deeply and said, ¡°Duke Yun, Kong Dusheng, greets Lord Qianye.¡±

    Qianye stood there like an immovable mountain. Only after the salutations were over did he raise a hand and said, ¡°Rise, what brings you here? Let¡¯s get straight to the point.¡±

    This was the attitude of a superior toward a subordinate. Duke Yun immediately felt likeshing out.

    However, his expression slowly transformed as he looked into Qianye¡¯s bottomless eyes. The duke couldn¡¯t understand how the person before him had changedpletely in just one day.

    Could it be...

    Before he could finish the thought, he concluded that it was impossible.

    The heavenly monarchs of the Empire were different from one another. Prince Greensun, for instance, was inherently tyrannical, while the Pointer Monarch was like a breeze dancing over the ripplingke. As for the Radiant Emperor, he was like a vigorous burst of radiance akin to the rising sun.

    All Duke Yun saw in Qianye was a mass of boundless, bottomless darkness. Additionally, there was an indefensible strength emanating from the depths of those eyes. Even a short exchange of nces made Duke Yun feel as though his spirit was being dragged away.

    The vastness of this dark intent almost blotted out the skies!

    Duke Yun was absolutely startled. By the time he had collected himself, the abnormality was nowhere to be found.

    He didn¡¯t think too much of it or lose hisposure. He simply produced a piece of paper and passed it to Qianye, saying, ¡°A secret report arrived from the Empire, and one of them is rted to you. The two monarchs asked me to deliver it to you for your perusal.¡±

    Qianye leaned forward and took the drawing from the man. The entire process was natural and devoid of any origin power movement. He was almost like an ordinary human. By the time the duke realized the movement, the drawing was no longer in his hands.

    Qianye opened the drawing, his eyes pausing briefly on the sword that looked like Awakening Dream.

    Duke Yun tried probing Qianye after seeing his expression. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve seen it, this subordinate will take his leave.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± Qianye called the man back.

    Duke Yun was excited to see that Qianye had taken the bait. He hid his delight well and merely waited for further instruction.

    Qianye crumpled the paper without much thought, reducing the painting to absolute nothingness.

    Duke Yun¡¯s heart went cold. He was clearly present, yet he never realized how Qianye had destroyed the painting. Besides, even the most powerful ability would leave some traces behind. How did the painting simply vanish?

    ¡°Good brushwork, it¡¯s a bit of a pity to destroy it.¡±

    Duke Yun¡¯s heart began beating fast.

    ¡°Oh, and by the way, bring a message to the two monarchs.¡±

    Duke Yun said hurriedly, ¡°Pray tell.¡±

    Qianye pointed at the ck sun. ¡°This thing above us is what the dark races call the darkness origins. Their n is to open a passage between this world and Evernight, drawing the darkness origins to our world.¡±

    As a knowledgeable person, Duke Yun¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°How can anyone be capable of doing that?¡±

    Qianye did not reply.

    After regaining hisposure, Duke Yun fell to his knees. ¡°Since you have revealed this secret to us, I¡¯m sure you have some advice for us. Please tell us what we should do.¡±

    ¡°Just tell them to do whatever they want.¡±

    Duke Yun was surprised. ¡°How can we do whatever we want regarding such an important matter?¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°There¡¯s nothing stopping anyone from doing whatever they want.¡±

 Chapter 1471

    In the hidden realm within the valley, the game of chess was still ongoing beside the flowing stream.

    The scenery was just as gentle as before, but the atmosphere was exceptionally solemn.

    Duke Yun was standing beside the board with his hands folded, still and silent. The Profundity Monarch¡¯s chess piece lingered for a good while in the air before he finally ced it on the board.

    The piece ended this losing game for him.

    He said without looking up, ¡°Are you sure you didn¡¯t see wrong?¡±

    Duke Yun said, ¡°If my eyes do not deceive me, he has indeed be a heavenly monarch.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s a heavenly monarch and not a great dark monarch?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch sighed. ¡°Even we are not a match for Duke Kong¡¯s perception. He can¡¯t be wrong.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± The Profundity Monarch was furious. ¡°How many years does it take for our race to produce a heavenly monarch as we forge ahead? How can a mixed-breed like him call himself monarch?!¡±

    He suddenly turned around and stared at Duke Yun. ¡°You said he¡¯s already a heavenly monarch. Why didn¡¯t you test him out beforeing back.¡±

    The duke¡¯s expression turned dark for a split second. He was an important subject of the Empire, an expert backed by the Kong family. Even the Emperor would not be rude to him in court. How many people had ever shouted at him like they were addressing a servant?

    However, they were in the inner world and not the Empire. They were already backed against a corner since they could only enter and not leave. Since all the experts came here expecting to die, it was only natural that they wouldn¡¯t think too much about formalities.

    Duke Yun replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t dare.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s brows knitted together. ¡°What?! You didn¡¯t dare?!¡±

    Before he could finish, the Pointer Monarch cut him short. ¡°Shunxuan, your emotions are in disarray.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch was shaken. He quickly suppressed the anger welling up within him and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°We came here expecting to make the ultimate sacrifice, but sacrifices have to be made at the right ce. Fury will bring us no benefit.¡± The Pointer Monarch sighed, gesturing for Duke Yun to withdraw.

    After walking a distance, Duke Yun sneered, ¡°So high and mighty! That person is right beneath the holy mountain, why don¡¯t you fight him if you¡¯re so capable? Humph, what¡¯s there to fear since we¡¯re all going to die here anyway. Unlike some people who took things further than they should, I don¡¯t have to worry about my descendants. We¡¯ll see how your family will fare in a hundred years.¡±

    The words were softly spoken, but everyone in the valley was at the peak of their power. Everyone heard him as clear as day.

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s face was ashen. He was just about to act up, but he eventually returned to his seat. Momentster, he cupped his fists and said to the Pointer Monarch, ¡°If I fight Qianye to the death, can you promise that your genius descendant will protect my family? I won¡¯t ask for too much, just leave my bloodline intact.¡±

    The Pointer Monarchughed wryly. ¡°If you fight to the death with anyone else, I can make that promise. The only exception is Qianye. Even if I promise you that, the child will surely renege on it once he grows up.¡±

    ¡°Why is that? Is it because he¡¯s half a disciple of yours?¡± The Profundity Monarch was surprised.

    The Pointer Monarch let out a dry cough. ¡°That¡¯s not it... And the reason, cough, isn¡¯t significant enough to let outsiders know.¡±

    The Profundity Monarch was puzzled, but he realized that there had to be a secret amidst all of this. He probed, ¡°Now that Qianye has be a heavenly monarch, how will the Empire react? Don¡¯t tell me we have to ept him?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch shook his head with a sigh. ¡°That might be possible if there was no Nighteye, but now it¡¯s hard to say.¡±

    ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just see how things develop.¡± The Pointer Monarch looked tired.

    The Profundity Monarch couldn¡¯t calm down. ¡°How despicable! He was just saying he could be a heavenly monarch in three years, and I believed it! I would¡¯ve pped him to death had I known.¡±

    ...

    Things were getting busier and busier in the holynd as more Attawa tribes arrived. Those who had arrived in advance were the elders, giant wargods, and tribe elites. The death of these people would produce a gap in the tribe¡¯s lineage, perhaps setting back the entire civilization as a whole. The fragility of a primitive tribal system was extremely evident among these people.

    Qianye did only one thing for three whole days, and that was to train the Attawa to perfect theirnguage. At the same time, he tasked them to carve their knowledge and inheritance on media that could be stored for long periods, like bones and rocks. Most of their knowledge and inheritance were stored in the mother tree, just like how the werewolves relied on their ancestral spirits.

    As Qianye saw it, this method was not reliable at all. The mother trees were interconnected, but they had no way to defend or iste themselves. They could be wiped out entirely by some sort of disease. Wouldn¡¯t their entire inheritance be gone at that point?

    Qianye simply wanted to help them retain as much of their technology and knowledge as possible. The Attawa were simply tools in Andruil¡¯s n, tools to wear down the Evernight experts. At the same time, they were naturally strong and received the blessing of this world. That was why Andruil had secretly tampered with their development, guiding them in the direction of these giant wargods.

    Otherwise, they might¡¯ve be a powerful civilization not inferior to the Evernight Council.

    This wasn¡¯t something Andruil wanted. The ck-Winged Monarch never had the intention of bing a world savior. All he wanted was to do right by his woman, that was all.

    What Qianye was doing now was making it up to the Attawa. He knew that before long, all the Attawa here in the holynd would be wiped out.

    The Evernight experts should¡¯ve appeared long ago, but there was no movement from their side.

    The calmer things were, the more dangerous it would be. The holy mountain was extremely important for the dark races, a ce they were intent on capturing as quickly as possible. Why were they so patient now?¡±

    Qianye had a feeling that they were nning something.

    He might¡¯ve be a heavenly monarch, but his origin crystal hadn¡¯t stabilized yet. Every moment of dy was tipping the scales in his favor.

    Qianye simply watched the world be increasingly fragile.

    On the third day, he suddenly recalled many things.

    Memories from the dumpster, until he was picked up by Lin Xitang. It was from that man that Qianye had felt the first bit of warmth and belonging. Things shed back to the Yellow Springs, Red Scorpions, and to when he was bitten by vampires. It was then that he fell back to the realm of ordinary people, waiting for his death in a small town on Evernight Continent. It was then that he had met Nighteye.

    Many things happened thereafter. He gained more brethren and developed a sense of belonging. Even the hatred of having his crystal stolen receded when he realized that it was done to save Zhao Ruoxi.

    It felt like everything he had experienced was insignificant. Even great battles like the sky demon, void continent, and the opening of the new world felt like small skirmishes. Countless minuscule happenings like these came together to form life.

    What could Lin Xitang have been thinking when he went to the void continent?

    Was he thinking back on the past like Qianye was?

    All of a sudden, he nced up. ¡°Why note out since you¡¯re here?¡±

    The wind stirred all of a sudden, and the world changed colors.

 Chapter 1472

    A faintly discernible me appeared in the air, drifting toward Qianye in a shade of ashen grey.

    Qianye simply gazed at that pale me, which began to shrink and finally transformed into a ck plume of fire. The ze wasn¡¯t burning in the air but actually flickering in a mirror that had suddenly appeared.

    Several more mes drifted through the air but were duly captured by the mirrors.

    Under the continual licking of the ck fire, cracks began to form all over the mirror.

    Only a bit of ck fire remained as the mirrors shattered. The remnants gathered together and continued drifting toward Qianye, only to be grabbed and extinguished.

    A pale me gradually materialized in the air. The Eternal me gazed at Qianye, saying, ¡°You¡¯ve grown this strong?¡±

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Stillcking a little bit.¡±

    ¡°You should be proud that you managed to tie against my Sable Blessing.¡±

    The Eternal me wasn¡¯t blowing his own trumpet. Widely recognized as the most powerful expert below the sovereigns, he did have the right to say these words. The showdown just now had ended in Qianye¡¯s slight disadvantage.

    ¡°Is your hand fine, though?¡± the Eternal me asked.

    ¡°Perfectly fine.¡± Qianye stretched his fingers. His palm was wless jade, without the slightest blemish.

    The Eternal me¡¯s ze flickered momentarily. ¡°No ordinary vampire can grab the Sable Blessing¡¯s attack with his bare hand.¡±

    ¡°I was just fortunate.¡±

    The Eternal me was startled as he observed Qianye. ¡°You¡¯re not a great dark monarch yet?!¡±

    ¡°Stillcking thatst bit. I might make it if you guys give me a bit more time.¡±

    The Eternal me let out a low-pitchedugh. ¡°You¡¯re already so powerful, there¡¯s no way we would dare.¡±

    ¡°Why worry? Perhaps my bloodline will just stop at the great dark monarch realm.¡±

    ¡°From what we see now, even the grand duke rank is too much.¡±

    Qianye stretched his palm out, revealing a brilliant glow in it. ¡°Why are you all intent on ascending the mountain? If it¡¯s for this, I¡¯ll save you the trouble. I¡¯ve used all the resources up there. Only an empty space remains.¡±

    The pale me flickered violently as the demonkin monarch gazed at the radiance. Countless eyes in the darkness fell upon Qianye¡¯s palm.

    Qianye closed his fingers and promptly extinguished the light.

    ¡°No...!¡± A bestial roar echoed in the emptiness, but there was no further message.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re all here, why not juste out? What¡¯s with all the sneaking about?¡± Qianye said.

    Momentster, several figures appeared at the same time. All of them looked very different in appearance, but their auras were all profound and boundless.

    Qianye nced over them one after another. ¡°Progia, Sousa, and... are you the Wolf Ancestor or the Wolf Sovereign?¡±

    The tall figure to the farthest right said in a jaded voice, ¡°You can call me Wolf Ancestor, that fellow from the Summit of Peaks has abandoned the ancestral ways and will be punished.¡±

    Qianye was enlightened. ¡°Is this the final battle? You guys really do think highly of me. But... I can¡¯t be the only reason, right?¡±

    The Eternal me said honestly, ¡°We did consider the two heavenly monarchs from the human race, but who would¡¯ve thought you would grow so fast? Of course, it¡¯s even more unexpected that they would remain silent for so long.¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I¡¯m no longer a human, so it¡¯s only normal that they don¡¯te.¡±

    ¡°I feel sorry for you.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°I don¡¯t think of it that way. We all have to live with our choices. What I don¡¯t understand is why you guys are going to such lengths for an empty ce.¡±

    The great dark monarchs¡¯ aura wavered, but they quickly regained theirposure. They naturally understood that Qianye was standing on equal footing with them. The man had taken not one but seven consecutive shots from the Eternal me¡¯s Sable Blessing!

    Someone of this caliber had no need to lie.

    The Eternal me pointed toward the holy mountain with his me, saying, ¡°The trajectory of fate has pointed out the weakest point in the new world, and it¡¯s the summit of the holy mountain. That¡¯s why we have to get there whether or not the Lord of Evernight¡¯s origin power is still there.¡±

    Qianye rose into the sky. He nced at the Attawa below and then at the four great dark monarchs. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll be taking my leave.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    A cold intent flickered in Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Numbers won¡¯t be able to hold me back. Besides, you know the oue if you fail to intercept me, so think hard about it. I don¡¯t think the lot of you can stick together forever.¡±

    The Eternal me said, ¡°That is indeed something to think about. How about this? We can¡¯t just let you go without a fight. If you don¡¯t use the Red Spider Lily, we won¡¯t use the Sable Blessing. The Wolf Ancestor here will spar with you to test your heavenly monarch powers. What say you?¡±

    ¡°Fine by me.¡± Qianye nodded. He knew that a battle would happen sooner orter.

    The Wolf Ancestorughed as he stretched his body. ¡°I¡¯ve almost forgotten when it was that Ist fought. It must¡¯ve been a hundred years, right?¡±

    He slowly stepped forward and came to a stop a hundred meters away from Qianye.

    The Wolf Ancestor was almost three meters tall and oddlynky, almost like a skeleton when nced from afar. His eyes and face were so sunken that his fangs seemed excessively prominent.

    The Wolf Ancestor stared at Qianye as he removed a giant sword from his back. The de was several meters long, but the werewolf swung it effortlessly, kicking up a gust of whistling wind. The movement left a hundred-meter gap in the ground.

    The sword scar shot through the holynd, cutting down several stone buildings and bisecting numerous Attawa in the process. Everything was sturdy in the inner world, and the living origin power was impossible to draw upon. The Wolf Ancestor¡¯s sh would¡¯ve stretched a thousand meters if it was in the Evernight World.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m a bit old, so I couldn¡¯t control my power very well. I didn¡¯t startle you, did I?¡± The Wolf Ancestor sneered.

    The Attawa soldiers broke out into amotion, which died down as quickly as it had begun. The men carried their tribesmen¡¯s remains into the za and gazed up at the sky.

    They were solemn, pious, and the gleam in their eyes was unwavering.

    This was their home, their devotion, their totem that represented their spiritual world. Even though they knew that it was a vain effort to go against four great dark monarchs, the Attawa neither fled nor hid; no one cried, either. Everyone simply gathered around to stare at death in the face.

    Qianye drew his azure green sword, his bones ringing like a piece of jade that had fallen on a silver tter. This was the Pointer Monarch¡¯s Excavator, something all the great dark monarchs here had seen before. However, Qianye¡¯s utilization of the technique did not produce the thunderous sound they were used to hearing. Instead, it was a clear, crisp sound that spread far and wide without stopping.

    The sound waves passed by one after another until the four monarchs felt their bones starting to resonate with the sound!

    Qianye nced at the Wolf Ancestor. ¡°You¡¯re definitely getting old.¡±

 Chapter 1473

    The Wolf Ancestor let out a sinisterugh, a tangible light shining on his fangs as he lifted his giant sword. ¡°I¡¯m old?¡±

    Before Qianye could reply, the giant de had already appeared above his head, swinging down with the force of a falling mountain. The sh was followed by thunderousughter, ¡°I¡¯m old, huh?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m old, huh?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m old, huh?!¡±

    ...

    Nine consecutive roars and nine consecutive shes, each strikending indefensibly. It was as though the des had swung down from beyond this world¡ªheavy, lightning-fast, and without any fancy moves.

    At this level of swordy, there was no need to resort to tricks. The only thing he needed was sufficient speed and strength.

    The sky changed color when the nine shes appeared. Apart from the Eternal me whose expression could not be seen, all the other great dark monarchs were visibly moved.

    Afterunching the series of attacks, the Wolf Ancestor sheathed his sword and stepped back.

    Qianye simply stood in ce, with his sword pointed at the ground. It felt like he never even moved throughout the assault. The only thing that had changed were the nine tiny defects on the azure de¡¯s edge.

    If it wasn¡¯t for these knicks, no one would¡¯ve figured out that Qianye had blocked the nine shes.

    He had blocked every blow without taking a single step back.

    The Wolf Ancestor¡¯s pupils narrowed. His chest heaved a couple of times before he finally caught his breath. ¡°Good technique!¡±

    Qianye smiled. ¡°I have a technique?¡±

    The Wolf Ancestor¡¯s eyes narrowed even further. He said nothing more and merely lifted his de to chest level, assuming a defensive stance.

    Just now, Qianye had only defended and notunched a counterattack. It was clear that he had left the killing blow forst. If the Wolf Ancestor were tounch another flurry of attacks, he might just allow Qianye to retaliate sharply.

    Qianye didn¡¯t attack immediately. ¡°Where is your ancestral power? Bring it out.¡±

    The Wolf Ancestor didn¡¯t waste words. He let out a deep growl and tapped at the air with his left hand. Every tap would produce a totem, and on each of them was the illusory projection of a werewolf. All of a sudden, the entire holynd was filled with an ancient and powerful aura.

    The Wolf Ancestor had summoned seven ancestral totems in one go!

    Every ancestral totem represented a powerful ability or an upgrade to physical attributes. Seven of them working together would bring the Wolf Ancestor to a terrifying level.

    Armed with his ancestral power, the Wolf King smiled coldly. ¡°I¡¯ll show you that I¡¯m not old yet.¡±

    Qianye raised his sword and ran his finger along the de. The nicks in the weapon disappeared almost immediately as a scarlet me washed over it.

    Qianye gazed at the fire and said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not that you¡¯re old.¡±

    The Wolf Ancestorughed. ¡°You only realized it now? Toote!¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll let you see my heavenly monarch power first.¡±

    With that, he raised the azure de above his head and brought it down slowly toward the Wolf Ancestor.

    Despite its speed, the slightest movement of the de stirred up a roaring whistle that spread hundreds of kilometers. It was like the mournful wail of a god!

    Wisps of dark energy curled up around the azure de, turning it faintly discernible. All the great dark monarchs were rmed! The Eternal me ignored his status and charged at Qianye, hoping to save the Wolf Ancestor. However, the Eternal me¡¯s movements became oddly slow amidst the howling echoes, even slower than Qianye¡¯s leisurely sh!

    The Wolf Ancestor¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. His long fangs looked soft and distorted.

    The werewolf wanted to turn and flee, but wisps of dark energy appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around him, stretching all over his body. His movements slowed down to a crawl, even slower than the Eternal me.

    Qianye¡¯s hands were also trembling on his sword. This world was simply too fragile. He had to exert great effort in order to control his power and prevent the world¡¯s structure from shattering.

    This sh would reduce the space around the Wolf Ancestor into nothingness. Even with three great dark monarchs at his side, the man¡¯s fate could not be changed at all.

    As for how he would escape, Qianye gave it no thought. His entire heart was focused on this heavenly monarch sh!

    The Wolf Ancestor had nowhere to run.

    In his urgency, the werewolf let out a loud roar. His body began to expand during the process, growing several times in size. Seven werewolf silhouettes shot out from his massive frame and formed a single giant wolf.

    Qianye¡¯s sword sliced noiselessly through the giant wolf¡¯s body. Wherever the de passed by, everything would turn into nothingness. All that was left were dark patches that looked like rising mist.

    The Wolf Ancestor howled in agony, his body shrinking by the second. Finally, he managed to free himself of the ck mist surrounding him and fled toward the three great dark monarchs. His face was growing older and older every moment, and his aura was on a rapid decline, almost as though he would die any moment.

    Qianye¡¯s sh had destroyed all seven of the werewolf monarch¡¯s ancestral spirits. The werewolf would never be able to recover from his injury in this lifetime. Additionally, the ancestors he had summoned were the strongest of his race. Losing seven of them was a massive blow to the werewolves as a whole.

    The Eternal me recovered his normal movement as the sword bore down. He appeared in front of Qianye and threw a fist square at his chest.

    Qianye blocked the Eternal me¡¯s punch with his left hand. His countenance turned pale upon contact, and the impact sent him drifting backward.

    The Eternal me followed up with a second blow! Just as he was about tounch the attack, he noticed Qianye¡¯s expression and somehow felt a chill run down his spine. He immediately pulled back toward the group of great dark monarchs.

    Qianye coughed lightly with his mouth covered, and a hint of red stained his fingertips. However, the blood had vanished by the time he lowered his hand.

    The Wolf Ancestor huffed and puffed like a raging bull as he stared at Qianye with eyes full of hatred. ¡°You actually dare...¡±

    Halfway through, he lost his voice and a mouthful of blood gushed out. Sousa and Progia were both shocked. Apparently, the Wolf Ancestor¡¯s injuries were even worse than they had expected.

    At this moment, their gazes toward Qianye were filled with shock and awe. It was understandable how this person had blocked nine of the Wolf Ancestor¡¯s shes, but how could that attack be so powerful? How would they block an attack that could destroy everything in its wake?

    A thought appeared in Progia and Sousa¡¯s minds, ¡°What exactly was a heavenly monarch¡¯s power?¡±

    The Eternal me saw Qianye¡¯s aura rising gradually. ¡°Looks like the human race has produced yet another Greensun.¡±

    Qianye scanned the four great dark monarchs. Apart from the supremes, most of Evernight¡¯s powerhouses had gathered here. He was now on the same footing as these lofty existences of the past, and he had even defeated half of these people.

    And this took less than ten years.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Daybreak and Evernight are two opposite poles of this world, but they¡¯re fundamentally different after reaching this level. The great dark monarch realm is the end of the path for Evernight, but the heavenly monarch¡¯s path is only the beginning for humans!

    ¡°Dawn breaks where the night ends. Wolf Ancestor, you¡¯re not the one who¡¯s old... it¡¯s Evernight.¡±

    Evernight has aged.

 Chapter 1474

    A gentle voice echoed through the void. ¡°Evernight has aged, huh? This is the first time I¡¯ve heard of this, interesting.¡±

    An elegant man appeared in the air, seated in a tall chair and holding a book in one of his hands. He seemed deep in thought, almost as though the world were his study. He was positioned somewhat higher above the great dark monarchs, but not one felt that he was being rude.

    Even the Eternal me was no longer as dazzling before this person.

    Qianye nced up at the man with a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s His Majesty the Demon King, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to grace us with your presence. Have your injuries from thest battle healed?¡±

    The Demon King smiled. ¡°Of course not. The Lord of Evernight¡¯s attacks are indefensible and extremely difficult to treat. Even I will need a considerable amount of time to recover. However, the matter here is too important, and Rosnia is unwilling toe, so I had no other choice.¡±

    Qianye nced around. ¡°Looks like it won¡¯t be easy for me to leave.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the rush? It¡¯s not so bad to have a chat. We rarely get to meet, after all.¡± The Demon King closed his book and ced it on hisp. He then said gently, ¡°Xitang paid you the most attention when he was alive. He would mention you quite often too. I¡¯ve always wanted to see what kind of person he had pinned all his hopes on. You managed to aplish muchter on, but I always missed the asions due to various reasons. This should be the first time we¡¯re really meeting face to face.¡±

    Qianye hadn¡¯t imagined the Demon King would mention the name. ¡°You knew my adoptive father?¡±

    ¡°We met only a handful of times, but that doesn¡¯t matter. Not many in this world know me full well, and it¡¯s funny how all of them are humans.¡±

    ¡°Which three?¡±

    ¡°The first is Xitang, the other is that kid Radiant, and if I must find a third, probably you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°I saw Xitang when you spoke just now. He saw farther than you did, but he couldn¡¯t let go of certain things. Iter realized why he chose you.¡±

    ¡°What couldn¡¯t he let go of?¡±

    ¡°The human race, of course.¡± The Demon King sighed. ¡°It wasn¡¯t the human race¡¯s current survival that he was working toward, but its future pathway. I once asked him why don¡¯t we just let go of whatever we¡¯re doing and watch the two factions develop naturally? What he said was that the human race shouldn¡¯t be constrained in this corner, that one day, a new path will appear and allow them to leap to unknown new worlds. He was willing to be the stepping stone in this endeavor.¡±

    Qianye was silent as that tall and elegant figure appeared in his eyes. It was because he subconsciously wanted to follow in Lin Xitang¡¯s footsteps that he had fought for the human race at every juncture.

    ¡°That fellow is too sentimental. Not only did he sacrifice himself, but he also turned the people around him into stepping stones. We had discussed this matter before, but his reply never changed: as the path is, so should all life be. Being his friend is definitely not something to be happy about.¡± The Demon King shrugged.

    ¡°If I heard right, my adoptive father died in your hands, didn¡¯t he?¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to kill him, he wanted me to. If he doesn¡¯t die, the Sacred Mountain will never feel relieved. In truth, I regret it whenever I think back to the past. If I had steeled my heart and killed him back in the year, there wouldn¡¯t have been so much troubleter on.¡±

    The Demon King stood up. ¡°You might not believe me, but I never found out what he was nning all these years. I only had a strong feeling that I couldn¡¯t let him seed. All of Evernight¡¯s prophets added together weren¡¯t his match, howical! Perhaps Evernight¡¯s downfall was destined, otherwise, why would humans produce such a person?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°If my adoptive father had friends, you would probably count as one.¡±

    The Demon King smiled wryly. ¡°I must¡¯ve been out of my mind to have made such a friend.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for letting me know all of this. I guess it¡¯s time to get back to business.¡±

    The Demon King nodded, and the book in his hand drifted over andnded in the Eternal me¡¯s hands. He stood up and gazed at Qianye, saying, ¡°Killing you and destroying all of Xitang¡¯s ns is my utmost respect for him.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°I thought there might be a threaten-and-recruitment phase.¡±

    The Demon King drew his sword. ¡°That was my initial n, but there¡¯s no other choice since you¡¯re the key piece he left behind.¡±

    Qianye was shaken when the sword appeared. ¡°Awakening Dream?!¡±

    ¡°How could she escape from the Queen of the Night?¡±

    Qianye felt a chill surge out from deep within. ¡°Lilith, that means she knew everything?¡±

    ¡°You could say that.¡±

    ¡°She knew about the war on Twilight Continent?¡±

    ¡°Not at first, but she didn¡¯t object after she found out.¡±

    Qianye said slowly, ¡°In truth, I never had any lofty aspirations, and I¡¯m not willing to fight to the bitter end for some ideals. I just wanted to be with the one person I love and see my brothers and friends well. Yet, why am I repeatedly denied this simple wish?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a key piece in his n, there¡¯s no way you could escape the chessboard.¡±

    Qianye held his sword pensively.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t attack immediately, either. ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    ¡°I was just thinking what Zining would do in my shoes.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s brows moved. ¡°Song Zining is also one of the pieces, but he¡¯s optional. You are the key piece.¡±

    Qianye raised his azure de. ¡°I¡¯ve decided.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ll just surrender?¡±

    ¡°She might have some hope of survival if I live, none if I die.¡±

    The Demon King nodded. ¡°That is true. I might be injured, but attacking you is still an act of bullying. Yet there¡¯s no choice since none of them can handle you. In Xitang¡¯s words, we were all born for the great dao, it¡¯s just that we stand on different sides of the path. There¡¯s no choice.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°I understand. But all I know is that my adoptive father fell in your hands, and I don¡¯t want to go into profound theories to exin this fact. I will still seek vengeance for him.¡±

    The Demon Kingughed. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that you can think of it that way. Ah right, there¡¯s something I must tell you. There might not be a chance once we start fighting.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Daybreak and Evernight were the two poles of this world. They both opposed and existed alongside one another. Darkness origin power might have the advantage in the Evernight World, perhaps daybreak would be stronger in a different realm. In the myriad worlds, however, everything would return to their origins where neither is stronger than the other. That¡¯s why it¡¯s not Evernight that has aged, it is us, the sacred races.¡±

    Qianye said in a serious tone, ¡°Thank you for pointing that out.¡±

    ¡°This will be the only time. Get ready, let me see if you are worth all of Xitang¡¯s efforts!¡±

    The de in the Demon King¡¯s hands shook momentarily before bearing down upon Qianye.

    Thetter raised his de in defense. The azure de was iparably heavy, almost as though it were carrying the weight of the entire world. Every inch forward was incredibly difficult.

    A hint of ck could be seen at its tip. It was extremely small yet as heavy as a mountain and boundlessly deep. The appearance of this ck speck affected even the great dark monarchs, almost drawing them toward the source.

    ¡°Bang!¡± It was at this time that the azure sword shattered into countless pieces.

    The fragments fell into the dark shade and vanished, yet the Demon King¡¯s sh kept falling unaffected.

    Qianye hadn¡¯t expected such a turn of events. This was the first time he was going all out since stepping into the realm. This was also the first time the chaos energy had appeared in this world after returning to its origins.

    Who would¡¯ve thought the de would crumble under the unbearable stress?

    Qianyeughed wryly. Was this fate?

    Who would be able to block the Demon King¡¯s blow?

    It was at this moment that a series of thunder echoed through the sky. A hand arrived from over the horizon and grabbed the Awakening Dream. The Pointer Monarch appeared soon afterward and said, ¡°Your Majesty the Demon King, Supreme of the Sacred Mountain, how can you bully a child so? Ji Wentian is incapable, but I¡¯ve long since wished to try my hand against you.¡±

    The Demon King said seriously, ¡°That¡¯s fine as well.¡±

    He casually raised his hand and shed at the Pointer Monarch.

    Thetter also drew his sword and blocked the iing blow. His movements were carefree and unrestrained, yet every movement was apanied by nine rumbles of roaring thunder. Apparently, he had already pushed Excavator to its limits.

    The Demon King¡¯s movements were calm and poetic, his movements seemingly untainted by the secr world. He didn¡¯t channel his demonic energy, either.

    The other great dark monarchs were also caught off-guard by the sudden development. Which of them could interfere in a battle of such caliber?

    It was at this moment that the Profundity Monarch appeared and locked down Sousa with an invisible force, dragging the man away from his peers.

    He attacked with the speed of lightning, roaring, ¡°Come, wind! Come, rain! Come, lightning!¡±

    A storm brewed rapidly and arcs of lightning descended upon Sousa.

    The lightning was thin and flimsy, but it was full of vitality and had enough power to destroy heaven and earth! This was far more powerful than a heavenly monarch¡¯s attack. Progia and the Wolf Ancestor weren¡¯t in their peak state and also caught off-guard.

    The pir of lightningnded upon Sousa¡¯s body, dropping his life force by half and effectively paralyzing him!

    The Profundity Monarch turned toward Qianye and shouted, ¡°What are you waiting for?!¡±

    Qianye was stunned to see the monarch bleeding from his eyes and looking rather miserable. Apparently, this attack had affected his very foundations.

    There was no time to think or this opportunity would slip through their fingertips. Qianye immediately transformed into tens of thousands of sanguine threads, passing through Sousa and reappearing behind him.

    Qianye¡¯s face was now flushed red, and his body was bulging in certain areas, almost as though something was about to burst out. The strong and powerful Sousa was now barely a skeleton.

    Qianye forcibly brought the raging blood energy under control. He couldn¡¯t quite hide his surprise as he said to the Profundity Monarch, ¡°Howe...¡±

    There was a fierce glow emanating from the monarch at this moment, growing stronger and stronger. His origin power leaked out like raging tides, shaking his body and organs.

    His heavenly monarch crystal was under too much strain! This was an early sign that it might shatter.

    The Profundity Monarch took a deep breath and forced down the origin power. ¡°This fight will decide the fate of the human race. It must end with either side dead, there are no shortcuts. I might not be capable, but I¡¯m willing to be the first to sacrifice! The path to hell won¡¯t be lonely anyway. Next!¡±

    He raised his finger to the sky and roared, ¡°Come, wind! Come, rain! Come, lightning!¡±

    A thin arch of lightning shot toward Progia.

    The demonkin was shocked out of his wits and actually turned to flee!

    This lightning wasn¡¯t lethal to him just yet, but Qianye would follow up during the momentary opening with a killing blow. That ck intent was simply too terrifying and definitely not something he could resist.

    The Wolf Ancestor hesitated for a moment and only retreated after seeing Progia flee. He had just made his move when an invisible force grabbed him, pinning him in ce for a split second.

    The werewolf was shocked out of his wits. Who would¡¯ve thought the Profundity Monarch would use this ability on him instead of Progia? He struggled with all his might and managed to break the bindings inch by inch. The Profundity Monarch let out a muffled groan, spitting out a mouthful of frothy blood.

    The Werewolf Ancestor realized that he was the real target, but it was all toote. Qianye appeared in front of him and swiped at him with the ck intent on his fingertips.

    Darkness immediately covered the world as the Wolf Ancestor¡¯s consciousness fell into a sable abyss, a fall that seemed to never end.

    Qianye and the Profundity Monarch had never worked together before, but their cooperation was almost wless. They had only one shot at this, so failure was not an option.

    Qianye returned to the heavenly monarch¡¯s side instead of chasing Progia. With a wave of his hand, he produced a gentle stream of origin power to support the man.

    The Profundity Monarch¡¯s entire body was shining brightly, almost like a burning sun. His heavenly monarch crystal had shatteredpletely, and the raging stream of daybreak origin power was burning him from within.

    Each of Evernight¡¯s great dark monarchs represented a tremendous force. The Profundity Monarch had managed to attack two of these powerhouses, disarming their defenses and allowing Qianye to kill them. It was just that he couldn¡¯t withstand this eruption of power, either, and ended up paying the ultimate price.

    The Profundity Monarch endured the agony as he stared into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Tell my offspring, I might¡¯ve had my ws regarding less important matters... but I fulfilled my duty where it matters.¡±

 Chapter 1475

    Off in the distance, the Demon King hadn¡¯t imagined such a change would ur. Things had developed so quickly that he wouldn¡¯t have made it even if he had ignored the Pointer Monarch and rushed over. The Profundity Monarch was experienced, shrewd, and ruthless. He had produced an opportunity where there was none and dragged two great dark monarchs down with him.

    The Eternal me was high in the air with the ancient book in his hand. By the time he had noticed the ambush, Sousa had already fallen, and he was hesitant to take action the second time after noticing that the target was the Wolf Ancestor.

    Even the Eternal me wasn¡¯t confident in blocking the Profundity Monarch¡¯s dying blow. If he were to be restrained for a split second, Qianye would follow up with a powerful attack. The tiny ck intent Qianye had used to face the Demon King filled the Eternal me with fear. He would rather take a shot from the Red Spider Lily than touch that dark speck.

    The demonkin monarch decided to simply observe.

    Now that Profundity was dead, the Eternal me heaved a sigh of relief. Qianye¡¯s attack power would be greatly reduced without the heavenly monarch¡¯s indefensible restraining secret art.

    The Demon King smiled wryly, but he ultimately didn¡¯tplete his sh.

    The Pointer Monarch was happy to pull back and regain his breath.

    The Demon King gazed at Profundity¡¯s corpse and sighed. ¡°You people are always like this, always... You are so ruthless even toward yourselves, how are we to believe you can coexist peacefully with the sacred races?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Fighting for our country and family is the righteous path, it¡¯s something we should do. I have nothing to say if you¡¯re implying that we shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    The Demon King said with a serious expression, ¡°Then there is nothing to discuss. I might be injured, but I can still kill you all if I pay a certain price. When the timees, we will have two supremes left, but what will you have?¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said calmly, ¡°I came here with no intention of going back. If the Demon King wishes to instruct me, I can only take up my ancestral duty and fight you.¡±

    The Demon King made his move, shooting out a hundred-meter sh from the Awakening Dream. The Pointer Monarch also drew his sword and jumped into battle.

    On the other side of the battlefield, the Eternal me had conjured a ball of ck fire in his hand, and the Sable Blessing was ready to fire once more. Progia had fled a good distance at first, but he had returned tounch a pincer attack with the Eternal me.

    Qianye simply stood there. All he did was push the Profundity Monarch¡¯s corpse forward and blow a wisp of dark golden energy toward it, engulfing the remains in raging dark golden mes. Even a heavenly monarch¡¯s corpse ended up melting rapidly amidst the heat.

    The Eternal me and Progia waited patiently for the cremation toplete. The Profundity Monarch had gained their respect in the previous battle, respect worthy of such a great powerhouse.

    The corpse was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving only some grey ashes. Qianye absorbed all of the ashes into his palm andpacted them into a lustrous gem containing wind, rain, and lighting.

    Qianye put away the item and said, ¡°Thank you for waiting.¡±

    The Eternal me said, ¡°There is no need to thank us, we have the luxury of waiting. The longer we drag this out, the likelier that His Majesty will defeat Ji Wentian. Quoting a human saying, time is on our side.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Can I ask you one thing, how is Nighteye now?¡±

    ¡°Seek out the Queen of the Night if you manage to leave this ce alive. If you can¡¯t, then what¡¯s the use of worrying?¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Qianye smiled radiantly. ¡°But you are wrong about one thing. Time is forever on my side!¡±

    Qianye let out a long peal ofughter as a beam of dark golden blood energy shot through the skies and vanished into the boundless depths of the void!

    The entire world began to tremble, and the sky began to distort, almost as though some terrifying existence was about to break through its bindings.

    Immediately, all of the darkness origin power in the world began to resonate with the terrifying entity in the sky. Even the Eternal me and Progia¡¯s energy was drawn by the gravitation, nearly breaking out of their bodies!

    The two great dark monarchs were shocked out of their wits. Suddenly remembering something, the Eternal me shouted, ¡°He¡¯s ascending! Don¡¯t let him seed!¡±

    The Eternal me fired three wisps of dark fire that drifted toward Qianye at great speed. Progia appeared behind Qianye and hurled a spear of demonic energy at his back.

    Qianye simply stood there with his hands behind his back. A dark intent had appeared in his left hand and began circling him.

    The ck intent flew about in a leisurely manner, but everything in its wake was reduced to nothingness. Progia¡¯s spear was warped and lengthened as it approached the energy, but it ultimately failed to avert the fate of being absorbed into the darkness. In the blink of an eye, the spear that was an aggregation of Progia¡¯s full power had vanished entirely.

    The ck intent saw no change at all. It was extremely difficult to gauge its size¡ªit seemed extremely minuscule and barely in existence, yet it was a colossal existence that was so heavy that it could not be measured.

    Progia could hardly conceal his astonishment. ¡°What is this thing?¡±

    The Eternal me had no answer for him.

    The three ck mes weren¡¯t affected by the ck intent. Attacks from the Sable Blessing were more of an assault on the origin power and spiritual ne.

    Three mirrors appeared in the air and duly contained the three wisps of fire, ending up in mutual destruction. The Red Spider Lily in Qianye¡¯s hands could now fight on par with the Sable Blessing.

    Qianye coughed up a mouthful of blood, but this blood was milky white. Defending against thebined attacks of two great dark monarchs and only coughing up some blood as a result, now that was an achievement to be proud of.

    The trembling of the inner world grew increasingly intense. The ground began to split open, and even the holy mountain was swaying from the tremor.

    A faintly discernible protrusion appeared in the sky, almost as though some incredible entity was forcing its way into this world. Everything in the air began to distort ordingly. Even the ck sun caved in on one side and became protruded on the other, not unlike a misshapen ball of dough.

    It was no longer apt to describe this scenery as a worldly phenomenon!

    The dome of the sky finally shattered.

    At this very moment, the sound of crashing waves reverberated across countless worlds¡ªnot just the inner world or Evernight.

    There was now a defect in the sky.

    From thisceration, one could vaguely make out a boundless expanse of water, raging forward with great momentum.

    Everyone saw things differently. The demonkin saw it as liquefied demonic energy, the werewolves perceived it as a dark torrent, while humans saw the vivid color of blood.

    Different life forms from different worlds saw it differently as well.

    The Attawa fell to their knees in zealous worship, and many of the elders were crying.

    To Qianye, the existence beyond the tear in the sky was gently calling out to him. It was as though he belonged there and he had to return home.

    He nced at himself and noticed that his blood core on the Book of Darkness had turned into a crystal. Moreover, it had pierced right through the book andbined with his heavenly monarch crystal.

    However, there seemed to be something missing inside his blood core.

    Qianye finally realized that what he was missingy outside of the sky. With a single thought, he took to the skies and flew out through thecerated atmosphere.

    Toward the River of Blood.

 Chapter 1476

    ¡°We must not let him enter the River of Blood!¡± Progia roared as he pounced at Qianye.

    However, the ck intent expanded suddenly around Qianye¡ªit was as though everything in the world had lost its color. Progia felt a terrifying attractive force as he was shrouded by the shadow, dragging him toward the darkness.

    He tried to approach Qianye while resisting the pulling force, but the closer he got to Qianye, the closer he was to the ck intent. The pull grew exponentially as he moved closer and closer, so much so that Progia felt a sense of danger.

    What was this domain? Startled and angry, he hurled several spears of demonic energy, but all of the attacks were duly absorbed by the darkness. He himself did not dare approach the darkness.

    The Eternal me neither moved nor opened fire. He simply watched Progia struggling within Qianye¡¯s domain, roaring and attacking in vain.

    Just as Qianye was about to step through thecerated sky, the Eternal me asked, ¡°What is this domain called?¡±

    Qianye was stunned for a moment. ¡°Name? Oh, I never really thought about it. If I must give it a name, let¡¯s call it... Genesis.¡±

    The Eternal me was surprised. This domain was clearly devouring and reducing everything to nothingness. Why was it called Genesis of all things?

    The titles of heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs weren¡¯t randomly given; they actually represented a profound meaning. Qianye had stepped through the firmament during this moment of contemtion and entered the River of Blood.

    All of a sudden, it seemed as though all the vampires of the Evernight World sensed something at the same time. Everyone gazed up at the sky¡ªthe old, the young, the strong, the weak¡ªall the vampires could clearly sense the existence of the River of Blood! It was gentle, strong, and extremely close, so close that it felt like anyone could jump into its embrace.

    Immediately, all of the vampires didn¡¯t know what to do. They were used to the river being a lofty and faraway existence, something only the strongest beings could touch. Now that the very source of divinity had appeared before them, everyone found it difficult to believe.

    The Eternal me slowly opened the ancient book and tore three pages from it. He flew up into the air and used them to form a triangr sealing formation.

    He said to Progia, ¡°You guard this seal, I¡¯ll go over and open the passage. Whatever he obtains from the river, it will be toote by the time he returns.¡±

    Progia said in a serious tone, ¡°Are we at the final moment?¡±

    The Eternal me sighed. ¡°Perhaps, perhaps not. It¡¯ll all depend on the mood of the other two supremes. A ve race will always be a ve race, they still cannot change their foolish character even after bing a supreme.¡±

    Progia produced a ck gem and passed it to the Eternal me. ¡°If I fall, pass this to my descendants.¡±

    The Eternal me put away the gem and flew toward the holy mountain. Meanwhile, Progia remained hovering quietly outside of the seals.

    The Pointer Monarch waspletely unfazed by the appearance of the River of Blood. He even broke into heartyughter. ¡°The Chronicle of Glory will finally bepleted in the hands of our people! Even if I die, I can stand proudly before the Founding Ancestor. Kane, unfortunately, all our schemes will end this very day!¡±

    The Demon King gazed up at the river beyond the scar in the sky. His body trembled as Qianye walked into its waters. He felt like he saw Lin Xitang¡¯s figure appear, standing beside Qianye as he walked into the river.

    A sh of lightning ran through his mind, and many unsolved riddles were answered one after another. The only problem was that old answers begot new enigmas.

    ¡°It turns out that you¡¯ve been waiting for this moment all along.¡± The Demon King brandished the Awakening Dream. ¡°Ji Wentian, I never understood before why the supremes of the Sacred Mountain could never unite and wipe out the humans first. Whenever there was an opportunity, there would always be some kind of ident. We would always fail at thest hurdle. So, it turns out that even the hearts of the supremes have been unknowingly affected. The Lost Season! Heh! What a powerful Lost Season. You humans have a powerhouse backing you!¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said seriously, ¡°Now that¡¯s a bit biased. The rise of our race since a thousand years ago can be considered unstoppable, but every step we have taken was paved with the corpses of our ancestors. The flowers along the way were watered with their blood. How could we have reached where we are today without the sacrifices of our predecessors? We would never havepleted the Chronicle of Glory if our ancestors had not sacrificed themselves.

    ¡°The Founding Ancestor said thus: ¡®The daybreak path, our Ji n will be the first to break.¡¯ Every generation of our members has given their lives and bodies for the cause, to the point where our bloodline is running thinner and thinner each year. ording to Evernight¡¯s theory, our Founding Ancestor and Martial Ancestor¡¯s bloodlines were so powerful that they could conquer the world. Why would they run themselves to the ground?¡±

    The Demon King put away the Awakening Dream and listened silently.

    The Pointer Monarch¡¯s gentle demeanor receded as he adopted a deep, domineering tone. ¡°Back in the year, when our Founding Ancestor formed the Great Qin and ascended the throne, he had decreed that the throne shall be passed to Duke Zhang¡¯s descendants when the Ji n has no more members to make the ultimate sacrifice. ¡°When the Zhang n is gone, the duty shall fall upon Duke Zhao¡¯s offspring, so on and so forth. If and when all nine dukes have spent their manpower, it must be heaven¡¯s will to end our race. That was why the Empire¡¯s ultimate ruler does not represent power and authority, but instead a promise to the people of our nation. The throne shall remain unchanged as long as this oath stands.¡±

    At this point, the Pointer Monarch said in a clear voice, ¡°Who in Evernight can hold such a position?!¡±

    The Demon King was left dazed. Heughed wryly after a good while. ¡°T-This... why the need to go so far?¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t do this, how will our race ever thrive?¡±

    ¡°What is your definition of prosperity? You¡¯ve already upied four continents. The Qin and Western Continents are bountifulnds, not at all inferior to our best territories. What is your idea of prosperity? Do you want all twenty-seven continents?¡±

    ¡°No, Evernight is just a small corner of arger whole. The dearest wish of our forebears has always been to escape from this ce, to shatter the fetters on our bodies and set foot on the great path.¡±

    ¡°The great path you speak of is a higher life-form, isn¡¯t it? What will that achieve, everyone bes a supreme?¡±

    ¡°That I cannot tell you. Everything will be evident once the Chronicle of Glory appears in this world. It¡¯s a pity I won¡¯t live to see it.¡±

    The Demon King flicked Awakening Dream with a sigh. ¡°You humans have been breaking through hardships and obstacles with every generation. We, on the other hand, havee to the end of our paths. We cultivate to the extremes of our bloodlines and obtain thousands of years of life, yet we don¡¯t know what to do after that. Both Lilith and I found out only after we reached the Sacred Mountain that the path was at its end. The world was so small that we could touch the very ends of it. What do we do next? Conquer the twenty-seven continents? Then what?¡±

    He smiled ruefully. ¡°A story where you can see the end is nothing but boring! I really do envy you humans because you have a dream to pursue. Perhaps chasing the unknown is the very meaning of life.¡±

    The Pointer Monarch said, ¡°Our lives are so short that we barely notice that we¡¯re nearing the end. That¡¯s probably why we¡¯re not willing to think too much while we are alive. If we have the power to spare, we do our best to leave a stable life for our descendants.¡±

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°How envious.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ve talked too long. It¡¯s time to end things.¡±

    The Demon King stepped backward and pointed the Awakening Dream to the ground. ¡°You first.¡±

    Ten peals of thunder resounded from the Pointer Monarch¡¯s body. ¡°Nine is the ultimate number. Since I developed Excavator, I have never used the tenth stratum before. Only the tenth can carry the might of this sword attack I¡¯ve been cultivating for thirty years... a life of hardship, a sword to rend the heavens!¡±

 Chapter 1477

    A sword radiance spread out. It was thin and curved at the outset but quickly erupted into a torrential wave!

    This sword traversed heaven, earth, and time itself.

    It seemed as though the countless predecessors of the human race had joined the attack as it tore an opening through the firmament.

    For whom did the tear in the sky open?

    The brilliancested but a moment. All splendor and majesty would wither one day, only remaining in the memories of those who had witnessed the scene.

    The light slowly receded.

    The Pointer Monarch stoodpletely still with his sword pointing toward the sky.

    Aceration had appeared in the firmament, a gash perpendicr to the River of Blood.

    This sword had actually rent the blue dome of the heavens!

    That ancient book had appeared in the Demon King¡¯s hands at one point, its pages filling the air as they protected the supreme from the attack.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t move at all. It was only muchter that he let out a sigh, upon which the pages broke down into ashes and disappeared.

    A corner of the Pointer Monarch¡¯s robes suddenly broke down into countless specks of sand. The granules scattered into motes of light that hovered in the air.

    More and more luminescent blobs appeared, lighting up the area.

    Everyone felt as though they had heard a sigh as the light receded. No one knew where it hade from, but its trailing sound rose into the depths of the sky and clouds. It was likely the Pointer Monarch¡¯s sigh, but no one knew what it was for.

    The heavenly monarch had be an eternal part of thisnd.

    The Eternal me appeared at this point and nced at the book in the Demon King¡¯s hand. Only the front and back covers remained of this once-thick tome; everything else had been used up.

    The Demon King gazed at the spot where the Pointer Monarch had vanished.

    ¡°Your Majesty...¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    The Demon Kingughed wryly. ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯d be alright. Ji Wentian had umted that single strike for thirty years. If I hadn¡¯t blocked it with this copy of the Book of Darkness, I would have lost half my life right there.¡±

    The Eternal me was shocked. ¡°It¡¯s that serious?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already a wonder that I¡¯m able to stand.¡± The Demon King nced at the Eternal me. His aura fell progressively, but his eyes were still sparkling bright, capable of seeing right through the Eternal me¡¯s protective ze. He saw that raging ambition burning deep inside the man.

    The Demon King revealed a jaded smile. ¡°us, you¡¯re actually older than me. Do you know why you were never able to take that final step?¡±

    The Eternal me was surprised. He hadn¡¯t expected the Demon King to actually address him by his actual name. He hadn¡¯t used this name in a long time, and everything rted to the name were memories from his youth.

    The Demon King¡¯s question was actually easy to answer. ¡°Bloodline.¡±

    A person¡¯s bloodline would decide the height to which he could go. There had only been two exceptions since time immemorial, the Demon King and Andruil. To be precise, Andruil¡¯s transformation from the ck-Winged Monarch to the Lord of Evernight was an upgrade in the level of origin power. It didn¡¯t have a lot to do with bloodlines. Strictly speaking, only the Demon King Kane had broken through the restraints of his bloodline.

    Themon theory among the upper echelons of Evernight was that people had misjudged Kane¡¯s bloodline talents when he was young. His real potential developed muchter.

    The only other person in the entirety of the Evernight World was Qianye.

    Hearing us¡¯ answer, the Demon King simply asked, ¡°Did you hear Ji Wentian¡¯s final sigh?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°Why did you think he sighed?¡±

    This time, the Eternal me had no answer.

    To an Evernight expert who enjoyed thousands of years of lifespan, a human¡¯s life cycle was simply too short. They were full of emotions, and it was fairly difficult to understand their passion and sorrow.

    The Demon King wasn¡¯t hoping for the Eternal me¡¯s reply anyway. ¡°One of the most important things to humans is to return to their roots and find eternal rest in their homnd. Yet people like Ji Wentian and Fang came here prepared to abandon their homnd. They say they dare to sacrifice their lives because their lives are short, but think carefully, are we willing to sacrifice ourselves for the race even when we are at the end of our lives? If we did, there wouldn¡¯t be so many hibernating old bastards. Once you lose your courage, it will nevere back.¡±

    The Eternal me seemed to have grasped certain things in this contemtion.

    The Demon King shook his head. ¡°Ji Wentian didn¡¯t need to die.¡±

    This was something the Eternal me couldn¡¯t figure out. The might of thatst sh could¡¯ve killed anything and everything below the supreme realm. Even a supreme could only hang on for dear life.

    That sh bore the fate of the human race and could glimpse at fate itself! The attack was far stronger than a supreme¡¯s!

    All the heavenly monarch needed to do was neverunch that attack, and no one would dare to force his hand, not even the Eternal me.

    The Demon King stood there with his hands behind his back, gazing at the gash in the sky. ¡°He sacrificed himself to open the path and wipe away all obstacles for Qianye, for the human race.¡±

    ¡°Sacrificing himself to open a path.¡± The Eternal me was shaken.

    The Demon King gazed at the distant Progia and shook his head. He then turned back to the Eternal me. ¡°Do you understand now?¡±

    The Eternal me was deep in thought. He felt like he understood, but it also seemed like he didn¡¯t.

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°You¡¯ve always wanted to rece me, now the opportunity is right before your eyes. If you dare to break a path for our race just like he does, if you can lead the sacred races past the many obstacles in their path, there¡¯s no reason why I can¡¯t give you everything I have.¡±

    The Eternal me¡¯s pale mes dimmed and flickered unsteadily.

    The Demon King didn¡¯t urge the man, either. He simply gazed up at the sky and said, ¡°It¡¯s a pity. In the end, I never found out what the Lost Season and the Chronicle of Glory are. A so-called supreme isn¡¯t much, after all.¡±

    The Eternal me shuddered when he heard about the Lost Season and the Chronicle of Glory. It took a while for his mes to calm down.

    He bowed slightly, saying, ¡°Your Majesty, please give me the book. I¡¯ll open the passageway.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s expression wasplicated, yet it was hard to tell what he was thinking. ¡°us, I really hope you can take action.¡±

    The Eternal me¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°I want the power and authority thate with being a supreme, but I cannot shoulder the fate of all the sacred races. It is just as you said, once you lose your courage, it will never return again.¡±

    The Demon King said nothing more. ¡°Open the gates.¡±

    The Eternal me shot out a stream of fire that enveloped the Demon King. The two vanished from the spot and reappeared on the holy mountain.

    The Eternal me opened the covers of the book, and following his movements, a deep, bottomless pathway slowly opened up.

    The great dark monarch seemed increasingly strained as the passage expanded, the ze around him shooting toward the passageway in an effort to stabilize it. However, the obstructive force became greater as the tunnel expanded.

    The words ¡°Book of Darkness¡± on the cover flew toward the tunnel, but two of the characters were extinguished along the way. The third reached its target but failed to stabilize the passageway.

    The Demon King finally took action. He summoned the three pages sealing the defect in the sky and directed them into the passage, finally stabilizing it.

    Once the gateway was formed, a terrifying attractive force began to suck all the nearby origin power into it. The tunnel was like a bottomless hole that could never be sated no matter how much origin power it took in.

    The ck sun in the sky was also affected by the gravitational force. A barely noticeable bulge formed on one side as wisps of darkness origin power were dragged down.

    The sun was no longer perfectly round. It had beenpressed by thecerated sky on one side, and on the other, it was being dragged into the tunnel.

    ncing at the size of the passageway, the Demon King sighed. ¡°This will have to do.¡±

    He nced around at the tear in the sky before stepping into the passage and heading back to the Evernight World.

    The Eternal me and Progia didn¡¯t linger, either. One after another, they left the inner world via the passage.

    All this time, the passageway was continuously devouring the darkness origin power.

 Chapter 1478

    Qianye moved slowly upstream in the River of Blood.

    This time was different from the past times he had entered the River of Blood. The sensation was entirely different now that he was physically present.

    Entering with his own body allowed Qianye to sense just how vast and majestic the river was. He could feel his body expanding rapidly as he stepped in, onlying to a stop as he was about to lose control of his origin power.

    Thews inside the River of Blood were different. One¡¯s body size was determined entirely by his origin power. Hence, those who enter would grow without end as long as their origin power could withstand the expansion. Qianye had no idea what this growth entailed, and it wasn¡¯t as though he could resist thews anyway.

    Qianye immediately became a colossus that was ten thousand meters tall.

    After the transformation, Qianye once again came to understand how majestic the river was.

    He stood on its banks and gazed left and right, yet he still couldn¡¯t see its ends. All he saw were rolling waves almost as tall as he was.

    Qianye had a feeling that he couldn¡¯t get swept away by those waves, else the oue would be unthinkable.

    The river he was seeing right now wasn¡¯t a physical form, and the waves were merely projections in Qianye¡¯s perception. But the river wasn¡¯t entirely intangible, either, since its raging waters were a mixture of time, space, and origin power.

    Only his consciousness had entered in the past, so the waves didn¡¯t quite affect him. It was extremely dangerous this time since he was physically present. His very existence might be erased and be a part of the river.

    Gazing at the unending flow of water, Qianye was both curious and shaken by this cosmic entity. What exactly was the River of Blood, and why was it brought to the world as he ascended to the great dark monarch rank?

    At the thought of this world, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. He channeled his blood core and sent wisps of dark golden blood energy toward every corner of his body.

    Once the blood energy appeared, the sense of danger from the raging waves lessened noticeably. Even so, Qianye felt that it wouldn¡¯t be wise to enter the river itself. There was no telling what kind of unpredictable incident might ur.

    Qianye couldn¡¯t help but wonder how deep the waters were, and what exactlyy under its surface. Was there even a bottom?

    It was so vast that it was hard to tell whether this was a river or an ocean.

    He simply stood staring at the river for a good while, but he ultimately couldn¡¯t resist the urge to explore. After all, this wasn¡¯t actually water but a deluge of time, space, and origin power. The greatest secrets of the river had to be hidden at the source.

    No matter what, he had to pay a visit to the origin point.

    At the thought of the source, Qianye remembered that mysterious shadowy creature. He wondered whether the entity was still there. Now that Qianye was here in person after reaching an unprecedented realm, perhaps he might be able to get past that checkpoint.

    Qianye took to the skies and flew upstream. He wasn¡¯t quite used to the massive body at first, but he soon grasped how to control various parts of the body. The environment also went from unfamiliar to familiar and then to a state of control.

    Now, he was a vampire great dark monarch. He had always stirred the River of Blood during his past ascensions. Although he knew little about the river itself, things went especially well when he tried to understand and adapt to the river¡¯sws.

    In the blink of an eye, Qianye almost felt as though he were a part of the river.

    His speed grew faster as his familiarity and control over the river increased, going from his initial drifting pace to the speed of lightning. In the end, his figure was practically flickering across vast distances.

    After flying for an unknown length of time, Qianye suddenly noticed a border to the distant waters, and the flow of the river was much faster.

    The river became narrow and the waters more rapid, a sign that it was nearing the source.

    Qianye heaved a sigh. Even someone of his spiritual powers was starting to feel fatigued by this point. If he wasn¡¯t wrong, that long flight of his was enough to cover the entire Evernight World, from the lowest continents to the uppermost ones.

    Just how long was the river?

    Yet Qianye had no idea whether his senses had been affected by the special environment, nor did he know just how far he had flown. He seemed to remember Anwen mentioning that for all life born in the Evernight World, their perceptions were made for this world alone. They might not be able to sense things correctly in other worlds.

    This point was something Qianye had already experienced, and much more evidently in the River of Blood.

    Now that the source was in sight, Qianye paused momentarily before moving forward.

    The River of Blood narrowed noticeably, and the waters were now flowing rapidly. Qianye could vaguely sense a tremendous aura covering the entire world.

    That was likely the source of the river.

    Qianye felt an unsuppressable excitement in his heart, so much so that he had to stop and take a deep breath.

    No one knew how many people throughout the millennia had managed to enter the river physically and explore its source. At this very moment, Qianye truly came to agree with what Anwen had said: ¡°Compared to exploring the vast universe, the wars in the Evernight World are asughable as children ying house¡±.

    Qianye calmed himself down and continued flying toward the source of the river. There, he suddenly noticed something floating in the distant waters.

    He hadn¡¯t really seen anything in the river even after all the exploration. He flew quickly to the area and looked down to find a seal.

    An azure seal wrapped in tree branches.

    This was the seal of the Morway n, tenth among the great vampire families. The second-generation primogenitor of this n was the Azure King, Reynold.

    At this point, the seal was dark and almost formless. Qianye sensed it and saw it, but he could not touch it.

    The dark seal was easy to exin. The Azure King had fallen, and the few survivors did not have a strong bloodline. There was little hope of igniting the seal again within a couple of generations.

    The problem was, why was the seal here?

    Qianye slowly descended and tried to touch the seal with his hand. The seal didn¡¯t seem very big at first nce, but Qianye found that ten people of his size could stand on it.

    When he tried to touch the seal, his fingers went right through it without any material resistance. At the same time, a stream of knowledge that stemmed from blood energy merged into Qianye¡¯s mind.

    Qianye fell into deep contemtion.

    It turned out that the seals weren¡¯t physical objects. It was just like the River of Blood, a manifestation of origin powerws. Qianye came to understand the relevantws when he touched the seal. The only problem was that he didn¡¯t have the corresponding bloodline, so he couldn¡¯t ignite it. It was hardly any use even if he did have the bloodline and ignited the seal.

    Not to mention his chaos origin power, even his dark golden blood energy was superior to the path offered by the Morway n¡¯s seal. All it did was enrich his knowledge.

    Qianye rose up into the air, frowning in deep thought.

    The problem at the moment was why had this seal appeared here? Why were things somewhat different from when he had entered the river with his consciousness?

 Chapter 1479

    Back when Qianye arrived at the source of the river the first time, he had seen the twelve seals lined up in a circle, as well as the shadowy creature roaming around them. Qianye was almost injured by it.

    But now, the Morway n¡¯s seal had left the source of the river and was moving farther away. What did this signify?

    Could it be as the Demon King had said? Had these vampires been tainted by daybreak origin power? But the Azure King was a veteran great dark monarch, someone who had been asleep for most of the recent millennium. How could he have been tainted?

    Qianye came to no conclusion, so he simply kept going.

    The river narrowed even more noticeably as the source came into view.

    A stream of water was pouring down from the void into a pond, and the contents of this pond was gushing outward to form the River of Blood.

    Qianye suddenly felt a sharp pain as he approached the source of the river. A moving shadow appeared through the void and transformed into a creature whose shape was difficult to describe. It charged at Qianye immediately!

    Even with his current strength, Qianye was badly shaken. He drew the Red Spider Lily and waited solemnly for the enemy toe within range¡ªthis Grand Magnum was the most suitable weapon against this shadowy creature.

    The giant shadow would beparable to a void colossus if it were to appear in the Evernight World or the inner world. It was likely on par with the Sky Demon that had appeared back then.

    Qianye edged back slowly when the giant beast appeared, putting some distance in-between. The creature didn¡¯t move further, almost as though there was an invisible barrier restricting it.

    It would seem that this creature was the guardian of the river source, one that would attack as soon as people approached. It would return to whence it came when the intruder was gone.

    Now things were getting difficult for Qianye.

    He wanted to investigate the source of the river, but he probably couldn¡¯t go around this creature. Killing it might be even more difficult than killing a supreme.

    The shadow creature might have some special weakness in the special environment of the river, but Qianye was also affected. He had grown too big here, which served to amplify his weak points and produce new ones. He might be stronger inbat if he could return to his normal size.

    Qianye frowned. He wanted to try probing the enemy, but he didn¡¯t dare act recklessly. In his current state, his attack power hadn¡¯t changed, but his body had grown weaker. If the creature was in the same state, this battle between two ss cannons would immediately reach a conclusion.

    Qianye had just be a great dark monarch. With Nighteye¡¯s fate hanging on a thread, he simply didn¡¯t dare take such a risk. The oue would be disastrous if he were to fall here.

    Just like that, man and beast stood facing each other at the source of the river.

    During this stalemate, a lot of questions popped into Qianye¡¯s mind. Why was he in the River of Blood? Why was he traveling upstream to the source? Everything seemed natural, but was it truly so?

    What was calling out to him at the source of the river? Was this something fortuitous, or was this a trap?

    Qianye had never wondered about all these things before. Perhaps one could say that he had never considered them as problems. He was, after all, a vampire, and vampires drew their power from the source of the river. Tens of thousands of years had proven this fact.

    The river had existed for an unknown span of years. At the very least, its powers could radiate even to the inner world and touch the Attawa there. Just how long had the vampires been around?

    The race had always relied upon the River of Blood, but this river may or may not have a direct rtionship to them.

    Besides, Qianye was only a half-vampire, to begin with. Now that he had cultivated the chaos origin power, he had transcended the current level of life just like Andruil. No matter how one looked at the situation, his vampire aspect wasn¡¯t strong enough to decide his attributes.

    So why was there such a connection between him and the River of Blood?

    Was this a true connection, or was it a skewed illusion?

    Thinking in this direction cast a hazy shroud on the things he had always considered facts. He frowned slightly as he tried to find a new train of thought.

    It was at this moment that the sky was split open. A beam of fiery sword energy snaked through time and space to strike at the giant shadowy creature.

    This sh set the massive shadowy creature on fire, almost like a spark that had fallen into a tank of fuel. The raging mes surged into the sky, reaching almost ten thousand meters high.

    A soaring serpent merged from amidst the ze, emitting an earth-shattering cry as it coiled around the giant beast.

    Compared to this soaring serpent, the shadowy creature was much smaller. It couldn¡¯t do much but scream in pain under the constriction and searing heat.

    Everything happened so quickly that Qianye was left stunned. His eyesnded on the soaring serpent¡¯s back, where there were two mounds of moving flesh. Judging from the way it was pping, that was likely where its wings used to be. No one knew where it had gone, but the mirror-smooth cut surface indicated that it had been cut off with a sharp weapon.

    The soaring serpent didn¡¯t hold back. It bit fiercely into the shadowy creature¡¯s body and spat out daybreak mes to burn the creature.

    After the flesh it had bitten off had been incinerated, the serpent bit off yet another ruthless mouthful of flesh.

    The shadow screamed and struggled, but it could do little against the serpent.

    Qianye suddenly recalled the soaring serpent of the imperial n. When did they manage to refine their totem to the point where it could manifest physically? Moreover, it seemed entirely sentient and intelligent. Even the werewolves who had worshipped their ancestors for tens of thousands of years never managed such a feat.

    With this soaring serpent around, the Empire would¡¯ve gained yet another heavenly monarch on par with the supremes.

    Qianye was familiar with the sword radiance from just now. Although the might of that strike was far stronger than the heavenly monarch level, Qianye had no doubt that it was the Pointer Monarch.

    No great dark monarch could¡¯ve escaped from this strike!

    Qianye remembered how the Profundity Monarch had sacrificed his origin crystal to injure Sousa, restrain the Wolf Ancestor, and scare off Progia. This would exin how this powerful sword strike came to be.

    At this point, the soaring serpent had bitten off three chunks from the shadowy creature and obliterated the flesh. It seemed to be at an advantage for the moment, but Qianye had already noticed the changes.

    The soaring serpent was born from the ignition of the sword energy. Although it could suppress the giant creature, the radiance was burning out rapidly and seemed like it would be snuffed out very soon. The shadowy creature was on its home turf, with wisps of shadow drifting in to heal its damage. At this rate, the soaring serpent would vanish before the shadow creature was gone.

    The serpent nced at Qianye and cried out several times, seemingly anxious and in a rush.

    Qianye finally saw the serpent¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°The soaring serpent roams the mist, footless but a master of flight.¡±

    This was one of the rare records regarding the soaring serpent. Its actual appearance was fairly abstract and blurry. It was a totemic symbol more than anything.

    It was only then that Qianye saw it clearly. Its head was simr to the Earth Dragon but with the beak of a hawk. Its two long whiskers danced about amidst the mist and fire. There were also dozens of eyes growing from various parts of its head.

    And in these eyes, Qianye could see himself at various points in time.

    One of them showed Qianye as a swaddled baby in the arms of a mysterious person, with blood seeping out of his chest. Others showed him flying through the sky or copsing on the ground. There was also one where he was gazing at a girl who was about to smash him with a rock. There were reflections of him fighting bloody battles, those of him facing the Demoness¡¯s ultimate blow. There were also images of him nting a g and facing the entire Evernight army.

    The scenery changed all of a sudden.

    Different characters appeared in the soaring serpent¡¯s eyes¡ªLin Xitang, Song Zining, Zhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi, Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann, Zhao Weihuang, and even Princess Gaoyi. Strangely enough, he also saw two unfamiliar babies whom he felt quite concerned about.

    Numerous people from his memories appeared one after another, people he wanted to protect.

    There were even people from Lighthouse Town.

    All of a sudden, Qianye found it difficult to breathe from all the sentiments.

    Where was Nighteye?

    Qianye suddenly realized that Nighteye was not in any of these memories. There wasn¡¯t Andruil, either, nor any character from Evernight.

    This thought brought Qianye back to reality.

    He discovered that he was holding the Red Spider Lily, and had just fired! The shadow creature shattered into countless pieces, which were duly captured into the conjured mirrors. The shadow¡¯s true appearance was finally revealed in these reflections¡ªits head had been split into several dozen pieces, only its ten eyes remained gazing at Qianye in agony and despair.

    Qianye sensed something was off, but the soaring serpentshed out with its tail and shattered all the mirrors.

    The shadowy colossus vanished, and so did the soaring serpent. The source of the river was now unobstructed.

    Qianye shot onest nce at the battlefield. If he hadn¡¯t experienced this himself, he would hardly have imagined the giant shadow creature and the Empire¡¯s soaring serpent would engage in such a violent battle.

    Now, only the River of Blood remained flowing quietly in the void.

 Chapter 1480

    Qianye stood there for a while, thinking about what had just happened. It was just that he could hardly recall the details no matter how hard he tried.

    How could he not know that this was the serpent¡¯s doing?

    That being said, he couldn¡¯t approach the source of the river with the shadowy creature in the way. Considering his power of sight at the moment, he had long since noticed that the creature wasn¡¯t a part of the river. It was more a foreign entity than anything.

    If it really was the river¡¯s guardian, why would the vampires¡ªthe river¡¯s reflection in the Evernight World¡ªget attacked£¿

    Qianye could actually see hints of demonkin attributes on the creature. That was why he didn¡¯t stop the soaring serpent instinctively, allowing it to seed.

    Now that the two giant creatures had vanished, the path to the source of the river was clear. Qianye activated his chaos origin power and set up numerous defenses around him before moving forward.

    Qianye was already prepared, so anyone who wanted to attack him would have to get through severalyers of chaos origin power. Only after reaching thest checkpoint would they discover his true hidden ace.

    Qianye moved forward afterpleting his preparations and soon arrived at the pond.

    This was the source of the River of Blood.

    Gazing at the sparkling ripples, Qianye couldn¡¯t help but feel curious. What exactly was behind these ripples? What was the source of the river?

    It was because he had eyes that he could see the pond, and this pond was in its current form because he could sense the system. In other words, it was because Qianye believed the source to be a pond that the pond was a pond.

    If Anwen were here, he might see something else, or he might be able to see right through to the core.

    Unfortunately, Anwen wasn¡¯t as strong as he was smart. Without sufficient strength, the rapid expansion after entering the river would tear him apart.

    Only the top great dark monarchs would be able to withstand this damage.

    As Qianye fixed his eyes on the ce, seals gradually began to appear in the pond. The Sperger n¡¯s ming crown, the Reagan n¡¯s seven-star array... apart from the Morway n, all the other twelve n seals were here.

    Qianye also noticed the Monroe n¡¯s seal.

    The datura flower seal wasn¡¯t at the edge of the pond but near the exit. It was moving away at a steady pace and seemed like it would soon join the outflow.

    Another seal was being driven away, and it was the Monroe n¡¯s!

    Qianye lowered himself and reached out to touch the seal. Just like with the Morway n¡¯s seal, a different path of blood energy utilization appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind.

    He could learn the contents of the seal, but he couldn¡¯t affect its trajectory.

    He simply flew around the pond and scanned all of the seals. Then he stood there with his eyes closed as he digested the contents.

    The twelve seals represented twelve pathways. They were all rted but different from one another. One would need to put all of them together to reach the true interpretation of the river.

    In Qianye¡¯s consciousness, the twelve different pathways merged into the Book of Darkness and began evolving rapidly. Tens of thousands of years seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye. The twelve pathways merged into one, forming a single, scaled-down version of the river.

    However, Qianye discovered that there was something missing in the river¡ªit simply couldn¡¯t get past thest checkpoint. Could it be that the twelve seals weren¡¯tplete yet?

    It was then that Qianye recalled the thirteenth ancient n of legends. However, no one knew how and why this n had vanished. ording to the Demon King, the thirteenth n¡¯s bloodline was the closest to the darkness origins, but they were eliminated after the river was tainted by daybreak origin power.

    Was there really a thirteenth n?

    He nced at the pond again. This time, the pond became clearer in his vision, allowing him to see deeper into its waters.

    There seemed to be a seal in the depths of the ponds, but the imagery was unclear.

    The object gradually came into focus as Qianye gazed at it. This seal seemed like it didn¡¯t exist, but it also felt as though it had been there since the beginning of time. It had only appeared after Qianye noticed it.

    The seal was an eye with a full moon for its pupils. Qianye immediately realized the path it represented¡ªit was extreme darkness and pure destruction.

    This was the seal of the thirteenth n, the frozen mooneye.

    After seeing it, Qianye¡¯s eyes began to undergo a transformation. One of them turned dark blue, while the other, dark red. The eyes of control and destruction had appeared in the same person for the very first time.

    However, Qianye blinked a couple of times and restored his eyes to a blue tint¡ªthe Eye of Control was more suited to him after all. The Eye of Destruction required pure darkness origin power, growing stronger as one moved closer to the darkness origins. Qianye¡¯s origin power was now of the chaos attribute, somewhere distant from both daybreak and evernight. That was why powers that required extreme attributes no longer suited him.

    He could now confirm that the frozen mooneye was made for Nighteye, or rather, it existed only because Nighteye existed.

    The name of the thirteenth n appeared in the ancient river¡ªMoonsong.

    Compared to the Perth n, the Moonsong¡¯s strength leaned closer to the darkness origins, while the former favored pure blood energy. That was why the Moonsong n was the most affected by the river¡¯s transformation and the first to be destroyed. It was only when Nighteyepleted her second awakening that it appeared once again.

    Having learned of the thirteenth n¡¯s secrets, there was only one mystery left. What was that at the source of the river?

    The Queen of the Night, Lilith, was the second drop of blood from the river. Then what was the first drop? And where was it?

    Qianye was ovee with pure curiosity at this point, eager to explore the profundities of the River of Blood. The wars between humans and the dark races felt insignificant before the vastness of the boundless world.

    Qianye could see right to the bottom of the pond, so there were no secrets left. So, where was the source?

    He suddenly nced up at the void where a river was flowing into the pond.

    He soared into the sky and moved up along the river. Yet, the river was unexpectedly long¡ªQianye flew for one day and one night, yet there was still no end to be seen.

    Sensing that something was off, Qianye nced down and saw that the pond was right beneath his feet.

    Qianye was sure that he had been flying for a long period of time and that he had moved a vast distance. His Spatial sh could carry him thousands of kilometers at this point.

    The river¡¯s appearance indirectly proved one thing. The river was everywhere in this special space, but it would only appear when Qianye wanted to see it.

    So what did this first drop of blood represent?

    Only then did Qianye discover that he had never actually thought about this problem. With a single thought, the thirteenth seal joined the evolutionary process in the Book of Darkness and merged with the other twelve.

    When Qianye opened his eyes, he saw boundless darkness in the depths of the pond.

 Chapter 1481

    What was there supposed to be at the very end?

    Qianye had imagined countless answers before, but he had never expected this.

    That darkness was immeasurable¡ªit was boundlessly heavy and capable of amodating all existences. Qianye didn¡¯t know what was inside, or rather what was not inside.

    It could be considered nothingness, it could be considered a singrity, and it could also be considered everything.

    It was capable of holding down the entire river with its tiny volume, allowing the waters to exist in a stable state within the void. All of the water flow in the void would return to this point one way or another.

    This was the first drop of blood and the original form of Qianye¡¯s chaos origin power.

    Since all of the river¡¯s flow would return here at one point, where did the watere from? How did they return after reaching the end?

    A series of questions appeared in Qianye¡¯s mind. He discovered that the source of the river gave him more questions than answers. Finding the answer for one left him with the next question.

    Some wise person had once said that the more one knew, the more one would find that he knew nothing.

    When he nced again at the River of Blood, the sensation becamepletely different.

    As for where the river hade from and to where it was flowing, Qianye had a feeling that the knowledge was part of the world¡¯s profundities. He would need to be at a far superior level to understand it.

    That being said, what state was beyond the Evernight World? What would await after one walked the path of a heavenly monarch until the very end? Would the cultivator remain human, or would they be a higher being?

    Qianye felt rather distressed as he pondered on all these things. He suddenly broke into augh and pped his forehead. He would never be able to answer all these questions here even if he were to spend his entire life force. This matter was more suited for Anwen. Qianye was used to roaming the murderous battlefields. All he wanted in his free time was to see the various ces of the world.

    Havinge to a conclusion and havingpleted his calling in the River of Blood, he decided to let other people ponder on the infinite mysteries.

    Qianye could finally appreciate Anwen¡¯s existence to its fullest.

    He might very well be the very first one in Evernight to try and exin the world in terms of numbers and forms. The profundities of the River of Blood, including its shape and form, were extreme mysteries that required otherworldly methods. Anwen¡¯s work served to transform the topic problem, and using it, he was able to indirectly explore things beyond this world.

    It wasn¡¯t just for Qianye, Anwen was important for all of humanity and even the creatures of Evernight.

    This genius demonkin young lord was a blessing to the entire Evernight World.

    Qianye nced at the river onest time and found something unnatural about it. It seemed the entire river River of Blood had moved slightly to the side. Although the distance was almost negligible, Qianye could see some faint shadows in his vision.

    He simply stood there observing in silence, finallying to a conclusion after a while.

    He reached out and pressed at the air, taking him across the entire distance that he had traveled the past few days. The broken sky was once again before him.

    Qianye took a step forward and arrived inside the inner world.

    He nced around at the lingering scars on the firmament.

    He could see that sky-splitting sh was the Pointer Monarch¡¯s doing, and there was no way he could¡¯ve survived afterunching that attack.

    Qianye was half a sessor to the heavenly monarch, and he had aplicated rtionship with Ji Tianqing. That wisp of consciousness that the monarch had left behind allowed Qianye to understand his mindset. At present, he was likely the only one to fully understand the old man¡¯s intentions.

    To an outsider, the Pointer Monarch was a peak existence who had been on the throne for countless years. He had capable descendants and Ji Tianqing¡¯s child shocked the higher-ups of the human race since birth.

    In this sh, Qianye witnessed thirty years of emotion that the old man had bottled up.

    Ji Wentian had already died back in the year when he built Heartgrave. The Pointer Monarch that came afterward only had the Empire in mind, no different from a zombie. He was devoid of selfish desires since his heart had been shattered.

    This sky-rending sh contained all of his sentiments and an overbearingness that looked down on the entire world. In it was the vitality of myriad households as well as great delight¡ªhe returned to being Ji Wentian afterunching that attack, and he could finally meet the people of the past.

    The more Qianyeprehended the mood, the moreplicated he felt. From the human race¡¯s perspective, both Ji Wentian and the Pointer Monarch served the righteous path, pushing for the benefit of the human race.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°Too bad this isn¡¯t my path.¡±

    A tremendous voice echoed from the end of the void, ¡°What is your path?¡±

    Qianye turned around to see the raging waters flowing past him. Within the river, the thirteen seals slowly revolved around him and vanished one after another.

    ¡°My pathway is...¡± Qianye suddenly broke into augh midway and no longer continued.

    Someone of his strength had to have his own path, but all he needed was to follow it. Why tell anyone else?

    With a wave of his hand, he put away the river and the seals before looking around. His gaze darted over to the passageway immediately.

    Qianye arrived in a single step and looked around the ce, then at the ck sun.

    The ck sun had been distorted into a semi-lunar shape¡ªpressured by the scar and river in the sky. A constant stream of darkness origin power was being drawn out and into the tunnel.

    This tunnel no doubt led back to Evernight. With a gravitational force produced by the entire Evernight World, the dark energy of the inner world would be led through the passage in a constant stream.

    The passage seemed unassuming, but in fact, a power of this caliber was earth-shattering.

    Although it was rtively stable, there were some minor issues. Considering how vast the Evernight World was, it would take decades for the Demon King to achieve what he wanted.

    Qianye didn¡¯t even stop to think about what awaited him on the other side as he took a step forward and went through the passage.

    He immediately sensed that the two factions were setting up their pieces. It was just that both factions would need to rethink their ns now that Qianye was back.

    That was because he was now the Monarch of Evernight, the first drop in the River of Blood.

 Chapter 1482

    In the depths of the void, the Demon King was traveling on his own. He seemed to be sauntering in a leisurely fashion, but his every step took him vast distances forward. The speed of his movement was not inferior to Zhang Boqian¡¯s void traversal.

    When he nced backward, all he could see of the Evernight World was a small speck. Hence, no matter how fast he was going, it felt like he wasn¡¯t moving at all.

    He would stop from time to time and nce back, then continue forward.

    All of a sudden, a pce hall leaped out of the void in front of him. It felt as though the structure had just materialized, yet it also felt as though the building had existed since time immemorial.

    There was a small piece ofnd beneath the hall, almost like a small ind.

    The Demon King slowly went up the stairs and knocked on the doors.

    The pce doors opened slowly, revealing a different space inside¡ªa valley surrounded by mountains and forests. There was a full moon hanging perpetually in the sky.

    There was a smallke in the valley, and on its mirror-like surface was the reflection of a person. Even the reflection couldn¡¯t do her beauty any justice.

    ¡°Kane, you¡¯ve grown soft.¡±

    The Demon King smiled as he walked over to theke. ¡°Losing most of my power has changed the way I see the world. I don¡¯t find that a bad thing, though. It¡¯s more like finding myself. We possessed too much strength in the past, and that strength has distorted our views. What we see isn¡¯t the real world.¡±

    ¡°I remember telling you this before.¡±

    ¡°I know, but I didn¡¯t take it seriously back then.¡±

    ¡°Then, did you gain anything this time?¡±

    ¡°Indeed I did... if you can call it a gain.¡±

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time to wake up.¡±

    The figure at thekeside faded away like bubbles as ady appeared from the water, one who could hardly be described with words. Even the moon lost its splendor when she appeared.

    She was the Queen of the Night, the greatest existence on the Sacred Mountain.

    She slowly sat up and opened her eyes. ¡°Tell me, what did you gain?¡±

    ¡°I saw a path toward the future. It¡¯s fairly blurry, but it is indeed a solid direction. The regretful thing is that we are out of time.¡±

    Lilith frowned slightly. ¡°Not many can make you lose your confidence. Did you fight them? What is the oue?¡±

    ¡°I went to the inner world intending to draw in the darkness origins. The n was to rid our world of daybreak origin power, hoping that would give us more time. However, Qianye was inside, and his growth has yet again surpassed our expectations. Pointer and Profundity fell in the final battle, while we lost Sousa and the Wolf Ancestor.¡±

    Lilith nced at Kane with eyes that could prate the past and the future. She said with a frown, ¡°That sh isn¡¯t something those humans canunch. Only two people in thest thousand years are capable of achieving that level: Ji Xingjin and Ji Xuansi.¡±

    ¡°Ji Xingjin?¡± The Demon King was stunned for a moment as he recalled the name. ¡°That fellow known for being ¡®diligent in action and moderate in speech¡¯?¡±

    ¡°That fellow once defeated you, escaped from my clone, and opened the path to the current Qin Empire. I have been contemting those words for a thousand years.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°I have been thinking about it for a long long time. The more you contemte, the more profound those words are. But, could the humans have grasped such deep knowledge all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we will have an answer very soon. Now tell me what you gained.¡±

    The Demon King said, ¡°I saw our future in the Pointer Monarch¡¯s sh and in Qianye himself.¡±

    The Queen was a bit surprised. ¡°What kind of future?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been contemting for a thousand years, why can we not move farther after reaching the supreme realm. We can clearly sense an even more magnificent level of origin power and we have the knowledge to control it, but why is there no path forward? Our bloodlines have limited our origin power and ced a ceiling on how far we can go.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you been changing the demonkins¡¯ bloodline since you became a supreme? Isn¡¯t that also why you wanted the Book of Darkness?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, but I was on the wrong path. I only found out after the battle in the inner world that our bloodlines have locked not only our strength, but also our thoughts. We becamezy and will only try to solve problems with power. Whenever we run into some problem, our first instinct is to utilize greater power and not to find a better solution. By the time we gained excessive origin power, the way we see the world had already deviated from the truth.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that the origin power has affected us?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it has, perhaps it hasn¡¯t. Don¡¯t forget the Lost Season. Maybe an existence or power in this world is affecting us.¡±

    ¡°I heard a genius has appeared in your race, a person called Anwen. He has a unique understanding of the world.¡±

    ¡°That is indeed the case. He makes sense of the world using numbers and forms. Our eyes may deceive us, but numbers do not lie. For instance, this is histest view on the fall of the Void Valley STar.¡± The Demon King waved his hand, projecting countless numbers and forms in the great hall.

    Lilith watched the deluge of digits in silence and fell into deep thought. ¡°He¡¯s saying that the fall of the Void Valley Star was not a natural phenomenon, but rather due to an external force?¡±

    ¡°Numbers do not lie.¡±

    ¡°We only suspected it in the past but never had any proof. Now, we have all the proof we need.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we should go and take a look at the original orbit of the Void Valley Star.¡±

    ¡°Is this matter urgent?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡±

    ¡°What else is urgent then?¡±

    ¡°We have three urgent matters. First, the humans have initiated their Chronicle of Glory, and we still don¡¯t know what that is. Second, Qianye has entered the River of Blood. I can now confirm that he is the one our fate apparatus was pointing to. Thirdly, we need to break the Lost Season.¡±

    Lilith rubbed her temples in apparent fatigue. ¡°I have made no progress regarding the Lost Season.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re running out of time,¡± the Demon King reminded.

    ¡°I know. I will make a decision when the timees. I think we should meet Qianye for now.¡±

    ¡°I have no suggestions.¡±

    Lilith¡¯s expression shifted slightly as she opened the pce doors and walked outside. She simply stood there gazing at the void.

    The Demon King appeared beside her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Lilith narrowed her eyes, saying, ¡°I just felt that the stars today are a bit too ring.¡±

 Chapter 1483

    Qianye appeared in the void and nced at his surroundings. There was only emptiness in every direction, and the unending torrent of attacks he was expecting did not appear, either.

    He looked back and saw that the tunnel entrance was still there, spewing out a constant stream of living darkness origin power. The energy was like an uncontroble wild beast after entering the Evernight World. It would do its utmost to destroy everything in its wake, doing the most damage to daybreak origin power.

    Qianye was rather patient. He simply stopped there and observed the contention process for a while.

    The living darkness origin power was like a wild beast that had not yet reached maturity¡ªit would devour all origin power, but then it couldn¡¯t digest whatever it had ingested. If it was darkness origin power that it had devoured, more darkness origin power would be released as a result. If it was daybreak origin power, the two types would cancel out one another and disappear.

    A question popped up in Qianye¡¯s mind at this point. The opposing attributes of darkness and daybreak origin powers would end up being destroyed in a direct confrontation. What then? If that were the case, there should be neither daybreak nor darkness left in the ultimate end. But things were clearly not so.

    Then how was origin power produced?

    This question wasn¡¯t something Qianye could answer on his own. Clearly, it was also a fundamental topic for the Evernight World, something Anwen might know.

    It was at this time that a slim airship flew out of the void, carrying a single standing passenger. Qianye almost felt like he had gone back to the dumpster on Evernight Continent. Back then, he had also watched as the airship lowered itself from the sky and Lin Xitang stretched out his hand to him.

    The dazested but a split second before Qianye was calm again. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you¡¯d be the one toe.¡±

    This was Lin Xitang¡¯s vessel, but the person standing at the helm wasn¡¯t Marshal Lin¡ªit was Song Zining. Perhaps due to the baptism of blood and fire, the young master seemed wiser, more mature, and less like the romantic wastrel of the past.

    ¡°Who else cane?¡± Song Zining smiled.

    ¡°Anyone would¡¯ve been better.¡±

    ¡°You would¡¯ve attacked anyone else at the slightest argument. Not many can withstand a hit from you these days.¡±

    ¡°I know when to stop.¡±

    ¡°Oh, got it. You won¡¯t kill them right away, they¡¯d be half dead at most.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Okay, enough with the idle topic. Get to the point, what are you here for?¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Hop on and we¡¯ll talk.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Qianye stepped onto the airship and followed Song Zining into the cabin. The two men then sat down near the window.

    Qianye nced at the surroundings in great detail.

    Song Zining said, ¡°Marshal Lin was ying chess with Gu Tuohai when he found you in the dumpster back then.¡±

    ¡°Which seat was my adoptive father¡¯s and which one was Master Gu¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sitting in Marshal Lin¡¯s seat.¡±

    ¡°How did you know?¡± A gleam flickered in Qianye¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°We diviners can tell that at a nce. This doesn¡¯t mean that my divination powers are greater than the marshal¡¯s, but rather, he didn¡¯t mind people finding out.¡±

    Qianye observed Song Zining carefully, gazing almost right through him as he did so. ¡°You chose the divination path.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You know the price.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Why then?¡±

    ¡°Someone needs to do the hard, dirty work.¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of silence, ¡°You know, I really hate divination right now.¡±

    Song Zining raised his brows. ¡°Oh?¡±

    Qianye raised his hand. Everything was normal at first, but his hand seemed obstructed as the process went on. It seemed like there were threads binding his hand, akin to tangled spiderwebs.

    Each of these threads appeared from the void, carrying specks of radiant light with them. Only the two of them could see these strings.

    Song Zining was surprised. ¡°You can actually make the fate trajectory lines manifest?¡±

    ¡°I still remember some of the divination arts you taught me,¡± Qianye said.

    ¡°What else do you know?¡±

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    ¡°I also know which of these threads were original and which of them were added.¡± Qianye shook his hand gently, producing a ripple that spread along the strings. Some of the weaker threads broke from the impact, but the stronger ones remained intact.

    Song Zining¡¯s gaze seemed serious. ¡°You¡¯ve gained much.¡±

    ¡°My gains were pre-nned, it¡¯s just that the person who nned this probably didn¡¯t think I¡¯d obtain so much.¡±

    Song Zining reached out to pick up one of the threads. ¡°Can you break it?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± A ck intent appeared at Qianye¡¯s fingertips as he cut through the threads of fate¡¯s trajectory.

    Song Zining heaved a sigh of relief after seeing the thread severed. ¡°Those people won¡¯t dare to practice their craft anymore if they see how easily you managed to cut it.¡±

    ¡°Is it so hard?¡± Qianye didn¡¯t find this process any more difficult than cutting a spider web.

    ¡°Wielding weight as though it were weightless, that¡¯s a fairly difficult task. Less than five people in the entire Empire can materialize the threads of fate, much less sever them. How do you feel now?¡±

    Qianye sensed the changes carefully. ¡°I feel much more rxed. What does that thread represent?¡±

    Song Zining smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough.¡±

    Qianye nced around. ¡°Why is there no one here? Does the Empire not know where the tunnel exit is?¡±

    ¡°Those who can beat you are busy with other things. Those who are free can¡¯t hold their own against you, so it¡¯s useless if theye.¡±

    ¡°How about Evernight?¡±

    ¡°The same reason.¡±

    Qianye finally understood that both factions had pulled back their people to avoid idental deaths.

    Qianye stared at Song Zining. ¡°It¡¯s natural for Evernight to be afraid of me, but what¡¯s with the Empire? What did you guys do that you wouldn¡¯t dare meet me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here, am I not?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t count.¡±

    Song Ziningughed out loud, but the humor in his expression faded away when he saw Qianye¡¯s prating gaze. In the end, he said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯m here to tell you one thing.¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°Promise me that you won¡¯t get angry or act up. Even if you act up, you must control yourself.¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯re putting it this way, do you think it¡¯s something that will anger me?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°Make some concessions for me.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I can hold back from killing a few people if this has nothing to do with Nighteye.¡±

    Song Zining went silent.

 Chapter 1484

    Momentster, Song Zining said with a wry smile, ¡°Out of consideration for me... can you...¡±

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible? Did they push you out here out of consideration or were they throwing you to the wolves?¡±

    ¡°I came on my own.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯te, no one else will.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s hear it first.¡±

    ¡°Qianye, you don¡¯t trust me anymore, do you?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°You¡¯re the one who doesn¡¯t trust me anymore.¡±

    Song Zining was stunned. ¡°Indeed, I have be concerned with gains and losses as well.¡±

    ¡°How can you be so hesitant if you¡¯re going to take up my adoptive father¡¯s position?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯m neverpletely indifferent when ites to you.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Speak, I know my limits.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Nighteye is in the Queen of the Night¡¯s hands.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s her?¡± Qianye gazed nkly into space. ¡°It makes no difference whether she¡¯s in Lilith¡¯s hands or Kane¡¯s, I¡¯ll still have to fight them. But...¡±

    Qianye paused momentarily. ¡°I¡¯m curious as to how she was caught.¡±

    ¡°The Imperial divination experts and the Evernight prophets worked together to find her. She also slipped up, thinking you were the one calling out to her. The moment shepromised her whereabouts, the scryers locked onto her.¡±

    Qianye wasn¡¯t furious. ¡°How did the two sides achieve this cooperation?¡±

    ¡°It was actually quite simple, our divination experts can do things their prophets cannot. The Empire¡¯s divination methods narrowed down Nighteye¡¯s approximate location, which is a fairly wide area in and of itself. The second phase of the n became viable after her location had been narrowed down to one-third of a continent.¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Using your aura to simte a signal and let the Evernight prophets take over the area.¡±

    ¡°So, she thought I was calling her.¡±

    ¡°The deceitsted but a mere moment. Nighteye only needed to listen to it attentively and she would be found. If she could keep calm, there wouldn¡¯t have been any problem even if there was a supreme around. I heardter on that she lost herposure despite knowing it was a lie.¡±

    ¡°What kind of call did you transmit?¡±

    ¡°... A mournful cry, as though you were on the verge of death,¡± Song Zining replied.

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°And she took the bait?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think she was fooled, but...¡± Song Zining smiled wryly.

    Qianye remained silent for a while. He then nced at Song Zining, saying, ¡°Whose idea was it? Were you involved?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°I didn¡¯t like her at first, and I had always hoped she would leave your side. But you should know that I wouldn¡¯t harm her like that.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Song Zining started to sweat a bit. ¡°Well... that thing in the Great Maelstrom doesn¡¯t count.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°That¡¯s all.¡±

    Qianye said eventually, ¡°I really don¡¯t understand. What exactly did she do, for the Empire to hunt her down so relentlessly? Do those people think I will never know? Do they think I won¡¯t kill them even if I do? All for the bigger picture?¡±

    Song Zining smiled bitterly. ¡°If you really want to know, it¡¯s fine to tell you. I don¡¯t know the entire story, just a part of it. I¡¯ll tell you more after you finish listening to the first part.¡±

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    ¡°Go on, I¡¯m all ears.¡± Qianye was currently quite calm.

    ¡°Even the Evernight Council doesn¡¯t know full well who Nighteye had awakened to. The Empire was never affected by the Lost Season, so we actually have most of their data from before the wave of forgetfulness set in. The Empirepared the various powers Nighteye had disyed against the documents we have to confirm her true identity.¡±

    ¡°A great dark monarch?¡± Qianye ventured a guess.

    ¡°No, a supreme.¡±

    Qianye was stunned for a moment. He was quite clear about what this meant.

    To be a supreme was to break through the natural restrictions of Evernight and reach an unprecedented level in a certain aspect. This was a force that shouldn¡¯t be in this world, a power that could topple mountains and seas. Even Qianye¡¯s dark golden blood energy was barely at the edges of this realm.

    Of course, Qianye¡¯s chaos origin power made it so that he wouldn¡¯t need to be an Evernight supreme.

    At this point in the conversation, Qianye understood the reason without Song Zining needing to say anything.

    Nighteye was a supreme in her previous life, so her chances of bing one in this life were much higher. Even if it was just a possibility, the human race would take every opportunity to destroy her.

    The Empire was fine with Evernight producing a couple more great dark monarchs, but they couldn¡¯t let them have another supreme.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°She never saw the Empire as an enemy.¡±

    ¡°Who will guarantee this? A supreme can live thousands of years, and Nighteye is still so young. How long can you live?¡±

    Qianye was stunned¡ªnow, that was a tough question.

    After all, Qianye had a human bloodline in him that elerated his cultivation speed at the expense of his lifespan. Even now, he didn¡¯t quite dare to say that he could live a thousand years. To be even more pessimistic, it was doubtful whether or not he could live half a millennium. This difference was too greatpared to Nighteye¡¯s longevity.

    Even if the Empire did trust Qianye¡ªeven if they did trust that Nighteye wouldn¡¯t attack the Empire while he was alive¡ªwhat aboutter?

    Additionally, no one was willing to live under someone else¡¯s shadow, let alone for ten thousand years.

    Qianye sighed. ¡°You guys never talked to me about this.¡±

    If Song Zining had told him earlier, Qianye might¡¯ve done certain things differently. He might¡¯ve taken Nighteye far away to a hidden ce until she had regained her powers. Or perhaps they would¡¯ve lived in seclusion until the end of their lives.

    ¡°I only found out just now, that¡¯s why I came to see you. Why wouldn¡¯t I tell you if I had known earlier?¡±

    Qianye was a bit suspicious of Song Zining. His expression returned to indifference after a while, saying, ¡°Since you¡¯ve told me this, you probably know who I¡¯m going to attack. The ones who schemed against her are the Imperial divination experts, right? What¡¯s that organization called again? The Divination Pavilion. Whatever it¡¯s called, time for me to take a walk there.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°Even with all the troubles going on, the Empire never forgot to attack me and my wife. It¡¯s time to refresh people¡¯s memories. I can¡¯t be bothered to find out who¡¯s behind all this, so tell them to pick one out of three members at random and kill them. I¡¯ll leave once enough has died.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mad!¡±

    ¡°Not really. If the Empire is not willing, I don¡¯t mind testing my hand against Prince Greensun and the Radiant Emperor, even that formation at the Imperial Capital.¡±

 Chapter 1485

    Song Zining stared at Qianye, hardly able to contain his shock.

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t throw away my life. If I can¡¯t defeat Greensun, I¡¯ll keep running around the capital. I heard the formation at the capital was designed to target the dark races. I¡¯m a human heavenly monarch, so its effects should be limited.¡±

    One could easily imagine what it would be like to have a heavenly monarch hawking around the capital, waiting for the opportunity to strike. No one except Prince Greensun would be able to leave the capital freely. The Radiant Emperor was a newly ascended powerhouse and evidently not Qianye¡¯s match. After all, thetter¡¯s aplishments went far beyond just killing great dark monarchs.

    Song Zining nced at Qianye. ¡°Is there no other way?¡±

    ¡°One out of three, and that¡¯s already me holding back. Don¡¯t tell me you want to hand over the leader?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°What can you do even if you had the leader?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much, just behead him publicly and wipe out his n! That¡¯s about it.¡±

    ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Song Zining said, ¡°Then you probably don¡¯t need to head to the capital.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re the one behind this? Haha!¡±

    ¡°Of course not, but the person has already fallen. And his descendants, you cannot touch.¡±

    Qianyewas stunned. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the elder monarch.¡±

    This time, Qianye was silent for a long while.

    Ji Wentian had dedicated his entire life to the human race and faced his death vehemently in the end. Someone like him would never allow a new Evernight supreme to appear. Qianye was the only one who knew that Nighteye¡¯s present and past self had merged into one after the awakening. In fact, the present Nighteye held the advantage. Normally, the awakened supreme would crush the present consciousness and restore their past ego.

    To a supreme atop the Sacred Mountain, humans were no more important than ants. It was only natural that Ji Wentian would try to remove this potential threat.

    The man was now dead, and most of his descendants were mediocre people. Only Ji Tianqing and her daughter, Ji Yuan, were an exception.

    Qianye finally understood how difficult it was to tell which party was in the right.

    Daybreak and Evernight would always be separated, even as neighbors.

    Qianye closed his eyes. ¡°What should I do?¡±

    ¡°Do what you want, conclude all unfinished business, and then go pick her up.¡±

    ¡°I think there¡¯s something important.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°What is the Chronicle of Glory?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, either. Only the Radiant Emperor will be able to answer that question for you, perhaps Lord Rivernce might know a bit,¡± Song Zining replied.

    ¡°Let it be, it has nothing to do with me anyway.¡±

    Qianye walked onto the deck and gazed out.

    ¡°What¡¯s your n?¡±

    ¡°Just like you said, I¡¯m going to go around tying up some loose ends. Then, I¡¯ll go and pick her up when I¡¯m ready.¡± Qianye nced at the darkness energy surging out from the passage, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll wait and see how far the fight will go between the Empire and Evernight.¡±

    ¡°We might not even fight.¡±

    Qianye pointed at the tunnel. ¡°Are you going to let them funnel darkness origin power into this world?¡±

    Song Zining shrugged. ¡°That small portal will take a good while to produce any effect. We have enough time to make a choice, there¡¯s no need to engage in a big battle now.¡±

    ¡°If that is so, have it your way then.¡± Qianye nced at the void and said all of a sudden, ¡°Did you notice? The stars feel rather ring recently.¡±

    Song Zining came to stand beside Qianye and gazed in the same direction. He looked carefully, but he couldn¡¯t figure out what was different.

    Qianye narrowed his eyes. ¡°I have a feeling that there are new stars.¡±

    Song Zining peered attentively, but he simply couldn¡¯t see anything. Astronomy was not his forte, to begin with.

    Qianye felt a wave of diforte over him. A faint glow washed over his body like a ripple, illuminating countless fate threads along the way.

    Qianye nced down and saw a new thread forming a connection with him.

    He gently grabbed the thread with a smile. ¡°Looks like my divination talents aren¡¯t bad. I can now tell when people are scheming against me. These threadse from divination techniques, right?¡±

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    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°I suddenly have a better idea, what do you think?¡±

    Qianye broke the thread with a flick of his finger. A plume of dark fire danced along the thread, following it all the way into the void.

    ...

    The Imperial Capital. In an underground hall below the Divination Pavilion, there were several dozen divination experts hard at work. They sat in their respective positions with their eyes closed, focused entirely on their calctions.

    A miserable cry broke the silence. A young divination expert copsed, his eyes popped out and blood flowing out of his nostrils. He spasmed several times while clutching his throat, but eventually, all movement ceased.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± A middle-aged expert ran over quickly and knelt down at the victim¡¯s side. He opened the young man¡¯s eyelids and saw nothing but blood; his eyes had burst open.

    He gasped in fright. ¡°What a powerful bacsh!¡±

    It was at this moment that another cry rang out, and a divination expert copsed behind him. Blood began to pool up on the ground.

    The middle-aged man was just about to help the second person when people began dropping one after another.

    The man felt a chill wash over him. Through the corner of his eyes, he noticed the divination tokens of one of the victims. ¡°Everyone! Stop all calctions rted to Qianye and Nighteye! Drop everything even remotely rted to them!¡±

    However, it was toote! Several more divination experts fell, bringing the number to almost half of the experts in the hall.

    The middle-aged divination expert felt his hair stand on end, his mindpletely nk. He knew just how long it took to train these people and how many resources had gone into them. The diviners who could enter the pavilion were all geniuses in the field. Now that almost half of them had died from the bacsh, it was truly difficult for him to exin this matter.

    It was at this moment that he felt extreme pain in his head, almost as though someone had thrust a steel bar into his brain. And the pain was still hitting him in waves, as though the person was stirring the steel bar!

    The divination expert felt the world spinning around him. Noticing that there was something wet on his face, he touched it and found his hand covered in blood.

    He realized what was happening but found it difficult to believe. ¡°Even those who did the divination three days ago weren¡¯t spared? What exactly is this Qianye?!¡±

    His footing grew unsteady, just as his vision and consciousness blurred out. A brief moment of rity visited him amidst the great pain, during which he realized that the end was near.

    Gazing at the utter mess in the hall, he roared at the sky, ¡°Are the heavens ending our Empire?¡±

    A pair of deep, blue eyes suddenly appeared before him. He knew these eyes all too well as he was familiar with Qianye¡¯s characteristics.

    He saw Qianye smiling at him, saying, ¡°I¡¯m only ending you.¡±

    ...

    Back in the void, Qianye cut yet another fate thread with his finger. ¡°What do you think about that?¡±

    Song Zining sighed. ¡°These people were only following orders. Why go so far?¡±

    Qianye said indifferently, ¡°None of these sinners deserve death, Nighteye is the only one who should die, huh?!¡±

    Song Zining smiled bitterly. ¡°What do you want me to say?¡±

    ¡°Simply go back and tell everyone that I have be a heavenly monarch. I am now the bigger picture, so what if several divination experts give their lives for this cause? Nobody likes them anyway.¡±

    Song Zining didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Where are you going next?¡±

    ¡°Fort Continent. I want to take a look at how my followers are doing.¡±

 Chapter 1486

    With Qianye¡¯s current abilities, crossing the void took no extra effort. He was at Fort Continent before long and looking down at the residence in Cerulean Wave City.

    Not much time had passed since Qianyest departed, but the city had changed considerably.

    A grand-looking pier had been constructed at thekeside, with numerous boats parked around it. Several small towns had popped up around the shores, and some were still in construction. Judging from the size, they could amodate thousands of residents each.

    Newnd had just been plowed outside of the viges. The boats on the water made for a great means of transport since not everyone had an airship.

    The old slums outside of the city had beenpletely developed, expanding several times in area to be an industrial zone. There were new workshops in almost every direction. One werewolf building, in particr, was extremely eye-catching. The structure was painted in garish colors, like a scattered rainbow or a bunch of random turkey feathers.

    At this point, a figure shot into the sky from below and stood beside Qianye.

    ¡°Long time no see, William, you¡¯ve grown.¡±

    The werewolf now had a short beard, which granted him a bit of a mature handsomeness. He wasn¡¯t all that happy when he heard Qianye. ¡°What do you mean by that? I¡¯m much older than you!¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t retort. Instead, he gazed at Cerulean Wave City and said, ¡°Looks like the development is going well.¡±

    ¡°Indeed! I never imagined things would progress so quickly. Our third airship port is almostplete. I¡¯m nning to build a new one in the northeast, along with a warehouse zone. That one will be dedicated to the transit of goods. Look at that industrial zone beside the depots, over a hundred workshops have set up shop there, and many new ones are under construction.¡±

    Qianye followed William¡¯s finger and saw a neatly divided district. Most of the workshops had already begun operating, and there were some under development.

    This new district was much bigger than the old one in both size and scale. The roads alone were three times wider. The smaller streets could fit four trucks, while the main roads could amodate ten.

    ¡°Did you design all of this?¡± Qianye nced at William in doubt.

    William was dissatisfied. ¡°What? Are you looking down on me or on the werewolves?¡±

    ¡°You.¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t mincing words.

    William was furious. He raised his hand to attack but eventually lowered it. ¡°Let it be, I can¡¯t beat you anyway.¡±

    Qianye said with a smile, ¡°I won¡¯t retaliate.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be so kind?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it doesn¡¯t hurt anyway.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a duke now!¡±

    ¡°The same goes for a duke.¡±

    William watched Qianye with suspicious eyes. ¡°Are the rumors true?¡±

    ¡°What do they say?¡±

    ¡°They say you¡¯ve be a great dark monarch, that you might ascend the Sacred Mountain one day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not important, but the werewolf race must be deeply affected by the recent developments. The Wolf Sovereign won¡¯t hate me, will he?¡±

    William seemed shocked. ¡°Did you really kill the Wolf Ancestor and Sousa?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only half true. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill them so easily if the Profundity Monarch hadn¡¯t taken action. What¡¯s the situation with the werewolves?¡±

    ¡°The Wolf Sovereign returned to the ancestral continent as soon as he heard the news. He rounded up all the ancestral faction members and suppressed the situation, lest a simr situation appears again.¡±

    ¡°So, the Wolf Sovereign has always been here?¡±

    ¡°He lives in the duke¡¯s manor as well.¡± A peerless aura surged into the sky when William pointed at the manor. That was the aura of the Wolf Sovereign, a greeting toward Qianye.

    The Wolf Sovereign¡¯s aura wasn¡¯t from the duke¡¯s chamber but from one of the guest rooms. This was a show of respect and stance. They wanted to let him know that everything was still Qianye¡¯s, and that the werewolves had no intention of touching the territory.

    ¡°Why is the Wolf Sovereign here?¡±

    ¡°Several experts came to Fort Continent in secret after your departure. Some were trying to see if they could gain some benefits, while others were here to find out your secrets. I couldn¡¯t handle all of them alone, so I sent a message to the Summit of Peaks. Unexpectedly, the Wolf Sovereign arrived personally.¡±

    Qianye nodded. No one would dare to cause trouble here with the Wolf Sovereign around.

    Gazing at the area below, Qianye said, ¡°The poption must¡¯ve doubled by now.¡±

    ¡°Who said so? We¡¯ve tripled and it¡¯s growing by the day. People from all races are here.¡±

    ¡°Are they getting along well?¡±

    ¡°Unexpectedly so. For instance, the city¡¯s design and construction were all done by the human race¡¯s Kong and Yin families. Honestly speaking, they do a much greater job than us werewolves; even the demonkin might notpare to them. That¡¯s why everything was handed over to them.¡±

    ¡°The massive airship port was their idea as well?¡±

    William nodded. ¡°Yes, Young Master Kong said Cerulean Wave City will grow five times bigger and hold a million residents. That¡¯s why the airship port must be big enough, or else there won¡¯t be enough spaceter on.¡±

    Qianye nodded in secret.

    ¡°What about the other areas?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°All is well. After arriving here, many people would head to the deeper parts of the continent to open up new territories and search for opportunities. Humans brought with them all kinds of equipment and mining technology. The arachne brought their magic mushrooms, which can change the origin power environment once nted. The werewolves had too much physicalbor, to begin with, and now, theirnds are increasing in value. As for the demonkin and vampires, no need to worry about them. They¡¯ve all found work to do.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good, are there no conflicts?¡±

    ¡°Of course there are, almost every day, but most of them happen between individuals or small groups. Adventurers and mercenary groups are now epting more and more different races. They¡¯ve discovered the advantages of having diversity in their teams.¡±

    Qianye felt rather satisfied. The foundation and rules he hadid down here were now thriving. This feeling was irreceable.

    ¡°Take a look at this.¡± William passed over a map.

    Qianye saw that the center of the map was Cerulean Wave City, and the borders marked his territory on Fort Continent.

    He immediately noticed that the borders had expanded quite a bit.

    ¡°How did this happen?¡±

    ¡°The results of the expansion bill.¡±

    ¡°Expansion bill?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I promised those adventurous fellows on your behalf that whoever can take down newnd will be assigned a hundred hectares ofnd and the right to thirty years of tax-free farming. Of course, many local lords chose to surrender, in which case they were allowed to keep their authority. There are over twenty armies pushing the borders forward at this moment. Fort Continent will be yours before long.¡±

    ¡°You guys could¡¯ve built your own nation, whye under mine?" Qianye asked.

    ¡°The Wolf Sovereign will return to the ancestralnds sooner orter, and there won¡¯t be anyone to protect thends here. There was no news of your fate, but no one would dare to cause trouble here unless your passing was confirmed.¡±

    Qianye nodded slowly.

    The powerhouses served as guardians, the experts operated the day-to-day matters, and the ordinary civilians prospered. This was the traditional way of Evernight.

    It didn¡¯t look so bad, at least.

 Chapter 1487

    Qianye¡¯s vision slowly spread out from Cerulean Wave City, almost as though he could see the entire Fort Continent.

    Far off in the distance, a number of small mercenarypanies hade together to form a sizable army. They were pushing their way into the depths of the continent under the leadership of theirmanding officers. Thesemanders were of varying racial stock¡ªthere were humans, demonkin, and vampires. The demonkin were the minority, but they were the elite amongst the elites. Their contribution to the battle wasn¡¯t inferior to the other races.

    At the same time, countless expansion forces were rushing toward the edges of the continent to explore and excavate ore. These areas had always been the most dangerous, both in terms of environment and enemies.

    William had been spreading the word about Qianye without a stop, so no one dared to touch the Fort Continent. He even invited the Wolf Sovereign over, so most people believed his words and set out to excavate in the dangerous regions.

    The formation and development of these settlements went on without any intervention from the Empire or Evernight. In the end, the various races in the country began breaking ground with great enthusiasm. More and more settlements popped up like bamboo shoots after the spring rain.

    The humans proved themselves superior both in the construction and scale of their workshops. They might not be the bravest or mightiest, but they were the best engineers and technicians. Hence, the race¡¯s status and wealth rose steadily on the continent. Even the native werewolf tribes, with their inheritednd, were squeezed down to the second position.

    Qianye retracted his gaze. ¡°William?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Qianye said thoughtfully, ¡°I think we should make some advance preparations.¡±

    ¡°What about?¡± William asked.

    ¡°Racial equality.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to prepare? What do we need to prepare?¡±

    ¡°We need clearws saying that all races, be they Daybreak or Evernight, are equal. Also, we need to suppress the powers calling for discrimination and stop humans from treating the other races unfairly.¡±

    William was a bit puzzled. ¡°What did you say? Humans cannot, erm... discriminate against the other races?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Qianye was serious.

    William didn¡¯t know what to say, but he nodded in agreement since he couldn¡¯t just tell Qianye that he was overthinking it.

    Qianye didn¡¯t exin things, either. This was the first country containing a mix of races from both factions, and such a country was bound to develop differently from traditional nations. Here, the humans¡¯ short lifespan might just be their advantage.

    There was no need to exin these things to William at the moment. He would see and understand in the future.

    Qianye had no idea how long he would live. For the people living in his country¡ªfor the countless migrants who hade with their hopes and dreams¡ªhe wanted to remove a potential danger before it could ever take root.

    It was hard to say what would happen once he went to the Sacred Mountain.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±

    William was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re leaving? Where to? Why not stay a bit longer since you¡¯re already back?¡±

    ¡°No, this ce is fine with you watching over it. I need to settle some unfinished business.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll wait for you. Let¡¯s drink when you return.¡±

    ¡°Okay... huh?¡± Qianye sensed something halfway through his reply. He saw an airship fleetnding slowly at a nearby airship port. These airships were mostly empty, with only a few containers of goods. There were even bullet marks on some of them.

    ¡°It looks like something has happened, let¡¯s head over and see.¡±

    Also noticing the abnormality, William shot over. The new nation was in a fragile state at the moment. Its prosperity was mostly reliant on the only legal and open market in the Evernight World, the meeting-point between the two factions. Hence, their safe transportation to and from the outside world was extremely important.

    Since the Summit of Peaks took up position in Cerulean Wave City, the first thing they did was to clear out all kinds of pilots nearby. The werewolves were ruthless, to begin with. Even the moderate faction that was the Summit of Peaks would put most pirates to death upon capturing them.

    As more races found their interests on the Fort Continent growing, they began taking measures to guard the airship routes. Eventually, the routes to the Fort Continent became one of the safest.

    An airship fleet being robbed like this was no small matter. That was why Wiliam was in such a rush.

    Qianye simply stood in the air, waiting quietly for the results.

    Momentster, William returned with a serious expression.

    ¡°Are things difficult?¡± Qianye asked.

    ¡°A bit.¡±

    ¡°Tell me. When did the pride of the Summit of Peaks be so hesitant?¡±

    William nced at Qianye. ¡°The trade fleet didn¡¯t run into pirates. They ran into an Imperial patrol that confiscated most of their goods and two airships, citing illicit trade. Nothing would be left if the trade fleet didn¡¯t have an aristocratic family backing them as well.¡±

    ¡°An Imperial patrol?¡± Qianye found it odd.

    ¡°To be precise, it¡¯s from the Fifth Fleet.¡±

    ¡°I think I remember them, they¡¯re from the regr army. Why would they appear in our trade route and collect taxes from us?¡± In his memory, Qianye had already cut off all ties with the Empire.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, nor do the traders. What they can confirm is that Marshal Chen Rongzhi of the Fifth Fleet was on board. That¡¯s what I find troublesome.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you to fear a marshal.¡±

    William replied, ¡°First, I think something is off about this whole thing. I don¡¯t know what the Empire is intending to do by mobilizing their regr army. If this is an all-out war, the Summit of Peaks alone isn¡¯t sufficient to fight them. We must muster forces from all the other races. Then again, we¡¯re currently on the Fort Continent, and we¡¯re not considered part of the Evernight faction.¡±

    ¡°And secondly, it¡¯s you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t know how you will react.¡±

    Qianye finally understood. ¡°I understand now. Looks like the humans are just like you, they want to know how I will react. They started taxing as soon as I returned, so I¡¯m sure they¡¯re prepared to get pped. The only difference is how heavy this p will be.¡±

    William said, ¡°Humans do love these things.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because they have countless factions among them, just like the four races of the Evernight Faction. I¡¯ll be leaving now, I¡¯ll settle this matter before I head to the next ce.¡±

    With that, Qianye turned around and stepped into the void.

    An airship fleet was slowly moving along the course between the Fort Continent and the Empire. This fleet was rather small, but it was made up of modern Imperial airships. Their background was certainly something.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce leapt out of the void in their path. Qianye nced at the airships from atop the Earth Dragon¡¯s head. ¡°Tell Chen Rongzhi to meet me.¡±

    An old marshal with greying hair appeared from the central gship. ¡°I¡¯m one of the ten marshals of the Empire. How dare you be so rude to me?¡±

    He hadn¡¯t even finished when Qianye flitted past.

    Soon after, Chen Rongzhi¡¯s head drifted off into the depths of the void.

    Qianye had returned to the Earth Dragon¡¯s head by the time people realized what had transpired. The pce drove away, leaving an echoing voice in the area.

    ¡°I¡¯m in a bad mood today, so I killed this annoying person. Go back to the headquarters and tell them that this is all for the bigger picture. There¡¯s no need to bother with such insignificant matters.¡±

 Chapter 1488

    Eastern Sea, the neutralnds.

    The Martyr¡¯s Pce leapt out of the void and hovered high in the air.

    This time, the Earth Dragon was a bit hesitant to move forward. It seemed a bit apprehensive.

    Qianye didn¡¯t force the pce forward. Instead, he flew down to the waters himself and stood gazing at the vast sea.

    Momentster, a tremendous shadow appeared from under the sea. It stopped moving once it was close to the surface, and its voice echoed in Qianye¡¯s consciousness. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    ¡°I owe you a favor, so I came back to see you.¡±

    The mysterious consciousness let out a deep chuckle. ¡°I just said it randomly back then, who would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d still remember? You¡¯re also the first in several hundred years to dare stand above my head.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°That¡¯s not being rude. I can¡¯t go down into the water now, can I?¡±

    ¡°You act as though you¡¯re my equal. How is that not rude?¡± The mysterious entity snorted.

    Qianye lowered his altitude until he was close to the water and cupped his fists. ¡°How about this? Please appear.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s more like it. Move backward or I might bump into you. Move farther back... more...¡±

    Qianye moved back several times. It was only when he was close to the shore that the consciousness felt satisfied.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been asleep for several hundred years. I¡¯m greatly delighted to be seeing someone of the current era today! Let the creatures of this world behold, I... wait a while.¡±

    Qianye was holding his breath in expectation. This development almost made him fall into the water.

    He could see the waters rolling violently. It was a mystery what that entity was doing under the water, but themotion wasparable to a tsunami now.

    Dozens of water pirs shot up into the air, rising almost a thousand meters! The pirs scattered in the sky and turned into countless water drops that remained hovering in the air. The waterdrops reflected the sunlight, producing a resplendent screen that covered a part of the sea.

    Qianye gazed at the barrier and realized that his perception couldn¡¯t get through it. This ability wasn¡¯t simple at all¡ªa barrier that could iste perception wasn¡¯t difficult, but to cover the entire Eastern Sea was a difficult feat.

    With the barrier set up, the ck shadow under the water slowly emerged, stirring up a gigantic wave in the process.

    Qianye watched the mysterious existence in a daze.

    This... thing was hundreds of meters tall, an enormous colossus with moving eyes on its edges. Its lower end was still in the water, and judging from the crescent shape, it didn¡¯t look like a creature at all. It looked more like...

    A fin?

    Was this mysterious existence under the Eastern Sea, an enormous fin?

    It was at this moment that a white line appeared over the distant horizon. Even someone of Qianye¡¯s strength was shaken.

    The white line arrived very soon. It was actually a wall of water that was several dozen meters tall!

    This wall of water would be a cmitous tsunami if it were to reach the shore. Fortunately, there were no settlements on the shore, and the cities were constructed on the cliffs. No one knew whether this was due to the first settlers¡¯ wisdom or because they had received some help from the mysterious entity.

    The wave wall passed below Qianye and rolled off into the distance. A small mountain appeared on the distant water surface, growing bigger and bigger until the foothills were below Qianye and connected to the fin.

    Qianye was stunned as he watched the colossal entity before him.

    Hearing about such a creature was one thing, but seeing it was apletely different matter. The fin that had appeared at first now looked exceptionally delicate and small.

    Even as an unprecedented monarch, Qianye still couldn¡¯t help but feel stocked upon seeing such an entity. He had thought the Earth Dragon was big enough, but it was only as big as a small fin. The tail fin could fit half a dozen Martyr¡¯s Pces.

    The entire Eastern Sea was shaken by the entity¡¯s emergence.

    It turned about with great difficulty and faced Qianye. Just this movement alone took ten minutes, stirring up winds and gigantic waves.

    ¡°Where are you?¡± it asked.

    Qianye was speechless. There were hundreds of eyes on the creature¡¯s head, but Qianye was so small that he was in a blind spot.

    Qianye flickered toward one of its eyes and stood gazing at the ten-meter eyeball.

    Dozens of eyes moved toward Qianye.

    ¡°Move farther back. It¡¯s difficult for me to look at you like this.¡±

    Finally understanding how things worked, Qianye flickered a thousand meters away.

    ¡°Now this feels much better. I haven¡¯t opened my eyes for several hundred years, it looks like my eyesight has deteriorated.¡± It sighed.

    Qianye didn¡¯t know how to continue this topic. ¡°Have you been sleeping at the bottom of the sea all this time?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I had nothing to do after Ji Xuansi passed away, yet I couldn¡¯t just leave because there were certain things that had to be done. Hence, I decided to find a ce to nap. The humans are so annoying, but I¡¯d feel bad killing them since they¡¯re Ji Xuansi¡¯s people. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been staying hidden. I can¡¯t let anyone know about my reappearance, either.¡±

    Qianye finally understood what the screen in the sky was for. That name Ji Xuansi sounded rather familiar. After repeating that name a few times, Qianye suddenly recalled, ¡°The Martial Ancestor?! You were his mount back then?!¡±

    The creature was unhappy. ¡°What mount?! Do you think that weakling can ride me? We¡¯re friends! I was only helping him because we¡¯re friends.¡±

    There were numerous legends regarding the Martial Emperor, and Qianye knew a lot of them. Records stated that the emperor¡¯s mount back in the year was an extremely powerful void whale, a type of void colossus. He had borrowed its power to turn many difficult battles around.

    Qianye gazed at the gigantic entity in puzzlement. ¡°ording to Imperial records, weren¡¯t you less than a hundred meters in length?¡±

    The creature muttered incoherently, ¡°I¡¯ve only been eating and sleeping for several hundred years... I¡¯ve gotten fat.¡±

    Qianye was speechless. No ordinary void colossus could fatten themselves until they were ten thousand meters long. Just that physique proved that this creature was not inferior to the Sky Demon.

    Qianye had, of course, realized at this point that he was actually summoned here.

    ¡°Did you need me for something?¡± Qianye was respectful, not toward the void whale¡¯s strength but toward the Martial Ancestor.

    ¡°There are two things, but they¡¯re also a single thing.¡±

    ¡°Please go on.¡±

    ¡°Xuansi told me to pick someone who can change the fate of humanity after the Chronicle of Glory reachespletion. I am to give this thing to him.¡±

    The whale opened its mouth, and a droplet of water drifted toward Qianye amidst raging winds.

    Qianye received the water droplet, upon which the liquid vanished into his body. It appeared on the back cover of the Book of Darkness, attaching itself to the heavenly monarch crystal.

    All of a sudden, Qianye¡¯s body sank downward. It was as though he had devoured an entire sea, the weight almost causing him to fall into the water. Fortunately, the pressure vanished after the droplet finished attaching itself to the crystal, and everything soon returned to normal.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°Sealed inside that droplet is an all-out attack from Xuansi. It¡¯ll be of assistance at a critical juncture. He spent three years umting enough power for that thing.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the second matter?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. After the day of destiny is over and the dust settles, it¡¯s time for this old one to return to the void and be free once more. I want you to help push me into the void when the timees.¡±

    Qianye was puzzled. ¡°Erm... you need my help with that?¡±

    The void whale was a divine creature that could travel tens of thousands of kilometers each day. Leaping into the void was probably easier than Qianye flipping over in bed. Why would it need help?

    The creature seemed a bit embarrassed. It said while fidgeting a bit, ¡°I¡¯m too fat, I can¡¯t fly up anymore.¡±

 Chapter 1489

    The giant whale moved its body slightly, stirring up massive waves as it lowered itself into the water. It said while huffing and puffing, ¡°I can¡¯t, I need to rest. I¡¯ve been floating for too long.¡±

    Qianye felt helpless as he gazed at the hurricanes forming between the sea and sky. ¡°Your Elderly Grace, please pant slowly...¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t help it, I¡¯m panting at the slightest movement these days.¡±

    The creature seemed to feel morefortable as its massive body slowly entered the water. ¡°That¡¯s strange, I can usually sense a whole lot of divination experts searching for me whenever I turn in my sleep. Why are they so silent today?¡±

    ¡°The Divination Pavilion might be a bit short-handed at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Short-handed? They im to have ny-nine masters inside and hundreds of reserve candidates waiting to enter. The spares need only three to five years of training to be qualified diviners.¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°That¡¯s quite unfortunate, then. I had nned to take out some hateful divination experts a couple of days ago, but unexpectedly, there were quite a few of them trying to scheme against me. I didn¡¯t hold back enough and ended up killing over half of their numbers. I don¡¯t think they have time to scry you at the moment.¡±

    The void whale was delighted. ¡°That¡¯s good news! These diviners are really quite irksome. I didn¡¯t want to kill them out of consideration for Xuansi, but these bastards just wouldn¡¯t give up even after several hundred years. You could even say they got bolder! Do they think I have no way to deal with them? I just couldn¡¯t be bothered, else I can drown several just by spitting at them.¡±

    Qianye was speechless as he gazed at the whale¡¯s thousand-meter mouth. A mouthful of its spit would drown ten thousand people.

    The conversation wasing to a close at this point. Qianye said after some thought, ¡°I¡¯ll say it first. I might¡¯ve epted that item, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll help the human race. If you think that¡¯s inappropriate, I¡¯ll return it to you now.¡±

    ¡°No need! Just do what you think is right, even if that¡¯s to destroy humanity. That brat Xuansi wanted you to follow your heart.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Well, I like you. That¡¯s all.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°The Empire has stood for a thousand years and produced countless geniuses. We don¡¯t need to look too far, my adoptive father and Prince Greensun are probably better candidates, no?¡±

    ¡°Being better or not isn¡¯t the issue here, I need to like that person. Let me tell you, one of Xuansi¡¯s descendants came to the Eastern Sea a while ago. He wanted to see if he can find that item I just gave you. He could¡¯ve done a thousand other things, but he just had to fish! I¡¯ve been hiding here in this tiny space, enduring the pain of hunger for hundreds of years. Yet he¡¯s here fishing on my turf! Is he trying to starve me to death? Humph, how dare he rob food from the whale¡¯s mouth?! I would¡¯ve blown him ten thousand kilometers away if it weren¡¯t for Xuansi.¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t know who was so bold as to fish in the Eastern Sea. After listening to the void whale¡¯s words, he now had a general understanding of what had happened to the experts who had vanished over the Eastern Sea.

    There was no use overthinking about this.

    After confirming that neither the void whale nor the Martial Ancestor had any demands, Qianye put away the item.

    The void whale slowly sank into the depths of the sea and went back to sleep. Qianye, on the other hand, had some old scores to settle.

    He flew high up into the sky and stood there with his hands behind his back. ¡°Zhang Buzhou,e out and meet me.¡±

    His voice wasn¡¯t all that resounding, but it somehow spread to every corner of the Eastern Sea.

    However, there was no response.

    Qianye raised his voice once again. ¡°Zhang Buzhou.¡±

    This time, half of the neutralnds heard Qianye¡¯s voice. Countless experts stopped whatever they were doing and looked up at the sky, trembling uncontrobly. They could sense a bit of the speaker¡¯s aura, and that was enough to make them go limp. They simply couldn¡¯t muster up the notion to resist.

    The only thought in their mind was, ¡°Who is this person? How can there be someone so powerful?¡±

    Qianye waited for a while. Seeing as there was no response, he said with a sneer, ¡°Get over here!¡±

    His voice covered the entirety of the neutralnds. Ordinary people couldn¡¯t hear his call, but those with cultivation above the champion level could do so. Those powerful marquises and champions were sent into a daze, almost as though a peal of thunder had erupted right next to their ears. The handful of dukes present in the area copsed to the ground, injured by the voice.

    The void not too far from Qianye began to stir as a majestic mansion appeared vaguely in the air. The doors flung open and a fierce-looking man in his middle-ages walked out. ¡°Why would you force people so?¡±

    Qianye stood there with his hands behind his back. ¡°Zhang Buzhou, did you think I wouldn¡¯t find you? Or did you think I have no way to deal with you?¡±

    A hint of terror shed in Zhang Buzhou¡¯s eyes as he bowed with cupped hands. ¡°So it¡¯s Lord Qianye. I¡¯ve been focused on cultivation, hoping to break through to the heavenly monarch realm and be a guardian of the neutralnds. I hope you will forgive my slipup.¡±

    Qianye sized the man up. ¡°You¡¯ve indeed put in a lot of effort, you even prepared a speech that would move me. There¡¯s one thing, though, that you didn¡¯t understand.¡±

    Zhang Buzhou seemed restless. ¡°What do I not understand, please instruct me.¡±

    Qianye gazed into the distance. ¡°My adoptive father brought me out of the dumpster andid out a path for me. I had a father, brothers, and sisters to protect me. If I die today, I die without regrets. It¡¯s only because of certain sentiments that I give way to the Empire at times. It¡¯s not for the Empire but for humanity, and for the people I care about.¡±

    Qianye turned back to Zhang Buzhou and said coldly, ¡°Who do you think you are to use humanity as an excuse? Cultivating, huh? You never fought for the human race even at such a juncture, what¡¯s the point of keeping you alive?¡±

    Zhang Buzhou pulled back rapidly, crying, ¡°I¡¯m about to reach ascension! You can¡¯t touch me. It¡¯s for the human race!¡±

    He turned around the next moment and saw Qianye standing right behind him!

    Scared out of his wits, the man nced left and right only to find that the scenery hadn¡¯t changed. Apparently, he hadn¡¯t moved at all after all that flying.

    Zhang Buzhou gazed at the ck intent in Qianye¡¯s left hand as a look of utter horror unraveled on his countenance.

    ¡°W-What is that?!¡± Zhang Buzhou discovered that he was drifting toward that darkness. No matter how hard he struggled or what secret art he used, there was no way to resist the gravitational force. The closer he was, the greater the force became and the faster he moved.

    ¡°Spare me! I¡¯m still useful to the human race!¡± Zhang Buzhou cried hysterically.

    ¡°Someone like you will bring more harm than benefits.¡±

    ¡°No, you can¡¯t touch me! I have a secret agreement with the Imperial n. If you kill me, it will ruin the human race¡¯s ns. You will be a sinner!¡± Zhang Buzhou cried out.

    Qianye smiled. ¡°Rest in peace, leave it to me to worry about whatever the important n is.¡±

    ¡°No!!!¡±

    Amidst miserable screams, Zhang Buzhou¡¯s figure grew longer and longer as he was dragged into the ck intent. He tried to execute all kinds of secret arts, but even the radiance from those abilities couldn¡¯t escape the pull of the darkness. Everything was devoured.

    The only thing that happened was a ring of light appearing around the darkness. No one could tell that the number one expert of the neutralnds, the man who was just one step away from the heavenly monarch realm, had just fallen here.

    Qianye closed his palm and put away the dark intent. He gazed into the distance, toward the Throne of Blood.

    At this moment, the legendary vampire on the throne was busy throwing clothes into a case. His entire abode was in a state of utter mess.

    It was at this moment that he heard Qianye¡¯s gentle voice. ¡°Packing already?¡±

    His body froze.

 Chapter 1490

    The Throne of Blood slowly stood up straight and turned around to face Qianye.

    Finally, he gritted his teeth and cried out, ¡°I¡¯ll fight it out with you!¡± He shot up like a leaping fish and pounced at Qianye.

    Halfway through his charge, the Throne of Blood felt his blood core freeze and his entire body came to a sudden stop. His limbs felt terribly weak, and the weight on his body seemed to have increased tenfold, causing him to fall to the ground.

    ¡°You! Impossible...¡± The Throne of Blood mbered up with great difficulty, gazing at the dark golden blood energy that was burning in Qianye¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Medanzo and the rest couldn¡¯t... but that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t do it. You¡¯re quite powerful, but unfortunately, you¡¯re still a vampire.¡±

    The Throne of Blood felt the depths of his blood core trembling. It was in a half-frozen state, and its beating was incredibly sluggish.

    He knew that this was a state of apprehension that arose from the depths of his bloodline, reverence in the face of a superior vampire.

    This meant that Qianye¡¯s bloodline had suppressed his own all fronts, leaving him with no more power than a viscount. The vampire finally understood that he didn¡¯t even have the qualifications to fight it out with Qianye.

    The Throne of Blood eventually calmed down and gazed at the dark golden me in Qianye¡¯s hand. He said with aplicated expression, ¡°If I remember correctly, you¡¯re much younger than I am.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Yet you actually possess such pure sanguine mes. How... envious.¡± The Throne of Blood sighed.

    Qianye smiled indifferently. ¡°I only used it because it makes the suppression of vampires more convenient. I don¡¯t use it that often, otherwise.¡±

    The Throne of Blood let out a longugh. ¡°This is the mark of a great dark monarch, something that might even take you to the supreme realm. And you¡¯re saying this isn¡¯t your strongest?¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You can suppress me, but don¡¯t think you can fool me! You¡¯ll be mistaken if I¡¯m that easy to deceive. I¡¯m not so fearful of death like the other long-lived races!¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll let you see the first drop of blood from the river.¡±

    ¡°W-What did you say?¡± The vampire¡¯s voice was trembling. The first drop of blood was the source of all dreams for all the vampires in this world. Yet to this day, no one had ever seen what it looked like.

    His instincts told him that Qianye wasn¡¯t lying.

    Qianye reached out his hand and it seemed like something had appeared there.

    The Throne of Blood rubbed his eyes as he tried to look closely, but his vision darkened and he soon lost consciousness.

    He slowly regained his senses after god knew how long, his entire body limp and powerless. His blood core was beating very slowly, and cracks had spread across its surface. It was extremely close to shattering. Even a great dark monarch would fall after his blood core was shattered, let alone him.

    The Throne of Blood wanted to sit up, but a hand pushed him down.

    ¡°Stay still, you¡¯ll injure your blood core if you move. Don¡¯t me me if you regress to the marquis realm.¡±

    ¡°Let me get up! That was the first drop of blood! I know it, I sensed it.¡±

    Qianye shook his head. ¡°Your blood core almost shattered aftering into contact with its aura. If you really were to behold the blood, you can kiss your eyes goodbye even if you survive. Wait until you¡¯re a great dark monarch if you really want to see it.¡±

    The Throne of Blood stared fixedly at Qianye, saying word by word, ¡°You¡¯re the first drop of blood!¡±

    ¡°You can say that, but that¡¯s not much use if I can¡¯t even beat the second drop of blood.¡± Qianye smiled gently.

    ¡°Wait, let me calm down.¡± The Throne of Bloody on his back with his eyes closed. Blood energy flowed faster along his body, entering a state of bloodboil.

    Momentster, he opened his eyes and struggled up to his feet. ¡°Your Majesty Qianye, if you have any orders for me, I will carry them out to the best of my abilities. But if you¡¯re here to punish me, know that I will not surrender. Even though I know I¡¯m not a match, I¡¯ll still swing a fist at you if that¡¯s all I can do.¡±

    ¡°You managed to kill your way out of the vampire race, why are you willing to work for me now?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the first drop from the River of Blood, the born leader of all vampires. Even the Queen of the Night ranks below you. To work for you is something imprinted into the bloodline of every vampire.¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°How will I know you¡¯re not just trying to curry favor to hide the fact that you fired at Nighteye?¡±

    The Throne of Blood was stunned. ¡°I was forced by the situation, and I didn¡¯t know Her Majesty¡¯s identity. Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t badly injured.¡±

    Qianye nodded. ¡°Give it to me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The gun you shot her with.¡±

    The Throne of Blood was a bit hesitant, but he soon fished out a gun wrapped in aged leather from his luggage.

    Qianye weighed the gun in his hand. ¡°So this is the Shattered Moment?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll be leaving now. You go on with your packing. I¡¯ll call you again if anythinges up, I might even need you to move.¡± Qianye left while waving his hand.

    ¡°Are you going to the Queen of the Night?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Qianye thus disappeared.

    The Throne of Blood opened his mouth but no words came out. Only when Qianye¡¯s figure had vanished did he whisper, ¡°I wanted to ask him if he could bring me along... ah never mind, I won¡¯t be much help anyway. I think I¡¯ll be unconscious as soon as the battle begins.¡±

    He returned to his suitcase and rubbed his hands. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s continue.¡±

    After packing a couple sets of clothing, he recalled something. ¡°His Majesty had no intention of killing me, so why would he ask me to pack?¡±

    While traveling through the void, Qianye tossed away the Shattered Moment¡¯s cover and weighed the Grand Magnum in his hand. A mass of light soon appeared on his palm and engulfed the weapon entirely. Soon, a pair of luminous wings appeared on the Shattered Moment. After a while, the wings grew bigger, while the glow of the Shattered Moment grew dimmer.

    Qianye put away the Grand Mangum and watched the Wings of Inception unfurl on his fingertips. He could clearly see his face on the radiant wings, and soon, one familiar face after another appeared beside his.

    Zhao Jundu, Zhao Ruoxi, Ji Tianqing, Li Kuann, Zhao Yuying, Wei Potian, and more faces popped up. It wasn¡¯t just humans¡ªthere was Anwen, the Azure King, and a number of other experts who had submitted to him.

    Qianye put away the Wings of Inception and the faces disappeared.

    If he had to bring things to a conclusion, he would need to cut off ties with all of these people. Then again, there wasn¡¯t really a need for that, was there? It wouldn¡¯t make much of a difference.

    Qianye gazed into the depths of the void in search of the Sacred Mountain. He narrowed his eyes after a brief scan, feeling a bit of difort as he nced at the starry skies.

    Frowning, he wondered if he should see Anwen regarding this. This demonkin genius was extremely sensitive to changes in the stars, unlike Qianye who couldn¡¯t figure out anything about the celestial bodies despite his powerful chaos origin power.

 Chapter 1491

    Imperial Capital, within the Divination Pavilion. The Radiant Emperor slowly walked past one corpse after another.

    The countless ministers behind him held their breaths, not daring to make the slightest sound. Almost half of the hall was covered in corpses¡ªthe fifty or so men under the white cloth were divination experts, the Empire¡¯s greatest weapon against Evernight.

    Those who could follow the Emperor here were important ministers, people qualified to know the Empire¡¯s secrets and past.

    The Empire had been fighting the dark races for a thousand years. In every generation, outstanding heroes would spring forth to take up this duty. It wasn¡¯t just the heavenly monarchs; the divination experts of the Empire suppressing the Evernight prophets yed a key role in the war. Lin Xitang was the most aplished of them all. He not only fought against Evernight on the void continent but also had to deal with the Longevity Monarch¡¯s internal aggression. In the end, he managed to take down the void continent and give the Empire an important foundation for development.

    Although the man himself had fallen, people knew that several of his important ns were still in action. There was nock of matters among them rted to the national fate.

    Seeing how important the maniption of fate was to the Empire, it wasn¡¯t difficult to guess the Radiant Emperor¡¯s mood now that half of the best diviners were dead. The ministers who knew certain information felt uneasy and restless.

    The Radiant Emperor crouched down in front of one of the corpses and lifted the cloth, revealing a young face underneath. The young man was only in his twenties, his eyes full of dark blood and his pupils gone. Even in this state, it was easy to see the terror and agony he had suffered before his death.

    The Radiant Emperor covered the man again and stood up. ¡°Where is the Empress?¡±

    A divider at the end of the hall was pulled open, revealing Empress Li kneeling behind it. She had her head lowered in silence with her hands on her knees.

    The Radiant Emperor nced at her. ¡°I gave you the Divination Pavilion to manage, and this is how you repay me?¡±

    ¡°It is my fault,¡± the Empress said without looking up.

    The Radiant Emperor snorted. ¡°It¡¯d be great if it were all your fault. Tell me, how did they all die?¡±

    ¡°They died of bacsh while performing divination.¡±

    ¡°Whose bacsh?¡±

    ¡°Qianye.¡±

    Realizing that the Radiant Emperor¡¯s tone was growing harsher, a minister said, ¡°From what I know, this matter isn¡¯t just a bacsh. Qianye had retaliated proactively and caused this cmity. This Qianye is a disgrace to the Empire! We must not let him off!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor gazed quietly at the man.

    The minister started to tremble all over and fell to his knees. ¡°Please forgive myck of manners! I spoke out of loyalty!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°I hear that Chen Rongzhi is your uncle. Tell me, why would this person leave his post to levy taxes on Fort Continent?!¡±

    The minister shook all over. ¡°I do not know the reason, but since Your Majesty has mentioned this matter, I must say that Qianye¡¯s crimes are boundless. He killed an Imperial marshal! Where will we put our faces if we endure such an action? How will we face the Founding Ancestor and Martial Ancestor?!¡±

    He spoke vehemently and with a voice full of righteousness.

    The Radiant Emperor let him finish. ¡°Are you done?¡±

    A hint of hesitation flickered across the minister¡¯s face. He nced back at the group behind him before saying, ¡°Speaking up has never been a crime in the thousand years of our history! I might not be capable, but I¡¯m willing to put my life on the line.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor broke out intoughter. ¡°What grand words! There is indeed no crime in speaking up, but that¡¯s only limited to loyal subjects! I¡¯m more than willing to kill all those whoe up with nderous and false reports! What I want to know is why Chen Rongzhi ignored his important post just to rob some profits from Fort Continent? Are these taxes entering our Imperial coffers, or did they go to the Fifth Army Corps¡¯ coffers... or perhaps Chen Rongzhi¡¯s own pockets?!¡±

    The minister replied hurriedly, ¡°Your Majesty, Marshal Chen...¡±

    The Emperor¡¯s voice turned cold. ¡°Who are you to interrupt when I¡¯m talking? Or are you saying that you can ignore me just because I¡¯m the son of an entertainer and you¡¯re ministers from the previous reign?!¡±

    These words contained a lot of weight. All the ministers fell to their knees, chanting that they would not dare do such a thing. That minister hesitated for a moment but also fell kneeling.

    The Radiant Emperor paced about with his hands behind his back. ¡°Qianye has always given his all for the Empire, and this is how we treat him? Whatever sentiments he has left for our country is entirely gone now. All of you know very clearly who caused this oue. How many of you had the Empire¡¯s best interests at heart when you did those things? To be frank, which of you can survive a hit from Qianye? Even so, you people keep provoking him repeatedly. What gave you this courage?¡±

    No one dared reply.

    The Radiant Emperor roared thunderously, ¡°You rely on the Empire¡¯s name! You rely on the thousand years of our Ji family¡¯s prestige! You rely on his gratitude toward my teacher, Marshal Lin. What do all of these things have to do with you?! It was Zining and Jundu who held the line when Nighteye rampaged through cksun Valley. Where were you people then?¡±

    One of the ministers braced himself and said, ¡°Your Majesty, we ministers n and plot for the Empire, we are not proficient inbat! This is not a fairparison.¡±

    ¡°n and plot for the Empire?¡± The Radiant Emperorughed. ¡°It looks like you people take me for an incapable ruler! Do you think I don¡¯t know the selfish plots you¡¯ve all been hatching? Those who have been making ns for the human race are people like Marshal Lin, Prince Greensun, and the Pointer Monarch. What does it have to do with you people?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s eyesnded on the first minister, then nced back at the crowd. ¡°Remember, the Founding Ancestor is my ancestor. Whether or not I can face him a hundred yearster is my business! Who do you think you are to drag my ancestor in to suppress me? And you say you want to back your words with your life? Do you think the younger generations are stupid enough to not see through your little schemes? Do you think you will have a clean name in historical records?¡±

    The minister trembled all over. Just as he was about to speak, the Emperor swung his arms and sent a gust of wind in his face. The gale carried him into the air and mmed him into a pir. Following the sound of fractured bones, the man had no more strength left as he fell limp to the ground. He was in unbearable pain, yet his consciousness was extremely clear. It would¡¯ve been a wonderful luxury if he could lose consciousness at the moment.

    The Radiant Emperor said coldly, ¡°Issue my order! Chen Rongzhi abandoned his post and levied taxes without instruction. This is treason and an unpardonable crime! All nine generations of his family shall be executed.¡±

    The messenger ran out to issue the orders.

    The Radiant Emperor scanned all the ministers. ¡°Who else wants to stand up for Chen Rongzhi,e out! It¡¯s best if the mastermind shows himself.¡±

    The ministers realized that something was seriously wrong; the Emperor today was full of killing intent. As intelligent people, none of them dared to step up to speak. Even if they wanted to criticize the Emperor, it would have to be when he wasn¡¯t furious.

    It was only now that some of them recalled that the Radiant Emperor was a heavenly monarch. How could such an expert be so easily deceived?

    Seeing everyone¡¯s expressions, the Radiant Emperor smiled. ¡°You¡¯re all quite smart, you know that things are developing in the wrong direction. There¡¯s really no need to keep you all around now that the Chronicle of Glory hase to a sessful conclusion. Those with personal schemes are simply courting death!¡±

    The ministers were shaken, and no one dared make a sound. They were all secretly wondering what the Chronicle of Glory was.

    The Radiant Emperor nced at Empress Li. ¡°Qianye is critical to the Chronicle of Glory. That¡¯s something Marshal Lin has always told us repeatedly. Does the Divination Pavilion have nothing better to do? Why are half of the experts scrying Qianye?¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°I really didn¡¯t know about this, but I¡¯m willing to ept punishment.¡±

    ¡°ept punishment? Can you take responsibility if something goes awry with the Chronicle of Glory?¡± The Radiant Emperor said coldly, ¡°You said you didn¡¯t know about it, who was the mastermind?¡±

    ¡°Siman Rutian was the one in charge of assigning missions.¡±

    ¡°The one who died?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Issue my order, execute all nine generations of Sima Rutian¡¯s family! Do the same for whoever criticizes this decision!¡±

 Chapter 1492

    A series of orders rumbled like thunder. The ministers quickly realized that, once the son of an entertainer, this Emperor had grown into a true heavenly monarch.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°I¡¯ve cleared away all obstacles for you. Will you be able to lead this Divination Pavilion in the future and prevent simr things from happening again?¡±

    ¡°I will do my best if Your Majesty wills it.¡±

    The Emperor nodded and left, followed by the group of frantic ministers.

    Once out of the building, the Radiant Emperor saw a stoic figure standing outside the doors. He waved at the ministers, saying, ¡°You may return, I have matters to discuss with Prince Greensun.¡±

    Not daring to say anything, the ministers boarded the airship that would take them back to the Imperial court. Just as the vessel was ascending into the air, it erupted in an earth-shattering explosion. Shards from the airship flew off in all directions. Clearly, all of the important ministers within were now dead.

    Prince Greensun stood there motionlessly, watching as the ck clouds billowed into the sky. ¡°A bit crude.¡±

    The Radiant Emperorughed out loud. ¡°As long as it¡¯s effective. It would be difficult to round them all up in one ce under normal circumstances. Now that the soaring serpent is about to fly, there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a bad idea to clear out unpredictable variables at the critical moment. It¡¯s just that... will the Chronicle of Glory go ording to n?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Regardless, there¡¯s no turning back at this point. All we can do is wait for the day of fate to arrive.¡±

    Zhang Boqian shot the Radiant Emperor a worried nce.

    The Emperor didn¡¯t seem concerned at all. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m sure there will be a fiercepetition in court today. We must also mobilize the entire country to guard against a final struggle from the dark races.¡±

    The two stepped into the void together.

    The remains of the airship kept on burning outside of the Divination Pavilion.

    ...

    An ancient bell tolled from the Evernight Council, echoing throughout the entire realm. This was an emergency summons¡ªall members were to hurry toward the council upon hearing it. A meeting would begin twenty-four hours from the time of this bell, whether or not people had arrived.

    Only the council chairman and the three supremes had the right to initiate such a summon.

    All of a sudden, countless figures took to the air from various continents and shot toward the council hall. In the za outside of the council, airships wereing in and out to transport respectable council members to the meeting.

    Most of the seats in the hall were already upied, but the meeting hadn¡¯t started yet. The members looked worried as they engaged in a heated discussion about what was going on. They couldn¡¯t figure out where the sense of unease wasing from, but there was a fear deep inside in their hearts.

    It was at this moment that a solemn aura poured down from atop the Sacred Mountain, silencing the entire hall. Everyone knew that the supremes had arrived, all three of them in fact.

    An extremely powerful aura appeared on one of the high thrones. Amotion spread out among the council members when this rustic man appeared. No one had imagined the Wolf Sovereign would appear since their race was in chaos. He was now the leader of the entire werewolf race. His stance was the stance of all the lycanthropes.

    As the voices died down, the council chairman¡¯s words echoed in the hall. ¡°We¡¯re all gathered today to discuss an extremely important matter. We require all of the sacred races toe together to a united front! His Majesty the Demon King will tell us what exactly has happened.¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s figure appeared on the Sacred Mountain. Few council members had ever seen this supreme¡¯s true body, so everyone was quite excited.

    They were also somewhat restless because the more unified the powerhouses were, the more serious the issue.

    The Demon King looked down at the members below. ¡°I summoned everyone here today for a single matter. We think we finally know what the humans have been plotting for a thousand years. We now know what the Chronicle of Glory is.¡±

    An explosivemotion broke out in the crowd as people discussed the matter.

    The Demon King gestured for silence. ¡°It¡¯s because of Anwen that we were able to observe things far beyond our reach, and this is what we found.¡±

    With a swing of his hand, the Demon King covered the entire hall in darkness, and in the depths of this darkness was the boundless starry skies. The council members found the scene familiar but at the same time somewhat out of ce. What was out of ce, though, they could not tell.

    At this moment, the scenery zoomed in and one of the members eximed, ¡°This is the void to the west of the world vault!¡±

    Everyone nodded in unison.

    Although the starry skies looked simr at a nce, these members were some of the most powerful experts. It was only natural that they could discern the small details.

    The audience watched with bated breath as the starry skies closed in.

    The movement was akin to the observers flying out into the depths of the void. The council members knew just how far they would have to fly out into the depths of the void to witness such a scene.

    There was an invisible boundary in the void and once this line was crossed, the traveler would enter an iparably violent world. Void colossi would appear randomly in those areas, along with unpredictable void tempests. Just the cold environment of the void was enough to take most people¡¯s lives. The two sides of this boundary were like a peacefulke and a raging sea.

    The scene projected before them had clearly crossed over this boundary and was entering the deep void.

    At this point, an exceptionally bright area appeared in the starry skies. One of the stars here was much bigger and brighter than the rest, so much so that the council members couldn¡¯t look straight at it.

    The scenery stood there for a split second before heading toward that star. Momentster, the star itself appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes¡ªa raging ball of me appeared in the council hall.

    The council members began to tremble. A duke gasped. ¡°That¡¯s no star... that¡¯s a sun!¡±

    The Demon King¡¯s voice was exceedingly serious. ¡°Correct, that is a sun and a new one at that. And that sun is flying toward us at an unimaginable speed. It will appear in our world before long, and when that timees, we will have two suns in the sky.¡±

    The might of the sun was terrifying, evidenced by the inferno at the top of the world. The original sun had already rendered one-third of the continents uninhabitable. If one more were to arrive...

    They didn¡¯t dare imagine.

    ¡°This... this is the Chronicle of Glory?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is the Chronicle of Glory,¡± the Demon King replied.

    ¡°Are we... about to die?¡±

    ¡°If it truly arrives, yes.¡±

    Watching this raging sun, all the council members felt as though they had been plunged into an icy abyss. No one would¡¯ve believed that the humans were dragging a sun into the Evernight World if they hadn¡¯t seen it themselves!

    Such a grand scheme was even beyond the supremes¡¯ imagination! Who hadid down this n? Who had found this new sun? And how did the weak human race manage to drag this sun over?

    These questions were no longer important.

 Chapter 1493

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± A member called out, followed by more and more of them. They had never imagined that they would be so lost one day, requiring the guidance of the supremes.

    The Demon King retracted the projection, but the new sun remained burning in the air. Although it was just an illusory image, all the council members could feel the constant surge of heating from it. Most importantly, it was emitting daybreak origin power.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve all sensed it. This sun is constantly producing daybreak origin power, much more so than the original sun of our world. This isn¡¯t my doing but a mere reflection of the truth.¡± The Demon King¡¯s voice filled everyone with a chill.

    ¡°What will happen if ites to our world?¡±

    The Demon King waved his hand and a young demonkin appeared beside his throne on the Sacred Mountain. It was Anwen.

    A wave ofmotion appeared among the council members. For thousands of years, no one apart from the supremes had set foot on the Sacred Mountain. Anwen¡¯s appearance there spoke volumes of the Demon King¡¯s stance.

    Anwen raised both his hands, revealing a model of the Evernight World¡¯s twenty-seven continents, its stars, and the sun. Following his movements, the same image was projected in the entire hall. A new sun appeared in the void outside and crashed straight into the Evernight World. One continent after another began to burn until only the lowest Evernight Continent was safe from the raging inferno.

    Anwen raised his voice. ¡°In the worst-case scenario, the new sun will shoot through the center of the Evernight World, stop as it is just about to leave the other side, and return to the center. In that case, the world will be as you all have seen just now. All continents except Evernight will cease to exist. Ny-nine percent of all life will be extinguished, including the humans themselves.¡±

    A hubbub ensued until Anwen gestured for them to quiet down. He then adjusted the projection, making it so that the sun does not enter the world but revolves around it in an arc.

    ¡°Since the humans can draw a new sun over, they might have ways to control it as well. Mutual destruction can¡¯t be their objective. That means they will want to draw the sun into a stable orbit around the Evernight World. The new sun would have to be much farther away than the original sun to roast all the sacred races alive. Under such circumstances, the sun will unleash a steady stream of daybreak origin power and gradually transform this world into the daybreak attribute. All beings that live on darkness origin power will perish!¡±

    Anwen¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t all that resounding, but it rang like thunder in everyone¡¯s ears.

    Anwen bowed and took a few steps back until he vanished.

    The council members were at a loss what to do. Some engaged in deep discussion, some prayed, while others were in tears. Who would¡¯ve thought the end woulde so suddenly?

    The Demon King¡¯s voice echoed at this point. ¡°At this moment, we require all the sacred races¡¯ strength, including the werewolves.¡±

    The Wolf Sovereign stood up to express his agreement.

    ¡°Including the vampires.¡±

    Lilith¡¯s figure flickered into sight for a moment. Amotion broke out in the hall; no one had imagined that Lilith was awake and back on the Sacred Mountain.

    ¡°And the arachne.¡±

    The Spider Queen Rosnia appeared on the Sacred Mountain, apanied by a tiny figure.

    The Demon King said in a resounding voice, ¡°You have all heard the story. The humans are bringing this sun into our world. Whatever their n is, our sacred races will be destroyed in the end. That¡¯s why we must stop it at all costs, regardless of the price! We must find how the humans are controlling this new sun and destroy it. From now on, I hope everyone will let go of past grievances and attack the human race with all their might!¡±

    ¡°Kill all humans!¡± a demonkin duke roared.

    ¡°Kill all the humans!¡± Countless experts cried out as they left the council hall and spread out in all directions.

    In the blink of an eye, the council was entirely empty except for those on the Sacred Mountain.

    ¡°Have you still not convinced her?¡± the Demon King asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s my business.¡± Lilith¡¯s reply was cold.

    The Demon King replied calmly, ¡°Unraveling the secrets of the Lost Season is one of the keys to winning this fight. Of course, we¡¯ll find out eventually even if she doesn¡¯t speak. It¡¯s just that we won¡¯t be able to do anything at that point.¡±

    Lilith said, ¡°I don¡¯t need you to remind me.¡±

    ¡°Even if you hide in the depths of the void, you will not be able to escape the wave of daybreak origin power. When the timees, you will be scorched day and night as though you are living in a furnace!¡± The Demon King¡¯s voice became harsher by the minute.

    Lilith replied gently, ¡°Kane, don¡¯t think I don¡¯t dare kill you. The price for offending me has always been destruction, especially since you¡¯ve lost most of your fighting powers. All I need to do is kill you and finish off all the great dark monarchs under yourmand. The demonkin race will then cease to be one of the four sacred races.¡±

    The Demon King was stunned before breaking out into a rueful smile. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand why you¡¯d protect her at the risk of civil conflict.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not protecting her, but I know her character well. She will not utter a single word no matter how we torment her. All she¡¯ll do is watch quietly as we are destroyed.¡±

    ¡°But we have no more time.¡±

    Lilith said while ying with the ring on her finger, ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯m curious about. The humans borrowed the power of the River of Blood to move the new sun. How did they know so much about the river, though? The only other race who understands the River of Blood is the demonkin.¡±

    The Demon King sighed. ¡°There¡¯s no longer a need for me to hide since you already know. Yes, our race worked with the humans a thousand years ago to taint the River of Blood and attempt to destroy the vampire race from the source. We were the ones who passed them our knowledge of the river. It seems we were deceived from the very beginning.¡±

    Lilith wasn¡¯t all that surprised. ¡°Kane, you disappoint me.¡±

    ¡°The cooperation began during the Lost Season. Only the previous Demon King knows how this cooperation came to be and its details. I¡¯ve even forgotten most of its contents after the Lost Season. This project went on for hundreds of years, sessfully pushing the River of Blood away from Evernight and almost making it disappear. Later on, intuition told me that this wasn¡¯t right, so I terminated the cooperation. I thought things would end perfectly at that point, but apparently, that was not the case.¡±

    Lilith sneered, ¡°No wonder the vampires were weakened, and even I had to increase my hibernation times. You demonkin sure look far.¡±

    The Demon Kingughed wryly. ¡°Now is not the time to be quarreling. Our race has wronged you, but we also paid the price during this expedition.¡±

    ¡°None of your great dark monarchs died, only the vampires and werewolves suffered casualties.¡±

    ¡°The greatest price is my injury.¡± The Demon King seemed helpless.

    ¡°That is true.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we can seek a new ally.¡± The Spider Queen, who had been silent all this while, spoke up.

 Chapter 1494

    Lilith¡¯s figure appeared before the great hall in the depths of the void. She walked through the chamber and entered the valley at the rear, finally stopping at thekeside.

    Nighteye was seated there with her chin propped up on her hand, ying with a leaf. No one could tell what she was thinking. When Lilith arrived, she said without even looking up, ¡°Spare the effort and kill me. I won¡¯t tell you anything.¡±

    ¡°The final battle between Evernight and the humans is about to begin. We might have a chance of survival if you tell me now. If you¡¯re not willing to speak, the people you want to protect won¡¯t survive, either.¡±

    ¡°None of them is rted to me.¡±

    Lilith said nothing. With a wave of her hand, she expanded the projection the Demon King and Anwen had used back in the council. Nighteye gazed at it with a serious expression.

    ¡°See? The humans and demonkin have been colluding with one another since a thousand years ago, nning to destroy the vampire race from the source. If it weren¡¯t for the situation we¡¯re facing right now, I would have them pay for what they¡¯ve done!¡±

    With that, Lilith gazed at Nighteye with a gentle expression. ¡°It¡¯s no longer important whether or not we know about the Lost Season. Our chances of victory are close to zero even if we do. I¡¯m letting you go, do whatever you want. After all... we used to be of the same bloodline.¡±

    With a wave of Lilith¡¯s hand, the countless strands of blood energy surrounding Nighteye fell apart. She was finally free.

    Nighteye didn¡¯t leave immediately. ¡°I¡¯m more Nighteye than I am myself right now.¡±

    ¡°I know, and that¡¯s what makes me angry. You¡¯ve now lost the chance to reincarnate again. Then again, it¡¯s no longer important because we will be burned to nothingness by the iing daybreak origin power. There is no ce to hide.¡±

    Nighteye said after a moment of silence, ¡°I don¡¯t have anything I can tell you about the Lost Season. All I remember is that I saw a woman before I lost my memories.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all I remember.¡±

    ¡°A woman...¡± Lilith rused.

    ¡°Yes, she¡¯s human.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure?¡±

    ¡°Intuition.¡±

    Lilith fell into deep thought, and a helpless smile appeared on her face. ¡°That means the Lost Season was their doing. I was always curious why their race transformed overnight after the Lost Season. All kinds of cultivation arts appeared that were tailored for them, producing experts in all levels of society. And this happened in a mere decade. In either case, I believe there¡¯s a superior existence helping them with all of this. Now I can finally confirm it.¡±

    She reached out to Nighteye in the air and pushed her gently toward the exit. ¡°Go.¡±

    ...

    Imperial Capital. The Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian were standing side by side in the void.

    ¡°Monarch Zhang, by now, you probably know what the Chronicle of Glory is.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty is trulyposed. You managed to hold out until now.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor sighed. ¡°Actually, I only found out the true nature of the Chronicle of Glory when it was finallypleted. Before this, I only knew some parts of it. The Founding Ancestorid down restrictions when he drafted the n, only allowing his descendants to know what they should do, never why. It was only after the n¡¯s sess that the truth was revealed. By that time, the die is cast and nothing can be changed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a necessary step. If Evernight were to know the truth, they would mobilize all their races to attack us. At that point, even the Founding Ancestor might not be able to save us.¡± Zhang Boqian¡¯s voice contained a bit of strange mockery.

    The Radiant Emperor coughed briefly, a bit of blood seeping out of his mouth.

    Zhang Boqian nced at him, saying, ¡°Is the chronicle affecting you that much?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wiped away the blood nonchntly. ¡°The so-called Chronicle of Glory naturally requires a medium to carry it. And our Ji family bloodline is that medium, the cornerstone of the wheel of glory. Now that the sun is about to arrive, the weight has increased considerably. By the time Evernight arrives en masse, I might not have the strength to fight. I¡¯ve already issued themand for all human forces to gather on the Qin Continent. We will hold our ground here and fight them to the death. I¡¯ll rely on you for this battle.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor sighed. ¡°Once the sun arrives, all of the dark races will be reduced to ashes. I feel a bit bad about that.¡±

    ¡°This move indeed disrupts the harmony of this world. The Evernight World was the dark races¡¯ home to begin with. It was already a great loss in survival space after we took over four main continents and the void continent. Then again, there¡¯s no use thinking about that at this point. If the dark races want to take us down with them, just let them try.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°We only need to hold out for a few days. Reinforcements are on the way.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was moved. ¡°Do you mean...¡±

    ¡°Correct, an emissary wille with the sun. Theye from the Immortal Ancestral Land.¡±

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought the legend of the Ancestral Land was actually true?!¡±

    ¡°Of course, a legend only known to heavenly monarchs is true.¡±

    ¡°I do want to see what these immortal emissaries are capable of.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian exchanged nces. In addition to the will to fight, they each could see a bit of worry in each other¡¯s eyes.

    It was at this moment that a high-speed airship appeared in the void. It sped frantically toward the two powerhouses and came to a spinning stop near them. A general flew out from the aircraft and performed his salutations from a distance. ¡°Your Majesty, the Imperial Guard has found several Evernight fleets approaching us. What do we do?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor waved his hand. ¡°Fight!¡±

    The general felt his blood boiling. ¡°Rest assured, Your Majesty, the Imperial Guard will fight to thest man!¡±

    The Emperor nodded and watched as the airship left.

    ¡°It has begun, we should go back.¡±

    Zhang Boqian asked, ¡°What is your n for the Divination Pavilion?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said honestly, ¡°We will perform a great sacrificial ceremony at thest moment to ensure the radiant sun enters the designated orbit.¡±

    ¡°All the participants will die, won¡¯t they? Won¡¯t Empress Li be involved as well?¡±

    ¡°She is the leader of the pavilion, so that is the price she has to pay.¡± The Radiant Emperor was unmoved.

    ¡°Why go so far?¡±

    ¡°When the Founding Ancestor clipped the soaring serpent¡¯s wings, it was for the Wheel of Glory. And the Ji bloodline was required whenever the Chronicle of Glory reached an important juncture. People very close to the Ji family will also be affected, just like my Empress.¡±

    At this point, the Radiant Emperor rubbed his short beard. ¡°That position was, at first, reserved for Concubine Zhao. The Zhao family has received the Empire¡¯s grace in every generation, and the two families were gradually bing one family as nned. This sacrifice is something they should shoulder. Yet Empress Li managed to rob the position, and now she wants to help the Li family upgrade to a major n. There¡¯s always a price to pay for such an upgrade, but they haven¡¯t done enough just yet. Which major n didn¡¯t pave the way to the top with bloody sacrifices?¡±

    ¡°I see, no wonder princes and princesses keep dying in every generation. No wonder the Ji bloodline is progressively thinning out.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor sighed. ¡°The Founding Ancestor said, ¡®the Ji n shall be the vanguard in all matters of the world.¡¯ He didn¡¯t say that for fun.¡±

 Chapter 1495

    Within several days, the Qin Continent became the focus of the entire world.

    One airship after another took off from various continents and flew for the void continent. From there, they would transit to the border regions of the Qin Continent. Vast numbers of soldiers emerged from these vessels and marched for the capital, plundering every city along the way.

    They could¡¯vended around the Imperial Capital, but most of their airships would be shot down in the process. Only a small number of soldiers would walk out of the airships alive and those too would be eliminated quickly.

    The airships of the Empire and Evernight fought ceaselessly in the skies above. One after the other, cutting-edge airship models crashed to the ground and burst into mes. The dark races were intent on fighting to the death, so the assault went on until thest airship. The imperial fleet wouldn¡¯t back off, either. They relied on the many supply and logistics bases on the Qin Continent to quickly repair and resupply, something the other party could not do.

    A steady stream of airships was also heading to the frontlines from the Western and Trasncendant Continents. They charged straight into the heart of the continent, dropping the soldiers on board at important checkpoints. Some of them wouldnd at the border regions, where the soldiers would have to join the defensive line almost immediately.

    Even the slowest person would¡¯ve understood by now that it was a decisive life or death moment. There were no shortcuts or lucky flukes.

    On the frontlines, a general could be seen shuttling back and forth as he coordinated the defense effort. The soldiers under thismand thinned out over time and the retaliatory fire grew weaker and weaker. Toward the end, only scattered gunfire could be heard and the dazed general noticed countless Evernight soldiers flooding the position.

    He realized that his men were all gone.

    The man¡¯s expression was as calm as still water. He simply drew his sword and charged at the iing tide of enemies, never to return.

    Themanding general in the rearmand sighed, ¡°Position four has fallen. Position ten must provide support from the rear. Who is willing?¡±

    ¡°I will go!¡±

    ¡°Me, of course!¡±

    The group of generals volunteered passionately.

    Themanding general gazed at their faces. All of them were old subordinates and friendly faces. ¡°No use fighting over this. We¡¯re all destined to sacrifice ourselves for the Empire. It¡¯s either today or tomorrow. Old Wang, you¡¯re up next.¡±

    A middle-aged general saluted the general with a sinister smile. ¡°Rest assured, I¡¯ll definitely drag a good number of them down with me!¡±

    Momentster, a squad left the base to bolster the frontline defenses.

    The mes of war spread all over the Qin Continent. The most prosperous territory in the Empire had been reduced to the same state as when the humans first set foot on it¡ªthere was fire and smoke everywhere.

    The starry sky was growing brighter and brighter. Even ordinary people could now see that iing star during the daytime.

    At this point, it looked no bigger than an egg, but it was growing by the day.

    Everything was solemn in the Divination Pavilion. All the white-robed experts were gathered in the main hall, operating their own origin arrays. These arrays were all part of a muchrger formation.

    An expressionless Empress Li was seated atop a high tform at the end of the hall. She already knew her fate, and she had chosen to ept it willingly.

    The Radiant Emperor was also dressed in in attire as he inspected all the origin arrays for defects.

    Many of the diviners seemed calm, but some of the younger ones looked a bit anxious. Most of the original lineup had fallen in Qianye¡¯s hands, so there were a lot of substitutes. These people could hardlypare to the veterans in terms of mindset and skill.

    No one dared breathe loudly in the presence of the Radiant Emperor.

    The Emperor had already killed countless important ministers during this period. Some of them weren¡¯t even given a good reason except ¡°I don¡¯t like you.¡±

    Everyone knew that the Emperor had his reasons. Why would someone who had endured for thirty years kill for no reason? He probably had no patience left to give people a reason, and no one dared to offer excuses after realizing the important events toe.

    Flowing streams of light lit up the skies above the capital from time to time.

    Zhang Boqian returned to the ground after the current wave of radiance had dispersed. His armor was in tatters, and there were wounds all over his body.

    A thinyer of light still shrouded the monarch¡¯s body, and every movement of his brought about thunderous rumbles. His personal guards and followers didn¡¯t dare approach him in this state. It was only after he had dispersed the light that they swarmed over to help him remove his armor and treat his wounds.

    Zhang Boqian sat there without the slightest movement as several famous doctors tended to his injuries. There were scars all over his body, with new ones covering the old. Many of them were still a faint pink color as they had just grown back.

    After the injuries had been treated, a different follower passed Zhang Boqian a ss of limpid green liquid, which he downed in a single gulp. Immediately, his face turned red. It was as though he had just consumed a lot of alcohol.

    ¡°I¡¯ll rest for an hour, do not disturb me.¡± With that, Zhang Boqian closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

    His followers set up a tent around the monarch. Zhang Boqian would have to head out into the sky once he woke up. No one knew how many princes and great dark monarchs were there out in the void. No one could say how many times he had traded blows with a supreme.

    There was a formation in the sky above the capital. It couldn¡¯t increase Prince Greensun¡¯s strength by much, but it could reduce his consumption rate, bolster his defenses, and improve his regenerative power by ten times. He had fought for several days without rest, keeping the countless Evernight experts at bay.

    There were two extremely big warships in the void. Just from their appearance, one could tell that they belonged to the Demon King and the Queen of the Night.

    The two vessels simply hovered in the void, watching all the killing going on below.

    Several days passed by in this manner, and the number of airships fighting in the void dwindled in number. Both parties had lost most of their airships in the intense fight, with each having only a few vessels left.

    The remaining Evernight fleet attacked without care for survival. The Imperial first and second fleets had been wiped out to theirst battleship, with only the third fleet barely hanging on. It was the steady stream of small airships from the nobility that kept the situation in bnce.

    This situation was only temporary. There were more forces from the Evernight side rushing over to the battlefield. Airship fleets from the two farthest dark race continents hadn¡¯t joined the fray just yet. By the time they arrived, the Empire¡¯s once-powerful armada would be wiped out entirely.

    The military department. A dozen or so military officers were seated in a conference hall, gazing at the numbers jumping on the screen. These people were the true heart of the Empire¡¯s military, veteran generals who had fought all their lives. Even with their experience, the casualty rate on the first day was a number they had never seen before. At this point, however, they had all grown numb to the data. No one wanted to think about the number of corpses these numbers represented.

    They didn¡¯t dare imagine.

    A staff officer rushed into the hall. ¡°Thetest battle report. Estimated ground force losses, including private army soldiers: 112,000. Airship losses: 6, including two from the primary fleet. Reportplete.¡±

    An old general mumbled as the staff office replied, ¡°Two primary fleet airships... If I remember correctly, that is thest of our fleet.¡±

    ¡°The three major ns and the Li family should have a few more.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless if they cannot reach us in time. Without ground support, they won¡¯t even be able to reach the capital¡¯s airspace.¡±

    ¡°Distribute the weapons, prepare for urban warfare,¡± a middle-aged officer suggested.

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    Having lost their aerial dominance, even the Imperial Capital¡¯s anti-air defense system didn¡¯tst very long. The Evernight army would soon appear right outside the city or even within the city.

    It had been several hundred years since the Empire had to fight the enemy at the capital. Yet soon, this great city would be drowned in the mes of war.

 Chapter 1496

    The Demon King stood before the cabin windows, watching the battlefield below in silence. Some footsteps echoed through the chamber as Prince Pentheus entered. ¡°Thetest battle report is in, would you like to hear?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of listening to the number of casualties? All sacred races will die in a few days.¡±

    Pentheus bowed and made ready to leave.

    ¡°Wait,¡± The Demon King called him back, ¡°I¡¯ll listen anyway.¡±

    ¡°In the past twelve hours, we¡¯ve lost 1,030,000 soldiers and 210 warships, including four primary battleships and two duke-grade airships. The humans have mostly been wiped out. We will be able to gainplete air superiority within the day andnd at the Qin capital.¡±

    The Demon King smiled. ¡°These numbers almost make it seem like we¡¯re fighting a normal war, not bad. We really do need to numb ourselves.¡±

    Pentheus was puzzled. ¡°Your Majesty, what do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, what wille wille. You¡¯ll know very soon. You may go back to work and fight as you normally would.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡± Pentheus bowed respectfully. He couldn¡¯t help but steal a nce at the egg-sized speck of light outside the window before taking his leave.

    The Demon King muttered to himself, ¡°The sacred races have lost over ten million soldiers and two-thirds of our airships. No one would¡¯ve imagined how resilient the humans could be until an all-out war breaks out. We still have tens of millions left in our ranks, but I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s toote by now.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter no matter how many cannon fodders die.¡± Lilith¡¯s voice echoed in his ears.

    ¡°You¡¯re still preparing for that ceremony?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m almost done.¡±

    ¡°Is it necessary?¡±

    ¡°If the humans want to destroy all of the dark races, we have to make them pay a steep price. I might not be able to kill every human, but it¡¯s not a problem to level that city below if I sacrifice all of my blood energy. Those bastards think daybreak is nigh, but what will they feel if they¡¯re no longer able to bask in the arriving dawn?¡±

    ¡°Once the ceremony begins, the higher echelons of the human race will be wiped out. The Chronicle of Glory can no longer be controlled, leaving us with no hope of survival at all.¡±

    ¡°Are you still hoping for a miracle at this point?¡± Lilith sneered.

    ¡°No one really wants to die, the same goes for me.¡± The Demon King smiled wryly. ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s room for negotiation.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve lost ten million soldiers and the humans have lost six. These people are the elites, their parents and families belonging to the upper echelon of each faction. Do you think there¡¯s room for negotiation amidst all this hatred?¡±

    ¡°Maybe or maybe not. Let¡¯s observe thest few days.¡±

    ¡°What are you nning?¡±

    ¡°ording to Anwen, we have four days before the sun enters the intended orbit. It¡¯s no doubt their diviners who will need to help guide the sun into said orbit. If we fail to negotiate during this period, you can unleash your ceremony and kill all the divination experts before the sun arrives. That will cause the new sun to deviate from its orbit and charge into the heart of the Evernight World, forming a new system with our current sun. No one can tell how that system will operate. It¡¯s very likely that all life will be wiped out, and the humans will pay for their wild schemes.¡±

    ¡°What if their entire n fails?¡±

    ¡°If they fail, we will have some more time. I can gather all the remaining council members and push the void continent into the Qin Continent, producing a repeat of the neutralnds. All human elites are now gathered on the continent, so we¡¯ll have destroyed half their race.¡±

    Lilith said after a moment of silence, ¡°Don¡¯t forget the Lost Season.¡±

    The Demon King remained silent.

    ...

    Void continent, the city of Indomitable. Qianye sauntered through the crowded streets, undiscovered by the multitude of people around him.

    Several giant airships rose into the air and set off in the direction of the Qin Continent. Judging from their turn speed, one could tell that they had been filled to the brim with men and equipment.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of forces left in Indomitable, and those that did remain were waiting for airships to take them to the battlefield.

    Time and again, Evernight airships would fly over the city. Their altitude was beyond Indomitable¡¯s anti-air defenses, and the local airships had no intention of intercepting them, either. All they did was hurry toward the Qin Continent.

    Only the Qin Continent was the final battlefield for all races.

    The City of Indomitable had changed quite a bit. That military fortress from before was now a thriving city, so much so that Qianye could hardly remember the street structure.

    The crossroads he was standing at was where Zhao Jundu had stopped the chasing soldiers as Qianye escaped with Nighteye. There was the city wall not far from the ce, where Qianye had taken a hit from a retired marshal and left for the neutralnds with Nighteye and Zhuji.

    It was here in Indomitable that his entire fate had taken a turn, setting him on a path of no return.

    It was just that, after seeing the soaring serpent, he could no longer tell whether his change in fate was truly coincidental or if it was his destiny.

    He nced up and stared at the progressively brightening star for a moment before heading into a nearby building.

    This used to be a tavern, but now, it was almost empty. There was still wine on the counter, which proved that the owner had left in a hurry without cleaning up the ce or locking the door.

    Qianye walked over to the bar and poured himself a ss. The spirit was of poor quality, but then again, he was in no mood to enjoy good wine.

    A mysterious person d in ck walked into the bar and nced about.

    ¡°You won¡¯t see anyone here if I don¡¯t want you to,¡± Qianye said while holding his ss.

    The mysterious person removed her hood, revealing her beautiful face and long hair. Just that none of these features could affect Qianye.

    She tidied her hair, saying, ¡°It¡¯s hard to believe how far you¡¯vee in just a few years.¡±

    ¡°Why would the vampires send a demonkin to settle this?¡±

    ¡°Why? Is Linken not good enough of a representative?¡±

    Qianye said, ¡°Do you think?¡±

    A hint of indignance shed within Linken¡¯s eyes, but she suppressed her anger and said respectfully, ¡°All major characters are fighting on the front lines, so I¡¯m the only one left.¡±

    ¡°Does this mean they no longer want to discuss further?¡±

    ¡°No, it means I no longer need to return. From today on, I¡¯ll do anything for you.¡± She stressed the word ¡°anything¡± quite obviously.

    Qianye was entirely unmoved. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to discuss if you don¡¯t bring Nighteye to me. You don¡¯t have a lot of time left, so don¡¯t force my hand at this juncture. This will only end with me seeking Lilith out for a fight.¡±

    Linken said, ¡°Your Majesty! The entire Evernight World is on the verge of destruction. Do you think the humans will let you off after they destroy the sacred races? Do you think they will let Nighteye off? Where will you two hide when the world is filled with daybreak origin power?¡±

    A scarlet me flickered into existence at Qianye¡¯s fingertip, the me of daybreak. Linken was forced back several steps before she could withstand the heat.

    The demonkin¡¯s expression shifted drastically. Only at this point did she fully witness Qianye¡¯s strength. Only at this point did she realize that Qianye¡¯s aplishments were more than just a legend. He really could take her life at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Qianye said, ¡°You¡¯re a fool in that you refuse to admit the truth. You¡¯re still hoping to exact revenge, aren¡¯t you? Simrly, the person who sent you is more than just a fool.¡±

    Linken trembled all over as she fell to her knees. ¡°Your Majesty, I was wrong! Please give me a chance. I beg you!¡±

    Qianye said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll repeat myself. Return Nighteye in the state you took her away, otherwise, I will visit the Queen. Don¡¯t talk to me about the survival of races or whatnot. All I care about is Nighteye. I could care less if your entire race perishes. You saw it just now. If only two members of the sacred race remain standing in the end, it shall be Nighteye and me. Even if the world is burning with daybreak origin power, I will protect her until the very end.¡±

    Qianye finished the ss in his hand. ¡°Go back and tell them. You have... two hours. If I don¡¯t see Nighteye in two hours, Lilith will see me.¡±

    Linken bit her lips. ¡°You¡¯re not her match.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Qianyeughed. ¡°Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Before going to Lilith, I will pay the Demon King a visit.¡±

    Linken¡¯s expression shifted drastically.

 Chapter 1497

    <h4>Chapter 1497</h4>

    ¡°Why make it difficult for her? They really are short on manpower.¡± Following this somewhat gentle yet unruly voice, a talldy appeared in the tavern and took her seat in front of Qianye.

    Qianye sized her up, saying, ¡°Not many are qualified to sit with me at this point, but you¡¯re definitely one of them.¡±

    The Spider Queen giggled with her mouth covered. ¡°Your legends never made you out to be so domineering.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve even arrived yourself, why did you not bring Nighteye? Is it even more difficult than the trouble of traveling here?¡±

    The Spider Queen smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not that hard, but the Queen of the Night isn¡¯t willing to lose face. She has already released Nighteye, but she won¡¯t admit it. People think Nighteye is still in her hands.¡±

    ¡°She has already released Nighteye?¡± Qianye shot to his feet but slowly sat down again.

    The Spider Queen said, ¡°I have no reason to lie to you. I believe you have your ways of finding her. The most important matter at the moment is how to deal with the new sun that the humans are dragging in. Do you really want the two of you to be the only ones left from the sacred race?¡±

    Qianye narrowed his eyes but didn¡¯t say anything.

    The Spider Queen raised her voice. ¡°That friend over there, stop hiding. Do you think you can hide from my perception?¡±

    A figure walked out from the shadows. ¡°I never once thought that. Who would¡¯ve thought the Spider Queen herself woulde?¡±

    This person was Song Zining. Qianye wasn¡¯t all that surprised; he clearly knew the man was here.

    Song Zining dragged a chair over and sat down nearby, producing a triangle between the three parties. Qianye and the Spider Queen were much more powerful, but Song Zining didn¡¯t lose out to them in terms of momentum.

    ¡°Just as well. Everyone¡¯s here, so let¡¯s get to talking.¡±

    The Spider Queen said, ¡°No rush, I have someone for you two to meet.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    Song Zining hadn¡¯t finished speaking when a ck shadow flickered before his eyes. Someone had just jumped into his arms.

    Song Zining fell to the ground with a bang, dazed as he sank into the floorboards. All the stars he had memorized as a diviner shed before his eyes.

    ¡°Mama!¡± A crisp, delighted voice immediately caused Song Zining¡¯s face to turn dark.

    Qianye seemed helpless. He plucked the little girl off of Song Zining, scolding, ¡°You¡¯re always so reckless.¡±

    Little Zhuji was now a youngdy, but she still pulled a face at Qianye. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Mama for a long time!¡±

    Song Zining¡¯s expression was unsightly as Qianye pulled him up.

    ¡°How are your bones?¡± Qianye asked.

    Song Zining hissed in pain. ¡°Broke a rib or two.¡±

    Zhuji came over in a hurry. ¡°Where were you hurt? Let me rub it for you!¡±

    ¡°No! Right now, I only have one broken rib, who knows how many more will break if you do!¡± Song Zining ran behind Qianye.

    ¡°Mama never treats me well.¡± Zhuji snorted. She then jumped onto Qianye and clung on with both arms and legs.

    Qianye¡¯s breathing became somewhat irregr.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Song Zining nced worriedly at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Fortunately, my bones are pretty strong. A random duke would¡¯ve been strangled to death.¡± Qianye sat down calmly and rubbed Zhuji¡¯s head.

    The Spider Queen nced at the two men with an amused, thoughtful expression.

    Song Zining restored his fracture while adopting his usual elegant demeanor.

    ¡°Are you here to use Zhuji as a bargaining chip to make me help Evernight?¡± Qianye asked.

    The Spider Queen said in a serious tone, ¡°Of course not. I just wanted you to know that you have family in the Evernight Faction as well. I would imagine Nighteye didn¡¯te to you because she didn¡¯t want to interfere with your judgment. It¡¯s impossible for her to not know where you are now that she¡¯s a great dark monarch. Lilith gave her the blood coffin reserved for her hibernation.¡±

    Qianye was moved. ¡°The Queen of the Night let her use the blood pond?¡±

    Blood ponds were like origin power reserves for a vampire, an extremely important part of their arsenal. This was especially true for the Queen¡¯s blood pond as this was undoubtedly the most valuable ancient blood pond in the race. If she had truly given Nighteye this blood pond, it would do more than just push her to the great dark monarch realm. Her potential would be increased as well, and she would be one step closer to the Sacred Mountain.

    But was there any meaning to that in the event of great change?

    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t the Queen of the Night willing to admit it?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a proud one. If she did, wouldn¡¯t she be admitting that she¡¯s afraid of you?¡±

    Qianye said after a moment of contemtion, ¡°What is the council¡¯s stance?¡±

    ¡°We supremes will invite you to join the council. Your seat will be atop the Sacred Mountain, and we will also leave a seat for Nighteye.¡±

    This meant that there would be three supremes from the vampire race, an unprecedented grand status for Evernight.

    The Spider Queen looked deeply into Qianye¡¯s eyes. ¡°Of course, considering your status and strength as the first drop of blood, even Lilith might be inferior to you in the future. It¡¯s just that we have to observe some traditions. Although the strong reign supreme, we cannot do everything we please. All we can promise is that we will treat Nighteye as an early supreme and grant her matching authority. That way, your voice and authority in the council will match your status and strength.¡±

    Qianye recalled the past at this point. He was still a young man when he held Nighteye¡¯s hands and said heroically, ¡°I will take you atop the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    He said those words as a rash and love-smitten youth. Who would¡¯ve thought they would be a reality today?

    Qianye sighed inwardly.

    He was fully relieved after confirming that Nighteye was fine. The reason she hadn¡¯t revealed herself was probably because she didn¡¯t want to affect Qianye¡¯s judgment, just as the Spider Queen had said. She would rather burn in daybreak origin power than appear before him.

    Qianye nced at the Spider Queen. ¡°The Demon King was trying to kill us just a while ago. I haven¡¯t settled the score with him just yet. What are the odds if I move to kill him right now?¡±

    The Spider Queen sighed. ¡°Since you¡¯re asking about this matter, I will tell you what I know. The Queen actually knew about Kane¡¯s cleansing of the vampire race.¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°All of this is because of an ancient prophecy. When the River of Blood manifests, Evernight shall face destruction.¡±

    ¡°Will killing off the tainted vampire bloodlines stop the River of Blood from appearing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we found that these vampires are able to attract the river more than ordinary vampires. Also, you and Nighteye are the only ones who can summon the river.¡±

    Qianye was shaken as he thought of a certain possibility¡ªthe notion, however, was so outrageous that even he didn¡¯t want to believe it.

    ¡°All of you trust a simple prophecy so much?¡±

    ¡°We do... because this person is the only supreme prophet in the history of Evernight.¡±

    Song Zining was surprised. ¡°A supreme prophet? That¡¯s impossible. Just like diviners, prophets will probably never be great dark monarchs, let alone a supreme.¡±

    ¡°He is perhaps the strongest supreme in the history of Evernight. He switched his path to prophecy because he sensed the iing cmity. He saw the end of Evernight and made his one and final prophecy, recording it in the Book of Darkness. He then passed away afterpleting it. Perhaps because the prophecy was too strange and also the Book of Darkness vanished around the same time, this prophecy was gradually forgotten. Only a handful of people remembered its contents after the Lost Season.¡±

    Qianye was stunned. ¡°So that¡¯s why the Demon King wanted the book.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What about Andruil? Was he never affected by the Lost Season?¡±

    The Spider Queen said, ¡°Our opinion is that he waspletely lost.¡±

    Qianye nodded. After a long while, he nced at Song Zining and said, ¡°What are your thoughts?¡±

 Chapter 1498

    <h4>Chapter 1498</h4>

    Imperial Capital, in the pce-front za. Zhang Boqiannded from the sky, almost copsing as he touched the ground. The guards ran over, but they only dared to help the man after the glow of the formation receded.

    The massive array of the Imperial Capital had been pushed to full-throttle, going so far as to overdraft itself at the expense of longevity. The glow bolstering Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t look impressive, but those above the divine champion realm would die upon contact. Even princes and great dark monarchs would find their attacks reduced by thirty percent.

    This time, Zhang Boqian didn¡¯t sleep after removing his armor. Instead, he said, ¡°Please ask His Majesty toe see me.¡±

    An attendant shot out as fast as he could.

    Momentster, the Radiant Emperor appeared at the za. Shocked upon seeing Zhang Boqian¡¯s state, he ran over to help the monarch, saying, ¡°How did you end up so badly wounded? Where¡¯s the ancestral bracelet?¡±

    His gazended on Zhang Boqian¡¯s wrist. There was nothing there. The bracelet that was supposed to be there had vanished.

    Zhang Boqian was rather calm. ¡°I¡¯ve used it.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s hands went cold. Trembling, he said, ¡°Did the Queen of the Night attack?¡±

    Zhang Boqian nodded. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought a supreme like her wouldunch a sneak attack? It¡¯s just that she didn¡¯t expect me to have a protective gear that could save my life. I managed to return a blow while she was dazed, she won¡¯t be able to attack again within half a day.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor sighed. ¡°I hate it that I cannot fight! All I can do is sigh anxiously.¡±

    ¡°You have more important things to do. It¡¯ll all fall on you to decide whether the radiant sun is a blessing or a disaster.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor nodded.

    ¡°Boqian, aren¡¯t you going to rest a while?¡±

    ¡°No. Without the ancestral bracelet, I probably won¡¯t be able to return this time,¡± Zhang Boqian spoke calmly, as though he were talking about someone else¡¯s fate.

    The Radiant Emperor clenched his fist, but no one knew what he wanted to say.

    The ancestral bracelet was personally forged by the Founding Ancestor. There were three copies of it in total. One of them had been used up long ago, with Greensun and Northridge holding one each. This essory was capable of stopping a lethal attack from a supreme, but only once.

    Presently, Prince Greensun was like an arrow at the end of its flight and the bracelet was no more. The Imperial Capital was on the verge of copse.

    ¡°Has the sun not arrived yet?¡±

    ¡°We need... one more day at least.¡± The Radiant Emperor¡¯s voice was solemn. ¡°I do wonder how Evernight discovered the truth about the Chronicle of Glory in advance. They shouldn¡¯t have been able to see the sun from so far away.¡±

    ¡°They have their own geniuses.¡±

    It was at this time that a stream of fire shot down toward the ground.

    The Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian both nced over at the same time, momentarily speechless.

    Zhang Boqian was the first to speak. ¡°Northridge has fallen.¡±

    ¡°You were to hold the central position while he attacked from the outside. His position should¡¯ve been safe. Unless...¡± The Radiant Emperor couldn¡¯t continue.

    Both men understood what that ¡°unless¡± was. Judging from the shower of sparks lingering around the fallen me, it was likely that the Evernight faction had paid a steep price as well. Just that no one knew which of them had fallen.

    Northridge didn¡¯t need to die, but humanity was at the juncture of life and death. When else would one fight if not now?

    Zhang Boqian stood up slowly. ¡°I¡¯ll stall for time.¡±

    When the Radiant Emperor reached out subconsciously, Zhang Boqian asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Now that Marshal Lin is gone, you... are the closest of kin to me.¡±

    Zhang Boqian pushed the emperor¡¯s hand away with a smile. ¡°At this moment, all the heavenly monarchs have no choice but to take point. There¡¯s no reason for us to cling to life! It was the same for Northridge, it is the same for me, and it will be the same for you. It¡¯s nothing even if all of us die. As long as the ancestral incense is not extinguished, more heavenly monarchs will appear in thirty years.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor loosened his grip. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°If you have anything to say, do so now.¡±

    ¡°I have a feeling that this Chronicle of Glory is a bit too excessive.¡±

    Zhang Boqian was surprised. ¡°There¡¯s no point thinking about that at this point. All the people will die if we cannot get through the current ordeal.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor watched as Zhang Boqian shot into the sky.

    A strange voice echoed behind the Radiant Emperor at this moment. ¡°How dare you doubt the chronicle under such circumstances? As expected of a criminal¡¯s offspring!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor trembled as he turned about. A group of people had appeared at one point, led by an unusually beautiful young man. The well-groomed youth sized the Radiant Emperor up with his limpid eyes. A dozen or so people stood behind him, headed by a man and woman¡ªthey were d in martial attire and looked so young that it was difficult to tell their age. The man was sharp and imposing, like an unsheathed de. Thedy was cold and ephemeral, as though she wasn¡¯t from the mortal world.

    Looking at this man and woman actually made the Radiant Emperor¡¯s eyes sting! The emperor quickly suppressed the shock he was feeling. It was impossible to tell how strong these people were.

    The dozen or so people behind were likely their attendants and guards. They were d in a white robe with blue patterns. The Emperor could see their strength, but that didn¡¯t stop him from being surprised. These guards were all divine champions, and four of them were at the peak of the realm!

    No one could tell how strong the young man leading the entire entourage was.

    This lineup was much more powerful than the higher-echelons of the Empire. It was a mystery how they had appeared without the knowledge of two heavenly monarchs. Of course, the chaos and fighting had also interfered with the exhausted duo¡¯s perception.

    The Radiant Emperor asked, ¡°Emissaries from the Ancestral Land?¡±

    The young man smiled. ¡°We are indeed from Immortal Heaven. Since you have the Ji bloodline, you should have seen records of me in the Chronicle of Glory.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor bowed deeply. ¡°Emissaries, you came at a most opportune moment. I thought it would take you one more day to arrive. How do I address you?¡±

    ¡°My name is Xu Ran, my title is Roaming Joy. The radiant sun was indeed slow, so I chose to travel ahead of it and see what¡¯s going on.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor pointed upward. ¡°The fight between the Empire and Evernight has reached a critical juncture. Would Emissary Xu please help us repel them and save some of our soldiers?¡±

    Xu Ran said indifferently, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll show you how immortals fight.¡±

    He gestured to the man and woman behind him, who promptly vanished from the spot and appeared beyond the sky. A cold sword energy resembling an icy peak swept through the sky. This attack was apanied by a zig-zagging sword intent that weaved through arge patch of the atmosphere.

    In the blink of an eye, the Evernight experts in the sky froze, and their thoughts immediately went nk.

    The next moment, masses of smoke, fire, and blood erupted in the air as countless Evernight experts fell to the ground. The dukes were able to survive the twin sword strikes, but none of the weaker experts managed to survive.

    The entire sky was wiped clean!

    Even someone as experienced as the Radiant Emperor was stunned by the scene. These two sword strikes had ravaged the entire battlefield. This was far stronger than an ordinary heavenly monarch¡¯s attack. Even the Founding Ancestor might not be able to outdo them.

    What level were those guard captains at? And what level was this Xu Ran at?

    Up in the sky, the shocked survivors and airships began to retreat as soon as they had recovered from the shock. They initially pulled back to where the two supreme airships were, then the entire armada left the battlefield. Neither the Demon King nor the Queen of the Night wasbat-ready at this point. Now that the Empire had produced two powerful heavenly monarchs, Evernight had no choice but to retreat temporarily.

    Xu Ran nced at the Radiant Emperor. ¡°That wasn¡¯t so hard.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor bowed. ¡°Please enter the pce.¡±

    Nodding, Xu Ran headed for the pce hall.

 Chapter 1499

    <h4>Chapter 1499</h4>

    After entering the pce hall, Xu Ran walked straight toward the throne as though it was only natural for him. There were numerous guards standing watch inside this hall. One of them roared, ¡°Who dares barge into the throne hall!¡±

    Xu Ran didn¡¯t even need to take action. One of his subordinates simply tapped at the air to stop that guard halfway through his charge. With a swing of his arms, the guard lost all signs of life and fell to the ground, never to rise again.

    Xu Ran walked up to the stage and walked up slowly.

    At this point, one of the ministers following the Radiant Emperor couldn¡¯t resist calling out, ¡°Immortal Emissary, please hold.¡±

    Xu Ran halted his steps and nced back with a smile. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°That is the seat of the Emperor of Great Qin. Since you are not one of us, please wait while I arrange another seat for you!¡±

    Xu Ran broke intoughter. He nced at the Radiant Emperor and said, ¡°What do you say?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s brows twitched a bit. ¡°Please take the seat, Immortal Emissary!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re indeed understanding.¡± Xu Ran moved up to the throne and sat down. He leaned stylishly upon the armrest and said, ¡°For a remote and deste ce, it does look like a Dao Hall. The seat is quite stylish, but it¡¯s not all thatfortable.¡±

    The ministers gnashed their teeth in anger, but the Radiant Emperor simply stood there with his eyes lowered.

    Xu Ran said, ¡°Ah right, I almost forgot. I think there was a sinner who tried to give me instructions just now. The penalty for offending an emissary is death. Jian, do it.¡±

    The chiseled young man beside him nodded. With a gentle flick of his finger, a formless sword energy circled the minister once. The man froze on the spot as his head fell off of his body.

    Everything happened in the blink of an eye. It was so fast that the dukes and marshals didn¡¯t even realize what had happened. Perhaps the only one who could¡¯ve stopped the attack was the Radiant Emperor. His fingers did move briefly, but he quickly regained his calm afterward.

    Xu Ran said to the Radiant Emperor, ¡°You¡¯re called Ji Jian?¡±

    The ministers were somewhat restless, but the Emperor gestured for them to remain silent. He bowed toward Xu Ran and said, ¡°Indeed that is my name.¡±

    ¡°It looks like you¡¯re not doing a great job of keeping your men in check. I hope you don¡¯t mind me stepping in?¡±

    ¡°It is our race¡¯s fortune that an Immortal Emissary would visit us. I wouldn¡¯t dare.¡±

    Xu Ran smiled. ¡°It¡¯s best that you can think of things this way. I didn¡¯t make this arduous trip in vain it seems.¡±

    His expression shifted all of a sudden as he turned toward the entrance.

    Zhang Boqian had just appeared at the entrance. He was drenched in blood, but his figure was as sturdy as the mountains. It was as though nothing in this world could stop his advance.

    After entering, the heavenly monarch said in a clear voice, ¡°I came over to greet the Immortal Emissary. Forgive me for being unable to perform proper salutations for I am badly injured.¡±

    Xu Ran nced at Zhang Boqian in surprise. He turned toward thedy standing behind him and exchanged a few words. Afterward, he turned back to Zhang Boqian and said, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought this remotend would produce such a warrior! Yes, someone of this vigor must be a descendant of General Zhang Zhixian. Men, prepare a seat!¡±

    No one in the hall moved.

    It was only when the Radiant Emperor cast a meaningful nce that someone carried a seat onto the tform. Zhang Boqian simply sat down without any excessive courtesies.

    ¡°Ye, give Boqian my medicine.¡±

    Thedy produced a bottle of clear liquid which she passed over through the air. ¡°Drink.¡±

    Zhang Boqian finished it in one gulp. The medicine was fairly miraculous, and even the container transformed into a wisp of clear energy which entered his body.

    Monarch Zhang sat there with his eyes closed, his face flushed red before turning pale. This alternation of colors happened nine times before crackling sounds appeared all over his body. His aura began rising as well.

    Zhang Boqian opened his eyes in surprise. ¡°Thank you for the medicine, Immortal Emissary!¡±

    Xu Ran waved it off, saying, ¡°You were able to absorb all of the medicine in such a short time. Your talents are definitely above General Zhang¡¯s. Not bad!¡±

    He then nced at the Radiant Emperor. ¡°You keep standing.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wasn¡¯t angry. ¡°As I should.¡±

    Xu Ran nced at everyone in the hall, saying, ¡°Unrted people may withdraw.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor waved his hand, sending all his guards and attendants away. Some of the lower-ranking ministers also left the hall.

    Xu Ran said, ¡°Why I am here and why you are here is a long discussion. I don¡¯t think you know the full story, either, so we¡¯ll tell you. Ye, you tell them.¡±

    The Lady named Ye said, ¡°Back in the year, Lord Ji was indicted for his poor performance in battle. Generals Zhang, Zhao, and Li were also implicated in the matter. The four families and some lesser families, a hundred thousand in total, had their spiritual wisdom removed. They were exiled on andship to a distantnd. They reached the Evernight World after one thousand seven hundred years, where thendship merged with this ce. Your ancestors multiplied here, and thus the human race came to be.¡±

    This secret information wasn¡¯t even known to the Radiant Emperor.

    Ye continued, ¡°ording to Immortal Law, exiled people may return to the Immortal Heaven if they regain their spiritual wisdom. How could this be an easy process? The process was as hard as giving sentience to wild beasts. Duke Xu of that era was good friends with Marquis Ji, so he couldn¡¯t quite let go of old sentiments. Thetter had umted a fair bit of contributions throughout his life despite losing that fateful battle, so Duke Xu didn¡¯t want the marquis¡¯ offspring to be barbarians. He thus sent his eldest son, Xu Fu to investigate their exiles¡¯ fate. It took him a hundred and ten years to locate the Evernight World.¡±

    Xu Ran said, ¡°Xu Fu is my granduncle.¡±

    Ye said, ¡°After arriving here, Xu Fu saw that the human race had fallen into grave danger and be livestock for the vampires. He couldn¡¯t bear to see this, yet he couldn¡¯t break the ironw of Immortal Heaven. Hence, he used his powers to cause great chaos among the threads of Evernight¡¯s fate. He took the opportunity to unseal the human race¡¯s spiritual wisdom and gave some pointers to some of the more talented people. He also taught the four ns their original cultivation methods. That was when the humans began their path to cultivation.¡±

    Xu Ranughed coldly. ¡°Oh right, my granduncle not only risked severe punishment to teach the humans the art of divination, but he also strengthened their luck. Otherwise, how could criminal descendants like you be so favored by the heavens? You have to know that you stand opposed to this world.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian listened in silence.

    Thedy said, ¡°Young Master, the human race has stood strong throughout the years and the powerhouses have been at the forefront of all danger, making countless sacrifices. The Ji family has given much for the Chronicle of Glory, so much so that their bloodline is now fairly thin.¡±

    Xu Ran¡¯s expression cleared up as he nced at the Radiant Emperor. ¡°If that is the case, you are also qualified to be seated.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Immortal Emissary.¡± The Radiant Emperor epted the gesture, but there was neither joy nor displeasure on his face as he took the newly arranged seat.

    Xu Ran said, ¡°My granduncle paid a steep price to pass on the divination arts and tamper with fate. He passed not long after returning to Immortal Heaven. Considering his earth-shattering cultivation, he should¡¯ve lived five hundred years at least.¡±

    He gestured for thedy to continue.

    ¡°The unsealing of spiritual wisdom is to be followed by a return to the Immortal Heaven. The way with which to return is the Chronicle of Glory. This was aplished by Ji Xingjing when he severed the soaring serpent¡¯s wings and volunteered to shoulder the burden.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor was shaken. ¡°May I ask how you knew of these details?¡±

    ¡°That is because our lineage has kept some people here since Duke Xu Fu¡¯s return. It¡¯s been my turn for the past five hundred years.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor stood up and bowed deeply. ¡°We thank you deeply!¡±

    Thedy said, ¡°We cannot easily break thews of Immortal Heaven. My only objective for remaining here is to ensure that the Ji family is not exterminated by Evernight, consequently throwing the Chronicle of Glory down the drain. Your Ji family still has a lot of capable descendants, so I never interfered. I did nothing, so there is no need to thank me.¡±

 Chapter 1500

    <h4>Chapter 1500</h4>

    Xu Ran said, ¡°Let¡¯s keep the trifles short.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Ye retreated to her ce behind Xu Ran.

    Zhang Boqian asked, ¡°I have a question that I hope the emissary can answer. What exactly is the Chronicle of Glory?¡±

    Xu Ran said, ¡°This is a pretty big topic, so we¡¯ll summarize it. Back when my granduncle unsealed the human race¡¯s spiritual wisdom, he felt indignant for the humans who had served as ves and livestock for many years. He thus worked with Ji Xingjin toy down the ns for the Chronicle of Glory. Thetter believed that all the ns here were banished because of their ancestor¡¯s error, so he made the decision to clip the soaring serpent¡¯s wings and initiate the chronicle.

    ¡°Speaking of which, we can¡¯t forget the River of Blood. The river is a divine entity of this world, and it is the only thing that can draw in the radiant sun. That¡¯s why the first thing they needed to do was connect the river to the chronicle. This was a heaven-defying move, but my granduncle was so powerful back then that he found a way of doing it. He left a hidden move with the soaring serpent, lying in wait for the Ji n¡¯s descendants to activate after they find out about the river¡¯s secret.¡±

    At this point, Xu Ran sneered, ¡°Thoseughable demonkin thought they had gained an advantage over the vampires. They decided to sell all their knowledge about the river to us in exchange for pushing the River of Blood away. The river did move, but it wasn¡¯t exactly going away. It was actually being drawn toward the radiant sun. Did they think only the vampires would die when the sun arrives?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor and Zhang Boqian looked surprised.

    This was such a massive undertaking! To draw in the radiant sun using the River of Blood, now that was something only people like Xu Fu and Ji Xingjin could execute.

    ¡°Since the radiant sun had moved, it was time to take action. What I didn¡¯t expect was that someone would actually resonate so strongly with the river that it was immediately summoned back to this world. This was akin to dragging the radiant sun over at full force, saving me a lot of time.¡±

    Xu Ran said with a smile, ¡°I didn¡¯te here just to save a handful of people. Let¡¯s go to the divination pavilion. Let me see how far you¡¯ve taken my granduncle¡¯s divination arts.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll lead the way.¡±

    Momentster, Xu Ran was standing in the hall of the divination pavilion. He scanned all of the divination experts at the scene and kept shaking his head. ¡°Their talents aren¡¯t bad, but they¡¯ve gone astray.¡±

    Empress Li¡¯s expression was as calm as water, but she seemed to have sensed something in the emissary¡¯s words. ¡°How so? Please show us the way!¡±

    Xu Ran turned around and sized the Empress up from head to toe, seemingly seeing through her entirely.

    The Radiant Emperor¡¯s fingers moved briefly but that was it.

    Xu Ran gazed at her for a while before speaking, ¡°From your bloodline, it seems you are General Li¡¯s descendant. The Li bloodline is fierce and violent, most suited for use on the battlefield. Divination was never their forte. Yet you have cultivated this path using various methods to make up for your shoring. The oue is borate butcking in craftsmanship, unable to fullyprehend the Will of Heaven. That leaves you one step away from the peak. The Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery from our Xu n involves steep requirements, so you won¡¯t be able to cultivate it even if I teach you.¡±

    He then nced around the hall. ¡°No one here is capable. I heard your Great Qin has millions and millions of people, can no one cultivate it?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said spiritedly, ¡°Myte teacher Lin Xitang managed to cultivate it to the highest rank!¡±

    Xu Ran was shaken. ¡°Where is this person? Please invite him here! Never mind, I¡¯ll go meet him.¡±

    Ye reminded, ¡°Histe teacher...¡±

    Xu Ran suddenly woke up from his daze and sighed.

    Empress Li smiled wryly. ¡°It looks like my desire to win against him was wishful thinking.¡±

    Having realized there was someone like Lin Xitang, Xu Ran began to look all around the pavilion. It was as though he were studying the heavens themselves. He nodded after a while, saying, ¡°There are indeed traces of the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery all over the ce. Even I cannotpare to this level of expertise. He has indeed reached the highest realm. What a pity, what a pity!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor asked, ¡°Why is it a pity?¡±

    Xu Ran said, ¡°If this person were alive, his fealty to the Immortal Heaven alone is enough to wipe away Marquis Ji¡¯s crime.¡±

    ¡°Even if he were here, I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t live long enough to return.¡±

    ¡°Humans live short lives because of the harsh environment here that constantly exposes you to darkness origin power. Secondly, my granduncle elerated the human race¡¯s fortune. This would surely involve a price, and that price is your lifespan. If that person were alive, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to extend his life by a few centuries.¡±

    After the sigh, Xu Ran said, ¡°What is your estimated trajectory for the sun, let me see.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor gestured at Empress Li, who promptly collected herself and projected a map of the Evernight World in the room. There, a golden line marked the angle and direction from which the sun would enter orbit.¡±

    Xu Ran did some calctions in his mind. ¡°Too far.¡±

    ¡°Too far?¡± The Radiant Emperor was shaken.

    Xu Ran flicked his finger, and a new trajectory appeared on the map. It was much closer than the original path, almost making it so that the Evernight World would have two suns.

    ¡°T-This path will turn half of the continents in this world into raging infernos.¡±

    The smile on Xu Ran¡¯s face disappeared. ¡°Only this will be enough to ensure the destruction of all the dark races in this world.¡±

    Zhang Boqian said, ¡°It won¡¯t just destroy the dark races but almost all life in the affected part of the world!¡±

    ¡°So what if we end up destroying these barbarians? As for the beasts and critters without spiritual wisdom, so what if they are wiped out? When daybreak origin power takes over in the future, more of them will appear.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s expression was solemn. Although he had never held back when killing the dark races, it was a different matter altogether to exterminate all life in a realm.

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°That means many of us humans will also die, please rescind the directions.¡±

    Xu Ran said coldly, ¡°My granduncle was an outstanding powerhouse, yet he paid with his lifespan for your race. If I don¡¯t take this out on the dark races, would you rather I take it out on your race? Besides, you people are criminals until you obtain the recognition of the Immortal Heaven. Sinners who neglect to cultivate with all their might deserve to die. Even if they don¡¯t die here, they won¡¯t make it on the arduous journey back home.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor was surprised as he had never expected Xu Ran to say such things. He bowed once more and said, ¡°This matter is an affront to the heavens, please reconsider.¡±

    Xu Ran smiled coldly. ¡°What, are you telling me to forget about avenging my granduncle? All for some useless criminals? Without my granduncle, you people will be no better than pigs and sheep at this point! The radiant sun will follow my trajectory and whoever disobeys me will be given no mercy! I have full power to execute some criminals.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor wanted to say something, but Empress Li tugged on his sleeve.

    Xu Ran said, ¡°Lead the way, I¡¯m tired now. I wish to rest. We will proceed with guiding the radiant sun in six hours.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Please follow me.¡±

    Momentster, Xu Ran arrived at the Emperor¡¯s chambers. He waved the Radiant Emperor away, leaving only Jian and Ye in the room.

    Without no one else in the room, thedy asked, ¡°Why were you intent on adjusting the trajectory?¡±

    Xu Ran said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know.¡±

 Chapter 1501

    <h4>Chapter 1501</h4>

    Ye replied, ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯d know.¡±

    Xu Ran wasn¡¯t as cold as he was before at this point. ¡°You¡¯ve been here for fifty years. Give it some thought, what is the rarest thing in this world?¡±

    Thedy replied, ¡°The River of Blood!¡±

    Xu Ran nodded. ¡°Exactly! A divine entity that can traverse worlds is rare even in Immortal Heaven. Who would¡¯ve thought there would be one in this remotend? This is a great fortune for me!¡±

    ¡°You mean...¡±

    ¡°We must collect it when we return. That way, our trip won¡¯t be wasted.¡±

    Jian said, ¡°If that is your n, why would you draw the trajectory closer?¡±

    Xu Ran said, ¡°That¡¯s because, ording to my calctions, it¡¯s only on this trajectory that we can pry open the river¡¯s foundation. Also, we will be able to leave some inhabitable continents. That way, we can report the matter and use these merits to absolve the ns¡¯ crimes.¡±

    Ye asked, ¡°Why do we still need to report this matter? Is the River of Blood not enough?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s enough! More than enough. But there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll hand over such a divine entity. Once I manage to solve the River¡¯s profound secrets, I¡¯ll share the benefits with you two. It might be possible to obtain three thousand years of lifespan haha!¡±

    Visibly moved, the two subordinates thanked him in unison.

    ¡°Do your job well. I won¡¯t mistreat you if I take a step forward.¡±

    Jian and Ye expressed their gratitude once more before excusing themselves.

    The Radiant Emperor was still waiting at the door. Seeing the two emerge, he said with cupped hands, ¡°Emissaries, if you have some time, I¡¯d like to invite you to enjoy some food and wine. On one hand, I¡¯d love to express my hospitality, and on the other, I¡¯d also like to hear more about the Immortal Heaven.¡±

    Jian was a bit hesitant, but Ye nodded readily. Seeing this, the man shrugged and followed the others.

    A night banquet in the Imperial Pce was of a fairly high standard. The man was soon rxed as he enjoyed the food and wine. He was looking a bit tipsy after finishing several jars of wine.

    The Radiant Emperor saw that the time was right. ¡°I heard the emissary mention that we would need to make meritorious contributions in order to be absolved of our crimes.¡±

    ¡°Of course! Unsealing your spiritual wisdom is just the first step. The second step is to umte sufficient merits. That¡¯s the only way we can gain a foothold in Immortal Heaven.¡±

    Ye interrupted, ¡°You don¡¯t need to have merits on arrival. You can serve in the dao court after your return and work off your crime.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± The Radiant Emperor seemed much more rxed. ¡°How do we return to the Immortal Heaven?¡±

    Jian said, ¡°With us, of course. You can pick a batch of talented people to return along with you. The others will have to wait here.¡±

    ¡°How many can I bring?¡±

    Jian said after some thought, ¡°Ten thousand is the limit.¡±

    Ye red at him, saying, ¡°Ten thousand is the absolute cap. I don¡¯t think Emissary Xu will let you bring that many people. I think you should pick one thousand to be conservative.¡±

    ¡°One thousand... I see, I understand.¡±

    ...

    Void Continent, Indomitable.

    Qianye fiddled silently with his ss.

    The Spider Queen was gazing at Qianye with a rare expression of seriousness. Song Zining, on the other hand, was seated ratherfortably as though he didn¡¯t really care about anything.

    Little Zhuji was already asleep in Qianye¡¯s arms.

    A whileter, Qianye said, ¡°One side has opened a tunnel to the inner world and is drawing in the darkness origins. The other side is summoning a sun. What is wrong with this world?¡±

    The Spider Queen smiled wryly. ¡°The n to draw in the darkness origins was our retaliation. We didn¡¯t know what was happening back then, but we knew that a disaster wasing. Under those circumstances, the Demon King and the Queen of the Night decided that the only way to avert this cmity was to wipe out the humans.¡±

    Song Zining nodded. ¡°Counting from the very beginning, the human race and Evernight have been tangled for thousands of years. It¡¯s finally time to settle things. This day was destined since the Chronicle of Glory was activated a thousand years ago, except it arrived a bit sooner.¡±

    ¡°Everything was caused by the humans!¡± the Spider Queen said.

    ¡°Without the Chronicle of Glory, wouldn¡¯t we continue being your food and ves for another ten thousand years?¡± Even before a supreme, Song Zining had no intention of backing off.

    ¡°The weak are food for the strong, that is nature.¡±

    ¡°That is true, but now the rise of the human race is a certainty. Why don¡¯t you guys just die willingly? Why are youining?¡±

    The Spider Queen was furious. ¡°Such insolence! Are you courting death?!¡±

    ¡°Even if I die now, the radiant sun will arrive tomorrow. How long can you live then?¡± Song Zining sneered.

    Seeing the deadlock before him, Qianye said helplessly, ¡°Let¡¯s quit the fighting. We have only one day left, why are you guys here instead of preparing for battle?¡±

    The Spider Queen said, ¡°It¡¯s because we are on the verge of destruction that we require every supreme we can get. Do you think they will let you go after the sun arrives? You¡¯re the first drop of the river¡¯s blood.¡±

    Qianye nced at Song Zining. ¡°What will happen if we stop the Chronicle of Glory?¡±

    ¡°Without the Immortal Ancestral Land¡¯s support, we will enter a state of bacsh after our surging fortune dies out. What do you think will happen?¡± Song Zining replied with a question.

    There was no need to reply because it was so evident. The human race would die out in less than fifty years, even without the darkness origins.

    Qianye smiled ruefully; now, this was a difficult dilemma. If he didn¡¯t stop the Chronicle of Glory, Evernight would be wiped out. If he did, the humans would not survive. More importantly, the human race¡¯s desire to return to their ancestralnd would bepletely destroyed.

    There was one more question. Could he even stop it if he wanted to?

    The Spider Queen said coldly, ¡°This world was ours, to begin with. You people came from the outside and now you want to wipe out the sacred races. How dare you make this sound so right and proper?¡±

    ¡°What does all of this have to do with me? If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just look for a new world somewhere.¡± Qianye felt annoyed.

    ¡°You can¡¯t escape. Marshal Lin left a message saying that you are the key to the Chronicle of Glory,¡± Song Zining said.

    ¡°Why am I the key?¡± Qianye chuckled.

    Song Zining gazed at him for a while but said nothing.

    Qianye nced between the Spider Queen and Song Zining. He then rubbed Zhuji¡¯s head, saying, ¡°Zining, just be frank. What do you suggest?¡±

    ¡°There is one way.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Qianye asked.

    The space behind the Spider Queen began to fluctuate as she prepared to attack. She would rather destroy this enemy first if Song Zining said something she didn¡¯t like.

    Thetter paid no heed to the potential danger. ¡°Do you know why you would always run into various twists and turns of unexpected opportunities, why you always have this feeling of inevitability?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Very well! Since you asked me, I¡¯ll tell you what I think. If I were you, I would rather proim myself king instead of ascending the Sacred Mountain.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± the Spider Queen cried out in surprise.

 Chapter 1502

    <h4>Chapter 1502</h4>

    ¡°Why proim myself king?¡± Qianye wasn¡¯t too interested.

    ¡°You might not know, but actually, you¡¯ve already built something fitting of Evernight standards,¡± Song Zining said.

    ¡°You mean... Fort Continent?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with the current situation?¡±

    ¡°If you join the Sacred Mountain, you will be a member of the Evernight Council. The Spider Queen has said so herself, even a supreme cannot decide everything. Even with Nighteye helping you, the two of you won¡¯t be at an advantage if the others team up against you. How can humans feel at ease following you?¡±

    The Spider Queen frowned but said nothing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be king...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about what you want at this point. There¡¯s no escaping the current predicament. Have you not had enough of being taken advantage of? Why would you not take things into your own hands instead of letting those weaklings bully you?¡± Song Zining wasn¡¯t holding back.

    The Spider Queen said, ¡°Bing a supreme is no different from proiming yourself king.¡±

    Song Zining said indifferently, ¡°Qianye is the strongest among the supremes, and he will surely be able to suppress the Sacred Mountain in the future. Why then should he team up with you people and suffer the restraints?¡±

    The Spider Queen sneered, ¡°Of course, I know how strong he is, but it¡¯ll be too excessive to say that the first drop of blood can suppress the Holy Mountain.¡±

    Song Ziningughed. ¡°Do supremes only see as far as the River of Blood? The river¡¯s true secret is chaos! An energy that can contain anything and everything, the origin of all existence!¡±

    The Spider Queen was somewhat shaken. Clearly, she did not know the true face of the first drop of blood. All she knew was that Qianye cultivated chaos origin power, an origin power on par with Andruil¡¯s mirage moon origin power. She did not know how that origin power was rted to the river.

    ¡°Qianye¡¯s future is not as an expert of Evernight, but as a daybreak heavenly monarch! The heavenly monarch realm is but the beginning of the path. The only problem was that the environment here would make it difficult for him to progress. Now that the human race¡¯s elerated fortune ising to an end, our lifespan will increase greatly. What¡¯s stopping him from reaching the next level? Do you think being the leader of Evernight is so awesome?¡± Song Zining spoke rapidly and ruthlessly.

    The Spider Queen was livid. ¡°Daybreak and Evernight are two extremes of the spectrum. There¡¯s no way topare the two.¡±

    ¡°That might be true, but the path you people are on is wrong. Just because you cannot achieve certain things doesn¡¯t mean Qianye cannot.¡±

    The Spider Queen fell into deep thought instead of getting angry. ¡°Then what is the path we should be taking?¡±

    Song Zining was stunned. He nced at the Spider Queen to make sure that she wasn¡¯t joking.

    After some hesitation, Song Zining said, ¡°Every race has its own path. The path of an outsider can only be referenced but not copied. That¡¯s why you¡¯ll have to explore and figure out the true path¡ªit will not drop down from the sky. For instance, the human race built a path for ordinary humans to contribute to the race by leveraging ck stone, steam, and kic power. The immortal path is great, but not everyone can follow it.¡±

    The Spider Queen listened attentively. ¡°Thank you for the advice.¡±

    Song Zining looked rather embarrassed. ¡°I¡¯m not the one who figured out this reasoning. It was a culmination of the knowledge of countless predecessors.¡±

    Qianye still had no idea what he wanted to do after listening to all that.

    Song Zining asked, ¡°Qianye, did you figure out what your path was when you ascended to the heavenly monarch realm?¡±

    ¡°My path... let it be. That has nothing to do with the present.¡± Qianye shook his head.

    Song Zining didn¡¯t pressure him, either. Instead, he passed him a jade piece. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    Qianye picked up the yellowish piece of jade and found that it was a box that could be opened. A strange sensation came over him when the box entered his hands, almost as though something was resonating with his life.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Feather of Fortunate Omens, something Marshal Lin left for Prince Greensun before his passing. Monarch Zhang gave it to me without opening it, and I¡¯m now handing it to you.¡±

    ¡°What is that thing? Why didn¡¯t you guys open it?¡± Qianye was curious.

    ¡°This is a gift from Marshal Lin. Who would dare open it recklessly? After pondering, I think you are best suited to receive it.¡± Song Zining seemed to be suppressing hisughter.

    Qianye was puzzled. He was just about to put away the jade container when it popped open. Countless feathers flew out from the box and entered Qianye¡¯s body.

    Qianye trembled all over. He then closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

    The Spider Queen was startled. She wanted to reach out but Song Zining stopped her midway, shaking his head.

    Visit readlightnovel.me for extra chapters.

    At this point, even the supremes of Evernight were wary of Lin Xitang. Since this was an item left behind by the man, even Rosnia¡ªknown for her unparalleled physique¡ªwasn¡¯t willing to touch it.

    Song Zining waited in silence.

    This waitsted for an entire hour.

    Seeing no signs that Qianye would wake up, the Spider Queen looked a bit anxious. Song Zining, on the other hand, was as unmoved as a mountain.

    ¡°Are you not afraid?¡± the Spider Queen asked. She found this supposed sessor of Lin Xitang¡¯s divination arts rather interesting.

    ¡°I won¡¯t die, whether or not the Chronicle of Glory seeds. I have nothing to fear.¡± Song Ziningughed.

    The Spider Queen felt a bit angry but not enough to act up.

    It was at this moment that Qianye suddenly opened his eyes. A drawn-out howl emerged from the heart of the void continent as he did so, almost as though some entity was responding to him.

    Qianye nced up at the sky, his gaze fixated at a faraway point. ¡°Turns out there¡¯s another realm above the ¡®Pirs of Time.¡¯ It¡¯s called ¡®Heaven.¡¯¡±

    Song Zining was shocked. ¡°What did you say? Isn¡¯t the ¡®Pirs of Time¡¯ the peak of the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery? Wait, how do you know the art so well?¡±

    Qianyeughed. ¡°Didn¡¯t you teach me back then?¡±

    Song Zining thought back and recalled that he did indeed teach Qianye some basic principles. However, he never mentioned the name of the art at all.

    He nced at Qianye in puzzlement. ¡°What did Marshal Lin tell you? What else is after the ¡®Pirs of time?¡¯¡±

    Qianye didn¡¯t reply. He merely stood with his hands behind his back, lost in his own thoughts. Song Zining had a lot of questions, but he had no choice but to keep it all bottled up. Other topics might be fine, but it just so happened that this was rted to the Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery, the most profound art in the divination field. This curiosity was not easy to suppress.

    Song Zining nced at his palm, where a row of words was appearing. This was Empress Li¡¯s handwriting.

    ¡°The Art of Heaven¡¯s Mystery is an orthodox art left behind by Duke Xu Fu of Immortal Heaven. This... Marshal Lin managed to derive a new realm beyond its highest rank?!¡± Song Zining was shaken. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, why did he fall at the void continent? Who in this world can even kill him?¡±

    At this point, Qianye sighed lightly and turned around. ¡°I understand now.¡±

    ¡°What will you do?¡± the Spider Queen asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to see Anwen right now. I have some things to discuss with him. Afterward, I will meet that emissary.¡±

    The Spider Queen didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but it was a good oue that Qianye decided to get involved. So, she decided not to ask further. She flicked out several spider webs, making sure everyone had a thread attached to them. ¡°Let me know when you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll take you to the Hall of Fate.¡±

    Qianye gazed toward a certain point in the void. He then flicked the web away with a smile and vanished.

    ( = )

 Chapter 1503

    <h4>Chapter 1503</h4>

    Imperial Capital, Divination Pavilion.

    At this moment, the Divination Pavilion was surrounded by elite guards. The four giant ballistae at each corner of the pavilion were emitting a terrifying aura. The bolts loaded in them were actually made of colossus bones!

    The cannons were actually made to defend the pce, but they had been moved to the Divination Pavilion.

    The ce was now a key area for the human race. In two more hours, the great array under the pavilion would be used as the foundation to deploy a peerless secret art. This would guide the radiant sun into its new orbit andplete the thousand-year n that was the Chronicle of Glory.

    Xu Ran was walking through the hall, inspecting every pattern of the array in detail. He performed the checks personally and didn¡¯t oncein about thebor. Jian and Ye followed him closely all this time.

    The Radiant Emperor was standing quietly in a corner of the hall, a wisp of darkness appearing on his forehead from time to time.

    Xu Ran stood up as he finished checking thest rune and nced at the Radiant Emperor. ¡°You¡¯ll recover as soon as the Chronicle of Glory isplete. Today is thest day, so bear with it for a while.¡±

    The Emperor replied, ¡°Thank you for the concern, Immortal Emissary.¡±

    Xu Ran asked casually, ¡°How are Prince Greensun¡¯s injuries?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor replied, ¡°He appears to have rpsed today, he still cannot use origin power.¡±

    Xu Ran said with a smile, ¡°That¡¯s correct. Our treasured medicine possesses miraculous healing properties, but the patient will lose his origin power for three days. I forgot to tell you.¡±

    The Radiant Emperor raised his brows. ¡°It turns out you had everything nned out.¡±

    Xu Ranughed. ¡°This is to stop certain people from acting rashly. We cannot take any risks with something as important as the Chronicle of Glory. This way, there will be no idents.¡±

    ¡°You are wise, Emissary.¡± The Emperor bowed.

    Xu Ran said, ¡°No need for formalities. Once the Chronicle of Glory ispleted, you people may return to the ancestralnd with me. This deste ce cannotpare at all to Immortal Heaven. When the timees, I¡¯ll help you obtain the necessary resources to further your cultivation path. Once you have achieved a certain level of strength, you can rebuild Marquis Ji¡¯s glorious legacy.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Immortal Emissary.¡± The Emperor seemed delighted.

    Xu Ran nced outside the window, his eyes turning an eerie gold. ¡°Everything is normal right now. The Chronicle of Glory will enter its orbit in one more hour. How are the air defense and the great array?¡±

    Jian said, ¡°The great array has been inspected, everything is normal.¡±

    Ye said, ¡°The humans barely have any airships left, so there¡¯s no air defense to speak of. Only a dozen or so serviceable airships remain. Not to mention a great dark monarch, even a duke can wipe them out.¡±

    Xu Ran nodded. ¡°The barbarians are also out of cards to y.¡±

    Ye said, ¡°It¡¯s fine even if they barge in. They¡¯ll lose thirty percent of their cultivation once the array covers them. We¡¯ll then go up and kill them all!¡±

    Xu Ranughed. ¡°Good, finish them all! That¡¯s how it should be!¡±

    Jian wanted to say something, but seeing Xu Ranugh, he decided to stay quiet.

    Thetter hadn¡¯t finishedughing when a divination expert behind him fell limp to the ground.

    Hisughter came to a sudden stop. He turned around to find the diviners dropping like flies, blood flowing out of their mouths and noses. It was clear that they would never survive.

    ¡°T-This...¡± Xu Ran¡¯s limbs went cold.

    He stared at the Radiant Emperor with a razor-sharp gaze. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor seemed a bit panicked as well. ¡°Did they suffer a bacsh because they were overloaded?¡±

    Xu Ran revealed a cold smile, the killing intent in his eyes growing stronger and stronger.

    The Radiant Emperor sensed the change as well. The surprise on his face slowly faded away as he said calmly, ¡°Why ask if you already know?¡±

    Xu Ran gritted his teeth. ¡°Did you do this?¡±

    The Radiant Emperor smiled. ¡°Most of them are brave men who chose to take their own lives. Some of the reluctant ones took a bit of fixing.¡±

    Xu Ran reached out and grabbed the Radiant Emperor by the neck. Thetter was a heavenly monarch, but he simply couldn¡¯t put up any resistance at the moment.

    Xu Ran sneered, ¡°Criminals! Do you think I have no way to deal with you? So what if you are a heavenly monarch. The Chronicle of Glory is in my hands. As long as your name is in the list, you can forget about using a speck of origin power against me!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor was a bit shocked at first, but he grew calm after learning the truth. ¡°And here I thought I had embarrassed my ancestors.¡±

    ¡°I granted you life, power, riches, and allowed you to protect your people! Are you not satisfied? Why would you do this?¡± The man¡¯s voice was fairly sharp and harsh.

    ¡°Put me down and I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    Xu Ran loosened his grip, dropping the Emperor to the ground. Thetter first tidied up his crown and robes before saying, ¡°Our Ji n ancestor founded the Empire. In the light, he fought valiantly on the battlefield; in secret, he made continuous sacrifices for the Chronicle of Glory. Today, the Founding Ancestor¡¯s bloodline is almost gone! What was all of this sacrifice for? Was it for lifespan? For riches? For power? What¡¯s the point of all that when we no longer have a bloodline?¡±

    Xu Ran took a step back subconsciously.

    ¡°It is the Founding Ancestor¡¯s teaching that the Ji n must be at the forefront of every matter. We¡¯ve held the throne for one thousand and two hundred years for all daybreak citizens! If I were to return to the ancestralnd with a thousand people, how will I face my ancestors in death? How will I face the citizens who recognize me as their ruler? Ji Jian cannot and will not abandon the masses to follow a single person!¡±

    ¡°Y-You...¡± Xu Ran was livid. He was so angry that he didn¡¯t know what to say. It took him a moment before saying angrily, ¡°All living beings are dogs to an immortal! What masses? You¡¯re just criminals and ants! Do you think ants could cultivate the path to greatness and build up the dao hall? What¡¯s the point of having millions of ants? Once the radiant sun arrives, all of them will die!¡±

    The Radiant Emperor said, ¡°Ten thousand years ago, our Ji family was also an ant. I might be a heavenly monarch today, but I have not forgotten my roots. I still remember that I am also an ant, just like the people of daybreak.¡±

    Xu Ran¡¯s brows knitted together in anger. ¡°How stubborn!¡±

    ¡°To live and die for the masses is a justifiable fate.¡±

    ¡°Then die!¡± Xu Ran mmed the Radiant Emperor¡¯s head with his palm.

    All color faded away from the Emperor¡¯s body, turning himpletely grey. He did his utmost to move his eyes, hoping to nce at Empress Li onest time, but he stopped moving midway.

    His body first turned into flowing sand, which then transformed into smoke that slowly faded away.

    ¡°Who else is dissatisfied!¡± Xu Ran roared.

    It was then that he realized that there was no one left from the Empire except Empress Li. The only ones standing were Jian, Li, himself, and his guards.

    Xu Ran¡¯s eyes twitched. He had a feeling that his subordinates were all looking at him with weird expressions.

    He collected himself and said to Empress Li, ¡°Do you have a way to salvage the situation?¡±

    Empress Li replied calmly, as though nothing had happened. ¡°Allow me to think.¡±

    ¡°Very well, hurry up!¡±

    Ye walked over to Xu Ran¡¯s side. ¡°What if she can¡¯t figure out a way?¡±

    Xu Ran¡¯s expression turned harsh. ¡°If she can¡¯t think of a way, we will let the sun run through the Evernight World. If I cannot obtain the River of Blood, I will destroy this world!¡±

    ¡°I understand!¡± Ye¡¯s expression was cold.

    It was then that a p of thunder rumbled through the sky and a majestic mountain appeared in the air above the capital! Its appearance shook the great array to its core, so much so that it might shatter any moment.

    Xu Ran was shocked upon seeing the grandeur of this mountain. ¡°What is this?!¡±

    ¡°The Sacred Mountain of Evernight.¡± Empress Li sighed. That sigh almost sounded like a mournful sob.

 Chapter 1504

    <h4>Chapter 1504</h4>

    Ye said to Xu Ran, ¡°The barbarians have three leaders. They¡¯re not listed within the Chronicle of Glory. We cannot let them approach.¡±

    Nodding, Xu Ran said to the man, ¡°Activate the array and meet the enemy.¡±

    Jian bowed and left immediately.

    The entire Imperial Capital trembled as the light from the array flowed through the area, intensifying constantly as it did so. Radiance erupted from every household and condensed into the array, contributing to the defense effort against the invading enemies.

    This was a manifestation of the will of the capital¡¯s citizenry. Their unadorned wishes over hundreds of years had merged into the array, which actually stopped the Sacred Mountain in its tracks!

    The peak of the Sacred Mountain. Qianye was standing at the very front, a trace of darkness faintly visible in his palms. The Spider Queen was standing behind him in her true form, a jade green spider that was almost a hundred meters long. She lifted the Sacred Mountain with her giant limbs and mmed it down on the array repeatedly.

    ¡°What is this Sacred Mountain?¡±

    Empress Li said, ¡°Reportedly, the dark races possess two semi-dimensional weapons, and the Sacred Mountain is one of them. It usually watches over the Evernight Council, so I never expected it to appear here.¡±

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought mere barbarians would possess some uncanny technology?¡± Xu Ran seemed a bit more rxed after confirming that the array could stop the invaders, but soon, he recalled something else entirely. ¡°What about the second semi-dimensional weapon?¡±

    No sooner had he asked than the object came into view¡ªthe City of Eimer.

    The City of Eimer was surging with demonic energy. Operated by three great dark monarchs, it leaped out of the void and elerated rapidly toward the array!

    A torrential circle of blood energy appeared around the City of Eimer as it approached the array. It was almost as though the city was being bolstered by the River of Blood.

    ¡°The barbarian queen!¡± Ye stepped in front of Xu Ran.

    The emissary was shocked. ¡°Tell Jian toe back! The array won¡¯t hold!¡±

    He activated his powers in a hurry but it was toote.

    The City of Eimer barreled over at great speed and mmed right into the capital¡¯s array! A loud rumble ensued, and a ten-meterceration appeared on the Great Qin¡¯s immovable array, stretching almost ten thousand meters in total. Most of the buildings in the capital copsed and countless residents lost their lives.

    The City of Eimer broke down into several rumbling fragments. The three great dark monarchs on it looked withered and exhausted. The Eternal me¡¯s cloak of fire was also extinguished for the first time.

    Lilith appeared at that moment and left with the three great dark monarchs.

    The capital array was flickering unsteadily and seemed like it would shatter any moment.

    Jian staggered over with one hand over his chest and half of his sword in the other. He had been badly injured by the charging city.

    Xu Ran heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that the man¡¯s aura was rtively stable. He passed over two bottles, saying, ¡°Take the blue one now to heal your injuries. The red one is the immortal ascension pill, use it to maintain your peak strength in battle.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Emissary.¡± Jian took the blue medicine and saw his aura gradually rising.

    The Sacred Mountain pressed down at this juncture, shattering the array amidst an explosive rumble.

    Xu Ran¡¯s expression was harsh as he waited for the Sacred Mountain tond. As for how many people would die in the Imperial Capital, it wasn¡¯t his concern in the slightest.

    However, the mountain hovered upward instead ofing down.

    The doors to the Divination Pavilion flew as Qianye sauntered in. ¡°So this is the Divination Pavilion that my adoptive father once led.¡±

    His eyesnded on the corpses of the divination experts. He was a bit surprised at first, but he then shook his head, saying, ¡°They¡¯re an annoying bunch, but it seems they gave their lives for the cause.¡±

    Qianye flicked out countless scarlet sparks which, upon contact, burned the corpses away entirely.

    Xu Ran remained staring at Qianye the whole time. His hand moved within his sleeves as he secretly performed calctions, but to no avail.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Qianye finally nced at Xu Ran. ¡°You must be the emissary.¡±

    ¡°Indeed I am.¡±

    ¡°You can hand the Chronicle of Glory to me, I¡¯ll relieve you of the burden. You may return to where you came from.¡±

    The emissary was furious. ¡°Insolence! How dare a sinner speak to me so! I can ughter your nine generations because of your disrespect!¡±

    Qianye replied calmly, ¡°That means you¡¯re not willing?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t me me since you¡¯re seeking death!¡± A cold gleam flickered in Xu Ran¡¯s eyes. He gestured toward Jian, who immediately pointed a finger at Qianye. A beam of sword energy burst forth like a rainbow and shot through Qianye¡¯s back.

    However, the target flickered and vanished from the spot. He was now in the air above the Divination Pavilion, gazing down at the capital. Apparently, he had no intention of paying any attention to the emissary¡¯s group.

    Xu Ran was livid. He appeared in front of Qianye all of a sudden and swiped! This was the first time he hadunched an attack in person. The world changed colors as his fingers opened; the entire Qin Continent seemed to be resonating with him.

    The might of that single swipe was beyond that of a supreme!

    A thread of spider silk appeared from the side andtched itself to Xu Ran¡¯s wrist. A wisp of blood energy appeared on the other side and bound itself to the man¡¯s palm. The two forces tightened abruptly, exerting a force that was on par with Xu Ran himself.

    The emissary roared angrily. He tried to struggle with all his strength but couldn¡¯t move at all.

    At this point, Qianye had produced the Red Spider Lily and fired! Countless spider lilies filled the sky, blooming and wilting rapidly in the process.

    Xu Ran¡¯s face turned red and his body shook violently. Both shocked and angry, he erupted in a golden radiance that stretched far into the sky. This energy dissolved the blood energy and spider thread. Qianye also had no choice but to withdraw.

    As the light faded away, a piece of white jade in Xu Ran¡¯s palm dispersed into smoke. The man¡¯s expression looked rather pained. He nced left and right, saying, ¡°Good! You barbarian leaders seem to be struggling even on the verge of death!¡±

    Xu Ran might possess miraculous powers, but he still wasn¡¯t a match for the Spider Queen or Lilith in terms of brute strength, let alone both of them. This led to him being restrained and taking one of Qianye¡¯s attacks. He never imagined Qianye¡¯s unassuming strike would cause so much damage, even destroying one of his life-saving treasures.

    Qianye wiped the Red Spider Lily clean before putting it away. ¡°I knew it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to kill you. It¡¯s good that you¡¯re not willing to leave, I didn¡¯t intend to let you live anyway. Now that you¡¯ve attacked first, I won¡¯t be breaking any promises.¡±

    Xu Ran sneered, ¡°Well you¡¯ll need to have that ability first. Where are my guards? Form the Dark Heaven Array!¡±

    He called out thus but there was no reply.

    Jian and Ye exchanged nces, not knowing what had just happened.

    ¡°Where are the guards?!¡± Xu Ran shouted.

    No one replied.

    This time, Ye charged into the pce below and surveyed the surroundings before returning. ¡°They¡¯re all dead.¡±

    ¡°How?!¡± Xu Ran¡¯s expression was fierce.

    ¡°They were poisoned. The poison acted up as soon as the array was activated.¡±

    Xu Ran¡¯s face twitched in hatred. ¡°Ji Jian!!!¡±

 Chapter 1505

    <h4>Chapter 1505</h4>

    At this point, Xu Ran calmed down instead. ¡°Mere sinners dare attempt to defy the heavens! I¡¯ll show you what it means to be an immortal.¡±

    He stretched out a finger and summoned an altar out of thin air. On it were seven items: a book, a sword, a bow, a crossbow, a piece of jade, a talisman, and a cauldron.

    With a wave of his hand, Xu Ran ced the sword and crossbow in the hands of Jian and Ye. The de transformed into a giant sword made of yellow jade, a weapon that would project the images of mountains and rivers with each swing.

    The crossbow in Ye¡¯s hands was like a serpentine beast of legends, loaded with three bolts.

    The emissary pointed at the sky and the cauldron flew up in the air, spewing radiant light that would protect the altar and himself.

    He pointed at the ground and the ancient tome expanded below his feet, carrying him and the altar into the air.

    Seven small arrows appeared as Xu Ran picked up the bow. The weapon¡¯s name could be seen carved upon the bow: Godfright.

    Xu Ran nocked an arrow on the bow and said coldly, ¡°You will pay the price for angering me. Do you think you can deceive me with that misled divination art of yours?¡±

    He fired an arrow at Empress Li.

    The arrow flew at extreme speeds, arriving at its target the moment it left the bow.

    Empress Li¡¯s body jolted. She revealed a mournful smile as she nced at the arrow that had pierced her chest, her eyes bright and clear. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is! I¡¯ve finally seen through fate!¡±

    Her body slowly fell limp to the ground as blood sprayed out in all directions.

    Xu Ran¡¯s expression was unsightly. ¡°Mad! You¡¯re all mad!¡±

    ¡°Emissary, this...¡± Ye asked in concern.

    ¡°No matter! This woman is a sinner and should be ughtered.¡± Xu Ran nocked a second arrow. He naturally wouldn¡¯t say that Empress Li had clouded his judgment with divination, making him believe that she was the center of the conflict, hence depriving him of one arrow.

    Of course, the others wouldn¡¯t leave Xu Ran be. Countless spider threads stabbed at the cauldron¡¯s light barrier, causing it to flicker unsteadily. The Spider Queen¡¯s attack was capable of shattering mountains, but it couldn¡¯t break this screen!

    On the other side, a torrential wave of blood energy arrived and a blood moon hung in the air. The Queen of the Night had joined the fray in a pincer attack.

    With two supremes attacking, there was simply no room for others to step in.

    The blood energy spread all over the cauldron¡¯s radiance. When the moon¡¯s light showered down upon the cauldron, the treasure actually shrank a bit! Two repeats of this process would reduce the cauldron to dust.

    Qianye stood watching from a distance. He was rather surprised at this unprecedented treasure¡ªit was able to block the Spider Queen¡¯s attack and Lilith¡¯s pincer assault. It could even sacrifice its own mass to block powerful attacks. There was no way to threaten Xu Ran without destroying this cauldron.

    It seemed like the cauldron could take on two morebined attacks. Xu Ran possessed seven such treasures, no wonder he was so arrogant.

    The threebatants made it look easy, but they were actually controlling earth-shattering forces in a tiny space. Those below the great dark monarch realm would be pulverized upon approaching.

    Xu Ran finally looked serious. He had just noticed that he had underestimated the supremes¡¯ true strength. With a loud roar, he drew on his bow and fired two arrows in session at the Queen of the Night!

    The first arrow struck Lilith¡¯s chest and the second nailed itself in her forehead!

    No one knew where this bow hade from, but even the Queen of the Night couldn¡¯t evade its shots. Even at this point, Lilith didn¡¯t retreat¡ªshe pushed out another moon despite the injury, shrinking the cauldron once again. The treasure was finally on the verge of copse.

    Xu Ran clenched his jaws and grabbed at the air, conjuring a wisp of ming light. He drew another arrow and ignited it with the mes, then fired at Lilith¡¯s blood core!

    This one was a split second slower than the previous ones.

    Lilith was dragged a thousand meters away by dark golden blood energy. Qianye appeared in her ce, stopping the iing projectile with the dark intent in his palms.

    The arrow shot into the darkness, but the mes didn¡¯t extinguish. Instead, the raging mes burned up the darkness Qianye had released. Thetter retreated swiftly and watched as the two forces consumed one another.

    Xu Ran fired two more arrows at the Spider Queen who withdrew rapidly after taking the hits.

    Another arrow appeared in Xu Ran¡¯s hands. He nced at his surroundings, saying, ¡°Who wants this?¡±

    The surroundings went silent for a moment.

    Xu Ran¡¯s arrows were excessively tyrannical, capable of injuring a supreme in two shots and would probably kill them with a third. None of the other great dark monarchs could take the blow.

    Xu Ran felt frustrated. If Empress Li hadn¡¯t deprived him of one arrow, he wouldn¡¯t need to resort to intimidation tactics. He could simply kill the two supremes. With those two gone, the only true enemy left would be Qianye. With all those treasures in hand, there was no need for him to fear a sinner.

    A zing stream appeared in the air, raining fire upon the cauldron¡¯s barrier. The screen wavered under the bombardment and almost looked like it would copse.

    The Wolf Sovereign¡¯s figure appeared in the air, holding the Tempest firmly in his hands as he fired rapidly! The Tempest was known for its unparalleled firepower and was the most suited for battering fortified positions. In the Wolf Sovereign¡¯s hands, the weapon dealt even more damage to the barrier than the Spider Queen.

    ¡°Courting death!¡± Xu Ran¡¯s eyes lit up with the mes of anger, and the next moment, thatst arrow had pierced the Wolf Sovereign¡¯s chest!

    The Tempest came to a sudden stop as the werewolf slowly turned into the dust.

    The Wolf Sovereign nced down at the gaping hole in his chest and realized that his heart was gone. Understanding his fate, he nced toward Qianye.

    Thetter nodded.

    The werewolf monarch revealed a satisfied expression, although he looked a bit regretful when he nced onest time at the Sacred Mountain.

    The Wolf Sovereign¡¯s tall frame copsed beside the Tempest.

    Qianye clenched his fist tightly, but his hands rxed after a moment.

    Seeing the cauldron¡¯s light still holding out, Xu Ran heaved a sigh of relief. He was just about to speak when he noticed someone had appeared from the pce below. Before him, mountains would split open and the stars would make way.

    While Xu Ran was shocked, that person took a step forward and threw a punch at the light barrier!

    A crisp sound echoed through the air as the cauldron shattered into pieces.

    ¡°D-Didn¡¯t you take the medicine?!¡± Xu Ran could hardly believe his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s not so hard to suppress its effects. I only have enough power for one punch, and this is my present to you.¡±

    Zhang Boqian¡¯s origin power receded like the tides.

    That did little to diminish Xu Ran¡¯s surprise. He had never heard of anyone in the Immortal Heaven capable of circting origin power under the same circumstances, let alone attack at full force.

    What exactly was going on here?

    As someone with a thousand years of cultivation, he eventually recovered from the shock. ¡°Jian, kill him!¡±

    Zhang Boqian retreated a hundred meters in a single step. Jian¡¯s figure followed him like a shadow and made ready to sh!

    It was at this time that a refined man appeared behind the heavenly monarch. ¡°Why would you keep forcing our hand?¡±

    This person dragged Zhang Boqian behind him as he faced off against the giant de.

    Jian let out a burst of sinisterughter. ¡°You¡¯re nothingpared to us!¡± The words ¡®Heavenly Weapon: Vanquisher of Evil¡¯ appeared on the sword as he swung it down!

    ( = )

 Chapter 1506

    <h4>Chapter 1506</h4>

    As the two exchanged blows, the schrly man was pushed back a hundred meters while coughing up blood.

    Jian was startled. He nced at the Vanquisher of Evil and then back at the man. ¡°Taking an all-out blow from me, you¡¯re not bad! Your sword is even better! State your name. As an opponent worthy of respect, I will remember you after I y you.¡±

    The schrly man wiped the blood from his mouth. ¡°This sword is Teia, the Emperor¡¯s sword. Now that the son of heaven has sacrificed himself for the people, I shall take up this responsibility. My title is Rivernce. I¡¯ve forgotten my name, but my surname is Ji!¡±

    Jian felt solemn respect for this person. ¡°Very well!¡±

    He charged forward with his de toward Rivernce. It was only at this point that he put his skills on disy. His moves were bold, powerful, and backed by strong momentum. In terms of swordsmanship, he was even stronger than Xu Ran.

    It was just that Lord Rivernce was also a master of the de. Although he had yet to be a heavenly monarch, he was able to keep up with the injured enemy. Teia erupted with a blinding radiance as it slowly overpowered the Vanquisher of Evil.

    The two entered a stalemate, with Lord Rivernce barely holding out. It did seem like he would be defeated any moment.

    At this moment, Qianye exhaled deeply, saying, ¡°Emissary Xu, looks like it¡¯s our turn.¡±

    Xu Ran sneered, ¡°I still have my treasures, let¡¯s see what aces you have up your sleeve!¡±

    Qianye simply stood in the air without uttering a single word. He then pointed upward at the sky.

    A p of thunder ensued, and the sky tore open to reveal a raging river.

    This was the River of Blood¡ªits arrival signified its first appearance in the Evernight World since time immemorial.

    Xu Ran shuddered. ¡°So you are the one who can summon the river!¡±

    ¡°You only just figured that out? Toote.¡±

    Following a gesture, a bolt of dark lightning appeared from the depths of the river. It traversed the chaotic time and space to strike Xu Ran!

    The River of Blood ran through countless worlds, and this thunderbolt was akin to thebined power of several worldsbined. Xu Ran¡¯s hair immediately stood on end!

    At this point, he finally realized why Qianye had been holding back all this time. He was afraid that the attack would be absorbed by a life-saving treasure. Thinking back to the arrow he had fired at Empress Li, he couldn¡¯t help but feel regret and heartache.

    The most important thing right now was to preserve his life! With a loud roar, he burned the talisman and tossed it at the lightning.

    The dark lightning quietly struck the talisman. All of a sudden, the mes burst into the sky! The aura emanating from those mes exceeded even the supremes!

    Attracted by this aura, the dark lightning snaked into the raging ze. The fire turned ck while the lightning lost its target, causing it to circle about in the air before dispersing.

    Qianye coughed a couple of times, and his face flushed red momentarily. ¡°An immortal life-saving treasure is indeed extraordinary!¡±

    Xu Ran gritted his teeth hatefully. ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to be used like that!¡±

    The talisman was an extremely valuable item, but the emissary had no choice but to use it to block the lightning. This doubled his hatred of Qianye, but he really had no choice since the lightning far exceeded his expectations. Even a supreme would fall if they were to meet it head-on.

    Qianye didn¡¯t look dejected after missing the shot. ¡°The Empire and Evernight lost so many heroes because of you. I can¡¯t let you keep your life.¡±

    Xu Ran nced at the River of Blood andughed wildly. ¡°The river is pretty calm now. Looks like you¡¯ve used up most of its powers. Can you deliver a second blow?¡±

    Xu Ran wore a fervent expression all the while. The River of Blood was still in its primitive state, yet it could deliver such power in Qianye¡¯s hands. If he could refine it for a thousand years, how powerful would it be?

    At this point, both the Empire and Evernight had lost many of their top experts, and many others had been drained. Moreover, his subordinate Ye hadn¡¯t made her move yet. The advantage he held was apparent. The only thing unfortunate was that the sun could no longer enter its intended orbit. This world was probably done for.

    Qianye produced the Red Spider Lily and took aim at Xu Ran. This time, there was a pair of wings on it.

    The emissary sneered. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll fall for it a second time?¡± He waved his long sleeves, producing numerous mirrors around him. He had been relying on powerful treasures all along; this was the first time he had deployed his own ability.

    ¡°My eighty-one exquisite mirrors are sentient. They can assess the threat and decide how many of them are needed to protect the owner. I often use this to assess how powerful an attack is. Looks like you¡¯ve been preparing this shot for some time. How about it, dare you give it a try?¡±

    Qianye said nothing as a ck feather shot out from the gun!

    The feather stirred almost all of the mirrors into action.

    Xu Ran was bbergasted. Most of the mirrors merged together to block the feather, which vanished quietly upon contact. Several dozen mirrors were also shattered from the impact, leaving no more than twelve intact.

    Xu Ran had never imagined that a skill he was so proud of would be mostly destroyed.

    The cry of a phoenix echoed through the air at this point.

    Xu Ran looked up and saw countless experts on the Sacred Mountain. Although they were all ordinary experts below the duke rank, they numbered in the thousands.

    Xu Ran sneered. ¡°What¡¯s the point of summoning all these ants? Do you want to bite me to death?¡±

    The experts stood there without the slightest movement, but Xu Ran felt that something bad wasing.

    All of a sudden, flowers of blood bloomed all over the Sacred Mountain, all over these experts.

    A bird leaped out from the sea of flowers, chirping as itnded on one of the experts¡¯ head. Countless birds heeded the call, appearing one after another from the sea of flowers until they formed a massive dark cloud over the Sacred Mountain.

    This flock of birds turned toward Xu Ran and charged!

    The emissary soon found himself surrounded by a flock of birds. The mirrors killed countless iing birds, but they also crumbled in the process. Finally, the man was drowned by the deluge of avians.

    ¡°Insolence!¡± An angry roar erupted from the flock of birds. Countless beams of gold shot out from within, destroying all of the birds around the source.

    Countless experts copsed to the ground, withered and unconscious as they were drained of all origin power.

    Xu Ran appeared once more. His robes had been reduced to rags at this point, and notably, his long sleeves were gone. It would seem those sleeves were protective treasures as well.

    Xu Ran was somewhat stunned as he nced at the dark-haireddy atop the mountain. Instead of attacking, he asked, ¡°Who are you?!¡±

    All of a sudden, he saw his own figure in thedy¡¯s eyes!

    Xu Ran was shocked out of his wits as he felt a sharp pain on his forehead. It was during this moment of distraction that he saw a gun appear in thedy¡¯s hand. Soon, a stream of flowing light assailed him. It dispersed into specks of light akin to flowing waters and passing years, something that would never return once gone.

    Xu Ran¡¯s golden hairband broke apart, causing his hair to hang loose over his shoulders. A stream of blood flowed down from his forehead.

    ¡°Good, good, good!¡± Xu Ran uttered with a sinister expression. ¡°I¡¯ll make you wish you were dead once you fall into my hands!¡±

    He roared harshly, ¡°Jian, what are you waiting for? Use the medicine!¡±

    Jian fished out the red medicine and finished it in one go. All of a sudden, the veins on his forehead began to bulge. He let out a bestial roar!

    Xu Ran, on the other hand, picked up the jade piece from the altar, bit his finger, and drew some runes on it with his blood.

 Chapter 1507

    <h4>Chapter 1507</h4>

    After ingesting the medicine, Jian¡¯s body bulged up noticeably, and his giant sword released radiant mes! He raised the de above his head, ready to deliver the final blow!

    However, his movements froze, and he never managed to deliver the sh.

    There was a giant hole in his chest, within which hung a beating heart. The flesh around the organ had vanished entirely.

    ¡°Murderous Crossbow...¡± He tried turning toward Lady Ye, but before he could do so, he heard the sound of a crossbow shot. His heart was gone.

    Jian¡¯s body stood petrified in ce.

    Lord Rivernce would never let go of this opportunity. He stepped forward with a full swing of Teia and took off Jian¡¯s head. Just as he was wondering whether or not he should join the battle against Xu Ran, Zhang Boqian shouted, ¡°Take the sword, retreat!¡±

    Rivernce came to his senses. He immediately put Teia and Vanquisher of Evil together before leaving with Zhang Boqian. This sword was excessively powerful, and he had experienced its strength first hand. If it were to fall back into Xu Ran¡¯s hands, the situation would change quite a bit.

    Xu Ran could no longer care about Lord Rivernce at this point. He was pointing at Ye with a trembling finger, speechless in anger.

    Ye clenched her teeth and pulled the trigger once more. Thest bolt in the crossbow disappeared as soon as it left the weapon. The only indication that the weapon had done its work was Xu Ran¡¯s pained expression and cries.

    The emissary coughed up a mouthful of blood. ¡°You wretched ve! How dare you scheme against me! Who instructed you to do so?!¡±

    ¡°No one.¡±

    ¡°Impossible! Why would you betray me when I¡¯ve treated you so well?¡±

    Ye refused to reply. Instead, she drew her dagger and charged at Xu Ran.

    The man had taken a blow from the Murderous Crossbow, but the injury did little to hinder his movements. Seeing thedy charging over, he swung his palm at her like a de. This palm-de transformed into countless shadows that drowned Ye out entirely!

    Thedy let out a muffled groan amidst the tempest of des, but she managed to hurl her dagger at Xu Ran, striking him squarely in the shoulder.

    This was a trade of blows. No one knew what enmity she had against the man that she would put her life on the line like this. The emissary was utterly furious. He brought his fingers together like a sword and roared, ¡°Overwhelming Sword Energy!¡±

    All of a sudden, a wisp of ck fire flew over from behind. This fire didn¡¯t look all that eye-catching, but Xu Ran felt threatened by its very existence. He had no choice but to swing around and fire the sword energy at the ck me. Not only did the sword energy extinguish the mes entirely, but it also pierced through Progia who had fired it.

    A wave of demonic energy surged around Progia, protecting him and the Sable Blessing as they retreated to the Sacred Mountain.

    After a continuous barrage of attacks, Xu Ran¡¯s expression was as gloomy as still water. ¡°You people still don¡¯t know the price of offending me. My ursed jade can taint your familial bloodline, cursing all of your future generations. The weak will die young, while the strong perish immediately. Who wants to try it?¡±

    The Empire was unfazed, but the Evernight experts were shocked. They had relied on their bloodlines for tens of thousands of years, so this curse was the bane of their existence. They might not fear their own death, but they were hesitant after hearing that their descendants might be eradicated.

    Xu Ran¡¯s blood jade was a genuine treasure, and there was no need for him to lie. Thinking about the powerful treasures he had deployed previously, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess that this one wouldn¡¯t be too far off. The man¡¯s bow had injured two supremes and killed the Wolf Sovereign, after all. No bloodline would be able to withstand the jade¡¯s curse.

    Only Qianye took a step forward. ¡°I¡¯ll fight you.¡±

    Xu Ran revealed a sinister smile. ¡°Just what I wanted.¡±

    He crushed the jade without further words. A ck blood curse rose from his hands and made straight for Qianye¡¯s forehead. A hint of darkness appeared as Qianye stared at the iing attack. He was about to use the Book of Darkness to resist it.

    A dark figure flickered beside Qianye at this moment, ramming into the curse like a bolt of lightning!

    It was actually thedy, Ye!

    ¡°You...¡± Xu Ran didn¡¯t know what to say for a moment.

    As the curse entered her body, a curse mark appeared on the woman¡¯s face. It was simr to the rune on Xu Ran¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Very well. Since you¡¯re willing to let your descendants suffer the curse, so be it!¡±

    At this moment, a curse mark also appeared on Qianye¡¯s forehead, but it was so faint that one could barely see it clearly. A simr curse mark also appeared in the River of Blood, a mark so big that it looked like a dam amidst the raging waters. It was attempting to lock down the river¡¯s flow.

    It was just that the River of Blood was a manifestation of countless worlds and timelines. A single m of its majestic tides shattered the curse immediately.

    The mark on Qianye¡¯s forehead also vanished. Ye coughed up a mouthful of blood and copsed to the ground, but her mark also faded away.

    Xu Ran hadn¡¯t imagined such an oue. For some reason, the curse had spilled over to Qianye and then downstream into the River of Blood. As the first drop of blood, a curse on his bloodline was akin to cursing the river. This feat wasn¡¯t something ten of Xu Ran could achieve.

    This worldly power wasn¡¯t something a single life-form could destroy.

    Xu Ran roared, ¡°If something happens to me, the sun will go out of control and destroy this entire world! If you all kneel down and recognize me as your master, I might be merciful enough to shift the sun away, saving this world from sure destruction.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t trouble you with that. I¡¯ve finished calcting the new trajectory, and all we need to do now is to send you off.¡±

    Anwen appeared on the Sacred Mountain. With a wave of his hand, he conjured a star map containing a new trajectory far from Evernight.

    Xu Ran scanned the battlefield. ¡°Very well, I admit defeat. However, it¡¯s quite the delusion you have if you think you can kill me. I will return to the Immortal Heavens and report this to the dao court. Thirty yearster, I will return with a great army, and you will face annihtion!¡±

    The book under Xu Ran¡¯s feet flew open and countless pages flew out. The pages surrounded him as he slowly rose into the sky.

    Qianye wanted to attack, but to his surprise, he couldn¡¯t lock onto the emissary. Under the protection of those pages, it felt like Xu Ran was both in this world and not in this world. Qianye didn¡¯t feel that frustrated even when he was facing the cauldron.

    Xu Ran let out a burst of longughter. ¡°The ability of an immortal is not something you people can imagine!¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily!¡± A cold voice resounded as eight azure pirs appeared around Xu Ran, slowing down his ascent.

    The emissary¡¯s expression shifted drastically. ¡°You¡¯ve managed to brush the surface, but unfortunately, you¡¯re not a heavenly monarch. I might not be able to leave if you were.¡±

    Zhao Jundu walked out of the void, holding a shockingly long rifle. The weapon was simple, ancient-looking, and covered in runic carvings. Also, it looked like this old weapon could only fire once. The name on its stock read: Soulrender.

    Zhao Jundu said nothing more. He simply raised his gun and fired!

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